When jaune opened his eyes, he was greeted with the Eternal City once more. Jaune glanced around the grey city, trying to remember where he had left the dream last.
Right. He was looking for that portal to AFDA prime, wherever it was. Jaune pulled out his enchanted map in an attempt to regain his bearings.
Jaune unfurled the parchment, letting the ink come to life. Right. He mentally groaned once the map had fully painted itself. He was in the second ring at this point, having opened every circular hobbit style door that seemed to be the portals. Most of them led to blank walls of concrete or brick. Apparently they had not been functioning in a long time. Jaune sighed with frustration as he slammed another non-functioning portal door closed. He let out a throaty growl, storming off to where the next door was on the map.
There was a slobbery klicky growling sound. Jaune looked up from his map, seeing a platoon of ghouls that had probably been guards at one point in their lives, salivating over the promise of a new meal. Jaune sighed. Reaching up to his quiver, Jaune drew a bow and an arrow. 30 meters
The bow was aimed and the arrow drawn, the string tensing under the force. 27 meters. Jaune measured out. The fingers holding the arrow were released, sending the shaft flying at an impressive speed through the dusty air. A ghoul fell as the metal tip sliced into it's heart, stopping the vital organ. The others did not care, crawling and running and trampling the downed drunk with a frenzy.
24 Jaune listed off as he shot another one. This time in the knee, collapsing it as it suddenly lost the ability to run properly. It too was trampled by its pack mates.
21, 18, 15, 12. One, two, three, four and more ghouls fell as Jaune unloaded arrows into the pack. It was a large collection of ghouls, and not every shot guaranteed a kill. A shame, but an unfortunate inevitability. Eventually they came close enough that Jaune had to put away the bow. He wrapped his hands around one of his many weapons, pulling out a spear. "Ok then, that will have to do." Jaune said, leveling the spear at the crowd.
The head of the shaft dove into the crowd like a hawk into water, dispersing like water. Jaune couldn't help but smile as they shuffled and crowded around. The spear snapped to the side, cutting a bitch in the throat. Jaune turned to avoid a ghoul, clothes lining the charging drunk on his spear shaft.
We are surrounded! B pointed out, raising his stool like it was some kind of weapon. A broke into a wide smile.
Good! He cried out with excitement that was barely contained. We may attack on all sides! Jaune! The figment commanded. Jaune pulled a knife, stabbing the drunk in the back of his ribs. At least Jaune assumed they were male. They were to far removed from human to be able to assume any kind of gender, so he just assumed. Why not? It's not like they cared.
Yes? Jaune thought back, wretching the dagger out of the dying corspe.
Attack on all fronts! He yelled out. Jaune gave a mental sigh at that, but he smiled all the same.
"As you wish." he said, pooling a collection of magical energy in his hand. Shaping it, molding it. He heated it and spun it like glass, collecting it into a ball.
Jaune spun, tossing the pooled orb of superheated energy down at the ground like he had just made a touchdown. The orb exploded in a burst of flame, turning the ash to sand and flesh to ash. It licked along the ground and reached the edge of the walls on the opposite side of the road. The intense heat causes him to sweat and the remaining, uncharred ghouls to scatter away. Jaune lunged forward in the flaming confusion, impailing another ghoul. There was a growling from behind him. Jaune blindly thrust the butt of the spear backwards. He felt it connect with something. Jaune turned his head to see what he had hit.
The end of his shaft was buried deep into the gut of a ghoul.
Ewwww. A cringed at the phrasing. That's just nasty man.
Jaune was thoroughly unimpressed at A's smut oriented mind. You knew exactly what I ment. The ranger sighed as he slammed the back of the spear into the ghoul, this time smacking it in the face. Jaune took the opportunity provided to deliver a devastating overhead arc, swinging the spear in a full half circle that drove the blade into the creatures skull. Jaune looked around, taking count of his foes.
