After the meal, Randidly opened a portal back to Expira and most of his subordinates proceeded through the rift in a quick procession. Derek Moss was still timid and bashful. Commissioner Arrietti had dipped into some old ale Nrorce had fermented and now boisterously praised the blue-goblin’s food production capabilities to the high heavens. Naffur, looking much older than when he had originally been named the head of the Order Ducis, shook Randidly’s head and then walked away with a confident gait.
A lot of change that I caused, even if I wasn’t there for it, Randidly thought as they left. I’m a part of their lives. So it’s better that I’m making that decision purposefully, from now on.
Miss Collins went second to last, having been the only individual who had managed to draw Nrorce into conversation; of all things, they spoke at length about the creation and uses of the image isolating Engravings. Apparently, she saw quite a bit of potential in adding such restrictions to certain areas of Kharon Academy.
Tatiana brought up the rear. She patted Randidly’s arm after the rest had left. “This was a good idea. I’m glad you did it. Everyone needed a bit of a break from running the city. The Wandering City is chaos and progress incarnate. You purposefully made it strange and unmoored, so we wouldn’t fall into a rut… but that strangeness makes our jobs a little more difficult.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that you’ve kept the trains on time while I’m gone.” Randidly said seriously. “Without you-”
Tatiana waved her hand. “I handle the timetables, but you provided all the materials. It’s almost annoying how little I’ve needed to do to make Kharon a success; your name is a big draw. It would take a certain sort of genius to squander everything you’ve left for us.”
When Randidly’s subordinates had gone, he turned back to look at Nrorce. The blue goblin gestured sharply with his hand: handle the dishes. Randidly moved smoothly, picking up the remnant plates and platters after his group had eaten their way through the meal Nrorce had prepared. Balancing almost a dozen plates on his arm, he walked through to the kitchen. Flicks of his fingers mobilized natural energy, annihilating the remnant sauce and gristle that lingered in the wake of the mutton steaks. He then brought everything to the sink for a thorough scrubbing.
The domestic tasks were rather mindless, but Randidly enjoyed the combination of the simple motions and the pleasant buzz that had settled in his mind. He still felt rather drained from his experience working his way up through the Mountain, encountering the shades of Devick, and challenging the Master, but now that tension had eased from the simple conversation with his subordinates.
We are all working for the same thing. No need to bear the responsibility all on my own. Just like Claudette won’t be alone when she stands up to her father. For a brief moment, Randidly clenched his hand. The sharp outline of his strained tendons in his arm reminded him of those horrifically muscled statues and he shook himself. He considered contacting Neveah to see if she could perhaps do something, but then Randidly grimaced, picturing Neveah’s amused expression as she looked at the statue. ...better not mention it. She probably already knows, considering her friendship with Tatiana, but if she finds out it bothers me, she might commission one herself-
Congratulations! Your Skill Soul Bond has grown to Level 415!
Randidly’s breath hissed between his teeth, but he did his best not to linger over what that notification might mean. Instead, he cocked his head and read the soft wind currents for signs of Nrorce. To his surprise, the goblin wasn’t within the farmhouse; he had climbed up the vine-covered walls and now sat along the Western portion to watch the bleed crimson and maroon out through the clouds of this world.
“You took the rest of the population to a different planet?” Nrorce said when Randidly hopped up to join him. Randidly nodded.
Nrorce pursed his lips. “This place… well. I thought the entire world was empty after my daughter died. But… I suppose it’s pretty empty now, isn’t it? Lifeless.”
Randidly opened his mouth to respond, but Nrorce was already waving his hand. “Alright, I’m tired from cooking. And if you want this to happen again- heh. Do you take me for a fool? You need to pay me if you want me to cater an entire party. You are adult enough not to need to rely on charity from an old goblin.”
After studying Nrorce’s purposefully blank expression, Randidly allowed a small smile to dance across his face. “...Alright. Next time, I’ll pay.”
“You better,” Nrorce grumbled. After bowing toward his blue-skinned back, Randidly left the old goblin in peace. Besides, he had a lot on his own plate before the Don’s party; it was definitely time to confront the Patrons and make sure they weren’t planning anything malicious for the Alpha Cosmos.
