Runeblade

Kaius snapped back awake, shaking his head to rid himself of the lingering fatigue that always came with a Skill vision. Coming back from the bloody things always felt like getting jolted awake in the middle of the night.

He'd chosen Compel Obsession in the end. Ultimately it came down to the fact it was useful in so many situations — both in combat and out of it. Unfortunately, that did not include this situation.

Two new spells, and neither of them would help him get through a time trial of teleport traps with a side of a quick fall and an even quicker death.

Sighing, Kaius pushed himself into a sitting position and rolled his stiff shoulders. At least now that he was done with that, he could focus on moving forward.

He needed to tailor his loadout — and he had a hard decision to make.

Realistically, the only spell that would help him for this trial was Expedient Shunt — even Slip Step would only be of marginal usefulness. Except he would need one-twenty-five of the damn things to use all of his mana pool! Even in the worst case scenario that would be excessive.

No — what he really needed was an ace in the hole. Something he could use to escape immediately and fast.

That meant getting over his distaste of VOS.

He suppressed a wince — no matter the soul-deep discomfort that came from the sliver of conceptual might, he had to get used to using it — and better understand the limits of Redoubt of the Speaker's protection.

A super charge Shunt might be exactly the thing that would save his life if the worst came to pass and he was sucked into the chasm. He wasn't sure if his unempowered casts would be enough to break free of whatever magic would secure him to the falling platforms.

Setting his jaw, Kaius rubbed his face before taking a slow breath. Bloody jitters.

He closed his eyes, and started to inscribe — time passing quickly as he fell into a flow of weaving Shunt after Shunt. Sixty casts in total, half of his pool. The rest he dedicated to Redoubt of the Speaker — enough for a couple seconds of burn time.

One invocation, with hopefully a little left over to help along his recovery immediately after.

Getting to his feet, Kaius walked to the chasm and peaked over. He winced at the endless maw of black that waited in its bottomless depths. It really was quite far.

Ideally, he'd test how Expedient Shunt interacted with Vos now, before he made his crossing. He wasn't sure if he could, though.

The image of his Hateful Nail empowered to the size of a knights' lance tearing straight through the flaming body of the manticore filled his mind. He looked up. The ceiling was tall, but it wasn't that tall.

Plus…who knew how long he would be out after using it. It was a risk, but using it in the first place would mean something had gone really wrong. Right now, it wasn't worth it. If he hit the ceiling wrong, he'd suffer broken bones at best.

Kaius shook out the tension in his limbs.

His goal was right there waiting for him — twenty floating stone platforms, just a single longstride wide, stretched across a two-hundred longstride span.

During training Eirnith, he'd managed to map out the teleport path. The process had been a nightmare to test and track, but with a little help from his Glassmind he had it memorised. It was, thankfully, not randomised. Unfortunately, the way he'd be facing after each jump would be.

Even with all of his mental stats, the speed at which he could move, and all of his considerable focus and reaction time, he was going to struggle. The platforms weren't set out in a neat line, it was a chaotic sprawl scattered across the pit. Plus, each of them were identical. He would only have the barest of moments to orient himself, and identify which platform was his next target. Problematic, when each one was surrounded by anywhere from three to nine others.

And he still didn't want to skip platforms by using Shunt. The spell was strictly for emergencies only. After his little debacle with the reaction of the climbing wall, he did not want to find out how this chasm would react. It was far too risky — what if the strange gravity magic activated everywhere, rather than just on the platforms themselves? What if it got stronger than it already was?

If he fell, he was dead — with no way to fight back, like he could have done against the roots.

Taking his eyes off the path forward, he looked to what was waiting for him beyond. He'd been suspicious of it for days. An empty stretch of the stone path, except the ground was littered with fist sized holes — dangerous.

There was only a narrow strip of clear land between the end of the chasm and the next obstacle — he'd need to be careful not to overshoot.

Another deep breath — he reigned himself in as his heart thumped powerfully in his chest. Tingles shot through his limbs, his long pent up restless energy finally being directed to motion.

He focused on the first platform. Smooth and glassy — an easy jump of five longstrides.

Crouching low, a tightly coiled strength filled his legs. He flew with a heave.

It was impossible to resist looking down — to see that hungry black below him as his enhanced mind stretched the moment into an eternity. It called out his death — quick and fast.

Ice shot up his spine.

He touched down, taking a deep breath as he readied himself for what was to come.

The world twitched. He was somewhere else, facing the wall now. Disorientation threatened to overwhelm him before his Glass Mind kicked into full speed — offering memories of his route. Everything came into tune — a rare moment of flow where intention, action, and motion came into harmony. He spun on his heel, vision clear as glass.

Floating stones surrounded him — identifiable only in the slight variation of distances between them. He spotted his target.

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Another jump — another look at the death waiting below.

He slid on the glassy stone; his stomach tangling itself into knots. Wind roared behind him as the floating platform he'd just jumped from shot into the black. A firm reminder of the consequences of failure.

With it came a tug — sinking claws of magic ripping him backwards into the slip stream, a ghost of whatever enchantment forced the platforms to rocket down.

Kaius screamed, his arms windmilling as he spun to get his feet under him.

Another pop, and he was somewhere else — still off leaning, but stable.

Gods' scorn. He had to move! Whipping his head around, he spun until he found his next platform and jumped — before he suffered a repeat of his earlier surprise. He was too far in — backing out now would require him to Shunt his way across. If the enchantment was enough to yank him like that from five longstrides away, he did not want to risk an escalation.

