Chap 199: Into the Black

Tee and her comrades plunged over the edge of the waterfall, missing the ravenous monster by the skin of their necks. The instant gravity seized them and dragged them downward, the deafening crash of water and the violent pull sent a surge of thoughts flooding through their minds…

Zod, “We’re not gonna die.”

Miko, “It’ll soon be over.”

Their joined hands were ripped apart as gravity tore them away from each other. Kie, unable to stay focused, lost control and disconnected their telepathic link.

Tee’s stomach lurched into her chest as the waterfall swallowed her whole. The rushing water spun her body violently, flipping her head over heels. Somewhere nearby she heard Zod shout, but the sound was immediately drowned by the thunder of crashing water.

The fall felt endless.

Wind howled past their ears.

Then—

Impact.

The surface of the lake struck them like solid ground.

Tee slammed into the water back-first with a violent WHAM, the force blasting the air from her lungs. Pain shot through her ribs as the water exploded around her in a towering plume of pink spray. The impact drove her deep beneath the surface, the pressure crushing against her ears as bubbles and foam swallowed her vision.

The waterfall above hammered the lake relentlessly, pounding the surface like falling boulders.

Underwater, Tee’s body continued sinking, spinning slowly as the turbulence dragged her deeper. Her vision blurred with clouds of pink sediment and rising bubbles. For a moment she couldn’t tell which direction was up.

Her lungs burned.

Instinct screamed.

She forced her arms to move, kicking hard against the downward pull of the crashing water. 

Beneath the pink water… something large moved causing her eyes to pop wider. 

Above her, distorted light shimmered through the chaos.

She pushed toward it. Then she blasted energy from her hands to propel her faster. 

Around her, other dark shapes stirred in the pink depths as her teammates fought toward the surface.

Then Tee finally broke through.

She burst out of the water with a desperate gasp, coughing violently as air rushed back into her lungs. The roar of the waterfall returned in full force, deafening and overwhelming.

One by one the others surfaced nearby, splashing and gasping for breath as waves rocked them violently.

But the lake was far from calm.

The waterfall’s crashing current dragged them outward, pushing them away from the base of the fall. The water pulled their bodies sideways as the waves shoved them away from the waterfall. It was difficult swimming and moving the way they wanted. 

Their senses kicked up again and they moved with urgency. Swimming was difficult, so Kie made a flat energy construct to step above the water. It looked translucent and thinner, and disintegrated the further away it was from him. It caused the others not to rely on his construct, but made their own. 

Tee’s Ether construct shone bright and steady beneath her, as strong as ever. It didn’t flicker or weaken like her teammates’ Ultramana. Her dark side should have been stronger in that dimension, but her Balance Seal held both her dark and light in perfect harmony—leaving her energy powers unaffected.

When they rose out of the water, their instincts flared immediately.

Move.

In the next second, two massive, slithering tentacles burst from the rushing waters and whipped into the air. They didn’t bother looking back. Without hesitation, they sprinted toward the jungle, quickly disappearing into the trees along the rising land.

Their bodies were dry thanks to their skin-hugging suits, but their hair clung wetly to their faces. Kie reconnected their telepathic link, and their thoughts instantly became loud in each other’s heads.

Zod, “What the hell was that?”

Saeda, “...get pneumonia.”

Miko, “Yes, we made it.”

Tee, “That was close.”

Kie, “Is everyone alright?”

“Yeah,” — “Yes,” they thought in sync.

Tee couldn’t help but notice Kie’s jet-black hair, slick and shining as it clung to his head. His bangs fell into his face like dark curtains. She tried hard not to comment on it in her mind—everyone would hear her—so she shifted her focus upward, studying the trees instead.

The ground gradually sloped upward as they moved away from the water. It grew dimmer with every step. Flowers along the forest floor glowed in dull oranges and sickly hues, some releasing thin streams of gas that burned their throats as they passed.

The air turned cold, but their suits provided heat. Still, it grew dimmer and dimmer.

They pressed on.

Through sinking ground that threatened to swallow their feet.

Through vines that lashed out, trying to strangle them.

Through tree bark that spat sharp, dart-like projectiles.

They pushed through it all.

Soon, the dense trees began to thin, and the sky above shifted to a lighter shade of pink.

More flying beasts came.

With clearer skies, they saw them approaching from miles away—but their Ultramana attacks weakened the further they traveled from the source. Blasts fizzled out, and energy swords sent spinning like razor discs lost form before reaching their targets.

So they adapted.

Wearing their new summoning gloves, they touched nearby rocks. The material hardened instantly, reshaping into sharp-edged blades formed from the rock itself. They attached explosives and sent them zipping through the air toward the flying beasts.

Zod used his telekinesis to send his blades even farther.

Explosions erupted overhead.

