Tread Lightly

Immediately, all the pain and tiredness I feel slips away. Then, while confused about whether I'm dead, I open my eyes. And what I see surprises me just as much as the first time I saw it.

I'm back in The Cabin with the tome in front of me, opening to a new page. All the surroundings look precisely the same. The same purple-ish wood. The same massive book. And the old and weathered cabin. The only thing different is now what lies within the newly turned page.

Confused, excited, and worried, I move a little closer and peer at the page's contents.

Congratulations, young Philosopher. You have displayed an overwhelming pure resonance to the aspect of the Struggler. You have performed an Act of Absolution in your attempt to overcome your own limits. You brought yourself to your very limit. And then one step further. Again, and again, until your very body began to collapse. But within that collapse and stress, a diamond emerges from both you and your Sigil. And so, may your Philosopher's Sigil shift into a purer form, for you, the soon-to-be Struggler have performed,

The Strugglers Absolution.

You have prematurely resonated with a future step along your path, and as such, your current Sigil shall shift its Absolute Form to match it just as it shifts to better match you. It will never be the same again, and neither will you, young Philosopher. Like an old blade removed of millennium-old rust, your Sigil shall now be more powerful, more vibrant, and more pure.

From the young Philosopher you once were, now, you are the Striving Philosopher. One who strives to fight against the very world and the cards that have been dealt into your hand.

With this new form, your Sigil shall grant a new strength. A new aid to you in your long journey. One that is premature, yet effective.

For a single breath, a single gasp of defiance, may your chains loosen. In comes Ether, for your body and Sigil are too weak to supply the mass amounts required for defiance on its own. And out comes the defiance of the Struggler. In defiance of their final gasp.

The form of your Sigil shall now be revealed to you, as it is more pure and effervescent than ever before.

Unlike before, all this information is on only one side of the page, the other, on the right, is left blank. As a result, I am forced to spend several minutes rereading and understanding the knowledge given me.

I am forced to spend about half of that time staring at the Sigil that is etched, not written, into the page. This is because it's so mesmerizing and beautiful. An intricate thing made of an eye glimmering with defiance wrapped and squished with chains.

I process what's happening only after staring at the Sigil embedded into the page for a while. I accomplished an Act of Absolution. The first text on Sigils I read mentioned these. They allow for a Sigil to grow beyond what was initially obtained. They are the only way to gain another skill from a single Sigil.

And I assume the part that speaks of breaths and defiance is my new skill. A gasp for the Struggler, eh? Says that my chains will loosen and that in comes Ether, and out goes defiance. Maybe a bit on the nose, but I think I'll call it Strugglers Gasp.

The other part of this that surprises me is that the name of my Sigil changed. The text never mentioned anything like that. But the tome does say that I resonated with a future step along my path. So, is a future Sigil titled Struggler? And if that's the case, how far did I jump?

Eh, it doesn't matter. What does matter is how long I'm in this place. Does time stop or something? Because otherwise, I'm pretty sure I'm toast. The executioner was walking towards me before I even tried to infuse myself with Ether. And I think I felt a blade approaching my neck right before I came here during my Act of Absolution.

This thought awakened me from my reverie and slow contemplation of my situation. I need to go back to my body now. I need to leave this place immediately. No more time for pondering what this all is.

So, similar to last time, but without direction, I place my hand on the tome. Just before I do, however, a chill goes down my spine. The kind you get when someone looks at you just in the corner of your vision. The type of defense mechanism to protect one from a predator.

I turn and look around the small cabin. And there is nothing. Then, I remember the tiny glimpse I had last time of that colossal eye. Curious about what is looking at me, I try to peer through the cabin walls from standing at the table.

The second I do so, the feeling of being watched goes away. I continue to look for another moment but cannot find anything. Just darkness beyond the planks of the wall.

I shake my head in confusion before turning back to the book. Then, finally, I place my hand upon the contents of the tome in front of me.

And I return to my desperation. I can feel the air above my neck moving like a blade is about to remove it. But as I open my eyes, I feel time slow down.

The big man, Reuben, is swinging his blade down at me in a clean sweep. But it now moves at a snail's pace. This must be the near-death effect Ma once told me about. How time doesn't actually slow, but that our minds speed up. Desperately trying to remember and catch anything that might be of use.

And I do. I can feel the Ether in my body that was once destroying me begin to funnel outwards from my body. I look to where this torrent of Ether is going and can see the chains on my body, even without activating Chain Eyes. And said chains are gradually enlarging and becoming more transparent, slowly loosening their grasp on me.

Remembering the phrase from the tome within The Cabin, In comes Ether. I take a breath, the deepest and fastest one of my whole life, as I struggle to fill air into my lungs that cannot accelerate like my mind.

