Chapter 13:

By the time I reached the next challenge clearing, I was huffing and puffing and near doubled over from a stitch in my side. My heartbeat was most likely not measurable by modern machines from my old world either. If it wasn't for the fact that my Fathers’ daily exercise while we were travelling was for Mia and I to run laps around the caravan while it was moving (and avoiding the Mutocks pulling it at the same time) then I think I wouldn't have made it.

As it was, we reached the next area and my first look at the hourglass above the door revealed that nearly half the time had already elapsed, and I hadn't even seen the pedestal in this one yet. A glance back at the skeletons revealed that ten had now become fifteen as well. Even worse, where fourteen of them wore nearly identical mixed furs and carried a worn and rusted metal spear, the fifteenth who now led the column looked a lot fancier. He wore a tigers head like a helmet, with the fur draped down his back like a cloak, clasped across his chest with a golden chain, and the spear he carried was silver and glimmered slightly in the light. Both items, even with only a quick glance, had visible rune sequences that shone with the glimmer of gold, not electrum, marking them as at least journeyman grade, rather than the novice sequences I was able to make. Still, he stopped at the entrance to the chamber, same as the rest, so I took it to mean he would wait until I passed or failed the trial to try and attack us. Knowing this room was most likely rigged for me to fail, I took out the magical claymore and placed it dead centre in front of the leader, before removing a pebble from the top and running a tiny amount of my dwindling essence supply into it. The pebble would act as a manual trigger, as I hadn't known how to fashion a decent tripwire with the materials I had to hand, but it was better than hoping one of the skeletons kicked it hard enough to set it off. The enchantment was highly unstable, yes, but nobody wanted to rely entirely on luck.

Still breathing heavily, and absolutely filthy with sweat and old blood, I rushed to the pedestals, and read through the clue and puzzle for this room. The engraved pillar was first, and gave the clue:

Greetings Cheating Aspirant,

Your time runs short, so so does this message. Complete the next number in the sequence and you shall proceed to the final challenge. Fail and the guardians will come for you.

Good luck, I hope to see you soon.

The implied jaunty tone of the message rubbed me entirely the wrong way and I approached the challenge pedestal with a burning coal of anger in my gut. The challenge was shaped like a triangle, with engraved tiles defending towards me, one at the top, and an empty space for eight on the last line. Beneath them was a tray filled with loose tiles. The place tiles read:

1

11

21

1211

111221

312211

XXXXXXXX

The tiles in the base all had numbers between one and nine. For a moment I stood there stunned, as the puzzle was very unlike all of the previous ones. It had no real clue, or puzzle, or riddle to it, and there was no easy way for me to cheat with the abilities I had available. I also didn't recognise the puzzle type from this life or my last one. It was most likely maths, I thought, which had always been a touchy subject with me in my old world - I could manage to balance my books and keeps bank account in order as long as I checked regularly, but as soon as numbers started to be replaced with letters or you started getting into angles and higher order maths, I had often been lost. That kind of information just didn't stick in my brain. It wasn't code, as far as I could tell - I'd been strangely good with codes and ciphers, even if I was terrible with maths. Admittedly most of that had come from…I tried to remember the specifics of why I had loved codes, and ran into one of the fuzzy spaces in my mind where anything to do with my family was located.

Frustrated, I went to poke at the edges of the memory, before realising that that was just wasting the limited time I had, and mentally shoving the train of thought to one side. Eight years of trying hadn't loosened the blocks on my memory, I wasn't going to do it in the few minutes I had before the skeletons attacked.

Quickly I tried what little maths I could bring to bare, adding and multiplying numbers via a blackboard made from my Field of Illusions and I try and keep track of the numbers that seemed to fall and tumble about in my head.

In this world, maths both was and wasn't as important as it was in my last world. Essence and intent could replace much of the necessary equations that had been needed for warfare, engineering, navigation and the myriad other uses humans on my last world had needed it for. An engineer or site manager with a specialised class could seal stone together seamlessly and root it to the earth more solidly than any method my last world and all it's fancy technology could come up with. And who really needed complicated navigation when a specialised seer or scout could just see mikes into the distance, or command an enchanted compass to take them where they needed to go? Intent was far more important in this world than careful planning.

But alternately, with Runesmithing and enchanting, you had to be able to practically eyeball depths, lengths and thicknesses to adjust your linking sequences and activation runes, and so that kind of maths had been practically beaten into me with a stick by Papa so that I wouldn't blow my arm off the first time I tried to make a cooking stone.

All this is to say, as the sand continued to drift down into the bottom of the hourglass I tried every piece of maths, code phrase, substitution system and guess I could think of on my blackboard, getting more and more panicked as I did so, until, inevitably, the time was about to run out. With a couple of minutes to go, I remembered that I had the ability stone from the last challenge and, praying for a Hail Mary, shoved it into my mouth and bit down, trying to ignore the rush of energy filled liquid even while I kept running through permutations and ideas.

Ability Crystal Detected. Applying Upgrades. Inborn Talent Soul Companion level Increased: [Wood 2 0/5] > [Wood 3 0/7].

