Chương 18: The Chasm

—Gaelora, Goldturn 1508 A. G— Anadis stood before the forest gate, the one that ran along the entire eastern edge of Aura Cay. He had seen it from afar a dozen times growing up. Everyone had, but he had never stood directly in front of it before. It was far less imposing than he had imagined. For something meant to hold back the Grulls that dwelled within the woods, the twelve-or-so-foot-tall stone wall lacked a certain menace.

There was no doubt in his mind that the actual gate was not the thing that kept the Grulls away. The reality was that it was far more complicated than that and consisted of a combination of runes, shards, Attuners' inventions, and a multitude of other technicalities he was not proficient enough in to ever fully understand.

"Stop right there, boy," a man said in a voice that was far from authoritative for the way it sounded so groggy, like he was missing sleep.

"No one of any social status is permitted to be in this zone." Without a word, Anadis raised his wrist and flashed his bracelet. The yellow star embedded in the silver caught the amber morning light. The older guard shot his subordinate a look of discomfort. The younger man yawned widely, eyelids fluttering as he fought to stay awake; clearly, he was more in the realm of dreams than reality. With a heavy sigh, the senior guard snapped his fingers.

"Wake up and open the gate!" he commanded the younger one. The younger guard scurried forward, clutching his pileus helmet to keep it from slipping off, and hurried to obey. With a grunt, he lifted the heavy iron bar that served as the gate's lock. Father had once told him that the gate was to be patrolled by Blessen Division guards all day long, Blessen like these two guards who could fight Grulls if one or more ever strayed this close to town.

Anadis studied their armor, it was black and gold, much like his father's. Their insignia was a lone star embedded on their shoulders. They were Blessen of the First Ascension, just like him.

"Newly Blessed, I assume?" the older guard asked.

"Yes."

"Listen, I know you have every right to go in. I know you want to test your new Blessing, but…" The guard's gaze darkened as he stared past the open gate.

"Why don't you wait a little longer? Get a bit more comfortable using your Blessing first?" He suggested.

"You were just blessed less than three weeks ago, right? Most Blessen wait one year or more before daring to fight a Grull."

"I was just blessed," Anadis replied.

"And no, I don't plan on waiting any longer, sir. No matter what you say, I'm still going in." The older guard looked at Anadis, gaze unwavering. After a second, he sighed, shoulders sagging.

"Fine." He put a hand on Anadis's shoulder, his voice low and serious.

"Don't get full of yourself. Stay focused. Keep a constant lookout, and for the love of the gods, do not go near the chasm. That's where the Unhallowed Grulls reside." With a nod, Anadis marched forward. He knew he had no business tangling with an Unhallowed Grull, the second rank in the Abyssal Hierarchy, but he had no choice. He needed to risk it, no matter the danger. The twin suns had only just begun to rise, yet their light was already burning the dew off every blade of greenery.

Birds sang in a territorial chorus while rabbits darted from hole to hole as soon as they saw Anadis come up. It all felt absurdly normal for the place he had just entered. The sound of metal grinding against metal echoed behind him as the guards sealed the gate shut.

"You ready for this?" Hel said as she drifted onto his shoulder and looked ahead. For once, her voice held no mockery and no superiority. He appreciated that.

"I think so," he said, sounding about as convinced as a man walking to his own execution. Hel gave him a one-eyed look, brow raised.

"You don't sound ready."

"I am ready," he said after clearing his throat. Two weeks had passed. Two weeks of grueling training, learning to summon Soulblessed without needing the memory of Zoe's death to trigger it, learning to hold Soul Sight for more than a minute without his eyes burning, and learning to dismiss it before anyone noticed. His hands were a testament to those two backbreaking weeks. He turned them over, studying the changes.

His muscles were far more sharply defined now, veins standing out prominently along his forearms where none had been visible before. He flexed once, more out of curiosity than vanity, and immediately felt the difference. His new greater strength was apparent in the density and solidity his muscles now displayed. One day, Hel pushed him to run at full speed without stopping. He had expected to collapse after a hundred meters or so.

Instead, he ran a full thousand meters, and his body evaporated the sweat in half the usual time, as if it were already adapting before he even noticed. But it was how much his senses had been enhanced that unsettled him the most. Daylight seemed more vibrant now, and not in some cheerful 'life is sunshine and rainbows' type of way, but sharper, clearer, almost too overwhelming. His nose could catch the sharp scent of pine resin while being inside his house.

When a bird called deep in the canopy, he could pinpoint its exact location without thinking it over. It had taken Albus three days for his body to fully adapt to his Blessing. Aelia had only needed five, while Anadis… had taken ten days, nearly the entire two weeks, for his body to stop fighting the merge and finally work with his Blessing. Of course, he hadn't told anyone how long it had taken. There was nothing to gain from it, other than letting everyone know just how much worse he was.

