Mornn
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Chapter 585 - The absolute limit
🕑 Added 2024-12-06 17:00:17 +0000 UTCForeign memories crept up in Sofia’s mind like a waking dream. She was in someone else’s body, looking through their eyes, but it was confuse, overwhelming. She understood nothing of what she saw, until, all of a sudden, it calmed down.
Sitting naked in the dirt, in the middle of nowhere, the person in the memories laughed, looking up at the blue sky.
Is this… The old Speed?
She could feel the person’s emotions, somewhat. Relief, excitement, pride. A joyful cocktail that had ingrained this moment in their memory forever.
It was short lived, the scene shifted and warped, a countryside landscape turning into that of a bustling city. Humans were busy, walking to and fro, but the person paid them no attention, just like they did not pay him any. Dressed in peasant clothes, he joined a long line of young people. Everyone’s faces were blurry and faded, the details of the shops in the street and the passing carriages were similarly undecipherable, but Sofia could read one piece of text. Above the gates the people were lined up to enter, a large golden plaque was etched with a few words, that the person in the memory kept staring at.
Ancient human. Sofia could tell. ‘Royal Lineguard Academy of Science’.
The scene warped again. The person was waiting nervously near some kind of altar. There seemed to be many people around, but it was all a giant blur, as if none of them had any importance. The location itself was blurry, Sofia could not understand what this was about, until a young woman made her entrance from a distance, she had beautiful black hair cascading over her white robe. Looking up at the person near the altar, she smiled.
A wedding?!
This memory was the last semi-coherent one, soon overturned by a flurry of scenes and images following each other so fast that Sofia could barely understand anything. Joy, pain, love, anger, overwhelming emotions swole up and recessed, and eventually the plentiful images ceased. Brutally, everything had stopped. Everything turned gray.
Sorrow and nostalgia was all that was left. In the gray world, a single thing remained, one dreadful image, a lonely grave in a city’s giant cemetery.
‘Ophelia Deepes
4858 - 4940’
The world around the grave started moving like a whirlwind, but only the grave stayed as the core of the memory. The world was gray, without taste, without emotion.
The image of the academy’s gates flashed by again, new bright young people were lining up in front of it, yet the memory was forlorn and cold.
What followed, Sofia could barely even begin to analyze for it flashed by so fast, dozen upon dozen of equation-covered black boards, mathematics that one could barely even fathom could make any sense, questions upon questions upon questions. Chalk-stained hands, wrote and wrote, yet the final equal sign never gave any answer.
People came and went, many stared at the black boards in amazement and wonder, yet the person in the memories was unsatisfied.
He pushed further and further, until he found a most peculiar answer: Speed.
For the second time Sofia heard the person laugh, but it was not the same. It was a lot darker this time, fueled by the loathing irony of this solution to his problems.
The person returned to something they had abandoned, a purple world of blue hues, strange eyes staring everywhere from the swirls of this empty cloud in a forlorn realm. The rituals they had used to escape so long ago were still where they had been left, untouched despite the fleeting centuries.
From here on, the memories were clearer, as if fresher in the person’s mind, but they also flashed by much faster.
Unable to focus, the person started building a city on the clouds, a mirage of the places they once knew, a pristine, yet soulless recreation of the human city he no longer wished to return to alone. The familiar but silent environment helped him focus on his goals.
Speed. It all came back to this simple concept. More speed. That was all he needed.
Speed trained his speed. Again, and again, and again.
Even as the city in the clouds started to crumble, Speed needed to go faster and faster. Always faster.
Sofia did not understand why, the memories were overlapping and unclear, mushed together by the god’s obsession.
And on a fateful day, Speed reached his goal. But whatever he had expected to find was not what had been waiting for him at the end of the road. Instead, he discovered that his equations were wrong.
This was the clearest of the entirety of Speed’s memory, starting from a fully blackened vision. For the first time, Sofia could hear his voice, defeated.
“So this is the true limit… I was a fool…”
His vision expanded. It was not black, it was the void. The endless voice of space. The universe; everything.
