Spell Weaver [Book 2 Complete]

The plateau was lined at the edges with small, jagged crystalline structures that looked almost like the antithesis of a winter's frost.

All three streams of mana channeling toward the aspect cut off abruptly as its ruby-like eyes snapped open and zeroed in on the group.

He could hear the packs of Night monsters approaching from behind them. "Olivia, go!" he called.

The rest of his friends snapped into motion, moving forward once again, and shifting the formation to protect from different angles of attack.

Unity, in the form of the firstborn, slowly rose from its coil. It didn't move forward at all; only rising in height as it radiated large amounts of pitch black mana.

"Get ready," Alex said to the team.

Olivia pulled ahead of the pack, the injured Nox emerging from her shadow and running alongside her.

They covered more than half the distance in a matter of heartbeats. But their sprint was interrupted when myriad abominations began emerging from behind—or within—the firstborn.

Grotesque combinations of the monsters they'd come to know over the last several months of training emerged to intercept them.

The already nightmarish visages of Night monsters were further twisted by their odd fusions.

There were mixes of the ape-like gurliks they'd fought with the lower bodies of a crab monster. There were wolves with their heads split down the middle, their rear legs more akin to a frog than a canine. The way darkness seemed to drip and trail behind their movements made tracking threats and predicting attacks difficult.

With Mark and Jonathan in the lead, the team collided hard with the front of the defensive line. Two of the monsters fell almost instantly, causing the line before them to bow and bend. A salvo of arrows and spells broke it open, and they pushed through in a wedge, with Sam and Sarah in the middle.

Alex's mind ran at full speed, analyzing his teammates' positions and actions while monitoring for threats. He tossed a barrier, now returned to his [Spell Storage], in front of Sam to block a lunging maw while he put a heal-over-time spell on Mark. Sarah was close to his back, using her flute to play a melody that invigorated his very being. Even though the music was faint compared to the intense sounds of combat, scraping of stone, and snapping of maws, somehow the notes found their way to his mind.

He risked a quick look past their small group to see Olivia [Shadow Step] on the other side of a small group of creatures. When a hybrid beast turned to meet her and prevent her continued beeline to Unity, Nox was there. The huge shadow panther lunged forward, both paws raised and mouth agape.

Expecting an attack, the creature turned and began to raise its arms, only to be hit with a weightless shadow that turned into a small cloud of smoke when it landed for its attack. The real Nox appeared in Olivia's own shadow as she continued to run at full speed.

Their coordination and teamwork were inspired.

"Keep pushing!" he called to Mark and Jonathan. "We've got to get close enough to protect the two of them." Jonathan removed his second axe from a storage item and took two steps ahead of Mark. His muscles began to bulge, but then he seemed to return to his normal size, and he noticed Sarah holding out her hand, helping prevent him from entering a full rage state.

The berserker cut a line through the monsters, allowing them to push through, and several times, Alex recognized his own change in combat.

Two heavy fists descended on his head, and instead of dodging or stowing his wand to remove his sword, he simply raised his free hand and created a barrier, while sending several wand bolts into the gurlik's face. Once stunned, he took the extra moment to weave a lightning bolt spell circle and send it full power into its chest.

Their forward momentum was halted as the ground in front of Olivia shifted and cracked diagonally back to where their main group pushed. From the crack, massive tendrils of Night burst forward and tried to grab at any of them within range.

One of them almost latched onto the edge of Mark's shield, but he pivoted and brought his hammer down on its form.

Something changed in the monsters' stances. It was immediately noticeable, as many of them stood up straighter and stopped attacking with such reckless abandon, many of them even going as far as to take steps away from their group.

The lull in their progression made Alex feel uneasy, and he searched desperately for a way to push past the curtain of flailing tendrils.

It was Nox that made the first breakthrough. After a brief pause, the companion charged forward in what appeared to be a fruitless effort, but just before contact was made, he turned his body so that his left shoulder slammed into the flailing appendages. The wall of tentacles recoiled and pulled away from the magic of the Sun curse in his body, allowing him to charge through with almost no resistance.

Olivia moved to join him, but the wall restructured itself quickly.

Alex's attention was pulled away from them as he heard a bellow of rage from where they'd stepped onto the plateau. Shuffling and slamming could be heard over the crack of his next several lightning spells sent toward the faltering monsters that slowly surrounded them.

He saw a blurred, large figure leap into the air in a way that his mind thought of a certain green mutant from one of his favorite movie series. Before he could track it with his eyes, the monsters attacked at once.

