Skyflare (Rise To Omniscience Book 3)

by Aaron Oster

  Exploding from under the water, Morgan took a huge, gasping breath, feeling his core numbing his throbbing arms. He stumbled back, looking wildly around for his attacker, when a mass of slimy green vines exploded from the water, and all shot towards him.

  Morgan had bare seconds to act, and leapt back from the vines, mind working furiously on a plan. He grimaced, weaving between the multitude of squirming tentacles until a plan finally came to him. He used his Stormforger skill, forming two curving longswords. He focused hard on wanting the blades to extend from his hands, rather than being actual swords.

  He wasn’t sure if it would work or not, but he was really hoping it would. While he was glad to be able to hold a blunt weapon like the hammer, he was already used to a certain way of fighting when it came to bladed weapons, and didn’t relish the thought of having to learn a whole new style of fighting.

  Thankfully, the whirling violet blades formed just as he’d hoped, and Morgan grinned in response to the light humming of the blade. He dodged one more vine, then went on the attack, turning into a whirlwind of destruction. He danced through the whipping vines, slashing left and right and slicing them to ribbons. After a nearly a minute of fighting though, Morgan could see that he wasn’t getting anywhere.

  The vines seemed to be endless, and all they were doing was taking up his time. He grimaced, trying to figure out how to kill whatever it was that was attacking him. Focusing on the area where the vines seemed to be the thickest, Morgan soon spotted what looked like a plant bulb. Except this one had a freaking eye in the center!

  At first he thought it was some kind of beast, but after Aura sense revealed nothing of the plant creature, other than the fact that it seemed to be literally made of mana, he thought he understood better. This was some sort of golem, which meant that it could be destroyed and he had a pretty good idea as to how.

  Morgan suddenly pulled up on his attack, making the golem hesitate for a moment. He used that bare instant to clap his hands together, forming his two blades into a single, massive wedge. Then, he used Explosive impact, and launched himself at the creature. The sheer power of the attack was too much and the whirling blade was too sharp for the plant. Morgan easily plowed through the vines, shredding them to pieces, and thrust the lance into the golem’s bulbous eye.

  As soon as the lance penetrated the bulb, the creature dissolved, leaving him standing alone in the open area, panting for air.

  35

  Sarah watched as Morgan reached out and touched the glowing blue orb, it flashed once, then vanished. A moment later, the number 0 next to Morgan’s name on the board, changed to 25. It didn’t change his position, though. Morgan was still in dead last, and not by a little bit either. He was trailing behind Arnold, who had already amassed 105 points, and was in the process of fighting a golem made of water for another blue sphere.

  Sarah’s eyes shifted over to right corner, where Sing was displayed. She had to admit that whoever had designed this whole viewing screen was a master at whatever their skill was. As soon as the competition had started, the single screen had split into four, each displaying one of the competitors. A smaller screen at the center of the four displayed their point totals.

  She grimaced as her aunt easily crushed another golem, running for the blue core sitting on the pedestal. Her point total changed even as she touched it, moving up to 170. Her eyes moved back to Morgan, who had left the swamp and was now moving through tall golden grass. He was actually moving faster than any of the others, but the number of spheres they’d all run into were far greater than his. Additionally, the golem he’d fought appeared to be far stronger than the ones the others were facing.

  Her eyes narrowed a bit, as suspicion formed in the back of her mind. Was someone tampering with the tournament? She’d seen the map and had noted several hundred pinpricks of light, each representing a sphere. Even if Morgan took every single wrong turn, he should have run into at least a few of them by now.

  Her eyes flicked to the top right-hand corner of the screen, where a timer counted down. They’d been in there for over forty-five minutes already, and Morgan was only just coming up to his second pedestal. As he entered the open area, she could see that it was a red one, a sphere worth 50 points.