It was not Sofia’s first time being subject to this vision.
Ormoncleth.
The vision crumbled. But the memories were not over.
Speed woke up just in time to save himself, hastily saving his essence from the brink of collapse, grabbing the last one which had been trying to escape him. He forced the essence back into his divine body. Standing up, he returned to the ruined city in his domain.
There, he prepared many things, though those memories were faint at best, overshadowed by constant visions of horror, of Ormoncleth’s incomprehensible nature that ensnared Speed’s every thought.
When everything was said and done, Speed trudged toward his favorite spot in the fake city, on a chair overlooking the godly realm’s depths. Finally, he let the last of his essence go, and his consciousness faded.
The constant flashing of memories was over, and Sofia soon regained her senses, just in time to see Speed appear right next to her. She was sitting on the ground next to the chair.
“I think it worked?” she told him, the blur around the zone starting to fade. There was now nothing special to see there aside from an empty chair. Conflicting emotions swirled within her mind, but she was quick to come to a conclusion, this story she had just seen unfold was something that she absolutely could not share with the current Speed, if only to prevent him from ever attempting the same stunt and meeting the same end.
“Oh thank fuck you’re fine. Got me scared for a second there,” Speed answered Sofia with a sigh.
“And you just ran in to see if I was alright despite it being potentially dangerous for you?” Sofia asked, pointing at the fading clouds of blurriness all around them.
“I’d rather not see anyone die in my home, you know. Especially not someone I’m trying to date.”
“Stop, you’re going to make me blush,” Sofia joked, grabbing his hand to stand up. “Looks like I got your home all cleaned up, no more blurry corpses ruining the view…”
“Thanks for that, I guess. I would not mind making you blush, it would be concerning if you managed to blush in that form, though.”
“Maybe I’ll work on that,” Sofia answered, her thoughts still enraptured by the old Speed’s memories, thinking back about it, she wanted to ask a question, “Actually, a weird thought, but… Do you find this kind of essence body more attractive than a physical one? I’m wondering how that works…” Since the previous Speed also ended up with a human…
Speed laughed, shaking his head, “Not at all, no, though it feels more natural to be like this, I grew up around mortals and this is what shaped who I am now. To begin with it makes little sense for someone with no need to reproduce to be attracted to women specifically, but here we are. So, I very much prefer looking at you when you look more human… Well, your demon form is not bad either, aside from the head.”
“Hey! What’s wrong with my demon head?” Sofia pretended to be offended.
“You mean aside from the mouth the size of your entire face?”
“Heh, we each have a good and a bad head then, guess that makes us even.”
“What, you don’t like a guy who’s got a divine rune for a head? You can use it to enchant boots and vehicles for a speed boost, by the way, but you have to actually punch in the holes, not draw them.”
“Really? Interesting, doesn’t that steal some of your essence, though?”
Speed shrugged, “Usually people are happy enough with the added speed that I get the spent power right back, it’s a pretty neutral thing to maintain. Most gods do something like that with their rune. Gives us more places to observe the physical world from, too.”
“Huh… Speaking of divine runes, this is what the first letter you gave me was about actually, here, let me share a skill description with you…”
Comments
E
I thought you were being sarcastic so I checked ch492. Confirmed she didn't provide any detail on a God's ability to sense and see through an external essence.
Lazy Monster
Ormoncleth just sitting there like “I already have to stop like 10 versions of the Flash from breaking their timelines, I don’t need more of this shit Speed”
Lazy Monster
You’d think Sun would have covered that when she actually started giving a lecture on it, costume included.
Merlin's Fan
My guess is time did the same thing speed did, it's already hinted that speed and time are kinda similar. They probably both died trying to undo the past to save a loved one..
E
I don't get why this detail is still so vague. What is Scripture capable of sensing? You would think Grandma Erredis would've spelled it out for Sofia early on. "Look, here are what the essences inside you are capable of and what you need to watch out for. Scripture can see stuff when you're near written scripture and don't ever trust Sun to give you any privacy b/c she is a pervert."
