Descending the mountain was no easier than the ascent. After several days with nothing but gravel under our feet, we finally reached the tree line, grateful for the shade that shielded us from the scorching sun.

Erik was first, as his vision was best suited for the scout role. His eyes scanned the surroundings, alert to any signs of danger. With the bow in one hand and an arrow always within reach, he provided a comfortable pace for the rest of us

Just behind Erik was Alira, who also moved with grace that seemed common to agility classes. Being around them always made me feel clumsy, so maybe I was a bit jealous.

Elara followed closely. She wore a serene expression, her eyes reflecting the vibrant green of the mountain foliage. A soft hum escaped her lips, a gentle tune that seemed to blend with the natural sounds around us. Her hands glowed with yellow light like she was practicing some spell.

Next in line was Malvina. She walked near Elara, sometimes exchanging words and laughing. Her short, cropped hair was practical, keeping her vision clear. She carried a small dagger, more for emergencies than combat.

I brought up the rear, literally and figuratively following in Elara's footsteps. After days of trial and error, I had a new spell at my disposal. It wasn't perfect yet, but when cast at a pile of leaves, it acted like a black hole, sucking in the leaves and even some earth before dissipating. Although not a true black hole, visualizing it that way helped with stability and power.

Casting it again had the advantage of no travel time, appearing at my desired location in a medium range, which was perfect as its purpose wasn’t for damage but control. It lasted just a few seconds, but it would be enough to combo it with Lightning Bolt or quicksand for magically protected enemies.

Since the power was gravity itself, it should bypass the magical protective gear, well, at least in theory. Casting it again, I finally felt a little pull towards it, and activating and deactivating the mana shield did nothing to lessen the pull. So I had really high hopes for its effectiveness. All it needed was more power; the ideal strength was to pull a grown man off the ground. Right now it was maybe a tenth of that, so there was still a lot of work to be done.

When forming, the spell's center looked like a shimmer. I wondered if making it black might help with visualization or power. I cast it again to the side, and a black dot the size of a bowling ball appeared. The effects were immediate. Malvina, nearest to it, skidded off the ground, and even Elara almost tripped. I dissipated it immediately, but not before the others saw it.

"Was that another spell?" Elara asked.

"No, the same spell, but now I added the black at the center. I call it Black Hole," I said proudly.

"That's the least imaginative name I've ever heard," Malvina said, brushing dirt off her clothes.

“Maybe, but stop thinking about it like a hole in the ground and more like a hole in the space-time continuum, and it gets a lot cooler.” The look they gave me couldn’t lessen my amazement at the look of the thing. The shimmer around the black hole gave it an otherworldly vibe.

"Well, it's more powerful with the black color change," Alira observed.

"I think visualizing them as I see them in my mind adds to their power."

"You have these things in your world?" Malvina asked.

“Yes, but they should be here as well. Our greatest scientists predicted them. When the largest stars die, they collapse into them.” They looked at me like I was taking crazy pills. “Well, obviously, they are way bigger and destroy absolutely everything. This is basically a toy and not even that.” I shrugged.

"And how does it pull stuff to it?" Alira was always the most curious.

“Gravity,” I said, but quickly realized it didn’t mean anything to them. Sometimes we take a lot of knowledge for granted. “Right, gravity is one of the fundamental forces. Everyone knows if you jump, the Earth pulls you back, but few realize you also pull the Earth to you just a tiny, tiny bit. So the bigger something is, the stronger the attraction.”

She mused for a few seconds “If I’m understanding this right, it means right now you are attracted to me.” She said it with a straight face and continued, “but since I’m smaller, my attraction to you is almost non-existent.”

I just remained speechless, I tried to think of a comeback, but I had nothing, so eventually I defaulted to my usual, “Words are like bullets.”

By now, the others had heard it a few times, so they chuckled.

I was awoken by a slight shake on my shoulder. With the fire out, the moonlight helped me see through the darkness.

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"We got company," Alira whispered. "Pretend you're taking watch while I lie down." Our talk woke the others.

"How many are there?" Malvina asked.

"I hear two, at least," she responded.

Now awake, Erik turned over. "I saw two at my back and three here, but there are clearly more."

"Do we stay and wait for them to attack, or should I start blasting to make it clear they no longer have the element of surprise?" I asked, defaulting to Alira or Erik for decisions like this.

"They'll just run away," Erik replied.

After a brief silence, Alira said, "Pretend you're going to take a leak. Move away from the camp. They might decide to attack. If so, cast Arc Lightning to blind them, then scream 'Wake up' so we know to open our eyes only after to keep our night vision."

"Got it."

Slowly, I moved away from the camp, not needing to fake anything since I had just woken up.

Three or four projectiles hit my shield, but I turned back and saw movement in the shadows—maybe a dozen. This was not good. As four more projectiles hit me, I felt the familiar weight of the dots on my shield.

