Chapter 18: Uphill Battle

“That was not thirty minutes Cal!” I said, lips forming a thin line.

I stood back on Svarem, glaring at the butler-esque man. Three familiar portals swirled in front of us.

“The trial ended because your opponent slew the nine other targets, not because the time ran out.” Cal replied.

“Nine!? In what, fifteen minutes?!”

“It's ok, it's ok!” Cal said, putting up both hands in a conciliatory gesture.

“Your bond with Abyssius improved significantly. That was the real goal of the first trial, there was very little chance of you actually winning.”

Before I could muster another retort, Cal began walking towards the earthen pedestal, where Abyssius’s soul tether lay once more.

“Place your hand on the tether.”

Sighing, I did as he asked.

A window appeared the moment my hand made contact with the cool purple material.

Legacy: Abyssius

State: Active

Bond level: 1

Available Insights:

1: Memories of shadow

Mastered Insights: None

“As you continue to fight with, as well as understand Abyssius, your bond will strengthen. As this happens, he will be able to share more of his power with you through Insights. Go on, but be caref-”

Cals voice was cut off as I selected Memories of shadow.

Many creatures surrounded me, though they knew not where I hid. Abominable creations wrought from necromancy and abyssal magic. Patches of decaying green flesh clung to fractured bone, and I knew the scent would stain me for days. Though tens of the creatures walked towards me, they split around me like a river flowing past a boulder. Their feeble minds could not perceive me, and so where I hid could not exist to them. I lay silently, until at last, my patience was rewarded. Among the sea of shambling corpses, an anomaly walked. An anomaly not only to the undying, but also to the Abyss. Cloaked in purple, a human strode alongside the dead, radiating a vile presence. I stood, muscles tensing. When the human walked within several yards of me, I struck. The sound of a head toppling to the ground could not be heard over the groans of the undying.

I gasped as the vision released me from its hold. My mind reeled as I separated my own memories from my aberrants.

“I was just about to warn you about the after effects, why are all humans so impulsive?” Cal said.

I snorted at him, but my eyes had caught on a set of flashing notifications.

You have gained 213 experience.

Your ability Wraiths Spellshield(Mana Eater Spellshield) has increased to Novice: 2.

Your ability Silent Rhythm (Peerless Rhythm) has increased to Novice: 5.

Your ability Shadow Needle (Blade Manifestation) has increased to Novice: 4.

Congratulations, you have absorbed the Insight; Memories of shadow!

Reward: Fade (Stalk)

Curious, I brought up my new.. spell?

{Fade}(Active)(Stalk)

Description: Over the next 3 seconds you fade away, becoming invisible. Abilities as well as movement while near enemies may break invisibility.

Type: Martial, Spell

Scaling: Stealth

Cooldown: 12 Seconds

Cast time: None

Cost: 35

Excited about the possibilities this new ability opened, I gestured to the portals.

Cal nodded, and we went back into the Stalk trial.

After claiming the fangs and experiencing the slightly unpleasant merging once more, I looked around, realizing I was in the same clearing as the beginning of the last test.

“This is the same starting area. Surely the prey creatures won’t be in the same locations?” I asked, a tinge of hope in my voice.

“No, they will not.”

My hopes fell as fast as they had risen, but it had been a long shot anyways. After another few moments of attempting to glean information from the surroundings, an idea struck.

“If I leave this area, will the test begin?”

“No, the trial begins when you signal Abyssius.”

“Does the Simulacrum always start in this clearing?”

Cal nodded, and I celebrated internally. Which I suppose, with all three of us in my head, was the same as celebrating externally.

After several minutes of making my way from tree to tree, I had created enough space that I would not be directly competing with the Simulacrum for the first few targets.

I signaled Abyssius to begin the trial.

I activated Fade, and began my hunt through the Abyssal forest.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

After only four casts of Shadow needle, I spotted a faint golden glow in the treetops of a distant tree.

Allowing my mana to recharge, I reapplied Fade and made my way to the glowing tree.

“Surely the tree branch can’t count as prey Cal?” I asked.

“I can’t answer that, sorry.”

I sighed, clinging to the tree directly below the glowing branch.

With no neighboring tree possessing a branch quite as high as the one above me, I didn’t have many options other than to pull myself up on the branch, and hope there wasn’t a nasty surprise waiting.

Doing just that, I came face to face with a fat golden duck. It quacked in my face loudly, and promptly plummeted from the tree. After dropping several yards like a bowling ball rolled off a hotel roof, it began to shakily flap its wings, halting its descent. After only a few seconds, the bird had already made it past my Shadow Needles maximum range. Panicking, I tried something that I wasn’t entirely sure would work. Pouring mana into each fang,I mirrored the duck and lept from the branch.

“Glass Heart, Cal!” I yelped.

I swung one dagger at a tree as close to the bird as I could manage, and activated the teleportation potion as soon as needle met wood. Fortunately for me my momentum was arrested, and I did not splat against the branch I had aimed for. Insides roiling from the jarring stop, I took aim at the bird. Before I could launch my second Needle, my mind cleared. Angelic humming marked the start of Cals incantation, and I launched my needle at a tree above the fleeing avian. With perfect clarity, I warped to my needle, and fell downwards towards my prize. Upon smashing into the bird, my plan was complete.

“Well done Locke! What a soundly constructed plan.” Cal said from beside me, hovering midair.

Bird clutched in both hands, I plummeted towards the ground. Either fortunately or unfortunately, a rather thick branch decided to stop my fall. Air wooshed out of my lungs, and I heard several things in my chest crack.

“If only you had three weapons, then you could have landed without a scratch!”

“Not helpful Cal.” I moaned out from bloody lips.

Only a handful of my health points remained, but I did survive. Sitting up, laid back against the tree.

