Running straight at the wall of rats Tormacc barely jumped over their ranks, their sharp teeth nipping at his heels as he soared over them. Coming down hard, arms pumping, he tried to not let his hammer unbalance him and slow him down. He had been stupid, blindly following the rat into the trap. He had assumed they were mere beasts, only possessing the bare minimum intelligence. Evidently he had been wrong, and as he ran he tried not to look back, lest he slow down and the angry horde catch him.

He could feel the vibrations around him, the rats’ enraged squeaks bouncing off the walls as the sheer weight of their numbers shook the stone below. He had vastly underestimated how many of them there were; there had to be thousands of rats chasing him, and something told him he wasn’t going to outrun them. His fears were soon confirmed as he started to run into other rats in front of him, individuals jumping out at him, trying to trip him up and allow the main body of rats to catch up. He was able to swat them away, their reckless charges no match for his hammer. But the pace he had was unsustainable. Especially as the onslaught of rats grew, more and more appearing before him and causing him to waste valuable time dealing with them.

It wasn’t long before he got tripped up, a rat practically appearing under his foot while he was dealing with another attacking from the front. He swung his hammer behind him to deal with the surprise attack followed by Sudden Strike, wrenching his hammer around at another rat trying to impede his progress from the front. The momentum from the skill saved him, moving him forward and barely keeping him ahead of the rat horde. But as he looked towards the pathway ahead of him he only saw more and more rats, the vermin somehow able to get ahead of him in ever-increasing numbers.

He couldn’t slow down though. If he stopped, he was dead, the tide of enemies behind him sure to swallow him whole and eat him alive. With increasing difficulty he fought his way forward, using skills like Double Strike and Sudden Strike to try and force his way through the rats blocking his path. But eventually even that wasn’t enough, and with mounting horror he realized he wasn’t going to be able to run away, the rats fully surrounding him.

He swept his hammer around him, trying to buy time to think. There had to be a way out; he just needed to think outside of the box. All of a sudden it clicked, and after clearing the rats from his immediate vicinity he jumped, leaping almost two meters into the air. Closing his eyes for a brief moment to concentrate he even stopped breathing, tuning out the outside world and focusing inwards. A second later and he opened his eyes, a small smile on his face.

The normal course of events would dictate that once Tormacc jumped up he would fall back down, but as his momentum hit zero and gravity started to take over, he moved, not downwards, but sideways. In an impossible feat he flew through the air, reaching out with his hands to grab a ledge before starting his desperate climb up the side of a plateau.

A wild laugh escaped his mouth. His plan had worked! During that brief moment in the air he had concentrated inwards, focusing on his Fate Wheel and spending Essence to unlock Dash. It had been a gamble, but seeing how abilities like Sudden Strike defied the laws of physics he had bet on Dash doing the same thing. He had been paid off, the ability defying gravity and moving him to a ledge, allowing him to ascend a plateau and get a brief respite from his relentless pursuers.

He wasn’t out of the woods yet though, as the sounds from below him confirmed that the rats could indeed climb. He hadn’t tried scaling a plateau earlier for that very reason, as should the rats follow him up he would be truly trapped. But now he had no choice, his only option to try and buy time and secure immediate safety.

Reaching the top of the plateau, he turned around, his stomach sinking seeing the mass of stone rats swarming up behind him. He could only settle into a combat stance, readying himself to face his enemies once more. Thankfully, they were slow climbers, their weight not allowing them the same agility as normal rodents, and at first he was able to individually swipe them off the cliff as they entered his range. But as more and more rats neared the top he became unable to defend the sides, the rats reaching the top of the plateau from areas he wasn’t able to properly defend.

Backing up towards the center of the plateau, he took a quick glance at his Essence. Upon seeing fifty-seven sitting in the center of his Fate Wheel he didn’t hesitate to use it, investing it to unlock Cleave. With his new ability he moved once more to engage the rats.

Cleave exceeded his wildest expectations, the ability allowing his hammer strikes to hit multiple rats at once. It didn’t always kill them, but it blew them back, extending the impact range of his blows and granting him valuable space to avoid being flanked and brought down by sheer numbers.

Even Cleave had its limits though, and the flood of rats pouring onto the plateau only grew, their baritone cries grating on his sanity, forecasting his demise. He tried to ward them off and escape back down below, but looking around him, he knew if he tried to go back down it would be the last thing he did. There was no safe route, the whole plateau overrun with rats swarming up from the surrounding crevices.

