"Honoured guests... We have been notified of your arrival. Renna... has left us a task and we have news that we must share with you." The elderly woman bowed as Alice paused. She wanted to ask what the news was, but the woman gestured for the group to follow her.
"If you don’t mind me asking, may I enquire what kind of relationship you had with Renna?" She asked without turning around.
Renna had told her already, but the lady wanted to hear it from Alice’s own mouth.
To see if she thought the same as Renna.
Thinking about her words, Alice hesitated before opening her mouth.
"She was... a dear friend. My one and only drinking buddy. She is someone I would’ve fought side by side with. Someone I would trust my back to." Alice admitted as the old lady closed her eyes and smiled.
"That girl, I swear... Even after I told her not to drink so much. She goes and makes a friend just for drinking." She mumbled with a shake of her head.
Composing herself, a serious expression appeared on the lady’s face.
"Renna was under my care for quite some time before she became a Lord. In some essence, she’s the closest thing I had to a daughter. Thank you for being friends with her." The old lady glanced back with a warm smile.
Though her heart cried in sorrow, she kept a smile on her face so that Renna could rest peacefully.
"Before Renna left, she had asked us to do a full scan of the Void. Since the Nightmare is blending in with the realm, a full manual scan was needed if we want to properly figure out what’s happening.
"It took a while, but we managed to comb through most of the ’important’ parts of the realm. Essentially..." The old lady narrowed her eyes.
"We found four potential locations for where Feris may be located in the Void."
Hearing this, Alice and Allura looked at one another before going back to the old lady.
She stopped in front of a tree and pulled something out from her pockets that neither of them could see.
Then, in just a single second, the ground before them started to split open.
The grove opened up into a vast hollow beneath the roots.
She half expected the woman to lead them towards a large building or even a research centre. But that was not the case at all.
Descending to the depths of the grove, countless roots in the darkness could be seen glowing with a pulsing light. Energy belonging to the realms as they twisted around one another like the muscle fibres of a giant. Wrapping around an invisible bone to form an array of roots.
Bridges and walkways have been constructed between the roots, while what seems to be a pond could be seen at the bottom of this underground facility.
A reflection of the Surface, Void and Abyss, each blending with the next. Flashes of battles, of countrysides and even prisons.
Then, hovering just above that, a projection of an impossibly large map with countless floating islands, creatures and notes scattered around the entire place.
Locations being updated in real time.
The three-dimensional projection would occasionally zoom in onto certain spots. Clusters of beasts and nightmarish landscapes.
Once captured, it zoomed back out as the researchers noted down their findings.
Many of them had deep bags under their eyes.
Some still red around the corners as they furiously combed through the Void for Feris’s whereabouts.
Along with the different creatures of the Void, there were flickering motes of light dashing across the islands. Elves who are currently scouting out the Void, placing down saplings and anchors to help project the map back to command.
"This..." Alice mumbled in shock.
She hadn’t expected the vastness of the Void to be scouted out in such detail.
How much manpower was allocated to this? Could they afford to allocate so many on this job? What about Void Corruption? Can they survive in that realm?
How many people were being rotated in and out?
While she wasn’t sure about Renna’s connection with these researchers, it’s clear that they held her last command dearly.
Perhaps out of vengeance, perhaps out of duty. They toiled away day and night to ensure as much detail was captured.
"Everyone! Show some spirit!" The Old Lady shouted as she punched the railing.
Even though she was old and wrinkled, the aura she was showing right now showed otherwise.
The fury, the determination.
"Do you remember the last mission Renna gave us?!" The Old Lady shouted.
Though Renna didn’t have friends, she was more than eager to help the people around her.
She was a symbol, an ideal.
Out there, she was a soldier. A Lord working for Extalia.
Here? She was the big sister.
The one who looked after everyone. If you had any issues, look for Renna.
And when she became the Lord of the Sacred Grove, she became a hero to the people here.
Someone who fended off the dangers launched against their precious World Tree.
"We do!!!" Everyone shouted in unison.
Allura raised an eyebrow and whistled.
Rather than a group of researchers, this felt more like an army. Brothers and sisters fighting for the same cause.
The priorities of the Elves differed from humans. But even with these differences, Allura could recognise the camaraderie between them. The frustration of having an ally die. The anger towards the one who did this.
When paired with the dire situation in Extalia, it created an urgency like no other.
All of the researchers here, even those with grievances with one another, set it aside for the time being to accomplish their task.
Thus they became a well-oiled machine, working for weeks on end to produce results at a frightening pace like no other.
Satisfied with the shout of energy from everyone, the old lady turned to Alice and the others.
"While it’s true that tracking down the Lady of the Void is difficult usually, her current state actually makes her a lot harder to find.
"No movement, no lingering aura to track. There are no clues we can use to try and determine her position, not fluctuations in the Void." She admitted.
"So these four locations are more so large zones than precise coordinates where she may be. Even if we narrow it down to just a single zone, you’ll still need to thoroughly explore through the different ’pockets’ in the Realm in order to find her."
Noticing the word pocket, Alice creased her brows and made a while guess.
"Is there a... high chance that she’s in one of the Nightmare Realms?" Alice asked slowly.
"From what we gathered, we wouldn’t say she’s deep in one. I think the better estimation would be that she’s on the border of the Nightmare. Connected yet separate at the same time." The Old Lady clarified.
Since Nyer was making changes in the Void and expanding the Nightmare, it’s clear that she would be at the heart of the Corruption due to her status.
Whatever changes the Void experience must go through her.
Though there was one thing on Alice’s mind.
If the Void was so important, why doesn’t Nyer just create a new inheritor? Or was it more difficult than Alice had expected?
After all...
Even after all these years, there hadn’t been another Ruler of the Surface. The Void had Feris, the Abyss had Velouria at one point and now, through technicality, herself.
But ’replacements’ had been practically unseen.
"So are we meant to split up into mini groups to comb through these locations? I’m not sure if we have the time needed for that kind of luxury." Alice glanced up at the map.
Since they wanted to avoid missing anything, travelling through the Void had to be done carefully. Fast enough to cover lots of groups but slow enough to fully capture the data.
Doing so through all of the remaining locations in a sensible amount of time was... difficult to accomplish.
"No, we won’t be doing that. That’s for the other group. They’re the Void Exploration Team, we’re not." Solana was the one to answer Alice’s question.
"We’re dealing with Feris specifically."
However, her answer only confused Alice.
"To clarify, since Lady Feris isn’t moving and is connected to the Nightmare, the currently winning theory is that she’s confined in a Nightmare of her own creation right now." Another Elf approached the group as he looked as though he was on the verge of collapsing. In his hands was a stack of research and data they’ve compiled.
"The plan is to infiltrate the Nightmare Realm and track down her signature. Once we have that, we’ll be able to properly locate where she is in real time. Of course, this plan shifts based on whoever succeeds first. If the Void Exploration Team finds her first, we’ll use the link from her physical body to find her conscience and vice versa.
"As long as we can do that, we’ll be able to prevent any more changes from happening to the Void unless she carries out the operation herself. In that situation..." He paused.
The insinuation was clear.
If Feris was truly on the side of Nyer, she had to be dealt with.
The mutation of the Void was something they couldn’t allow to progress. Doing so would no doubt affect the World Tree.
Before he could continue, Alice raised her hand and pointed at herself.
"If you want to track Feris, I can guarantee a hit on her and punch a path through to find her." Alice blinked.
". . ."
". . ."
"Eh?"
Chapter 1106: Hidden Base Inside The Grove
8 min read