Regardless of size, shape, or twisted composition, the wave of beasts seemed to become more coordinated. They lashed out as one, attacking, fighting, and finding weaknesses in their defenses.

Mark took several blows back to back, and Alex shifted his position to move Sam closer to the center of their small group.

"Shit," he said as Sarah was hit in the head by a large, flat projectile.

She fell to the ground, her head bleeding, and without her direct attention, he knew Jonathan was on a clock.

"Jon! Push up to those tendrils and get us through them. Use your {Rage} and we'll move around you!" He switched to only using his barrier spell, devoting his mana and attention to defense for the team.

Sarah stood to her feet shakily, one hand to her head, and her flute forgotten on the ground.

Valtherion's thoughts came through to his mind, and the feeling of fear and pain made his heart lurch.

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

He looked up and squinted through the brightness of the grey sky, easily spotting the blue spec amongst a small horde of black birds half his size.

Val! Come down here. Don't keep fighting them!

His eyes went wide as his companion dove, and a mist of blood could be clearly seen as he pulled from the multiple mouths on a single carrion-like creature.

Ouch. I don't like it.

Fly faster, buddy. Come on! Come to me, and you can turn around and use your mana on them.

His bond tucked his wings close to his body and plummeted faster to the ground. Above the heads of the creatures, about twenty meters deep, his wings spread to stop the descent and use the wind to ride to the team.

But that's when everything fell apart.

Val's wings expanded, but several cuts in both of his wings led to them not catching the air like they were meant to. Instead, his body spun once and slammed down onto the back of a creature.

Alex cried out, ready to rush to his bond, but Mark called out at the same moment.

"We've got to move, Jon's cleared a path! Nothing is on the other side. He's going to look for something to fight and turn on us, we need to get through, now!"

Sam held onto Sarah's arm, healing her as he pulled her along.

To his right, on the outskirts of the monster pack, he could see Olivia still attempting to push through the tendrils where Nox had passed through. They, like the monsters themselves, seemed to be moving as one, baiting and ambushing her in perfect synchronization.

She stepped back, both daggers covered in black blood, and screamed in frustration. Creating more space, she scanned the area and saw where Jonathan had pushed through.

Using a technique that they'd come up with from their original fight against the sun elves, she quickly removed her short shoulder cloak, and clipped it to the hilt of her largest dagger before throwing it at a 45-degree angle. It peaked and began to fall, creating a mobile shadow over the heads of the Night pack.

She jumped high in the air, gaining line of sight, and used her movements kill to teleport forward into the created shadow. Gracefully, she landed on a monsters shoulder, caught her dagger and jumped again to appear in the shadow nearest Mark.

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They passed through the line of tendrils together, and she continued following after Nox.

Sam and Sarah were pulling further away, which left Alex standing dumbly, with monsters on all sides.

He ground his teeth together and pushed toward the tug of his companion. Roughly ten monsters were waiting for him in that direction, and though they were his level or lower, the coordination with which they moved made the progress slow and dangerous.

Being the lone human in the crowd, other small packs turned their attention to him, and he felt his pulse quicken further, panic edging into his mind.

He pushed the feelings down and finished developing his plan, taking a note from Olivia's method of traversing the wall of monsters.

The directional breeze spell circle formed without issue, and he activated it at the same time that he used his [Feather Step] skill. With the propulsion from the directional blast of wind and his reduced weight, he could barely keep himself upright, and he felt a muscle tear in his shoulder as he was launched at the monsters standing between him and his companion.

Just before collision, he activated the barrier spell in his storage, transforming himself into a self-made battering ram. The move proved so effective that he propelled himself nearly a dozen meters past his companion, who was locked in combat with the twisted form of a wolf.

Alex leapt into the fight, aiding Val in the struggle. For the first time in a long while, he used [Mana Infusion] to empower his fist and struck forward, reacting on instinct. As soon as the blow landed, he knew it would do damage, but not nearly enough. He created a bit of space, drew his wand, and fired several bolts through an alteration breeze circle.

The gusts of wind infused bolts of mana were enough to push back the nearest few monsters.

Val, get on my shoulders.

I'm too big.

It doesn't matter, come.

Confusion came through their bond, but Val was injured and doing his best to keep down his panic. Listening to Alex seemed to be the thing that won out in his young mind, coming to his human and wrapping several times around his waist and shoulders.

