Randidly woke refreshed. His instincts informed him he had slept for just a little less than twenty-four hours. While his body hadn’t been able to totally recover due to the constant energy from Sulfur, all his exhaustion had fallen away.

Almost instinctively, he eased back the influence that the Stillborn Phoenix could wield on the outside world. His image pouted slightly, but felt cheery enough from being briefly loosed that it didn’t seriously complain.

He rose and stretched, his back, legs, and right arm cracking presently. Then he looked with anticipation down at his left arm, which had periodically zapped him even while he had been resting… but the limb only stretched down to the elbow. Several bulges continued to wriggle along the sides. Randidly grimaced. Not finished yet, huh? Well, take your time. I don’t think I should be in a rush…

Randidly frowned. His mind grasped for a half-remembered item and found nothing. His Nether Core spun smoothly in his chest. He raised his head and sniffed the air, weirdly suspicious. What was this feeling…? What was he missing…?

His thoughts were interrupted by Devick dashing up the nearby hill, making a beeline for him. Randidly rolled his eyes and considered going to another location to spend a bit more time lazily lounging around. But whatever strange intuition the crimson-haired woman possessed to find him out here she would probably just use to find him again.

As annoying as it was to admit, even Randidly wasn’t stubborn enough to outlast Devick. In terms of persistence, the woman was the most intense in the entire Nexus, past and future.

“Nether King Hungry Eye!” She called as she rushed up the hill. Recognizing her scent, the three Arakis Beasts didn’t even bat an eye as she approached. When she reached the top, she opened her mouth to speak, but then bent over and began to cough. Her body glistened with a thin covering of sweat; she appeared to have dashed at full speed here from Malloon.

Considering she hadn’t yet gained a Class, it was a pretty impressive display of Stamina. Randidly remembered almost fondly when Shal had forced him to do similar tasks.

After a coughing fit and catching her breath, Devick straightened and continued. Randidly’s mouth twitched as he noticed the way her hands came up to rest against the ‘choker’ he had given her. “I have come to a decision. I want a Class! And somehow… somehow I think you’ll be able to do that. Will you help me?”

“No.” Randidly yawned after his response. He didn’t even need to think about it very hard.

Devick, apparently expecting him to be swept up in her enthusiasm, was caught flatfooted by the total rejection. She pouted as she glared at him. “What do you mean no? Don’t trivialize my resolve, what’s I’ve made my decision, no one can stop me!”

Finally, Randidly had to roll his eyes. No matter how strange this conversation was, he appreciated it as another chance to get his brain moving in normal ways. After the high-level confrontation with Cerulean and Bleak Sky, nothing reset him mentally like one of the ridiculous squabbles Devick could provide. Despite the continued pain from Sulfur's transformation, this grounded him in the moment. He offered her a small smile, mentally comfortable. “I’m not stopping you from doing it eventually, and if you really want, I can help you obtain a Class-”

Randidly spared Devick a single glance, conscious of the effect of the Stillborn Phoenix’s gaze even as he controlled the effect. As he expected, her body was a mess of ripples and unintended consequences; it seemed that most of his actions had somehow tied very deeply into her original development. Too late to worry about that now, I suppose. Hopefully, you make better choices this time.

He looked away. “-I’ll be able to give you some assistance, but just like this resolve has meaning, so does your original resolve to challenge the Hobfootie tournament with your teammates. How many of them actually wanted this and how many did you just drag along with you? Especially with Toll injured as he is… how do you think he would feel if you had just given it all up at the last minute? With the Hobfootie finale in only a few days.”

Devick looked at Randidly with her mouth open. She very clearly wanted to argue with him, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. He watched, almost in real time, as she grew increasingly frustrated with both him and herself. Her mouth slowly shut until her teeth clicked together. Her eyes blazed as she regarded him.

Randidly tore his gaze away from her. Less out of intimidation from the fire in her gaze and more the worry that the Stillborn Phoenix would fixate on her and begin warping her, despite his self-control. “I understand your impulse, but life comes in cycles. There are moments of furious activity and training, and then there are times when circumstance dictates you need to simply hold on to your commitments. Because on the other side, there will be a lull-”

Randidly sucked in a breath. Because he realized the source of the inconsistency he had felt. He looked up at the sky, careful to avoid Pine’s presence. His pupils dilated. As he suspected, most of the significance had been depleted by the massive confrontation. Yet a significant portion remained, pressing low over the area above Malloon. A weakened echo of the storm continued to churn

Some other important event is about to occur, Randidly’s eyes flashed with certainty. Otherwise, we would have entered a period of struggle with the Nether Core. Honestly good luck for me, because it would have been difficult to cope with my exhaustion, Sulfur’s evolution, and also strain on the Nether Core. But what else-

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The universe saw fit to answer Randidly almost immediately. A second individual came to him dashing and screaming.

“Nether King Hungry Eye!”

Perhaps in an even worse state than the exhausted Devick, Elhume himself suddenly appeared at the edge of Randidly’s training area. He rushed forward, panting and wounded. Only one of the Patrons was with him; the Patron of the Borrowed Fiero hurried after Elhume, his tails limp and dragging across the ground. As the duo approached, Devick used the slight distraction to move closer to Randidly, standing by his side in an intimate manner.

