Randidly didn’t bother to control the ambient Nether that he was releasing as the two people talked about the threats against Earth. Not in any sort of attempt to intimidate Octavius Shrike, but rather because he was having trouble controlling the Nether in his body. Honestly, Octavius had arrived at a very inopportune time. The emotional consequences of what happened with the Dreamcatcher of the Night were already more complicated than he would have liked, but after Randidly had spoken aloud the strange sense of relief he had felt at seeing Yyxtrix alright, the nebula of Nether in his chest went crazy.

Even Randidly couldn’t deny that admission possessed deep meaning, even if he wasn’t sure what that meaning meant.

His Nether core trembled and cracked, giving Randidly only a few seconds of warning before it collapsed into an even more condensed form. The swirling current of ambient energies raced around like they were about to erupt into a tornado. Nether and Aether in equal measure were sucked into Randidly’s core in a frantic attempt to bring balance to the abrupt change.

Power rolled off Randidly’s body in waves. The ground hissed and sighed, expanding and contracting as alternating waves of Nether and Aether radiated outward. The Nether density, in particular, had been quickly increasing. Which was exactly when Octavius arrived.

In the present moment after their discussion, Randidly finally allowed himself to release a tight breath. Although Nether was freely seeping out of his body, it seemed that the transition that he had been going through finally slowed down to manageable levels. It gave him the chance to inspect his current situation.

Of particular note was the fact that the area immediately around the core of the Nether Nebula now radiated a grey-white light. Randidly estimated that he was still hovering around the power of a Nether Gatekeeper, but that he was nearing another plateau of density.

Glancing down at the wrote bracelet on his right wrist, Randidly frowned. A Fate designed in the manner of Nether. It seems that memories and meaning remain lodged in the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night… but if they really were just memories, why do I go into them with my current abilities…? Just a quirk, or…?

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 13!

…

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 29!

Ignoring the frustratingly unpredictable notifications, Randidly glanced up at Octavius. With an effort of will, he suppressed the flames of Nether that sprang unbidden from his limbs. And when he noticed it, Randidly put a stop to the ominous circling of the moonlight spirits around the two of them. “...thank you for coming with the information. For the moment… why not take this opportunity to explore the party in relative anonymity before we make an official appearance? I need to… get a handle on this before I join you.”

When Octavius’s face shriveled up in a frown, Randidly gestured the small flickers of Nether flame that still covered him. After an aggrieved sigh, Octavius gave a short nod and opened a portal with the flick of a finger. Then he was gone.

Finally alone, Randidly blew out his lips and collapsed backward onto the rocky ground. A lot had happened very quickly, and it was hard to know which changes or information Randidly should address first. Stubbornly rubbing his eyes, he decisively took some time to further inspect the situation of his Nether.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 151!

The Nether in his body had certainly shot sharply upward in density after… whatever occurred with the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night, but it was rather inconsistently done. So Randidly spent a few minutes to go over his nebula and carefully cultivate his Nether. Unlike Aether, it didn’t appear that Nether shifted meaningfully between air/liquid/solid states. Instead, Randidly found that his Nether had become thick and almost shimmering as it flowed through him, like molten metal. It spread with remarkable inconsistency, at one time blasting outward and at others indulging in slow eddies.

Gradually, Randidly’s ministrations reduced the uncontrolled power of Nether erupting from his skin. But, if anything, Randidly was only more concerned after carefully adjusting the state of his Nether. The malicious potency that he felt from the energy was concerning. So much so that Randidly actually shifted one of his remaining drops of liquid Nether into the core of the Nether nebula in order to keep the energies in balance.

And then Randidly watched with a sour expression as the nebula began to spin much more quickly once more. Although he had gone through all of the flowing Nether, he wasn’t perfect in his work; he had missed several concentrated areas of Nether density. But the rotation very quickly began to sort the energy out as the lighter stuff was pushed outward and the densest Nether flowed to the core.

As long as leaving the liquid Aether there doesn’t cause another transformation, I should be fine, Randidly thought with a sigh. But of course, the presence of this powerful Nether in my body is the whole reason I’m willing to fight against this special investigator directly…

Randidly’s emerald eyes flashed. And apparently he released a significant enough amount of killing intent that Acri perked up hopefully and slithered up to Randidly. He hadn’t been lying when he had talked about how much internal stress he had been feeling since he had returned to Earth with the power to make the world better, but had restrained himself.

