"Sorry to interrupt what I am sure is a fascinating monologue. But, if we could cut to the chase a little? For the sake of clarity, you are admitting you do not possess any Level 2 abilities?" Kirstin reiterated her question in her sweetest tone.

Eliud's expression in response was not quite a snarl, but nor was it filled with sunlight and rainbows. In any other circumstances, should the Duskstrider have looked at another person in that way, it would make them quail to their very boots. Neither was it improving his general mood that the Celestial Harbinger was grinning mischievously back.

"As I have stated, many times, no, I do not possess any Level 2 Skills. And that is because such things simply do not exist."

"Oh, right. My apologies. I must have been mistaken. Hang on a moment; let me just check." Kirstin's voice quivered with faux confusion as she pulled up the notification that had appeared just before she had lost consciousness. has advanced to Level 2. You have gained a threshold bonus. "No, it definitely says that my has advanced to Level 2. It's in bold and everything. Would you like to read it again?"

The sky above them darkened slightly, thunderbolts crackling ominously in the clouds, prompting Savage to give a little warning yowl. "Not that it is not delightful for you to tweak his nose this way, but neither the dog nor myself are especially inflammable." Josul whuffled his nervous agreement to that.

"I must protest at the characterisation of me as someone so insecure that they are likely to cause catastrophic destruction because of a little light teasing."

"You forget, Eliud, I was with you when the walls of Port Tallen came tumbling down. Was that not because Lady Heron suggested your robes were in last season's cut?"

Kirstin let the bickering between the man and her familiar fade out into the background.

For all his eccentricity, there was no real likelihood of Eliud actually allowing his irritation at her unexpected advancement to cause actual harm. She was, though, utterly captivated by the idea she now possessed something beyond the experience of the Duskstrider.

has advanced to Level 2.

It went without saying that if Eliud had never heard of a Skill advancing to Level 2, she certainly had not. She was aware that, through heavy use, it was considered possible to evolve Skills into something with more power. As an Archer, she had spent countless hours releasing after on the range, hoping she would get that elusive third arrow. It never led to anything, but there was a well-trodden path for advancement for her to follow.

That, since evolving her Class into Celestial Harbinger, her now had four arrows as standard rather than two, was proof that such things were possible, after all.

But that was as a consequence of linear evolution.

Skills just did not 'level up'. Did they?

Kirstin activated . Was there anything different about it now it had gone through this transition? She was not sure. In the grand scheme of things, she was still a novice at using the Skill. Would she even notice a change if there had been one?

Now she thought of it, there was, perhaps, a little less spacial disorientation that came with phasing out of time. Her stomach did not lurch as she entered the state, but that could have been as much a consequence of her growing familiarity with the Skill as anything else.

"Kirstin?!"

There was a note of panicked alarm in Eliud's voice that pulled her out of her reverie.

"Yes? What's wrong?"

"I cannot sense her, Savage. Does your bond tell you where she went?"

"No," the cat yowled back, matching the Duskstrider's tone. "It is as if she has simply stopped existing. Could she have passed through the portal without us?"

In confusion, Kirstin dropped , causing Savage to leap in the air as she manifested next to her. Eliud spun around, both hands flaring with crackling, purple lightning.

She held her hands up in mock surrender. "Why don't we all take a breath. I might have found out what a Level 2 does."

*

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

At Eliud's insistence, they did not speak further until they had made camp in front of the now shattered portal into the realm of the Dark God.

Kirstin had been keen for them to pass straight through and begin the quest for Genoes, but Eliud was not for persuading. "What happened to 'time being of the essence'? I thought we did not have a moment to waste!"

"And we still do not," Eliud had said, eyes grave. "But neither can we risk a confrontation with the Dark God's minions when I have no understanding of the powers you now wield."

"How is it that different from what it was before? is still a brilliant defensive Skill. It means nothing can hit me and, apparently, I'm invisible now too. What's not to like? We need to go and save Genoes like we promised we would."

"Enough!"

And with that, the absent-minded professor was gone and silence descended.

The shift in Elud was subtle, but Kirstin was learning to recognise the change to the set of his jaw. The way he stood a litle straighter. The darkening hue of the purple in his eyes. She bit down her response helped with preparing their camp.

With the fire lit, and both their tents established, Eliud made a gesture and a log rolled from the underbrush to bump the back of her legs, inviting her to sit down. For a moment, still smarting from their confrontation, Kirstin thought about refusing, but there was no denying the expression on Eliud's face.

