Chapter 1403 (Patreon)

 ToC: https://www.patreon.com/posts/23899958 

So this is a true double chapter, meant to be the conclusion from this weekend. But it just kept stretching on and I kept rewriting it... Even now, I'm not quite happy. But the show must go on! So this counts as one for last week and one for this week... ultimately, just this one for tonight.

For a while, Randidly just stood above his fallen foe and breathed. In his entire life, he couldn’t recall ever being so exhausted, mentally and physically. As his body began to cool down, he found himself completely submerged in sweat and dirt. Also, it was convenient right now just to stand and look. Because Randidly had earned two Level up notifications for his efforts.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 62! +8 Stats distributed between Vitality, Perception, Resist, Intelligence, and Control, +37 Free Stats! +1 Stat to a Mental Stat. +1 to a Physical Defense Stat. +1 to a Mental Support Stat. +2 Control. +46 Health, +55 Mana, +50 Stamina, +6.5 to all Regenerations! +1 to Health and Stamina Regeneration! 

Due to Guidance of the Wraith Adder, +4 Agility and +2 Bonus Stats!

Due to your Fatepiece the Philosopher’s Key, +3 Intelligence, Wisdom, and Focus, +4 Reaction and Grim Intuition!

Due to your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night +1 Grim Intuition, +1 Reaction, +1 Focus, and +3 Control per Level!

Randidly blinked for a while at the two notifications in front of him; he had went from Level 60 to Level 62 in one go. Why was Kaan Swacc considered a creature worthy of experience… and also, why so damn much. Then he tugged on Acri. “Hey, why didn’t you take that experience? You know I’m trying to save Levels for when I have more Fatepieces…”

It wasn’t a big deal to gain Levels now, but Randidly was somewhat confused that his gluttonous weapon hadn’t intervened. And Acri’s response was somewhat horrifying. It wasn’t that his spear hadn’t devoured the experience from killing Kaan Swacc. In fact, it had eaten about three-fourths of it. But the kill had rewarded so much experience at once that Acri couldn’t handle it. The weapon had no choice but to stop devouring experience and pass the rest onto Randidly.

Heh, what a rich harvest… Randidly thought rather sourly. He couldn’t get that image of Kaan’s sense of loss when he realized he wasn’t a Nether spy out of his mind. And he was so, so tired…

Shaking himself back to wakefulness, Randidly tugged on Acri. His spear was still stuck in Kaan’s head. Rather than pulling Acri free, Randidly just ended up pulling Kaan’s body forward so it flopped onto its stomach. Despite all the difficulties in keeping the Earth safe and the scenario that meant Randidly was forced to kill Kaan, he felt somewhat uncomfortable treating the body so casually. Yet in Randidly’s exhausted state, what choice did he have?

In the end, Acri itself had to pull its tip out of Kaan’s skull. Then Randidly stood over his foe and just exhaled. Pressing Acri into the ground, he leaned against his spear and considered what he had learned from Kaan Swacc. The prospect was a daunting one. Randidly wanted nothing more than to just collapse on the ground and sleep for several hours. Not only to address the famine of mental energy but also to take some time and stabilize the Nether Nebula that was still chaotically spinning in his chest.

Yet Randidly forced his gaze upward. Perhaps revisiting his lessons could wait. His Grim Intuition made him aware of two situations. One was Neveah and the other was a battle to his West. Gritting his teeth, he walked up the slope toward the area of cracked ground where Neveah was lying. One thing at a time…

When he reached Neveah, Randidly allowed himself to fall to his knees next to her. Neveah’s current distress meant that her illusions had completely fallen to pieces. The humanoid bone wyrm was collapsed on the ground, the long bone protrusions stretching from her back splayed out like brutal, wide brushstrokes on the terrain. Randidly leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Neveah’s back as he reached out through their Soulbound connection. Neveah?

Neveah’s mind was still chaotic, but at least she now recognized Randidly’s presence. But much like Randidly, Neveah seemed too shaken to respond for a while. For several minutes, the two just sat there, leaning against each other. Some of Randidly’s sweat dripped down from his forehead onto her back.

Finally, Neveah’s Willpower stirred. …I’m okay. Just a little… tired.

