I woke up to find a piece of cloth besides me.
Did I leave it there?
I could tell that this was one particularly good chunk of sleep.
My body felt better rested than any other day.
I grabbed the piece of cloth.
It differed from my short-pants.
A medium-sized earthly-colored piece.
It had been carefully tweaked to work as a bandana.
I tried it on.
It fit my head almost perfectly. That was… weird.
Did I miss it yesterday because of tiredness?
That’s impossible—I would’ve noticed it.
…Wouldn’t I?
I circled the area, but something else caught my attention.
An aroma I’d long longed for.
Slightly sweet, slightly earthy.
The scent of my favorite color, green.
Now, this is what I truly didn’t realize because of tiredness.
I climbed a skyscraper and in front of me was what I was longing for.
Nature.
An entire area of grass, small continuous hillocks, and … a fat flying man?
Huh?
The guy was going to impact the building I was on.
Oh no.
I wasn’t confident about climbing down that fast with just one arm.
Maybe I’ll throw a grab.
I gauged the impact zone and positioned myself.
The flying man was talking, but I couldn’t understand what he said.
His voice was cheerful.
He was approaching fast.
Something was off about how he flew—too low, too fast, unbalanced.
His ramblings continued for quite a bit.
They got to an irritating point.
“I can’t understand you!”
For the first time, he didn’t talk.
He was about to crash into me.
Don’t worry, that’s the plan.
I closed my eyes and focused.
A layer of shield formed on my arm.
It slowed down the man’s speed.
However, it didn’t stop him completely.
His chest clashed with my arm.
I grabbed his shoulder and planted myself.
I pushed him in the direction he came.
After understanding my idea, he threw his body backwards as much as he could.
We stopped at about the middle of the roof.
He fell on his backpack.
I stumbled and fell face to the floor.
A hearty laugh.
“Thanks for the help, mate.”
We both stood up.
He left his backpack aside.
Was it me or does it look different from before?
“Woah, you look like shite.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“No need to get feisty, man. Just stating facts here.
Laugh and sigh mixture came from me.
“Can say I’ve been better.”
“So, what happened?”
I turned around and looked at Zone 7.
“Kind of long story.”
“No worries, mate. Your chaperone here is the best listener.”
“Right… Well, I…”
“Hold!”
I stopped talking.
“Something ha…?”
“Names mate. We skipped introductions!”
He threw his left hand at me, waiting for a handshake.
“Amm…”
I wobbled my unresponsive arm.
“Haha. Sorry, man, not used to your new look.”
He switched his hands.
I shook his hand.
“Name’s Nix. The best adventurer in the whole God Domain.”
“Kai.”
He waited for something more.
“Just Kai.”
“Well, nice to meet you, Just Kai.”
Really?
“Continuing, I…”
“Ah! First, what are you doing here?”
“I was planning to go to that grassy terrain.”
I pointed a finger.
“No man. No here here, here.”
He opened his arms, signaling the whole place.
“The platform. You should already know, not the most pleasant place of all. If you were hoping to flee from Charybdis, then you should run to another area. It wasn’t a bad idea to come here to run from him. But what can I say? Bad luck. He’s coming. From Shark Reef of all the places. Can you believe it? Shark Reef! Who would’ve thought we’d see him at Shark Reef? No idea why he was there, but he’s always bad news. And would you look at him? He was coming in this direction. When will they stop playing that absurd rat and mouse game? In my opinion, they should just talk things out. Not that I think it’s possible with him being like he is. You know? All emo and shite. I’m pretty positive no one was on Shark Reef. Now that I look at you, you were going there. Drop it off, mate. In your condition, you won’t stand a chance. A chance mate. Believe me. I’ve seen some pretty strong contenders. Well, not contenders. You get me. Buff lads and ladies. I prefer to strategically retreat. Who am I kidding? Have you seen those piranha like things? Massive! I’d rather not be anyone’s food.”
“He really likes to talk.”
