Being Worked to (Avoid) Death

Twenty-five seconds were all he had. The howls of the Ruchians fizzled in the wind. He stumbled by the Ulrich Woods and saw a long branch on the ground; the very branch he used to break the Elbrus core.

“AGON!” Her voice reverberated against his skull. Every bone in his body begged him not to, yet he grabbed the branch from the ground. His hands tingled as he gripped it firmly; the sound of the shattered glass haunted him. His branding glowed blue as the numbers changed.

FIND A WEAPON: MISSION COMPLETE. 3:00 BT ADDED.

TOTAL TIME: 3:10.

Agon touched the mark on his chest, taking in several deep breaths, and screamed to the sun; there was no escaping this ordeal. Soon, the blue sky had turned into a swirl of pink and orange as the afternoon reared its head. He wandered the grassy fields for what seemed like hours, but deep down, he wasn't sure how much time had passed anymore. The thought of hours passing rather than mere minutes provided him with comfort. He then stood panting above a dead animal, a wild boar-like creature with green fur. His body was covered with dirt and blood, and his hair was decorated with loose leaves. The tree branch that Agon had once carried was now replaced by the dead creature’s tusk; it was bloodied at the tip from bashing the creature's skull in. He dropped it to the ground, getting nauseous just looking at it. Agon had spent the equivalent of five hours fighting wild animals of all sorts in the outskirts of Ruchs. From green boars to quadruple-winged pheasants, and other beasts he could hardly describe. It was jarring to see, but he killed them nonetheless, and with each kill, he felt a wedge of his humanity leave him. To slay these creatures just for some spare change in Borrowed Time, it disgusted him more and more with each strike. His chest twinged, prompting him to check his mark. Upon first glance, he worried that his fatigue had gotten the better of his eyesight, yet his eyes did not fail him.

“W-wait…that can’t be right…” He muttered.

TOTAL TIME: 40:00.

“I didn’t even ki…eliminate…that many animals…did I? That’s so much time…Almost an hour too…”

“Well, red fish! Looks like you put the pieces together quite quickly!”Agon jumped at the sound of Olagna’s husky voice. He tried his best to calm down, but his body betrayed him as it shook vehemently.

“Your message board gimmick was awful.”

“Aw, come on, you’re telling me that you didn’t enjoy that little memory jog? In a technical sense, you got to see Sade one more time!” Agon jolted, his fist tightening around the bloodied tusk in his right hand. To hear the Marrowta utter that name, his mother’s name so carelessly, filled him with a wealth of rage. Just before he snapped, he bit his bottom lip. He remembered the last time he raised his voice at a deity. He refused to lose the time he strove to collect. He took the deepest breath he could.

“My mom…is a great woman.”

“Uh-huh, didn’t ask. Anyway, I have a question for you.”

“What do you want?” He huffed. A minute passed just as he responded, but he was too focused on Olagna’s words to react to the pain. Assuredly, it would leave its mark, nonetheless.

“You haven’t used any of your time to exchange for an ability in your skill tree, yet you pulled off a nifty little trick back in that girl’s water prison…What the heck was that about?”

“VALVE THREE.”

Those strange words rebounded back and forth in his ears as he thought back to being under the suffocating weight of the water den. Now that he had the time to assess what transpired, he had no idea where that power truly came from. It certainly wasn’t from the deity of life. All he could be certain of was that what he accomplished in that den was absolutely inhuman. Was it really his skill? Or something more powerful...?

“I don’t know what it was, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Really, now? Well, I must admit, it was almost impressive seeing you fight back like that! Whatever that move was, it sure saved you from being fish food. Heh, see what I did there? Buuuut if you’re planning on only relying on that mystery power forever, you’ll die much faster! Unless you already miss me that much?”

“You wish.”

