IV-24 Dark (I)

I despise those who dub themselves god after claiming a paltry pittance of power. “God” should mean something more than just being a Pathbearer. Some argue that ascending to Legendary ascends you to a sort of demigodhood. I would retort that some are simple-minded creatures who are easily awed by charlatans conjuring flames and spitting pretty words.

A Legend is not a god. A Legend is merely someone who is capable of affecting the concepts sustaining their Legendary-Tier Skill. As a Legend of Physicality and Theft, I can steal other people’s feat of strength and use it against them. It can do this against almost anyone in existence. Does this make me a god? I would say not. It merely makes me powerful.

Gods are not powerful. Gods are absolute. Gods create new things. Things that are entirely unique—or at the very least, rare.

The Great One is a god. This is beyond debate. Should you have walked the Lowest Paths, you will experience wonders grave and beautiful, and be claimed by them more likely than not. Should you enter the realm of the Challenger, you will experience war like nothing else, struggle like nothing else, bloodshed and carnage like nothing else. Gods possess domains of power above simple skills. These domains are axiomatic. Self-evident truths from which new worlds are born and shaped.

And because of this, there is a gulf between even the gods themselves.

But just because one faces a god does not mean they are doomed. For some gods are less than others, and some gods are but gods in the narrowest of senses. And life is about breadth. Life is about learning, evolving, expanding yourself beyond your limitations.

This, more than anything, is why the gods can be defied—and why unworthy gods should be defied. Why should a Legend kneel before a God of War when he is so easily wounded emotionally by a bladed tongue? Why should a God of Lust command us to betray our virtues when our minds are stalwart and our ideals are true?

Remember this, Pathbearer, for there is a truth before all other truths, an axiom above axioms, and a divine beyond divinity.

The system demands struggle, and to rage against the impossible is the finest form of struggle there is.

-Valor Thann

IV-24

Dark (I)

Shiv eyed the faint glint of Necromancy charging Adam’s arrow and tried to keep himself relaxed. He didn’t know what had Adam this spooked, but he could guess. Probably a damned shapeshifter running around here.

Instead of saying anything, Shiv summoned a swirl of Vitae atop his palm and then blinked out of context for a moment. When he returned, Adam did a double-take, and the notification registering Shiv as the Deathless returned as well. “How’s that? Can fake-me do that too?”

A haggard breath escaped Adam as he let his bow go slack. He marched toward Shiv, and the two Pathbearers following in his wake trailed behind. Both of them had their eyes locked to Shiv, and the Deathless stared back without any hint of fear. The burning guy looked a bit out of it with how the two bright spots he had for eyes kept blinking, but the Chronomancy-quilled goblin had the vibe of a proper killer.

Go for it, Shiv communicated through his flat stare. She was unimpressed. That changed when Shiv drew upon his Shape of Monstrosity and activated his Dread-Tainted Feat. Then, the goblin’s eyes went wide and she vibrated at intense speeds. She caught a glimpse of what he did to Daughter, and when she took a step back, Shiv couldn’t help but offer her a near-feral grin. Yeah. Keep yourself alive. Don’t make me add you to my next delve.

“Young Lord Arrow,” the raven leading Shiv said, trying to intercept Adam. “Please, hold. I wish to know what has happened with—”

Adam walked through the raven as his body briefly turned fluid. Shiv blinked before letting out a laugh. “Shit. Did you evolve your Physicality? Is that why you’re all soggy now?”

“Shut up, you bastard,” Adam said with an exhausted sigh. As he passed through the raven, he released the Hydromancy comprising his body in a burst of moisture. It didn’t splash down around Adam like a waterfall. Instead, it formed a faint shroud around him—became something he could call upon at any moment. 

Shiv was about to ask Adam what kind of Skill Evolution that was when the Gate Lord slammed into his chest and hugged him. Shiv blinked. He was usually the one to initiate these, the rare few times they happened. The mocking smirk on Shiv’s face faded, and in its place came a grin of genuine joy. “Rough day, huh?”

“The godsdamned worst,” Adam replied.

Shiv patted Adam on the back, indifferent to all the eyes on them. He didn’t care. He didn’t care that there were dozens of Legendary-Tier prisoners who knew how much he cared for his friend. He didn’t care that they were still in this miserable shithole of a prison. He didn’t care that the Ascendants were probably right on Adam’s ass, and another ugly fight was coming their way.

The Deathless had found his favorite asshole again, and now, some of the loneliness inside of him winked out like an extinguished candle.

