Ethan removed the scales from his face, but he didn’t extinguish the low-flames still dancing all over his body, nor did he dismiss the claws or the horns.

  “It says human because I am,” he said as he furrowed his brows. The woman was slightly familiar, but he couldn’t recall where from. Her cheeks were gaunt and pale, strongly contrasting with the smears of blood and dark circles under her unblinking eyes. Her hair was burnt in patches, and whatever wasn’t burned was matted with dirt and blood.

  Ethan’s eyes looked lower and took in the burnt pants, the bare feet, the bits of blue still visible from her jacket, and a name tag.

  Savannah?

  And then it clicked, and his stomach twisted.

  He remembered seeing her on occasion in the morning bus. They’d often get off at the same station. She would usually be with a young girl—her kid, he assumed. She’d be adjusting the girl’s hair, chatting with her and then they’d get off hand and walk down the street.

  Ethan had never spoken to her, but he couldn’t believe how changed she was. And her look… it was both vacant and so full of rage it almost made him flinch. He had a couple of ideas about what had happened, but he found himself at a loss for words when he met her gaze.

  With his “humanity” confirmed, Savannah turned away, and her head slowly swiveled as she took in the scene around her. She dismissed the water monitors, twitched at the dead lizardlings and at the drakes, and when she faced his companions, she froze. Then she took a step forward.

  Ethan’s eyes narrowed, and his thoughts snapped back to the current situation. Why was she focused on his companions?

  “Hey,” he called out. He already had a bad feeling about her, and when she ignored him, the dread only grew worse. The glow around the dagger strengthened, and it floated a bit higher as if it was trying to get the angle right.

  Further near the cliff and the tunnel leading upward, Audrey looked up and said something that made the others turn toward him and Savannah.

  Then the dagger zipped forward.

  Ethan’s eyes widened in horror. The dagger flew out like an arrow and crossed the hundred feet separating her from his companions in half a second. He didn’t know who she targeted, or why, but thankfully, her target had as fast reflexes as any of them. Probably the fastest, even.

  Ember leaped off the ground like a spark while the dagger embedded itself into the ground. Her fur ignited and stood up, and her eyes narrowed into a dangerously glowing slit while the others confusedly called out for the woman to stop.

  But Savannah only recalled her dagger and seemed ready to try again. Which really pissed him off. Ethan lunged forward and although he didn’t want to blow her up just yet, he had to take her to the ground until whatever this situation was resolved. Misunderstandings happened, and there was no damage yet so this might still be salvageable. “Stop! They’re my—”

  The woman whipped her arm back, snarling, and crescent of gray, translucent like light rushed at him. Ethan barely had enough time to guard his face when a wall of solid air slammed into him like a runaway truck and sent him tumbling up in the air.

  Ethan had a full two or three seconds of air-time before he slammed back in the ground. It took him half-a second to realize what had happened, and as he jumped to his feet, he noticed his dagger a couple of feet away.

  He picked it up and ignored the pulsing pain in his arms. Liz and Amelie had their crossbow and wand raised, and they were yelling for the woman to stop and back off, but Savannah had no eyes for them.

  She pointed once more and the dagger flew at the cat elemental, tearing through the air, a trail of green motes left in its wake. Amelie screamed, and Audrey jumped forward, shield glowing. The shield’s magic instantly broke like a glass panel, and the dagger punched through the shield, only stopping at the hilt.

  Savannah raised her wand to cast something at Audrey, and Ethan extended his clawed hand at her and shot a fireball at her feet. Before the spell even made contact, he was already running. An empowered fireball should at least buy him a few seconds.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  He had a bad feeling about all of this. So as he ran, he decided to take a risk and pull his list of available traits. He may have been able to get a tier-3 spell, but aside from the problem of rushing, he couldn’t risk dismissing his spell-forms, so he focused on the upgrades he could start and not have to focus on.

  Which meant the traits and stats, if he managed it fast enough. He had five points to assign, and five points were nothing to scoff at.

  The fireball detonated like the crack of thunder. The woman disappeared into a shower of soil and flames, but there were no notifications. Not that he expected any. Ethan sprinted around the smoke and billowing flames, expecting Savannah to step out of the disappearing flames at any second, and came to a halt right in front of the others and triggered the trait token.

