You would never think that someone could develop a disliking for leaves, until you spent even a fifth of the time Koa had, trying to keep one of the damn things levitating.
In the Durations that had followed, his personal best time had been twenty minutes straight when moving, and two hours when stationary. Apparently, you could condition yourself into activating your Mark whilst asleep, and that perhaps would have assisted in quickening the rate of his Mark mastery, if it was not for the fact that when the time came to drift asleep, his mind was far too fatigued for any subconscious shenanigans. It only seemed logical after all, activating your Mark every waking second would do that to you.
It was the dawn of another lacklustre, monotonous day of travelling. Elmore had dragged both Koa and Ash all the way to the mountains of Territory Eight, which the looming silhouettes of made dark shadows on the material of their tent. They were on the verge of packing up for another few hours of mindless strolling, hoping to slip into the Flame Territory before the next few days came and went. Likely, Remus and Violet would have already departed, or would be within the Duration, and that alone was enough to motivate the group to hurry on.
Or at least, two thirds of it. Koa hadn’t even started on his breakfast of eggs, and his brother and Elmore were already bickering. He was still in his own personal tent, but their voices were so irritatingly loud, he didn’t even have to try to eavesdrop.
“Could you for once listen to me?” Elmore pleaded, his food likely cold after the shouting match that had preoccupied his mouth for the last ten minutes. “Must we go through this nagging routine everyday?”
Ash slapped the yoke of his egg with his cutlery in aggressive, sloppy movements. “First it was that damn swamp, and now this mountain range. It's been entire Passings at this point, why don’t we just take the most direct route out of Hybrid and head home from there?”
“Because that would require us to give up on a task handed to us by Juniper herself! Gods above Ash, you must be the only one in our entire sect who would discard such an opportunity so readily. Don’t you want to make The Wild Sect proud?”
“Not particularly, no.”
More insistent shouts, consisting of more noise than they did reason, and Koa groaned. Concentrating on the leaf hovering above his shoulder, he turned an hourglass at his side. One hour down, he thought to himself, the sound of scattering footsteps informing him that the two had finally gotten sick of each other.
Elmore popped his head through the flap of Koa’s tent, very nearly sending the poor boy into cardiac arrest. In the shock of it all, his leaf plummeted.
“Can you believe the gall of your brother?” The Emblazed muttered, sounding innocently unaware of the hour of hard work he had just put to waste.
Koa closed his eyes, set his face into a stern scrunch, and flipped the hourglass back over, the leaf now returned to floating near his cousin’s invading presence. “Could you be a little less sudden with your appearances, please.”
Elmore’s eyes darted from him, to the leaf, to the depleting sand within its glass prison. “Apologies. We’re leaving now, so you would’ve had to restart anyway, if that helps.”
It did, admittedly, though only to the extent that a drop of water can settle a freshly-acquired burn. “It's fine. Is Ash ready?”
At the mere mention of his cousin’s name, Elmore scowled. “Ran off somewhere, most likely. Come and help me find him.”
Koa had become exhausted with this morning routine of hide-and-seek, but pushed his grievances deep down in favour of getting it over and done with.
The two of them searched in opposite directions, and Koa took advantage of the extra time to merely walk around, and mull his thoughts over. The leaf rose swiftly now, and high up above into the brooding skies, choked full of gathering, blackish clouds. A storm was soon stirring, sure to send battering rounds of rain to strike the target of his will downwards, but for now — free from the extra burden of any bulky luggage — he found his control over the frond to be more precise than ever. Exhibiting his commands was as simple as breathing, and knowing full well he’d have to discard the leaf to gather his belongings, Koa decided to test his limits.
How effective had all of this training really been? With a flicker of the hand, Koa centralised all his focus on one central intention: grow.
Around his feet, reeds spurted, reaching up to his waist. The trees to the side extended a few noticeable feet, swaying dangerously, as if on the verge of collapse. These however, whilst undoubtedly more than he was able to perform before, might as well have been mere drops in the pool of his potential. Which, if Koa truly pushed himself to his extreme limits, would run dry within the next few moments.
Roots bursted from the hovering leaf with the sound of cut steel, extended outwards in long, wooden tendrils. They struck the soily ground, embedding their ends, and serving as the fertile bases for yet more constructs of nature. Trees erupted into existence in a strange formation; bushes blocked his view of anything past his personal wall of greenery, and Koa was forced to step back, controlling fingers of oak spiking towards the skies.
Koa dropped to the ground, his legs apparently surrendering to exhaustion regardless of his opinion on the matter, and he sat there for a long while, heaving, but managing to resist the urge to retch.
“Whoo.” A voice called out from the side.
