By day, Haviskali was a busy town, scorched by the light of the red sun— hard, distinct and somewhat oppressive. At night however, the rules changed. The Eternal Light kept up the illumination, but the absence of the Sun overhead created a bizarre dichotomy, making it feel colder than it was. If not for the pubs and eateries and nightclubs, it’d have painted a grim picture that made people apprehensive about going out.

And then there were nights like this one, where the sky was covered with purplish fog, blurring and obscuring everything. High-rise buildings became ghostly, looming silhouettes. Streets seemed to grow more narrow in the fog, every thoroughfare becoming a lonely, dangerous highway. The cafeterias were closed, the pubs and diners sealed and locked, with the common folk already retreated into the safety of their homes by sundown, save the foolhardy and the desperate. Even the watchers weren’t out tonight, unwilling to face the foreboding, misty silence.

This was a night of the mysterious and the strange.

People like us, Lukas thought, standing upon the empty Otamba Bridge, overlooking the town below. They were supposed to head for the Zwaray Keep tonight, but Tanya had some errands to take care of, so he had opted to take a tour of the town by himself.

A cold breeze slipped across the metallic construct, brushing against his fog-wetted cheek like an exhaled frosty breath.

“How did I know I’d find you here?” asked an amused, feminine voice.

“Maybe because we had our date here two days ago and you knew I’d miss you?”

Tanya chuckled, and stepped up next to him. Lukas studied her profile. Her hair, normally restrained in a messy bun or ponytail, now hung free over her back, her golden curls emitting a soft, ethereal luminescence that was every bit eerie as it was beautiful. At the same time, it was a sharp contrast to the feral-looking thing she had been in the anomaly, lean and hyperalert, her eyes trying to watch the whole world at once.

“You look… different,” He said, “Don’t tell me a visit to the salon was the errand you mentioned.”

Tanya arched an eyebrow. “It was, actually. Who knows how many days we’re gonna be stuck in this new shithole. At least I’m going in style.”

Lukas snorted.

She grinned briefly. “There’s also… something about the fog. It beckons me. Makes me feel… less taut. Unrestrained.” At his look, she quickly added, “not like the Frost, but you get what I mean.”

He did. Her eyes had gained a slight icy sheen, reminding him of the Frost Queen that tried to kill him before Inanna’s timely intervention.

Even now, Inanna’s spell held her back.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Her voice carried over the fog. “Very few people have the ability to stomach this fog. Most stay indoors, and those that don’t, they fear the things that come during it.”

There was a strange confidence in her tone that Lukas certainly didn’t share.

“What things?”

“Wraiths. Nameless things. Shades left behind by curses. The kind of thing the Empire tells you doesn’t exist.”

Lukas felt a shudder go down his spine. He had dealt with some pretty bad shit ever since he had been dropped in this world, and his episode with Solana’s ilk definitely topped the list of mind-bending events. He could live with siphoning other monsters and allowing them to possess him. He could stare down predators and angry goddesses and pretty much everyone else. But there was something utterly violating about that initial attempt at possession— that one moment when his body had ceased to be his own, and his mind trapped in an infinite hollowness still gave him nightmares.

It was why despite how much he smiled at Solana or how comfortable he became in her presence, he never allowed himself to forget that he was dealing with a demon.

“Lukas?”

“Uh,” He began, “... those are real?”

He had always stayed firm on his ‘apparent’ lack of knowledge about yokai. It drove Olfric crazy.

“As real as you and me,” She said. “Most people are afraid of them. You should see how bad it becomes during the Black Moon. People literally lock themselves indoors for the entire month, fearing something would catch them, devour their soul and steal their skin for their own.”

That… was a surprisingly accurate description for Solana. She had described herself as a skinwalker, or as the native term went— a yosuzume. An indescribable, soul-twisting, skin-stealing parasite that wore the flesh of a young, black-haired girl in her twenties.

Even thinking about it made his insides churn.

“How does that help? I mean—”

“We have a system called Kanso, a science that employs storage and redirection of Eternal Light in appropriate directions to cast a spiritual barrier around one’s home. The stone walls absorb the power throughout the year, and channel the energy when such a situation presents itself.”

“But there isn’t a Black Moon around.”

“No but there are nights like tonight, when the Barrier between worlds is weaker than usual. It’s what causes the fog to pass in through.”

“Something tells me the svartalfars didn’t choose tonight on a whim.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Tanya eyed him. “True. The weaker the barrier, the less energy is required to open a Well to the borderland. Svartalfars are all about efficiency.”

“Speaking of efficiency, what happened to our third member?”

Tanya snorted. “Zuken didn’t let him come. Without a kami, entering a borderland is suicide. Besides, all transport ceased by sundown, and he won’t get out in the fog.”

“No transport huh? Guess people are really freaked out by this stuff.” He glanced up at the dark sky, the fog moving around like a living thing. Maybe it even was, for all he knew.

“You know,” He chuckled, strangely nostalgic. “Back in my world, I made a living writing fictional tales about apocalyptic ends of the world. It’s—”

He paused at her stupefied expression.

“...What?”

