Events accelerated, crashing against the senses of a Randidly that struggled to control himself enough not to rip his way right out of the memory. He walked a precarious line, teetering on the edge of collapse.

As Padraic followed Randidly’s directions, the radiance of his hope-filled Nether Ritual sharpened into an elongated blade between his clumsy fingers. It rapidly extended, its clean edge heading toward the tightening grip of the Nether Ritual around Tatem. The blade released a cool mist, fighting against the increasingly harsh environment.

The massive Nether Herald bellowed again, gathering all of his heavy significance into a massive train and shooting it directly toward Randidly and Padriac. Its drilled its way forward, obliterating a half meter of the ground as it rushed at them. Its path took it through one side of the gate, exploding the impediment in a burst of splinters and dust.

Ioot conjured a swarm of harpoons that buzzed around this central attack, prepared to target any weaknesses.

Randidly wasn’t sure if it was just the darkness or the bright light springing from his hands, but Padraic seemed to be paling. “Those attacks will reach us before I-”

“You are the blade and I’ll be the shield,” Randidly said into his ear. He pinched him slightly, perhaps with more force than necessary. With his buzzed senses, it was difficult to tell. “Keep your eyes upward. Save the town. Give these people the symbol they need. Make sure they don’t need to keep paying for the unfortunate particulars of their birth.”

Give Devick the freedom to choose who she becomes, Randidly thought, with not a little bitterness. To become whatever sort of monster she wishes. Give her madness space to germinate.

Everyone deserves that opportunity. To live as they see fit… or to damn themselves.

The blade rose. The Nether Ritual above them all continued to spin, the various elements releasing a firm power. The grip on the town tightened. The bulldozing force and its follow-up swarm rushed to flatten them.

Randidly released a slow breath and carefully gathered up the fist of Aether he could use without shaking the memory to pieces. Sorry Grey Creature, this job isn’t for you. Yggdrasil, will you handle this? Teach them humility.

The First Tree Suffers Only Fealty.

The air surged underneath his prodding, becoming invisible bars of iron that curled around the floating harpoons. With a deft twist, Randidly wrenched control of the projectiles away from Ioot and pulled them down to crash against the larger Nether King’s more dangerous and blunt offensive. In the distance, he could hear the massive tusked man roaring as the harpoons stabbed into the attack and weakened it.

Randidly’s features tightened; that wasn’t quite enough. He didn’t have enough power to direct the harpoons exactly, so the train of concentrated Nether force continued forward, intent on obliterating their flesh.

He took another deep breath. Everything around him hummed as his power strained to fit itself into the memory, like an aging bodybuilder inside the tuxedo he wore when graduating high school. Even the wrong sort of breathing seemed capable of demolishing the surroundings in an explosion of cheap fabric.

Wrapping himself in the slightest hint of Nether Weight, Randidly hopped around Padraic and accelerated forward. With a palm wreathed in grey fire, he smashed the attack directly so it stalled out. The dense energy dispersed like a ruptured water balloon, splashing the surrounding ground and sizzling through the dirt.

Randidly hopped back to Padraic, who was very visibly sweating. He patted the small and slight man on the shoulder, trying to be encouraging. “Everything’s cleared. All you need to do is cut our way out.”

“I-” Padraic licked his lips. “You know, I’m quite- quite certain of my theories, but this is the first time, in the midst of battle, attempting such a large working, with all the fussing about in the middle you’ve done, which-”

“You’re nervous,” Randidly realized aloud. He was too tense to display the disbelief to roll his eyes. Behind him, he felt the two opposing Nether Kings throwing out their attacks once more.

“We could die,” Padraic responded.

Randidly almost laughed at that. It had been a long time since the price of failure didn’t involve death. And that was the best-case scenario. Around them, the Nether Ritual over Tatem continued to tighten. The air seemed to become foreign and inhospitable, sticking strangely in Randidly’s throat.

He couldn’t imagine what it felt like to an average person. They would be sweating and curled up in their beds, suffocating and fearful. Despite the fact these individuals were just shades in a memory, he knew the value of a shade. And now that he had made a decision, he refused to allow even a single individual to die without meaning.

Randidly knew disbelief and laughter were not the correct response. Instead, he cleared his throat. “I bested you on stage, yes? So you are just going to trust me this time. Strike up, Padraic. It’s time.”

“What if I fail?”

These words came in an even smaller whisper. Randidly offered him a sympathetic smile. He patted the man’s shoulder. “Then we try again. So long as you succeed eventually, nothing else matters.”

