Defiance of the Fall

Zac tried and failed to find any clues on the Earth Child's face. It remained as impenetrable as before, and the boy's aura remained that of a juvenile who had yet to start their cultivation. His weak appearance couldn't erase Zac's feeling of being seen through. The boy had ignored Tam's attempts to communicate in the original timeline, making the situation all the more suspicious.

"Who are you?" Zac asked.

"Also the wrong question," the boy said before looking at the ground.

Zac swore upon seeing the grass around them die in a growing circle. He extended his senses to their limits, finding no threat. A low rumble brought Zac's back attention to the child, just in time to see something break through the soil. The child bent down and pulled the item out like a carrot. Zac accepted the rock, barely able to hide his shock.

It was another Void Treasure.

Specifically, it was a normal rock whose shape was identical to the Holy Relic hidden in his purification space. There was no way it was a coincidence. Zac didn't understand how, but the child knew. Not even Sendor had managed to peer into the Void hiding in the depths of his bloodline.

"How—"

"They said we need to go," the Earth Child answered.

"What now?" Zac muttered under his breath at hearing the child-like voice.

The ancient, gravelly voice was gone. The child had sounded just like any ten-year-old, except for an unnaturally flat cadence. Was the small body shared between two consciousnesses, or was he possessed? Could a high-ranking templar of Fertile Earth be using their holy son as a medium to communicate?

Still holding onto a bellyful of questions, Zac whisked up the kid and began running. Whoever that ancient entity was, their assistance was obviously contingent on helping their spokesperson. He had a few days to get the answers he needed. Twenty minutes later, he felt some weak fluctuations far distance. It was at that time the child spoke up again.

"I'm Roan."

Zac looked over his shoulder. "You can call me Tam. Who said we needed to go?"

When met with silence, Zac held up the Void Treasure replica. "Can you tell me about this?"

"The earth remembers," Roan said before closing his eyes.

The Earth remembers? What in God's name did that mean? Zac made a few more attempts to extract information from the mysterious child, but his words fell on deaf ears. Zac gave up and continued in silence. First, he'd put some distance between himself and their tail.

The first hiccup came upon realizing Tam's body couldn't endure prolonged use of [Skystriker]. Zac had more than a few flying treasures in his rings, and there were neither Beast Emperors nor dangerous zones in the region. What they lacked in speed compared to his Movement Skill, they made up for in convenience.

A flying treasure would stick out in such a desolate region, but so would a cultivator moving at superhuman speeds. Unfortunately, the further Zac moved from Tam's position, the faster the realm was drained of fuel. Zac gave up on the idea and kept a relaxed pace roughly one hour ahead of Tam. That way, the original timeline could act as a rearguard while Zac didn't exhaust any additional energy.

The forest gave way to an endless farmland a few hours later. Zac saw silhouettes work the fields in the distance and briefly wondered if there were any limits to what the memory realms could replicate. Terea's lantern had conjured an army filled with Beast Emperors and C-grade forest spirits.

This time, he'd almost covered as much ground as his whole archipelago back home. If he was faster or had more time, could he have visited Verdona with its enormous population? Could the realm simulate even greater cities if he found a teleporter?

"I'm hungry."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Zac said.

The mystery surrounding Roan made Zac forget he was a mortal who needed regular food and rest. As luck would have it, Zac kept some low-grade provisions around for these kinds of situations.

"Let's have a quick dinner," Zac said as he threw out an illusion array.

The risk of an ambush was low. There still hadn't been any signs of trouble for either him or Tam. The priestess' diversion seemed to have bought some time. Zac finally saw a human expression on Roan's face when the aroma of a lunchbox spread through the array. His gurgling stomach betrayed his attempts to maintain his sage-like façade.

Zac didn't immediately hand it over. Instead, he took out the replica stone again. "What did you mean before?"

The boy's brows furrowed in displeasure, but he couldn't overcome his basic needs. "The Earth remembers. They saw you dig into the ground and take it."

"They saw me take it? When?"

