Chapter 1295 (1/2)

Randidly walked forward and crossed the invisible line to trigger the mechanism around the podium. A breeze swept through the surrounding area and caused the paper to flutter lightly. A solid mass of image seemed to rise up out of the paper and glow with a dim light that reflected off of the ink on the page. And then he could hear the Creature’s voice, as though she was there standing next to him.

She started this strange letter by sighing. “We… how can two people who want the same things find such occasion to hate each other? Especially at this depth of passion…? Other than fixating on each other… both our main goals have always been the System. Isn’t it funny? If we... no, I’ll admit this: it is I who needed to approach you differently. But I didn’t. Because you were just another flesh-based life form struggling with the System. You started as… just another experiment. Your life meant nothing to me.”

Rather than being upset, Randidly was honestly rather shocked to hear the Creature say the truth so bluntly. Because he had expected there to be a plea hidden in this letter, he was guarded against the language she used. But she just...

Ignorant of Randidly’s reaction, the Creature’s voice continued to speak. “And since this might very well be the last time we communicate, I will also admit that I hated you just as much as you hated me. I had a thousand experiments, with each one at least successful enough for me to attempt the tricks I tried on you on them. And yet… I didn’t. I kept coming back to you. So where, Randidly Ghosthound, did we go so wrong?”

The hairs on Randidly’s back began to stand straight up. His whole body was tingling. One of her lines repeated over in his head.

I hated you just as much as you hated me.

The Creature didn’t slow for the reaction she elicited in Randidly, however. “You probably believe it’s all my fault for turning us against one another, for plucking you out of your puny planet and throwing you directly into a dangerous. Or it’s because I tried to force you to submit to me directly. Or you are made that I invaded your soulspace not once but twice, or for trying to make your Zone’s Raid Dungeon become an escape from the reach of the System… yet I have done this thousands of times across my incarnations in different Cohorts. I have been hopeful and disappointed, but you…

“You got to me immediately. Perhaps I would have simply abandoned you to your own devices after my first failure if you hadn’t hated me with such a self-righteous fire right from the get-go. You were indignant that I would dare try to domesticate you. Oh, the privilege you displayed! The entire extent of your soft existence immediately became clear to me from your attitude. Yet as I tried to rip through that soft flesh… I found the heat of your hate waiting there underneath it all. It… Well. I had only ever felt a pure hatred like that in one other person.

“In myself.

“And oh, I justified my fascination with you to myself by saying that it was indicative of your future accomplishments in images, but really… I just think I was nostalgic for that heat. Because I had become so, so tired from running for so long. Thankfully, you quickly substantiated those claims by using a piece of my essence and a broken Aether Connection of a Judgement to create an Aether Crossroads. I was ecstatic. I was obsessed with you.”

Randidly’s chest was burning. He began methodically cracked his knuckles as the Creature talked about him like he was a petulant child by whom she had been amused.

“Want to know a secret? Whereas I had always communicated by proxy with most others… I never failed to manifest my incarnation directly for your benefit. To motivate you. To torture you. I even began to borrow the face of your crush and found myself oddly fixated on that form. Perhaps because I had hidden myself so deeply I’d forgotten my own form… I became the mask I took from your life.

“Did you know that your entire Cohort viewed the face of Lyra when I spoke to them? Despite you being one of the so many souls that I interacted with… you had such widespread influence. I even…

“Well, let’s save that for later. For now, I’ll say it directly: I hate you and couldn’t stop myself from pursuing you because you remind me of the worst time in my life… and also the best time. You are the same stubbornness, pride, and selective compassion that changed my life in the first place. Yet I dug and dug and pressured you and I couldn’t find the weakness that would eventually break me.

“You were not perfect, of course, but that was even worse; you were flawed and superior to me. Yet every time I look at you… I can see you failing in the same way that I did. I fear it. I hate how foolish I was. I hate how the Path you insist on taking will lead to the precipice of the same mistakes, whether I threaten or plead with you to do otherwise.”

These last few passages did a lot to take the tension out of Randidly’s shoulders. His hands were limp at his side as he reassured himself that he was still calm. It was… strange to hear the Creature talk so… vehemently about their relationship, if it could even be called that. Yet the violence of her emotions was clear in her raw tone.

As Azriel had urged him to do, hearing the Creature talk like this made Randidly admit to himself he could understand why she would do this. After all, Randidly himself had-

“So I’ll just say this before we move on: You are not the only person that will have to bear the price of your failure, Randidly Ghosthound. I hope you will not forget that.”

All at once, the muscles of his body once more seized up. Randidly gnashed his teeth. He was trembling. If there was one thing Randidly didn’t need, it was a reminder of the consequences of failure. Of course, she would take this opportunity to criticize him. And of course, she would be well aware of his actions in the Dungeon that Lyra had guided him to at her request. And that made Randidly feel humiliated and furious.

And yet...For whatever reason, Randidly believed the voice. Believed that these were the honest words of the Creature. And the strength of that feeling made him immediately suspicious. Around them, the Creature’s Aether continued to dissipate.

“But I’m digressing. To my surprise… this is extremely hard to write. There is so much that I want to say to you... but I’ll start by truly meeting you, for the first of three times. A fresh restart. It’s nice to meet you, Randidly Ghosthound. My name is Yystrix Yule. And although I know you won’t believe me when I say this… I’m dying. By the time you read this, I’ll be dead.”

Pressing his lips into a firm line, Randidly folded his arms and adjusted his stance.

“Ha! Just picturing the face you are making right now fills me with mirth. I have no doubt that you don’t believe me at all. You… hey, this is a slight tangent, but do you know what I’ve wondered for a long time? I eventually came to terms with my fixation on you due to our similarities and my… vested interest in you, but… where did you find the nerve to hate me just as much? If not more so?”

Then there was a break, as though she was really waiting for an answer. Running a hand through his hair, Randidly shot Neveah a message. Why bother to write this meandering letter and then send it to me? Do you think this whole thing is just a ruse to stall for time? Can you-

I’ve already scanned the surrounding area multiple times, looking for more constructs hidden in Yystrix’s remaining Aether. But with so much of it transforming… they would now be easy to spot; there is no way I missed anything. Neveah sent back. Maybe she just… really wanted to talk to you?