Randidly blinked at her words. The skin of his ears buzzed. Even here, in a memory, Devick still found ways to surprise him.

Her eyes glittered. She tilted her head to the side in that same keen manner she had later in life, viewing him like he was some experiment. Very little noise came to them from within the party and the city around this tall venue seemed curiously inert, likely as word of a Nether King’s presence raced in every direction but within the pre-lecture party. They were entirely alone.

Randidly released a breath. Whatever she might be in the future, the current Devick was just a playful innocent. “...you remind me of someone with whom I have a very complicated relationship. Finding you up here is just a coincidence.”

“Booo.” Instantly, Devick’s expression soured. “What is it with men and complicated relationships? And also bringing up their uninteresting baggage at any excuse they find. Is it really so unlikely an individual will be swept away by encountering me, in all my majesty? Maybe if you look for a few seconds longer, the love with take.”

At this, Devick took a step out of the shadows and raised both arms wrist-first, like she was a doll manipulated by puppet strings. Her forearms were thin and pale, sticking out from her forest-green robe with silver embroidery. She lifted her chin and turned so her head was in profile, creating a striking, distinct image. Her bright red hair fell messily around her face, but the wildness just radiated an endearing vitality. She performed a small curtsy and then looked at him expectantly. “Well? Head over heels?”

“Literally? I suppose so.” Despite himself, Randidly felt somewhat amused. The more he saw her move and behave, the more he felt some inner tension relaxing. In Devick’s mannerisms lay the shape of who she would become, but her horror and spiteful madness was still for the future. In this memory, she more closely resembled the version of herself that had given him so much help on the Mountain. He smiled. “Not quite swept away, but the air is a little stuffy.”

“Tsk, well. Perhaps I complimented your taste too soon,” Devick folded her arms across her chest and pouted. Then she squinted at him, as though seeing him for the first time. She looked at his clothes and at his bare feet. Her eyebrow made an arch worthy of the finest architect. “...but maybe this is for the best. You certainly are… unapologetically unique, which I appreciate, but your lack of gravitas fails to set my feminine heart a-beating. And besides, without the power to defend yourself, my family would rip you to shreds for even daring to speak to me. Audacity without conviction will just earn you ill fortune.”

“Your family? They live?” Randidly replied, casting his mind back for what he knew about Devick.

The mood on the balcony changed. Her face flushed and true antagonism crossed her features. “I just meant- my adopted father. Byuresk, of the Council. So, you knew who I was the whole time.” Her expression darkened further; he could almost see bolts of sharp lightning flicking out from her irises. A strange fear began to radiate out from her skin. “That’s why you looked at me that way. Because you saw the pitiable orphan Devick and were curious about the kept creature of the Byuresk. ”

“Devick I-” Randidly blinked.

Devick took a sharp step forward. Her emotional intensity was sharp, sharper even than most of the others Randidly felt in the memory. “See? You use my name with such familiarity, as though you know me. Without even bothering to introduce yourself. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories- but I’m a person. Is it really so much to ask to be treated like one?!”

She reached up and fingered her green robes. Her eyes looked extremely large and intent as she stared at him. “Yes, this is not the color I dreamed of wearing in my childhood. Yes, my people… my people are almost entirely gone. It is up to me to sustain the race and earn back a color affiliation. Is my plight funny? This, from a man who does not even possess a robe? Has no backing, no place in society? Not even enough of a name to offer to a lady alone?”

In the face of the antagonism, Randidly pressed his lips together. “My name is Randidly Ghosthound. I- Look, I didn’t mean any insult. I’m not trying to treat you like some sideshow entertainment. I’m here; I’m listening to you.”

Devick took a step toward him with her hands clenched into fists. Tears had begun to form in the corners of her eyes, undercutting her anger. “Then look at me, really look at me: I’m so shunned by this group, despite my adoptive father, that all I can do is be stalked by a freak who doesn’t even possess their own robe. All this because after my family selflessly poured themselves into defending the borders and these fucking cannibal weasels-”

Her words choked off. Her shoulders heaved as she struggle to control her breathing. In the wildness of her movements, Randidly could again see the zealous and depraved woman she would become. But right now-

Now she just stood slender and alone. The same Devick that so tortured him in the present now began to cry fat tears, her hands still clenched. They fled down her cheeks, ugly and misshapen.

A lot of responses flitted through his mind, seeing some inner wall break inside of Devick. Most of this wasn’t about him at all, but a sore wound of exhaustion, fear, and loneliness. He had just been here when it finally burst.

Perhaps the correct response would probably have been to leave this ‘stranger’ to her sudden display. Yet he stayed. Randidly sighed. “...I’m sorry. I know how difficult it is to struggle alone. To be achingly desperate to grow strong, when no one expects you to even survive.”

Her head slowly rose. Their eyes met. Her pupils dilated and then expanded as she weighed him. Randidly held nothing back. He was his genuine self, looking back at her.

If nothing else, he understood deeply the pain of struggling alone. Perhaps that was why he stayed.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“I don’t need your pity,” Devick sniffed. But her eyes were bright and soft. She took another step toward him. Yet she immediately seemed to flinch from the vulnerability of her physical action and began to look at the ground. Which led her eyes eventually to his feet, which made her frown. “Seriously though, why aren’t you even wearing shoes? Look, it’s not a big deal, but I can buy you some sandals. Being a carnival attraction seems to pay better than whatever it is that you do.”

