timewalk

  Aliandra

  Ali was sure Malika wasn’t nearly as certain about her ability to survive the damage as she had sounded – and had only said it that fidently so that she wouldn’t worry. But she chose to take Malika’s word for it, trusting her judgment. She did, however, load her up with extra healing magic before she called for fireballs, just to be safe.

  Ali kept a close eye on the chaos of the magic she had unleashed, s the exploding fire mana from the pulsing lightning, and trating on the dense bright kernel of soul and holy magic right in the ter of the fgration. But Malika came out unscathed, quickly destroying the remaining skeletons before rushing off to pick up the new ones just raised.

  Ali released a breath she hadn’t remembered holding aurned her attention to the blurring bdes of the four-armed monstrosity before her.

  Warrior – Undead Wight Monstrosity – level ?? (Bone / Death)

  As if an undead Wight that could summon other undead wasn’t enough of a monstrosity already.

  Ali focused her minions on doing as much damage to the mohat was ripping ks of flesh and sprays of blood from the bear before it as possible. Ali kept her mind calm, soling herself with the remihat he had enormous health, armor, and endurance, and she was literally keeping him alive with her Kobold Acolytes. She took a deep breath.

  Something bizarre happened when the Death Wight died. It had simply fallen from the sky with an unholy scream, but the mana had ged. Something dense and bck had flown from the dying Wight and embedded itself into the unliving one, and suddenly it had grer and sprouted ara set of powerful skeletal arms. But the most profound ge had not been visible to the mundane sehe bone ah mana had collided and merged somehow, resulting in a Wight Monstrosity with both affinities. Ali could see the bone ah mana of its aura causing the bone prisons to snap randomly at whatever was nearby. Mato would regurly get trapped, but he had his way of smashing himself free, and Ali’s two Luminous Slimes would ofterapped too, but for them, it was less than a minor inveniehey simply smooshed themselves between the bone spines as easily as she would walk through a doorway.

  Ali, however – she would be crushed like a bug if she got hit with anything from a mohat powerful. Shivering briefly, she summoned another barrier in front of herself, hoping it would be strong enough to protect her from those stray bolts of death magic.

  Beside her, ’s magic surged powerfully as he activated his Righteous Fury a sed time. “I’m going all out,” he announced.

  Has it been fifteen minutes already? She hadn’t been paying close attention to the passage of time, but she had memorized ’s recharge timer. And if it was fifteen minutes…

  “How is your mana?” Ali asked in Draic.

  “Getting low, A Mistress.”

  “Almost out, A Mistress.”

  “Drink this,” she told them. Not even sidering the cost, Ali retrieved two of the most powerful mana potions she had in her ring and handed one each to her Acolytes. If even one of them ran out of mana, Mato would die quickly – and shortly after, they would all die, depending on how fast they could use the recall potions. Ali shivered, not wanting to think about any of that – no, the mana potions were a small cost to pay. Right now, makier-id pns on when and how to retreat sounded like an excellent idea.

  “Cast Restoration on Malika,” she instructed. Over time she was being more and more familiar with her minions’ abilities. Restoration was the long heal-over-time spell her Acolytes were so fond of using. With Malika approag the totems with a new set of skeletons, she wanted her to be safely topped up, while she directed her mages in the now-familiar rotation.

  “Fireball,” she called out to warn Malika. Fire magic exploded right on top of her friend. Malika was ko the ground again, which made Ali’s heart skip a beat, but she was still moving – seen by the outline of holy and soul magic healing.

  “Fireball.” The sed ball of destru detonated, knog more than a dozeons down, and this time, only Malika rose from the inferno.

  Ali redirected her minions back to the Wight, instrug her mages to switch to Firebolt again. They teo prefer their most powerful magietimes iirely inappropriate situations, and she was not about to take any ces with it. Reminded by her thoughts, she reinforced her instrus to her slimes for the huh time during this battle. They were annoying to babysit, but she had to admit they had sted the entire fight so far, hitting the Wight tinually without dying etting trapped or needing saving. They were her highest-level minion after all.

  A plex formation of lightning formed, settling in on the Wight as her shamans refreshed their lightning vulnerability curse, followed by the intense brightness of their Lightning Bolts, which they ofteo blow their way out of the bone prisons. Their maces sparked with lightning as they clubbed the Wight in the back.

  This is going pretty well, she thought. Even though the Wight had grown substantially more powerful, one less of them to worry about gave Ali a sense of fidence. As long as her minions didn’t run out of mana, it looked like they had everything under trol.

  Ali destructed a skeleton to refresh some of her mana as ’s intense burning mana began to fade and then turo set up the fireball rotation as Malika dragged some more skeletons to the totems.

