Gene’s will crystalized in that moment and he drew deeply on the well of power he had yet learned how to tap into. In response, felt energy rapidly draining from his body.

  “Tir, check the armory. I think our uninvited guests are still here,” said Melias before turning to walk back to the door. Blood began to drip from his nose due to the strain. Tir passed over them, not seeing the cowering adventurers before him as Gene’s illusion held strong.

  “Catch them. Once this trap deactivates in an hour, I’ll return with the twins to conduct a thorough interrogation. You may pull off its arms and legs but do not kill them. We must know what new trick the Council of cockroaches has at their disposal.”

  “Kyrie, run!! Tir is coming for you!” Gene reached out in a panic, trying to find the warrior as both Tir and Melias exited the room through different doors.

  He dropped to a knee and Winnie almost spilled out of his arms. He was tired from the strain of using his powers and the adrenaline that coursed through him in the moment.

  Winnie squeezed his arm to get his attention. “Get me out of here. I can refill my mana once I’m out of range of this trap and bring this place down but we have to be fast. If they return, we’re worse than dead.”

  Outside, Kyrie was in a panic. A half a mile away from his sister and Eonis, he was missing Gene’s powers badly right now. He heard only whispers when he burst out of the spire's doors but he heard enough to know that Tir was on his trail. He knew he didn’t have a chance against Tir alone but he thought at least with Kyra and Eonis they might have a chance to get Winnie and Gene and escape without any loss of life. He ran full speed, his cape fluttering behind him, leaving a red streak in the air.

  A sudden explosion knocked him out of those hopeful dreams, kicking up a dirt cloud in front of him and knocking him back off his feet from the shockwave. His focused crystallized in that moment and he recovered, slamming his feet down and skidding backwards across the ground. In one smooth motion, he pulled his new blade off his belt, secured the blade to its scabbard and raised it defensively.

  To cut the Bloodrager was to court death. This lesson had been drilled in his head since he was a child and he knew only blunt force attacks could be used against Tir. His eyes frantically searched the cloud as he tried and failed to predict an incoming attack. There was a sharp whistling sound as a tiny needle shot through the air, blowing a hole in the cloud to reveal a smiling Tir who pointed with a bloody finger.

  Kyrie moved fast to block it, activating his Battle Acuity ability. Time seemed to slow as he raised his sheathed blade. His mind ran instant calculations on how to deflect the glancing blow. Angle, speed, stance. He saw it all as the needle hit the blade. But to his horror, the blood needle pierced through the scabbard, the blade, his armor, and then finally his shoulder. Hours of agony wracked his mind in the compressed mental time afforded by Battle Acuity as the blade pierced flesh and then bone before the ability ran out and the needle exploded out of the back of his armor. It slammed into the side of the spire with enough force to kick up a black cloud behind Kyrie and drive him to a knee.

  Tir whistled. “Whoops. I guess I missed,” he said, grinning to reveal razor sharp teeth. Blood dripped from his index finger, splattering the ground with a thud far louder than that amount of liquid should have been able to make.

  The feeling left Kyrie’s arm and he dropped his sword but he didn’t take his eyes off of Tir. The hulking brute strolled over to him casually, barely containing his glee. He raised his hand, the blood dripping into his palm and coating his index finger. “You should consider yourself lucky. Melias wants to know what you did here, kid. Otherwise, that first strike would gone right between your eyes.”

  He locked eyes with Kyrie, his grin growing more and more as the young warrior took his cape and wrapped it over his arm before securing it as a makeshift sling. Tir broke into an uproarious laughter at the action, nearly doubling over when Kyrie picked up his sword.

  With a sudden burst of speed he charged the hulk only for Tir to raise his finger to block an incoming blow. Kyrie activated Brutal Assault. In an instant, he was unburdened by pain, unbridled by discipline. His blade whipped through the air like the lashing strikes of a serpent, striking at random as he tried to overwhelm Tir’s defenses but the man only yawned. He lazily blocked every strike with his finger and backed Kyrie towards the building.

  The young warrior refused to give up. With a thought, he activated Brutal Assault x2, pushing his body beyond its limits. His muscles ached and tore from the strain but Tir only seemed to react with growing bored.

  He was losing. He was going to die unless he did something. He thought about his strongest techniques. Battle Acuity and Brutal Assault were opposing skills on the Warrior’s skill tree. One pushed your reflexes to perform pinpoint accurate movements, the other pushed your body to fire off as many strikes as possible in rapid succession. To use both in concert would tear your body apart. In that moment, he realized that if he didn’t do something, Tir was going to tear him apart anyway.

  With no other option, he activated both powers and went on a rampage. His wild swings became faster, glancing blows rather than being blocked outright. He felt a frantic mania overtake him as for one moment, he stopped Tir’s march. The Bloodrager found himself taken by surprise when one of the swings arced through the air and slammed into his neck, knocking his head back and shattering a vertebrae. Kyrie wanted to smile. In that moment, he stood at the border between the Warrior and Barbarian classes but it proved to not be enough.

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  Tir’s hand shot through the air with blinding speed, snatching Kyrie into the air and constricting his airway. With his other hand, he punched himself in the neck to crack his neck back into place.

