The Collector immediately noticed a shift in its senses. It had an unnatural connection to this twin mountain range in the first place, capable of sensing its heart through a psionic tether like that it possessed from the goblin lord's dungeon.
This meant that the Collector knew the shortest possible path towards the heart, but if the shortest path changed, then the tether would update positional information accordingly. It did so now. The Collector sensed that to enter the portal at the end of the hallway would lead near directly to the heart of the mountains.
The portal beforehand had been a proxy. A much longer, much more roundabout path that likely would have even led to dead ends.
There was a reason that the Draconids had not been able to explore these mountains. To access it required Jotnar blood, and brute forcing the mountain by attempting to destroy it would do nothing. To truly access the heart of the mountain was to enter into a warp point that, from information that flowed into the Collector during the identification process, was actually in a separate, conjured space of its own.
Much like the personal storage space that the Collector's crystal skull could produce.
That space was anchored to the heart of the mountain, but if one drilled through to that location physically, there would be no portal to enter into the dimension.
"Sovnar…you are a giant?" asked Goromir.
"A Jotnar? You?" said Kui. "I had thought the last of your kind had entered into eternal sleep. No, there is something different about you. I could sense it from the very beginning. Your form is not that of one, it is that of many blended into one."
There was no hiding any bodily or magical information from Kui, a master among masters of flow mana, so the Collector spoke freely.
"No." The Collector addressed Goromir. "I am capable of harnessing the forms of others. This, you have observed already during my ascension into this form when you utilized your lives to guard me."
"Yes, Sovnar," said Goromir. "And there was no prouder day of my newfound life than to fall in noble battle, fulfilling my true duty as your Hands, your rightful guard."
"Yes," said Kandak simply.
"Same here!" said Thokk as he beat his chest to emphasize his point.
"Hm." Kui placed a hand on his chin and observed the Collector. "I do not pry. It is not my thing. But I am left to wonder. Your questionings about the Facestealer, is it because you are related to it? Of all creatures I know, I know that only one – the Facestealer – is capable of harnessing multiple forms."
"No," said the Collector in a single word response, and Kui nodded, not pressing into the matter any further.
"Eru Wun Thamir…" pondered Kui, mulling the name over in his head in new train of thought. "Ah, I remember now. In a ruin. Is that not the name of the last Jotnar successor?" He nodded slowly as he gazed at the Collector's crown shard. "So, you have taken his form and his shard."
"Yes," said the Collector.
"Hm." Kui paused. "Hm," he said again, brows furrowed in deep contemplation the likes of which were uncharacteristic for his usual emotionless calm. "This…has great consequences. You are not only the Sovnar of the goblins, but by right of the Shard, you are Successor to rule of the Jotnar as well. The Jotnar whose bodies and breath were the only cure to the Undead."
Kui nodded to himself and bowed his head, clasping his hands together and extending them towards the Collector in a cordial gesture.
"What manner of body language is this?" stated the Collector.
"I have told you the purpose I had invested unto myself. One to test those worthy to bring the End and to prevent the Common Body from crossing the Rift to harvest more Shards," said Kui. "I had upheld myself to neutrality, willing to support any Endbringer capable, but now I am certain: you are the Endbringer that is most right.
You can not only End the New Gods, but with the Jotnar blood and breath, you may erase the Undead plague – sign of the disease that is the New Gods - also.
The World will find new beginning under you the likes of which cannot be said for the Draconids that only know destruction and battle.
To you, I pledge my service. I, Kui, fourteenth head of the Gentle Current, swear this."
"Your allegiance is acknowledged," said the Collector as it clicked its mandibles. If the fighter known as 'Kui' would continue to fight alongside the Collector, then its military might would exponentially increase. Kui was immensely powerful, the strongest being the Collector had encountered so far, and his power would be invaluable as a resource.
The only issue that the Collector was keenly aware of was that ultimately, the purposes that the Collector and the fighter specimen shared were fundamentally different.
The Collector desired to bring forth the end of the New Gods to allow the Collective to assimilate this planet.
Kui desired to bring forth the end of the New Gods to save this planet and maintain the lives on it as it had once stood.
This was a fundamental difference that the Collector knew would lead to an inevitable clash, but it was better now to harness the fighter specimen's power and loyalty and deal with him later if the need arose.
The Collector hovered forwards, over to the newly formed portal, and the swarm and Kui followed. Not only them, but the golems also followed, shuddering as they animated themselves to movement.
The goblins at first jumped in surprise, but the Collector calmed them with a mental suggestion as it came to realize that the golems were non-threatening, merely following the Collector.
Spiral patterns of dark blue were spread across their chests, and the magical energy was all directly linked to the Collector.
They were now under control of the Collector.
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