He closed his eyes and calmed himself The sensation is probably going to get worse from here But IÆm not going to stop climbing just because of pain
He slapped his cheeks and stepped forward to press his hand against the barrier Ripples began to congregate around his fingers worming their way into the barrier and steadily undermining its structure The broken pieces of the impediment tinkled to the ground and the shade spoke as Randidly reached forward for the latter once more
My name is Devick And I come from a very particular variation of Elhumes unique for two relevant reasons First when we truly find love the couples unite their souls and become one being Second the females of our species may produce offspring without any biological input from the males All we need is to witness their image to imprint which joins our body and gestates to produce a child
Randidly paused and turned around The shade continued to look at the ground Her arms wrapped around her shoulders as though any loosening of her grip would allow all the broken pieces inside of her to shred her form and shatter upon the ground
Releasing another breath Randidly touched the ladder
Sensation beyond comprehension Pain Timeless torture
Coughing Randidly collapsed on the ground All his limbs trembled the energy sapped out of him from the brief moment of contact Their surroundings had changed again the somehow solid cloud beneath his feet hard darkened somewhat to a metallic mix of gold and silver
And the shade named Devick spoke again
I was born during the latest stages of the Second Cohort During those days the Nexus was filled with war Everyone killed each other desperate to defend their particular corner of the world The Aether Pumps hadnÆt been invented raw energy could only be harvested from incorporated planets At the same time combat power to defend your harvesting planets could only be earned by allowing some chosen planets to prosper and grow developing their own images It was a bloody arithmetic that devoured lives
In the wide battles that rocked the Nexus in the transition between the Second and Third Cohorts most of my people died For the first time I was alone I felt how weak I was very acutely But things began to improve A short time into the third Cohort the modern Nexus Ways were created in a stroke of genius allowing Elhume and his newly centralized power to sweep out through the Nexus and establish order Peace one enforced by the monster with the largest fist came
It was during that peace that I decided to have a child
Randidly panted on the ground waiting for Devick to continue but she did not More and more Nether flooded out of him solidifying her significance even further To the point that Randidly was somewhat alarmed he had no doubt that she had been an important historical figure Her hair had lightened becoming the crimson hue of blood
Well only one way to find out Randidly coughed once last time and swayed when he stood But then he reached out and grabbed onto the ladder to keep climbing toward the summit
Chapter 1835
Gasping and with the sort of headache that he had only experienced previously from a jealous and vindictive hangover Randidly keeled over The soft surface of the cloud gave a small amount but it was a surprisingly uncomfortable surface on which to pass out Most of the shades watched him silently a constant crowd Only DevickÆs shade spoke while she pulled more and more Nether out of him to solidify her own body
As I was alone I thought very deeply about what sort of individual I needed to imprint upon to form my child I would be the progenitor of my race its one hope at returning to its former power I tried to be realistic I didnÆt believe I would ever find someone who would willingly join their soul with mine but I still preferred if I could find a man who would be willing to be present in the life of the child
After a short monologue she fell silent again Randidly was left alone with the sound of his own panting Gritting his teeth he pressed himself up and shook himself The barrier began to unravel beneath his fingers but he thought instead about the pain he had to endure whenever he touched the ladder Is this really just raw emotional force that impacts me every time If she had been tortured by this previously no wonder she doesnÆt want to remember what happened
Even now Randidly sensed that this story did not have a happy ending If it had would she have locked her emotions out of her body Despite that he reached out and grasped the ladder doggedly climbing toward the summit that loomed above
This time he prepared slightly by mobilizing his own emotional force to form a resistance but Randidly almost bit off his tongue as the torrent of force waiting above bulldozed through his tiny emotions In a sensation remarkably similar to swallowing an entire planet Randidly felt those angry emotions force themselves down his throat and coil inside his body
The minute awareness revealed that the emotions that poured into his Nether Core area where they surged along the connection of significance to DevickÆs shade After absorbing those emotions and having the details of her face sharpened she began to speak Randidly shakily tried to remain conscious
Perhaps nine individuals out of ten would have made the obvious choice of mate I should imprint off Elhume the hero of our time He was the publicly acknowledged number one expert in the Nexus and was rapidly solidifying his power base
There were two problems with that First the Elhume of the Third Cohort stood at the center of the interconnected universe Countless gazes fixated on him LIkely due to that he receded from the spotlight allowing his fledgling organizations to handle all the day to day operations rarely showing himself to the public Even if I wanted to finding and imprinting on Elhume would be difficult
But the real issue was that I didnÆt want Elhume to be the father of my child As he was such an obvious candidate it just seemed boring right Being predictable after having my life destroyed seemed like the worst choice I could make I had to be singular
So I began searching for someone else
Randidly wiped the sweat off his brow and rubbed the bridge of his nose Then he cracked his neck His Nether Core was trembling from the strain of conveying so much emotion through to the shade He gave himself a few minutes gradually building back up the thick padding of dense Nether that he used to absorb the impact
Randidly looked over his shoulder at Devick Her iconoclast decision filled him with an impressed sort of disbelief You really arenÆt someone ordinary are you
For a split second Randidly thought he saw the ghost of a smile flit across the shadeÆs face As though even the strange and tragic situation couldnÆt mask her joy at being acknowledged as unordinary Then her crimson hair swung down like a loose curtain and covered her expression She was just a shade gradually absorbing the emotions she had once severed from herself
Randidly raised his head and looked up at the ladder However the personal will it must have taken to repeatedly shave off these layers of emotion thatÆs why its growing stronger with each time I seize the ladder The emotions probably grew back like weeds So those last few rungs with be the entire force of your grief several times in a row
Randidly stopped himself from thinking about it and stood Reach out grab pain enough to blackout After he collapsed his back arched as the emotions ran their course through him as they returned to the shade
Perhaps due to a well mannered upbringing but the shade waited until RandidlyÆs consciousness drifted back before she continued her story However being sure of what you donÆt want and knowing what you want are two entirely different prospects It is fair to say that I expertly handled the former while gambling with the latter I traveled throughout the growing cities of the Nexus visiting and sampling the local talented males