Chapter 33

Terror gripped Dane's instincts, and he transformed immediately. He had just stopped falling when the skeletons found footing. Among them were gigantic creatures so tall that their skulls were taller than where he floated. Some resembled humans, and some were too monstrous and alien to describe.

Beyond the invisible veil of souls…Dane saw their cores. Vile, impenetrable spheres of darkness so deep and frightening that his mind broke into a maddening desire to flee. Even the weakest souls were spheres of revolving gloom. Surrounded by an unknowable number of Great and Corrupted creatures, Dane felt suffocated.

He couldn't see a thing with all the sand stirring about. The only thing he could gather was that the dead creatures were fighting amongst each other. He broke into flight, having no control over himself, operating on fear.

He flew through the battle, blinded by the sandstorm. He could go above them all, but his Soul Core perceptibly tremored at the thought, filled with dread.

The sand around him cleared, pushed away by the force of a giant stomping right through him. A score of creatures were trampled, and a moment later, the creature fell. He saw it through the clear of battle. Ruins of black stone, small and misshapen by time. No creatures fought near it…it was a sanctuary. Dane rushed through the battle, weaving between or through the monstrous bones. He felt cold in his soul each time he got near one of those evil spheres of darkness…like he was already dead.

The sanctuary was a few kilometers away and by no means close.

A roar shook his world, and a bone dragon swooped down from above. Its vicious legs struck at a giant human skeleton. With a well-placed blow, the giant's fist smashed open the dragon's head. One of its fangs, the size of a person each, flew from the impact right toward Dane. He could not even react before Dane's transformation was forcefully undone, and he was breaking through sand and air. His leg had been skewered through, and the dragon's bone remained.

He screamed as pain lanced through his soul. He shuddered as the pain inched throughout his being, and it was only made worse by the murderous cold. His skin already had frost building on it. He wouldn't last more than a minute or two like this. Dane summoned his sword and swiped at his regenerating leg, entangled by bone.

His body convulsed under the agony of his leg falling off once more, and his eyes were cloudy. The force that carried him through the wind dissipated now that the dragon's bone was gone.

He stopped a few dozen meters away from two creatures fighting. They clashed, and the resulting shockwave rushed at him. He fell to his knees as his arms burst into a cloud of blood. It was getting hard to think through the pain. More would be lost if he was any closer.

Dane bit his lips, forcing himself to metamorphose. The cold vanished, reducing the brunt on his mind. He couldn't see the ruins anymore, and the directions were convoluted. Dane made the conscious decision to fly downwards, through the ground. Those creatures were fighting here, and monsters like the dragon and the giant lay above. Underground was his only hope.

His foggy form lacked a leg and arms. He could feel his body regenerating as he dived downward. But his soul was healing slowly, like any other. He phased into the sandy ground, and his vision was covered in darkness. 'What the hell is this place?!?!?' he cursed.

He flew past hundreds of creatures hiding in the sands. Their souls were vile and tenebrous. Corrupted and Fallen creatures were trembling and hiding like children.

He looked up, seeing the souls wreak havoc against each other. Dane shivered as he looked around. He needed to get out of this sand. He could only last five hours, and then he would be buried in sand or forced to bear the hell of the surface. 'Think…think…where is this place?'

He had never heard of it, meaning that no one other than him had ever been here or no one had ever made it out of here alive. The sand ahead of him was cleaved apart by a falling sword the size of a mountain. He froze, narrowly avoiding it.

When the sand filled the open space, he continued moving. He did not know the direction he was headed in. He planned to erupt to the surface if he saw a space where no souls were near, which was likely a ruin like before.

…he was not sure he would survive even if he found such a place. He remembered how the frost was growing on him. For a moment, dread took him before he remembered that he had packed firewood inside the Gargantuan Sack. He only hoped it would be enough…

Suddenly, he realized that he was stark naked. He summoned the Keeper's Half-Plate. It covered him in the form of light before being consumed by mist. The armor was padded thoroughly inside with a temperature-adjusting mechanic. Perhaps he could survive.

Dane moved away from and around a Corrupted Soul that burrowed its way through the sand. It caught a Fallen Monster in its terrible growth of hands and swallowed it. He turned his eyes and moved forward. The fog of his Phantom body was trembling with horror, boiling and seething.

He kept searching, moving restlessly. An hour passed, and he had not found respite yet. His thoughts were getting slower, and the torment of his soul was getting to him. Something shone below him.

Startled, he stopped. He eyed the souls around him, hiding in the sand. Two Corrupted and three Fallen hid close to the surface, and dozens of Fallen were a hundred meters deeper. But farther away, two souls were hidden a few hundred meters from him. Shimmering, white with bright soul cores…humans!

The war between the dead took place a few hundred meters above him, and the human souls were farther down than he was. Were they hiding underground? A subterranean cavern? Or did they have Aspects that let them hide in the sand? Dane flew forward with renewed vigor.

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A/N: This is my new schedule. I will write a chapter a day from Monday to Friday. Weekends are off. Sometimes, I will write two chapters a day if I'm in the mood.