The chess game was over, so I deactivated the memory, but I did not stand up yet. Supposedly, he would no longer manipulate me from this point forward, and in return, I could not kill a Sleeper known as Kai.
However, he had manipulated me right before the match ended. He influenced me just enough so that I would not ask about the exact medium he used to control me before the Vow took effect. Because of that, I had no idea how he had been doing it, nor could I figure it out now due to the conditions of our agreement.
To think I would have succumbed to corruption by uncovering too much if not for Dry Water. He had said the same thing back in my first nightmare, warning me not to delve too deeply into it.
The seven gods and their opposites... I would uncover their past after becoming an Awakened. Until then, I would force myself not to think about them.
As for the Vow Dry Water forced me to make with Cassie...
My Vow with Sunless, Nephis and Caster...
I will utilise them all.
Getting up, I stretched my limbs. Nothing seemed to have physically changed, but perhaps I would now be immune to emotional manipulation.
That was how things were supposed to be in this world.
I climbed down the mound and met Parrot, who stood a few meters away. I needed these people to familiarize me with the Encrypted organization as well as the Trapped Land.
"Took you a long time."
She spoke while glancing toward me, her tone cold.
"In 125 minutes, the 50th hour will begin. How are you so sure we will get out of this place by then?"
One of the things Dry Water had suppressed was my deductive reasoning. That was the sole reason it took me more than a second to figure out how to escape the monster when examining the corpses of the fallen. Under those same constraints, I had been unable to properly analyze my surroundings.
I looked down at the light brown substance, which had turned into a thick paste topped with a yellowish fluid. I could not name the substance due to the rules of this place. Kneeling down, I plunged my hand into it and scooped some up, letting its juices run down my fingers. The acid within it did not seem to burn me.
As for why I was so certain we would escape, it came down to average calculations. Even within the labyrinth, the heart of the Horror Beyond Comprehension was beating at ten times its normal speed. The same logic should apply here, though I chose not to reveal this detail to them.
The more information I held over their heads, the better my position remained.
"Let us stop acting like we are here to teach each other. This relationship is built purely on circumstance and survival, after all."
Before breaking free from Dry Water, I was helplessly played by Parrot. The reason she refrained from killing me after Owl died was that Owl had instructed her to do so. Her facial expressions and body language were both real and calculated moves to trick me into trusting her. In ordinary circumstances, no Sleeper could survive an attack from an Awakened, yet I survived because she allowed it. She had never intended to kill me.
"So you do not want the Encrypted to trust you again?"
Normally, I would keep my realizations hidden from her. However, if an Awakened could hear more than a Sleeper, she must have overheard my recent conversation. Pretending otherwise would only invite further manipulation on her part.
"An Awakened once told me that trust is built by sharing secrets, that is only partially true. Trust can only exist between equals. Anything else is merely dependence."
"In that case, you depended on us, didn't you? You are only alive because of us."
"That is correct. No exchange is ever made out of pure goodwill. Everyone wants something from someone else. You need me to get out, and I needed you to survive. Let us leave it at that."
Indirectly, I signaled that I had uncovered her manipulation, allowing her to subconsciously feel as though she had gotten under my skin. A person truly lowers their guard only when they feel superior to someone else.
I summoned the chains between us, connecting one to my throat and levitating the other toward her.
She tilted her head.
"I just want to ask you about your Aspect Ability."
Hearing that, she summoned her Memory onto her palm.
"Can't this work?"
"No. Those Memories can easily lie by twisting words or stating subjective truths. What I am going to ask you for is objective truth, and I will not be able to trick you due to our prior agreement."
Slowly, she accepted the chain. I rotated my fingers in a subtle motion, dissolving all the surrounding runes and steps.
Another thing Dry Water had manipulated me into stopping was studying my own Aspect.
"Since this is a one time exchange, there is no need to set a time limit. Once we remove the chains, the Vow will end. Just say I Vow."
I continued.
