Everything Goes Wrong

"Kuroka." A voice called, startling me out of my thoughts.

I glanced up, flinching at my )King's( irate expression. "S-sorry, sir."

He sighed, waving me off and turning back to his lab table. "It's fine, dearie. Just don't get distracted again. This is valuable research, with potentially limitless value."

I forced a smile, ignoring how slimy the word 'dearie' sounded. While he may be a condescending asshat, Lord Vassago is extremely intelligent. Not quite on the same level as Dee, but still smart enough to demand my respect.

"But I must ask… can you truly not use your power instinctually?"

…Of course, even that respect has its' limits. I took a deep breath. "Sir, it's dangerous for any Nekoshou to even use Senjutsu. Using it instinctually isn't possible, because the same instincts that would let us do that are too busy warning us against doing it. There's a reason that we need training in order to use Chakra."

"So no Nekomata can do it?" He asked, sounding disappointed.

I frowned. Was he hoping for a different answer than the one I usually gave? "Not unless they're either too young to understand what they're doing or too old to remember."

He nodded, already knowing the answer… but paused, as if a thought had occurred. "Come to think of it… doesn't your little sister know Senjutsu?"

I froze. "S-sir?"

He shook his head. "Worry not, little cat. I won't touch your kin. It's simply… insurance, shall we say."

I knew exactly what was being 'insured'. My usefulness. He was warning me, in his own twisted way, that if I couldn't do what he wanted to, he would use my sister instead. A threat as plain as day.

I fucking hate being threatened.

"Of course, sir." I murmured, shoving my irritation down.

He smiled. "Chin up, dearie. Why don't you run along, now? Your time is almost up, so why don't you go home early?"

I forced another smile. "Thank you, sir. I'll see you tomorrow."

He turned back to his lab table, waving me off. I turned, making my quiet escape from the castle.

'Go home? No way in hell. There's only one place I'm going, evil bastard. Only one person smart enough to teach me how to give you the kick in the balls you deserve.'

I blinked, staring at Carn. "You want to what?"

He shrugged. "Well, ye' know 'at deliverin' ain't really a job anymore, so I wanned ta' try somethin' else."

"The Mines, Carn?" I asked incredulously. "I get that you've always planned on going there, but those Mines are death traps! If we disappear, no one will even look for us."

He snorted. "We'll be fine. Ye've got yer fancy future powers, so ye' can just see ahead for any cave-ins. And with my Earth magic, we 'kin find all the best shit 'ere is!"

I blinked once more. That… wasn't actually a bad plan. Carn could easily find pockets of what he called 'odd rocks', which were really just metals. If we went deep into the Mines, we could easily pull out huge masses of different ores without even chipping a single rock. Low effort, high reward. The best kind of job. But still… "My magic maps probabilities." I pointed out. "Not definite futures. And those mines are so deadly that not even veteran miners can predict when the ceilings or walls will give. We're literally in hell, brother, and it isn't exactly friendly to folks like us."

A fact that I know all too well. Every time I activate the Eyes of Misery, the true nature of the world around us is blindingly clear. It's alive, this city. And it's not even remotely friendly. I've seen good men warped by the monstrous fate-altering magic woven through the air itself, drowning their problems in drinks and falling to the lure of drugs. This city is literally hell. And we're living in it. For two humans to walk into the belly of the beast? That's practically asking to get our asses chewed up by some hideous monster.

Carn sighed, sticking a hand in his pocket. "Arright, it's okay. Ye' don't have 'te come inside if ye' don't want to. Just tell me where to go in te get the biggest haul."

I hesitated, glancing ahead. From here, it seemed fairly safe to enter the Mines, so long as we evaded the more well-known sink zones. But should I really let my best friend walk in there alone? I weighed the options, sighed, and rose to my feet. "No, I'll go with you."

His eyes lit up. "Really?"

I nodded wearily. "Against my better judgement, yes. But make sure to bring one of those Gem Artifacts that store things—if everything goes well, we can easily walk away with a shitload of valuable metals." I paused, leveling him with an even glare. "But for the love of God, don't pack our food in there. You know what those things do to organic matter."

He coughed, looking embarrassed. "Righ'. Well, see ye' in an hour, 'en."

I frowned, glancing ahead once more. "Make that two. There' an Ash storm coming in forty-some minutes, and I'd rather not get caught in it. Winter is coming, and the Ash will dissolve anything besides the thin clothes we wore as Reveres. If we have to walk through an Ash storm with those things, we'll freeze our asses off."

Carn looked relieved. "Ah, thanks. Woulda been a pain ta find 'at out meself."

I shooed him away. "Well, go on then. I've got another guest coming soon."

He grinned. "Oh? 'is 'guest' wouldn' happen ta be a certain raven-'aired beau'y, would it?"

I rolled my eyes. "Go on, gold digger. I'll be at the entrance of the Mines in two hours."

Snickering to himself, Carn climbed over the edge of the paper bin. I heard the heavy door of the plant shut with a hollow clang, echoing through the quiet building.

