Issue 8: Unseen Avenues
I took the Unity gig to gain power. Enough to breach this realm called the Duat. The Golden Dart was there. I see the remaining bits. It is why I allowed X’mil to mark my body. I am as close to undead as you can get without the Night Shaman oaths to the Flesh Masters.--Karvax
Bright Eyes, what a lovely creature. I was interested in seeing how much I could transfuse his body with Living Stone, Artock stock and a bit of Forger templates.--Sister Nyx
It would not end with the Battle of Elysium. I knew that the moment the crystal coffin and Ur-Stone appeared. To bring me to the 42nd century. One of the Ur-Flow mind memories merged with me that day. Some of my future self. Beyond the end of cycles. The Vigil remains.--Unseen Archives
The Duat
Outer Sands
Karvax watched as the Anubis guards patrolled the outer triangular gate.
It was an ancient scent but Bright Eyes had remembered. The Golden Dart had passed this way. His skin itched as the brands pulsed across his body. Color left his face. His frame withered. His heart slowed. The blood silenced its march within his veins. His eyes sunk into his skull. He strode forward. His outer gray and green robe hid his other bodily markings. For this venture he donned the high kneed sandals he had stolen from the Dreamweavers. It hadn’t been simple.
Bright Eyes shifted form. The enchantment reshaped scales into fur. A lithe jaguar padded alongside the hulking warrior.
He waited. Until their attention shifted to the rising concern that was Elysium.
Pandora had owed him. Even if her body was not her own. Their scales were balanced.
All he cared about was finding the Golden Dart.
That demi’s greatest weakness.
He moved beyond the Anubis guards. Their dead black orbs remained staring out into the white sands of the Outer region. The Black City rose to pierce the heavens as he came out on the opposing side of the portal. Three Silver Pyramids dominated the center circle.
He frowned. They phased into Gold. Green. Black. Purple.
Never staying one color for too long. That had never been mentioned. Karvax had done as much research as he could. The Night Realm had offered no answers. He kept the hood of his robe firmly pulled across his brow. His face had a brush of stubble. To hide the chin markings of his homeland. This place expected a mix of those across the multiverse with a particular POV on the afterlife. It was how Abbadon had been able to infiltrate all the death cycles of the soul shards. By taking a thread of each mortal image of death and whispering on the embers.
It was why the soul shard reliquary remained pristine. As the day the Oversoul birthed it.
A handful of souls for each religion of mortal kind slumbered within it.
The Highest had thought itself clever by hiding Slumberer to the Murphy cripple.
Karvax thought all the King Making or Hill climbing to be redundant. None of his “allies” would allow each other to get stronger. The way Unity had been made was proof of that. A lesser prince to a Demonic King.
Bright Eyes emaciated form turned towards the middle pyramid. Its snout quivered. No breath came from its body. To keep his companion it had to be converted. There was no prolong for those within his faction. It was riddled with the enchantments of light shamans, Typherian sages, those who walked with the Highest.
He slid into a side building as a trio of white panthers padded by. Icath.
He didn’t trust such creatures. They could travel the rivers of time but when they died? They came here. Because they were seen as holy. The massive felines slid past.
Their paw pads left no impression on the hardened earth.
∞
P’tah climbed the central pillar of the Hal’lidin.
The City of the Departed. He had spent the remaining parts of his lifeforce to transport that which was needed to the appropriate time. The crystal coffin would carry its charges back to the point they were required. The rest of the Icath would be there. Elysium. Eliza would become what was needed.
The Silver Annotated. Asleep no longer.
He nudged the Crystal Coffin. It faded from view as it finished threading the energies of the Duat. Mortal kind’s 2nd oldest death plane. The first was not the Night Realm. That was the usurper’s trickery. Eliza would climb the cliffs. Dexter entwined. Bringing forth the final realm of Death. To merge with the Light of Elysium. The mid dawn of the Twilight.
As was written.
No matter how much Abbadon dreaded it.
Evil could not escape. Not as long as the Light endured.
∞
Karvax knelt. The speck of red thread. It was not the crimson of Abbadon. It was a mark of love. Bulleteer had a weakness. He kept his face stoic. Any flash of emotion would garner the attention of the Anubis. Unlike Living Stone? Those guardians were imbued with the soul shards of the Magi. Bodyguards across the ages who earned their place in the afterlife. For their heroics. Bravery or whatever delusions the heroics of life had bestowed upon them. A pitiful reward in his estimation. He plucked the fragment from the ground. Rolled it between his fingers.
