Laryn pushed his way into the dense growth that blanketed the center of the island. The ground sloped up gently, then leveled off. Adi had helped him adjust his interface, so now when he entered a new tile, information about it showed up on the edge of his vision.

  He stood now on a neutral tile, influence one, with primary essence type life. Through gaps in the trees on either side of him, Laryn glimpsed the river. The island couldn’t be too large; he shouldn’t have an issue finding the voidbloom.

  Unless it was on one bank of the river, and the voidlings had crossed the water. In some ways good news, since Laryn needed a shallow crossing of the river if he was ever going to find someone to replace him here.

  Surely some wandering adventurer or warrior would take him up on the offer. He could come back with gold from Eltar, to repay them for monitoring the core in his absence. And with a geas in place, things should go smoothly.

  Black, rotting foliage squelched beneath his boot. The trees around him wilted, trunks mottled with disease. He had crossed into a voidclaimed tile. The influence of the void over the tile was low; just one, but he felt it working against him as he moved.

  Getting closer, then.

  “Eww what is that stuff?” Adi asked, apparently watching through his eyes. In the back of Laryn’s mind, he felt the connection. Probing around with his mind, he found a switch; a toggle. He activated it.

  “Hey!” Adi protested.

  “You can’t see anymore?” he asked.

  “No, you blocked the connection.”

  “How about now?” He flipped the switch back.

  “Yep, that’s better.”

  “If our minds are linked, why can’t I see through your eyes?”

  “You don’t have the right equipment to receive the signal,” Adi said. “Otherwise you could.”

  Laryn pressed deeper into the voidclamed land on the island. “To answer your question,” he said, “It’s blight. It spreads on voidclaimed tiles, infecting everything. I think it’s drawing essence out of the plant life and land.”

  “You have dealt with void before?”

  “Spores blow in over the north ocean. We burn them, destroy them quickly before they have a chance to take root. Blight can ruin a field for years after the voidbloom is destroyed.”

  The trees thinned, and the soil turned grey and ashen beneath his feet. He rounded a stony outcropping and found the voidbloom.

  A massive, twisting growth embedded in the land. Thick roots plunged into the sickly soil, quivering and shifting slightly. In the center of the tangle rested a house sized flower bud. Black sepals wrapped the bud in a tight, black calyx, which shimmered with iridescent color. It reminded Laryn of voidling carapace.

  Everything around was blackened and sickly, slowly being destroyed by the blight. The effect was surreal; like suddenly walking into another universe.

  “So,” he said, staring at the monstrous spectacle. “This is what makes voidlings.”

  “It’s nasty…” Adi said. “Why is it so big? Is it a plant?”

  “In a way,” Laryn said. “It looks like one.”

  “So how do you kill it?” she asked.

  “I knew they could be big,” Laryn said. “But in my mind I just imagined… man sized. Not like this. I thought I would be able to chop it down and maybe burn out the roots, but…”

  Something shifted among the roots wrapping the base of the stalk.

  “…but first I have to deal with the void lord,” Laryn said.

  It was a creature, moving across the roots, coming closer. Spiny, like the voidlings, but longer, and with more presence. It chittered, a series of high pitched clicks. The sounds of birds and rustling leaves had died away, leaving only the noise of this alien creature in its alien landscape.

  “This is it,” Laryn muttered, partially to Adi, partially to himself. “Either I die, or it does. We cannot share this island.”

  “You can do this,” Adi said. “You got it. Remember your abilities; you’re stronger, you have Water [Dart], and if you need to, you can rewind time by a few seconds.”

  Laryn drew his sword. He tuned into his sense of the water around him. The voidlord continued moving, planting itself firmly between Laryn and the bloom. Or bud.

  “This must be a new one,” Laryn said. “The flower hasn’t bloomed yet.”

  “That’s probably a good thing,” Adi said. “Maybe it isn’t as strong?”

  The voidlord did not advance. It waited, head locked onto Laryn like it was sizing him up. Behind the insectoid creature, roots shifted. With a squelch, a voidling burst out of the ground, strands of ropey liquid spraying into the air.