“Shiv. Telepathy.” Adam’s muttered request made Shiv cock his head, but he didn’t hesitate beyond that. He projected his Psychomancy into Adam, and then found himself surprised as time itself seemed to stop. Yet, this wasn’t a feat of Chronomancy by accelerated perception of some kind. More importantly, it was Adam that was doing it.

“Shit, Adam, just how many skills did you evolve?” Shiv asked.

“Four technically,” Adam replied. Shiv could feel the Gate Lord’s skull slowly fill with building strain and heat. The costs to this skill were making themselves known. “This is Commander’s Foresight. It evolved from my Tactical Overseer Skill. It gives me time to think and… Well, I have figured all of it out yet. I wasn’t even sure if you would be included when I pause the world outside my head, but it seems my guess paid off.”

And these were the times that Shiv remembered Adam was a prodigy. “If not for my Path, how would I match up against him?” Shiv wondered.

“Like a sparrow trying to flee a hawk,” Adam suggested.

And then Shiv remembered their minds were linked. “Yeah. Sure thing, little bird. Keep moving your beak.” Shiv made the noise of a chicken, and felt Adam’s annoyance rise. 

For this moment, at least, all was good in the world.

Adam caught Shiv up on everything on what he was missing. As the Gate Lord recounted Blackedge’s escape and his near-death at the hands of the Tarrasque, Shiv shuddered with fear. That shudder became a trembling avalanche of building rage when Adam told him about what Stormhalt had planned to do.

“I’m going to skull-fuck that skill-broken with his own cock,” Shiv said casually.

“As much as I would love to hold him down while you do that, I think we need to finish planning our escape first. Listen, Aviary supposedly has a plan to get us out.”

“Really? What a surprise. I got a plan to get us out too. It’s called putting you and everyone that matters in my cape and slipping past the damned time loop surrounding this place.”

“I considered that, but there are a few problems. The first is the Orichalcum cubes that—”

“Ah, that’s not an issue. I’ll just rip my way through them.”

Shiv felt Adam’s mind churn with confusion and then with disbelief. “You’ll just what?”

“Rip through them. They’re not that hard to punch through. You just need to outpace its climbing Toughness with your Legendary-Tier Physicality and Magical Resistance Skill Fusion.” Shiv hummed thoughtfully. “It’s really not that complicated. If you have the right skill, you know.”

A low growl of jealous agitation and amused disbelief came from Adam. “I regret ever worrying about you absolute shit. Magical Resistance? Physicality? Skill Fusion? That’s just…”

“Bullshit?” Shiv provided.

“Tell me what poor monster you stole this skill from so I can hate you properly?”

“You know about Void Leviathans?” Shiv asked. A pang of absolute disgust came from the Gate Lord. “Oh! You do! Good. It’s from one of their kind.”

“Shiv. Just kill yourself. Kill yourself a thousand times painfully. What was Udraal even thinking when he twisted your soul?’

At the mention of the Udraal’s name, Shiv’s mood darkened. “I don’t know. But if I had to guess, he probably wanted to use me as a weapon against the system itself. Maybe even Integration. I feel like a tumor, Adam. Like, I’m something that shouldn’t exist. The system put a Hidden World Quest on my head. I think that’s a pretty clear sign that it doesn’t want me to exist.”

“Perhaps,” Adam said, sounding less certain than Shiv. “But it hasn’t tried to strike you down directly. You’re still evolving more skills. You’re still getting quest rewards. If that’s the case, then… I can’t tell what the system wants when it comes to you.”

Shiv grunted with displeasure. “Me neither. Alright. Who are the two people you’re with?”

The world had switched to a sort of top-down view that pierced through the ceiling. Even so, Shiv remembered the goblin and Pyromancer that accompanied Adam.

“The goblin is called Gone and the burning one is Candles. I managed to gain their aid and trust while I was escaping myself. They’re reliable, for now.”

“They made eyes at me earlier. Managed to get the goblin to look away.”

Adam sighed. “I warned her against that. What about you? You seem to have recruited a small army.”

“Yeah, well, they’re not mine. It’s more like they’re a group of enemies I managed to talk into uncertain allies instead. Had to beat the shit out of the Chronomancer elf first, though.”

“Chronomancer elf? The one standing near you?”

“Yeah. That’s Kura. The other few you should know about are Five. He’s the wolf-guy. Also an Aviary agent.”

“What? Just how many bloody agents do they have in this place.”

“Knowing that answer might make me go Berserk and break something or someone,” Shiv said. “And the guy who’s half-man, half-automaton is Rebis. He’s supposed to be a future avatar for one of the Ascendants, so he’s not doing that well either.”

“And who’s the Vulteg?” Adam asked.

