Chapter 2: The dark depths. Nascent Rage.
Hajime soon woke up from his panic induced fainting. He saw he was in the depths of the labyrinth, unable to process on his luck for survival. From what he could see, he noticed the area around him. There were a series of waterfalls feeding the cavern with fresh water. This made him realize what happened.
'We must have been carried by these waterfalls into this area. Only question remains is where are we and how are we going to get back?' Hajime thought.
He soon noticed Cloud floating in the water, prompting him to get his friend out. Relief came to him as he noticed his friend was still breathing, but was knocked unconscious.
'Cloud must have gotten hit by a rock to have this wound… Still, I should help him out with his clothes and injury.' Hajime thought.
He began to cast a normal fire spell to dry his clothes using a basic fire spell. It was a tiring effort, especially since he also dried himself after rescuing Cloud.
'I can't leave him behind. He still looks like he's in agonizing pain.' Hajime thought.
Using a cloth from his clothing, he created a makeshift bandage for Cloud's head. It was soon stained red with blood.
'The bleeding should stop soon, but I hope it wasn't too serious.' Hajime thought with concern.
Looking around, he knew this was uncharted territory. Not knowing of the possible dangers, he had to tread carefully, while carrying his friend. His fear was evidently shown through his sweating.
"We're not dying in this place… We will make it out, I know we will." Hajime stated.
Cloud still felt the agonizing pain coursing in his body. It kept increasing with passing time, causing him to stumble.
"Cloud, are you holding up alright?" Hajime asked with concern.
"This pain… It's all over my body… I don't know how long I can hold on…" Cloud spoke, grunting to hold his voice away from the pain.
However, the boys soon heard footsteps in the cave. They saw a wolf monster with thick white fur and red markings. It had two tails instead of one. The monster began to growl, shooting electricity around its body. This caused them to flee in an attempt to get out of their way, only for their actions to provoke a chase. Hajime had to help Cloud run due to the agony he was suffering from.
'Damn it… I lost my memory and now we will die here? I won't let this be our end here. I have to fight it off…!' Cloud thought in pain.
Soon, the boys encountered a strange rabbit. It had features of a typical rabbit with loppy ears, but the legs and its red eyes show it was a monster. Before the wolf could attack the boys, it set its sight in the rabbit, charging itself with electricity. The wolf leaped to the rabbit, only for it to be sliced in ribbons. The boys couldn't process what happened as the event occurred in the blink of an eye.
"The wolf monster… It was swiftly killed by the rabbit…" Hajime spoke with fear.
"We need to move… That rabbit might attack us…" Cloud spoke painfully.
Unfortunately, the rabbit caught its eye in the boys. It swiftly came to them and almost cut their heads off. Luckily, Hajime managed to drag Cloud down due to instinct to avoid the fatal attack. It soon began to kick off from the air to get up close to the running boys, only for it to encounter another monster. It was a fierce bear-like creature with sharp claws, a dark fur pattern on its face, and snow white fur all over its body.
"A bear!?" The boys spoke in reaction.
Soon, the rabbit leaped up into the air and kicked it off to make distance from the bear. However, the bear soon extended its left claws and swiped the air. From what the boys noticed, a wind blade was created, slicing the rabbit in a bloody mess. The bear went to it and began eating the pieces of the body.
"It's eating the rabbit…!" Hajime spoke with fear.
"We gotta get out of here… Hurry…!" Cloud said.
Soon, the bear noticed the boys fleeing. It swoon swiped its right claw to them. Cloud, despite the pain he was enduring, moved Hajime away from the wind blade in time to save him. Both barely dodged the attack from the skin of their hair. However, another wave was soon sent out. Hajime wasn't lucky to dodge it, loosing his left arm.
"My arm…" He spoke in panicked pain.
The bear began eating it, mainly causing Hajime to fear it. This got the bear to keep its attention to the boys.
"It ate my arm…" Hajime spoke, fear struck while holding on the stump of his left arm.
Cloud realized Hajime was too engulfed in fear. He quickly brought him to a wall to avoid the bear. Soon, Hajime began digging a tunnel to avoid the bear, only for the bear to continue its chase. In a panicked rush, he kept digging deeper, till the tunnel went deep enough to evade the bear. The passage was wide enough for two people to crawl in. However, Hajime exhausted his mana and soon passed out from lack of mana and the pain from the loss of his arm. Cloud's pain began to intensify as he felt his body becoming more unbearable to move. He too passed out.
