I woke up with a strange sensation in my body.
Pain wasn't the first thing to arrive.
It was emptiness.
A heavy, uncomfortable emptiness, something that had nothing to do with the arm I already knew was gone. It was something else. Something far more basic. A deep, almost primitive need.
I opened my eyes slowly. The corridor was still there, silent, littered with remains and motionless bodies. For a moment, I stayed still, breathing, confirming that I was still alive. My chest rose and fell with difficulty, but it did.
Then I looked to the left. The arm was gone. My shoulder ended in an uneven edge, covered in dried blood and dark tissue. I didn't feel pain anymore. I had no way of knowing how long I'd been unconscious, but it must have been a couple of hours.
'I'm surprised I didn't die from blood loss… strange.'
The sensation tightened again from within, different from any hunger I'd ever felt. It wasn't just my stomach. It was as if my entire body was demanding something all at once.
I dragged myself into a sitting position and looked at one of the fallen chimeras. I thought about eating without stopping to consider how or what. Meat was meat. I wasn't in a position to be picky.
'Still, I'm not going near the second chimera. Disgusting bastard.'
Gripping the improvised dagger with my right hand, I approached the closest one. I placed the blade against the body and pressed.
It didn't cut.
The dagger passed through the surface… and found no resistance until the tip struck the ground.
Where the blade had passed, the body began to break down. Not into chunks, but into something finer. Violet particles peeled away from the flesh like dust suspended in the air.
I froze, not understanding what was happening or what I was supposed to do.
The particles hovered for an instant… then moved.
Toward me.
I recoiled on instinct, but it was useless. The violet dust accelerated and embedded itself into my chest, my forehead and my eyes, passing through my skin as if it didn't exist. A deep, uncomfortable tingling spread inside me.
I couldn't stop it.
And I didn't even know if I should try.
When the process ended, the chimera's body had disappeared completely.
And something inside me had changed.
The sensation was still there, but it was no longer as urgent as if it had weakened just enough to let me think.
I looked at the next one.
Sensing no danger, I repeated the process. Every chimera reacted the same way: the body losing form, dissolving into violet particles that were drawn into me without my intervention.
With each absorption, the activity inside my body intensified. It wasn't pain. It wasn't pleasure either.
It was… internal movement. As if something was working beneath my skin without asking permission.
After the fourth, I bent forward, breathing heavily.
The need vanished completely.
So did the thirst.
Only then did I look at my left shoulder again.
Where there had been nothing before, the skin was closing. Slowly. Not all at once. Not cleanly. New tissue advanced like a slow tide, rebuilding what had been torn away. The arm reformed until it stopped, incomplete, ending just before the wrist.
There was no hand. Just an uneven end, covered in new skin.
I swallowed.
I didn't need to think too hard to understand it. The violet particles. The bodies. The internal sensation.
Aether.
My body hadn't consumed flesh.
It had absorbed aether.
And now… I no longer needed normal food.
'Still, I'm going to keep eating. My mom's pancakes are too good.'
Exhaustion hit all at once, heavy, unavoidable. I lay back against the cold stone floor of the corridor, feeling my body continue its work, sealing other minor wounds.
The aether had prioritized the most severe injury, stabilizing it until it was no longer a threat. Then it had handled the rest.
Maybe, if I gained greater control in the future, I'd be able to decide which wounds to prioritize.
This time, when darkness came, it wasn't a collapse.
I simply fell asleep.
***
Unknown to Arthur, in the final chamber of the nightmare, a conversation took place.
"So falling asleep in the Relicombs really is in the DNA."
The figure on the throne let out a sigh. "Don't be so hard on him."
The other chuckled softly. "At this pace, I don't know if he'll make it."
***
I woke up like last time, disoriented, with a persistent headache.
Much of it came from the fact that time felt different in here.
Is that the aether's fault?
Either way, I'd rested enough. If I wanted to fully recover my arm, I'd have to kill and absorb more monsters.
Another question surfaced.
What would happen if I absorbed excess aether while already in good condition, without injuries?