Hold on, buddy. We're going to fly.

Alex can't fly.

The thought came through with a note of incredulity that he didn't have time to address as he prepared the same combo he'd used before. Activating his movement skill, he leaped straight up into the air, then shot the spell at a downward angle, propelling the two of them forward and at an angle.

Unfortunately, he didn't anticipate that being propelled at such an angle would send his body tumbling forward with no way to counterbalance the spin.

They easily cleared the top of the large tendrils, despite their clear desire to reach out for them. And, even though it wasn't graceful by any stretch, they landed in a heap on the clear side of the wall.

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Alex groaned and coughed as he rolled awkwardly on his side. His hips were lifted off the ground, and his torso twisted because the young dragon's serpentine body wrapped around him.

See. I said. Alex can not fly. Ouch.

Part of him wanted to laugh at the sheer absurdity of what had happened. His mind went back to his mirage's limit testing when jumping off of the cliff, trying to use the same spell circle to slow its descent. The impact had been rough enough to shatter the illusory body, but it certainly would have eased the painful landing they'd just endured.

Still a bit to learn there.

This amusement was short-lived. Now that he and Valtherion were clear from the horde of monsters, kept at bay by their own wall of undulating tendrils, he took stock of their plateau section. It surprised him to note that there were a few scattered human corpses in the area around Unity, but they were shriveled dried husks of their normal forms.

A small, saddened part of him realized that to the Night, the humans weren't anything other than a resource. Lin believed her inner sect members were close with Concealment, but when they'd gotten to the pylon, it was clear that they were used as sacrifices for the convergence.

He refocused on his team and saw them a short distance away.

Nox had reached Unity and latched tightly onto the Firstborn's body just behind its head. However, what should have been their moment of triumph became their greatest cause for alarm since the mission began.

"Come on," Alex said. "Let's get to Sam, get you healed, and figure out what's happening." He could hear Olivia calling out in panic, slamming her fists on Nox's back as both of the Night monsters remained motionless.

Compared to the sheer chaos that they'd just left, this section of the flat land seemed to be held under a spell. Their team stood a short distance away from the struggling creatures, unmoving and tense.

"Guys?" Alex called as he approached. He grabbed Sam's shoulder, turning him, worried that they were stuck in another illusion.

"It was a trap, I think," the healer said. There was conflicted pain in his eyes when he looked at Alex. It cleared quickly as a new need became apparent, and he moved to heal Valtherion's injured form.

Alex moved past them and took in Sarah and Jonathan. She stood with her arm on his shoulder and watched Olivia closely. Jonathan continued to scan their surroundings, though his eyes were clear of rage. He passed them as well to stand next to Mark.

"What is happening? Why are you just standing here?" His heart was still pounding, and he knew that the large pack of monsters was just a short distance away.

"I don't really know. Unity didn't even try to move. It just let Nox bite him on the neck, and they haven't moved since then."

Confused further, Alex looked at the stalemate while approaching Olivia. Mana of pure black and golden light clashed in the air over them, and a large amount of the Night's mana funneled from Unity's body and into Nox.

He reached out carefully and grabbed hold of Olivia's shoulders. "Liv, what are you doing? This was the plan. He's using his skill, right?"

She turned to look at him, and the tears in her eyes gave him pause. "He's going to die."

"What?"

"Unity was waiting for him. The convergence started, but when we killed concealment, Unity knew we were coming and changed plans to try and merge with Nox's aspect of Hunger. He wasn't as weak as he was supposed to be."

"But it looks like Nox is winning?" Alex looked past her and at the two of them again.

"No. He is trying to use the curse to fight Unity from completely taking over his body. It's so enflamed now, he doesn't think he'll live even if he stops Unity from taking him over."

"The curse?"

"Yes, the sun magic." She pulled away from him and returned to her bond's side.

"Fuck."

Alex looked around, unsure of how to proceed. His team looked as lost as he felt, and he knew that he needed to adjust their plan, even if it hurt to say it: "Mark, check your gear. Sam, make sure everyone is healed. We need to be ready to move."

He moved from one side of Unity's stationary body to the other, drinking a healing potion as he did so. There were only two left in his storage, and it worried him he was so low.

"What are you doing?" Olivia asked, eyebrows raised in concern.

"We have to be prepared to move. Nothing is stopping the horde out there from rushing us. Worst case, we need to grab Nox and be ready to move."

"He has to finish the [Consume]." Her voice was thick with disbelief, but she recoiled as something in the air changed.

