Music for today:
Rok Nardin - Quantum Field (Andor Official Trailer Music)
https://youtu.be/cRy5RpOIYkw
-------------
Chapter 468: The Horizon
Early Evening - Mid Summer : Year ??? : Delphi
-----
Life is a puzzling thing. A mass of energy woven together by chaos to create an organic husk that can only be operated by a soul.. a cloud of energy fundamentally different from matter, yet possibly even more enigmatic.
The deeper you look, and the more you study, the more complicated it all becomes and the more anomalous it all appears. Animals are conglomerations of multi-celled organisms, multi-celled organisms are conglomerations of singular cells, and those smallest lifeforms are merely constructions of matter that solely exist to change energy from one form to another.
Even to a mind filled to the brim with knowledge and wisdom accumulated over eons, asking the fundamental 'why' or even 'how' was a laughably fruitless endeavor. No matter how deep I dug or how much I believed I understood, the logic only grew more complex and inexplicable at every turn. Every time I answered one question, dozens more would appear like I had simply opened a gate to more paths in an infinite, intertwining web.
At first, it was honestly quite motivating. When I got stumped in one place, I could take another path and work back to it from the opposite direction, but as years turned into millennia, I began discovering that.. even I had my limits...
As a being who had only ever understood the universe through the lens of mana, every time I found evidence it wasn't the foundation of the universe and rather merely a support, it felt like I was betraying the understanding I dedicated my life to, and my subconscious would reject it. I knew it was wrong.. I knew my mind was simply being stubborn, but the more I pushed through that subconscious blockage, the more it hindered me.
Until eventually, near the end of the war with the Pantheon, the depth of my knowledge had reached its limit, and the endless mass of unanswerable questions still looming in my mind became a disease I couldn't rid of...
As Hera was worn down by the war, the fall began. Knowing I would only spiral into insanity if I kept slamming my head into the wall known as science, I tried changing directions.
Tightening the scope of my studies, I began looking more into Delphi's star system, digging into the state and origin of the planet, the star, and the hive, hoping it would be a less fruitless study.
But little did I know.. it would only send me into an even greater wall.
With the death of Hera and the fall of the Pantheon, things on Delphi changed rapidly. In only a couple hundred years, the Aesir took control of humanity, and with the birth and rise of adventurers, beings like the thunderbirds and dragons were gradually displaced.
This was not abnormal.
Having gotten a deep understanding of the flow of previous generations from Hera, the humans under the Aesir weren't actually growing all that much faster than normal, and even the displacement of creatures was exactly as she anticipated.
However, that was when I began noticing the 'oddities'.
With what should have been the continually accelerating growth of humanity, Delphi's mana atmosphere—or mana emission—began shifting. As if somehow recognizing and compensating for the change in power, the volume of mana the planet released near the humans lessened while in the habitats of other species, it grew thicker. From the elves, to thunderbirds, to dragons, their habitats each began getting supplied different ratios of mana, dungeons began sprouting more in those regions, and in time, even liquid mana pools began surfacing like hotsprings.
It was like weights on a balance were being redistributed.. though.. crudely...
Believing it couldn't just be a coincidence, I stepped in to experiment with it, creating huge mana pools around the world to see how the world's emissions would shift.. and sure enough, after hundreds of years, I finally understood.
Delphi wasn't just a special planet.. it was alive.
While it took countless years, I found Delphi to respond and react to things that happened on the surface or even in space like a creature reacting from things within its aura. However, the more I studied, and the more I learned to be able to predict its reactions and movements, the more I began noticing a trend of inconsistencies...
Though sometimes reactions came quick, were firm, and steady, other times it felt weak and scattered compared to what I predicted. -Almost like its being messed with...- And with more experimenting, I found that some of the pockets of disturbances never actually disappeared, but instead moved around, and even later noticed that the places where they would appear the thickest, dungeons would later surface.
Knowing a being similar to me or the phoenix Konrul was living near the planet's core, I assumed it had to be related to him. Having following his movements with my divinity for many years, he would influence the mana reaching the surface in huge swaths, but the planet had always adapted and adjusted around it.
The other oddities, however, did not have that same correction. -They can't be him...-
So, I investigated the matter personally. The next time I noticed a disturbance in Delphi's mana, I dug down into the mantle to see what the source was myself.
But that was when reality slapped me across the face.
*WOOOOOOOOM* Eating the underside of the planet's crust, where Delphi's mana accumulated before travelling to the surface, there was a colossal larvae, looking akin to a worm almost a thousand kilometers long, with flesh harder than mythril, and more internal mana than any other living creature I had ever seen...
That was except for one... -Void eaters...-
Looking closer at it, I found they weren't merely worms, but the larvae of the monstrosities of the hive, gestating in Delphi like maggots in a carcass. -The genetics are really similar to the fragments of flesh I found when investigating the moon...- And they were absolutely everywhere.
Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of void eater larvae were feeding on the planet like a mass of parasites. -Then.. the big one near the planet's core...- Going deeper into the planet, I moved to investigate the one whose presence was laden with divinity, always circling the planet's core. -Could that one be.. a broodmother..?- It was a a creature I only theorized to exist.. acting like the queen bee of the hive...
