Threads of void emerged from the Elazni ring only to disappear moments later, leaving Dallion with the impression that the item was mocking him. It seemed that each time he’d look at it, it would reveal its nature just enough for him to notice, though nothing more. It was impossible to determine the direction the threads were pointing, only that the void was out there.
Void connects to void, Vihrogon said. Could be any number of corrupted guardians along the way that have attracted it.
That wasn’t particularly useful. While not purified, it wouldn’t be possible to get any information from the ring guardian; not because he was particularly strong or clever, but because it turned out to be feral, aggressive, and not at all focused with anything outside its realm.
Taking another look at the item, Dallion put it away. There would be time for that later. He had a good idea where the void was—south. Only there could it corrupt the first Star and slowly seep into the world. It was no accident that void matter remained in many of the ruins all those millennia ago. The only question Dallion had was whether the void would be stronger than the entities it corrupted or not. Fighting Arthurows had proven to be difficult, effectively leading to Dallion’s death; not to mention that the Star had been gravely wounded at the time.
Dark clouds gathered on the horizon. There didn’t seem to be any furies controlling them. The war had driven all the capable ones to the front. Interestingly enough, Dallion didn’t remember seeing any in the imperial castle. In fact, he couldn’t remember seeing any non-humans other than Euryale. Overseers and magical constructs protected the city, serving those within it.
Dallion! A chorus of grass filled his head. You’re back!
That was another thing that he hadn’t experienced in a while: the reaction of wilderness plants. Normally, one wouldn’t notice a blade of grass in the plains, but the blades of grass definitely noticed him.
You’ve been gone for a very long time! Several of them added, their voices mingling.
“I was a bit busy,” he replied. Plants didn’t need to know, nor would they care, about his recent promotions. “Has anything interesting been going on here?”
A lot of people used to pass through here not too long ago, a plant replied. Some fought, some died. They were tasty.
Only a plant could find a way to describe a battle in such a way as to make the listener even more repulsed by it. Of course, to a hunter, nothing was strange or even grotesque.
Then they stopped.
“So, no one’s been passing through after that?”
Some wheels. Then they stopped.
The departure of Countess Priscord and the following uncertainty had clearly reduced Nerosal to a backwater city again. Its level was still that of the second provincial capital, but there was no telling how long that would last.
“Thanks. Talk to you again soon.”
Blades of grass kept on talking to him for the next half hour, but he paid them little notice. By now, the guard towers of Nerosal were visible in the distance. In the recent past, they were full of soldiers, making sure that no invaders made their way so far in the province. Now they were empty husks of buildings that stood there like hollow trees. All imperial legions had long been sent to the borders of the empire or up north to help with the war. What was left of the local awakened troops had returned to their city forts and barracks, not even bothering with wilderness hunts.
Dallion could already see the area becoming dangerous for travel in the next few years. One could only imagine the number of wild chainlings that had emerged and were quietly growing to the point that nobles would be forced to lead parties of volunteers on hunts again.
“Gleam,” Dallion said. “Check if there’s anything fishy.”
There’s nothing, the shardfly grumbled. There’s nothing suspicious for miles. There isn’t anything for miles! Not even one pesky little creature to fight with.
Ever since her return from the banished lands, the spectral shardfly was constantly itching to fight as much as possible.
Fine. She fluttered further up into the air. Maybe I’ll get lucky.
Time had swept by rapidly in the area, removing even the traces of battle. Despite that, the scars were there, hidden beneath the surface, all too visible to Dallion. Every plant and guardian to the city itself had the same tale: people, clashes, destruction, then a long pause and silence. Merchants had become few and far between, and even mercenaries had rarely frequented the area. Just as in the past, everyone kept to their own settlements, seeking shelter from the greater world outside.
By evening, the outer walls of the city had become visible. When the countess had taken over, she had erected them to ensure that the city’s food production was secure and tightly controlled. Now, they were in a state of ruin. The gates were missing, as were the guards that usually protected them. The way things were going, in a couple of decades, they might vanish altogether, becoming part of the landscape.
It’s too fast, Vihrogon said. It’s not natural.
“I know,” Dallion agreed. “I can’t see any void in them.”
Void doesn’t have to corrupt something to have it decay.
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“Adzorg, could your device have caused this?”
That’s possible, dear boy. But, in that case, there would have been tower vortexes all over the place. Keep in mind that vortexes are the sign that things are going really bad. This, as unfortunate as it seems, is part of a city’s natural cycle.
“Cities rise and fall,” Dallion whispered.
Since they had high levels and powerful guardians, people were tempted to think that cities would keep on growing forever. But, as the Moons had told Dallion, a settlement was nothing without its people. The more people left, the weaker the guardians became, making them vulnerable to cracklings and other Star spawn. Ultimately, a city without people ceased to be a city and was swallowed by the wilderness.
A small contingent of guards was at the gate. Dallion could feel no positive emotions emanating from them. They had clearly gone through a lot and were now starting to resent it.
“Stop!” one of them shouted the moment Dallion got twenty feet away. “What’s your business?”
“I’m here to see the overseer,” Dallion got directly to the point.
“The overseer doesn’t see anyone,” the guard smirked, although a strong sensation of fear echoed within him.
