Chapter 665 (2/2)

But Randidly didn’t want to think of that now. Instead, Randidly remembered the altered memory with his father that occurred in his first visit to the Patron of Ash’s world. There, he had spoken to Ezekiel where in real life he had remained silent out of fear. It was a good memory.

The smell of the backseat, the sound of the rain and the windshield wipers… the way the seatbelt cut at his neck...

The colors around Randidly shifted, and he was there. Moving like a phantom, Randidly stepped out of the car and into the road. Rain fell in sheets, creating huge puddles even along the side of the highway. When their car blazed through in its dash to the hospital, huge waves of liquid were thrown up.

As Randidly continued to walk in the rain away from the setting of his memory, the world faded. Soon there was nothing but the sound of rain. Then that too was gone.

But more sounds rose to fill Randidly’s awareness. First the sound of his breath, and then the sound of his heartbeat.

Stopping, Randidly looked up in shock. He saw… a light? A real one?

It was difficult to tell because the colors continued to swim everywhere else, but there was a low glow in the distance that seemed to ground the rest of the chaos. There was something. A beacon. It was a little off of Randidly’s path, so he hesitated. But as he couldn’t trust his sense of direction, Randidly began to head towards it.

Time had stopped. There was only the walking and the light.

And then, after what felt like a year, Randidly arrived at the light. It was just brightness, and he stepped into it. The world shuddered.

Suddenly, Randidly was on a vast plain filled with living grain, although none that he recognized. It shifted and rustled in the wind, and Randidly spun around slowly to take it all in.

“I have three secrets for you, boy.”

Randidly spun around. Standing a few meters behind him was a figure with pale green skin and a cat-like tail that flipped back and forth. But his eyes were grey ash, and every second more flaked off and drifted down from his face, like some sort of terrible tears.

“You are… the Patron of Ash?” Randidly said slowly.

The being nodded. “For now, know me to be called Ulaat. This is… how I looked before. Except for my eyes. Not even I can escape what I have become. Now look, it is beginning.”

Randidly’s gaze followed along where Ulaat pointed, and he saw nothing but the field for several long seconds. Then there was a soft ripple in the air. The grain in the surrounding area was blown away as if by a sudden wind.

Riiiiiipppppppppppp.

Something akin to a cloth tearing sounded out, in the same way that setting a porcelain teacup down sounded like an earthquake. The whole area was consumed by the noise, and Randidly winced. The air distorted further, and suddenly there was an opening there, midair. A portal.

“The first secret you earn for being patient and determined. Although I dislike the necessity of that test, age has taught me that I have no time for the fools who cannot manage it. The secret I offer you is the truth of the Second Calamity. Do you desire this truth?”

Unsure of whether this was a trick question, Randidly nodded slowly.

The Patron of Ash, Ulaat, smiled. “Simply put, the great second Calamity… is yourself. A parallel world where you have chosen a different image for yourself. The darkest alternative, in your own mind. And it is that possibility that has given Tellus nightmares for so long.”