Savage Awakening 543. Galaxy Gear

The man in the straw hat stopped. “You must be Zane.”

He had pale Destruction scars running down his cheeks, clawing down his throat. You got the sense that far greater scars ran beneath his robes. A scar stretched down one side of his mouth, giving him a slightly amused look.

“Hey there,” said Zane with a wave.

Patches of black blood stained the hems of the man’s robes.

They’d long since dried, but they were suffused with the life force of an Empyrean. And a strong one at that, so strong Grand Circle Tier 7 Laws massed over it even though its owner had long gone. Zane found it quite intriguing.

This man had no aura at all. The closer he got to Empyrean, the better a sense Zane got for it. Most Empyreans still leaked a little aura, especially new ones like Haxorax. This fellow, and folks like Noughtfire or the Barbarian Sage, truly leaked nothing.

It was another level of control.

“Call me Striker.” He held out a hand, which Zane took.

“You’re Noughtfire’s disciple, right?” said Zane. “One of his eldest.”

“How’d you figure that?”

“We’ve met before. You were sweeping the stairs to Noughtfire’s study that one time. I’m pretty sensitive to soul signatures.”

“…Yeah, you got me.” The man smiled. “Noughtfire told me, in no uncertain terms, he was finished taking disciples after Lin. Imagine my surprise when I came back.”

Zane didn’t know that, actually. “So where’d that blood come from?”

He was pretty sure that was Monster Emperor-level blood. He knew a few creatures like that had broken out of their cells, but his impression was they were still trapped in the Superdungeon.

“This?” Striker looked down. “The Edge. It’s impossible not to get bloodied there.”

“The what now?”

“The Edge of the galaxy,” Striker clarified. “A zone that’s half inside Dragonspire, half outside. It’s so rife with Corruption scars it’s like looking at an endless shattered pane of glass, front-on. I find it quite beautiful… it’s also deadly. It’s claimed the lives of dozens of Hegemon-rankers since it opened up three hundred thousand years ago. If you’re a powerhouse and you want a challenge, there’s no better place.”

Zane perked up.

He was realizing it didn’t take a lot to get him to do that.

“I’ve never heard of it.”

Striker shrugged. “There’s a reason for that. The truth is, you have to have a fairly cavalier attitude toward your life to try it, even for a top-tier powerhouse. You’ve got to truly want it. I’ve found, over the years, I’m rather alone in devoting my life to that place. It’s where I’ve spent most of my time these past few… hundred thousand, two hundred thousand years?”

Striker scratched his chin. “I come back every now and again to shoot the shit with Noughtfire. Otherwise, it’s all out there. I saw your fight with that dragon prince. You’d like it.”

“Really, now.”

“There are classes of rare Monsters you simply don’t see in Dragonspire, Monsters exclusive to the Far Reaches—the zones just outside this Galaxy. Take End Dragons, for instance.”

“I’ve never heard of them.”

“They’re an apex Monster type—cousin species to Malzareth. Born peak True Gods, maturing at Empyrean, stretching the lengths of several planets… it feels like fighting entire worlds when you fight one of them. They never leave the Edge.”

Striker took out the piece of straw he was chewing on.

There were many reasons a man could fight, but Zane definitely got the sense, just talking to him, that this fellow fought simply because he enjoyed it.

“The real fun’s the bounty hunts,” said Striker. “The System doesn’t like it when Endbringer-tier Monsters invade Galaxies… that’s the only time, outside of Wars, it hands out its precious Credits. There are 'Doom Zones' out there—zones full of Corruption, spawning ten or fifteen Emperor-class Bosses. All of which have to be cleared. The System puts bounties on that. But the real prizes come from the scalps. Take out an End Dragon bounty… that’ll rack you a hundred Credits, easily.”

“That’s not enough to entice folks to give it a try?”

“You’re underestimating how hard it is to kill an End Dragon.”

Zane was already sold.

But Striker saw the look on his face. “Not so fast. You’ll need a Distortion Field to get in, minimum,” he said. “Give it until True God.”

“Ah,” said Zane, disappointed. That was a pity.

There was no chance he’d get to it before the War started, pretty much. He’d be rushing just to make Grand Circle and then True God before then.

He wasn’t sure he’d get to visit this place anytime soon, come to think of it.

Still—“Good to know, though.”

Striker put his straw back in, started chewing on it, and flashed a grin.

“If it sounds like I’m selling you on it, I am. It’d be nice to see someone else out there. The place deserves far more attention.”

Zane watched the man vanish into a teleporter.

He’d taken a quick look at the Hegemon Ranking after his duel with Haxorax—just to get a sense of who were the big shots.

He was sure he’d never seen that Striker name on there. Maybe it was an alias, but the ranking included other names that were clearly aliases too.