  In that instant, several bone prisons sprang up around the Wight, snapping closed on her shamans, slimes, and on Mato. This had already happened many times during the fight, but always someone would block, dodge, or avoid it. This time, however, for a brief moment, every single melee member was trapped simultaneously. With a powerful overhead strike, two bone bdes crashed down, trailing a mist of death magic, slig through one of her Goblin Storm Shamans while he inned in the prison. The Wight spun – a powerful twist with its twht-hand bdes – cleaving through the rest of the minions, sending bone, blood, and slime flying in a gruesome arc. Both Ali’s slimes and the remaining shaman colpsed, bisected by the bone bdes enhanced by two affinities of magid the potent strength of the powerful Wight.

  It all happened in an instant, and before Mato was able to shatter his prison, the Wight – now unchallenged – sprang forward charging with extraordinary speed toward , whhteous Fury had just expired.

  “, run!” Ali screamed, seeing the monstrous uearing across the battlefield. The monster was at least twice the size of , and Ali knew without even thinking that the quiet, unassuming Half-elf would be pulverized in an instant. Ali felt the bite of the death affinity aura as it washed over her, and the sudden snap of bone spikes closing around her body. She struggled futilely against the iron-hard bone spines with what little strength she had while first one, and theher of her Acolytes fred with pilrs of golden holy light as they pushed their healing magic to the extreme, struggling to keep up with the sudden increase in damage inflicted on everyone by the Wight’s dangerous aura.

  ran, but to her horror, he ran the wrong way. He dodged the shooting spines of a bone prison, but he ran almost directly toward the charging Wight and its four dangerous bone swords. “The other way!” Ali screamed as she watched the impending collision that could only end with sliced up like the bloody remains of her shamans lying in pieces oone ground.

  Uo move, Ali saw them drawing closer, and then suddenly jerked sideways, tipping his body and leaping over a knee-height slig bde while simultaneously dug uhe neck-height one sciss the other way. By some miracle of agility, his body passed ly betweewo bdes and he nded on one foot, tinuing his ft-out sprint. In desperation, Ali threw a barrier between him and the Wight, catg the third sword in a shattering bst of golden glowing splinters a hand’s width before it cleaved into his spine.

  Then, Ali heard the furious, raw roar of a bear charging into the fray, bellowing in a primal fury. A single realization crystallized in her mind. He thought was dead.

  As the Wight turo chase its prey, Mato reared up and struck with both paws, a blow so powerful that the Wight was driven to its khick roots sprang up from the stony ground, twisting and strig as they twined around the Wight’s sinewy feet and legs. The bear’s great roar echoed out through the battlefield, and the Wight turo face him, but so did all the skeletons Malika was tanking.

  “Back up,” Ali anded her minions as she regained her wits and the shock passed. She was still trapped, but there was no reason for her minions to stand and die in the death and bone aura. Those who were not struggling with bone prisons moved bad the fight stabilized once again. Mato was now tanking skeletons as well as the Wight and there was no way Ali was going to be able to kill them.

  “Ighe skeletons and target only the Wight,” called over as if reading her mind.

  While the death magic aura ainful and she had no hope of esg from the bone prison, Ali could feel the slow pulse of the holy magic restoration keeping her alive, and so she did what she could. She instructed her remaining minions to resume attag, began firing Are Bolts, and started destrug the bone prison that had her pinned in pce.

  By the time she had freed herself, the horde of skeletons had doubled in size, and Malika was unleashing a fury of kicks and punches into the back of the Wight, having given up on tanking the summoned skeletons. Bck bolts of vile death magic exploded out from the Wight as it summoned more skeletons.

  This is not going to st, Ali thought desperately as the death magik into the piles of bones and skeletons stood up in droves, too many to even t, and began to charge into battle.

  Suddenly, the Wight thundered, “You will not survive the master’s wrath...”

  The heavily ated Dal’mohran sliced into her sciousness like a gcial dagger strike an instant before the Wight colpsed to the ground. Ali’s mental target for Are Bolt evaporated as the chime sounded in her mind.

  Chilled to the bone, she stared for several long seds as the body of the Wight y twisted upon the ground, slowly reverting to its inal form as the extra pair of bone arms crumbled from its back, turning to dust before it finally sunk in. Ali shivered and rubbed her arms, uo shake the impact of its words. She had to check her notifications to be certain.

  Yroup has defeated Warrior – Undead Wight – level 44 (Bone)Yroup has defeated Mage – Undead Wight – level 44 (Death)

  “Fireball,” Ali called out as she finally accepted the inprehensible fact that they had just beaten the Wight, and all that remained was its left-over skeleton minions. Meantime, all within her was ice. The Blind Lich lived – surely, this must be proof?

