The reverberations through the Sonara were not constant, but they came at regular intervals. The constant flow of images acting in a perfect environment rippled outward, accumulating in the flaw, forcing it further open.

The shakes came more slowly, but with more vigor. The final collapse seemed inevitable.

On the forty-ninth floor, the being who had created Xershi began to laugh. The powerful rumbles ran up and down the Sonara as the structural integrity of the bottom portion steadily eroded, destroying the powerful Engravings that protected this place from any outside interference.

His eyes turned to the three teal tubes, kept locked away for so long underneath a dense network of overlapping defenses. Both to keep people like him away and to keep the power they contained locked away. Even with the Sonara slowly collapsing, the runic sigils remained bold and bright.

He licked his lips. The right tube would be a dud- Elhume had never willingly given away some of his own power, once his greedy hands began to squeeze into it. But the central tube would hold a small fraction of Pine’s power. The true shadow of a Shallah. And the left tube-

“Soon,” The creator grinned.

*****

Randidly kept himself in the golden transitionary period between the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth floors, straining his senses to the limit to understand exactly what was happening within the Sonara.

It was not enough just to feel the cataclysmic consequences of slamming headfirst into the wall. He wanted to reassure himself everything wouldn’t soon disintegrate around him, while he still needed to climb.

After the initial aftershocks, the group had hunkered down and prepared for a quick and overwhelming wave of annihilation sweeping their way. Five minutes of intermittent rumbles and no further massive shockwave had given them plenty of time to sweat and realize the process would be more drawn out. So they ascended one more layer, taking the time to investigate.

The golden interstitial space buzzed against his skin. From what Randidly could tell, the destruction was heading down before it came up-- the lower layers were getting popped one by one, torn apart by the accumulated image flaws like a helpless coat before a zipper. Every ten minutes or so, another layer collapsed underneath the pressure and caused more flaws to build up.

Now, what Randidly didn’t know was what would happen when the lower layers had all been demolished. Would the entire Sonara be sundered in a flash, bisected completely in a sudden eruption of force? Would the layers just begin collapsing upward in the same methodical destruction?

At the very least, Elhume’s reinforced layers were between the flaw and their current position. And Randidly knew that those layers would have been thoroughly reinforced. They had some extra time to discover the truth and plan their next move.

But once more, Randidly knew he needed to quickly ascend to reach the relevant layer before it was obliterated. He was becoming slightly impatient, although some of that might be the exhaustion from forcing his way past Elhume’s defenses.

He arrived at the fifty-ninth layer and immediately began speaking. “Alright, looks like we will have some time to-”

Then he froze. Pullas hadn’t flared her image, but the bright specter of death looked around warily. Xershi and Fiona were also in fighting positions with their arms raised aggressively. Randidly’s senses exploded, noticing almost fifty individuals arrayed in the surroundings. The Ascension Pact was surrounded. A single bead of sweat ran down from his temple. These strange individuals looked on at the group with wide, strange smiles-

“Congratulations!” A massive octopus being rolled forward across the ground, horribly reminiscent of the sinister black hands from Elhume’s layers. But this eight-legged creature moved slowly forward, four of its tentacles waving around its undulating soft skull. “You’ve had a rough journey, Randidly Ghosthound, but you’ve made it! Congratulations and rest easy with all of us. Would you like some refreshment?”

For a brief fraction of time, the words didn’t even register.

“Uh…” Randidly gulped back his shock. His skin tingled; his instincts informed him the surrounding individuals were all-powerful.

Fiona gave Randidly a sharp glance, still with mauve light flickering around her hands. “Do you know each other?”

Randidly barked out an emphatic “No” at the same time the octopus smiled and said “Yes.”

An awkward silence followed, broken only by the low chuckles of the group gathered around the Ascension Pact. It wasn’t exactly antagonistic, but it didn’t make Pullas or Fiona feel any better. Randidly’s brows came together and Nether began to swirl through his body. They hadn’t taken the time to rest as they rushed away from the massive middle layer, but his Nether Core had been able to recover. If they needed to fight their way out-

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“You might not know who I am, but you know my son,” The octopus clarified, waving its many arms around. “I am Tuthak Eloise, founder of the Upper Sonara Society. We’ve heard a lot about your group, and have felt… well, the society won’t last much longer, will we? Or at least in this form, as the Sonara collapses. Not that we are angry. And seriously, we have plenty of refreshment, if you need it.”

Randidly blinked at that name and the connection to Nathaz, who had stumbled across Randidly while working for the overlay System. As far as Randidly knew, that department remained hamstrung by the attacks on the System earlier in the year. But certainly, the resemblance was there. Behind the central octopus, the other figures began to move in small groups, pulling out tables and chairs and-

Grills? Randidly blinked.

