Finn took it upon himself to gather the firewood, which Charlotte promptly cut up and set aflame with her blade.
While the fire was set for a warm rest, he decided to scope around for something they could eat—perhaps berries or protein.
The mountainside woods were rather quiet and tranquil, with only small critters crossing his path.
As he walked amongst the plentiful trees and shrubs, the events of the day still processed in his mind.
'If I'm being honest, I wasn't that close to Nova. I kept my distance, sort of because I've come to expect things like this...I hate that. It shouldn't be that way, but it is,' he thought while silently hunting.
The subtle crunching of twigs and leaves brought him to kneel down behind foliage. There were movements of something light-footed, though he picked up on it.
Between the oak, he could see the unusual fauna of the mountainside woods; a grouping of what resembled deer.
The grazing herbivores had dark-blue fur with white dots that had a small glow, with little horns that buzzed as they ate.
'That's a whole lot of them,' he thought, keeping silent.
It was the perfect opportunity to test out one of the numerous abilities he had recently acquired, having one in mind that seemed perfect for the current situation. Knowing the sort of fickle creatures the hoofed mammals were, even if they looked different from the ones he knew, it was clear that he needed to remain utterly silent and unknown until the moment to strike.
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While the blue-furred dear grazed on the blades of grass, he carefully positioned himself behind a tree, placing his index finger against the oak. He aimed his digit in such a way that it was directly pointing at one of the unassuming fauna on the other side.
["Phantom Piercer"] [Mana: -200] [3800/4000]
From the tip of his finger, a small projectile no larger than a bullet pierced through the trunk of the tree as though it was a non-existence obstacle. It shot without any noise behind it, silently striking the herbivore that had no chance to react.
The sound of flesh and bone being bored through led him to quickly sidestep around, confirming that the formless bullet struck right between the eyes of one of the mystical deer. Just as its body went limp, the others scattered, though he only needed the one.
'That's a nice skill. It'll be handy to have,' he thought, looking at his hand as he conjured the traces of the phantom shot before discarding it.
["Seqhu defeated."] ["Anarch Coin x50 obtained."]
[Experience Points: +100] [200/200000]
[Assimilated ability from ["Seqhu"]: "Berry Immunity" 1 / 1]
As he approached the hunted prey, he knelt down as he held his hand out, calling upon a bundle of sturdy string.
"If you do, then you should treat the life you have more precious," Charlotte adamantly said.
"You're right," Jasper breathed out. "This crap just gets rough sometimes, is all."
"That's just the way it's going to be," Finn added in.
As the meal was finished being cooked by the flames, the assassin used his blade to cut it up into proper portions. It was a rather tender meat, one that was easy to eat, though the flavor tasted like grass–a perplexing clash of texture and taste.
Still, compared to canned food, it was a delight as he ate up, watching the other two quietly do the same. It was amidst a silent, but peaceful meal in the stretch of nature did the air shift. To the acute senses of the assassin, it made him flinch as he immediately looked over–
RUMBLE.
–Everything shook. It wasn't just a tremor through the soil he sat on, no; the entirety of the transient world seemed to tremble. They each shot up their feet amidst the sudden rumbling, only assuming it might've been an approaching enemy.
Finn looked up, finding the sky of land above cracking; the soil split and began raining down sediment in its shattered state.
"What's going on?--" Jasper asked, placing his helmet back over his head.
"It's breaking apart–look," Finn pointed out above.
Seeing what was essentially the sky itself beginning to lose its stability as the air flexed around them led to one, clear cut conclusion at such a grandiose scale.
"This world is ending," the realization came from Charlotte's lips.
"Yeah, seems like that's the case...We're out of time, then," Finn said, glancing at his companions. "I don't know if we're ready, but we have to confront Sirius."
"Time to rip the bandaid off, then," Jasper accepted, breathing out.
It was fortunate enough they were camping close to the ashen fields, leading to a fast arrival to the floating steps. With taking one's time being a now abandoned luxury, he ascended each of the ethereal platforms with quick movements, not looking down as he set his sights on the castle in the sky.
Every few minutes, another world-shaking tremor would come, further bringing more sediment to sprinkle down from the sky. Feeling it all rumble coaxed him to move faster, not having any idea just how much time there was–perhaps days, hours, or mere minutes–he had no way of knowing.
"Phew–"
He breathed out upon reaching the summit of the steps, stepping onto the disconnected stairs that led to the sight of the impenetrable gates of the Storm King's Keep. Standing there for a moment, not knowing if to expect another knight to come crashing down like in his first visit, he waited for his companions to catch up.
Charlotte arrived with no more than a brief exhale, though the knight landed with a sigh of relief as though having felt his life compromised by the climb.
Another tremor came, this time bringing them much closer to the rain of sediment from the reversed sky above.