CHAPTER 46: LIVE.

No.

The thought cut through the fog of despair like a blade.

Declan’s voice echoed in his mind, clear and sharp despite the chaos around him.

"Go on. Live for us both."

Nero’s jaw clenched.

His legs found their rhythm again, pumping harder than before. The exhaustion was still there, the pain in his lungs, the burning in his muscles.

But it didn’t matter.

He was going to live.

Not just for himself.

But for Declan. For Peter. For everyone in Gor who had died while he survived.

It was a cheap trick to deluding himself into getting his damn legs to get moving again.

And despite knowing that, it worked like magic.

A deep bellow came from the depths of his soul as he picked up speed again. Most of the Abominations behind him were much faster than he was. However, the majority had lost interest in him and were not embroiled in their own wold of infinite chaos and blood.

His body screamed out in pain as he slid beneath an Abomination that had swooped down from the skies at him.

Nero’s hand tightened around the hilt of the Silver Blade as he ran.

He brutally cut down an Abomination that got too close, the blade seemingly moving on instinct. The radiant silver edge seemed to glow in the ambient darkness, severing flesh and bone.

The head of the Abomination was sent spinning through the sky.

The forest was still a maelstrom of violence around him. All manner of creatures, each one more corrupted than the next tearing into each other, blood spraying across the trees with the ground churned into a black muddy mess.

But Nero focused on one thing.

Forward.

The path beneath his sore feet.

An Abomination lunged from the shadows. He sidestepped, letting it crash into the creature behind him. They both went down in a tangle of limbs, forgotten the moment he passed them by.

His breathing was ragged now, each inhale burning his throat. His vision blurred at the edges, exhaustion clawing at him with every step.

But he kept running.

The evil transformed creature was still pursuing him, its presence like a weight on his back. He could hear it tearing through the horde. Compared to all the others, it was still by far the most terrifying one yet.

The fact they had yet to attract the attention of anything stronger, meant he was not as close to the center of the forest as he had initially thought.

That, or all the stronger Abominations had decided to move deeper into the forest for some reason.

Regardless, what that meant for him, was that the level of danger he was facing for now, had been effectively reduced by ninety percent.

That didn’t mean the remnant ten percent wasn’t lethat enough. It was perhaps, more than enough to do him in ten times over.

He had gotten by, surviving just by the skin of his teeth. Even the slightest show of ill fortune would be the nail in his coffin.

His death sentence.

Nero’s legs were trembling now, the muscles screaming in protest. He’d been running for so long now, it felt like the world around him was slowing down.

He was sure he looked pathetic at the moment, but he needed to rest and take a breather.

But he couldn’t.

Not yet at least.

His hand went to his satchel, fumbling with the clasp even as he ran. His fingers closed around a small vial, smooth and cold to the touch.

A Divine Elixir.

He pulled it free and uncorked it with his teeth, spitting the cork aside. Without breaking stride, he tilted his head back and downed the contents in one gulp.

The liquid burned going down, hot and electric. It spread through his chest like fire, racing through his veins and into his limbs.

The exhaustion didn’t vanish completely. Instead, it was dulled, pushed back by the elixir’s mystical properties.

His legs steadied and his breathing eased as the fog in his mind cleared.

Nero shoved the empty vial back into his satchel and kept running.

The forest continued to close in around him, the trees growing denser, the shadows deeper. He had no idea where he was anymore. No sense of direction beyond "away."

Away from the death all around him.

He began to notice the vibrant purple leaves becoming less and less predominant.

Instead, the leaves took on a darker hue, with most of the trees lacking even leaves.

The sounds of the stampede were changing now. The shrieks were becoming more distant, the roars less frequent.

Stampedes such as this one were rather frequent after all. The behavior and nature of the Abominations was volatile as their minds were constantly pervaded with madness, amplifying negative characteristics exponentially.

Eventually, most of them were bound to forget the reason for the chase and instead focus on those beside them. And then they would cull themselves until a single one emerged victorious.

In other words...

The chaos he’d caused was tearing them apart.

Nero risked another glance back.

The transformed creature was still there, but it had slowed. From both exhaustion and injury. It was a surprise it had even managed to survive this long.

Nero gritted his teeth, ’This persistent bastard!’

It really was hellbent on cutting through every single barrier, just to get at him.

He cursed multiple times in his mind as he pulled out another Divine Elixir and chugged it.

Thankfully, the distance between them was growing.

Although the Abomination was much faster and stronger than he was, he was much smaller.

As such, he could slip in between cracks and go unnoticed by the large Abominations which would then focus their attention on his pursuer.

Nero pushed harder, his renewed energy driving him forward. The trees blurred past him. The ground flew beneath his feet.

He didn’t know how long he’d been running.

Minutes? Hours? Time seemed to have lost all meaning.

To him, all that mattered was his survival.

His chest heaved with each breath. Sweat poured down his face, mixing with blood from a dozen small cuts. His clothes were completely torn up, covered in burns, scratches, and welts..

But he was alive.

The forest around him had now truly changed. He as no longer in the Purple Evergrowth forest.

He’d gone deeper than he’d ever been before.

But he couldn’t think about that now. Couldn’t worry about what might be waiting for him in these dark depths.

All he could do was run.