Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

Chapter 584: Zach

The Pursuit of Knowledge

“Again,” Ryun said slowly, his voice a whisper in the wind, as Zach held his gaze. “Are you going to stand in my way?”

Zach blinked as time righted itself, as the river was pulled back. He looked at Ryun, remembering what had happened what felt like ages before.

In Ryun’s eyes he saw such a primal fear of loss. He was willing to do anything to never lose again. Zach understood that sentiment, he would do anything for Naha too. What Ryun failed to see was that there were more ways to accomplish what he wanted than just wanton destruction.

But he has grown used to it, he had accepted the Infinite Realm in its brutality instead of striving to make it better, to improve instead of surrender to the basest violence.

Zach didn’t answer Ryun’s question this time. Instead, he opened himself to the Planes of Time, Soul, and Mind.

Information rolled through his mind, knowledge of the thing that Ryun, and likely his partners, had become. Axioms, embodiments of the Ideas of Aspects. He held authority over all Essence related to his nature, the End.

Now more pieces fell into place as Zach’s perception of time sped up, as everything around him drew to a freezing stop.

He had assumed many of the things that were now clear to him, the way one had to shape themselves in order to ascend.

It was also clear to him that he couldn’t do it as he was now. Ryun and his partners had cheated, skipped steps. But Zach had a way forward, and he understood himself intimately.

He was the Dreamer of a Better World, but he was also HE WHO SEEKS TO LEARN, the one who embodied the Pursuit of Knowledge. Not the actual knowledge itself, but the actions to obtain it.

And so, he did exactly that.

Deep in the Plane of Time, he flowed across its surface, deep within the Plane of Mind he crafted a new world. Deep within the Plane of Knowledge, he drew to make his world more real.

He triggered True Analysis, and then…

|I Analyze and Predict|

He began.

Zach answered Ryun’s question, he attempted to reason with him, to appeal to his love for his unborn children, equate it to the children that would suffer should he continue on this path.

The conversation devolved, the battle ensued. Zach knew more now.

He blinked, Time bending to his will, before Ryun could even comprehend the attack, |I Seal Your Power| struck Ryun in the back. The sensation of Ryun’s authority vanished. Ryun’s will roared, then everything shifted. They no longer stood in the sky but a dark forest.

A wolf charged from the trees, and a battle followed.

Zach loses.

No, Zach ended the simulation. Again.

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Zach reasons with Ryun, using different words. He includes Erdania, appeals to her emotions. It was clear that she bore childhood trauma, the deeds of those who believed the same way Ryun did had hurt her.

Ryun pauses as she talks to him, and Zach sees hope. Then Ryun shakes his head. He speaks.

“If I have to be a monster so that those I love never suffer, then that is what I shall be.”

They fight again, Zach repeats his previous opening. This time he presses the advantage before Ryun could react. His being was not just in the body Zach could see, but in the Essence all around them.

With an effort of will Zach rips open the planar boundaries, his perks flash out and with stolen knowledge the world is ripped asunder.

Ryun’s being screams a soundless scream, the world shakes. Erdania joins in the battle as Naha arrives from the ground and holds her off.

Ryun is injured, his being manifests, a broken form, weakened. Something ripples out of him, it changes Essence rapidly, it grows and attacks. His spiritual tool, the one forged out of the Grand Spirit of Change. Zach is bisected.

His Second Chance perk triggers but it isn’t enough, he is killed, and his immortality triggers.

Again.

Conversation fails. Zach uses Essence Elemental. He turns himself into a being of Time itself. The river flows through him. The battle erases the Dragon’s Peaks from existence. Ryun’s End attempts to bring about even Time’s end, but for an End to happen, Time has to flow.

Zach’s will sinks into the plane of Time, his Soul Aura spreads across the entire Plane. Knowledge from the Repository in the Ethereal Realm Castle sinks into his head. Records of every Time spirit and shade.

|I Stop What I Target|

Time itself grounds to a halt. There is no End, only one eternal moment frozen like a memory.

Again.

As before, Zach attempts reason, but Ryun’s fear and anger blind him. This time, Zach doesn’t answer when Ryun asks if he will stand in his way for the second time. Instead, he asks Ryun what standing in his way means to him.

“All those who serve the Exalted Empire.”

Zach stores that knowledge in his mind, then continues, he tries to get Ryun to see reason again, Erdania joins in, a wordless conversation occurs between them. A bond of some kind, similar to what Zach and Naha possess, greater.

Ryun shakes his head and looks at Zach.

“Will you stand in my way?”

This time, Zach turns and leaves, Ryun doesn’t follow.

Again.

And

Again.

And

Again.

Conversation after conversation, battle after battle. He fails to convince him. He loses nine out ten battles, and in the ones he wins he is destroyed and depleted, Erdania kills him after.

Knowledge tumbles through Zach’s head, simulations of possibilities.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Again.

Zach sinks into the plane of Time, he grabs the River and tries to guide its course. Words spill from his mouth as he attempts to convince Ryun again, words that time whispered in his ear.

Ryun’s anger softens, he closes his eyes, but then, once more he shakes his head. His fear is greater than reason. He will not risk losing anyone ever again.

He will show the world that to strike against him is equal to driving a knife into their own souls.

Analysis and Predictions, a hundred, a thousand. Never any different outcome. But his knowledge grew, his understanding grew.

A piece of information, of knowledge suddenly makes sense. The list, a report from the Exalted Empire about the factions they had absorbed, the piece he retained.

He knew what he had to do.

Zach ended his skill and drew back.

Ryun stood across from him, waiting for an answer.

“I won’t stand in your way Ryun,” Zach said slowly. He saw Ryun relax, then he continued. “I don’t approve. I think that you are making a mistake. And I’ll prove it to you.”

Before Ryun could answer, Zach used True Link—Teleport. He arrived next to Naha and Bera on the ground.

“We’re leaving,” Zach said.

They blinked at him and Naha frowned.

“What happened?”

“A lot,” Zach just said. “We need to go, there is a lot that we need to do.”

Bera pushed her glasses up her snout as she hurried after him. “And where are we going?”

Zach glanced back at her, then up to the sky where Ryun and Erdania stood.

“I’ll let you know later,” he didn’t want Ryun to hear his plans.

For now, this was enough. It would take time for Ryun to reach the Exalted Empire proper. He would need to deal with the armies invading the Sects, only then would he be able to go after them.

That was enough time for Zach to put his plan into motion. Zach understood Ryun more now than he ever had before. He was a slave to his nature, as they all were.

Ryun didn’t know it, but he was going to help Zach inspire the world.