(Strive 4:2)

You’ve learned the basic technique Harden, a spell of ephemeral self-protection.

Energy consumption: Moderate.

I perused the fingerspelling cheat sheet while El ordered a gummy worm called the Bane of the Early Bird. It plopped out of the vending machine with an electronic beep.

“Weird name,” I said, glancing over.

“Yeah? Did you enjoy your muscle fiber stick?”

I put my hands up in surrender. “Point taken.”

El reached into the dispenser slot to retrieve the gummy worm, but it made a sudden leap out of her paw and began to escape, wriggling its neon-green body across the floor with surprising speed. She scrambled after it, stepping between two cairns into the circular arena, and a gong sounded. We both froze as the ground began to emit an unearthly light.

“Ruh-roh.”

The scattered metal blocks levitated off the ground and began to resolve into two groups. The copper ones rotated in a massive circle, scraping the ground, before coiling together into a long chain. Each cube was about two feet to a side, and the effect of all of them joined together was like an enormous metal snake the length of a school bus.

Across the island, the iron blocks were stacking on top of each other, but at that point, the chain of copper hissed and slithered toward us. I jerked my fingers in a hasty gesture.

Copper Snake, a mini-boss. Loves hugs. Aim for the head.

Its copper cubes were joined loosely at corners and all spun against each other. Their sharp points left deep furrows as they ground into the dirt.

“This is fucked up,” I said. No cube looked different from any other, but I had to assume the end coming toward me right now, kicking up a storm of dust, was the front part.

The Copper Snake lunged.

El dove out of the way, and I ducked to the other side. The front of the snake flew over me, but its other end whipped out and struck a glancing blow to my stomach. I let out a “guh” sound as all the air went out of me.

I gestured, and the letter H blinked on my bracelet, waiting for further input. Harden was both the name and the sequence of signs that would invoke my new technique. If I could only get it out… I closed my hand into a fist, and a shining A appeared next to the H.

The iron blocks had formed a quadrupedal creature that looked like a giant metal wolf, which was now chasing El around the edge of the arena. El in turn, was still trying to catch the rogue gummy worm from the vending machine. It was like a scene out of Tom and Jerry, and would’ve been comical if it wasn’t so dire.

I managed to cross my fingers into an R before the blocky serpent lunged again and wrapped itself around my body. My vision blurred as the air squeezed out of my lungs. Three more letters, I thought. Just three more.

D. There was a loud crack inside me, and immense pain. One or more of my ribs, possibly.

E. I wanted to scream, but all I could do was open and close my mouth like a dying fish. The world started to turn black around the edges.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

N.

A brilliant crimson light flared from my bracelet and shrouded my body. The pressure around my waist abated, and the air suddenly tightened around me as if compressed. But it wasn’t a bad feeling; it felt like concentrated power, and I grinned wolfishly.

With a clenched fist, I struck a section of the snake, and my fist made a deep imprint in the copper like it was Play-Doh. The monster wriggled madly and slithered off from me, and I was finally able to take a gasping breath.

Pain made it hard to feel too triumphant. I swung wildly at the snake, but it dodged backwards. Worse still, my red aura had started to blink, faster and faster. I had a strong suspicion that it was a warning: power-up time was about to run out. On the other side of the chamber, El was scrabbling at the floor, shoving something into her mouth, with the iron wolf closing in on her.

My shield blinked off, and in the same instant, the snake lunged at me.

I surprised myself by how fast my fingers could move.

The bloody aura roared back to life, and I grabbed the front copper block with both hands. It thrashed and spun at me with a metallic groan, but I folded it like a cardboard box on trash pickup day. I only had a moment to marvel at my strength. Before my ability could run out again, I stomped the head of the snake flat and dropped the body into the icy lake, where it sank like a rock into the depths below.

El’s still in trouble.

I turned and began to drag myself over to her, wincing at the pain in my ribcage. The raccoon was in a bad way, bloodied with bites from her opponent, which bared two spinning metal cubes like fangs. Her fur was matted, and she tried unsuccessfully to cast some new spell.

My fingers made the word Harden as I stepped between her and the metallic beast. It howled, and the twin drills of gleaming iron came down with a piercing whir. I heard El cry out and closed my eyes.

There was an immense impact as my palms repelled the spinning metal. Wind gusted around me, smelling of blood and iron. My aura began to blink, but my hands were occupied, and I couldn’t recast the technique.

At the last possible moment, El vaulted onto me, then off my shoulder to tag one fang with a glowing paw.

One spinning cube vanished from existence.

It was simply gone, with a blue flash and a sound like a large bubble popping. The beast pulled back, roaring in pain.

“What was that?” I panted, my aura dissipating.

El gave me a feral grin. “Wanna see me do it again?”

----------------------------------------

The Iron Dog, now toothless, joined the Copper Snake in its watery grave, and we both collapsed to the ground.

“Fuck,” I said.

“Yeah.”

“Fuck,” I repeated, putting a hand against my side gingerly. “I miss the puzzle floors. That snake broke a rib.”

“I hate dogs,” said El. “Loud, dumb, and smelly. A real trifecta.”

“So… that new skill of yours…”

“Pickpocket,” said El. “It lets me steal things and put them in my inventory.”

I considered for a moment. “Useful. And kind of scary. Could you pickpocket my head off my neck?”

El perused the text in her contact. “Says here it can’t be living, or too big, or part of a continuous object, whatever that means.”

“I guess we’re lucky we weren’t fighting an actual giant dog, then.”

“Well, your new technique would’ve taken care of that.”

“Harden.” I stared at the bracelet on my hand. “It’s pretty sweet, all right.”

We lay there in silence until I groaned and pushed myself off the floor, brushing off rock dust that clung to my bathrobe. I limped to the other side of the island, where an intricate design was carved into the ground. Four-sided depressions were etched into the stone, alternating brown and gray, the same size as the cubes composing the monsters we’d fought. They were arranged in a ring, and the center was inscribed with a spiral pattern. It was almost as if… as if…

I slapped my palm to my forehead.

“What?” said El.

“You like swimming, right? ‘Cause we gotta go get those cubes back.”

Over the next hour, we took turns diving into the icy water, retrieving cubes one by one, then dragging them to the matching divots. Thankfully, there were a lot fewer slots than cubes, so we could spare the ones I’d crushed. And El had the two dog-beast’s fangs she’d Pickpocketed in her inventory, which meant two fewer trips to the bottom of the lake.

As soon as the final copper cube was in position, a low hum began to reverberate through the cave. The spiral pattern came alive and began to glow.

“P-portal,” I said, teeth chattering.

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” El stepped forward, and as soon as her rear paws touched the light, she blipped upwards through the ceiling. Holding my side, I shuffled in as well. There was a comforting warmth and a brilliant flash as the world went white.