Good, there were still plenty left. Jaune turned, dragging his spear. The movement was met with an exceptional amount of resistance. Jaune turned, confused as to what had gotten a grasp on his spear.
The blade of the spear was firmly stuck within the skull of the drunken ghoul. Jaune gave it another yank. The corpse made a dancing jolt as it was yanked forward. Jaune closed his eyes and sighed.
"Great." He groaned in exasperation. "Well? Come on then." the ranger goaded. "We don't have all day." The crowd seemed to look at eachother, and back to jaune. Jaune waited, one hand still on the shaft of his spear. The ghouls decided to shamble forward, that the promise of prey outweighed the danger that prey presented. Jaune waited, letting them approach. Once one of them had gotten within jaunes limited distance, he instantly stepped back and yanked his spear forward, striking the ghoul in it's armored breastplate.
You see, All that time getting his ass handed to him by Cardin was not wasted. Jaune learned several things, including one crucial fact: Getting hit with sticks fucking hurt. It didn't matter what you were wearing, you were feeling that stick.
And that ghoul felt that stick. It stumbled back, stunned as the wind was knocked out of it's decrypt ribcage. Jaune lunged forward with a knife in hand. The knife was slammed right inbetween the creatures eyes, just below the bridge of their nose. It gurgled as it hopelessly groped the air for it's prey.
But it's prey had moved on, turning to its next opponent. Jaune ducked under a slash with the overgrown, mutilated and mutated claws they all seemed to share. He pushed the spear shaft, bonking the nearest one in the head. Grabbing his knife from the collapsing dead thing, He slashed at the creature, ripping the throat out and sending it to the ground with a splattering. Jaune turned around, throwing the knife into the knee of an approaching ghoul. It struck true, sending the creature careening forward, toppling down as it's leg failed them. Jaune lunged, bringing his knee forward. It met the creature's face with a sickening, wet crunching sound. It crumpled to the ground as it's forward momentum was stopped. It's face was indented in a twisted way from Jaune's knee.
Jaune did not have the time to take note, forcing to move behind his wooden stick in defence. He kept a charging ghoul at arm's bay, letting it push fruitlessly against the spear shaft. Jaune grabbed the slathering thing by the face. He closed his eyes and called forth the image of the Doctor, clad in bloodied white and a plague doctors mask. His hand began to expel a black masma, burning and decomposing the alcoholic flesh into a black plagued sloshing sludge. It groaned, the sound falling apart with it's vocal cords. It's jaw started to fall out of it's head, slowly like it was being held up by tar.
Jaune turned to punch another one that dared approach him. His fist connected into its gut, the force of the impact shaking the spear free of it's freshly prison. Jaune whipped the spear around, bringing the point to just below his armpit.
The spear broke out of the back of the final foul thing, it's blood bursting against the ashen brick wall, bringing some color to the world.
Jaune looked around, breathing heavily and looking for his next foe. His smile fell when he found that he was surrounded by only corpses and ash. He let out a breath, calming his breath into a slowed resting rate.
"Well, that was fun." Jaune admitted as he cleaned off his spear. "But back to looking."
It took Jaune far, far too long to find a portal door that worked. Jaune opened it, seeing that it opened not to a grey brick wall or more of the endless city, but to a snowy plane. It was a world painted white, from a small townscape that had fallen to ruin. Jaune stepped through the portal, letting the sudden chill nip at him. He shivered, drawing his cloak around him. He looked around, seeing the townscape was actually not a townscape, but what was once a rather large superstructure, like an apartment building. Jaune looked beyond the wall of the structure to see a mountain valley in the distance, the stone doors of some great keep peeking out from the light misting of snow, faded by the distance.
Jaune turned around to see if there were any other major land marks within eyesight. There was nothing that his human eyes could see. With a rustling, Jaune drew his map once more and zoomed all the way out.