I felt and heard Boone shudder and cry out as the energy rushed not into a receptacle, but down the connection between our soul, or the part of my soul that lived in his body. We had never quite decided whether we were two souls connected, or two parts of the same soul, but regardless, things that affected him affected me, and as energy surged through him and his blue fire burned higher and hotter, I fell to my knees in spiritual backlash. As his body shuddered and went through changes, I felt a modicum of that power wash back through me. I couldn't even see the hourglass at that moment as every muscle in my body suddenly tensed, burned, and warped. Something in me pushed against a hard wall, and rather than stop and fill up the space, the wall warped.

[ERROR] Soul linked status of companion Boone has deific override applied. Higher order rules of reality overwrite local restrictions. Executing Override: A Mirror And Reflection.

Locked Attribute: Body Increased through Spiritual Resonance: [Wood 1 0/3] > [Wood 2 0/5]

Soul companion. Level: Wood 3 (0/7)

* You have been graced with a spiritual adviser to your new world. Boone acts as a companion to help you train, a connection to your patron deity, and as a motivational aid in becoming the best you can be.

* Your soul companion, Boone, has unlocked a pseudo-class, the Telekineticist. Unlike a full class, this ability more closely mimics the magical abilities of Monsters, and is more limited in scope, but will act as a supporting ability user to you moving forward.

* With each level moving forward, your soul companion will gain in size and mental strength, though his ability to go ignored will be less and less reliable.

I could feel the System itself fighting against me, as my Soul Card changes in ways it wasn't meant to, and it Hurt in ways I wasn't prepared for. Unfortunately, just as my head began to clear and my muscles eased up, the timer ran out. There was an audible roar, and suddenly all hell broke loose.

Like an invisible barrier had been removed, the skeletons pressed up against the barrier all hissed in unison, raised their spears, and moved to charge. The leader with his tiger spear moved so fast his silver spear was almost a blur, and he hefted it to hist shoulder as though to throw it like a javelin. It was aimed directly at me. I grit my teeth, stared at them with that coal of anger I was sure burning behind my eyes, and pumped the tiniest fraction of Essence into the stone in my hand.

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Now, in my last life, I am almost positive I didn't know how to make a claymore. While the vast majority of my personal life was a fuzzy blur of indistinct images and feelings, with over eight years of pushing at the edges of those things, I was pretty sure I had worked in a bookshop.

But I know for a fact I had read a lot of books and seen a lot of movies, and I was pretty sure I knew what a claymore mine did, and how, and with enchanting and essence on Axis, intent and imagination were often enough to fill the gaps. Add the magical version of a hand grenade into the mix, and things got, heh, explosive.

As the leader cocked his spear to throw, the other fourteen skeletons were already rushing into the room and attempting to spread out. They had all massed together and charged to either side of the leader. Within less than a second they had filled ten feet of space. They moved so fast. Unfortunately, that was when my essence spark set off the chain reaction in the enchantment covering the bottle. A spark of fire and oxygen was created inside the bottle, which set off the reactive compounds. These began to detonate, creating thermal energy, which flooded the circuit of the rest of the enchantment. Power raced to the reflection Rune and the propulsion Runes, turning one on, and setting the others to repulsion rather than attraction.

The stone balls started to fly away from the bottle as the whole thing came apart. Each rune gave a final burst of power, discharging the 80% of my essence capacity I had jammed in there, and supercharging it for less than a tenth of a second. The reflection Rune made sure none of the energy was targeted backwards toward me and Boone, who were just starting to get our bodies back under control, but doubled the explosive force of the bottle in the other three directions, and propelled the 50 stone balls at such high speeds that most of the shattered under the sudden force and became sharp pieces of shrapnel.

The officer skeleton managed to see what was happening in time to drop his sword and grab the hem of his cloak, dragging the material around him, but the other skeletons were too slow or dumb to protect themselves. The fourteen normal soldiers suffered the full force of the explosive barrage and came apart under the force. Shrapnel and explosive jelly impacted bone, which impacted the stone walls of the clearing, and the monsters all shattered into variously sized pieces of bone debris and ruined furs.

The officer drew back his cloak, which seemed to shed both stone debris and flaming chemicals like water, and roared at us in the most spine chilling voice I had ever heard, before reaching for his spear again and charging.

Fourteen down, one big one to go, I thought, and heaved myself away from the rushing creature, in near panic, thinking truthfully that this was going to be how I died, on the ground under a larger and angrier opponent. A memory fragment lined up for me, a brief flash of a gang of men kicking and beating at me while I tried desperately to protect my head, and the thought that ran through my head was not again. Please, not again.

The skeleton didn't care for my internal plea, however, and charged the all too few feet to run me through and get it over with. I didn't know if it was better or worse that it seemed to be moving at more human speeds now the initial rush was over. Perhaps it was an initial burst ability that they couldn't use twice?

I was so focused on him, and he was so focused on me, however, that neither of us noticed the loose brick off to one side, that tore itself out of the wall in a streak of blue flame, and impacted the side of the skeletons’ face. The brick tore through the bone like dry wood, and came out the other side in a shower of bone chips and teeth, taking most of the front of the skull with it.