I glanced down at the colossal mound of unsorted papers I stood on, sighing. I had a while before Kuroka arrived, and even though I knew exactly where the best papers were thanks to my Sight, I seriously lacked any motivation to hunt through the thick reams to find the best bits. Even Wolf was starting to turn away from the business, and Shark had left a month back. Carn was right, this wasn't really even a job anymore. Hence why I had agreed so readily when he offered his get-rich-quick scheme.

I headed over to the edge of the half-empty canister, vaulting over the side and climbing down the ladder embedded in the side. I glanced around the quiet recycling plant, sighing once more. I said a quiet goodbye to my constant companion of the years, and slipped out the door.

I waited outside the door for a few seconds, before starting my journey back to Von's smithy. Weaving between alleys, dodging sketchy gangs, ignoring groups of druggies armed with their needles and poison of choice. Nothing that Naskapi didn't breed en masse. I finally reached the door of the Iron Strike and entered without knocking. Von wasn't here, I already knew that. At this time of day, he's asleep in his upstairs loft.

I tossed my stuff on the couch and began silently gathering supplies for a day in the Mines. The Book had provided me with descriptions of every legendary weapon in history, and I took great pleasure in recreating each one. My first additions to the Book were the blueprints, creator's notes written in the same way the Author wrote his. Everything from Rule Breaker to Caladbolg had been meticulously designed and implemented, my heart and soul poured into every blade. I told Von that it was my final project, the assignment every apprentice took on that determined whether or not they 'graduated'. He didn't ask questions, wordlessly supplying me with metals and supplies for my 'project'.

And so, I slowly made my way through half the blades in the Book. I stored each one in a Gem Artifact, a gem small enough to fit inside my pocket that housed a space the size of an armory. If all went well today, I would have the materials I needed to work on the more exotic and powerful of the weapons, such as Caliburn and Caladbolg II.

I can't wait until I can snipe people like that 'Archer' guy could. Using my Sight to aim a magical nuke? Hell. Yes.

I set aside my pyro tendencies for the moment, tucking the Gem Artifact in my pocket. It's more of a comfort thing than anything, seeing as most of the swords powerful enough to match a cave-in would bring the entire mine down on our heads, but I figured it was better than nothing. I grabbed my secondary weapon, a matte black, western-style straight bow with a simple design that was constructed to be resistant enough to fire Noble Phantasms. I only have a few 'arrows' made, seeing as a single one takes several hours to make. I can't figure out for the life of me how this 'Archer' managed to cope with the sheer mana cost of making these. I easily doubled my pool by constantly making the damn things, and what little the Book said about him was that he was a third-rate mage.

Am I missing something?

I was jerked from my thoughts as I heard a sudden knocking at my door. Sure, I knew she was coming, but even Diviners can get distracted.

I strode over, opening the door without hesitation. Kuroka stood on the other side, eyes glowing softly. I sighed. "Go on, you know you want to."

She snorted. "I wouldn't talk to you otherwise. Now." Her eyes shone brilliantly as she drew on the energy around us. "Are we in the future right now?"

I raised an eyebrow. "No, we're not. And could you be a little less violent next time? Every time you shred my face, it ruins the entire Path."

As a Diviner, I saw her coming to see me before I even stepped out my door this morning. That didn't necessarily mean that I knew why she was visiting, especially considering her… less than accommodating methods.

Rolling her eyes, she pushed past me. "You know I hate it whenever you See an entire conversation in advance."

Turns out that few people do. Kuroka always begins a conversation by putting up a Truth Field and demanding to know whether or not I was Seeing this entire conversation from the past. Carn avoided the issue entirely, just by sheer virtue of his unpredictability, making the possibilities involving him impossible to read all at once. By the time I found the real future, he would've already done what he had decided to, making future sight a moot point.

I shook myself back to the present as Kuroka plopped down on my couch and tossed the things resting on it to the side. I sighed, heading over and joining her. The door swung shut behind me.

Kuroka cleared her throat, looking nervous, as I sat down beside her. I simply waited, idly combing through the possible futures. After a quick check that Kuroka wouldn't be killing me anytime soon, I started checking mine routes. 'Maybe the southeast entrance? Not many people go there. If we—'

"I need your help!" Kuroka finally blurted, snapping me out of my thoughts for the second time in the past five minutes. "I think I might've just gotten my sister in trouble, and I don't know what to do! I mean, if I don't give that bastard exactly what he wants, then he'll- he'll-"

"He'll what?" I interrupted, combing through the conversation. Rude though it may be, I'm missing quite a bit of context here. "Right. Shady Devil guy calls your little sister insurance. Got it. Now." I leaned forward. "What are you going to do about it?"

She flinched, taken aback by the seriousness of my tone. "I-I… I don't know. I-I mean, he's an Ultimate-Class Devil, I don't stand a chance against him."

I chuckled, leaning back once more. "Repeat that last bit again. Slower."

"I… don't… stand… a… chance." She spoke slowly, bitterly. "Yes. I'm pathetic. Go ahead and laugh."