After a few seconds of pressing his eyes closed, Randidly shook himself and stood. He glanced down at the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night but decided that it was an issue that needed to wait until he had more time and attention to dedicate to it. Instead, Randidly raised his hands and manipulated that Nether with the consistency of molten metal to form a ritual.

Another distraction. This birthday party was turning out to be more trouble than it was worth.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Ritual (A) has grown to Level 163!

Once the ritual took shape, Randidly was carefully to focus on the warmth of the connection inside of himself to guide its formation. Something told him that a Nether Ritual spying on the location that Randidly was aiming for would not be received with kindness.

He might even attract the attention of someone who Randidly could not afford to offend right now. This was probably a very poor idea. The hands that were manipulating the thick Nether didn’t slow.

After the experience with the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night and hearing from Octavius Shrike… Randidly couldn’t help himself. With that connection in his chest, he reached out for Vualla.

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He found her in darkness, curled up on a low bunk. He found the steady rise and fall of her chest cavity as she slept. Although Randidly could have seen more of the surrounding area, he kept his perception focused on the warm handprint that he had left on her back. It was the connection between them, and also Randidly felt almost… creepy being able to do this freely…

Luckily, Vualla noticed his touch almost immediately. Her eyes flicked open, and although Randidly wasn’t technically able to see, she revealed those same clear azure eyes. She sat up slowly, stretched slowly, then walked calmly out past rows and rows of identical bunks toward an open door. His perception was fuzzy, but Randidly could at least make out what was in the immediate area around her body.

When she passed out into a dimly lit hallway, a man looked up from a sheaf of papers he held in his hands. A man whose heavy image had Randidly’s perception behaving very carefully. “Trouble sleeping, cadet?”

“Just wanted to move my body a bit,” Vualla replied lightly.

The man snorted. “The Xyrt Brigade has designed this program exactly to match your abilities; if you have any energy left to train, I’ll eat my shoe.”

Vualla just smiled. The moment stretched. Then the man shrugged. “It’s your life. If you break tomorrow during training due to exhaustion, I won’t save you.”

The man returned to reading his papers and Vualla walked down the hallway to a door that led to an open sky so filled with stars that it almost appeared to be morning. Randidly couldn’t get a good view from his lingering presence only in the hand print on Vualla’s back, but it seemed that the celestial bodies above were impossible clear at this place.

From the building, Vualla walked quickly forward out onto a vast and dusty field. Tall and grotesque edifices of curling bone were spaced equally apart on the field, humming with all the peaceful ferocity of a sleeping bear. And even just as a small presence of Nether clinging onto Vualla, Randidly pursed his lips as he felt the insidious and grinding presence of images coming from each of those constructions.

What a powerful suppression, even when they are inert… so Octavius wasn’t wrong about the sort of training they subject their recruits to.

To Randidly’s surprise, Vualla made a beeline for the nearest image producing device. And as they neared, it began to buzz to life, instantly releasing a grating mental pressure that covered Vualla’s face with tight lines. But once the thing activated and Vualla began to move through some basic punching motions, Vualla’s face split into a wide smile. “It was very dumb of you to do this. But I’m glad you did. Happy birthday, by the way.”

A strange sort of tightness that Randidly hadn’t even noticed previously dropped away as he heard the raw gratitude in Vualla’s voice. Simultaneously, he made a very dark sort of promise for vengeance when he heard the raw weariness in Vualla’s tone. Although her eyes were still the same bright, clear color of the deep sea, her hair had darkened and dimmed somewhat. There were deep bags under her eyes.

The image of that twisting bone toward buzzed incessantly next to them.

They weren’t kidding about the training being designed to push you to the edge… if even Vualla is like this… so this is the Xyrt Brigade.

Unable to resist, Randidly allowed a little bit more of his Nether to flow through the Nether Ritual and into Vualla’s body. She stiffened at first, but Randidly carefully circulated the energy around the surface of her skin. With the thick potency of Randidly’s new Nether, it almost completely blocked out the aggravating effects of the nearby image. Although it flowed around them, they were an island of peace in a stormy sea.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether RItual (A) has grown to Level 164!

