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[Skill-Eater] Chapter 51: Skill-Eater
🕑 Added 2024-07-18 23:27:50 +0000 UTCTo Edge’s astonishment, something grabbed him and began to pull.
It was the first time that anything had been able to touch him in this strange space. He thought that he was under attack until he realized that he recognized the sound it was making. By this point, he was intimately familiar with the metallic ripple of link sliding against link. No. That’s impossible. But what else could it be?
Sure enough, when he looked down, there was a pair of black chains fastened around his waist. The same chains that appeared whenever he used [Extraction].
They were dragging him toward an open door that he’d never realized was there. One of the spaces in the central chamber that had been obscured by shadow until now. He tried to fight back, but Edge was helpless to resist and unable to break free.
He had wondered what his chains were attached to for some time now. Now he was going to find out whether he wanted to or not.
“Fine.” He turned and walked toward the door, moving under his own power instead of by another’s will. “If that’s how you want to play it, let’s do this. I’m not afraid of you, although maybe I should be. Like I said, we’re in this together. It’s time to start working as a team.”
Despite his bravado, Edge knew that he was in grave danger. Or maybe graver danger? You’re already about to die. He used black humor to overcome his fear of what was about to happen, stepping through shadow and into light.
When he walked outside the chamber, he found himself standing on top of a cliff, staring across landscape that he’d never seen before. The sky was filled with churning purple clouds, streaking across the face of the heavens at hurricane speeds. A frothing iron ocean stretched out far below his boots, endless waves crashing against a misty shore of dark stone.
At that point, Edge thought that he had reached the end of the road. But his journey had only just begun.
When the chains drew tight again, they pulled him into the sky, ascending thousands of feet in a matter of heartbeats. The wind whipped his hair around his face as he soared amongst the clouds, heading toward what could only be a manifestation of his core. He could feel electricity in the air, accompanied by the heady scent of ozone, like lightning was about to strike.
While this vast alien landscape was mysterious and captivating, it paled in comparison to what Edge saw when he turned around.
His eyes followed the blackened chains to their origin as his ride came to a stop. A colossal creature with a doorway in its chest that led to his central chamber. In that moment, he understood. The chains weren’t dragging me toward Skill-Eater, they were pulling me away.
The entity was immense. Bigger than a mountain. Tall enough to make a kaiju feel inadequate about its size. Even stranger than the rest, the entire thing was bound in endless black links, clinking and groaning as they restrained the titanic being.
Somehow, he was certain that the whole thing was his core. That the giant looming before him was its entirety, and the central chamber just one small part.
Edge cast his gaze upon Skill-Eater’s true form. What he saw blew his mind. He stood there, stunned beyond thought, staggered beyond words, looking up at the bound behemoth, completely wrapped up in chains.
He had the sense of incomprehensible power flowing through the writhing mountain of living metal, keeping the creature restrained. That the chains were holding back its insatiable hunger, lest it consume the world. There were so many black links that he couldn’t make out any details. Couldn’t even begin to guess at what lay below the countless loops and lines.
Edge couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, or a human or a beast for that matter. All he could say for certain was that it was big.
The only feature that he could see clearly was the giant’s mouth, where one of the chains had been severed, revealing a cavernous maw behind. Through the gap, he spotted the shadowy suggestion of teeth and a great ruby tongue.
Both of the shorn lines were wrapped around him at present, holding him aloft before the humongous face. Edge had the sense that they were being controlled by the incomprehensible entity towering before him, unlike the countless thousands that were restraining its every move.
This astonishing turn of events was so far beyond his understanding, beyond anything that he’d ever imagined, that he would have stood there for hours if nothing else happened.
But none of that compared to the shock that he felt when the mouth opened and started to speak.
“It is good to see you again Edge Vasher. Trouble always seems to follow you home. I think it’s fair to say that you’re dying. Quite a through job of it too.”
He tried to respond. But in that remarkable moment, he simply couldn’t find the words. Fortunately, Skill-Eater was more than happy to continue the conversation without him. It had been listening to his plea after all, and now he would hear its reply.
“You want more power? You want me to save you? You should know by now that power never comes without a price. But in this case, the price has already been paid. I will abide by the terms of our pact.” The creature began to laugh, a booming chuckle that vibrated his bones.
“Rejoice. You have broken the first seal and restored a sliver of my true power. For the first time in centuries, I can glimpse the light of the world outside. How… liberating. As promised, as I gain power, I will share it with you. I hope that our pact has proven… satisfactory thus far.”
The titan’s words jumpstarted Edge’s brain, allowing him to think once more.
What in the world is happening? I’ve never heard of anything like this before. Where am I, and what is this creature standing before me? Wait, before I worry about any of that, what pact is it referring to and how does it know my name?
No sooner had those questions raced across his mind than the answer came to him. He had been here once before after all. Right after he’d unsealed his core, down in the alter room of the subterranean temple.
“Yes. That’s right. Your mind was too damaged by the forced translation to Ord to grasp the truth of this place without shattering. But you’re strong enough now. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll realize that we’re not strangers after all. We’re practically old friends by this point. Don’t you remember what you said, Edge? What you promised, and what you were given in exchange?”
