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…a shift in the trajectory of history that made everything that had happened before irrelevant.
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“We are supposed to 'Maintain the balance' here,” Thor offered. “And now it’s disturbed… Why did the balance get disturbed when we killed the monster? Were we not supposed to?”
Matt was breathing hard, fighting a nausea that was hovering at the edges of his consciousness. His sudden ability to see through the blades of the guandao had saved them, but his mind was still reeling with the abrupt changes in perspective. His core pulsed gently, and was joined by a stream of essence from the weapon’s core to send a soothing energy into his mind. Thank you, he sent over their link and received a spark of reassurance in return.
“I don’t know about that…. It didn’t give us much choice,” Pete said. “That thing was dangerous. I didn’t even see it until it was dead.”
Vic was bent down next to the corpse of the strange creature, using a dagger to shift shadowy tentacles. “It became… tangible, when it died. I’m sure I hit it, but my dagger just went straight through it.” Twisting the dagger, Vic made a small cut into the corpse. “Now I can cut it. Matt, how could you see it? And wound it? I could just barely see it when I triggered Hide. It appeared as a silhouette… Like a ghost at the edge of my vision.”
Matt breathed deep to keep dizziness at bay. “My weapon could see it, and… Somehow, it shared its vision with me. I could see through the guandao, as if the blade was my eyes. The mist disappeared, and I could see the shadow monster clearly.”
“Can you keep it up?” Pete asked. “When we continue, can you keep watch?”
“I don’t know.” Matt was still holding a hand to his forehead. “The perspective… fucked with my mind. Maybe with more practice, but I don’t think I could even walk in a straight line when I have that perspective.” A message vibrated across from the guandao. “I think… The guandao just said it would keep watch for us when we walk. It will let me know if it sees something.”
“What are these things, anyway?” Thor asked, walking over to the creature and kneeling next to Vic. He studied the dead creature closely, reaching out to gingerly touch its head. “They seem like… Spirits. Spirits made from shadow. The skin feels… Thin, and dry, like paper.”
“It’s a good thing they are in here. In the dungeon.” Pete said, and Matt shuddered inwardly in agreement. “Imagine one of those on the outside, in the city itself.”
Vic was still inspecting the dead monster. “I can’t find any essence crystals. Matt, do you see any of those squiggly threads of yours?”
Matt took a moment to peer down at the shadowy corpse. “Nothing.”
“Thought so,” Vic murmured and stood up. “Let’s keep moving.”
Weaving through the bamboo trunks, they soon found a rhythm to maintain a semblance of a structured formation. Vic would move slightly ahead and scout the area to one side, and then Matt would join him to scout out the other side. Matt’s shoulders were tense as he kept waiting for something to happen–for something to attack them. Are you certain there is nothing there? He asked the guandao for what must have been the tenth time, only to receive the same response of mild irritation that the weapon would let him know when it saw something.
The nearly white wall of mist combined with the damp humidity to dull their alertness, and several times Matt had to force his attention to stay alert. Pete spoke up behind him, echoing his own thoughts, “Don’t let your guard drop,” he said in a low, clear voice. “Keep focus, the–”
Suddenly, the guandao sent an urgent signal of danger, and at the same time tugged sharply at his attention. He immediately accepted, and as his perspective shifted abruptly to the weapon, he saw a shadow spirit rush towards Pete.
Shouting a warning, he stepped around a bamboo trunk to push Pete out of the way, placing himself in the oncoming monster’s path. Timing his attack perfectly, he sent a hard swing into the creature’s side. His attack carried a strong momentum, and as the guandao connected with the monster he pushed energy into the blades, only to stumble in confusion when the blades only inflicted a shallow cut in the monster’s side. That strike should have been enough to split the creature in half, he thought as the shadowy spirit veered back in pain and surprise.
