The void that appeared inside the ritual circle was disorienting, even painful to look at. Light failed to form within its center, making the darkness feel alive, almost oppressive. Izzy stared at it for too long and collapsed, her low mana reserves unable to withstand the overwhelming energy.
Bradley’s eyes widened in alarm. “Levi—!”
Levi, calm as ever, tossed a mana potion to Bradley, who caught it in one swift motion. Kneeling beside Izzy, Bradley gently tipped the potion into her mouth. After a few moments, her eyelids fluttered open, and she slowly came to her senses. The void began to dissipate, revealing a figure within the ritual circle.
“Dameion!!” Levi called out, his voice tinged with awe. “Whoa.”
Familiar: Avatar of the Void - Daemion
Dameion has evolved. Dameion has evolved into a Void Warrior. Dameion can now use this form to attack while also still controlling the veil nebulas enabling him to still be an effective scout.
“A void warrior,” Levi said. Reading the description. The being in front of him was incredible. A long serpentine body was on the ground behind him, its underside blacker than the deepest reaches of space. The cosmic patterns on his scales shimmered and pulsed faintly, like a slow heartbeat. His body rose into a humanoid torso with four muscular arms, each holding a weapon. One hand gripped a trident formed of pure cosmic energy, impossibly black and glowing faintly at its edges. The other three wielded black holes swirling with destructive energy. Daemion’s serpent-like head, adorned with small, jagged horns, tilted slightly as his void-like eyes met Levi’s.
“It is a pleassssure to communicate with you, Levi,” Dameion said, his voice a smooth, eerie hiss.
“You can speak!” Levi said.
“I can. Thank you for your consistent care over me,” it said, putting two arms across its chest and bowing. Dameion was now as tall as Levi.
“What exactly is a void warrior?” Levi asked.
“A void warrior are a specific group of warrior bred to help fight monsters that spawn in the void. These monsters are strong and something that cause severe problems if they are not dealt with.”
“Ahh, and you’re an avatar of that?”
“Yes, perhaps for your underssstanding, off-sssspring would be a more apt description,” Daemion clarified.
“That is very helpful actually, thanks,” Levi said. “What can you do?”
“I can actually attack now, although I still specialize in espionage and mana stealing.”
“Do the warriors have different classes?”
“We do,” Daemion nodded. “Mine is trickster. Tricksters are weaker in melee fighting but excel in debuffs and providing support.”
“I don’t want to change your gifts, we’ll keep our current strategy for now,” Levi said.
“Sensible,” Daemion said.
“You’re up Anza,” Levi said. Levi pulled out the World-Conquering Egg. It was a large white egg that was warm to the touch. The egg was about the size of a basketball. He placed the egg inside one of the rune circles.
“What is that?” Anna asked.
“World-Conquering Egg,” Levi explained. “Apparently it hatches into something unique for what ever world-conquering organism it merges with. Since its Anza, we’ll find out what it actually does. I am curious because I thought the path for the mimics was clear.”
“As did I,” Anna said. “By all accounts Mimics were the most straightforward world-conquering organism, that I read.”
“Same,” Levi said. “Well let’s find out what we get.”
Familiar: Mimic - Anza
The World-Conquering Egg has hatched into a Mimic Delta. Mimic Deltas are a rare version of mimics, only born under particular circumstances. The mimic delta has the ability to create energy shields and barriers.
Standing next to Anza was another mimic. It was just smaller than Anza in her alpha form, which she rarely took. The delta had an olive-green bioluminescence glow, giving it a distinct appearance difference from the drones. Levi called a drone to stand next to the other two to note the difference. The delta was bigger than the drones. It fit right in with the middle of the Alpha and her drones.
“Hello, father,” the delta said, looking right at Levi.
“Father?” Levi said. “How am I your father?”
“I was an egg and now I am hatched because of you, that makes you my father,” the delta replied. Its voice was androgynous and robotic.
“Do you have a name?”
“No, father,” the delta said.
“Would you like one?”
“Yes father.”
“How about Delta?” Levi said, with a slight smile and slight embarrassment. He genuinely liked the name Delta.
