Morgan Mackenzie was fighting for her life, and enjoying every glorious moment of it. The magic she wielded was vibrant in a way she didn't - or couldn't - notice before. In her blood, in her bones and in her mind, it hummed. It was utterly intoxicating, a feeling of near invincibility. Her magic seemed to plead to be used, the Mana that sang in her blood responding to her will like a custom-built sports car designed for her and her alone.

 

Now that the hydra was closer, she could tell that it was not, in fact, tasty at all. The vast majority of its body gave off a sort of ick-flavored feeling under her gaze, like smelling sewage with her eyes. It was covered in slimy iridescent scales of an utterly disgusting shade of green. Protrusions of thick, bony shell guarded the spot where the scaly necks sprouted like a clump of twisted roots.

 

The heads looked like an abominable cross between a snapping turtle and a crocodile: narrow, ridged beaks filled with vicious, uneven, ugly teeth that gnashed together as the heads hissed and spat in response to her repeated casts of [Lightning Bolt]. The only part of the creature that did, in fact, seem tasty were a small pocket of bluish glowing tendrils that wriggled about under the gill-like flaps behind the jaws of each head, and that was only because Morgan's [Primal Instinct] told her they were. Morgan herself had no interest in eating anything even remotely resembling tentacles. Not unless I’m starving, at least…

 

All of her magic and skills felt smoother and more cooperative with her will, no longer jittery and difficult to grasp. Before her Class Selection, the spells had been almost wild, with Fire or Lightning literally burning their way out of her flesh when she released them. Now, the Mana seemed to flow nearly unhindered, harmlessly leaving her body with merely the thought to direct it

 

Lulu remained glommed tightly onto her shoulder as Morgan activated [Acceleration] and darted between two striking heads to fire a [Spell Surge]-empowered [Lightning Bolt] into the creature’s chest. The magical beast’s raw power with Water made her Fire spells sputteringly ineffective under the localized storm, but she could still temporarily stun it with a good shock of lightning.

 

The serpentine necks twitched and jerked as Morgan danced back out of range, hopping around and over the exfoliated skeletons scattered across the sands with a grace aided by her [Primal Instinct] and [Athleticism]. Her basic spells had done no lasting damage at all as far as the young sorceress could discern. Even intoxicated by the buzzing power thrumming in her Soul, she could understand that she would not be able to keep this pace indefinitely.

 

I need something more, she thought as she formed a [Wind Barrier] out of the Air above her to deflect an incoming wave of jagged hail and lightning. The frozen chunks of water bounced off the shield, but the impact of the hydra’s lightning spell sent her sprawling with her skin tingling from the static.

 

She sprang to her feet with a burst of [Acceleration] and kept it up long enough to put some distance between her and her foe, burning Stamina with [Regeneration] to recoup the spent Mana. Turning just outside the edge of the magical storm’s range, Morgan drew up Fire and Lightning Mana simultaneously.

 

It was similar to how she had twisted the Fire Mana before losing control of it back in her temporary Earth shelter, but this time she blended two Elements together for the spell. It took effort, but thanks to her new Class and the improved abilities to manipulate the Mana, she managed to keep it from exploding in her face. Vivid purple flames swirled between her hands, crackling furiously with the charged Lightning Mana inside the spinning Fire.

 

The more Fire and Lightning she squeezed into the spinning ball, the more of her Mana it cost to keep it contained. The two elements did not seem to like being forced together so roughly, but Morgan did not have time to experiment slowly. As the hydra closed once again to within thirty paces, she activated [Spell Surge] and thrust her hands out towards the monster while she shoved the roiling mass forward with her mind.

 

You have learned the spell [Plasma Glaive]! Annihilate your enemies with a burning spear of Lightning and Flame!

 

The notification was all she could see for several moments, as the spell had been so bright that it blinded her temporarily. The young sorceress was also convinced she was deafened as well, until she realized she was no longer hearing the hydra’s thunderstorm only because it was no longer there. Neither were, she noticed after blinking her vision back, two of the monster’s heads.

