Chapter 24: Escape
Chapter 24: Escape
Floating high in the sky in front of one side of the World Bridge, Lord Hadrion flicked his fingers, tracking every single creature that crossed onto the World Bridge. His invisible network of lightning particles vibrated occasionally, indicating the presence or movements of various beings.
"Lord." Larah’s voice called out as she floated up in front of him, standing upon what appeared to be a transparent, flying loom. Her clothes fluttered in the light breeze as she flew up, giving her an almost ethereal appearance.
"Larah. Has there been a change?" Hadrion’s voice was raw, exhaustion seeping through. Maintaining his electric field constantly drew on his attention, and even if he could maintain his energy levels, it was incredibly straining on his mind. Light Pills could only do so much.
"Yes, Lord Hadrion. The protection blocking the dragon off from Fate is fading, almost completely. It will be possible to do a Foretelling in just minutes." Excitement rose up, a rare emotion from the normally placid Fate Grandmaster.
"Prepare for it immediately. Let’s find the disturbance and end this mess." He said, rubbing his eyes. He was ready for this ordeal to be over.
Larah nodded and sat down on her floating loom. She then folded her hands together, and began to cast a spell.
Vaguely, around a hundred meters away, a small blob of shadow could just barely be seen, wavering in and out of reality, eavesdropping on the conversation.
..
The commotion the fight with the Curse Wizard had raised was relatively small. Thanks to the cover of trees, and the quiet nature of both of their attacks, Dorian’s battle with the Master Class Curse Wizard had passed unceremoniously.
He’d managed to dash away from the scene of the fight undiscovered, leaving behind the remnants. There was no time to hide anything or to try and bury the body. He also noted that whenever he used his Lesser Emerald Flames, just like with the Forest Boar, any blood within the creature would be seared away.
Dorian could absorb a bloodline in a variety of ways, he’d found, through experimentation with the wild animals he’d hunted. He could simply eat the creature, and absorb the bloodline by eating it. He could simply make contact with the bloodline by touching it to his skin, and absorb it that way. He also found that he could concentrate his soul, and extend a small amount of energy outward, and absorb bloodlines through that tendril of energy.
The fastest way was to simply eat a creature. Absorbing bloodlines by touch took time to absorb any large amount, and absorbing bloodlines through a tendril of energy was straining on his mind.
He shrugged, shaking the thoughts about bloodlines from his mind.
His Lesser Emerald Flames were very strong, and dangerous, but it had its downsides as well. He wondered how powerful the non-lesser version of Emerald Flames would be.
From the Wizard’s reaction, the fact that he was able to cast these flames while in his Red Salamander form had been extremely astonishing. It could serve as a powerful surprise weapon in the future, he realized, his thoughts grim.
As he moved forward, getting closer to the World Bridge, he began to notice something odd happening around him.
At first, he thought it was just his imagination, a vague image at the corner of his eye.
But, gradually, he realized that the movement he was seeing was real.
As he ran forward, various dark patches of shadows seemed to be twisting and moving about the land. The shapes they morphed into were seemingly random, and these odd distortions moved in weird, jumping movements.
His heart dropped as he saw this, his mind going to the people that were chasing him.
‘Act natural. Calm down.’ He forced himself to relax, analyzing the situation.
‘They most likely don’t they know you are a Red Salamander. At most, they are looking for a baby dragon right now. Probably. Focus.’ He reset his outlook, forcibly calming down. That woman had only attacked him after he caused a ruckus near that caravan. It was possible, and even quite likely, that they didn’t know he was a Red Salamander.
Eventually they’d find her corpse… But he hadn’t had a choice. He needed to keep moving.
As Dorian made his way to the World Bridge, he passed directly by a pair of these odd twisting shadows.
The darkness seemed to turn and zoom towards him, in a threatening manner.
The moment he saw this he immediately raised his chest in a snarl, holding his claws in the air. He activated his Flame Claws Ability as he did so, cutting towards the shadow.
Instead of slamming into him, the shadow froze, and then seemed to twist around, moving past him and ignoring him.
Dorian snarled at
‘Act like a Red Salamander.’ He thought, wrinkling his nose. He stamped his feet a few times before turning back in the direction of the World Bridge. He also let out a few blood-curdling growls.
Just like that, he successfully managed to evade the detection of the various shadows that were swarming across the ground near the World Bridge.
In what felt like no time at all, Dorian managed to arrive at the base of the massive World Bridge, a long, stretching savanna made up of bright green grass, with a few low hills or small forests dispersed.
Looking up at the World Bridge was incredibly disorienting. It was a huge pillar of land that rose straight upward, into a chaotic looking portal where space itself was ruptured at the edges.
As he reached the base, Dorian felt gravity begin to shift. His entire body tingled as the direction of down change, transforming to be at the center of the enormous World Bridge.
The feeling was incredibly unsettling, and an experience Dorian had never felt before.
At the same time, he felt a heavy, threatening feeling, as if he was about to be struck by lightning. His eyes widened as he spun around, trying to focus on the threat.
After several moments, nothing happened. The same threatening feeling was there, but no one was visible in his sights. No matter what he did, the feeling remained unchanged and nothing appeared.
After a few moments he grunted and then continued moving forward, trying to casually act like a Salamander.
..
