Echoes of the Rot Heart was invaluable. Although using the skill had become uncomfortable after it was corrupted by Diven’s rot attunement, its healing power had greatly increased. With Div channeling the skill while En put some distance between them and the faceless horde, their wounds closed up in no time.
Still, it wasn’t without consequences. As miraculous as it was, the skill wasn’t perfect. Various scars were left on his skin, a testament to his numerous brushes with death. Furthermore, it seemed the injuries themselves were rotting before they healed, leaking pus and oozing as they did. The smell was atrocious.
Yet, despite the scars and the pus, Div and En were thankful for what Facet of the Exile had given them — even the corruption. Without it, they would still be buried under the avalanche.
(It seems we’ve lost them.)
En spoke to Div, even though he couldn’t hear while using Echoes of the Rot Heart.
After falling from the cliff, the faceless horde hadn’t put as much effort into chasing them. En thought it likely they were too injured to keep going. Healing skills were rare, it was improbable that even a single faceless had one.
As they had seen from above, the environment had turned from forest to tundra. Yet, the ground was covered in thorny bushes that went up to Diven’s waist. Progressing through this vegetation was difficult.
With Div incapacitated and their pursuers nowhere to be seen, En made the decision to stop.
All the fighting, their injuries, the fall from the cliff, and Div’s use of Echoes of the Rot Heart meant they were scraping the bottom of the barrel of their energy reserves.
They needed to recover, En doubted it was the last time they met the faceless. Or other monsters…
Finding a secluded spot between a few bushes, En dropped to the floor.
They had once again lost all their possessions save their spear. Their backpack hadn’t survived the fall into the basin.
All their food, all their equipment… It was gone.
The Linien book too. It was irreplaceable.
Good thing they didn’t take Cassandra’s journal…
But it wasn’t the time to lament. Once they left the rift, they would process what had happened inside.
For now, they needed to sleep.
Diven’s eyes closed on their own as En released control of the body. Div drifted off soon after, once his healing trance ended.
They woke up an indefinite amount of time later.
[We had a good sleep.]
(Luckily we were not interrupted.)
[Did the faceless really stop chasing after us?]
(I wouldn’t be this optimistic. I guess we should continue to follow the river.)
[No choice. There’s no going back over the cliff now.]
(I can’t wait to never see a river again.)
As much as they were starting to hate rivers, they needed to eat — and it was the only reliable source of food in the rift. They followed the river for hours, catching fish where they found some.
They feared lighting a fire would attract unwanted attention, but their growling stomachs made them relent.
There wasn’t much wood around, only twigs from the many bushes dotting the plain. It was enough; they just needed to cook their fish before putting out their fire.
Hours passed, then days.
The monotony of the landscape was starting to get to them.
[I almost miss the faceless.]
(It’s not worse than when the mist was still blocking our sight at the beginning.)
[Right, I almost forgot about that. Still, I’m very bored.]
Skill leveled up: Sundered Mind Lv6 -> Lv7
[Oh?]
(Already almost caught up to Spear…)
[We’re really using the skill all the time. No breaks.]
(Still, no sign of Facets of the Self completing. I’m still hoping for the guardians to help us leave if it does.)
[You’re dreaming. There’s no way those guys would help us.]
(Let me have my illusions…)
[I can’t help but think about the evolution of Sundered Mind.]
(Me too. Although, I’m not sure we want to ever evolve it.)
[It’s a risk.]
(Yes. What were you thinking about?)
[I’m seeing two directions for us to take the skill toward. Either a way to deactivate it temporarily, or we could add more minds to our collective.]This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
(I don’t like the second option.)
[Me neither. Yet the first is also underwhelming.]
(Honestly, we don’t understand the process of skill evolution enough to make a decision now. We need advice.)
Before his awakening, Diven had been interested in skills and facets. Like any youngster, he was looking forward to what he would receive from the world when he grew up. But skill evolution was supposed to be something left for the future.
After all, he expected to have all the time in the world to learn and grow in Kheiron. If things hadn’t gone how they did, he could have simply asked his parents or Uncle Basil. They all had evolved skills.
All he knew was that each skill rank changed a skill in a specific manner. Evolution did something, Ascension did something else, and he supposed the mythical Transcendence transformed the skill in a completely different way too.
But he didn’t really know how.
All he knew was that the skill would be better, more powerful. That his body and mana would become stronger in the process. That his lifespan would increase. Not much for Evolved Rank, but Ascension could grant him several centuries of life, if he managed to achieve it.
It would be nice.
It would be even nicer if a large part of his life wasn’t spent wandering the empty tundra of a rift.
[En?]
