Chapter 13:Countdown
Ian kept petting Fen's head. The soft fur felt warm under his palm.
The wolf's ears twitched at the distant cheers from the kids outside, but his eyes stayed locked on Ian.
The word "endure" kept bouncing around his skull like a drum. Each echo made the headache throb harder.
He glanced toward the hallway where Charlotte had disappeared. The clinic felt heavier now. Mara's three-day clock was already ticking, and he still had no real plan. Just more secrets piling up.
Fen suddenly lifted his head. His nose twitched toward the window.
A thin trail of sand had slipped under the sill again.
Grains danced across the floor as if pushed by invisible wind, even though the wind had calmed down.
Ian's stomach tightened. "You feel it too, huh?"
The wolf whined low and pressed closer to his leg.
Outside, the kids kept playing.
Inside, everything felt like it was holding its breath.
Three days.
What would happen to them if they didn't fix this problem?
Would they spend their nights on the cold cobbled streets like Ian had done once before?
And how could Mara have debts big enough she needed a whole clinic in a big city to pay it off?
The thoughts spun around in Ian's head. Then, he suddenly remembered that Mara had mentioned she was the eldest out of the three.
"Hey, Charlotte?" Ian called out. But she had already vanished down the hall.
Ian stuck his head out, looking down both ends. But to no avail.
'I guess I'll check with Ryn then...' Ian thought as his eyelids drooped.
He walked out of the room and shut the door after Fen. He then walked down the hall to the lobby. Where he was guessing Ryn sat.
As he got to the lobby, it was empty.
"Looks like the knight is on patrol...again." Ian muttered to himself, turning the heel and walking down the hall again.
He didn't want to distract Charlotte since he knew her hands were full already after the explosions and all the byproducts.
Another sigh escaped him. Like his dopamine levels had suddenly plummeted beyond the depths.
Sure, he wasn't very hyped about the sudden sibling beef. But, he couldn't help it.
All he knew is that he had to help Charlotte.
Ian wasn't even sure why she still kept him around. He was basically a food-stealing goblin of some sort.
Yet, she let him stay. Did she feel responsible or in debt to him all the way from the first masked man?
Once again, thoughts circled his brain. This time he successfully shut them down, resuming his march down the long, decorated clinic hall.
He stopped outside a room.
He could hear Charlotte's voice inside. As well as a patient. No, was it Ryn?
He couldn't catch much of what they were saying. But, it was pretty obvious it was about Mara.
Did she...leave him to search support from Ryn?
Ian froze, his eyes dropping to the floor.
He realised he might be the annoying house mouse no one does anything about.
As he stepped away from the door, he felt a sharp headache.
He almost stumbled. Only catching himself against the wall.
Dusting himself off, he continued down. As he reached his retreat, he closed the door and flopped onto the bed.
It was clear Veyra wanted something, so he tried his hardest to fall asleep.
The last thing he saw before drifting of was Fen laying on his back on the floor.
13.2 Godly Revisit
As Ian once again awoke in the realm, the shallow water was now gone.
Instead, Fen was laying in the same spot he would have been in the room.
Ian stood up, noticing specks of white and grey gravel in his clothes, which he wiped off before approaching the figure in the horizon once again.
The gravel crunched under the soles of his new shoes, seemingly catching Fen's attention.
Like usual, he got up right after and followed through Ian's footsteps that appeared as he walked.
"I see you heard my call?" Veyra said, now in reach. Her tone hinting at her expecting him to show up.
Ian nodded even though she was facing away from him before responding. "Yeah, well it's not like I have much of a choice. I wake up here when I sleep sometimes..."
He shrugged unconsciously, before Veyra turned 180 degrees to now face him.
"Anyways, why is Fen here?" Ian continued, a slightly confused glint in his eyes.
Veyra walked forward, closing in on both Fen and Ian, stopping a few meters in front of them.
"Well, your soulbound is bound to your soul. And this place is not real in the physical sense. So, your creature friend travelled here along your soul." Veyra looked down at Fen, who was sitting down next to Ian.
This caught Ian off-guard. "Wait, so my physical body is still in bed? Then how am I supposed to get stronger here if only my soul is here?" Once again the confused look in his eyes.
Veyra crossed her arms. She seemed to understand Ian's confusion to the matter.
"You shall grow stronger here through your soul. Think of your soul as a 'portal' for your strength. No matter where you are, your soul will store it like kinetic energy." She tapped her foot on the ground.
Ian sighed, a more common habit these days. Before catching himself like usual. He felt disrespectful toward a goddess by sighing.
Though, one quick glance at Veyra told him she didn't really care.
"Well, that didn't explain very much." Ian rubbed the back of his head, trying to make sense of it all.
"It isn't supposed to make sense." Veyra turned around once again.
Ian wanted to push further, but understood Veyra wasn't in the mood to explain some otherworldly soul system to this mere earthling.
"So, what's going on today? I'm guessing it has something to do with soulbounds?" Ian asked.
Veyra looked at him over her shoulder. "See? You can use that brain of yours sometimes at least." She rolled her eyes.
