Double rows of glass orbs, each large enough to contain a person, rested atop squat stone plinths. All were filled entirely with a thick blue fluid that shimmered in the darkness, and some contained people. The one in front of Sigrid was a woman she recognized. An old woman who had lived in Dangole, who had spit at Erin on the street. It seemed she had been successfully talked into taking part in Serra’s experiments.

There were others who floated further along, but Sigrid didn’t know their faces. She reached out a hand to lay her palm flat against the glass, almost surprised to find it warm, just shy of being too hot.

“Most will not survive the process.” The man behind her said, the one who had killed the Demon and brought her here. Sigrid’s stomach turned at his words, but she kept her expression neutral as he spoke. “It’s hard on the body, yes, but harder on the soul. I have wondered how many souls are lost by the beings that sent us here.”

Sigrid knew the answer. She could feel it in her gut. They didn’t lose any souls, because they didn’t force power on them they weren’t yet able to contain.

“This one is already breaking down.” He said, tapping on the old woman’s glass, and Sigrid grimaced as she saw it. Thin cracks were appearing all over her skin, a glowing white light radiating from within. “Her soul is rejecting the magic. Once this process has begun, we’ve never been able to halt it. In a few hours, her body will be no more.”

“You have others from Dangole here?” She asked, her eyes fixed on the cracks of white light.

“Some. That friend of yours was more effective at poisoning the village against us than Serra realized. It’s probably for the best that she’s dead. I don’t know if I could’ve tolerated another one of her failures.”

“Dead?”

"Yes, slain by that Princeling from Strath.” He practically spat the title, the contempt plain. “Killed by a First Tier.” He lapsed into silence and Sigrid took a slow, calming breath before turning her back on the rows of orbs to face him.

“Why am I here?” He grinned at her, a too wide smile that endeavored to show off all of his white, perfectly straight teeth. Sigrid remained stoic in the face of it, but couldn’t deny the shiver that ran up her spine.

“Your Dragon’s Blood ability is still in its infancy, so likely you have not yet noticed. Dragons are vastly powerful magical beings, and you will inherit some portion of that power from your ability. How much depends on you. When you have grown strong enough, you will be a key part of a ritual that will open a gate between worlds.” He tossed back his hood and held his arms aloft, his voice taking on grandiose intonation, as if he were standing before a massive audience on a stage.

“You will break us free from this prison world, and away from the petty woes of its people. Away from the tyranny of those who were reborn before us. The injustice of a fate that none of us asked for. You will lead us home.” Sigrid couldn’t deny being caught up in it for a moment. His voice reverberated around the closed space, and he radiated power, his eyes shining a brilliant blue in the darkness.

“Home?” she asked quietly, and her vision blurred with moisture as a hope she’d worked hard to deny found new life.

“Yes,” he replied, making it a proclamation. “Home, family, Friends, and the power to walk your world like a god among mortals.” Sigrid blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision without resorting to wiping her face, and thankfully managed it.

The last part of what he said slowly sank in and she couldn’t deny its appeal. She’d spent her adult life at war, first as part of an underground rebellion, and then in open warfare after an only half successful coup attempt. A war that had eventually killed her. Even her current power could’ve made an impact, but now she knew that so much more was possible. The way the more experienced mages had fought the demon. If she could become that strong, or perhaps even stronger. She could end the war back home. She could save her people, her world, her family.

“I’m not interested.” She told him, raising her chin defiantly. “What you’re doing is wrong. It’s evil.” His smile didn’t so much as falter.

“I was stubborn too, in the beginning. You’ll see things our way in time.” He made a broad gesture and two pale mages that Sigrid hadn’t noticed moved to flank him. “See our newest recruit to her chamber and be sure she remains there until I summon her.”

Sigrid let herself be led away, memorizing the route they took from the chamber of orbs where she had appeared to what would undoubtedly be her prison cell for the foreseeable future.

“Here,” Burke tossed something in her direction. Erin’s hands snapped up, catching the object out of the air.

[Winter’s March Demon Stone: Would you like to loot?]

“That’s from the other one. The one you and your friends were fighting before I arrived. Strictly speaking, I’m not supposed to give you that. In the normal course of events, what sort of magic you’d be allowed access to would have been limited until you graduated, but that ship has sailed, I think.”

They stood in the wreck of the cults camp, which bore all the signs of both a hasty evacuation and a battle. Serra’s corpse lay at the center of the carnage, a large stab wound through the center of her chest. Erin stood dumbfounded over the woman’s body. They had not liked each other, but Erin couldn’t be happy about her death.

“There are traces of Silver Grade magic.” Burke said, squatting down to inspect a scorch mark, where some spell or other had melted away the snow and ice and burned the earth below before finally running out of energy. Erin didn’t reply, but glanced down at the monster stone he’d tossed her. It was larger than the other ones she’d seen, and it was jagged and fractured, like it had been broken and glued together. Pale white and blue light pulsed gently from within its clear shell.

“Yes.” Erin said, answering Lisa’s earlier question. The gem in her hands glowed with blinding white light, and for the first time in a long while, her vision of the world blurred into the background as she focused on the ephemeral window that popped into existence before her eyes.

Winter’s March Demon Stone:

1 of 1

Default:

Equipment, Artifact, Augment Rune.

