A large gust of wind spread the yellow spores like cornmeal in the breeze, filling the entire forest with yellow pixie dust, moving past rock and plant and tree. The vibrant color contrasted against the white tundra in the distance, showing that they were on track.

Yes… yes, yes, yes, yes—no!

A sudden gust of wind blew it all off course, sending the spores into a small grouping of lignan bugs but getting nowhere near the hive.

My stomach developed a bottomless pit, and my feelings of helplessness intensified.

Why? I thought aimlessly as if the whole world were conspiring against me. Then, reality caught up with me when I saw that the lignans hit by the spores exploded outward in erratic movements, and I realized that I hit these bugs in the face with spores!

Kline tugged on my jeans, but I was already moving, praying that Wraithaura and the poison perfume would be enough to prevent me from being seen.

Suddenly, I saw a group shoot past me to my left, far away, shooting around aimlessly. They weren’t attacking—but they could—and they were moving a lot faster than I was.

No… no-no-no!

Kline and I weaved around trees, jumping over brambles—avoiding plants where we could. I couldn’t point out the plants, so he just hopped around, and at one point, the Wraithaura broke. My heart pulsed—then a crack of thunder rattled my ribs, followed by the sound of rain, drowning out the sounds.

It was fine—we disappeared from the mass. But our luck ran out again. Bursting into a meadow, we ran into two lignan bugs the size of baseballs that just happened to be hunting there.

We saw each other at the same time—and they struck.

I activated Moxle Dilation, dropped the water sack, and brandished my knife.

I dodged one in slow motion, wrapped my blade in Mana Sharpening, and cut down. The blade struck true, cutting through its translucent body, sending clear blood flying downward in a waterfall.

Kline teleported out of the way of his attacker, appearing behind it and snatching it in his jaws, clear fluid dripping from the side of his mouth.

I released Moxle Dilation and my world sped up. Everything felt fast and aggressive, with the sound of distant thunder hurting my head.

Slow it down…

I used my mental shielding, achieving clarity just in time for Kline to jump past me, using phantom claws to cut a lignan down.

Then I rushed forward, following the map—updating so fast it looked like the map was glitching out—watching Kline teleport ahead of me.

I turned a bend, and out of my periphery, I saw a dozen following us.

Why the fuck did it tell me to get that close? I screamed within, activating Moxle Dilation and increasing my speed tenfold. I ran as fast as I could, ran until I couldn’t see them, then activated my mental shield and released the spell.

The next moment, Kline jumped out of a portal, and I handled the information processing. I almost managed to calm it down when a sudden flash of lightning blinded me, and the thunder rattled my brain. I stumbled and hit a tree, suppressing a scream, empathizing with Zeus when Haephestus cracked his skull open with a hammer.

I expected to die—but we lost most of them.

Kline rushed into the fray, killing three before I got up again, pushing onward. Three minutes later, Kline and I found ourselves alone, passing by trees slowly, nothing in sight.

We survived, I thought, internally chuckling, bitter and glad and happy. I leaned my head against a tree, feeling my lungs burn hot and scratch dry—throat, begging for water and rest.

“Let’s take a break,” I whispered. “We can make better time if I can breathe…”

Kline nodded and kept watch as I pulled out my water bottle and drank. Then I purified our bodies (since the rain was removing the poison and dirt), dried us with Desiccation, and created a water sphere for him to drink from. Once I was done, I said, “Let’s keep going. Those fuckers move fast.”

Kline nodded, and we continued on, moving fast into the gusting rain.

2.

Elana rubbed her forehead, using gentle smoothing strokes.

“It’s strange to see a god flustered,” Kori remarked. He was down a bottle of wine and had since pulled out an unlabeled bottle of amber spirits. He looked like he was having the time of his life.

“Emotions keep people alive,” Elana said. “Love to propagate. Fear to instill caution. Stress to elicit action. These things don’t change as we gain power.”

Kori rocked back the spirits bottle with raised eyebrows. He exhaled and wiped his mouth with his forearm, leaning back. “Strange to see a god justify themselves.”

“This’s my apprentice!” Elana snapped with heated cheeks. “Of course I care. So stop treating her like some hideous sideshow.”

Kori put up his hands mockingly. “Alright alright.” He turned and watched Mira closely, hiking further without pause despite being a mile away.

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In the short time that they took their break, the quamper ball fungus was already burrowing into the lignan bugs’ brains.

“Looks like it’s already started,” Kori remarked.

“Yeah, it is,” Elana said. “Looks like it’s infecting all of them, too.” Only twenty or so were affected by the spores, but the parasitic effects were spreading through the same hive-mind that made one lignan bug’s bite summon the swarm.

Every god watching could see it from the way that the Oracle was showing scenes from miles away from each other. Close or far, the bugs started nipping at nearby lignans, flying circles around them, chasing each other down, recoiling and backing away—getting into fights.

Petty anger.

Rage.

“You think she knew this would happen?” Kori asked. “‘Cause if she did, I’d call ‘er a genius.”

“I doubt it,” Elana said dryly. “Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gotten so close to the nests.”

“True… still.” Kori took a swig and grinned, watching Mira, who was now jogging after Kline, pushing past the howl of wind and splatter of rain. Kline was looking gravely worried all of a sudden.

“That cat…” Elana whispered.

