‘Tokas!’ I shouted, alerting her to the swinging mace about to hit her in the back of the head. I dropped her through a portal to save her anyway, but it was worth her knowing what was coming.

  I’d lost track of the others in the confusion. Fights these days were so often these huge affairs, with dozens of people involved and therefore with it being impossible to track what was going on. I missed the days where it was just the five of us against one enemy. Even when we were facing down the pyroknight—and almost dying in the process—I at least knew what was going on.

  Tokas scrambled back to her feet at my side, and turned to face the two cultists that were charging at us. While I used Closed Reach to close the distance on one of them, surprising the enemy with this ability, Tokas pressed her hands forward and the bright red glow of Illusion magicks shot forth.

  Bladesmith defeated!

  Knifework — +1,950xp

  Knifework increased to level 44!

  Base Points Gained — +1 DEX, +1 STR, +2 Free Points (VIT/DEX/STR)

  I spared half a second to look down at the cultist bleeding out on the sand. I almost felt sorry for him. What had his crime been? He’d attacked us, sure, but he’d done so because he’d been a true believer. He thought Yusef a god, one who should be obeyed above all else. To him, not attacking us would have been wrong. The cultist’s only crime was that he’d fallen for Yusef’s lies. And when there were so many others in orange robes also telling you that Yusef was to be worshipped, you might well come to believe it.

  I wouldn’t have done, obviously. But that’s another matter.

  ‘Styk,’ Tokas said, then kicked the other cultist in my direction, the enemy distracted by visions of her creation.

  I ducked under the man’s flailing blade, then hit him with my own. My dagger met the flesh of his thigh, and I twisted. A stray arrow—from Corminar, Lambkin, or enemy, I did not know—hit the man in the shoulder. I barged the man to the ground, and the impact buried that arrow deeper into his shoulder.

  Coal merchant defeated!

  Knifework — +1,450xp

  I grimaced at this notification. These weren’t fighters, not really. These were just people who’d had little to lose and a lot to gain from joining Yusef’s cause. No wonder the Player’s lies were so appealing. Yusef had power over people even from afar.

  Turning on the spot, I sought out the Player who was here, and saw the Councilman pressing an attack on Corminar and Arzak, the orc doing her best to block the Player’s summoned ghostly axe. Arzak raised her blades in a cross to defend against the enemy’s axe, but in the next attack, it had changed form to a spear. The orc ducked to one side and knocked the spearhead out of harm’s way, but it was a close one. Behind her, Corminar loosed arrows furiously, trying to bury one of them between the cracks in the man’s armour. They were holding their own for now, but it was only a matter of time before the Councilman found a weapon shape that bested Arzak.

  ‘Tokas, on me!’ I shouted, opening a portal at my side. I didn’t wait around to see if she was stepping through it; we didn’t have the luxury of that much time. We were outnumbered enough that we had to focus our attacks if we were going to turn the tide, and who better to eliminate first than the Player—the man who had inspired the cultists to disobey Lillya’s instructions?

  A blast of red magicks coming from over my shoulder confirmed that Tokas had indeed joined me. The red bolt arced through the air, soaring towards the Player, until another blast of magicks engulfed it—this one purple. The engulfing spell changed the direction of Tokas’s spell and turned it back towards her. The tiefling dived to the soft sand just in time for her own magicks to pass overhead.

  As I charged at the Councilman, I cast a glance over to the right to see one of the cultists surrounded by three purple orbs, spinning around her. This was a type of Worldbending magicks very different to my own. I thought about shouting to one of the others to deal with this cultist, but Val, Lambkin, and Raelas were all preoccupied with not dying. Even Lillya, who was at this very moment trying to stop her own colleagues’—if that was the word—attacks, couldn’t do enough to give my friends any breathing room.

  ‘I’ll take the spellwarper!’ Tokas shouted, then started off towards the cultist who’d turned her own attack against her.

  I jumped into the air, opened a portal in front of me, and launched myself at the Councilman. At the same moment, Arzak parried one of the man’s attacks and risked throwing herself at him, shoulder first. She’d clearly seen me coming. As the Player was distracted by this sudden change in the rhythm of the fight, I brought my blade down towards his back—and activated Closed Reach once more.

  Using the Worldbending ability, I could easily cut through any armour. Including this one.

  The Councilman’s back arched and he roared, with both pain and surprise. His spellbound weapon changed form into a long, glowing chain, and whipped back towards me. I opened a portal beneath my feet and was halfway through it when the Player’s attack soared over my head.

