Shadow of the Abyss

"I can't!" Nia wheezed, so cold layers of frost clung to her cheeks.

The air within the Great Plateau had already been thin, but the further they traveled up the mountain, the more stifling the air became. Her chest ached, and her lungs burned as if she were drowning in icy waters.

Altair glanced at her, some meters back and then up to the tallest peak in all the realm. Or so he believed, standing there on high, looking down like a god at the insects desperately trying to kill one another.

Across from them, after nearly traveling for three days straight, Altair stared at the twin mountain to the one they were on.

'Ren should have arrived by now,' he told himself.

"Laros, it's fine if you use your—" Igniting his Phoenix Flame without hesitation, warmth came like the embrace of the Heavens as Nia, Aurora, Talia, and Olivia huddled around Laros.

He shook his head. "You guys wait here." I'm going to plant the cube at the highest peak. I should be no more than an hour or two."

"Is…Is…Is that why we came up here?" Laros clambered, shaking like a leaf, too cold to be angry. He lost hope long ago when the cold numbed his lower half.

"Carrying a cube that grows in weight is a dreadful endeavor," Altair replied. "And if you, a potential heir to house Aros, found this journey painfully, what about commoners and bastards alike? How many of you wanted to give up at the beginning?"

There was no reply but the silence that came with the answer.

Altair kicked off the ground, scaling the mountain without much concern. The cool air felt light, thanks to his resistance. And while his shadow did not share his almighty resistance, their ability to manipulate mana ensured they could survive in the stringent of environments. They neither slept nor ate but were able to maintain a perpetual state of being.

In the following hour, Altair crept up to the highest peak, to a small platform of stone and ice, some forty miles above ground level, calmly looking to the other peak, to Ren waving at him with a silly grin, saddled to her dire wolf. She had made it, it had seemed. He waved back before lifting a small squared rock.

Before hammering it into the ice, cracks splintered into rubble where he buried the stone. "Should anyone betray me?" He smiled. They'll find only stone." And he looked over to Ren, squinting his eyes as she shot him a thumbs up. She was too far from her voice to echo, not that Altair hadn't warned her of potential avalanches.

"My neurolink cost nearly a hundred thousand sols if I remember correctly." he mulled over, thinking of gifting one to Ren so they might be able to freely communicate around the myriad, should they ever get lost. Although, a Holocube was nearly half the price and did the same.

He sighed, hating that the thought of money was an issue. For a second, Altair stood there as layers of ice cut across his uniform, leaving it hard like stone. He raised his head, breathing a breath of ice, and smiled before hopping down nearly thirty meters and then another thirty. Agile like a gazelle, he lept down from edge to edge, light as a feather.

Altair skidded through the air with the help of Feather Fall, which made his weight nearly none existent.

In minutes, he had reunited with his team, landing with a smile. " Done. On the highest peak, the cube has been set. Let's go hunting." he said, startling them.

***

Despite the three-day trek up the Twin Peak Mountains, coming down took nearly a few hours thanks to Altair and Aurora's casting of Feather Fall.

When they landed, Nia practically kissed the ground, promising she'd never leave it, having felt a familiar heat she dared not take for granted.

"Mama is never gonna leave you again." She vowed and kissed the earth once more.

Altair didn't have the heart to tell her they'd have to return at some point, though he suspected he would have to drag her up the mountain.

"All right," Altair shouted. "Let's go warm our bones with blood." He drew his sword, which shone a deep silver. "Olivia, if you see anyone. Attack first, then we talk."

With a low hum of excitement glistering through their eyes, Altair took off. Keeping low to the ground where traps would be set, the sounds of voice were quick to echo through the dark, murky woods a little ways from the twin peaks.

"Are you sure they're here?" A gruff voice said.

"I've been a tracker since you were still sucking on your mother's tit, shitting up a storm." Another fervent voice said that carried a gale of laughter through the forest.

'Nine,' Altair counted, signaling out each voice with precise ease. And signaled to Nia and her spear.

Inching closer, Altair peeped through the bushes. He saw several men and two women dressed as if a bear had mauled them. They were ragged, withered with mud and dirt, with a smell that made even his eyes moist.

BANG!

Olivia fired, planting two in one of the women wielding a staff, a mage, no doubt; Altair rushed out as an arc of red light shrieked past him, piercing through the abdomen of a gaunt-looking man.

The Prince was upon a soldier with windburned features, reaching for his axe strapped to his back.

"NO!" The man cried as a golden light arose, forming into small stones.

Altair's sword, already in midflight, whirled like a snake, easily maneuvering through the various stones until they met flesh. Lifeblood spiraled into the air with the trembling arc of his arm and fell to the earth with a thud. Grievous wails thundered through the forest, alerting nearby birds to spread their wings and flee.

