Chapter 308

Ascendance (IX)

Cain, Lear, and Quinn found themselves stumbling into a dreary and dark forest, with fresh, wet coat of paint dripping off the edges of the leaves while the glistening grass bent under their boots. It was stupendously quiet, actually, cranking the already uncomfortable atmosphere even further. There was very little to see beyond the coat of the forest, and though Cain and Lear sensed nothing, Quinn suddenly lurched to an abrupt halt.

“What’s wrong?” Cain was the first to notice it, turning around and facing her. She was pale in the face, he realized, her lips trembling faintly.

“N-nothing,” it was brief, and having passed, she was uncertain if she even felt it to begin with or if it was her instincts going wild for a moment. “Just... thought I felt something.”

“If you need to go to the bathroom,” Cain joked. “The two of us can plug our ears and look away.”

“...” Lear sighed while Quinn looked at him oddly for a moment, shaking her head after the fact.

“What?” Cain shrugged. “I’m just sayin’. I’m not into that. And Lear--you’re not into it either, right?”

“Just... shut up,” Quinn said, walking forward again. “Where does this path lead to, anyway? We just kind of... strolled into here.”

“My goal is that big thing in the sky,” Cain said.

“Huh? Why?”

“Because I... I want to fight it?” Cain shrugged at Lear’s inquiry. “Seems like it would be a fun thing. We’ll have to shake off the dusty mitts following us, though. They seem to be mighty curious.”

“It’s quite a feat,” Quinn chuckled for a moment. “Being followed by six different groups.”

“It’s the confidence,” Cain said. “That we displayed heading in here. Lookin’ like we know the fuck’s going on.”

“Let’s hurry, then,” she said. “And lose them.”

“Eh,” Cain shrugged. “Just take it slow.”

The trio continued down the same path through the forest while occasionally spotting flowerbeds that made them all gasp in awe for a moment. Most of the flowers were dull in shade if quite varied in color, but what stood out about them were their sheer sizes--the smallest one they found was that size of a grown man’s head, at the very least.

Most looked like they were in the process of budding, at that, with their stems and leaves dominating most of the sight, flowers only beginning to bloom.

They’d also ran into other kinds of life--insects, for starters, all seemed to be one variance or another of a spider. The number of legs, sizes, the number of eyes as well as the vastness of the web they spun. It wasn’t until they crossed the edge of the forest and landed within a slew of cliffs orbiting a gaping pit in the center that they began encountering other forms of life.

Cain stood on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the gaping maw--he couldn’t discern whether it was natural or not. Down below, he saw five-six waterfalls bleeding from within the cliffs, spilling into a lake at the very bottom of the pit. It was a beautiful sight, sight that caused him to pause for a moment and contemplate.

It was within there that he realized... it was likely natural. It had the ‘nature’s symmetry’, as he liked to call it--a picturesque canvas that did blend together, but not in the way people tend to pull up symmetry. There were numerous asymmetries within the scope, what with the sizes of the waterfalls, heights from which they fell, the jagged and rugged and sharp edges of the cliffs, the presence of trees bending out of the cliffsides, some larger and some smaller...

“Beautiful,” he heard Lear mumble, and nodded himself before looking back up.

The buildings in the distance... intrigued him. This was a world that was once inhabited--light years more advanced than on Earth. He wanted to know just what happened for it to end up looking like this. Dead. Desolate. Abandoned like a stereotypical carnival in the middle of the woods.

“Should we check it out?” Quinn asked, pulling Cain back.

“Sure, no harm in it,” he nodded.

“Check out what?” Lear asked but quickly understood when he saw the two of them leap off the edge and into the pit.

He followed, letting the brash winds whip his cheeks cold. The fall wasn’t terribly long, luckily, likely not even two miles, and the trio landed on the shore of the lake. The shape of the pit was quite convex toward the bottom--like nuclear silos, in that the gaping hole at the top was the narrowest point of the entire structure.

The world down below was alighted with the firefly-like creatures buzzing about relentlessly as well as the brilliant gems shining either on the walls or while protruding from the ground like crystals. All of his light got bounced off the lake, making it appear even more resplendent and beautiful.

“These are brystal gems,” Lear mumbled, his voice echoing strangely as he picked up one of the gems from the ground--as soon as he did, however, the rock stopped shining.

“What are those?” Cain quizzed.

“Mana warehouses, of sorts anyway,” Lear replied. “But they need careful handling and a long time to be usable. On their own, they just draw Mana from their surrounding and circle it through. If touched by virtually anything, man, animal, or a plant, they, well, die.”

“... wow. Imagine dying upon being touched.”

“I thought there’d be more here,” Quinn said. “But it seems that most of the Mana imprint stems from them. This is... strange. The world is overloaded on Mana, if I’m being honest. The sheer quantities are like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a sensory overload,” Cain sighed. “It’s impossible to really scout out anything since everything’s triggering my alarms.”

