Icicles the size of mountain peaks tore through the ground, shimmering with deadly portent as they pierced toward the Heavens. The biome suffocated under the unrelenting chill, countless lives falling into eternal slumber. Only the strongest were able to endure, yet they knew their home was no more. They fled between the towering spikes, their bodies lacerated by the frigid winds as they tried to escape the tiger's range. Only one being went against the migration.
Bubbur grimaced as his skin blistered from frostbite, yet he kept going. Surviving the initial eruption was already an improvement on the original timeline. A day had passed since, and the Imperial Faith was mostly faded. There was no need to leave the mountains like the others, he just needed to survive another hour.
This was his fiftieth memory lantern, in which he had seen all kinds of fates. Some met a premature end through mistakes of their own making. Others were victims in the continent's perpetual struggles. Some, like the army surveyor he currently inhabited, were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sent to survey the beast tribes where the Imperial Road was meant to cross, he'd encountered an event that should be impossible this close to the shallows. An Ice-attuned tiger was defending its Dao, causing the entire region to descend into an ice age. Seeing as the strongest beasts were only Early Beast Emperors, the ascent had to be related to some unique inheritance.
Bubbur had no designs on the ancient tiger's opportunity. He knew his limits. Following Wisthur's memories, Bubbur finally saw the cave. Once home to one of the local tyrants, it had already been abandoned. Even the deadly ambient Dao of its long-term resident had been dispersed by the intense icy Dao.
The C-grade basilisk couldn't spare the time to gather everything when it was forced to flee, harvesting only the most valuable. What was deemed inconsequential to the beast was a rare treasure to Bubbur, who spent the better part of an hour scouring the place clean. Natural Treasures, unripe D-grade herbs, even molted scales entered his Cosmos Ring.
This was the third burrow he'd hit, and there wouldn't be a fourth. The lantern could no longer sustain Bubbur's greed, and the world finally collapsed. It was for the best. Much longer, and he would have turned into a popsicle like the weaker animals. Still, Bubbur had remembered to leave the original body a way out. He should have enough energy to escape the domain.
The complex machinations of these memories were beyond his understanding, and he didn't much care about the details. It was a matter of honor. These lanterns invariably left him a richer man, so he should leave the owners a way to survive. If nothing else, it should prevent these ancient ghosts from haunting him, or worse, demanding a cut of the spoils.
Bubbur exhaled as he looked up at the foreign sky. Becoming a lone hero who rolled in to save the day had lost its novelty after experiencing so many lives. He missed his old brothers. Things were simpler back in the Muscle Brigade. The big picture was for the big bosses. All he needed to worry about was the enemies placed in front of him, and he had his fellow soldiers to share the burden.
"Fifty good deeds. I wouldn't be surprised if there are shrines depicting me inside these ghost realms at this point," Bubbur grinned before a frown appeared on his face. "Wait, I look different each time, so how will they know it was me? Ah, forget it."
Bubbur glanced at the pillar for the Daedalian Court far in the distance, not surprised it had gained another halo during his adventure. It had been neck-and-neck with the Mercurial Court since the beginning, and it was about time it caught up. It didn't matter much to Bubbur, who hadn't even reached the halfway point to the Tethered Court. He mostly saw it as a countdown to let him know how much time he had left.
'Papa, you're back! I'm hungry.'
"Hungry? No problem. Papa hit it big this time," Bubbur grinned as he channeled some energy into his beast pouch.
A small, yellow songbird with a fiery tuft atop its head came out. She shot out like a bullet, moving a mile in the blink of an eye. Bubbur watched her go. He wasn't afraid she would get herself in trouble. The little thing was a natural scout, both capable of hiding her presence and sensing danger. Soon enough, she returned, where Bubbur waited with his latest haul. She chose the petal of an Early D-grade flower for dinner before settling on Bubbur's shoulder.
Bubbur scratched her head, once more marveling at his good luck. The lanterns were a stable source of riches, and the continent itself was not much worse. The difference was that the dangers were harder to estimate out in the open. A seemingly normal mountain could house a terrifying beast or a weird spirituality that killed anything that came close. Other places were like open-air treasuries with no safeguards in place.
The little bird was found in the latter. A solitary egg was left atop the mouth of a high-grade Nexus Vein. It was exposed to the wind and rain, and a skeleton of an avian was lying nearby. The egg was only kept alive through the constant infusion of Cosmic Energy. Just when Bubbur had decided on which recipe to use, the egg went ahead and hatched.
Bubbur was surprised to find that the little thing inside had a Peak E-grade cultivation at birth. More shocking was that Molly mastered the human language in less than five months. Bubbur knew almost nothing about animal bloodlines, and even he could tell this bird was something special. He had to admit its prospects likely eclipsed his own, which was absolutely fine. If nurtured well, he could retire in her protective shade.
