The sword on my hip felt particularly heavy as I whipped through the morning sky. I hovered only a few feet above the canopy of the endless Austin woods, an endlessly growing green sea that now stretched across the horizon in every direction. Clouds of dense fog swirled and twisted, sending clasping tendrils above the leaves before being battered down by the slowly rising sun.
The world felt eerily quiet this morning, and a sinister aura filled the woods. As I gazed across the alien landscape, I unconsciously yearned for the familiar safety of home; my mind urged me back while my thirst for growth pushed me onwards. Shaking the thoughts from my mind, I refocused my attention on my destination.
I needed strength to be safe; I needed to fight to gain power. It was a contradiction, but it was a familiar one. Great risk had great reward, and power was earned, not freely given.
But keeping my hunt short today wouldn’t hurt anything.
A cacophony of yipping, snarling, and barking suddenly grabbed my attention. I had no idea how they managed to get so close without me realizing it, but the forest beneath me had come alive. Cautiously lowering myself beneath the boughs, I found myself surrounded on all sides by the largest group of mana hounds I had ever seen.
The pack was at least thirty members strong. With a start, I realized that many of the hounds still had collars on from before the ambient mana twisted them. Each monster bore wounds and scars, some even with missing eyes, ears, or tails.
They crawled over each other in a disgusting pile, quickly becoming soaked in blood and what I recognized as free mana in a vain effort to get even an inch closer to me. The more aggressive members were even bitten and attacked by the others before they were thrown from the pile, each pack member fighting for the pleasure of being the first to rip me to pieces.
Unfortunately for them, I wasn’t going to let that happen. While this group of monsters was far more numerous than any I had encountered before, their proximity would be their downfall. My fingers found the hilt of my new blade, the deadly instrument flying from its sheath with a satisfying snik. Despite my earlier trepidation, I felt strong today and wanted to see how far I could go.
My off-hand instantly swarmed with the chaotic mana of the storm, the energy building up well past the previous limit of my experimentation. I had 70 mana and intended to use more than half of it for my opening attack. I grinned as I hovered above the swarming mass of monsters holding a storm sphere packed with more than 40 points of unstable mana.
With a mental flex, I sent the deadly instrument flying. Though the monsters were intelligent enough to know it was dangerous, most found themselves trapped in place due to their feral brethren. As the mass of energy made contact, it ripped through the beasts with the sound of a hurricane, tearing a line of death through the group's center.
Sensing the magic destabilizing, I cautiously rose a bit higher. With the sound of a thunderclap, the sphere shattered, creating a ball of arcing power that carved through the poor beasts remaining trapped in the center. By that time, though, many had managed to escape and were now keeping their distance, gently pacing around me in a large circle.
As the energy from my kills filled my core with strength, I looked at the damage my opening act had wrought. The storm sphere had reduced their number by nearly a third, but the fight was still far from over. The beasts stayed spaced apart, apparently smart enough to realize that piling up again was a bad idea.
Now that they were separated making another magic attack was just a waste of mana. Sure, I could take out one or two more with one shot, assuming I was lucky, but spending mana on storm cloak would be far more efficient. This fight was far from over, so I needed to play it safe on my mana usage.
Sheathing my shortsword in crackling energy, I made my next play. Darting forward toward an isolated mana hound, I slashed at its neck without ever touching the ground. The tip of my sword bit into its skin leaving a shallow gash, but without my feet touching the ground I cound’t put enough force into the blow to make it lethal.
The newly injured beast shrunk back as the rest of the pack rushed me. Sensing a narrow window, I landed on the other side of the injured monster, feet carving lines in the dust from my momentum, before twisting back and sending my sword straight through the mana hound’s neck, decapitating it.
As I prepared to take flight once more, I saw another opportunity. A second hound jumped for me, its massive frame launched close to five feet in the air with the assistance of magic. Pushing into its body, I shoved my sword through its ribcage, throwing the heavy corpse aside as I rose.
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Once more out of reach, the remaining nineteen dogs distanced themselves. Seeing how much more difficult killing the rest of the monsters would be, I was tempted to flee.
Mentally, I scolded myself.
No. No! You can do this, Vic. What else was all of the training in the past week for? There are going to be far more than thirty cultists to deal with.
Singling out another target, I moved quickly. My superior stats gave me a decisive speed advantage, and I would use that as much as I could. Repeating my previous successful attack, I touched down against the leaf-strewn earth, slaying yet another mana hound.
