A barren wasteland met me on the other side of the rift. No- even that wasn’t quite right. The place was just a massive empty void. Pure darkness stretched out in all directions around the crackling rift. A world full of darkness, just waiting to be shaped. It didn’t take long for the void to be tainted.

  Shapes stood from the bleak landscape. Walls lifted themselves and clouds spawned far above. The sky filled with dim light, and a winter gale blew by me. The lifting walls grew textures and details. Slowly but surely, the world filled with color like an artist splashing their painting with paint.

  Gone was the emptiness. Now, the depths of a filthy alley surrounded me. Thick snow piled up around the bases of the nearby buildings, ashen with smog. The buildings were entirely different from the gargantuan skyscrapers of Bastion. Stone walls replaced cement, the largest of which only stood at two floors with grandiose arched roofs.

  A howling snowstorm blocked the night’s sky, hiding any hint of time. The only light illuminating the area came from distant flickering lanterns swaying in the wind. The alley, cold and desolate amongst the warmth of the surrounding chimneys and taverns, was a familiar location. An unpleasant one.

  Just further down the alley, a frail form huddled in the shadows. Crimson dyed the innocent snow around the hateful figure. Chances were high that they would either bleed out or freeze to death come morning should nothing happen. A tragic, though commonplace, death. At least, it should’ve been. The tale should’ve ended in this alley.

  Clop-clop! Clop-clop!

  A carriage stopped at the mouth of the alley. Several blinding lanterns strapped to the ornate carriage caused the beaten form to shift. The royal seal alongside the side shimmered in the light like a beacon of hope. A small shadow stepped out, fair golden locks hidden under a shawl.

  The driver at the front of the carriage called out, “My lady? Why did we stop?”

  The shadow looked up, silver eyes glazing over me like I didn’t exist. I knew the words that would come next. ‘Providence guides me-‘

  “Ugh-“ A soft grunt came from the bleeding form, the only noise it could make with a face so swollen and frostbitten. A cry for help? A cry for mercy? Or was it maybe a cry for its miserable existence to end?

  The shadow’s expression twisted in disgust at the noise. A fair hand raised, wiping at her nose as her expression wrinkled up. The shadow retreated into the carriage as if it’d just been exposed to something incomparably filthy. “Nevermind. Just unwanted filth.”

  The carriage left just as quickly as it came. With it? The last of the light shining into the alley. The lone lantern that illuminated the space, like the last lights of hope, sputtered out. The howling gales blew even more hauntingly down the alley, singing like banshees announcing death. Shadows flickered before even they too abandoned this place.

  “Cute.” I called out to the hunched form sitting in the snow. A rogue wind blew past me, brushing my hood off. My cowlick immediately jumped up. As I stood there, snow fell onto my hair, creating a small mound of the substance.

  Attempting to turn the best day of my life into yet another haunting memory? This level was child’s play. Even without the warning from strategy guides, the mimic was several hundred years too early. Crushing loneliness had long lost any effect.

  As if awakened by my call, the shadowed form lifted itself out of the sullied snowbank. A child, gaunt and frail, staggered against the wall. Her hand, a deep shade of blue, snapped out as she barely caught herself from falling into the tainted snow once more. Blood dripped from bruises and cuts all over her.

  What had it been back then? Digging through the trash for scraps of food? Purple eyes- just a glance of them and any morality these people had went out the window. It hardly mattered. This town was long devoured and gone. I’d long out-lived everyone here. No point rehashing old memories.

  Raven locks wet with snow and blood drifted down her sides, unkempt and uncut. Hideous purple eyes met my own through the darkness, appearing completely empty and hollow like a broken doll. Hopelessness weighed on her shoulders, and despair so deep it literally bled off of her.

  Old injuries covered the ugly kid. They were never given time to heal before more were layered on top. Black tar tried to cover the wounds, keeping what little blood she had left inside. That ooze spiked out like the spines of a porcupine, turning her even more monstrous in mere moments.

  “Haaaahhhhh!” A broken scream, wild and crazed, tore from her throat. She threw herself at me, injuries not even slowing her for a moment. The abyssal tar skewered out into a dozen sharp tendrils, each aimed at me.

  Ebonshroud poured from my own body freely. A sharp spear formed in my hands. Raw ether poured through me. It flowed down the haft, slightly boosting its resilience. I took a stance to meet her charge. The end result? Either dodge or die.

  She chose the former. Four tendrils dug into the snow and they threw the kid out of the way. Ebonshroud daggers scattered toward me, thrown by the remaining spines across her body.

  My spear melted into fluid, flowing into a shield. I crouched, covering my body fully. Ether channeled up into it, hopefully doing something. I was’t using skills. I was just pouring raw ether into the tools and weapons. The hail of daggers slammed into me, lacking in penetration and force. Most fell uselessly to the ground.

