By the time it struck far below, his ball of magic had shrunk, like a snowflake melting on a vast field. At least it impacted the back of the monster where spawning creatures were still budding to the surface. Turgan thought he could see one of them shriveling where his spell impacted, but he couldn’t be sure.

Disheartened but pragmatic, he forced himself to repeat the process ignoring the small blinking notifications in the lower left of his vision. There’d be time enough to see his gains after the battle.

The next few minutes felt like hours as Turgan poured his mana into Spherical Spells that grew in size by a small amount each time as his confidence grew. He’d even managed to hit and disable one of the spawn creatures mid-air as it was hurled by its creator toward the top of the wall. The shot was so unlikely, Turgan hoped he hadn’t used up all his luck for the night.

He’d forced the battle din to recede into a dull, but constant roar as sweat dripped down his face. Both hands busy, he couldn’t wipe his face as he formed yet another ball. He’d definitely be thanking Elora for lending him her mana boost ring tonight, and he’d be applying himself even harder at studying and mental exercises to level up his Insight and Intelligence. Watching his mana plummet while using his more advanced spell drove home how much work he still had ahead of him before he’d be an effective wall mage.

A vicious shriek pierced the night just behind Turgan, making him spin and lose control of his spell for a second time. Pain stabbed into his forehead, his eyes squinting as he watched in horror as another dark form flew over the battlement. One tentacle wrapped around a stone merlon, and the creature used the pivot point to crash over onto the walkway just a few yards from their group. It moved with a speed that was hard to follow in the shadows cast by the mage lights.

A stab of adrenaline-fueled panic pushed Turgan’s fear away and cleared his mind to fight. Even the newborn spawn had five levels on him.

“Behind me,” Janil yelled, pushing forward and planting her shield as the creature’s large, globular eyes focused on their group.

It retracted its tentacle from the merlon before spinning on multiple claw-tipped legs, a black thing of nightmare, faster than it had any right to be.

“Take it out fast and then focus back on the matriarch,” urged the flame mage, as she kept her shield aloft with one hand, the other lighting the globes of hot oil raining down below. “She just keeps making more.”

Turgan barely heard her, his training taking over, pulling his focus where it was needed. Regardless of what else was happening around him, he needed to help stop the attacking spawn, or none of them would survive to fight the beast below.

Janil had her spear out and braced to the side of her shield, but Turgan didn’t think the extremely mobile spawn would cooperate by charging them head on. This wasn’t a classroom exercise where they had all the time in the world to match the perfect spell or ability to the situation.

A twang snapped out behind him, and Turgan caught the flash of an arrow shooting through the space toward the spawn. One of the warrior students had shifted their fire to the beast. Arrow after arrow flew toward the monster, at an angle that wouldn’t put the other fighters on the wall in danger. But the creature just flipped up on one set of legs, its body tipping up and down to either side so fast as it advanced that most of the arrows passed harmlessly beneath its body.

Turgan’s heart fell, and he knew his basic water attacks were unlikely to do much better, but they could be effective stopgaps, hopefully keeping the spawn at bay long enough for the rest of his team to kill it.

Create. Turgan commanded, using as little of his mana as he could to pull water from the surroundings and fill the area at its feet.

Surprisingly, the raging spawn seemed to calm for a brief moment, and its movement stilled as if enjoying the sudden pool forming in front of it.

As soon as there were a few inches of water, Turgan switched to his next spell, hoping his remaining mana could maintain the disruption long enough for the others to finish the spawn off.

Churn. The calm pool exploded into a roiling mess as Turgan’s mana slammed the water back and forth around the creature’s tentacles with a force increased by how close the monster was.

Turgan liked to imagine there was some surprise as the spawn lost its feet to the unexpected attack, falling into the shallow pool with a sudden splash.

“Pull the water away from us! Focus it on the spawn!”

The command came from Mage Bayle, and Turgan obeyed it on instinct, the years of drills making him act before thinking. The last of his mana pulled the small pond of water toward the creature, leaving the stone walkway near their group dry as a bone.

