New Cazador Outpost Of the order of the Dark seers

  "So, what do you reckon they do in there? I mean I between their public appearances?"

  "Why are you asking me? just cause I'm your boss doesn't mean they tell me squat... but I reckon the same as us.... though a little different, practice, maintenance of their tools... and whatever their jobs are outside of what we know... best not to ask them directly... after all we're only being paid to guard the perimeter... if they think we're nosing into their business they might assume we're trying to steal from them... and that wouldn't end well for you"

  Screams echo from within the temple all the way to this outpost and yet, no one bats an eye, not until they see a number of the order fleeing from the temple in panic and shouting various orders to anyone who will listen

  "Who's dumb enough to kick this hornets' nest? and in the heart of their territory too"

  "Dunno but I'm sure we're about to find out"

  A long while passes

  "Even I'm getting called in... this must be serious"

  "As the grave... Dark seers from every faction under the sun are reporting the same thing and their messengers are ready to deliver the message... The Governor, Arbiter's, and even the Gentry will all be in attendance... and we need you there to help keep things in line... normally only the most elite would show up to something like this... but apparently this is too urgent they say to wait... so those bastards in the Dread League are going to have to hear it from their local soothsayer as opposed in some grand ballroom like they normally would"

  "But even still... I'm just a squad leader... is it really going to be so big that even the lowest ranked officers are needed?"

  "I don't really know however.... they are claiming as such... and I'm sure you know better than to question these guys by now...."

  Later in the Temple proper

  "While I do apologize for gathering you all on such short notice, I'm afraid that my master's news is quite dire indeed, and we need to begin preparations immediately"

  "You had your toys interrupt me while I was spending quality time with my family Serpious, of which my duties prevent me from doing quite often, so it had damn well better be important"

  "If a threat to the natural order of the world isn't grave enough news, I don't know what is"

  "Explain, now, and leave no stone unturned."

  "Very well then, Governor Silus, my masters in the sanctum caught a massive disturbance in the veil that completely upended many distant shores across in an instant before quickly consolidating its power into one point... and the result... should that have been aimed at our world... all would have been lost... My masters then fell into the Mists for some time before reasserting themselves... and if my masters had such a hard time in the seat of their own power... just from an echo of one Wylder's attack... and one from a great distance... filtered through every single lens... i shudder to think where someone could have gotten so much fuel... let alone the effort it would have taken to control it to the degree my masters say, and even worse... what they might have used it for"

  The room is silent for a long while before all the attendants take some time to discuss amongst themselves, after some time The Arbiter

  "Alright everyone what we need is hard facts right now not baseless speculation, Serpious how certain are the Archons of the Wyld of their findings? and more importantly do they know who or what is responsibly?"

  "They aren't certain what even happened... they know it was one force... the unity it would require means it can't have been more than a thousand... which means every single member of the group who did this must be powerful enough that it would talk a Hunter at least to deal with them... as for who is responsible... there are 5 suspects... I shall list them in the order my lieges believe the likelihood of from least to greatest, ahem. The Starborn have the natural power to do something like this, but this would require Nearly all of them and i nor my lords could see them being united enough to synchronize so perfectly as to perform this feat as they saw it, as well as we simply can't find a motive for why they would do this..."

  "On with it then"

  "Right of course, then there is the Wardens, but we would have seen them mustering their forces if this was them, so the next three... they all possess the total powerbase required to perform this feat, and it's plausible enough that it might even be them, so the ones we think are the least of three is simply due to the fact we can't see them wasting the resources on something like this and that is the Gourmets, i trust i don't need to elaborate? anyways these last two are likely our best candidates... but The Drowners don't do things half assed and this could have been far worse so my masters believe... that the Clocktower has returned"

  That announcement... caused a deathly silence to fall over the room... Then an uproar as all the attendants attempt to ask their questions at the same time

  "What is the clocktower again?"

  "Do you know the cause?"

  "Where is going to be hit first?"

  "How long will it last this time?"