  This time, the golem didn’t wait for him to approach. It rose immediately, pulling itself from the ground. Sarah’s fists clenched at her sides, when not one, but two stone golems rose to fight him. Not a single other competitor had been forced to face two at once. Something was definitely going on here and she had to figure out what.

  Rising from her seat, Sarah headed for the door. She banged until a slot was pulled open, and one of the guards stared in.

  “What?” he asked curtly.

  “I need to speak with someone in charge of the tournament. A judge or someone who watches for tampering.”

  “And I want to watch the tournament, but instead I have to babysit you,” the guard said with a snort, abruptly slamming the slot closed.

  She banged on the door for the next few minutes, cursing the guards, their mothers, and anyone they ever knew, but the door remained firmly closed. Gritting her teeth in anger, Sarah turned back to the screen, noting that Morgan had managed to destroy the golems, and was moving to a new area. He was still in last with 75 points, while Sing had moved to second, overtaken by Marsha, who now had 245 points.

  Sarah dashed for the screen then. If she couldn’t get out through the door, she would leave through the arena. Sure, it would be morbidly embarrassing to just walk out in front of all those people, but whoever was cheating had to be stopped.

  Sarah slammed into a solid wall and stumbled back, cursing under her breath as she clutched at her nose. Gritting her teeth and muttering to herself, Sarah went back to sit down on the couch. She had to work hard to contain her anger at being trapped here while Morgan was fighting at a disadvantage. The worst part about it, though, was that she had no idea who was behind it. It was clearly someone with an ax to grind with him personally, as none of the others were being hampered in the least.

  Her first thought was that her father was the one responsible, but she quickly dismissed that idea. He hadn’t known Morgan would be competing until an hour ago, and so he wouldn’t have had any time to prepare anything. Could it be the Queen of the West Kingdom? She hated Morgan, but Sarah didn’t think she hated him enough to sabotage her own Kingdom.

  She sat in silence for a long while, wracking her mind for any other possibilities. The fights continued playing out on the screens, with the other competitors pulling further and further away from Morgan.

  “Have you figured it out yet?” A cheery sounding voice asked from behind her.

  Sarah felt her blood freeze at the sound of that voice. It was one she knew all too well, and one that she’d expected to hear again sooner or later, but definitely not here and now.

  Slowly turning in her seat, Sarah’s eyes alighted on her former teacher.

  “What’s with that angry look on your face?” Gold wondered. “It’s almost as though you’re not happy to see me.”

  ***

  Arnold grunted as his massive sword sheared through yet another stone golem, shattering the construct to pieces. This was the seventh stone golem he’d crushed so far, and it was just as rewarding as the others. His hand closed on the blue sphere and it vanished with a flash. Checking his point total, he nodded to himself.

  “One hundred and seventy-five,” he muttered to himself, tucking the rectangle of metal back into his pack.

  He examined the six paths before him, choosing the stone path once again. He figured that if he followed the same path long enough, it would take him to the center of the maze. According to the timer, he only had thirty-two minutes until the bonus of finishing quickly would vanish, so he really needed to get a move on.

  Arnold couldn’t be entirely sure, but he was fairly certain that no one else had finished yet, meaning that he could get the thousand point bonus from finishing first as well
. That, combined with the five hundred from finishing in under ninety minutes, would almost guarantee him a victory here.

  Picking up his pace, Arnold found his mind wandering back to Morgan’s arrival in the arena. He hadn’t been surprised when the brat had shown up, as Loquin already seemed to know he would be competing for the West and had told him to expect it. What had surprised him was Sing’s presence. He’d thought that Katherine would have been the North’s choice for sure. Then again, there was a rank restriction, and though he didn’t know hers, he was sure it was well into the 40’s.

  Arnold came to a branch in the path and once again selected the stone one, speeding up as he noticed the area opening up ahead once more. A minute later, he was facing yet another stone golem, but this one was quite a bit larger than the ones he’d faced before. Gigantic stone spikes protruded from its shoulders, and it held a stone club in a two-handed grip.