Would I be able to control it?
My aspect said no, but as my mother used to say:
"In a world ruled by impossibility, the possible is only a matter of perspective."
I'll try it at the end of the next zone. For that, I need to be in good shape.
With that final thought, I forced myself up from the floor. Even without broken bones, sleeping on stone wasn't exactly comfortable.
I stretched a bit and headed toward the portal at the end of the corridor leading to the second zone. The silence was absolute, broken only by the sound of my footsteps.
At the entrance, I took a deep breath and stepped through.
The sight that greeted me was… beautiful.
On the other side was an open world that seemed endless. A vast forest stretched in every direction, giant trees rising like natural pillars, so tall their canopies vanished into layers of leaves and filtered light. Everything was green. Alive. Overwhelming.
The air was humid, heavy with natural scents: earth, sap, decaying leaves. The ground was covered in thick roots that twisted through the vegetation, forcing careful steps. There were no clear paths. Nothing was meant to be traversed.
I moved forward.
And kept moving.
Minutes quickly lost meaning. The forest didn't change, yet it never truly repeated. Each stretch looked like the last, even though I knew it wasn't. The Aether Sense remained calm, I only felt the faint vibrations of leaves and branches.
I walked for hours.
I rested against a massive trunk, resumed my march, crossed denser areas and more open ones. Hunger didn't return. Neither did thirst. My body felt stable.
Too stable.
With time, that absence of danger began to relax me.
Then the terrain descended.
Not abruptly, but gradually, as if the forest itself had been carved around a natural depression. The sound arrived before the sight, moving water, constant and deep.
A river. Wide. Far wider than I'd imagined. The water stretched across dozens of meters, flowing slowly but with a silent strength that made it clear crossing by swimming wasn't realistic.
A wooden bridge spanned it.
It wasn't elegant or sturdy, thick logs, uneven planks, ropes barely tight enough. It swayed slightly even without wind, as if reminding anyone who crossed that it wasn't permanent, just something improvised within a wild environment.
I crossed.
The forest on the other side was the same… and it wasn't.
Same density. Same towering trees. Same omnipresent green.
But something in the atmosphere felt different. Not more dangerous.
Just… attentive.
I kept walking.
A long time passed without anything happening.
Too long.
The Aether Sense continued to signal calm within its range. No attacks. No surprises. Nothing.
False security began to settle in.
That was when I noticed the first odd detail.
Not a sound but an interruption.
A minimal vibration, right at the edge of my perception. Barely a flicker. When I stopped and focused, there was nothing. The forest remained still… and alive.
I moved forward again.
Another vibration. From a different angle. Again too far to confirm.
They weren't close.
But they were there.
I continued, now more cautiously. Every few steps, the Aether Sense reacted inconsistently, as if something was entering and leaving its range. Not a single presence, several. Moving. Coordinating.
They still didn't attack.
They were watching me.
The shadows between the trees began to feel too dense. The canopies moved with the wind, but the aether marked displacements that didn't match leaves or branches. Something large moved from tree to tree… without occupying visible space.
And when several vibrations appeared at once, from different points around me, I understood the trap.
It wasn't an immediate ambush.
It was a hunt.
The forest was still beautiful.
The river still flowed.
The world looked intact.
But I wasn't alone and I suspected I never had been.
The first movement was just a brush at the edge of my perception.
I stopped.
The Aether Sense reacted with a brief, weak vibration, as if something had entered and left its range. No sound. No broken branches. Nothing visible.
I took one more step.
Something crossed my perception to the right, fast, low. I twisted instinctively and snapped the whip in a short arc. I didn't aim at a body, but at the space the Aether Sense marked.
The whip tightened.
Something screeched.
An invisible body was ripped from the air and slammed into a tree trunk. The illusion shattered on impact a deformed monkey-like creature, larger than normal, appeared for an instant before going still, its neck bent at an impossible angle.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Phantom Grove Stalker.]
I didn't dwell on it.
Another movement.
Behind me this time.
