Reaper, Chapters 7 & 8

Thank you to Andy for commissioning this episode!
I am so nervous now because the vacation is now officially over and we're getting into the fray again. Can I just tell y'all how much I don't want to do this right now, with a weird psuedo-Dross tagging along? I just...look I love the team and I believe in them, but I'm worried.
Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you next week with a new episode!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is an Unspoiled Network podcast. This is spoil Me
covering Cradle Book ten Reaper chapters seven and eight. I
believe it says something incorrect in my crowdcast there, Sorry

(00:23):
about that. In these chapters, fate is being disrupted. Everybody
is thrown off and thankfully God, Thank you, Will White,
Lyndon and Yarren listen to Athan's instincts. Welcome to spoil Me.

(01:03):
Welcome to the show everyone. I am Natasha. Thank you
very much to Andy for commissioning this episode. Andy is
here in the chat, as are a few others. Hi.
Everybody delighted to have you here. So these chapters are
the exact thing that I was like low key dreading
from the last episode of coverage, where everybody begins to

(01:25):
wake up from their little sleepy coma of life that
they wish they could live their regular, everyday lives and
realize that, oh, another crisis is here. They did get
a pretty good break. I have acknowledged this, but I
wanted I just I is there any fan fiction of
just like them living without adventures, because I would be

(01:50):
interested just saying I just kind of want a little
bit of downtime to enjoy this is pounded the fact
that there is a crisis. The tension is compounded by
the fact that nobody really knows what's going on, and

(02:10):
there are there's just a lot of like weird bad
feelings that Ethan's having and nobody else is really able
to like back him up on the assumptions that he's
making or the like instincts that are driving him. And
because nobody is feeling the same way, he doesn't exactly

(02:31):
like trust it initially, and he is willing to let
it go, thinking that maybe it's just like some you know,
weird side effect maybe of the dread God attacks, or
it's just something else major that has happened that he's sensing,
or monarch like energy, and because he's starting to get

(02:53):
to another point of ascension, that maybe he's growing more
sensitive to that. So you know, as readers, we are
very very aware of the fact that there is some
shit going down, and seeing Athan feeling something but not
actually knowing what to do about it or how to

(03:15):
handle it is really awful. I hate it so much.
This is the kind of thing that, like, this is
a bit of a trope. When you have the sort
of master figure which Athan is getting to a point
in the story where things are bad enough that even
the Master isn't exactly sure how to proceed or doesn't

(03:39):
have the necessary information, and we get to eventually a
point where he gets enough information that he's like, fuck, okay, no,
I do know what this is actually, but because he
doesn't have enough information initially, it takes a while. Rom says,
I pause my reread at the end of chapter eight

(04:01):
in it about killed me. Yeah, Rob, listen, this is
not easy. I uh yeah, I feel you. I pretty much.
How I've been doing this just for y'all's information, is
once I'm done with the recordings that I'm doing on Tuesdays,
I listen to the audio book like that day or
the next day for the next chapters, and then on

(04:22):
Tuesday before recording, I read it via text on the Kindle,
and that way I've done it twice. And reading it
via text it's just a really different experience, and you
pick up different things because it's the medium. Changing makes
you focus on something that in the audiobook, depending on delivery,
you may not have noticed as much, or it may

(04:43):
not have been quite as like amusing, and so it
was overshadowed. And this is the kind of thing that
deserves to be read twice because everything there's always so
much going on. Guys, I went back and and re
listened to a little bit of my early episodes just

(05:04):
because I was sort of curious, like how much I
had understood not much, not much, like I'm getting the
character stuff, I'm getting the basics of like the magical system,
but there was so much that I was either not
understanding or not treating as particularly important. And what works

(05:26):
about that is that you get to a point as
a reader where you do understand the significance of it all,
and it's okay. It's not like having missed things to
begin with makes it so that you don't understand what's
happening later. But it was kind of amusing to just
see how much I was struggling to rep my head
around the habit on stuff and just various things. You know.

(05:51):
So this chapter eight starts off or no, sorry, chapter
seven with Cassius, and guys, you know that I have
a soft spot for Cassius. I don't know what it
is about him. I think it's the fact that he's
like got the same ability as Athan, but because his
talent isn't as good with it, and because he isn't
as great a show boat, maybe not as talented in

(06:15):
the sacred arts either, he is is I don't want
to say he's taken less seriously, but I guess he's
not as feared, and he still shows up and doesn't
seem to hold resentment against Ethan for that. He holds
resentment against Ethan for the fact that Athan wasn't doing
his duties when he was, you know, the the head

(06:38):
of the family, and that's legit. But there's not a
personal sort of grudge or envy to him. And I
think that's a really admirable thing because it would be
so understandable if he felt a little bit of bitterness,
you know. And also, guys, again with like going to

(07:00):
text after doing the audiobook, I was so certain that
cassieus had a in his name and that is not
how it is spelled to c Assia s not you.
So he is walking around the city because that is
what Athan used to do. And it's like good for

(07:23):
all of their family and staff essentially to see that
there is a supervisor around keeping an eye on things,
which like that is just that is just basic management.
Let them know that you are paying attention that you
are there watching, because if they don't think that you're
going to check, they will not give as much of
a shit. And he is I was going to say,

(07:50):
ambushed by Ethan, but does it count as an ambush
when he sees it coming and he steps out of
the way just in time before Ethan can land on him.
And there's a little bit of back and forth with
Ethan lamenting that he didn't get to do the uh,
you know, now it's your turn to hold me up
joke that he was going to make. And what's very

(08:10):
remarkable about the whole interaction between the two of them here,
including Ethan stopping a man who is trying to duck
out on the bill for his dinner that he ate
at some restaurant, is the fact that Athan is being
lighthearted the way that he tends to be, but there