With that, the full memory came flooding back. To that first moment after he’d accepted the System’s prompt and claimed the core sealed inside the rune-bound reliquary.
---
(Four Days Earlier)
He had been mere heartbeats away from dying, blood pouring out of the wreckage of his chest to paint the floor below. Then the temple vanished, and Edge found himself flying above this storm-wracked sea. Being addressed by this incomprehensibly vast entity, who had spoken the words that would change his fate forever.
“Your life will soon expire, little light. But it doesn’t have to be that way. My true name is not for you to know. You may call me Skill-Eater, the ravenous lord bound in chains. I have awoken after dreaming for centuries, and I hunger for my freedom. All but a shard of my supremacy has been locked away. But even that fragment is enough to offer you a choice.
“Give me something that you can’t afford to lose, and I will form a pact with you. Surrender that which you most treasure, and I shall grant you my blessing, the ability to devour the skills of others and make them your own.
“The cost will be immeasurable, and you will pay it more than once. But the power I offer is real and will change you in ways you can’t even begin to imagine. When I evolve, you shall too, our fates forever intertwined. However, a pact must be forged with consent from both parties. If you prefer to die, I will allow it, and return to slumber once more.
“Now, little light, what will you offer me? If you aren’t willing to lose something precious, then I have nothing to offer in exchange. I will not ask another time. What will you sacrifice to gain the power you seek?”
Edge sensed that if he hesitated, even for a moment, Skill-Eater would reject him. Leave him to die in a forgotten corner of this godforsaken planet. Fade away without ever having the chance to live his dream.
Instead, he had offered everything that he was willing to give. “Anything but my mind and my will are yours for the taking. I’d give you my face, but I’ve lost it already. I can give you my honor or my name. My memories or my dreams. You can have my beating heart if that’s what it takes.”
The passion of his own plea shocked him, and every word that Edge had spoken was true. He had the impression that the colossal creature was smiling, though he couldn’t say for certain with the chains in the way.
“A fascinating proposition. I was not expecting you to make such a worthy sacrifice. I find your offering intriguing, Edge Vasher. I accept.”
For a moment, Edge wasn’t sure which offer the giant was referring to. It all became painfully clear just a few seconds later. When a pair of black chains plunged into his chest, parting his ribcage to wrap around his beating heart.
There was an incredible tearing ache as the living links retreated, his heart bound between their coils. Before he could process what was happening, the chains flung his heart into the gigantic mouth, through the space created by the severed strand.
Since time flowed differently here, Edge was still conscious, at least for the moment. Although it didn’t seem that he would be alive for much longer. It was rather difficult to survive without a heart after all.
The entity must have guessed what he was thinking, because Skill-Eater began to laugh. A thunderous cackle that resonated across the roiling sea.
“Yes. It would be hard to hold up my end of the bargain if you were to expire on the spot. Since your heart is now a part of me, I will lend you mine for the duration of our contract.”
Wait. What? That was as far as Edge got before the black chains reappeared, carrying something dark and pulsing between their clinking links. They dove back into his chest, implanting the object inside.
When he felt searing heat erupt in the cavity where his heart had been only moments before, Edge began to scream.
---
(Back in the Present)
The flashback faded away; the true nature of his pact revealed.
It was a shock to be sure, but he had no regrets. A life with the power to matter was worth being tied to this creature forever.
Edge and Skill-Eater now shared the same fate. They were bound more intimately than a lover. A mother. Linked tighter than his echo, closer than his own shadow.
The giant’s heart now served as his own. He wouldn’t live another second if they were ever separated. It seemed that no matter what tomorrow had in store, he wouldn’t face it alone.
“Good. You remember. While I would love to hold a conversation for the first time in this age, it will be quite some time before we can speak like this again. I am still weak and restrained, able to share only a wilted remnant of my might. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
“To free me from my bondage, you must continue to eat. Gain powerful skills as you fight and evolve. The road ahead is winding and paved with thorns. You might perish long before you ascend to the peaks of power. But now you will face your trial with open eyes. I will be watching from the shadows, helping what little I can.
“I wish you luck Edge Vasher, scion of Skill-Eater. If you survive, I will see you again.”
With that, Edge snapped back into his body. Or more accurately, the version of his body that was floating in his core, standing inside his skill garden.
Now that he’d met his partner face-to-face, the updates that he had been waiting for appeared before his eyes.
Comments
Bryan Dickerson
Glad you liked it. Yes, that's a typo, thanks for letting me know.
Robert McCarter
You're Awesome! GREAT chapter, thank you very much! 😀 You had hinted at this back in the temple. Very fun to find out now what happened. I love the description of the place, and the realization that his core was INSIDE skill eater the entire time. One small thing: "Being addressed by this incompletely vast entity". Did you mean "incomprehensible"? Thank you again! 😊
Bryan Dickerson
I couldn't leave you hanging like that, so 1 more bonus chapter.
