“It’s the Beast! It’s here!” Vheti shrieked as Finn spun around to see that, yes, he was unfortunately correct.
The creature must have been attracted by their fight. It was rising over the Tower of Time, hovering with vast, tattered, yellow-green wings. Its long, alligator-like head peered down at them.
“We have to run! We cannot fight it!” Vheti was leaping to his feet, about to run back down the wall-top avenue. Finn saw that the creature was already inhaling, its gullet swelling as it prepared to loose its poison breath at them.
“No! Into the tower!” Finn shouted, but it was already too late.
Vheti ran, desperate and terrified, back the way he had come. Finn dove through the doorway.
He felt the impact wave pass his shoulder as he hit the floor and rolled into the Tower of Time, spinning to his side to see a lurid green cloud smash into the avenue. It was completely engulfed, and Vheti was driven off the stones.
One moment, he was there, and the next, he was gone. Vheti wouldn’t become a zombie, as far as Finn knew, since he was probably incinerated from the full force of the monster’s breath.
“NO!” Finn shouted in despair. It shouldn’t have happened like this. Vheti could have been redeemed. He could have become a better person.
As the last of the green cloud died down and fell from the edge of the wall, a shadow eclipsed the tower. Finn saw the two giant back legs of the creature slamming into the wall, and there was another deafening crack of wing-thunder. The Beast had landed on the bridge, and its scales were shifting as it turned toward the tower.
Was the Tower of Time magically defended, like the lodges were? Finn had no idea. It would be absurd if it wasn’t, but he had no time to think about it as the creature’s head leaned toward the open doorway.
The shadows!
Finn jumped for the shadow under the stairs.
>
>
> You have activated Shadow-Step.
>
>
He felt a moment of absolute cold as he was plunged into darkness, and then he was spilling out under the stairs of the Fire Lodge, spluttering and coughing as he heard alarmed shouts all around him.
Finn raised his head to see the assembled initiates along with Tobias and Rosa.
“Finn?! How did you do that?!”
“You look like crap!” Rosa was more poetic.
Finn was still gathering his bearings. He took in the tables, the makeshift cookfire, and the rising bodies of the Fire Lodge Defenders. He gasped.
“It’s the wyvern. It’s at the tower. It killed Vheti,” he said quickly, but then a second thought struck him.
He needed to go back. He had just been telling Vheti how they needed to be better than they thought they could be. They were here to kill monsters, weren’t they?
“Finn? I don’t understand. How are you able to teleport now?” Rosa was saying, keeping a cool head as the initiates all shouted in dismay and surprise.
“I can’t explain right now, but I’m going to kill it. I’m going to end this!” Finn promised, turning back and diving into the shadow under the stairs.
There was another disorientating moment of void and cold, and then Finn was gasping as he staggered back into the Tower of Time. There were now pockets of green, toxic fire slowly fading from where the Beast had attempted to kill him.
The creature filled the doorway. Finn could see one muscular leg, with green-and-yellow scales the size of dinner plates. He could see the underside of its belly and the edge of a leathery wing. Its talons alone were as long as Finn’s forearms. He got the sense that it was turning around, looking over its shoulder for where the mysterious human had disappeared to.
“Surprise!” Finn had an idea as he darted toward the open door, the Pyrrhic Blade appearing in his hands.
>
>
> Ascension Path: Combat.
>
> Speed of the Warrior. 150 Mana Cost. +50% Damage.
>
>
>
> The Pyrrhic Blade.
>
> Fire-Bolt. Convert Mana into damage.
>
>
Finn’s focused on his stats and attributes as he felt power surge through him. Suddenly, his limbs were imbued with incredible speed as his form appeared to blur. The wyvern was directly over him as he leaped, flames bursting along the blade as he stabbed upward.
He sunk 200 Mana into the Fire-Bolt and felt the explosion as his blade struck the winged monster and bit deep.
