The shield floated in the air, its smooth edge dusted with white.

The winter chill bit at Steven’s skin as snow gathered in his hair, but he ignored it.

He closed his eyes and tried to feel the shield.

He could sense it there, but it was distant.

He couldn’t say its exact distance from himself without looking, but he could point in its direction. And after yesterday’s shit show, he was better at sensing his shields. He was certain.

But the sense was…odd. It wasn’t like feeling part of his body. It was more than that and less at the same time.

He couldn’t pin it down any more than that, and it was driving him crazy.

He raised his hand and reached out with his mind. Compass Push didn’t have an icon unless it was on cooldown for a shield, but he could still feel it there, slotted into the Skill like a gem in a socket.

Push.

He felt a vague sense of motion, and the shield smacked into his palm. His hand was pushed back a foot before it stopped.

He sighed and opened his eyes. With a thought, he pulled up his character sheet.

Steven Kalio Level: 8

Skill slots: 2 active: 1 passive

Class: Spiteful Defender

Rarity: uncommon

Purpose: to defend others

Scope: narrow. Conditionally very narrow.

SP: 4

TP: 6

SKILLS

Hand-Shield

Lumbering Tower-Shield

Lighting Rod

Kinetic Give

AUGMENTS

Paci-Fist

Alarm Bells

Shield Pull

I AM Seeing Enough Movement!

Compass Push

A Lot Goes A Long Way

I’M TAKING MY SHIELDS AND GOING HOME!

TRAITS

I Could Do This For 20 More Minutes

Margie clapped from her camping chair positioned a little ways up the drive.

“That was a lot closer. You didn’t even risk breaking a finger!”

He chuckled. “Fair. But it’s still not enough. I want the shield to barely touch my hand. I was at least a foot off.”

“Why are you bothering with this in the first place? Do you plan to fight with your eyes closed a lot?”

Steven shook his head. “No. But think about how many Skills we saw yesterday. The variety was insane, and judging by how weird Micheal’s Class is, we haven’t seen the half of it yet. At this point, it’s almost guaranteed we’ll run into someone who can blind us.”

Steven pushed against his shield before dismissing it, causing it to vanish in a burst of green motes.

“That and it’s just useful. My shield sense is still pretty rough, but I think it’s helping me on an instinctual level. I’m placing shields more precisely, faster, just better in general.”

Margie hummed. “Buford, can you come here, boy?”

A second later, the malamute trundled into view from the backyard; his snout dusted in white.

He sat down next to Margie, and she stroked his fur.

“Good boy.”

He chuffed.

Margie hummed. “You’re using your Skills with more creativity than I am. All I’ve done is apply the buff and sit back.”

Steven shrugged. “To be fair, my shields have more room for creativity so far. You’ve been using your Skills correctly. They just didn’t have a lot of room for experimentation before. Now…” He raised an eyebrow.

She nodded, her fingers absently scratching behind Buford’s ear.

“The Augments change things. I’m going to need to start training.”

“Mind sending them my way again?”

She waved her hand.

Momentum Trick

Augment

Rare

Effect: weakens Jugger-Rush’s effects and removes the added knock-up resistance.

The gained momentum can be directed and expelled with a range equal to Jugger-Hounds shroud.

Range: X

Energy cost: none

Cooldown: five seconds

“Could you send Jugger Rush as well?”

Another wave and another prompt.

Skill: Passive

Jugger-Rush.

Rarity: rare

Effect: hounds affected by Jugger-Hound gain a stacking momentum buff, becoming harder to stop or knock from their feet the closer they get to full speed.

At max charge, impacting something will disperse the built-up momentum in a cone-shaped blast.

Range: touch

Energy cost: none

Cooldown: none

They hadn’t seen much use from Jugger Rush so far, it had triggered a few times during their defense of the pillar, but aside from that, it had been kind of underwhelming.

Steven knew, in part, that was because they hadn’t fought many people with roots or other crowd control abilities. Its added knock-up resistance would show its worth then, but the Augment exited him.

If he was reading it right, it wouldn’t just give Buford more range. It would give him mobility.

He glanced at Margie. “Let’s try it.”

She didn’t stop scratching Buford behind the ears, but her hand glowed

red. The power seeped into the dog, and he stretched and let out a yawn as it took root.

“We’re going to be doing some training, boy. Are you ready?”

Buford let his tongue hang out in a doggy grin.

They moved into the center of the yard, their winter boots crunching the freshly fallen snow.

The normally pristine white was shaded in greens and blue as the dome shifted overhead.

Steven stared at it, frustration and awe mixing in his gut.

It was a constant reminder that they were trapped here, but at the same time, the thing was…well, it was stunning.

Steven shook his head and pulled out his phone.

He shot a quick text to Micheal. “We’re testing Margie’s Augments without you.”

