From an outsiders point of view, Arthur had just been plunged into the belly of the beast. This abomination, crafted from the numerous Attributes that existed throughout the Winter Rain Mountains, one which had coincidentally just appeared, at the exact same time that traces disappeared wreaked havoc amongst the Western Fields of Parachenko Village.
This unknown "Madness" Attribute. One that had the qualities of all other Attributes, that existed outside of the Thirty Three Heavens....
Randolf, a Foreigner from another world, was something that was the easiest conduit to channel this unknown power....
An existence born within the Madness, or perhaps the Madness itself had taken root within him. Twisting Randolf, causing him to transform into this monstrous being.
The only thing that separated Randolf from being completely engulfed by the Madness, was the existence of his Foreign Treasure which he brought over from his previous world. Just like Madness, it was something from outside the Thirty Three Heavens, and as such, had the power to resist the Madness, if only just to slow it down....
Sitting in his two-layered cocoon, Arthur closed his eyes and meditated silently, dividing up his consciousness into five different sections so as to control the Ghosts outside.
Even with Arthur's thousand years worth of knowledge, he had never heard of a "Madness Attribute" before. He initially thought it might be some sort of Mind-related Attribute, one that goes against Thoughts, Emotions and Desires, however, just seeing how much it affected Randolf, Arthur's inital hypothesis was completely wrong.
'Randolf quoted the Shadow
'Before there was anything.... Before there was Time.... Before there was even Space.... There was only... Madness..... There primordial universe, before either Laws, or Fae, or even the Heavens and the Earth existed. Nothing, and yet everything existed at once. It.... doesn't make sense. How can something exist before Creation? How can the World function without laws or structure? Is the secret of Madness got to do with Randolf's current existence?'.
The ambient spiritual essence within the World around him was extraordinarily thick. As if the World was returning back towards a primordial soup. The quality of existence that a lifeform possesses, that is the Rank of a Fae material, or a Fae Master, determines how much spiritual essence it can naturally release.
Most only release a minute amount, and in limited types, but Madness can release everything in such a quality that puts everything else to shame.
It rivalled even Immortal Fae materials, even though Randolf was only a Rank 2 Fae Master.
'The quality of Madness should exceed everything in the modern World. If the entirety of the
Arthur let out a shallow breath.
His comprehension on what Madness, was truly insignificant.
He didn't even know if it was possible for the Madness Attributes to have a Law, considering it had been established even before Laws were created!
Arthur just watched silently through the eyes of his five ghosts, marvelling at the wonderous and horrifying existences that slept and crawled throughout the Madness.
Clouds of flesh that hovered in packs throughout the endless colourful void. They breathed and roiled like soft waves in the early morning. Their cries and their tears the same colour as blood, yet wherever their bodily fluids landed, hundreds, if not thousands of strange and human-shaped plants bloomed in a hair-raising harmony.
These plants were unlike anything Arthur had ever seen. The Wood Race, divided up into Treants and Dryads also possessed humanoid forms, yet these creatures, in both size, and shape and form all reminded Arthur of something closer to moss, rather than independent lifeforms.
They were all interconnected, with green-tinted bones, and veins pumping a foreign, purple coloured liquid. It was thick, almost paste-like. Yet the interconnected lower bodies of all these human-shaped plants astounded Arthur. They swayed and devoured the strange, red coloured winds that blew through the void, eating anything and everything that passed through them.
A monstrous creature, one beyond the sizes of titans and giants fell to these flesh-eating human plants. The closest thing Arthur could compare it to would be a mammoth, only its bones were crafted out of solid lightning, and the hairs on its back were formed from ice and snow.
Just by gazing at it through the eyes of this ghost, Arthur could feel his head throb as the dead, unblinking eyes of this enormous mammoth froze any of the man-shaped plants who dared to look at its deceased carcase.
Even in death, its power was not to be underestimated.
Arthur had seen eyes the size of Continents, and watched as numerous worms, and fleshy, skin-coloured leeches bathed in the liquid of its eye. Arthur didn't remain to long, not daring to gaze into the unknown existences eye after seeing the affects of the mammoth and its deceased body.
This World, this foreign existence.... made absolutely no sense to Arthur.
It defied all logic and completely destroyed his established world view. He couldn't feel any Laws around him, and yet the seed of Law power within his Mind Origin Essence Sea practically hummed a tranquil hymn in the presence of these human-shaped, flesh-eating plants.
This foreign existence approached the sphere of petals and vines that Arthur was contained in, feeling the slight harmony between Arthur's Wood Laws and themselves.
Just like Randolf, they were an amalgamation of myriad Laws. Arthur couldn't tell, but there was at least 9 Laws that had led to the creation of this strange existence....
His figure stiffened from within the petal-vine cage, and Arthur readied one of his Fae to attack the moment this creature tried to fight Arthur but-.
This flesh-eating plant paused for a moment, before lifting its hand and pointing upwards.
It was upwards to Arthur, but in this place, Laws such as Gravity and Time probably didn't function in the same way Arthur was familiar with. He gave the plant a small nod, before moving the petal-vine cage upwards, with the help of the five ghosts.
All of the human-shaped plants swayed gently as they devoured more and more multi-coloured wind. They rested themselves on the very top of the mammoth carcase, and allowed their conjoined lower bodies to slowly chew on the bones and hair of this deceased abomination.
It possessed six horns instead of the usual two, and nine eyes. It only possessed three legs, which is what caused Arthur's headache earlier.
Avoiding the clouds of flesh, Arthur ascended higher and higher in this strange and unpredictable world.
Eventually, Arthur reached a point beyond the realm of the clouds of flesh. Nothing but blood-soaked stars, shaped in the forms of archaic skulls existed this high up....
At least Arthur thought he was high up....
Enormous skeletons, the size of mountain ranges existed up here, floating aimlessly, like a paper boat amongst the Sea of Stars. The former light from their skulls is what illuminated the world below, at least until the writhing insects on their skulls finished chewing through their hardened carapace.
Arthur ignored the massive skeletons and the bone-devouring insects as well. He kept ascending higher and higher, pushing himself towards a faint circle of non-existence....
Everything in here possessed the Madness Attribute. As such, theoretically, they had the capacity to possess all Attributes. The only thing which Madness should not be able to intrude upon, is the Foreign Treasure that Randolf possessed....
Arthur sped towards the circle of non-existence, towards where Randolf's Foreign Treasure laid. Unbeknownst to him, a large coil of shadowy scales slithered its way towards the Foreign Treasure as well....