Myth//OS - Chapter 24

A barren wasteland met me on the other side of the rift. No- even that wasn’t quite right. It was nothingness. Pure darkness stretched out i

A barren wasteland met me on the other side of the rift. No- even that wasn’t quite right. It was nothingness. Pure darkness stretched out in all directions around the crackling rift. A world full of darkness, just waiting to be shaped.

Shapes stood from the bleak landscape. Walls lifted themselves and clouds spawned far above. The sky filled with dim light, and a winter gale blew by me. The lifting walls grew textures and details. Slowly but surely, the world filled with color like an artist splashing their painting.

Gone was the emptiness. Now, the depths of a filthy alley surrounded me. Thick snow piled up around the bases of the nearby buildings, ashen with smog. The buildings were entirely different from the gargantuan skyscrapers of Bastion. Stone walls replaced cement, the largest of which only stood at two floors with grandiose arched roofs. 

A howling sandstorm blocked the night’s sky, hiding any hint of time. The only light illuminating the area came from distant flickering lanterns swaying in the wind. The alley, cold and desolate amongst the warmth of the surrounding chimneys and taverns, was a familiar location. An unpleasant one.

Just further down the alley, a frail form huddled in the shadows. Crimson dyed the innocent snow around the despicable figure. Chances were high they’d either bleed out of freeze to death come morning should nothing happen. A tragic, though commonplace, death. At least, it would’ve been.

Clop-clop! Clop-clop!

A carriage stopped at the mouth of the alley. Several blinding  lanterns strapped to the ornate carriage caused the beaten form to shift. The royal seal alongside the side shimmered in the light like a beacon of hope. A small shadow stepped out, fair golden locks hidden under a shawl.

The driver at the front of the carriage called out, “My lady? Why did we stop?”

The shadow looked up, silver eyes meeting my own. I knew the words that would come next. ‘Providence guides me-‘

“Ugh-“ A soft grunt came from the bleeding form, the only noise it could make with a face so swollen and frostbitten. A cry for help? A cry for mercy? Or was it maybe a cry for its miserable existence to end?

The shadow’s expression twisted in disgust at the noise. A fair hand raised, wiping at her nose as her expression wrinkled up. The shadow retreated into the carriage as if chased by the hounds of hell. “Nevermind. Just unwanted trash.”

The carriage left just as quickly as it came. With it? The last of the light shining into the alley. The lantern that illuminated the space sputtered out, blown by howling winds. Shadows flickered before even they too abandoned this place.

“Cute.” I called out to the hunched form sitting in the snow. A rogue wind blew past me, brushing my hood off. My cowlick immediately jumped up. As I stood there, a small mound of snow joined it.

Attempting to turn the best day of my life into yet another haunting memory? This level was child’s play. Even without the warning from strategy guides, the mimic was several hundred years too early. Crushing loneliness had long lost any effect.

As if awakened by my call, the shadowed form lifted itself out of the sullied snowbank. A child, gaunt and frail, staggered against the wall. Her hand, a deep shade of blue, snapped out as she barely caught herself.

 Raven locks wet with snow and blood drifted down her sides, unkempt and uncut. Hideous purple eyes met my own through the darkness, appearing completely empty and hollow like a broken doll.

Old injuries covered the ugly kid, never given time to heal before more were layered on top. Black tar tried to cover the wounds, keeping what little blood she had left inside. That ooze spiked out like the spines of a porcupine, turning her even more monstrous in mere moments.

“Haaaahhhhh!” A broken scream, wild and crazed, tore from her throat. She threw herself at me, injuries not even slowing her for a moment. The abyssal tar skewered out into a dozen sharp tendrils, each aimed at me.

Ebonshroud poured from my own body freely. A sharp spear formed in my hands. Raw ether flowed through me. It flowed down the haft, slightly boosting its resilience. I took a stance to meet her charge. The end result? Either dodge or die.

She chose the former, four tendrils digging into the snow as they threw the kid out of the way. Ebonshroud daggers hailed toward me, thrown by the remaining spines.

My spear melted into fluid, flowing into a shield. I crouched, covering my body fully. Ether channeled up into it, hopefully doing something. The hail of daggers slammed into me, lacking in penetration and force. They fell uselessly to the ground.

I thought this thing was supposed to copy all of my capabilities, yep? Did it only half read my memories? The mimic- it lacked refinement as she staggered back, desecrating even more pure snow with her blood. The dagger hail would’ve been the perfect opportunity to reset and yet she was just barely starting to right herself once more.