Days have passed, unknown to the boys. They remained unconscious, pondering of the events that have transpired on them. Hajime had lost his arm while Cloud lost his memories. Both were in intense pain, unable to leave the cave they made.
'Who am I? What am I supposed to be…? And this agonizing pain…? What is causing it…?' Cloud thought.
'I lost my arm because of that bear. I don't think anyone will be able to reach us down here. Why…? Why would anyone want us to die down here?' Hajime thought.
Soon, a sensation of a liquid got to Hajime's mouth. He soon felt a sense of revitalizing as though he got his mana back. The boy looked up and spotted a multi-faced rock hanging on the ceiling of the cave.
"A Divine Stone! It's producing Ambrosia!' He thought.
'The pain from my missing arm is subsiding, but it won't regenerate… I guess there's a limit on which wounds it can heal.' Hajime thought.
Soon, he felt a sense of exhaustion overcome him, coupled with the phantom pain of his missing arm. He passed out on the pool of the liquid. Cloud soon woke from his pain induced fainting as he felt the ravaging feeling overcome him. Seeing Hajime in a pool of liquid, he tried to lift him off from it, only to have a stray drop land in his mouth, causing him to reflexively drink it. The pain in his body began to subside.
'This liquid… It's helping with the pain…' He thought.
Overcome with exhaustion after fighting the pain off, he collapsed into a deep sleep. They soon woke up from their respective pains till the ambrosia healed them. This allowed Hajime to practice his Synergy skills in response.
Hajime and Cloud soon woke from their respective pain induced sleep, only to drink the ambrosia from the Divine Stone. It was a brutal cycle as they couldn't feel a sense of relief. Since days have unknowingly passed from them, the agony of hunger assaulted their minds. Despite this, they retain the desire to support each other. Both were determined to fight off whatever for in their way. Soon, they both changed mentally due to the difficulty of survival.
"I don't care how we will survive. We will make it, even if we have to resort to eating these fucking monsters!" Hajime spoke to Cloud.
"This hunger… It's too painful… I can't even think properly…" Cloud spoke with a weak tone.
Hajime soon created a pitfall to trap any monsters that fell in the tunnel he made. This allowed him and Cloud to hunt a monster to devour for their need for food. They both encountered the same lightning wolf monsters. A pair of them were wandering about till they saw the two ravenous boys. Both of them took off, provoking the wolves to a chase with a thrown stone.
"Come and get us you bastards!" Hajime provoked.
They soon made it into their hideout, trapping the wolves in the pitfall. They began roaring, shooting electricity all around in self defense.
"Shut the fuck up! I'm so fucking hungry and I don't need to hear your fucking roaring!" Hajime yelled to the wolves.
Using his Synergy skills, he caused the pitfall to trap the wolves. Holding a recently made spear, he tried to skewer them, but their skin proved resilient.
"Damn it. Their skin is too fucking tough to pierce through." Hajime exclaimed.
Thinking outside the box, Hajime soon made a mechanical drill to skin the monsters, killing them. Their blood flew all over the pitfall. Having killed the monsters, Hajime and Cloud soon began feasting on the meat.
"This is morbid than what I thought…" Hajime commented, chewing on the meat.
"Disgusting, but we need the food…" Cloud commented, eating it as well.
Soon, both boys felt a staggering pain that began to overwhelm them.
"What the…!? It feels like something is eating me alive… Uaaaaaaaggggghhhhh!!!" Hajime screamed.
Cloud wasn't favoring any better. He felt the same pain increase tenfold, causing him to collapse in his knees.
'It's the same pain I endured. Did I eat something from a monster earlier…?' Cloud wondered in thought.
The pain soon began to consume them, forcing them to drink copious amounts of the ambrosia to stop the pain.
"It won't stop… What the hell is happening!? Aaarggghh!!!" Hajime questioned with a scream.
"Is this pain caused by eating the monster meat…? This is too much…" Cloud spoke.
Hajime felt his body being torn apart and healing rapidly. Same was true for Cloud as both boys felt their bodies changing. The stress from the healing combined with the seemingly endless pain caused Hajime's hair to turn from black to white. Cloud's hair soon turned paler, almost appearing a cream yellow color, while retaining the blonde brightness. They screamed loudly as their bodies were broken down and rebuilt to compensate the changes happening to them.
Several hours have passed since the agonizing experience. Hajime and Cloud finally regained consciousness, lying inside the small pool of ambrosia. They began to recollect their thoughts after their self-thinking was established.
'We would have been dead without this ambrosia.' Hajime thought.
'I had a thought that the monster meat or anything of its body would cause such intense pain. Eating it was clearly a lethal mistake, otherwise we would have suffered a lot.' Cloud thought.
