Chapter 700 (2/2)

Something snapped.

The next thing Naffur knew, he was rushing across the rooftops, his vision blurry from tears. His breathing was rough and the dull pain in his hands was lost amongst the sea of crashing emotions. Fear, anxiety, anger, depression, loneliness…

As Naffur ran for longer and longer, his breathing became even rougher. Although he had a passable amount of physical fitness, Naffur had never done anything like this. The size of the buildings slowly lowered. Above, the sky grew darker and darker. Stars loomed overhead, seeming to stare down on Naffur and notice his every flaw.

“I can’t stay here… I can’t stay here… I can’t stay here…” Naffur repeated it like a mantra. Every time he said it, there was a split second where he lost the sharp memory of what had just happened.

It wasn’t a big deal that she returne his gift.

It just meant she didn’t care.

She didn’t care.

As the tears slowly transitioned to sobs, Naffur was forced off the roof onto the ground. Passing the stacked piles of materials near the new construction on the outskirts of Orchard, Naffur stumled out of the city and into the wild. He didn’t know where he was going, but he wasn’t going to stay here.

She didn’t care.

*****

“I’m sorry to ask this, but… am I able to return this?” Mareen said, feeling profoundly awkward.

The flower stall owner frowned. “So soon? You have been looking at this flower crown for months! If you just wanted it for your birthday party, I would have let you rent it.”

“No, no.” Mareen’s smile turned soft. “I do love it, but… someone got me another. Someone special. Somehow… he picked the one I liked the most. Isn’t that something.”

“Ahh….. indeed.” The old woman reached out and took the flower crown. Then she blessed Mareen with a warm smile. “Serendipity is a strange thing… listen when the universe tells you something, little Mareen.”

Blushing, Mareen looked at the ground. “Yea… I think I will.”

****

Randidly looked up at the sky. The stars made strange shapes in the Tellus sky, showing a completely different universe. One part of Randidly wondered what sort of distance separated the Earth from Tellus. Was it possible to traverse the distance physically, or were the two located in separate universes?

But that was a small part of Randidly’s gaze. Most of his attention was on the Aether that filled the sky.

The heartbeat of Tellus, the sharp image of the spear, was becoming increasingly clear. Aether was being produced as the flow of Aether rubbed against the calcified Aether of Tellus and slowly wore it down. By now, the force of the heartbeat of the sky had reached a critical mass of strength, and it was rapidly breaking down the previously held Aether of the world. Soon, the old images would be worn down to nothing.

Still, Randidly frowned. Because he couldn’t help but notice that although the Aether was broken apart and set forth in the world in a much more digestible form, a lot of the sharp violence and aggression that was present in the old Aether persisted. If anything, the breaking served to exacerbate it. This vicious Aether drifted downwards, settling on the increasingly active front lines.

Randidly’s fight with Helen would be the day after tomorrow. Today had been an explosion of attacks of the Wights in the wake of Aylwind Sky finally moving. Most of the the fighting was not near the capitol, but Randidly communicated with Platton and learned how there was a groundswell of support from farmers and tradesmen. They were aggressive and they were out for blood.

Tellus was changing. And Randidly had a sinking suspicion that it meant he was going to learn quite a bit about the Second Calamity, at the cost of the lives of people he had met here.