This shadow is more solid than the last one, more powerful. Why–
Before he had time to complete the thought, the monster rushed him. Letting his training and instincts take over, he stepped back into a deeper stance, bringing the handle of the guandao up in a swing to block the monster. The creature flowed around the weapon, striking out as it passed him. A moment later, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder as a claw tore through his flesh. Blood welled up and ran down his arm in thick rivulets, and he clenched his jaw against the pain as he pivoted to see the monster turning around for another attack.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mia start towards him, but he waved her back as the shadow spirit rushed at them with incredible speed. He prepared a massive strike with the guandao as he stepped into the monster’s path and swung down with all the force he could muster, only for the monster to slip under the strike. A last moment burst of energy made the weapon explode in ethereal blades, but they only scored light cuts across the shadowy creature’s body as it flew past Matt.
Matt breathed hard and fought to keep his focus as his shoulder pulsed with sharp pain. The blood pouring down his arm had covered his hand, making his grip slippery, and Matt felt a familiar fear rise somewhere at the back of his mind. That same fear he had felt on the battlefield—debilitating, soul-crushing fear. Fear that filled his gut with despair, making his legs shake and the grip on his weapon weak. Lavender, he recalled the mantra, trying to reclaim a sense of calm and level-headedness. This creature is powerful.
But so am I. The scent of lavender lingered as Matt felt determination and anger take hold of his fear. Rather than cool rationality, a resolve to protect himself and his friends. Instead of dropping into a passive and defensive stance to wait for the monster’s next move, a pulse of conviction jolted him to take the initiative. He shifted his balance to the front of his toes and took a step forward.
Stalking towards the monster, he swung the guandao in faster and larger circles. A moment of nausea threatened before a strong pulse from the guandao forced his mind to relax its frantic attempts to control his vision. The pulse told him to forget what was normal, to accept something new. Another message was carried across the bond, and Matt’s breath caught in his throat as his field of view expanded from a narrow cone to a sphere and the world changed. Suddenly, he could see behind as easily as in front–the very concepts of front and back becoming meaningless as he took in everything in all directions in equal clarity. As his guandao swung in sharp circles, his awareness extended and he just knew everything there was to know in a sphere surrounding him.
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He saw the grass poking up from the leaves underneath and felt their life force. He heard the rustling of the leaves above, saw the wind that made them move. He saw tiny particles of dust move as his friends breathed. This, and everything else. In that moment; his mind knew and understood.
His core pounded with heavy beats of power as the shadow spirit dashed towards him, and he grinned as the guandao flooded him with killing intent.
For a moment taken out of time, the world froze. The gentle rustling of the bamboo leaves stilled as the monster hung mid-air, its claws extended towards Matt, his friends appearing like statues behind him. Finding himself at an odd peace with the strangeness of the situation, Matt stepped forward and swung the guandao hard into the shadow monster, at the same time as his core beat with power. The rush of energy made the blades explode with a host of steel as the arc of the swing struck the monster, shredding its body.
Matt stepped back and relaxed his hold on the frozen moment, and the monster’s body exploded in a cloud of yellow blood as it fell to the ground.
As the strange feeling faded, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes as his perspective shifted back to his own. What just happened? What did I do? Did time just–Pain rushed up from his shoulder, bringing him to his knees and interrupting his thoughts.
He let his body slump to the ground as Mia rushed to join him. He looked down to see the green threads wrap around his shoulder when he noticed something strange; Mia’s green essence mixed with orange threads. The fabric on the robe… It doesn’t look damaged. And it has tightened around my wound. There should be more blood… He twisted to get a better look, receiving a sharp rebuke from Mia.
“Sit still and let me work, Matt,” she said as he felt the strange prickling sensation of her healing power.
“What the fuck was that?” Vic had walked up to poke at the monster, and was looking back towards Matt. “Don’t tell me… You just discovered another weirdly awesome power?”
“I… I don’t know.” Matt couldn’t help the grin that slipped out. “It felt great, though.”
What just happened? He asked the guandao, only to receive what he interpreted as mild amusement in return.
He breathed out in relief as Mia finished mending his shoulder, and the pain dissipated. Pete held down a hand to help him stand, asking, “But what happened? Suddenly you moved… you were a blur, and then the monster just… exploded!”
“I don’t… I need to do more experiments,” Matt began and sent a message of gratitude to the guandao. “But for a moment, something very strange happened. That shift in perspective I told you about? That was just… The beginning. My connection with the guandao became… Complete. I don’t know how to describe it. For a moment, we shared everything. Our senses, our bodies, our thoughts. And then… It was as if time froze. I could see everything clearly, and everything was just waiting for me to act. The monster,” he gestured to the corpse, “was just hanging in the air, waiting for me to strike it.”