The bleak depression he sensed in her mental message stung. Despite his weariness, Randidly’s right hand tightened into a fist. Then he winced as daggers of pain stabbed upward along his wrist and forearm; it seemed his hand hadn’t quite healed yet after breaking through Kaan’s defense with his bare hand. So he forced his hand to relax. Even just sitting here for a few minutes, Randidly’s body was slowly recovering.

When he moved to stand, the vast majority of the muscle tremors had stopped. He was still exhausted, but he was no longer about to slip into an abrupt coma. I’ll be right back, Neveah. There are a few things I need to check.

What made Neveah’s response all the worse was the immediate fear: not that she felt for herself, but for him. Are you sure? I can tell you are barely holding yourself together… if you cannot fight-

I’ll be fine, Randidly replied. To reassure Neveah, Randidly reached out to some of his Riders and pulled them back from the patrols around Kharon. Although the city had continued forward, it would only take Randidly’s Riders about ten minutes to make it back to the location of their confrontation with Kaan. I have reinforcements. Besides… I don’t think I’ll need to fight.

With a deep sigh, Randidly heaved himself to his feel. Then he shook himself, wincing again as his right hand twinged from the sudden movement. And compared to his wounded flesh, his metallic arm was even more damaged. It was riddled with cracks and sparked intermittently. Sweat was dripping into his eyes but neither of his arms were in a shape to be used. Yet Randidly ignored the inconvenience as he walked West, up past the destroyed peak and down to the valley beyond it.

There, he found four individuals.

Ezekiel Ghosthound was knocked out, slumped over next to the strange blood egg that had grown to the size of a small house. Hovering over Ezekiel’s body was a man that Randidly didn’t recognize, but he could immediately tell was rather weak. In addition to the lack of any sort of image around his body, the combination of a radiating stench of fear and his pale face caused Randidly to look past him.

The final two individuals were further down in the valley. Sydney was standing, the edges of her clothing covered in a thick layer of frost. Each of her breaths was labored, but she stood straight and proud. A sinuous, flowing cobalt animal circled in the sky above her. As it moved, it released a thin layer of mist that crackled with electricity.

Opposite her was Ace, his body contorted in the center of a crater. Even as Randidly walked down the slope, Ace struggled to his feet. The biker helmet over his head was cracked. Although Randidly couldn’t see Ace’s face within it, blood was steadily leaking out of the cracks and dripping down onto his leather jacket.

Sydney glanced upward at Randidly. To Randidly’s surprise, her eyes contained a warning: do not interfere. Then her gaze shifted back to Ace. “Being in pain doesn’t give you the justification to inflict pain on others, Ace. I’m sorry that I cut ties between us. But you supported Roy even after he assaulted that woman. You supported violence and chaos once the Villages were established. You lashed out and plotted to kill because you wanted attention. You’ve tortured Drake for almost a year. All that ends today.”

Ace cackled and swayed. His left arm was bent backward, his forearm snapped and flopping around with his every movement. The flow of blood out of the cracks in his helmet intensified. “It’s so easy for you to be self-righteous, huh? Men make mistakes, that’s life. We both know you are just as flawed as the rest of us. Heh, you lied to me for two years, gaslighting me, making me think I was crazy. All because of your own selfishness.”

I thought we were over this, Randidly sighed inwardly as he looked down at them. We should have been honest with you, Ace. Sydney shouldn’t have hidden her illness… and of all people, she shouldn’t have shared that secret with me, your best friend. But we were so young and stupid. She had known me for so long; don’t you see that it had to be me to help carry her secret?

The lines at the corners of Sydney’s eyes deepened. “And for lying to you, I’m sorry.”

“So you admit it? You have no right to look down on Roy.” Ace staggered forward with his arm bouncing with only the partially torn muscle and skin keeping it attached to his frame. Finally, it seemed like he noticed Randidly’s presence; immediately, he twisted around to face Randidly and spread his arms wide. The left-arm swung like a pendulum. “Ah, the guest of honor has arrived! But from the look of you, heh, you might even be more injured than I am. Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s time you pay the price for thinking you could leave the Earth behind… With the power I’ve gathered…”

“Ace,” Sydney spoke sharply, drawing Ace’s attention back to her. “Roy and I are not the same. He never bothered to apologize for what he did; he denied it and made excuses. He raped a woman and didn’t even have the decency to admit he might have been in the wrong. Just like you are doing right now, refusing to admit how insane you’ve become.”

