Chapter 7: Drunk Discoveries
POV: The Darkling
The darkness pressed against his consciousness like a living thing, vast and hungry and intimately familiar. In the space between sleeping and waking, Aleksander walked through shadows that had no source, across a landscape that existed only in the realm of dreams and memory.
But tonight, something was different.
The shadows writhed with unusual agitation, pulling away from his touch like scalded creatures. Where his feet touched the ground, small dead zones appeared—spaces where even his ancient mastery held no sway.
"What disturbance is this?"
In the distance, a figure moved through the dreamscape. Human-shaped but wrong somehow, leaving a trail of absolute void in its wake. Where it passed, the carefully woven fabric of the Making—that delicate dance of matter and energy that underlay all Grisha power—simply ceased to exist.
The Darkling reached out with senses honed over centuries, trying to grasp the nature of this intrusion. But his power slid off the figure like water off glass, finding no purchase in the void that surrounded it.
"Void walker."
The words surfaced from some deep well of half-remembered lore. Ancient texts spoke of beings who existed outside the natural order, whose very presence disrupted the flow of the Small Science. They were myths, stories told to frighten young Grisha.
They were not supposed to be real.
The figure turned toward him across the impossible distance, and for a moment, the Darkling caught a glimpse of familiar features. Young, unremarkable, wearing the face of someone who belonged to the world but stood apart from it.
Then the dream shattered like glass, and Aleksander woke in his tent with the taste of copper in his mouth.
"Void walker. It has begun again."
He sat up in the darkness, one hand automatically reaching for the journal he kept hidden beneath his bedroll. Ancient knowledge, carefully preserved through centuries of searching. If the void-touched had returned, he needed to understand what it meant.
For the Making. For his plans. For the future he was so carefully constructing.
In the distance, carried on the night wind, he heard the sound of soldiers celebrating. Their laughter echoed strangely in the darkness, as if the very air around them had grown somehow thinner.
"Soon. I will understand soon."
But first, he needed to consult the old texts. The ones that spoke of endings and beginnings, of powers that existed to unmake what had been made.
The Darkling reached for his writing materials and began to compose a letter. There were scholars in Os Alta who owed him favors, libraries that held secrets older than kingdoms.
If the void-touched walked among them, he would be ready.
POV: Adam/Pavel
The kvas burned going down, which was probably the first warning Adam should have heeded. But Mikhael had shoved the bottle into his hands with the kind of aggressive camaraderie that made refusal impossible, and the celebrating soldiers around him showed no signs of slowing their consumption.
"To the supply run!" Dubrov called out, raising his own bottle. "Three days through bandit country, and we didn't lose a single wagon!"
"To good luck and bad bandits!" Mikhael added, already swaying slightly.
The other soldiers echoed the toast, and Adam found himself drinking again. The alcohol sat uneasily in his stomach, mixing with his nervousness about tomorrow's approaching events.
"I shouldn't be drinking. Not with the system acting unpredictably. Not with—"
"Pavel!" Mal appeared beside him, his own bottle half-empty. "You look like you're attending a funeral instead of a celebration."
"Magnificent cheese sculptures are plotting world domination!"
"Right, the head injury." But Mal was grinning now, the alcohol softening his usually sharp protective instincts. "Though I have to say, your poetry's getting more creative."
Another drink. The tent around them seemed to expand and contract with each heartbeat. Adam could feel the familiar hum of the [Nullify] field at the edge of his awareness, but it felt different now—less controlled, more volatile.
"The alcohol is affecting the system. I can feel it changing."
"Dancing bears love—hic—moonlight!"
The hiccup came out of nowhere, and with it, something else. A pulse of nullification that rippled outward like a stone dropped in still water. Adam felt it wash over the surrounding area, briefly touching the edges of the camp.
"What was that?" someone asked.
"What was what?" Mikhael replied, clearly too drunk to notice subtleties.
But Adam had felt it—the way his field had suddenly expanded and contracted like a heartbeat. And somewhere in the distance, he could hear confused voices from the direction of the Grisha quarters.
"Oh no. Oh, this is bad."
"Crystallized moonbeams make terrible—hic—fashion accessories!"
Another pulse. Stronger this time. Adam could feel his control slipping away like sand through his fingers. The [Nullify] field was responding to his intoxication, growing unstable and unpredictable.
"Pavel, you alright?" Mal asked, studying his face with concern. "You've gone very pale."
"Seventeen purple elephants are—hic—planning a coup!"
The third pulse was the strongest yet. It rolled out from Adam like a wave, washing over an ever-widening area of the camp. Somewhere in the darkness, he heard shouting.
"The fires won't light!"
"What's wrong with the torches?"
"My powers aren't working!"
"I'm affecting the whole camp. Every hiccup is sending out nullification pulses."
Adam tried to stand, thinking he could distance himself from the others, but the alcohol had thoroughly compromised his coordination. He swayed dangerously, and Mal caught his arm.
"Easy there. You're not going anywhere in this condition."
"Rainbow fish are learning to—hic—tap dance!"
This pulse was so strong Adam could feel it reaching the edge of his awareness. The shouting from the Grisha quarters grew more urgent.
"Call for Ivan! Something's wrong with the atmospheric pressure!"
"My healing abilities have completely shut down!"
"This isn't natural!"
Mikhael looked around with the slow comprehension of the very drunk. "Why is everyone shouting?"
"Probably just some Grisha experiment gone wrong," Dubrov suggested. "You know how they are with their fancy magic."
"They're blaming each other. Good. Let them think it's a failed experiment."
