The Last Dainv

Gale saw Erin walk through the portal first, followed by Ollie. Turning to him, Rachel nodded. They went through the portal together, followed by Kyle, Clyde, Lily, and Xinyi. The feeling of his stomach turning upside down and back had now become familiar, no longer making him feel that stupid dizziness. The fight with the worm thing probably had something to do with it too, not that he wanted to remember it.

Turning around to look everywhere, the first thing he noticed was the red sky. The trees didn't cover the sky as much as they did in the Eclipsed, but he was still 100% in a jungle. Presence Between caught the appearance of the flora.

The leaves were painted pitch black. Any variant of the colour was either really dark brown or black with a tinge of purple. Each plant and tree had bulging veins that looked like they were closer to animals than plants. They reminded Gale of the corrupted trees of the Eclipsed when he had to save Hailey from the demonic tree.

When Rachel looked at him, he immediately sent out Presence Between. Multiple entities found, most looked like blob monsters with multiple limbs that looked human but not. Others were creatures that had faces and skulls on their chest, yet not having a head. A green slime jumped up and down from a swamp, covering itself in the goop it jumped on.

None were within dangerous distance nor were any active threats. Most were well within the Tainted stage.

"Clear," Gale said.

"Holy shit," Kyle muttered as he moved forward, looking around everywhere along with everyone else.

"Holy shit is right, bro," Clyde said.

"Surprisingly, it doesn't stink."

"Why would that matter?" Lily asked.

"What?" Kyle asked.

"Erin, what class of rift is this?" Rachel asked.

Erin turned around to look her in the eye. "This rift would be classified a class 7 rift by Earth standards."

"Class 7?!" Lily asked, suddenly turning around to sigh as she could still see the wavy exit. "Shit, that almost gave me a heart attack."

"The highest recorded rift is 6. Is it possible your classification is incorrect?" Xinyi asked.

Rachel put a hand on her shoulder and softly shook her head. "Don't bother asking."

"That's right, Xinyi. This is the advanced stuff that you don't learn in school by the Grand Researcher herself," Gale said.

Xinyi looked to Ollie, who shrugged.

"Just roll with it," he said. "So which way's which?"

Erin pointed to their left. "We will move in a straight line northeast."

"Cool. Gale?" Ollie asked.

"We have 1 extra person. How is she going to fit in the lineup?" Gale asked.

"With Xinyi's skill set, she can be the second flank."

"Probably a better one too," Lily muttered.

"Damn right she will be. That's our battlemaid," Kyle said as Clyde nodded.

"I hate you so much."

"Sure you do."

"Alright, stop talking. We move forward. Herd of slimes up ahead to the northeast through the marshes."

"Wait, what do you mean, slimes?" Rachel asked.

"Green blob looking things with a solid thing in the middle," Gale said.

"Deal with it hot yoga pants," Ollie said.

"Somehow, I don't like Ollie being back like this..." Lily said.

"He was always like this," Kyle said.

"Worst one of us, too. Pixar and Disney references," Clyde said, somehow disappointment coursing through his words.

"Oh shit, you reminded me. I forgot the bunny ear headband that gives you better hearing," Ollie said.

"What's the bunny ear refer to?" Gale asked.

"Gale... please," Rachel said.

Lily shook her head.

Before Kyle could add anything more, Erin telekinetically shut his mouth and said, "Silence, children. Make haste and depart. Now."

"Alright. Everyone. Don't rely on Erin helping out in combat. She's supervising," Gale said, making everyone groan instantly the moment he said the word. "Lily, you stay at the rear instead of scouting. You ok with that?"

"Can do," Lily said with a smile.

"Let's move then," Gale said, immediately leading the pack forward. Lily was better off providing shields for the back rather than risking herself at the front as a scout. Ever since Breath of the Void evolved to Presence Between, it had been much more vivid and reliable than having a singular scout at the front.

The group first moved through a dense, thick set of treeline. Blowholes from the trees spewed out sweet smelling air. Gale covered his nose and mouth and nodded behind him. Mom always said sweet smells in the jungle were dangerous.