“I love it, father,” Delta said. Delta looked at Anza and bowed. "My leader, how may I be of service?” Anza just looked at the Delta mimic, and Delta bowed once more. Levi looked at the exchange and gave Anza a look. She looked back and shrugged, well, as much as an alien world-conquering monster could shrug.
“Last but not least,” Levi said. “Serenity.”
“No,” Serenity said.
“No?” Levi asked.
“No,” Serenity affirmed. “I felt the aura of the dragon tear. It is not something that you would want to summon or want me to merge with.”
“Why?” Levi said.
“In the wider cosmos there are a species of dragons that roam the cosmos. They are quite possibly the most powerful dragons in existence.”
“I still don’t see how that is a problem,” Levi said.
“What is it that they do in the cosmos,” Anna asked. “Surely, they have a purpose.”
Serenity nodded, “that is correct Princess Anna, they do have a purpose. They are order. They make sure everything is going directly as how they believe the cosmos should be. They direct, destroy, correct. They are the Prime Order Dragons, dragons of fierce abilities born from order magic.”
“How does that work with the goddess Tranquility? Who came first?” Levi asked. “Do the dragons serve each the goddess?”
“No more than elementals serve the gods of that element,” Serenity said. “They are two beings with vastly different limitations exisitng in different realms. That is not much of our concern. Our world is too minor for the likes of a Prime Order dragon to take notice. Unless of course we summon one or entertain its power from a Chaotic Paragon.”
“That would not be good,” Piper said. “That would be very bad.”
“It would be death for the entire planet, if not solar system,” Serenity said.
“Yeah I got it,” Levi said. “I won’t use it.”
“Levi I need you to understand, not using is not enough. All of us right now have to make the conscious decision that we will NEVER bring this item up to anyone. EVER.”
Levi had never seen Serenity act as serious as she was right now. Her asking him never to do it would have been enough for him to believe her, let alone her tone and behavior that sealed the deal. He nodded firmly, no trace of amusement on his face. Serenity's gaze bore into everyone else's as they all nodded their silent agreement.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
“Well then that is all I have for rituals,” Levi said.
“Finally,” Tycen said. “I love the rituals and stuff but I was promised training and I want training.”
“I agree,” Anna said. Levi pulled out the map of the towns and handed it to Anna.
“Lead the way, princess,” Levi said.
“There is a town that is just about 50 kilometers away, closest town to the city. We should get there in 3 hours at a jog, 2 if we run, 1.5 if we push ourselves.”
“I’m sorry,” Izzy said. “Did you just say run the entire 50km?”
“She did,” Piper said. “Are you ready for that hard work?” Piper said with a smirk.
“That’s suicide, not hard work,” Izzy complained.
“If you get too tired, you can ride a drone,” Levi said. “I’ll set the pace.”
“I can,” Piper volunteered.
“Not a chance in this lifetime,” Levi said. “Having you set the pace is suicide!” Piper crossed her arms and smirked. Levi winked back.
Anna pointed him in the right direction, and he began running. The sun was bearing down on them as it was just past midday. The air was dry as they moved away from the coast into more desert land. The rolling green grassy hills turned into flat dead grass plains. There were some trees scattered around with the occasion additional plants. It wasn’t extremely hot. It was just dry as something was intentionally sucking up all the moisture.
“I officially completed the late 20s crisis,” Levi chuckled.
“What?” Anna said.
“On my world around my age people have a crisis of what to do, so they do a few things, start a podcast, run a marathon, or get obsessed with baking,” Levi said. “We just passed the distance of a marathon.”
“None of that made any sense,” Anna said. “Besides baking, I know what baking is.”
“None of it matters besides the fact that it is just funny to me,” Levi said. “I hated all forms of physical activity but it feels good to be running again.”
“That’s cause,” Piper said. “You sucked at it. Now you’re halfway decent.”
“Har Har,” Levi mocked.
“Levi we all remember when you first got here,” Anna said.
“It was pathetic,” Piper added. “Just so embarrassing, its amazing how you even got a girl to like you.”
“Yeah she was an idiot,” Levi said, causing Piper to double over in laughter. They didn’t stop running because she would easily catch up.
“Can.. we.. please.. Take… a breaaaak,” the wheezing sound came from Bradley. Levi looked up and saw the town and slowed his run. “Thannnk you..”
