Chapter 811 (1/2)

Randidly chuckled, despite the panic fluttering in his stomach. It was hard to suppress the memories of the time they had spent together, working on understanding Mana Engraving. “Of course you did. You lost sight of why you are fighting. What did you expect?”

Instantly, some of the old spunk of Lucretia appeared on her face. Her glower had physical weight. “Hmph. What would you know of my failure, oh lofty Progenitor?”

Randidly’s grin shrunk. “A lot. You fought here, in my Soulskill. Now that I’m looking, I can feel the threads of meaning running through it all.”

“So you offer me salvation once more? Another chance at life?” Lucretia asked, her gaze fixing on Randidly with a strange desperation. Then Lucretia began to cough, her upper body shuddering while her lower body lay completely still a small distance away.

After she had finished coughing, Randidly slowly shook his head. “I’m not giving you any special treatment if that’s what you are asking. I can’t. It wasn’t my power that gave you your first chance, Lucretia. It was your own.”

“So I die,” Lucretia said. With the slowness of failing capability, she brought her had to her chest in wonder. “To think… I am so sad. And scared. I don’t… There was so much to do. I must… I must watch Alta to the end. Has she-?”

“Not yet.” Randidly stood and looked West, where Alta battled against Allica and Rejt. Then he lowered himself down on his haunches to be next to Lucretia. “She fights, even now. It seems like she should be able to overwhelm them. But she is not doing that. Such is the Path she has chosen. Too blind to see the way forward.”

Lucretia seemed to think about that. Blood continued to pour out of her wound. Randidly could sense that the time for Lucretia was growing short. If she wanted to speak, she had better do it soon.

But Randidly realized that he couldn't force these conversations. That was what he had learned from trying to talk to Cailm so often.

So it always is, between parents and children, Randidly thought as he stared at the bloodstained stones beneath Lucretia. That the adults have the understanding and the preparation, but the children have all of the control. Because I made this world, it was always my responsibility to make myself available to guide them. And I didn’t.

They asked for me over the years. And I wasn’t fucking there.

“Why…” Once more, Lucretia licked her lips. “Why did I lose?”

“Because you didn’t want to win,” Randidly said softly.

Lucretia gave Randidly a death glare, that had him chuckling again. Randidly shrugged. “No, it’s true. You were so fixated on being there for Alta that you stopped listening to what you wanted. You were just… like a security camera. Watching, under the guise of protection. But for it, Alta grew spoiled.”

“What’s a security camera?”

Randidly sourly looked up at the sky. Really, this was where the System translation failed him? But explaining would take too long...

So Randidly shrugged again and said. “What I mean is that there is more to being a parent than being there. You also have to communicate. You stopped communicating. You allowed a child to shape the future before she was ready, and this is the result.”

Lucretia gave Randidly a hard look. “You are certainly acting knowledgeable these days.”

He winced. “Yes. My crime is a hundred times worse than your own. But I intend to fix that. Do you?”

Lucretia bared her teeth. “I’m dying.”

“And you’ve died before,” Randidly said as he straightened. “Do you remember what you were thinking when the Autarch unwound the fabric of what you once were? There was a spark there. Something that refused to be extinguished. That sustained you then. It might do so again. Good luck.”