Crawwwwwwww!!!
The two Dreadwingers attacked, scampering through the ground in frightening speed. In a silent unified decision, Spheris and Cerene ran in opposite paths, causing both beasts to diverge as well.
With a slap of his hands, Spheris conjured a large bolt of [Shaded Surge], sending it at the beast. The dark energy crackled through the air as it struck the Dreadwinger, causing it to explode into a flurry of bone fragments. However, just as Cerene had said, the creature swiftly regenerated from the shattered bones, reforming before his eyes with unnerving speed.
It cracked its head and screeched loudly at him.
'Just wanted to be sure,' Spheris humphed.
Battling her own beast, Cerene manipulated her whips of water, weaving them into a swirling vortex which with expert movements of her hands increased in size and became a large tornado of water.
She captured the beast in its whirling watery grasp, lifting the creature high into the air as it struggled and cried out in terror. Then with a resolute expression, she abruptly inverted the whirlpool, sending the beast hurtling towards the ground below, and raining down a forceful cascade of water upon the creature at the same time.
Spheris watched this with a stunned expression. 'How sure am I that she's even Adept?' he wondered. 'That looked like the skills of a Master."
[Intuition]!
But his reflexes couldn't save him. The Dreadwinger struck him with its head, sending him flying backwards to the ground.
"Faggards!" He swore. The creature screeched at him once again. "Yeah, yeah. Give me a second to stand up."
He rose to his feet with no difficulty at all, which was surprising. Normally, he would have to pull himself to his feet, but this time he felt lightless, almost like he flew to his feet.
As the beast scampered towards him, Spheris readied himself to strike. Yet, before he could do anything, he saw Cerene's tendrils of water coil around the Dreadwinger's bony limbs, ensnaring it in a fluid trap.
"Spheris! The cartilage, now!" she cried.
Whilst the creature struggled to escape the aqueous grasp, Spheris [Leaped] in front of it, a cold smirk on his face. "Need a hand?"
And with that, he sliced right through the cartilage and the beast's head fell off.
His glyph whirred.
[Beastslayer Bonus granted]
[Bearer, you have slayed the beast, Dreadwinger]
[Secret Assignment has been completed]
[You have been granted 25ip]
[Power Growth has been discerned]
[Power Level increased]
[Power Level is now at 215ip]
Spheris was about to return the glyph when it whirred once again.
[Influence Unlocked - Whispering Sprint]
[Influence Category - Offensive/Defensive]
[Effectiveness - 15%]
'[Whispering Sprint]?' he thought to himself. Oh, he knew exactly what this meant.
Looking ahead, he saw the Dreadwinger that Cerene had assaulted with her watery tornado, rise up to his feet, shake its head, turn away from them and began to return to its earlier prey.
But the girl was already on her toes, trying to run away. The beast screeched at her and hurriedly scampered towards her with furiosity.
To save the girl, Cerene quickly sent two powerful blasts of water balls at the hunting Dreadwinger. But they missed the beast by inches. "Crap." she swore.
"I got this." Her eyes turned to Spheris who had appeared by her side. His gaze focused on the beast as it successfully brought the girl to the ground and opened its ugly toothed mouth.
Cerene frowned at him worriedly. "Well, if you're gonna do something, then do it!"
Without responding, Spheris assumed a running stance, took a deep breath and then poof! He disappeared.
Cerene's frown stretched. What just happened?
With [Whispering Sprint], Spheris had dashed all the way to the Dreadwinger's front, making only as much sound as a whisper. The startled beast abruptly snapped shut its jaws, its eyes widening in horror as it beheld Spheris before it.
"Boo."
He punched it straight in the face with his fist pulsing with the dark force, sending the creature hurtling away from the girl and landing rough on the rocky ground.
Seeing it was now alone and didn't have its colleagues, the Dreadwinger was very frightened. It struggled to its feet, whimpering as it tried to escape. But the shadow wielder was not yet done with it.
Conjuring [Embrace Of The Darkness], Spheris grabbed its legs with the murky tendrils and sent the Dreadwinger for a spin. He felt so alive, so powerful as he gyrated around, making the beast dizzy and disoriented.
When he was satisfied, he slammed the beast hard on the ground, and after that he [Whispered] to it and landed numerous shaded punches to its skeleton face. Then he arose gratifyingly, gazing down at the half-dead beast.
As he watched, its bones began to heal and the shattered face was slowly reforming, but in the Dreadwinger's eyes, it didn't want to heal. It wished for death.
Spheris shifted his gaze to Cerene who had been watching from a distance. "Do you want the Beastslayer Bonus?"
Shaking away the bewildered expression on her face, Cerene conjured a wave of water from her flagons and surfed above it, all the way to Spheris's location. She gazed down at the battered Dreadwinger, who gazed back at her, begging for death.
With an apathetic breath, Cerene conjured a sharp, thin whip of water and precisely sliced through the beast's cartilage neck, ending its misery.
When she turned back to Spheris, she saw he had already started harvesting the other's Soul Fragments.
