If Randidly possessed a glaring weakness, it was social interaction with others. He had definitely developed some coping mechanisms that let him talk relatively normally with other people, but that didn’t remove this glaring weakness from his personality. It simply covered it up.

Most of Randidly’s strategy for developing relationships with people was to be near enough to them for long enough due to innocuous reasons that he would either relax and connect with them or that the other person would take the initiative to make the connection themselves. Perhaps due to Randidly’s personality, he very rarely had the impulse to quickly establish a connection.

Perhaps it was a testament to powerfully Vualla had struck him that Randidly tried to establish a connection after meeting her twice.

But this was Alta Bounty.

Certainly, Randidly was familiar with her; honestly, he was more familiar with her than he was with Vualla. But he definitely had not found cause to relax around her. Randidly had managed to avert disaster when Alta made her attempt to destroy his Soulskill, but it hadn’t exactly engendered positive feelings toward the young woman. Even with Lucretia being strangely fond of her, Randidly didn’t share those sentiments.

Still, Randidly could understand the emotions that Alta felt. In a weird way, it reminded Randidly of the way he felt about his own mother. Those nights when his mother had another man over and Randidly could only sit quietly in his room and wait it out… The only difference was that Alta had responded by lashing out. And Randidly… Randidly had just let his own family slowly drift apart around him-

As Randidly’s thoughts wandered, the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night once more reacted. Suddenly, there were three distinct chimes that buzzed against his wrist, beckoning him closer. Instantly, Randidly’s expression turned ashen. So the Fatepiece follows my lines of thought and provides me with the frozen moments that are related to them…? So there are at least three moments related to my family, with likely my mother being involved in most of them…

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 34!

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 35!

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 36!

Immediately, Randidly pressed his eyes closed and concentrated on trying to understand Illym. Now was not the time to deal with his lingering familial issues. After a few seconds of discordant notes, the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night returned to its previous state, with only a single chime corresponding to Illym’s suicide moment sounding out.

Then Randidly opened his eyes and looked at Alta with her lowered gaze. He did his best to banish all of his thoughts and simply looked at her as she was now. At the almost claw-like set of her hands. At the way her hair trailed down over her shoulders. At her hunched shoulders and obvious sense of discomfort as she apologized. At the deep shadow cast over her face.

And Randidly responded as honestly as he could when he spoke. “Thank you. But you know… life is more complicated than that. It is not just whether I should or shouldn’t have done something… or whether I did or didn’t have an excuse. I hurt you; the context to that event is just that, context. It will never change the fact that I hurt… that I hurt so many people in my old Soulskills. And I’d like to think…”

For a second, Randidly hesitated as he searched for the right words. “...that I’m man enough to admit the mistakes I’ve made and live with them, without needing to excuse them. And this is the truth: I hurt you. So… I’m sorry too.”

Randidly didn’t know what he expected but was rather nonplussed when there seemed to be no response from the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night. His Nether continued to smoothly flow through his inner Nebula without a change. He felt a flicker of disappointment, but quickly masked it and focused on Alta in front of him. Honestly, hard to know how the ability to return to this moment would be useful. Better to just concentrate on… being honest. That’s the best that I can do right now.

For her part, Alta didn’t react for several seconds. But then she slowly raised her head and looked at Randidly with a puzzled expression that slowly began to warp once more. “You… think you’re man enough… to admit you did it and live with it? What the HELL does that mean?!?”

By the end of her phrase, Alta’s murderous aura had returned in full force. The slow rusting of the metal beneath her feet continued. A cool wind whipped around the two of them, standing as they were about thirty meters off the ground. Kharon’s flag awkwardly fluttered and then fell still.

“You… you think you can just bear the weight of all those lives?!” Alta Bounty’s face began to twist into the familiar form of the Metal Queen. A fiery light began to emerge from the spot where her heart should have been. “You are one man! How large is your ego that you think you can bear the weight of all their deaths! An arrogant weakling like you will be crushed by the weight of those wasted lives! You will be devoured by the howling damned! A single death holds the weight of every possibility that person might have accomplished in all their lives. All that potential… you are too small a man to bear that weight, Randidly Ghosthound!”

The sky around them darkened with Alta’s image. So much so that some of the more perceptive people in the nearby industrial businesses detected the shift. Moss spirits began to drift upwards, curious and confused by what was going on.

Randidly kept all of his images suppressed. Because he sensed a tremor through that thin crack in which Nether existed in the real world. For the first time, he had an inkling about how it could be used. So he just kept his gaze on Alta. Keep answering honestly…

Perhaps her reaction should have indicated that something was wrong with his prior response, but he didn’t believe that he was wrong on this count. Yes, the deaths were weighty. But still…

You can’t let the weight of what might of been stop you from making the world better. You simply learn to bear that weight.

A smile slowly formed on Randidly’s face. And when he spoke, he unleashed all the certainty and world bending confidence that allowed him to reach his current tier of power with the images of Yggdrasil and the Grim Chimera. “I can bear the weight of those deaths, Alta Bounty. Do you think those lives were the only ones that I’ve been forced to bear on my conscience? When we fought… didn’t you sense all the purposeless deaths that I already carried with me?”

This time, Randidly purposely created a tremor to run through his Nether. The core of the nebula grew a small amount in size. Randidly felt the weight in what he was saying. In addition… he followed the strange reflection of the earlier feeling. Although he wasn’t filling the surrounding space with his Nether, he could feel himself becoming increasingly connected to this area. In particular, that connection centered on Alta Bounty in front of him.

The branches of Nether spread invisibly outward. The surrounding space shook a little. But Randidly’s Nether was insistent, and this time he knew what he was trying to accomplish.

