Gol's muscles tense as he swings a barkless stick against the trunk of a tree; The thwacking noise of wood on wood is accompanied by a chorus of dull thuds as everyone practices their swinging motions on trees of their own. The sleepless night gives way to dawn.

"It's time! Get to the fort!" Gol shouts.

Bright sunlight illuminates six skeletal figures stepping over the outer fence. Blue flames resembling souls take the place of eyes in their hollow sockets. Four of them carry swords and shields while two carry spears; Their metal weapons gleam in the sunlight.

"Oh my god..." Dar murmurs.

The memory of a skeletal being looming over him in his final moments flood Dar's mind; He's trembling as he remembers the otherworldly encounter he chalked up to trauma. Tack grabs his arm and pulls him along into the unfinished wooden fort.

Cara and Gol lift especially sturdy baskets of rocks up to the side of the fort, and start chucking stone at their skeletal adversaries. The frontmost soul seeker's skull is smashed to bits by a rock, and the other three bearing shields block the hail of stone. The spear wielders are protected by their more defense oriented comrades.

"Shit, they're blocking it." Gol curses.

"Just ditch the stones and get the heavy poles." Cara says firmly.

The group quickly arms themselves with sturdy barkless sticks, each one nearly as thick as a can of soda while being roughly as big as Gol's arm. The poles are heavy enough to cause damage comparable to a thrown stone.

"Try to gang up on the same on." Gol growls.

Gol leads the charge with a mighty swing of his staff, the skeleton's nirnum shield rings like a bell as he blocks the attack. Gol rubs his wrist while leaping away from a nirnum blade.

"Careful, that could've chopped your head clean off!" Nim snaps at Gol.

Gol sucks in a breath while stepping aside so Dar can join him in the fight. The frontmost soul seeker holds up its shield defensively while inching toward the humans. Gol gives Dar a grunt of acknowledgment; Dar understands his meaning.

The shield isn't capable of blocking two attacks at once, and they take advantage of that by striking opposite sides simultaneously. The skeleton's skull is shattered by Dar's weapon as Gol's attack clangs off its shield. The other skeletons try to engage, but their advances are halted by the other four humans attacks.

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Gol and Dar move in quickly to aid Tack's fight after seeing their opponent fall to the ground in a pile of blackening dust. Tack's sporting a few stab wounds on his shoulder, and blood stains his fern leaf tunic.

"Take a break, Tack! We've got this!" Gol shouts.

Gol and Dar sprint up on either side of Tack before swinging their weapons at the spear wielder responsible for Tack's wounds. The skeletal monster tries to stab Gol, but his attack goes wide.

Dar's weapon smashes the soul seeker's arm, while Gol's next attack smashes the thing's collar. Blackening dust signals its death as a soul seeker wielding a sword and shield switches targets to Dar.

"Watch out!" Gol shouts.

The warning isn't necessary, as the skeleton's off white skull shatters from Nim's attack. Dar looks a little pale, but quickly recovers.

The battle tips dramatically in the human's favor from that point on, albeit Col suffers a few stab wounds in much the same way Tack did. The soul seeker's tactics were inferior, yet Gol's group doesn't hesitate to come up with better strategies and prepare for an intense battle.

~

"Is this... Really happening?"

Cain flexes his muscles as if they're going to vanish any second, and the disbelief on his face betrays his thoughts to God. God's immense glowing body is blindingly bright, yet Cain feels no pain as he stares at his creator.

"W-Where am I?" Cain asks hesitantly.

God's iridescent light pulses with his divine thoughts, and Cain trembles slightly as he feels his creator's voice echo inside his own mind.

"You're in The Abyss. This is a place beneath the world." God says.

Cain blinks back tears as he feels his head aching from God's words; He gazes up at an immense expanse of rock dotted with black crystals.

"I have made a mistake, and for that I am sorry." God says in a somber tone.

The words don't make sense to Cain; He slaps his own face as if trying to snap himself out of a delusion. There's only light pain as he realizes this is actually happening.

"W-Why are you apologizing, Creator?" Cain asks weakly.

"Because, Cain, I unknowingly doomed you to fail." God says dryly.

Cain's eyes widen as he stares at the massive golden orb of energy from whence he was born; His preconceived notions are trembling before the word of his creator.

"God can make mistakes? There are things even you don't know?" Cain mutters faintly.

God is meant to be all knowing, all seeing, and all powerful, is he not? That is what a divine is in Cain's mind, and the concept was taught by none other than God himself.

"Yes, I can make mistakes." God confirms.

Cain's hands tremble slightly as he raises them, inspecting each line in his palm's skin. Realization dawns upon him, and he laughs while reflecting on how similar he and God really are. The laughing stops as he grips and tears at his own hair, screaming into the black void.

"Stop, Cain. I have brought you here to give you an opportunity." God interrupts.

Cain stops his insane outburst to take a few ragged breaths, and looks over at God's blinding body.

"What do you mean..?" Cain asks shakily.

There is a tense silence for several long moments.

"I'm giving you the choice to either reincarnate, or perish forever." God says dramatically.

Cain gets a faraway look in his eyes as the gears turn in his head, and then he breaks into a wide grin.

"Not much of a choice, is it? I'll reincarnate." Cain replies dryly.