Chapter 125: Resonance

The river rushed forward ever strong, but where it led to was not a place that he could see. Left to the imagination, the waters seemingly flowed down to oblivion. A realm, but more a concept that entailed the vast black nothingness. What kind of horrifying existence would it be, to fall endlessly in an unchanging void?

Of course, the waters did not actually flow down to oblivion. As he rapidly flew down the river atop the large log, the distant surroundings slowly revealed a steep drop-off. In true dramatic fashion, there simply had to have been a waterfall there.

The tears he previously wiped away from his face threatened to return.

But…they didn’t. Although he really felt like doing so…!

—sniffle—

Truthfully if he was fighting for himself or his own life, maybe he would have collapsed already under the pressure of it all.

The limitless strength that was always present, and could be excavated out of each and every individual, was most commonly drawn out according to the personality. There were brave and cowardly people, and there were those who were more dominant while others more receptive. But pressure made diamonds and each person could become one. Usually, they unveiled their potential according to their different motivations and native dispositions.

When pressure and hardship came, there were those who found it easy to unlock their potential when fighting for themselves, and serving their own goals and desires, while there were those who found themselves inspired to help and protect others, unlocking their potential only when the need arose.

Now to one extreme of the spectrum, there were those that did not care for others at all, and only themselves. Approaching that extreme were those individuals known as bandits, raiders and pillagers. While the worst and more capable individuals were overlords responsible for butchering whole nations to get what they wanted.

The main point however, was the other side of that extreme. Hopeless fools who only acted in service of others, and often forgot about themselves. Oftentimes they were too good for the harsh world. Although maybe…they were exactly what such a world needed.

So it seemed then, that the kind stranger happened to be one of them.

Presently, the potential he had was only being unearthed because of his compassionate drive to protect.

The defeated and crestfallen look on his face, quickly transformed to reveal one of hesitant grit and tenacity.

Pushing down those feelings of dejection, courage once again reignited within his heart as he scanned his surroundings. He had to be as observant as possible in the least time attainable; the waterfall was approaching at a rapid pace.

After the riverbend, the path to the waterfall was dreadfully short. He really only had less than two minutes to surmise a plan, and a plan to save both of them at that.

With the sun shining down on them, the surrounding dense vegetation looked truly breathtaking. The gleam of the light bounced off the green of nature, and reflected in his troubled irises. Danger and beauty was a lethal combination, and not many could say they enjoyed such a gorgeous view, atop such an exciting ride. Perhaps it could even be called, a once in a lifetime experience!

The kind boy’s eyes zoomed into every nook and cranny of the river’s edges. There were trees surrounding all sides of the river but no branches that he could grab on to.

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There was however a gigantic tree in the middle of the waterfall. He had seen it as soon as he turned the riverbend, for it was simply too hard not to see it; it was colossal and fantastical. It was like a tall and thick tower built into the edges of a cliff, or in this case a waterfall.

It was additionally a mystery how the seed had taken root, or how it had grown to such a marvelous size, but whatever the case its branches stood too high and too proud for him to latch on to.

He entertained the idea of jumping onto it, except its trunk was much too fat for him to grasp, and there was no land for them to rest on. The tree’s trunk penetrated into the river, and it’s supernatural roots made no distinction puncturing into dirt or stone. At the river’s end, only the thick pole of a tree, and waters gushing into a steep void was left.

There was…absolutely nothing that could aid them.

The boy’s heart dropped but he refused to give up. There had to be something— anything! His eyes scanned his surroundings twice and triple-over…and at the fifth time, someone emerged from out of the forest thicket.

It was…the red-haired boy. He was panting and gasping for air as if he had sprinted all the way over…and in fact he did. Zan knew the winding path of the river, and took all the short-cuts possible to put himself ahead of them. He also assumed that they’d try to use his rope-swing at the rotting tree…and judging by the way they were riding atop a rotten wooden log, he turned out to be correct.

The stranger locked eyes with him. At least, he thought he did. There was a good distance between them, although that distance was rapidly shortening. Then, through the roaring waves of water he heard the echo of Zan’s distant yell.

“The rooope!”

“Throw it over!”

“Uhh! Ye— Yeah!” He yelled back. Although it was much too soft for anyone except him to hear.

The kind boy frantically searched for the long fiber, and luckily, a part of it was still coiled around the broken end of the rotten log. He tried to push the remaining coils off of the end, but found that the rope was squeezed too tight to the tree.

“Hurry up!!!”

With no other choice he started to unwind the rope with circular motions.

“Do— Done!”

Next, he grabbed the unconscious girl by the stomach, and lugged her over to the farther end with him.

The currents shot them flying down at a rapid pace. With the rope in one hand and the girl in another, he waited until the opportune moment. Zan also stayed ready at the edge between ground and river, stalking observantly for the right moment for the rope to be thrown.

‘Closer…just a little closer…!’

‘Now!’

“Haaaaht!” The kind boy audibly grunted and with all his strength, he threw the rope over to Zan.

Zan seemed to pull a trigger within his brain, and went into hyperfocus. Time seemingly slowed down by half, and his hands readied themselves like predators waiting to pounce on prey. All the rope needed to do, was reach the domain of his territory.

Both of them watched the rope fly. It tore through the wind while rising above the crashing waters. Zan saw it rise to an exciting crescendo that blotted out the high sun…before pathetically falling two feet short of him.

The rope then bounced and danced on the river surface, before pitifully submerging into its waters.

…Both of them looked at the sight with an expression of utter shock, before they inevitably passed each other by.

Although strengthened by the light, the kind boy forgot he was not very strong in the first place…

Wet rope was also surprisingly heavy…

“Throw it with both arms you fuck!” A shout was heard behind him as Zan sprinted ahead trying to catch up.

The kind boy’s face turned red, utterly embarrassed as he hurried to gather the rope back from the waters.

The waterfall approached, and they were now only thirty or so seconds away from falling to their deaths. Gently he put the girl down onto the wooden log, and readied the rope with two of his arms.

Seconds passed by as he waited for the red-haired boy to appear next to them…but where was he? He turned his head backwards, and what he saw was Zan sprinting as fast as he could…but in the end never shortening the distance between them.

The river was shooting them down its waters at a pace of 25 mph, or around 40 km/h. Even with shortcuts it was a miracle Zan had reached them in the first place.

Now, he had to directly contend against that speed, and he would very obviously not make it. Anywhere around 25 mph was the limit for normal human beings, and Zan was nowhere near that apex at his young age.

Every part of his body was burning and aching, whilst the saliva building up in his mouth indicated just how close he was to vomiting. Still, despite his tremendous efforts he could only watch as they got further and further away.

Seeing the distance between them only widen, the kind stranger closed his eyes with a sorrowful expression, before turning his head to see the waterfall zooming closer. He had done his best, and that red-haired boy ended up turning around and trying his best too.

With a heavy heart he brought the unconscious girl into his arms, and steeled himself to take the brunt of the fall. He could really only hope that the drop was not too steep to break his body.

Although that same moment he resigned himself to defeat was the same moment that someone called out to him.

“Hey!”

It was a loud shout, almost too loud, as if it could rapture the eardrums.

“Wha— Wha!?” He turned his head in utter disbelief, as he saw the red-haired boy running right next to their hurling log with incredible speed.

“Throw the fucking thing!”