“... Why would you willingly author tales that inspire dread in others?”

Lukas wondered what Tanya would think of Koontz or Stephen King. “There’s a saying back in my world. Nothing sells like dread. Maybe it's the adrenaline rush, or about exploring the dark side, or… the appeal of shadows. People love it. It’s…” He paused, gathering his thoughts. “It’s like this fog. People fear it, and so it creates rumors and myths. And from them come stories.”

“Weird,” Tanya made a sour face. “I thought you were a student of diplomacy.”

“I was,” He said, “This wasn’t my profession, per se. This was just something I did to pay my bills, while I was finishing my education. But then other stuff happened, and I found myself inside that underground cave.”

“And you desire to be a bard of such abominations?”

Lukas felt amused at the tautness in her tone.

“Uh, I wouldn’t mind doing it. It’d be a nice retreat from the constant excitement.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

Tanya’s frown had devolved into an open scowl. “You have power and potential like few have tasted, yet you speak of an ordinary— no, a ludicrously pedestrian life. I mean, sometimes I wonder if you’re a natural liar or just… delusional.”

"Maybe neither. Maybe both." Her irritation sent a rush of pleasure through him. Was this why Inanna enjoyed doing this so much? Being irritatingly cryptic was an art, one that you generally got better at with age.

“So, err… no transport. How are we going to get to the Keep?”

“I don’t know about us, but I could obviously fly my way over.” She gave him her best condescending leer. “You’d need to chase after me, I suppose. All that lifeforce should get you sprinting at decent speed.”

Lukas smiled. “I might surprise you. Just keep looking.”

Tanya arched an eyebrow. “I’m watching.”

Lukas smiled, but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he focussed inward.

Activating Monster Prototype Svartalfar

Initiating Consciousness Shift

Enact

And Hreidmar’s instincts took over.

His body began to warm up, and lifeforce rose within. But that was not all. The feeling of being a creature deeply connected to the terrain, to the bonds between all matter, and the feeling that every material force, including gravity was his to play with, while retaining an instinct that was calmer and infinitely more rational than himself felt… unsettling. The closest similarity he could draw was when he had used Shatterpoint Intuition for the first time, but he had to use Tachypsychia to vastly increase his perception and keep up with the thoggua’s instincts.

The svartalfar prototype needed no such thing. Instead, his senses went blank, replaced with trajectories and strings. Instead, a layer of what could only be ‘anti-friction’ formed around him, isolating him from the world around, except for his feet, to get him the necessary solidarity with the ground and not lose his balance. Hreidmar’s power lay in subtlety, in understanding the bonds and the interactive forces between all material objects. If Inanna’s kinetomancy was like a hurricane, using the ocean itself and twisting it to one’s whim, then Hreidmar’s technique was like a ship, playing the natural forces against each other while maintaining oneself afloat in a stormy ocean.

He almost felt bad that such a unique and industrious creature met his end in such a crude way, stuck between the raging fires ascending from below and the invisible barrier halting his escape from every other side.

And now he had his skills. His technique, his instinct and his legacy. In effect, every creature he killed left him their skills. Inanna had called him a leech, one that stole skills from others. And if he was going to be a leech, then he was going to be the greatest leech ever. He would combine it with Kinetomancy, to become both the surfer that rides an angry tide, and the ocean that raises those tides in the first place. He would combine it with Shatterpoint Intuition to travel along the most efficient trajectory lines to achieve the best result with minimum effort.

He had killed the seidmadr. It was only fitting that he became the one to take his place.

But until he reached that level, he would have to keep trying. Again and again. Again and again.

Lukas watched the rock chips on the floor. Unmoving. Completely uncaring about what was about to happen. Taunting him. Daring him.

“Well?” Tanya asked, impatient.

Lukas bent down, winked at her and jumped.

With a soft whoosh, he shot upward at the velvety night sky. The wind sandblasted against his face, but the force behind it was missing. That, or the layer of ‘anti-friction’ was deflecting it away, reducing them to hollow flaps that kissed his face. Before he knew it, the ground and Tanya had gotten lost amidst the purple swirls. He felt the inexorable call of gravity from beneath, and suppressed the urge to throw lifeforce at it. He realized it was Alpha Condition trying to snatch the control back from Hreidmar, and for the first time, Lukas fought.

And surrendered.

He didn’t want to shoot lifeforce out. The trick was to float, to glide, to use gravity’s power against itself. He needed to spread himself out, like a bird did with its wings, and fly.

And fly he did. For a few moments, there was no doubt,no terror of losing control and falling to his death. Not even the sound of the racing wind. Just the soft feeling of the fog, the growing numbness of his limbs as the temperature began to fall sharply with every passing second of his ascent. In a paradox of self-awareness, Lukas sensed that this was death. But he felt glad for it. He allowed the drifting numbness to possess him entirely. He let it carry him wherever it was he would go. What was happening to him, he did not know.

Deactivating Monster Prototype

What? NO—

Reverting Consciousness Shift to PRIME HOST

Enact

The anti-friction flickered out, and Lukas Aguilar plummeted downwards to the ground.