Chaos' Heir

Chapter 1098 Staircase

At first sight, Coravis' not-waters had clearly suffered from the Nak's infection. They weren't living beings, but the traces of that affliction were evident. The Nak couldn't taint them but had definitely polluted them.

Yet, Khan's gaze went deeper, piercing the surface of that slightly dense liquid to search for the source of that pale green energy. Traces of that mana were everywhere, joining the calm waves of that ever-flowing sea, but Khan couldn't see their origin.

Truthfully, those pale green waves didn't look intentional. They resembled random leaks from a far greater system. As for which, Khan didn't need to search for it. It was everywhere in his vision. Coravis didn't have winds, but currents of that specific symphony flowed all over the sea, probably stretching through the entirety of the planet and beyond.

Khan had hoped to be mistaken. He had wished what he had seen from orbit had been nothing more than a trick of light enhanced by his superior perception. However, hovering in Coravis' sky confirmed that shocking truth. The pale green mana covered the whole planet, occasionally bursting past its atmosphere to fly through space.

Still, the scene was less concerning than Khan expected. The pale green mana did fill the whole planet, but the process wasn't forceful. It was seamless and gentle, no different from the ordinary symphony. If anything, it seemed to have fused with Coravis itself, becoming its new atmosphere.

The feat was still nothing short of incredible, but Khan could devise more reassuring explanations now. That transformation didn't necessarily happen overnight. It could have been a gradual change spanning thousands of years, making the unfathomable sight more understandable.

Of course, that would imply Coravis' entity was a few millennia old, but Khan didn't bother lingering on such small details.

'Great Old One is quite the fitting name,' Khan thought before carefully descending through the sky.

The call inside Khan's nape was louder than ever but lacked a certain depth. Somehow, he didn't believe he would find Nak down there. His instincts told him the planet had quantity over quality of remains, and the blue sea was enough to explain that sensation. Khan was simply overwhelmed by the amount of matter that reeked of that mysterious species.

Reaching the sea's surface pushed the call to the limit, almost making it able to silence Khan's thoughts. He felt a certain pull toward the not-waters, but the urge was bearable.

Khan had already experienced something similar in Cegnore. Its underground lake had felt denser with Nak's energy, but the sea was immense in comparison. Still, Khan had uncovered his mission's nature by then, so his mind wasn't in danger anymore.

'It should have sensed me,' Khan thought. 'Is it waiting for something?'

All the experience with aliens in the world couldn't prepare Khan for interacting with a planet-wide sea. He wasn't sure what to do, so he stuck with what he knew best, joining his hands to perform a Niqols' bow in mid-air.

"I'm the Heir to the Nak's Chaos," Khan announced, using the pale energy's words. "Khan! I seek audience with the Great Old One."

'It should know they call it like this, right?' Khan wondered, his eyes darting left and right, waiting for something to happen.

The not-waters remained still, or rather, kept flowing in their orderly manner, but a change did happen. Part of the sky's symphony started to condense, eventually becoming visible and glowing with pale green light. That technique was no different from when Khan materialized his array of spears, but the entity pushed it one step further.

The pale green mana was calm and stable as it condensed into a humanoid shape. The figure was exactly as tall as Khan but had no facial features whatsoever. It didn't even try to replicate clothes, resembling a training dummy rather than a human.

Nevertheless, the pale green figure did imitate Khan's bow before releasing the deep, powerful voice he had heard inside his ship.

"Welcome to Coravis, Chaos' Heir," The voice resounded through the air, giving birth to clear words. "Your request for audience has been granted."

'Shouldn't it be mana's heir?' Khan pondered, noticing the different title. 'Is chaos a progenitor of some kind?'

Khan kept his thoughts to himself but stored them in the back of his mind, planning to review them if he ever came back from the trip. Meanwhile, the pale green figure straightened its ethereal back, adding a few deep words.

"Follow us, Nak's Heir," The figure said, his fake feet and hands morphing backward to allow it to walk farther away from Khan without turning.

'Did it change the title on purpose?' Khan cursed in his mind, following after the glowing figure. 'Did it sense my thoughts? Are the titles interchangeable?'

The two walked through the air, hovering a few meters above the calm sea. Only the faint sound of waves spread through the world, and Khan didn't dare to disturb it further. He had done his best to speak politely, but his stance was as tense as they came.

Luckily, the glowing figure didn't seem to mind it and kept walking forward, perfectly imitating human motions. Khan soon discovered it matched his speed, too, so he accelerated, hoping to reach the destination as quickly as possible.

Khan didn't deploy his top speed but started relying on his mana to accelerate. The fact that the figure kept up with him didn't surprise him, but many minutes went by, and the former still didn't show any trace of stopping.

Eventually, a whole hour passed and then two. Khan had long since lost track of his ship and any sense of direction, but the glowing figure pressed on.

At some point, Khan lost track of time, too, but was hopeless about the matter. He didn't even accelerate any further and proceeded onward, hoping the figure didn't expect him to follow it on the other side of the planet.

Khan's worries turned out to be unfounded. An unclear number of hours later, the glowing figure stopped and gracefully descended toward the sea's surface. Its ethereal feet touched the not-waters, which opened, creating a perfectly circular cavity seemingly unaffected by the calm waves.

Khan held back his shock when he hovered above the cavity and peeked inside it. That was no mere hole. It was a tunnel stretching beyond Khan's vision and senses. It cut the sea obliquely, seemingly descending toward its bed.

The surprises didn't end there. As the glowing figure descended through the tunnel, its not-waters morphed, and steps rose from its bottom. A proper liquid staircase took shape, leading into the dark reaches of Coravis' sea.

Khan only needed a look to know he had reached the point of no return, but his feet showed no hesitation in pushing him downward. He landed on the strangely solid liquid steps, feeling glad he had hidden a pair of respirators under his cape.