 

The beast itself stood frozen, understandably even more shocked at this turn of events than Morgan herself was. The two rightmost heads ended in charred stumps, and seared bone and hide rippled back along the massive emerald shoulder. Pieces of green meat and glimmering shards of scales were still falling to the ground with wet thumps and splattering sounds as she and the hydra both stood stunned.

 

“Whoa,” she blurted out as Lulu gave appreciative wurbles from her shoulder. The new spell had been far more impressively destructive than she could have hoped for, and losing two heads had definitely hurt the hydra. It heaved its grotesquely muscled body up as high as its stumpy, thick-set front legs could lift it, while its remaining heads writhed and hissed and shuddered about like angry snakes.

 

Morgan stared for several heartbeats, the expenditure of almost half of her Mana at once leaving her light-headed and swaying on her feet. So disorienting was the effect that even with [Primal Instinct] screaming at her, she did not manage to move in time to evade the hydra’s response.

 

With a disgustingly wet herk that was almost enough on its own to make Morgan retch in sympathy, all five of the remaining heads shuddered in unison, the massive body heaving. The naked sorceress and the immediate surrounding area for a dozen yards in every direction promptly received a prodigious coating of caustic reptilian vomit and partially-digested flesh and bones.

 

Morgan did not even have time to verbalize her own horrified disgust before her body’s reflexes expurgated her recently-consumed roasted eel and river-water, adding a much smaller, but still disgustingly aromatic contribution to the mess. It was only after she staggered upright once again that she realized how badly the hydra’s vomit was stinging her skin. Lulu quickly cleaned off her face but it covered everything else. The next thing she noticed was the fact that within all that stinking, slimy, sticky mess -- things were moving.

 

“Nope, nope, nope!” screamed Morgan as she turned and ran, setting herself on fire to cleanse the filth from her skin as fast as possible. The heady, buzzing high she had been experiencing as she had reveled in the ease and power of her new Class and its magics was now completely gone. In its place was shaky whispers of fear and self-recrimination.

 

On she ran towards the looming cliffs to the north, not slowing until she could no longer hear the rumbling storm that had re-appeared above the hydra. Letting the purifying flames fade away, she slowed to a walk as she brushed the soot and ash from herself as well as she could. Lulu, thankfully immune to her fire, proceeded to deal with the rest in her singularly scrubby fashion.

 

“I don’t pick fights, Lulu! What the hell was wrong with me?”

 

The diminutive puffball gave no answer save its constant purble of contentment as it dealt with all things icky on its mistress’ body. “It was like the magic was making me high or something. I  was definitely power trippin’ on the class thing!”

 

Morgan’s heart was still pounding, but the buzzing hum of her magic had been dampened by the shock of the vomit and her panicked flight. “Stupid! So freakin’ stupid!” She stomped her foot in frustration but the effect was nowhere near satisfying with her bare sole on the soft dirt.

 

“God, I miss boots already!” she complained, punctuating her declaration with an annoyed growl.

 

She gave Lulu several gentle pats in appreciation after the loofah finished its ministrations and returned to her shoulder. Getting covered in vomit had not been part of her plans for the day. Or any day, for that matter. But it had come with the benefit of two new skills; [Corrosion Resistance] and [Toxin Resistance]. “Still, not how I would have planned to get those skills. Yuck!”

 

Muttering to herself, Morgan continued along towards the distant, looming cliffs. She still wanted to find a high place so she could get a better reading on the local area, hoping to spot signs of civilization or people. Another small stream presented the opportunity to rinse the taste of her own vomit out of her mouth, and after a quick double-check of her surroundings she sat on a soft mossy patch next to the creek to think.

 

Several sips and spits from a globule of floating water later, she felt much better. Her eyes drifted up to the high clifftops, where the day’s sunlight was finally burning most of the obscuring mists away. “I’m not sure how far away those cliffs really are, Lulu, but that looks like it has to be almost a mile from bottom to top, if not more…”

 

The scrubby’s only response was a snoozy and low purble as it drooped on her shoulder. “Poor lil’ thing,” she said as she gave it another gentle pat. “Must be exhausted from defending me and spawning all those terrifyingly cute hordes of babies.”

