As Ano followed closely behind Norton, he seemed to return to his vulnerable childhood years, where instinct and reason alike made him stick close to his stronger father and siblings.
However, back then his psychic power was weak but stable, not like now, when the mere presence of Grantz from a distance made the desire to devour his own kind rear its ugly head again and tax his rationality.
That desire had been laid mostly to rest as of late.
Ano hated the feeling, so he stuck by Ye Muo’s side to feel some peace.
Yet now, he couldn’t care less about personal discomfort.
Even with that instinctive repulsion as strong as it’s ever been, he shortened the distance between him and Norton to an unprecedented degree.
Meanwhile, Norton’s pace slowed despite his visibly growing agitation. But they were never far from the Rift to begin with. To Ano, it was almost like they arrived at that seemingly bottomless crevice in the blink of an eye.
A round of hatching seemed to have just occured. There were a rainbow spectrum of egg casings and insect carcasses scattered around the area.
There were no traces of humans, but none were likely to remain after the insects had their way. They tore their way through the unguarded Old Lands.
Norton stood on the edge of the Rift for a long time. Howling winds raced across the ground, evoking ghoul-like shrieks from below.
Ano stared intently at a spot on Norton’s shoulder until the man moved again. His pupils too were contracted in grief he hadn’t had the time to feel yet.
Norton leapt forward lightly, falling straight down while hugging one side of the Rift. He adjusted his posture, opening both arms to freefall towards the bottom.
Ano followed without hesitation, staying within three meters of Norton.
Norton’s previous calm had melded into great impatience, like he couldn’t wait a second more.
With a twist of his waist, he drew his sword and turned his back to the bottom fo the Rift. Even with Ano right above him, he didn’t hesitate before using what little psychic power had recovered to send out psychic blade after psychic blade. They brushed past Ano’s body and hair to the sky, propelling Norton down at an even greater speed.
Norton then turned back over and plunged deeper into the darkness.
Ano didn’t move, didn’t even blink as those psychic blades brushed past him. He awkwardly copied his big brother and sped up his descent as well.
They arrived ahead of schedule.
Ano even felt the pain of his bones and joints compressing upon landing for the first time in a long time.
He quickly got up and quietly rejoined Norton’s side.
He followed the man’s gaze and saw a king insect laying dormant in a crevice. It wasn’t that large and seemed malformed. It was probably one of the stragglers that lost the race to hatch first.
Moments later, it shifted as if to retreat further into the darkness.
But Norton’s psychic blade arrived before that could happen. It landed precisely in the insect’s head, dispatching it without even scuffing the surrounding rock.
For the Grantz, these stragglers were even more annoying than the king insects that hatched normally. Instinct would drive them to distance themselves from the Grantz mausoleum, but they might destroy the underground rock structure and dirty the otherwise clean space, causing extensive cleaning to become necessary later on.
Besides, allowing them to run rampant at the bottom of the Rift was too disrespectful to their long-slumbering ancestors.
Ano had taken on cleaning duties as a child as well.
He wasn’t allowed to enter the tomb proper, so he alongside the others were shooed off by Bert to handle these stragglers.
Ano viewed this as no different than maintaining the graves and handled it with great sincerity, though his intentions were not completely pure. He hoped that people would keep this place clean after he moved it too. He couldn’t stand messy things.
However, Bert didn’t really care. He took care of these tasks with a mostly perfunctory air, so he could care less how seriously the little Grantz were handling things. Ano felt like he would be more amused than horrified if they came back next time and the mausoleum had become infested with insects.
The ties between the Grantz weren’t that strong.
Norton would never so such a thing, not even after bringing Bert here. This was the first time Ano could recall.
Which made him all the more uneasy.
At this time, every minute movement from Norton sent him into another spiral of overthinking.
What was Big Brother thinking? Why do such superfluous things at a time where he needed all the psychic power he could get?
Ano felt like every breath was torture in the ice cold air.
The Rift was dark and cold, with the only light source being some naturally fluorescent insect eggs and juveniles hiding away in rocky crevices. The cold light made this place seem like hell.
Even so, Ano didn’t feel anything in particular when he came here before. Rather than sad or even afraid, he felt reassured.
This was where Bert was sleeping, where he would end up one day too, alongside his siblings.
In life, they stayed far away from each other and rarely met up. In death, they would reunite in the Rift and never be forced apart again.
By then, the pain of living made Ano look forward to death. His thoughts about the Rift became almost endearing. Every time he came here, he would quietly plan where he would go. Not next to Bert for sure. No, right next to Big Brother.
