by J. Cee
Distracted by the minor victory, Ceph forgot to renew his shielding. A flash of pain sent him back to the tunnel’s entrance. Corpus. This time, the attack had cost him four blood points. Was the damage doubling each time? If the damage doubled each time he failed, he wouldn’t have as many chances as he thought.
Ceph focused himself, recalling Aeri’s next instructions.
Calculations create strategy.
While variable, the average time between each pillar’s consecutive attacks was five seconds. The pillars also seemed to immediately attack when he first moved into their range. He could sprint across three pillars before the flood started, but it would take him too long to rely on one Interference Shield. His other option was to proceed slowly, using the pillars to block other Soulstrikes. He could use a Deflection Shield as a last resort if there was no cover between him and the incoming Soulstrike. He’d still need two Soulstrikes for each flood, assuming every third pillar triggered a flood.
Ceph gazed down the length of the tunnel and performed the math in his head. The numbers worked. He’d have just enough spirit to reach the pedestal at the end. He had his plan, his strategy.
“Easier said than done,” Ceph told himself, while playing back Aeri’s conclusion in his head.
And execution creates victory.
Ceph dashed forward using a Deflection Shield to block a Soulstrike from the first pillar. He feinted in and hid behind the first pillar as the second pillar glowed its warning. After the second incoming Soulstrike had hit his hiding place, he raced forward and repeated the tactic on the second and third pillars. Then, the flood came.
He cast two Soulstrikes in a row and rushed forward through the parted water. The fourth pillar glowed. Ceph cast a Deflection Shield to brush aside the incoming Soulstrike. He was unprepared for a dual attack as another Soulstrike hit him from behind.
Ceph yelled in pain and frustration as he was instantly transported back to the entrance of the tunnel. Corpus. This time, the attack had cost him eight blood points. The penalty was definitely doubling after each failure.
Ceph gazed down the tunnel once more. The flooding had taken long enough to give the third pillar a chance to attack again before he could clear it’s danger radius. He’d have to use a more costly Interference Shield right after the floods.
Would the numbers work? Ceph ran through the modified calculations. Yes, it would work, but barely.
Ceph stepped back out of the first pillar’s range and waited until his spirit had fully regenerated. Then, he launched himself forward with the revised plan. Deflection Shield, feint, hide. Run, feint, hide. Soulstrike, Soulstrike, Interference Shield. Run, feint, hide. Run, feint, hide. Soulstrike, Soulstrike, Interference Shield. Ceph had found the rhythm of the challenge. He worked his way down the tunnel, a flood triggering every three pillars as he had hoped.
As he grew closer and closer to the pedestal, Ceph buried the excitement that threatened to disrupt his concentration. At last, he reached the pedestal. Corpus. Only three spirit points remained. It had been close.
Upon an ornately fluted marble pedestal sat a simple golden ring. After Ceph snatched the ring off its stand, a flash of light transported him back to the tunnel’s entrance. Ceph opened his closed fist, half-expecting to be robbed again of victory. In his palm lay the ring. He had done it. He had beaten the challenge. He stepped out into the exit’s wall of rushing water.
* * *
Ceph left the tunnel and found himself behind a waterfall. He turned around, but the tunnel’s entrance had vanished. With no other way to go, Ceph strode through the torrent of falling water.
As Ceph emerged from the other side of the tunnel, he was greeted by the sight of an animal’s rear end. The stag spirit guardian faced away from him. Beyond, on the shoreline, Aeri was leaning against a tree.
Ceph waved at Aeri in triumph. “I did it!”
Aeri stood and waited for Ceph to come out of the lake.
“Great, now it’s my turn,” Aeri said.
Without wasting any time, Aeri waded into the lake, approaching the spirit guardian.
“Don’t you want to hear about it?” Ceph called after her.
“Later,” Aeri said over her shoulder.
She touched the great white stag, and both Aeri and the beast vanished. Ceph stared in confusion. He hadn’t seen himself enter the challenge. Was it normal for the beast to disappear?
