Hexvines were a breed of lesser bramble-spawn all-too-common to the Arboreal Wastes. Where most plant monsters were made from a natural conflux of life and hunger magic, producing voracious vegetation, hexvines were among the chain-spawn created by wild miasma–the stagnant, corruptive magic of the Chained World that often leaked through to the Realm alongside its outsiders.

Physically, they looked something like rotten old logs, stood up vertically–the kind that had fallen years before and simply been left to decay into the forest. Writhing root-systems acted as legs, keeping the hexvines from moving very quickly, and holes in the bark suggested narrowed eyes and a gaping, jagged-tooth mouth. The true danger of the chain-spawned plant was its tangle of pitch-black, thorn-studded vines. Though the main body of the plant monster was slow, almost to the point of immobility, those vines offered lightning fast attacks at a surprising range.

Allana and Olivia had both tested themselves against hexvines in the past, and despite the monsters' lesser rank, they found them a difficult match-up at best. Olivia's defenses were quickly worn down by the rapid, difficult to block attacks, and the creature's reach and myriad vines made it difficult for her to close-distance with it. Allana, meanwhile, was forced on the defensive, forced to frequently Trick Step to avoid the lashing vines–and even when she got to the central trunk of the chain-spawn, her daggers, poisons, and illusions were all nearly useless against the plant monster.

It was one of the rare monsters, however, that Tenebres and Cadence had an advantage against over their more aggressive friends. Tenebres's evocations allowed him to attack at a range beyond even that of the hexvine, and while Cadence's abilities didn't give her any inherent advantage over the chain-spawn, her clawblade certainly did. Cinderbrand was coated with flames as the celestial fought, easily clipping through the vines, leaving the scent of wet, smoldering wood filling the air of the glade.

The hexvine once again tried its favorite strategy, half-a-dozen vines shooting for Cadence all at once. Against any conventional opponent, an attack like that would've been a lethal threat, but Cadence and Tenebres had long since worked out how to respond to it.

Tenebres sent a force wedge flying from each of his hands. The broad projectiles, one of the new spells he had gained at Apprentice level, were only visible as a vague blur of light-blue energy suggesting an arc–but they each neatly sliced through one of the assailing vines, one of the wedges even managing to catch two vines mid-strike.

That still left four more of them–but Cadence was ready for them, a single Trick Step taking her a few feet forward, letting the vines collide into the space she had previously occupied–and leaving them all in one place as the wanderer spun around, already barking "Spark!"

Flames licked out from the tip of Cinderbrand even as Cadence swung the sword with the full force of her spin. The heat seared right through the remaining vines, and for the first time since the pair had started fighting the chain-spawn, it was nearly defenseless.

Tenebres fluidly changed gears within his own head, mentally switching out a few variables. Against the hexvine's thick-barked main body, the broader edges of his force wedges would be much less effective, but they weren't the only spell Apprentice level had given him. When Tenebres waved his arms again, he hurled glowing force needles–slender spikes of raw kinetic energy designed to penetrate straight through the central log's defenses.

They did just that, the hexvine reeling from the trio of force needles that Tenebres shot into its central mass. It still hadn't manifested new vines before Cadence reached it, Cinderbrand lifted for a chop similar to the one she used when splitting wood. Tenebres had seen firsthand how effective the clawblade's shape made it for that kind of work, and knew it would split the treetrunk just as easily, especially with it still aflame.

And then the flames winked out.

"Shit!" Tenebres hissed. Had the sword run through its stored energy already?

Even without magic, the clawblade did its job, bark flying and wood splintering as the bent-bladed sword slammed home into the monster's central trunk–and got wedged in place, even as a new vine rapidly grew from the crack the sword had made.

Tenebres could hear Cadence's curse from across the glade, and he hurriedly moved to send another force wedge at the hexvine, a small headache starting between his eyes as he hurriedly recalculated and tried to change his evocation. He barely managed it–Cadence had jumped back from the tree, leaving Cinderbrand in place, but she still wouldn't be fast enough to get away without another Trick Step.

Tenebres waved his hand, reaching for his Blood Magic and sending an enhanced Force Wedge straight through where Cadence was standing to hit the vine as she Trick Stepped away.

Or at least, that was the plan.

