I hit the ground. The rock wasn’t hard enough to bother me any longer. Sand shot up in a cloud from the force with which I went down. But no arrow struck the rocks I was hiding behind. Instead, I heard a whistling sound like fireworks. Before I even realized it, I’d looked up and saw a red streak rising from her bow. Then it burst into brilliant purple light in the air and a circle of emptiness appeared in the sky.

  The elf’s spell must have worn off because she collapsed against a rock and was barely able to hold herself up. “He’s coming. You’re all dead.”

  Chapter 53- Sacrifice and Evolution

  You have been challenged to a duel by Morvarg of Bar’jek. Do you wish to accept?

  I immediately selected no. I remembered this exact scenario playing out in my vision when I first got my uncle’s journal. Except he’d had a massive elemental, and some other summons as well as another Forerunner with him, and he’d still declined the duel.

  The system wasn’t done with me, though.

  Are you sure? The benefits for a duel are significantly improved. XP is tripled, you receive 30% of their total world points rather than only 10% and you may claim one of their abilities as an inheritance.

  When I looked up, I saw a figure slowly coming out of the portal. As the figure from the portal solidified, my pulse spiked. Morvarg of Bar’jek towered before us, the ominous aura around him thickening the air. What the hell was a representative for the Bar’jek race doing here? My heart thumped heavily in my chest. For as long as I’d been a Forerunner, there was only one Forerunner from Bar’jek.

  Seeing him in a vision and in person were two entirely different things. His aura wasn’t anywhere near as dominant as Lord Rayden’s had been, but it was strong enough that it threatened to crush me. Death seemed to ooze out of this man. Then Identify chose to trigger.

  Morvarg Celun (Rare) Race: Bar’jeki

  Level: 125

  Disposition: Hostile

  Threat: Certain Death

  He gave me the same vibe as Samvek in terms of deadliness, but whereas my mentor’s aura felt refined and as sharp as a blade—his was broad and vague, filled with darkness, more like I’d imagine a plague.

  I tried to focus on his appearance to see if there were any clues as to weaknesses. As I did, I whispered in a voice that I hoped was loud enough for Dejin to hear. “Follow my lead. He is absolutely deadly.”

  His Play-Doh like form, devoid of any muscular definition, seemed to mock the very idea of physical prowess, yet the power emanating from him was undeniable. The scythe, massive and gleaming, looked deadly in his smooth, clawed hands.

  Morvarg floated closer, his feet never touching the ground. "Silas," he boomed, his voice echoing off the cavern walls. "Declining a duel? How disappointing. Your uncle never would accept one either." His tone was taunting, his gaze locked onto mine. Despite his lack of facial expressions, the contempt was clear.

  Dejin shifted beside me, axes ready. Urg, sensing the tension, morphed into a more protective stance. I knew we were outclassed, but I also wasn’t sure that we could fly away. He was clearly capable of a flight of some sort.

  Morvarg’s black and gold armor shimmered as he moved, reflecting a dark light that seemed to banish hope. I wasn’t sure if it was an effect induced by his armor or a passive skill. But it was effective in creating doubt and uncertainty to my senses.

  "Come now, let's make this interesting," Morvarg continued, his scythe swinging lazily at his side, yet it easily disturbed the air around him and caused the mana to swirl wildly. The casual display of power was meant to intimidate, and it worked. But fear wasn't going to decide this battle.

  I nodded at Dejin, and without a word, we charged. Dejin went low, aiming for Morvarg's legs with his axes. I focused on a direct assault, conjuring a shield with one hand and preparing a blast of force with the other.

  He simply smiled.

  Morvarg reacted with a speed that belied his size. He sidestepped Dejin's strike, then twisted, bringing his scythe down in a wide arc towards me. I layered three shields one atop the next. The blade cut through the first, slowed as it cut through the second, and then impacted the final layer with enough power to send shockwaves, which buffeted me back. The force was immense, nearly overwhelming.

