Rei, Avi, and Keo walked as far away as they could from the cave. “So… uh… how are we going to beat that thing?” Asked Rei. “All I care about is taking a bath, I’m all slimy!” Avi whined. Keo looked at one of his scrolls and found something interesting that he wrote down the previous night. It was yet another map of the human brain, yet this time, it had the entirety of the Cortex Marshes mapped. The entire region of the Cortex Marshes was in fact, a brain.

  “That’s crazy…” Rei was astounded at this information. Keo looked at his newly drawn map. “Remember that cave with those little guys that gave us headaches? They channel neural power from the environment. If we can do the same, we could be looking at an immense power boost. Albeit, only for when we’re in the marshes. Still, this could allow us to be able to stand up to the shade, and claim the artifact.” Keo then pulled out another scroll, which had another map he seemingly made out of thin air.

  “If we go west from here, we should find a pedestal, with a strange object on it. With this object, we can augment it into our brains, and channel power from the environment.” Keo said. “How did you figure that out so quickly!?” Asked Rei. “I didn’t, I’ve known about it for a while, but chose not to say anything unless we really needed it.” Keo responded.

  Avi was busy attempting to clean herself. She was trying to use the swamp water to wash the goop off. It only made her more of a mess. “Before we do ANYTHING… do you guys have any way I can clean myself?” she asked. “Here, you can have water from my canteen, feel free to use it all, but we would then be on a time limit. No water means no survival.” Keo said. Avi put a dull expression on her face. “So, me doing covered in slime is limiting our survival chances? Eh, hand it over.” Avi snatched Keo’s canteen and dumped herself with every last drop of water. The slime was washed off of her. “Glad we got that over with… now lets get moving… and don’t say anything about being thirsty…” Rei said.

  The three began walking west, and after not walking too far, they found a small structure. It was made of grey stone, with orange moss coating it. The moss was grown in the pattern of a neural system. Housed in the structure was a pedestal, which held an item. Rei picked it up and looked at it. “Is this the thing that will let us augment our brainpower? That was surprisingly easy to find… nothing is here to stop us!” A flying swamp-like archaic creature descended from above the structure. “Spoke to soon… Welp, lets test this out.” Rei tossed the item in the air, spun around, and caught it. “Let’s see what this thing can do! Brain augment… ACTIVATE!!” He yelled. His voice echoed loudly and caused the creature to flinch. “Way to boost your ego… you didn’t have to be so extreme about it…” Keo said.

  “Eh, just take some of the power, lets test this augment out!” Rei channeled some more power, and directed it to Avi and Keo. The two were powered up. “Why do I feel… so… smart…?” Avi said. “The power is enhancing your brainpower, personally, I don’t feel much different, but it makes sense on why you feel smarter…” Keo said. “Hey!!” Avi stomped her foot on the ground. A shockwave appeared around her, causing the enemy creature to once again flinch. “Alright, lets take care of this guy...!” Rei cut through the creature, while Keo shot arrows at it. Avi also slashed through the enemy. Their power was amplified, and the creature was swiftly defeated. “That was pretty cool…! I think we have an advantage now… lets go destroy that shade!” Rei said, holding up his sword.

  The group made their way back to the cave where the shade was location. Rei channeled some more energy and used his sword to slice open the rocks blocking the way. They entered the cave. It was extremely dark, almost as if the Shade had darkened the environment. “Where is it…? Oh, there it is.” Rei said, as a giant sword was swung towards him. He jumped and dodged and attacked back. The armor on the Shade became slightly chipped, and the impact echoed the environment.

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  The three entered battle. “So! I think we need to break that armor, and then the Shade will be fully vulnerable!” Rei yelled. He began chipping away at the enemy’s armor. Avi deflected several arrows with her sword while Keo fired arrows at the areas where the enemy’s armor was chipped. The enemy launched several colorful and dark attacks at Rei’s group. Balls, beams, strikes, sword swipes, arrow volleys, name it all. With the combined brainpower in the environment, dodging was quite easy. “Ow!! Wait… that didn’t hurt so bad…” Avi said. Even upon being struck, damage was not super intense.

