"He's right here, Xerxei, he's in bad shape."

  "Oh, I'll say. Hell, young man. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before. And you say this happened suddenly?"

  Xerxei sat down in front of him.

  The old man who was now examining him with all the intensity of several focused skills, looked like he took great joy in his attire. His tunic was very form-fitting, which was to say that he had muscles that he was trying to show off, despite his advanced age. He wore it like he could have walked into the arena and won against anyone there.

  "I just met the love of my life," Ludere said.

  "Of course you have, my boy. And she was a red succubus, of course. That's a Euphridian sign, right there. They can never produce the name of their future bride. They just know that they're devoted to them utterly. You don't know anything about her. My only question is how did you get so close to a succubus and survive? There aren't any around here right now. I'm just going to…"

  His eyes flashed blue, the entire thing being consumed by it as he did something. It felt like he should be able to see it—

  Ludere gasped. He retched. When had he last eaten?

  This wasn't his wedding?

  "Where is she?" He said in between dry heaves.

  "She's not here. You are. Your soul… it's been hurt so much that you're leaking. It's grown so fast in such little time. You've been through war, haven't you?"

  "She's not... what?" Ludere felt himself. There was no spear tip coming through his body. He was alive. He had been having visions, but he had been so thrown off by that succubus that he had… "You! you're got some sort of Soul Magic skill. What do you want for it?"

  "I'm sorry?"

  "I need what you have. Look, I don't know what just happened, but I've been stuck in these visions that I keep looping through."

  Ludere explained his situation to them as he saw the Minotaur-helmeted man take down his opponent. Half of the time was gone, because he had made the mistake of getting too close to a succubus. Half of his time before the invasion. He didn't know how long he could last, and he felt like he would barely be able to keep up to how fast he had been going.

  "So, you want to swap with me to borrow my Soul Magic skill? That's a unique proposition. I'm going to admit something. I've never heard of this Skill Swap, but… you need to level it to level two? I'm sorry, it takes time. It took me a long time to get to where I'm at, but perhaps…"

  Xerxei looked at his notes. He held out his hand.

  Ludere connected with the man.

  He could feel it. Just making contact with the man's skin. It felt like he had an aura around him. Little pulses reached out.

  It was like a healing aura escaped the man, and… Ludere swapped Soul Magic for Athletics. For the first time, he could see auras around the people that surrounded him. Each one of them was distinct, they almost held a flavor that he could see with his eyes.

  "Xerxei, this is amazing. How do I use it?"

  "Pardon me, child. I need but a minute. I never thought I would lose my skill. Even temporarily. It's so strange. And teaching someone to use soul magic? Without having it? Envision that you are at peace with yourself, and we can begin."

  For ten minutes, the two of them went through the basics of Soul Magic as Ludere pushed on the skill as much as he could. It took almost all of the time left, but he was able to see the cracks along the edge of his soul.

  Gia's soul was immaculate, as was Jay's.

  Erebus's soul looked like it had seen a lot of stress recently. That was probably on account of him finding more about the man now than at any other time. But soon, they were out of time.

  Despite all their work, Ludere wasn't able to get his Soul Magic up. So he had to make a difficult decision.

  "You tell me that there will be a demon invasion soon. You also tell me that you haven't gotten your Soul Magic skill to the second level. I don't know what else I can do. If you come back to life… am I going to die as well?"

  Gia gasped. "For sure that's not the case, if you keep resetting?"

  "I keep coming back to the same place. Every time. This time was just different because of the succubi. But I know to keep my distance until I can get this handled. Xerxei, where were you one hour ago, and how would I convince you to do what you just did, faster?"

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Xerxei paused. He closed his eyes. "I have a granddaughter named… Rae. She recently had complications due to Soul damage that I had to fix. Tell me that and I'll listen. Honestly, I can see your aura. I would be very interested even if you hadn't explained all of this to me."

  "I'll keep that in mind."

  "Now, if you don't mind, I don't have my primary defense and I'm going to go spend what is probably my last moments with my grandchildren. Thanks for the Athletics skill, by the way. I feel as spry as you look!"

  Xerxei bounded out of the room.

  He didn't even look back.

  Erebus placed a hand on his shoulder. "Spears?"

  "That sounds appropriate. Are you ready to die next to me?" Ludere stepped up off the cot.