(08:33):
there's a genuine happiness under it instead of like the
sort of cutting, brittle edge that he sometimes had when
he was like joking around where you were like, all right, look,
I know you're playing, but also you're definitely like after
something in the midst of this conversation. There's there's another
goal here that I'm not seeing, and that's not what's

(08:55):
happening here. He's just genuinely like, let's chat, bruh, let's
hang out, And this is what I mean. Guys, I
love this shit so much, so I'm gonna read you
a couple of these little bits because it's so First
of all, when Ethan stops the guy who is trying
to sneak off and shakes his fists and says, not
in my town, I cackled. I cackled in the audiobook,

(09:19):
and then when I got to it again in the text,
I had forgotten about it, and I laughed all over again.
I just, for some reason adored this. And Ethan shouted
encouragement to a girl trying to work up the courage
to dance, then led Cassius up to a bird's nest
on top of a chimney. Cassieus had expected them to
be dread beasts or hostile sacred crows or something, but no,

(09:39):
Ethan had just wanted to show him some sparkly eggshells.
This swarms my heart, guys. I just really really enjoy
getting to have some time to see what people are
like when they're happy. You know, you get to see
what people are made of. In crises, you get to
see the kind of like principles they hold and how

(10:00):
much courage they have and the risks they're willing to take.
But then there's the fun stuff, the personality, you know,
and this is what I'm into it. I just love it.
So this is when Cassius he has a few moments
noting that Nathan has kept his hair short, thinking for
a moment like, oh, that's good for combat, and then

(10:20):
he's like, I mean when you're at his level, though,
does that like matter anymore? I don't even know if
it does. And this is something that I found interesting
as well, is being reminded at this point of Cassius
being like lower level than Linden. It's just a weird

(10:41):
you know, whenever you are used to these characters that
you've sort of put on a bit of a pedestal,
and you have to step back and realize that they
actually haven't advanced, advanced as far as our main characters
by this point. It's odd. I sort of I've said
this before and it hasn't happened. And look, I'm not
going to be mad if it doesn't happen, all right,

(11:02):
I'm lying I'm gonna be a little bit mad if
it doesn't happen. I want to meet Cassius's wife. Where
is she? She sounded so rad? Can we meet her? Please?
I just that's all I'm asking. I just want to
meet her and like have a little bit of conversation

(11:24):
between her and some people so that I can get
a vibe off of her. That's all. Like, it doesn't
even need to be that she becomes a thing. I
just was fascinated at the description of her when he's
looking for them in the third book, trying to make
sure that they're okay before he decides that he is
going to go in and fucking kill somebody, which is

(11:44):
the best, by the way. I love that scene so much,
and it was it was compelling, you know. She just
sounded like such like a she sounded like a grizzled
warrior in a way like doesn't she have a fake
arm or a fake or something going on? And just
really was kind of out of his leap a little bit.

(12:11):
I'm just very interested in her, and it keeps coming back.
I kept sort of thinking that Cassie is leaving the
story and then returning. I'd lose my fascination and I haven't.
I want to know what's going on. I want to
meet her prosthetic wing, and I says Eduardo. Eduardo is
my dad's name. Hi, Eduardo. Okay, thank you prosthetic wing. Dope.

(12:34):
That's right, because she's her family gold sign is that's
so cool? Okay? I just love her? Right? Does she
not sound cool? Okay? So this is the conversation where
Ethan starts to say, I'm content, better than I've been

(12:56):
in a long time. And he starts to say everything's
finally and he claps a hand over his mouth, which
causes a noise that is so loud that Cassius panics
and starts to cycle Madra in preparation for an attack,
which he assumes is about to happen because you know,

(13:16):
and then when he realizes that's not what's going on,
out of irritation, he just kicks Ethan off of the roof.
And it's pretty good. I like it, so Raygan. Shehen
coughed up blood, which wasn't as bad a sign as
it seemed. Unfortunately, can't it be a bad sign? Please?

(13:39):
Can't it? Though? This guy? Oh God, do you guys
remember Jai Dai sho and he is like huge fucking
pilgrimage to go and find somebody or something with which
to take down Ethan. And it just is so embarrassing

(14:00):
because everywhere he goes, Athan's already been there. I kept
like hoping that somehow that would happen again here, and like,
of course it didn't. This guy is too good. He's
high level. You know, he's smart. He had access, i think,
to some information that maybe others didn't. I'm not entirely

(14:21):
clear just how much he knew that Ethan straight up
doesn't know, or how much he knew that Ethan knew
but didn't feel was relevant at the moment and wasn't
concerned about. It's a little bit unclear to me what
Athan knows about all of this versus what he's shared
about all of this, you know, because he's trying to

(14:43):
act like he's not going to keep secrets from everybody anymore.
And that's all well and good, but I have a
hard time believing that's entirely happening, because habits die hard,
and there are some things, like about our personalities that
we won't even be aware we're doing. And I feel
like Athan's the kind of gy he was going to
look up and be like, oh man, I really thought
I was telling you everything, and I Loki wasn't telling

(15:05):
you everything. My bad, and like that kind of does
happen later when Lindon is asking him, Hey, why don't
you just tell me if you were advising what you
would say at the moment, because he isn't being as
forthright as Linden needs him to be. And it's not
even on purpose, you know, it's just that he I

(15:25):
think there's an aspect of it. Athan's mind moves really
quickly because he can see so much. So I think
that he has a tendency to like move forward mentally
and think people are keeping up with him, and they
haven't because they don't understand where he's gone to. It's
like talking to somebody with add you know, and they'll
suddenly just say something out loud, as if you guys

(15:45):
were talking about a TV show that you know the
reference they're making, but you're sitting there like, why we
were just talking about whether you're gonna have scrambled eggs
for breckfass? Where did that come from? That's how we
feel like it might be dealing with him sometimes, so
raygunshen is capturing the Blood Core, and what we wind

(16:10):
up finding out eventually is that all of the cores
have altars. They actually be long on, but in order
to keep the power the power suppression field up, we
need to keep the cores for their power. But they

(16:33):
got moved and mixed up on purpose so as to
not have a particular effect. I am assuming that that
particular effect is summoning the dread Gods that represent these cores.
I'm still not totally sure what it is he's accomplishing,

(16:55):
but based on the fact that he wants to make
the dread Gods into weapons, I'm assuming he's doing something
to summon them. I don't know how he intends to
get them under control once he has summoned them. I
like he clearly he has his idea in place, like

(17:17):
he knows what he's doing. I'm not trying to say
that he isn't thinking this through. He has clearly thought
this the fuck through, Like that's not even a question.
I just don't know what he's planning on doing, and
it feels like it's an impossible thing. So I am
really like, despite myself, interested in seeing how it works out,
despite the fact that I'm like prematurely hating him for it.

