Alex knelt in the dirt mere inches from the Triskürm.

He’d let his mind split and wished desperately that he could split it further. The attempt he made to do so was brief, and as soon as it was clear it wouldn’t work, he set it aside for later to focus on the problem at hand.

The barrier spell will only last for three seconds. The timing would be too tight.

Looking across the black stretch of ground, he felt stumped. A plethora of magical solutions at hand, and none that seemed like they could work.

I can jump across. Sarah, too, with her [Disengage]. Maybe Mark with his [Earth Slide] or just his Strength alone. Jonathan and Olivia, too. Nox will stay in Olivia’s shadow, and Val can just fly over… So that just leaves Sam.

He glanced over at the healer, who stood near the edge of the black ground. It seemed to undulate as if it were an ooze, but when viewed from up close, it was clearly smooth and solid. Sam looked down at the ground with a concerned look on his face.

If everyone could make the jump, other than Sam, then that turned the problem into getting one of their key members across.

“Okay, well, getting one person across is easier than six,” he said to himself.

He looked at the available space between the black ground and the spot where the earth started to slope back to the forest. There was just enough space….

“I think I know what we should do. I’ll make a weight-reducing ritual here and activate it. Sam, you can back up the hill and jump early with the height advantage. As soon as you hit the weight-reducing ritual, I can cast a—”

“Sam!” Sarah almost screamed.

Crouched and facing away from the group, Alex spun. Jonathan was already moving forward to grab the healer, but everyone stopped and stared.

Alex’s heart thumped in his throat as he stared at his friend.

“Guys, I think it’s safe… just stay close to me.”

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, seeing Sam stand on the black ground, completely unaffected. His trait was active in full bloom, and the ground around his feet was covered in an ethereal grass that contrasted heavily with the inky void of the Night.

In the last month, the radius of Sam’s {Nature’s Refuge} had continued to grow. They weren’t quite able to pinpoint what stat it was attached to, but at this point, Sam could move to the middle of the dark terrain, and the ring of grass would reach to both ends, allowing them to walk across the nature-mana bridge to the other side.

“Dude! You have gotta give us a heads up,” Mark said with an exaggerated sigh.

The group moved across quickly, and Alex paused beside Sam as he crossed last. The younger man was clutching his hand tightly by his side, but the totem he was holding before was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t until Alex made eye contact with him that he saw some noticeable changes in his face.

Sam’s eyes had morphed to a brilliant green that almost matched the color of his mana, if slightly darker. Additionally, even though it was almost imperceptible, the skin at the ridges of his cheeks and just under his eyes had taken on a slight sheen and were patterned like small scales.

Alex raised an eyebrow and looked at him meaningfully.

Sam looked down with a smile and shrugged. “Sorry. I just… I knew it would work.”

“The spirit?”

Sam nodded in response.

“I’m glad it worked. Next time, just let us know?”

Sam nodded again, and they moved out of the Triskürm together.

With the immediate panic passed, Olivia looked at Alex while trying to suppress a grin. “What was that brilliant plan of yours, Mr. Magician?”

Sarah snickered, and Jon smiled.

Mark started to say something, but held it in.

“Let’s keep moving. That was the plan, right, Jon? Move fast and hit them hard?”

“Yes.”

They all turned and looked at the suspiciously empty space between where they stood and the red, flesh colored crystal. Cautiously, Alex activated his mirage and sent it across the ground, but when nothing happened, Mark and Jonathan took it as a sign to get moving.

Mark readied his hammer and shield, prepared for an ambush.

Alex motioned for the rest of the team to hang back a bit. “Just let them lead. They’ll be the best to take a hit if it comes.”

Their front line moved ahead, and despite the uneasy feeling in his gut, nothing happened. Gradually, they moved forward bit by bit.

About halfway to the pylon, though, Mark and Jonathan both stopped. They stood up straight and stood still. Neither of them made hand signals or assumed a stance, as if ready to react.

“Mark?” Alex called while crouching.

He felt a haze settle over his mind, like fog on a pair of glasses. Casually, he swatted it aside, wondering why his friends had stopped. The feeling recoiled, and Alex found that Sarah, Sam, and Olivia had all stopped and stood in similar manners. Most alarming was Valtherion, who had slumped to the ground, reminding Alex of a tangled set of headphones.

Val? Can you hear me?

“Olivia? Sarah?”

There wasn’t a response from any of them.

Cautiously, he scanned the area with his eye and tried to scan them all, though nothing seemed wrong. It wasn’t until he reached out with his mana threads that he realized something was once again affecting his mind.

An illusion?

More aggressively, Alex shoved the influence on his mind aside, casting it out with all the force his consciousness could muster.

Only then did he see his surroundings truly for the first time. Even though they thought they’d traveled closer to the pylon in the center, they hadn’t moved from their first steps within the Triskürm. All still stood at the edge, exactly where Sam had helped them cross.

