74 Corrupted Ruin (Patreon)

Althea sighed, "At least we'll see them coming."

I nodded, “Keeping it positive. I like that.” I turned towards the edge of the mountains. Unlike the other rift, there wasn’t any obvious barrier. The red sky stretched endlessly, no white tendrils locking it in. The sand dunes stretched up high, but we could see the end in sight. It would take maybe a few hours to reach the mountain tops.

Once we reached somewhere with water, food, and shelter, Althea and I would start training. The faster gained our skills, the quicker we could leave. With that in mind, I pointed out into the distance, “Can you fly high then check out the nearby area? We’ll go from there.”

Althea nodded, flapping her wings before shooting into the air. Her flight was a handy piece of utility, and maybe that was why she didn’t invest into constitution. It gave her a level of mobility I dreamed of. I could tank at least 100 times more damage than her, so it was a give and take kind of situation.

The careened into the sky, flying through the denser air with ease. With each breath, the difference became clear. The air pressurized my surrounding, causing my ears to pop three or four times. My body dug into the ground more, the weight of where I stood pulling me down. My extra constitution and strength minimized the difference between this world and the last, but my perception made the difference clear.

This planet was bigger than earth for one. By how much, maybe a third. I clapped my hands, wondering if sound traveled differently here. It did. Slower, the echo created a visible wave through the air. The visible wave traveled faster than I could by far still, so the difference wasn’t absurd. If it wasn’t for my enhanced physique, I’d be breathing in a toxic atmosphere, denser than I could breath.

Other planets may have environments too hostile for me. It would be hard to tell until I was there. Even if the atmosphere was corrosive, as long as it had oxygen, I’d be fine. I learned that during research. I was curious how drowning worked, and it inflicts unconsciousness then growing % based true damage. I could sustain through about fifteen minutes without air, all while unconscious and underwater.

Someone could resuscitate me during that time. The true damage would eventually kill me though. Seeing Althea float upwards, it made me wonder if the air was choking her a bit even here. She drifted through the air, circling higher and higher before taking a nosedive downwards. A few seconds later, she landed on my shoulder with her talon feet.

“The mountains are farther away than we thought. I flew up longer than I would need to on earth, which means those mountains are really far away.”

I frowned, “Well fuck. Might as well get started.”

She nodded, so I glanced at the sand surrounding us. No life teemed, not even the slightest shift. No wind slid through the valley either. Weird as it was, other marks stuck out even more.

Vast, massive chunks of sand were missing from dunes in the distance. It looked like something took a bite out of the dune. Those marks scattered about, once every ten or so dunes. It reminded me of the Freedom Fighters incident. Sure, I could likely take on any dangers here. Doesn’t mean I should though.

With that in mind, I kept cautious. I stomped the stone I stood on. Cracked formed underneath my feet, stone splintering up as my foot dug into the rock. Grabbing a piece of stone the size of my forearm, I stepped forward and tossed the rock with all my might.

It flew several dunes away before plopping ontop of the sand. Althea gripped onto my shoulder during the entire process,

“What are you doing?”

My eyes narrowed, “Playing it safe.”

A few seconds later, the ground pulsed. A wave of kinetic energy shook through the sand before a monstrous worm monster flew up and out of the ground. It snapped up the stone. Even without Schema’s help, I could tell this thing was over level 2000.

How exactly? It’s mouth could swallow a house with ease. Inside the jiggered throat, clear, crystalline teeth lined its throat. They shined red from the light, showing the parasites that lived in it’s throat. Knobby, deformed, and horrible insects and slugs squirmed on the inside of it, looking for prey. It shifted through the sand like birds swimming through the air too.

Althea murmured, “Oh…good thing you played it safe.”

I nodded. I jumped up landing on a telekinetic pad. Instead of diverting the energy beneath me, I shifted it onto a massive telekinetic panel behind me. Using the density of the air to my advantage, each of my steps created a gust of wind as I jogged forward. My feet snapped off the telekinetic planes, letting me stay upright.

Transferring the kinetic energy like that took intense effort, both on my mind and my body. To keep it up, I stomped on the pads with my ascendant mana coursing through my runes. Without the enhanced strength, I couldn’t keep up with the task. Creating new pads, each reinforced and stable enough to hold my stomping weight turned something easy into something hard.

The extra weight amplified the complexity of it as well. Strengthening the panels to handle my stomping took a toll on me as we stretched a few kilometers into the run. I learned that making a panel too strong wasted effort and mana. Making it just tough enough made the task simpler. Learning this required a bit of trial and error though.

