‘Are you sure about this?’ Val asked me, her eyes on the city and not on mine.

‘We’ve got to give them something to aim for. And I can think of nothing better. Unless you want to go into the city yourself, and find them?’

Lore raised his hand. ‘If it’s all the same to you, I quite like it here on this ship and not surrounded by thousands of enemies. I’ve had enough of enemies.’

Val sighed; she knew the alternatives. Either we produced a signal for Corminar and Arzak to run towards—assuming they were still alive—or we go in and get them ourselves. And I think even Val was getting tired of jail breaks by this point. Of course, there was a third option: we could have turned our ship around and sailed away—but it was so far from the heroic thing to do that I didn’t even bother to voice it.

The witch closed her eyes, gathering her remaining mana and then beginning a ritual. It didn’t matter what the ritual was—Val had chosen one that took a little while—because what we really were after was…

Val shot the green glowing Witchcraft magicks into the air—a pillar of light that lit up the harbour for all to see. Of those in the city, many would know it was Witchcraft, but only Corminar and Arzak would realise that Val was the one doing it. When the pillar of light had shone brilliantly for a good half a minute, I tapped Val gently on the shoulder, bringing her back down to Alterra.

Unless I was mistaken, she flinched at my touch.

Our signal released, all we could do now was wait—and see whether it was friend or foe that reached us first.

With nothing but time to kill now, I brought up some recent notifications once more—my Worldbending ability selection window. This time, I’d levelled up my skill to level 50, and I knew from past lives that this could only be a big one.

Ability selection unlocked

Select an ability from the list below:

Option 1: Portal Relay (Worldbending) [Requires: any ‘Portals’ ability] — Passive. Up to ten small-scale portals can now be positioned relative to an entity, and used to communicate sound.

This ability had to be what Niamh had ordered casted on her, so that she could manage the invasion from afar. There were definitely use cases, particularly because I worked in a team—though whether the rest of the Slayers would like me being the hub that provided orders was another matter entirely. Having access to more portals at once definitely had its upside too, but they were “small-scale”, so I imagined I wouldn’t exactly be able to fit through them. Still, if it meant I could put my hand through and steal things…

I shook my head, reminding myself that I wasn’t a thief anymore; I was a hero. A hero. After taking down not one but two Players, how could I be anything else?

This was already a high bar in terms of ability choice, but I could see that there were still three more options to come, so I put it aside mentally for now.

Hidden condition met! Alternative ability choice unlocked.

Option 2: Pocket World Transit (Worldbending) [Requires: ‘Pocket Worlds’ ability] — Enter your pocket worlds. When you exit once more, any distance you cover within your pocket world will be reflected on the outside.

I had to resist the urge to smile at this one, but its applications were definitely appealing. It meant that I could cover huge distances undisturbed, appearing out of nowhere in, perhaps, the middle of an enemy camp, or a bank vault. There were just two issues with it. First, would I be able to properly measure distance from within a pocket world, with no landmarks to speak of. And secondly… was I really sure I wanted to go inside them?

I kept my mind open to it, and move on to the next option.

Hidden condition met! Alternative ability choice unlocked.

Option 3: Needle Dart (Worldbending) [Requires: Needlework level 10] — Launch needles through minimised portals. Can be targeted to any location excluding living beings and magick-imbued objects. Uses mana per use.

This was quite a fun one, but perhaps not as game-changing as the previous two. I could already throw needles through portals if I really wanted to, though this ability would presumably have these “minimised” portals be much subtler. And the targeting exclusions were more limiting than they initially appeared. Without them, I could launch needles at vital organs. But with them… not so much.

But there was still one option left to me.

Hidden condition met! Alternative ability choice unlocked.

Option 4: Enhanced Portals (Worldbending) [Requires: ‘Local Portals’ ability] — Replaces ‘Local Portals’. Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a thirty yard radius. Support up to two pairs of portals at once. Uses mana to open portals only.

‘Wow,’ I mouthed to myself. At first glance, this was a decent improvement to an already vital ability of mine. But then I’d thought about it further, reading it through again and again so that I could see everything that it changed.

Having two pairs of portals instead of one essentially doubled the Local Portals ability’s power alone—though I’d have to practise holding four portals in my mind’s eye at the same time. But this wasn’t all that this ability replacement achieved.

Instead of requiring mana per second to keep a portal open, the mana cost was only to open them. This meant that my mana went a lot further, and I could keep more back for my Warped Shield ability, or to power my dagger attacks through my Mana-Fuelled passive.

Stolen story; please report.

Also, when combined with the whole “having two pairs of portals” thing, it meant that I could keep one half of a pair open at a safe location without doing myself in. We could always have an exit open to us at any time, simply by having me move or open its partner.

All these possibilities appeared to me immediately, and I could only imagine that there were more still to come. My selection was obvious to me.

Ability unlocked — Enhanced Portals

Enhanced Portals (Worldbending) — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a thirty yard radius. Support up to two pairs of portals at once. Uses mana to open portals only.

I closed my eyes, allowing myself to feel the upgraded ability seeping in through my body. Was it my imagination, or could I really feel it?

At that moment, Val cried out, pointing into the water. I followed her line of sight. There, in the distance, was a figure, swimming through the Sea of Roots.