Then he turned back to Buford.

A minute later, Micheal burst out the front door, hopping and pulling on a boot.

“Testing Skills without me!?” He shouted.

“Naw, I lied. We waited.”

He glared.

Steven chuckled.

“I’ll forgive this transgression since I desperately want to see this Augment.”

They turned to Margie, who turned to Buford.

Buford wagged.

After a round of scratches, they had the dog run across the yard.

As he started to run back, Micheal spoke. “Does Buford activate the Augment somehow? Or do you have to do something?”

Margie paused. “I’m not sure. Let me see…” She waved her hand, and Buford’s shroud surged.

The red light rose up beneath him and launched the dog three feet into the air.

They all shouted as Buford let out a surprised yelp.

He landed just fine. A fall like that couldn’t hurt him, but he still gave Margie a dirty look.

“My bad! I didn’t realize how strong it would be.”

Buford chuffed.

“I’m going to try and do it again. Get ready, boy.”

Buford braced himself, and Margie waved her hand.

Nothing happened.

She waved her hand again—still nothing.

“You could try spinning,” Micheal offered.

Margie kicked some snow at him without looking.

She sighed. “It uses his momentum, and he ain’t moving. No momentum.”

Buford chuffed then started to run again. He seemed delighted to have the excuse to race around the yard.

Once he was sprinting at full tilt, Margie raised a hand. “Get ready, boy!”

Margie swept her hand up, and Buford’s shroud followed.

The dog sailed into the air, his paws clearing their heads without trouble.

“Holy shit, you turned him into Airbud!” Micheal gasped.

Buford landed with a thump and started to wag furiously. He barked once, then spun in a tight circle before barking again.

Margie cackled. “The squirrels won’t escape you now, boy!”

Buford barked louder.

“Can you push the momentum in two directions at once?” Micheal asked. His blue eyes gleamed with excitement, and Steven could practically hear thoughts racing through the man’s head.

Margie shrugged. “Let’s find out.”

Buford took off again, and Margie waved both hands.

His shroud flexed, and the snow beneath him flattened with a crunch, but Buford stayed put.

“Shame,” Micheal said. “A double push would’ve been great.”

Margie scowled. “I think…I think it’s possible. When I tried to direct it two ways at once, the gathered momentum fought me and spiked down. But it felt like that was because I was too weak or sloppy, instead of how the Augment worked.”

“My Augments have almost all had a skill component, so it would make sense if yours did, too,” Steven said.

“I’m definitely better with Shield Pull than I was a week ago, and I couldn’t have used Compass Push so well if I didn’t have practice moving my shields around.”

Margie nodded. “Let’s try out the others.”

Before Steven and Micheal could ask, a prompt popped up in the corner of their vision.

Lick And Stick

Augment

Uncommon

Effect: grants shroud buffs a sticky component. The shroud can be toggled to stick to objects and persons (cannot stick to energy or non-caporal entities)

Range: shroud

Energy cost: none

Cooldown: 1 second

Steven and Micheal exchanged a glance. “This one’s just weird.”

Micheal nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know. It’s…I mean, it’s called Lick And Stick.”

Margie waved them off. “Bah, you're not seeing the potential. I like it!” Buford chuffed. “See, he agrees.”

Micheal arched a red brow. “Why do you like it?”

“Well, for one, it’s funny.”

They nodded. Fair enough.

“Second, it gives Buford better stick, and I don’t just mean that in a punny way,” she added before they could groan.

“Momentum Trick will help him close in, and once he’s there, I can activate Lick And Stick to stop his target from getting away. AND the description says objects and persons…I think it can turn him into a spider dog.”

“I’m sold,” Micheal said immediately.

“Same.”

Margie slotted the Augment, and Buford started running.

Margie gave no visible sign, but Buford’s trailing shroud turned white. Every speck of snow that touched it was stuck in place, and the dog left a wide furrow in the yard.

By then, his shroud was completely white, and Buford looked like a charging ghost.

Margie snapped her fingers, and the snow billowed out behind the dog in an explosion.

“I really want to see if he can run up walls, but I also don’t want him running straight through mine.” She turned to Steven. “Mind calling a Tower-Shield?”

Steven lifted his hand. The shield began to take shape in his mind, and it felt different. Closer, more tangible in a way Steven didn’t understand.

Energy rushed out of him as green motes gathered, and the shield thumped into place.

Buford didn’t need Margie to say anything. He sprinted for the shield and jumped. His paws slammed home, and he tried to run up it.

But instead of sticking, he slid right down its face, impacting the snow with a grunt.

He rolled over, the snow sticking to his shroud.

Well, the Augment was definitely working, so why didn’t it stick to the shield? Did it not count as a solid?