I lunged forward and turned, using the whip as an extension of my body. I shortened it to the minimum and swept low. The impact was solid. Resistance then a crack. The second body fell without ever becoming visible.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Phantom Grove Stalker.]
The third attacked from above.
I felt it before I saw anything. I dove aside, released the whip, and focused on the dagger, thrusting backward blindly, guided only by the correct vibration. The improvised blade pierced soft flesh. Weight crashed onto me, and I rolled to shove it off.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Phantom Grove Stalker.]
Three.
I took a deep breath.
It wasn't over.
The fourth and fifth came together. Coordinated. One from the front, one from behind. I lengthened the whip and hurled it upward, anchoring it to a high branch. I pulled with my entire body and lifted myself just as something swept through where my legs had been.
Refocusing on the dagger, I dropped onto the first.
One died silently.
The other tried to retreat but switching back to the whip, I cinched it around its torso and crushed it against the ground until it stopped moving.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Phantom Grove Stalker.]
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Phantom Grove Stalker.]
Five.
The forest went quiet again.
Too quiet.
Then the Aether Sense exploded.
Not one. Not two. Many. Moving through the trees, entering and leaving my range, surrounding me. They were no longer testing with isolated attacks. They were closing in.
I moved. There wasn't time to absorb the aether from the bodies I'd already killed.
I didn't run in a straight line. I changed direction, used trees as cover, the whip as an anchor to propel myself. Each attack was measured, precise. A dagger strike here. A violent pull there.
But they started to overwhelm me.
Invisible blows grazed my back. Something cut my side, not deep, but enough. Pressure built rapidly. My body began lagging behind my mind.
Then it happened.
Residual Echo activated.
My body moved before I could think.
The whip expanded violently, dozens of meters wrapping trunks, branches, invisible bodies.
I pulled.
The forest responded with violence.
Bodies were ripped from the air, smashed into one another, shattered by impact. I didn't see most of them. I didn't need to. The aether traced paths, openings, mistakes.
I moved through the trees as if I already knew the terrain. The dagger rose and fell at angles I didn't remember learning. Every movement had purpose. Every turn ended with something collapsing.
The monkeys tried to attack in groups.
They failed.
The whip caught several at once and used them as projectiles against their own allies. Others were pinned to trunks with such force that the illusion broke before they died.
It wasn't a fight.
It was a purge.
They specialized in stealth, not durability but the damage they dealt if they caught you was severe.
Blood stained leaves, roots, soil. The forest filled with chaotic vibrations until, one by one, they faded.
When the last body fell, my legs gave out.
Residual Echo shut off as abruptly as it had appeared.
Silence returned.
I breathed heavily, leaning my back against a tree. I looked at my incomplete left arm. Still the same. There hadn't been time. I hadn't been able to absorb anything.
Too many enemies.
Too much pressure.
And yet…
I'd survived.
The forest still stood.
But I knew the truth.
This zone wouldn't let me rest. It would be trial after trial.
It wasn't the last group.
Nor the second.
Nor the third.
The nightmare creatures stopped attacking in coordinated assaults and shifted to something worse: persistence.
Small, intermittent waves. Always from different angles. Sometimes two at a time. Sometimes five. Sometimes just one, waiting for the exact moment my guard dropped.
I lost count quickly.
Hours later, the ground was covered in drag marks, dark blood, and shattered trunks. My breathing had become automatic. My movements mechanical.
Every kill released aether.
Every absorption healed minor wounds, strengthened muscles…
But never enough to complete the arm.
Over time, they learned.
But so did I.
They began attacking from outside my maximum range, forcing me to move.
To make mistakes.
To waste energy.
When the last of that wave fell, I didn't feel relief.
The Aether Sense
for the first time since entering this area
fell into absolute silence.
The calm before the storm.
As if the entire forest had taken a step back.
I advanced.
Each step was heavy not from exhaustion, but pressure. The air felt different. Denser. The green of the forest looked dull, as if light avoided the place.
Then I felt it.
Not intermittent vibrations.
Not multiple presences.
One.
Large.
Stable.
Perfectly still… even within my maximum range.
