I knew I had fucked it up when the pit walls appeared in front of my eyes.

A wave of frost for the amount of Shade that I had just used to transfer the three of us exploded around me and, after turning into snow, started falling down.

I followed the gentle falling snow with my eyes, and it kept falling; we were still too high up.

The transfer had not gone wrong; that had gone perfectly; Aisha and Nova were with me.

But I hadn't timed it right.

The pit was tall, and we found ourselves much too high in the air, the ground more than a hundred meters farther down.

I had to right my misdeed, or we would die or break all our bones, or likely the sum of the two.

Transferring again was the only answer, but both my arms were busy holding Aisha and Nova.

There was only one way to solve this, but first, I had to not let myself be taken by panic.

"Put something in my mouth, hurry!" I shouted.

The first to react was Nova; she took a Crystal from her satchel and placed it in my mouth.

It was much too big; I crunched it down, I could already taste the blood while the Flow inside the Crystal rampaged in my mouth and illuminated it, but I could not stop.

I spit it as strongly as I could have ever spit anything.

And much to my surprise, the Trick Shot formed.

The piece of Crystal hit the massive wing of the Primal, which, even if not fully open, covered almost half the Pit's ground.

An instant before the Crystal hit the wing, I transferred us, and we rolled ungraciously over the wing’s soft tissue; it was too damn tough to be a normal wing, but at least it was not the ground.

We scrambled up; I lost quite a few of my arrows with the hasty fall, but we had to be fast; we had to leave.

I had seen people come out from the tunnels in front of us, and we would have to do the opposite.

As I pointed to the exits, I spit the remaining pieces of Crystal, which, thankfully, had already started degrading.

"You're crazy," Aisha said as we ran toward the tunnels.

Behind us, arrows, spears, bolas were trying to reach us, but we were way too far. However, we weren't far enough for the once again rising undead that the chief and his assistant had pointed at us.

"Shut up and blast those undeads!" I answered.

Thankfully, we soon entered into one of the tunnels, the threat from above had been denied, but the undeads kept coming at us. We would have to hurry.

"Come close," Nova shouted, "I can heal you!"

"There's no time for now,” I replied, blood trickling down the corners of my mouth, “later!"

So we ran, but I had to take Nova and Aisha by their hands and lead them after a while. Although the presence of Flow illuminated the area in an ethereal way, it was much too faint for them to run properly in a dangerous tunnel such as this.

Yet as we kept running and the undead started closing in on us, I smelled something that Synaesthesia showed me as a huge, massive pile of shit.

I knew that place; I knew where we were headed.

"Nova, Aisha!" I said, trying not to shout, as I used my ability to heal myself, consuming my entire clock-arm's pinky, "We are going to encounter the damn Sand-Wyrm Titan. Stay sharp and stay close!"

However, before that, we would have to deal with our following.

The perfect place to fight them showed up when the tunnel started growing wider, and enough space to fight such big creatures went to our advantage.

"Now we fight!" I shouted, letting go of their hands.

With the tail of my eyes, I saw Nova at my left manifest her Blades while a Shield of Flow solidified in front of her; Aisha stood by my right side, accumulating Flow on her palms.

I manifested a Shadow Crystal Blow arrow and readied my shot.

When the slimy and shouting undeads finally broke through, we released.

The first thing that hit them was a wide wave of Aisha's flare. She had chosen to release it as widely as she could, likely to hit them as a whole; she had more experience than me on how a mage would have to fight, so I could not judge her.

However, her attack did precisely what was expected of it, the undead started screaming, like Wildhogs; their mad rush slowed down to a crawl, and many of them stumbled down; then it was my turn.

I conjured arrow after arrow, trying to hit as many of them as I could. I could count at least twenty of the creatures.

Wave after wave, explosion after explosion, weakened the horde of undead, then it was Nova's turn.

She released a cute roar to crystallize her courage; then she launched at the opposing creatures using her Form of the Spiral.

