John was shocked by the sudden revelation. He had not expected to find a portal that easily, not to mention by pure luck.
“A portal?! But… not to Earth, right?”
He felt like he already knew the answer. The surroundings here were not even remotely similar to where they had arrived after entering the portal in Paris. But there was a slight chance it could take them to another place on Earth.
Dennis shook his head quite firmly. “No, that’s definitely not earth. It’s all overgrown by purple and yellow plants, and there’s a giant red moon in the sky. It seemed to be another planet like this one, and I’m not planning to explore it.”
John nodded, understanding his logic. Their priority was returning to Earth, and entering an unknown portal would not get them closer to that goal.
“I understand. It’s good to know–” A burst of memories flashed through John’s mind, back from his time on the Aasvedan planet. Their vegetation wasn’t mainly purple or yellow, but there was a giant red moon in the sky, never moving from its spot.
The black mass of negative emotions in the corner of his mind started shifting as if rearing its head. It nearly seemed conscious, but John was reasonably sure it just reacted to his own emotions.
‘So that’s where they came from… Vegetation and beasts now rule their planet? Growing over the ruins of paradise, a utopia of peace and prosperity… I’m not letting that happen to Earth!’
“... John?” Dennis asked, seeing him frozen in place.
John looked back at him, returning from his reverie. He sighed heavily before responding. “It’s nothing. I just… remembered something. But yeah, we already have a direction to follow. I assume you trust Rain’s ability to find what we’re looking for now.”
Dennis smiled and nodded. “Oh yeah, after this, I can’t really deny it. I’m with you all the way!” He gave John a thumbs up and a wink, looking like a reliable guy.
Rain seemed to feel left out of the conversation, pulling John’s arm lightly from behind. “John, good?”
John turned to her and put his hand on her head, lightly ruffling her hair. “I’m good, Rain. Thank you for finding me.”
Rain smiled brightly, looking proud of her work. “Worries!”
“Heh, it’s ‘no worries’ Rain. But good. Let’s keep going, okay?”
“Mhm! No worries!” Rain responded as John removed his hand.
‘... Is this what it’s like to have a little sister? She’s so cute! Sure, she can be annoying, but that’s how siblings should be. Or so I’ve heard.’
John turned back to Dennis before summoning Larang. “I should scout a bit before we start traveling, right?”
Dennis seemed to consider it before replying. “No, before that, please tell me that stuff about essence you mentioned earlier! It sounds incredibly useful, not to mention important!”
“Oh, right! Let me try something first, okay?”
Dennis simply nodded in response.
‘Let’s see if I can do this thing. I expect it to be way more challenging than it seemed, but I want to try.’
He cleared his throat and looked out into the air, preparing his mind and focusing on the meaning behind his words. Then, he spoke in a firm and clear voice.
“Essence!”
Dennis looked at him for a moment and furrowed his brows. “... Yeah? And the rest?”
“... It can be separated into four different states!” John continued, too embarrassed to explain what he was trying to do.
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His goal had been to do what Sage Full Blue had done, transferring the meaning of a word together with the word itself. It seemed to be more complicated than it seemed after all.
Dennis actually seemed intrigued now. “Really? Which ones? And do I have to haul every sentence out of you?”
“No, no, I was just being dramatic… Uhm, there are four primary states of matter: Solid, liquid, gaseous, and plasma. We usually use the gaseous form, which is easy to use and fast to activate. But it’s also the weakest one, and it’s very inefficient to store. I can store ten times as much essence in my core by turning it into its solid form!”
Dennis’ face gradually filled with disbelief as John continued his explanation, remaining silent once it was over. “... Uh… How would one change it from gaseous to any other version, then?”
“It depends on the person what method is the best, but I gather a lot of essence in my chest and imagine it as heavy rain clouds that shower me with raindrops. That makes the gaseous essence turn into liquid essence, which is the type I use the most.”
“Hmm… Okay, I’ll give it a try.”
