“Will it work?” Aya said. He flapped his hands, pretending to be a bird, as he floated higher and higher to get a clearer view of the different parts of the model. Then he paused somewhere in the middle of the colossal hollow tower that housed their experiments. He tilted his head while looking at the flow of the void energy through several seals superimposed on top of each other. "Do you think this will work?" he said in a louder voice. His voice echoed, bouncing on the musty grey bricks of the tower.

He squinted his eyes as if it would change something. He smiled. It was holding together.

Barely.

They were stagnating existence.

“You’re asking me will it work?” the soft voice of Clement the Void Archmagus said. He flew beside Aya with his bony hands clasped behind his back. A ragged robe covered his body. Fashion and clothing weren't high on the priority list of the man who has given his life for researching the secrets of the Void. A glorious wiry white beard covered his lower face, hiding his mouth. The beard was so long it reached his belt. Deep wrinkles lined his eyes. His faced looked like a skull draped with skin, with no flesh whatsoever. He wasn't eating for some time now. 

“Who else should I ask if it will work? Oh, Venerable One,” Aya said with a hint of a chuckle. Clement carried the title of Venerable since he had been an Archmagus for over two hundred years and a full-fledged void mage for over three hundred. Aya always told him the title of Venerable was only given to him because of how old he looked. And Aya had evidence to back it. The title of Venerable hasn't been given to anyone in history who didn't look ancient. Quite a persuasive argument, right?

“You still manage to display your juvenile humor in this time of crisis.”

“Well, we should learn to laugh even at the face of death. Not that you know of death,” said Aya.

Clement was also an Everliving. Immortal. Free from diseases, injuries, and the shackles of time. Able to regenerate even if only a speck of ash remained of their bodies. Not that they tried to reduce Clement to ashes. But Aya was interested to test the limits of an Everliving. However, now was not the time for it.

"The Blighted Multitude can consume me," Clement said, “And I died. Once.”

“You should have died sooner. At a younger age, I mean. If you could call what happened to you as death. Then people might not call you ‘Venerable’ like you’re some old sage on the mountain ready to answer everyone’s question,” Aya said.

“If I died at an early age, my appearance would have been bound with youth. But three hundred years is still three hundred years. The title of Venerable would still be bestowed upon me given the knowledge of the Void I acquired through the years. Not that I care for the title.”

They had this conversation plenty of times but Aya was just bringing it up to take a break from all the planning.

Clement first ‘died’ when he was already ninety years old. He was but a humble void mage at that time. Nothing special, except, perhaps, his tenacity in pursuing the secrets of the Void. Feeling he was past the average lifespan of a human, he tried a dangerous experiment that would probably cost him his life.

He opened a second void gate and, indeed, it cost him his ‘life’. It was when he found out he didn't really die. From his shredded body, he regenerated, good as new. Or good as old. His ninety-year-old self.

The rest was history. A history of monstrous experiments on his body to explore the Void. Something not possible for not-so-immortal people.

Aya laughed. “Nah, they won’t call you Venerable even if you’re three hundred something years old if you look young. They call people who look old as Venerable. Just take Rebecca for example. An elemental mage who could manipulate all elemental essences. Yet, they still don’t call her Venerable because she looks young.”

“And she is young. But it's a different matter with her. Many are afraid of her power.” Clement faced Aya with a sad smile on his face. “The possible end of our world is near. Yet you can still divert the conversation to something as trivial on whether one should appear aged to carry the title of Venerable.”

“The end of our world. Yes” Aya closed his eyes and exhaled. He opened his eyes and stared directly into Clement’s eyes. “Soo...Will this work?”

“In principle? Yes.”

“In principle.” Aya frowned.

“You want to bind the one they call Blight Incarnate with the Void Plane and the Elemental Plane and stagnate his existence? Effectively, that will remove it from existing here, there, which is also here, in a sense. Everywhere. The Blight Incarnate will be just is. Just is. Was. Will be. The theory is sound, and we have been preparing for a long time. It has worked with lesser existences.”

Aya laughed. “I still can’t get over the fact we’re calling it the Blight Incarnate? Kind of a tame title?”

“Tame title as compared to?”

“As compared to the only child of the first being to come into existence? Ah, maybe someone else could think of a better title. Something to make people understand what we're really up against.”

Clement also laughed. “If you put it that way, it sounds tame.”

“And why do people call them the Blighted Multitude? They are the most beautiful beings I have ever seen.”

