Chapter 326: Zach

Chapter 326: Zach

Clarity

Zach stood on the front of the ship, he didnt know any nautical terms, though something in his mind told him that there were ones that could be used. He didnt know or remember why he knew that, but some knowledge seemed to be almost instinctual for him. He enjoyed the wind on his face, and the noise of it passing him by. There had been no noise in the prison, just silence. He alone was responsible for any disruption of it. Here, so much happened without his input. It was overwhelming. And his skill didnt help anything. He had managed to get it under control, somewhat. It still hit him hard sometimes, the flaws of the world invading his mind. But he had learned how to keep the skill running in the back of his mind, and only call it up when he needed. It didnt mean that he no longer got distracted by it, he did, but he could cover it up better.

Just as how he had learned to cover up everything else. He had learned from others, how they acted, how they lived, and he was trying to emulate. He still didnt understand most of how and why they did things. He still forgot to eat and drink, the hunger and thirst barely affected him. Thankfully Naha was there, keeping track for him. It was strange to live like that, especially after being alone for all of his existence. He knew that without her he wouldve lost himself. He appreciated her for that. She was there, always, ready to help him. To talk and explain when he needed her to. He felt bad for how he was. Even now he found the pace of this world too fast. Often he would lose himself in conversations, it would begin and end before he could even process what it was about. Time it passed so slowly for him, and so fast for everyone else. It made him embarrassed. He considered himself someone who could endure anything, and yet he was in a world that constantly tried to make him move even when he wasnt ready.

It was why Time was so fascinating to him, why he needed to understand it, to learn it, to master it. If he had mastery over Time perhaps he could catch up to the rest of the world, put himself in sync with them. Because he couldnt allow himself to be worse than anybody else. He needed to be strong, get better with every passing day. Learn everything that he could about Aspects, grow, be more. He realized that part of what drove him where his anchors, and madness which pushed him to the extremes. He was terrified of the moments when he lost himself, when control slipped through his reins, and he became just a vessel for the need that was buried deep inside of him.

Without Naha, he wouldve gotten worse faster, he was certain about that. She was a caring person, someone who tried to think of others, someone who protected. He found the way that she watched him constantly, even when she believed he couldnt notice pleasant. He enjoyed being around her, because he felt that she understood. She had shared her and his past with him. Told him that she too had lived through the madness, that she had been completely twisted by it. A part of him was unable to see the person that she described in her, the Night Horror. A murderess, someone who robbed others of their chance at existence. But he had remembered how he acted when he was in the throes of madness. It was like you were a different person, as if your entire way of thinking was suddenly warped and you didnt even realize that there was anything wrong. It was terrifying.

The things that she had told him about them, how they met and fell in love, that he understood more. He saw how he could love her, and perhaps, he would love her again. He was already halfway there, he felt like. And it was because of the same thing, he felt like she was a kindred spirit, someone who understood. He did not begrudge his young self saving her, all life was precious, it deserved a second chance. But all that death, it weighed on him now. How callous it all was. And yet he that once was had helped her, had gone against the rule of the law that they had obeyed, and protected her. It was a good decision in his mind. Naha had fought Hastur, had helped them kill him, that one act had saved more people than she had ever killed.

To know that he himself had done the same That he had killed people on Earth, a world so alien to him that he could barely wrap his head around it. How couldve he done that? It didnt make sense to him, even with the things that she told him. He didnt believe that he wouldve done something like that. That was why he needed to find Ryun again once he recovered, he needed to know more from someone who was there, even if he was an enemy. The memories themselves didnt matter, even if he remembered, they were a blink of an eye in an age beyond counting. Nothing would change him. He was who he was, and his priority at the moment was to remain that way. To fight the madness and find a way to cure himself.

That was all that mattered.

They landed their airship in a clearing as it needed to be refueled. The crystals that they used came from the shop auction, and thankfully they had enough wealth that they could buy them even overpriced. And air-type Essence Crystals were abundant.

He looked at his screens and notifications.

Your skill has evolved!

|Perfect Spatial Evade|>>|Perfect Spatial Evade: My Step, Through Time and Space|

Ripples of Time and Space (Skill Perk)

Your My Step,Through Time and Space allows you to sense the smallest of fluctuations in time and space around you. You sense any spatial powers used in your immediate surrounding a moment before they are executed. Gain +15% to intelligence.

A lot more experimenting it seemed. But he had gained a perk that gave him some sensory power, which made him wonder did he gain that because his mind was on getting a sense skill for himself, or was it just a coincidence.

For all the time that he had spent practicing skills in his prison, for all that he thought that he had learned and understood, there were still things left to discover.

He stood at the front of the airship, Naha standing next to him as they came over a mountain peak. They dipped through the clouds and then

There it is, Naha whispered as she looked at the massive city nestled among three close peaks. The Dragons Peak, finally.