Twenty-Six
 
The forest was a multi-hued blur as they ran. Alice continued to urge greater and greater speed from him as Kon fought to keep his breathing steady. Diur had taken to carrying the bag of F-Grade cores while Alice kept her own bag of E-Grade on her shoulder. Neither woman seemed phased by the speed they ran at, but Kon had started struggling within an hour.
“One foot, two foot, one foot, two foot,” Kon kept repeating the mantra as he ran with everything he had. His two nodes burned with power, fueled by sticks of jerky that Alice threw at him from time to time. Each one had dissolved the moment it hit his stomach, the energy in them being consumed by the two nodes with increasing speed.
Even with the help of the energy packed meat, he was starting to lag. His legs burned and every breath was a torment of icy blades that seared his throat and lungs. Muscles rippled beneath his skin as the second node constantly repaired the micro tears and flushed the lactic acid from them. Pain built but was whisked away moments later as another surge of energy flooded out from his first node.
“He’s getting faster,” Diur said to Alice and the Knight turned around and looked him up and down with a grin. Then she sped up.
Kon cursed Diur, Alice, running, trees, and his parents in a long litany of excessive, contradictory, and physically impossible statements. He sped up though and the pain increased.
A tree was in front of him, felled years ago as rust coated its ancient trunk and he hurdled it with ease, sailing up and over and landing without missing stride. Gnarled roots were run over, his ankles stout and keeping him upright, a hill was assaulted as he ran without cease. All the while Alice looked back and smiled wider and wider while a look of amazement began to etch itself on Diur.
“Nights coming. We should stop soon,” Diur said finally and Kon gasped in agreement. His mouth had become a wasteland and his legs were a trembling mass of jelly that threatened to collapse with every stride. The energy to curse had left him and he was now run only by willpower and stubborn pride.
“He’s reached the end of gains. Anything more will start to hurt,” Alice mused as she slowed and allowed Kon to reach them. Momentum came to an end and he fell, caught by Diur’s strong arms before he could face plant.
“He’s dehydrated and needs food. We need to rest,” Diur said as she slung him over her shoulder with ease.
Kon grunted in agreement but was too tired to verbalize what he wanted to say. Which was again, vulgar, unpleasant, and likely physically impossible. Alice just laughed and they started off again, this time with Kon bouncing around like a sack of potatoes on Diur’s shoulder.
Alice had a penchant for finding caves and this time was no exception. A scoop of the world had been shoveled out and there was only a single E-Grade beast sleeping in it. Black axe flashed once and then there was only dinner waiting in the cave with them. Diur dropped him and the sack of E-Grade cores and then flashed away with a burst of speed while Kon pulled himself upright to look around.
Alice was elbow deep in the creature’s chest, yanking another core out, and she looked up at him and smiled. There was pride in that smile, in the way her eyes crinkled and the joy plainly illustrated across her face. Kon’s own anger melted a bit under than look and he weakly gave her a rude hand gesture. She laughed and ripped out the core and then began to cut apart the monster.
“Have you thought more about the words?”
“No. Was entirely focused on just running,” Kon whispered. He ran his swollen and dry tongue across his mouth, desperate for any type of moisture. Every word was raspy and took more out of him than he wanted to admit.
“Fair enough. There’s nothing wrong with following the tread upon path. It’s a path for a reason. The run is fairly limited in how you understand something. Not like I’m giving you a perception rune,” Alice finished with a chuckle. She finished cutting apart the animal and disappeared for a brief moment before returning with a bunch of wood. Her own rune fragment flared to life and a fire was soon burning at the mouth of the cave.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Kon thought on her words. Humanity had built a path for power which generations of Knights had used. They stood as the pinnacle of martial power across the galaxy. A sense of doubt crossed his mind as he thought of that legacy and history.
“Who am I to try to change what’s worked for so long?” The thought was insidious, a poison that clouded his mind as he thought long and hard over it. Kon sat in the cave, in his own pool of sweat and worked that thought over and over.