  I thought this thing was supposed to copy all of my capabilities, yep? Did it only half read my memories? The mimic- it lacked refinement. She staggered back, desecrating even more pure snow with her blood. The dagger hail would’ve been the perfect opportunity to reset and yet she was just barely starting to right herself once more.

  Ether condensed in her shoulder. Shoulder Charge? I kicked up snow, blinding her while I struck low. The shield shifted into a mace mid motion, catching her center mass. She flew into the wall, dropping weakly into the snow. The Skill only protected the shoulder. The rest of her? Easy pickings.

  I darted toward her, ether flowing down my mace. It condensed in the head of the heavy weapon, glimmering with deadly might. I brought it down in a heavy overhead slame into her face-

  A thick helmet appeared, tanking the blow. The Ebonshroud helmet splintered into the snow and the mimic’s bloodied face appeared once more. She staggered away, throwing up a hand as if to ward me off. I back stepped, reading her micro-movements. The stagger was too controlled, appearing a tad bit artificial. My combat senses practically screamed-

  Shink!

  Deadly tendrils lanced up from below the snow, skewering where I just stood like spears. A tar forest sprouted all around the girl, its ‘roots’ hidden beneath the snow. I kicked back several more steps, sliding back in the snow slightly to avoid any more traps. My feet dug deep trenches into the alley’s snow.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  The mimic flung itself at me, the forest breaking down back into its liquid state. It clung to her, becoming armor to protect her childish form. A rapier flicked out. It stabbed toward me with ether glimmering menacingly along the blade.

  My mace melted into a sword, easily slapping her rapier to the side as Basic Ether Blade took effect. I chained the movement into a pommel slam into her helmet, cracking the ebony metal. Ether cloaked my shoulder andd Shoulder Charge followed up the chain of attacks, slamming into the cracked armor.

  The shattered once more and fell to the ground, slipping in the snow. It dizzily clawed at the snow as if to escape. Ebonshroud claws flew at me, easily cut apart by my sword. Hatred gleamed in her eyes. It wasn’t a trick this time either. Her knock-off Ebonshroud was stuck in liquid state as her focus slipped. I was honed over centuries of battle to control Ebonshroud. The mimic barely had a few minutes.

  I took a light breath, recounting the moves so far. One more weapon then? The sword morphed into a heavy two handed axe. With a bit of focus, ether ran down the haft, channeling into the head. The ether pulsed sharply and formed layer after layer on the axe’s head.

  “Haah!” I brought the weapon down in a fatal overhead cleave. The axe slammed into the mimic’s skull, cleaving it cleanly in two. Her eyes seemed to hold the weight of the world in her final moments, as if blaming me for all of her misfortunes.

  In a way, she was technically right. The mimic was formless before I came here, yep? Copying some of my memories and abilities meant it copied my misfortunes too. In a twisted way, I was responsible for it ending up like this. Not that I felt bad. Bastard shouldn’t have dug around in my head.

  The scenery melted away like the snow of yesterday. The shapes and colors faded away, revealing a completely blank space once more. Only the mimic and I remained, my axe still buried in its head. I yanked it out, allowing the Ebonshroud to flow back up into my arms.

  Easy. It may copy my capabilities, but it couldn’t copy everything. What was the point of having the best tool if the mimic didn't know how to use it? It’s why it had to resort to cheap mental attacks to throw the original users off. It just wasn’t strong enough at base. If there’d been an entire fireteam, it might’ve been different. This rift scaled with the number of people who entered.

  If I rushed, I probably could have taken it down easier. I wanted to see what it could do with Ebonshroud, though. I’d used the stuff for a long time, and it helped to get an outsider’s perspective on occasion. There were all sorts of methods and strategies to using it I’d probably never thought of before.

  Unfortunately, the Mimic’s application of Ebonshroud was super basic. The tendrils through the ground was an idea I scrapped thanks to their poor efficiency long ago. Using it to create and use multiple weapons was a much more effective strategy, though took far more focus.

  I thought through the battle bit by bit, not minding my shifting surroundings. Ether condensed from the surroundings and the rift behind me crackled sharply.

  [Code: RC-0]

  [Rift: Open - 14:59]

  The ether surged before me as the mimic’s body slowly dissipated. Unfortunately, there was no item this time. Mimic’s Tear specifically had no drops. Yet another reason this place was considering a punishment to have to come and clear. It was only good for training, and even then…

  Seeing her again, even if she was just a scornful shadow outline, was rewarding in itself. I missed her so dearly. What I wouldn’t give- no, that was a dangerous spiral. Couldn’t trip back down that flight of stairs again.

  As always, after everything was said and done, a fraction of the gathered ether channeled into me.

  [Skill: Basic Ether Spear]

  [Accept?]

  [Skill: Basic Ether Shield]

  [Accept?]

  [Skill: Basic Ether Mace]

  [Accept?]

  [Skill: Basic Ether Axe]

  [Accept?]