Yes, this would do.
He would find the one tied to Bulleteer.
The ground rumbled. Stonework boots thudded. Karvax retreated.
Silver beams heated the spot he had vacated.
Gongs clanged.
The resonance beat within his chest.
He walked steadily to the outcropping of square buildings.
Any outburst would bring undo attention. Bright Eyes shimmered. His temporary form would fail. Still Karvax walked. Bright Eyes kept pace. At last they made it to the eastern portal. As they stepped through the cold of space filled his augmented lungs. Bright gray disks hovered above him. Void Walker ships.
Bright beams locked onto them both.
He bowed mockingly. “Nyx! What a pleasure!”
Bright Eyes shifted. Its enchanted form faded. Like a snake shedding its skin.
Sister Nyx carried a bundle over. Suspended in amber.
Chronos’ dead orbs were milked over.
Karvax laughed, “I highly doubt Dominion did it.”
Nyx jabbed one bony finger into Karvax’s chest.
“No. But the body needs to be kept away from his dear daughter. Until the rites are performed.” Karvax raised on bushy eyebrow, “Where are we hiding it?”
His dark mirth grew. “Excellent!”
∞
Striker Nix glared at Karvax. “You want us to bring that to Mars? In the Sol system?!”
The human demi rested an obsidian dagger on the table. “The very same.”
Pira brought the ship registry online, “We can get in. But we are also being tracked. By the Banner. On purpose mind you.” Snake Charmer grinned, “There is an advantage to this. Put the body in that same cryo unit that the Banner hid those two crazy lovebirds of the Eternal Empire in.”
Medusa joined in her brother’s laughter.
“Don’t even hide the manifest. Let the Alliance take old leather face.”
Let the big dogs fight. Karvax leaned in.
“Do the same for Bright Eyes and myself. I have a Dart to catch.”
He would play dead. Arise in some Alliance Lab. Find the Dart. Ruin his life.
The giant had waited this long. What was a few days longer?
He held up a massive fist, “They will want to study me. I welcome them to try!”
Bright Eyes let out a low pitch croaking sound that set Medusa on edge.
She held up her hands, “Fine. We have the dubious honor of being the tagged bad guys.” She reflected it was better than being dead. The humans tried to use them to keep track of other problems. Much like they kept tabs on X’mil and E’ratha. Medusa pictured that metallic spider chassis. Who’d want to be a brain case forever? Let the Ultimate Good and Supreme Evil destroy one another. They’d come out on top.
The insignificant little ants.
This pleased the former snake woman.
She purred, “What of Thoth?”
Karvax held up a flask, “That prick? Oh. He’s under the thumb of Abbadon. Not a pretty place to be.”
∞
The chiming brought me out of a fitful slumber. The Ur-Flow had been chaotic lately. I knew it had something to do with Dexter but I didn’t dare ask. The less I knew the better. The circumstances weren’t lost on me as I headed towards the main meeting offices. The Jupiter Rising hummed. We were still docked on Tarkanan. But Doc slept better on the ship. Coffee filled the air as the iris opened. Cooper and Auggie bounded over to me. Demanding to be scratched. I obliged.
A message blinked at the corner of my vision. I opened it. My father’s military bearing locked me into place. Those coordinates flashed.
The Tower of the Lidless.
It was all coming full circle.
One way or another. My mouth dropped open.
Tanarkan was to warp there.
I clamped my mouth shut before Doc could notice. She turned and offered me a mug.
Her hand shot out to fix my hair. When that wasn’t successful she used her portable brush. “You always look like the side of a hurricane with that hair of yours.” I winked. “We got another mission.”
Doc motioned to the chairs. “Spill it.”
Her puzzled expression grew, “Why bring….never mind. The less we know the better.”
I searched the Ur-Flow. The symbol of the Golden City rose in response.
An ankh with three silver Ouros behind it.
“Next stop? The past, present or future! Maybe all at once!”
I meant it as a joke but Lorain just took another sip of coffee. For her? The darker the better. I always added cream and sugar. Always look on the bright side of caffeine! Even if it didn’t bring me any extra energy like normal people it was a comforting ritual.
My stomach lurched as Tarkanan shifted into Weave Space.
“Here we go!”
∞
Jupiter interlinked with her sisters.
She would say moored with the Tower of the Lidless.
They walked the edge of a knife. They must not fail.
Issue 7: Here
Issue 9: Here
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