He had failed again.

It was still unclear how the Voidre had managed to bypass the Earthen Union’s barrier, but it certainly meant nothing good.

The beings beyond the Fissure had been prepared. Zachariah was certain—even if he had no way to prove it. Yet.

Why did nobody tell me about it? Meah and Serusna would have contacted me if they’d noticed anything amiss. Was that the first time the Voidre emerged, or did they miss something else? Why in the Pandemonium’s name was I not informed of the changes spreading across the Earthen Union?

Zachariah felt like screaming. He pulled on his hair, the pain doing little to ease the unease creeping up the back of his mind. Nothing was going according to their plans, and it was beginning to feast on his sanity. Why wasn’t anything working? Why hadn’t Meah and Serusna been there to inform him?

There wasn’t a single unopened message from the last few weeks. Even while he was unconscious—fighting for his life after the divine tribulation punished him for invoking powers beyond his means—the System messages should have reached him.

They shouldn’t have offered to withhold their influence over the Earthen Union to create a network if they weren’t going to take their duty seriously. Others would have gladly replaced them to gain the favor of an Old One.

He ran his hands frantically through his hair, trying to discard the memories of the past as they resurfaced. They showed death and destruction, fierce battles with monsters that had threatened to obliterate mankind—but not all of it had been bad. Granted, there had been countless deadly instances, far more than Zachariah could recount. However, his first life had been a lot more peaceful.

Instead of weeks, they’d been given more than a year to get used to the integration. The World Awakening hadn’t overwhelmed them then. This time, however, was different. The World Awakening had been a mess—just like the appearance of the first Sapling. But he’d prevailed. He’d grown stronger, much faster than anyone would have believed possible in his first life.

By this point, he had already acquired more Advanced and Superior Sparks than anyone had during the last Cycle. He had even gained Legacy Skills, a powerful Ancient Power, and helped the Pantheon strengthen their influence over the Earthen Union.

Yet, the Venomancer was still alive, presumably beginning the creation of a stolen Divinity, and the creatures of the Void were more abundant and powerful than they should have been. The Fissure was becoming harder to predict by the day, making it increasingly difficult to determine what to do next.

There was the Voidre’s appearance, the corpses of Variant Bosses stronger than anything that should’ve emerged in the Earthen Union—and the Black Rift.

Zachariah set thoughts of the corpses aside for now. He knew he was the strongest human in the Earthen Union. No one should be anywhere close to his prowess, even after he’d spent five weeks unconscious. But that was also why the Voidre’s appearance was so terrifying. Zachariah shouldn’t have survived the battle with the Voidre. And yet—he had.

How did you do that? he wondered, cocking his head as he looked at David.

David was still weaker than him, but his potential was great. No—it was terrifying. The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. From his very existence, it was clear David should have died. Yet Bereth and Asmodeus seemed to see something in him. And Zachariah could see it, too. The potential for greatness. The means to tilt the tides of battle.

But why could he sense that? How was David supposed to change the battle—or was “struggle” the better word—against the creatures beyond the Fissure?

He cleared the wastelands and killed a Fragment without any help, except for the potions I gave him. But how did he do that? He can drain the lifeforce of beings, but he shouldn’t be able to bypass the Void Barrier to drain the Fragment’s lifeforce. Not without getting infected himself.

Zachariah looked at David again, unleashing [Divine Sense] at full force. He knew David could sense life signals and the power of the Void better than he could—likely a boon from his Classes and the modifications to his optics—but that didn’t mean Zachariah had no way to sense the Void’s power. Yet David was not infected. He was clean.

But how does that explain his actions? Even if my potions pushed him far enough to kill the Fragment… how did he save me? Tending to me for five weeks was all it took to heal me? Even if Electra helped him… I should have died.

Too many mysteries revolved around David. They were as intriguing as they were unsettling. It was difficult to trust the unknown—which was all Zachariah felt when he looked at David—but if that was what it took to defeat the beings beyond the Fissure, Zachariah could not deny David’s usefulness.

He was a powerful healer and a great supporter. That alone was more than enough to ignore his desire for feral combat, his bloodlust, and his standoffish behavior.

