“Predator!”

“Ah, Kaythe, you survived.”

“Yes! Was I useful to you, Predator?”

“As usual, you were. But, Kaythe, you failed me.”

“W- what?” The horror he feels transmits beautifully over our mental connection.

“I told you to make them destroy their own books, and you merely saved my life.”

“I-”

“You failed.” My mental voice easily overpowers Kaythe’s. “Therefore, you will crawl behind me until you earn your place on my shoulders again.”

“But Predator! We were victorious! Was that not… the goal?”

“I was victorious, Kaythe. Those foes were unbeatable at our current ability. You should have seen that immediately. I won by exploiting their own defences. To your credit, you did more than Lethin!”

“The… creature? She is locked up… I can sense her suffering…”

“It is pitiful, truly, but there she shall stay until she joins us forever in spirit. If only I had known of this power earlier, I would not have had such problems accumulating Energy…” A slight grin crosses my face as I look once more at the massive 222 Energy pool I now own. God knows what my Other percentage is, but neither I nor the system seem to care that much.

That said… it flows like tar more than a rushing river. I will my Energy around, drawing beautiful symbols of light, but it only grudgingly obeys. I snarl and focus more heavily on it, pushing the green to my numerous wounds, and it rushes to obey… but the moment my attention drifts, it’s back to a crawl. Infuriating. Why must I micromanage everything?!

The smoke from below continues to bother my lungs as I climb, requiring a constant Energy flow to keep them working… but I can’t WALK while I HEAL. Not fast enough.

[Congratulations! You have destroyed a substantial amount of a Fixture the system considered permanent! You have proven yourself as a force of destruction.] [Congratulations! You have met the requirements for the rare Trait: Destroyer’s Touch! Destroyer’s Touch (0/0): All wounds you inflict on living creatures will quickly fester with rot and decay.]

Ah, the system gives and gives more! I have focussed little on such things lately, choosing instead to wave away the gains as I got them, but they had stopped appearing recently.

I look over my gains and quickly realize why.

[Skill levels gained! +1 Energy Manipulation (10); +2 Combat Proficiency (10); +2 Cold Resistance (5); +1 Summoner (7); +4 Natural Armor (10); +2 Adaptive Combat (5); +2 Transfuse Energy (10); +1 Imbue Energy (10); +2 Energetic Attack (8); +1 Hide (6); +2 Energy Combustion (10)]

To be expected, honestly, but… I have to wonder how many skill levels I wasted while sitting at rank ten. It matters… a lot, I suppose. I stunted my own growth by being blind to my potential and fearing growth. Today I took the soul of a sentient being; is that not growth?

I feel Kaythe pass out somewhere behind me. He’s oxygen starved, as I am, but too weak and powerless to heal through it. I give a light shrug and keep walking. He will die in pain and be raised again. Perhaps next time he will not be so weak.

I leave a trail of wooden spikes and splinters behind me as I push onward, along with a fair amount of blood. It is of no issue, it doesn’t hurt. Nothing hurts. My Health inches upward, but my Energy still recovers so slowly. I… just need some time to… rest. Yes, I will clear the smoke and… lie down a while.

I feel a rush as Kaythe’s Energy returns to me, but the reprieve is short lived. He appears again on my shoulders.

“Pred-”

“Crawl.”

“Y-yes…” He dutifully gets down and crawls behind me. The smoke has piled up here, at the top of the stairs, and with nowhere to go, it has entirely replaced the little oxygen the fire hasn’t yet burned. My eyes tear up, and that combined with the smoke renders me completely blind. Problem after problem. Four elders lie dead and there is no celebration, no glory. I have freed them of the tyranny of their archive, and they know nothing of it. Disgraceful, but great people must persevere. Recognition is meaningless in the face of results.

*Thunk*. Ah, the final door. A few quick taps reveal that yes, the stairs have ended in the same ceiling of wood we entered through. I grip my sword and- ACK- WHAT?! The pommel… burned me. The fire, of course, it’s too hot. I’m a fool to have grabbed hot steel… but then, how can I escape?

Lighting a slow fire in my Energy, I throw an Empowered punch at the ceiling. Though I don’t feel the same increase in stability or speed as before, the strength increase is dramatically more than before. The ceiling explodes in a shower of kindling. My right arm dangles limply by my side: shattered and useless until I put it back together. What… is happening… with my Energy?

Later. When I can rest. I climb through the hole I created and roll to the side, gasping deeply to fill my lungs with the stale- but smoke free- air.

“There! A fire in the Archive! Go now!” Activity swarms around me, but I can’t be bothered to pay attention to it.

“Get the healers!” “All of them?” “OF COURSE! GO!” More activity. I struggle to stand. *Crunch* The damage in my arm… someone stepped on it… unforgivable…

Finally, all my Energy gets to the shattered lump of flesh that is my forearm and it starts to slowly piece back together. So hard to… focus…

“You… what are you doing here…”

“Lethin- *cough*” I get one word out before I can’t stop coughing. The smoke is spreading too much, even in here.

“Lethin? What did she say? Ah. We must leave the smoke. Can you walk?” Not waiting for an answer, Thetzeke leads me away, eventually into the clear air outside. The feeling of breathing fresh air after so much smoke is… very mundane. I expected… it doesn’t matter. “Lethin said to tell you she loves you, and goodbye.”

“How do you know that name?!”

“She said… she did what she needed to, and that you need to leave… with me. You won’t be welcome after… they find out.”

“What… what did you do?! Where is my mother?!”

“She… we… destroyed everything. Burned it all.”

“Shh! Come, quickly!” I’m thrown bodily onto a familiar clacking carapace, and the spiderwebs in my brain finally become too numerous for me to resist. The abyss welcomes me with open arms.