<>(Zack)<>

"Hey, Pervert!" I cheerfully greet Jesse. "Look what I managed on my way home last night! Crimson Guide!"

A crimson orb the size of my fist forms in front of me, and I grin at Jesse.

"And even though I was only at 6% to Level 5 of Dark Squire," I add. "There was something called-"

"Ability Adjustment?" He asks.

"Yep!" I nod, dismissing the spell.

It adjusted me to Level 5 Dark Squire, as that's apparently the minimum someone is supposed to learn it at.

"Huh," he looks shocked. "I wasn't aware Crimson Guide had that! That explains why only Dark Squires and Dark Knights can learn it, then! I'll have to ask Nik-"

"He said he wasn't aware of it," I interrupt. "Just that he knew he'd never heard of anyone earning it before Level 7 Dark Squire, and that it was normal to finally learn it at Level 10, even though it's necessary for Dark Warrior."

"So, Zacky," he smiles. "What can I do for you?"

Contract Zulni's Rot, so that you rot while still alive in a long, painful, agonizing death that lasts for months before you succumb, because there's no cure or treatment for it.

That was a fun one to discover existed here.

That, and the fact that, just like Resurrection, the cure is believed to not exist. One day, I will prove it does, just like I will for the Skill for Resurrection.

"Just wanted to show off my new Skill and Level," I grin. "See you!"

I skip out of the Trading Post and make my way out of town, leaving behind a trail of dead Slimes and Rats on my way to the forest.

There, I begin my usual hunt, entering into what is going to be a long, long grind for me.

The days pass, and the leaves turn fully, then fall. Big Flame continues to be absent, focusing on whichever Boundary needs his undivided attention. I continue to push for Levels as hard as I can. Finally, three days before my self-imposed deadline, I reach my goal.

Dark Squire Level 10. Looking at the requirements to advance, I find that I was right – I needed Knife Mastery for Dark Warrior. That, and Crimson Guide and Fireball, all at Level 1 or higher. Then the three for Dark Squire at Level 4 or higher.

The boosts Dark Warrior grant me for Leveling it are the same as Dark Squire, but with two additional points. So instead of one of each for Strength, Endurance, and Vitality, I receive one of each for Strength, Endurance, and Wisdom, and two Vitality.

I select the Class, then receive the boosts. Then, I stretch. After that, I walk back to town, because the sun's starting to set.

By the time I reach town, the sun's long set and snow has begun to fall. Small flakes, just here and there. I reach Jesse, and he congratulates me on my advancement.

"Thanks," I tell him. "Some random adventurer owes me a full gold."

"His name's Adam," Jesse informs me.

"Good," I say. "Let him know I'll be looking for him, Pervert, because I did it several months short of what our deal was."

Before Jesse responds, I dump my loot on the counter and tell him to exchange it out for me. Once he does, I head to the local tavern to celebrate my advancement by myself, though a few of the adventurers approach me to do it, too.

I like my form of celebration, which is eating a good meal cooked by a professional.

Not that I'm half-bad, considering I've been cooking for myself. I've adapted to it pretty well and have managed to not kill myself, and I think it tastes great. Therefore, I'm a good cook.

Not an expert or anything, just good.

Once I finish my meal, I head home, wash my clothes, then soak for awhile before getting out, drying off, and changing into my night clothes. That done, I head to the room with the firepit and get a decent fire going, curling up in front of it with a blanket wrapped tightly around me.

It's cold, but I'm still not going to waste my heat pebbles and stuff on myself. It's not too cold for this to keep me warm.

As I focus on meditation and increasing the amount of elements merged into my Sacred Crystal, I begin to drift off.

The chaotic flows of existence have been altered. The hands of fate have changed.

I bolt upright. That was a voice in my head, yet at the same time, a message in my vision. Not two separate things, though – they were a single thing, and yet… not.

What the hell was that? And what did it mean?

I attempt to manifest myself into Big Flame's temple, so I can talk with him about it, only I find myself repelled. Dammit. Whatever's keeping his attention, he still doesn't want visitors.

I could use the same connection I passed through into his Temple to enter another, but… I'm not sure I want to do that right now. I don't really know the others. He referred to Big C as 'Wisdom', so he'd probably be the one to ask, but…

I don't know. I could probably ask Big Breeze, too. I'd probably be more likely to get an answer from Big Breeze than his counterpart, anyway.

Wrapping myself back up, I settle back down in front of my fire and close my eyes. No use worrying about it, I'll just ask Big Flame when he finally finishes whatever he's doing.

My mind takes a long time to wind down and allow me to sleep, but once it does, I drift into dreams of a possible future.