(Yes, Div?)
[Are we sure we know what we’re looking for?]
(The exit of this damned rift. Yes, we’re sure.)
[No. I mean, what does a rift exit look like? I was assuming it would be some kind of portal like the entrance, but…]
(It could be anything, I guess. There’s no way to know so let’s not worry about this. Instead, look, things are changing.)
The bushes slowly disappeared, and the snow layer thinned. There was green grass peeking out of the snow.
(Finally, something new.)
[Let’s get on the top of that hill, I want to see what’s next.]
Massive hills rose on both sides of the river, blocking the view. From time to time, they made the effort to climb them to see if they could spot the exit.
No luck so far, but it was bound to happen at some point.
But not this time.
[Do you see what I’m seeing?]
(I’m you, of course, I see what you’re seeing…)
[It’s a fruit tree!]
Nestled in the valley formed by the rolling hills, a single tree stood. On its branches, a few scarce round orange fruits.
(We don’t know if it's edible.)
[Let’s see from up close.]
They hurried down the slope, careful not to fall, even using The Fifth Direction to reach the tree faster.
With shining eyes and watering mouths, they reached out and plucked the best-looking fruit. It was bright orange, plump, juicy, and its skin was soft. They didn’t know what fruit it was but it looked so appetizing.
[I say it's worth a try.]
(I’m not looking forward to the stomach ache if it's not good. But…)
They wanted it.
Bringing the fruit to their mouth, they took a very small bite. An intense, sweet flavor filled their palate. They couldn’t resist taking a few other bites and before they realized what they were doing, the fruit was gone. They had eaten it all.
[Mmmmm.]
(That’s the best fruit we ever had.)
[After eating nothing but fish for so long, I don’t know if it's this fruit or if any edible plant would have the same effect.]
(Let’s eat another one.)
There were seven fruits left on the tree, five of them out of reach unless they climbed up. Out of the two accessible fruits, one had a black spot covering a good quarter of its surface.
They stuffed the healthy one in their mouth and, unwilling to waste, cut the bad section of the other off and feasted on what was left.
[I wish we could take that tree with us.]
(We should savor the last fruits. Who knows? Maybe it's the last time we get the chance to eat this species.)
[You’re right, we could camp here for a few days too. To truly savor them.]
(It wouldn’t hurt. At this point, I don’t know how long it’ll take for us to find the exit of the rift.)
[One last fruit now?]
(One last fruit now.)
As they examined the tree to see which fruit they would pick, their eyes caught something in the distance. On top of one of the hills surrounding their precious tree, a white figure stood, gazing down at them.
(Faceless…)
[There’s more than one.]
More and more faceless appeared over the crest of the hills. And not only in one direction.
(We’re surrounded.)
[Again… This is not good.]
There was a lot more faceless than on top of the waterfall too.
[We can’t go back to the river, there are at least fifty of them in that direction.]
(That won't do, we can’t allow ourselves to be surrounded like that. We need to break out of the encirclement.)
[What about the fruits?]
(I hate it, but we have to abandon them.)
[We can’t even take one?]
(We don’t have time, Div!)
[Fine, there’s less of them in the direction opposite to the river. We should try to break out this way.]
Opposite to where they needed to go.
(What a scam. Bird is going to hear from me.)
[As if she cared. The guardians are rift creatures, not our friends.]
(Cassandra was right.)
Div and En started running in the direction where the faceless line was thinner. They had no intention of fighting the whole army. There were at least 200 monsters combined all around them. It was clear they couldn’t win.
Their only hope was to escape.
Running uphill slowed them down, but with the help of The Fifth Direction, they still managed to strike first. The first faceless fell, and the rest hurled themselves at Diven.
But under his spear and the combined might of his two minds, the faceless horde parted.
Step by step, he forced his way through their ranks.
It was easy. Far easier than expected. It was a good thing the faceless weren’t particularly skilled at fighting. The faceless relied solely on their numbers. As long as Div and En managed to avoid confronting the bulk of their forces, they had a chance.
(Almost there!)
[Let’s go!]
With a swipe of his spear, Diven burst through the encirclement and started running. A few glances left and right revealed that far fewer faceless were converging toward them.
But the way forward was clear, so they would follow it.
Div and En ran, fast enough to avoid the faceless, but not fast enough to lose them.
They were conservative in their usage of The Fifth Direction. While they could put a little more distance between them and their pursuers if they used it, with so many of them it felt like a lost cause.
Instead, they chose to preserve their energy for the inevitable confrontation. Sooner or later, the corridor they were taking between the faceless lines would end and they would have to fight once more.
They had to be in top shape when it happened.