Universe's End

When Rory appeared within the former undercity, he took several moments to let the changes sink in. Since the fall of the undercity and subsequent redevelopment into Rong territory, things had changed significantly. The once golden grass that had extended all throughout the reach of the former Khan’s influence had died off, subsumed by burgundy colored moss, clovers, and ferns.

Aside from the small foliage, the familiar sight of bloodwoods had begun popping up everywhere, the only place in the world –as far as Rory knew at least— where bloodwood trees had begun to naturally grow after the first infusion of planted trees by the Rong clan. What wasn’t visible was the network of dark purple, nearly black roots that had wormed their way all throughout the ground just beneath their feet as Cruor-Shu folded every piece of plant life into itself like a giant network or hivemind. Within those roots were also countless monster corpses, dragged under by those same roots. If one traveled to the outskirts of where Cruor-Shu’s influence ended and the poison wastes began once more, one could find a constant battleground as the countless wild serpents and other monsters were foolish enough to draw too close to the burgundy fields only to be turned into fertilizer.

Outside the environment itself, the other main change was that Rong had redeveloped what remained of the undercity, now a proper clan complex with a growing number of architectural structures, whereas before it was mostly just a haphazard collection of shacks or constructs that prioritized function over form.

Rory wasn’t here for the Rong, though he did need to meet with Hao Lin Rong, so he could at the very least get to birds with one stone. Instead, Rory turned his attention to the tree he was standing upon, pressing his palm to the bark and closing his eyes.

“Cruor-Shu,” Rory whispered as he injected his aura into his voice. “I have come as requested.”

For a moment, Rory felt as if something were tugging at his mind, gently though, so as to be declined if he so desired. Fortunately, Rory had no desire to decline, and thus let the ‘tug’ draw at his mind, as a moment later he found himself ‘elsewhere.’

‘Elsewhere’ was somewhat of a misnomer, given that Rory was fairly confident as to the nature of where he was, analogous to a mental palace. As for the ‘space,’ it looked like he was inside a clearing within a jungle thicket, if all the trees and vines and other plant life were all dyed crimson, purple, or black. Taking a measured pace into the very center of the clearing, what looked like an oversized heart made of the same external bark of Cruor-Shu awaited him.

“Architect.” A voice called out from everywhere at once.

“Cruor-Shu,” Rory responded. Within another being’s internal world, responding with a voice filled with his aura might come across as at least a little rude.

From in front of the heart of twisting bark, a figure began to emerge, somewhere between feminine and androgynous in nature. It reminded Rory somewhat of Aelia and her many varying forms she took, but whereas Aelia could take many forms, Rory had a sense that the form he now saw from Cruor-Shu was its only ‘physical’ avatar available to it, a dryad or some sort of nature spirit.

“Thank. You. For. Coming.” Cruor-Shu said, clearly unused to actually speaking.

“You're welcome,” Rory answered, avoiding any added commentary lest he confuse the archon.

“Gave. Life. Back. To. Us. To. Me.”

It was interesting to Rory that Cruor-Shu seemed to think of itself as both a collective them, as well as an individual me.

“It was a matter that required a fitting response,” Rory said with a simple shrug. “You don’t have to thank me.”

“Perhaps. Or. Perhaps. Not.”

Momentarily confused, Rory’s curiosity got the better of him when the dryad avatar turned around toward the beating heart, holding its hand out as a single spindly strand seemed to splinter free from the rest of the mass, landing flatly into the palm of its hand. Turning back around, it approached Rory before offering its hand outstretched.

“Heart. Strand. May. Only. Be. Freely. Given. Only. To. Proven. Friend. Of. Cruor-Shu.”

Then, just like that, Rory was back in the real world, ejected from the mental palace in an instant. More importantly, between his feet, a branching twig had emerged, his eye twitching like crazy in response.