The floor of the culvert ended.

There was nothing ahead but a yawning black abyss, stretching off along the length of the culvert. Pirin craned his neck down, but the bottom was too deep and too dark to see anything.

Long spikes of crystal hung off the walls, and they stretched so far out that they almost touched the other side.

“I guess we aren’t flying across,” Pirin told Gray.

I might be able to maneuver through there without you, but that’s no guarantee. With you? We’re just going to end up impaled.

Pirin took a step back from the edge. “That wraith, it weighed down on the foundation Timbers. It was a test of spiritual strength, I’d say. We just eeked through.”

What’s this one, then? I don’t imagine the floor just fell away into a massive crevice on purpose. Besides, the edge here is rough. This was a collapse, not a purposeful trap.

“I doubt this place’s creators intended the wraiths, either,” Pirin said. “But if the Eane could choose to shove the Memory Chain into me, then it could also choose to test me, right?”

So the magical energy fields of the world are sentient, now? Got it… She paused, then suggested, Or maybe Nomad set this up! We don’t really know how strong he is officially! Maybe he made wraiths. Maybe he just knew this would be here, and is watching us.

“No matter how strong he is, I don’t think he has the power to make wraiths…” Pirin tapped the edge of the cliff with his boot. “Or make a chasm this deep into the earth, for that matter.”

I sure hope not!

Pirin shook his head. “This has got to be a test of bodily strength, then.”

He stopped cycling Essence for a moment, then pulled his consciousness inwards and pushed it down to his core. While he had been walking, he had formed up three more pillars, leaving him at five Timbers. One was flawless—top tier—and two had a single crack in them each. Almost top tier. He sighed, then vowed that his next Timbers would be as perfect as he could get.

But his core was another story. It was wobbling and vibrating now, and something was sucking inwards. He’d advance to the next stage soon enough, whether he wanted to or not, and he needed to keep working on those Timbers.

Everything was set in place.

“Think I can hit seven? Give Myra a run for her money?”

I think you should concentrate on getting over that chasm without dying. We can worry about your magic later.

Pirin took a deep breath, about to keep working, but Gray was right. He couldn’t split his attention this time.

If he wanted to make it to the other side, though, he’d need his mobility techniques—the Winged Kick and Winged Palm. And…maybe even a body-strengthening technique, like Myraden’s Tundra Veins.

He sat down at the edge of the culvert and crossed his legs. “I’ll need more gnatsnapper-bent Essence if this is going to work.”

Rest, Gray said. Cycle, gather Essence, and I’ll keep watch. There’s only one direction someone can sneak up on us, and you do need some sleep.

Hopefully, no one had even noticed him running back into the tunnels, and there was no one behind them at all. He let that thought take him as he forced his Essence into a regular, circling pattern, and set his breaths.

He slept for a few hours, gathering Essence. While he slept, he couldn’t control his Essence as well, and some of it fuelled the Memory Chain, but it only showed him random glimpses. He wasn’t aware enough to control it or use it as well as he might have if he had been awake.

When he did wake up, it was only because the Chain showed him a battle. He was an ancient king, duelling with other soldiers at the front of a massive army. He spun and slashed and hacked at his enemies, and most of them died easily. He unleashed massive bursts of Essence and waves of force, fighting side-by side with a snow leopard Familiar.

But he wasn’t the only wizard, and there were others in the world to rival him. When a spike of manifested Essence blasted through his neck, killing him in a single blow, he sprang upright, panting.

As he brought his breaths back under control, Gray hopped over. Are you alright? she asked. It was only a few hours.

But there was plenty of gnatsnapper Essence rolling around his body, now—he could thank the Memory Chain for helping him purify that much. He was ready to get moving. Just in case, though, he asked, “Did you see anything?”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Nothing yet. If there’s anyone behind us, we still have a good lead.

He stood up and inched to the edge of the crevice, then tried to plot a course across the shards of crystal with his eyes. But, about halfway across, the criss-crossing pattern of the crystals became too thick, and he could barely see through it. From there, he’d have to make it up as he went along.

“Alright, Gray. I’m going. See you on the other side.”

I better! But you’re going first.

Pirin leapt off the edge of the cliff. He reached out and grabbed the first shard with his hands, then hauled himself up until he could stand on it. It was as thick as a tree branch, but everything about it was brittle. He shifted his weight. It cracked. He swung his arms, preparing for the neck jump, and the shard shifted, snapping at its center.

