Harper numbly pulled himself from his fridge. Malgren was already waiting for him, sitting against the fridge. The moment he stepped out, another change of clothes smacked him in the face. He put it on without a word.

“Done? Show me what you gained.” When Harper showed confusion, he explained. “Your clone and I both saw the light in the cave go out. I left once I saw that, while your clone sent out angry tremors strong enough to ruin the terrain. I imagine he let loose quite the store of monsters from underground.”

Harper nodded slowly. “Uh-huh. We’re going back, aren’t we?” When Malgren nodded back, he let out a pained sigh. “Okay then. Might as well.”

Malgren beckoned Harper over. “Now show me what you gained.”

Harper complied, walking over and getting himself into a ready stance. “Void Touch.”

Void Touch(Rank 0) RP: 0/10 > 1/10

Fear flashed on Malgren’s face. “Void wh-”

He punched Malgren in the chest. A black sphere about the size of his fist appeared where he punched. That section of his chest then disappeared. No blood, no gore, just a clean gap. There one moment, gone the next.

Malgren's face returned to its usual neutrality. "Never thought I'd experience Void personally."

Harper raised his eyebrows to his hairline. "Was that fear I saw? What did I just get my hands on?"

"Void. It's the antithesis of everything the Cosmic is. Everything the Cosmos itself is. It is simply… absence. The absence of existence." When Harper still looked confused, Malgren elaborated further. "The Cosmic? The creator and watcher of the Cosmos as we know it?"

"Oh, you're religious. Where I'm from, we just call that God. I personally don't believe."

Malgren crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow. "Religious? Hardly. The Cosmic isn't some nebulous God, he is quite literally the energy of the Cosmos."

Harper shrugged. "Sounds like a religion to me. If you can show me proof, maybe I'll believe you, but until then, no thanks."

Malgren looked up at the canopy. "This is ridiculous. Cosmic, I know we are forsaken here, but could you prove your existence for this human?"

The ground rumbled. Harper's head was on a swivel for Brooke in seconds. But no, all that happened was the appearance of a small stone obelisk up to his chest. On it was a simple phrase.

I'm real. Proof enough?

Harper was still skeptical. Considering the magical abilities they had, Malgren could've easily faked that. Especially considering his Mold Skill. In fact, he was almost certain that was what it was.

Give me a prompt you think only I can fulfill.

"You know the only thing I want."

Complete your rehabilitation and you can have her back.

Harper narrowed his eyes down to slits. He felt rage bubble up from his core. "Why the fuck does everyone think they can make demands of me? Argh, Void Touch!" He slammed his fist into the obelisk. Nothing happened.

Void Touch(Rank 0) RP: 1/10 > 2/10

He used Void Touch five more times. Every time he did, nothing would happen. No, not nothing. To be more accurate, he could feel the Skill activate, but it would have no effect on the obelisk. It simply stood there with the same words on display.

Complete your rehabilitation and you can have her back.

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Void Touch(Rank 0) RP: 2/10 > 7/10

He grabbed Malgren by the tunic. It didn't have much of an effect. It seemed Void Touch had the effect of eating away at his body, because his arms were terrifyingly thin. "What the fuck does it mean by rehabilitation? Tell me what it means!"

"I cannot see what the Cosmic is telling you. Be grateful he even speaks to you. You should already know we are forsaken. Doomed to never die, but never live either."

"No, that's bullshit, he said I need to complete my rehabilitation! There's a God, or a Cosmic or whatever, and he's just as much of a prick as I expected! Why’s it always gotta be so damn complicated? I just want my fucking sister back!”

Malgren looked down into Harper’s eyes. “You want to rehabilitate yourself? Truly?”

He redoubled his grip on Malgren’s tunic and stared into his eyes with wild desperation. “I will do anything to get her back. Anything.”

Malgren grabbed Harper’s hands and pulled them off with surprising care. “That fast tracks your training. The first step was to embrace rehabilitation. We can skip that step. Now, I show you what that means.”

Malgren walked back into the swamp behind the fridge. Harper had no choice but to follow behind.

Harper ducked under a low hanging vine. “Where are we going?”

Malgren walked directly through the vines without stopping, tearing them from the trees. “You’ll see.”

They continued walking through the jungle in relative silence. Malgren was on the left, Harper on the right. He would occasionally ask questions, to which Malgren would mostly grunt.

Eventually, the muck started to give way to the sludge pools, the trees became thinner and more spaced apart, and the air went from hot and humid to warm and moist. Sunlight was clearly visible now as the canopy disappeared from above them.

Harper tried his best to walk on the more solid ground. Despite this, he still frequently found himself sinking to the thigh in random puddles. Malgren would then have to pull him out, as he couldn’t get the proper leverage to lift himself out alone. He was almost certain something slimy touched his foot on one of the occasions. When he mentioned that to Malgren, he shrugged.

“Just keep walking. That’s going to happen.” Despite his words, Malgren had not once stepped in a hole.

Harper tried looking for them, especially considering he could now see in the sunlight, but he simply could not tell the difference between the regular sludge and the deep sludge. He resigned himself to constantly falling in holes.

Eventually, they reached a point where the trees thinned out even further. The sky was clear and… green? Odd. How had he not noticed that the last time he saw the sun? Maybe he’d been delirious from the heat at the time.

He looked over at Malgren. “Has the sky always been green?”

Malgren grunted. “It shifts from green to orange to pitch black. This planet has no moons and three suns.”

He whistled. “Man, she would’ve loved this place. Well, if it weren’t trying to kill everything that moved. Actually, she would’ve loved it regardless.” He grew quiet for a moment.

Malgren looked over at him. “She means a lot to you, does she?”

Harper thought about correcting him, then decided not to. “She means everything to me. I’m nothing without her.”

Malgren hummed in thought. “You know that’s not true, don’t you?”

His neck grew hot, and he whirled around on Malgren. “I don’t need you to tell me what is and isn’t true! You don’t even know me, you’re just some bastard who’s already betrayed me in the past! I’m sure you’ll do it ag—”

Harper suddenly found himself shoved to his back on the ground. He shook his head and glared up at Malgren, only to notice the right half of his torso was simply… gone. Blue blood leaked from the massive gap, but if Malgren noticed, he certainly didn’t make it obvious.

Harper turned his head to see what had done that massive amount of damage. There, he saw one of the giant birds from before. Rather than be afraid however, he felt ready. At least, somewhat.

He got up to a runner’s crouch, ready to sprint off at a moment’s notice if need be. “Clones.” Two clones broke away from him.

Rank Earned

Clone(Rank 4) RP: 2/10

Two more clones then broke away, bringing his total up to four at a time. “Grab that bird, don’t let it get away.”

Harper took a second to even out his breath while his clones all sprinted at the bird. Between all his uses of Void Touch and now four clones, he was at the brink of collapse. But if he could just get one good hit on the giant bird, he would be golden. Just one hit.

Finally, all the clones grabbed it and held it down. It screeched and pecked at them, and managed to peck straight through one clone’s head, killing it instantly. It was now or never, and Harper took off running.

Why is it… so far away… Ugh…

Harper collapsed to the ground. He tilted his head up to watch the squawking monster eat another clone whole. That was going to be him soon, he knew.

That’s when Malgren flew in, slamming his now perfectly fine right fist dead into the bird’s chest. It exploded into a mess of feathers. He then fell to one knee, gasping for breath.

“Wh-what?” Harper lowered his head to the ground, no longer able to hold it up. He was so tired, so very very tired. Maybe it would be okay if he took a quick nap.