Dinner was cut short as a distant eruption illuminated the whole continent. Bubbur looked over with alarm as he covered Molly with a calloused hand. As if sensing the threat to its supremacy, the Mercurial Court's pillar ignited a ninth halo. Going by the spectacle, it was also the last one.
The pillar transformed into a supermassive sun that suppressed one of the continent's directions. Bubbur was more than a year's travel from the Mercurial Court, yet he could feel its warmth against his skin. It was filled with the conviction of the Limitless Empire, mixed with something Bubbur didn't understand. It was the same stuff as what made up the seals.
An unfamiliar procession of imagery filled his mind. He saw a burning brazier reaching for the sky, a chain snapping. He saw a submerged prison with an uncountable number of levels rising toward the surface. He experienced waking from a dream stuck on repeat, a war where soldiers butchered their shadows. Each vision held truths that went straight over his head yet left his soul throbbing in pain.
The pillar was back by the time Bubbur came to. Only its halos were gone. It didn't make the court's pillar look weak compared to the others. On the contrary, it felt tangible in a way that the others did not.
"Something's changed," Molly tweeted.
"It always changes after I grab another lantern. I traveled quite the distance this time," Bubbur said distractedly.
"Not that. The air is different. Weaker," Molly tweeted.
"Weaker how?"
The songbird didn't get the chance to answer before another eruption took place. A ninth halo appeared above the Daedalian Court. It looked odd compared to the others. Rather than a seamless mix of different concepts, this halo had two distinct halves. The left was made of the imperial flames of the Limitless Empire; the other, the golden radiance of the smiling baldies.
Like just moments before, a sun ignited, and a series of complex images squeezed into Bubbur's mind. Possibly due to the distance, Bubbur only saw a series of hazy images this time. Still, his mind was already mush after the previous go-around. He only managed to glimpse a corner of a complex spiderweb of bridges before he was forced to empty his stomach. Still, things weren't over.
"What's going on?" Bubbur groaned as three halos ignited simultaneously in different courts, including his own Tethered Court. Only then did things finally settle.
"The air. The air is weaker," Molly reiterated.
"Ah?" Bubbur said, finally tearing his eyes from the spectacle.
It was only then that Bubbur understood what his little helper was talking about. The ambient energy was noticeably weaker than just moments before. It would still count as holy ground back home, but it was still a stark difference. The energy-dense mists that covered the hills had mostly disappeared, and the Heavens felt more distant than ever.
"Lanterns, the lanterns," Molly tweeted.
"Shit, where'd they go?"
There'd been a few dozen memory lanterns in the vicinity when he emerged. Now there were only five, and they were falling faster toward the ground. Bubbur's eyes turned to the two completed pillars. It had to be them. The Outer Courts were drawing on the Continent's energy. Going by how far-reaching the effects were, they were up to something big.
"Damn high-achievers," Bubbur complained. "What's wrong with taking your time? I haven't even covered a corner of this continent."
"Papa, look!"
Bubbur froze when he saw the mountain range that had been exposed by the dispersing mists. At its edge were three peaks, each with a sharp diagonal cut as if a great swordsman had decided to redraw the skyline. Nestled between them was a river wide enough to house small islands. Bubbur quickly brought out the ragged map he'd inherited from his twenty-something identity.
It was one of the experiences that remained clear to this day because of how close he'd come to dying. The wound that claimed his left eye and filled the hole with unstable energy came from that very memory.
Months of smooth sailing had left him complacent. Rather than adhering to the rules he set up for himself, carefully analyzing the lanterns to confirm they matched his temperament and skill set, he'd succumbed to greed. The lantern was too radiant, even emitting tantalizing waves of some powerful treasure.
Bubbur barely came out in one piece from that nightmare, and he never saw so much as the shadow of whatever emitted that powerful spirituality. His only reward was a few pills full of Earthly taint and a tattered map that depicted the very mountains before him. He'd often taken it out during downtime to study its landmarks, and Molly had naturally looked at it as well.
There was no question in his mind that this treasure map was the real deal. He couldn't so much as leave a mark on the map. It had to be made from at least Middle C-grade beast hide. No one would bother using such precious materials for a prank. Of course, whether heaven or hell waited at the "X" was harder to say.
Fifty good deeds were enough. It was time to look out for himself.
"Let's go, Molly! This will be our final haul."
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The Flame of Destiny silently burned inside the observatory. Powered by the Left Imperial Palace and connected to the Imperial Road, the solitary tower laid bare the complex weave that covered the continent. Seated by the flame, she watched as Destiny sublimated.
The Mercurial Court being the first to lock in its trajectory should have come as a surprise. The Vigil had deemed it the second most challenging to overturn after conferring with the Pesvati Rift. On the other hand, she had seen the winds manifest that day—the force of nature that was the Void Emperor. Recalling his face and their shared look brought faded memories back to the surface.
