“Silence.”

The voice came from all over the hall. It filled the space in David’s mind, like a compulsion. His thoughts were silenced, pushed back suddenly. Everyone looked up to the mezzanine, where six figures stood, staring down at them. Each figure had a piece of divinity that should have been oppressive but instead felt like a soothing wave brushing against David’s senses. He saw and felt the power they exuded, and he felt the overwhelming need to bow down or worship in some way. Even the man with scars stood up, looking up in reverence. The smugness Sam saw before was suddenly gone.

“Who are those?” Zoey asked, her voice understandably shaky. Her eyes blinked rapidly as she took in the light radiating from the six figures. They seemed to exist within their own realms, each power passively pushing against the others. The one in front held a large tome. Its dark cover bore moving symbols, squirming over the surface like living letters. Sam tried to look closer, but the more he did, the less he understood.

Stop it, Ignis warned. Those are decrees, I think. They hold bits of power from the one who gave it. Those are probably representatives of tower gods. You should be careful. They are not gods, but they share their master’s authority.

David nodded, understanding the power he felt now. The man with the tome watched them for a moment. He wore a single wrap, tied into a knot on his left shoulder. The cloth glowed softly. His hair was golden, each strand as beautiful as the whole. It was his crown of gray-silver eyes that held David’s attention. The crown hovered inches above his head, with the pupils moving independently of one another, watching everyone even more severely than the man did. The other five were more mysterious, hidden behind a thin film of light that obscured most of their features.

“Lords and Rankers, I am Ygar,” the man said, his mouth unmoving. His words settled into David’s mind as if they had always been there, as if Ygar was a friend he’d always known and trusted. His mind wrestled against it, pushing that sensation back. “You have come to earn the attention of our masters. You have chosen to stake your lives, and for this, you will be rewarded. The first test is simple. Those who survive this hall of madness will pass to meet the champion of Or-Garth. And after that battle, those who emerge victorious will be given the option to choose their reward. You w—”

“You mean we will fight here?” someone asked. The voice came from within the crowd, but whoever spoke was hidden in the sea of bodies. Ygar seemed annoyed for a moment. His crown of eyes moved around, searching until his own eyes focused on someone. David expected him to kill whoever had interrupted.

“Quiet, pest. You will listen, or you will leave. If your words cross mine again, you will rue your choice to come here. You will find that there are more ways to suffer than to watch your friends die.”

He waited for his threat to sink in. David clasped his hands, nervous and worried that someone would do something foolish and they’d all die. He had seen—no, felt—Balek’s power. If any of these beings possessed even a fraction of that power, they could burn everyone in the hall to nothing.

“By the end of your challenges, you will be given a specific quest for your next challenge. This will be a test to see how compatible you are with the process of ascension. If you would rather suffer the long path to the summit than put your life on the line, you can leave now. Raise your hands, and I will send you on a smaller quest, one befitting you. You will journey the long way, but your fate will be in your hands, as always.”

David wondered who would leave. He turned to Zoey, and she met his gaze for a moment, then shook her head. Elisha did the same. Chloe grabbed Zoey’s hand, and Zoey pulled her close. David felt a bit sad.

“Chloe, as soon as they begin, you should start a protective spell,” David said. “Can you do that?”

“She can fight, David,” Zoey responded. “She’s not a child.”

“Yes, but do you see the people around us?” David whispered. Zoey nodded. “They will all come for her first. She needs to attack within that protective spell. If we try to protect her and fight at the same time, we are going to die. Do you understand?”

“I see what you mean,” Zoey muttered, looking chastened. David looked up at those beings above. They stared down with indifference. David had the feeling they were irritated by the murmurs and noise. He tried to hide his nervousness, holding those magnificent entities in his gaze. He could make out the rough shape of the five others behind Ygar, but it was as though his mind couldn’t quite hold their forms in place. He used the effort to calm himself. And he was so focused that when he saw a glimpse of a cowl hiding a million little lights, it almost blinded him. Then it was gone again.

