Chapter 316 - Chaos to Come (1/2)

Old Thane's words heartened the group a little, but there still lingered a sense of unease. Everyone aside from Tia and Asala. Tia was only happy to be tagging along, and Asala maintained an impressive mind of steel that kept her writing and recording in spite of anything that could worry her.

But the others, their unease was still present. Such was the gravity of Li himself foretelling a darker future. To them, Li must have seemed essentially a god, a being that could channel power they did not understand at unfathomable quantities.

That he leeched worry into his voice made their worries compound tenfold. In part, that worry came from the fact that they did not know about the nature of the threats to come and what they would need to do to avoid it.

”I will tell you all of the threats to come as we move. All of you have the determination to come on this journey. Now prove that determination through the fight.” Li started across the Midpath.

”Fight! Fight!” said Tia as she skipped behind him, her crimson necklace flashing in the remnants of dawn light left by Helius.

Everyone else followed, their worries replaced in part by wonder as they tread across the magically constructed walkway of the Midpath bridge. The Vukanovi followed behind for the Midpath was an enormous bridge, easily capable of fitting a dozen people stretched from arm to arm horizontally.

Li passed under one of Helius's Aviania arches, the shadow it cast forming a flicker of darkness on the glowing white path.

”The threat to come, the true threat, is not the Darkening,” said Li.

”Not demons?” said Sheela.

”No.” Li pointed to the sky. ”The true threat comes from the stars. At night, when the sun falls, you see darkness, yes? Darkness filled with stars. That darkness is where they will come from.”

Everyone looked up.

”Star stones, lad?” said Old Thane.

Li understood that in this world, star stones were their term for meteorites. He shook his head.

”No. Living creatures. Nightmare creatures that exist only to revel the destruction of all things,” said Li. ”They will stop at nothing to see this world reduced to primordial chaos or enslaved under their heel, and their might easily rivals that of the three great gods.”

”We cannot fight against that,” said Vilga, notably breaking from her silence. ”I was in the fighting pits. I know when a fight is lost.”

”But we have him.” Sheela pointed to Li with a claw.

”And there is only one of him.” Vilga looked to the sky.  ”Many of them.”

”Do you not see, lass?” said Old Thane. ”That is why we journey now. To earn the might to fight against them.”

”I told you all of a darker, greater threat that I am journeying west for. It is precisely one of these creatures that are agents of chaos,” said Li. ”One that is slumbering, but even in its slumber, the tendrils of its maddening influence reach out.

You have seen that influence firsthand for yourselves in Riviera. This demon rot as you call it is no product of the demons, it is a product of chaos far greater than them.”

”Then the demons have allied with this terrible force,” said Mason.

”No, I understand that is the natural conclusion to draw, and I know that I have been vague about them, but now that I know the possibility of chaos descending to this world is a possibility to reckon, it is better to be specific.

The demons are forcefully enslaved to the rot, well, a good amount of them at the least. Freeing them from the control will only give us more allies against this encroaching chaos. In fact, this entity of chaos that slumbers in abyssal depths has slept in this world for centuries, kept sealed only by the efforts of the demons themselves.”

”Impossible,” said Mason. ”The demons have tried many times to conquer this world. They would have used such power for themselves. You said this thing is an agent of chaos? I see no difference between it and the demons.”

”This power will end this world. I have no doubts that the demons have arisen to conquer and cause destruction, but you are sorely mistaken, boy,” said Li. ”You do not even have the slightest conception of what chaos is.