I sighed. "You're missing the point. Really, I wouldn't stand much of a chance either. Hell, I stand less of a chance than you do. I'm only a human. But tell me, what do you do when you don't like your chances?"

She frowned. "I… don't…"

I smirked. "You rig the game. You change the chance."

"Chance." She murmured, catching on. "Right. You said I could use Chance magic, didn't you?"

I nodded once. "Exactly. Chance Mages are some of the most subtle kinds, and since your King won't be expecting human magic, he won't be looking for it. But listen." I fixed her with an even stare. "After this, I don't see you for at least a month. Even when you swear to high hell that you'll show up. That means the bastard probably locks you up somewhere. So even if I taught you all I could today, it wouldn't be enough."

Her eyes widened. "H-he w-what?" She managed, looking terrified.

I held up a hand. "Calm down, I've got a plan." I tugged out the tiny Book, dangling from its' golden chain. "Remember this?"

She nodded. "It's the not-Grimoire, right?"

I chuckled softly. "Well, more or less. What I didn't tell you is the girl's special ability." I poured a thin stream of mana into the Book, and it flickered out of existence.

She blinked. "It turns invisible?"

I didn't answer, feeding in more mana. She frowned in concentration, trying to keep looking at where the Book had been. "Stop that. It's annoying."

I smirked. "Oh, you have no idea. But yes, it not only turns invisible, it creates a field that makes it impossible to notice it." I paused. "A field that can encompass an entire person."

Her eyes widened once more. "W-wait, really?"

I nodded. "I swear to God."

She flinched slightly at the Name. "Don't. That's not funny."

I smirked. "I really is."

She cut herself off before getting too irritated, much to my disappointment. Angry Kuroka is cute Kuroka. "So, you're going to give the Book to me?"

I shook my head. "Lend, not give. I expect it back the next time I see you."

She smiled, finally breaking out of her reverie as she heard my real message. "Don't worry, Dee. I will come back one day. I'll find a way."

I nodded once, tossing her the Book. "She knows you well enough by now to at least show you where the Chance Magic Entry is. I wouldn't count on her letting you read anything else, though. She nearly bit Carn when he borrowed her for a bit."

She giggled. "Oh, don't worry. He's just a crude male. She requires a more delicate touch than Carn can offer."

I just rolled my eyes, rising to my feet. "Take care, sister. These streets don't offer for many friends, and I'd prefer not to lose any."

She nodded once, rising along with me and heading for the door. "Take care yourself, Dee."

I nodded, walking back over to the workbench as the door shut quietly behind her. Even if the Book is the most powerful thing I own, I can always get by without it. Kuroka only has one avenue of attack, and that's one that her enemies are fully aware of. That's what we in the streets call a 'tactical nightmare'. Down in those mines, the worst I'm fighting is another person, and I've packed enough nasty surprises to blow most High-Class Devils to kingdom come.

Really, the only thing you need to take down any given Devil is a shield spell and a Bible. Start reading, look ahead into the future, and find the verse that makes their head explode. Problem solved. I chuckled to myself, tucking my Bible in my pocket for easy access. The System doesn't care if you're a nonbeliever, just that you're reading the scripture. Makes it easy for scrubs like me to one-shot Devils many times our power level.

The last of my preparations finished, I scribbled down a note for Von to read once he woke up and packed up the rest of my things. Then, I started the long walk to the Mines.

On my way, I picked up a ream of paper from a small shop on the corner of Fifth and East. Even if I'm going to be going a month or more without the Book, there's no point in stopping the production of more Entries. I have all the descriptions of the weapons, and most of the Book, really, memorized thanks to my Kangeki, so I don't need to rely on it as much as I once did. So once I get the metals necessary to recreate the weapons, I can immediately get started on making them. I don't claim to be a miracle worker, or to even know what the original blades looked like, but I do the best I can. Unfortunately, as experienced as I am, even with Von's help, I can never make God-Tier weapons that require a god or a comparable being to forge them such as Excalibur or Vasavi Shakti.

Not for lack of trying, though.

I picked up a meat skewer on my way through an alley, at one of the few stands that my Sight didn't warn me against. I know Carn well enough to know that what little food he brought for 'us' to eat would be eaten within an hour of our venture. The boy eats like a black hole. So, if I want any food at all, I need to eat now.

And, like a true resident of Naskapi, I resolutely avoided questioning exactly what kind of meat I was eating.

It's best not to ask these things.

I finally left the city behind me as I approached the large, rusted heap of iron that marked the entrance to the Mines. Carn was waiting for me, looking bored out of his skull. He brightened up as I came close, waving me over as if I hadn't known exactly where he was for the past hour.

"Oi, mate, what took ye'?" He called.

I tilted my head. "I'm fifteen minutes early."

"O-oh, righ'." He looked embarrassed. "I guess I was a wee bit exited, yeah?"

I chuckled. "Don't worry about it. You got the gear?"

