Chapter 274

Felling a Dragon (I)

Cain sipped water gently, his gaze dull, mind adrift elsewhere. Emma, sitting by his side, remained silent, caressing his hair gently. The former’s thoughts ran long and far, terrorized. He’d never forget, he knew, what he experienced back then. It was something people should never experience. It was breaking the human’s perception and replacing it with cosmic. Dreadful. Cold. Frigid, even.

The universe was unfeeling; it was antithetical to the human life. Everything was just a calculation, just a natural progression of events. There was no sympathy or empathy, no helping hand to reach out and pull you from the depths of the abyss. Rather, there was just the abyss-- and the unfeeling cold dragging the fallen souls further down.

He still wasn’t entirely certain how he hadn’t gone mad. Rather, he might have; after all, his brain still wasn’t capable of processing the length of time he spent in there. Memories were beyond fuzzy and hazy-- nary a whole one. For all he knew, he’d gone mad and recovered a thousand or a million times over. Not unlike the looping cycles, he might have experienced it all... but simply forgot.

Some things, after all, were hardwired in the human psyche-- very limited memory being one of them. No matter how much time had passed or how many thoughts he’d experienced, it was all pointless if he could only remember the tiny fraction of it all. Altogether, the entire experience would then, in extension, be defined by that fraction-- entirely disregarding the vast majority of what he had lived through.

Life itself was the same-- by the journey’s end, who remembers more than a tiny fraction of events that defined the living? Even more depressingly, however, Cain remembered fraction of a fraction. He only remembered the cold, the unfeeling hands and arms clutching him and his childish defiance.

“They’re here,” Emma’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts, his gaze sharpening. In the distance, behind the silver-dotted corner of the massive spire, he saw Kramer, Delilah, and their kid emerging. When they spotted him, their eyes widened, a look of relief and joy surging, one they quickly hid while scurrying over.

“Man, finally,” Kramer scoffed. “Is your job to keep us waiting, all the goddamned time?”

“Well, if it is, I ain’t getting paid to do it,” Cain replied, smiling lightly. “You owe me like four grand.”

“... glad you made it. What took you so long, anyway?”

“Oh, that? I just took a nap and forgot the time.”

“Ah, yes, the legendary nap. God, sometimes I really wanna sucker punch you,” Kramer sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Get in line,” Cain chuckled, standing up and stretching. “You learn anything interesting?”

“Yup,” Kramer nodded. “This place is basically a cosmic version of craigslist or something.”

“... huh?”

“Yeah,” Delilah joined, nodding. “Apparently, people and creatures from any number of worlds can literally just post a listing and it appears here as a ‘trial’... I’ve absolutely no clue how any of it works logistically, but apparently that’s what it is.”

“...” Cain frowned for a moment. “My trial, though, was literally nothing like that.”

“There are some that have essentially expired,” Kramer explained. “Or are very specific. Like Senna, for instance-- she got a trial that had her doing something on a world without life, but as a precursor to that life. On the other hand, if you meet no other soul, it’s likely that the trial’s expired, possibly because it’s never been cleared or even taken.” You’re... you’re fucking kidding me?!! What fuckin’ sadist cunt created that trial?!

“Looks like you got your butt burnt,” Delilah chuckled. “Ours was fairly easy, actually.”

“Ah, kick the man when’s already down,” Cain sighed bitterly. “It’s good to know, I guess, what the entire floor’s about.” the entire mystique of the floor was... vanquished, in that solitary, brief explanation. It was impossible that this hadn’t been unearthed previously, especially considering how quickly Kramer learned of it.

Cain didn’t know, however, that he was wrong on both accounts-- on his trial as well as the knowledge over what the floor was. Perchance, it was a blessing in disguise that he still dripped in ignorance.

Soon enough, the entire party regrouped, staggering the passersby and forcing them to round far off from the group. While everyone maintained their very well-practiced facade of ‘I don’t care what happens to Cain’, he was yet to become so socially numb to miss the signs of worry and relief. He felt truly blessed, surrounded by so many people who worried for him. Compared to his previous life... no, there was no comparison, none whatsoever.

“What’s next?” Elypso quizzed as everyone settled down.

“I found a fairly interesting trial,” Daniel replied. “With no limit as to how many participants it can have.”

“Oh?” Cain arched his brows, glancing inquisitively at him. He’d never heard of one such trial before.