 

With her mind now much calmer and her body at least somewhat rested, Morgan carefully got to her feet while making sure not to jostle her sleepy loofah passenger. The [Primal Instinct] skill was not warning her of danger, nor urging her towards or away from anything else that she could tell. But there was something different about this section of the forest.

 

It took her several long moments of staring before it finally fell into place. The small stream she had sat next to ran in an almost perfectly straight line along a section of furrowed earth that looked like it was chopped out by a massive blade. “Nature doesn’t usually work with straight lines,” she murmured to herself quietly. One bank of the stream was raised higher than the other, a clear delineation aside from some crumbled sections and places where tree roots had pushed out the bank. The unnatural formation was obvious, now that she knew to look.

 

The raised ground stood merely a half a pace higher than her side of the stream, and she cleared the distance to the other side with a nimble hop as she continued carefully through the forest. Now that she knew to look, other things stood out as she meandered through the trees. Toppled boles marked gaps in the canopy above, smaller trees fighting for dominance in the places where the sunlight shone through in full.

 

There were sections of rippled earth formations, as if a giant had shaken a rug and let it fall in a folded messy clump, sometimes with trees growing sideways out of the leaning dirt before bending back towards the sky. As she continued on her path, scattered boulders began to appear. It seemed as if a titanic battle had been fought, and she were walking through the battlefield decades later The area felt as somber and quiet as the grave, the sounds of wildlife dying away the further she advanced.

Half a hundred paces further in, as the signs of old destruction and mayhem became far more pronounced, she stumbled. Vibrant moss and lichen covered the ground, so she had no visual clues to warn her. As she took another step she felt her Mana snap with a jolt, down her leg and into something under the layer of moss.

 

“Fuck!” she screamed, as she fell over with her leg numb and half of her Mana instantly gone. The tumble dislodged a protesting scrubby as she landed unceremoniously on the ground in confusion. “What the hell was that?!”

 

She sat there for over a minute, flexing her leg and rubbing her foot, trying to get the feeling back. Sitting up, she noticed that the mossy patch she had stepped on was now glowing with a soft pale light from underneath. With a lot of frustration and a good measure of anger, she wrenched at the dirt underneath the moss with her Earth Mana.

 

What sprang up from the dirt was equal parts beautiful and astonishing; a lumpy crystal the size of her fist, glowing with Mana. Her Mana, to be specific. She could feel it floating there less than two feet away, and almost without thought she reached out with her will to pull on the Mana within the crystal. It flowed back into her as easily and smoothly as breathing, all but for a trace that remained inside, keeping the object afloat.

 

“Whoa… It’s a literal Mana Crystal, Lulu!”

 

The scrubby ceased its wurbling protests at being so rudely awoken in the fall, and hopped up to land on the floating crystal chunk while emanating curious purring tones. The puffball’s adhesive abilities never ceased to amaze Morgan as Lulu treated the sides and bottom of the crystal just like the top, sticking to it without fail as the scrubby cleaned and polished this new shiny thing that its mistress had found.

 

It was not the only one in the area, either: with her Mana in the crystal, she could feel soft pulses, like sonar pings, scattered through the thinning forest ahead. Like a thousand heartbeats, they sat with a low hum in her perception through the crystal suspended before her. And like an echo, her own bones and blood pulsed a syncopated counter in time with the beats.

 

With a wave of power from [Spell Surge] and unable to help gesturing along with the thought, Morgan heaved with her magic as she got her arms under an invisible load and raised up. For hundreds of yards ahead of her and to either side, scattered throughout the silent battleground, thousands of brightly glowing crystals burst forth from under the dirt and moss and leaves.

 

The effort drained her Mana rapidly; the crystals each pulled in an individual trickle as they floated and flashed in multi-colored strobes of stark light that overpowered the daytime sun. An unexpected reward followed the effort, however, as a notification appeared just before her Mana drained completely.

