The Runic Artist Chapter 12: Chapter 330 - A Return to Duality

Read chapter 12 of The Runic Artist by Ellake on NovelPedia.

Chapter 330 - A Return to Duality Nate stood on the metal walls of the Golden Tide compound, the planet designated as Showerfall Grove stretching before him. The contested planet was beautiful, as he would have expected of a place that had been sculpted by factions whose Path mirrored Creation. In the distance, beyond the designated no man's land, was a forest of towering dark-barked trees with a canopy of golden and green leaves. The floor below was littered with colourful shrubbery that was half-shaded from the midday sun. If not for the blood-soaked dirt between Nate and the forest, he might have called the sight picturesque. Instead, it stood as a testament to what the Golden Tide and their allies were losing. Beautiful worlds, prepared for World Reapings, were instead filled with hordes of beasts. It had been two months since Wulfgar had returned from his sojourn into who knew where. Wulfgar certainly wasn’t talking and Ankh’aris hadn’t said a word either. Since Wulfgar’s return, the others had been training with Ankh. Nate couldn’t help but compare their training with his and Kiri’s. His own Divine Vessel had been developed in what he suspected was roughly two weeks. Time in Ankh’aris’s cultivation chamber was hard to track as there were no day and night cycles, just an endless litany of Destruction in all its forms. Kiri had dealt with similar, and arguably, underwent an even quicker Divine Vessel formation. Though she’d cost Ankh’aris a valuable artifact in the process. Wulfgar, Jak, Frick, and Fili by comparison were progressing at a snail’s pace. Two months and Nate thought maybe, just maybe, they were starting to show very early signs of a Vessel. The sense of divinity in their bodies was like a whiff of faint perfume as someone passed in a crowd. Ephemeral and gone before you even had a chance to lay eyes on the source. Nate snorted to himself. Ankh’aris had described it well when he’d trained the pair of them. He could do it fast and well, but not easily, or he could do it easily and well, but not fast. The others were getting the latter treatment. They spent hours every day with their various artifacts, sitting down and meditating as they practised taking only the smallest drips of Divine Energy while trying to incorporate the Concepts and Divinity into their flesh before the Class Core could slurp it up like a hungry beast. Nate knew from their cursing that they failed more often than not. Then there was Gwen. After his discussion with Kiri those months ago, the pair had become an official couple and Gwen had chosen not to take the risk. Nate suspected Kiri’s hand in that decision and he undoubtedly saw a future state where he was forced to go fight in the Celestial Realm for artifacts for Kiri’s new partner. He’d do it without a second thought. Maybe the Celestials would trade for his art instead of picking a fight. He could hope, after all. Such thoughts invariably led Nate back to Britt. He hoped she was doing well. A part of him also hoped she might have moved on and found happiness while another part of him secretly hoped they still had a chance now that he was free of Reciprocity. He just wasn’t sure which hope was Destruction and which was Creation, because the two conflicting hopes were clearly a Duality. That freedom from Reciprocity was why he was here on the planet of Showerfall Grove. Grand Strategist Crastor had gone into detail about how Belori’khan’andur acquired planets. The old red dragon, as Nate only referred to Ankh as ancient, was not a signatory of the Reaper Accords. Unbound by the rules that kept most Heartlands factions in relative check, Belori would flood worlds with Mythic-tier beasts. Apparently, with the many many worlds he controlled and access to the outer limits of the Wild Realms, Belori had more than enough resources to raise hordes of them. The beasts that did well were raised to Lesser Divine, and Belori had plenty of those as well. The same with the Greater Divine beasts. It