The duo of Kyrion and Tim stood at a stone wall. The former wore a set of brown robes made from earth while a set of circular bangles hung from his wrist. The latter was now in some loose-fitting leather armor that clearly wasn’t made for him. But, with a few alterations, it was wearable.

“Now this is an adventure.” Kyrion pounded his fist into his hands, and his chakram jingled.

“Aren’t you supposed to be quiet?” Tim stated.

“You aren’t as durable as me and as we don’t have a defender so I’ll play that role.” Kyrion stated.

“What about healing?”

“Aggg. If you get hurt, drink one of these.” Kyrion produced a bandolier of blue vials.

“Are those potions?” Tim asked.

“Yes. I have a lot but that doesn’t mean you should be reckless.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Tim nodded as he twirled his new daggers.

“Good now, follow.” Kyrion brought both of his arms down, revealing a giant creature of stone with one glowing eye on what appeared to be a stone head on a roughly human-shaped body.

The golem sucker punched the red-haired boy sending him tumbling down the corridor.

Tim, not being as durable, decided to run away.

Tim dodged stomps, evaded crushing fists, and rolled out of the way of thrown rocks, all while screaming for his life.

Kyrion took ten seconds to heal from that. He was back on his feet when it passed, watching as the thief ran for his life.

Kyrion charged back into the fray, his disc immediately getting thrown at his target.

The golem didn’t notice as the metal disc buried itself into its stone body.

“Fight back!” Kyrion yelled as he approached.

“I!” Tim barely evaded a stomp.

“Can’t!” Using a roll, Tim ran through the golem’s legs.

“Geez. Well at least it’s distracting.”

“Issac, manifest in your vessel and wash away the earth and stone that bind you.” Kyrion chanted as he sent mana into one of the discs in the golem’s arm.

Water flowed from the chakram, entering the cracks on the golem’s body before spreading throughout its body and expanding. Creating more and more cracks through erosion.

The golem froze before letting out some rumbling that resembled a roar before a line of fire shot out from the creature’s eye and burned through the corridor, cutting straight through anything that got in his way.

The water eventually hit the core of the golem and became inert. Expanding to the point where the golem’s body sloshed away from its singular eye. Leaving behind a modified spirit core. One covered with so much runework that Kyrion had decided to give it to someone with the free time to figure it out.

“You made that look easy.”

“Its a low practitioner rank monster, still it had enough strength to send me flying. More physical strength than anything else.”

“Why didn’t you come back sooner.”

“I too am a low practitioner. The sucker-punch knocked an arm out of socket and cracked a bone.”

“So you…” Tim examined the now whole form Kyrion had.

“I healed before coming back.” Kyrion stated.

“Ah. Well good on you then. Lead the way.”

Kyrion and Tim made their way through the area, avoiding golems and stealing gems Making sure not to come across any more of the creatures. The thief proved quite skilled in his techniques for avoiding sight. Methods that blended his mana and trained stealth, making himself harder to detect.

The duo eventually arrived at the halfway point. A golden treasure chest sat in the middle of the room.

“Thats a trap.” Tim said bluntly.

“Yup.” Kyrion responded.

“Should we ignore it?” Tim asked.

“For now. Follow my lead.” Kyrion removed the second Bangle from his wrist and twirled it as he walked around the chest to the exit, where he then stepped through, noting the bars that seemed to have been set to fall down when a trap was triggered.

“What are you doing?” Tim asked.

“Something you’d be jealous of.” Kyrion aimed his chakram before throwing it vertically.

“Jala, into your vessel. Grab what does not belong to us and return.” Kyrion ordered.

The chakram hit the chest, and they both disappeared. The gate in front of Tim and Kyrion fell down, and eight stone monsters appeared in the middle of the arena.

“You’re right about the jealous part. Being able to steal from a distance is useful.”

“It sure is.” Kyrion said bluntly.

“What’s in the chest?”

“Jala is going through it at the moment. She gets first dibs on the loot when she takes it herself.

“Who’s Jala?”

“My main spirit,” Kyrion stated, removing a sword from his domain and giving it a good twirl.

“Your spirit’s a weapon?”

Kyrion grimaced. “It’s lightweight, well balanced and seems to absorb mana for a strike. A magical weapon.”

A sheath appeared over the blade, and it soon found itself in Tim’s hands.

“No, but it’s a useful weapon. So I’ll let you keep it for now.”

“I can’t use a sword.”

“It could also be a legendary weapon worth millions of gold.”

“Uhh… Kyrion?”

“Yes?”

“I think I’ll hold onto her?” Tim stated, his voice a bit deeper.

“Why? Wait her?” Kyrion squinted.

“The sword is a girl. Ah I mean a woman. Sorry.” Tim apologized to the sword.

“Uh huh…That sword may be cursed. You should probably put it down.”

“Styx is not cursed. She’s just misunderstood.” Tim seemed aghast.

Kyrion moved to take the sword away when he had to jump back.

Tim swung his sword aiming to take Kyrion’s hand off.

“Fine, keep the cursed sword that has you wrapped around her little hilt. See If I care.”