Small tendrils were crawling up his legs and those of his friends. They were red with veins of black. More than a dozen had already passed his calf and were even higher on Jonathan and Mark, who had crossed first.

“No. I can do it! Please, trust me!” Mark called out, his voice cracking and desperate with need. “Don’t go! I swear, I can do it!” Tears began streaming down his face as it contorted, and his knees gave out, slipping into a tangle of living vines.

“I didn’t leave them!” Sarah stared straight ahead, and even though her voice sounded angry, he saw tears building in her eyes as well. “I chose them. You were wrong, I chose them! They are more important!”

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Sam’s pleading drew him next, and the sheer panic and dire need caused Alex’s chest to tighten. “Please… let me fix it. I’ll show you whatever you need. Let me fix him. I can heal him, just… please… let me… try again…”

A rage built in Alex. It felt like a bonfire compared to the spark of hate he’d felt toward Elana and Rylan. He breathed in through his nose and compressed the feeling while letting his eyes sweep across the true surroundings.

There was a single large monster in the crater that hadn’t been there before. The bulbous beast looked like a tumor attached to the pylon in the center. It fed on the mana that was coalescing, greedily devouring it all. It looked like a twisted version of an octopus, with many vines or legs coming from its base. The thickest of which were wrapped around the pylon and nearby bodies. As they spread out around the crater, they grew smaller until they reached the edge of the Triskürm, where they were thinner than his pinky finger.

From the corner of his vision, he saw Valtherion’s head snap up and look around wildly. As it did so, several of the smaller vines around his jaw and neck snapped, but his body was beginning to get covered, and his wings were glued to the ground.

“Alex!” The amphiptere called. “Help. Please help!” Unlike the others, Val seemed completely aware of what was happening and thrashed about, looking at him with wild eyes.

“I’m coming, buddy, I—”

His entire world went black. The full mental force of the Night creatures’ illusion engulfed him. It was as if a wave of shadow had washed over all of his surroundings, leaving him standing on nothing. For a moment, he felt a sense of vertigo, reminded of the dreadful experience he’d had with the System.

Alex prevented his legs from buckling and looked around. The sneer of pure contempt that spread across his face was more malicious than anything he’d felt in his life.

This?

He started to laugh.

“This?!” He yelled into the darkness. The feeling of the foreign consciousness was wrapping itself around his mind, and… Alex laughed. It felt feeble. Fragile. “If there’s one thing I’m willing to toe-to-toe anyone on, it’s my will. You will not have my mind.”

Like when he moved his mana to push against Rylan’s aura attack and struggle against the System’s suppression, he felt his mind swell. It rose up, and he felt his Willpower clash against that of the beast. There was resistance, but even with the desperate grip its mental tentacle held around his mind, he could easily resist.

He closed his eyes and pictured his movements as if they were done with his physical body. His own will wrapped around the tentacle, like someone wrapping a rope around their arm multiple times. With a vicious grin, he mentally braced himself and yanked.

Sensing the danger, the creature attempted to retreat. The black void around him trembled, and Alex felt his grip slipping. He clenched his teeth and pulled hard, using every ounce of mental strength and control he had.

He pulled so hard that his mind did the mental equivalent of tripping over itself as the opponent let go of the tug-of-war rope. Staggering, he opened his eyes, fearing that he’d fallen into some trap.

You have slain The Shroud, Aspect of Concealment - Level 58

Congratulations, Awakened. You have leveled up.

You have 3 Free Points to distribute.

“What the fu…”

Rift Quest Updated:

Rift Quest: Aspects of the Shadow Serpent A once great entity has shattered its being into seven aspects to prevent leaving this world. It now stirs in an attempt to rebuild its power. Kill all seven of the Aspects.

(2/7) Defeated.

He felt the pressure around his legs ease, and the sounds of his friends returned to him as the mental illusion faded away. This time, they were much more subdued and came with the sounds of crying after a stressful experience.

“Wait… that was the aspect?”

Jonathan, Olivia, and Mark recovered quickly. Valtherion freed himself and took to the air to hover near Sam, making keening noises.

Alex felt his shoulders start to relax, only to shout in concern as he looked down at Sam. As the vines from the monster began to fade into fleshy particles, like ash on the wind, the ground under them revealed itself.

“Sam! Sam! Activate your trait, now!”

He saw then that the Triskürm covered the entire crater. They’d only been standing on it without issue because the aspect had covered the area with its limbs.

Mark looked around in panic, and Jonathan responded the fastest out of the rest of the group. He rushed forward, both axes in his hand, moving straight toward the crystal.

The vines at the outer edge, where they stood, were the thinnest, and it was a good guess that the crystal was allowing the Triskürm to persist.

Alex shoved Mark and told Olivia to follow him while kneeling next to Sarah, who cried harder. He grabbed both of her shoulders and lifted her to look at him. “Sarah. You need to calm him down. We need you.”

She looked up, eyes hollow, as if staring through him.