“If you have not decided yet, then you have chosen to stay. Your indecision is your curse as mortals, and you will bear its consequences.” Ygar scanned the faces below one more time and made a subtle nod. “Very well then, you will begin once we leave. Those who survive by the time this coin drops will move to the next phase.”

He leaned over the railing of the mezzanine and dropped a large coin, the size of a medallion. David watched it fall and instantly understood: Ygar could somehow control time. The coin’s descent was so slow it was almost excruciating to watch. Yet they stared at it as if transfixed. David took a step back, standing protectively over his family. He held his sword out, looking from left to right. Chloe had her lute out, and Zoey had her bow drawn to her ear; four arrows shimmered in her grasp. David waited, unsure.

He saw his confusion mirrored on the faces of the others. No one moved or attacked.

David saw the scarred man look up with a grin. His heart tightened, and his gauntlet wrapped around his left hand as the man shot off the ground and grasped the woman who had challenged him earlier by the throat. She tried to fight back, but she was obviously weaker, and the man’s defense protected him from the mad rush of her friends. The woman struggled and flailed futilely. The scarred man grinned as his grip tightened, snuffing the life out of her.

Her wings flapped rapidly, and razor-sharp winds tore at the man’s coat. None of her attacks worked. Nothing she did helped her. The screams from her friends seemed to excite the man even more.

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His clothes were torn and ragged when her flapping stopped. David heard her neck snap. He felt the staggering power the man used, and it left a seeding hollow in him. It was cold and vengeful, or perhaps the man was just irritated.

“He can fly too,” Elisha said, pointing at the man’s coat reforming. It stitched itself together, and from the slit in the back, a long, thin dark tail shook out. It whipped from side to side, and the man let the body fall. One of the woman’s friends swooped down to catch the corpse before it hit the ground. He looked up at the scarred man with hatred.

“Hello, my friends,” the scarred man said as his transformation slowly took over. His coat seemed to sink into him, staining his skin black until he stood above them, nude and dark-skinned. His eyes blazed and leaked something silvery and thick. A deep gash appeared on his chest, and his hair dissolved, leaving a bald head covered in gashes that wept that silvery fluid. He wagged his tail in slow swirls. He was ripped with muscles, claws stretching out from his spread-out fingers.

“I am Lord Vinel of Jeha.” He spread his hands out as if to embrace them all. He exuded a silent power. David felt the pinching sensation of essence pushing against him. “There are other Lords here, and I urge us to remove ourselves from the midst of these Rankers. We are Lords, uplifted beyond this competition. But if we must, I say we cut out the weaker ones. They will only weaken us for the next phase.”

“Shut up, Vinel,” a woman said as she lifted from the ground. “Hmm. I see. You accepted the curse of the dark one. No wonder you could crush the neck of a Vish’Lir acolyte so easily. All that aura of purity couldn’t touch you because the dark one protects you.”

“Ara,” Vinel hissed. The others below watched as these two stared at each other. The woman was covered in a robe of the night sky. Stars twinkled when she moved, their lights distant and yet resplendent. All of her was covered except her pale, sharp-chinned face and her condescending gaze, which she focused on Vinel.

“You will hold your tongue, Vinel,” Ara commanded. “We will go back down and fight as we were ordered to do by the Heralds. We are simply tools, not gods ourselves. You are no stronger than those Rankers. And I will show you.”

She made a lazy wave of her hand. All David felt was the movement of essence. It was sharp and quick… and it felt heavy when it slammed into Vinel. The man pushed against it. But David saw the true attack almost too late.

“Elisha!” David called, and Elisha saw what he was looking at almost immediately. A blanket of shadow wrapped around them just as the star above Ara bloomed. David felt the heat before Elisha protected them. Then he heard Vinel’s screaming and the loud thud that followed. Elisha’s cloak of shadows tore off to show Vinel writhing as Ara descended. Everyone watched in awe. But one person walked over to where Vinel groaned on the floor, more wounds leaking silver blood. The man shone, his veins and bones visible through his skin. He folded his left wing so he could pluck one of the feathers. It transformed into a straight blade without a hilt. He gave Ara a small bow, and she bowed in return.

