Randidly coughed lightly as he stood with Zauna and Salazar, arrayed below Lady Iellaya’s command tower with the rest of the marshaled forces of Aether. Due to the impending attack from the Nether King and its forces, almost all of the soldiers currently stationed on the frontlines were called back from league. At the moment, almost ten thousand soldiers were gathered around Lady Iellaya, and hers was by far the smallest as the most junior of the Commanders.

Ten thousand soldiers with the most extravagant series of defensive fortifications out of the whole lot of them,Randidly thought with relish as his eyes followed the eight outer gates and six inner gates that would corral the Nether Beasts who wanted to attack this location.

Unfortunately, few people admired the feat of construction; all gazes were on the foes that were drifting closer out of the Great Rift. The ranks stood in grim silence as the lead force of the Nether attack flowed down toward the boundary between their broken sandstone and the Great Rift. Even from this distance, it was clear that these were monstrously large beasts of Nether, some large enough to smash a house with its paw.

Finally, Salazar could keep his silence no longer. With his almost comically long neck, he leaned slowly over to Randidly to speak. Not that he need have bothered; on the silent frontline among individuals with such powerful Stats, his words carried with all the grace of church bells on Christmas. “Those l-look l-like…”

Randidly gave Salazar a sharp look that had the snakeman’s tongue flee back into his mouth before he could finish the statement. Sighing, Randidly scanned the recognizable forms of the Nether Vanguard before turning his gaze to the East. Although that warmth in his chest informed Randidly that Vualla was there, hidden amongst Commander Terith’s army, he wasn’t able to spot her from his current vantage. His lips curled upward in impatience.

Most of the last few hours since Abiodun had come to Randidly’s tent had involved the frantic construction of additional defensive structures to aid in the fight against Nether. For Lady Iellaya, Randidly’s Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil was invaluable tool to make up for the difference in manpower between her own and the other forces.

Although there were better builders out there than Randidly, there were none who could do even half as much as he could simultaneously. So of all the hastily constructed fortresses standing defiantly at the edge of the Great Rift, Lady Iellaya’s practically looked like an opulent porcupine amongst threadbare groundhogs. Yet that had meant that he hadn’t seen Vualla in quite a while. Not since they parted after their kiss.

Normally Randidly could simply rely on his Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil to try and feel Vualla’s location with plant matter, but the assembled images of all these powerful individuals made it extremely hard to maintain the connection over long distances. There were simply far too many powerful Skills at work across the tense battlelines, so much so that there was significant static if Randidly moved his focus beyond the edge of Lady Iellaya’s camp.

Then Randidly’s gaze turned upward to the command tower above him once again. He was actually quite lucky that he had been assigned to Lady Iellaya. Perhaps due to her… method of controlling her subordinates, there was very little of the riotous flaring of Skills that so hampered Randidly’s senses with Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil in other camps. Because if he had been forced to operate amongst all that interference…

Once again, Salazar leaned over toward Randidly. “S-s-seriously though, they l-look-”

“Salazar,” Randidly said quietly, but his subordinate couldn’t help himself.

“D-d-d-dogs!” Salazar spat out. Up in the command tower above them, Randidly would have sworn he could hear Abiodun sigh. In the face of Randidly’s weary disbelief, Salazar began to build up some more momentum. “D-d-did you k-know that while I r-r-ruled my land, w-we had d-d-dozens-”

A root curled gently around Salazar’s neck and pressed his mouth shut. Randidly shot him another warning glare, but he was just as quickly betrayed on his other side.

“....cute dogs…” Zauna muttered as she too stared upward toward the descending, titanic Nether Beasts. Almost unwillingly, Randidly let his gaze move upward to follow his subordinates’.

Truly, the Great Rift was currently filled with the descending, bounding form of about a hundred Nether Beasts that looked like mundane dogs. They had no strange claws or tentacles or spines, and they weren’t even aggressive-looking dogs like German Shepherds. Instead, they possessed the heavyset, furry forms of St. Bernards, cast in inky blackness.

Assuming of course that the wider universe shares the same sort of dog breeds, which seems statistically impossible. Yet Randidly only felt helplessness as he looked up at the Nether Beasts. Because they truly looked like St. Bernards. Blown up on a one hundred times scale.

There was a cough, and this time it was clear from Lady Iellaya. “I hope I don’t need to remind everyone that this battle concerns our very survival. This might just be the vanguard, but this is the forces of a Nether King, one of the most powerful and savage of our foes. And each of these… dogs…. Has the power of a Nether Gatekeeper.”

Which was exactly the problem, and why Randidly was so desperately seeking out Vualla’s form on the battlefield. Because he remembered very distinctly about how difficult it was to fight against a Nether Gatekeeper. Although Lady Iellaya had displayed enough strength to easily suppress three of such opponents at once, there were now one hundred of them rushing down toward the frontlines. And behind those one hundred Nether Gatekeepers was a seething tide of Nether Beasts so thick that they seemed more like a liquid than an army.