Shiv paused and winced. “That… is High Marshal Urri. Of Vulketh. Shit. He’s, uh, he’s probably going to make a go at you soon. I can’t believe I forgot about his ass.”

“Oh, good. See, Shiv. The system wants me dead, too. What solidary I feel right now.”

“Yeah. Us against the entire world, huh?’

Adam didn’t reply to that with his usual vim. Instead, a faint hint of the depressiveness boiling inside him spilled over. A headache was beginning to build in Shiv’s skull as well.

“Seems this skill allows for cognitive strain to be shared when there’s a telepathic connection. Good to know.” Adam sighed.

“You alright?” Shiv should have asked this question earlier, but he had a feeling he knew the answer.

“Not really,” Adam replied. “Everything I believed in was a lie, Shiv. The Ascendants. The Auroral Council. All of it. All my life, I’ve dreamed of serving the Republic, of being a champion of its people and guarding them from harm. I never thought the harm was hiding within the Republic, though. Within and at the top.”

Shiv nearly spat something thoughtlessly reassuring when his Psycho-Cartography stopped him.

Psycho-Cartography: Shut up. Don’t spit out the first words that come to your mind. Adam wants you to listen right now. You might have never cared much about the Republic thanks to Roland, but Adam loves Yellowstone. Adam believed in the Ascendants. Adam would have died for them. Now, he’s here, and he’s willing to die for you in this miserable dungeon. Just listen first. You cannot fix a broken heart. You know this.

“I’m sorry, man,” Shiv said. “I know I—It’s not the same for me, but I know it mattered a lot to you. I’m sorry our gods are bastards.”

Adam hummed listlessly. “Indeed. I think I am sorry as well.” It was only then that Shiv felt the sheer amount of stress and trauma Adam was holding at bay. “I’m… I’m tired, Shiv. I really am.”

“I know. I’m tired of a lot of this shit too. I guess all I can say is that we can be tired together? I don’t know.”

The Gate Lord laughed. “I wish I had your constitution right now?”

“I wish I had your morals earlier. And your education. We’re probably going to need that soon because Cripple—Oh, shit! This might cheer you up a bit. Cripple might be willing to work with us?”

Surprised bloomed in Adam. It was the heat of hope veiled by a fog of doubt. “Are you certain? Why?”

“Because he helped me survive Daughter’s ambush earlier. I got a way to contact Cripple—or for it to contact me. I’m supposed to call it when I found you or something. It can help us escape too. And yeah, I was paranoid too, but there’s really no point in Cripple betraying me. It could have helped Daughter in the fight earlier. I barely survived her. Both of them would have torn me apart. Anyway, Cripple wants to speak to us and then the Starhawk as well. I think its about as tired as this shit as we are.”

And soon, something was burning inside Adam: A realization that not all of his gods were heartless monsters aside from the Starhawk. “Alright… Alright! So, we have options now. And if everything fails and you can get us out of this prison, Aviary has their own extraction point as well. Something that can help us hide from the eyes of the Ascendants. A piece of pure technology?”

“Pure technology? Like what? Something from the Forbidden Empire?”

“Exactly.”

And now Shiv was beginning to feel excited. Before this point, he was stumbling around blind with vague plans. Now, with Adam back and their knowledge combined, possibilities and options were branching out before Shiv’s very eyes.

A spike of pain cut through both of their rising hopes.

“Shit!” Adam hissed.

Shiv frowned slightly. “Yeah, this skill feels like mana strain without the mana part, doesn’t it?”

“Now that you mentioned that, it does. Bloody migraines.”

“You know, once we find Uva again, she might just be able to keep it from hurting us entirely. Or delaying it for a while by connecting us to even more people. Wait, hell, think of connecting to an entire army like this.”

“I think that’s how the skill was meant to be used, Shiv. Right. So. I say we get all the prisoners in order, escape from this place before the Ascendants or avatars are upon us, try to meet with Cripple, and then move on to getting out of this prison entirely after that.”

“Sounds good to me. Do the telepathy Commander’s Foresight thing when shit goes sideways?”

“Absolutely.”

“Great. See you back here in about an hour.”

“Try five minutes, Shiv,” Adam scoffed. “An hour of peace. When did you get so bloody optimistic?”

“Just trying to imagine a better world where I can spend a few seconds cooking instead of murdering every third person I come across.”

“What a beautiful dream. But I think it’s time to step out from it. My headache’s becoming borderline unbearable, so let’s see if the Vulteg tries to kill me in a moment or not.”

“Better not. For his own sake. Let’s see if I can bullshit him.”

Adam ended his Commander’s Foresight Skill, and time resumed. As soon as Adam pulled away from Shiv, a loud gasp came from behind Shiv. A gasp that came from Urri. “Wait… What did you call him? Adam? Young Lord Arrow?”

