Bacon Macleod
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B3 Chapter 370: Fog, pt. 1
🕑 Added 2025-08-08 21:30:02 +0000 UTCThis time Kaius was ready for the jarring transition, staying steady as he stepped through the crucible portal.
A wall of tumbled boulders surrounded him, set deep into the grass. Fog shrouded everything, each stone looming over him through the haze.
They did look natural, even if the formation was unlikely — closer to a keep’s wall than a random outcropping. Dead ahead of him, there was a break in the barrier where two natural plinths had toppled towards each other, creating a gateway.
The opening led out to a path, snaking out of view — no doubt leading to the meat of the challenge. It was surrounded by more grass. The dense, thick kind. Reaching up to midthigh, it would slow his pace. At least, it would if he was weaker. Unless the grass was magical in some way, he doubted it would be anything more than a mild annoyance with his strength.
So far, there were no major threats he could see. Though, the fog would no doubt be an issue. Whether it was through the trial’s unfathomable powers, or simply an innate resistance, he struggled to pierce the white with Truesight.
It wasn’t complete — not like what he’d experienced in his Trial of Mentis — but it did limit his vision significantly. He could barely see fifty strides — which meant that no doubt he would have struggled to see his own outstretched hand without his Skill.
Kaius sighed.
And leapt six strides into the air when he heard a yelp of surprise behind him.
He flailed, doing his best to twist mid air as his heart slammed in his chest. Something large and dark loomed at the far end of the stone circle — a good twenty longstrides away. Familiar, large, impossible.
A sight that he’d just barely dared to hope to see waited for him. A small mountain of dark green fur, with a white ruff and crystalline claws — still wrapped in his leather underarmour. Porkchop.
Kaius’s mind raced, struggling to process what was right in front of him as the world slowed. It felt like he hung in the air, staring at the stupid lump for an age and a half. It couldn’t be. The link between their souls was still sealed — left him cut off from Porkchop’s mind.
But he was there. Right fucking there!
Before he could laugh in joy, thick slabs of heavy-plate surrounded his brother with a subtle pop as Porkchop readied himself for a fight. His eyes were narrowed — like he was struggling to pierce the gloom.
“Porkchop!” Kaius finally yelled.
His brother yelped — the ground caving beneath his feat as he jumped in fright; handedly clearing the natural stone wall that surrounded them in spite of the titanic weight of his armour.
Kaius touched down and laughed, an overwhelming mix of warmth, confusion, joy, and relief filling his chest. Spinning to the sound, Porkchop hit the ground with a thud and sank a handspan into the dirt. He froze, ears swiveling as he searched the fog — an expression of suspicion etched in his face.
“...Kaius?”
“It’s me! Can you not see me through the fog?”
As he confirmed his presence, Porkchop went still for a heart beat — before he dismissed his armour a heartbeat later and charged.
Kaius reacted immediately, kicking into a sprint. Spreading his arms wide, he tackled Porkchop as hard as he could — and went sprawling as his brother hooked a paw under the back of his legs and yanked him in.
“Kaius! By the Matriarch’s, it’s you!”
Kaius wrapped his hands around Porkchop’s neck and did his best to squeeze the very life out of him — grinning so wide that his cheeks ached. Praise the gods — it had been too long. He felt whole again.
Growling and chuffing, Porkchop took them to the ground — slapping him from side to side with heavy, if gentle paw strikes. Grinning ferociously, Kaius lunged and wrapped himself around his brother’s forearm and strained as he clinched with his legs.
Heaving with all his might, his back and core burned as he did his best to force Porkchop to straighten his arm. He didn’t get very far — but Porkchop did rear up and flail his arm madly in an attempt to shake him loose.
“Get off!”
“Make me!”
Porkchop growled, bringing him close — jaw opening wide around his head.
“Fine, fine! It’s my loss,” Kaius sighed, dropping to the ground. He dove back in a moment later, wrapping his arms around Porkchop’s chest.
“Rotten roots, it’s good to see you!”
“I…yeah, it is.”
It felt wrong not to feel Porkchop’s sincerity — to rely on simple words alone to try and convey how he felt. Without the bond, he couldn’t respond to Porkchop’s natural telepathy as he wanted to — was cut off from sharing the context of his senses, mind, and emotions.
So he didn’t try — he just clung on for dear life, and stayed that way right up until a notification spilled across his vision. They broke apart automatically, reading what was shown.
*Ding! You have challenged the Trial of Cohesion!*
*Seek the core of Animus, and find the self through insight, awareness, and understanding of your bond.*
*Walk the Path until you can go no further. Forfeit, and forever know that you were lacking!*
It held nothing new, and no special insight that he could gleam into the nature of the challenge. Though, thankfully, it seemed that there were no conditions for forfeiting — merely the natural consequences of failure. He could live with that — it wasn’t like he would do so without it being his sole remaining option.
Dismissing the notification, Kaius immediately returned his attention to Porkchop — still struggling to believe he was really here.
“What the hells are you doing here? And why is our bloody bond still sealed if we need it to find Animus?”
“You tell me, I can’t feel you either!”
He couldn’t bear it any longer.
Kaius leapt onto his brother's back and pivoted to lay flat — staring up into the fog. He felt a rumble resonate up through Porkchop’s chest, a sound of delight. Regardless of the why, or what waited for them in the trial, what mattered was that they were here. They’d figure it out.
“I’d hoped we might run into each other — it seemed reasonable for a trial related to the soul. It’s still surprising though, and I didn’t expect to stay cut off — feels weird. I…needed this. My first two trials were rough. They’ve left me weary.”