But now, this place terrified him to the bone.
He could calmly accept his death and even the deaths of his parents and siblings.
But the thought of Ye Muo dying had never even crossed his mind. The realization of this possibility made him feel fear for the first time.
He wouldn’t like this place. Ye Muo would be scared. He wouldn’t like this place.
Norton was already heading towards the entrance. Ano tightened his grip on his sword as he followed, his eyes no longer flickering with anxiety like a beast that had decided to fight until the end.
No matter where Ye Muo was, he must take him home. They would never be apart again.
Norton continued at a measured pace, keeping his eyes straight ahead and tossing out the occasional psychic blade, as if he was just here to clean up. All the king insects along the way were thus quietly taken care of.
It was as if his previous hesitation and irritability was just Ano’s delusion.
That was, until they reached the entrance.
Ano didn’t quite remember what this place was like the last time they were here, but it certainly wasn’t in this state.
Even if the Grantz themselves didn’t care, the Grantz military would regularly check on the situation here and try to keep it presentable. They also kept a wide berth from here when dispensing feed.
Now, blocks of feed were scattered on the ground. There was loose rubble everywhere, some of which was covered in the blood of some organism. It was an irritating sight. The stench of decay emanated from every crevice.
He frowned. “How dare the king insects come to disturb the slumber of the Grantz?”
“Haven’t you noticed yet?”
Norton stood where the entrance should have been.
There was a pile of rocks in the way. Norton drew his sword and cleaved them apart with a single slash, revealing a passage two persons tall.
In his time, there was a grand, sweeping entranceway here. Countless artisans had donated their skill over centuries to construct a magnificent underground palace for the Grantz that was still being improved to this day.
The current structure could only be described as a cave.
Norton sheathed his sword and pressed one arm to the stone wall of the entranceway. “The Grantz mausoleum’s walls has yet to be built.”
The walls built by countless slumbering Grantz was still in its infancy.
Ano looked around incredulously. Having some clue this was the case didn’t lessen the shock of the truth at all.
Norton didn’t seem to be in the mood for further discussion. Ano bit his lip before stubbornly declaring, “Xavier wouldn’t like it here. There’s nothing good hereā”
He was taking Ye Muo home. But Ano’s words soon cut off.
Norton whirled to glare at him, as if he would beat him to a pulp in a second. “Be quiet.”
ā¦ā¦
Ambrose’s eyes snapped open. He was alone in the hall.
The artificial sun followed its set orbit and was already peering over the horizon. Its dim yellow light reached in through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Ambrose eyes burned with rage, which emanated via his psychic power throughout the entire domain under his control.
Two quiet words rang out through the empty hall.
“Who dares?”
Who dares to disturb the slumber of the Grantz?
ā¦ā¦
Ethan was standing on the windowsill, bored out of his mind. He deliberately turned around and stood on the very edge on tiptoe.
Sitting by his feet was Ye Muo, who was enjoying the unobstructed breeze up here with his eyes closed. Theodore was curled up comfortably by his side around one of his wrists.
Ethan glanced down at him from time to time, as if this height could do anything to a Grantz.
Ye Muo’s eyes suddenly snapped open. He and Ethan looked to the sky at once.
They exchanged a look.
“Ambrose is angry.”
Ethan scoffed, the fury-laced psychic power stirring up his own emotions too.
Fortunately, Ye Muo was here, so he just frowned and collected himself. Then he became curious.
“Who could piss him off this much?”
As Ambrose’s psychic became more and more unstable, he kept a levelhead to counteract the effect. After all, all of these Grantz had to coexist on a single planet somehow.
ā¦ā¦
Meanwhile, Ano didn’t find that familiar figure after traversing the long, winding passageway.
High on incredulous relief, he scanned the entire cave again just to be sure, then several times more before breathing a long sigh of relief. He turned and joyfully approached Norton, “He’s not here, Big Brother! He’s not here!”
Norton paused before making a sound of acknowledgement. He looked up at the figures encased in crystal for a long, long time.
Then, he turned as if to leave, only to falter a step later and have to brace one hand on the rock wall. Even so, he slid to the ground as his legs slowly gave out.
Down on one knee, Norton murmured as if he had been granted a new lease on life, “He’s not here.”
Ano’s smile slowly faded as he took note of this unfamiliar side of Norton. In the cracks, he finally saw the fragility of the big brother he had always considered omnipotent.
Norton remained expressionless, but Ano’s excellent night vision allowed him to see the man’s overly bright eyes and the damp locks by his ears.
Thus, he finally understood Norton was no less terrified than him just now.