Flinching, Koa glanced upwards, catching sight of Ash strolling casually into view. Getting to his feet, Koa found himself re-energised with no other fuel than hot, surfacing annoyance.
“W-where were you?” He panted, gripping his stomach.
Before his brother could respond, Elmore dashed into view. “I heard loud noises, is everything-”
His eyes widened, his posture softening. In a slow, silent turn, he observed the jumble of plantage too disorganised to be naturally-forming.
Finally, Elmore’s eyes settled onto Ash, twinkling with pride. “There we go, some hard-earned progress at last!”
Koa stood rigidly, as Elmore put a hand on his shoulder, beaming. “All of this must’ve done a number on you. Forget about training today and rest, you deserve it.”
His cousin turned to Ash, a vicarious smugness playing on his features. “See Ash? This is what happens when you pin hard work against talent. Your brother here is sure to reach Emblazed any day now, and then you won’t be the special little newborn of our clan any longer. I knew there was some justice in this world after all, I just needed a reminder . . .”
Unsure of what to think about those remarks, Koa didn’t even have time to process the realisation that he was close to advancing a Rank, when Ash’s face rivalled Elmore with equal arrogance.
If Koa had learned anything over his time knowing his brother, it was that the expression plastered across him now was never, ever good.
“I went out here to catch a few more minutes of rest if possible — somewhere neither of you would find, and shake me awake.”
“We’ve established that you adore your sleep Ash,” Elmore jabbed, “please, enlighten us with something new for once.”
Ash sighed. Koa got the impression that his brother would have gone on a long, self-absorbed tangent about the brilliance of his next reveal, but fortunately cut to the chase in four lethal words. “I had my vision.”
Silence.
“You’re kidding.” Elmore laughed awkwardly, the disbelief contorting his face in bizarre, subtly grotesque ways. “Even if you were, you’d be the sort to reject the offer of power in favour of a comfortable, easy life.”
Ash continued, ignoring him. “Chantal appeared to me in my dreams. We talked but I . . . I don’t even know what about. Then I jolted awake. Awake with a Boundless Bank right behind my navel. Even now, I can feel it . . . expanding with every intake of air, every breath of Infinity I take.”
Neither of them said anything over the drumming of the rain bearing down on them all; each one of them waited for Ash to reveal the belated punchline of his joke.
But none came.
“Congrats.” Koa mustered up the sense to say, only just about processing that his brother — his delinquent, idle slacker of a brother — was now technically at the same status of strength as Elmore. They were both Emblazed, working to cultivate fully-fledged Vaults. No matter how far into that particular journey either of them were.
Elmore stood without motion, not bothering to pat his cousin on the back in congratulations; not bothering to mutter a word. He merely stood there, the rain darkening the already jet tangles of his air, a grim air about him.
The brewing winds flickered his mop of hair to the side for just a moment. And just for that one singular, fleeting moment, Koa saw his cousin’s pupils dilate in a neon, blazing green.
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With those cold, harsh eyes, he bore into Ash. He bore into Ash, with irises the colour of envy.
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Remus basked in a comfortable darkness, not any urge to skimper out of his deathbed of rubble and stone occurring to him. Of course, whilst it was a pleasant prospect to think of a little light transmitting through his pupils, and up to his optic nerves to deliver him the glorious gift of sight, that would require moving. And moving . . . moving posed several glaring issues.
First and most prominent of all, was that movement consumed energy. Energy that could be better preserved in the simple act of doing absolutely nothing. Remus was intent on stretching his stamina for all its worth, lest he be forced to dig into the very last of his rations. If those finite supplies were to run out, Remus would be left to starve. Because of no one's fault but his own.
Over the Duration, Remus had completely lost track of time. It could be day four, or day nine of his trial, and he would be none the wiser. Of course, even a whole Duration wouldn’t be enough time to perish to malnourishment, but Remus would much rather avoid the inconvenience entirely, thank you very much.
Even if he wasn’t going to such extreme lengths to keep himself sated, there was no greater annoyance in this world than Unbounded — especially gremlin Unbounded, who had done their utmost best to disrupt his sleep, and even harder to tear his face off, in his time spent trapped within this accursed cavern. Facing them again, risking further injury, also sounded to him like a pointless risk that would merit him no reward.
No reward, except gathering another drink of water. Water that would quench his throat, appeasing it of its most uncomfortable, sandpaper-like quality.
Remus wanted to punch his psyche for dangling such a dangerous opportunity in front of him. Maybe he couldn't starve in a few days, but dehydration? That was another matter entirely.