“It just doesn’t feel right. I have to trust myself.”
“Alice, does the rune mean understand, or is that just what you’re saying it means?”
“Understand, comprehend, same shit,” Alice waved a hand lazily while Kon stared at her. He’d been limiting himself by thinking only of the word understand. Diur interrupted them by arriving with a canteen of water moments later. She held it out to Alice who pushed a finger in the bottleneck and removed it a second later.
“Clean,” Was all she said. Diur handed Kon the bottle and it took all of his strength not to drink the entire canteen down in one go. It was warm and viscous but tasted delicious as his parched body craved water.
“How much further until we hit the edge of the plateau?” Alice asked Diur as she tossed them half cooked chunks of meat. All three of them started to eat ravenously, not caring about the state of the food.
“Another day or two at this rate.”
“Shit. Something is following us. I can feel it, just barely, at the edge of my perception range. I don’t think we’ll be able to get off the plateau before it catches up,” Alice informed them. Kon immediately thought of the assassins. Alice must have read his face and she shook her head.
“No, not the assassins. I doubt I would be able to feel the Lupine or the goblins out here in this mess. It’s strong but bad at cloaking itself. It’s trying too, but not doing it well. Peak D-Grade probably.”
“That is possible. Grandfather was talking about arranging a hunt with the other elder and some of the senior disciples. They wouldn’t have done it for anything less than an Upper grade.” Kon watched as the two women discussed what it likely was.
“I thought you said your elders cleared the area?” he finally spoke. He felt like a limp rag, completely worn out by the run and the trauma of the day.
“They did. But beasts can grow in strength themselves if they consume enough cores. Something on the other side of the plateau ate and killed enough D-Grade beasts to hit Peak D-Grade. Grandfather sensed it entering our territory and was arranging a hunt for it. It would have been easily in his power to bring one down, especially with the help of the others. Our clan guardians would have been called if there was C-Grade or higher involved.”
“Your ancestor might still be on the planet?” Alice asked.
“Possibly. No one knows. If she is, it won’t be on the plateau. This area has been harvested well.” Diur tore at her food and looked back at them with guiless eyes.
“Doesn’t matter. If she’s not here right now, then we have to figure out how to deal with the D-Grade stalking us,” Kon cut in. Alice laughed bitterly.
“Kon, if that beast gets close, your only job is to run. You and Diur will get off the plateau and head East and North once off. You’re to find the survivors and report what you’ve trained. If you can find the rest of my squad once you’re rescued, they’ll take over training you,” Alice said.
Kon stared at his mentor aghast. She was all but saying it was death to fight the beast, but she was going to do it to let them get out.
“Alice. Would you be able to escape if it wasn't for me?” Kon whispered. She looked him square in the eye.
“Likely. It’s a higher grade but I have a lead and with the runes that I have I could probably escape.”
“Then that’s what you should do,” Kon said. He didn’t want Alice’s death on his head. His weakness and inexperience bringing her down set a fire in his gut and his eyes prickled with refound moisture.
“Knock that shit off. When your time comes, it comes. I’ll stand and do my duty. Our primary goal is to get away from it without us having to die. So, first thing in the morning you’re going to use that rune. Then we’re going to take a bit of a detour,” Alice said. Her hard depression turned positively evil and if she had both of her hands, Kon had no doubt she’d be rubbing them together maniacally.
“I think I found their base. Or at least I got a whiff of their scent so to speak. It’s not far from here, but it’s guarded well.”
“We’re going to lead that beast right into them?” Diur asked and there was a seething rage in her words. Her fingers were clenched around the pommel of her sword so tightly that her skin had turned white.
“Yeah. Something like that,” Alice said. She kicked dirt over the fire and Kon leaned back to close his eyes and try to get the image of Alice dying to save him out of his mind. He had words to find and a rune to imprint in the morning and he couldn't’ be distracted by what could be.