Chapter 36 — Rope Breaks
The woman hit the lane with her basket still pinned to her hip.
Her first step landed clean. The next covered too much ground, the gap shrinking in a way Rei couldn't trust. Cloth shifted in the basket, then held—shirts and sheets settling into a stiff, single lump.
Her smile stayed on her face.
Her eyes did not.
Becca pulled the unicorn a half-step back, horn sweeping into the centerline. "Rei."
Rei kept his left hand raised toward the fence post. The man bound there jerked against rope and wood, shoulders slamming, breath ripping out in harsh bursts. Rei's Dream held him in place like an extra set of unseen hands—pressure at wrists and ribs, enough to keep the villagers from being dragged forward when the rope snapped tight.
Rei's right hand reached for the woman.
Dream rose through his tail, cool and immediate. He pictured a low bar across her shins, simple as a broom handle set in the wrong place.
It appeared.
She clipped it and slid sideways into a stumble that should have ended on dirt.
Her posture snapped.
The stumble turned into a stride. She kept coming, basket still tucked tight, as if her body had forgotten it could let go.
"Horn line," Rei said.
Becca moved at once, turning the unicorn into a living wall. The animal filled the lane with heat and muscle, horn guarding the center. Jinx hugged Rei's ankle, a white streak that stayed close enough to vanish behind his legs. Vesper pressed heavier in his hood, steady weight that kept Rei's breathing from breaking.
Rei lifted his hand. A pale wall rose between the woman and the horn, fogged like breath trapped against glass.
She hit it hard enough to thump the basket. Laundry spilled and slid across wet dirt.
She stayed upright.
Her hands scraped at the Dream, fingers dragging as if she was trying to peel it away.
"Sorry," she said.
The word came out clean.
Then it doubled.
"Sorry—"
Her voice broke into itself, two tracks fighting for one throat. Her face tightened, irritation cutting through the echo like a knife through paper.
Jinx darted low, teeth flashing near the woman's calf. She checked herself a breath before contact, fur lifting as if the air around the woman stung.
From deeper in the lane, the older man in the apron shouted, voice carrying. "Doors! Inside!"
The iron bell rang.
Shutters slammed. Boards thudded. Footsteps retreated. Someone dropped a sack of grain that burst across the lane, kernels skittering and sticking to mud. A cart wheel rolled half a turn and stopped in a rut.
Rei held the man at the post with his left hand. He pushed the woman back with his right.
The strain came fast.
The roped man surged again, rope biting, wood creaking. Rei felt the pull through his hold like a hook behind his eyes.
The woman lunged for the horn line.
Rei pulled the wall inward. Space tightened around her. Angles disappeared.
For a heartbeat, it worked.
She slammed into Dream, bounced, and slammed again.
Pain rang through Rei's skull. Ember Circulation ran steady through his chest and belly, smoothing the edge and keeping his hands from shaking.
Becca's voice cut low and tight. "Rei. Lane's turning."
Rei caught it too.
Movement flickered near the granary line—someone stepping out of a doorway, then stepping again the same way. A hand reached for a latch that had already turned.
Another figure appeared at the bend, half-hidden behind a stall. A man in a work shirt, face pale, eyes wide. He looked at the grain scattered across the lane and took one careful step toward it.
Then he took the same step again, heel landing on the same patch of mud with the same careful precision.
He blinked hard, jaw working.
"Mine," he said, voice thin.
The word came again, sharper, shoved forward by something inside him.
"Mine."
He bent to scoop grain with shaking hands. His fingers closed on air. He scooped again. His hands sped up, repeating the same grab even as there was nothing left in that exact spot.
Then his head snapped up.
His gaze fixed on Becca's moving hand as she tightened the reins.
His body launched toward her like a switch had been thrown.
Becca swore and pulled the unicorn sideways, horn sweeping between them. "Rei!"
Rei felt the lane close around them. He moved.
Dream rose through his tail. He pictured a thick ribbon, something that could snag ankles without cutting.
The ribbon unfurled across the mud like a pale streamer.
The man hit it, feet tangling. He stumbled, caught himself on hands and knees, then surged again with a harsh, jerking burst that brought him forward more than the stumble should have allowed.
His mouth opened.
"Give," he said, and the word split. "Give—give—"
Becca snapped, "Back!"
The man's eyes stayed locked on her hand and the reins, anger spreading across his face like a stain.
Rei's left hand trembled as the roped man at the post surged again. The villagers bracing the rope staggered but held.
Rei's attention split into two blades. One at the post. One in the lane.
The woman in the cage found the thin spot and pulled.
The Dream shivered.
The pressure split.
She slipped free.
She surged toward the horn line, eyes fixed on the unicorn's throat, mouth working around a word that arrived in fragments.
"Stop," she said. "St—op."
Becca hauled the unicorn back. Hooves tore mud. The horn swept toward the woman's chest.
The woman did not slow.
Rei had a single breath to make a gap.
Dream rose clean through his tail, and Rei pictured a plain blade—straight edge, no flourish, meant to end motion.
It formed in his hand as pale light with smoke at the edges.
He stepped into the woman's line and cut.