  Select a trait from the list below:

  Enhancer Specialist: Enhancer wands provide 10% extra stats.

  Harvester’s flames: Opponents vanquished through fire have a higher chance of forming primagems and spellcores.

  Vanguard: When fighting alone or in a small team, your total Toughness is improved by 20%

  “What’s going on? Why is she attacking us?” Liz asked urgently as he speed-read his options. Her eyes slid away from the sight of her crossbow to glance at him before focusing back on the screen of smoke. Gerald was disturbed as well, while Amelie was just pissed at having her sister attacked.

  Audrey was just quiet, and kept her eyes on where the woman had been.

  Ethan took a couple of seconds to read through his options, cursing under his breath. He hadn’t expected to be attacked by a lunatic, otherwise he could have done this earlier. Fighting water monitors had been a lot less stressful than this.

  Focus. Enhancer Specialist was still around, but the boost was still limited by wands. He had two right now, technically, but he wasn’t sure if they’d give him the full boost or if he was better off to keep waiting until he had more wands. Harvester’s Flames was new, and he liked it a lot and if he wasn’t facing a dangerous opponent he would have been very tempted to pick it, but it was mostly the same as the dagger. Which left the Vanguard.

  The final option matched his style pretty well and even if it had a restriction built in, he didn’t mind it. He didn’t intend on ever joining an army or big groups, so he selected it and turned his attention back to Liz, and finally answered her. “I don’t know. She almost attacked me for having scales and she doesn’t seem to like…Ember,” he said, glancing down at the cat next to him. The cat was on guard. Flames danced around her fur, and she seemed a bit larger than usual. There was also a rose-gold anklet around hind-legs, and two black sharp canines peeked out of her mouth, giving her a slight resemblance to a tiny saber-tooth.

  Ethan, with eyes still on the smoking crater in which Savannah had vanished, dumped all his new stat points in Toughness and as he waited for the magic to finish sinking into his body, he watched the disappearing screen of smoke and dust. “I don’t think she’s alright. Mentally.”

  Ethan felt for the woman. Clearly, she’d been through hell, but she was dangerous. The attack she had hit him with could have seriously injured any of his companions aside from the elemental, so with that in mind, he made the call.

  “If she’s still aggressive, shoot to kill.”

  Liz’s eyes widened imperceptibly, then they steeled, right as Savannah stumbled out of the small crater that had formed around her and as he took in her state and her features, Ethan’s words were instantly vindicated.

  We can’t take chances.

  Her eyes were blood-shot, but not from Ethan’s fireball, which only managed to singe her clothes and hair, and barely gave her a couple of red-splotches across her skin. Definitely not as much as he expected.

  No, the biggest change seemed to be coming from the green gem in her chest. It was pulsing, matching the color of her iris and sending its light through green glowing veins that spread out of her chest and out toward her neck, arms, and even her bare feet. A simple kite shield was in her left hand, while a right held her wand with a green gem that matched the one in her chest.

  Wait…

  Ethan was ready to lunge forward, but a part of his mind was still bewildered. How did she have so many forms out? How could she both hit so hard and be so tough? Was it her prime wand? Was it the thing embedded in her chest? The color matched the dagger and the wand in her hand, which left the shield.

  She has all three forms of her prime wand out…

  Ethan pushed the questions away and focused on the dangerous woman in front of him. Her lurid, unblinking green eyes narrowed at him, before flicking back to Ember and as soon as they landed on the cat, the dagger shot forward again. Ethan trusted the cat would dodge and just as the strengthening magic finished its modifications on his body, he lunged forward, dagger in hand.

  He felt as durable as he’d ever been.

  Savannah glared at him and at Ember, teeth bared and eyes crazed and without a word, her dagger zipped at Ember once more. The cat leaped, and the dagger abruptly brightened and changed trajectory, but Ember’s anklet glowed in response and she jumped again.

  The air under her paws rippled with a hazy-pink matching the anklet, and she dodged once more, hopping closer to her assailant. She opened her jaw and shot a thin jet of concentrated fire, right as Ethan’s dagger cut the air toward the gem in Savannah’s chest.

  In response, the woman wailed.

  Click here to join

  If you want to support me and read ahead, there's 10 advanced chapters.