Seems like she's waking up.
Lyanna brushes her eyes and sits up. Her eyes still look a little bit red, but she looks alright physically.
"You up?" I say, starting to feel a bit tired.
She clears her throat and replies,
"Yes"
She still has that expressionless face. I wonder if asking that set her off…
She clears her messy hair and curls her legs.
I feel like we should rest a bit more, because I barely got any. But it's been nearly 10 hours…
I'm not comfortable staying like this.
My eyes dart between the pathway to my left and the one to my right.
I really want to get the hell out of this place, and I also Really want to test out this new skill.
Shivers run down me at the thought; I can literally create anything. L-Like, anything… If I'm right.
My joints are still aching after that… entire thing— Wait what was that creature…
I haven't ever seen one like that.
I run down my index of creatures.
Some sort of hybrid? Chimera? No that can't be… It had human faces right?
I try again using the mental index I have.
It's a… I think… Damn, I don't know. The hell is it?
Soul Walker activates again, I fly over to where I encountered it, and
It's gone.
Where the hell is it? It was just here. I didn't sense anything or any…one, so there's no way it could've disappeared like that…
I switch to the vessel on the ceiling, and no trace. It's just disappeared. Gone.
My thoughts turn into a cesspool, each trying to out-compete for an answer. I switch back to my body.
This is…
…I should be concerned here, but then why don't I feel any stress.
I hold onto the feeling and calm myself.
One step at a time. One step.
Still not completely aware of myself, I pick myself up and relax; Time to test this out.
I feel bad letting her walk in the state she's currently in; So, subsequently, I'll make a small cart that we can ride in. Something like those carriages pulled by horses but smaller.
Finally starting to get into the mood,
Yeah, that should work.
For the sake of keeping my eye on her, I'll remove the top shielding and just keep the base.
I just need to visualize what I want to create in my head, and that's literally it.
I focus on my imagination and maintain a clear vision with all the individual parts of the carriage.
What almost seems like glitches appear in front of where I'm concentrating my senses and small blocks materialize in front of me.
They float in place, and as more appear, space starts warping even more.
My senses start tripping as my forehead starts to go numb, the blocks suddenly connect together in chunks and before I know it, the carriage I envisioned completely forms on the ground.
The wooden wheels clang on the axle as the carriage rests, and I can feel the front of my head pulsating from somehow maintaining my imagination clearly for that long. It feels like pressure is putting force on the top of my eyes, but it's manageable.
The girl's dehydrated face moves as she stares at the carriage in confusion and shock. Her eyes widen, and with the headache I have, I accidentally look with an intimidating expression.
I think I might fucking throw up.
She pauses for a second as she breathes heavily; Lyanna backs up and gets up hurriedly as she runs towards a pathway away from me almost tripping.
"Huh?.."
I feel like a drunk man as my vision goes in and out. The lights in the ceiling flicker, and I instinctually erect a wall to block all exits.
Her body shivers in place.
Shit. What am I doing here.
"Wait—!"
I taste blood.
My words slip and I grab onto my forehead as the pain doesn't fade but lingers like a sting. I am going to fucking throw up. It's getting worse with time.
She backs up to a wall and covers herself; Almost as if I'm the threat.
The girl curls up into a ball, and I decide to bear through this damn pain for a bit.
Letting out a breath in an attempt to drown the fact that I'm going to faint, I keep a slow pace and get closer.
"Sorry— I wasn't thinking. I'm not— I won't hurt you."
I take a step back so she doesn't feel cornered, and keep my voice down. My vision starts to blur, and sensational information from the vessel on the ceiling starts to seep in.
I am not in the state to be doing this.
My body tilts left and right trying to accommodate the overflowing sensation coming in.
"I know how that looked. You don't have to move. I'll stay back."
She continues breathing heavily; Tightening herself.
Shit.
I crouch down—
My stomach cramps. Never mind.
I Stop trying to close the distance. Just stay there.
"...I’m not going to leave you alone here."
Damn it, I don't know what to say.
She backs up as far as the wall will let her.
I... Fuck.
My insistence gives up. I take a step back and reach my hand out. Not toward her, just open, palm up. Whatever she wants to do with it.
"Stay if you want. The carriage is yours."
She doesn't respond and I make the decision.
I get up and walk over to the carriage I built and collapse it using merge, so the entire thing turns into a sharp metal sword with a grip using the separated wood from the carriage.
I create a circle that imbues the blade with negative-gravity magic so that it's light enough for a child to use, and create rubber around the wooden grip. I focus and recreate a carriage as blocks materialize and the carriage reforms.
Blood runs over my eyes, but my entire body has become desensitized. I open the door to the inside of the carriage and add some more of my personal touches that cost me even more of my physical condition.
One final thing,
I create an Aquant circle over her so that smell might clear out and use an Aero circle to dry her off; She doesn't move an inch.
"Good luck here"
My head makes itself a damn merry-go-round and it feels like everything's spinning. With my desperation growing to relieve this pain, I give in and create a circle of healing adapted from regeneration to eliminate the pain.
