But first— there was the basin.
The ruined house he had crawled out of sat like a stranded relic on a patch of stone surrounded by water. A miniature island, cut off by a ring of still, greenish depths.
Levi crouched at the edge, peering down.
The water wasn't deep— he could see the ripple of weeds brushing the surface, the glimmer of fish darting below. But that wasn't reassuring. Things in this world didn't need depth to kill you. A puddle could house something that would chew through bone.
He ran his tongue over the back of his teeth, still sore from the acid burn, and thought of his earlier display.
"I'll just stick a foot in and check for anything hostile". Levi muttered. His toes edged forward before he froze. A shiver ran down his spine. No— testing the water himself was suicide. He had a scapegoat for that.
'How do I call it out?'. Levi only wondered for a moment before the answer came to him.
The answer came almost at once— his hands moved on instinct, jamming together, fingers overlapping. The shadow cast between them warped, bending into the shape of a leech's head.
The shadow rippled, peeled away, and from the dark outline the creature emerged— slick, writhing, suddenly real in the air before dropping with a wet plop into the basin.
Levi's lips twitched into a grim smile. Good.
With a mental nudge, he sent the leech swimming. The water rippled once, then stilled.
He crouched there, waiting. One minute. Two. Three. The silence stretched, broken only by faint splashes as the leech prowled beneath the surface.
After five long minutes, nothing stirred. No lurking beast. No sudden strike.
Levi finally pushed himself upright. Safe enough. Levi pushed to his feet— and plunged in.
A scream tore from his throat.
"Cold!!"
The chill clawed him to the bone, scraping his nerves raw, bleeding through muscle and marrow. He shuddered violently, teeth clattering, and hurriedly forced origin energy through his veins to keep his blood from freezing in place.
With the cold alievated, he pressed forward, stroke after stroke, until the biting cold began to ease, his body adapting to the cold under the influence of his origin energy— one of the perks of origin energy.
The energy running through his body dulled the chill, letting him move without shivering so hard.
But after a while, he frowned.
The far bank should have been close by now. He had been swimming for what felt like minutes, yet the stones and sand at the edge never seemed to draw nearer.
A tight knot formed in his chest. Something was wrong.
He kicked harder, pushing himself faster across the water. Still, the bank stayed the same distance away, unmoving, as if the basin itself had stretched into something endless.
Levi froze mid-stroke, his breath shallow. Slowly, he turned his head and looked around. The ruined house, the island, the far shore— none of them looked any closer or farther than before.
His mouth went dry. The words slipped out, low and hoarse.
"…I'm in trouble". It hasn't even been up to ten minutes since he left the comfort of the house and he was already in a trap.
Levi thought for a moment then gave the mental tug to recall the leech.
The water stirred— then, without warning, the creature darted straight toward him. Levi flinched, startled at the sudden movement. Only calming down when he realized it was the leech.
"Damn it, this situation is getting on my nerve". Levi said with a few nervous chuckle, this situation made him tense.
But in the blink of an eye the leech wasn't in front of him anymore. It popped into existence at his left side, writhing as if nothing unusual had happened.
He blinked, dumbfounded. "What the hell…?".
Frowning, he tried again. He willed it forward, only for its body to flicker, vanish from his sight, and then reappear somewhere else entirely. He could feel it was still in the physical realm— close, but it was no longer in his line of sight.
Levi's eyes narrowed. His mind ran through the possibilities, each colder than the last. Illusion? A trap? Or…
An idea struck.
He dispelled the leech with a thought, let the shadow peel away into nothingness, then pressed his hands together once more. The shape formed, the shadow peeled, and the leech dropped back to his side with a wet slap.
"Alright…". Levi muttered. He gave it the command to swim forward.
Sure enough, the creature surged ahead— then blinked, disappearing from his vision— only to reappear right where it had started.
His lips curled into a grim smile.
"Thank goodness it's not some type of creature". The strange happening was because of the water, It was like a puzzle.
And if he wanted to cross… he had to solve it.
.
.
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[I made some changes in chapter 5, do check it out]