The boys since felt a sense of relief for the first time in nearly two weeks.
'It has been a while since we felt pain, but my body is feeling lighter. What exactly happened to us?' Cloud and Hajime thought at the same time.
They soon looked at a reflective rock to see their current appearance. To their surprise, they both look muscular, growing a few inches taller.
"Whoa… I look like a demon…" Hajime commented in a joking manner.
Cloud soon looked at his eyes. They were now sporting a blue green glow in them.
"What happened to us…?" He questioned.
"I don't know exactly, but the monster meat did a lot of changes to us. Oh yes, our status plates." Hajime realized.
Hajime soon brought out his status plate to see his stats. To his surprise, they're well within the hundreds compared to how he was previously.
"Whoa… So eating the monster meat really did made us stronger." Hajime noted.
Cloud soon had a brief headache. He soon recalled a faint memory.
"These are status plates. Don't lose them for they're important." A male gruff voice educated.
Cloud soon placed his right hand in his right pocket to pick up a status plate like Hajime's, only for him to notice his stats.
"What the…? Strength at 700, mind at 650, intelligence at 750, mana at 725… What are these stats?" Cloud questioned, garnering Hajime's attention.
"Whoa, Cloud. Your stats are even larger than mine. Wait, you have the Dragon Warrior Job. That must be why you hold immense power." Hajime joked.
Cloud was unsure on what to say. He doesn't know much, but he had a link. His name became a clue to what he can get from his lost memories.
'I may have to find out more of where we came from. I don't remembering anything other than my name at the moment.' Cloud thought.
Hajime began analyzing his status plate and noticed three additional skills. They were Lightning Field, Mana Manipulation, and Iron Stomach.
"Hmmm… Mana Manipulation seems self-explanatory. It means I can manipulate mana without the use of magic circles. It may explain these tattoo marks on my veins." Hajime noted, noticing the vein marks on his right arm.
Cloud soon noticed his status plate holding the same skills Hajime had. He soon noticed sword mastery skills along with special magic attacks.
"Iron Stomach, Mana Manipulation, Lightning Field, Blade Beam, Bane Cutter, Rising Slash, Fira, Aera, Thundara… These are my skills at the moment. Still, I didn't think I had these three skills Hajime mentioned." Cloud noted.
Both boys were confused as to how to use Lightning Field. Hajime recalled how the wolves manipulated electricity. He soon had an idea on how to use the skill.
'If I can visualize electricity… Maybe…' Hajime thought.
"Lightning Field!" Hajime commanded.
Soon, a current of red lightning began to envelope his arm and body.
"I did it…" Hajime spoke with wonder.
"The lightning. It's red." Cloud noticed.
Cloud soon began to focus on the visual and soon produced the same result. The only difference was the lightning had a deep blue glow. It was a shade of blue deeper than Hajime's magic before his transformation.
"Hey, how come your Lightning Field is that color, Cloud?" Hajime asked.
"I don't know… I'm amazed on how I'm able to do this." Cloud said.
Both boys began to experiment on the new skill they acquired. They tested its power and usage on battle.
"Looks like we can't shoot it like those wolves, but we can channel the current through anything conductive. Plus, we can adjust the voltage to make it stronger." Hajime spoke.
Cloud soon began to channel Lightning Field on his body. It soon collected on his sword, vibrating the blade into a high frequency. It was producing a soft hum due to the electric current running on the blade.
"Whoa…" Cloud commented with surprise.
Hajime heard Cloud's reaction and was surprised to see him holding his sword now glowing with electric energy.
"Cloud, your sword just became a high frequency blade… It can cut through armor or solid stone with ease." Hajime noted.
Cloud soon tested it on a nearby stalagmite. Once he swung his sword, the blade made a clean cut through the rock formation.
"Whoa… I could use this…" Cloud spoke, astonished.
The boys soon found themselves in a large cavern with an abundance of minerals shown. This got Hajime to think of his recent new skills acquired prior to eating the monster meat.
'My Synergy skills have evolved since I kept practicing them prior to eating the monster meat with Cloud. I noticed my status plate gave me insight of this new skill called Ore Appraisal. Maybe I could figure something out about it.' Hajime thought.
He soon noticed a black rock nearby. Catching his attention, he soon touched the rock. Upon doing so, information soon began to flood into his head.
"I see now… Ore Appraisal… It's a skill that allows me to get info of the minerals I touch. From what I read in the royal library, it would take an academy to use appraisal magic circles since they would take the size of a school gymnasium. My skill allows me to identify properties of minerals with just a touch." Hajime noted.
