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Wyatt Graves

Everything is a blur; colors, thoughts, and sounds stream through my mind like a waterfall I futilely grasp in the eternal dark. I know that I am hurt. That I finally fucked up enough that there are some real consequences. But there is nothing I can do to change that.

All that is with me in this dark is deeper darkness, except for the small flickering fire in front of me floating above the void that is this endless night. It is a resplendent yellow, but over the past, I don't know, an hour or two, its color has been shifting a tad, sparks of orange joining the flakes of yellow.

Inaudible but consuming whispers constantly berate me from just outside my consciousness. They are just present enough to make me uncomfortable, irritable, and… insatiable. I can feel my stomach growl without even feeling my body.

I don't know much about what's happening, but I know two things.

The Bloody Palm didn't give up.

And I can not let this flame extinguish, or I too will. The fire wobbles just as I do, the whispers growing ever louder in my ears. Is there any way to save myself? Or am I merely at the mercy of this insidious artifact?

*******************

Johnny Caldwell

Silas disappears as he walks too far from us, and I hurry to see where he went before remembering he likely passed through the rift. I look at Blake and take Wyatt from her shoulders. He's my responsibility now. Once we get out, I'll find that Ogre and get her to help him. Blake appreciates the weight off of her shoulders and gets Lennox to follow her to the invisible rift.

"Follow me, Lennox; we have to go through a Crossroad's rift to go to the surface."

Even with Deadeye's Gaze, I can only sense a significant fluctuation of Ether in the air, nothing more, and the fact it seems quite a bit smaller than before. But the skill does allow me to see beyond the rift into the darkness. I see a large cavern that is surrounded by several gates identical to the ones beyond me, and in the center is a staircase that winds upward.

Part of me wants to investigate it, but the weight on my shoulders stops me. I have a boy to save. I turn my attention to Blake and Lennox as they reach their arms toward the place Silas disappeared from, the child spouting nonsense the whole time.

"So, is the sun beyond this invisible thing? What color did you say it was again? I can't see anyth–"

And out of nowhere, they are gone. Swept away by the odd phenomenon of Ether made by that demon. Not that it really matters that she's a demon. I'd dance with the Devil himself if it meant that Wyatt could live. The kid not only has potential, but I need him. We need him. No one else is so ready to risk their lives to help others, even I. He's a perfect example of what we need to be if we, as a people, want to survive and not end up like lost races. Like the Bado who hid in their spires of stone in Starbluffs, weak and terrified of anyone or anything. Or like the Halfway people of Sirmer, the largest lake in the continent who now only exist in the deepest depths of its waters. Or like the Kukwe, a race of giants that were hunted down by the Nahullo in the frozen wastes to extinction.

All of those used to be powerful peoples, spanning the length of several Territories or the power to rival the entirety of humanity. But due to many factors, they were each relegated to either minor positions in this world or completely gone, stricken from reality. This cannot happen to us. The Estates fight for their own, the Pillars fight for themselves, and the Prime for himself. On my shoulders is a greater weight. One that I must share with those capable. Extinction.

I pat Dakota on the head before motioning him to follow me. The fox has been getting smarter and smarter over time. I'd reckon it'll only be another Sigil or two until he can fully understand speech.

"C'mon, buddy. We gotta save him, alright? You with me?"

Dakota does a high-pitched kind of bark as he moves beside me, looking up at Wyatt on my shoulders.

"Okay, boy. Let's go."

I take a few steps and reach for the spot in the air with the fluctuation of Ether, and just as I do, Dakota jumps for it himself.

The instant my hand touches the Ether, I feel as though I am touching fragile glass, and I push a bit harder before everything starts to turn into a kaleidoscope of colors. I see several scenes of random locations, one of which is the bottom of the ocean, dark and ominous and strikes a pain in my mind without even seeing anything in the depths. There is a reason we've never gone out to sea. Leviathans, ones just as dangerous as the Binary Lord herself named after them, lurk beneath the deep waters.

But after a short few moments, I appear in a cavern, dizzy and lightheaded, as I quickly catch myself from falling. And when I get my feet stable and wipe away the dizziness with some Ether into my mind, I look around the cavern where the Crossroads was said to be.

It's completely different from what Blake and Otto described. It's dark, creeping, odd sparks of lights falling from the ceiling like droplets of water, and the Ether seems to be failing, swirls dissipating nonstop. I move the lantern and look around, finding everyone just as confused as I am. I follow Blake's attention and look behind me, catching a glimpse at the once massive contribution of crystals that are now nothing but a puddle of water heavily inundated with Ether.

What happened? Only a few rifts remain around the center, and they appear to be crackly, barely able to be seen through.

I hear Blake whisper in awe as she looks around.

"Did the demon lose? Where is the heart in the center that Wyatt spoke of? The one of an Angel?"

I don't see anything of the sort; only in the distance, a large open door sits that has light peeking through. I wave at everyone else and pull Lennox, who went to lick up the water as we move toward it. Silas needs no encouragement as he moves first, getting through the door and running up the stairs as fast as he can.