Lily whispered something inaudibly from behind them, and a mask of air purifying sigils appeared right on their necks.

As they passed the trees with blowholes, they started contracting as if pumping something out of them. But none of them could smell whatever it spewed out.

A tendril caught something inside one of the holes. An animal the size of a torso having a seizure while its skin and muscle melted off right from its bones. None of the others could see it, but that would've probably been them if this thing had a hypnotic effect that entranced them to go inside it.

After passing the trees, Gale saw the wet marsh, covered in black sludge looking liquid. From their end to the next, it was about a kilometre away, and he wasn't one to find out what would happen if he touched the marsh.

Not only that, there were green neon glowing blobs with a red orb inside them, jumping up and down the marsh. They jiggled their way through the tar towards the team.

He could ask Erin, but she would point to her role as supervisor. Lily could possibly build a bridge using her blue light shields.

Gale turned towards Lily. "Can you make a bridge with the light shield for us?"

"Should we just cross as we usually do?" Rachel asked. "You can hop on my back and we'll fly together, and the others do their own thing."

"Probably not a good idea," Ollie commented.

Gale nodded. "That'll attract attention. Lily, can you?"

"That's inefficient, let me try something," Lily said, her lips moving but no sound came from her mouth. Suddenly, a light blue sigil appeared on her hand. "Need to test the freezing point of this first."

She put her hand into the marsh, but the liquid didn't freeze just yet. That was when Gale felt Lily push more ether into the sigil until, finally, the marsh froze.

"Alright, everyone follow me and don't trip," Lily glared at Kyle.

"Can you not make it as slippery as the one from Montreal Port?" Kyle asked.

"No."

Kyle groaned.

Xinyi tapped on Kyle's shoulder. "You may hold my hand as lever—"

"I'll make it not slippery just stay alert," Lily said suddenly.

"Coolio," Kyle said.

Lily led the team forward, freezing the marsh as she walked across it. A couple of slime blobs managed to get near them, but they weren't even Tainted. All of them were just at the Awakened stage. Gale even tried to hold one, but Rachel told him to stop touching dirty things.

"Anyone have a kleenex?" Gale asked.

Rachel pulled one out from her tactical gear's pocket and wiped Gale's hands.

"Thanks," Gale said.

"Next time, keep your hands to yourself, ok?"

Gale nodded. The dark hunter shall oblige the light of the city's demands. He didn't like touching the blob anyways. The slime made his skin feel tingly.

Arriving at the other end of the marsh and passing through the tree line, they saw lines of eggs on the ground. Not the same huge ones they saw in the tomb, but small ones, the size of basketballs. In the distance, something thumped. Its hazy shadow could be seen as a silhouette against the red sky.

Analyze.

[Defiled Reef Walker]

[Type: Titan]

[Description: A corruption of the Mohrusy, a guardian of its red seas. It scours the shore for beings to assimilate, forever destined to weep from its loneliness.]

The group continued moving until they climbed a steep rocky cliff, covered with veiny rope like moss. Rachel led the way up that cliff, burning whatever was on the surface. Upon reaching the top, Presence Between caught onto giant watermelon sized looking objects.

Before they could move, Kyle whistled. "So the watermelons were true."

"Erin, is there a way to detoxify those things?" Gale asked.

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"Don't even try!" Rachel yelled.

"The method exists. Should you capture one in your space storage, it shall make for a delectable meal as researched by Technician Gaia," Erin said.

"Technician who?" Ollie asked.

"A former colleague of mine."

"What does it taste like?" Clyde asked.

"The taste is a cross between a pink pineapple and a strawberry if the detoxification succeeds. Otherwise, prepare to be disabled for a week."

"Ok, that kind of sounds dope," Ollie said. "Gale, please?"

"This is ridiculous. Seriously?" Lily asked.

"How long would it last in the fridge for?" Xinyi asked.

"Xinyi, you too?" Rachel asked.

