“Don’t be sad, little guy,” Dallion said. “We’ll see her again.”

The reassurance failed to remove the blob of sadness that had filled Ruby’s body. The shardfly kept on fluttering close to the space where the portal had been, as if hoping that it would open again, or maybe even silently urging Dallion to cast the opening spell again.

Any other day Dallion would have sympathized and let him be. Right now wasn’t that time. Despite the devastation Gleam had caused to the creatures in the realm, there were still more than enough of them to make things difficult.

Raven and the rest of the group below had gone on the offensive. The aether whales and scarabisks had reacted by grouping round the obelisk for their last stand. Everyone on all sides knew that this was past the point of no return. There was no point in strategizing or hiding powers anymore. The side that would win was the one that gave it all it had.

Mega spell circles quickly appeared. Raven, Cheska, and Iksa combined their efforts to compose something that was well beyond novice level. Dallion was too far away to make out the separate symbols, but he knew that a complex chain of three seven-circle patterns was no joking matter. Meanwhile, the other side cast a series of spells of their own. What they couldn’t achieve through complexity, they made up for in quantity. Waves of water poured out from the whales while the insects charged it with electric bolts.

“Let’s go, Ruby,” Dallion said firmly. “Time to finish this.”

The shardfly didn’t react immediately, but a few seconds later turned around, returning to Dallion’s shoulder again.

“What do you say we finish it in style?” Dallion asked, then cast his copy spell on the creature.

You won’t be able to do much with a few shardflies, Nil said.

“Are you sure?” Dallion smiled.

Dozens became hundreds, then thousands. Each shardfly copy was barely a bit stronger than an echo, but the enemies didn’t know that; rather, they couldn’t risk assuming that.

No sooner had the waves of shardflies swooped down in the direction of the crystal obelisk, than several hundred scarbisks broke off from the overall defense and flew up to meet them. Magic barriers were cast and almost instantly shattered by thousands of wind slashes that fell upon them.

“Create a cone!” Dallion shouted as he positioned himself behind. All he needed was a hole through the scarabisk defenses. That would stir things up, causing the whales—the greatest remaining obstacle—to decide whether to focus on Dallion or his group.

Small clouds of jellyfish formed in the air. The aetherfish had caught sight of Dallion’s spell and decided to use it on its own accord. It was impossible to tell whether he was doing that for support or just out of a desire for fun, but either way, it helped create the illusion that Dallion was attacking with a well-established plan and a massive army.

Unfortunately, the illusion worked too well. As the waves of shardflies and scarabisks crashed into one another, the whales made a choice that no one expected. Instead of focusing their attention on one single group of attackers, they merged together, enveloping the entire obelisk. The changes didn’t end there. Threads of light riddled the new formless whole, tightening and stretching parts until a general form began to take shape. The top of the blob extended, turning into a large neck. Limbs appeared on four sides… It all seemed fascinating until two massive scaly wings popped out, stretching out as much as the constraints would allow them. At that point, icy chills ran through Dallion.

A dragon? He thought. They merged into an aether dragon?

Aether is a versatile material, Nil said. It’s not particularly difficult to give it any form, more or less.

It wasn’t the form that Dallion was worried about. He had already seen that even small creatures could defeat far larger ones based on the spells they cast and the speed at which they did it. What terrified him was his opponent’s reasoning. The only purpose such a transformation could have was to use aspects of the dragon that weren’t related to magic.

In the blink of the eye, the massive dragon split into instances. Fifty of them flew in the direction of Dallion, which the same amount darted towards Raven and the rest. There was no sign of the obelisk. The spot in which it stood had left nothing but a large hole.

“Dal.” Raven’s voice reached Dallion. It was different from before, sounding like a whisper despite the distance and spell amplification. “Give me an opening and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Against a dragon?” Dallion asked. He’d only faced one and a half so far—the half being a dragon’s shadow. This one seemed many times more powerful than both of them combined.

“Just give me the opening. I’ll take care of the rest.”

The request was clear. Raven was smart enough to ask it in such a way so as not to raise suspicion. That was good—it meant that the echoes inside the noble’s head had a plan. It also meant that they’d only have one shot at this.

“I’ll do my best!” Dallion shouted. “Lux, get us away fast!”

The flaming wings doubled in size, taking Dallion away at great speed. The dragon instances didn’t seem the least impressed, for they sped up as well, not only matching, but surpassing it. It was painfully obvious that the creature surpassed Dallion in every aspect. Magic symbols providing speed, strength, and dozens of other things were glowing all over its body.

“Head towards Raven!” Dallion ordered.

The firebird abruptly changed course, making Dallion want to throw up. The action halved the distance between Dallion and the remaining dragon instances. Within seconds, they would have reached him.

Come on, Raven! Dallion thought.

Precisely then, the black-haired made his move. A hundred feet before the dragon instances were upon him, Raven split into ten instances, each casting a flight spell that took him in a different direction. It looked like a clumsy attempt to escape the inevitable. By the time the aether dragon had reached him, Raven’s instances had barely moved a dozen feet away from his original spot.

Got you! Dallion thought.

From his perspective, time froze. A dozen dragon instances were less than a hundred feet away, just about to catch up to him. Meanwhile, one of the instances was smack in the middle of Raven’s own. Anyone would call the situation hopeless and everyone would be wrong. There was one thing that Dallion could do to reverse the situation—forced splitting.

