Morgan charged into a clump of the gargoyles, as he’d dubbed them in his own mind, and fired off another Azure Burst just as it came off cooldown. Six or so of the creatures tumbled through the air and over the rocky ground, supernatural flames clinging to their thick, clay-like hide. They screamed in agony or became still, depending on the severity of their burns and secondary wounds. The soldier they’d been hacking at was beyond help—most of his neck severed and massive punctures and contusions liberally covering his battered corpse. Morgan heard Issa’s Hexing Shriek and the resultant wail of the creatures she’d targeted.

Arrows were streaming through the air, some flaming and some exploding. One of the hunters could paralyze the creatures his arrows hit, which helped immensely, but it didn’t stop the swarm of shadows descending on the narrow column of rescuers. Morgan was at a loss for too many targets, his sword was coated in blood, and he could feel the Rager within it sending furious waves of Energy into his arm. He didn’t even need to use his Energy-imbued forms to slash through limbs and bones, so furiously did Bloodfang strike.

He’d stood back to back with Rorth and Issa for a while, and they’d slain more than a dozen of the creatures, but as the battle wore on and fresh waves of flying combatants fell upon them, they grew separated. Morgan could see over the heads of the fighting, surging, screaming melee, and was fairly sure Issa was still with Rorth about fifty yards downslope in the tunnel. He’d inadvertently carried himself away from them by charging clumps of gargoyles. Had they made any progress?

Gray bodies were strewn all over the tunnel floor, but Morgan also saw the torn and broken bodies of a dozen or more Ardeni. Rorth’s sergeants were shouting for order, trying to rally men and women into defensive lines and coordinate their fire, but their shouts seemed to add to the chaos. Many of the hunters had never worked with the garrisoned troops of Tarn’s before and didn’t respond the way the sergeants expected.

Morgan charged into another cluster of the gargoyles that had started to overwhelm a line of archers and reached out with his Energy Drain, targeting as many creatures as possible. He still had thousands of Energy points available, so he tore a stream of Energy out of eleven creatures; a massive influx of dark, bloody Energy poured into his channels. He surged forward into the cluster, hacking, kicking, and breaking them apart as they scrabbled at the ground and flapped their wings in terror.

A few of the creatures managed to break free and flee, floundering through the air to disappear into the deep shadows of the tunnel ceiling. The rest, Morgan left broken and torn on the cavern floor. Relieved of the pressure, the hunters began a new assault on the gargoyles that harried their comrades.

Some sort of cry broke out among the gargoyles, an ululating howl that spread from one pack to the next, and then they were airborne and flying away, some of them clutching the limp forms of Ardeni. Flaming and crackling arrows soared after the retreating horde, and Morgan launched a Vortex Lance into a clump of them, savagely roaring when it struck home, sending a limp gargoyle tumbling to crack upon the boulder-strewn ground.

Morgan ran back to the head of the column, where he could see Issa and Rorth standing in a circle with another ten or so Ardeni. Suddenly the air filled with golden motes of Energy as it coalesced and streamed into the hunters, fighters, and Morgan. To Morgan’s shock, a massive ribbon of Energy shot forth into the air, following the path of the gargoyles that had flown away into the shadows.

***Congratulations! You have achieved level 29 Vortex Duelist and have gained 8 Intelligence, 8 Agility, 6 Will, and 6 Dexterity.***

He opened his mouth to call out to Issa, but then crackling blue light filled his vision, and he was no longer standing in the corpse-strewn tunnel; he was in a serene ancient vault with Gareth Tohlemay, the Azure Paladin. “Student! You’ve grown in both stature and power. I’m surprised to see you again so soon!”

“Gareth, um, sir, I was just in a perilous situation with friends. We’d been attacked; I’m not sure I can be here right now.” Morgan gestured to his blood-soaked sword, but then he noticed that he wasn’t holding it—it was on his belt, and it and he were perfectly clean. “I’m not really here, am I?”

“Correct, student. You should know this by now. We’re meeting with our minds! I’ll be brief; just know: any time you spend here will only be fractionally reflected in reality.”

“Oh, I wasn’t sure because I didn’t wake up for nearly a day last time. I was wounded, though.” Morgan shrugged and walked forward toward the paladin.

“Yes, well, I can see that you’ve gone through much since then. The fact you’re here tells me that you’re ready to receive another impartment of my legacy. I’d like you to make a choice this time.”

“A choice?”

“Yes, we’ll be taking one of two paths with your training today. Nothing will stop you from expanding your abilities without me; after all, I learned all of my spells and skills without a mentor’s help, but I’ll be guiding you down one of two roads. Are you interested in learning more of my mastery over Energy, or would you like me to help you make my abilities your own? Your Core’s Energy does not match mine, and I can only imagine that when you use my ‘azure’ abilities, they aren’t nearly as effective as they could be if you learned to modify and create your own spells that utilize your Core’s affinity.”

“Do you mean the void-attuned Energy I have at the center of my Core now?”

“Precisely. When I taught you before, you didn’t have any attunement. My own spells made sense. Now you have an attunement, and I believe if you can make some changes to my spells, they’ll be far more effective in your hands.”

“What about your legacy?”

“What I teach you is my legacy. What you teach others about me and my lessons is my legacy.” He reached forward and laid a hand on Morgan’s shoulder, a friendly smile revealing straight white teeth.

