Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

Chapter 466: Zach and Berion

Time and Space

Zach felt more fluctuations in space, far away in the distance, near where the pillar of fire was now fading away. He could focus on it. His senses and his mind were spinning at speeds that threatened to overwhelm his mind. He couldn't move, and somehow that made what was happening inside only get worse. It was as if he was losing himself in his madness, as if he couldn't pull his thoughts away from the nature of Essence. Except that this time it was as if his head was being filled with Knowledge.

It was so hard to push it away, because at its base form, Knowledge was understanding of information. Feeling a touch on your skin, was information, Knowledge was knowing that something was there, touching you. Light hitting your eyes, sounds, scents, tastes, all those things were information that his mind transformed into Knowledge. And he had so many skills, so many different ways of obtaining information.

His blade hand was vibrating, it was not even in the Knowledge Form and it felt like there was a burning sensation that spread from it out through his body.

His mind was spinning, trying to transform information into Knowledge. But it was wild, unfocused, it was filling his head with noise.

He marshaled his mind, pulling back as much as he possibly could, forcing his thoughts back and pushing the Essence of Knowledge back. Finally, he felt it give, and the noise quieted. Barely a moment had passed as Time slowed down for him, he had nearly all the time in the world.

He focused his eyes, taking in the minotaur standing in front of him on air as if he was on an invisible platform. He wore a simple robe, with a sash around his waist, black and brown in color. He didn't look imposing or even dangerous, but Zach could feel the will that had captured him in a steel grip.

The very Space around him refused to let him move, and Zach's own understanding of Space told him that it was not his to command anymore. The power of it surprised him. He was much more powerful than he had been the last time they met. And something about the way that his power felt on him was familiar.

"Why are you here," Zach asked, but inside he kept trying to push the forces keeping him in place away. It was as if his power was being suppressed. It felt... sluggish somehow.

He focused his will and triggered his armor's ability, purging the Wind and focusing on his connection with Time. It came to him slowly, but the armor started filling up with Time Essence.

The minotaur didn't answer, his eyes were half closed, his hands raised as if he was holding back a great weight.

Which he was, Zach himself.

"Your name is Berion, isn't it," Zach said, he had learned as much as he could about their group after their last encounter.

His eyes twitched, but again he didn't answer.

"Have you come to kill me, Berion?" Zach asked. The area around them was filled with planar weak spots. His power might be suppressed, but he felt like even a weak attack from him could rip them all those spots open. He wondered if he would be forced to do that. He didn't know what the repercussions would be. The boundaries here were too weakened. He could destabilize the entire territory if he wasn't careful.

And yet... he could also feel Space far more intimately than he ever had. As if the Plane of Space was just there for him to touch, coming from the man in front of him.

The minotaur grimaced. Zach realized that he was using all that he had to hold him in place, that their powers were near equal, but Zach's will was greater still. The act of holding him kept the man in place, he was trapped as much as Zach was.

"Where are your friends?" Zach asked. If they had come for him, they would be here, they could attack while he was being held in place.

"Are they out there, killing more innocent?" Zach asked.

"They are not innocent," Berion responded, finally.

"You have killed innocent before, haven't you? You don't always get to make sure that no one gets killed in the crossfire."

"We kill monsters," he said through his teeth.

"And who is the one who decides that? You? Your leader? Do you tell yourself that killing monsters has a price? That sometimes innocent can't be saved?"

Berion looked away for a moment, then his face turned angry. He waved a hand behind him, at the destruction and the dark line weaving through space from the top of the sky to the ground.

"People who do that, are not innocent! They could barely wait to deal with the Dome before they fell on each other. How many of their own died in that fire, those who were too weak to even comprehend what was happening, who had no chance to even try and run away. As if their lives are nothing but tinder for the feuds that don't even concern them."

Now, it was Zach's turn to grimace. If what he was saying was true, and he sensed no lies in his tone. Then... what was happening here was what he had feared. He wasn't stupid, he had realized that there were things that didn't make sense. He just didn't have anything concrete to act on.

