The hand looked almost no different than before, just that it was now ghostlike and immaterial. It swept down toward the ground, moving much faster since it had become at least a fifth lighter. Disappearing beneath the earth as the wrist pivoted downward, the hand reemerged and slammed toward the sword-wielding man.

He grunted but didn’t budge an inch, flexing as he slowly pushed the ghostly hand back. As the pressure waned, he didn’t press forward. Instead, he dodged to the side, narrowly evading the other hand attempting to slice him into ribbons.

It wasn’t as if the ghostly palm could physically hit him, but the wall of flesh flying at him was another matter. It wasn’t a sucker punch—more like a brick-house flung at you. I tensed just watching it unfold.

Weaving to the side let the ghost hand pass harmlessly through, while the solid hand collided with the ghost one and continued its assault. The swordsman jumped forward instead of back, forcing the attacking hand to crash against the creature’s own wrist with a fleshy smack I was glad not to hear.

It swung its right arm in a wide arc, bulldozing ice-covered ground. The many eyes across its body darted about, searching, but no flattened body could be found among the regenerating shards of ice. The creature stepped back with thunderous footfalls, pivoting its massive body to scan the area.

One eye near its navel screeched. A moment later, the creature stomped down. But the swordsman was already running up its opposite leg, cleaving it open like a fountain. Blood sprayed before freezing in mid-air as ice golems conjured themselves up from the shards broken around, and he leapt from its hip, flying upwards until he met one of the creature's grotesque eyes on its body.

It screeched again before he slashed down, golden blades emitting light that erased the eye in an X-shaped explosion.

Hooking his blades into the creature’s abdomen, he dashed sideways as both hands came crashing down. They collided with its own body, ripping open the golden gash and spraying viscera across the ice.

It didn’t have a face, but the rage was palpable. Murmurs from those around me confirmed what I felt: cheering would come later.

Meanwhile, the priest and abjurationist worked on a spell. The swordsman was fighting for his life—and buying time. A golden sphere shimmered around the other four members of the group. The Terramancer or earth mage spun his weapon, pulling dirt into a swirling maelstrom. The cryomancer molded a massive ball of ice that cracked and grew.

The priest shouted. The swordsman kicked off the creature’s chest, launching himself skyward. The creature hesitated, eyes spasming as they shifted toward the golden orb and the spellcasters.

The Terramancer’s hammer flew forward, spinning along the ground, drawing in earth until it grew to the size of a house. It slammed into the creature’s chest, just as the hammer dropped between its legs and cracked the hardened ground. Off balance, the creature took the hit full force.

The cryomancer followed. His ice sphere, now as large as a house, broke into countless razor-sharp shards spinning in a horizontal vortex. The mage collapsed to one knee, hands raised and flickering constantly to exert energy, pouring all his power into control.

The shards lifted and dove, striking the creature in a barrage of bladed snow and freezing mist. Every inch of it was lacerated. The blood froze. The muscles locked. It writhed.

But it wasn’t given a chance to recover.

The priest stepped forward. His golden field of scripture expanded. The swordsman nodded and kicked off a conjured disc of ice the Cryomancer sprang into existence with a wave, launching toward the creature.

The beast screamed, a new mouth tearing open to roar at the heavens.

Unshaken, the swordsman became a sun unto himself. His aura, his vitality, all condensed into his blades. The slash shattered ribs, ripped open the torso, and nearly severed its head.

His brother the Priest appeared beside him, caught him mid-fall, and hurled him to safety. Then he dove into the corpse’s chest like a falling sun.

The priest passed through rotting flesh as it disintegrated before him. Inside, eyes stared. Spirits swam, guarding the pulsing heart. Chanting, he expanded the field, eradicating the guardians. The dark shield around the heart cracked and fell away.

He touched down, broke through the creature’s side, and emerged to meet his brother.

“You get the heart?”

“Of course. Gross in there.” He dusted off his robes. “Let’s go get our loot drop.”

“Oh holy gods,” he added sarcastically, “you miraculously survived.”

