Chapter 812 (1/2)

Randidly arrived around the time that Alta’s confusion at her loss dissolved into sobs. Almost unseeing, she looked up at him as he stood over her and slowly gathered her hands into his own. “Why…?”

“I’m sorry. Someone should have told you long ago. They should have warned you that this Path was empty.” Randidly said softly.

Alta’s hands tightened around his own. “But it was MY Path. I chose it!”

“You chose wrong. So I’m here to ask…” As Randidly spoke, he felt the rotten karma moving in Alta’s chest. Old wrongs ready to weigh heavily upon him for the rest of his days if he chose the easier path. But like he told Cailm… all things had a cost.

Within Alta’s chest, the old flowers twitched. Their petals had long fallen off of and pooled in her chest. The rancid smell of rot hung around her soul like a mangy dog begging for scraps of food. All of Alta had slowly been destroyed from within by the heavy weight of this karma that had been left to die.

Could I have said something, that day when I showed her the true power of ash…? Randidly wondered. And he knew the answer was yes. What he could have shown her didn’t matter. What would have mattered was that he took responsibility for what he had done. He could have talked with her. He should have shown her that ash was not everything.

But he hadn’t. And this karma now bound him to ask of Alta a favor.

All things had a cost.

“...I ask… for forgiveness.” Randidly said simply.

“Fuck… you…” Alta spat out. Then she died, the image inside of her extinguished.

Sighing, Randidly straightened. He turned to Rejt, who had finished making his peace with the passing of Tessa. The two men regarded each other silently for several seconds.

“To you too, I apologize,” Randidly said with a short bow. “I’ve… made too many mistakes to count. There might not have been an easy answer for how to stop what happened here, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t my responsibility.”

Rejt shrugged and walked over to Allica, helping her stand. “Bah, we are friends. There is no need to ask for forgiveness. I am sure I might make some minor mistakes in the future that will require forgiveness as well. Such is life.”

Randidly’s eyebrows twitched. “I don’t think you understand. I’m the Progenitor. All of this-”

“It is known,” Rejt nodded sagely. “Did you not tell me years ago, in the cathedral of your making?”

Randidly opened his mouth and paused. Well, he had told Rejt he was the Progenitor in the Cathedral while they were cleaning, but Rejt had acted amused like Randidly had spoken a joke. So Randidly had thought he hadn’t been believed. “Perhaps it is so. Which explains why some of your prayers have been so irreverent over the past few months.”

Rejt grinned. “I have not seen it written that God and Earth Golem may not be friends. So I am candid. It is one of my many virtues. As is magnanimity. I forgive you, Randidly.”

Chuckling, Randidly turned to Allica.

She regarded him skeptically. “We believed you to be the Monster Prince. To think we had shot too low. Well, I must say, you really fucked this one up.”

Randidly threw his hands up in the air. “This is my first time. And to be clear, I allowed you to fuck up. I didn’t cause this.”

Allica grunted. “I get the picture. Man, it’s hard to even believe. You are the Progenitor? I used to hear stories about you. And all the while, you were traveling from Land to Land, taking odd jobs. That’s a really weird way to run a world. Maybe a good one, but I’d think you’d have better things to do than just shifting rocks...”

Smiling, Randidly didn’t bother to answer. He simply waited for her decision.

Allica’s face scrunched up as she thought about it. Then she shrugged. “Well, yea. I forgive you too. I’ve not been perfect. I just have one question: was the… Emperor real? Did he really exist?”

“Yea,” Randidly said shortly.

“Fuck me,” Allica muttered. Then she raised her finger and pointed it meaningfully at Randidly chest. “That’s all well and good, but don’t let my brother know that. He will hold that over my head for years. The guy is stubborn as a mule.”

“Fine, fine,” Randidly said, feeling relieved in some strange way. These two, for all that they were a part of his Soulskill, he liked them. Which was the price of asking for forgiveness, Randidly supposed. That from now on, he would always be equal to them, rather than a god.

All things had a price.

When Randidly spoke to Alat, he had two choices. He had chosen the hard route. Because now, he needed to make some sacrifices.