NOVEL NEXT 81. Diversions
The twenty-four Sovereign-ranked Spore Elks emerged from the mist in utter silence, their massive forms gliding between the twisted trees as if their hooves never touched the ground.
After battling these creatures for hours, Ori had begun to see the truth.
These beasts were little more than mindless husks, flesh puppets animated by the parasitic fungal organisms growing within them. He recalled stories of ants driven to unnatural behaviours by Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the real-world inspiration for the pandemic in one of his favourite zombie post-apocalyptic games.
With this realisation came a grim resolve, one that overrode the very rational fear one might have when facing twenty-four creatures, each one two whole ranks and nominally a hundred times stronger than he was supposed to be.
However, something deep and instinctive within him loathed not just the rot and corruption but the very idea of this perversion of life and free will.
The creatures' fungus-infested antlers groaned like old timber in a gale while the pale veil of spores around them shifted, responding to their will as if the mist itself were an extension of their thoughts.
Ori stood at the centre of the ruined grove with Ruenne'del at his back. He could feel his familiar; Lysara deep beneath the earth at his feet, waiting in reserve. Meanwhile, Freya watched through his eyes, her noncorporeal form resting quietly within his soulspace.
Ori's silver eyes burned with light. The forest seemed to hold its breath.
And then the world exploded into a storm of splinters.
Slivers of antler as thin as blades and sharp enough to strip bark from awakened trees sliced through the mist. Ori's Prismatic Shield caught them inches from his face.
Reach of the Progenitor shimmered into being with four ghostly hands, while Arcane Hands summoned another pair, each gripping a blade from the Prototype Array of Duælism. Igniting with Prismatic Weapon, each one flickered in and out of existence, Split Minds coordinating their vicious stabs and slashes while conjuring shields that sparked and cracked beneath the onslaught of horn fragments.
The aether-warped creatures didn't remain idle. The forest trembled as every spore elk roared in unison, their call a distorted wail that tore through the forest canopy and shook the very earth. A flicker of fear passed through the bond. Ori turned to see Ruenne'del with her eyes closed, her brow drawn in concentration rather than terror.
She was resisting it. Likely a psychic assault that had broken across Ori's prodigious Will like a wave against rocks.
One of the beasts, more badly wounded than the rest, lowered its head in preparation for a charge. Its antlers, which should have been shattered down to stumps, began to regrow before Ori's eyes. The new growth twisted unnaturally, branching in warped, jagged arcs that pulsed with fungal veins. Little more than a weapon forged by rot, it became a grim, mutated imitation of what should have been a proud and majestic crown.
Ori dodged, his Nascent Ranker stats just enough to move him out of the beast's path. Another charged after it, then five more, and suddenly the air was filled with a storm of horn and fungus, the ground shaking with charging beasts and stomping hooves.
His spectral hands spun his blades in tight, blinding arcs, deflecting what his Prismatic Shield could not. But the spores continued to thicken, clinging to the air and muting his spells before they could fully form. Channel Lightning sparked once, its flash painfully bright as it lit up the milky mist, revealing only more shifting bodies. Chain Lightning failed to arc beyond the first target, its energy swallowed by the dense haze before it could leap to another.
Their movements were relentless and precise, their coordination unnerving, and the billowing spores rendered the battlefield suffocating. Ori's magic, normally overwhelming and direct, found itself muted and constrained.
Ruenne'del stayed close until the pressure peaked—then vanished into the mist, her presence slipping into the rhythm of battle. Through their bond, Ori could feel her focus, fast and sharp, her safety enhanced by frequent casts of Prismatic Shields replicated by Mirror Protection.
Spell: Mirror Protection
Type: Passive, Defensive, AOE
Characteristic Requirements: Wisdom: ≥25, Will: ≥35
Other Requirements: Bonded
Effects: Defensive effects such as shields, arcane armour, auras, or barriers applied to you are also applied to bonded allies within the range of your domain.
