The following morning, they set out to Orfswell. Laryn brought a group of about a dozen with him, leaving Vallor relatively unprotected. Ollen and Vand remained behind, since they were still recovering from injuries. Gaten had pleaded to come, but Laryn insisted that he stick with the sifting. Being a [Mage] didn’t just grant him abilities, it also gave him responsibilities.

  Kenna and Hela came with them, carrying packs filled with healer’s herbs and bandages for wounds. They pressed forward recklessly through the forest, unable to match the speed of Falnor’s horse, but making good time.

  Large, impassible ridges of stone crossed their path, forcing them to wind between them and extending their journey.

  If they were fast, they’d reach Orfswell by evening of the second day.

  “I haven’t seen signs of void to the east,” Laryn commented to Thallon that afternoon. The large blacksmith grunted.

  “That’s a good sign, right? It hasn’t been spreading this way. At least not too rapidly.”

  Laryn had a set of claimstakes, bound in a bundle and strapped to his back. The long poles kept catching on low tree branches, or hooking into the undergrowth.

  “True,” Thallon said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re safe.”

  They reached the pasture land by late afternoon. The occasional cow lowed in the distance, though Laryn didn’t see any of the creatures.

  He fell in with Widan. “You were in charge of the cows, right?”

  “Yes,” the boy said, scanning over the grassy fields. “I hate to leave them out here.”

  “You just let them roam free, when there are voidlings around?” Laryn asked.

  “They’re pretty good fighters,” Widan said. “The pack can take down one or two bugs.”

  “Why not corral them, keep them protected with a fence?”

  “We wouldn’t be able to feed that many. We need to let them free to forage or they’d all die. Most of them stay west of the river though.”

  Laryn peered off to the west, knowing that the remains of Jardensvale lay in that direction. He was curious about what it looked like, but they would not be passing it today.

  Void had destroyed that village. There were probably more voidlings there. It seemed as though the narrow corridor through which they journeyed might be the only part of the wildlands still not claimed by the void.

  What had happened to the goblins that used to live here?

  The next day they plunged deeper into the wildlands. Laryn couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow; this was the journey he should have been doing with Keldin.

  But now that he’d done it, become a [Ruler] out here in the wilderness, he wondered if this was as unclaimed a place as he’d thought.

  Something strange was happening out here. The aggressive void? The disappearance of the goblins?

  The more Laryn thought about it, the more he saw the hand of Ishtoran, maneuvering him. The line of thinking was leading him to uncomfortable conclusions, so he abandoned it.

  At midday they reached blighted tiles.

  Void claimed tiles.

  Falnor assured them that they were drawing closer to Orfswell, but Laryn ordered a stop. He wanted to watch the void, make sure there weren’t hundreds of voidlings hiding, waiting for them up ahead.

  As they watched, the void claimed more tiles. It spread quickly; one tile, then another, and then the tile on which they stood. The soil beneath their feet began to break down into grey, ashen dust. The trees wilted and shriveled, and the air grew thin.

  “That’s too fast,” Laryn said, saying what he saw in the others’ eyes.

  Adi spoke to Laryn, her voice coming through their mental link. “Hey, we’re having a small problem here,” she said. “Some of your kingdom tiles are being void claimed. No voidlings or anything attacking right now, just tiles.”

  Laryn glanced at the interface map and saw that, sure enough, tiles on the north shore of the river were disappearing from his kingdom. Influence was destroyed as they vanished.

  “By Ishtoran,” Laryn muttered.

  “We have to hurry!” Falnar cried.

  Should they stop now, and just go back?

  Laryn pursed his lips, and they followed Falnar deeper into the void claimed tiles. They had to stop the void from growing, here, and now, or else they might never make it back.

  Trees thinned out and the soil grew loose, harder to walk across. The blight spread around them. They approached a low rise in the ground, aiming toward a place where a few crumbling boulders resisted the blight.

  An arrow struck Laryn in the chest, knocking him back a step. He glanced down at the shaft in surprise as a dozen armed men swarmed out from behind a boulder and charged into his force.

  Laryn drew his sword, ignoring the arrow protruding from his lower ribcage. He tried pulling up the core interface, but couldn’t focus on activating a time reset while in active combat.

  The map flashed in his vision, and he saw that he’d lost most of the tiles to the north of his kingdom to the void already.

  He brought his sword up, parrying a blow, as the rest of his party engaged the bandits. Fighting to disengage, he sliced a hand off of one man, and stabbed another in the throat.

  Staggering backward, Laryn took in the scene. Falnor stood to the side, unengaged. He’d known about this. He’d lead them right into this trap.

  Laryn quickly rewound time. He needed to go back far enough to let them preempt the trap, but not too far.

  He fell, tripping backwards. His hands were coated in his own blood. He’d fallen atop the body of Jarik. Thatch dropped nearby, his skull split in two.

  Lying on the ground, Laryn found the moment before the void had claimed the tiles around them.

  A shadow loomed over him. A voice called out.

  “Don’t kill him! We need him to use the—”

  Laryn activated the time skip.

  He flashed backward in time; remarkably only needing to go back eighty six seconds to escape this fiasco.

  Standing in the unclaimed tile, watching in astonishment as the void rapidly consumed the land around them.

  But no… Everyone jumped.

  “How did that happen!” Thallon exclaimed. The tile where they stood was already claimed; and a half dozen more beyond that.

