The moon was the same as when the nightmare first showed itself. Dim and unmoving. A lone spotlight on a starless void.
Giuliano drifted aimlessly through the forest, under the scant moonlight—barely enough to reveal the outline of his own hand before his eyes, even if that wasn't fully needed, given that he relied more on the Ether veins than actual light. An inexplicable wind whispered through the trees, brushing against his skin and piercing through his meager clothes, leaving an unshakable chill in its wake.
Beside him, the faint glimmer of Myst's spectral shape was his companion, a ghostly presence even his eyes could barely detect against the Ether that smothered the air like thick stage fog. She stood in soft contrast to the washed-out hues of the forest and the vibrant, pulsing lines of Ether—something he now took as both a gift and a curse from his [Etheric Blood].
The forest underfoot conspired against him, roots and vines seemingly alive, grasping at his ankles, eager to see him stumble. After following the thickest Ether lines he ended here, where Ether saturated the atmosphere so much that the fine energy lines he relied upon to not break his nose against the trees were blurred into obscurity, making each step a gamble.
“Are you sure you can’t see them?” Giuliano asked Myst's ethereal form, his voice holding a thick edge of irritation, scowling as his foot caught yet another hidden root, nearly toppling him over. I fucking hate this place, he fumed inwardly, his silent curse punctuated by the growl of his stomach.
Grumpy from hunger?
"Of fucking course," Giuliano growled, holding his stomach while the taste of blood clinging to his mouth taunted his growling stomach.
Myst offered no visual indication of acknowledging his question but replied with a meow that barely stirred the air, a spectral sound that resonated within him more than it reached his ears.
Then, for perhaps the twenty-seventh time, Giuliano pulled up his quest window. It's false light doing nothing to his surroundings.
Quest Update
Show your worth, P.2
Tether all three spirits
1/3
Time Limit
4 days
Reward
Transportation to HUB-487
It was the same as when it first assaulted his senses. An order with not a hint of how to accomplish it.
Another sharp pain sent its burning regards in his stomach, timed just right to bring him maximum misery as his foot caught on an unseen fallen branch, his balance was lost and his nose became acquainted with a tree.
"Time flies when you're having fun, they say. A good hike makes the hours vanish," he scoffed silently.
Liars, every one of them.
Giuliano was not enjoying himself and he certainly counted this ordeal as a hike, yet time stubbornly dragged its feet.
With each step, Giuliano forced his thoughts to return to his choice of foundational skill, looking for a way to make time hurry up while he searched for the hazy silhouettes of his other cats. The more he went over the options, the more [Spirit Harmony] appealed to him—if for no other reason than the prospect of conversation with someone other than himself.
He had weighed his options repeatedly, his gaze invariably drawn back to that particular skill. The alternatives seemed to demand a level of spirit awareness he lacked, possession of powerful spirits he didn’t have, or direct combat he preferred to avoid.
[Essence Enhancement] had caught his eye, but reality quickly dampened his interest. Enhancing the essence of spirits sounded grand, except when those spirits were the souls of house cats. Not majestic lions of ether, but the kind that chased yarn and napped in sunbeams. Hardly the mighty companions of legend.
"One more day. If nothing changes, then to hell with it—I'll pick [Spirit Harmony]," he declared out loud. Anything would be better
Agree, there's nothing worse than spending time in darkness with nothing but your thoughts, his inner voice began. It always goes the same way—brooding and sadness, all that jazz. Before you know it, there’s a noose hanging from the ceiling and a note with your bank information on the table.
Ignoring the ramblings of his mind, Giuliano trudged on. Lost wouldn't be quite the word he would use for his state; one had to have a destination in mind to be lost, and he had none. He was, in the most literal sense, chasing after ghosts.
The relentless growling of his stomach and Myst's persistent meows, her demands for blood were his only anchors to time in this monotonous expanse, where each part of the forest mirrored the last under the unchanging sky.
With a sigh of resignation, Giuliano called up his quest window one final time, finding to the surprise of no one, there was no change.
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His body was a map of fatigue as he cleared a slightly less inhospitable patch of ground, gathering leaves to fashion a crude pillow, bracing himself for a night's rest promising no comfort.
Memories... We’d rather forget them, wouldn't we? Who knew those glamorous days of dumpster diving and alleyway napping would turn out to be survival training for mystical quests? Life's full of surprises, huh?
"Life's an unpredictable bitch named Michelle," Giuliano said with a light chuckle as he settled onto the hard, pebble-strewn earth, shifting around to find a position that didn't aggravate his aches. "Just my luck," he muttered, wincing as a sharp pebble dug into his back.
But as sleep hovered within reach, Myst's spectral form loomed closer, her sharp meows a barrier to his much-needed rest.
Turning over did nothing to help him; her spiritual form simply floated over him, landing with otherworldly grace right by his face and screaming at him, demanding his attention. This 'game' went on for what felt like hours, with the sweet touch of sleep slipping further away with each interruption.
Giuliano's patience, already worn thin by exhaustion and hunger, finally snapped. "ALRIGHT!" he exploded, biting into his already injured hand in a mix of sleep-deprived frustration and hunger, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth immediately.