Oddly enough, he still wasn't sure if he liked the way his body was now. It felt like he was inhabiting someone else's body and slowly learning that it was his. Another thing he did was visit the library countless times, hoping his new friend Selene would be there, but she never was. His training had been demanding enough that he couldn't spare the time to visit her at her father's shop. As for how he had convinced his parents to let him come to a Grull infested forest… he hadn't.

He had simply told Mother he would spend the whole day studying at the Learning Hall library. And somehow, she had believed him. Well, it was to be expected—he rarely lied to them. It wasn't that Mother wouldn't have let him come, she would have, but she would have demanded he come with Father by his side, just like how the man had taken Albus for his first time killing Grulls. They went into the forest and lasted three days straight, just a week before.

Albus had returned with three Grullshards and that same calm expression he always wore, as if he hadn't done anything special. Anadis wished he could've come with them, but he needed to do this alone. He just hoped he could retrieve the first Key without issue and make it back home before anyone in the house realized the truth. The first hour of travel passed in peaceful silence.

There were no roads this deep in the forest, of course there weren't, but the terrain was manageable, with only minor obstacles that didn't make walking too uncomfortable. After a while, Anadis spotted a small glade, and when his stomach growled, he decided it was time for a small meal. And little indeed it was just a few bites of dried meat, a piece of bread, and some water from his waterskin, enough to quiet the rumbling, but nowhere near enough to satisfy him.

Digging into his satchel, he pulled out two small bottles filled with swirling blue liquid potions made from shard dust meant for rapid regeneration, just in case he ended up badly wounded in a fight with a Grull. Though, of course, the plan was to avoid fighting any at all. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. A lingering wince crossed his face at the thought of spending three Argon silver coins on each potion.

Not to mention how long it would take him to save that amount back with only his monthly allowance. Lucky he still had another six Argon left from the money he earned selling the Grullshard.

"Remember, even if you fight a Grull, you're only allowed to drink one," Hel pointed out as she hovered above, slowly circling to keep watch for any threads.

"We need to save the second one for after we reach the first Key. I still have no idea how badly the blood bond will react."

"I understand," Anadis muttered. Then a sudden and unbidden headache struck him. He grimaced and let out a sharp hiss.

"W-why is my head hurting?!" he groaned, and then a second later, the pain vanished.

"It's gone now."

"That's the first Key reacting to your proximity," Hel explained, running a hand through her white hair.

"The headaches will keep coming. We'll use them as a guide."

"Can you feel it as well?" Anadis asked. Hel nodded.

"I can, but it doesn't hurt me as it hurts you. It could be because I'm incorporeal now." Groaning, Anadis pressed a hand to his forehead and stood up.

"Let's keep moving. I want to get this over with." It wasn't until the three-hour mark that Anadis noticed the change in the forest. Earlier, the fauna had felt alive and buzzing with insects, deer slipping through the underbrush, and birds calling from every direction. Now everything had gone eerily quiet, as if the forest itself were holding its breath. Only the wind rustling through the canopy remained.

"From here on out, stay on guard," Hel warned, without glancing at him.

"We're deep enough that we could spot Grulls at any moment or… they could spot us." His steps slowed into a cautious trudge, each foot placed with deliberate care. Every step served as a stark reminder of what could be lurking just out of sight. Though he had a vague idea of where the first Key lay, only one thing occupied his mind now: Survival. The nearer he drew to his destination, the source of the Key, the richer and denser the pull in his head became. It was a strange sensation.

If he turned his head away from it, the pull and the headache that came with it would ease. But the moment he faced it again, the sensation returned, even stronger. It guided him like a fish being reeled in by a hook against the current of a river. Hel had mentioned the Key lay near the chasm, and as it turned out, that was exactly where most Unhallowed Grulls also made their home.

From what Anadis had learned, the chasm was roughly a five-hour walk past the gate, which meant they were already more than halfway there without encountering a single Grull. Not that he was complaining.

"Have I just been getting lucky," he asked, "or is the reason we haven't found any Grulls because of you?" He knew she was scanning ahead, but he also wondered whether the creatures could sense her presence, what she once was, and were wisely choosing to stay away.

"Obviously it's because of me," Hel affirmed, then added as if she had just read his thoughts, "but not for the reason you think." Are we sure she can't read my mind?

"They can't sense me at all," she continued.

"I've simply been diligently scanning ahead with Soul Sight and guiding you along a path that avoids any threats." A smug, proud smile spread across her little face.

"We already passed two Grulls on our way here, and thanks to your goddess, you haven't had to fight them." Despite her confidence, Anadis couldn't help but feel goosebumps rise on the back of his neck.

"Just how far can you see with Soul Sight?" Anadis asked, trying not to think of any Grull that could be lurking behind him.

"And doesn't it hurt your eyes after using it for so long?"