Clement didn’t comment on what Aya said. He never told Aya how the Blighted Multitude appeared to him. Aya was aware that before Clement awakened his Bloodline as an Everliving, he also saw the Blighted Multitude as… well, monsters. The activation of his Bloodline changed his perception of the Blight. Aya couldn’t relate to that because he always saw them as immaculate beings of life since he first saw one. They weren't humanoid. More of something like creatures of flowing light.

It was very hard for him to fight them and kill them because of how they appeared to him.

Aya said, “And you’re still not answering my original question.”

“It has a very low chance of success. I am not outright saying zero. But nearly zero.”

Aya looked down in silence and gradually floated back to the ground. Clement followed him.

The strange liquid made by Delphine glowed in a large pool they hastily dug at the base of the large hollow tower. It projected the possible iterations of the void energy as it flowed through the elemental plane. The walls of the tower reflected the light from the model of space and elemental essences that rose from the water made by Delphine. Only the cold wind entering through the small windows dotting the exterior of the tower made a sound.

Aya's feet touched the floor, and he approached the pool.

He was impressed with the performance of the pool. Delphine wasn’t a void mage, yet her work could mimic the behavior of void energies Aya knew so well. What he didn’t know was how to test his spell’s effect on the elemental plane.

The void plane and the elemental plane existed in the same space. No one could fully comprehend how they acted with each other because no one has the power to combine the void essences which came through a void gate and the elemental essences of the plane they existed. This was the closest approximation they have.

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"Nearly zero," Aya said, breaking the silence.

“Nearly zero,” Clement confirmed. “And yet our only alternative is to ignite the mana of this world via the mana node—”

“And blow up a large part of this world hoping the Blight Incarnate will die in the process,” Aya finished. “Not to mention millions and millions will also die, the survivors will starve and try to live in a world racked by mana storms. The mana lines of the earth will shift, causing many plants and animals to die. Magic will be unusable until the elemental essences calm down. Not a really good place to be. And it's not like we can let the Blighted Multitude eat us all and change this world.”

“Then I pray that you succeed.”

“Praying to who? You don’t believe in gods.”

“I don’t.”

Aya didn’t push the issue further. The Progenitors, the beings closest to being the gods of their world have left them. Clement was always critical of the actions of these higher beings. But there was no point in being angry with someone who wasn't there. They had to do their best to survive on their own. No relying on gods to save them. They have to save themselves, even if only a very small number will survive.

A small model of Aya's plan floated near the controls for the pool. He reviewed it. “I will use my powers to make an anchor in the Void Plane. I will use the WorldHeart Orb filled with corrupted spirits to make an anchor here. And the Blight Incarnate will be in between, pulled in opposite directions by the opposing flows of the two Planes. It will exist in both Planes. And since that is not possible, it will stop existing.”

Aya's hands flew over the seals controlling the pool. Delphine made sure it could recognize orders from void energies. He gathered the data from their simulation to analyze it. Even if there was a 'nearly zero', as Clement put it, chance of success, he still had to try.

His mouth felt dry. He hasn't drunk or eaten for two days since the simulation began. Using his tongue, he licked his lips and then swallowed. Am I in the right?

Was he really trying his best to find an alternative? An alternative to abandoning the rest of humanity to save a few. And hoping that humanity could rise again.

Or was he just doing this to justify to himself that, in the end, there was nothing they could do except to blow up the mana node but, at least, he has tried his best? His fingers paused over the glowing violet seals. He might as well wait for his death here, eating a sandwich if it was the latter case. If he sacrificed himself to make his spell work, he would die and fail. And people wouldn't know about it. They also wouldn't know they would die. The survivors wouldn't know he saved them.

Maybe he was truly trying to find another way to save the human race. Compared to finding an honorable exit.

Was this that hidden human drive that surfaces when the end was inevitable? I don't think so. I wonder how despair felt.

“As I have mentioned. In principle, it sounds fine.” Clement placed his hand on Aya’s shoulder. He noticed the troubled look on Aya's face. “Let me come with you. It might be much better if I was the anchor in the Void Plane.”

“We have talked about this before. It doesn’t make a huge difference if I was the anchor or you were. You will be the Venerable anchor," Aya said, eliciting a chuckle from Clement. "And if we succeed, the anchor will also stop existing, never moving forward or back. As you said, neither here nor there.” Aya then coughed. He covered his mouth as he kneeled down and coughed violently. Heh, this always happens when I think about all the people who'll die by my hands. He closed his eyes and tried to control his breath. If you don't do this, everyone will die, he reminded himself.

