Chapter 307 (1/2)

Randidly looked around slowly. So what the Wild Rider was saying was… he already had a companion, and it lived here, inside of him? Here, at his core, deep in Aether.

A smile danced across Randidly’s face, slowly growing, stretching across his skin. Then he stepped, crossing through the deep darkness inside of himself, flooded with Aether. It was a lonely and echo-y area, not a place to exist.

Us.

Randidly‘s memory of that moment still shook him, the freely given support, the strange acceptance, the deep need, the bright first spark of hope. So much was conveyed into a single, deep emotion, expressed only as a vibration. And yet Randidly had left… whatever it was here. He had thought…

Well he hadn’t really thought at all. He had struggled with the Creature then, and that struggle had consumed him. Even later, when he had the vision of that strange being in his chest, during the Trial of Ash, he hadn’t given it another thought afterwards. Once more, his current struggles had kept him from pursuing that truth.

And now, only when he was about to die, he was going to go barging in, asking for help…?

Randidly felt like a dick of a landlord. And of a friend. Or of a companion. It was sorta hard to conceptualize what they were to each other.

But still he walked forward, taking his time, even though the threat of his death loomed above him. After everything this creature had done for him… it just felt right to be respectful, despite the urgency. It wasn’t as though a few seconds either way would likely make a difference. He didn’t even know exactly what he had to do. Just… ask for help…?

Randidly found himself at his heart, the ice cold, iridescent heat spot at his heart, where Aether flowed outward, which was where this being dwelled, for whatever reason.

After a moment’s hesitation, Randidly reached out. “Are you…?”

Here.

The word was worlds wide, strangely conveying so many things. The being’s struggles and pain, the plight of Randidly’s body, Randidly’s body as its vessel, a wistfulness, a curiosity, a great wariness, a dulled mind, and a small joy at the other’s visit.

They all crashed into Randidly, sending him staggering somewhat. Being here, directly here, made each word produced by the other to be incredibly powerful. To the point that Randidly had a hard time enduring. But he couldn’t turn away. That power made Randidly believe slightly that this being might be able to provide some solution.

Even now, he had no idea what he was doing, or what his goal was. But he knew he was desperate, and based on the Wild Rider’s words the answer was here.

“I might die…. I think.” Randidly said, unable to really articulate it any other way. He could feel the rumbling going worse, shaking the very foundation of this place. An earthquake of the soul.

I fix.

It was…. even more complex, this time, the sound. But he could feel the sentiment. Some of the more detailed plans were lost in translation somehow. However, before Randidly could even feel the flood of relief, there was another word that gave him pause.

But price. Two.

Where the previous words were filled with complexity, this was simple, just vast. Far reaching, wide. Grave sacrifice. Whereas now Randidly was a vessel, somewhat, they would need to bind themselves to each other. A permanent bond. One that would benefit both, but also shackle both. Their lives would be tied together. As for the other price…

Randidly just smiled, and stepped forward. A lot of the information contained in the other being’s brief words was lost as he pressed forward, but it was mostly a sense of vastness and time that Randidly didn’t really have the time to parse apart. It was a permanent bond that they would be forming.

It was not that this form they had already had wasn’t permanent, Randidly thought. Well, he couldn’t be sure, but the way that being had settled in the Aether Crossroads in his chest made him believe that it was here to stay.

Perhaps he should think more closely about it, but… Randidly trusted this being. He had seen from its eyes, felt its pure emotions and the care it had treated Randidly with. Even now, that they were so close, he could feel it using Aether streams to control the worst of the soul tremors. But it was too little too late. It had no body, no real existence, somehow. It was just a strange, free consciousness that took shelter here, in the Aether, to survive.

Or at least, that is what Randidly suspected. But although he didn’t have all of the information, he still believed in the being. It was willing to help him, and had in the past. So much that Randidly had accomplished, escaping the grasp of the Creature and seizing control of his Aether, was due to this being.

Randidly took another step forward, putting himself at the heart of the Aether Crossroads inside of him, which was where the being rested. It swirled around him hesitating.