Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (hardest books to read txt) 📕

enough task: catch it in a snare, then break its neck with a swift strike from any blunt implement. I pulled my sword from my belt and pushed into the thicket towards the rabbit. This has already been a successful test. No need to push things more than—

An idea stopped me in my tracks. With a satisfied grin I sheathed my blade and closed my eyes, pulling the image of the rabbit back into view. I focused on the base of its neck with careful precision, suffusing the tiny vertebra with energy. “Shatter.” The bone cracked away to dust with surprisingly little resistance, and the rabbit’s aura immediately faded away to a dim white outline against the black backdrop of my mind.

The senses I shared with the rabbit vanished instantly as it died, and the void it left behind burned in my head. I felt a hollow sucking sensation in my chest, and I staggered back against a tree as I gasped for breath. There was something familiar about the feeling, and dread gripped my heart as I slid down to sit in the brush. I know that feeling. The void that brought me here...it’s the same feeling. Eternal, dark, isolating. Death. That void is death.

I felt my hands tremble as the memories filled me with despair. It can’t be. How...how can that be true? Is that what death is? Does that void happen to everybody when they die? That can’t be right. My breath came in shallow gulps as my heart pounded a staccato arhythmic beat against my ribs, and my vision narrowed to pinpricks. I could feel the panic coming in full force, and with whatever remained of my logical mind, I shut my eyes and tried to force myself into a meditative breathing pattern.

Time failed to track in my head as I fought to regain control of my body. When I was finally able to open my eyes again, I found that the sun had long since set, and the rolling field before me was dimly lit by only a crescent moon and stars. There was a tremble in my hands I couldn’t still as I climbed unsteadily to my feet. It’s okay. You’re okay. I repeated the mantra in my head as I picked my way through the trees to where my rabbit still laid. Its body was still warm in my hands, and I found comfort in the fact that I hadn’t been incapacitated for too long.

I gradually returned to a baseline state as I made my way across the field towards our camp. I tried to focus on the positive aspects of my outing while locking the unsettling discovery away for a later, hopefully more levelheaded analysis. Out in the distance I spotted the flicker of our campfire, and I let out a relieved sigh as my thoughts shifted to Lia. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to lay my head down in her lap and hear the comforting sound of her voice.

I reached out with Detection to see what my companions were up to. As I suspected, their sparring session was long finished. Val tended to a small pot suspended over the fire, stirring the contents as she added a pinch of something from a small pouch. Lia sat on a log at the far side of the camp, writing in a small leather-bound book with a smile on her face. My brow furrowed as I puzzled over the book; I could vaguely remember her packing it when we left for our first trip to Lybesa, but I had never seen her actually use it.

As my mind wandered with playful curiosity, the wave of Detection magic continued to push out beyond the camp. A sudden glow at the far side of the road caught my attention, and my breath caught in my throat as the mana spread to reveal four men crouched in a tight circle just fifty feet from our camp. They were all dressed in armor, mismatched in both make and adornment, and each had a double-headed ax hanging from their belt. At a nod from one of the men they broke off from their circle and crept towards the fire, with two circling left, one to the right, and one directly towards Lia.

I burst into a full sprint as my combat enhancement suite flared to life. Each step sent me rocketing forward far faster than I had ever run before, but with the camp still a few miles away I knew I wouldn’t make it in time to intercept the men. My jaw clenched as I pushed myself harder and harder; the air whipped past me like a gale as clumps of dirt kicked up in the wake of my footfalls. A singular focus pervaded my mind: save Lia.

I could see her so clearly in my mind. Head slightly tilted to the side, she laughed as she spoke some unknown words to Val and scribbled something inside the small diary. The man behind her had moved past the road, dirk in hand as he snuck up behind her. In a desperate ploy to get her attention, I channeled a large rush of energy around her and pushed firmly against her unconscious mana barrier. She looked up from her journal with a sudden look of concern, and her head cocked to one side as she stared out into the darkness.

The alert reached her too late. Her sudden movement startled the man behind her, and he broke from his cover to dive towards her. He grabbed her by the shoulder and wrenched her backwards as she struggled to gain her footing. I watched her hand grab the sword on her belt, but it froze in place as his dagger pressed against her neck. He whispered something in her ear that caused her face to harden in anger, but her hand fell back to her side, empty. Val jumped up from her spot by the fire to help, but fell back