Chapter 49 (Patreon)

Need to clean this up later, just super tired right now so basically just throwing my thoughts on paper for later.

***

Step forward, overhead slash.

Bend knees, thrust.

Left.

Right.

Deep breath, release and swing.

My hands dropped to my side, sword still clutched tight in my fingers.

[You need to eat.] Ddraig’s, word breaking me from my fugue.

“How long was it this time?”

[About two days if my estimation is correct.]

This place, it make you lose track of time. No, maybe it was even more than that. It makes you lose your sense of ‘self’.

How many days have I stayed back here, and just continued my practice? I think we were almost up to a month now. The day-night cycle was not the same outside, it almost seemed random, perhaps there was a ‘order’ that would reveal itself if I continued to pay attention for several months, but at the moment it just seemed to change based on its own mood.

Not just that either, it seems as though the longer I spend in this realm, the more I change along to match its properties. My need to consume food had decreased exponentially, to the fact that I had to be reminded to eat after a couple days.

I swept my gaze around the area, hundreds of skeletal bodies littered my little haven. They hadn’t stopped coming for me in these past weeks, though they only gave from below. It seemed like besides that one weird guard, no other undead were above me.

“I think its about time I moved on.” I wasn’t talking to anyone in particular, even Ddraig was silent. There wasn’t much to pack up, I kept my food safe and secure, my blade had stayed with me this entire time and I only grab scraps from the things I’ve fought before.

Lets see if these few weeks have been good to me.

It didn’t take long to meet my familiar friend once again. I had probed him a couple of times since our first meeting, just seeing what exactly he was.

Dropping my sack to the ground I took a step towards his position.

“RETURN” It bellowed, standing up.

Maybe the magics holding it together force it to say such a thing instead of being the only word it can actually speak?

I was much less nervous this time, my hands extremely steady as I continued to walk forward, matching its lumbering steps.

It swung its sword in the same way, a haphazard swing horizontally to cleave me in half, I merely took a step back, watching it miss. I think my previous thinking process was flawed, I continued to think of it in a manner of just brute forcing me way through this thing.

It recovered its swing, ready to cleave me in twain yet again, I stepped to the side, waiting.

The inevitable edge of the blade came towards me, I ducked down, allow it to pass safely over my head and impale itself onto the cliff-side.

I looked up, seeing the thing trying to pull free its massive blade to no avail.

“Well, that’s one way to do it.” I muttered, lifting my own weapon.

The undead’s free hand tried to swing at me, but I deflected it much better this time, and I followed up with a swift stab through into the eye socket of its helme.t

The magics dispersed with a visible effect, the animated corpse falling to the ground.

“That was…much easier than I had built it up to be.”

[You aren’t exactly a beginner. Your issue was having a shallow foundation yet possess exceptionally powerful abilities.]

Yeah, that’s true.

Well, lets keep going then.

I hesitantly put a foot on the brittle looking stone ‘bridge’ that allowed one to cross from one cliff side to another. Natural in formation, but it appeared as though it would break at any moment.

I guess it would be comical to die in such a mundane way instead of all the other nonsense going on here.

There was a cave up ahead, dark and eerie. Now, in a normal circumstance, I would have explored this, but the me right now was overly cautious. If that undead was guarding something it was most likely in here.

Staying the hell away.

I just continued on a bit longer, only to visibly shudder when my clear path came to an end. The inlays that I hoped would take me to the top, stopped here. All that was facing me was the rocky side of the snowy cliff.

Well, fuck.

I resolved myself, finding a good spot, and I began truly climbing.

No turning back now.

The sharp stones were quick to tear into my hands. I could only wrap them in cloth to continue my ascent. The air was getting noticeably thinner with every few dozen feet I continued up and more strange phenomena started occurring.

The cold didn’t even have to be mentioned, my vision was significantly lowered in this blizzard weather, I maybe had a four or five meters I could see in any direction, the only exception was something strange off to the side.

I saw a castle, completely upside down. It was perhaps, the source of those stones from earlier. Did it exist in a state of perpetual falling? Such a thing goes against the logic of humanity, but here that can be true.

My breathing was becoming too ragged, I didn’t dwell on it. The only solace was that I found a ‘tree’ jetting out of a small cliff nearby that I could sit down and rest.

I took out some word and some pieces of scrap metal. I hit my sword against the scraps, trying to light up some tinder I bundled together.

“Come on.” My hands shook slightly, I was freezing, and a little fire would do me good. “Just a little spark, please.” I whispered.

I continued until my fingers became numb, nothing. I couldn’t get a single ember to appear.

No other choice then, I bunkered down for now, deciding to get a few hours of sleep and hopefully wait out the worst of this weather. The snowstorms came and went, maybe I’ll get lucky and It’ll clear up.

I can only thank the remnants of my devil physiology that I didn’t freeze to death. Even with most everything being sealed away, there were some things just inherit to my physical body.