Mana around Nox and the Firstborn became visible to the naked eye. It was becoming so concentrated around their bodies that a smoky halo of shadow mana poured toward the smaller beast. Nox's jaw tightened in his bite, and muscles all along his body tensed as a visible wave of golden flames emerged from his shoulder and back and swallowed up the Night mana.

There was a brief struggle, with both waves clashing against each other, swaying back and forth over Nox's head. In a bright flash of golden-white light, the group took a step back.

After his vision cleared, Alex saw Nox let go of Unity's neck and slump to the ground, twitching in pain and continuing to struggle.

There was a pause of confusion before his whole body tensed. The large serpent moved slowly, and its lengthy, scaled body moved in more than one direction at once, positioning itself to lift its head. As it did so, both red eyes blinked open, and Alex felt his pulse quicken once again.

He scanned the snake and saw immediately what had happened. Nox had won the battle against Unity, but it left the Firstborn to reclaim its body and functionality.

Alex let rip a lightning spell as fast as it could come together, shocking the reawakened monster. It fell on the ground near Nox, blue lightning arcing along its length.

Olivia lashed out and stabbed both daggers down at the same time in the space between its eyes.

Despite the pain it must have been in, the serpent recoiled, lifting her several meters in the air before she went flying a short distance away. Mark was there before she hit the ground, and Jonathan was moving forward at the same time.

The powerful tail of the Firstborn swept around from the side, heading directly for Alex. He lifted a hand to activate his barrier spell, but Mark was there as well, his trait naturally increasing his stats, and his muscular body blocking the snake's attack.

Before another offensive could be made, Valtherion dove from somewhere just out of sight and rammed his head into the same wound Olivia had made, and just as the shadow serpent's head made contact with the ground, Val activated a skill.

[Mana Burst] had been charged up with so much of Valtherion's mana that half of the snake's head disappeared completely.

Everyone in the group was surprised as the bond flapped its wings twice to gain height before touching the ground and landing next to Alex.

Prick.

"Way to go, Val!" Alex called with a disbelieving laugh.

If that window alone hadn't proved his theory correct, then the next one certainly did.

"And… Nox defeated Unity," Alex breathed.

Even as he said it, though, the feeling of a win never followed. Nox thrashed on the ground as if he were still fighting for his life, and despite pulling in the immense amount of Night mana and consuming the aspect of Unity, there was an overwhelming amount of sun magic flowing through his body.

The pattern across his fur had become patchy and constantly flowing, like his entire being was made up of golden light, but a layer of thick black smoke coasted across the surface of his body and fur, rippling in waves from head to tail.

Olivia rushed forward and placed her hands tentatively on his side.

Glancing back, the entire team stood cautiously, unsure of where to move next. What caught his eye, however, was beyond the team. He turned completely to look at the horde of monsters and tendrils more closely.

They'd stopped. Completely and utterly, as if all were stunned at the same time or frozen in time.

"We need to move, now." Alex snapped. "Liv… Liv…" he moved to her and got her attention. "Can you get him in your shadow?"

She shook her head.

"Jon, come grab Nox. We need to move. Mark, you're up front, we're pushing straight south like we planned before."

Jonathan moved without hesitation, but it was then that the others started to look around and notice the stillness of the entire scene.

"What happened?"

"Come on, get moving. Valtherion, fly overhead. Try not to fight, we're just moving as fast as we can out of here."

With the team back on the move, they went south, away from the main horde that had followed them to Unity's location.

"Try not to touch them, just get on the other side of them," he said. As they wove between the frozen creatures, he was relieved to see that the pack to the south was much thinner than he'd even hoped. They were on the other side in a few moments of careful maneuvering, and had a straight shot to leave the Spiral and get back out into the open territory of the Night.

Once they cleared the twisted area of the convergence, Alex instructed them to take a hard right turn. "Head west," he told the team, a plan rapidly forming in his mind.

"We're going to the colony?" Sam asked.

"No. I think I know how we can help Nox, but we need to get to the HA area as quickly as we can. Everyone should start cycling their movement skills. Jon doesn't have [Running] like everyone else, so stay together unless the walls are in sight." He breathed deeply, activating his own skill to pick up pace as the rest of the team sped up.

"Treat anyone who tries to stop you on the way there as hostile. If we run into anyone, I'll stop and play mediator. The rest of you keep moving. When you get there, ask for Evan and get Nox in one of those incubation tubes."