Oliver walked up a short flight of stairs. The tower stood at the center of Shannadale, its bricks cracked and crumbled as if from hundreds of years of neglect. He took the iron handle and pulled the door ajar.

“Let me,” Hunter said and melted into the dark within.

Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose. If the banshee appeared, he wouldn’t be able to unleash upon it with Hunter inside. Sure, Hunter was stealthy, but he was the better entry fragger.

Halfdan guarded the rear in case of an ambush. Sigrid and Charity stood on the steps.

Saj stood between them. “You can take care of this banshee, can’t you?”

“Probably,” Oliver said. “But who knows if that’s the real danger.”

The string on Sidrid’s bow creaked. “Someone would have taken the Time Crystal by now if she were the only one guarding it.”

After Hunter showed his face at the threshold, they pushed the door and stepped into a circular chamber. Paintings and mirrors adorned the walls, but sheets hung from their frames and concealed them.

A spiral staircase coiled around the interior. Each footstep reverberated in the stone cylinder. The place smelled of mildew. A single rope dangled from the ceiling, connected to the tower’s bell. Light from outside filtered through cracks.

As Oliver and his companions reached the third level, a shape drifted from the shadows. A figure in tattered robes glided in front of them. A pale face, hollow eyes, and parted lips that emitted another wail. The sound rattled their bones. Charity gripped Oliver’s sleeve and lowered her gaze.

Halfdan and Sigrid exchanged a nod and charged.

Sigrid shot an arrow and reached down for her dagger. Her arrow hit home. She didn’t care about the drop, leaping from the railing and stabbing out.

Halfdan likewise swung over the gaps and swung his axe in quick arcs.

The banshee drifted away, mouth agape. Its teeth and claws lengthened, and it swiped away the dagger.

Oliver pointed his swordstaff toward the banshee. He wanted to unleash on the creature and get it over with, but he’d seen what happened in an enclosed space. One Astral Lance and the whole place would vaporize.

The banshee watched the three approaching it and withdrew, phasing through the wall.

Sigrid sheathed her dagger and plucked another arrow from her quiver.

At the top of the staircase, they spotted the Time Crystal. It sat in the belfry just below the bell but was transparent. It was a bunch of crystals around a central one with a small base.

Oliver’s hand passed through it. The sensation was like swiping mist.

“Is it an illusion?” Hafdan said. “I hate magic. No offense, Oliver.”

Charity walked over and put her hands out like she was warming herself by a fire. “I don’t think so. I feel something.”

Four portals rippled into view around the dais. They stood like frameless doorways, each a different color. They were blue, red, brown, and clear.

Oliver peered through them and felt he could walk right in.

One shimmered with swirling flames in a cavern of molten rock. Another showed a vast ocean under dark skies. A third opened onto an endless cloudscape. The last displayed a rocky expanse with boulders and cliffs that floated in emptiness.

Saj walked around these portals. “They are connected,” he said. “All of them face the crystal perfectly.”

Halfdan scratched his head. “It’s a test. We have to prove ourselves.”

Sajj pointed at the watery realm. “Perhaps it’s a riddle. Water erodes stone. Fire boils water.”

Oliver heard the bing of a notification. “What is air? It could fan the flames or be the steam from boiling water.”

Bing. Bing.

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Oliver opened his notifications.

Oliver, what are you doing? You’re located next to a complex knot of code. This isn’t from the System. Someone’s been tampering with it. Someone who’s beyond human ability. I couldn’t even begin to guess its nature.

Charity moved back. She’d been looking over his shoulder. “What does that mean.”

Hunter dropped down from above. “It means you’re sentient. Welcome to the real world.”

“I don’t think there’s such a thing,” Oliver said. Las Calas still felt like the real world, but it wasn’t, and neither was this. Perhaps all that existed was the scum floating on a black hole.

Halfdan knocked on Oliver’s head. “Focus. You’re all talking gibberish. Which portal do we enter first?”

Sigrid put her foot through the water portal. “Perhaps these are traps. I’ve heard many still work from lost civilizations. The magic never dies.” Her foot came out wet. “And I know you’re scared of magic, Halfdan.”

“I’m not scared. I’m cautious.”

They debated, but Oliver shook his head. Someone had meant for him to have the crystal, probably the White Reaper. “We go in. I agree with Saj. I think it’s a riddle.”