“One down, nine to go.” I said.

Cal coughed,

“Actually, six opponents remain.”

I buried my face in my hands, allowing my health to regenerate. Apparently, I was unable to use my food to recover health in the trial.

Over the next fifteen minutes, I managed to find and down two more glowing targets, and it was during my search for a fourth that I came across the simulacrum.

Locked in battle with a rhinoceros-like creature, the simulacrum was entirely distracted. Considering the success rate of attempting a kill steal, I made my way closer, shrouded in Fades invisibility. The rhino creature was clearly no match for the copy of Abyssius, and was barely managing to hold off the aberrants deadly swipes.

Activating Dread from where I stood would alert both creatures, so I hurriedly made my way behind a tree that put me between the rhino and the simulacrum.

Blood stained the prey's torn hide, and I knew it’d be going down sooner rather than later.

Popping Dread, I slowly crept towards the defensively positioned rhino. Glass Heart was still on cooldown from an earlier encounter, so i’d have to make this work with the tools I had.

That was when the rhino stomped. Fissures snaked out from the impact in all directions, including my direction.

With no time to pop the spellshield, I leaped, barely avoiding the winding cracks. Fade shattered, and I was vulnerable once more.

Before either creature could process my abrupt appearance, a needle was already halfway to the rhino’s head. The creature was significantly more nimble than any creature that bulky had a right to be, and narrowly avoided my spell.

Dread expired on the rhino, and I gritted my teeth.

Then, the simulacrum turned to face me. The half dead rhino began to limp away as the frozen copy of Abyssius circled me.

A lunging snap of its jaws drew blood on my arm, and that became a harbinger for how the rest of the duel would go. With no element of surprise, no incantation from Cal, and Shadow needle on cooldown, I was essentially a weaker version of my pre-Soulsworn Swashbuckler character. I needed to initiate fights in order to win them.

After another minute of frantically fending off the simulacrum, I was a hair too slow to dodge a swipe of its paws.

“Three to seven is really not bad at all. In fact, you almost made it four to six!” Cal said.

I appreciated the support, but..

“Time is burning Cal, who knows how many creatures are spilling from the Abyss right now?” I said, heat entering my voice.

“And it's my fault.”

I hopped to my feet, and strode back into the portal.

It turned out, my second attempt was actually relatively lucky.

“Can we just go now?! I have Fade, I can just sneak past whatevers guarding the exit!” I said, frustration boiling over into anger.

After two more attempts at the trial, I’d managed scores of two and three. It had become obvious I wasn’t half as skilled at navigating through the jungle as the Simulacrum, and that was certainly not the only area in which the simulacrum was superior.

“Let's take a break for a few minutes, discuss stratagems.” Cal replied, in a voice perhaps as kind as I'd ever heard from him.

Sighing, I flopped back against the pillar presenting Abyssius’s tether.

“What are your strengths?”

After mulling the question over for a minute, I had compiled what I thought was a fairly accurate list.

“Ambushes and burst damage. I just don’t have the speed to keep up with him. I have to expend mana every time I want to leap from tree to tree. I-” I cut myself off before I could become unproductive. I stewed for a few moments, rethinking through my options.

Eyes widening, I shot to my feet.

I wasn’t supposed to keep up with the simulacrum.

Cal smiled, motioning for me to enter the trial.

My eyes burned holes in the spot where the simulacrum would appear from.

“Begin” I thought to Abyssius.

For the first time that I'd seen, the simulacrum did not immediately dash up the tree. It turned to glance at me, taking in my weapons that thrummed with mana.

After a brief hesitation, it began its usual route, climbing up it’s particularly wide tree.

I flicked one fang about halfway up the tree, and the simulacrum paused, wary of attack. The needle slammed harmlessly into a branch, and the creature made a low growling noise in its throat, but continued.

“Glass Heart” I said, and vanished.

Appearing right below the branch, feet pressed against its underside, I launched myself towards the ground.

Plummeting towards the simulacrum at a dizzying pace, I launched my other needle into its shoulder, and slammed my Fangs into the ice colored beasts underside as I passed by. The sudden loss of momentum nearly dislocated my shoulder, but with a gasp I held onto both weapons.

Having torn a wound open in its stomach,I tumbled past the creature, gaining velocity once more.

A whining bark sounded from where I'd left the creature, and just before I hit the ground, I twisted around in mid air to aim my second blink.

The beast was falling belly up, and I was not one to decline such an invitation.

Space tore as I appeared right above the plunging copy, and slashed both weapons across its snout.

Fortunately for me, the creature took the brunt of the impact as we collided with the ground. Only slightly dazed, I rolled off the creature, activating Fade.

By the time the wolflike aberration had shaken off the fall, it was already accruing Dread.

Dread popped, and I began charging Shadow Needles in both weapons for the cost of only one. My mana guttered out, and I prayed my next salvo would be enough to finish the simulacrum. Because if it wasn’t, I would surely die.

I launched a needle from stealth, and to my surprise, the beast twisted and the projectile barely scraped its glossy hide.

Out of mana and with no other tricks, I sprinted towards my opponent.

Well, one other trick.

Holding my warp until the beast neared, I feigned a slash with my uncharged weapon, and discharged my other needle into the brutes shoulder.

I vanished and reappeared in time to see the monster had predicted my blink.

With a razor sharp set of claws the size of my torso only a yard from my very much vulnerable extremities, I activated my final teleport.

Reversing my grip on my weapons, I plunged them into the simulacrum's neck. To my relief both weapons sank deep, which I took to mean they critically struck.

After a final shuddering exhalation, my opponent collapsed. The simulacrum began to snap with the sound of shattering ice, and was soon only a heap of melting ice.

After a few moments, I was whisked away from the trial.