In a final desperate bid for freedom he ran towards the edge, his reckless swings knocking rats flying. He reached the edge at a dead sprint, ignoring the claws slashing at his feet and legs. Gathering every single scrap of strength he had left he leapt, flying out over the crevice below. Reaching the arc of his jump, he activated Dash, aiming towards the plateau next to him.

He wasn’t going to make it. He could feel his stomach sink as he calculated the distance and realized he was just a meter short. In a final desperate attempt he used Sudden Strike, reaching out with his hammer for the wall in front of him.

With a crash he felt his hammer connect, digging into the stone wall of the plateau. It was all he could do to hold on, his body slamming into the wall, his weight only supported by his hands holding onto the handle of his hammer. He flailed his feet, desperately searching for footholds below him as he felt his hands slipping. His vision went dark for a second, the shock from the impact too much for his body to handle. But just as his hands were about to slip off his left foot found purchase on the rock and he was able to stabilize.

Barely taking time to catch his breath, he stored his hammer in his Spatial Bracelet and crawled up the cliff to the plateau above him. Hands reaching the edge, he pulled himself up, his body giving out as soon as he reached relative safety, lungs heaving for air. He couldn’t rest for long though, as glancing at the other plateau showed the rats already streaming back down, climbing down that plateau before coming for him on the new one.

Staggering, he stood, trying to channel Essence through his body to assuage his burning muscles. Looking around confirmed his fears; there was no plateau close enough to jump to. He had been lucky to reach this one, the two plateaus just close enough together for his skills to bridge the gap. But he knew if he tried to reach another plateau he wouldn’t make it, the gap bigger by at least a few extra meters.

His thoughts were chaotic, bouncing around in his head, trying to come up with a way forward. He had come this far. He couldn’t fail now.

Searching through his Spatial Bracelet revealed some rope and a pickaxe, but he didn’t have any throwing skills, and he didn’t think he would be able to throw either his hammer or the pickaxe with enough force to get a good enough grip on another plateau. The rock was hard, harder than normal rock, and he could only break it while using a skill or a full power attack, so unless there was a handy place to luckily catch the pickaxe or hammer on, he was out of luck.

He could hear the rats starting to scale his new plateau and he grew desperate, his breath coming in short rasping gasps. As he focused on what skills he had available, he realized he was missing something. He had new options. Turning inwards, he tried to calm down and visualize his Fate Wheel.

The skills in his Fate Wheel weren’t random, with the two new skills revealed by lighting up a section of his Fate Wheel often related to the ability he had just unlocked. There wasn’t always a direct connection, but there was some connection, and as he was able to calm down enough to picture his Fate Wheel he focused on the two abilities revealed from unlocking Dash.

He had to read them multiple times to truly process them. Dodge and Power Jump. Power Jump, similar to Cleave, was a tier three ability, costing fifty Essence to unlock. With trepidation, he moved his sight to the center of his Fate Wheel. Seventy-one Essence. Seeing that number he felt the tension drain out of him; he wasn’t going to die after all.

It took him three tries, but eventually he gathered the willpower necessary to select Power Jump, lighting it up. The ability gave him an improved jumping and landing ability, and after unlocking it and confirming what it did, he took off towards the edge of the plateau, activating his new skill and leaping into open space. The air swirled around him in eddies, caressing his skin as he practically flew, his new skill easily bridging the previously uncrossable distance between plateaus.

He came down hard, rolling onto the rock, his tired muscles unable to mark his landing despite the assistance of his skill. But he was safe, and as he lay there he could see the stone rats swarming onto the plateau he had just left, their angry cries laced with helplessness.

He still wasn’t out of the woods yet, and after a few brief moments of rest he got up again, staggering like a zombie as he tried to stand up straight. His vision was swaying back and forth, the stone around him rocking like a boat at sea. But he had to move as the rats weren’t giving up, already swarming to his new location.

He ran at an angle; his steps unsteady as he activated Power Jump to reach a new plateau. He came down hard once again, the ground not where he thought it would be when he tried to catch himself with his hands. But he had to keep going, so he stood up again, eyes out of focus. Plateau after plateau he leapt forward, single-mindedly focused on getting as far away from the stone rats as he could. He was delirious, his thoughts a jumble of terror at his near death and relief and his escape.

His determination to keep going only lasted for so long, and eventually Tormacc succumbed to the constraints of his beaten and battered body. He tried to get up, to set up his alarms and a proper campsite, but as soon as the idea of safety crept into his mind he let go and drifted off into oblivion.