Chapter 39

Flynn had his hand on Jeanne's shoulder too. He was bleeding where the jagged rock of her transformation pierced his skin. His grip was iron, as it should have been since he had absorbed four hundred soul shards. Dane was tempted to transform and make a run for it.

Gods, it was hard to keep himself calm. Jeanne, whose transformation had slipped from the fear now, writhed and screamed under his grip, trying to loosen herself, but the Sleeper ruthlessly brought his shield down on her head. It wasn't enough, but she was disoriented for a moment, and he struck her again. She fell to the ground.

She wasn't dead, just unconscious. The Sleeper gave him a contemplating look before averting his eyes when Dane gave him an icy look. "Don't even think about it," he said, eyeing Flynn's shield.

They looked at each other with tense expressions.

"Will you try to run if I let you go now?"

"No."

Together, they carried Jeanne back to the tent. They sat down, Flynn nonchalant and Dane shivering under the dreadful whistle. "How are you not scared?" he finally asked.

Perhaps it was because of his inquisitive tone or suspicious eyes, but the Sleeper gave a surprising answer in an oddly excited tone. "I can't help but feel the wrong emotions in any situation."

That sounded like a Flaw, and Dane wanted to say as much, but he didn't. Not all people were in the position to be open about their Flaws as he was.

"...do you know what that thing is? The thing that's whistling, I mean," Flynn asked.

Dane shifted. "There have been tales, or myths, of creatures that murder people while whistling. Monsters, dead spirits, not much different from the Nightmare creatures."

They waited in silence after that. The whistling grew louder and louder, and the ground seemed to shake, but it was still day. They heard roars and inhuman screeches. Thousands of them.

***

A few hours passed, and the whistling finally ceased. The trio waited a few minutes before Flynn gave them the clear, and they rushed out. The sun was close to setting now. They had an hour or two, Flynn told them.

That should have been terrifying, Dane knew, but the Sleeper also told them that whatever that whistling was, it made their path so safe they could walk straight and arrive at their destination without any hassle.

Seeing what he did, he did not doubt it.

All around them, thousands of corpses littered the sands, with a slow frost already building on them as the desert's night sauntered closer. Among the corpses, some creatures still lived. They were so wounded that Dane doubted they could pose a threat to them. It was sobering.

Not even a Saint could do something like this…yet it had been done. He had been under the impression that the night was all he needed to be worried about. He had underestimated the Desert. He shivered, feeling a chill pass through his back, prickly. Frost was building on him too. He dismissed the Dead Medallion. 

They waded their way through the corpses. A fair sum of soul shards had spilled out of the creatures, and they collected as much as they could inside the Gargantuan Sack while not losing their pace. Dane would have loved to take his time to plunder all of their shards and strip them for meat, but they didn't have the time.

Something stirred ahead of them, and the party froze. It was an armored scorpion, which was a dime a dozen. It had lost all its limbs, and its harrowing head was smashed in. Its armor was a thing of the past. It lumbered in their path, trying to block them.

Dane reached into his quiver and pulled out an arrow. He nocked it on his longbow, drew the string, and released it. The Ascended arrow cut through the air with a woosh and buried itself in the creature's head.

[You have slain a Fallen Beast…]

[Your heart grows stronger.]

…his heart had grown stronger? What did that mean? Then he felt it. Suddenly, his body grew faintly stronger, his vision a little sharper, and his skin became slightly smoother. The change was minimal but apparent.

Dane summoned his runes.

[Phantom Fragments: 27/1000].

Indeed, he had absorbed more of these mysterious Phantom Fragments. Four of them for killing the Fallen Beast. Four fragments for its Fallen Core, which was two Ranks above his. Dane smiled lightly and continued walking.

The path was long but brisk now. They were running. Dane could have just flown, but he didn't think there was a need. They were stopped then and again by more Nightmare Creatures on the brink of their deaths, and Dane was more than pleased to have them. Some, however, were Corrupted and armored. His arrows could not pierce them, so they went around them carefully.

[You have slain a Fallen Demon…]

[You have slain a Corrupted Beast…]

Dane was not sure how to feel. He was, perhaps, the first Sleeper to ever kill things like these. Nevertheless, he knew he would not even come close to killing one in combat.

"How many shards have we gotten?" Flynn asked.

Jeanne smiled greedily. "Not many, but they're all of high rank, so we can probably saturate your core...and maybe a little bit of mine."

Dane stayed silent, not rebuffing.

Eventually, with the sun a few minutes from disappearing, they arrived at a small cluster of ruins. Black and oddly shaped, they stood out like nails or claws. Flynn pointed at one, and they entered through a crack in its wall. They found a path in the sands, and through it, they reached a small, cramped chamber of rock. It was good enough for the night.

Settling down before starting a fire, Dane looked at his harvest.

[Phantom Fragments: 68/1000].

***

A/N: My apologies for the late chapter. Leave a review!