The landing on the seventh floor reminded Morgan of a VR ad for an exclusive hotel—marble flooring in a circle around the stairs, wide banks of windows providing expansive views in four cardinal directions, and a semi-open floorplan with wide archways connecting the various parts of the master suite. He surveyed the area with his Void Vision, looking from the spa-like bathroom with showers, a walk-in tub, and lush, green beds of succulents, to the kitchen and dining area with its strange appliances pulsing with Energy, to the bedroom and sitting area.

He didn’t see any sign of the guardian, so he did like before and called out, “Guardian! I’m here to challenge you.” Morgan heard the unmistakable sound of a door opening and turned toward it, seeing a french-style door leading to a balcony he’d completely overlooked. A man stepped through the door, and Morgan, so unused to the changes that had occurred in his appearance over the last months, didn’t recognize himself for several long heartbeats.

The man was tall, thin, but strong-looking with wiry muscles cording his bare arms. When it clicked that he was seeing his double, sans the wings, he snorted in laughter and said, “This old bit? I have to face a copy of myself?”

“No, no. Nothing so mundane. I took this form because I find it amusing to see people die as they stare into their own eyes.” His voice sounded strange, as it always did when he heard it outside his head.

“So, a guardian and a psychopath, hmm?” Morgan held Bloodfang in a middle guard and walked around a plush, white sofa, stepping to a broad, clear area covered in woven, Berber-like carpet.

“Psychopath. I like the term, thank you.” The man wearing Morgan’s face shimmered briefly, then he was gone. His voice came from behind him, “Any particular rules of engagement you’d like me to observe?”

“What?” Morgan whirled, putting Bloodfang between himself and the eerie copy of himself. The guardian didn’t wield a weapon and was dressed in simple white linen, not armor, but still managed to appear menacing as he stared at Morgan from just a couple of feet away.

“Rules of engagement. I see you wield a sword, shall I as well? Pause after hits or an all-out brawl? To the death or to the blood? I mean, in your case—you’ll have to kill me to claim this floor.”

“Since you seem talkative, do you mind answering a few questions before we fight?”

“Why not? It’s been ages since I spoke to someone from outside the tower. Before you ask, no, I don’t know how long. I’m sure the busy-body dragon fragment has explained that time is strange for us who are bound to the tower.”

“Fragment?”

“Soul fragment. What’s the world come to when a challenger for this tower knows so little? How fair the Yelestivians?”

“The who?”

“Oh Gods, it’s worse than I thought.”

“How did you come to be bound as a guardian?” Morgan saw no reason to rush the fight and wondered if this talkative guardian would provide a window into Vormendian’s time.

“It’s the oldest tale in the library, my friend. I loved a woman, Vormendian took a fancy to her, and a threat led to a duel which led to part of my soul being bound here as a slave.”

“So he got the better of you, then?” Morgan took a step back and to the side, uncomfortable with the guardian so close.

“Oh, yes, challenger. Painful to admit, but Vormendian was twice the Energy weaver that I was.”

“Do we have to fight? It seems the other guardians thought so, but is there no way I can claim this floor without destroying you?”

“Do you care for my feelings, young one? Fear not. This is just a hollow echo of me,” he gestured up and down his body. “If Vormendion wasn’t overly cruel, my soul fragment will escape this place and join with the whole. Assuming a challenger were able to conquer me, that is.”

“Overly cruel?”

“Yes, he could, conceivably, have designed this tower to entrap my soul fragment even after this guardian duty ran its course. I’ve seen no evidence of that, however.” The guardian took several steps to the left and sat on the back of another sofa, still facing Morgan. “Anything else?”

“How many challengers have you faced? I’m assuming you can remember that, if not the time between.”

“Impossible as it may seem, Morgan, you are my first. No one has claimed this floor of the tower since Vormendian departed this plane.”

“So when you said you enjoyed watching people die ‘looking into their own eyes,’ you weren’t talking about your duties as a guardian? You fought like this before Vormendian captured you?”

“Why yes. I’ve always been handy with shape-shifting.” He feigned a yawn, covering his mouth with the back of his left hand.