Ether condensed in her shoulder. Shoulder Charge? I kicked up snow, blinding her as I struck low. The shield shifted into a mace mid motion, catching her center mass. She flew into the wall, dropping weakly into the snow. The Skill only protected the shoulder. The rest of her? Easy pickings.

I darted toward her, ether flowing down my mace. It condensed in the head of the heavy weapon, glimmering with deadly might. I brought it down in a heavy overhead slake into her face-

A thick helmet appeared, tanking the blow. The Ebonshroud helmet splintered into the snow as the mimic bloodied face appeared once more. I back stepped, reading her micro-movements. It was just slightly too controlled, appearing a tad bit too artificial. My combat senses practically screamed-

Shink!

Deadly tendrils lanced up from below the sand, skewering where I just stood. A tar forest sprouted all around the girl, it’s ‘roots’ hidden beneath the snow. I kicked back several more steps, sliding in the snow slightly as my feet dug deep trenches.

The mimic flung itself at me, the forest breaking down into its liquid state. It clung to her, becoming armor to protect her childish form. A rapier flicked out. It stabbed toward me as ether glimmered menacingly along the blade.

My mace melted into a sword, easily slapping her rapier to the side as Basic Ether Blade took effect. I chained the movement into a pommel slam into her helmet, cracking the ebony metal. Ether cloaked my shoulder as Shoulder Charge followed up the chain, slamming into the cracked metal.

It shattered once more as the mimic dropped. It dizzily clawed at the snow as if to escape. Hatred gleamed in her eyes. Not a trick this time either. Her knock-off Ebonshroud was stuck in liquid state as she struggled to focus.

I took a light breath, recounting the moves so far. One more weapon then? The sword morphed into a heavy two handed axe. With a bit of focus, ether ran down the haft, channeling into the head. The ether pulsed sharply as it formed layer after layer on the axe’s head. 

The axe slammed into her skull, cleaving cleanly in two. Her eyes seemed to hold the weight of the world in her final moments, as if blaming me for all the world’s misfortunes.

In a way, it was technically right. The mimic was formless before I came here, yep? Copying some of my memories and abilities meant it copied my misfortunes too. In a twisted way, I was responsible for it ending up like this. Not that I felt bad. Bastard shouldn’t have dug around in my head.

The scenery melted away like the snow of yesterday. The shapes and colors faded away, revealing a completely blank space once more. Only the mimic and I remained, my axe still buried in its head. I yanked it out, allowing the liquid to flow back up into my arms.

Easy. It may copy my capabilities, but it couldn’t copy everything. What was the point of having the best tool if the mimic didn't know how to use it? It’s why it had to resort to cheap mental attacks to throw the original users off. 

If I rushed, I probably would have talked it down easier. I wanted to see what it could do with Ebonshroudt, though. I’d used teh stuff for a long time, and it helped to get an outsider’s perspective on occasion.

Unfortunately, the Mimic’s application of Ebonshroud was super basic. The tendrils were an idea I scrapped thanks to their poor efficiency. They were effective, but not sustainable. Best used for one brutal ambush rather than holding them out the entire time.

Ether condensed from the surroundings and the rift behind me crackled sharply. 

[Code: RC-0]

[Rift: Open - 14:59]

The ether surged before me as the mimic’s body slowly dissipated. Unfortunately, there was no item this time. D-ranks had a seventy five percent for one, so I was truly just unlucky. Nothing I could do about that.

Although, seeing her again, even if she was just a scornful shadow outline, was rewarding in itself. What I wouldn’t give- no, that was a dangerous spiral. Couldn’t trip back down that flight of stairs again.

As always, after everything was said and done, a fraction of the gathered ether channeled into me.

[Skill: Basic Ether Spear]

[Accept?]

[Skill: Basic Ether Shield]

[Accept?]

[Skill: Basic Ether Mace]

[Accept?]

[Skill: Basic Ether Axe]

[Accept?]

Four Skills, just as I planned. I already had four slots filled, leaving just three left. I’d have to clear out a Skill. It was an easy enough decision. I dropped Shoulder Charge, taking on all seven of the Basic Ether Skills.

[Skills Resonate: Basic Ether Sword - 3, Basic Ether Dagger -1, Basic Ether Bow, Basic Ether Spear, Basic Ether Shield, Basic Ether Mace, Basic Ether Axe]

[Output: Etheric Reinforcement - Reinforce with ether.]

