Chapter 143 - Introductions Are In Order

Anny watched it all happen.

From the moment the innkeeper had mentioned 'Him,' she knew something was off. The wrongness hit her like a physical blow, and she felt it crawling under her skin in that moment—the void with its slippery tendrils worming their way into reality itself. She knew it all too well.

She tried to call out, to move, to do anything, but her body refused to listen. Her throat felt sealed shut, and her vocal cords frozen. She could only sit there, a prisoner in her own flesh, forced to watch as everyone around her joined in on the chants with those horrible, vacant expressions. She managed to resist her own voice from joining, but that was all.

(Nova! Nova, please snap out of it! Use silver, or anything!) Her mental voice through the ring carried every ounce of desperation she could muster, but the connection felt muffled, as if the void were dampening even their magical bond.

The voice didn't seem to reach him, or if it did, he could not respond. His face remained blank, puppet-like, as he moved with jerky, unnatural motions.

Perhaps if she had absorbed the heart of the void lord, she could have done something, perhaps if she had her sword in her hand.

But she was forced to watch on as Nova moved to the blackened door, with his arm stretched out.

The Fool had finally found an opening.

But then, just as his fingertips were about to close around the handle, the room turned white. Absolutely, resplendently white, so brilliant it should have been blinding yet somehow wasn't. Only the door remained black, a void-touched wound against the pristine expanse, while everything else was pure white that seemed to pulse with divine authority.

It was like time had stopped.

‘What is this?!’

"Get away from here, you voidling beast! As long as I am here, no speck of void shall come near this realm!" The voice thundered through the whiteness with such power that Anny felt it in her bones, righteous and absolute, but also somehow warm. 

The black door slowly began to turn white, as if white paint were approaching the center from the edges. The darkness fought back, writhing and pulsing like a living thing, but it was no match for whatever force had manifested. And with a final puff of dark smoke that dissipated like a dying breath, it was gone.

Only moments after, the whiteness of the room disappeared as well, as if everything had been a dream. And most of the people in the room seemed to think just that—their faces showed only mild confusion, as if waking from an afternoon nap.

Even Millie went back to eating that greasy sandwich, with the only thing of note being her puzzled expression as to why she had ever dropped it. She picked up the fallen bread with a small frown, brushing off crumbs as if nothing extraordinary had happened at all.

But Nova was still at the door, standing frozen in the same stance like a statue caught mid-motion. His hand was hovering right above the handle, as if still reaching for something that was no longer there. His breathing was shallow, almost imperceptible.

(...Nova?) Anny's mental voice carried a tremor of worry.

No response.

Anny stood from her table and walked over to him, ignoring the innkeeper who stood there scratching her forehead with a bewildered expression, as if trying to remember something important that kept slipping away.

She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, feeling the tension coiled in his muscles like tightly wound springs. "Are you okay, Nova?"

He blinked slowly, as if waking from a deep trance, and his hand finally dropped to his side. "...Yeah… Yeah, I'm okay." His voice was hoarse, strained from whatever internal battle he'd just fought.

"He must have realized you no longer have your immunity to madness down here…" Anny's voice was quiet as her eyes darted around the room to make sure no one was listening. "I don't want to think about what could have happened."

“Yeah…”

"Let's go sit down for a bit." Anny tugged gently at his sleeve, trying to guide him away from the door that still seemed to hold an ominous presence despite appearing perfectly normal.

“No, I… That white light.”

“Yeah?”

"There's only one person who could have done that." His voice was a mix of disbelief and growing certainty.

"The dungeon king?" Anny's brow furrowed in confusion.

"No, not the dungeon king." He turned to survey the rest of the room, then to Millie, who was still eating her sandwich, utterly oblivious to what had just happened. "...We should go find him. Is she done eating?"

"It's that important?" Anny could hear the urgency building in his voice, see the determined set of his shoulders. 

He nodded firmly, leaving no room for doubt. “Yes. Millie, come here! You can bring the sandwich.”

“Okay!” Millie jumped down from the chair and ran over with her grip firmly around the bread. Crumbs scattered in her wake as she bounced on her toes. "Are we going somewhere?"

