Helios crossed the distance in a flash and didn't even get me a chance to dodge before his fist smashed into my face in a spark of lightning. I felt my heart lurched in my chest as my body shot back through the sky and over the gorge. After a moment of being airborne, I smashed into the ground and rolled a few times. I stood up and quickly wiped away the dirt on my body and took a look at my health bar and let out a small sigh of relief as I saw that it only took a small portion of my health away. I let out a tattered breath and stood up and dusted off the light brown dirt from my flesh and gave Helios an evil glare. "Hey, asshole, that hurt."

  He chuckled as he landed quietly on the lip of the chasm. He reached up and ripped off his tunic, revealing a muscular chest that caught the sunlight. Small sparks danced across his flesh before solidifying into a shimmering golden shield that hugged his flesh. He folded his wings carefully behind his back and took up a guard position as he observed me. "If you hesitate in a fight, then you die. Keep that in mind." 

 I nodded my head and grabbed my sword and brought it up carefully, and held it out towards him, earning a condensing smile from him. " You clearly have never used a sword in your life. Sadly, however, Im using a monk class, so blade work is not something that I can assist you with." 

 I frowned and repositioned my self in a slightly more comfortable position and asked, "What kind of companion lacks the knowledge to help its Administrator?" 

Helios chuckled and cracked his knuckles once and bounced from toe to toe as he replied, "I chose a class that pairs well with my attributes and ultimately synergizes well with yours, at the cost of knowledge over certain areas, however, we can rectify that through your paths of power, and other means." 

 I nodded my head and felt somewhat relieved. At least I could learn something from this fight, and not be completely helpless for once. "Guide me with what you can, and I will learn the specifics later." 

 He nodded his head and brought his hands back up the guard position. "So, the important part of using a class is knowing your skills and the innate cooldown of the skills. Some skills have a cooldown, but can still be used but have a much-reduced effect, while others can not be used. There is no visible timer on the cool down, but over time and constant practice, they become ingrained." He emphasized his words with a straight punch and a small beam of honey-colored light shot out of his fist. A second later, he let out another jab, and the same beam of light shot out of his first slower and was much reduced in size and potency. "The skill remains just as strong, but effects like crowd control or self buffs are removed until the cooldown is over." 

 I nodded my head brought up my class status screen to read over and to reacquaint my self with my skills.

 Class; Dancer of The Echoing Mirror

Level: 1 (0.0 % to the next level)

Known Skills:

Sequence One- Dance Macabre

Half sequence- Dance of the undying

Lunge

Passive Skills:

Echoing Strike- Any swing of the weapons will leave behind a rift that, upon activation, will magnify damage dealt by 5 percent. Damage is increased by class level.

Mirror- Creates ethereal copies of your equipped weapons that deal 25 percent of damage dealt. Mirror clones are hard to control unless used in sequence. Control needed is affected by the Control, and Will. (Current reduction: 10%)

Haunting Echo- Creates a ghostly image of the user that mimics any attack or launches an attack. Chance to appear is based on Will and Control. ( Current chance: 8%)

 I quickly read over the skills while trying to keep an eye on Helios. "So how do I activate the skill? Do I think about it? Say it?" I asked as I pushed away my screen and gave Helios my full attention. 

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 "As an Administrator, you are granted a few privileges over the system you preside over. So really how the skill activates is up to you. You imagine the skill, and it will start. You can call out the name, and it will start. Really the choice is yours." 

 I drew my sword and imagined a hand reaching out and drawing a blade from one of the sheathes that was attached to my back. The blade shook and trembled as I pulled it unsteadily from its sheath with my mental hand. I felt small beads of sweat start to rush down my head as I held the blade aloft in the air, and an ethereal copy appeared, floating an equal distance from the other, mirroring its tremors. I placed the blade in my hand back into it's sheathe and imaged the mental hand being connected to my own and used my hand to direct the blade, which caused it to get significantly more comfortable for me to control. 

 After a few moments of directing the blade like a conductor I stopped and looked back at helios. I placed one hand on the hilt of the blade that was attached to my hip and put my self in a ready position across from Helios. "I managed to figure out use one blade, so hopefully it's good enough for now. Let's get some practice." 

 He nodded his head and raised his fist again, and his golden aura brightened once more and then condensed down to his flesh, encasing him in golden armor. He extended his wings and gave a mighty flap and covered the distance in a flash. In a split second, he covered the distance between us, and I narrowly avoided the fist that came barreling towards my face, and I swung out with my hand causing the swords to spin out towards Helios. He bent back and let out a rapid kick towards my stomach catching me mid-swing, throwing me back a few feet. I landed softly on my feet and muttered under my breath, "Sequence one, Dance Macabre." 

  My body jumped forward, kicking up a small cloud of dust and my two swords angled themselves towards Helios as I lost control of my body for a moment. The blades spun in a quick arc towards Helio's throat while my body lunged towards him. One sword swung for his throat while the other dropped down low his ankle causing Helios to contort his body, only narrowing dodging the blades. 

  As he landed, my fist shot out and caught his face, causing him to let out a small grunt and take a step back. He threw a straight punch in response that my body quickly reacted to, allowing me to sidestep it. My real sword quickly spun behind him and tried to stab him in the back, but bounced off of his golden shield, leaving behind a small crack on his shield. I finally gained control of my body, and I jumped back to make space between the two of us. "Is it me or did that skill seem a little underwhelming to use?" 

