As she had mentioned previously, the Realms had different rules, which affected gravity, the passage of time, the distribution of space… it even managed to affect the self, if one didn’t possess the necessary protections, or knew what to look out for from beforehand.

And, something that the Material and the Death Realm shared, that another one did not was, first, the distribution of space, and second, the passage of time. With the differing one being the Dream Realm, or, as to be more understandable, the vision Velvet had.

That’s to say, she knew how the path going to Dianthus looked like, same as to where he currently was, but not the time that would take to reach him.

Time flowed freely on dreams, with seconds feeling like days, and hours feeling like seconds. And so, space was affected, either compressing or stretching as it saw fit.

Still, a pocket dimension was a pocket dimension, and it couldn’t be infinite in size, or even big enough for that to pose a problem. But, it did mean that she wouldn’t reach Dianthus in minutes, and it would take her several hours of walking instead.

She didn’t want to use the broom to fly into the sky and see how much distance remained, since, if there was something ghosts excelled at, it was flying, and aerial combat wasn’t something she had a lot of experience in, at least for now.

But she used it to fly just above the ground, since it was faster, and the vines posed a less tripping hazard.

And also because she had seen some rotten hands creeping from between the vines covering the ground, reaching towards her ankles.

Everything here is dead and rotting, or dead and rotten, so rotten they’re only here in spirit. And I’m hungry, and I don’t want to eat rotten food. No wonder that thing wanted to hunt me so badly, I would do so too!

It wasn’t like she would die of starvation, since she carried several pets in containers, and only had left behind the Strangling Humming Figs, which were inedible.

Maybe I can try to eat some of the mermaid flesh that I took from Doireann. It was nicely conserved, and half of its body should be fish.

Or maybe I can test the range of that freeloader.

“Hey, Corruption, find me something alive and easy to kill.”

“Can’t you reach Dianthus first?”

“Not for several hours, don’t you see the distance between us?”

“No.”

“No? Why?” So it had blind points? Good to know.

“Dianthus was like a light in the darkness, one that now he turned off. I can’t find the way back to him.”

So that was the reason why Dianthus lost the link to the Corruption. Without its main anchor, it was a matter of time before it went astray, back to where it came from, like a badly tied up boat, being taken by the storm.

The world wasn’t a still being, and didn’t wait for anyone to find its way back, no matter how lost.

“So you clinged at me… well, at Hyde. How did you find us?” Was it something about the Chained Man? Did the Corruption see him?

“By the marks left behind by those beings you love to poke so much. Even for something like me, beings carrying those marks are like fireflies in the night.”

Before Velvet had time to answer, it added. “Fragile and short lived.”

“And what is a being like you?” Ignoring the last comment, she spoke.

“Don’t you have any theories?”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“I did at first. I thought you were one of those Primordial Devil things, or an old, ancient and abandoned god, but…”

“But?”

“You’re too weak. And I’m the one saying it. If I’m a firefly, then you’re a speck of dust.” Velvet had been trying to see where the mental link went every single time they communicated, but it was useless.

There was nothing at the end of the Corruption. Nothing at all.

In fact, calling it a speck of dust was being generous.

“You’re right. There’s no body for you to find, since there isn’t a body to begin with. All clues you can follow will take you to the same conclusion.”

“That you don’t exist.”

“Indeed.”

It made no sense. Not only because the Prophet had seen the aftereffects of its intervention, but also because… well, she was speaking to it right now. And not only her, Hyde and Frenese had done so too. So it wasn’t that Velvet herself had lost it.

And about the other reason…

“What’s Dianthus' opinion?”

“He doesn’t think too hard about it.”

And I think he doesn’t think too hard about a lot of things… “Well, what does he think you are?”

“Chosen One’s aide. Extraordinary help for someone as extraordinary as him.”

… The size of that ego is extraordinary, that’s for sure. “I mean, what does he call you?”

“Hey you.”

“... I mean,” She corrected herself. “What’s your name?” Names served as identities, and they could help identify the origin of a being.

“I don’t have one.”

Nevermind.

Of course, it could be lying, both in its relationship with Dianthus and in its name. She would have to wake him up and compare the answer to prove it.

In her vision, the thing keeping Dianthus ‘turned off’ was either the coffin he was in, the translucid brambles crawling over him and the coffin, or the golden thing in his hands.

With a sigh, she let the matter be. “Say, how’s the search for something fragile and short lived that I can eat going?”

“There’s a river a bit to the left of the path you’re taking. I can see fish there.”

Fish? On the Death Realm?

…

Calling it a river was a bit far-fetched. There were ghosts in there!

Mist-like silhouettes moved below the waters, pushed around by the currents, talking in dead tongues, sometimes a bit too close to the surface, allowing Velvet to see the reflection of the state they were in when they were killed.

Yes, killed. She didn’t see any ghost that had died under natural causes. But she did see fish.

A trout, to be precise. Any Charlampian would know their fishes, knowledge mage or not. The Charlampian Archipelago was mostly known by its seas, but the islands had rivers too. Even so, they mostly used the fishes caught in the rivers for self-consumption, not sale, so that fact was not widely known by outsiders.

Why are there trouts on the Death Realm? Did Cardomos put them here for him to eat? Archmage or not, he didn’t live by photosynthesis, so food was a must. Velvet just had expected him to order takeout or something, not cook himself.

Maybe takeout was also out of character for him. Could Cardomos work a grill?

“He looks like a skewer kinda cook.”

“What are you talking about?” Hyde asked, having heard her ramblings. He hadn’t gone back into his pocket dimension, and was currently on her hat, looking around.

“That I’m going to eat you, spider a la sauté style.”

“If you’re that hungry, eat the All-purpose Worms.”

“Uhm, no. I need those to fatten you up before consumption.”

“If size is the problem, eat the fire salamander, it’s getting chonky.”

“Uhm, no. I can put it in the fireplace and save coal money.”

“... Just get the trout already.”

“I know.” She wasn’t going to fish with a normal pole in a ghost river, so she did it her favorite (since five seconds ago, she just got the idea) way.

Once a trout was located, she teleported one of her paper figurines below it, before blasting it with a small explosion, shooting it out from the river and into the ground, coupled with a lot of water, and several wailing ghosts, both of which melted into the ground.

She would cook and eat it on the way, since she didn’t want to stay too long in one place.