Some time had passed since they had successfully destroyed the nest. They had been forced to flee, but with the death of the queen there were few issues in leaving the drifting remains to be washed away by the flow of mana.
Currently, the group had retreated to a separate Pathway, one where the flow of mana was slower, but not so much that Ezekiel was able to open a rift to the space-Between-spaces.
Everybody had been in meditation for the sake of recovering, but the process was relatively slow.
Headren had formed another island. One that was attached to the wall that formed the massive Spirit Pathways. They hadn’t been able to do this before, since the flow had been too chaotic in the areas near the nest. With the nest destroyed, and the flow now normalized, a more stable island was possible.
“How much longer will it take before we can get out of here?” Ezekiel eventually asked, once it seemed like everyone had more or less recovered. “With the nest destroyed, we should head to the broken Pathways that you mentioned.”
Headren remained quiet, still meditating, and apparently cut off from the world. Luckily, the island had been reinforced, and Ezekiel had passively adapted to the environment now, so the Death Mage wasn’t needed for survival, just directions.
It had been disorientating to realize that, with the nest gone, there were no markers that could be used to keep track of their destination. Maybe, if he had spent some time learning more about Eldramir’s Spirit Paths, he would be able to read the supposed signs that existed, but for now, it wasn’t possible.
“Patience, Ezekiel, we will get you out of here soon enough. With the collapse of the nest, there is little to stop you from being able to leave. Your oath was fulfilled, correct?” Warren sat not far away, his eyes closed as he also meditated, and Ezekiel sighed at the sense his father was making.
“It has... I am no longer bound to stay here, and if not for the fact that I would most certainly get lost, I would’ve left by now to find my own path out of here...” After he spoke, Shine started floating next to him. “Don’t tell me that you have a problem with that... I know it might be childish, but I just can’t wait to get out of here.”
“I don’t think that it’s childish, but you are acting more anxious than normal... Has your [Danger Sense] been acting up again?” The Void Spirit bobbed in the air until they faced him directly. Now that the mana in the nearby Paths is clear, it’s possible that there are changes that will taking shape in the physical world... Maybe it also loosened the restrictions on your senses.”
“Possible, but I doubt it. I think your own senses would have experienced a change as well if that were the case.” Pinching his brow, Ezekiel sighed once more, but this time stood up and began to pace. “I will admit that I am feeling anxious, however... Something has changed on Eldramir... Something that I think has hastened the arrival of the end... Though, I’m not certain that it’s directly related to the destruction of the nest. It’s more like there was another event that happened at the same time, or close enough to it that I didn’t notice until after we were done.”
Ezekiel continued to pace, catching his father and Shine exchanging a glance off to the side.
“If your senses are telling you that something is wrong, then it would likely be for the best if you followed your gut. Once Headren is ready, I will carry all of us to wherever it is that we need to go for you to open a rift. That will be faster than simply flying at whatever speed you all can reach.”
Hearing his father’s encouragement helped, but Ezekiel could still feel an urgent need to get moving. He looked over to Headren who continued to meditate, even though it seemed like he had already recovered.
“It would at least be nice to know what is going on with Headren. I’m almost certain that he isn’t meditating for the sake of recovering his mana.” He narrowed his eyes, and the mana went from being an ever-present substance, much like water or air, and was filled with shifting lines and lights. “I can barely make out the mana as a visible substance, and he shouldn’t be having this much trouble recovering.”
In fact, Ezekiel had noticed that Headren’s mana had returned to its previous level. Reaching his maximum at around the same time that Ezekiel had.
Not only that, but while he couldn’t see souls as clearly as the Death user could, he still had some experience. Even if it would’ve been easier to place a hand on the skeleton instead of just looking.
“Do you think something might’ve happened to his soul? Did he push himself too far in that fight?”
Neither Shine nor Warren responded, though the latter did close his eyes in thought.
“Any ideas, dad?” Ezekiel asked.
“... Perhaps. Given that this skeleton is only a remnant of Headren, who still lives primarily in the physical world, it’s possible that such exertion had greatly depleted his [Willpower]. Leading to a longer recovery time in his soul, since it isn’t technically whole.” He shrugged, but Ezekiel felt like the explanation made a lot of sense. “It might be a lot like these little guys were, before I broke them.”
Warren was referring to the bundle of pseudo-souls that he had formed from himself and his [Will], in an attempt to aid him in his battle. Ezekiel couldn’t help but wince at the sight of the disintegrating balls of light. They had been floating around his father’s giant form for a while now.
His father had felt a sense of guilt and loss at essentially killing souls before they could properly form, but their slow dissipation had been something that Ezekiel hadn’t understood.
