Chương 33

A Rift Wave is coming. It was an unfamiliar warning. But from Conduits' expressions of worry as they explained, Kirk understood it was an impending catastrophe. He helped the four Conduits up the slope and watched them depart the rift. Kirk's arm was in a sling and he felt truly blessed to have a moment to sit; the fallout from the Tenacity I ruin left him feeling like a geo's balls. Fingering the fabric of the sleeve, Kirk pondered. Is it worth the risk to keep training here?

Without my right arm, I won't be able to use the Saber. He returned to his hiding spot. On the way, he stumbled across a wandering geo. He bombarded it with Embers, successfully eliminating it. The butchering was pathetic- Kirk was shocked by how inept he was cutting through the flesh with his left hand. But at the very least, it seemed he could survive here. For now, let's try it. He thought as he returned to his hole. Especially if soon, the population of geos in the Rift will increase.

So he ate and took a small nap. When he woke, he drank deeply. Then he pulled out Maester's Scroll, with its three laws of Conduits. But in a small section toward the bottom, the scroll touched on Rift Waves. Occasionally, a rare treasure formed. Or the apex geo within Rift died and the corpse released dense energy. Or the environment shifted, due to the strange nature of the alien Rifts. Or too many Conduits wielded powerful Runes within a Rift within a short amount of time.

The causes were varied, but the result was simple. Geos massed as the concentrated energy compounded. When the geo population finally caught up to the energy density, they raced outward, flooding the area in search of more energy. At a certain point of disturbance, geos would come out of the Rift and into the world. Based on what the group had said, the energy would take time to reach the dangerous levels. But they had witnessed at least fifty geo-3s lurking around the mustard layer.

For now, going near there wasn't possible. He checked his band, which had hummed a few times during the initial clash. You have gained the Feat Brawler ✷! Your Feat Brawler has gained a ✷! Useful for the eventual Ascension, but could be basically set aside for now. Kirk spent the next several hours practicing enunciation, producing his Runes, and then observing the effects, depending on how he spoke. He purposefully spent his entire Runic Battery II, just to experience the sensation of emptiness inside the Rift.

Then he observed as his Archetypes hummed and reabsorbed as much energy as they could swallow. They are even better at it now, Kirk thought. Michaels will be thrilled. After the first day, Kirk flexed his right arm and winced. Although it appeared his Beast Archetype hastened healing, the wound was still sore. Still, he had recovered enough that he felt it was safe to move back down below the forest green layer.

In a throwback, he brought his left arm shield and his original short spear, now that it wasn't possible to swing the Larian Saber. He crept along, relying on his Bestial Senses I to avoid detection. As always, everything vanished inside the mist. Glimmers of shadowed forest paths and fallen leaves swirled around him. His eyes narrowed as he pushed down, crouching to get his head out early. He looked down and saw broken stone and thin vein trees. He avoided the vein trees and crept forward.

Soon, his ears twitched as Bestial Senses I caught the sound of geo. He lowered himself into a crack and waited. In his mind, he went over the syllables for Ember. When the geos arrived, there were three of them. Kirk bit his lip, then shook his head. With an arm injured, challenging three would be dangerous. He hunkered down in the crack and waited for the trio to pass. A short while later, the geos came again. This time it was a pair, both hulking geos almost half a size larger than the ones Kirk usually killed.

He narrowed his eyes, wavered, but again restrained himself. He slunk deeper in the shadowy crack, pausing to listen, until he finally discovered a solo geo. The monster even appeared wounded, panting next to a sundered boulder. Kirk released a light breath and began to enunciate. The rune shimmered to life-- he didn't like this pronunciation, but it would have enough power for this. The geo-3 responded to the energy, pivoting to look at Kirk- Right as two more geos walked around the boulder, sniffing the ground.

At the last second, Kirk adjusted his target. The burning fist swerved and landed between the two new arrivals, exploding and dousing them both with flame and searing their skin. But the original target, the wounded geo, hopped up and roared. It charged straight toward Kirk. Kirk spat out the syllables for the shortened Ember I rune, but all his experiments in variance came back to bite him. Even as he said the last syllable, he knew a Rune wouldn't form.

Which meant he had a strained moment to choose between shield or spear. With his right arm useless, he could really only use one. Kirk's pupils dilated. He slipped his left arm through the shield bindings, even as he said the syllables more carefully this time. But he didn't have a spare moment. No sooner had he finished the Rune than he needed to lift the shield and brace himself- the geo slammed against him. Lilac flames blossomed out and seared it, but that would only make it angrier.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Midair, Kirk spun and pointed. Following his will, the Rune became a fist of flame and zeroed in on the next closest geo. The attack landed and it howled in agony, collapsing. As Kirk hit the ground, he felt the weakened bones of his right arm skitter painfully out of place.

He grimaced, suddenly struck by how foolish a decision this was, and by a very powerful image of Michaels berating him for being a drain on his energy, being wounded in such a foolish way. Lying on his back with more foes to overcome, Kirk couldn't disagree. The geo that hit him shook its head and lunged again. Kirk sat up and whipped his shield sideways, smashing it across its head. But momentum and viciousness pressed it forward. The geo scratched and earned another wave of lilac fire for its troubles.

As it flinched, Kirk angled the tapered edge of the shield and stuffed it in the geo's mouth. It gave him just enough time to hurry through another phrase and produce another Ember I Rune. This enunciation was stronger; Kirk could sense immediately. Although his right arm screamed in pain, he pointed. The projectile zipped forward and melted its way through the head of the second newly arrived geo. Which meant he had defeated two of them. Which just left the one about to eat him.

