As Noli settles in, I shimmy my legs back out from under her, using them to stand up once more. We regard each other for a moment in silence.

“Don’t,” Noli signs, before I can even think what to say.

“Don’t what?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” Noli signs. “But you’re planning something terribly stupid, I can just tell.”

“You need help,” I sign.

Noli seems suspicious. “And you plan to get it?”

“Yes.” I’m the only one who can.

“Let’s talk about it first,” Noli signs. “We need to think. Maybe I can get these back legs working again. It’s just bits of metal, right? There has to be some way to fix it.”

Maybe. But how much time can we afford to spend on that? Now more than ever, we have to find someone to renew our spells before they expire—or better yet, get us back in our original bodies. We’d pinned our hopes on Harrowood, but Noli’s not going anywhere like this, and we have less than two weeks before it’ll be too late. I have to find a way to get help without putting her in any more danger.

But she’ll always be in danger if she’s around me.

The solution is obvious: The predator has to be destroyed. And if that means I have to die to make it happen, well. I guess I’ve already done that once.

But first, I have to help Noli. If her spell runs out and she ends up Between again, at the very best she’ll die, and at the worst, the predator will be there waiting for her. Either way, she’s in trouble, and unfortunately, I seem to be the only person on this planet who knows. I’ll have to figure out what to do about the predator after she’s safe.

“I don’t like this,” Noli signs. “You’re being quiet.”

“I’m sorry.” But I’ve already made up my mind. “Stay here. I’ll come back with help. Be safe.”

“Kanin?”

I turn away.

“Where are you going? Kanin?” Her signs are growing increasingly concerned. “Wait! Talk to me. Kanin!”

Each cry digs into my soul, but I keep walking. She’ll be safer here. She can’t walk, and we can’t afford to wait. I’ll have to be fast—get to Harrowood, find help, get back—and I have to do this alone. So I don’t hurt anyone else.

Noli is still signing frantically after me when I step around a shelf and she passes out of sight. I feel relieved, and I feel like the scum of the earth. But I can’t turn back.

I leave the Emporium the way I came in and sneak past the townsfolk who have gathered in the street. They’re distracted by bigger things, of course. I think about the injured, about all the blood, and I hope there’s a healer somewhere nearby. Then I try to stop thinking about it, because there’s nothing I can do.

At the end of town, I reach the wall, still shimmering with runes—for all the protection that lent them when the predator attacked. The road leads out of town here and then turns south. If it’s the same one that’s on the map of Valenia North, it’s the road that will take me to Harrowood—and hopefully there I’ll find the owner of Cloud’s Arcane Artifacts, the person who bought all those magical texts from Atlas Emporium. They still seem like my best bet at finding help, or at least the best place to start. Noli said the road to Harrowood would take two days on foot, which’ll be closer to two weeks for someone my size. I push myself to walk faster, but with one broken leg, that’s easier said than done.

Shit.

I move into some underbrush and stop. Check.

[Name: Kanin]

[Species: N/A]

[Class: Wizard]

[Level: 7]

[HP: 7/10]

[Bonus HP: 23]

[Mana: 6/41]

[Void: 0%]

[Role: Homunculus]

The passive healing is kicking in I see. Void still at zero. But if my suspicion is correct…

I bring a small piece of Attuned glass out of my inventory. Echo. Void Check.

[Void: 0%]

That’s what I’d expected. I’ve already pulled out several pieces of signing glass and the Void stat didn’t change. However…

I add the piece of glass back into my inventory and do another Check.

[Void: 1%]

Goddammit. I knew it. Adding things to my inventory is feeding the Void. That’s why it happened in the Emporium: I’d been stowing the maps when it was summoned. And it was the same in Trenevalt’s cabin. I’d originally thought it was Trenevalt’s spell that had summoned the predator, but I had been attempting to add the homunculus shell to my inventory at that moment, too.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Now for the real test.

I Sculpt a piece of Attuned glass onto my broken leg, melding the pieces of glass together and evening out the length so I can walk properly again. I don’t have high hopes for this, either, but walking is a necessity.

Void Check.

[Void,] Echo says. [3%]

Fuck. Well that confirms it’s both spells and inventory. I try to think of anything else that might cause the number to increase: Maybe getting hurt, or leveling up, but those are options I can’t really test at the moment. Not that I want to increase the stat, anyway.

Shit. This doesn’t leave me a lot of options, does it?

I start walking once more, following the road but keeping right up against the edge of the forest.

Maybe it’ll be fine. Maybe I won’t have to use my inventory or spells anytime soon. If I can stay under 10% before I make it to Harrowood, then I should be safe.

And by I, I mean Harrowood.

I can already feel my thoughts being drawn back to town, to the dracid and felis, and I try to pivot away. I can’t let myself wallow. There’s time for that later. I have to keep moving. I have to do this for Noli.

Echo, I ask, do I have any skills that don’t use mana? And I mean skills that actually do something, not like cleaning or whatever.

[Affirmative,] Echo says. [Fall Damage Resistance (Level 3): Check (Level 2): Passive Healing (Level 2): Arcane Intuition (Level 1).]

What’s that last one?

[Arcane Intuition,] Echo recites. [The ability to rapidly learn new spells through study.]

Ah, that’s how I’d learned those spells from Trenevalt’s book, then. I guess that’s something. But none of these will help get me to Harrowood faster.

[Additionally,] Echo chimes in, [Attuned objects may be controlled without any mana expenditure, and senses of sight, sound, and touch may be applied. Range: twenty-four inches. Attuned Objects: 14 units of glass, 1 unit of void.]

I stop walking. What?