Buford started to walk away from the shield, and Micheal pointed. “It’s sticking, but it’s only the shroud that’s sticking.”

Sure enough, Buford’s shroud stretched to the shield, a huge swath holding tight to the green surface.

“See if it’ll pull taut, boy,” Margie said.

Buford walked back, his steps slow and cautious.

After about ten feet, his shroud pulled taut. It had thinned to a line about three feet around, and when Buford tried to take another step back, his shroud stopped him.

He didn’t look pleased, but he didn’t seem to be in pain either.

“Does that hurt, boy?” Micheal asked.

The dog shook his head. The humanness of the response was a little uncanny, but Steven was glad the tight shroud wouldn’t be a problem since he could already think of several ways to use it in a fight.

“We could make an impromptu trip line in the middle of a fight,“ Michael said with a grin.

Stephen nodded. “That’s what I was thinking! For a description as simple as makes his shroud sticky, it’s got a lot of uses.“

And as Steven stared at the dog and how the shroud was holding him in place, another idea started to take root. Though it was an idea, they didn’t need to test at the moment.

“And that last Augment?” Margie waved her hand, and Steven eagerly read over the prompt.

Shadows go brrr!

Augment

Uncommon

Effect: while Shadow Doge is active, affected hounds will move through shadows with increased speed and stealth.

The last one, while helpful, was also kinda boring. Margie had already slotted it, and Noodle was fast as hell now, but Steven couldn’t think of ways to abuse or exploit the Augment.

It made Noodle faster and sneakier in shadows. It might have some strong combo potential with future Skills and Augments, but for now, it was just…there.

Micheal clapped his hands. “My turn!” He sighed. “Or at least, my turn to talk about the theory since we can’t activate most of my Augments on our own.”

With a wave, he sent them his Augments.

Oh, Thank You, Heroes: Let Me Tend To Your Wounds!

Augment

Rare

Effect: Heroes injured in the act of rescuing the Damsel are bestowed with a moderate heal when the buff is applied.

Range: X

Energy cost: none

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Oh, Thank You, Hero: Let Me Tend Your Wound!

Augment

Rare

Effect: Bestows a single hero under the effect of your buff with a large heal.

Range: X

Energy cost: moderate

Cooldown: 10 minutes

Effortless Beauty And Quick Feet

Augment

Rare

Effect: When using Eye Catching Beauty, the Damsel gains a speed buff proportional to the number of people taunted. (To a point, it’s not limitless)

Energy cost: none

Cooldown: none

“Having a heal is such a comfort,” Micheal sighed. “Buford isn’t the only one who can afford to take a hit now.”

“Though you have to be even more careful,” Steven pointed out. “You can heal us, but we have no way to return the favor.”

Micheal nodded. “True, but it’s just…it’s nice. This is making me feel less useless.”

Margie scowled. “You’re not useless. Your Class is strong, and even if it wasn’t, that doesn’t make you useless. You are more than a set of Skills.”

Micheal smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Thanks, Margie.”

Steven tried to think of what to say, what he should say. But he…he was out of practice. He’d barely spoken for a year, and even before- before, he hadn’t been good at this kind of thing.

In the end, he decided to steer the conversation back towards Micheal’s new Augment. Regardless of how the man felt about his Class, he loved discussing and theorizing about Skills as much as Steven did.

“Wanna test that speed boost?”

Micheal smiled.

They went to the road.

They had a good view in both directions, and not too many people were leaving their houses right now, so Steven wasn’t particularly worried about cars.

Micheal stretched. He'd been on the track team, and could already move with the best of them, so Steven was excited to see just how fast the Augment made him.

Micheal sucked in a deep breath, then spoke.”See me!” Blue power rushed out of him, rolling along his limbs and branching into the air in thin streamers.

Micheal started running, and he wasn’t moving any faster than before.

He ran about ten yards, turned, ran back, then stared at Steven with pursed lips.

“It buffs my speed based on enemies taunted.”

“Yeah.”

“And my Skill only taunts people it or I consider enemies.”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.”

Steven laughed. “We’ll get to test it out eventually, I’m sure.”

Micheal frowned. “That sounds ominous when you phrase it like that.”

Steven winced. “Yeah, fair enough. We can still test out one of your Augments, though.”

Micheal paused. “I don’t want either of you hurting yourselves just to test my Augment.”

Steven shook his head. “That’s not what I’m suggesting. Though a part of me thinks we should do that. It might save our lives if we know just what the System considers as a ‘large’ heal.”

Micheal scratched his chin. “…I don’t think I can willing let one of you hurt yourselves. Moderate energy costs are a massive jump from small, so a moderate and large heal should also have a big gap.”

Steven shook his head, the motion causing the dusting of snow that had gathered in his hair to spray off.

