“Please,” the shadow said. It was a woman’s voice. She fell to her knees, but they couldn’t make out her face, her clothing… they couldn’t even be sure she was human.
Adam jogged up, making quick hand signals they had been practicing. Liz kept her position at the side of the archway, arrow nocked. She nodded back to acknowledge his order. Carl melted into the shadows using his level ten ability, Shadow Walk. He used it to slip into Adam’s shadow as backup. They had thirty seconds as long as Carl made no aggressive moves.
“We really need to clear the perimeter around the wall. Did you see the spidercoon things paradrop into the fort?” Adam whispered as he walked to the fallen woman. There was no response, since Carl was limited in his actions; talking would break stealth. Adam closed the the final few feet and looked down. The moonlight was weak, he was exhausted, his eyes hurt, and she had something on to make her appear indistinct. In fact, even as he blinked and squinted, her form never quite took shape.
“Who are you? What are you?”
The form shifted in front of him, though it was hard to tell exactly how. She appeared to be looking up at him. “Are you real?”
Her voice was thin, ethereal, almost like it was coming through a wall. He leaned closer, grip tightening on the dagger as he did.
“Are you real?” She repeated her question, this time sounding just a bit closer.
“Uh, yeah, I am.” He sheathed the dagger at his belt, then made a hand signal with his left hand still out of sight. The moving shadow of Carl moving into the trees was hard to see even when looking for it. The timer on his ability was about to run out, anyway. Once he was sure Carl was clear, he extended his hand to help the woman up. She reached out, and he felt an odd sensation. It was like what he thought static would feel like, but not like having his hand go numb. Instead it was a mild prickling feeling. A little tug indicated she was pulling, and he did the same. She stood, albeit slowly. He kept an eye on her while walking back toward the gate.
“Come with me, we’ll help you.”
“Thank goodness,” the woman said again.
He looked again, closer now that she was in direct moonlight, but still couldn’t make anything out. It was like she was in a hood, swallowed by deep shadows. There was a hint of form, but nothing else. Liz stood ready, still tucked around the corner of the archway. Another silent hand signal from Adam had her rush to find Kyra. Though the young woman was tired, she was needed. Raven jogged up with a lit torch, giving them their first good look at the woman.
She was tall, nearly as tall as Adam. However, it was impossible to tell her skin color, race, or even if she was human, because she was still cloaked in darkness. It was like viewing her through black-tinted frosted glass. She was simply an indistinct shadow, even under bright light. The effect was unsettling.
“What’s going on?” Raven looked at the shadowy woman, squinting to see through the shroud.
“I’m not sure. Let’s go by the fire.” He led the way, never letting the woman out of his sight. She did nothing to resist, following while holding his hand. The fire was large, though not so large they couldn’t douse it quickly in the event of an emergency. It had a ring roughly thirty feet wide where the light was bright before tapering off. It stood at the far end of the fort from the gate, near where the first houses would be built.
The woman’s form flickered, almost giving a glimpse at what was under the shadow. However, even the bright, hot light of the fire was not enough. Kyra walked up with rumpled hair, rubbing at her eyes. Adam felt his attention slip and his heart melt a little when seeing her. He shook his head to refocus.
“Kyra, can you take a look at this woman? We’re not sure what’s going on here.”
Kyra nodded, then walked up and started to examine the shadowy being closely. She reached out and touched the darkness. It shifted and waved, not unlike oil on water. She closed her eyes and extended other, new senses she had gained in the three weeks since the system tutorial had started. The shadows extended into those senses as well.
“Can you hear me?” Kyra didn’t open her eyes, still checking with her healing ability, as well as something she could only call her ‘divine sense.’
“Can you help me?”
The response was odd, still sounding a long way off.
“What is your name?”
“I need your help…”
Kyra shook her head. “I don’t know what this is. There could be a woman inside. But this feels… I don’t know how to explain it.”
Adam looked on warily. “Try explaining what you’re feeling.”
“Well, you know, ever since I was blessed by Caitrín the goddess of healers, I can sort of feel divine or godly stuffs, right?”
Adam and Raven nodded. Liz was outside the ring of light, looking in with her bow at the ready but not drawn. Carl, if he was doing his job, was watching the gate. Adam cleared his throat, then spoke.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“Ahuh, uh, yeah. Yeah, I do remember you saying that.”
“Well, this feels like the opposite of that. My healing magic feels good, and warm, and bright. This… whatever it is, it feels the exact opposite. Cold, isolating, lonely, dark.” She shook her head. “I think it’s a curse.”
“I am cursed,” said the shadowy woman. Her voice warbled. It was impossible to tell anything about her. For all they knew she wasn’t even speaking English, even though that was what they were hearing.
“I also think there’s a communication barrier. Only certain things make it through this curtain kind of deal. That’s why she responds sometimes, while other times just saying the same thing.”
“That sounds like hell,” Raven said. Kyra nodded.
“I can try two things. It looks like bright light affects this shadow form. I can try my flare spell. That might be enough to break the curse. Alternatively, I can try simply healing her, though I don’t know what that would do.”
“Can the woman tell us anything?”
They waited, but there was no response from the shadow. Adam looked around, then started to pace.
“Can you safely cast the flare?”
Kyra’s eyes unfocused as she looked at her status window. Her MP had refilled a few minutes before. She nodded. “Yeah. I can cast once, then maybe a heal, but that will completely drain my mana. Should I do it?”
