There wasn’t even a whisper to be heard in the mountains. Nico and Gen moved with care and kept their mouths shut. Each step was a gamble for running into some deadly encounter.

The hours ticked by, and each empty one made Nico feel worse. His mind was filled with possibilities of how the next monster would gruesomely kill them, yet nothing appeared to make those fantasies a reality. The slopes of the mountains were barren. Soon, they ended. Nico didn’t notice until his foot splashed right into the river.

The sudden noise sent jolts through his body, and he reeled back, pointing Whispering Reed forward. Nothing. The river water rippled and flattened to a mirror.

There was a soft current, and the river bed was made of black silt that matched the color of the Aureus Guardian. Nico lingered momentarily before slowly pulling his foot out of the water.

‘The forest is on the other side,’ Nico glanced at Gen and then at the water. ‘Should we risk it?’

Nico pointed at himself and then at the water. It was a primitive way to communicate, but Gen understood the gesture and shrugged, dismissing his armor. His answer was clear. ‘Do you have a better option?’

Nico waded out, his feet sinking into the silt. The water rose to his waist, then his neck. Calming down, he kicked off the ground and glided through the water. He did not dare raise his arms above the water. Each stroke was minuscule but created deafening sounds in the constant silence.

The fog was just as thick over the river as in the mountains. Nico looked back several times to make sure Gen was still behind him. During one such distracted moment, something brushed against his foot. Nico flipped out, using every bit of will to keep himself from screaming in terror.

The splash echoed over the river. There was no movement. Nico looked down and saw plant-like things under the fractured water. He dunked his head to clear his sight.

‘That’s not good.’ Nico was already expecting it, but seeing it was different. They were floating above a short forest of aquatic vines that swayed with the currents they made. Tangled in with the plants were white bones, many of which were human.

Nico reached out to pull Gen away, but his hand met empty air. ‘I looked away for one second!’ Nico spotted Gen’s sinking figure and dove down.

A myriad of enigmatic voices whispered into his ear. The stems coiled around Gen’s legs, pulling him deeper despite his efforts to break free. Nico kicked harder, but he was too slow to stop the plants. Even worse, they were starting to wrap around him as well.

The arms originated from central disks, each with four other arms, like thin stars. Nico grabbed the stems, and the voices became clearer.

‘Food, food, food. Wonderful food. Starving, starving. Bad water.’ Ignoring his sudden understanding, he brought Whispering Reed close to one of the stems and cut the arm off. The voice became distant again, and Nico began cutting his way through the forest. Below the water, he couldn’t generate the force to swing and had to get intimate with each plant to break free.

‘Damnit.’ Nico strained and felt his grip loosen. His copper sword drifted from his hand into the forest. The vines continued to wrap around him and pulled him closer to their bodies.

Nico grabbed one vine in a surge of motion and concentrated. There was little light in the water. Food had become scarce, and everyone awaited the return of the Black Wave. With the Wave came power. They had grown stronger and fed off the fish in the river. But the supply ran thin, and many beasts followed the Wave back. They could not move and were thus left to starve.

‘There’s food…’ A body floated between the creatures, struggling in vain to swim free. ‘Feed.’ They went into a frenzy, each trying to take the food. However, one was faster, diligently tangling the others with each other and snatching the food away.

‘Feed.’ The food’s movements were sluggish and failing. ‘Feed… Feed?’ Something was wrong. It was unexplainable but apparent. This was not food. ‘I’m… not feeding?’

The stems rose, lifting the boy up above the water. ‘I’m not a beast.’

Nico gasped for air, the foreign instincts gone. His sight returned, and he shook his head, trying to orient himself. ‘I’m me…’ Nico slapped himself, trying to eliminate the residual instincts. Instead of getting air, Nico inhaled a mouthful of water. He spat out and pulled on the stem, which dragged him under.

‘Let me go!’ he roared. Backstabber sparkled into existence, and Nico kicked the blade into the plant’s body. The voice shrieked and let go, but it did not matter. Nico was surrounded by hundreds of stems.