  Urg leaped into action, launching himself at Morvarg in a spike-filled attack aimed at our foe’s eyes. Morvarg, however, merely flicked him away with the movement of his scythe, sending Urg tumbling across the cavern floor. The blade had cut into my eidolon who writhed on the ground.

  "Not bad," Morvarg taunted, turning his attention back to me. "But not good enough." He advanced—although he was only floating—his trailing shadow and aura made the ground tremble, as if his very presence defied the natural laws. “If you agree to duel me, I’ll let the others go.”

  Dejin was back on his feet in an instant, circling to Morvarg's side, trying to find an opening. “Don’t listen to him. My life before yours,” the young Delmin shouted. I took the opportunity to strike, sending a concentrated bolt of force directly at Morvarg's chest, it rippled against his armor. He was pushed back a few inches in the air, but snorted in amusement. His head stretched, just like Play-Doh would, so he could looked down at the slight dent in his breastplate and asked, “Is that all?”

  I didn't answer. My mind was racing. Should I duel him? It would allow Dejin to escape. He didn’t deserve to die just because he’d been brave enough to join me. The young Delmin quickly switched weapons with a practiced ease and hurled his spear at the floating Bar’jeki. At the same time, I saw his face strain and his eyes close. The ground beneath Morvarg burst upward and sand filled the air. We heard a thunk from within the cloud but couldn’t make anything out.

  Could it be that this new ally had killed Earth’s greatest foe in a single strike?

  The sand then exploded outward in all directions. Morvarg’s scythe was nowhere to be seen, but he held Dejin’s spear with one hand. The point of it had been driven through his other hand. He quickly snapped the shaft and then pushed the weapon through the rest of the way. “Impressive. I hadn’t expected to be blinded at the last second and my aim was just slightly off.”

  Instead of bantering with him, I called on every bit of my power, feeling the energy coursing through me. This time, I threw out six tendrils of force. Two formed into shields to defend, another held my dagger, and the last three simply attempted to bind his arms. At the same time, I flew forward with my polearm at the ready.

  We both rose up, and he recalled his scythe. We fought in mid-air, dancing back and forth. Even with his movements being impaired by my force constructs, it was all that I could do to keep up with him. He was a walking contradiction. He didn’t have the joints I’d expect to allow him to move so fast, or react as quickly as he did. Yet, he maneuvered around me with surprising grace. The crystal edge of my polearm repeatedly blocked his strikes, but he had no trouble stopping mine, either.

  If I had to describe the nature of the fight, I would have said that he was not even quite as skilled as I was. He was simply that much stronger and faster. His Perception must also have been rather high as he never seemed to be surprised.

  Our stats were still boosted from my former buff, but I added Bane-Boon to the effects around me. The impact from each of Morvarg’s blows lessened just a bit, but I still didn’t manage to land any serious blows. The strain of concentration was burning me up. Once again, I cast Killing Touch. Maybe if I could just land this one blow.

  Then I focused the power of that spell through one of my force tendrils, specifically the one holding my dagger. It was the only weapon I hadn’t used in my assault on Morvarg because I been trying to keep him busy as I maneuvered it behind him. Then, with a flex of my mental energy I brought the dagger forward, driving it into the back of his head just above the line of his armor.

  I felt the dagger sink in, but then my force construct was dispelled and a sphere of power rushed out from Morvarg. My buffs, including Stealth Flight, were instantly dispelled, and I found myself falling to the ground.

  A thirty-foot fall wasn’t any problem, but I lost sight of Morvarg on my way down. I hit the ground and felt a jab of pain as some rock dug into my skin, but it was the notifications which popped up that caught my attention.

  Killing Touch has failed. Target is immune to death type attacks.

  You have gained 1% of target’s Strength (8) and Agility (6). Timer reset to 15 minutes.

  I rolled as I came up and saw Morvarg getting back up. He’d fallen two. He reached behind and pulled the dagger out from his neck. “So close. You’re already more skilled than your uncle was even if you lack his raw power. Honestly, you might give Jiang a run for his money. You certainly just got closer to ending me than anyone has in years. I do hope that Jiang is able to walk again…”

  I had no idea what he was talking about, but he clearly wanted to get inside my head. When I didn’t reply, he asked, “Oh, you didn’t know that I recently battled Jiang. I guess I can understand why he wouldn’t be in a rush to tell his fellow Forerunners.”