He did his best to hold her gaze, not to glance away at the rapidly deteriorating floor beneath them. “Sarah, you have to calm him down. It’s the only way. We need you right now. “

She wasn’t hearing him. He checked around her for any mana, but with concealment dead, her mind was cleared of the illusory effect, but she was in shock from whatever she’d been forced to witness.

“Fuck,” he said, bending and lifting her onto his shoulder. At the same time, he reached Sam and lifted him with one arm. While he had the strength, there was no good way to carry someone with one arm, especially once they started thrashing.

“No! I said you have to let me try again. I can do it!”

“Fuck, Sam! It’s over. You’re free! We have to move—”

Mark ran past Alex and lifted Sam. He’d come back to help move their team, and Alex felt a weight lift from his heart.

“Let’s go,” Mark said, ignoring the healer’s flailing arms and punches.

Together, they ran toward the pylon, where Jonathan had tossed one greataxe to the side and now wielded the remaining as if it were a standard axe, chopping at a tree.

Each blow caused splinters to mar its surface, and Alex focused his eyes on those consistent movements as they neared the crystal. He wanted to look anywhere but at the desecrated corpses that littered the surrounding area.

Six powerful, ear-splitting swings later, a large enough section of the pylon’s base broke off, so the rest of its weight was no longer supported. It splintered, shattered, and toppled.

Alex held his breath and looked back in the direction they’d come.

The blackened ground wasn’t changing. It wasn’t receding.

“That wasn’t it. Shit.” He turned back to Sarah and gently grabbed both of her shoulders again. “Sarah, look at me. We need you now. Can you hear me? Sarah, you need to calm Sam down.”

“Check on Sam,” Jonathan’s deep voice came from beside him. “Let me talk to her.”

He nodded and moved to Sam. Mark still held the healer in his arms, only occasionally closing his eyes as fingers came close to them with each swing. Both of the attempts he made to talk with Sam fell on deaf ears. Wherever Sam was, he couldn’t hear Alex, and without Sarah, he didn’t know how to get Sam’s trait to activate.

Taking several steps away from the group, he stopped at the base of the largest vine before it dropped a foot down to a bed of thinner ones, which were already beginning to disintegrate.

His eyes roamed the area quickly, and he ran a mental catalogue of his available resources and skills.

He sat up straight.

“Of course!” Alex held both of his arms out at his side, splaying his fingers to their fullest and allowing as many mana threads as possible to spin into reality. He split his mind again and did everything he could to think through the proper dimensions and scale for the second-largest spell circle he’d ever cast.

He was able to gain five stacks of [Spell Weaving], alternating between the three schools of magic. He started with the modified ritual base for an area spell, adding a second outer ring for stability. Then he placed two of the spellcasting control nodes before laying the rune shape in the catalyst node, and putting several more control nodes into the structure. For the final step, as he always did, Alex flushed the proper pattern of mana into the rune, setting it and activating the oversized spell circle.

Almost all of his mana was pulled from his core as the area-of-effect cleanse spell activated. He canceled his [Parallel Mind] to access the other half of his mana, and even still dipped low enough for a dull headache to form.

It didn’t activate a second too soon, either. The smallest of the vines had already vanished, and even the smaller of the large ones, like the one he stood on, were beginning to fade away. He felt a moment of triumph before panic returned once more.

The cleanse spell caused the blackened ground to fade, but only for a few seconds. When the spell had run its course, the Triskürm slowly began to creep closer to the crater’s center once more.

Cursing aloud, Alex moved to an area where natural mana spewed like a geyser from the ley line, prepared to siphon as much as his enhanced mana channels could handle, only to stop short.

The ground beneath his feet changed, though not to the pitch black he was worried about.

Green grass could be seen clearly in both of his eyes as he looked over his shoulder at the group. The sight he saw was one that he’d never forget. Jonathan sat on a vine, his back leaning against the shatter base of the crystal. Sarah was pulled between his legs and against his shoulder. The fearsome berserker looked down at her, speaking softly.

Whatever he said had been enough to pull her back from her nightmares. She looked toward Sam, one hand held out as she used her soothing skill to calm him enough for his mind to calm and recover.

The young man was sitting in front of Mark, his back bent from exhaustion. His big friend held Sam’s shoulder and spoke quietly.

Nox and Olivia stood nearby, looking at the other side of the crater.

That’s when Alex saw it.

Past his friends, behind the ring of soothing green refuge, the Triskürm loomed like a deep ocean. A void-black circle that surrounded the patch of safety, rippling at its edges as if attempting to eat away at Sam’s mana. Beyond that was the raised wall of the crater, brown and grey, a mix of the dead and lifeless environment that the Night created.

But… just above that, shapes began emerging.

One. Then another. Then more and more.

One at a time, creatures of the Night began to crest the ridge. In a matter of heartbeats, the slope was teeming with movement. Dozens of creatures spilled into view, dripping shadows and mana of the Night.

They were stuck with an army of creatures threatening to surround them.