Rylan’s hopes that it would perhaps just be a short drop were quickly shattered as the fog started streaming past him faster and faster.

  Arms and hands clutched onto him in a confusing tangle of limbs, and it took him a moment to realise his own grip on Soren was just as tight. A black braid smacked him in the face, insult upon injury, but Rylan had no breath to do anything but scream as they fell.

  A keening call from a nearby fogwhale was the only answer.

  I’m going to die, aren’t I?

  The realisation hit him like a punch to the stomach. All the training, all the effort he’d put in, wasted. His glorious future as a Quinthar immediately cut short.

  Well... at least he’d die a free man.

  He closed his eyes and felt himself going limp as he wondered if Soren, at least, would live.

  Would the Mana Shell be enough to protect his friend? Rylan wasn’t sure, and somehow that hurt more than the thought that he was about to die himself.

  Finally, after what felt like an eternity—but surely could only have been seconds, even in the fog—Rylan’s left shoulder hit the ground.

  Except for some reason, the ground stretched.

  While the impact was still quite painful and knocked every last bit of air from his lungs, it was nowhere near the bone-shattering smack Rylan had dreaded.

  Whatever he had landed on stretched and stretched, slowing them down. Rylan half-expected to be bounced right back up, but then there was a terrible ripping noise, as the stretched material tore open and swallowed them. After dropping another few feet, Rylan’s left shoulder once more took the fall, this time on a squishy warm surface where he came to a complete halt.

  Lifting his head—which felt oddly heavy—Rylan took in the strange space they had entered by the purplish-red glow coming off Soren’s glowband.

  It wasn’t until a loud, pained call reverberated through the flesh around him, that he realised what had happened.

  “We-we hit a fogwhale!” he gasped, his shoulder protesting as he struggled upright. “Fog! We must’ve slipped right between its ribs...”

  Having gotten to his knees, Rylan attempted to stand, but the spongy flesh beneath his feet sank down as soon as he put weight on it, causing him to stumble and fall back down.

  Sitting up, Soren looked around wild-eyed. “All right, nobody panic, but I think we’re in its stomach!”

  “That doesn’t exactly help me not panic!” Tamina snapped, her frightened expression becoming visible as she sat up as well, one hand on the hilt of her sword. “But wouldn’t a stomach smell worse?”

  Soren turned to Rylan. “Rylan! How do the insides of stomachs smell?!”

  “Why are you asking me?!”

  “Because you’ve spent time in a kitchen!”

  “Well I usually try not to cut open stomachs when I cook! But I believe Thar Tamina is right; there’s no food in here, nor any fog. It’s probably a gas bladder!”

  “You think we’re in its lungs?!” Soren asked, aghast.

  “Gasbladder,” Rylan repeated sharply. “Fogwhales don’t have lungs; they’re permeable to air! Well, except for these bladders, which they use to... to stay afloat.”

  They all looked up at the fog spilling in through the rip above them simultaneously.

  “How many gas bladders does a fogwhale have?” Tamina asked, sounding like she was dreading the answer.

  “I-I’m not sure,” Rylan stammered. “I’ve only seen them in floaters on ships... At least two, I reckon.”

  “Auris preserve us,” Soren muttered.

  Almost as if on cue, a shudder passed through the fogwhale and it dropped a few feet, sending them all flying through the small chamber before it stabilised again.

  As he scrambled back onto his knees, Rylan became aware of a low thrumming that passed through the tissue, like the roar of wind brushing past the tower during a storm.

  “Do you hear that?” Soren asked in alarm. “Great Spirits, how fast are we going?!”

  Before anyone could answer, another loud, pained call tore through their little chamber. Then suddenly, it started to roll.

  Rylan flew into what had only just been the side of the gasbladder, and bounced off, before landing right next to the rip.

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  Soren landed on the other side of the hole, while Tamina ended up in front of it... mostly. Rylan saw her eyes widen as her legs slipped through. The fog rushing past on the outside seemed to grab onto her and start dragging her out immediately.

  Before he could think about it, Rylan reached over and got hold of her armpit.

  She frantically clamped onto his arm, and while it slowed her down, it didn’t entirely stop her momentum. Instead, Rylan was starting to get dragged closer to the hole.

  “Soren, help!” he bellowed.

  His former friend snapped to attention, and quickly grabbed onto Tamina’s other armpit, preventing her from dragging Rylan out with her.

  “It’s trying to shake us loose!” Soren shouted over the howling fog outside.

  “You think?!” Tamina yelled back.

  They clung to each other for a couple of long seconds more, until finally, the whale gave up and rolled back over, causing them to fall back down. However, as they lay in a pile, panting from the exertion, the roar coming from outside only intensified.

  Rylan groaned as he rolled off of them, staying within arm’s reach, but the whale didn’t try to shake them out again.

  He glanced up to see more fog spill into the bladder through the tear that Tamina was no longer plugging up. “Fog, we’re too heavy for it; it’s going to crash!”

  “Rylan,” Soren burst out frantically. “Have you purchased your Mana Shell yet?!”

  “Eh, no. Do you think I—”

  “Yes! Hurry!”

  “That might not be the best idea, actually,” Tamina chimed in. “You’re probably going to need those Credits for healing.”

  Wait, healing costs Credits?!

