My face contorted into a grimace, my teeth biting into my lips, drawing blood.
My nostrils flared, blood leaking in a slow rhythmic pattern.
Now, in this situation, I understand how foolish I have been.
To think I would be able to weaken a Fallen Terror, before it tried destroying my mind.
A ludicrous plan.
And now, now I was paying the price.
With my mind and body, with my very soul.
I could feel the corrupted essence drilling through my body, weakening it bit by bit.
And my soul wasn't faring any better, rather. It was in a much more severe condition.
The creature purposefully aimed to weaken me, to make sure I didn't try to run away.
And now? Now I was temporarily without access to my essence.
The vast reserves of two full cores are made useless.
My gaze strayed to the right, Mirage lying on the ground, motionless.
I whispered a prayer for its safety, before staggering up to my knees.
The [Vamparic dagger] filled my mind with the image of the ginormous tree, the red leaves like a premonition of the upcoming blood.
Nevertheless, I stood up.
The [Assassin's wear] manifested from the dark sparks, the cloth weaving around me.
My presence diminished, and so did the effects of the creature.
Perhaps it thought I was done for, already near death's door.
Or perhaps it didn't even matter to it.
Either way, I released a sigh of relief, the weight on my shoulders easing.
My mind now clearer, I was able to focus enough to think straight.
Yet no matter what I thought, no matter the plan or action. It seemed not matter.
At the end of the day, it was a Fallen Terror, its authority absolute compared to mine.
[Vamparic dagger] vanished from my grip.
The [Twilight bow] replacing it, already augmented, the arrow receiving another augmentation.
This was my only option; either I liked it or not. Either it worked and Mirage and I escaped, or we both would die.
I didn't have a choice.
And so, the halfway to Supreme arrow flew directly at the trunk.
It split the air, muffled sound, and tore at space as it always did.
And once it reached the trunk of the tree? It stopped.
I paused, confused.
Then, my eyes widened in horror.
I quickly grabbed Mirage, running like a drunkard as fast as I could.
The effects of the tree lessened, and my strength surged.
And then, the arrow exploded.
Crystalline shards and shattered bark flew through the air, a few impaling themselves into my back.
I myself flew forward, the explosion hurling me off the hill, onto the black ground.
I lay there for a moment, gasping and wheezing.
My eyes still wide, my blood flowing with adrenaline.
And then, I passed out.
***
I woke up with a strangled scream, my single arm shooting to my stomach.
Oh God. Everything, and I mean everything, hurt.
I felt as if I just been run into a wall by Morgan, five times in a row, in quick succession.
I choked, and blood flew from my mouth.
Never again.
Never. Fucking. Again.
How could I have been so stupid?!
Using my most powerful attack. At close range!
I grabbed my face, squishing it slightly.
The insignificant pain centered me from the overbearing one, letting me focus a little.
I managed to summon the blood red dagger, a picture of the surroundings quickly forming in my mind.
I released a sigh of relief upon seeing Mirage, lying next to me.
Even if he wasn't currently in crow form.
Rather, it was a gigantic bird of some sort.
A single wing dwarfs me twice over.
And his feathers, an obsidian mantle, with a few pearly white feathers sticking out at the edges, almost framing them.
Its beak was a shiny gold, with a slight amount of blood covering it.
And the talons? Gigantic. Probably how he carried me.
Then I focused on my surroundings.
And finally noticed, there was no black ground.
Nor gigantic tree, nor rocks.
Nor the gigantic hollow mountains.
This looked, different. Peaceful almost.
The ground was covered with moss, yet no water was visible.
The sun was also shining brightly, the yellow light providing actual warmth.
This didn't even look like the dream realm.
I couldn't see a single creature, apart from Mirage of course.
I crossed my fingers, praying that the moss everywhere wasn't a ginormous creature of some sort.
Then I rolled onto my stomach, getting to my knees.
Mirage came closer, outstretching a single giant wing to support me.
"Thanks."
Was all I could say, as the little energy I had started to wane.
That explosion did more damage than I thought.
At least the things piercing my back were gone, probably pulled out by Mirage.
I thanked Mirage once again, finally standing up.
The real question now was:
"Where the fuck are we?"
I turned my head towards Mirage, but as expected. There was no answer from the giant bird that wasn't actually a bird.
I dragged a hand through my hair, realizing that it had grown a lot once again.
It would have been to my waist by now, if it hadn't been forcefully cut off.
I shook my head, dismissing the distracting thoughts.
I needed to focus. Fo-cus.
I shook my head again, this time also adding a slap for good measure.
Yet no matter how hard I tried, I felt oddly sleepy.
The next moment I collapsed once again, my eyelids closing soon after.
***
We walked a lot. We flew a lot more. And several days ago, we finally spotted something annoyingly helpful.
Annoying in terms of the danger level.
Helpful in a way that meant I knew where we roughly were.
And the location? None other than the gigantic and terrifying hollow mountains.
I just hoped, really hoped. That we weren't on the side of the black ground.
That place was a wasteland beyond comprehension.
I gave Mirage a few soft pats, he let out a few pleasant chirps, before his speed increased.
We were a kilometer or so in the air, flying at breakneck speeds.
Was I worried I was going to fall?
Not a tiny bit.
Mirage could easily catch me, and he had already done so while I was dozing off.
I could also just repeatedly warp, either into the same spot, or on Mirage directly.
So there wasn't any actual danger.
And finally, after what seemed to be several months of exploring.
[Blood sense] showed me something man-made, and of course, destroyed by mankind as well.
Ruins.
Large ones at that.
My faze contorted into a grin, hope blazing through the entirety of my being.
After all this time.
There was hope.
I crossed my fingers for good luck. And then exclaimed:
"For the ruins!"
Like I was some sort of cliche pirate.
The next moment, gravity vanished, only to return with the magnitude of a Titan.
Breath left my lungs, my muscles tightening, and my unseeing eyes widened.
Yet adrenaline worked its magic once again.
The short burst of fear turned into unrestrained glee.
And I let out a yell of pure excitement.
Sadly, we weren't that high up, and the feeling quickly vanished.
After landing, I hopped off Mirage, my gaze already scanning for soul cores.
Unsurprisingly, there was a lot.
Like, a lot a lot.
Which was good. It meant higher chances of a gateway.
My grin faded into a smirk, as Mirage and I confidently walked through the ruins, without any fear.
Sometimes it was nice to just, not fight.
Not to mention it was usually very, very boring.
I leaned my head to the side, just in time to dodge a bladed.. feather?
I raised a brow, only to be forced to warp away, as a dozen more feathers flew towards Mirage and me.
Well wasn't this curious?
A creature having the intelligence and ego to face me?
But as [Blood sense] activated and I saw my enemy. I realized this was in fact, not a creature.
In fact, they are very, very human.
At least, they looked like it.
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