Neil moved with quiet resolve, each step carrying him farther from the ruins and closer—he hoped—to the green dome on the horizon.
Except it never seemed to get closer.
He had seen it, shimmering faintly, always at the edge of his vision. A distant promise. But even after what felt like days of travel, it remained fixed to the horizon, like the world itself stretched endlessly between him and his destination.
Daylight lingered unnaturally long in this world. He had quickly realized that the day-night cycle didn't resemble anything on Earth. Days lasted far longer—maybe three, even four times longer than he was used to. Nights, in contrast, barely arrived before they faded. Two, maybe three hours of dim twilight before the golden sun returned to drape the land in its surreal glow.
He didn't complain. The light made travel easier. And there were no signs of danger. No predators. No towering beasts. No monstrous flora. In fact, the largest creatures he had seen were insects—oversized but harmless, glowing with soft bioluminescence. They came and went like drifting sparks, adding to the dreamlike quality of the world.
For all the distance he covered, nothing changed.
The trees swayed with the same lazy rhythm. The wind carried the same mineral-sweet scent. The ambient energy in the air—the same soft, invisible tide—bathed him constantly. He had long since stopped wearing the cloak. Skin exposure helped him absorb the essence more efficiently, and he could feel the difference.
He was growing stronger.
Faster.
He noticed it gradually at first. His endurance, already heightened from inheriting the powers from the Vaelthara. He could walk for hours without tiring, run for miles without growing short of breath. His body no longer ached the way it once had. Even without rest, his limbs felt ready, his senses sharp.
Still, something nagged at him.
It wasn't enough.
He should have been stronger. With how much energy he had absorbed over the last weeks—no, months—his progress felt too slow. Something was holding him back. Something was… off.
One morning, under the never-shifting sun, Neil decided to test himself.
He broke into a sprint.
The world blurred around him. Grass parted beneath his steps. Trees whipped by like flickering shadows. He leapt over a wide stream, barely registering the motion.
He kept going.
Faster.
Faster.
Until the wind howled in his ears and the ground became a smear beneath his boots.
Eventually, he stopped. Not because he was tired—but because he had jumped. Reflexively. And when he landed, he realized he had cleared a rock face nearly five times his own height.
Neil exhaled slowly.
He had no exact measure to compare it to, but he was easily three times stronger than he'd ever been on Earth. Maybe more. His speed, strength, agility—all enhanced. His Core pulsed with a steady rhythm, drawing in the thin essence from the air without effort.
And yet…
The green dome still lingered on the horizon.
Thirty cycles had passed. Day and night. At least that. Maybe more. If he accounted for how long the days lasted, it might have been two to three Earth months since he left the Trial Grounds.
And still, the world felt unchanged.
The same trees.
The same colors.
The same energy signature—soft and ambient, never concentrated. Nothing like the rich, dense flows he had encountered inside the ruins. There, the energy had been visible, almost tangible. Here, it was a background hum, persistent but gentle.
Until today.
Neil crested a ridge, pausing to observe the shallow valley below.
Then he saw them.
Movement—fast and violent.
A wolf-like creature darted between trees, lean and muscled, with sleek fur and razor-line limbs. It emitted a faint yellow aura, flickering and wild, trailing behind it like a heat shimmer.
Ahead of it, a wildhog-like beast crashed through underbrush, tusks gleaming, muscles straining as it charged forward. Around it, a faint green aura.
Not soft like the trees. Not ambient.
It was active. Focused. Alive.
It surged around the beast in bursts, reacting to its panic, its movement. The wolf's yellow essence twisted in response, sharper and more erratic—like it was tuned for the hunt.
They hadn't noticed him. They were locked in their own dance, predator and prey weaving between roots and rocks, too caught up in survival to notice the lone figure standing above.
Neil didn't move. Didn't speak.
His Core pulsed.
For the first time since leaving the ruins, he felt something shift inside him. A memory stirred. A realization. Not everything in this world was dormant or benign. There were others—creatures that held energy. Real energy. Tangible. Dynamic.
And they were close.
His path might have stretched endlessly before, but now something new had entered it.