  Then he looked down at the dagger in his hand. There was no blood on the blade, yet I was sure that it had penetrated his skin. He snorted and then threw it out into the desert. “Cheap imitation. Let me show you how that ability is really supposed to work.”

  Then his scythe reappeared but with blazing purple and black fire along its edge. He launched himself straight at me. Dejin jumped between us, but the scythe flashed out faster than it ever had before and cut him down mid-air. Dejin slammed into the ground, but from the way he rolled and then groaned, he was still alive, if wounded.

  I threw out shield after shield and even snuck in a spinning saw blade, but he cut them all to pieces. “You only prolong the inevitable. Your power is impressive, but you lack the core strength.”

  I kept backing up, as he continued forward as inexorable as death. My mind raced through options. My aura didn’t affect him. I was no match for him magically, as he could dispel all my effects. My skill might be up to the task, but no matter how much people try to say that size doesn’t matter, it does. Stats fell into that same category. There was only one thing I hadn’t done yet.

  In a desperate attempt, I began to sing. No humming, no halfway measures, I fully committed to singing defiance at him. I called upon all the spiritual energy I could gather faster than ever. The power surged through me. I felt incredible, so much so that I barely even felt when his scythe cut deeply into my side. I didn’t know what all it had severed, but I felt like the life was being sucked out of me. Only the rapid influx of spiritual energy was keeping me upright.

  You have been drained for 5% of your Vitality.

  Morvarg fell to his knees. His scythe lay there limply in his hand as he struggled against something that only he could see. He screamed, “No, you’re gone. I killed you. You can’t… No… Shut up…”

  Urg seized the opportunity and fell over him like a spiked blanket. The black protrusions rammed into him and I dared to hope for a moment that we were going to win this. Then the chains of spiritual energy seemed to break from him and Morvarg began pushing up from his knees. Urg’s body wrapped around him, seeking to bind his limbs, but he was only slowing the inevitable.

  Restorative Grace

  The heal only partially closed the wound and some aspect of mana in it fought against my spell. I didn’t know how to help Urg other than to keep trying to heal him. Urg’s voice croaked, “Take him home.”

  Then he started to fade. Morvarg shifted his weapon to split Urg nearly in half, but the eidolon never gave up. As he faded, Morvarg was pulled along with him.

  Your eidolon is evolving…

  Morvarg cursed. “I’ll destroy you utterly.”

  But then they were gone, pulled into whatever dimension was the eidolon’s home plane.

  Chapter 54- News Good and Bad

  Earth Countdown: 374 days, 2 hours, 10 minutes

  When I stepped through the portal into my shed, I took a deep breath. Healing Dejin had been quite the task, but he seemed to be doing well. The vitality that we both lost from Morvarg’s blade was back, although, it was easy to see how a few blows like that could turn a fight around.

  Truthfully, we probably both owed our lives to his poor choice in weapons. Scythes might be ideal for harvesting grain, but as human slaying weapons, they were both unwieldy and inefficient.

  After we were healed, I spent three more hours searching for my dagger in the desert. Only when I was about to give up, did it finally turn up. Then we returned to the Delmin camp, although to my spiritual senses, the grove beneath the sand was a green beacon. The elders wanted to hear our story and so the rest of my time on the world was filled with that. Dejin had proved himself as far as I was concerned, and I explained to him that in about 18 hours, I’d be summoning him to go to Galen.

  The thing I didn’t do while still with the Delmin was pay any attention to my notifications. I knew that Dejin had gained three levels as he said as much to the elders, but I’d put off looking. Mostly, I didn’t want to see a notification which told me that Urg was gone for good.

  I knew he couldn’t be truly slain on this world, but if he pulled Morvarg back to his own dimension, did that mean that he could be slain there? I’d appreciated Urg, but until now, I wasn’t sure that I realized how much his silent presence had been reassuring.