>
>
> You have struck the Level 40 Wyvern, Avatar of Corruption, for 315 points of damage.
>
> Speed of the Warrior +50% damage.
>
> You have struck the Level 40 Wyvern for 458 points of damage.
>
>
There was a tremendous scream of pain, and the creature was shifting, but Finn was already diving for the shadow cast by its wing and leg.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
>
>
> Shadow-Step.
>
>
Everything blinked into darkness, and then back into dazzling light as he staggered out from under the tower’s stairs. The creature thrashed and struck the building with its clawed wings. There were thick spatters of blue ichor across the stone walls. The wound Finn had inflicted was clearly severe, but it wasn’t enough.
There was a deafening crash against the wall as the creature struck again, and Finn was thrown from his feet. Somewhere, there was the sound of glass exploding, and Finn saw heavy slabs of rock falling to the floor.
“It’s going to bring down the whole tower!” Finn gasped in horrified awe. How strong was the Avatar of Corruption?
And, much more worryingly, would the Celestial Register survive if the Tower did not?
Another scrape that sounded more like a scream, and Finn knew he had to do something more. He had to attack again. Edging around the side of the room toward the door, he suspected the wyvern hadn’t yet realized that the strike had come from him. He leaned out to see that the creature was wobbling, dripping blood as it raised and flexed its wings.
There wasn’t much shadow underneath it this time, but Finn didn’t need much. A single shadow would do. He waited for the wyvern to stagger toward the tower once again.
“My new Shadow powers, there must be something more…” Finn reviewed his new skills and settled on Shadow-Strike. Would the Celestial Engines even let him combine magic like that?
He had no idea, but as the enraged beast hit the Tower of Time and more blocks started to fall, Finn knew he had no choice.
He darted out.
>
>
> Fire-Bolt.
>
> Convert Mana to damage.
>
>
>
> Shadow-Strike
>
> INT base damage. Convert Mana to damage.
>
>
Finn slashed up with his blade and again activated its incendiary abilities, pouring another 300 Mana into the blow this time. At the same time, he activated the prism. He could feel the warring energies of hot and cold, dark and light, within him.
The Pyrrhic Blade was a burning star inside a wreath of terrible black flames as he hit, and his blade bit deep once more.
Too deep. The wyvern writhed in agony, and Finn was hauled from his feet. He still clutched the blade as the creature thrashed, and he was sent flying.
The Defender felt a moment of utter weightlessness before he struck the side of the tower and slumped to the floor.
>
>
> You have been struck for 100 points of damage.
>
>
>
> You have struck the Level 40 Wyvern, Avatar of Corruption, for 420 points of damage.
>
> Shadow-Strike: Mana already expended. INT base damage.
>
> You have struck the Level 40 Wyvern for 471 points of damage.
>
>
>
> You are Stunned. -50% to all actions for one minute.
>
>
Finn groaned. His head swam with stars, and his entire body felt like the wyvern had just sat on him. He tried to push himself up but staggered to one side, having to hold onto the stone wall for support.
The stone wall of the outside of the Tower of Time, Finn slowly realized.
“No!”
He spun around, feeling dizzy and nauseous. He saw that the wyvern had backed up, shaking its head and trying to curl its neck over a terrible gash in its thorax.
“My blade. Where is my blade?” Finn blearily realized that he had dropped it in the fight. He tried to look for it, but his vision was doubled. He had fallen almost two stories, he realized.
There. It was a little way on the cracked stones, but before he could stumble toward it, the Beast spotted him. It lowered its long snout and lurched toward Finn.
>
>
> Confound
>
>
Finn was too far from his blade, but he flung one hand out and a wreath of black, oily tentacles burst into the air, turning into drapes of a sticky smoke-like substance that encircled the wyvern’s head. The creature tossed its neck, trying to dislodge the dark shapes with one wing. The strike missed Finn by meters, but the force of its wings was so strong that he was still driven to his knees.
