"What an odd world," said Kolrath, the Drathan Tier 4 "Arcane Obstructor," as he looked at the stars in the sky.

The cool night air was diminished by the temperature controls of this Rift Menu. He would have felt more comfortable if the sparse clouds had been denser, more like the smoke that blocked the sky in his world. The heat from the lava flows from home made living on the surface of the world impossible and created constant heat.

The floating islands that they lived on had a natural sway and bob to them. They were much more comfortable than this artificial one they created with runes and inscriptions. When he was on the ground below to fight the native, he also felt uncomfortable with how stationary it was. Yet, this was where he had been sent and it was an opportunity for him, regardless of how unnatural it felt to have an open sky, still land, and cool air.

Learning about this world, the encountered armies, and the surprise natives had only taken a few days. None of the information gathered could have explained what happened to their flying Torquin when they entered the natives' territory. Even on Rift Menu replays, all they saw were the beasts falling, as if hit by an object moving too fast to notice.

Due to the losses, Kolrath had insisted on taking it slowly. They had already locked down the natives' base, and even with the Scyrric's so-called aberration, the forces couldn't really be strong enough to stand against the Drathan. Even calling his fight with the aberration a tie felt doubtful, since the native was obviously burning himself out while Kolrath only suffered minor damage.

Still, it was surprising that the natives had managed for so long and even had ways to bring down Torquin and riders without direct combat. Kolrath had been raised with a defender class and wanted to protect his comrades. Instead of attacking, he still had to decide how to address the situation.

Even without the flyers there were still options. They could drop their forces down and assume most would live. The floating base could move away from the natives' territory and then offload their army before rushing the natives across the still ground. There was even the possibility of just flying to the base pillar and destroying it.

As Kolrath thought about all these things, he suddenly heard an explosion in the distance. There was shouting but it seemed more confused than concerned. Standing up, Kolrath walked out of the small building he used for an office.

Dozens of Drathan were staring at the sky along their border. More booms and explosions sounded out. They were weak sounding, either washed out or distant. Just before the booms, colors burst into the air. Sometimes they could directly see them, and other times they sounded lower altitude than their base.

"How can they cast this high?" shouted the "Inscription Master," the former leader of this base. Kolrath had left him in charge of much of the base management, while Kolrath took over leading their military.

"Do they have flying beasts too?" asked the Chief Torquin Breeder.

"No flyers or natives in the air," answered the Drathan who had been watching the ground through the Rift displays. "They are sending tubes of smoke upwards, and they explode. It is disturbing the Torquin but not doing any damage."

"How are they doing that?" asked the Inscription Master. "It would take a Tier 5 to cast magic this far from the ground."

"Unknown," answered the monitor.

Kolrath ignored their conversation as he watched the colorful explosions bloom around the base and then fade. It felt like a pointless effort, incomprehensible to him. Yet, there must be some reason for this.

Opening a Rift display, he looked down at the natives. They were far enough from the base that he needed to magnify, though it still wasn't close enough to see the details. He rotated the display, finding multiple locations that they were launching the tubes from.

"What do you recommend, Kolrath?" asked the Inscription Master.

"There must be some reason for this," responded Kolrath. "Send out Torquin flocks but keep them above the natives' territory. Have them stay ready and notify us of changes. Also, have the rest of our forces arm themselves and be ready for combat."

"It shall be done," said the Inscription Master with a bow. He backed off and began using the Rift Menu to give orders.

Kolrath listened in, but most of his focus was on the display, watching the natives. They had weird metal contraptions. Raised frames were set up away from the natives. The frames didn't look like they would do anything to the base. It baffled Kolrath. He didn't know what they were planning, but no strategy lesson he had ever heard would explain this.

ALERT: Hostile invaders have entered your territory.

"What?!" he yelled, his eyes bulging at the [System] message.

With haste, Kolrath manipulated the Rift Menu to see the map. He quickly found four red dots approaching them from different directions. The odd part was they were below the base but must have already been in the sky to have arrived in the territory.

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Bringing up several displays, Kolrath saw weird armor around the invading natives. It seemed to allow them to fly on oddly shaped wings. The runes required to do something like that were unfathomable to Kolrath.

"The reports said they had no knowledge of runes," grimaced Kolrath. The only possible answer was that another race was supporting them. Yet, no reports of that possibility had come in and he had never heard of runes to allow flying that high or fast.

As his forces prepared, Kolrath watched the natives as they did something in the shadows below the base, something that he couldn't see due to the darkness. Then they left, flying all the way to the ground only to pick up massive chains and carry them back under the base.

Their purpose and strategy didn't make sense. Torquin riders were sent to stop them. Kolrath could only watch stupefied as the natives flew around, using skills to delay, disorient, or harm his riders.

Shortly after that, fire exploded among his gathered troops. He brought his display to that and witnessed orbs that flung fire everywhere when they broke. A frown filled his face as he saw one of the flying natives soar above their base, faster than the Torquin could keep up, dropping the fire orbs on his troops.

When the native landed and stripped off his mask, Kolrath growled. He recognized that face.

"Aberration!"

While fury built in the Drathan leader, he failed to watch the other displays showing the chains under the base. He barely noticed the ground quivering, at least until it suddenly lurched. Kolrath's eyes bulged out.

"What is happening?" shouted the Inscription Master. "The runes should be stable!"