  "What does it herald this time?"

  "Isn't this whole thing a little too unlikely?"

  The calls for order fall on deaf ears as everyone's in the midst of either turning on each other, or colluding on what to do next.

  "This is a shit show... just the mention of that old thing... and everyone reverts to being animals... just goes to show... the moment a threat you don't know how to handle shows up... even the most powerful men..."

  "I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you, you know they record these things, right? so they know what they can expect of their servants... and their allies..."

  "You really think they're going to sort through all this mess and will pick mine out... then search through everything to identify me... then after all that go to effort to punish me... just for stating what all the important people here already know?"

  "Yes, and for no other reason than because you have no idea the severity this situation... the clocktower itself is not the big deal... it's the fact that it's returned... do you really think the seers would say it's the most likely outcome without being certain of it?"

  "Then why list the other four?"

  "Because for the first time since the sanctum was built... the seers lack enough evidence to say for certain... and that's why everyone here is so rattled... it's not the clocktowers return that is scaring them... but the fact that something out there is hiding behind it"

  "You can't seriously mean"

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  "Oh, but I do, something has changed fates design..."

  As the mysterious figure walks away leaving the squad leader all alone, he realizes just who he was talking to... "by the Distance shores... why is he here out of uniform..."

  "How about we put this farce to a rest and you sorry lot allow me to present my findings, let me tell you getting here all the way from my home on such short notice was not easy, and getting accurate readings while traveling is not a pleasant venture"

  The words echo out over the noise of the room in an impossibly quiet for the distance traveled yet seemingly wrapping around all who hear it in a firm yet gentle grip, most seemed indignant at this display... up until they got a proper look... and for the first time since the mere possibility of the clocktowers return was uttered... silence graced the room

  "Now that I have your attention let me tell you what I know... as I was the closest to where it happened at the time... I got a pretty good look at it all... and I can say one thing for sure... none of us can handle this thing alone... should it even be a threat that is... me and mine would die pitiful and pointless deaths if we attempt to fight... and I doubt we would win even if we a had a century to come together and plan against it... and worst of all this wasn't a one off event... it was a fight between two forces... one died... and the other lives... one is feasting on the other... and there is not a lot of time before it recovers it's strength... and finishes it's meal... based on my most liberal estimates we only have 14.7 years before it finds it's way here... and that's if it's recovery rate is at the level of a Drytor, and it's senses and speed are at the average for an outer being... which given what it survived... and killed... I highly doubt underestimating this thing is the best way to go... so my guess is it'll be here before the next Asteria Festival"

  "Well, what do you suggest? Oh, Great King of Wayfarers?"

  "I know the best way to handle something like this... but it's a bit drastic... and normally a stupid idea... but with the Clocktower's return...it's possible to do this without dooming our world... but the price to be paid... I don't know if it's the best idea..."

  "Your Grace, you can't surely mean?... you are one of the people who closed that pathway personally... are you sure this is wise?"

  "It is not the best idea I admit... but... the only other method I have faith in... while surefire... I'd rather not even think about it unless it becomes our only other choice"

  "Then I Vox Populis of the order of the dark seers, and Chair member of the confederation of the Great nation of Revaria second your proposal... to open the old gates of ruination... and call our old master's home..."

  "I thank you for your support Serpious and your vote of confidence... but that was not the idea I had in mind... I was talking about a far far less horrid alternative... though this one does spell disaster for us as well... it at least has a chance to be... less cruel than... Them..."

  with that the whole room seemed to collectively let out a sigh of relief and the Serpious most of all seemed relieved as it seemed the weight of the world was lifted off of him "well thank the great Wheels... but next time Perceus... lead with that... I thought... we would... again..."