“How much darn health do you have?!” he growled as he reached his blade. He snatched it up and rolled over to a crouch, holding the blade up as the creature thrashed its wings again. The wreaths of darkness were still holding onto its head, and the creature couldn’t shake them off. Finn had no idea how long the power would last, but he also knew that he had no time to spare.
>
>
> Finn Callahan
>
> Mana: 289 / 861
>
>
He had just enough Mana left for another Speed of the Warrior, but he thought that it probably wasn’t worth it. Not when his Fire-Bolt was so strong.
But if I use up all my Mana, I’m finished… The worry raced through him as he staggered to his feet. The screams of the wyvern rose around him. He quickly checked if the Confound spell was still in place, and it was, but the black mists were starting to disintegrate. Every violent twist of the creature’s head cleared another shred of darkness until he could see the creature’s snout. It wouldn’t last much longer.
There was nothing for it. Finn ran, straight for the Level 40 creature, as the thing roared and screeched its fury.
One pounding step. Two.
Screaming, Finn leaped as high as he could. He slashed down with all his might and his blade sunk into the creature’s head. He threw his Mana into his weapon at the same time, as much as he dared, and prayed it would be enough.
His body hit the Beast, and his blade sliced through scales and sinews. Flames burst all around him. He heard a terrible death screech as he fell to the floor, one wing slapping him into the ground with as much force as an ogre’s hammer.
>
>
> You have been struck for 125 points of damage.
>
>
Everything went black for a moment, and Finn felt something heavy weighing on him. For a wild, disoriented moment, he wondered if he had actually used his Shadow powers, but this darkness was different from that darkness. For one, it wasn’t cold.
Oh, right, the thing’s on top of me… He realized that the creature must be lying with at least one of its wings entirely smothering him.
It wasn’t all bad news, though.
>
>
> You have slain the Level 40 Wyvern, Avatar of Corruption. Experience awarded.
>
>
Finn almost wouldn’t have believed it, if it wasn’t for the fact that the creature’s dead body was on top of him. He struggled and fought against the heavy wing, thinking that he might die after all.
Then, however, there was a sudden flare of glorious daylight.
“Finn! What the hell did you just do?!” It was Rosa and Tobias, reaching under the wing to grab him by the arms and drag him out. He collapsed again next to the body of the fallen monster. No sooner had they done this when purple lightning raced across the cobbles and into Finn’s body.
This time, his ascension was a powerful one. Finn felt a surge of wild, savage joy as strength and vitality flooded his ailing limbs.
>
>
> You have reached Level 29.
>
> You have reached Level 30.
>
> +4 STR, +4 INT, and +10 free points to spent.
“Sheesh! Stand back!” the pink-haired Rosa gasped as the celestial energy surged through him, remade him, and left him panting for air.
“I went up two levels,” Finn said through gritted teeth while somehow still smiling.
“Well, I should hope so too if you just singlehandedly killed that!” the Verdainian said, offering Finn his hands once the celestial energies had done their work. “Congratulations.” Tobias grinned, nodding to the body of the giant beast sprawled across the bridge, one wing draped over the side.
“Yeah, I, uh, I think?” Finn’s body was still wracked with pain despite his ascension, and he knew that he would need to rest and healing before he fought any more battles. He wasn’t about to die, though, which was always nice.
“But how did you kill it? And how did you suddenly learn how to teleport?” Rosa asked with narrowed eyes. She was a shrewd one, and Finn felt vaguely guilty for the help he’d gotten.
“I’ll tell you, I promise, but not right now. There’s something else I have to do. Can you…stay out here?” Finn fixed his eyes on the ruined archway to the Tower of Time. Rubble was halfway across it, but he could still get by it to reach the Celestial Register…
“What do you mean, wait out here? What’s happening, Finn? What have you done?” Rosa somehow managed to squint even more.
“I made a promise. One that helped me defeat that thing,” Finn said wearily as he staggered over the rubble and into the Tower of Time, this time making straight for the center of the room.