There are three major sources of Hit Points in Annwyn Online: Health Points, Shielding, and Barrier spells. Shielding is applied on top of your health bar and benefits from any resistances you possess. Barrier spells can only block damage directly in front of them, but require less comparative mana to summon and maintain.
The Archive. Date undefined.
The Archivist's form had changed. He wasn’t a translucent blue hologram anymore, but a silver, metallic, robot-like form approximating the shape of a man. His body was slender, almost skeletal, with dark blue crystal armor over top of his frame. A thick band of braided tendrils draped from his helmet and down his back like locs.
He held a staff in his hands, blue mana swirling around its focusing stone in the heavy implication of a threat. “Who did you steal that from?”
The man’s tone had completely changed from the almost grandfatherly one he’d displayed earlier to a bone-chilling, mechanical iciness. Within these walls, I am the master of this domain. His earlier words came back to haunt Sinnamon.
Sinnamon held her hands up. “I didn't steal it! I’ve always had it.”
The Archivist inclined his head, not believing. “Let me see it.”
“I’m not letting you take it!” Sinnamon shouted. Saiph had mentioned something about these items being forged from a piece of their soul. Sinnamon didn’t care how powerful this man was, she wasn’t letting anyone touch something that might be a piece of her very soul. She turned and pulled her Caer Fragment from the impression. The device ceased its spinning, returning the room to darkness. She held it up in front of him, well beyond arm’s reach. “That’s as close as I’ll let you get to it.”
“Hold it still. I can see it fine from here.” The Archivist lowered his staff. The glowing blue of the light in his chest, that channeled up to his eyes, glowing brighter for a moment before dimming again. “Ah, you are telling the truth. It is soul bound to you and the magical signature, though similar, is not one I recognize. But you are no Ikhwezi. If you are telling the truth, then how did you come to acquire it?"
Sinnamon returned her Caer Fragment to her bag. “We all have a crystal. Millions of us, probably even more. That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out. Someone brought us here and gave these to us.”
“Millions of you?” Something like recognition appeared on the Archivist’s face. He muttered softly to himself, “Yes, this all makes sense now. But why send you here and not come to me herself…”
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He looked up, as though he just remembered Sinnamon and Weaver were still in the room. “I’m sorry, forgive me. It has been hundreds of years since I have had any contact with anyone else and I know nothing of what goes on outside the walls of my Archives. Why did you not say you were sent by Reylynn?”
"We weren’t." Sinnamon paused. “Right when that machine lit up, we got a message saying Reylynn was gone.”
The Archivist took on a severe expression. "What exactly did that message say?"
“It told us we couldn't access it, but then it said it recognized us by name.” She didn't add that it knew their real names, not just their usernames. "Then another message popped up. It was a jumbled mess of words. But it said Reylynn was gone and we needed to find something…" Sinnamon trailed off, trying to remember the rest of the message.
"Fel. It also said we couldn't refuse the quest to find it," Weaver supplied.
Sinnamon nodded. "Is Fel another person… like you?"
"Not a person, but a place.” The Archivist paused. “The person who spoke to you is another Ikhwezi like myself. She is the one who has been translating our words for each other. If she believes Reylynn is gone, then you need to get to Fel as soon as possible.”
The Archivist raised his hand to his chin in thought and began mumbling to himself. “The fastest way there would be via the way gates. Though they might not have sufficient mana left to power them after all this time…”
Now Sinnamon was confused by his abrupt change in demeanor and his apparent multi-track mind.
“You still haven't explained anything. Who is Reylynn? Why did she bring us…” Sinnamon trailed off, the gears in her brain suddenly grinding to a halt as things began to click. The leveling. The combat classes. The fact that so many had been brought here. The fact that most of the Revi were gone… “We were brought here as an army, weren’t we?”
“Yes.” He answered.
Weaver glanced at Sinnamon, apparently following her train of thought as he asked slowly, “Was Isiphelo the thing that killed the Revi a thousand years ago?”
“Yes. You were brought here because there is no one left who can stand against him.” The crystalline panels making up the Archivist's armor began to shift and slide away, opening to reveal a small blue crystal. He pulled it from his chest and examined it. “The Ikhwezi and the Revi together were strong enough only to seal him away and we knew that desperate act would only serve to hold him temporarily.”
“The weakening barrier,” Sinnamon said softly to herself. “But that still doesn't make sense. Why not give the powers to the people already here? Why expend the resources to bring us here across time and space?”
“No one here can wield the power you possess. We are all tainted with Isiphelo's curse. Only you, beings who have never been exposed to his touch could complete the soul binding without risk of giving Isiphelo a way to return to his full strength.” He took the crystal in his hand and slammed it into the pedestal beside the Archive. “Come and learn.”
The Archive began to glow bright blue as it lifted off the ground and began spinning rapidly. The lights changed from blue to all the colors of the rainbow and suddenly Sinnamon, Weaver, AnnaLee, and the Archivist were no longer in the auditorium.