The Monarch of Karma started playing a game.

He sat on a rock, drifting through and toward oblivion, afraid of his own subconscious. He wanted a more normal life, but as normal as he could become would be to develop a hobby. A safe, harmless hobby to pass the time, to give him a bit of structure.

So, he picked up some of the pebbles that drifted toward him and began throwing the rocks, seeing how far away he could accurately hit a target.

Obviously, before each throw, he paused and cleared his heart of all desires. He didn’t want any nonsense to tie itself to these meaningless thrown rocks. It was just a small, focused physical activity. It did not need to be anything more than that.

The Monarch of Karma pivoted and threw a rock. It sailed cleanly across the vast reaches of space… and clacked against a chunk of debris barely visible from his current position. Despite his lofty goal of remaining unaffected by the success, the Monarch of Karma allowed himself a brief fist pump.

He moved over to the strange, holy ritual ground that refused to part from him and began to search for additional pebbles. As he picked up his next bit of ammunition, he could almost taste the stone. He dropped the pebble, startled.

His senses swirled around him; previously, he had tried to distance himself as much as possible. Even awareness became a bridge to far. But connecting to his body through the simple actions of pebble throwing brought some of his powerful awareness back into action. So suddenly, he realized that his fears about this strange stone platform were well founded.

Maybe he had even underestimated the risk of this place.

A unified but muffled clack brought the Monarch of Karma’s head up. He looked at the distant stones; they appeared now to be drifting around his position, orbiting a sun. Another clack sounded and suddenly he released that the previously thrown pebbles had entered their own sort of orbit, bouncing off their targets and then hitting another target. And then another.

Clack.

Clack

Clack.

The Monarch of Karma sat in the middle of a totally accidental orrery and sighed. “It always begins like this…”

*****

Randidly Ghosthound rushed at the head of the group, keeping his speed suppressed so his small army could keep up with him. Ahead, the specter of Devick continued to skip forward, almost mocking their seriousness. He kept an eye above, watching the flow of significance for any dangerous developments. He coolly clocked the shift coming from the Beigon compound, which likely meant the Don hadn’t missed the opportunity.

At the very least, Randidly felt confident with such a large debt sitting between them. Don Beigon would not be a problem. Or at least, he was one that he had proved capable of handling in the past.

Congratulations! Your Skill What the Ghosthound Sows, He Will Soon Reap (GD)(U) has grown to Level 200!

Fucking ominous and ambiguous Skill Level ups… they really have no sense of timing. Randidly shook his head, keeping his focus on Devick’s form. They ran through a tight ravine with the walls of crystallized Aether twisting and writhing ahead of them. The dense energy entombing Elhume’s body lashed at their foreign images, attempting to devour or encompass them. Randidly allowed his Cloak of a Thousand Lightless Horizons to linger behind him, a long shadowy train that protected most of the Vulpis Squad. It required a little pinch of mental energy, but he wouldn’t sneeze at some extra Skill Levels.

Especially not when he had experienced how transformative it was to push a Stat to 10,000.

Even with the offered protection of his Skill, most of the powerful leaders of the squad stepped briefly beyond the edge of his protection and tempered their images against the Aether of this place as they moved. Their images grappled with the caustic mist long enough for them to grow used to the sensation. It was smart; Randidly would have done the same, in their position. The only one amongst their number that did not was Raymund Ballast.

After Techetadore had been brought into the Alpha Cosmos to recover, the elder Vulpine had been curiously subdued. Randidly rubbed his chin as he planted his foot and pivoted smoothly to follow the meandering ravine. Was he worried about his brother? Was he biding his time to recover his image after grappling directly with Fiero’s will? Did he feel guilt or responsibility, learning how much the power of their people had twisted and warped the Nexus?

Or, a small and fearful voice from the bottom of Randidly’s heart whispered. Does he feel lost, now that he accomplished the goal he had chased for so long, without ever considering the fallout from chasing such an impossible dream?

Randidly ignored that voice for now. He could worry about those problems, and about his aching heart, if he ever actually pried the Nexus away from Fiero’s sticky fingers. He considered contacting Solomon Rex for his perspective on what he had planned, but still didn’t trust the ghost of Elhume; the construct being held together in his chest by Yggdrasil would be his trump card. One he could now complete, after condensing another grey Nether bubble with his triumph in taking back Techetadore.

He had even gained an impressive +3 Muse’s Reverie during the fight, which was a nice added bonus. He sat at 4/7, so he might be able to swing having a Reverie prepared to handle any dangerous situations in the final confrontation.

With the final building block for his private project prepared, he considered how he wanted to proceed. When he had finished the Energy Harmonization I Path, a Path that likely would have been in full support of this mixture of liquid Aether and Nether bubbles, it boldly informed him it was possible to form a Grand Fate that was a Penance, a Penance that was his Grand Fate.

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He couldn’t even start down the follow-up Path until he reached Level 100, but even the first one had cost 20k PP. If he wanted to harmonize his energies in that way, he would need to do it the old-fashioned way. All while rushing toward a fight, perhaps the most important fight of his life.

Randidly messaged Lowanna, trying not to wince as he considered the timeline. What can you tell me about condensing a Penance?