"We can ask each other questions, but we also reserve the right to decline answering whenever we want. If we do answer, it must be the absolute truth without twisting words to sound like a lie."
Deciding not to take any chances with Parrot, I set those exact terms.
"I Vow."
"I Vow."
"So, Parrot, tell me what your Aspect Ability is."
"Why do you need to know?"
...
"Simply to skip past the next labyrinth, or to understand more about the Trapped Land."
***
Without saying a word, we made our way back to where the others were studying the environment. I walked toward Deer, who sat with Crow and Cow. Hawk was nowhere to be seen, and Parrot had decided to explore a little, leaving me alone with the three of them.
Approaching them, I crouched down, making them visibly uncomfortable. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Hawk returning, his pace quickening as he noticed me. I fixed my gaze on Deer.
"Can I get one of those torches?"
Though the sun was not visible, the heat and light signaled that morning had arrived.
Deer flinched. It was essentially my first time speaking directly to him. I kept staring toward his face, making him acutely aware that I was looking at his skin rather than his eyes.
His face was covered in small dots and scars, but what caught my attention were the stretch marks and the faint patches of purple on his skin. The rest of his body was hidden beneath his disguise, leaving only his face exposed, but that was enough.
He handed me a torch, clearly expecting me to leave.
I took it, yet I remained where I was.
Opening my mouth, I mouthed words silently without letting any sound escape.
His eyes widened, and his body went rigid.
Only then did I speak aloud, bringing the handful of paste-like substance I had gathered earlier close to the flame of the torch.
"How does this Memory work? Is there a limit, such as only being able to use a fixed number of them within a certain time limit?"
His body continued to tremble. Through my peripheral vision, I watched Crow and Cow, who shared a similar condition, use shaky hands to pull their red masks over their faces.
Discarding the paste, I reached for Deer's hood, intending to pull it back and inspect his bald head properly. He did not dare to move, nor did he meet my eyes.
...
Before my fingers could touch the fabric, Hawk arrived and slapped my hand away. The sheer force of an Awakened knocked me off balance, sending me to the substance.
"What do you think you are doing?"
Looking up, I met his eyes, which had gone dark with anger.
"Just getting to know my teammates."
The silent words I had mouthed to Deer were, 'You were abused, weren't you?'
The stretch marks on his face, along with those on the others, were enough for me to deduce what had happened to them.
In reality, stretch marks are extremely rare on the face, as they typically form where fat accumulates, such as the abdomen, thighs, hips, breasts, and arms.
For stretch marks to appear on a person's face, extremely potent creams must have been applied for far too long. To leave permanent marks on an Awakened, the strength of those substances must have been unthinkable. The only other explanation was a condition like Cushing's syndrome, where the body produces excessive cortisol, a stress hormone that weakens skin elasticity and leaves purplish marks on the cheeks or face.
Crow and Cow's immediate reaction, covering their faces while trembling, pointed to deep trauma as well.
Hawk grabbed my mouth and yanked me halfway off the ground. I chose not to fight against it.
"Kiyotaka, there is a certain line between tolerance and suicide. Don't dare cross it again."
Releasing his grip, he walked toward the other three.
"I somewhat preferred the old you. You have grown wings now."
I offered no reply, simply watching him walk away.
Hawk possessed a similar complexion, build, and disguise to the others. He rarely left their side, leading one to assume he was one of them.
Yet, beneath his hood, his face remained completely unmarked.
***
The time of the descent was approaching. Most of the Encrypted had already scaled a hill made of the fragile substance, which was difficult to climb, as putting even a slight amount of force onto the surface caused it to crumble and break beneath your weight.
Below, only Parrot and I remained. She was visibly angered.
"You are prying too much."
I did not bother replying, nor did she expect me to. She was merely venting her frustration, reminding me that once we skipped past the labyrinth, our Vow would be fulfilled.
She brought her fingers together and flicked my forehead hard.
"Listen to me carefully. The Vow is the only reason your head is still attached to your shoulders."
