Her eyes burned white and baleful as she pivoted and looked around Her White HunterÆs Knack caught the traces of the puppet controller due to his Skill usage here A smile stretched across her face as she followed that trail out to a weird puppet intermediary and then another some distance further away stretching South from the Nordawn Mountain Range in a long chain that eventually led to the Wildlands South of Zone 1 Smoke began to rise from the corners of her gaze driven by a frightful cruelty Annie pushed herself further and further
A low growl escaped her throat Something feral crept into her joints sharpening her hunger until she seemed to feel a physical need gnawing at the inside of her ribs
Her eyes and that need eventually led her to the target Across the world hidden in an underground training facility a brown haired man shivered and twisted around from a basin of water sitting on the desk Oblivious to distance their eyes met His pupils dilated in sudden horror and understanding
Annie chuckled She knocked an arrow and pulled back the string bending the wooden bow Snow swirled around her alighting upon the arrow until it was completely encrusted Still Annie drew back on her weapon aiming the arrow up in the very specific angle to cover the incredible distance
She kept pulling the bow folding itself into a sharp V the arrow no longer braced against anything It was only her sure grip that kept the arrow straight As a professional Annie looked again with her burning white eyes finding the young man scrambling out of the underground area to seek help
Then she released the string confident that her arrow would find its target That need in her stomach licked its chops ready to indulge in the preyÆs carcass
Chapter 1916
A pulse echoed out across the island stirring the clouds and briefly pausing the tides Animals crouched low pressing their bellies on the ground The individuals training on the beach stopped immediately and looked up toward the highest point of the island the volcano The vegetal mass that dominated one third of the island stilled unwilling to draw the attention of the source of this shift The ants’ constant hum of activity ceased as they bowed their heads before a force greater than them
It was a low note of an interlude a shared stillness that briefly gripped the island The emotional note of inviolable resonance as shape and emotion merged together was that influential For a brief moment it was near perfect
That image contained the nurturing embrace of sunlight and air but it was also a wish for stability and home That moment sang a ballad of nostalgia and steady support for the next generation It was encouragement and guidance Yet running underneath it all was a powerful invigorating force a pure sip of life that would leave the drinker energized and inspired
Yet even beyond those more familiar notes something new rose within the image of Yggdrasil The World Tree now possessed the bearing of a sovereign an outlook of arrogance and responsibility that allowed no argument from creation The evolution of Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil has rounded out this feeling in its new form as The First Tree Suffers Only Fealty permeating every inch of the image Yet if it was just the Skill it wouldnÆt have become so pervasive
As the image activated it drew some of its power from RandidlyÆs Nether Core to reach that trembling note of perfection And from his significance it found an authority that gave him the prerogative to seize anything he needed Truly he possessed the tool of a Monarch
The realization was sobering The moment of perfection passed as his focus wavered So Randidly could only grimace and try again
As he made several slight adjustments in his search for the perfect emotional affect he became increasingly stormy and domineering in his outlook The sky above curled and twisted out several deafening rumbles bidden by the slight shift in his disposition A mere scowl was enough for the planet to rise up indignation
Meanwhile although the form within his image space had only now grown to the size of the sapling Randidly felt a massive web of shadows stretching out from his body They stretched and grew a projection of the force that existed within him The web of implied branches were likely hidden by the storm clouds above but the grasp of the World Tree curled around the island making sure nothing remained out of reach
Congratulations Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm has grown to Level 699
Congratulations Your Skill the First Tree Suffers Only Fealty has grown to Level 836
After a tense moment of straining Randidly released an explosive sigh and released his image The near invisible shadow fingers vanished He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck feeling something between annoyance and embarrassment He pushed aside the emotional exhaustion and reviewed the process Now that YggdrasilÆs settling well into its new form IÆm very close to finding the perfect emotional affect
The only issue is I wish it wasnÆt such a prideful and demanding outlook
Randidly took a long inhale and then blew his breath out through his lips with enough force to make them buzz It was he supposed his own fault that it had reached this point His World Tree enabled him to literally support worlds With that much capability there were bound to be some lofty aspirations from the image
Annie helped those children and the others she found by creating Nether connections to them Heiffal frowned and followed TatianaÆs lead His was a much rougher pour the liquor sloshing as he dumped some into a glass He raised it and downed it immediately earning an eye roll from Tatiana Mrs Hamilton smirked the woman always had strong opinions about how good whiskey should be savored
After wiping his lips Heiffal continued to speak A tiresome duty but we could simply replicate that process of making connections with the infected
Mrs HamiltonÆs lips twitched She raised a finger before Heiffal could continue Point of order In small batches this is possible However we are all not Randidly Ghosthound he might casually erect a massive hub of Nether connections on a weekday but we cannot manage nearly so many Besides that also ignores what I suspect to be a significant problem a lot of people wonÆt want to have their fates tied to strangers Even if we offer some will refuse
Is that what a Nether connection would do NaffurÆs eyebrows shot up clearly he had never really considered the concrete implications of NetherÆs new presence on Expira Not that Mrs Hamilton really blamed him she knew the stress that the young man was under guiding the Order Ducis
Mrs Hamilton opened her mouth but she paused and closed it as Tatiana began to speak ItÆs more complicated than that The best answers with Nether are vague by drawing a connection to someone you are weaving them into the fabric of your narrative In this case the metaphor still works When you have a story with too many threads of equal importance you end up pissing off everyone who wants more stage time for the thread they want to know about The result is shit Randidly can get away with it because his central story is absolutely overwhelming the rest of us will quickly become overshadowed with consequences we might not see coming
Speaking of Annie While Naffur and Heiffal mulled over TatianaÆs statement the other woman turned to Mrs Hamilton IÆve been seeing a lot of buzz about her attack on that the hidden bunker Do we need to worry about the press complaining about this one
Mrs Hamilton grimaced For now no Even the most fearmongering news outlets are admitting that this location was clearly the breeding ground for a terrorist group They mumble about how worrisome it is that a single woman has this kind of power but its mostly accepting The attack was targeted too somehow her attack burrowed fifteen meters through solid granite and only killed him Apparently now that itÆs stopped smoking the site looks a little like a slide straight down through the ground But itÆs the follow up that worries me AnnieÆs hunting now for the rest of this group And based on the fact she hasnÆt yet rooted them out they arenÆt foolish