Chaos' Heir

Chapter 1349: Barren

Khan hadn’t actively relied on the symphony’s directives in a long time. That skill had become instinctive, but he had also grown faster than any of his opponents, making it outdated and superfluous, outclassed by his martial arts and spells.

Nevertheless, Khan had spent part of his time on the grey desert reattuning himself to that ability. His introspection into the broader nature of his element also demanded it, making him kill two birds with one stone in preparation for the last stretch of the Nak’s mission.

However, it immediately became evident that Khan had never needed that special training in the first place, and his perception had nothing to do with that.

Upon crossing the arrangement of asteroids’ edge, a storm of feelings that had nothing to do with the lightning bolts outside assaulted Khan’s senses.

Those feelings were intense but emotionless, as if belonging to a software or a machine. They also didn’t need translations or interpretations. They were clear directives meant to guide Khan.

What Khan had initially thought to be the Nak’s final test for their rightful heir had turned out to be nothing more than a mystical, mysterious map only he could read. His mana resonated with the outside symphony, and he let it influence his actions, moving the steering wheel accordingly.

Of course, making the ship follow those distinct directives required some skill, but Khan was nothing if not a good pilot. Obliterating lightning bolts raged all around the vehicle, sending terrifying scenes to the flickering screens above the control desk, but nothing hit it even once.

Many lightning bolts came close to crashing down on the hull. Liiza saw on the flickering screens how the storm often created traps made of crackling, blue spiderwebs that conveyed specific patterns, attempting to lead the ship toward unavoidable destruction.

However, Khan always dodged those attacks by mere centimeters, diving into areas that seemed to spell certain doom, only for the storm to open upon his arrival.

Those maneuvers went beyond what any strategy could accomplish. Even studying the blue storm and memorizing its patterns wouldn’t achieve such clean results.

Khan wasn’t reacting. He was being led inside, and that invitation translated into maneuvers that bordered on the divination. He was basically predicting the future, or rather, he was being told where to go in advance.

That made the crossing smoother and less mentally taxing than what Khan and Liiza could have ever hoped for. Yet, they both remained utterly silent, tense and wary despite the pleasant surprise.

The ship didn’t advance in a straight line. It performed twists and turns, often flying backward through already crossed areas before going deeper into the arrangement of asteroids once more.

Despite the interference, the autopilot was doing its best to keep track of the ship’s current position, recording anything that touched its scanners.

However, Khan started ignoring the few still-active lights on the control desk soon enough. It was pointless to keep track of them anyway. Any recording was bound to become unreliable in the next second once the storm moved again.

So, Khan lost track of his current position, entirely forgetting about it as he let the storm guide him. He stopped caring about the passage of time, fuel consumption, and more, only focusing on the external inputs flowing through the ship’s hull.

After all, Khan and Liiza were virtually trapped now. Escaping the arrangement of asteroids would mean fighting against the storm, forcing Khan to abandon that mystical foresight and rely on his reaction speed.

The safer, perhaps only way, was forward, and Khan followed it. His vessel was like a ship trapped in raging waves, pushed toward an established path that eventually achieved the sought-after results.

The storm grew thicker and more intense, assaulting Khan’s senses to no end and prompting him to perform a quick succession of sharp maneuvers. The interference also became stronger, rendering the scanners and other functions completely useless.

Yet, that more challenging phase abruptly ended. Khan was still in the middle of his last sharp maneuver when everything resumed functioning perfectly. A deafening silence also assaulted his senses, snapping him out of his profound concentration.

The scanners and Khan’s senses confirmed a shocking update. The storm was no more. The ship had truly crossed it unharmed. There also weren’t any more asteroids in sight, but the new scenery enforced a different kind of silence.

The special ship had no canopy that could allow direct inspection of the outside world, but the now-stable scanners more than sufficed in conveying the breathtaking scenery ahead.

The asteroids’ other side acted as edges of a spherical, relatively small, and secluded environment. The space inside was dark but not black, afflicted by various degrees of azure light Khan knew far too well.

Vast blue clouds of what the scanners confirmed to be mana floated in that isolated empty expanse, acting as ethereal winds in that mostly dark canvas.

Debris of different sizes but conveying that iconic azure color also floated inside that secluded space. The smaller ones were no more than arrays of pebbles surrounded by dust, while the far fewer, bigger ones resembled cracked and partially destroyed moons.

The solar system Khan had expected to find was nowhere to be seen, seemingly destroyed by the passage of time or other factors.

The scenery only featured death and dispersed energy, but Khan knew he was in the right place. His senses stated as much, and one exception existed in that seemingly ruined solar system. Its apparent center was still intact and bright, shining with an azure light in the exact middle of that isolated space.

The planet behaved like a dim, far colder blue star that failed to illuminate the more distant space. It didn’t even spin, but Khan’s memories filled the gaps, replacing that widespread death and barrenness with images that his nightmares had burned into his brain.

That celestial body was the final destination in Khan’s journey, and its call was louder than ever in his brain. His nape burned as his mana core reacted to that place, attempting to make him lose control of his actions.

Still, Khan didn’t waver for a single second, calmly pushing the ship forward to end his curse once and for all.