Chapter 1379

Octavius Shrike would have liked nothing better than to quickly escape and return to his office in the Seventh Cohort. The Shining Palace was located in one of the mid-levels of the Nexus Capital, which meant that Octavius had rapidly descended into the underway and proceeded to the nearest portal at top speed. He sped along dimly lit corridors with metal mesh floors and walls composed entirely of various pipes. But to his horror, Octavius found himself followed. The steps following him only grew louder, clanging and echoing strangely in the deserted underways.

At this time of night, the combination of System privileges and willingness to be was a very rare combination. So Octavius felt a sinking feeling in his chest as he considered who could be the culprit. And when he turned around to confront his pursuer, he was faced with the lovely smile of Neshamah Rex passing through a billowing blue cloud of smoke.

Her red eyes gleamed as she examined him. “Why the rush? You know, most individuals trip over themselves for the opportunity to speak to the daughter of Solomon Rex. And yet you run… perhaps you, even now, are in the pocket of one of the other factions? In which case I promise that our conversation will be… discrete.”

“No, my lady… it’s not that.” Octavius responded awkwardly. He resisted the urge to reach up and nervously rub his rhinoceros horn. It might come across as disrespectful, under the circumstances. And this woman was someone that Octavius couldn’t afford to offend. Neshamah shifted her weight, considering the Overseer carefully.

Of the powers that were present in the Nexus, Solomon Rex was the one that was the least well understood. The Nexus Purists obviously did everything they could to support the running of the System, giving their lives like martyrs in order to advance its causes. Both military factions, the Commandership and the Xyrt Brigade, broadly fell into the Purist faction, although they each displayed a bit more self-centered focus than most of the purists.

Meanwhile, the Swacc Family furiously connived and cultivated talents in order to achieve its eternal goal: to have one of its number reach the Pinnacle. Even though they were fairly overt about their aggressive recruitment efforts, their reach was large enough that they could manage it without leaving behind any proof. The Swacc Family’s methods were an open secret in the Nexus.

Of course, all of the different factions within the Swacc Family squabbled about who should receive the resources and what that person should do once someone managed to reach the Pinnacle. But all would united against outside influences to protect themselves.

Solomon Rex and his organization was both smaller in size than any of the other factions and more… for lack of a better term, passive. They clearly amassed powered and selectively recruited talented individuals from planets, but the organization never had any grand schemes running to gather power.

They moved cautiously. As though they were not even part of the deadly tug of war happening within the Nexus.

Of the twin children of Solomon, Neshamah was the one publicly seen. But for all that, she seemed more of a distraction than any sort of heir. She attended balls and banquets held in the Nexus capital, doing everything she could to earn a reputation as frivolous and vapid. As those red eyes considered Octavius the through clouds of steam that were a constant companion in the underways, there was a sort of play present, sure, but it was the sporting humor of a predator considering how to take down wounded prey.

“Well then, Mr. Shrike, I have a few questions for you about Earth. We just witnessed Elhume himself, the most powerful individual in the Nexus, appear at a meeting! Wasn’t he a sight to behold? It’s perhaps a bit too soon to say, but… Truly, I fell in love with the raw power he wielded as soon as I saw it! Ah… those gentle hands of his…”

Octavius gulped. “Unfortunately, I do not have much time. Considering the situation on Earth-”

“Oh come now, I’m sure my father would love to hear your version of events.” Neshamah continued with a cold cheer. Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she considered Octavius. Even though he was half a meter taller than the girl, he felt like he couldn’t move beneath that scrutiny. “As a show of sincerity… although time certainly is pressing… let me extend a very genuine invitation to return to my home… the countryside near the Solomon manor is delightful this time of year-”

“If Octavius Shrike doesn’t want to go, then I don’t think you should force him, girl.”

A stranger’s voice, light and vaguely familiar, drifted into Octavius’s ears. For a split second, Octavius felt relief, but then he felt the heavy scent of flowers fill the air. The surrounding ground erupted into a meadow of vivid flowers, oranges and emeralds and turquoises all competing to be the most eye-catching plant of the bunch. The underways were completely blanketed with the flora, becoming unrecognizable.

More curious than angry, Neshamah tilted her head to the side. Her emerald hair was lightly brushed by a flowerpetal-laden breeze. “How… strange. I promise that this is just a kind invitation. I might have been… forceful with my manners, but I swear that it was due to zeal, not malice, that fueled my enthusiasm.”

“Doesn’t matter. In this case… he as others waiting on the pleasure of his company.” The voice spoke again and the flowers vanished. With just a few words, Neshamah’s powerful image was completely oppressed.

Neshamah seemed to deflate. She looked extremely tired as she shook her head, an inner sorrow clear in her expression. “Truly, I… I apologize for overstepping my bounds. Madam, whoever you are… I meant no offense. Be well, both of you.” Then in a faint breeze, she was gone.

Out of the shadows of the alley, a figure walked forward. She had blue-grey hair and a long scar across one side of her face. The original Vualla smiled sadly at Octavius. “Honestly… her apology seemed genuine. But I believe I owe you an apology as well. Sorry I took so long. But now that I’m here… it’s time to get to work.”

*****

Randidly’s first move after the disjointed notification had appeared was figuring out the actual state of affairs on Earth. So he quickly said goodbye to Hank and Alana and returned to his island. Seeing those errors…

Now, Randidly was no stranger to System errors, but they generally fell into one of two categories. Errors that informed him that he was going to die or errors relating to the fact whatever he had just done broke some rule of this System. This was more closely related to the latter, but in a very dangerous way for the people of Earth.

