Anakin was awoken by the smell of burning.
His eyes opened slowly, the pain in his head significantly less than it had been when he'd passed out. Still there, throbbing, but muted somehow.
The first thing to come into his vision was Audrey, she was sitting near the edge of the platform, tending a small fire contained within a ring of stones. She was cooking something in a metal pot that absolutely should not exist on the Forgotten Shore, the flames underneath fed by what looked like normal firewood—the processed kind you'd buy in the real world, cut and dried. ready to burn.
Of course she had firewood in her storage memory. Why wouldn't she?
"Morning," Audrey said without turning around. "Well, morning-ish. Hard to tell time here. How do you feel?"
Anakin sat up carefully, bracing for the explosion of pain that should have come with the movement. It didn't. His ribs protested, sure, but it was a dull ache rather than the white-hot agony from yesterday. He touched the bandages around his head experimentally. The grinding sensation in his skull was... less. Significantly less.
"Better than I should," he said, confusion mixed in his voice.
Audrey glanced back at him, a slight smile on her face. "Soul cores are remarkable things. Your body's already started healing the worst of it overnight." She stirred whatever was in the pot. "You'll still need days of rest for full recovery, but at least you're not on the brink of death"
(Btw i know that soul cores are formed once you awaken, but don't sleepers also have one? A dormant one i think?)
That made sense. Soul cores did accelerate healing—that was just a small yet significant perk. But this seemed faster than it should be, even with a core. Anakin dismissed the thought. Maybe he was just lucky. Or maybe his shattered fate was doing something weird with the healing process.
He stood slowly, testing his weight. His legs held without trembling. The cuts on his feet still hurt, but they'd scabbed over properly instead of being the open wounds they'd been yesterday. His shoulder moved without the tearing sensation. Even his ribs, while definitely still broken, felt more stable.
"Here," Audrey said, tossing him something.
Anakin caught it reflexively—a bundle of fabric. He unfolded it to find a plain black shirt and pants, he raised an eyebrow in a silent question.
"Thought you could use a change," she said, turning back to her cooking to give him privacy. "Can't have you walking around looking like a horror movie extra."
Anakin scoffed "Please, i would have been the lead character"
He changed quickly, wincing as the movement pulled at his injuries but managing without too much difficulty. The clothes fit reasonably well—a bit loose, but that was better than too tight given his injuries. The fabric was clean and intact, no tears or stains, and Anakin found himself once again confronted with the vast gulf between her preparation and his complete lack thereof.
Three wishes. She'd used them well.
"Thanks," he said, bundling up the ruined clothes and tossing them off the platform into the water below. No point keeping them.
Audrey ladled something from the pot into two metal bowls and handed him one. It was some kind of stew—with meat and vegetables in a broth that smelled better than anything Anakin had eaten in a lifetime.
They ate in silence for a few minutes. The stew was good—hot and filling , which put it miles ahead of raw meat on the rating scale.
"So," Audrey said finally. "We should probably discuss the plan. You need at least a few days to recover before we attempt those tunnels you mentioned. Maybe a week to be safe."
Anakin looked at the fragment counter sitting at 115. Considering the fact that every day he waited was a day the timeline progressed without him, a day closer to events he needed to be in position for. His wounds, inexplicably, felt mostly closed.
"We leave today," he said.
Audrey blinked. "What? No. You are heavily injured. You can barely—"
"My wounds are closed," Anakin interrupted, setting down the bowl and pulling up his shirt to show his torso. The bandages were still there, but when he carefully unwrapped a section, the skin underneath was... healed. Not completely—there was still bruising and tenderness—but the open wounds from pincer strikes had scabbed over and started to close. "Look."
She stared, her expression shifting from disbelief to confusion. "That's... that shouldn't be possible. Not this fast. Even with the bandages, that's accelerated healing on the level of—" She stopped, her eyes widening slightly. "Your aspect. It enhances healing, doesn't it?"
It was a reasonable assumption. Anakin let her believe it.
"It's situational," he said carefully "Not useful in direct combat, but it has its perks. This is one of them."
The spell did seem to be doing something to his body beyond just counting those fragments. The question was what, and whether it would stop being helpful and start being horrifying at some point.
Audrey was quiet for a long moment, studying him. Then she nodded slowly. "Alright. If you're sure you can move, then we leave today. But if those wounds reopen during the journey, don't blame me."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Anakin said dryly.
She started packing up her supplies in silence, the pot disappearing into her storage Memory, the fire carefully extinguished, the stones scattered to hide evidence of their camp. Anakin watched the process with interest, noting how smoothly she worked, how prepared she was for mobile survival.
"You never told me about your aspect," he said as she worked. "You said divine rank, based on something from our world. Care to share?"
Audrey hesitated, her hands pausing mid-motion. Then she seemed to come to a decision.