After a minute, the spirit guardian reappeared by itself, standing in the same position on the lake as before. Ceph shrugged, turning his attention to the ring in his hand.
He was a little disappointed that he’d have to wait to recount his victory, but in the meantime, he could test out his prize. It was a plain gold band with no markings. Ceph fumbled with it, trying to understand how it worked. When nothing happened, he slipped it onto his right index finger, which took him more effort with only one hand than he cared to admit.
A new set of blue sigils glowed briefly on his inner left forearm. Ceph had missed what they said, so he removed the ring and put it on again. The words simply read, Rejuvenate. Should he wait for Aeri to return before trying anything else? This was supposed to be a healing spell. It shouldn’t be dangerous.
He focused on activating the Rejuvenate skill. A gentle warmth filled his body, but Ceph couldn’t tell what was happening. He checked his blood pool. It was already full. His spirit pool was at forty-three out of forty-eight.
Ceph slapped his forehead. Of course he couldn’t tell what a healing spell did if he already had a full blood pool. How could he lower his blood pool?
Ceph’s eyes strayed to the spirit guardian’s antlers. Would those antlers hurt him? Probably, but he didn’t know how the alien creature would respond if he asked it to hurt him once. What if it overdid it? No, the spirit guardian was too risky.
Could he hurt himself? The question hadn’t come up during his time with Aeri, but it wasn’t the type of action a Onceborn would normally take. Why not?
Ceph pointed his left wrist’s stump at his own right leg. Soulstrike.
“Ow!” Ceph cried out. He had forgotten that the damage and associated pain increased at point blank range.
In the center of the lake, the white stag cocked its head sideways at Ceph’s outburst, snorting once.
Aeri had said that the stag would keep the area safe. Ceph didn’t want it to think there was a threat present.
“It’s okay!” Ceph called out to the spirit guardian. “I’m testing something on myself.”
The stag made coughing noises, then resumed its silent vigil. Had the creature been laughing at him? It didn’t matter. The spirit guardian looked satisfied with Ceph’s explanation.
Ceph returned his attention to his self-experimentation. He had done five points of blood damage to himself. He sent two more Soulstrikes at himself, until he had ten total points of damage. Without waiting further, he activated the healing skill. Rejuvenate.
His blood points climbed back to their maximum within two seconds. Ceph smiled in satisfaction. The Rejuvenate skill increased his natural blood regeneration ten-fold. But for how long? Ceph would have to injure himself even more to find out the limits of the skill. How much should he hurt himself? Half of his blood?
“I’m going to hurt myself again,” Ceph called out. He glanced at the spirit guardian to see if it was paying attention, but the white stag didn’t respond.
What was the cooldown for Rejuvenate? Ceph shrugged. He would keep trying to cast the healing skill until it worked. One thing at a time, he told himself.
With that, Ceph aimed his left arm again at his legs, steeling himself for the inevitable pain. Soulstrike. Pause. Soulstrike. Pause. Soulstrike. Ceph sent a series of mental commands with precise timing to match the skill’s one second recycling rate. His blood pool decreased at a steady pace.
A loud bellow from the great white stag broke Ceph’s concentration. The spirit guardian raised its head high, bellowing again. Ceph stared in confusion.
Then, the stag lowered its antlered head at Ceph and pawed the air beneath its hooves, readying a charge. Lightning crackled across the tips of the antler’s prongs.
“Wait!” Ceph cried, holding up a hand. “I’m testing things. It’s okay!”
The spirit guardian charged.
* * *
As soon as her fingertips touched the antlers of the spirit guardian, Aeri found herself transported to a rocky cavern. A long tunnel lined with short pillars stretched out in front of her. To her right, the great white stag stood, sniffing the air with flared nostrils.
“Yes?” Aeri asked.
“Your scent is not like theirs, just as she said.”
Aeri turned to face the spirit guardian. “Who?”
“I offer a challenge within the challenge. A test of your strength,” the stag said, ignoring her.
Aeri’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve heard similar words recently. What’s going on?”
