The fog grew dense enough that it was impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction. The steamy, warm air now shuddered with the crescendo of hisses and growls that flowed through the cloud. The moment of triumph was lost, overwhelmed by a new, growing horror. Page's tight voice, calm as it was, cut above the riot like a bell.
"Cover me!" she screamed, her staff itself already radiating a shield-like, pale blue glow as she started to build a larger spell.
Joren did not hesitate. His own face broke out into a tremendous, hysterical grin, half-fear and half-same pure adrenaline. "Something I can actually do!" he shouted, his voice drowned in the thick fog as he plunged into the first wave. His sword sang as he infused his own mana into it, cutting down a lurching shadow creature in one swift pass of the blade. The darkness burst into a bright flash of sparks that shone for an instant in a tightly crammed battle ground teeming with more of them. Another color congealed out of the fog behind him; Joren whirled, turned the claw strike that would have bisected his head from his body and ripped back with a maddened counterattack. Every step he took was angrier, more desperate than the previous one.
Kai leapt low, his heart slamming in his ears. He sidestepped a ghostly swipe of claws that sheared through a thick tree trunk inches from him like paper. He punched his elbow into the attacker's chest, his entire arm crackling with the silvery-blue glow of his Mana Coating. The monster broke apart into a cloud of mist. For one heartbeat, the forest was bathed in the glory of his strength, then plunged back into night—a night that now seethed with rage, with hunger.
Page's eyes went wide in the midst of her spell, her concentration broken. "They're draining our mana!" she shrieked, her voice with growing horror. "The more power we use to kill them, the sooner they reconstitute and the harder they become!"
Joren parried a blow with a grunt, his arm trembling from the impact. "So what do we do? Just stop fighting and let them rip us apart?"
Kai's head spun, his brain a mad cyclone of terror and adrenaline. He turned the Trial's mission over in his head, the words of the system burned into his memory: Survive until the Mist Subsides. Not destroy. Not beat. Survive.
"That's it," he gasped, the realization striking him like a blow. And then louder, shouting to be heard above the cacophony, "Don't use your strong attacks! Just keep 'em at bay! We only need to hold on till the mist lifts! We're not trying to win, we're trying to survive!"
Page caught his meaning instantly, the brilliant light from her staff dimming to a manageable glow. Her magic shifted, from powerful, destructive blasts to gentle, defensive pulses of energy, just enough to repel the shades that got too close. Joren, hearing Kai's command, followed her lead. He switched from powerful, mana-heavy slashes to controlled, lighter strikes, focusing on parrying and defense.
The forest was a blinding whirlpool of motion—shadows darting out of the white edges of the fog, mana blasting in brief, anxious bursts, and moist leaves strewn upon the earth beneath their mad steps. Each second dragged, slow with a seeming eternity of existence. Kai's lungs ached, his arms screaming out with a searing, pulsating agony, and he still refused to give way. He could sense Iris's voice urging in the depths of his mind, a calming anchor to the chaos: Hold on, Kai. You're almost there.
The timer, a chilly reminder of their dwindling chances, throbbed on his eye.
[Time Left: 03:42]
A bolt of dark indigo tore through the fog, approaching harder and more determinedly than the others. It was heading straight for Page. Kai responded before he could even think. He leaped forward, sending her stumbling to the ground just as a pair of vicious, alien claws whizzed by where she had been a second before. He clenched his teeth as one of the claws raked across his shoulder, a cold, burning agony that radiated through his shoulder. His eyes pulsed red.
[Status Effect: Mana Burn – 5% MP Drain/Second]
"Shit," he spat, the curse a wheeze of agony as he lurched backward. It felt like having some sort of parasitic cold draining the life force from his very being. His mana bar, only perceptible to him, was dwindling at an horrific pace.
"Kai!" Page shrieked with horror, sheer fear glittering in her eyes for the very first time. "You're—"
"I'm fine!" he growled, his own voice raspier than he meant it to be. "Maintain your discipline! Don't let them break our line!"
Joren's yelling was a muffled boom far above the cloudscreen, raw and warning. "We're encircled! There are too many of them!"
Dozens of bright red eyes snapped open everywhere about him, malevolently winking in every direction. The mist itself appeared to pulse with evil life, alive and sentient.
