The Last Dainv

Chapter 299

The pause the massive gryphon took after Erin's question took Gale's attention from the fruits he was eating. Glancing back at them, he noticed the heavy sigh that came from the monster's beak. Somehow, he noticed the tiredness as though it were human.

I have noticed, he said. But I believed it to be a natural cycle. The world weakens before recovering once again. It has happened before, Youmir said.

"Give me your observations, old friend," Erin said.

Youmir settled back, stepping slightly away from the pile of fruits. For a while, he watched his family eat before turning to Erin once again. A couple of stars ago, Kair weakened. The valleys produced less yield every year. The snowy months lengthened until they covered the full year. We watched our peaks turn from lush green into what they are today, unable to interfere in her decay.

Gale looked around the current flat peak they stood on. Parts of it were covered in snow. Clearly, in corners, the gryphons had piled up the excess out of the way. Yet they continued to eat fruit as if nothing was wrong.

Then, in another star, the weakening stopped. Kair recovered. The valleys grew fertile. The snow recessed its fall. Youmir sighed. Yet she grew weaker again. But this time, the weakening was at a much slower rate. We thought it was just a fluctuation of Kair's mood. She is still young after all. We believe that at one point, she will recover. If she cannot, then she knows to call on us for help.

"How long has it been weakening this time?" Gale asked, stepping forward, away from the pile of fruits.

Many generations of the natives. Longer than the previous cycle we have witnessed.

"What about the natives in the valleys below? The ones in Kulbran and Drovairt?"

Their survival is of their own concern. We cannot interfere in the affairs of the lower lands. That is the covenant, Youmir said.

But it couldn't be their concern. The corruption lingered in their signature. Something was tainting them by force. This was no longer 'of their own concern.'

Gale looked to Erin, then back at Youmir. "What if you're wrong?"

Do tell, child of the Dainvs, Youmir said.

"What if something is already interfering their livelihood? What if that thing is the corruption itself that is forcing Kair to act weird?" Gale asked. "That is no longer just their concern, is it not?"

At this point, even the other gryphons stopped eating and sat around in a circle with Gale and Erin being in the middle.

"The hostile foreign entities persist. They aren't just hiding. They hunt. But what?" Gale paced back and forth. "The king of Kulbran fed his citizens to the remnants. I don't know how often. But why would he think that the world would harm its own life? Is that not curious to you all?"

It is. Kair is benevolent to all her children. We are just one group. Youmir said. However... there are issues in acting.

"You still don't act when the evidence is clear?" Gale raised his voice, coming to a standstill from pacing. "They drain the world slowly through malevolent ways. You stay here, in your mountain peaks, enjoying Kair's flourishing fruits designed for your kind. You talk of the concern of their survival as that of their own, yet a foreign entity is actively against their survival. Why do you not act?"

Youmir let out a slow laugh. I hear your words, young master Hathie. Our own kind has grown fond of specific individuals from the natives, yet... Yet our wings are tied. We cannot help until Kair commands us.

"Why not?"

Erin floated forward, positioning herself between Gale and Youmir. "The guardians are bound by contract, child. Eternal life in exchange for never-ending servitude to the world itself."

"Contract?" Gale asked.

"When the Dainv cleansed this world of the Mohrusy corruption, the guardians were created as eternal sentinels. They would protect Kair for all of time, never aging, never dying," Erin said. "But such power comes with restrictions. They cannot act unless the world spirit commands them. They cannot interfere in the affairs of mortals unless Kair herself asks it of them."

The Grand Researcher speaks truly, Youmir confirmed. We are bound to this peak, to watch and wait. Only when the world enters active Origin Defense will our chains be loosened.

"But that's too late!" Gale shouted. "By that time, there will be famine and destruction all around! Fragments of Kair's Origin will be consumed!"

Silence. That was the only thing Gale heard after his shout. None of the gryphons dared look at him. Only Erin presented her eyes.

"Child," Erin said.

"Don't tell me you're on their side?"

"I do not take sides," Erin said. "The corruption must be eliminated at all cost. That is our duty as Dainv. Is that not why we are here, child?"

"Of course we are, but if they don't even have the guts to act, then who are we?" Gale mumbled.

"Do not lower yourself to the standing of these Guardians," Erin said.

Gale's eyebrow rose. His eyes glanced at Youmir.