I could see her move about the battlefield, unleashing her searing blades on the undeads and literally turning their limbs to cinders, mowing through them, or in some cases even making their bodies explode.

Of course, her Flow blades were twice as powerful against Shade constructs; undeads were not creatures anymore, but constructs, Shade constructs.

I lowered my bow, and looking at me with surprised eyes, Aisha lowered her hands; we let Nova do the dirty work of ending them all. And she did; she did a perfect job of it.

When probably less than a couple of minutes later, she stopped, panting, wheezing, she was covered in filthy undeads’ remains, and she looked at me, her eyes crazed.

"How… How did I do?" She asked as she puffed.

"You were perfect, little monkey. A perfect undead exterminator."

She giggled before her eyes rolled back to her head, and she fainted, Flow blades disappearing as she did.

"Nova!" I shouted.

"Don't worry, Loke, it's the level-ups; although we all shared the Soul fractions, they were way too much for her. She's going to Class up," Aisha said.

She was right.

I placed Nova on my shoulder, and we started running again.

"The Flow is growing thinner fast," Aisha said after a while.

I nodded, but she would not have been able to see; the darkness reigned supreme for the moment.

Nova was still knocked out, resting on my shoulder, and I, too, had faintly noticed the presence of Shade grow more prominent around us.

It was likely that we were about to reach our objective.

Yet the tunnel had grown much, much bigger, big enough to let a Titan with the Earth-Wyrm size easily pass through it, and when, finally, a dim light started appearing in the distance, I was confident that we had reached the place.

"Don't make noise; we're almost there," I whispered to Aisha.

If I recalled correctly, the creature had a tall Perception Attribute.

However, in the next moment of silence, it was my Perception that picked something up.

We had been followed; people were catching up to us.

For the love of the Sun, couldn't they give us a break…

Still, we were near our objective, we would soon be free of them, or maybe not, we would have to see.

It was just a couple of minutes later that we reached the humongous cave with the Titan, and we had the nastiest surprise of them all.

"No…" Aisha said, dismayed.

But it couldn't have been otherwise.

In front of us, a huge Sand-Wyrm Titan lay peacefully down, many more ghosts littered the area, way too many for any sane man to want to gaze upon, but Aisha couldn't see them, only I could.

She was dismayed because she had understood their ploy, the villagers' plan, and why they were so sure of themselves.

For what lay before us was an undead, a Titan undead.

(Pet) Undead Sand-Wyrm, (Titan) Level 122 (8.958.214.720/122.000.000.000)

Durability: 100%

Health: 0%

Stamina: 0%

Agility: 85

Constitution: 421

Strength: 379

Focus: 223

Perception: 412

Willpower: 0

Strength: Acid, Constitution, Strength, Senses, Size, Undead

Weakness: None

Abilities: Acid Spit, Sandquake, Fear, Fulminating Stare, Sand Shift, Recover, Sand Dive, Taunt

This massive Shade creature, classified as Titan, was once a Flow creature capable of reshaping entire regions. It still can, but it has been killed, turned into an undead, and tamed.

The Wyrms are subspecies of the Dragons, but by no means must they be underestimated; they are capable of unleashing the same damage a flying Dragon could, but instead of doing it from the above-ground, they do it from below.

One Sand-Wyrm's presence in a region is enough to consider the possibility of abandoning camps, household, and stubborn friends and leaving for a more secure abode.

Given their mass, their Strength cannot absolutely be underestimated, even in the presence of fortifications. However, the bigger these creatures are, the lower their Agility gets; as long as they are out of their element, that's a given, but nothing can stop them if they are in their element.

Crystal weight: 0.500kg x 1000

Dark Crystal weight: 1kg x 100

Evercrystal weight: 10kg x 10

Eternal Dark Crystal weight: 100kg

I stared at it in awe.

A full tamed Titan, exactly what we had talked about that day by the treehouse.

