After two days of trial and error, Div and En finally managed to move somewhat normally. They were far from their previous level of competency, but at least they wouldn’t just fall over unexpectedly.
It was about time since their food reserves were getting dangerously low.
Standing next to their usual fishing spot, bone spear in hand, they looked at their scaly prey swimming in the water with apprehension.
[This reminds me of our early days in the Wildlands.] Div told his other half.
(We have Spearfishing to rely on, it should be fine.)
It wasn’t.
It turned out they each had slightly different ideas on when to best strike their targets. Mixing them together resulted in an awkward jerk of their arm. Their fingers slipped, the spear fell into the river.
Thankfully, it wasn’t too deep and they were able to retrieve it. Furthermore, their attack had been so sloppy that the fish hadn’t been startled. It hadn’t noticed Diven was trying to catch it.
Div and En continued training. By that point, En had aligned with Div’s opinion when it came to their planning. There was no way they would make it to the rift’s exit in their current state.
It took them hours to catch a fish, but it came with other rewards.
Skill leveled up: Spearfishing Lv3 -> Lv4
Skill leveled up: Sundered Mind Lv2 -> Lv3
Sundered Mind was progressing quickly. Each level made their coordination better.
One thing that felt weird to both of them was how they still shared their inner world. The garden hadn’t changed much since the last time they saw it while they were still one.
Improvements to Sundered Mind manifested themselves with more of those pulsating black tendrils connecting the Rot Heart to the two halves of the tree. While they agreed that those two halves respectively represented Div and En, they couldn’t tell which was which. They may not be identical, but a tree was a tree. It was difficult to link it to a personality.
As far as skills were concerned, they could both use all the skills present in the garden.
(I think we’re missing something.) En said, taking a passive role while Div was maneuvering the grilled fish into their mouth.
[Are we? We’re making good progress.]
(Yes, that’s true. But, skills are supposed to be beneficial.)
[I’m not following you…]
(I mean, even if we master cooperation to the point the one of us who is in control can act freely, that’s not exactly a benefit.)
[You’re right… It would just be as if Sundered Mind didn’t exist.]
(So I think we should be able to work together simultaneously.)
[Maybe, but wouldn’t that be skipping steps? We’re still far from being able to function normally.]
(Let’s just keep that in mind and think about it.)
Indeed, the way Cassandra had described her skill—admittedly, there wasn’t a lot of data in the few entries she managed to write before she succumbed to the rift’s dangers—it seemed like her minds were able to operate in tandem.
Div and En continued working on their control while fishing. It was a good exercise that didn’t pose a real threat to their lives. Neither thought they were ready to enter a real fight yet. Not that they had a choice if it came to them.
Their first idea was that the mind in control could delegate part of his thoughts to the other. They both thought it was a good idea but it was complicated to put into practice. To be fair, it wasn’t needed when fishing. One mind was more than enough to thrust their spear into a few fish.
While they shared the same eyes they had found that looking at two things simultaneously was good practice. It was harder than it seemed. Having two eyes, they thought each one could be assigned to a mind and act independently. But this simply wasn’t how human eyes worked. To see something, both eyes needed to work together.
The exercise Div and En came up with used the passive mind to scan their peripheral vision. The things there weren’t as clear as whatever the mind in control was focusing on, but they were still visible. Once again, the difficulty lay in the fact that the passive mind had a deep-seated urge to move the eye’s focus point to what it was scanning.
Still, with a lot of training, they managed to get accustomed to it. It was useful, it reduced their chances of falling into an ambush. It didn't grant them eyes on the back of their heads, but it was a start.
With this covered, they wanted to move on to more complex exercises but something caught their eye.
Standing on the other shore of the river, something resembling a human was standing still. It was as if it was looking at them.
Only "as if" because it lacked eyes. It didn’t have a mouth or nose either. In fact, it was completely faceless. It wore no clothes, snow-white skin covered its entire body so smoothly there wasn’t a single wrinkle or imperfection.
(Div. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?)
[Always. I guess our combat training has just moved to the top of our list.]This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
(You can’t be thinking of fighting this thing? What if it's friendly?)
[Does it look friendly to you?]
En focused once more on the faceless humanoid. The creature didn’t look friendly, but it wasn’t hostile either. It wasn’t doing anything. En shared his thoughts with Div.
[We can’t take the risk. If you’re hesitating, give me control.]
(No, I’ll do it. I’ll fight. It’s better this way, my doubts could get in your way if I’m not in control.)
Div agreed, and he surrendered control of the body to En who gripped the spear in his hands.
“Who are you?” Diven asked the faceless person.
No answer.
[Not to discourage you, but it does not have a mouth. Neither does it have ears. I doubt we can communicate.]
(Right.)
Embarrassed by his oversight, En kept his vigilance up. Div was using the new trick they just perfected to ensure nothing else was sneaking up on them.
The faceless still wasn’t moving.