Setting aside his strange tendencies, David was a good man. He might act nonchalant, but Zachariah knew better. David was the real deal—no matter how much he acted like a jerk at times. His power was still rough, but he was growing. Incredibly fast.

If we had someone like him during the last Cycle… maybe…

Zachariah shook his head. Letting such thoughts ruminate wouldn’t do any good. The past was just that. There was no going back. Not anymore, at least.

It required time and patience to become David’s friend, but it was not like they had to be friends. Sure, it would strengthen their bond for the hellish events awaiting them, yet there was no need to force anything.

All they needed was to trust each other enough to have each other's back, which Zachariah did. David had saved his life a few times already, and he didn’t complain too much when Zachariah interrupted their activities to fight more Saplings and Fragments.

Even though David didn’t know everything that awaited them in the future, he understood the danger of the Fissure and its creations.

That has to be enough, Zachariah thought, feeling a stab in the chest when their eyes met. Sharp, crimson eyes overflowing with vigor met his gaze. He tilted his head, eyes narrowed, as he caught a flicker of envy and vigilance as well.

Why would you be envious? Zachariah wanted to ask, to shout out loud, but the words wouldn’t leave his mouth.

Who am I to be envied for?! Do you even know what I’ve gone through? I am the one who should be—...

He felt anger sloshing from the depths of his very being and discarded all thoughts to bury the emotion once more. However, while consumed by anger, Zachariah failed to notice the other emotions slipping past his defenses to resurface once more.

Jealousy. Fear. Despair.

They were a reminder of his weakness. His failure.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips, and he focused on the connection of his physique and spirit. Everything was in order. His eyebrows rose slightly at the realization, and he glanced back at David.

You fully restored my fading spirituality in five weeks? That… He shook his head. It was one thing to heal the Body and the Mind, but being able to restore the big three—Body, Mind, and Soul—was definitely not something a recently integrated native at the Gold Rank should be capable of. Even Saints at the Platinum Rank did not necessarily possess the power and abilities to perform true healing.

David was a monster. He was most definitely not an ordinary human being. But maybe that was what he needed. Zachariah didn’t wish to endanger others in the struggle against the Fissure and the beings beyond, yet it was hardly his decision. If the Fissure was prepared for his regression, he may have to change his way and adapt to more than a few changes to the timeline.

Maybe he had to change who he was.

It might be time to stop clinging to the old plans. He kept glancing at David, his lips twitching.

If his growth doesn’t stop here and he keeps growing stronger… it might be worth it.

The Voidre’s appearance was a bad omen, but so was the emergence of the Black Rift. However, all it showed Zachariah was that his plans were for naught and that he had to accelerate his growth once more. And the best way to do so was to take advantage of the very being the cosmos feared the most: the Void.

He discarded most of his old plans and devised a handful of new ones. Most were shredded again, but two remained.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The first plan consisted mostly of the things he was already doing. He’d hunt the creatures of the Void. However, this time, he would be more aggressive than before, eliminating as many Fragments and Saplings as possible. Zachariah’s plan also focused on searching and analyzing the Black Rift. It was of utmost importance to find out what that Rift was, how the Fissure took control of it, and where it led.

Zachariah considered the options and added another question that needed to be answered: how many Rifts had been hijacked?

He would bring David and Maja to the hunts, if the encounter with the reinforced Fragments and the Voidre didn’t scare them to death. The Earthen Unions and a particular batch of righteous gods and Old Ones would provide additional boons for hunting creatures of the Fissure. And, of course, the System would reward them generously for every Sapling slain—for every inch of wasteland ripped out of the Fissure’s grasp.

While hunting the Void was not necessarily a change, the second plan revolved around it as well. Zachariah would have been satisfied with the System gains and the boons provided by the Earthen Union normally, but that was not enough anymore. The Fissure’s actions crossed a line and forced Zachariah to do the same—to cross a line he didn’t wish to cross when he chose to seal his Divinity to regress.

He grimaced, feeling the weight of his decision weighing down on him. His initial plan had been to rely on his knowledge and understanding of the cosmos, the integration, and the Void to reclaim the powers he had sealed to jumpstart the regression. Clearly, that had to change.

