Descent into the Abyss

Chapter 9

"Kou... I know we're getting closer," Marcus breathed out slowly, staggering forward in the wasteland.

"But you're almost out of energy. I know, Young Marcus. I can sense your fatigue increasing by the minute."

Marcus stopped, collapsing to his knees, gasping for air. A deep ache filled his body, hunger pains began to consume his mind, and every breath scratched roughly through his throat.

"Kou... I can't keep going like this. I need to rest." He gasped, struggling to rise back to his feet.

"Wait, Marcus, I sense something..."

Marcus stumbled upward, barely maintaining his stance as the world trembled around him.

"Up ahead, to your right." Kou proclaimed, directing Marcus towards an unknown objective.

Marcus, struggling to muster the strength, took that last step and collapsed, a smile and wave of relief overtaking him. Inches away from his outstretched hands, a stream flowed gracefully across the wasteland.

"Marcus, you must reach that stream. I know you don't have much strength, but I'm sensing energy from that source of Seb." Kou pleaded with him.

Pulling himself towards the stream, he could feel the last bits of his strength dissipating, all while Kou continued to push him closer. As his hands submerged themselves into the cool water, a sense of ecstasy filled his mind, undoubtedly Kou's reaction to the water.

"Drink, Marcus. You must replenish the strength you've lost." Kou informed him that his consciousness was stimulated by the energy source he once had mastered.

Even if Marcus couldn't, he could tell that being connected with this stream was rejuvenating their shared body. With every passing moment, as Marcus slowly consumed more and more of the water, he could feel his thirst and fatigue fading away.

"If you need to rest, Marcus, I'd recommend doing so here. For your health, just keep in contact with the stream while you do so."

"This water, it's not just helping my thirst, is it, Kou?" Marcus pondered out loud, staring at the water coursing over his fingers.

"That's what I've concluded, Young Marcus. I can sense your body responding positively to the stream. I have reason to believe that my strength, my manipulation of the element Seb, may have been transferred to you." Kou replied, the faint light of hope growing in the recesses of his mind.

"You'd think I would be stronger than this if I had contracted your power," Marcus muttered, turning his head away from the stream and towards the wasteland ahead of him.

"Much like my own time spent in the stasis chamber, you undoubtedly were weakened as well. Your human body, needing sustenance, probably grew weaker at a faster rate during the stasis. I fear that if our blood had not co-mingled and joined together, we both would've died in that chamber." Kou explained to Marcus, trying to uplift his host's faltering view.

"I know... I remember. The Voice told me that the only way to save you was to make sure I went in first..." Marcus paused, thinking back on that ethereal voice.

"Another voice spoke to you?" Kou asked, wondering who it could've possibly been.

"Yeah... it was almost like they were guiding me to the stasis chamber, knowing that it would survive. That we would survive."

Marcus and Kou both were silent for several moments, listening to the sounds of the wasteland.

"Young Marcus, I fear we might be pawns in someone else's game." Kou suddenly replied, causing Marcus to remember the crystalline giants standing over the Kovekians.