The wood spirit pulled its arm back, furious at my resistance. Its fist lengthened into a thorned spike and shot toward my throat. I twisted at the last second and titled my head as far as I could to the left. The creature’s spike sailed through the space where my face had been a moment before and punctured the skull of the merman behind me. The water spirit’s face exploded into a fine spray of icy droplets, and its body dissolved into a torrent of water that rippled the surface of the lake.
One down, one to go. I shoulder-charged straight into the wood spirit before it could strike me with its spiked fist. I took my opponent from its feet and slammed it against the bank.
The wood spirit twisted, tried to get its spiked hand free, and failed as I slipped an arm around its neck. My free hand grabbed hold of the creature’s chin and forced its head back. My arms burned with strain as I wrenched my hands in opposite directions. There was a crack as its neck came apart.
I stepped back from the body of the wood spirit as it slid into the pool.
I dragged myself out of the water and took a breather. These fights never got easier. Still, I would gladly pay the price for greater mastery in the art of Augmentation. The search for mastery was the only way I could keep moving forward, with my friends at my side, and continue to hold my own against the forces of darkness that threatened this alien world.
A gap in the bark of a mighty oak creaked as it widened. Thick sap ran forth in a golden torrent and coalesced into a body. This new spirit was almost identical to the wooden creature I’d killed moments before, but it shimmered with an amber translucence as the sun touched it.
“I’ll be honest,” I told the faceless creature, “I think your element is kinda lame.”
The sap spirit sprinted for me and swung a glowing limb, but I rolled backward to my feet. I tossed a straight punch for my new opponent’s abdomen, and it blocked as I’d expected. But it had created an opening. I drove a solid knee into its hip, and a chunk of sap pulled away from the spirit’s body before bouncing off a nearby tree.
The creature sprang at me with its arms outstretched, but I dodged behind a tree before it could wrap them around me. We circled the clearing, traded punches, and I found myself matched in striking ability. It seemed that these spirits were always matched to my skill level. It was almost like I was fighting myself. I wished I could call upon my martial techniques, but this realm made it impossible.
I managed to hit it harder and knocked off sections of sap in sticky sprays. The shy sun would always poke out its face, and the spirit would always recover. More sap flowed free and stitched the spirit’s body back together. My opponent was healing itself faster than I could hurt it.
We’d reached a stalemate, neither able to seriously harm the other.
Apparently, my opponent’s frustration mirrored my own. Amber spikes punched through the spirit’s knuckles and turned a regular pair of painful fists into something else entirely.
“That’s pretty fucking underhanded, isn’t it?” I panted. “You can give yourself weapons, and I have nothing.” I scanned the area around me, but there was nothing I could use for a makeshift weapon. No stones large enough to do damage, not even a stray plank of wood.
A cloud gathered overhead, and the spirit lost some of its golden glow. Its pace, posture, and energy levels always seemed to flux when it was in the sunlight.
Then, it hit me. Sap needed sunlight to survive. Photosynthesis. Simple.
I circled around the spirit until I was off dry ground and knee-deep in the shallows of the lake.
Sunlight peeked through the clouds again and filled the spirit with new energy and confidence. It leaped in after me, and I kicked a faceful of water into the creature’s eyes to start things off. As the spirit wiped the water from its eyes, I jumped onto it and rode its body deeper into the lake.
I pinned it underwater with a knee and wrapped my hands around its throat to keep it there. My opponent lashed out, and one of its spikes stabbed me in the gut. I ignored the sudden lance of pain and focused on my position. The spirit writhed, but the more it struggled, the murkier the water became around it. The mud caked its body and prevented the sunlight from touching its flesh. The spirit managed to hit me again, and I gritted my teeth against the pain as my wounds oozed blood and dirtied the water. I tightened my grip around its throat and drove its face into the muddy depths. It twitched and struggled, but I held fast.
At last, the sap spirit stopped struggling and went limp. Its body dissolved in my hands and colored the lake with golden tendrils.
The spirit world faded in a flash of green and blue. When my eyes opened, I was back in the marsh with the Sundered Heart Sword laid out across my knees and my guts still intact.
“How did it go?” Faryn asked, concerned. “From the look on your face, I thought you were in trouble.”
“It was tough,” I said, “but I’ve survived worse. Fighting the spirits was the easy part.”
Inside me, the newly energized sap core pulsed with Vigor. I opened myself to that power and let it forge channels through my insides. Every muscle in my body tensed and cramped. Soul-rending pain exploded through every nerve in my body. My vision flashed black and red, and then, it was done.
I opened my eyes