“Oh Lord, creator of light, punisher of evil. I seek to restore balance. Your disciple is but a fraction of your existence, and that must not wither away.”

He sank the blade into Vinel, and the Lord yelled. It was a cry of pure agony. White fire slid off his wound to burn the stone floor. Everywhere it touched melted a bit. The sword sank into Vinel slowly, punishing him inch by inch. David frowned, looking from the angel to Ara. Both showed only expressions of pain as if they hadn’t just punished an enemy but had gutted a friend.

“Now, Lords and Rankers,” Ara said, spreading her hands. “I believe we were instructed to kill each other.”

David searched for the coin on the floor, but Elisha showed him, pointing up to where it was still slowly tumbling down.

Vinel’s burning corpse was forgotten, and everyone turned once again to their closest enemy. The angel plucked another feather, and David gestured for Chloe to start playing her lute.

He expected something rough—like a harsh tune filled with anger and power. But she played a soft tune, plucking her strings delicately. Then David was distracted by the wail of another fighter dying. He whirled around, waiting to be attacked.

Two people came at him. Both humans. David contemplated using his armor but decided against it. It would boost his power and increase his elemental attacks, but he didn’t want to show off everything yet. Especially not with these many Lords and Rankers around.

One of his attackers sent a wave of invisible knives made from a strange kind of spell. David reached into it with his gauntlet and cracked the spell. Essence shook within and around him, slowing him down long enough for the other man to attack with a large spear. David couldn’t see what the first man was doing, but he shattered the spell with his gauntlet and blocked the spear’s blade. With his left hand, he pulled the spearman forward and slashed his face open. Blood sprayed over his leather armor and shirt, but Sam was already moving for the essence manipulator. A wall rose from the ground, brown and spotty, unlike the floor. Sam punched through it with his gauntlet, shattering the spell.

He saw the man’s shocked face just before he buried his sword in the man’s chest. There was no time to revel in that win. Ara and the angels were far from him, but there were other stronger foes to fight. He saw Elisha swallow someone with his shadow, and strands of golden essence stretched from Chloe, wrapping around an armored woman while a spinning sphere of protective essence protected her from other attacks. David stretched out to catch a flaming ball coming toward him with his gauntlet.

Dodge! David pulled his hand back and stepped out of the way. The ball slammed into the ground and cracked the stone. The fire hissed out, and spikes shot from the ball. David pulled a horned man roughly, using him as a shield. Most of the spikes stabbed through the man, growing larger within him. David staggered, looking at his hip where the spike grazed him.

He found his attacker preparing another attack, a spear molded from stone. He leaned back to throw but stopped midway. Four golden arrows pierced into his face and chest. He wobbled slightly and fell.

David nodded his thanks to Zoey and spun around to cleave a large man behind him. Essence surged inside him as fresh frustration took hold. He wasn’t needed. His family was protecting him now. He laughed bitterly. In his arrogance, he had thought he was the strongest of the four.

David, you have enemies around you—

David skewered a four-armed woman. His swords moved randomly as he tore off each of the woman’s arms and pushed his sword into her belly. Her gasp sent a breath of fresh fruit against David’s face. She looked scared, but David pulled out his sword and moved to the next. His mind was clear, and essence flowed with him. He could sense something pushing to the light, some kind of insight.

Sword skill: Simple Flurries

His sword was weightless, putting almost no pressure on his wrist as he moved it about. He slashed a short, bald man with horns. The man’s body was hard, taking shallow cuts until David infused a bit of Ignis’s flame into it. The man quickly conjured a shield of interconnected bones. David crushed it, tearing through the man’s defense until he caught him by the horn with his gauntlet and rammed his knee into the short man’s face. The man staggered back and tried to right himself, but a large hammer crushed him from behind. David winced, looking at the mangled remains of his dead enemy. He couldn’t brood for long before a flash of white sword came at him. David swatted one with his sword and caught the other with his gauntlet.

You have attempted to tame the sword of souls! Chaos effect negated!