Above them, the screeching of the Night Walkers continued, but the three warriors were already breathing steadily, asleep in seconds. They were used to this hell.
Ragnar couldn't sleep. His mind was too loud.
He slowly turned his head to look at the other side of the room. The blue crystal had dimmed, leaving the three warriors in almost total darkness.
'They are asleep,' he thought. 'I could take a rock. I could smash their heads in right now and run.'
He squinted at Mu Gyeol. The lean warrior was snoring softly, his hand resting loosely near his belt, inches away from a dagger.
Ragnar shifted his weight to get a better look. A tiny pebble crunched under his boot. Click.
Instantly, Mu Gyeol's finger twitched. Do Hyun gripped his Naginata tighter, even though his eyes were still closed. Geom Woo didn't move at all, but his breathing rhythm changed just slightly.
Ragnar froze. A cold sweat broke out on his back.
If he tried anything, his head would probably be off his shoulders before he could blink.
'If I can't fix the soil tomorrow, it won't matter if it's wolves or those guys', he thought grimly. 'I'm dead either way.'
He shifted his position, staring at the dirt wall inches from his face. He needed to know if his bluff had any chance of becoming reality.
'Practice,' he told himself.
He narrowed his eyes, focusing on a small clod of gray earth.
Zoom in.
The darkness of the room didn't matter to his new vision. The "microscope" in his mind clicked on. The gray dirt expanded. He saw jagged crystals of silica. He saw traces of iron.
And he also saw something that wasn't supposed to be there. Wrapped around the dirt particles was a thin, black film. It looked like thick oil, choking the minerals, preventing any water or nutrients from bonding.
'The soil is suffocating,' Ragnar realized.
He didn't know the chemical formula of the black film yet, but he knew that if it could be chemically bonded, it could be chemically broken.
'I can work with this.'
Ragnar slowly exhaled and turned back to the wall. Violence wasn't an option. Science was his only way out.
...
The next thing he knew, a sharp pain exploded in the back of his head.
"Ow!"
Ragnar bolted upright, rubbing his skull. Mu Gyeol was standing over him, the heavy hilt of his dagger still in his hand.
"Wake up, farmer," Mu Gyeol grinned. "Sun's up. If you sleep any longer, you'll put down roots."
Ragnar groaned, brushing the dust off his rags. "My name Ragnar. Ragnar 'Vault' Noir."
Mu Gyeol raised an eyebrow. "Woho. A very long name for a farmer in a pile of dirt. I'll stick with farmer."
Do Hyun kicked the stone slab away from the entrance. Light flooded the small hole.
"Let's move," Do Hyun commanded.
They climbed out. The air was still freezing, but the Night Walkers were gone. As they walked back onto the main road, Ragnar looked around at the endless stretch of gray plains.
"Where exactly are we?" Ragnar asked. "Is there a city nearby?"
"A city?" Mu Gyeol laughed, shaking his head. "You really did lose your memory. Look around for a second. Anywhere you walk from here, for at least twelve moons, you are in the Outer Lands."
"It is abandoned land," Geom Woo explained softly. "No one in their right mind lives here."
"The Towers give no blessing here," Do Hyun said, his voice grim. "But it is worse than that. You know how water flows downhill? The energy of the world is the same."
He pointed toward the distant horizon, where the faint outline of a massive structure pierced the clouds.
"All the curses from the Towers… all the souls of the monsters defeated by the Climbers end up flocking to this region. The Tower's waste materializes here by the Will of the Heavens."
"That is what the Night Walkers are," Mu Gyeol added, kicking a stone. "Animals affected by the Tower's cursed Will. They transform into all sorts of strange beings. Sometimes, humans are affected too. They turn into Undead Monsters."
Mu Gyeol glanced at the silver scar on Ragnar's neck.
"That's what we thought you were. A corpse filled with curse energy. But since you can talk—and since you remembered that stupidly long name of yours—you're probably not a monster."
'So this region is like a radioactive dump', Ragnar thought.
"If it's so bad, why is your Clan living here then?" Ragnar asked, "Why not live near a Tower?"
Mu Gyeol opened his mouth to snap at him, but he stopped. He looked at Do Hyun. "Should we tell him? He's just a prisoner."
Do Hyun was silent for a moment.
He looked down at Ragnar.
"We were exiled."
"Exiled? By whom?"
"There was a war," Do Hyun said shortly. "We lost. We were driven out of the territory under the Shadow Secretary Tower's influence."
Ragnar blinked. "Shadow Secretary?"
"The Towers are named after the Path of the Climber who climbed the highest," Do Hyun explained. "The current ruler walks the Path of the Shadow Secretary. So, the Tower takes that name."
'Paths again.'
"I've heard this word 'Path' a few times," Ragnar said. "Can you explain what it actually means?"
"No," Do Hyun cut him off instantly.
"But—"
"We will explain if you prove yourself," Do Hyun said, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Right now, you are just a mouth to feed."
Ragnar sighed. "Fine."
He walked in silence for a moment, wondering how they get food in the first place if it's such a wasteland.
"So," Ragnar asked, "Why exactly did you come all the way here? To watch my execution? It must have cost you resources..."
Mu Gyeol scowled. "I would like to know that, too. We walked for days because Do Hyun said the stars told him to."
Do Hyun didn't answer. He just kept walking, his face stony.
"It might have been for you," Geom Woo said suddenly. "The stars led us to the execution," he looked at Ragnar with his sharp, intelligent eyes. "We found nothing else there. Just you."
He shrugged slightly, adjusting his sword.
"Heaven's Will is complicated, after all."
'"Heaven's Will" might have wanted me alive?' It sounded ridiculous to a scientist.
But his stomach gave a loud rumble, reminding him of more immediate problems.
"So, what is our destination now?" Ragnar asked, trying to ignore the hunger pains. "How far is your Clan exactly?"
"Two moons of walking," Do Hyun said, not breaking his stride. "We will stop by a village today to get supplies."
Ragnar's ears perked up. "Supplies? You mean food?"
He looked at the barren landscape. If crops didn't grow, they had to be eating something else.
"So people farm animals for food?" Ragnar asked. "Cows? Pigs? Chickens? No, but you said earlier that the animals can turn to monsters..."
"I see you're slowly starting to get how things work here, why would anyone keep a ticking time bomb in their house? Animals turn into Night Walkers without warning," Do Hyun explained, his voice grim. "One moment it is a goat, the next it is a twisted monster killing off the entire village. No one farms animals. It is suicide."
Ragnar blanched. Right. No plants. No animals.
"Then… how do you get anything?" Ragnar asked weaky. "How do you trade?"
"You're asking so many questions... We pray, of course," Do Hyun said simply. "We offer sacrifices to the Gods to grant us wishes. And we use this."
He reached into his robe and pulled out the small, glowing blue rock they had used in the shelter.
"Pale Jade," Do Hyun said, holding it up. "Pure source of Will. These stones have many purposes, but out here, villages buy them to protect themselves. The monsters don't dare to approach the light it emits."
He shoved the crystal back into his pocket and glared at Ragnar.
"Now shut your ass up already. You are breaking his concentration."
Do Hyun jerked his chin toward the back of the line.
"Geom Woo is trying to cultivate his Path."
Ragnar looked back. The silent swordsman was walking perfectly in step with them, but his eyes were squeezed shut.
Ragnar blinked, wondering if his vision was failing. Geom Woo's entire body was flickering. One second he was solid, the next he was transparent, fading in and out of the atmosphere like a phantom.