The Beginning After The End 08

by Turtle Me

  My eyes widened in realization. “You’re right.”

  The next time, the mouth closed even faster. The serrated teeth left several gashes on my arm because I hadn’t been able to pull back fast enough, but this time, as I struck at the transparent beast, I released more aether from my core, enough for a purplish-red sheen to envelop my body.

  There was a slight give, as if my hand was passing through a layer of some viscous liquid, but beneath that was its actual body, which shuddered like rippling water.

  The transparent beast let out a shrill scream, a demonic fusion of alarm bell and squealing infant that made me lose balance again from pure shock.

  I managed to hold on to the tree, but Regis had been knocked unconscious, his incorporeal form floating featherlike to the branch at my feet, his flames wavering like he might go out.

  I struck the squealing creature once more, and its soft body went limp.

  Prying open its mouth, I reached inside and pulled out the fruit. It was soft and warm to the touch.

  “What a weird creature,” I mused, staring once more at the deadly flytrap beast.

  Squatting down, I checked on Regis, who was stirring awake.

  “What happened?” the black orb asked, his voice shaky.

  I held the orange pear out to Regis with a smile. “I got it.”

  Regis made a show of studying the fruit, though I could sense his embarrassment at having fainted. “I wonder if it’s edible.”

  “There’s only one way to find out.” I sniffed the fruit, then nibbled on the outer edge of it, taking only a very small bite just in case it was poisonous. Though I expected my asuran body could handle something like poison better than my old human form, I still had to be cautious. I didn’t truly know my limits yet.

  The fruit was sour. Not bad, necessarily, but it tasted sort of like a more flavorful lemon peel. Then, as soon as I swallowed, I felt the change in my body.

  I buckled in pain as my insides twisted, my body quivering uncontrollably so I had to slump to the ground and lay huddled in fetal position as my aether core slowly absorbed the energy from the piece of fruit.

  “Arthur!” Regis called out, his voice distant and muffled, but my attention, what little I could manifest, was focused behind him, past the tree line.

  Heavy, rapid footsteps grew louder as the ethereal trees—whose branches remained unbowed beneath my weight—swayed fiercely in a path leading straight toward us.

  263

  Law of the Wild

  “There’s something coming,” I grunted, barely able to get back to my feet.

  Regis turned around and his smoky black body went pale. “Oh, shit.”

  My heart pounded as the rapid footfalls grew louder; it sounded like an entire horde of creatures was charging toward us through the jungle. I hobbled as fast as my body would let me, fighting to even stay upright through the strain of processing the fruit I’d just consumed. There was no way I could fight whatever was barreling toward us in my current state.

  Thankfully, we managed to find a dip in the ground by a large tree nearby. The exposed roots gnarled together, weaving in and out of the ground to provide us with a covert shelter to hide in.

  My heart pounded as I listened to what sounded like a stampede charging back and forth through the area we had narrowly escaped from, doubtless searching for us.

  My mind whirled, trying to think of the reason why we had suddenly attracted the attention of… whatever was out there. I couldn’t see how eating the fruit could have—

  That transparent flytrap… it let out that horrible scream just before it died.

  And that’s when everything clicked.

  All of the organisms here—the two-tailed monkeys, the flytrap monsters—had adapted to make as little noise as possible in order to survive whatever was currently hunting me through the surrounding jungle.

  “Sensitive to sound,” I mouthed, pointing to my ear. Regis nodded and the two of us waited for the noise of stomping feet in the underbrush to pass.

  By now, the constant series of rapid footfalls had grown so close that the ground itself shook under me. A series of loud, clicking, chittering noises followed, and I suddenly felt the pressure being emitted by our hunter. It was significantly stronger than even the fused chimera.

  Whatever it was, I was confident it was one creature from the emission of raw power. One very large beast.

  Steadying my breathing, I remained frozen as the grating sound of rusted gears clacking together grew closer. Regis flew inside me, afraid of being seen despite his incorporeal state.

  Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I sensed something approaching our hidden shelter. The rapid chittering grew even louder until I was able to see it.

  The chimeras had been fairly horrifying to look at, but this creature was something straight out of a demon’s nightmare.

  With the overall frame of a millipede—except the size and girth of a bullet train—the creature writhed past me, its countless spindly legs spanning twice my height. I was able to make out the serrated pincers on its head as it passed by, but most of the smaller details were lost on me. I was distracted by the fact that the millipede was almost transparent.

  Tinged in a soft purple hue that blended with the glowing leaves, the giant millipede looked more gelatinous than solid, like it was missing its hard shell. However, seeing how not even the sharp, unyielding branches of the ethereal trees made a scratch against the creature’s hide, I knew it wouldn’t be easy to kill.

  The millipede continued to crawl around us, searching for its prey. Despite its tremendous size and length, it moved with such nimbleness and flexibility that, even as it moved on to a different area, there were no broken limbs or upturned earth to show that a giant beast had passed through.

  Still, I could hear it nearby. Its steps continued to shake the ground, keeping me from trying to leave my cramped refuge.