I see him fall to his knees when he gets to the top, which makes my heart spike in fear. What does he see?! I rush up to him, hand on my holster, and what meets my eyes is only the sun and a portion of the swamp barren of trees, mist, or plants. Only waist-high water and the large rock we are atop. I look at Silas and see him staring up at the sky, the sun partially covered by clouds above, causing teary embers to fall from his eyes of fire.

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The man reached his goal. The undead saw the sun once more. I move away to give him his moment as I look around on this large rock for any hints of the demon. Wyatt mentioned something about the demon wanting to talk to him, right? So where is she!?

Deadeye's Gaze refuses to let me miss even a single detail as I move around the rock and pick up everything with my eyes. I see blood littered all over the place, a few pieces of human-like flesh, and one large strip of a leather wing. Walking to the edge of the rock following this trail of fighting, I find more blood sitting atop the water, somehow refusing to be dissolved by the water.

I set Wyatt down on the rock for Blake to watch over as I make my way down the rock to investigate further. At the bottom of the water are more strips of flesh and pieces of leathery wings. The fight between the two Angels must have happened here. And over there!

More blood is atop the surface of the water as I follow it for a while, finding more and more signs of battle as the ground beneath the water is badly damaged. The mist now being gone from what they described makes it far easier to see things at a distance.

And after almost an hour of looking, I find another rock, one with a corpse of a shattered jar attached to a duo of leathery wings and a large amount of blood, enough that it could fill up two full people yet barely affect that demon.

Kneeling, I sense that the Ether in the dead Angel is completely gone, along with whatever was inside the jar. The inside of the jar likely is what turned into an artifact. But what else happened? Did the demon not leave anything behind for Wyatt to find her with? Nothing is on this rock, and the trail of blood seems to end even to Deadeye's Gaze. So, I pick through the dead Angel to see if there might be any clues in its corpse, and the second I touch the corpse, I feel a voice enter my mind.

The voice is rough, domineering, and allows for zero negotiation as it runs through its speech.

"This is a message left behind for Wyatt. If you are not the little one, and you do not pass this information, I will find you based on the signature I left behind and WILL eat you.

Dear Wyatt, Leviathan has asked me to investigate how frail your race is as she sensed I was the deepest Hierarch within the Territories at this current time. She can reach my mind even from the Badlands deep in the Wilds far beyond the Borderlands, so I must apologize. Come and find me at Carnal Heirn, it's still in Sincreak, and I'll be glad to speak to you then. I should hurry you, however, as Leviathan has asked me to not delay. See you then!"

The psychic message cuts off, leaving me gasping for breath with the threat placed within and the implications of what she said.

Investigating how frail we are? Leviathan chose a Hierarch? Going to Carnal Heirn? Fucking shit. She's going to kill Vinson! The Pillar lives in Carnal Heirn all year round, occasionally going out to kill Rougarou or Letiches.

I stand up so fast that the Angel's body below is sent a few feet away, but I don't care. I rush straight back to where Blake, Silas, and Dakota are. We need to move. Now! Shit is ever so close to hitting the fan. If we don't find that demon before she fights and possibly kills Kai Vinson, the Rougarou Hunter, then not only will Wyatt not get helped, but he will also have to survive attacks from demons, Pygmies, and Nahullos on our way to meet up with Sacate at Starkbluffs. And that's not even counting going to find the vault in the fallen Tornridge.

Ether flows into my body as I move as fast as I can, Swift, the specialized Physical Strengthening, imbues my feet with speed to move twice my average speed. Then, I take it a step further, remembering what Isaac spoke regarding Ether and skills when I met him a second time before leaving.

"Underneath every feat of Ether lies another, just waiting to be achieved. The only limit is your body, hence Dzils, and the control of which you can invoke. Dzils reach the peak of what humanity can possibly undertake. Until you reach a Dzil, more yet remains to be uncovered."

Swift is a skill I've had for a very long time. It takes Physical Strengthening and jumps its quality and density of Ether up a full level, taking advantage of Steam and Steel Strands of Ether by focusing on one region. Both concepts are simple yet complicated. The former is the natural jump from a 3rd to 4th Sigil and the Ether that comes with it being purer, which is done by focusing deep enough on your Ether that it is removed of impurities, and the latter is using your will to compress the Ether until it refuses to compress any further.

But according to Isaac, there is yet room to improve. As I run, I start testing things and practicing my Ether in ways I never thought of before, relegating the skill to the maximum I could do previously. My most detailed form of Ether manipulation, Willful Strand, is pointless for Swift as it just increases the range that I can affect things with my Ether, allowing me to control my bullets from further away. But maybe that's not the case.

I took a preliminary glance at Excavator, and the skill uses literally every form of manipulation below Bestowing Strand, the one for 8th Sigiled I only know the name of, all at once. Living, Willful, Steel, Steam, Braided, Multiple, and Single. All at once. Swift only uses two right now.

That could be the difference. It's just that it's incredibly difficult to combine more than even two of those concepts at once. But not impossible.

