Chapter 199 (2/2)

Two hours later, the Tassle on the 13th pole fell. Helen’s eyes sharpened. Not because of anything in regards to the Tassles, but because the old man from the Steel Feather Style was staring intently at the Tassle on the 19th pole. A frown slowly grew on his face.

Based on this progression… Helen grimaced. At least, if there was some sort of pattern moving through the poles, the Ghosthound’s pole would be the last to be reached.

Sure enough, around 16 hours into the exercise, the Tassle on the 9th pole fell. There was only the two on the Ghosthound’s pole now. Helen felt the tension descend through her spine, twisting her body inward, into a small ball. What was most frustrating was that she could do nothing. She supposed that was to be expected, generally spear attendants were rather common, and rather useless. They might obtain some small amount of teachings or benefits from the relationship, but it was a route taken primarily by the desperate.

Like a desperate woman following an impulse, all in order to escape the grasp of her family.

But her time with the Ghosthound and Shal and Divvit was special. They had treated them with respect, and the two experienced spear users had both casually given pointers to the spear attendants, which was a great honor, considering they both were at or near the Adept level of spearmanship.

It was a family very unlike her own, in a way. A brutal and violent family. A family that sometimes had sex with each other-

“Shut the fuck up.” Helen whispered to herself, her eyes narrowing into slits. Why the fuck did her brain always spit out the most fucked up shit?

So she tried to maintain a clear head and just stared at the 7th pole, waiting for something to change.

****

Just the weight, just him, in eternal balance. Randidly had proceeded past the stage where he felt the exertion, he had just internalized it. Additionally, he didn’t seem to breath any longer. The only movements were the circulation of Aether within his chest. It was wild and hungry too, and the longer Randidly resisted the urge to give in, the more it responded to his actions. He would bear this weight to the day he died, he swore to himself.

Of course, another part of him was very skeptical of this sort of fatalism, but it was certainly easier for him to commit to something ridiculous in order to manage something attainable. It pushed his boundaries in a very real way. He even had thoughts of continuing to hold up the weight long past the time of the Challenge of Tarnak.

Just to see his own limits.

It was also possible for another reason; his eyes were long since closed, and time was a nebulous concept. It grew and stretched, becoming infinite and fleeting. It was extremely strange. There was only the struggle, and under the metaphoric weight of that struggle, time bent and struggled.

Although most of his attention had to remain focused on the struggle, the constant cycling of skills used to maintain his position, another part of him explored that small insight into time. Sometimes it flowed quickly, other times slowly. It was not even and standardized, but elastic, like a rubber band that grew longer the more pressure there was.

But that wasn’t exactly true, was it? It was standardized. For even the most vicious and painful experiences were eventually yanked offstage by time, as the world moved on. But for the truly terrible experiences, that time would remain within you, endlessly looping, endlessly heavy, just dragging at your sanity…

It was almost as if… there were two parts of time. The time you experience, and the time that passes….

Randidly would perhaps have continued to puzzle over this with his spare attention, but in his chest, something strange was happened. He, with a great effort of will, returned to his inward area, where he saw his 5 emerald wisps of energy dancing. But they weren’t the source of the commotion. It was his Soul Skill.

Immediately, Randidly felt a sinking feeling, but as he watched, his fears didn’t come to pass; the flaming ash energy that continued part of his cycle was beginning to glow brighter, and somehow more furious. There was also a strange vibration in the air. A strange, eloquent resonance.

Enemy.