Cutting a look at Oskar, Erik seemed on the verge of saying something, but stopped himself. They all walked in silence again for a minute before Erik finally began speaking after wiping an arm across his forehead.

“My class originally used mana, or Capacity as my PUB called it before they destroyed it and gave me these crappy things,” he said, pointing at the simple Goggles he wore. “I was a ‘Harmony Weaver, whatever that was.”

Oskar’s PUB let out a blue flash of interest.

“I could regain Capacity through using Wayspring water, but if I was in balance, the costs of my spells were reduced by like half. I don’t really remember. It was… so long ago.”

Those words weren’t said dramatically, and Oskar found himself wondering how long it had been for Erik. It might have only been the year he’d been missing, but who knew how time passed between the worlds. Erik would be the only one who could know, and he obviously didn’t know, himself.

“What kind of balance?”

“I didn’t have much time to learn before my capture. I don’t know if it was supposed to be between offense or defense or what. Harm and healing? Maybe I was just supposed to be in mental or spiritual harmony.” He laughed sardonically, and tossed up his hand in an “I don’t know” gesture, and the stump of his missing arm jerked on the other side.

Erik looked down, sighed, and went quiet a full minute before simply saying, “It doesn’t really work that way anymore,” and moving distractedly away from Oskar.

Well, that was that. Stubborn dude won’t talk about that again till he’s good and ready. But, Oskar thought, staring at his brother’s lowered brows and clenched jar, I can’t say I blame him, and I don’t even know the half of it.

His brother moved far enough away that he exited Oskar’s Wayspring Aura, but didn’t seem to care. Oskar’s heart sank at seeing his brother still hurting. It made sense, but it still hurt.

The aura fell away, slipping from Oskar’s grasp, and sparks of spiritual magic flittered away into the sky and sunk into the ground. The shimmering colors flickered and faded below and above his head. Oskar looked up, and his eyes followed the colors upward as they dispersed into the currents high above them. Sparks of Rakiyu swept into a streamer of sand blowing overhead, and Oskar watched as the flat stream of sand swirled into a spiral for a brief, surprising moment before the magic scattered and the streamer flattened back out.

The whole thing had an odd, dangerous beauty to it.

Blinking, he looked back at Erik, who was shuffling a few paces away. He started summoning the Wayspring Aura all over again as he followed and kept and eye on his brother. He’d suffered through so much, and as much as Oskar hated to bring that back up, Oskar was becoming increasingly concerned about Erik. Obviously the physical, but also his mental state too. Erik looked much better than he had when they’d first found him, but who knows what’s going on in his head.

Every time he uses his power, he seems to bounce back slower and weaker than before, that can’t be good for the brain.

It was obviously unnatural. Was his life essence itself was locked away? He shouldn’t be able to reach the cap of his health so quickly if he was weaker overall. It was like he bounced back to the best shape he could in hours.

It’s just that each time, his best shape is worse, and it’s all Valla’s damn fault.

Distracted again and depressed, Oskar felt more wisps of Rakiyu slip from his cultivation and shoot off into the distance again. This time, though, white-hot fear hit him as he felt a flash of trans-dimensional attention wash over him. It was like a single spark of spirit had tapped one of those impossible, horrific creatures on the shoulder, and he had to close his eyes and calm himself to make it all go away.

That gets harder and harder to push through. What happens when I can’t?

// I guess we get to fight an eldritch monster. Can I name him? How about Eldrichard? //

Eldrichard?! What the hell is wrong with you?

The group made slow, steady progress until around noon, when the heat and long night that they’d had made them realize they were pushing themselves too hard for the heat, and Oskar was finding his limitations with the Wayspring Aura.

// I really wish you didn’t just name things without talking to me. Eldrichard is awesome, meanwhile, you name things like you’re explaining them to a child. If you’d named yourself, you’d call yourself Dumb Limper. //

Brainstorming names are not high on my priority list. It’s not like I scream them out when I use them. Make it whatever you want, just be aware, if you make it dumb, I’m gonna change it to Spirit Spritz just to spite you.

// I got this. Trust me. Check out the name of this ultimate ability!

Uplifting Whisper of Unity. //

I’m speechless.

// Dude, I know. //

Small suggestion, though… can we try again without making the acronym for it say uWu?

// Why? What does that mean? //

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

I have no idea, but it sounds awful.

// Yeah, that just has a weird ring to it. How about this?

Ability Unlocked: Resonating Ward //

Ok, that’s not bad. I don’t know how protective it is against physical stuff when I push it outward, but it does seem like it’s intended to be partially protective or at least concealing by nature.

// It does look that way. I’ll let you know as I gather more data on it. //

Thanks, pal.

Oskar was unable to maintain the Resonating Ward constantly and was nowhere near being able to encompass the entire group unless they walked with their arms wrapped around each other.

Too hot for that. No idea how the Kobolds stay cool in this heat, Oskar thought, glad the suns had passed overhead. It should cool down some, at least.

Oskar now had a small pack of his own, a real one he’d gotten from Touwon this morning, now that he was carrying more than his waterskin and his change of clothes with him. He pushed it away from his back to let some air in to dry the sweat and cool his back, and then set back to work on his aura.

I mean, Resonating Ward.

That was gonna take some getting used to. He’d only had the skill a day but had started getting used to the old name.