But it turned out that even reaching him was a struggle. The closer I got to the core, the more the viscosity of the magma compounded, and the more the planet's core directed mana at me.
But I continued nevertheless.
Pushing deeper and deeper over the course of nearly two thousand years, I sucked in mana like a vacuum, amassed a previously unfathomable amount of divinity, and grew so fast it was almost nauseating before eventually started approaching the core. -I should be getting close...-
But he greeted me long before I reached him. "~To think a being who knows of my presence would dare approach me...~" When he spoke with his divinity, it felt like the entire planet quivered in response. "~Not even the mindless larvae usually reach this deep...~" Feeling his body move against the current, I finally pushed space mana out through the planets aura-like mana only to find a scaled snout so huge it was akin to a lunar surface. "~Who would you be..?~"
He was a serpent—one so huge my whole body couldn't compare to even a single tooth of his. -I see...- "~You must be Jormungandr.~" He was the World Serpent Hera had told me myths of—a being from the stars like me.. yet arrived nearly a million years prior. -What a monster...- Mobilizing more divinity than I had ever needed to, I matched his planet-echoing volume. "~My name is Nott.~"
It was a display that gave him a moment of hesitance... "~Is that how the beings of the surface refer to me..?~"
"~It's the name this world's origin gods gave you.~"
He paused, probing me with his aura before his scales shifted like a chain mesh. "~I see... You must be the one that arrived recently...~" *VWOOOOM* The magma instantly thickened with a crushing force. "~I noticed you liked putting your nose where it doesn't belong. I suppose our meeting was only a matter of time... Do I take it you wish to die?~"
Not bothering to fight it, I remained steady. "~I only wish to better understand this world...~" Flaring even more divinity, I pushed my space mana farther forward, coating the serpent's draconic skull before gripping it like a vice. "~But don't misunderstand. With the mana here, I'm not as weak as you believe I am.~"
His aura tightened instantly before pausing and easing. "~Hmm...~" His tone fell dark before forcing his head out of my space mana with a gentle shake. *Wooom-Woom* "~In that case, I'll entertain... You have questions, yes?~"
Nodding, I eased the sharpness of my aura as he had before finally letting my mind run again. "~This planet is alive, isn't it.~" I didn't want to waste a second.
But the question brought him pause. "~A fascinating proposition...~" Without hardly finishing his breath, his tone shifted. "~It depends what you consider alive. Born? Possessed? Or merely an operating machine?~"
"~Alive with a consciousness.~" I quickly clarified.
But his lips only curled in response. "~Perhaps there was once a time.~"
Feeling something akin to nostalgia in his tone, my fur flared and expression fell with a sudden weight. "~You make it sound like you're related to it...~"
"~Who knows?~"
Watching his lips further curl in the magma, I lifted my paw, only to pause in a moment of restraint as he turned away. "~Then tell me, what is your relation to her?~"
"~Her?~" He froze with a subtle snap in his tone. "~She is my home.~"
My eyes quickly dulled. "~Then the larvae... Why are you letting them consume this world despite calling it home?~"
"~They are my crops.~" Pausing by a smaller larvae that wandered too close, he stuck out his snake-like tongue before swirling the magma with a swish and mincing the worm into chum with the currents alone. "~They were once food to sate my hunger, but now they are for my young.~"
-Does that mean the hive was here when he first arrived..?- Pushing my space mana out further, I watched as dozens of smaller serpents hiding behind him slithered through the magma before reaching and tearing apart the scattered chunks of flesh like starved fish. "~So you're using this planet like an egg... The same as the hive...~"
He gently nodded, shifting the currents in the magma so violently it shredded several more small larvae a thousand kilometers away. "~The hive lays eggs for me to consume, the core supplies me and my young with the mana to grow, and I exist as a deterrent to keep the surface from being consumed.~"
-A deterrent...- I wanted to scoff. "~As if the hive is afraid of you...~"
"~Hoh?~" His curiosity piqued with an arrogant flare of divinity. "~If it isn't me protecting this planet, what could possibly-~"
"~Its star.~"
His smile faded as the scales around his head suddenly flared like gills and his eyes turned to mine.
"~You know just as well as I that there is something more to-~"
"~Stop.~" He cut me off instantly—his voice turning heavy, weighted, and commanding. "~I assumed you were merely a nosey dog, but it seems I overestimated your ignorance.~"
-Excuse me?- Watching his scales sharpen and flare in ripples, I felt my skin crawl.
"~You desire knowledge that will bring the end of everything you know, and I have no interest in getting caught in the crossfire.~" Opening his mouth, liquid mana began seeping out like like a river of poison from the glands of a basilisk. "~I merely entertained your questions out of boredom... But if you cannot throw away your desire to look over that horizon, I will kill you. Right here. Right now.~"
-----
Read up to 5 chapters ahead of schedule, and get early access to artwork on My Patreon!
(In case Embedded Link doesn't work: https://www.patreon.com/TDOD )
-------------
Also, please feel free to check out our discord for all updates related to TDOD releases! https://discord.gg/Dv7G5bQD4v
All are welcome!
---
Also if you are looking for a new story, check out my new novel! Re: The System's Harvester
On RR, SH, and now Webnovel!