Aster Fall 28: Call Essence (Patreon)

As the essence stars flew toward Sam, the Icebloods glared across the distance at him.

There was a cloud of confusion in the shaman’s eyes. His expression turned ugly and then to something else.

Unease.

The shaman couldn’t see beneath Sam’s hood, but now that he was commanding the essence, it was clear that he was also an Outsider.

The Iceblood didn’t understand how that could be, unless one of their enemies from home was taking advantage of the battle to attack them.

As for how Sam was gathering the essence, that was what worried the shaman the most.

If it had been him, he would have had to eat the hearts of his enemies.

Even that wasn’t a perfect absorption of essence, just the most concentrated part. To get the rest, he would have had to consume their muscles and blood.

All three of the Icebloods forgot about the battle against the Ice Sylphs as they turned their full attention to Sam.

A howling roar tore out of the Iceblood Shaman’s throat. The hunter and the warrior echoed him a moment later.

The shaman’s hands rose to shape a spell and the Hunter summoned a spear of jagged ice in his hand as he raised it to throw across the distance.

At the same time, the Iceblood Warrior launched himself forward, his oversized feet slamming into the ground as he sprinted toward Sam.

To the side, the wyvern and the remaining nine serpents and five trolls were trying to assail the ice wall again, holding the Ice Sylphs and their allies down.

It gave the Icebloods a clear line of approach to Sam.

Before they could cross a quarter of the distance, the essence stars that Sam had called out of the corpses arrived.

Their colors changed to bright crystal blue and sank into Sam’s body, fusing through his skin and muscle.

There were already seventeen essence stars and a nascent eighteenth in his blood.

Now, dozens of new stars joined them from the fifteen Outsider corpses that he’d called upon.

The essence stars had fallen in his world.

In death, they would serve him.

They merged into his blood in a constellation of new stars like a celestial storm was being born in the distant reaches of the universe, its fires giving life to new suns.

Each of the Outsiders was around level 50. They had far more essence in them than the Red-Striped Hell Spiders he’d faced before.

The size of Sam’s essence network expanded in an instant, snapping into place according to some enigmatic pattern as each of the original stars became a hub in the new pattern, which spread outwards at lightning speed.

Racial Essence: 347 / 1,000

Each of the Outsiders gave him about 20 essence stars as their energy converted into his.

Resonating strength and a sense of increased durability rushed into Sam’s limbs and meridians, flowing through every muscle and vein.

Unexpectedly, other notifications sounded in his mind, flaring with silver light and archaic, star-edged borders.

Racial Ability Identified: Call Essence.

New Attribute Gain Quantified by Aster Fall Standard.

Strength increased by 3.

Constitution increased by 5.

Agility increased by 2.

Intellect increased by 6.

Aura increased by 6.

The talons on his fingers grew sharper, surrounded by a cutting force, and the horns on his forehead grew darker and larger, gaining an inch in height.

The stars grew brighter, locking into place as energy burned outwards from them. His meridians expanded and grew tougher, their durability improving.

The unique sense he gained from essence expanded as well, rushing outward around him as he felt the Outsiders' presence more keenly than ever.

As the three Icebloods rushed toward him, he felt the essence that flowed through them, the strength of their vitality, and the weight of danger they radiated.

It was similar to Analyzing their levels and classes, but the information was far more visceral, like a blade in his intestines.

Three of them at once was going to be difficult, even with the increased attributes. Even the Hunter was a few levels higher than him.

A snarl burst out of his mouth as the battlelust that was resonating between the stars strengthened, flaring through his muscles with the relentless demand that he rip his enemies apart with his bare hands.

His essence was at 58 and he had time to grab two more auras from his storage and combust them before the Icebloods arrived, bringing him back up to 98.

Then they were on him, as the hunter’s ice spear flew toward his chest and exploded against a crystalline, geometric Essence Shield that flared with a brilliant blue light.

Sapphire crystalline flames blazed around him as he flexed the talons on his hands and shot toward them, taking the battle to them.

His blood was boiling. His mind was searing heat and glacial ice.

A flight of two dozen crystal flame arrows blasted away from him, targeting the Iceblood Warrior, which was the closest.

Then he infused as much essence as he could, hardening his aura.

The spiral of crystal flame around him condensed, its edge turning into a cutting blade that ripped through the air.

Cerulean flames surrounded his hands and lined the edge of his talons. All around him an Essence Shield hardened his skin.

It was a natural body strengthening spell that came from his essence flowing through the starry constellation in his blood.

It also drained his essence even more than a Starfire spell. Activating it took 20 essence, and it felt like it would take the same with each passing minute.

At best, he had about three minutes. Less, if he used his essence for spells.

The World Law’s cold, analytical voice echoed in his mind.

Racial Ability Identified: Battle Aura (Basic).

He ignored it as the crystal flame arrows slammed home against the warrior.

At the moment they struck, however, the Outsider’s pale blue skin radiated with icy light. At the same time, his movements sped up, turning to a blur as he crashed toward Sam.