This creature had a null Willpower Attribute, but it had already been tamed; I didn't know much more about taming, but once a creature was tamed it could not change owner; and if I had to guess who that owner was… only one figure came in my mind: the devilish chief's sister, Kaleeki. She was a Tamer.

"Loke, they didn't tame this creature, did they? Please tell me they didn't," Aisha said.

"I don't want to lie to you," I answered, still gawking at it.

"Fucking shit…"

It was the first time I heard her curse, so I couldn't help but chuckle at that; it was simply too strong to resist.

"What are you laughing about!? That thing, coming from below, could give problems even to Sundoor… although the city's foundations are much too strong to let even a Titan in easy... Still, it could easily destroy the Sand-Crawler!"

"Yeah, I know, I'm not laughing because of that; I was laughing because it was the first time I heard you curse," I was indeed still chuckling.

"Anyway, let's go; those fuckers are still coming at us, way too close for comfort."

Although the Titan was sleeping, we had to hurry because if it was me, I would have sent the Titan's owner to follow us to its lair; so Kaleeki might have been upon us shortly.

The cave was massive, and we had to cross it. I knew that leaving from the top would have been a stupid mistake, simply because it was still night and because the villagers would catch up to us in no time. So there was really only one way to take the tunnel that led us to the dead Shadowmancer's cave.

The cave was at my bow's shooting range when our pursuers reached up to us.

"I can hear them," I said, "here, hold Nova."

"STOP!" Came Kaleeki's voice, and somebody else started trying to force their will on us, likely a Medium, like Roana.

I could feel myself grow stiffer, but my Willpower was high, and so was Aisha's.

"Flare them!" I shouted, "The Titan's waking up!"

"Gobbler! Eat them!" Kaleeki shouted.

Although the pressure mounting slowed down my movements on my Willpower, I readied my bow, aiming at the cave, yet I couldn't help but follow the creature's movement with the tail of my eyes. It would be upon us in a few short seconds.

For Sun's sake, it really is a massive beast…

Yet, I freed my arrow soon later.

"The cave! Attack the cave!" Kaleeki shouted.

"Son of a Moon walker!" I answered as I realized her intentions.

When the arrow I had shot was about to hit the insides of the cave, I embraced Aisha, and we disappeared.

Whichever were Kaleeki’s intentions, I had to take that chance; it was our only way out.

But when we transferred, the massive Titan was upon us.

It clashed against the cave's wall, literally destroying it.

We were already in, and I had started running because I already knew it was gonna happen, but I was not prepared for the power behind that tackle.

The attack against the cave’s walls felt like a massive explosion.

I was literally thrown forward from the air displacement, and the tunnel started shaking wildly.

I stumbled on the ground, and Aisha and Nova fell forward, rolling farther on the insides of the cave and away from the falling boulders.

As for me, I was hit in the head by a rock, then buried alive by many others; my conscience fazed out the next moment.

Darkness.

Darkness all around me.

No, I could see through the darkness, which meant that something blocked my vision, what was it?

Sound, I could hear a sound.

Rustling.

Tumbling.

Yet it was… weak… suffused.

Synaesthesia manifested.

What I heard was dust.

Rock dust and sand, gently falling near me.

A vague memory told me that before it fell gently, it was falling strongly, like an avalanche from Murk mountains during the harsh Shade Season.

—A memory, a pleasant memory.

Nova, gramps, and I; sitting near the fire, covered in fur coats… oh, Nova was so young, so small, so cute… gramps was still plague-free; his smile was so warm.

How much time ago was that?

I still had my arm…

A long time ago then, a long time…

So, where was I now?

Where… was I at this moment?

Right… the Titan.

I had to still be in that cave, didn't I?

So, I was alive. I thought I had died, crushed by the rocks.

But I could hear whispers, which meant that I still lived.

Maybe I just had to sleep a little more; I would die then…

My eyes were too heavy.

"What? Is that how you give in? Is that really all you've got?" Said the light.

"What the- why am I here?"

I was full of energy as I floated in the darkness.

