Chereads / A Rat’s Second Chance (Old) / Chapter 40 - A Rat and the Void

Chapter 40 - A Rat and the Void

The arrows flew through the air at the trio. One arrow for each member, all aimed at their heads. Each arrow glowed a dull magical green, as wind spiraled from behind them. Sheila took up a guarding stance in front of the arrows. She raised her new scaled shield, ready to take the blow. From Eodum's perspective, the world appeared slowed, but the arrows still flew quite fast. It had to react quickly.

Eodum began running, using all the spells and skills it could to speed up. Eodum rushed towards Sheila and Henry. When it got close enough, Eodum's tail disappeared and two shadow claw-like arms formed from Eodum's side. The arms swung and pulled Sheila and Henry close to Eodum, and it had the two dodge out of the way.

The arrows whizzed by the three as Eodum pulled its companions to the ground. The arrows went far past them, and hit a tree behind the trio. The arrows spun and drilled through the tree, and then the parts of the tree that the arrows hit burst. The three looked at this sudden burst in power, and knew that taking a single arrow would mean the end. Eodum opened its mouth and quickly said, "I need your permission!"

"What!?" Sheila and Henry asked in unison.

Eodum then explained, "I can get us somewhere safe, but I need your permission!"

Sheila and Henry thought for a second before saying, "Ok, we'll give you our permission, just do it quick!" As soon as Eodum heard them give their permission, a pitch black void appeared under each of them. They were quickly swallowed up by the darkness, and just as quickly as it appeared, the darkness vanished.

As the three disappeared from sight, five people came out from some bushes nearby. A man with long ears said, "Where the hell did they go!?"

A woman in light armor answered, "I don't know, but wherever it is, they'll come out eventually. Let's set up camp here, they'll probably return for their catch." The party started making a camp to stay at for a while. Meanwhile, in a world of darkness and nothing, three beings just entered. The world stayed silent, until a strange portal opened up, and these three fell through.

Henry looked around, it was pitch black. For some reason though, Sheila was completely visible. From what he remembered, eyes worked by receiving the visible light that bounces off everything. However, there was no light in this place, so how was Sheila completely visible? Henry continued trying to figure out how this strange phenomena was happening, but Sheila then spoke, "What the fuck!? Where are we!? Where's Eodum!?"

Henry heard that last part and realized he couldn't find their rodent companion. No matter how hard he looked, Henry only saw himself, Sheila, and darkness. That was when Sheila and Henry heard a voice come from the side, "I'm right here, and this is the void."

Henry and Sheila turned their heads to the side, but saw nothing. Henry spoke out, "Where are you? We can't see you, and what the hells the void!?"

"I'm right here, and the void is nothing. The void is a world in which nothing exists." Eodum said matter-of-factly.

Sheila and Henry just stared at where they thought Eodum was. They were shocked by the calmness Eodum had said that with. The two thought about it; a world outside of their own which was made of an infinite nothing. What the fuck does that mean!? How the hell were they seeing things!? How were they breathing!? Where the fuck is Eodum!?

Sheila and Henry took a step back, they needed to think things through. First off, how were they breathing and seeing things? Simple, let's ignore that; just chalk it up to magic. Next, what does it mean to be in a world of nothing. Well, the entities inside don't feel gravity and there is nothing to do. It's a world in which nothing exists. Okay, solved. Next, where was Eodum. Well, looking at Eodum was a lot like what it was like being in the void, seeing nothing. If they were in nothing, and they could only see Eodum because of the lack of light, it was impossible to see Eodum in the void. Great, everything was solved.

Eodum didn't ask any of these questions because of its affinity with the void. It was naturally attuned with it, and understood its properties. It didn't need a skill for this, just like how Henry didn't need a skill to be immune to heat. Henry was made of heat itself, why would he be hurt by it. Sheila did need a skill to be immune to necrosis because rotting bodies usually do rot. A fire is immune to fire, the void understands the void, but bodies aren't immune to rot.

"Hey Eodum, do you know about what attacked us?" Henry asked.

Eodum replied, "No, why would I?"

"Just checking, but is there any way to check?" Henry checked.

"Sure." Eodum said as a portal opened up. Eodum stuck its head out through the portal, but just enough to see. When Eodum looked around, it saw two tents and one fireplace. There were two women and three men, an archer, a thief, a sorcerer, a shieldsman, and a swordsman. It was easy to determine the occupation of each member because of their equipment. Each one had very specialized equipment. Each member could compliment the strengths of each other. They were clearly a high-tier party.

Eodum retracted its head and told its party of the situation above. Sheila had a troubled look on her face, "Shit, they must be here because of us. There aren't many high-tier parties in Seelf, so I know the one you're talking about. They would be Dleihs, quite the strong party. They're probably setting up camp and waiting for us."

"Why would they be waiting for us, why would they be after us!?" Henry asked.

Sheila replied, "It's simple, we're unnatural. Think about it, a talking undead, rat, and flame? It would scare the shit out of any person. What humans don't understand, they attack."

Henry thought about this, clearly troubled and saddened by this. He then said, "Yeah, you're right." He said nothing else after that, just stayed silent.

"Well, I guess all we can do is wait." Sheila said.