“The Swarm approaches. It will devour your mate.”
“You mean Ceph?” Aeri didn’t bother to correct the beast. She moved to step through the wall of water covering the tunnel’s sole exit.
The spirit guardian darted in front of her with preternatural speed, blocking her path.
“You may not leave, Onceborn.”
Aeri clenched her fist in anger, but she calmed herself before replying.
“Who do you serve? The Tetramorph?”
“We serve no one, save for Xero. We are Xero.”
Someone was toying with them. Despite the spirit guardian’s words, Aeri suspected that this was the work of the stranger she had met with Kaine.
“Then, what do you want?”
“What we have always wanted. To challenge the weak. To reward the strong.”
“What about your duty? Aren’t you supposed to keep the challenge area safe?”
Aeri suddenly realized the nature of the pending threat. “The Swarm. Those are Ceph’s bug heads, aren’t they? I’ve never heard of them. They shouldn’t be here. They aren’t natural.”
The stag’s large black eyes stared into Aeri’s as it spoke. “Neither are you. I know what you are, what you will bring. The end of times.”
The discussion wasn’t helping. Ceph was in danger, and Aeri needed to get back to him.
“What’s your challenge?”
The stag grunted. “Your mate defeated this challenge in ten minutes. Defeat this challenge in thirty seconds, and your mate may live. Fail, and I will kill him myself.”
There was no other option. Aeri would have to beat the spirit guardian’s challenge. She turned away from the stag without another word and stepped into the tunnel. The nearest pillar’s orb began glowing. An attack, Aeri thought as she cast a shield.
Aeri felt a sudden rush of air behind her as the spirit guardian disappeared, leaving a brief vacuum. She blocked the incoming Soulstrike and sprinted further into the tunnel, counting down the seconds. Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight. Twenty-seven.
* * *
Ceph shrank back in fear as the great white stag thundered towards him, its hooves skimming the surface of the lake. It moved faster than Ceph expected for a beast of its size. He wouldn’t be able to outrun it.
The spirit guardian was several strides away from him. It leaped. Twin antlers of branched bone and lightning filled Ceph’s vision.
Deflection Shield. Interference Shield. At the moment, Ceph didn’t care if Aeri disapproved of double shields. Ceph crouched to present a smaller target, regretting that he hadn’t spent even more power points on blood. Soulstrike. His right hand glowed as he began charging a Soulstrike.
“Overgrown venison lover!” Ceph screamed as he released his attack.
Ceph had misjudged the stag’s charge. It leaped over him, while Ceph’s Soulstrike flew harmlessly into the sky. Cracks of electrical discharges boomed behind him, followed soon after by a chorus of shrieks.
Ceph turned to see what was happening behind him, but the spirit guardian had unleashed a flood of lightning across the entire forest. He couldn’t see anything within the blinding light.
“Ceph!”
Aeri emerged from the waterfall. She ran towards him.
Ceph jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the dazzling display of destruction.
“What’s going on?” he called out to Aeri over the noise.
Aeri reached Ceph and grabbed him in a hug, her soaked clothes dripping on him.
“Whoa. Watch it! Water and lightning don’t mix.” Ceph untangled himself from Aeri, trying to stay dry.
“Idiot,” Aeri said, pushing Ceph backwards so that he fell. She gathered her long silver hair, wringing it dry. The drops of water splattered onto Ceph. “It’s over.”
“Hey.” Ceph rolled away from Aeri and turned to see what had happened.
Dark, burnt forms covered the forest floor beyond the shoreline. Ceph could make out mandibles on some of the heads.
“Bug heads?”
Aeri nodded, still squeezing the last drops of water out of her hair. “The spirit guardian called it the Swarm.”
Ceph made the immediate connection. “Like a locust swarm.”
The stag walked back towards the lake, stopping next to Aeri. It bowed its head once.
“Your performance was satisfactory,” the spirit guardian said.
Aeri scowled. “As if I had a choice.”
“What?” Ceph asked, but Aeri waved away the rest of his unspoken questions.