“Oh well! Just wanted to poke your brain about that. Perhaps The Greater One can fill me in. Keep swimming, red fish. Ah! I almost forgot! I don’t think I mentioned this to you, but if you’re planning to farm a bunch of BT and ET while the moon is up, forget it. When the moon rises, your timer stops, and all missions go on hold. I like to think of it as me giving you a chance to take a proper break from our little game. Well, I’ll leave you to it!” With those final words, the Marrowta’s presence seemed to leave Agon as his body lost its tremble. The numbers changed to "37:00" on his chest.

“Shoot…he’s right. That weird power might’ve saved me then, but that’s not going to be enough to survive Velicima. I can’t depend on a power that I don’t even know how to activate. I have a little over thirty-six minutes stored up. I need a power I can actually use more than once.”

With that decision, Agon concentrated and looked deep within his mind to find himself in the mysterious void, once again in front of the skill heart-shaped tree. The sight was as disorienting as ever, but he swallowed his discomfort and proceeded to study the tree’s abilities. He touched his hand to an ability’s icon to find that a prompt would appear before his eyes, describing the ability and how it functioned, as well as listing its cost to unlock.

“I need something that can give me an overall advantage with any mission I take, something that works well all-around. I need to make sure that I can keep saving up time consistently, no matter the amount. Once the moon rises, my timer will stop, and I won’t be able to collect any more time until sunrise…Crap…”

His thoughts vanished as his mark shifted, the pain seeping through much harder now that his focus wasn’t on Olagna.

“Argh! Just pick something!” He scolded himself as he skimmed over the skill tree. Suddenly, he found a very intriguing power. He pressed his hand to the ability’s icon, and it glowed. The prompt appeared.

ABILITY: HEARTBURN. ALLOWS YOU TO BREATHE FIRE. THE INTENSITY OF THE FIRE DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH PRESSURE IS APPLIED TO THE LEFT CHEST. EXCESSIVE APPLIED PRESSURE CAN RISK BURNING A HOLE THROUGH YOUR CHEST.

COST: 15:00 AT. UNLOCK? SELECT YES OR NO.

Agon did a double-take. “This sounds like it would do more harm than good, but it's the cheapest ability I can unlock without losing all of my time. I guess the plus side is that it's Any Time, which means I can use Borrowed or Earned Time to unlock it; not like I have any ET though.”

The numbers now turned to “35:00”.

“Agh! Whatever! I’ll take it!” Agon smacked his hand against the giant “YES” button at the bottom of the prompt. The skill heart lit up with a bright white aura.

“What the…? Ngh!”

Agon felt it pull at his chest mark. An incredible power surged through his body, causing him to toss his head back. The numbers beamed white and quickly shifted from “35:00” to “20:00”; fifteen minutes were deducted from his life in a matter of seconds. The aura faded from the skill heart. When Agon broke out of his daze, he looked upon it to see that the “HEARTBURN” ability was now highlighted in white.

“Wow…I feel…” He couldn’t put it into words exactly how he felt. However, one word did come to his mind: good. Although he refused to say it. Admitting that he felt good meant that he appreciated Olagna to a certain degree, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Instead, Agon nodded to himself and summoned the mission list in front of him.

“I don’t have enough time to practice this ability…I need to keep my momentum. What mission can I complete in less than twenty minutes?” Just as he skimmed through the list of missions, a distant shriek shocked Agon out of his trance; It was a visceral cry that sounded like it belonged to an elderly woman. He watched as a flock of birds fled from the nearby treetops.

“Someone’s in trouble?”

A prompt appeared before him. His eyes widened at the last line.

NEW MISSION: DEFEAT THE MOURNING STAR. REWARD: 3:00:00 BT.

Agon sprinted towards the crying voice.

“I’m not too sure about this, but it all seems too coincidental to ignore. And with the reward that’s being offered, I really can’t afford to pass this up! Whatever this Mourning Star is, it must be really strong...It's trying to hurt that woman I heard...I need to do this...I just gotta follow that voice!” Agon was now in full pursuit, shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Hang on!!! I’m coming!!!”