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The fabric of everything was altered…

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Flat on his back and fighting despair, Matt saw thin tendrils of blue shoot from Thor’s fingers towards the flaming monster at the same time as the guandao shouted a warning into his mind. Reacting intuitively, he twisted to one side and came to his feet facing the shadow spirit, his perspective already back in the guandao. He was about to attempt a retreat towards the others and the portal when something strange happened: as he watched, the monster in front of him shrunk in size. With a thin wheeze, the shadow spirit screeched and rushed forward, half the size of what it was just moments before.

Matt turned to face the shadow, loosened his body and swung the guandao to build momentum. With the creature at striking distance, he drew as deeply as he could from his core to push essence into the weapon, just as the arc of his swing met the monster. The blades shredded through the apparition like paper, instantly ending its high pitched screeching.

The series of shifts in perspective made his mind reel, and clutching his head he squinted to see a trickle of energy rising up from the monster. Hearing shouts from the others, and fighting headache and nausea, he quickly bent down to the shadow’s corpse. Seconds later, another crystal appeared in his hand, and he ran back to the others.

“Let’s get out of here!” Pete shouted, and they all fled towards the portal.

A moment later, they ran through the shimmering gateway. Their hearts beat fast and their breath came in sharp gasps as they fell to the ground inside the dungeon portal room.

Verdant appeared, buzzing worriedly around them. “What happened?”

Vic began to laugh and cough, struggling to catch his breath. “Oh fuck,” he said. “That was… that was something else. Pete, are you ok? That fiery thing at the end, nothing we did hurt it…”

“No,” Pete said. Where Vic was wearing a huge grin, Pete’s expression was more sober as he tried to calm his breath. “My sword just went straight through it. I thought we were…”

“And then Thor just, like, froze it!” Vic slapped Thor’s back. “Fuck, dude, that creature just… disintegrated!”

“What happened to you?” Mia asked Matt. “That shadow spirit was… Something else. I saw you on the ground, then you were fighting, and… did you kill it?”

“Something happened,” Matt said. “Yeah, I killed it. But when Thor killed that flame monster, the huge shadow spirit… Shrunk, and became weaker. My next hit took it down… Before that, it was just playing with me… What happened, why did it shrink?”

“The balance,” Mia said. “Didn’t you see the writing?”

As Vic and Pete shook their heads, Thor said, “I noticed it, but I was sort of preoccupied. What did it say?”

“First, when you killed the flaming… phantom, it said, 'Some balance has been restored, a slight disturbance remains.' Then after Matt killed the one he was fighting, it said, 'A strong disturbance in the balance,' again.”

First it was slight, then strong, then– “Ah!” Matt exclaimed. “When we killed the first shadow spirit, the next became more powerful. Then we killed that one, and the third one was… nasty. But when you killed the flaming phantom, the one I was fighting became weaker, like the second one. If we just kill the shadow spirits, they become increasingly powerful. That probably goes if we just kill the flame creatures too. We need to balance out the kills.”

Vic nodded eagerly. “But the first one we killed didn’t drop any crystals, and the second one did. How about the last one?”

“Here,” Matt held up the last crystal he had picked up, and a purple light shone into the room.

“Essence of Knowledge,” Verdant declared with a small smile. “That’s a nice find.”

“So,” Vic continued, “the more powerful version drops crystals?” Then Vic stopped to think, before a greedy expression lit in his eyes. “What if we had killed the large one… Would it have dropped an even more powerful crystal?”

“That’s…” Pete answered. “Could you even touch it, Matt?”

“No,” he answered. “No way. It was simply too powerful. Thor, I was lucky you killed that flaming… phantom when you did.”

Pete said, “We need to be very careful in there, and keep it balanced. We should probably stay around the portal and slowly weed them down. If we get too many of one type, we can retreat.” Pete paused for a moment, then smiled. “But if the second-tier monsters drop skill crystals… I wonder if–”

“Oh yeah,” Vic grinned at Pete. “Both of the tier two’s dropped a crystal, so it’s a fair chance we can get some more.”