Oskar’s aura was getting stronger, and his reach was noticeably longer. However, throughout the entire time he’d practiced, he’d barely extended a meter without a concentrated and very temporary push. It felt like hanging from something by his fingertips. Until he could fully control the power and extend his range…

He was interrupted when he saw Sara poke her head up in alarm. At the same time, Penny shot out of the ground, her scales raised like hackles.

On top of everything, I’m apparently gonna have to deal with the fact that Valla will never just let us rest. Ever, he finished the thought, tightening his jaw.

The group responded quickly to the threat. Like Erik, the calico fit right in, and so when she’d alerted, they listened.

Good thing, too.

Two trios of Crocs slid down the dune, three on either side. Oskar began to wonder how in the world they’d gotten ahead of them, but none of that mattered now. With a thought, his spear shifted into the maul form, and he readied himself.

For the first time since Bastet had empowered his body, he had his chance to go full tilt. He launched himself toward the group on the left, and used all his impressive momentum in a horizontal swing that slammed his two-handed maul into the chest of the lead Croc, a bright red of average size. Again, he was caught off guard at his own speed and barely had time to turn the momentum into a Momentum Transfer just so he wouldn’t slam into the creature.

“What the hell?!” Erik yelled as the torso of the Crocodile exploded outward in viscera and red mist. Oskar knew he was about to do real damage, he’d been moving fast, but the sheer gore had been a bit of a surprise.

With a quick rush of Sora and a heady pull on his Capacity, he launched the other two Crocs straight up into the air. They flew upward into the air above and their screaming faded over the dune as they were carried away by the top winds.

Oskar dashed across the valley floor to the other group of Crocs, which had just landed at the bottom of the dune. All this had taken less than a handful of seconds, and only Fox, Sara-without-an-H, and Penny had really started moving on the other side.

Erik watching the two Crocs fly off into the distance with morbid curiosity, his head tilted just like when Penny poked her head up out the ground after someone said her name.

“Heads up, dude. We got more work to do!” Oskar called after him, and Erik turned, shaking his head in wonder.

Looking over at the Kobolds, he saw Touwon had pulled out a shield and was actively trying to protect Sara, but the calico had jumped off the bag and darted toward the trio to attack. Touwon said his Kobold curse word and rushed after her.

“Silly cat!” Erik said, laughing as he snapped a shield around the cat when one of the Crocodilian tried to stomp her as she drew near.

It was completely unnecessary, though, as Sara used the stubby leg as a launchpad to climb up and around the back of the Crocodilian. She was on top of its head, clawing at his beady eyes in less than a second.

Oskar shifted his target to the blue one on the far right, and Sparta booted the huge green Croc into the dune with his good foot. He felt the other two Crocs from the first group hit the ground a good distance away, and their life force disappeared. Whatever magic had been used to get them close was no longer working, maybe because they’d shown themselves or perhaps the magic they’d used had simply run out.

Cat-hat Croc had trouble reaching Sara, and so by the time Oskar shifted his attention to her confused and frustrated victim, she had already jumped to safety, giving Oskar room to swing the maul like a baseball bat. The strike hit the Croc on the hip, this time without the Momentum Transfer. It was more than enough, though, and he felt the bone collapse beneath the solid strike. He turned and carnival sledged the blue scaled, downed Croc on his right as it tried to rise to its feet.

This is so much more brutal than the spear! Oskar thought as blood splattered across his neck and chin from the blow.

It’s a faster death than the spear, but that definitely does not make it more humane... just... damn.

He turned, and saw Fox was dealing with a more dangerous opponent than he’d dealt with, but she’d slipped in and hamstrung the creature before Oskar could help. Even though her Fade and Blur ability wouldn't have any effect on her allies, it apparently would briefly activate to signal to them that the ability had been triggered, because Fox seemed to blur from his attention for a blink before reappearing.

Oh man, she’s already a nightmare in a fight. That’s so strong.

The Croc pleaded for its life, but Oskar knew the creature was dead anyway. Fox had hamstrung it, and it was bleeding out in the middle of the desert. Erik, of course, would never waste so much energy healing an enemy when there was surely more fighting to come, and even if they left it alive, predators would soon arrive.

Nothing goes to waste in the desert. A dying human or Croc would be more than enough liquid to keep something alive for another day. With its longer reach, Oskar shifted the two-handed maul back into a spear and ended the Crocs’ suffering.

“Now that’s how you do it,” Oskar breathed, pushing down the guilt of having to kill. It wasn’t hard for him to do; but forgetting that each one of these enemies had lives was a slippery slope.

Lives they’d given up on the moment they had attacked my friends, compelled or not, he thought, still catching his breath from the rush of adrenaline.

He remembered how desperate the first fight was with Valla and the Vulk Collective, and was just now realized how far he had come. Of course, he’d had the element of surprise, and hadn’t even bothered fighting two of the ones in the left group, but he’d not wanted to waste energy or risk friendly fire by doing that to the group on the right. It took much more power to use Sora on someone else than it did on himself.

And to be honest, he’d probably overdone the Sora usage on his group. He’d already been channeling Sora when they’d been ambushed, though, and the extra power Rakiyu provided was still new to him. They’ve been in the air a long time. Much longer than necessary to take them out of the fight.

You live, you learn.

Oskar checked on the group. Touwon and Erik were already ready to go, and Sara-without-an-H was hot stepping irritably across the sand towards Touwon, who leaned over so she could hop back up on his shoulder.

My companion, huh?”

// She doesn’t have to like you to be your companion. I don’t. But you do sign the paychecks around here. //

Now that's not very nice.