Gregory drew his sword, charging it with a mana bolt.
The once-man now-monster stood over the downed constable, just waiting. The mindrotted had unpredictable behavior, and it seemed to be waiting to see if Garrick would get back up.
Instead, Gregory's sword took it in the damaged shoulder. The mana bolt spell in the blade detonated, and the monster was blasted back several feet. It lost its balance as it stumbled and fell to the ground.
Cooper leapt out of the undergrowth, and his muzzle flashed green as he used his Bone Breaker skill. The dog dodged in and out, avoiding wild swings of glowing energy from the mindrotted man, while darting back in to deliver special attack after special attack.
Gregory dropped to his knees next to Garrick.
"Healing Touch!"
Garrick flinched as Gregory reached his hands towards the gut wound. Gregory was able to pin him down enough to stop him from knocking away his magic. He touched the gut wound and cast the spell two more times before it was no longer open.
Then he heard a yelp, turning to find an airborne Cooper flying directly at his face. He managed to catch Cooper before the dog bowled him over. He quickly channeled another Healing Touch into Cooper before picking his sword back up.
The creature had returned to its feet, and its unsteady gait was suffering from a new and distinct limp. Cooper had done some serious damage to the monster's leg.
Readying himself again, Gregory tried out his newest ability — Strike. His sword glowed a faint green as it struck, and Gregory could feel the additional wave of force damage strike the monster as he hit it. He hit it with the same ability three more times in quick succession. There wasn't a cooldown, but the rapid drain in stamina left him panting and moving slightly slower.
The monster lashed out with a quick jab with a glowing hand, and Gregory reflexively activated Endure. More stamina drained, but the strike barely hurt him.
Cooper joined back in the fight, and together they dealt more and more damage to the mindrot victim. Eventually, it fell over and stopped moving.
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You have defeated Mindrotted (Level 18)
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Defeating a stronger opponent gave him plenty of experience, and he was already bordering on a level up in his newly evolved class.
"Ding!" Cooper said, announcing his own level up.
"Nice! Wasn't quite enough for me," Gregory said as they walked back to where Garrick was sitting on the ground.
He had propped himself into a sitting position, still grimacing in pain, but the worst of his wounds were gone. Gregory used a few more healing touches, topping everyone off, but his mana was completely drained.
When the familiar low-mana headache started manifesting, he silently scolded himself. He remembered how much more dangerous it had been hunting strangleroot vines when he was already low on mana.
"Thank you for saving me, lads," Garrick said. He rubbed his still tender gut. "That was awfully dumb of me."
"Happy to help!"
"No problem, but what should we do now? We sent a wagon back unprotected, but that can't have been all the people sent to the village. Do we head back to the city to make sure they arrive safely, or do we press on in our own wagon to try to catch some more?"
"I hesitate to say it, but I think we need to press on," Garrick said. "The most important thing right now is making sure whatever caused that," he pointed at the whole scene that had just played out, "stays as contained as possible."
"I guess we're decided then, press on!"
"Hold on. We need to do something with that body. Can you pull the wagon up, Gregory?"
Gregory ran back for it. Burt's wagon was out of sight, but the other wagon and oxen were waiting patiently for them. Gregory was an experienced hand at handling animals, having grown up on a ranch, so he drove them up the road, back to Garrick and Cooper."
"I have some tools under the bench. There should be a shovel."
Gregory found the shovel, but realized that Garrick was still recovering, and Cooper couldn't use it. He would need to dig the grave himself.
"We can't just burn the body?" he asked.
"We could, but I don't have any fire magic. Do you?"
Gregory really regretted not saving his skill point. He picked a relatively clear spot a little way off the road and started digging.
* * *
Olivander entered another world. Like most of the domains he had seen, this one opened up onto a strange sight. It was like the world was cut in half horizontally. Under the horizon, there was a large open cave floor space, with mostly smooth ground marred by the occasional rock formation or loose stone. The far side of the "room" had a wall with numerous tunnels leading out.
That was where normalcy ended and things started getting weird. Above the horizon, there was a starry void. It was almost like space at night, but things randomly manifested in the sky — strange unreadable writing, figures made of darkness with too many limbs, a glimpse into yet another world, this one a jungle with huge cats that stalked over the treetops.
It was like this in every domain. They pushed on the boundaries between Realms, allowing glimpses into them, and showing things that might exist in other places. For the domain's part, it looked more or less like a regular, if a little too organized, cave system.