“The strong survive. That is the natural way,” the spirit guardian said.
“What about a reward?” Aeri asked.
“Reward? Your mate’s survival was reward enough,” the spirit guardian said.
Ceph couldn’t keep quiet at that. “Mate?”
He felt a tickling flutter in his belly until Aeri squashed it.
“Don’t even think about it,” she said, death dripping in her voice. Ceph held up his hands in surrender. Satisfied, Aeri turned back to the spirit guardian.
“You said that you reward the strong. Survival is not a reward. It’s a right.”
The spirit guardian chewed, considering Aeri’s words.
“Very well. Your reward is knowledge. A hint for your path. Seek the tournament for your next step.”
“The Pit Tournament?” Aeri asked. “I already knew that. Can’t you tell me anything new?”
Ceph blinked in surprise but kept his mouth closed.
The stag lowered its head, a finger of lightning dancing between two prongs of its antler.
“You ask too much. The strong make their own path. Like her. This is all I will say: seek the Glass Vaults.”
Aeri bowed. “Guardian.”
With that, the stag walked onto the lake. Its hooves didn’t break the water’s surface as it returned to the center of the lake.
Ceph watched the whole scene with an open mouth.
“Didn’t you see what it did?” Ceph said, pointing to the heaps of blackened bodies at the forest’s edge. “What was that about? What if it got mad?”
Ceph slapped his forehead. “Oh, I forgot.”
He called out to the spirit guardian. “Sorry about that venison lover remark. Heat of the moment, you know?”
The stag stood still, ignoring him.
Ceph turned his attention back to Aeri. “Care to explain what’s going on?”
Aeri let out a long breath, then relayed what had happened between her and the spirit guardian. She described her first encounter with the stranger in the alley when Kaine had been present. She repeated all of the conversations word for word. After Aeri finished, Ceph’s thoughts were a jumble of questions. He didn’t know where to start.
“We have to go to this tournament? Or someone’s going to kill us? Or just kill you?” The scope of the threat hadn’t been clear to Ceph.
Ceph continued before Aeri could reply. “What is this Trinity? Who’s from above? Below? What’s that about? Does this have to do with me?”
There was too much. Ceph threw his
hands into the air. “What else are you holding back? I just wanted to stay alive. I didn’t know everything was so… complicated.”
“I… I…” Aeri fell silent. “You’re right, I should have told you everything. I didn’t want to overwhelm you. You were dealing with enough already.”
Part of Ceph was angry. He had played Aeri’s games. Yes, it was fun getting stronger, but his main goal was not to die a horrible death at the hands of the Everborn. He didn’t know anything about secret missions, mysteries, or visions. This was getting to be too much. His eyes flicked over the mass of dead bodies again before resting on Aeri.
Aeri had her arms wrapped around herself, her clothes still dripping with the lake’s water. Her wet pale hair clung to the sides of her even paler face. Her large red eyes, while unnerving at times, now carried a hint of weariness. Ceph blinked and looked at her, as if for the first time.
She was beautiful. There was no denying it. But Ceph had been through too much in the last week to dwell on a pretty face. What he did see, though, was a young woman facing the world on her own.
“Isn’t it hard?” Ceph asked. “Being, well, you?”
Aeri lowered her head, shrouding her face in a cascade of sleek silver locks.
“It’s my duty,” she whispered.
“It doesn’t seem fair to me.”
Aeri raised her head, brushing the hair to the sides of her face. Her voice was fierce this time.
“Is it fair, what the Everborn do? What they did to you?”
Ceph sighed. Soulstrikes or words didn’t matter. Aeri was ruthless when it came to winning.
“Look, I admit I’m not as committed to your cause. But how about you tell me what’s going on? You don’t have to do everything by yourself while I’m around.”
Aeri was quiet, as if contemplating a decision.
“We shouldn’t stay here much longer. I’ll tell you while we walk.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the next challenge site. We’ll earn our first weapons there.”
Ceph perked up at the sound of weapons.