“Yup,” Daniel nodded. “There wasn’t much info, just that it was combat-oriented and that it had no limit as to how many participants we can have. I figured I’d wait for all of us to regroup, just to be on the safe side.”

“Alright,” Cain nodded. “If everyone’s up for it, we can check it out after we eat.”

“Sure thing.”

“Sounds good.”

“This will be the first time all of us will fight together, eh?”

“Yup, it’s been a while since we had a group battle.”

“I kinda missed it...”

As everyone chattered away, Cain noticed Senna sitting next to him, her eyes glued to his. She hadn’t said much previously, remaining to the sides. She had a conflicted look, a faint sigh escaping her lips.

“I was worried,” she said.

“I am touched,” Cain replied.

“We all were, jackass.”

“... I know,” he said, smiling and tossing his arm around her shoulder, bringing her head against his chest, kissing the top of her head softly. “Sorry. Never meant to worry you.”

“... how bad was the trial, anyway, that you got stuck there for two months?” she quizzed.

“Pretty bad,” he replied. “I did meet a friend, though.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Though I only saw a formless silhouette, pretty sure it was a chick.”

“How’d you figure?” she asked.

“Giant tits.”

“... dude.”

“What?”

“I will tell mom,” she said with furrowed brows.

“Eh, mom knows I’m not into the milkers,” Cain shrugged it off. “Besides, that’s not the part about her that shocked me.”

“It’s not?”

“... she’s a Divine,” he said. “And an insane hag on top of that.”

“Why is it that it’s always you?”

“Hm?”

“Whenever one of us meets some crazy old thing, it usually wants to kill us and wipe us off the face of this world,” Senna elaborated. “You, on the other hand, seem to always be making friends left and right with these things.”

“It’s the charisma,” Cain replied. “I’m made of that stuff. You lot? All so stiff, rigid, woeful. I had high hopes for you, kiddo. But you’ve also become so serious.”

“You mean that I’m above treating everything as a joke like you?”

“Yeah, sure, that’s one benefit,” he said. “But you’re missing out on being able to befriend cosmic farts.”

“... I’ll pass, thanks.” Senna stiffened a smile, pulling away and sitting up. “As long as you’re okay.”

“... I will be,” he replied. “Now, it’s high-time we fought together again. It’s been so goddamned long.”

“Yup. All of us pretty much forgot how to fight with you,” she said. “So, don’t expect us to bend over and serve your needs.”

“I’m offended that you even considered a thought that that’s what I want of you guys.”

“... isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I still get to be offended. Anyway, don’t worry about it. I’m fairly adaptable lad.”

“Everyone ready?” Emma asked after everyone packed up. “A’right, Danny, lead the way.”

“Stop calling me Danny!”

“It’s either that or D’. And nobody wants that.”

“... ugh, fine.”

The group departed under the chortling laughter, one that barely subsided by the time they reached the arched gates under Daniel’s guide. The gate itself was largely indistinguishable from the others, save for perhaps the slightly lengthier inscription far up above. They paused in beneath it for a moment while Cain walked up. Checking it out, it was as Daniel said: a combat trial involving as many people as wanted. Glancing back at the group, he saw the eagerness in their eyes and smiled at it.

Before accepting the entrance, he took a swift glimpse at the reward he got from his previous trial, one that was, as per the ‘woman’s’ words, enhanced by her.

//Touch of Eons(N/A)

Level: 0

Requirements: Cain Gregory

Passive: permanently stops wearer’s aging

[Touched by Time] unleashed stored time that wearer was supposed to age through, creating an enclosed fabric within which all the living ages the amount equivalent to the 100 times of the stored time. The wearer, however, ages up half the stored amount of time instantaneously.

[Hymn of Eons] once a year, ring the inner bell to hear the hymn. It slows down time’s perception to a grinding halt for 30 seconds. It has no restrictions and it cannot be countered by anyone or anything.

Sighing and once again cursing out the Divine for affording him yet another utterly broken item, he put the description aside and elected to enter the trial, alongside everyone else. Him, Emma, Senna, Jamal, Daniel, Kramer, Delilah, their kid, Sigmund, Taima, Lek, Elypso, and Ethan-- thirteen altogether.

“Let’s do this shit, then,” Cain exclaimed as a bright flash of light blinded them all temporarily before affronting them directly into the trial.