The vortex guardian slowly descended from the sky. A lot closer than Dallion imagined it to be, the being was still several dozen miles in the darkness, only visible as a partial orb of light; partial because some of it had been severed off. The voidlings he had faced had probably been much stronger than the chainling blobs, capable of breaking off chunks of light from an otherwise perfect sphere.

Thank the Moons, Dallion thought. Harp had been right that a one-to-one fight was a bit beyond him. The battle damage, though, changed everything. There had been a time when Dallion had faced the minion of the Purple Moon and the Star at full strength. Like now, the two peaks of power had focused on each other, gradually tearing themselves down to the point that he could effectively face them and even win. At the time Dallion had seen his actions as clever, now that he had gained a bit of force, he saw them as cowardly and also as a warning not to underestimate lesser opponents.

“Have you ever fought one of those?” Dallion summoned his armadil shield.

The dryad guardian gave a reply, but Dallion found himself incapable of hearing it. With the vortex guardian no more than five hundred feet away, his actual form had become visible within the glow, and it was nothing like he had expected.

VORTEX GUARDIAN – ACACIA NILATON

Species: HUMAN

Class: MAGIC

Health: 17%

Traits:

- BODY 40

- MIND 40

- PERCEPTION 40

- REACTION 40

- MAGIC 40

Skills:

- ATTACK

- GUARD

- ATHLETICS

- ACROBATICS

- FORGING

- SCHOLAR

- SPELLCRAFT

Weakness: HEAD

Human? It took some effort for Dallion not to take a step back.

During his many travels through the realms, he had seen all sorts of guardians: insects, creatures, artificial constructs, members of the three banished races—feral or not. Not once had he heard of humans being banished. The worst that could happen to the free races was to get placed in a prison item for a number of decades, get delevelled, or have their awakening powers sealed. Banishment was used to describe someone chased out of a province of the empire itself. And yet, there was no denying the proof in front of him.

The vortex guardian was of a woman in her twenties. Made entirely of purple light, she was wearing what had been light armor of the same material. Her left shoulder was missing, along with the entire arm. Even so, there was no indication that she was in pain. For that matter, there was no indication she felt anything whatsoever. Just as Dallion wasn’t able to sense normal emotions from void creatures, the only thing he was getting from her was a constant sound of static.

In preparation for the fight, Dallion split into sixty instances. He was half expecting the guardian to do the same. She didn’t.

Glowing eyes with barely a hint of humanity glanced at Dallion, after which the guardian darted towards him, sword in hand.

Dallion parried while the rest of his instances spread out, each casting a different spell. When it came to magic damage to one instance could well deal damage to all the rest. The blade of magic slammed into his harpsisword and stopped. For a fraction of a second, surprise became visible on the guardian’s face, as if she expected for the attack to pass through.

Spells rained at her from all sides, passing through as if she weren’t there.

Instances can’t harm her, Harp said. You must stick to reality only.

Similar to what Nil had done, Dallion thought. Actually, the similarities between the last awakening trial and the current vortex were too many to be mere coincidence. Vortex towers, void presence, even the echo’s ability to avoid attacks seemed more like a warning of things to come. The only problem was that like most warnings sent by the Moons, they were only visible in hindsight.

Magic symbols appeared all over the guardian’s body, like glowing tattoos. There were too many for Dallion to make out the possible spells they would create, which was why he went on the offensive with a spark line attack.

A third of the symbols faded out as the rest cast a series of aether barriers in front of the guardian. Ever multiplying, they shattered as quickly as they were created, though in the process managed to delay the strike for just long enough for the guardian to block it.

The mage principle held true—even with the impressive trait values, the guardian remained a spellcaster, not a fighter. Her initial attack was supposed to be a certain hit—magic wasn’t restrained by the physical. The guardian probably expected her blade to go through the harpsisword.

“Ruby,” Dallion said as he rushed forward with another line attack.

Wind slashes combined with the thread of destruction.

MINOR STRIKE

Damage dealt is increased by 10%

A hit. It wasn’t much, but it confirmed Dallion’s suspicions. Lacking one arm, and a lot of health, the guardian could only rely on secondary methods for casting spells, making her vulnerable to fast-paced disruptive attacks.

“There’s no need to fight,” Dallion said, adding slowness into his words. He knew that a guardian of her caliber would never fall for a music attack, but as things stood, every little bit was to his advantage. “We’re both human, after all.”

The music strands snapped long before they reached their intended target. However, his physical attacks kept her on the defensive. No longer seen as invulnerable, the guardian didn’t appear as threatening as before. Now she was closer to a low-level noble: powerful, yet with just enough weaknesses for one to take advantage.

MINOR STRIKE

Damage dealt is increased by 10%

Another of Ruby’s wing attacks managed to sneak through, reducing the guardian’s health to fifteen percent.

“The voidlings must have done a number on you.” Dallion unsummoned his armadil shield. He no longer needed that arm to defend himself; a lot more could be done by casting spells.

The harpsisword slashed half an inch from the woman’s torso. If he got a bit better, the fight could end right away.