Description: When cast, Mirror Protection creates a powerful link between the caster and their bonded allies, mirroring any defensive spells cast on the user onto any bonded within their domain for ten minutes.
Notes: The range and effectiveness of Mirror Protection are influenced by the caster's will and wisdom.
And yet, after minutes of combat, they had made little progress. Lesser Smite proved its worth. Its power to incinerate and innate inclination to purify corruption inflicted meaningful damage, yet the beasts or whatever mind guided them rotated the injured with unsettling precision, allowing the monsters time to regenerate. Each time they returned, they were more grotesque, more twisted, fungal growths thickening over warped muscle and bone.
Ori's mana and Aether regenerated faster than he could use them, but the mental toll was another matter. The strain, held back only by sheer force of will, crept steadily in. Fighting at this intensity for so long demanded more than stamina. It demanded unwavering clarity and focus.
Clenching his jaw, Ori bent mana through Duælist's Weave. Five of his spectral limbs rose, each one conjuring a Light Field.
Spell: Light Field
Type: Active, Utility, Environmental, Area of effect, Control
Characteristic Requirements: Wisdom ≥ 25, Intelligence ≥ 50
Other Requirements: Light or Celestial affinity
Effects: Fills a medium-to-large area of the user's choice with hundreds of radiant orbs, greatly increasing illumination. Prevents the use of shadow magic with a one-rank penalty based on the user's rank threshold.
Description: Light Field creates a constellation of small radiant orbs that float in place within a zone of the user's choice. These orbs emit soft, steady light, banishing darkness and illuminating every corner of the area. Within the affected zone, shadow-based magic of a minus one rank cannot be cast, and higher-ranked magic that relies on darkness, void, abyssal, concealment, illusion, light or shadow manipulation are weakened or destabilised.
Notes: The number and brightness of the orbs scale with Intelligence, while the area of effect scales with Wisdom. Light Field does not cause damage.
Hundreds of glowing orbs lit the air. Ori infused each one with Purifying Light and wove them together, amplifying the spell until it covered the entire clearing.
The orbs exploded with light, peeling away the spore-laden mist and burning the poisoned air clean. The fog shrieked as it recoiled. For one brief moment, the battlefield was visible again.
Ori moved. Flenser gripped tight, Mind Over Motion charged, and he blinked forward, crossing the pocket of clarity his spell's moment of opportunity had provided.
Spell: Mind over Motion
Type: Active, Mentalism Enhancement, Utility, Self, Movement
Characteristic Requirements: Wisdom: ≥20, Intelligence: ≥20, Will: ≥50
Other Requirements: Dream-related affinity, Duælism Affinity
Effects: The caster's Will enhances Dexterity and enables Breath to enhance movement speed. For 3 seconds, gain a 1000% increase in movement speed and Polyexterity.
Description: Mind over Motion allows the caster to leverage their Breath for incredible bursts of speed and dexterity. For a brief period, the caster experiences a dramatic increase in movement speed, enabling rapid repositioning, evasive manoeuvres, or swift attacks. This enhancement makes the caster exceptionally agile and capable of performing complex actions with speed and precision.
Notes: The frequency and duration of Mind over Motion are influenced by the caster's will and available Breath. The spell is best used strategically to maximise its benefits during critical moments in combat.
The next moment, he was behind the first beast. His estoc slid through its neck in a single thrust and, with a slice, severed the spine. The Sovereign Elk staggered and fell, its ruined body bleeding spores and pus-filled foam.
Then came the retaliation.
Shards burst from the mist like daggers thrown from shadows. Prismatic Shields caught the first wave but shattered one after another under the pressure. A gust of fungal wind pushed through a gap and drove him to one knee even as he raised fresh barriers to protect Ruenne'del.
As the spore elk hive mind turned its focus on him, Ori repeated the weave, once again igniting the air with a field of purified light. Meanwhile, Rue blinked in and out of sight, her blade a blur, leaving behind severed limbs and shattered bone. Ori saw only glimpses of her through the glare. Her silhouette flickered and vanished, wings catching the light as her blade traced arcs of blood through the herd.
