Chapter 1373 (1/2)

Randidly and Neveah looked up at the sky in silence for several seconds.

The only thing that was currently clear was that the Nether in the sky was caged in Aether Constructs that were visibly acting to keep the vast darkness contained. Which was something of a relief to Randidly. But it was disturbing to be able to see the representation of the Great Rift hovering above Earth. It was like a second, slightly larger moon. Except it looked to be a baseball of darkness, surrounded by shimmering red-violet lines of energy.

Bit by bit, Earth is turning into a fantasy world… Randidly thought, slightly amused despite the worrisome circumstances.

“People will want to know what happened to put that in the sky,” Neveah said rather unhelpfully as the duo stood on Randidly’s island and stared upward.

Shrugging, Randidly just said. Of all the issues running through his mind, that was the least of them. “Since we just passed the test for the Corrupted Invaders, I think most people will just assume it is related to the test the System gave us. But in the meantime… we need to figure out what is actually going on.”

Randidly activated Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart. A ripple spread out around them. It weakened the effect on gravity on both of them, allowing them to leap upward and soar toward the sky. Honestly, this was a good chance to determine whether the Earth had been largely physically preserved in this new form. Was it even still a planet now that it was a part of the System…?

So the two of them shot upward. Very quickly, Randidly needed to manifest the Stillborn Phoenix’s image directly in order to strengthen their upward momentum. They continued to shoot upward, piercing through clouds. They blasted through thick swaths of raindrops and then clouds of drifting frost. The temperature around them rapidly dropped, but both were more than powerful enough to ignore the chill. In the meantime, Randidly sent a message both to Octavius Shrike and Lady Iellaya to see if they had any idea why such a thing would manifest above Earth.

As they went upward, no obvious clues manifested themselves. The silence of the sky surrounded them. But although they didn’t see any cause for the Great Rift’s presence, after approaching it, Randidly and Neveah could see that the cage of Aether in the sky was nowhere near as inert as they had initially assumed. It wasn’t that the Great Rift had been contained. They could see the movements of Nether, smashing periodically against the Aether cage as though it was about to break out and sweep away the planet below.

Not only had the Great Rift arrived, but it was actively struggling to break through Aether’s defenses. Feeling the air beginning to thin around them, Randidly slowed their ascent and glanced around. They had pushed up through the cloud layer and quite a bit beyond, but from what he distantly remembered from school, they were still well within the Earth’s atmosphere. The horizon around them seemed to bend away in brilliant blue waves. It was a pure and austere place.

At this point, they had closed perhaps half of the distance to where the Great Rift and the Aether constructs were struggling. It stretched like a mountain in their vision, dominating a large portion of the atmosphere around here. It was reassuring to see that it seemed the Earth was a sphere once more, but it just made him have as many additional questions as it answered.

Probably not the best to just jump up there and figure out how surviving in space works… Randidly thought as they decelerated, chewing his lip. He likely could survive out there for a while, but he was slightly leary of unanticipated side effects. But then Neveah interrupted his thoughts.

“Randidly, look. That-” Neveah began, but even she was cut off as a huge mass azure Nether veins in the shape of an enormous hook slashed at the Aether cage around the Great Rift.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

There was a deafening physical reverberation that spread out across the sky, speaking to the imposing contact between the two energies. But what followed a full second later was a more subtle, and to Randidly’s mind, much more dangerous wave.

Earth’s Aether shivered and resonated for a split second. And that resonance brought with it a horrible wave of pain as it sheered through his Soulspace. Instantly, Randidly’s expression turned grim.

Perhaps most of the reason that he was affected so strongly by the resonance was that he was much nearer to the source and because the cloud of Aether that Randidly carried with him was that much larger than an average person. Randidly Ghosthound was quite a big Aether target. In fact, the Aether that Randidly consistently maintained around his person rivaled that of a small Village.

But Randidly also noticed that the painful Aether resonance was mostly through the System Aether. It was somewhat more muted when it began flowing through Randidly’s pure Aether. So if he felt pain here, it was likely that everyone on Earth felt at least a sharp stab of pain.

Randidly and Neveah exchanged a glance, their shared thoughts flitting across their Soulbond. Randidly sighed. “Hopefully those don’t occur very often… But it seems clear that this is going to be a problem. It doesn’t match any aspect of the Calamities that I remember hearing about… could it be another detail of the old scenario for these Corrupted Invaders…? I’m sure that creatures of Nether are categorized as ‘Corrupted’. But the notification indicated the trial was over...”

“...there is something else that might be possible…” Neveah said slowly. “Did you not weaken the control that the Xyrt Brigade had over that Nether King on the frontlines…? Perhaps this is just the Nether King… coming to thank you for your assistance.”

Both Neveah and Randidly watched the Nether of the Great Rift lash out and attack the cage of Aether around it. The red-violet lines of energy hissed and spat in response. Small bolts of violet energy radiated outward from the Aether constructs, evidence of the high degree of strain it was under. In some places, it was clear that the construct was beginning to warp.

Randidly forced out a chuckle. “This doesn’t seem like a thank you… besides. The world doesn’t revolve around me, Neveah. Not everything that happens is my fault, or is a sign of someone new trying to kill me.”

“...well if you are sure…” Neveah said, giving Randidly a decidedly unconvinced look. Rolling his eyes, Randidly used Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart to carry them back down to land on his island. After being up in the thin-aired atmosphere for so long, Randidly was almost uncomfortably warm back near the ground. But he ignored that and pulled out his Philosopher’s Key.