The body broke into dust. The wind scattered it.

The crowd erupted.

“They did it!” someone shouted. “They killed the third boss!”

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I didn’t feel right though, something…felt off.

As everyone was cheering, i lit a smoke and stared at the screen before me. Switching between views of the 6 time to time. i didn’t look at the people they were talking to, but past them and into the distance towards the swamp.

‘That…woman…could she…no, could she have been the third boss? The creature merely summons of her?’ That would be a devious plot and conspiracy, and if the group thought they had just won and let their guard down they would be doomed.

“Hey! You, the guy we talked to!” Took me a fat second to find the man who had told them all about this.

He came running over from his friends with a smile, but the smile slowly disappeared as he scrunched his brows, “Why…do I get the vibe something isn’t right” it must have been plastered in my contemplative frown.

“It…has there ever been a sighting of a woman within the swamp? Black long hair, ghastly body…like a spirit and yet corporeal.”

The man slowly reeled his mind in concentration, before his eyes shot open, “No!” His short yell stopped everyone from cheering.

His friends ran over quickly hearing him shout, “Whats up dude?”

“You guys remember a couple years ago…”

I held a hand up, “A couple years? I just got here”

“Time passes differently in here then out there, think about it…when you go into a portal, months will pass and then bam your back two seconds later then when you left, that isn’t the point right now…any fucking way…do you guys remember a couple years ago that other team that got to the second boss? Remember what they fought?”

A guy with glasses was the first to speak as he moved his finger up the bridge of his nose, “Yes…it was a large creature with thousands of tentacles, it had…it had eyes across its body, like this one?”

“Yes…remember what happened to that group…”

“Yeah they mysteriously died before ever being seen meeting the 3rd boss, nobody has figured it out yet. Some people said they saw other things but it was thought the third boss was a wraith or invisible force, but with everything going on a lot was probably overlooked. That was before we had a crowd to watch everything go down.”

I turned to the man’s friends, “I saw a woman with black hair…a corporeal spirit of sorts amongst the swamp, watching from afar…she was behind the creature, and not like an undead…no…she struck fear into me even through the screen. I know this is random, but I feel that creature isn’t the main boss…its…it’s a gut feeling.”

Most people would’ve scoffed at this ‘gut feeling’ but regardless in this new world, people litterly had abilities that tailored to the concept even in the past known world. If he said he didn’t feel something right, why lie? If they just won, why would i unless something really wasn’t right?

Everyone began to flick their mediums to pull up the screens again, the group was still there and laughing. However, they all calmed down as they looked at their mediums and didn’t find any reward that popped up or a location of an item drop. I noted the priest had a page that was his medium tucked within his book. The engineer had a wrench. The swordsmen a ring. I was happy with mine.

“Strange…” The priest scrunched his brows as he looked at his book. The engineer shrugged as well, “I would know if these damned things broke…they haven’t, it shouldn’t have took this long to drop something and usually the body leaves something behind too.”

The swordsman flinched and cast his gaze about, his 6th sense was telling him something wasn’t right as well. This wasn’t a skill, it was something he naturally had as someone who had gone through countless fights. Not everyone got it either, it was either honed or innate. Much like myself who felt something wasn’t right, and then correlated it with the woman. It was more like that of the sense Jack and Malcolm had.

As everyone saw the Swordsman looked around on their displays, they turned their gazes to me with horrified glares, “You must be right!”

Everyone whipped their heads back to the display, unlike me they could hear the inside situation going on. I’d have to find out how to do that.

“Janta, cast an evil detection field…” This was the name of the abjurationist, she gave him a strange look but didn’t hesitate to cast her hand out and send out a whisp of energy that expanded around the room. Instead of the white light that showed the area was safe, it turned crimson which meant that something…was here.

“Fuck…that creature wasn’t the boss…whatever is, if it can create that…it is powerful. It might be the caster type boss, but if it manipulated spirits and the undead…it should be a necromancer.”

Necromancers, were always looked down upon as they used the horrors of this world to their own devices and were associated with killing people and using them to their own means.

