The Power of Revelation: The Truth Shall Set You Free

Chapter 19: The misery eats you alive

"Childe... he got out... right?" Xingqiu asked nervously, "I can't take the suspense!"

"He's literally sitting right there." Diluc snorted, "Obviously he got out."

When Ajax opened his eyes, he could see stars.

He wasn't dizzy, he could legitimately see the sky, the constellations sprinkled about like snowflakes. His winter coats sat, sprawled in the snow, but the Snezhnayan couldn't feel the cold, only pain flashing through his body like he had just been electrocuted.

The boy pushed himself up from the mound of snow he had been lying on. He must have passed out after returning to the surface, the sudden change from the miasmic atmosphere of the Abyss to the snowy plains of Snezhnaya having been a shock to his system, though luckily, not for long, as even in the warmest months, one could literally freeze to death just by standing in one place for too long, let alone sleeping in the snow.

Upon looking around, the Wolflord's rift was nowhere to be seen, with only a crimson red, vaguely humanoid hole in the snow as any indication that he was even there.

Ajax numbly shrugged his winter coats on, trying to use it to cover his blood-soaked undershirt more than trying to use it to combat the cold, before sheathing his shortsword.

He was back home, back in Snezhnaya, back in Morepesok...

So why was his heart still pounding, why was he still so scared, so terrified?

"A change in scenery." Kokomi commented, "After spending so much time in the Abyss, he's probably gotten used to the environment there."

"The Abyss has already left its mark, and it will not let go so easily."

"The fight against corruption is a fight that even the strongest of gods can't hope to win, let alone a mortal. The power of the depths is ancient, even when time first began to flow, never ending, never changing. You can't escape, boy, and even on the off chance that you do, you'll never be the same; you'd be unrecognizable."

"You can never live again, neither amongst mortals, nor amongst gods. Darkness that has permeated every part of you; it has become you, and you have become it. You can never escape its grasp, for it has granted you new life."

That's what she had said, before he had escaped. He couldn't fully comprehend what she meant with those words, being far too busy trying to stay alive, to grow stronger, to get home.

But now that he was back in Snezhnaya...

Something in the snow glowed, and Ajax peered down. His Vision, glowing in time with his racing heart, and the boy picked it up, stuffing in his pocket, before noticing that there was something else inside.

He pulled the item out, and in the faint moonlight, he could see the outline of a Rifthound claw. He didn't know how it had ended up in his pocket... but he had other priorities at the moment.

"Did Skirk keep it for him and put it in his pocket?" Amber asked, but no one, not even Tartaglia, could answer her question.

Ajax took in his surroundings once more. He couldn't tell where exactly he was, of if he was even in Morepesok, but his gut was screaming at him, so he listened, letting his senses guide him towards his destination.

He walked.

And walked.

And walked some more.