Invisible? Yes.
But not hidden.
I swallowed.
"So you're the one in charge," I murmured.
The air ahead distorted slightly, as if something massive breathed without wanting to be seen.
And this time, it wasn't a hunt.
It was a duel.
Surrounded by trees that reached the sky, some branches wide enough to hold houses, others barely large enough for a single person.
Wherever I looked, there was an obstacle if I wanted to move fast.
That's when I realized it.
I was no longer in the regular forest.
I had entered the boss area.
I'd walked straight into its trap.
My vision showed nothing unusual but my Aether Sense did.
Meters away stood another invisible monkey but this one wasn't like the others.
Its silhouette felt larger. Its aura different.
It stood on one of the thick branches. I didn't fully understand its posture, but I was certain of one thing:
It was measuring me.
Any careless movement, and it would strike.
I briefly expanded my Aether Sense to confirm if we were alone.
We were.
This would be a duel with no interruptions.
No escape.
To the death.
Without my left arm fully restored. With my body exhausted.
And against a monster that surpassed me in strength, size, and experience.
I don't know if it was the pressure of the coming battle or adrenaline flooding my body, but I couldn't stop a smile from forming.
The monster moved.
I did not see it. I only felt the vibrations.
I jumped backward on reflex, and a fraction of a second later, the branch I had been standing on split apart as if struck by an invisible battering ram. Splinters flew through the air. The hit had not been direct, but the shockwave still caught me and sent me rolling through the roots.
I did not see the attack.
I only felt the result.
I got up immediately, using the whip to propel myself toward a more open area.
Mistake.
My sense of aether tensed behind me and something enormous rushed past, tearing the bark off three trees in a row.
The monster was fast for its size.
And precise.
The next hit did connect.
Something invisible slammed into my torso and lifted me off the ground like I weighed nothing. I crashed into a thick trunk, the air was knocked out of my lungs, and I dropped to my knees, dizzy.
Pain.
A lot of it.
The aether around me vibrated steadily, dominantly. It was not in a hurry. It did not need to be. It was stronger, faster, and larger than me.
I forced myself to move before the next strike came.
I extended the whip in a wide arc, not trying to hit it, but to mark its exact position. The aether reacted when the whip passed close to the invisible body: a minimal distortion. Enough.
There.
I adjusted the length instantly and waited for it to collide with it. Seconds later, I felt the tension in the whip.
Something heavy was struck, and I saw a branch nearly snap from the weight that fell onto it.
The criature lunged.
The world turned chaotic. Invisible blows from above, from the sides, from angles that did not match its size. It used the terrain better than I did. It leaped between branches as if the forest were part of its body.
I was barely surviving.
Every dodge was precise. Every movement cost me. My sense of aether warned me of attacks with barely a breath of anticipation. I could not afford mistakes.
An invisible claw sliced my side. I felt hot blood soak my clothes. Another charge forced me to throw myself to the ground to avoid being split in half.
It was stronger. More resilient.
And it could remain invisible even after taking damage.
I cannot win like this.
I thought fast.
The forest was not an obstacle.
It was a tool.
I retreated on purpose, drawing it toward a tighter area where the branches intertwined and space was limited. The criature noticed… but followed anyway. Confident.
A grave mistake.
I anchored the whip to two massive trees and pulled with all my weight right when the vibrations marked it. The invisible body slammed into the tension of the whip and lost its balance for an instant.
Residual Echo awakened.
My body moved on its own.
I rolled beneath its torso, my dagger rising at a perfect angle and barely sinking into the inner part of its thigh. The roar it released shook leaves and branches.
Taking advantage of how close it was, it struck back. I managed to partially block it, but it still slammed me into the ground.
I felt something crack. I did not know what.
But I did not stop.
Using the whip again, I wrapped it around its arm, pulled, moved closer, and tried to stab deeper. But it saw it coming. With a single maneuver, it redirected my movement and struck me square in the chest. Everything went blurry.
I fell onto my back, struggling to breathe.