I snapped through a plate, creating another one to stumble back up. Althea would swing her wings, pulling some of my weight up as well. She offered a safety net I needed for the process. By the time the mountain immense in my vision, I ran on the air with a sublime security.

That is until a group of birds flew towards us. The decaying buzzards flapped molting wings, pieces of flesh and skin falling from them. They cawed with ruined beaks, the surface charred to nothing but black. Whenever the group slammed into us, I evaded them while Althea ripped them apart with her talons.

Her strength in her form shook the enemies to their cores. Each swipe held a certain intention, like something changed in her. She used to just flay her arms around, more to get someone away from her than to kill them. These strikes, while wild and inefficient, where loaded with a vitality and frenzy. With her absurd strength, she sundered the monsters apart.

I caught them, bouncing back and forth while catching and consuming the corpses. On the last bird, one of my panels snapped. I stumbled around before flopping onto the sand. I pushed myself up, grabbing the falling corpse of the bird. After absorbing it, I sprinted forward towards the mountain.

Althea flew above me, gripping her claws into my shoulders. I leapt up, a wave shifting through the sand. I shot into the air before sprinting away from where I leapt on telekinetic panels. I cracked plate after plate. The rumbling began beneath me.

Changing tactics, I let the force smash into the sides of my shoulders and stomach instead of the wind. The blows hurt like kicking a cinderblock with your toe. Not bad with my pain resistance, but it ate into my health. After a few more feet, the sharp squealing began. Panicking a bit, I smashed my feet into the pads, spurring me forward.

Now the feeling was more like kicking a cinderblock, but you ended up peeling your toenail back as well. Still not painful, but my health fell at a steady pace. A cataclysmic sounded ushered behind us, the worm drilling through the sand.

Althea flapped her wings with a burst of effort, letting me speed up just a pinch more. The worm reached us. With teeth the size of trees, the mountainous mouth clamped shut. The wind off its bite blew on my back as it bit through one of my feet like tearing through aluminum foil. With its prize in mouth, it dived back into the sand. The shrieking of shredding metal ebbed from its insides, like a trash compacter crushing a car.

I hobbled forward, struggling for a minute as my foot regenerated. Once I returned to jogging, I sighed with Althea, giving her a much-needed rest. I moment later, I lifted an arm up,

“Thanks. Saved my ass there.”

She clapped my hand with a talon foot, laughing at the absurdity of it all,

“Yeah, I didn’t think they were that dangerous. They’re a lot bigger up close.”

I shook my head, “Hell yeah they are. Those worms must be level 3000. No wonder Yawm and his followers aren’t coming close to them. They’re ridiculous.”

She nodded, looking at the mountain, “Let’s hope the other monsters aren’t as dangerous.”

I agreed before we fell back into the smooth motion of running on the wind. Once we neared the mountain, Althea jumped off my shoulders and glided beside me. I turned to her, “Why did you make me carry you?”

A bit of shame in her voice, she murmured, “My stamina can’t keep up with flying. It’s amazingly hard.”

I nodded my head. She didn’t have the regeneration stats that I did, including stamina regeneration. That was something I took for granted often. Because of my endurance and the determinator tree, my stamina had never been a problem. Sometimes I felt the tug of exhaustion, but it never lingered for any meaningful length of time. Combine that with my high willpower, and I moved like a machine at all moments.

That may be what alienated Althea from me for a bit. She struggled finding any real reason to fight. Her life was either being in a lab, bounty hunting, or battling. Thinking back on it, the way we met and the lifestyle she led, it must have sent her spiraling into depression. I already knew there were things beside war and pain and death. Althea, well, she didn’t.

A pang of guilt rippled through me. If I handled us meeting better, maybe treated her with a bit more humanity even, she’d be doing better. Not just more powerful, but happier and more content as well. Before treating people a certain way, I vowed to think things through a bit more. I may end up with better results with whatever I was doing, for me and whoever I was in contact with.

Preserving my humanity was a plus. However humane I acted here though, I doubt any of that humanity would be given in turn. I reached the mountain, landing on the hard stone with a loud crack. Althea jumped off my shoulders, reforming as she landed onto her new feet. Since we met, those abilities turned from monstrous abominations into fully formed creatures.

They amplified her skills better too. She amplified her hearing, her ears growing longer. As she glanced around, she looked like a blue gray elf. She led the way up the mountain. As we moved up the pile of brown rock, features popped up. Hidden crevices, covered in something like glass, lined the mountain. All of them angled towards the inside of the mountain. The unnatural formation drew our interest.