[There’s another one.]
(Where?)
[On our left. It’s on our side of the river.]
Seeing one from up close, they noticed the faceless had long, sharp nails sticking out of their fingers.
[Claws…]
(Humans don’t have claws.)
[Those are not humans, En.]
Div had a point, humans had faces. Those things were shaped like humans, but that was about it.
[Come on. Take the initiative. We don’t want to wait for more to arrive.]
Once again, En was forced to agree with Div. As much as he didn’t want to be the aggressor, it was too risky to let them accumulate numbers. Their encounters with the blasting pinecone rodents and the swarmling were still fresh on the duo’s minds.
They were not equipped to face higher numbers.
Putting his reluctance aside, En moved toward the closest faceless. The one on to their left.
As soon as he did, both creatures started moving. They were rushing toward Diven with reckless abandon. The one on the other shore threw itself into the water to reach him.
It was mostly silent. They didn’t have mouths.
Whilst En was engaging the first faceless, Div was trying his best not to interfere. He was sure En was capable of dealing with the two attackers on his own.
It remained hard. He had to fight his instincts to prevent himself from reacting to the claw strikes of the monster. To stop himself from counterattacking whenever he thought it was necessary.
Not that En wasn’t doing exactly what Div would have. This was the whole reason he didn't want to interfere. There was no benefit to ruining a perfectly valid strike because he would have timed it slightly differently.
Yet, for all his will to stay out of it, Div couldn’t help himself. Once En started stepping in the fifth direction to avoid a strike, Div’s senses were overwhelmed.
He reacted. En tripped and fell to the floor, causing his leg to be lacerated by the faceless’ claws.
(Hey!)
[Sorry.]
Div was angry with himself. He could do better. En had entrusted the backseat to him because he trusted him not to interfere. En trusted Div’s control more than he trusted his own. Div couldn’t let his other self down.
Seeing the bleeding wounds on their leg, Div got an idea.
[En, I’m going to channel Echoes of the Rot Heart. Stop me if it affects you.]
(Go ahead.)
With En’s approval, Div gathered his concentration and dove into their most cursed skill. Soon, the all-too-familiar stench and feeling of rot washed over him.
He was nauseous, he was sticky, beset by a rumbling stomach protesting against his choices. The world around him was spinning.
Or was it just his head?
He could see Kheiron’s acropolis on a hill in the distance.
Barely.
His view was obstructed by a pestilential mist. As if the air itself was sick. There was no sound but the distorted song of the cicadas.
He started walking toward the city.
On the way, the fields were bare. The earth was dry. The olive trees leafless.
He didn’t see a single person.
(Div, wake up.)
He ignored the call. He needed to see more. He stepped forward on the paved road leading toward the city gate.
(Div!)
His mind snapped back to reality. En was panting a little as he stood over the corpses of the two faceless.
[What?]
(We’re done here.)
[Oh. Are you alright?]
(I’m fine, I could only feel a fraction of your skill. But…)
[But?]
(Look at this corpse’s hand.)
Div focused on the hand En was referring to. Not that he had a choice since En was controlling the body. The hand was mostly gone. The bones were still there but the skin and flesh had disappeared.
[How did this happen?]
(It’s the hand that inflicted the wound on our leg. After you started using Echoes of the Rot Heart, it dissolved into goop.)
Div was stunned for a moment. Their wound was fully healed, except for the characteristic nasty scar left behind by their healing process. It hadn’t been deep, but it was still not normal for there to be no trace of it after so little time had passed.
[I don’t like it.]
(Me neither. We should not use that skill in the future.)
[But it’s powerful.]
(It’s rotten.)
[At this point, can we really avoid it?]
En turned silent for a moment.
(We have to. Otherwise, we will never be accepted back into Kheiron.)
[We won’t be accepted back if we die.]
They both agreed to postpone the discussion. Mushrooms had started to sprout on the skin of the two corpses. While they disagreed on the use of Echoes of the Rot Heart, they both didn’t want to witness the rotting process.
They returned to their hideout and discussed their next steps. Although they had won easily, the Faceless hadn’t been much of a challenge. Their cooperation was still a little too shaky to proceed toward the rift’s exit.
[By the way, the guardians told us to complete three facets before we are allowed to leave. I’d rather not be stuck in front of the exit while we wait for Facets of the Self to finish.]
(I hadn’t thought of that. It’s possible Bird meant we were allowed to leave now when she gave us the information but I agree it’s a risk.)
Facets of the Self was odd. As far as they could tell, it wasn’t being represented in their inner world. That is, if they ignored the fact that the central tree had been split into two.
But until now, facets always took the form of a branch on their tree but they didn’t notice a new branch that fit.
Since they couldn’t tell how far along they were in the process, they needed to take their time. As much as En wanted to rush, he was aware of the dangers.
Cassandra’s grave still lay near their cavern, a reminder of their possible fate.