Chapter 784 (1/2)

“It’s been a while,” She said with genuine sweetness. Her smile was picture perfect. So perfect that Randidly felt thrown back in time to the days were airbrushed actors and performers stared out with glassy eyes from glossy covers. From a time where surface became substance.

Randidly grinned in response, but there was very little pleasure in the expression. He did not believe in this for a second. To find Lyra here of all places certainly warned him that there were more cooks in the kitchen of his Soulskill than he had realized. “...are you on your best behavior? Is that what this is? Like a child with her hand caught in the cookie jar?”

They stood surrounded by the shifting images of Randidly’s past. The Seventh Land’s strange magic churned around them, heedless of their obliviousness of its endeavors. Right now, they were suspended at the moment that Randidly passed through the first test of the Patron of Ash. Where he was required to walk down the steps of a huge, amphitheater-style area with different levels. And at the center, there was a strange crystal that pulsed with the power of ash.

Now, Randidly knew that crystal was the physical manifestation of the Ashen Image, but at the time he hadn’t thought deeply about it. He had simply passed through the memories each circle contained for him, receiving the chance to redo some of the tensest moments of his life.

Then he touched that bit of ash and was reborn, tainted by that image implicitly. All in preparation of his receiving that terrible power within his body. It did not help Randidly’s mood to be reminded of how others who were wilier than he had used him to their own ends.

Lyra pressed her lips together. It did give Randidly a good deal of pleasure to physically watch her suppress a sarcastic response. After centering herself, Lyra’s expression softened and she said, “Maybe. But I wanted to understand you. And you know what? The more I watch, the harder it is for me to understand.”

Randidly remained silent but tilted his head in an invitation for Lyra to continue. Randidly had a lot of questions about how and why Lyra was here. For all she stated it was to understand him, Randidly didn't forget that Lyra was originally an actor. And a very good one, at that. Her existence inside of his Soulskill made everything all the more surreal.

Was this a dream? Part of the trouble of the Soulskill? Or...

And he couldn’t forget her involvement with the Creature. She was a poison that it would be so easy to ignore and swallow.

“I’m wondering… do you want to fight until you are annihilated?” Lyra said. “I’ve gone through many of the memories of in this place I’m not saying that your alternatives were ever easy, but you always choose to stubbornly refuse the influence of others. You value freedom and independence above safety. From my entire viewing, I could only find a single example of you accepting another’s help: the Ashen Image! And I think I know why. You value purity and innocence. That is what you are trying to protect. But purity is dangerous. Fragile. Brittle. Such a world is a utopia; it collapses when exposed to reality. That’s all I’m trying to say.”

Randidly just looked at Lyra. Purity? Innocence? Lofty goals. Was she being honest? Was that truly what he appeared to value?

But she was right about one thing; Randidly dearly wanted the Earth to be free from the influence of the System. That was the reason he fought and trained so tirelessly. Because aside from gathering strength, he could see no way to change the course of Earth’s fate.

“It’s funny that you are here,” Randidly said quietly. “I… had a thought to look for you when I returned to Earth. To apologize. To listen to what you had to say, even if I would not agree.”

With flashing eyes, Lyra spoke with a hint of hostility. “And the way you say that makes me believe you have since changed your mind?”

Lyra’s hair was pulled up in a messy bun. Strands of golden hair curled down along the sides of her face in loose and glittering strands. Her eyes were still a piercing red-violet, the System’s Aether made manifest. And his Aether too, mixed in there. Her nose and chin were still sharp, but her face had grown more defined since he had seen her. With broad and high cheekbones, there was no denying that hers was a face that broke hearts.

And as Randidly watched, her expression softened further. “No matter what you think, the Path you follow leads to a dead end. That’s why I had to come to hear, to understand. The world is much, much messier than that. Pure things can be chased… but never found.”

“So this becomes a warning for me?” Randidly said slowly. He studied her face. The red of her lips. The barely visible shifts in facial muscles as they stared at each other. The tips of her ears. The soft movements of her jaw as she spoke.

Lyra sighed. “This is a peace offering. I… likely should have asked to be here. And to find me thumbing through your memories… is undoubtedly not an easy thing. I just want to help. Even though you don’t agree with my means, you cannot deny that, dog-... Randidly. And if the only difference is the means, I believe there should be a certain amount of… civility between us.”

Randidly chewed on his lip, thinking. Why was Lyra here now? Two possibilities emerged in his mind as sinister objectives, with a single genuine alternative coming to mind.

The genuine object was, as she said: a peace offering. Certainly a twisted one, but… Randidly couldn’t deny that even during the height of their… affair, Lyra was a strange bird. But that was assuming a lot, considering that Randidly had only given casual thought to how much work it would have taken for another to build a bridge into his Soulskill without an existing connection, and it was not an easy thing.

One sinister objective would be to either figure out more about the Calamities or rather what Randidly knew about the Calamities. The more worrying possibility was that she was here to somehow warp Randidly’s Soulskill. Which gave Randidly quite a bit of stress. Managing the Soulskill without outside influence was already hard enough.

And the Creature had already demonstrated a willingness to interfere with his Soulskill…

Randidly looked up sharply. “Are you still working with the Creature? If so, there is nothing for us to talk about. My opinions remain… firm.”