The city has become a bit more supernatural, according to the rumors. Worthy knew the source of all of this newfound unnaturalness in the city. In fact, he was the one that ended up letting all those wraiths loose. Now, he had no choice but to see what they were changing.
Wraiths were not like the poltergeists Worthy heard about as a child. These remnants of a dead world were the heart and soul of the Accursed Port. The city was a living—not quite breathing—organism, which was now carrying thousands of people to the end of the world, where they would find the heart of a god and try and stick whatever weapons they could find through it.
War's magnificent display of strength was still fresh on Worthy's mind. He did not doubt that the man could destroy the heart. Maybe it would be the most challenging feat he'd need to accomplish yet, but if he could not do it, then there was truly no one in the world who could get it done.
Perhaps if one of the current generation of Holy Knights entered…
'Well, I don't know if there are any Holy Knights alive outside. Capital issues don't really concern me, at least I like to say they don't.'
He was just thinking to pass the time as he walked through the busy streets of the settlement. There were many new faces talking and exploring, just like he was. Nevertheless, his personal tour through the city was to see what the wraiths had done to the settlement. Really, he wanted to see if his actions had caused trouble for other people.
'Who cares?' His actions had saved their lives, really. If he hadn't rang the bell and triggered the special event, then the entire Prime Settlement, himself included, would be dead. Everyone else who was out there wouldn't have had a bell to ring, and the First Floor would become a dead zone. Anyone that entered would be sacrificed to a dead world and there would be no one left to save them.
Still, it left a guilty feeling in his chest. It was unfamiliar to him, but he was starting to understand it more and more. Ever since he entered the Tower, his perception of his morality changed. Death was to be expected in the Tower, but his actions resulted in the death of humans.
He didn't want to be the reason someone got crushed under a random building shift. Causing suffering to people… felt awful.
'Ugh.' Worthy shook his head, dismissing the extraneous thoughts. Even if he felt guilty and wanted to absolve himself of guilt, he also needed to check on the supernatural changes people had been witnessing. It couldn't have been pointless alterations, so he had to try and piece the meaning together himself.
Really, he was banking on the connection he shared with the fragment of Alice in his mind influencing things. Her father, the burden of her father, was in this city somewhere. It could've been in one of the walls or in the artillery blasting monsters outside, or perhaps even in one of the buildings that'd been reconstructed. Hell, it was possible the wraith moved on to completely different locations Worthy didn't know about.
But his instincts told him that the wraith of the man played a crucial role in the rumors. Because he was the only one that stood out to the child. Climbing that dark, chilling bell tower had revealed a story to him—the departing words of Alice and her father. He spoke to the spirit, and though he did not receive any verbal responses, it seemed like the wraith heard him and acknowledged his words with shame.
There was no other wraith in that tower as persistent as the one that he met, and followed him into the belfry. It remained up until he finally rang the bell, and then all of the wraiths were released upon the world.
His walk took him through twists and turns. Eventually, he reached one of the locations where a shift had happened. In a corner of the city, where the wall towered the highest, he found it.
To his surprise, although there was a lack of spectators, the alterations were still happening in real time. It was quite the thing to behold, but it was also terrifying and dangerous.
The rooftops of different buildings had been removed and were hovering in the air, merging together to create an unusual, sharp helix. A few meters away from that unnatural formation, windows from buildings were flying at dangerous rates, rapidly changing in size. If the boy didn't know any better, he'd assume they were trying to fit into each of their respective openings in the walls of misshapen buildings nearby.
"I'd like to think I'm smart enough to know what the hell is going on here…"
Continuing that line of thinking would be foolish, because the child truly had no idea what was happening before his eyes.
Even the stone pathways on the ground were flowing like an unstable stream of water. There were even some raised areas that looked to be hoisted by invisible geysers, and none of it made sense.
A well-minded person would adamantly refuse to go anywhere near the arcane space. It could've contained a curse of some kind, for all everyone knew. But Worthy didn't quite mind the idea of experiencing witchcraft for the first time. He'd come to see what was happening, and he was going to learn just that.
Cautiously, he took some steps forward. His senses had been heightened and encompassed a great distance around him. Enough to know when something was going to spring out at him, or if one of the roof tiles were going to fall and hit him in the head.
He advanced through the distorted space and saw sights more extraordinary than before.
The deeper he went, the more unrecognizable the city began.
At some point, he was certain he'd stepped into a bubble of stretched space. Because after a while, he could no longer see the magnificent wall of the city, which once loomed over him. Not really. It was further away now, further than it could've realistically been.
A familiar breeze blew by, pushing the boy's unkempt hair in all directions. He lifted his hand to his face and blocked it, but it was like trying to block a stream of water. It worked its way around his hand and struck him anyway, in a manner that felt a bit too controlled for his liking.
Carried in this wind, the child heard a whisper, all too reminiscent of the bell tower. The voices spoke words he could now hear very clearly, with a heightened sense of hearing.
"...Welcome…"
And that was one hell of a greeting. It was a greeting so worthy of mention that the boy didn't mention it at all.
"Alright. Time to go a little deeper." He did not mention it, because he recognized the voice. So although he was a bit excited to be experiencing something so otherworldly, Worthy couldn't conceal the scowl on his face as he moved.
He had a meeting with a terrible father. And, this one wasn't his.