All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 188: Home Sweet Home

Arthur watched as the receding black speck of the godling disappeared on the horizon. He still wasn't quite sure what to think, but his time with the godling had been interesting, to say the least. He was only really sure of a couple of things. One was that Void was a being of immense power, something that no human he had ever met could hope to match. And the second was that, while Void, might be very powerful, Void was certainly not all-knowing.

That didn't mean he wasn’t a god. But something told Arthur that Void was very young, as in recently born within a year or two prior, maybe three. It was something that he had suspected before. Recent events had only confirmed it. The questions Void asked and the way it behaved all spoke to this, which lent a lot of credence to Miss Bee's tale.

At first, he had been doubtful that this was a new god. He was fully willing to accept that the gods were real and that one might someday descend among them. But at first, it seemed much more likely that this was a god of old coming down and playing some sort of game. Some stories painted the goddess and gods as capricious, not just wise and benevolent.

But now… now, he could believe that Void was actually a new god. It was interesting. How did that work? Would the god have come from somewhere else, being born into its power, or was it simply something that had gained so much power that the system recognized it as a god? Arthur supposed he would never know. But this was groundbreaking.

He wished he had been able to find Harold after the battle. That man certainly would have had more insights. But at the same time, Void was almost certainly the dangerous being Harold had warned him about. So perhaps there were things he was still missing. Well, he didn't have to decide anything now. His most important task would be to go back and make his report to the king. About their success in containing the undead and their interesting encounter along the way.

Arthur had no doubts that the remaining undead stragglers would soon be contained with their supposed leadership finished off. The bulk of the armies were crushed, and the godling delivered his messages and ensured there were no other major threats to his forces.

There should be no problem finishing this up. There should have been no problem in the first place, in fact. Things never would have gotten this far without competent enemy leadership.

The other reports he had received and his experiences with the siege in this province showed none of the planning and wily trickster business that he had come to expect from this group of undead. But after a week or two of mopping up, they'd return to Caleb, gather up the army, and head home. Perhaps they’d stay a little longer to help rebuild, if needed.

Captain Major and the troops he had escorted towards with Miss Bee would have to find their own way back once the city was repaired. For now, they should be in good hands. They had a large enough company where moving wasn't dangerous, and no wildlife or brigands would threaten them. Perhaps escorting the caravan again would be a good experience for the young officer and get him some real field work under his belt.

—-

The trip back to the castle was much faster than even my trip to Caleb. Without having to carry Beatrice or worry about the wind ripping her off my back. I could fly at much higher speeds, though I took advantage of flying a bit lower so I could check out the area I was passing over.

So far, nothing really jumped out at me as interesting. It was mostly farmland with an occasional small copse of trees until I hit the mountain ranges separating the provinces. I avoided following the path that we had come in on for some new scenery. It was a small pass anyway, pretty much the only one in the giant wall.

Instead, I went a few mountains over and simply just zipped up, skimming a handful of feet above the ground as I dodged boulders and leaped over crevasses, skimming along the giant glaciers that slowly moved down the mountain.

I couldn't help but admire them. What were glaciers really, besides giant cleaning tools starting up high and using the momentum to scrape away everything on the land? At least, they seemed to leaving a surface with no debris behind. Except that wasn't exactly how glaciers worked in practice. It was the unfortunate truth of the world, but they tended to leave lots of large rocks behind.

I supposed it was still better than nothing. A giant rock on its own could be considered clean, even if they were scattered everywhere.

Once I reached the summit, I could see for as long as my sensors would allow me in all directions. The view was quite unique.

Past the rows upon rows of mountains, a little further north, was the castle. But beyond that, it seemed like there was nothing but ice. Towards the south stretched a giant swath of farmland, and in each other direction, more mountains obscured the horizon to the very far west. Past that though, I could see a glimmer of blue in the distance. I wondered what that was. Someday I'd have to go check it out. But not right now.

My moment of rest and appreciation was over, and I was zipping down the mountain again.

The valley that formed this province was much harsher than the last. At least, that's the word I would use to describe it. There was a lot less farmland and a lot more large forests. The land was also covered in much more rocky terrain; from what I could see, the topsoil was remarkably thinner and less nutrient dense.

