“Don’t tell me we have to fucking do your job when you’re kidnapping [Thaumaturges] and nodes everywhere”, Alex said.

“Well, we do technically have an option”, the Cleric said, “But it is a last resort.”

Alex raised an eyebrow.

“We strongly suspect that a hungry node and a tainted node are mutually exclusive. And taint should be able to corrupt even that.”

I froze.

“And then you have the whole planet turned into a deathtrap? Or what?”

“Yes. Have you ever seen taint?”

“No, we haven’t.”

“Then let me show you. We have a section researching it in a… controlled environment. As much as that is possible.”

I tilted my head.

“Though we will have to return to the Cathedral proper, first.”

The walk back up was mostly silent. Alex was angry at the Cleric and the man himself was content staying silent. I chatted a little with Catori, brainstorming some ideas with little success. She had chased away Truth and was feeling a little lonely. The eldritch being had clearly stated that it would be fine if we died in the hungry node. I was not sure what to think about that. Being trapped in the Empty with only Catori, Alex, and him sounded… boring.

After a few hours, I decided to ask the Cleric for some more details.

“If you will help us”, he said, “What do you want to know?”

“For one, how do you know how much time we have?”

“It is an estimation based on observing the hungry node over the last five centuries.”

“Isn’t the Church much older than that?”, Alex snarked.

“Correct. First, our goal was to simply find Truth. That still holds true”, he coughed, “But we need to live to get there. The hungry node was found by some miners digging for metals. From then on, the Crimson Church has been confiscating all thaumaturgical resources in hopes of saving the world. And itself.”

“So we have 25 years for the last kilometre of rock to be destroyed?”

“It is about 2200 metres at this part. We have set up the bottom of our laboratory 400 metres below ground. The calculations account for it being destroyed. A last layer might still exist by then but the world will most likely be doomed.”

“That makes sense. There’s no telling what happens when the continents break into smaller parts.”

The Cleric nodded.

“We have reason to believe that several other powers all across the world are working on solutions. Though beyond our continent, we have not contacted even one. Even past the plains we only suspect the dwarves to know of the hungry node.”

I blinked.

“I’ll have to talk to them. If they know, the Adena will have books.”

“That would be appreciated. Sadly there are no other capable races nearby.”

“Really? I thought there was some kind of lizard-folk west of the dwarves. I get not wanting to interact with most orks but goblins might be able to help. What about the other borders.”

“The swamp to the west of the Dwarven Hills extends all the way around the human plains until meeting the scar formed by the star shard. The lizardmen living there are primitive. Comparing them to a human village would be like comparing a human village to a dwarven city.

“To the east is the Deep Green. It is filled with dangerous monsters. There may be people living beyond but expeditions were unsuccessful. We were able to make out a cleansing aura from that direction. Flux and even taint dissipate faster the closer they are to the forest. To the north is an ocean. Go out far enough and you will find whirlpools pulling you towards the hungry node. It is forbidden to sail out to where you can no longer see the shoreline. We have been able to spot mountains beyond the ocean but were unable to reach.”

Alex smirked.

“Sounds like you could use someone that can fly.”

He looked at me.

“It would be useful to have that assistance. But your thaumaturgical Skills are not to be wasted. We will have to see where you best apply yourself.”

I nodded.

“That’s fine. I kinda want to live a little longer. After all, I don’t age.”

“Then I will count on your assistance. Lady Alexandra, will you help us as well?”

“I will. Though we’ll have to spend the time to figure out the best option to pursue.”

“Of course. Currently, we have three teams set up. One is looking to gather more detailed information on the hungry node itself. The thaumaturges you met yesterday are part of that group. The second team is pushing as deep as they can with the knowledge available in the Thaumonomicon. Sadly, it has to come from someone else. If nobody ever researched it, it will not be found. Still, there are many avenues to follow. This team is spending most of their time in one half of the Corpus Saxi so as to not endanger our main operation with their warp. Team three is working directly with small nodes, trying to manipulate them. They are using the other half of our main building.

“We have quantified nodes to the point where we can tell the smallest possible size an aspect can appear as in one. That number was defined as one vis. A node needs at least fifteen vis to exist. We suspect the hungry node to have vis in the millions.”

