The sound of Gerard’s laughter still lingered in my ears when he finally left at the tree line, heading back toward the outpost.
I gathered my things, discarded my barely-holding-together pants, and slipped into a fresh pair. The pack had several pairs of shirts as well, but I didn’t want to ruin them. My current fighting style wasn’t kind to clothing.
But the light armor? What could was it if it couldn’t take a little beating?
I pulled it out in all its glory, which really, wasn’t much at all.
The set was all leather, made from beast hide, so it was tougher than any leather one might find on Earth, but it still couldn’t compare to sothing like chainmail or plate.
However, for soone with my particular skillset, this was perfect.
I pulled the chest guard over my shoulders and strapped it tight, the leather stiff against my ribs. Bracers followed, then the single, but solid pauldron fastened over my left shoulder.
Simple boots and greaves bound to my shins finished the set. Light, flexible, nothing wasted.
And to top it all off, the simple but functional harness Gerard had gifted .
I looked down to the cloth-wrapped Axe, and picking it up slowly, I swung it around my back and it clicked into the harness with ease.
The black-steel weapon rode heavy, but I knew I’d get used it.
For a long while I stayed there, watching the steady stream of humans go about their lives at a distance.
Then I turned away, adjusting the straps of my harness, and took off.
But not straight back to the core. I wanted to distance myself from the Outpost and the main paths. The Association would be a threat for a long ti to co, so it was best to not be seen at all.
Gerard had agreed with that sentint, and recomnded I head north, keeping the cliff-face to my right.
So that was what I did. Soon, the outpost’s clamor dulled to nothing, and it was replaced by the comforting silence of damp earth and cicadas.
Only when the suns dipped below the edge of the cliff’s edge, did I realize, this world’s twin suns, much like Earth’s, rose from the east, and set in the west. It was a small detail, but intriguing. Whether that fact actually ant anything though, I couldn’t say.
The skies turned dark not long after, but I kept walking, searching for a spot that was well-hidden enough to rest with so peace of mind, and eventually, I did.
A small opening in the cliff-face.
I looked back to the left at the lines of trees, contemplating whether or not setting up a fire would be advisable.
Speaking of... I didn’t question it then, but...why in the world did they set up a fire in the Core? Logic dictates it’d be a death sentence in a region teeming with Beasts used to the darkness. A fire would stand out far too much, and be visible from too far away... It makes no sense...
I couldn’t understand it, and I probably wouldn’t for so ti to co. So I filed it away.
Regardless of their actions in the core, I decided against setting one up here. Sure I’d put so distance between myself and the Outpost, but it was really only half-a-day’s walk. I wasn’t comfortable with only that much.
Staying vigilant, I began to approach the cliff-face, but froze midway. I was certain I’d heard sounds coming from straight ahead. From the cave.
Voices?
It looked like I wasn’t the only one that had had that bright idea. It was nothing more than common sense, really. But who could’ve expected people to be right here in this cave?
I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I avoid them? Sneak up on them? Announce my presence? What was the normal course of action?
I wasn’t even completely sure if they were voices or sothing else entirely.
A beast perhaps? Sothing that mimics human sounds? Does sothing like that even exist?
I was about ready to stop everything and pull out Arthur’s encyclopedia, but then I recalled Freya’s certainty when she said there were no Beasts in the outer layers. I took a mont to calm down. My emotions were getting the better of again.
There were only two choices. Approach carefully, or avoid them altogether.
Logic made it obvious which choice was best, but curiosity tugged at . I wanted to know.
Yet another inconvenience of Human psychology.
Before I could talk myself out of it, my feet were already moving.
The murmurs were faint but they were there. I knew they were. And yet as I approached, they wavered, broke apart, thinned into nothing.
Did they notice ?
I hugged the cliff-face now, slowly shuffling along the wall until I reached the edge of the cave opening. I waited, but there was nothing.
Then the next draft of wind slipped through the cracks in the cliff and the sound returned, warped, hollow.
Not voices. The wind, twisting itself into a lie.
I took a step back, exhaling slowly. I felt like a complete idiot.
I’d just convinced myself of an enemy that didn’t exist!
Paranoia...
I peeked past the edge and into the cave just to be sure, and sure enough, the place was empty.
Finally relaxing a little, I walked in. It was dark, and small, but it would do the job.
I sat up against the back wall, and rummaged through the rations. I was starving.
For tonight’s nu---dried at. It didn’t look very appetizing, but the mont it entered my mouth...I knew I’d found my second-favorite food.
It was tough, salty and stringy. I savored every bite.
My jaw worked while my other hand flipped Arthur’s Beast Encyclopedia open across my knee. The first page ntioned it was compiled by a scholar of the na, "Lucian Thane", not that I knew who the man was.
But his work was detailed. Information on hundreds of beasts. I got lost in it, continuing to read long after my appetite was satiated. I even found entries on Gorge-wolves, and afterwards, Fla Toads. It detailed their evolutions, their elents, their habits, fighting patterns, types of gifts they could possess...it was far more interesting than I ever expected.
I read line after line, page after page, Chapter after Chapter, until finally, the words began to blur, my head began to dip, and before I knew it, sleep had claid .
----------------------
I awoke to faint tremors in the ground, and the deep, grating sound of stone grinding against stone. My eyes fluttered, groggy and confused, but then a CRACK split through the cave, sharp as lightning.
My eyes flew open. I was already moving---axe ripped free of the harness, stance wide, heart hamring.
The cave mouth I’d been facing was gone. Solid wall. Perfectly smooth.
And the wall I’d been leaning against...was open. A corridor yawned open, sloping downwards in a wide, spiraled staircase. Torches burned along its walls, their flas a deep arterial red.
The grinding ca again. Low. Deep. Like millstones grinding away in soplace unseen.
My breath was too loud. My pulse rattled against my ribs. Every muscle tensed, expecting sothing to rush out of that blood-lit passage.
Nothing ca.
When the adrenaline gave my mind so leeway to think, the realization hit.
The voices. Maybe they weren’t just wind in the rocks. Maybe... maybe they weren’t just voices.
I edged back until my shoulder t cold stone. No crack. No seam. The exit was gone.
Only one path remained.
Forward.
My jaw clenched as I shifted the axe to both hands. It was still unsteady in my grip. I wasn’t prepared for this. Not in the slightest. I’d hoped to train on the outskirts of the core before diving in, familiarize myself with Gerard’s Manual, but now?
The red light pulsed from within. As if calling to .
I gulped.
I didn’t have much choice.
Deep breaths cald down best I could, and exercising caution above all else, I shouldered my pack, and walked straight into the bloody maw. And the mont I did, the corridor swallowed whole.
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