A few hours later.
Jack was sharpening his tools and reloading his weapons.
"You want to patrol the edge?" Aiden questioned. "I thought we were leaving for the city."
"We are, but not before I make my rounds," Jack said. "I need to make sure that my brother hasn't landed in a grassland like you did, or whatever that remained of him."
"Let me tag along," Aiden said. "I want to see it again — the edge."
"What benefit would that bring you?" Jack asked with a raised brow as he threw a bag over his shoulder.
"No benefit. Just curiosity."
"Curiosity kills."
"But I'm not a cat?"
"What?" Jack questioned.
"Just a saying from my world, that curiosity kills cats."
"Does your world have a monster called curiosity?"
"Uh, never mind. Just let me tag along."
"Your life, not mine," Jack said and began walking. "You can follow me, but keep your hands to yourself."
"I told you it wasn't what you think," Aiden protested as he trailed behind him. "I was just doing an experiment."
"And what experiment involves hiding my potatoes?"
"I wanted to see if the box fits," Aiden lied. "It did. You have good boxes. Do you craft them yourself?"
"I would rather have you steal than talk," Jack said. "Be quiet once we leave the farm. Voices attract monsters and worse."
"Worse than monsters?"
"Humans."
Aiden agreed.
The two walked out of the farm, leaving the rabbits to do their work.
Jack seemed rather somber.
Aiden didn't bombard him with questions.
The two of them walked in silence.
Wind carried ashes over the grasslands.
The infinite hills seemed to swallow the two.
Aiden remembered when he first landed in this place.
He knew nothing.
He wanted nothing.
But now, he wanted to see what lay beyond the hills and the old farm.
He wanted to see the world that Jack told him about.
Jack, on the other hand, was content with his life. He dedicated every waking moment to finding his brother or surviving.
"Tell me, Jack." Aiden broke the silence. "Were you and your brother close?"
No answer.
Then, his voice came, in a reminiscent tone.
"We hated each other more than anything. He wanted to explore everything, while I wanted to focus on surviving. His antics made our mother worry, which made me hate him more."
"You don't look like you hate him anymore."
"He moved here, to live on the edge. We had a fight about that, and I broke multiple bones in his body. He was never strong, but he was curious."
"That reminds me of a friend of mine. He died a month ago."
"Fools die early," Jack said. "But these are the kind of people who live in your heart forever. They keep you wondering what's the strange idea that would pop out of their mouths."
"You began to miss him?"
"I do, every day," Jack said. "I began coming to the farm and selling him crops enough to last him the winter. He never knew it was me, but I had to keep coming. That idiot would have starved himself to death."
"He didn't know it was you?"
"I wore a cloak and covered my face," Jack said, embarrassed. "I didn't want to apologize for beating him. I still don't think it was the wrong choice — but I might have been too harsh."
Aiden saw a sliver of something he didn't recognize in the hunter.
After more stories that Jack told about his brother, Aiden realized it was familial love.
A smile had somehow appeared on Jack's face as he told stories about his brother's inventions.
He laughed, for the first time, as he told Aiden about how his brother tried to make a chicken lay golden eggs for him.
"The word impossible didn't exist for him," Jack said. "If I had let go of my pride and asked him to come back, he wouldn't have fallen into the edge of the world. I guess that was impossible to me."
"People don't change," Aiden said. "Your brother would have still chosen to live here, following his ideals."
"I still believe that he tried to find something better for us," Jack said. "He believed that crossing the edge would show us a different world, a sanctuary that not even the highest nobles could touch."
"Do you believe that?"
"I don't believe in things," Jack replied. "I know that the edge swallows everything, and nothing returns — well, except for people like you."
Aiden realized how much hope he brought for Jack.
"If I can cross the nothingness, then your brother can too," Aiden reassured him. Jack was silent, but Aiden could see the dismissive smile. He had lost hope.
