Issue 17: Where Bardaxians Fear to Tread
Bardax and Earth are forever joined. Since the dawn of humanity’s birth within Elysium. We have guarded one another. We will hold true to our bonds. Now and until the end of Time.--Heals-The-Rifts
Command the Blue Blaze to run with Cerberus!--Sunset Showdown
What lies at the heart of New Ashbury? Even now? Eons later, the Soul Pool remains. Granted to us by the Oversoul to remember our folly. To remind us of the Vigil. One that the Twins still bear.--Arcane Order Update: Cycle of Silver Towers
The stairs are endless. You climb upward. Greet the future. Downward lies the past. Memory can be a chain or a feather. That is the reason why the Ninth Circle exists. This time we made a choice. To rise above or sink into madness. All are greeted openly upon the scales of the soul. How you shape your soul determines all things.--The Inscription
I did not Climb alone. In life we often miss those ties. Never realizing just how much one action or kind word can shift a whole world. To uplift from nothing. Or to be forgotten. Consumed by despair.--Unseen Archives Vol 3
New Ashbury (Eden Earth)
Soul Pool
July 6th, 3266 (Cycle of Convergence)
Blue Blaze halted at the bizarre sight.
A black wolf the size of a dire bear was galloping around a silvered lake. A perfect circle.
Countless Bardaxians and earth dogs on his midnight coated heels.
What was once 10 blocks of downtown New Ashbury was reforged. INet updated.
//Geo resonance changed. Please be advised: By order of the Arcane Order and the Golden Tribunal of Ta’mathon, all civilian operations will cease.//
Lazurus dashed over to his brother. A strange white mist surged from the taller demi.
Took him by the shoulders, “You must run with him!”
Nu Asharum (Eden Earth)
Soul Pool
Jul 3rd PCS 344 (Cycle of Mists)
The chronicler raised his bleary eyes to the noonday sun.
He raised his palms skyward.
Servitor guards patrolled the Weave, Soul and Base Realm. Their House Murphy colors resplendent over a light tan carapace. Ready to purge any Black Scrawl that dared to escape the Ninth Circle. That blazing black orb twisted above them. Reminding everyone of the cost.
A tremor ran through his fingers, “By the three.” Various pilgrims behind him chanted the primary of protection. Their sigils glowed silver blue against the rising Thronebearer markings rising from the pool. “Beyond the bounds of the Ouro?”
The voices called out, “Nothing.”
He nodded. In the standard English tongue this place was New Ashbury. In the language of the Light? It was blessed with its soul name. Birthed from that long ago battle. Karvax the Glutton had been thrown from the realm of Man. Voices rose from the pool, “NOW!”
“Run now!”
“….it is remade. The blade of...”
“I deny you!”
“...why?!...I thought the Thrones would….”
“Abbadon only lies. For he denied his soul upon creation. I know this because I was the Lightbearer once. Now I will serve myself. He doesn't even know. The Tears are not...”
“...to think? Of all of us? Thoth lasted the longest...”
“Die Shieldbearer!”
The flock called out, “Father Mathias!”
Yes. That had been his name. Long ago. In another cycle. Odessen. The CTT.
Central Temporal Tower. The Curator.
He leaned into the reflective surface of the pool. He shouted, “Scion of Ayeer and Murphy. Listen! By speed and metal. Shall you find the resonance!” He repeated the sequence. Night fell. Even as their voices grew hoarse. His knees hit the warm earth. Just outside the inscription barrier.
Earth must have its connection.
Elysium
Forest of Thrones
July 6th, 3266 (Cycle of Convergence)
Whitehouse crawled.
His battle suit blended in with the environment.
Arthon motioned with three fingers to the sky. The thump of deadened flesh crashed through the corpse of trees. Its smooth face blank. Another one of Nyx’s creations. So far they had remained undetected due to the J’kua soldiers sensing the brood made from their DNA. From the configuration of this creature’s skull? Markav. Its arms stretched as it pawed at the ground. Slits opened on its face where a nose would be. It inhaled.
A low warbling cough echoed in the clearing. “Human.”
The slits widened to take up the lower half of the face.
“J’kua.”
It froze.
Chains thrashed across its body. From above!
Whitehouse pressed his hands to the ground.
None of the soldiers looked up.
Shadows poured from the chains.
The creature croaked, “Understood. Mother.”
It disappeared in a flash of light. Droplets of rain hit Whitehouse’s armor.
The suit helpfully added, //Black Scrawl detected.//
Internal systems snapped into place. The infiltration team didn’t budge.
Their mission was paramount. Map out all infected areas of Elysium.
∞
Lucifer tugged at the doorway. The flesh of his palms burned but he welcomed the pain. This was a doorway that even Abbadon didn’t know about. The ward upon Elysium’s outermost layer weakened. As the first shield world it had 9 levels of rings. Each level rotated counter clockwise. At the heart of Elysium was the Garden of Eden.
The main core of the planet.
Even corrupted nothing had been able to breach that part of Elysium.
The place where Thronebearers were born.
He tested the air. Ancient death lingered.
Abbadon’s influence had grown here thanks to Nyx. Lucifer murmured, “Why abide our initial rebellion?” There was a trap here. Abbadon feared what he called the Advent. The former Lightbearer tapped the screen with the tip of his wing. The wall illuminated with broken Thronebearer missives.