Randidly chuckled and adjusted his stance; the stone of the balcony was comfortably warm from the red sun. “Walking around with bare feet just became a part of my identity. When the System arrived, I lost my shoes. I spent so long learning to survive and fight without them… it became almost a comfort thing. Feeling dirt and sun-warmed grass between my toes. Proof that I had given up my old life and accepted a new one. And eventually, it became part of my image- what is it?”

Devick was giving him a strange look. “You experienced the Second Wave for yourself? You remember living outside of the Nexus?”

Randidly’s expression turned slightly strained. For a few moments, he had forgotten he was within a dream of the past. The Second Wave was probably the term used for the Second Cohort. He reached up and scratched the back of his head. “Yea. I was twenty. The adjustment was… hard.”

Devick pouted slightly. “I don’t do this often… but maybe I was a bit harsh earlier, sorry. Loss is something we’ve all experienced. I just- sometimes I feel so alone, you know? And not because no one is here, but because they are all so stuck up their own asses they refuse to look at the world around them. They can’t see what’s actually there, they just perceive through shapes that other idiots told them should be there. Like if enough people assured them they had already kicked the bucket, they’d dig the hole, lay down, and pinch their nose closed until they died of asphyxiation.”

Before Randidly could reply, a blushing Devick hurried out her own words. “But then I met you! And encountering a weirdo like you gives me hope that not everyone has turned to stuffy, robed-wrapped sausages. Have you listened in on some of the conversations around here? God, you’d think the universe revolved around who was fucking who.”

“Or who was wearing what,” Randidly coughed out a laugh. He indicated himself. “Did you know, they wouldn’t even let me into the lecture without getting my agreement to fetch me a robe. To ‘keep me from misrepresenting myself’.”

Devick snorted. Without madness charring the edges, her smile was a bright and pure thing. She sniffed and wiped the last of her tears from her cheeks. “What, they wanted to believe you belonged in civilized society?”

“The honor of the lecturer was at stake,” Randidly spoke in faux-serious tones. Both laughed. For a few moments, the mood felt curiously peaceful and warm. Just like on the Mountain, the two of them had a strange, immediate compatibility. Both had spent too much time alone, their thoughts curling in on themselves so that when they finally shared their inner worlds, the result was oddly compelling.

But the moment would not last. Randidly felt it first, strangely, in his Nether Core. It hummed slightly, like an engine pushing an old car up a hill. Something was approaching-

“Mr. Ghosthound.”

Randidly pivoted away from Devick. At the entrance to the balcony, two of the silver-robed guards stood with very stiff expressions. The feathered woman’s eyes flicked from Randidly to Devick and back. “What are you doing here alone with the young mistress?”

“Getting some air.” Randidly stepped away and held out his hand. His mood toward the group went slightly downhill, considering Devick’s desperate loneliness. His tone turned rough. “The robe?”

The feathered woman offered Randidly a surprisingly high-quality black robe. The slippery material felt cool to the touch, despite the sun beating down on them; it must have been made with high-quality thread. The color allowed not a single mote of light to reflect off of it. The only marring of the whispering garment was thick golden stripes sewn on the end of the sleeves, which had clearly been added, by hand, rather recently. They were blocky and harsh, compared to the sultry rest of the garment.

After slipping into the robe and tying off the waist, Randidly indicated the golden threads at the end of the sleeves. “Does the gold need to stay here? Or just be present somewhere on the robe?”

“Any style is fine,” the feathered woman bowed slightly. “Apologies, if the workmanship offends you. We didn’t have a proper robe for someone of your station on hand-”

“It’s fine.” Randidly waved a hand. He brought out the slightest aspect of Yggdrasil, which once again made the dream around him shiver. The First Tree Suffers Only Fealty activated, stirring the golden threads to wakefulness and had them swim up and down through the soft fabric of the robe. Patterns instantly began to flow through the garment, connecting it to Randidly across space and time. Significance pooled and spun around him. The weird sensation of revving occurred again in Randidly’s Nether Core, only briefly, before it settled back to its usual purr.

The golden threads along the base of the robe drew wavy, thickening lines. Those lines became roots, eventually twining together to form a radiant tree across his chest. On his left arm, thick horizontal blocks of gold. On the right, extended arcs ending in sharp points. And upon his back, a small minority of the golden threads traced out the image of a lidless eye or an open mouth that had never known satisfaction.

His images nodded in approval at their work.

Even without meaning to, Randidly felt a Nether Ritual forming in the flow of energy through the garment. He closed his eyes to follow the pattern. Perhaps it was the high-quality materials, but this robe had become entirely his, somehow. The immediate bond was curious. As though the mixture of image iconography, significance, and his presence left an indelible mark.

Randidly opened his eyes and looked at the feathered woman. “So, is this satisfactory?”

“Of course,” She offered him another bow. Into that silence, a shocked whisper from Devick stepped.

“You are a Nether King.”

Pivoting, Randidly looked at Devick. The young woman’s face had gone strange. Slack at the edges, too wide at the eyes, her mouth pinched together into a period. Seeing that expression, Randidly connected a few dotes he had missed earlier. Specifically, about her family giving their lives to fight on the borders.

Against Nether forces, Randidly’s heart tightened. “I-”

Without giving him a chance to say anything more, Devick turned and ran.

He watched her go with a sad expression. The silver-robbed guards bowed again and followed her, probably relieved they didn’t have to leave their ‘young mistress’ with a Nether King. His stomach felt heavy with acid, but Randidly knew it was for the best. Whether it’s in the past or the present… we don’t seem meant to be amicable with each other, Devick.

Anyway, he huffed out a breath. Let’s see how much information I can gather while in this weird place.