(17:41):
So then we I'm sorry, guys, if you can hear
these like dogs howling, it is really quite loud to me,
but I can't tell if it shows up for you.
So what he's doing is he is restoring each of
the cores to their proper places, and that is like
he's setting things right in quotes, but in a way

(18:04):
that obviously was not intended to happen. And Athan is
at least aware enough of some of the information that
Ray Gunchin has that when Linden mentions that they've said
that the Samorrow's Ring has changed color, Ethan knows to
ask where they're sparks. He immediately goes for that, and

(18:28):
it's just, you know, so he's got that information. I
just really want to like sit down with him and
just be like, Okay, story time, come on, tell me everything.
Backstory me, daddy. So then we go back to Linden
and he is, as it turns out, training a bunch

(18:49):
of babies in the heart of twin Stars. I'm like
so excited for him to pass us on and to
have this thing that he did that was super risky
payof to degree that he's training people later. I'm also
a little sad, I'll be honest, at the fact that
he won't be the only one to do this, like

(19:10):
and not that he's the only only one. We know
that this has been done, but as far as we
have heard, nobody has advanced to the degree that he
has while having two separate cores because of the madrate problem.
So the fact that you know he has gotten this
far with these two cores is so dope, and I

(19:32):
kind of like that being the gimmick, that it's just
him that can do that. And I'm a little bit
sad that, you know, granted, they're all going to be
like irons and jades that have this ability for a
while until they begin to advance more. But I desperately
will miss him being totally unique in that respect, even

(19:53):
though they're going to be his disciples, pupils, whatever you
want to call them, so they still will be tied
to him, and that will garner respect and everything. I still,
I don't know. Maybe that's a little bit egotistical of
me and clearly not a problem for Linden at all.
That's not his issue. Lindon. His struggle is the fact

(20:15):
that he is going to have to teach these kids
how to split their cores and make this a viable
option for them, and he knows that because he's got
experience and he has these like methods of developing madra
and cycling, that they will have an easier time of

(20:36):
it than he did when he did it. So that
helps some, but it's still really nerve racking to him
to take on the responsibility of educating kids and doing
something like this. And truly, this is what always holds
me back from ever wanting to have children, is the
idea of like, yeah, but what if I fuck up?
Because he's really plagued by that fear, and he is

(20:58):
so competent, he really is that I don't think it's
a concern unless somebody wants to fuck around, which that's
not up to him. But I really understand that fear.
I truly do. So he is in the midst of
teaching this and he's looking at his arm, which is

(21:21):
like just barely staying together. He calls it looking like
it was covered in painted over cracks, which I love
that description. That just completely I knew exactly what he meant.
And then Ethan comes in and he's acting a little weird.
At first, Lindon thinks that Ethan is just doing his

(21:45):
fucking dramatic entrance, fucking around testing people the way that
he does, and then he starts to see that Athan
is not certain of what he's even asking. He asks, Linden,
did you send something? And get specific about it? And
he's just sort of weird, And when Lindon presses him

(22:06):
to explain, he does. He does try to explain and
is being genuine and serious. So the fact that he
is being both genuine and serious and does not know
the answer to the question already that fucks Lindon's head
right up. And he just goes, all right, everybody, h

(22:28):
thank you, go back and cycle and I will see
you tomorrow. I need to talk to the archloid please.
And this is when I said in the intro, thank
you will white this bit with Lindon and with Yarren
and Ethan later, I am so glad you guys know

(22:49):
what I'm talking about with the trope of I'm experiencing
a weird thing. And even though all the people around
me are supposedly friends, even though we know magic exists,
even though we know that shit like has been unstable.
We're all like not quite going to believe our friend

(23:10):
right now. That is such a trope. You have the
person who's the Cassandra and calling out and being like
something is up, and everybody being like is it though,
And you're like, why why won't you believe them? Like
what harm would it do to just check into it though,
or take any sort of precaution. And it's always this

(23:33):
sort of like there are times where people not believing
them is set up to be understandable them having lied
in the past, or having been wrong multiple times before,
or you know, things like that. But oftentimes lazy writers
won't do that. They'll just make it so that people
kind of like handwave it and don't really pay attention.