The Prince looked up from the pale face of the windburned man to two fleeing men as Nia leaped out from the bushes, thrusting her spear through their abdomen before they could act. They were down in seconds.

"My arm! My Arm! My Fucking arm… Ahhh!" The cries of the windburnt face man came.

"Silence before I slit your neck." The Prince demanded, pressing his blade against his throat, drawing a nick of blood.

'My arm~" The soldier cried, though softer.

Leaving the rest to his men to handle, Altair searched the man's body, finding a small cube. And in a minute, as Laros's tainted flames roiled through the forest, Altair watched a small mist echo from the cube up into the skies, towards his cube upon the mountaintop.

"Easy," Laros shouted spryly, listening to the moans of the battlefield. "They're so weak."

"Yes…" Altair agreed, noticing the small machines. Drones began to appear one by one to tend to the wounded. The Prince looked down at the soldier, Fin, they called him. "Tell me, who were you tracking?"

"My Fucking arm! My—"

Unstrapping the Tech Pistal from his leg, Altair placed two in his kneecap with deadly precision. "I missed the artery. I won't miss it again." He said as the howls sent a great stir through the forest and those watching.

A coldness penetrated the eyes of everyone as they stared at the calm Prince. "What were you tracking,"

"A KITSUNE!!!" The man roared, and Altair planted another in his shoulder blade. Fin's body jerked as tears wheeled from his eyes and saliva wet with red from his mouth. " Please! I'm! I' 'm telling the truth."

"He's telling the truth!" One of Fin's comrades howled, clutching his stomach where Talia's lightning pierced. "Please, you have to believe us! I'm the tracker; I can prove it! Please!"

Only then did Altair allow the Drones to begin treatment.

"I kind of like pistols now. How neat." He said, whipping the blood off his cheek with his thumb when he felt the eyes of Olivia, Nia, and Laros on him. "What? Anyone can lie. But to save an ally, a friend, or a lover, who wouldn't break? Brother in arms, I believe the saying goes."

"Altair… that was brutal," Nia said, glancing down at Fin. "You know these are our fellow soldiers, right?"

"I think it was the right decision." Aurora chose to say. "This tourney is about survival. And to survive, we need power." She crossed her arms, frowning. " And Kistunes are known for their rich blood. This vital information could help us increase our Mana attribute or, better yet, help us complete our third circle."

"So we torture everyone we meet?" Nia snapped, shaking her head. " No. I will not approve of such deplorable behavior, as a noble and as a human. I refuse to treat my fellow soldier like that. "

'Are normal people all like this?' Altair wondered… He stared at her, feeling her anger as well as her noble heart, and for the first time, felt disgust. "Fine," he conveyed, holstering his stolen Tech Pistol. "I'll not torture. Clean the bodies for anything useful. And let's search for another team."

"What about the Kitsune?" Laros said to Altair. "Are we giving up on it because of someone's noble heart?"

"Kitsunes are nocturnal creatures. We'll see it tonight. If we can find it, though, I've no confidence in tracking it. Not without Riena."

Her senses were like that of a wild animal, thanks to her Ancient blood. From the moment they had met, Ren had lunged at him, licking him like a dog.

"And where is your woman?" Laros demanded.

"Riding, I assume." The Prince answered though he didn't like Laros' tone.

"Riding?" He said with a gawking look. "Hells. We are in the middle of a tourney. And she is having fun! Riding!" he raged, spitting over the moaning figure burnt beyond recognition. "What would I expect of a—"

"Lord Aros,' Aurora said, already imagining Laros's head flying clean of this body should he finish that sentence. "If you do not like it. You are free to leave. A Lordling of your status could easily survive alone within the Great Plateau." she suggested with an amicable smile towards her Master, whose right eye bore a red mist that began to consume the darkness of his iris.

Altair felt himself calm, having never felt more thankful Aurora was present. The bloodlust had taken him for but a moment.

"Let's move out. After we get five cubes, I want to begin leveling. This place is filled with powerful monsters." He said, taking his leave as the others followed.

***

"Didn't I tell you?" Zolf Gudo guffawed. "The bastard is a bloody psychopath."

"No more than the others with promise, said Leon smilingly. "Alyssa, that Amazon has already castrated seven men. Reese Thorvel, that warlock has already hexed several soldiers to make their teeth fall out, and their bowls implode just to watch them puke shit." He glanced at Zolf eerily. " So I ask how is Altair, who tortured his opponent for valid reasons, a psychopath?"

The low murmurs within the high tower grew silent. They all turned to Leon.

"It is curious, though. A Kitsune is quite rare. Did it perhaps escape from a dungeon? And if so, what type of Dungeon houses a Kitsune?" Leon continued.

"Better yet…" Scythia remarked beside him, with a glass of wine to her lips. "What type of Kitsune is it?"

And from the silence, the low hush murmurs began once more within the High tower.