"Very long ago," Roan squeezed out as he reached for the food.

"Call them over. I need to know what this is."

"I can't. It's not time."

Zac looked at Roan's stubborn expression with defeat. "Fine. One final question. Can they sense it now?"

"No."

"Good. Eat up," Zac said with a smile.

The Holy Child began devouring the food with a grumpy expression. Meanwhile, Zac gathered his thoughts before penning a message. On the other side of the Left Imperial Expanse, Zac retracted his mind from the Chaos Library to take out the note that had appeared in [Purity of the Void].

"How is it?" Esmeralda asked.

"The situation is under control but something unexpected happened," Zac said before sharing the experience of his Human body.

"I guess that's good news?" Esmeralda said. "It's not that the child can see through your secrets. Someone saw you snatch the relic."

"That would mean the memory realms are connected," Zac said. "Our actions in the earlier epochs might affect the later ones."

"Good thing you're getting another identity. Your Terea persona might be a wanted criminal already," Esmeralda snickered. "Welcome to the club."

"Great to be here," Zac said with a roll of his eyes. "Who do you think saw me?"

"Someone might have recorded your escape and spread it among the templars," Esmeralda shrugged. "I'm more curious how the child recognized you. The people on the battlefield should have seen a Wendimar descendant while you're an old veteran now."

"The simplest explanation is often the most likely. The child is telling the truth; the Earth saw me," Zac said. "Do Primal Heavens have Realm Spirits? Could the child be connected to someone like Sendor? Maybe they can see through the disguise?"

"I'm not sure. Lord Sendor is somewhat of an aberration. Realm Spirits aren't supposed to have an active consciousness. They're closer to an inanimate presence like the Heavens," Esmeralda said. "But I guess if it can happen once, it can happen again? It could also be a consciousness created by the Order of Fertile Earth. They could have raised a God of Fertility as part of their missionary work."

"Are Gods something you can just grow like crops?" Zac scoffed.

"That depends on how you define God. If a God is a powerful entity not trapped by the chains of mortality, then sure. Any decent Tool Spirit matches that description. If we're talking an almighty existence lording over all creation, the System is the closest we've come."

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"Well, do you have any suggestions?"

"They don't seem hostile, so why not see what they're up to? You can always ditch the kid and run away if things get ugly. Let 'the Earth' deal with the mess. Long-term, we'll have to be careful not to do anything that would get us in trouble with the Mercurial Court," Esmeralda said, looking slightly deflated.

"Disappointed you can't go around robbing every memory domain?" Zac laughed before sending back a crystal that had recorded their conversation.

Back in the past, Zac listened to the response while chewing on a strip of beef jerky. Things had really gotten a lot more convenient since he reopened his purification space. It didn't just allow for communication inside the memories. Its original purpose was very useful in a world full of Earthly Taint.

The Hidden Node had almost finished purifying the [Heavenmend Crystal] he got from Kristvan Wendimar. It was a treasure that would seep into the depths of his Cosmic Core, so Zac figured it couldn't hurt to first remove its impurities.

Two uneventful days came and went. Roan wasn't much of a company, and Zac's trick to extract information didn't work again. Most of Zac's time was spent idly observing the surroundings. They passed over a dozen hamlets and villages, and he'd lost count of the number of farms. Zac also saw the occasional wandering cultivator. Most were older than Zac, yet none of them had stepped into E-grade.

Zac could empathize with why Tam helped his in-name disciple. The local cultivators were prisoners in a sense. The shallows of the Left Imperial Expanse were massive. Even Zac needed more than a month to reach Verdona, where the cultivation environment was only slightly better. It'd take an F-grade cultivator years, even decades, to reach more prosperous regions.

They also had to pass through large swathes of unclaimed wilds filled with beasts. Even if they survived the journey, they would have missed out on the golden years of cultivation. There was no System to provide training opportunities, Teleportation Tokens, or off-world trials. Their Birthplace had already decided their future.

On the third day, there was finally a change. Zac stopped and looked back. "The enemy is closing in."