“You know this tower isn’t on the world where Vormendian created it, right? That’s why I’ve never heard of that, um, that name you said earlier.”

“Really? Now that is a bit surprising. When I came to this tower, it stood proudly from the craggy top of Mount Tyn. The views it commanded were something to behold. I knew something was off when I started to see these odd, purple meadows off the balcony. Tell me, are those little people below related to you? They don’t bear wings like you.”

“They’re humans, like me. Speaking of wings, why didn’t you copy that?” Morgan spread his wings to elaborate his point.

“Ahh, well, my shape-shifting is good, but I’ve never had wings and didn’t want to flub it up. How embarrassing would that have been?”

“Alright, if there’s no way to get you to back down, I’m going to have to fight you now. I need to get up to the next level, you see?” Morgan cast Void Vision, and his eyes turned into black pools with distant stars flickering in their depths.

“Very well, to the death then?” The man held out his hand and a beam of crackling white Energy extended from it, forming a glowing, sizzling sword blade, dripping liquid lightning that hissed and smoked as it fell into the carpet. The sword looked like it could cut through steel like butter, and he hoped Bloodfang was up to the challenge.

“I guess so, I’m not usually good at winning a fight without getting hurt, so I don’t think first blood will cut it.” Morgan was acting lackadaisical, but he was priming himself inside, preparing for a flurry of motion. The guardian had already shown him that it could teleport, so he primed his Circle of Combat spell and said, “Count us down; we’ll start on one.”

“Very well,” his double said, smiling. “Three, two, one . . .” he’d barely said the word when Morgan disappeared with a ripping sound, and the guardian faded away in a shimmer of light. Morgan reappeared where the guardian had been, and the guardian appeared behind where Morgan had stood. The guardian smiled, but then, directly behind him, dark swirls of Energy erupted from the ground, spinning into the walls of a black vortex.

“Let’s keep things personal, hmm?” Morgan said, putting his back to the wall of his dueling circle and pointing Bloodfang at the guardian. The guardian smiled and started forward, but Morgan was a step ahead and activated Hollow Charge, racing over the small space and ripping his sword into a pattern of cleaves, using his form, The Crane Flutters its Wings. The guardian was a competent swordsman, more than that, he was fast and precise, and his sizzling blade of liquid lightning tore through the air, knocking aside each of Morgan’s cleaves and leaving black scorch marks on Bloodfang’s silvery surface.

Morgan didn’t mind, though—he was testing the guardian and trying to occupy it while he set up his more powerful attacks. Just as he finished the last of his series of cleaves, he cast Void Wave, and the black pulse of destruction ripped apart the air and light as it washed over the guardian.

Still looking through the black eyes of his Void Vision, Morgan watched as the guardian’s will and Energy did battle with the destruction of the Void Wave. Morgan pushed his void-attuned Energy out through his pathways, trying to bolster the spell with his own will, and the clash of his dark Energy with the bright, lightning-like Energy of the guardian was like the explosion at the tip of a welder’s torch.

While he pushed his Void Energy out, Morgan cast Energy Drain and grabbed onto the guardian’s hot, pulsing Energy, trying to yank it straight from the creature’s Core. As the torrent of Energy hit him, he was surprised at how easily it flowed through his pathways and into his Core; it felt almost like it was pure Energy, though he knew it was different. While he pulled and pushed and the guardian struggled against his spell, Morgan lost track of his sword and let his guard down, and that’s when the guardian proved it could multi-task better than he. It lashed out with its terrible popping, crackling Energy blade and hacked into Morgan’s leg.

Morgan screamed and stepped back but realized he’d been anticipating seeing his leg cut off and had reacted reflexively rather than from pain. He was completely unhurt; his armor had deflected the blow, nothing but a black scorch mark on the shiny metal to show he’d even been touched. “Sure you can’t concede?” Morgan growled, yanking more of the Guardian’s Energy into his hungry Core.

His Void Wave had petered out, but not before it had taken a terrible toll on the guardian; Morgan’s double looked wan, shrunken, and singed. His pressed linen outfit was frayed and tattered, and his hair was jagged as though part of it had been dissolved. It probably had.

