Chapter 7 - Eventually, Night Came

Chapter 7 - Eventually, Night Came

He was running with all his strength. Behind him, he could hear the soft rustling — the sound of dozens of rabbits hopping after him. He was too afraid to even look back. Every ounce of energy he had was focused on one thing — to run faster.

"Why can't I enter the Training Room? Now, of all times, when I need it most!" he thought in despair. The skill wouldn't activate. No matter how hard he tried — nothing. And yet, that could have saved his life.

He kept running. Fifteen minutes passed. His muscles were burning, his breath was ragged, and his strength was nearly gone. But the sounds of pursuit didn't fade. The rabbits weren't falling behind. If anything — they seemed to be getting closer.

He was nearly ready to give up.

And then, in the distance, he saw silhouettes. People.

A flicker of hope flared in his chest — faint, but bright. Using the last of his strength, he ran toward them.

As he got closer, he realized — they were girls. One had black hair, the other was a blonde, with light, almost golden locks. The black-haired girl held a sword in her hand. The blonde held a bow. She crouched down, drew the string, and aimed the arrow directly at him.

The arrow whistled through the air, flying just inches past his head — and struck something behind him. He flinched, thinking for a moment that she had aimed at him. But the dull sound of the arrow piercing flesh, along with the blonde girl’s calm voice, made it clear — he hadn’t been the target at all.

It seemed the rabbits had finally caught up to him. The first of them had already leapt at his back — and only that well-timed shot had saved him.

The black-haired girl shouted something loudly.

And suddenly, behind him, there was a deep, thunderous rumble — as if a massive stone had fallen from a great height and begun to roll. But he didn’t dare look back. He just kept running, using up the last of his strength.

He reached the girls, stumbled, ran a few more steps past them, and collapsed to the ground. Exhausted. Completely drained.

Only then did he dare turn around.

The rabbits were no longer chasing him.

And that’s when he understood the source of the falling-rock sound.

Standing on the clearing behind him was a gigantic stone monster — like a golem. Enormous, at least four meters tall. Its body was made of boulders, its arms — of massive slabs. It was stomping on the rabbits like ripe tomatoes. Red blood splashed everywhere, and each blow reduced another creature to a pulp.

The blonde girl kept firing her bow without pause. Every arrow — straight to the head. Every shot — one dead rabbit.

And in less than a minute, there were no rabbits left. But he noticed something strange. When they were killed, the rabbits bled — when the stone golem crushed them, red stains were everywhere. But these stains and the dead bodies disappeared after a few seconds, turning into light. Even the traces of blood vanished. When all the rabbits were destroyed, after a few seconds there was no sign of them left — not a single corpse, not a single drop of blood.

The black-haired girl looked in his direction.

"Who are you? And why are you without a weapon or armor?"

"I don’t have any weapon or armor," he replied.

"Then what the hell are you doing here? Did you at least have a party?"

"No, I was here alone..."

"Alone? Without weapons, without armor? Did you come here to die or something?" she asked angrily.

He wanted to explain how he ended up here, but the blonde interrupted:

"Calm down. Look at him. He can barely stand and doesn’t seem able to answer properly right now."

When she mentioned he was injured, he remembered the bite. He looked at his arm — it was covered in blood. Apparently, it had been bleeding the entire time he was running, and he hadn't even noticed.

"Alright, come on, I’ll treat your wound," the girl said in a slightly softer voice.

"No need," Alisar replied. "I have a health potion. I can make one myself."

He used his alchemy skill to create a first-rank health potion. It appeared in front of him. He caught it with his uninjured hand, carefully opened it with the injured one, and drank it.

Before his eyes, the wound healed in a few seconds. He felt better.

But suddenly, his head began to spin — and he lost consciousness.

---

He regained consciousness.

He opened his eyes — above him stretched a dark, starry sky. Clear, infinite, sprinkled with the light of distant stars. And in the center — an enormous moon. Much larger and more beautiful than he remembered from Earth. There was something alien in its glow, yet mesmerizing.

He kept his gaze on the sky.

Night… finally.

It was unexpected. For all the time he had been here, it had never come. He had started to wonder — does night even exist in this world? Or maybe the local days are much longer than those on Earth?

How much time had passed since he arrived here? Too much. He had exited the training room many times — and every single time, it was bright. The same endless day, again and again.

Now — for the first time — darkness. A living sky. Silence, and a nearby campfire.

He slowly sat up and looked around. Not far from him sat the blonde girl — the one who had saved him. The fire crackled beside her, and the scent of smoke lingered in the air.

She turned toward him and calmly said:

— You’re awake.

— Yeah… — he exhaled and rubbed his face.

— How do you feel?

— Fine… I think.

— Then that’s good, — she said in the same calm voice.

He winced slightly as he tried to prop himself up on one elbow.

— Sorry. I didn’t think I’d lose consciousness… I thought the health potion would fix everything. Guess I lost too much blood, — he added after a pause.

— The potion really does fix everything, — she replied steadily. — Even restores lost blood. But you shouldn’t drink too many of them in a single day. Two or three is normal. If you take too many, you risk side effects.

— Side effects?

— Like what just happened to you, — she shrugged. — The body just can’t handle the overload. You can lose consciousness — it’s a kind of safety mechanism. The body shuts itself down before it burns out.

— And… how long was I out?

— About three hours. Maybe a little more, — she replied. Then added with a slight smile: — My name’s Sherial.

— I’m Alisar.

— Nice to meet you, Alisar, — the girl said. — By the way, my partner’s name is Rem. She went to gather more firewood. It gets cold at night.

He looked around. Now he clearly understood — they were far from the place where he had collapsed. Most likely in the forest, on some kind of clearing. Trees stretched on one side, and on the other — also trees, but much farther away. The campfire crackled, and the air was cool.

He settled in a bit more comfortably, briefly closing his eyes.

He still couldn’t quite believe that the day had finally come to an end.