Jacob’s other hand snapped to the edge of the portal.

Looking up in the air above me, I could see the pyroknight hanging there, hundreds of yards above the ground. But he wasn’t going to fall, at least… not without some encouragement.

‘Lore!’ I shouted. ‘Push him through!’

As Lore charged to the lower end of the portal, I closed it in order to save the last little-over-a-half of my mana reserves. From our testing with the sheep, I knew this would do no good beyond that; portals were only good for slicing through non-living matter.

The Player heaved himself upwards before Lore arrived, getting a good look at the barbarian charging towards him. This only seemed to motivate the pyroknight further, and he gritted his teeth, roaring as he pushed himself back through the closing portal onto solid ground. The Player flung one hand through the air to point it at Lore, and the resulting fireball caught Lore squarely in his chest, sending him soaring across the clearing.

It was a good job that the Player was still wet from the pond, otherwise that alone might have done more damage than Tokas would have been able to heal. The tiefling hurried to Lore’s side, healing him, but this left me and Corminar alone to deal with the Player.

The flaming tree crackled as the Player hopped back onto his feet and started to make for me once more.

‘Corminar?’ I prompted my elven accomplice, and he released another arrow, this one burying itself in the side of the Player’s neck.

The pyroknight didn’t slow for a second, reaching across to snap the arrow at the head without even grimacing. It was a shame; if he’d tried to pull the arrow out entirely, the resulting blood loss might have helped turn the tide of this fight.

Lore rolled across the ground, patting at his chest to extinguish the flames, his sword buried at an awkward angle in the mud at his side.

‘Cor!’ Val shouted, across the pond, her and Arzak having drawn Lev away from the rest of the fight, his rear vulnerable to them.

The ranger, betraying little of the surely huge amount of fear he possessed, flashed his eyes from the Player to Lev, loosing a quick shot into the enemy orc’s exposed back.

‘Thanks!’ Val cried back, and their tussle continued.

The Player was closing on me quickly, and I found myself stumbling backwards, wracking my brain desperately for the next step. I could open a portal above him, leaped on top of him, stab him. But that would give me only one chance to kill him—otherwise fire magicks would surely be heading my way pretty swiftly.

Or I could try the portal drop strategy again, though now that I’d lost the element of surprise, it was sure to go even worse than the last time, and I’d waste precious mana.

The first branch from the blazing trees cracked and dropped, just where Lore had been on the ground moments earlier.

My other option was try a closed reach. My blade could get pretty deep within someone’s flesh, if I could just get close enough without being burnt to a crisp.

Whatever I was going to do, I was going to need to do it fast, because I could see the whites in the Player’s eyes.

The pyroknight pushed both hands forward, fingers splayed, pointing right at me. Instinctively I dove to the right as a ball of fire rocketed overhead, and I decided it was definitely time to activate my new ability: Ash Husk.

My skin began to ripple, the change starting at my fingertips and moving like a wave up my arms. The flesh turned from light brown—and surprisingly soft—to a hardened charcoal-like texture, rough and coarse and, more importantly, 50% resistance to fire attacks. The only downside was that it had drained my mana reserves a great deal more than I’d expected. If I’d not been panicking as we’d fled the tavern, I might have tested it sooner, but then again, we wouldn’t have had time to rest—and our bars replenish—anyway.

Corminar was about to loose another arrow when he caught sight of me, in my new demon-like form, and the shock of it was enough to distract him. The released arrow flew over the enemy’s shoulder.

‘Concentrate!’ Tokas shouted at him—an instruction that had the Player turning to the tiefling, eyebrow raised.

It was enough of a distraction for me to run for the cover of a large elm tree at the edge of the clearing. I didn’t look back at the Player, but I knew he’d seen me, because a fireball hit the other side of the tree just as I reached it, its flames lapping around it and forcing me to crouch, cowering, to the floor.

‘He’s coming, Styk!’ Lore shouted as he ran into the fight once more.

I heard a battlecry from Lore, followed by the crackling of another fireball, followed ultimately by Lore flying across the clearing and hitting a tree not so far from mine with a grunt. His tree, however, was already aflame.

‘Lore, watch out!’ I shouted to the dazed barbarian as one of the branches over his head started to crack, its breaking having been accelerated by the bulky man colliding with the trunk.

