“Get down!”

  A concussive blastwave of dirt showered Ori as his face planted in the mud. His ears rang. Soot-stained snot streamed from his nostrils as he lifted his head. Above, a shimmering yellow dome tinted the sky while fiery arrows rained down upon the army.

  He was dragged to his feet, the muted shouts of “Move!” barely piercing his dazed awareness. With chaos all around him, Ori found himself moving along with the chaos.

  “Shield up, specialist!”

  Ori lifted his shield, his steps turning into a jog, then a sprint. Everything was shouted. Smoke and the scent of rotting blood coated the air. Above the bodies ahead, a ball of fire bloomed before turning into a small mushroom cloud. His hearing cleared just in time for the shockwave, then a roar tore through the din of war. The ground trembled under thousands of men charging as something grotesque and massive rose from the ground.

  A part of Ori’s mind challenged the assumption that running towards it was a good idea, and thankfully, he wasn’t alone. It towered over ten metres, and despite being silhouetted by the overcast sky, Ori could still make out armoured limbs wriggling, as if living flesh had been moulded into a rough bipedal approximation of a monster.

  “Fuck me!”

  Before anyone could reply, it moved.

  In a blink, it had rolled into a ball, traversing a hundred yards as it pulverised and subsumed all who lay in its path before hammering against the yellow shield.

  ‘Flesh golem,’ Sera said gravely, answering his unasked question.

  “Move it!”

  Ori was roughly tugged, his attention wrenched away from the golden ripples of shield-light the amalgamation made as it pounded on the dome.

  They were not quite at the part of the plan where his aura was required, yet the scenes around him felt apocalyptic. Perhaps less than an hour since the general call to charge had been made, and Ori had seen more people die than he had ever known, each death a brutal bludgeoning to the face, or worse.

  Ori stumbled. Looking down, he pulled up on a still-moving limb covered in mud. Just as he prepared to use what limited healing magic he knew, a living soldier came all too easily out of the quagmire, or at least the top half of one did, and Ori stumbled back, voice dry, his mind unable to form words.

  “Specialist, I’ll handle this. You need to move. Shield up.” He jolted, his gaze fixing on a scarcely recognisable Jacobin under the helm. Ori nodded robotically, raised his shield, and continued his jog.

  The army streamed past the golem as its metallic parts, armour and weapons subsumed within, heated to a brilliant orange. A second golden dome surrounded and compressed the monster like a compactor, even as it let out a deafening scream of rage and unwillingness.

  In the distance, Lady Jasmine’s white cape flashed above the creature, her empowered sword falling as she sliced with a blinding Purifying Light. The flesh golem exploded into chunks of seared meat. Ori was glad he still had his shield up as rotting flesh rained across the battlefield.

  The mad march continued as the main body of the army propelled itself closer towards Eltitus’s host. Infrequent melees involving handfuls of pikemen versus necrotic abominations caught Ori’s eye. They used the reach and combined strength of multiple polearms to keep at bay the physically stronger opponents while mages peppered the creatures with arcane missiles and magic that seemed to dispel or purify. He understood the plan, understood in theory what it would entail, but the reality was so far away from expectation that Ori felt unsure, unnerved, and unable to think. Head down, shield up. The stink, the claustrophobia of the armour, the unstable ground, the forbidding sky dotted with streaking arrows and falling mud.

  Dozens of streaking ghasts breached the line of charging infantrymen, their semi-corporeal floating forms unburdened by pikes and shields. They glowed green as forms that were once men swooshed and dove at the soldiers in front of them, their path seemingly unimpeded by mundane weapons.

  ‘Sera!?’ Ori called as one ghast made it within the protective dome, which sprang up a moment too late.

  ‘Purifying Light, Ori. Draw in the mana now,’ Sera commanded.

  Ori acted, calling upon his memory of the spell gifted to him by Lady Jasmine. His Mana Sight saw a turgid mix of affinities with little unaspected mana to draw from, and yet he willed it towards himself all the same. It flowed into him as his artefact wand formed in his main hand.

