The cracks in Gene’s flesh stung from the wraith’s cold embrace. He took labored breaths as Kyrie and Winnie watched him in concern. He tried to focus on the mission, gathering his strength and steadying his mind. Winnie cast a message spell to check in with the others as Kyrie helped Gene to his feet, exchanging notes about their clashes. Amara’s power proved instrumental in their survival and the group all praised her for her actions.

  “Fascinating! The scale of her buffs is astounding,” said Winnie as she pulled a journal out of thin air and jotted down some notes. “It seems her marking us as her wards will indeed allow her to buff us at an extreme range.”

  Gene smiled with pride but he found his thoughts drifting back to the wraith. He struggled to reconcile his feelings but in a way, it felt more like a cry for help than an attack. Anguish, anxiety, and anger washed over him when the shadow touched his essence. He was certain that if he was a part of New Venturis’s system, he surely would have died at that moment. Instead, he came away from the attack with more insight.

  He saw then, when the veil extended over the ruins, something profane happened to the scattered essences of the unfortunate Baloran victims. Over centuries, their fragmented spirits had begun to coalesce around the city. At the beginning, they could only cry out in agony as the veil’s dark magic mashed together their essences in incorrect patterns before dissipating to nothingness. Now it seemed these ghostly chimera wandered the lands endlessly, seeking to share the story of their pain and curse the gods who abandoned them.

  He projected the information to Winnie so she could relay the message and she grimaced at the revelation.

  “Tell Kyra to be careful,” he said with a worried look on her face. “They’ll be drawn to her divinity. We don’t know how long this new spell will last so let’s not get overconfident.”

  Gene’s words hung in the air, a solemn tone overtaking them. Kyrie broke the tension, gasping dramatically and asking, “Me? Overconfident?!”

  Gene snorted and shook his head before saying, “Especially you.”

  When Winnie finished her message spell, they took off to the citadel again. Gene refocused his mind’s eye, fine tuning his senses to detect the wraiths. It proved difficult but not impossible and with Amara’s spell, Kyrie netted a shocking amount of experience when he put two unaware wraiths out of their misery. To Gene’s frustration, his Psy Blast only seemed to momentarily discorporate the creatures rather than destroy them. They seemed to be more magic than matter and all he could do was disrupt their already fractured minds.

  Winnie concentrated, using a class ability to scan for the pact location like a radar. The city pulsed with mana signatures but a thin line of power drew out from her and into the citadel ahead. She grew more nervous the closer they approached, shocked at the strength of the connection despite the distance. In the summit of the citadel, a strange red and blue light bled into the world but only Winnie could see it. She tried to read the mana signature and dread gripped her mind.

  She yelped, drawing Gene and Kyrie’s attention before she said, “I–Sorry, it was nothing. Let’s hurry.”

  Her words were hollow but they didn’t press her. She was covered in goosebumps as she tried to comprehend how what she felt wasn’t mana but instead a presence that devoured it. Worst of all, it had noticed her.

  They made their way into the citadel and when Gene’s foot crossed the threshold, he heard a whisper from the hero system.

  Hero System Notification: ….

  He froze, waiting for the notification to continue but after an uncomfortable amount of time passed, Kyrie and Winnie stopped to look at him. A cold sweat formed on his neck and he shook his head to rid himself of any apprehension.

  “Sorry,” he said, struggling to come up with an excuse before he said, “It’s nothing. I thought I felt a stone in my boot.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He stepped into the room and called out to the hero system but to his horror, there was no reply.

  ?

  Amara was tense but she found her focus when the connection between her and Gene was reestablished. She could feel him, much in the same way he could with her, and their shared emotions galvanized their will. Eonis and Kyra watched her with intense interest, sharing looks of concern.

  For the first time, Eonis wished he had Gene nearby to share his thoughts without having to speak. He feared that he and Kyra had gone too far with her training. They raced to the library, cutting a swath through waves of wraiths as the creatures pounced on Kyra at every turn. Amara threw up protective fields around her, effortlessly shielding her while Eonis took down the incoming creatures.

