I Alone Level Up

By the time the third bell rang, half the hall had already chosen a side.

Threads of light spooled out from her fingertips and knotted themselves into a door. Magic, he had learned, was mostly bookkeeping performed at knifepoint. Magic, he had learned, was mostly bookkeeping performed at knifepoint. Outside, the rain went on doing what rain does, indifferent to the war beneath it. The girl in the mirror moved a fraction late, and smiled a fraction early.

Dawn arrived reluctantly, the way a witness arrives at a trial. The mana in the air thickened until it pressed against his skin like a held breath.

He had died once already this year, and found the experience overrated. Steel rang once, and the sound hung in the corridor far longer than it should have.

The beast did not roar. That was the part that frightened him. He had prepared nine arguments and needed none of them. The lantern guttered, recovered, and cast his shadow in the wrong direction. She had never seen a spell apologise before.

There were forty-one steps to the summit and he had already bled on eleven of them. Every instinct he had spent nine years sharpening told him to run. Every instinct he had spent nine years sharpening told him to run. Threads of light spooled out from her fingertips and knotted themselves into a door. Her shadow reached the far wall a full second before she did.

There were forty-one steps to the summit and he had already bled on eleven of them. Her shadow reached the far wall a full second before she did. He wrote the formula in ash because ink would have remembered it.

The blade was unremarkable in every way except the one that mattered. He weighed the offer, then weighed the knife, and found the knife the more honest of the two. The blade was unremarkable in every way except the one that mattered. She traded the last of her name for passage and considered it a bargain. There were forty-one steps to the summit and he had already bled on eleven of them.

He let the silence stretch until it became a question, then refused to answer it. Outside, the rain went on doing what rain does, indifferent to the war beneath it. Wind came off the ridge carrying the smell of iron and burnt sugar. Every instinct he had spent nine years sharpening told him to run. He had died once already this year, and found the experience overrated.

“The Second Awakening”

He took the stairs two at a time and the consequences three at a time. The blade was unremarkable in every way except the one that mattered. Her mana core turned over once, slowly, like something waking in deep water. The city held its breath for the length of one long, ugly heartbeat. The blade was unremarkable in every way except the one that mattered.

The blade was unremarkable in every way except the one that mattered. Threads of light spooled out from her fingertips and knotted themselves into a door. A hundred eyes opened in the dark, and not one of them blinked.

Somewhere below, a bell began to toll for a funeral that had not happened yet. She had never seen a spell apologise before. Wind came off the ridge carrying the smell of iron and burnt sugar. Snow fell through the broken roof and did not melt where it landed on her hands.

He had prepared nine arguments and needed none of them. A hundred eyes opened in the dark, and not one of them blinked. Threads of light spooled out from her fingertips and knotted themselves into a door. He had prepared nine arguments and needed none of them. Her mana core turned over once, slowly, like something waking in deep water.

He let the silence stretch until it became a question, then refused to answer it. Steel rang once, and the sound hung in the corridor far longer than it should have. Every instinct he had spent nine years sharpening told him to run. He weighed the offer, then weighed the knife, and found the knife the more honest of the two.