For the longest time Azrael raced through the darkness, fearing the sound of metal on stone. It never came. He wasn’t sure when he’d stopped hearing it. He wasn’t even sure whether he’d outpaced his pursuers or if they had simply stopped chasing him. Either way he didn’t slow down, expending every last drop of replenished mana to fuel his escape. The more distance he put between himself and his pursuers the safer he was. Twice he fell as he ran, the path more of a large crack in the mountain than an actual cave and twice he got up and continued running. Cuts and scrapes bled down his legs and soaking into his pants. He didn’t stop. Eventually, he saw the light – actual light.

Like the breaking of dawn it crept up on him, the impenetrable blackness of the cave slowly lightening until it was painted with dark grey tones of shadows. These eventually began to be filled with the colour, replacing the monochrome greys. Then, like when the sun finally cresting the horizon, light streamed in. The light was so bright compared to the darkness that he had run through that he was forced to raise a hand to protect his eyes. Squinting between his fingers he let [Mana Sight] drop. Then, slowing down his final steps, he stepped out into the sunlight.

It was like stepping into another world. Rationally he knew he was in the same world, but the view was breathtaking.

After the narrow darkness of the cave, the sky was vast and bright – a brilliant cerulean blue that was slowly fading into the burnt gold of a late summer dusk. The enchanting sky spanned from the tops of the mountains he had passed through to the far distant horizon on the other side, covering a seemingly endless tropical jungle. A humid haze lay over the trees, veiling the far distance and shrouding it in an air of mystery.

Azrael drew a deep breath. The air here was humid and dense with mana. He savoured it, the mana as refreshing as the humidity was stifling. The jungle air was overwhelmingly filled with [Fire] and [Water] mana, but the amount of mana in general was far beyond anything he’d felt before, greater even than within the specialised accumulation array he’d built around his house.

A blue screen announced itself in his vision, drawing his attention.

Congratulations!

You are the first person to step beyond the End.

For such a feat you have gained the title ‘Explorer of the End’

‘Explorer’

Fortune favours the bold

You are less likely to befall harm while exploring and will be met with greater kindness by any local inhabitants.

A parrot let out a squawk somewhere deep down in the hidden depths of the jungle’s foliage, alerting him to a whole host of sounds that he had missed while captivated by the view. Squawks, whistles, raucous cries and screeching drifted up the mountain from the jungle below. The jungle was teeming with unseen wildlife.

Drawn back to the moment he dismissed the notifications, glad, surprised and worried at the same time. It was an unexpected reward, but the mention of ‘local inhabitants’ made him wary. Already eyes were scanning the dense foliage, as his subconscious worked overtime, imagining hostile eyes and secretive whispers from spear-wielding, mask-wearing cannibals.

His eyes drifted from the foliage below to the area surrounding him, noticing for the first time that he was standing in out in the open, surrounded by nothing but bare boulders and shattered stones. There was no snow on this side, until much further up, which led him to believe that the increased ambient [Fire] mana was impacting the environment around it or the tunnel he had passed through had sloped downhill and he had ended up far lower than on the other side.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Deciding that caution was warranted in this unknown environment, Azrael picked his way across the scree slope towards a larger boulder just a little before the jungle began. While he would have liked to seek a vantage point a little higher up, it was the only object large enough to provide some form of cover from prying eyes, outside of the trees themselves. And he didn’t want to stay inside the cave in case the knights were still after him.

In the early evening light, the unstable footing of the slope became even more treacherous. Darkening shadows hid dangers and the low sun shone straight into his eyes. Still, he managed to safely skitter his way down the slope to the boulder, realising that it was slightly larger than he’d imagined, though perhaps more precarious than he had hoped. Really, one good shove was probably all the boulder needed to finish its downwards decent to the jungle below. He grinned. Thank the gods for magic.

Drawing on some of his mana, he placed a careful hand on the stone and let his mana flood inwards. It wasn’t really that much compared to what he was about to attempt, but it would be enough. He could have added more mana if he had wanted, the richness of the mana here was quickly filling his reserves, but it was unnecessary. Instead, he added a small drop of void energy, drawing on the original skill that [Void Shaping] had formed from – [Stone Shaping]. Since he had yet to experience any adverse effects even after using it so long his caution was somewhat relaxed, but his control wasn’t. Ignoring all danger entirely seemed like a good way to die.

Feeling his mana fill the entire interior of the boulder he mentally changed his grip on his mana and pulled, pulling his mana and the void infused stone towards him.

Subject to his will and the unstable reality of the void, the stone flowed. Like a cork pulled out of a bottle the entire inside of the boulder flowed towards him, hollowing the center of the boulder and flowing out through a large hole. Like cool lava it swept out, flowing around the sides of the boulder and trickling between stones, filling the gaps and finally solidifying as the small amount of void energy and mana keeping it liquid was spent or dissipated. Like that, in a few seconds, he had secured both the boulder and a shelter for the coming night.

Taking one last look at the world outside he stepped in, sealing the doorway – save for a few breathing holes. Then he crashed, quite literally, his legs giving way underneath him as the immensity of the day finally settled in. He had marched up a mountain, fought a dragon, survived and then run through an entire mountain range for an ungodly amount of time to escape pursuit and was now inside a boulder beyond the borders of the known world. He couldn’t remember the last time a day felt so long. His eyes closed, though he wasn’t sure if he had closed them or they had closed themselves from exhaustion.

When his eyes opened again it was to small rays of light shining through the little breathing holes he had left open. It seemed the sun had risen. Bleary eyed, he stretched and then massaged his shoulders, trying to work the knots out of his muscles. Adventure stories conveniently left out how often people had to sleep on the floor. He wished he had a bed, even if the bed was simply some leaves. At least the floor as smooth, without stones to dig into him as he slept.

In the half-dark of his shelter, his stomach grumbled. And food. He wished he had food. Sadly, he had neither. It grumbled again, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning. He sighed and touched the stone wall, creating an opening to the outside. Early afternoon light streamed in. Azrael looked up. The sun had already crested the top of the mountains. It was almost midday.

“The world does not exist before midday” he spoke with a bittersweet smile. It was a favoured saying of his late father’s. And what a world it was – unknown and untouched.

Above the jungle canopy birds fluttered, pips, whistles, singing and raucous cries filling the air with a dozen different bird songs. From somewhere underneath the foliage, hidden from his sight, there was heated screeching. Monkeys? Baboons? He wasn’t actually too sure how either of them sounded. The important thing was that there was wildlife, which meant both food and danger. He didn’t even care whether monkeys were actually edible. If it moved, it was food.

Extremely tempted by the prospect of food, Azrael summoned a stone dagger, pulling it into existence from his replenished mana pool and adding [Reinforcement]. Taking his first few steps down the scree slope to the jungle, a sudden shrill roar caught him by surprise causing him to almost slip. In his surprise he had locked up, the stone under his foot taking more weight than he had planned and slipping out from underneath him. He waved his hands wildly in an attempt to right himself.

Below the foliage the whistles, cries and screeches had suddenly fallen silent. There was the roar again, followed by a series of short high-pitched yips. A moment later there was a loud screech and then sudden silence as it was cut off. The silence was far more oppressive than the one before. Nothing and no-one, not even Azrael, dared break it. He stood there for several minutes, his dagger in his hand and his mana waiting at his fingertips.

It was only when a single brave bird dared to tentatively raise its voice, that the forest seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and sounds resumed. Azrael paused, gazing down upon the suddenly far more sinister jungle, as if hoping to see through the dense leaves. In his hand mana flowed into his dagger morphing it into a spear.

Swallowing his nervousness he resumed his journey into the unknown.