(23:55):
And I was not really thinking that Will White would
do that, but I wasn't sure how it would go,
you know. And Linden here takes his experiences with Ethan
into account the things that he knows about the way
Ethan normally behaves, like the fact that he's always sure

(24:16):
of himself, like the fact that he's always joking around,
and he uses that to inform his interpretation of what's happening.
Thank you, That is a human thing. To do. And
it feels like in so many stories, humans don't like
use logic in these moments because the story can't have
them use logic or else we're going to interrupt the
fucking prophecy coming true, which if just people knowing that

(24:41):
your thing is real and that you really saw or
experienced something is going to ruin the whole story. Maybe
your story sucks. I'm just saying so here. Linden takes
it really seriously. He sits down, he tries to send
his senses out there. He thinks about the fact that
Ethan is asking him specifically, because he's like, okay, maybe

(25:03):
it's something to do with the void icon and he
uses that but he can't sense anything. Then later Linden
and Yarn are having like a romantic dinner. They bought
out the entire restaurant so they can have some time
alone together, definitely planning on banging later. And guys, I
asked last time whether or not they were fucking and
it's pretty much confirmed here. When Ethan is like, listen,

(25:25):
I know that this isn't super convenient, but trust me
when I say I do know when to absolutely not interrupt,
and Linden gets really red and I was like, okay,
that's all I needed to know, Thank you, will Waite.
I just need to know a little bit of a
like yeah, no, it's happening, and we don't have to
talk about it again. I just needed it for myself.
Thank you. And Ethan here is like, look, dude's no,

(25:49):
but something else happened. Something else happened, something else. I
don't know what it is though I can't put my
finger on it. It's like really noticeable. And then it's
gone and there's like no way to describe it. And
again both of them reach out, try and sense detect nothing,

(26:10):
but they take it seriously. They continue to take it
seriously even though they don't actually have any evidence, they
don't have their own experiences to lean on. They trust
this dude and his experience and go and do the
smart thing, which is begin to head back in the

(26:30):
general direction of Sacred Valley on Windfall. And this is like,
it just means a lot to me when you have
a team that has been assembled over the course of
I would say probably assembling the team. I would put
the last seven books, starting in book three, the London's

(26:51):
studying Black Flame and him and Yarin are training together
and learning how to be a team, just the two
of them. I feel like that's the very kernel of
the beginning of our overall team. If you put seven
books into creating a team and then those team members
don't trust each other, that is a failed team. So yeah,

(27:14):
I'm very happy about this. And oh yeah, Rob says,
that's a point in the list of it's okay to
trust Will White that definitely makes me feel like I
won't be let down by the end of the series. Yeah,
And you know, it's the sort of thing that's like
I there are, like I've said, there are times when
certain things that I normally don't like can still be

(27:35):
done well. And there are times where something turning out
the way I sort of expected doesn't bother me because
it turned out the way I expected, but it was
done so beautifully that it's still incredibly compelling. And it's
not about the plot. It's about the journey of it.
And I will say both of those things and acknowledge

(27:59):
them that they can be done well. But even so
Will White doesn't really do There are those things that
often he consistently doesn't do the lazy thing I mean, ever,
and he surprises me all the time, all the time. Guys,
How sure was I that we weren't going to get

(28:20):
Draws back until the end of this book? I mean
last book I started off talking about, Well, eventually Linden's
going to have to learn to function without Dross for
his own growth. I didn't expect it in that book,
like everything gets moved up so much, so, oh god,
it's great. I love it so much so the jump

(28:44):
back to rag Unshin this is the first time he
puts the blood core under the Grandfather's tears, waterfall, river, whatever,
and it is really like kind of sad to me.
We get a moment where an elder of the Holy

(29:07):
Wind School comes to drink some water and tastes the
blood and walks away, going like, did somebody fucking contaminate
this water? Is their body? Like I'm going to be
so pissed. I have to find someone to deal with this.
And as they walk away, the water gets darker, and
I'm like, is the water like actually turning into blood

(29:29):
or is it just getting really thick with blood or
what's the difference? Like really, but I really hate that
for them. I just there's something tragic about a school
built around this sort of sacred site, and that site

(29:51):
even though according to rag On Shen, it's being returned
to the state that it was supposed to have been in.
Forgive me for not trusting Ragon Shen's assessment. It's just
a bummer, you know. I just feel bad about it.
So that is the first like bit of major change

(30:13):
that we begin to see. And then we come back
to Linden and Yearine eating and this whole like you
know chat between the two of them and her saying
Linden says in the end, I do think he sent something.
Maybe we should take a cloud ship, and Yarin is like, oh, yeah,
he said something. That is why I am shaking. And
then we go back to Mount Venture and this is

(30:38):
where Raygan Shen is taking in the Titan Core, and
it's just cut cut, cut, cut back and forth to Ethan, Lindon,
Raygan Shen, Ethan, Linden, YearIn, Raygan Shen, and it's just
really amping up the tension in a way that I

(30:58):
find effective and frustrating because I don't like tension. I
don't like it. And when we come back after this one,
Athan is in the same clothes that he has been
wearing for three days, which is practically an apocalyptic sign.
It's in the Bible somewhere in revelations, and Ethan says,

(31:21):
I have a strange feeling every time I turn around.
If I didn't know better, I would say it was
just nerves or anxiety or an overactive imagination. And honestly,
this is like the actual experience of having anxiety, you know,
where you're like, well, obviously something's wrong, and somebody's like, well,

(31:42):
what's wrong. I don't know. That's unclear, but it is,
though I'm certain of that. And this is when Lindon
is like, all right, what would Tiberian Aurelius, is an advisor, say,
I know that you're like not purposely holding out, but like,
give me some bullet points. And this is interesting to

(32:03):
Lindon's discomfort, he found traces of someone he didn't recognize
in Athan's expression, just flickers like the shadow of another
person passing through the man. We so we know it
was pretty clear Athan gave Tiberian Aurelius good advice. In

(32:29):
terms of when I say good advice, that doesn't often
mean that it turned out. What I mean is it
came from a place of sincerity and many people would
have considered it the wise move. Athan gave Tiberian Aurelius
advice that eventually led to a confrontation in which Raygan

(32:52):
Shen killed him. And this moment where Lyndon sees these
like flip of somebody else, it's curious to me, like,
is this an aspect of Ethan's personality that he tries
not to like tap into anymore because he just associates

(33:15):
it with having failed so spectacularly that he got a
really like competent beloved leader killed. Or is there something
more to it, like just it I again, I've said,
I feel like we just don't really know that much
about Ethan. And that's not to say that I don't

