Chapter 875 (1/2)

Randidly watched the emerald flames dance across the fingers of his one remaining good hand, entranced by their vivid hue. It was a lively and demanding shade of emerald, one that grabbed the attention of the viewer and pulled it into the flame's depths. Partially it was the color, but there was another variable at play; the power of flame was simply that compelling to humanity.

This fire was special, of course. It was Randidly’s own Ignition of the Emerald Essence. Of all his images, it was his newest and perhaps the portion of himself that Randidly understood the least.

A fire of inspiration. A fire that jump-started humanity. With fire, food could be cooked. Work could be done after dark. It attracted the attention of beasts in the surrounding area, but those creatures of the wild had always implicitly feared that light which they didn’t understand. Perhaps the first human that would harness fire had feared its strange secrets too.

Yet she approached, and the whole world changed.

Randidly clenched his hands into a fist and snuffed the fire out. Although he would love to continue refining his images, he had told himself that he would accomplish something rather… unpleasant today; he was going to go speak with Lyra.

He had let this particular wound fester for long enough already.

Even if it wasn’t something he wanted to do, he needed to do it. For all that Lyra had betrayed him on several levels, she was the Village Spirit of Donnyton. And due to that, she was connected with the larger System. She had somehow usurped control of the Village from Nul almost two years ago and installed herself in an unassailable position. Even now, the consequences of that action were still difficult to name.

At the time Randidly had been somewhat shocked and impressed. But those reactions had been largely eclipsed by his fury for how foolishly Lyra had endangered her life in order to achieve her goals. She had shown exactly zero concern for her own survival when she had recklessly allowed the Tribulation into their Village.

More than that, she had brazenly allowed such a dangerous individual into the Village, where it could have harmed so many of the people who lived in Donnyton. All because she was ‘confident’. Because she was sure of herself.

The reality was she was a fool. But for all that, she was likely the human who understood the System the best. Even more than Randidly. Especially because she was a part of that System architecture and had been for several years.

Sighing, Randidly stood and stretched. It was the middle of the night, and Randidly began to walk East from Donnyton. When he had mentioned it casually to Donny, the younger man had commented that Lyra was largely absent from Donnyton these days. All the facilities still worked, but they didn’t interact with her directly very often.

Especially since Randidly had arrived in Donnyton, Lyra had been invisible. She hadn’t made a peep. Which, Randidly supposed, was out of concern for him. But he had already resolved himself to speak with her. There was no point in delaying it.

Of course, Randidly knew that although her absence was true, the reasoning Donny provided was not; Lyra was, without a doubt, preparing for something. Randidly could feel the swirls of Aether from the location of her abode, swirling in the sky in strange patterns. It wasn’t a dangerous working from what he could tell, but it was slightly obnoxious to note that Randidly couldn’t quite parse apart what Lyra was doing.

Which was perhaps a reason not to go talk to her. It could be a trap.

By the same token, that was a reason he absolutely needed to talk to her. He couldn’t let such a caldron bubble so close to Donnyton without knowing what it contained.

Randidly didn’t think it was something that would actually pose a threat to Donnyton, however. Lyra had been within his Soulskill and had pushed Alta toward violence, but while she had been within himself, Randidly was able to sense a portion of her motivations for acting the way she did.

It was, of course, another on a long list of violations of his trust. Lyra was sorta predictable in that manner; she was rather self-absorbed in what she believed was important and seemed to assume you shared her opinions. But her transgressions were also not malicious moves. It was motivated by genuine curiosity and a powerful fascination with Randidly.

Which didn’t exactly make him feel better. But it did mean that he would risk talking to her in order to find out more information about the System and her strange construct of Aether.

After all, when Octavius spoke about the society that ran the System… that had given Randidly pause. It was one thing to be fighting against the general System and also the strange overlay System that provided the information regarding Skills and Classes to the people governed by the System. It was quite another to have managers periodically checking in on what was occurring.

The latter was much harder to fool.

Which was basically the warning that Octavius gave Randidly. Most people wouldn’t notice his… deviant activities as long as he no longer interfered directly with his own Class, Skills, Soulskill, etc. What Randidly sought from Lyra was a little context so he could figure out the danger associated with this society.

If they brought their resources to bear, what sort of threat would they present?

After all, Randidly had no doubt he would be forced to alter his own Aether makeup once more in the future. He just wanted some guidance as to the cost he would incur from doing that.

And moreover…

The Creature… had been conspicuously absent since their last confrontation. There were supposedly thousands of iterations across the universe in Cohort 7, seeking to accomplish its aims. Yet there had been no real moves to threaten Randidly, who had forcefully escaped the control of the Creature. He had been prepared to find sinister happenings across the Earth when he returned, yet there was… nothing.

It was almost worse than if he had found his home planet burning. His formidable determination was losing its guiding focus of resisting the influence of the Creature.

Was it as Randidly continuously feared, that his current path was exactly what the Creature desired? Or was it as Lyra had suggested previously, that the Creature was seeking to make itself Randidly’s greatest fear, so it could make use of the Second Calamity? Would it simply bide its time until then?