Hellion, outside Lakeside Landing…

  The storm rumbled overhead.

  “Move faster, leave anything that's slowing you down!” I ordered over the thunder rolling in from the distance.

  A gust of wind nearly swept someone off their feet, but another rushed in and grabbed them, sprinting to the fence.

  Not that the fence would protect us from the weather. Still, it gave folks hope as they rushed to the closet building.

  Saevel, Lenna’s father, had warned us that the storms would pick up during this time of year. We hadn’t realized what he meant. Wolper was the first who let us know the storms weren’t just weather.

  Underneath the wind, a buzz started building, and I finally let go of my hold on the tree. Everyone else raced ahead of me. I kicked off, not going my full speed, holding the rear guard. My rifle hung over my back as I kept a steady pace to the fence line.

  Hawk remained at the opening, and he waved at me as I entered. He pulled the long lever and the gate slammed shut behind me before he turned and started sprinting too.

  This was the only time you could abandon your post.

  The crystals lining the opening glowed even brighter as the sunlight dimmed. More dust picked up with the next gust, and I increased my speed until Hawk and I were racing together to the cavern.

  While our buildings were secured, everyone preferred to be in the cavern when the center of the storm hit.

  A massive dark creature with antlers patrolled the streets, and held up a hand in greeting as we passed, though none of us said anything.

  Wolper and Grizzle were the only two who stayed out, and even Grizzle usually came in before the center hit.

  Light from the cavern opening beckoned us forward, and we picked up speed again. Rain started falling, making the ground slick, but we easily made it inside with plenty of time to spare.

  People worked with Grizzle to pull shut the large metal covering on the right side of the entrance. It reduced the scope of the entrance, and blocked more of the rain.

  Abby waited nearby, her eyes anxiously searching everyone in the crowd. They landed on me, and she smiled. She flashed me a thumbs up and everything inside me relaxed.

  Hammy pulled on the other side of the entrance cover.

  “Dangerous storm,” growled Grizzle, as he peered out of the cavern. He shook his head like he smelled something bad, then he huffed. “Need to close it.”

  I stepped closer. “You heard him, let’s get this nice and tight.”

  It didn’t take long until the entire front of the cavern was buttoned down. It helped that we’d used rocks to narrow it to begin with, then added the metal doors.

  Grizzle didn’t move from in front of the entrance. He sat and stared.

  That wasn’t good.

  Everyone else headed in deeper, to the fire, food, and the soft chatter, while I hung back.

  “Think it will hold?” I asked, as I marched closer.

  “Wolper holds the line,” he explained. “So strong.”

  I nodded. “As are you.”

  “Alpha is stronger.”

  My heart clenched in my chest, and I forced myself to relax. Guilt, so much guilt. I should have told Alex the truth about her mother. There was much she needed to know, and now… at least she was growing.

  Abby figured out she could see Alex’s level change in the menu, which meant she had to still be alive. Word had spread around Lakeside, which was both a blessing and curse. Certain factions didn’t believe it, while everyone else sure did.

  She had to come back. Hopefully she’d forgive me.

  The buzz of insects came from beyond the metal coverings, and I shivered.

  Wolper held the line, but only for their contract.

  We needed to get stronger.

  #

  Alex, in the barrow…

  The runes fought me.

  Much like the crystals did when I tried to combine two or more of them to work together. It forced me to hold them both steady, and somehow weave them together while keeping their core properties.

  The practice with the crystals made this easier, since runes didn’t have the same presence that the crystals did. They didn’t talk or have feelings in the same way.

  Since they were just runes, and had no sense of life, I didn’t feel bad forcing them to cooperate. It was still a struggle. I didn’t know how long it took, but finally the second rune snapped into place, and the first rune didn’t shatter.

  [You have created a bound light stone.]

  [You have upgraded Runic Scribing and Attunement - II into Runic Scribing and Stabilization: You can accurately scribe simple and compound runes onto various surfaces, infusing them with the rune's power. You can recognize and understand common and uncommon runes on sight and identify the base runes in more complex runes.]

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  My face hurt from grinning so big at the notification. This was what I needed. I pushed to merge the two skills.

  [Warning: this will evolve your profession. Do you wish to proceed?]

  Yes, that was the entire point.

  [You have merged Crystal Transcendence and Runic Scribing and Stabilization.]

  [Your profession has evolved into Elementary Mana Crafter. Elementary Mana Crafter: You focus on the channeling of mana through the use of crystals and runes. +5 to TOUGH, INT, FORT, WILL, CHA, + 10 FREE per level.]

  [Your title Songweaver has been upgraded to Manaweaver. Manaweaver: Increased sensitivity to all nearby sources of mana.]

  [You have gained the skill: Mana Channeling: You can locate and manipulate mana sources like crystals and runes, including cleansing them of impurities. The voices within mana sources are easier to hear and understand.]

  [You have gained insight into Perceptive Analysis - II. Perceptive Analysis - II: Your connection to your clan's knowledge deepens with each being you devour. Your six senses work together when analyzing a creature, object, or mana source, tracing the intricate web surrounding it. You can sense cloaking.]

  Pain ripped up my spine and through my head, then darkness crept at the edges of my vision. I fought it, not wanting to go under, but bit by bit it covered everything.

  I didn’t know when I came to, but warmth flashed from my pocket. All I could do was blink. Eventually, I swallowed, but the dry texture in my mouth made that hard.