  Four Skills, just as I planned. Skills could be earned by killing bosses for Skill Tomes. They could also be earned by doing certain actions, like using a weapon to unlock its basic ether Skill.

  I already had four slots filled, leaving just three left. I’d have to clear out a Skill. It was an easy enough decision. I dropped Shoulder Charge, taking on all seven of the Basic Ether Skills.

  [Skills Resonate: Basic Ether Sword - 3, Basic Ether Dagger -1, Basic Ether Bow, Basic Ether Spear, Basic Ether Shield, Basic Ether Mace, Basic Ether Axe]

  [Output: Etheric Reinforcement - Reinforce with ether.]

  [Merge?]

  There were two main ways to make a Skill more powerful from what I read. Both were pretty straightforward and simple. The first was Evolution. By using a Skill repeatedly it gained levels. That was the ‘3’ and ‘1’ next to Ether Sword and Ether Dagger, respectively. If I hit the level cap for either one, I’d get the option to evolve it into something else.

  Then there was Resonation, the other and far trickier method to pull off. Basically, similar Skills could resonate with each other. By consuming the Resonating Skills, the OS could produce an oftentimes much more powerful Skill.

  I accepted the merge, gaining Etheric Reinforcement. The vast majority of Skills I researched since awakening were useless, or things I’d never get the chance to snag. Etheric Reinforcement, though? It was one I could pick up off the bat and fit my style perfectly. I pulled up my new status.

  [Aylin Io

  Title: [Nyx]

  Innate Trait: [Dream Stride], [Ebonshroud], [All-Speech]

  Skills: [Etheric Reinforcement], [1/7]

  Star: Nighteye - [Guiding Moonlight]

  Bound: [Will Wire]]

  Back down to just one skill. Six slots needed filling. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what I wanted to go for next, or if I should even focus on getting specific Skills in particular. Part of me wanted to say screw it and just take whatever Skills I find, getting rid of worse ones as I went.

  Another part of me said I’d hinder my potential if I didn’t focus now. I’d already experienced the pain of reaching the peak, only to find it far too low. It was an experience I’d rather not live through again.

  I could figure it out as I went. Much more, deeper research was required. Maybe I should look into Lotus? They might have a Skill catalog somewhere I could access. Or join a Guild? They’d probably have one. Or did I just skip all of that and enroll in Enforcer training? Throne definitely kept a catalog of every Skill. Hmm…

  Maybe I should just-

  [Moonlight shines in the distance.]

  A gleam came from the darkness beyond the rift. It was a pale silver, seemingly encircling something out across the empty plane. I couldn’t quite make it out from here. What was this? Nighteye? That you?

  [Nighteye shakes her head. Probably Guiding Moonlight?]

  Hmm… right, there was that secondary function of Guiding Moonlight, yep? What was it? The moon guides to all that gleams? Something was definitely gleaming over there. There was no moon here though… Maybe it was just a metaphorical thing?

  Likewise, there was another oddity. What was even here that could gleam? As far as I knew, this rift was a completely blank slate until the mimic stole something from memory. There shouldn’t be anything out here.

  I glanced back toward the rift for a moment before stalking off into the distance. I had fifteen minutes until the rift closed anyway, so it wasn’t that big of a problem to go check it out.

  The ground got unsteady the further out I got from the rift, as if space itself was destabilizing. If it was ever stable here to begin with. It dipped and bobbed underfoot, as if walking across a pulsating mass of darkness. Deeply uncomfortable, yep.

  Eventually, I arrived before the lone oddity shining in the darkness. It was a tiny crystal laying in the chaos of the space. It stood completely unique against the surrounding areas. Even without any other light sources aside from the rift itself so far away, it shone with an internal radiance.

  What was that? I crouched down, picking the fractured crystal up. It fit perfectly into the palm of my hand, radiating a gentle warmth. Or, what would’ve been a gentle warmth for someone else. It burned at my flesh, rapidly making it go red similar to Dew. How very curious.

  I felt the soft sizzle for a few moments before shoving it into my pocket. Nighteye? My faithful contractor? You have any ideas?

  [Nighteye suggests it might be a Fragment.]

  Yep, yep, that definitely made sense. So it was worth a lot? Fragments… no idea what they actually were, but they were supposed to be an extremely rare rift loot. Any kind of workshop, especially Teotl Reforged, supposedly bought them at a high price. Probably an ingredient for gear, if I had to guess. Not too bad of a reward for clearing the rift.

  I looked around the dark space for any other knick knacks laying around. Unfortunately, it seemed the Fragment was the only thing here. And going any further out into the darkness gave me a bad feeling. No telling if the ground might destabilize further out there to the point of dropping into a void.

  I wasn’t expecting much in the first place. Given the nature of the monster, there were no ether stones. I really just wanted to get Etheric Reinforcement, so the mission was successful in that regard. The fragment was just a bonus.

  I turned back to the rift. It was about time I got out of here. Besides, now I had two people waiting for me back at home. Three, if I counted Kali.