“Stronger than I anticipated, but, no, there will be no easy out for you or me.” The guardian shimmered, faded, and reappeared beside Morgan, its crackling Energy blade slicing through the air in a deft series of feints, hacks, and thrusts.

Morgan’s swordwork was more than a match, though, and he deflected the blows with Bloodfang. Droplets of plasma-like, crackling Energy flew off the guardian’s blade with each clash and splattered against Morgan’s armor, sizzling little black spots into the shining metal. As the Guardian brought its blade back for another strike, Morgan cast Azure Burst.

Blue Energy blasted forth from him in an explosion of roiling flames that filled the entire space of his dueling circle. In the weird, semi-grayscale tones of his Void Vision, Morgan saw his Azure Burst engulf and toss the guardian back to slam into his roiling vortex wall and then smash down onto the ground. The flames died away, and Morgan’s tormented double struggled to stand, pushing himself up with shaky, blackened arms. His Energy blade was nowhere to be seen, and Morgan took the opportunity to dart forward, plunging Bloodfang through the side of the guardian’s singed, reddened neck.

He stepped to the side, pulling hard on Bloodfang, drawing an edge against the guardian’s throat, severing tendons and arteries in a dark blue splatter. The creature may have made itself look human, but the illusion hadn’t extended to its blood.

Morgan stepped back to observe, waiting to see if it died. The guardian twitched and clawed at the blackened, stained carpeting, and Morgan reached out with another Energy Drain, pulling in sporadic spurts of hot, yellow Energy. When nothing more came forth, and the body ceased moving, golden motes of Energy began to coalesce around it and then flow into Morgan.

***Congratulations! You have achieved level 39 Void Adept, gained 8 Intelligence, 8 Will, and have 12 points to distribute.***

“I don’t think he fought you with everything he had, Morgan,” Tiladia said, gliding toward him from the stairwell.

“Really?”

“I say that not because I want to shame you but because I knew him well, and Lenethar was a master duelist. I think he wanted to feel your strength, and, deciding you were worthy, he didn’t wish to remain in this tower any longer.”

“He threw it? You think Vormendian would allow that?”

“Vormendian was powerful but also vain and may have underestimated this fragment of Lenethar.” Tiladia sounded downbeat and almost melancholy.

“What’s the matter, Tiladia? I’m not upset that you said that—whether he gave it his all or not, I won, and that’s fine by me.”

“No, it’s just that . . . Lenethar and I were friends. I spent many, many days in these chambers conversing with him to pass the strange time in this tower.” She slowly spiraled toward him, flowing over the body of the odd shapeshifter.

“Shit. I’m sorry, Tiladia.”

“I’m not upset that you beat him. I’m actually glad that his fragment is free and may find its way to the real Lenethar. I’m only sad that my friend is no longer here in this tower. I have other friends and people now, though. I’ll be fine, Morgan.” She tried to prove her mood had improved by taking on her dragon form and flipping in a backward loop.

“You do have other people now! Don’t forget it, and don’t be afraid to tell Issa or me if something’s bothering you, okay?”

“Thank you, Morgan. My connections to you, Issa, and Ykleedra are growing stronger day by day, and it makes me feel grounded and more real. I’m sad to see the last of Lenethar, but I’m happy for the memories I have of him. I’m even happier for the memories yet to come from you and your friends and family.”

“Likewise, Tiladia! Lots of good times are ahead!” Morgan looked around the spacious master suite and then back to the stairs. “I’m excited to show this place to Issa, but first, let’s do something with your friend’s body. Should we bury it?”

“I appreciate your sentiment, Morgan, but he’s long gone from that vessel. Let us simply deliver it to an incinerator chute.”

“Alright. Oh, what about those portal keystones? Could you show me those real quick? I want to talk to Olivia about them after the council meeting.”

“Of course, Morgan. If we go up the stairs, there are three rooms you can access on the eighth floor. The fourth and largest room is the reliquary, and you’ll need to face the final guardian before gaining entry.”

“Got it. After you, Tiladia,” Morgan said, gesturing to the stairwell.