  “Hey, what happened?” Adi asked. “You in trouble? Time skip?”

  Falnor’s eyes widened. Laryn saw realization spread across the man’s face.

  Falnor smiled.

  Laryn seized Falnor’s throat.

  “You’re a cultist!” he hissed.

  Startled gasps from the villagers.

  “So the trap worked!” Falnor wheezed, his eyes twinkling.

  Laryn released Falnor. He stumbled to the side, choking.

  Thallon started forward, but Laryn stopped him.

  “How do you know?” Thallon asked. “How can you accuse him…”

  Laryn drew his sword and struck Falnor at the neck.

  “Wait!” Thallon shouted, but he was too slow. Falnor’s head dropped to the ground, followed by the man’s body.

  “He’s a cultist,” Laryn asserted, turning toward the villagers. “He was about to lead us into a trap up ahead. Everyone keep quiet, and we’ll circle around the ridge there and come up behind those boulders.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Woah, we have a problem,” Adi said in his head. “The void… it just claimed a dozen tiles, so fast!”

  “It was a time skip,” Laryn said. “The void seems to be partially immune to the time skip!”

  “Oh no,” Adi gasped. “That’s bad.”

  They moved through the grey and dying landscape, keeping low and quiet as they moved. Laryn prayed that they wouldn’t be detected.

  As they reached a better angle, they caught sight of the cultists, hiding behind the boulders. They lounged around, not looking ready for anything. Probably waiting for a signal from Falnor.

  Laryn waved to Thatch, who already had his bow strung and ready for the fight. Jarik followed, readying his bow.

  The two men wielded massive Catarian long bows, nearly two meters long. From this range, they’d easily be able to hit the cultists lying in ambush.

  “Time to spring their trap,” Laryn muttered. He saw at least four bows among the men waiting for them, but they were shorter, elven style war bows. Better for firing rapidly at a shorter range.

  “We’ll aim for the archers first,” Thatch said. Jarik nodded, and they coordinated targets quietly together.

  Laryn waved for Gall to take Widan and circle around and cut off the retreat of the cultists.

  He waited as Gall and Widan moved unseen through the blighted woods. He began to wonder what was taking them so long, when Adi spoke to him.

  “Widan says they’re in position,” she said. “You guys okay out there?”

  “Yeah, we’re fine,” Laryn replied, “Just taking care of this ambush. The void here is spreading fast; I think we need to kill the bloom before we can come back.”

  “What about Orfswell?”

  “I doubt any of them are alive,” Laryn said. “I think it was a ruse.”

  He gave the signal. Thatch and Jarik loosed their arrows. Before the shafts even struck, two more were flying through the air.

  Laryn lead the rest of his squad as they charged across the blighted ground.

  A half dozen cultists died to arrows before Laryn even reached them. Grey dust from the blighted soil swirled around as Laryn, Hober, and Thallon made quick work of the remaining cultists. They fell quickly to blade, spear, and hammer.

  Widan and Gall ran in, but the fighting was over before they arrived. Laryn called to Thatch and Jarik, and soon the group was reunited. Hela and Kenna tended to minor injuries received.

  “How did you know?” Thallon asked. He crouched beside a cultist’s body and pushed aside a cloak, revealing a voidheart pendant. “I… Falnor was a friend. Why would he do this?”

  “Do you recognize any of them?” Laryn asked.

  Heads shook. These were not people they knew from Orfswell.

  “The secret is out among our enemies,” Laryn said. “No use keeping it from my friends.”

  Everyone turned, curious.

  “Our kingdom core grants me the ability to reset time. I can time skip backward, a short duration, and undo mistakes. We walked right into that trap the first time.”

  Eyes widened as understanding set in.

  “You can reset time?” Kenna asked.

  “I knew it!” Hela said. “I told Coril that core was powerful!”

  “Yes,” Laryn continued. “We were ambushed and killed. As I lay dying, desperately trying to activate the ability, I heard them talking. They wanted me to activate the ability. They knew about it.”

  “Why?” Thallon asked. “What good would that do them?”

  “Remember when we were waiting near the edge of the void claimed tiles?” Laryn asked. “And suddenly all the tiles around us were claimed?”

  Nods.

  “Void claimed tiles don’t seem to be affected by the time reset. Those tiles were claimed while we were being ambushed, and when I reset the time, a whole set of tiles remained claimed. The cultists tricked me into helping the void spread.”

  “That is a dangerous ability,” Thallon said. “You should use it judiciously.”

  “We need to stop this fast spreading void,” Laryn said. “A spore must have landed nearby and is taking up tiles in our kingdom. Let’s go find this bloom, kill it, and then hurry back.”

  “What about Orfswell?” Gall asked. “They might need our help, and we’re not far from there.”

  “We can check,” Laryn said. “But… from what I’ve seen of the cult…” He did not finish the sentence, but the implication was clear.

  He checked his kingdom status. He’d given up a lot of land around the island, everything that he’d claimed to gain the air affinity, and part of the island. Since he no longer had any air tiles, his magic affinity was now one water and one life.

  Gaten had been keeping up with the sifting. He’d been averaging around fifty essence per day for the last two days, so even though Laryn had just sacrificed a lot of essence and tiles, they were still doing well, and now had 2.2 influence. He decided to leave it like that. He could reclaim more tiles when he returned.