This single breath changes everything. First, I can literally taste the Ether flowing through my mouth and into my lungs, then stuffing my body. Then, I finally feel the effect of the loosening chains as my diaphragm fully expands my chest and upper body to fit the newly enlarged restraints. And with that, the rest of my body bulges as the Ether that was once killing me is now strengthening me with what seems to me to be no limit.

I continuously feel stronger. The pain from my wounds is still there but duller and more faded. Every single short, minute moment before the executioner's blade arrives makes me a little bit faster, a little bit stronger, and a little bit more alive. Until it stops growing. My breath cannot provide Ether, and the stream within my body is insufficient to supply the mass amounts needed.

This halt in growth and the blade that is less than an inch from my neck forces me to move. In one action and a show of immense strength, I rip the rope and chains off my body and wrench my body backward to dodge the blade. Then, with my brain still in death-still, I can precisely plant my feet and keep myself from falling after jumping backward off the tree stump.

Then, I stand tall, covered in wounds and bandages like a mummy, still restrained but a little closer towards Release. I crack my neck in satisfaction to be alive as I rest on the heels of my feet from by swift landing.

**********************************

Renee "Litestep" Hayes

I hop on a tree branch as I watch Reuben go to execute the insane child. This mission has been nothing but chaos since we set off. A simple extraction was all it was supposed to be. Find the Bloodhound, retrieve the object he saved from Elderfield during its fall, and deliver it to the Captain at Silvia.

The Bloody Palm.

An artifact of maybe not incredible power, but very useful. Capable of being used to heal someone from grievous wounds or placed upon someone in case of deathly injury. Though, like all artifacts, it has odd and unpredictable effects. Sometimes, it only replenishes the blood within someone and doesn't actually heal, only delaying a death.

We were sent anyway, however, as Captain Neal wanted something to help her fight longer through this breach as the Scorpion deemed the attack beneath his concern. And we were told it would be an exciting mission due to the ongoing breach, but this?

None of us, especially me, ever expected to see the Bloodhound get killed. That damn old man's been around longer than any other Hunter I've ever seen but the Colonels and up. And as a 2nd Sigil Deputy, I most certainly don't see those very often.

And the craziest part? This little wiry kid here is the one who killed him. Don't know how. All that Gus saw was the kid pointing a wooden branch at Edmund, and then Edmund dropped. I tried to speak to him several times to figure out what happened. Hoping it was an accident or foul play, but alas, the kid was mad.

I reckon he was the Bloodhound's newest apprentice and went mad because of all the fighting to escape the breach. The kid looks so young that, at most, he was taught for a year. Not much you can learn about being a Hunter in a year. Took me three years just to show I had the skills to fight a Base Monster to get my first Sigil.

That fact made me not want to kill or bring him to a judge. His skill, ferocity, and strength. What kid can fight like that? Damn kid fought like a monster. But, uncaring of his own safety, he is only satiated by the blood he can draw.

So, I tried to give him a final chance. Cause' a fighter like that? I'd gladly take him into my squad. And while tied up and completely restrained, he still somehow drew a dagger and stabbed Gus in the thigh. That's when I made the decision. He can't be saved. Something broke him beyond repair, or the Bloodhound chose the wrong apprentice. A monster in human skin.

Now, I just watch in sadness as a boy with near-unlimited potential is killed because of his crazed mind. And as Reuben's blade falls, I see the kid's face twist in agony and something else. Determination. I only have a split second to think that something is not correct as the boy inhales quickly, so quickly, that I don't even see his mouth open. But I do notice the inhale because all the Ether within a hundred feet or so is siphoned directly into him.

What the fuck is happening. A 1st Sigil will undoubtedly die from that much Ether; even just a tenth of it would cause a coma or multiple organ failure. Something is not right. Before I can even shout out a command to Reuben, the kid's chest bulges, and his muscles seem to grow slightly from his wiry frame.

Then, the split second before Reuben's greatsword, Chopper, removes the young lad's head, the kid somehow erupts in strength and speed, completely unbefitting his Sigil, even my Sigil, for that matter. He rips the chains and ropes binding him to the tree stump we placed him on, and then he bursts backward at a speed I couldn't match even with Lightfoot and Physical Strengthening at full force. For a moment, he appears more like a 3rd or maybe even a 4th Sigil than the 1st than he obviously is. For me to match his instant speed just now, I'd have to upgrade my Lightstep into a 3rd Sigil, probably more focused on just speed than my Rogue and Priest mix. That, or I'd have to make a new skill to enhance my pace even further, not that I have any ideas on how to do that.

He then lands on his feet despite his obviously unexpected speed as he struggles to land. But he does. Resting on his heels, this reemerging threat cracks his neck and looks at us with what appears to be frenzied bloodlust.

I stand in shock momentarily as I watch Rueben try to pry his blade from the tree stump, only to be unsuccessful. Then I turn to look at Gus, and good ol' paranoid Gus already has his bow drawn, ready to fire. Unwilling to fall behind him, I unsheathe my dagger and begin the flow for Lightfoot and Lightscreen, the former to lighten my feet and quicken my speed with the latter for shielding me from sight.

