The day had passed, and soon the giant, moving, headless statue began to slow. Its titanic form shifted, stone grinding against stone, and as it made a gradual turn a vast shadow swept across the world—an immense shade cast like a curtain drawn over the land. Ahead stretched a range of mountains, jagged and towering, like colossal walls shielding the Forgotten Shore. Now, as the cohort descended toward the stretch of land at the foot of those Hollow Mountains, the dread-red coral abruptly stopped, as though halted by an invisible wall… or erased entirely.
Sunny, using Dark Wing, carried Cassie safely downward; Kai, holding Caster and Nephies close, descended with steady care. Effie and Silex remained above for a moment longer.
Silex, singing softly and resigned to his fate, crawled toward Effie. Climbing onto her back, he extended blood-forged limbs—thin, glistening tendrils conjured from his own rocky form—wrapping her in a faint scarlet armor. It was a new application of his [Bloody Will], something he had been contemplating for the entire journey. Realizing his own weakness and his lack of courage in decisive moments, a strange heaviness had settled within him. Or… if he had a chest, it would have. Being made of stone, he lacked such bodily parts, but perhaps that absence helped him decide to try his utmost.
After all, he was a memory. Not a man. Not truly alive. A conjured echo born from the Nightmare Spell granted to Sunny. Despite possessing memories of Earth, and even of having read the very novel he was now trapped within, he could not in good faith consider himself a "person." As a memory, he was a tool—and a tool must fulfill its role.
Activating [Flight]—an enchantment he had gained after absorbing Kai's blood—Silex and Effie glided down after the others.
When the group landed, Nephie, Caster, and Sunny surveyed the barren land ahead. The two prompted Nephie: "Now where to?"
Nephie looked toward Cassie, who could only shrug helplessly. A vision was merely a glimpse of the future, after all—not a step-by-step guide.
With no clear direction, the cohort chose one arbitrarily and began moving along the vast, open expanse. Silex remained quiet, embroiled in his thoughts, letting the others talk. He didn't think he was of much value to such discussions anyway.
What should I call this new ability from Bloody Will? Scarlet Armament? Yeah… maybe. I wonder what Earth's like now. Did the world go to ruin? Or did everything return to normal? Was the skinwalker dealt with? I don't remember that part of the novel clearly… Hmm. How much can my existence even change here? Can I? Would Weaver even allow it? He must have a plan…
"RUN."
Sunny's familiar voice slammed into his mind, jolting Silex awake. Cassie stumbled beneath him, mirroring the alarm. Looking up, he spotted a pale, unnatural fog rolling down the steep mountainside like a silent avalanche.
With no time to think, he wrapped Cassie entirely in the newly-formed Scarlet Armament. Taking control of her motions, he sprouted eight additional spider-like limbs. With all ten limbs contracting and extending in terrifying synchronicity, he propelled their combined mass forward at astounding speed.
Ahead, the cohort was slipping into a crevasse—an open quarry carved into the land. Behind them, the grey fog poured down faster, swallowing distance in moments.
Silex strained, pushing harder. But suddenly his hind limbs were grasped by the fog. A sensation—or rather, a lack of sensation—spread through him. A feeling of emptiness. Of being unmade. He felt like… nothing, dissolving into nonexistence.
But then—
A single drop of blood—Cassie's nosebleed from the harsh, jarring sprint—fell onto his rocky body. From that blood, tiny clumps of blood-moss bloomed, spreading across his surface and instantly absorbing into the stone. Awareness rushed back into him. The erasure halted.
In one last burst of motion, they slipped into the quarry. Moments later, the fog no longer pursued them.
Exhausted, Silex released the Scarlet Armament. The conjured blood armor dissolved away. His mind wavered. His body cracked—
—and shattered into countless tiny, sparkling lights.
"Silex!" Cassie and Kai cried out, panic seizing their voices. They thought their rocky companion had been destroyed.
Sunny summoned his runes and checked the memories. Silex still existed. In the Nightmare Inventory, destroyed memories vanished instantly, like deleted items. But Silex remained.
With a relieved sigh, Sunny said, "He's fine. At least… he's not destroyed."