It is true, young master Hathie. We are but lowly servants of this world and to beings such as yourselves, Youmir said.

"The remnants are covert. Difficult to track through conventional means," Erin said. "But do you believe their hunt is efficient?"

"I mean... if they haven't got what they want yet, probably not."

"You already know of the Origin Spirit fragment. A manifestation of the world spirit herself. Correct?"

Gale nodded.

"That is their goal. Correct?"

"Yeah."

"You are the Dark Hunter and a Cev Dainv. Do you have an answer to this puzzle or do you wish me to tell you?"

"No, I think I get what you're getting," Gale said. For a while, he thought about it. It was obvious what she was getting at.

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Chasing them directly was pointless. They'd already shaken him off once easily. A second, third, and numerous more attempts at chasing was completely off the decision tree.

But what did dad teach him? To hunt an elusive animal, a bait must be used. The best bait was already set up in front of his nose. Use the world spirit's fragment as bait. Draw the corruption, and strike.

Surviving was his best skill. But hunting was also something he would never lose to anyone.

"You're right," Gale said slowly. "I'll find the Origin Spirit. Then we'll use her to strike at the remnants."

A sound strategy, young master Hathie, Youmir said. Though, we also do not know where the missing manifested world spirit is.

"Leave that to me," Gale said. Looking for a signature that was the essence of this world was something he hadn't done. But not having done something didn't stop him from making a square punch reflection that Erin called barbaric.

The eyes of a Cev Dainv truly are remarkable, Youmir said. Your student is strong, Grand Researcher Erin Weber.

"That observation is a given," Erin said, then turned to Gale. "Child, I take it your confidence in the hunt is at a high?"

Gale turned back to her with a grin. "I'm even better than my dad."

"That is a tall statement," Erin said. A blue outline appeared on her and Gale, causing both of them to float. "Child of Cev, now is the time to show your strength. Cull the remaining corruption of this rift."

[Mission: Cleanse the rift]

[Reward: 5000 points]

*

Tracking animals was easy. Their tracks left behind physical evidence. The idea of sniffing and tasting a trail was one of his best memories with dad trying to catch up to him when he had sniffed out a lead. But now, he was on to bigger game.

Crouching over a piece of branch that had been stepped on under the shadow of a tree, Gale picked it up and licked it. Actually, it didn't taste like anything other than a piece of cold branch. But one way or another that he couldn't quite explain, it tasted like a shadow.

Erin beside him didn't even bat an eye at what he did. Instead, she intently waited for him to finish up what he was doing.

Standing up, Gale spread Presence Between's tendrils to look at the path the remnants took. This was the forest where the remnant had been faster than him, and sure enough, their trajectory was completely predictable.

The remnants didn't leave any footprints. The branch he had was definitely not broken by the shadow as well. However, the taste of shadow couldn't escape his tongue. The first time he tasted this kind of shit in his mouth was during his fight against Elliot. Oily, smokey, and makes him wanna vomit.

He could work with this.

Following the taste, Gale moved through the forest. The tendrils tasted every part of the area, creating what he called a 'taste map'. And in this taste map, he noticed something familiar that the shadow was chasing.

Another signature, moving parallel to the trail.

This one felt... pure.

It had a signature too. A pure signature that felt like the taste of the world itself condensed into tiny sphere like pockets. The air in those pockets were instantly purified of any of the taste of shadow.

What was odd was the taste of shadow was perfectly tracking where these pockets of purity were.

Gale found another pocket of purity by a frozen creek. Beside it, on the shadow of a rock, was the taste of shadow that had somehow reached out to where the purity was.

Hold on... speaking of Elliot, he still had the red marble that he never gave back to Ollie.

Materializing the red marble from his space storage, it looked like a pure, small, shiny sphere of red. Within its surface, he actually noticed the tiny runic inscriptions on it.

Here goes nothing.

Inserting a thread of essence into it, he held it on his thumbs and closed his eyes for luck. He focused on willing the marble to find the Origin Spirit.

One flick of the marble upwards, it spun in the air, but then dropped straight back down to the ground without changing direction.

Gale tilted his head as he crouched to pick back up the marble. It should've changed directions, but it didn't.

Before he could actually pick up the marble, the red marble floated towards Erin's cold white hands.