Everyone hated them, especially when they met a creature or thing that used such powers as they were amongst some of the worst things to tangle with.

The priest began to chant, as golden words surrounded him and his brother. The earth manipulator and the cryomancer grouped together around Janta.

The Engineer looked around with fear, he wasn’t that strong as all his skills and abilities were tailored towards magical technology and craft. It was his previous occupation as an Enchanter and Armorist. For most purposes, he was an artificer and philosopher. He almost yelped when the swordsman grabbed him from the control desk and brought him over to the priest who chanted several words over him.

“Stay alert…we are within the fort and my brother layed down quite a few enchantment protections with Janta and yet it didn’t stop this thing…” Even the swordsman felt wary, the worst kind of danger was the unseen.

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Soon a night passed within, our group and I was allowed free lodgings for the first week we arrived, yet sadly it was a shared accommodation.  Solomon, Malcolm and I didn’t mind though but the girls certainly were tight in the space they gave us three to sleep.

We didn’t wait long to leave the residence though to go back to the fountain where everyone else was waiting, or camping at, to watch the group within.

It was far too interesting, and almost didn’t feel real to watch what was going on within.

The guy from before was sitting at the edge of the fountain mumbling between his friends when he saw me and the group walk over with inquisitive looks on their faces. This guy, Damon, wasn’t a bad guy and had talked quite often while we watched the group the day before.

I didn’t exactly understand the science and magic he mentioned, but it seemed to be amongst the 6th sense genre as I had guessed but was an inherent one rather than one earned like that of Jack, Malcolm, Solomon, the swordsman and his brother. It was a sort of premonition type, but not the future, more or less sensing of aura and was common amongst Spirit Vessel types. Everyone else felt the same way after finding out that some newcomer had seen what was going on while the majority had not, and thought that the group had beat the 3rd boss instead.

“Nothing so far, they slept in shifts and then prepared for the day. No unforeseen black outs, It seems the engineer is a good one as everything has stayed functional without breaking even when it was supposed to.” Damon smiled.

I shook my pack of vanilla smokes, “Hey anyone around sell specialty smokes?”

Damon thought for a moment, “Yeah…you can buy anything from the tavern, they set them up in each sanctuary as a form of entertainment. All the trivial stuff ya know? Think about it, they can make your room into anything you want, albeit you have to procure your own ladies…” Damon looked past Jaeger to the two girls talking meters away, “Got that covered…so you just need currency for those”

“I see…” So it seemed that the gods gave them ways of entertainment as an outlet, this portal as well must be some form of training or otherwise. Although a lot of people could make it up to a year, only the greatest could pass the 7 bosses’ or whatever they were and nobody had thus far.

“You say guns?”

“We’re mages…there are people that can turn into beasts, people with powers, others with mystical items, alchemists, telekinetics, telepaths, sages…hell I hear there are sanctuaries with the true gods like ours of magic…but of the mind, body, and spirit…with ours being energy…why in the fuck…WHO in the fuck, would care about a gun over a fireball, Eh?”

“I…was just wondering” I had a cheeky grin, couldn’t help it he did have a point, a good point.

With all those powerful things weighing down, why DID i still want to use a gun? There was a god of craft that much I was certain of from the job in town related to crafting things for people. He made the magical items, he made the equipment, and all the great things that weren’t skills, powers, spells, or otherwise.

“Why am I so confused on the whole genetic thing…I heard there was some god called Pan out there too.”

Damon nodded, “Genome, or otherwise the god of genetics can indeed give you the DNA and certain latent abilities over that specific DNA to galvanize a temporary change into your beast of choice…I hear the more genetics you change, the more that becomes permanent. However…a god named pan grants different boons and traits, if there are things based around science like adding animal or celestial things to your DNA…what he could grant you would be the truest form of Lycanthropy within legend. He gives you a curse that makes you a werewolf. A supernatural form of the same change but with far greater effect and power…the whole god tier thing is complicated, and the more we learn about it the more we learn that this god does this and not that…just like genome and pan.”