Kai's breathing was in ragged, shallow gasps. Everything he heard was being overcome by the earsplitting thump of his own heartbeat. He heard the voice of Elara again, dimly out of a recollection of their training: When your strength falters, let your will carry you through.
He tightened his fists, the agony of the Mana Burn blazing in his veins. "Behind me," he commanded his voice low, hard.
Page stumbled, her skin pale. "Kai, your shoulder—"
"Now!"
She and Joren hurried to get behind him.
Kai called what little mana was left into himself, pushing it out from every corner of his body and beyond. His eyes blazed white, and a new, flashing notification was in his head.
[Overdrive Activated – +40% Strength | +30% Defense | Duration: 30 Seconds]
Power raged within him like a tidal wave, a mad, untrained force he had never known before. His body began to radiate an unholy glow pale blue, and threads of light crawled under the flesh. With a mad, guttural scream that seemed to make the mist itself tremble, he drove both fists deep into the soggy earth.
The shockwave burst outwards—pure,avage, absolute. The shades screamed as the wave of energy washed through them, their cloudy bodies uncoiling into blue flame before dissolving completely into nothingness. There was stillness for one lovely moment. Then the mist started to creep back, curling back as if it were fleeing the naked power of his light.
There was a soft, singing chime that sounded in Kai's ears.
[Trial Stage II Complete]
[Bonus Award: +150 EXP | +1 Attribute Point | Skill Unlocked – Mana Pulse]
The instant the message disappeared, the energy was gone. Kai fell to one knee, panting, every part of his body throbbing like fluid stone. Joren staggered towards him, his sword scraping against the earth, his face set in a mask of astonishment. "You—" he gasped, half-laughing in amazement. "You're crazy. Crazy as a worm in a snake's nest."
Page knelt at Kai's side, her analytical, sharp eyes raking over him, wonder and alarm twisted on her face. "That power… how did you gain access to it?"
Kai gasped, trying a grimace that passed as a smirk. "Improvisation."
Page wasn't going to believe it, but she couldn't dispute.
The fog at last lifted entirely. The world seemed to flash—light distorting, colors dissolving. The earth under their feet dissolved into a maelstrom of energy. When the searing light had passed, they were not any longer walking among the sinister, foreboding trees.
They were again standing in the high, still marble hall of the Academy.
Dozens of others appeared in bursts of light around and inside them, some bleeding and leaning against their friends, some trembling wildly. But whereas there had been a huge throng previously, now there remained merely splinter groups. Most of them were nowhere to be found. There was oppressive quiet, broken merely by the odd harsh-sounding gasp and raw-sounding breath and muffled coughs.
Master Caldor mounted the dais a second time, his great coat unfussed, his tempestuous eyes as frigid as steel. "The Trial of the Mist," he declared, his bass voice carrying across the darkened hall, "is complete."
His eyes raked over the survivors. They crossed Joren, and Page—and and grazed for a moment on Kai, weighing. There was just a hint of interest that crossed his face before he covered it once more, his expression blank.
"Those who wear the mark," Caldor went on, "have demonstrated their entitlement to be among the students of Arcanis. You have crossed into death and returned."
Its symbol, as he talked, throbbed with a soft, unbroken heat on the palm of his hand, shining silver against the flesh. He could sense its power, steady and pulsing, almost a second hearts.
Joren edged closer, his face contorting with a weary but victorious smile. "We did it," he breathed. "Just barely, but we actually did it."
Kai growled, still hurting, his mana supply depleted except for the last vestige. But something within him stirs—a gentle, hard-won purpose.
Page stood straight beside him, looking over the other survivors. Her expression was serene, but her eyes darted back to Kai again, brimming with a gentle, tentative uncertainty. She had seen too much.
Caldor's voice brought them back to the dais. "Sleep well tonight. Tomorrow is your real initiation at this Academy."
There was a stifling silence. Then the big hall doors flung widely open, letting in cool night air into the room. The survivors slowly, stiffly, began to get up, some of them leaning on others for support, others too dazed to talk.
Kai held back an extra moment, his eyes flicking to the slight quiver of his mark. Iris's voice breathed quietly in his mind: You did good, Kai. But the challenges of this world have barely begun.
He let his eyes snap shut, a tide of hard-fought fatigue sweeping over him. "Yeah," he growled to himself. "I thought so."
The echo of the mist was still resonating in his mind when he turned and left the hallway. Behind him, the shattered pieces of fear had already started to form something else—resolution.