With a strength that made his hair stand on end, a wave of heat was pulled from the water, rushing past Turgan to slam into one of Mage Bayle’s hands. He stared wide-eyed at the sudden ice prison that held the spawn at bay.

“That’s thin ice,” she yelled out. “Kill it before it breaks free.”

Turgan spun back to see the spawn surging against the ice that held most of its limbs captive and half of its central torso, the shiny sleek muscles rippling powerfully. Sharp cracking sounds rang out as the ice weakened.

They didn’t need more encouragement, and all five students rushed forward together. Janil’s spear hit the creature’s center, eliciting an angry shriek and even stronger efforts as its limbs surged and fought for freedom.

The air mage’s darts tore into limbs, doing much better against a closer enemy than the huge matriarch below. His darts sliced deep and sent green ichor spraying everywhere. The archer switched to daggers, flitting around the trapped creature and stabbing at opportune targets. Turgan saw the wounds hanging open, bubbling unnaturally. An enchanted blade, maybe?

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And then it broke free, or at least a few of the dangerous limbs. One stabbed out at Janil as she kept the creature pinned, working the spear back and forth inside its torso to do the most damage.

Turgan caught sight of sucker pads on the underside of the limb right before it stabbed the sharp claw at its end into Janil’s side. Her leather armor barely slowed the thrust. She roared in pain but didn’t let go of the spear, grinding it harder into the monster.

Hardly thinking, Turgan threw himself toward the tentacle buried in his friend and used the last of his mana.

Drain! he commanded, pitting his will against the angry monster to give up the moisture that kept it alive.

For a moment, Turgan was sure he’d sealed his fate. A pragmatic voice inside his mind began listing things in life he regretted not doing as the cold slimy limb spasmed under his hands, fighting his spell with a wild strength.

Drain! Turgan insisted again, determined that he would at least save one person by his death. He couldn’t imagine a worse fate than dying for no reason at all. Digging deep, he pulled with all his strength, physically, mentally and magically.

The smallest flush of water made his palms wet, and a surge of excitement and victory strengthened him further.

Drain. Drain. Drain.

With each pull of the spell, Turgan felt the liquid inside the spawn surge out onto his hands, soaking his bracers and splashing across the front of his leather armor. Teeth bared in a harsh grimace he kept pulling, determined not to stop even as he felt his mana plummet.

From somewhere in the distance, voices yelled in effort and a horrendous bellow rose from below that might normally have triggered an instinct in Turgan to freeze or flee to safety. But his whole world had become the creature before him. He sucked it dry with drip after drip of mana until a headache threatened, and he knew he was moments from a mana coma.

“Let go. It’s dead. You did it!”

The words didn’t penetrate, but the hard shove did, breaking his grip on the spawn’s tentacle and sending Turgan staggering back a few steps. He shook his head to clear it, blinking at the shrunken creature lying unmoving surrounded by small chunks of melting ice. It looked so pathetic now, a dried husk no more imposing than an empty suit of clothing.

Janil stood with a pained look on her face, one hand pressed to her side and breathing heavily.

The roar of triumph all along the wall startled Turgan. Surprised, he looked around, unsure why everyone would be cheering their victory over a single spawned creature.

Even Mage Bayle stepped back from the wall, her shield dissipating as she let her arms drop wearily to her sides.

The archer was the first to figure it out. She ran to one of the murder holes and peered down before popping right back up with a huge grin on her face. “We did it. We killed the void matriarch!”

Turgan sagged slowly to the hard stone floor, hardly noticing how uncomfortable his wet leathers were.

“Hold still. I’ve got you,” Mage Bayle said as she crouched down next to Janil and placed a hand on her wound. A bare moment later, she waved Turgan over.

His mana and health had recovered the barest amount, but he forced himself to his feet to help his friend.

“There’s a touch of poison here,” Bayle said. “Can you pull it out with your Cleanse? Then I can cauterize and heal the rest.”

