And so we fought.
We talked to Ann, who was, understandably, rather shocked. Marie was gone, Emilia had lost a leg, and Chris didn’t have any shell to speak to us with anymore. The archmages were gone, but at the very least, the rift was closed.
Each one of us had contribution to spend, but with the increasing prices as we grew stronger, and the bitter taste in our mouth from the battle, no one felt like taking the long journey to a town to do so. The altars here had been blown apart as the archmages thought the usurper.
There were spoils for us to see, however, since my network included magic item drops.
Liam, for example, now wore a cloak, and one of his knives seemed to come attached to an almost invisible string. Emilia could manifest pauldrons on her shoulders, that seemed to twinkle like liquid crystal.
Reya wore a bracelet, having received it from one of us, and Matt had a flower woven into his hair. As a group, we also got some generally useful items, such as a piece of rather good flint that regrew over time, and a bottle that could hold incredible volumes of water.
For my own part… I’d received a belt.
[Treasure: Wanderer’s Key
Owner: Fiona Bellum
Description: Once there was an adventurer, who was always held up in her travels. So she asked the world to stop troubling her, and received an item in turn. This sash allows greater freedom of movement. See the world, wanderer, do not let your obstacles stop you. Walls are simply unopened doors.]
As always, the description was somewhat vague. But the item seemed to have three main effects. Firstly, it made all forms of movement more energy efficient.
I could more easily create platforms of Qi to stand on in the air, and also stick to them upside down or sideways without much trouble. Stepping through reflections was always cheaper, now, causing less trouble.
The second was a minor active warping effect. If I channelled energy into the sash, it would slightly condense the world when I stepped, increasing my speed, and letting me cover greater distances with a single movement.
Finally, there was the enchantment of why it was called a “Key”. With enough power, it could create what was essentially a tunnel, allowing me to step through walls. I could make these “doors” appear anywhere, though the closer to me, the easier it was.
It felt like that last ability still had some untapped potential, but its essence was to avoid trouble, so to speak, which meant obstacles, but it would most likely also warp projectiles and attacks around me, though it was rather expensive.
Still, it… suited me. In general, the drops seemed a little more themed this time, their powers seeming a little dependent on the creatures that dropped them, as well as the people who did the killing. Since one of my paths was travelling, and the things I killed came from a rift, I got a warping-type ability.
Liam had gotten the silky string for his dagger from a spider-type monster, now easily able to twirl it around and retrieve it after throwing. Emilia’s pauldrons had come from a crystalline zurulen that she’d smashed to bits, and since she had rock powers…
I smiled. The ability wasn’t entirely random, then. Of course, we’d still need to do more testing, but having these items was rather useful.
We spent the rest of that day resting. It was necessary; all of us were exhausted, and we weren’t ready to fight again. Matt’s sword would need a while longer to fix itself, but we’d head out again before that happened.
For now, though, I hugged Ann and patted her head. She was blaming herself for all the trouble, because of course she was. So I stayed there with her, whispering, and giving her the time she needed.
Eventually, she stopped crying and fell asleep again.
- - -
The next day, we awoke to darkness. The sun was rising, but almost all of it was covered by now. I looked around, and saw everyone’s faces set with grim determination. Tomorrow, the eclipse would start properly. Tomorrow.
Before then, though, we had things to do. With practiced motions, we packed up our gear, placing it into our inventories. I took some more time to stitch up the biggest damage in our clothes, too. Hopefully we’d get some armor drops or something soon.
A few minutes passed until we were all ready. Chris’ wooden shell stalked ahead, Liam following it in the shadows, and when the path was declared clear-ish a few minutes later, we moved out.
For the rest of the day, we just trekked through the wilderness.
It was strange, really. The area was so calm. All the usurpers had been attracted by rifts and people that there were few critters about here. The frontier was shifting, and this land had been swiftly abandoned as the usurpers moved farther eastwards.
But they left their traces. I could feel it in the way the air hummed, in the way the world felt even more hostile than usual. Traces of that lingering energy.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
When I was weaker, I couldn’t feel it, but with my rise in levels and stats, it was there. Like a pinprick at the back of my neck. A faint haze that told me… that I was unwanted here. That this was no longer human- no longer Edenian territory.
It showed in how we didn’t encounter any other people. In the way the air shifted and ate at the thin barriers on our skin. In how the world, ever so subtly, seemed out of colour.
The darkness of the eclipse highlighted it, too. Everything was cast… almost in monochrome. Like an old movie. It felt like dull static hung in the air, the kind that crackled and popped quietly.
And, of course, it showed in how there were few usurpers here, not none.
Every so often, Liam and Chris would hack apart small troops, or take us along for slightly bigger ones. Often, when we came upon those, the air felt even more hostile, subtly different. It made me think - were there nests around here?
None that had gateway fragments, that much I knew. [Lost and Found] would have told me. So it would have to be, what, biological nests? That created more of whatever they spawned by eating Qi and nutrients, rather than relying on calling them over from another world?
The brix nest we’d destroyed those months ago had owned a gateway fragment, though a small one, and had also still devoured bits of this world. As much of it as it could, even. Now, did these nests sustain themselves only from Eden?
I shook my head, stopping the speculation. We weren’t here for those. It would be important to reclaim this territory, yes. At some point. But not right now. Not when there were people actively being killed.
