Chapter 706 (1/2)

Azriel sniffed and frowned. Why did she smell smoke…?

After a bit of searching, she located a bonfire on a nearby roof, surrounded by several smaller fires. The fires were being controlled by two harried-looking acolytes, and in the middle of them…

Snorting, Azriel leapt over and landed on the roof. “Randidly? What are you doing?”

With a sniff, Randidly pulled the dripping mucus up into his nose and glowered at Azriel. Simultaneously, he seemed to be shivering and sweating. It was not a great look, even with his distinctive aura. His arms were wrapped around himself as if trying to control his body. “I am camping. It is a cultural activity with a deep history amongst my people.”

“It is a form of self-torture? You look dead.” Azriel countered.

Randidly scrunched his face up even further, which was very amusing. “Well, it’s a short-term problem. I’ll have it handled soon.”

Randidly ruined the fierce and determined image he was going for by sniffing and rubbing his nose after speaking. Chuckling, Azriel opted to say nothing, although she wanted to point out how much Randidly currently resembled a sick child. His lips were slightly blue and his breathing was shallow. His body clearly was not in its best condition.

It made Azriel profoundly curious what sort of training he had engaged in. For all of Randidly’s flaws, unwillingness to work hard wasn’t one that she had ever witnessed. Honestly, Randidly was hard-working to a fault. It was something that she deeply admired about him. No matter how trivial, he always seemed to be sharpening some part of himself for the future.

Traveling with Randidly had done much to improve Azriel’s own work ethic. Perhaps due to her innate talent, she had never pursued strength as doggedly as Randidly did. She preferred to allow sufficient time for thoughtful meditation and reflection in her training. Meanwhile, Randidly brazenly charged forward.

For all that Azriel would give up anything to prove her Master a true spear user, she had never had a good handle on whether she was accomplishing that by gathering glory. Randidly's impressive display in the Regional Tournament had given her a much needed yard stick. She still had so much more to do in order for her Master to be recognized.

“Would you like some support?” Azriel said lightly while trying not to smile.

“Bah, leave it.” Randidly said. Then he waved his hand at the nearby fires. Immediately, a cuttingly chilly wind blew. The smaller fires were smothered, with the large bonfire flickered and shrank.

“That’s a cute trick,” Azriel said mildly, watching Randidly’s reaction.

His eyes narrowed to slits and he bared his teeth. “For fuck's sake. I can't get rid of this damn cold!”

After a few seconds of studying Randidly, Azriel’s eyes widened. It took some strange logical leaps, but considering how boneheaded Randidly had been during their short image duels… “Did you spend a prolonged amount of time immersing yourself in the chill image in order to temper yourself? That dangerous image that the acolytes warn newcomers away from?”

“I really wish I could say no…” Randidly grumbled.

Azriel laughed. “Randidly, you aren’t a fucking block of iron. You don’t just pound yourself into a shape. You-”

Instantly, a hush fell over the city as the sky seemed to darken. Azriel’s words caught in her mouth. A bright comet flew up from the highest tower in Hastam and began to shoot towards the South. It only too a few seconds to occur, but in that time there was a monstrous sort of heat that grew as the comet hung in the sky above them.

Even Azriel felt a deep wariness in her heart as she looked up and witnessed that heat in the sky. It was soul crushing. It eroded self-confidence and endurance. It was a physical force in the world. Heat that devoured all resistance.

It seemed that Aylwind Sky was moving once more.

Just as soon as it arrived, the comet was gone. Azriel looked back at Randidly. Then she crinkled her nose. “You look satisfied.”

“It was the first bit of warmth I’ve felt in a while,” Randidly said while rolling his neck in slow circles. And for sure, some of the pale skinned and hollow-eyed look that he had had was lost. But even from standing near him, Azriel could feel a vague hint of cold wafting off of his body.

She tried not to think too deeply about what Randidly had done to himself. Not only was there an extremely dangerous change of permanently warping his images, but he also risked being lost in another’s image. There were a few times that her own master had provided Azriel with recordings of its piercing strikes. But it had warned Azriel not to rely on them too heavily, or use them for too long. There were too many risks associated with submerging yourself in another image.

And yet here Randidly was. The fact that the image of frost and chill clung to him, even now, demonstrated that he had truly gone deep. But he seemed to be recovering at a noticeable pace. What sort of resilience did he have?