Thirty-Two: Perilous Fall {Bonus Chapter}
Dusken shivered as waves of water surged towards him. No, they weren't exactly coming at him; they were being pulled to the very rock he sat on.
'What's happening?' he questioned himself, alarmed, as the water level of the sea visibly dropped. All of it was being absorbed by the rock beneath him.
The sea roared with fury, its waves crashing violently against the rock, sending water splashing in all directions and drenching him in the process.
At one point, the raging waves almost threw him off his precarious spot.
Soon, the surroundings were drained of water entirely, leaving the once-mighty sea vanished without a trace, all absorbed by this seemingly small rock.
However, when Dusken dared to look down, a subtle shiver gripped his heart, making his eyes widen in fear.
He was not sitting on a small rock at all but rather a towering, impossibly tall, slim boulder. From this height, a fall would guarantee a gruesome, inescapable end.
Swallowing hard as he stared below, Dusken knew he would eventually have to descend. But how
Without assistance, death was inevitable. Summoning his soul script, he hastily checked the details of his newly acquired material cards.
{Material Cards: [Dark Sword], [Lunar's Gloves], [Night Stone]
{Material Card Name: [Dark Sword]
Card Rank: Awakened
Card Level: 1
Card Description: [A blade gifted to you by the god of darkness.]
{Card Enchantments: [Flash of Shadow]
Enchantment Description: [The sword is as light as a feather to its wielder but extremely heavy to its opponents, for it is as swift as a shadow.]
This was the first time Dusken had taken the time to read the enchantment of his longsword.
Previously, he had been too distracted. Satisfied but not particularly interested, he moved on to the next card.
{Material Card Name: [Lunar's Gloves]
Card Rank: [Awakened]
Card Level: 1
Card Description: [In the raging blizzard, Lunar walked calmly, manipulating the snow to his will. Finding a dying man with frozen hands, he gave him a glove, passing on one of his legacies.]
Dusken frowned slightly; this was one of the most vague descriptions of a card that he had ever seen. He scrolled further to check the enchantments, already anticipating the outcome.
{Card Enchantments: [Unbothered]
Enchantment Description: [When a person wears this glove, nothing from the outside can penetrate it, and nothing from within can harm anything outside.]
Dusken's eyes hardened, a strange light flickering within them. He clenched his fists, barely suppressing the urge to throw the card away.
'I shouldn't be rash. Perhaps this card may come in handy,'
Taking a deep breath to stabilise his emotions, he moved on to the last material card.
{Material Card Name: [Night Stone]
Card Rank: Awakened
Card Level: 1
Card Description: [In the echoes of the white depths, there is only one darkness. The eternal Night Stone gave birth to a revolution.]
'Another poem with no meaningful information. I bet this is series of poems,' Dusken thought, rolling his eyes as he scrolled to the enchantments.
{Card Enchantments: [Dwelling Night]
Enchantment Description: [This stone absorbs darkness at night and can release it in daylight.]
'Hmm, this seems useful.' Dusken's mind whirred. 'My ability has this fatal flaw of requiring darkness, but still… this won't help me climb down.'
His gaze once again fell to the ground far below. Small shapes crawled around in the soil—likely creatures from the sea or underground.
Dismissing his soul script with a disappointed sigh, Dusken tried to think. Suddenly, a thought struck him like lightning.
Summoning his spell card, he stared at its intricate design, inhaling deeply. The cool night breeze caressed his skin, tugging gently at his slightly wet clothes.
Spell Card Activation: Nightfall Whisper.
Darkness from the surroundings gathered as his shadow rose, coalescing into an obsidian shield.
Whispers filled the air, but when Dusken attempted to decipher them, his mind met an unbreakable barrier. Frustrated, he set the task aside for later.
He inspected the shield, noting its striking appearance and surprisingly soft texture.
'No difference.' Dusken frowned.
He had initially assumed the shield would change in complete darkness, given it was not only his shadow forming it but also the ambient darkness.
As he continued his examination, a revelation dawned on him. He could manipulate the shield's shape—a feat that had been impossible during the day.
'Doesn't this mean…' Dusken's thought trailed off as he tested his theory, reshaping the shield until it began to encase him like an egg.
Before it could fully close, he instructed Ebon, his shadow companion, to meld into his form. Once sealed within the shield, the air grew hot and suffocating.
Sweat trickled down his temple, but he braced himself for what was to come.
Tilting his weight slightly, the shield shifted. At first, it rolled slowly, but soon it picked up speed.
Moments later, Dusken felt the terrifying plunge as the shield rolled off the boulder's edge, plummeting rapidly through the air. The wind roared in his ears, tearing at his concentration.
'I hope this works. I hope this works. I hope this works.' Dusken chanted inwardly, his excitement growing by the second. Cold sweat drenched his body as he struggled to maintain the shield's integrity.
This was his first attempt at reshaping the shield, and it took every ounce of his focus. He hadn't dared to practise beforehand; time was a luxury he didn't have in this inheritance trial.
As the shield hurtled towards the ground, it began to crack under the immense strain.
Suddenly, a deafening boom echoed through the night as the shield landed with a deafening impact.
Dusken's body absorbed the shock, tremors wracking his frame as his internal organs suffered the brunt of the force. Blood spurted from his mouth.
The shield dissolved, reverting to its spell card form, now covered in visible cracks. It was unusable for the foreseeable future and would need time to recover.
"I… survived," Dusken rasped through gritted teeth, his vision swimming. Gazing up at the towering boulder he had fallen from, he marvelled at the impossible height.
The night breeze swept over him, cool against his battered body. The ground trembled slightly under the aftershock of his landing, and a heavy, muddy smell lingered in the air.
Even in his immobilised state, Dusken commanded the darkness to envelop him, hoping to conceal his presence from any nearby creatures.
'This won't work,' he thought bitterly. The resounding crash of his fall would undoubtedly draw attention, no matter how well he hid.
Dismissing his spell card, Dusken turned his gaze to the endless expanse of the night sky.
Drowsiness began to claw at his mind, threatening to pull him into unconsciousness. But he knew that falling asleep now would mean never waking up.
'I have to move. I can't let someone else claim this inheritance,' he thought, feeling the bitter taste lingering in his mouth as he struggled to stand.
As if mocking him, the voice from earlier boomed once more, echoing across the entire inheritance realm.
"PHASE ONE OF THE INHERITANCE HAS BEEN PASSED. PHASE TWO BEGINNING. THERE ARE ONLY FOUR HOURS LEFT UNTIL YOUR DEATHS."