‘I am Nico. I am Nico!’ playing the thought through his head, Nico felt around for his scythe. His arms coiled around the shaft, and he swung the weapon with newfound strength. Wails of fear and pain echoed in his mind, and Nico was assaulted by the feeling of his arms being cut off. He tried to gag, but his body wasn’t human. His mind spasmed, and Nico writhed in pain.

‘I’m Nico. I’m human!’ Nico found Whispering Reed, pulled it towards him, and impaled the nearest plant. The sweet sing of the spell gave him some reprieve from the sudden pain.

[You have slain Fallen beast Ghouled Crinoid]

[A soul was offered.]

Nico yanked the sword out and paused, sensing the ripples. He skewered another beast and another, his movement becoming butchery as he cleared out all the beasts within his reach.

[You have slain…]

[You have received…]

Nico stretched, trying to reach for another kill. ‘Food!’ He dragged the corpses to his mouth and fed on them. An unknown amount of time passed as Nico devoured his brethren, becoming a rabid madman.

[A soul was sacrificed.]

Nico choked and gagged on water and plant matter. ‘What the hell?’ He didn’t examine the scene he left and swam to the surface.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

‘Crap.’ Nico pulled Gen’s lifeless body along and let out an exhilarated breath when he felt silt under his feet. Gen was as still as a corpse.

Nico flipped him over to drain the water from his mouth and flipped him again to his back. He overlapped his hands and put his weight on Gen’s chest, counting each push. Thankfully, Gen only needed a few pounds before he came to life, inhaling like it was the first time he tasted air and then falling into a coughing fit. Nico didn’t know what he’d do if he needed to continue trying to resuscitate him.

Gen sat up and wiped his mouth in horror, swatting Nico away like he was unclean and needed to be kept away.

Nico grinned. “Have you never kissed anyone before?” He asked. Gen’s cheeks turned bright red, and he quickly looked away. Nico laughed hysterically until his stomach felt like it was going to burst.

Wiping away a tear, Nico summoned his runes to read, allowing Gen time to recover from the monumental embarrassment.

[Ghouled Pentad] [A beast once docile and small was touched by darkness and grew to devour everything in the river.]

‘This is dangerous.’ Nico flexed and felt new strength in him. His stint as a beast of the river was rewarding. However, he was hesitant to try again. His mind was not his own when he merged. In fact, he still felt a vestige of the plant’s hunger and instincts.

Nico summoned the echo. A tall, stalk-like body manifested, easily two meters tall, with long arms and a star-shaped head. The arms wriggled like snakes hung by their tails. Nico summoned his sword and cut the echo’s arm off.

‘Nothing.’ Nico dismissed the echo before Gen got heroic and crossed his legs. The pain was still fresh, and Nico’s arms felt raw. What was worse was his chest. ‘I could not merge with the Aureus, nor did I feel its pain.’ The events puzzled him as he slowly pieced together an answer. Embroiled Empathy made him feel the pain and emotions of those around him. ‘It’s not only people but nightmare creatures as well.’

The Pentad was a beast, only having one core. Nico was a human with a dormant core. Nico’s ability fuses souls. It let him fuse the Pentad with him despite the difference in rank. ‘The Aureus was a monster with two cores. The birds were beasts with one.’ Nico found the pattern. ‘What I can merge corresponds to the number of cores or souls. I didn’t merge with the Aureus since it had an extra soul. My flaw reacts to what kind of soul I have. When I was a pentad, I felt others’ pain.

Nico’s hands shook, and he couldn’t stop the massive grin crawling on his face. ‘If rank doesn’t matter, couldn’t I theoretically merge with an unholy beast?’ Nico felt stupid for calling his aspect stupid before. His aspect was simple right now, but what about when he awakened? Ascended? ‘Watch out Rio, I’m coming up.’

“Let’s never speak about this, ever,” Gen interrupted Nico’s thoughts.

“It’s only a secret if one person knows about it. When there’s two, it’s information.”

“How about I kill you now?” Nico was too groggy to understand Gen’s threat and hummed a tune.