While they spoke, Randidly didn’t listen so closely to the words. But instead, his eyes were on Ace’s image. He could detect traces of Straud, Yystrix, and even some sort of warped mirror of Randidly’s own images in the aura around Ace. But they mixed chaotically and weakened each other. Randidly pressed his lips together and closed his eyes. It seemed like Ace truly had lost himself.

“Do you think I would have become like this if not for both of you cutting ties with me?” Ace snapped. “The two of you might have had an easy time, but I-”

“If all it took to turn you into a monster was me not paying attention to you,” Sydney interrupted. “You were a weaker man than I thought, Ace.”

To that, Ace couldn’t gather up the words to form a response. Instead, he growled. Straud’s image of blood exploded outward through the chaotic mass of image fragments that Ace had obtained and infected them all with a crimson flush. They began to surge together and form an abomination of blood. But even when all of those images gathered together, Randidly still found them to be quite weak.

Of course, I’m not anywhere near in shape enough to overcome even that image… Randidly thought with a bit of irony. Right now… Heh. I guess I have drops of liquid Aether- shit, is another drop seriously missing…?

As Ace raised his head and howled, Sydney turned and looked at Randidly. “Do you want to say anything to him, before…”

The lines around Sydney’s eyes deepened and even she couldn’t finish her question. But Randidly knew what Sydney was asking. In sharp contrast to Ace’s wild energy, Sydney’s image was incredibly condensed. It was almost entirely focused in the body of her elemental. In terms of combat strength, Sydney was so strong that Randidly was surprised.

Sydney was asking whether he wanted to say anything to Ace before she killed him.

Ace took several staggering steps in the direction of the blood egg. He raised his right hand toward it and the fleshy surface of the egg rippled. The original spongey surface was soon covered in small openings that sucked at the surrounding air. Very quickly, it began to devour the image that Ace was creating.

And honestly, when the huge blood egg ate and shivered with delight, it released an image that was much more powerful than anything Ace had managed to cobble together. A sea of blood seemed to churn in the area around it; that weak subordinate went pale as he was submerged in that image of a blood sea.

Not as strong as Helen, however… Randidly looked away from the egg and glanced at Ace, who continued to stagger forward. Yet even though the blood sea was of a different nature than Helen’s, Randidly felt slightly wary as he felt something stirring in the depths.

“Yes… yes… rise…. Hehehe….” Ace cackled as he continued to stumble forward. Flecks of blood splattered outward as Ace’s wounded arm continued to tear. No matter how hard Randidly stared at him, he couldn’t catch a single glimpse of Ace’s face.

This time, when Randidly trembled, it had nothing to do with physical weakness. Ace and he had not been close since the System had arrived on Earth. Too much had changed by the time they met each other, even though Randidly’s original goal was to find these two people that had shaped his prior life. So at the time, they hadn’t really reconnected at all.

And of course, the familiar excuse that characterized Randidly’s entire existence with the System had manifested itself and added an extra layer of difficulty to the relationship: he had been busy with other things.

Some part of Randidly felt sorry he hadn’t tried harder to help his former friend, but Sydney’s words rang true. You were a weaker man than I thought, Ace.

Randidly sighed.

Although some part of Randidly knew it was very dumb, and a waste of mental energy, he raised his right hand and brought the rope bracelet on his wrist to his lips. The Dreamcatcher of the Long Night unfolded itself, creating a complex three-dimensional amalgamation of geometric shapes that floated in the air in front of him. Then Randidly flowed into the Dreamcatcher and touched on a memory from long, long ago.

His perspective flickered. Colors around him melted and spun like he was falling into a surrealist painting. And suddenly he was standing on pavement, the sun sinking behind low clouds and dyeing the surrounding sky pink above him. He raised his hands and caught the basketball thrown at him.

Yet despite everything else, what made Randidly the most uncomfortable was the fact that he was wearing sneakers.

Ace grinned over at Randidly and put his hands on his hips. “Tied at 8, first to 12 wins. Are you ready to know what’s riding on this game?”