  “He can’t heal if he’s dead!” Soren snapped. “Don’t listen to her, Ryles! I’ve got Credits in reserve; do it now before it’s too late!”

  Rylan glanced back and forth between Tamina’s scowl and Soren’s pleading face.

  “Rylan,” Soren said. “Please trust me.”

  Rylan held his former friend’s gaze for a moment longer, then took a deep breath. “Ethereon, please install a Mana Shell Quintessence structure in my spirit.”

  After a brief instance of nothing, Rylan felt a tingling on the back of his neck, and a sense of presence, of awareness, swept over him, much stronger than last time he’d spoken with Ethereon.

  《Quintessence Structure installation requested. Deducting 100 Quintessence Credits. Commencing Mana Shell installation in three, two, one...》

  As the count ended, Rylan got the distinct impression that a powerful gust of something was rushing at him from afar, and he instinctively braced for impact. However, when the ‘gust’ hit him, it turned out to actually be more of a warm breeze that flew straight through his skin into his chest, and touched upon something he hadn’t known was there.

  He sat there, perplexed, as the stream of energy continued for long seconds, until finally, it tapered off.

  A few more seconds passed, and Rylan waited with bated breath.

  《Quintessence Structure installation successful,》Ethereon told him, before the sense of awareness faded again.

  Rylan let out a sigh of relief. That had honestly been faster than he’d expected. Perhaps he’d live to see the next day after all!

  “Great!” Soren exclaimed, sitting up onto his knees and leaning towards Rylan with an almost manic look in his eyes. “Now hurry up and fill it.”

  “What?” Rylan asked, blinking. “You mean it’s not active yet?”

  “The Mana Shell doesn’t power itself,” Soren explained quickly, his face anxious. “Like with Skills, it needs to be charged with mana from your pool, but charging it is really easy! It normally charges automatically from your mana overflow, but if you’re in a hurry, you can just access your pool directly and push some mana out through your skin!”

  Rylan just stared at him.

  “Told you you should have saved your credits,” Tamina muttered. She sounded calm, but the fingers of her right hand were trembling on her knee.

  “It’s fine, I’ll teach you!” Soren hurried on. “All right, close your eyes and feel for a ball of warmth in the middle of your chest.”

  “You realise we’ll probably crash any second now, right?” Tamina asked, moving to kneel on Rylan’s other side, facing the direction the whale was moving in and seemingly bracing herself.

  “Thar Tamina, with all due respect,” Soren said through gritted teeth. “Please be quiet.”

  She grunted, but fell silent, her eyes focused on the dimly lit wall of flesh in front of her.

  Rylan took a deep breath and closed his eyes, his head still spinning.

  “That’s it,” Soren coaxed. “Try not to think, just feel.”

  That was easier said than done with the roar of the fog streaming past outside the speeding whale, but as the seconds ticked by and they didn’t crash, Rylan slowly started to relax.

  As he focused on his chest, after a bit, he found himself becoming very aware of his heartbeat. But that wasn’t the goal, so he kept searching, sensing. As he kept at it, his breath started coming deeper and deeper, slower and slower. Eventually, Rylan somehow managed to almost forget about his surroundings. And then, finally, he felt something. An unfamiliar warmth, below his sternum.

  “I think I found it,” he said, keeping his eyes closed.

  “Good!” Soren called out over the howling roar from outside. “Now push it out through your skin; the Quintessence Structure in your spirit will do the rest!”

  Rylan focused on the small ball of warmth beneath his sternum and tried to get it to move, but it was like trying to move a single ear or nostril. It just wouldn’t budge.

  “That’s it,” Tamina suddenly hissed. “I’m going to kill this thing.”

  “What?” Soren cried out. “Why?!”

  “Because it’s only taking us deeper and deeper into the cloudsea!”

  Rylan’s heart skipped a beat. He frowned, but kept his eyes closed as he listened.

  “That’s a good thing,” Soren claimed. “Rylan needs time to prepare!”

  “Do you have any idea how fogged we already are?!” Tamina shouted heatedly. “We should’ve killed this fogging whale the moment we landed in it, then we might’ve had a shot at finding our way back!”

  Rylan clenched his fists. Fog, she’s right... there’s no telling how far it’s already brought us, or in what direction. If we can’t find some kind of path or signpost down there...

  A shiver ran down his back at the thought of being lost down in the cloudsea, and he redoubled his efforts.

  “Well it’s too late for that now,” Soren replied reasonably. “Let’s worry about where we are after we land.”

  “After we ‘land?’ That’s what we’re calling it now?!”

  As they bickered, Rylan gave up on subtlety, and just tried to push the ball of warmth as hard as he could. His head started to shake from the effort, and he found he was holding his breath, but he persevered in trying. Then, all of a sudden, something gave. Warmth spilled out of the point in his chest, spreading out into his body before naturally exiting through his skin.

  His eyes snapped open, and he watched in wonder as wisps of light spilled from his pores, coalescing into a shimmering barrier.

  “Hey, I think I did it,” he exclaimed. “I think I—”

  The world tilted, and a wall of flesh came flying at him.

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  Want more of my writing? I've published a completed six-book LitRPG series!

  The Whispering Crystals is available on KU, Audible, and in print:

  : Unnatural Laws

  : Unusual Enemies

  : Unimagined Adventures

  : Unchained Potential

  : Untamed Spirit

  : Undivided Worlds

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