(Nathan)

  Dorian teleported them as close to the stronghold as he could while still avoiding the rock wall. her of them wao revisit the se of the crime. It was still a thirty-minute walk.

  For on rank, Dorian’s teleport was an excellent ability. It started out powerful, but came with drawbacks, bang it out. Acc to what Dorian had shared, it was a group teleport with a short cooldown. It used line of sight, and the group would appear on the closest natural stocropping that could fit everyone. As Dorian ranked up, the ability would only improve.

  The brothers returo Nightshade, where Nathan now had flyphs at his disposal: Fire, Light, and two Life glyphs. Although the Are orb was valuable, he had other pns for it.

  Light glyphs worked as super expeorches, with just oing, blinding, that easily lit up medium-sized spaces—so long as you didn’t look directly at it. The dark metal band was hard to notitil it was in your hands, but uhe Fire glyph, it gave off .

  Nathan used his glyphs in the backfield, between the crafting studios and the armory, nearly opposite Judge Urvana’s property line. Dorian’s grin hi his excitement, as he couldn’t stand still.

  He stared at the three glyphs Nathan held in his hand. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

  Nathan shook out his fingers; even he had to admit he was excited. Yet the knot in his stomach came from the lingering dread of unlog another Uh ability, somethiried his best to ignore.

  ‘If it’s an ability that help people, it shouldn’t matter where it es from,’ he thought, reasoning his way through the disfort. He took a deep breath and gnced up at his brother with a nod. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  Dorian fshed him a thumbs-up, then yelped, “Ouch!” as he dropped the Fire glyph. He shook out his singed fingers with a reflexive flick before sug on them. “Use that one first,” he mumbled through a mouth full of fingers, pointing to the Fire glyph with his free hand.

  Nathan sighed as another patch of grass caught fire. Dorian promptly stomped it out before it could spread. The groundskeeper wouldn’t be happy with them after he discovered all the missing patches of grass.

  Nathan shook his head, eager to get more mending abilities. “It’s not going anywhere. I’m starting with the Life glyphs.”

  Dorian finished putting out the fmes. “That’s fine. I think it’s run out of things to burn for now.” His head snapped up. “Dirt ’t catch fire, right?”

  Nathan took out the first of the beating masses, his fingers ed around the dark metal band. A heartbeat, in tuh his own, pulsed in his hand. “It’s not alive,” he said. “It’s just a magical object.”

  He tried to vince himself that it wasn’t actually alive, but out of all the glyph types, Life might’ve been. He drew a deep breath and activated the glyph. Its rhythm ceased, and it shattered. A pang of remripped him; regardless of the debate—it wasn’t alive anymore.

  [Prismatic orb]: Prismatic framework initializing.

  “Not Uh,” he whispered gratefully as the tension in his body eased.

  [Prismatic orb]: Maing new ability with Life influence.

  [Prismatic orb]: New ability [Respiteful Regeion] unlocked.

  An aura surrounds you and your allies, regeing mana and speeding up offensive cooldowns eih and speeding up defensive cooldowns, depending on which is lower. All cooldowns speed up if health and mana are full or banced.

  [Prismatic orb]: Two open ability slots remaining.

  “Well?” Dorian asked impatiently. “What did you unlock?”

  Nathan turo face his brother and grinned. “I’ve got my first aura ability.”

  Dorian looked over both shoulders, then held out his hands, flipping them bad forth. “I don’t feel any different. Is it a defensive one?”

  Nathan nodded. “Yes. Use an attack that burns lots of mana.”

  The unstoppable elf didn’t o be told twice to do something reckless. He dashed off toward a nearby field, his speed uling for someone his size. Nathan often fot his brother was on rank, which meant even his speed was on another level. Just before reag the edge of the field, Dorian leaped into the air, summoning a shimmering bck sickle in his hand before nding and slig through one of the gigantic gourds.

  Vegetables were obviously no match for even mundane people, but Nathan had asked him to use a powerful attack that ed a lot of mana. The gourd y in two halves, wispy bck tendrils of smoke rising and quickly chasing after Dorian, who ihem with a deep breath.

  Nathan didn’t know what ability that was. His brht be mayhem inate, but he was also smart, only sharing information about his abilities when appropriate. It wasn’t a matter of trust—he simply hadn’t had reason to tell or show Nathan before.

  To Dorian, this was a bonding experiehat would bring them clether. He was genuinely excited to see his brrow as an adventurer. Jogging back, he held out his hands, trying to sehe difference.

  Dorian squi him. “Is that… mana regeion?”

  Nathan gave him a smile. “Mhmm.”

  “And…” Dorian tilted his head, as if trying to hear the answer. “My cooldown seems quicker.”

  Nathan nodded. “Correct. And it also restores health, depending on which you need more.”

  “It’s not a lot.” Dorian flexed a hand. “But it affects the eeam.” He spped Nathan on the shoulder. “This is an amazing ability, brother. The lohe fight, the more it’ll make a difference.”

  Nathan wiped a tear from the er of his eye with a knuckle—he finally had an ability that could work in synergy with Metabolize. All he could do was nod to his brother in agreement.

  “Now craother one.” Dorian stepped back to give him some room.

  Still overjoyed from his st ability, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his other Life glyph, activating it immediately. This time, he didn’t allow himself to get attached—the rush from the st ability only fed his anticipation for the , making him fet any worry about unlog the wrong one.

  [Range orb]: Range framework initializing.

  “Excellent.”

  [Range orb]: Maing new ability with Life influence.

