“Anything to report?” Jelick Youmun asked the guard he was relieving at the observation station. There was a ritualistic cant to the speech; it was the sa phrase Jelick had said every day, as he ca to relieve the other guard. It signaled the shift between them. The only monts they shared were these bordering edges of their twelve hours shifts, and they gradually ca to hold special aning. WIth them, the two guards were a perfect whole; despite the other dangers on this battlefield of the Fifth Cohort, these monts of oneness helped Jelick cope.
“Nothing,” the guard replied with similar relish. Both smiled at each other. This was the best part of their greetings, the confirmation of normalcy. Because neither denied that there was a horrible possibility waiting in the darkened eaves of this place: sothing might genuinely happen.
Yet that horror hadn’t yet arrived. For another day, the ritual continued uninterrupted.
The Nether had recently established enough Nether Nodes in the Fifth Cohort to activate a great working. What this portended, no one knew. Yet as one of the many guard outposts, they would theoretically be the first to know. It was a responsibility and a curse.
Jelick Youmun would never say it out loud, but sotis he wished he could simply bury his head in the ground. If death ca for him, he wished for it to be sudden and utter.
After a nod, the other guard hopped down and left the small tower. Jelick clambered up the stone edifice and planted himself in the observation chair. Displays in front of him showed movents in the nearby Nexus Ways, while there was also a wide glass window beyond the display to observe the surrounding space.
The observation tower was built on a high mountain top, giving Jelick a grand view of the surrounding peaks rising up over the wispy traces of clouds like triumphant spears. But as this planet barely possessed any sort of atmosphere, the sky was exceedingly clear. Jelick could look outward and upwards toward the wide and dangerous universe.
Sohow, the observation tower felt exposed. His ability to see also beca a barely suppressed fear that so being was out there, scrutinizing Jelick in turn.
Stars hung bright and low overhead. If he squinted, it was also possible to make out the shape of other planets within the System. But Jelick set those aside for now. The more he looked, the more worked up he would beco. Instead, he stuck to his tiny rituals. He took out his notebook and carefully transcribed what he saw on the displays in front of him. The displays would automatically record the results, but having the notations helped keep him focus.
Then Jelick settled back in his chair and began to count his heartbeats. His eyes steadily glazed over.
*****
Jieu Ronault’s emotions were chaotic. Part of it was a defense chanism: the image of Randidly Ghosthound was simply that powerful. As he exposed himself more deeply to it, his own image struggled and twitched. The previously quiet sound of the Stillborn Phoenix sucking away the surrounding air and emotions beca a howling gale.
The two of them were sitting inside the Ghosthound’s personal training chamber. Jieu’s flas were chaotic as he was exposed to the image of the Stillborn Phoenix directly. For soone who prided himself on his self-control, this filled Jieu with a deep sense of sha. But there was sothing… overwhelming about the ambient craving that the Head Drill Sergeant could release from his image.
The self-assured strength of that desire began to completely smother Jieu, strangling his flas. He looked deeper and deeper into that abyss and began to see sothing stirring amongst the cataclysmic natural forces. The sheer size and weight of the matter that had gone into the image was completely ludicrous. Just feeling its massive gravity filled him with a sense of awe and dread.
The fla elental felt an inexplicable shiver run through his body. Staring into the howling maw of nothing, his mind sohow found the spare monts to wander.
Jieu Ronault was a being that truly did not understand his origins. His ‘ancestor’ had discovered him existing on a tumbling hunk of interstellar tal, a placid fla the size of a palm with eye-catching color. His ancestor had allowed his curiosity to convince him to bring that fla back to his abode, where he had been shocked to discover that steady fla possessed a ager consciousness.
Jieu Ronault had no true howorld. He had never experienced the horror of the System’s arrival and the Calamities either, not even passed down through culture. He was a being adrift, unmoored and confused.
Sohow the dark oblivion of the Head Drill Sergeant’s image seed to sense that directionlessness. The shadow of a bloodthirsty bird of prey seed to be piercing Jieu with its eyes. And as it carefully examined his past, the resentnt that the image felt for him steadily grew.
Forty years of training after being discovered, that ancestor had released a now fully self-sufficient Jieu Ronault into the Nexus, earning him a position within the elite squadron of the force that would retake the Fifth Cohort from the Nether Invasion. This was an opportunity for the fla elental, who would have preferred to remain secluded for the rest of his existence, his ancestor insisted. An opportunity to discover a truth about himself. His ancestor assured Jieu that, should he accumulate sufficient strength, the truth of his existence would co to him naturally.