Running through the water, there is simply no better time to grow. I need speed, and so I shall gain it. For Willful Strand, the most important thing is a purpose and want. The strength of will is irrelevant. It is the want.

This deep want shapes the Ether condensed and pure Ether as I feel a short spike of pain in my feet, but out of nowhere, I burst forward with speed for a brief moment. The rush sends joy straight into my mind. It's been a while since I improved how I use my Ether. As you age, it gets harder to learn new things, and that is especially true for Ether. The perfect age to become a Sigiled would be the early teens if only it wasn't so dangerous.

But it's not a total success, and I have to continue to perfect it as I slowly get faster and faster, even in the high water. The condensed and pure Ether seems to stretch its influence from my feet up to my calves despite not actually growing in size as I grow better at using all three concepts of Ether. My want for speed and growth only increases, making the three meld better and better.

And I feel this skill fully finish just before I arrive at where the group is, the Ether extending to affect even my knees despite still being stuck in my feet. So that's how Willful Strand works in the body! It allows Ether to have more influence for smaller amounts! I guess it makes sense as it also lets me increase the stopping power of my bullets even as they are far away with the same amount of Ether as if they were close.

A single foot slams into the water as the skill reaches its current final form, sending me forward at a rapid pace, with the next foot only managing to make me speed up faster and the third only making me go even faster. I rapidly approach the island of rock, and with three quick steps, I'm atop the rock. The only bad part is that my speed is too fast to slow down, and I have to use Fanfire, a skill for moving hands fast to shoot, to catch myself on the rocks with my fingers as I go head over heels.

I quickly stand up and tell Blake, Silas, and Lennox, who are sitting confused in my hurry.

"We need to go now. Aniwye, the Ogre that can help Wyatt, is going to kill Kai Vins-”

Blake cuts me off with a surprised shriek, the woman from Sinscreak growing appalled at the potential death of a Pillar. And not just that, but Kai is one of the few that sometimes helps. He's only married into an Estate and not form one, so they don't have full control over what the man does. He's not like Marshall, who always is willing to fight, but one's not named Rougarou Hunter without hunting the damned things. He's even killed a few Angelic ones.

"What! If he dies–!"

I nod and finish her sentence.

"Another territory will fall. And this one will be different. It'll be proof that we are weak, not that a Graves simply left. Bonedunes is still held, not even truly because of us, but because the Silent Scorpion is there. Had we lost the fight against Hura, the demons likely would have sent someone to attack him instead of Kai."

I reach out an arm to Silas and help him up as Blake scrambles to get up. Lennox is just confused and staring at the sun. The poor kid is still mesmerized by the thing even after over an hour of looking at it. Good thing his eyes are made of stone, or else he'd be blind.

"We need to go now if Wyatt is to get her help with his mind. The second she either succeeds or fails, we will lose our chance. If she fails, then she is dead, and the implications of that are obvious. If she succeeds, all hell will break loose, and it will be impossible to find her."

Blake puts the book away that I gave her into her bag and prepares to get moving, stretching for the journey ahead. Silas sighs and surprisingly agrees to help. I figured he'd want to go do his own thing, now that he's on the surface like he wanted, but apparently not.

"I guess I can help. I wouldn't be up here without you guys taking me to the gate. Best if I pay off my debts with actions rather than money."

His willingness to help earned him both my gratitude and some gold that I had left. He needs it to fight, and I don't want to fight with a man who is not at his best. I toss him a bundle of coins, only about twenty dollars or so in gold, but it's enough for a bunch of his skills like Drachma.

From there, I tell them the plan that is currently being made in my mind. Speed is key. We need to reach Aniwye before she fights Kai, so we need to split up.

"I'm going to go on my own and find the Ogre first. My speed is much higher than all of yours, so you guys will just have to catch up. We can't afford to be too slow. I'll leave behind bullet holes in trees that you all can follow once they start to appear."

Blake nods at me as she reaches down and picks up Wyatt. I feel a bit bad relegating her to doing so, but she's strong enough to handle it. I give Silas a quick handshake before leaving and pet Dakota to comfort the fox. We've spent quite a bit of time together since his owner likes to be unconscious and wounded.

The last thing I need to do before I leave is speak to Lennox, the child of stone that's not so small; sad to see me go.

"You'll see me soon, okay? The faster you and your friends go, the sooner you'll see me."

The stone child looks at me and nods depressedly.

"Okay…"

I go to ruffle his hair as I used to for Amelia, but even his hair is of finely chiseled stone, the colors of red, black, gray, and white staining it. But the second I see his face brighten up from the gesture, I continue. It is uncomfortable for me, but he likes it. That's good enough for me.

Then, I turn and, with a wave, activate the newly improved Swift, Accelerate. And seemingly at the speed of an arrow, I shoot off, moving so fast that a few pieces of rock break underneath my feet as with every step, I grow faster.

Even then, I need more speed. Every single second matters. Who knows how close Aniwye is to Carnal Heirn. That message could have been left hours or a few days ago, based on the blood.

Doesn't matter. I just need to focus on heading southeast to the center of Sinscreak, where the Rougarou used to dwell in large numbers before Kai's arrival.