“A tyrant? You don’t know anything brat! What gives you the right to call Master Urteos a tyrant? He was an awakened being, the most powerful Son of Tenebreis.”
“If he was so powerful why was he killed?” I retort.
His eyes widen. “You read the book.”
“So what if I did?” I shrug. Applying pressure on Moe’s hand, I give her a silent signal.
In three…two…one…
I hoist her in my arms and turn to run towards the back of the cave. Knowing I’m nothing compared to an ancient immortal, I quickly think of something to delay him from pursuing us.
On my way, I grab the container with the embryo and I throw it to the ground with as much force as I can muster.
Due to its volatile energy, when the embryo shatters, an explosion erupts behind us, allowing us enough time to gain ground.
I run at full speed, though within moments I can hear the male behind us. Just then, I spot a stream of subterranean water.
“Hold your breath!” I tell Moe.
She nods, wrapping her arms around my neck as I jump into the water.
Just as I prepare for cold, wet waves, they never come.
One moment we’re about to dive in; the next we’re on dry land, nowhere near the cave, or the Gaigo Mountains, or Horan Forest.
“Welcome to Aimaxion! Bleed well or bleed to your death.”
37
“Welcome to Aimaxion! Bleed well or bleed to your death.”
The greeting seemingly comes from the vastness of the sky.
I raise my head, my eyes widening in shock. This sky isdifferent.
It stretches endlessly above us, a deep, suffocating crimson that seeps into everything beneath it.
There are no moons, no source of light—just a dull, constant glow, as if the sky itself is bleeding out and has been for a very long time.
It doesn’t flicker. It doesn’t move. It simply exists, exuding a suffocating pressure the longer I look at it.
I force my gaze away.
The ground beneath our feet is no better. What should be solid, feels fractured and unstable. Gone is the mountain from before. Gone are any traces of forest.
Instead, all we see is an endlessness of barren soil.
Veins of black cut through pale surfaces, and in the distance, the terrain shifts into something darker, as if consumed by shadows.
Ruins stretch out in every direction, broken columns and half-collapsed structures rising from the ground like the remains of a destroyed civilization.
Something is off about this place.
No wind brushes against my skin. The air is thick and unmoving. Even our steps feel heavy, as if the gravity itself is pulling us harder toward the ground.
I might not have been able to sense energy for long since I cleansed my meridians, but I can immediately tell the difference. Back in that cave, there were particles of energy everywhere I looked. Here… there’s nothing.
We only walk some fifty steps before sounds reach us, sometimes faint, sometimes louder.