Clement massaged his back. “The burden you carry is heavy. Let me help you. Let me be the anchor. I think three hundred years walking on my old bony legs is enough. I understand the pressure you're feeling. Having the responsibility of saving humanity thrust upon you. You don't have to do heroic acts to be a hero.”

“Clement,” Aya said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. “I am not doing this because I want to act heroic or to be a hero. It’s the opposite."

"Opposite? How so?"

"I want myself to be the anchor because I’m a coward.”

“You are the farthest from being a coward. It is better if you stayed and lead those who will remain. They will need a leader to rebuild. Better you than me.”

Aya smirked. "I was thinking of leaving a message for the survivors that it was me who will ignite the mana node."

"Why would you do that?"

"Asking for forgiveness, I think? Stupid, I know."

Clement nodded. "It is better for them to think it was the Blight who did it. And in some sense, it is the fault of the Blight Incarnate. Still, this doesn't make you a coward. You have fought for them. For us. For saving our world."

Aya shook his head. “I cannot face them after what will happen.The spell will cause my death. Not even death. I will stop existing just like that,” Aya said, snapping his fingers. “I think that will be the best ending for me. Dying in the last attempt to defeat the Blight Incarnate. Someday, when humanity rises. They will curse the Blight for destroying the world while thanking me for my last-ditch heroics. So yes. That is cowardice. I don't want to face those who will survive the ignition of the mana node."

Clement shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Aya wasn't trying to make Clement understand him. The immortal mage was even more detached to human emotions than Aya, although the former always tried to act according to social conventions in most situations. Just now, Clement was trying to comfort and support him because that was 'right' according to their circumstances. But Aya wasn't bothered by that. Clement already forgot his humanity when he put himself through forbidden rituals just to open three other void seals. 

Which makes him the perfect accomplice for Aya's plan. Clement viewed the situation with pragmatism. If humans survived. Then good.

Aya said, "The spell will most likely fail. And I trust that you will not stop the mana node from being ignited.”

“I promise you that, but—”

“I will set the mana node to ignite, thirty days from the time I will leave for the Blighted Lands. It’s best I set it that way because you won’t know what will happen to me in the Blighted Lands. But if after thirty days the Blighted Multitude is still coming. You would know I failed. And I hope that you don't stop it.”

Clement nodded. “Alright. I swear that we will protect the mana node for thirty days after you have left. And after that, I will escape with everyone who could still escape and carry with me books, scrolls, and all other records of the knowledge of mankind.”

"Don't tell the others about it. They will try to stop it. They will try to fight and fight until they are all consumed."

"I swear upon my knowledge of the Void I will tell no one."

Aya nodded. He has agonized about this for years and has decided that this was the best decision to make sure, at the least, a small part of humanity would survive. Others wouldn't understand. But he knew Clement would. This was the man willing to continuously torture his body in the name of advancing knowledge. He wouldn't fall to irrationality. They should aim to save what they could. As long as humanity survives, they could rebuild afterward.

Clement said, "Perhaps you will succeed." His tone showed he didn't believe what he said.

Aya just smiled at Clement's weird efforts to comfort him. “After the mana node ignites...everything is prepared."

He has told the kings, rulers, and leaders of every species fighting the Blight that they should prepare in the event the fortress at the mana node would fall. Hideouts all over the continent were being built to house individuals with skills in survival, people with important bloodlines, along with enough food and water. The plan was to establish communities in places the Blight would not find.

Obviously, he lied to them. Aya wanted them to prepare for the time the ignition of the mana node and cataclysm that would follow.

"Clement. After everything...everything is destroyed. Blame it on the Blight." Aya furrowed his brows. "No one would be alive to check what really happened anyway," he said with a laugh.

Clement did not speak but walked nearer to the pool and connected with it. Another round of simulation began.

Aya said, "Take the biomagi. We can't save everyone. But the biomagi needs to be there to speed up reproduction."

"People are not receptive of artificial births unless in connection with preserving Bloodlines," Clement said. 

"They did keep quiet when the armies were made."

"Necessity."

"This is also a necessity. This is the only way for humans to have a chance. Food will be scarce after the mana lines of the world, the life support, will be in disarray. Better store a large amount of food to sustain a small group of people for several years than storing a large amount of food for a large group of people." Aya rummaged in his robes. He took out a black object that had many irregular edges. "Clement, take this."

"The crux rune?" Clement received it and hid it in his robes. "You're giving me the power to stop the ignition?"

Aya smiled. "Maybe a miracle will happen..."