Randidly gave her a frank look. She did her best to blink her eyes prettily, affecting confusion about his skeptical gaze.

“Hungry Eye, I heard- the energy around Malloon-” Elhume gasped out the words as he stumbled to a stop. He barely even registered Devick’s presence, he looked in the distance toward Malloon. His eyes were red-rimmed; he looked like an office worker person who hadn’t slept in weeks due to deadlines. “How… bad was Bleak Sky’s attack?”

“Elhume, I told you,” Fiero, despite looking similarly haggard, spoke in a very firm and sonorous voice. “That cockroach… I might hate her, but her ability to survive is real. There is no way that Malloon’s collapse will kill her.”

Randidly’s senses, along with his existence outside of the memory, gave him a whole slew of ways to understand the world. First significance, then incendiary filaments to parse apart energy, and now the existence of ripples of unintended consequences. And right now, so much information flowed out of the bedraggled Elhume that Randidly had difficulty arranging it in his mind. He pursed his lips, rapidly categorizing the individual who had rushed over.

Congratulations! Your Skill Motif of Unimagined Tolls (GD) has grown to Level 1010!

Whereas the ripples Randidly had seen around Devick very clearly were unintended consequences of his actions directly, the picture around Elhume had been distorted by other actors. Yet one thing was immediately clear; Randidly narrowed his eyes as a previously unseen instinct from his new Skillset manifested. With a bit of focus, he could see a pattern in the ripples that covered Elhume’s body and guided his actions.

The forces motivating him were not unintended consequences. This had been contrived. Randidly’s wariness toward the Cult of the Savior increased.

Randidly cleared his throat, grabbing Elhume’s attention. “The Patron of Feathers and the Patron of Truth are fine. Malloon survived the fight. Cerulean was rather deeply wounded by Bleak Sky… but the Nether Ritual didn’t engage properly.”

“But the Prophet-” Elhume blinked. Finally, the franticness in his eyes faded. He sucked in a breath and released it. “...perhaps the Prophet’s predictions are not as absolute as he claimed. I-I can feel Mae’s lifeforce, and the Patron of Feathers too. They are still here, in the area.”

The significance swirled around and pressed closer. The memory stuttered. The figure of the Patron of the Borrowed twitched and straightened. A righteous aura settled across Fiero’s shoulders as he glanced sideways at Elhume. He spoke in an echoing voice that Randidly had heard once before. “...I know you need time to grieve for the lost lives, Elhume, but if the Prophet was correct about Malloon falling, he was also likely correct about the Patron of Truth surviving and seeking power. Just because you cannot sense her, does not mean she’s dead.”

A meaningful memory from the original timeline, Randidly observed. Perhaps this is the start of Elhume’s descent into darkness…

Elhume couldn’t hear this echo of the original timeline and allowed a wide smile to bloom across his face. Then he glanced toward Randidly with a measuring look. “One of the leaders of the Cult of the Savior calls himself the Prophet. Quite a haughty prick. He described in scathing detail Cerulean’s betrayal of himself, did that happen? As well as how Malloon would be crushed. He described several individuals who would participate… but even at the time, I noticed that you were absent from his explanation, Hungry Eye. You intervened, didn’t you?”

In the same way Elhume couldn’t hear his words, the Patron of the Borrowed continued the speech he had made in the original timeline. Their two monologues were almost comedic, pressed against each other. “Don’t wallow. We can’t afford that. Not with the mission we were given. Especially now. If Malloon is destroyed… war will come. The biggest war the Nexus has ever seen. And if we are going to break into Wyndaos and kidnap our target, we will need to move quickly. And gather help.”

After a few seconds of silence, Elhume chuckled. “Well, if you don’t want to admit it, that’s fine. I’m sure I can just walk up to Mallon and ask. But still, this is a good chance. We met with the Cult of the Savior and found out we need one specific individual before we can return to the core of the Nexus and save my son. Hopefully… Nether King Hungry Eye, please help me.”

The Patron of the borrowed continued his own monologue. “Obviously we cannot do it alone. But… Well, I would prefer not to do this, but I have a connection in the Forbidden Lands. So long as we pay the right price… we can enlist the aid of Duo the Calamity. It will supply the power we need.”

Randidly looked back and forth between the two individuals. The name Duo was one he had heard before; it was the sealed being within the lake, where he had fought present Devick in the competition for Claudette Beigon. From context clues, this would be the being they would eventually need to destroy with the Hierarchy of Karma.

Meanwhile, the other conversation-

Randidly looked at Elhume. The significance seemed excited by the request. He released a low breath and asked his question. “What is the mission given to you by the Cult of the Savior?”

Elhume offered a wry smile, seeming to understand how dangerous a request it was. “To break into Wyndaos… and to kidnap the Nether Arbiter.”

Randidly’s skin tingled, almost impressed by the gall of the Cult of the Savior. “You want to kidnap the most powerful individual in all of the Nether Lands?”

Some of Elhume’s good cheer dimmed, but he did not falter. “Technically the most powerful… but it is a poisoned power. If she were to use it, all those who had given her Phaea would suffer and die. Essentially, all of the Nether Kings would be wiped out. So long as we strike fast and push through the defenses of Wyndaos… the kidnapping portion should be quite simple.”