[Soul Fragment Identified]
[Soul Type: Dreadwinger]
[Soul Value: Epic]
[Soul Fragment Is Worth 100 Weapon Points]
[Soul Fragment Has Been Harnessed Successfully]
[Seven More Singular Soul Fragments Are Required]
[Craft On, Willful Bearer]
"Seven more it is." Spheris nodded to himself resolutely. He turned to Cerene who was also offering her Soul Fragment to her glyph. When she was done, she caught his stare and they both approached each other.
"What do I do with this one?" he asked her, showing her the spare Soul Fragment.
"I don't know," she shrugged, a slight but evident change was in her demeanor. "Save it. If we leave this place you can sell it for something. Or you can let one of the others have it when we're reunited."
Spheris humphed. "Good idea."
They slowly began to approach the girl who was still lying on the ground, tending to her wounded leg.
"You and I working together," Spheris muttered. "I liked that. It was... nice."
Cerene gave him a short analytical glance. "Yeah. I guess teamwork makes the dream work."
His head fell in thought. "I guess it does."
Caw! Talon swooped down from below and landed on his outstretched hand. Spheris had told the bird that at any sign of danger, he is to fly high up in the sky and stay clear. He was glad that it had listened.
"Hey," Cerene gently knelt before the wounded girl. "Are you o—"
To Spheris's surprise, she jumped up to her feet, fist clenched as she roared angrily: "You!"
You? Who?
Spheris walked closer to Cerene and the wounded girl, looking down to see who it was. And sure enough, he understood, Cerene's anger.
The girl had short brown hair and big brown eyes, which ascuented the nervous cordial smile that was on her face. "Hello again, my friendly adventurers!"
Spheris grimaced. "Linne."
The clawed sun was getting hotter, and below, the dry expanse of red soil stretched out before them: Spheris and Cerene... and Linne the Abyssian.
Their countenances were very different. On Spheris's face was a blank expression, a phlegmatic one a person might say. His thoughts were swirling as he processed the situation.
Cerene, on the other hand, was bristling. She could barely contain her anger and it showed. Her jaws were clenched, her fists tightened at her sides and her usually pacific blue eyes were flashing with fury.
The betrayal was still fresh in her mind, and seeing Linne alive only reignited the flames of her rage.
Linne didn't look very threatened, but she was nervous. A tentative smile played on her lips as she looked up at the Bearers, one after the other. "Fancy seeing you guys here... he-he!"
Spheris and Cerene exchanged their silence, eyes fixed at the traitorous girl.
"Uhm... let me just start by apologizing about the whole sacrifice thing." Linne spoke queasily. "You see the Abyssians, we were a family and as a family, we needed to survive any way we c—"
"How are you still alive?!" Cerene demanded, not having any of the girl's horrible attempt at an apology.
"Uh, I ran."
"You ran!?"
"Yeah, I mean..." Linne darted her eyes to Spheris who was still silent. "Only a handful of us managed to escape."
Cerene scoffed. "It's very unfortunate that you're amongst the handful."
The Abyssian smiled. "I know you probably hate me."
"Probably?"
"Okay, definitely. But wow, you two were magnificent. Thank you for saving my life."
"You can save your thanks." Cerene hissed. "I wouldn't have bothered if I knew it was you who needed help."
By her side, Spheris watched the exchange between the two girls. At this point, he had gotten used to seeing Cerene angry: The night of the heist when he had entered in on her half-dressed, the time he had saved them all from the Gorgolith snare, and just some minutes ago when he had bravely called her naive.
But in his opinion, her anger now was the most justified. After all, she was the one who had agreed to joining forces with the Abyssians, only to be betrayed in the end.
However, Spheris felt her anger was still a little exaggerated, which led him to his very first, honest opinion about her. Cerene Mauldyrie was an extremely emotional person, and not just emotional but notably moral as well.
She believed in good, a lot of it. Which was why she desperately believed that the Celestials were good, and why she gets extremely upset when people — especially someone she's close to — acts in a way that is well... not good.
"Come on, Spheris, let's go." Cerene nudged him with her elbow.
'Let's go? What happened to the believing in good thing!?'
"Wait, wait!" Linne cried. "You Bearers want to destroy this realm, right? I'll help you, I'll show you the way. All I ask is that you protect me and take me with you when you leave."
Spheris and Cerene exchanged glances then returned back to her. "I thought the Abyss was your home, why would you help us destroy it?"
"The Abyssians were my home not the Abyss." she replied briskly. "I have no people, so now, I have no home. If I stay here any longer I'm going to die." Her gaze turned stern. "Help me and I will help you."
"How stupid do you think we are?" Cerene immediately replied. "What makes you think that we're ever going to trust you after what you guys did to us before? You're the very reason we're separated in the first place."
"And I'm sorry for that, but can't you see what I am offering you?"
"I don't care about what you're offering!"
Everywhere fell silent for a while, only loud panting caused by the energy spent in arguing was heard. Then slowly, Linne shifted her eyes to Spheris, a pitiful cast on her face.