“Acacia is a nice name,” Dallion pressed on. Aether projectiles shot out from his left hand, following an elliptical path to their target. Similar to Ruby’s attacks, most were negated by the guardian’s defenses, but a few managed to pass through, stacking up three red rectangles. “I didn’t know humans could be banished.”

You must have done something pretty terrible to deserve such punishment, he thought. Was it related to the Moons? Is it a curse?

“My task is an honor,” the guardian said, her voice high and echoy very much like the combination of sounds that Harp used when talking to Dallion. “And I’ll keep doing it after this fight is over.”

With seven percent health left, that sounded a bit optimistic. There was no way she could win at this point, no way for her even to manage a draw. Dallion’s greatest fear was that she’d perform an explosive spell in an attempt to take him with her. Yet, the guardian persistently continued casting protective barriers and on occasion try to counterattack in the moments between Dallion’s line attacks.

One could tell that she was trying to analyze his combat pattern. Her own, though, was somewhat off. The style was generally outdated, although it was difficult to tell for certain since she had only one arm to work with.

Why aren’t you fighting closer to the floor? Dallion wondered.

The deadly spikes emerging from it would have provided her with a definite advantage. The magic of the vortex wasn’t capable of harming her. For that matter, why had she fought the voidlings in the air?

MINOR STRIKE

Damage dealt is increased by 10%

One percent life. A single strike was all that kept Dallion from achieving victory. It was tempting to let up a bit and give himself some slack. In the past, Dallion would have probably done so, allowing himself a brief conversation with the guardian. Now he knew better. The all-out attack was the only reason he hadn’t received any damage in the last fight. If he gave his opponent a chance, he might end up on the other foot, granting her the means to eject him from the vortex, or even worse.

“Sorry,” Dallion said, following up with a multi point attack.

Aether barriers shattered in the hundreds. No longer to keep up with the attacks, the stacks thinned, then disappeared altogether.

CRITICAL STRIKE

Damage dealt is increased by 200%

VORTEX GUARDIAN has been defeated.

The purple rectangle emerged, marking the end of the fight. All magic spells cast by the guardian abruptly vanished. She, on the other hand, remained there.

Without hesitation, Dallion quickly places his left hand on her forehead. This was it, the moment every mage waited for. Dallion had found the hard way that, as difficult as dispersing a vortex was, it never came with a guarantee of absorption. Unlike awakening, mages were owed nothing—they had to take it.

Magic threads came out of Dallion’s fingers, then pulled hers in. A surge of power went through his body, filling him up with energy.

You have assimilated the GUARDIAN’s magic, increasing your magic trait to twenty-seven.

As Dallion’s magic increased, that of the vortex dwindled. The threads composing the floor melted away, transforming it into a wireframe construct, then even they were gone, leaving Dallion in the Nerosal ruins corridor, a foot above the ground. All the gear he had started with was on him once more, as was Ruby. However, there was something different about the shardfly. There was a faint glow coming from its red wings. Also, it had slightly grown in size.

“You leveled up,” Dallion said in surprise. “Good job.”

From within his realm, Nox meowed, annoyed. Having to constantly deal with magic had prevented the crackling from leveling up. The only consolation was that Dallion had used his newfound abilities to grant it and the other inhabitants of his realm with new skills.

Joy, pride, and a sense of achieavement emanated from Ruby. The creature flew a circle round Dallion, then went back to its spot on his shoulder. A few moments later, its wings reduced in size.

“Illusion?” Dallion asked.

Partial, Ruby replied.

The shardfly was definitely following in Gleam’s footsteps.

With the vortex gone—and once Dallion had cast a new light spell—the inside of the room was visible. Similar to everything else in the ruins, it was mostly empty. The difference was that the few things that remained were items of a lot more modern nature and definitely something that most people wouldn’t normally use.

Parchment, quills, small shadowtech devices… Dallion had no idea what they were supposed to do. Despite a vaguely familiar Earth design, they remained alien, as if someone was copying foreign technology and guessing how it functioned.

“Clever. You made these during the festivals,” Dallion said. All those times that Adzorg pretended to hide away from the festivals, he was actually here, working on his grand device. As a former mage, he might even have had an agreement with the lord mayor to “explore” the ruins in search of dangerous devices, vortexes, or Moons know what else. Even so, he was a bit careless leaving this behind. Someone with a bit of knowledge would have easily seen the magic symbols on the paper.

Anyone here? Dallion asked.

The items seemed to have been placed there before he’d arrived in the city. There was no way that Adzorg would fear them talking to anyone. Unfortunately, there were no responses. The old mage had covered his tracks yet again. The only clue that he left was his work.

One by one, Dallion gathered all pieces of paper, writing materials, and strange devices. There weren’t many of them. With no engineers in the world, it was going to be difficult to make anything out, especially since they were considered failures to be left behind.

What are you thinking? The armadil shield asked.

“A few things.” Dallion examined one of the devices closer. No larger than a lighter, it was made of multiple pieces of metal—alloys containing sun gold—though no gears or obvious power source. And, while the world was unfamiliar with concepts regarding electronics or advanced engineering, someone in the Shimmering Circle might.