A flying treasure had caught up with Tam in the original timeline, and six cultivators came pouring out. There was nothing Zac could do for the real Tam. Zac silently experienced the battle raging in his memories. The new party was slightly stronger, but they weren't ready for the wrath of a decorated veteran of the Imperial Army. Tam methodically tore apart the group, displaying equal ruthlessness toward himself and his enemies.

"I'll deal with them. You wait here," Zac said as he put Roan down inside a defensive array. "Don't leave the array. If something happens, squeeze this token and I'll come save you."

Twenty minutes later, Zac silently observed the sky from the shadows of a tree, his aura completely restrained. The forest that looked normal from above had undergone a drastic transformation. Countless vines hid inside the vegetation, waiting for their prey to come within reach. Zac had retracted their auras as much as he could and used a large-scale Illusion Array to improve the effect.

The trap was set, and its intended target appeared right on schedule. The flying treasure was almost as fast as Zac when he used [Skystriker]. It went from a distant dot to being right before him in seconds. At that point, it was already over. Ten miles of virgin forest exploded as countless vines rushed to the sky. Many were over a dozen meters wide, having completely hollowed out ancient trees to find a hiding spot.

The flying treasure was suddenly surrounded by a squirming sea of green. Zac was already on the move. One step with [Skystriker] was enough to put himself above the shuttle, blocking their only route of escape. Zac unleashed a stream of blades with [Evolutionary Edge]. They actually failed to break through the ship's impressive defensive barrier, but the onslaught pushed it further toward the ground.

Zac only had time to see two figures jumping out of the ship before thousands of vines blocked his line of sight. The voracious plants squeezed tighter and tighter, making it look like Zac floated above an unbelievably large pit of snakes. When the frantic movement stopped, Zac deactivated the skill.

Nothing remained of either forest or prey. The largest surviving pieces of the Technocrat vessel were only the size of a finger. The six Transcenders had it even worse. The only thing left behind by the living grindstone was a red haze and scraps of cloth. Zac quickly surveyed the area to confirm the kills before moving on.

The battle that pushed Tam to his limits and cost him an arm had ended in seconds without Zac breaking a sweat.

Zac hadn't made any changes to the skill's core functionality when upgrading it to D-grade. He didn't need to. [Primal Edict] was a perfect skill for large-scale destruction. Zac's main focus had been to make sure the skill took full advantage of a Hegemon's greatest advantage—their vast pool of Cosmic Energy.

[Primal Edict]'s weakness was that it lacked the direct, devastating power of [Arcadia's Judgment] or [Rapturous Beginning]. However, that only applied when using the skill the normal way, like in the middle of a duel. It took some time to reach a critical mass of vines, and any powerful adversary would have similar large-scale abilities to suppress their growth.

The situation was very different if Zac was given enough time to set the stage. [Primal Edict] was a skill that grew deadlier the more energy it was fed, and it had no limits on its expenditure. Channeling the skill for twenty minutes was more than enough to take out the Transcender raiding party. They hadn't managed to destroy even a quarter of the vines before they were overwhelmed.

Unfortunately, the circumstances had to be just right to pull it off. Zac had only managed it a few times during the intersector war. The swarm's growth would almost always be suppressed by thousands of Kan'Tanu fighting back. Of course, permanently occupying that many enemies could shift the direction of a battle, and the skill had saved countless lives on his side.

Conversely, if Zac grew a proper tangle before the battle, the enemy could simply avoid it or blow it up with War Machines. He'd experimented with pre-loading the attack inside World Rings, but his skill didn't work properly inside a separate space. Zac hoped that would change after forming an inner world. He'd nurture [Primal Edict] like a Kan'Tanu Heart Curse and bring it out whenever needed.

The duo resumed their journey, though at an even slower pace because of the original timeline. Roan didn't ask why, and Zac didn't care to elaborate. Days went by without any new Technocrats showing up. The journey felt like a casual stroll through a beautiful picture book, but Zac's anxiety was growing stronger.

