Amanda followed the trail of the little beasties through another field and into the woods. She called a halt about two hours in as the underbrush in the forest started to obscure their path. Deacon and Ralph started to lean against a tree while she looked for a way to pick up the trail. Ralph took out a sharpening stone and began maintenance on his gear. Deacon saw this as an opportunity to get in a little meditation. He sat on the ground making himself as comfortable as possible. Several deep breaths later he was back in his mind space looking at the heavenly objects that have so recently populated it. Maybe now would be a suitable time to practice Soul Matrix Manipulation. Deacon focused on the red giant in the sky and tried to trigger the skill. Nothing happened. He pulled up the description from his slate again.

Skills

Level

Progress

Description

Soul Matrix Manipulation

1

20%

You can now manipulate your personal soul matrix. This is the ability to fuel your aura with different arcane energies. At early levels of this skill the changes can be triggered with code phrases. Be warned fracturing your matrix will require a priest to stabilize. You will be stuck with whatever energy you last chose until healed.

“Code phrases? Do I just pick one?” Deacon asked himself.

“I would be very specific. There is a forty percent change you’ll fracture your matrix on the first attempt.” Came the voice of Chimera.

“Oh good you’re here. Think you could help me with this? I’m a little nervous about manipulating my own soul.” Deacon replied.

“I really shouldn’t. That changes the odds, but I will give you a hint. Work on them one at a time. Make sure you can reliably switch between two before attempting the rest.” Chimera said.

“That makes a lot of sense. Do you have a suggestion for one to start with…and he’s gone.” Deacon said realizing Chimera wasn’t there anymore.

Deacon returned his focus to the red giant in the distance. He slowed his breathing down further thinking about how he manipulates his aura. It was a cold feeling when he reached out to the energy of the Nether. Deciding to try the opposite, Deacon thought of quote from one of his favorite games and spoke the words focusing on his matrix.

“The soul still burns.”

The red giant star in the distance began to pulse rhythmically with Deacons heartbeat. He could see the blue-red energy flowing like a river down the paths of green nether that linked all his halos together. Deacon was abruptly drawn from meditation by the sounds of battle. He shot up to his feet getting an assessment of the situation when noticed Ralph fighting off two corpungies in the brush with no sign of Amanda. Moving on instinct, he used spectral dash to close the distance between him and Ralph to render aid. It cost a ten souls to execute and a line of infernal fire was left in his wake. That was double the normal cost. That distraction cost him as the second Corpungie launched itself at Deacon. Its jaw latched onto Deacon’s shoulder driving him to the ground. Thinking fast, Deacon rolled it over onto the still burning line of infernal flames. It caught fire almost instantaneously. The shrieks coming from the monster were terrible. Deacon looked back at Ralph who managed to cut off the stinger from the tail of the one he was fighting. The problem was the stinger was firmly embedded in his leg. Deacon checked the party interface and noticed Ralph’s health dip for a bit then start ticking back up thanks to his perk. At that moment he also thought to check on Amanda’s status. It looks like her health dropped by twenty percent but was holding steady. Jogging back to Ralph while attempting to launch a Nether Beam proved to be a mistake. The arcane energy leaped from Deacon’s right fist as a gout of blue-red flames lighting up the stinger less enemy and everything else around it. Ralph stumbled back looking woozy yelling at Deacon.

“Stop helping! You’ll burn the whole forest down!”

Deacon didn’t know what to do so he flared his aura hoping he could draw the energy back into himself. If this were anything like the ice patches, he made previously they wouldn’t just go out on their own. It was obvious to him that he couldn’t just draw it in. He thought a mile a minute on how to switch back to Nether. He managed to change to infernal by thinking about how Nether felt. Maybe he needed a code phrase to switch back. He spoke the first thing that came to mind.

“Ice in my veins.”

Feeling the change immediately he began pulsing Nether energy into his aura like he did before learning to keep it tight around him. Patches of ice started to form on the grass and bushes. Deacon walked to the places that were burning from Infernal fire. He was able to contain the damage as the fire died out in contact with the arcane energy of the Nether. Then the tortured screams of the corpungie that attacked him ceased as Amanda slit its throat.

“I wasn’t even gone for twenty minute before you decided to start a bonfire. Ralph are you ok?” Amanda asked.

“He got stung. Anti-venom please.” Deacon replied as she jogged over to the now slumped over Ralph.

“Its not bad. The wound keeps healing shut. I assume that’s you’re doing since I’m back up to full as well?” Amanda said.

“Yes, my perk Triage.” Deacon answered.

“Good thing too. This stuff acts fast but has a short duration. I finished off three of them when I was discovered. I know where they are coming from now and we need to go back to town for help.” Amanda said as she poured the anti-venom down Ralph’s throat.

“That many?” Asked Deacon.

“There is a burrow or nest. Not sure what category is right for these thing. It’s a big one dug into a hill due east of here. Deacon, there are some really big ones moving about in there. If left alone, they’ll overrun this area and become apex predators. Why are these two burned up?” she asked.

“I evaluated a new skill I got since my race change. It needs work. Seems like the cost is double if I’m not using Nether.” Deacon answered.

“I’ll say. Nearly sent us out in a blaze of glory.” Ralph said getting back to his feet.

“That bad?” Amanda asked Ralph.

“Don’t practice that while we are out on a mission, ok? I thought you were an ice guy. Where did the fire come from?” Ralph asked stretching out and picking up his sword.

“Its infernal fire. I can draw on that hell too.” Deacon said with a blank look on his face as if he was just stating a fact.

“Not good Deacon. Isn’t that the hell of demons?” Ralph asked.

“Yea but back to the problem at hand. Too many monster in a small area. I’ll mark this on my slates map. We’ll get reinforcements and maybe some resist poison items. On me of course.” Deacon said heading back toward Iron Mountain.

After a couple hours they were traveling up the Ascent Road. Amanda had mentioned it was probably easier to get to those items from The Tower shop instead of the guild shop. The trio headed toward the Tower as they noticed a column of Kings Knights heading for the center lift. They were all in full armor and further across the gap they could see supply wagons guarded by Knights heading toward the Descent Road.

“You know where they are going?” Deacon asked.

“We’ve been with you all day.” Amanda snapped back.

“He means overall. While you were sleeping the decision was made by the Minister of the Interior to send knights to fortify the border to the west between the Griffin Kingdom and the Empire. They’ll probably be out there for a few months and if a formal declaration of war isn’t made, they’ll make their way back.” Ralph answered.

“You think an honest to goodness war is going to happen?” Deacon asked.

“You bet your sweet ass it is, lad.” Came the voice of Typhus.

“Typhus! Good to see…what the hell is that!” Deacon screamed getting into a fighting stance and gripping his aura tightly. There was a shadowy figure the same height and shape as Typhus but lacking in any real features. It was just standing next to all three Adventurers like everything was normal.

“Oh me, I’m Typhus’s shadow. He sent me out to find you. Typhus can speak through me so that’s why you heard his voice. He’s at the guild hall looking for you.” Said Typhus’s shadow.

“We are in the middle of a quest. If it’s important, can he meet us at the Tower?” Deacon asked only slightly relaxing.

“I’ll meet you there.” Said Typhus through his shadow. Then his shadow seemed to melt into the ground and raced along the streets until it was gone.