He nodded cheerfully, hefting a bag of clinking tools. "Aye. I couldn' find any Gems, so I jus' packed a bag."

I nodded and began to walk once more. "The eastern entrance is the best one. Not many people, plenty of raw materials."

Carn caught up almost instantly, easily keeping stride. Damn jock. "Sweet. Get yer' spinney eyes all ready, I'mma be countin' on ya' ta' keep my sorry arse alive, arright?"

I nodded, activating my Eyes. What I saw… was not encouraging. The Curse of Hell was even worse underground, possibly due to being closer to the First Circle of the Damned. But with Carn's Earth Magic, he should be able to shield us from any cave-ins without much issue.

I calmed myself, reminding myself of the incredible amount of people who entered and exited the Mines on a daily basis. Sure, they looked exhausted, but none of them ever came back maimed. I remember hearing someone mention that the Mines were actually the safest option for an unfortunate soul, especially compared to prostitution and street vending. Both of those often ended in agony as you found a customer who was extremely… opinionated… about something, and you got your ass killed.

I took a deep, fortifying breath, and entered the cave.

Four hours later, we were much deeper in the mine, and my spare Gem Artifact was quickly filling up. Carn laughed as he easily tugged yet another node of ore out of the mine's wall and continued on his way. "Oi, mate, 'is is one'a my best ideas yet!" He crowed, hefting a hunk of oddly hued stone.

I rolled my eyes, catching the unidentified ore and tossing into the Gem. Even if my Eyes let me see things at close to the molecular level, I'm a bit too busy watching some of the more suspicious cracks for signs of weakening to properly identify ores that are lit only by faint torchlight. All forms of my Sight are being strained to their limits, looking into each Path we might take so as to avoid the most perilous routes.

Carn continued his search, walking ahead towards somewhere new. I originally suggested pulling ores only from the front of the mine in order to minimize risk, but he flat-out refused due to the insane amount of effort it would require to pull even a single node. So here we are, wandering deeper and deeper into the mine, not another soul to be found. I'm not too worried about an ambush, so I'm focusing more on the futures surrounding us specifically. This both makes it easier to group and keep track of said futures and lets me focus better on the present.

"Oi, mate!" A voice jolted me from my thoughts, making me stumble slightly. Thankfully, nothing bad seemed to happen. Just to be safe, I took three steps left and crouched beneath a sturdy, crack-free boulder with zero chance of collapsing. "Yeah?"

"...'Ye seem a mite bit jumpy." He remarked.

I snorted, relaxing slightly. "Carn, I am in the worst possible environment for my Sight. Every future shifts by the second, and it's giving me a migraine trying to keep track of it all. We could die at any given moment."

"So wha'?" He asked carelessly, tossing me a hunk of ore. "We all gotta die sometime, an' death is better than Naskapi."

I grimaced, slipping out from under the rock and following my best friend as he began walking to the next spot. "Unlike you, I actually plan to do something with my life."

"Suuure." He teased, glancing back. "Like makin' blue-haired kittens."

I blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothin'. Never mind." He sighed. "What are ye' gonna be usin' yer haul for?" He asked instead, tossing me a much larger node.

I frowned, glancing down at it. "Forging shit. Come on, Carn. You know I'm making weapons from the Book."

He laughed, bracing a foot against the wall as he tugged a large hunk of rock out of the side of the Mineshaft. "Nah, not that. What specifically are ye' usin' it for?"

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'mma be usin' mine to buy a swanky house in somewhere nice." He paused, thinking. "I dunno. Maybe Lilith would be good. Less cutthroat bastards there."

I snorted. "Not if Von is to be believed."

He rolled his eyes. "Ah, come off it. I said 'somewhere nice'."

I nodded, thinking. "I guess I don't know. I can't just leave Kuroka here, and I like to think that Von would miss me."

"Arright, than what blade are ye' makin?" He asked, tossing me the rock.

I frowned, combing through my mental list of blueprints. "Well, with what I have… I think I might be able to make Balmung."

"Barumungu?" He asked, looking confused. "Whassat?"

I smiled slightly, allowing myself to lose some of my stiffness. Inaccurate Silver Tongue translations are always funny. "It's a two-handed greatsword with a blue jewel embedded in the hilt that boasts a magnificence and enormity that makes it seem as if it was created by inhuman hands. The jewel stores and preserves magic energy, and releasing it makes the blade emanate a twilight aura. The twilight swells around the sword and releases in a flash of light, a surging wave with the simple purpose of destruction. It's a cursed holy blade possessing the attributes of Gram, the demonic blade of its origin, so it'll change attributes between holy sword and demonic sword depending on who wields it."

I reached into my personal Gem, pulling out a small white orb that seemed to glow softly in the dim lighting. "I managed to score some crystallized Light left over from the Battle of the End, and if I can talk some Darke creature into donating some energy, I'm sure I can make it work. Better yet, I can use an Enchantment to make it magnify emotions, giving the wielder heightened abilities, such as greater strength and awareness and faster running. It would only ever be given voluntarily, and if the wielder died, only a friend could claim it."

