12 – Lost in the Rift

I peered around the boulder and saw two green-skinned creatures with pointed ears and big expressive eyes. They had a small fire going with something that looked like a squirrel roasting on a spit. They were currently in the process of arguing over a bag of what appeared to be green leaves. Their language reminded me of the minions from that one movie.

One goblin reached out and started strangling the other goblin, shaking his head back and forth and jangling the rusty knives that hung from its belt.

I decided to leave them to it, not wanting to involve myself in a fight with another fantasy creature, but as I crept back behind the boulder, my foot slipped on some loose rock, which let out a small but incriminating scraping sound.

I froze.

The goblin chatter stopped.

A moment later, the two goblins came wandering around the edge of the boulder to investigate, rusty blades drawn.

As soon as they spotted me, one of them pointed out with a crooked finger and said something incomprehensible, but probably meant something like, “GET HIM!”

Goddamnit.

I ran.

There were lots of boulders to hide behind in this weird little desert valley (the rock climber guy I used to work with would have loved it), but the goblins were quick. I had to think fast.

As I ran, I pulled the giant spider orb out of my inventory. It was no easy task, considering I had to get into a semi-meditative state just to access my inventory, which was not an easy thing to do when you were being chased by angry green monsters.

But despite the significant distractions, I succeeded. The huge ball of mana hovered in my palm, just begging to be absorbed into my system.

I knew we needed these things to pay off our quota to the White Tower or whatever, but Bagavash had said they were going to give me some orbs in the rift to help me level up. I figured they wouldn’t be too mad if I used this one to recover some mana, considering the circumstances.

After casting a couple [Void Threads] and [Void Blade] during my fight with the spiders, not to mention using my mana to light my way in the tunnels, it was safe to say I was significantly depleted.

I wasn’t even sure this orb held enough mana to make me level up. All I knew was that I needed more if I was going to fight these little fuckers.

I cut to the left behind a boulder green with lichen and started absorbing the mana as I ran.

It was like opening the floodgates of a dam.

The giant spider’s mana flowed into me like a torrent, filling my own orb as the one in my hand shrank. Less than a minute later, it was fully integrated.

The two goblins were still hot on my tail, jabbering away in their incoherent language. I closed my eyes and risked a peek at my status as I ran.

Congratulations, you have reached level 3!

Mana: 512/512
(Mana required to reach next level: 680)

You may now upgrade a spell or learn a new one.

Upgrade [Void Thread] → Level 2
Increases the diameter of the thread.

Upgrade [Void Blade] → Level 2
Increases the size of the blade and the spell duration to 2.0 seconds.

Spell choices:

[Root Bind] plant magic
[Healing Water] water magic
[Outer Dark] void magic
[Summon Cat] conjuration magic

Hell yeah! I leveled up! And the spider’s orb had even pushed me past the 480 mana required to reach level 3.

But what the hell was [Summon Cat]?

Also, I noticed that [Leaf Dart] was no longer available, which confirmed my theory that some spells dropped off the list if you didn’t choose them.

I was tempted to upgrade [Void Blade] since it had been so effective against the giant spider, but I couldn’t resist checking the description of the shiny new void spell.

[Outer Dark] void magic
Casting cost: 150 mana
Creates a sphere of pure darkness to confuse enemies. Caster can perceive everything within the sphere while inside it.

Fuck it.

“I choose [Outer Dark].”

Suddenly, I realized why Myrl had a hundred level 1 spells. The temptation to learn something new was just too appealing.

I sprinted forward to put some distance between me and my pursuers, dodging between rocks and the scrubby underbrush that dominated this area.

The spell had a steep cost, but I had mana to spare, and this spell sounded dangerously effective. Trapping my enemies in a sphere where they could see nothing and I could see everything? These goblins didn’t stand a chance.

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I burned the spell circle into my retinas and channeled my mana through my badly damaged staff. Apparently, it was still functional because the mana flowed out and formed the spell circle just how I’d envisioned it.

“[Outer Dark],” I said, and the spell circle glowed black.

Directly in front of me, a sphere of utter darkness appeared, like a black hole hovering over the desert floor.

The only problem was that it was only about as far across as I was tall. Which is to say 6 feet.

Well shit.

That didn’t leave enough room for fighting, let alone confounding my enemies.

I could see how, when scaled up, it could be a devastating spell, but right now it was pretty useless.

I didn’t have much time to consider its uses, because I heard the goblins rapidly approaching.

I ducked behind an inconspicuous boulder just as they rounded a bend in a dry riverbed.