Smooth rocks crunched under Nico’s feet as he approached the trees. Unlike the Pentads, the trees didn’t give him any feelings. “Normal trees. Maybe.” Normal was not a word to be used in the Dream realm.

The air was cold, a departure from the warm fog. Nico took a slow step back from the trees, and goosebumps rose all over his body. ‘Leave exploring for later,’ he thought.

They looked good for a pair that drowned not too long ago and traveled along the rocks, keeping away from the forest and the river.

The trees near the edge of the forest stood like desolate towers, lacking the lush leaves of the others. Nico snapped his head forward, sensing another sensation in his head. ‘Humans.’

Before long, a wall emerged from the dissipating fog. An entire village rested above the river, and Nico felt numerous thoughts there.

Shane moved through the streets like a ghost, dodging and weaving without breaking a sweat. The feat was astounding, considering the sheer size of the city’s population. The Southern Australian Seige capital was one of the largest cities with the most awakened, second only to NQSC.

The city’s architecture made use of almost every meter, with building complexes looking like mountains and thin nexuses of roads lining each one. The people of SASC were jovial despite the crowded life, and Shane found their company pleasant.

However, even their joy would waver when gates appeared. As Shane got closer to his destination, people were not laughing and hurriedly shouting to evacuate the area. Their smiles were gone, but they did not panic and followed protocol.

Shane would not thank the spell, but he was a little grateful for the sudden gate’s appearance, which provided him with an escape from the drab meetings. ‘How long has it been?’ Shane dreamily wondered. Rio had been out of touch for a week and would be for many more. Gwen was her busy, no-nonsense self, leaving Shane alone to wallow in paperwork.

“I’m not supposed to be in meetings. What happened to making a legend for myself?” Shane pitied himself and straightened. He stood stiff in front of empty air and waited.

A whirlwind of flames spun in his hands, becoming a lustering rifle. A pouch appeared from white sparks, and Shane pulled out several bullets. Given their ineffectiveness, it was unconventional for an awakened to use a gun. Bullets could not compare to the power of awakened with swords. But swords still followed physics. Bullets were powerful if shot fast enough and made from strong enough material.

Shane loved the rush he got from loading his bullets and watched as the fabric of space ripped apart. He was a hundred meters away.

Shane unleashed hell before the first nightmare creature stepped out of the gate. Seven bullets tore through the monsters, blowing through body after body. It was a mercy to immediately die. The ones that managed to survive felt a corrosive force eat away at them from the insides, swiftly burning through their bodies to their hearts and brains.

[You have slain…] ‘Category 1 or 2’ Shane placed his bets and fired another volley more than five seconds after the first shot. ‘There you are.’ Shane loaded only one bullet next and took time to aim. Shane condensed his essence and sent the carved bone flying. The bullet whizzed through the monster’s threading the needle into the back of the horde.

[You have slain Awakened Devil…] The gate wavered and started to close, cutting the few stragglers in half.

The momentum of the nightmare creatures that made it out stopped, and Shane swiftly moved, bashing one’s head in with the barrel of his gun. He loaded a bullet and fired through multiple others.

Shane breathed, calmly counting. “That’s a personal record.’ Shane congratulated himself and wiped the blood from his gun. ‘It was category 1.’

“There a reason you didn’t help?” Shane glanced at the bloodied road and picked up a golden root from one of the bodies. “When did you get to Australia?”

“This fragment hitched a ride on you,” the root said in Shane’s mind. Shane’s mouth twitched, and he contemplated crushing the root.

“Can I assume you’re the reason I’m here listening to bureaucrats bicker?”

“I am the one who assigned you here, but not for that reason. You have bigger fish to hunt.”

“Oh? I’m listening.”

“Your friend Kendricks has gone…AWOL.”

“Seriously?”

“I thought that would warrant more of a reaction. I feel sorry for Kendricks.”

“We all like sticking it to authority. It’s easy to think of a reason. He’ll turn up when he wants to.”

“All jokes aside, I’m trying to prevent another Scarlet Sky incident. If you can handle your old Cohort I’ ---” Shane crushed the root.

‘What’s gotten into everybody?’ Shane mused somberly.