So he sat down and pushed every ounce of his Willpower into strengthening his Grim Intuition to the fullest. His senses blasted outward from his floating island in response. Rapidly, the area of Earth that was within Randidly’s purview expanded. His focus rushed over ridges, forests, ravines, rivers, canyons, lakes, and deserts. He pushed through frost tipped mountains and flew over the wide stretches flatlands. Over the sea, he skimmed.

Very quickly Randidly was beyond the limits of what Vye had managed to map out thus far, far beyond the human territories. Huge hordes of monsters covered the lands, almost innumerable in some areas. In other places, he saw bubble cities cautiously beginning to explore the surrounding area.

But more than anything else, he slowly got a sense that their planet was truly a sphere. Whatever else this most recent notification changed about Earth, it had at least returned to its status as an actual planet.

And now that Randidly’s focus was thrown so broadly, he could already feel the air rapidly cooling. The extended autumn on Earth appeared to be slowly giving way to winter. It made him feel oddly… sad. His breath snaked out of his nose, despite his focus.

Change was coming.

It was about halfway through his exploration of the planet that Randidly began to run into problems. At this point, even with his extremely high Stat, it was impossible to get anything but the most general sense of what was going on so far away from his position. But he could clearly sense that almost exactly halfway across the world from Zone 1’s ground zero of New Earth, some glitches began to crop up.

Some areas in the recently liberated borderlands were filled with chaotic Nether storms, ripping up large stretches of ground with their destructive energies. Other places appeared to have been put together by a toddler, the edges of some pieces of land precariously propped up on others like two puzzle pieces that clearly didn’t match. Which, of course, meant that there were other spaces that were simply a void. Randidly found one river that just flowed off of a cliff, into a deep divot in the Earth’s crust in which he couldn’t sense the bottom.

At that point, Nether Sensation began to activate, giving him a little added clarity. The Nether storms truly were beginning to weaken before they truly ravaged the planet; they had likely just been triggered by all the Aether activity. In addition, Randidly could sense that deep within the other half of the planet was an area of relative peace. It seemed that the newest Zone had managed to arrive without being dangerously affected.

But truly, peering to the other side of the planet was beyond Randidly’s abilities. He sensed life and movement; for now, that was enough. When he came back to himself, he considered his next course of action. He had been constantly been thrown one threat after another these past few weeks, and even though this was the arrival of a new threat, it was also something Randidly had long known was coming.

The Earth was slowly progressing toward the Nexus.

But all those thoughts were put on hold as Randidly opened his eyes and saw a new notification waiting for him. It was also something of a relief to see that Octavius had sent him a message while he had been heavily using Grim Intuition.

The message was, in a word, rambling. But there were several key points. The Original Vualla had returned. The Xyrt Brigade should arrive within the next twelve hours to handle the Nether situation. Elhume had personally ordered that the Xyrt Brigade help the Earth.

Even though that last addition to the message was slightly disturbing, Randidly was reassured that Elhume hadn’t once again turned his gaze his way. Even now, the consequences of being seen by him… Randidly didn’t want to consider it.

And Vualla’s late arrival brought him a sense of relief. Apparently she had needed a moment where Elhume was distracted before she dared move, but now she had come to the Nexus and was investigating the situation.

She asked that when Randidly finished his business on Earth, he proceed to the Nexus so they could consider their next move.

It was then that Randidly realized the strange trepidation he felt as he looked across Earth and felt the planet cooling. In fact, he chastened himself both for being gripped by that sudden hesitation and for taking so long to realize the source of this feeling: now that the Earth was moving toward the Calamities, Randidly’s image being present became more of a problem.

Or, to say it another way, Randidly’s direct influence on Earth might soon be coming to an end. He would need to leave.

Not that Randidly would leave for forever. But for now… it truly seemed like the Path to sufficient power to stand up against individuals like Ileot Swacc and Elhume went through the Nexus. For all the small secrets and tricks that Randidly had discovered here on Earth, he could also discover them on the Nexus, with Vualla to shield him from the scrutiny of the Swacc family that had just recently brought troubles to Earth.

So this time when Randidly spread out his Grim Intuition to cross the surrounding areas, he didn’t look toward the borderlands where he would need to gradually address the geographic mistakes and create a working planet. Instead, he looked at the Zones where he had spent his time.

He stood on the hills above Donnyton and looked down that familiar valley. He saw the Village center, the industrial district, the forest claimed by the Weavers, the sinkhole Randidly had created with his second challenge, and the thickly residential hills surrounding him.

There was still a spot in the lower portion of a valley where a rather unadorned wooden hut sat next to a small area of farmland.

Then he went to Zone 1, following the manatech rail lines to the Orchard. He looked at the massive markets and the bones of new skyscrapers being thrown up at the periphery of the constantly expanding city. Then Randidly flew beyond that, looking at the metal processing and drone plants where he had previously worked to gain experience with alloys.

Then his focus flicked back to that isolated grotto where Randidly had first encountered Simon. And when he went there, he found the Champion, Simon the Dreamer, dozing there. With another flicker, Randidly went to the bit of woods where he had first met Sam, who was hiding out with three actresses. Two would die, but one of those three would haunt Randidly to this day.

With a smile, Randidly revisited dozens of locals that he hadn’t thought of in quite some time. The location where he fought Turtletown’s tribulation and then the empty husk of Turtletown itself… the badlands where he had suffered an attack from the Creature…. Star Crossing and East End… the vast sea… Lake Apollo and the Ogre Gorge…

Randidly sighed and came back to himself. His home planet might not have taken up the lion’s share of his time under the influence of the System, but it held the places and people that he would miss the most after he left.