Etana’s fingers edged along the necklace that was fused to her neck. It itched and she had some distress at being unable to relieve the sensation. The necklace did not hurt her, thankfully. But it didn’t exactly move with her body in a natural way. She grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. “I still think you should bond with it”, she said to Ann.

Ann glared at her sister, “I said I don’t want to. Trina doesn’t want us to use her aspects.”

Etana sighed, “We can’t let someone else bond with it, and you’re the only one who can take it right now.”

Ann slung her backpack onto her shoulder as well. After the necklace had bonded to Etana and Vina’s house had burned down, Ann had refused to stay in Termily. She was determined to leave that same night. “Then you bond with it”, Ann said.

“I can’t!” Etana said, raising her voice slightly. “Not this soon at least. You know the rules about bonding so quickly after the first.”

“What did that necklace do for you anyway?” Ann asked.

Etana touched it again, “I don’t know. I didn’t get any prompts explaining it. No new skills either.”

“Divinity?” Ann said, raising an eyebrow.

“Still locked”, Etana said, triple checking her attributes page.

Ann shoved the box containing Priya’s gift aggressively into her backpack.

Etana continued pressing her sister, “If Priya gave that to you, she knew you would need it.”

Ann scowled, “Our mother doesn’t know me or my needs.”

Etana was beyond frustrated, but she decided to drop the topic for now. “Let’s go.”

They made their way out of their home and down the road. Etana had long ago created an emergency escape route if they ever needed one. Their initial destination was a place where the wall dipped. She had dug a large brick out and carefully disguised the hole it left, but when she got her Destroyer class, she returned the brick. Once they arrived, Etana simply punched the brick with enough force to dislodge it. Together they crawled out and began their trip away from their hometown.

“Randar is about two weeks away. Once there we can hire a guild of adventurers to find and rescue Vina”, Etana said.

“I know the plan, Etana. I helped make it”, Ann snapped in irritation.

Etana took a deep breath. Her nerves were getting to her. The twelve had taken Vina, Etana herself had bonded with something she didn’t understand, and escaping from Termily was stressing her out. She could see the same stresses on Ann’s face now. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just talking to distract myself.”

The moon was shining overhead as they made their way away from Termily and onto the nearby road. They traveled by moonlight, trying their best to not be detected by the patrolling guards. They had barely gotten away from the city before they heard a voice. “The darkness makes us. The darkness takes us.”

“Oh no”, Ann said as a man stepped out onto the trail in front of them.

Etana cursed as she looked the six eyed man over. “Ann, he’s the one that nearly killed Vina.”

“We should run!” Ann said, her voice filled with fear.

“Vina said this man was faster than her. I might be able to escape, but I don’t think you can keep up”, Etana said, shaking her head.

Ann swung her shield off her shoulder, “You’re right. Fine, we have to kill him then.” Using her other hand, she turned to Etana and touched her shoulder.

Etana felt her strength, speed, and vitality increase with as the seconds went by. She drew her sword from her side and activated her own skills. Her Destroyer class was still new, but she could combine almost any skill with her class’ passive ability.

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Class Passive: Destruction. Destruction allows you to apply twice as much force as a normal person could when performing any skill.

The man was not idle, however. He drew a knife from his hip and covered it in a green liquid. Etana knew from Vina’s story exactly what this was. She launched herself forward with charge, swinging her blade at the same time. Her sword came down fast and hard. The man’s right arm moved his weapon to deflect the strike, but his arm shuddered under the force of Etana’s strike and skills. Her own attributes plus Ann's enhancements were too much. His guard broke suddenly and Etana followed through. Her sword swept down, cutting through the light armor he wore.

Etana didn’t stop however, she continued her attacks, managing to strike the man twice more. Black liquid began to leak from his body as he stepped back from Etana's striking range. He suddenly raised a hand in retaliation, and Etana dodged to the side as acid streaked past her and directly toward Ann.

“Ann!” Etana screamed, but her sister merely lifted the shield she held in her off hand. The acid collided with the shield and there was a sizzling sound.

“Don’t worry about me. Kill him!” Ann yelled back.

Etana turned back to the man and saw darkness now covered the wounds on his body.. “I’m going to cut you to pieces!” she growled. She charged forward once more, but the man had seemed to regain his composure. The chanting started once more and he side stepped her easily. He brought his elbow down on her back as she flew past him. She was immediately knocked to the ground. The man followed through with a swift kick to her side and Etana rolled across the ground. She tried to regain her breath and her feet, but she was too slow.

The man grabbed her by the back of the neck and lifted her up. Etana kicked her legs in protest, struggling to break free. He brought his knife back and Etana could only look at Ann in fear. She screamed as the knife was thrust into her back and she was thrown to the side.

Etana lay face down, stunned by the pain of her wound and a vaguely numb feeling from her waist down. She thought she could hear the sizzling of her own skin. She heard Ann's scream and struggled to lift herself by her arms when her legs didn’t respond. She was confused by what she saw.

Ann was on her knees, but the man had not yet moved toward her. Ann screamed again and a light erupted from her body, lighting up the forest around them. Ann held her hand in front of her body and forced it into a fist. The man groaned and crumbled to his knees as a golden glow surrounded him. Motes of shadows escaped his body in a cloud. Before they could fly away, Ann opened her hand once more and swept it in front of her. A light streamed from her fingers that melted them away into nothingness. Ann cringed as she held her head, pain evident in her blue eyes in the fading light.

There was silence for a moment. Then they both could hear the man speak. “Help... Vina”, the man pleaded before falling forward.

“Etana!” Ann screamed as she ran to her sister.

“You used it didn’t you? You bonded with the Aspect of Light”, Etana said, weakness in her voice.

“Yes. Be quiet. I can fix you with this aspect too.”

Etana could feel a warmth enter her body and tears rolled down her face when feeling returned to her legs. Etana looked at her sister in appreciation, but gasped when she saw the aspect had bonded itself directly onto her sister’s forehead. The traditional color of the aspects was not evident in this one. It instead glowed a light yellow “Are you okay?” she asked, reaching up to her sister’s head.

Ann swatted her hand away, “You were stabbed in the back. Are you okay?” she said, raising her voice.

Etana slowly got to her feet and found everything to be working once again. She walked over to the man’s body. She had received the kill notification, but she needed to make sure he was dead. “I think so. That aspect can really heal?”

Ann opened her mouth to answer her, but Etana felt something. A pulling sensation dragged her down to the ground by the man’s body. A red stone leapt from the man's shoulder and lodged itself directly into Etana’s necklace. She gritted her teeth as she felt something being pulled on from within her.

You have been bonded with the Aspect of Removal. Attunement 100%. Divinity unlocked.

Etana’s hands balled into fists and her nails cut into her palms as knowledge was forced into her mind. She understood the aspect, not as merely an acid, but the complete capability to remove things from the system. Her mind became aware of a new way her world operated, and she could never see it in the same way again.

Ann was by her side just as Etana regained control of her body again. “What happened!” Ann screamed at her in a panic.

Suddenly the ground shook. It shook over and over with a slight delay between rumblings. Etana spotted something in the air above them. “What is…”

Something crashed into the ground between them. Etana was knocked backwards and rolled across the ground. Ann screamed again and Etana quickly regained her feet.

The largest man Etana had ever seen stood between them. He moved with shocking speed and picked Ann up with one hand. His arms wrapped around her and he held her tightly against his chest. Ann struggled without success against his strength. He turned for a moment and looked at Etana. She immediately recognized him from a children's story. “The titan…” she whispered. As soon as she spoke, he leapt back into the air, toward Termily. “No!” Etana screamed in futility.