Porkchop hunkered down, before he bumped Kaius off his back and wrapped around him. Kaius leaned in, enjoying the warmth and simple presence of his closest and most trusted companion.
“Tell me about them?”
Kaius nodded slowly, and slipped into his tale. The unending waves of challengers that pushed him to the brink — that refined him with the gentle grace of a millstone, and revealed to him the raw madness that lay within. His willingness to fight and die, to keep cutting and killing until an end had been reached — one way or the other.
The memories rocked him. The weakness that crawled through his marrow; the phantom sensation of his missing limbs; the hot rush of blood that spilled down his throat with every rabid bite. He wanted to call it foreign — the fugue of spite and hunger that had pulled him in as his mind fled before exhaustion. It bothered him that it wasn’t — with the weight of Corporus suffusing him, he felt that thread of iron that ran through him. That drive to improve — to walk, even as the journey shattered him.
As he talked, Porkchop hummed in commiseration when he spoke of his wounds; chuffed in delight at the ruin he wrought, and pulled him tighter as he paused — struggling for the right words. It put Kaius at ease — the comfort of having a burden that he hadn’t realised the weight of being lifted from him. He felt light — free, regardless of the oppressive fog that swallowed them.
“And then I died.”
Porkchop gasped. “No! That — by my Patriarch’s scruff, are you alright?”
“Yeah — and that was just the start. The Trial of Obstinance was even worse.”
Porkchop grew silent as he explained the unending wall of death that he had been tossed into — the meatgrinder that he had pushed himself through again and again. Between that, the growth of his Skills, and the — in hindsight — rather ridiculous feats of physicality he’d achieved, Porkchop seemed to be caught between concern, horror, and pride.
“Are you sure you’re okay? My trials have been no summer walk, but that… So much death. No matter how stubborn you are, it must have been hard.”
Kaius chuckled. “Honestly, it could have been worse. Dying wasn’t that bad — it was the isolation and length that sapped at me. Besides, the memories aren’t so fresh as to fester. I was so exhausted in my first trial that it’s mostly a blur, and there were mental protections for the second. Xenanra ensured that most of my focus was on the course during the trial, and that the memories remained dreamlike afterwards. Even if they’re there, it doesn’t have the impact it could.”
“Most would disagree with you — but you would make a fine meles. You have the hunter’s spirit, that is for sure.” Porkchop shook his head. “I’m just glad you managed to upgrade your sword — fighting those challengers, or parrying those projectiles would have been much harder without that.”
That he could agree with, though he longed to put the blade through some proper paces. A fight, where he could use the full gamut of his abilities, and finally see how much it helped him to improve.
Shifting around, he twisted to look Porkchop in the eye.
“What about you? You said you had your own challenges?”
Porkchop bobbed his head. “They weren’t that pleasant either.”
Listening to his brother’s tale, Kaius was surprised by the sheer emotional intensity of Porkchop’s first trial — no matter how much he’d tried to downplay it. It too had been centred in an arena. A single challenger; a single sacrifice — though he refused to describe them. He’d had to make a choice: fight, or let an innocent die.
To his lack of surprise, Porkchop had fought. Yet every time he won, another innocent was added, and another challenger arrived — one stronger, harder than the one before. He’d had the time to rest and recover between bouts, and had full use of his Skills, but the essence of the trial had been much the same as Kaius’s. Bleed, until you embodied.
Kaius knew there was no way the sacrifices were faceless strangers. Every time they came up, Porkchop grew distant; tense. No matter how much he brushed past it, it was clear the trial had taken its toll.
Still, it was clear that his brother had gained from the experience. He hadn’t noticed it before, caught up as he was in their reunion — but with proximity, he noticed a presence in those quiet moments. One that had been absent before. It wasn’t like the vague perception of strength he’d felt from those in the second tier — it wasn’t even about power. An ineffable solidity that went beyond the physical.
“You have it too, I noticed it earlier.” Porkchop replied when he asked.
“Really? That’s odd — it must be the embodiment. Perhaps those walking the Path are able to sense others?”
If it was true, it would come in handy. They only had a few more things in Deadacre to wrap up before they moved on. The larger cities of the dukedoms had far more people of strength and ability. If they would meet others who struggled like they did, it would be there.
Porkchop simply shrugged, and their conversation drifted on — moving to his brother’s second trial.
It sounded less emotionally fraught than his earlier trial, and both of Kaius’s — thank the gods. He’d been forced to oversee a siege — with a single chance to restart the siege from the beginning, and a goal to preserve as many lives as possible.
Keeping track of so much sounded like an experience born of the hells. Having so many lives under his care had forced Porkchop to his bitter limits. He hadn’t even gotten to rest physically! The tough bastard had spent the whole time running from breach to breach — fighting where the invaders were thickest, and leaning on his natural telepathy to organise his troops in tandem.
After his first attempt, his second had been close to flawless — losing only a twentieth of his charges. A good result, from what little Kiaus knew of warfare, yet it was clear that Porkchop didn’t agree.
It had still been enough for him to succeed.
As the conversation came to a close they stayed huddled, enjoying each other's simple presence for some time — but no matter how long it had been, neither of them were the type to laze endlessly.
Kaius gazed out into the path and watched the fog swirl.
Comments
Thorsten Rapp
Thanks for the chapter, what happened to chapter 369 though? It goes 367, Interlude, 370 lol.
Alex Ledger
Lovely reunion