Cloud noticed Hajime gaining the information from the rock he held. It left the boy in wonder what was his friend doing.
'I wonder what he is doing… That rock seems important.' Cloud thought.
Soon Hajime turned to Cloud. An idea was now coming to the Synergist's mind.
"Cloud, see if you can help gather more of this rock. It's called Taur Stone and I'll need it to craft something from it." Hajime requested, showing the rock to Cloud.
The amnesiac nodded in response. He held his giant sword and soon found a cluster of Taur Stone. With brute strength, he managed to cleave several ores of Taur Stone, allowing him to gather more than necessary. However, he noticed the sword he held was starting to get brittle.
"Looks like I need to fix this problem. The stones are pretty tough here." Cloud noted.
Having a large number of Taur Stone ores, he regrouped with Hajime holding the stones.
"Nice find, Cloud. I'll see what I can make." Hajime said.
Soon, the boys noticed a reddish rock. Upon touching it, Hajime felt the information about the stone.
"This is Blastrock. Upon igniting, it will continue to burn till it turns into cinders. If compacted inside a container, it will explode and rival most fire spells. It's essentially gunpowder in a way." Hajime spoke.
"Gunpowder?" Cloud questioned.
"I have an idea on what to make. I'll see if I can make this work." Hajime smiled in a dark tone.
Soon, Cloud noticed a glowing green mineral nearby. He managed to pick it off from a mineral vein to have Hajime inspect it.
"Hajime, what about this rock?" Cloud asked.
Hajime took the rock and noticed the information provided.
"This is a Green Glowstone. It glows brightly when absorbing mana. If it cracks when mana is still in the stone, it'll produce a bright flash. That sounds like a stun grenade or a flashbang." Hajime mused.
With the abundance of minerals provided, Hajime began working with Cloud providing the resources to help him. It took several dozen times to produce what he was making. Soon, he managed to forge a weapon of his making. It was a techno magical revolver with a 6 cylinder magazine that rotates measuring at 35 centimeters. The main body was black, but it had red highlights that glowed in the dark. The discarded pieces of Taur Stone were converted into small bullets, each having a small layer of Blastrock to act as the gunpowder.
"My creation at last… With this added with Lightning Field…" Hajime spoke.
He began charging the gun with his Lightning Field skill. Soon, the gun roared to life with a red glow. Having a theory to test, he soon went to work in repairing Cloud's sword using the Taur Stone leftovers. The blade soon faded with a dark color with red highlights. Cloud channeled Lightning Field on the blade, causing it to glow bright with the red highlights glowing. He gave a few practice swings before feeling the blade.
'The balance and speed are well within my ideal strength… Hajime helped repairing this blade and upgrading it…' Cloud thought in gratitude.
He soon turned to his friend, ready to assist him.
"Time we go hunting?" Hajime asked.
Cloud nodded as the boys made their way through the labyrinth. They soon encountered two rabbits, both were using wind abilities to stay afloat. Hajime managed to shoot one down with his revolver through the head, killing it. Cloud used his sword with Lightning Field enhancing it. The blade made a clean cut through the neck of the rabbit, decapitating it.
Finding a spot to rest from the hunt, Cloud and Hajime began to eat the meat of the rabbits they fought. Hajime soon looked at his creations before thinking.
"I've been thinking of a name for our weapons… I'll call my revolver Donner and your sword, Raimei." Hajime announced.
"Raimei?" Cloud asked confused.
"Each swing from your sword with Lightning Field makes a loud sound like a thunderclap. My weapon's name is the same but in a German language." Hajime explained.
"I see. Either way, we have our ways to getting stronger. We should look up our status plates to see any changes have happened." Cloud said.
"I agree." Hajime followed.
Both boys opened their status plates and soon, their stats have once again increased. A new set of skills have also been granted from the rabbit meat they ate.
"Oh? Aerodynamics and Supersonic Step. There's also Steel Legs included." Hajime noted.
Soon the boys began to practice the newly acquired power. However, upon testing the Supersonic Step, they had ran into several rocks, causing them to hit them face first.
"Ow… That must be the Supersonic skill… We'll have to train that so we can get a better scope." Hajime noted.
Cloud nodded in agreement as he began practicing the Aerodynamics skill. He was soon bouncing around the air, moving fast across the labyrinth hall with immense precision. Each time a stalactite was in the way, he redirected his path. Hajime, in amusement, found the action in comparison to a different warrior.