Or it looks like these bounding dogs of a cap of blackness they pull along behind them… Randidly shook his head.

Perhaps even more conspicuous was the single variation from the tide of Nether Gatekeeper that was leading the charge. Even among Nether Gatekeeper, this giant St. Bernard carried with it an absolutely oppressive aura. Fully twice the size of the others, it was the alpha of this assault. And it also possessed four heads that snapped and drooled, shooting out booming barks as it surged downward.

And our forces… Randidly glanced around and grimaced. Nine Commanders remain, maybe twenty-ish people that can fight against Nether Gatekeepers… This one… might be a little rough.

But then there was a familiar giggle that spread out across the whole of the battlefield, not just through Lady Iellaya’s camp. Everyone’s attention was dragged toward the iconic rocky outcropping on which the headquarters sat. “I suppose you will be needing some of my assistance, Lord Miln?”

Although Ileot’s pipping voice did not get any easier on the ears the more Randidly heard it, there was a significant amount of catharsis knowing that gloating tone was directed toward Lord Miln. And Randidly could almost hear the clenching of Lord Miln’s jaw after the very public way that Ileot forced the Supreme Commander to ask for his support.

“...indeed, Master Tweocs. Your assistance is… necessary.”

Once more, a giggle echoed across the battlefield. But then a blazing comet traveled upward from the rocky outcropping of headquarters and made a beeline toward the large, four-headed Nether Gatekeeper that led its fellows.

Drawn as though by a magnet, all eight eyes from that beast focused in on the sudden assault launched by the Aether forces. With a harmonious roar between four monstrous throats, the Nether Gatekeeper called over ten of its minions and then sprinted forward to meet Ileot’s bright light.

Across the entire battlefield, every eye was locked on the impending clash. Yet despite the import of what was about to happen, Randidly looked away and stared toward Commander Terith’s camp for several seconds. The warmth running between them meant that Vualla was definitely out there, yet even now he still wanted to confirm. He was even willing to risk missing the fight to see her.

Unfortunately, this attempt was no more helpful than the last; Vualla continued to allude his searching gaze. So Randidly could only turn his eyes back upward in time to see that the light that Ileot had sent shooting upward very quickly morphed to form a six-armed man holding a brush in each of its hands.

As the Nether Gatekeepers surged closer, the six arms began to rapidly trace out arcane characters which hung in the air and glowed golden. Soon, Illeot’s projection had drawn sixteen characters: four that rotated around it horizontally like the four cardinal directions and twelve that spun vertically like the different times on a clock. Then it seemed to explode in a surge of golden light and accelerate forward toward the Nether Gatekeepers.

Immediately, the four-headed leader of the Nether Gatekeeper understood that something was up. Rather than continuing with its rather intimidating barks, one of the upper heads turned around and yelped in desperation at some of the Nether Gatekeepers behind it before hurriedly straightening to prepare to meet the golden ball of light.

The huge forms above accelerated toward each other, seeming to be only a few dozen meters apart, but still several additional seconds passed where there was no sound of impact. Frowning, Randidly’s full focus finally settled on the clash that was about to happen. The fact that they haven’t hit each other yet just shows how far away they are… and if they are still this size that far away-

BOOOOOOM.

Golden light rocked the sky. Four quick waves of it blasted outward, each brighter than the last. When it all finally cleared, Randidly could see that most of the initial wave of Nether Gatekeepers that had met the ball of golden light had been sent flying like they were bowling pins. It was only their four-headed leader that doggedly continued to resist the overwhelming momentum of the golden light that Ileot had created.

Even then, it could only frantically struggle as it was pushed back. But very soon its yelps attracted the assistance of more and more Nether Beasts. Ten, twenty, thirty, forty…

Fully half of the one hundred Nether Gatekeepers had to join forces to resist the golden light. With their combined effort they were able to slow the golden ball to a crawl, once more revealing the six-armed man. Soon his eyes flashed golden and the arms began to lash out, rapidly engaging the surrounding Nether Gatekeepers.

Ileot giggled again. “Good luck, Lord Miln.”

The other Nether Gatekeepers and the sea of Nether Beasts behind them continued to surge downward, giving the clash a wide berth. Even as the people around him started to prepare for their own combat, Randidly’s focus lingered on that golden light.

What must it be like to possess the strength of fifty Nether Gatekeepers… without even seeming to break a sweat. Randidly mused. But then he shook his head and focused on the waves of Nether Gatekeepers forging downward. Randidly bared his teeth. But for now… show me, beings of Nether, how powerful you really are.

Randidly’s hands curled into a fist. I want to understand what it means to have Nether be the basis for one of my images.