Chapter 1852

Chapter 1852

Tatiana raised a cup of tea to her lips and sipped the liquid. Beside her, Naffur rubbed his chin as he stared at the darkness staining the horizon. Even from here, both could feel the hairs on their arms standing on end as they looked at the display. “So... let’s adjust our heading?”

“Yes, I suppose we will have to,” Tatiana sighed because they were already behind schedule. Below them, the tireless legs of Kharon carried the Wandering City forward across the dense rain forest. This area bristled with high-Level monsters, so several powerful Order Ducis agents were on high alert constantly, reading to prevent any from flying up around and attacking the meandering trail of skyislands that followed the city.

And the journey South had been rather difficult for the first part of their journey; that was why all of Tatiana’s carefully arranged timetables were currently thrown in disarray. Yet not everyone shared he anxiousness. Even as fire-breathing toucans and gem-scaled boas managed to infiltrate the city, the students of Kharon Academy were extremely carefree. They used Scrawl-covered bits of wood to whip through the air, whooping and laughing right above some of the brutal defensive battles that were being fought, both by the Order Ducis and the city’s other brass defenders.

A group even went exploring the surrounding jungle and returned several hours late, wandering back to the city gearing up for search and rescue, wondering what everyone was doing.

Yet several days ago, the situation had changed. Dark clouds arrived on the horizon and her instincts were quite sure that Randidly was responsible. Immediately afterward, a flood of monsters rushed for them, not to attack Kharon but to get as far as possible from that growing maelstrom of oblivion. Then, after several hours of watching the monsters rush away, the exodus had stopped.

Now the jungle was ominously silent. More appropriate for exploration, but even the students seemed unnerved by those massive black clouds churning in the distance.

“Circle further West then?” Naffur grunted.

Tatiana opened her mouth to respond in the affirmative, but a brilliant lime green beam of energy ripped up from the storm clouds in the distance. The beam released so much light that it carved a place on Tatiana’s retinas for several blink-filled seconds. The clouds were obliterated and the beam expanded to become a sea of golden-green flames that raced across the sky.

“...quite a bit further West, I think.” Tatiana shook her head, even while she was inwardly quite impressed by how much power Randidly wielded.

As she turned away from the window to set down her cup of tea, she paused. Streams of moss spirits flowed up and out toward that burning sky in a wide convoy. However, considering she had meetings with the Founding Day planning board and then with the stubborn Alonso Trey, Tatiana didn’t have the spare attention to investigate the moss spirits.

At the very least, she trusted them more than some of Kharon’s youth.

So several hours later, as Tatiana had on a nightgown and was curling up with a recently released semi-fictionalized account of the System’s arrival, the lurching movement of the city underneath her caught her completely off guard. The book tumbled from her grasp, then was immediately snatched out of the air as her System enhanced Stats caught up with what was happening.

She could feel Kharon vibrating beneath her in a way she didn’t recognize.

Wrapping a thicker wool robe around herself, Tatiana hurried up to her balcony and then hopped up onto the roof. She peered around, fearing a new monster attack. However, his insight into the wellbeing of Kharon gave her no warnings.

She quickly located the most eye-catching sight in the night sky; the moss spirits returned to Kharon in just as massive a group as they had left. The only difference was-

“Well, shit.” Tatiana’s eyes widened. “They are bringing back some of the energy he released? Then-”

Claudette fussed with her necklace, then reached up to touch her hair before forcefully stopping herself and squeezing her hands on her lap. In her heart, she could feel the desolate blade Clarent crooning softly to comfort her, although the only way it could express itself was by corrupting and destroying. Mentally, she ran her awareness along the sharp edge of that blade and felt how deadly it could be.

She had grown.

But today was the day of her party. The day that would determine the rest of her life. They had made so many preparations, but she felt no different than she had before, not truly, compared to the domineering determination of her father. Her head felt hollow. Her fingers felt so frail and thin as they twisted back and forth, like paper cranes wrestling with one another.

She stood up abruptly, shimmying to adjust the fit of her dress before walking to a basin on the far wall of her room and splashing her face with water. We have done so much more than I expected. And now we just need to rely on our training. What does Randidly always say? We will succeed because failure means death.

A knock at the door brought Claudette’s head whipping around. Her heart constricted, but that knock was not the knock of her father. She brought up a soft towel to dab at the remnant moisture on her cheeks, checked her teeth for any lipstick marks, and then turned around. However, her walk to the door became smooth and languid; she felt the frigid edges of the storm that had decimated the Lizakh running through her veins.

Even she was somewhat impressed by how calm and poised she seemed when she opened the door to a familiar face. “Ah, Neshamah, you arrived early.”

Neshamah Rex looked quite stunning with a sleek, glittering silver dress. She looked down at herself and then shrugged. “Yes, well. Although I don’t think any of our targets will bother monitoring us, there isn’t any need to keep our alliance a secret. I think it’s best for us all to go together. Yust should be along shortly. And then when our fourth conspirer is here, we will make quite the foursome, eh? Unless he’s already waiting within?”

“Unfortunately,” Claudette shook her head slightly. “It looks like Randidly will be slightly late. So the three of us will have to proceed first.”

The disappointment that Claudette expected flashed across Neshamah’s face; the woman clearly wanted more time with Randidly. But what she hadn’t expected was the follow-up eye roll. “That man is quite the diva. Does he want to make a dramatic entrance at the eleventh hour to come to our rescue?”

“I made him promise it wouldn’t be a minute past the ninth,” Claudette replied, feeling the tightness in her chest alleviate somewhat. Although she was manipulating her body down to the smallest detail, she believed her smile was suitably stretched between acceptance and tension. “Did you remember to bring your invitation?”

Neshamah nodded, then flicked her wrist and produced two. “I even brought along Yust’s because you can never trust a Pinnacle Seeker to arrive on time-”

“I heard that,” A deep voice rumbled from the hallway. The tiger-headed Colm Yust walked up and leaned against Claudette’s doorframe, wearing a burnt-orange suit that brought out the liveliness in the fur that covered his face. “You realize that the myth that Pinnacle Seekers are always late was started by the NLC in the Fifth Cohort to justify the discrimination, right?”

For a moment, there was a strained silence as Yust looked intently at Neshamah and the woman lifted her chin stubbornly in response. Then Claudette cleared her throat. “I’m sure both of you would love to discuss the history of the Nexus, but right now we have a party to attend.”

“What about the Ghosthound?” Yust tilted her head to the side.

Some of the casual ease with which Claudette was operating began to flake away. She bit her lip. “He will be a little bit late... but that just means he will miss the speeches portion of the party.”

“Lucky bastard,” Neshamah muttered.