He appeared to be about a dozen leagues to the north, and only a couple leagues to the west. His eyebrows raised in a mild surprise at the sudden change in distance. He could feel it, considering how much colder this place was. Jaune sighed, marching forward through the snow. It was deep, reaching up to just past his knee. It was frigid, chilling Jaune to his bones. He could feel it, the frost gnawing, biting, breaking and snipping into his flesh. Jaune felt like turning back to the warmth of the eternal city, or the farmstead. But he could not. His course was set, decided, unchangeable, unwavering. He marched, the plow of his path etching into the face of the snow painted earth.
After the third mile, the winds picked up. They slashed and ripped at the ranger, like wolves. The dared him to continue, to freeze. They cut him at his limbs, the ice clinging to his metal.
And in defiance, he marched onwards. The wind, for all their power, all their glory, all their raw primal might, could not stop his relentless pace.
At five miles, the snow had piled up to his mid thigh. The wall had come to face him, a surface of endless ice and snow. A weight upon exhaustion, a shackle that dared to slow him. The ice upon him started to grow thick, turning him to the cold. The path behind him had disappeared, covered by the relentless snow.
But yet he marched.
By the seventh mile, jaune could not feel his legs. He saw them move, saw them push the snow, but he could not feel them. He had lost the feeling in his hands long ago, and the snot that had fallen from his nose had frozen, like a winter river. He was faltering. Stumbling. Jaune tripped on his own foot, tumbling to the snow. The bitter cold of the snow enveloped him, like a crushing embrace. Jaune looked up, the effort to raise his head alone a struggle. He shook as his gaze faded and refocused, the Doors he strived for seemed no closer. His hand reached out, shaking and faltering from the cold. The wind laughed at him, shrieking and reeling with their mirth at his failure. The winds were white, like snow and blue eyes.
This was not the first time jaune had fallen into the snow. And it would not be the last.
Do not give up! A yelled, his voice deep and graveled, like some war hero in a classical film. You will not fail if it is worth it! The words felt warm, like the distant blazes of a world burning. They were full of fire. Rage. The warmth one found in dragons and war. .
B reached down, his hand on Jaunes shoulder. Come. There is still further that we must go. Stand back up. We will never be defeated. He said. His words were a different kind of warm. Soft, kind, like a candle or what one might find in the fire place. It was a peaceful warmth, calm and controlled.
They were right. Jaune could not fall, could not falter.
Jaune pressed a fist to the ground, raising up to his knees. The wind's laughter turned to silence. From his knees he rose, coming to a shaky stand.
The winds howled, shrieking with anguish and rage. The sky redoubled its efforts, turning a storm into a blizzard. Jaune's left leg moved, the crunch of the snow under his foot a satisfying pyrrhic victory. Those blue eyes turned to slits, glaring at the speck of grey in the white world.
Jaune could barely feel the beating of his heart at this point, and his shakes were violent and powerful.
And yet he marched.
Time lost all meaning as he stumbled and forced his way through the valley. The world raged, howling in desperation as the ranger marched. Jaune felt, oddly enough, almost warm as his legs pumped tirelessly. For how could they be tired if they had no feeling at all? The ice bit at him, sapping him of his strength. He fell more times than he could count, even if he could have been bothered to do so in the first place.
And yet he rose.
And yet he marched.
And after a time that he doubted even the gods could comprehend, he reached it. The walls stood, as unwavering as the weary and beaten traveller that stood before them.
Beaten, but not broken. All the wrath that this world could have thrown at him, all it's anger, all it's frosty hate, all of it. All of it could not break him. Jaune wearily raised his drooping head to look at the massive doors, raising up to touch the grim sky above. Jaune collapsed against the stone, his hands propping him up, preventing him from falling face first into the snow. The doors silently began to move, as quiet as though they floated on the air instead of resting on the ice. Jaune stumbled forward, tripping at the sudden change in the wall stability.
The halls under the mountain were objectively massive. The stone crevice, carved in straight angles and lines, seemed to go on forever. Staircases, numbering some thousands of flights, delved deeper and deeper into the rock. Jaune stumbled forward out of the snow and wind. The massive doors started to swing shut, only indicated by their movement. Jaune watched them slide closed, perfectly aligned with each other. Jaune let out an exhausted kind of laugh, the air turning to mist in the cold stone kingdom.
