The massive raptor construct lifted a spoon to its bare jaws. The metal implement looked like made for a doll within his dangerous claws. Azure energy flickered around its skull. “Insisting upon etiquette schooling for the servant class requires an investment of time and funds, sure. However, one cannot overestimate the value of moral fiber and good upbringing on the support caste. In addition, I would remind you that it eliminates the most problematic aspect of servant’s lives: undirected time. Too much time without guidance results in the development of… unwanted ideas.”

“I have begun to attempt that,” Westrisser began tiredly. The two sat alone in a massive dining hall, eating a late dinner. For all that Fatia Cerulean could be considered his strongest ally, he did not enjoy how Cerulean used his visits to spread his pet theories about governance. After all, Westrisser himself would not listen, had Fatia not also possess strength. Yet the reality meant he had to engage, no matter how drained it made him feel. “Especially amongst the Winged Serpents. But knowledgable teachers are difficult to find.”

“I took the task in hand personally,” Cerulean gave Westrisser a pointed look. Westrisser didn’t bother to respond; he simply felt a great deal of pity for those who lived within Cerulean City and had been ‘re-educated’ by their lord. “I must admit that I feel a great deal of admiration for your treatment of the half-breeds. I am big enough to admit the flippant actions of the Origin Beast would have driven me into a rare-”

Not really that rare, Westrisser observed. Based on the dread you inspire.

“-emotional state. I may have even slaughtered them to be rid of any proof of my shame. That you didn’t shows…” Cerulean finally sipped at the stew. Something in the air changed. Instead of giving Westrisser a judgment, the raptor construct simply stilled. Its flames froze entirely, giving lie to their usual, gentle undulations. The raptor's head pivoted and glowing eyes bored into the spoon.

“Lord Cerulean?” Westrisser hazarded cautiously. Perhaps it was karma he suddenly felt the same dread he had just flippantly thought about.

The raptor construct ignored him. He dipped his spoon into the soup once more and brought another bite up before its face. But Cerulean clacked together the thick claws of his other hand, blasting away almost all the liquid. What remained was an oblong orange chunk on the dull metal. The glowing in Cerulean’s eyes intensified.

“What… is this?”

Westrisser considered responding rather bluntly that the Lord of Cerulean looked at a carrot. However, he could recognize the raptor contruct’s intense fixations; levity here would result in being attacked. He opened his mouth, mind whirling to try and understand why the carrot would matter-

Westrisser stilled. Of course. How foolish could he be? It wasn’t the carrot that was important, but its harvester.

After gulping down his nerves, Westrisser attempted to speak. “Ah. I had wondered- no, it simply slipped my mind. Is there something wrong with the carrot? We have a rather active Nether King in the area who has claimed his neutrality. You’ll have seen the floating pieces of ground that orbit Malloon; those are his work. He also runs a successful farm. But if there is a problem with his produce, I will personally hunt and slay him.”

“Problem? No.” Fatia Cerulean leaned back and cackled. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with this carrot. A pure vegetable, without any extra influences. You-”

Suddenly, the glee passed and Cerulean looked at Westrisser with reproach. “You really cannot sense how special this is? Purity is a rare thing, even in this young alternate universe. Ah well, I will lend you a few books to educate you on the conundrum of attention and influence in environments with manifestational Willpower. But tell me: how is this Nether King heralded?”

“They call him Nether King Hungry Eye,” Westrisser responded uncertainly.

Again, Fatia Cerulean laughed. Blue energy erupted from his twisting wire core, swelling him to double his usual size. The room hummed with his amusement. “Hungry Eye. What an auspicious name for this young Nether King. I will meet him soon, I should hope.”

Cerulean raised the entire bowl of soup to his head and chomped through the porcelain. Liquid dribbled out between his sharp teeth and he continued to laugh. Westrisser simply observed for a while, working up his nerve. Because no matter what else this was, may Hungry Eye have mercy on his soul for calling this being’s attention to him, he didn’t want to miss this chance.

Westrisser said. “Lord Cerulean, actually, this is a good opportunity. I would like to show you the initial results of a little experiment I am running. I believe a man of your learning will be able to offer significant insight into the process.”

“Hmm? Ah, I have been quite curious about how you spat into Wyndaos’s hair.” Cerulean laid his claws on the table. Even the reinforced material smoked slightly from the contact. “I’ll always rejoice over dead Nether Kings, but something tells me you’ve been even more devious than that.”