Shiv spun on his heels and tried to hide a wince. “Yeah. Uh. Young Lord Adam Arrow. One of the many Young Lord Adam Arrows in the Republic.”

“A very common name,” Adam added, peeking out from beside Shiv. 

The huge Vulteg stared at the two of them as Shiv continued his bullshit spree. “Way too many Adam Arrows. Honestly, his dad was just… just a dumb piece of shit for not choosing another name. Could’ve called him anything. But his dad is just… not a smart man. Hells, I’d even call him kind of a dick.” Something sharp hit the back of Shiv’s head. He ignored it.

Urri’s stare turned into a glare as he studied Adam Arrow some more.

Incoming message from Lord Scorn:

ARROW! YOU FUCK! YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY FROM ME! I CAN FEEL YOUR ASS, NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE! I DON’T CARE IF YOU’RE HIDING UP AN ASCENDANT’S ASSHOLE! I’LL KNOW! MY HATE HAS SPROUTED FREE FROM MY BODY AND GROWN EYES AND NOSES AND EARS TO TASTE YOUR FESTERING MANA SIGNATURE YOU BOW-FUCKING FUCK! AND NOW, YOU’RE GOING TO SUFFER. SLOWLY. SWEETLY. FOR-FUCKING-EVER!

“Oh, hells,” Adam muttered.

“Damn,” Shiv said, trying to maintain a facade of ignorance. “I don’t know who this Lord Scorn guy is, but he really sounds kind of pissed off about one of the many Adams in—”

Urri moved. Shiv intercepted. And a flare of azure light consumed by the tunnel they were in. The huge Vulteg crashed hard against Shiv and stopped dead once more as all the force he exerted was converted into Overflow Tides.

“TREACHEROUS HASLAGH!” Urri screamed in Shiv’s face. He pushed harder. The ground beneath their feet groaned and deformed. Shiv sent all his Shapeless Tides back against Urri–and found his vectors a magnitude stronger than they were at baseline, thanks to Adam’s Unique Skill.

The huge Vulteg let out a frustrated roar as he was driven back. He tried to headbutt Shiv—only for the Deathless to intercept him first. Shiv channeled a burst of Innate Tides through his forehead into Urri’s massive eyeball. The Vulteg let out a snarl as Shiv pinned him against the wall. As the two Legendary-Tier bruisers struggled, Shiv felt his strength climb while a blue flames seared Urri’s very being.

The Vulteg flung himself against Shiv over and again, but however his Physicality Skill functioned, it wasn’t a good match up against Shiv’s Leviathan of the Shapeless Tides boosted by Adam’s Righteous Dawn Prevails.

“Urri,” Shiv growled, activating his Dread-Tainted Feat and channeling it through his Shapeless Tides. “Stop. You don’t want this.” With every vector he directed into the Vulteg’s body, Urri flinched slightly. The shadow of Daughter came into shape at the center of his eye, and he let out a groan of fear. Even so, the High Marshal was made from some stern stuff. His fear chain hardened, but only slightly. Like before, the other Legendary-Tier prisoners were spectating, but there was a new reason this time.

A row of golden shadows stood before them, barring the other prisoners from approaching Shiv or Adam.

The Deathless noted the stern-faced elven Chronomancy from the corner of his eye and noted how Kura was standing guard herself—with one of her arms shape-changed into an extended blade, no less.

Well, she’s taking her oath pretty seriously. Shiv chuckled internally. Who says violence doesn’t get you friends.

“Urri will gouge your feeble eyes and drink your fetid blood,” Urri spat.

“Yeah, I had worse,” Shiv deadpanned. “Look, Urri, we don’t have time for this shit, and there’s a lot that you—”

The Vulteg had no interest in conversation. Instead, his single eye came aglow with a pitch-black light, and Shiv saw the magical attack coming. A wave of Dimensionality struck out at Shiv. A static-black hand exploded free of the Vulteg’s eye and tried to drag Shiv into the High Marshall’s gaze. Shiv’s enhanced Shapeless Tides held the Dimensionality at bay while the two continued their struggle. 

Yet, it wasn’t just Dimensionality that the Vulteg assailed Shiv with, it was also Geomancy. A layer of grain-sized pebbles pressed against Shiv’s flesh. They almost burrowed into his skin before his Shapeless Tides drove them back. Urri writhed, and the wall behind him folded inward. Before he could throw himself backward and escape from Shiv’s grasp, the Deathless inverted his tides and whipped the massive Vulteg over his hip. Free-flowing vectors made it easy for Shiv to control the Vulteg’s center of gravity, and with Urri’s struggles feeding Shiv with more Overflow Tides, he effectively had the large Vulteg at his mercy. He drove the High Marshal against the ground and kept the big bastard there with a grunt of exertion.