Forcing myself to get up before it hit me again, I threw the whip at a branch to use it as support. I stood just in time to try to dodge a trunk flying at extreme speed.
I barely avoided the trunk by turning right, and that was when I realized my mistake. The trunk was not the main threat.
I did not even manage to lift my gaze before I felt the aether around me shift to make space for the monster's fist.
The blow sent me flying several meters back, and I ended up at the edge of the river.
Trying to breathe, I realized I was choking on blood. The hit had broken my ribs, and they had punctured my lungs.
With few other options and using the distance, I moved toward the first body of one of the monkeys I had fought earlier.
When I tried to pierce it, the same thing that had happened with the chimeras occurred. The body turned into violet particles and flowed toward me.
I did the same with the other nearby bodies until, thankfully, my ribs healed and my lungs returned to normal.
That did not mean I was in good condition. The blood I had already lost was not coming back. And it had been a lot.
If this keeps up, this will not end well. Is there no way to do something with aether?
Trying the previous idea of controlling it inside my body, I approached another monster and closed my eyes, focusing on my sense of aether.
The result?
Absolutely nothing.
Aether ignored me completely.
And before I could try again, I felt the vibrations of the zone boss once more.
The good news was that I was just about to fully recover my left hand. Maybe absorbing aether from one more monster would be enough.
Unfortunately, I did not have the time.
The next second, it was on top of me.
But this time, it was different.
I felt the strike meters before it happened.
Dodging to the left, I drove my right fist toward where I assumed the monster's torso was. Even with my sense of aether, identifying its exact physiology was difficult.
Sensing my intent, it twisted its body so my punch passed by. What it failed to avoid was the kick I delivered to its head.
The punch had never been meant to connect. It was a feint. The purpose was to make it dodge, and by jumping and spinning in midair, my foot struck what should have been its ear.
I did not send it flying like it had done to me, but I was certain I stunned it.
Taking advantage of the moment, I switched to the whip and wrapped it around its entire body, but I did not pull. I needed a better perception of its form.
Feeling the whip around it, the creature tried to jump to a branch, failing to realize that this was exactly what I wanted.
At that moment, I commanded the whip to extend as much as possible.
With both its movement and mine, the whip tangled in such a way that any movement from the creature would only cause it more damage.
That was, of course, only if the Memory could withstand its strength.
Trying to take advantage of the moment, I moved as close as possible and drove the dagger in my right hand into where I calculated its thigh to be.
The dagger met resistance at first, but eventually, it gave way.
Letting out a scream that nearly deafened me, the creature began to thrash desperately.
I hope the whip holds.
As if the world itself had heard my thoughts, the whip endured, and with every movement the creature made, it only hurt itself more.
Raising the dagger again, this time I aimed for its chest.
Just as I was about to strike, I felt a vibration of aether I did not like. The whip was giving in under the pressure. A few more seconds, and the Memory would shatter.
Luckily, the dagger pierced the creature's chest before that could happen.
Strangely, I felt no resistance at all. It was as if the creature's chest was its weak point.
Seconds later, I heard the spell's voice confirming its death.
[You have slain a Dormant Demon, Phantom Grove Alpha.]
[You have received a Memory: Phantom Armor.]
A smile formed on my face as I dismissed the whip.
I let myself fall beside it, exhausted, staring at the sky barely visible through the canopy. My sense of aether slowly faded, returning to silence.
I had won.
But it was not a clean victory.
Not elegant.
Not free.
As I stabbed the demon's body, it began to break apart, dissolving into denser violet particles than before.
The particles moved.
Toward me.
When the process ended, I felt a deep pull in my left shoulder. Not pain, but pressure. I looked down just in time to see the skin close completely, and finally, fingers began to form.
A hand.
My hand.
Not perfect. Still weak. But real.
A dry laugh escaped me, ending in a cough.
"In the end… it was worth it," I muttered.
The forest was in absolute silence. No vibrations. No presences. The zone had accepted the result.
I stayed there a while longer without moving, letting my body finish its work as I rested.
Now, I was halfway through the nightmare.