🎵: Dash of the Daring, Rise of the Iron Will, Mountain's Embrace, Whispers of the Unseen

Sergeant Thane saw us first from her position guarding the portal. Later, she'd tell others how our expressions had said everything - six riders pushing swiftclaws to their limit, fear etched on our faces. Then she saw why: a nightmare with metallic wings filling the space behind us.

"To arms!" Her voice carried the authority of decades in the field. "Incoming hostiles! All positions!"

By the time we burst through the portal, the cavern had erupted into organized chaos, warriors moving to predetermined positions with practiced efficiency.

Then something extraordinary happened. The behemoth froze mid-flight, its otherworldly presence seeming to stutter like a song missing notes. The metallic sheen of its wings dulled, its overwhelming aura diminishing before our eyes.

"Level 35?" Reed's voice carried equal parts disbelief and dawning understanding. "The portal... it's weakening them somehow!"

What happened next was a masterclass in veteran combat. The General moved like his legendary status would suggest, his blade finding gaps in the creature's armour while scouts maneuvered with practiced precision. Crossbow bolts from the upper galleries struck with surgical accuracy, targeting the joints where the wings met body. Mage-fire lit up the cavern, turning the beast's metallic hide molten at key points.

The behemoth fought with desperate fury, but it was clearly disorientated by its diminished power. When it tried to take flight, archers coordinated their shots to shred its lower set of wings. As it crashed back to earth, Reed's blade found its throat while Cole and the other scouts struck from multiple angles.

The creature's death roar shook loose stones from the ceiling, but it fell - a terror from another world, brought low by preparation, coordination, and the unexpected equalizing effect of the portal itself.

Battle Summary

Enemies Defeated: 1

EXP Gained (You): 0

Loot: Crystalline scale fragments, metallic feather shards, Horn of the Windreaver,

The behemoth's massive corpse had barely settled when chaos erupted in the cavern. Soldiers shouted questions, craftsmen abandoned their work to gawk at the fallen creature, and heated debates broke out about what this meant for our defenses.

"ENOUGH!" General Reed's voice cracked through the cavern like a thunderbolt. "Back to your positions! That thing was just the beginning." His weathered face swept across the gathered crowd, command presence silencing even the most panicked voices. "Every minute you waste staring is another section of wall unmanned, another defence unfinished. Move!"

The cavern snapped back to purpose, hammers and saws resuming their urgent rhythm.

"Cole!" The general's tone made everyone focus. "Take Voss and get back through. I need eyes on their movement."

The two scouts vanished through the portal's shimmering surface. They returned far too quickly, Cole's face tight with tension.

"Flying creatures, sir. At least three, circling the portal." He swallowed hard. "Like the Behemoth, but worse. We couldn't risk getting closer."

Reed's jaw clenched. "More level +50"? They nodded." He turned to one of his colonels. "Release the mercenaries. Tell them what's coming. Anyone who wants to fight can join us - we need every blade we can get."

Released mercenaries soon worked alongside soldiers, the threat of otherworldly invasion erasing old divisions. Amazing how quickly enemies become allies when facing extinction. I kept busy, guiding another group of archers to a high alcove when General Reed's voice thundered through the cavern again.

"Aldrich!" His tone carried the same urgency that had sent us racing back through the portal. "Report. And bring the bard."

I found the scholar hunched over scattered papers, frustration etched in every line of his face. We hurried to where Reed waited. Tactical reports spread before him.

"Have you found anything?" the general demanded.

Aldrich shook his head. "I need more time to-"

"We don't have time." Reed's finger stabbed at the map. "Two hours until their scouts arrive. Maybe five before their main force."

"Sir, I understand, but-" Aldrich took a steadying breath. "As I mentioned, I believe I could eventually bring down the portal. Kiren's had already done it. But it won't help us now. Even if I succeeded in the next few hours, their side would remain open. All we'd do is cut off our access to their world, not stop them from reaching ours."

I watched plans form and die in Reed's eyes as he processed this. Outside, the sounds of fortification took on a new urgency. The rhythmic pounding of hammers, the scrape of stone on stone, the laying of traps began in earnest around the portal now that we no longer had anyone on the other side. It all felt desperately inadequate against what I'd seen on the other side. Two hours suddenly felt like no time at all.

