22 Chapter 22 - Hunter's Vestige Part I

{22} - Evans Smith: Hunter's Vestige Part I

Night had fallen.

Evans sat around a small fire he lit, his hand held out towards the flames. They licked at his fingers. It made his skin feel warm, and red.

Io was asleep not too far away, resting beneath a comforter he'd pulled out from his Inventory. She was more than tired when they came out of the Undergrounds, and in pain. She'd fallen asleep the moment they climbed up this building they were on.

He watched the sky. The stars above hung low, their glow shrouded by the red haze that permeated the air. The streets below had gone dark, with only a smattering of light coming from small fires lit by survivors still prowling the streets.

It reminded him that this truly was a dying world. That even if the Main Character didn't exist, even if he didn't come into this world—this world would eventually perish with nothing but a feverish whimper. He knew about it, of course. But seeing the people scour the streets like animals, desperation etched into their expressions as they strived to live for just one more day,

To not know if you'd still be alive tomorrow was scary.

He shook those upsetting thoughts away.

After Io had spectacularly cleaved that giant Lost in half, it didn't take long for their ragtag group to make it to the Bloodspring. That was Louis' purpose of heading into the Undergrounds in the first place. Though being the gentleman he was, he offered one of the few Blood Beads it had to Io, worried that her exhaustion would eventually drive her mad.

Io declined. Said she didn't need it. Louis seemed unconvinced, but relented.

And then he offered them a place in his group. His heart nearly stopped there, stricken by excitement and deja vu.

Naturally, he accepted, though he told the man that they'd be joining him tomorrow. He lied about having supplies to pack, which wasn't wrong, per se. He did need to bring out some of the essentials he had in his Inventory and stuff them into a sack or something. He didn't want to reveal his or Io's Inventories so quickly.

Though, in truth, he just needed time to ponder.

Most of the plans he'd made had to be discarded. Without the Main Character around, a lot of things could go wrong. Because it was them who allowed the revitalization of the Bloodsprings. Allowed the gathering and sharing of lost memories. Allowed the purification of the Successors who'd fallen to the Queen's taint.

And he wasn't them. Evans was an interdimensional traveler. He wasn't the Queen's Knight. He didn't carry her blood.

He sighed. It was beginning to dawn on him just how difficult this mission would be. The Library had mentioned that Code Vein's Difficulty was Hard, but that was the canon. This world was evidently not. The many conveniences carried by the Main Character were not present.

What the hell was he supposed to do then? How could he save this world without the Main Character's powers?

…well, he did have one idea.

[...Allows the User to listen to guide Damaged and Lost Souls…]

His -Guidance for the Lost-. It was the one lifeline he had. He didn't know if it'd work with the Successors, but he hoped it did. He still wouldn't be able to revitalize the Bloodsprings, but he could at least save the Successors from their pain.

Maybe.

He could only hope it'd be enough.

…

Later, he laid next to an extinguished flame, watching the trail of smoke vanish into the sky. 

He couldn't sleep. Nor did he really want to. He wasn't tired, and he still wasn't used to the wrongness that permeated the air.

Time seemed to crawl. Only an hour had gone by. But it felt like he'd been staring at the reddened skies for days. Normally, he'd be sitting in his Classroom, watching movies or reading stories from the [Endless Library]. He didn't do that this time. His mind was too abuzz with plans for the future.

Eventually,

He stood back up. He put a foot up onto the slight bump on the building's ledge, and stared down onto the streets. It was quiet down there, but not lifeless. The Lost prowl in the darkness, in greater numbers than when the sun was still in the sky. 

He took a breath, and leapt.

Not down to the street, but to the roof of the building closest to the one he'd made his impromptu base. And then he leapt again. And then again.

No one would do this. Not even Revenants. It was too demanding, and a Revenant's strength demanded payment in blood. It was better to save that energy for the Lost. And besides, the Revenants grew in strength the more Haze they took in.

Io was the only exception, though she wasn't a normal Revenant in the first place. 

He was leaping from building to building with one sole purpose. To find the [Hunter Vestiges] spread all across the Ruined City. He could also go after the [Prometheus Vestiges], but he'd rather have Louis join him when he did that. Just to see what'd happen.

It took him some time to find it—the [Endless Library] didn't provide a detailed map for each location—but he eventually found one. It was tucked close to the entrance of the 'Center' of the Ruined City.

