Luke moved on once he felt sufficiently recovered, and his essence recovered to its normal regeneration. He’d love to stay in a pleasant environment like the one he found himself in.

There wasn’t any time to rest on his laurels. As the pair left the mirror realm, Luke cast Essence Bond on Sooty. She had taken residence on his shoulder. Closing his eyes just as he passed the transparent entrance back to the primary mirror hall, Luke stepped out.

Sooty placed her wing in his vision just in time.

“What? Oh, that’s right.”

Luke hadn’t forgotten, but he did put off placing the blind fold on till the last moment. He couldn’t blame Sooty for being cautious. Even with Reaver’s Link, she couldn’t read his mind. Firmly tightening the wraith cloth blindfold over his eyes, Luke felt a bit of air pass his face once Sooty retracted her wing.

Feeling the stone floor through his shoes, Luke tapped his foot. The familiar sounds of two waterfalls took up most of the background noise. The air still tasted rather stagnate. The moisture from the waterfalls did help, however. The duo stepped toward the last gray crystal, enjoying the smell of wet stone and another scent akin to dusty tomes.

With the mirrors relatively close to each other in each lane, it was only a few paces. Sooty pat Luke with her wing once, signaling to stop so she could inspect the suspect mirror realm. This time, he could sense Sooty was hesitant to answer.

“What’s wrong, pal? Is this one that challenging? Or?”

Sending a rather complex mixture of intention and emotion, especially for a bird, the general message to Luke was: difficult.

A predatory grin spread across his face. “Good. This’ll be the last one without Xera and Wayfinder, then. I won’t force you to go in if you truly don’t want to, pal.”

Sooty let out a few admonishing clicks. Paired with the fragmented communication of Reaver’s Link. Luke made out that Sooty was feeling similar to: Like I’d ever let you in there alone, roost member.

“That’s settled then, let’s prepare.”

Sooty closed her eyes as well, letting Essence Bond run its course. Infusion refreshed on Luke, Sooty, and Whispering Edge. Once the ability was off Cooldown, the pair both opened their eyes.

A pleasant sight of a horrific creature and its family stared back at the two. Luke couldn’t help but take a step back. Which, to his fortune, let him avoid most of the glass bursting apart in front of him. The interface popped up with what information it could give Luke.

[Camazotz] (High Elite)

Level: 18

HP: 1570/1570

An unholy representation of a man mixed with vampire bats. Gross.

Forcing down both his surprise and the Interface window, Luke sent a signal to Sooty. They were to get these creatures under control. Fast. Not wasting a single heartbeat, Luke cast Essence Bond. Before the ability fully formed around his targeted Camazotz, Essence Lance was grasped by his left hand.

Sooty let out her screech, and a dark outline covered the sound waves. Wanting to keep momentum on their side for as long as possible, Sooty released Shadow Wing without suspense. The shade looked solid to Luke. The Camazotz were resistant to both the shadow essence of Sooty and the frost essence of Luke. The slow of Essence Lance was partially ineffective.

The combo had enough power behind it to force them back away from the entrance to the mirror realm. Feeling entering this realm was still the better choice, the duo stepped in while the monsters were knocked back. Three silver moons hung in the sky. Luke’s boots were slick in watery mud. He felt the humid heat one might find in old Florida before most of the earth’s environment became ruined by war.

A swamp. He thought.

The Reaver let the frosty essence held within go wild. The sharp blade of Whispering Edge oscillated with the varying control Luke attempted with the frost essence. Even with the previous mirror realms experience, getting the frost essence to stay solid on the blade proved difficult.

I’ll have to learn on the go.

The shadow Sooty released relentlessly kept the Camazotz off Luke’s back as he got his bearings. One even had the Death’s Head Hawk Moth symbol carved into its chest. Taking the windfall, the shade spread the mark with its own Essence Screech.

With his mobility limited in knee-high swamp water, Sooty had her shade place an Iron Feather around Luke. Not a moment too soon, either, as another Camazotz burst through the swap, its frighteningly long arms smashed into Luke.

[-150]

Even with Iron Feather, it hits this hard? Not good.

Luke pressed his legs back with his body uplifted above the murky depths. Trying to solve his footing issue, Luke surged every ounce of frosty essence to the soles of his feet. The measure worked, and the mud beneath his feet solidified. The drawback was that Luke didn’t have enough control to keep the essence on his blade, eyes, and feet. Instead, he only managed to keep his boots enveloped with white-blue ice.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Sooty found herself surrounded by three other Camazotz. Their leathery wings were surprisingly agile. Maneuvering with her shadow wing, Sooty gained enough room, landing a critical talon strike through one monster’s neck. Strings of shadow imbued her talon.

[-225]

Even with the weakening of Essence Bond, the creatures were almost too agile, even for Sooty. Without that edge, the crow would be in dire straits. As he noticed her situation, Luke yelled out to her, “Let’s pair up, like we always do. No need to separate. Scratch that, we can’t separate.”

Activating Wraith Wail, the nearest monster to Sooty, stood in horror, with every other one in range for the AOE slow. This one had no reduced effect on the Camazotz. Leaving a parting gift for the monster, a Reaver’s Beak to its left eye, Sooty dived down to Luke. With the shade using its last duration to cover her, the Reaver’s Companion circled low, just behind Luke.

The Reaver could barely keep the Camazotz off him. The combination of the creature’s absurd agility and barely stable footing wasn’t working well for him. Luke only kept this one at bay with his recent training in reading attack patterns.