The sharp intensity in her voice and the sheer hostility in her glare left no doubt in my mind. She was not lying. She was also fully aware that I would not throw away my life for petty revenge using the Vow, having verified as much through the question she had asked me moments earlier.
"The moment we cross this labyrinth and those chains break, your protection ends. Probe into things that don't concern a Sleeper again, and I will slit your throat before you can even draw a breath."
"I understand."
"Then act like it. Don't play mind games with the others just because you survived this far. You are nothing more than a Sleeper. One more slip, and I will make sure your death isn't quick."
"Understood."
Only after delivering that final threat did she turn away from me.
Suddenly, the ground beneath our feet tilted at a violent angle.
A deafening roar vibrated through the cavern as an unfathomable wave of glowing colorless acid erupted from below, rushing upward like a surging tide, dissolving everything in its path.
At that exact moment, a shout echoed down from the top of the incline.
"WE FOUND A GOOD SPOT"
There was no time to think. Parrot bolted upward first, her Awakened physical traits granting her raw speed, but even she stumbled as her foot punched straight through a fragile shelf of the calcified paste. The slope disintegrated into dust beneath her heel.
I launched myself right behind her.
Climbing normally was impossible. The moment I placed my weight on a ledge, the material crumbled into useless powder. I had to distribute my mass instantly, taking rapid, light steps and leaping before gravity could pull the breaking ground out from under me.
Behind us, the wall of acid rose with terrifying velocity, devouring the valley floor and melting the base of the hill into boiling slush.
Parrot kicked off a collapsing pillar, vaulting onto a narrow ridge above. I leaped for the same ledge, but the edge shattered under my grip. My fingers slipped through the brittle crust, and my body began to slide downward toward the approaching abyss.
Instantly digging my elbows into the slope, I forced friction to slow my fall just enough to plant my boot on a solid pocket of stone. With a sharp burst of force, I sprang upward. The heat radiated against my skin, threatening to cook us alive.
Parrot scrambled over the final lip of the hill, reaching out to vault onto higher ground. I drove my heels into three successive crumbling footholds, darting through the rising cloud of acidic vapor, and lunged over the crest just as the burning tide swallowed the pathway beneath us.
We scrambled over the hill, but there was no time to catch our breath. The acid hit the base of the hill and began dissolving the fragile structure from the inside out. The ground shuddered violently, forcing us down the opposite side of the incline.
Ahead of us, the other four jumped down a tunnel.
Acid rushed up the hill, unleashing all sorts of melting sounds from the ground as the stench grew unbearable, yet we did not stop and kept running down.
I drove my feet deep into the ground and leaped, bypassing several holes. Up ahead, I saw Parrot reach the tunnel and plunge downward.
The acid was barely a meter away now.
Pushing through and leaping over another hole, I reached the opening and dived headfirst into the shaft.
The acid pursued us, only gaining speed. The tunnel was wide, filled with multiple bumps that slowed the liquid slightly. I landed, executed a roll, popped back onto my legs, and continued sprinting downward.
I veered into another tunnel, then cut left, then swung right, my legs moving rapidly driven by pure momentum.
The sound echoed relentlessly behind me as everything I passed dissolved and collapsed.
Finally, I spotted the end where the others were waiting. I dived one last time, curling my body into a tight ball. Slipping into the open space with this much momentum could prove fatal, even for me.
I shot through the space until my motion halted, feeling two hands wrap firmly around me as Parrot caught my fall.
"GOOD JOB"
She released me, and I dropped to the floor, instantly looking back up. The acid surged forward, leaping off the bumps without slowing, collapsing every passage it touched.
It was one meter away.
"WHAT YOU SAID BETTER WORK"
I dropped into a firm stance.
"It was an objective truth. I cannot be wrong."
Half a meter.
The wave slammed into us, its momentum knocking me back, but I was caught once more, this time by Hawk. My skin reddened and began to burn with excruciating intensity, but it did not melt away.
It worked.
When I squeezed the paste up to the surface earlier, it had not burned me, proving that the substance neutralized the acid. To reach us, the torrent had to pass through a massive deposit of it first.
