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Chapter 51 - Broken Bonds
🕑 Added 2024-09-12 22:40:00 +0000 UTCThe second day in the mist was much like the first: tiresome and mentally draining. John sat in his chair and played with his balls, testing the different interactions.
A gaseous sphere hitting another gaseous sphere would transfer its stored energy and speed to the next one. But the portion that would be transferred depended on the angle; when hitting perfectly center, all of it would transfer, while an imperfect hit would split the power based on the angle.
It was like the physics of traditional spheres hitting each other, making it easier to understand.
‘At least one type is easy to understand…’
When the liquid spheres hit each other, they merely explode, blowing all the energy inside in every direction. And the solid spheres couldn’t collide since they only stayed in place.
‘But what decides what ‘in place’ means? The planet is just an arbitrary point of reference. If a piece of it fell again, would the sphere follow it, or would it stay floating in the air above it? Is it based on my perception of space?’
John had practiced the focused blast the sage had mentioned, but it was more challenging than it sounded. The essence within the spheres could be controlled, but controlling the speed, direction, and essence simultaneously required a lot of focus.
“Rain wins!” Rain exclaimed, winning. She and Dennis were playing with dice he had crudely carved out of bones out of boredom. Several of them had clear preferences in what number to show, but it was better than nothing, according to him.
“How are you getting so many sixes? Rain, you’re cheating!” Dennis declared, pointing a finger at her.
“Dennis made dice. How Rain cheat?” she asked back, all innocent-looking.
“Your special powers are doing something! I’m sure!”
John smiled as he watched them, debating whether or not he should reveal her trick. Rain had been throwing the dice in the exact same way every time, learning how each one tended to move and increasing her chances of getting good results.
“As the judge, I’ll deny your accusations, Dennis. You only have your own skills to blame,” John said, choosing only to give him a vague hint.
Dennis scowled back at him. “The sacred game of dice should never rely on skill! It is a game of luck and bravery!”
“I guess Rain is luckier and braver than you, then,” John replied smugly.
“Yeah, all luck! Rain very lucky!” she agreed, smiling widely.
Rain had been quiet for a long time after the meeting the day before, so it was nice to see her act lively again, like her usual self. Her hand was still supported by the bone cast, meaning she only had one hand free to throw.
“Ahh, whatever. I’ll pretend that losing eleven games in a row can happen by pure luck, then,” Dennis mumbled grumpily. He looked at John’s chest. “Are you going to fuse with that necklace soon?”
“... I’d like to wait until we’re out of this fog. It’s nice and peaceful here, but I’d like to be out in the open in case anything happens. And I’m pretty confident something will happen.”
Dennis looked disappointed. John was sure he just wanted something interesting to happen to stave off the boredom, but he wouldn’t risk anything just for that reason.
“Haaah, I’ll try making a flute, then. Carving is pretty fun, actually.”
“Feel free,” John replied, secretly praying he would fail. Even he might snap if he had to listen to someone practicing on a shoddily carved flute for hours.
He looked over at Rain, who was watching Dennis prepare his dagger and a piece of bone. “Hey, Rain, you’ve been pointing straight ahead for a while now, haven’t you?”
Rain looked up in realization, staring straight ahead of their path. “Is more light…”
John looked around, also feeling that the fog had brightened a bit. But he stayed cautious.
‘I won’t celebrate before we’re out of here. It seems impossible that we’ve already reached the other side; it would usually have taken us a week at this speed.’
But sure enough, as Kerchak kept walking ahead, the fog turned lighter. Eventually, they could see a dense jungle before them, marking the end of the evermist forest. Rain and Dennis both cheered.
“Finally! Thank god, I don’t think I could have managed many more days in there!” Dennis exclaimed, throwing the barely carved bone in the air.
Rain immediately started removing the bone cast holding her arm in the air, and bent her elbow in joy once it was free.
John also breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad to have escaped the fog but started feeling nervous. At this point, they could no longer see where Rain was pointing due to the trees in front of them, meaning they were getting very close.
