Chapter 92
Forward
Ken and Garuke were dragging themselves up the mountain side toward the ridge camp.
Every bone aches, and my pathways feel rubbed raw.
My eyes hurt.
So basically a hundred percent for me.
He threw a glance over his shoulder, the graceful orc walking with a slight hitch to his step.
Dark hands provided a stark contrast where they rested on his clubs.
“You like new weapons?”
Garuke glanced down at the bones thumping softly against his hips.
“Krut Dur.”
Hmmm… they sound good?
“Rock on.”
Ken threw up his hand, flashing the horns.
Garuke squinted, questioning, disturbed.
His gaze shifted to the orb in his pocket, and back up to his face.
Letting out a deep sigh, he sadly shook his head.
“Un gellar o vronnak karn.”
The orc turned and walked away.
“Vran-NAK? Lost? Whatever, G-man.”
What a weird dude.
The duo labored upwards, too tired to investigate the occasional cry or thump in the growing dusk.
An occasional scuff of a scraping boot, followed by an annoyed scoff could be heard from behind.
Garuke’s limp drawing frustration from the normally taciturn orc.
His breath came calm and even.
Ken could barely hear it over the complaints from his quads, and his own labored gasps.
I’m Garuke, I don’t get tired!
…Bastard…
When blue and black took back the sky, a pulse ripped through the world.
In the west, a phenomenon split the night.
Not John Travolta,
A blindingly white seam.
No wind.
No sound.
Like a sword slashed reality.
Ken froze mid stride.
I've finally lost it. I’m seeing shit.
He turned back.
Garuke’s knuckles turned a grayish-white as he gripped his clubs, eyes reflecting the seam.
The power of the presence blanketed reality.
A hum, a buzzing, an announcement of a new character to their world.
They stared in silence, faces illuminated in the night.
What in the…
A trap?
Treasure?
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Momentum Tuning spun up.
The slash hung there, motionless.
But to his senses, it screamed endless movement.
It was a pull in his gut, like a fishing line hooked into his center, yanking toward the horizon
… A way out?
A soft rumbling built, coming from Garuke’s Core.
Their eyes met.
No words.
One nod.
Turning, they bolted the rest of the way to their hide out, all injuries forgotten.
Their excitement was not unique.
All across the shadow strewn landscape, the Tutorial came alive.
The hierarchy of Ken’s Kingdom had been flipped on its head.
Creatures that usually spent their nights in silence, cloaked by the dark, were now crashing through the underbrush with reckless abandon.
Small, multi-limbed rodents scurried, ignoring them entirely in their haste to reach the light. Above, leathery wings snapped and flapped as a silhouette blotted out the stars, the sheer displacement of air from its wings whipping the tops of the pines below.
It was heading to the white pillar like a moth drawn to a cosmic flame.
Ken swallowed.
Umm… was that a dragon?
The very ground seemed to thrum from beneath their feet.
Things that had been sleeping deep within the earth, now awakened by the System’s call.
In the valley below, trees swayed, giving way to heavy bodies thundering through.
Leaves rustled, predator and prey both flickering among the shadows.
A roar of challenge rang out, quickly being cut off in a desperate shriek.
The ambient noise set their hearts pumping, blood roaring through their veins.
Faces giddy, they almost collided in the entry, shoving each other into the cave.
Frantically, they started to pack, the small cave filling with dust from their stomping feet.
Garuke checked the loops holding his clubs, and strapped the short sword tight to his back.
Ken shoved the tiny supply of dried meat into a sack.
Pausing, he glanced at the empty space, making sure he wasn't leaving anything behind.
The fingers of his left hand caressed the silk-like fur he wore.
Eyes tracing down his gi, and matching pants, to his battered boots.
Turns out I don't have much.
His right hand rested on the Life Core in his pocket.
Still warm, still humming.
He glanced over at Garuke, who inspected the blade of his small knife.
I wonder why he is afraid of this? And why does he have so much stuff?
Bastard.
He patted his pocket, the warmth emanating a sharp contrast to the cold, sterile light of the seam outside.
It was a heavy weight in his pocket.
A reminder that while he may be 'lost' in Garuke’s eyes, he still knew where he wanted to be.
He looked at the soot-stained walls of the cave.
At the place where he struggled to harness growing power, where he’d eaten charred meat.
Where he started on his path to whatever he is becoming.
The scraps of his old clothes lay heaped in the corner.
I’m no blue collar construction worker anymore…
Now I'm a blue collar cultivator.
Ken shook his head, smiling.
Doesn't matter.
Not now.
That has to be a way out…
A way back.
Garuke caught him smiling, looking conflicted, his dark eyes reflecting the strange white glow from the horizon.
The orc didn't share Ken's wide-eyed optimism.
To Garuke, this was another disruption of the natural order he’d spent his life navigating.
He let out a low, guttural vibration, a sound that wasn't quite a growl but carried the weight of a warning.
Tapping the bone clubs at his hips, he gestured with a chin-jerk toward the blazing white line in the sky.
A silent reminder.
In this world, the biggest light usually draws the biggest shadows.
Ken just grinned back, the adrenaline acting as a better painkiller than any magic.
Maybe.
"Yeah, yeah. Big light, big problems. Now, let's go be the problem."
In minutes, they were gone.
Racing away from the only ‘safe’ place he had found.
They didn't bother being sneaky.
There was no point.
The woods were a riot of snapping branches and distant howls.
Ken felt a branch whip across his face, drawing blood, but he didn't slow down.
He couldn't.
For the first time, maybe ever, he was ready to run.
He was running straight toward the answers.
Heading straight for the beam.
No plan.
No fear.
Just forward.
