I woke up in excruciating pain, wondering if death would have been a better alternative. I screamed hoarsely, but someone was holding me down, even though I couldn't move a muscle. My eyes flew open, blinded by bright lights, and someone was shouting something I couldn't understand at first. Finally, I heard the words: "Dismiss the mask David! We can't get it off you!"

The mask? What mask? A voice cackled in my head, "Me, dimwit!" and the mask dissipated from my face.

Someone forced my mouth open and poured a foul liquid inside. I wanted to spit and curse, but they held my nose and forced my mouth shut, so I swallowed it. Fire raced through my body, and once again, darkness overtook me.

Later, when I woke up again, I was surprised that I was still alive. I heard voices talking quietly nearby, and my whole body ached terribly. I didn't feel like moving, but I was well enough not to scream in agony. I just laid there, listening to my companions whispering. "He looks better, I think. We might have been just in time," said one voice.

Isabel grunted and said, "I hope so. Once the bastard is well enough, he is getting another beating from me."

Lyra chuckled and replied, "Be gentle for once, Isabel. He kinda got us out of that death trap."

Isabel didn't answer for a while but finally said, "I suppose. Still want to slap him around, that was reckless Lyra. He almost died!"

After that, I could only hear the sound of burning wood for a while. While I lay there, I noticed a blinking icon. Apparently, I had gained something from almost dying for the third time in three weeks. I felt like it was becoming a bad habit, and I really needed to get stronger so I could avoid these situations, or at least survive them without mortal injuries. I pulled up the screen.

 

As I sifted through the information on the screen, my eyes widened in amazement. The fight had yielded a treasure trove of rewards. Even though I had not witnessed the end of the battle, I had gained a significant amount of experience, levels, titles, and even a new spell, which seemed to be quite impressive. As I absorbed the knowledge, the pain began to subside, allowing me to think more clearly.

Slowly, I sat up, causing Lyra to gasp in shock and hurry to my side. "David, you shouldn't be moving yet. The potion we gave you was pretty potent, but you still need time to recover from the punishment you took," she said, concern etched on her face.

I nodded, giving her a reassuring smile. "I know, Lyra. Don't worry; I'll be careful."

Although Lyra appeared hesitant, she eventually nodded in agreement. "You almost died back there. We had to dig you out of a pile of earth, and you were in pretty bad shape. You have several broken ribs, your right leg was broken in two places, and you had deep lacerations all over your body," she continued.

Wincing at the thought of my injuries, I asked, "How am I still alive?"

Lyra grinned at me. "As I said, we gave you a potion. Its effects are starting to wear off, so we were about to give you another dose."

Turning to Isabel, who had been watching me intently, I said, "Thank you for saving me. Did you finish off the rock guy?"

Isabel nodded stiffly. "We did."

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. "And you're unhappy?"

Isabel's frown deepened. "What you did, David, was reckless and stupid! You had no business being in that fight in the first place, but you went out of your way to draw attention to yourself!"

Sighing, I defended myself, "Come on, Isabel. You were being beaten soundly, and Lyra's attacks weren't making any progress. I saw a way to win and took it."

Isabel's expression softened a little as she asked, "How did you know about the core?"

I gestured to my face. "The Harlequin showed me. It was upset that the core even existed, called it an abomination. I guess it could sense where the soul was trapped inside the golem."

Isabel hissed in disgust. "A soul was trapped inside? That's why it was so powerful and different. David, you need to tell me everything you know."

I shrugged, wincing in pain. It was a lot more bearable thanks to my new title, but I still tried to move as little as possible. "It is as I said,Harlequin explained that a soul was trapped inside. It wasn't a spirit. As I understand it, all things have souls, even spirits. This thing was no elemental spirit though, just a soul."

Isabel sat down cross-legged in front of me, looking concerned. "How is that even possible?" she asked.

"I don't know, Isabel," I replied with a slight shake of my head. "That's all Harlequin could tell me. He didn't know either."

Isabel frowned, deep in thought. After a while, she looked from me to Lyra. "Those slavers that ambushed you, Lyra, the information you brought back had lists, names. People that had been taken, and that someone was buying them no matter if they were healthy and hale, or sick and decrepit. That was pretty strange as far as slaves go, but there was something else. There were orders, simple ones but they still held nuggets of information. The buyer calls himself the Runemaster, pretty lame name in my reckoning, but what if... What if he is using rune magic? What if he found a way to trap souls inside other vessels? What if those slaves are actually meant as sacrifices?"

Lyra and I glanced at each other, then back at Isabel. "Is that even possible, Isabel?" Lyra asked.

"I don't know," Isabel admitted. "But people are being taken, and there must be a purpose. Now this golem that has a soul but is not a spirit appears out of nowhere. It seems a little too coincidental, doesn't it? We should go and check the place it was digging. It might have clues."