He thought it was more likely that ranking simply didn’t include the fellow, since he wasn’t active enough. He got the feeling it didn’t include a few folks. Most still thought it was broadly accurate; it was the trusted rank in the Galaxy, and Empyreans definitely seemed to care where they landed on it. But there were a handful of folk it didn’t account for.

He continued on to Noughtfire’s study planet.

***

He knocked.

“Come on in,” said Noughtfire, and he did.

“New tea?”

A strong scent suffused the room as he stepped in.

“That’s right,” said Noughtfire. He poured out a cup. “I must confess I’m starting to feel my age. I’d done more fieldwork in my youth. But it’s not so easy dodging traps these days."

“You went poking around the Superdungeon again,” Zane realized.

“Something like that.” Noughtfire took a sip. Zane did too.

It felt like he’d taken a shot of pure energy. He blinked.

The old fellow seemed a little more weary every time Zane visited these days. But he still seemed in good spirits, at least. He hoped Noughtfire was doing alright.

“So!” said Noughtfire. “You’re here for your reward, I take it.”

Zane nodded.

“Congratulations are in order,” said Noughtfire, smiling a little. “There you are, then. It’s yours.”

He held out a palm, and there was the Galaxy Gear. A gear that was nearly transparent, glowing with blue System light; a smaller gear turned counter-clockwise inside of it, a gear made of pure Creation.

“Take it to the heart of Astra, and there you may place this gear. That will open a portal to where you need to go. The Pure Yang Lands, a land at the dawn of the ages, formed not long after Dragonspire itself. It is also called the ‘Forge of the Night Sky,’ for the matter that made nearly every star in this Galaxy comes from that land, expelled by its geysers. Every crystal formed there is instantly a peak Divine treasure, and you’ll even find the occasional Destruction shard cropping up naturally. But what you’re after there is the Law. You’ll find no purer starfire.”

Zane blinked. “There are Destruction shards there?”

“Creation and Destruction were much more abundant back then,” said Noughtfire. “They almost never occur in nature nowadays. But nearly every Shard of Destruction was mined in those times. Spend a few decades there, and you may save some System Credits yet.”

He wouldn’t be able to use them right away. But he still liked the idea of stacking up a stockpile. He did have quite a way to go to get to the full thousand-or-so shards. Might as well get a head start.

Noughtfire put down his cup. “But there are dangers. Five of the Nine Prime Endbringers are now loose in the Superdungeon. Malzareth has grown eager to the point of rushing, flexing its might, as it were. The only one you need to consider right now is Hreinn the Undying. Hreinn is a weasel of the highest order. He weasels out of traps. He weasels through gaps in space-time, out of sure-kill scenarios… the Superdungeon keeps close watch on its maximum-security prisoners, even jailbroken. But I wouldn’t put it past Hreinn to be able to weasel at least a part of himself out. There’s no doubt that you are among the highest priorities on his master’s kill list. Even if the Weasel can’t truly enter the Pure Yang Lands without a Galaxy Gear, he can get close. Anything he tries will be indirect at best, likely via avatars of himself, which limits the damage he can do… but if he finds you, he will try to end you. That said, be careful and I have a feeling you’ll be just fine.”

“I will.” He’d keep a close watch on the astral plane. If Noughtfire felt it shouldn’t be much trouble, he trusted the old fellow.

“Hreinn is cleverer than his master. But he can be so eager to get at his enemy that he leaves himself open to reprisals. If you find a chance to stomp on the rat’s tail, so to speak, do take it… it may help to make some friends.”

“Got it.” He put that in the back of his mind. He assumed Noughtfire had a plan in mind. It sounded cryptic for now, but he just accepted it’d make sense later.

“The main threats there come from the land itself,” said Noughtfire, stroking his beard. “The Pure Yang is bursting with the stuff that lit the stars, the purest form of starfire ever seen—stuff you’d never find in modern times. Some of the bosses that place breeds would threaten anyone on the Hegemon Ranking. You’ll remember that Creation and Destruction were much more abundant back then; that rubbed off on its Monsters too. Then there are the people. A fair few of the strongest experts of ancient times made pilgrimages to the Pure Yang, at one point or another! This was a time before the Great Factions. But you ought not underestimate these experts. Many could match Elders of Great Factions, or more. Then…”

Noughtfire smiled a knowing smile. “Then there are others who might get there using similar methods as yourself. There are only a handful of Galaxy Gears scattered across time. But by no means is that the only one. Again—keep an eye out, and you should be fine.”

“And you’re sure this Hreinn couldn’t get his hands on a Galaxy Gear?” said Zane.

“I know the locations of every Galaxy Gear across time and who’s using them,” said Noughtfire. “No. It’s not possible.”

“So you know who’s going there at the same time as I am.”

“I do.”

“Will you tell me?”

“No.” 

Zane considered it. “Will it mess with time, or something?”

A pause.

“I’m not certain,” said Noughtfire at last. “Perhaps not. Time is surprisingly resilient. Regardless—safest to keep it a surprise, I think.”

“Fair enough.”