Gates of Penance-Chapter 37: Land of the dead

The enlightened clans were in constant competition with one another so there would inevitably be some conflict and distrust. Still, the sinners seemed to have formulated a leadership ranking of some kind based on their clan’s status. They hadn’t stated it, but Nacht knew that Nora was the leader of this camp. However, he didn’t believe it was because of her status alone.

Nevertheless, Nacht’s thoughts were drawn back to the task that was asked of him. Wasn’t there another path out of this hell that they had found themselves in? Well, other than throwing themselves into the jaws of the abstracts?

"I know I’m a bit late in asking this question but... where exactly are we?"

Nora answered in a matter of fact tone.

"We are to the west of humanity’s sphere of influence in a place that the sinners have promptly named the land of the dead."

Nacht now had a better understanding of their current predicament. There was only one direction for them to go in order to return back to civilization. Any other path was even more dangerous and would venture them further into the abstracts control. Even so, maybe he was missing something.

"Isn’t there another safer way to return back home?"

Armon shook his head.

"There isn’t. We are surrounded by red zones that are more dangerous than the land of the dead and put us even further from humanity. There’s a dreadful ocean to the north, a blazing desert to the south, and a place no enlightened should ever step foot in to the west. We have already tried everything we could think of and have lost many lives trying to escape twice already... there won’t be a third."

Nacht now had a rough idea as to where the voice had dropped him off. Geography wasn’t his strong suit, but he knew a thing or two. Armon had confirmed that they truly were in a horrible predicament.

’Couldn’t the voice have dropped me off back where it took me? Or at least, someplace where I can actually survive?’

Nacht was also concerned about the latter part of Armon’s sentence.

"How many of you were there originally?"

Magi answered in a dark tone.

"We lost most of our numbers creating this semi safe zone and had lost another half trying to escape. So Magi believes we are less than a quarter of our current size... and it should be the same if not worse in the other camps."

Nacht’s face soured slightly. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

If that was true then his chances of survival took a major hit.

"It’s quite late and we need to be ready for tomorrow."

Nora spoke to everyone in the room.

"The meeting is over, we’ll continue the discussion at a later date."

Nacht looked at Nora, careful to not let any expression appear on his face.

’In other words, when I’m not here.’

It was clear that they didn’t trust him and he couldn’t blame them, he didn’t trust them either. Nacht knew that being stranded in a place dreadful enough to be named the land of the dead had to come with fighting many battles alongside each other. They had formed a strong bond built through battle while he was a newcomer on top of not coming from any noble clan or bloodline. Distrust was only natural, especially in a place it would be easy to kill them.

Nacht shook away that last thought.

He got up and left the meeting and began making his way back to his room.

He began to recall everything that he had gathered from the meeting.

An entire generation of enlightened were trapped in the middle of a red zone with no way out.

The place he had found himself in was given the name land of the dead by the sinners that found themselves here. It was obvious why they decided to give the place such a daunting name, they thought that they were going to die here and for good reason.

Nacht recalled all of his limited geographical knowledge and put together a hazy picture of the place he was currently in considering they were to the west of humanities influence.

To the North of his current position there was nothing but endless horrors and massive oceans they had no hope of crossing. To the south was an excruciating hot desert which would burn them alive before they could run out of any food or water. The west was in the direction of the land of darkness, which sounded like a good bet for Nacht due to his unique abilities until he realized that it was a black zone. This meant that not even the champions of humanity were safe over there and it held the most powerful abstracts that escaped into their world. Not to mention it was in the exact opposite direction of humanities influence. To the east was their best bet but it still seemed like an impossible journey from what he was told.

What separated the enlightened sinners from salvation was a perilous journey and a single abstract, a tier IV dreg. An abstract who was an entire rank above them and had reached the fourth tier. An abstract reaching the fourth tier was simply unstoppable. The power increase of a tier for an abstract wasn’t linear. Each new layer around their core doubled their strength. This meant that it was twice as powerful as a tier III abstract of the same rank! The thing was simply impossible to kill for the likes of a couple of enlightened sinners.

After coming to terms with the situation, Nacht wasn’t surprised that they were stuck here in this harrowing region. There was really no escape. They had no means of contacting anyone for help which left them isolated. Not to mention, after their repeated failed attempts as well as many deaths, the sinners had become divided, weakening them further. Nacht had thought that the number of sinners in the fortress was low, but it was just that there were more of them camped out someplace else and they were being led by a different leader.