“I still feel like you should cast them out... They do no good here and seem to only be causing you more pain.” His words were answered with a shrug.
“Just like you, I also get gut feelings, and something is telling me that, while they will never form proper souls of their own, simply letting them fade away will be a loss of something that will be far too harmful for me to get again in the future.” With that said, Warren waved a hand, and the little orbs of light sank into his chest, though no armor took shape this time around. “Get ready. He appears to be waking up.”
Ezekiel looked over his shoulder from where he had turned to face his father. Headren’s skeleton was indeed moving, albeit very slowly. The clicking sound from within his ribcage also indicated that the Spirit he had as a partner was also awake now.
“Headren! Are you ready to set out?” Ezekiel couldn’t hide the impatient whine in his voice. He was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet at the thought of finally moving on.
However, Headren didn’t look nearly as ready to go as Ezekiel.
“... I’m sorry, but it seems like there will be another problem that needs to be addressed before we can get to where I had intended to take you...” The raspy voice of the skeleton was surprisingly gentle, with a hint of apprehension and fear tinting his tone. “It seems that, like you had hypothesized once before, there is more than one nest. This was just the largest and closest.”
Ezekiel felt his entire body tense up. That urgent need to go welled up once more.
He found Shine was in his hand, without his conscious input, and a sense of calm that didn’t come from him filled his body.
Thank you... I don’t know why I’m feeling like this... Ezekiel conveyed to his Spirit through his bond. Keep me grounded for now. I’m fairly confident that I won’t like what he has to say next.
Will do. Whine replied, their own mental voice was accompanied by more emotions and soothing waves of calm. I don’t think that our leaving will be delayed by too much, however... I’ll need you to be calm when we do leave.
Confusion filled his mind for a moment, but he focused on Headren once more, before he could get too distracted. The flash of guilt that he felt from Shine, momentary as it was, had been concerning, but he trusted his Spirit to tell him if something was truly wrong.
“Simply put... Another nest, one much smaller than before, is now blocking the broken Pathway that I had intended to bring you to. Given the current state of the Spirit Paths, the next closest will take... months, maybe?” Headren trailed off toward the end of his statement.
It was enough to make Ezekiel question everything that the Spirit had said, but he failed to speak up before Warren.
“How do you know this from just meditating, and why do you sound so uncertain about the time it will take to find another broken Path?” The Ancient level Radiant Hunter stood, and now loomed over the weaker Death user. A large barrier of golden light also surrounded them.
Not that Ezekiel thought that Headren could run away. Few things were faster than a Radiant magic user. Let alone the most powerful one currently in existence.
“It’s to do with the environment. Given that we are within the soul of Eldramir, I can more closely commune with it than any of you can due to my element. However, I hadn’t known that my reach was so large until now.” Headren’s skull tilted back, and Ezekiel couldn’t help but imagine a listless gaze staring at the stars, had the Death Mage any flesh on his bones. “Apparently, the reach of the nest’s queen was more subtle than expected. She apparently emanated an aura that had seeped into the Pathways connected to the one she had settled down in. Now that she is dead, my senses are free to expand and directly review information from Eldramir’s sleeping mind. Thus, I am now aware of at least a dozen additional nests. All much smaller than this one was, but due to their disrupting nature, I can’t be certain that that is all of them. Especially since my own awareness cannot cover anywhere near the full extent of the world’s Spirit Paths. Just moving around the Paths will take... years to travel between the nests that I know of. I have no idea how long it will take to clear out everything. If it’s even possible.”
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Silence pervaded the area, and each of them became lost in thought. Listless, far gazing expressions spread across the faces of each of them.
For Ezekiel, he felt his heart clench in his chest. His body broke out into a cold sweat. The fastest method for getting back to the physical world would be to destroy the nearest nest, and then access the broken Paths to get out.
However, they didn’t know the full extent of the nest. Just that it was smaller than the one they’d just destroyed. Yet, the apparent changes, and risk of other nests in the Paths, were another worry that Ezekiel felt he couldn’t just ignore.
“For now, let’s just get to the closest nest. You said it was blocking the closest bokeh Paths, so we'll go there first. You are still bound by your oath, after all.” Warren was the first to speak, and once he did there was a flash of light around Headren’s wrist.
“... Please... I can’t afford to leave the Spirits Paths of Eldramir in this state.” Ezekiel winced at the sound of begging in Headren’s voice. “I can’t afford to leave them as they are, and there is no guarantee that you will be able to return here after you leave.”
The light around his wrist glowed brighter and brighter, showing his reluctance to follow through with his oath. Yet, neither Ezekiel or Shine spoke up.