“Yeah…” Kori took a drink. “That fuckin’ cat… right on every ti—oh, here it is!”

It had only been twenty minutes, but the lignan bugs were finally breaking down. The big ones were chasing the small ones as they did loops above branches, dipping low, then curving on the forest floor.

Suddenly, one pierced through another with its sucker, and the entire forest exploded in a frenzy. Lignan bugs shot in all directions like shrapnel from an explosion spell, with lignans killing each other in a grand orgy of violence and blood. It was completely random—

—but some were rocketing in Mira’s direction.

Elana turned to Mira and saw her sprinting after Kline despite being a mile out. She leaped over ground cover, jumping onto a boulder, then ducking branches—pulling vines out of the way. Suddenly, they reached a patch of notoriously poisonous plants that Elana recognized. The next moment, Mira’s speed multiplied tenfold, picking up Kline in her arms and hopping out of the way. Then she threw him, holding her head as she kept running.

It was all happening so fast.

2.

Kline and I had never run so fast before. I didn’t know something was behind me. I couldn’t hear it. I couldn’t smell it. I couldn’t feel it—

—but I knew it was there. Kline was crying out—actually afraid—tugging and pleading to move faster. So I jumped into the fray, zagging every which way, jumping over rock and bramble and bush.

My heart drummed and my lungs wheezed and my arms throbbed with adrenaline. I pushed on.

“Take a right!” I yelled.

Kline did, jumping sharply just in time to avoid a poisonous fern that was neon purple instead of dark purple—whatever the hell that meant. I saw one once before and used Moxle Dilation to pick up Kline and throw him out of the way. Now he was listening.

“Left!” I yelled, wishing that he had my eyesight.

Left, right, left, right. I jumped and weaved and tripped over a log, rolling twice before kicking off the ground and catching up to Kline.

That’s when I saw the swarm.

The lignans weren’t going after us. They were moving up and down canopies, circling trunks, rushing after each other like an intense police chase. One stabbed another; five more took its place. Then they flew ahead.

Thank God… I thought. Following the updating map, praying they wouldn’t return. They didn’t.

Where… where… where do I go?

These things were so fast that Kline and I could only survive with Moxle Dilation and teleporting—and I was at the breaking point. I needed to get back to the barrier, but it would take at least another hour to get there.

Then the answer hit me. It was clear as day, cold as ice—uninviting as a cobra den.

The river…

We could jump into the Diktyo River. If we got inside, beasts wouldn’t attack us. I had researched the reason during my preparation and learned the reason they couldn’t:

Evolved creatures cannot directly drink from the river, as they risk absorbing a stronger soul and experiencing soul damage. As you are unevolved, you are unaffected by this.

That meant that Kline and I could handle water, but neither the lignan bugs nor third evolution beasts could. The only one to worry about was the River Guardian—and meeting her was inevitable.

Risk or not, it was better than our situation, so I turned southwest, moving toward the Diktyo River—entering River Guardian’s domain.

Two minutes passed. Three more close calls with lignan bugs slaughtering each other in a feverish bloodbath. Another minute brought a different type of trouble. A whole pack of reigas flew out of the brush, flying in swarms at speeds I could barely see.

Kline pounced into the thick of them, biting one—slashing three more. They surrounded him, but he kept blinking out of existence and slapping them around with mana. I rushed forward, trusting him blindly as I punted one with a crack and stormed on.

The lignan bugs smelled the blood and joined the bloodbath, piercing a few remaining reiga as Kline blinked away, appearing in my shadow as I ran as fast as I could.

That could’ve been us… I thought. Shit-shit-shit!

I picked up speed, rushing ahead, readying my spells, preparing for the worst—and then I heard it. The river. So crisp and clear and immersive, its noise drowned other sounds as it rolled over rocks within.

Relief flooded over me, making me exhale and feel serious hope. Soon, we would jump and hit the water like a cannonball, and I’d hold Kline, only worried that my backpack would rip on jagged rocks. But hitting rocks wouldn’t matter since the river was healing, even if the souls screamed and howled and clawed at us. And Yakana… Yakana was there. I wondered if I could dunk my head underwater and hear him and gain advice. We were so close to everything—

—and then we got ambushed.

A dark grayish bear thrust revealed itself, jumping out from a rock face, catching Kline mid-bound in its jaws and running off.

My heart stopped when the bear carried Kline away, failing to process the situation. Then, my blood boiled, sending my mind into overdrive.

“No!” I screamed, cranking Moxle Dilation to the max. I flew at the beast, moving faster than I ever had, wrapping my pocket knife with so much sharpened mana that it turned into a small machete as I approached the bear, trotting along under my slowed time. Then I bounded ten feet in the sky, plunging the knife into its back.

I had low dexterity, so I missed its spine, slicing into its shoulder. It wasn’t a kill shot—but it was enough. The bear roared, dropping Kline as it bucked, sending me flying. Even with my time slowed, the impact was intense, shattering the spell and sending me flying as the world sped up around me.

I cried out in pain, grabbing my head as Kline stood weakly and teleported to me, nipping at my hands, trying to get me up. He was too weak to move me—and I was in too much pain.

The bear whirled around to us and charged. I thought it was over, but it only moved ten feet when a dozen lignan bugs the size of footballs slammed into it, stingers first.

I wanted to laugh with surprise, but the next moment, I was also hit by a powerful force, sending me sprawling to the ground.