"And what about you?" she asked. "You're ever quiet, but you must have an opinion on this."
Cerene immediately turned to him, a warning look in her eyes. But Spheris was unmoved, he only looked away and regarded the helpless, wounded Abyssian with a scrutinizing gaze.
Her offer was invaluable in all honesty, Spheris couldn't deny that. Not the information on how to survive in the Abyss, since they were already doing that on their own, but the information on how to destroy the Abyss. That held undeniable appeal, especially knowing that they had no other way to find that out.
And about Cerene, who was she kidding? Spheris could see that she was angry, yes. But at the same time, he could see in the very same eyes a glint of hope that Spheris would say yes to Linne's offer.
He was right, Cerene was good. And one day, inevitably, she will be too good for her own good. Spheris could see clear as night, she was angry but she didn't want to abandon the girl irrespective of what she had done. So she placed all her hope on Spheris's kindness, which to be honest, wasn't the best of places to do that.
And that got him thinking again. Maybe she hadn't placed all her hope on his kindness, maybe she had placed it on his resourcefulness, his survival instincts. Which meant one thing... had Cerene been studying him?
"Spheris?" her angry voice dragged him back to the present.
He slowly blinked his eyes at her and her figure materialized in front of him once more.
'Hmm.' Ignoring the thoughts in his head, he looked down at Linne. "How about a show of faith? Tell us one valuable piece of information and we will consider taking you with us."
"Uh... what valuable information? If I tell you where to go to find out how to destroy the realm you could decide to abandon me right here."
"True." Spheris agreed. "But think harder, there must be something."
Linne took a head down as her thoughts pranced. "Okay, uhm... you said you and your team got separated? How?"
Spheris and Cerene shared a look.
"Trap caves," he replied.
"Yes, yes! I can help you find them."
"You can?"
"Yes!" Linne grew excited, it seemed she was going to survive the Abyss after all. "If your friends have managed to escape through the walls, they're going to find themselves in either of the four checkpoints in the Realm."
"What are they?" Spheris asked, his eyes turning grim. "These checkpoints."
"They're the regions in the Abyss where the most bizarre anomalies occur; Frozen Sands, Rising Rain, Floating Rocks and — "
"Falling Grass." he completed her words as he and Cerene shared a grave knowing glance.
Linne looked up at the both of them. "You both fell into trap caves as well?"
"Yes," Cerene replied. "My checkpoint was Floating Rocks."
"And mine was Falling Grass."
"Well that means the rest of your friends are in Frozen Sands and Rising Rain. I can take you there."
With an apathetic breath, Spheris said: "That won't be necessary, Cerene has a map."
"A map..." Linne's voice trailed off, and fear suddenly overshadowed her earlier excitement. "We... made a deal."
"Scared already, are we?" Spheris let an evil smirk escape from him. "Now you see how it feels?"
In that moment, the terror in Linne's eyes was vainly satisfying. Seeing her feel the same way he and the other Avatars felt when she had betrayed them. It was tasty, too tasty. But in no time, he caught Cerene's watchful gaze as well and the darkness vanished.
He sighed. "But, a deal is a deal. So yes, you can come."
"Thank you!" she praised. "Thank you so much."
"Whatever, hold still!" Cerene ordered, getting on her knees to heal the wounded knee. Spheris watched with a blank expression on his face — which by his standard was a humored one. It was endearing, seeing Cerene pretend to be angry just to hide her relief.
She conjured some water out of her flagon and after a moment of waiting, made the water glow into silvery blue. Then she placed it over the wound carefully.
"Ouch! That stings!" Linne cried.
"Shut up."
"Ugh!... oh... oh." The Abyssian let out a breath of relief. "That's quite relaxing."
Soon after, Cerene was done and the laceration had vanished. Not even a scar.
'Impressive.' Spheris thought.
"Wow. You Bearers sure are something, huh?" Linne said with a nervous chuckle. She found herself to her feet and said a thank you to Cerene that was not reciprocated, then she smiled.
"So where to now?"
"We need to get to a cave if we don't want to scorch to death." Cerene said.
Spheris frowned. He'd had enough of caves, but unfortunately, Cerene was right.
"That one looks suitable enough." Linne suggested, pointing to the opening beneath a very small plain-peaked hill.
Cerene and Spheris gazed at the cave then turned back to look at Linne.
"I mean whatever you two decide, it's up to you." she immediately said in retreat.
"Let's go," Cerene decided. "By the time this sun goes down it will already be late, so we might need somewhere to rest the night."
Starting to walk, Spheris turned to his left and saw that Linne was standing and staring at him with the widest grin he had ever seen in his life plastered on her face.
"Commander?" she mused.
His straight face folded with suspicion. "You... are gonna walk in front of us," he simply replied.
Still smiling, Linne ambled forward. "Cool raven."
Talon cawed back in reply, appreciating the compliment.
Spheris sighed. "She's a human, Talon. You're a bird."
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