Chapter 1668 (2/2)

Also, since they exist… I should investigate these Chimeras that are popping up…

For now, Randidly set those thoughts to the side. Instead, he shifted his focus to his final image: the Stillborn Phoenix.

If anything, the shaft darkened as he manifested his third and greediest image. The small amount of ambient light began to swirl and spin like sink water above a drain. An implacable and absolute darkness manifested in front of Randidly, surrounded by a swirling nebula of melting light and emotions that couldn’t escape the grip of the egg of depression.

The image itself was a study of absence. The most domineering core was simply nothing. Only by viewing the steady stream of other matter being devoured could Randidly see the shape of his image.

Randidly was slightly surprised to notice that the image was definitely growing. He could feel the tugs of the image on his body as he stood before the image. Apparently, the emotional diet was spurring expansion.

A short crackle of electricity sparked out in the draining nebula as a batch of violent emotions flared up in an attempt to escape their fate. But those struggles proved useless; the Stillborn Phoenix greedily sucked in the emotion’s struggles and then continued to reel the emotion itself into its maw.

Randidly stared at the feasting image for several seconds, quite at a loss over how to proceed. The Stillborn Phoenix’s area of influence steadily grew, gathering more and more ambient Nether and emotion into a swirling vortex. Randidly carefully began adjusting the details of its manifestation in the world. He roughed up the edges and injected overwhelming feelings of need into the Stillborn Phoenix’s depths.

But Randidly’s face quickly settled into a frown. Lightning cracked again as another batch of emotions tried to resist the Stillborn Phoenix’s pull and failed. Randidly was struggling with what to do next when the lighting sparked for a third time.

Then Randidly blinked. A few seconds later, a wide grin spread across his face.

“I knew when I made the image of the Stillborn Phoenix that it would be the most obtuse of my images…” Randidly said to the empty space. “Especially because there was a fatal flaw at the core of the image: I was creating something I couldn’t see because it couldn’t exist, but was somehow manifesting anyway. Which left me with the problem of figuring out the proper way to evidence an overwhelming existence that shouldn’t be…”

Randidly flicked his wrist and produced his Hierarchy of Burden. His emerald eyes began to glow as he looked at his Fatepiece. “...but isn’t that what an image is? Something that shouldn’t exist but does? And now I possess an answer key; I have an ancient tool to absorb the deadly drag created by a powerful image. It will take some time, but as long as I proceed through this Fatepiece and reproduce the details in the image…”

The core of the Stillborn Phoenix will steadily become more concrete.

Randidly looked up sharply. His senses flowed out to his image and he began making minute adjustments. The center of the Stillborn Phoenix was the concept of an egg within a black hole. But it was immeasurable depth laying across substance. Randidly adjusted the energy field in the surroundings so that the ‘positive’ substance started reacting to the ‘negative’ absence of the image.

Bolts of black lightning flickered briefly around the edges of the event horizon, but the sound was devoured by the Stillborn Phoenix. So suddenly it seemed like the Egg of Depression was spreading out disjointed and sharp black tentacles to try and seize the surrounding space.

As Randidly continued to adjust his image, the sense of rejection from reality grew. The silent black lightning grew more intense. The influence of the Stillborn Phoenix grew more powerful. Randidly licked his lips and continued to work.

*****

Sam sat cross-legged on the dirt floor, rubbing the back of his neck. After several months of meticulous resource gathering, several weeks of preparations, and three days of work, his latest project was finished. In the fading evening light, a cloak of brilliant golden feathers glittered as it lay across a mundane wooden coat rack.

Sam sat and watched his creation with rapturous attention. In the distance, he could hear the sound of an intermittent splash and the persistent rustle of the wind. In the sky, the sun slowly sank toward the horizon.

At dusk, all the light seemed to vanish from the cloak. The dark feathers hung heavily on the cloak, no longer able to hide the mass of their existence with golden light. Sam knew from his experience in the last week that the final product would be incredibly heavy; each feather was as long as his forearm and heavier than an adult man. In total, the cloak weighed as much as an industrial dump truck.

To the current humanity, that was still within acceptable limits. But Sam knew that this product would have a limited appeal at Kharon’s Auction. Still, he attempted to fulfill his vision, if only to break past the limit of VII.

When the sun had completely sunk below the horizon, the feathers lightened again. But this time, they glowed luminously silver. Sam allowed himself a flinty smile. He stood and pressed his hand against a feather, testing its sharp edge and bringing up its attributes.

But what he saw filled him with disappointment. “Another failure, huh…”