There isn’t any actual connection but… it’s like it constitutes access to a so-thin-it’s-invisible layer of Nether to the System… which I suppose makes sense. It isn’t as direct as the bonds I establish with Aether, but still… seems like it functions more like gravity. The larger the Nether I possess, the easier it will be to affect or examine others in this manner…

Because Alta was clearly affected as Randidly’s Nether spread out in a controlled manner. She stood transfixed, her gaze locked onto Randidly Ghosthound. His Lantern of Harsh Truths Skill didn’t Level up at all during her long stare, but Randidly figured that was because Alta wasn’t really exposed to his Skills; what Alta was experiencing was direct contact with the Nether that Randidly possessed.

Much of the fury faded from her expression. “Who are all those people I can sense…?”

Nether contains memories and connection. Randidly’s gaze flicked down to the Fatepiece around his right wrist. Perhaps one purpose of this is so that I don’t forget that I carry around all these heavy moments with me…

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 37!

Randidly thought about the population of Turtletown. He thought about all the people who flocked to Donnyton while he was too proud and awkward to protect the place as well as he could. He thought about his friends on Tellus, and the innocent guards in that prison he and Shal had infiltrated. He thought about all the graves he dug alone along the banks of the Hallat as they fled from the Wights.

He thought about that civilization that had survived inside of the Dungeon that refused to capitulate to him. He thought about the proud face of Ki-Kunot. He thought about all of the people in his Soulskills that fought and died for him to resist Yystrix’s invasion. He thought about the lives lost on the frontlines under his command and the people who died at the football game only a short time ago.

“That weight you feel are the people who died. The ones with a connection to me,” Randidly replied as lightly as he could manage. His Nether spun inside of him, faster and faster. The moment stretched until Alta began to shake and then Randidly cut off the strange, almost subconscious connection between them. He retracted his Nether.

Gasping to recover her breath, Alta swayed on top of the steel beam with such unsteadiness that Randidly legitimately thought she was going to fall. But she crouched down and gradually recovered her composure.

Partially reviewing the situation that had just occurred in his mind and partially waiting for a response, Randidly remained still and patiently observed Alta.

Eventually, she straightened again. And when she looked over at him, her expression was extremely complicated. “You… heh, I thought I understood you. But after feeling that… what was- no, I suppose I don’t want you to answer that. I have a feeling… the longer I serve in your Pantheon, the more I will understand what that was. The more I will have to bear my own weight that no one else can see.”

Randidly thought about correcting her, but instead just smiled more gently than his previous expression. What he possessed was Nether… but Randidly supposed everyone must have an aspect of some Nether to him. Perhaps what he should be investigating is how to sense that… because he must be connecting with some intrinsic Nether to display his weight like he just had done...

“...thank you for meeting with me. It’s strange… but I feel better.” Alta looked away from Randidly and back toward Kharon. “If it’s alright, I’d like to stay here a little longer. I believe… there are certain things you lose when you accept roles of power for too long. Being here makes me remember how to be normal.”

Randidly nodded and turned away, letting Alta’s not-so-subtle warning pass by without comment. But he did add one last thing before he departed. “Enjoy yourself. If you are truly strong… you can make the heavy seem light.”

Then Randidly used the Philosopher’s Key to open a portal back to his floating island. He made a mental note to talk to Tatiana again about selling floating island real estate, but for the moment concentrated on what he had learned from the interaction. First, he had learned of the ability to connect via Nether, but more importantly, he learned how to shift the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night as his attention changed.

Although Randidly had tested his abilities with Nether on that lonely ridge, that had been a dry run: what he really wanted was someone who he could fight on equal footing to see how effective Nether was as a weapon. His first thought was to focus on Lady Iellaya or Vualla and then fight against them using the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night, but Randidly worried that perhaps a watching guard similar to what had happened in Illym’s memory would happen again.

His direct use of Nether on the frontlines would draw the wrong sort of attention. Randidly supposed he could convince one of those people to come into his Alpha Cosmos to fight against him, but Randidly suspected that his Nether would have a bit of an advantage inside of the world that was actually his body.

So if that location was off the table…

Finally having a certain foe in mind, Randidly caused the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night to unfold into his hand. Then Randidly concentrated on the man who was more like a father to him than his own father: Shal. Responding to his will, the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night caused new chimes to start ringing. And as he concentrated further, one in particular emerged as the loudest.

Congratulations! Your Fatepiece Dreamcatcher of the Long Night has grown to Level 38!

Randidly touched the source of the chime and the world warped around him. Suddenly, he was floating in a pool of lava with the oppressive heat of the sun pressing powerfully down on the surrounding area.

Aegiant Wyrd, floating at the center of a miniature sun, chuckled. “It amuses me that I cook you now, like a goose. I wish I had a good wine to pair your death with; ah well. I will follow my baser instincts and simply revel-.”

Aegiant’s words were choked off as a blanket of Nether pressed down on the surrounding area. Taken by surprise, much of his image of heat was forcefully dissipated. Cursing, Aegiant stumbled backward and regained his footing.

Not that it was even necessary; In comparison to the heat that Randidly endured at the hands of Illym, this was almost comically easy.

The molten rock in the surrounding area rapidly cooled and solidified, but Randidly utilized his body empowered by Nether Brawn to simply rip open a hole to the surface. Then he sauntered slowly out and cracked his knuckles. The flames of Ignition Essence flickered to life around him as he looked over at the shocked face of Aegiant.

“Do you know how long I’ve waited for a chance like this?” Randidly whispered. His emerald eyes glowed with relish. “Being cooked in lava fucking hurt.”