“I didn’t stop for you,” Levi said. “Jeez man you’re a two-star ranger, your stamina should be a little better than that.”
“It is a wonder how your stamina is so low for being a stamina specific class,” Anna said.
“Too fast..” Bradley said, his chest rising many levels as he lay in the dry grass.
“I figured we should stop and not enter a town sweaty,” Levi said. “Let’s rest, that only took us two and half hours.” He patted Bradley’s knee. “Come on big guy,” he said, helping him up. He conjured an orb of water and handed it to Bradley.
“How do you all look so relaxed,” Izzy asked. “I ran only half of that and I am exhausted.”
“Training,” Levi said; he also handed her an orb of water to drink.
“We used to swim,” Piper said. “That builds up the stamina a lot but we’ve ran before.”
“Your lungs will adjust as you train more and as your stamina stat increases,” Anna said. “You’re in better shape than when we first met Levi.”
“That’s facts,” Levi said. “I was a mess.”
“You mentioned in your world,” Izzy said. “Are you not from this world?”
“Ahh you heard that?” Levi chuckled. “That was my mistake… I’m an otherworlder, yeah.”
“A WHAT?” the two of them said at the same time.
“Yeah, I dropped the ball on that one,” Levi said, scratching his head.
“Isn’t there some prophecy that an otherworlder will bring destruction to the world?” Bradley said, his aura rising. He slowly started to conjure a weapon and aim it at Levi. Levi gave him a flat look.
“You know damn well that arrow ain’t gonna to do a damn thing. Put it away,” Levi said. “That’s not the real prophecy, I have the real one.” Izzy started to back away from Levi. Her eyes were wide with terror.
“Chaos, you... you’re the one who is going to destroy the world,” she stammered, historically. Stay back!” She screamed and ran away. Levi looked around at his teammates. They all had surprised looks on their faces.
“Well,” Levi said. “That went better than I thought it would. Drones go get her. Wait, she’s coming back.” Izzy sprinted back with even more fear than when she left.
Levi frowned at feeling her aura. She was definitely scared by something out - a boom erupted from the direction that Izzy came from.
“M-m-m-monster,” she stammered.
“Bradley, make sure she is okay,” Levi said. “I’ll go check it out.” Serenity grew to her actual size, Levi jumped on her back, and she flew high.
“I’m coming with you,” Tycen said, flying next to him.
Quest: Defeat the Sunbathing Voltra
A Voltra has been living in this region for many months, absorbing all the moisture. Defeat the monster. Current progress kill the Voltra (0/1).
Reward: Random Magical Clothing
“Haven’t seen a quest in a bit,” Levi said. He threw the box to Tycen. In the distance, there was a massive monster. It was a monstrosity—leathery wings with a grotesque inhuman head and a vaguely humanoid shape. When it opened its mouth, a vortex of white would be shot down then blue streams would be sucked up into its opened maw.
“That thing is hideous,” Levi said. “It’s sucking up all the moisture. No wonder this area is so dry.”
“Can you get a read on its rank?”
“4-star,” Levi said. Tycen nodded. They flew back down to the group. "Bradley and Izzy, you’re out. It's a four-star monster, and it's a big one, too.”
“Four-star?!” Izzy exclaimed. “But…” As she spoke, the team had already switched into their combat gear. Levi was wearing his combat robes, which were form-fitting and made him look like a comic book superhero. His cloak added mystery. He held out a gray smokey staff.
Levi began drawing a snow-covered summoning circle. The circle glowed brightly, and then several cheetah-like creatures emerged with fur as white as snow. They had blue eyes and looked at Levi with utmost obedience.
“Leave a trail of water and snow in a random pattern,” Levi instructed. "There is a Voltra out there. We want to draw it away from the town and back into this area without any extra moisture it can absorb. Be fast, and there is a reward for you when you succeed.” They all huffed, then zoomed off.
“On your mark,” Anna said. She was wearing her witches' robes and had her spell book floating in front of her and her wand in hand.
“Let’s go,” Levi said. They walked out into the clearing and saw the monster. It was 10 meters tall with six arms swinging madly. The Voltra was trying to smash something on the ground. Levi’s plan worked. The Snow Speed Cheetahs were the fastest land aquatic-ish summon he could think of. They left a trail of snow and water as they ran circles around the Voltra.
