'You can't kill them yet,' Leviathan's sharp voice reverberated in his mind. 'Conquering your next Trials will be easier with them on your side. After the third Trial, you can do whatever you want with them.'
Eirwen waved him off mentally. 'Yeah, yeah, got it. But why the third Trial exactly? It'd be much easier if you actually told me shit, you know?!'
No answer came, and just as he gave up on trying—sliding down the wall he was leaning against and sitting down on the cold stone—Leviathan spoke again.
'This "Spell" is really a curious thing,' Leviathan's voice echoed in Eirwen's mind. 'It creates an entire world just to push you toward ascension, something that can be achieved naturally, but is much easier with the help of this System.'
Eirwen's vision wavered for a moment, everything blurring slightly. A strange discomfort settled in, making him clench his teeth, but he pushed through it and listened.
Either way, the Spell fills its worlds with copies of real creatures and entities that have existed before. Marcel and Bernard for example, they were nothing but projections. In reality, both of them are probably still alive.'
'But with me—and other beings at my level—it's different. The Spell can't replicate us without our consent. So, naturally, I am me in every Trial.'
Without daring to interrupt, the Sleeper simply listened, pushing past the discomfort that came with the overwhelming voice.
'I can feel a Fragment of myself inside a third-rank Nightmare Seed somewhere in Judecca,' Leviathan continued, his tone darkening, turning sharp and ominous. 'The strongest Fragment yet…'
Eirwen's forehead was damp with sweat, long strands of blonde hair clinging to his skin.
'You only have to enter the Seed, boy,' Leviathan's voice slithered through his mind. 'After that, I will finish the Trial for you. You will gain the strength of a Saint, and I will be one step closer to restoring my might. But to even reach that Seed, you need to become a Master.'
Tugging his knees close to his body, Eirwen leaned against the cold stone wall with a sigh. His golden eyes—glowing faintly in the dim cave—stared ahead as he sank into thought, carefully analyzing everything.
***
"Maybe it was a bad idea to come here after all?" Eliot mumbled, gripping his oddly shaped Scythe-Axe tightly as he followed Raijin closely.
For some reason, the more the green-haired boy spoke, the stronger Raijin's urge to beat him up grew. It wasn't that Eliot's voice was unpleasant—quite the opposite, actually. It was smooth, youthful and energetic.
Still, Raijin wished he would just shut up.
"I get it," Raijin snapped. "You've said that how many times already? Ten? Stop being a damn chicken."
Eliot's eyes widened slightly before dropping to the ground. He mumbled an apology under his breath, his grip on the weapon tightening just a little.
Snorting, Raijin walked up to a colossal stone monolith—one of the thousands surrounding them—and placed his palm on it. 'It still feels so strange; this one's cold though,' he thought, before retracting his hand.
Nearly every monolith felt different. Some were cold, some hot, and some seemed to eat at his skin like acid when he touched them. To make things worse, it always felt like sharp gazes were directed at them, watching their every move.
Someone was stalking them like prey, and there was nothing the two of them could do about it. Even leaving wasn't an option anymore. They were lost and trapped
'I can't feel brother either,' Raijin thought, a cold knot forming in his chest. 'It's like we're completely cut off!'
But he calmed himself, refusing to panic. The Guild had trained him for the strangest scenarios, and being cut off from the outer world was one of them.
From what he understood so far, this felt like something akin to a seal. 'But what caused it…? This stupid forest, or the bastard watching us?' Raijin thought, frustration surging out as he crouched down, kneeling on one knee.
'We couldn't find the edge of this barrier even though we travelled back the way we came…'
Eliot watched him silently, careful not to touch anything but the ground. There was something he wanted to say, but Raijin really didn't want to hear it.
Raising a finger to silence him, Raijin whispered, "I'm going to be fully honest. We might be really, really fucked."
Rumble...
And just as he finished speaking, as if waiting for the right moment, something erupted from the stone monolith closest to them—the very one Raijin had touched moments before.