"So you take it upon yourself to punish them," Zach said slowly. "Even if sometimes innocents die."

"That is the only way that some people can be dealt with," Berion said. "Immortals, the damage they can do if left unchecked is..."

Zach tried to shake his head, but remembered that he couldn't move. "Everyone deserves a second chance to do better," Zach said, as his armor was filling up with the Essence of Time. He could feel his connection to the Plane getting stronger. Soon he would be able to break out.

"Not them," Berion said, but his tone of voice didn't sound convincing to Zach. "They don't care about the people, only themselves."

Zach narrowed his eyes. "Two times we met. Two times you stood in my way and stopped me. But you never tried to kill me, why?"

Berion met Zach's gaze. "You aren't like them," he said.

Zach narrowed his eyes. "And you think that you are better, that you are in the position to choose who lives and who dies."

He turned away. "I don't choose."

"You follow someone who does, don't you? And you worked with the yeti, with a shade. You must know what he is."

He winced, and things rolled inside Zach's mind, pieces coming into place.

"Yeti is a... necessary evil," Berion whispered, but Zach didn't believe his words any more than the minotaur did himself.

"He offered you power, I know," Zach closed his eyes. "He did the same to me."

Berion turned to look at him then, and Zach continued talking.

"I made a bargain with him, and I was wrong to do it. You never win with him, he is the only one who comes up on top. You are part of that consequence, the result of my actions. I was the one that freed him from his prison."

Berion blinked, then his eyes narrowed. Zach felt a powerful will wash over him, then focus on his arm.

"Yes," Zach said. "It was a gift, I will not deny that it is useful, but it was not worth the price. The death that yeti had caused, and the things that he plans to do."

Berion turned away again, thinking. Zach felt the hold on him weaken, but he didn't press to break out. That would lead to conflict, to battle, and he saw something more. An opportunity for a second chance.

Berion knew that he shouldn't be talking, every word he spoke gave his opponent more insight into who and what his people were doing, the why of it. But... Somehow, he couldn't help himself. Too many things had festered beneath the surface for him to contain for much longer.

His connection with space told him that the he had placed the others in the right spot, but he didn't keep his attention on them or what they were doing. Instead, he focused on the man in front of him, the one who had achieved the same thing that he had, someone who had crafted a Way. He himself was the third, and the being that the yeti went to spy on was the second. This man, Zacharia Gardner, was the first one to do craft a Way, Berion knew.

He was a Warden, someone who lived to help people. Or at least that was what they were supposed to be. Berion knew that not even they were innocent. They had upheld the laws, and there were places where the laws themselves were terrible. If the Wardens had found Berion back when he was a slave, they would've done nothing. Slavery had not been illegal in the Empire.

He felt his power slipping, most all of his will was focused on keeping the man from moving. His Image trembled around him, unseen, but it didn't aid him, it was not meant for things like this. His My Space, My Rules surrounded them, a precaution in case he managed to escape, while he tried to suppress his power with Stifling Space. His {Complete Sight} technique flowed through his eyes, letting him see clearly. He knew that the man had been gathering power. And he knew that he could break out, probably even now.

Space was fighting Berion's will. It was his own fault, he knew. He had crafted the Way of Space on the core principle of freedom. Of never being trapped again, on being able to move wherever he wanted. What he was doing now was contrary to that nature. He was burning through his will to hold him. He was constantly bending Space with his skill, using his perks around the man, mimicking just freezing the Space itself, that was no longer possible, not without a lot of effort or other Essences being involved.

But the Space itself knew what he was doing, it could feel that he was trying to circumvent the rules that it now operated on, and it did not like it.

So, Berion didn't bother with reinforcing his hold as the man grew stronger, he wanted to talk, and Ber... it had been a long time since he had that.

Instead, he turned back to the man, and spoke.