  Rei managed to break the armor covering one of the Shade’s arm-like appendages. Rei jumped for the vulnerable area and tried to strike it. Right before his blade reached, the vulnerable area receded and hid inside the rest of the armor. “Guess we need to break ALL the armor, and then it should be easy from there…!” Rei yelled. The three continued their attacks. Avi broke the armor covering the legs, while Keo broke the armor covering the head, and Rei broke the armor covering the other arm. Every time a piece of armor was destroyed, the enemy would shrink. Once all the armor was destroyed, The enemy returned to its ball shape that it previously had. It started shooting colorful beams in every direction at a relatively quick pace. “It’s in its desperation phase, now’s our chance!” Rei yelled, running towards the Shade. “Desperation phase, what is he going on about…” Avi was confused. She proceeded to run forward and attack the Shade. Keo fired arrows from behind.

  The beam fire slowed down as the Shade was weakened. Rei landed the final blow, and the Shade began pulsating. It doubled in size, and then exploded, leaving a thin mist of darkness. A quiet “clink!” could be heard. Rei ran towards the location of the sound, following the colorful light that was also visible, and picked up the newly revealed artifact. The dark mist receded.

  Rei once again looked up in excitement, while Avi smiled, and Keo checked off something on one of his scrolls. “And that’s another artifact for us! 2 down… 5 to go!” Avi said gleefully. “No fanfare… huh… no sages here to greet us…?” Rei was expecting a sage to congratulate him on his accomplishment, but a rich natural environment, was home to no sage. The artifact was hidden in this location and left for a very long time.

  How did Ardonous manage to locate it… and what does he have planned next…? Rei and co. began their long journey back to Avindors’ Wake…

  “My lord… I must ask that you send me to confront these fools on their next journey…” Avshordus entered Ardonous’ lair. “Why so… Those “heroes” are already dead… aren’t they? My power wouldn’t fail me at time like this, would it…?” Ardonous said, smiling. He gripped his sword and outputted some energy from it, releasing it into the air. A tremor could be felt. “Well… you’re wrong… the heroes managed to defeat your creation. They used the environment of the Cortex Marshes to… achieve victory… and claim the second artifact… Please… let me plan your next move, all this killing must be making you tired…” Avshordus asked, channeling some energy. A sinister grin appeared on Ardonous face. Ahahaha…. Don’t worry, you’ll get your chance… in fact, how about we both go confront them at their next destination, the Scorchsand Dunes.

  I am sending you to the artifact’s location, which I have been supplied intel on. I ask you to guard it and dispatch the heroes when they inevitably arrive.” Ardonous said. Avshordus was confused. “But… why not strike them in celebration, or when they are on the way to the next artifact… why wait…?” He said. “Do not worry, Avshordus, all of this will work out, I have something in mind, that will bring these pitiful humans to their lowest point… Begone, Avshordus! Do not fail me!” Ardonous sent Avshordus off. “Fools… these FOOLS think they can stop me… nothing can stop me, nor can they ease the raging storm in the sky!” Ardonous vanished.

  “Just as no one can ease the tempest that rages in my suffering heart…”

  “Marlon… you’re late, did something happen…?” My father caught me sneaking out of the castle, it wasn’t so easy getting to you after that.” “I was afraid you wouldn’t arrive. After all, I just met you…” “That is strange… you know what I am, where I am from, and the capabilities I have, yet you still pursue me…?” “I don’t care what you are… I just wanted to see you… Is that… so wrong?” “No. No of course not. After all, I wouldn’t have tried to sneak out if I wanted to see you too.” “Marlon, do you mind If I sit next to you?” “Please do, Amani, let us return to our conversation, I must know more about you…”