"Aldrich," General Reed's voice carried the weight of command, "tell me everything about this portal. Leave nothing out."

I watched the scholar gather his thoughts, his hands moving as if trying to shape the complexity of what he was about to explain. For ten minutes, he detailed theories and calculations that made my head spin, until…

"Wait," a mage from the upper gallery interrupted, her voice sharp with sudden insight. "You mentioned the portal leak's magic?"

Aldrich's eyes lit up, the way scholars' eyes do when someone asks exactly the right question. "Yes! When Lyren created the permanent portal, he was still learning. The design... it's inefficient. Magic constantly bleeds off."

"Which is why," he continued, warming to his subject, "one of the Brigade's mages that was used to create the portal needs to replenish it weekly."

Lady Moira leaned forward, her tactical mind clearly working. "And if they don't?"

Aldrich's fingers twitched as he ran calculations in his head. "About a month until total collapse."

The groans that filled the cavern echoed my own feelings. A month? Looking at the determination on these soldiers' faces, I knew we could hold for days, maybe even weeks. But a month against the army we'd seen forming?

"Ten days." General Reed's voice cut through the despair. "I have a larger force moving to reinforce us, but they're ten days out." He didn't need to state the obvious - we wouldn't last that long.

"What's stopping them from replenishing the portal from their side?" The question came from another mage, one whose robes marked her as a specialist in theoretical magic.

Aldrich actually smiled. "Excellent question. Technically, nothing - if they had a portal mage. But that's highly unlikely. It took my team three months to learn astral magic, and we had Kiren's notes as a guide. They can't possibly master it in thirty days."

"So let us say it takes two months, 6 months after the portal collapses," the mage pressed. Then what?"

One of Reed's colonels straightened, a glimmer of hope in his weathered features. "Then we use that time to fortify this position properly. Turn it into a death trap for anything that comes through. With enough time and resources—"

"No." Aldrich's interruption was sharp, urgent. He turned to face our scouting group. "Tell me about the magic you felt on the other side. Was it different?"

Cole looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"The ambient magic - was it stronger? Weaker?"

"It was about the same," I said, remembering how my songs had felt in that alien landscape.

"Exactly!" Aldrich's eyes blazed with scholarly fire. "Maintaining the portal once created is simple - a few hours of work weekly to recharge the stones. But creating it?" He shook his head emphatically. "We needed six mages - one for each stone, that's the maximum allowed. The portal is positioned on a major connection of ley lines, being Night's Hollow, which is the strongest spot in Eldoria. Even then, we had to wait for the three moons to align, something that happens once every hundred years. Even with all that..." His hands trembled slightly at the memory. "We needed a massive surge of mana," Aldrich's hands moved as if trying to shape the enormity of what he was describing, "concentrated into just a few crucial seconds to tear open the initial breach. Even with six mages channeling power from a major ley line nexus during the three moons' alignment... we barely managed it." The implications hit me like a physical weight. "So once the portal collapses..."

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"It's staying down," Aldrich finished grimly. "For at least a century."

"So the only answer is we need to hold this area for about a month until the portal collapses?" General Reed's voice carried the weight of impossibility.

Aldrich nodded grimly. "That's correct."

"But what if we could drain it faster?" The words burst from me before I'd fully formed the thought. My songs stirred in response, each one humming with a new possibility. "Not the ley lines themselves, but the portal's stored energy?"

"What do you mean, siphon the mana from the portal?" Aldrich's brow furrowed before his eyes suddenly lit with understanding. "By the gods, you're a genius!" He turned excitedly to the gathered mages. "Can any of you drain magical energy directly?"

The responses came quickly, each mage shaking their head.

"Impossible."

"Never heard of such a spell."

"The theory alone would be revolutionary."

Word spread through the camp as Aldrich questioned more magic users, but the answer remained the same - no one had ever encountered magic that could directly drain power from another source.

But something deep within me resonated with the portal's pulse, like finding the harmony in an unfamiliar song. My established melodies - Mountain's Embrace, Rise of the Iron Will, Dash of the Daring, Whispers of the Unseen - each seemed to vibrate in response to different aspects of its power. If I could just find the right combination of notes, craft the perfect counter-melody...

The new melody began to form in my mind, dark and hungry:

Power bound in flesh and steel,

Break your chains and forced to yield.

Through my song the bonds untie,

Released to fade in empty sky.