  [Range orb]: New ability [Life Shield] unlocked.

  A defensive shield to cast on your allies. It regees health while active and shields against damage.

  [Range orb]: One open ability slot remaining.

  Joyful tears tio gather; his blinks uo keep pace with the well of emotions bursting from within.

  Dorian noticed his tears. “Is everything alright?”

  “Yes.” Nathan wiped them away. “More than alright.”

  He held up his hand toward Dorian and cast Life Shield. A golden shell fshed over his brother before fading into transparency. Dorian looked down at himself, twisting at his waist, turning out his foot to chederh for any hidden effects.

  It was ically cute, though Nathan wouldn’t dare say so. A wave of nostalgia washed over him; it’d been decades since he st felt this way. For a moment, he glimpsed his younger brother from before the Might orb ged him—a small, timid elf who needed his big brother to go everywhere and do everything with him.

  Dorian had been kinder before the orbs ged him, and that was exactly what Nathan feared. If Might and Presence had transformed a kind, shy boy into a bold, unstoppable force who had little use for sequences. What would Uh do to him?

  Dorian gave up. “I ’t tell what it does. It just feels like a warm hug.”

  “It’ll absorb damage with minimal overflow to your health,” Nathan said, uo stop smiling as he added, “And it regees health while the shield sts.”

  Dorian ran up and cpped his arms around his older brother. “You finally got a heal.”

  “I finally got a heal!” Nathan excimed with muffled excitement.

  Dorian released him. “Teams will have to beat each other off to get you to join them.” He winced, frowning at his poor word choice.

  Nathan gnced sideways, narrowing his eyes at him, his mouth opening and then shutting as he struggled for a response.

  “That’s… not what I meant,” Dorian corrected himself. “Yoing to kick, uh, mend some major ass, brother.” He nodded and grinned—close enough.

  “Thanks Dorian. Two down, two more to go.” Nathahe Fire glyph lying on the ground. He bent down to pick it up.

  Dorian had to be the o it back; his increased toughness from on ra him hold it long enough to return with it. Nathan only needed a moment to activate the glyph—just enough to grab it and squeeze. The heat gave out instantly, just like the heartbeats before.

  [Prismatic orb]: Prismatic framework initializing.

  [Prismatic orb]: Maing new ability with Fire influence.

  [Prismatic orb]: New ability [Fme Shell] unlocked.

  A defensive shield for you or your allies. It absorbs and reflects damage. The fme tio grow in strength and duration with each attack against it.

  [Prismatic orb]: One open ability slot remaining.

  Nathan wasn’t sure what to think of this one. Abilities with a singur focus were usually much more potent than those that tried to do too many things, and Fme Shell was a mix of defense and offense. Also, his oppo would have to be overfident or an idiot to keep hitting a shield that got stronger with each strike.

  He shrugged, thinking, ‘Then again, mundane animals and most on-ranked monsters aren’t very smart.’ Besides, he had no iion of fighting other people.

  He could see the question written on Dorian’s face. “It’s another shield,” he said, aiming his hand at Dorian and casting Fme Shell this time.

  Dorian flinched and spped at himself before realizing the rainbow-hued fire was his brother’s new shield, not spontaneous bustion. The fmes were visible but mostly transparent—aiful to look at.

  Dorian held out his hand, flipping it bad forth as the fmes dahrough their colors. “Does it damage the things I hit?”

  Nathan shook his head. “No, the opposite. It damages things that hit you.”

  Dorian pouted thoughtfully and said, “Hmm. That’s still pretty good.”

  Now, only the Light glyph remained. Nathan couldn’t look directly at it—it was far tht. Instead, he simply activated it. The light died, and the glyph shattered into pieces. The remaio the ground, quickly dissipating bato magical essend reiing into the os, just like all used glyphs did.

  [Lawful orb]: Lawful framework initializing.

  [Lawful orb]: Maing new ability with Light influence.

  [Lawful orb]: New ability [Blinding Bolt] unlocked.

  A ratack with a proximity trigger that fshes to blind the target just before impact. If the attack missed but the proximity trigger activated, the target will still get blinded.

  [Lawful orb]: One open ability slot remaining.

  Nathan sighed. It was another ratack, but at least it had some utility—and not everyone was immuo being blinded like Dorian.

  Dorian smmed a fist into the palm of his other hand. “We should fight now.” He cracked his knuckles. “Don’t tell me any more about your abilities. I want you to show them to me.” He fshed the prismatic elf a devious grin.

  Nathan held up his hands, shaking his head. “I don’t want to fight you.”

  Dorian’s shoulders slumped. “e on,” he pleaded. “I’m stuck here for at least fourteen days.” He jutted out his lower lip and looked up from under his brow, blinking those impossibly rge eyes at him.

  Nathan raised a finger, reminding himself just as much as his brother. “That was your decision.”

  Dorian flexed his arm. “This body was made for two things. Fighting, and… you know.” His Presenade it difficult to deny him anything. It was one reason he grew so aced to getting his way all the time.

  “You’re on-ranked and I’m not. This won’t end well,” Nathan said ftly, pg his hands on his hips.

  “Don’t worry.” Dorian waved a hand dismissively. “There’s no way you’d actually hurt me.”

  “That’s… not what s me.” Nathan frowned. “I don’t want to be your pung bag.”

  “I’ll go easy on you, I promise.”

  [Lawful orb]: Lie detected.

  Nathan sighed, ping the bridge of his nose. “Dorian, you know I tell when you’re lying, right?”