  ***

  Ali rushed across the battered and skeleton-strewn stone and stared up at the floating obelisk of stone and its glowih magiiscriptions.

  Ruins of Dal’mohra (Bone / Death)A crafted shriifact, providing domain propagation and support abilitiesOwwin WightsTeleportation Locus [Active]Mana Siphon [Active]Created by Nevyn EldShrine – Artifact

  Is it a shrine – could Nevyn Eld still trol it? The simirity between this artifad her shrine was obvious, but Ali had never seen ahis one was levitating; borne aloft by the power of the domain mana she could see all around her.

  Suddenly she noticed the mana signature and shuddered reflexively at the memory of the Blind Lich, his appearance, his aura of dread, and his horrifying purpose.

  Ali stood still, transfixed by her terrifying memories pying through her mind. But the shrine pulsed owice. A ripple shot out through the domain and a vast whirlpool of mana began swirling, accelerating as it was drawn into the shrine.

  On the ground, projected in glowing bck, a runic circle appeared, and the shrine began to thrum with the power of the mana it was drawing in.

  What is that? In her curiosity, Ali studied the runes, relying on Runic Script to read the circle on the ground. After a few seds, it came to her. Oh, it’s a teleportation locus! It was a little different than the one in the Novaspark Academy of Magic, this one being a locus created entirely from death magic.

  Wait… It was a teleportation locus. A locus created entirely from death magic, projected by an artifact that had Nevyn Eld’s mana signature. These thoughts collided in her mind simultaneously, all leading to a single, inescapable clusion.

  “Hide! Something is ing!”

  Ali shot past her friends’ surprised looks, driven by a dread certainty, a premonition of dahat had its icy cws buried deep within her heart. “Quickly!” She cared not o that her voice cracked with her mounting panic.

  She rouhe er and touched down behind a massive pile of bones, with a surge of relief at the sight of her three friends right behind her.

  “What is it, Ali?” Malika asked, sounding worried as they hunkered down behind cover.

  “It’s a teleportation locus.”

  From below the levitating shrihe vortex of mana grew more and more turbulent, and suddenly a giant bolt of bck lightning shot down from the bck stone shririking the stoh a violent thundercp.

  Before she could even reato her ste ring for her recall potion, the familiar waves of magical dread and fear smmed into her mind – before the smoke and mana had even cleared. Her muscles trembled and she cmped her jaws to hold back a scream, tasting the metallic fvor of her blood as she bit herself.

  Suddenly he was there. The tall figure floated just above the ground on a roiling bck mist of magical energy. Skin so dark as to be sug the light and energy from the world around him. His imposing red robes and the crimson blindfold adorned with shining silvery runes were exactly as she remembered them in her nightmares.

  Nevyn Eld!

  Mage – Undead Lich – level ??? (Death / Soul)

  Malika’s fingers dug painfully into her upper arm with the hiss of a sharply drawn ih.

  “Lich.” It was a whisper almost as quiet as a thought, but the Lich stopped dead, his head snapping directly toward them as if he could see them through the crimson, rune-embroidered blindfold.

  Ali froze in pce, holding her breath, desperately wishing she could silence her poundi as the weight of a thousand nightmares ground her into dust. Her throat thied and her head spun as the crushing despair of his fearful presence broke over her like a mountainous wave. Her body trembled, nerveless and uo move. Her mind quailed as her will abandoned her, scrambling to hide off in a dark er at the back of her mind. The moment stretched out forever as the Lich remained suspended ih an unnatural stillness.

  After what seemed like ay had passed, the skeletally gaunt face turned, seemingly studying the dead Wight lying on the groue the blindfold, while the edges of his robes and the bck mist below his waist began shifting and fpping as if reag to a ghostly wind.

  Theurned, fag the shrine, and Ali slowly took another breath while Malika’s fingers eased their bruising grip.

  The Lich floated up and touched the shrih a bony hand, causing several rapid magical formations to appear and disappear. The vortex of mana accelerated dramatically, causing his robes to whip bad forth in a storm – being sucked into the dark glowing bck prism, as best she could tell.

  Abruptly, it all ceased, the shrine suddenly gone, leaving only the floating Li the silent darkness, all remaining traces of the bone ah domain mana vanished. With a sed violent thunderd bolt of bck lightning, the Lich vanished, and the withdrawal of the oppressive fear aura caused Ali to gasp and stumble, the sense of relief so painful, her chest felt as if it had been released from a monstrous cmp.

  “What was that?” Malika asked, her voice filled with the same shakiness Ali felt.

  “Nevyn Eld,” Ali whispered. “The same Lich that killed my parents aroyed Dal’mohra.”

