I spat up mud, arms sucking into the ground as I tried pushing myself up. But it was like the harder I struggled, the more I sank. The fairy trapped beneath me quit struggling before long, probably drowned in the muck. I was not about to join her.

  With a grunt, I tore one hand free, then stuck my staff into the ground. It sunk, but I managed to pull myself up enough to get my top half free. My good leg soon followed.

  Kojo’s left arm hung limp at his side, blood and water dripping from his lifeless fingers. He was still fighting, but that fire sword was long and using it with one arm was throwing him off balance. His vest was nearby, a giant hole eaten through the back of it. If he’d not been wearing it, that acid earlier would have melted right through him.

  Everything still hurt, but if I could just get that potion, maybe I could keep fighting.

  “Kojo!” I called, tongue heavy, mouth somehow dry.

  He sliced across a throat, then retreated. With one eye to the sky, he plucked the potion free of his inventory and passed it to me.

  A glob of acid splattered in front of me, and I stepped back. Wasting no time, I downed the potion, the pain across my body lessening in an instant. Then I noticed a slight glow inside the mud.

  I inspected the drowned fairy’s corpse, and another grimoire appeared. This one was different than the first. It was still bound in greenish leather, but the leaf the last one had on the cover was gone, a thorn covered bramble in its place.

  Would you like to learn the following spell?

  Nature’s Grasp

  Spell Tier: D

  MP Cost: 14

  Cooldown: 1 Minute

  Spell Type: Nature/Summoning

  Description: This spell summons constricting roots and vines beneath your target. These nature constructs will remain until they are destroyed.

  Note: Spell can only be cast if there is natural ground beneath your target.

  A big part of me wanted to use grimoire roulette again. The XP bar for it had filled about halfway after only a single use. One more would probably get it to level two. Maybe that increased its odds of landing a good spell, or maybe it would even give me extra rolls on the same grimoire? But the spell on offer was too useful to pass up, especially in the current situation.

  I learned the new spell, then immediately cast it.

  One of the advanced forms had crossed the water. It was lowering for a sprint when the muck beneath it exploded, roots forming around it like a cage. They only reached up to its waist, but then dark green vines snapped around its neck and arms, dragging it down. But it was strong. It bucked and pulled, some of the vines already straining, one of them ripping.

  Kojo swung his sword from overhead, his whole body used to propel the blade downward. It ignited right before cleaving down the monster’s moss-covered head. The blade made it to the middle of the creature’s chest before the fire fizzled out. He tried pulling it free, but the monster’s tentacle’s slashed out, cutting him in a dozen different places. He had to fall back.

  But he didn’t.

  He roared, then jerked the sword free. He backed one step, then slashed, sword burning with flame once more. It carved across the monster’s chest, and it gurgled, blood running from its mushroom filled mouth. He thrust the sword into its stomach next, falling back as the tentacles continued to tear into him.

  One uncharged zap later, and the monster was finally slain. Kojo was on the ground, chest and arms reduced to minced meat. But he was alive, and he lumbered to his feet, body covered in his own blood.

  I couldn’t see any more of the infected, but the bear was still alive. Its destroyed leg was restored, but it was too big, too heavy to cross the water. It watched us with its one remaining eye, its decayed lips pulled back.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Mana surged to my staff, but I had to stop. Despite the healing potion, my chest was still on fire, the edges of my vision blurry. Even a fireball might be too much for me. And one regular charged shot wouldn’t be enough to kill it even if I could focus my mana. It was painful to admit, but we had to retreat.

  Just as I started to move, a fairy came diving down from above. She yelled something at us in a language I couldn’t understand, then aimed her wand.

  An arrow punched through her chest before she could cast.

  Riu was across the water and on one knee. He was already grabbing another arrow before the fairy hit the ground.

  Run, you idiot! I limped toward the surging creek, tried calling out to him. But he either didn’t hear me or wasn’t listening.

  He shot the bear, then rolled to the side. He had one of his regular daggers in his left hand, but in his right, he held a new weapon. Where in the world did you get that? It was a few inches longer than his other dagger, a slight curve to the blade. The metal was dark and solid shadow fell from it like blackened fog. When the bear charged him, he slashed with it, a spectral phantom-like sword extending from the end of the curved weapon.

  It’s not a dagger, I realized. Not really. What he held was the broken half of a sword, one that was restored to its former glory each time he swung it. But even after scoring three blows, the bear rounded on him and swiped.

