Brin forced himself to believe they actually had a chance. Despite how much he terrified everyone, Simao wasn’t invincible. Actually, if he remembered correctly, Simao was underleveled for his age. The danger he posed to the town was mostly psychological; he was a popular guy, friendly, with a good Class. Seeing him undead was drastically demoralizing for Hammon’s Bog. It was demoralizing for Brin, to be honest. He’d liked Simao.

Apart from that, most of the danger came from Simao’s Bog Standard plate armor, but even then it wasn’t insurmountable. In battles Simao had always arrived, taken a cheap shot with his signature Skill, and then run away again. Not exactly the tactics of an unstoppable juggernaut.

He used [Inspect].

This wouldn’t be as easy as he hoped. Simao’s one day of battle had given him plenty of levels, and he didn’t like the look of that detail in the description saying Simao had been empowered. Well, it’s not like they had any choice. They needed to kill Simao fast and keep moving before he could call reinforcements.

His first plan would be to use the Potion of Turn Undead. If they could get back to Hammon’s Bog with another ally, then so much the better. But he’d only use it if he got a clear shot. Simao would dodge it if he saw it coming, and Brin wasn’t the best at moving things with [Shape Glass] yet.

He might have a better shot with the other potions he’d taken from Hogg, two explosions and one fire. He’d use them if he got an opening, but he didn’t want to waste them.

“Hey, look on the bright side. At least you didn’t run into a giant,” Simao said with a shrug. His face was just as expressive as in life, and it felt wrong. Dead faces should stay still, and Brin’s mind kept switching back and forth between seeing his friend alive again and seeing a cold, dead thing.

“Soften them up for me,” Simao said to the undead near him. “I’m going to see if I can call a giant over.”

“Come and face me yourself!” shouted Davi. His face betrayed a range of emotions, alternating between horror, disgust, and fury. Zilly was pale and tense, like a startled cat.

Right, these two weren’t used to this sort of thing yet. They’d faced the undead army, but that was with an army of their own. It was different to be alone and exposed in a dark forest in the middle of the night. He needed to show them the way.

“Play my song, Davi,” said Brin.

“I don’t like that song,” Davi responded.

“Go on. It fits the mood.”

During the week that he’d had to prepare, Brin had spent several hours practicing music with Davi, and they’d found that Davi could alter the sound of his lute to some degree. He could make it louder or softer to fit the mood. With more experiments, they’d found that he could make it squeal like a tortured animal. After adding a simple drum beat, they had a pretty good reproduction of one of Brin’s favorite video game themes. Something for extreme, over-the-top violence. Music for defeating abominations that should’ve stayed in hell.

“Just do it, Davi. Right now!”

Davi played the Doom theme.

The undead soldiers took that as their cue and charged. Brin shot off a quick [Inspect] on all four of them, getting a quick glimpse of their Skills. The System seemed to understand his intent, because it only showed him the most relevant Skill, using concise language.

Brin planted the butt of his spear in the ground, and then rolled out of the way. The undead soldier slammed straight into it, closing the distance in a blink of an eye. It pushed the spear right through its own stomach, sticking the spear further into the mud and pinning itself to the ground.

Brin ran past, already ready for the next undead holding an axe.

If he didn’t know it was coming, he never would’ve been able to dodge in time. As it was, he stepped to the side and felt the rush of air as the undead’s axe missed him and slapped into the earth. Brin grabbed the axe, wrested it out of the undead’s grip, and slammed it into the monster’s neck. It stuck there, so Brin let it go and turned to face the next undead.

Brin used his armband to give himself a moment of invisibility. He stepped around the undead’s spinning black spear and jumped onto its back, drawing out his glass knife just as his invisibility faded. He probably could’ve stabbed it in the heart, but a clean kill like that didn't fit the music.

He sliced the undead [Farmer’s] throat, and then stabbed it again and again, wildly from every angle, riding it to the ground.

Davi’s music suddenly had a tone of urgency. Behind you! He turned to see an undead with a blacksteel sword, already swinging towards him.

With the two kills he'd gotten, he'd already maxed out [Battle Fury], but even with all his stats doubled, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to get out of the way in time.

Zilly slammed into it, using [Dash] to move in and decapitate the undead soldier before it saw her coming. Both its head and sword spun into the air.

