The wasteland of the Outskirts, everyone who had lived a day inside it, knew how vast it was, with most of it devoid of life even before time froze.
But it was known to be safe, with no monsters out to hunt you, meaning that the only danger was food and water. However, it seemed time had changed, because they found themselves face to face with another beast.
A white wolf, with its fur of pure snow, howled at them with its beak, as while the body was of a mammal, the head belonged to a bird, a hawk.
It didn't have a tail, it had more than one, and none belonged to the wolf anomaly.
Something was wrong, very wrong. How could it have ended up all the way here?
Monsters are born either in the rings, by the Queen, or in places cursed by the Abyss, or, just like the forest, places that had cursed themselves with the sin of taking a life.
It was unheard of to see one in the wasteland, not only because of its size, but because they didn't leave their homes.
This had not happened once since everything began, and yet here they found themselves, staring right into its eyes, and it in theirs.
Elpis drew his blade, his will strengthening its sides, and his pride the tip. A gleaming silver aura burned around it. Whenever Aether stared at it, he felt a strange sensation, one that made him want to fight. It was inspiring.
Avrie also took out her bow, using some of the arrows she had made herself just in case, to help the knight, far away from the front line.
Her precision wasn't the best, but it was the best he had seen, maybe because she was the first person he had seen use a bow. She missed, but hit her shots just when it mattered, which had helped Elpis whenever he was overwhelmed.
Aether smiled bitterly, looking at both of them fighting together, like a team, while all he did was sit on the sidelines. He hated that feeling of being defenseless.
He didn't have a weapon, well, just a small dagger, but he wasn't skilled with a sword, even less so with something as small as a knife. He also didn't have the ability to make himself and his weapons stronger like Elpis.
He was cunning, but he lacked Avrie's knowledge to create his own tools, so in the end, he was useless. Why had they even bothered to be his companions? For what? For who?
It was clear, they weren't helping him, they were doing it for themselves... he was alone.
A small grin curled up on his face as he got close to where Elpis was battling the wolf, staring at the wolf's shadow.
"Your weak point, where is it?"
His tone was demanding, his eyes sharply examining their prey, not letting it escape its grasp. And while the main body had not heard him, continuing to fight, the shadow had, and it responded.
"Why should I tell you, lowly human?"
Aether chuckled.
"Don't you see? I'm of Praise?"
The shadow had not responded; it stood quite, choosing its words more carefully. He had noticed that shadows tended to stagger when they heard about Praise, even more when they realized he was blessed by it. Giving the answer way more easily, and it had worked yet again.
"Between the head and the body, there is a crack just enough for a blade to go through; aim for it."
He took a deep breath and shouted loud enough to attract Elpis' attention, who was concentrating on staying alive.
"Around the end of its neck, look for a crack near the head part!"
Hearing Aethers' voice, Elpis broke from his knighly persona and gave the beast a wicked grin.
As the wolf was closing the distance between them, heading with its beak straight into his intestines, he waited until it was close enough, and when it was, he jumped into the air, and with the second he was in the air, he looked for the opening that Aether had told him, and it was there.
At the start of the head, where the feathers started to overrun the fur, was a small crack where there wasn't anything.
It was cramped, and to do it in the air would be impossible.
So before landing, he grabbed the torso of the beast and got on its back like it was a horse. After landing, he quickly twisted his body, plunging his sword straight into its weak point.
The monster quickly fell to the ground, the Codex appearing to applaud him.
He got off the beast, taking a deep breath.
"It was a reader monster."
A worthy opponent, but he was outnumbered.
While compared to Aether's achievements, it was a piece of cake, to the normal reader, a creature of the monster rank was quite a battle.
Monsters were the last rank that depended on a killing instinct, meaning that they had perfected it. For a reader to even have a chance against it, they would have to be at least of the echo rank, have a powerful affinity and abilities, or strong relics.
Elpis was someone with a powerful affinity, which was why he could battle it, but even he had needed help. And to think there were other ranks much powerful than the monster rank. It made his skin crawl.
It wasn't the first creature they had to face; there were many others, and it felt like the wasteland was invaded by them. The only reliable reason for this to happen would be that their natural habitats were destroyed by something or someone. Which was horrifying, since some monsters who lived in those zones were as strong as Chaos.
Luckily, they were able to find a way to fight against them.
Elpis would be their sword, taking whatever attacked them head-on. He would try to kill it with Avrie, who would help him with her bow from a safe distance.
If they were able to do so, then good.
But if anything went wrong, like Elpis getting overwhelmed, or the battle going on for too long, it was time for The Fool to do his part.
Aether had told them about his ability to speak to shadows. He thought it was the right decision to do, because either way, he would have probably had to reveal it in the Rings. Since he did, he could also use it much more now, not having to worry about being questioned.
At first, his plan didn't work so well, asking the shadows for the main body's weakness. He blamed it on the shadow being too loyal, but with the more it continued, and the more work Elpis and Avrie had to put in, he finally discovered the reason for his ability failing.
His bane.
The shadows lied much more, some even staying quiet for the whole time. Others mocked him, while some cursed him. It was because of his bane; his ability was weakened by it.
With Elpis joining, his bane had gotten stronger. He had never realized how weak shadow speech was while under his bane, maybe because it was weak whenever there was just one person, or just because every time he used it, he never considered himself to be working with someone, to have help.
That was why, before asking a shadow for its weakness, he manipulated himself into thinking he was alone, with no one to help him. That the others were just using him, and didn't want him. It helped with his bane, enough to get answers from shadows.
He, of course, didn't tell them about his bane; he wasn't that stupid.
But he had to say, he was getting tired of repeating the same thing every time, it also made it worse that Elpis got the killing hit, meaning he didn't get any shard from doing this. He wondered how much longer they had until they reached the Rings.
...
Yet after walking not quite far from where they had killed the wolf, Elpis signaled them to stop. Surprising Aether, as there wasn't anything in sight, only a frozen lake and snow.
Aether looked at Elpis, demanding answers, and good ones for why they had stopped.
Elpis scoffed at his attitude and pointed down below them, to the lake.
Aether raised his brow, not understanding what he was saying.
But as he looked more and more, he could see something deep inside the waters, something that made his jaw drop. But before he could ask anything, Elpis confirmed his theory.
"The bunker is inside the frozen lake, deep down. Rivergate, that's its name."