“Look, we don’t want any trouble,” Pullas stepped forward and adjusted her glasses. Her milky light hovered around her skin, ready to explode out and reveal her overwhelming image at any moment. Even now, Randidly felt somewhat fearful of how powerful she had become. “We…” She shot a quick glance at Randidly. “We just need to climb through your layer.”

“What? Leaving so soon?” Tuthak laughed and spread out his two front-most tentacles. “I simply must insist that you stay for at least a little food, especially in your bedraggled condition. Besides, we are having a grand celebration, with you as our guests of honor.”

Xershi moved forward to stand next to a confused Pullas. However, he had a much more blunt response to the request, based on the heat radiating out from his engines. “Look, you long-armed fuck, we are going to climb this Sonara no matter what you do to try. So if you don’t want to end up as sushi-”

“Xershi, I think,” Pullas tugged on the ligerman’s elbow and pointed toward some of the other individuals. “They really just want to throw a party?”

“Huh? Why? What the fuck are they trying to do with a party? Some fucked up image trap, like Fiona.” Xershi’s image leaked out of his skin, rough and perturbed by the suggestion. And honestly, Randidly couldn’t blame him; he had similar suspicions as he looked around at the group.

“I’m literally right here,” Fiona muttered.

Randidly turned and watched the talking and quiet laughter amongst the group, humanoids and beast people and strange oozes and metal constructs, he couldn’t detect a flaw in their mirthful display. They pulled out huge slabs of meat and stacked them in juicy piles next to the grilling area. Two began a loud debate over the best sort of marinade. Others conjured bottles of spirits and began to mix cocktails. Laughter spread as one stubby-legged woman dropped the entire bottle into a giant punch bowl.

To Randidly’s left, another group pulled out a game of chess. A crowd of about twelve people congregated around the board, clearly fascinated by the process.

“Look, we all know what kind of place the Nexus is. We realize arriving here so suddenly, without an acclimation period, makes it difficult to believe,” Tuthak Eloise rolled his body slowly forward. He used a tentacle to gesture around at the group. “We grew up under its thumb, just like the rest of you. We sought the Pinnacle but had enough moral fiber not to descend into madness like our peers. So, first because we sought something that seemed impossible, then because whispers of this society began to spread, more and more individuals came here to find a peaceful, collaborative area to grow. And you four… well, you will be our final members.”

He waved another tentacle. “Hence, a party to celebrate the final group, marking all those who managed to arrive at this hallowed place. The remnant of the old dream for the Nexus. One last hurrah… before we return to the Nexus and make war on everything Elhume has built.”

That finally seized Randidly’s attention. Make war on Elhume?

“It’s all a lot to take in, I understand.” A leathery-skinned man with vulture wings stepped up to stand next to Tuthak. “But we are the best and brightest of the Nexus, those born with integrity, in the last few Cohorts. Working together, we have the capability.”

That bold declaration, combined with the serious and supportive gazes of the other figures in the surroundings, finally extinguished the last of Xershi’s antagonism. The Ascension Pact just looked at Tuthak, then around at the rest of the crowd.

“Making war on Elhume,” Fiona said slowly. Randidly’s heart pounded in his chest. “That’s… a bold claim. Does one of you intend to ascend to the Pinnacle and rival him?”

“No. Considering Elhume to be at the Pinnacle is a mistake.” Tuthak shook his head. “He has reached that height, in the moment the Nexus was created. He gained deep insight into the universe then, as well as a frightful power. But his launching pad was always Pine: in the years since he has gotten close, but he cannot cross that boundary. As such, we will be able to tear him down. After all, your group has begun unraveling his last, great, unresolved threat in the Sonara.”

“And you really…” Randidly still felt somewhat dizzy to have encountered, so suddenly, a like-minded group. It was hard to trust it; Xershi’s suspicion seemed the most reasonable. “You really won’t stop us from climbing higher?”

“What? Well no, but I wouldn’t recommend going any higher than the sixtieth floor,” Tuthak said.

Fiona interrupted before Randidly could follow up on that comment, however. “Even if Elhume didn’t reach the Pinnacle, another individual did, yes? Yet Elhume still remains on top of the Nexus despite their mysterious existence. So how could you think just the group of you would be enough to overthrow him? How do you even plan to begin?”

Tuthak’s expression turned strange. “We will only share the details of our plans if you agree to join our cause; let me emphasize that joining with us is completely voluntary. Many of our number have already left, unwilling to be part of our Grand Return. As for Alymian… technically, no one individual reached the Pinnacle to create the isolated universe. It was a collaboration, using the abilities of four individuals. A dealmaker named Beigon to hold everything together. A genius named Kelnan to give it shape. Then built by Solomon Rex and brought to life by Mae Mykna.”