Small mountains dotted the massive valley, causing large changes in elevation. I could see how the humans had to work around them. The roads snaking and taking circuitous paths to avoid having to cut through stone looked much unlike the previous province's straight grids of roads. These roads were also much less traveled. The inefficiency irked me somewhat - I didn’t mind the meandering paths, but they could have been far shorter and better planned out to minimize travel time. Still, it had a certain beauty to it.

There was an order I could recognize playing out in the way the vegetation was laid out. It wasn't the perfect grid-like order that was clearly superior, but an order nonetheless. An order that matched the terrain. I could see where there was more soil and the right amount of sun for certain plants, but not others.

Trees would not grow where there was not enough soil or too many rocks. You'd end up with tufts of bushes or small fields of grass. It made sense. Of course, it could be better. But I wasn't about to go moving too many rocks around, moving too many boulders. That would be too disruptive. It would cause too much chaos in the meantime, but perhaps eventually, with enough methodical planning, things like this could be fixed, and we would be able to have a more useful land here.

But then again, maybe not. Maybe it was best to leave it here. Maybe there were niches of things that could only appear in random chaos like that. As much as I would hate to admit it. Perhaps something else to meditate on.

As I skimmed over the valley, I approached the more recognizable mountains on the other side. It took only a moment to find the small pass through the next mountain range, the one that led to the valley where the castle stood.

It was an interesting place to put a castle. As far as I could tell, there was no real reason for it to be there. There was no defensible pass that it was trying to guard. There were no great resources that it was protecting. There wasn't even a population center there. So the only thing it was, was a fort at the end of a box canyon. Perhaps Box Canyon was not quite the right term, but it was probably something like that.

It didn't seem to have any strategic importance, at least not from what Arthur had described regarding strategy. Yet it was still the largest building I had ever seen. Strange. As I flew along the alley, I savored the familiar scents of the forest below as they filtered through my Air Purifier.

Instead of just meandering over the path, I started to fly off toward the mountains and skim along the sides. I hadn't fully explored them yet. There was that one mountain that I had zipped around once, but this whole undead issue had kept me from exploring further. Perhaps I should go and check out some of the other ones and see what was up here soon.

Who knows? There might be nothing, but it was a bit of a blind spot that we hadn't checked out yet. Still, I didn't want to take too much more of a detour with home almost in sight; I couldn't wait to go say hello to my friends.

Diving down into the area before the gate with a gust of air, I waited to be let in. I didn't want to be rude after all and just bypass their security. That would set a bad precedent, and rules were made to be followed. Someone I didn't recognize stood guard on the walls and looked down at me in confusion.

After a little bit of starting back and forth, I raised my claw for a little wave. With a slack look on his face, the man returned it. Suddenly a second face appeared next to the man. "What's going on, Brutus?"

I recognized that voice! Excitedly, I greeted Roger, one of the Nighty Knights. Upon hearing my getting, he looked down and saw my waving claw. Grin splitting his face, he returned the gesture and jumped down on the inside of the wall, rapidly working the winch to raise the gate. "Welcome home, Lord Void!"

A bit slow on the uptake, the man climbed down from the wall and took over the winch, working it much faster by virtue of size. Roger shot the man a grateful look before he took off running towards the castle. All the while, the kid was yelling, "Lord Void is back, everyone! Void is home!"

I waited patiently as the portcullis rose a few feet into the air. Once there was space, I rolled into the castle courtyard. After so long away, it was good to be back. I ran a quick scan over the grounds and was pleased with the results.

The grass was trimmed neatly, and the walls were clear of any messy climbing plants. The insides gleamed with nearly the same finish as when I had left. There seemed to be the slightest bit of soot by the fireplace in the guest room, but really that was quite small. It was good to know the home was being taken care of even when I was away.

Before I could conduct a more detailed survey of the grounds, my attention was pulled away. From the castle, a tide of people streamed out, and the people in the fields rushed over to see what the commotion was about. I happily waved to everyone. Most people I didn't recognize, but many of the first people to arrive had been here when I left, so I excitedly waved to them all.

Then a single figure shot down from the castle steps, quickly breaking away from the pack. The little girl ran down the path, tears welling up in her eyes. I let out a special cheer of welcome for my favorite human.

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