Instead, as Tenebres waved his arm, nothing happened–which was just as well, since Cadence hadn't managed to Trick Step away either. Tenebres saw the way Cadence's eyes widened in sudden surprise–and then the vine whipped across her body, leaving a long, bloody line through her tunic.

Her cloth-of-steel tunic.

The vine wound back, ready to whip Cadence before she could recover from the first attack. Desperate, Tenebres evoked a kinetic ward, a last minute defense that should deflect the lashing attack–but once again, it failed, and another splash of bright red blood came from Cadence as the attack, combined with her own efforts to dodge, sent her tumbling through the air.

Tenebres wasn't out of mystical energy, he knew that much. But his spells weren't working–and neither were Cadence's abilities, or her enchanted gear.

What was happening?

No time to think about that, not right now. A second vine had grown to join the first, and the hexvine was moving, its root system dragging it slowly closer to Tenebres, where it could bring its vines to play against the mage.

Nothing else for it, then, Tenebres decided, mentally reaching for the searing power of his other gift. So far, he had been trying to avoid invoking any fiends–his gift of the void gained experience much more rapidly than the gift of the evoker, which was a convenient excuse to try to fight without relying on his fiends as often.

But now things were going wrong, and fast. Given the nature of the glades, Tenebres had no way of signalling Allana or Olivia for help, and with Cadence wounded and his own magic not working, he didn't have a lot of other options.

[Void In-VoidtioCa]

[Vinatoiion Inc]

[VoidVoidVoidVOId]

Tenebres clenched his jaw as a disruptive wave of power suddenly swept through his body–no. Through his soul. The empty heat of the void brushed against that power and recoiled with a screeching feeling of pain, like a sword being dragged against hard brick.

[Evoke Sacrication]

[Impssssss VoidVoid]

Tenebres lost track of everything, clutching his head as his power ground against whatever obstruction was trying to force its way into his soul, trying to… to repress his magic. His power.

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The Void's Power.

Tenebres screamed as pain suddenly bloomed across his entire body, and for a moment, he thought that the vines had reached him–but no. This pain, severe as it was, was familiar. It was the pain of his Blood Magic, of the runic scars across his entire body splitting open, weeping glowing red blood.

[Void Invocation] activated

Strength, speed, stamina attributes sacrificed

Moderate fiend blood imp successfully invoked

Those two black vines lashed down at Cadence's prone, helpless figure–and were caught in the grip of two clawed hands. The needle-tipped thorns barely dimpled the imp's black skin–obsidian, shot through with veins of red, why was that familiar–and, with a savage snarl, the moderate fiend, a rank beyond the strongest imp Tenebres had ever summoned, simply snapped the vines off, a flicker of power sending heat up the broken vines, reducing them to ash.

The hexvine made an odd noise, a creaking screech, like that of strained wood starting to snap, and it started to retreat? Tenebres watched through blood-soaked eyes as the chain-spawn tried to flee–but it was too sluggish to get very far. The blood imp leaped on the plant monster, bearing it to the ground, and smoldering ebony claws began to rip through the wooden thing's body, rendering the hexvine to smoldering splinters in mere moments.

And then another sensation ripped through Tenebres's head, a feeling like claws raking through his brain. Through that immense sensory feedback, Tenebres thought he heard a singular word–NO!–before everything went black, his consciousness winking out in the same moment that his fiend simply vanished.

#

"It's okay," Allana told Tenebres. Her tone implied that she had been whispering the words over and over again.

"Hurts," he told her. He was swinging back and forth through the air, carried in some sort of hammock that was swinging from side to side.

"I know." The rogue was walking next to him, and she ducked down to kiss his head. "You used your Blood Magic too much again, idiot."

"Right," Tenebres said, surprised by how slurred his voice sounded in his own ears. He hadn't felt like this in a long time, not since Emeston. "Alleghy's gonna yell at me."

Allana's mouth twitched in a half-smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm sure he would. But rest now, we'll have you back in town soon."

"Mmkay."

#

He was in Elliven, but he wasn't. This wasn't the true Elliven, with its shining marble and bustling industry. This was the nightmare Elliven, made of red-flecked obsidian, glowing with sullen hate under a bloody sky.

"Here we go again," Tenebres muttered to himself. At least here, he was standing, and he didn't seem to be wounded. So at least he had that going for him.

