Chapter 12: Time for a Fight Montage
Mike, as he so often did, took in the moment as he casually strolled down the still-quiet street that eventually led to the Crucible. The early morning summer air reminded him of his childhood and a much more peaceful time in his life.
Kids these days were in such a hurry to grow up. They didn't understand what it truly meant to have responsibilities. All Spirit-born children had daily chores to do, sure, but no one died if they didn't get those chores done in a timely manner. They just got their backsides tanned for their neglect.
In fairness, Mike had been just like that himself. Why muck out the stable when there was a game of tag to be had with the neighbor children?
The memory brought a smile to Mike's otherwise stoic face.
As he approached the pathway leading off the main road toward the entrance to the Crucible, Mike heard voices.
Those must be the guards.
He already knew who he would find standing beside those gates this morning. The twins were well-known pranksters, and their latest stunt had landed them on Crucible duty for the last month.
Mike let out a chuckle as he recalled what they had done.
In fairness, calling it a prank did something of a disservice to the sheer amount of effort the twins had put into it.
They had been sent southeast on a nighttime reconnaissance mission to investigate increased undead activity near the Chaos Lands. It was exactly the sort of assignment the pair excelled at: move unseen, learn everything they could, and return before sunrise without anyone ever knowing they had been there.
By all accounts, they had done precisely that.
They had mapped patrol routes, identified several new undead formations, recorded numbers and approximate levels, and returned with enough useful information to keep the Scout Corps occupied for days. Mike had seen their report himself, and it still amazed him how much intelligence the two had gathered in a single night. Their report alone dwarfed everything the rest of the Scout Corps had managed to gather from the region over the previous two months.
More importantly, they had discovered that the undead had moved a Necromancer into the area.
Necromancers were elusive, masters of disguise, and dangerous force multipliers capable of turning an already formidable undead force into something far worse. Knowing one was present before encountering them on the battlefield was rare.
That particular Necromancer was now dead.
Knowing the undead's reluctance to waste a perfectly good corpse, Mike suspected the man was most likely a Ghoul or Skeletal Warrior himself by now.
The twins had never revealed how they had managed that small miracle. Two Level 28 scouts killing a Level 35 Necromancer was no easy feat, and Mike didn't blame them for remaining quiet about it. If they ever admitted to killing him, they would find themselves in considerably more trouble than they were already in. A month of Crucible guard duty would look like a walk among the daisies by comparison.
Confession or not, everyone knew who had killed the Necromancer. They simply couldn't prove it.
Just as everyone knew the twins had a Necromancer's staff hidden somewhere.
That particular conclusion had become difficult to avoid after someone spent a considerable amount of time collecting and resurrecting hundreds of dead crickets.
Those same undead crickets had then, through some great and unknowable mystery, found their way into the twins' commander's quarters in the middle of the night. She had awakened to find hundreds of tiny undead insects crawling over her bed, her belongings, and, most unfortunately, herself.
Mike had heard of or witnessed more pranks than he could possibly remember over his lifetime, but that one had earned a special place among them. It might even have been the perfect prank. There had been no witnesses, no evidence, and absolutely nothing tying the twins to what had happened.
But the twins had one weakness.
They loved to brag to their fellow scouts.
Whenever anyone in their chain of command asked, of course, the twins naturally knew nothing about it. Even now, Mike was certain that if he walked up to them for the sole purpose of finding out exactly what had happened that night, their response would be the same well-rehearsed one they gave everyone who mattered.
The undead will stop at nothing to make life on Eldara a living hell.
Mike had briefly considered using Mind Bend on the pair simply to satisfy his curiosity about what had actually happened that night. He had thought better of it almost immediately. Aside from the fact that both twins possessed defenses against mental manipulation, Mike wasn't entirely certain he wanted to make himself their next target.
The image of waking in the middle of the night with something dead crawling beneath his blankets sent an involuntary shiver down his spine.
No.
Some mysteries were better left unsolved.
“Do you think we'll get a chance to see the Princess this morning?”
“How would I know? I've been stuck doing this same godforsaken duty all month, same as you. And I've been under the same restriction to barracks. What I know, you know.”
“Look sharp. I think Magic Mike is coming.”
“Yeah, I think you're right.”
A few moments later, the two innocent and clearly diligent guards came into view. The Sprite twins stared off into the distance as though guarding the Crucible were the most important duty in the world.
“Oh, knock it off, you two. You might fool most people, but I'm no fool,” Mike said, trying his best to sound stern. “And don't call me Magic Mike.”
“Sorry, Voice,” they said in synchronized unison.
Mike stopped in front of the twins and took out his pocket watch.
“You two get relieved at nine?”
“Yes, Voice!” they answered together.
“Then yes, you'll get a chance to see the Princess. She should be here shortly, if I'm not mistaken.”
Mike looked up at the twins, thanks to being nearly a foot and a half shorter than they were.
“What?”
He could see they were dying to ask him something. These two really did make horrible guards.
“Can we stay and watch the Princess's training, please?” they shouted together.
“Don't the two of you have a new assignment to prepare for?” Mike asked.
“Yes, but they're giving us the next two days off, so we've got plenty of time for that later,” Lyra said.
Like her twin, Lyra stood unusually tall for a Sprite, particularly from Mike's much lower vantage point. Her long silver-white hair was pulled into a high ponytail, leaving her sharply pointed ears exposed, while a pair of bright green eyes watched him with an eagerness that did little to support the diligent-guard act from moments before. Translucent wings extended from her back, catching the morning light whenever they shifted, their delicate appearance contrasting sharply with the fitted silver armor covering her chest and shoulders. Dark green cloth and leather filled the gaps beneath the plate, and a long spear rested easily in one hand.
There was nothing particularly imposing about Lyra's youthful features or the mischievous glint that so often appeared in her eyes. That tended to make people forget she was a Level 28 scout who could disappear into hostile territory at night, kill a Necromancer seven levels above her, and return before anyone realized she had been there.