I wouldn’t die of hypothermia…. probably. And I don’t think any of my body parts would be frozen.

The snow storm did die down, a little bit. I could see maybe a few more feet infront of me now, small mercies.

Wait…I abruptly turned my head and looked at the tree that was providing me with some manner of shelter.

I reached up to grab something hanging off on a small string. “Teacher?” I whispered lightly, holding a piece of flint in my hand.

I cradled the small object like it was the most precious treasure, I gathered my stuff back up again and struck my sword against the small piece of flint. It was much easier to light a fire now, a quick strike of my sword and sparks flew, turning into little embers.

Warmth, it filled me with resolve to Keep going, that’s all I could do right now. I would stay here for a bit longer and warm up then continue on.

My hands already numb to the pain, I couldn’t even feel the sharp rocks anymore. My mind was willing, but my body was failing me.

I don’t know how long I continued forward, my stamina was starting to deplete until I rolled up onto a protruding cliff, able to sit down and rest for a moment.

How long did I continue to climb after this?

My memories started to blur together, I could recall skirting alongside the cliff side, barely enough room to stand on.

I think this mountain was doing something to my consciousness, because I began to hallucinate. I could have sworn I saw Meridia beckoning me into another eerie looking cave. I don’t know why, but the idea of going ‘inside’ this mountain made my shiver.

There was that time I had to jump across a divide to continue my ascent, only for Artoria to appear and burst into mist when I got close.

This kept going on, Days, weeks? I think time began to lose meaning to me, the only semblance of the passage of time was me running low on food.

“Oh, it’s Teacher this time.” I muttered, seeing a clearly fake Scathach trying to lure me somewhere. Seriously, who would fall for this? “Maybe put you’re a-game into it next time?’ I threw a rock at the little mirage, the illusion that seemed to emanate out of this mountain. I rolled my eyes as it burst into mist again, only for it to reemerge back into her form.

I just sighed, deciding to ignore whatever was going on. If it could physically affect me, it probably would have by n –

“Oh my.” I did a double take as this time the illusion started to strip. “Okay, bonus points here.” I gave it a thumbs up, as it tried to get me to follow it in a specific direction. I did take a few moments to just watch. “Nice, I wonder how accurate that is compared to the real thing.” I nodded.

Huh, if I stick around long enough, will it try to do this looking like Meridia? It would be a lie to say that I didn’t enjoy it when her image showed up….it had been quite awhile since I’ve seen her.

Truly, this thing is a formidable opponent.

This little distraction did help relieve a small amount of fatigue, but my body was reaching its limit.

I was exhausted, I don’t know how much longer I could keep going, the only thing that kept me moving was the fact that I could see the top of the peek from here.

Roughly 400 meters.

I could do it, I could do this.

Was it getting harder as I got closer or was I just imagining it? It was almost like a dream, each foot up I took, I don’t even remember doing it, but I saw the top coming closer and closer into view.

300 meters.

“A little more.” I spoke even at the cost of my dwindling energy.

200 meters.

The stones I gripped were pulled out, making me tumble a way back down. My arms got cut up from the jagged protrusions, but I was able to stop myself from falling further.

100 meters.

I no longer had any feeling in my arms.

50 meters.

Coming to the final cliff, I almost fell down again as my footing crumbled, grabbing tight I hefted myself up, pushing over the edge and rolling onto the top.

“I did it.” I said quietly, barely sitting up and taking in the view.

“You did.” Another voice answered.

I looked over to see Scathach standing next to me. “You’ve been watching me the entire time.”

“Mmm, you did good.” She nodded. “I didn’t think you would realize your own faults early on, I was planning on having you fight some more.”

“You set the undead there?” I tilted my head.

“Of course.” She said plainly.

“What was the point of this?” I tried to wave my arms around, but I just collapsed onto the ground.

“You needed to suffer.” She replied without a hint of remorse.

“Ah, so you’re a sadist.”

She walked up to my, lightly tapping the butt of her spear on my forehead. “If I wasn’t pleased with your progress, I would have smacked you for that.” She frowned slightly. “The dragon spoke of me at length of your issues, I agreed with him after some deliberation. You have never ‘suffered’ before, nor have you ever needed to. Some battles may have pushed you to your limits, but it is not the same.”

“I never swung my sword until my arms hurt, I never cast my spells until my voice was hoarse. I never truly trained in any capacity.”

“You understand.” She looked pleased. “You were arrogant because of what you inherited, thinking never to push beyond your own limits. You had never suffered before. I have never had a student with your particular situation, I needed to devise a new strategy.”

“Does that mean you’ll unseal my power?” I asked.

“Mmm, it would be pointless to keep you from utilizing your strengths anymore. We shall begin your true training tomorrow, for now though.” She placed her hand on my forehead. “Rest, you have earned a small reprieve.”

My eyes closed, involuntarily and I welcomed the darkness.