Anticlimactically, the skeleton leader came apart under the weight of his own cloak, and scattered bone sprayed out from under the heavy leather garment.

As I realised I was still alive, and that Boone, bless his blue heart, had saved my life even as he was still picking himself up from the agony of having his body change completely in seconds, I thought of the officer skeleton, so much for One Big One.

Wait, one big one…one one. I looked back at the puzzle on the pedestal. The first line was one. It was one one, which was the second line, and the third was two, one, which was what you would get reading the second line.

“It's a goddamn Pun!” I screamed and scrambled to my feet. I raced to the pedestal and grabbed for the loose tiles even as Boone looked back the way he had come.

“Arcadia, there are more coming!” He yelled at me, and looking over my shoulder I saw that he was right. There were more skeletons emerging from the jungle on either side of the path and beginning to run toward us. But none too close; they were emerging far enough back along the path that we would have a chance to defend ourselves. Maybe this challenge is more fair than I gave it credit for.

“See if you can hold them off for a second, Buddy. I'm almost there.” He nodded to me and I felt affirmation and stubborn pride well up in him as he stepped to the front of the entrance and telekinetically hefted three spears into the air.

“I have more power and essence now, but I have maybe three volleys in me. Please hurry!” He yelled, just as blue fire surrounded the hafts of the three spears and he flung them at the speed of an arrow down the path. Each impacted the first skeletons in line and kept going, shattering the ribs or spine of several skeletons before their momentum was spent.

Several of the monsters toppled over and clogged the path for those following, even as Boone hefted more spears. Meanwhile, I grabbed numbered tiles and slotted them into the recesses as fast as possible, laying out near numbers to explain the last line. One, three, one one, two two, two, one.

As I completed the sequence the gate on the other side opened and I nearly cheered, before the sound of shattering bone caught my attention and I looked back to see the skeletons were still coming.

“Boone, it's open! We need to move!” The not-so-little-anymore blue fox span on his heels and started running for me as I began to run myself, before he yelled.

“Arcadia! Open your Bag!” I didn't ask why, there was no time, but if Boone needed me to, I didn't need to ask. I opened the portal into my storage space as he grabbed the silver spear and the cloak with telekinetic flames and threw them inside before racing past me. I could have cheered at the little genius. We didn't have time to wait for the Ability Crystal already already emerging from the pillar in its wire cage, but that didn't mean we had to run empty handed.

Together we sprinted through the gate and kept running. The path seemed to widen, or at least the trees began to get a little less thick, and I realized that, as we ran, we were coming directly to the base of the pyramid. I dearly hoped there would be some sort of finish line ahead, or something, as I glanced back and saw dozens of skeletons, and even more officers, racing down the path at us.

There were even some with bows, and I watched in horror as they drew arrows as they ran and took aim. I heard the twang of bow strings and ducked, hands over my head, trying to lower my profile as much as possible without stumbling. I expected to feel the meaty thunk of arrows entering my flesh at any moment, but instead I heard the sound of something hitting glass and shattering.

I turned back to see a thin barrier of blue flame had sprung up, which the arrows had hit and been stopped by, but was already webbed with cracks and falling apart even as I watched. Even worse, I saw Boone stumble and fall, seemingly too tired to run any further.

“No!” I screamed, and scooped the fox into my arms as I ran to him, trying my best not to break stride. I wouldn't let my friend die here, even if I had to shield him with my own body. I'm sorry, Arcadia, I’ve got no essence left.

If he was like my other Talents and Abilities, I could have poured some of my own essence into him to help, but something about our connection meant we were one, but also separate, and I couldn't pass any of my essence to him. I tried, I tried so hard as I ran, even if I only had about 40% of my own essence as it was. But every time I tried I hit a barrier, or the essence was simply pushed from my skin and wasted in a cloud of iridescent smoke.

So I did what I could do - I ran, and hoped it would be enough.

Behind me I heard another volley of arrows hit the shield at my back, and I felt the skill collapse in shards of blue flame. I also felt the fox in my arms shudder as backlash hit him, and I watched as his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.

Suddenly, the trees ended, and I found myself running onto a sandy beach on the banks of a slow moving river. The pyramid was on the other side of it, where a familiar Serpent woman stood with her arms clasped in front of her and a curious look on her face.

On my side of the river were two things. A massive pile of wood, ropes, and barrels, along with a table full of neatly laid out tools, and a large sign on two pillars, that read in neatly carved engravings.

Final challenge, Aspirant.

Cross the river.

A huge hourglass suspended in the air above the river turned, and sand began to trickle down. This one must have been closer to three hours, more than the fifteen minutes the previous challenges had given us, and my heart sank. We were supposed to build a bridge, or a raft, or something. If we had passed the last trial, or not gamed the system as heavily in the previous ones, I felt we could have done it, but the skeletons poured onto the beach behind us and I felt the air move and heard the whine of arrows as they passed us.

I had to jink and dodge, trying to make it harder for the running archers to aim, as I ran to the river bank. I could only think of one thing to do. As I approached within ten feet of the water, I locked eyes with the serpent, and screamed, “Screw you! And your challenges!” and leapt into the river, with Boone in hand.