Not that Lyra had ever admitted to that last part.
“That's right,” Lysa agreed enthusiastically, also dropping her not-so-well-disguised diligent-guard act.
Lysa looked so much like her sister that no one could mistake the two for anything but twins. She had the same bright green eyes, sharply pointed ears, translucent wings, and athletic build, with matching silver armor worn over dark green cloth and leather. Even the long spear resting in her hand was nearly identical to Lyra's.
The easiest way to tell them apart was their hair. Where Lyra wore hers long and tied high behind her head, Lysa kept her silver-white hair short, the uneven strands falling around her face and just brushing the tips of her ears. There was something a little more impish in the way she carried herself as well, as though remaining perfectly still required considerably more effort than sneaking through hostile territory ever had.
“If we're going to be the Princess's scouts, we should really get to know Princess Jamie,” they sang out in unison.
“The two of you do know how annoying that is, right?” Mike asked.
“The way we speak at the same time?”
“Yes, we know.”
Mike took a moment to eyeball the two of them. He wanted to smile right along with the twins, but he had a reputation to uphold, so he kept his expression carefully stoic.
Not more than two seconds later, the pair went straight back to their diligent-guard act, backs straight, spears held properly, eyes forward and unmoving.
A moment later, Lady Sylvara and Lady Akari joined the group.
“Sprites, please,” Lady Akari said.
Mike was still looking at the twins, but he had no doubt Akari had just rolled her eyes.
“You know, for two people known for their ability to sneak around, the both of you are remarkably bad at it,” Lady Sylvara added.
Mike's eyes narrowed. Something about that didn't fit.
These two had slipped into the Chaos Lands in the middle of the night, apparently killed a Level 35 Necromancer, and made it back out without anyone seeing them. Then, only days later, they had somehow smuggled hundreds of undead crickets into their commander's quarters while she slept.
Yet Mike had heard them talking before he'd even reached the path leading to the Crucible. More importantly, neither twin had so much as glanced toward Akari or Sylvara before the two women announced themselves.
Mike looked from Lyra to Lysa. Both stared straight ahead with expressions of absolute innocence, and suddenly he understood.
You little shits.
They were sandbagging.
The realization nearly broke Mike's stoic expression. They had heard him coming. He would wager his favorite wand on it. And if they'd heard him, there wasn't a chance in hell they hadn't known two Level 94 Elders were approaching from behind.
This wasn't them being terrible guards at all. It was another performance, and a damned good one at that. They wanted people to underestimate them.
Mike studied the twins for another moment, seeing them just a little differently than he had before.
“Interesting.”
“What's interesting?” Akari asked.
“Nothing. Just an observation,” Mike said casually. Then he changed the subject.
“Elders, these two want to stay and watch the Princess train after their duties are over.”
“Absolutely not,” Sylvara said immediately. “The two of you have a new assignment to prepare for.”
“That's what I told them,” Mike said.
“But they're giving us the next two days off,” Lyra complained.
“And that is what they told me after I told them what you just told them,” Mike confirmed.
“I swear to the heavens, if your father hadn't been such a well-known and respected Royal Guard, I would have the two of you assigned to the kitchens scrubbing pots for an entire year,” Sylvara said sharply.
Both twins wisely remained silent.
“Jared,” Sylvara said, snapping her fingers to get her secretary's attention. “You have their commander's recommendation with you?”
“Yes, my lady.”
Without hesitation, Jared shifted the considerable stack of papers he was carrying to one arm and somehow pulled exactly the right sheet from somewhere in the middle.
Sylvara took it from him and held it up where both twins could clearly see.
“You see this?”
Mike leaned slightly to the side to get a look at the document himself.
Sure enough, beneath the word RECOMMENDATION, written in large, unmistakable letters, were the words:
ONE YEAR — KITCHEN DUTY
Mike fought the sudden urge to laugh. Neither twin looked nearly as amused.
“You—” Sylvara let the word hang in the air for a moment as she looked from Lyra to Lysa, “—are being given two days to prepare for your new assignment. And I expect you—” Once again, she gave the word considerably more weight than it deserved. “—to begin doing exactly that the moment you are relieved this morning.”
Neither twin moved.
“I expect the two of you packed, moved, and unpacked in the Royal Guard barracks before supper. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Elder,” the twins answered together.
For once, there wasn't even a hint of mischief in their voices.
Lady Sylvara's expression softened as she turned toward Mike. “Shall we head inside?”
“After you.”
Mike followed the two women through the entrance and into the Crucible.
From the outside, there wasn't much to look at. The building rose only a single story above the surrounding grounds, its broad circular stone walls making it look more like an oversized training hall than one of Glenhaven's more important military facilities.
That impression disappeared almost immediately upon entering.
Most of the Crucible had been built below ground.
The passage opened onto the upper level of a sunken arena, with several tiers of stone seating descending toward the fighting floor below. There weren't enough seats for anything resembling a proper crowd, nor had there ever been a need for them. The Crucible wasn't a place for entertainment. The stands existed for instructors, healers, officials, and the occasional group of soldiers waiting their turn.
At the center of the arena stood the reason the entire structure existed.
The crystal was enormous.
A single cloudy-white shard of Spirit crystal rose from the floor, roughly the size of one of the great standing stones found throughout the forest. Faint light moved beneath its surface in slow, almost liquid currents, brightening and fading with a rhythm Mike had always thought looked strangely like breathing.
The arena hadn't been built first and the crystal placed within it afterward. It had been the other way around.
The outer edge of the fighting floor marked the exact limit of the crystal's reach. Anything it created could move freely within that boundary, but no farther. The wisps of Spirit energy tethering a construct to the central crystal would stretch and bend no matter where the creature moved, but the moment it crossed beyond the crystal's range, the connection would fail and the construct would immediately collapse.
Simple and reliable. And, under normal circumstances, remarkably safe.
