Outside of the Sonara, events marched toward a dramatic conclusion. Randidly made his preparations, but so did others.

In a deep, secret area of the Nexus, Actus Suprem Devick wielded her twisted chains to follow out all the connections of Fates and prepare to bind them back into a sewn-together body. Crimson and black energy bolts crackled out from the careful chains that flowed through the entire Nexus. The flickering form of Elhume watched, his attention occasionally shifting to the cracked and disintegrating Sonara above them.

Devick would not finish before the Sonara finally collapsed, but her efforts would be brought to bare soon enough. And the Actus Suprem’s image might be distracted for now, but when it announced its demands, she could not be denied.

Yet these weren’t the only details becoming relevant for the approaching climax.

From the core area of the Sonara, a portion which had already begun to disintegrate into smaller pieces, a crystal casket dropped slowly down along with chunks of metal and stone. The energy suppression runes across its face meant that many of the scavengers that swooped through the debris missed its particular value. That piece tumbled down through the starry nebula, further and further away from the central seat of Nexus power.

Eventually, that container of crystal struck a random hunk of space rock in its fall toward the oblivion of Pine. Considering the percentage of empty space to debris, it was an extremely unlikely event. The Engravings across the coffin’s surface flickered and died as a small crack ran through the defenses. Steaming mist hissed out through the opening. A split second later, a swirling world-state image escaped and began to probe at the surroundings.

Finding no immediate resistance, the image began to work more quickly.

The Monarch of Karma, hewn away from the Patron of Truth’s influence by Elhume and then isolated to fuel a portion of the Sonara, began to wake from his long-enforced slumber.

Yet from the collapsing portions of the Sonara came even more new variables. A large group of individuals appeared from the Upper Sonara, including the companions with which Randidly had traveled under an Ascension Pact, Pullas and Fiona. Already, the metallic liger Xershi had departed, seeking to understand his own existence, after encountering his creator and having his worldview shattered on their journey.

Small broken pieces of significance fizzled along the edges of these individuals, hinting that their interactions had not yet been completed.

The leader of the Upper Sonara Society Tuthak Eloise, undulated his tentacles as he considered the group that manifested around him. A smile stretched across his face and his voice boomed out through space. “The time for our Grand Return has come, allies. No longer will we allow Elhume to monopolize the wondrous potential of the Nexus. Our destinies, and the destiny of this entire universe, will be our own.”

Across from them, a new portal opened. The Xyrt Brigade streamed out, pivoting instantly to combat their spreading images. And whereas the images of the Upper Sonara Society had been fueled with dreams, the images of the Xyrt Brigade had been reinforced by iron and violence.

Elsewhere, Don Beigon sat in his bamboo chair. For the first time in years, emotions threatened to drown out his resolve.

He looked at a small picture frame held in his hand and a single tear rolled down his cheek. His wife’s familiar smirk stared up at him. He didn’t bother to wipe the tear away. “Ah, Diane. If you were here… you would laugh at me, wouldn’t you? For waiting this long, for delaying, for checking every threat to be sure that nothing could go wrong…”

He sniffed. “Still, it is why I survived, and you did not, yes? For all your pure beauty, your faults were similarly without weakness. I hope… I hope your spirit understood that you were never forgotten. That all Paths I walked… led toward a future where our enemies would regret underestimating us.”

His hands squeezed. The picture frame had been reinforced, but soon crumpled in his hands. The picture itself disintegrated into powder. The expression on Don’s face became blank and hollow; he had tried to find protection for Claudette, which had been the last preparation he needed. Now, before Randidly Ghosthound blazed back into existence and upended the careful plans of the citizens of the Nexus, he needed to move. “Fellador… is is time.

“The image is ready, the moment is almost upon us… let us call in our debts and earn a foundation.”

And godspeed to our enemies. May they show up in time for their scheduled executions.

*****

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Due to an accepted invitation, you have earned .01 PP (a single PP will be granted when a sufficient amount has been gathered).

…

Due to an accepted invitation, you have earned .01 PP (a single PP will be granted when a sufficient amount has been gathered).

Randidly felt giddy as the notifications continued to arrive. With only a few hours remaining until he transitioned back to the real Nexus, he suddenly was faced with a new bunch of decision trees: how should he spend his sudden windfall of PP?

How could he best improve himself with PP?

Also… Randidly’s licked his lips as the notifications continued to accrue. My next general PP tithe will occur at 600k spent PP. Currently, I have only spent 490k… but since almost all of the first batch accepted my invitation and provided a tiny tithe, that cuts that insurmountable amount down to more like 40k more PP…

Randidly tried to focus: that was still a ridiculous amount of Skill Levels, even for him. Even with the Tithe bumps, it would be about one-ninth of the TOTAL PP he had earned thus far, underneath the System. Being able to gather that much more PP, before a decisive battle with Elhume occurred either way, would be extremely unlikely.