Curious as hell, Althea and I crawled into one of the caverns without a glass pane over ti. Along the lining of the walls, sharp crystals lined the walls. Althea kept clear of them, worried of nicking her clothes. We’d be here for a while, so whatever she broke she’d need to live with. I on the other hand just let them scrape me. My regen fixed any damage they caused in seconds.

Once we neared the exit, Althea and I peeked our heads through the narrow entrance. Althea scooted closer to me than she needed to, but I didn’t mind. I was too busy seeing the inside of the cavern.

Unlike the dilapidated ruins of the last eldritch cavern, this was a grand city. A cavern, miles long, situated itself within the hollow mountain. Beams of light leaked in from all the crevices we saw on the outside of the mountain. A realization popped in my head. The spikey crystals in the tunnels refracted light, bending it into the mountain from outside.

Some of these beams met into other glass balls in rivers and waterfalls flowing inside the city. From those glass balls, colors shined blue. Lanterns of orange floated through the cavern’s stalactite ridden roof. Within them, gems hummed a quiet sound. Combine the gentle humming with the flow of water, and the city had a way of setting you to ease.

The buildings crushed that peace. They warped wrong, some doorways facing the wrong direction and others being upside down. Others contorted into ghastly shapes, like nightmares given life. The pleasant sound took on an eerie feel, because it contrasted the ominous, empty buildings. I wouldn’t let that stop me though.

I paced forward. The city’s vertical layout was helped by numerous bridges and sets of stairs. Using them, I crossed forward. As I neared the building, their insides cleared up for me. Within them, markings and runes were etched into the surface of the buildings. While somewhat similar to the runic language of magic, they didn’t line up neatly. Instead, the chaotic inscriptions created disorder. Once I reached the first building, I stepped inside.

The difference was palpable. It wasn’t like stepping into a room with enchantments or effects. No, it was like stepping into a different eldritch rift. My body pulled apart, decompressing as the air pressure changed. My feet felt lighter. I breathed slower, the air different inside the building. I waved Althea over,

“You got to try this.”

She glanced around, looking nervous, “I don’t know Daniel. This seems dangerous.”

I rolled my eyes, “Everything here is dangerous. Might as well have some fun while we’re at it.”

She pursed her lips, walking up to the doorway. She glanced towards one of the beams of light, “It’s pretty.”

I walked over and pulled her by the hand into the room. She breathed in, gasping at the shift. She looked around, “How….” She turned to me, “What in Schema’s name is going on?”

I shrugged, “Don’t know, but it’s cool, isn’t it?”

She nodded, grinning. I walked over towards a square patch of the wall covered in runes. Glancing closer, they seemed familiar. I couldn’t pin the similarity down though. I studied them while Althea hopped around, toying around with the shift in basic physics. I snapped my fingers,

“None of the letters are the same. Two different sets of layering, one for the curvature of the letter and another for the indentation…These are like Baldag-Ruhl’s runes, the ones he used to tear open dimensions.”

Althea turned to me, giggling as she moved her hand in and out of the building, “So what?”

I narrowed my eyes, “So that means these runes are causing the crazy shift we’re feeling.”

She turned to me, “Really? Those runes are doing that?”

I nodded, “If you think about it, the runes for magic can cause massive changes in how something works. Who’s to say there isn’t a set of runes for something, uh…” I scratched my head, “Something weird like this.”

She frowned, “Want to explore the other buildings?”

I stood up, turning to her, “Hell yeah.”

We paced out of the room, gravity pulling harder, the air turning denser. We walked towards the next building over. Within it, time slowed. The sensation was strange and distant. All of the sudden, my thoughts went way faster than how I moved. It gave a sort of trapping sensation, like I didn’t have any control of my body anymore.

After glancing at the runes, I turned to Althea behind me, “What do you think?”

As I spoke, my voice sounded much deeper. Althea busted out into laughter, but her voice deepened as well. I cracked up too, laughing my ass off at her gorilla voice.

I clapped my hands together, “I am the evil lord Baldowah.”

I deepened my voice, making the ridiculous voice even more ludicrous. I lifted my hands, waving them around like sparkle fingers, “I’ll destroy everything, even Torix’s bad habit of overly elaborate explanations!”

We laughed for a while before getting out of the room. From there, we explored many rooms. Some of them were fun and interesting. Some of them contorted reality a bit too much, like a drug induced stupor. For some reason, these places didn’t affect me, but they sent Althea reeling. Whenever I glimpsed at the runes within these faulty areas, subtle inconsistencies formed within them.