Jaune lay there for a moment, regaining his breath. Well. he thought out loud, the voice echoing in his mind. That was something else.
A shuddered, rubbing his arms together in a futile hope of making some warmth. Yeah, that's great. We survived, hurray. Now can we please get a fire going? I'm freezing in here. He pleaded. Jaune nodded, cupping his hands together. He gently blew into them, letting the energy spill into the breath. The breath turned to flame. It was a small thing, no larger than a candle that he held in his hands. What megar warmth it provided seemed worth more than all the lien in the world at the moment. Jaune hunched over his pathetic flame, covering as much of it's warmth as he could. Jaune didn't know how long he sat there on the cold stone floor, regaining what heat he could.
Holding flames like this was hard for some reason. Bringing energy into the world, of any kind, was easy. Changing the world around him was easy.
But sustaining a flame? That seemed to be a draining task for whatever reason. The flame started to dwindle, sputtering and flickering into darkness.
"No, no no no." Jaune whispered, gently blowing into the flame, trying to resuscitate the dying magic. But it was no use, as the flame finally died with a small puff. Jaune let out a long, sad sigh. He felt like crying, from the exhaustion or the desperation or something else. But the world didn't stop. Not for him.
Jaune rose to his feet, ready as he would be to explore the underground area. He descended down the main stairs, his shoes clacking against the stone stairs. They echoed in the damp underdark, ringing forever deeper and deeper into the stonework.
Jaune looked around, not being able to see anything in the dark. "Starless nights plagues the land, hand in hand as devils roam. Starless nights ruled the sky, for fourteen days and fourteen nights." He said, his hand slowly undulating as thin lines of light came into existence.
"Kamora looked up upon the sky, and saw that the demons freely fly. He pleaded Elith, His sister self. And she took some sunlight, stored it in a bottle. She dripped that light into the darkened sky, pooling flecks of sunlight into the dark sky." jaune whispered, the mote of light fully formed in his hand. He tossed the triangle up. Letting it spin in the air, he watched it hypnotically slow down in mid air until an almost stand still, hoving a couple inches above his shoulder.
It emitted a bright light as it lazily spun there, like a particularly powerful night light.
Jaune continued to walk down the steps of this place, paying mind to the geometric architecture. It was different from the Eternal City, which seemed much more appreciative of the concept of curves in their buildings. Jaune heard something at the bottom, that sounded a little like shouting? Jaune slowed his approach, heading down with caution.
The sound of deep slavic yelling, one that roared like thunder and cannon fire. Jaune saw a room ahead of him, glowing brightly with torch light. Jaune walked cautiously, drawing a long sword just in case. The yelling died into almost silence. Jaune entered the room cautiously, looking around for any traps or hidden foes.
Jaune entered a domed room, it's walls draped with ratty purple and silver wall tapestries. A circular language stitched into them. The room was littered with armored corpses of various humanoid things. In the center, hunched over what appeared to be a totem of some kind. He was muttering something, something that sounded like mournful apologies and soft stories. He wore a strangely futuristic armor, it's silver luster having faded some time ago. A purple- wait, was that a loincloth? Yes, that was a loincloth. The purple accents were rather nice, actually. Jaune looked at the hunched man, daring to approach closer. His helmet had a metal plume on it, one that reminded him of the Minstral Roman empire from some hundred years ago. His armbands were spiked, as were his pauldrons. But they were worn with age, filed down to really little more than nubs.
Apparently Jaune's presence had alerted him, as the murmuring stopped and the purple armored man stood up and turned.
"Guardian!" The purple man, who stood at a shockingly tall hight for a man, cried out. The thick slavic accent was almost as strong as the shout of his voice. "WELCOME!" He gestured with glee. "To the Trials!"