"My motherland prides itself on juicy watermelons. I'm interested in the taste of this one."

"Alright, that settles it. Gale, please."

The toxin does not affect Dainv biology. Do not be afraid, young lamb, Erin told him telepathically.

Gale rolled up his imaginary sleeves since he couldn't do so with his tactical gear. Moving forward, he materialized Erebus and carefully cut the stems before dematerializing each watermelon to his space storage without touching any of the liquid.

"Are you done?" Rachel grunted.

"Most definitely done," Gale nodded, smiling widely, which softened her frown.

"Great, now let's move," Lily said.

"Wait," Gale said suddenly before anyone could move.

Multiple entities tugged at his Presence Between coming from where they came from. From what the tendrils fed him, the monsters looked humanoid, except with extra limbs, ranging from 1 to 4 extra limbs. Their eyes glowed a spirally red and their backs were all filled with holes that dripped liquid.

Silence fell onto the field of watermelons. No croaks, no pitter-patter of the distant slimes. The only thing that could be heard was their breathing.

Analyze.

[Defiled Stalker]

[His twisted desires for the princess drew eyes on him. The Lord, disgusted by his sight, cast him away into exile, away from the kingdom the moon shines upon. Forever he remains vengeful, for he knows he has lost the race to taste her fruit.]

The Lord? Gale asked himself. Goosebumps pricked all over his skin. The text was oddly too familiar. It sounded a lot like... were they in the Eclipsed?

His head turned to Rachel, Ollie, then Lily. Then, his eyes looked straight up into the sky. But the sky was red, and not a haze of blue could be seen anywhere. However, he couldn't rule it out. The vicinity within the castle where he fought Elliot was only a small part of the world.

"Gale?" Rachel asked. "What's wrong?"

"Prepare for battle. We're surrounded," Gale said.

The first stalker pounced from the tree, seemingly appearing out of thin air with its pitch-black hair that covered its body. Its red, swirly eyes glared at Lily.

A single shot from her deagle took out the stalker in one go. More of the stalkers joined in. Muzzle flashes lit up the surroundings. Gale bisected any of the stalkers that came at them.

Suddenly, a wail in the background drew their attention. A 3 meter giant, hair covered, abomination with 13 limbs stepped and pus dripping down its hole-covered leathery skin, stepped out of the treeline. It suddenly rushed at the group.

Multiple gunshots rang out. Xinyi swung her sword forward, creating a bloody slashing force at the abomination, cutting off its legs. But it rotated its body, using its other uncut limbs to continue to propel it forward.

Gale dashed forward, materializing Erebus into a giant hammer. Swung downwards once, and he squashed it with a splat.

[Corrupted Stalker felled.]

[Extracting Origin from Prey...]

[The champion of the Yalukuth Tribe earned his right to the hand of the 3rd princess, yet the Lord did not take it too well. He won through intelligence, not through strength. Yet what did that matter when he himself was already at the peak of strength? He could not stand the Lord's arrogance. Through his defiance, the Lord's champion ended his life, dropping him into the abyss. Only the rage within him let him persevere.]

"What the fuck are these?!" Kyle shouted.

"I've never seen monsters so grotesque," Xinyi said.

"They look kinda like from the Eclipsed..." Lily muttered.

"It's probably just a coincidence. Right, Rachel?" Gale asked.

"Do not be alarmed," Erin said. "The Mohrusy corrupted living beings. This is merely the aftermath of their touch."

"See?"

"Then does that mean the Eclipsed was part of an invaded Mohrusy world?" Rachel asked.

"The possibility exists," Erin said. "Do not get sidetracked. Make haste. Gather the Origin Shards, and we shall leave immediately."

"Erin's right," Gale said, starting to move towards the northeast. "Let's move."

The group fell in line behind him as he moved through the forest. The deeper they went, the more grotesque the trees became. Or at least, they were now more aware of it. Some trees even breathed like animals rather than just being passive trees. A tree even tried to hold back Ollie's ankles before he shot at it.