Adam looked at Raven, who shrugged. He sighed. “Yeah, I guess we should. Liz, you have her covered?”
“Yeah.” Liz took a solid stance, then drew the bow until it was tight to her cheek. She could hold the drawn shot for several minutes. Her stats were impressive. Compared to where they had started, each of them was simply superhuman.
Once Liz was ready, he pointed to a spot behind the shadow woman, which Raven took. She readied a sword. Adam took the obvious spot to the woman’s right, banking on her being right handed. Once they were all set, he gave Kyra a nod. She put her hands together and started to cast.
“Wait, one thing,” Adam said. Kyra paused, but didn’t let the spell go. “Can you cast it so it stays low? Less than the forty feet it was at before.”
Kyra thought on it, then nodded. She thought there was a spot in the incantation that could be changed. It was an intuitive feeling, not one from any learned knowledge. She made the requisite change to the spell as she chanted. The orb built in her hands, then launched roughly fifteen feet in the air. It was reduced in brilliance as well. However, that reduction in outward brilliance seemed to be balanced by an increase in some ephemeral feeling of warmth.
“Huh,” Kyra said. “Looks like I earned XP for doing that.”
She dismissed the little window. Adam smiled, proud she had discovered another tutorial.
Tutorial #29
Skill Evolution. Skills can be used in unusual ways, and if done often enough, can result in a skill evolving. Make your skills suit your style.
He dismissed the tutorial window, making a mental note to tell the others. That was his policy, any time a tutorial that could be beneficial to the whole team he would inform them. However, Carl was unlocking a lot of tutorials that were not… wholesome. They were also much higher in number than the ones the rest were discovering.
The flare bathed the already bright fire-circle in radiance. The woman fell silently to her knees, arms raised to Kyra. The small woman held her hand out and began to channel her lesser healing skill. The normal golden glow was tripled, nearly blinding them all. Kyra pushed her brilliant hand into the shadow, deeper, deeper, the shadows consuming her golden aura. Then she grabbed onto the woman contained inside the shroud and pulled. She grunted, braced herself, and pulled harder. Adam stepped behind her and grabbed her around her waist. They pulled together, and the shadow began to fracture like glass.
Suddenly, all three tumbled to the ground. The flare winked out. The golden light abated just as abruptly. Raven leaned down to help untangle the mess of people. Kyra was first up. She helped Raven pull the woman up, and Adam slowly stood, rubbing his sternum.
The woman was surprisingly attractive. Long hair that looked like vines in the firelight, soft, greenish hair. A curvy figure accentuated by hard muscles made her look both intimidating and welcoming. Her mouth was in a pout, drawn down around the protruding fangs. Fangs, or tusks. She blinked hard, wiping at her watering eyes.
“Who are you? Where am I?”
“I’m Adam. This is Kyra, Raven, and Liz.” He waved at each of the women as he introduced them. “As for where you are, I don’t know. We’ve been here for about a week, and we’ve been working on scouting and setting up a base. How did you get here?”
“I… I don’t remember.” The woman’s voice was soft, not at all what he had expected based on her appearance.
“What about your name?”
“My name? My name is… it’s…um…” the woman tilted her head back and to the side. She put a fingertip to her chin. It was a strange affectation to see from what he could only think of as an orc.
“Uh, well, can you tell me what your… uh… race is?”
“Adam,” Kyra said. “You can’t ask that!”
“What? She’s… not like us,” he said with a generalized wave.
“Still, that’s racist.”
Adam nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry… uh, ma’am.”
The young woman waved him off. “I think I’m used to that.”
“Still, it doesn’t excuse behaving that way. Now that I think of it, can you open your stat sheet?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what you mean.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I get that. We had to figure it out when this all started too. Just kinda think ‘status’ and a window should open.”
She pinched her face in thought, then her eyes went distant as she obviously started to read.
“Oh, wow. It says here that my name is Emma Liberti. Spelled with an ‘i’ at the end.”
“Wait, why would you say it that way?” Adam looked at the others, then asked his next question. “She kinda sounds like she’s from the East Coast, doesn’t she?”
“It says my race is ‘half-orc’, whatever that is.”
“Are you telling me you don’t remember anything?”
Emma shook her head. “Well, yes and no. The last thing I remember is… there was a necklace…” she trailed off, touching a silver chain around her neck. It was a completely different style from the simple, rough-hewn fur trimmed leather clothes she wore.
“Like the one you’re wearing?” Raven stepped closer, inspecting the necklace.
“Hey boss, think I can stand down?” Liz was starting to feel the strain from holding the shot. He nodded, she gently eased the tension from the string until she could safely remove the arrow.
“Yes,” said Emma. “I was in a weird, white room. Like something in a terrible office building. There were two pedestals. One had a necklace, and the other a dagger. I don’t like weapons, so I walked to the necklace. The last thing I remember is touching it… then I woke up here.”
“That just gives me more questions.”
Emma shook her head. “I think I’m starting to remember more. I think I lived in a place called… Boston?”
Adam snapped. “I knew it. She has a faint accent, Massachusetts without the Bostonian. Maybe a transplant?”
“Not really the point, right now, Adam.” Kyra guided Emma to a rough seat made from a stump. “Emma, tell us what you can remember.”