“I agree with the reasoning, but we don’t know what a small heal looks like, so we can’t gauge the jump. Buford has lesser regeneration, but that’s phrased as something other than a heal.”

Micheal raised his hands. “We’re getting off track. How are you proposing that we test my Augment without maiming one of you?”

Steven held up a bruised arm. “I’ve already gotten bruised up training today.” Steven sighed. “I’m getting better, but a natural-born acrobat, I am not.”

“Alright. So we have something to heal… That just leaves activating my Skill.”

“…”

~<>~<>~

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Margie asked. Buford and Noodle stood next to her. Noodle looked mildly interested, while Buford looked downright nervous, pacing back and forth beside Margie.

“Yeah! People jump into the snow all the time!” Micheal’s show of enthusiasm was dampened as his voice cracked halfway through.

“I knew some people who would jump from their second-story porch into the snow, and they were fine! It’s like five feet deep!”

“You aren’t convincing yourself, much less me,” Steven said with a snort.

“Shut up, Steven! You’re the one who wants to test my Augment. You don’t get to give me crap about this.”

“Oh, it’s all my idea? While I’m perfectly fine if we don’t test it. You can just climb down right now if you want.”

The redhead sputtered. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now! I didn’t say we should stop.”

Margie sighed. “Micheal, either jump from the window or don’t, but you need to make up your mind, or you'll get hypothermia standing up there.”

Micheal’s face took on a pained expression. “On three, Steven.”

Steven nodded and readied himself.

“One.”

As soon as the words left Micheal’s lips, Steven started calling his Tower-Shield.

“Two.”

Micheal closed his eyes.

“Three!” He flung himself from Margie’s second-story window and right onto the shield that formed a heartbeat later.

He grunted as he hit, but he hadn’t fallen far enough for it to be a problem.

He sighed as he sat up. “That was terrible. I hate this fucking Skill as much as I love it.”

Buford barked.

“Thank you. I appreciate your voice of solidarity.”

The dog wagged.

Micheal waved towards Steven. “Thank you, hero.”

Blue light poured from the man and wrapped around Steven, slipping over his limbs like a suit of armor before sinking in, leaving only a faint sheen in its wake.

He sucked in a breath. Muscles he hadn’t even realized were tense loosened as the warm power settled in.

There was something about Micheal’s buff. It wasn’t juststrength. He didn’t need any time to adapt to the power, and it didn’t have any of the drawbacks you might expect from suddenly gaining strength.

It was as if every aspect of the power was a purely positive force, and that feeling was incredibly comforting.

Steven flexed his hands, the subtle blue light shifting with the motion.

Despite everything that had happened since the System came, Steven never stopped being amazed by the magic. He wanted to know everything about it. He wanted to test its limits and see just what it could do.

It was exciting, it was new, and focusing on it was infinitely better than going back to the place he was before.

If only we could have gotten the magic without the monsters.

”…”

Steven flinched. The System hadn’t said anything, but he’d felt its presence and its…emotions?

Had it felt…wistful?

“The hell was that about?”

The System didn’t answer.

Steven’s mind was taken off the System as the light around him pulsed, then surged.

His entire body relaxed further as the power scrubbed away his aches and pains. He watched as a deep purple bruise he’d gotten after falling off a Hand-Shield vanished. Purple faded to green, yellow, and finally back to his normal pale.

I need to get some more sun.

The heal went further than his aches and pains, though.

Steven felt his background fatigue vanish, swept away by the light along with everything else.

He hadn’t been that tired, his energy Trait and passing through the first Threshold were godsends for that, but he’d been training for a while. Now he felt as if he’d just woken up.

He turned to Micheal only to find the man hunched over on his shield, gasping for breath.

After close to ten seconds of gasping, Micheal straightened. “That was not medium! Or at least, not the same ‘medium’ energy cost as my other Skill.”

Margie frowned. “So the medium is variable? That’s going to suck. Especially if that medium Skill just took it out of you like that, what is a ‘large’ cost going to do?”

“Probably just knock me out,” Micheal muttered. “Did it at least work, Steven?”

He nodded and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, it worked. And it didn’t just heal my bruises. It healed my fatigue.”

Micheal blinked. “Oh. Oh! It takes a ridiculous amount out of me, but if you were gassed in a fight, it’s infinitely better to have you in top shape than me.”

Steven nodded. His shields took a lot out of him, or at least they should. He still didn’t understand why he could pull off what he did at the pillar.

Acting in his Class's Purpose had made him more effective before, but not that much. The boost at the pillar had been a step above anything he’d seen prior.

Micheal coughed. “Mind making a way down?”

Steven nodded and quickly called more shields.

Once Micheal was on the ground, he turned to Steven and grinned. “We still have two more Skills to test.”

Steven matched his grin.