Westrisser bowed slightly. “I have indeed. I removed the base of their Phaea while they were alive and used it to ground an altogether new working.”

“Show me,” Cerulean ordered.

*****

At the front gate of Malloon, the orc let them go, scowling after Randidly and Demetrius as they walked out through the barrier. Despite the convenience, it did not seem like their escort enjoyed Randidly’s gravity bubbles.

Randidly shook his head, oddly amused at the orc’s attempts to keep himself from vomiting. Everybody’s a critic.

He conjured another such gravity bubble around the two of them and they ripped through space. It only took two minutes to arrive back on the farm. Randidly offered a small goodbye then strode purposefully back to his private room. His mind buzzed with possibilities after seeing the way the Patron of Truth’s image had been altered. The effect couldn’t be reproduced in images that weren’t of the world state variety; the Grey Creature couldn’t be broken into small pieces and then reassembled after it was allowed to spread and infect a large area. Which might even be a good thing; the thought of the Grey Creature proliferating made him shiver. Still, the principles opened Randidly’s eyes to the way images could be manifested.

Yet before his thoughts galloped off, Randidly allowed himself a thoughtful pause. Wait, although it wouldn’t work for the Grey Creature, maybe-

A sudden surge of significance above him had Randidly whipping around, thoughts discarded. He recognized the source, Nether King Bleak Sky, as well as the fact a significant undercurrent was related to meaning in the memory.

His own images exploded outward to cover the farm, followed swiftly by a swirling barrier of Nether. He did not want his farm to be destroyed again. Yet aside from a small glimmer of a Nether Ritual at the heart of this storm, nothing happened. The feared hammer did not fall upon him, or upon Malloon. Rather anticlimactically, the giant swirl of energy in the sky began to disperse after a subtle twist of Nether.

Randidly frowned. “Not an attack then. A prayer. Or a message. Maybe even a signal.”

Soon, the lingering energy in the sky dispersed. Not a ripple remained in the clouded space above the farm. Yet the sudden calm only made Randidly clench his teeth all the harder. He did not have much more time before the situation in Malloon came to a head. When the Nether forces came, Randidly expected everything would begin accelerating. This, probably, would be the justification for Elhume’s attack on Wyndaos. From there, even with so many holes in what Randidly expected to happen, the Second Cohort would rush toward its climax.

What do I need before that time? Randidly asked himself. He found his answer rather quickly. His eyes went down to his left hand. Sulfur’s fingers curled slowly together into a heavy brick of a fist.

He needed to understand the limits of his power.

Randidly rushed away from the farm, heading both away from the source of Bleak Sky’s Nether Ritual and Malloon. To test how well the memory could withstand the descent of his full power, he needed an area where he truly didn’t fear marring the ground for years to come.

In the end, he continued eating up the distance until he closed in upon the edge of the Aether territories. The divide here was less overwhelming than what he would encounter later on the frontlines. He did not simply walk to the edge of the land to find a cliff above a vast abyss. The land continued unabated, although the ground along the boundary was covered with the inert grey material that resulted when Aether and Nether merged into a failed union.

The sky was darker across the boundary, the light of the day screened by the heavier Nether, but Pine’s constant humming remained clear. From squat trees, the Nether land populated the sloping fields with elongated, graceful cacti. Randidly’s senses spread out over to the Nether side, looking for inhabitants or patrols. He found nothing dangerous, but he did sense some ground-dwelling, meter-long weasel worms. Their presence filled him with morbid curiosity. If he could, he would capture a few to bring back and see if they could survive on the farm.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ghosthound’s Acute Nether Nose has grown to Level

What he did find on the other side was a strange protrusion from the ground, pulsing with the intersection of flows of significance. Very quickly, Randidly realized it was a more primitive version of the blue veins on the frontlines. Nether creatures could use these ‘lanterns’ to gather information and also travel if they needed to.

It was probably why the border was so deserted.

“Hope my demonstration here won’t be too alarming, then,” Randidly whispered to himself. He sat down on the Aether side, gathering his attention and making sure he was in peak mental condition. Then he began to construct his image physicalizations across his body.

While inside the memory and climbing the Sonora, he had sharpened his images and also mastered more and more of his emotional affect. Now, he needed to take these disparate elements and bring them back together into a threefold image and Skill activation. Each with the perfect harmony to the images that wielded them and relative to each other.

He released a breath. Already, energy and significance began to swirl uneasily around him, sensing the preparations.