Alix was laying at the bottom of the sixth level, his entire body aching, the wounds too numerous for his powerful healing factor to help in a short time. They were closing up but at a snail pace, Dark smoke could be seen escaping from them, slowing the process.
The Blood Emanation had now disappeared as the sentience of the Dark's one, but Alix's consciousness was nowhere to be seen, yet to be released from the shield of Emerald Energy. The body was at the same time in a deplorable state, and at the other, the transformations that occurred had enabled it to possess a strength unheard of for mortals.
By instinct, his body was trying to move, probably to hunt or to drink, but for now, it just resulted in its collapsing on the floor one try after the other...
Two days passed before he could stand up properly, his throat was dry, making him run all the way while tripping and losing his equilibrium to find a puddle of water or even blood to drink.
Finally finding one, he dived his head first in it to drink to his heart content. Alix's eyes were still absent-minded but his body didn't exude anymore this violent aura. It was still completely black with few wounds remaining, the eyes had retrieved their previous green colors even if they were a little pale.
Wandering from cave to cave, level to level without a goal, the days passed and soon the hunger was making his stomach ache as if hot iron was poured in it. His metabolism had indeed been quite developed by his hunt and now, an entire creature per day was the least he could eat.
So to not have anything for weeks even if the Dark god nourished his bodily function during his experiments, the nutrient in his body had already been completely absorbed two days ago to finish healing the body and continue the transformation process of it.
Strange noises could be heard in the depth of the canyon, coming from his belly reclaiming its due food. Pushed by instinct, he tried to hunt the few remaining creatures, founding one from time to time, easily disposing of them with his powerful strength. He didn't use Dark Emanation anymore, which seem to lay still in his body, not responding to its instinctive command.
It was probably healing itself from the strong mutilation it had suffered when losing its sentience, but it was still wrapping Alix's body without restricting the green energy anymore. But this one was silent too.
Two weeks had passed when Alix couldn't find any creature whatsoever anymore. Dying of hunger, he was losing slowly his strength, making him slower and slower, wandering in the maze of tunnels.
He was now at the first level, the actual bottom of Never Canyon, looking sometimes a little in the void as if trying to reminisce about something that was escaping his grasp. He stopped one day in front of a skeleton lying in the middle of nowhere.
It was a Big Eyes' bones, making something slowly unwrapped itself in his mind. It was, in fact, the skeleton of the Big Eyes that pushed him at the bottom of this cliff but it didn't seem to completely awake Alix, and soon he instinctively ate this remaining bones with his powerful jaws.
Continuing his wandering, he began to climb on a dust mountain as if searching for something. It was difficult for him to move forward, his body density having drastically increased with his strength. He was completely under the dust, walking in blindly for the first time for almost six months. His eyes couldn't pierce matters and dust was matter even if it was tiny slights ones.
Suddenly under his hand-like claw, he felt something different, something soft like nothing was in this environment. It was probably the first time he touches something like this since his fall. Taking it with him, he returns to where he could see again to be shocked by what was laying in his hands.
"What is this?"
It was the first words echoing in his mind since three months ago, making a thunderclap reverberating in his mind, traveling to the depth of its, passing through the green barrier as if it was a mirage one.
His thoughts, his soul that was protected in a suspended time surrounded by his powerful memories was soon pulled out of its shell, developing quicker and quicker, taking again the control of its own body.
"What happens? "
As if waiting for a signal, a torrent of painful, torturous, bloodthirsty memories streamed down on his consciousness nearly breaking it again under the excruciating strong ones. Taking his head with his hand and loudly shouting, he tried to resist it.
"AAAAAAAAH"
The pain lasted for an hour before slowly withdrawing, leaving behind a strong headache. Alix had succeeded in storing away these memories, not trying to unveil them before being in a better condition with a more powerful mind. For now, they were stocked in a place of his mind, as he was previously.
It was a necessary step to not lose his mind again, now was the time to extricate himself of this situation, to climb to the surface. It had been too long that his body was powerful enough to do it, but his mind absent.
"I shouldn't lose any more time, who knows what could happen again if I postpone it. There isn't food anymore for me to eat anyway if I can trust some short memories that I could see..."
Looking at what lay before him, he had let go of it when his crisis had come, it was actually a scarf. To be more precise, his scarf, the one taken for his graduation. It had flown away when he tried to slow down his fall with his clothes and had landed in this mountain of dust, slowly being covered by it.
The vision of it had triggered his mind, making him recovered from his previous dazed state. Glancing at his own body, he could see that he was nearly naked, just destroyed underwear still around his hips.