"You dare draw a parallel between us?" Hel huffed, arms crossed so tight she looked like a petulant child.

"I am my Blessing. You're just borrowing it, and on a trial basis at that. Of course you're not used to it yet." That… wasn't an answer. But it did make him wonder just how much she could actually do in her current state. Weak or not, she was still her. They walked for two more hours until they finally reached the chasm. A natural bridge spanned the gap, a massive fallen pine lying across it with wet moss that coated large sections of the trunk, making every step treacherous.

"Don't tell me I'm gonna have to cross it," he muttered to Hel, but she didn't respond for a while, her face suddenly turned sharp.

"It's coming this way," she said.

"Hide now!" Her tone left no room for argument. Anadis rushed over and dove headfirst into a bush. A walking nightmare moved with slow, ruthless steps just on the other side of the chasm, just beyond fallen pine. It had a humanoid figure, standing on two limbs. Its skin was a sickly green and diseased, as if it had formed from all kinds of waste. Gnarled, sharp, skeletal spines jutted from its back. Its head was like a bare skull, a gaping maw filled with jagged teeth.

But the feature that made Anadis's jaw drop was the dark hollow hole in its torso. A black void where a heart should have been. Light bent toward it, swallowed whole, as if the thing itself were hungry for souls. An Unhallowed. Just my luck. Without a second thought, Anadis summoned Zoe's curved sword into his hand. Ever since regaining access to the Divine Voice, the blade had remained with him, a remnant of her will, now serving to protect him.

"Are you mad?" Hel hissed loudly.

"Put that thing away! There's nothing a freshly Blessed like you can do against an Unhallowed. You'd be dead before you finished swinging that sword."

"But… how else are we going to get past it?" Anadis asked mentally, barely daring to breathe in case the Grull heard him.

"Just keep quiet," she replied.

"It won't jump across the chasm unless it sees you." After a tense and agonizing wait, holding his breath as he feared the Grull would suddenly jump behind him and eat him, Hel finally spoke, her words like water on a hot day.

"Come on out. It's gone." Letting out the biggest exhale of his short life, Anadis stood up.

"That was scary… So now I have to cross the fallen pine and head down the chasm on the other side?" As it turned out, the nearest path down lay beyond the fallen tree, then about a mile south. Hel shook her head.

"No. The Grull is still lingering nearby in that area. I can see it. And that's not the only one. There's another one, bigger and stronger, and not too far ahead. If you go that way, you'd literally be courting death."

"So what's the plan?" She looked down and then pointed with one hand.

"Are you a good climber?"

"Don't think about it," Anadis told himself, following an internal ten minute back-and-forth with Hel about why he shouldn't climb down the chasm, which he lost.

"Look, the incline isn't all that bad," Hel encouraged from below.

"Of course it isn't for you. You can fly." He wiped his sweaty palms on his cloak and studied the drop. It was at least fifty meters down to the rocky river below. No, he couldn't really call it a river. It looked more like a creek, with barely any water flowing, which meant there was nothing to soften the blow. Not that water would soften much at that height. If he fell, he would crack his skull open, and that would be the end of Anadis Kalonis, lost forever in the abyss of the chasm, never to be found.

"Alright." He shook his body, trying to shake off the nerves coursing through it.

"Let's do this." Anadis lowered himself carefully, one arm gripping the pine trunk as he swung his right leg down. His boot found a steady indentation in the chasm wall. So far, so good. He tested the spot, shifted his weight, and placed his left foot into another gap. Little by little, he descended the steep slope, moving with the care of someone who couldn't afford a single mistake. Perhaps he should have done this barefoot.

The incline was so steep that without the enhanced strength and balance granted by becoming a Blessen, he would have fallen already. His knuckles turned bone-white, and his fingers ached from gripping sharp rock while supporting his full weight. He made the mistake of looking down. His breath caught, regret flooding through him in a cold wave. If he slipped, it would all be over. About halfway down, he spotted a narrow ledge with a dark, weird boulder perched on it.

Anadis smiled, thinking he had found a place to stop and catch his breath, then swung his body and launched himself toward it—"Be careful!" Hel's warning came too late. With the heels of his boots, he landed on the "boulder," which immediately shifted beneath him because, as it turned out, it wasn't a boulder at all. It was a Grull.

"Darn!" Gravity wrenched him sideways. His back slammed into the chasm wall, driving the air out of his lungs. His fingers scrabbled wildly for purchase on the ledge as his legs kicked over nothing but empty air. For one heart-stopping second, his grip held.

"I'm not falling!" he grunted, teeth clenched. Every muscle in his upper body screamed as he fought to pull himself up. Then the Grull he'd stupidly mistaken for a boulder loomed over him as it fired a thick, sticky glob straight into his eyes. First, his face burned, and then his grip loosened. Anadis tried to find purchase, but it was too late. He was already falling down the chasm.