“Winds of a Blizzard,” Anna chanted. Massive gray storm clouds formed in the air of the monster. It looked up and began to attempt to suck in the storm clouds. As it did, massive balls of Onyx stone flew out of the storm clouds. They impacted with heavy thuds, only real thing they did was cause a temporary distraction and full time annoyance. Tycen and Piper made their move.
They rushed in to start dealing with some physical damage. She threw her knives at the legs of the monster. They exploded into the water; the Voltra immediately shot down a vortex to suck up the water. Piper swore that was not a good move, and she just did.
“Tendrils of darkness, ensnare,” she chanted. Black tendrils of ethereal shadow appeared out of the ground and wrapped around the leg of the monster. The monster attempted to make a step and was tripped. “Sphere of darkness,” an orb appeared in Piper’s hand as she fired it at the falling Voltra.
It impacted the side and left a small dent. Tycen flew into one of the arms and started punishing it with blow after blow with his Morning Star weapon. Dark blue blood started pouring out of the open wounds. The monster opened its bleeding hand, and the blood formed a sphere. Shards of blue blood were blasted at Tycen. He dodged most of the attacks, but not all. Tycen went flying and landed hard on the ground.
“My powers are ineffective, it either absorbs it or do surface damage,” Anna said. “I’ll go help Tycen. It is up to you two.”
“Understood,” Piper said. She continued to fire orbs of darkness into the fallen monster who was struggling to get up. “Shadows form my blade,” she chanted. In her hand, a double-edged sword that emitted ethereal shadows appeared in her hand. She smiled just as she did. She had to dodge the shards of blue blood.
Levi had sent in the drones to keep the monster grounded. Their long metallic tentacles were especially helpful as they could wrap around different parts of the Voltra’s body. Multiple drones formed around the fallen legs of the monster. They shot their tentacles and dug into the ground. The monster struggled; the drones that went closer to its arms were blasted into smithereens. Several drones were lost trying to tie down the monster. Finally, after several attempts and many lost drones, they secured it. Now ensnared on the ground, Piper could deal with more damage.
“This things vitality and mana pool is crazy high,” Levi said. “Dameion can you help reduce that?” Daemion appeared and slithered in the air, more so flew toward the downed monster. Three veil nebulas appeared and shot toward the fallen monster. Life energy started to get drained out of the massive monster. The monster howled, destroying the nebulas with its hideous cry. Levi covered his ears, but he was a little too slow. Blood had started pouring out of his ears, Piper who had been closer to the monster’s mouth was grabbing her ears and screaming in pain.
Dameion sent some of the life energy he had drained to heal Piper immediately. Red energy flowed and surrounded the screaming Piper; some of it entered her ears. She slowly took a deep breath, relief taking over her face. She quickly schooled her expression and started attacking again.
Levi held his staff out and chanted his incantation. Dameion looked at him with glee; rather than several dark orbs of the void, several veil nebula clouds formed a larger veil nebula. Brilliant colored light beams rained down from the heavens, impacting the Voltra. A muted scream left the mouth of the monster, and it thrashed harder. But its efforts were futile. It had been fighting for too long. It had lost too much vital energy and used too much mana; it was going to die.
The monster was four-star, which meant it was strong and resilient. The battle went on for a while, but it wasn’t a battle that the team had ever felt like they were going to lose. The Voltra was never able to stand up. Tycen made a full recovery as Daemion transferred the excess life energy to him. The final blow came from Piper as she stabbed her shadow blade in the chest. Blue blood exploded like a geyser out of the heart as the giant creature died.
Quest: Defeat the Sunbathing Voltra
A Voltra has been living in this region for many months, absorbing all the moisture. Defeat the monster. Current progress kill the Voltra (1/1). Quest Complete
Reward: Water Resistant Armor
Monster Defeated: Sunbathing Voltra
4-star
Loot: 1 black coin, 4-star star token, Wand of moisture, Spell-Book vortex.
Progress Made: Levi Winters
+5 to strength
+30 to stamina
+15 to speed
+10 vitality
+25 to wisdom
Attribute Totals: 1597
Strength 170
Stamina 241
Speed 163
Vitality 273
Wisdom 750