Tenebres gave his surroundings a cautious glance. It had been a few weeks since his dreams had taken him to this place, but the memories of those past trips remained crystal clear in his head. Or at least, they did so here–in real life, in the actual Elliven, they faded to the vague, nonsensical memories common to dreams. But while he was inside of the dream, he knew, with utter confidence, that he had been here before.

Tenebres was in what looked like the nightmare version of Olan's jewelry shop. The shape, at least, was familiar, a wide open rectangular room. But the fine glass cases, enruned for cleanliness and clarity to better show off the gems and ornaments they held within, were missing, replaced by a score of basins of dark iron, not so different from the crude metal that the gnoll heavy infantry carried.

"Cast iron, it's called," a voice calmly explained. "It's a simple form of crafting that the Realm forgot generations back–with gifts, it simply isn't necessary."

Tenebres turned to find himself, his constant companion in these dreams. As always, he looked similar, but different. Taller, more weathered, his own Blood Magic scars reaching up his face and even to his scalp, giving him a half-cut similar to the one Cadence had worn over the winter, until her hair had grown back in.

He didn't look so good today, though. His eyes were even more bloodshot than normal, obvious despite the coloring they shared, and they sported heavy bags underneath.

"You're not in great shape either," the elder Tenebres told himself, answering a thought the younger hadn't actually voiced. Briefly, Tenebres had an image of himself, his leathers ragged and soaked through with blood, his scars open and sore, even if they weren't actively bleeding. "When did you come from?"

"I just fought the hexvine in the Wastes," Tenebres explained. That was their usual pattern, every time they met in this place. "It's my first summer in Elliven."

"Right, right. The fight that… When our magic didn't work."

"That's the one," Tenebres acknowledged. As he spoke, he absently wandered to one of the massive basins. The rim of the cast iron vessel was charred black,and inside was an odd, black ash. "How about you?"

"It's the fourth winter since we left Elliven, for me. I'm at a mining village in the frontier, looking into rumors of trolls in the area."

Tenebres nodded to himself. It was always somewhat comforting to hear that his older self, even all those years in the future, was still journeying as an adventurer–even if he always avoided sharing too many specifics.

"Do you have any information for me?"

The elder Tenebres shook his head. "You know that's not how this works. What questions do you have?"

"Shouldn't you know?"

"Maybe. Trust me, you're not far enough along for us to talk about oneiric chronology yet."

Tenebres lifted a hand to rub at his eyebrows, trying, very firmly, to convince himself that he shouldn't have a headache inside of a dream.

"Okay. Do you know why my magic stopped working?"

"I do," the other him said, "and so do you."

"What?"

"Check through your books. Between you and Olivia, you should be able to figure it out."

"Helpful," Tenebres muttered. "Okay, how about a bigger one, then. Why are we here?"

"In this dream? I already told you I can't tell you that yet."

"No. No, I get that our ability to meet in the dreams is something you can't share. But I mean, why here? Why do we have to meet in this weird, twisted version of Elliven? There has to be nicer dreams we can meet in."

The older Tenebres frowned, and he looked around the room, as if he hadn't fully considered that before. "Because…" he finally said, "I spend most of my nights here anyway."

What? Tenebres turned to more fully face himself, and he had the discomforting sensation of being split, of looking at himself from two places at once.

"What does that mean?"

"You'll get it soon," the older him acknowledged.

"Or you could just tell me," Tenebres suggested.

"No, I can't."

"Why?"

"Because when I was you, I didn't tell you."

"I… I don't even… What does that mean?"

The older Tenebres opened his mouth–and then there was a soft footstep from outside the building.

Tenebres–the young Tenebres, the real Tenebres–thought he saw a brief bit of blue hair, washed out by the crimson red lighting of this entire place, and then a jolt of familiar pain shot through him.

Tenebres winced, his eyes closing–and when he opened them, he was in a room of white-and-blue marble, an older woman bowed over him and an aura of green healing magic surrounding him.

Tenebres relaxed, closing his eyes and letting the healing ritual do its work. He was awake, again with no answers. Blacking out hadn't magically told him why his magic had failed him, or why even Cadence's sword and shirt had suddenly lost their own power.

But… Come to think of it, it did ring a bell. Had he read something like that once? Maybe… He'd have to check with Olivia. She had studied outsiders nearly as much as he had.

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