"I apologise if you feel I am being overly cautious. However, I cannot begin to list the numbers of those I have lost because I did not properly delve the extent of their abilities before putting them in the field. If there is one thing I have promised to change about my life, it is that I will stop trusting my ability to overcome any odds. That is a promise etched in blood. None of which was mine. Please. I need you to tell me how it feels to use that Skill."

Kirstin shrugged. "It honestly does not seem any different. If anything, it makes me feel less sick."

"How so?"

"Whenever I've used it before, it's felt like everything is slightly off. Like I am very aware of being in the wrong place and everything is . . . prickly."

"Prickly?" and he smiled, releasing the tension that had grown between them in the last hour. "I have some experience with phase Skills. I think 'prickly' is actually a pretty decent term to describe the sensation. But you did not feel 'prickly' when you used it just now?"

Kirstin thought back to the sensation of activing her Level 2 . "No. It was smoother. Rather than feeling like I was forcing myself out of time, and then the result being all wrong, it was more like . . . I don't know how to describe it. It was like slipping behind a curtain."

Eliud glanced at Savage who had hopped up to join the girl on the log.

"And you completley lost any sense of her?"

The cat nodded. "She did not phase out of time, she stopped being part of this world." Savage raised a paw and began licking it. "I did not like it."

Eliud began to pace around their camp fire. "So, we have a Skill that 'levelled up' - " he could not quite keep the distate from his voice when he said it - "which now is noticeably more powerful than any phase Skill I have ever heard of. Believe me when I say that I know of no one who has been able to withold their presence from me. And I include gods in that statement."

"Although," yawned Savage, "presumably if anyone could hide their aura, you would not know about it."

Eliud grimaced at that. "Well, that is a thought that will fester. Thank you so much for that." He dropped his eyes to Josul, lying happily near the small camp fire. "Were you able to smell her when the Skill was active?"

"Hey!" Kirstin protested. "I don't smell!"

The dog raised his head for a moment, and then shook it, settling back down when done, giving every impression of having fallen back asleep.

"So, what do we have? You posses a Skill that makes you intangeable to my magery, that severs Savage's spirit bond connection and baffles Josul, who I know for a fact can locate a drop of blood from at least a mile away."

"And what does that tell us?"

Elud stopped pacing for a moment and looked at her. "I need to try something. Activate your cloak. Now."

Kirstin barely had chance to do so before a storm of energy wrapped her up in a fiery embrace. "Woah, Eliud. Easy!" Then she relised there was not point speaking, as he could not hear her anymore.

She watched, fascinated, as he flung Skill after Skill towards her, none of which making any impression. She took a step to the left, interested to see if he would redirect his aim. But he did not, continuing to attack the space in which he assumed she still stood.

For a moment, she wondered about making her way behind him and tapping him on the shoulder as she dropped the cloak. However, she sensed now might not be the time for flippancy. The expression on his face when he had shouted 'Enough!; was not one she wished to see again directed at her.

Instead, she simply cancelled the Skill where she was, several feet from when Eliud had last seen her. "You truly lose track of me, don't you?"

His eyes slipped across to her, pausing in the act of throwing another fireball. It vanished in his fist and he let out a weary sigh. "I have never known anything like it. Put a knife in your hand and you would be a terror to put Gallant Stonehand himself to shame. A completely unstoppable killing machine that I would not be able to sense, much less counter."

Kirstin shuffled her feet uncomfortably, images of Jak with his knives coming unbidden to her mind. "I don't think we need to worry about that. I have no desire to be an assassin."

"Well, I certainly would not recommend it as a life choice." Eliud took a deep breath as if seeking to cleanse his mind. "Okay, there is no need for us to get ahead of ourselves in this. I presume there is a significant mana cost to holding the Skill open?"

Kirstin nodded. "More so since the level up. I can probably keep it live for thirty seconds at most now. Maybe less."

"Well, that is something, I guess. Gives the rest of us a chance, after all. And that's down from what it was before?"

"Yes. I was able to have open for a few minutes without issue."

"Fine. That gives us some parameters to work with. I have one last question."

"And then we will go after Genoes?"

"And then we will go after Genoes."

She smiled, "So ask?"

"Do you have any idea what a threshold bonus might be?"