Rodent kept walking as the village shrunk behind and the valley grew ahead. He stood at its entrance, gazing at the curved walls forming the passage.
This is it.
Inhaling a deep, fresh breath, the man took out his notebook and sketched the view, naming the piece 'One Big Entrance' before stashing it back into his pocket. From there, he began forward, knowing the long, winding route that this would be.
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They were watching him.
Rodent felt it as he walked along the valley, which was covered by scattered patches of grass and weak-looking trees, as well as a few boulders that blocked some of the path. His head craned all the way back to see the blinding light of the sun, and, covering it with a hand, he saw at the very top of the valley where things could possibly be pushed off and come crashing here.
Even more than that were the instances of flat surfaces at varying heights along the valley's wall, which hints of what appeared to be caves across them, which drew Rodent's curiosity as he suddenly felt wearier. Soon enough, there came ropes cast from one side of the valley to another, man-made wooden platforms with decaying barrels scattered throughout.
And then Rodent saw them.
In a blink, they were there, countless amounts as they lined across the walls' natural platforms, also standing on the faded, wooden structures. They were hooded with darkness within the hood. Bright, turquoise light floated where their eyes were supposed to be.
Rodent came to a stop and did not allow fear into his heart.
In a blink, the valley's ground had changed, and suddenly, everything took on a dream-like state, where winds that slashed dirty twirled. Rodent was suddenly high above ground, standing on a flat, round rock surface, where nothing could be seen off its ledge.
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"I'll kill them all!" shouted a Gladiator atop this area, wielding two swords with hardly any armour, his skin tough enough to be leather. He sliced off the head of a large, four-legged creature with a hide stronger than rock and a face that opened into four. "Is that the great test? How many beasts can I take down? Pathetic! I can do this all day!"
Rodent watched as the man sliced and sliced, more of those faceless, tiny hooded creatures manifesting on the edges of the arena and walking toward the Gladiator. The Gladiator saw them, and they became a mist that transformed into those creatures.
"Mal'kay aren't SHIT! We rip 'em apart for sport! You couldn't have picked a fiercer creature to challenge me with!" The Gladiator sliced his swords together and rocked the ground as he sped toward the creatures, effortlessly slicing through them as they broke back into a mist that joined the storm swirling around the floating rock, with more of those hooded things manifesting again. "Is this a game to see how long I'll last? This is a dream! There ain't no exhaustion here! I'll slice 'til the end of time!"
Sure enough, the man kept slicing even as time sped up—it felt like days had passed. Time slowed to reveal that the Gladiator hunched forward a little, seeming sick, not slicing as vigorously as before. Mal’kay after mal’kay were cut down.
"W-What… is this?" the Gladiator asked with lowered shoulders. "Why are you still turning into Mal'kay? There is no challenge to them. Weak. Predictable. What is my test here? GIVE ME A STRONGER CREATURE! PRESENT TO ME MY TRUE CHALLENGE! A GLADIATOR'S DREAM IS ALWAYS TO BE CUTTING SOMETHING DOWN, AND WITH THAT SWORD, I SHALL CUT DOWN THE WORLD'S GREATEST CHALLENGE!"
More time went by without a change.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The Gladiator weakly cut down the charging Mal'kay.
"W-What… is the point of this? Why am I still just cutting down Mal'kay?" The Gladiator had since dropped a sword, using slight motion and force. "I have no time for anything else… and they also do not provide me with anything. All they do is occupy me just enough from being able to do something else. What is the point of this? Why do you suspend me from use, improvement, or anything?"
Still, the hooded figures became Mal'kay, and the Gladiator struggled to cut them down.
After a while, the Gladiator tossed away his swords, using his fists to rip apart their faces and slam them more creatively. However, he was still too powerful for the creatures, and he became sadder by this fact. "I… wanted the Sword so I could be the strongest in the world. But this? Is this what that would be like?" The man threw a Mal'kay against a rock and squashed it with a shoulder charge.
Afterward, he stumbled back, hanging and shaking his head, panting. "In Val'ki, we are raised to want to be the strongest. Everything we do… is to become stronger." He raised and looked at the forming creatures. "But what is the use of my strength now? Just to easily kill simple beasts that provide nothing? This is what my strength-devoted life was for?"
The man shook his head. "This is worthless. Pointless. There is no thrill—no delight." The giant collapsed and sat on the ground. "Perhaps I have died already. The worthy are granted an afterlife of endless battle. How terrible." He then lay on the ground. "Please. Afford me the luxury of a second death."
The Mal'kay circled around the Gladiator.
Rodent, who was transparent in this place, looked over to see a hooded figure facing him. It did not change or transform even though Rodent's heart was startled. The hooded figure stepped toward Rodent, which caused him to step back, and in that second, everything ended.
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Rodent blinked and was back in the world, standing before a boulder with slash marks upon its surface and a rather giant skeleton resting against its base. It wore little and worn armour as, at its bone-hands, were two large swords.
Rodent took a breath and attempted to stop himself from thinking, crouching down and hovering a hand over one of the swords… but shaking his head and rising up. Looking above, those things were still there, watching him with tilted heads.
Rodent took out his notebook and drew the creatures, including how they stood on the bridge connecting the two sides of the valley. Their hoods were green, with a thick cone fabric atop them. They had no energy besides the feeling of ethereal magic.
Entry 1. | Watchers
Who are these guys?
Only that I felt them appear out of the blue.
Something isn't right about them.
At the very least… it's like they can take me into a different state… or change things around me.
Are they actually changing things around me? Or just the way I see stuff?
I don't know what their purpose is either.
Isaac might have more on them if he made it this far.
I already found the remains of a Gladiator.
Hopefully, because it's the first I've found, that means that Isaac made it further.
Or this valley doesn't play by reality's rules.
I'll have to find out.
END OF ENTRY.
Rodent closed the notebook and looked up to find that the boulder and body were gone, and a grassy patch replaced the area. In front of him was a river that ran into an opening in the valley's wall, and the river itself streaked and coursed across its length.
He blinked as he looked around him, seeing waterfalls pouring from the now green-covered walls, the whole place having changed. Rodent shook his head, but that did nothing to change things. Instead, all he could do was walk forward.
There was a vibration in his pole.
“M.E…N.O…L.I.K.E..”
"Don't worry." Rodent squeezed [Stick] reassuringly. "The Sword was never going to make it easy—especially to someone without an invitation." He stepped into the water, which was cool and refreshing. "But I don't think it would try to kill me without offering a fair chance first."
A second after that, the channel suddenly enlarged, swallowing Rodent underwater into an intense current, which blew into a dark hole in the ground. Seconds later, the water settled, and the now barren surface changed itself again. Blurry waves moved above the area like an illusion being dispelled, and the Watchers stared at the scene… before turning in unison and starting to waddle, heading toward the caves along the valley's wall.