“I’m not sure what you’re going to do now, but I will be busy for a while,” Zachariah said when he noticed David was still looking at him. The look in David’s eyes irked him. It made him feel like he was being analyzed. Like he was no more than a mad scientist’s guinea pig.

“If you want to keep hunting them with me, you should be ready to depart at all times. Other than that… I’ll probably have a little chat with the Pantheon, Pandemonium, and others. They cannot help directly, but their influence should help us a little. The least they can do is locate the Fragment and Saplings, don’t you think?”

He smiled at his friend—they were friends, right?—but David remained silent and kept staring blankly at him.

Whatever.

Zachariah shrugged and prepared to leave for a chat with his old colleagues.

If they want me to do all the work, they’d better prepare some boons in exchange for the hunt.

His plan was rather simple. He offered his work in exchange for boons that would use the influence divine beings had on the Earthen Union. These boons would include Ancient Powers, Legacy Skills, Attribute Points, Intents, and possibly even snippets of their Laws. Zachariah didn’t want to rely on the boons of others, as every additional Skill, Spark, or even Attribute Point provided by another divine being would inevitably change the structure of his Divinity. But if that was what he needed to destroy the Void, so be it.

He left the prehistoric Rift once the details of his next actions were clear. Messages were sent out to the Pantheon and others, and the thorough search for wastelands, Fragments, and the Black Rift began.

***

Several months later

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Zachariah muttered, his eyes phasing through the Earthen Union’s map.

Their last fight with a handful of Fragments had rewarded him with a rather useful boon: a live-updating map of the Earthen Union. It displayed everything Zachariah needed to locate settlements, wastelands, and Rifts. But as helpful as it was in the creation of a network—connecting all Sanctuaries and non-system settlements using Maja and her Portaligist Class—it showed the Black Rift no more than three times.

Each time, it disappeared within minutes, which didn’t give them the time needed to travel through several nations. Maja tried her best—Zachariah could tell that much—but it simply wasn’t enough.

While the live-updating map of the Earthen Union hardly helped them find out more about the Black Rift, it hinted at the location of Fragments and Saplings. All it took was patience, a good eye, and excellent memory, which Zachariah possessed. He compared the map every six hours and ensured the wastelands weren’t growing. The appearance of new wastelands and their growth hinted at the existence of Void-infected beings. Sometimes, these creatures were merely victims of the Void’s treacherous power, but more often than not, changes to the map hinted at the work of the Void. The wastelands couldn’t grow on their own, after all.

“How am I supposed to know that? I’m just here to research the wastelands,” Melach responded irritably.

The elf lowered his body and squatted down before the lifeless soil. He closed his eyes and released his nature-attuned mana. A muffled groan escaped the elf’s lips, but Zachariah barely paid any attention to his antics.

“How is it that you’re still unable to help the Earthen Union recover? David has fixed a dozen patches already,” Zachariah asked, trying to swallow his own frustration. Where were all the Voidlings?

After fighting close to a dozen Fragments and no fewer than sixty Saplings over the course of four months, the number of sightings had decreased drastically. At first, they found a few Saplings one week into acquiring the live-updating map, but their rate of successful extraction had plummeted since then. Not only that—it felt as if the Fissure had stopped trying. No new wastelands had formed for more than two months. Even the existing ones had stopped spreading.

“David?” Melach sighed deeply. “That idiot is way too secretive about his methods. If he’d told us about it, we would have healed the Earthen Union a long time ago.”

The elf looked up, fury sharpening his features. “Do you think we like seeing such destructive scars blow through the beauty of nature?”

Zachariah knew Melach was right, but it was not his duty to force David into sharing his secrets. Especially not if they were part of the reason David had grown so much. While his growth was still not comparable to Zachariah’s, it was clear that David had been focusing on his foundation, ensuring his three-stat advancement to Transcendent would occur under perfect conditions. A perfect foundation was essential—more so with a Class like David’s.

Mending the Earthen Union, doing something no one else seemed capable of, appeared to result in various gains to his Lifeweaver Class.

