Chapter 1724

Chapter 1724

Unfortunately, time was not on Randidly’s side. The friendly sun crept above the horizon, shedding warm rays of light. WIth an Aether-rich environment, the entire planet was transformed. But that night, a baleful star loomed: it was the day of the Imperium Ball.

Randidly grimaced, as he paused and straightened from harvesting cabbages from the once again fertile ground. He wiped sweat off his forehead and turned toward the central building on the farm. Not even a breeze had stirred that building’s doors these past several days. Looks like... I can’t just wait until you come out to talk to you, huh...?

His chest was buzzing with anxiety over the debt he owed to the talented Nrorce, but Randidly also knew that everything had its time. He had hoped to wait until he possessed the space within his Alpha Cosmos to make the offer, but the progress of the Alpha Cosmos was slow. Even now, he was just finally getting over the discomfort of being stuffed.

Perhaps the time until he could safely absorb another planet should be measured in years, not months. He would need to wait.

Yet after the Imperium Ball, Randidly was going to throw himself totally into the task of preparing for Claudette’s image refinement. That process would consume him for the immediate future and would likely involve time dilation.

Of course, for now... Randidly rolled his shoulders and leaned back down to begin working. I should finish the chores before I force the conversation...

It was perhaps a form of procrastination, but Randidly also knew the prickly and demanding Nrorce well enough for it to be an allowable form.

About an hour before noon, Randidly and Helen finished all of the tasks. He left Helen to struggle against the fourth tier of the Hierarchy of Burden and walked up to Nrorce’s house. He ducked under the low threshold and slowly walked into the building. He passed the kitchen and dining room and took a half-staircase down, the bowels of the house sinking even deeper into the ground. The hallway was cramped and dark, but the wooden floorboards were cool on his feet.

Randidly continued walking forward, moving past the inside entrance into the spice room and then Nrorce’s private bedroom room. Neither of these was his destination. Another half-staircase led him even further down to a level with stone floors. There, at end of a short hallway, was a small wooden door. Randidly released a breath and walked up to the wooden door. He hesitated for a second, then knocked.

The noise echoed in the deep stone hallway that sat nestled several meters deep in the hill. But there was no response from within the room even after a minute had elapsed.

This is the room Helen said, right...? Randidly wondered. The bottom of his feet tingled against the cold stone. He knocked again, but there was still no answer. Feeling like there wasn’t any other choice, Randidly cleared his throat. “Nrorce?”

That finally earned a low grunt from within the room, but no further response. Which was probably the closest thing to acknowledgment that he would get. Pursing his lips, Randidly pushed open the door and revealed the interior.

The first impression Randidly had of the room was how small it was. The walls were made of stacked bricks that seemed to lean inward, as though the entire structure was about to collapse. Obviously, it was built on the scale of goblins, while the rest of the house had been rather grandly extended to house humanoids, this was short and slight. The floors were stone in here as well, except for a small area covered by a worn grey rug that was smudged with mud and dirt.

There was a flimsy dresser against the far wall, covered in cheap glass containers that held decaying flowers. The only other furniture was a small child’s bed, on which Nrorce was now laying. Tufts of straw poked out of the edges of the mattress. Even his goblin frame was too large for the bed, the heels of his feet dangled over the edge. His eyes were blank as he looked upward at the ceiling, simply existing. Since Randidly had last seen Nrorce, the old goblin had also begun to fade. The small hairs on his face had grown thin and wispy. His blue skin had lightened and greyed.

On the ground in front of the bed were several more vases filled with wilting flowers. Randidly’s eyes flicked sideways, to several stick figures that had been clumsily carved into the wooden headboard of the bed. Then he refocused on Nrorce. “Nrorce... there is something I wish to discuss with you.”

Nrorce shifted on the straw bed again, raising one of his thin arms and jabbing it at Randidly. “You probably need to hear this. These people... all sorts of tiny, bug-like people... they will devour you from the inside if you aren’t careful. They aren’t worth your time or your energy. They are carrion.”

Randidly gritted his teeth as his face flushed with heat. “I refuse to simply allow these people to die when I could-”

“Your gratitude is a cheap thing,” The blue-skinned goblin sneered at him. “You come here to thank me... yet when I make a request, suddenly you are forcing your morals on me? Is that last shred of my daughter that you absorbed truly such a cheap treasure?”

Rage came first to Randidly as Nrorce resumed his vigil facing the ceiling. Then confusion and hesitation. Finally, everything was swallowed by a horrible sense of loss as Randidly looked at the twisted features of Nrorce. Obligation warred against justice. The two imperatives marched across his ribs and had their armies crash together between his heart and lungs.

Bits of shrapnel flew outward from the conflict and cut a thousand tiny wounds through his organs.

Randidly hissed a breath out through between his teeth. His fingers slowly clenched into fists. “Do you truly... feel this way?”

“Of course,” Nrorce shook his head sadly. His ear dropped and pressed flat against his head. Then he lowered himself back into his laying position. He brought his fingers together and returned to his previous position. “We all... for driving her to her death, for burdening Ivlin with our need... deserve to die.”

Randidly didn’t even remember leaving the room, but soon he found himself standing out in front of Nrorce’s house. Helen was by his side, looking at him with worried eyes. He stood there and trembled for several seconds. Then Randidly released several strong breaths, surprised that immediately the surroundings were obscured with the thick water vapor that flowed out of his nose. He looked down in surprise and realized that his entire body was steaming; he was so incensed that his physical body was responding and shifting into battle mode.

Randidly forcefully calmed himself down. When his exhales had turned even, Helen finally spoke. “Is everything alright?”

“No,” Randidly said simply. Then he reached up and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his right hand. “We... need to leave. If you want... you should say goodbye to Nrorce. I don’t think... we will be coming back for a while. And even if we do-”

He couldn’t finish that sentence, picturing the abandoned and dead bodies that he had found on those moons in space. This planet would become the mirror image of that, soon. Helen nodded slowly, sensing his mood. She slipped past him into the house.

Meanwhile, Randidly turned his attention downward, to the delicate arrangement of Aether veins that Neveah had made to feed energy into this world. Sensing his intent, Neveah’s consciousness swirled up to him. Is this really necessary?

No, no it’s not, Randidly heart ached as he gripped all those precious Aether veins. He could sense each life on the planet, each struggling to survive. Each of those individuals had been pushed to the limit over the past several years by the Nexus’s cruel allotment of energy and Nrorce’s apathy. Which is why its a tragedy.

Randidly bared his teeth and ripped all of those Aether flows out of Nrorce’s planet. Neveah’s consciousness flickered. I can make a portal. At the very least-

Don’t tell me about it, Randidly snarled. He hunched his shoulders and clenched his hands. Then I won’t need to lie about it... if Nrorce asks.