The geo lashed out again with its claws, even as it swung its head back and forth, trying to gnaw through the shield. Kirk raised a leg and kicked it in the chest. The blow landed, but he didn't have the leverage. Gritting his teeth, he threw all his weight into rolling backward. The geo flailed and landed another scratch on Kirk's stomach. But it also pulled the monster off the ground. With both feet, Kirk kicked it into the air, throwing it off him.

The monster yelped as it hit against a nearby boulder and crashed to the ground. Kirk tried to scramble to his feet, but his left leg collapsed underneath him. He could feel the hot blood pumping out of whatever wound the geo had inflicted. Grimacing, he focused. As the geo recovered, Kirk made one more Ember I rune. It caught the geo in the chest, right as it was about to charge. It faltered, but didn't die.

But by the time it made it to him, Kirk had scrambled over, plucked up his discarded short spear, and rammed it through the monster's chest. It wheezed and died. But when it died, it collapsed on top of him.

"Blood's gonna draw more." Kirk muttered to himself. Everything ached. A part of him wanted to use Tenacity I to help through this, but he knew he'd need it to make it back to his hideout. So he just groaned and rolled the corpse off him. He shook his head.

"So many wasted cores…" As best he could, he bandaged the scratches on his torso and left leg. Then he applied the Tenacity Rune and limped back toward his base. For a moment, as he peered into the cave and felt the Tenacity Rune beginning to fade, he faced the possibility that he was about to be ambushed. His hand tightened on the spear. But his Bestial Senses I caught nothing. He ducked into the cave and collapsed. He lay there panting, looking at the ceiling.

"I rely too much on Bestial Senses. If I miss something- if the wind or elements block the sounds from reaching me-" He closed his eyes. The pain in his limbs reminded him of the danger. Then he began to laugh, because he was still alive, and there was a strange, fiery pleasure in continuing to live, even while facing danger. He continued to laugh, because already he felt the difference. The danger in the Rift had increased yet again. Yet he was still just a Tier I Conduit.

For a while, Kirk allowed himself to doze. When he finally felt a little more human, he drank from his waterskin and forced down a little bit of bread and fruit. Only then did he consider his bronze band. You have gained the Feat Tough Body ✷! Your Manifestation Vengeful Ember I has grown to [4/10]! You have gained the Feat Quick Chanting ✷! The improvement of the manifestation was nice, but so far, Kirk had only seen his Manifestation annoy the geo-3s that were gnawing at him.

Much more interesting were the Feats, because once he was aware of them, he could practice with them in mind and earn additional stars.

"But to improve Tough Body…" Kirk suppressed a nervous giggle. He gave himself a few hours to recover. When his body finally seemed no longer in danger of falling to pieces, he breathed, applied a Tenacity I Rune, and began the limping journey up toward the exit obelisk. Back on Eira, there were more guards than usual around the gate. When they saw his state, their eyes widened in alarm.

They offered to carry him to the healing area for treatment and told him that there was a risk advisory for the Rift, as it appeared a Rift Wave would soon occur. He waved their attention away and walked under his own power to the healing area. When he arrived, an attendant recognized him and brought him to Healer Michaels in his tent. The man took a single look at Kirk, set down his goblet of wine, and snorted.

"You won't die from that boy. Good job; getting just injured enough it will be a real bitch for you to walk around and provide energy. I was going to lecture you, but it seems you are capable of self education." With the last bit of his strength, Kirk set down his Larian Saber; it was a miracle he had dragged it this far. He then collapsed into a chair, too tired to stay standing. But Michaels was there, tugging at his hand.

"It will be easier if you don't sit at all." When Kirk looked up at the Healer, he saw the bags under his eyes, felt how low his energy was already.

"Casualties are up already, aren't they?"

"Even before those inspectors released the report, accidents were escalating. We knew geos were starting to run around in packs. Even a lucky bastard like you ended up like this." The Healer gestured.

"How do you think the rest of us are doing?"

Administrator Ranya smoothed down the front of her dress. She looked at the reports. Next to her, Maylor Balkan toyed with a ball of shadow. After a moment to rub the bridge of her nose, she said.

"What is it?"

"Most of the Imperials followed Oswald. But he's not heading to the duchy; he's making a beeline for the capital," Maylor clenched his fist and crushed the shade ball.

"Even for Maester fuckery, this is bewildering. Your theory about them discovering your truth- that doesn't feel right. The most likely scenario-" Maylor frowned.

"That the Kingdom somehow caused the Imperial schism, but they didn't expect news to spread this soon. But that also doesn't feel correct. With the four families still weakened from the Bloody Solstice, the Kingdom shouldn't have spare focus for international coups. There is a piece we are missing."

"You think there's more?" Ranya gritted her teeth.

"The imperial I fought was strong. Oasis trained, raised on readings from their Book of All Truths," Maylor shrugged.

"Yet they never tried to reach our defector here. There is a tension." Ranya shook her head.

"At any other time, this would be great leverage. If nothing else, the Kingdom would love a schism in the Sanctum. But with our plans so close to fruition-""Plus, they made the official announcement." Maylor cleared his throat.

"A Rift Wave is coming." Ranya lowered her head and put it against the cool wood of the desk. But it did little to dispel her hopelessness.

"Oswald took our two best Troops. Now that the situation is escalated… forget about my revenge. Just keeping Peakhold from being wiped off the map seems impossible."