With such a large variation between systems, it is important to consider your gear when traveling. On some worlds, a magical device might integrate with others to aid a traveler. A common example of this is barrier stones. On others, magical feedback might create an interference loop, turning all the devices on a traveler into explosives.

  -Traveler’s Guild lecture on cross-system travel

  It doesn’t take long to top off my mana with how easy the last couple of fights have been. The noble grumbles some as he paces around the clearing, but I’m not about to take on a boss fight without being in peak condition. Once my mana pool is topped off, I summon my shadow armor, pull twenty gallons of water from the fountain, and confidently stride into the next room.

  Once all four of us are in the room, I hear the creaking of the roots extending from the archway behind us, weaving into an impenetrable wall. If I were in a game, now is when the boss music would begin to play. In front of me, the rotund sphere of fur begins to uncurl, and I know I’m in trouble when I recognize the creature. That massive ball of fur is a bear.

  Fast, strong, with sharp claws, a normal bear is feared as a top predator in the wild. I won’t be able to outrun it, and the shadow armor will be tissue paper against its claws. That’s assuming that it doesn’t have any magical abilities. As if reading my thoughts, the bear turns to us and roars. Slowly, dirt begins to move around the bear like its four paws are vacuums. The dirt travels up its legs and clings to the bear’s fur, forming plates of rock armor.

  My ice shards will have trouble taking down a normal bear. With its new enhanced armor, I’m not sure how to fight the beast. Are the plates a one-time thing or something that the bear can continue to regenerate? I don’t think I can compete with it in terms of strength, defense, or speed. Magic is my only hope. First, I send out a few shadow tendrils around its paws to probe its strength. The bear chuffs as if disappointed.

  The beast effortlessly raises its paw, breaking the hold of the shadow tendrils. I want to send out a few more strikes to prod for weaknesses. I decide to let the stream of water behind me rush over the bear. The water strips much of its armor, but not enough to shift the fight to my advantage.

  “Do you surrender, wilder? I will defeat it for you if you surrender any loot.” The noble grins beside me. It is tempting to say yes. Whatever items the dungeon might drop, it’s not worth my life. Still, I’m not willing to give in just yet.

  I send another stream of water over the bear, but this time, right as it washes over, I freeze the water solid. The bear growls in anger before clawing at the chunks of ice. Not getting the outcome it wants, the boss shakes it back before having another go at clawing at the chunks of ice more out of annoyance than out of a desperate need. The bear succeeds in clearing the extra bulk, but a significant chunk of its magical armor is removed in sections.

  Now that I have a hole in its armor, all I have to do is fight an angry bear in a small, confined space. Joy. With only a little bit of water left, I judiciously send ice spears at its unarmored flank. I score a few hits, and if the bear stands still for another fifteen minutes, I might have a chance to finish the fight.

  Enraged at being stabbed, the magical ursine charges at me and swings a thick paw the size of my head at me. I raise a patch of shadows to help cushion the blow. The claws tear through the raised pillar of shadow, the shadow armor, and score cuts on my forearms. The gratuitous use of shadow magic has kept the wounds from being debilitating, but it’s clear I need to change tactics.

  At the back of my mind, I feel Morgana ready herself in case I need help. I send a pulse of reassurance; I’m not in imminent danger of being bear chow just yet. If she does reveal herself, though, I have no doubt the light mage will attack her. I can’t defend against the noble; I’m not even sure I can even defend against the boss.

  Morgana’s clawed form can unleash devastating damage, and might be just what I need to put a real dent in my foe, but something tells me even if I can convince the noble not to attack Morgana, it won’t end well. None of the nobles have been accommodating, and I get the feeling that knowing there is an undead hiding in the dungeon won’t be taken very well. Lord Brighteye or the Heartbran estate will want her destroyed. One saving grace in my struggle is that the bear doesn’t care that the knights and mage want only to observe.

  My watchers have been keeping their distance as the dungeon boss focuses on me, but in such a confined space, it's hard for a predator to ignore other prey. After savaging my arms, I create distance so I can heal and reconstruct my armor. Seeing that I’m not a threat, the massive beast turns to the knight with the shield and claws at him. The knight raises his shield, catching the claws swiping at him, but despite blocking the attack, the strength behind the blow sends him flying. The other knight tries to parry the paw strikes with his hammer.

  Holding it in front of him to shield against another claw attack, the bear grows aggravated and decides to bite the hammer instead. It viciously whips its head back and forth until the knight is forced to let go.

