Many a curse was whispered in the depth of my mind when I realised that stealth wasn’t going to cut it. Not solely, at least. The Withered Hunter had managed to get a whiff of me, scent, sound, magic or something else entirely, I wasn’t sure and I didn’t care, at least not in the moment. They were after me and I had to escape as quickly as possible.

Ceasing to channel magic into the runes that had kept me concealed all night, the cloak started to dissipate. Before it could fully vanish, I activated Overflow and drew a simple runic formation of Mist, Concealment and Confusion into the air, channelling a vast amount of power into it. The formation held, just barely, and a huge cloud of fog erupted from it, rapidly spreading out. I had no idea how big the thing would be but I had high hopes it would confuse my hunters. The moment the cloud started to form, I gave up any attempt at stealth and started to run, pushing my body to its physical limit. Using Blood Magic, I could break that limit but doing so had its own disadvantages, especially in the long run. In addition, stepping through the shadows twice and conjuring the massive cloud of mist had depleted my Astral Power reserves further than I would have liked, so keeping the concealment active would only hinder me. It almost nullified my Astral Power regeneration, needing almost as much power as I would normally gain. If I wanted to regain my reserves, it had to go.

Behind me, the psychic chittering grew even further, the Hunter doubtlessly after me with a vengeance. I could easily hear them, not just in the psychic spectrum but also with my ears, and I could plan my flight to avoid their presence.

Now that I was no longer trying to be stealthy, I could move a lot quicker and thankfully, the Withered had yet to realise that I could detect their chittering, which allowed me to avoid the positions I could hear them from.

Running through the night, I realised that, once again, they were trying to form a net before me. My mind went back to the desperate flight in the jungles of Arbortoma, the last time I had fought by Sigmir’s side. Back then, just like now, our enemies had been far more numerous than us, and then, just like now, our only hope had been superior speed.

I was tempted to kill the Undead and Withered I could see and feel all around me, just like we had slaughtered the elves back then, killing dozens, maybe hundreds, of them as we tried to make our escape but I quickly realised that doing so would bring about the same result. Just like Sigmir and I had been surrounded at the end, I’d be surrounded and I knew I didn’t have the power, or Lenore by my side, to cause the same devastation I had back then.

As I jumped across a fallen bin, I realised just how much I missed my bonded partner, just how important to my mental equilibrium her presence had been. Sigmir had been my heart and soul, but Lenore, she had been a constant presence in my mind.

Unbidden, images from my dreams sprang to my mind, the formation I had seen, the runes and glyphs. As I kept running, I noticed a pattern in my memories, a series of images that seemed to build up to something, almost like a set of instructions. A plan, of sorts, to perform some sort of ritual, though I wasn’t quite sure what it would do. But in my frantic state, I realised that one of the symbols wasn’t a rune like the others, it was the same glyph I had used on Mundus, to anchor myself and my body when delving into the Astral River. It was the closest thing I had to a personal mark, something I doubted many people or beings knew. Just those who I had travelled with. It was something I had never shown in my videos, I was nearly certain of it.

As the realisation that this had to be either a figment of my subconsciousness trying to tell me something or a message from one of my companions on Mundus sank into my mind, I also realised that it wasn’t something I should think about in the middle of a frantic run.

Instead, I focused back into the present and realised, somewhat amused, that my brief flight of intellectual fancy had been enough to activate Titanic Ambition, pushing my attributes far beyond what they normally were. It had been only a short boost, but that brief time had been enough to almost push me out of the area of encirclement.

Realising that I could completely leave the area the Withered were currently threatening if I managed to step through the shadows twice more, I decided to risk it. I had the Astral Power and I knew how it worked, I had done so countless times on Mundus. Sure, I lacked both the attributes and the skill-level I had back then, but I was confident I could do it.

As I continued running, I searched for distinct shadows in the moonlight, the clear demarcation making the distinction between a shadow and the night around it easier. Noticing one, I stepped into the darkness, this time not trying to step through it immediately, but staying within the Shadows. It was incredibly cold and I could barely breathe, as if there was no air around me at all, but I could keep running. The experience was incredibly weird, as it always was, with distances stretching almost randomly, and objects turning translucent and faint, though luckily the ground below me remained mostly solid. I could see some gaps below me, likely the sewer pipes and similar buried necessities of civilisation, but nothing that I wanted to interact with. Curiously, I couldn’t see any creatures, even as I moved past an area where one had to be.

I stayed less than thirty seconds in the shadows, my Astral Power draining rapidly as I moved far further than I could outside the shadows. Twisting reality once more, I stepped back out of the cold void I had travelled through, taking a deep, shuddering breath. It was an incredible sensation to travel through the shadows but not one I wanted to experience often. Maybe the best comparison would be a roller coaster, a great trip but also a huge strain on body and mind. In this case, however, it had been well worth it, earning me yet another point in Darkness Magic, bringing it to thirty. The entire night of sneaking and testing had been incredibly beneficial for my magic, showing that danger was the best inspiration.

Raising my hand, I quickly drew the runes I had used earlier again, concealing myself back into the cloak of shadows. I could still hear the chittering of the Withered but it was further away than it had been since I killed that Skulker, making me think that I had managed to slip the net. Now, I just needed to make sure they didn’t get me back onto their radar.

To make sure I stayed out of their sight, I kept moving, once more trying to be as fast as possible while maintaining my stealth. With my Astral Power as drained as it was, I wouldn’t be able to repeat the feats of magical travel I had performed just now, so I had to rely on more mundane means of escape.

Trying to banish and fear, all worries that might make me too nervous and cause a slip-up, I continued forward. Amusingly, it felt as if my path was almost entirely cleared out, with only a few Undead along their green-eyed minders in the way. I decided to Observe one of those, learning that the green-eyed Undead were actually called Withered Husks, a somewhat disturbing name, though a fitting one. Husks, nothing but a withered shell that had been stripped of everything that used to make it human. It was a sobering thought, but also a comforting one, that the people that these bodies used to be were gone.

Soon, I made it back to the no-mans land between racoon city and the area filled and controlled by the Shattered. Here, there were only a few of the basic Undead wandering around, nothing even remotely threatening and finally, I could let out a sigh of relief.

Keeping my concealment active, I soon reached my companions, noticing a well-prepared trap for any Undead that might want to follow me, anything stepping into the area would get attacked from multiple angles and would die, and die fast.

“I’m back,” I told them, letting my concealment finally drop. My bones were aching with exhaustion and I could already feel a headache starting to form, thanks to the vigorous spellcasting and the constant danger.

“Welcome back, Mother,” Lia greeted me, her voice filled with relief. For once, I didn’t bother correcting her on my title, I simply gave my daughter an embrace, letting the tension flow out of me.

“Good to be back,” I replied, “There’s a lot we need to cover, I saw quite a few interesting things.”