“This world... is strange,” Quinn confirmed. “That thing we saw in the sky likely isn’t alone. Wherever there’s an overabundance of Mana, there you’ll find lifeforms exploiting it to the highest degree.”

“... oh? So, what you’re saying is--”

“What I’m saying is that the world will be dangerous,” Quinn interrupted swiftly. “And not whatever fabricated fantasy of heroism you have in your head. It’s one thing to deal with other Conquerors--we at the very least know what they’re capable of. But against a creature we’re meeting for the first time? I’d appreciate if you didn’t drag us into your suicidal fantasies.”

“You seem to have a very misaligned view of me,” Cain pouted.

“How so?”

“You’re assuming I wouldn’t absolutely mop the floor with those things.”

“...”

“...” both Lear and Quinn sighed, having tempered their expectations already.

“Oh, wow, I was quite certain that would have pushed some buttons,” Cain chuckled. “Looks like I’m growing complacent. That would have gotten some reaction out of my friends, though.”

“... I’ve never seen you fight, and don’t know the extent of your abilities,” Quinn said. “But I’ve seen strong bend and break often, Cain. Caution is the mother of survival.”

“... oh, trust me, I know,” Cain smiled bitterly for a moment. “Don’t worry about me. We ought to worry about them, though.”

Cain’s warning was a few seconds late as even Lear had noticed something was different, looking up. From the gaping hole in the sky, a pair began to descend, wrapped within the mist of white, their features hidden. What shocked Cain was that he was incapable of actually seeing past the mist--only able to discern the two silhouettes.

They landed on the shoreline of the lake as well, near the trio, putting both Quinn and Lear on guard. On the other hand, Cain remained relaxed, curiously inspecting the two newcomers. These two were the ones Quinn mentioned being unable to defeat. The two approached casually, though maintaining both the mist as well as their guard up, stopping some twenty feet from Cain who was the closest to them.

“... you’ve secured yourself a fine shield, Q’,” a voice coming from the mist was morphed, as though a blend of two extremes of high and low pitch.

“Still too embarrassed to show your face in public, K’?” Q? K? Yup, Quinn fucked one of these two, 100%.

“Forgive me,” the voice continued. “For not having a platitude of a whore.” Hot damn!

“Oh, all is forgiven,” Quinn said. “Not all of us, after all, have assets worth showing off.”

“Assets? Oh, you mean those bags of fat? Please--don’t flatter yourself.”

“Yes, I mean they and these,” Quinn shifted her behind and pointed at it. By this point, Lear was stunned into silence while Cain started snickering.

“Alright, alright, before this devolves into an even more embarrassing contest,” Cain interrupted quickly. “Let’s chat about why you guys came down here after us.”

“... for treasures. Did you take them?”

“Yes,” Cain nodded, his expression deadly serious. “We stuffed them into Quinn’s assets.”

“...”

“... pfft.”

“Oi!” Quinn growled, yet only as means of covering up her laughter.

“Jokes aside,” Cain continued. “If by treasure you mean me, then, by all means--come digging for me. Alas, I must warn you, I am a man taken and loved. I’ve got two daughters, and many step-sons-and-daughters, with plans on adopting quite a few more in the future. So, I won’t be an easy man to sway, I’m afraid.”

“... I’ve come to propose a temporary alliance,” the voice’s words shellshocked Quinn while surprising Cain.

“Alliance? What for?”

“We’ve discovered a mutated Byort,” the voice’s words startled Quinn back into the conversation.

“What?! Are you sure?!”

“Yes, I do have eyes, after all. Though few would believe, considering you.”

“No, no, don’t start that again,” Cain quickly interjected. “What is Byort and can you eat its meat?”

“...”

“... I must ask--does it come naturally to you or do you go out of your way to purposefully say the stupidest thing possible?” Quinn quizzed.

“Mostly natural,” Cain replied, stroking his chin. “Ever since I was a wee little boy, I’ve had an uncanny talent--taking a piss out of everything. Except my penis, actually. For good number of years, I pissed through my eye. Most of the kids were convinced I was crying, though, and they called me a little bitch. Man, bullying was quite brutal. So brutal--”

“Stop. Just... please. Stop,” seeing that he was getting quite a bit into it, Quinn interrupted him before he could go any further. “Shared spoils?”

“Of course,” the duo responded. “Unlike some, we do not stink of greed.”

“...”

“I once stunk of greed--but it turned out I just stepped into dog shit.”

“... let’s go,” Quinn, Lear, and the duo audibly sighed in unison, like they practiced for a solid afternoon, and started flying up, seemingly entirely disinterested in whether he followed or not. Cain cracked a smile. Yup, childish crap can break everyone. Now, let’s go kill some dangerous shit!