Well—safe-ish.
Mike followed Sylvara and Akari along the upper walkway toward the control room overlooking the arena, his shorter legs working a little harder to keep pace with his two fellow Elders. A second crystal waited there, considerably smaller than the monolith below but still nearly the size of a Tether-ball, the ball used in the Spirit-folk's favorite field sport, where two teams fought to carry it across the opposing goal while trying to rip it from each other's hands.
This crystal served a very different purpose.
It was where the price was paid.
Mike stepped up to the crystal and rested one hand lightly against its cool surface. This was always the first step in running the Crucible. The control crystal needed to attune itself to the mana of whoever would be supplying the experience.
“You're certain about this?” Sylvara asked.
Mike glanced back at her. “We discussed this yesterday.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Akari folded her arms. “The original plan was for Sylvara and me to divide the cost. Neither of us would have lost a level if we were careful.”
“I know.”
“And you're Level ninety-eight,” Sylvara added. “You're so close to the maximum level. It's going to take you years to regain even one.”
“You're saying that like I don't already know,” Mike said.
At their levels, experience was measured less in battles than it was in years. Sometimes many of them. The distance between ninety-seven and ninety-eight had taken Mike longer to cross than some of the people living in Glenhaven had been alive.
His hand remained on the crystal.
“Nia asked me to do this.”
The room stayed quiet after that. Mike had agreed before his Goddess had finished asking.
The irony of that decision wasn't lost on him. Every lesson he taught Jamie, every level he helped her gain, every skill that made the girl harder to kill brought Nia's Chosen one step closer to becoming exactly what the Goddess needed her to become.
And if Jamie survived long enough, succeeded often enough, and grew powerful enough...
Mike pushed the thought aside.
“Very well, Mike, but I felt it was only fair to ask one last time,” Sylvara said.
Mike smiled faintly as he removed his hand from the control crystal. It had accepted his magic. Over the next several days, he was going to funnel tens of thousands of his own experience points through the Crucible, losing roughly ten of his own for every one that ultimately reached Jamie and Ember.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out several folded sheets of paper, unfolding them before laying them across the stone pillar supporting the crystal.
Carefully, Mike began reviewing his battle plan and how he intended to transfer years of hard-earned experience to two newcomers to the System.
Each fight had been meticulously planned. Which constructs he would manifest. How they would attack Jamie and Ember. What weaknesses they would expose and which skills they would force the pair to rely upon. Each encounter would push them a little harder than the one before it.
Page after page, Mike worked through the plan until he reached the final sheet.
There, he stopped. The last fight was different.
Mike already knew his fellow Elders weren't going to be happy when they discovered what he intended to do at the end of Jamie's training.
That didn't matter. Jamie needed this lesson.
Out of the corner of his eye, Mike caught Akari leaning slightly toward him, trying to get a look at the final page.
He calmly shuffled it back beneath the others.
Akari's eyes narrowed. Mike pretended not to notice.
It wasn't long before Princess Jamie arrived at the Crucible, dressed and ready for battle in the same gear she'd entered this world with.
The enchanted white dress looked decidedly out of place in a fighting arena, even with the leather armor strapped over it. A short sword hung at her left hip, her holly wand rested at her right, and the dark leather boots she'd been given shortly after arriving in Glenhaven completed the strange collection of equipment.
Ember padded along beside her, all three tails wagging with excitement.
Mike watched from the control room as the pair emerged onto the arena floor and stopped a short distance from the central crystal.
Jamie immediately looked up.
Her eyes moved across the surrounding stands, then toward the control room. She spotted the three Elders watching her and raised one hand in greeting.
Mike gave her a small wave in return.
Akari shook her head.
“What?” Jamie called up.
“You look far too relaxed for what is about to happen,” she said. “Both of you do.”
“Why wouldn't we? It's just training, isn't it?”
“Yes, training that can very much hurt you,” Akari said. “You did go over the notes we sent you, right?”
“Yeah, I skimmed them,” Jamie admitted.
“Skimmed?”
Mike watched as Akari and Sylvara both turned toward him, matching questions written across their faces.
He merely shrugged back at them.
She was definitely the seeing-is-believing type. Any lingering doubts Mike still had about that final fight went right out the cubbyhole.
“Well, Princess, you sound like you're ready. Shall we start, then?” Mike asked.
“One moment, please,” Lady Sylvara interrupted.
Mike pulled his hands away from the control crystal and waited.
“Since you only skimmed the notes, I just wanted to remind you about rule one.”
“Never speak about Fight Club?” Jamie asked.
“No. If you feel you're getting to the point where things are starting to get out of control, call for us to end the simulation immediately,” Lady Sylvara corrected.
“Yeah, got it. Don't get stabbed.”
“No, getting stabbed is fine. Just don't get killed.”
“Wait—”
“Go ahead, Mike,” Sylvara called out, loud enough for everyone to hear.
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Jamie stared up at her for a moment before apparently deciding she wasn't going to get anything more. She drew her short sword with her right hand and her wand with her left, while Ember moved closer to her side. Whatever casual attitude the Princess had shown a moment before disappeared as the two of them turned their attention toward the center of the arena.
That was encouraging, at least. Mike had been half afraid Jamie would continue treating this like some elaborate game until the first construct knocked her flat on her ass.
He placed both hands against the control crystal and reached into the connection he'd established earlier. The first encounter was deliberately simple. Mike wasn't interested in seeing how much punishment Jamie and Ember could survive yet. He wanted to see what they did when something attacked them. How they moved, what they watched, whether they protected each other, and most importantly, whether the bond they shared actually translated into anything useful once a fight began.
The experience required for the first construct was almost laughably small compared to what Mike had accumulated over the centuries, but he still felt its loss when he released it into the crystal. The sensation wasn't painful. It was closer to the peculiar emptiness that came from reaching for something he'd possessed a moment earlier and discovering it was gone.
