Having a plan and a weapon eased Dae’s mind somewhat. He stood again and surveyed the area around him. Something was off. The creature that attacked him was too small. Something like that should come in packs. Dae hadn’t thought about it as he tended to his wounds and harvested iron. Anxiety spiked in Dae’s chest, quickening his pulse and turning his blood to ice in his veins. 

The trees above Dae rustled in the wind. Each movement and shift felt like drawn out notes on a musical saw. Fear prickled the back of Dae’s neck as he whipped around. He couldn’t tell if he was conjuring the feeling of being watched from sheer panic or if it came from  Esper’s rumored superior instincts. 

It must have been those instincts kicking into place that compelled Dae to launch himself forward as a large shape split off from the sea or shades of green. Dae didn’t have time to process what the creature was before fell face first. He rolled to his back as fast as he could, spitting up dirt and eyes frantically searching for the threat. 

He didn’t have to search far. 

A large jungle cat, colored with green and black stripes, whipped around from where it landed past Dae to charge him yet again. Dae didn’t have time to think. He forced himself to his feet and sprinted away. He had no chance against this beast armed with only a metal coated spike. His best bet was to put as much distance between himself and the cat as possible. 

Luck was on his side, something adjacent to luck anyways. As Dae tumbled over roots erupting between two tall trees he found himself falling. Falling towards a rushing river. He had less than a second for comprehension to dawn in his dark eyes before they were forced shut and all the air was compressed from his lungs. 

The raging water yanked Dae’s body under and dashed him against the rocky sediment at the bottom of the river. Dae submitted himself to the current. After what felt like an eternity Dae’s head broke the surface. He gasped and gulped as much air as he could fit in his lungs before his body was slammed against a large rock jutting out of the river. 

Dae’s shaking fingers latched into the slippery rock. His fingernails bent and stung, lifted from the nailbed as he frantically clutched the stone. Defying the gates, Dae managed to pull himself up onto the rock, out of the river. 

The cat creature was nowhere to be seen. Dae half expected it to have some magical adaptation that allowed it to swim like a fish. The water around him churned but he saw no signs of creatures attempting to drag him under. Even as he’d been in the current, nothing had grabbed, attacked, or bitten him. 

Small mercies, Dae thought to himself. 

The metal Dae had scavenged from the sloth along with the spike it adorned were gone. Lost before Dae even fell into the river. Any hopes Dae had about harvesting metal from the riverbed had been dashed against the rocks with Dae’s body. The current was too strong and the water too deep. 

There were several other rocks jutting out of the water around Dae. If he could manage the jump and keep his balance he could make it to the shore. So Dae stood, legs shaking and hair smearing his glasses with water. Dae brought a hand to his face to touch the frames, shocked they were still on. Unfortunately, a large crack ran down the center of the right lens. Dae didn’t know when it happened. It could have been from the first attack, his little kiss with the ground, or in the water. Not that it mattered much where he’d gotten it. He pulled the frames off and discarded them in the rushing current. Perhaps The Beyond would take it as an offering and go a little easier on Dae. 

Dae didn’t give himself time to over think. The moment he was steady he crouched and leapt to the next rock. His feet slid forward, out from under him and forcing him to his ass. The impact rattled up Dae’s tailbone painfully. But he didn’t slip back into the river, so he decided to view it as a success. Somehow he managed the next two jumps without falling. 

On the final jump Dae’s boots hit the loose gravel of the shore. He cried out in relief before tipping forward to fall on his hands and knees. Blood dripped from his chin to paint the riverbed. Tears fell from his eyes next to it. Dae let himself weep for a moment before forcing himself back to his feet. 

No backup was coming. The only way Dae would get out of this was by his own merrit. He surveyed the treeline, eyes narrowing in attempts to spot creatures that might be camouflaging themselves like the cat. No movement caught his eye but he knew better than to let his guard down. 

Pain prickled along Dae’s ankle and he was once again reminded of his inexperience. When he turned back towards the river he saw tendrils waving and reaching out of the water. One of them had snared his leg and started injecting some sort of poison. Dae used his free leg to stomp down on the offending appendage with all his might. 

The damage was already done. Even as the tendrils retreated into the rushing river Dae felt his body going weak. He fell to the rocky shore, helpless. 

A shadow fell across Dae’s body and he blinked, trying to bring the approaching figure into focus. Something familiar, something like him. Two arms planted on the creature's lips, walking on two feet wearing combat boots almost identical to dae’s. A mop of uneven black hair with a single white streak. Bright red eyes. 

“Guess you just couldn’t make it without me,” 609’s tone was teasing as he bent down over Dae, “If you make it out alive, and that’s a big if, how many guides do you think you’ll kill?” 

Dae wanted to shake his head, open his mouth and defend himself, but he was hardly holding on to consciousness let alone speak. 

“You wanted to bring me with you, didn’t you?” 609 scoffed and poked Dae’s cheek. The sensation was ghostlike and incomplete. No warmth, no woodsmoke, no 609. Whatever that creature put in Dae was causing him to hallucinate. Even knowing it was fake, Dae couldn’t close his eyes. He watched the conjured 609 as if he was Dae’s guiding star. 

“Think they’ll call for me? I’m not that far away. Three hours flight? You’d like that wouldn’t you?” 609 brought one of his hands up to his hair and grabbed a handful of black locks. As he pulled along them they turned white, “Want to leave your mark on me, don’t you?” 

Dae made a pathetic ‘no’ sound in the back of his throat. 609 laughed again. Soothing and sinister all in one. 609 bent down next to Dae’s face. His red eyes flitted down to Dae’s lips. 

“Oh, I see. You don’t want to hurt me, is that it?” Dae nodded, his control slowly returning to him,  “There’s an easy way to see to that, Esper Kane.” 