Looking back at the corpse, Matt noticed for the first time the trickle of energy rising from the dead monster, a thin thread glowing with power.
“Oh…” he said and walked over to the dead monster. He held his hand over the stream of coloured threads, and a moment later, a brightly yellow crystal formed above his hand.
“Show me!” Vic appeared beside him, peering at the crystal resting in his palm. “It’s a skill crystal… But it’s not my affinity.” He looked around. “And I don’t think it’s any of yours. Thor, is this yellow colour for one of your new affinities? Fire maybe?”
Thor joined them and looked at the crystal. “No.”
“I think…” Matt’s voice trailed off as he tried to remember. He had seen that yellow colour before. Where was it… “Oh,” he said a moment later. “I’ve seen this colour, or at least one very much like it. It radiates out from crafted metal; like weapons, or hinges and locks, or metal fittings.”
“So, nothing we can use?” Vic sounded disappointed.
“Not us, but I believe this will be even more useful in the long run,” Thor said, “If this is for metalworking, or smithing. A skill for crafting, not just for fighting and killing. That could mean…”
As Thor’s voice trailed off, Pete grinned and continued. “That means there may be other classes. Non-fighting classes. If we had a smith with magic skills, that would be…” His eyes sparkled.
Mia nodded at the men, before she said, “But let’s focus on surviving this place first. Did you notice the writing when this one died? 'A strong disturbance in the balance'. What does it mean?”
Matt’s back ran cold for a moment. “If this balance decides the strength of the monsters… That’s not good,” he said. “The last one nearly killed us. Without that strange shit at the end, I don’t think I could have beaten it. And I don’t know if I can reproduce it.”
“And if you can’t kill it, none of us can. We can’t even see it, far less hurt it. We need to be careful now–let’s move back,” Pete said, gesturing back in the direction of the portal. “I’m not comfortable with how deep into the forest we are. At least, let’s fight closer to the portal… if it is still there.”
They had made it nearly all the way back to the small clearing where the portal was, when Matt had a moment’s warning before his perspective was pulled abruptly into the guandao. A sharp signal from the weapon made him look backwards, where he saw a huge shadow spirit weaving through the bamboo trunks towards them. Where the last monster was slightly smaller than a human, this monster was nearly twice that size, its head reaching far up into the bamboo canopy. The tendrils of shadow trailing behind the bulbous head appeared as solid tentacles that ended in claws, shimmering with threads of essence.
Matt had a second to react, and he shouted for the others to run towards the portal as he spun around to stop the shadow spirit. If he could just buy them a few extra seconds, they could flee, and then he could run himself.
The monster lifted a hand that was already shimmering with essence, and tendrils of intense white threads shot out towards him. Matt threw himself to one side a split second before the magic hit, coating the ground in a wispy, thin coating of white. He barely had time to get back to his feet before the monster was upon him, striking out with sharp claws. Taking a half-step back and raising the guandao to deflect the attack, the claws missed him by an inch, but he had no time to prepare a counterattack as the creature pressed him back, its strikes coming hard and fast. He pushed essence into the guandao in a hope that the ghostly blades might catch the monster as he parried, when a message surged across the bond.
Not understanding its reasoning, he still understood the intent and urgency. Matt shifted his essence from the guandao and directed it into the robe a moment before a strike powered through his block to catch him across the chest, just as his perspective jumped back to his own eyes. The claws sparked against the robe, and Matt was thrown back from the force of the blow. As he hit the ground, he heard Mia shouting something.
Twisting to see what was going on, he saw his friends battling what looked like a burning flame. Pete was striking down with a Cleave which went straight through the monster to no effect, and he saw Vic appear out from Hiding to stab his daggers uselessly through the creature's back. A thin stream of flame flickered out from the monster to scorch Pete's face.
Matt's hand gripped the guandao hard and he blinked against the pain in his chest from the monster's strike. Where was it? Panic threatened. The monstrously large shadow spirit would charge him at any time, and the exit was blocked by an entirely new type of fire monster which was seemingly invulnerable to attacks.