A boy around twelve or thirteen stares up at Big C. He's dressed in black skinny jeans and a black tee, black skater shoes on his feet. He has straight, dark brown hair and bright, azure eyes. He's lean, but toned, a sign of an active kid.

The boy's slight smile and the vibe of the air in the dream tells me that the ancient being is frustrated, likely by something the boy said.

"So?" The boy asks. "You gonna answer, or what?"

You are as bad as Zack, I swear, Big C sighs in exasperation. No, wait – I take that back. No one is as bad as Zack. But you definitely compete with him.

"Who's Zack?" The boy asks.

The biggest pain in the- Big C begins, but cuts himself off, realizing that his comment would be unbecoming of his facade. Another Adventurer. You two would do well together. That, or destroy the world. I'm not sure which is better. Will you accept the offer?

"I don't know," the boy smirks. "Getting to keep living sounds like a sweet deal, but I don't really know about this whole 'kill monsters to live happily' thing. Nor not remembering anything. Will I at least get to eat six meals a day?

You didn't eat that much in-oh, never mind! Big C groans. It's useless.

"As useless as a guy who just floats all day?" The boy asks, and I can sense Big C's annoyance aimed at the boy, who ignores it as if it's just a bug flying around. "Sure, I'll accept it. How much you gonna pay me?"

I already told you that you aren't getting paid for this! Big C responds. You-never mind. It's useless. Congratulations on your new life, and all that. Goodbye.

The Sacred Temple and Sacred Crystal fade away, the boy finding himself standing beside a tree at night. A very familiar-looking tree.

I snap my eyes open, waking from the vision. I wiggle out of my blanket and look into the yard, but there's no one there. After staring at the tree for several minutes, I sigh, then cocoon myself back into the blanket, wiggle closer to the coals, then return to sleep.

When I wake, I fix myself a hot breakfast, then make my way to the Dark Temple. Two inches of snow coats the ground, and it continues to lightly fall. Hopefully, this doesn't cause too many problems when fighting.

At the Temple, I walk through, hoping Nik is here. Since Big Flame isn't communicating, Nik doesn't necessarily know when I'm on my way, so he can't time himself to be here. That said, he does still normally wait for me.

But he usually makes his appearance before I enter the temple itself, so him not being around when I arrive is concerning.

After half an hour of searching, I find him kneeling in front of the altar, where Big Flame's presence is the strongest.

Maybe I should've searched here, first.

You're a fucking moron, Zack.

I wait, but after ten minutes of it, I get antsy. I'm not used to waiting like this, and Nik isn't moving, almost like a statue.

"Nik?" I say, and he jumps slightly, snapping to look at me. "Don't behead me, I was just not sure if you were alive or had become, like, petrified or something. You haven't moved in ten minutes."

"I was in Dark Meditation," he stands, turning to face me properly. "It's something you wouldn't be able to… congrats on your advancement. I'm sure Adam will try to avoid you as long as possible. Rumors of your haggling prowess have spread, and he doesn't want to cough up the gold. So he'll be thoroughly scared of your approach."

I grin at him, then remember why I was looking for him.

Well, the new reason, I already forgot the reason I was coming to talk with him.

"What were you in Dark Meditation for?"

"Big Flame," he answers. "I'm a bit concerned by his silence. I was using Dark Meditation in an attempt to reach him."

"He said he wouldn't be reachable," I remind him.

"Normally," he explains. "When Big Flame is like this, we can communicate with him for three hours every two weeks, and make our offerings and perform the proper sacrifices and such and receive an actual response to them. It's been more than two weeks, and that period hasn't come and gone, and it's always exactly two weeks from when he sends that notification."

So something's wrong, then. If Big Flame didn't do something he always does… what is so bad it's pulling his attention away from everyone else to the point he won't even give that temporary contact? The old Dark Knight in front of me looks genuinely concerned.

"Big Flame's presence is as steady as ever," I observe, both the flames and his presence in the room the same as they have always been. At least, for me. "So I don't think it's too much to worry about."

"Maybe," Nik says. "But I'm still concerned. I have the closest connection to him of all the Dark Knights, so they requested that I attempt to contact him. When supplies arrive in the next couple of hours, six more Dark Knights will be arriving, all of them with a high affiliation to His Blazingness, and we'll perform the Dark Meditative Chant, a group version of Dark Meditation, in the hopes of contacting him."

Seems a bit extreme.

I step up to the altar and draw my knife, quickly and expertly slicing my arm, then returning my knife to its sheathe. I hold my arm over the flames and allow my blood to drip down into them.

Where my blood touches, the dark red flames turn violet, but only for a moment. After several seconds of this, the flames around my arm form almost tentacles of fire, wrapping around my arm and practically drinking my blood, turning violet as it does.

