Chapter 1046 (1/2)
As a sour-mood Randidly followed Zagnal down the Eastern side of the rock outcropping, he was shocked out of his funk by the sight of Ignition Essence and Yggdrasil waiting at the base of the slope. Even though Randidly could clearly see Yggdrasil was still cradling Ignition Essence in his arms, he hurried over. “Was there any change in his condition?”
Yggdrasil shook his canopy sadly. “No, there has been no change since this morning. Time will take much longer than that to begin its holy work, I’m afraid. But it is good to see that you’ve managed to survive your ordeal. Was it… painful?”
Randidly paused. Then he turned and looked at Zagnal after he parsed apart what Yggdrasil had said to him. “How long was the mission?”
“About three hours.” Zagnal showed his teeth. “Heh, it felt much longer to you, did it not? Good, that’s very good.”
Randidly’s depressed mood returned with a vengeance. I even was warned that time here moves strangely. But even so… really? That was only three hours? I feel like I did a week’s worth of damage control on the Grim Chimera image… holy fuck.
Growling at Zagnal, Randidly said, “Why is that a good thing it felt so fucking long?”
“Because the heavier an individual’s image, the longer time seems to stretch. The damage done by the Great Rift… it is an insidious influence that is difficult to overcome. And the Nether are beasts of instinct that know nothing of time. The weaker an image is, the more easily it is swept along to that timeless quality. That’s how we can tell which images are nearing-”
“So you are saying I have a strong image?” Randidly said with a vicious smile.
Zagnal froze, caught between what Randidly assumed were orders to keep references to images to a minimum and his own pleasure that the image he was acting as a liaison for had returned, none the worst for wear.
Eventually, Zagnal coughed and nodded. “Yes, that is the case. Now, follow me. My own defense mission is tomorrow morning, so we will need to make good time to Iellaya’s base of operations this evening so I can return.”
With Yyrwood Body of Yggdrasil, Yggdrasil had no trouble keeping up with Zagnal’s brutal pace. They quickly traveled to the backline of the lower camps and began to speed across the badlands. As the rocky outcropping seemed to barely grow any more distance behind them, the four blazed across the outer ring of the huge base that sat here on the edge of the Great Rift. At first, there were some other groups traveling along the same path, but as they headed further and further away from headquarters, they quickly became the only group on the path.
Rather than any real fortifications for these bases, there only seemed to be the lines of tents stretching endlessly on their right across the broken and barren ground. There were also small spaces between the bases too, giving Randidly of a sense of scale for this battlefront. So far, they had walked past the edges of the headquarters and one other camp, about to enter into the area of a third.
Now, at least, Randidly saw some individuals moving outside of their tents. Noises from cooking fires and conversations caught Randidly’s attention. In addition, it rapidly became clear that there were three types of tents, and the greys were in a minority.
Most of the tents that Randidly saw now were a maroon red, and often had wounded individuals standing and talking around by them. When their group passed, these individuals would look sharply up before returning to their conversation, not even bothering to acknowledge their passage.
“Who are they?” Yggdrasil asked as they continued past these groups.
Once more, Zagnal hesitated. “...veterans. They’ve been fighting here for a while. Don’t let their attitude bother you. By the time you prove yourself, you will have the chance to stand amongst them.”
Which probably means that these are individuals that were allowed to keep their bodies. Randidly reflected. But I wonder if Zagnal saying ‘by the time you prove yourself,’ means there is a possibility that I will be allowed to return to my body. Should I reveal now that I know I am an image…?
Ultimately, Randidly clicked his tongue and decided against it. There was still too much he didn’t know. And there was always the worry that it was explicitly outlawed that the images learn what they were. Better to wait and learn more information for now.
In addition to the grey and maroon tents, there were also gold tents. Randidly only saw a few of those in the four camps that they passed, and it was clear that these were reserved for special individuals. In each section of maroon tents, there would only be a dozen or so that were golden. Zagnal clearly saw the interest in Randidly’s gaze as well, but he didn’t volunteer any information.
Meanwhile, Randidly was rather occupied sensing the gradual changes happening within the fabric of his image. As Zagnal had informed him the first day he arrived, he could feel some sort of current through the air that tugged insistently on the tainted Nether that remained suspended in his image.
Slowly, that Nether was siphoned out and formed a star shape pattern in the air around Randidly. Like the staging area, this new star had five points. But rather than a star with equal sides, this star was scrawled with a wild, curving script. The substance of Nether began to flow toward the points and central area.
However, there wasn’t enough Nether present in Randidly to create the strange star diagram. In fact, only one of the points seemed to be filled in the looping script. The remaining points were dull and empty, while the center seemed to have not even been started.
Randidly tsk’d in his mind and shook his head. I beat that damn jellyfish too badly. It will take a lot of enemies of that caliber before I can condense a star and in order to investigate what effects it has.
In the beginning, Randidly had been rather worried about what sort of influence the owner of the grand array could wield if that being could use the remnant Nether to make these stars. But seeing the slow accumulation, and more important the way that it accumulated, Randidly was somewhat relieved.