"Yes, a short trip. Or, maybe a long one, depending on whether he wants to be found." Nova's eyes held a distant look, as if he were already calculating routes and possibilities.

“Who?” Anny asked, unable to hold her curiosity.

“...It shouldn’t be possible, so I’ll wait until we find him before saying anything for sure. But if I’m right, we definitely have a way out of here. Probably.”

“Definitely probably?”

“I don’t know. Let’s go.”

Nova opened the door and stepped outside into the morning sun, looking determined as ever.

‘Who could it be for him to be this confident?’ Anny wondered as she followed after, with Millie skipping between them with her sandwich held high like a banner.

‘There’s no one else it could be. But how? And why here, of all places?’

Nova stepped through the streets with hurried steps, tracking the faint traces of essence through the air like an invisible thread. 

Down one street, through a narrow alley that reeked of old garbage and damp stone, then up a hill lined with wide stairways that climbed toward the city's upper district, speeding past the civilians who turned their heads to look at him.

Behind him, Millie was struggling to keep up and eat at the same time, so Anny swept her up onto her shoulders and followed after. She seemed to notice how focused Nova was at the moment and stayed quiet, regardless of the numerous questions that were likely building up steam in her mind.

The essence trail was getting thinner, harder to trace with each step. And suddenly it split into several directions at once, branching out like a spider web of possibilities that made Nova's head spin as he tried to follow each thread. But it was a trick he knew already.

‘He’s close, watching who’s trying to follow him…’

Nova looked around, sweeping over every potential hiding spot. He inspected the weathered tavern on one side of the road with its grimy windows and faded sign, then the imposing stone bank on the other with its ornate facade and multiple floors. 

The windows made them perfect for surveilling the area without being seen, with dark reflective surfaces that could hide any number of watchers. But none showed any trace of his savior.

‘What would I do in this situation? I would hide nearby and watch, unless I felt threatened by whoever was following me. Or, unless I had a hiding place nearby that I knew was safe…’

His eyes traveled from the nearby roads to the cobblestone beneath his feet, then they flashed red as he activated his thermal vision. It allowed him to see the faint geometric lines of a formation that had just been activated beneath the street's surface, still slightly warmer than its surroundings.

‘Okay, spatial formation, that tells me where he is. But I doubt he would react nicely if I were to break in just like that… So I need to get him to open it up for me.’

Nova took a deep breath, centering himself before speaking the words he hoped would serve as the right key. "...The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Before the last word was out of his mouth, the formation roared to life under his feet. The entire street was bathed in a sudden burst of essence so heavy and overwhelming that the very air seemed to thicken, shimmering with visible distortions. Nova had to shield Millie with a quick barrier to make sure she was alright.

‘That got a reaction, as I expected.’

The buildings on the side of the street suddenly started to part with a grinding sound of stone against stone. A new building materialized in between them, with dark and dreary architecture, standing three stories tall. The existing buildings yielded to its presence, pushing aside like they were made of dough rather than solid stone and timber.

The entrance opened with a heavy creak as soon as the house stopped expanding, ancient hinges protesting the movement. Out stepped an old man with long, white hair that flowed past his shoulders and a matching beard that reached nearly to his chest. His eyes were piercing blue, sharp as winter ice, studying Nova with a look that carried as many questions as he had himself.

"How do you know those words, young man?" The question came out strained, almost breathless.

It was the same voice that had thundered through the inn earlier, but far more subdued.

"It would be strange if I didn't," Nova replied with a slight smile before turning to Anny and Millie, who were just catching up with bewildered expressions. Anny's eyes were wide as she took in the impossible sight of a building that hadn't existed moments before, while Millie had stopped mid-chew of her sandwich, staring with open-mouthed wonder.

"Guys, let me introduce you…" Nova made a theatrical show of gesturing to the old man with a flourish of his hand, drawing out the moment as the elderly figure continued to view him with deep suspicion and growing alarm.

"...To Archmage Nova."

Ch.142 --I-- Index --I-- Ch.144