[Additionally,] Echo repeats, [Attuned objects may be controlled—]

No, I cut her off. The last part. What I have Attuned.

[14 units of glass, 1 unit of void.]

A shudder runs through me. I force myself to start walking once more. Where’s the—the Attuned void? I ask. Three pieces of Attuned glass are still in my inventory, the other eleven making up my legs and signing glass. I glance around, paranoid, but I don’t see any void hanging around. Is it in my inventory?

[Affirmative,] Echo says. [Retrieve item from inventory?]

No! I cry. No. Leave it in the inventory. Don’t touch it.

But what even is it? And how did it get there?

I remember using Attune when the predator had me. I don’t even know why I did it. Maybe just desperation. The only spell I could think to do, when everything else had failed. I hadn’t even thought it had worked, at the time; it certainly hadn’t lasted two hours before getting interrupted. At the very least, though, it had been enough to startle the predator. Was that a weapon I could use against it in the future? Would it spook the predator again, or would it be anticipating the spell? Assuming I’d even get the chance.

But none of that answers what a piece of Attuned void is.

Even if I wasn’t afraid of using my inventory right now, I don’t think I’d be brave enough to take it out. Is it sentient? A piece of the predator’s mind? It had been overwhelming; even a fraction of its power poses a threat to me.

No. I can’t risk it. I guess I just have one less spot in my inventory to work with from now on. Not that I can put anything in my inventory anymore.

I walk. When my mind starts to drift, I practice signs instead. After practicing all the basic ones, I move onto the more complicated shapes and movements. “Spell. Time. Day. Night. Magic. World.” Then, when I’ve signed every word I can recall Noli teaching me, I start over. Like a mantra.

Twice, people pass me on the road. Both times they are riding a red-feathered bird-like creature that looks like a cross between an emu and a dinosaur: Echo identifies them as footbirds. They’re moving fast, and there’s no opportunity to try to hitch a ride without being trampled, so I just keep walking.

The sun sinks. Shadows stretch. Before long I’m struggling to pick out the pebbles and sticks in front of my feet. I don’t want to stop, though. There’s not enough time to spend the nights hunkered down in some hollowed-out log. I consider taking out Trenevalt’s beads to use to light the way, but then I’d need to carry them with me—or donate one more percent to the void if I wanted to put them back. No, I can manage without any light. My max health is higher—now a whopping 16—so I can afford the occasional stumble or injury in the dark.

I keep walking.

The night is filled with strange sounds. It’s the first night I’ve spent fully conscious in the woods—the first time I’ve spent it alone. With Noli keeping watch, I hadn’t given a second thought to any rustles, or bird calls, or distant howls. I knew she would tell me if there was any danger. Now, everything seems strange and close. The faintest breeze, a potential threat.

At some point in the middle of the night, white light briefly flashes through the sky, and I’m shown a still of my surroundings. Thunder rumbles through the forest seconds later. Great. Rain is just what I need. At least it’ll wash me off.

I begin to hear the faint hush of falling drops, knocking through the leaves of the canopy and occasionally tapping at the forest floor. But the sound is slightly off. Like the rain is… bouncing. I pause to listen, and something strikes my glass, pinging off it and vanishing into the dark.

[1 point of Bludgeoning damage sustained.]

What the hell?

They’re falling more rapidly now. No longer a gentle hiss, the drops sound loud, and hard, and thump against the ground with every strike. Another one hits me, and my glass rings like it was struck with a rock.

[2 point of Bludgeoning damage sustained.]

Because it’s not rain. It’s hail.

Mother fucker.

I dart to the side, where I promptly trip over a stick and careen to the ground.

[1 point of Fall damage sustained.]

I roll out of my legs, leaving them somewhere behind in the dark. Panicking, I start rolling for cover.

If only I could see where cover is. I blindly roll in one direction before running into a stick. Hurriedly turning around, I head back the way I’d come, but I might as well be trying to act without knowing my lines. The hail is coming down harder, more pieces glancing off of me. If I don’t figure something out quickly, I’m screwed.

It takes all my willpower to stop panicking and stay still, clustering half of my glass overhead. With the rest of the glass I reach out, blindly feeling over the ground as far as I can extend my range—which is a lot further than I’m used to. Reaching a couple feet in each direction, Echo starts up with her Range Limit warnings. I wince as pieces of hail deflect off my fragile umbrella, but try to focus on what’s around me.

The legs to the left. Okay. Keeping the signing glass overhead, I feel my way over to my legs and roll back into the setup. Cautiously, I stand.

Next, some cover. I circle all my glass around me (aside from what’s guarding my flask) and lightly brush them over the ground. They skip over the layer of hail starting to gather on the forest floor. One runs into something solid. I hastily run the glass over the shape: It’s a root, I think, sticking out a few inches from the ground. Sending the rest of my glass in that direction, I plot a path over to the root. Huh. It’s almost like I can see. Like some kind of glass-based radar. Gaining confidence, I feel along the root, tracing it back and up to the trunk of a tree. Finally! I continue to feel my way over, sweeping the glass over the ground around me to dodge any tripping hazards.

One small piece abruptly explodes as it’s struck by a piece of hail.

[1 Bludgeoning damage sustained.]

Budding confidence significantly stunted, I hurry the rest of the way over and huddle beneath the tree. Pulling all my glass close, it’s all I can do to hunker down and wait out the storm.

The night seems to stretch for an eternity. With the clouds overhead, I’m in complete darkness, and with the hail, the air is cold and the sounds of the forest are drowned beneath the white noise of the storm. I feel isolated from the world.

Which makes the solitude sting all the more.