  I take my little remaining water and form a spike of ice. Before I release the projectile, I realize it isn’t going to work. Instead, I focus on calling forth my mind magic. Despite being a beast, its mind is well fortified. I feel the cracks in its defenses, but it will take a while to work through them. Lord Brighteye intercedes on the harried knight’s behalf, creating a giant flash of light that disorients the bear and gives the knight space to run away. As the knight turns tail and flees, the bear claws at its face as it tries to regain its vision.

  “Wilder, are you going to fight or are you giving up?” The noble asks through gritted teeth.

  The disorienting flash has the byproduct of significantly weakening the bear’s mental defenses. Sensing a weak spot, I pounce. My jaw tenses as I push forward with a surge of mind mana, causing layers of its mental defenses to crack away.

  “Wilder, I need an answer. If you are too scared to speak, I will assume you are giving up.” The noble says, trying to sound nonchalant.

  I growl as I let loose a fresh volley of ice into the bear’s side. They might not do much physically, that’s fine. This time, I hit its left side, which is better armored, so only two of the five ice blades I send find purchase.

  “Be quiet, I am trying to concentrate,” I yell as I try to get ready for another volley.

  “Very well, but make it quick. I am not going to be responsible for the loss of Lord and Lady Heartbran’s knights.” He shouts.

  I don’t want them to die either, but at the same time, this whole situation seems ridiculous. It’s clear that if we work together instead of everyone watching me, we would be done with this dungeon hours ago. Finishing the dungeon would be beneficial for them. The knights had said this is the first time they’re running the dungeon, and the additional experience shared between us would benefit them.

  Once my attacks hit home, the bear turns around in a rage. It’s disoriented from the light attacks, and now, with its mind under siege, it’s stumbling like it is drunk. The bear growls out with rage, shakes its head as it tries to clear its vision, and then begins running forward. To my good fortune, the bear decides to attack the annoying noble who kept blinding it.

  Looking unfazed, the noble clicks his tongue before snapping his fingers and causing another burst of light. The shadow armor wrapped around my head negates most of the magical flashbangs, but I still look away. When I look back, I’m surprised to see Lord Brighteye is gone. It takes me a moment, but I eventually find him floating in the air. I don’t have long to figure out how he’s managing the trick because with the noble now out of reach, the bear is now focused on me.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  After ten minutes of fighting, I have used up all the water I brought with me into the room. I can still manipulate the frozen chunks that have fallen to the ground, but despite their hardness, ice doesn’t hold a cutting edge well. I will only be able to send the broken ice blades to its face, which I predict will do more to anger the beast than hurt it. Still, as I look around the clearing, I see one or two icicles that retain most of their sharp edge.

  I launch one more at its side, far too close to the creature to miss. The ice sinks about an inch into the bear before the predator redoubles its speed to catch me. I have increased some of my stats, but I’m nowhere near being able to outrun a bear. With it closing on me, I tug on my mental magic, straining to order it, “stop.”

  The bear skids to a stop about a foot in front of me. Not wanting to miss the chance, I pull out my sword and stab it in the eye, hoping to finish the fight in one critical strike. Once the sword slides into the bear’s eye socket, it bounces off bone. I lose my grip on the weapon, and it jumps from my hand. The bear gives a mighty roar, and my tenuous grip on the bear’s mind slips. In the end, even though my mind magic never did any damage, it’s worth it to have the opening for a critical strike. I run away from the bear, narrowly dodging its claws as it swings wildly in all directions, blindly seeking me.

  Trying to create as much distance as possible, I move to the other side of the clearing. As I’m running, I see the knights also have the same idea. With some breathing room, I try to find more shards of ice I can use as weapons while assessing the bear’s mental defenses. After a few more swings, the bear turns towards us with its bloody gaze.

  “I don’t like that look,” the knight with the shield and sword says.

  “I don’t think there is a look on that bear I have liked,” I retort.

  “Please tell me you have an idea.” The hammer knight adds.

  “I do.” I reply.

  “Does it involve killing the bear before it rushes us?” The knight asks.

  I remain silent.

  “I was afraid you might say that.” The knight says.

  The shield knight readies himself behind his shield, while the hammer knight hefts his hammer on his shoulder in preparation for a powerful overhead strike.