“It’s good that you had a change of heart ….”

“What?”

“Sir, who exactly are you? We got this far but I don’t know what to call you.” Tim asked, masking his fear with a wall of respect.

“You may refer to me as Kyr.”

“Well then Kyr. I’m sorry for overreacting.”

“No big deal. If you attack me again then you’re leaving in a bag and missing out on the reminder of the loot I was planning to share.”

“What else was in the chest?”

“Nothing. Well a tiara with places to set jewels but aside from that seemed plain platinum, and aside from that was small enough for Jala to wear.”

“You have a talking weapon, why is mine so weird?”

“What?” Kyrion raised an eyebrow.

“Must have misheard something.” Tim held his head as he led them through the dungeon with ease. Bypassing traps and avoiding dead ends.

Kyrion had a map of the area thanks to Karl, yet this was bizarre. He hadn’t shared that information with Tim and was opting to see where this led when he noticed that a large number of enemies seemed to be converging on the two.

“Tim, you know your leading us into a trap right?”

“W-what are you talking about? What trap?” Tim lied.

“Don’t worry about it. Go on ahead and good luck.”

“I can wait.”

“But you won’t” Kyrion watched as Tim left against his will.

“You’re going to leave a possessed ally to die? That’s quite cruel.” Psycho stated.

“For someone who claims to be me, you sure don’t understand my actions. Six are coming down this hall with another four from the other direction. Among those four is a bigger one but it’s not leading the pack. I’d rather a potential traitor not see my abilities.” Kyrion told psycho.

“Mmmmhmmm.” Psycho didn’t buy it.

“Jala, Issac, lend me your strength and enter your vessels.” Kyrion sent mana into both of his chakrams, causing one to glow green and silvery color while the other was deep blue. The two together seemed to hold back the power of a hurricane.

The golems arrived rolling at high speed.

Kyrion then backed up to the mouth of a corridor and relaxed. When the red eyes on the golems began to glow. He vanished from sight.

The lasers shot forward, hitting the wall and damaging some of the earth, keeping the corridor stable.

Kyrion reappeared on the room’s ceiling, which seemed to be a hundred feet up. Pushing off the ceiling, Kyrion spun both chakrams in his hands as wind and water gathered around him like a small hurricane. Then, the boy vanished again, his chakram continuing the fall alone.

When the four golems looked up, Kyrion was gone. And a twisting avatar of death and destruction descended on the golems, leaving nothing behind.

Tim pulled out his sword as black mist began to surround his arms forming gauntlets of shadow before spreading to the rest of his body like armor.

“Full manifestation, Dark Lord’s Arsenal.” Tim’s voice didn’t sound right. It was much darker, much deeper, older.

With those simple words, Tim’s armor hardened and grew.

“To think my decedent would find his way here. In this sealed place, long lost by time.”

A loud crashing sound echoed out of the corridor where the red-haired pest had been stationed. The silence after the crash made it easy to assume that the redhead had been crushed.

“Don’t you think you’re doing things a bit too fast?” A flippant voice asked from a corridor.

“How did you survive!”

“At least you’re not pretending anymore. Tim, are you going to let some old fossils take your free will?” Kyrion asked as he entered the chamber. The corridor collapsed behind him as he did.

“He must. For I am his ancestor who had been sealed here for countless years. He should be happy to serve me.”

“No offense dude but the body you possessed is really weak and his foundation is lacking. As you are, I won’t even need mana to beat you.”

“You dare insult your dark lord?”

“Not just a fact. I don’t even have to fight you. In two hours Tim will begin to suffocate and as I’m the only one with the fruit that could prevent such a fate.”

“You’d let your friend die?”

“No… How about we play a game? I call it reaction testing. I start slow and try to touch you. If you dodge, the next strike will be much faster; if you avoid that, I’ll up my seed until I do. If I hit you, I’ll do the opposite and work until we find a speed you can consistently dodge.

“Why would I do that?”

Kyrion punched the air to his right so fast that it was as though the wind shattered, and a loud boom echoed throughout the chamber.

“I don’t want to accidentally kill you. This method lets me gauge your durability. You don’t want this fight to end with you dying from a single blow do you?” Kyrion’s mischievous smirk was masked by a hand covering his mouth to make himself seem surprised.

“Fine. Play your game. It will be a good warm up.” Tim said in a condescending tone.

“Great!” Kyrion relaxed his body as he moved forward, his hands left at his side.

Tim sprung into action when Kyrion entered slashing range, stabbing Kyrion’s shadow.

Kyrion felt an ache in his gut and looked down at the figure currently impaling his shadow with his sword.

“What is that?”

The sword was taken out and then thrust a bit higher.

“You were going to knock me out. So I’m just putting you down first.”

A blast of wind crashed into Tim, sending him flying back thirty feet, landing on his back and flipping over.

Kyrion held a hand to his stomach. “Tim, when we get out of this, you’re going to owe me a meal.”

Tim got up slowly, noticing that he couldn’t feel his right arm. His sword arm had gone numb.