Getting a feel for the particular cadence of this form of combat, Luke slowly began to handle more and more. Sooty ripped up the wings and upper back of the Camazotz. A well-landed rake of her talon caused the monster to let out a sonic screech.

Luke’s tinnitus immediately came back, and constant ringing annoyed his senses. The creature bolted toward him, both arms aiming to tear him open. Using the ice he created, Luke slid past the long reach this creature had over him. Whispering Edge was put into a two-handed grip, piercing through the monster’s side.

Through a moment of uncanny calm, Luke guided frost through his blade, exploding the barely contained essence inside the creature. Ripping Whispering Edge out while back sliding to dodge a counterattack, the Camazotz began to rupture heavily. Blood dripped down its stomach through its side and mixed with the ice it stood on.

The exchange between the three combatants, namely Sooty, Luke, and the isolated monster, was absurdly rapid. Over ten blows were dodged and exchanged between the three within two seconds. The slow from Wraith Wail had given Luke and Sooty some time, but it was nearly over. The creature tried to take to the skies to prolong its life.

Luke’s recent rupturing strike caused the monster to commit a fatal mistake. To forget about a Reaver’s companion. Two shadow-imbued talons ripped across its neck. A finishing Reaver Beak to the skull and one high elite finally died.

That was all well and good, but three more were ready to greet the pair. Sooty landed just beside Luke, waiting for his next move.

Keeping his eyes on the three bat-like flying monsters coming his way, Luke let the ice beneath him build. The Arctic ice spread across the watery swamp. The colder it became, and the more frost in the area, the easier he found it to control this frost essence of his.

The same issue came up: his natural regeneration of essence was slowing. Trying to take down these high elites without the assistance of his frost would be a tall task. Not willing to find out how the fight would go without his recent elementalization, Luke readied Essence Fissure once he felt the ice was thick enough for the next move.

The three remaining beasts were nearing, one in the front, the other two just behind it on each side. Using his depth perception, Luke felt they were in an acceptable range.

“Come back down. I’m here to play.”

The rift ripped across the sky, just above its targets. Twinges of frost pressed down with the fissure’s pressure. The three monsters slammed into the thick ice sheet, spreading around Luke. The ice held but formed spiderweb cracks under the pressure of Essence Fissure.

Luke lowered his center of gravity by practically sliding over the glacial terrain, tilting away from Whispering Edge. Once he got into position, he refreshed Infusion, smashing Whispering Edge through the first target’s wings. Luke sent a lightning-quick message of intent through Reaver’s Link to Sooty. She began to shred the other two monster’s wings. Luke wanted uncontested air superiority on his side. Getting rid of these vampire-bat wings would do the trick.

Reminded of his fight with Vincent, Luke aimed for the heart first. Unfamiliar with the anatomy of vampire-bat men, his first strike pierced through a lung. On his second attempt, Whispering Edge sliced into a massive beating heart. While the damage was enormous, the rules of reality weren’t quite the same as back on Earth. The Camazotz was still alive.

Essence Fissure is about to let up.

Luke dreaded the long reach these creatures had. Unable to determine if one more critical blow would kill the beast, he hacked down Whispering Edge on its arm. The creature screeched, using its echo attack, even under pressure. The echo disoriented Luke. Pressing through his enemy’s desperate resistance, Luke stepped harshly with one foot forward, then put the entire power of his back into a final slash. The arm he hit was severed. Essence Fissure closed, and the pressure ended.

Back stepping to avoid the hurried raking attack of the Camazotz, blood from its now wide open arm socket sprayed onto Luke’s face. The other two monsters were on them, intelligently trying to cover for their gravely wounded member. Stuck between trying to defend against Luke and Sooty’s pincer attack from the ground and skies, the three high elites were on the back foot.

In a fit of misfortune, Essence Bond ceased at that exact moment. Failing to adjust to the full speed of the other two moderately injured Camazotz, Luke only avoided the swings from one before the other batted him like a baseball. Another frightening number pulsed in Luke’s vision as he slid across the ice.

[-200]

Another full swing like that, and it is over. The thought put Luke into a deadly calm.

The successful attack came at a price. Sooty reaped the life of the recent one-armed creature they had left behind. The crow raked at both with her Talons on their backs less than a second later.

Frost essence was already becoming harder for Luke to bring out. Sooty desperately tried to peel the two monsters away from Luke. She let out her Essence Screech but failed to imbue it with shadow essence. The two creatures stumbled, absorbing the hit. The attack worked, but not as well as the crow hoped. Both Camazotz let out their loud echo in response.

Luke’s ears began to bleed, and his vision swam, blurring in and out. His steps became unsteady. The ear canal was crucial to balance, and he quickly lost any semblance of poise.

The two creatures’ swings were blazingly fast. Even with him focusing only on dodging or redirecting with Whispering Edge, more cuts appeared across his body. Sooty’s timely assistance prevented more than one otherwise deadly swipe of their claws. The creatures let out frustrated growls at Sooty, unable to reach her in the skies. Luke only needed an opening, and Whispering Edge answered with his subsequent cutting motion.

[Target has been silenced for 1 second]

The Camazotz had been prevented from rereleasing the disorienting screech, and the slight pause let Luke recollect himself. The other monster tried to cover for it, confused at the turn of events. The guarding act was noble but the wrong move for the beast.

“Enough.” The Reaver formed an Essence Lance, freshly off cooldown.

And he then smashed it against Whispering Edge.