Eliot yelped, immediately jumping to the side as he slashed with the longer, scythe-like blade of his weapon.
Raijin also shot to the side, pieces of stone and dust flying between him and Eliot for a split second. Bright sparks immediately appeared around his right hand, dancing and merging into a long spear.
When the dust cleared, Raijin saw his companion's curving blade deeply embedded in a lanky, humanoid stone creature.
"Do we run?!" Eliot screamed, pushing the blade deeper as the golem struggled against it, slowly overpowering the scythe.
"Obviously?!" Raijin shouted in confusion, thrusting his lightning-coated spear forward in hopes of doing some damage. But it was futile—both of them only managed to leave two shallow scratches.
Escaping this strange Seal was the last of problems now...
Not bothering to pull his weapon out or fight the monster, Eliot simply let go and dismissed the Memory. Cursing at the top of their lungs, the two Sleepers shot away from the golem, its movements slow and twitchy as it reached a thin hand forward.
"Don't bump into anything!" Raijin screamed, the cold air stabbing his lungs and throat as he struggled to regulate his breathing.
"Easier said than done!" The taller boy shouted, sprinting after Raijin and dodging the colossal monoliths that obscured their view.
Huff Huff Huff 'There is still someone watching us!' he thought, not daring to look back to see whether the golem was following them or not, his spear's blade aimed down behind him and clanged against the ground from time to time.
In their search for food, they had instead found what could soon be their death!
Turning sharply to the left and narrowly avoiding stumbling onto the stone, Raijin and Eliot ducked slightly as more stone began exploding behind them. Mere seconds later, dozens of stone golems were chasing after them, their bodies moving unnaturally.
'Fuck you, uncle!' Raijin nearly screamed aloud in frustration.
Both of them were stressed, not ready to face death just yet. They were simply too young for that to happen! 'Dying before I even get a girlfriend?! Hell n-!' Raijin's thoughts were abruptly cut off as they reached a dead end. The monolith before them was too thick and broad to simply run around!
"Raijin!" Eliot screamed, whipping around and lashing out with a new weapon he had summoned just seconds ago.
With wide, radiant eyes, Raijin crouched down—nearly stumbling—as a metallic whip with sharp segments shot over his head, wrapping itself around a golem's throat that had emerged from the monolith before him.
Holding back a scream, Raijin rolled to the side just as Eliot yanked the golem away with a loud grunt.
Somersaulting back onto his feet, he opened his mouth to thank him, but there was no time. Something lunged at Eliot from the side.
"Shit!" Raijin cursed, his fingers scrambling for the spear that had just slipped from his grip. Without hesitation, he threw it forward like a javelin.
The spear shot past Eliot's side—leaving him stunned—before impaling a tall stone golem and forcefully pushing it back onto a random monolith. It immediately merged back into the rock smoothly.
"Do I still have to thank you?" Raijin shouted, dismissing the spear and summoning it again. For two seconds, he was completely vulnerable, forced to rely on Eliot for cover.
Groaning from the strain, Eliot lashed his hand, retracting the segmented whip until it compacted into a sleek metallic cane.
"Well, I guess it would be nice?!" Eliot screamed over the thuds of the approaching golems, their heavy steps lanky and creepy. Each one was humanoid in shape, formed from dark, cracked stone, but they weren't identical—some were taller while others sprouted additional limbs with sharp claws.
Once the Memory fully manifested, Raijin shot forward—his Aspect stimulating his legs and amplifying his speed in an instant—and appeared beside Eliot in a blur.
"I might thank you if we don't fucking die, how 'bout that?!" he hissed, twirling his spear before side-eyeing his companion. "And please stop talking before I stab you too!"
----
Oh great Heavens above I am finally back, I have also improved my writing a bit.
Lowk the timing for this chapter is HORRENDOUS tho because I have eye surgery tomorrow and will be knocked out for two days so please wish me luck
btw I also released a chapter 0 in which I revealed who Leviathan is (A Void Creature) and some additional info on the whole Underworld bullshit)