Ori collapsed, breath catching. He felt it at once. The wrongness. The invasion within.
The spores had burrowed into his lungs, and this time, his Aethermancy was not enough.
Lifeforce Capacity: 983/1000 (11,504)
…
Lifeforce Capacity: 621/1000 (11,504)
His breath hitched as panic rose with his bile. He could feel them threading through his flesh, seeking warmth and blood and places to grow. For the first time since awakening, Ori felt his Lifeforce drain. The damage caused by the spores far exceeded his natural regeneration. Images twisted through his mind, of roots in his lungs and fungi blooming beneath his skin. He screamed, the sound raw and strangled as his vocal cords tore, his lungs filled with pus.
Split Mind compartmentalised the burden of pain. His body convulsed in reaction to the toxic shock of the fungal invasion. One part of his mind focused on keeping the shields around Rue intact and maintaining battle awareness. The third focused entirely on the state of his deteriorating body.
First, he cast Death Ward upon himself, then followed with Purifying Light. It was ineffective. Its glow could not reach beneath his skin. Cure Wounds and Channel Restoration failed. The spores were neither alive nor dead.
As the corruption reached his blood and threatened the blood-brain barrier, Ori turned to desperate measures. He called upon Lesser Smite and Channel Lightning and turned them upon himself.
Pain surged through his chest as fire and electricity coursed through his body, igniting his skin and blistering the fat beneath. His nerves burned in brilliant agony. Cracked scars burst across the remaining patches of flesh as his second mind, now freed from the fading battle, focused entirely on regenerating his ruined form. He screamed again, louder through raw and recently repaired lungs. Skin blistered. Muscles locked. The spores burned, but it was not enough.
Lifeforce Capacity: 376/1000 (11,504)
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Around him, Peritia began to swirl. His page of fate lit up with notifications.
Congratulations, the legend of the Duælist grows.
Congratulations, Aether - Primordial - Immersion (2nd) has evolved to Aether - Primordial - Integration (3rd)
Congratulations, Astral - Primordial - Immersion (2nd) has evolved to Astral - Primordial - Integration (3rd)
Congratulations, Celestial - Primordial - Immersion (2nd) has evolved to Celestial - Primordial - Integration (3rd)
Congratulations, Void - Primordial - Immersion (2nd) has evolved to Void - Primordial - Integration (3rd)
Congratulations, your spells have evolved:
Lesser Smite has evolved to Prismatic Smite - Note, Prismatic Smite can be evolved once more with an investiture of Peritia.
Purifying Light has evolved to Channel Purification - Note, Channel Purification can be evolved once more with an investiture of Peritia.
Congratulations, your Accolade: Astral Adept has evolved to Harmonic Advanced
The upgraded spells had an immediate effect. Aspected with his Cosmic affinity and shaped by his will, Prismatic Smite and Channel Purification flooded his body with light, this time discriminating between healthy flesh and the necrotic rot invading his body, mind and soul. Yet the aether-warped spores clung to life, tenacious and vicious. They multiplied and mutated fast enough to gain resistance, eventually overwhelming even Ori's newly upgraded spells.
A shadow fell over him. Ruenne'del drew near, her sword slick with blood and her chest heaving with quick breaths. Pink hair clung to her face, and her wings drooped. She knelt without speaking and reached to pull his glowing smoking form close.
"Back!" Ori shouted.
He could feel her fear through the bond, sharp and bright. Her panic and helplessness broke his heart even as he fought to survive.
"I'm fine," he croaked, struggling to break the vicious feedback loop that disrupted his concentration.
She shook her head. Her voice was barely audible. "No, you're not fine."
"Freya, you won't be affected in your sprite form. Stay with Rue."
"Ori!" Freya called out in worry.
"It's fine. I'll figure this out." Ori stood on unsteady limbs, his rapid breathing and the distant crackle of splintered wood the only sounds in the dead forest.
Pain still dominated a part of his mind as the battle for his body raged on, but with the external threat now ended and this fragile window of control over himself, Ori knew what had to be done.