Before the two of them realized, they reached the barren land where no life existed. A few hours had passed since they left the farm, and a few hours later, they reached their destination.
The edge of the wall looked like a black wall from afar, where no light could cross or reflect.
"The world ceases here," Jack muttered. "It brings me perspective to stand on the edge of the world."
"It brings me fear," Aiden muttered. "We are as far as we could be from the world's center."
"Believe me," Jack began while turning to Aiden, "the center is far more terrifying."
Jack did not elaborate, but turned to begin his patrol on the edge. The two of them traveled on the edge of the world, looking for any signs of life — but found none. Not even monsters dared to approach.
"What happens if I touch the end?" Aiden asked Jack as he looked at the black wall separating existence from its absence.
"Never attempt it," Jack said. "I have seen men disappear the moment they touch it. Anything that touches the end of the world disappears and never returns."
Aiden didn't question it.
Night soon descended.
Jack built a small camp using his survival kit. At the same time, Aiden opened his system — which he realized that others could not see. He navigated to the Wishes Log and found Elias Mourne's wish was blinking again.
Aiden glanced at Jack, who was starting a fire for their dinner.
Then, he clicked on the blinking wish.
[Accessing the memories of Elias Mourne…]
[Building a dream landscape…]
[Configuring spiritual senses…]
Aiden noticed these notifications as his vision blurred, and he fell unconscious.
Then, he found himself in the courtyard.
Elias was training again.
And so was Aiden.
Their session lasted for several hours, until Aiden experienced a sudden headache.
His training ended abruptly as he jumped awake. He found the campfire to have turned to embers, and Jack sitting on the edge of the camp, facing the wall of nothingness.
"You're awake," Jack said. "It's the first time I've seen someone move this much in their sleep."
"A bad habit," Aiden said as he grabbed his head. "How long…?"
"Three hours."
"I'm sorry for leaving you alone," Aiden said. "You can fall asleep."
"I don't trust you enough to guard, nor with my life," Jack said directly. "I know what kind of man you are — a man forced to survive using the darkest of tricks, and I'm like that too."
"I would never repay this kindness with harm," Aiden said, offended. "You talk about me as if you know me, but you don't," he protested.
"I know humans, and that's enough," Jack said. "I'll close my eyes for a while. You can stand guard or just fall asleep — it wouldn't make a difference, really."
"I appreciate the trust," Aiden said. "Makes me want to shove you off the edge."
"As if your scrawny ass can even carry me," Jack said with a snort and lay on the ground. "Don't do anything foolish."
Aiden didn't answer. He rose from the ground and sat in Jack's spot, staring at the starry night and the wall that blocked it.
It made no sense to him that there wouldn't even be stars beyond the edge of the world. Gravity shouldn't even be this stable like Earth, but something seemed to be holding this world together.
Aiden stared at the wall of nothingness.
The quiet night made his chest ache for some reason.
In the end, he opened his system to give him comfort.
At the moment, his stats remained the same.
The RISE desire meter, however, rose to be 11% after the fight against the twisted monster.
Once again, Aiden saw the warning in his desire meters.
[VOID: 99%]
[VOID Meter: 100% Consequences]
[Effects: Reaching 100%: Unlocks "Perfect Erasure" - eliminate anything from reality and memory.]
[Consequences: Nihilistic tendencies, reality decay, existential void expansion.]
Aiden could not understand the effects nor the consequences, but he didn't want to know if this Perfect Erasure meant him.
All of the abilities in his [Exchange] remained locked.
His sole chance at growing stronger was accessing the memories of Elias Mourne until he learned that fighting stance.
As he fiddled with his inventory and the rest of the system, Aiden heard a sound — a whisper.
He snapped his head in its direction, only to find himself staring at the blank wall of nothingness.
A chill went down his spine.
He waited for a few minutes, but there was nothing.
As he thought he was imagining things, he heard it once more.
A voice coming from beyond the edge of the world.