Lyra nodded slowly, but pointed out, "We should, Isabel, but we're in rough shape right now. If we go in there unprepared... We have no idea what's in there."

Isabel looked unhappy but nodded in agreement. I glanced from one to the other. "I might have something I can do about that," I offered.

Isabel's attention snapped to me. "Oh?"

I nodded. "I kinda got this new spell. It seems pretty much tailor-made for this kind of thing." I explained the gains I had gotten from the fight, and at my talk of levels, Isabel just nodded unsurprised. Even she and Lyra had gotten a level from that fight.

The pain title made Lyra laugh. "You do seem to get hurt a lot!" she teased.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."

Isabel was getting impatient, so I explained my new spell to them. She smiled for the first time that day. "That sounds pretty perfect, I agree. I don't know if you're lucky or a god has blessed you, but you seem to stumble into good fortune a lot."

I gave her a disbelieving look. "Fortune? I just woke from my death bed!"

Lyra grinned, about to slap me on the back, but she stopped herself and shrugged. "That's true. Perhaps the god of balance is watching over you, eh?"

"Such a god exists?" I asked incredulously.

Lyra nodded nonchalantly. "Of course it does. Balathar!"

After our conversation, Isabel was curious about my stats and how I was improving. She was surprised to see how high they were, but as Lyra had previously explained it wasn't that uncommon. Isabel brought out another potion, a purplish thick solution that lit my body on fire. I laid down to continue my recovery while Isabel explained that it would take me at least a week to fully recover, but that I could travel slowly by the next day.

The next morning, we decided to try my new spell. Isabel had mostly recovered by then, and Lyra hadn't taken as much as a scratch. They prepared for a fight just in case and took up positions close by to watch out for trouble. I summoned my mask and addressed Harlequin. "I expect you were listening?"

Harlequin's creepy laugh sounded in my head. "Of course! It is a good plan. It relies entirely on me, after all!"

I rolled my eyes and continued. "Good, let's give this a try then!"

I focused on my new spell, usually, there was a small flourish I performed unconsciously when using my spells. The flick of a finger for slippery footing, a raised palm for Mirror mirage, but phantom images were a little different. I put both hands together, and with a gesture almost like I was greeting someone, I swung my arms out wide. Three copies of myself appeared in front of me, like mist coalescing. Each of them was grinning back at me, which I found a little disturbing, but otherwise didn’t move.

I decided to get a bit familiar with the spell before sending them off, so I had them running in a circle first, then a few tumbles, and finally handstands, which I wasn't even sure I could do myself. I chuckled to myself, this was pretty damn cool, almost felt like a certain orange-haired ninja. I had played around enough though, and I told Harlequin to take one of them and explore the cave.

As soon as the order was given, one of the illusions sped off, and it was damn fast too! I activated the second ability of the spell, and my vision blurred for a second, before I was suddenly running up a steep hill at speed. It was a really strange sensation, but somewhat similar to watching a cinematic in a VR game. Before long, we reached the battleground, and holy shit had Lyra gone off the rails. It looked like the aftermath of a World War II battlefield, there were deep craters, and no vegetation was left standing. I saw the remains of the golem, which was reduced to a large pile of loose rocks and metal.

“I have to be careful not to piss off Lyra; the woman is a damn natural disaster in a petite woman’s body,” I thought to myself. Harlequin directed the illusion on, and we reached the cave. It had been widened by a large margin as the golem burst out of it, and there were shards of rocks strewn everywhere. The illusion went right through a few of the larger ones, and I winced every single time it did so.

Inside the cave, it was dark, but somewhere ahead was a faint light, so we moved towards it without slowing. Soon we reached a large room, and I finally realized where the glow came from. What looked to be crystals buried in the rock were exposed in several places, and each glowed slightly. The multicolored hues were quite beautiful, but I had no idea what they were.

We walked around the room, which was pretty huge, but in the end, it led nowhere. Except for the crystals, there was nothing there, and I had to surmise that they had been the target for the digging. Satisfied, I cut the connection and returned to my own body. There was a bit of blurring again, and my vision returned to normal.

I shook my head to clear the last bit of haziness and called over the others, sending two more illusions to keep watch. Harlequin let out a creepy laugh, which made me feel uneasy, but I pushed it aside and asked it to warn me if anything approached. Isabel crouched in front of me, demanding an explanation. I told them what I had seen, and Lyra was practically bouncing with excitement. "Ether crystals, Isabel! There's a vein here. We have to go in there!"

Isabel nodded, "I agree, but we will only take what is already exposed. We have to report this to the Governor."

Lyra sulked but eventually agreed. Before they could begin their excavation, I stopped them. "Wait a minute, what are ether crystals?"