Concentrating as much as he could, he selected one instance for the dragon and another for Raven. No one else, including himself, was going through any splitting at that precise moment of time. Dallion expected to feel a reality tug coming from the massive creature, but there was none. The dragon had been caught completely off guard and incapable of reacting. All instances, except for one, faded away. Appropriately, Raven’s remaining instance was precisely in the best situation to take advantage of the situation.

The boy’s left hand reached into the air, where a weapon appeared. Compared to the monster, it was so small that one couldn’t even call it a toothpick. Nonetheless, the black-haired struck the dragon, piercing one of the thick scales that covered it.

A high-pitched sound filled the air, similar to an industrial dog whistle. Magic threads were sucked into the sword at tremendous speed. In a single instant, the indestructible dragon was rendered powerless, becoming little more than a massive doll. The wings flapped in a desperate attempt to pull away from Raven and his weapon, but in vain. The powers that compelled it to enter the sword were far too great.

That weapon, Nil said.

I know. Dallion remained a mile away, keeping his distance. It was the same artifact that he’d been asked to clear at the magic shop. That explained why he’d bumped into Raven outside of the Learning Hall. Clearly, someone had finished the job transforming the artifact into the terrifying weapon it was. In normal circumstances, defeating the dragon would have ranged between impossible and extremely difficult. The weapon had changed all that with one strike.

Everyone watched as the dragon kept unraveling until it vanished completely in a matter of seconds. The obelisk, no longer finding any support in the air, fell down, hitting the ground with a loud thump. The sound virtually marked the end of the trial, but for some reason Dallion didn’t feel like celebrating. Knowing that yet another ominous weapon was in the hands of a noble was more than enough to sour his day.

“We did it!” Cheska shouted, oblivious to the potential danger. “Good one, Raven! Serves them right.”

Dallion waited for Dallion to unsummon the weapon, then flew down to join the rest. They were cheering each other like children, making the situation even more scary. A high-nobleman’s child with a sword that destroys magic… What could possibly go wrong?

“You did quite well, too.” Raven turned to Dallion. “I didn’t think your splitting was so good.”

“We were lucky that the dragon wasn’t ready.”

“Lucky or not, we did it!” Cheska said, shoving Dallion in the arm with her elbow. “No one has tried this challenge in centuries and we did it!”

“We’re not there yet,” Iksa said in a slightly more sober tone.

“We have so.” Cheska crossed her arms. “Everything else is just going through the motions.”

“Everything else?” Dallion asked.

“The final challenge.” Raven started his way towards the fallen obelisk. “We’ve completed the realm’s challenges, but that’s not all. There’s always one final step.”

Dallion thought about it for a minute.

“An exit guardian.” He shook his head. It was obvious when thinking about it, also very sneaky. Just when the novices believed they had succeeded, after the most exhausting battle the realm offered, they’d have to face something else. Knowing the Moons, that guardian would likely be a lot stronger than the first.

Looking at the rest of the group, it was obvious they were not fit for that. All of them were exhausted. Cheska had even drawn a few endurance symbols on herself to keep from falling over. The only two people who could be considered in fit condition were Dallion and Phoil… and Phoil hadn’t shown to be of any use so far.

“What’s the plan?” Dallion looked at Raven. “You use the sword to kill it?”

“That might be tricky. Besides, there’s an easier way. Phoil’s a sacrifice.”

Dallion stared at the large boy.

“Why did you think they took me along?” Phoil grinned. “When could I get as good as you and Cheska?”

To some degree Dallion had a suspicion that Raven was saving Phoil for something. However, he assumed that the boy had some innate skill that couldn’t be used frequently. In a manner of speaking, that was true. Out of everyone, Dallion would have thought he’d be the most likely to be sacrificed. The fact that he wasn’t suggested there was more required to it.

“You’re giving up the Moonstone?” Dallion asked.

“Says who? We get that when we leave the realm. The guardian won’t kill me, he’ll just eject me from the realm. Yeah, I’ll get a level penalty, but I’ll still keep the tone.”

That didn’t sound particularly reassuring. Dallion considered his options. In all likelihood, he could take the entire group without trouble. That would defeat the purpose, though. Besides, if what Raven was saying turned out to be true, Dallion couldn’t defeat the exit guardian.

Without a word, he went to the obelisk and put his hand on the crystal surface. Nothing happened.

Back to riddles again, Dallion thought.

Splitting into ten instances, Dallion drew different symbols. He started with the one for light. As it turned you, that was the right one. The entire obelisk lit up. A beam of purple light shot out from its tip, creating a circular tear in reality a short distance away.

A loud cracking sound came from the obelisk. Dallion split into instances and jumped back, the harpsisword appearing in his left hand. He was expecting a surprise enemy of sorts. Instead, he saw that five small chinks of crystal had fallen off the structure.

“That’s Moonstone?” he asked. “Not what I expected.”

Cautiously, he picked one up. At that point, he knew there could be no mistake. The energy that circulated through this small piece of crystal was comparable to that of Aether.

“It’s safe,” Dallion said as he examined the Moonstone. It could use some polishing. Ironically, of all the skills, he lacked only that particular one which would help him do that.

One by one, the rest of the group claimed their reward. The reaction was as one would expect—even Raven’s face lit up. Once more, they seemed like children that had received their first piece of candy. If only life was so simple.

“Guess I’m up,” Phoil said, making his way towards the portal. There was an inhuman eagerness in his demeanor. “See you on the other side.”

A moment later, he was gone. Now all everyone else could do was wait.