That it is not a simple prospect, not for you. Lowanna responded almost immediately. There is not only the form and sacrifice you must consider but Penances were designed as a punishment for those who were considered to have relied too heavily upon Maala bonds, dominating all competition. Literally a Penance for past crimes, a tax on their power that would flow back along their Maala bonds as a small tribute to those they had subdued.

I have spoken much of the cultural shifts to some of the Nether Gatekeepers you rescued, putting together the downfall of my people in this timeline. Only later, when the Maala was all but barred and Phaea became the norm, could the Penance be twisted as it has become, empowering user like some performative and false demonstration of humility. In its base form, the benefits… are barely worth mentioning.

Randidly planted a foot and ducked under an outcropping of crystallized Aether. The heavy structure almost seemed like a mouth, slowly closing. His cloak trailed after him, sinuous and potent, daring this place to pick a fight with him. The Songstress of Absence whispered of all that she would claim from the crystal, should it misbehave.

Frowning, Randidly responded slowly to Lowanna’s message. The timeline appeared not only unreasonable but completely not worth it. His dreams of a grand working, combining the aspects of a Penance with a Grand Fate began to crumple and fade. …so you are saying that such an action would have no meaning? Or rather, I would lose strength, because I would be taxed by all the inhabitants of the Alpha Cosmos.

Not necessarily. As I said, for you, a Penance would be complicated. Because it would start a chain reaction. Lowanna said. The unity between you and Enmya through Toosah, the tax flowing to your people through Maala, and finally the tribute from Enmya’s Phaea should balance themselves out. Your Nether would ultimately be much deepened by the interchange. But… I do not understand what form the benefits would take. In addition, a varietal of the Penance, appropriate to the bond, would be formed in all connected individuals.

Randidly let out a low whistle. Organic patterns flowed in his mind, a cascading river of history branching out across a million small capillaries of power. Even those without Nether Cores?

If Nether flows through them, a varietal would form. She confirmed. The power would be small, but small expressions might end up being unusually sophisticated. There is no way to know.

Randidly’s lips twitched. The walls were pressing even more tightly around their bodies. So, a strange and impossible gamble, with everything at stake. Alright, how close is Enmya to being ready to give his Phaea?

We can expedite the process and begin almost immediately. He will… ahem, Enmya has done an admirable job in demonstrating his intent to serve the people of the Alpha Cosmos. He has passable control over patterns and is truly expanding-

How long, Lowanna? Randidly interrupted. As the shade of the Actus Suprem skipped forward, it almost appeared like she turned and glanced back at them before she proceeded forward and around the corner. It could have just been a strange twitch, or the angle, but-

Seeing the specter check on their progress slowed Randidly’s steps. His eyes narrowed as he examined the surrounding, the way the walls pressed closer from every side, the way the density of the ambient Aether kept rising, the unnatural stillness he felt in the air. The flavor of their environment had changed and not for the better.

“Shit,” Randidly sighed, right as the return message came from Lowanna. It only confirmed his old fears, but didn’t address the new ones. Likely at least six hours. His attitude… the creation of so many Phaea at once will be a strain, even for Enmya.

Randidly didn’t bother to reply. He glanced over his shoulder, catching Alana’s gaze; she understood his intention immediately and bellowed out an order. “Double time!”

The few representatives from the Upper Sonara Society looked decidedly out of place as the Vulpis Squad surged forward and left them in the dust. The long hours of physical training paid dividends. They transformed in but a moment into a loping herd of predators, glad to charge into the jaws of this trap and tear their way out.

Randidly allowed his Cloak of a Thousand Lightless Horizons to stretch behind him as he bounded forward. All the restrictions he had placed on his speed for the sake of his followers, he abandoned. All his passive Skills, all the image physicalizations that had affected his body on a fundamental level, all the recent Stat boosts were allowed to manifest to their full potential. He remembered that intoxicating moment of advance as he had attacked Elhume— he channeled that stampeding momentum and ripped around the corner.

Devick’s phantasm twitched when he suddenly stood only a meter away from her, his eyes blazing and his hand reaching out to grab the projection. Whether it was just a little stray deviancy or a deliberate trap, he would stop this here.

The projection released a soundless screech and flickered as his hand neared. It flitted several meters forward, sensing his intentions and displaying its own second gear in response. Randidly only snorted; such a small distance was still within his reach.

As the claws of the Dread Homunculus sank into the projection and it began to wriggle and flail, the projection… began to look horrified that it had been caught. It gazed at him with pleading eyes. It looked forward, then at its captor, then back forward. It broadcast desperation with every gesture. In response, Randidly frowned at this thing he had caught. The rest of the Vulpis Squad caught up to him and stared at the projection in confusion.

“Even in the form of a wisp of an echo…” Randidly said slowly, as he observed projection practically beginning him to go forward a little bit more. “The Actus Suprem would never show so much deference. You are not a flicker of madness from her. What the hell are you? Who did this?”

The projection just continued to plead with its wide eyes. Even if the form was a lie, it was still Devick he trapped.

Almost unwillingly Randidly looked across the current low-ceilinged chamber to the dark hole opposite them. The Aether density had increased again, so it felt like the ominous hole in front of them breathed Aether out against them, a monstrous beast born of solidified energy.

Feeling that Aether, Randidly realized they could have arrived at only one specific place, for the energy to flow like this.

And he knew of only one specific ally that would have used subterfuge to lure him here. And already, his chest felt like a congested volcano at the thought of being misled at this juncture.