  Red dots speckled the ground in front of my face as I tried to get my bearings.

  Minutes ticked by as I made sense of what’d happened. I’d merged the skills, evolved my profession, gotten the notifications, and then everything went dark.

  Everything all came online at once as my body spasmed, and my back arched involuntarily. One, twice, then three times before it stopped.

  Carefully, I sat up and took a deep breath, but nothing bad happened. My stomach cramped painfully at the motion, and I immediately shoved a piece of meat in my mouth.

  That was a mistake, as my stomach cramped again. Too full.

  “Oh, fuck…” Did I lose control?

  My inventory had much less meat than before. The communication stone sat several feet away, and I lunged for it.

  A message immediately greeted me from Lenna.

  “You better pull yourself together, we need to meet up.”

  “Here.” That’s all I sent, unsure of what else to say. While I’d fixed my profession, I didn’t feel all that joyous. Everyone waited on me to help with the Fortress.

  “Oh, that didn’t take long.” Before I could respond, Lenna continued. “Steadfast’s forces have to be close at this point, but they haven't responded to any of our messages. Can you tell where Strange is?”

  The bond between us hummed, and he couldn’t be too far. Somewhere in the canyons, at least.

  “Let’s meet up at site B,” I sent, thinking of the distance. Site B was the closest to Strange. “They’re in the canyons.”

  “Sounds good,” she replied, her voice sharp.

  “She sounds annoyed…” I mumbled to myself. Lenna never sounded annoyed.

  I climbed to my feet and pulled out my canteen. A small sip to wet my mouth, and then clean my face and hands. Something to feel a little better about my appearance.

  Then I pulled out my knife and readied myself near the door.

  The downside of the magical door was my radar didn’t reach outside. The positives out weighted the negatives, but still. I could only hope the giant flier wasn’t waiting for me.

  I triggered the lock and the door turned intangible. It buzzed under my hand, and I flicked my perception on. The door blazed with colors that stretched out in all directions. It hurt to look at, so I stopped.

  My radar flicked on and a few presences flared to life, but no Forgers or crystal collars. Only creatures.

  Darkness ruled the path in front of me, and it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. Stars dotted the sky overhead, which meant it wasn’t yet the night that we would attack the Fortress.

  I’d lost some time, but not as much as I feared.

  Site B was to the right and I crept that way. The small creatures out hunting didn’t even notice as I passed by. Most of them weren’t worth the fight, or more importantly the noise a fight would bring.

  The cool night air passing over my skin almost sent a shiver down my spine. The break from the heat was nice. All I needed was a bath, and I’d feel pretty normal.

  Kabi, Lenna and Dengu beat me to the meetup. The traps I’d placed remained, but all of us kept far away from them.

  “You did it,” whispered Leanna with a knowing smile.

  “It did something.” I shrugged, but didn’t know what to say. While the stat issue might be fixed, I didn’t want to use an experience token just yet. First, I needed to actually use my abilities, before I started leveling again.

  “What happened?” asked Kabi, taking a step closer.

  “I evolved my profession into Elementary Mana Crafting, which fixes some of the issues I had with my path forward, and stats.”

  “Mana Crafting…” he mumbled under his breath with a frown, before shaking his head. “Having a path forward is important.”

  Yet, he wouldn’t look at me directly. Whatever problem he had with his profession obviously wasn’t solved. After the Fortress, maybe we’d have time to chat about it.

  That reminded me of the academy. Maybe I could learn more about my profession there?

  “Time to hunt,” said Dengu, his head in the air, sniffing. “Strange comes…”

  He suddenly twisted about and stared into the darkness from the direction they’d come. He growled softly.

  Nothing appeared on my radar, but I took two steps closer to the wall and the darkened area it provided.

  A soft cry rippled through the air, along with a harsh scream.

  We all took off toward the noise of a fight.

  The bond between Strange and I tightened with each step I took. It didn’t take long for his extension of my radar to snap into place.

  [An OFFENDER has been detected in your area with a bounty. You have been given a temporary boost to stats and abilities.]

  [Radikive, The Deaths, Poison Wind, Level 185, Unknown, Unknown, OFFENDER.]

  The reinforcements from Steadfast had found themselves a Forger. Plus several collared beings. As we approached, it became clear why the fight still lingered on. The reinforcements from Steadfast were much stronger than the collared fighters, but they didn’t want to hurt them.

  A few were knocked out on the ground, while others literally contained those still trying to fight.

  Manee fought the Forger, and the more I watched, the more it became clear she tried to push him away from the others.

  Havi stood off to one side, watching, then his gaze snapped in our direction. Then he suddenly stood beside me. “We need to free the collared ones before he realizes you’re here. Somehow, he keeps killing them from a distance.”

  Then he touched my arm and we were next to an Azurafolk restrained by a warrior.

  I touched the collar and my vision automatically switched over. Tendrils from the collar dove deep into the body of the Azurafolk. Yet, as I snapped it off by cleansing the crystal, they went away.

  It was the same thing I had been doing, but somehow it felt different. More controlled, maybe.

  I didn’t have time to breathe before we were next to another collared slave. Then another. It took seconds for Havi to move me around the Canyon freeing people.

  But then it happened.

  A wave of bright orange energy rushed out from the Forger, heading in all directions. It appeared like the tendrils from the collars, and I could tell it wasn’t good. Time practically slowed down.

  “No,” I whispered, turning in his direction. “Stop him!”