  The bear gains momentum as it crosses the clearing. I shoot ice shards at it, but they do little more than graze it. With its loping gate, it hits the knights like a truck. The shield knight takes most of the blow, getting slammed against the trees walling in the clearing. The other knight slams down his hammer on the beast’s shoulder and gets backhanded by the bear for his trouble. By the time it hits me, most of the bear’s momentum has bled off, and the shadow armor is an excellent cushion. Despite getting the wind knocked out of me. I come out relatively unscathed. I slide down the tree to sit on the ground. To my left and right, the knights groan on their backs.

  Sighing in resignation, I shout, “I yield.”

  I turn to look at the noble floating in the air. He looks down imperiously but doesn’t move. I curse him out in my head, too exhausted running around to muster the lung capacity to curse him out properly.

  “I said I yield, help me out.” I don’t have time to get a second glance as the bear is upon me. I unleash a mental stun attack, which gives me a brief second to slide to the side. There’s no ice in sight, but I see copious amounts of blood from the bear’s wound. I call on my blood affinity, forming a spike, and right as it turns to me, I freeze it into a long, slender point.

  I punch forward, slamming the spike home. Unlike the blade, this one is far slimmer. It sinks into the bear’s brain, killing it. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop the momentum of its paw as it rakes across my chest.

  The cuts are deep, but fortunately, my shadow armor stops its talons before it can puncture a lung or eviscerate me. The shadow armor is much better at blocking blunt attacks, but I’m thankful for every millimeter of claw it blocked. I’m quite lucky to have such a deep wound that isn’t fatal, just large gash marks that are bleeding profusely.

  On Earth, I would likely die from blood loss, but on Hortis, all I need is water, blood, or a healing potion, and it will be no problem. I split my focus between trying to get my own blood streaming out of me to heal my wounds and searching for the duplicitous noble.

  I look over, and to my horror, I see him floating just a few feet off the ground with his hand around Morgana’s neck. In the middle of the attack by the bear, she must have jumped in to help me, only to be stopped by the noble.

  “The guards have been noting the dead bodies of animals littering the estate over the last few days. A few reported seeing a woman. Imagine my surprise when I find an undead that fits that description, covered in blood, charging in to help you.” He looks down, meeting my gaze.

  “Look, just let her go. She is a zombie I raised.” I say while I try to find a scrap of cloth to put pressure on my wounds.

  “No, I do not think so. I don’t think she is under your control; you would have lost any control over her the moment you set foot inside the estate. Still… she looks like she has some intelligence. Maybe she will provide some useful information about your third affinity.” He says in a bemused tone.

  “You are making a mistake; I’m a guest of the estate. Once they hear about what you’ve done, it will be the end of you.” I say, trying feebly to replicate the trick I did earlier, where I use my empathy to reinforce my words. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to think clearly, and it takes all my concentration to continue healing myself.

  He laughs, “They were already suspicious about what secrets you are hiding, but I know what my eyes saw. The weird blood manipulation could be misunderstood because of your water affinity, but once I saw you command the bear to stop and the way you stunned it…” He clicks his tongue before continuing, “No, I think you will find the rest of your stay very different when you return.”

  I look at my notifications, desperately seeking anything to help me out of my situation. My health is still over halfway full but dropping faster than I’d like. My mana is a third of the way down.

  I will the free points into my constitution and endurance stats to help hold me together.

  It all clicks into place. The reason they wanted me to run this dungeon on my own. Why they want so many people to go with me? It’s a trap to see if I will reveal my third affinity. Once I do the noble and the two knights can capture me and return me to the estate. I can’t let this happen. I rack my brain for some idea when I remember the quest.

  That spell form on the surface is fine, but for me, it’s insanely good. It synergizes with my healing and will allow me to quickly recover mana before healing away what I have sacrificed. If I can continually cast them, I can essentially generate infinite health and mana, though it's not quick.

  Unfortunately, right now it’s the exact opposite of what I need. I’m struggling to heal myself, and sacrificing more of my vitality isn’t what I want. I feel dread set in as all that I’ve done crumbles before me. I picture myself sitting in a dungeon, caged, and at their mercy. Then I get another notification.

  It is a horrible idea. I’m barely holding on; the knights are nursing bruised bones, and it took everything we had to take down the bear. Still, it’s my only out.

  I mentally select yes.

  The ground around us rumbles as the trees begin to grow over us.

  The noble looks caught off guard, “What’s this?”

  He looks to me for an answer. Sitting on the ground, desperately holding my bleeding chest. He doesn’t hear me when I say, “just rewards.”