The longer this stalemate went on, the more territory she would claim. All she had to do was wait.
“We’ll see,” Northstrider responded.
Then he tore open the fabric of the world and flowed into the Way.
“Always so rude,” Malice murmured. Then she stretched her awareness out for hundreds of miles around her. There was no one who mattered.
She didn’t like to do this when she wasn’t fully secured, but Northstrider had her wondering.
So Malice slipped into the World of Night and summoned shadows of the future.
2
Information restricted: Personal Record 0013.
Authorization required to access.
Authorization confirmed: 008 Ozriel.
Beginning record…
In the legends of the ancient Rosegold continent, long forgotten by the current inhabitants of Cradle, there is a mythical location that contains all the secrets of the sacred arts. A buried city of infinite insight. A child’s tale. Anyone who finds the city and walks its streets will gain secret techniques of surpassing power, will never face any bottlenecks when advancing, and will understand secret wisdom of the heavens that will allow them to ascend.
There is no historical precedent for this location. It’s purely a myth.
But at one point on the Rosegold continent, it was a common topic of discussion. If you sought easy advancement, or tried to refine your Path, it was said that you were “Seeking Arelia.”
Ozmanthus, a boy named after a flower, was said to be seeking Arelia from the time he was a child. From his earliest years, he ran through the tunnels of the mountain in which he was born, looking for secrets in those dark caves.
Even at the initial stages of advancement, later known as Copper, he had discernment and understanding far beyond his peers. He astonished his tutors with questions about the nature and origin of vital aura, questions they were nowhere near advanced enough to answer. His control of madra made him a prodigy in his own right, so there was no lack of teachers competing to take him as a student.
This was a relief to his mother, who had no money to subsidize the advancement of a powerful sacred artist.
At Copper, Ozmanthus was celebrated for his skill. He was popular not just among his tutors, but among those his age.
At Iron, Ozmanthus became famous in his generation. He designed and perfected his own Iron body, and was once again said to be seeking Arelia. Everyone expected great things.
It was at Jade that Ozmanthus began to notice a problem.
The others his age were still Copper.
That wasn’t entirely true; some of those from wealthy families, or from organizations that focused exclusively on the sacred arts, had been sponsored directly to Lowgold. But the ones he’d grown up with, those who had only recently been his friends, were two entire stages down from him.
He could no longer play games with them, as he would win. He couldn’t study with them, as he had already outstripped many of their teachers in theory. And they began to avoid him.
For Ozmanthus, it was only a minor grief. His Path lay ahead of him, full of possibility, and everyone told him what wonders he would accomplish. With his spiritual perception now open, there was a whole new world bared to his mind.
He had decided the details of his Path by Lowgold, refining it during endless hours in the library. He chose techniques of pure destruction. Why settle for inefficiency?
That led to another troubling trend for Ozmanthus. The sacred arts in Cradle tend to focus on combat applications because of the never-ending competition for resources, but soon, there was no one under the Lord realm who could compete against him.
He was not shunned for this. Far from it; his master and those from his homeland were ecstatic at this young genius.
But he was always alone. When he went into the wilderness seeking spirits or natural treasures, it was easier to go himself. Someone else would just slow him down.
While Ozmanthus was not entirely content with his solitude, he knew it was only temporary. He couldn’t be the greatest genius in the world. Somewhere, he would find someone who would keep up with him.
Until then, he would slow down. He gave up his spear for a broom, but he didn’t mind that. He liked being the only sacred artist in the world to fight with a broom. It had style.
After reaching Underlord, he grew in knowledge, and insight, and power. He studied the nature of soulfire and proved its connection to deeper truths by manifesting an Icon of his choice in front of a panel of renowned scholars.
The Broom Icon.
Rather than impressed, the scholars were crushed. Ozmanthus had made their entire lives into a joke, publicly humiliating them. No less than three of them killed themselves within a week.