Kolrath looked at another display and saw that the chains were taut. He changed the display angle to see metal boxes pulling the chains.

"They're trying to pull the base to the ground!" he gasped loud enough for others to hear.

"Is that possible?" asked the Torquin chief in surprise.

"Can you not feel the ground shifting?" asked the inscriber.

Kolrath opened the Rift Menu and spoke his commands into it, amplified to everyone on the base.

"Unengaged casters, help with the Runic Control Orb. We need more power!"

The Inscription Master realized what Kolrath said, then hurried to the nearby runic control orb. "That's right! Those natives can't possibly pull us down with this."

More Drathan rushed from the surrounding soldiers. Even though their assigned roles were magical support, their bodies were just as strong and sturdy looking as the rest. They wore loose fitting robes, open in the front almost more like a cape with arm holes. They wore more cloth wrapped around their waists, dropping to their shins. Many symbols were stitched or dyed into the clothes. Their feet were exposed with sharp nails instead of shoes.

They gathered around the raised orb. Those closest put their hands on the orb. The cracks in their charcoal-colored skin lit up in their mana's color as they drew upon it to fuel the orb. The Drathan who couldn't reach the orb touched those in front of them. Their mana also lit up the cracks in their skin.

Magic power flowed through all of them. It passed from one Drathan to the next, until it reached the Inscription Master who directed the power into the orb. A denser color glowed from the orb. It started as a swirl of colors that then blended into a glowing black. Runes and an unreadable script lit up around the orb and in lines across the base.

The floating base stopped shaking. Instead, it pulled upwards and leveled off. With a sigh of relief, the inscriber reduced the amount of magic he was channeling to only the amount that was needed, and the glow of the orb reduced. With a triumphant smile he looked over at Kolrath.

The look on Kolrath's face wiped the inscriber's smile away.

"What is happening now?" he asked.

Kolrath opened his mouth to speak but stopped as he saw a group of Drathan troops in the distance dimly glow and then get knocked off their feet. Instead, he sneered.

"This native!" Kolrath snarled. "How absurd! The methods they use are ridiculous."

"I know, right?" said a voice as the native leapt over the fallen Drathan. "Now, I'll have you guys knock it off with that orb."

The native confidently strode across the ground between them. He started moving towards the clustered support mages. Kolrath had seen him fight before, and he remembered the movement he relied on.

"[Gladiator's Approach]," said the native, at the same time Kolrath spoke.

"[Secure Envelopment]!"

The skill that Kolrath used didn't have enough power to envelop all the mages in his purple bubble shields, so he guided it only to the five closest to the native.

The native appeared at the mage closest to him before the bubbles finished forming. They were only a tick slower, but it was enough for the native's glowing weapon to strike his target, knocking him into the other barriers that appeared. The Drathan bounced between them, but didn't break the other barriers, and his own purple bubble appeared even as the attacked Drathan was flung around.

"I remember you," the native glared at Kolrath, even as his weapon changed its glow from dim white to dim red.

The weapon was swung, and a spiked hammer hit one of the barriers. The spike broke through it, and as it did, an explosion happened inside of the barrier, obscuring the contained Drathan from sight. The pressure from the explosion then burst the barrier outwards, using the escaping pressure to affect the surrounding Drathan.

"Coward!" shouted Kolrath. "Face me!"

The native stopped and looked at Kolrath with a skeptical expression. "Why would I? You're sturdy, and they're less so. Besides, we both know that I want to stop that orb thing."

The Drathan mages that were still channeling mana through their fellows and into the orb couldn't afford to stop. The ones who had been affected by the native turned and started caster their own spells, both defensively and to attack. Kolrath was running at the native.

[Secure Envelopment] was cast again, as Kolrath directed it towards 15 of the Drathan this time. He targeted those surrounding the native who were most likely to be attacked. Then he used [Connected Evacuation].

Kolrath flew into the air about twenty feet high. Those who had been wounded were also pulled upwards. Drathan with the protective barrier around them who were not injured were left below.

Even though Kolrath had gone into the air, he didn't go straight upwards. Instead, he continued on his momentum, as if he had simply jumped, and he landed near the native. One of his eyes looked at the pale-skinned creature, while the other looked to where the Inscription Master was feeding mana into the orb.

Timing it perfectly, the spiked hammer struck a newly formed barrier that Kolrath had called with his skill [Repulsion Shield]. This shield didn't get fully penetrated but did crack.

"[Arcane Flare]!" used Kolrath. A cone of purple energy spiked out from his barrier and jabbed towards the native.

"[Gladiator's Approach]!" the native said, instantly disappearing from where the flare was moving. Instead of hitting him, the spell connected with the barrier Kolrath had placed on another of the Drathan. It spread out, strengthening that barrier.

Kolrath's second eye watched as the native appeared next to the Inscription Master. A blade on his handle thrust out and caught the channeling mage in the mouth, piercing his face.

"[Arc Shockwave]," was cast, and force burst outwards, knocking all the nearby Drathan back and into each other. The Inscription Master slid off the native's blade and to the ground, alive but severely wounded.

That wasn't the most important part. The connection from all the Drathan and the orb was broken. The glow quickly faded as the orb ran out of power.

Kolrath roared, "No!" and the native chuckled as the ground was yanked into a slant.

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