Chapter 1491 (2/2)

When he arrived at her cabin, she was already waiting with the door open. He followed her inside, sniffing and catching the scent of a stew she was making. In the corner of the room, a large cauldron merrily bubbled, bits of carrot, onion, and potato periodically visible as the mixture continued its steady churn. What surprised Randidly was that Sydney was sitting in the corner of a room, folding laundry. She looked up at him with a slightly unfriendly stare, as though daring him to question while she was here.

Randidly wasn’t a fan of the antagonism in her expression but decided he had bigger fish to fry at the moment. He looked at Neveah and sent her a message. Is it fine to talk about things here?

Is there anything that we would talk about that we are trying to hide? Neveah responded. Outloud, she asked. “Tea?”

“Please,” Randidly said, moving over to sit in one of the wooden stools at the table. While Neveah went through the small motions of putting a kettle on to boil and Sydney returned to her folding, Randidly tasted the swirling emotions around their images. In addition, he could use his Nether Nebula to brush against the significance that pooled in this place. Despite the limits imposed by the System, there was quite an abundance of Nether present.

This cabin was a dense mess of Nether.

Neveah ground up some tea leaves. “I assume part of the reason you are here is to ask me again if I’m sure I don’t want to come; I will say that I am sure. If you want, that letter on the table is Roy’s suicide note. Read it. Then you might understand.”

Frowning, Randidly looked at the letter in question. He picked it up and unfolded. Someone, likely Neveah, had taken great care when refolding the letter. The creased paper was sharp and stark against the messy words written within. Randidly scanned the letter and his frowned deepened. Certainly, the handwriting was overly stylized, but more than that…

He read the letter twice before he set it down. His emerald eyes glittered“Do you think this… is accurate?”

“Yes, I believe so.” Neveah said. Steam began to whistle out of the kettle and she whisked it up and poured the boiling water over the leaves. “When he died, Roy’s consciousness was pulled somewhere. Likely all living things governed by the System are taken there. Part of the damage he sustained was due to witnessing the crazy meat grinder of images, but more than that… and the reason that nothing ever seems to try and escape from that place…”

“That’s where all the significance goes,” Randidly breathed. “Everything that has been stolen from the Cohorts. And they use it to try and make-”

The words on the page floated at the forefront of Randidly’s mind. All the parts of an infant are assembled there… all the limbs and organs. But they were drawn by someone who had never seen the real thing. The pieces float around each other, the heart orbiting the pelvis while passing through a belt of drifting fingers and toes, like a solar system.

Neveah barred her teeth. “Or perhaps its better to say that the reason the Nexus can gather all the dying images is that it already has so much significance gathered in one point. And when you witness that mass of significance… it means so much more than you ever could. That hits you viscerally. You feel, rightfully, insignificant. It’s probably why Roy became so obsessed with heroes and their tropes; only in stories could he feel meaningful. Being a part of something softened his certainty that he was individually meaningless.”

Then Neveah lowered her gaze. “...I have to admit it has me worried. Against Kaan…. I’m not mentally strong, Randidly. Not like you are. If I had to face that significance… Even if I could just sense it existing nearby… I would be crushed. So… it’s better for me here.”

Randidly’s mind whirred. Part of him was grappling with the issue of Neveah’s decision, while another part of himself began gradually to assemble a picture of the Nexus based on what he knew. That strange, warped baby at the core of that place of death….

Randidly released a breath. “I understand.”

He sat for a while after that, settling his thoughts and drinking his tea. He even found it within himself to talk quietly for Sydney for a time, making polite conversation. Neveah eventually asked if Randidly was staying for dinner, to which he had to reply in the negative; it was already time for him to go. They embraced.

He was hugging a lot today.

He opened up a portal and moved back to Kharon. There, the soldiers that followed him from the frontlines waited. They had just finished with their own goodbyes. These soldiers were put within his Alpha Cosmos. Then, although he was somewhat loathe to admit he needed her assistance, Randidly headed to Donnyton. He could do this on his own, but he now wanted to be careful to keep everything within official channels.

So he met Lyra to the South of Donnyton on a small hill next to an apple orchard. She looked extremely grumpy, as though she was running a fever and Randidly’s request had forced her out of bed. She was very clearly suppressing the urge to shiver in the chill wind. Randidly couldn’t prevent a grin from spreading across his face; it seemed that his punishment was having the desired effect.

Probably to refuse to acknowledge her weakness, Lyra didn’t even bother to complain about it. Instead, she waved her hand in front of Randidly’s eyes. He observed carefully as she attached a small bit of Aether architecture to his Class. He scrutinized it carefully as it latched onto him, watching for any more observation software. But it truly just allowed him to see parts of the System that were barred to him before.

And once it settled, Randidly could sense them running through the world around him: the Nexus Ways.

“The main hub is… the biggest one. It’s really self-explanatory.” Lyra stretched her arm up and gestured vaguely. Then she seemed to remember something and pause. “Ah, there is one more thing. You are the first person from Expira to be designated by a Village Spirit as worthy to head to the Nexus. As such…”

She gestured and a notification appeared in front of Randidly.

Congratulations! Due to your accomplishment, you have been given a Tier I Nexus Citizenship Coin. See your Village Spirit for more details.