Chapter 2: Ripples in Time

Chapter 2: Ripples in Time

The next step is pretty obvious figure out what these new skills do. There's a thrumming in my body that I assume is this Firmament thing, and it's aggravating in the sense that it makes all my injuries feel worse. The energy courses through my body, and every little scrape and bruise I have feels like it's flaring up.

I sigh, and force myself to sit up, and survey the landscape.

I've made the observation before, but Hestia 307B I don't know what those numbers are, but I make a note of them, as I do everything else is teeming with plantlife. I'm surrounded by trees with leaves that are a vibrant orange, and wood that's the deepest shade of purple I've ever seen in any kind of natural life. It doesn't even smell like grass and fresh dirt.

It... it mostly smells like moss? Just... a lot of moss. It's weird.

If there's any animal life, none of it is anywhere near me, and I can't blame them for it. With a crazy mantis-thing running around stabbing things, I'd run away, too. The result, though, is that the forest around me is eerily silent. I can't even hear the sound of chirping insects.

All I hear is the rustling of leaves, as a cooling wind blows through them.

At least that's the same.

I take a moment to situate myself; to absorb the familiar comfort of the wind and dirt, even if everything else is unfamiliar. It takes me a moment to realize that all my cuts and scrapes are just... gone, and that burning pain has largely subsided. I frown and stare at my skin it's as soft and pliable as ever, when I poke and pull at it but when I try to dig into it with my nails, I don't even leave an impression.

The effect of Tough Skin, I suppose. That's pretty cool, actually. It hammers home that I stand to gain a lot of power if I work with this Interface thing in just the right way though I remind myself that this gift is likely a poisoned one. I'll have to be careful.

There was also that mention of unlocking a chat function, which means I might be able to contact the outside world. I have no idea how that would interact with the temporal anomaly I'm in, but that's something I'll have to deal with when I get there.

Nothing to it but to explore, I guess. I give Temporal Echo a try, just so I know the full extent of my abilities, but the skill gives me nothing when I nudge at it with my mind, though I can feel that it's there. A second, proper attempt just gives me an error.

[ Error: No temporal record found. Recording. ]

"Wanna tell me what Temporal Echo does?" I ask into the air, a touch of sarcasm in my voice. The Interface answers, but the answer is... predictably useless.

[ The function of all skills must be independently discovered by the Interface user. ]

I sigh. I really hope I haven't just wasted a skill Firmament credits seem a little harder to get than the other categories. The mention of recording, at least, gives me some idea about what it does, and if I'm being entirely honest, Firmament seems to be both harder to come by and more likely to yield powerful skills. I'm going to have to be careful with how I handle that.

There's the skills I got to choose between, too. A sample size of six is nearly nothing, but they almost seem related to the fight I had just beforehand. Multifaceted Vision and Bladeshift are both definitely related to the mantis in some way...The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

Something to keep in mind.

I push myself to my feet, wincing at the phantom pains that erupt across my body; Tough Skin has evidently healed my skin, but not the muscles beneath. Without adrenaline to push it away, the pain rushes back to the forefront when I try to take a step.

I force myself to ignore it. I pick a direction, make sure to mentally mark it down, and tell myself what I need to do: I need to at least try to find the exit, which is likely going to mean multiple loops.

Before I go, I grab the scythe-limb from the creature's head and pull it out. The burn in my arms and chest is intense, and I nearly collapse by the time it releases with a squelch, but now I have a weapon.

Time to explore. Hopefully one of the features I unlock is a map, because I'm going to need one.

I don't manage to get very far before I hear a noise.

It's a sort of chittering gasp that's eerily similar to the mantis-thing. I freeze in place, looking around carefully; the forest around me still looks largely the same. There's a few more mushrooms in this area, but there isn't anything that stands out.

There's that sound again, and this time it sounds suspiciously close to a sob. Not a human one, but I feel my heart thundering in my chest anyway. There might be someone else here. If there's someone else here, and they were in the same situation as me

I break my way into a clearing, and then stop in my tracks.

