Lucas set off in the direction Darian had pointed him, walking towards unfamiliar terrain under the blazing sun as the fortress shrunk behind him until the trees swallowed it whole.
There was no exact timeline. The goal was to make it "before the next Edgewalk," which could mean days or could even mean hours.
He understood that the only real plan was to move fast and hope the Gateway was still there when he made it.
It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was the only one he had, and he’d learned by now that waiting for a better one rarely paid off in this world.
The terrain shifted gradually as he walked, forest giving way to a wide rocky field littered with jagged stone and Lucas had barely crossed halfway across it when the ground beside him erupted.
[Bora class entity detected.]
[You have encountered a Bora Golem.]
"Oh, COME ON," he groaned, stumbling back as a Bora tore free from beneath the loose ground, armored and growling. "It’s not even been a full day. You could just give me one more day.... Just one."
The universe, as expected, didn’t care about his complaints.
The creature lunged, and Lucas barely twisted clear, [Ignition] flaring to life around both fists as he braced for the fight.
It caught him with a blow across the shoulder before he had fully settled into his footing, hard enough to spin him around, and his pack filled with the rations Darian’s people had sent him off with tore free from his shoulder and skidded across the stony ground, spilling half its contents across the rocks.
"You have got to be kidding me!"
He didn’t have time to grieve the lost rations.
The Bora pressed forward, its tail lashing wide, and Lucas rolled clear before it could connect.
He drove a burning punch into its exposed flank, forcing it back a few steps, already falling into the rhythm of yet another fight he hadn’t asked for.
The exchange dragged on longer than he wanted, his own frustration bleeding into every strike, until a final flaming blow to its throat finally dropped it motionless into the dirt.
Lucas stood over the carcass a moment, chest heaving, and glanced regretfully at his scattered rations before gathering what he could salvage, tore a few pieces of the beats flesh and moved on. There wasn’t time to mourn spilled food. There wasn’t time for much of anything except moving forward at this point.
***
Back at the fortress, the gates swung open to a tired but triumphant Mark and Sera, and Eleanor met them across the courtyard, relief plain on her face.
"You’re both alive," she said. "And you actually got it?"
"Barely," Mark said, gesturing at the relic Sera carried carefully in both hands. "Also, side note, we might have visited somewhere that wasn’t technically Earth for a while. Just so you know."
Eleanor’s brow furrowed. "Explain."
They walked her through it as they made their way to the courtyard’s center — the sudden cave, the wall that had grown from nothing, the strange, lake and the Golem waiting beneath it.
Eleanor listened with growing anxiety, and by the time Sera set the relic down and it began pulsing with steady, aquamarine light, clean water trickling to life through pipes across the compound, but her expression had settled into something thoughtful and troubled.
[Ding!]
[Relic Activated]
[Description: Provides consistent, purified water throughout the designated Faction Zone.]
"Didn’t look like anywhere on Earth at all," Mark said, watching the water begin flowing into the fortress’ pipes. "No sky, Elle. Just cave, and that weird lake, and a wall that definitely wasn’t there when we walked in."
"That’s not good," Eleanor said slowly.
"You think?"
Eleanor stayed silent for a moment before speaking...
"I think—" She hesitated, working through what she was about to say even as she spoke it aloud. "I think the real world and the Edge might be merging together. We’ve already seen beasts crossing over and relics appearing all over the place. Maybe it’s not just monsters leaking through anymore. Maybe the boundary itself is thinning."
Mark’s face went pale. "That’s a genuinely terrifying theory."
"I know."
"I don’t like where this going." Mark said with a tired sigh.
"I don’t either." Eleanor admitted her expression tightening.
"Fuck! I’ve had enough! This is way too much!"
"We’re already fighting for our lives against beasts and gods who built this entire system for their own entertainment. What are you planning? Are you going to fight the gods or something?"
She talked her chin. "Honestly, I don’t know how you fight something like that. I don’t even know if you’re even supposed to."
"That’s not comforting."
"It’s not supposed to be comforting," Eleanor said, "It’s supposed to be honest. We can’t hope to face whatever’s actually orchestrating all of this. We just have to survive it, the same way we’ve been surviving everything else. Same as we always have."
Mark exhaled, some of his usual energy draining visibly out of him, his shoulders sagged under the weight of a problem too enormous to carry.
"Right. Yeah. Cosmic entities, unbeatable odds... And you tell me that all this is real." He sighed tiredly. "I’m going to bed. Don’t expect me up early tomorrow. I earned it"
"Go rest," Eleanor said. "You did good today."
"I always do," Mark said, already heading toward his room.
***
The days passed in preparation, drilling, the fortress settling into readiness — until the countdown finally reached its final hour, and the entire Faction gathered once more in the courtyard, bracing for whatever the next Edgewalk had waiting for them.
New arrivals mixed in among the veterans now, faces Eleanor still hadn’t fully learned, and she found herself scanning the crowd more out of habit.
Eleanor stood near the front, scanning the assembled crowd, a flicker of hope still sitting heavy in her chest despite every attempt to bury it.
’Maybe this time. Maybe I find him this time.’
Mark walked towards her side as the final seconds ticked away, his expression neutral despite the tension visible in the air. "Ready?"
She nodded. "Yeah... yeah I am."
Mark saw the expression on her face and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Elle. We’ll find him this time."
She exhaled, steadying herself. "Yeah," she said, "I’ll make sure of it..."
The countdown reached zero.
The world dissolved into white, and the entire Faction fell together into the familiar feeling of the drop, the fortress and everything in it vanishing behind them as the Edge opened its arms to receive them again.
[Ding!]
[Welcome Back to The Edge.]
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter