Chapter 1151 (1/2)
Her surprise wasn’t fake. For several seconds, it was clear to Randidly that the Creature was completely bewildered by what she was witnessing. In the same manner as the wound that opened up previously, displaying to the world the real pain that the Creature felt as this… Elhume pursued her, Randidly’s current action had come as a surprise to the Creature.
Honestly, Randidly didn’t know how to explain what he was doing. But something within him was gradually loosening. Would I have done this, I wonder, before I met Vualla…? Before she reminded me to cultivate the heart that craves strength just as much as you cultivate strength?
The feelings were vague and amorphous. So Randidly spoke the words he held in his heart eve knowing that they meant very little. “I’m… having faith.”
“What does that mean?” The Creature snapped. She took a short step toward Randidly, but then glanced sharply upward as the Nether that filled the sky accelerated. Bits of energy from all corners of the Alpha Cosmos stirred and began to slowly gather here. Once more, the energies of this place aligned to create something here.
I hope your gamble is worth it, Azriel.
Before Randidly could decide what to do about the Creature, a ripple spread ominously outward from the depths of the darkness below their platform. Randidly closed his eyes and strained his senses, but beyond the platform there was the huge clump of Nether… and then only the abyss laying below them. Honestly, Randidly could understand how the platform was suspended here. Had the Creature-
Another ripple spread upward through the Nether. Although he didn’t like it, Randidly focused his Grim Intuition and Nether Sensation away from the assembled Nether Ritual to identify whether the strange movements of Nether were a threat. Yet no matter how much Randidly narrowed his focus, he could not find the source.
The reverberations travel through Nether… but the source isn’t Nether? Randidly chewed on his lip and wiped sweat from his brow. So what-
Without any warning, a figure appeared with them on the platform. They faded slowly into existence, shifting quickly from shadow to solid, made of Nether arranged in a manner that Randidly couldn’t wrap his head around for several seconds. The figure strode easily forward to join them, standing between Randidly and the Creature. Wrapped around the figure was a cloak of shadows and memories, fluttering lightly as the Nether Ritual slowly accelerated above them. At the figure’s waist was a familiar dagger.
“It’s… you…” Randidly said in awe.
The Spriggit Thief’s face was more lined than Randidly remembered, but he hadn’t seen her much leading up to her eventually death in his Soulskill. The time difference in those iterations of the Soulskill meant that it was difficult to keep a firm track of what was going on within it. And anyway, despite all that she had done for him, and that Randidly had shaped her life as she grew into her own… she had never really desired much interaction with him.
Randidly had always suspected that she had never forgiven him for what happened.
She curtsied, “My, my, my. It’s certainly been a while, Progenitor. You called and I… I have answered.”
Before Randidly could even speak, another voice interrupted. “Bah! To think someone else beat me here. It cannot be denied that I am not as renowned as I used to be. But to have even this honor stolen from me…!”
The tall and bulky form of an Earth Golem, also composed of shadows that slowly settled into stone, thundered forward with huge steps as he approached the waiting trio. He wore a crown on his head that had been broken to preserve a continent’s peace. In his left hand he held the Scepter of Dominance and in his right he casually leaned huge Dawn Hammer across his shoulders. Both were weapons that could probably shatter the platform on which they currently stood. The Earth Golem Emperor, Xierk Taf, the man who was the only individual to have possessed the power to unite the entire Soulskill against him, stood next to the Spriggit Thief and considered Randidly.
...it’s because they are memories. Or… something like a memory.
The Earth Golem Emperor stood with all the majesty at the height of his reign, holding both of the two weapons that were condensed from Randidly’s Skills and sent into the Soulskill. Yet his gaze was also filled with the dignity of one who gave his life to save his people. The icon that held both faces of Xierk Taf. The broken martyr. The invulnerable warleader.
The Earth Golem Emperor turned with a stern expression toward the Spriggit Thief. “You should not have appeared first. The glory of arriving should have been mine. The weight of history is behind me. I am your elder by quite a few years.”