Jaune's eyes widened in confusion. "The trials of what?" He dared to ask, only to met with the booming slavic laugh of the titanous man.
"And as there is no one left, I will be your opponent!" He called out with a jovial thunder, a holographic looking purple shield manifesting in his hand.
Ah, fuck. B sighed, putting his newspaper down. You'll need me for this, won't you?
Jaune mentally sighed. I was at least hoping that this one was reasonable. He groaned out as he raised his sword infront of him.
"You want to dance?" the dreamer asked wearily as he assumed his stance. "Let's dance"
The purple knight exploded into action. The hard light shield was thrown at the blonde, like a very deadly frisbee. Jaune dipped under it, bending at the waist to avoid the disk. Once the shield had flown over him and no longer blocked his vision, Jaune saw something concerning. Namely the titan standing above him, his fist raised to strike him down.
This is going to-
The fist slammed down into his gut, smashing him into the ground.
Hurt… Jaune finished his thought after he had been folded into the floor. The titan summoned another holographic shield, raising it up to strike down into his blonde challenger. Jaune rolled out of the way, quickly settling on his feet. The dreamer thrust forward with his blade, hoping to take some form of control of the battle. The titan raised his shield, letting the sword bounce off of the magic light disk. Jaune brought the blade around to a side swipe, trying to get past the impeccable defense. The titan just batted it away, and returned in kind. The shield swipe knocked Jaune's hastily positioned defensive sword away. The titan's fist dove into jaunes stomach, collapsing the organ under the impressive blow. Jaune's eyes buldged out as he felt what stomach acid he had force itself up. It was tinted red.
But Jaune really didn't have time to worry about that. He ducked down, narrowly escaping certain death as the purple shield flew over his head. Jaune twisted his long sword, sending it snapping into his opponents armpit. The titan felt the impact, even if he did not seem to feel the blade. The response was to give a wide swinging punch at the swordsman. Jaune quickly brought his sword up, his hand grasping the middle of the blade to act as a brace. The fist met the steel, ringing out like a craterious impact. Jaune let the force of the impact send him spinning, as he let his grip shift into a Mourdau handle. Both hands of the blade, using the hilt of the weapon as the impact point. The metal crossguard met squarely with the titan's temple, rocking him to the ground. He crumpled to his knee and fist for a moment.
And a moment was all Jaune needed.
Reversing his momentum, he made a golfers swing with his sword, striking the downed warrior in the crux between his chest and his shoulder. The blow sent the purple and steel argonaut rolling onto his back and to the ground.
The unstoppable titan quickly rose again with a triumphant yell. "VERY GOOD, GUARDIAN! SHOW ME MORE!"
Jaune rolled his eyes with exaustion. The titan lunged, tackling jaune in a powerful shoulder charge. Jaune let his body collapse and dissolve as he made contact with his powerful foe. He felt his torso fall apart into shards of rock, and let the feeling overtake him. The titan stumbled as he made contact with his foe, only for the dreamer to dissolve into thin air.
Jaune apperated behind, spinning around with an orb of frosty power in his hand. "-and the snow falls, like sharp feathers of the wayward crow." He muttered, launching the frostbolt at the silver warrior. This was the toughest enemy Jaune had dared to face yet, if the constant burning in his gut was anything to go by. The bolt of magic might as well have been a snowball as it shattered against the steel armor. The titan turned.
"A fantastic trick, Guardian!" He yelled with an inappropriate amount of enthusiasm for someone who was kicking Jaune's ass. He charged again, causing Jaune to instinctively throw a blast of ice energy at the floor. From it erupted a pillar of ice, creating a temporary fortification for Jaune to hide behind. In the precious few scant moments of time, Jaune downed a bottle of alcohol. The burning booze distracted him from the burning in his gut. Whatever other benefit it had Jaune was distracted from as the unstoppable monster made contact, and broke through the ice wall. Jaune saw the steel clad fist break though the pillar, snapping it in half. Jaune swung through the gap, striking at the titan in his blindness. Juane landed the strike on his knee, collapsing from the effort he had extrained. He had taken more damage than he thought.
