She fell from the sky like a bird that suddenly lost its wings. Her boots needed a very small amount of mana, but she had nothing. Knowing that she would survive the fall, she moved her attention to the rest of the battle. Luke and Toroken were fighting admirably, but they were noticeably slowing. The curse seemed to spread faster as they fought. Luke’s resplendent golden visage was marred with spots like rust. She noticed it almost immediately, and Toroken was fearing worse. He didn’t seem to have much in the way of defense, relying almost entirely on his scales. That might work for most enemies, but the curse was affecting him too. Some of his scales looked old and, she could spot a few cuts across his body. Some shards of crystal were embedded in his wings, and she watched as the crystals grew.

Valeria wanted to help right away but knew better. She would be more than useless without mana. Her role was to kill, and she needed a lot of mana to do that. Her head turned toward the ground as she was about to collide with some trees. She spread her body out as best she could and scratched and hit as many branches as possible. It slowed her fall enough that she managed to land on her hands and knees and not her head. That didn’t stop the pain. It felt like she had just been stoned. The pain would fade with Luke’s magic, even if he weren’t actively watching her.

She sat down folding her legs into a meditative pose. Controlling her breathing was hard for two reasons. The first was the adrenaline that made her want to charge headlong into the next fight, and the other was the sand. It was everywhere. She spat to the side to get what she could out of her mouth and pulled her shirt’s collar over her nose as a makeshift mask. Despite all that, she managed to meditate. She was used to doing it in bad places.

Maybe a minute passed when the sand on her skin and hair was pulled off of her. It floated off her like insects flying back to their hive. She watched them and desperately wanted to see what was happening beyond the cover of the trees, but she still needed more time.

A cracking noise from her side, made her jump to her feet. Her hands had already begun glowing purple though it was faint compared to the earlier light. The light vanished as she saw Luke push through the trees. His body faintly shone with light, and he was hurt. One of his arms was missing, replaced by a golden copy. Numerous smaller cuts and wounds covered his arms and legs. If he wasn’t healing that, it must mean the curse was getting bad. She approached him, but he held a hand up to stop her.

“Don’t come closer.”

His voice was hoarse and dry, and he audibly wheezed with every breath. She stared at him and nodded slowly. He continued to speak as soon as she did.

“Advance. You killed Evan, so you should be able to do it. Try for a class that can stop the curse or at least something to kill them if not. I will protect you.”

Luke’s voice was surprisingly warm as he encouraged her to advance. Toroken’s roar was like thunder as it shook the island like a massive earthquake. Luke smiled slightly.

“I think that counts as a promise too.”

Speaking was obviously hard for him, but he still managed to smile. His teeth were a little bloody, but the smile on his face was somehow genuine. She nodded and sat back down. Shutting her eyes, she shifted her focus inward and felt the ground beneath her vanish.

Her eyes snapped open, and she gazed at two very distinct and opposite pillars of light. One was purple and familiar. Its power called to her own abilities, and she knew the class would improve what she could already do. She tentatively reached out to it and felt the information flood her mind.

God of the Thrill, The Soul of Battle: You have forsaken all that you were and committed to a shard of true divinity. The thrill is the life of battles, the lust that invades the mind when standing before your enemies. Combat grants you power like no other. A prayer in battle is a prayer to you. Thrive off the lust of battle that fills the mind of soldiers and heroes. You crave nothing but battle. It is the core of your very being. You are the soul of battle, and the battle is within your soul. Strike at your enemies with the unbridled desire for the carnage that burns within you.

As a god, you inherit a part of divinity. Your world will change to accommodate the new owner of the shard. Your power is fundamental to the structure of the world, as such you will be bound to that world and those it has suborned.

This choice will change the Class System to the God System.

That sounded wonderful. It filled her mind with wonderful images of vengeance, though she pushed it away. For all that the power called out to her, it wouldn’t give her the ability to save anyone. Especially not Luke or Toroken. In another situation, she wouldn’t hesitate to pick the class. It would let her become a god like Luke, plus it would give her enough power to help protect the island. She could’ve become a visage to rival other nations on her own. She looked toward the other pillar. It was grey and dim, barely managing to illuminate its surroundings. It was a disappointing color. Her hand drifted toward it, and she felt the information rush into her head.