The memory was feeling increasingly hollow. It would run out of fuel in a few hours, and Zac still hadn't managed to get any useful information. Eventually, Zac couldn't take it any longer. He'd have to take a chance. Zac put Roan down and took out the real Holy Relic, waving it in front of his face. He hoped that it would bring out the mysterious entity on the other end.

"I'm out of time. You need to explain this, or we'll part ways early."

Roan looked at it before pointing ahead. "We're almost there."

"Where?" Zac said with exasperation. "Verdona is still weeks away!"

Roan only returned a blank stare. Zac reluctantly picked him up again. Thankfully, it turned out the Earth Child was telling the truth. Roan tapped Zac's shoulders fifteen minutes later, declaring it was time. They'd just reached a clearing in the middle of the woods. Beyond making for a decent campsite, it didn't stick out in any way.

"What's so special abo—what the hell!" Zac gasped, his eyes as wide as saucers as he flashed over to the meadow's center.

It was currently lying down and covered in a layer of moss, but there was no mistaking it. It was the very same rock that served as a headstone outside the memory. Zac looked around with confusion and horror, realizing he'd made one critical error. He knew that moving inside the memories would change your real position. However, Zac had never asked himself whether you started at the same spot as where you found the lantern.

Had he just spent the better part of a week running back to the storm instead of leaving it far behind? And what did Roan mean by 'its time'?

Four ships appeared on the horizon just as the thought popped into his head. One of the ships radiated a pressure surpassing Hegemony. Either a Half-Step monarch or a Peak Hegemon who'd consumed a powerful berserking treasure. It was obviously not reinforcements who'd arrived.

Zac had his answer. At least Tam Brooks's memory lantern appeared where his journey ended. A battle at this level would be rough for Zac in peak condition. There was no need to wait an hour to figure out what'd happen in the original timeline.

"Creating a pillar that can reach the Heavens is no easy task. Among others, it requires a sturdy foundation," an ancient voice said, piercing through Zac's confusion.

Roan had slipped out of his sling and was currently standing before the grave. He scraped away the moss, and Zac finally felt the same Faith as the bursts that brought him here. No, what bubbled beneath the surface went far beyond what Zac saw on the outside. He felt as though the stone was the only thing stopping a monstrous reservoir from exploding, turning the whole shallows into a golden sea of Imperial Faith.

"Can you imagine the weight of Karma? The weight of consequence? The Left Imperial Expanse cannot bear it alone. We needed help. What better—" A deafening roar drowned out a few of the Earth Child's words. "—Heaven's true foundation?"

"You—" Zac's mind was already a mess, yet it only got worse as he looked up.

The previously clear sky had been replaced by roiling clouds crackling with red fury. The Heavens had descended with a vengeance, and there was no System to curtail its wrath. Zac couldn't believe even Tribulation Clouds were perfectly replicated inside the memories. The first bolt was already gathering strength, and there was no mistaking it.

It was very real, though the Heavens actually seemed confused about whether it should hit Roan or Zac.

"What you took is called a [Fuxi Mountain Gate]," Roan, or rather the ancient entity, continued. "It's a bridge connecting the upper planes to the Void of Dao. Only that most ancient of mountains could endure the weight of our determination. Only the Void Mountain could sustain the Terminus while we brought the Heavens to its knees.

"The bridge coming into your possession can be considered Fate. We recognize the power you used to bring it away. However, balance must be maintained. Now, more so than ever. Overcome this challenge, and we swear on the Fate we serve to unseal it. Without our assistance, the gate shall forever remain shut."

Instincts told Zac to run for the hills, to not get involved with this mess. He should use what little time remained of the scenario to move out of the storm's center. He had less than an hour, but it was better than nothing. He'd be able to cover far more ground here than when pushing through the blistering winds.

His feet didn't listen to reason. The hunger was growing, and madness joined the angry red reflected in Zac's eyes. Bearing Heaven's wrath and slaughtering a Half-Step Monarch in exchange for a bridge leading straight to the Void Mountain?

What a bargain.

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