Chapter 809 (2/2)
Her eyes glowed with glee as the runes slowly began to emit light. From the outside, working inwards, light traveled through the runes slowly, flowing like water.
Brighter and brighter on the ground, hotter and hotter in her chest as she drew more and more from the ashen image. It was pain, but a welcome one. Just a bit more, and-
The energy reached the central area, the door. The ground cracked and dissolved, and Alta fell with the broken pieces of the runes into the area below.
“PROGENITOR’S SLIMY DICK!” Alta swore, struggling to right herself after crashing to the ground. There were a few nearby boulders that she smashed into that she burnt into bubbling slime in her fury. If the runes were broken, then she wouldn’t be able to-
Alta froze.
The air around her flickered, and then like a hazy mist, another world appeared before her eyes. It was somewhat like the dreaming of the highest Land, but this was a shallow and weak reflection that Alta was seeing currently. It hung around like the ghost of clothing over the caves she was in, but she could clearly see the cave system around her.
She was in a room. The colors of the ghost room were bright and eye-catching. But it was a small room. In the room, with Alta, there was a figure. Male. His hair was short and dark. From his stance, he was furious with Alta. And suddenly Alta realized there was a ghost on her too. She was someone else, in this dream world. She was the Progenitor.
She wore his limbs like a strange coat. They shifted and moved with her as she raised the pale and fuzzy hand in wonder.
The male figure was shouting, ghostly words that held no weight. No sound reached Alta’s ears. Heedless, she walked to a mirror on the far wall of the short room. The mirror itself was fuzzy, but the reflection was crystal clear: a pale-faced, ten-year-old Alta stared back at her out of her fuzzy body.
Such was the shock that Alta couldn’t look away for several seconds. The other Alta’s eyes widened.
Then Alta twisted and sprinted away, running out of the small room. She ran down ghostly stairs to the ground floor with long windows, but then she continued running downward. Her ghostly feet knew where she needed to go. There was a door, and then a long hallway. A tunnel through the ground. The air here was so heavy it was difficult to breathe.
The heat in Alta’s chest was unbearable. The fabric of the dream seemed to hum as Alta proceeded farther down the hallway.
Eventually, she reached a spot in the hallway that was different. The dream was singing around her, a distant song. And on the ground, a mirror of the runes above, this time spun in gold and glowing with the power to-
“Welcome to the beginning.”
Alta spun around. The dream was gone, and now she was in a deep cave with a strange emerald illumination from pools of glowing liquid. The runes were still there, a mirror of the faded runes above done artfully in gold, the true runes that were the core of this land. And sitting next to the runes were two Earth Golems.
“At least that’s what I’ve been told. This is the spot the Progenitor was born.” The female Earth Golem looked to the scarred male, who nodded and folded his arms. The woman turned back to Alta. “I’m not very religious, you understand. But I believe in what I can see, and I can certainly see the power of this place.”
“Who are you?” Alta whispered, staring at the two of them. She could feel the power of their images even now. They would not be easy opponents.
The man grinned, stretching the scars across his face. “I am the knife that will end you, abomination. You will not destroy the Progenitor’s work. Before your device arrives, we shall end you.”
“We are the blood of Carthak,” The woman said softly. “The blood blessed by the Progenitor. I am not normally the violent sort, but… we will stop you. Without your precious machines or mechs, we-”
Alta began to laugh. The heat was growing worse in her chest. She felt the urge to cough, even though her physical esophagus had been replaced long ago. She laughed for almost a minute, while the two Earth Golems watched.
Finally, she forced herself to stop; continuing was too painful. Finally, she could admit it. Finally, she could speak of the sacrifice she had made for her and Creta’s dream and never spoken a word of.
Not even to Creta. Especially not to Creta. Because she wouldn’t understand. “My… device? The machinery above…? Fools. Do you know for how long I’ve dreamt of this day? How long I’ve waited….? How long I’ve planned?!? Of course you don’t…”
The heat at Alta’s core grew unbearable as the furnace in her chest began firing on all cylinders. The cloak around her began to smolder and burn away. “There is no device… because I’ve made myself into the key that will tear this all down. I am your dreaded device. Lament, because your prayers have gone unanswered. You are too late to stop me.”