114 The Distance (1/2)

Hearing the words made me want to panic, but I stayed calm. I took a step back from Keeja,

“What do you mean run?”

Keeja’s head twitched. A moment later, I walked forward and placed a hand on its shoulder. I dug my armor through its skin, finding portions of eldritch and something else beneath its skin. Using my armor, I sapped up the clumps. As I did, Keeja’s hands shook.

More tears fell from the thing’s eyes before I finished the process. Once done, I let go of its shoulder. It shook for a moment before the sunken eyes opened. The two orbs stared at me. Keeja grabbed the sides of its face before shaking. A moment later, it spoke with the same raspy voice,

“I...I’m back.”

I nodded, “Yeah. I figured you were completely fucked like the other followers. I cleared out most of that stuff going on beneath your skin. Sorry if it hurt.”

Keeja shook his head, the bloodshot eyes quivering,

“No no no. Do not apologize. I was lost. I had sunken in so deep...Where am I?”

I gestured around us, “You’re in Yawm’s...I don’t know...castle I guess?”

Keeja shivered at the name. I leaned towards Keeja. I placed a hand over his shoulder, “Calm down. I’m guessing you don’t know where you are. First, tell me your name and we’ll sort this out, whatever it is. Baby steps first.”

Keeja stopped shaking. He shook his head before turning towards the ground,

“I’m....I’m Keeja.”

“So Yawm used your actual name?”

“Yes. He did the same with all the others.”

“Others?”

Keeja nodded, “Yes. The others. We were all lined up. He was putting us on steel tables and using us for...dark things. Something about tears.”

My eyes narrowed, “Tears eh? Yawm did mention the tears project. Does the name Althea ring a bell?”

Keeja looked up at me, nodding with vigor, “Yes, yes! She was...sweet. I liked her. I don’t know if she remembers me. We were both a part of a tribe. It was...a bad place. A dark place. I thought it couldn’t get worse, but then it did.”

I walked Keeja over towards the chair I sat in. I let him sit. After he had, I sat down and created a gravity well beneath me as I did. I floated in the air, comfortable while I gestured a hand towards him,

“Go ahead and talk. I’ll listen.”

Keeja nodded, his movements jittery and nervous.

“Ok. I’ll talk. I don’t know what to say. I’ve been floating inside for so long...”

Keeja pointed at me, his back hunched, “It was after they put me on the steel table. They put...something inside me. The tears is what they called them. It changed me. I couldn’t be the same anymore. I started seeing things. Visions came into my head.”

Keeja raised a hand, looking at it, “I saw the future and the past. I saw time before I was born. I saw after I’ve died. I saw many things. Most of them I didn’t understand.”

I nodded, egging him on. He raised his other hand, looking at it like it wasn’t his,

“Then Yawm came...He changed me. He cut me open and wrote on my bones. After that, the visions went away. I stabilized. I gained, abilities.”

Keeja pressed a finger onto the table beside him. He sliced through it as if slicing through the air,

“I can cut through things. I can’t die like normal either. I’m different.”

I frowned, “You honestly don’t sound that different from someone I know.”

Keeja shivered, “Yawm made me more different. Once he finished with me, the...tears within took control. They muted me, pulling me inside. I haven’t left since.”

I shook my head, “That sounds awful.”

Keeja pointed at me, “You took it away though...I don’t know how...Blaaaagh.”

Keeja’s back straightened, like he was struck with a bolt of lightning. He turned towards me, “They’re coming back...He’s calling me.”

The black around his eyes returned, eating away at him, “I...I’m leaving...Don’t let him do what he did to me...to you....Run.”

The sunken in eyes of Keeja returned, and his posture straightened. It was like he was a robot all of the sudden. He stood from his chair, bowing to me. He walked out of the room and closed the door as if nothing happened.

I was curious about the situation, but I pieced the situation together somewhat. Whatever experiment that Althea was a part of, Keeja was a part of it too. Unlike her, he was a failure instead of a success. If I could learn enough about the cipher, I could free him. Having another assassin like Althea on our team would be a huge boon for us.

With that in mind, I sent a message towards Torix detailing the situation and what happened. I explained how I survived Yawm’s encounter and how we weren’t at his mercy for now. I even put in some of the secrets Yawm told me. I trusted Torix with the knowledge after all.

Once I finished that, I opened my armor menu and inspected the bonuses from the cipher.

[Modifications - The dimensional fabric composing this structure has been modified with code from the dimensional cipher. The bonuses are as follows.

+72 Strength

+72 Dexterity

+80 Endurance

+6% to effect of legacies

+10 Willpower

+1% to internal motivation]

They were solid bonuses, and I wouldn’t take them for granted. The legacy bonus in particular was compelling. Every percentage resulted in thousands and thousands of total endurance gained for the legion. Over time, that could build into a bulwark that our troops could rely on.