As the flames accept my self-sacrifice, I focus on my power of visions. I've never attempted this before, never attempted to force a vision, but I pray to whatever being allowed the Crystals to be that it works.

After several long seconds of the flaming tentacles drinking my blood, my surroundings change.

I see in all directions around me at once, hovering above my surroundings. A warm, red light illuminates the area around me, dark red chains with black runes etched into them extending from my avatar, rooting me to the ground.

No… not my avatar… this is… I am in Big Flame's manifestation in another Boundary. Power is flowing from him through the chains and into the ground. We're not in a Dark Temple, but rather, outside, in a large clearing in a forest.

A dozen or so men and women clad in the armor of the Dark Knights mill about, looking at the edges of the clearing nervously. It's around a hundred yards in total, though after around seventy yards, there's a shimmering, translucent barrier of swirling red and black. Lines of crimson energy run from the chains to the barriers.

I feel a rage burn within me. They tricked him into manifesting himself, just so they could chain him down and bind him.

"They didn't," Big Flame's voice enters my mind. "This is… an interesting experience, Zack. I never expected you to manage to do something like this."

What's going on?

"Other than my favorite Dark Knight somehow managing to cast his vision into my manifestation in another Boundary?" He asks. "In what should be an impossible feat? I've been forced to manifest myself here to protect my Dark Knights in this Boundary. The barrier is concealing their location and powers, making it impossible for others to find them. The other Crystals are working furiously to enable my people to return."

These are the last Dark Knights here, aren't they?

"Unfortunately," he confirms. "Alexander has managed to turn everyone against the Dark Knights and Blood Priests – the latter of which have no living Adventurers with the Class of, outside of three of the Dark Knights here."

His focus hits three of the Dark Knights at once, two of them women, one of them an old man, all three clad in armor and equipped with swords and knives, not staffs.

"We aren't sure how long this will take," he tells me. "But we're all unable to contact other Boundaries until I can release this manifestation. It isn't like my normal manifestations, in which I'm simply projecting an avatar of myself. Instead, I am actually partially here. The others have all done the same. In order to perform this, our Sacred Temples become sealed off, and we can't even contact each other or travel between."

That explains why I couldn't enter his, then. I guess that means I won't be able to enter the others, either.

"Yeah," he says. "Sorry about that. I would've mentioned it if I could, so you didn't feel rejected or ignored, but I can't communicate outside of here. Intellect and Wisdom are the only ones who can have anyone pass through them, and that's because they're the ones people pass through to enter the Boundary after death or when they die in the Boundary."

Intellect… is that Big Breeze?

"Big Breeze?" He asks. "Ah, you're referring to Dark of Air?"

Yeah.

"Yeah, that's him," he answers. "You pass through his Temple if you die in the Boundary. Or in reality, but it's a little bit differently, then, because of where you're coming from. You get diverted to Big C if you are able to exist in the Boundary."

"My Lord," a Dark Knight who appears to be in his thirties, with a broad chest and muscular arms approaches, bowing. "Is everything alright? You've been speaking with yourself for the last few minutes."

"Actually," Big Flame says. "I've been speaking with my favorite Dark Knight. He's managed to cast his psychic vision here to communicate with me. He's in another Boundary, and because of my manifestation here, I'm unreachable out there. This is impressive, and only increases his likability to me.

"Anyway," Big Flame returns his attention to me. "It might be several more months before I can release my manifestation. Don't worry too much about me, though, Zack – there isn't a thing in any realm of existence that could damage me or bind my powers, I promise.

"Before you run out of energy," he comments, probably sensing how low I'm getting. Despite my immense pool of energy and stamina, this contact is draining me fast, and I'll probably pass out shortly. "I'll ask that you pass word on to everyone that we are doing alright, as well as that it might be several more months before we can perform any contact. Not just me – all of us. And please inform Nik that I could sense him in his Dark Meditation, but even the Dark Meditative Chant won't allow me to reach them."

Yes, Greatest Flame.

Hey… have you basically revealed to them here all this stuff you've told me? Won't that cause a problem?

"Nah," he answers. "They can't actually understand me unless I'm directing it to them. Though I suppose they'll have the knowledge there are more Boundaries, but with it coming from Dark Knights, it'll likely remain a Dark Knight thing for a long while, even if others hear of the story.

"Anyway," he continues. "You're about to pass out, so goodbye, Zack, and good luck. And please inform them that I'm sorry I can't grant them a few hours every couple of weeks for the offerings, I really don't mean to do that to them, but it's necessary for me to do this, to protect my people properly."

I nod, then focus on my real body and pull my arm out of the fire.

My vision swims for a moment as it readjusts to being a human's, not a giant fucking crystal's.

Well, not fucking, but you know what I mean.

Then, a few moments after that, my vision swims again, and blackness fills it as my body collapses.