Your mana-gical inspiration just dissolved into a melody named 'Mana's Dissolution'.

Do you want to replace a song with it?

[YES] / [NO]

You have selected YES

New Song Acquired: Mana's Dissolution

Song Removed: Rise of the Iron Will

Name: Mana's Dissolution

Musical Instrument: String

Effect: Drains and disperses mana from actively maintained magical effects, creatures, or objects that require constant mana upkeep.

Target Type: Single target

Casting time: 2 turns

Range: 5 metres

Cost: 3 mana/turn

Mana Drain Rate: 5 mana/turn from target (if the target has less than 5 mana, drains whatever remains)

Duration: As long as the song is being performed

Cooldown: None

Limitations:

* Cannot affect inherently magical items (enchanted swords, rings, etc.)

* Only works on effects/spells that have an ongoing mana maintenance cost

* Cannot drain passive magical abilities

* Target must be expending mana actively during the draining process

* Does not transfer mana to the singer - all drained mana dissipates

Description: A haunting melody that resonates with the fundamental frequencies of magical energy, causing maintained spells and effects to unravel. As the singer's voice rises and falls, you can almost see the mana being pulled from its moorings and scattered to the winds. The air shimmers with dissolving power as the song continues. Just remember - this won't help you drain that enchanted sword, but it'll definitely ruin a mage's day if they're maintaining too many spells at once!

The song crystallized in my chest alongside my others, but I had to voice my concern. "Draining should work, but there's a problem. Maintaining the spell costs 3 mana per turn - that's 18 mana per minute. I only regenerate less than 1 mana per turn naturally."

Calythra, who had been standing nearby studying the portal's energy patterns, turned at my words. Her mage's eyes narrowed as she quickly calculated. "That's a significant mana requirement." She turned to her fellow mages. "We'll need to pool our resources."

Over the next few minutes, the mages began removing various items of power:

Calythra removed her ornate circlet. "My Circlet of Mana Flow - 4 mana per minute."

Malrik unclasped an elaborate necklace. "The Pendant of Arcane Rivers - another 4 mana per minute."

An elderly mage named Korus contributed next. "My Ring of the Wellspring - 3 mana per minute."

A young battle mage named Lunessia stepped forward. "My Waistband of Energy Flow - 2 mana per minute."

Finally, Aldrich himself removed a bronze bracelet. "The Bracer of Mana Recovery - 2 mana per minute."

You receive: Circlet of Mana Flow

You receive: Pendant of Arcane Rivers

You receive: Ring of the Wellspring

You receive: Waistband of Energy Flow

You receive: Bracer of Mana Recovery

Circlet of Mana Flow equipped (+4 mana/min)

Pendant of Arcane Rivers equipped (+4 mana/min)

Ring of the Wellspring equipped (+3 mana/min)

Waistband of Energy Flow equipped (+2 mana/min)

Bracer of Mana Recovery equipped (+2 mana/min)

Together, the items would provide 15 mana per minute. Combined with my natural regeneration, it would be enough to maintain the song.

As I approached the portal for the final test, its swirling surface seemed to pulse with an otherworldly energy. The astral magic that powered it created patterns I'd never seen before - like looking at starlight through rippling water.

"This is untested magic," Aldrich warned, but his eyes betrayed his scholarly fascination.

"Better than waiting a month for armies to pour through," I said, though my throat felt dry. Looking at the portal's massive energy field, I had to wonder - could a single song really make a difference against something this powerful?

You sing Mana's Dissolution!

Tendrils of astral energy that had been flowing into the portal began to waver and disperse, like smoke in a breeze. The portal's surface flickered erratically as its power was disrupted, each note of my song causing ripples of instability across its surface. The drained mana didn't flow into me but dissipated into nothingness, leaving behind a faint shimmer in the air.

A collective sigh of relief echoed through the chamber.

"Will it be enough?" Lady Moira asked, her tactical mind already planning.

Aldrich held up a hand. "Give me a few minutes. I need to calculate the rate of drainage." He huddled with the other portal mages, their fingers moving rapidly as they worked through complex magical formulae. After what felt like an eternity, he looked up.

"At this rate of dissolution... approximately five hours until complete collapse."

Relief swept through the gathered forces, but General Reed's sharp voice cut through the murmurs. "That may be enough, it may not be - but it's our only choice. Get back to work, everyone!"