I still couldn’t quite get it, but the runes felt off. The lines of them were too smooth, not structured enough. That lack of structure bled into the runes impact. After asking Althea about it, she mentioned how the changes in time, gravity, everything the runes altered was inconsistent. It made the whole experience nauseating for her.

Unlike her, the runes didn’t affect me unless they were pristine and perfect. For the most part, they weren’t though. Althea still had a lot of fun despite that. She lowered her guard, enjoying the change in sensation each room offered. I couldn’t blame her. It reminded me of going to a carnival and looking through a house of mirrors. Odd and strange, but a little bit captivating nonetheless.

Once we finished moving through the rooms, something like nighttime came upon us. The beams of light lessened. The orange glow of the floating gems conquered the room in their place. She and I enjoyed a dinner together, each of us chatting about the ridiculous room. We ended the conversation when Althea Yawned.

I mentioned I would keep guard while she slept. I’m sure it made her feel better about the whole being in a different world thing. Once she soundly slept, I went into one of the corrupted rooms and studied them.

So far, I studied the perfect runes of Baldag-Ruhl and the other rooms in detail. While they gave a good idea of the finished product, I couldn’t tell what got them there. It’s like looking at a finished building. I couldn’t see into it at all, just like I couldn’t see into the perfect runes. There were no holes in them to see inside.

The corrupting runes, however, were full of holes to see into. With that in mind, I found two rooms with similar enchantments, one perfect and the other corrupted. They both warped gravity, but one of them, according to Althea, felt like walking on hills even on the flat ground. The gravity was that inconsistent. These two rooms were the base of my learning.

I took pictures of each room with my obelisk. After that, I analyzed the differences in the languages. I went back and forth between each of the rooms, deciphering what I could. After four hours of the searching for the peculiarities of each room, I made my breakthrough.

There were none.

I mean no exact similarities between the two. Some of the symbols were almost identical, but a few notches made a decisive difference. Whenever I attempted replicating them, all I got were duds. After another two hours, I relayed a few patterns between each of sets.

It seemed like two similar codes, just interpreted differently. One person was giving their take on the language, and the other a different take entirely. That meant none of the runes worked unless you wrote them through the same perspective as the person who wrote it. In other words, there was a third layer to the runes, perspective.

Whenever writing the runes, each person’s runes took on a different mindset. If you failed to accurately portray that mindset, the runes would fall apart. The more structured runes of the working enchantments reflected the mind of the carver. Whoever it was, it knew who and what it was. On the other hand, the other, corrupted room didn’t. The less formed characters held less meaning.

This resulted in unfinished incantations. Not only did the runes have to be accurate and precise, they had to reflect who you were as a person. Otherwise they failed miserably. For me, I considered this a breakthrough. Copying and repetition failed as learning methods. Instead, I would try to get an idea of the runes by carving them.

That’s what I did for the rest of the night. Carve, carve, then carve more, I found an empty spot of wall and carved until my hand should have fallen the fuck off. Each time, I tried to make the runes echo my own thoughts and memories more. These eldritch runes would allow it. The magic runes allowed hollow memories and thoughts to form from their signs. With the eldritch runes, I could make my memories and thoughts real.

At least that was the working theory. As consumed as I was with the process, I didn’t even notice Althea sneaking up on me. Whenever she slapped her hand on my shoulder, I flinched.

She giggled a bit, “What are you doing?”

I turned to her, then back to my runes, “Trying to learn the runes better.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Looks more like your trying to imitate a crazy person.”

I cupped my chin, “Maybe that would work. I can’t tell right now.”

She took a few paces back, “Aren’t you supposed to be learning gravity magic?”

I facepalmed, “Ahh, yeah. I am. Fuck.” I glanced around, “What about doing the training here? We don’t have any extra food, but we have shelter and maybe water further down the line.”

She shrugged, “Seems pretty decent.” She glanced outside for a second, “Perfect actually.”

A grin of realization slid up her lips, so I replied, “How so?”

She walked outside, “I have to learn stealth. If I could fool the sandworms, then maybe I’ll get a unique skill and finish my mythical one.”

I nodded, “Having houses with different gravities is perfect for me too. Makes feeling the difference simple. We’ll set up shop here then. I have about three months worth of food. You?”

“About two months. We should have about three if we can, I don’t know, filter the water or something.”

I nodded before heading back up to the gravity houses. That’s whenever I set a schedule. During the mornings, I’d practice feeling gravity. During the evenings, I’d practice the runes. As I reached inside the house, I grit my teeth and clenched my teeth. I was in this for the long haul.

It was time to dig deep.