And somehow he was thinking faster. The world was darker, but more vibrant. The grey was fading and the ash faltering. Jaune saw a purple wrapped fist approaching him, his vulnerable position putting him in danger. Jaune found words falling from his lips. "Split me in two, another time, let it face reality and shatter." A shadow lept from Jaune's prone position, lunging at the titan. He reeled back, swatting at the illusionary fraction of time space, a different decision ruined by reality already dictated. Jaune scurried away, chugging another swallow of booze. Turning, he saw that his opponent had mustered another shield.
Dragon fire. You need to cast Dragon fire. You need to cast it now. A said with urgency. Jaune nodded, welling the pyromancy in his gut, letting it spill up through his throat and into his mouth. With a mighty roar, the flames spilled from his mouth in a great stream. Like a river the glowing masma, dissipating into flames rushed towards the purple foe. Jaune let the flames end after a few seconds, his energy spent. He huffed, catching his breath. His mouth felt hot, dry like he had just swallowed a plate of hot sand.
Jaune looked up at his foe, hoping to see a pile of dust. He was met with a flicking purple dome. Inside the titan stood, arms outstretched in a wide stance.
You have to be fucking kidding me. Jaune mentally groaned as he readied the blade again. He didn't have the magic left in him to do much else.
B looked at the dome. Welp, we're fucked. He admitted. Do you think he will chase us if we run?
Jaune shrugged as he watched the titan charge at him again. Jaune dipped to the side, dodging the first fist, embalmed with that purple shield. He missed seeing the follow up fist which slammed into his ribs. He gasped as the wind was knocked out of him and his ribs broke into splinters. The cross to the face was more devastating. It sent Jaune spinning in place, blinking out the black dots that swam in his vision. He felt his collar being grabbed by the purple titan. He had just regained enough of his consciousness to see his foe's head rearing back.
Oh shit. Jaune thought as he braced for impact. The headbut was devastating. He felt his skull crack from the blow as the metal plume proved that it was not just for show. His face felt wet and slick, and the smell of iron flooded his nose. Jaune registered that he was thrown.
"COME GUARDIAN! SHOW ME THE MEANING OF STRENGTH!" His foe yelled as Jaune struggled from the ground, forcing himself to make it to his feet. His sword was dropped, behind the towering titan. Jaune looked back up to his foe, who was in front of him in a shield forward charge. It impacted with the ranger in center mass, sending him flying. He crashed against the stairs he had foolishly descended, bouncing up a few from the force of his back hitting the hard stone. Jaune felt another mouthful of blood fly out of his mouth as he landed, heaving for breath. A shadow fell over him. Jaune looked up, bleary eyed and half his face covered in blood. The purple titan was descending upon him, shield raised up to turn him into minced smush. Jaune raised his hands to meet the descending guillotine. The purple shield clashed with his gauntlet gloves, sending sparks of void energy from the grinding objects. Jaune struggled, pushing against the immense power behind the disk. He could feel his arms giving out, failing him. Jaune let go with his left hand, balling it into a fist. He swung, giving a straight jab into the titan's helmeted face.
His hand flared up in pain as it made hard contact with the solid metal. He reeled his hand back, giving it a fierce shake as though he could physically work the pain out. The steel and purple titan looked down at him in, what jaune assumed to be, rage. It was hard to tell with the helmet. With a mighty shove, Jaune was swept off the ledge by the titan. His hands gripped at the stone stairs, managing to stop his slide to a disastrous fall. He held himself at shoulder level, a hand outstretched. His gauntlet had left groves in the stone almost an inch long.
The dangling ranger looked up at his foe, who towered above him. His boot reared back, and slammed into Jaunes face. The steel foot impacted with the side of jaune's face that had already been broken in, probably sending shards of bone directly into the rangers brain. He flew back, just barely managing to hang onto the stonework stairs by the tips of his fingers. With a heaving grunt, jaune thrust his other arm up, just managing to grasp the stairs with both sets of fingers. He dangled precariously above the dark chasm of the depths of the mountain. He looked up, panic in his eyes as his foe raised his shield.