  Her friends hissed in realization.

  Ali had been horrified to see Nevyn Eld’s name on the book she and Ryn had discovered, but she had all but vinced herself that it was simply an artifact of the past – a leftover relic – and it was only her that ected the trauma of her experien the past to the book in the current age. But she had failed to grasp the significe of Nevyn Eld’s mana signature on the shrine. Mana signatures did not survive the passing of their owners.

  Now there could be no doubt in her mind. Nevyn Eld was alive and well – or at least, just as undead now as he had been three thousand years ago. Ali slowly sunk to the ground, wiping away the cold sweat of fear on her face.

  “Are you ok?” Malika asked.

  “Yes, I think so.” She khe lie as soon as she spoke it. She was most certainly not ok, her body still shaking badly enough that she probably couldn’t get up. “That… that was my worst nightmare. Right –”

  Her voice cracked. To her shod embarrassment, Ali found herself sobbing – rough, wreng gasps of horror that seemed to be torn from the depths of her own soul.

  “I think he’s gone food,” said, sing the battlefield, standing beside Mato who was ready in Bear Frowling. “How did he not see us?”

  Malika put a f arm around her shoulders, but Ali couldn’t quite tell which of them it was meant to fort. She weled the simple closehough, and her shaking began to subside. Ali had gained a css and many levels since her st enter with the Lich, but it was only now that she appreciated how much her mother had been shielding her from his mind-influeng magic of dread and fear.

  “I’m not sure how he missed us,” Ali admitted, wiping her eyes. was right, if he had seehey would be dead right now. Or worse.

  After some time, she cmbered to her feet and studied the now-silent battlefield once more. “I was hoping to study that shrine,” she said, staring at the cracked stone below the empty space where the shrine had once hovered.

  “I appraised it before he arrived,” Malika said. “Does this help?”

  Ruins of Dal’mohraA crafted shriifact, providing domain propagation and support abilities.Owwin WightsTeleportation Locus [Active]Mana Siphon [Active]Mana: Destru uing or inanimate target, imprinting its structure. Range: DomainMana: Summon an impriem or creatureMana: Apply a Domain EnhaMana: Recharge the shrine’s mana reserve. 12,754/20,000Created by Nevyn Eld.Quality: RareValue: SoulboundShrine – Artifact

  “That’s… why did I not see those abilities?” Ali asked.

  Malika said, “Appraise lets me see the abilities only normally avaible to the owner. I see your shrine’s mana reserve, for example.”

  Destruct? Imprint? Domain Enha? Ali studied the abilities on the shrine – abilities entirely uhe ones she had on hers, trying to figure out why the magic sounded so simir to her own Grimoire and Destru, a so different. This has to mean something, she thought, but there was simply not enough information for her to uhe mystery. I guess he must use something like my Grimoire? That would make the most sense. Ohing might help…

  “Perhaps I o read more of Nevyn Eld’s book,” Ali said out loud. It was something she had been avoiding. While it was a book – and one of the few she had access to – her uncharacteristic retice to study Nevyn Eld’s book had everything to do with who he was and her personal experieh his ung hatred and arrogance.

  “At least the dungeon is definitely gohere’s none of its domain mana remaining,” Ali said. Not able to figure out anything more about the uny familiarity of the magi the stolen shrine, Ali got up and destructed the corpse of the Bone Wight that had bee a merged hybrid monstrosity of four arms and bone ah magic.

  [Sage of Learning]Domain Magialyzed: Attribute Enha (Dexterity).

  Ali puzzled over the obscure message, vinced she was missing something important while she destructed the fallen corpse of the Death Wight. Even as she finished reading the first notification, a new one popped up:

  [Sage of Learning]Domain Magialyzed: Twin Binding.Domain Magialyzed: Affinity Aura (Death).

  It really seems to be an analysis of some of the magic they used in the fight. But this was a clusion she had already decided, and she found herself no closer to uanding. What if I don’t want to know about Death affinity? I even fet, anymore?

  Passing by, squeezed her shoulder briefly. He said nothing, but she appreciated the simple gesture more than she could have said.

  After a while, she asked, “ we go home?” The sudden shock of seeing Nevyn Eld in person, experieng his fearsome aura for the sed time, and the relief of esg ued had taken an enormous toll on her energy aions. Ali wanted nothing more than to sleep, be in a familiar enviro, and maybe fet about it all for a few moments.

  turned, nodding. “Yes. e on, everyone. We’ve all had a long day. This pce will still be here tomorrow, and the dungeon is definitely gone.”

  He’s alive… She had been an insignifit bug uhe pressure of his preseno, worse, like a speck of dust. I hope he’s not after me. I’m too small for him to notice, right?

  timewalk