“Don’t have time for this shit,” Shiv grunted. He applied tides against the Vulteg’s neck and began strangling Urri. The High Marshal released several snarls of displeasure as he failed to break free from Shiv’s hold. The Deathless brought his Vitaemancy and mana-hydras into the fray as he struck Urri’s Magical Resistance from all sides. And it was here that Shiv discovered just how durable Urri’s Magical Resistance was.

Shiv’s magic broke apart against the Vulteg’s soul like sand. “The hells?” Shiv tried again, but he found himself unable to crystallize any spells against the Vulteg at all. Urri wasn’t just durable against magic, he felt destabilizing. And that’s when Shiv realized the Vulteg was vibrating beneath his carapaced-skin. A loud scream sounded from inside the Vulteg’s body, and Shiv winced. “Inertium bones? Seriously? That’s a Skill Evolution?”

“No,” the Vulteg let out a quiet snarl. “Not Inertium. More than Inertium. Let Urri show you.”

And show Shiv Urri did. The Vulteg flexed, and a rush of nullification traveled out from Urri’s body. Shiv blinked as his current tides scattered like dust claimed by a passing gale. Urri twisted back and flicked an elbow at Shiv’s head. A rush of water intercepted the blow on Shiv’s behalf. It didn’t stop the Vulteg’s strike completely, but it slowed it just enough for Shiv to dive off Urri’s body.

Shiv’s Shapeless Tides returned to normal. He got to his feet the same time Urri did. A crazed look filled the Vulteg’s eye.

“I thought you were a proper warrior, Deathless, but now I see you are a mongrel beast that seeks the company of monsters. Urri will see you punished for trying to stop this quest of justice. Urri will—”

Shiv left context.

Outside Context Problem 94 > 95

The next thing Urri—and anyone else for that matter—knew was Shiv driving his fist right into Urri’s eye. A spray of dark red blood squirted out from the corners of Urri’s eye. The Vulteg’s cry became a shriek as the Icon of the Paindrinker flared over Shiv. The Deathless winced as well as he found himself with a torn elbow. Between his Shapeless Tides and his Inertial Overdrive, the stress afflicting his body was building to a point of collapse.

The inertial sheath coating Shiv’s body thundered with every movement he made, and his Shapeless Tides only fanned those flames higher. He was faster than he had ever been before, but he was also starting to come apart. Instead of juggling three different skills at once, Shiv reverted his personal timeline by three seconds and rendered his injuries a thing of retro-continuity.

He also decided that he was done trying to fight or knock Vulteg out. By this point, Shiv guessed Urri’s Physicality wasn’t Legendary, but his Toughness and Magical Resistance damn sure was. It was like he nullified any physical or magical attack he noticed.

Just a shame he didn’t have a good counter against Shiv leaving context again.

The Deathless seized the Vulteg once more and as he unleashed a surge of vectors into their chest, he sent Urri blasting down the tunnel. The Vulteg struck a wall and tore right on through. Then, he punched past another wall, and a chain of holes were left in his wake. He finally struck something he couldn’t break through after a good five seconds. A resounding crunch followed, and a mess of destruction followed as the structure around them shook.

Shiv turned to the other prisoners and sighed. “Alright. Anyone else wanna start a fight on behalf of a foreign god? Because I’m not taking you out of this prison with me if you do.”

“DEATHLESS! ARROW!” Urri’s voice made the entire structure tremble. “I WILL HAVE YOU! I WILL… Oh, Oh, no… Not the darkness again! Not the dark again! Harlock! Give Urri mercy! I will serve! I was merely—” A bloodcurdling scream sounded from the large Vulteg, and Shiv felt his gut tightened.

“Five, teleportation. Get us out of here.”

“I can’t,” Five said. “Not without access to the right mithril support. One with the correct Dimensionality spells flowing through it.”

“Godsdammit. Alright. We’re getting out the direct way. Everyone with me.”

“Lord Arrow,” the only surviving raven said, sliding beside Adam as Shiv tore through the walls. “What happened to the others? What happened to—”

“Your owl is dead. This place is compromised. The Ascendants—”

“The midnight is coming!” The steam around them whispered. Slowly, a putrid blackness began filling the white vapors. “He’s here… I can’t… Run! Run now! Flee!”

Patches of darkness burst out from the steam like pimples popping off flesh. The darkness began to spill across the ground and crawl upon the walls. Shiv caught a glimpse of more darkness spreading out like branching fingers and his instincts told him coming into contact with that was a bad idea.