Vic and Pete grinned at each other.

“Also,” Thor’s voice rumbled across the chamber, and he smiled at them. “Did you check your level?”

“Oh!” Vic almost shouted. “Yeah, I got a level. I am level 4!”

“Me too!” Pete answered with a grin, and Mia also nodded.

“The new level pushed my Body’s Tier to D!” Vic was almost shouting from excitement. “So now I can load two skills at the same time. I haven’t really had the chance to test out Assassination yet. Maybe… maybe it will be enough to penetrate the large shadow spirit? What do you think?” Vic looked at the others.

“I have another skill slot now too,” Pete said with a grin.

“Me too,” Mia said. “Hold on…”

A moment later, Matt saw dark green threads radiate out from Mia to wrap around them. A cool breeze washed over his mind, and an uncanny strength rippled through his body. He recognised the effect; from when they had tested out her Bastion skill earlier. Their testing had also revealed that switching between skills took an increasingly long time every time they changed it, and keeping Mend active in case anyone was hurt was more important. When Bastion was active, the others said that all their skills increased by a tenth. Even without the strange system, Matt also got the benefits from the skill.

“I had the second skill slot before,” Thor said, “But… my essence regeneration is incredible now.”

Matt had noticed the same thing. Where threads were slowly trickling into the others, it was like Thor was standing in a torrent of essence, absorbing a constant influx of power. Threads of red, brown, white and blue stretched into him from everywhere.

“So, what now?” Pete asked. “Do we try the dungeon again?”

“Yes!” Vic exclaimed. “I want to try the Assassinate skill against the shadow spirits. And if Thor can keep up a barrage of Icicle Strikes on those flaming phantoms… We know what we are doing now. We can just flee back through the portal if it gets too much.”

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“Let’s move in a slow circle,” Pete said. He looked back at the others, checking that everyone was in their assigned position and nodded over to Matt on his right. “You keep watch ahead. Vic, watch our rear.”

They were back inside the dungeon, and Matt’s robe was already plastered to his back from the humidity. The oppressive mist was rolling in, obscuring most of the forest ahead. He looked back at Pete and nodded, rolling his shoulders and swinging the guandao loosely around to loosen the tightness he felt. The more he fought with the unusual weapon, the more he realised he had to unlearn most of the things he had been taught when fighting with the spear. On top of that, his whole body was tense and his thoughts were sluggish; the day had been a long one and he was wondering if it wouldn’t have been better to leave the dungeon for another day. It might have been better to get a night’s rest and try this again when they were refreshed.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

But that wasn’t to be, and he smiled to himself at the spark of encouragement that travelled across from the guandao’s core. At least someone is eager to see what’s out there, he thought to himself as he carefully stepped around a bamboo stem, quickly rejoining Pete’s side as they stepped through the strange forest. He shifted his shoulders and tried to get the sticky robe to loosen from his back, when he noticed the flickering yellow light.

“There!” He said, a moment before the flaming phantom saw them, instantly shifting direction to rush forward in their direction. Weaving between the bamboo trees, the flame left a glowing trail in its wake as it approached.

“Phantom formation,” Pete declared in a clear voice, and stepped to the left. Matt took a long step to the right, and a second later Thor moved into the gap they had left, his fingers already shimmering with frosty blue. A moment later, a river of thin threads reached out from Thor’s fingers. The creature froze in mid air as the Icicle Strike struck, and rather than waiting, Thor sent a second Icicle Strike into the monster a second later, and then a third to send the monster falling to the ground with a hissing sound. The flames slowly flickered out, leaving only a blackened and burnt husk. Their prepared formation had worked better than expected.

“And that disturbed the balance,” Thor said as he retreated back behind Pete and Matt, who quickly closed the gap.

