CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 49 - BY SOMEONE’S DESIGN

We walked for hours.

The forest stretched endlessly before us, monotonous as ever. Trees lining each side, skeletal and gray in the dim light, their branches entwined in the same oppressive stillness I had dealt with for days now. The undergrowth was just as unremarkable, the same dull carpet of leaves and roots that had been my footing since the start of this journey.

Time drifted, just as we did. I still made sure to go up into the canopy occasionally to check directions, but that was about all the excitement I could find. I almost found myself wishing for another beast to show up. Any beast. Squall, Tremor, hells, even a Crisis...no, especially a Crisis. I was itching to test out my strength in its entirety, on something other than the ground.

But there was nothing. Just the same old trees, and the same old silence.

And yet... there was something different, here and now. Something I couldn’t put a finger on.

The air...it felt...thicker..? Almost heavier, as if it pressed against me with a silent insistence. But insisting what...I couldn’t tell.

I glanced ahead at the cub, only to find its confident stride now frozen in place. Its many legs stiffened, tail flicking nervously. Its ears swiveled, sensing something I couldn’t see.

"You feel it too then..."

The cub growled a little as it took a step back. Then another. And another, before turning tail and running back towards me.

I readied myself, axe drawn out in a Guard stance.

The words ’careful what you wish for’ reverberated in my thoughts.

But still, nothing came.

"..."

I took a careful step forward, and that heavy feeling sharpened: a faint tug, almost like the forest itself was breathing against me, resisting. It wasn’t violent, or threatening, rather the type that was persistent. A subtle pressure.

What is this feeling? What’s going on?

I hesitated. This was far too strange. Far too abnormal. Against my screaming instincts, I stepped forward again.

It worsened. It was a squeeze now. It was uncomfortable. Disconcerting. Something in me told me to turn away.

But this was West. I had to go West.

Another step. The pressure squeezed a little tighter. My muscles tensed without my command, my body instinctively resisting.

I took another step. And then another.

It was no longer subtle. The air itself seemed to push against me, like an invisible hand pressed into my chest and shoulders. Each step required more effort, more intent. My mind screamed louder. Run. Run away. Now. Turn around. This isn’t safe. You can’t. DO NOT PROCEED.

I looked down at the cub. Its tiny body trembled violently, paws digging into the dirt, fur bristling. It whimpered, knees ready to buckle.

It refused to move forward.

My jaw clenched. I bent, scooped it up, cradled it against my chest, and continued.

The mental screaming intensified. It clawed at me, a torrent of panic that threatened to override everything. And yet, now that it was so thick... I realized it wasn’t everything. One of the dual awarenesses within me remained calm, somehow.

Logical and detached.

The chaotic part---the branch constructed from mana---was the one panicking. The other, the original nervous system, was...almost unbothered.

I drew a slow, steadying breath and let the other mind take the reins. I pushed the chaotic branch to the back of my consciousness, assigning it only with observation, while the primary system assumed responsibility for everything, instead of just thought and speculation.

The pressure dulled. Significantly. Not gone, just reduced. Manageable.

The cub still shivered in my arms, tiny body trembling as though its very bones were resonating with the forest’s invisible will. My hand settled on it’s body unwittingly, rubbing its flowing black coat in an attempt to calm it down. It didn’t do much, but I saw its golden eyes lock onto mine for a moment before they snapped back shut in fear.

I continued, careful to keep my stride steady, ignoring the warnings still whispering in the back of my mind.

And then, the warnings began to transform. No longer shouting instructions to flee. They became something colder, more raw.

Fear.

Irrational, all-encompassing, primal.

A presence like nothing I had ever felt. My body reacted to it even as my mind remained calm. My heart beat faster, harder into my chest.

The cub’s trembles intensified until finally, it went limp. Unconscious. I tightened my hold on its small frame and pressed onward.

On and on, until a certain stray thought clicked into place.

The chaotic branch of my nervous system and the cub were what was affected, but my original, human nervous system was untouched.

Freya’s words from when we first arrived outside the core came back to me.

’This...is where the beasts gather. Every last cursed one of them.’

I hadn’t really questioned it then, but now I did. Why, or rather how were there no beasts outside the core? It was illogical.

But I was starting to understand.

This forest, this outer layer of the Core, wasn’t just a boundary. It was a living deterrent, a layer of instinctive influence woven into the terrain itself. Physical strength or speed meant nothing when every step screamed at you to flee, when fear clawed at your mind, demanding retreat.

The proof sat unconscious in my arms.

And this deterrent somehow worked on the parts of me made of chaotic mana, but not the rest. There was some sort of correlation between chaotic mana and beasts. I didn’t understand what it was just yet, because obviously, all beasts didn’t have chaotic mana. If that was the case, then beast cores would all be like that unstable black one I’d assimilated.

I didn’t fully understand it, but I knew that’s where the connection was.

I continued walking. The fear continuing to eat away at me from the back of my mind. But suppression was easy when you had two complete consciousnesses.

Eventually, after many minutes of wading through the pressure, we finally broke through.

The dense trees of the Core gave way to that border-like clearing, a sparser, lighter wilderness in the distance ahead.

The oppressive dread lifted instantly, and my shoulders dropped in a heavy sigh of relief.

But then I realized, in place of that fear was something different entirely.

I looked back to the core in disbelief.

Longing. A subtle, aching pull toward the very same forest I’d fought to leave.

This is crazy. I thought. To induce such genuine emotion...but...it all makes sense now. Anything outside is drawn within, and anything within is prevented from leaving altogether. A simple dichotomy, but infallible.

This is no natural deterrent. It was placed. Thought out...this...is by someone’s design.

A frightening realization, but...this wouldn’t change my goals.

I had to keep my promise. I had to acquire more strength. And something in me knew I could claim it in the wildlands.

I shook my head, as I turned back to the cliffs, ready to finally leave this giant ravine. West was still the destination.

But I froze in place.

It seemed I wouldn’t be catching a break just yet.

There, above the trees, floating effortlessly, was the figure of a woman. Fair, slender, clothed in loose white robes that fluttered in the wind. Lavender hair framed her sculpted face, eyes burning a bright amethyst as mana of the same shade rippled out of her every movement.

I gulped as her cold gaze met mine---a completely unconscious reaction, but one borne from knowledge.

The knowledge that this being floating in the air before me radiated such a pure sense of strength, I knew I’d be dust in moments if I so much as flinched wrong.

Those amethyst eyes bore into me for a long moment, and then her lips parted slowly, a whisper carrying across the gulf of space between us:

"A human. Hm. Curious."

Whatever it was that would come next...I wasn’t so sure I’d survive.