Chapter 73: Sleep
In a flash of silver streaks, Asher and Virelass appeared on the branch of a tree. The very moment they reappeared, Asher collapsed to his knees as his body completely gave out. He had been in peak, constant movement for two full hours without rest, and now it showed.
Immediately after their arrival, snakes, as usual, lunged at them, but Virelass wouldn’t allow anything to get near her master. However, she didn’t kill them, as Asher had ordered her not to.
She simply severed the branches they were on, instantly dropping them to the ground. The snakes, startled and terrified, slithered away in fear.
Asher’s current location was the same spot where he had woken up at the beginning of the trial. It was the tree he had climbed for the first time, the place where he had killed the first snake.
Unknown to all, Asher had left a Position Marker on that very tree, just in case a situation like this ever arose.
The Position Marker allowed him to mark up to three different locations. His first was his room; now, this tree had become the second. The third remained unspoken, reserved for another unknown contingency.
Asher now laid on his back across the branch, panting heavily, his chest rising and falling with every breath. The last attack he made was nothing more than a gamble, one based entirely on the element of surprise.
If it had failed, he had planned to teleport immediately, but it hadn’t. It had succeeded. Asher stared at the pale moon in the sky above as he lay there motionless, like a fallen log.
’System, how much time is left?’ Asher asked mentally.
[Four hours and thirty minutes]
The system replied without hesitation, its voice calm and efficient.