Devick climbed to the Pinnacle wondering if this would be enough to narrow the gap between herself and Randidly Ghosthound
And if itÆs not Her eyes flashed Where do I climb next
What she found at the top was the familiar form of the Nether King standing in a wide flat area As close as she could tell the nondescript area was some sort of tomb There were two humanoid statues in the open area one made of obsidian and one of ivory A starry dome stretched overhead and Devick stared just a second too long at the celestial expanse rapidly coming back to herself after five seconds of vertigo
Her pulse beat rapidly in her ears and wrists accelerated into a gallop by the intoxicating sensation of her image expanding Malice had grown and developed immensely she could sense in that strange moment of falling But she had also been entirely defenseless
Weirdly the fact that she hadnÆt been ambushed almost annoyed her
The Nether King who had been standing in front of the obsidian statue grinned at her over his shoulder as though he could read her mind Ah finally present Excellent that will make this next part quite a bit easier Otherwise I would have needed to rely on some inefficient methods
Devick straightened imperceptibly shifting her weight to the balls of her feet Malice flexed the fingers of the withered hand Yet even with an empowered version of her image she didnÆt think she could stand against this being the last Nether King in the modern Nexus She reined in her impulse to toss a snarky answer in his face and instead said What the hell are you doing here
Taking the heritage of my people the possibility we have so long been deprived Ah Devick donÆt give me that look I mean neither you nor Randidly any harm The Nether King shrugged and gestured to the two statues Witness now the two pillars upon which the Nexus was built Luckily Pine has been loosed in the Nexus otherwise just being in this place would likely result in your annihilation And while you are here hehe you strike me as someone who would appreciate a small secret Look closely at that white pillar you will see the reason Elhume had such difficulty holding onto his power
Devick frowned but did take a longer glance at the white pillar Her curiosity practically demanded it Whatever she expected to find was not immediately apparent the statue was quite mundane no tentacles or flaming tridents whatsoever thatÆs a woman Should that mean something to me
Well perhaps not Let me just say that statue commemorates an image discarded a Foregone Fate The Nether King hummed Sometimes well meaning inaction is even more dangerous than taking an obviously foolish action For remaining idle opens the door for the unworthy to pervert something genuinely pure And leave the rest of us spending four thousand years to pick up the pieces
Quite lost and not at all titillated by this secretÆ Devick nodded toward the obsidian pillar What about that one You are collecting the heritage of your people but what does that mean
She took a few steps closer and saw that the Nether King had been angling his body to hide his left hand drawing slow circles in the air and siphoning off dense significance from the obsidian statue He watched her with sharp eyes while he continued his labor Yes this belongs to the Nether people It is the entire reason I needed to enter into the Path to the Pinnacle I do not know the particulars of how he died in the memory but in the original timeline Deganawidah the Thrice Drowned sacrificed himself in order to forgive the sins of the Nether Arbiter after she had spent a month being tortured by the Cult of the Savior
The aftermath was not pretty Despite his best efforts my people were afflicted with widespread weakness and dizziness for days opening us up to attacks from Aether forces I suspect Elhume believed this to be the Nether Prince of Deganawidah and rightly hid it here to avoid another abusing its power However this is quite a great deal more important than any old nascent Nether Prince
Devick watched his hands closely She felt a shiver in her own Nether Core witnessing the loving way the Nether Prince stroked the Nether IÆve never seen significance like that
Perhaps Randidly Ghosthound will achieve a similar purity someday but this this is the ripe remnant of a Penance entirely served Raw unused significance of the highest caliber As he spoke of it the energy seemed to shift Every time Devick looked at it it seemed to be shimmering a different color
She saw its translucence but light glinted off it as azure emerald and topaz always shifting always pure
You are going to swallow that and become Devick sucked in a breath as her mind raced through the possibilities
Again Pine shuddered Yet even an innate rejection of this interloper could not slacken its hunger If anything the corpse of the Shallah sucked down more and more soon accepting the whole of this scaled being into itself The dirty hair the heavy scaled body and even the trailing wisp of a tail soon disappeared
It goes to remake the Nexus Fiero cackled YouÆve provided just the help we needed to achieve our ends albeit in a method that we did not wish for And even that is your fault Is this your own Ghasthund The Nexus shall soon become a hell of your making
While Fiero continued to giggle and cackle alternatively Elhume just frowned up toward Pine Why must Laplace climb into Pine Surely the body of an Eternity possesses enough power to potency to remake the universe without relying on Pine
Even frozen Randidly found a point of freedom although the whole of him remained mixed up the reflection within PanguÆs Asymptote remained pure With brutal efficiency he began to weave together significance and complex patterns in that alternate reflection Nyx watched his motions with understanding and pity
He didnÆt like this as an option but he needed to solve this problem quickly
Touching the Universe Soul is the most direct method Fiero said But he suddenly regarded Elhume much more coolly All of the VulpineÆs manic glee had vanished On a fundamental level the Hierarchy of TimeÆs Crossroads will be entered into the Nexus Once that has happened you can proceed back in time freely
There are other ways The Present Pine this will hurt him Elhume said
You Fiero seemed almost shocked As the world ended around them these two individuals looked deeply into each othersÆ eyes almost past the point of empathy You short sighted fool Your son died long ago we are straddled with only his corpse If you had managed to elicit any sort of response mooning about below with this horrifying singularity
Elhume began to plead Perhaps just a little longer with more significance
ItÆs too late Fiero cut him off Then with surprising gentleness he said If it is easier I can take those feelings from you You need not suffer for your son any longer
I ElhumeÆs face crumpled For several long seconds he stared at the ground I do not wish to always be the one who runs from his feelings
And yet here you are Fiero observed Complaining about the situation you created after the fact Inviting an Eternity into the Nexus was your plot to trump even the potential of the Ghosthound So are you going to take responsibility or will you need me to handle it as always happens
While this extended conclusion to the duoÆs melodrama continued Neveah frantically reached out to Randidly At least consider the implications of this decision If you totally unmoor yourself from reality
ItÆs my Class Neveah It was always going to end like this He wrote with Aether to give the label shape He added Nether his own intoxicatingly dense significance to give it weight The implications spiraled out beyond even his own ability to conceptualize but he didnÆt care He needed access to himself And without an effective way to fight back
Neveah radiated waves of caution You Randidly Ghosthound always have chosen your own end And if you do this that will no longer be the case You will no longer be writing your story just living it