Are you okay? I asked Cuby frantically as I fell toward the ground.

I’m fine.

She must have used her dodge, I thought—and I had little time to think of anything else as the fog below me cleared enough for me to see the jagged rocks that bordered the inside side of the road come up below me.

I expended my Moment of Solace right before I struck the rock, granting me immunity to damage so that instead of dying, I simply cracked against the stone and even bounced a little, falling another few stories to roll into the middle of the road—where the battle between our enemies and High Priest Axxonni was still raging.

Perhaps the worst part of my sudden appearance was not that I rolled to a stop mere feet from where Haroshi and Nerien were fighting the boss, who had landed his horse and was casting, but instead that everyone on the ground was looking up right at the moment I had plummeted from the sky. Eradicia’s roar had gained their attention.

“Kill him!” Nerien screamed, her face splitting into a grin.

Axxonni barked out a laugh as the enemies converged on me. “Perhaps you should be more focused on your true—nope,” he said, suddenly seeing Eradicia appear out of the cloud above and kicking off the ground to fly away.

I stood as a few of the enemy players surrounded me, my Moment of Solace still providing me a little protection. I was struck by a Hex of Chains, but it lasted maybe a tenth of a second—I’d been hit by the spell too many times today, and my resistance was too high.

But everyone stopped attacking me for a moment as Eradicia began to cast a new spell—one that darkened the already foggy night around us as a bright red sun appeared in her mouth.

I started casting a Fragmented Telekinetic Hammer, hoping to blow the players away from me and run—and a moment later Eradicia, hovering over us with massive wingbeats, loosed her spell.

A beam of red light lanced through the air, striking one of my nearby ranged attackers for enough to drop them 80%, then continuing along the ground in a fast sweep, moving toward myself and the group….

And Haroshi leapt between us and the beam, then made a gesture as it reached him, reflecting it—a second beam seemed to emanate from him, cutting through the air and sweeping across the boss, who shrieked in pain, ceased her spellcasting, and fell to the stones next to us.

I’d finished my Telekinetic Hammer, so I used a Mighty Leap, landing on the other side of the group before loosing the spell and sending a few players flying away from me—at which point I turned and ran down the road, casting an Intuitive Fragmented Supercharged Haste as I ran, my heart thundering. Someone hit me with a confusion spell—but it was more a flash, an impression of sudden perplexity than any sustained effect.

I ran, but not fast enough: a shifter leapt on me and pinned me to the ground a moment later—and past him I saw Nerien sprinting my way. I used my Rousing Command to stand, then, rather than trying to run, I finished my Haste and equipped a Concussive Grenade over my Derunium Lighting Rod—and then Nerien hit me with a Fragmented Slow spell, dropping my speed and defense rating even as what looked like their entire team minus Haroshi came barreling down the road after me.

My Mana Shield had broken, but I didn’t know when—sometime after I’d hit the ground and my Moment of Solace was broken, which meant it still had five or more seconds until I got it back….

Nerien reached me after throwing her weapon, and then the crowd reached me—many of their attacks missed despite my weakened Defense Rating, including a tossed harpoon from a warrior, but my Hit Points were still being savaged. I saw spells hit me and do nothing, such was my increased resistance to them—but someone charged Nerien with the white light of a miracle, and her next strike blinded me as well as dropping me to 10% just before my cast finished.

I took a heal for 500 immediately.

Gotcha!

It was Cuby’s Gift of Mercy. She had one charge left—she’d come down from her perch on the mountain to heal me.

My Devour Magic finished, eating the slow, and I Mighty Leaped away from the pack, loosing my Fragmented Supercharged Haste so that I could hit the ground running at over 100% movement speed.

Tether?

I cast an Intuitive Hardlight Tether and invested Cuby with it as I belted down the road, Nerien’s scream of frustration pure music in my ears.

You’re okay? I asked Cuby as I leapt up onto the inner mountain and started climbing into the cloud, glancing down to see if I’d have to turn around and kill a shifter who had pulled too far ahead—no luck.

Fine, she said, sending me an image of her climbing my tether hand-over-hand to gain some elevation. I started to make my way toward her, casting an Intuitive Fragmented Supercharged Implosive Missile. I think this is it, I said. I counted a little more than a dozen of them—we pick them off, pull back with some levels, then go for the throat on these chosen.

