Sydney awoke with the feeling of a warm liquid trickling down her face.

“Gah!” She yelled before shielding her face, suddenly very aware her mouth had been hanging open.

The liquid continued to flow, and it took a moment for Sydney’s eyes to adjust to the dim light of wherever she was.

“Stop squirming Sydney, your body needs to recharge.” A raspy voice said from beside her.

Her eyes gradually adjusted, revealing the ugly hag standing next to her in a surprisingly modern looking home.

“Where am I?” She croaked, her throat still raw from the lack of water.

“This is my house, well technically this is my bathroom.” The hag explained.

Sydney smacked her dry lips and examined the Victorian style bathroom. It looked identical to an old house listing she saw a couple years ago, complete with a curvy, porcelain bathtub that Sydney was currently submerged in. Only then did she notice that her clothes were gone, and she was completely naked in a tub of opaque red liquid. She attempted to lift herself out, but only managed to cause a small ripple. She cast a glare at the witch.

“Why am I naked, and why the hell does your house look like it came straight off a retail commercial?”

Uglecia glanced around with an interested expression. “My house doesn’t look the same for everyone, but I can’t lie, this configuration is quite acceptable. As for why you’re naked, what else was I supposed to do? You smelled like a corpse.”

“Yeah and who’s fault is that?” Sydney grumbled.

The hag just shrugged in response before giving her a toothless grin. “I might be old, but even I enjoy a harmless prank from time to time.”

That got Sydney’s attention. She growled in disbelief and tried to wrench herself from the tub again, still achieving nothing. “The hell do you mean a prank? I sat out there for days!” She shouted.

Uglecia cackled at her outburst before patting her on the head.

“Calm down Sydney, I was just joking. Who knew kids these days were so sensitive?”

She chuckled to herself again and then dipped her hand into the red liquid. Soon after, the contents began to roil with energy. “Just rest for now, the enchanted blood will make you even better than before, plus it will prepare you for what comes next.” She explained.

Sydney began to suspiciously eye the tub she lied in, worried that she might contract some sort of ancient disease from the disgusting liquid.

“I wouldn’t be worried about the blood young lady, that’s supposed to help you deal with the pain. I would be more concerned about what else I’m going to put in the tub.” The hag giggled.

Fear crossed Sydney’s expression before she quickly schooled it. This bitch has a screw loose. She thought.

“Do your worst, if I can deal with being a treated like a lab rat for months, or being pissed on by some old cow for a couple days, then I can deal with a crappy bath.”

Cruel humor entered the hag’s filmy eyes as she began pulling a series of items from her robes.

“We’ll see missy.”

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Uglecia watched as the girl’s body continued to convulse despite her having passed out hours beforehand.

Sydney had been able to stomach the pain for the first few ingredients, but after the fourth acid sac of a tier six monster, she hadn’t been able to hold on. The hag had been forced to put a gag into Sydney’s mouth to stop her from biting her tongue too.

Finally, Uglecia went to grab the last ingredient for the now dark orange solution: Class S tears of a spirit beast. She reached a wrinkled purple hand into the pocket of her ratty dress, drawing out a small clear vial. She had collected the tears a few days ago, after she had cried laughing at Sydney’s ashamed face from soiling herself. She smirked at the memory and emptied the vial into the tub, causing the entire solution to turn a pale yellow.

Sydney’s convulsions began to slow shortly after, and before long, she roused from her state of unconsciousness. Her mouth opened and shut slowly while her eyes lulled around, unseeing. Uglecia clicked her tongue knowingly.

“Well, I must say I am impressed Sydney! To think you were able to keep enough of your wits to wake up after all! I must say, I honestly thought you would just become apart of my famous gumbo after not waking up.”

She leaned forward, inspecting the girl’s expressionless face. “Maybe I spoke too soon… Perhaps I can make a vegetable stew?”

The hag laughed at her own joke before fishing one of the girl’s hands out of the tub. She inched it toward her open mouth, only to find an overwhelming urge to stop right before it touched her lips. Uglecia grunted in mild disappointment before returning the hand to its owner.

“Well I suppose that means the covenant is still in effect. I guess it’s not like she has to be fully conscious to touch the eye anyway.”

The hag closed her eyes and muttered a spell. Next, she reached out blindly, pawing through the air. After a few swipes, her hand landed on a pocket of solid air, invisible to the naked eye. Finally, she reached inside the pocket and retrieved a fist sized, multifaceted crystal. The light bounced off it from various angles, causing rainbow glares to permeate the room.

Had Seth looked upon the crystal with True Sight, he would have been resoundingly disappointed to find absolutely zero energy emanating from the crystal. But to someone like Uglecia, a being of natural spirit energy, the crystal was completely blinding.

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The Vlene Eye was an artifact created long before Uglecia was born, and she was sure it would persist long after she was gone. The raw power coming off of the crystal was wrought of more than just simple dimensional energy. Instead, it was the source of a different kind of energy, one that was so rare that there was no known title for it. Uglecia knew this, so she decided to define the power as Lic Spirit.

The Vlene Eye had so much of the Lic Spirit, that Uglecia herself had reached heights unknown to most shapers. She had attained much from the crystal, but it all came at a certain price, the likes of which she was repaying right now by allowing Sydney to bathe with the eye.

The hag blindly made her way back to the tub, assuring with her free hand that she was facing the correct way. “Alright missy, let’s see if you have what it takes.” She mumbled to herself before submerging the crystal into the pale solution.

After she retracted her hands from the tub, Uglecia cracked her eyes open, weary of the blinding light. She was satisfied to find the light greatly diminished, most of it diffusing through the thick, opaque liquid. The hag watched with bated breath as the Lic Spirit mixed through Uglecia’s home brew, coating Syndey’s entire body in rainbow energy.