“Ya got your monologue out, mate.”
I blushed, and he laughed.
“No worries, not the first time I’ve been saying that.”
I coughed.
“Erhm. Let’s get down first.”
“Sure man.”
I prepared to climb down.
He grabbed his backpack and looked at me.
“Want a ride?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Whatevs.”
He jumped from the building.
I climbed down.
The height was enough for him to wound himself.
Once he was closer to the ground, he shot up for a few centimeters and dropped gracefully.
Because of the angle, I couldn’t see how he did it.
Must’ve something to do with how he shots from place to place.
During our competition, he did the same.
Maybe if I ask, he’ll answer.
He looked at me while I climbed down.
It was much slower than him.
I expected him getting bored, but it didn’t look like it.
He waited patiently.
I reunited with him.
“So, what happened?”
I told him about the city, the monster, the old man and the den.
“That’s the Gray Void for you.”
“Gray Void?”
“The city mate, I named it Gray Void. Not bad, eh?”
“Is Shark Reef another place?”
“Yeah, in the direction you were going, after Green Fields is Shark Reef.”
“Green field? You mean the grass fields I saw?”
“Precisely those. Don’t recommend going tho, Charybdis and all that. More so with that arm of yours. How is it?”
I tried moving it to no avail.
“I didn’t really think about it, however now that I try to move it, I think is getting better.”
“That’s the God Domain for you. I know not to what extent, but wounds heal faster.”
A cold weight settled in my gut.
If that were true—if injuries really mended at unnatural speeds—then we were in deeper trouble than I’d imagined.
Nix looked at how my expression went pale.
“Don’t worry, mate. Monsters shouldn’t heal that much faster. At least… I don’t think so.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, voice dropping.
“Then again, it’s hard to be sure of anything in this damned place. Hell, that doesn’t sound half as reassuring out loud.”
“Yeah. Maybe I should go.”
I started walking towards Green Fields.
“You’re in for a challenge. I plan to go to the west.”
He followed me.
“Forgot to ask again; what are you doing on the platform?”
We went through a couple of streets.
“Searching for answers.”
“Answers? I guess we all are. Not a bad idea coming here then.”
A slight cold invaded the area, imperceptible.
“It wasn’t my idea.”
“No? Whose then?”
I stopped for a moment to think of her name.
We didn’t present ourselves.
“I don’t know. She just talked about the game.”
“You’re trying to learn about that? Everyone knows it was canceled. Well, make an exception there, almost everyone.”
We walked forward, changing streets several times.
“Beautiful, ain’t it?”
After a sharp turn, a different view appeared upon us.
It was a slow and progressive turn from the city into nature.
First, scarce patches of grass showed.
Then, small flowers populated the more present grass.
The light-gray and pristine white rubble made the green landscape stand out.
There was a clear cut.
An artificial line, like a cut, divided the regular city to the natured one.
“Is that,” I pointed at the landscape, “the same city?”
“Gray Void mate; I didn’t rack my brain all day for nothing.”
“Sure, the Gray Void.”
He puffed his chest.
I don’t think it was a conscious response, but it mattered not.
His chest, even when puffed, barely reached half of his stomach.
“You’re asking the right guy.”
If the Gray Void was a divine palace, this was the border between life and the divine.
“I don’t know.”
Silence.
“Tough public, ain’t you, mate?”
He coughed.
“I’m not sure. I discovered that areas’ division, or border, as I like to call them, are a mix of the two areas that touch.”
My eyes followed the nature progression track.
It started in an arbitrary position, and the progression was perfect.
Too perfect to be natural.
Even though it was nature, artificial was a word that fitted best.
“I’ll know for sure when I travel to all of them.”
He slung an arm over my shoulders, pulling me into a half-hug.
Fingers uncurled in slow motion, palm upturned like he was unveiling the secrets of the world himself.
“I call it Border’s Edge.”
Yeah, your naming is terrible.