'What the hell? This isn't very goddess like!' Ian thought.
"I can read your thoughts you know." Veyra spoke as she began walking. Silently telling Ian to follow.
They walked across the flat lands of gravel in the realm. Looking across the horizon he couldn't recognise anything. Not like there was much to see here anyways.
But the shallow water really pulled the sky and the ground together.
The farthest stretches could look just like the sky, confusing him where one had started and the other ended.
But now, only the sky remained blue.
The reason of their flat hike was unknown to him still, but Ian didn't feel like asking any more questions.
If it was space they needed, then wouldn't that fit anywhere? It's not like there's anything obstructing here.
Veyra finally stopped. "You know, it is an odd thing. You have no mana, yet you acquired a spirit pact granting yourself a soulbound." She turned around.
"So? Is that weird?" Ian responded. Clueless to why it was so amazing.
Veyra shook her head. "No, but it is definitely rare none the less. Since you lack mana, it doesn't drain anything for you to have your soulbound summoned."
'Summoned? Is Fen a summon? Like in a video game or something like that?' Ian asked himself.
"I'm not very sure what a video game could be. But, yes. Your soulbound is a summon." Veyra responded to his thoughts.
"Anyways, enough chatting. You are here to grow stronger, no?" Veyra put her hands on her waist, posing a power pose.
Ian nodded. "That's my intention." He responded. Silently steeling himself for whatever was coming his way this time.
"Good. Then, let's get started." Veyra couldn't help but smirk.
And like that, the second training opportunity had begun.
13.3 Three, Two, One, ACTION
Right off the bat, Ian noticed the gravel shifting. It was falling.
The sound awakened a memory of a specific block game he had played as a kid. Where only sand and gravel abided to the laws of gravity.
Shaking his head to center his thoughts, he looked back at the source of the sound.
A giant hole had opened in the ground, claws clamping into whatever was hidden under the gravel.
Ian quickly got the gist. At least half of it. He was meant to run.
The part he didn't get was what Fen would be doing and whatever the thing crawling up was.
Though, it didn't take long to get him moving after it's head had popped up.
It was a giant version of earths praying mantis. Or something similar at least.
It also looked a lot like it would kill him pretty brutally with a single left swing from its sharp arms, so he unconsciously accelerated over the gravel dunes.
Looking to his right, he could see Veyra standing in the shade under what seemed to be a stone tree of some sort.
Next to her stood Fen, who was happily getting patted by the goddess's hands.
Turning his gaze head on, another hole appeared right under him.
An instinctive jump was the only thing to save him from falling to his unfortunate doom.
It cost a lot though, as Ian didn't land on his feet. Instead, he had landed on his stomach, and was slowly sliding down the hole into the expanding chasm.
Kicking his feet forward, Ian somehow escaped death's grip once again.
He was tired. So tired in fact he had gone to bed earlier his whole life.
Ian slapped his cheek mid run, hard enough to bring the adrenaline surging through his veins a second time.
His eyes were glued forward, ready to dodge any incoming chasms.
Ian couldn't help but glance behind him. Nothing was chasing him. But, it seemed the first hole had expanded to the point of the second one already.
So, was the mantis just to get me to start?
He kept running. Losing energy and space as he repeatedly snaked past openings in the gravel around him.
He got close enough to gaze into one directly. There wasn't anything to see. It was a bottomless hole. One of Ian's biggest fears.
A scream sent him up again, tripping a few times before eventually returning to his even footing.
Though, his running form was noticeably worse than before. As he was now gasping for air as he moved.
Forcing himself to breathe through his nose and out through his mouth, Ian could only smell the scent of falling gravel that most likely created foggy clouds of some sort.
Veyra watched on, still in the same position. It didn't seem like Ian had moved at all. But more like he was running on some sort of gigantic gravel treadmill.
Ian wiped the sweat from his forehead, rubbing his eyes to eventually get rid of anything that might've gotten there.
A solid thirty minutes through own counting later, the holes finally stopped appearing. Veyra also signaled him over telling him to stop running.
With shaky legs, Ian walked toward the stone tree in the middle of the rocky ocean.
As he got under the shade, he fell hard onto the gravel.
It caused him to wake up in the real world. Removing him from the realm instantly.
This time, it was morning. Like time had warped differently this time.
Was it because he exited without the intention?
A voice echoed in his mind.
'That was all anyways. We shall continue the training further later.' It spoke.
The headache had returned, his mind foggy.
It was clearly Veyra was speaking to him through the monotone voice that told him to endure.
He felt an aching pain on his cheek. Most likely due to the face plant onto the sharp rocks.
Rubbing it slightly, he saw a spill of blood on his hands.
He had scratched his palm almost the same way he had been cut during his first day.
He was probably leaking from his left cheek too, judging by the weird sensation of something streaming down it.
A soft snore was heard from the floor. It was Fen, still looking comfortable.
Ian couldn't help but pout slightly, as Fen had gotten the good side. While he got the torturous bad side.
"I hate cardio..." Ian whispered to himself as he got out of bed, his feet aching at each step.