A dream domain expanded around him. For a moment, he tried to turn it inward, folding the domain into himself to manipulate and reinforce the battle raging within himself. But the ability slipped through his fingers. His mind was not yet strong or focused enough to hold such a vision. So, he fell back on his second option.
His glowing form rose from the ground. Within the dreamscape, natural laws no longer apply, including gravity. Ori closed his eyes, searching for that glowing knot of Aether where energy spilled from one universe into this one. He imagined himself standing there, and then he was.
His Aetheric Heart drank greedily from the stream, bolstering his regeneration even as he continued healing and spellwork.
After retrieving his final fragment of Quintessence from his Void Storage, Ori began pouring tens of millions of peritia per second into his work, drawing heavily from the Aether Rift's power to forcefully upgrade Channel Purification. He summoned every shred of understanding he possessed, of mana, peritia, soulcraft, and the paracausal forces of fate. He bound his accolades, wove in every affinity he had developed, and permanently merged his existing spells, Lesser Banish and Channel Dispel.
Though the new spell would far surpass it, Ori chose to preserve a copy of the original Purifying Light, a gift once given to him on a whim during his formal introduction to magic. It would be incomparably weaker and less flexible than the new spell, but its practical, everyday value remained. Within seconds, the remaining spores that still clung to life inside his blood shrivelled and burned, unable to match the accelerated evolution of the spell.
But Ori did not stop there. Drawing on insights from his recent experiments, he wove memory and persistent enchantments into the spell. He carved a space in the void where its form and function could live, adapt, and grow. A permanent foundation from which this new spell would continue to evolve. Then, calling upon all of his knowledge, power, and will, Ori poured his entire soul into crafting the most complete version of the spell he could imagine.
He stopped when only half of the nugget of Quintessence remained. Before the backlash of his domain ending broke his hold over his levitation, Ori gracefully lowered himself to the ground.
He had spent a quarter of a billion points of peritia and half his supply of something millions of times more precious than gold, to evolve a spell entirely different from the one they had originally planned. But it was worth it.
He sat up, his body still steaming after being recently remade.
The gloomy, twisted forest that had nearly killed him became his first test subject. Light Field spread across the clearing as small marbles of light drifted outward, filling every shadow within twenty yards with steady illumination. Using sources of light under his control, Ori formed his new spell for the first time and then pushed.
A pseudo domain of light unfolded, a conceptual radiance that ignored shadow and obstruction, reaching deep into the physical and beyond. Within a sphere twice the size of the original spell, light became law. It judged and cleansed. It purified and destroyed. It knew the difference between life and death, health and sickness, purity and corruption. It pulled apart what should never have been joined and destroyed what opposed growth or meaning, whether physical, biological, paracausal or conceptual. Where it found uncertainty, it turned to Ori for guidance. His decisions formed patterns and rules that would shape the spell's evolution over time.
Then, he cast the spell upon himself and smiled.
It itched against the edge of his Curse, Graceless Infernal Deathclock. It tugged upon it as if it were a stubborn stain, one it was as yet unable to remove. The spell could work. One day. If his strength grew. If his mana and comprehension reached high enough.
This new spell was a foundation for progress upon his class, a scalpel that could become a hammer, a tool that could learn and grow with him.
"Are you okay?" Freya had zoomed up to him as soon as the spell faded. Ruenne'del was not far behind.
"Yeah, I'm healed now, and so is the forest, well, this part of it is at least." Ori sighed.
Ruenne'del fell beside him, and Ori instinctively wrapped his arm around her as she buried her face into his chest.
"What was that? A new spell?" Freya asked tentatively.
"Yeah, check it," Ori said before sending the information of the new spells to his bonds.
Spell: Prismatic Smite
Characteristic Requirements: Intelligence ≥ 100, Will ≥ 150, Presence ≥ 100
Other Requirements: Harmonic Affinity
Effects: Manifests a bolt of light that strikes a single target within medium range. Deals high radiant damage. It is significantly more effective against discordant entities such as Infernal, Abyssal, or Underworld beings.