Mother of Death: The Mother of Death is an advanced class that will grant you powers anew. Become one who manipulates the life and death of others. As the Mother of death, you give life to the dead and grant death to those that live. Without life, there is no death, and without death, there is no life. Your understanding of this rule grants you the ability to tear away your own life and death to bestow it on another.

It was vague. That was the first thought she had after learning of the class. The class itself didn’t sound too bad, but she didn’t like the idea of working with the dead. She had worked with a handful of death mages before, and it was usually their scent that really bothered her. The class didn’t speak to her as much as the previous one, but it offered her a chance.

There was no guarantee that this class would give her the ability to save Luke and the others. Who knows? They might not even need to be saved. She couldn’t risk it though. The simple fact that this class might offer an immediate solution to the curse was enough of a reason to pick it. In truth, she probably had enough offensive power, that the first class probably would’ve been excessive. That thought was the one that convinced her to take a new class.

Everyone wanted power, but people with nothing but power didn’t, or couldn’t, actually do a lot. It truly didn’t take that much to take a life, and she was already one of the best at it. They needed versatility right now; she just hoped it gave her enough power to get her vengeance too. With that debate settled, she reached for the pale grey pillar.

The world around her vanished, and she returned to her body only to see it devoid of any color. It was as if some had bled the world of what made it beautiful. It was a mass of whites and blacks to her eyes now, and she rose to her feet shakily. Her body didn’t feel overfull with power like her last advancement. It felt strange. Her chest felt surprisingly empty. Then she saw it.

Luke was on the ground, kneeling with his back to her. His hands were held in front of him like a shield against the very world. He wasn’t moving. The muscles on his neck didn’t shift at all, and she realized in a moment of disturbing calm that he was dead. Her body froze, and she just stared at him.

Valeria didn’t weep. Her heart didn’t ache. She felt it should. She felt that she should cry, and wail until her throat grew dry and hoarse. None of that happened though. The only thing she did was stare. After a few moments like that, her knees began to shake and her whole body vibrated a little. Her hands felt unsteady, and she couldn’t even find the strength to tighten them into fists.

A question popped into her mind. Why hadn’t they killed her? Why only Luke? Shakily, she raised one hand to clutch at her chest. She would tear out her own heart if she could. Her hand met water, and she winced as a flash of pain thrummed through her. Pulling her hand away in alarm, she shifted her gaze away from Luke. There was a literal hole in her chest, right where her heart should be. It was a little bigger than her fist, and it bore straight through her.

How? She was a classer. Why was she alive when Luke wasn’t?

The questions bounced around in her head, as she felt the call of her new powers. It was not the call of souls that she remembered vividly. If anything, it felt like the opposite. The call of a body that was now missing its soul. Luke’s corpse called to her, but she didn’t touch it. She knew that she could bring him back. Offer it a piece of her soul. But it would be fake. Even without checking her status, she knew what she could do. The class had come with a new sense, and she didn’t want to bring Luke back as anything but himself.

She felt others though. Many, many others. Toroken’s body was still here, and she felt three others at Luke’s level. Evan was close enough that she would grab him first. Grief and pain were something for later. Her enemies were still on the island, and she would get her vengeance. She walked slowly, still unsure of how her body was moving at all. A part of her told her to check her status, but another part told her not to. If she knew what she was about to do, then she felt like she wouldn’t go through with it.

As she moved through the forest, she had to brush aside branches and noticed how dead the island felt now. The grass was wilting, and the trees’ leaves littered the ground as if it were autumn. The branches were brittle and dry, some of them even snapped under feeble strength.

It took maybe five minutes to get to Evan’s body. She had torn it to pieces, but it still called for her power. Like a baby that needed to be fed, she heard its cry and knew how to feed it. To her eyes, the world had become nothing but blacks and whites, but the body in front of her pulsed with red flashes of fire, anger, and rage. She knew what to do. Her hands dripped with the black inkiness that she had used to kill Evan before, and she reached into herself. She grabbed her own soul. Ripped out a piece of her own hatred and anger and offered it to the body like a baby’s bottle. Only after giving up that piece of her soul, did she check her status. It was too late to turn back now.