He returned to a normal position.
“In all seriousness. This place is kind of special. You’ll see why.”
Walking past me, he signaled me to follow him.
I took a deep breath.
Finally.
It wasn’t all for nothing.
Yes, it wasn’t all for nothing.
“Kai!”
“Oh, yes.”
I walked up to him.
“You stand thinking a lot, eh, mate?”
“Ha, sorry about that.”
After a few sharp turns, we left the regular city behind.
“No worries, man.”
I couldn’t believe this place connected to the city.
Grass and flowers had swallowed most of the buildings.
Now, we sometimes spotted pieces of cities, rather than cities spotting us.
Because plants covered most things, we could hardly tell a destroyed city lay beneath.
The architecture here distracted me.
While in the regular city, we struggled to picture how the buildings originally looked; here, plants filled the gaps.
Our breath formed dying puffs, eerily similar to the faint fog at our feet.
Nix caught my expression.
“Yes, this doesn’t seem right.”
“So it isn’t normal?”
He looked at our surroundings.
“No, it shouldn’t be.”
Even if the faded fog only reached our feet, we didn’t realize when it enveloped us.
It added to the mystic atmosphere of the landscape.
I went near him.
“Hey Nix, how about I go left and you go right? Let’s see if the fog extends over the entire area. A couple of meters should be enough to reach a conclusion.”
“Not a bad idea.”
While his expression was fairly similar, with the usual playful tone, he seemed more serious.
We each went our way.
Border’s Edge, ugh that name sucks, had another defining characteristic.
As I explored the left part, I saw other types of edifices.
Nature wasn’t only present in the plants, the city part was also more of a proper city.
The streets weren’t as erratic.
They followed the logical pattern a city should have.
I couldn’t identify the purpose of the new structures because of decay and plants coverage.
However, I was sure, as opposed to Gray Void, buildings here had a purpose.
For a change of views, I went inside a random building.
It was green, mostly consumed by plants.
The interesting part lay in what was missing.
Unlike its counterpart, these walls held color.
I wasn’t sure of which one.
Time had worn the color down and contaminated it.
But it didn’t matter.
That much was proof enough.
Now I was convinced humans had built this part.
Does that mean the city wasn’t?
I suspected it was a trap—bait to lure individuals into the monsters’ den.
As I retreated, my foot struck a wooden block.
Furniture.
If I needed any more proof, this was the definitive one.
When I stepped outside, fog already swirled around my hips.
Fuck.
It was rising much faster than I’d expected.
A quick glance showed the fog swallowing the entire area.
I sprinted back to Nix.
The fog continued its rapid ascent.
While it worried me, the effect was undeniably epic.
The world getting consumed by fog while I ran in the middle of all.
Within minutes, it had gulped down the buildings whole.
I might never have noticed the missing skyscrapers if not for how the fog exposed their absence.
“N…!”
My shout died in my throat.
Is not a good idea in this situation.
Even when submerged in thick fog, I was sure I was back where we parted.
“Nix.”
My voice was low and soft.
Yet, there was no answer.
No, there was an answer.
The sound of a projectile going my way.
First, I tried activating my shield, but it was too fast, and my focus was precarious.
It felt like a familiar situation.
Here we go again.
I braced myself for the impact and ran towards the sound.
My extended arm caught Nix, slowing him down.
”Thanks for the catch, mate. Though, don’t want to leave that one like the wobbly one.“
We almost fell backwards, but I stopped him.
“Better than us dying here.”
Dust from destruction mixed with the fog.
A carnival of screeching sounds and clashes accompanied.
“Oh yeah, mate, we should hurry.”
He didn’t finish his sentence, and he was already gone.
Metal sounds incorporated into the mix.
They were approaching at a fast rate.
A half melted mouth glided towards me.
It was massive enough to swallow me whole.
Yet, it had endless rows of teeth.
Swallowing me would be worse than dying by a bite.
The mouth launched at me.