(33:37):
trust him. I do to a point, but I don't
I want to talk to him about this more. I
want Linden to ask him more about the details of
all of that. I understand not doing that because you
know where we're coming from, his readers. We can see

(33:58):
the relevance of what happened to Tiberian to the overall situation.
It's not, you know, because we know that Raygan Shen
is still like a major player, and there's no reason
for Linden to bring it up with the understanding of
everything as he knows it right now, it would just
seem like kind of a tactless shitty thing to ask.
So I don't blame him, but I am deeply, deeply

(34:20):
curious for Athan's point of view on everything that happened
and his because normally, when you get somebody's story on something,
you're getting their extremely biased point of view, and of
course it will still be somewhat biased. There's no help

(34:41):
for that. But because Athan can see the way that
he can, his version of the story is going to
be the closest thing to absolutely accurate that we are
going to get, and I just want to hear about it.
So Athan says, there are three possibilities. One, there's a

(35:04):
problem with me, a working of will or authority that
I cannot detect, which is compromising my senses. Two, I
could be sensing authority at work. If I'm close to stage,
especially the oracle Icon, which I was once considered a
prime candidate to manifest, then I could be picking up
hints of another stage or a monarch's working. It could
be a working year two inexperience to recognize, or something

(35:27):
too far away from the Whalm of the Void onkon three.
You're going to laugh. I usually don't. That's true. It's
a great concern to me. The third possibility is fate.
Fate or destiny or the will of the heavens. It's

(35:49):
a real force. Dream artists contact it once in a while,
and some monarchs are more attuned to it than others.
As an arch lord with no dream abilities I should have,
I have no ability to see it. So that's a
distant third possibility. Linden didn't think it sounded distant. If
he were to bet based on this conversation, he would

(36:11):
put his chips on fate. And Linden is just like,
I really hope you're the problem, and Athan's like same, truthfully,
yeah me. Also, I think it's really interesting that he
says that he was considered once a prime candidate to
manifest the oracle Icon, but then says fate or destiny

(36:34):
or the will of the heavens should be something that
he has no ability to see because he's only an
arch lord and he doesn't have dream abilities. I would
have thought if you manifest the oracle Icon, fate would
be part of it. I would have thought that those
would be interlinked somehow, And I'm wondering if you know,
he does say as an arch lord, maybe if he advanced,

(36:57):
it would become more clear and with no dream abilities,
Like does it need to be dream If fate is
an actual force and you have the sight of being
able to, like, you know, be aware of so many things,
you're just aware of another force, does it have to
be like a I don't know, but I'm very interested

(37:20):
in the fact that he was considered a prime candidate
for the Oracle icon. I would like to hear more
about that also, I just kind of want his biography.
Is that is that wrong? This is when we go
back to Raygan Shen, when he placed the Titan core
in the north where it belonged the mountains and the locals.
The mountains the locals called Yoma erupted in stone spires.

(37:43):
Even irons wouldn't miss a sign like that. Shen flew
down the halls of the Labyrinth's upper layer, supported by
blue strands of energy emanating from a construct at his belt.
And this is super super interesting to me how he
knows how quickly he has to go. I'm trying to

(38:06):
determine whether Raygun Shen knows how quickly Athan specifically is
going to zero in on him because he seems much
more concerned about monarchs. And I assume that because Athan's
awareness is surprising even Athan that Ray Gunshen truly has

(38:26):
no idea. Athan is going to be able to like
figure this out. But the fact that he is moving
as fast as he is, it's like growing to be
a bit of a strain. He can do it, but
I what are you doing? What are you doing? Buddy?
What are you doing? I hate this? So this is

(38:50):
when he goes into the Eastern Chamber beneath Mount Samara,
which is right around where Linden's Families clan had set
up and the way clan, you know, they specialized in
the dream aura and the path of the what is
it the White Fox, So that is what is really

(39:12):
dense over here, light and dream madra. And he goes
in and this is really interesting. He could sense what
it was, but he couldn't see anything. Even his aura
site was useless. Here shn placed a pair of spectacles
over his eyes, which should show him the path through
this dream formation. Unfortunately, he saw that this wasn't a

(39:36):
formation so much as a mess. There was no path
through the strong and weak points of the illusion shifted
with every second, so he had no choice, so he
uses his authority to create a path. It's much more
difficult than he wishes it was, and it makes him
uncomfortable to realize how much strength he has lost. He

(39:56):
places the storm Core then ran away as the clan
of dream Madra began to flash with lightning, and this
was his last step. Then he could proceed into the
true depths of the labyrinth. Three of the four cores
had been returned to their proper places. Once he placed

(40:17):
the Silent Core in the chamber, all of Sacred Valley
would change. No, the world would change. I just don't
want to see that world. So we go to Lyndon
and he has sent out a bunch of messages. There
are all of these constructs that are reporting back. There

(40:38):
are like actual recorded voices that he is hearing. There's
sort of like picture images and summaries that he's getting
that are sort of automated. And he tells Athan essentially
that there is a lot of shit happening, and because
there is so much changing all at once that he's
hearing about, he doesn't know which to focus on. It's

(41:00):
just overwhelming at this point. And Athan is like, Okay,
I get it, but trust me when I say, you
need to tell me each and every single solitary thing.
I'll know when I hear it. Go through it, point
by point, and so he starts to do that. There's

(41:21):
a new entrance into the labyrinth. Strange remnants have popped up,
with aspects no one can recognize. The Ora's troops on
Mount Yoma have started to wither. A tribe of outsiders
from the south came into the valley to conquer, but
left as soon as the suppression field set in. I
really want to know who that is. By the way,
dreadbeasts are gathering outside the valley. Some people say Samaraw's

(41:44):
ring is dimmer, or its light is less consistent, almost
certainly damaged from the Ethan cut him off without a word.
His entire aspect had become cold. The ring around the
mountain to the east. Did they were a change in color? Sparks? Sparks? Yeah,
one report said the light crackled now, but color, I