"A mockery of life, huh," Clyde said. "Is the Mohrusy responsible for the tekanimantus?"

"You are correct. Their whispers gave him knowledge on how to create technology that mocks natural order," Erin said as she floated forward.

"Eh, for all you know, these trees used to be people," Kyle chuckled.

"Your observations are becoming more astute, loud one."

"Ok, forget I said that. I definitely did not want to know that."

Lily laughed slightly. "Idiot."

Analyze.

[Tree of Life]

[The Mohrusy mocks life by corrupting the symbol of life. Given eternal life as a joke, become an eternal joke planted onto the soil of the world.]

Gale gulped at the reading. Being given eternal life could definitely only mean these things were once at least intelligent beings, humanoid or not.

Though, what would be the point of mocking life itself? What did the Mohrusy gain from this? Shaking his head, he didn't wanna know. They were the enemies of this universe he wanted to protect.

Taking faster steps forward, the group continued to move through the foreign world in a straight line. They slid down the slopes covered in stringy veins, then leapt through a chasm where Gale hopped onto Rachel's back. Erin used the 'supervisor' excuse to not carry all of them to the other side.

They reached the cliff at the end, where Erin told them to climb down. Instead of climbing down, each of them jumped down in their own distinct ways.

Ollie floated down. Kyle and Clyde blinked to the bottom. Xinyi used her qigong to rapidly descend the cliff. Rachel and Gale rocketed down while Lily parachuted slowly to the ground with her blue shield. Erin did her floating thing, as always.

From here, Gale could see the sky turning a different colour from red. There was a tinge of dark blue starting to melt with the dark red of the sky. He was stronger than before, enough so that the stupid blue moon would not be able to shoot him down.

The issue became Lily. Last time she saw a blue moon-looking thing, she had a panic attack.

Gale moved forward even more, and the forest had not thickened yet, not enough, but the trees became more massive the deeper they went. However, just as they entered the area where the sky became a dark blue with no stars, there was no celestial body that hung over the area.

Wait a second. Gale recognized the area they were going to. Although the moon wasn't there, they were clearly going straight to the lone tower at the clearing of the dark forest.

Erin was going toward a graveyard of the Dainvs. A ship that might've crashed could only mean it was there. And sure enough, the trees became thicker and thicker until their diameter was the size of a house. They kept moving straight, guided by the floating bluey not to stray from the straight line at all times.

A hand grabbed Gale by the forearm, Rachel's. She looked at him with trembling eyes. "Gale. Tell me. Is this the Eclipsed?"

Presence Between caught Lily's shallow, ragged breathing as she looked everywhere. Ollie gripped his own deagle, looking everywhere.

"You guys ok?" Kyle asked.

"Gale, please tell me. Are we?" Rachel asked.

"We are. Sorry... this is the Eclipsed, but look," Gale pointed to the sky above, covered by the leaves. "There's no blue moon."

"No way. No way. It's a joke. Right? It has to be there!" Lily shouted.

Erin floated over to her, placing her hand on her head. "Calm down, quiet one."

Lily's breathing grew calmer. When Kyle placed a hand on her shoulder, she flinched and slapped him away.

"My bad," Kyle said.

"No, it's just... I'll be ok. Don't worry."

"Was it really that bad?" Clyde asked.

"Just think of your first rift experience except in a class 7 rift, literally like this, without supervisors," Ollie said, glaring at him. "You think?"

"Chill, bossman. I was just asking."

Xinyi moved closer to Lily. "Do you wanna hold my hand?"

Lily nodded, grabbing her arm. "Sorry."

"No need to be sorry," Xinyi said.

"Let's go?" Gale asked.

Everyone nodded in unison, and then he led the way through the forest, just like back then. He moved through the trees as Presence Between fed him all the landmarks. The X marks that he slashed into the trees were still there, except slightly healed by the trees with new bark.

A massive fallen log blocked their way, a couple of stories high, blocked their way. Each of them easily jumped over it. After walking for a couple more hours, they finally saw the stone tower.