Brin turned back to the first undead, the one with the charge Skill, and saw Marksi furiously strangling it with his tail and biting into its neck. The dragonling’s flat teeth barely pierced the skin. With another [Dash], Zilly flew over and finished it off.

Brin ran over and pulled his spear through and out of the undead. The heads were replaceable, but he needed that haft.

Five more undead came into view, and Brin turned to face them. This time Zilly and Davi looked much more confident. He himself was thrumming with energy from [Battle Fury]. They could win; Brin’s [Battle Sense] was certain of it, but they couldn’t do this all night.

“Take them down quick, then we flee. Follow me when I go. Use [Dash] to slow them down and distract them to give Davi and me some breathing room.”

Zilly nodded. “Got it.”

Davi switched his music from Brin’s theme to something more usual, an upbeat adventure song. That was fine; probably better for Zilly’s sake.

Brin stepped into the charging undead. An undead soldier with two shortswords ran ahead of the rest, so Brin used his spear’s reach to safely stab it, detonating the spearhead.

Luckily, the notifications didn't show his Skill options; he didn't have time for that now.

He stepped back to quickly fix another spearhead into place while Zilly darted in and out with [Dash], preventing the undead from grouping up.

Davi’s music stopped. Brin looked over to see if something had happened, and saw Davi pointing back at him. That and the sound of one footstep was all the warning he got.

It wasn’t enough.

Pain erupted through his body, so intense and so everywhere that at first he couldn’t even tell where he’d been hit. He tried to turn, to move his eyes and see what had gotten him, but his body was paralyzed. He slumped to the ground.

He was sprawled awkwardly on his side. Not on his back or his front, sort of shifted at an awkward angle. The good news was that he knew where the wound was. His back. He’d been hit in the back.

An armored boot came into his vision. Simao’s boot. Simao had hit him in the back.

He tried to call out a warning, but nothing came. He couldn’t speak. He didn’t know if the wound had pierced his heart or just his spine, but regardless, he was certain of one thing. He was dying.

Blackness crept up along the edges of his vision, in a solemn sort of way. It wasn’t as painful as it should’ve been. This wasn’t a warning, like his body telling him he’d drunk too much. This was the end. The soft inevitably of death. Strangely, this death was less painful than the one on the ice.

No. He wouldn’t die here. He hadn’t even seen the world outside this one small town. He hadn’t fallen in love or had a family. He hadn’t done anything, not in either life. As luck would have it, he had an ace in the hole this time.

He couldn’t move his eyes enough to see what was going on, but heard Zilly and Davi shouting, and felt the presence of Marksi frantically scurrying up and down his body, trying to find a way to help.

He tried to speak. The Healing Potion. He just had to say it. Potion. Even just “P”, and clever Marksi would understand. He couldn’t.

He called his magic, and surprisingly, it answered. He’d never been good at using [Shape Glass] to make glass move telekinetically, but he poured his mana into it, and pulled the glass bottle from his pouch. He tried to move it towards his mouth, but his accuracy was completely off and he missed. Luckily, Marksi saw what he was doing, scampered after it, and deposited it in Brin’s mouth.

The cork was still on it. If it had a glass lid, that would be no problem, but this one was corked. Brin was blind. He couldn’t even feel the glass in his mouth, he just knew it was there from his magic. He shattered the glass.

His eyes immediately cleared. He moved a hand to his face, and it came, just as ordered. He was healed. He patted Marksi’s head. “Good boy.”

It was strange how easily he rolled to his back. It felt like nothing had happened, except for the cold spot on his back where there was now a hole in the armor. He used [Shape Glass] to pull the shattered glass out of his mouth, and then swallowed again, his blood mixed with the rest of the potion. Then even the little cuts in his mouth were healed. No wonder these things were expensive; it was a second life.

He saw Zilly darting through a group of undead, using [Dash] over and over to keep out of their clutches, holding them back. Simao was bearing down on her. She shouted “Go!” and Davi ran into the forest.

It must’ve only been a few seconds since he’d been hit, even though it felt like a lifetime.

He concentrated on the ring where he’d stored the memory of casting mirror image. He’d have to chant out the whole thing, but since he could just repeat the words he was saying in his memory, he was certain he could do it without mistakes. It wouldn’t be possible if it were a simple voice recording, but his [Memories in Glass] Skill also recorded how he was feeling, and the intent behind the words. With this, he was certain not to make any mistakes. It was jarring to feel the memories of that time. The boredom. He’d tried to cast it a thousand times, and hadn’t really believed he would this time, either.

