The chime rang again.
Clear.
Obscene.
Out of place.
You have obtained a Nascent Fragment: Ring of Whispers.
The sound hadn't even finished fading before Dusk's body gave out.
His knees folded without warning. Telekinesis twitched too late to catch him properly, and he crashed down onto the half-buried carcass beneath him. Dry bone cracked under the impact, ribs shifting as the brittle structure collapsed inward with a hollow, sickening sound.
For a brief moment, there was nothing.
Then pain arrived.
Not all at once.
Not mercifully.
It seeped in through every opening his adrenaline had sealed shut.
Blood slid from the corners of his eyes first, warm and slow, blurring his vision in thin red streaks. His nose followed, then his mouth, copper flooding his tongue as his jaw trembled uncontrollably. His muscles spasmed in jagged waves, fibers screaming where they had been torn too far, held together by telekinetic force that had already begun to falter.
His ribs shifted when he breathed.
Wrong.
Each inhale felt like his chest was rearranging itself, bones grinding where they no longer belonged. The pressure was dull, heavy, and constant, like something had been stacked inside him and forgotten there.
His severed hand burned with a deep, wet pulse. The stump throbbed in slow, nauseating beats, thick drops of blood soaking into the bleached remains beneath him, disappearing into the cracks between old bones.
Even his thoughts felt heavy, like they were dragging through something dense.
The world didn't spin.
It sank.
The skull drifted closer, its empty sockets fixed on him.
"Consume the Core," it said, sharper than usual. "Now."
Dusk barely managed to lift his head. His neck protested, muscles trembling as if they were being stretched in opposite directions. The air felt thicker around him, pressing down on his lungs, making every breath a deliberate act instead of a reflex.
A translucent window forced its way into his vision.
Absorb Nascent Core?
[Yes] [No]
His answer didn't come from confidence.
It came from survival.
Yes.
The Core dissolved.
Not into light.
Not into heat.
Into pressure.
Something dense slid through his chest, spreading outward like weight being pressed into wet stone. It wasn't painful. Not exactly. It was invasive. Like something was being set in place inside him, slotting itself into gaps he hadn't known existed.
His telekinesis tightened instinctively, not to attack, not to defend, but to hold himself together as the sensation worked its way through his system.
The bleeding stopped first.
Not healed.
Closed.
The flow from his eyes slowed, then ceased. The copper taste in his mouth faded as the blood at his lips dried. His severed hand didn't return. The wound simply sealed, flesh knitting with quiet efficiency, leaving behind a smooth, wrong absence where his hand used to be.
The fire in his muscles drained next.
Not like relief.
Like something was being pulled out of him.
The deep, bone-level exhaustion that had weighed on every movement didn't vanish. It was extracted, siphoned away in steady, methodical waves, leaving behind a strange hollowness in its place.
Dusk inhaled slowly.
His lungs still burned.
His chest still ached.
But the pain no longer owned him.
Something else did.
The world felt… aligned.
Not stronger.
Not lighter.
Just correct.
Like his body had always been slightly off, misaligned in ways too subtle to notice, and something had just forced everything back into place. His heartbeat felt steadier. His breathing, more controlled. Even the air around him felt different, as if it were more aware of his presence than before.
He flexed his fingers.
Telekinesis responded cleaner than before. Tighter. Sharper. The invisible force around his limbs felt denser, more responsive, as if it were no longer dragging against resistance but flowing through a channel that had finally been cleared.
He didn't move for a moment.
Didn't speak.
He just focused on the sensation, on the way his body felt unfamiliar yet disturbingly right, as if he didn't want the moment to slip away.
Then the skull spoke, snapping him out of his daze.
"How do you know the worms were territorial?"
The question cut straight through the silence.
Dusk blinked, the distant, detached feeling in his head snapping back into something sharper. He wiped the dried blood from his mouth with his sleeve, eyes narrowing as he looked at the skull.
"It was obvious," he muttered. "I made enough noise to wake the desert. Only one came."
He pushed himself upright, telekinesis compensating where his muscles still lagged. The movement wasn't smooth, but it was controlled. Deliberate.
"I didn't outrun it," he continued. "I dragged it across a border. Weakened it. Whatever lived on the other side finished the job."
The skull let out a low hum, its tone almost entertained.
"Amusing."
Then its voice dropped, losing whatever trace of humor it had held.
"But you'll need more than instinct if you intend to survive what comes next."
Dusk didn't respond.
He just stared at the skull, his expression blank, unreadable. Whatever thoughts crossed his mind stayed there, unspoken.
"Well, anyways," the skull said after a moment. "Check the fragment."
Another window surfaced.
________________________
Item: Ring of Whispers
Rank: Nascent (E)
Type: Accessory
Description:
Once, voices filled this place. Not in warning, but in belief.
They spoke of permanence, of names that would never fade.
Only the echoes remain now, repeating what was lost.
Effect:
Enhances hearing
Reduces vision
________________________
Dusk frowned.
He reached out with his mind and activated the fragment.
The change was immediate.
The world sharpened in sound.
Not louder.
Clearer.
Sand shifting far beyond sight. The subtle grind of grains rolling over each other like distant rainfall. Roots creaking beneath buried weight, strained wood groaning under pressure that hadn't yet broken it. Even deeper vibrations whispered through the ground, distant and rhythmic, like something massive moving far below the surface.
Every noise layered itself neatly in his awareness, forming a map built from sound instead of sight.
But his vision…
Dimmed.
The edges of the world narrowed, colors dulling as if someone had smeared ash across his eyes. The horizon blurred, depth collapsing into something flatter, less reliable. Shapes still existed, but they felt distant, indistinct, like silhouettes viewed through fogged glass.
"Tch."
He deactivated the ring immediately.
The world snapped back into focus, sight reclaiming what sound had taken.
"I'd rather see what's trying to kill me."
The skull didn't argue.
"Then move."
Dusk felt it too.
The pull beneath the carcass had returned.
Subtle.
Persistent.
Even with bone beneath his feet, the land tugged at him, like the ground itself was trying to reposition him, nudging him away from where he stood and toward something else.
Not a threat.
A suggestion.
One that refused to be ignored.
He glanced toward the higher terrain ahead, where the ground rose slightly, the sand thinning just enough to expose darker, more compacted earth beneath.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "Staying still isn't an option."
He shifted his weight, telekinesis reinforcing his stance as he stepped forward, leaving the shattered carcass behind.
And he moved.
======================
Yo, this is your author, OmniumX.
I know I wasn't supposed to drop a chapter so soon after my announcement, but I had a bit of free time and couldn't resist writing. Think of this as a semi-hiatus phase. If I get the chance, I'll post whenever I can.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
If you have any thoughts, feedback, or things you want me to improve, feel free to DM me on Telegram: @omniumx
And lastly, huge thanks to @fraudsterfly for all the Power Stones and the continued support in reviewing my novel. It really means a lot.