Description: Prismatic Smite is the evolution of Lesser Smite. Refined for both power and efficiency, it has no upper mana ceiling and thus, when cast instantly or channelled for sustained damage, deals significantly more damage that scales with the user's mana reserves or regeneration rate.
As with its predecessor, the spell requires no gestures or aiming. It strikes unerringly if the target is within range and bypasses most conventional defences. It is particularly effective against discordant effects or entities and may trigger additional damage against nearby targets through splash damage.
Notes: Damage scales with Intelligence and Will. It is further modified by either total mana (single cast) or mana regeneration (channelled). The spell may trigger secondary strikes on nearby hostile entities.
Spell: Law of Radiance
Type: Dispel, Cleanse, Conceptual, Evolving
Characteristic Requirements: Wisdom ≥ 100, Intelligence ≥ 150, Will ≥ 200
Other Requirements: Complete Harmonic Affinity, Fate Affinity, Freedom Affinity
Effects: Infuses sources of light with a multispectral effect that cleanses, dispels and banishes negative effects and entities with a one-rank advantage beyond the user's rank threshold.
Description: Law of Radiance transforms any light generated by the user's spells into a conceptual medium of purification. This light ignores obstruction and shadow, permeating all matter and energy it touches. It removes toxins, disease, and parasitic infestations from the physical, spiritual and astral bodies alike. It operates across both natural and paracausal boundaries, affecting even intangible conditions such as curses or invasive spiritual wills such as phantasms and other undead. The spell establishes a framework of judgment, using the user's decisions and comprehension to refine its rules over time.
Notes: This spell evolves with use, learning from prior castings via void memory. Range and effect scale with comprehension and Peritia investment.
Freya was silent for far longer than necessary as she read and re-read the spell descriptions. Ori was just about to start worrying when she snorted, gave a huff, then shifted into her pixie form and sat cross-armed and grumpy on his shoulder.
"Anything wrong?" Ori asked.
"Oh, nothing special. You just turned a basic utility spell into high magic two ranks above what a Nascent ranker should even be able to cast. Survived a parasitic infection that would kill someone two ranks higher. And all that after going twenty-four verses two against Sovereign-ranked monsters. You know. The usual. Not that either of you are anywhere near Sovereign."
"So, yeah, just the usual stuff then." Ori chuckled, though even that felt hollow. The memory of his body invaded by parasitic fungus, his will so close to being stripped away, unsettled him more deeply than he wanted to admit. It gnawed at his confidence in quiet, unspoken ways he was not sure he could recover from.
Ruenne'del could likely feel it through their bond. And while Ori could manage a brave front, he doubted Freya would be fooled for long.
"Are you going to mope all morning, or do I have to pinch some sense into you?" Freya buzzed into view, floating backwards in her sprite form in front of Ori's face as he trudged through the dense undergrowth.
"I'm fine," Ori sighed. "Besides, I got a new shiny spell. No need to pile on."
"Ori, you have an empathic bond. She feels what you feel. To some extent, we do too. So let's talk about it. Help you get over it."
Ori gave her a sideways glance, one brow raised, but didn't bite. He just wasn't in a place where he could articulate anything right now.
"Just need some fresh air and some time to think."
Ruenne'del squeezed his hand. She walked beside him, quiet as usual, wings low and still. He could feel her steady presence through their bond. Supportive, a little concerned, but her thoughts remained empty, a pleasant void that reminded him of their lessons with Presence.
It helped.
The rhythm of their steps had dulled the spike of fear and self-doubt he had faced after surviving the last battle.
"Let me guess. You're feeling insecure. Unsure of your abilities and judgement?" Freya noticed, of course. "You do know you did everything right, don't you? The fungus, changing plans on the fly, the new spell, that whole radiant explosion of defiance. That's a lot of competence."
"Yeah," Ori replied. "But maybe you're right. We're just two nascent rankers in way over our heads. Maybe we've just been lucky."