“Everyone! Move! Through the walls!” Shiv called out. “Bonk! Rebis! Five! Cape. Now!”

He shifted his Forest of Alloy in position, and was about to call for Adam when the Gate Lord merged with the moisture he was carrying.  “Candles!” Adam called out. “Burn us a path.”

“Where’s my keys?” Candles said. He came alight as if a conflagration contained within his body, and it exploded out in a rush of focused Pyromancy that turned everything before him to slag.

Shiv and Adam shared a nod as they both plunged through the leftmost walls of the tunnel to escape into the crawlspace beyond this cube. The other Legendary prisoners were punching through as well, with all group cohesion lost. However, as Shiv hollowed a new exit into the structure, shredding through the smooth metal impeding his path, he felt a faint heat building inside his bones. A strange prickling sensation tickled his skin, and Shiv wondered if this was some kind of subtle disease skill unleashed by the Ascendants.

This thought was promptly lost to him as he ripped through the final layer of wall and pushed his way out from folds of bending metal. Regret filled Shiv as soon as he did, as a tide of deepest black came crashing toward him from all sides. It was an animated darkness. An active darkness. A living darkness that festered with hunger and ill intent.

“Well. This is convenient.”  A cold voice echoed out from the blackness. “It seems that both of our escapees have found themselves in the same place. How useful. There is no need for me to continue assuming your guise, then.”

“Oh, shit—” Strands of darkness crashed into Shiv. He was flooded with Overflow Tides as a massive tendril of shadow stabbed against his flesh. The blackness pulled at him. Shiv pointed his vectors backward and resisted. More tendrils whipped and lashed at his body from all sides, and Shiv cycled his Shapeless Tides as best he could. The onslaught the Ascendant unleashed against him was physical, mental, spiritual, and Shiv found himself lined with shallow cuts. Each whipping limb of darkness carved small cuts upon his body, slicing through his Voidmantid armor with ease. Needles of pain were driven into his mind, and a building sense of despair and malaise washed through Shiv. Even his soul ached with every blow. In the corner of his eyes, he saw the prisoners burst out—and get driven back by a flood of blackness.

This is your fault. You led them the wrong way. You led them into the jaws of the beast. You never think ahead. You never do the right thing for other people. They always suffer and die when they try to follow you. Still just an Omenborn. Never anything more than just an Omenborn.

Psycho-Cartography: Shiv. Stop thinking. The darkness is laced with negative emotions. Don’t think. Just react.

But— Shiv wanted to argue against his skill, wanted to say that he deserved this. Yet, that thought was a step too far for him. Shiv had known hunger, cold, loneliness, discomfort, and all manner of misery. But he had never gone against himself. Whatever he faced, he was his own pillar. He had to be, because there was no one else for him.

For him to use his own voice to abuse himself was unnatural, no matter the feeling. And so he turned away from the feeling and focused on his action. In the depths of his depression burned a building rage as well. A rage pointed at the shadowy Ascendant.

It was one thing to rip his body. It was another thing to make Shiv feel pathetic about himself. To have your sense of self changed was a kind of death as well.

Psycho-Cartography 67 > 68

Philosophy 17 > 18

The shadows tried to overtake Shiv, but he drove and battered them aside. His tides scattered the dark, and opened a path of retreat for him once more. As soon as he cleared a patch of space for himself, his depression also abated, and his mind cleared. Shiv cast himself back in time using his Chronomancy, but the darkness followed him immediately. As he winked back through one of the many holes he made in the walls, Shiv found Adam and his two new companions rushing along the exit Shiv made. “No! Nope. They’re already there.”

“What?” Adam cried aloud. “What do you mean they’re already there?”

“I swallowed this place within myself,” the cold-voiced Ascendant proclaimed once more. His words passed along Shiv’s ears like a traveling whisper. “There is no escape. You are no longer in the world. You are within me. Traveling here has damned you to the void, and soon, I will take you. All of you will vanish beneath my embrace.”

“Oh, gods,” Adam grimaced.

As the darkness came surging toward Shiv through the holes he made, he pushed Adam back and seized the nearest wall with his tides. He bade the vectors to twist, and soon the alloy became a dense knot that sealed the darkness from an easy approach. But then, as he looked over Adam’s shoulder, he saw more tendrils already seeping in from behind, crawling along the tunnel walls they were just in.

“Shit,” Shiv muttered. “Adam. Brainstorm.”

The goblin accompanying Adam narrowed her eyes at Shiv. “What are you two—”

Shiv cast his Psychomancy into Adam’s mind and the Gate Lord triggered his Commander’s Foresight again.