"You remind me of ninjas if you keep doing that." Hajime mused with a laugh.
Cloud looked away with a sheepish look. Hajime felt the need to improve and practiced the Aerodynamics. He quickly got the hang of the new skill, leaping and zipping across the labyrinth with immense speed.
"Now I see why you had fun there. This skill will make our travel through this labyrinth more manageable." Hajime commented.
"This place however has a large cave system. We should focus on finding a way out by going deep." Cloud noted.
"I agree. We should find our way out of here. But first, we should settle a score with a familiar monster." Hajime spoke with a dark smirk.
The boys were soon well trained and ready to fight off a monster Hajime suggested. It was the bear monster they encountered before their descent to madness.
(Play Final Fantasy X OST - Battle Theme)
"Yo… Enjoyed snacking on my arm you bastard?" Hajime called out to the bear.
"We owe you a payback from what you did before we had a change up." Cloud followed.
The bear roared, sensing the killing intent the two boys were emitting. It knew it'll be a tough fight.
"That's right. We are going to kill you and eat your fucking carcass!" Hajime spoke.
Hajime soon fired his first shot. The bear instinctively evaded the bullet, but was grazed on its right shoulder. Cloud noticed it was trying to avoid getting shot so he charged forward to slice it. The bear managed to move back, but was sliced with a thin cut at its abdomen.
"Damn it…" Cloud spoke in disdain.
"That bitch is moving too much." Hajime noted.
He soon fired two more rounds, only succeeding in grazing the bear at its right arm and head. The bear planned its attack and launched a blade of wind at the boys.
"I don't think so." Cloud said.
"Quick step!" Hajime spoke.
Both boys used the Supersonic skill to avoid the wind blade. This got the bear to launch another attack, forcing the boys to use the Aerodynamics skill to confuse it. It soon launched a volley of wind blades, which managed in knocking Hajime down to the ground. Cloud soon got to him in concern.
"I've got a special gift for you. Have an eyeful! Cloud, cover your eyes!" Hajime spoke.
Cloud kept his eyes shut as Hajime hurled a small object that looked like a spherical grenade. In the object, there was a Green Glowstone that was saturated with mana. Surrounding the interior was a layer of Blastrock, which soon ignited from the fuse caused by the pulled pin. Soon, the grenade created a flashbang, blinding the bear momentarily. This allowed Hajime and Cloud a chance to attack the bear while it was dazed. Hajime shot his gun at the bear's front left paw, cutting it clean off. Cloud managed to inflict a deep cut in the bear's stomach, causing it to roar in pain.
'Payback's a bitch…' Hajime thought with a merciless smile.
He soon crawled to the bear arm that was cleaved from his bullet. Cloud regrouped to him in response and both boys soon bit a chunk of meat off of it, eating the arm. This caused the bear to now shudder in fear, realizing its grave mistake.
"Talk about having a taste of your medicine… Tastes disgusting as hell, but it has a more appetizing flavor compared to the others we've eaten." Hajime noted.
"Indeed. Disgusting, yet savory." Cloud followed.
The boys soon swallowed the meat and drank the Ambrosia to calm the effects. However, a sudden feeling of pain soon got them off guard for a moment. This got the bear to take a chance to attack them.
'Oh no you don't.' The boys thought.
Unknown to the bear, a trail of its blood from its lost limb led back to it. A large puddle of its blood from the cuts it received was shown. The boys soon used their Lightning Field skill to conduct the electricity through the blood, paralyzing it. Hajime soon took aim and shot a bullet to the bear's head. It soon died, collapsing with blood spraying from its head.
(Battle theme OST ends here)
The boys soon relaxed as they defeated the bear. However, it gave no sense of comfort as relief never came to them. Hajime soon announced his goal.
"We are going to get out of this labyrinth. We will survive whatever gets in our way to return home. If anything blocks our path, they will be killed." Hajime announced.
Cloud gave a silent nod, knowing Hajime may have means to find his lost memories. He had no one else to rely on so he went with the Synergist to venture through the labyrinth. They both had to take a brief break, eating the bear monster and helping to reload Hajime's gun. Having developed some comradery with Cloud, he gifted the swordsman with another revolver. Unlike Hajime's break top revolver, it was reloaded via swing out cylinder.
"You sure you want me to hold this weapon?" Cloud asked.
"I don't see why not. You've helped me go through this labyrinth, even risking your life. I can't have you going around without something to keep as a side weapon." Hajime explained.
Knowing of Hajime's trust, Cloud accepted the weapon. Hajime provided some bullets for him in the event he needed to reload.