After such a terrifying night — more because of the madman she had for a travel companion than because of the abomination that, in the end, did come crawling out of the sea to nearly drag them both down with his outrageous laughter — Cassie no longer had the strength to say anything.
She had no idea how he’d managed to kill that demon.
She’d heard unpleasant noises until Aisling dropped into the dark sea with a splash, surfacing a few seconds later to tell her:
“Fortunately, it was just an Awakened Demon.”
Those were Aisling’s exact words.
Cassie had believed she’d already been through enough — on top of having visions of a not-so-pleasant past and future — to be immune to shock.
And yet, Aisling still had a lot to teach her on that front.
They continued their journey, taking alternate routes to the established ones in order to avoid troublesome Nightmare Creatures and dangerous packs.
If a fight broke out, Cassie would fall back and Aisling would take out the monsters, but if it got too dangerous, he’d grab Cassie and run.
Cassie was quite surprised by the pace they kept up; despite the sudden detours, they never stopped, covering long stretches of ground in short amounts of time.
She definitely hadn’t been wrong to bring Aisling along as an escort for this trip north.
Aisling kept moving forward while muttering:
“Was it this way or that way…?
Remember there’s a nest that way, it gets bigger every year…
If we’re spotted, they’ll catch up to us…
That’s a good route, but it’s really long…
That way’s fast, but they might eat Blondie if we’re not careful…”
“Aisling.” Cassie spoke up suddenly.
“What’s wrong?
Do you need me to carry you?”
“…no.” She hesitated before going on.
“Are you talking to Cian, by any chance?”
At the start of the trip, she’d assumed it was just his way of not getting lost, or not going mad from the solitude.
But then he’d start conversations, and she found it unsettling — she’d even get criticized, and Aisling would joke around using her name.
They’d bring her up in the most unexpected ways.
Cassie knew about the doll’s existence and how much she meant to Aisling, having heard it from Nephis.
“Sure,” Aisling said.
“It’s a shame you can’t see and Cian can’t speak; you two are pretty incompatible.
It really bums me out, honestly.”
“…true…
it’s a shame.”
Cassie focused, trying to sense the doll, using her Aspect Ability, wanting to learn more, but when she tried…
she only saw one thing.
[Lover]: Curses depending on the severity around being treated by another.
Hollow of Inevitability is her only lover; he must learn to keep her.
Cassie stopped dead.
“Ah…
curious.
It vanished,” Aisling said suddenly.
Cassie heard the voice but couldn’t process it; she tried to take another step but felt so weak.
A profound fear settled into her heart; she couldn’t even part her lips to speak.
“Cassie?”
She wanted to throw herself toward that voice, but her legs were trembling, starting to give out as her senses dimmed.
Aisling’s voice came through blurred, and before she knew it, she was already falling.
She felt the world come to a stop, with no explanation given, and in that moment…
she felt a warm embrace.
“Snap out of it, Cassie!” Aisling shouted, worried.
“Shit!
Why does this always happen to me?!”
Cassie could feel herself being lifted, and the movement of a body that seemed to be exerting itself heavily.
“Come on, Cassie.
Give me a sign, anything.” He whispered it close to her ear.
Why…
why does he have to act normal right now…?
She lost herself in his voice and barely managed to nod with all the strength she had left.
Feeling the world crumble away, she couldn’t even afford to think it through, losing consciousness right then and there.
* * *
Cassie woke up gasping for breath.
Her body pressed against the hard, cold surface of what she recognized as a red coral.
She felt around at the coral, sighing in relief at how solid the world felt compared to the moments right before she’d lost consciousness.
“Are you okay?” Aisling asked, sitting beside her.
“Aisling…” Cassie whispered, feeling relief at being able to get even a single word out.
“What happened?”
Aisling stayed quiet for a moment, then answered.
“No idea.
You suddenly went still and coughed up blood.
I found a safe spot and did what I could for you, but you’re still weak…
I couldn’t find the cause, and there wasn’t any creature around, either — you just collapsed.”
Cassie brought a hand to her head, trying to remember, catching a trace of the cause. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
She felt deeply terrified.
Lover…
She took a deep breath.
“How…
how long was I unconscious?”
“Mm…
not long, just a few hours.
Don’t think about it.
Get some sleep for now; it’s already getting dark out for us to keep going.”
Cassie felt a gentle push against her forehead, and being too weak to resist, she lay back down on the cold surface and let it absorb her, not wanting to think about anything else.
Little by little she closed her eyes and gave in to the heaviness of her body, falling into a deep sleep.
* * *
They continued traveling without any unforeseen incidents for several days, until they reached an immense, misshapen skull.
Next to the skull, the two of them could be compared to tiny ants.
Cassie had completely given up trying to make her ability work after that experience.
Aisling genuinely had no idea why, and she was far too frightened to tell him.
She followed Aisling’s instructions without straying a single step or wandering off.
She’d been informed in detail about the dangers and the least prudent actions she could take, and she understood the deadly perils that could descend on her from a single wrong step.
Going down a slope, Aisling took her hand while narrating what was happening at every moment.
“We’re in a tunnel that works as an alternate entrance.
The main ones are full of ugly monsters.
And here’s where we hit the darkness.
As you can imagine, we’ll be blind going in, so I hope that’s not a problem for you.”
Cassie sighed at his comment.
She summoned a sword.
“I’m ready.”
“Perfect, I don’t think it’ll take long.