Alex shook her head.

“It makes sense, but still… Do you know the aspects it has?”

“Mostly the primal ones. I suspect it breaks the essence down of what it absorbs. In fact, the most common aspect is ordo. The node is sizeable enough to project a large amount of vis all around it. There were times when we used it to power our experiments but it has proven too risky. The most interesting part is that it absorbs a few aspects more easily than others. Lucrum, vacuos, fames, and alienis primarily.”

“Where did you get auram and perditio, then?”, I asked.

“Pardon?”

“For the key.”

“Ah. Auram is primarily around nodes. As we now know, it is also found around souls. The implications of that are… interesting. And perditio is apparent.”

I nodded.

“One more thing. If we have to taint the hungry node, how would we go about it?”

“That… is not as difficult as it might seem. But it may require a large sacrifice. To taint a node you simply need to sufficiently saturate the surroundings in taint. It will then start to create more on its own.”

“And it won’t be hungry anymore?”

“That is what we believe. We have found the information in the Thaumonomicon, so there is good reason to do so.”

“And how do you get rid of taint?”

“That is… the primary issue. Besides the fact that we would need to bring the… cleansing method down there.”

I thought back to the bottom. It was very far down. So far, I was not sure I could fly to the centre within less than a day. With the help of gravity, maybe. No, it was possible to get down. It would only be incredibly difficult to get back up.

“Have you had any success?”

“We know that silverwood seems to have an effect on flux at least. Sadly, we only have reserves of wood. There are no live trees or even saplings. According to the Thaumonomicon, a growing silverwood tree will clean flux and taint in its immediate surroundings. There are also supposed to be flowers called shimmerleaf that can be alchemically enriched to have the same effect but also be replanted. Sadly, shimmerleaf only grows in the shade of silverwood trees.”

“So… find a silverwood tree I can bring along. Got it.”

“Are you already confident you will be travelling?”

“Yes. Maybe not right away but I will not stay longer than a few months at most.”

“What about you, Lady Alexandria?”

“I’m gonna think about it. But if I’m honest, I’d rather get the dwarves on board, first. Maybe even some goblins. We know two villages. One of them has that small hungry node. We could run some much safer tests on it.”

“That… would be very useful indeed.”

“So, you’ll get the dwarves, I’ll look for other races and silverwood?”

Alex nodded.

“We should meet regularly. Twice per year at least.”

“Good idea.”

“Ask if they tried throwing stuff into the hungry node”, Catori suddenly said.

“Like… trying to sate it?”

“Or slowing it down, at least.”

I forwarded the question.

“We deemed it too dangerous. From what we observed, the node will grow larger with everything it devours. If you feed it, it might slow down a little. Or it might speed up. The latter is much more likely.”

“Oh”, Catori sounded sad.

“Good thought”, I comforted her, “I would have missed that.”

“We have records of the node devouring material. They support our theory.”

“What then? What other options have you considered?”

“There are other node types. Tainted, you already know, but there is also sinister. A node that is primarily defined by the darker aspects. Alienis, tenebrae, and examinis, for example. It tends to reanimate the living. Sadly, we have no idea how to turn a normal node sinister. The other options are flickering, pale, and bright. As well as normal, of course. If we could turn the hungry node flickering, or even pale, it might collapse eventually. Turning it bright would only worsen our situation. All three of those types are secondary and would not override the devouring aspect.

“Draining it is another option but with the suspected millions of vis, that is an undertaking beyond our means. For now. It is, however, the most promising option after tainting it.”

“How would you even reach that far?”

“We suspect a modified version of essentia mirrors may allow us to drain more than we give. The drained vis would refill, though. If we go with that option, we have to keep going until the node is gone. Otherwise, we only made it worse.”

“That’s a proof of concept we can easily test on a smaller hungry node.”

“We will. First, let me show you what taint is like. Tomorrow. The day has been quite exhausting.”

We finished the remaining climb in silence. Thanks to our high physical Attributes, it was little issue to make the way. We were still exhausted, especially mentally. There had been a lot to take in.