“So what are…the god of powers…you said there was a god of mind, one of spirit, and one of body…who are they?”

“Well…you can’t just go to genome and raise your attributes, the change indeed does boost your attributes like strength or speed but that’s it. The god Psyche, or Mind in simpler terms…he raises the vessel of your mind, and grants you power through it. The god of spirit…hey didn’t you say you could summon a frog? Well he gives you stuff like that depending on who you are and is called Animus or Heart I think? The god of body or Corporis...he raises your attributes, speed, agility, strength, even others we don’t know about. These three don’t have a sanctuary, instead you must be chosen by them.”

“What are all the gods…I need to write this down.” A deep sigh let loose from my lips as my hand grasped onto a thin booklet in one of my pockets. This was the book I had carried for a long, long time, recording my many ideas and creations. Characters I had come up with, theory on things, even powers and their combinations…and secrets, many secrets.

I forgot to pack a fucking pen though. God bless Damon as he sighed and took one from his jacket, flicking it towards me.

“You ask a lot of questions you know…Fine…” Damon took a couple deep breaths in,

“There are the Ten primary gods or ‘Prime divinity’ in this order:

Psyche: Goddess of mind, who grants abilities towards the mind like Telepathy and illusion.

Animus: God of spirit, who grants summons and the conjuration of spirit.

Entropy…that’s it! Entropy or Corporis, the god of body who raises your attributes and the potential of yourself like speed, strength, to an inhuman level.

Genome: The god of genetics, who can give you the very foundation within DNA of other races and creatures, or a change in bodily structure like ice breathe by converting the nitrogen within the air into liquid nitrogen, changes your body is capable of like a dragon spewing fire from a sack.

Pan: The god of Beasts, who gives you curses and boons like that of ancient legends at a cost.

Spectre: The man who grants powers that defy the limits of space and the explanations of science like teleport, phasing, shapeshifting, unique powers and mighty powers…at the cost of never receiving things from certain gods he bestows them to you.

Enigma: Our god of magic and the elements regardless of their form or shape. He gives use spells, the schools of magic, the theory, the knowledge and the craft of magic.”

I was writing like a speed demon when Damon stopped me and pointed to my watch, I could have recorded all this on my watch in a miscellaneous file. These watches were a true wonder.

“You mentioned 7, but said 10? What are the other three?”

“It’s a rumor…some even speculate that each of the portals in a sanctuary weren’t set up by those gods, who don’t deny it…by finishing them, you are granted access to one of three hidden gods. Not hidden like Psyche, Animus or Corporis…no…even the gods themselves know not of them or where they are…

Wish: The god or goddess…that grants anything you wish, regardless of what it is…nobody knows how to meet this person though, even the gods themselves want to.

Life: An enigmatic fairy goddess with great potential over life…that’s all we know, but books in the magic library detail such a person.

Death…the opposing thing to life, and what we assume is related to the undead and all things vile and bad. If the gods didn’t make those things, then who did? Someone would’ve had to…some even speculate this isn’t just a game like we are told, but a breeding ground for each of the gods to make a soldier against Death… but of course it is only speculation.”

“Okay…I don’t mean to be a bother, but what about these other gods of craft and stuff I heard about?”

“Those…are what we call the subset gods, unlike the Prime Divinity themselves. See, some of them aren’t holy or godly, they are merely the people of the past who reached great heights in certain professions or aspects and were granted their positions collectively by the Prime gods…that’s why you see a tavern in every sanctuary, a crafting building in every sanctuary, alchemy, druidism, or other such groups…ya know?”

“Okay that makes sense now…thank you Damon” With a swipe the display my watch was creating before me vanished.

Damon breathed out and nodded, and exaggeredly acted flustered before drinking some water.

“Currency…you need to make it to live properly in the sanctuary. You won’t be thrown out but you can’t grow as well without a full stomach.”

With a nod I couldn’t deny such a thing. Even the room they stayed in was quite luxurious for the things we had lived in within the city. Maybe all this…wasn’t so bad?

No, it was bad, real bad.