It slammed down, crunching into his hands. Jaune screamed.
The sound was a horrible sound, a wailing of the soul expelled from it's body. A shriek of a ghost. It echoed in the mountains, reverberating a power that would make gods shudder in fright. It felt like someone was trying to chop of his fingers with brute force alone.
The shield slammed down a second time, extracting another horrid yell. Jaune looked up at his hands through tears. He could make out hairline cracks forming in the stone that he grasped. He felt some liquid, most likely blood, spill form his mouth and into the abyss below him.
The shield fell once more, the cracks widened. If jaune screamed, he couldn't hear it. His hands felt like shattered glass, and his head felt fuzzy, like cotton. Still painful, but fuzzy. The third blow send even larger cracks into the stone. Bits of rock at the bottom chipped off, falling on Jaune's face in almost a taunting manner.
The fourth blow broke the stone. Jaune felt it slide off the rest of the stair case, and fall into the void. And it took jaune with him. Jaune looked up, watching that titan shrink ever smaller as he fell.
But he did not fall fast enough to miss his parting words.
"Victory feels good, my friend. But this victory is not for you."
Smug bastard. A spat as the wind in Jaunes ears overtook all other sound.
The sudden impact on his side was surprising. It should not have been that he had fallen into a wall, but it stunned the dreaming man. He ricocheted to the left, colliding equally harshly face first into another stone wall. He bounced in the canyon between the two walls, heading for the right side. Shaking himself out of his stupor, jaune reached out. He impacted the wall, but grasped tightly against the stone. It was futile as he began to slide and grind against the stone, his metal gloves making a horrible screeching sound against the stone. They wore away, spitting sparks as the stone wore them away. Steel was replaced with skin, which was quickly replaced with flesh. Jaune gasped as he felt his fingers be ripped away by the harsh rock. But he slowed, so firmer he grasped. He gritted his teeth and bore the burden, bore the pain. Eventually his ripped and torn hands collided into an outcropping. Jaune gripped it for dear life, taking the moment to catch his shaky wheezing breath. It was so dark, it was oppressive. Suffocating, making it hard to see, hard to breathe, hard to even think.
Jaune's breath started to quicken as the shadows ate at his eyes, the blood on his face stinging and burning.
Jaune knew what he had to do. He must survive.
We can make it though this. WE must Survive. A demanded, the command turning jaune's resolve to steel. "S-starless nights plagues the land, hand in hand as devils roam. Starless nights ruled the sky, for fourteen days and fourteen nights." Jaune wheezed out, coughing as another clot of blood spilled from his mouth. It had started to flow from his jaws like drool, or wine. Wine was probably more accurate, considering they were almost the same shade.
"Kamora looked up upon the sky, and saw that the demons freely fly. He pleaded Elith, His sister self. And she took some sunlight, stored it in a bottle. She dripped that light into the darkened sky, pooling flecks of sunlight into the dark sky." he choked out, the words tumbling out and rolling over the red wine that poured from him. They came out chunked and ripped, his voice failing as it fought against the wine that he coughed up to prevent falling in his lungs.
The blood that touched the words turned to starlight, pooling and spinning into another mote of light. The darkness retreated, giving jaune enough of a space, enough of a bubble that he could breath.
Inventory check: Jaune thought, trying to get a sense as to how injured he was. My head doesn't feel so good… he started, as as if he was reviewing for a test he had learned long time ago, or was looking over a school picturebook from many ages past, information returned to him.
The ribs on your left side are broken, and your left lung has a minor puncture. You have a severe concussion, and much of your left brain has shards of bone in it. In particular your frontal lobes and partarial lobes on your right side are damaged. Your stomach has a puncture, but the health booze has healed it to a less than concerning state. Your fingers are broken, and your finger tips have been sanded off. You have also burst part of your inner ear on your left side.