Fried meat rained down from the sky.

Tee didn’t need to use the new gloves since her Ether powers remained fully intact. For a moment, she hesitated, wondering which approach to take. Should she blast fire at them, or strike them down with lightning?

But then she remembered…

“Crap, I can’t use sorcery.”

With that, she unleashed a continuous, powerful blast of white Ether energy into the sky, tearing through several of the flying beasts at once. The remaining creatures scattered, leaving the dark pink sky eerily empty.

Zod watched, a pang of jealousy flickering across his thoughts.

“Tee’s powers don’t seem to be too affected,” he thought.

“You’re right,” Tee replied telepathically. “It has to be the Balance Seal.”

“Great, more water,” Miko thought as they approached a wide river, the surface tinted a deep, unsettling red.

A growl rumbled from Saeda’s stomach. “Oops, sorry.”

Tee couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten since becoming a Vergant. She was quietly grateful for it.

“We should get something to eat,” Zod thought. “And I don’t mean those horrible nutribars.”

Their thoughts went blank as they watched Zod kick over a pebble, revealing wiggling worms beneath. Miko recoiled, gagging at the grotesque sight as Zod scooped several up and headed toward the water’s edge.

“You expect us to eat creatures from across the Veil?” Kie asked, arms akimbo.

Zod didn’t hesitate. “Well, Leaks eat things from our side of the Veil and nothing happens to them. So it must be the same the other way around.”

The others exchanged glances, brows furrowed in disbelief. Zod was dead serious.

“You can’t possibly expect anything dangerous to be in such a small and still lake,” he added, reassuring them.

He stepped onto thin Ultramana constructs beneath his feet—so translucent it appeared he was walking on the water itself. After a moment, the others decided to take a break as well, quietly accepting Zod’s logic.

“Perhaps we can find some wood for the fire,” Tee joked, fully aware she wouldn’t be eating anything Zod prepared that day.

“I’ll go look,” Miko thought, already blurring off into the trees.

Tee muttered, “Freck.”

Kie, Saeda, and Tee remained on the gravelly shore, watching Zod as he used his telekinesis to hold a worm just beneath the surface, eyes scanning for any approaching threat.

Miko returned with two thick pieces of dry tree bark. “This tree looked dry enough to start a fire.”

“I was joking about getting wood,” Tee thought.

“Well, this fire isn’t going to start itself,” Saeda thought, eager to see what Zod and Miko could do. They had always been reliable at preparing food, and she was beginning to feel hungry.

“Strange… shouldn’t our Ultramana kick up our food endurance? It’s only been like ten hours,” Kie thought aloud.

“It’s probably this realm,” Tee suggested. “Just like with your powers.”

Kie turned to her. “You must be so glad you don’t have to eat.”

Saeda blinked, trying to process what she’d heard. “She doesn’t?”

Tee was grateful for the opportunity to explain without any malice in the air, sensing Saeda’s genuine curiosity. As Kie helped Miko chop the wood, Tee explained why Vergants didn’t require food to sustain themselves.

Saeda blinked hard, breathing ragged, her eyes widening to the point of popping out before she screamed, “Zod!”

“Crap, crap, crap! Ugh!” they heard him think in a panic.

Then the others noticed the thick fog over the lake. They could barely make out Zod’s dark figure moving quickly before he submerged completely.

“He’s gone unconscious,” Kie said telepathically.

Miko, “Oh no. Zod!”

Without hesitation, they rushed toward the fog-covered lake and dove in. Beneath the surface, darkness swallowed everything. As they swam deeper, they saw a black layer forming above them, molding over the water like inked ice, moving to trap them beneath a suffocating veil of darkness.

The water was pitch black. They created small Ultramana orbs to provide light, but the glow was dim and weak in that realm. Zod, usually the best at generating energy balls away from himself, was occupied—leaving everything barely visible. They detached glow sticks from their suits, sending them afloat for extra illumination.

Tee’s Ether powers remained steady. She formed a large, bright energy ball, casting light on the massive swarm approaching them. Squid-like creatures with sharp teeth surged through the water. Some of them dragged the unconscious Zod away. No doubt he had nearly drowned.

The team blasted energy at the creatures as some got close, their metal claws tearing into the suits. Luckily, the organic material of the suits sealed itself instantly. Sparks and small explosions lit the murky water as they fought back.

Miko swam faster than anyone, then teleported close to Zod. She encased them both in a protective energy orb, blasting the surrounding monster fishes trapped with them.

The others continued firing at the swarm, clearing a path so Miko could carry Zod safely. Together, they swam upward, smashing through the solid, black, ink-like ice that had formed above the surface.

When Miko broke through, she had to dismiss her protective shield to gasp for air. Zod, slumped against her left shoulder, was knocked out cold. She carefully helped him onto the black ice that had formed above the water.