I couldn’t wait any longer, so I charged the arc and cast it. When the arcs connected from my palm, a powerful light sparked for a moment. Even having my eyes closed, it was enough to see it.

I shouted, “Wake up,” and they sprang into action. The plan worked like a charm, as I felt no other impacts on my shield. The problem was my night vision was half gone, so I couldn’t see them. I started firing randomly in the direction I last saw them, maybe luck would be on my side.

A scream echoed through the clearing—it wasn't one of ours. Then another unknown scream, and another. They were on a roll.

By the fourth cry, fire erupted, spreading and illuminating the surrounding area. They had mages and assassins. Running away wasn't an option this time.

I headed to the fire and saw Alira and Erik surrounded, fighting five or six people. I fired two bolts, and two fell. My joy was short-lived as more hits struck my shield.Launching bolts at my attackers, they dodged them, except one, who took the spell in the chest, but he didn’t go down. Mental note: some had adamantite armor, but this time I had a few surprises.

They confidently attacked, while two of them remained back, probably archers. I let them get a little close, then cast a black hole between two of them. They were immediately pulled towards it, and while it lacked the power to lift them off the ground, it did make them lose their footing, and they immediately dropped to the ground to get a hold of something.

I sprinted towards one of them and put my hand on his neck and activated my arc spell. I felt him shake and drop. I doubt he would live, but they had two chances already. Now I had others to protect; I couldn’t afford to be careless. The other started to get up, but I tackled him in time before he got up, and once my hand was on his uncovered skin, he was out.

The other four didn’t waste time, and the dots kept piling up fast, way faster than last time. Turning to the other melee, they didn’t really see what happened, so with the element of surprise still there, I managed to down one more with my combo.

Now the remaining one started to wise up and retreat a little, but clearly, he was unsure what I had used, so I charged at him, and he started running. I was never going to catch him, but my trajectory took me near an archer, and when he was close enough, I switched to him. As he immediately lost his footing, because of the black hole, trying to retreat while clutching the ground, my hand was soon on his neck and I was already looking for the next enemy.

The other archer retreated, immediately I was running for him and after a few failed quicksands one eventually connected and caught his leg. He turned around, but all he managed was to get another dot before he convulsed to the ground.

As I was focused on the assassins, there were a lot of screams in the night, so I turned back to the fire, almost praying that there was still time to help.

My heart sank as I saw Erik collapsed to the ground with only Alira fighting. Swift and silent, they attacked as one, and Alira was on her last legs as a fireball hit her in the side. I fired two bolts, arcing through the air with more power caused by my desperation. They made a hissing sound as they connected. The first one struck mid-leap, convulsing as the electricity coursed through his body before collapsing. The second fared no better, even though it seemed to hit his armor. While no convulsing occurred, the hit must have scorched the impact site, as the mage tried removing his armor while screaming.

The scream made the others falter for a moment, and I managed to get near Alira. With newfound confidence, she sprang into action, her movements a blur of precision and speed. She parried a dagger thrust from one assassin, spinning on one leg and arching to cut another in the knee area. One tried lunging from the side, but she sidestepped, slashing upward to mangle the attacker’s arm before finishing with a slash to the neck.

I managed to get one more before the projectiles resumed hitting my shield. It was beginning to feel dangerous, so I shouted, "Alira, focus on the ones that aren’t dodging my spells!" I shouted, just as another bolt I cast missed its target.

She switched direction, and encumbered with spell-resistant metal, they were no match for her. Her three foes, although coordinated in their attacks, failed to connect any hits while Alira disarmed one, impaled another, and with a powerful horizontal slash, sent the last assassin rolling across the grassy land.

As she was mopping up, I faced my remaining two counterparts. They seemed scared, and their eyes darted to escape routes, but ironically, their own fire blocked them. We fired our spells at the same time, but their shields collapsed under my Lightning Bolt while mine was barely hanging on.

Another scream from the darkness took me out of my concentration, as it sounded like Malvina.

Hoping my direction was true, I started running with what little strength I had left. A light erupted in front of me; it looked like a smite from Elara.

As I reached the site, a few bodies were on the ground, meaning they had faced tough odds as well. Malvina had two arrows in her back and had collapsed, just like the others.

Elara was near her, casting another healing spell while trying to hide from the arrows. Fortunately, one of the archers had his back to me, and he didn’t even know what hit him. The other archer fled as he saw his companion convulsing on the ground.

“How is she?”

“It’s very bad. I can’t do much more for her. I’m even afraid to remove the arrows,” she said, looking at me with surprise, and continued, “You don’t look that great yourself.”

I collapsed to my knees. The weight was becoming unbearable, and the last thing I remember was Elara shouting my name frantically.