“She lives,” Dorian said, voice cold and hard. He tapped at buttons and switches on the armrest of the throne, gestured at blank displays. “The Throne will not be mine until she recognizes my claim. Continue to search the palace; she cannot have gone far.”


    “Y-yes, my lord,” Korel bobbed his head. “We did find something… a residue… someone created a portal…”


    In this moment, my heart burst with song. You had done it. I knew that Dorian would not win.


    Dorian sprang to his feet, face twisted in rage. “You allowed her to escape?”


    Korel whimpered, collapsing to the ground in complete prostration. A slew of words rolled from his lips, but the pleadings fell on deaf ears.


    <hr>


    Elion’s breath turned into a shout. He twisted, throwing his assailant off of him. His hand grabbed at his back, and came away bloody.


    He gasped, panicked mind reeling. Then he activated his ability.


    << Manifest Armaments >>


    As his clothing changed and his knife solidified in his hand, the burning wound in his back cooled.


    His attacker scrambled to her feet, foaming at the mouth and rasping for breath. Elion recognized her.


    Standing before him was Brynna, the old woman who’d fed him at her house. She’d been so worried about finding her son among the infected. With a long carving knife—bloodied to the hilt—clutched in one hand, she snarled at him. Stooped over, she scrambled forward. She moved faster than he expected an old woman to move.


    “Brynna, stop!” Elion exclaimed. “It’s me!”


    But she was on him in an instant, throwing him backwards with surprising strength. Elion grappled with her as she stabbed him in the gut. Each strike hurt, a sharp, stabbing pain so strong Elion wondered if his ability had stopped working. He grabbed the woman’s wrists, struggling to contain her, already feeling exhausted from the stress she’d placed on her armor.


    “Stop!” he yelled again, but she couldn’t hear him, continuing to struggle.


    He wrenched the carving knife from her grip and threw her back, lifting his his own blade. A single blow could end the fight. He had to hurry.


    But he couldn’t kill Brynna.


    She leaped at him again. He threw her blade away, out toward the cliff, and caught her, falling to the ground. She wasn’t heavy or strong. He could handle her.


    Wrapping his arms around her, he pinned her arms to her sides. Using his weight advantage, he rolled over, pinning her to the ground. She kicked out at empty air and gnashed with her teeth, trying to bite him.


    “Stop it,” Elion hissed. “I don’t want to hurt you but you have to leave me alone!”


    She worked an arm free and clawed at Elion’s eyes.


    Strength drained from him as his ability protected him from the onslaught. He grabbed her arm, slamming her back to the ground. Her head cracked on a rock and she fell limp.


    Elion sprang back, horrified.  Is she dead? I didn’t mean to kill her.  His head spun as Ascendency fatigue set in. He disarmed, and the pain in his back returned. His laserarm clattered to the ground in dead pieces.


    He’d been wearing it slung over his shoulder, and when he used his ability the rifle got sent to whatever void his clothing waited in until he disarmed. In the process, Artefin power had been removed from the rifle.  Crap, I needed that. Maybe Keyla will lend me another one.


    He clamped his hand to his back. His shirt, damp with blood, squished against the wound. He tried Save a Friend. Nothing happened.


    Another infected emerged from the woods, firearm raised.


    Elion desperately reactivated his armor.


    << Manifest Armaments >>


    The first bullet from the infected’s rifle tore through golden threads of light before Elion’s clothing-armor appeared, slamming into his chest just below the right collarbone. Pain blossomed there, washing over him with a wave that took him to his knees.


    As his Ascended state set in, the pain faded as quickly as it had appeared. Elion charged the infected, taking two glancing shots in the ribs before he was on the woman.


    He couldn’t afford to be gentle with her.


    His knife cut through her unprotected flesh as she grabbed desperately for her own blade. He forced her back into the woods, and up against a tree.


    She hammered at his head with her fists, each blow strengthening Elion’s growing Ascendency fatigue.


    He struck at her chest with his knife, his hands growing slick with her blood as they struggled.


    In the growing light of morning, he saw the blackness drain from her eyes. She looked around, astonished by her surroundings. Then her eyes clouded, and she slumped to the ground. Elion repressed the shout of distress welling up in his throat as he stepped away from the dead woman.


    Elion disarmed before Ascendency fatigue overwhelmed him. He stumbled back to the path, looking for Brynna’s body.


    She was gone.  At least she’s still alive,  he thought, and then:  Maybe I should have killed her too.


    Praxis opened up a message in his vision. Elion could barely read it through through the pain.


    << You have persevered in developing your abilities. You progress along the Path of Dawn. 1 Experience Point rewarded. >>


    << Name: Elion James Walker >>


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    ? << House: Starhold >>


    ? << Ascendency: Aurelian Path of Dawn >>


    ? << Level/XP: 0/1 >>


    ? << Abilities (Level): Manifest Armaments (0), Save a Friend (0) >>


    ? << Boons: Translation >>


    ? << Quests: None >>


    Great. Nice. Super helpful right now.  The stab wound in his back burned. The bullet lodged beneath his collarbone burned, sending lances of pain through his shoulder whenever he moved his right arm.