  Time dragged as we anxiously waited for the millipede to leave when there was a change to the pattern of its noises. The beast’s rapid steps began to slow, then became a rhythmic thumping of its many legs.

  ‘What’s going on now?’ Regis asked.

  I’m not sure, I responded, sorely tempted to take a peek.

  It didn’t take long to realize that I wouldn’t have been alive if I had moved. Shortly after, a series of pained cries rent the humid jungle air.

  I could only assume that the beast had used some form of echolocation to find anything nearby that had moved.

  When the rhythmic stomping halted, Regis, who couldn’t be detected by echolocation, hesitantly left my body and floated up out of our hole in the ground.

  “It’s okay, you can come out. It’s… it’s eating,” Regis whispered.

  Steeling myself, I pushed past the burning sensation still eating at my core and poked my head out of the shelter. The millipede had curled itself around a massive tree, which had, up until a moment ago, been home to a family of two-tailed monkeys.

  It was a bloodbath. A larger monkey, drenched in its own blood, was being swallowed, while a smaller monkey pounded desperately, but ineffectually, on the millipede’s head with a rock. An instant later, the millipede's head twisted sharply, throwing its attacker into the air, and quick as a snake it snapped the little monkey up, swallowing it rock and all.

  Ignoring the gore—a sight that I had grown much too accustomed to—I studied the millipede. Pulsating circular depressions covered its back, but aside from the dagger-like pincers and its sharp legs, I couldn’t see any other form of attack.

  “Please tell me you’re not thinking of fighting that thing,” Regis whispered, hovering an inch away from my ear.

  “Not if I don’t have to.”

  It didn’t take long for over half of the dozen two-tailed monkeys to be consumed, after which the other half gave up and escaped, throwing down their sticks and rocks in order to flee up the vines before disappearing into
the trees hanging from the cavern ceiling.

  Several minutes later, when the millipede eventually uncurled itself from the giant tree and began slithering away, I couldn’t help staring at the monkeys inside the beast’s body.

  While the organic material was withering—as if the aether was being sucked out of the bodies—a slight glow began enveloping the rocks that the millipede had consumed along with it.

  Later, after having traveled a few hours in the opposite direction of where the millipede had gone upon finishing its meal, I was finally able to spend some time absorbing the rest of the fruit.

  While the first bite had been an agonizing experience that very well could’ve gotten me killed, the subsequent bites made it seem like it was all worth it.

  I started off with small nibbles, afraid that I’d be met with another wave of pain from the surge of aether. Instead, I experienced an overwhelming sensation of heat spreading throughout my body and coalescing back in my core. After that, I hungrily tore into the fruit and my core devoured the aetheric essence.

  After polishing off the fruit, I was fascinated to discover that the aether in my body had lost some of its reddish tint—and that was before my body had completely absorbed all of the aetheric essence.

  I didn’t know exactly what the change in color meant, but I knew I had gotten stronger.

  I found it difficult to keep track of time, which ceased to have any meaning. With little need to sleep and no sun overhead, my internal clock had become all but useless.

  As we continued searching for the exit, my mind kept circling back to our encounter with the translucent millipede. More specifically, how the beast’s insides had completely absorbed the aether from the monkeys it had devoured, and how a coat of aether seemed to be forming around the stone.

  “—thur!” Regis snapped.

  “What?” I hissed, surprised.

  “I was saying…” Regis stressed, his large white eyes narrowing. “That we need to think of a battle phrase for our combo attack!”

  I raised one eyebrow. “Our… combo attack?”

  “Yeah!” he said, much too loudly. I sent him a glare, and he continued more quietly. “You know, when I go inside your hand and make your fist turn all smoky black and purple. In the heat of a battle, you’re going to need something more concise to say. You told me to give it some thought, and I have some ideas I think you’re going to love.”

  My initial reaction was to dismiss his silly idea, but there was some merit to what Regis was suggesting. Besides, I knew if I didn’t let him get it out of his system, he’d just keep going back to the idea.

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “What did you have in mind?”

  Regis’s eyes widened in surprise. “Seriously? I thought you were going to be a grouch about it.”

  Shooting him a glare, I enveloped my body in aether as I raised a hand to smack him.

  “Okay okay!” Regis said, flitting out of arm's reach. “How about Aether Explosion Punch!”

  “No,” I said flatly, turning away to continue searching our surroundings for any sign of an exit.

  “Aetheric Void Buster?”

  “No.”

  “Shadow Death Imp— “

  “No,” I cut him off. “Where are you even coming up with these ridiculous names?”

  “Your early memories as Grey playing those arcade games come to mind,” Regis responded simply. “Ooh! How about—”

  “No.”

  “Fine fine fine. I’ll be serious. What about something simple, like Fist Style or… Fist Form?”

  I thought about it for a minute before making a suggestion of my own. “How about Gauntlet Form?”

  “Yes!” Regis exclaimed, trembling with excitement. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

  “Too loud!” I snapped, instinctively turning to look behind us for any signs of movement.

  “Relax. I saw that gigantic bug go back to its hole near the center of this floor or zone or whatever. We’re hours away from it.”