She floated the red marble up to her eye, turning it this way and that. Her eyes took on the intensity of a researcher that Gale recognized from Sterling Institute.

"Who gave this to you?" she asked.

"Ollie." Gale reached for the marble. "Give it back."

Erin floated the marble slightly higher, keeping it out of his reach. "This piece of technology taps into the Origin System's logs."

"The what?"

"The Origin System maintains records of all entities and objects. This device attempts to query those logs to locate whatever the user seeks." Erin turned the marble over again, creating a magnifying circle in front of her to zoom in on the inscriptions. "However, its access is limited, and the maximum load capacity is minuscule. When it attempted to access the location of the object you wished for, the device exceeded its capabilities."

"So what? It didn't work?"

"It failed," Erin said. "The Caffeine Transcendent's innovations are amusing. Primitive, but creative."

"Great. Now give it back."

"No."

"Erin!"

"This device is of no use to you currently. Its limitations make it worthless for tracking entities of significance." Erin tucked the marble into her lab coat. "You shall continue tracking the Origin Spirit through your own abilities."

Gale opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. She wasn't wrong. And there was no use arguing with the floating bluey when there were more important matters at hand.

"Fine," he grumbled. "But I want it back later."

"You shall have it back once my research is done. For science."

Gale grumbled even louder. Stupid floating bluey. Taking his stuff that Ollie said cost a lot. He could've probably sold it for some food when he got back on Earth too. Shouldn't have taken that marble out when she was right beside him...

Turning back towards the tracks, he followed the taste map that led deeper into the snowy woods. The shadow's trail moved erratically, zigzagging between shadows, yet still following a straight line. Sometimes, it would double back on where the pure signature was.

On the other hand, the pure signature moved in a more casual fashion that looked more like flowing curves and whimsical hopping. It was basically wandering with nowhere in sight as a goal. But, its signature would also disappear in and out which meant it was probably moving fast.

Gale followed both, cresting hills, flat lands, following the mountain's base, and then back to a cliff-ridden region.

A crevasse split the ground ahead of him. The other side was a couple of hundred metres away. Looking down, it went all the way to the darkness where Presence Between's tendrils couldn't reach.

Both trails converged here.

The shadow had gone out of the shadows and onto the edge where a single spot of pure signature was.

Gale spread his tendrils towards the other side, however, it had no sign of the pure signature anywhere. On the bottom of the cliff, there was also no shadow residue nor the pure signature he was looking for.

Once again, he spread the tendrils back into the forest, thinning out his coverage. But there was only one trail that led back to this specific crevasse.

That made no sense.

The world spirit definitely didn't fall into the crevasse. There was also no signature of the remnant down there, which would mean they gave up.

Looking upwards to the sky, maybe the Origin Spirit could fly. It was the only direction he didn't spread his tendrils to.

Presence Between's tendrils covered the entire sky, creating a taste map of every single spot of the sky above. Wind moved through the air, carrying scents of leaves, branches, tasty dirt, and water.

And then Gale found it. A spot a couple of hundred metres above, closer to the rows of mountains. A pure signature that felt like the world itself. Converging his tendrils onto that spot, he tasted that pure air even more. It was of the same signature as the ones that the shadows were following.

"Erin," Gale said. "I need you to float us up there."

Without waiting, a blue outline formed on both of them, and they floated immediately.

Gale pointed at where to float towards, and Erin followed his instructions, floating them to just about 300 metres near a row of mountains.

Closing in on the signature, Gale could taste the pure air right in his mouth as they got closer. "A bit to the left. Now up. Little more. There."

They stopped.

Both of them stood in front of the spot of the pure signature. Erin looked at where it was and then looked at him, waiting.

Extending his tendrils around it, he felt the shape and properties of the pure signature. It wasn't exactly a circle like the others on the ground. It was more like an oval. The air inside had a heft to it that felt.

And when the wind touched it, it didn't just shift around the spot. It looked as if it were a funnel that created a vortex. Gale traced the airflow where the wind sped up towards, and it pointed towards the mountains.

However, it wasn't the rows of mountains that were in front of them. The wind went over the mountain and towards a meadow until Presence Between hit its limit.

"Erin. Follow where I point."

Erin, without waiting, moved them forward, following where he pointed. Presence Between kept track of where the wind took them until it reached a meadow where the snow didn't fall.