  Purifying Light was a versatile spell that could be cast instantly or channelled through a focus or weapon. It functioned as a hybrid offensive-support spell, as its name suggested, purifying aspects of death and decay from a target based on the user's intent. While casting was easier than Cure Wounds, the mana cost was substantially higher. Ori felt as if he was about to burst as the minimum amount of mana required pooled within his mind.

  Meanwhile, his eyes tracked the ghast as it left a path of havoc in its wake. Its movements were erratic, and despite being the size of a man, with its lower half a wispy, insubstantial mist, a ghostly aura seemed to fuzz its outline. Its motions were far too fast and abrupt for Ori to be confident in striking it.

  Then it moved, phasing through and crippling the men between it and him.

  ‘Ori!’ Sera screamed, and time slowed. The sensation of being in step with another’s will returned, a shared dance born of clarity in purpose and trust that fused body and mind.

  Sera’s Beacon of Wisdom washed over him, and suddenly, spellcraft became easier. The flow of mana funnelling into him quadrupled. He was aware of his own falling body in that blink of time between life and death. The ghast’s face filled his vision, rows of vicious dagger-like teeth dripping sickly saliva, while a necrotic aura seemed to drain the light from the world.

  The spell completed at the same moment he drove Seraphine into the ghast’s incorporeal torso. A cone of light replaced reality, dispelling every trace of necrotic aura in front of him.

  The ghast burst into a cloud of steam and a spray of ectoplasm that liberally coated the unshielded parts of Ori’s face with gunk.

  “Fuck’sake!” Ori said, half in disgust and half in relief, the sounds of the world returning as the unity of purpose faded.

  “Nicely done, specialist,” Sergeant Baker said, dragging him to his feet. “Wasn’t aware you were a mage.”

  “Yeah. Just something I picked up from Lady Jasmine before the fighting started,” Ori said, doubled over, still winded, unsure if he was about to retch.

  “I see,” Baker said in that strange way that seemed common in this region of the multiverse. “Anyway, sort yourself out, laddie, it’s time. The aura, are you ready?”

  Ori nodded.

  “Now then, things are about to get hairy from here. When you light your aura, you’ll be a glowing beacon to the madness yet to come, but if you do your job, we’ll do ours. So head down, shield up, one foot in front of the other, and focus on maintaining that aura no matter what. Understood, specialist?”

  “Yes, Sergeant,” Ori replied.

  “Until then, wait for my order. Now come.” Baker casually swatted arrows from the sky with a war pick as he pulled Ori along.

  As he moved through the ranks, Ori recognised a few figures. Lady Cordelia seemed to be deep in discussion with various mages, while Lady Jasmine ran triage over a handful of severely wounded. Sporadic arrows still whizzed through the air, while orders calling for soldiers to form up and assemble into specific formations were barked over the relative calm. The remaining men, of which there were still thousands, condensed. War banners rose once more, long pikes discarded for shorter halberds and war hammers.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Through Mana Sight, the air swirled with countless affinities, while other energies Ori could only sense at the edges of his vision pooled and exhaled with the breathing body of the army. Gold coated Lord Bartholomew’s skin as he stood on the front lines, a couple of ranks ahead. He seemed taller, even more imposing in a counterintuitive and reassuring way, especially now Ori could see the forces arrayed against them.

  A dark tide of everything they’d faced so far and far more filled the land from horizon to horizon and beyond. Despite the hundreds of yards that separated them, he could sense a funnel cloud of mana, and something darker, swirling at the army’s centre. Ori’s stomach twisted at the thought of diving into such madness.

  “Is the specialist ready?” Lord Bartholomew asked.

  Ori tightened his grip on Seraphine as dozens of eyes turned to him. He looked towards Baker, who returned his gaze in question. Ori then answered Bartholomew with a nod.

  “Bring it,” Ori added, attempting to sound more confident than he felt.

  “Very well.” The Lord smiled, effortlessly reinforcing Ori’s bravado. “We charge! For Astoria!” The Grace Knight bellowed, and the golden shine Ori could see through Mana Sight seemed to intensify as a pulse of something erupted with his words. Ori felt his spine straighten, his belly settle. The burn of tired muscles and chafing wounds fell away as an inexplicable resolve settled in his heart. Ordinarily, he would have refused this alien, mind-altering sensation, but he suspected what it was, and he needed it, so he allowed it to settle, confidence reinforcing his will.