The Flameguard turned to the Daedalian Court, the second pyre to be lit. "Did the shift force you to compromise, or is this too part of your design?"
The Sangha's goals remained one of the few things beyond her grasp since she'd accepted the flame. It was shrouded in countless layers of possibility, woven into an inscrutable weave of Karma. Such was the fickleness of Destiny. So long as it stayed within bounds and resonated with the flame, it was permitted.
The Flameguard's gaze moved between the Farsee Court and the Anima Court. They would be the second pair. The momentum was already there, the threads there for the taking. At that point, the bridge would be fully operational, drastically reducing the weight on the others. Accordingly, the main actors were gathering.
Her gaze pierced through walls and structures to see the man standing by the teleporter. He was watching the changes like everyone else, pretending to be an observer when he was the one to open the floodgates. The continent was awakening, and falsehoods were becoming truth. The blemish on the tapestry was the arrival of the ninth Flamebearer.
Her attempts at exile had failed, and her control over the flame remained limited. That didn't mean she was helpless. She stepped through the flame and appeared before a small courtyard lined with white pebbles. It remained sealed behind four absolutes that not even Supremacies could overcome. And yet, a hidden trail made of burning gold led her further inside.
Fate must be decided by man, not the Heavens.
---------------
The array was surrounded by four statues reaching four meters. Once depicting devout servants of the empire, they now were cardinals of rot. A black, viscous liquid poured from their mouths and pooled into ponds that fueled the taboo arrangement. After weeks of channeling in the depths of the corrupted zone, the seemingly infinite supply had nearly run dry.
The sinister aura pulsated as though alive. In some sense, it was. A spike was erected at the array's core, upon which a trembling head was impaled. After the modifications, one could only vaguely make out that it was once a young woman. Despite being decapitated, her suffering wasn't over. She was being kept alive to be stripped of her identity while having her Destiny seized.
Festering wounds opened along the arrays drawn on her shorn head. Her own [Fatesiphon Seal] was fastened against her forehead, acting as a conduit for the ritual. Threads ancient beyond measure covered her eyes, yet Yselio could feel her stare right at him.
"I'm sorry, my friend. The backlash was worse than I expected, forcing me to take drastic measures," Yselio said with a slight smile as he infused more of the First Era's Dao into the severed head.
There was no falsehood in his words. Having his actions exposed by the Second Prince of the Theomore Dynasty could only be chalked up as exceedingly bad luck. Perhaps it was a karmic backlash from leveraging sin. Crushing half of Arteris Theormore's body to make his escape brought little satisfaction. That wound was shallow compared to the festering providence targeting his heart. Thankfully, the Heavens always left a door open for the diligent.
"Look at it from the bright side; you got to glimpse the present before the others," Yselio continued, glancing at the filled-out pillars on the opposite side of the Left Imperial Expanse. "Of course, if you ask me, I doubt things will go as you planned. You might be the only one to emerge from the dream."
Turning his focus back to the array, Yselio nodded with satisfaction. His previous experiment suffered repeated setbacks because of external factors. This time, the chaos in the other courts acted in his favor. Something had caused the corruption to settle down, leaving it more manageable. It was like coal in winter as the transfer reached completion.
Destiny and Dao poured into the small spiral-shaped metal knot. Half of it was pristine white, the other utter black. Like himself, it held a duality. Yselio carefully guided the array. The pools stirred, and a storm of providence erupted. The head shook with agony as the last of its Destiny was sacrificed.
The whole zone groaned, and the memory domain rushed closer. From covering a thousand miles, its domain was ultimately reduced to a mere fifty yards. Runes carved with Imperial Qi ignited across the knot's surface, and it squirmed as though alive. Yselio seized the ancient relic and directly pushed it into the open wound by his heart.
As it settled next to his heart, Yselio took the ancient thread that acted as a blindfold. Two hollowed-out eyes stared at him, though not for long. Without the relic of the Ancient Arcana keeping it isolated, the head couldn't withstand the rejection of the present.
'Traitor's blood... You... will not... have a good end...'
Yselio smiled. "What do the circumstances of my death matter if my journey is long and rich?"
He glanced at the memory domain trapping the corrupted zone in a bubble. It was a good thing he'd prepared a spare identity. It should last long enough to reach the teleporter. Still, some preparation couldn't hurt. He began sewing up his wound with the thread, and the rambunctious relic immediately settled. A secondary beat echoed from within, one holding infinite malice.
"Empire's glory, Heavenly sin. Light and dark entwined," Yselio laughed.
The winds were still gathering. It wouldn't be too late to meet the competition in a week or two.
-- -- --
A/N: Alright, that's it with the POV's... for now.