Veritas burned into my energy system, spinning through my Core and Exemplar as I Focused and stepped onto my Path, grinding the world to stone around me. Through experimentation, we had discovered that my most recent ability required an actual attack; I could not simply lay my hand on a person and siphon off their energy, it had to have the intent to harm. Which had made things difficult, as I did not – in any way – want to Hurt Reff, or my other friends. Well, other than Darina, on occasion. But even then, not really.

We had however found a work around; if I did not use my Focus or Path and simply punched Reff as a normal Path – which was the same as Core, or fifty humans – then I could qualify for the effect without actually hurting him much at all, since he was at that point more than twice as tough as I was strong.

The amount taken was surprisingly minimal, totalling about five percent of his reserve, which while still a blow to his progress, was not catastrophic; we would however not be using it often. Five percent of his total still represented days of effort, as Veritas was the third stage of Experience; Experience into Praxis, Praxis into Veritas. Praxis seemed to be about five times as dense as Experience, and Veritas five times that, though the effects were more pronounced than the physical amount would suggest. Until Reff completed his Foundation, he would need to convert Praxis to Veritas manually, much as I had to convert Experience to Praxis before my Core was completed. I was not looking forward to that necessity.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to gauge how fast I was at full power since my Exemplar hit eighty-percent, but things other than me moved so slowly at that point that it was almost impossible to test using falling objects as I had before. I guessed I was somewhere around peak Pinnacle, meaning that outside of Stage and Pinnacle level speedsters, I was as fast as anyone in the world, in that moment.

Grinning, I dashed into the mist, my lightning held tight within the grip of my will and my aura held close around me like a mantle. Instinctive Precognition signalled a faint warning right away, just a vague sensation that warned of distant danger as the world turned grey around me. Light diffused oddly inside the opaque environment and I was barely a dozen strides into the fog, moving at full speed when the first Wraith Fish began to appear around me, barely visible in the pale light and barely even half-visible themselves against it. They looked more like some sort of eel crossed with a shark than what I had been expecting, which was big piranhas.

The Wraith Fish faded into partial view from nowhere, and while I expected them to be slow, they were surprisingly fast, moving about as quick as a peak Foundation stage if I had to guess. They should have been no match for the speed with which I moved, but even as I dismissed them, Instinctive Precognition had me diving to the ground and redirecting my momentum with a blow to the ground, spinning up and under a fish that had appeared right where my head would have been, jagged mouth open wide and snapping. More and more were appearing, first in my line of sight to distract me, and then where my limbs and body fell, mouths already gaping open in anticipation.

Suddenly, my forward momentum dropped to a crawl as I was forced to dodge, duck, dip dive and dodge my way around the oppressively omnipresent fish, spinning out of yawning, tooth-filled traps and contorting my body is a hundred different ways to stay ahead of their apparent teleportation.

I had been told that teleportation was considered impossible by the locals, but I had my serious doubts when facing off against those fish. There seemed to be an infinite supply of them, as I could still see the ones I had avoided hanging in place, marking my crazy, wheeling path, though the first I had come across seemed to be fading.

Turning my attention inwards, I tried to tell how much of the stolen Veritas I had left, but short of following each of my many, many, many channels, I had no way of determining that fact; when I was using Praxis, I could feel my Core thrumming harder to produce the stuff, but it did not create Veritas and gave no explicit reaction to its usage.

Having no idea how far the mist ran, and knowing that moving through carrying others would be effectively impossible, since I could react to danger to myself but not to others, I began to direct my frenetic dodging back towards the direction I had come. Thankfully, I had the long line of frozen fish to point me in the right direction, as otherwise I may have found myself hopelessly lost in in the confusing sameness of the fog.

I felt like a long time to me, but in non-relative time I probably spent less than half a second inside the vaporous barrier, bursting out of the thick grey into the open suddenly, with no lessening of the cloud’s density.

Turning back to face it, I watched as hundreds of the blank, vicious faces appeared along its edge, along with the yellow sparks that seemed to keep them out, which trailed lazily from point to point, tracing an organic seeming swirling pattern.

With a grimace, I cut the power to my Focus and Exemplar, a strange heat making itself felt on my skin; looking at my hands, I noticed a faint light begin to leak out of me. Staring in fascination, I realised that this was the stolen Veritas; it seemed like stealing it from enemies and storing it up over time was not an option.

“In curious observation, you did not make it out of the fog, I take it, Hunter? You also appear to be glowing, which seems like an odd side effect.”

Looing away from the light escaping my hands, I looked at Reff with a rueful smile and shrugged.

“I didn’t know how much juice I had, and the fish are... there are a lot of fish, and they seem able to teleport. I think that rules out me, Toria and Dee. A cage won’t help and I was only able to dodge due to... advanced warning. I don’t think regeneration would work either, they seem pretty swarmy; it depends on how much you can heal, Dee, I guess.”