“Not even five minutes,” Adam grumbled mentally.

“Hey, eat shit. I wasn’t the one who led the Ascendant here. How was I supposed to know this was coming? Godsdammit. Uh, you got any ideas on how we can get out of here? Because if we stay here, the darkness is going to eat us. Or give us depression. Depends on if your mind or body is weaker.”

“Give us depression?” Adam murmured in horrified disbelief. “Are you joking?”

“No. Even getting hit a little just now had me feeling all kinds of low.”

The Gate Lord shuddered. “Magical?”

“Yeah. I think so. My Shapeless Tides resisted it pretty good, but the darkness just keeps coming, and I don’t really have any way to hurt it.”

“Right. No idea how the darkness works. So. Best that we avoid it entirely. You can hold it back for a while, yes?”

“Yeah,” Shiv answered. “Why? What’s the idea?”

“Okay. We do this quickly and in bursts. I need you to hold the darkness at bay while I try to get Candles to use his flames. If that can disrupt the darkness, then our chances might not be as dire as it seems.”

“Got it. Oh, wait. I got these boots right now that let me dive into darkness for a while. You think that might do anything?”

“I have no idea, Shiv. But we best not experiment in the midst of battle unless we’re absolutely desperate. So. Maybe in about a minute.”

“A minute? Yeah, right, you optimist. Give it twenty seconds.”

Adam snorted. “I hope the Ascendant eats you and gets the shits.”

“Let’s keep that as Plan F for now,” Shiv replied.

Adam ended his Commander’s Foresight as Shiv launched himself at the encroaching darkness in a rush of activated vectors. He crashed into the black and braced himself in both mind and body. As the Ascendant clawed at his being once more, Shiv was prepared. Prepared to endure. And prepared to strike back.

“This is futile,” the shadows declared, driving themselves as if bladed lashes against Shiv’s body. He gripped a few tendrils and activated Dread-Tainted.

“Yeah. The Daughter screams to differ.”

For a moment, the darkness around him shuddered as the trauma of another Ascendant pulsed through the black. A gasp sounded, and that gasp became a laugh of wry amusement.

“Quite the Feat. I see why she’s so scared of you now. Veronica was right. You’re worth keeping alive—”

A crackle sounded behind Shiv, and then there came a roar of flame. A loud moan of euphoric pleasure came from the burning man Adam called Candles. His Pyromancy carved a brilliant lane through the darkness now flooding the tunnel, and Shiv caught sight of a few Legendary-Tier prisoners writhing within a tightening nest of shadows. Yet, despite parting before the fire, the darkness mended itself nigh-instantly thereafter.

“Shiv! Sync!” Adam’s call came from behind, and Shiv cast his Psychomancy mana out as a net to trap Adam’s mind so they could continue their scheming. Time went still just as a wave of blackness curled over Shiv. A loud scream of bursting metal sounded from behind as well, and Shiv knew the knot of metal he made was compromised, and they were about to be pincered from two directions.

“Well, the fire did something. Just not enough. Can you get Candles there to spit out more.” Shiv studied the burning Pathbearer, and their mouth was open in an expression of delight. “Because the noise he made earlier didn’t sound like he was spent. It sounded like he had a lot more to give. And, uh, he kind of liked giving it. Where the felling hells did you find this guy, Adam? He doesn’t look like he’s all there.”

“Shiv. Don’t be rude. Are you all there?”

“I don’t sound like I’m about to empty my pleasure when I’m using my Pyromancy, so yeah, I’m more there than this guy.”

“It’s probably because your Pyromancy is too weak and soft,” Adam jabbed. “Whatever the case, this is a good thing. Light does affect the dark. We just need a sustained burn for a moment. Maybe if I can get him to channel it outward in as a sphere…”

“I managed to hit the Ascendant with some of my Dread-Taint too.”

“Your what?’

“Dread-Taint. New Feat I got from scarring Daughter’s soul.”

A beat of silence followed. “You… Scarred one of the Ascendants. And got a Feat for it?”

“Yeah. Legendary Feat. I can sprinkle a bit of fear in all my skills now. Lets anyone I target with it get a little taste of what it’s like to be Daughter.”

“Shiv. That’s absolutely vile. I… I love it. Damn the Ascendants. But… Did it feel good? When you scarred Daughter?”

The Deathless grunted. “Not really, man. She started screaming like a kid. She uses a bunch of kids as her avatars. I didn’t like that shit at all.”

Adam’s enthusiasm dimmed immediately. “Ah. Sorry. I expected a more triumphant tale with you as usual, I suppose.”