Olivander set out across the open floor. The nature of the ceiling made him feel exposed, but he knew from experience that nothing could pass above the horizon line. It was an invisible boundary between the space that had been carved out as a domain, and the domain itself. He had once tried to scale the walls to climb over top of the domain's tunnels, but the boundary was impenetrable to him.
Reaching the tunnel system without noticing anything amiss, he picked a tunnel at random. They would all eventually lead to the heart of the domain. He was glad for that, because some of the tunnels were much smaller than others.
He conjured a small light, and picked a tunnel. The tunnel he chose was just tall enough that he only needed to hunch slightly to walk through. After a minute he began to hear something up ahead. He didn't bother hiding his light, all of the Ghoul Mimics were blind. They had many other senses that would spot him first.
A small Ghoul Mimic charged out of the darkness straight at him.
He conjured his icy sword and struck it dead in a single blow. The smaller Ghoul Mimics were no threat. Even the older ones weren't that strong. It was the guardians and the domain masters that would be the real threat.
The closest he had ever come to death was at the hands of a domain master.
Olivander emerged into another open area, this one not quite as large as the first, but it had creatures in it. Three regular mimics and two guardians.
As soon as he stepped inside, he felt their attention, and then their magic suppression. His ward negated both of the suppression effects without trouble. They growled at him and charged, eager to destroy the intruder.
He dealt with the mimics first. They weren't strong, but they would still be able to steal his abilities for their own use. That could be dangerous enough on its own that they warranted first blood.
Quick portals carried the beasts to him before the guardians arrived, and he sliced through them with trained efficiency.
Seeing the mimics dispatched enraged the guardians further. They, fortunately, couldn't use his powers unless they could suppress him first. It was normally a huge advantage. Negating it made them nothing more than somewhat tough brutes.
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He wanted to save his mana, but he was really starting to feel the burden of fighting and running around without a solid break all night. He cast Flames of Annihilation, incinerating the two guardians.
As soon as the spell cleared his head swam and his vision darkened around the edges.
You're so close, Olivander.
It wasn't possible. He hadn't drawn on his grimoire again. How was he hearing the blasted whispers?
Something grabbed his attention, and he looked up into the strange sky.
High above him, a hundred glowing black eyes looked down at him.
He felt his blood run cold.
Do you mind if I join you? Of course you don't. Why wouldn't you want to see me again? Don't you miss me, Olivander?
"No no no no…please, no," Olivander said in disbelief and denial.
A tendril of darkness reached down from the hundreds of eyes and tapped on the boundary between worlds.
It cracked.
"HOW!?" he yelled in panic, fury, and confusion. Not at the ability of this creature to break the boundary. That wouldn't have been an issue for it. No, he wanted to know why it was here, and not where it belonged.
Didn't you once tell Amegnon? "More things can be pulled through than mana." By the way, Olivander, have you looked at Amegnon's grimoire? You might find the Eye he has bound to be very interesting.
"Get out of my head!"
Olivander, don't you miss me?
He summoned his grimoire and almost laughed at the stupidity of it. It was still worth a try.
He drew out a ritual, channeling every last drop of his own mana to it.
"BEGONE!" he roared.
One by one, the eyes in the sky disappeared until there was just one left.
That hurts, Olivander. I thought you would be happy to see me.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance."
The last eye closed, vanishing from his sight.
He let out a long breath. That had been too close.
Olivander sat down on the ground in an undignified heap.
"No more magic," he said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, trying to steady himself.
He knew he should leave, set up some high level guards around the domain, and get some rest. But he was already here, and the levels of the guardians inside hadn't been very high.
He grimaced when he looked up and saw the cracked boundary. No, he definitely needed to clear out the domain and allow it to seal itself. Nothing good would come if that boundary broke while the domain was still connected to his world.
The rest of the chamber was empty, save the beginning of a small pile of rotting treasures. The mimics built up piles of various things to produce the aura they fed on. It was something Olivander only knew the shallowest mechanics of, but he knew that for the most part, once a domain was sufficiently established, the mimics were more or less self-sustaining.
There was a not very well understood waste disposal process that the domains went through, and that was the cause of the vast majority of mindrot infections around the kingdom. Olivander assumed that was how Fezzic's family came to be infected. The unfortunate truth was that there was nothing to be done to prevent those kinds of infections. Unless there was a mimic to trace, they were practically impossible to find.
He climbed back to his feet and pressed on.
By the time he made it through another six tunnels and into the chamber at the heart of the domain, he had eliminated quite a few guardians and mimics.
The heart chamber looked much the same as the other chambers, but the aura was already cultivated here. This was where they started.