“Please-” Dae’s voice was hoarse and strained. He braced his hands on the gravel and tried to lift himself up, “Tell me how.” 

609 put a hand on Dae’s back and forced him back down into the gravel. He leaned down and nibbled on Dae’s ear then whispered, “Die here.” 

Tears fell from Dae’s eyes. His breathing grew shallow and whatever fight he’d had drained out of him. 609’s hand cupped his jaw and turned his head up. He followed along obediently. 609 came in close. He filled Dae’s vision, blotting out the dimension around them and all its cruelties. 609’s breath ghosted over Dae’s swollen lip, the cool sensation was almost soothing. 

“But you’re selfish, Esper Kane.” Dae whimpered but didn’t disagree. 609 kissed Dae, briefly and with enough force to hurt, “You’re going to make it out of here. Because you just have to see me again. Even though you know it’s going to kill me.” 

609 dropped Dae back to the ground. Sharp rocks cut at his cheek and he curled into a ball. Clutching his knees to his chest and trying his best to steady his breathing. Crunching soil told Dae that 609 was leaving him. Dae reached a hand out but the illusory figure was already gone. 

Hallucination or not, Dae ached to see him again. 

The rest of the gate was a blur of pain and struggle. Dae remembered digging his fingers in the soil and trying to draw in any metal he could find. The sun never set in the gate. There wasn’t a sun to begin with. When Dae crawled up one of the towering trees and broke the canopy he simply found a white empty expanse. 

Sun or not, night or not, the treetop gave Dae enough security to sleep for two hours. He awoke to a sound close to monkeys chittering. It struck fear in his heart and nearly had him falling out of his perch. When he finally found the source he was relieved to find one of the five creatures had the trappings of a boss monster. 

They were primate-like. The smaller ones resembled mandrills, though patches of scales along their spine and retracting fangs told Dae to watch for snake venom. The largest, the boss monster, looked more like a gorilla. It was at least twice Dae’s size. Its face was elongated and a forked tongue licked out to scent the air around it. Dae had never been so grateful for the gate’s irregular wind patterns. 

A head on confrontation was sure to lead Dae to his death. 

“Die here”

Dae startled and turned to the side where he swore he just felt 609’s lips ghost over the shell of his ear. Naturally, the space was empty. Dae rubbed the spot where he’d been stung anxiously. He’d have to have a healer test his blood. The venom should have been out of his system by now. 

Resolutely ignoring the feeling of red eyes watching his every move, Dae got to work setting up a larger version of the spike trap he fell into. He worked quickly and quietly. He used what little metal he’d excised from the ground to sharpen the sticks he planted in the bottom. The hardest and slowest step came as Dae collected and twisted together various thin vines, creating a net of sorts. 

Maybe if Helena had named him after Arache the weaving would have been easier. Dae laughed to himself at the thought only to slap his hand over his mouth and peer out at the surrounding foliage anxiously. Thankfully, nothing came. 

The entire endeavor took Dae six hours. Add on the two hour nap and the initial hour when Dae first entered the gate and Dae had been stuck for nine hours. Nine hours alone and scared. Nine hours oozing blood from his lip. He was beginning to worry about infection. But he couldn’t spare any thought for it as his plan went into action. 

As soon as the “net” was in place, Dae whistled as loudly as he could. He heard the sounds of multiple large creatures crashing through the forest towards him. Most concerningly, they came from different directions. 

Dae had already planned for this possibility. He tightened his grip on the “rope” he’d made of multiple vines twisted together and used the small ball of iron to sever the other side of the pulley. 

As the primates and cat burst into the clearing Dae went flying into the air. Unfortunately Dae hadn’t accounted for the damage he would incur when putting the strain of his entire body on one joint. His shoulder violently tore out of socket but thankfully remained attached. 

Dae cried out in pain as he was pulled up and out of range of the creatures gnashing teeth. Below him they tumbled right into his trap. A litany of squelches and cracks told Dae his trap had been successful. As he hurtled back towards the jungle floor, safely on the other side, he quickly sprung into action. He lowered himself into one side of the pit and began sorting through the creatures for the gorilla. 

It was easy enough to identify since it was the only one moving. Unlike in Dae’s test, he didn’t bother cleaving the creature open. He sent his metal through the creature's body like a homing arrow. It found its mark with ease. The gorilla, in the process of grabbing at Dae’s fragile human neck, turned to ash in the air. 

The other creatures' corpses followed suit. Through the haze Dae watched their trail. When he identified which way they floated he used his metal to grasp the sticks and create a makeshift staircase up and out of the pit. 

He stumbled through, following the boss monster's ash to the gate he’d come through. When he stumbled through the other side the two guides braced under his arms and hauled him to the waiting ambulance. 

The next day he saw himself in the top news article. A version of himself he didn’t recognize. 

“I didn’t look like that…” Dae pointed to the tablet the guildmaster had set in his lap, frowning. The ‘Dae’ in the picture had no blood, no bruises, no bandages, and no dislocated shoulder. He looked tired but that was the extent of it. 

The real Dae’s hand went to the new scar at the corner of his lip. How did they plan to explain that when they’d edited the wound out from the press release? 

“You’re young so I don’t expect you to understand,” When Dae frowned at the guildmaster, unimpressed, he hurriedly elaborated, “You’re an S-class. People expect you to be untouchable. It’s important that you make it all look easy. Or people will start to worry.” 

“They’ll say we aren’t taking care of you or that the gates are getting more difficult. Before you know it we’ll have riots in the streets. Regular people are already nervous enough around Espers. I’m sure you don’t want it to get so bad that you can’t even leave your house without filling out an official request with the government.” 

Dae didn’t argue. But he transferred to a new guild by the next year.