Randidly smiled back, but something must have shown in his expression. After seeing blood flowing out of the broken helmet, suddenly seeing this version of Ace was too much for Randidly to stand. 

Instantly, Ace shed his cocky demeanor and looked at Randidly with a look of genuine concern. His face was unlined. He looked so young. His hands had never been stained with blood. “Hey, you alright? Look, it’s not a big deal… I’m not gonna ask you for money or anything… there is just a question I want to have answered. Answered honestly.”

“...how about this,” Randidly said with a shake of his head. While dribbling the ball with his left hand, he reached up and pressed the tips of his pointer finger and thumb against his eyes. When he pulled them away, he took away any gathering moisture in his eyes. His gaze was clear and focused, even though his lack of mental energy made him slightly dizzy. “Let’s agree the bet is to answer a question. When we get ten points… we can ask that question. First to get twelve gets the answer he’s been waiting for. An honest answer.”

In the original memory, Randidly had been slightly afraid of what they were betting, so he had told Ace to wait until they found out who was the winner. Ace and Randidly had been best friends for almost a year at this point. Ace and Sydney had started dating already, and the fact that Randidly and Sydney knew each other from childhood was a subject that they had often danced around.

Because recently, Sydney had been acting strangely. As her disease aggressively spread, she needed to head to the hospital for more treatments. Randidly had only recently learned of it at this time, but Ace had already known something was up. There were still seven months remaining until the System arrived.

In this situation all those years ago, Randidly had lost the bet to Ace; Randidly was never very good at basketball. And when Ace had asked Randidly his question… Randidly had lied. Although Ace hadn’t said anything at that time, on the old basketball court behind the dorm… the beginnings of the stress on their friendship could be traced back to that lie.

But now, reliving the moment, Randidly smiled at the young and pure Ace in front of him. Then he stepped forward and shot the ball immediately. He missed, purposefully, and Ace hopped up to grab the rebound. Laughing, Ace dribbled around to half-court and then turned back toward the basket. “Trying to catch me unawares, huh? You always were shit at three-pointers. But now I’m wondering what question you have for me…”

Randidly didn’t bother to answer. He just tilted his head at Ace and beckoned for his now-best friend to come at him. Snorting, Ace raced forward. In their current bodies, Ace was an inch taller than Randidly and probably had thirty pounds of muscle on him. So he charged forward aggressively, trying to use his size to push Randidly back.

Of course, the current Randidly’s abilities had come from the present into the memory. So he had to be exceptionally careful to not touch Ace, lest he inflict serious injuries on him. Which was one more damned drain on his mental energy that he didn’t need. But he also didn’t want Ace to think he was letting him win; in the original memory, Randidly had struggled to stop him from scoring, out of fear of what he would ask.

The further Randidly deviated from the original memory, the more mental energy he would expend. And in Randidly’s current state, every bit of mental energy counted. Already, he could feel himself running out of gas to stay in the Fatepiece.

Yet… what do I want to ask Ace…? Randidly wondered. He had come into the Dreamcatcher… well, because he didn’t know what to say to his former best friend. He felt so distant to him, now. And after seeing the way that people like Decklan Hyde had been tortured and twisted by their emotions… Randidly wanted to be able to say something that could reach Ace. So he came here, to look.

But what question would give him that insight?

As Randidly had intended, Ace scored and got his chance to ask the question in his heart first. “Did you love Sydney?”

The past-Randidly had been frozen by this question. It was phrased in the past tense, but he had heard the phantom of the present tense lurking in the question. So at the time, he had lied. He had said no.

But the current Randidly just chuckled. It was fall in the memory and the wind rustled falling leaves on the ground. Huge piles had been raked up next to the basketball court, with the surface layer of leaves being steadily blown onto the concrete ground. His skin tingled with the chill of the night air. Overhead, the pinks darkened to maroons while half of the sky sank into the navy-blue of the deep night. “...at the time, I thought I did. But now I’m not sure anymore.”

That made Ace freeze as Randidly dribbled back up to midcourt. Even the act of not popping the basketball took a little bit of mental effort. Obviously, he hadn’t expected Randidly to answer immediately. Not until he scored again. His gaze on Randidly revealed the jealousy that he felt, even then, toward Sydney. But still, he forced himself to smile as Randidly walked forward with the ball. “What do you mean you aren’t sure? Love is love. It takes a lot of forms, but if you felt it at all, I just wanted to know.”