  As soon as he spotted the sphere behind the golem, he understood why. A bright purple glow emanated from the pedestal, indicating a sphere worth 100 points. Arnold grinned, then used his Concave skill. The golem shattered, and he moved forward to claim his prize.

  Too easy, he thought, laying a hand on the sphere. It vanished, increasing his point total, and, he suspected, bringing him to first place. He moved across the open area, looking for the stone path and headed down it once again. His time was running out and he still planned on winning this thing.

  ***

  Morgan grimaced, dodging to one side and slashing at the pillar of ice that had been aimed at his head. He was standing calf-deep in slushy snow, fighting a massive golem made of water and ice. He grimaced, lunging back as a spike shot from the golem, tearing through his right side and leaving a bloody furrow in its wake.

  His shield had long since failed him, and he now only had his reflexes and tough skin to rely on, not that either seemed to be doing much for him. This entire thing seemed to be way out of his league. Morgan formed his right sword into a hammer and charged it with electricity, then slammed it into the golem’s oncoming fist. With a loud crack, followed by the zap of discharging lightning, the fist shattered up to the elbow, sending the construct stumbling back.

  He closed the distance in a split-second, using Explosive impact, and slammed the hammer into the golem’s chest, expelling the remaining two charges at once. The construct shattered, leaving Morgan panting for breath as he shrank the hammer and sword down to a pair of weighted knuckles.

  He’d found that rather than dismissing and re-summoning his weapons over and over, it was far more beneficial for him to keep them at all times. He hadn’t really experimented much with his new Stormforger skill since he’d gotten it, but this challenge was giving him a great opportunity to do so.

  Taking a few deep breaths, he relaxed as the bleeding in his side stopped and the pain from his tweaked right shoulder dulled. Walking over to the pedestal, Morgan touched the black sphere, adding 10 points to his total. He figured he must be getting closer to the center, as the golems were growing tougher each time he faced one.

  Sometimes there were more than one, and he had been forced to take some extreme measures. He’d already used his Gravity storm, reducing a group of three to dust, but he would now be unable to use it until the challenge was over. Morgan did a quick time check, noting that he had already missed the ninety-minute mark. He was quite proud of the 135 points he’d gathered so far though, and wondered how the others were doing.

  If their fights were as difficult as his, they might be holding about where he was right now. Then again, they were more powerful than him, so they might be a bit ahead. He took a few more deep breaths, making sure that the bleeding in his side had indeed been stopped, before he returned his breathing to normal.

  He grimaced when his shoulder twinged a bit, but the pain was manageable, and not nearly bad enough to make him use his limited healing capabilities. There were nine paths leading off from this one, each one a different landscape. Morgan chose the one directly ahead of him, walking onto dry, and cracked earth.

  As much as he loved the snow and ice, he wouldn’t be taking another of those paths again. Morgan felt his lips turn down in a frown as he started running again. He’d tried using his Aura sense to guide him through the maze, but the entire place was so full of mana and chi that it had made him dizzy just looking. He’d tried again a few times, doing his best to focus in on a single thread, but it was no good.

  The aura would press in on him from all sides, and he’d be forced to stop lest he throw up. He used Explosive impact every time his cooldown timer ran out, and since his regen was so high, his reiki would fully restore by the time he could use it again.

  If there was one thing he was glad for, it was the time he had in between fights. In a beast zone, it was unpredictable. He could be forced to fight a bunch of beasts in a row, then go for an hour without a single fight. Here, he knew exactly where the golems would be placed, so he could wait until his reiki restored itself before going into a fight.

  As he came to another split in the path, Morgan heard a loud, echoing bang sound through the maze. Looking around, he wondered what in the hell could have caused that. No answer was forthcoming and when he didn’t spot any golems, he shrugged to himself, figuring that a rock had shifted or something, and caused the noise.