Before it broke off completely, he jumped to the next shard. This one was thinner, and as soon as he landed, it crumbled.

He had planned to use a Winged Kick between the next two shards, but he had to use it earlier than planned just to keep himself from plummeting. He only barely caught the next shard with one hand.

Careful to keep his movements slow and restrained, he pulled himself up back to level. This shard was thicker, and it held his weight while he caught his breath.

If he wasn’t as light as an elf, he had no idea how he would have done this.

Uh, Pirin, Gray said. You might want to look back for a moment.

She stood on the lip of the ravine, clinging on with her talons, but she was looking back over her shoulder.

Down the culvert, in the very distance, was a flickering orange light. Someone with a torch was following them.

“Gray, get moving!” he yelled. “Go on the other side of the ravine if you need, and hop from shard to shard!”

I’m on it! she replied, then, fluttering her wings, jumped to the first shard on the opposite side of the culvert.

Pirin jumped from shard to shard, navigating any larger jumps with a Winged Kick. Most of the shards crumbled behind him, but a few lasted long enough to give him breaks to catch his breath and look back. The torchlight was getting closer. It left jagged, flickering shadows on the wall.

On the other side of the culvert, Gray navigated at the same pace, but instead of guiding the air with magic, she just flapped her wings. “Lucky…” Pirin muttered.

When he was halfway across, he reached a sandstone ledge protruding far out from the side of the culvert. He wanted to flop down on his stomach and hug the ground, clinging to the most stable thing he’d stood on in what felt like hours, but he couldn’t afford to wait.

Taking a deep breath, he leapt to the next shard. He landed on it hard with his feet, and the moment it started cracking, he knew he wouldn’t have even a second to spare. He pushed off again, and the shard plummeted a heartbeat later.

He kicked down with a gust of wind to push himself across to the next ledge, but it also carried him forward faster than he intended. He landed on the next shard hard enough that its tip snapped off right under his feet. He reached for the stub of the shard and caught it in a hug just before he fell.

His legs dangled above the endless dark. There were no shards below if he messed up.

I can’t fly over there and catch you, Gray warned. Don’t die…

“I don’t plan on it!” Pirin called back. He shut his eyes and exhaled through his nose, calming himself, then pulled himself up to the rest of the shard. He moved slowly, and it didn’t even threaten to break under him.

But the next shards were all small and thin, and he doubted any of them would last more than a second under his weight, if that. Most would probably fall off at the first pressure, taking him with them.

He needed constant agility and speed.

If he could create a wave of air around his sword to swing faster and guide the weapon better, he might be able to do the same with his body…

If he stirred up air with fast-moving gnatsnapper Essence in his limbs, then in theory, all he needed was to cycle really fast, pushing his Essence through the channels furthest out on his body.

Pirin, did you just…double—no, triple—our cycling speed? Gray asked.

“Maybe?” he called. “I’m going as fast as I can! Care to keep up?”

I don’t even want to know what you’re planning…

The air began to swirl around his limbs, then his neck and head, and then his body. It paved a way for him, like his sword, but he needed it to help him. He pulled the Essence faster on the way up from his legs, and slower on the way down. The air responded.

When he stretched out his arms, wind supported him under his biceps. He used the Essence to push from behind, too. He leapt forwards, carving a path for himself and supporting himself and pushing himself, all at once.

He landed on the first small shard. It began to crack, but it supported his vastly reduced weight until he jumped off. Sweat dripped down his forehead, and black specks whirled in front of his eyes. The foundation Timbers carried the weight of his core, now, pushing up and against the strain of the techniques. A few days ago, this would have been impossible.

He jumped again, and again, and again. Ducking, he spun to slip just around the edge of a nasty woven wall of them. He dove through another, using an extra Winged Kick to propel him forwards even faster. He caught a shard and spun around it, then slingshotted himself up to a higher shard.

He flew higher than anticipated, and instead of grabbing it with his hands, he landed on it with his feet.

But his gnatsnapper Essence was running out. Every cycling loop, some of it appeared on his arms as feathers of manifested Essence, and they spilled off, floating away into the abyss. It drained him faster than any other technique, even the Shattered Palm. No matter the support his core had, now, his channels were still being strained into long noodles.

Three more shards, then he could jump to the other side. He jumped between them, alternating the feet he landed on, until he reached the last shard.

His core fizzled out, and he ran out of Essence.

The shard snapped under his weight. He had to make the last leap. He kicked off the wall, reaching for the ledge on the other side.