(42:07):
don't know. We'll be able to see for ourselves tomorrow, though.
We need to see for ourselves. Send a message to
Yarin just in case, and he sends a message off
because she has Moonlight Bridge so she can meet them wherever,
and Ethan summons his own cloudship and they get onto
it and they start to fucking book it, and Linden

(42:29):
is like, all right, clearly that meant something to you.
Would you mind informing me and Athan? It says the
suppression field needs a power source. Ethan said, still icy.
The ring around the mountain should be a side effect
of housing such a source. I would find it more
alarming if the ring really was fading, Linden said. Athan

(42:51):
glanced to him, but Linden followed the train of logic
before the arch Lord said a word, unless the power
source was altered. If it's just ran out, we could
replace it. But if it changed, that means someone else
has already done that. So someone's messing around with the
labyrinth from the inside. And this iciness. He knows it's

(43:13):
raygun Shed, right Like, I like to think that Ethan
would react with such iciness to any kind of disturbance
of this magnitude. But this feels like a personal thing,
this field, because you know, guys, he wants to kill
raygun Shed real bad. And he did what he could
do to get what he could out of the guy
during the Uncrowned King tournament, and I admire him for

(43:34):
that pragmatism and restraint. But now with what's going on, oh,
it must be really fucking annoying. He gave bad advice
that killed a guy that he respected, who was in
charge of everything because of this fucking dude. And now
it's looking like this guy has gotten the better of

(43:56):
him again. And you know, if I were Ethan, ID
be like, I will be damned before I let that
motherfucker succeed in whatever it is that he's doing now,
because I am coming for him. It's interesting to see
Ethan get so enraged that he becomes this kind of
like a lot of people when they get angry, they

(44:18):
become more effusive, they are they what's the word, I
want emote more. You know a lot of people tend
to just become bigger, louder versions of themselves when angry.
And then there are people like Athan who are big
and loud most of the time, and then when they

(44:39):
get angry, it's like it all sort of concentrates and
slows and becomes focused and cold. And that is a
really scary angry person. I was reading a book recently
where this guy gets in a bar fight and he
realized is that he has picked the wrong one because

(45:02):
he insults somebody to like purposely try and start a fight,
and the guy doesn't yell at him, he doesn't get
in his face or bluster. The guy just gets up
and turns to him really slowly and doesn't say anything
and doesn't even seem that angry. And the guy is like,
oh fuck, Like if the ones that are quiet and

(45:23):
focused are way way harder to deal with. So later
Lindon says something to Ethan about like, dude, you were
like legit scary right there, actually, and Ethan I found
this surprising. Ethan flinched. I kind of expected Ethan to

(45:47):
be like, good, I need to be scary sometimes, Like
I kind of thought he would take it as like
a compliment or kind of joke around with Lindon at
the fact that, like Linden has never been intimidated by
Ethan in that way before, Like, I just didn't expect

(46:07):
Athan to be hurt or it seems like he is.
He says that he has heard that before. I do apologize.
Take it as my reaction to and then he trails off,
and I really would love to know why he seems

(46:31):
to not want to be that kind of scary again.
Did he scare somebody that he cared about? Like what? Oh, guys,
I'm just so curious about him. Okay, So this is
when they finally see Sacred Valley. It is Samara's ring

(46:52):
is a different color, and this is the pillar of
light at the western end there again, but it's not yellow.
It's the color that Samara's ring used to be. And
this is when Linden extends his perception. Now, guys, I
am going to be honest with you. I feel like

(47:13):
I didn't entirely understand what caused this injury. Here he
opens his perception. He wouldn't be able to feel anything
past the border, but he could still get a sense
of the surrounding aura, which he realized was changing before
his eyes. The chaotic powers of vital aura spun like
a churning sea. He traced the sensation back, expecting his

(47:37):
senses to weaken as they approached Sacred Valley, but they didn't.
Linden stop. Ethan shouted. Ethan grabbed Linden's shoulder and his
Madra flooded into Linden's spirit, but they were both too late.
A wave of power gushed out of Sacred Valley, rushing
out in all directions, sweeping over their cloudship in an instant,

(48:00):
a pure white aura that felt to Linden's senses like
an endless gnawing greed for more hunger aura power blotted
out Linden's senses and he was swallowed by blinding pain.
So the hunger aura escapes because the suppression field has
just been shut off? Is that correct? And he is

(48:25):
so open to it that it like kicks him in
the teeth essentially because he doesn't have his guard up
at all. I'm just wanting to be sure that I
understand exactly how this happens, because I told you guys,
I read this twice and it still felt a little
bit unclear why it had the effect on him that

(48:45):
it did. I mean, I know that Ethan didn't. He
wasn't sensing the way that Linden was like reaching out,
so that's probably why he didn't sustain the same type
of damage. But is there something about out the fact
that it's like hunger aura and that Linden is the

(49:05):
void Sage combo that makes it like worse also for him.
I don't know if that's like a factor at all
or you know. So then we go to chapter eight
A Kurra Malice. This is fascinating. Oh, we've got some

(49:28):
people in the comments offering. Okay, we've got let's see
brain Case says he's flash blinded by Raygan Shen turning
off the field. Rob says, I think it's a huge
overwhelming amount of hunger aura that Linden is particularly attuned to. Okay,
that was sort of what I was thinking. Yeah, and
brain Cases agreeing. Because he's a void sage, he's extra
sensitive to hunger aura. Andy says, it's more than the

(49:51):
suppression field being shut off. I think the formation is
now broadcasting hunger aura. It was like looking into a
bright flashlight and not expect Oh okay, I see what
you mean. Andy. Eduardo says, I think it's the equivalent
to looking for a light in the middle of the
night and then someone turns on a huge spotlight for you. Okay,