That bastard’s probably waiting for us.”
Cassie didn’t understand, and she wasn’t going to ask.
They made their way into the tunnel and climbed up a slope, entering the Deformed Skull.
Without letting go of Aisling’s hand, Cassie had a brief thought.
Aisling uses gauntlets shaped like claws as his main weapon, but he only kept one on just to hold the hand.
Suddenly, her thoughts were cut off as she was yanked hard and shielded by Aisling’s body, followed by a dull, wet crack, interrupted by a clash of metal.
“I’ve got it!” Aisling proclaimed, full of energy.
“Already?”
“Yeah- Argh!
My brain!” Aisling shouted, startling Cassie.
“It’s right here, in front of you!
You just need to make one clean cut.
Split this idiot in two!”
Cassie readied herself to strike and asked, unable to hide her curiosity.
“How did you catch it?”
“That’d be a great question if my brains weren’t being scrambled right now!”
Aisling’s hand still held hers, and she could feel faint tremors running through his body.
Ready to make the cut, Cassie was interrupted by Aisling.
“Wait, higher up, at head level!”
Cassie’s patience wore thinner with every word that came out of him.
“I get it already!” Cassie snapped back.
The sword came down, and she felt it slice something clean in half, hearing the voice of the Spell.
[You have defeated a Fallen Beast, Quiet Dancer.]
[You have obtained an Echo.]
Every future is certain…
it’s fate.
The moment they’d accomplished their goal, they left without waiting a second longer.
They had no idea what other beasts might have moved into the Deformed Skull, and they didn’t want to find out.
The instant they were out, Cassie asked:
“How did you catch it?”
“Good timing.
It was easy — I let it pierce right through my head, and to keep it from getting away, I put a helmet on.
It was just a matter of holding it tight after that.
The one thing I didn’t see coming was it thrashing around and shredding my brain to pieces.
It was strange.
Really one of a kind.
I’d recommend feeling it at least once, but you’d die, so don’t try it.”
Cassie laughed lightly.
“Noted.”
Leaving the Deformed Skull behind, they set off on the journey back.
* * *
Cassie had to admit that she’d rarely acted so simply, free of problems demanding improvisation and risk.
She assumed Aisling had already taken on the danger himself, which was why she could dare to navigate things with relative ease, without suffering for lack of information.
“I’ve got a question,” Aisling said out of nowhere.
Cassie couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. This story is hosted at g.com.
“Go ahead.”
“Is the future really that bad?”
Cassie couldn’t help but pause for a moment, but she recovered quickly, continuing on as she kept pace with him.
“It is.”
“And can you avoid it?”
“I don’t know…
but I do know.
I can feel the inevitable.
Everything points that way.
No matter what I do.”
“So you’re bracing yourself to take the hit.”
“Hit?”
“The hit from fate.”
Cassie thought hard.
She felt trapped, compressed into a space that made her relive her visions over and over.
Her actions were chained down, hemmed in by their own uselessness.
“Do you believe in fate?” Cassie asked, her tone soft.
“Well, yeah.
Why not?”
“And you’d accept it ruling over you?”
“Yes.”
“What…?”
Aisling’s answer had come fast, without a trace of doubt, and with an unsettling clarity.
It wasn’t hard to understand someone choosing to submit; no one knew fate for certain.
But Aisling possessed an autonomy that was hard to ignore once you started to understand him.
That very same person, considered so free, was choosing to be ruled, when in all these years he’d never once bowed to Gunlaug.
Cassie frowned, asking with a hint of anger.
“Why?
What’s the point of rejecting the world only to give in to fate?”
Aisling laughed.
“I can’t escape the light.”
“What are you talking about…?”
Aisling cut her off.
“I get sleepy, I feel tired, I get really hungry.
My feet are anchored to the ground, and I can’t soar through the sky.
I have strength, but not enough of it.
I can’t afford to breathe underwater for very long, or I’d drown.
And let’s not forget I’m a living disgrace.
It’s inevitable.
There’s so much governing me in this body I’ve got, every single moment.”
He sighed and went on:
“If I have a fate imposed on me, then so be it.
I won’t resist what can’t be changed.”
Cassie pressed her lips together, trying to hold back an emotion hard to name.
“You’re saying…
that the best thing is for me to just stand there watching everyone fall, knowing what I know, and being able to do something about it.”
Aisling stopped walking and stepped closer to Cassie.
“I didn’t say that.
Who cares what’s best?
What I’m saying is…
I know who I am, and I don’t want to be a hero, and I don’t want to be whatever it is you all are setting out to be.
I am who I am, and no fate stops me from being that…
So I’d rather ask myself: what’s best for me in the face of terrible circumstances?
Keep moving forward.
If you’re going to regret something, don’t.
If you have no choice, don’t regret it either.”
Resting a hand on her shoulder, she could feel him smiling.
As if living without consequences were just that simple.
Something’s wrong with me…
what am I doing?
Whatever expression Cassie was wearing, she lowered her head.
She’d already let herself be swayed without even realizing it.
It was so comfortable and easy to think that way, but she knew she couldn’t cling to it, because that wasn’t who she was.
She’d only end up becoming dependent on it.
She simply nodded and said:
“Let’s head back; we’ve already been out too long.”
She wasn’t capable of it now; she’d already lost.
Even so, she looked forward, longing, to a future where everything might still change — she knew his words would be an invaluable support then.