Close to four days had passed since the encounter with the Progenitor. Much of the distance had been closed and many more beasts were slain.
Every battle was arduous and victory was not easily earned. At that point, every one in the group had managed to reach close to the point of saturating their cores fully, aside from Riley who had done so before.
A silence had meshed between them, filling in the now empty spot in their cohort. Fear was something else they all equally felt. And that tormented Riley every second of the day. His Dread Core had been full for a long time now, but that spare essence practically drowned his being in what he couldn't absorb.
He hadn't muttered a single word since leaving Richard behind. He didn't dare to.
Riley had failed his teammate. And that took a toll on him.
Lucy had made an attempt to comfort him, but they were all shut down with a pained smile. Yara and Dari too, they took some of the load off of his shoulders with the cooking and hunting.
And he appreciated them. But he could no longer see himself as their leader. But the title was there, he could still feel the others looking up to him, waiting for him to guide them forward.
And he did. Every day, Riley marched forward, leaving the death of his friend behind and trying to reach salvation. If not for himself, then for the others.
'This is too much… I should…no… I need to make it up to him. These three need to make it to safety, to honour Richard.'
That was his mantra for the past couple of days.
'For Richard. Do it for Richard.'
Those words kept him moving, not daring to disgrace the old man's sacrifice.
And after more days of travel, they had reached the foot of the Hollow Mountains. Their jagged peaks were faintly illuminated by the light sitting on the opposite side. Both acting as hope and as the most cruel taunt there was.
But they ascended nonetheless. A path of black stone and grey gravel was all that waited for them.
At last, Riley decided to break the silence.
"We are reaching the end of our adventure together, and I want to thank you for coming along with me."
Riley walked back to them, his feet scraping against the hard stone, and eyes glassy as if a dam was being held back.
"Riley…"
Lucy ran toward him, stopped only by his hand. He wasn't ready to accept an embrace, or at least he didn't feel like he deserved it. Not after letting Richard die. Not after leaving him behind.
'I'm such a damn bas-'
Three sets of arms embraced him, each pulling him in tightly. Their tears dampened his clothes.
"You are talking as if we will never see each other again!"
Yara wailed at the top of her lungs.
"You can't just leave us now that we will reach safety! Are we not friends??"
Dari threatened to slap him, but his hands wouldn't dare let go in fear he would vanish.
"…"
Lucy cried.
Riley had stopped appearing as a stranger to her, and began taking the shape of an older brother. Someone who had protected her and saved her through their harrowing journey.
The dark clouds kept his gaze hidden. A smile so fragile that one more word could crack it. In that moment he wished not for a mirror, for he would see his own tears. And he wished not to be seen by another person, for them to know the anguish nestled in his heart.
But he relented, and hugged them closely. Not wanting to leave the moment, and promised himself to protect the future with his friends.
"Thank you…"
=====
Hiking up the dark Hollow Mountain path was not easy. Creatures dwelled, hiding behind rocks, in shadows and in the mist that would sometimes creep closely to the cohort.
In those moments Riley had used his lantern, to guide them forward and instill dread into the creatures. Each slain with morbid precision, which hastened the process of Lucy reaching saturation.
Everyone's weapons were equipped around the clock.
The mist stirred and a fish-like creature speared through the air.
Riley's blade flashed in the lantern light, slicing the beast in half.
[You have slayed an Awakened Beast, Mist Dweller]
'Another one…there are too damn many of them. At this rate we will be eaten alive by these creepy piranahas.'
Lucy had already gotten to work digging out the soul shard and absorbing its essence.
"You should be close right Lucy? Maybe let Yara and Dari take them for the next while."
Lucy gave him a curt nod and apologized to the two.
"No no, it's fine. She has the most combat experience between all of us..so it's for the best."
Dari didn't look particularly happy with this arrangement, but he would not make it known.
And they marched forward, this time, no interruption paused their hike. The mist grew more invasive, taking up parts of the path and on occasion forcing them to hike around it, nearly plummeting hundreds of metres down.
"There is something hidden in the mist near here, that is our escape."
Riley pointed several hundred metres ahead, seemingly toward nothing.
"And what exactly is there going to be? A citadel?"
Lucy was poking her spear around at a skeleton nearby. The bones quaked before coming to life and swiping at her legs, leaving deep grooves on her shin.
Her spear shot forward, piercing the skeleton's skull, but it didn't move. It latched onto the spear and pulled itself closer to her. It's sharp bones ripping through the fabric of her clothing.
"KYAAAA-"
An axe flew through the air, smashing its torso and finally fell limp onto the ground.
"What the hell was that??"
Yara was shaken. But was a skeleton really that scary? Even if it moved a slight bit past its expiration date.
"Throw one of the bones off the side of the mountain, they have a habit of trying to rebuild themselves."
Riley remembered this case vaguely from Shadow Slave. Shadow God was capable of cursing people with immortality, Eurys being a fine example.
'Poor skeleton, its mind surely has eroded over the millennia that have passed.'
He knelt down and stuck the skeleton into the ground, burying the bones and trying to at least give it a burial. Even if it would desecrate it itself later.
And not wanting to fight any more of those unlucky souls, they marched forward until meeting the large stony arch of a fort shrouded in mist.
Riley's core throbbed and shifted uncontrollably, his mind being beckoned to venture inside. He could resist it slightly. But the others were not so fortunate.
They all seemed to be like zombies, placing one foot in front of the other and marching into the mist haphazardly. Riley didn't stop them this time, instead, choosing to join them into this final march.
'Finally. A nightmare seed. Our way out.'
Riley had waited for this moment for the past countless days. There were no citadels nearby. And no human civilization that was easily accessible.
So he followed the path Nephis had walked. The exact opposite actually, he had chosen to hike up the mountain.
The walls bared holes giant beasts could crawl through and mist flooded their gaps, seeping like rain water during a storm. A small castle stood in the back of the massive base, overlooking the entrance with a broken balcony and a skeleton which dangled off the edge.
'What even happened here?'
Riley rubbed his temples, still following his mindless friends. Until they stopped in front of the centre.
A large cannon ball sat inside of the ribcage of a massive beast.
And that exactly was the seed, in all its alluring and maddening pull.
They placed their hands on the ball and everything turned to darkness.
[Awakened! Prepare for your Second Trial…]
[Four brave ones… welcome to the Nightmare!]