The witch carefully pushed Sydney’s head under the solution, making sure not to touch the liquid directly. After she was fully submerged, Uglecia stepped back, aware of what would happen next. With a large scale rush of dimensional energy also being drawn into the tub, the hag rubbed her hands together with glee as she watched the forced fate transfiguration occur.

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Seth would not stop running.

No matter how ragged his breathing, or how much his legs and body begged him to rest, Seth would not allow himself to stop. The bonus challenge had been much more complicated than any of the participants could have imagined. After the glass boxes fell away and the race started, it had been a bloodbath, with all participants throwing every non-offensive ability at each other nonstop.

Creativity had become a staple of the race, making the entire challenge a contest of “How can I make this defensive ability lethal?”

Seth didn’t realize how effective shields were as projectiles until he was slapped into the pavement by a conjured version of a platinum kite shield. Not only did he receive a huge loss of brain cells by the attack, but he was almost flung off the narrow lane before the real race even started.

Luckily, Seth hadn’t been hit with anything more serious since then, but the attacks hadn’t ceased. Seth was still dodging stray projectiles, and the thick earthen walls Ty put up every few seconds made the race progress slowly. As time passed and the initial storm of attacks ceased, everyone had finally started gaining ground against each other, allowing the true race to begin.

It all started when Remus, the one he thought would have the hardest time because of the target placed on him in first, had blown Seth out of the water after getting down on all fours and wreathing himself in flame.

“How wonderful! A challenge that brings me back to my time as a little cub, racing through the woods on a glorious hunt!” He roared aloud before launching himself forward with the force of a rocket.

After seeing him go, every other participant including Seth had instantly stopped fighting and begun chasing after him. It was good in a way, because it meant less obstacles and attacks would come for Seth, but also bad, because Seth didn’t think he would be able to match the lion’s pace.

So while everyone else was distracted with Remus, Seth took it upon himself to create his own advantage. Quick as lightning, he released some of the red mist from his body and coated himself in a thin veil of illusions. It wasn’t his best work, but he also didn’t have the time to weave a complete camouflage for himself. As the illusion formed, Seth also activated Specter State, as his plan was to maximize all of his stealth abilities in order to focus on speed.

Although it only took a matter of seconds to weave the illusion and activate his ability, Seth noticed that he was not the only one setting up an advantage. In less than a second, his eyes flicked to each participant multiple times, absorbing the numerous bursts of energy that started to emerge from each of them. As Remus began to gain ground ahead of the pack, every participant also let loose, gaining all sorts of random powerups.

A pair of angelic wings burst from the princess’s back, causing her to fly forward at a speed comparable to Remus.

Eminence, a short Asian man dressed in black light armor, seemed to be stringing together large swaths of shadows, building something larger than himself.

Nigel, a boy covered in what looked like mercury, had also already begun chasing after Remus and the princess, moving surprisingly fast despite the liquid he was engulfed in.

Ty was hanging back like Eminence, a slight gold glow beginning to grow across his body.

Something told Seth that the two in the back would have no problems catching up, so instead of lingering any longer, he took off at a full sprint, his augmented body launching himself forward like a bullet.

Unbeknownst to Seth and the others, the secret challenge of the race was about to begin.

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As hours passed and participants began to fade from view, the lanes had branched off, causing Seth to be left alone with only the lane in front of him to accompany his thoughts.

He would have been happy for this change, as it allowed him to drop his illusion and conserve his energy, but instead something else had become apparent: The race was beginning to feel like much more than twenty four hours.

Seth didn’t have access to his menu any longer, causing him to quickly lose track of time, and even worse, the leaderboard had disappeared the moment the lanes branched. Originally, he had decided to just push through the unease, as the race had a limited amount of time, so it wasn’t impossible that the race was actually a matter of how far he could get on the track. This train of thought was also supported by one of the rules of the challenge, which detailed that the participant to get the farthest would be the winner in the case no one reached the finish.

This was all well and good, but as Seth’s legs pumped and his breathing quickened, he slowly began to worry. Although he had decided to just run it out and get as far as he could, Seth couldn’t help but wonder if he was actually going anywhere.

The feeling of unease continued to gnaw at him, making him second guess himself and the challenge.

What if there’s a catch?

Was I supposed to do something in particular?

Should I even be running this way, or should I double back?

What if the others already figured it out?

Am I just wasting energy?

Am I in last?

These thoughts and more plagued him for what felt like hours. It didn’t take long before his throat became so parched that each labored breath itched painfully and despite his superhuman endurance, exhaustion had begun to claw at his limbs as well.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, Seth’s body could no longer take the constant exertion, and he collapsed onto the rough, shadowy lane. Sweat coated his entire body, having already soaked completely through his fatigues. He would’ve already put them away, but without access to his cache, he was left with no choice but to wear them. His body was racked with fatigue, and he couldn’t help but choke because of his constricted throat.

He sluggishly moved onto all fours, his body dry heaving instinctively. Seth knew he had to keep running, but his body was completely wrung of energy. He quickly decided to rest for just a few minutes and let his body be reinvigorated by the ambient dimensional energy. He wanted to do more, perhaps calm his mind and meditate to provide an extra release, but the thirst and hunger was all encompassing.

It had gotten so bad that the whispers that usually plagued him were nowhere to be found. The break lasted what he estimated to be five minutes, and afterward, his energy was restored to around halfway. It was truly a wonder how fast his augmented body recovered.

Unfortunately, running at full speed costed more energy than even his body could restore consistently.

Because of this difference in expenditure, Seth had to stop thirteen more times before the leaderboard finally emerged from the darkness, along with the other lanes.