“Holy shit, that feels good,” Vualla sighed. She shook her head and then jerked her chin up toward the humming shape above them. “Without these pieces of shit, this training camp wouldn’t be so bad. But even at your weakest, they keep you under its effects. To build resilience, but I do sort think it’s just a way to grind you down so their rhetoric sticks better…”

“Vualla, are you alright?” Randidly asked softly. “I wouldn’t normally just try and connect to you like this… but I hadn’t heard from you in a while. And some of the things I heard about he Xyrt Brigade’s training…”

“Probably all true,” Vualla’s voice was raw. She continued to mechanically move through the motions of her punches, exhaustion keeping her joints stiff even as she warmed up. “And I’m… managing. I’m really sorry I haven’t been able to reply. They give us literally no time to do anything but train. I’m glad you reached out, honestly. Because it reminds me why enduring through all this will be worth it.”

Randidly let a little bit of the icy killing intent he had recovered from that memory of Yystrix in the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night slip through the Nether Ritual. “To reap the vicious karma this System has sewn. To collect a long owed debt.”

A reminder… that’s a good word for it. But what do I need to be reminded of…?

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 30!

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 31!

“To tear down the Nexus.” Vualla’s eyes flashed. Her own image of destruction blasted outward, the human form perfected into the ultimate tool of annihilation. The next punch she threw it howled with power; the image was so domineering that even Randidly felt the Nether barrier he conjured in Vualla’s body flicker and fail for a brief moment. “For the freedom to decide our own fates.”

“A terrible Path,” Randidly breathed.

“One we aren’t taking alone,” Vualla replied. “Which makes all the difference.”

With a warm feeling in his chest, Randidly reached through the Ritual, this time bringing with him a bit of his own image. Yggdrasil’s golden roots wound their way forward to circle Vualla’s Soulspace. Then, in the manner that Randidly had learned on the frontlines while still just an image, he began to provide life energy to Vualla’s image to help its own recovery.

Congratulations! Your Skill the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 238!

Still, it turned out that despite her physical wear and tear, Randidly’s worries were unfounded. Currently, Vualla’s image was still quite robust and powerful. When she activated it, the raw might it contained left Randidly’s images in the dust. Partially because he had been so focused on Nether and the situation on Earth recently, but also because Vualla truly was monstrously talented when it came to this sort of energy utilization.

But the more that Randidly examined the image, the more that he could see flaws. The details were inconsistent. Although the edges were harsh and overbearing, the interior of the image wasn’t as oppressive. It had been so overworked and drained that some of the vibrancy of its core motivation was lost.

That was what Randidly could foster now. And so he did so.

Vualla stiffened at first, but then the tension flowed out of her body and she collapsed on the ground. “Ohhh… holy shit Randidly, that feels so good. Was my image really that worn down?”

“A little rough around the edges, but it should be fine,” Randidly hummed as he continued to channel energy through their connection. Part of what flowed over with his image was trace amounts of Aether and Nether, which would do a lot to help resist the sort of grinding damage that these bone towers could do.

Vualla chuckled dryly. “Don’t power me up too much. The trainers will notice.”

“Nah, this is all you, Vualla.” After another minute, Randidly nodded in satisfaction as he felt Vualla’s image returning to its natural form. “Besides, didn’t that man say the Xyrt Brigade designed the training regimen perfectly? This must just be the result of a well-made plan.”

“Uh-huh, the night after I deviate from their well-made plan during my rest time?” But Vualla’s smile was wry. She leveraged herself up from the ground and stretched with her arms over her head. A yawn dominated her feature for fully five seconds before she could speak. “But this is just the beginning. I’ll be here for at least five more months. What about you? What are you up to?”

“Something similar, as it turns out.” Randidly once more let his killing intent show through. “The Swacc Family arranged for a Xyrt Brigade Special Investigator to be sent to Earth to make sure we fail the Nexus’s most recent test. I will likely need to kill the investigator.”

“May he rest in peace.” Vualla gentle smile of support and faith was everything that Randidly had wanted it to be. “Punch him right in the face for me, would you? Just once. This place… I hope this all is worth it.”