“Alright, understood. In that case, I’d like to learn how to modify your abilities to better suit my Core.”

“Very good. Now listen and do as I say; as you’ve told me, time is short.” Morgan nodded. “Good. Now close your eyes, and turn your attention inward to your Core. I want you to concentrate on your Energy and watch what it does when you prime an Azure Burst.”

Morgan did as he was told, watching the spinning maelstrom of pure Energy orbiting the pulsing, throbbing vortex of his void-attuned Energy. Then he thought about his Azure Burst ability and began to activate it. Strands of Energy rushed out of his Core into the pathways surrounding it, weaving together into an elaborate pattern, sitting there, primed for him to release the spell. “Do you see it? Do you see the pattern?”

“Yes,” Morgan said softly, amazed that he’d never watched his spell take form before.

“Now release the Energy, and send it back to your Core. I want you to pull forth some strands of your void Energy. I want you to hold them ready, and then, as you prime Azure Burst again, I want you to feed the void-attuned Energy to the pattern.”

Again, Morgan did as the paladin instructed, pulling forth some threads of void-attuned Energy, almost like he was about to perform his cultivation drill, but he held them poised near his Core and began the Azure Burst spell. As soon as he felt the pattern pulling Energy from his Core, he pushed the void-attuned Energy toward it. The pattern hungrily pulled the Energy, and he felt the spell was ready. “Good! Finish the spell. Release it!”

Morgan cast his Azure Burst, but instead of a crackling blue pulse of fire rolling out of him, a black, hungry wave of darkness surged out, engulfing the Azure Paladin and a good portion of his sanctuary. Just as the darkness came, though, it faded away, everything it touched, including the paladin, unharmed.

***Congratulations! You’ve learned the spell: Void Wave - Improved***

***Void Wave - Improved: A true paladin wades into the thick of the battle, fearing not the surrounding hordes. Channel your Energy to release a wave of Void Energy, dealing void-based damage and demoralizing your enemies that fail to resist your will. Energy Cost: 250, Cooldown: Long***

“Void Wave? Why not Void Burst?” He looked at the paladin.

“That’s the question you have? Ahh, the flightiness of youth. Morgan, the System has named your spell for you because you didn’t create the pattern. I imagine it chose the term ‘wave’ because that’s how void Energy propagates, as opposed to Azure Fire, which tends to burst or explode outward. However, my student, what’s more important is that you saw the pattern and changed the spell.

Now, if you can learn to weave your Energy into patterns of your own, you can start to learn how to make spells without relying on the System or me to grant them to you. Do you see what you’ve learned?” Morgan did understand the value of the lesson, and he tried to grasp the implications. He understood the idea that Energy moving in patterns through his pathways is what made the spells, but how would one learn the patterns?

“I see the confusion behind your eyes. Patterns for spells like Azure Burst are quite complex, but there are much simpler spells. I’d start studying those; as you learn what sorts of patterns create what sorts of effects, you can start to combine and alter them to see what happens. I’d recommend doing it in a safe area, away from things and people you care about.”

“Why did my new void spell come out as improved?”

“No doubt because of your strong affinity with void Energy. You subconsciously optimized the passage the Energy took into the pattern. Take what I’ve taught you and practice it, Morgan. When you return to me, I’d like to see you wielding more spells of your own. Goodbye for now, student.”

“Goodbye, and thank….” Morgan was cut off as his vision crackled with blue light again, and then he was stumbling forward, suddenly mid-step in the cavern where the battle had taken place. He looked around and found that everything was as it had been when his consciousness had been snatched away to meet with Gareth. He saw Issa and the clump of Ardeni and charged toward them. “Issa! Are you alright?”

“Morgan! Yes, we are, but we need to regroup. We need to go deeper where we can’t be ambushed from above!”

“Yes! This huge tunnel narrows and opens onto smaller pathways a few miles ahead. I think we should make haste for them,” Rorth added, walking around the group to stare past Morgan to the battlefield. “Soldiers, gather up the fallen in your containers! Make a count of the dead. We move in five.” While the soldiers moved to follow Rorth’s directive, Morgan went to stand next to Issa, and he did an informal count on the survivors. He counted forty-seven Ardeni besides Issa and Rorth. They’d lost almost half their numbers.

“We can’t afford many more battles like that. We’ve already lost as many people as we’re hoping to rescue,” Rorth said quietly.

“I won’t be turning back,” Issa said, glancing at Morgan. He nodded, and she continued, “If you want to take your men home, Rorth, I understand, but Morgan and I will continue until we know the fates of the people taken on the river.”

“We’ll continue for now.” Rorth didn’t say more, just walked to the center of the passage and scanned the ceiling, presumably looking out for more attackers.

“Those creatures didn’t seem very intelligent to me. Less than Yeksa, even, though a lot tougher,” Morgan said to Issa.

“Yes, much tougher. They were smart enough to ambush us and smart enough to cut their losses. Don’t underestimate them, Morgan.”

“I won’t, but I’m just saying I think there might be more to them. Like, they came off as mindless minions to me. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, maybe I’ve watched too much VR, but I feel like something worse than those gargoyles is calling the shots.” Issa, used to Morgan mentioning things from Earth that she had no understanding of, looked at him and frowned.

“I worry that you might be right,” she said, lifting her rapier and walking toward where the much-shortened line of hunters and soldiers was reassembling.