Runcible Technician
'Gives us more places to observe the physical world' Sofia has absolutely used Scripture's rune or been around it when sensitive stuff happened. Ominous.
Chance Rose
Well, Ormoncleth is the "Regulator". Speed was essentially trying to break the regulations that he imposed on existence so Orm stopped him. Maybe time tried to do something like that before which is why Uncle Ed had to kill him. I also think from last chapter that maybe time died because of the heros being summoned from different epochs and he didn't want to let that happen, but the other lords wanted to have their selections or whatever it was called to get successors and not have to do their jobs anymore like orator said they wanted to stop doing.
Kennyevilmonkey
Yup, and the color purple makes Orcs turn invisible.
Libery
Expansive as in big ass pills or expensive for you to buy or does insurance cover it?
Libery
You know, PCs run faster with RGB lights and a heck spoiler
Libery
Could also be Ormoncleth looking what has broken time, because that is about the only thing interesting happening around them? And, well, just seeing them is enough to drive everyone mad?
Cyclone001
I think he died because he only had a single essence left. If I remember my godhood theory right, then gods need at least 5.
Ceasar Salas
Thanks for the chapter!
Tejing
Interesting memories, for sure. Perhaps the most interesting bit was the years on the gravestone, though. It suggests a different calendar in use... what calendar did people use before the system year? I guess Ormoncleth said no to time travel via super-speed? Seems like it really shook him up, though. Not clear if he killed himself out of despair that he couldn't succeed or because he was traumatized by that experience... I wonder if it would be safer to warn the current Speed against pushing things to the limit, rather than staying quiet... Correction: but it was confuse, overwhelming. confuse -> confused OR confuse -> confusing overwhelming emotions swole up and recessed, swole -> swelled (swole is an adjective) dozen upon dozen of equation-covered black boards, dozen upon dozen -> dozens upon dozens Chalk-stained hands, wrote and wrote hands, -> hands I grew up around mortals and this is what shaped who I am now. this -> that
John Grizzly
Speed also didn't opt to end himself. He realized he was going to be wiped out, and decided to resist. Prolly could have lived woth his last essence but ... he had no reason to anymore. He only lived to find a way to bring back his beloved. He realized he couldn't. Decided to be kinda responsible and set up his next gen with some bare necessities
John Grizzly
Considering time is dead, and had to die. And old speed was trying to flash point this universe, I'm guessing that's why they had to kill time, so Noone can mess with it like old lover boy was trying to do. His math wasn't wrong, it was changed.
Mornn
Still not doing great since I haven't gotten the medication yet, but I'll just push through it until I get it next week, should be alright...
Mornn
That feels like the kind of question I shouldn't answer :p
Mornn
Went alright, the medication I have to get is pretty expansive and is like... Need special authorization from the drug ministy and shit, but hopefully it'll work great, or at least I'm sure it'll be a great placebo. I'm just slightly worried about how I'll be able to still get it when I try moving countries next year...
Matt Grayson
Yeah, relativity is a bitch. BTW, there's a great derivation of special relativity from the simple assertion that there *is* a maximum speed (and you can't tell how fast you're going). Everything follows from that. Anyway, looks like the missing skill description is upcoming, Good. And congratulations on being able to see. Or at least, use a screen! I turn mine down to less blue to relieve eye pain.
E
Did Ormoncleth intervene or did the math not work out? Bit confused. My interpretation is Ormoncleth basically said: "you tried to break time. I'm going to end you" and Speed opted to end himself first.
Wolfknap
My thoughts exactly
Kennyevilmonkey
Speed's rune is basically putting fire decals on your car and that somehow makes it go faster!
Cyclone001
Hope your appointment went well? When Sofia kills Scripture one day, being forced to absorb his memories seems kinda cruel.
SDCard
Thanks for the chapter!
Wensber
Huh, so the old Speed tried to go so fast he could go back in time and be with his late partner, but either the theory was just wrong or it required Time to be alive.
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
Custus
Thanks for the chapter!
Wensber
Thanks for the chapter!
