章 28: The Keep Of Ruin - Ⅱ

I stayed silent and followed the rock's fall. It rolled down the precipice and skidded along the rough ending of the downward slope from the edge.

The small area right beneath the cliff was a small congregation of trees. Although it was enough to pass as a small forest.

And beyond that forest was the beginning of the place that we were referring to as Eden's Grand Canyon.

Just like the one on earth, this one had multiple layers.

However, the key difference was that while the earth one's layers and coloured textures seemed to be a result of corrosion over time, this dull black colour was more akin to a char.

Like the whole place was caught on some kind of fire. It would've made sense if this whole place was forest, however, trees can't grow at those twisted angles.

On the opposite side of the canyon, several slopes stood apart from its rugged layers, creating a rather picturesquely scenic view, if you could ignore the grave nature of our situation.

Vestiges of a road were still visible around one of them, refusing to let go as the asphalt or tar or whatever it was made of stuck stubbornly to the rocks.

Here and there, glimpses of the weathered stones peeked through the overgrowth beneath as well.

My daze was overridden by the rock that hit a tree below, causing a slight susurrating sound, followed by the light crunch of the branch breaking. "Because that is the deadline. That's why."

"So, the shimmer would listen to you?" He asked. A bit sarcastically albeit.

I clicked my tongue against the upper side of my mouth. This was something I experienced when we first arrived in Seoul and the shimmer first started expanding. It is not a part of the 「Merger. 」

On the contrary, it's something left by the Gods. A mechanic against the merger. I could hear an almost sentient screech from it back in Seoul, every time, right before it expanded. "The shimmer is like… a cushion."

"A cushion?"

"Have you not ever thought about it? What would happen when a world's landmass suddenly increases?"

"Why bother thinkin' 'bout it? That's so nerdy."

And you sound like a goof!

"The total mass of Earth would also increase. It's likely it will throw the world off orbit. Maybe even into the sun." I explained. Folding his arms he held his chin between his thumb and index finger, he focused. "Tectonic plates shifting, gravity increasing. The merger will result in an increase in the area of land; however, it will flatten a lot of area as well. Earth, as well as Eden."

"Well, this whole lot of orbits' shittery flew over my head, but do any of us actually know how the merger works?" He asked, removing the hood and wiping the beads of sweat from his face. "I mean, what the fuck is even all this shit? Are we in a separate dimension? Mirror dimension? If we are merging, who's merging with who? Frontiers appeared here, so that means our world is in a better state? That's why Earth's landmass is increasing rather than Eden's? Is earth actually stripped away from Eden or was it just created as another world? And if our world is in a better state, does that mean their solar system is dying?" He ruffled his pure white locks and even more frayed hair covered his face. "So confusing. If only we didn't have to worry about this nerdy stuff and could just break some bones." He spoke, smacking his fist into his palm.

"Too bad we can't do that." I paused. What I was about to say was hard to say, but it was true regardless. "Break their bones, that is." I continued, as a matter-of-factly.

"Speak for yourself." Michael snorted. "As if I'd lose to a bunch of horny mutts."

"Horny?"

"Ya know, they got horns and all th— fuck you. Don't talk to me." He looked the other way, cutting the sentence midway.

…why does everyone around me act like pubescent teenagers?

Ignoring his tantrum? Or whatever he was having, I continued speaking anyways. "The shimmer was fighting back against the expansion of the Frontier's boundary. Stopping it from tearing space-time and making a place for itself." I paused. I had no idea if saying this was necessary. However, it was prudent I worked alongside him to handle matters here. "Astrid's Arcane Art will aid the shimmer."

While it was not entirely true, it was believable enough. Michael had seen how Astrid completely unsealed the entrance and then sealed it again.

"Hmmmm…" he hummed out loud, exhaling aggressively through his nose. I could almost see a chubby hamster trying to keep up on the wheel inside his head. With an exaggerated puff of his chest, he made a sophisticated face. "I get it. All of it."

I am sure you do.

"Good." I replied despite knowing the truth. "So, we should leave."

"Leave where?" He called out after me as I was picking up my bag.

"To gather intel. I think I made it quite clear in the start."

"Oh. Yeah, ok, whatever." He crouched and picked his bag up. "Where you gonna do that?"

"No idea." I shrugged. "But definitely not here. The quicker we leave this place, the better."

Slinging the bags over our shoulders, I took the first step towards the edge of the cliff. Looking up at the sky, it was clear blue without a single cloud in sight. Other than the canyon, the terrain itself looked desert-ish. Evident from how there was a crunchy feeling of sand between my teeth every time I opened my mouth to speak or breathe.

However, a huge semi-transparent dome-like thing was partly visible all around us. Except the sky of course.

The sun's shape was rather peculiar… anomalous as well. It wasn't quite round. Scratch "quite," it was not round at all. It was more like a lens. Reminiscent of a mathematical lens formed by the intersection of two disks with the same radius, intersecting in such a way that the centre of each disk lies on the perimeter of the other. A vesica piscis.

