Of course the wraith returned. As with everything else in my life, things could never be easy. At least I was able to take some solace in the fact that I was as prepared as I could be.

I hadn't just been painting sigils of concealment this time.

Back in Sanctuary Valley, we used an array of sigils to keep us safe. The most important two had been the sigils of concealment and the sigils of mana draining. Powerful creatures were often attracted to areas with high mana, so creatures would naturally avoid a land afflicted with lower mana.

After painting a few sigils of mana draining, I noticed quite a few similarities to the harvesting runes I used in my array. That gave me a few ideas as to how I could possibly fend off a wraith made of twisted mana. With any luck, it would be enough to save me from the horror's return.

As I cowered behind my sigil painted walls listening to the moans growing closer, I was only able to hope that my more reactive defenses would work.

For several agonizing marks I waited, dreading when I would next see the shadowed outline looming in the rain. There had been several points where the moaning had drawn close enough that I was sure it was going to attack at any moment.

I was jumping at every shadow as I awaited the inevitable. My nerves were already frayed when a sudden flash announced the activation of my defenses. The horrific moaning erupted directly next to my shelter as the wraith appeared from nowhere.

The fact that the nightmare hadn’t just traveled straight through the building without stopping was a good sign. The way that the horror recoiled as though in pain was also very encouraging.

The way it was now fixating on the general location of my shelter was far less so.

Feeling about somewhat randomly, spectral arms quested out for the irritant that had interrupted the creature’s advance. As one brushed against the wall, a portion of its mana was siphoned away to fuel a flash of light.

Terrified though I was, I was quite pleased to see my defense working. No physical weapon could harm an entity of corrupted mana, but the same was not true of my sigils. My new harvest sigils were set to drain large quantities of mana when my more basic sigils of mana draining received enough power. When faced with a foe that would flee before the light of day, what better use was there for the extra mana than to power sigils of light?

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Unfortunately, the nightmare didn’t seem inclined to flee. The drained mana seemed to infuriate the wraith, but it didn’t react to the light shining on it at all. Instead, its limbs thrashed about wildly, destroying much of the surrounding area.

I was very, very glad I had also included many sigils of concealment. I was quite sure the wraith would have destroyed my building almost instantaneously without them. Flailing about without direction, the limbs still managed to tear swaths of crumbling stone from my shelter.

The harvest sigils were clearly hurting the otherworldly monster, but it wasn’t going to be enough. I had hoped that the light would drive it off, but that obviously wasn’t working.

I needed to do something fast, or I was going to be rendered defenseless very quickly.

I grabbed my sigil paint and set to work. I traced out several more harvest runes on the floor in hopes of buying more time.

It wasn’t going to last till morning, but it was all I could think to do. It wasn’t as though I could directly harm the thing.

Or could I?

Abandoning the harvest rune I was working on, I grabbed one of the large urns I had carried the clay in. It was a mad idea, but it was the best I could come up with.

As more and more of the building crumbled around me, I frantically drew sigil after sigil on the clay pot. I coated the pot inside and out with sigils similar to those holding back the wraith from simply tearing through the building all at once.

The sigils of light weren't working, so I tried a different sigil. The runes I had carved to protect myself were simple enough to convert to sigils and I dearly hoped they could help hold the urn together long enough to work.

I barely finished the last of the sigils before my mana pool ran dry. Considering the decimated state of the building around, I probably wouldn’t have been able to draw any more anyway.

Staring defiantly at the titan’s horrific remnant as it tore its way closer to me, I threw the urn with all the strength I could muster. Spectral hands struck out at the vessel as it flew, but were consumed by the magical marks.

The wraith’s mana started to twist and flow into the sigils as the pot drew near the shadowy outline. It was almost like watching water flow through a drain. My aim proved true, and the urn landed almost directly in the center of the ethereal horror’s form.

The wraith continued to flail and rage until the end. The ground a hand’s breadth away from my foot crumbed away before the last of the dark mana was drawn into the urn.

I let out the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. There wasn’t a wisp of the horror’s twisted mana remaining. I was finally safe.

I let out a long string of curses as the urn started to shudder and shake.