Dennis sat down in Kerchak’s embrace and closed his eyes, focusing on his core and essence. His eyebrows furrowed more as time passed, but then they suddenly raised in surprise. “Hey! This actually works! What the hell, how has nobody discovered this before?”
John smiled, but he had to issue a warning. “Be careful with the liquid essence, though. It’s much harder to control than you’re used to and about five times as powerful.”
Dennis opened his eyes and looked at his hand as he clenched it shut. “This… What? How is it this strong? It’s no wonder you’ve been fighting demons!”
His ability to sense the power without using it surprised John, but he assumed it was related to being an aspecter. “So now you’ll be able to fight as well?”
Dennis looked up at John, unable to hide his hesitation. “Oh… Well, I’m more suited to using my aspect, so that’s… I think I’ll stick to that. Oh! Maybe I can transform Kerchak’s essence as well?”
As Dennis sat back down to focus, John wondered why his aversion to fighting was so strong.
‘Is it some kind of trauma? I’m sure he could fight if he tried, but it doesn’t seem to be on the table… Oh well, a giant monkey with liquid essence should be a true force to be reckoned with!’
“I’ll go scout a bit, then. You can start moving once you feel ready. Oh, and there are beasts hiding under the sand here, but I’m sure you know about them already.”
“Mmh, yeah, those are nasty bastards… I’m just… gonna test this first,” Dennis replied, clearly distracted.
John turned to Rain and waved. “Back soon, okay?”
Rain nodded and waved back, watching as John stepped onto Larang and ascended into the air.
‘If this works out, we should be able to travel without much worry. With Kerchak and me fighting, no single demon should be a threat. Hopefully.’
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The next few hours passed in a blur of red spikes and shifting sands. John alternated between scouting from high above and descending to guide the group through safer paths. The monotony of the landscape was broken only by the occasional need to detour around particularly dangerous areas or clusters of smaller beasts. As the day wore on, John found himself appreciating the vastness of this alien world, even as he remained vigilant for threats.
‘It’s great that we’re making progress, but I want to grow stronger as well… Avoiding every fight will just leave me as I am, never getting to the realm of aspecters. I really want to know what my aspect will be!’
Several hours into their journey, as John surveyed the terrain from his aerial vantage point, he spotted another large enemy in the sand, hidden behind some mountains. It looked like some sort of flightless brown bird with a big body and a long neck.
Before going down to warn the others, John scouted the area more to ensure the beast was alone. There were no visible beasts anywhere nearby, so he felt it would be acceptable to ask if they could fight this demon.
‘We need food either way, right? Why not a bird?’
He descended near the big grey monkey walking through the sand and stopped near the chest. “Hey, Dennis! I spotted a demon nearby, who seemed to be all alone. Do you mind if we fight it?”
Dennis put a hand on his cheek, looking skeptical. “A demon? Is that a good idea?”
“I’ve dealt with demons alone in the past, so I’m sure we can take one with the two of us! We need food, and I’d like to grow stronger while we travel. Maybe you can test the new essence?”
Dennis still seemed hesitant, but he relented in the end. “Oh, fine! I made some liquid essence for Kerchak before we started, so let’s see how it works.”
Rain looked nervous, probably having caught parts of their conversation. “Fight?” she asked, staring at John.
He nodded back, keeping a confident look on his face. “Yeah, but don’t worry. Easy fight.” Then he looked back at Dennis. “You’ll take care of Rain while Kerchak and I fight?”
“Of course! I’ll be focusing on the fight, but if anything happens, I’ll be ready!”
John nodded and watched while the large hands put Rain and Dennis on the ground. They walked over to the nearest mountain with Dennis leading Rain along, while John and Kerchak headed in the other direction.
‘I might be able to take it out by just sending Larang flying, but I should let Dennis test the liquid essence first. If he can use it efficiently, we might have a chance against… No, I don’t think that will give us any advantage against a horror…’