His blood surged like fire as he reached the next platform, his heart pounding like a blacksmith's hammer in his chest.

Another teleport, another reeling moment of confusion. Searching for the next platform on his planned route, he took just a hair too long. The hungry grab at his back hit him right as he jumped — pulling him down.

Kaius's eyes widened. He was veering — he was going to miss the platform! There was no choice. He cast Shunt — launching himself up and forward with his arms outstretched.

The magic that tugged him down disappeared a moment later. His fingers brushed the edge, before he clamped down with the desperate strength. Dread shot through him — he touched the bloody stone!

Letting out a hoarse yell, Kaius pulled with all of his might. Every muscle in his back and arms contracted as he shot up.

It was going to teleport at any moment — he had to make it!

The tip of his toe touched the stone.

He vanished, reappearing at his next stop, only to stumble and throw himself forwards as the sudden change in motion threw off his balance. He screamed as he sailed through the air, desperately trying to land on the rapidly approaching platform feet first.

Another pop of displaced air filled the hall.

Again and again, Kaius leapt between the platforms in a haze of burning limbs and desperation. Every breath came in a gasp, the chasm never giving him a moment to just breathe — to get his bearings and plan.

Every leap was less controlled than the last, every landing grew more rough, and every sudden change in orientation messed with his sense of direction more and more. His route was entirely gone — lost as he threw himself at the closest platform he saw.

A reckless move — for all he knew the route through was designed to trap him in an infinite loop.

He didn't have a choice. Nearly every jump he was faced with the death waiting below.

Kaius just grit his teeth and kept jumping — trusting in his abilities to see him through. Slowly, his balance returned. Slowly, his confidence came back. He found a rhythm.

Then the beat changed.

Spotting the next platform, Kaius counted down the moments before the platform he was standing on was ripped into the chasm below. He jumped.

The platform fell early.

Wind roared, as invisible hands snatched his ankles while he was kicking — and yanked.

Kaius screamed — an explosive burst of force detonating immediately behind him. He sailed forwards, touching the next platform.

Another puff of displaced air and he was somewhere else — pitching forwards towards the black.

The platform wobbled, a second sudden change that brought nothing but terror. He jumped.

Too late.

Pure terror welled in his soul as the darkness below welcomed him with open arms — an implacable force wedging him to the stone with the force of a titan.

No.

No.

Kaius cast Expedient Shunt — an eruption of blue mana showering from the glyphs on his feet as explosive force tried to hurl him upwards.

The trap refused. He didn't budge.

Desperation ignited within him. He cast again instantly, layering as many Shunts as he could — fighting off death with every weapon he had. Whatever gravitational magic held him in place couldn't complete with the storm of power released under his feet.

He bowed under the force — bones quaking as the trap tried to claw him back down. For a moment, Kaius felt nothing but the cold kiss of his coming demise.

Barely a second after he first fell, Kaius broke free — sailing upwards. Pure unbridled relief flooded him.

It shattered like glass when his worst fear was realised. Above him — lingering in a floating trail over a strip of light — every platform shot down. Gravity took hold and pulled.

Burst after burst of force exploded beneath him — desperately trying to even slow his descent. It didn't work.

He fell, screams echoing.

The black waited, cold and hungry.

VOS!

Truth filled his mind with a terrible weight of uncompromising knowledge. A sight that brought pain and confusion — that stretched the boundaries of who he was to breaking. Kaius wailed before it. A moment of transcendence that crushed him beneath eternity.

It was all he could do to burn Redoubt of the Speaker.

The blow softened. His soul stopped flaring. It still hurt — but he was him. Whole. Injured, but not broken. Kaius tried to pull back — to cut the connection down to something that didn't tear at his very soul.

Yet desperation sapped at his will, and VOS filled him utterly.

Expedient Shunt!

A formless concept of expansion filled his spell. Empowered it by a means he only barely grasped. A weight.

The detonation hit him like a giant's hammer, uncaring of the jealous hold of the black.

Kaius shot upwards at a sharp angle — faster than he had descended, he shot towards the path forward. Blinded by wind, he could just barely make out the rapidly approaching light above. He kept screaming.

The edge of the chasm passed, he flew over the patch of path covered in holes. Bolts fired with concussive bursts, tearing through his flight path.

Pain bloomed as half a dozen ripped through his chest and stomach, exiting his back.

He was moving way too fucking fast!

Attempting to bleed off his momentum did nothing — the counter burst unempowered by VOS. He started to tumble, spinning uncontrollably. In desperation, he unleashed Shunt after Shunt in an attempt to slow himself down. It only made things worse — spinning him so fast the hall turned into a blur.

He hit something. Every bone below his chest broke. Sliding to the ground, Kaius fell mute as a wave of agony washed over him. He crumpled in, shards of bone shifting as they moved like worms through his twisted flesh — seeking their old homes.

Not all of them would. A wave of blood poured from his hip — all that remained of his left leg was a handspan of crushed meat.

Kaius coughed, weakly looking up.

Back the way he had come, there was a red smear on the ceiling. A rebound that had shattered him utterly.

Much more concerning were the thousands of glowing dots of white light, spinning in dizzying patterns directly above him. They grew brighter.

He howled in rejection, clawing at the ground as blood gushed in a trail behind him. Not now, not when he had so much left to do — his friends needed him.

The lights pulsed, searing bars of white light connecting them to the ground a heartbeat later. They punched through his chest and what remained of his legs, narrowly missing his head.

Survivable, if they hadn't still been swirling.

Kaius felt his body come apart at the seams.

The black welcomed him with open arms.