One mage stepped forward. "What's the range on this song?"

Still maintaining the melody, I held up my hand, showing five metres with my fingers. Their faces fell - the fortification they were building was around the corner and a good twenty metres away.

Without breaking my song, I caught the eye of a nearby earth mage and gestured for him to come to me. I also motioned for Lady Moira to join us.

I had to pause my singing to quickly explain my plan to the earth mage. In that moment, Lady Moira noticed my shaking hands and rapid breathing. I told her what I needed. Her eyes filled with understanding, and she squeezed my shoulder before hurrying away.

You stop singing Mana Dissolution!

You sing Mountains Embrace!

Glowing handholds appeared in the stone. We climbed swiftly to the uppermost stone above the portal, where I paused on a narrow ledge.

You stop singing Mountain Embrace!

You sing Mana Dissolution!

The earth mage understood immediately what was needed. He began manipulating the surrounding stone. The rock shifted and flowed like clay, creating a small alcove - a defender's nest that would keep me protected while maintaining line of sight to the portal. The space was just large enough for me to sit comfortably, with a narrow observation slit that would let me maintain visual contact with the portal while staying mostly concealed.

Once I was securely positioned, the earth mage attached his rope to a sturdy outcropping. I kept singing as he rappelled back down to ground level, leaving me alone in my stone sanctuary.

Just before I pulled up the rope, Sergeant Thane climbed up to my position. She moved with her usual efficient grace, even on the narrow ledge.

"From General Reed," she said quietly, pressing a communication crystal into my hand. "Press once to listen, twice rapidly to speak. But keep radio silence unless absolutely necessary. We don't want to distract the observers." She then pulled two small vials from her belt pouch. "And these are from Lady Moira - calming potions. They'll last six hours each."

I accepted both the crystal and the potions gratefully, touched by Lady Moira's perceptiveness and care.

You receive: short range communication crystal

You receive: calming potion x 2

I nodded my understanding, gripping the crystal carefully. She gave me a brief nod before descending. After she was clear, I pulled the rope up into my alcove.

Uncorking a vial with slightly trembling fingers, I studied the shimmering liquid before taking a sip. It tasted of lavender and something unfamiliar - sweet yet earthy. The effect was almost instantaneous, far more potent than any anti-anxiety medication I'd taken back on Earth. The tight knot in my chest loosened, my racing thoughts settled, and my hands steadied. Even my breathing became deeper and more regular.

The portal's surface rippled and wavered beneath me as the song continued its work.

Now it was just me, the song, and hopefully enough time. Five hours was a long time to maintain any song, but with armies potentially only hours away, I didn't have any choice but to succeed. Every time I took even a brief break would extend the time needed, giving those alien armies more chances to cross over. From my hidden perch, I could hear the fortifications being strengthened below. While I focused on draining the portal's power, the defenders were preparing for what might come through before it collapsed.

General Reed's voice carried up from below, directing troops and organizing defenses. Lady Moira, mages and archers were most likely taking up positions on the fortification walls and in prepared alcoves high above the ground. The mages who had given up their items to help me were now reinforcing defensive positions with wards and barriers. Even Aldrich and his scholars were preparing combat spells instead of studying texts.

My song would mean nothing if we couldn't hold this position. I had my role to play, draining the portal's power note by note, but everyone below had an equally vital task - stop anything that came through before my song could finish its work. We were all part of the same desperate plan now, each of us knowing that failure in any part would doom the whole.

The seconds stretched into minutes as I maintained the melody, watching magical energy dissipate into nothingness. The portal's surface continued to ripple and distort under the effect of my song. Five hours had never felt so long, but we had no choice. We had to succeed.

Power bound in flesh and steel,

Break your chains and forced to yield.

Through my song the bonds untie,

Released to fade in empty sky.

Ancient force once tightly wound,

Now dissolves without a sound.

Mystical chains begin to fray,

As captured power slips away.

Essence trapped in mortal shell,

Heed the notes that break your spell.

Dance away on wisps of air,

Till nothing of your strength is there.

Return to void, to empty space,

Leave behind no living trace.

What once was bound now scatters free,

ill only empty husks shall be.

Through shadows deep and starless night,

Watch the fading of your light.

Your power now to nothing falls,

As my song the mana calls.