Artifact:

Select this option to discover loot.

Spell Rune:

Select this option to discover loot.

Erin shook her head. She shouldn’t have been surprised, given the Monster’s powerful nature. Even so, she hadn’t expected such a windfall of goods.

I don’t really need another spell, do I?

She did already have 4 equipped, which was the maximum she could have slotted at any given time.

[You don’t need one, strictly speaking, but it’s possible for you to use more than four different pieces of magic. It might be worthwhile to have something in reserve.]

Erin considered it for only a moment before nodding. One artifact per loot stone was plenty, in her opinion, anyway.

Spell rune then.

As the light faded, Lisa listed her loot.

[Equipment: Heavy Leather Gloves]

Erin was slightly put out at that. It was more than a bit mundane for magical demon loot.

[Artifact: Crystal Flame: A relic of the mythical Monster Kingdom rumored to exist far beyond the true wilds border, this pendant, when worn on the body, will absorb all magical and non-magical flames that come into contact with the wearer.]

Woah, that’s… intense.

[Yeah, it certainly makes up for the gloves.]

Indeed

[Augment Rune: Frost Demons Bite.]

[Spell Rune: Blood of the Demon: While this spell is equipped, your blood carries the Possession Curse, which afflicts any person or monster who absorbs it into their bloodstream.]

[Possession Curse: This curse afflicts the host with a withering rot that slowly decays their body from within until they expire. During this time, the curses progenitor has a limited ability to control the host via spoken commands.]

Erin had Lisa repeat the words several times over until their meaning sank in properly. Looking down at the small orb in her hand, she had a strong desire to hurl it away from her. Instead, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before slipping it into her inventory.

That’s more than a little dark.

[The item was wrapped in silver bands, rather than bronze, which means you’ll need to raise at least one of your spell slots to silver before you’ll be able to use it anyway.]

Erin shivered at the thought of it. A curse running through her blood that made people rot from the inside out. She had no intention of using such a spell. If she had her way, it would sit locked up in her inventory for all time.

She returned from deep in her menus to find Burke kneeling next to the remains of a large burnt tent. Clasped in his hands was what looked like a fragment of a large, purple stone. As she approached, she could see etchings layered all across its surface. The alien characters were black, as if they had been burned into the stone. Burke glanced up at her as she approached before returning his attention to the stone.

“It’s a portal rune, and not a cheap one. Looks like it was destroyed in whatever fight happened here.” Erin’s heart sank at his words.

“So it’s useless?”

“No, I wouldn’t say that.” he turned it over, still inspecting. “I couldn’t find any of the other fragments, but I know a woman in Academy City who might be able to figure out where this led to.” The stone vanished from his hand and Erin blinked in surprise, before realizing he’d slipped it into his inventory.

“How long will it take us to get there? To figure out where it goes?” There was an edge of panic in her voice as she asked, but she couldn’t restrain it. She’d been hoping for a quick rescue. Some way to follow Sigrid’s trail directly to where she’d been taken. Now it was shaping up to be a much more involved process.

“Couple weeks of traveling, at least. I don’t dare risk anything more conspicuous than the carriages we’ve got at the fort.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a long story, but I’m not the most popular mage around the city. It’ll be better if I don’t draw attention to us before we arrive.”

Erin didn’t like the sound of that, but she wasn’t sure what she could say. If he was willing to help her at all, she supposed she should be thankful. Trying not to think about Sigrid might be forced to endure in the long weeks it took to find and rescue her, Erin nodded.

“Then we should get moving.” She said, unable to stop herself from rushing. Burke stood and turned.

“I don’t like the smell of this place.” He said, gesturing to the camp. “There’s something wrong happening here, and I mean to find out what.”

“Then that portal is the best bet for both of us. Once we open it, I can find my friend and you can find your answers.”

Name: Erin Young

Class: Bronze Mage

Tier 2

Soul: Bronze

Mind: Bronze

Body: Bronze

Spells

Spell Slot (Soul): Binding Point (Bronze: 22%)

Aug 1: Defiant

Aug 2:

Spell Slot (Mind:) Fireball (Bronze: 38%)

Aug 1: Bolstering

Aug 2:

Spell Slot (Body): Mirage Wyrm’s Wings (Bronze: 28%)

Aug 1:

Aug 2:

Spell Slot (Special): Mirage Wyrm Whelp (Bronze: 6%)

Aug 1: Resistance

Aug 2:

Boons:

Liaison

Bronze State

Mirage Mage (Bronze)

(Unknown)

(Unknown)

Inventory:

Inventory Item: Bronze Medallion

Equipment:

Torches (5)

Short-Spear (2)

Wood Shield

Combat-Knife (2)

Throwing-Knife (10)

Clothing Items (29, assorted)

Tent (1)

Magic:

Spell Rune: Blood of the Demon

Augment Rune: Resilience

Augment Rune: Frost Demons Bite

Crafting:

0.5lbs of Iron Chitin

Currency:

Gold Maefars: 5

Silver Maefars: 69

Copper Maefars: 480

Artifacts

Slot 1: All-Purpose Hat (Bronze)

Slot 2: Refilling Vial: Stamina Potion (Bronze)

Slot 3: Crystal Flame Pendant (Scaling)

Slot 4: Empty

Slot 5: Empty