Chương 24

Kirk swam through the swirling mist, perched on a cracked rock, observed by the Rift's long shadows. He released a breath, even as his senses scrambled to catch up. The first thing he noticed was the wind. The second thing was that he faced downhill, to an area of ravaged ground. The third thing was an explosive new bouquet of vein trees, squat with the branches upraised in prayer toward the sky. The fourth thing- Only a short distance away, Kirk saw swirling mustard colored mist. He froze.

Why am I so close to the next layer? His skin tingled as his Bestial Senses finally caught up to the adjustment. He looked down at the mustard mist and felt the presence of an absolute monster weighing him. He could only see dirty yellow swirls; he just knew. The other monsters were dangerous; this was-"Geo-4." His instincts shrieked in warning. Barely understanding, he lifted his Larian saber across his body. His shield was still strapped to his back- Kirk drifted. His arms screamed.

He felt a wave of flame blossom from his body from the initial impact, but it had already come and gone. It occurred to him, after the fact, that he was zipping through the air. He crashed into a boulder. His numb fingers dropped the Larian Saber, which still buzzed from the impact. He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes, to rest until the pains faded- But those smoldering embers in his Archetypes wouldn't let him.

Both Glimmer Mage and Ancient Bladed Beast knew that this only ended one way, should he falter now. Groaning, Kirk began muttering syllables. Unfortunately, halfway through the Tenacity I Rune, blood filled his mouth. He squeezed his eyes shut, forced his body to cooperate, then began again. His pronunciation was sloppy, but the Rune appeared. The little symbol formed and settled into his flesh. He released a long breath as the aches and pains receded.

They hadn't been eliminated, but Tenacity I allowed him to ignore them for a time. He grimaced and straightened. Shards of his shield clattered to the ground; it had shattered, cushioning the impact. Kirk forced his lungs to work and bent over to pick up the Larian Saber. Simultaneously, his Bestial senses hissed again, but it was too late. He gasped; a sword of bone quivered in his shoulder. A tail stretched off from the direction he had been flung.

Just as quickly as it punched through, it ripped its way out, sending him staggering. He turned around in time to see a long, bony tail undulating back through the mustard mist. As it withdrew, it clipped one of the vein trees, chopping the strange plant in half. If I hadn't bent over, where would that have hit me? Kirk's heart froze. He still felt the geo-4 considering him, its annoyance mounting from beyond the shroud of the mist. Flee. Kirk dropped his pack and hefted the Saber.

As fast as he could manage, he sprinted up the slope. Two things happened at once. He felt the geo-4's animosity sharpen. Bestial Senses felt something massive explode through the mustard mist. Yet before he could reckon with that, a geo-3 scrabbled out of a nearby hollow, growling. It had been waiting in ambush and lunged for him. Kirk ignored the burning pain in his wounded shoulder and slashed sideways. The geo-3 tried to hop back, but the weapon cleaved through his body.

Then Kirk whipped around, flinging the corpse away, bracing himself to face the geo-4. Ah, Kirk blinked upon seeing the approaching silhouette. It's not a geo-4. The geo-4 threw a boulder. Kirk raised his Larian Saber defensively once more, but it almost didn't matter. The hunk of rock cracked into him and smashed him backward. He, boulder, and the Larian saber bounced for several meters up the slope. His legs were crunched and his side ripped open. As everything came to rest, the slope fell into stillness.

The mist swirled. Kirk lay on the ground, blood dribbling from his wounds. The boulder found a new resting place. Time steadily passed. They remained that way for almost two minutes In the end, the stasis was broken by a geo-3. Smelling the blood, it scrabbled over the rocks toward Kirk's body. Yet as it neared, Kirk looked around and glared. He muttered seven sharp syllables and a glittering fist of fire obliterated the monster's face. Although it was risky, he used another Tenacity I Rune.

He had no choice; that was how bad his body's situation was. Groaning, he popped himself up with the Larian Saber, offered a fearful glance back toward the mustard mist, and hobbled upward. During his flight, he didn't bother to slow down, even when geos poked their heads out and snarled at him. He grimaced, spoke the syllables, and fired freely with Ember. After a frantic ten minutes, he made it out through the forest green mist layer. Even then, he didn't dare relax.

His Bestial Senses felt the attention of the geo-4 vanish abruptly after throwing the boulder, but that didn't make him feel better. He had no idea what it was, what its form was, or whether it planned on killing him. Kirk didn't stop until he made it back to the runic-carved pillar, allowing him passage out of the Rift. He almost felt numb; all his high-minded thoughts about protecting his friends, making sure no more laborers would be sacrificed in the Rift, were obliterated by that tossed boulder.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. This is the sort of place the Rift was. Without power, he could accomplish nothing. Especially on his own. His fingers touched the carved pillar. The world warped- in the transition, Kirk almost vomited.

"Young Master Albion?" The guard gaped as Kirk reappeared, only a bit over an hour since his entrance. He barely managed to groan before collapsing forward. Blood leaked out of multiple scrapes, as well as the large wound in his shoulder. Only back on Eira could Kirk finally relax. He had persisted for too long beyond his limits. His eyes fluttered closed. Kirk woke up and looked up at a low layer of grey clouds. This time, he hadn't gotten a private tent. He was on a pallet, surrounded by other groaning Conduits.

Kirk felt a strange sadness, being in this familiar place. Would anyone weep over me? If I died today? How long would it be until Maett and Zuri found out? A face inserted itself between him and the sky. The man had salt-and-pepper grey hair and curled his lip at Kirk.