Since the dark knight was already dead and he already took Vianne's fragment from the ship, there was no longer any lingering presence within the tower.

"It feels safe?" Lily asked.

"I don't feel anything from the tower," Rachel said.

"Me neither," Ollie said.

"It's just a stone tower to me, two stories tall. Not really a tower," Kyle said.

Clyde pointed to a man-made structure just at the edge of the stone tower's grass. "What's that?"

"A smoker," Gale said.

Kyle whistled. "So this really was whatever the eclipsed is."

Presence Between reached out a couple of kilometres away to look for the Blue Haven area. The walls and its buildings still stood against time. All of it had become decrepit with holes in the buildings. The walls still stood strong, though.

"Are we here, Erin?"

"Yes, we are," Erin said, floating forward towards the stone tower, stopping just before it. "I shall begin extracting the Origin shards from the ship."

A large magic circle appeared above the open space in the sky of the stone tower. Circles, rhomboid patterns, and other patterns formed a clockwork-like image. When the first cog rotated, everything else lit up in a slight blue hue.

The ground rumbled. Trees swayed as the wind passed. Howls of the forest beasts from afar could be heard, but Presence Between showed him they were all running away from their direction.

Young lamb, I shall not sing this time. We shall pay our respects once we are back in safety. Erin said.

Gale nodded.

Hundreds of Origin Shards poked through the ground. Pearlescent orbs that appeared to be liquid, gas, and solid at the same time. They all varied in colour from grey, blue, orange, black, and red that shifted in different hues to gold, silver, and platinum.

"Young lamb, put them in your space storage," Erin said.

Once exactly 5217 shards floated in the air, they all coalesced and swirled onto where Gale was. As each one floated onto Gale, they disappeared into a single slot of his space storage.

Erin then dissipated her magic circle. "We must exit at once."

"What's the rush?" Kyle asked.

"Silence," Erin said. "Make haste."

"Why, though?" an unfamiliar child-like female voice rang throughout the vicinity, coming from the top of the tower.

Gale's eyes turned to look at where the voice originated. Sitting at the edge of the tower was a girl, no taller than 157 cm (5 foot 1), swinging her legs back and forth. Her silver hair, with a single streak of black, swayed against the non-existent wind. A cheeky smile formed on her mouth, innocent looking, yet her deep red eyes showed complete apathy to what she was watching.

"Leave now, children. I shall handle her," Erin said.

"I'm only one child, though. Why you calling me children?" the thing asked.

"Who's this?" Ollie asked.

But as if answering his question, red roots jutted out of her back and dragged something from behind the trees. A giant spherical object, larger than the giant trees, crushed, almost flattened, and compressed as if it had been used as a punching bag. Parts of it had already been bitten off by something giant.

When the thing being dragged opened its singular giant eye, Lily, Rachel, and Ollie took a step back. Even Gale felt all his hair stand up, but he knew running would do no good against this very being in front of them.

It was the Blue Moon in its most pitiful state.

Space between her hand and the spherical object compressed, the same concept used in Gale's One Step, used with such casualness. Gripping the mass with one hand, she tore off a piece of it. Paradoxically giant and small at the same time, the thing's mouth stretched wide open to receive the large piece it had torn off.

Crunching noises of bone, flesh, and whatever else was in that single piece of flesh echoed throughout the stone tower's area.

"You guys want some of this? It's good," the thing asked.

"If we take a bite, will you let us go?" Gale asked.

"That makes sense. Who wants to try first?"

"I shall have a piece."

"No, not Erin. She's boring. What about the young one?" the thing stared at Gale.

"It's tasty right?" Gale asked.

"Of course, it is. Why would I be eating it if it wasn't? Stupid!" the thing laughed, causing waves of headaches for everyone.

Erin waved her hand and the mental attack dissipated.

Ollie shook off the headache while fending off Rachel's hand as he stepped forward. "What's your name, though?"

"My name is Melith. But I guess you can just call me... Mel."