Zoey’s arrows fell on the orc, but the space above it shone as a glass shield formed over it. The arrows sank into the mirrors soundlessly and then, with shocking speed they sailed back out, flying for Zoey. A crack of lightning shot from Tara, crashing against them and crushing them to small splinters of essence that shimmered like fine dust caught in sun rays. For a moment, everyone stared at the mirror and then the orc roared with fury and it shattered. Galan hissed, but said nothing.
David cursed as he ran for the beast. Looking at it now, he could recall his father fighting one. The memory was agonizing, yet it focused him. His sword hummed and trembled as essence rushed into it and then it burst into flames. The orc shrieked, jumping back as David’s sword went for his torso. It sneered, mouth leaking brown spit. Then it leapt for David.
The ground shook when it landed, pushing David off balance just as its axe came down for his head. Memories raced through his mind and his body moved on autopilot. He pushed the sword down, using it to shift slightly away from the axe’s path before spinning gracelessly to slash the orc’s belly. Green fluid flowed out of the wound and the orc stumbled back, suddenly a simple minded beast afraid of the pain. Its free hand covered the sore, trying to stop whatever it was that leaked out of it. Symbols etched into the orc's skin and horn glowing a strong violet as the orc flailed and cried, smashing his axe on the ground in blind rage or fear.
Its howling stopped, slowed to a whimper. It took its hands off and David gasped as he watched the gash knit itself back until there was nothing there, not even a scar.
“That is bad,” Tara said and Galan laughed raucously behind her, hands hitting the table with delight. David swore.
“Zoey, kill that old filth. Tara, we have to put down this thing,” David said, trying to remember what the trigger was for him to access that other power that hid within him. He could feel it. The voice he heard so long ago, it came to the surface of his memory now. The World Tilter. Its power was arcane and old. Too old even for Ignis.
“Don’t give me orders,” Tara growled at him, her hair fluttering violently as cracks of lightning streaked all over her body. Two rough rings of jagged lightning formed above her like a holographic crown of halos. David stared wide eyed for a moment, but the monster in front of them was coming now, eyes radiating malice.
They had wounded it. He had inflicted pain on it. Now the beast wanted its vengeance and David knew for sure that he didn’t want to be in the path of that axe.
A lance of lightning flew at it and it swung its axe, slashing the lance in two. David’s heart sank, but then he saw the two halves attached to the orc and struck him again and again until green liquid oozed out its mouth. Still it stood, mouth opened in a snarl and it heaved its axe up. Essence converged on the blade and before David could think twice he sped for it. His sword caught the blade before it could reach the ground and the orc’s force threatened to flatten him or turn him into a smear of flesh and blood on the dark stone floor.
Behind him Tara threw bolt after bolt. David’s skin prickled as the air around him heated up. Every breath he took was hot in his chest, but he hoped Tara wouldn’t stop. He could sense something, like a distant spark. Something was coming and David had a distinct feeling it wasn’t coming from Ignis.
It is intriguing, the dragon’s voice boomed in his voice. I think I can tell you what triggers your insight, at least for this other power but something holds the knowledge away from me. I can sense it, but I can’t reach for it.
David ignored the dragon’s rambling. He poured more essence into his sword.
Tara stopped shooting spears of lightning. David groaned and tried to shove the beast off him, but it was relentless. Its axe’s blade was pushing his sword down and his arms were feeling numb. Tara leapt over them, a flashing rope of blue-white lightning wrapped around the orc’s neck and she pulled.
David felt a little relief and quickly rolled from under at the same time Tara let go. The orc fell forward, mass and blade hitting the ground. David wished he could attack again, but he needed to regain feeling in his arm and something was whispering in his ear. He shook his head, blinked hard to remove the swimming images that floated in front of him in sparks.
…you will… listen…
He shook the voice away, searching for the Ignis’s reassuring growl, but the dragon was silent. David sighed, frowning as he noticed the tiny gashes that Tara had inflicted on the orc was beginning to heal.
“Are you alright?” Tara asked. Her hair had settled, she was back to looking human—filthy, with blackened hands. But less scary. David waved her concern away. They had to focus. The orc groaned as it stood up. Behind it, Zoe and Galan were dancing a fierce and deadly dance. Her arrows were being blocked or reflected somehow.
“What kind of spells are these?” David asked as the orc turned to face them. Tara shook her head, her eyes finding Edgar’s body, his blood had become a thick unmoving puddle. She had thought the orc cut him in clean halves, but she was wrong. A bit of him was still attached.