[Directed Meditation] let him ignore the unwelcome feelings and concentrate on the magic. He carefully chanted the entire thing. Soon, the spell was ready.

Davi was completely out of sight. The undead had spread out to make it harder for Zilly to enter and leave combat so casually. She was starting to lag. One mistake was all it would take, and she’d go down. Simao was biding his time, taunting her with casual friendliness, and waiting for the chance to strike.

Brin stood and hid behind a wide tree. He cast mirror image behind him, facing the opposite direction, and in full view of Simao and Zilly. The mirror image would do whatever he did and say whatever he said, so he had to be careful with how he did this.

“Hey!” Brin shouted. “Forgetting someone?”

Simao turned. “Brin? How did you survive that?”

Brin laughed, and put some [Scarred One] into his voice. “Did you think you could kill me with wounds, Simao? How quick you were to forget exactly why they called me Scar the Mistaken.”

Simao shook his head slowly. “No. You dropped that Class.”

“Maybe that’s just what I wanted you to think.”

Simao smiled and pointed a scolding finger. “You’re a [Glasser]. I’ve seen the glass you made.”

“You saw that metal knife I made, too. Does that make me a [Smith]? It doesn’t matter. I’m not telling you this to bluff. I just want the Simao I knew to understand exactly who it was that avenged him.”

Simao tilted his head to the side, as if confused. “I am the Simao you knew. I don’t have any freedom so I can’t spare you, sorry about that by the way, but it’s still me in here. And honestly? I kind of wish I didn’t know.” He sighed. “Toros would be so disappointed if he knew you were still evil.”

He gestured forward. “Kill him.”

The undead around him abandoned the fight with Zilly and charged towards Brin as one.

He waited until the very last second, then made a face of exaggerated fear. “Woops! Uh-oh!” He turned and ran, earning a surprised laugh from Simao. At least, that’s what his mirror image did. His real body ran straight into the tree he was hiding behind, and kept trying to run into it. He was like a stupid video game character, uselessly running into a wall to test if there was a secret passage there. His mirror image obeyed the signals he was sending and actually moved, although somewhat awkwardly, drawing the undead away.

Even if the undead soldiers noticed the real Brin, they didn’t change targets. Undead were single-minded like that. They had their orders, and they’d follow them because they had to. If they noticed the trick, they didn’t care.

Simao would care; despite his claims about not having freedom he obviously had more complex orders and some degree of leadership. But luckily, the funny moment had been enough to draw his interest, and he followed Brin’s mirror image, not even glancing at the tree that Brin was awkwardly running into.

Marksi squeaked in confusion, and Brin grunted as he scraped his face against the bark of the tree, but the undead made enough noise running through the underbrush to cover the sound.

Satisfied that he’d given himself enough room, he moved around the tree and actually ran. He caught Zilly, who’d started moving towards Simao’s group. She opened her mouth in surprise, but he put a finger to her lips and she nodded understanding.

She pointed towards Marksi, and then in the direction that Davi had fled. Marksi patted Brin’s cheek and then pointed into the forest. Could Marksi track Davi? He honestly didn’t even know if snakes had a sense of smell, and he’d definitely never taken Marksi as a bloodhound. Still, he must’ve been able to, because they’d been using him to find Myra in the first place.

They ran, Marksi guiding them.

“You’re still with me?” Brin asked, panting it out. “Even though I have a [Witch] spell on me?”

Marksi nodded firmly, and the grip of his tail tightened.

They caught up to Davi soon after. They kept running, and Davi kept the pace easily. He’d probably been moving slowly, hoping they’d catch up, planning to head back if they didn’t.

“Now find Myra!” Zilly hissed.

Brin realized that he knew where they were. “Scratch that! This way!” he whisper-shouted back.

Luckily, Marksi indicated that Myra’s scent was in the direction that Brin had wanted to go anyway.

He ran, sprinting as fast as he thought the others could keep up with. Except, every time he sped up, they matched pace. Were they moving slower for him? He went all-out, sprinting for everything he was worth, and he barely started to pull ahead of them. He would feel more enthusiastic about beating them in a footrace if [Battle Fury] hadn't doubled his attributes. He hoped that they’d lost Simao, but he wasn’t about to slow down, just in case.