It was eerie. For a moment I thought why hasn't Michael observed this? But the realisation struck me soon after. Even if he did, he would definitely just think of it as some "fancy sun" of Eden. Even though the scriptures have more than once—indirectly—hinted at it being round. Looking down at my palm, a small spark of electricity ran between my fingers. Fiddling with the little spark for a while—which oddly calmed my nerves in face of the coming challenges—I looked to the side, at him.

"What? It's not like it's that deep."

"I know." I replied. "Please don't awaken the whole world with your landing."

Rolling his eyes, he replied. "Yeah, yeah, smarty pants. I got it."

With that, both of us let our bodies free fall.

The blowing wind first whisked the hood and then my hair upwards. But something about our fall was suspicious. It was aggravating in a way that I could not quite put my finger on. Before we knew it, the fall of 30 meters or so was already finished.

Semi-translucent sparks of a forcefield oscillated rapidly between my feet and the incoming plane where I was about to land as I stopped just a few centimetres above the ground. Michael also controlled his power, although his landing did result in a protrusion that was a blunt, rocky spike amidst the congregation of trees. The noise it made was feeble enough to not attract any unwarranted attention though, making only a dull clatter of the spike breaking and small chunks of it clattering meekly against the trees' trunk.

"Let's go." I prompted, tightening my hold over the straps of the bag around my shoulder. However, before we could leave, I remembered something. "Wait." I called out for Michael and turned around. Taking out my ring and moulding it into a dagger, I stabbed it right along the surface of the mountain, on which's cliff we were standing on that overlooked the canyon and took a step back.

"Fuck was that for?"

"Insurance." I replied, looking over my shoulder. Grinning internally, I remembered Albert's words. 'Lack of terrain,' he said. He was so right. "This is our way out of here if get in trouble."

He looked over my shoulder at the dagger that looked no different than ordinary ones and shrugged. "Might be yours. I am confident in my abilities." He tried to flex his chest arrogantly.

"I am very sure you are." I replied caustically. "And I am depending on that as well." I spoke as I passed him.

I could not see his expression but I am sure he has his head right into the clouds. Which, from a logical perspective, is not that wrong. He had every right to be arrogant. However, he is missing out on something very vital.

We are not on Earth anymore. Not only do Earth's laws don't work here, people are not afraid to kill us here. And unlike Earth, even slaves here, that are old enough, might be stronger than us. Even having the ability to kill us.

"Although, I do hope you come off that divine chariot of yours and stop putting everything in jeopardy."

"Worry about yourself, lil' guy."

We are the same height though.

Turning my head away from him, I pulled the hood back up and continued our journey towards the entrance of the canyon.

I might be getting too optimistic with our condition though.

---

The sun had reached its absolute zenith by the time we got anywhere closer to the entrance that led to the canyon. While the whole area, including the small mountain where we were teleported to, was can be technically called as a part of the canyon, what I meant by the entrance was the huge place that was barred behind huge gates.

The inner valley of the canyon.

Up until now, if my perception of distance and time has not already been lost, we have walked- or rather had a brisk jog for 40 kilometres in around 3 hours. It was pretty decent, given the fact both of us were gifted by the blessing of Arcanum.

The terrain up until now was a mix of different sized rocks and gravel, paving a rather scraggly path ahead that undulated up and down, every now and then.

A few ruts of various designs––more than likely carriage wheels––formed and spliced together, leading to a single place. On both sides of the partly wet, partly sandy road. On our left side was an avenue of trees that stretched from back where we started and continued to extend towards the entrance.

From our bird view earlier, there was no vegetation inside the canyon. So perhaps this avenue will end once we reach the entrance. On our right side was a narrow and dried up riverbed. Only a thin streak flowed through it, and sediments and rocks were visible, embedded into the side banks.

We had our hoods pulled completely low, totally hiding our features. So much that it was hindering our ability to see. However, from what we saw, the other people were doing the same. Going along with the flow proved quite nice seeing how no one got suspicious of us so far, despite so many people crossing by us.

However, the one thing that was troubling me was…

"We have no fucking horns! You think all those that stopped to look at us are utter fucking idiots? 'Cause I think they are!" As if reading my anxiety, Michael almost burst out but kept his volume down. "Everyone else has horns!"

Aside from the horns, another pressing matter was that we were still not aware of the language that the people of this world––Eden––spoke.

While it was not a problem for me to convey what I wanted to say, Michael on the other hand was a problem. Well, it's not like there were no implications for me as well, but Michael was in a bigger pickle than me.

"Hey asshole, you died or something?" His sharp, sandpapery voice brought me out of my thoughts.

***

A/n A small author note. If you find inconsistency in a character's pov, please take this into consideration that its the specific character's suggestion. Not an ironclad truth. A lot of readers forget this. Cheers.