Carn blinked. "Er… mate… I think ye' lost me at 'greatsword'. Care to summarize?"

I sighed. "Big sword, shoots lasers. Not as good as Excalibur, but at least doable. Changes to reflect the heart of the wielder, and if I imbue it with a modified Spell of True Ownership, it can never be taken by an enemy if I fall in battle, only an ally. Better?"

He nodded. "Much. Sweet idea, by th' way."

I shrugged. "I got it from the Book. It described it in great detail, and even gave a few ideas on how it might work. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the Author had used the sword before."

"But ye' do know better?" Carn asked, confused. "How?"

"No one could possibly have wielded every blade in the Book." I deadpanned. "Hell, Caliburn's entry details it even though it broke during King Arthur's reign. If I had to guess, the Author has access to some kind of scrying ability that reaches into the past. I mean, the Book does say that some Time Mages can see into the past. Maybe he just has a friend with that ability."

Carn shrugged. "Arright. Makes sense. Say, do ye' think—"

Distracted as we were, neither of us registered a sudden shout through a corridor branching off from ours. We both turned, watching in shock as a bat-winged silhouette burst forth into the light, my Eyes registering a face and body similar to ours—

My eyes widened—

And the future shifted.

Suddenly, my relaxed posture stiffened, mind slamming into panic mode as I desperately tried to figure out what had changed. There was a terrible crash, the ceiling rumbling as the Devil smashed headfirst into the cracked wall with a shuddering crash—

And the ceiling fell.

I whirled, trying to warn Carn, to tell him of the impending danger, but I was instead faced with the sight of an enormous slab of rock falling directly down onto his head. The world slowed, my eyes and my mind working in tandem, Thought Acceleration working overtime as I desperately tried to find a way to save him.

There was none.

I don't think you can quite understand the sheer anguish one goes through, watching as a rock the size of a food stall falls in slow motion, my best friend, my brother in all but blood slowly looking upward with excruciating sluggishness. Forever moving, forever looking upwards, forever doomed to failure. I watched, still moving to help, as the rock made contact with Carn's forehead. His eyes, widened comically in surprise, bulged out of their sockets from the pressure now placed between them. The weight of the rock pushed him back, down onto the ground, legs moving out from under him and splaying outward as if through molasses. Then, as I finally reached where he had been, he hit the ground. The rock crushed his skull, blood spraying out and bits of white showing as his head popped like a grape under the twenty-ton boulder. The rest of his body simply fell lifelessly to the ground, limbs askew, torso held in place by only the remaining skin of his neck.

I blinked, halting my motions. The future revealed nothing that I didn't already know.

Carn… was dead.

…

…

…

I blinked. Twice. Something warm and wet slid down one cheek. Then the other. The eyes that once taught me how to effortlessly play the most exotic of instruments and wield the most fanciful of weapons, now recording every gory detail of Carn's death.

All around me, the ground shook as time resumed. Stones smashed against the once-smooth floor, shattering the rock and turning it into sharpened points of impact. Ironically, the only safe place was exactly where Carn had stood, where I stood now. The fourteen-foot boulder, having fallen from the ceiling at an angle, slanted over my head and leaned against the wall behind me. Rocks fell to either side as they tumbled down the inclined plane, a stone the size of my head falling where I had stood not ten seconds before.

I fell to my knees, the torch Carn had dropped painting ghoulish shadows as I stared down at his decapitated corpse. Gradually, the constant rain and rumble of stone on stone ceased, leaving only a gravelly crunch, then an eerie silence.

It all happened… in less than an instant.

The liquid on my cheeks dripped to the ground with a softly echoed plink, and I glanced down to look at it. My eyes stared emptily down at twin drops of blood. I absently raised a hand, covered in stone dust, to my cheek. It pulled away to reveal fresh blood on my fingertips. I closed my eyes, my Mangekyō Kangeki eyes, and felt tears of blood streaming from beneath my closed lids.

The Author was right.

It wasn't worth it.

It never was.

And it never will be.

I felt my shoulders shake with quiet sobs, quiet drips deafening in the small space.

If only I hadn't gotten distracted. If only I could've Seen this coming. If only I had been able to get there in time.

If. If. If.

If only I had been faster. If only I had been smarter. If only I hadn't been so weak.

Another bloody tear fell to the ground, and I furiously rubbed at my stinging eyes.

If only I could turn back time. If only I could do something. If only I had pushed him out of the way.

The cold stone beneath my knees began to drain the warmth from my bones, but I didn't move.

If only it had been me.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and shutting out my depressing thoughts. It's time to do what I do best.

Survive.

Day 1.

I am currently trapped in a small space, shaped like a jagged 'L'. Further investigation revealed the Devil's mutilated corpse. I know not his name, nor why he fled so quickly. All I know is that Hell has them now.

I was a fool to tempt fate, believing myself above it. I always knew Hell to be a living being, but never considered what that meant. Living beings have free will. Free will means choices. Choices… mean probability.