//...Garden in Lockdown...//
//...o...st...35%//
Lucifer waited. Riveted as additional information flowed past.
His mind filled the letters with each repetition.
//GOLDEN HOST: Access Denied. Reclamation at 38%//
“The Highest wants a reunion. How quaint.”
His lip curled, “I can smell you.”
The Chalice was here. Uriel.
The weakest of the old guard. He would enjoy ripping that one’s wings apart once more. It had been a waste to let Leviathan have all the fun. Wraith think figures phased through the wall. Echoes of the divine. Lucifer held his breath as they floated past. Automated but deadly to the corrupted like himself. He would not use his power here. Not yet. He made due with another terminal.
Nyx’s toys were shadowed blips on the main sensor arrays.
How the physical realm of this place detected Abbadon’s influence. The other two realms were in play. The Highest was going along with the Oversoul’s plan. To reboot everything. Even if that meant destroying everyone in the process. What a waste. He tapped an emergency code into the panel.
No response.
His smile grew wicked. “Ring shafts. Not like I need to breathe.”
Earth
Dominion Square
Hilary snapped her fingers, “Bring the Admiral to me!”
Sul’sandra cried out as Keeper drones prodded her with Black Scrawl lances. She whistled. Presented her gift with a flourish. That old Markav sheep bleated for its lost brother. His head perched on the right arm of her Throne. An old chrone of a human woman raised her hands, “He cannot hear me but you can.”
Hilary motioned to the drones. They remained inert.
“You have one chance to escape total damnation.”
Brookes rose from her seat. She sauntered down the steps. Backhanded the Markav female as she passed. She leaned forward. “What nonsense . Drones. Kill. Her. Slowly.”
The woman pulled back her dark purple hood. She knew that face.
The woman who had left her at the mercy of her father.
Hilary snarled, “Mother….”
“Foul seed from my womb.”
Hilary laughed. “Indeed. Like what I’ve done to Earth?”
Her mother replied, “This is not Earth. For you are damned. He coils about your innards like a snake plucking an apple.”
“Still going on about that old story?”
A seed of doubt entered.
Hilary grasped her mother by the shoulders. Her form melted. Leaving a solitary necklace behind. Brookes hissed and dropped the simple silver talisman. It too faded from sight. She held up her left hand. Neatly branded within the mid point of her palm was a cross. She turned to head back to the dais. Her father’s decomposing corpse pointed accusingly.
“You still think yourself my daughter?”
A shard of ice ran down her spine.
Chronos laughed. The sound made her ears bleed. She clutched her head.
Her eyes rolled back.
“He will wear your skin.”
Alice Hayden’s voice echoed against the fragmented dreams.
∞
Nyx finished applying the final serum to Hilary’s sedate form.
Chronos would not have full control. Not yet. This particular clone clung to its pathetic memories. Slowing the shard transfer process. The Director linked into the necrotic network hubs, “Hilary’s desires are basic. To merely crush her enemies. She desires nothing more than Earth.”
His tone shifted. Disappointment colored his next observation.
“Adding that human to the stock? While it provides additional control over Abbadon’s Black Scrawl rites? For 30 seconds I could not observe what Dominion was ranting about. Examine every thread dear Nyx. I must know why.”
Cerberus does not enter the Soul Pool. It is not his place to tread upon.
∞
Blue Blaze streaked around the anomaly. He didn't know what to make of it. The same numbers streaked across his HUD. //2434.56.88// He let the computer calculate it. A vibrational pattern! It was generated from the future. He inquired.
//What year?//
It paused. //Access denied. CTT Mandate 24-ooL//
Cerberus nipped at his heels, <<It is not for us!>> Zachary Murphy caught himself.
Pure fear radiated off the giant Bardaxian. A being that was older than the Earth itself.
Zach gulped. “On it!”
Cerberus had always been mellow. Even as the Howling.
The Bardaxian dire wolf howled, <<Open the side gate!>>
Zach twitched. Used his speed to match the frequency provided. Countless shadows danced around the surface of the mirrored pool. One form stood out.
Grandpa!
A red defender Doberman snapped at Blue Blaze. His teeth bared. The warning clear.
Keep running.
∞
J’ino skidded to a halt. The orb was oscillating. Keening.
Her teeth vibrated. Judgment shouted, >>Send it to Blaze!<<
She angled it. Using matter manipulation to carry it over the mirrored liquid.
A black blade rose from the flattened surface.
A human hand gripped the pommel.
His face was scarred. His eyes leaked a white fluid that glimmered as it hit the pool.
J’ino bit back a scream. It was Abraham. His demi suit was in tatters.
Her husband interjected along the Family line, >>NOW! Combine the blade!<<
∞
Blaze’s eyes burned. That shard. He knew it. He pulled back the containment orb. The metal was butter in his hands. Obsidian colored. He reached out. Grasped the pommel from his grandfather. Figure it out later. The numbers flashed. //2434.56.88// He entered the code by shaking the blade at the same frequency. The metal reflected the depths of space. Static ran across his body. His vision blurred. Cerberus turned. His paws gliding across the Pool. He pulled the Bulleteer from the depths. His jaws locking onto the remains of the metallic harness along Bulleteer’s spine. The rest of dogkind broke off as the inscription blazed across the outer edges of the Pool.
The 2nd phase had begun.
Issue 16: Here
Issue 18: Here
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