He wasn’t holding a weapon. Instead, icy blades extended from his hands like curving scimitars and slashed through where Sam was standing.

KrriiTttiiiinkshh.

The blades crashed against his spiraling aura with a shattering sound and a hiss as ice met crystal flame.

The warrior specialized in melee combat and Sam didn’t. A moment later, the ice scimitars whipped around again, returning along the same path.

Sam’s Agility was higher than it had been before, but not enough to dodge in time.

The double blades crashed against a hastily erected Essence Shield and he was sent tumbling to the side, where he hit the ground and rolled.

He sprang to his feet, putting some distance between him and the warrior as he dodged again to evade an ice spear that the hunter hurled toward him.

The spear exploded against the ground where he’d been standing, creating a foot-deep divot in the earth as dirt and stone erupted outward.

The flying chunks were coated in ice and shattered into frozen dust as they flew through the air.

At that moment, the shaman completed the spell he’d been preparing and an icy blue-green serpent of essence shot through the air toward Sam.

It was half ghostly, about a dozen feet long and a foot wide. Its scales were patterned like a viper in layers of overlapping pale blue and white triangles.

Its fangs were bared, shining with crystalline droplets of frozen venom.

Sam saw it coming with Crystal Focus and threw himself to the side, rolling again, but he wasn’t able to escape the oncoming spear from the hunter, which struck where he landed.

An explosion of pale ice erupted against his right side, digging into his abdomen and ribs with burning pain.

The force of the attack hurled him across the ground, throwing him nearly ten feet.

His enhanced body helped to hold him together as he tucked himself into a roll and tried to use the force of the blow to get farther away, but he was still spinning out of control as he landed again.

He crashed to the ground with an echoing crunch of cartilege and bones shifting.

The shaman’s ghostly viper whipped toward him as he landed, speeding through the air like a crossbow bolt.

In a flash, it coiled around his body and drove its fangs towards his neck.

The Essence Shield around Sam’s skin flared outwards, ripping the serpent off him as he shoved it away.

Whatever was on its fangs, he didn't want to be bitten by it.

An instant blast of focused crystal flame followed as he poured essence through his bracer and formed a hasty fire sphere.

The star rune flickered quietly at the center, an instant version of it that was not much bigger than the one in the starflame arrows.

The fiery blast picked up the serpent and hurled it a dozen feet away, the speed making its body crack in the middle like a whip.

The sound echoed out through the area.

Sam realized his mistake in closing into melee range with the Outsiders at the same time. His new aura made him stronger in melee, but going up against three at once wasn't a good idea.

Especially not against the warrior, which was specialized in melee.

He focused on Essence Shield as he pushed away to evade.

The focused blast threw him back from the trio, giving him some space.

It was the same tactic he used to evade Lenei, but more practiced now. He was able to mostly stay upright as the ground passed beneath his feet.

He used the moment of separation to change his tactics, focusing his essence into a new Starfire spell between his hands.

He hit the ground, spinning in place as his feet swept around for balance.

The shaman’s serpent was returning, covered in a pale blue aura as ice crystals shattered in the air around it, and another jagged spear of ice from the hunter was also closing in.

Sam dove to the side, rolling out of range as he came back up to his feet.

The spell blasted out of his hands as soon as he was stable, heading for the hunter.

It was the most tactical choice, given that the hunter was Level 52 and likely had the weakest defense.

Going for the warrior or the shaman would turn into a longer fight, and he needed to take out one of them quickly to get the initiative back.

The Iceblood Hunter tried to dodge, as a pale blue and white-streaked aura surrounded him, accelerating his movements.

Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t enough to evade the blast radius of Starfire.

The spell erupted five feet from the hunter, exploding outwards to envelop him in the expanding rings as the star rune at the center blazed like the white heart of a sun.

Shimmering white streaks floated through the dark blue flames, searing the Iceblood Outsider in an expanding ring of flame.

The hunter’s skin darkened, the pale blue color turning black as his skin cracked and began to disintegrate.

He was picked up by the blast and flung away as the flames adhered to him like living things.

KrisshSSshhHh.

A flight of a dozen crystal flame arrows tore through the air after him, chasing him before he could land and dodge.

The arrows tore through his body in explosions of sapphire light, blowing holes in his arms, chest, legs, head, and heart.

Light blue blood boiled away, searing in the air as a cloud of disintegrating Outsider flew in every direction.

The success didn’t come without a cost.

The momentary pause to cast both spells gave the warrior enough time to close the distance to Sam, his icy scimitars tearing downward.

Slashing lines of pain ripped across his right leg and abdomen as he tried to evade, but he was a bit too late.

The warrior’s strength was incredible and the ice blades had an edge sharper than steel.

Sam’s Essence Shield cracked beneath the blows.

The blades dug deep wounds before he could get out of range.

The only advantage was that the attack also threw him out of the way of the shaman’s serpent, which was returning again, as well as a pale blue-white web of searing energy that shot past his head.

The shaman was adding new spells now.