Nodding, Turgan crouched down next to Janil, doing his best not to look worn out.

Janil gave him a grateful smile before he closed his eyes, placed a hand on her side and had just enough mana to reach for the tainted fluid and pull it from the wound in a noxious gush.

Mage Bayle took his place and a few moments later, Janil let out a sigh of relief and sagged back.

When Mage Bayle stood back up, she gave the watching students a weary but grateful look. “Thank you for your help. You might not be very powerful yet, but every point of damage today was crucial.” She cast a glance over at the shrunken corpse. “And keeping the spawn off of us so we could focus down below made all the difference.”

Now that his health and mana were beginning to recover, Turgan had the energy to smile. The inevitable excitement after a victory made him eye the corpse with speculation.

Mage Bayle chuckled, and he flushed.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” she chided. “You earned your share of that creature’s level 11 water core, and while there won’t be any blood left to harvest, I’m sure the hide and meat will be worth a pretty penny, too. Or if you can afford to keep the hide and have it made into armor, it would be a step up from what you’ve got now.”

Turgan tried not to flush in embarrassment at the honest assessment as he ran through the crafting students he knew who might do a trade with him for labor.

“And anyone whose name comes up on the damage tally for the matriarch will get a share there, too,” Bayle continued. “Check with the academy’s auditor tomorrow. They should have totals by then.”

All the students perked up at her words as they eyed the creature that had almost killed one of their own, but would instead make them stronger. As Turgan ran over the fight in his mind, he realized how much teamwork had made a difference.

“I’d like to learn more from you, Mage Bayle,” he blurted out, before realizing how impertinent he might sound.

She gave him a curious look. “But you’re a water mage?”

“It’s just, well—” his mouth was dry again, and he stuttered under her gaze. Turgan swallowed hard and tried again. “I just saw how effective we were by combining our magics, and it made me think I’d like to explore that idea going forward during fourth year. I know I’ll have a water mage adviser, but perhaps I could come to you occasionally with ideas or questions? Maybe help me think outside the box?”

Bayle’s expression had turned from congratulatory to concern as he continued speaking. She moved suddenly to put herself between him and the other students who were already moving toward the staircase opening. With a strong grip, she pulled him off to one side and stepped in close where others wouldn’t be likely to hear her words.

“You need to be very careful, young mage,” she said in a low tone. “You know magical experimentation is expressly forbidden.”

“But I wasn’t—” Turgan protested, feeling horrified that she’d misunderstood him. “Every mage knows experimenting with magic caused the cataclysm and released the monster hordes. I would never—”

“Then don’t ever blaspheme about combining magic again,” she instructed severely. “We may work together as mages, but the four elemental magics have to be kept distinctly separate. Understand?”

He bobbed his head up and down, but he couldn’t help that his mind spun off on a tangent wondering what combining magics might actually do. He shot a quick glance toward the outside edge of the wall and the dead behemoth he knew lay at the base. He spoke again, because he had to know. “And if the monsters keep coming and getting stronger?” He hesitated, knowing he might be skirting sacrilege with his next question. “Won’t we need something new to fight them with? To save our people?”

Bayle followed his gaze and started to speak before she let out a sigh, shoulders slumping. She leaned in before speaking in a quiet voice. “There may come a time when our traditional ways no longer work. But we’re not there yet, and it’s heresy to discuss the topic. Understand?”

Turgan met her eyes and saw both weariness and troubled thoughts there. He nodded his understanding as she gave his shoulder a squeeze before giving him a nudge toward the stairwell.

Turgan trudged back down the stairs, knowing he had to put such dangerous topics out of his mind. Fourth year started soon and making it this far without washing out meant he might have a shot at making a tower ring team next year.

A tired grin returned to his face as he ducked into a side alcove and closed his eyes to access his menu and notifications. His grin widened as he saw the gains he’d made to his newly learned Spherical Spell ability, not to mention his Drain and Create.

Those gains and today’s loot would give him the perfect boost to start the new school year.