  Laryn shifted, cementing his resolve. He had to put an end to this. No more voidlings.

  The voidling skittered up to the voidlord. It was smaller, like a large dog, and beetle-like. A smooth, shining carapace covered its body. Spikes protruded from ridges along its sides. It spotted Laryn and scurried toward him, long sharp pincers clicking.

  Laryn exhaled and prepared to face his foe. For the first time today, he was ready for it. He planted his heels, holding his sword aloft. Earth stance, for strong, crushing blows.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  The voidling suddenly sprang into the air, elytra cracking open to reveal a set of wings. The air buzzed as the gigantic roach zipped at Laryn’s face.

  Laryn brought his blade up, surprised, but he was too slow. The voidling snapped at his face and he narrowly dodged, stumbling backward. His shoulder wound stung as he windmilled his arm, trying to keep his balance. Hissing, the beetle dove back in on the attack.

  Shifting into wind stance, Laryn ducked beneath the diving insect and rolled away. The voidling landed and attacked, lashing out with front legs and mandibles.

  Laryn parried a leg with his sword, dodging inside the other. He punched the bug in the face—the place with all the shining black eye sockets—and gasped with pain as his fingers smashed into chitinous armor.

  The blow stunned the small creature, and Laryn quickly took advantage, bringing his sword down hard. The strike split the exoskeleton, and the voidling curled up on the ground, dead.

  Turning his attention back to the voidlord, Laryn found it watching intently. The creature had observed him fighting. Was it trying to learn what to expect?

  It crept closer to Laryn, and he noticed that the vinelike roots permeating the ground shifted and moved, helping secure the footing of the voidlord as it approached. The voidlord did not leave the security of the vines, but walked up to the perimeter of the voidbloom tile. It waited, not stepping out onto the ground where Laryn stood.

  Most voidlings so far had appeared to be large, mutated versions of insects that Laryn had seen before. The voidlord was no exception. It had a long, narrow body, and front arms folded up like a praying mantis, waiting to strike.

  “Hey Adi, am I limited to water magic or can I use fire?”

  “Right now, just water,” she said. “Your affinity is only level one, so you’re going to be able to perform magic based on whatever most of your hextiles are. And right now, they’re all water type.”

  “So no fire,” Laryn grumbled. “It seems like it might burn well.”

  “From the tiles you’ve crossed, it seems to be mostly life and water tiles in the area,” Adi offered. “If that matters or helps.”

  Laryn walked closer to the voidlord. Each step sent a small puff of dust into the air. The matted roots of the void bloom formed a clear circle around the stalk, reaching the border of the tile but not extending past it. As Laryn walked, the void lord shifted, moving to stay between Laryn and the bloom, but never leaving the roots.

  He knew he was stalling. More voidlings were certainly… growing? being prepared? Laryn couldn’t afford to stall any longer. He had to kill this creature and destroy the bloom.

  Hoping to catch the voidlord off guard, he charged in, blade carving through the strokes of flame stance. He placed one foot onto the mat of tendrils on the ground.

  The voidlord dodged back, moving faster than Laryn had thought possible. The strange web of vines and roots twisted and moved while aiding the movement of the voidlord. Laryn, on the other hand, nearly stumbled, trying to find purchase on the hostile ground.

  Laryn slashed at the writhing roots in frustration. It didn’t make a difference. The voidlord took advantage of his momentary distraction, darting in with a vicious blow. Laryn danced back, landing on firm, solid earth outside of the tangle.

  The voidlord backed off, watching Laryn. It made no move to attack him where he stood. Laryn nodded appreciatively. This creature was more intelligent than the voidlings it sent to attack him. It would not fight without an advantage.

  Was there a way to negate that?

  Laryn didn’t see one. He prepared another attack.

  This time he summoned up his water dart, preparing to cast it. He shifted to air stance, hoping the lighter, more nimble footwork would help him on the roots.

  He charged.

