World Isekai

How long he walked, he couldn't say.

However, his body could. A long time.

He had a consistent pace, and barely ever stopped for a break.

He only slept once more during the whole trip, without even really needing it.

The mountains were extremely close, an hour or two was most likely all that remained.

As he was now closer, he could tell those mountains were way taller than they looked from afar. They looked taller than the mountain range west of Dustriver.

"Is that... snow?"

It's light.

Maël's voice echoed in his mind, something he had weirdly missed.

That statement however made him arch both eyebrows, as he stood there to look at it.

"So that's light..."

He could've sworn it was snow.

The contrast between the darkness of everything else was simply striking.

If all you see is a dim world with barely anything visible, shades of grey paving everything, then it made sense those mountain tops attracted everyone.

"Even I would attempt climbing one of those, just out of curiosity," he said.

You would most likely be able to live on one of them. The shorter ones are home to creatures like the one we've dealt with earlier. Maybe they're slightly stronger, but you should be able to handle them.

"What about the others?"

Some of the taller ones would be very hard for you to beat their current owner. The tallest ones, in your current state, you wouldn't even set foot in the light.

A chilling statement made with a serious tone.

"Which one does Jax reside on?" asked Mori.

I'll guide you.

Mori started walking again.

He reached the mountains, making his progress harder.

It seemed like Jax's home was located on one of the tallest ones, as Maël made him go through the smaller ones on the outsides.

The constant back and forth between walking up and down made it harder, his ankles working overtime.

The scenery had barely changed, but change it did.

Everything remained made of stone or dust. However, more and more unique things started to appear.

For one, the mountains on the outskirts had ruins lying on them.

Carved stone, or what remained of it half into the ground. It looked extremely old, impossible to tell what it was a part of.

They kept appearing as he progressed, ruins of what must've been kingdoms past.

"What kind of place was this?" asked Mori.

Describing how long this place has existed is impossible, it's just not something you could ever imagine.

Kingdoms were built and destroyed in a vicious cycle for as long as this place existed. I have not been here from the start, however I know this place must've been similar to the common realm before the eclipse.

Carving the stone under our feet trying to recreate a society in this place is something more than one person attempted.

Most succeed, even.

People crawl toward this place, hoping to reach the light. So if someone takes control of one, they can do anything they want with it.

"I'm guessing they force those 'crawlers' to help build it."

Some of them are probably trying to build castles and mansions as we speak. It matters little, it won't take long for it to go back to rubble.

"They become targets to others, I guess?"

You don't... It's impossible for you to understand, it seems. I keep repeating it, yet you simply can't get it, can you?

Everything is pointless. Everything we build, everything we destroy, we're here forever. Forever means nothing matters.

"That's..." started Mori.

Mori stopped walking, in thought.

"Then, why are you with me right now? Why isn't everyone just becoming husks?" .net

Not all of us have been here from the start. Some of us have been here relatively recently, and so we're not at the husk stage yet. It's also possible to escape an eternity here.

Mori smiled, and started walking again, descending from the side of a mountain on his right.

"I guess you're hoping to use me to escape eternity here."

I'm not hoping.

Mori had a short laugh, but regained his serious expression.

"Don't worry. I'll use you all the same," said Mori.

This time, Maël was the one to laugh.

As he kept hiking through the rough terrain, more and more ruins appeared.

It seemed as if people built kingdoms, on kingdoms, on kingdoms.

As he kept progressing, going up and down the sides of mountains wasn't as hard as going around the ruins on them.

Remnants of stairways going all the way up, or what seemed to be collapsed walls.

He could climb over those at first, as they were almost fused into the very mountains, but as time went, they started to be more above-ground than in it.

Time had less of an impact, the closer to the center he got. The mountains were getting taller and wider, and their area of light was getting larger and brighter at the top.

"What should I expect?" asked Mori.

From what?

"The place we're going."

Light. A lot of it.

"We're going to the tallest one, aren't we?"

Yes.

"Is he so strong that he owns the one with the most light"

Maël laughed again, this time for a good moment, before finally calming down.

No. Not at all. He's far from the strongest in this realm. Even you could live atop that place. We call it Tenet. It's the only 'kingdom' that stood the test of time.

Mori frowned.

"So not all kingdoms are doomed."

An awkward silence placed itself after his words, but Maël ultimately answered.

It's more complicated than you think. Not everyone can get into Tenet, but it is a good place to be.

It's only complicated because you can't explain things properly, thought Mori.

Deciding not to push things further, and focusing on his destination, he focused on hiking instead.

He was heading toward a kingdom.

That changed things.

How many people would there be? How big is it? Do they speak the same language? Who's the ruler?

As he kept walking around ruins, he glanced up every once in a while, hoping the next mountain would be the one with a kingdom built on top of it.