"Well, it could have been worse...Hmm, time to climb, my strength is continuously decreasing as my hunger increase. I can actually feel my body consuming itself to continue to live..."
Wrapping the scarf around his neck and tying it up, he chooses a wall and directly planted his nails in it.
Climbing with a renewed vigor, he moves up with great speed, one arm after the other, the feet following. Looking down to see his advancement, the sheer height of what he just climbed made him a little weak in the knees, trembling and putting himself against the wall.
"Sh*t, how will I do this, I'm probably under fifty meters high but it seems I will fall another time to my death... How did I walk upside down when I wasn't myself? I can't continue like this, I must go upward without stopping, but will I be able to...? I think there must be a thousand kilometer to climb..."
Stopping his ascent, he digs with one hand on the cliff, quickly making a little cavity. Putting his two knees in it to stabilize himself, he continues to dig but this time with his two hands. After what appears to be an hour, a cavity big enough for his body to lay down appeared. Entering it, he breathes a few times to calm his Heart.
"When will I be able to see the sunlight? With my speeds as it is now, I could probably succeed in five days approximately, I'm able to climb more than four times quicker than I was walking before, but my strength is slowly fading, I'm not sure I could endure it for more than two or three days..."
His body had stopped trembling but when he looks again at the bottom, the sensation came again, washing against his previously strong confidence.
"I must climb, I don't have the time to acclimate myself to vertigo made by this suicidal try, let's logic guide my mind! With my reforged body, I could probably resist a fall by hanging with a hand so I should not think too much about it, right ?... Right?"
Observing the wall in itself, he could see those different strata composing it, probably not of the same sturdiness.
"I must be careful of this difference in density, it could disrupt my pace, followed by mistakes and mistakes lead to death...OK, the hunger is ever-present, I should go, I must make the fewer stop possible... If I can, I would love not having to sleep but even if this body is more resistant, I refuse to believe five days without stop won't take its toll on it.."
Adjusting his breath, he fixes his hands at the cavity exists and in on go, grabbed the cliff and began his vertical race. His nimble motion allowed a fast pace, quickly letting the bottom disappear in his eyes fading away in the darkness.
The depth of his visual field had clearly increased dramatically since six months ago so for him to not be able to see the bottom, he had perhaps already climb a few kilometers, proof of his climbing speed.
The day passed, boring, repetitive and monotonous, Alix was breathing hard, clearly tired by the effort to do continuously. His body was producing energy non-stop, using the energy potential his cells now had. Each one was degrading itself from its previous energy level to help the whole body.
Feeling his energy draining faster and faster, Alix was trying to increase again his speed but to no avail, his arms were now trembling each moment he embedded them in the wall. All he could see around him was this wall, from top to bottom to each side, the wall surface extends indefinitely, making him practically believe he was on a horizontal surface.
The second day had just begun when all of a sudden, his arms missed piercing the wall resulting in his rhythm destabilizing and his wall body tumbling downward, falling again to his death.
His head and Heart cool, he quickly tried to catch the wall, his nails scratching it all along his quick fall. It decreased his speed a little and when his other hand joins it he could see he had escaped this frightening perspective.
Hanging on his two arms trembling, his breath unstable, he tried to dig a grip on the smooth surface, to allow for a better situation. After making sure he was correctly rooted to the wall, he quickly digs a cavity to let himself fall in it.
He immediately closed his eyes and dive in a night of sleep without dreams, clearly exhausted. The day after he awake, sore from all over, not really wanting to continue.
"I must go on, I 'm approaching my limits too fast, after what I survived in the abyss I can't fail here..."
Remembering during an instant the terrible memories, he could not help but shiver, his gaze lost in who knows where during a short time. He was not completely healed from this trauma, and if a new one was added shortly after, no doubt that it would be difficult to emerge again.
After a deep sigh, he continues his journey, trying to not think about his trembling hand, his fear of height and focusing on his last hope. Another day passed like that without surprises, the atmosphere was beginning to light up, brighter for Alix's eyes, not really different for others and the wall had small streams of water running on it. It was raining on the surface.
The perspective, far from scaring Alix was more of a moment of joy for him. He didn't care of the inherent threat of a wet wall of stone, decreasing his adhering to it, increasing the risk of an impair and a new fall, this time deadlier with the little strength he still possesses.
" If it rains, it means I'm not far from the surface, I'm sure I feel some drop on my skin, soon !"
As soon as these words echoed in the abyss, two green eyes appear before him.