Sensing the tell-tale energy of contracting muscles nearby, I threw myself upward. Unfortunately, I was too late. With the snap, fanged jaws burst from the ground beneath me, showering me with clumps of mud as a mana hound attuned to earth closed his maw around my left ankle.
“Aaaagh! Fuck!”
My yell of pain incensed the monsters as the rest of the pack closed in. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw some of the monsters now coated in the wispy green energy of wind mana, their speed increasing ahead of the others.
With a powerful overhand chop, I sent my weapon through the hound's skull attached to my ankle before taking a limping step backward. I had no time to think.
My body moved unbidden, following the familiar sword forms I had carved into its muscles. Two wind-aspected hounds reached me at the exact moment. With a lunging step that had me hissing in pain, I severed the rightmost monster’s foreleg before carving a foot-long chunk of meat out of the other. The wounded beasts fell to the ground writhing in agony as the next group arrived.
The next monster approached me with gouts of flame puffing from its nostrils. I brought my sword up and over, taking the beast in the side of the head, killing it instantly, but the pack was relentless, and they were too close for me to take to the sky without being overwhelmed.
Three more arrived, and I yelled out as another monster dog grabbed my right thigh, shaking his head to rip and tear me apart. Forcing myself to ignore him, I killed another lunging dog with an overhand strike, following it with a backhand to slice the throat of the hound attached to my leg.
Glancing up, I saw the rest of the pack was upon me. Retreating to gain a little distance, I tried to take off and escape.
I wasn’t fast enough.
From both sides, mana hounds aspected with earth exploded from the ground, one ripping into my left calf, the other closing his hand around my right forearm, forcing my sword arm down.
My heart clenched in fear. In moments I would be dead. As the next dog reached me, attempting to rip into my throat, I shouted in rage and panic.
My core churned with cracking power. Energy enveloped my body, bursting out with the hum of static. The dogs that pinned me down before fell dead on the ground as I finally flew above the treetops.
My sight was growing blurry, and my head ached from the absence of mana. Flying aimlessly, I sent myself away, thankful that my ability to fly had no cost. I continued like that for a while until, looking down, I found a pool of clear water bubbling from a natural spring.
Plunging into the liquid until it was several feet over my head, I felt my consciousness fading. Protected in the depths, I fell unconscious.
------
I awoke in darkness. Terrified, I flailed around before quickly noticing that I was still underwater, my actions throwing silt and filth into the water around me. Calming down, I let the dirt I had stirred around me settle, gazing upward at the leafy canopy above.
I sighed, the action producing no sound underwater. Thinking back on my actions today, I couldn’t help but feel shame. Saying that I had been stupid was an almost reckless understatement.
I had gone out to train and instead wasted an entire day if the orange light filtering through the leaves above was any indication. All of that due to carelessness. I had grown headstrong.
A new weapon, increased stats, and healing. It made me a potent foe, and I was by no means weak, but that didn’t make me invincible. I should have fled when I realized that fighting those dogs was more trouble than it was worth. Instead, I decided to risk it all for a couple more kills I could have easily gotten just by flying around.
Instantly, all of the time and effort I spent growing and improving would have been worth nothing. Among the risk to myself, I knew that my friends and family back at the camp would suffer with me. Not to mention that I was one of the strongest people in our little settlement; what would everyone think if I just… didn’t come home one day?
I needed to fight alone because of my archetype, which had certain risks and requirements. I needed to fight smart, always. I needed to assume I was weaker than my opponent and fight conservatively, always. I needed to avoid injury at all costs, as I didn’t have anyone to pick up the slack if I was unavailable.
Even with all of that, all it took was a single unlucky encounter, and I would die. Though my body felt fine, my mind was beaten and bruised. Though I was loathe to waste more time, I was done for the day.
Picking myself up off the ground, I launched into the air, my internal compass twisting and pointing me toward home. Flying leisurely to clear my head, I didn’t notice the smoke until I was only a mile away. With a gasp, I increased my speed to the limit.
As I landed, I felt tears rise to my eyes. The fence I thought looked so mighty had been torn down and burned. Corpses littered the grass, and the sound of weeping filled the clearing once again. As I gazed around, my eyes fell on the body of an unfamiliar elf covered with runes traced in blood.
The cultists had come.
I was so lost I didn’t even notice someone approaching until they were only a few feet away. Glancing up, I found the wrathful eyes of Cindy, whisps of magic peeling from her skin in angry wisps that seemed to sear the air. She was covered in black soot, and her arm bled from a nasty cut.
“Vic. Taylor’s gone. She’s been taken.”