Chapter 1059 (1/2)

As the dawn slowly crept outward, they remained in their respective positions. Randidly wondered idly whether they would ever move. It felt like Vualla’s words had transformed him into a statue. And honestly, Randidly didn’t mind.

Eventually, Vualla stood and shook herself a bit like a cat. She started with her feet, then her legs, her hips, her torso, and her head. All the while, her hair spun around her like a gleaming waterfall Then she waved her heavy gauntlets at Randidly. “Alright, let’s head back. I just… I got what I came for.”

Randidly nodded slowly. His two followers remained silent and behind him as the foursome continued back toward their respective camps.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that no one spoke on the return journey, but time seemed to drag out into a long spool of endless thread as their trundled procession proceeded forward. There was no sun, but the ambient light to this strange slice of land at the edge of the universe slowly grew more abundant. The harsh reflected light off of the orange dirt beneath their feet grew increasingly unbearable and added an unearthly quality to their journey.

Yet still, Randidly remained silent while in the thick of those strange sensations. It wasn’t that he was uncomfortable during the procession. No, that wasn’t true, He was uncomfortable. But it wasn’t the silence of their journey that had seized the deepest recesses of his brain and refused to release him. It was the memory of Vualla’s bitter words embedded in that strange, sudden night walk.

You can be afraid most of the time, but if you claim to be alive you cannot be afraid all of the time.

I knew there was a reason that I was drawn to you.

Randidly blinked. What was he afraid of? Unlike most people that he encountered, he didn’t particularly fear being alone. Isolation was the lot of the Grim Chimera. And although he greatly struggled to avoid death, Randidly had already made his peace that his end would come eventually. That was one of the core tenants of the Grim Chimera’s image; life was just a matter of how long you could drag out the chase.

Yet Randidly had still felt that silent resonance in his chest when Vualla had said the first line about fear. The worry and anxiety he held inside himself trembled with something akin to shame as she spoke. It revealed itself by its fear of being revealed and Randidly was disgusted with himself for feeling it. So he picked and picked, trying to find the source.

Unfortunately, nothing emerged from his efforts. And this was also an area that the main body struggled with. So what did he fear? His thoughts chased their tails endlessly.

Although time dragged, Randidly soon found himself facing Vualla as she prepared to enter her own camp. The sudden picture was so abrupt and such a sharp change from their journey that for several seconds Randidly could do nothing but blink.

“Thank you,” Vualla said finally after examining him for a long minute. Her azure eyes seemed determined to measure and memorize every facet of his physical body. “It was an unnecessary thing you did. But… But I think because of it, we might be able to change our futures. We… we are both people who will end tragically, won’t we?”

Randidly tilted his head to the side. There was something oddly familiar to the way that Vualla was speaking. No, it wasn’t her tone, it was a sensation. Randidly felt something from her words as she spoke, but he couldn’t place the sensation. “What…?”

Blinking, Vualla abruptly shook her head and laughed. “I honestly have no idea where that came from. But anyway, yes, thank you. I hope… I hope to see you again.”

Then she spun on her heel and walked away, her long hair wreathed around like an aquamarine halo. Randidly’s eyes remained fixed upon her until her form was swallowed up by the uniform sea of tents of her camp. Several times he almost spoke, but he had no idea what to say. He didn’t have anything to say, but he wanted-

With a sigh, Randidly turned away. Then he reached both of his limbs up toward the sky until the joints of his shoulders and elbow popped and snapped. Now that Vualla was gone, some of the more mundane concerns were returning to him. It wasn’t tiring, exactly, to move in this image body. But because his image had become increasingly detailed, there were some… unfortunate side effects.

For example, Randidly was shocked to find that his feet were rather sore. Or rather, he imagined that they were sore, which made them so. Twisting around, he looked at Zauna and Salazar. The snake man straightened immediately and pounded his chest with a self-important air.

“Ahem. In m-my world, females often enjoy receiving the h-headless corpses of common v-v-vermin-”

When Randidly raised his claw menacingly, Salazar’s mouth clicked shut with a strangely satisfying noise. Shaking his head at the foolishness of the more talkative of his two subordinates, Randidly once more underlined the mental note to determine what sort of influence he had over them. If it was possible to use some sort of punishment to improve their attitudes-

“...shiny rocks…”