Both the Echoes began to sprint.
Nephis looped the golden rope around herself and Cassie, securing them firmly to the Echo.
Asher and Sunny, unfortunately, had no such luxury. As the wind howled and the Echo below them accelerated, Asher clung awkwardly to Sunny, trying to balance the ride with subtle shifts to his center of gravity.
It didn't work.
At this breakneck speed, the two were practically embracing—Sunny using his shadows to stabilize himself, while Asher increased his own weight to help anchor them.
It was awkward. And stupid. And kind of working.
Things would have been fine if Asher could adjust Sunny's center of gravity. But he couldn't. There seemed to be a thin membrane around Sunny, or any person having a soul core/shadow core. Asher couldn't control the gravity around it.
At least not fully. He could still do it. But it was minimal, downright useless.
Due to the increase in weight, Sunny's Echo was about 20% slower than Asher's Echo.
Dark, churning storm clouds gathered in the sky with unnatural speed, twisting above the crimson forest like a curse made manifest.
Sunny paled and clutched Asher tighter.
"Don't grab me like that, you gay bastard!" Asher yelled through gritted teeth.
"Now's not the time for your dumbass jokes!" Sunny snapped, his voice almost lost in the rising wind.
Nephis gritted her teeth as she saw them falling behind. 'We are going at 30-35 kilometers per hour, and it will take us at least 6 minutes to reach the nearest cliff. Looking at the clouds, it might take less than 3 minutes for the downpour to fully begin. Me and Cassie may reach the cliff in time, but Asher and Sunny...'
"Scavengers ahead!" Sunny shouted as Nephis focused forward, ready to fight. Fortunately, the scavengers were also scrambling for their lives as well, not paying attention to the sleepers passing through.
The rain quickly turned into a pelting downpour, each drop becoming a torrent. The winds grew in strength, striking against their bodies with enough force to make them stumble. The light dimmed even further, reducing visibility to almost zero.
Sunny gritted his teeth as he looked at Asher and shouted, "@^%&#(@(&*^@#!"
A blinding bolt of lightning split the darkness, followed almost immediately by a deafening thunderclap. Asher couldn't hear Sunny over the cacophony, making Sunny's face turn even paler.
Suddenly, Sunny's Echo grabbed both Asher and Sunny with its pincers and sprinted. The sensation was worse than anything they had experienced; water droplets hit them like arrows, and the winds tossed them around like ragdolls.
Asher and Sunny winced in pain as the Echo sped up. Asher reduced his weight while Sunny augmented his Echo with his shadow, allowing it to close some of the distance to Mr. Krab.
But they were still far behind. Asher couldn't augment his Echo due to the distance.
A blinding light from another lightning strike revealed the imposing cliff looming ahead. For a brief moment, Asher was struck by the scene's stark beauty, like something out of Uncharted 4, despite the dire situation.
Turning back, Sunny and Asher saw a colossal, crushing torrent of black water rushing through the crimson forest. The sight was utterly terrifying, a wall of death bearing down on them.
'Shit... we're slower than they were in the novel!' Asher's mind screamed in panic. The cliff seemed impossibly far, and the approaching torrent promised only doom. Each second felt like an eternity, the hopelessness of their situation tightening around them like a vice. The storm was a monstrous, living thing, and it was coming for them, relentless and unforgiving.
As they pushed forward, the wind howled with a ferocity that made every step a battle. The rain was a curtain of liquid steel, obscuring their vision and battering their bodies. The roar of the approaching water grew louder, a deafening crescendo that drowned out everything.
Asher regretted everything. If he didn't make their travel so slow... They could have escaped this.
If they hadn't wasted those precious moments near the statue that morning, they might have made it.
If only...
'Shit.'
Asher grit his teeth.
Sunny and Asher finally reached the cliff, dismissing their Echoes and scrambling up the rocky face like desperate ants. Sunny wrapped his shadow around him for protection, while Asher could only grit his teeth, feeling his skin tear against the jagged rocks. The icy water lapped at his feet, sending shivers up his spine.
He watched Sunny struggle alongside him, both knowing they were racing against time. If they hadn't wasted those precious moments near the statue that morning, they might have made it. Desperation clawed at Asher as he shouted Sunny's name.
"Sunny! We're not going to make it in time!" Asher's voice was raw with fear and exhaustion. "I know! But I need to try until the end!" Sunny's response was equally strained as the rising water began to submerge Asher's torso. Asher took a deep breath and a leap of faith. "Sunny, do you trust me?" he asked, his voice steady despite the chaos around them.
"Of course not, you stupid bastard!" Sunny retorted instantly.
Asher shed a tear, pretending not to hear. "Sunny, you need to trust me this time."
Sunny hesitated.
Then nodded, swallowing his fear.
Asher summoned the stone blade with a flick of his hand, twisting it sideways before hurling it out into the storm. The flat of the blade faced skyward, suspended in midair as gravity warped around it, holding it steady.
He knew it was only momentarily.
He exhaled sharply, steadying himself.
Then he reached out and grabbed Sunny's hand.
Reducing his weight to a maximum while strengthening his feet.
Muscles screamed, fibers tearing under the strain.
"Streamline yourself!" Asher roared.
Then they jumped.
The cliff vanished beneath their feet as Asher landed hard on the blade—his balance wavering, barely holding. The rain hammered them, and Sunny's weight dragged them down like an anchor. Asher had seconds—less than seconds—before they fell.
His eyes narrowed, when he saw something glimmer.
"There."
Gravity flipped—up became down, and Asher became weightless. His body surged with raw strength as he leapt, forcing every last ounce of power into the jump.
They soared through the rain, wind shrieking past them.
Then his fingers found it—a golden rope, slick and shining in the storm. He caught it. Sunny caught it. They swung violently, crashing into the cliffside.
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
The whisper came and went. It didn't matter.
His body was failing.
Asher couldn't feel his legs. His hands burned, skin shredded by the rocks. His vision dimmed.
'I want to sleep' he thought numbly. Sunny was yelling—he could hear him through the static in his brain.
"Asher! We both will die if you don't move!"
He wanted to move alright! But... his hands they hurt... It hurt so bad...
"We are so close damn it!"
'Right...' He couldn't give up. Not when his is so close...
He clenched his teeth and forced his weight down again, giving himself just enough lift to keep climbing. Blood mixed with the rain, running down his face in hot streams.
"I can't..." he whispered.
But his body moved anyway.
He pulled himself higher.
"I won't... give in."
The rope jerked upward—Nephis must've started hauling them up.
Each movement was agony. His hands were torn, his lungs felt like fire, and every breath was a battle. But still, he climbed.
Just a bit more...
His vision blurred. The storm, the cliff, the rope—it all dissolved into haze.
Then—
A hand.
Strong, steady, gripping his wrist.
Everything went black.
_____________________________
[A/N: To clarify how the stone blade broke. Asher reduced its weight to keep it afloat and used the blade as a stepping stone to exert his entire force to jump. The blade can't take that!]