The intruder beamed around at them all However I donÆt wish to force my way into this interesting venture as a show of good faith I will forgo this opportunity But truly you should dispose of that body With how much ambient Nether is present inside of this isolated space something will mutate onto that eventually if you simply leave it to the elements
Lucretia measured the intruder for several seconds Then she nodded slowly I understand and have received your intentions I believe I will arrange a meeting between you and Randidly Ghosthound It truly seems like you have some familiarity with what we do here
The intruder responded only with a sharp smile
With a low hum the final restrictions that lay across the Frost Matriarch shattered into motes of impotent light She rubbed her wrists looking around at the surroundings with a wistful expression Outside through the wide open archways the expanse of pristine frozen tundra glittered This place this ruse has been nice In a way I think I really grew to believe that ice possessed such a compelling natural beauty
Even if I did resent the way it preserved everything It is a bandaid nothing more When locked under ice old wounds never get the chance to heal
The Frost Matriarch took several tentative steps from her frozen throne without encountering anything else Don Beigon hadnÆt left any other restrictions on her person or in the surrounding area It seemed that the madman truly intended to leave her here for Randidly Ghosthound
That name caused her face to crease Randidly Ghosthound is it a coincidence that everything started to roll right after you arrived at the Nexus All of this conflict bubbling to the surface was always inevitable but still And that body of yours A different context warps everything even while the patterns repeat themselves I hope you make better choices in subordinates than Elhume did
The Frost Matriarch walked out of the viewing hall and down through the wide passages of her palace She moved with an arm outstretched tracing the lines of the tall frozen pillars Currently there was no need to rush Through her efforts she managed to escape the restrictions after only five hours rather than the twenty four Don Beigon intended The man was strong but his image couldnÆt truly grip her
After all the Frost Matriarch didnÆt exist
She went down a shadowed side hallway and reached a locked door She tapped a finger against the heavy metal binding inducing a rapid rust and disintegration Beyond the open door was a staircase that led down to an old chamber A breath of ancient air wafted outward and the Frost Matriarch kept her mouth tightly shut Then she descended her ice slippers tinklings against the heavy stone stairs
Her destination was the old chamber at the bottom That room with the complicated Engraving on the floor was the first construction of this entire compound This room served as the foundation
As she walked into the middle and activated the array her thoughts turned to Claudette Beigon Speaking of ironies how strange that you somehow came to me to learn how to strengthen your image I wonder if you ever noticed that the reason I could help you so much was not due to the cold you radiated but because of all the things that you hid within the depths of yourself
Bound Aether within the talisman was forcefully propelled along flows of Nether principles The shape was one of Aether filled with captured Nether This was a tool of pure unmaking
She beat her wings again tearing through the suppressing of the Engraving and ignoring the shriek of warnings behind her she knew that facility had already served its purpose She felt no qualms about leaving a mess in her wake
In the next minute she appeared above the Engraving Guild compound She licked her lips this was the portion that required the most luck She couldnÆt be sure that any powerful Nether individual here would be acting against his wishes at this moment but if anyone were
Begrudgingly she allowed her perception to spread out Her long tongue flicked out from her beak and tasted the space She smiled in pleased satisfaction as she felt someone deep within the Engraving Guild compound assembling the pieces and resources to make an attempt on the Pinnacle My my how naughty It seems the Orthodox Factions canÆt be trusted at all Nether bastard indeed
The geas flared to life as it found a target After all words were weak preserved or not
The Patron of Feathers beat her wings and slithered further downward moving past all the Nether Rituals and defensive Engravings that stood in her way In only a split second she had reached Lathis NÆGick who looked sharply up from his meditation at the arrival
Shock spread rapidly across his face He lowered his hands leaving the Nether Ritual on the table in front of them half finished Apep I cannot believe Is that really you How
The Patron of Feathers raised the small bone talisman A mysterious voice seemed to whisper in her ear reading the sinister verses off the bones and filling her head with their chaotic sounds The inscriptions were in a language that the Patron had heard before but never understood because it predated the Nexus Her skin crawled and her ears began to ring suddenly her hand was slick with sweat
A drop of liquid fell off of the trembling fingers on the bone talisman staining the dry wooden floor of LathisÆ personal workshop
Lathis realized the threat just as the six bones activated and folded him in on himself in six different ways The process was like nothing like flipping a coin in the air and not even caring which way it would land
She watched him die and then felt the concentrated fulcrum of the Nether Lattice in his body be torn in half a paper banner that accidentally ended up in the path of a bull The floor on which Lathis had been standing cracked but otherwise the room remained remarkably affected by the powerful talisman
Of course as the Nether energy supplied by the various apprentices began to sputter and fail as the Nether Lattice began to collapse alarms began to shrilly whine across the compound With the geas fading in her chests and the horrid whispers intensifying in her ears the Patron of Feathers beat her wings again and escaped that place and fled to deep space
Only the whispers followed her taking up more and more of her mind She looked grimly down at the bone talisman The various bones trembled the ill will they contained beginning to infect her The geas was gone but now she needed to pay the price for misusing the two energies
Honestly the Patron of Feathers expected something like this she had never expected that he would let her go after doing his dirty work
As the volume of the whispers rose taking small bites at the edge of her sanity the Patron of Feathers sent one last message Tell your father that itÆs almost time to wake up A change is coming For all of us
Then she shut herself off from the world and prepared for a long struggle the end might be inevitable but she didnÆt intend to go down without a fight
Chapter 1791
We have a problem
Despite himself Randidly perked up almost immediately when he received the message from Lucretia He rolled back his shoulders and rubbed off some of the flour on his hands on his apron Most of the rest of the people in the crowded kitchen didnÆt seem to notice the shift caught in some heated gossip about RainaÆs tragic dating experience in the past few months Only Neveah raised an eyebrow at him but Randidly just shook his head and left the kitchen out the back entrance
Randidly could feel that ClaudetteÆs emotions finally started to normalize So he didnÆt want to disturb
His lips quirked up as Delilah heaved a sigh of relief after he closed the door behind him He suppressed the urge to pop back in and give her some random task Are you really this scared just from hide and seek all those years ago Ah you are too fun to tease
But quickly he focused his mind and reached out for Lucretia Heat began to build in his body as he prepared for a fight WhatÆs the problem
A foreign entity managed to make it into the Alpha Cosmos He calls himself the Patron of the Sun While he is behaving now his earlier behavior leads me to believe that his is both significantly powerful and more experienced with the way that ambient Nether behaves than even we are We suppressed him but it is hard to say how long that will last