Randidly shot again from only a few steps beyond half court. But with his high Stats, the ball passed cleanly through the basket without any trouble. Swish. 

Again, after watching the ball arc cleanly through the air and enter cleanly into the hoop, Ace froze. Then he shook his head in mock disgust as he jogged over to the ball that settled into one of the piles of leaves. “Well, even a blind squirrel can will score every once in a while. So what’s your question?”

Randidly’s mental energy was almost completely gone. Instead of asking a question, however, he spoke to Ace’s previous statement. “Love isn’t just love. Emotions are complex. Love… was a part of what I felt for Sydney. But it was also… obsession. And yearning. And a sense of loneliness I couldn't shake. I don’t think… the percentage of love in what I felt for her was very high. Especially compared… to what I feel now toward… Heh. Honestly, Ace, if it’s just any sort of love… toward you...”

Yet even now, knowing how all this ends... I'm dancing around the issue. Is it really so hard for me to just say I love someone...? Randidly let that thought trail off, but his mind shifted to Vualla. Of her determination and certainty. Of the way she rolled her eyes and the color of her hair. Her strength and her sad smile on the night that they met.

Ace looked at Randidly for a long time. “...thanks for being honest. I was worried… well, whatever. But what the hell is this?!? You have a crush and you haven’t told me? Is she in your psych elective? Damnit, what’s her name and when can I meet her?”

Randidly’s head was beginning to throb from freely using the pinch of mental energy he had been able to recover. The trembling had come back. Luckily, Ace’s sudden explosion of questions let Randidly walk up to defend him. And when Randidly didn’t reply, Ace laughed. “Hey, don’t be like this. I promise I won’t steal your crush this time.”

You always were such a dick… but you’d really do anything you could to help. Randidly thought as looked at Ace and truly saw him. You would just never stop yourself from hurting me.

Then Randidly took a single step forward, almost effortlessly taking the ball from Ace’s hands. This version of Ace was just a normal human being, with no System help. By the time Ace had spun around in horror, Randidly had already shot. Swish again.

“What’s your dream, Ace?” Randidly asked urgently. The whole world was trembling around him as his mental energy once more hit rock bottom. He needed something. “What do you want to be, more than anything else?”

“That’s your question?” Ace said in shock. Then he shrugged. A strange hesitation kept him silent for a second that felt agonizing to the strained Randidly, but he finally answered. “I don’t think I’ve ever said this out loud… but I kinda just want to be a dad. You know? One that just… is there. Ooo, and one that has a grill-”

Randidly left the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night. Back in the real world, he swayed and almost fainted. But after biting his tongue, he managed to stay on his feet. His hazy vision gradually settled on Ace.

Ace was still cackling. He was bleeding and his face was completely covered. His left arm… the muscle finally ripped and the limb plopped onto the ground. “As long as this egg hatches… all of you…. All of this… hehehehahaha!!”

The answer he had found in the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night did not give Randidly any epiphanies. In the end, it just made him sad. Sad for the reckless and proud young man that Ace had been. So instead of the current Ace in front of him, Randidly spoke to the Ace he never had the nerve to be honest with in the past.

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” Randidly said to Ace with an honesty, he was embarrassed to admit, was impossible for him even in a conjured memory. “I loved Sydney, even then. You were right to be jealous.”

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 64!

…

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 71!

Sydney gave Randidly a long look that he didn’t return after he spoke. Ace continued to cackle and stumble forward, almost tripping over his own bloody forearm; it was like he didn’t even hear Randidly’s apology. But really, saying the truth out loud was all Randidly could do. He couldn’t force the other party to listen.

Sydney sighed and raised her hands. That flowing mammal raised its head and chirped. A bolt of lightning smote the air and impacted Ace’s chest. He twitched for fully two seconds, frost slowly condensing on his body. Then he collapsed forward and the blood infected images hovering around him dispersed. Without his energy aggravating it, the energy around the blood egg slowly calmed down. Those mouths closed unhappily.

Randidly shook his head.