  A furious roar built up in his chest as the entire army responded to the Grace Knight’s war cry with a reciprocal howl. The dreary overcast sky was replaced by a world of Astral and Celestial colours. Subconsciously, Ori’s mysterious affinity leaked out, his intent resolving into an aurora-tinged night sky filled with a galaxy of stars.

  The all-encompassing doom, that pervading sense of sickness and death, vanished, and suddenly Ori felt a hundred pounds lighter, wondering how he had ever endured that debilitating sensation in the first place.

  A yellow shield snapped into place as a bloom of fire washed over them just before the front lines. It clung like napalm, dripping and sliding off the shield.

  Baker seemed to exhale as a sheen coated his skin, then leapt into the maelstrom beyond.

  The army ran in a dead sprint as mages of all types lit the air with magic and arcane missiles. Meanwhile, the undead fodder in front of them seemed to melt away under the barrage, while a few powerful undead units were met by the C and B rankers in turn.

  Jacobin roared as his form morphed into that of an armoured bear before ripping chunks out of another flesh golem. Meanwhile, the Red Mage, Captain Craig, blasted with white-hot blue fire, searing away liquid flame from the undead Red Mage. Beside him, Jasmine fought with steel and silver magic, her white domes a pale imitation of the golden shield that seemed to centre on Ori. He caught Cordelia’s determined gaze behind him before returning his sight to the front. The shrieking wail of the soldiers behind him sounded more desperate and primal than gallant as steel clanged and flesh gave way, met by a new, unholy wail from the undead.

  Head down, shield up, one step after another, filled his mind as he clung to Seraphine and the Aura of Amplification. Before he could even process their appearance, several ghasts exploded into a rain of ectoplasm that filled Ori’s eyes with gunge.

  ‘Ori!’ Sera cautioned, as Ori’s instinctive reaction to free his hands and rub his eyes almost robbed him of the focus needed to maintain the aura. Once again, he was dragged to his feet.

  “Shield up, specialist!”

  Ori complied, still blinking hard, trying to clear his vision.

  “Get down!”

  A call came, and before he could react, Ori was flattened by the press of another’s armoured body on top of his own. The ground lifted with the force of a shockwave that sent a storm of loose dirt into the sky before the heat of liquid fire rolled over him.

  Ori could scarcely see as the fight between the undead Red Mage, Lady Jasmine, and Captain Craig came to a head.

  ‘Ori, your Domain. I know I said to avoid using it, but I think we can turn the tide if we use it on my word. Sera’s voice rang in his mind.

  He had far too many questions, but as he saw both C rankers being pushed back and the momentary stalling of the army’s charge, Ori nodded, his trust in Sera absolute.

  Lying prone, he pulled the artefact forward, unsure whether he was meant to aim it at the glowing blur of fire and light ahead or do something else. Then the comforting sensation of the Resonance of Battle Harmony settled over him. Beacon of Wisdom pulsed, and his mind cleared, the sounds of battle muted, and reality slowed.

  Movements that had been a blur clarified, and upon Jasmine’s Purifying Light-empowered thrust, Ori felt more than heard Sera’s command and turned his aura into a Domain.

  Ori’s aura was the fusion of his subconscious Spirit and Presence, traits that dealt with the intangible aspects of a person’s existence. Through Aura of Amplification, Ori’s natural aura, an area-of-effect manifestation of his highest affinities, provided positive, passive effects to all under it, including the negation of weaker auras, curses, and lifeforce-draining effects.

  However, aura was only one of many ways characteristics could be fused. In Ori’s case, Intent was the fusion of a person’s Will and Perception. While not normally manifesting in the same way as aura, high degrees of Intent could reinforce spells and magnify the intensity of abilities, enchantments, and wild magic. When one unifies two already fused characteristics, a result more formally known as a four-fold unification, produces a single characteristic with effects a hundred times more powerful than any single characteristic alone.