"You think you lucked your way through two-dozen Sovereign-rank spore elk? That your new spell just happened to fall together by accident? Come on."
Ori didn't answer straight away. His boots crunched through the underbrush, each step a little heavier than the last. "It's not the spell or the fight. It's what came after. What almost happened. If Rue hadn't been there to kill the rest..."
"I was there," Ruenne'del said softly. He looked at her, surprised by the interruption. Her gaze was steady, silver eyes wide with a quiet, but intense certainty. Ori swallowed, unsure how to respond to that. The simplicity of her words carried more weight than any speech Freya could make. He nodded slowly, grateful but still uncertain.
Freya rolled her eyes and threw her arms up. "Fine. Brood all you want, then. But if you start sulking mid-fight, I'm going to start singing. Loudly."
"That sounds like some mad war crime."
"I've been told it is."
Ori finally cracked. "Come on then," he said, his voice a little lighter. "Let's get dem worms, yeah?"
Ruenne'del returned his smile with a small one of her own. Freya shot ahead, muttering loudly to the trees about glorified babysitting and underappreciated genius.
They were approaching the next rift, the worm nest.
The forest had changed. Trees gave way to sparse scrub and broken earth. The ground was a patchwork of cracked mud and uprooted trees. Some fissures gaped wide enough to swallow a horse. Ori stopped at the edge of the largest one and knelt, touching the dirt with his fingers.
"Lysara. Stay back. I'll call if we need you."
A pulse spread from him as he cast his domain. It spread like a net, brushing against the fractured terrain. The response came quickly.
Thousands of Greater-ranked worms, each as long as a bus, swam through the earth. Chitinous, coiled, thick and heavy, it moved with disturbing fluidity. Deeper still, Ori felt nearly a dozen Sovereign-ranked signatures. Slower, but vast. And one so dense, so massive, that it pressed against his lungs even from here, its presence coiled in the earth like a buried god.
"For fuck's sake," Ori muttered, rubbing both hands over his face.
"It isn't too late to turn back," Freya offered, her tone a little too knowing.
"No. It isn't," Ori said, though he made no move to stop. This rift was one he needed. There was no sense in putting it off. They were already here.
They pressed deeper. The ground beneath them grew increasingly unstable. Their footsteps jumped upon growing tremors in the earth, and then the ground gave way.
Ori barely had time to react. The earth exploded beneath him, and a worm burst free, longer than a lorry, its circular maw ringed with rows of jagged bone. It slammed into him, jaws first, and dragged him underground in an instant. He couldn't breathe.
The impact knocked the air from his lungs. His ribs cracked. Dirt flooded his mouth and nose. The world became stone and pressure and pain.
He panicked.
His spectral hands lashed out against the Aether-Warped monster as an unfamiliar magic, one vast and powerful parted the earth around them, Blades from his Array stabbed at the thick hide to little effect. The creature's flesh was too dense. Channel Restoration surged healing energies through him as fast as he could pour mana into it, barely keeping up with the damage. His skull was pounded repeatedly against rock, bones cracked, healed, then broke again. It was dragging him deeper.
Nothing worked. His blades could not pierce deep enough. His strength meant nothing. The worm was vast and relentless, and Ori was helpless in its grip.
Desperate, he channelled one of his strongest spells, Prismatic Smite.
Mana flared inside the monster's maw, burning white-hot. The inside of the worm lit with blinding brilliance as the spell ignited, then grew like a second sun. Bile boiled, muscle steamed, then vapourised as two-thirds of Ori's nineteen million mana per second poured into the spell. The creature roared, its body convulsing. Its jaw opened in pain, releasing Ori from its grasp.
That was all Ori needed as he was left behind by the speeding, tunnelling beast.
The earth trembled, the unstable tunnel collapsing as the distant beast thrashed in pain. His lungs still burned, but something in him steadied, his mind snapping into focus. Ori reached for the one card he had not yet played.
In a space devoid of light, he took a step and cast Void Dance for the first time.