No, I realised. Two figures; one was carrying the other on their back.

We couldn’t help but cheer when we saw who it was—Arzak, covered in injuries, straining herself to carry an unconscious Corminar on her back as she swam through the water.

Lore ran to roll down the ladder on the side of the ship, then leaped down it, offering an outstretched hand.

Arzak took it. ‘Nice see you,’ she said.

‘Yeah, you too,’ replied the barbarian, and heaved Arzak onto the ladder before pulling Corminar from her exhausted frame.

‘Heal,’ Arzak said, holding her wounds. ‘Heal him now.’

Val ran to Corminar’s side as Lore lowered him to the deck, rifling through his robe. I saw the injuries he’d suffered in the pursuit of defending his homeland—tears, bruises, broken bones. He’d given everything.

And still, we’d failed.

Val pulled a small blue vial from Corminar’s pocket and downed it. The vial didn’t even hit the deck before she began healing him, pulling him back from the verge of death.

‘We lose,’ Arzak said.

‘We know,’ Val replied. ‘I’m sorry; we weren’t fast enough.’

‘You kill her?’ the orc asked.

‘Styk did.’ Arzak didn’t celebrate this, only holding Val’s gaze before casting a glance in my direction, presumably too exhausted to find joy in this.

Corminar stirred while Val healed him, mumbling about the invasion, and how he'd “had to do it”. There was distress in the elf's voice—distress that wouldn't fade once he finally did wake up.

‘Guys,’ Lore said.

I looked immediately to the horizon, not to him, thinking that he was saying an enemy was approaching. But there was no one. ‘What’s up?’

‘I… have an active effect.’

Arzak and I blinked back at him. ‘What?’

‘Man of Prophesy,’ Lore read from the system messages before him. ‘I think… I think Niamh did it to me, before she died. When you said she was healing me? Cos I saw what she saw—something huge, something I don’t understand yet. Something that the depth raider showed me too. Something’s coming, and I think… I have to be there.’

Silence crossed the ship for a moment.

‘What does it do, this effect?’ Val asked.

‘It gives me…’ Lore swallowed. ‘It gives me visions of destiny. I only found the effect cos I saw one. Something flashed in front of my eyes—a woman. Cleo.’

My mother. I felt Val’s eyes bearing into me.

‘I think we were fighting alongside her? We were fighting with… a Player? Or against Cleo, too? I can’t tell, I think there’s… I think there’s two futures, one good, one bad. I think this effect, it tells us what we need to do to get to where Niamh saw me. She wanted me there so much, she gave me a glimpse into my future.’

‘You know what we need do next?’ Arzak asked.

Lore shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think it works like that. I think… I don’t know, I think we just have to wait, see what the visions say when they come, and make the right decisions in the moment.’

‘Or the “wrong” ones,’ Val said. ‘We should make sure Niamh doesn’t get her way.’

‘But if we make the wrong ones, maybe we don’t make it to the Council’s grand plan. Maybe we don’t get to stop it.’

The ship fell quiet once more, before I spoke.

‘The “why” is important, sure. I want to know why Niamh wanted you there as much as the rest of you. But there’s something else we’re missing: this effect, it seems to be leading you to the Players. It’s leading us to the fight. Niamh said that the Council would be hunting us, but we have a weapon of our own, now.

‘Now, we can hunt them too.’

"Styk"

Level 17 Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 50

Intelligence — 174

Dexterity — 104

Strength — 76

Wisdom — 57

Charisma — 37

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 50

Knifework — Level 39

Stealth — Level 19

Needlework — Level 12

Identification — Level 11

Abilities:

Stab III — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 50%.

Execution II — Attack a target while undetected for +200% damage.

Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.

Mana-Fuelled — Passive. Optionally, use mana in place of stamina to activate Knifework abilities.

Knifestorm — Lash out at all surrounding enemies in a tornado of blades, using either one or two daggers. All enemies with arm’s reach receive physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Enhanced Portals — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a thirty yard radius. Support up to two pairs of portals at once. Uses mana to open portals only.

Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.

Tamed Portals — Passive. Increased efficiency of portal magicks means that your portal glow is reduced by 50%, making them less likely to be detected by enemies.

Ash Husk — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 50% resistance to fire attacks.

Shrill Perimeter — Create a perimeter wall of 20 foot radius, invisible to all but those adept in magicks. If an enemy crosses this perimeter, this spell releases the shriek of a banshee.

Warped Shield — Passive. If an enemy strikes you with a low-level melee weapon, Warp Shield automatically activates to open a portal that deflects this attack. You must not have any portals currently active. Uses mana on activation.

Pocket Worlds — Open and access pocket dimensions. Storage capacity of summoned pocket worlds scales with [INT] of creator.

Silence III — Create a bubble of 20 yard radius in which sound is eradicated. Uses mana to cast, zero mana to maintain. You may only have one bubble active at any one time.

Stealth Attack II — Passive. 80% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

In Plain Sight — When activated, you have a heightened abilitiy to hide in plain sight, and are able to spot opportunities to break from combat at a higher rate. Scales on [WIS].

Stitch — Create a basic stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales on [CHA].

Cloth Armour — Craft a cloth armour of higher quality, dependent on materials, time and skill level.

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +1,400%