White light spread beneath his hands before racing through the network of Spirit crystal buried beneath the Crucible. A moment later, the enormous monolith on the arena floor answered with a much brighter pulse.
Jamie took a step back as Spirit energy poured from the central crystal and gathered roughly twenty feet in front of her. Ember lowered herself beside her bond mate, ears flattening as the shapeless mass quickly developed four legs, a heavy body, and a broad head.
Within seconds, a Dire Wolf stood facing them.
The construct was considerably larger than any ordinary wolf, though that had more to do with giving it enough mass to punish mistakes than any desire to frighten the Princess. Mike had also deliberately kept it slow. Jamie was only Level 4, and neither she nor Ember had enough combat experience for speed to teach them anything useful yet.
A narrow band of white Spirit energy remained attached to the construct, trailing from its hindquarters all the way back to the central crystal.
Jamie's eyes immediately settled on it.
She followed the strange white tether back toward the monolith, studying it for several seconds before returning her attention to the wolf.
Mike smiled faintly. He'd wondered how long it would take her to notice. He'd seen many would-be trainees try to win their first fight by cutting the tether. That never worked, of course, but nearly everyone tried it at least once.
Jamie didn't.
She simply made a mental note of it and moved on.
The construct charged.
“Ember, shift right!” Jamie called.
Ember darted right while Jamie immediately moved left, putting several additional feet between them.
Mike's smile disappeared as he watched the maneuver.
The construct didn't hesitate. It followed Jamie.
She brought her sword up as the wolf lunged and managed to wedge the blade between its jaws before they closed around her. It wasn't a bad reaction, particularly for someone with so little experience, but Jamie apparently hadn't considered what would happen when several hundred pounds of Dire Wolf collided with a woman who weighed considerably less.
The impact ripped the sword from her hand and knocked her flat on her back.
Before the wolf could follow her down, Ember slammed into its side.
The Kitsune managed to knock the construct partially away from Jamie, but the collision sent Ember stumbling as well. She landed badly on one front leg and yelped before scrambling away.
“Stop!” Mike shouted.
The construct immediately disappeared, its body dissolving into white Spirit energy. Mike sighed as he watched the light fade away, taking a small amount of his experience with it.
Jamie had already started reaching for her sword, but stopped when she realized the fight had been interrupted.
“What?”
Mike stared down at the pair of them.
He'd expected mistakes. He hadn't expected to get two excellent examples in the first five seconds.
“Why did you separate?”
Jamie glanced toward Ember. “I was trying to make it choose between us.”
“And it did. It chose you.”
“Well... yeah. That was the plan.”
“What would you have done if it had chosen Ember?”
Jamie opened her mouth, but Mike didn't give her time to invent an answer.
“Offense and defense. You drew the wolf's attention, which made you the defender, not the attacker. Your job at that point was to keep its attention and stay alive while Ember attacked it.”
Mike shifted his attention to the Kitsune.
“And you, little one. Am I to understand that you're a Siphon Mage?”
“She said yes,” Akari relayed.
“Then why didn't you lead your attack with your Siphon spells?”
“She said she panicked when Jamie lost her sword,” Akari said.
Mike's expression hardened. “And that is how the two of you die.”
“If Jamie has its attention, you Siphon everything you can before you attack. Weaken it first, then use your claws and fangs. And don't throw yourself into something several times your size unless you have no other choice. Trust me on this one. I'm a Gnome. I know everything there is to know about size disparity.”
He pointed down at Ember. “You're a Kitsune, not a battering ram.”
Ember's ears lowered slightly. Mike looked between them to judge how receptive they were to the critique. They weren't “yeah, but”-ing him, so that was a good sign. Mike continued.
“Jamie draws its attention. Ember weakens it and attacks from where it can't properly defend itself. If its attention changes, so do
your roles. Offense and defense. Neither one of you is always one or the other.”
Jamie nodded slowly. “Okay. That makes sense.”
“Good. Pick up your sword.”
Jamie retrieved her sword and returned to Ember's side. She crouched beside the Kitsune and ran a hand carefully over her injured leg. After Ember assured her that it wasn't badly hurt, Jamie still wasn't satisfied. A soft green glow spread from her hand as she healed the injury, and Ember tested the leg before the two of them moved back into position.
“One more thing,” Mike said.
Jamie looked up at him after completing the healing spell.
“Don't get too comfortable healing like that. There are no time-outs in a real fight. You should have healed Ember the moment you had the opportunity after she was injured.”
“Right after she got hurt,” Jamie answered.
“Wrong.”
Jamie frowned.
“After you ensured your own safety long enough to cast the spell. The wolf was focused on you. If you'd turned your attention to healing Ember the moment she was injured, what do you think it would have done?”
Jamie glanced toward where the construct had been. “Attacked me.”
“Exactly. Never make yourself an easy target just because someone else is hurt.” Mike pointed toward the wand in her left hand. “Do you need to make contact for that healing spell to work?”
“I do, but only when I'm not using my wand.”
“Then why didn't you use the wand?”
Jamie looked down at it. “I'm not sure.”
Mike stared at her for a moment. “Then remember next time. That wand isn't decoration.”
He placed his hands back on the control crystal.
“Let's reset and try this again.”
Mike recreated the same Dire Wolf.
This time, Jamie and Ember did what he'd told them to do.
Jamie drew the wolf's attention without allowing herself to be pulled too far away from Ember, while the Kitsune opened with her Siphon magic. Mike watched the construct visibly weaken as Ember drained it, the stolen stats flowing through their bond and strengthening both her and Jamie. When the wolf committed itself to Jamie, Ember attacked from the side with her claws and fangs, putting every bit of that stolen strength and speed to use before darting back out of reach.
When the wolf finally turned on Ember, Jamie didn't chase after it blindly. She shifted immediately from defense to offense, driving her sword into its flank and forcing the construct to choose between them again.