Through the slightly opaque, ink-stained water, the others caught glimpses of them. Squid-like creatures writhing beneath the surface. Their sharp teeth snapped and scraped as they shrieked upward, black hollow eyes fixed on their prey. Their scaly bodies twisted through the water—small individually, but moving in swarms that seemed to have no end.

Dead bodies of the small water creatures began floating to the surface, drifting in the pink water. But more were coming. 

Claws and tiny hands jammed through the ice, trying to drag them under as they moved on the surface. 

Miko carried Zod in her arms as she stepped her spiked boots onto the icy surface as fast as she could. 

One sharp clawed hand jammed through the ice beneath Tee, and she felt the sharp fine cold needle run through her toe. She glimpsed her foot and noticed blood. 

“Crap! Those claws are metal.”

It didn’t take long for her to realize it was only a part of her toe that got snatched. 

Kie created an Ultramana structure above the ice for them to hop onto. 

“Get off the ice now!”

He tried to stretch his construct as far as he could, but they had to stay close and move together as best they could towards land. 

They reached dry land and some of the small water creatures crawled behind them a short distance before dragging themselves back into the water. 

Miko kneeled with Zod’s body in her arms, and then placed him back facing the ground. 

Saeda, “He’s not breathing.”

Kie, “CPR.”

“I know how to do CPR,” Miko thought. 

Kie set Zod’s head back against the ground so his mouth was open and throat clear. “Miko, go.”

She nodded. She pressed both her hands against Zod’s chest. Three pushes. Then she blew air into his mouth.

Nothing. 

She pushed into his chest again and blew again 

Still nothing. 

“He can’t be dead. We would have felt it.”

Then he coughed. Water spewed out of his nose along with thick black liquid. The liquid darted for Miko’s face, but Tee created a flat energy shield blacking Miko’s face from the attack. 

Tee encircled the black gue organism into an energy orb and then threw it back into the water. 

Kie pat Zod on the head, “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

Zod was too much in pain from the burn deep behind his nose to care about what Kie said. 

“Did I just drown?” Zod asked outside of their telepathic link. 

“Yup. I did CPR,” Miko said likewise. 

Zod sighed in relief. “She definitely loves me,” he thought. Then his cheeks burned red from embarrassment. 

Tee looked at her toe that had gotten covered by the organic suit that sealed back up. That should be enough to stop the bleeding. Or would she bleed unconscious? She ripped off the fabric from her injury but then she remembered she couldn’t do sorcery to revert some of the injury. So she allowed the fabric to fuse back together and endure the sharp stinging pain. 

They began to travel again. It felt like three two days they’ve been across the Veil. When they came out from among the trees to see stooping lands way a yonder, what they saw there made their bones shake. 

Tee looked back at her telecom’s tracker and confirmed. “Yup, that’s the Omega stone’s location.”

“Dammit,” thought Kie. 

They all stepped back to become hidden by the trees once more as they looked down. 

The forest abruptly gave way to a vast drop, the ground sloping into a colossal valley carved deep into the earth. It looked as if entire mountains had collapsed inward long ago, leaving behind jagged cliffs and broken ridges that spiraled downward like the ribs of some ancient, dead titan. The edges were sharp and uneven, slabs of rock jutting out at impossible angles, many of them fractured as though something massive had torn through the land.

Far below, darkness pooled like a shadow-filled ocean. The sunlight barely reached the bottom. What little light remained faded into a dim, murky haze.

And at the center of that abyss…

something glowed.

A gigantic spherical barrier hovered above the valley floor—a massive forcefield orb radiating a faint, pulsating light. Its surface shimmered like liquid glass, rippling with slow waves of energy that illuminated the surrounding darkness.

But it was what surrounded the orb that froze them in place.

Monsters.

Millions of them.

The valley floor and the broken cliffs were swarming with the same species they had encountered before—but in countless variations. Some crawled across the rocks with jagged limbs and armored backs. Others slithered through the shadows like scaled serpents. Many had massive wings folded along their spines, occasionally launching into the air in violent bursts before circling the orb like predatory vultures.

Their bodies came in different shapes, sizes, and mutations—some towering like beasts of war, others smaller but moving in dense swarms—but they all shared the same vicious features. Black, hollow eyes, rows of serrated teeth, and hide that looked like overlapping scales of dark stone.

The air above the valley churned with movement as winged creatures shrieked and dove through the dim sky.

And yet…

None of them attacked each other.

For creatures so clearly built for violence—apex predators that should have been tearing one another apart—they instead crowded together in an uneasy, chaotic mass around the glowing orb. They prowled, snarled, and snapped at the air, but their attention remained fixed inward, toward the forcefield at the center.

As if every one of them had gathered for the same purpose.

Or were waiting.