"You Ascended, yes. But that does not mean it is safe to stick your nose in dangerous places, Kirkland Albion. I'd recognize those wounds anywhere; you encountered a geo-4." Kirk looked up and recognized the man. It was Healer Michaels, whom Kirk had watched from the wall on his first day of consciousness. Kirk found himself smiling.

"Too bad I don't have infinite power." Healer Michaels snorted.

"Your balls really clatter together, huh? Well, so be it. I deducted the funds from your account at the Bank of the Four, so you are settled. Don't make a habit of this." Kirk caught the middle of that. Bank of the Four? Before he could ask anything else, the Healer moved away. He offered several more sharp comments to various Conduits lying on palettes, deriding them for weakness and foolishness. I might have more funds available. Kirk thought, watching the Healer go.

Kirk wondered what Tier the Healer was; the energy in the man's body was thin and wan. Then he glanced next to his palette. Lying there was his Larian Saber. I need some cash; I lost everything but the saber.

"Better than losing my life," Kirk sighed. He then looked at his band; it had buzzed several times in those frantic moments. Your Feat Brush with Death has gained a ✷! Your Manifestation Vengeful Ember I has grown to [3/10]! Your Feat Larian Wielder has gained a ✷! Your Feat Runic Castor has gained a ✷! Your Ascension stirs: you found an entity worthy of a Greater Hunt.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kirk muttered. He closed his eyes, remembering those dangerous moments. He hadn't even glimpsed the geo-4, aside from his tail. It had burned with energy. He wasn't sure how much, but definitely not just Tier II. And he had to kill something like that to Ascend? Well, setting that issue aside, he considered another theory- the fact that he had come through the Rift at such a dangerous location. The deeper you go, the denser the energy.

And the main thing that changed between my passages was my Ascension. Which included this Runic Battery II. Kirk bit his lip. Does that mean, the more energy you have, the deeper you are teleported into the Rift? Kirk lay for a time, appreciating the improved power of his Archetypes. As he simply lay there, he could feel the structures inside of him directing energy from Runic Battery II toward his wounds. What hadn't been stitched together by the healer, knitted together under the tending of his Archetypes.

Accumulation in action. Slow, constant reinforcement. Idly, Kirk wondered how long one needed to have an Archetype before it wasn't accurate to call them a human any longer. After about an hour, he got to his feet and flexed his hands. He still felt achy and weak, but he had recovered enough to vacate the palette, in case another needed it. No sooner had Kirk stood than he flushed, looking at the edges of the healing area. When he had arrived previously, it had been much earlier.

The people gathering to have bones set and wounds covered had been a smaller group. Now almost a score of Conduits lingered at the edge of the area, leaning against crutches or pressing their hands against cuts on their torso. Their faces were bloodless and they avoided his gaze as they stood. These are the lesser wounds. Kirk glanced around. His eyes glittered. So much is put on the Healer's plate. Before anything else, Kirk followed the sound of voices and located the healer.

Even as the surly man raised his eyebrows, Kirk offered a bow to the healer.

"Thank you." The healer didn't acknowledge Kirk at all. He just gestured to an aide.

"We've an opening. Let's move the next idiot into position." The healer walked away, but Kirk stared intently at his back for a few moments. By this point, the glimmer of energy in the Healer's body had completely vanished. In a way, it made sense; like other Runes, healing required energy. But that meant… Kirk hummed and moved away. He found a guard and asked about the Bank of the Four. He received a strange look in response but was directed to a building next to the Administrator's quarters.

The building was smaller than Kirk expected, but it did have a small sign indicating it was an affiliate location of the Bank of the Four. He walked inside, unsure of what to expect, but immediately gaped. The carpet beneath his feet was a rich red color and so soft that he could feel it through his boots. Several expensive-looking clocks hung on the left wall, their golden pendulums swinging back and forth, while the right was dominated by a massive map of the continent. Kirk stared at the map for almost a minute.

The sprawling landmass felt familiar, but he had never seen it before. And it was something of a shock to look at the map, to see the mountains, the rivers and the surrounding seas- and to realize that the Lor Kingdom was just a small piece of it. Combined, the Lor Kingdom and the Imperial Sanctum took up only about a third of the sprawling continent. And the Imperial Sanctum was the larger of the two, curling around the Kingdom's eastern side and also covering most of the bottom.

As far as he could tell, Peakhold wasn't even marked on the map.

"You've been staring for a while, Young Master Albion." A voice spoke from beside Kirk.

"Copper for your thoughts?" Kirk twitched. A slight, smiling old man in an ornate purple robe had somehow manifested by his side. Without giving away the slightest hint to his Bestial Senses. What was doubly troubling was that when Kirk looked at him, he didn't feel a hint of energy. To his senses, the man wasn't a Conduit. Still, he suppressed that confusion; there was still so much he didn't understand about this world. He answered honestly.

"Just that… we are so small, aren't we?" The old man gave Kirk a serious glance.

"I had heard you had an eventful day. Indeed, Young Master. Even the greatest of us, the highest Tiered Conduits, are very little compared to the scope of the world. And therefore to the threat of Rifts. Hopefully, that moment of wisdom lingers with you. Now, what can I do for you?

"I've been told I have an account here," Kirk said, feeling awkward.

"I was hoping to withdraw some."

"Of course, of course. Your account-" The man walked over to a nearby desk and checked a ledger.

"Your parents have created a fund in your name. After the previous withdrawals… you have one hundred and ninety-four gold remaining. How much would you like to withdraw today?"