Acind Isaacs' footsteps rang on the cobblestones like the tolling of a cathedral bell, as if his feet were those of Atlas himself. Measured, powerful, deep. But Acind stood no taller than twenty centimeters.
His body was tiny compared to the high buildings and colossal walls surrounding him. How strange. Long ago, he would have trembled at their presence. Now, he saw them as just another piece of scenery, like a common mountain before the Blast. Had he changed that much? It seemed distant. Far, far back.
Acind clenched his fingers into a fist. The Song resonated in his veins. He felt it writhing, almost out of control. He looked up at the towering buildings and sighed lightly. If he wanted to, he could bring them down with a mere flick of his index finger. He had the power. When had his childhood dreams turned into reality? Even though years had passed, he still wasn't used to this "new" world and what he could do.
Acind continued advancing along the mossy, cracked path marked by the cobblestones. He dodged a row of damp skulls and stopped to smell the wind. There was no light other than the glow of a distant campfire. Yet his sense of smell told him everything he needed to know. Rainwater, rotting logs, crumbling concrete, and the Endriagos.
Distant, yes, but present. That, too, was outside the norm, just like many other things.
The Endriagos were perhaps the most abnormal thing in this new world. Unlike the screams in the night, the green gloom, the cold day, or his creaking soul… they admitted no words.
He recognized just one. The enormous overload of corrupted particles flowed uninterrupted from a nearby tower. It was within a 500-meter radius, indicating its strength was colossal.
"Master, I think it is alone."
Acind started, then nodded, his face shadowed. He turned to look at his companion. He would have preferred she stay at Base Zero, but Hycanothia had the peculiarity of being quite stubborn. The slender woman was older than him, but she truly believed he was her master, and nothing in the world would convince her otherwise. Perhaps he needed to be more forceful with her, he reminded himself.
"Is it worth it?" Hycanothia asked again for the umpteenth time.
"Ten thousand fragments aren't found under rocks."
"We could collect them if we murder all the Endriagos in the other zones."
"No. It must be this one."
"Why?" Hycanothia looked expressionlessly at the tower.
"Because this Necromancer of Invertebrates has a Special Element."
Acind crouched and, with his index finger, took a sample from the cobblestones.
"Moisture," said his companion.
"Golden," Acind added.
"Isn't it too much for the two of us?"
Acind took off his hood. Icy drops were beginning to fall. Was this also the Endriago's fault? His long red cape billowed. Upon being uncovered, his long Possessed hair stirred as if it had a life of its own, revealing the glyphs of the Predestined on his upper forehead. Without answering that uncomfortable question, he resumed his march. Yes, it worried him too. He had been curious the first time he heard of the subject, but now he was more than interested. He wanted the Optinium.
They walked a few minutes to the entrance of Tower 16. The cobblestones became covered in a layer of gold that grew thicker and thicker. The bluish glass door looked like the mouth of an immense portal, and the light pouring from it resembled hellfire.
Both approached without haste and with care. The ERGO Residential Complex, the Black Zone that no one dared approach—save for the very powerful or the very stupid—had the particularity of being highly unpredictable. No Visionarius had ever been able to interpret the Paths.
"There are people in the tower," Hycanothia said, her voice raspy.
"Do you think they are from the Mages group or the Knights group?"
Hycanothia sighed.
"More importantly. What will we do?"
"Nothing," Acind added, his tone cold.
"They must be Mid-tiers; perhaps they will survive."
Acind twisted his lips.