"Loke, We chose you for a reason. Not to give in because of a few boulders."

"You chose me? Are you… the Moon, Nova has been talking about?"

The light laughed.

"No, no, that's Shade. You can call me… Flow."

"Call you Flow? Why would I call you… Flow…"

It was impossible, was it? It couldn't be what I was thinking about.

"You are a smart young man. Yes, what you are thinking about is exact. I am that Flow. I am Flow."

I…

I didn't know what to say.

"But you can call me Sun if you wish. Everybody does so, so I don't complain. Of course, I've become infinitely more powerful than a simple star. Still, it helps your kind put me into perspective. After all, without the Sun, you wouldn't be able to dwell on Earth, and it's the same concept if we are talking about Flow, and… but enough talking of me. I tire of it pretty quickly. Let's talk about you."

"What- What’s Earth? Wait! What about me?"

"Are you ready to get up? There's such a long road ahead of you, you have yet to commence your adventure, and you are so young. So why don't you put a little strength in those metaphorical knees and get up."

"I… I can? I thought I had died?"

"You haven't, but I guess you have to thank those villagers and their abominations. If it hadn't been for them, you wouldn't have unlocked the Perk that will allow you to retain your life. So, here these whispers are yours."

"But, Loke, I don't have to remind you, right?"

"Remind me? About what?"

"If you don't make the right choice…”

“I die, yeah.”

“Yes, you die, Loke."

"Yeah, we've been through that; thank you kindly for reminding me..."

Flow gave a burst of hearty laughter, but then I was bombarded with whispers. I had to condense them.

You've earned 895,632 Undead's Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next TechnoHunter level: 139,876/380,000

Class TechnoHunter has leveled up to 39. You have gained 1 Attribute point. Where will you invest it?

You've earned 655,508 Undead's Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next TechnoHunter level: 139,876/390,000

Class TechnoHunter has leveled up to 40. You have gained 1 Attribute point. Where will you invest it?

You've earned 265,508 Undead's Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next TechnoHunter level: 265,508/400,000

"Where- where should I place the points?"

"Why do you ask me? You are a Hunter, are you not?"

"Right… Perception then."

You have unlocked a Skill Perk: Hunting Tactics Major Perk.

Yet, they did not stop there. The whispers continued.

Trick Shot Passive Perk will be promoted. Agility bonus x 2. Choose one of the following Perks to be added to it:

Fortified Stamina: Your Stamina doubles.

Shadow Speed: At night or in places dense with Shade, your bonus Agility will double.

Shadow Steps: At night or in places dense with Shade, your steps make no sound, even while running.

No cold or ice resistance, I should have known. Still… both Fortified Stamina and Shadow Speed are Perks I could use, although I don't really have any Skills that make use of Bonus Agility, which means that Fortified Stamina should be my best bet... also, I guess to get out of this place, I'll need a lot of Stamina... talking about making the right choices...

Let's go with that.

And yet, whispers, Skill had no meaning in front of the revelation that this being had just given to me.

I had to understand.

"But… Flow…" I asked, "Why do you speak to me? Also, why Flow? I'm cursed, blessed, whatever but by Shade. Is it not?"

I could hear Flow sigh.

"Doesn't the light cast shadow on the walls of your house, boy? Wouldn't darkness simply not exist in the absence of light?"

"Yeah… I guess so."

"Then why do you ask?"

For Sun- For Abyss's sake, he was a nasty one to talk to.

I couldn't help but question him then, and in my defense, he, she, they, whatever it was, was being a real prick.

"Will you always be such a smart ass? Answering questions with questions... You know it's dull and also unpleasant, right?"

Flow exploded into laughter then, but he did not answer.

The light simply washed over me, blinding me.

I opened my eyes to the darkness of the cave, which soon grew light thanks to my Night Sight.

Still like before, immobile, blocked by the boulders, suffocated by the thick air.

I checked my body; there wasn't much I could move… the only thing still working was my clock-arm.

I sighed. It would have to be enough.