My Sight couldn't see the true future, because the choice that Hell made wasn't accounted for until it was made. And since I gave away the Book, I am no longer shielded from Hell's curse. Already I'm seeing the signs, my fate trapped between a literal rock and a hard place. I am sealed in, and my Sight reveals to me that whatever I do, no matter how I try, any attempt at escape will result in my death. Truly, Hell has laid a perfect torture for me. I can't help but slowly fester, staring at the walls of my prison by the Light of the crystal I carry.

And what's worse… I will die here.

I know this with absolute certainty—if starvation doesn't kill me, the cold will. Winter is coming, I can feel its' chill. There's just enough space between the rocks to allow air through… but for once, that's not a good thing. Suffocation is preferable to death by starvation or cold. The coat I wear isn't meant for the subzero temperatures the Mines are known to have during Naskapi's harsh winters, and if anything, it just prolongs my suffering.

If there's one blessing, it's that I have a truly massive amount of pure water stored in my Gem. Even if they can't store organic matter, they can store Senjutsu-purified liquids. But, in truth, even that small blessing is a curse.

I have no more food. I somehow doubt that paper is edible, and I would really rather die than eat my only source of entertainment. I while away time by sketching out numerous possible blueprints for different blades. It gets monotonous, but it's at least something.

Day 4.

I'm well and truly hungry now. I remember reading somewhere that humans can survive without any food for 30-40 days, as long as they are properly hydrated. Severe symptoms of starvation begin around 35-40 days, and death can occur at around 45 to 61 days. For a nine-year-old boy stuck in the cold… probably half that.

That means I have only 15-20 days until my body starts breaking down. Four of which have already passed.

My Mangekyō is a pure black hourglass silhouette with red pupils in the exact center, resembling a propeller more than a pinwheel. Whenever I try to activate its' embedded ability, it doesn't seem to do anything. There's a slight jerking sensation, as if someone is pulling a rope attached to my spine, but nothing more happens. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how the damn thing works, but to no avail. I know it's going to be somewhat time-based, due to the Author saying that it absorbs and changes the user's magic in some way. The literal hourglass in my eye seems to be another helpful hint towards this.

I've had a lot of time to think, lately. I've given up my slim hope of rescue, knowing that the residents of Naskapi are more likely to simply close off the north entrance and ignore it than try to rescue any survivors. Sad, but true. That means I have no one but myself to rely on.

15 days, four of which have passed. Eleven days left. And then, I'll have to make a choice.

Day 5.

I can't stop thinking about food. Even the nasty shit I occasionally had to scarf down while on a job. I found myself imagining different rocks as shapes of food—there's a chicken leg, here's a steak.

I have exhausted all possibilities. All the tools in Carn's bag are pinned under the twenty-ton rock, and none of the blades in my Gem are usable for digging. The only chance I would have would be one of my flame-based blades, and I think the rocks are mostly frozen together. The one thing that could save me would be the cause of my demise as the ice melts and the rocks crush me. Cruel irony.

I wish I had the Book, she would know what to do. As it is, I find myself blindly throwing myself down different Paths, trying to find the way out.

I don't know what to do.

I've been using only the Light crystal to see, having previously discovered that using one of my flame-based blades for heat only ate up the small amount of oxygen in the room much faster. I passed out twice before I gave it up as useless. Now it's just me, staring into this crystal of pure Light, wondering which Angel created it.

Day 7.

Last night I dreamt of food. An entire banquet. A white tablecloth, stretched endlessly and piled with the choicest cuts of meat, with steamed greens and sautéed fish. I woke to feel my stomach as hollow as it had been the previous day.

I checked the dead Devil's clothes for something, anything that might help. I found a pair of shattered reading glasses and a tissue. I was unimpressed. Beyond that, I couldn't think of anything. I started folding the spare sheets of paper into origami shapes. I hear that if you fold 1000 cranes, you get your wish granted.

That would be almost funny if I weren't currently trapped in my own personal hell.

Day 11.

Have you ever been truly hungry? Not getting peckish, or having that simple rumble in your stomach that tells you it's time for lunch. True hunger is when you no longer miss food. It's when you can't walk more than 30 metres without longing to sit down because your head is spinning and you feel sick. The sickness only grows the more you feel your body eating away at itself. You stop feeling any form of motivation at that point. All you want to do is sleep. Your energy levels are so low that you start to make more and more excuses about why you can't go anywhere. You feel this pain in your stomach and all of your muscles and bones start to ache. You are constantly cold because of the lack of body fat.

My teeth are always chattering now. I can barely think in a straight line, and Sight is almost impossible. I try anyway, if only to save my own skin.

Day 16.

Hunger is what most people in first world society experience from lack of meals. Starvation is when those meals aren't as appetizing as death is. It's a burning and tightness all over my body and my stomach feels hollow and empty. My breath smells like rot. I haven't had my hair start falling out yet, but I somehow doubt that's my biggest issue right now.