Approaching the dead monster, Matt didn’t see any essence threads, and they passed it by to continue their slow circle. The portal was still clearly visible on their left, and this time it didn’t take long before they encountered their next foe. A moment’s warning was all Matt got before his attention was pulled into his weapon’s blade. This time he was at least partly prepared, and it only took him a second to orient himself, seeing the shadow that was flying towards them. “Spirit Formation!” He shouted, turning his body in the direction of the shadow spirit as the others fell into a line behind him.

Matt stepped forward to block the attack, catching its first strike on the guandao’s handle and letting the motion continue to build momentum, swinging the blade around to arc towards the creature. The shadow spirit retreated at the last second–straight into Vic who was waiting in ambush. Matt saw dark, black threads coalesce around Vic’s hand as he lunged forward, striking the monster in its back and carrying the blade straight through its chest. With a screech of pain, the monster fell towards the ground, where Vic finished it with a second swing.

“Assassination?” Pete grinned as they approached, and Vic nodded back with wide eyes and an even bigger grin.

“And we’re balanced again,” Thor murmured. “So it seems like our theory is correct. Let’s keep it up.”

They only had a few minutes rest before another shadow spirit rushed them, and again they easily dispatched the monster. When a second shadow spirit appeared right behind the first one, Matt was pushed back for a few steps before he managed to score a cut across the creature’s arm. Screeching in pain, it leapt forward and managed to get inside Matt’s guard. This time he didn’t need the guandao to warn him to send his essence into the robe as the claws struck him in the ribs, and even as the strike failed to draw blood Matt heard something crack at the same time as his side erupted in sharp pain and he fell backwards, the monster on top of him.

He just had time to think I need a dagger, before the creature struck again. This time, the claws raked across his lower arm, and his flesh tore apart even as the sharp claws failed to penetrate the magical robe. He felt blood welling up to trickle down his arm as he tried to push the shadow away, when Vic suddenly appeared above him. With a glint of metal, his dagger swung down to embed itself in the monster’s skull, killing it instantly.

“Thanks,” he breathed hard, still laying on his back and waiting for Mia to finish patching him up. “That was too close.”

Matt walked over to the shadow spirit they had just dispatched and bent down. A trickle of energy rose up from the corpse as a thin pattern of symbols, and he held his hand in the threads for a moment until a crystal appeared in his palm.

“Brown,” he said distractedly as he tried to remember where he had seen that colour. “I… I don’t know what that is for.”

“Maybe Verdant can tell us?” Mia suggested, and Matt gave her a nod.

“Ok, let’s keep going,” Pete said. “We need to be very careful if the next one is also a shadow spirit.”

They continued into the forest, making their circles wider and wider. They next encountered a set of two flaming phantoms, and Thor took them both down in seconds, before another flaming phantom rushed them just as they got ready to continue their walk. The balance had now shifted to the fiery monsters, and as they expected the next flaming phantom was both larger and more powerful. Thor’s first Icicle Strike only froze it for a moment, and as it rushed towards them, Pete and Matt were forced to move into its path to block it. Pete’s sword failed to make any impression on the monster, and Matt did not have great hopes as he swung his guandao in a long arc.

The monster must have expected the same, completely ignoring the strike as it kept moving towards Thor, who it had identified as the biggest threat. His essence-imbued guandao struck the monster and Matt wasn’t sure who was more surprised when he scored deep grooves across the creature’s back. The creature spun towards Matt and lashed out, forcing Matt to throw himself backwards to avoid the flickering flame that was thrown in his direction. When the flames passed above him, he felt scorching heat and turned his face away just as Thor struck the monster with another series of Icicle Strikes. The monster was obviously weakened at this point, and as it struggled to break free from the freezing effect of Thor’s skill, Matt stumbled back to his feet and leapt forward, already swinging his weapon and bringing the monster down in a rain of scorching magma.

Panting, Matt kneeled down next to the corpse to observe thin threads of essence reaching up into the air. This time, the crystal he picked up had a very familiar colour, and he held it out for Pete. “This looks like your essence?”