“Calm down,” Warren placed a large hand on Headren’s shoulder. For a moment, he looked at Warren with empty eye sockets, before the skeleton recoiled in shock. “This is a problem that will be dealt with, but you must fulfill your oath, or else the Spirit Paths of Eldramir will never be cleansed.”
Ezekiel assumed that Headren must’ve realized something, because the skeleton shifted his posture to something that seemed more confident, more powerful.
“Right... Right! I will take you to the closest nest. The problem... the worst of the problem has been resolved.” Headren turned, lifting off from the small island as he did. “Let’s go. The broken Paths are this way. The nest is also less than a third the size of the one we just destroyed. I think we can probably just push through it with brute force, if you're willing, Ancient one.”
Warren just nodded before he also lifted off. All that remained was Ezekiel, who paused for a moment. Doubts formed in his mind as he watched his father get further and further away.
... I’m going to be in tears once again, aren’t I?
Shine’s silence was all he needed to know that he was right.
He didn’t know what was planned, but his father clearly put something into motion. Something that he had a guess regarding what it was.
Yet, even so, he couldn't stop himself from moving forward to catch up. He had a job to do, a family to return to, and a world to save. Now was not the time for him to retreat.
So long as he succeeded, so long as he ascended, he would be able to come back and fix things.
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Hidden a short distance away from the significantly smaller nest, Ezekiel stared as great flashes of lights filled the region. It had taken what felt like several days before they had finally gotten within range of their new target, but upon arrival, Warren had decided to take no break and had simply charged straight in. The much smaller army of drones was much more easily destroyed, given the number of Mythics was practically nonexistent due to the queen not being nearly as powerful as the last one.
“This is going much more smoothly than I had expected it to,” Headren said while he and Ezekiel stared at the ongoing battle. “The difference between those at the pinnacle of Tier five and those that have entered Tier six is truly vast. More so than the difference between any other of the previous Tiers. Let alone the difference between the bottom of Tier five like this nest’s queen is.”
Ezekiel nodded, focused entirely on the fight in front of him. He could feel that this was going to be the last chance he would get to see the way an Ancient being fought in person. Thus, he had expanded his senses to their absolute limits, taking in everything that he possibly could.
Ezekiel... What have you discovered?
The pause in Shine’s question made Ezekiel pause, and he could feel a great deal of guilt flicker in and out of existence through their bond. However, he didn’t bring it up, having begrudgingly accepted what was almost certainly going to happen, and preparing his own means of taking control of the matter.
It’s not much. Just that there’s a level of worldly communion that is far more in depth than what we can do right now. We won’t be able to emulate it until we reach Tier six on our own. For now, our focus should be on finding that sixth Chakra, or merging my flesh and soul together, which is already difficult enough, since I still need to strengthen my body before I can continue the merger.
During their travels, Ezekiel’s progress toward merging body and soul had come to a halt, so they had shifted to working entirely on finding his sixth Chakra instead.
I will... Hopefully, it won’t be long after we’re back in the physical world that you finally break through... Shine’s tone took a sudden shift toward the end, becoming a whisper tinged with a sinking feeling that settled in Ezekiel’s gut for half a second before disappearing.
Is there something you want to tell me? Ezekiel knew that there was, but this was about respect and trust, so he didn’t call his Spirit out.
No, I don’t. It irked Ezekiel and made him frown when he sensed nothing but the open truth from his Spirit. Nor is there anything that I think you need to know either.
Because it’s irrelevant, or because you think that it would be best for me?
He couldn’t keep the accusation out of his tone, but Shine’s response did let him partially relax.
It’s nothing that I think is relevant to our situation, or our eventual ascension. Shine’s inclusion of themself regarding their ascension brought a great deal of relief to Ezekiel.
Then let’s just focus on doing everything we can to break through to the next Tier.
The avatar of his Spirit nodded when he turned to look at it, but before they could continue with their conversion, a massive shockwave filled the area. It ripped apart Ezekiel’s [Shroud], and Ezekiel was forced to create a barrier that kept himself and Headren safe.
“It seems that your father is finished with clearing out this nest,” Headren floated forward once the mana settled down, and Ezekiel couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the rhetorical statement.
“I guess he is,” Ezekiel muttered with a frown on his face. He also floated forward, back straight, and utterly focused on his father’s figure. “Let’s go. It’s time you brought us to our exit point. I’m tired of being stuck here.”
The two fell silent, their Spirits drifting alongside them. Each one fully aware that something was being planned by the other, yet neither one was willing to bring it up before the time was right.
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After clearing out the nest, it was a simple matter to make their way to the broken Paths that Headren was leading them to. Though, it became more and more difficult to move forward as they got closer.