He found it hiding behind a few crates. He'd only caught sight of it because of the occasional shine it gave. When he descended down to the streets and moved the crates away, he got his hands on it. It was a strange, crystalline object. It was refracting light from somewhere, despite it being completely dark.

He held onto it for some time. Waiting for something to happen. Nothing did, and he was beginning to lose hope that his -Guidance for the Lost- could be the one saving grace he had.

Then, by accident and definitely not frustration, he put a little too much Strength into his grip, and he heard the crystal crack.

A terrible sense of vertigo struck him. And he had only a moment to take a breath before the street beneath him disappeared. The world was engulfed in black, and he grit his teeth as he began falling.

He fell and fell, the winds brushing past him speeding up as he continued to descend into nothingness.

And then his instincts rang, and his body was enveloped in flames as he sent a kick down into the abyss he was falling into. Impossibly, his foot struck something, and a world-shaking screech sounded around him as the darkness seemed to twist.

Suddenly, he was back. His feet stood on the streets of the Ruined City once more. Except something was wrong. 

It wasn't night anymore. The sun hung high in the sky. The sunlight bore down on him. The cold winds were no more. It seemed…to be right at noon. 

"I was scared."

He winced. A voice had resounded in his ears, loud and echoing and stacked upon one another. It was as if a thousand voices had spoken right into his mind at the same time. 

"They hunted me like I was some…sport." Its voice was filled with fear. "They took all I had. My food, my clothes, the blood I needed to live—they took everything."

It laughed, weak and tired and in pain. Pain assaulted his mind as images flew by before he could understand them. He could only grit his teeth as he fought down the static growing the edges of his sight.

"But then I met him." Its voice became lighter. Hopeful. "He gave me things to live. To thrive. He didn't care that I was weak. He saw that I needed help, and he helped me."

It sniffed, and suddenly the inhuman voices shredded away, leaving behind what almost sounded like a teenager. "It was my fault." It-, no, he said. "I couldn't lie to save myself. Told them about the things I had." He laughed. "They took everything again."

Evans grit his teeth. Emotions surged in his head. It was overwhelming, oppressive. 

It was defeat, he realized. Of accepting an end that seemed impossible to stray from.

It was harrowingly familiar.

"I just wished I could've apologized to him before I Lost myself."

The streets shook as an earthquake parsed through the earth. The dilapidated buildings around him swayed before they fell, crashing to the ground in a shower of rubble. He didn't move. Couldn't. His entire body was rooted in place, and he could do little but fight to keep himself conscious.

And then a floating panel appeared before his eyes.

[A Special Event has occurred!]

[A strange Synchrony has occurred between your Skill and the Vestige, and you now find yourself trapped in the corrupted consciousness of a long-dead Revenant. Purge the parasite. Destroy the corrupted. Free the trapped Soul and let it return to the Heavens.]

[Completion Reward: [Special (Uncommon) Skill]]

The moment the panel disappeared, it was to find that the world around him had changed. The City had been flattened, the rubble removed. And instead he stood in an arena of some kind, trapped by walls of pulsing veins and crystallized bones, intermixed by spikes of glowing purple.

And there at the center stood a monolith. A monster nearly 10 feet in height, with engorged shotguns as arms and a massive musket replacing its skull. Its jaws were made of rusted iron, and its teeth made of bullet casings. Its legs were made of coiled flesh, each dripping with steaming blood.

It looked nothing like the Lost he'd faced in the Ruined City. And more than that, even from where he stood, he could feel that the thing before him was strong.

A wry grin made it to his lips.

"At least Io's not here." He whispered jokingly. Though he was serious. He didn't want Io to face up against this thing. Not until she was much stronger.

He huffed. "So you're the thing holding onto the poor guy's soul, huh." He clenched his fists. "Poor lad. So this is what a Vestige looks like without the Main Character to subdue the corruption."

He called forth the heat in his chest. And flames exploded out from his body in a brilliant flare, coiling around him like snakes. The monster finally turned to him, the barrel of its musket-like head steaming as it began to glow blood red. 

Despite everything, he could feel his blood pumping. Ever since he'd walked into this world, he hadn't had a chance to fight for real, like he did back in MHA. Now, before him stood a monster far stronger than anything he could've found in the Ruined City. A 'Boss', as you'd call it.

So, with a grin on his lips and fire coating him, he readied himself for his first true fight.

The monster roared, and suddenly the musket fired with an ear-shattered boom. The bullet, larger than his entire arm, sped towards his chest faster than the speed of sound.

His grin grew manic, and empowered by flames, he reared his arm back and punched.