Kar didn’t consider himself a fighter. It wasn’t a skill he’d needed in Riftwater. But he’d always enjoyed making and repairing things; carving and whittling toys for Isa, mending nets with Nat and the other women of the village. But this? This Shadow Forging he’d discovered? It sparked a creative fire within him. It seemed that anything he could imagine, he could make, so long as he had the Energia for it. And within this Fortress—surrounded by thousands of Cryst—was an essentially limitless supply of that.

  Kar threw himself into a squad of cryst-soldiers, letting their weapons hack and stab at his armor. The void-cryst he had Forged was harder than the crystal of their weapons. He’d made a new helmet for protection, an open-faced helm that protected his skull and neck but left him able to see and breathe. The only part of Kar not armored in black crystal now was his left hand. That and the ring there he had purposely left free so he could Focus normally. For now, though, he was applying his efforts to his Shadow Forging.

  Kar wielded his lance with that left hand of his—stabbing a soldier through its shard—then drained it of Energia. In his false hand he Forged a black javelin which he tossed back to Jon who was following close behind him.

  An earlier attempt to wield the lance and draw Energia through it with his void-cryst arm had gone astray. Kar had felt a burning sensation like frostbite creeping up toward his shoulder. With horror he had realized he was encouraging further growth of the void-cryst by drawing Energia through it. By the time he’d pieced it together and swapped hands, he just knew that his entire right arm must have been transformed. He didn’t look though. Looking would make it real.

  Jon caught the javelin Kar had Forged. The Hunter then hurled it with incredible precision towards the Valorcryst Captain leading this contingent of cryst-soldiers blocking their way. The javelin pierced the Captain’s shoulder and it fell back behind its line of subordinates.

  “Do you know what a mace is?” Rowan shouted to Kar’s right.

  “That spiked ball thing with the chain?” Kar yelled back, glancing toward the other Hunter.

  Rowan grinned and Kar took that as a yes. He stabbed a retreating cryst-soldier and tried to Forge the mace as requested. The individual chain links came out partially mangled.

  Rowan jumped forward with the shield and helm Kar had already made for him and blocked a pair of javelins. The man then looked back at the mace offered to him and shook his head, “Make the handle and chain longer, and the ball smaller.”

  Kar frowned, he’d thought he’d done an alright job, especially for only having seen faded story book pictures of the weapon before. He tossed his first attempt aside and tried again, handing Rowan the adjusted weapon.

  The Hunter swung it languidly a few times and laughed, then leapt forward, delivering a crushing blow to a cryst-soldier’s head. Kar paused and took stock of their position while the others pushed ahead.

  Their fellowship had stayed loosely together as they battled across the open grounds toward the inner wall of the fortress compound. Beyond that—supposedly—was a smaller courtyard leading to the entrance of the Inner Hall. Melisdra, the Valorcryst awaited them there, as did the fourth Basin. The remembered sensation of consumed Essence rushing into him buoyed and motivated Kar to press on. He felt feverish now, almost manic, the intensity of battle sweeping him along. He took a deep breath to calm himself. He needed to keep his wits about him.

  Hells, was that hard to do.

  His right arm hummed incessantly now, hungrily. Every cryst-soldier that came close elicited a response from it; it had a mind of its own and it wanted to feed.

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  Erio and Tharn led the way toward the inner wall while Kar and the Enhancers covered their flanks. Derek, Aldwin, and Kiya brought up the rear, conserving Energia now to prevent their personal reserves from being totally depleted. And Morrow was doing an admirable job of staying calm, providing healing for those who called for it. He seemed more confident since Kar had Forged him a breastplate and helm of his own to wear.

  Lore came jogging over to him. She looked fierce, in her black void-cryst, sweeping wings adorning the helm Kar had crafted for her. He hadn’t meant to add those details, it just came out that way.

  “Tharn thinks they’re luring us in.” She said.

  Kar suspected the Valorcryst was right. But what could they do but press forward? They were almost to the inner wall now. A hundred spans or so to their right and they’d reach the gate that led within. Half a dozen Valorcryst waited for them there with the cryst-soldiers under their command. Which was more than enough reason to avoid it in Kar’s mind.

  He had another idea.

  “Tell them to go left, away from the gate. I want to try and scale the wall.”

  She looked at that taller inner wall skeptically, then shrugged and ran back. Kar glanced back at Aldwin and the others. They looked worn out. They probably couldn’t make it to the top of this next wall on their own, much less carry others if they had to. It’d been a difficult fight for them, holding off the cryst atop the outer wall. They’d managed it long enough for the others to climb the rope they’d lowered. No reason to think this wall would be any less difficult.

  The fighting lulled, as the last of the cryst-soldiers opposing them pulled back to defend the gate. Kar and the rest of his companions withdrew in the opposite direction. He breathed deeply, thankful for the respite. The others took advantage to catch their breath or drink water. Meanwhile, the milling cryst at the gate regrouped and reformed ranks.

  Kar walked up to Morrow, “How many shards do you have?” He asked him.

  Morrow patted himself down, then reached into a pouch tied at his waist, “Five—no, six.”

  “Can I have them?” Kar asked.

  Morrow nodded reluctantly, watching Kar intently as he gave them over. Kar tossed his lance to Jon and took the shards, placing, then latching them into a sleeve made of crystal chain links he’d Forged and secured at his waist. The design was based off a type of fishing trap Kar had mended hundreds of times before.

  Kar tested it and smiled. He was able to draw on those shards through the crystal links and his armor without having to grab hold of any of them individually. He took some of that Energia, Converted it, then Forged a set of sharp picks with handled grips. He’d envisioned them as particularly dense, their points exceptionally sharp. During their journey here to Iridess, Kar had observed a group of travelers that had joined the caravan. They had regularly climbed down into the Rift using picks like this. Their’s of course, had been made of metal, but he thought he could make the principle work here too.

  Satisfied with how they turned out, Kar next Forged a set of spikes jutting from the toes of his boots. His Forgings were getting easier and easier to craft. He felt a heady sensation when using the ability that only made him want to Forge even more. He shook that feeling off then ran at the wall and leapt, slamming first one, then the other of his picks into its face. The tools sunk into the stone far more easily than he could have hoped for. Kar pulled back then kicked his toe spikes in as well and started to climb.

  “I’ll lower a chain down!” He shouted to his companions below, his voice muffled. They nodded and waved, then formed a defensive semi-circle around where he’d started his ascent.

  Kar went quickly, refreshing himself with a shard whenever he grew tired. He had so many questions about how his new-found powers worked. But more than that, ideas for ways he could apply it.

  Cryst-soldiers on the battlements above noticed Kar and started hurling javelins down at him. The weapons glanced off but he worried about being dislodged. He had made it a little over half way up. Should he try blasting up the rest of the way? He had been leery of doing so after his disastrous attempt to land atop the outer wall. But he couldn’t afford to waste time.

  He drew in Energia and Focused a blast from the ring on his left hand, propelling himself toward the battlements. The Focusing was far weaker than he had hoped, weaker than it should have been with the assistance of his ring. Kar recalled the way Derek’s Focusing had dissipated near his armor earlier. He’d suspected but now he knew—the Shadow Forgings were interfering.

  Kar drew even more deeply on the Energia in his shards to compensate and was forced to expend all of it to propel himself up and over the battlements. He stuck his landing this time, but found himself surrounded by cryst-defenders.

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