    Using his left hand to clutch the wound in his back, Elion stumbled along the path toward the Altar. His shirt squished beneath his hand. Blood ran down his right arm and dripped from his fingers.


    Blue sky ate away at the darkness overhead, the shards of the Celestial Sphere glittering in sunset shades against the sunrise.


    The clearing of the Altar appeared ahead. He remembered stumbling through these woods, Kasm’s body in his arms.


    Elion entered the Altar clearing, passing through a faint golden barrier.


    Using his left hand, he fumbled at his pockets, staining his jeans with his own blood. He gasped with the pain, collapsing to his knees.


    He placed all the Ascendency stones on the altar.


    << Offer Ascendency stones to the Path of Dawn? >>


    “Wait,” Elion said, removing the Festrin Shards. “Just the true ones.” Four Skillstones and one Tear lay on the Altar.


    << Offer Ascendency Stones to the Path of Dawn? >>


    Elion thought of Kasm, trying to heal the infected. At the fifth level he could unlock a new ‘seed,’ Heal Sickness. And his other abilities would grow. Kasm would need four more ascendency stones to reach that level though.


    Elion needed to use these stones for himself. So that he could rescue his sister from Dorian.


    But if there was a chance that Kasm could heal the infected, wasn’t that worth it? He thought about Brynna, the kindly, abrasive old woman, who just wanted to see her son again. He felt the weight of her body, the crack of her head as he slammed her to the ground.


    Elion removed the four Skillstones from the Altar, then looked at his remaining Tear.


    He’d just earned an experience point, so this would get him to level one. That didn’t seem like enough.


    He placed the three Festrin shards onto the Altar, beside the Tear. Four stones should get him to level three, if he remembered the math correctly. Maybe level four since he already had one experience point. But if there was some kind of side effect from using the Festrin shards…  Maybe using an Aurelian Tear at the same time will balance it out. Or maybe it doesn’t matter. Kasm used a Skillstone and seemed to be fine.


    Elion didn’t have time to worry about that. Blood dripped from his shoulder onto the altar beside the stones.


    He needed to get back to Aterfel and help the people there. A higher level would let him stay in his Ascended state longer.


    << Offer Ascendency Stones to the Path of Dawn? >>


    Elion shifted his weight. His injuries screamed out in protest. He grit his teeth.


    “Yes,” Elion declared. “Offer the stones!”


    Each of the gems on the altar flared brightly, glowing with an internal light. One blue, three yellow-green. Their colors brightened, mingling with a golden aura from the statue, until Elion had to close his eyes and look away.


    He breathed deeply, and a buzzing, energetic sensation washed over him, like being plunged into a pool of ice cold water.


    “Ahhh!” he gasped.


    << 30 XP gained >>


    ? << New level: 4 >>


    ? << You have 4 ability points to assign >>


    ? << Which abilities would you like to improve? >>


    ? << Manifest Armaments (0) >>


    ? << Save a Friend (0) >>


    “What does improving Manifest Armaments do for me?” Elion asked.


    << Each additional ability point assigned to Manifest Armaments improves protections granted while in the Ascended State. >>


    “What about Save a Friend?”


    << Each additional ability point assigned to Save a Friend increases the duration and stabilization power of the ability >>


    Elion considered the matter briefly. When he played games, he had a history of not committing to a build, either saving up his skill points or spreading them broadly. But now, things were different. He knew what he needed. And he’d saved Ascendency stones for Kasm, so that he could do the healing. He probably should have given them to Kasm all along.


    Besides, if he couldn’t use Manifest Armaments long enough to get back to the tower, he might bleed out on the way.


    “Put all four into Manifest Armaments,” Elion declared.


    << Confirmed. Respec permitted upon reaching further level thresholds. >>


    << Name: Elion James Walker >>


    ? << House: Starhold >>


    ? << Ascendency: Aurelian Path of Dawn >>


    ? << Level/XP: 4/31 >>


    ? << Abilities (Level): Manifest Armaments (4), Save a Friend (0) >>


    ? << Boons: Translation >>


    ? << Quests: None >>


    “Awesome,” Elion said.


    One more experience point and I’ll hit level five.


    The stones had disappeared from the altar.


    Elion activated his ability.


    << Manifest Armaments >>


    He stood, feeling refreshed and renewed. Blood stopped flowing from his injuries.  Even though ‘Save a Friend’ doesn’t work on me, it seems like my Ascended state has a similar effect.


    He looked at the Skillstones in his hands, wondering what it would feel like to use them right now. Would a level four Manifest Armaments last long enough to get him back to Kasm?


    I have to save these Ascendency stones for Kasm. Keyla needs someone who can heal her mother. A lot of people might get hurt today.


    He slipped the remaining cends back into his pocket.


    It was time to get back to Aterfel.