 

You have gained the skill [Crystal Affinity]!

 

She dropped back to the ground with an exhausted thwump, her breathing labored as though she’d just finished a sprint. The shards of crystal fell immediately after, a soft pattering rain of thumping and tumbling pieces that took a few moments to settle into stillness. The only sound for several minutes was Morgan’s own panting breaths as she recovered from the total drain of her magic.

 

“Holy shit…”

 

Using the closest tree, she levered herself back to her feet after the worst of the woozy feeling had passed. From what little she could infer with the limited sense she had felt from the crystals through her mana, their positions radiated from a central point. She headed in that direction, carefully picking her way through and around the glowing stones without touching any of them. The iridescent glow shone upwards to paint the underside of the canopy in rippling rainbows of living light, which she couldn’t help but admire.

 

“You couldn’t pay to see something like this on Earth, Lulu,” she said in a hushed whisper. The closer she got to the center, the more pronounced the evidence of old destruction became. The tree cover was thinner and younger the farther in she went, the forest not yet having reclaimed this battlefield as its own.

 

Boulders, and pieces of rock that must have at one time been boulders before being shattered by massive impacts, lay tumbled about amongst mossy humps that must have at one time been trees, knocked over and long since rotted away

 

“It wasn’t a meteor strike,” she whispered to herself. “That would have blown trees out in the same direction, unless I’m remembering physics wrong.” The rocky formations had grown larger as she walked, and as she stepped around a titanic stone slab jutting upwards from the dirt, she saw what could only be massive claw marks gouged into the granite itself. Nope, not a meteor, she thought.

 

Her instincts submitted to the tranquil atmosphere, and talking out loud seemed almost wrong somehow. Whatever had happened in this place seemed to demand a reverence and respect like the quiet blanket of stilled air that reminded her of approaching a monument.

 

Or a grave…

 

As Morgan approached the center, the crystals grew steadily larger and more uniform in shape. Massive glass-like blades and needle-thin spikes longer than her arms lay chipped and broken, sometimes half-buried in the larger rocks. Finally, after picking her way through one last extremely dense section of tumbled stone and crystal, she reached the center.

 

Piled in a mound over twice as tall as the young sorceress were the bones of a massive creature, with the skull topping the pile like some sort of totem or warning. It was difficult to make out the original shape of the skull due to the obvious damage, but enough was left that Morgan could make out the general shape of what once must have been a terrifying creature.

 

The skull itself was taller than her, with a single front-facing opening that must have once housed an eye the size of a large beach ball. Above the empty socket, two stubby protrusions that looked like they had once been the base for a pair of horns sat broken off, the bone jagged with fractures and cracks that spread out across the rest of the skull. An intact third horn extended from the elongated snout halfway between the ocular cavity and the mostly destroyed sinus opening. The two upper horns lay at the foot of the pile as if dropped and forgotten.

 

The rest of the bones were piled under the skull, oversized scapulae like broad-bladed shovels atop tumbled vertebrae and sharply-edged sections of snapped ribs. A huge femur, easily as long as Morgan was tall, leaned against the pile, studded with fragments of broken mana crystals as if something made of the magic mineral had chewed on the bone.

 

“Lulu,” she whispered in quiet awe, “If things like this and whatever killed it live in this world, I really can’t pick fights like I did with the hydra…”

 

The scrubby gave no response, huddling quietly in the crook of her shoulder and neck. The afternoon sun finally passed over the edge of the looming cliffs to sink the creature’s resting place in gloomy shadow, dimly lit by the rainbow glow of thousands of crystals. Now reminded of her destination, Morgan quickly but quietly made her way past the bones. The entire empty battlefield was a place she was now eager to put behind her, driven forth by the fear inspired by the quiet grave.

 

Morgan resumed her trek for the cliffs in somber silence. She was finally coming to terms with the fact that, despite the game-like characteristics of this new and magical world, she was not safe -- and this was most definitely not a game.