It wasn't pretty. Jamie's footwork still needed work, and Ember had a bad habit of staying in striking distance a little longer than she needed to, but they were doing what Mike had asked.
More importantly, when Ember took another hit, Jamie didn't panic.
She created enough distance to keep herself safe, raised the wand in her left hand, and healed Ember without ever taking her attention completely off the wolf.
A few minutes later, the Dire Wolf dissolved into white Spirit energy.
Mike gave them another wolf. Then two smaller predators at once. Then something faster. Then something that didn't particularly care which of them wanted to be the defender.
Each fight exposed something new. Jamie had a tendency to overcommit when she thought she saw an opening. Ember relied too heavily on her speed. Both of them occasionally became so focused on what the other was doing that they lost track of the rest of the battlefield.
But they learned. More importantly, they learned quickly. By the time the sixth construct of the morning dissolved, Jamie suddenly stopped and stared at something only she could see.
“Oh.”
Mike knew that expression.
Jamie looked toward Ember, then grinned. “Level Five.”
Ember's reaction came through whatever private conversation existed between them, because Jamie's grin widened.
“Both of us.”
Mike nodded. “Good. Now tell me what you've been doing wrong.”
After they'd gone over what Jamie and Ember needed to correct, Mike gave them a few minutes to decide whether they wanted to add any new skills. Ember decided to wait, but Jamie chose to add one.
Mike smiled when he heard her choice.
And here Mike thought he was the Mind Mage.
Whether by chance or because she'd already recognized one of the weaknesses in the way they fought, Jamie had chosen a skill that would give her far greater control over the battlefield. Especially when they were outnumbered.
Poison Ivy (Nature Spell – Area Control) — Lv. 1Summons dense walls of toxic ivy that restrict movement and secrete corrosive poison, damaging living tissue and nonliving materials on contact.
Once Jamie had finished adding the skill, Mike gave them a few minutes to recover before sending more experience into the control crystal.
This time, several constructs began taking shape around the monolith.
Jamie recognized them almost immediately.
“Oh, hell no. Dire Rats!”
Mike smiled. She'd fought them before.
What Jamie didn't know was that Mike had been watching that particular fight. She also didn't know that one member of the pack had been Level 10, or that Mike had quietly removed it an instant before Jamie's sword came into contact with the creature.
There would be no such help this time.
The Dire Rats spread almost immediately, coming at Jamie and Ember from several directions rather than charging as a single group.
Jamie backed toward Ember, sword and wand ready. For several seconds, Mike wondered whether she'd forgotten about the skill she'd just purchased.
Then the ground erupted.
Thick strands of ivy burst upward between two of the approaching rats, twisting together so quickly that within seconds they'd formed a dense wall of vegetation. One rat managed to stop before reaching it. The other wasn't so lucky. Vines wrapped around its legs as it tried to force its way through, thorns tearing into its hide while the poison began doing its work.
Jamie stared at what she'd created.
“Oh, that's useful.”
Mike laughed silently to himself.
The wall hadn't solved the problem entirely, but it gave Jamie and Ember an advantage. At least, it would have if Jamie had stopped gawking at what her spell had just done. That bit of hesitation cost them their momentum as the Dire Rats quickly adjusted to the situation.
Ember's Siphon magic struck several of the twenty remaining rats as Jamie stepped forward to meet another three. For a short time, the fight looked like it might go smoothly, but Dire Rats were clever, and anyone who was anyone knew why you never charged a Dire Rat nest without a plan.
Mike smiled at each small victory and clicked his tongue at every mistake. These two were really going to bleed for the Dire Rat XP.
Eventually, the last Dire Rat dissolved.
Jamie stood breathing heavily for several seconds before looking around at the empty arena.
“I—I remember that fight going much—easier when we did it for real,” Jamie panted, gasping for air.
“You got a diff—difficulty adjustment button—up there or something?” the Princess asked between breaths.
She bent over, bracing her hands against her knees. “Anyone else think—we should call it a day? I feel really good about our—progress.”
Jamie sucked in deep breath before continuing.
“Wow... that was hard as heck.”
Mike kept his expression neutral. “You must have gotten lucky, I guess.”
Jamie looked up at him.
“Luck isn't something you can ever count on.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Mike smiled. “We're not done.”
“Two levels today, Princess. That's the goal.”
“So—what you're saying is water breaks are not a thing?”
“Do the bad guys let you take water breaks?” Mike asked.
“No?”
“No, they don't. Get ready for the next fight.”
The next four fights all lasted considerably longer, and by the time the final construct fell, the sun was low in the western sky. Every fight after the Dire Rats had focused on Jamie and Ember being outnumbered, with the creatures growing progressively larger and more dangerous. Dire Rats gave way to Were-Rabbits, and Were-Rabbits eventually gave way to Muskfang.
Mike hadn't particularly wanted to use those, but every fighter needed to learn how to keep fighting when something attacked more than their Health.
Even from the control room, the smell had been nearly unbearable. Mike had been very glad they hadn't needed to repeat that particular fight.
For the final battle, he'd scaled the difficulty back to something more conventional: three Dire Wolves.
Three against two was a difficult fight when each of those three was as dangerous as a Dire Wolf. To Mike's surprise, however, Jamie and Ember handled them remarkably well.
Jamie spent most of the fight in her Puma form, while Ember's Siphon spells weakened the wolves and strengthened both of them. Poison Ivy divided the pack whenever too many tried to attack at once, allowing the two to concentrate on one or two wolves instead of all three.
Jamie took a bad wound to one of her hind legs when a wolf managed to catch her, but other than that, the fight went surprisingly smoothly.
Jamie and Ember reached Level 6 shortly before sunset, and despite each having another skill point available, both decided to save them for later.
Day two:
The following morning, Mike rested his hand against the control crystal and began their second day by giving them something they hadn't fought before.
Five Level 10 Skeletons formed around the monolith below.
