Chapter 809 (1/2)

With the distractions by Creta and Lyra, Alta slipped through their noose and proceeded deeper into the box canyon. For all that she was intrigued that the Monster Prince was the opponent chosen for Lyra while three of their other haymakers were used on Creta, she kept her eyes forward. If she managed to accomplish her mission, all of this would end. The rest didn’t matter so much.

Creta would be fine without her, Alta thought bitterly. She always had been.

There were a few guards, which Alta reduced to ash on sight, but most of the forces were behind in the ever-growing melee. Even as Alta rushed forward, she could feel the cracks and booms of battle shake the entire canyon. Small pebbles dislodged and fell down the walls, hopping and skipping into her path.

Something to watch, Alta reflected, eyeing the canyon walls carefully. Truly, just as the Monster Prince hadn’t thought about what to do with the carts, Alta hadn’t thought about what would happen if their fighting destroyed the canyon and collapsed tons of stone on top of the ruins.

It would be quite awkward to fight off the other factions while the excavated the runes that Alta needed to work. A strange reversal of their current position that Alta hoped to avoid.

When Alta rounded the next corner, she stopped. Because there they were.

With trembling hands that couldn’t even be hidden by her largely metal body, she traced the runes that covered the ground. They spiraled and twisted together in strange patterns, drawing the fabric of this world.

Well, that wasn’t accurate, Alta reflected as she picked her way through the deserted ruins. This was not the origin of this world.

Whatever these were, it spoke to the origin of the Progenitor himself. A smaller and simpler genesis, but with far-reaching repercussions.

Very quickly, Alta’s expression turned sour. She took stock of the area.

The runes were only in a thirty meter in diameter circle. There were strangely shaped protuberances covered in the thin impressions, and then several dozen meters of flat ground that had been carefully swept.

Another rumble moved through the canyon floor. Alta grimaced; better to get to work then.

In the center of the runes was the most densely packed of the runes. They spiraled together and formed a circle that could only be described as a door. It was due to that resemblance that the other factions believed that it was possible to use the door to pass to another, better world. The Progenitor’s world. A world that wasn’t floating on a sea that would destroy them all. One that wasn’t afflicted by fickle seasons and unpredictable calamities.

Which was foolish, Alta knew.

Based on her research and her experience in the prior runes, there still existed a connection between the Progenitor and the world. It was a spiritual connection of indeterminate strength; there was no real way to test the extent of the connection from within the world. But it was clear that things the Progenitor did affected the world. By extension, things that happened here should affect the Progenitor.

What the Monster Prince and his ilk wanted to do was flood this side of the connection with energy. Hopefully, that would cause a commiserate amount of energy from the Progenitor. With energy flooding from both sides… well, this was where Alta lost any sort of faith in their plan.

With energy flowing from both sides, the other people hoped a portal would be established. A connection that it would be possible to physically pass through. Or at the very least, the energy would flood into this world and rid it of the endless Sea of Annihilation below. Which is why Alta couldn’t support such a plan.

In addition, Alta had lived a life that had seen everything precious she possessed ripped away for the greedy satisfaction of others. If there really was a Progenitor, he had let such things happen without lifting a finger. Atla’s story was one of thousands that were torn apart by a force she had no hope of resisting. And the world grew increasingly strange as the Progenitor’s actions warped the core of the world to destructive tendencies.

If you want destruction, Alta thought bitterly. I’ll give it to you.

In her chest, heat slowly built. She called on the image of Ash that she held close to herself every moment of the day and it answered. Heat flowed through her and into the runes below. It was a balancing act because the shallow nature of the markings made it so they could hold very little energy. But Alta had practiced a lot for this moment.

And she was very, very good.

Alta’s plan started the same as the other plan. Fill the connection between the world and the Progenitor with energy. Draw the reaction. Then, their viewpoints diverged. Rather than hoping for some sort of arc that would carry them away from their doom, Alta accepted the doom of the world. She just wanted to drag the Progenitor down with them.

She would ignite the energy and burn the connection to ashes. They would be severed, totally and completely. Alta didn’t concern herself with the details of the fall out because she didn’t care. What she wanted was to make the fickle and thoughtless god who had created this world pay. Afterward, Alta would be at peace. She didn’t care what would happen then.

That was her and Creta’s answer to the god who had asked impossible things of them.