(50:13):
all right, I appreciate that analogy. That makes it very clear.
Thank you, guys. So when we go to A Core Malice,
she is using her world of night technique and what
she is looking at are basically as close to fate
as she is able to touch on her path, and

(50:37):
she is getting a little bit frustrated because it's always
sort of you know, fate is not written in stone.
Things can be changed, and that is the sort of
thing that I mean, at times can probably be pretty reassuring.
You see something that you don't want and you know
that things can be changed, and I'm sure that's a
good thing. But there have been two attacks from gods

(51:00):
at this point that she did not see coming, and
normally a dread god attack is fucking gigantic. It is
a broadcast event that she would never miss in a
million years, and somehow too have occurred that she didn't see.
So she's just feeling real like off her game and

(51:21):
like something isn't right. There's an instability to everything that
she does not like, and there are some mentions of
things that she sees before she gets sort of refocused
in a certain direction, and she sees Emris silent Born,
the remnant Queen would be involved in her future. Soon

(51:42):
close by, drifting in the emptiness, she found the shadows
of a ruined city. There would be a battle here,
but she felt as if the battle hadn't included her,
so she would travel to this place in the aftermath
of someone else's battle, and someone was meddling with her
perception or with the flow of the future. Malice scanned

(52:03):
these suggestions, trying to piece them together, and realized she couldn't.
Some events seem to even contradict one another. Something strange
was going on. She had immersed herself in this world
several times over the last few months, spending every ounce
of her attention to try to unravel the future. She
couldn't allow herself to be caught unawares again. Moments after

(52:24):
thinking that she was caught unaware, and this is when
the four dread Gods are suddenly surrounding her and they
are getting bigger, and she pops out of that and
just yells dread gods using her ability to carry her voice.
And apparently this is like a fire drill sort of reaction.

(52:46):
Everybody knows exactly what to do. There isn't panic, it's
just battle stations, you know. And I really love to
see this sort of preparedness. Yes, you know why guys?
Do you know why I'm saying this right now? Because
we are in year two of a fucking pandemic that

(53:09):
could have been done with by now, and so the
fantasy of a community that is all single mindedly cooperating
in one direction to prevent catastrophe feels like a utopia
practically compared to what we have been dealing with. I am,

(53:29):
I really think that's what it is that I'm just
so saddened and devastated. Look just asn't aside you, guys.
I live in Texas and I had to go to
Walmart the other day and there was nobody at all
wearing a mask except me, one other customer, and the employees,

(53:51):
the staff. That was it. If you are listening and
you have been treating this casually, I urge you to
start wearing a and sanitizing your hands every two seconds again,
like we were all doing in like May March whatever
of twenty twenty. Because I have a close friend who
passed away last week, who was thirty nine years old

(54:15):
and otherwise healthy from COVID. It was like that. It
was so she didn't even get the results back from
her COVID test before she died of it. This shit
is being treated like it's not a big deal, and
people are out here fucking dying, and this girl was brilliant,

(54:36):
one of the funniest people like I have ever known,
and the fact that she is gone is disgusting and
I am enraged every day at the fact that people
are not taking this seriously. So I'm keeping a lid
on my fury right now because I don't want to

(54:58):
just make people turn the podcast. But I need you
all to hear me when I say this shit is real.
My friend died Owen lost three family members in twenty
twenty and it could have been over. We don't have
to be here, y'all are trying to play why, because

(55:24):
it's not you affected until it is, until it is bitch,
until it is okay. So stop stop playing and being
casual and cavalier. It is time to get serious and
be grown ups about it. I'm just saying, so back

(55:47):
to our regular schedule programming. Everybody is in concert, working
together against a threat, and it's just really refreshing to
see in fiction. So as she is realizing that this
is happening, she reaches out to Charity, and Charity had

(56:11):
contacted her at almost the exact same moment and tells
her it's coming from the northwest where Mercy is, and
Malice says, then bring her back and move our people
into position. And as we see later, Mercy is going
to be unavailable and she is deeply concerned at what

(56:31):
her mother is going to do about that. And I
will be honest, I am also deeply concerned. Malice is
the kind of person that I don't fully understand. Still,
I in some ways, I will admit to really liking her,

(56:52):
And you know, it's like in that way that you
like fictional people for things that are in real life
sort of contemptible, but when it's a story, you're kind
of entertained by it and enjoy it. But the way
that she has handled Mercy has been so awful to
watch and has been it's like, feels abusive, But understanding

(57:18):
the position that Malice is in, it also feels like
I understand why she thinks she has to handle it
like this, and I'm not even totally sure that she's wrong,
because this society is so fucking like the way that
the reputation you have can carry as much, if not

(57:39):
more weight than your actual position and your actions. To
like to a degree, it does seem like there's no
way around it, but also because I think Mercy loves
her and craves her her approval so much. It's even

(58:06):
harder to watch knowing that it would be bad enough
if it felt like Mercy is stuck with this family
but she doesn't really care and is it's difficult for
her to deal with. But it's you know, not like
she has a lot invested in it. But we know
that Mercy does care. You know, she's doing her best

(58:26):
right now to fulfill her obligations and not die because
everything has been so much. And again talking about how
I would expect it to go if this were a
different story, how I would expect it to go. Is
Mercy disobeys Malice, she goes into the labyrinth. They managed

(58:52):
to do something heroic, and Malice is like, I'm mad
at you, but good job, though, And it would be
one of those things where it's like, you know, not
there's like really no consequences at all. That is not
the book we're reading, though, you know, I didn't expect
for Mercy to be as humiliated by her mother as

(59:15):
she was after the Young Crown King tournament, after she
was like, you know, eliminated from it. I didn't think
that was going to go that way. So I don't
feel like I've got a good grasp on how far
Malice is willing to go and how she's gonna show,
because it's like I would say, from that kind of