The autopy report read off in Jaunes brain, like someone had just faxed it to him, but also as though he just knew the symptoms of those injuries. If jaune had been paying any attention, he would have noticed that a faint holographic like shimmer of illusion flickered on his face, taking the form of a plagues mask.
But Jaune was more worried about other things. Right. So, first things first. Find a tomb stone, and get out of here. The blonde prioritized.
B shook his head. Nope. he said flatly.
Jaune raised an eyebrow. Nope? Why Nope?
We need to get down first, genius. A commented with an amount of kind sarcasm. Jaune nodded, right.
One foot after the other. Slow and steady.
And it was slow indeed. The descent was tedious and painful, as jaune's main climbing instruments, his hands, were fractured to an extent that would make the most hardened of doctors faint. It felt like a millennium as Jaune descended deeper into the dark, his only companion outside of his head being a silent glowing mote of light. But he made it to the bottom. He let out a reverent gasp of relief once his feet his solid footing. The blonde looked to the left and to the right, seeing that the canyon seemed to stretch into darkness on both sides. Jaune with an exhausted and injured stumble shifted to the right. He weakly grasped at his pouch, pulling out a clay bottle of what was once beer. He chugged it greedily, swallowing the alcohol in equal amounts as his own blood. He never thirsted, never hungered. But now he drank deep drafts like a man on the brink of death.
Which he was, but not because of thirst. He tossed the empty bottle aside as he felt the booze work it's magic. The wound in his head started to knit as the crevice slowly filled. The bleeding sinking feeling in his left lung started to fade into warmth.
He took out another bottle and chugged that as well. He was on his third before he saw his goal. The entrance of a mineshaft, at its doorstep a single tombstone. Jaune almost fell to his knees at that point, but instead made a mad shambling dash for the structure. He collapsed at it, his knees hitting the hard stone in front of the grave. He cried tears of relief, feeling blessed that he could finally escape this horrible place, this horrible dream.
If only for a moment, he could be free.
He bowed, resting his healing head on the headstone, and closed his eyes.
Oh my god this was hard to write. Forntunently I'm on break right now, but my god. Another longer chapter for you guys. This origionally was going to have a team ARBN scene at the end, but it already was about 20 pages at this point. the average chapter for this story is ten pages.
man, jaune really went through the ringer this time around, huh? And, new location! jaune is no longer stuck in the Eternal city or the Farmscape, but is now stuck really deep in my obligatory Dwarf Mines Biome TM! I actually have a lot, and i mean a lot planned for this place. And i told you guys you would get a fight! see? i make good on my promises.
An important note, as there seems to be a lot of confusion: This is not the Hunters Dream from Bloodborne. This is not the nexus from Demon Souls. The Dream is a unique place that is based on them. So, not the same universe, just has some strong themes from those games.
On another note, Bolin's character makes me very sad. This is because I have a very complicated, and i think really well thought out, reason behind Bolin's actions that makes a lot of sense and I think his character is very interesting. however, i don't have the space in this story to dedicate to exploring his character to explain all of that. Which makes me sad.
Anyway, that's the end of my notes this chapter. As always, leave a comment. Your head cannons for this fic, scenes you would like to see, character traits or arcs that you think should exist/ would be cool in this story, constructive criticism and theories are always apricated. i measure this story's success by the amount of reviews it gets and their contents, and it just is such a rush of endorphins to see that review number tick up.
Speaking of which, we make it to 100 reviews and 59000 views! Cool! although, i did think it was very on brand that this story's monumental milestone, 100th review, was made by a dude named Fatboi69, which comprised mostly of the word "Sheeesh". Very on brand for this website.
a special shout out to NyaNyaKittyFace and TangoMike for practically holding this fic's fandom on their shoulders.
anyway, i'm signing off. I'll see you all in a couple days to a week. happy holidays, and merry belated christmas.