“Let’s take a break before heading into the woods, guys. We should prepare ourselves before heading inside. The jungle won’t be as peaceful as the mist.”
“Or as boring, luckily!” Dennis said, looking excited. He had yet to enter a jungle on this planet, so John would have to give him some tips.
“It’s impossible to scout the jungle as well as we did in the desert, so we must stay on guard constantly. But there shouldn’t be any room for a horror inside there, so at least we might be free of those.”
Dennis nodded. “Yeah, let’s hope. I’ll set us down over there,” he said, pointing to a clearing in front of the trees.
The three of them sat in a small circle next to the dense jungle they were headed into. Distant sounds of monsters or demons could be heard from time to time, but nothing came close to the fog.
The trees were nearly as tall as the ones John had gotten used to in the past, but they were way more curved and bendy. Large leaves covered every surface that could see the sky, casting shadows over the dark jungle floor.
“How easy do you think it will be for Kerchak to get through that jungle, Dennis?”
Dennis looked at the dense trees skeptically. “... Well, not easy. But there’s gotta be other demons in there, right? So there has to be some way to get through, even for larger beasts.”
John was silent momentarily, finding it hard to broach the subject. “How… how attached are you to Kerchak at this point? I’m sure you’ve changed beasts in the past, right?”
A long and heavy sight escaped Dennis. He turned to look at the giant grey beast that had carried them this far. “I would have liked to keep him with me when we leave here, honestly. But… I understand that lives may be at stake, and that any increase in speed would help us a lot… So, I’m okay with leaving him behind.”
John nodded, hoping he wasn’t pushing too hard on this. He wanted to travel efficiently, and it would be challenging if they had to find more accessible roads for Kerchak to travel through. “I appreciate that, Dennis. Really.”
“Nah, it’s fine. And as you say, I’ve changed beasts several times in the past. Before the inversion, I had a beautiful wolf-like demon named Blanca with me. But then the connection was severed during the jump.”
“We leave Kerchak?” Rain asked, looking anxious. “Too big?”
“Yeah, big and slow... Uhm, we might have to fly again, Rain.”
Rain looked at Kerchak sadly, not reacting much to the thought of flying again. “We release him?”
John looked over at Dennis, not sure what they would do with the monkey once the aspect was released.
‘I wouldn’t mind using my lucky sword on him, but that sounds too heartless, right?’
“Uh, I haven’t really tried that before. They usually die before I find a new one… I don’t want him to attack us, so maybe I should have him run back into the fog? He shouldn’t be able to get out by himself, right?”
“... That seems a bit cruel, though,” John countered, trying to steer the conversation to his advantage. He felt a bit cruel, but it did seem like the best option. “I… could make it quick, if you’d like. Perhaps you could even get an enchantment.”
Dennis looked at John with mixed emotions. “I appreciate that, John. But I don’t think I can absorb his essence like that. He’s not like a pet, exactly, but he’s still a part of me in a way… But if you could…”
John nodded slowly, understanding, before getting up and walking to Kerchak. He had gotten to know the demon quite well over the previous week, even fighting together on several occasions.
Jumping up on his shoulders, he prepared the sword in his hand. He was ready to fire it with all the force he could muster, hoping to end it in an instant.
The tall monkey reminded him of the ones he fought in the forest, what felt like an eternity ago. They had left quite an impression on him, highly intelligent and selfless.
‘This… No, I can’t.
He looked back at the others, seeing them both with their backs turned to him. “Sorry, Dennis. I can’t do it after all. Not like this.”
Dennis turned to him with a surprised look. “I understand, John! I’ll have him walk into the fog, then.”
John shook his head. “No, I would rather you release him right here. If he wants to fight, I’ll take care of it. But if he wants to leave, we should let him.”
‘He deserves to choose for himself at the very end. And if I understand these monkeys as well as I hope, we might even avoid the fight.’
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