By joining my guild, they would receive a massive boost towards durability. They could rely on it and invest into offense. The extra willpower was a nice benefit as well. Considering the negative effects of the cipher, the willpower bonuses would be pivotal in the long run.

It made me glad I invested the way I did for my build. Even if the cipher and Yawm tried to break my mind down, I would hold steady. My willpower was very high, and not needing to sleep gave me an edge versus him.

With that in mind, I thought up what would be my next step. It wasn’t working with the cipher. It was working on a new skill I gained, Anti-Gravity Manipulation. It basically let me create the opposite of gravity.

If I was right, I could add it to my legendary skill and improve the power of my punches. Yeah, I know, leave it to me to think of a way to punch things to death better. My legendary skill revolved around it though, so adding extra umph shouldn’t be too hard.

In this case, I already placed gravity vortexes over my fist. They would pull my fist into their face and their face into my fist. If I was right, the same effect could be added, just with antigravity instead. That way when their face pulled into my fist, I could add the repulsive force to my punch.

With that in mind, I practiced with the concept. It wasn’t the easiest magic to master. Just using antigravity was weird. After a few minutes of trying it out, I used a simple idea for dramatic results.

Antigravity was the opposite of gravity. Therefore, if I did the opposite of what I normally do to summon gravity, antigravity should pop up. As I visualized that concept, I pressed my fingers together then spread them apart. Instead of crushing in, I pulled apart. As I did, the fabric of space-time bended.

It stretched out, pulling air out from a sphere in the room. I laughed after figuring it out, relief spreading across my face. I did it the same way the overseer had bent walls whenever we first joined the legion. If I was right, he was using anti-gravity just in a stronger form.

After figuring out how to use antigravity on command, I created spheres in the room. These spheres would repel objects within the room. I called them gravity geysers instead of gravity wells. The reason was because geyser was the closest thing to an opposite that I could think of for a well.

After getting used to creating these geysers, I spun them around. After an hour of practice, I could create flat, 2-D panels that repelled objects. Trying to touch a panel of it was like trying to press two resisting magnets together. They did not want to touch.

Within minutes of doing this, I gained a new skill.

New Skill Learned! Antigravity Vortex(lvl 1) - You learned an unnatural force, and now you bend it in unnatural ways. +1% to antigravity repulsion. +1% to ease of generating antigravity vortexes.

It was basically the exact same thing as my gravity vortexes, just for antigravity. That’s why I learned how to use them so quickly. With that in mind, I practiced my legendary skill, Force of Nature. Instead of spawning gravity vortexes over my fists, I added the antigravity discs instead.

They were weird. After throwing soft punches at the walls of my room, I hit them softer rather than harder. The repulsive force slowed down my fist on one side and pushed the wall away from my fist. After a bit of brainstorming, I tried something a bit different. I envisioned Kessiah standing in front of me throwing a punch.

Whenever her imaginary fist landed on my face, I created an antigravity disc between us. The disc pushed my backwards, reducing the impact of her would be strike. It would have slowed down her fist too, as if she was punching through water. If I got that kind of response down to reflex, antigravity would act as another defensive layer.

Thinking about it gave me other ideas as well. Why not use gravity and antigravity to speed up my movements? Sure, it wouldn’t be the most natural way to get around, but it could enhance my current movements. It would be like running up an escalator or swimming downstream.

If I could master that, then I bolstered my speed and power quite a bit. If I slowed down my opponent the same way, bridging the gap in speed between me and Yawm might be possible. I could make it into an aura of sorts that sped me up and slowed down my opponents. Having something like that would be huge.

Who knew, if I got it strong enough, It would be like a speed and slowing aura in video games. This was definitely a long term project though. Mastering this overnight wasn’t possible. I could make it into a unique skill though. With that in mind, I made gravity vortexes that followed my movements.

As I went through the movements of punching, I created gravity vortexes to assist my movements. It was bizarre. Imagine you had telekinesis. Now imagine pulling yourself along like a puppet with strings. It’s pretty difficult, but this wasn't like using strings. It was like falling in the right direction, if that makes any sense.

It wasn’t an intuitive way of moving, that’s for sure. I kept at it though. The concept was sound, and the potential was there. Using my mana better in combat was essential as well. Rather than just trying to regenerate damage, I could use mana to avoid damage before it happened.

With that in mind, I grinded for about two hours before creating the wells in order wasn’t hard. Having my legendary skill at such a high level assisted tremendously with this. It made creating and destroying these vortexes simple.