Finally…
Regaining my stability, I shove my hand into the pockets of my trousers to warm up my wet hands, and-
"I'm out" I wave with a gentle smile plastered on my face.
I take the map, leave the duplicate in the carriage, and don't look back.
Two pathways forward. Left. Right. Straight through. A sudden right, then another. After that—
Let’s just see how far I can get.
I walk on and nothing interesting happens to speak of. I just keep walking and walking for about 41 minutes now and my legs are going to give out.
The coat I made for the cold really helped. Probably the best thing I’ve made so far.
Mist forms in my breath, my lips start to dry, and the sides of my head still hurt.
I pass by an intersection like pathway where it's just plain stone bricks and cold air. I sigh,
I need a break.
Anymore fucking walking and I might actually just die here.
I look both ways, aim the vessel at me; Seems like there's no one here, so me taking a break won't matter that much.
I sit down and close my eyes.
My vision switches to the vessel I left in the carriage, and it seems she's been looking at the map for a few minutes, staring at the tap I made and lying on the sofa seat. I've been checking in every 10 minutes, which turned into 5, then 2; Not like I'm worried or care about the girl really, just interested in seeing what a girl who survived 3 months in a place like this does.
She literally just appeared out of thin air when I got here, so it's not like we know each other on a personal level, even though I do feel bad leaving a child in the middle of a death trap. But why the fuck do I care. Let her manage for all I care. I've got better shit to do.
"…"
Fuck, why am I this worried about some random child I found in the middle of nowhere. I have no obligation to parent over her either.
I scramble my head in confusion, messing up my hair even more than it already was.
The ground suddenly rumbles, my senses trip, and another one of those creatures finds me. It shoots at me like a missile.
"Oh my god will you FUCK OFF"
Sharp iron swords manifest connecting the two walls in front of it. The creature passes through. Its flesh is diced into pieces.
Blood splatters onto me, and the thought surfaces before I can stop it.
My imagination guides me through the passages to where I spawned in, flashbacks of Kida in the last seconds I saw her flood my mind—and the girl keeps appearing in there. Their faces overlap and I can't fully separate them. The person I covered with my body and spent a quarter of my life with, then the person sitting in a carriage that I just left alone.
My patience starts to give.
The person I tried to protect.
My imagination reaches the point where—
I snap back.
Fuck this. I'm heading back.
I switch to my vessel on top and change my perspective so I can see the carriage and my current position in one shot. I force my imagination to leak into my left eye and annotate a path back.
Circles of Acceleration spawn in sets as Creation activates and I flip myself around to face them. I sprint as fast as I can at the circle, and just before crossing through, I tweak it just a bit.
My leg crosses over the border of the circle and within an instant, my body booms through the maze.
Bouncing off of walls, I cover 2 minutes worth of walking distance in 15 seconds.
Thrusting through the path, blood on my face drizzles away, and I barely dodge hitting my legs and arms too hard.
More Acceleration circles appear in my path and with every passing, a boom emanates and I zoom through the maze even faster. It's even harder to maintain stability between wall jumps and now my reaction time might fail on me.
My body crashes through, and I can clearly see the distance growing smaller through my left eye. Shrinking to the point where I'm going nearly 200 kilometres an hour.
A realization suddenly hits me as I get closer.
How the fuck do I stop?
Oh shit. I didn't think of that.
The distance keeps getting shorter, and I won't be able to make a safe break without hitting a wall head on at this speed.
I fly for a few seconds,
Idea.
An Acceleration circle appears in front of me and splits into two like it's been sliced by a knife; Clean through the middle. The inside glows dark-yellow and both halves flip and rejoin so that the inside and outside are inverse. I cross through and my speed slows.
THAT FUCKING WORKED!!??
Wind gushes past me as more inverse circles appear until it reaches the pathway near the carriage.
I reach the carriage, my speed returns to normal, friction sands down the sole of my shoes, and I slide to a stop.
I hurry to the carriage and slam open the door. The girl, Lyanna, eating the snacks I left there jumps up in shock.
My breath heavy and chest pounding from what I just put my body through,
"YOU THERE"
The girl sits still and freezes as if she's been petrified.
"YOU'LL BE COMING WITH ME YOU HEAR THAT"
Fuck it if I'm rude, I wasted all my 42 minutes worth of progress to get here.
Tears fill her eyes.
"I'd like that please"
A gentle smile curves on her and she covers her mouth.
I let out a sigh and calm myself down as I come in and sit on the seat.
"You don't know how much progress I just lost to get here."
. . .
Lyanna's mind continues to settle, in contrast to mine; Static and noise, breath by breath.
We speak nothing for a straight minute, the only sound being wind brushing past the wooden carriage.
Lyanna warms up, still not exactly comfortable with me.
With my arms curled over my head for comfort,
"Hungry?"
I ask with an eyebrow raised as she munches on the snacks I left on the table.
"Yes"
She replies with a mouthful of food.