  The voidlord did not dodge back, like it had the first time. It met him head on, blocking the sword with an armored limb. Laryn pulled the deflected sword around, twisting into an upward thrust toward the creature’s face. It blocked this with another leg, and countered with a swinging attack aimed at Laryn’s neck.

  Laryn dodged backward and slammed into something hard. The hit knocked him down and he rolled across the knobby ground.

  The voidlord pounced, lashing out with its mantis arms. Laryn slashed desperately, pushing himself backward. His shirt tore, back gashed by the rough terrain. Previously bandaged wounds tore open. He saw what he’d run into.

  A wall of roots had grown up behind him; a tall barrier around the voidbloom. Large leaves, like the sepals surrounding the bud, grew up into a massive barrier. An arena had formed, blocking off Laryn’s retreat.

  A lucky strike glanced off the voidlord’s head, and the creature scampered away from Laryn. The warrior took the opportunity to spring back to his feet and lurch toward the bud at the heart of the void growth.

  Chittering and clicking, the voidlord dashed to cut off Laryn’s path to the bud. In its haste to defend the bud, the bug exposed a portion of its side to Laryn.

  Still slightly off balance, Laryn swung at the mantis’s side, targeting a gap in the chitinous plating. His blade caught on a spine, sheering it off but missing its mark.

  The insectoid pressed the attack, forcing Laryn into a stone stance as he retreated. He looked around desperately for something, anything that might help turn the tables. But he was trapped and outmatched.

  Keldin would be so disappointed in him.

  For some reason, the thought of his brother sent a jolt of strength through his arms and legs. He darted across the shifting roots, trying to get his enemy to expose itself to him again. The creature moved like a blur, darting to defend the voidbloom.

  Laryn formed a [Dart] of water and aimed it at the void lord’s side.

  His foot slipped into a hole between roots, twisting and popping with a loud snap. He fell, hard, his chin smacking onto a protruding rock, teeth smashing together. The voidlord pounced, stabbing sharp claws into Laryn’s back. Bones popped, and spines pierced his lungs and severed his spine. Pain exploded, washing over him like a wave. Laryn screamed.

  The world froze.

  “Crap,” Adi said.

  Laryn floated off the ground, flailing his arms around until he stood upright. Everything remained frozen, like sculptures. His body lay on the ground in front of him, back pierced and bleeding as the void lord tore into his flesh.

  “Am I… dead?” he asked.

  “Dead,” Adi said, materializing beside him and inspecting the scene. “Slain. Murdered. Slaughtered. Spitted like a—”

  “Okay, okay, I died, I get it,” Laryn said. “But let me guess… I can rewind time? And try again? I had a strategy that should have worked, but I tripped.”

  “Ah, the trip. Such a small thing, and yet so deadly,” Adi said. “Yes, you can rewind time. You have six hextiles you can sacrifice, one second each. But you had better hurry. The core automatically activates a minor temporal thinking space right before you die, but it won’t last for long.”

  Laryn pulled up the map. He scanned through his timeline of the last six seconds, watching every detail. Planting his feet, twisting his hips. Forming the water dart. Two steps to the side. Was that stone stance or flame stance? The roots and vines shifted beneath his feet.

  He realized something. The uneven ground had shifted and tripped him, that was true. But his real mistake had come moments before that. He had planted his heels in stone stance, but his blade flashed in the beginning arc of flame stance. He’d been too distracted by preparing his magic dart, he hadn’t focused enough on his footwork.

  Master Felwin would have yelled at him. And beaten him. He was better than that. He could do this.

  Laryn selected the location to jump back. Five seconds. He chose five tiles, and prepared to activate the skill. Sacrificing these tiles would break the second ring around the core, so he’d lose his point in strength.

  “Wait!” Adi said. “You will only have one seconds of rewind left after that. Why not just go back three seconds, to right before you tripped?”

  Laryn nodded grimly. “That’s where I made the mistake,” he said. “I’ll trip again if I only go back three.”

  “If you say so,” Adi said, looking doubtful. “Please don’t die. I don’t want to be boxed up again. Nobody would ever find me out here.”

  “I know what to do now,” Laryn said. “I can beat it.”