At last, struggling against the mound of earth that had formed over him, Remus arose in a series of scampering movements. Only after hitting his head against a particularly stiff piece of rock did the radiance of Infirnite blind him. After a fit of rapid blinks, his eyes adjusted to the crystal’s specific luminance, and he slipped down to solid ground, instantly grimacing. All around him, scattered into tiny piles of rumble, were the leftovers of Unbounded, after their carcasses had dissolved.
The sea of chipped stone, in the vague shapes of limbs, did not contribute to the homely feel Remus had been going for, when setting up the base. It was almost the equivalent of perching a skeleton against a chair opposite to where his bed lay, so that the first thing that struck Remus in the morning was a cold, sobering reminder that all things in life were finite; that one day, when he least expected it, even his lifespan would expire, fizzling out like stray wind.
He shook his head, redirecting his focus to . . . he would’ve said lighter matters, but the task at hand wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows either. Though at least his demise down here would be an avoidable one. If he did overcome this trial, it would be some time until Remus’ life was reduced to dormant sand, resting at the base of an hourglass.
How useful one of those would be right now, he mused, following a series of tunnels he’d become familiar with over however long it had been.
The creek of water had taken him a full day to locate. It was close to the surface, as he should have anticipated it to be, though was still in a hot-enough environment to induce steam. So, after a short while of locating the dimly lit chamber — he’d set up a makeshift light-source of Infirnite in one corner — he wetted his face in brisk splashes of water, and refilled both pitchers.
Remus could tell by the droplets leaking down his chin that the water was far too warm for his liking, and sighed. Leaving it to settle down here wouldn’t work, he’d have to reach somewhere not nearly as humid. Lava streaked downward from the lake for miles below, making finding the rare, airy locations an out-of-the-blue luxury. Remus had the whereabouts of one such expanse instilled into his brain however, and wiping himself down, plopping his now-full pitchers into his bag, made his way there.
He arrived, mind devoid of thought all the while he travelled. Thinking down in this abyss tended to elicit dark images, the sort that made the difficulty of the trial overwhelming. As a result, Remus had conditioned himself to keep his thoughts sparse; reserved to only the vital topics that concerned his survival. How he would acquire food, water, shelter and the like.
It was only outside of a quaint depression, the exact one just ‘chilly’ enough to set the liquid to room-temperature, that Remus blinked at the sunlight glaring in his eyes. He glowered, shooting his head to the side, eyes blazing in pain. After a moment of turmoil, he stumbled into the rocky opening, dropping his bag, and taking a well-deserved seat. Yet, for some reason, his mind didn’t seem to empty itself of thought quite so easily as it normally would. Remus scratched his head, plagued by an all-consuming notion that something — something painfully obvious, doing somersaults on the tip of his tongue — should be gripping his attention with all the strength of God-Graced.
Then it hit him. Sunlight!
Remus scrambled out of the depression, back into the main passageway, and peered forwards. There, in a turn in the tunnel, the golden light dazzled the eyes in spreads of amber honey, and Remus almost crumpled to his knees right then and there in delight.
Time seemed to slot into place again, logic returning, as Remus very nearly weeped in realisation. The Duration was over, it was the dawn after his final day stuck in these forsaken caverns. A relieved smile spread across his lips. A laugh burst out his throat, a ludicrous laugh. In his desperation to reserve energy, Remus had almost spent an extra day under a carpet of debris. Before he knew it, he had retrieved his bag, too exhilarated with the prospect of escape, of completing his first trial, to wander all the winding way down to collect his bed. No one in their right mind would miss that lumpy sheet.
Up and up Remus went, dashing now, spraining his ankle twice in his mad rush. His water sloshed against his back in their containers, but he had soon forgotten all about them; where he was going, he’d have access to all the water his heart desired. There wasn’t long left, just one long stretch of chiselled stone, one last wild jolt and he would-
Remus shrieked embarrassingly loud, only now noticing the dozen — no, the brigade — of Unbounded behind him. The gremlins squealed, in ranks easily surpassing a hundred, choking the tunnel with sheer force of numbers. Remus fought the urge to break his knuckles via smashing the nearest wall to smithereens. All this strategic evasion of the fiends, and for what? They had awaited patiently for his one moment of weakness, the morning of the day he would think himself to be safe, drunk on the ignorance that only being so close to victory can brew. And Remus couldn’t even grab the shard of Infirnite in his bag to ward them off, not unless he wanted to be crushed in the process. Shaking on his waist now was the jangling piece he’d hung there earlier, just barely able to light the way forward, let alone enough to scare off a mini army of stone goblins.