“Let me have a look,” Pete smiled and accepted the offered crystal, and Matt saw tendrils of power reach out from Pete’s hand to wrap around the crystal. As Pete looked down into the sparkling gem, thin threads quested upwards for a moment before they shot up into Pete’s eyes. The crystal disappeared as a wave of essence followed the threads into Pete.

“Oh…” Pete’s eyes were distant for a moment, as a grin slowly grew on his face. “It’s an upgrade to Shield. Let me just try…”

As Pete’s voice trailed off, Matt saw silvery blue threads coalesce around Pete’s hand as before, but this time they didn’t stop with a disc around his hand. They continued up his arm and across his body until Pete’s whole body was wrapped in a layer of steely blue threads.

“Is that what I think it is?” Matt exclaimed, taking a step closer and unclasping a dagger from his belt. “Shall I try?”

Pete nodded, and Matt probed the layer of essence with the sharp steel. As the blade met the threads, he saw essence rush to the point of contact, coalescing into a dense weave that stopped the blade. Drawing the dagger back, he swung down with some force, only for the strike to again be repulsed by the energy shield.

“I need to experiment with it,” Pete said. “The skill draws steadily on my essence when it’s active, and… And there seems to be some mechanism where I can increase the essence it uses to make it harder.”

Just like my robe, Matt thought, curiosity stirring. I really want to sit down with Verdant and learn more about this magic. There’s so many similarities, and at the same time everything is so different. The essence is at the core, everything is about those threads, but where–

“– so let’s keep going and see if we can find more crystals!” Vic had joined him next to Pete, and had been poking the magical shield with his daggers. Now there was an excited glint in his eyes as he looked out into the mist.

Pete squared his shoulders and looked over the team. “Ok. Form up!” A slow and steady trickle of steely blue essence continued to wrap around the large man as they continued to explore in a widening circle. With their new skills, and having learned how to keep the dungeon in balance, they found a steady rhythm and slowly killed their way around the strange forest.

Eventually, Matt’s concentration was slipping when they hadn’t encountered a single monster for a long time, and he fought hard to stay alert when Pete said in a low voice, “I think the mist is lighter here.”

A moment later they broke through the forest, and looked out at an ocean that extended to the horizon as far as they could see, and they followed a thin strip of sand between the forest and the water’s edge.

“Where is this orb, then?” Vic wondered. As they had kept searching without finding any more monsters he had cancelled his Hide skill to save essence, and was now walking next to Matt. “After the last one we killed, the balance was re-established, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Thor agreed. “And I have been keeping count. We have killed an equal number of shadow spirits and flaming phantoms. And I am beginning to wonder if there are no more left. So… Where is this orb?”

“Hold on a moment, guys.” Matt turned back to see Mia bent down, using a stick to draw a line in the dirt from the forest to the water.

“What are you doing?” Vic asked.

“That is a great idea, Mia,” Thor said, and turned to Vic. “She is marking this place, so if we keep walking in a circle around the forest we will know when we have completed a full circle.”

Mia finished marking the ground by jamming the stick down in the sand, and they continued their walk.

They had walked for nearly half an hour and Matt was expecting Mia’s stick to re-appear when a thin strip of land suddenly extended from the land into the ocean, where it ended at a small island. The strip was so thin they had to walk in a single file, and Pete was about to step out in front when Matt put a hand on his shoulder. “Let me. In case there are shadow spirits there.”

Pete nodded, and Matt stepped out onto the grassy strip and started walking out towards the small island. A short while later they arrived at the island, which was covered in blindingly white sand. Black stepping stones crossed the sand towards a simple stone plinth in the middle of the island.

Wordlessly Matt walked across the black stones, and found the small orb resting on top of the plinth. Perfectly spherical and shimmering in a pearlescent glow, not much larger than the tip of a finger, Matt felt an excited vibration from the guandao as he reached for the orb. He couldn’t see any threads of essence surrounding the orb, but as his hands got closer he felt it; a strange power was contained within the artefact. A power that called out to him.

At the same moment as he picked up the orb, he stumbled back as the plinth disappeared from view only to be replaced by a stone archway, blue energy shimmering across the portal.