*****
“Thank you all for coming,” Lucretia said calmly as she glanced around at the gathered Patrons. They stood on the edge of one of Kharon’s floating islands, grey clouds drifting across a dark blue sky. These powerful figures seemed somewhat diminished in front of the vastness of the sky, belying the terrible power each possessed. “I’m glad you didn’t avoid this call, otherwise we would have needed to track you down.”
The amorphous Patron of the Abyss simply pulsed. The Patron of the Sun, having previously faced off against the Pantheon of Expira, wrinkled his nose. The Patron of Blades gave Lucretia a long glance but kept his own counsel. Of the Patrons, only the Patron of Blooms cared enough to express her dissatisfaction.
“If we wanted to hide, do you think you could find us, little witch? This isolated universe is quite massive.” The Patron of Blooms batted her eyelashes. “If you believe you’ll be able to handle us easily, with so many Patrons gathered like this-”
“She wouldn’t have done the looking. I would hunt you down myself,” All turned as Randidly Ghosthound stepped through a portal and onto the island. Immediately, thin trails of wind energy curled up to surround him, as though the very world was embracing him. Lucretia saw two horrifying masses of resentment peek out from behind his back with warped faces before burying themselves in his shadow. The surrounding air stirred even more actively, as though that same sky which made the Patrons seem small now shifted so that it rotated entirely around this black-haired young man.
His emerald eyes were sharp as he scanned the Patrons. Then Randidly released a breath and the budding storm eased into a more mundane weather pattern. Beneath that, Lucretia could also sense a thin layer of Nether flowing into him from Kharon below; after being away for a while, his city had some significance for him to harvest.
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He showed his teeth to the Patron of Blooms. “I currently have a few new tricks that I want to try out in real combat situations, so please, be my guest.”
“How could I dare be so disrespectful in front of an individual who has the capability to germinate my precious children?” The Patron of Blooms cooed, her entire disposition shifting. Her vine-y body slithered around into a new, green arrangement. “Sir Ghosthound, what a pleasure to make your acquaintance once more. Might I say, it’s something of a tragedy that you haven’t created more plant beings-”
“Unfortunately, there is a limitation to the amount that I can make,” Randidly replied and gave the Patron of Blooms a long look. “...However, it is possible for the current me to make another, given the circumstances.”
Oh? Is he offering a carrot? Lucretia’s eyes flickered. Ah, look at our Randidly, all grown up.
“Anyway, I called you here for another reason,” Randidly changed the subject, even as the Patron of Blooms’ body began to wriggle with obvious excitement. He looked at each of the Patrons in turn, his flicking tail behind his back the only sigh of nerves. “I want to learn about Elhume. Everything you know, especially strengths and weaknesses.”
The Patrons exchanged looks. The Patron of Blooms cleared her throat. “Well, obviously we are now in the same boat, we will share any information you need. But take what we say with a grain of salt; he’s had two thousand years to shift since we last knew him. But weaknesses… aside from the fact that his physical body began to produce a byproduct similar to crystalized Aether, there isn’t much.”
“He was the strongest of us all.” The Patron of the Abyss quivered. “Even back then, it would take two or three of the Patrons working in tandem to take him down. Now, he suppressed us all, when we rescued the Patron of Feathers.”
“I suppose the only other weakness is that his image is direct,” The Patron of Blades added. “He needs the target to be within sight of his incarnation to effectively wield his power. But once you are within that sight.”
Randidly’s lips twisted; Lucretia could tell that it wasn’t the answer he wanted. But she also probably saw what Randidly did; these Patrons were being honest. The monster at the top of the Nexus wouldn’t have survived there for so long if he was easy to handle.
Randidly cleared his throat. “What about what happened at the end of the Second Cohort? I want to know why Elhume, from all accounts, changed so abruptly.”
“If we knew that, do you think we would have been so blindsided when Elhume betrayed us?” The Patron of the Sun said with surprising bitterness.
There was an awkward silence as Randidly absorbed that and considered. Then the seemingly innocuous Patron of Blades stepped forward. “We can give you our understanding, but there is a lot we don’t know, as Sun implied. Everything changed so quickly.
“During most of the Second Cohort… we were all close. All nine of us. Elhume and his eight original Patrons: Truth, Abyss, Blades, Feathers, Deep, Sun, Blooms, and the Borrowed. Elhume had used the Nexus to reach the Pinnacle, but there were a few flaws with this method; he wasn’t invincible within the Nexus, just the one that none of the other major factions wished to offend. Even with that deterrent, we had to fight constantly to defend the order in the sizable portion we controlled. Outside of even our struggles, various forces controlled small kingdoms that constantly warred with each other, attempting to monopolize the influx of Aether from new worlds.