Before either Gus or I can even move, however, the maniac in front of us is already upon Rueben. And I have one last thought before they clash; We never did find the Bloody Palm.

**********************************************

Wyatt Graves

Time speeds back up as I watch the big man, Reuben, struggle to take his blade from the tree stump. The other two aren't quite ready to fight as they are still drawing their weapons, so I ignore them despite their upcoming threat and choose to focus on the man with the greatsword. I am pretty keen to finish him while his weapon is unusable.

Taking advantage of his weakness, I push off my feet and dash forward, entirely surprised by my speed. I struggle to keep up with my own movement now that my mind is no longer slowing my perception of time. But I manage it, as each step of mine is somehow planted into the coarse dirt, careful to not trip and fall like my first time moving fast.

I'm on him quickly. So quickly that he hasn't even turned to look at me yet. I take this short moment where he has not yet reacted to find a tool or weapon because mine were taken from me. Then, moving my gaze to the ground, I see the chains and ropes that once held me to the stump. There, indeed were only a few chains that held me. That is probably why I could break out of them even with Strugglers Gasp.

I disregard the ropes and instead flick up a link chain roughly three feet long with the toe of my boot and catch it with both hands. Then like the last time I fought this big man, I jump onto him, but unlike last time, I have a plan before I do so.

And the plan, newly made with the chain-link in my hands, based on Edmund's with the blood-wire, is to strangle this man with the steel to make him pass out while using him as cover from the damned archer.

I try to follow through with this plan as I wrap the chain around his neck and squeeze it as tight as I can over his airways. Reuben gives up on trying to quickly remove his sword from the stump because of my actions. Instead, he wraps his big meaty hands around the steel and tries to pull it off of his neck. This usually would have worked with probably little effort; however, because I am bolstered by Strugglers Gasp, it does not. The feeling of Ether surging into my chains and loosening them is terrific. I can overpower someone twice my size and who most definitely has a strength-based Sigil.

I don't let my success in this strength contest blind me with confidence, however. At the same time as I try to choke Reuben, I focus on keeping the archer's bow on the other side of the big man's body as I twist, turn, and reposition myself on the bumbling oaf who cannot get me off of him. And boy, does he try, but I shake off his efforts every time.

I try to stay in a position such that if he slams himself into the ground backward, I can jump off of him in time, but he doesn't. So instead, he walks toward where the woman used to be.

Shit, I forgot she can cloak or go invisible. Either that, or she is really fast. I hope it's the former. I try to listen for her to predict where she will come from, but I have too many things to juggle at once, and my mind can't keep up.

She appears behind me as I dodge a well-timed arrow from the archer. I only notice her because of the hair on the back of my neck, the fibers alerting me. I twist and pull myself up and over Reuben to his front, earning a considerable gash along my back down from the top of my spine to the middle of my back. I feel it bleeding pretty bad too. She definitely got me with the dagger that causes blood loss.

But I take this movement in stride; as I flip over to Reuben's front, I kick him in the face as hard as I possibly can with all of my momentum and strength that pushes me to the ground in front of him. Already red-faced from the lack of oxygen and still wounded from earlier, my knee makes a pronounced effect as he steps back, wobbly and unsteady. I catch myself with my hands before my face slams into the ground from my odd angle.

Then, without giving Reuben a chance to recover, I turn back to him and kick his already wounded and splinted knee. I can see an arrow coming at me in the corner of my right eye, and in the corner of my left, a woman crouched, ready to strike.

I ignore both of these looming threats in favor of evening the cards against me. Two against one is much better than three. And so, as Reuben falls to his other knee from the wounded one while screaming in pain, I quickly wind the chain around my fist and deliver a swift jab to his face that ends with a crack and him falling onto his back, unmoving. Following that is a yell from the woman.

"Reuben!"

This sends a rush of adrenaline and joy through me. One down, two to go. But my happiness is quickly shot down by an arrow that sinks accurately into my hand, wrapped in chains. The new pain sobers me of my overconfidence as I quickly turn to the other threat, already at my neck.

A dagger is swiftly approaching my neck, and I go to intercept the hand that wields the blade, but I am still unused to my new speed. And so, instead of catching the hand, the arrow stuck halfway into my hand seizes the dagger for a moment as I miss. Then as another approaches, I feel out of options before the ol' reliable is the only one to come to my mind. Take a hit, then return my own. With incredible deftness, I move so that the second dagger only grazes me, initially going just for a light wound, but my speed continues to surprise me.

Then, I kick at the woman in front of me's center mass, aiming for her bandaged wound. Instead, she dodges the attack, moving backward, seemingly cautious of my blows since Reuben fell.

Then a lull appears. An archer behind me and a dagger-wielding rogue in front of me. Only at this moment do I realize that I have yet to breathe this whole time, and because of that, my chest is screaming for release.