But even as Adam felt relief at the misdirection, another part of him was horrified by what he was doing. His uncontrolled ability was affecting dozens of people, disrupting their powers without their knowledge or consent.
[INTOXICATION EFFECT DETECTED]
[NULLIFY FIELD AMPLIFICATION: +200% RANGE]
[CONTROL REDUCTION: -75%]
[WARNING: PASSIVE SUPPRESSION AFFECTING MULTIPLE TARGETS]
[EXPERIENCE GAIN FROM SUSTAINED NULLIFICATION]
[+5 EXP PER AFFECTED GRISHA PER HOUR]
[ESTIMATED AFFECTED TARGETS: 12]
[CURRENT GAIN RATE: +60 EXP/HOUR]
"Sixty experience points per hour. The system is rewarding me for accidentally suppressing an entire Grisha patrol."
"Enchanted teacups are holding secret—hic—meetings!"
Another pulse. Adam lost count of how many Grisha were now affected by his expanding field. The alcohol made everything feel distant and unreal, like he was watching someone else's catastrophe unfold.
"Pavel," Mal said, his voice cutting through the alcoholic haze. "I think you've had enough."
But it was too late. The combination of stress, alcohol, and system enhancement had created a perfect storm of nullification. Adam's field now covered nearly a quarter of the camp, turning every Grisha within its range into temporarily powerless humans.
The last thing he remembered before unconsciousness claimed him was the sound of confused voices in the darkness, and the system's cold notation that he had achieved a new record for simultaneous power suppression.
Adam woke to sunlight stabbing through his skull like heated needles. His mouth tasted like something had died in it, and every sound in the camp seemed amplified to painful levels.
"Hangover. Definitely have a hangover."
But as the fog of sleep cleared, memory returned. The celebration, the drinking, the uncontrolled pulses of nullification that had affected half the camp.
"Oh, shit. How much trouble am I in?"
Sitting up carefully to avoid aggravating his headache further, Adam looked around the tent. Mal was still asleep in his bedroll, but Mikhael and Dubrov were absent. Probably already up and dealing with whatever aftermath his midnight nullification spree had created.
The tent flap rustled, and a familiar voice called out.
"Pavel? Are you awake?"
Alina. Adam tried to smooth down his hair and make himself look less like death warmed over as she ducked into the tent.
"I brought willow bark tea," she said, offering him a steaming cup. "Mal said you might need it."
"She came to check on me. Even after last night's disaster."
"Rainbow fish are learning to tap dance," Adam said gratefully, accepting the tea.
"That's what I thought." Alina settled beside him, keeping her voice low so as not to wake Mal. "Quite a night, apparently. The Grisha are saying someone contaminated their supplies with something that caused temporary power loss."
"They're blaming contaminated supplies. Perfect."
"Bad kvas," Adam agreed, nodding sagely.
"Magnificent purple butterflies are organizing a rebellion!"
"The official theory is that whoever supplied the alcohol also provided some kind of herb that interferes with the Small Science," Alina continued. "Though between you and me, I think the explanation is a bit too convenient."
She studied his face with those perceptive dark eyes. "You were in the thick of the celebration last night. Did you notice anything... unusual?"
"She suspects. Of course she suspects. She's too smart not to."
Adam tried to look innocent while fighting down a fresh wave of nausea. "Crystallized moonbeams make terrible fashion accessories!"
"Right. The head injury." But Alina's expression suggested she wasn't entirely convinced. "Well, whoever or whatever caused it, the effect was remarkable. Complete power suppression across a wide area, lasting for hours."
[OVERNIGHT NULLIFICATION RESULTS]
[DURATION: 8 HOURS]
[AFFECTED TARGETS: 12 GRISHA]
[TOTAL EXP GAINED: +60]
[FIELD EVOLUTION DETECTED]
[[NULLIFY] LEVEL INCREASE AVAILABLE]
[COST: 200 EXP]
[CURRENT EXP: 365/100]
"Three hundred and sixty-five experience points. More than enough to level up Nullify."
But before Adam could consider the upgrade, Alina leaned closer, lowering her voice to barely above a whisper.
"Pavel, I need to ask you something, and I need you to try to give me a clear answer. Do you know what's going to happen today?"
The question hit him like a physical blow. She was asking about the crossing orders, about the mission that would change everything.
"She knows. Somehow, she knows that today is significant."
Adam tried to formulate a response that would somehow convey the danger without triggering the speech curse. Instead, what came out was:
"Dancing bears love moonlight!"
But this time, he accompanied the words with a gesture—pointing toward the camp's edge, in the direction of the Shadow Fold.
Alina's eyes widened slightly. "The Fold. Something's going to happen with the Fold."
Adam nodded, and for a moment, perfect understanding passed between them. She might not know the specifics, but she could sense that today would bring change.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "For trying to warn me."
As she left the tent, Adam lay back down and closed his eyes. The hangover was brutal, but the real pain came from knowing what was approaching.
Today, the crossing orders would come. Today, Alina would discover what she really was.
And there was nothing he could do to stop it except be ready when the moment arrived.
[NULLIFY LEVEL UP ACCEPTED]
[LEVEL 1 → LEVEL 2]
[RANGE: 1 METER → 2 METERS]
[POWER REDUCTION: 10% → 15%]
[COST: 200 EXP]
[REMAINING EXP: 165/100]
The familiar tingle of power evolution washed through him, and Adam felt his abilities solidify at their new level. Stronger, more refined, more dangerous.
Ready for whatever was coming.
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