  Born from his explorations and successes in the fifth and sixth, dreamlike trials, Ori’s Domain unified the higher-order characteristics of aura and intent into something far more potent than the sum of his Presence, Perception, Spirit, and Will. Conscious will was reinforced by the subconscious desires of the soul. Presence was given substance and awareness by heightened perception, while the reach of an aura was infused with the strength of intent into a synergistic whole.

  As a result, within the radius that had once been Ori’s aura, all light and mana lay under his dominion. Because his soul wanted to win, and his mind demanded that Lady Jasmine’s next thrust must completely obliterate the ghastly presence puppeteering the mage’s corpse, all light within his Domain became Purifying Light and was swept into a single spell. Lady Jasmine’s sword became the sole light source within Ori’s Domain as all mana, aligned or otherwise, flooded the spell-infused strike, intensifying it a hundredfold.

  The world became light and still.

  The Red Mage, who had been undead, blinked down at the blade stabbed through her chest, while a shocked Jasmine and Craig found themselves glowing with a different kind of light as Peritia flooded their very souls and their pages in the Library of Fate were rewritten.

  Meanwhile, undead for a hundred yards disintegrated as the necrotic energy that empowered them was banished.

  In the same moment, Ori found himself on his knees, his diaphragm locked and his mind dizzy as the brief instant of Domain mentally and spiritually exhausted him more than days of marching and spellcraft combined.

  ‘Ori!’ Sera screamed. ‘Your aura!’

  ‘I can’t breathe,’ Ori panicked. A wave of Sera’s Lesser Restoration helped with the dizziness but did nothing for the pressure preventing his chest from drawing breath.

  ‘Aura. Focus on the aura!’ Sera demanded.

  Ori fell to the ground, eyes resting on his wand, and willed himself to use Aura of Amplification.

  He gasped as the comforting light of the Astral sky pushed away the foreign pressure. He rolled onto his back, taking in air in large, heaving mouthfuls.

  ‘What was that?’

  ‘Eltitus. We’re getting closer to the nexus of his aura. Are you alright, Ori?’ Sera said solemnly.

  ‘Yeah. Did we win?’

  ‘We helped win that battle. As for the war—’

  “Well, aren’t you a bag of surprises, Specialist?” Sergeant Baker said, looming over Ori before bodily dragging him to his feet. “Up. The host is retreating, and if we don’t strike now, it’ll be over.” The Breath Knight turned and bellowed something over his shoulder. “That was either inspired stupidity or genius. A second longer without your aura, and we’d all have been fucked. Seraphs help us. Still, we somehow managed to steal a B ranker back from Eltitus and raise two more of our own. Bart asked me to ask if you could do it again, but seeing as you’re now paler than I am, I’m going to go with no.”

  Ori shook his head. “Maybe in a bit.”

  “Just as well. Focus on that aura, laddie, and stay on your feet. Head down, shield up.” Ori felt a tug on the shield protecting his back as the Breath Knight removed arrows he didn’t realise were there, then a too-forceful pat almost set him stumbling and drove him forward.

  Ahead, he saw Jasmine tending to the befuddled Red Mage she had been fighting moments before.

  ‘What happened?’ Ori asked, confused.

  ‘It’s, as Baker said, a reversal. Your Domain banished Eltitus’s control over Lady Terresa’s soul, and I suspect that with quick thinking and a spell similar to my Death Ward, she was able to revive the B ranker back to good health. Meanwhile, because of the reversal, or accumulated Peritia, Jasmine, and I suspect Captain Craig, ascended in rank.’

  ‘Wow. That’s good. At least it sounds good, right? But why do I get the feeling you don’t think so?’ Ori wondered as he kept pace with the jogging army.

  ‘Just a nagging feeling, that’s all.’

  ‘Oh yeah?’ Ori pressed.

  ‘That maybe we’ve shown our hand too early. Perhaps it was worth it to bring Terresa back to us and raise two new B rankers, but only if there are few surprises left in store for us.’

  ‘And the chances of that are basically zero,’ Ori added to himself as he focused on maintaining the Aura of Amplification and the now well-worn mantra of ‘head down, shield up, one foot after the other,’ worming its way into his skull.