Chương 61: Chapter 120: The Agent from The Order

It's natural that entities like Calamities inspire tremendous awe and reverence. Beings that can shatter Realms, that can break reality itself, would naturally take over the faiths of so many people. While the various religious polities of the Accorded Realms tried suppressing any real religion forming around the rise of the Calamities, they weren't always successful. Case in point—multiple cults popped up on various Realms, devoted one way or another to the continued existence of the Calamities.

They all had different goals, different creeds, different codes to follow. Yet their faith in the Calamities was always a constant. One such fledgling cult was an order who named themselves after the Father of Calamities. It rose around a singular figure, at first content only to see what they called his "great work" in action, to usher in new Calamities. But when it stopped, when the Father of Calamities ceased fulfilling their dreams, the cult changed. Shifted to an aggressive stance.

It began creating Calamities of its own. Thus began a reign of terror that devastated Realms across the cosmos. An Abstract on the Rise of the Flourinus Order Shadowed Sects Sitalon M. Alendra tried to make her way through the smog. Her senses were active, but a little dulled. The crunch of her feet on the loose, rocky ground, the shadowy form of the black-barked trees, the smudged appearance of a sky as red as blood set on fire all felt a little too disjointed from her. She persevered anyway.

It felt like she was being chased. If she didn't run, she'd get caught, and then she'd be in real trouble. She had to keep moving. But it was getting harder. Every step was taking longer than the last, every moment was sapping her energy and her will to keep going. Every breath just felt more solid in her lungs. Couldn't she stop? Couldn't she give up? After all, she had forged on for long enough. She had run away and escaped until those were all she really could do with any certainty. Something was coming.

Alendra struggled harder, ran faster. As much as she was able to do in her current circumstance. The ground was sloped here, and if she wasn't careful, then— She fell. And awoke with a start. For a good while, as she sat up jerkily, she forced herself to breathe and stay calm. So, so stupid of her to fall asleep like that. She was on the run, for crying out loud. What sort of fugitive fell asleep during their own getaway? Alendra forced herself to her feet and then kept going.

At least her real world wasn't as hellish as the one she had been to in her dreams. Yet the sensation that she was being chased was the same as it had been in the nightmare. Right. What else was a fugitive supposed to feel? Alendra's thoughts were as tumultuous as the countryside wasn't. Even this far out, the lingering scent of the ocean breeze wouldn't leave her. The grass and the leafy branches swayed in the strong breeze. Faint chirping rose up from the distance. She tried to ignore it all.

These were mere blips. Memories not worth anything, just like her life at Arcoryx Academy. They were nothing compared to the life she had lived already. Nothing further compared to the life she would live after. Yet, the past wasn't so easily forgotten. Memories still barged in at inopportune moments, ruining the tranquillity of her journey. The sight of a bunch of children all happy to have her along as the leader of their little field trip.

The glint of pride in various Academs' eyes as she performed her best in their classes. The laughter of friends. The warmth of company. The love of those she'd never have. That last one soured the rest, thankfully, so she could forge onwards with greater drive. She'd find it all. She'd secure everything she had been prevented from earning, once real power was hers. One day, before long, Alendra would finally earn herself the life she had been held back from living. She stopped.

One of the Glyphs she had been gifted to complete her job, that had been Inscribed into her very ribcage, was sending off the signal she had been dreading. But truth be told after everything she had seen, this was entirely expected. Pitted against him, she was still nothing, after all. So it was that Marionys Ryland arrived, popping out of his Calamity-cursed rifts as usual. Ryland considered the young woman before him. There was quite a bit to deliberate on, so he did just that.

She didn't look like she was spoiling for a fight. Alendra was too smart for something so simple. But she also didn't look as though she was giving up. Might there be something more Ryland hadn't picked up? Was she hiding a secret Glyphtech or magic itself maybe that would allow her to escape even him? Or was it something much simpler he just couldn't see at the moment?

"You're not actually half-elvhenan, are you, Alendra?" Ryland said. That seemed to confuse her.

"I'm not?"

