Dreiki walked for hours until his feet were sore, and his legs were stiff. Hours turned to days, which turned to weeks. He repeated his personal memories frequently to maintain his sense of self. Writing down reminders was helpful for reminding himself he was Dreiki, not Rudy. Rudy did not know how to avoid the Malaki. Rudy did not know how to spot them.

Dreiki had learned in other lives. He had been taught by his mother and by Savekio. He had experienced a similar world through the eyes of another person whose name Dreiki no longer remembered.

Did his life matter now? Was there even a point to keep struggling? What was he starving himself for? What was he enduring a cold sleepless night for? Town after town it was all the same. Infested with those horrid Malaki whose only love was tormenting life. He saw the warped forms of people who had once lived normal lives. Of pregnant mothers. Of children and infants. It made him want to vomit.

And yet, Rudy was compelled not to turn his head away. He studied them. He wrote everything he learned about these creatures in case it might help another survivor who found it on his corpse. As much as he hated this struggle, he feared the death those monsters would inflict on him much more.

It was strange for Dreiki, knowing that the real Rudy had likely died long ago. He had not seen this grotesque state of the world yet. Not fully, at least. He had not endured these vile sights like Dreiki did now. No, he had endured a fate far worse than this. He had become one of them before he knew what they were.

Dreiki wanted to believe this reality existed too, though. If the world in which Rudy died had existed, then who was to say this current world did not exist too? The world where Rudy had survived off of a strange instinct that guided his actions.

And as Rudy crested over a hill far to the south of where he had begun his journey, he saw a bastion of safety. People walking to and from the walls of a city. Unknowing of the terrors which lived just a few miles away from them. In his hand, he held pages upon pages of notes he had taken. Traits he had observed from these new monsters. Information which could be used to push them back and reclaim his world from the abyss itself.

He could only play a small role in it. There was no guarantee the world would be saved in the end, but at least there was a guarantee of a tomorrow. There was hope.

That hopeful world faded in front of him as Rudy stepped forward without Dreiki. Rudy looked back at him, and for a moment Dreiki thought the adventurer could see him.

Darkness enveloped him, and Rudy was gone, replaced by a deep baritone which broke through the infinite silence of the inky black abyss.

For all that which persists, it is punished. For all that does not, it is punished more. Evil punishment finds its way to you whether you confront life or avoid it. When are you not punished?

Dreiki knew that answer. Savekio had drilled that lesson into him from the first day: “When you accept and welcome hardship, it is no longer evil, nor punishment. Instead, it becomes that which provides meaning to our success.”

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Correct.

Dreiki felt himself pulled forward, faster and faster towards a pinhole of light until it expanded around him, and he found himself staring at the grayed out winter sky. Information sank into his memory. Knowledge of Ux techniques, of magical spells, and the laws of reality itself. The first time he had read one of these scrolls he had been met with a different question: With all which approaches one, there is equal which approaches none. For all which approaches none, there is equal which approaches the absence of none. For every peak a trough, for every trough a peak, every cycle has an end and beginning at every point on its curve. How does one escape?

Dreiki laughed to himself, recalling the question. The answer had been such a silly pun. Peaks and troughs had reminded him of Savekio’s lessons in calculus. Certain functions, when graphed, exhibited a wave-like pattern which spanned endlessly in either direction out to infinity and negative infinity. Yet the most basic function oscillated between one and zero. Since it was infinity, that meant there were equal peaks to troughs, and yet no way to count them all. In other words, no escape.

But if he divided that function by another function, the graph changed. When Dreiki thought of which function that would be, the answer became obvious.

“Remove the sin,” he had answered.

It was strange, though, all of the other dreams had given him a scenario. Even if Dreiki no longer recalled the other scenarios of those dreams, he recalled a distinct lack of a scenario for that one. He had merely been pulled into darkness and asked a question.

He was glad he had gotten it correct, though. If he hadn’t, he would not have known what to do to help Kaara when she collapsed a couple days ago. Ux could be used to prevent a soul from shattering. If Dreiki trained it enough, he might be able to use the technique to consistently cast spells beyond his current limit with no drawbacks. The only exchange would be that his Ux is used up instead of his soul.

Converting that technique to help someone else was difficult, and he had not done it perfectly, but it seemed to have saved her. Kaara’s Ux likely acted in a protective manner by default, anyway. The potion he had poured down her throat was intended to heal her frostbite, but it had the unintended consequence of making her cry out in pain.

Dreiki looked at his palms which were still healing from the cold he had felt by picking her up. What was that spell? He had only seen it for a moment, and yet it was so potent it almost froze him sitting atop the tree.

He was glad the Wulviir had run off when he dropped down to help her. Dreiki remembered what Amaro had said to him and Sancta a couple nights ago. The noble was under the impression his close proximity to Kaara had rescued her soul by accident. Shiira had told Amaro as much, and Dreiki could not blame her. It was the only reasonable explanation. It was better that he took the credit for helping Kaara anyways. If anyone learned Dreiki had done it, he had no doubt he would wake up to see Vilkus standing over his sleeping bag, dagger in hand.

The label of a Noxa was the veil for which he hid himself in plain sight. The moment he came off as anything more meant his death. All the credit for his actions would have to go to others, and that was fine with him.

He was not here for glory, he was here to get stronger. Still, though, he had his pride. He wanted to defeat Deka if only to prove to himself he was the right choice for Savekio to make.

Dreiki returned the scrolls, and set out. He had something new to teach Tadios today.