“And,” Saj said. “I like your idea of steam. Fire before water, which leaves earth at the beginning or end.”

No one guessed which, so they decided to go into fire first. If only that weren’t the most dangerous option.

Charity glanced up. “The banshee comes again.”

Halfdan gripped his axe. “Let’s move then.”

Sigrid nocked an arrow. “Where is she?”

Hunter walked through the portal and onto a raised basalt walk above boiling lava. “It’s a dry heat, let’s go.”

Oliver’s feet landed on a basalt walkway, the air thick with fumes and shimmering heat. This was what it must feel like to face a dragon. Flames erupted from fissures in the rock, and rivers of lava traced bright paths.

Saj turned around. “No one move. Do you see that creature over there? In the deserts, we call it a sun devil. It’s a fire elemental, and it’s deadly. Very deadly.” He backpeddled, throwing his hands in front of his face. “Oh no, something is floating in front of me. A rectangle of light.”

Oliver put a hand on Saj’s shoulder. “Relax. You’ve been enlightened, or whatever.”

“It’s tied to me. I turn, it turns.”

Oliver gave him a shake. “Saj, what does it say?”

“It says Saj, NPC, and Cultivator.”

“Interesting. Touch the X and forget about it for now.”

A towering figure of molten rock lumbered toward them. Each step shook the basalt. Lava dripped from its limbs, leaving molten pools. Itl raised a fiery arm and hurled a pyroclastic spray. Oliver summoned a barrier. The embers bounced off.

Halfdan charged out of the protection and struck with his axe, cutting into the soft rock. He began another chop, but the elemental swung back, hitting and knocking him down. He rolled as flames sprouted from his fur clothing.

Sigrid loosed arrows that punctured the molten hide, each arrow bursting into flame on impact.

Oliver watched its movements and saw an opening. He lunged, swordstaff glinting. A swift slash carved a glowing gouge in the creature’s side. It steamed.

The elemental’s scream also sounded like steam, a raspy hiss. Where Halfdan’s wound soon closed up, the swordstaff left permanent damage.

The elemental roared, lashing out, but Oliver parried. A foot like a stump slammed down.

With one final thrust, Oliver nearly severed it in half.

The elemental collapsed and crawled into the lava.

Halfdan looked at his axe and then at the swordstaff. “Who made a blade that could do that?”

Oliver turned his weapon to catch light on the edge. Not a single mar anywhere, and it wasn’t dull. “I don’t know where it came from.”

They returned to the belfry and saw a translucent fire about a foot under the crystal. It flicked soundlessly.

Next, they entered the water portal. Within, they shivered in a cold domain of black waves and jagged ice flows. A roar sounded, and a water elemental appeared, cresting a wave surrounded by foam.

Sigrid’s arrows passed through its watery form, causing no clear harm. Halfdan took a step into the water and recoiled. “So cold. It’s freezing.”

Oliver glanced around for Hunter and saw him back by the portal. All of his friends stood outside the cone of destruction he would unleash. Star magic set the runes ablaze, and he extended a hand. A lance shot out, and an intense hissed filled the air.

The creature geysered as its body evaporated. It burst upward, raining down as hail.

Outside in the belfry, translucent water boiled above the flames. They were on the right track. The only problem is he had to use his mana sparingly.

Halfdan unwound a rope in the room. “For the air realm. The winds could knock us away.”

It was a good idea. They walked out onto an icy bridge in a world of swirling winds. Tornadoes danced in the distance.

The lance destroyed the next two elementals. He noticed he had six mana bars now, and after entering the earth realm, which was as much crystal and metal and rock, he had depleted all but one.

In the belfry, fire, water, air, and earth were staked under the time crystal. The crystal took a solid form.

Oliver touched it. Bing. Bing. Bing. His notifications went wild. The crystal wasn’t large, no more than a foot tall, but it felt heavy. “Let’s get out of here.”

They ran down the stairs. A wind rose and made the tower creak and snap. A board hammered against the side of the building.

At the bottom level, the banshee grabbed a sheet from a mirror and cast it aside. A swirling shadow stirred within the mirror’s surface. A shape extended beyond the reflective surface.

Oliver braced himself. He had one mana bar, and had no idea what looked at him from the mirror.