Not because there was any greater flow of mana in the area, but because the Pathway was shrinking, and the mana was so scarce that it was like being in the space-between-spaces, though not quite.
“This is as far as I am capable of bringing you... I assume that you can make it the rest of the way on your own. You can see the end of this Path, the place where it is broken, in the distance.” Headren pointed at a small black dot that was still quite a distance away. “It shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes to get there, at which point you can either create a controlled rift, or possibly enter the space-between-spaces you spoke of simply by passing through that end of the Path.”
“... I see... and how will you be joining me? Since this path is too small for you to go any further?” Ezekiel turned to his father, who had grown to his full size, and was currently quite cramped within the section of the Path they currently stood in. “Or were you hoping that I would create a rift, and then throw me through it before I realized that you weren’t coming with us?”
“Ezekiel,” Warren spoke softly, a frown on his face, but his eyes were narrowed and resolute. “It won’t be possible for me to come with you. Your rifts will not be strong enough for me to pass through. You would need to reach Tier six to do that, and there is no guarantee of that happening. Not within the time frame we currently have. You need to get out of here, and fight against whatever it is the Broods are attempting. There are too many people that are important to us for you to remain here, just for me.”
His entire body was tense. Ezekiel was just one wrong word away from lashing out at his father for once again trying to dictate his life and refusing to accept his choices as being his responsibility.
“I just got you back, yet you’re leaving me again... At least the last time, you were simply taken away. There were forces beyond our control that forced a stupid choice on you. This time, the choice is not nearly as dire.” A pulse of mana was released from Ezekiel’s body.
This time, rather than remain nearby, Headren retreated to an area further into the stable Spirit Paths. Ezekiel saw this out of the corner of his eye but ignored it so he could stare down the man in front of him instead.
“Do you have any idea how happy I was when I managed to pull you together? How I had imagined the joy, and wide and toothy grins that mom and the twins would have when they saw you? The tears of overwhelming happiness that they would feel when you came back?” Ezekiel’s voice rose higher and higher to the point where he was now yelling. “Now that won’t be happening, and you couldn’t even muster up the courage to tell me until the very last minute!”
“Would you have focused on breaking through, or getting me out, if I had told you beforehand?” Warren’s question cut through Ezekiel’s enraged mind like a knife.
He didn’t want to admit it, but he knew that the distraction would’ve lowered his chances of reaching Tier six. If that was the case, then it would’ve lowered the chances of Warren getting out with him. Thus, leaving Ezekiel to focus on breaking through at his own pace increased the odds to their peak. It was just that the peak chance of success was still too low.
“How many times will the world keep hitting me, right when I get back up?” his whisper was filled with pain and anger. Both aimed at himself and aimed at the world around them.
“That’s the thing about living, son, the world will always work to take you down. Either through other people who wish to climb higher in life, or through the flow of fate challenging your existence.” A large golden hand gently landed on Ezekiel’s shoulder. “Life is change. It is the need to move forward and overcome whatever we may face. Not because life is inherently cruel, but because remaining still, failing to progress through life, is the ultimate death for anything and everything.”
Thoughts raced through Ezekiel’s mind. He wanted to rage against his father’s words. To say that he had done nothing for the past decade or more, sealed away within his own soul by Radiant Chaos.
Yet, that thought was a lie. His father fought for more than ten years, he fought to keep his soul, shattered as it was, from fading, and it was only because he fought that the chance to advance had arrived. Even if the cost was significant.
He still didn’t move, however, and continued to struggle with the fact that he would need to leave his father once again. Returning to a world where his father was dead, and he was fighting a war once more. The only thing stopping him from outright refusing to leave was the fact was well aware of who he had waiting for him in the physical world.
Ezekiel... We have to go. The longer we wait here, the more likely it is that the Broods are going to win. Shine’s voice filled his mind, but he just tensed up even more. For a moment, he thought about flooding his mind with Void mana, just to remove these emotions that were holding him back.
Then his father decided to step in once again.
“Given how difficult this is for you, I hope you can forgive me for taking this even further into my own hands.” Warren’s hand, still on Ezekiel’s shoulder, glowed briefly before a Radiant orb covered his body. “Do not tell your mother and sisters of my survival. I am sorry to burden you with this, but they don’t need to know that pain.”
“Dad!” Ezekiel sped up his perception, intent on breaking out of the sphere, but it was too late.
With a blinding flash, the Radiant energy that surrounded him flew backward toward the broken Path. Within moments his father’s form disappeared from his sight.
Then, there was a sudden impact that shattered the Radiant sphere. A boundary was crossed, and the strangely lit world that he had lived in these past months turned to the dark nothingness of the space-between-spaces.
No trace of Eldramir’s Spirit Paths was anywhere in sight.