  Now, back home, I couldn’t put it off any longer, so I pulled up the notifications. I pushed past the one that said, I’d gained two more levels and part of the next. Apparently, killing or even having nearly fatal battles with other Forerunners was profitable. Although maybe it was because they were on a mission to kill me.

  The world points gained were important. They were all new Forerunners so the 10% only amounted to 6,150 points, but with the 3500 for completing the first part of the quest—I earned nearly 10,000 in a single night. That was a good night by any standard. Completing that mission had also given me another thought. If I was able to essentially promote plant growth—clean water, and even change the air—then perhaps with enough power, the congealed mana crystal could be used to change uninhabitable spots on Earth. Maybe even the moon someday, although that seemed like a bit of a stretch.

  I was pleased to find a notification about loot for the Forerunners we’d defeated since their bodies had disappeared when Dejin and I went back to loot them.

  You have slain three Forerunners in a non-event setting. As a result, you will gain a randomly determined skill, ability, or spell from the Forerunners you slew. Had this been a duel, you would have been able to take your pick as well as gaining your choice of one of their magical items. Additionally, you will gain a boost to one of your Forerunner abilities, also randomly determined. Skills gained this way will be hard-wired to include changes to muscle memory.

  You may keep any or all of these gains or you may share them with any of your party members.

  Gains:

  Skill- Duelist 54

  Ability- Halo of Rebirth (Rare 49%)

  Spell- Rapid Fire (Rare 7%)

  Identify +16%

  Spatial Storage +7%

  Identify +19%

  It was a no-brainer that I was going to give the skill to Dejin. As I read the description, it appeared that those levels in the skill would be stacked right on top of his levels, thus accounting for a much more significant gain. I didn’t know what level he had in the skill, but I hoped this would put him over 100 at least.

  I kept the other two, since there was no way I was giving up the ability, and the spell would work better for me than it would for Dejin.

  Halo of Rebirth (Rare 49%)- This Will based passive ability will restore you to life after 5 seconds with 15% of your total health. For 15 seconds, you will be completely immune to any harm below Divine Tier. All healing received during this time is also doubled. Cool-Down: 1 week Note: the cool-down pauses if the ability is taking off of your active list.

  This was a going on my list. It wasn’t that I wanted to get rid of any of my abilities, but I was coming to a very hard realization; I’d made a ton of risky, and deadly decisions. If I continued on this path, I would probably make even more. As a Forerunner, it was pretty much a prerequisite. Therefore, I would be stupid not to have an ability like this in my arsenal. Hell, I had Life Mana and if I was being honest with myself, I hadn’t even thought that there was a skill or ability out there that could do that. Samvek mentioned that intent played a part, and it just told me I needed to think outside the square more. Life was far too precarious as a Forerunner. I used it to replace Symbiotic Healing. The skill was useful, and saved me and my team countless times. But without the druid class shards to draw upon its healing framework—channeling my Life Mana through the skill was less focused and more dispersed.

  Then I looked at the spell.

  Rapid Fire (Rare 7%)- this spell is cast before any evocation or damage dealing conjuration to allow for rapid fire bursts of the spell. The rate of fire will increase as the spell levels and then evolves. Duration: Variable, Range: Self, Mana Cost: 50 + 100 per second after the first five seconds.

  The Forerunner ability gains were perhaps just as important. My progress on Save for Winter doubled to 14% and Identify was now over halfway to the next tier. The title I gained, on the other hand, was undoubtedly powerful, but also felt like a system manipulation.

  There Can Be Only One (uncommon) – you have slain five Forerunners. In the future, you’ll gain 1% of the base stats of the Forerunners that you slay. Kill 10 more to upgrade this title to Rare, 25 more to gain the Epic version and achieve the Legendary version of the title if you have already obtained the Epic version and are at any point in time the sole living Forerunner from all five worlds in your competition. The Legendary title may be earned after the competition ends, but the other levels may not.

  As always, the system was pushing conflict.

  Then I reached a pair of notifications, one which was great news and the other not so much.