The strike was fast and controlled. Her rush broke. She stumbled, face shifting for a blink—confusion flickering across it—then the tension drained away.
She hit the dirt hard. The basket rolled free.
The lane went quiet for a heartbeat.
Rei stood over her, blade held low. His breath shook once before he caught it. Jinx pressed against his ankle, tail thumping once—quick, firm. Vesper stayed heavy in his hood, anchoring him.
Becca swallowed and kept her voice level. "Post. Rei."
Rei turned back.
The roped man surged again, head snapping toward a doorway, then away, then back. His mouth worked.
"Water," he said.
Then his voice doubled, and the word stretched into a harsh sound that did not fit his face.
One of the villagers holding the rope whispered his name and clamped his jaw shut, eyes wet.
Rei lifted his left hand. Pressure tightened. The rope stopped biting deeper. The man's shoulder hit wood again and gained nothing.
For a moment, rope and Dream held together.
Then the grain-man hit the unicorn's flank with a shoulder-first slam, desperate and angry, as if the animal's bulk had become an insult. The unicorn squealed, hooves skidding. Becca dug her heels in and hauled the reins, body tight with control.
"Enough," Becca snarled.
The grain-man's hand flashed toward the unicorn's tack.
Rei's Dream blade dissolved in his grip, smoke peeling off and fading. He shaped Dream again—claws this time, pale and sharp, sliding over his gloved hand like a second set of talons.
He lunged and slashed once across the man's forearm, the motion meant to stop hands and break reach.
The cut landed. The man recoiled, eyes wide, mouth opening on a sound that came out wrong—pain, then anger layered over it, then a fractured laugh that cracked mid-note.
He stumbled back, then surged forward again, arm hanging, expression locked into a hard, flat irritation.
Becca jerked the unicorn away, horn sweeping. "Rei, we're leaving!"
Rei's claws dissolved into smoke. He stepped in once more, quick and close. He pictured a shove—Dream as a sudden, solid hand to the chest.
The shove hit.
The grain-man flew backward into the mud, breath knocked out of him. He scrambled, tried to rise, and his body repeated the same half-stand twice, knees slipping on the same patch of wet dirt.
Rei grabbed Becca's sleeve. "Go. Now."
Becca didn't argue. She turned the unicorn and drove toward the slope that led to the fields, hooves pounding hard. Rei followed, Jinx a white streak at his heel, Vesper steady in his hood.
Behind them, the roped man hit the fence post again. Rope snapped tight. Villagers shouted and braced.
Another voice rose from the east row, high and ragged. A door banged open. A figure stepped out, froze, then stepped again with the same motion, head turning too far and snapping back.
Becca's voice came over her shoulder. "Don't look back."
Rei kept running.
Mud sucked at his boots. He vaulted a low fence, landed hard, corrected his balance in one step. The unicorn took the fence in a heavy leap, Becca bent low over its neck, horn pointed ahead like a spear.
Rei's awareness tightened to the immediate—fence lines, ditches, open ground. The village sounds fell behind them in a churn of shouting and bell.
A thin wrongness brushed Rei's perception—grit against silk—and tugged east for a heartbeat, toward the sheds behind the granary. The pull faded as quickly as it came, leaving only direction.
Rei kept his pace and filed it away.
They broke into the fields proper, wind cutting clean across Rei's face and pulling smoke out of his hair. His lungs burned. Ember Circulation kept the burn from turning ragged.
Becca glanced back once, then forward again, jaw set. "We're out."
Rei took one more fence and dropped into a shallow ditch, boots splashing cold water. Jinx landed beside him and shook out her fur mid-run. Vesper kept her steady weight in his hood.
Then the HUD flared across Rei's vision mid-stride.
Bright enough to threaten his footing.
Crisp enough to cut through breath and mud and panic.
SYSTEM NOTICE
Final Week of Beta Initiated
Event Status: Active
A Pocket Realm has opened.
— Access Point: Singular
— Entry Method: Teleportation Available
— Eligibility: All Players
Event Overview:
— The Realm is self-contained.
— Internal hazards, entities, and environmental conditions are variable.
— Progression inside the Realm persists for the duration of the event.
— Defeat inside the Realm follows standard death conditions.
Rewards & Acquisition:
— Unique materials, equipment, and enhancements are present within the Realm.
— Treasures are distributed across exploration, combat, and discovery.
— Some rewards may only be accessible through coordinated engagement.
Participation:
— Entry is optional.
— Re-entry after exit is not guaranteed.
— Exit conditions may vary by circumstance.
Event Duration:
— Until Beta Conclusion
— Or until the Realm collapses.
Additional Notes:
— System support may be limited.
— Anomalous behavior has been detected.
Rei's foot caught for a fraction on the ditch edge.
He saved the step, breath coming sharp once before Ember Circulation pulled it back into line.
Becca stared ahead, riding hard, voice clipped. "That's now."
Rei swallowed once, throat tight. "Yeah."
Behind them, Larkspur's bell rang again—faint at this distance, carried by wind.
Ahead of them, fields stretched toward tree line and whatever waited beyond it.
Rei kept moving.