Old Thane's words heartened the group a little, but there still lingered a sense of unease. Everyone aside from Tia and Asala. Tia was only happy to be tagging along, and Asala maintained an impressive mind of steel that kept her writing and recording in spite of anything that could worry her. 

But the others, their unease was still present. Such was the gravity of Li himself foretelling a darker future. To them, Li must have seemed essentially a god, a being that could channel power they did not understand at unfathomable quantities.

That he leeched worry into his voice made their worries compound tenfold. In part, that worry came from the fact that they did not know about the nature of the threats to come and what they would need to do to avoid it. 

"I will tell you all of the threats to come as we move. All of you have the determination to come on this journey. Now prove that determination through the fight." Li started across the Midpath.

"Fight! Fight!" said Tia as she skipped behind him, her crimson necklace flashing in the remnants of dawn light left by Helius.

Everyone else followed, their worries replaced in part by wonder as they tread across the magically constructed walkway of the Midpath bridge. The Vukanovi followed behind for the Midpath was an enormous bridge, easily capable of fitting a dozen people stretched from arm to arm horizontally. 

Li passed under one of Helius's Aviania arches, the shadow it cast forming a flicker of darkness on the glowing white path. 

"The threat to come, the true threat, is not the Darkening," said Li. 

"Not demons?" said Sheela. 

"No." Li pointed to the sky. "The true threat comes from the stars. At night, when the sun falls, you see darkness, yes? Darkness filled with stars. That darkness is where they will come from."

Everyone looked up.

"Star stones, lad?" said Old Thane.

Li understood that in this world, star stones were their term for meteorites. He shook his head.

"No. Living creatures. Nightmare creatures that exist only to revel the destruction of all things," said Li. "They will stop at nothing to see this world reduced to primordial chaos or enslaved under their heel, and their might easily rivals that of the three great gods."

"We cannot fight against that," said Vilga, notably breaking from her silence. "I was in the fighting pits. I know when a fight is lost."

"But we have him." Sheela pointed to Li with a claw.

"And there is only one of him." Vilga looked to the sky.  "Many of them." 

"Do you not see, lass?" said Old Thane. "That is why we journey now. To earn the might to fight against them."

"I told you all of a darker, greater threat that I am journeying west for. It is precisely one of these creatures that are agents of chaos," said Li. "One that is slumbering, but even in its slumber, the tendrils of its maddening influence reach out.

You have seen that influence firsthand for yourselves in Riviera. This demon rot as you call it is no product of the demons, it is a product of chaos far greater than them."

"Then the demons have allied with this terrible force," said Mason.

"No, I understand that is the natural conclusion to draw, and I know that I have been vague about them, but now that I know the possibility of chaos descending to this world is a possibility to reckon, it is better to be specific. 

The demons are forcefully enslaved to the rot, well, a good amount of them at the least. Freeing them from the control will only give us more allies against this encroaching chaos. In fact, this entity of chaos that slumbers in abyssal depths has slept in this world for centuries, kept sealed only by the efforts of the demons themselves."

"Impossible," said Mason. "The demons have tried many times to conquer this world. They would have used such power for themselves. You said this thing is an agent of chaos? I see no difference between it and the demons."

"This power will end this world. I have no doubts that the demons have arisen to conquer and cause destruction, but you are sorely mistaken, boy," said Li. "You do not even have the slightest conception of what chaos is. 

True chaos. 

True chaos is nothingness. Complete and utter nothingness. It does not pay heed to lands or territories or slaves or gold – it has nothing it wants, nothing it wishes to keep for itself, nothing it will spare. 

It only desires one thing, and that is more of itself, more chaos, more and more until there is nothing left in this world and all worlds except the cold of the void before the stars themselves gathered from cosmic dust. 

You think the demons with their warring desired chaos? No, they would have razed many lands, burned many mortals, but in the end, this world would still stand. Perhaps, a boy like you would still have even lived, except instead of bowing to a human monarch, you would have been under a demonic overlord. 

But chaos? You think you will have anyone to bow to aside from the cold, infinite expanse of the void? A tyrant, no matter how cold he is, will still care for his subjects in some way, but chaos? Chaos is uncaring. You will be scattered dust regardless of how much you fight or grovel or how small or big you are."

Li glanced to Zagan trotting at his side. For so long, the demon had been quiet, likely in deep contemplation throughout this entire journey of how to free his people. In a way, he fought just the same as the mortals behind him. 

"Chaos will not care whether you are human or demon or beastman. So why would we? That is why I will not slaughter the demons with my might. I will cure them, take those to my side that will come. I understand this will upset many, but when they see Chaos dawning, they too will know that the safest shelter is under the shadow of my Order." 

A splash echoed from below, far below where the ocean must have flowed through this continental rift. A grumbling roar approached rapidly, and within a few seconds, the enormous brawn of a Flying Giantfish soared high up, above the Midpath, its four translucent, almost insectoid wings fluttering.

The giantfish snaked its lengthy body down, baring sharp teeth and a glowing, hungry pair of reddened eyes at the party. 

A hungry flying fish come to try and feed. An interruption? Li was not in the mood for this. 

Li turned to Mason and stepped up to him. The boy reflexively cringed backwards at Li's almost threatening aura. 

"I will borrow this." Li took the longsword sheathed from Mason's hip. 

He turned back to the descending fish and craned his arm back, the blade the sword gripped in his hand. He did not hold back his strength. He instinctively fused magical energy into the blade to reinforce it then threw it at full power to the fish.

The longsword whistled like a bullet as it punched through the fish's mouth, sliced through all of its innards, and then punched through the other side from its tail in half a second. The sword continued to shoot upwards, disappearing into the clouds. 

The light in the fish's eyes died down, and it grew limp, falling back down into the depths below.

"Hm," said Li as he saw the enormous corpse shrink as it fell. "That cleared my head a bit."

"I…I am sorry for offending, seer," said Mason with a bowed head. 

"It is fine," said Li with a small sigh. "My apologies for the lost blade. I understand it was a weapon of some value, given to you by the smith that once raised you. I will compensate by creating weapons for you."

He turned to everyone, eyeing their shoddy equipment. Mercer fought with twin daggers that barely reached the magical item rank. Sheela and Vilga fought with their own racial traits. Sheela with her claws and speed and Vilga with her brawn and bestial reflexes. 

Old Thane fought only with his fists and had just a few northern animal skins to cover his body. Asala did not use any catalyst to channel her magic.

If they were going to fight, they needed better gear for sure.

"You know, this is quite interesting. This almost seems like a rather typical tale. A party that heads out to stop a world ending threat. Is that not quite the common and alluring tale?" said Li.

"It is," said Asala, tongue flittering out. "One of my favorite types of epics, they are."

"And if you all are going to save the world, you will not be doing that wearing and wielding scrap.  I will fashion weapons for all of you. Time for a much-needed upgrade."

"Ohoh, I'm game!" Old Thane punched his chest in brimming glee.