  "No, but if you keep going back in time…"

  Gia got up behind them. "As the goddess would say. Fluff around and find out."

  "Where did you get three spears?" Ludere said, accepting the perfectly weighted implement.

  Gia twirled her spear. "Don't ask. I don't want to have to lie."

  "I feel unusually calm for knowing what I think is about to happen." Erebus stood up and put his spear into the crook of his arm. "But apparently we've died before, so… The way is through."

  "The way is through," Ludere found himself saying.

  He had always hated that symbol of the Empire. He found himself saying it unironically for the first time in his life. They moved out to the walls.

  Three people with spears dressed in arena garb were not out of place. The fact that they moved to the edge of the inner wall might have. The depth was twice the height of a normal man. Ludere pointed in the direction of the Octavi section.

  "That's where you survived the longest?" Erebus said. "Let's head there."

  "The way is through," Gia whispered as they passed several rowdy sections.

  The dull roar of the crowd turned as Ludere was certain that the gate was now open. He could feel the presence of the demons. They felt altogether different from any of the humans. He could see a large purple aura surrounding a hulking demon. Going off of human souls, this one looked like he had the skills of a senator, or at least a Prefereti.

  ---

  Having people next to him that he trusted made this part of the fight simpler.

  He didn't have to watch his back. They were right next to him. It was more deterrence than anything else. He would weave in between them. Several guards had lined up next to them as well, making it more than easy to funnel the oncoming demons towards him. Half of the arena was already lost as the demons had climbed over the inner walls, but not his half near the Octavi section. In fact, after three minutes of fighting, they had stopped attempting to climb the wall nearby.

  Ludere struggled to continually use his Soul Magic. If he was going to advance it, he needed it to reach level two before the vision ended. This was the closest they had come to actually stemming the invasion in any way, and the demonic leadership was changing tactics on the fly.

  For the first time, Ludere saw the flow of battle change around him. His Spear skill had gotten to twenty five, for which he was grateful, but his Soul Magic was still stuck at one. Just seeing the amount of auras around felt like a lot. It felt like he was putting the work in, just the same.

  Everything about the way that the demons moved spoke to the level of their complexity in working together as an invasion force. The legion of demons still hadn't stopped marching through the gate, despite what had to be dozens of deaths.

  Ludere paused in between thrusts. "Are they setting up a command tent in the arena?"

  Erebus looked like he was having the worst day of his life. "That's got to be supplies for the legion. They're setting up for a long campaign."

  "Dead gods," Gia whispered. "This was planned and executed like a theatre play."

  "And we're just the cast of players." Ludere hefted his spear.

  Now they had a choice to make. The demonic legion was moving to pinch them from both sides of the oval.

  Gia started moving. "They think we're pieces on a Tiles board. We need to make them understand that we're playing as well. Left or right?"

  “Right.”

  The two men followed. There was no question about it. Demons covered halfway up the side of the arena. They weren't moving fast, but there was a slow certainty.

  Ludere stretched, trying his best to get something out of his Soul Magic. It was frustratingly not able to tell him anything. Other skills wanted him to use them, but this one just felt like it wanted him to meditate on the meaning of life.

  They moved to intercept. Some of the demons were at a height advantage, so he prioritized those. Unfortunately, there was a succubus within the next group. He locked eyes with it. It was hard to break contact, but he did, probably because of the Soul Magic. It felt like he was resisting eating his mother's cooking, and he was starving.

  He really wanted what the succubus was selling but there was just something about it this time.

  It was the snarl of the succubus that alerted him of his newest group project. She landed in front of him. For the first time in a long time he was on his back foot as she engaged him with a thin sword he was unfamiliar with.

  That alone wouldn't have shaken him.

  It was what happened next that stopped him cold.

  Erebus and Gia turned to him. Then their spears aimed at him. He could see the blue in their eyes.

  "Sorry. My new wife said that we need to take you down. It's not personal." Erebus pointed.

  "Professional courtesy, but she is my new wife. Still, you should just give up now."

  "Gia! Erebus! You're both under the effect of the succubus!"

  Ludere dodged both of their attacks. For the first time, he considered just running away. No one would blame him. There were just too many demons. His visions had never been so long, but without Soul Magic? He would be wide open to any succubus with a modicum of talent.

  For the first time since these visions started, he knew that he had to make a rapid change to a plan that wasn't working.

  Not for the last time, he ran.