I read a passage in the Book one time that describes my current situation perfectly. "All it takes to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy is one bad day." While the phrase itself is from a psychopath, the Author spent several pages breaking it down and explaining the truth behind it. I think that's all that's kept me sane, really. Reminding myself that I still have things to do in life. Like finding the Author, and finishing the Book. The Author said that every man must one day face his 'one bad day', and it's the truest test of character there is. Will you become the man with no light? Or will you become the man who thrives on snuffing the light of others?

I wonder. I wonder.

Day 17.

I finally snapped. I made a choice.

I realized that, thanks to the cold, Carn's body didn't rot. It was perfectly refrigerated, the tissues of his limbs having a blue tint. I wish I could say I had a logical reason behind what I did, but in truth, I was just hungry.

I remembered how to skin an animal, removing the organs and the bones, and began using one of my blades to dissect him. Then, using one of my flame-based blades, I cut off a portion of his arm meat and roasted it.

I ate him. I ate Carn.

It was easy, surprisingly easy. I just focused more on the taste than I did on where it came from.

It was tender, and in color, texture, smell, and taste, it's closer to veal than anything else. Mild, with no characteristic tastes. It's slightly tougher than veal, and is a little stringy, but not too tough or stringy as to be inedible.

I paced myself, somehow remembering that while starving, it's best to only eat a bit at a time.

Judging by the remaining meat, I can easily live for several months on this alone.

Day 23.

I've been thinking a lot lately, using my now recovered Sight to look ahead.

The human being is a remarkable animal, able to adapt to nearly any circumstance. Our digestive tracts don't have to undergo any types of adaptation or evolution to be able to cope with eating humans. For the most part, there's nothing inherently dangerous about human meat. If anything, our flesh is comparable to that of a pig—both species are omnivores and eat similar diets.

At the end of the day, we're flesh and fat and protein, just like any other animal.

I remember reading somewhere, that an adult human is about 77,000 calories. I'd think Carn is about half that. Since my body is in starvation mode and needs only about 400-500 a day to live, I can last about 77 days. More once I start in on the Devil. I just hope I figure something out by then.

I made the right choice, though. My Sight shows me that in any future that I refuse to eat, I die within three days. I have things to do in my life, things that needdoing. I need to talk to Kuroka again. I need to complete the Book. I need to talk to the Author. I need to get strong enough to survive.

No matter how much I might be tempted to call these things mere 'wants', I have to keep telling myself why I'm surviving. Otherwise, I'm terrified that one day I'll just stop getting up.

The fact that over half the futures I can see end with that is not comforting in the least.

Day 32.

I've been sleeping more often than not these days.

I know, it's a bad idea to sleep when it's this cold. What little water I dare to take out of my Gem ends up freezing if I leave it for more than a little while.

I've gotten more creative with my meals. I have several bowl-shaped shields, and heating them from below with water inside lets me make a kind of… stew. Mashing up ground bones creates a paste and gives me the protein I need. I mix in sliced bits of forearm meat, the toughest stuff, and it becomes almost edible after a while of simmering it.

I covered the cracks in the stones with pieces of cloth from the now unneeded clothes of the corpses. It blocks the cutting wind while still allowing me to breathe. It does, however, make the room smell musty and disgusting.

But in truth, I don't care. I'm alive.

Day 45.

Hell is fucking with me, I swear. I occasionally hear clacks on the ground, as if they're footsteps, but I know that they're really just rocks bouncing off the ground.

Ever wonder how I know when the days change without light? How I know to count them? I don't. It's all a big blur to me. But I learned a long while back, Day 3 I think, that a heavy rock drops outside my prison walls every night (?) at exactly the same time. It makes it incredibly easy to count days, if you do it right.

Fuck you too, Hell.

I remembered something about how you should never eat the liver of an animal you don't know, so I didn't eat that, but the lungs were surprisingly soft and sweet. More pork than veal, oddly enough. I find myself wondering what the heart will taste like.

My Light crystal finally stopped working, but for what reason I don't know. Maybe I just ran out of mana to feed it. Maybe it doesn't work that well in Hell. Maybe it broke. I don't really care why, just that it did.

In any case, I've been relying on brief uses of a nameless flame-based sword to see. It's not nearly as comforting, but it works.

Day 63.

Something changed.

I don't know how, I don't know what. But it did. The darkness is less dark, and I can almost make out shapes.

I got tired of the same thing over and over, so I tried some of the Devil's meat. It was… how do I say… gamier than one would expect. It has this smoky undertone to it that I joked to myself remained after he crawled out of the fire and brimstone.

I tried parts of the Devil that weren't present on Carn, just for the hell of it. Just to spite the ever-present fear. The eyes were particularly odd, especially since they were something I've never had before. Each one bursts in your mouth like a cherry tomato. The flavor inside is meaty, porky, mild, and fresh. The cornea has a bit of a cartilage-like crunch to it.

Definitely a delicacy.

I started using a low-level flame to dry strips of meat for later. I used several loose stones to create a little hut, and some thinner, plate-like rocks to place the meat on.

People jerky.