Even if I do start Leveling my Class and earning new Skills. Randidly frowned and forced himself not to daydream. For now, he had a very desirable chunk of PP, around 70k, but growing quickly toward 75k. With such a huge amount of PP dropping on him out of the Sky, he opened his Path Screen and examined the options.

Mantle of the Patron 0/500, Aether Convergence II ???, Puppet Master 0/100, Pain Immunity I 0/250, Cleaver of the World Tree ???, Weakness of the World Tree 0/500, Guilty Conscience I 0/100, Ashes of Illym, the Above-Average Child 0/5000, Creature's Toil II 0/????, Violent Heat I 0/???, Deathwish X 0/5, The Creature’s Apotheosis 0/25000, Piece of the Ideal 0/????, Stat Evolution VII 0/100000, Determined VI 0/600, Excavator of the Two Failed Dreams 0/12,000, The Ash that Reigns Above the Open and Closed Sky 0/?????, The Living Soul of the Alpha Cosmos 0/??????, Herald of the Eternal March 0/10,000, The Crown of Four Authorities 0/100000, Peerlessness Through Woven Truth 0/?????, Bubbling Emotional Accumulation I 0/10000, Miracle Maker 0/10000, Achieving the Fifth Mille 0/10000, Achieving the Tenth Mille 0/100000, Echoes of the Ascension Pact 0/5000, Alchemist of Past and Present 0/10000, The Homunculus Advances: The First Self-Vivisection 0/????, Song of the Void 0/????, Visitor to the Mirage of the Second Cohort 0/2500, Font of Endless Milles 0/25000, Father of Ghasthund 0/?????, From the Nexus, Dove Perdition 0/50000, Reality from Echoes, Moirae and Alchemist Ascendant 0/15000, Heritage of the Nether People 0/???, Balance Between Nether 0/10000

Randidly’s eyes glazed over at the massive list of Paths he could choose. Since he had last looked, the list had certainly exploded with interesting options. At least fourteen new Paths waited for him, most of which he wanted to see through to the end. He scanned the list a second time and began removing options. While there was a portion of his heart that wanted to finish small Paths and earn a few assorted odd Skills, the confrontation with Elhume could be only hours away. He supposed it was possible to flee down toward the present Pine to extend time, but that course of action would come with consequences.

Now that he and Elhume were obviously antagonistic, some of the benefits he had taken advantage of previously would become more of a gamble.

Randidly left several Paths related to his images present, although he wanted to be careful about what he would choose now. The Paths that involved weaknesses were probably too dangerous to consider. In addition, he skimmed through Paths relating to the Second Cohort and memory. Another target of his mental scalpel was the Path related to the Ascension Pact that helped him climb the Sonora.

Finally, Randidly cut out all Paths that seemed too vague or unhelpful to his current concerns. He wanted power now. For similar reasons, despite the possible benefits, he set aside the Crown of Four Authorities— it would explode his capabilities, but it simply cost too much PP.

Despite all those choices, he still had fourteen Paths to choose from.

Ashes of Illym, the Above-Average Child 0/5000, The Creature’s Apotheosis 0/25000, The Ash that Reigns Above the Open and Closed Sky 0/?????, The Living Soul of the Alpha Cosmos 0/??????, Peerlessness Through Woven Truth 0/?????, Alchemist of Past and Present 0/10000, The Homunculus Advances: The First Self-Vivisection 0/????, Song of the Void 0/????, Font of Endless Milles 0/25000, Father of Ghasthund 0/?????, From the Nexus, Dove Perdition 0/50000, Reality from Echoes, Moirae and Alchemist Ascendant 0/15000, Heritage of the Nether People 0/???, Balance Between Nether 0/10000

From that list, Randidly considered his PP. A little over 70k. So the first decision… is whether to consider the more expensive options.

Peerlessness Through Woven Truth had its total hidden, but the number of question marks hinted at a high cost. Same with Ash that Reigns Above the Open and Closed Sky, Living Soul of the Alpha Cosmos, and Father of Ghasthund. Despite each appealing to him in their own way, he discounted those options.

The Creature’s Apotheosis gave Randidly a small headache. He wasn’t sure whether the creature that the Path referenced was his previous image or Yystrix. Wouldn’t have the Path vanished if it related to his image? But the transformation into the Dread Homunculus could be considered Apotheosis of a sort…

Randidly rubbed his eyes. Not worth the risk. And with all those gone… the only expensive Path left… do I want to follow From the Nexus, Dove Perdition?

The word Perdition gave him pause. A word cast from his world’s religious undertones, it referred to the worst sort of doom. A land beyond salvation. The corner of Randidly’s mouth curled upward. Dove referred to one of the three Moiraes with which he had managed to accumulate his power.

For the Nexus, it made sense that he brought with him hell. Broadly with Ghasthund, specifically with the changes he sought to inflict.

“A fifty thousand PP Path… alright, let’s have some fun,” Randidly grinned.