Chapter 165: Madness is a singular, personal affair…usually
The reality of Elder Gio’s situation is a tad… confusing, but it can be summed up with the following statement: He stared into the abyss, and the abyss decided to spit in his face.
When Gio went looking for the Demon’s Archive(Library of Nowhere) in the Jade Lake, he had actually found it after it had shimmered existence like a magic show. The smart thing to do in this moment would have been to head back to the surface and get back-up, or report a confirmation that the place existed.(Un)fortunately, Gio was a tad more greed than brains.
‘If the Archive is as powerful as the legends say…then why should I bother sharing it with the others?’
Like a greedy little power gremlin, Gio beelined to the Library’s entrance and attempted to abscond with its contents, at least that was the plan.
When he reached the library’s threshold, a blinding light blasted Gio in the face and he was suddenly elsewhere in the lake with his memory of the place erased. He didn’t even remember finding the Library in the first place. Instead, he just went off thinking that there was absolutely nothing down there. If only he was aware that during that brief moment of blindness, he was forcefully injected with [Chaos].
The thing about [Chaos] is that it’s usage cannot be regulated unless one has the appropriate knowledge, arts or constitution for it, and it’s effects are incredibly random.
Unfortunately, for Gio, he had none of these, while the {thing/person/spirit/sexy thang} who injected him, did.
[Illusional/Delusional/Madness is the source/Let this would be seeker and those who would help, see nothing but discourse.]
=Did…did you just try to chant a spell?=
=…I’m cutting off your access to the new section.=
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In an unknown spot of the Jade Forest, a middle aged man was rapidly chasing after what appeared to be a weird spider/octopus/pot hybrid that was somehow outpacing him despite clearly not being designed for running in mind. This endeavor and contradiction was enough to drive him nuts.
Making it more maddening was the fact that everytime he had sensed the creature had stopped moving, he had assumed it was because it had returned to it’s nest. Instead, it was just standing there in the open as if waiting for his arrival before bolting off again. It was like this stupid creature knew it was being tailed and was purposely messing with Gio! But that was impossible…right?
“Ah-ha! Finally got you cornered!”
“Gick?!”
Eventually, Gio had managed to chase the octopot until it’s back was against the wall. It was now forced to go left or right, but it gave Gio ample opportunity to grab it if it went in either direction. At this point, he was done being sneaky, and stopped with being clever once the octopot had messed with him enough times. Now he just wanted to use force.
“I got you now you fucking-what?”
“Gick!”
“Gick!”
Before his very eyes, the octopot began to jitter as cracks began to form down it’s middle. The next thing he knew, the octopot had suddenly split into two perfect clones, each with a tracker dart on it’s body. Even more daunting, both trackers had the exact aether signature he was using.
“W-why is there two of them?!”
“Gick!” “Gick! “Gick!” “Gick!”
“Four?!”
The two octopots proceeded to split again as soon as Gio posed the question of why there were only two, causing him to grow even more uneasy. He was about to lash out at this point and use a wide area art to just annihilate these pots, but then the little fuckers scattered.
“GICK! GICK! GICK! GICK!”
“MOTHER FUCKER!”
Gio was baffled about which one to go after, so he just went with his gut and chased after the one that was closest to him.
“I will break you!”
“Gick!”
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*Stomp, stomp, stomp*
“Huh? What’s that sound?”
“Don’t know. Sounds… angry though.”
“Will two shut up and help me strap this carcass to the sled already? This thing stinks.”
“Yeah, yeah. We’re coming.”
Igno, Janis and Kit were all members of the Wolfe Family outer disciples.
None of them had expected to be invited to participate on this hunting expedition, due to their outer disciples status, but here they were. As such, they were working over time to earn their spot.
“What the hell is this thing again?,” Igno asked
“It’s a Salt Horn Elk. Apparently those antlers are actually a high quality salt. Useful for cooking and alchemy,” Kit explained.
“Huh… y’all ever think about how it’s weird certain aether beast just…grow minerals out of their bodies?”
“No…why?,” Janis asked.
“It’s just…ok, we can get salt from the family mines, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And that salt is also used for cooking and alchemy, right?”
“Yes.”
“So like, why do we place a distinction between the salt from the mines and the salt made from this elk?,” Igno asked again with genuine confusion.
Janis and Kit just looked at their companion like he was a genuine moron as soon as this question left his lips.
“What?”
“Bro…you do realize that Salt Horn Elks like… condense Teraqi aether into their antlers, right? That’s why we mark it as different from normal salt?”
“Ohhhh, okay. That makes sense,” Igno nodded
“How…did you become an Acolyte?,” Kit asked with contemptuous confusion.
“I don’t know,” Igno shrugged without noticing the semi insulting look.
“OUTTA MY WAY!”
“Huh? Elder Gi-WHOA!”
Unexpectedly, the three Acolytes were tossed to the side as Elder Gio plowed through them like a a bull in a china shop.
As the charging elder passed by them, they could hear him shout, “GET BACK YOU STUPID POT!” They didn’t know what kind of pot though, because they swore that nothing passed through until now.
“Ouch!”
“Bah!”
“Pain!”
The three of them landed one after the other, not in a pile thankfully, but all impacting the ground. If they had their wits about them, they would have noticed that a weird black spark jumped from the elder’s body and into their own.
“Ow…anybody see what the elder was chasing?,” Janis asked while rubbing his head.
“No, looks like he was just chasing thin air,” Kit followed while rubbing his eyes.
“Uhh…guys. Did the elder mention something about a pot?,” Igno asked while staring opposite of the group.
“Yeah…why?”
“Because, I think it’s eating our elk.”
“What?!”
Before their very eyes, a weird octopus/pot/spider was slowly swallowing their kill like a demented snake. It paused when it noticed the three Acolytes staring at it.
“Uhhh….”
“Gick!”
“What the-HEY! GET BACK HERE!”
The three Acolytes went chasing after the octopot as soon as it ran off, unaware that this exact same scene was happening to other groups all over the Jade Forest.
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=I’m confused, when does the terror kick in?=
“GAH! WHY DOES IT TO MANY TEETH?!”
“MY FINGERS! IT’S SNAKING TENTALCES INTO MY FINGERNAILS!”
“IT’S WAKENING SOMETHING IN MEEEEEE!”
=Oh that’s…foul.>