Hadrion continued to scan any of the creatures moving onto the World Bridge, his eyes alert. The electric field continued to drive away the weak or easily frightened beasts, leaving only those that were brave or chose to ignore it.
He felt a strong, at least Sky Class, Iron Condor fly on the opposite side of the Bridge, twitching slightly as it came into contact with his field. A few Earth Class Spring Deer moved in a herd and quickly fled onto the bridge, running away from the electric field.
Most of the weak beasts had fled away from the bridge, his electric field scaring them off.
His eyes narrowed briefly as he considered a Red Salamander, a particularly strong and powerful looking one, clamber onto the Bridge only a few miles away from him. It was pretty rare to see any Red Salamander that managed to grow that much, he noted. It must be at least at the Earth Class, maybe even the Sky Class.
His focus was interrupted as Larah chimed in,
"I’m getting a reading… I’m getting a reading!" Her voice was ecstatic. Hadrion’s eyes narrowed as he clenched his fists, a hint of excitement rising in him.
"It’s close to the Bridge… The protection is almost faded… it’s about to break!" She breathlessly uttered, white light glowing from her eyes.
..
Dorian took a deep breath, and then steeled himself. He turned back behind him once and bowed his head slightly. Grateful not only to have a second chance at life, but for the various things and people he had encountered or experienced. Even the bad.
Today had been a hard day, but it was one he would walk away from in one piece it seemed.
..
"I’ve got it! I’ve broken through!" Larah cried out, and then immediately focused on casting her Foretelling, following the strands of Fate that connected to Dorian.
"Quickly, pinpoint the location of the dragon." Hadrion urged, small black lightning bolts starting to form around his head. He glanced at the Red Salamander again, his focus drawn to the last thing he’d detected.
"I’m trying… Almost there…" She responded, raising her hands. Faint symbols appeared in the air.
..
Dorian took his first steps onto the World Bridge.
It felt to him, if he was being honest, like he was walking forward normally. Gravity felt the same, in a downward direction towards the center of the World Bridge, and the savanna unfolded in front of him, peaceful looking. Now that he was up close, he could see a few jagged lines cut into it, remnants from the infrequent spatial storms that very rarely stretched down to the base of the World Bridge.
He began to lumber forward, shaking off the eerie feeling that he was about to be struck by lightning as he charged his way up the World Bridge.
..
"Here it is! He’s…" Larah paused, her mouth twisting. A look of confusion was visible underneath the white light in her eyes as she opened her mouth, nothing coming out of it.
Hadrion’s eyes cooled, the black lightning bolts fading away from his head.
"He’s what?" Hadrion asked, rubbing his hands.
"According to Fate… The green scaled dragon is still at least a dozen miles away." She continued, a downtrodden look on her face.
"At least, Fate indicates its last location was around that distance from here, many minutes, maybe hours, ago. The lines in Fate are particularly confusing, and obfuscated. It’s very confusing- it makes no sense." Larah raised her hands lamely, the white light fading from them.
Hadrion sighed, and then went back to tending his field,
"Keep your focus and don’t be discouraged. It’s a Lord Class beast, it’s bound to be hard to find it."
..
Dorian smiled victoriously as the feeling of lightning perched, about to strike, faded away.
He’d made it!
He looked up at the unfolding savanna and began rushing forward, eager to fully enter the World Bridge. As long as he was on here, Fate would operate weirdly, and he’d be able to easily escape.
He was off to explore this universe, with a mission to become as strong as possible, so that he could live up to his morals. His eyes glinted with determination.
Above him, or, rather, directly in front of him, the portal that connected the World Bridge to this world fluttered, a wavering mass of spatial tears.
Dorian studied it as he loped forward, his eyes alert.
..
"Lord Eren…" Laura’s voice was quiet as she spoke, shaking. She trembled upon the Titan’s flying sword, her eyes downcast.
"Laura? Laura." Eren looked up from his scanning of the forest below, turning his head slowly. Perhaps unconsciously, he tensed up as he stared at her.
"What is it?" His voice was calm and steady.
"I’ve checked the Fate of everyone. Your Titan subordinates are fine, as is Mayne. Greta, however…" She paused, her voice trembling.
"What. Is. It." His voice didn’t contain a trace of mirth, his eyes boring into Laura without emotion.
"Her Fate… I can no longer read her future. Her Thread… is no more. I have her last location, however." Laura gulped, her body shaking.
Eren’s eyes widened. His fists trembled as a heavy Aura began to surround him. A dozen emotions flashed across his face as his mouth twitched up in a snarl. Laura’s face flushed red in light of this, as if she was about to collapse.
Just as quickly, this Aura was contained, tightly controlled by Eren as he stepped forward, catching Laura.
"Shh. Shh. It’s okay." The way he spoke was odd, his tone unnaturally calm. He held her gently, patting her head softly. His eyes remained emotionless.
"It’s okay." He continued,
"Lead me to her."
..
Larah sighed, frustration filling her heart. She simply could not understand the signals Fate was giving her when it came to the green scaled dragon they were hunting.
Just as she was about to try again, however, her eyes glowed a purple color, and she abruptly froze.
She proceeded to kneel on her floating loom immediately, her voice filled with respect as she caught Lord Hadrion’s attention.
"I’ve just received a direct command from the Headquarters."
.