Fatia Cerulean sat in his tent, feeling the ire of Deganawidah settle on him, prickling against his skin like a heavy blanket of steel wool even from across the plains, through Homewell sitting between them. It set his teeth on edge, making him want to rip into flesh to sate his anxious energy, but Fatia couldn’t help but respect Deganawidah; this was a foe that would not be distracted from his quarry.

He would hunt until his foe was dead or he was.

The lack of a similar antagonism toward Nether King Hungry Eye made Fatia slightly wary, but there were so many strong presences in the area that it became difficult to parse apart their motivations. Collusion seemed unlikely, but it didn’t mean it was impossible. Even Nether King Hungry Eye’s location had become blurry recently, but the Raptor Construct didn’t worry about that.

Nether King Hungry Eye had a good nose; he wouldn’t miss the bloodbath rushing toward them all. It was just a matter of what cut of meat the dark-haired man was eyeing up.

However, it was neither of those twinges that truly had his hackles up. No, the problem was the tingling sense of his Grand Fate, as of late. The speed with which he had been gaining Levels noticeably decreased over the last few days. Just slightly, but with the threat of Deganawidah looming over him, Fatia Cerulean wanted ever Level he could earn.

He was jealous of the experience being absorbed by his Grand Fate.

In retrospect, the culprit was obvious. While the mundane Fates gathered the natural narrative shape you released into the Nexus while Leveling up your Class, Grand Fates fed on the ambient energy already present in the world. And already, Fatia could feel just a slight decrease in the total amount of feed to go around.

He closed his eyes, adding one more goal to the day’s activities. Now he felt satisfied he had carefully controlled access to Grand Fates. If he wanted to eliminate the competition, the list was relatively small.

*****

Randidly sat with his legs crossed, staring up at the sky.

At this point, the forces above became less a comprehensible series of forces and more a knot of fate, tightening and tightening as all the different events they precipitated began to arrive. They teetered on the edge of a precipice, about to tumble down into the darkness. The conflux of forces was a thousand times larger than the largest waterfall on the planet, a hundred rivers swirling and frothing together.

Just a single misstep and all the carefully laid plans would disintegrate. Looking at the looming forces, Randidly had quite a bit of sympathy for Neveah. No wonder she felt so anxious she was ready to pull her hair out.

Randidly checked the position of the sky again. The sun sat directly overhead, obscuring the pulsing energy of Pine that hovered over them all. Small trickles of sweat ran down his back as the sun baked the area around Homewell. today, there was not a cloud in the sky, masking its sapphire expanse. A chaotic cataclysm of Nether might rumble and march, but not a single stormcloud.

Randidly looked left and right at the armies crouching in various positions around the countryside. He could practically feel the soldiers pepping themselves up, strapping on their armor, sharpening their weapons and images. Hatred raged between the two forces, as Fatia Cerulean’s host glared daggers at the soldiers brought by Enmya and Deganawidah. Meanwhile, the Turtlelines continued their cautious preparations from within their Lifeseal, preparing tricks of their own for the battle.

But in the end, there is very little I’ll do for the actual battle here, Randidly pressed his lips together. His eyes flicked sideways to the middle of Cerulean’s host; even their picket lines were manned by soldiers in the ostentatious azure armor, it made Randidly roll his eyes. But in the middle, he could feel the methodical desperation of Fatia Cerulean. In the end, all that really matters is that Fatia survives until my third impossible attempt.

After chewing on his lip for a few seconds, Randidly stepped through space and appeared at the edge of what had been the Western Homewell Slum, but now people were tentatively calling it Hope Springs. He immediately had to take a sharp step backward, as a Lizakh teenager barreled past, barely in control of the muscular ostrich beneath him. Randidly’s lips quirked and he took several more steps, moving through the populous streets, the people rushing to finish their tasks and gather supplies before the attack came.

Right now the peace and stability built here over the past few days remained, but Randidly could practically feel it draining away. There was a frantic air to every movement. If one of the residents had the Perception to spot Randidly, their first reaction was fear and wild, wide-eyed panic.

Charlotte Wick wasn’t immune to the mania of Hope Springs. Randidly stopped in front of a leafy fringe off one of the remote vines near the edge of the neighborhood. He could feel her working quickly, clearing out enough space beneath the vines for all the people fleeing Homewell to have space to live. However, what grabbed his attention was the dirt-covered Homid children sitting around, all with miniature shovels slung over their shoulders.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Randidly’s lips twitched. They look like orphans who are either about to rob me or burst into song.

“You’ll be wanting a house then, ye?” One of the younger boys at the edge of the group said.

Another immediately elbowed him in the side. “Look at that robe! That’s a Nether King. And if we aint fightin’ can only be Nether King Hungry Eye!”

All the children suddenly fell silent, giving him various reverent looks. Luckily, the moment was broken when Charlotte Wick pushed past the hanging, viny fringe. She aimed a nod toward Randidly then settled into a stern glare as she examined the dirty children. Finally, her eyes came to rest on an empty platter between them all, covered in the soft, flaky crumbs of well-baked croissants. “Oh? All of you were snaking instead of working?”