“He must have some kind of stored source of essence,” Tara said, regarding the orc. “He is fueling this monster’s regeneration and blocking your sister’s onslaught at the same time. No way is he doing all that himself.”
The damn portal, the voice hissed. No… not just one voice. David hadn’t noticed before but now he could hear the other voices echo the first. He looked up at the portal where the orc had come out from and realized he’d been missing the storm of essence on the other side.
“We need to destroy that!” David said, breaking into a run toward the orc.
“Wait!” Tara called, but he was already in motion. His body screamed and protested, but David was tired of feeling weak—he didn’t want to wait, nor think so hard that his courage got frayed and shattered.
He parried the axe down, using the orc’s force to lead the attack. He spun so fast, blindly slashing and hacking at its back. Now, he thought to Ignis and the sword ignited as the last swing landed. The blaze shot up like a forge’s fire, burning with anger. The orc burned. It staggered away from David as it cried and howled. Its axe dropped to the floor with a loud ring.
David picked it up, letting his sword disappear. He groaned, feeling the weight in his arm. With immense effort he made a wide arc swing, lodging the axe in the orc’s belly. Green fluid followed the squelching when David roughly pulled the axe out and the fire spread into the wound—ever burning.
Good idea, Ignis said as David watched the orc suffer in the loop of burning and regeneration. It roared endlessly, pathetic even in its suffering. David spat on it, turning away to find Tara throwing bolt after bolt of lightning into the portal, occasionally tossing a streak toward Galan to knock of his balance. But the old man seemed undisturbed. His shields appeared from all angles, protecting him. David saw the worried look on his face when he saw the orc, but then his lips split in a smile again.
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David heart raced as he rushed for Tara. He couldn’t feel any essence signature, but he knew something was coming. Galan had so many secrets, David wasn’t sure how much more he could conjure.
“Tara!” David screamed, but he was too late. Tara swung one more lance of lightning into the portal, trying to overwhelm it, but something flew out. It was blinding fast. She caught it between her palms, her hair bristling again as a burst of essence shot from her. A strand of thread-thin sparks snaked around her. One of her halo crowns shattered and fizzled away.
Galan laughed as something approached from within his portal. Black smoke heralded it, oozing out of the lip of the portal ominously. Tara took a step back. David realized that defense had used a lot of essence. She was not as strong as she was before.
In her hand the small blade-like projectile melted and vanished. Then more blades shot out. David stepped in front of Tara, parrying them away. He heard her hiss, but ignored it. She slid to his side, sending a shock of lightning into the darkness. David felt the emptiness there. Perhaps it wasn’t something alive?
Listen…listen…list…
David grunted, his head throbbing as the voice beckoned to him. It hadn’t been insistent before. Perhaps there was something it needs? What was it? Ignis’s chuckled, but David sensed the worry in the dragon. Whatever part of the dragon was stuck in his sword was nervous about the voice.
He continued parrying the daggers. They came at increasing speed, but there was something else David couldn’t understand. And now he could see that perhaps that was the only way to beat whatever Galan had unleashed.
“Can you create a shield?” David asked Tara. She shook her head. David cursed. He would have to take some damage while trying to get in. Suddenly he wished Elisha was there. “You will have to hold on while I check something out.”
“You are about to do something reckless, aren’t y—”
David leapt, swatting a dark thin blade away but missing the second and the third. He grunted, feeling them stab into his left arm. He landed in the darkness and his sword lit up. Ignis laughed, but David could sense the trembling anxiety underneath. The dragon was sometimes worse than a child.
There was something else, the voices had stopped. David thanked whatever god had muted them. He knew he’d been so close to getting insight on World Tilter, but the power was uncontrollable. He needed something that he could control, like Ignis.
He smacked another projectile, this one a fully made sword. There were no walls on either side, only darkness and the solid platform under him. He had thought the portal led to some kind of storage, or some other place where Galan had beasts like the orc. There was nothing here.
You approach Galan’s Hidden World.
Here you bend to the will of the ruler!
David stopped. He hadn’t thought about that. He turned around and swore, the opening was closing off. The shadows were converging. He was being locked away.
Wasn’t a smart move huh? Ignis taunted. David ignored the dragon.