With all the gravity wells helping me move, it felt like every movement was easier. I sped through the room with little effort, my body shifting through complex maneuvers with ease. It felt like I was evolving my use of gravity from low grade to middle grade. Schema agreed.

Skill unlocked! Gravitational Celerity(lvl 1) - By manipulating gravity, you enhance your movements. +1% to speed enhancement from gravity manipulation. +1% to ease of using gravity for movement.

It was an excellent skill. If I read right, it would help with my movement out of combat too, which was a nice bonus. I leveled the skill for a bit, reaching level 10 before moving on to using antigravity in its place.

It wasn’t the same. Gravity was like making streams of water for me to travel down. Antigravity was like bouncing around. Antigravity making the use of it intense and straining. It was like trying to bounce around from place to place. I also had to think in opposites.

If I was moving forwards, I needed to create an antigravity vortex behind me. If I was firing an uppercut, then I needed to make the vortex beneath my elbow. In general, using antigravity was far harder than gravity. It was less forgiving, less intuitive, and less fun.

It was a part of the process though. Sometimes practicing wasn’t fun. This was one of those times. I kept on the grind, maintaining my motions and using antigravity to help. After about four hours of the grueling task, I was getting the hang of it.

Moving with antigravity was like using momentum. I had to chain my movements together, letting me abuse antigravity’s jerking. It let my reverse my jerking shifts. This let me glide around in unexpected ways. After another hour of that, I finally gained my skill.

Skill unlocked! Antigravitational Shift(lvl 1) - You wield antigravity to snap yourself into motion. +1% to speed enhancement from antigravity manipulation. +1% to ease of using antigravity for movement.

Once I got the skill, the process wasn’t quite as painful. It still wasn’t the funnest activity, kind of like trying run around in a bouncy castle. Another hour passed, and I reached level 10 in the skill too. At that point, I gained a rudimentary understanding of the skill. It let me use it for normal movement.

Like that, eight hours passed in the blink of an eye. Considering Yawm didn’t know how long humans slept, I figured I had about two more hours left. Before I came back to him, I wanted to get a unique skill for movement. With that in mind, I used the gravity and antigravity in sync. It was brutal.

Keeping track of all of it was like juggling on a unicycle. It was impossible, so instead of trying to improve at it, I tried getting other skills to make it easier. One of those skills was what I called latching. I performed the skill on accident with Hod during the fight with Elijah. I tied antigravity onto him, creating a temporary buff.

It wasn’t an impossible feat by any means. After a few more minutes of trying to latch the mana onto something, I got a tangible effect. I snapped a gravity well onto the corner of a desk. A few minutes before I planned on visiting Yawm, I gained a skill.

New skill gained! Mana Press(lvl 1) - You press your mana into objects, allowing you to maintain magic. +1% to duration of pressed mana.

It was a simple yet effective skill. I tried pressing mana into the palm of my hand. It worked, letting me hold the mana in place. After a while, I pressed the mana onto various objects throughout the room. With each object, I tried out a different effect.

I stopped whenever the chair and table were floating in the room. As I pressed the both of them onto the floor, a knock rushed from the door. I turned towards the knock, leaning on the table and chair to hold it down,

“Who is it?”

Keeja opened the door. Without a word, he pointed towards the hallway. I lifted myself off the desk and walked through Yawm’s ice palace. Along the hallway, the same phosphorescent fish glowed bright. They lit our walk before we reached Yawm’s study. Keeja paced up to the door and knocked on it. Yawm’s voice muffled through the doorway,

“Come in.”

I opened the doorway, showing Yawm’s study. Two chairs made of the pale ice sat beside his desk along one corner. Yawm sat there, enjoying a liquid from a cup. I walked up. As I did, Yawm turned towards me,

“Ah, you’re here. I hope Keeja didn’t interrupt your rest.”

I shook my head, “No, I was already awake.”

“Then it’s good we didn’t waste any time. Would like some tea as we sat here?”

Beside his was a cup full of brown liquid. I picked it up and smelled it. It was a very full, rich flavoring. It smelled like black tea mixed with mint. I looked at Yawm,

“Is this, uh, cannibalism?”

Yawm shook his head, “Your species eats mammals, correct?”

I nodded. He continued, “This is no different. I ally myself with certain plants. Others I cultivate for my own use. In this case, I prefer an herb I found on a fringe world named Ostrebos. It leaves a cooling after taste. I highly recommend it.”

Considering I was already immune to poison, I took a sip. The tea had a texture, like creamy milk. It was like drinking the smell of coffee, not the actual bitter taste. With my enhanced senses, I caught a few notes like hazelnuts and cream. After finishing the warm sip, it left a cooling sensation in my mouth.

I’m not gonna lie, it was one of the best things I’d ever tasted.

“This is delicious.”