So, we marched through. Whenever there was trouble, we beat it down. The main front of the usurpers was further northeast, so that is where we headed. Kind of… in the direction of the capital of the Edenians.
But we’d cross that bridge when we got to it. For now, we simply kept marching.
- - -
We marched through the night, as well. With stats as high as ours, it was little trouble. I practiced moving my Qi more, channelling it into my spear, manifesting an aura of liquid gold on it, then having it change shape and disappear.
I felt a small push back on the exercise from my spirit. It felt as if… wait. I chuckled to myself.
“Seriously?” I asked it in a low whisper, not receiving a reply for now. I shook my head. “Alright, then…”
Changing my mindset, I focused a little more. I held my spear in my right hand, but that is not where I channelled my Qi. Instead, I focused on my left. There was no spear there, but… ah, no it broke. Maybe I needed a little bit of help?
With a quick swipe of my weapon, a long wooden branch fell into my hand. I tossed it up once and caught it. There were leaves still attached, and it didn’t have a sharp tip, but… ‘Eh, close enough,’ I thought, and focussed.
I convinced myself that in my left, I was holding a spear. I coursed Qi through myself, out of my wellspring, through the dense meridians in my body, then into the ‘weapon’, in the patterns I’d do for a normal spear, and then…
My Qi took hold. I opened my eyes, and the branch was encased in a golden shell, taking the form of a spear. “Pffft.”
Ann looked over at the noise I made, and saw me holding two weapons now. She cocked her head. “What’s… is that a branch?”
“Yeah,” I nodded with a snicker. I tossed up the golden ‘spear’ and twirled it. “Well, yes and no. It’s a spear, clearly.”
And according to my spirit… everything could be one.
I threw the branch casually and lightly, with enough force to pierce into a tree but not through it. The golden construct lodged into the wood then dissipated. I smiled, no longer holding anything in my left hand… but that didn’t matter, did it?
My Qi was all I needed.
Smiling, relying on the instincts I had from the spirit, my years of muscle memory, and the talent and practice I’d put in, I [Single-Mindedly] focused, and…
[Spear Qi has reached (Great)!]
A golden spear of solid crystal Qi manifested in my empty hand. I blinked.
I twirled it around, and it spun easily in my hand, mimicking the weight and balance of my core bonded spear. “Huh,” I said, grinning ear to ear. Then I looked over at Ann, who stared back with equal surprise.
“Huh,” she mimicked my expression. She flicked a finger against the tip of the weapon, and a clear, metallic ring came from it. “That’s… awesome,” she smiled.
Slowly, a grin crept into my face. “Hey, Matt?” I asked.
“Wazzup?” the swordsman asked, turning to me. I tossed the spear at him with an almost casual motion.
“Got my weapon Qi to great just now. Check this out. No longer even need a spear to be a spearwoman,” I bragged.
He twirled it, raising his eyebrows. “... Huh. How?”
“Well, it feels a little like acknowledging that there’s a weapon there, even though there is none, and then just having your Qi flow the same way it would when enhancing a weapon,” I explained.
“Hmmm,” he hummed, stretching his arm forward, and focussing. Qi coalesced in the air, twirls of pink smoke and plum smell spilling forward. “Hmmm.” He kept humming, changing his Qi flow a few times per second.
“No,” he shook his head. “It’s not clicking. Yours…” he looked at the spear in his other hand, “it clicked into place, didn’t it?”
I nodded. “Yep.”
“Yeah, this isn’t… my kinda thing, it seems. But I’ve got an idea.” A faint smile bloomed on his lips, and he drew his sword. “Let me just…”
Watching with curiosity, I took a good look at his Qi. It twirled in his body, spilling forth from his wellspring. His hair lifted up into the air faintly, the wind playing with the strands. A stronger plum smell came, now, and slowly but surely, those same petals that usually enveloped him in a storm of pink began appearing.
But they didn’t rage or roar, instead… the calmly twirled through the air, then landed on his sword. And stuck to it.
Petal after petal of razor sharp pink Qi landed on the broken jagged blade, and fused into it. Matt’s brows were furrowed in focus, but his eyes were bright and a smile played on his lips. A dozen seconds of wind passed, and then it slowly lowered in intensity, until the smell was almost imperceptible.
“Huh,” I said. “Not quite like mine, but… seems like it’ll work.”
He shot me a wide grin. “Oh yeah? I think so too.” He tossed the sword and caught it again by the handle. The blade was now as long as it had been before, the shape the same, but it was made from a dozen pink blossoms. “This gives me some ideas, too. Thanks, Fio.”
I smiled. In fact, I also already had the bud of a new idea, looking at the way he manipulated his Qi. “No prob.”
The march went on.
Hour by hour ticked by in the darkness. And eventually, morning should have come, but only the faintest wisps of sunlight made it past the sun. It was being choked out now.
Another hour passed after dawn, and then one more. When the sun was finally approaching the center of the sky, I felt the shudder happen.
It hadn’t gotten brighter as the sun rose, instead, the black disc covering it had only grown bigger, and the last rays of light finally disappeared.
When it happened, I felt a shudder pass through the world. Night descended, even though it was the middle of the day. My hair rose to stand on end, and a shiver crawled up my back.
The world was colder. More hostile, more fragile.
Like a delicate snowflake in the throes of winter wind. Ready to be broken apart.
And it did, a tiny tear appearing only a few hundred meters in front of us.