Clyde felt the power of this higher being seep into his body, spreading through his veins like liquid fire, even when the corruption was also present so he must be absorbing it as well.
It wasn’t painful nor was it overwhelming, it was natural as if his body had always been ant to contain this energy. Every fiber of his being drank in the higher being plus the corrupted power.
Suddenly, a faint hum resonated within his core, like an echo of sothing ancient awakening inside him. His grip on the orb tightened as more of its essence flowed into him, its pure light now fully rging with the dark tendrils and lacing into his soul.
The sensation should have alard him and made him hesitate. But Clyde didn’t stop. He rely furrowed his brows and just absorbing more of it.
The more he took in, the clearer it beca. This corruption and tainted energy wasn’t foreign to him. It was familiar, too familiar. Like an old mory buried deep within, now stirring at the edges of his consciousness. That doesn’t make any sense at all.
He letting out a long breath slowly, his breath misting in the charged air around him. The Nexus itself seed to react, the swirling magical storm above the orbs growing unstable.
He then saw small arcs of black energy crackled through the space, jumping from orb to orb like a chain reaction. The corruption was spreading faster because of him.
Clyde finally released the orb and stepped back. His fingers still tingled from the transfer, his body thrumming with more newfound strength. He clenched his fists, flexing them as if testing the sensation. No discomfort, pain, or rejection.
It just felt right.
But one thing he had to pay attention to was that the corruption seed to spread faster because of him. That wasn’t a good thing. He felt like he had beco the cause of this corruption.
"It looks like I should stop doing this for now. I don’t know what will happen if this corruption keeps spreading. What kind of danger will it bring later?"
So Clyde turned around and walked away. Even though he felt like all of this still wasn’t enough to give him the strength he needed, he couldn’t continue spreading this corruption.
Clyde left the tornado, then walked through the tunnel and exited from the side of the mountain, stepping out into the open once more.
And when he was outside, Clyde saw a figure he never expected to encounter — Goddess Pele. She stood there, her posture rigid, staring at him with a deep frown on her face. Her eyes held fear, yet at the sa ti, she radiated urgency. Clyde could tell that she wanted to talk to him.
"What?" Clyde asked simply. In his mind, he began to wonder whether he should tell this goddess what he knew or not.
"You keep coming here and taking our power," Goddess Pele said. "Tell , what is your true goal? Do you intend to kill all of us?"
Clyde stared at her, silent for a few monts. Then, he said, "I don’t know. Maybe. Why do you ask?"
"I figured I should know if I’m going to die," Goddess Pele exhaled sharply, frustration lacing her breath as she gritted her teeth.
"And what happens if you all die?" Clyde asked. He genuinely wanted to know what would happen if these higher beings ceased to exist. He had never considered that before.
"The world of the lower beings will fall into chaos. Do you even realize that our power maintains the order of that world, your world? We control the water, the plants, the air, the sun, the forces of good and evil, and everything else. If we die, all of those things will vanish too."
Clyde remained silent after hearing the goddess’s explanation.
They had always treated humans like him—and any other lower beings like Elves, Dwarves, and others—as nothing more than pawns. But what the Goddess said seed to be true. Lower beings like him did, in fact, need their existence to survive.
Clyde let out a long, heavy sigh. This is too much to think about right now. But deep down, he felt that he needed to let them know sothing was happening to them. He didn’t fully understand what he was feeling, but he just couldn’t allow the lower beings—who were still living their lives—to lose everything they had so suddenly.
"Listen," Clyde said. "The fragnts... don’t ss with them anymore. Tell your other friends in the other realms that they need to get rid of those fragnts."
Goddess Pele looked shocked. She still didn’t understand what Clyde ant. The information about the fragnts from the Black Wall entering their world had not yet reached her.
"W-What do you an?"
"Find out for yourself," Clyde replied.
Then, he opened a portal using his amulet. Without another word, he stepped inside and vanished from that domain, leaving Goddess Pele standing there, her eyes wide with tension.
What Clyde said sounded ominous and frightening. It was clear that sothing big was about to happen. She didn’t know what yet, but she needed to find out — right now.
So Goddess Pele imdiately took off, soaring through the sky at high speed, every step forward driven by urgency.
---
Clyde stepped back into his mansion without wasting any ti. He imdiately reached out to Asqa, his voice carrying an even greater sense of urgency than before.
"Stay away from the fragnts," he told her, his tone sharp and insistent.
She had already heard his warning earlier, but now hearing the way Clyde emphasized it she beca even more certain that the fragnts were dangerous.
After that, Clyde picked up the small rune-etched stone and contacted Graemory, delivering the sa ssage.
Once he had done all he could for now, Clyde sat back down on his bed, exhaling deeply. He knew he had to take action, but what? What was the next step?
Then, suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind—the sa voice he had heard in that dream within the black realm.
"You have grown stronger..."
Clyde tensed.
"Now... is the ti..."
---
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