  "Yeah... sorry, I didn't think your mind would immediately... jump to that... I thought after everything... people like you would have the ancient past far from your mind... as for what my idea is... you aren't far off... we will need to open the old pathways... but not for... them... no... unlike most of my other ... I know how to tread those paths... I say we open the pathways... and I go out to make a deal with... some old acquaintances of mine... from the bad old days... some of them were good... and with that I believe we could build a force strong enough and skilled enough... to find a proper solution to our new situation... and who knows... maybe we will get lucky?... maybe that... thing... will be friendly and we can all go out and have drinks and laugh about the time they had us shitting our Britches over a misunderstanding and we'll have the paths open for whatever we might need'em for and a whole slew of new and powerful allies to help out."

  "Good to see your years haven't eroded your optimism Percy... but how bad is it?"

  "Shit didn't even notice you there Briggs How's the ol ball and chain doin?"

  "Not the time for personal matters Perce, answer the damn question."

  "Honestly? you don't want to know"

  "PERCY!"

  "Only They were worse"

  That made all color flee from the arbiter's body, his body collapsing into his seat

  No noise came from any in the room for some time after this announcement

  "Alright the rest of you are dismissed save for those of you we will need in the coming days no one is to return until after we are finished... " with that command many in the room were Push/pulled/shoved/banished away and returned to their lives

  "The guards can stay we will need muscle as well as knowledge... plus having a few more vessels to share the load couldn't hurt"

  "Alright... you heard the man... now everyone go prepare your things for travel... we need to reach the Clocktower... and figure out which method we need to make our attempts"

  "Call everyone... even the drowned... we can't afford to waste the time we have left... we need to succeed"

  "I'll get right on it... but what are you going to do?"

  "Gather things, call up the wardens and rangers... cash in my debts to get the resources I need... and prepare to beg for help if my plans fall through..."

  "So... I have to know... what are chances we get help that will save us? or that we can convince this thing not to either destroy us... or worse?"

  "I have no idea... it's been too long since we sealed off the paths so we could escape pursuit...things have likely changed outside too much for us to know... as for that thing... I didn't get the best look at it... but its DensityDepths Widths Lengths Perimeters and Shades If I didn't know any better, I might have mistaken it for The Dark Heart themself"

  "Are you saying its comparably to The Dark Heart?"

  "Not necessarily, just that once you go beyond a certain scale things get hard to measure... it clearly has power equal to at least the weaker followers of that monster... but I didn't get much time... and I didn't know if it had a memetic sense so I got what I could and got out... what really scared my was its prey... and the fact that it killed that thing is all I need to know to know we're likely doomed if we have to fight it as is..."

  "What beast could it have possibly killed that could have rattled you so? a zeitgeist? an Untold? a Weaver?"

  "Thats the thing... it wasn't a void beast...or some primordial spirit... those things while powerful, outsmarting them is always works... or using their weakness against them... it wasn't even some god or demon... no... what it killed... was an Anaddernuller."

  "... How?"

  "Thats the scary part... it didn't"

  "But you just said..."

  "It's not dead... but it is..."

  "What do you mean by that"

  "I wish I had better words... I wish I could unsee it... I hope none of us are subjected... to... that... why do you think I'm so willing to risk... them finding us?... at least for all their power... we know how to fight them... we can survive what they can do... but this... If even an Anaddernuller Can't survive... despite even the Dark Heart and all their allies being unable to kill one... and to be able to kill it in such a slow and painful way where it keeps dying as it comes back just to be consumed as everything they are is ebbed away... and that other... thing was just getting faster... and better... at doing... that... so yes... I'm eager to, to get some help"

  "I... kind of thought those things were fake?... I mean... they're rarely mentioned... and they just... kind of seem... like something created for the purpose of telling the lesson of there is always a bigger fish... but... If one of those same people who is in the stories about them says they're real... are the stories fully real? or are they an exaggeration?"

  "There is truth in those stories... but the facts are different than what's portrayed... for one they are a hell of a lot easier to get rid of... but only because it's easy to banish them... killing them on the other hand... even temporarily... let alone over... and over... and over again... until it stops getting back up?"

  "And we are dealing with an unknown that has done that very thing?... hmm... who knows... like you said... maybe it's friendly?"