Chapter 826 (1/2)

Randidly leaned against the wall in the corner, happy to have even been brought to this meeting. Part of it, Randidly assumed, was that he had just been with the Oracle and Versault when they arrived and tagged along. Both seemed too intent on the developing situation at hand to address his continued presence.

And when they arrived, Ophelia and the Spearman himself seemed too caught up in their own thoughts to do the same. Basically, Randidly had quietly walked into the room and assumed his spot in the corner. No one said anything.

So Randidly stayed.

While the other four were glowering at the floor to express their emotion, Randidly studied the Spearman. He was old, that was for sure. It wasn’t so much present in the lines of his face, but by the way he held his body. Every movement was slow and methodical. His muscles were heavy and solid. He was the type of individual that seemed to broadcast physical violence due to his intense gaze, no matter how controlled his movements were.

He also radiated danger. Randidly forced his muscles that tensed as he simply looked at the Spearman to relax; he kept his gaze on the Spearman mild. The Spearman’s eyes were dark and serious and his eyebrows were extremely bushy. Of course, what struck Randidly the most about him was that he was one of the few people he had seen on Tellus that wasn’t carrying a spear.

The irony curled the corner of Randidly’s mouth up.

“The Northern Camp is moving. Following the First Propagator to Icklid.” Ophelia finally said to break the heavy silence. “Why? Why would they betray their fellow spear-users and follow a monster?”

The silence continued. The Spearman peered out the window and simply continued to rub his thumb across a shattered piece of wood he had picked up. It had already been worn smooth by the almost mechanical gesture. Randidly suspected that it would shine and reflect light it had been so worn down.

“Spearman!” Ophelia hissed as she seemed very clearly to be on the verge of panic.

Randidly noted that the Oracle rolled her eyes and Versault sneered at Ophelia while she spoke. It seemed he wasn’t the only one they treated with disdain.

“Mr Ghosthound.”

Randidly jumped out of his skin when the first words that the Spearman said were directed to him. Smoothly, the Spearman turned around and studied him with his heavy gaze. “Would you be so kind as to do me a favor?”

Randidly nodded slowly.

The Spearman’s smile was a spare and chilly. “Please head over to meet your master, Shal, and invite him to join us. Tell him that his time with my… spawn can wait until later. Right now, we need his strength.”

Randidly considered refusing but ultimately nodded. Because very suddenly, something emerged inside of himself that he needed to check on immediately. The feeling in his chest was cloying and hot, very different than the Ashen Image that he had dealt with previously. And if he was going to turn inwards to examine himself, Randidly didn’t want to be anywhere near these people.

Especially the Spearman. His experience with creating the Wights and extracting the energy unnerved Randidly.

It was also somewhat impressive to Randidly that the Spearman had, with a single request, dismissed Randidly for private discussions, requested Shal’s presence, and shifted the focus of the room away from himself for the moment. The Oracle, Versault, and Ophelia all glared at Randidly, willing him to leave quickly. Truly, this man was an old hand at manipulation.

So Randidly nodded and left, blurring across the rooftops of Hastam. Slowly, the city was rebuilding itself. But that would mean little if the Aether in the world soon ran out.

Once he was outside of city limits, Randidly paused and created for himself a small dome of roots. Lightning fast, he scratched out some runes on the plant matter that would block out any sort of Perception Skills that sought to follow him. Then he sat down cross-legged and focused his attention inward.

Something was wrong with the river of Aether that came from Azriel.

Randidly had noticed as he arrived in Hastam that suddenly her Aether demands jumped markedly upward, but had thought nothing of it. But now, the Aether that she was taking from him had halved from her previous baseline. And some of the meaning that was flowing back from her…

It was muddy and dangerous. Already, some of it had slipped through into his Soulskill, which caused Randidly to grimace. What he did not need right now was more trouble there. Liberally using System Interference, Randidly set up a ‘net’ of sorts that would sift through the meaning that flowed toward him. It wouldn’t be able to catch everything, but it certainly would clean it up quite a bit.

In addition, he sent threads of fire and ash flowing up through the meaning that was flowing toward Azriel. She might not sense or use it, but it would serve as a natural defense against these warped images of violence. It was akin to them, but the self-destructive nature of those images would hopefully neutralize some of the worst of it, and reduce the pressure on Azriel.

It certainly set Randidly’s teeth on edge; these were the sort of images that he had sensed within Silo. And now Azriel was trying her best to manage them…

Randidly lowered the dome of plants and then rushed toward Shal’s position. Perhaps he had been too careless about his treatment of the broader Tellus issue. It wasn’t just the whole of Tellus at stake right now. Whatever was happening in Icklid, it was affecting Azriel. The fate of the world was probably more important…

But these changes to Azriel were what pissed Randidly off.