Padraic’s brown eyes wavered at that. Yet after searching Randidly’s face for a few seconds, during which time the pressure from the Nether Ritual began to seriously constrict around them, he nodded. His eyes went briefly to his hands, then Padraic raised both arms and brought his blade of light crashing against the Nether Ritual.

A horrible shrieking of metal and warped sound blasted across the sky, but Randidly’s face sunk. The attack distorted and tore the binding of the Nether Ritual slightly, but did not pierce through. Across the cleared trench from the massive Nether King’s first attacks, he could hear the chiming laughter of Ioot. A second wave of attacks was incoming.

“Mr Nether King!” Padraic’s voice cracked. His pure light began to dissipate as he wavered from the patterns.

“Again, Padraic,” Randidly growled, some of his frustration creeping through his voice. Most of his Aether and Nether was spent; he would need to resist the next round directly with his body to give this fool time. All he had left was a single pinch. His arms were slick with sweat, mostly from containing his own power. “If you had quit after your first failure, where the hell would you be right now?!”

Of all reactions, what Randidly hadn’t expected was for Padraic to look vaguely offended. “So you just assume that I’ve failed in the past-”

“Just hit it again,” Randidly roared, more and more frustration bleeding through and making the whole environment shudder. Taking a gasping breath, he managed to briefly quiet the disintegration of the memory. Then he got to work. He stepped forward and forcefully crushed several Nether harpoons out of the air. With a grunt, he lowered his stance and absorbed a massive blast of dense Nether.

A concentrated beam of harsh energy ravaged his chest and arms. Even Egg’s Illusory Plume quickly began to corrode at such a direct physical clash.

Air hissing out through his teeth, Randidly staggered several steps back. He felt battered; half of the problem was his power blurred the memory enough that he didn’t fight with his usual methodical precision. Small micro-adjustments he usually made to increase his own power or deplete an enemy’s were impossible like this. And those advantages added up.

Padraic took several seconds to waver. His image energy continued to drain away, almost depleted. Wanting to rip out his hair, Randidly avoided the next volley of harpoons and landed next to the young man. His emerald eyes were blazing, the only other luminance aside from the combined Aether and Nether Ritual. “It’s moments like this that determine the sort of life you want to live. If you wish to offer up a symbol of hope, there is not going to be a second chance. Don’t let fear of failure keep you from making a difference.”

Randidly wheeled around. His body blurred back and forth, just acting as a sponge to soak up the attacks from the two Nether Kings. Small injuries began to add up across his body. Chunks of flesh were ripped away and all of his exposed skin became red and enflamed. Thankfully, Padriac began to move. The light brightened, the patterns around his Nether Ritual sharpened, he raised his hands and generated a massive blade of light, faster and faster, even as the oppressive squeeze of the Nether Ritual became suffocating.

“I… am… a… geninusssss!” Padraic hissed to himself in some weird moment of self-hypnosis. The blade of light whipped upward, aiming for the weakened spot where they had landed the attack previously.

Yet looking at the relatively dimmer blade, Randidly instantly knew it wouldn’t be enough. Padraic was striking for a second time, but again only took a single step forward in terms of capability. It would not be nearly enough to cut through the powerful Nether Ritual.

However, he had been prepared for this. His last pinch of Nether had been tucked into that blade of light, waiting for the best moment to strike. Randidly’s eyes went half-lidded as he let his body move on autopilot. His entire attention fixated on the environmental factors at the moment of impact.

The sword of light struck the Nether Ritual and skidded forward slightly, unable to rip through, despite the previous weakness-

“Hahaha, keep struggling, Hungry Eye!” The massive Nether King roared. “Your last dance is immaculate!”

The Grey Creature shivered and reached, wresting control away from Randidly’s Nether Core. In a very similar manner that Padraic wielded his image for Nether Pattern, the Grey Creature did the same. When the pinch of Nether manifested into an image through Synechdochence, it did not become a spearhead, but a finger.

With a single swipe, that vindictive finger cut through the black sky. The sword of light followed up through that opening, burning away any lingering connections. The Nether Ritual shuddered and then began to fail. The pressure abruptly vanished.

Yet at the same time, the addition of the Grey Creature’s viciousness broke something within the dream. Randidly felt his Nether Core rev in that strange manner to give him more leeway, but it was too late.

With a tinkling sound of dropped china, Randidly found himself floating back in the sea of currents. “Shit.”

The memory had collapsed. And continued to fall to pieces right in front of him.