Luke’s eyes could see it this time.
The essence in his body surged like a volcano, except ice erupted from him rather than lava. The frost he previously created converged around him. His eyes could barely perceive the essence in the air in this state. Every ounce of it flooded into him.
Essence Feedback felt far more powerful than last time. Almost frighteningly so. Ice fields grew, and Luke’s eyes glowed the same color as his essence. Sooty had flown high, unable to cope with the rapidly degrading zone around Luke.
He felt like an overfilled vessel. His frost enveloped a far larger area and in a more potent form. Instead, it would be more apt to say a blizzard landed, with Luke as the epicenter. Whispering Edge turned into a pure white-blue, and the two monsters inches from him already showed signs of freezing to death.
The two creatures vainly tried to attack Luke, but it all felt too…slow. Ice sheared through the air as he sliced off one arm, ducking slightly to avoid the other. With its arm removed, the creature instinctively tried to use its screech, only to find its vocal cords silenced.
Capitalizing on the useless move, Luke stepped in and severed its head. Ice sealed its neck from bleeding, and its body rapidly turned pale white. Luke let out a frosty breath. Fierce arctic winds responded to him. These high elites lost their prime advantage: speed. Their natural resistance to cold was less than useless against this level of frost essence.
The arctic winds buffeted Luke, his hood flapping in the wind, and his cloak billowed. The ice beneath him rapidly moved, bringing him behind the last monster. Unable to react in time, the beast failed to prevent Luke from piercing Whispering Edge into its head. The blade slid through easily, coming out of the monster’s bat-like face. Changing his posture, Luke adjusted his grip and forced Whispering Edge downward.
An icy blue line bisected the creature straight down the middle. Two ice-coated halves fell opposite ways. Not a drop of blood was spilled. The internals were already frozen over.
Letting out another breath, icy mist drifted along Luke’s face. The glow in his eyes dimmed, and sweat formed before instantly freezing. He let go of Whispering Edge, the blade too cold to handle longer.
Dropping to his knees, Luke ended the Essence Feedback early. The backlash was still immense, and his body became stiff. The frost was too much, even for him. Luke’s blood felt like sludge, and he couldn’t close his eyes. The Interface displayed a single line in the battle log.
[Essence Feedback prematurely ended after 4 seconds. Essence abilities sealed for 4 minutes]
Sooty landed on Luke’s chest, slowly pouring water from her Spatial Feather. Despite being normally temperate to Luke, the water felt hot on his body.
“Who gets hypothermia from their own abilities? This class is bullshit sometimes.” Shifting his eyes to focus on Sooty, he said, “Thanks for the hot bath, pal. We did it, didn’t we? I think we found our new limits.”
A different thought popped up in his mind.
Maybe this is why the frost resistance was a quest reward. Without it, I don’t think my body could handle the cold.
Sooty gave an impressive mixture of caws and clicks. Then, while slowly pouring more water from her Spatial Feather, she hopped around lightly in pride. The crow had figured out various aspects of this new shadow essence of hers.
“I can see why you weren’t sure if we should go in, pal. What do you think, time we take back those two now?” Luke asked Sooty.
The bird tilted her head in a thinking motion. After half a second, she let out an assenting rattle. Then, coming over to Luke’s head, the crow pat him twice with her wing. With chattering teeth, Luke spoke to Sooty.
“You’ll make sure they behave? Ha, deal then. Like it or not, they were more help than harm, anyway.”
The Interface was done with its calculations by now. Luke could feel new strength streaming into him. The stats minorly helped in shortening his thawing process. Enjoying the spoils the most after a hard fight, Luke pulled up the relevant information.
[You have stolen 40 Agility, 3 Strength, and 39 HP]
The harder the fight, the sweeter the reward. Luke’s body slackened, relaxing between shivers, an odd sight. Most ice sheets melted, and the ordinarily humid hot air returned. With his body feeling like a popsicle, Luke welcomed the heat source.
That is, until part of the moisture froze over his body. Overall, the hot wind was still a helping hand. The forceful pause from Essence Feedback’s backlash made Luke focus internally. His body smelled like black ice.
Unable to move for a long while, he closed his eyes. Luke felt a slightly uncomfortable crunch as he did so. Focusing within, Luke could partially perceive the essence rampaging throughout his body. His control over the energy was still at a novice level. Gracefully flowing it from one body part to the next wouldn’t happen anytime soon.
Luke needed a teacher. The finer aspects of this whole class were mainly a mystery to him. Not to mention if Reavers were supposed to do more with their companion. Only thinking about settling the essence, the energy slowed, then deposited itself in various points throughout his body. Ignoring his soaked gear, Luke cracked and crunched as he brought himself up.
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With her Reaver moving again, Sooty stopped pouring the water out of her Spatial Feather. Instead, she tried to recover what she could. Trying to stand too quickly, Luke slipped. Reaching out, he grabbed Whispering Edge. He gripped the handle with his right hand and stabbed the blade through the ice. The assistance ensured Luke stood up straight.
Sooty had finished recovering the water and perched on the nearby broken frame out of the mirror realm, waiting on Luke. The crow pecked at the entrance curiously. Luke took a few uncoordinated steps, his body cracking alongside the ice beneath him.
“I’ll have to get a move on if I don’t want to take a mud bath.”
Picking up the pace, despite his body’s protests, Luke managed to prevent dipping into the swamp below the rapidly thawing ice. He cast Essence Bond onto Sooty as he shifted the still-cold wraith cloth blindfold over his eyes. Luke impatiently entered the mirror hall, desiring to escape the ice. Welcoming the feel of solid stone beneath his feet, he moved with Sooty’s half-decipherable directions.