  He blocked the paw with his left arm, and even from where I stood, I could hear his bones crunch. When he landed, he did not move.

  He should have run. If he’d just gone the other way, left us here, he would have been fine. Maybe he thought we needed his help, but we didn’t. If he dies, it’s his fault.

  The kiosk wasn’t far. Just a bit further and maybe, just maybe I could find Avery. Protect her. Do something good for a change. She was all that mattered, and I would do anything to reach her. Even if that meant I had to watch Riu die.

  I started channeling mana.

  What am I doing? Hot pain enveloped me, my nerves stuck with molten pins. But I ignored it. I focused on my target, funneling as much mana as my screaming body would allow. I might die. The world narrowed, darkness swallowing my vision as my eyes bulged. Mana no longer flowed through me, it carved through my veins, spiked and bloody. Stop this. But I couldn’t. I knew that. I could tell myself a hundred times the same lies, that I didn’t care, that nothing and no one else mattered. It was bullshit. Always was. Dad had called me soft before he left us forever. Maybe he was right.

  I fired zap, the world wiped away in a wave of darkness and pain. Then I fell face first into oblivion.

  Streetlights passed by, their glow punctuated by the heavy rain that dashed against my windshield. Mom was in the passenger seat, Avery asleep in the back. We’d just left the final game of my senior year, and I was feeling on top of the world.

  I had major scholarships lined up for both football and baseball. They were calling me one of the most gifted athletes they’d ever seen. They said I was special, and I believed them.

  We turned onto the narrow bridge, the river roaring beneath us. Mom suggested we take a different way due to the weather, but I’d ignored her. Tonight was my night, and I wanted to get back home as soon as possible. The boys would be taking me to Oklahoma to hit the casinos, and I wasn’t going to be late for that.

  The bridge was a narrow, lonely place. There were no cars in the other lane, and no cars behind me.

  I hit the gas.

  We started rocketing down the road, and Mom looked up from her phone. She said Dad had texted her that morning, that he wanted to see me at graduation. I told her that he could fuck off. But she’d been glued to that phone all day. Like it was Dad’s day, and not mine.

  She told me to slow down, then we started arguing. I looked away from the road for one second, told her again that Dad didn’t have the right to request a meeting. Not after what he did. Then I turned my attention back on the road.

  There was an old man standing there.

  I hit the brakes, but it was too late. We plowed right over him, and I lost control of the wheel. Avery and Mom screamed as I smashed through the weak railing and plunged us into the river below.

  The world slowed as we fell towards certain death. This is a dream. I told myself. Mom’s cries fresh in my ears. A nightmare.

  Maybe that spell had killed me and this was hell. But even if it was, I couldn’t bear to see what came next. I closed my eyes, willed this horrible vision to end. Don’t make me do it again, I begged. Don’t make me choose.

  We hit the water and sank into nothingness.

  My eyes shot open.

  Riu was standing there, Kojo nearby. Kojo still looked like someone had taken a cheese grater to his skin, but he no longer looked like a walking massacre. And Riu’s arm was purple and bruised, but no longer broken.

  “How long?” I croaked. We were still in the mushroom forest. I could see one of the massive things above us, blocking out the cloudy sky.

  “Just a few hours,” Kojo said. “You passed out after that last spell.”

  “You save my life,” Riu said, bowing his head.

  Kojo passed me a water bottle, and I drank the cool fluid slowly. Even just a sip sent a spiderweb of pain down my chest.

  “Riu still had to finish the bear off, but he would have died without your help,” Kojo said, grinning.

  I looked between the two of them. “How are you healed?” As far as I knew, I’d taken the last of our healing potions.

  “I leveled up to five from the battle and gained a minor healing spell,” Kojo said. “It’s called ‘Tend Wounds’ and it heals around half the HP a potion does. It has a low cooldown, but it heals over time.”

  “Did you heal Riu?” I asked.

  Riu smiled then pulled out that broken sword. Closer now, I could see the gold etching on the black blade, the silver grip of a skeleton’s claw on the pommel.

  “This heals,” he said, struggling to find the right words. “It has life steal.”

  I stared at the weird dagger sword thing, watching as shadows continually flowed from the broken tip.

  “Where did you get it?”

  “The boss,” he answered. “It dropped chests.”

  “The boss?” I questioned. “You killed the boss by yourself?” The kid had moves, but he wasn’t that strong.

  He shook his head, then pointed at me. “No,” he said, his smile widening.

  “You killed it.”