Even as Randidly felt a deep nostalgia for seeing these faces from his old Soulskills, the shape of the Spriggit Thief stealing this arrival created a fragile smile on Randidly’s face. The Spriggit Thief waved her hand. Even if she had aged, she hadn’t lost her flippant attitude. “Does it really matter? Besides, you can gladly go first into this mass of meaning before I do. I’m… waiting for someone.”
“Bah, trying to swindle me by offering me something I already own by right,” The Earth Golem muttered. Then he turned to Randidly and all of his sternness fell away. Without giving Randidly a chance to react, he walked up and gripped Randidly in a huge hug. Although his entire body was composed of Nether, the stone of him felt real and warm, like the Earth Golem Emperor had been waiting in bright sunlight this entire time before coming to help Randidly.
When the Earth Golem finally released Randidly, he spoke with a gruff voice. “I know the difficulty you face now… what if stepping off your current Path will mean you will no longer achieve victory in the future…? But… it was never about the victory, was it? It was always about the reasons you sought victory. And sometimes… victories come at too great a cost.”
Then the Emperor walked straight toward the dense threads of Nether coming up through Azriel’s body and shifted into motes of Nether that were rapidly absorbed into the waiting, gleaming bead that was slowly reforming.
Very quickly, more shadows began to show up. They came in pairs at first, Nether weaving together their guises slowly as they walked in a pirade forward, but then they came marching in entire formations. Their weapons were soaked with blood and ichor and when they passed Randidly, each and every one of them honored him with a deep bow.
Suddenly, Randidly recognized them as the army that had fought off the Creature’s first invasion of his Soulskill. There were the Weavers and the Earth Golems, the White Hunters and the Spriggits, and of course there were the monsters, loping wildly forward between the tall columns. After stopping to greet him, they all marched forward and were sucked up into the bead.
Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Ritual (A) has grown to Level 92!
Above them, the Nether Ritual continued to build up steam. Rather than the almost cyclonic diaster the Creature had built in her attempt to do this, Randidly’s was a tight orb with a tiny bead of darkness and memories being slowly created at its core. The heavy pieces of engraved, ivory metal slowly drifted down and settled on the platform. To Randidly, they were practically useless.
Perhaps more importantly, Randidly had no faith in them. So they were set aside. Randidly breathed and as he inhaled he pulled out all of the secrets from the depth of his Soulskill. And then with a trembling heart did Randidly turn and look out toward the abyss below.
It was only after the entire army of the dead had marched by that the man Randidly most feared came. With a thundering heart, Randidly stood and followed the Spriggit Thief’s gaze to the shadowy figure that made his way forward. His flesh condensed and solidified. And Randidly’s heart lurched when he saw this figure’s hand still glowed a terrible blue with the power that he had borne within it.
Tziech Exodus, the one who had been called the Monster King, who had evolved from nothing to create a country for his unfortunate people, who had borne the hatred of all the other races until he had demanded their respect, walked slowly forward toward Randidly with a warm smile on his face.
The boy who had been called Zeke, who had always wanted to be a hero, and the one who had finally achieved that dream by paying for Randidly’s sins and destroying that projection of the Creature, stopped only an arm’s length away from Randidly. They looked at each other for a long moment.
Randidly released a steadily breath as he studied this man’s proud face. The noise of his heart continued to be loud in his ears. To see him now… the Monster King was a harsh reminder that the Path Randidly had taken to grow strong had been nowhere near perfect. Often, Randidly Ghosthound had made mistakes that others had to pay for. And perhaps that was the reason why he had been willing to give into Azriel’s advance, or at least indulge it.
Seeing Tziech Exodus now made Randidly glad that he had relaxed, at least a little. The Monster King was a life sacrificed to the Path Randidly might have demanded to continue.
The only question is whether this Path is any better, Randidly glanced sideways to the wary face of the Creature.
Zeke addressed the Spriggit Thief first, just by smiling and extending the hand that wasn’t burning with the strange, perverted Nether of Touch form Beyond. The Spriggit Thief took it, smiling sweetly back, the wrinkles in the corners of her eyes painting an epic of smiles that had softened this woman toward the end of her life. Some part of Randidly flinched as he could see the peace this woman found at the end of her life… and paired that with the knowledge that the Progenitor had no part in it.