I am dead.
Damn it. Is this what I'm going to amount to? I've been given such an opportunity. A second chance, the one I always wanted. Am I really going to waste it?
He watched as his life flashed before his eyes.
Did all my pain and suffering truly not mean anything?
I didn't even make a start.
No, No, NO!
No damn it. I won't accept this.
As if that means anything. Who cares if you accept it or not. The fact is you're going to die the moment you hit the floor.
No!
I— I can still do something. I have my sorcery.
And what are you going to do? How are you going to finish the spell before you hit the ground? Before you even finish writing, you'll be meat paste.
Please… no. I can't die. I can't give up.
Hermes tried to cast a spell. But this time he didn't write it with his finger one rune at a time no, this time he simply had a thought, he had a thought and instantaneously, at the speed of thought, a spell manifested at his palms!
Wind, Flow, Strength, Natural Disasters. The runes just shot out of his palms expanding, fully formed! He was casting two spells at the same time. Though both spells were the same, it was still multicasting.
Hermes' fall was broken. He was flying!
There was a small torrent of air spinning like a miniature tornado beneath his hands.
Though his fall was broken, there was another issue. Hermes was struggling to manoeuvre himself in the air as he had never flown by himself before and the constant dizziness from the spinning was not helping. His stomach lurched as he tried to stay afloat.
Because he didn't have the time to consider properly, both of the vortexes were spinning in the same direction causing him to spin in the direction they were spinning as well.
Damn it!
Hermes was struggling to concentrate. There was still some considerable distance between him and the ground though it was shortening little by little. He just had to balance himself somehow only for a little while.
Hermes tried his best but it wasn't enough. He hadn't noticed but he was tilting slightly towards the wall heading straight for it.
Hermes hit the wall hard, knocking the wind out of him, causing his spell to fail and break apart. He was still falling as he tried to summon the spell again that had saved his life but it was to no avail.
He was quite a few metres away from the ground. Hermes felt a chill go through his whole body and instinctively tried to land on his feet, his knees locked as he struck the ground. He felt a shattering blow in his knee, felt bones splitting, and screamed as he lay on the ground. Tears rushed down his cheeks as everything went still.
His thoughts raced madly, he was alive!
Then the pain flooded down his thigh, like a burning fire, building and building until he cried out at it, his breathing came in ragged gasps.
It hurts! It hurts so much! God damn it!
He couldn't do this anymore. Fuck!
He struggled to lift his head and stared up across his chest, at a grotesque distortion in his right knee, twisting the leg into a strange zigzag.
He didn't even want to look at it.
Think Hermes, THINK!
You can't stay out in the open. If a monster finds you in this condition you are dead! Do you want to die after surviving this you stupid fuck?!
He reached out to his innate ability and transmuted the ground to sink and then covered himself with it again leaving a small cavity to breathe. He needed to heal himself but he knew from his past experience that he would be out cold. Hermes was worried whether or not he would even heal from this injury. His knee wasn't simply broken, it was ruptured, twisted and crushed, the impact of his landing had driven his lower leg through the knee joint. He could only hope for the best.
He transmuted the ground again to clasp his right ankle and took a deep breath preparing himself.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Then he pulled with all his might and screamed in pain as he heard a popping noise from his knee joint.
"Haah… Hngh…" Hermes let out strained and painful gasps. He hoped that this action would perhaps heal his leg straight. After all, he did not know the true extent of his healing.
He started inscribing the runes again. First for the pain, Exchange. Pain. Transformation. Pleasure. Comfort.
Immediately he started feeling a perverse sense of pleasure.
Concentrate!
He began again, this time to heal.
Healing. Regeneration. Health. Physical Vitality. Energy. Tenacity.
Immediately he felt that pleasure he felt last time, but this time it felt as if it were magnified a thousand times. He immediately lost consciousness.
Hermes woke up in complete darkness. It was night. He hadn't made it to the Bright Castle.
Hermes wanted to laugh. He wanted to laugh at his stupidity. But he simply didn't have the capacity to do it. There was also the fact that there were monsters prowling all around him somewhere.
It was all avoidable. Everything that happened today shouldn't have happened. He had gotten too complacent. He had gotten too used to relying on his Memory and his Echo. He was a wizard! Not a barbarian.
He had forgotten to use his innate ability Azoth! Granted he was panicked, sure he couldn't just make a staircase on the wall just to walk down considering the expenditure of his soul essence when using it. Still it didn't absolve him of his stupidity.
He could've used it sparingly, making ledges for him to stand on, to take some breaks, to deform the crevices in the wall for better grip. He knew it was all for nought since it had already happened, but he still couldn't stop thinking about it.
He had almost died! God damn it.
Hot tears filled his eyes threatening to spill over.
This was the goddamn Forgotten Shore damn it. What the fuck were you doing dilly dallying in your stupid thoughts?!
You can die at any moment! You're not the fucking main character. You're just a nobody. Act like one.
Hermes admonished himself and swore that he would never make such a mistake ever again.