Chapter 27

  Just The Two Of Us?

  Elijah woke up. He woke up?

  For a moment, he didn’t understand. He was sure that the second that invasive blood monster was absorbed into his body, that was the end for him. He didn’t understand the glitchy notification that was still floating in front of the rosy sky.

  He had bonded with that thing? The teen knew for certain that it wasn’t his Familiar, even without truly understanding what that meant. There had been an intangible, yet very real connection between himself and the raven, the raven whose broken body was just left there staring at him as it lay on the broken earth.

  Sadness welled in Elijah’s traitorous heart. This wasn’t right. He pushed himself up, his Slimy hands slipping twice on the dry earth.

  He touched the corpse, storing it in his Inventory. The friend he never had deserved a proper burial. When he got out of these gods-forsaken Trials, he would find a good spot, somewhere peaceful.

  With that settled, and the main body of his anger subsided, leaving the far more dangerous and colder fury smouldering in its place, he decided it was time to address the elephant in the room or the monster in his body, in this case.

  “What do you want?” Elijah asked aloud, his voice flinty and raw with suppressed emotion.

  Blood pooled in his ears, somehow not falling out. It began vibrating in response. It made a voice that sounded to the teen like a hundred weary souls all whispering as one, but he didn’t understand the words.

  The language was barbarous; it sounded like the very words had thorns. It didn’t help the fear that bubbled just below the surface; the idea of having a murderous monster living within his skin was already chilling.

  “I don’t understand you,” the teen snarled, repressing a shiver.

  The voice tried again, slightly more agitated, as if the many souls that comprised it had been roused from a bout of lethargy.

  “You can clearly understand me; why don’t you speak my language?” Elijah asked, growling in annoyance.

  There was a moment of silence followed by a long and shrill screech that sounded like someone purposely turning their jaw upside down and screaming all the while. The teen slapped his hands over his ears, but it did no good; the sound was coming from inside his canals.

  Blood rushed around his body unnaturally. It felt like spiders were creeping under every inch of his skin. It swelled in his brain and dug around until— Pop!

  Something in his mind changed, and he suddenly understood the creepy whisperings of the beast within.

  Instead of speaking English, this thing had literally changed his mind. The fact that it could do that made him feel sick. Something like that should not be possible!

  “Master ordered us,” it chorused inside his ears, susurrating in time with his heartbeats.

  “What?” Elijah demanded, though he feared he already knew the answer. Those images, the monster of blood; it all pointed towards one thing.

  “Is your Master The Immortal?” he asked, with a shake in his voice he didn’t intend.

  There was a hissing of affirmation that sent shivers down his spine.

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  “Why me? I’m not special; in fact, I’m trapped! I won’t be able to free your Master. I felt it; I know there are other people whom his mind has touched. Why me?!” Elijah asked, desperation spilling into his tone.

  “Master ordered us,” the creature repeated, its voice growing weaker.

  Elijah didn’t hear the reply and instead continued spiralling.

  “Why did you come to me? Why haven’t you taken over my body? Surely it would be easier just to control me like a puppet as you did the corpse of the raven!”

  A part of him wanted a response, for the approval of the monster he hated. For it to say in its spiky language that he was somehow special, that he could do something that none other could, that he was more valuable if he were left in charge of his own muscles. He didn’t receive such a reply.

  “We are tired,” the voices said in staggered unison; some of the souls yawned as they spoke and the chorus began to fade quickly.

  Elijah asked more questions, aired more indignities, and even resorted to shouting, but the monster said nothing more. The drum of blood that it had constructed dissolved and began pouring out of his ear. Before it could get far, it was absorbed back into the skin of his neck; leaving the young man shouting at thin air.

  Well, great. There was a murderer living in his blood, and the only reason he hadn’t been turned into a flesh puppet was that it fancied a nap, and he couldn’t do a thing about it. No, that wasn’t right; he could and would find a way out of this. So long as he still lived, there was always something more to be done.

  He was no coward; he would not give up!

  The teen didn’t know much about travelling through dimensions, despite his prior experience, but he assumed it must take a lot out of someone or something. That meant he would be optimistic about the amount of time he had before the thing woke up.

  Assuming he had minutes or hours, instead of days or weeks, would just cause him to panic, and that wouldn’t help matters one iota.

  To that end, Elijah hardened his heart and focused on his objective: eject the parasite from his body and find a way to kill it!

  But how was he going to do that?

  He could try and exsanguinate himself, but something about the new bond he had told him that the creature wasn’t actually living in his blood but in his soul, which was far worse to think about.

  Then again, that could be a thought that had been implanted by the thing; it could mess with his mind, after all. He decided to try bleeding himself dry; it was never wise to overlook the simplest solutions.

  The teen summoned the king’s blade above his outstretched arm and let it drop straight through it as it fell from his hand like an anvil because he didn’t have enough Agility to wield it.

  He had thought by now he would be used to pain. That was not the case. The mind did a wonderful job of forgetting just how much pain hurt, the body did not: once bitten, twice shy.

  The sixteen-year-old jerked his hand away at the last moment, resulting in the blade impaling his hand, hilt and all. Despite himself, he screamed. It took him a moment of stamping around on the dried and cracked earth to see through his tears.

  He was left stunned. Although there was a great big hole through his right hand, not a drop of blood came out. He screamed in frustration, pain, and anger.

  “Fuck!”

  Desperate, Elijah tried to slice his wrists on the edge of the sword that had been stabbed halfway into the ground but to no avail. No matter what he did, his blood refused to leave his body. He put away the weapon in shame; that wouldn’t work, and now he was left injured, though thankfully not for long.

  Commiserations!

  You have failed the Trial of Evolution 1: Kelpie

  The Kelpie had made it to the cairn at the top of the mountain, and with that, the world ended. Thankfully, as was the case when he died, the world and Elijah were reconstructed by the System; reset to the beginning of the Trial.

  Before Elijah knew what was happening, he was spat on once more and barely stepped aside in time to not be sent sprawling in the renewed grass.

  His mind worked quickly as his body instinctively Dodged the horse creature's kick. He needed to get rid of this deadly parasite. Bleeding it out wouldn’t work. He doubted dying would do anything because he had just been reset, which felt the same as death, and it was still there.

  Mana may hold the answers, but he simply didn’t know enough to say. No, he would find his answer in one of these Trials. There must be some technique he could learn, some Skill he could gain, or some Trait he could obtain that would help rid him of this monster.

  That gave him a goal, something to focus on; he had a race to win!

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