Kind of funny, until you realize I'm slowly dying.

I wonder if anyone would even find my corpse?

Day 71.

I was right. Something did change. Slowly, surely, I've been developing night vision. The cavern I'm in is now dim, not dark, and I can easily see my own hand without the aid of light.

Don't get me wrong, I used to be able to see watery silhouettes without light, but as soon as I used the crystal I lost my 'night vision and had to let my eyes readjust. Now the change is almost instant. I light a blade, and turn it off. Nothing. Just a change of tone in the atmosphere, and a quick burst of heat. No stabbing pain in my eye sockets that signals my eyes having to suddenly adjust.

Carn is nothing but a pile of inedible bones, now. I've started in on the Devil, hoping he'll last longer.

I started singing 'Devil on my Shoulder' as I ate the Devil's shoulder. I found it far funnier than I probably should've. Maybe I'm getting delirious.

Day 89.

I noticed something for the first time today. My skin is incredibly, ridiculously pale. The kind of paleness you'd expect from a vampire. I wouldn't know how long it's been this pale, considering that I'd been relying on the white light of the crystal for most of my time here.

Dracula, eat your heart out.

Heh.

I learned today that if you tenderize shoulder muscle right, it can be cooked and eaten just like steak. I entertained myself by wishing I had some barbeque sauce to see if I could make BBQ ribs.

Looking back at my previous entries, sparse though they are, it seems like I'm reading the journal of someone else. I can vaguely remember the sheer desperation with which I devoured my first few mouthfuls of flesh, but only as if it were a dream. I'm too used to it by now to even bat an eye.

Food is food, when you're hungry.

Day 94.

First: never eat brains.

Second: never eat brains.

Third: See rules one and two.

Seriously. Just don't. I remember Carn once saying something about how 'zombees' eating brains and he wanted to know if they existed. I laughed and told him about Mad Cow Disease.

I've been reminiscing a lot more. Previously worthless memories are now warm sparks to ward off the tired fog that my brain has fallen into.

I don't even remember the last time I was cold.

Day ?

I slept. A very long time. Days? Weeks? I don't know. But I haven't felt tired since.

I don't think most places have a winter that lasts this long, but most places aren't Naskapi. Especially since the Ash started blowing.

I never even considered the Ash as a threat. I guess my prison keeps nasty things out as much as it keeps me in.

Day ?+1

I discovered something today. I was cooking some stew and made to light the fire as if I were holding a flame blade. I was holding an ordinary paring knife. The fire still lit like it was supposed to.

Imagine my shock once I turned around to find the nameless flame blade sitting innocently behind me.

So… I can apparently do magic now. At least, to some extent. I have to be able to vividly imagine not only the spell, but the cause of it as well.

Maybe I can use this?

Day ?+3

I can. I can use this to get out. Aside from trying to activate my Mangekyō once more using this strange new power, I haven't actually done anything yet. The same tugging sensation followed the activation, and I felt a strange fog cloud my mind. Nothing else happened, and the 'fog' cleared almost instantly. Beyond that, I just experimented a bunch with my new magic. I used my Sight once I discovered its' limits, looking ahead into the many possibilities. But even though I can clearly see myself getting out, I can't see ahead far enough to know where to go. It's all annoyingly vague.

However, I can see one thing for certain with my Kangeki. The threads of fate that wrapped around me, Hell's curse, is no longer present. I can't imagine what that means for my future, but it should be something good… right?

So. I have three options. Three branches to this tunnel, three ways I could go. One, I can go back the way I came, trying to reach the surface. The problem with that is, I don't know how far the collapse reached. If there were just a small cave-in, the miners would've dug through it without a problem. As it is, I might be digging for a long time without a clue when I'll find the exit. Or, worse, I might compromise the structural integrity of the rock pile, making them fully collapse and sealing off my air supply.

Two. I could go the way the Devil ran from. Problem with that is, I have no clue why he was running. For all I know, a live Dragon is sitting on the other side, fully intent on roasting any poor bastard that stumbles into its' nest. And with me being damn near emaciated, I couldn't fight back if I tried. I would have to be insane to choose this path.

Three. I could go deeper into the tunnel. I'm sure at least one branch will lead back to a different entrance, and even if my Sight is too fuzzy to tell me where things are, I can at least find another living person. They can lead me back out. But again… how do I know how far the landslide goes?

My Sight still won't clear up enough to give me anything beyond vague impressions, like might have an instinct not to go down a shady alleyway. Nothing helpful. Nothing useful. Just impressions.

I'll have to make a choice soon. But until then, I'll have to try smoking more meat for on the road. I'll try my Mangekyō once more before I leave, then give it up as a lost cause.

This will be my last entry. I'm not going to take anything unnecessary, and paper won't survive being stored in my Gem Artifact. It'll disintegrate, making this entire thing a moot point. Instead, I'll just leave this here for someone else to find.

Who knows? Maybe someone might even find this someday.

…

This is a survivor's final Entry, to be left behind in the cavern in which he spent the last hundred days of his life.