Toria just nodded, accepting what I said but Darina looked like I had affronted her in some way I was unable to identify.

“If I can heal a broken neck, I’m pretty sure I can survive a fish, Hunter.”

“I don’t doubt it, but can you survive, like, fifteen of them biting different parts of you, including your head, at the same time?”

“There’s only one way to find out, I’ll-”

“In pointed interruption, what of the glowing, Hunter?”

“Hey, I was-”

I spoke over the healer; she was just headstrong enough to try and I did not want her getting seriously hurt – or dead – over such a stupid thing. When we had met, she had been all offence, no defence and while she had learned caution since, she still had a tendency to think she could simply heal out of anything. But while she had healed a broken neck – more than once – I was not certain how she would do without a brain.

“I think that’s the Veritas escaping. Looks like it just... exits my system if I’m not actively using it. Seems like a waste, sorry Reff.”

“I’m going I-”

“With casual dismissal, it is fine, Hunter. It was worth the experiment, to know how it functions, even if it does not provide us with a means of exiting the city.”

“With scolding certitude, you should not attempt the mist, Darina. While I have every faith in your ability to regenerate, if something does happen from which you cannot recover, it would be wasteful, as even if you do make it, you would be unable to take us with you.”

Riffa’s words finally made Darina stop; she folded her arms with a sharp nod, her reddened face returning to its normally pale hue.

“Fine.”

“It seems like nobody in the city can leave, Ever Flowing. Don’t feel bad.”

“Toria's right, Dee. There’s no shame in not escaping the inescapable.”

“Do not call me Dee, idiot. I might not be able to catch you, but I know where you sleep.”

“You don’t see the irony at all, huh?”

“I’ll show you some irony, you slack-jawed-”

“In continued interruption, do you think my sister or I would fare better in the mist, Hunter?”

Deliberately ignoring Darina, who continued to insult me under her breath in frustration, I looked back at the mist surrounding the city and worked my mouth from side to side as I considered the question.

“I don’t know, Reff. They seemed about peak Foundation level, but beasts short of Pinnacle don’t actively use their energy to block, right? So, you might be able to make it. The same with your sand, Riffa. But, it’s not sure it’s worth the risk of death. Maybe try just a hand? It would still suck to lose, but not as much as... your life.”

“... Hunter, why did you not use your lightning, would that not have provided the same function?”

“I don’t know, Toria. My normal lightning would probably interact in a non-fun way with the mist; my red lightning might work, but there’s a lot of them. I could try again, but I’d need another boost. They’re not as fast as I am even at normal speeds, but they’d be a lot closer, and their numbers might make it impossible to dodge if it doesn’t work.”

“With grim certainty, I will try. If I lose my hand, it will not limit my fighting, as I can reform it from stone or lava. You – we all – should take no unnecessary risks.”

“With echoing agreement, I will also try. I too can default to my sculptures to fight, should I be damaged.”

“With simple denial, you will not, sister. I will take this risk; it is my responsibility as the elder. And our brother would break me across his knee if I allowed you to be harmed recklessly.”

“In casual dismissal, brother would not harm you over a hand. And besides you are not my superior, just my brother. I will do as I please, and as I stated.”

“With growing anger, you will not, Riffa, even if I have to subdue you.”

“With prideful irritation, you would not dare brother! I would never forgive you.”

“With-”

“Guys! Riffa can just send in a sand-clone, or extend a big sand arm in there. She doesn’t have to risk anything. Relax.”

The two risi looked at me for a moment, Reff looking irritated and Riffa serene despite her words. It had been a while since I had seen the two bicker, and it was normally pretty cute, but as irritated as I was with the whole situation, I did not want to let it get too out of hand.

After several moments, I received a nod from each of them before Reff assumed his normal-sized molten form, and Riffa formed both a sand clone and a set of her own armour formed of the same black sand as her homeland. Hers was suspiciously small for a person who was not actually going to physically place her own flesh arm into danger, but I did not say anything. She was an adult, and if she had not been dissuaded, she was unlikely to be, and I did not want Reff to actually attempt to restrain her.

I watched as the two of them stepped up to the wall and press their hands, just shy of the wrist into it, the sand puppet stepping bodily inside. Barely an instant passed before the both of them yanked their hands free, Reff with a muted roar of pain.

I did not see any blood, but I still rushed over, even as their sets of armour deformed and flowed into storage.

“What happened? Are you okay?!”

As I was not using my cultivation, Darina – now a Foundation stage – beat me to them, but as I arrived, I saw Reff’s hand covered in serious burns, the flesh blackened and red.

“With some agony, it appears as though the Wraith Fish are capable of eating the Experience from constructs. I lost control of the lava in the armour coving my hand.”

I watched as Darina began to work at healing the damage, Riffa hovering worriedly by her brother’s shoulder and Toria staring at the mist, a look of contemplation on her face.

It looked like we were stuck.