Still, the pain was immense for me, even if they could tolerate it better.
I held my breath.
The orientation of the ground shifted beneath us again, surging upward and causing us to levitate slightly. I kept my eyes tightly shut to protect them from the burning fumes.
Then the path plummeted downward at nearly a ninety degree angle, turning our point of origin into the space directly beneath us.
I felt a hand pull me downward. Yielding to the momentum, I kicked off the wall with my legs to propel myself forward.
Unable to see, I moved through the darkness, enduring the searing pain as I glided ahead.
A voice called out.
"OPEN THEM"
It was Hawk.
My vision was blurred, as a trace of acidic vapor had managed to seep in. My entire body was scorched and bruised, yet my clothes remained intact. I noted that detail mentally.
Through my hazy sight, I saw Parrot draw her sword and drag her fingers along the blade. As her hand traveled down the metal, bright sparks crackled along the edge, making the weapon sharper and far more stable.
The reason Parrot and I stayed behind instead of heading straight for a tunnel came down to her Aspect abilities.
Her first ability grew stronger the closer she came to true death. If she survived the encounter, she could convert that brush with mortality into a weapon, granting herself its power without diminishing its intensity.
Using it on a sword increased its cutting power. Applying it to a shield boosted defense, while placing it on a bow enhanced precision.
Likewise sword gave her strength, Shield gave her defense and Bow gave her accuracy.
There was another function to it. She could take how close someone else had come to death and transfer that threshold into her weapon as well. That was why we stayed together, and why she caught me earlier.
Next, I saw a blurred light extend from her hand, taking the shape of a rope.
This was her second Aspect ability. She could shape her essence into a tether, holding one end while passing the other half to an ally.
She threw the luminous rope toward my direction, though it was not meant for me. It was aimed at Hawk.
Hawk caught the line and used his Awakened strength to anchor his feet deep into the substance.
By holding the tether, her second ability granted her a share of his physical stability. Hawk was effectively anchoring her to the ground.
Parrot then extended her fist toward me, stopping just short of my chest.
I was suspended in midair, falling downward while Crow and Cow held onto my legs to keep me from drifting off course. I could barely feel their grip, as my body was already consumed by agonizing pain.
Overcoming the downward pull, I struggled forward and bumped my fist against hers.
The hand she used to complete the fistbump erupted in bright sparks. She immediately ran her fingers along the edge of her sword once more, refining its sharpness even further.
My vision was fading rapidly.
"Crazy, Cat. You are way too close to death."
The sparks radiating from her hand intensified so much that I could feel the heat searing my skin.
Was this the first time she had called me cat?
The heat continued to rise.
"Holy, how are you even alive?"
I watched her eyes turn chillingly cold as the crackling sparks flared into a bright flame before suddenly settling down.
The spark quieted, and she offered her fist to me one last time. I met it once more, and this time, deep blue sparks cascaded from her skin, which she applied directly to her blade.
Blue sparks represented the absolute limit of her first ability.
She glanced down with a flat expression that slowly melted into a smirk.
"Right now, I feel the strongest I have ever been."
Leveraging Hawk's stability through the tether, she lunged sideways and sprinted down the vertical surface at immense speed, I couldn't even see her, She was even faster than my [Vow of Life & Death] right now.
The glowing rope stretched and expanded the further she ran.
I looked down toward Crow and Cow, who were still holding onto my legs.
My sight grew dimmer by the second.
This was, without a doubt, the most pain I had ever experienced.
*******
Well, this chapter has ended. How was it?
You guys don't know how close I am to crumbling this story up and shooting it like Stephen Curry into a dustbin, as barely anyone reads it.
It's like this:
Considered the basketball this story and earth dustbin.
Oh, another thing does the lack of fighting and constant running bore you? I purposely avoid adding fights so they have more impact when they actually happen. I feel like constant fighting just lessens a fight's value, which is why you mostly see escapes instead of combat.
Well, that's it, I guess.
Peace.