Then they were there, at the banks of a familiar pond. He collapsed on the ground in relief, breathing too heavily for words.

Zilly drew her sword and watched the forest in alarm. “Here? Why are we at the snake pond? I figured you had a plan.”

Davi held his lute in one hand, his quarterstaff in the other, as if unsure which he would need. He also watched the forest with apprehension.

“I do,” Brin said when he caught his breath enough to speak. “I do have a plan.”

Simao walked into view; he must’ve turned and followed the real Brin right away. He was flanked by more than twenty undead. “A nice trick. I’m glad I got to see that. Thank you. But it’s over.”

“It is,” said Brin.

Zilly closed her eyes, struggling against despair. When she opened them again, her eyes were firm. “Ok. Then I’ll face it on my feet.”

“Oh, calm down,” said Brin. “It’s over for him.

Simao laughed. “You’re mistaken.”

Zilly looked at Brin. “I don’t get it.”

Brin smiled. “I got an Achievement once. [Blessing of the Hidden Guardian]. You get it now? Look where we are. You know, at first I felt like I was robbed, because the Achievement didn’t give me anything. Shouldn’t I get something, like a magical bond to help me communicate with dragons, or a new sense that only dragons have or something? At the very least I’d want a couple Strength or Dexterity. I thought the System was being stingy.

“Except that wasn’t it at all. I think the System was simply recognizing that the acceptance of a dragon is already too much of a bonus.”

Brin didn’t hear the sloshing of the water as she left her sleeping chamber. He didn’t see her rise into the air, so perfect was her control over her camouflage. She made no sound, and didn’t so much as disturb the air. The only way he knew she was there at all was by tracing her shape with [Know What’s Real].

She was enormous. She wound up and into the sky, stretching hundreds of feet above him. She curled back, ready to pounce, the same movements he’d seen little Marksi do a hundred times back when he was a snake catching bugs.

She struck. To Brin’s eyes, it was like the entire world stopped being real for a blink of an eye. To the others, it must’ve looked like the enemy had simply stopped existing. One second, Simao led his dark band. The next, they were gone.

Silence returned to the snake pond. Brin didn’t hear the splash as she flew back under the water; he only saw the disturbance as a disturbance in [Know What’s Real]. He used the Skill to trace the waves until they hit the shore. There was no visible trace or sound of her passing at all. However, because he was expecting it, he thought he felt the shudder of the earth as she settled in.

Zilly collapsed to her knees. “What just happened?”

Davi looked up into the sky, a mysterious smile on his lips. “There’s a song in that, I think.”

Brin scratched Marksi’s chin. “That was amazing! Are you going to be that powerful when you get older?”

Marksi’s tail twitched a ‘yes’ with absolute confidence.

The “awareness of death” might have just pushed [Survivor of Travin’s Bog] up to being his best Title, depending on how well that instinctual awareness worked. Still, he was more interested in the Blessing of the Hidden Guardian at the moment. He looked at Marksi, but didn’t immediately gain any insight that he could tell. Marksi was just Marksi.

“One thing I’ve been wondering. You said that Marksi told you that Myra got buried underground. How did he do that?”

Zilly was still sitting on the ground, staring around in shock. “The undead. They’re gone…”

Davi answered his question. “Why don’t you ask him?”

“Marksi, how did you do it?” Brin asked.

Marksi clenched his teeth in concentration, and the color of his scales seemed to whirl. They showed a picture, Myra’s face maybe, though it was small and blurry. The image zoomed out to show her in a bag carried on another blurry figure’s back. Tawna, no doubt. Tawna was being chased by black blurry shapes. She threw Myra, and Myra hit the ground, then sank. Down, deep underneath.

The colors went back to the usual rainbow, and Marksi panted with the effort.

“Thanks,” said Brin. That was certainly a useful ability, and a new awareness of what Marksi could do, but he didn’t think that was what the Achievement meant.

He used [Inspect].

That line at the end was the only thing new, but that was enough.

“You can smell magic?” Brin gasped. Marksi twitched a ‘yes’.

“Is that how you could tell the places where [Witches] had used their magic?”

‘Yes.’

“And that’s how you’re following Myra. Can you even smell [Weaver] magic?”

Again, Marksi twitched a confirmation.

“Can you tell where she is now?”

Rather than answer, Marksi hopped down and scampered around the pond.

“Right! Myra!” said Zilly, coming out of her shock. “We still need to find her!”