“I didn’t really have a choice, and I was pretty pissed at her while I was doing it but that didn’t make it any easier.”

“Because you’re not nearly that much of a bastard, Shiv,” Adam said. He spent a few seconds considering Shiv’s capabilities and sighed. “Alright. So. There’s something else we can try on top of Candle’s flames. If he can keep the dark at bay, I need you to dive in and out of context in the dark. Is your Dread-Taint Feat cumulative? Does it add up each time you use it on someone?”

“I… Don’t know.”

“Well, time to find out.” Adam sighed. “And we’re desperately experimenting already. Fantastic.”

Commander’s Foresight came to an end. The curled wave of shadows crashed down upon Shiv, but failed to fall completely as shiv caught it with a pair of upraised hands. He was a man holding a falling tsunami at bay. The mass was immense. Shiv’s bones creaked and his spirit shuddered. It wasn’t nearly as bad as trying to contend with Cripple, but whichever Ascendant he was facing right now was far stronger than Daughter.

The Deathless gritted his teeth as he tried to keep the dark at bay. Smaller tendrils erupted from the wave he was wrestling and stabbed into his torso. Pangs of hopelessness spread through him while blood spilled down his torso. Instead of succumbing, Shiv struck back at the Ascendant’s mind in return. He channeled his Dread-Taint through his Leviathan of the Shapeless Tides over and over, and the darkness he gripped twitched.

“Candles! Make a ring around us. Or a dome!” Adam’s frantic cry echoed in Shiv’s ears, and he felt the repeated shudders of someone using their Chronomancy Skill repeatedly.

“OR A CASTLE!” Candles screamed. “Don’t mind the heat.”

“Wait! Don’t burn Shiv too—” Adam’s cry went ignored as something smashed into Shiv from behind. If not for his Shapeless Tides, he would have disintegrated in an instant. Because of it, he only suffered second degree burns. The back of his Voidmantid armor dissolved into nothing, while his skin turned to a raw-red stretch of pulsing boils. Shiv winced more in annoyance as the new Innate Tides he generated finally arrived to drive the Pyromancy back.

My Legendary Skill still has openings. Times where I’m slightly vulnerable to magic. I gotta keep cycling, and cycle faster.

Multi-Tasking 29 > 30

As a massive blazing structure steamed out around Candles, Adam and the goblin he was with remained protected from the encroaching shadows. Darkness dashed itself against the flame, but the sheer brightness unleashed by Candles became a near impenetrable bulwark against the Ascendant’s foul touch.

But that didn’t mean Adam was safe. His Hydromantic body was turning to steam at a staggering rate within the flames, and Shiv didn’t know how well Adam’s evolved Toughness was going to hold up to the fires even at Heroic-Tier.

Need to work fast. See if I can get us an opening.

He left context. As soon as he did, the darkness pressing against him faltered briefly, unable to remember who or what was holding them at bay. The answer returned with Shiv as he blinked in and out of reality, ripping through the shadows around him like they were shrubs. Though the dark was fluid, Shiv’s blows carried with them doses of fear, and slowly, the Deathless felt a rising swell of terror rush into him like fuel.

He was injecting bits of terror stolen from one false god into another. And it was working.

Shape of Monstrosity 121 > 123

Then, there came a flash of azure light that cut through the dense walls of fire surrounding Candles, Adam, and Gone. For a moment, Shiv thought Adam was trying to empower the Pyromancer some more, just like he did Shiv earlier. Instead, Adam’s Unique Skill slashed into the shadows, and for the first time, Shiv heard the dark-born Ascendant let out a weary gasp. “What… is this?”

“The wicked get burned, asshole,” Shiv laughed. He vanished back into his Vitae once more, and felt his lifeforce veer toward the cold precipice of oblivion. Okay. Time to see if I can take a quick sip of Vitality from the darkness too. Can’t really sense any lifeforce there, though…

Outside Context Problem 95 > 97

Shiv surfaced once more and reached out into the darkness. As soon as he did, he felt a rush of warmth wash into him. A feeling of elation lit his soul as he discovered the darkness was rich with vitality indeed. Yet, somehow, it masked that fact from him. The Ascendants were capable of all kinds of strange powers, and so were their avatars—

Shiv’s stomach dropped. “Shit. Where the hells is your ava—”

And from the darkness emerged an old, weathered face. It was the last face Shiv saw in that life as a needle-thin rapier was thrust up under his chin and out through his skull.

“Nearby,” the old man said with a low chuckle. “And the name is Legend-Councilman Anthony De Diego, at your demise.”

Inertial Overdrive 137 > 140

Farsight 60 > 64

Outside Context Problem 97 > 100 (Skill Evolution Imminent)