As the Nothing continues to affect its wearer, she will slowly fade from the world of Erldworn. Once she is completely faded from universe, she will be unprotected by the High Lord’s power and thus vulnerable to the evils that seek the Fear-Scarred Priest.
The removal of the Nothing for a period of time resets this fading. At first, it must be off for at least ten continuous minutes to reset. If a year passes and the reset doesn’t take place, two minutes are added to the time needed for a reset. This additional time never goes away. Every year in which a reset is missed adds two minutes to the reset time.
If the Nothing is removed and left off for a period that exceeds an hour, it will begin calling out to the forces of darkness that it has been holding at bay.
What all this means is that if enough resets are missed such that the time needed for a reset exceeds an hour, the fate of the world is decided… either the Fear-Scarred Priest leaves the Nothing on and slowly fades away, or she takes the Nothing off and hastens the Darkness in its pursuit of the Manual of Kaius.