He wasn’t going to move fast enough—that much was clear—so I used yet more of my mana to open a portal between the branch and Lore, catching it as it fell and launching it into where the pond had been. The flaming branch landed with a hiss. It was a wasted opportunity; if I’d had another half-second to think about it, I would have launched it at the Player. But I still had mana left, for now—there was time yet.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

I stepped out from behind the tree. ‘Alright, come get me, you… you…’ An apt insult escaped me, so I settled on, ‘Come get me, you!’

The pyroknight wasted no time, storming towards me with a hand raised.

The moment I saw the glow of magicks forming, I opened a portal between us—one which captured the fireball and sent it flying back to its caster. Again there was a hissing sound, and the Player’s clothes caught alight. Judging by the resulting roar, this attack had dealt some decent damage to the man. I guess that’s because it had been created by someone of his level—him.

Spitting blood, the Player tried another fireball, which I caught with a portal but he was able to avoid once it came out the other side. The pyroknight roared again, and this time pushed the butts of his hands together to summon a fire wall.

My portals weren’t enough to catch it in its entirety—which was presumably why he’d switched up the spells—and instead simply created a circle in the centre of it. The flames caught the Player, but the edges of the fire wall also caught me. I’d dived to one side to avoid it, but I’d been slow, and some of the flames had tickled at my arm.

The ash husk, as well as the dampening effect from the pond, limited the amount of damage I took, but even then… I was horrified to see my health bar decrease by almost half. I could feel it, too—that attack hurt, and my right hand wouldn’t be the same without some very skilled healing.

As I heard the hiss of fire on damp clothes once more, my stomach lurched. That hissing meant that the fireballs were evaporating the layer of pond that I’d portalled onto our enemy. And that evaporation meant…

The Player stopped, eyes wide, looking down at himself as he realised the exact same thing.

‘Lore!’ I cried to the barbarian. ‘Stop him from—’

The pyroknight flung a hand to each side, his eyes on me, his mouth warped into a snarl. An instant later, flames erupted on the earth around him, creating a shield of fire that even had Lore reconsidering his attack.

I could see the steam as the dampness was heated away from his skin, and the despicable man’s snarl grew into a somehow even more unsettling grin.

Our advantage was gone.

‘Now!’ I shouted. ‘We have to act now!’

I didn’t wait for a response from Corminar, or Lore, or Tokas, and I charged towards the pyroknight. As I ran, time seemed to slow down, and the only thing that ran through my mind was:

And what in the hells are you thinking?

But Lore, Corminar and even Val were charging towards the Player, Arzak apparently currently able to deal with Lev by herself. Val reached forwards, summoning a gust of wind that blew a gap in an arc of the flaming circle. Lore swung his Bane Sword high, and for what it’s worth, I was preparing to close my reach.

The Player swept his still outstretched arms forwards, and the flames suddenly shot towards each of us. I had a chance of not getting hit, at least, and summoned a portal in front of me that returned me to the edge of the clearing.

Lore and Val, however, were burned. Horrifically.

Tokas ran to heal them, only able to do so on one at a time, which left Val rolling across the dirt, screaming.

At the sight ahead of me, and the sound of screaming, images of Plainside ran through my mind once more. I found myself scrambling backwards across the dry dirt, not a thought for the flaming trees encompassing us, just desperate—so, so, desperate—to flee.

I scrambled into a pair of feet.

Slowly, I craned my neck to see how this could be. A new figure stood at the edge of the clearing, bow in hand, eyes wide, apparently not quite knowing who to fight.

Lambkin. He’d found us once more.

‘Stop!’ the once-captain roared.

Nothing changed, of course.

‘Stop, in the order of the Baron of Umlok. Stop your fighting at once!’

The Player, mildly irritated by this interrupted, flung his hand over his shoulder, throwing a fireball in Lambkin’s general direction. It caught him at his side, sending the ex-captain spinning to the ground at my side.

He roared with pain, but through it he brought himself back up to his feet, and raised his bow once more. Lambkin pointed the arrow at the pyroknight, but instead of shooting, his eyes widened again.

He’d identified the pyroknight. He knew they were a Player.

It was a small thing, but in this desperate moment, I’d take any good news I can. In this case? Lambkin now knew. He knew I was right.

"Styk"

Level 8 Novice Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 16

Intelligence — 69

Dexterity — 23

Strength — 36

Wisdom — 23

Charisma — 0

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 16

Knifework — Level 15

Identification — Level 8

Stealth — Level 5

Abilities:

Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Stab II — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 20%.

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

Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.

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

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

Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

Basic Identification — Discover basic attributes for a particular object or person. Ability scales with [WIS] + [INT].

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +400%