  He glared at Kyrie, his smile gone as he said, “You insignificant worm. I should’ve popped your head like a grape when I laid eyes on you, landed on you and squished you like the bug you are. Know that you’re only alive because of Melias. He cares what happened here today. I don’t.”

  Kyrie’s blood ran cold as he looked into Tir’s vacant eyes. The man before him was no longer a man. Kyrie faced the true beast.

  “I’ve grown bored of this,” said Tir.

  Kyrie wanted to cry, to kick out, to struggle in his grasp but he couldn’t move, could barely think about taking the actions. It was clear Tir had an ability that dulled those instincts.

  “You feel it, don’t you?” asked Tir. “Lamb to the slaughter. When faced with my apathy, your blood will listen to my will and do as commanded. Now, little lamb, die—t food consists of high protein, low fat foods that…”

  Kyrie blinked wide in confusion as Tir froze in place and began rambling nonsensical facts about his health regimen. He heard a voice behind him, echoed in his mind with a growl.

  “Let him go.”

  Hero System Message: You have used a power stunt to activate Synaptic Scramble 8. You are now Exhausted. Further uses of abilities beyond your current selected powers will result in Incapacitation.

  Hero System Notification: New mission objective….Save Kyrie, the Warrior from Tir, the Bloodrager.

  That time, Kyrie really did smile. He saw the confusion in Tir’s face as he switched to talking about his grooming routines in a louder tone. Kyrie struggled to turn his head and saw Gene standing in the doorway of the stronghold with Winnie in his arms.

  White light streamed out of Gene's eyes, crackling like electricity. He took labored steps away from the stronghold and set Winnie down. Exhaustion hit him like a truck, wracking his body in waves. Kyrie was stunned. He had never seen anything like that in his entire career as an adventurer. Gene coruscated with psionic energy as he raised a hand to his temple and spoke.

  “I said: Let him go.” Tir’s hand opened suddenly, dropping Kyrie to the ground before Gene continued, “Leave this place for good.”

  Tir turned to face the Veil and began walking with a sure and steady pace. In a matter of seconds he was gone. Kyrie looked up from the ground at Gene in awe as the energy subsided and he wavered before collapsing to the ground.

  Hero System Message: You have used a Power Stunt to activate Mind Control 8. You are now Incapacitated. Further uses will result in Death.

  Gene hit the ground hard, barely comprehending the words of the system. Kyrie scrambled to his side and checked his pulse. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

  “Get him clear,” Winnie wheezed. “I don’t know how long whatever Gene did will last but I need to bring this place down before the other generals return!”

  Her frantic energy spread to Kyrie as he struggled to drag Gene away with his good arm. Eldritch chants spilled from Winnie’s lips, splitting the air around the spire before constricting the entire building and bringing it down with a cacophonous clatter. The dark energy circulating through the building suddenly snapped, shooting backwards to retreat to the two nearest spires and releasing the forest from the dark lord’s grasp.

  Winded, she ran to catch up with Kyrie, looking back every few steps as they staggered to Kyra and Eonis with tears in their eyes. Their hubris had brought them too close to death.

  Outside the curtain, Kyra was covering her mouth in horror. She didn’t know what to do with the information she had listened in on. She shivered, taking in deep breaths to steady herself.

  She didn’t visit Kyrie that night. The stress of the revelations made so casually about Gene made her feel weak. She climbed into her own cabin and collapsed into her seat. She was asleep before she realized it.

  She felt a warm light gracing her face and instilling a much needed sense of calm into her.

  “Wake up, my child,” a motherly voice spoke to her and she knew who it was even without seeing her.

  She looked up to see Aliyah towering before her, a shimmering white light. Kyra stood in a pristinely white space with cloud cover beneath her feet. Surrounding her were three others that she dare not peer to. In front was Aliyah, Keeper of the Undying Torch, goddess of light and life. To her left was the red light of Biris, minder of the flock, god of humanity and knowledge. To her right was the green light of Tremmel, tender of the garden, god of flora, fauna, and all things natural. Behind her was the dark blue light of Vyee, water bearer for the sea of souls, goddess of death and order.

  Encircled by the gods, Kyra fell to her knees and prostrated herself before them.

  “Stand, my child. You have nothing to fear in this place.” The goddess’s warm light washed away any fear she had and she slowly stood on shaking legs. “Stand and receive revelation. I must thank you for your faithful service and apologize for the test of faith I am about to give you. We have conferred to warn you about the entity known to you as Eugene Grey. We saw him when he first entered our universe and have kept an eye on him to see what danger he poses. We have now come to a consensus. He is outside of the system and therefore, outside of our strict control. Within him lies a sleeping dragon. Watch over him with caution, do whatever you can to preserve him in his current state, for if he wakes, he may become the fall of man.

  A whistle pulled Kyra out of her slumber and she shot straight up in her cabin. Dawn was breaking and with it, the Cosmic Caravan was returning to the stars it came from. It came to a stop and they exited the vehicle.

  “We travel on foot from here, make camp midday, and resume the night ride on the Cosmic Caravan,” said Kyrie as he stretched and laid out the plan to Gene.

  Everyone except Kyra were rested and bright eyed about the day to come. She was even more exhausted than she was before she slept. She looked at Gene and he caught her eye almost immediately. He smiled and as she returned the smile, her blood ran cold.