Jamie recognized them immediately. Her wand came up before the undead had taken more than a few steps, and Poison Ivy erupted across the arena, cutting two of the Skeletons off from the other three. Ember followed with her Siphon magic, only to discover almost immediately that there wasn't much in the creatures for her to steal.
The first clash didn't go much better for Jamie. She caught one Skeleton's sword on her own, pushed it aside, and drove her blade straight between its ribs. The attack would have been devastating against something with organs. Against a Skeleton, it accomplished little beyond leaving Jamie's sword momentarily stuck between two bones.
“Oh, come on!”
She ripped the weapon free and barely got out of the way of its return swing.
Mike kept his hand against the crystal and said nothing. Neither Jamie nor Ember was in serious trouble yet, and solving the problem themselves was worth more than having him shout the answer down to them. If he needed to, he could end the fight at any time, but doing so would mean losing all the experience he'd invested in the constructs.
It didn't take long.
Ember reached the answer first when she lunged past a sword stroke and clamped her jaws around the Skeleton's lower leg. Bone cracked beneath her bite, and the creature toppled sideways when its leg gave out beneath it. Jamie saw what had happened and adjusted almost immediately. The next time her opponent swung, she stopped aiming for its chest and brought her sword down across its elbow.
The arm broke free at the joint and clattered to the ground, still holding its sword.
“Okay. Break the bone. Thanks Ember. Smart idea.”
From there, the fight began to turn. Jamie's Poison Ivy kept the five Skeletons from bringing their numbers against them all at once, while she and Ember concentrated on disabling the ones they could reach. Poison Ivy turned out to be an effective weapon against the undead. It corroded bone just as well as it did flesh. Knees, elbows and ankles became targets, and within a few minutes the arena floor was littered with pieces of constructs that stubbornly continued trying to fight despite being separated from the bodies they'd started with.
Mike found that part amusing. What caught his attention more came a few minutes later.
Jamie had been holding one of the Skeletons from the front when another broke around the edge of the Poison Ivy. Ember moved to intercept it without being told, leaving Jamie alone with the first. Jamie didn't look after her. She didn't need to. The instant Ember moved away, Jamie changed the way she was fighting, becoming more aggressive as though she'd already known exactly what Ember intended to do.
A short time later, the reverse happened. Jamie broke away from one opponent to intercept another, and Ember adjusted before Jamie said a word. Then it happened again. Jamie ducked away from a sword stroke, leaving an opening behind her, and Ember was already attacking through it before Jamie had fully cleared the space.
Mike felt himself smile.
Their bond had always given them an advantage, but telepathy alone didn't explain what he was watching. They were beginning to learn each other's habits well enough to anticipate what the other was about to do. They were still making mistakes, and neither was experienced enough for Mike to trust those instincts completely, but yesterday he'd watched two inexperienced fighters trying to coordinate with one another.
Today, every so often, he caught glimpses of a team.
The five Skeletons eventually fell, although the fight left Jamie with a cut along one arm and Ember favoring a front paw. Neither injury was serious, and this time Jamie didn't wait for the fight to end before healing them.
One fight later, broad smiles spread across the two young warriors' faces. They had reached Level 7.
Lady Sylvara and Lady Akari both congratulated the pair.
Mike remained quiet, but not because he felt some need to remain stern. As he stood with one hand resting against the control crystal, watching Jamie and Ember celebrate below, something he hadn't allowed himself to feel began working its way through him.
Hope.
For the first time since Nia had told him what she intended, Mike could actually see it. These two were nowhere near ready. They had years of growing ahead of them and dangers Mike couldn't begin to prepare them for in five days inside the Crucible.
But given time...
Maybe.
Just maybe.
They really could save the Goddess's people. And for once in his very long life, Mike had nothing to say.
The day ended when Jamie and Ember both hit level 8. Ember was slightly ahead of Jamie in progression by half a level, but there was nothing to really be done about that. It was just one of those things.
Day three and four:
Day three passed without anything particularly noteworthy happening. The undead weren't great opponents for the pair, but Jamie and Ember continued finding ways to win as the difficulty of the constructs slowly increased. Mike kept expecting to need to intervene in each new fight, only for Jamie to prove surprisingly resourceful.
Mike continued to push their limits, looking for that one fight that would be too much. Somehow each and every time they found a way. The fight that turned out to be the last one of the day almost broke them, but even though it took them almost forty minutes to destroy all five undead Jamie and Ember eked out a win. Adding ranged Skeletal Archers was really making it hard for Jamie and Ember to win quickly. Their progress toward the next level had slowed considerably. More and more Jamie was finding it harder to get an attack off while fending off the ranged attack.
“Let’s call it a day,” he’d told them.
To Mike's surprise, neither of them wanted to quit. He'd ended up needing to put his foot down, and what he got in return was grumbling and claims that he was holding them back. Jamie swore she had more to give, that she was close to a breakthrough.
“I can feel it,” she said. “It’s all starting to come together.”
“Just one more please.”
“What you need right now is not another fight. What you need is sleep. The two of you look more like zombies than you do living beings.”
When the morning of day four started, Mike had to focus closely on what he was truly seeing.
It wasn't a new spell or skill that first caught his attention. In fact, it took him most of the first fight to realize what Jamie was doing differently.
Until then, the Princess had treated the different parts of her abilities almost as separate fighting styles. When her sword was in use, she fought like a swordswoman. When she needed magic, she stayed at range with her wand. Her Puma form had been another tool entirely, usually brought out when she needed the speed and strength it gave her.
In that first fight, those divisions were gone.
Mike kept both hands against the control crystal as he watched the undead spread across the arena below. Jamie and Ember had already fought enough Skeletons over the past two days to understand what worked against them. Piercing attacks were largely useless unless they struck something important, while breaking bones or destroying the skull put them down considerably faster.
