RandidlyÆs eyebrows rose these influences were familiar to him as well The Master and Don Beigon huh Just a small current right now and a weakening one but a lot of threads reaching out
Randidly eyebrows knitted together as he read the twining threads of of their malicious intention Because he saw they already had hypotheses about how to create Alymian now even before Elhume had become involved And their method
Lower the power level of the isolated world Randidly whispered impressed despite himself Take away all the benefits of the System the advantages imparted by Aether and Nether Makes it that much easier to arrange two of the necessary elements to reach the Pinnacle And once you earn the absolute moment you make the isolated low power space permanent
Another piece a strange one one which didnÆt currently seem like it would come to pass At least not yet But understanding their desires was another lever
The looming of Mae Myrna
Surly Deganawidah with his dead student
The machinations of Don Beigon
Fates spreading throughout the Aether population
The impending war as the Nether forces marched back with more Nether Warriors at higher Tiers
The tensions between this Nether leadership and the Nether Arbiter Lowanna
The overwhelming dread so thick it cast a shadow over Homewell even on the sunniest day
The weakened Lifeseal the support of Homewell for BeigonÆs and the MasterÆs experiments
Elhume and his desperate hopes the scraped together plan to create humanity This time with a less wounded Origin Beast due to RandidlyÆs interference
Devick thrust into the middle of the chaos weak and wandering Growing as quickly as she could manage
Perhaps the realization that made him most bemused was the effect of Randidly himself on the pattern a spear of significance pinning certain elements in place acting as a counterweight for the devastation and war that had originally happened in the memory And if he had his way
Randidly paused For a few seconds he floundered wondering why his skin had tingled with a half recognized sensation as he gave the different flow of significance a quick once over Yet once he looked for the source of this feeling he could sniff it out everywhere especially in DeganawidahÆs deep well of significance remaining mostly still
Honestly Randidly wasnÆt sure if he would have noticed otherwise Because even the deep energy of Deganawidah unwillingly inched sideways pulled into a deeper pattern by a powerful force
His awareness still blurred Randidly leaned back He looked at the whole of the forces Not the way that they clashed with each other prepared for their inevitable conflict But he saw the way the entire approaching climax flowed slowing in one direction
And in the memory there was only one source of power so noticeably greater than Deganawidah it could have this effect
For a brief moment Randidly allowed his gaze to flick up to Pine A spark of genuine hope surged in his chest A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth In the end this is the battle for you huh How do they so corrupt the soul of a universe I wonder to turn it into the empty pit you are in the present
Well this time will be different
Randidly looked back down His mind raced tracing out the implications of the pattern in that inevitable movement through all these elements One method to handling all his goals would have been to categorize all the environmental factors and predict them perfectly Then he would walk without fear amongst the chaos plucking up every benefit he wished
However that was unrealistic And to be honest Randidly defaulted to simple brutality whenever he could More than conceptually understanding so many diverse influences he could just keep the pull of Pine in mind If he could understand that
He could make sure his goals were just a bit more downstream in the flow of history than his enemies The rest of the knot of tension he had been carrying in his chest the worry that Neveah had been right about him evaporated
With his three Moiraes and three images Randidly Ghosthound began to plan in earnest
Chapter 2265
Charlotte Wick tried to buy some time by raising a furred hand to wipe across her mouth At the last second she paused before contact could begin her hands was crusted with dirt from her morning appointment Her lip twitched And although it shouldnÆt matter to her her newfound discovery of lifeÆs complexities meant she was also in tune with the thousands of small bacteria that skittered through the mud their amoeba feelers waving
With a grimace she lowered her hand Opposite her the Homid Matron tilted her head to the side Well The family should be shifting their furniture and heirlooms later in the afternoon DonÆt breathe a word of this to anyone else but my brotherÆs wifeÆs aunt Reneke is a hoarder Heirlooms In the slums SheÆd rather her poor husband break his back than stop dragging her ratty old vanity around Right now we barely have enough room for ourselves Totally unnecessary IÆm really sorry for coming so suddenly but I didnÆt know who else to call If you cannot finish the task by then god IÆll almost thank you We could snap that old vanity into driftwood
No it will be done Charlotte Wick nodded her head quite quickly hoping to be soon free of Homid gossip
The woman gave Charlotte a prim nod in response pressed one of her toes to her lips in one final urging of secrecy and pushed her way outside the layer of hanging fronds that marked the edge of CharlotteÆs dwelling She pulled in a wide reed basket and left it on the floor Without another word she turned and left leaving Charlotte Wick standing alone with her paymentÆ
Charlotte pressed her eyes closed She felt vaguely ill and overstrained after her image had refined itself it was difficult to look at anything and not see the thousands of bacteria viruses mites fungi and other drifting single cell organisms that lived an entirely separate existence from the bodies they inhabited
Her skin tingled with the infinite populations as they lived out their small lives Charlotte believed she could turn all this understanding into power but right now it felt like she had opened her eyes in the middle of a nightmare and found her subconscious had actually been trying to cushion the blow of reality
How did I get here She wondered She forced herself to sit down on the low cushioned beds she had received as one of her payments for services The bedding was well worn but cozy reminding her of her favorite cave nook growing up but she pressed those thoughts to the side She did her best to ignore the warzone that erupted on the spots where her skin touched the new surface Waves of bacteria from both sides slammed up against one another She focused her thoughts away
Element One of CharlotteÆs New Existence After she had been freed from HomewellÆs prison during the Nether attack she had made her freedom permanent by assisting with the defense Homewell had issued her an official pardon (no small portion of that was related to Nether King Hungry EyeÆs own intervention int he cityÆs defense ) Meanwhile Randidly very clearly broadcast how busy he was so she had been left to her own devices with this freedom So she had kept training kept refining her understanding of the world
For now the Lifeseal was the primary source of her inspiration so she took up lodging right beyond the edge of the city
Element Two in which Charlotte Sabotages herself In addition to her own training regarding the Lifeseal she had been deeply fascinated by the root system in the Western Slums The interactions between the Lifeseal and the bacteria of the roots were almost like an elaborate tango between two longtime dance partners although as far as Charlotte could tell the two collectives one energy and one bacteria should be on entirely separate planes of existence They shouldnÆt be able to interact
In her attempts to understand the relationship better she had dug underneath the root system to meditate in the location where the two forces midst She had wanted to sit amongst the interactions and try and intuit the connections