Chapter 1071 (1/2)
During this teleportation, this time the travel felt different. Randidly had to grit his teeth and flex his imagined muscles in order to keep control of his body as cosmic forces battered him from every angle. The breadth of the distance they were being sent was immediately apparent in the violence of the passage. If not for the extra oomph that he had gathered from his victories in the Eidolon Crucible, even this amount of battering might have been enough to overwhelm him.
When they popped out into the Great Rift, the Nether was like a hammer blow on Randidly’s will. But rather than wincing in pain, Randidly’s mouth stretched into a smile. He could immediately feel the bubbles from his two stars protecting him, shunting away a portion of the Nether that was seeking to damage him.
The other thing that was immediately obvious was the presence of the numerous blue veins running through the space around their small band. Although the veins were pretty much omnipresent in the Great Rift, they usually drifted slowly past in a meandering way. But at their current arrival point lay a dense web of blue lines that formed strange, esoteric patterns in the air. Even worse, those patterns rapidly fluctuated as the blue veins drifted closer as if they were curious about the new arrivals.
With the veins, of course, came even denser and caustic Aether that lapped up against them in calming waves. But no matter how gentle the waves were, the Nether that they brought was anything but. As Randidly’s skin met the Nether, that terrible, irreconcilable violence of the two energies came to the fore with a vengeance.
This is how I will grow. Randidly closed his eyes and savored the sensation of the Nether sizzling against his skin. Nether Sensation wandered outward almost idly, quickly scanning the surrounding area for any threats. To Randidly’s great disappointment, he found nothing. By exposing myself to these stimuli-
Just as Randidly was really getting to enjoy the sensation, it was wiped away as a gentle radiance blossomed outward from Vualla. The energy flowed rapidly outward and wound between the individuals like silky bindings. Soon, all nine of the figures were cloaked in her tight image. Randidly blinked, tasting the wafting note of mint on the surrounding image.
Certainly, it was an impressive display. But why did the air suddenly taste like mint…? What sort of image was she using to accomplish this?
Perhaps even more shocking to Randidly was to see that there was a sharp divide along the edge of Vualla’s image. Normally, when an Aether image and Nether touched, there was a powerful rejection where both depleted the energy of the other. Which is what routinely happened with Randidly’s image body out here in the Great Rift. Yet on the edges of Vualla’s image, there was a sharp demarcation that only a small percentage of both energies crossed. Therefore, they were effectively screened in the area.
The veins approached ceased as though the new arrivals had been whisked away just as quickly as they had arrived. Unfortunately, the other result of being suspended in the image was that Randidly wasn’t able to sense the surrounding area. But at least he could be sure that they were safe for the moment.
Vualla noticed Randidly studying the edge of her image and frowned. “You didn’t know that thinking of a specific past moment where your image originated made the image much more impervious to Aether? How did you avoid detection in your past missions then?”
“I didn’t, I just killed any Nether Beast that showed up,” Randidly shrugged with forced nonchalance. Or any Nether Wells that drifted past… But hiding really would have been a lot easier.
Still, I would have done the same even if I had known. It’s the only way to grow.
Clearing his throat, Randidly asked. “This image… tastes like mint. And it feels like… family.”
Which was true. While Randidly stood inside of Vualla’s image, he felt warm breezes brush across his skin. The scent of mint was the strongest, but as Randidly continued to breathe the image in, he also detected other floral notes. In the nebulous environment of an image, they were clearly located in a garden. He could feel actual sunlight on his skin.
As Randidly savored the image, he felt teleported to a moment in Vualla’s past. Like Earth before the System arrived, it was clear that some parts of Vualla’s upbringing were idyllic. She was not raised in a war-torn hell like Tellus.
Distantly, he could hear the tinkling sound of a child’s laughter.
For a second, Vualla’s eyes softened as her own memory swayed her. But then she glanced sideways at the grim-faced warriors that were with them. Instantly, her face returned to its determined stare. “Does it? Well, thank you I suppose. And if we are all done chit-chatting, let’s focus on the mission. Kel’ev? Take the lead.”
“Rodger,” said a man with a short nod, and Randidly was surprised to recognize that it was the same tall man that Vualla had been arguing with that night in between camps. Which probably meant that he was the exact reason that they were here.
Randidly wanted to be rather furious at the man, but the fact was that he had clearly volunteered to accompany her here. So even if he was a dick, he at least also punished himself for what had happened.
At least he’s loyal, Randidly thought darkly as he watched Kel’ev step outside of Vualla’s image and conjure his own. Then the tall man quickly headed deeper into the surrounding darkness of the Great Rift, following the densest paths of the blue veins that ran through the surrounding area.
Once the image was up, it appeared that the new arrivals were hidden from the veins so they settled back down to peaceful drifting. Frowning slightly, Randidly looked at the strangely whimsical veins in the surrounding area and then peered in the direction that Kel’ev had proceeded. In the darkness, every direction looked almost exactly the same. Only the flowing veins distinguished each direction.
As time ticked slowly past, Randidly became more and more worried that he couldn’t rely on his Nether Sensation to figure out what was going on in the surrounding area. He needed to make contact in order to spread his senses out through the Nether. He did have a general impression from the brief touch he had felt earlier, but it was rather fuzzy. Yet from what he had seen, Kel’ev was heading in exactly the wrong direction.
Randidly turned to Vualla and opened his mouth to say just that. Yet when he looked at her, the words curled up and died on his lips like leaves in fall. She glared at the vast abyss floating below their feet like she was completely unwilling to be disturbed at the moment. So Randidly closed his mouth and settled in to wait in silence.
He didn’t decide not to speak because of how sharply she had spoken to him earlier; that was annoying, but it was ultimately a small act of lashing out that Randidly, of all people, understood. Vualla was occupied with larger dangers than Randidly at the moment. Their situation was quite dire.
No, the reason that Randidly decided not to speak was exactly because of the way Vualla was reacting to these larger dangers. From her tense stance and surly attitude, it was obvious that some part of her had already accepted that she would do her best on this mission and probably die anyway. That pessimism seeped into her like a poison, coloring the bright azure of her personality a murky, slate grey color. Fear was ruining her.
In the same way that Randidly had at some times let his fear of being alone ruin his relationships.
Randidly’s eyes burned as he examined the darkness around them. It seems I don’t just need to keep you alive in here. I also need to remind you how bright and defiant a spirit is needed to survive underneath the System. You might believe you will be the woman to destroy the System, but it won’t happen if you’ve lost your way.
Randidly’s mouth twitched. Too bad Ignition Essence isn’t on his feet and here. He was always better at this inspiration than me...