Ember's attacks were doing damage to the undead, particularly when she used Celestial Bite, but not enough at their current levels to put them down quickly. Mike had watched her crack more than a few bones over the past two days, but against stronger undead, she still needed time and repeated attacks to finish the job. Mike had almost ended one of their earlier fights to suggest just that, but he'd decided against it. Ember had chosen to save her skill point, and learning where her weaknesses lay was part of the reason they were here.
Besides, the way Jamie started moving through this fight quickly gave Mike something else to think about.
He had purposely designed this fight to be unwinnable based on how the pair had fought the previous day. Four Skeletal Warriors and two Skeletal Archers should have been beyond their limit. There was no way for Jamie and Ember to protect themselves from the archers while simultaneously dealing with four melee opponents. They weren't supposed to win. The fight was supposed to wear them down until one of them recognized that and called for Mike to end it.
Three of the four Skeletal Warriors advanced together while the last moved wide, attempting to come around their flank. The two Archers remained behind them and did what archers always did: they began pinning Jamie and Ember down with arrows.
What happened next almost caused Mike to lose contact with the control crystal.
Normally, Jamie would have opened with a few walls of Poison Ivy to divide the approaching melee fighters.
Not this time.
Instead, two walls of thick ivy erupted between the Archers and the rest of the arena, completely blocking their lines of fire.
Ember opened with her Siphon spells as she always did, weakening the four Warriors while feeding the stolen Attributes into herself and Jamie. The Archers, temporarily removed from the fight, immediately began moving to their right in search of a clear firing position.
And that was the plan.
The instant they moved, Jamie and Ember exploded in opposite directions with violent speed.
Jamie changed, but she didn't charge the Warriors. The Dryad vanished, replaced by a tawny Puma that shot past the three approaching Skeletons toward the position the Archers were trying to reach. The Warriors swung as she passed, but Jamie was already beyond them before any of their weapons came close.
Ember broke left toward the lone Warrior attempting to flank them. She was within striking distance in seconds, but instead of attacking, the Kitsune raced straight past it.
The Skeleton took the bait.
It turned and pursued her.
The three Warriors in the center broke formation as well. Two went after Jamie while the third turned to help catch Ember.
Mike stared down at the arena.
Skeletons were moderately fast at best. None of them had any hope of catching either Jamie or Ember before the damage was already done.
Just before reaching the Archers, Jamie shifted back into her Dryad form. She twisted in midair and pointed her wand toward the two Warriors pursuing her.
Poison Ivy erupted directly in their path.
The lead Skeleton ran headlong into the wall. Thick vines wrapped around its legs and torso, bringing it to an abrupt stop while the second Warrior was forced to go around. Corrosive poison seeped from the ivy, already eating into the trapped Warrior's bones.
Jamie hadn't even landed before she shifted back.
Four paws struck the ground, and the Puma shot around the first Archer.
Shift.
Jamie returned to her Dryad form behind it, and her short sword cleaved through the Skeleton's spine, cutting the Archer in half.
Shift.
The Puma was moving again before the remains hit the ground. She circled behind the second Archer just as it turned and tried to bring its bow around.
Shift.
Jamie's sword struck the bow first, cutting through it before continuing through the Skeleton's neck.
Its skull left its shoulders.
Shift.
Jamie was already moving toward her next target. As she raced past the wall of Poison Ivy, she didn't even bother checking on the Warrior trapped inside. The night before, Jamie had explained that she'd spent twenty skill points raising both Poison Ivy and Regenerative Flow to Level 2, and those points were already proving well spent.
Across the arena, Ember renewed her Siphon spells before the first set had fully faded. The Warriors pursuing her slowed even further as the effects stacked, while Ember danced around them, always remaining just close enough to keep their attention without allowing either one a clean attack.
Shift.
In the time it took Mike to blink, Jamie caught the remaining Warrior that had originally broken right after her.
The Puma ducked beneath its shield as the Skeleton tried to block her path. Jamie didn't slow or panic. She let her momentum carry her behind it.
Shift.
Her sword swept low across the backs of both legs.
Bone shattered, and the Warrior collapsed.
Shift.
Jamie was moving again.
Only two undead capable of putting up any real fight remained, and both were trying to kill Ember.
One sword came far too close for Mike's liking, but Ember ducked beneath the swing at the last moment. Mike let out the breath he'd been holding. There were protections in place to prevent a construct from directly killing a participant, but that strike would still have done terrible damage. If it had landed, Mike would have needed to end the fight immediately so the healers standing by could treat her.
The second Warrior's sword clipped Ember's right front paw as she dove through the air, desperately trying to avoid the attack.
She yelped.
Before the injured paw touched the ground, green light enveloped it.
Mike's eyes widened. Jamie hadn't stopped. She'd healed Ember at range with her wand while still racing toward the fight.
Jamie didn't wait to see if the healing was enough before shifting again.
Ember limped through her next few strides as the healing magic did its work, then abruptly cut left. One of the Warriors tried to follow and lost its balance while changing direction.
It never recovered.
Jamie shifted behind it, and her sword came around in one clean arc.
The Skeleton's head separated from its body.
The final Warrior didn't last much longer now that the fight had effectively become two against one. Ember attacked first, her jaws cracking bone without quite doing enough to bring the undead down. She didn't need to. Jamie was already there to take advantage of the opening.
A few moments later, only the legless Warrior remained.
Jamie calmly walked back across the arena toward it. The Skeleton was still dragging itself forward with its arms, apparently determined to continue a fight it had already lost.
Jamie raised her sword. One clean strike ended it.
The last construct dissolved into white Spirit energy. Mike felt the experience transfer through the control crystal.
Then he felt something else.
Pain tore through him.
Mike's hands locked against the crystal as a groan escaped his throat. For the first time in more than three thousand years of life, he felt a level being taken away from him.
Level 98 → Level 97
It felt as though someone had reached inside his soul and scoured it with sandpaper. Four Attribute points vanished with the level, and for several seconds Mike could do nothing except hold himself upright against the crystal and endure it.
