...At the end of the cliff lay a phosphorescent river, flowing gently towards a waterfall. It seemed a far better choice than facing the sandstorm already five kilometres away.
That storm would shred his skin no matter how enhanced he was, blind his eyes, suffocate his lungs, and hurl rocks at him like bullets.
The water might conceal unseen dangers, but at least it did not move at impossible speed.
In comparison, jumping in felt almost sane.
Without a second thought, Kyle hurled himself over the edge and into the river, his expression twisted with fury.
The pieces of meat he had carried tore free in the fall, lost to the storm that would have caught him if he had hesitated even for a moment, but the bone in his hand stayed firm.
It was enough to give him a fighting chance at survival.
Sand cascaded down alongside him as he descended the fifteen-foot cliff, which was already a considerable height on its own.
He landed in the water below with a tremendous splash, plunging deep as the sand floated on the surface and slowly sank.
For the first time since he had arrived in this place, a flicker of relief sparked in his chest.
The desert had an end, or perhaps an exit, even though the water could conceal hidden threats.
When he looked back at the cliff, he saw that what had once appeared to be an endless sea of sand actually rested atop a narrow mountain.
The sand stretched halfway up the slope, and above it rose a sheer wall of rock that seemed to climb endlessly.
Kyle could not take it in fully, because his fall had been too rapid to register the details.
The cold, strange water closed around him as if claiming him.
He kicked and pulled, but the river held him firmly, preventing him from swimming and forcing him to move only in rhythm with the current.
On reflection, the current was not merely strong; it was chaotic, swirling in irregular eddies that pulled him downward as much as forward.
The water moved so fast that it created areas of turbulence in which every stroke was met with opposing forces until it carried him toward the waterfall and the larger pool below.
No matter how he thrashed, his efforts only churned the water around him without gaining any ground. The river's velocity and density made the situation feel like trying to swim in a whirlpool. The faster it flowed, the more his movements were simply carried along and spun with it.
With the river narrowing suddenly towards the waterfall, his body became little more than a passenger.
Panic flared for a moment as he struggled and began to suffocate, but then he spotted a protruding root or fallen branch jutting from the riverbank.
Using all his strength, he lunged and caught it, his fingers scraping against the rough surface as the current tried to wrench him away.
While the river continued to pull, Kyle immediately activated the Ice Control Bond Imprint to freeze his hand to the fallen branch.
With it secured, he leveraged himself out of the water as much as possible.
His hand and half of his body emerged, and he took a deep breath to stabilise himself, allowing the river to carry him rather than attempting to fight it.
The water flowed around him relentlessly, phosphorescent streaks of light flashing past as he hung on, letting the current do all the work.
Fortunately, this appeared to be the only danger the river presented. He could guide himself only where the current permitted, riding it as though it were a vehicle he could not control.
'...I do not know, but I think I cannot hate my life more than I do right now,' Kyle reflected wryly, keeping his eyes fixed ahead along the flowing river, which remained the only source of light in the suddenly blackened, bleached world.
The more he thought about the only source of food he had just thrown away, the more he found himself cursing both himself and the sandstorm without restraint.
***
Under a midnight amethyst sky glowing a deep violet-blue, with the horizon shaded in darker indigo that gradually rose to dispel the lingering darkness, a radiant pool of water flowed down from a waterfall.
At its edge stood a girl clad in white, graceful armour, holding a long blade in one hand.
Her long black silk hair reached to her waist, giving her the appearance of an angel, and beneath the armour, her skin was pale and flawless. Her eyes glimmered like black diamonds.
She remained at the shore of the plunge pool, where the ground was composed of dark stone, gazing down at the rushing waterfall with serene composure.
Within the pool lay a Brutal-ranked Migrel Sea Titan, a colossal Titan-type creature of mutated form, the size of a three-level building, with multiple diamond-like protrusions emerging from its scaled black back.
In her thoughts, she knew she could not risk stepping into the water and awakening the creature, for doing so would mean certain death in mere seconds.
Moreover, it was already at Stage Three, and that alone filled her with dread, not to mention its Mutation type.
A dark expression settled on her face as she realised she might have to turn back and find another way around the water or seek an alternate route to continue her path.
When she looked back towards the edge of the rushing river, her eyes caught the faint movement of something or someone.
"...Kyle?"
Kyle was cautiously approaching the base of the waterfall.
Fully aware of the danger, he made sure to prepare himself to avoid entering the plunge pool, which was effectively impossible to survive.
The current of the water grew significantly stronger as he neared the base, forcing him to test every foothold while leaning into the river's momentum to avoid being swept over the edge.
A sudden spray of water struck him squarely in the face, blinding him for a brief moment.
'Shit this! I need to avoid that pool,' Kyle thought, knowing that the moment he entered the water he would have almost no chance of survival.
He had already seen that it was impossible to swim in the river, and any misstep would mean drowning in the pool.
He stumbled hard in the water, and his grip on the narrow ledge wavered.
Instinct took over as he twisted sharply, attempting to pivot towards the riverbank rather than the open pool, but the strength of the water was already overwhelming.
...And for the worst, his balance betrayed him.
With a splash that echoed against the canyon walls, he was swallowed by the swirling, radiant water.
Na-Ri's eyes widened.
She had only just caught sight of him, concealed behind the rocks at the river's edge.
It was not solely his life that terrified her. That was one part of it, but the second, more pressing fear, was the creature whose home he had just plunged into.
The plunge pool was not merely deep; hidden beneath the surface were likely jagged formations, and the currents pulled unpredictably, all governed by the mutant below. Its diamond-like spikes along its back had already begun to change the colour of the water from the very point where it flowed down to the pool.
In some explanation, the creature usually slept in the pool and swarmed up the river above through the waterfall, being perfectly capable of doing so to hunt for food once daylight arrived, which was imminent as the sky gradually shifted back to its glow, signalling that the creature would soon awaken.
Jumping in recklessly could be suicide, and she could not call his name because if he heard it, the beast would, too.
But if she hesitated for too long, he might be lost before she acted.
Her thoughts surged with possibilities, calculating how to save him while escaping the area before the creature awoke.
Luckily, the roar of the waterfall had masked the sound of Kyle's fall.
She surveyed her surroundings. Normally, a branch could be extended across the water with a rope if she had one, but there was nothing available.
The beautiful stranger crouched, eyes examining the pool's surface, gauging its depth and the strength of the current.
The roar of the waterfall swallowed all else. Kyle's head broke the surface of the pool for a moment, facing the torrent, water streaming past him, completely unaware of her presence.
He flailed, fighting the current instinctively, yet the undertow yanked at his legs as though they were bound in iron chains.
Na-Ri inhaled sharply. She could see the water dragging him toward a darker section where sharp rocks protruded beneath the surface.
A calculated risk pressed into her thoughts. She could step in, brace herself against the torrent, and attempt to reach him, but the pool's depth and the presence of the beast screamed danger.
Another misjudgement would mean both of them lost.
While she observed him and worked through possible strategies...
All at once, in a single, instant, Kyle vanished beneath the surface as though some invisible force had pulled him under.
"Damn it, Kyle!"
Silence fell, broken only by the churning of the pool. She drew a deep breath, preparing herself for a decision that might either save him or cost her own life.
She understood fully that there was no way to swim in the pool...
...Thus, she might truly have to do what she had been avoiding.