“You are primarily concerned with the way the Cohort ended, right? Well, you need to go back a bit for that clusterfuck to make sense.” The Patron of Blades looked around at the other gathered Patrons. “It is somewhat humiliating to admit this, but we… we were the outer circle, all of us. The four closest to Elhume were Truth, Borrowed, Feathers, and Deep. Three of which are dead by Elhume’s hand, and one which… well, she is still recovering from exposure to the bone charm. When she wakes, perhaps she can shed some more light on what happened. By the way-”
“I haven’t finished examining the bone charm,” Randidly responded with a firm voice. “However, I am able to handle it safely. You don’t need to worry about the Alpha Cosmos unraveling around you. But please, continue,”
The Patron of Blades nodded. “We had three big projects in those days. First, the creation of Elhumes, or humans. Elhume believed that if we wanted to extend our control of the Nexus, we would need a more efficient way to gather subordinates. This was before the Nexus Ways, so we couldn’t efficiently respond to threats. Our standing army had to be ready in all locations. Abyss and Deep were focused on this, with Abyss only assisting with his understanding of potential and transformations. The Patron of the Deep’s unique power was the core of the project.
“Us three, Sun, Blooms, and myself, managed major points of entry into our area. We were the guardians that defended the citizens against the chaos of the wider Nexus.”
“Meanwhile, Truth, Feathers, and Borrowed accompanied Elhume to slay a very dangerous individual. They succeeded, but they all returned slightly haunted. Borrowed hid away, unwilling to talk. Truth seemed to look at the world with hollow eyes. And Feathers… well, she didn’t stray from Elhume’s side. Usually, after a long mission like that, Elhume would call us back for a meal after a major mission. He always liked to check in with each of us. But that time he did not. We… didn’t think much of it; we each had too much on our own plate.”
Suddenly, the Patron of the Abyss interrupted. “Within a week, Elhume publicly killed the Patron of Truth. He offered no explanation or apology.”
The Patron of Blades sighed. “Part of it seemed to be the stress of the Elhume project, but there was also the issue that Elhume’s body started generating crystalized Aether around him faster than he could be rid of it. Things spun wildly out of control. He seemed suddenly possessed, determined to begin the plan. They activated the ritual to create Elhumes and the Patron of the Deep died in the process. Officially, it was an accident. As for the Patron of the Borrowed… as far as we can tell, Elhume used his body to create the very first Armament. With that, he slew a particularly powerful head of a rival power that had routinely challenged his authority. And with ease.
“But by then, the other forces in the Nexus were calling for the Patrons to be sealed away. Perhaps in retrospect, it was a blessing; they might have feared that Elhume would turn us all into weapons for his eight fists and become invincible. I don’t think they understood how bad the physical restrictions on his person were becoming-”
“You always add too much detail,” The Patron of Blooms rearranged her face, the roots and vines tightening and flexing into a haughty architecture. “What is there to say? We believed we knew Elhume. And perhaps there is some truth to his claim that something went wrong on their assassination mission. But the harsh truth is this; he realized he no longer needed us. We were more useful to him as weapons than as companions. So he cast us aside. Our dream of creating paradise amounted to nothing.”
For several long seconds, Randidly considered them. Then he shook his head. “Who was so important that Elhume had to take three Patrons to kill them? That was also when the strangeness started, yes?”
“Honestly? We have no idea who it actually was. Some leader of an ascendant faction in the Nexus.” The Patron of the Sun grunted and then folded his arms across his chest. “However… the why has become relatively obvious to me-”
“Do you think you can fool us with your pretentious act?” The Patron of Blooms popped up an eyebrow made of tiny petals.
The Patron of Sun looked at her like she was an ugly slug. “Do you remember the Hierarchy of Karma ever being used?”
“What? No, it was never used. Just-” Then the Patron of Blooms frowned.
“Because if you check the current history books,” The Patron of the Sun spoke slowly. “You’ll find that they now claimed it was used in the Second Cohort. They aren’t specific on the details, but considering Elhume’s claims of ‘contamination’, the answer is obvious. Four individuals went to slay an individual who had been ordained to rule all of existence. And afterward, everything fell apart.”