"It's called Essence Sovereign," she said quietly. "From a novel called the beginning after the end. It does loads of things, it helps me sense nightmare creatures, lets me use some minor essence from the surrounding… and a little bit more"
Enhanced perception of essence flows
The beginning after the End. Anakin had heard of it—one of those massive web novels with intricate power systems and action packed themes. He'd never read it, but he knew enough to understand that "Essence Sovereign" sounded like an ability which enhances her essence, possibly much more from what she is saying.
"Little bit more?" he asked.
She met his eyes. " I have one active ability that scales with my soul cores. Currently I'm a beast—one core. So I can either infuse one target with essence to enhance them, myself or an ally. Or create one essence eye to scout ahead."
"But not both simultaneously."
"Not until I reach monster rank, As you probably might know, divine aspect users can raise the amount of their soul cores. Then it's two targets or two eyes." Something flickered across her face—frustration, maybe, at being limited. "At demon rank it becomes three. And so on."
"The detection alone makes you invaluable," he said. "Especially in the tunnels."
"That's what I'm counting on." She summoned her sword briefly—checking the edge, testing the weight—then dismissed it. "Your turn. You said your aspect was weak, that you used your wishes on knowledge. But you won't even tell me its name."
"Because calling it weak was generous." Anakin muttered, he sighed and got up, looking down on the crimson labyrinth to hide his face "It increases the longevity of my body. My memories do most of the work."
"That's it? No special abilities?"
"If there are any, the Spell isn't telling me about them." Which was technically true. The fragments were doing something, but he had no idea what filling the counter to seven hundred would actually accomplish.
Audrey studied him for a long moment, and he could see her turning over the information, trying to fit pieces together that didn't quite match. Then she nodded slowly, accepting the non-answer because pushing would break the fragile trust between them.
"Alright," she said. "So where's this tunnel entrance?"
"I came up through one three days ago," Anakin confirmed. "It's maybe a day's walk from here if we don't run into too many nightmare creatures. The tunnel system runs under most of the Forgotten Shore. Dangerous, but navigable if you know what you're doing."
"And you know what you're doing?"
"I don't" Anakin shrugged "But i can guarantee its better than any other option"
They descended from the bone platform carefully, Anakin using the rope while Audrey climbed down with the same fluid grace she'd shown going up. His body protested the movement, but not as badly as it should have. Whatever was happening with his healing, he wasn't going to question it too hard. Useful was useful.
Anakin led, relying on fragmented memories of his initial journey to the surface to retrace his steps backward. Audrey followed a few paces behind, her head constantly moving as she scanned their surroundings. The did not talk for a while, yet the silence was comfortable. Silence. Anaking did not pause but a strange feeling poked at his mind.
"It's quiet," she said after about an hour. "Too quiet. Where are all the scavengers?"
"Dont know" Anakin replied. "Probably just a little out far, maybe we are just getting lucky not running into them. "
They passed through a section where bones from some massive creature formed a natural archway over the path. Audrey paused, one hand raised.
"Wait," she said quietly. "There's something ahead. Awakened, I think. beasts, maybe two of them."
Anakin stopped, summoning his gauntlets. The stone ridges materialized on his hands "Can we go around?"
"Maybe. Give me a second." She closed her eyes, her face going distant in concentration. "Yes. Left passage, then circle back. Should avoid them entirely."
They detoured, moving carefully through the coral maze. Anakin noted how confidently she moved, not a care in the world, to her this was like a walk in the park huh?
"Damn cheaters" he muttered
The detour added another hour to their journey, but they avoided the creatures without incident. As they walked, Anakin found himself studying the landscape, looking for familiar landmarks. That formation of red coral shaped like a claw. That cluster of bones arranged in a spiral pattern. The skull he'd slept in on his first night.
"There," he said finally, pointing.
Ahead, partially hidden behind a cluster of coral, was a dark opening in the ground. It looked like a wound in the earth, jagged and uninviting, maybe six feet across. The edges were worn smooth by the water, suggesting this had been here for a very long time.
Audrey approached cautiously, kneeling at the edge to peer down. Her expression went distant again as her aspect worked. A small ball of light appeared in his vision as it went inside the dark hole.
"It's deep," she said after a moment. "And it's full of them. Nightmare creatures, dozens at least. All dormant or awakened rank from what I can sense, but in those numbers..." She looked at Anakin. "You're sure this is the way?"
"It's the only way that doesn't involve crossing the Ashen Barrow," Anakin replied. "Unless you want to try building a boat."
She was quiet for a long moment, staring into the darkness. Then she stood and brushed sand from her pants.
"Alright," she said. "Let's go meet some nightmares."
Anakin summoned his gauntlets fully and approached the edge. The darkness below was absolute, he had not paid attention to his surroundings at that time but the tunnel really was unnatural, especially since it was not mentioned in canon.
Going back down felt like madness.
But then again, madness seemed to be his specialty these days.
"After you," Audrey said, gesturing at the entrance humor in her voice.
Anakin looked at her, then at the tunnel, then back at her.
"Ladies first," he said with a slight smirk.
She almost laughed. Almost. Instead she just shook her head and began descending into the darkness, her sword materializing in her hand with that familiar shimmer.
Soon the darkness swallowed them both as they descended further down.