[Merge?]

There were two main ways to make a Skill more powerful. Both were pretty straightforward and simple. The first was Evolution. By using a Skill repeatedly, it gained levels. That was the ‘3’ and ‘1’ next to Ether Sword and Ether Dagger, respectively. If I hit the level cap for either one, which was dependent on the skill, I’d get the option to evolve it into something else.

Then there was Resonation, the other and far trickier method to pull off. Basically, similar Skills could resonate with each other. By consuming the Resonating Skills, it could produce an oftentimes much more powerful Skill.

I accepted the merge, gaining Etheric Reinforcement. The vast majority of Skills I researched since awakening were useless, or things I’d never get the chance to snag. Etheric Reinforcement, though? It was one I could pick up off the bat and fit my style perfectly. I pulled up my new status.

[Aylin Io

Title: [Nyx]

Innate Trait: [Dream Stride], [Ebonshroud], [All-Speech]

Skills: [Etheric Reinforcement], [1/7]

Star: Nighteye - [Guiding Moonlight]

Bound: [Will Wire]]

Back down to just one skill. Six slots needed filling. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what I wanted to go for next, or if I should even focus on getting specific Skills in particular. Part of me wanted to say fuck it and just take whatever Skills I find, getting rid of worse ones as I went. 

Another part of me said I’d hinder my potential if I didn’t focus now. I’d already experienced the pain of reaching the peak, only to find it far too low. It was an experience I’d rather not live through again. 

I could figure it out as I went. Much more, deeper research was required. Maybe I should look into Lotus? They might have a Skill catalog somewhere I could access. Or join a Guild? They’d probably have one. Or do I just skip all of that and enroll in Enforcer training? Throne definitely kept a catalog of every Skill. Hmm…

Maybe I should just-

[Moonlight shines in the distance.]

A gleam came from the darkness beyond the rift. It was a pale silver, seemingly encircling something out across the empty plane. I couldn’t quite make it out from here. What is this? Nighteye? That you?

[Nighteye shakes her head. Probably Guiding Moonlight?]

Hmm… right, there was that secondary function of Guiding Moonlight, yep? What was it? The moon guides to all that gleams? Something was definitely gleaming over there. There was no moon here though. Maybe it was just a metaphorical thing?

Likewise, there was another oddity. What was even here that could gleam? As far as I knew, this rift was a completely blank slate until the mimic stole something from memory. It should just be blank.

I glanced back toward the rift for a moment before stalking off into the distance. I had fifteen minutes until the rift closed anyway, so it wasn’t that big of a problem to go check it out.

The ground got unsteady the further out I got from the rift, as if space itself was destabilizing. If it was ever stable to begin with. It dipped and bobbed underfoot, as if walking across a pulsating mass of darkness. Deeply uncomfortable, yep.

Eventually, I arrived before the lone oddity shining in the darkness. It was a small, tiny crystal laying in the chaos of the space. It stood completely unique against the surrounding areas. Even without any other light sources aside from the rift itself so far away, it shone with an internal radiance.

What is that? I crouched down, picking the fractured crystal up. It fit perfectly into the palm of my hand, radiating a gentle warmth. Or, what would’ve been a gentle warmth. It burned at my flesh, rapidly making it go red similar to Due. How very curious.

I felt the soft sizzle for a few moments before shoving it into my pocket. Nighteye? My faithful contractor? You have any ideas?

[Nighteye suggests it might be a Fragment.]

Yep, yep, that definitely made sense. So it was worth a lot? Fragments… no idea what they actually were, but they were supposed to be an extremely rare rift loot. Any kind of workshop, especially Teotl, supposedly bought them at a high price. Probably an ingredient for gear, if I had to guess. Not too bad of a reward for clearing the rift.

Primo… I looked around the dark space for any other knick knacks laying around. Unfortunately, it seemed the Fragment was the only thing here. And going any further out into the darkness gave me a bad feeling. No telling if whatever made up the ground of this place was even out there.

I wasn’t expecting much in the first place. Given the nature of the monster, there were no ether stones. I really just wanted to get Etheric Reinforcement, so the mission was successful in that regard. The fragment was just a bonus. 

I turned back to the rift. It was about time I got out of here. Besides, now I had two people waiting for me back at home. Three, if you count Kali.