Chapter 1434 (2/2)

The frozen memory shifted. In the next scene, the Nether being was more hunched. His essence that was wafting off his body had thickened even though the wounds that covered him had vanished. Memory snapshot after memory snapshot flashed in front of Randidly’s eyes, showing the gradual transformation of the being of Nether.

We continued meeting secretly after I discovered this extremely confusing relationship of my husband’s. The fact that he, a constant font of vitriol and propaganda that painted the Nether as uneducated savages, would somehow meet and work out a deal with a Nether King even now doesn’t make much sense to me.

But it does prove one thing; necessity always guided Elhume’s hand. He would do anything to achieve his goals.

As Hallohm became increasingly frenzied in his preaching, I would sneak away and meet the Nether King. We would spend our time just talking. I learned much about the problems amongst the Nether people… but those aren’t my secrets to share. Nor is it really relevant. But it was… incredibly nice to know someone who would listen to my troubles without judgment. It was a much-needed release valve that kept me sane. Because as I ascended the Tower to Heaven, the pressure was mounting for me to give myself to the children.

Elhume was not the principal source of this pressure, of course. Even then, I think I was special to him. Yet all of his dim followers didn’t view me in such a favorable manner. I was the wife of the historian, using Elhume’s influence to avoid my duty. And in a way, they weren’t wrong.

But I was so inexplicably afraid. Afraid that my three or four children would be dim and brief things, within the cold grasp of Elhume’s hatred. And after that being of Nether called me stunning… I couldn’t bear the thought of becoming anything else.

Eventually, Elhume and I argued. This was when I ran for real. It wasn’t a time for my secret meeting with the Nether King, but I just… went anyway. I was selfish.

Then suddenly the frozen memories were gone and Yystrix was radiating palpable fear. A cracking twisted figure hidden in the deep shadows of the wastes slowly straightened. It was a being of Nether with a segmented body like an ant, twisting and clicking as it sensed Yystrix. Then it twitched and struck.

I encountered a Nether patrol and was grievously wounded. Heh, the great irony was that I was incredibly weak. After reading so many reports about skirmishes with Nether, I was well aware of what I should be capable of. As I fled, I couldn’t help but wonder if the war games actually served a purpose after all.

Luckily, my Nether King found me and nurtured me back to health in a secret cave hidden in the badlands. That was when we mixed… and the process of making my son occurred. Pine, a genuine Shallah, a being that was pure, raw energy. I was scared and confused and at that very time, the Nether King had to go distract his fellow beings so I wouldn’t be found… and as soon as Pine was born, my son of pure energy began to die.

As I looked at Pine, I knew what my Nether King had seen when he had first seen me. This was what it meant to be stunning. He was so radiant and I stood frozen for several minutes and watched him die before the urgency hit me. I was so desperate that my colors began to change.

Randidly saw another memory. Yystrix’s hands were outstretched, holding an orb of light the size of a beachball. But that light was rapidly dimming as the light flowed outward into the surrounding shadows. It was like the world around them was hungrily devouring that light as quickly as it was being produced.

But you know this part, don’t you? I told you this before. I returned to Elhume. Our fight was about having a child anyway, and this was me having a child. He immediately used his understanding of runes to stall the baby’s disintegration. For a little while, I was happy.

Yet this was the beginning of the end for me; as always, I was instrumental in my own doom. Elhume’s rhetoric regarding this being the time of miracles became even more vehement. The dull youth of my people followed him without question. And those that had noticed the same changes that I did finally had their fears allayed by the arrival of Pine.

If Elhume was really diminishing us, where did this brilliant baby come from? So those few that had resisted finally gave in to Elhume’s pressure. Within a few months, I lived in the 512th floor of the Tower to Heaven. From that height, you can see nothing but thick clouds that are so dense they seem like complete darkness at all times of the day.

Elhume had a grand plan, a plan to finally overwhelm the Nether. Inspired by his successes in splitting the Aether people, Elhume wondered if he could somehow harvest energy from the flesh beings in the wider world. With the power source that was Pine, determined to see this through to the end… he created the System.

And on the eve of his greatest success… I ran and hid in the wide universe.

Then the memories vanished. Yystrix, wearing the modified version of Lyra’s face, was standing in front of Randidly. She smiled sadly. “You must have questions.”

Randidly slowly began to stir. After being immersed in the protective cocoon of Yystrix’s memories for so long, he almost had to dethaw before he could form coherent thoughts. “...why take the time to show me these things? After seeing them-”

“You just have more questions right? There wasn’t really a strong central message.” Yystrix revealed a familiar, very playful smile. At that moment, she reminded Randidly so very much of Lyra. “Because… well, for two reasons. First, because I owed it to you. Because even if you don’t see it yet, you are walking upstream toward the Nexus and it will probably kill you. But the second reason… if you somehow manage to survive, if you actually can live through the dangers of that place… look for the Tower to Heaven. Find the land of orange stone and wargames, Hallohm.

“There is a subbasement below that tower that I was never allowed to enter; the historian’s personal quarters. If you can go there… I believe you can find the old records that Elhume used as inspiration to design the System. With the knowledge I left to Neveah and those records, she can reverse engineer the Aether constructs. And then hopefully… you can free my son from this torture.”

Randidly frowned. “If that’s such an important room… located in his homeland, I doubt that Elhume left it unguarded. By finding it, I would need enough strength to defeat Elhume anyway. So-”

“You would believe so, but as far as I can tell… the current Elhume no longer cares about our homeland. He is now obsessed with either locating Eden or creating it for himself…” Yystrix released a low exhale. “In addition, that world of energy beings is… special, as I referenced earlier. We had to leave Hallohm to protect Pine and create the System. But after you have left Eden, it is very difficult to find your way back.”

Randidly sensed Yystrix’s memories folding in on themselves. He could see the Aether constructs tucking away from him the things she didn’t want him to see, but Randidly also knew that he wasn’t near skilled enough with Aether to take such defenses apart. So the movie blurred and reset with the sound of someone taking a deep breath. It sat waiting for him to go through it again.

“The resources that the Nexus has access to are extremely abundant,” Yystrix whispered. “But only if you know how to use them, Randidly Ghosthound. Never forget that your beginning was the middle of someone else’s story…”

And then she was gone, leaving him alone in darkness.

After hearing about the strange genesis of the System, Randidly wasn’t in the mood to go through it again immediately. He exited Yystrix’s memories and stood up on his misty island. The sun was rising. Today would be the day of the duo’s tournament.

Randidly’s gaze turned up toward the sky with a dark expression. Soon… I’ll be going to the Nexus…