Seeing how much pain Mike was in, both Lady Sylvara and Lady Akari quickly came over to check on him.
“Michael, are you all right?” his longtime friend asked.
“Yes, Sylvara. I'll be fine. I just lost a level is all.”
“Oh,” the two other Elders said together.
They had both gone through level regression twice before, so they understood what Mike was going through.
Slowly but surely, the pain receded to a manageable dull ache.
“Did you see her?” Mike asked now that he could think clearly again.
“Yes,” Sylvara responded. “I feared I would never see that fighting style again in my lifetime.”
“The Royal line really is back,” Akari whispered.
“Yes, and the Princess just hit Level 9,” Mike remarked. “The last five fights I have planned for today should get them close enough to Level 10 that we can finish by midafternoon tomorrow.”
“Are you sure you're well enough to carry on today?” Akari asked, sounding concerned. “Just leave your notes and one of us can finish today's fights for you.”
No—
“No, but thank you. I would like to see this all the way through,” Mike said.
If they saw those notes, they would stop what Mike knew needed to happen. What Jamie needed to experience if she was going to have any chance of surviving what waited beyond Glenhaven.
“I'll be fine. I just need a few minutes.”
Mike took the opportunity to look down at the Princess and her bond-mate.
“Looks like they could stand to wait a few minutes as well.”
All three Elders turned their attention to the pair below, who were joyfully celebrating their well-earned victory.
The rest of the day followed much the same pattern as the first fight. Jamie seemed to have a natural instinct for controlling the flow of battle. Sylvara was right. The Royal line really had returned.
Just as Mike had predicted, by day's end Ember said that she was close enough to Level 10 that one more fight might be enough to get her there. Jamie would need a few more than that, but Mike was satisfied with their progression. Reaching Level 10 tomorrow should be easy.
Day Five:
Jamie looked at her status screen with the kind of pride that could only come from hard work.
Level 10
About time, Ember teased. I hit Level 10 this morning.
“Well done, Princess. That is as much of a head start as we can offer you,” Mike said.
“Any further fights in the Crucible will no longer increase your experience points. But there is experience, and then there is experience.”
“There is one last lesson the Crucible can still teach you.”
He looked down at Jamie and Ember from his elevated position.
“I'll be up front with you, Princess. This last challenge will be harder than all of the previous fights you've endured in the Crucible combined. It will test you in ways you haven't experienced before, and to be honest, the chances of the two of you winning are nearly nonexistent.”
From her position, Jamie could see Mike holding his hands over the control crystal without touching it. The message was clear: this decision had to be theirs.
What do you think, Ember? Jamie sent.
I say we do it. We handled that last fight. We can handle this one too.
“We'll fight, Voice,” Jamie said.
Mike shifted his notes to the final page.
His hands didn't move immediately. First, he said a prayer to the Goddess.
Then he touched the crystal.
Jamie had no idea what to expect.
Magic Mike had thrown so many different things at them over the last five days that this mystery fight could be almost anything.
As they waited for the construct—or constructs—to manifest, Jamie started listing possibilities. Trolls? Mike hadn't used any of those yet. Orcs could be fun. Maybe he was going to make them fight a giant.
Were they fast enough to avoid getting squished in the first thirty seconds against something like that?
As Jamie ran through the possibilities, she started thinking about how they might fight each one.
She'd just started wondering if magic beans were a thing in this world when their enemy appeared.
“Michael, what do you think you're doing?” Sylvara demanded.
“I'm teaching her something she needs to learn,” Mike said, keeping his attention on the arena.
“There is a reason we don't use Vampire constructs,” Akari said. “You know the safety rules as well as we do.”
“I'm putting an end to this.” Sylvara started toward the crystal.
“It's too late, old friend. The crystal is attuned to me. I'm the only one who can stop the construct.”
“Then I'll break the connection.”
“Please, Sylvara. She needs this.”
Mike spared a brief glance at his childhood friend.
Sylvara stopped and studied him, searching his face for something.
“Please—trust me.”
“Can you keep that construct under control?”
“Yes.”
Jamie had no idea Vampires were even a thing in this world. The tome she'd been given supposedly covered all the living—and, apparently, unliving—creatures of Eldara, but she hadn't gotten that far into it yet.
Her first instinct had been to cast Analyze the moment she realized what she was looking at, but as she'd already discovered, Analyze didn't work on constructs.
“Mike, what level is this thing?” Jamie called up toward the control room.
She didn't expect him to answer, but there was no harm in trying.
“Level 20 Lesser Vampire,” Mike replied.
Twenty?
He really wasn't planning on letting them win this fight.
Ember, hit that thing with all of your spells. I'm going in.
On it.
Jamie summoned several walls of Poison Ivy near Ember, making it as difficult as possible for the Vampire to reach her while leaving enough room for Ember to continue supporting Jamie.
This fight was definitely going to drag on.
Shift.
Jamie's paws had barely started moving when the first of Ember's Siphon spells struck the Lesser Vampire. Jamie immediately felt herself become stronger. Faster.
Thirty feet.
Twenty.
Jamie was about to leap when something struck her mind.
Why are you attacking me? I am not your enemy.
The words appeared directly inside Jamie's head.
The Vampire's lips had never moved.
Jamie skidded to a stop.
Why was she attacking it?
I am your ally, the voice sang through her thoughts.
Something was wrong.
Why had she thought this thing was an enemy?
Danger. You must protect.
Protect.
Before Jamie understood what was happening, she spun toward Ember.
Ember?
There was no response.
Danger. You must help.
Jamie had to help.
Ember was out of control. Why was she doing this?
Jamie sprinted toward the spirit-fox. If she didn't stop this now, someone was going to get hurt.
She had to protect everyone.
No matter what.
The thought repeated itself over and over as Jamie charged.
Then she saw it.
She only had to bite down there, and the danger would be over.
Jamie growled as her jaws opened for the kill.
No. No, no. Please, no.
Everything went black.