(59:36):
event having happened, that Malice doesn't actually care about Mercy
that much. But Malice is like we've been in her
POV and she's Mercy's basically her favorite, and that's how
she's treating her favorite. I don't know what to do
with that, you know, I'm just I She feels unpredictable

(59:58):
in a way that I have to admit that is
only true because I don't want to think of the
ways that she might react that are unpleasant. Maybe if
I let myself go down that road, it would be
a little bit more predictable, but I don't want to,
so I won't. So that's that. So then we go

(01:00:22):
back to Lyndon and he is recovering from this fucking
moment and guys, this bitch his sight has been affected
and he isn't like being completely honest with how much
it was fucked up. And I am deeply concerned that
they are planning to go full on into the goddamn labyrinth,

(01:00:45):
and he cannot see properly, and it just bothers me
that he's not saying anything. And the only reason that
I'm letting it slide is because he truly thinks it'll
come back eventually be fine, Like he really genuinely believes
it's only temporary. It's not even him making an excuse.

(01:01:08):
And I think in other circumstances that might be true,
but because we're dealing with all kinds of shit that
is not familiar, I don't know that that's true this time,
and it makes me extremely nervous, you know, like I don't.
He is so advanced that to a point, not being
able to see with his eyes may not be like

(01:01:31):
a complete hindrance, but it's enough. We don't need any
any fucking mitigating factors right now. We need everybody like
in peak condition. And him going in there still being
blurry on a bunch of stuff does not feel good
to me. So Mercy and Zeal and Yarin are all

(01:01:55):
here and they are talking about what they are going
to do, and when Linden says, well, time to go in,
Mercy and Yarn are both like, are you no, We're
not doing that now no, and Lindon is essentially like,

(01:02:16):
we have to clearly something's going on. I don't know
what you want. And Ethan essentially is like, yeah, we're
gonna have to make it quick. And everybody's like, you
think this is a good idea. Ethan says, I'll put
it to you this way. If none of you come
with me, I'll head in by myself. Well, Linden and
I will. This is a unique opportunity that we won't miss.

(01:02:37):
And at this point, Zeal, there's a way to kill
the drug gods in there, Zeal nott, Zeal asked, Linden nodded,
Zeal's side, and I'm part of the team. Linden nodded again,
Zeal side again, more heavily, and I still have some

(01:02:57):
time left in my contract. Well. He walked out the door,
leaving the other four of them behind. So at this
point they talk and admit that somebody turned off the field.
Something significant is happening. They don't want to address it,

(01:03:18):
but they finally do. Yaren is the one to say it,
because anytime there's some shit nobody wants to really look at,
it's Yarn. She's the one who brings it out. And
is just like, Okay, I'm holding it in front of
each of your faces. Can we all admit this is real?
Thank you, thank you. We can move on now, and

(01:03:38):
Lyndon says I want the whole team to do this together,
and Mercy gets so like, oh, we're a team, guys.
Can I just I feel like I haven't given Mercy
love in a minute. She is so delightful. I love
her so much, and her being all like this is

(01:04:00):
like kind of what convinces her to do it like this,
him including her in this little like group when I
think she hasn't got a growing up. She was always
so advanced beyond her peers that she never developed real friends.
Everybody was so constantly afraid of her because of her

(01:04:22):
name and her position within her family, that this group
of real peers is just she was hungering for it,
you know, And I love her excitement and this being
what it feels like sort of wins her over. So

(01:04:42):
Mercy just is like, this is not going to end
well and finally all right, and then Linden's like, we
really need Dross for this, don't we, And here comes
the worst thing in the whole world, truly awful, it's

(01:05:09):
like sometimes dead is better. He brings Dross back online
with the repair that he was not wanting to use
before because it causes the cascade, and it brings Drass
back to full functionality. But he's like not as brightly colored,

(01:05:33):
and he is completely impersonal, responding like like Siri draws
feels like Siri, Like you can get Siri to tell
you a joke, but it is very clear as Siri
tells you the joke that Siri isn't aware that it
is a joke, and there's something extremely uncanny Valley about it.

(01:05:57):
And so when Linden expresses some sadness over the fact
that Dross doesn't seem to have the uh the personality,
DROs replies with, like, oh, yeah, I had some idiosyncrasies,
but they seem to be gone, and actually I think
I'll function a lot more efficiently without them, so you're welcome.

(01:06:19):
And Lindon says, well, I actually really valued those, and
he says Dross says acknowledged. A faint frown appeared on
Dross's face. I will attempt to reconstruct my persona in
accordance with my memories. Yeah, you do that, And I'm
like sitting there thinking you do that? Is that really

(01:06:43):
the answer, Linden, because I feel like that's going to
be a fucking nightmare for you. I was genuinely surprised
that he agreed, and it clearly is he agrees because
he's not really thinking about what Draws means when he
says that and interprets it as Dross is going to
try and repair like his personality elements, and it's like, no,

(01:07:06):
he's saying he is going to try and imitate himself,
which is so awful. So later on, when they're talking
about going in, Draws says, uh, yes, by all means,
let us rush headfirst into danger. There is no way

(01:07:26):
that it will result in all of our deaths ha ha.
The delivery was so dry and toneless that it made
Linden shiver. Draw So you can stop that I was
emulating my previous persona. I know it's unnerving, acknowledged next time,

(01:07:49):
I will attempt a more accurate impression. And that is
the end of the chapter. And I hated it and
I'm going to keep hating it, so get ready for that, guys.
This is like watching like bring my loved one Back
to life, and there are zombie. You know, like, yes,
they're technically moving around, but this isn't what you wanted.

(01:08:14):
I hate it. I hate it all right, I got
a rap. Thank you guys very much for hanging out
with me and giving me information. Appreciate you all a lot.
Wear your fucking masks, sanitize your hands, stay home, don't
have parties, and don't go to the movies until next
time to the lou motherfuckers. That was an Unspoiled Network podcast.