He went rolling across the ground, hurling crystal flame behind him as he pushed the wounds out of his mind.

His Constitution was kicking in, sealing the bleeding and stabilizing his muscles, but the cuts were deep.

Siwaha’s blessing burned in his chest like a cooling bath, flowing toward the wounds.

As he rolled, another Starfire formed between his hands. As he forced himself to his feet again, he hurled it at the oncoming warrior.

The Iceblood was chasing him, closing the distance in an instant, and took the Starfire spell directly in the face.

An enormous, point-blank blast hurled Sam and the warrior apart, picking them both up and tossing them both across the ground.

For Sam, the force of the blast was absorbed by the Essence Shield on his skin, and he redirected the force into his evasion, sending out a couple of other pulses of crystal flame to push himself toward the shaman.

The warrior was not so lucky.

His body was covered in a pale blue shell like ice as he tried to absorb the force of the blast, but he was only Level 54.

Sam’s offensive abilities were both at Expert, even before the boost the bracer was added into it.

In pure offense, he could probably give a Level 80 Wizard a run for his money.

The blast ripped through the warrior’s spell defense, driving a wedge of burning crystal flame deep into his skin as it tossed him through the air.

The brilliant white of the star rune seared him like a trout over a campfire, leaving sizzling lines burned inches deep through his body.

Only his enhanced bones and durability as a warrior kept him from being torn apart.

On the other side, the blast sent Sam hurtling toward the shaman and he pushed more energy into the battle aura all around him.

As soon as he landed, he spun on his feet and launched himself at the shaman, as lines of brilliant crystal flame exploded from his talons.

The aura around him spiraled faster, like a cutting blade.

Something in him demanded that he bathe in his enemies' blood, and there was no reason to suppress it.

The shaman’s spells struck home in a burning impact of ice shards that stabbed fierce spear points deep into his chest and arms.

His Essence Shield absorbed what it could, but cracking sounds resonating across his body like frozen drumbeats as the shards broke through.

At the same time, his spiraling aura slashed through the shaman’s defensive shield, shattering it into shards as his talons ripped toward him.

In gouts of icy-hot, pale blue blood, he ripped the shaman's abdomen open from groin to throat.

KRruukGgGshhh.

A deep, guttural howl rose from the shaman’s throat, choked off a moment later as his lungs filled with blood.

Sam’s hand drove farther into his chest and wrapped around a lump of still beating flesh.

Sapphire blue crystal flames burned around his hand, searing into the shaman's body as he looked into the shaman’s fading eyes.

With an explosive jerk, he ripped the heart out of the Outsider's ribcage, crushing it in his grip.

“Don't threaten my family.”

Sam’s voice was a guttural, growling thing, half whispered and half shouted from a tightly locked throat.

"Aster Fall is mine."

His hand clenched down around the heart, his fingers tearing lines through it, ripping it into chunks that slowly blackened and turned to char.

He could sense the warrior approaching, and he only had time to turn part of the way around before icy scimitars struck across his side, hurling him away from the shaman’s corpse.

A snarl ripped out of his throat as the last of his essence poured into his Essence Shield and shattered, failing to absorb the blow.

The spiraling blade of his aura disintegrated. The cutting flames on his talons faded into dying sparks.

He tumbled through the air, flying a dozen feet from the warrior as he felt bones breaking in his ribs and arm.

He landed heavily on the earth, falling into a tumbling, uncoordinated roll.

As he landed, he could feel people rushing toward him, the approach of his father and Lesat as they came to his defense.

As he rolled, he reached into the aura storage over his shoulder, tearing out two more auras.

He combusted them as he came to a halt, feeling the dull pain in his meridians that told him he was starting to near his limit.

Six auras was one more than he’d been able to use easily before, so the essence absorption had definitely strengthened them.

He tried to push himself to his feet, but his limbs weren't responding well.

Instead, he pushed himself upwards on a flare of crystal flame as he turned toward the oncoming warrior, channeling his energy into a Starfire spell.

He supercharged it, feeling an echo of resistance in his meridians as he forced a quarter more essence than normal into the spell.

As the warrior crashed into him, he felt a blade stabbing through the left side of his abdomen, but at the same time, crystal flame surged around his talons as his aura came to life again.

He tore a path through the warrior’s chest with his left hand, tore a gap between the ribs.

Then he drove the Starfire spell straight into the warrior’s lung.

He shoved the Outsider away, kicking him backward at the same time as he used the last of his essence to evade, hurling himself across the ground.

A brilliant explosion of crystal flame filled the air, filled with searing chunks of pale blue skin that flew in every direction.

Burning chunks struck him in the air, disintegrating into ash against his skin.

He hit the ground with a resounding, dull thud. His bones creaked as the earth reached up to embrace him, creating a divot around him.

His senses spread outward, spinning slowly with the rotation of the heavens as he searched for remaining enemies.

He hadn't tracked what the Ice Sylphs were doing while he fought, but now it was clear they had won their battle as well.

The echoing silence of dead Outsiders filled the air.