“She’ll make an exception for me.” Dallion had many approaches to take. The logical thing to do was keep a low profile and use his music skills to trick the guards into letting him through. That would be pointless, though. If the emperor seriously wanted to find him, he would be found.
With a swift action, he cast a simple one circle spell, covering himself with a cyan glow. The spell itself was useless, but it had the desired effect—prove beyond doubt that Dallion was not to be trifled with.
“M-my apologies, mage,” the guard stuttered. “Please, enter. I’ll send for the overseer right aw—”
“There’s no need for that.” The familiar form of Nerosal’s overseer emerged just outside the city gate. “Dal and I are old friends.”
The remaining guards rushed to open the door at double time, as Dallion calmly continued walking forward. Taking on the act of a typical mage, Dallion ignored their efforts, not pausing his pace one bit. Soon enough, he was well within the city, followed by the overseer.
“You gave them quite the scare,” she said. “They’ll have nightmares for weeks.”
“At least it’ll let them appreciate the days more. What happened? Things weren’t so bad the last time I was here.”
“Nothing happened. The count is in the palace, the members of the Order are in their temples, leaving everything to the rest of us. You’d think that people would be happy with so much freedom.”
“Only if it were real.”
“I see you’re now fully familiar with how the world works, Baron.” The intonation suggested that the overseer had smiled beneath her black veil. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” Dallion tried not to sound bitter, but he failed. The war’s reach had made it all the way here.
“I assume you’ve come here for a reason?”
“Just a point along the path,” Dallion replied. “There are a few things I’d like to ask you, though.”
“Go ahead. At your level, I doubt there’s anything I could tell you about the world.”
“My grandmother. What do you know about her?”
It was rare for an overseer to be surprised. Entities like them tended to have seen it all. Yet, it was the memories of the time before losing their humanity that caused them the greatest pain and discomfort.
“Still as reckless as ever,” she said at last. “No, you’re even more reckless now. An awakened, even a hunter, had limits they couldn’t breach. As a noble, you’re past those.”
“Tell me,” Dallion said firmly.
Strands of darkness emerged from the ground, surrounding them like a bubble. They were so thin that most people wouldn’t even notice, isolating the two from the rest of the domain as they walked.
“You have a habit of asking dangerous things,” the overseer said. “People have been banished for less.”
“That’s for me to worry about.” He still worked for the people who did the banishing.
“I suppose I don’t have the power to refuse.”
“I’d really prefer it didn’t come to that. Ideally, I would have preferred if you or grandpa had told me directly all those years ago. I suspect you had your reasons, but you could have given me a few hints.”
“Moon vows hold a lot of power,” the woman turned to him. “Shame and regret hold even more. Very well, I’ll tell you what I know, but you won’t like it.”
“Trust me, I’ve been on a roll learning things I don’t like.”
“Not in that sense. The truth is, I don’t know much. I never got to meet her. In fact, I never even saw her. When Kraisten and my brother set off for the imperial capital, I was already an overseer. I didn’t even get to see Lanitol. I did manage to hear a thing or two, though.”
Dallion slowed down his pace, listening intently.
“There was talk that Kraisten had remained in the capital longer than he was supposed to. Many of the local nobles were disgusted by it. That’s not from whom I learned the details, though.”
“Who then?”
“My brother.”
It was Dallion’s turn to be surprised. Given the old man’s hatred of cities, he expected him to go directly to Dherma village.
“He’d lost his trust in your grandfather, so he needed someone close to talk to. I was the only one available.”
There was a reason for your cruelty, Dallion thought. Aspion had made sure to take control of the village to prevent anyone from sharing his fate. Sadly, in the process, he had become a copy of the things he despised in the world.
“He never told me her name, nor the family she belonged to,” the overseer continued. “Just that she was important, too important for Kraisten to be permitted to be with her. You know him, he didn’t care.”
“I’ve been hearing that a lot.”
“Then he trusted someone he shouldn’t have.”
That was new. Duchess Elazni had mentioned no such thing.
“Why?”
“An otherworlder he met here.”
“A human?”
“Defintely so. He was very plain looking. I didn’t think anything of the man. He and Kraisten would talk about things that made no sense to me. They’d laugh and joke as if they were long-lost friends. It was this man that made your grandfather go to the capital.”
That made little sense. From what Dallion knew, otherworlders weren’t viewed in high regard by then. Now, they were all but gone. Everyone claimed that most of them went to the imperial capital. Having been there, Dallion knew that wasn’t the case. As far as he could remember, he hadn’t seen a single one, just heard stories.
“Do you remember his name?”
“I must have at some point, but not anymore. Even back then, I got the impression that the lord mayor didn’t like him much. He left the city as quickly as he could, then gained favor by betraying Kraisten. I wouldn’t be surprised if he married into the same family as a reward. That’s usually how it works.”
So, the wall wasn’t due to something Dallion’s grandfather had done, at least not entirely. Someone else had betrayed him, someone who possibly even now was part of House Elazni. Or maybe it was the opposite? The other branch family had a lot more to gain if an otherworlder didn’t join their rivals.
“Thanks, Kiera,” Dallion said. “That helped a lot. Now, I’d like to rest a bit at the Gremlin’s Timepiece.”