Not that he needed the light. The strip of regular sunlight was enough to illuminate his pathway in its own right. Whilst some of the Unbounded near the front of the view hissed at the gleam, the majority shared an impassive reaction.
Amid the frenzy of affairs taking place in his mind, one slither of wit managed to squeeze to the surface of Remus’ psyche. Feeling adventurous today, aren’t we?
Clearly, no small radiance would be enough to put the Unbounded off now. He was done for, and they knew it. More than ever, Remus wanted to put an end to his perpetual struggle. All of this, to be a third of the way through a series of monotonous trials. And even then, he’d have only fought tooth and claw to be on level footing with ninety-nine percent of the population. There was sure to be a three year old out there right now, accidentally setting their Mark of choice into motion with but a drooling half-thought. So much effort, such a cost, for a child’s strength.
Remus heard the rate of his footfalls lag, his will waning. Hands of sediment latched onto him, rasping voices puncturing his ears, the taste of dust lingering on his tongue.
His face looked up from the hard, empty floor to the visage of two double doors, open right ahead. Through them, a morning’s sun beared its ethereal head, windswept lands of igneous looming beneath.
And that was when Remus remembered.
He remembered why he had spent so long, hidden away in the crevices of his clan's library for Durations on end. He remembered why he had overstepped the law, with no heed for the ramifications, tunnel-visioned on what he had to accomplish. He remembered the smug look that would appear on Edmar, every time he badgered his father for the Passing’s worth of coinage. He recalled it all, tiny fragments of memories, capsules of time, all materialising one after the other in rapid succession.
And, with it all, he remembered his resolve.
Success was but a sprint away; failing now would be somehow worse than simply perishing on his first day down here. With a cry, Remus wrenched himself away from the grubby clutches of endless Unbounded, a few still clinging onto him for a second as their appendages tore off with him, only to come crashing down in a resounding shatter.
A leap into fiery amber, and Remus crumpled. Desperate hands set on capturing him tightened around his ankles, pulling up to his back with insistent tugs. Remus dragged himself forwards, inch by inch, a dozen pinches causing him to squeal, a lingering anger distorting all he saw with an unshakeable red.
He was deep into the limelight, eyes watering from the neon white. The hold began to loosen, a few giving up entirely. Yet still, the most determined of the bunch persevered. Remus had had enough.
He jolted to his feet, toppling over the first time, but successfully getting to an upright position the second. In his ire, he cared not for the agony striking each of their rocky surfaces sent up his arms. Only for the sweet taste of triumph. He laughed, not in glee, but merely for the sake of it. A crazed, senseless expression, revelling in the madness of it all, in the mere fact he was here right there and then, alive and breathing. If for but this one moment.
The conquest of chemical reactions sustaining his form were nothing short of marvellous, quaking in a glorious harmony, every cell in his body operating in unison to fulfil one, ever-important goal. To, above all else, prevail.
Rock crumbled, bone and muscle bruised, and not even then could he rest. Back again, he found himself, wrestling upon the ground, golden blood highlighting the outlines of his chafed fingers.
“Up.” He screeched through gritted teeth — a raw, aggressive sound, like that of a depraved animal. Who he was talking to, not even Remus was aware, but with each tremulous step, it felt right. “Up!”
Unbounded gave way to dust beneath his weight, and finally, at long last, he found himself alone. The floor was littered with debris, splattered with a few beads of Ichor, but once the Unbounded’s forms dissolved fully, not a speck of evidence of Remus’ fright would remain.
Remus lay stationary on the cavern floor, wind — actual, tangible wind — tugging at the shreds of his torn leather, in a now unfamiliar sensation. After a time, he got to his feet, a vein on his forehead bulging as he struggled to maintain balance.
Outside, he went.
He stood, wordlessly, eyes passing over his surroundings in a gradual turn of the head. It was all there, though for some reason, that came as a surprise. The Infernal Bays bubbled lazily; the tents of his travelling party stood vigilant under the wrath of a merciless spot of wind, and the skies overhead were sulking with as much angst as you would expect from Territory One. For a moment, Remus blinked dumbly, wondering if this was merely a disturbed hallucination from his dazed mind. His body presumably still laid beneath a pile of dislodged earth, only just restraining from crushing him entirely.
But no. This was far too lifelike. Unless the gods were pulling a particularly cruel gag on him, Remus had succeeded.
Clutching onto the front of his tunic with trembling hands, he exclaimed in heavenly mirth— his mind aching after such a rollercoaster of emotion.
In a sad turn of events, the rest of his celebrations were cut terribly short. Remus barely processed the existence of a hurtling blur rushing his way, before two arms of pure muscle latched onto his entire body.
Not even champions had the luxury of rest, it seemed.