  Picking the path similar to his, Morgan jogged down it, noticing that it was beginning to open up. As he ran, a red glow began coating the walls of the passage, and he allowed himself a small grin. It looked like he’d found another sphere worth a few points!

  ***

  “What are you doing here?” Sarah asked, glaring at Gold.

  “Why so angry, Sarah? You’d think I’d killed someone,” he replied, walking around and flopping into the couch next to hers.

  Sarah’s hands balled into fists at the reminder of what he’d done, and she managed to force out a harsh bark of laughter.

  “But you didn’t though, did you? You failed to kill Katherine, so in the end, you still lost.”

  “What gave you the impression that I wanted to kill Katherine?” he asked, kicking his feet up on the couch. “All I wanted to do was make sure the Pinnacle King woke up from his centuries-long nap. Sammy can be so cruel sometimes, locking creatures away for ages without giving them any exercise.”

  Sarah glared at him, not saying anything. On the one hand, he’d taught them at the academy. And when it had been attacked, he had helped them escape and provided them with supplies to do so. He’d even rescued them from the beast zone they’d been trapped in, and helped them kill the head of the Assassins Guild. He’d never shown them any ill will, unless she counted the months of torturous training.

  On the other hand though, he’d stabbed Katherine straight through the back, leaving her very much dead. If Gwendolyn hadn’t come along, she would have stayed dead. So, maybe her earlier comment about Gold not succeeding in killing the Princess hadn’t been all that accurate. And now that she knew he was some sort of god, albeit one who seemed to be able to act in ways that Samuel couldn’t, she didn’t know what to make of the man.

  “What do you want here, Gold?” she finally asked.

  Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Morgan crush an ice golem and retrieve a black core, one worth only a measly 10 points.

  “Who me? I don’t want anything,” he replied watching the screen. “Can’t a teacher visit his student?”

  “Not after he literally killed someone in front of them, ruining his other student’s best chance at a normal life!” Sarah yelled.

  “Morgan was never destined for a normal life,” Gold replied with a snort. “And let’s be real, Sammy’s kind of a dick, so even if Morgan had killed Edmund and prevented the Pinnacle King from rising, he wouldn’t have cured him.”

  Sarah opened her mouth to argue, but snapped it shut again. Gold was right after all. They’d thought Samuel was a good guy. Someone who was out to help them and only needed a small favor in return. He’d healed Morg
an when he was on the brink of death after they’d fought off the guards her father had sent after them, and he’d removed their restrictions on ranking up while they were in the staged beast zone. He’d also given them a lot of information on the world and its workings.

  Then again, if she looked at it from another perspective, Samuel was only trying to make sure his investment stayed alive. If Morgan was dead or clueless, he would be unable to use him. Come to think of it, just how had Samuel been able to heal Morgan, when he was unable to do anything else?

  She was about to ask Gold, despite herself, when there was a loud booming sound from the arena. She jumped, whirling to the screen, only to see Sing, standing at the center of the arena and pumping her fist in the air.

  Sarah quickly checked the timer, and saw that she’d made it back in just over two hours, so she wouldn’t receive the extra five hundred points. She had however, made it back first, and Sarah watched as her point total rose to 1,560.

  Gritting her teeth in anger at the injustice of it all, she watched as Morgan struggled through yet another battle, this time being forced to reach down to his belt for victory. He used the lightning element to avoid an attack when his Explosive impact ran out, but needed the extra speed in order to stay in the fight.

  He did take a nasty blow to one of his arms though, and she grimaced in sympathetic pain as it bent the wrong way. Morgan kept his composure and managed to crush the golem, retrieving the red sphere from the pedestal. She watched him prod at the arm, then her eyes widened in shock, as he grabbed it and yanked on it.

  She felt her stomach lurch for a moment as he reset the dislocated limb, then flexed the arm a few times before heading off down another path.

  “That boy is definitely something,” Gold commented, looking to the screen proudly.