“You know, I hate math. All boring numbers on a page that go nowhere. Physics is interesting however, by using those numbers on the page one can calculate how much force would be required to send a practitioner with a minimal foundation flying and how they will land on top of what wound they may receive if they don’t correct said fall. Now it’s up to you to determine if I’m telling the truth but while you’re thinking. I’m going to play another game.”

“Another game?”

“Yes. It’s called pinball. A friend of mine told me about it and even carved a replica out of wood.” Kyrion cracked his knuckles.”

“Pinball. You won’t distract me!”

“That’s up to you. Tim will have to be broken and reforged quite a few times before he’s stong enough to last on his own.” Kyrion vanished from sight.

Unlike his usual means of sneaking around, he was not hiding in plain sight. No, he had quietly reappeared behind Tim with a fully wound kick that would have missed if it came from the front.

A loud boom echoed as Kyrion broke Tim’s back with a kick that sent him flying towards the opposite wall.

Before his head could collide, however. A fist came up from the ground along with Kyrion’s body and sent Tim up sixty feet to the ceiling.

As Tim fell, Kyrion moved under, waited patiently, and watched as Tim prepared to impale Kyrion as he fell.

The red-haired boy vanished again.

“What?” Was all he managed to get out as a roundhouse kick hit his stomach in midair, sending him flying into a wall. His sword was forgotten and dropped.

Tim bounced off the wall, blood leaking from his mouth after a rib pierced one of his lungs.

Kyrion watched as Tim’s screamed in pain and lurched to the ground unconscious. He then watched as the wounds he inflicted finally began to heal themselves.

“Stupid sword. You don’t even qualify to be a mini boss. Why did you get so cocky.”

“I’m not from the sword. Tim stated as he got to his feet. Clutching his stomach and dry heaving.”

“Tim? Are you in the sword?” Kyrion asked for the weapon.

“Styx has the ability to link its wielder with a long dead ancestor. Transferring their memories into the body of its wielder. My memories proved too powerful and overwrote his own.”

“Oh… Not cursed. Just confused. I know, I’ve been there. Tim? You do know you’re still in there right? Nobody possessed your body, it’s just an old fogie enacting his will over yours. The sooner you realize that, the less I’ll beat you up. I mean even babies are willful enough to do what you can’t.” Kyrion smirked as he crossed his arms.

“I’m ready for your barrage of teleportation now. I won’t be caught off guard.”

“I’m sure you won’t.” Kyrion adjusted his sandal and sighed.

Shadows rose from the ground and began to move towards Kyrion with deadly accuracy.

A sandal hit Tim in the stomach for the second time that day. Tim had the wind knocked out of him. Along with a foot-shaped fracture in his ribs.

The sandal seemed to arc and fly back into Kyrion’s hand like a boomerang.

“Wha? You. Monster.”

A shadow cut through Kyrion’s leg, and he felt the muscle, bone, and nerves get severed without breaking his skin.

“Tch.” Kyrion clicked his tongue and brought out his glowing staff. Using its light as a shield against the blades of darkness, trying to get his own shadow.

In moments Kyrion had reattached his leg and healed it.

“Shatter! Issac, Jala, return to my side!” Kyrion yelled as the sound of glass shattering on stone echoed from the hall.

Two discs flew from the corridor leading to the previous chamber and found themselves wrapped around Kyrion’s right wrist.

“Now, what am I going to do with you?” Kyrion watched as Tim struggled to his feet and collapsed, blood pooling from his mouth.

“What’s wrong exactly?” Issac asked, having missed the action.

“Memories forced themselves into his head and now he’s confused.”

“Oh. So he’s addled. Kyrion? Have you tried giving him one of those walnuts that recenter a person’s mind?” Issac asked with a condescending tone.

Kyrion could slap himself. A walnut appeared in his hands, and Kyrion cracked the shell, removing the nut. He then crushed the nut into a fine powder and suffused it with water mana.

Slowly but surely, Kyrion made his way towards the nearly catatonic rogue, wrenched his jaw open, and willed the mixture into Tim’s system.

Tim began screaming in pain before his consciousness faded. The black shadowy armor fading from his body

Kyrion then uncorked one of the potions in Tim’s bandolier, poured that down his throat, and sighed.

“How does one forget that they had a ton of healing potions on them? At any point he could have used one to heal the wounds I did to him.”

“Healing willingly weakens mental effects slightly. Kinda like how eating after drinking heavily sobers you up.”

“That’s not how that works.” Kyrion looked plainly at the bird.

“It’s like taking cold medicine when you have allergies. It reduces some of the symptoms but doesn’t cure it outright.”

“Ah. Your species explains why your aren’t a doctor.”

“Why does that have to do with anything?”

“Because you’re a quack.” Kyrion shook his head. Looking for somewhere to hide, Tim.

“I’m a swan. Not a duck!” Issac protested.

“Enemies incoming.” Karl stated, interrupting the bickering pair.

The sound of marching could be heard coming down the hall.

Loud and coordinated footsteps were the only warning Kyrion got before four metal golems entered the room.

Tim was dropped to the side as Kyrion went to engage the new arrivals.