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Speaking of levels…

Right, I said, casting an Intuitive Moment of Mastery to crack for her. You first—I know one of mine.

And I brought up the Ability Selection for my psychic level:

Ability Selection

Choose a new spell to learn. You may later replace this spell with any other spell you are eligible to learn by consuming its Spell Card or using a Spell Book.

Technique – Mighty Leap

[You already know this technique. Choose a different technique available to you.]

Spell – Unnatural Terror

[You already know this spell. Choose a different spell available to you.]

“Heh,” I said, learning the Hex of Chains card that I’d used the previous night even as I gave Cuby a Moment of Mastery.

Oooh, she said through the mind link a moment later. Another, please.

I cast another as I leapt to a ledge that was further up the mountain, then paused to heal myself to full. Cuby sent me her sight of two abilities through the mind link:

Technique – Withstand

Requires 18 Prowess, Physical Affinity

Cooldown: 60 Seconds

Duration: 10 Seconds

Effect: 24 Resistances

You increase all your resistances by the listed value for the duration, but you expend Stamina equal to 50% of the damage you take.

Passive – Grit

Requires Physical Affinity

You increase your lowest resistance by your level, and your next-lowest resistance by half that amount.

Very nice, I said, leaping again to a higher point on the mountain—a very thin ledge that was high above the battlefield below. I cast a Moment of Mastery, then triggered it and took some time to read my own new picks:

Ability Selection

Choose a new spell to learn. You may later replace this spell with any other spell you are eligible to learn by consuming its Spell Card or using a Spell Book.

Spell – Cerebral Aegis

Requires 15 Spellcraft, Psychic Affinity

Oral: Verse

Movement: Full

Mental: Focus

Cast Time: 6.4 Seconds

Range: 5 Meters

Effect: 14 Psychic Resistance and 1.4 seconds reduction

This spell imbues your target with protective psychic magic, increasing their Psychic Resistance and reducing the duration of any negative [Mental] effect that they are subjected to.

Spell – Hex of Needles

Requires 6 Spellcraft

Oral: Command

Movement: 1 Hand

Mental: Focus

Cost: 10 Mana

Cast Time: 1.3 Seconds

Range: 20 Meters

Duration: 12 Seconds

Effect: 264 Damage

They were both nice—Hex of Needles was a short cast time spell that could be easily used with Investiture, and couldn’t be overlooked, but the choice was obviously Cerebral Aegis, which I took. I started casting supercharged versions, first on Cuby through our mind link, then on myself. After that, I refreshed the Supercharged Moment of Solace.

That’s nice, Cuby said admiringly once the buff went up. Very nice.

I’m almost ready to go back in, I said, recasting a Supercharged Moment of Mastery. We just need to figure out how to pack the investiture with 6.8 seconds of spells. We can both take a Supercharged Destructive Wave, maybe, and then you mop up with your Flurry of Steel while I disrupt the healers. Or we could—

Uh, Alatar?

I looked below us and saw what she did—after a little more than a minute, Eradicia was rising through the air again, beating a retreat at just over 50% Hit Points.

They actually did it, I said. I mean, I suppose the High Priest pulled off but—wait, actually.

Alatar….

I have a great idea, Cuby.

Let’s do it.

I invested myself with a Supercharged Hardlight Tether, then leapt out after the boss at the same time as Cuby, both of us gliding out into the air around it as it picked up upward momentum.

By the way, she said as we closed in. I’m out of grenades and I want you to trade me most of yours.

Okay.

I just wanted to mention it while we had a moment of peace.

Peace? I thought of this as we soared toward the talons of the supermassive demon queen. Truly, this last minute might have been the most peaceful we’d be getting in a while. I re-equipped my weapon as I prepared to lash myself to its legs with Hardlight Tether, Cuby coming up beside me.

As if it was reading our intentions—probably it was—the system gave us a quest:

Quest Unlocked: Matriarch’s Fall

Tough break, I thought at the Eradicia as I accepted the quest without reading it, but only one of us can be the boss of Mount Mirrak.