"Well, your composition is clearly not fifty-percent elvhenan and fifty-percent human. Not exactly. Even the Order's vats aren't that precise." Alendra's expression shifted to a severe scowl so quickly, she appeared as though she'd rupture her own veins just to spit blood at him.

"As if you're any less of a freak."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I certainly wasn't created in a laboratory by an evil organization, trained and tortured from my very first breath to fulfil their hopes and dreams."

"Watch your mouth!" Her fists shook in anger.

"You don't know anything at all." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Ryland sighed.

"Oh, I think I do. You're a vat rat, created by the Order to carry out its missions. You've been promised great power and prosperity in return for completing the services you've been raised from birth to complete. I know a bit about the horrors someone like you can go through." Alendra gritted her teeth.

"You don't know anything." She slashed her fist through the air.

"You have no idea about the horrors I've gone through, or you wouldn't be here, popping up in front of me, all high and mighty. It doesn't matter how strong you are, your experiences will never trump the way mine make me who I am."

"Don't I?" Ryland raised a hand, magic emerging from him quicker than heartbeats." [Translocate]." Alendra choked. She began coughing and dry heaving. Over Ryland's hand floated a small tooth. One made of metal and possessing a small pocket within. A pocket that held fatal poison. The pocket was open too, and the tooth was empty. But Ryland had taken it all away with his little rift.

"You see," Ryland said.

"I might not know everything about you. But I have some ideas."

"You—can't—" She continued coughing and choking, though she was slowly recovering. Honestly, Ryland preferred that state than her blindly raging at him and whatnot.

"You have two choices in front of you," he said.

"For I know the Order won't spend any more of its magic than it needs to on a mere pawn."

"No… ack … pawn!"

"Your first choice is returning to Arcoryx City. To the academy. There, you can submit yourself to whatever justice Androvia sees fit for someone stealing priceless treasures and unleashing Calamities." Alendra was massaging her chest as she slowly straightened, her eyes almost screwed shut in fury.

"Stop keeping me in suspense. What's the other choice? Being your slave and hunting all those damned pieces of yours?"

"Alas, no. I'll just let you go." She froze." What?"

"Not here, of course. You don't deserve the bounties and beauties of a world you didn't mind destroying so long as it served your ends. Instead, I'll take you to a new world. A new set of Realms, where even the Flourinus Order will never be able to reach you. There, through deadly desperation, you might be able to eke out some semblance of life, should you be so lucky."

"So a roundabout punishment, then? Torture giving way to more torture." She spat.

"No wonder they call you a traitor. You seem to share a lot of similarities." Ryland ignored the jibe.

"It's only torture if you take it as such. It's true that for most, it would be something akin to a death sentence. But for a select few, it would present a massive opportunity."

"An opportunity for what?"

"For what you've always wanted—to make something of yourself." Alendra still looked like she wanted to curse Ryland, but he had hit a nerve. He had landed on something that she resonated with, because in the end, he had landed on the truth. A part of it, at least. So, she actually took a moment to consider.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why aren't you just making things simple for yourself and ending me here and now?"

"Because I'd like you to be alive when I go after the Order itself." She took some time chewing through that. The riot of expressions flickering over her face was too complicated for Ryland to read at a glance, so he didn't even bother.

"And because I present no real threat to you."

"The only threat you present is to Androvia. So, I'm removing you from it." Alendra took a good amount of time to consider things again. Once more, Ryland didn't interrupt. A deliberate decision wasn't something one could go back on lightly.

"Alright," she said.

"I agree. Are you just going to… drop me there and leave me to my own devices?"

"More or less. You certainly won't be able to reach me. Whether I drop in to check on you will depend on how I feel about things going forward. But rest assured, I won't come after you and haul you off after changing my decision. For the decision rests on you." Alendra took a few deep breaths, her expression and stance smoothing.

"Alright. I'll go to this… other set of Realms." Ryland nodded.