 He chuckled and wiped away the sweat building upon his body. "Opening skills on Dancers are always sub-par. But once the class level, they will get stronger. Besides, you are only using two blades to fight me." After he finished speaking, he closed the distance between us again in a flash. 

  "Dance of the Undying," I quickly spoke of the next skill, hoping that it would be something that could save me from getting hit. The blades promptly circled me and formed a shape of a cross in front of my face just before Helio's fir impacted. His fist hit the swords and a loud metallic clang could be heard that radiated throughout all of the surrounding area.

  He quickly pulled back his fist and swung his foot is a small arc under my trying to knock me off my feet, but thankfully I jumped up in time and pushed my self back, trying to create some form of distance between us. He closed the distance between us just as quickly as last time and his first met my face before I could react, and a notification appeared on my screen. 

Status effect has been applied. 

 Stiffness: The user has been stiffened and is unable to move for (2) seconds. 

My body froze as I landed, allowing Helios to deliver a powerful kick to my stomach, throwing me back into the dirt, and I felt my body go limp as the air left my chest. "Damn, that was rough." I coughed up a small amount of blood and saw my health bar dip a little under the seventy-five percent mark. I pushed my self off of the ground and chuckled. "I have a lot to learn. This fight isn't going in my favor." 

 He shrugged and cracked his knuckles, " You are not fighting at mid-range. You are throwing your self into a close-range where I excel. Fight a little further back and stay away from my fist. Other than that, you need to practice using all of your swords and the other abilities at your disposal." 

I nodded my head and rested my hand on the hilt of the blade on my hip, and quickly looked across the field between us and saw small rifts that were pulling small amounts of air in, like a vortex. Some were attached to Helios and his shield, and I thought back to the video I saw of this class when I first selected it. A small grin appeared across my face, and I flicked the hilt of the blade. 

  A small chime rang out hauntingly across the field, and the rifts grew suddenly, and the airflow increased rapidly into them before they vanished. Helios let out a grimace, and his shield sparked and shattered into pieces. Just as suddenly as the chime ended, another one rang out, and I saw a ghostly figure appear next to me that mimicked my movements. 

  This chime was even more haunting than the one that rang from my blade. This figure was hollow, and only the faintest of outlines of its form could be seen. A force of power radiated from the hilt of the blade, and the rifts opened once more, and cuts started to appear across his flesh. Where ever the fissures opened, his flesh parted, and blood poured out from the wounds. Helios let out a grunt as the rifts fade, and the form vanished along with it. 

  He let out a raspy chuckle and stood up and waved a hand that radiated a faint yellow color over his wounds, and they rapidly healed up. "Like that. That is a powerful ability." 

 He stood up and walked over to me and extended his hand out, and I took it and felt energy course through my veins and saw my health bar slowly start to rise. "That was very well done, get enough training done, and you should be able to stand toe to toe with the other administrators at your level if you ever decide that war is the path you want to take." 

 I rubbed my head, sheathed my floating sword. "All right, the next thing that I want to do is decide on my paths of power. After that, I want to visit the Ancient Ones, and then decide on what needs to be next." 

 Helios gave me a curt bow and vanished in a dazzling array of golden light. I stayed behind a moment longer to gaze at my surroundings. I took a deep breath in and relished the smell of nature that brushed against my nose. I gazed at the tree line and watched as some wildlife ran in between the trees and felt somewhat proud of what I have accomplished. A moment later I closed my eyes and when I opened them I was back in the control room. 

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 A loud boom shook a group of human hunters and startled the prey they where hunting. They quickly spun around trying to locate the source of the sound. "Arthur take the younger hunters back to the settlement. The rest of us will stay and check out what that sound was." The younger human male nodded his head, "Yes father." Came as his only response as he began to gather the rest of the younger humans and quickly made off into the forest, leaving behind a small group of five older males behind. The older of the males made a gesture and they moved as a tightly formed group moved towards the source of the loud sound. 

  Eventually, they came to the edge of the forest and saw two unfamiliar beings fighting. The human's attention was drawn to the figure clad in a brilliant golden armor that was fighting another being that looked as if the night sky took a mortal form. Another thunderous boom shook the earth as the golden being's fist met the other's face and launched him back, Its ghostly wings trailing behind it as it flew back a sizable distance. "Valdire, what are those things." A shorter human with a small trace of grey hair in his long brown hair asked as he scootched up closer to get a better look. 

  The lead man shook his head, "Damned if I know. They look nothing like the dark-skinned folk from the mountain we see rummaging about." The golden figure disappeared for a moment before reappearing again and smashing a fist encrusted with energy in the other's face and then a devastating kick to its stomach. "If I had to guess maybe its the gods, warring over something we couldn't comprehend."  

 The shorter man starred at the fight and replied quietly. "Neither of those beings fit any of the descriptions we have of our gods."

Valdire quietly watched the beings before speaking again, "Maybe that golden being is our Illusive god of creation, and he's fighting off the unknown god of destruction. Regardless of what they are, we need to move before we get caught in their fight." Valdire made a gesture and the awestruck humans quickly turned away and only spared a glance once more at the fight.He stayed for a moment longer and a look of adoration crossed his face before he too vanished into the forest.