Damian ran for a very long time, completely ignoring his exhaustion and pain for the sake of getting as far as he could, as quickly as he could, his plan had somehow worked out in the end. He didn't know for sure what the Broken chain was capable of in reality, he knew it could bind things together in a way which made them more closely resemble a single being but he knew it probably had some limitations to it. During his journey he had rationalised the limits of its power and this latest stunt had proved him partially right, he thought that it just made two beings one in both body and soul giving them access to the abilities of both, but he was only partially right.
True he had gained the Attributes that Jasper possessed or at least their properties under his new [Enchained] attribute which Jasper had pointed out to him as they ran, however he did not gain access to Jasper's Dormant ability as he had hoped. Apart from gaining the properties of his attributes he also felt his and Jaspers desires melding together, the feeling felt both oppressive and strangely intimate, and with each moment their desires were burning brighter and brighter melding together more completely.
After running for a few hours in no direction in particular, avoiding or simply running through the obstacles in their way they finally came to a stop on an old embankment on the edge of town, the waters from the river a putrid mix of browns and yellows from the myriad of toxins being washed away by the current.
Finally letting Jasper down Damian quickly released the hold reality had on the broken chain, letting it break apart into a swarm of beautiful lights as he fell to the ground as his mind was once again his own.
He woke up many hours later, the sun shining overhead casting a shadow from the artificial cover that Jasper had created during his rest, with torn alloy and scavenged materials being used to create the impression of a short mound encasing them from all sides, it was honestly impressive and a relief to know that the young man had some skills after all. In the middle Jasper sat next to a small fire, using a metal spike to hold a short can over the crackling fire, his eyes focused on the Dancing flames, the familiar smell of blood filled the air as Damian sat up and groaned.
Jasper looked at the man with a small smile before speaking,
"Good morning sir Damian, sleep well.?"
Damian looked at his with squinting eyes, yawning as he spoke,
"If you consider sleeping in the dirt and waking up to see some idiot roasting what appears to be a can of synth meat over a fire then yeah, I slept well." A small chuckle left his lips as pain ran through his abdomen, looking down he could see his shirt had been removed as some bandages had been applied to his wound.
Jasper shook his head before speaking,
"If you're in the mood to be calling me an idiot then you're probably fine, but in my defence how was I meant to know that giant multileged, many eyed bastard could mind control me?!"
Jaspers face was serious as he spoke…for a whole two seconds before he started to laugh, and wiping a tear from his eye, before speaking again,
"Oh and thanks for saving my life again, I owe you, I really do."
Damian stared at the man, for someone who seemed so jovial all the time he really could pretend to be serious when he wanted to, the life of a fool Damian thought, standing from the Damian shaped hole in the floor he walked over to sit closer to the fire. Jasper pulled out two small alloy sheets and placed them in front of both him and Damian before dumping out some of the cooked synth meat onto their plates.
The meat was nothing special, tasteless and chewy with hints of being burnt and small alloy flakes to give it a little extra flavour and texture, it wasn't much but it was better than nothing in a world such as this, unless they wanted to eat the infected instead.
They didn't talk much during their meal, taking their time to savour what little they could get out of what they had, Damian had more food in his pack, but that was meant to last until he reached the shelter and that was only barely, he never considered he would find others along his journey so they would have to scavenge food here and there to make it all the way, there was also the issue of water which was the same.
"So…" Jaspers voice carrying a hint of curiosity
"Mind explaining to me what that strange chain was all about? It saved both our lives, it must be some kind of powerful memory right? Where did you find..get?...Whatever the correct term is for obtaining one of those."
Damian looked at him and sighed slightly, causing pain to course through his body,
"If you want to know…I got it for killing a person in my nightmare, some warrior of a long forgotten legion of war… It was either me or him and I made my choice. Also despite what you think it isn't very powerful, at least in terms of memories, my bow and probably your armour are stronger than it if I had to wager, it's certainly potent but it has its limits…and its drawbacks."
Jasper listened intently taking in every word like a sponge before speaking,
"I think you're underselling its power a little but alright. Also how come you never mentioned how the soul saturation counter increases after you kill something? I've seen you take out a few creatures by now, your amount is probably much higher than mine since you've been awake longer than I have."
Damian blinked as a confused look covered his face, he quickly looked over his runes just to check and frowned,
"Mine is still saying zero out of one thousand…are you sure you're reading the right part?"
Jasper nodded,
"Yeah I'm sure, it says right here, three out of one thousand… Do long range kills not count? That seems a little unfair."
Damian looked into the fire lost in thought from these words, unsure how to process them into useful information, until he learnt more he didn't think he could, he looked over the black armour his companion wore, its design perfectly fitting Jaspers body as if it was designed for him,
"How strong is that armour of yours? It doesn't even have a scratch on it even after everything that happened. What type of creature did you get it from?"
Jasper looked surprised when asked about his armour as if he was unprepared for such a question, ducking his head lower down he mumbled something before seeming to read something in front of his eyes before reading the runes outloud,,
"
***
[Memory: Blackened Sky]
[Memory Rank: Awakened]
[Memory Type: Armour]
Memory Description:
[Blackened sky: The captain of a journey across the Twilight sea told stories of the ones that slumbered below the timeless sea, how the echoes of battles yet to be could be seen within its waves and that all those who bore witness succumbed to madness and despair .The madness was said to be the source of all corruption in the hearts of beast and men alike, and in the end even the greatest of them fell to its temptations.]
***
"
The words of the runes ran off Jasper's tongue more like a warning than a description, there was the hint of emotion in Jasper's eyes which resembled something close to… wistful longing, as if he was silently mourning those spoken about in the runes.
Damian didn't have to ask anything to understand the meaning behind it, he stood up slowly, making sure he didn't accidently open his wound back up, he quietly went to survey their surroundings, looking out over the river and the nearby hills, the once beautiful landscape of his childhood was long since destroyed, the lush plants and clean waters replaced long ago. Mutilated bodies were scattered around the small encampment, their blood seeping into the grounds, painting the broken ground in a crimson hue, Damian thought he saw something glimmering in one of the bodies but his attention was quickly drawn elsewhere.
It was a faint silhouette, its shadow long and ominous, looming over the embankment as its shambling parts moved together in strange harmony over, he focused his vision to get a better look at the approaching threat, as he did his face turned as white as a ghost. The large body of an abomination was visible, its abdomen and head mostly encased in a prison of bone as its long spindly legs jutted out uneven across the surface, a small horde of monstrosites paved the way forward in front of it.