There was definitely something here, something he could use to stop Galan. He continued walking in the solid darkness. There was no need to turn or take a bend so he walked forward. The light from his sword illuminated nothing. Then he heard movement. Too fast for him to see at first. A light sprouted out of nothing ahead, a door. David ran for it.
Something was pulling him, calling him. He couldn’t understand the urgency, but it was on him like a rash—the absolute understanding that he was being pursued, and that where he was headed had the key to destroying Galan.
You have entered Thinir, Galan’s hidden world.
You do not have the required tower ring to enter a hidden world.
Your entry has been altered and the penalty has been set.
The ruler of Thinir will now pass judgement.
You have been given the judgement of death!
Death came in an instant. He was standing, or at least he thought he was. There was a door. Then there was nothing; he was nothing. He couldn’t feel, see, or smell. His thoughts fired rapidly, breaking out randomly for other thoughts to rope through him. He was everywhere and nowhere.
Voices argued. Ignis roared! Fire burned what should have been the sky, but was simply an endless sheet of red. David wanted to reach up, pulled into the dread, and he wanted to run. This couldn’t be death, he told himself.
This felt like a million beginnings flowing through him.
The voice came again, fighting.
He is not the right one, a voice said. It was low, nervous… or shy. A child’s? David felt the whip of emptiness, like he was drowning but felt neither relief nor terror. That quickly faded, replaced with agonizing hope. It invaded him; mind and soul. He wanted to swim away, but his body was melted iron.
We can make him worthy! Another voice. This one familiar, frustrated. Someone snorted. Ignis? David tried to piece the voices together. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t figure out a way to make a sound himself.
He is the only one who can evolve the…we need him. Another snort and this time David felt the rage from one of the voices. The man? Familiar.
He will get killed and we will have wasted our time. I say we wait for the next user. Amareth and his damn cronies are not going anywhere. David felt a sensation so foreign and yet, so familiar that he could name it. Hate. But it wasn’t his. Whoever was speaking, their hate pushed into him violently, with a force that could level mountains, ruin kingdoms and tear the face off gods.
Stop! You will kill him.
His stupidity already killed him.
We pulled him here, Irina…
There was silence, an awkward spreading like pest tearing through a field of wheat. Then someone laughed and another hissed.
I suggest we put him together and tell him why we pushed him to his death?
Life came just as fast. It was a simple refusal. David felt it, the process, like a thought. Galan’s judgment was negated, tossed aside like an afterthought—unimportant. David opened his eyes to find five pairs looking down at him. He was in a large field of sunflowers. He was naked.
He didn’t move, he couldn’t. He simply stared at them. Slowly the others faded into a tiny little boy suckling his thumb. His hair was a wild violet. It was long, covering the sides of his face. He looked annoyed, as if David was the one invading his dreams.
“So you are the one to take the mantle,” he said staring at David, his frown deepening. “We have voted, and I was appointed your guide.”
“My guide?” David asked, confused. The boy looked disgusted when David tried to stand up. He moved his finger in the air, essence sparking to life to form symbols. They latched to David and clothes grew from the patch of essence, wrapping David in loose trousers and shirt.
“You are slow in acquiring insight to World Tilter. To prepare you for the fifth floor, you must get stronger. To gain insight, you must understand and accept certain parts of World Tilt…” his voice slowed and faded. He turned, looking at something David couldn’t see.
“First, you should get out of Thinir. That old moron’s hidden world. First lesson,” the boy said, taking his thumb from his mouth. His hair billowed as essence gushed out of him. The field vanished and they were standing in the darkness again. “To crush the hidden world of another ascender, you must overwhelm their world.”
He lifted his index finger and just when David expected him to start writing, the boy touched a surface and white veins of sparked and stretched across the darkness. Then he heard a splinter in the distance and slowly, the world shattered.
“I will help you this once…” the boy said as the world was destroyed.
You have shattered Thinir!
You have gained an additional two percent insight on World Tilter!
Second tower ring achieved!
Master of All: 15%
David stepped out of the portal, landing roughly in the hall. He still didn’t understand what had happened, but the look on Galan’s face told him all he needed to know. The man took a step back, fear in his eyes. He probably would have fled, but Tara torched him. He shuddered violently, unprotected by his mysterious shield.
“What was that?” Tara asked, staring at David, “Where did you go?”
“He had a hidden world, I couldn’t reach it. But he has a lot to explain to us. A lot that I still don't know yet.”
David walked briskly to Zoey and pulled her into him, his heart hammering even as relief made him weak.