Isabel rolled her eyes at my ignorance. "Ether crystals are natural formations, as the name suggests, that can store ether. They are useful for powering things like floating carriages and armaments for the army."

I nodded, trying to process the information. "Can I use one as a battery, like store my ether in it for later use?"

Isabel smiled. "No, you cannot draw energy from it to power spells, but you can enchant items with a crystal as its core. Ether crystals slowly recharge themselves over time by drawing in ether from their surroundings."

My eyes widened in amazement. "So it's basically an endless source of energy?"

Isabel shrugged. "Not exactly. They will start degrading over time, but they have a long lifespan, so usually it's not a problem." Even though I was slightly disappointed, the fact that such a thing existed was still fascinating, and I couldn't help but wonder what other uses it could have.

Isabel and Lyra eagerly set off to gather the ether crystals, leaving David behind to rest. David instructed Harlequin to place their scout near the cave entrance to keep an eye on his friends. With a deep sense of relief, David closed his eyes and drifted off into a deep slumber. Despite his ability to ignore pain, his body was exhausted and needed rest.

Isabel and Lyra returned from gathering crystals while I slept, and I woke up with a throbbing headache. I realized that I had left the Illusions running for an unknown amount of time and immediately cut off the spell to relieve the pressure. However, I had drained most of my ether reserves and was now vulnerable.

"I need to be more careful," I scolded myself. Isabel was asleep, and Lyra was on watch when I got up slowly and made my way to her. Lyra smiled at me and said, "It's good to see you up, but don't overdo it. You're still fragile."

I nodded and sat beside her. "So, what's the plan?" I asked.

Lyra looked out into the darkness and said, "We're going back to Creston, David. You got hurt pretty badly, and we don't want to risk anything else."

I frowned, "What about the last contract?"

Lyra replied, "Isabel and I both agree that it's not worth the risk. Injuries can stack up, and it might become permanent."

I wanted to protest, but I knew that Lyra had more experience than me. "What about potions?" I asked.

Lyra shook her head. "We can only do so much, David. We're not immortals. We have to be careful not to cripple ourselves."

Reluctantly, I agreed, "Okay, so we leave in the morning then?"

Lyra nodded, "Yes, in the morning."

I was about to stand up when Lyra asked, "David... Are you okay?"

I hesitated but then sat back down, "I guess. I am healing pretty rapidly... Shockingly fast actually."

Lyra shook her head, "Not that... We know your circumstances David, and we are worried about you. You have been here for less than a month and have already been through some pretty nasty situations. I guess what I am trying to ask is, are you dealing with it all okay?"

I pondered the question. Lyra seemed genuinely concerned, and I wanted to give a serious question serious thought. "I suppose I haven’t really given it much thought, probably not as much as I should have at least. It has been completely insane, Lyra. I am not sure how I feel about it, but I am not unhappy at least. My previous life... Well... it was a lonely existence for me. But since coming here, I have found something I never really had before. You and Isabel basically just grabbed me and pulled me into your life... And I am very thankful for that."

Lyra looked at me and smiled gently. The crazy grin was nowhere to be found. "We did pull you along, didn't we?"

I grinned, "You did, but I don't mind it. In fact, I find myself more and more comfortable with my situation... Despite my several near deaths, I mean."

Lyra chuckled, "You do seem to get banged up pretty often."

 

I shrugged, "I am working on that. Hopefully, I will become more useful to you as a team member in the future."

Lyra raised an eyebrow, "David... You are already pretty damn useful. You are the only reason we beat that golem. Isabel wasn't angry because you were useless, she was angry because we almost lost you. As far as we are concerned, you are part of this team as much as we are, and at the speed you are growing, you might outpace us before you know it."

I blushed a little from the praise. It was so unfamiliar for me to have actual friends that cared. I coughed a little awkwardly, "Thanks, Lyra. It means a lot. I think I will rest a bit more."

Lyra nodded with a smile and wished me goodnight, and I went over to lie down. The stars in Aethoria were beautiful, and the sky was absolutely flooded with lights. Before going back to sleep, I wanted to do something I had neglected. I focused my mind inwards, "Thank you for your help Harlequin, both with the golem and keeping watch for us. You really came through."

The creepy laughter echoed in my mind, "You are most welcome, illustrious partner. It was my pleasure to see that abomination destroyed! You are already finding powerful enemies to fight, so I am well pleased! Oh, and that new spell of yours, I can move around on my own, that was a first for me, so you better use it as often as possible, preferably all the time!"

I smiled, "I suspect it will become a staple of our cooperation, so you will be able to move about sooner rather than later." Harlequin's laughter seemed happy with that as it faded into my mind, and I went back to watching the stars. What a crazy life I was living. I was going to have so much fun!