Chapter: 558 – Their Remaining Time

Tala and Rane regarded the large elk-Sovereign curiously. Terry crouched as if torn between attacking the prey animal before him and fleeing from the powerful creature. He was obviously more than just those instincts, and so he stayed put, ready to follow Tala’s lead in how she wanted to handle this situation.

-Wait… wouldn’t this be a god-beast?-

I suppose? Is that really pertinent right now?

-I suppose not…-

The Forest Spirit seemed somehow different from Anatalis. He seemed more connected with the world around them than the wolf had.

Tala frowned. No… that’s not right…

It was more like the Forest Spirit was controlling all parts of the forest, where Anatalis moved through the forest, only affecting what he needed to in order to proceed.

The elk altered his surroundings to blend with him and so that he could simply be, the wolf blended with his surroundings in order to move through in pursuit of his quarry.

The result was similar, but the methods were very different.

The cervid tilted his head to look at Tala’s middle before his will rippled through the surroundings, clearly conveying an idea.

Offspring.

Rane’s eyes widened as he processed the conveyance, and he looked to her in confusion.

Tala immediately stiffened, thinking the elk had somehow felt a baby within her. A baby that shouldn’t be possible, but maybe… Did we…?

Her perspective dove within herself, searching and seeking for any evidence of— -Tala…-

Alat interrupted her frantic searching, causing her surging thoughts to stall. She didn’t want to stall, she wanted to keep looking. She practically growled at her alternate interface as she responded, What?

-Tala, I’m pretty sure that he means Walden. He senses his offspring…-

Tala felt a clawing void within her chest at the realization that Alat was right, and her frantic searching turned to a feeling of helplessness. Oh…

She took a moment to master herself, especially since she’d found herself in a rather… tenuous situation. Rane was at her side, seemingly having realized what she had. Even so, his hand on her shoulder was a great source of comfort.

Once she’d pulled herself together, she met the large elk’s human eyes. “Forest Spirit. Your offspring is not free to come forth.”

Known. The feeling that was conveyed was one of a boulder, unchanging before the storm.

So he was aware. “Then, what do you wish to accomplish by indicating him?”

Known. This time, what Tala understood was something very like the feeling of an ant leading its fellows to a place rich in available food.

“You want me to know that you now know where he is?”

Always. Time passed, ages came and went, and yet nothing really changed.

That is what Walden had implied, but Tala had assumed that it was simply a misunderstanding in some way. What parent would leave their child so confined?

Apparently this type…

Rane grunted. “Well, I guess we knew that. Good to confirm though… right?”

Tala grunted as well. “Yeah…” She then turned back to the Forest Spirit. “Alright. I understand. You know where Walden is, and you always have. I assume that that is not why you have come?”

Rane gave her an incredulous look, and she could practically hear his skepticism at the path she was taking, but he didn’t interfere. He trusted her completely. Still, she could practically hear his words in her head, asking if she could maybe give the Sovereign level being a bit more respect.

She gave him a knowing smile, but she was decided on her course, at least for the moment. “I’ll ask more directly, then. Was it you who stopped my experimentation with the Leshkin?”

The great forest of antlers shifted to the side as the Forest Spirit tilted his head in consideration.

Finally, he seemed to come to a conclusion.

No. Did he make the rain fall? Did he make the sun shine? Did he make the magic flow through Tala’s gate?

She laughed, feeling a bit of tension release, even as a bit of irritation built upon what was already there.

-Well, Anatalis did say that the Forest Spirit was frustrating.-

Yes, well, I didn’t think that he meant that the very act of trying to communicate with him was the frustrating thing…

-Yeah, I didn’t either.-

Tala took a moment to consider the interactions. Speaking with the massive elk was like hearing the world itself responding to her… No, that wasn’t right. It was as if the forest rose up—despite the Leshkin overlay—to respond.

That is not how the original interference had felt. That had felt like her own power responded to a higher authority, acting under a different will.

“Did I somehow push against a rule of existence? Did I violate it somehow?”

Rane looked at her with a frown of confusion, but he didn’t interfere. He seemed to feel no need to truly participate in the conversation, content to let her continue to take point.

The Forest Spirit shook himself, the canopy far overhead rippling in an unseen wind to allow a cascade of flowing lights to ripple through their surroundings.

Precisely.

“And you heard and came to see for yourself who had caused the reaction.”

There was no need for the elk to respond.

“So… Do we have an issue? What is needed between us?”

Understanding.

That word carried with it a truly overwhelming flow of information, and Tala was suddenly, briefly someone else.

* * *

Rhi Mrenin, Lord of the Mezzannis, stood at the heart of his great tree, prepared to defy Existence itself.

His power was approaching Sovereignty, but he’d chosen long ago that he would never seize power for his own sake. He would turn it into prosperity, longevity, and power for his people.

Those broken humans showed the power of such deviance, gaining seemingly infinite power by virtue of broken souls. Even though Rhi knew that it had come at great cost, he saw the potential that it represented.

He was looking to the future, and his people were on the cusp of decline. Even so, their affinity with nature should have let them continue to grow forever, but Zeme was neither kind nor fair.

The soul… he would not touch that. He did not desire to risk condemning his people to a horrid fate after they finally died. He wished simply to preserve and expand their potential in the moment.

His concept thrummed in harmony to that desire. Corrosion seemingly the antithesis of growth and prosperity.

He knew better.

He could break things down in the right way to build them back better, to make them more able to meld and combine into something greater.

Corrosion was one of the most useful concepts in creation.

As such, it was time.

He reached out, seizing his people’s love and loyalty to himself, along with their belief and understanding that they were one people with one ruler.

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It took almost all his power to hold such a disparate, intangible thing, but he managed it before taking the step that would make an individual into a Sovereign, dragging every Mezzani with him.

POWER.

It was almost overwhelming.

He should have used this burst of power to secure his own eternal existence, cementing his hold on that which would fuel him for eternity, but he’d chosen another path.

His concept flooded outward through the connection, amplified and refined by the shared ascension. It washed through every individual of his race, obliterating everything superfluous even as he drew his people unto himself.

Their spirits were instantly unified by his actions, their souls free to move about as never before. More to the point, just as he’d theorized, they didn’t die. From the matriarch on her deathbed, to the new spud, not yet free of the soil, they were all now equal in the great unified whole that was his race.

As each spirit-soul individual came to him, it rebounded after strengthening its connection to him before landing among the plants they loved so much and forming a new form to inhabit. Each new form showed the preferences and desires of the one who’d created it, who would inhabit it.

He knew that the slaying of such a body wouldn’t kill his citizen.

When the last one rebounded from him and forged a new body from the verdant plenty of their home, he knew for certain. He had done it. His people were safe, forever.

Moreover, they’d each maintained who they were.

It was a nearly perfect outcome.

But his choice had a cost. The power raging through him from his bound concepts and masterfully forged dominion was too much for even a Hallowed such as he. It was obliterating him. The only reason he was still him was because the very act of being corroded empowered him through the application of his concept.

Unfortunately, he had passed the point of no return. Even if he slew every Mezzanni and consumed their life and energy, it wouldn’t be enough to save him.

So be it. He’d made his choice and would gladly accept this fate.

Even as he strained against the agony within his very soul, he felt peace. His passing would secure the future of his people forever more.

Except… he didn’t pass.

The pain simply continued to slowly build within his being.