Movement generated additional heat, and by the time he was in the “safe zone” away from the mirrors, Luke was near where he initially appeared in the mirror hall. The blindfold came off, and he double-checked if they missed any gray crystals. Assured they’d cleared each one, Sooty moved before he said anything. She landed on the gray crystal above the mirror realm, where the ghastly shades took residence.
Light transferred from Luke’s companion to the gray crystal. As before, a misty gray beam struck the last uncharged gray crystal nearby. Sooty flapped over to that crystal, and the process repeated itself. The remaining light transferred from the corvid, satiating the gray crystal she sat on. Swirling vapor formed, then released, melding into the nearby wall. A pylon lit up, cloudy in appearance.
The other previously lit-up pylon resonated, letting out a low pitch. The waterfalls stopped crashing as if waiting for permission. Two fogged bursts of light spread like a nova across the entire hall. Every mirror not in the final pair, that being the fifth set in the five lanes, broke. A twister of fierce wind swept up every bit of glass. The rotating wind zoomed, stopping right in front of Luke.
The glass within the tornado reformed, and a black mirror reconstructed. Its frame was dark gold, an ancient air spread out, demanding caution. Unlike every other mirror, this one did not shatter when he looked at it, which was a relief. The mirror had formed, facing him before he managed to close his eyes. Luke saw his messy look, torn clothes, dried blood, and unkempt hair.
Beside the mirror was a slot that matched the shape Xera took in wand form. Quickly connecting the dots, Luke let out a sigh.
“Looks like it’s time to go make-up whether I like it or not. This black mirror won’t open without Xera.” Looking over to his corvid friend, Sooty was still sitting on the last gray crystal she charged, “Are you going to wait there, or come with me?”
Sooty stared at him and then closed her eyes. It appeared to Luke that she wanted to take this time to relax. He couldn’t fathom how sitting on a crystal could be comfortable, but he was rarely one to force Sooty to do one thing or another.
The two waterfalls flowed once more, and the distant sound of rushing water filled the grand hall once more. Luke sheathed Whispering Edge. Reapplying Infusion to both himself and to Whispering Edge, most of the cold had receded from his body. With only the final pair of mirrors in each lane still intact, Luke was less tense as he walked down the central lane, which housed the infernal realm he’d cleared not so long ago.
As long as Sooty did as he asked, that mirror realm would be where Xera and Wayfinder had their time-out. Stopping in front of the frame that once held siege beasts, Luke felt conflicted.
“I wanted to try this mirror out after the hidden piece. I guess it’s for the best, then.”
As for the one with Leviathans, Luke was still pretty sure he couldn’t split mountains or treat dragons to tea, so he had no thoughts of ever challenging the mirror. That standing death-trap shattering was only a pure relief to him.
Feeling the smooth silver frame of the now defunct siege beast mirror, Luke moved on. The mirror realms to previously cleared areas were still open. The rest were sealed away, not including the fifth pair of mirrors in the five lanes.
Taking a deep breath, Luke calmly entered the Infernal realm. Prepared to grow his decayed social skills. The heat from this mirror realm helped push out the stubborn cold rooted in Luke. The first sounds to come to his ears were two artifacts in a fierce discussion. You could also call it an argument.
“It’s so hot in here. Why did he suddenly snap like that, huh? We were having so much fun.” Xera said.
“You were having fun, were you? Lassie, you can’t just keep going all willy-nilly. The lad won’t show it, but he’s on the verge of breaking apart.” Speaking over Xera, Wayfinder continued, “Imagine, his own sword or wand, whatever in the blazes you want to call yourself, can’t be trusted to fight for him fully. What use is being two types of weapons if you can’t be bothered to use both forms when he needs it?”
“But-”
“And then, knowing full well her new ‘master’ is about to have his heart explode, the weapon is more worried about god-forsaken fun and jokes rather than working together to get out of this tomb.” Wayfinder’s voice grew in volume.
“That’s not what I think. I just finally got to taste freedom, you know? What’s wrong with wanting to explore the world after being stuck in a chest for longer than most people are alive?”
“You know what I think lass? You’re a selfish, self-serving, annoying wand sword I’ll have to bicker with for the rest of my existence. I miss me fishy friend already, always nice and quiet.”
“I, I, hate you! Mean compass, why can’t you just be more friendly? Would it kill you to be nice? Maybe he left us like that because you’re always mean to him! I could see him react painfully to your needless insults. You’re as guilty as I am.”
“Feel how you want about me lassie. At least I did all I could for the young lad. Never refused to use me own abilities for him. Can you say the same?”
Luke figured the two would be in the middle of speaking to each other when he found them. The Reaver considered that surely, two objects with centuries or longer of existence would be more mature than this. Extended periods alone throw any semblance of accurate prediction out the window. Likely, all three vocal members of the party were moderately insane. Poor Sooty would have to keep it together for the three of them.
Both artifacts failed to notice his entrance, their argument growing more heated. At first, he let them argue. Maybe they’d sort out the tension between them. Alas, it was only getting worse. Once Luke got out of this cave, he’d have to fix this rift in his team, or it’d be unbearable.
Bits of guilt welled up. He knew his reaction back in the lich realm could’ve been handled better. Luke was only a young man who hadn’t seen another pure human in over a year. To say handling conflict was not his forte was an understatement.
Worse than people vanishing rapidly over the course of two years was the third year in which he was forgotten. Sooty had let him hold on during that period. At least he was blessed in that his dad was one of the last to disappear. Luke spoke up, unable to convince himself to delay the problem before him.
“Let’s talk, you two.”