“Research all you want. Maybe you’ll learn something,” Zachariah muttered before turning to the wind. He tuned out Melach’s grumpy voice and listened to the wind. Iria was not easy to convince, but she had decided to help him.

Iria listened to the wind. She always did. And she had been helping him search for the Voidlings for the past few months. But she had yet to find them. Even so, Zachariah urged her to continue searching.

The Voidlings had to be somewhere.

Zachariah closed his eyes and focused on Iria’s voice carried by the wind.

They are no more. The traces of Their power have faded.

Her voice was sonorous yet emotionless. Whether it was the wind stripping it of emotion or Iria herself, Zachariah couldn’t tell, but it didn’t change the meaning of her words.

What’s going on here? It’s one thing if the Fragments disappear for a few weeks, but for their traces to fade…

The influence from beyond has departed.

Departed? Iria had always been cryptic. However, she was usually reasonable. But her words didn’t make any sense now.

Temporary? Location? No one shall know. Not even the aerial spirits.

Simplified, it meant that Iria didn’t know where the Voidlings were or how long they could escape her prying ears. But that didn’t make any sense. There had been dozens of creations from beyond the Fissure for a few months. How could they disappear all of a sudden?

Could it be the Black Rift? Zachariah wondered.

His stomach tightened as uncertainty spread through him.

Maybe he should be happy about the Voidlings’ departure, but that wasn’t possible. Zachariah knew the Fissure and the creatures from beyond wouldn’t give up. They would never surrender the Earthen Union—it was all they needed to establish a firm connection to the cosmos.

Confused about what to do with the new intel, Zachariah spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon thinking about the implications. The cogs in his mind rattled wildly, filling his head with theories, one worse than the other, but there was no helping it. He lacked crucial information to determine the Fissure’s next course of action.

His plans had already suffered, forcing him to halt his hunt for the last few months. But now… now things had changed once again.

A portal blinked into existence nearby. He informed Melach of their ride back to the Dwarven Sanctuary and stepped through without a second thought.

“Do you know where David is?” Zachariah asked Maja the moment he stepped out of the portal.

The Portaligist raised an eyebrow at him. She studied Zachariah for a moment, questions forming on her lips, but she didn’t voice them. A heavy sigh escaped her instead.

“David is probably in the prehistoric Rift. The last time I brought him back from the wastelands, he stayed there for a while. But if he’s not there, then… I don’t know where else he could be. Usually, he’s either with you hunting Fragments, mending the wastelands, or annoying the dwarves and others by taking ‘their’ Origin Essence.” Maja shook her head.

“Since his parents died… he has changed. He’s become obsessed with getting stronger. David spends most of his time in the prehistoric Rift or out in the wastelands—alone. And he doesn’t let anyone close to him.” She hesitated a moment but continued. “He’s blocked me out and acts so… distant.”

Probably because he found out that one of his best friends is a fucking psychopath, Zachariah added silently. Maja liked David. He had no idea what exactly she liked about him, but that wasn’t for him to judge.

“Did he restore more wasteland patches without me?” he asked instead.

“Patches? I helped him fix the damage you caused while fighting those creatures,” Maja said with a shrug. “The entire nation and most counties adjacent to it have been cleansed to perfection. Shouldn’t you know that better than anyone? You’re the one with the magic map.”

Zachariah retrieved the live-updating map again. It was true. David had fixed a lot more of the wastelands and the destruction he and the Voidlings had left behind than expected.

“I see.” He nodded and put the map away. His eyes lingered on Maja for a moment, and he cursed himself inwardly as he said aloud, “You shouldn’t worry too much about David. He’s stronger than you think.”

“Is he?” Maja listened but didn’t look convinced. She nibbled on her lower lip and muttered, “But he’s still human. He… needs someone to talk to.”

Then talk to him already, Zachariah thought, rolling his eyes, and entered the prehistoric Rift to look for David.

But he wasn’t there. There was no sign of David in the prehistoric valley. And apparently, he hadn’t been bothering the dwarves or draining the Rift Core’s Origin Essence lately.

Don’t tell me he disappeared as well?!