A grotesque conglomeration of some blue fleshy substance and what looked like veins plunging into the rock around the space was the focal point of the room. In the past, he had seen smaller hearts that occasionally birthed new mimics or guardians. This one was larger, and seemed to be in the process of creating something larger — the domain's Master Mimic.
"At least I don't have one of those to deal with."
The heart cracked. Blue flesh pulling slowly apart.
"This has to be some kind of sick joke. Am I still in a personal trial? The trickster god hasn't quite had enough fun yet?"
No god made an appearance. Olivander rubbed his face in annoyance.
The creature that emerged was further from the mimics and guardians it cared for. It had the same blue flesh as the heart and the same eyeless face of the guardians. It reached around the edges of its womb, grabbing on with four massive arms that ended in wicket claws. It was still otherwise humanoid, if three times the size of Gregory.
Olivander felt the beast's senses blast out and take in the whole of its domain, undoubtedly seeing the death he had wrought on his way to the chamber. It roared at him, and despite himself, the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He recalled his last fight with one of these beasts.
A wave of suppressive force blasted him, and his ward failed, the magic powering it weakened after so many fights without restoration.
Olivander didn't mind. He didn't plan on using any magic anyway. He barely had enough in the tank to open a portal.
The beast leapt at him, and he readied his sword. He liked his icy blue blade better than his fire sword — it accented his purple robes quite nicely, but he regretted not summoning his fire sword earlier. It would have been more effective against the Master Mimic.
It was faster and stronger than he was, but he had the experience and knowledge of the creature to overcome the slight disadvantages.
His magical abilities were suppressed significantly, but his senses were unimpeded. He felt a familiar magic gathering below his feet and he leapt aside, avoiding the column of destructive fire.
The fight was going as he expected. The domain's master wasn't quite fast enough to be an actual threat to Olivander, magic or no. He slowly chipped away at it, the additional frost damage from his sword also providing a slight, but noticeable, slowing effect.
The Master Mimic suddenly changed tactics. It threw up a portal in front of Olivander.
That was of no use. One of the reasons Olivander's portal abilities were not a huge trump card in battles was that they were magically loud, and quite easy to avoid if you had power to sense magic.
Easy to ignore did not mean that he could completely ignore them. The Master Mimic used them as obstacles, barring Olivander's access to him.
"Is this what it's like trying to fight me? Frustrating, to say the least."
He hadn't experienced this before. He never fought other portal masters, because they usually were logistical support, not fighters. When he faced the Master Mimics in the past, he never actually allowed them to suppress him to gain the ability.
The monster gained more and more distance. Then he realized what it was doing. Working its way towards the tunnel exit.
Before he could adjust and cut it off, it stopped opening portals and darted into the tunnel. Olivander tried pursuing, but another portal snapped up in front of him, blocking his escape.
"Dammit!"
He ran back into the heart chamber and then out one of the other tunnels that led into it.
Fortunately, the tunnel took him straight into the previous chamber. Unfortunately, when he ran into the chamber he saw the Domain Master finish creating a special portal.
It stepped through.
Immediately, Olivander's powers returned to him, and the portal it had taken snapped shut.
"This is bad."
* * *
Giles was back in the city, consulting with Leviana and Lucindre about next steps. They were still gathering up people who had fled, but there were already reports of more people turning.
"We need to clear out the infected, end of discussion," Lucindre said. "They'll just kill people, or spread even more rot. I brought my best students, but we aren't enough to cure everyone in the city quickly."
"What about when the people begin to panic?" Leviana said. "If people get scared that we're starting to hunt infected people down, I don't think they're going to try to stick around."
"We could seal the city," Giles offered. "A boundary with a one-way restriction."
"You think you could craft such a powerful effect Giles? I didn't know you were a ward master," Lucindre said.
"You know I can't. Olivander could create it though, where is that blasted man?"
"His companions said he was dealing with the domain, whatever that means. He sent them and an injured silver rank adventurer back" Leviana said.
"He went in alone!?" Giles said.
"It's not his first time in one of those hell holes."
"Lucindre, he told me he had the whispers earlier."
That gave the old woman pause. The whispers were not a joke. If Olivander pushed himself too far, there would be consequences.
"Perhaps we should check on him."
Giles was about to start asking about where the domain was, when he felt a familiar power blossom near the center of the city.
"Ah, maybe he doesn't need our help after all. One of his portals just opened in the center of...the…" he trailed off as he felt the portal close.
Instead of feeling a fellow magus at the center of the city, he felt a powerful presence that exuded rot and death.