  “You saw its den?” I asked, caught by surprise.

  “Yeah, while you were absorbing the fruit. It wasn’t that hard to find with how much aetheric essence that place was giving off,” Regis explained. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why? You’re not thinking of trying to fight that thing, right?”

  “Let’s just search for the exit,” I said dismissively. Meanwhile, the gears in my brain continued to turn.

  Subjective hours passed uneventfully as we combed through the ethereal forest. We ran into a few more flytrap beasts, their fruit tempting me every time we passed by them.

  Knowing the trick now, I was able to kill them quickly and silently, avoiding drawing the giant millipede’s attention a second time. None of the other fruits seemed nearly as potent as the first one I had consumed, but I was happy for the extra aether regardless.

  We rested intermittently, mainly so that I could sit down and concentrate on my aether core. I wracked my brain trying to think of how to form new channels throughout my body so that I could more freely control the aether inside me.

  After hours of deliberation and testing with nothing to show for it, I pulled out the translucent stone which held Sylvie. It had become a habit for me to stare mindlessly at it whenever things got tough or I was feeling overwhelmed. I felt at risk of forgetting why I was here, and thinking about Sylvie helped remind me that there was a world out there, and I needed to get back to it.

  I had Regis go inside of the stone every now and then to see if there were any developments within—if Sylvie was getting better at all—but nothing had changed.

  But this time was different. Whether it was because my core had gotten stronger, or something had happened within the stone, I couldn’t be sure, but as I held the stone in my hands, I could feel something pulling at the aether within me, drawing it through me and toward the stone.

  Do you need aether, Sylv? Is that how I get you out of there? As I thought this, I pushed the aether from my core.

  It only took a few minutes until my entire aether core had been drained, leaving me weak and shivering.

  Regis, returning from inspecting the perimeter, flew to my side. “Hey! What happened?”

  I held up my hand. “I—I’m fine.”

  Regis waited expectantly, and I could feel his distress.

  “I’m more than fine.” A smile formed on my face as I stared down at the translucent stone, which seemed just a little brighter than before. “Thanks to Sylv, I think I found a way to control the aether inside me.”

  “That’s great! I got some good news too,” Regis said, flaring brightly. “I think I found the exit from this floor!”

  I tucked the small stone back in my vest. “No. We can’t leave yet.”

  “What? Why?” Regis asked incredulously. “I recognize that look. You’ve got some crazy idea that’s going to get us killed, don’t you?”

  “No. Well, I certainly hope not, anyway.”

  My thoughts went back to the millipede and the way it created a shell of aether around everything that it couldn’t digest. If Regis was right, he had seen the aether signature radiating from its den from miles away.

  If my thoughts were correct, then even at the risk of my life—

  No. I had already decided that I needed to risk my life in order to overcome the challenges that I would face when I got out of here.

  I turned to Regis and spoke with iron in my voice. “We’re going to kill that millipede.”

  264

  Mother Lode

  When Sylvie’s stone had drawn the aether from me, it had taken every last drop from my core. However, only a fraction of that aether had been absorbed, spiraling down a designated path inside, while the rest was filtered out. The aether that was able to reach Sylvie, who was comatose within, was too little to amount to anything.

  That’s when I realized that Sylvie’s stone didn’t act like a battery that I needed to slowly charge, lik
e I had first assumed. No, it was more like a strainer that I needed to fill with aether faster than it could spill back out.

  The fact that Sylvie’s stone wouldn’t accept most of the aether I tried to give it, even after I had consumed the fruit, meant that my aether core was flawed. Not “flawed” per se, but just like how mana cores started out with natural impurities from the body that limited the output and storage of mana, my aether core was filled with impurities. This was hindering the capacity that could be stored within and keeping me from utilizing the full capabilities of aether.

  Great.

  If I wanted to be able to make aether flow the way it did inside Sylvie’s stone, I needed the aether in my core to become much purer. And if I wanted to bring Sylvie back, I needed to be able to unleash that purer aether much more quickly and in a much larger volume than I currently was able to. And I had to be able to do it all at once, which meant I couldn’t spend time absorbing aether in between.

  This was why, a few hours later, I found myself standing just outside of the giant millipede’s den, clad in nothing but a flimsy leather vest and shredded cloth pants.

  “It’s not too late to back out,” Regis whispered into my ear.

  I knew what it meant if I couldn’t kill it, but the possibility of impending death was a sobering reminder that reconfirmed my priorities. Getting out of the ruin wasn’t actually my top priority. Even if I was able to make it out right at that moment, I was actually weaker than I had been when I fought against Nico and the Scythe, Cadell.

  My priority had to be getting stronger, which—thankfully—aligned with getting Sylvie back as well. Killing the millipede would be a big step forward in working toward that goal.

  Meeting Regis’s gaze, I started down the incline into the den. “Let’s go.”

  As we traversed deeper inside the giant hole that spiraled down into the ground, it strangely grew brighter instead of fading into darkness. There was a faint purple sheen that clung to the ground, walls, and ceiling of the winding tunnel.