There's some sort of mantis-creature in front of me. It's familiar, even; something about the shape of its head reminds me of the one I just fought, except... it's inarguably more humanoid, and the way it moves is...

It moves like a person.

It's huddled up against a tree, arms wrapped around itself, and

and one of its eyes is missing.

I don't know why my thoughts skitter to a stop at that little detail. I don't know why bile rises up in my throat, a sudden nausea washing through me. Typical, right? I can handle nearly dying to a giant monster, but face me with a dying person with one of their eyes gouged out and I don't know what to do.

I spend a moment on grief, as is appropriate. Even for a stranger.

Then I move on, and leave the clearing behind.

It's almost a relief when I encounter something that isn't more forest.

At first, I hope that I've been impossibly lucky that I've stumbled across the exit that was mentioned. I don't plan to go through it immediately, of course, but it'd be good to know where it is for when I do decide to leave.

I'm not nearly so lucky, of course. The thing that I've found is enormous and terrifying, but I don't think it's an exit. My Interface confirms it as soon as I step onto the packed dirt that separates it from the forest.

[ You have discovered a location! Location Found: The Fracture ]

[ Map feature unlocked! Your progress in Hestia 307B will be tracked on your map. ]

There's a part of me that twinges in annoyance at the map feature unlocking after I've spent hours carefully mapping where I'm going, but that emotion takes a back seat to the view in front of me.

The forest ends in a way that looks distinctly artificial. Stretching ahead to the right and left is, as far as I can tell, a long stretch of empty desert if I want to explore in that direction, I'm going to have to find some way to carry water with me. Or get a few skills in Durability that let me survive. I have no desire to die of thirst.

Directly ahead of me, on the other hand, is a massive, yawning chasm in the ground.

It's so big it gives me a sense of vertigo just looking into it. There are homes built into the walls, though it's hard to make out the details from where I stand. There are torches, even, which gives me hope maybe there are people living here. I'll have to be careful, of course, but the need for that doesn't eliminate my hope at the possibility that I might meet someone. That I might learn more. The mantis-person I met has made me a great deal more suspicious about what's happening here.

The Fracture is an appropriate name. The chasm looks like the bedrock of the desert has been cracked open by a massive sword; fissures run from the edges to the surrounding stone. There are steps built into the sides of the chasm, but even those steps are remarkably precarious. They're sticking out rather than carved into the stone, like wooden planks just glued on to the side of the walls.

The steps are rather conveniently close to me, even.

I take my first few steps into the chasm, grimacing at every crack I hear and every tiny shift I feel beneath me. It doesn't help that my muscles still burn, and I see distinct bruises forming where the cuts had been, no doubt from some small amount of internal bleeding.

As I make my way down, the wind whistles through the Fracture, creating a high-pitched sound that does absolutely nothing for my nerves.

I might be able to reset, but I don't particularly enjoy the thought of dying from a fall.

Especially when I can't even see the ground.

Remarkably, though, the steps aren't what kill me. It's the moment I make my way on to solid ground, near one of the houses built into the sides of the chasm. Some sort of stone construct whips its way out the moment my foot touches the ground, and though I react quickly I was expecting something to go wrong, after all the scythe I'm holding and my Tough Skin isn't nearly enough to stop the construct from bashing my skull right in.

[ You have died. +3 Strength credits. +5 Durability credits. +2 Reflex credits. +2 Speed credits. ]

[ New feature unlocked! Your Interface will now tell you the danger ranking of a new area before you proceed into it. ]

[ Loop 5 terminated. ]

[ Status:

Name: Ethan

Durability Skills: Tough Skin (Rank F)

Firmament Skills: Temporal Echo (Rank D)

Credit Distribution:

Strength: 7

Durability: 5 (9 banked)

Reflex: 8

Speed: 7

Firmament: 0 (2 banked) ]