The sharp sting from the bite was a distant sensation as Giuliano extended his bloodied hand toward Myst. She approached, her spectral form growing brighter and more solid with each drop of his Ether-rich blood she consumed. With the task done, he collapsed back onto his makeshift bed on the forest floor, leaving his injured hand out for Myst, unconcerned about the potential for infection. The immediate need for rest overshadowed all else.
As sleep beckoned, wrapping its seductive tendrils around Giuliano's weary mind, a sharp chorus of meows sliced through the tranquility, jerking him back to wakefulness. He shot Myst a glare loaded with exhaustion, but she persisted, unfazed by his irritation.
Why does she have to do this now?
Fuck it, he thought. With a mix of annoyance and defeat, he tapped the [Spirit Harmony] skill.
A torrent of knowledge flooded Giuliano's mind—paths for directing Ether within himself, methods to transfer it to his bonds. His brow twitched reflexively, and his pulse quickened with rising irritation. Great, just what I needed—a magical crash course at the worst possible time.
Myst's incessant meowing grated on him. Heaving an angry sigh, he cast his eyes skyward, where a single tear of sheer fatigue traced down his cheek. "Why?" he whispered, the question an exhalation of despair. Turning back to Myst, he resigned himself, tracing the newly learned pathways for his Ether to flow.
***
Milly groaned, her body as stiff as a plank. Her eyelids felt glued together, prying open slowly and painfully. The world was still missing. Am I blind? The thought struck a chilling chord within her, sending shivers down her spine. But reality slowly bled back in—she was trapped in the damned forest.
Taking deep breaths, she remembered how the forest seemed darker when she went to sleep. Even after long moments, nothing filled her sight. She moved her head upwards to where the sky was supposed to be; there was only more blackness. Even the faint moon was gone.
As she tried to shift, a sharp pain shot through her limbs, cramped and numb from remaining in one position for too long. Her muscles protested with each tiny movement, the stiffness spreading like a vice around her joints. She winced, feeling pins and needles prickling her skin as blood flow slowly returned to her extremities.
The world was cloaked in darkness, concealing any sign of anything around her. Fear tugged at her insides as she attempted to pull up her stats, desperate for evidence she wasn't blind.
Quest Update
Show your worth, P.2
Enter the first step of cultivation.
Time Limit
4 days
Reward
Transportation to HUB-487
Her eyes went wide at the screen, An entire day gone. Milly's thoughts churned like a brewing storm as she licked her dry lips.
Focus! Milly shook her head, focusing her attention on the reason she pulled the screen. To confirm she wasn't blind. If you can see the screen, you’re not blind. She encouraged herself, bringing some sense of calm to her.
This must be to encourage me to leave here. She rationalized. A chill ran down her spine as she thought about the consequence of failing the quest, would she die? Would she still go to the Hub? She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
With dread still heavy in her stomach, she attempted to settle back into a comfortable position. The forest floor was as inhospitable as ever, making the task difficult, yet not impossible. Eventually, she found a tolerable posture, sitting with her legs crossed.
As she refocused on her breathing, a tingle began to spread through her lungs with each inhalation. She knew this feeling from the manual, it meant she was so close to the first step.
***
Giuliano's body teetered on the edge of shutting down, so drained he almost looped back to feeling energized. A dense fog clouded his mind, obscuring any coherent thoughts. He no longer knew why he persisted, where he was, or why he was following the motions, yet he clung to the action that seemed carved in his brain. He needed to guide something along a precise path to his heart, where he knew something would happen.
Noise nipped at the fringes of his consciousness—sharp and insistent, echoing within him. But that was a distant concern. He had to complete this task; afterwards, he could surrender to the sweet, seductive pull of unconsciousness.
As Giuliano sank deeper into a state of exhaustion so profound that his body and mind felt disjointed, the energy finally obeyed his will. His blood seemed to defy gravity, rushing back to his heart and vanishing—into a place he knew but couldn't quite recall. What was it again? Something important, surely...
His thoughts drifted, dissolving into the fog. From the haze, an almost-word drifted towards him, a simple "here." His eyelids were heavy, barely parting, revealing only a hazy blue silhouette before him. The shape's upper region stirred, and the almost word emerged again.
"Here," it murmured, more felt than heard. Giuliano's mouth opened, a gesture more sensed than controlled. The air around him shifted, a mist seeping into his lungs. Instinct urged his eyes to snap open, his body to jerk away from the intrusion, but exhaustion had rendered him too spent for fear. His eyes merely widened a fraction more
The message, whatever it was, seemed to have been received. The blurry figure pivoted and darted off in an indiscernible direction—left, right, up, down, all were meaningless concepts now. Giuliano's gaze tracked the figure feebly. The hazy silhouette seemed to run after a second blob, their bodies seeming to entwine before Giuliano's body couldn't take it anymore and he tipped forward, falling to the earth with an unfelt and unheard thud.
He was dimly aware of pain, of something sharp threatening to pierce his skin. The sensation was distant, muted by the overwhelming need for rest. Darkness encroached on the edges of his vision, narrowing his world to a sliver of consciousness. His eyelids fluttered shut, and he succumbed to the void of dreamless sleep.