  As Arzak pressed the attack on the Councilman, making the best of the opening I’d given her, another of the cultists charged, mace raised. It was the man who’d given us so much grief before. If I had some sympathy for the cultists before, I forgot it when I saw this irritating man running in for an attack. I allowed the man to get close, swinging his long mace towards me, and then I opened a portal between us. The heavy weapon entered the portal and reappeared on the other side—right behind my attacker.

  The man cried out as I hit him with his own attack—a tactic inspired by the spellwarper. Wasting not a moment, I jumped at the man, activating my Knifestorm ability. The man’s robe was no match for the many slashed of my blade, and I couldn’t help but think Yusef maybe should have improved his cult’s uniform a little.

  Chair of town council defeated!

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Worldbending — +1,100xp

  Knifework — +1,750xp

  I had little time to take a breath, because before I knew it, two more of them were on me. I skimmed the site of battle to pick out a little help. I saw Val, a little way away, facing down three of the cultists—and struggling. I dropped her through a portal without warning her, but she was used to this by now that she landed on her feet.

  ‘Thank—’ she started, then realised that I’ve saved her from one fight and put her in the middle of another. Val flicked a hand forward and whipped up a dust storm, the sand darting at the faces of the two oncoming attackers.

  I knew this wouldn’t stop them for long, so I rushed at the nearest one. I ducked under their wild swings of their blade and this time opted for activating Execution, because I knew they wouldn’t be able to see me until they’d blinked the sand from their eyes. The attack downed them in one.

  Schoolteacher defeated!

  Knifework — +1,350xp

  Knifework increased to level 45!

  Base Points Gained — +1 DEX, +1 STR, +2 Free Points (VIT/DEX/STR)

  Ability selection unlocked

  Select an ability from the list below…

  …

  Stealth — +750xp

  I grimaced a bit at the sight of this class; I could live with killing a chair of a town council—I’d had encounters with them in the past—but killing a schoolteacher felt like a bit much.

  ‘Styk!’ I heard Arzak shout behind me.

  I whipped my head around at the shout, expecting her and Corminar to be in trouble. But instead, I saw the Councilman hurriedly backing up from the fight. ‘Is he…?’

  ‘Running!’ Arzak shouted.

  I left Val to deal with the other cultist and portalled back over to the Councilman, meaning to land another Closed Reach attack. But then I saw the Councilman reaching towards his waist, pulling out an enchanted looking stone. My memory flashed back to Lev, the pyroknight’s assistant, who’d been equipped with portal stones in case of any emergency. I wonder where he got to, in the end?

  ‘Arzak!’ I cried. ‘Portal stone!’

  Corminar raised his bow as if to shoot the object from the enemy’s hand. But it was too late. Even as the elf raised his bow, the Player was bringing the stone down towards the ground.

  It crashed into the sand, activated, and…

  There was no flash of light.

  Instead, the stone erupted in a cloud of black smoke, thick enough to make me cough. I stumbled forward, wary of attack, trying to wave the smoke out the way. I crashed into Arzak’s side, then we turned and hurried straight in one direction. When we finally came out the other side of the smoke, we saw…

  ‘Seriously?’ I asked.

  ‘He not serious,’ Arzak echoed.

  We saw the Councilman running away. He shouted for his horse, who was trotting off ahead of him.

  I was about to exclaim some more, but I heard shouting to my right. ‘Help! Styk, h—’

  Back in the centre of the battleground, I saw Raelas overwhelmed, desperately in need of a portal. I opened one beneath her, dropping her to my side. Then, seeing Lambkin was in much the same boat, I did the same for him, too.

  Val appeared at my side looking not so happy. ‘Another damsel in distress saved.’

  Lambkin furrowed his brow for a moment, then flicked his eyes to Raelas and realised what Val meant.

  There wasn’t time for any further bickering, because the remaining twenty or so cultists were running towards us.

  ‘What do you reckon?’ I asked the group at large. ‘Run?’

  ‘If it is good enough for Players…’ Corminar said.

  ‘Run,’ Arzak agreed, eyeing up Tokas as she retreated to our side.

  I opened a portal next to us, and one in the distance near the Councilman. If we were going to flee, we might as well take down the Player while we were at it. I was about to hop through the portal, when I caught sight of a flash of purple magicks out of the corner of my eye. The spellwarper—not dealt with, as Tokas had promised—shot one of her orbs towards my portal. It encompassed the portal, slamming it shut. Or… nearly shut.

  I knew what would happen next, but I opened my other pair of portals anyway. Another of the spellwarper’s three orbs shot towards it, closing that one nearly shut too.

  Raelas moved to try, but I shook my head.

  ‘Don’t bother,’ I said, then turned my backs on the charging enemies. ‘We’re going to have to run the old fashioned way.’

  I began to sprint across the sands, my friends at my side, and the cultists followed.