"Good decision. [Translocate]." A rift cracked open, and the two of them stepped through. Alendra immediately began looking around at the forest surrounding her, at the sky deepening into dusk. A riot of sounds surrounded them. Twigs snapping. Creatures scurrying and snarling. Leaves rustling. The humidity and the smell of the woods was almost suffocating.

"Why are you actually doing this, Ryland?" Alendra was gawking around, noting down everything of import with her eyes.

"You don't need me for anything. I don't know where the Order is. I don't know anything about their defences or their members. You know far more than I do. I haven't even been to their real base." In the distance, a tree snapped like thunder. Then it began crashing through the forest, branches splintering with a riot of powerful snaps.

"You seemed sincere," Ryland said. Alendra was looking in the direction of the falling tree like a meerkat. He went on anyway.

"In all our meetings, you never gave the sense that you were doing anything half-heartedly. Even though you knew the fallout of your actions."

"And what of it?" Ryland shrugged lightly.

"You had potential. I thought it best not to squander it. If you can come out of this alive. You aren't the first person I've spared, and you won't be the last. Killing is so… final. There are far worse things than death, after all." Alendra digested that for a while as she continued staring into the distance.

"Essentially, you have nothing to fear."

"More or less. That said, if you purposefully continue to be a nuisance, I will be forced to take a far more final measure." She swallowed, then she froze. Her eyes lost their focus.

"What is this…?"

"Ah, yes," Ryland said.

"This set of worlds has its own system, so to speak. We are far, far from the domain covered by the Grand Frame. The universe works a little differently here."

"Differently how?" she asked distractedly. Her eyes were unfocused. She was clearly going through everything the new system was offering her.

"The system here came as a result of a coalition of the two most powerful civilizations. They devised it, and now, they keep a watch over this entire galaxy. They wait until other civilizations reach a point of enlightenment where the system could benefit them too, and only then do they send the system to those other worlds. But since it's such a radical new addition, the new worlds often undergo violent, near-apocalyptic adjustments." Alendra nodded. She still remained distracted.

"There's a skill called Identify…"

"Do you wish to know the mechanism through which they integrate these new civilizations into the purview of the system?" Ryland asked. Something in his tone brought Alendra back to the present.

"How?"

"By setting them Trials. By flooding worlds with mana. By twisting their lands, corrupting their creatures, forcing the system upon them as suddenly as I've done to you. I assume you can imagine the chaos this leads to on any civilization…" Alendra blinked. Then swallowed.

"I think I can, yes." Then her eyes focused.

"But this system seems to give you powers too. At least to start with. This Identify is… wondrous." Ryland arched an eyebrow.

"Is it now?" She was looking around again, frowning at everything in turn.

"I can Identify trees, insects, the ground and the water. Everything, basically." She paused.

"Hold on. Can I Identify you, Ryland?" Alendra whirled around, a glimmer of bright light shining in front of her irises. Ryland was somewhat intrigued. This wasn't the first time he was in the presence of foreign systems, though it left him curious just what Alendra's new skill would reveal to her.

"Let's see," she said.

"It says— what —?" She staggered back, her eyes wide and round.

"Something wrong?" Ryland asked.

"You— you're —" She couldn't seem to find her voice. Like the revelation had stunned her. That was the moment the trees decided to snap again, much closer at hand. It was like half a dozen thunderclaps resounding one after the other. The ground started shaking with rhythmic thumps. Something was heading straight for them. Something massive enough to make everything tremble.

"Well," Ryland said.

"It seems my time to leave has come."

"Hey! Wait—" Ryland channelled his magic. His words were punctuated by the enormous creature thumping closer and closer.

"I wish you good luck on your future endeavours. Perhaps we'll meet again. Perhaps not. Regardless, I'm certain you'll find some way to persevere."

"Wait just a minute—" The next few thumps were far too close.

"One last bit of advice," Ryland said.

"Try to learn the local language, just in case. You never know if the system is stingy or not when it comes to facilitating social aspects."" What? You can't just leave now, Flourinus—"" [Translocate]." Ryland promptly evacuated the danger zone as a monstrous roar reverberated through the air.