With several loud shrieks and whoops, the children scattered, fleeing with their shovels and diving under the protection of the hanging vines to dig holes. Although Charlotte spoke with a fiery sort of growl, Randidly could sense her obvious affection for them.

“You needed me?” She asked.

Randidly shook his head. “No. Well, yes, but I figured our interests would be aligned on this. I want you to stay here, spare Hope Springs the worst of the fighting. I don’t know if it will be possible… too much is gathering at once-” He paused and looked up at the sky. The flows of Nether had not only thickened but tightened into an ugly knot he couldn’t parse apart. “Well, I’ll bring out some of the Lancers of the Baleful Crusade, to help with the defense. But it will be rough.”

“You won’t be around,” Charlotte stated.

Randidly could only nod.

“Good luck,” She offered. Then she swept away, her image already sinking into the ground, making her own preparations. To himself, Randidly nodded several more times. He could feel it against his skin now, the rising pressure of fate. The Nexus would be forever changed, this version following a very different path than the original, due to his inclusion. There were a few facts he didn’t quite yet understand, but Randidly had a much broader picture of history than he had before his arrival.

And he was ready to squeeze as much benefit as he could out of this timeline.

Randidly took a step and vanished, burrowing directly through space with his Alchemist’s Passport. He reached a circle of stones he had created for his careful Nether Rituals. They sat in the ground, humming with the promise of the prayer Randidly Ghosthound would make, waiting for the unifying key to animate them.

Closing his eyes, Randidly allowed his awareness to sink down amongst them. In the end, he had created eighty of these workings, hoping it would be enough to move the needle. The seeds of offering pulses in the ground radiating out from his stone circle, fireflies of darkness brushing up against his awareness.

Randidly opened his eyes. It’s going to be soon. Is there anything else I need?

The ground around him pulsed with Nether, reacting to his urgency. He had labored here for so long, with plans that ran in direct opposition to the meaning carved into his Class by Deganawidah that the environment began to take an ethereal quality. Solids seemed just a whim away from becoming fleeting and insubstantial. The breezes ran around the stones and whispered to each other, partially in awe and partially disapproving.

Of course, the effect was exacerbated by the Stillborn Phoenix spreading its alien wings and gazing with its covetous eye here.

Randidly’s eyes burned. And this taint of impossibility is exactly why this cleaning house comes none too soon.

He pivoted on his heel and gazed East. With the impending arrival of the moment of fate, it became more difficult to see the details. The trees rose up and hid the rest of the ominous forest ahead of him. Yet it was a long and lazy grin that spread across Randidly’s face as he looked up at the clear blue sky. His blood began to heat in his veins, sensing the impending edge of the chaos.

To the East, humanity was about to be conceived. Two armies morphed from vigilance to bloodlust.

And as though it had been summoned by his readiness, the sky immediately transformed. In the distance he could feel the rumbles in the ground as forces began to wheel and move into formation, but he had more pressing concerns. The clear blue vanished. A wind screamed across the sky, sweeping along with it heavy grey clouds. As they rumbled and rolled over his position, the shapes of the cloud began to warp into blunt features faces with gaping mouths.

The faces curled around, surrounding his work area and beginning to vomit huge

Randidly’s skin began to crawl and he narrowed his eyes. His Nether thrummed through his veins, suddenly detecting an undercurrent of danger in the environment. He released a pulse of pure significance, a questing askance to existence. His features hardened into a stony glower. His next pulse carried enough brutal force to carve up the ground around him, forcing back dirt and revealing the crackling Nether Ritual that had been woven around him.

How could I have missed this? Randidly’s skin tingled. But already, he knew the answer. His attention had been directed elsewhere, planning his impossible attempts. Besides, the Nether Ritual wasn’t harmful; a third pulse of roaring grey flames melted it to nothing. It had just been designed to hide certain individuals from his notice.

“Nether King Hungry Eye,” A familiar voice rumbled. Randidly looked up and saw the familiar gaunt face of Bleak Sky, glaring down at him. Two lesser Nether Kings floated by his side, although they were more powerful than the previous subordinates Bleak Sky came with. He sneered down at Randidly. “Did you think your constant mucking about with Nether Rituals wasn’t noticed? Whatever you are attempting, we will stop it.”

Randidly swayed. On the first step, already an impediment appeared. In the East, Randidly could feel the preparations to create humanity beginning. He needed to move, now.

Yet a lazy grin stretched across his face. The languid, familiar warmth of strife came through his body. More than anything else, his time with the System had taught him how to handle exactly these situations. His Nether Core rotated, his heart beat, his smile widened. Very deliberately, he cracked his knuckles.

“All according to plan,” Randidly said breezily. He grinned up at the three Nether Kings. “Earning Skill Levels is so much easier with partners.”