Chapter 406 (1/2)

Sydney tried, for the entire walk back from the South end of the mall to the staircase to the roof, to think of the word that could describe how she felt, being near Randidly after so long. To her surprise, it was most aptly described as a violent apathy. She could feel her emotions smashing leftwards and rightwards, furiously, but there was no need for an outlet. She seemed eminently content to remain silent, feeling nothing.

Perhaps the real problem was that she had been struggling to quash her hope for the past several months, that the absurd name Randidly Ghosthound actually referred to HER Randidly Ghosthound. And then she had been furious how much she wished it was him. Then she felt guilty for wishing so vehemently that it wasn’t him, and that she sorta hoped she would stumble across his dead body in a ditch so she could finally put the damn emotions to rest.

On and on they would cycle, swirling within herself, a snake chasing its tail, continuing forever. Or it would have. Had not he actually come, actually been… Randidly, causing her emotions to grind to a halt. Now….

Now she did her best to ignore him, as she walked purposefully forward. When they reached the roof, she paused, waiting for his reaction. Although it had taken some doing, Sydney didn’t regret building a miniature castle on top of the mall, a sprawling, hulking behemoth of a thing that had taken her months. It certainly looked sinister now though, especially in profile. Plus, doing it had done wonders for her in the beginning, giving her a fanatical purpose, and also grinding some Skills up to the point she could begin finishing Paths, and gaining useful Skills.

Randidly peered up at it, his face solemn, ignoring the rain plastering his hair to his skull.

At this moment, while he examined the heavy stone castle on top of the mall, Sydney allowed herself to really examine him, looking at him, and more specifically, what he was wearing.

The most obvious, and the eye-catching thing was the strange cloak he was wearing, that appeared to be some sort of… bone-mail made entirely of tiny rings of bone. At first, Sydney had assumed it was some sort of metal, but there was a hollow clinking sound when the different pieces shifted, which was completely different than the noise metal would have made. In addition, each of those small rings of bone was covered in strange runes. Sometimes, they would flash with a strange energy as Randidly moved.

Now though, as he stood still, he was just covered in a strange, bulky white cloak. It almost looked silly, but Sydney’s instincts told her that it wasn’t a simple thing. After all, even the idea of threading so many of those bones together gave her the pangs of an oncoming headache. Whoever had produced this cloak had spent an incredible amount of time working on it, shaping it to be just so.

Underneath the cloak, Sydney could make out a set of leathers, lightly dyed red, that were even more impressive. East End had its own tanners and leather workers, and although they had heard how proficient the forges of Donnyton were, Sydney wasn’t too worried. She had believed that even if they could produce more, the geniuses working tirelessly under her could do better, in small doses.

That red-brown leather set shattered that confidence. But that was an issue for another time.

Randidly turned from the castle and looked at her. Sydney turned away and walked into the castle. They walked through the wide, wooden doors, into the entry room, where Sydney led Randidly towards the stairs. For this… Sydney planned on heading to her private study. Some privacy would allow her…

She paused. Her emotions continued to swirl, seemingly heedless of her thought processes. They were almost a separate entity at this point.

But honestly… why did she need privacy…?

Her body was another separate entity and carried her forward. Within minutes, she walked through the door, allowed Randidly to enter, and told Drake to guard the door. Then she closed the door and turned to Randidly.

With a flick of the wrist, she created a goblet of ice. After a second of reflection, she created another, then cleared her throat. “Would you like a drink?”

Nodding slowly, Randidly said. “...Yes. Still, hard to really feel anything these days…”

“But it’s better than nothing,” Sydney said, going to the cabinet and removing some spiced rum from the shelf. She knew what he meant in more ways than he perhaps meant. It was very difficult, even for her who didn’t focus on Vitality or Endurance, to reach a point of being drunk without multiple bottles of liquor. But more than that, she was so cold, so numb. Feeling things was a distant memory.

As she was pouring the drinks, he started speaking.

“I thought you died.” He said, his voice almost… wondering. Raw and lost, filled with a strange tension that Sydney could also empathize with. Sydney at least had Ace, for all that the human monster they had fought with had warped him into something… broken. She wasn’t alone, facing the vicissitudes of the System. Randidly had no one.

Sydney wanted to turn around and hug Randidly, tell him they were back together after so long, that again, he had shown up, surprising her, when she thought that she had seen everything he could manage. And from the rumors that she had heard about him… the things that he had been able to accomplish… they were impossible. He was the most powerful human alive, and he was that same dumb boy that couldn’t hit a tree from 20 meters.

But instead, she found herself turning around and saying. “So. Why have you come?”

****