Even though Jieu still doubted his own senses that inford him it was there, he could sense the gradual movent of this Stillborn Phoenix. Its body twitched unnaturally, but it dragged its bulk forward. It eyed Jieu greedily, as though relishing the thought of devouring the fla elental-
“...ease up.” The Head Drill Sergeant’s voice cut sharply across Jieu’s emotional reaction. “You struggle too much against the image. If you cannot manage to control yourself in its presence...”
Jieu wanted to retort that this was a difficult task, but he knew that the Head Drill Sergeant would not accept excuses. Besides, he could not deny that he had been allowing his mind to wander to unnecessary details during this session. His own existence would remain stable until he gathered more information regarding this image. As long as Jieu could continue to accumulate experience, he would understand this strength. He trusted the Head Drill Sergeant
And yet… The fla elental felt the even illumination released from his body dim. Even his light was being steadily sucked away by that horrible carrion creature within the egg of darkness. For the first ti in a long ti, he felt helpless. Why am I now hesitating... ? What do I fear within this image?Its determination is admirable… and exactly what I need.
In the initial stages of absorbing so of the principles from the Ghosthound’s image, it had gone extrely well. The process was smooth to the point of being unbelievable. The Jieu who usually prided himself on his self-control couldn’t help but be surprised by how quickly he gained incorporated so of the Ghosthound’s strength. The Stillborn Phoenix, because it was quite opposite Jieu, was everything that he lacked. His own image grew more robust and grounded the more he experienced this strange phenonon.
Yet after a few days, he had reached a point where everything ground to a screeching halt. A grand and mysterious choice was manifesting in front of him, slowing the steady and reassuring speed of his improvents.
Could I be losing control of my image, as happened with Vant…? But now, my analysis seed to indicate that I was sufficiently compatible with this image… More tremors ran through Jieu’s flas and he quickly tried to reign in his disparate thoughts. The shrieking of the Ghosthound’s image increased in volu as it devoured more and more, ceaselessly hungry. Yet...
He had been very skeptical that he, who cultivated an image of a perfect fla sitting on top of a rotating brass wheel, would be able to incorporate the image of an anthropomorphized black whole. Yet the more he was exposed to it, the more Jieu realized that the crux of the Head Drill Sergeant’s image was desire. A desire so twisted and desperate that it beca an eternal purpose.
Desire at a sufficient strength grounded itself by warping the surroundings. If Jieu could incorporate just a sliver of that desire…
“...you’re afraid.” The Ghosthound announced and Jieu tried to marshal his honest expression; that pronouncent drew a flinch out of the fire elental, despite his best efforts. The usually placid tongues of fla along his person began to flicker and tremble. There was a stretch of silence after that, which applied an invisible pressure to Jieu.
But the silence was nothing compared to the deep sigh released by the Head Drill Sergeant as he withdrew his image. Clicking its beak in disappointnt, that ravenous Stillborn Phoenix gradually vanished. The howling died down to nothing.
In the suddenly peaceful training facility, Jieu lowered his head. “I apologize. It is this foolish disciple’s fault for not being able to understand a master’s teachings-”
“Didn’t I tell you to stop with that master nonsense? We are nothing that serious,” The Ghosthound huffed and shook his head. The two were sitting on the ground in the unlit training area, letting the gloom pool around them. To Jieu, it was the perfect breeding ground for flickers of the vanished image. “Heh. I think I understand why you are having difficulties. You are a raw being that defies explanation, quite like the Stillborn Phoenix. Gravity, heat, cosmic radiation… I believe you are woven of the sa elents. Yet the reason I thought there would be a great deal of common ground… is because you both deny your true nature.”
Jieu kept his eyes on the ground, even as he felt a deep sense of sha. . Just like Jieu couldn’t help but silently watch as that kindly ‘ancestor’ that raised him and taught him all about philosophy and poetry walk away.
I have built everything so carefully. Jieu thought as he looked down at the rippling flas of his existence. Yet why does it almost appear… like I have truly built nothing for myself…
“It is an all-consuming black hole,” The Head Drill Sergeant’s features were hidden in the shadows as he spoke. “Yet it just wants to be a simple egg. You are the pure incarnation of fire… but you refuse to truly burn. You exist in extended stasis.”
Jieu Ronault said nothing. He just focused on keeping a tight grip on the flas of his body.
“You are both so desperate. Yet why is the desperate you so still…?” Even through the darkness, Jieu felt the Ghosthound press his lips together in disgust. A tremor ran through him. “Reflect on that. You are dismissed, recruit. Skip our next image training session. Desperation without resolve is just panic. And I’m not in the business of wasting my ti with weak-willed recruits.”
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