  When they reached the grand doors of the opulent library, Amara panted with exhaustion. Unbeknownst to the others, she had been sustaining the Astral Armor, drawing in the mana around her and converting it power her spell but as they reached their destination, she realized she was running at a deficit. Kyra went to her side, emitting soothing waves of holy energy.

  “Amara, please slow down,” said Kyra as she wiped the sweat from the little girl’s brow.

  Eonis stood guard, overseeing them for the minor break. Kyra pulled out a waterskin and Amara drank from it feverishly. She was exhausted but her efforts had yielded another 3 levels and she was determined to push herself further. Not just because she felt like she owed Gene and the others. Experiencing those memories of the poor child who lost their life in the fall of Balora calcified something within her and now she refused to let anyone else experience that same fate.

  “I’m okay. I just needed to finish leveling up,” she said as she wiped her mouth. She took a deep breath and looked to the library doors before saying, “I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

  The structure stood untouched by time, an oddity among the ruins. Carved on the doorframe in elaborate script were the words ‘Arcanum Archives’ and just standing near it gave the three of them an ominous feeling. Eonis put a hand up to halt their approach and said, “Hold. I’ll check for traps.”

  He crept towards the door, relying on his truesight to see all. A magical enchantment coated the building, set to preserve the building and its contents but not its inhabitants. A peek in the window awarded him a grim sight. Piles of ash and corroded clothing lay on the ground, having avoided any stray breezes or rain to scatter and decay them further. He winced at the thought of how the uninformed likely crowded in this place, expecting to be saved from the devastation.

  He glanced back at Amara and his chest tightened. She was still shaken up. He didn’t want her to see this and the further they went, the more he wished they had never brought her to Balora. The dungeon had been one thing but she never had to see the corpses of failed adventurers. This felt too much.

  He turned to jog back over to them but when he stepped past the door, the hairs on his body stood on end. His eyes went wide and shot to the doors just in time to see a massive explosion of energy blow them off their hinges. A hail of debris shot through the air faster than he could react but Amara proved faster.

  “Get down!” she shouted as she erected a wall of force to deflect the debris and energy.

  Shards of stone collided with her barrier, pulverized to dust from the force. When the energy clashed with her barrier, Amara was blown back and Kyra dashed forward to catch her. Eonis crouched low and when the dust cleared, he drew his blades and skittered back away from what he saw.

  Swirling in the center of the grand library was a twisting vortex of souls. Countless voices cried out in agony, wailing in desperation and anger for release and vengeance. Kyra gripped her staff tighter unconsciously and looked to Eonis in horror.

  “We need to go, regroup with the others,” said Kyra frantically.

  She moved to stand and Amara grabbed her wrist to stop her.

  “Wait!” her small voice rang out clear over the screams of the dead.

  She stared into the library where the twisting vortex lashed out but didn’t pursue. At its base was a mountain of ashes that anchored the monstrosity in place. Amara’s face hardened and she stood, balling her fists tight.

  “We have to free them,” she said as her hands shook with emotion. “They’ve been trapped here in the darkness for so long. I can’t–I have to help!”

  She looked at Kyra and Eonis and they both took a deep breath. Her resolve was adamant and both of the older adventurers felt a pang of embarrassment for their cowardice. Kyra stood and patted her on her back supportively.

  Eonis stood up straight, cracked his neck, rolled his shoulders, and crouched down low before he said, “Sorry, Amara. You’ve been through far more than we could ever know. We’ve been too focused on protecting you that I forgot this is what we’ve been training you for. Let’s do this. I’ll cleave this thing in two.”

  “We have your back!” exclaimed Amara as she summoned a bolt of holy energy.

  Amara watched and thought about how the wraiths sought her out. She was hated and feared for her holy power and the revelation of this struck Amara with a sudden inspiration.

  “Wait! That’s it.” She shouted before the elf could take off. “I know we haven’t tested it on this scale but I think it’s time for a trick shot.”