Issue 23: Barren Future
All CTT personnel! Report to staging areas. No one else is to breach the White Throne of Death. This is not a drill. Arcane Code Delta: 221, Temporal Flux of the Ur-Stone present. This is not a drill—Multiverse Alert System.
The Icath Rulers of all Three Layers are on standby. Shield Eliza’s soul as much as you can. Lay the foundation for the Climb—Unseen Network Notifications. Temporal resonance detected.
Record everything that happens in there. All three layers.--The Curator
It’s hard to describe what happened. The sleeve prevented my mortal body from absorbing the worst of the corruption. It rippled through the entire Ur Stone. It...my mind wanders. I know the truth. It is hidden within me. I hope Silver Fox knows what to do with it.--Unseen Archives Vol 4.
The Galactic Core
Edenverse (Time Flux initiated)
The Throne of Death
Robin Hood fired into the fray.
His arrows hit the shadowed creatures. Their claws scrabbled for purchase on the chess board. It was marble. Faded white blocks. Cracked obsidian tiles. It was the only way his mind could conquer up such an area. Outside the shimmering barrier colors swirled. In this place? All three layers met. Thoth sneered, “I’ve dreamed of this moment!” The knife point edged closer to Eliza’s chest.
What was she waiting for?! The Morrigan dived.
Her talons tore through Thoth’s scalp.
She let out a squawk as Augustus shifted her out of the way.
One giant leap of dogkind!
The corgi skidded across the chess board. Taking the Morrigan out of the fight.
Robin fired another dozen arrows into the chest of the Brood Hulk. How odd that none of them were concentrating on him or the other demis. They were fixated on Eliza. His gaze narrowed as steam rose from Murphy’s tattered clothing.
She had changed back into that Typherian burial getup.
What had happened at the Tower of the Lidless? He aimed a kick at the hellhound’s head as it attempted to claw onto Eliza’s back. It yelped as the Light Shaman sigils on his boots caused it to smoke. Robin kicked off against a marble column.
Arrows met flesh. He sent the ignition codes.
Inhuman squealing followed.
∞
The sleeve fed me data. I motioned to Robin, <<Get Doc away from here! Now!>>
Marion formed a magical barrier and dragged Lorain behind the Throne. Its bright white marble dormant. Thoth grunted as he drive the knife closer to my heart.
Time slowed. Images bored into my mind.
My fingers were bloodied. Knuckles bruised. The black morass under my nails chipped away at my sanity. Two figures sat upon twin thrones. A cord of blood dripped between them. The Highest pressed a hand to his chest, “The Vigil remains.”
Abbadon cried out, “NO!” The skin on his face melted away. The skull underneath it pulsed. Miasma leaked from his nose slits. Hilary and Chronos walked into a wall of Flame. Their bodies formed into ashes. The Void whispered, “There is nothing for you here.”
I shouted at Lucifer, “You have no power here!” I hurled my spear. It buried itself half way through his chest. His face slackened. Amazement and pain flickered in his ashen eyes. Ringed with golden flames. His face twisted. Fangs grew, “You think that new armor gives you the power to defeat me?!” He spat blackened icor and charged. His dark wings grew. Membrane pulsed as Black Scrawl fused into his blood.
The gentle pull of wings fluttered against my back.
Golden Spires rose from the sands of the Nile.
Ta’mathon shook my hand, “Arbiter of the Sands! The Arcane Order stands ready!”
Planets circled below my feet. One path darkened against the rest.
The Path of Ancients. Still in the grip of the Shattering.
I rested my spear against my forehead, “Bring forth the Tears of All!”
Lorain reached down. Her tears hit my face, “Don’t you dare give up!”
My bruised fingers found hers. The cries of the profane reverberated in my chest.
The last of my feathers fell into the abyss below.
Pain erupted against my hand. A clear gem dug into my flesh.
Pinning me against the molten surface of the cliff side. My father reached down to grab my other hand. Rocks cut into my face as he dragged me to the outcropping. Behind him I could see my entire family. Not just them. Everyone I had ever known.
Earth gleamed a bright blue.
Beyond that the Moon called.
The stars. This was not the Sol system I knew.
I walked upon the surface of the moon. Over 1 billion heartbeats thrummed against my skin.
Where the Ur-Stone once rooted itself to the lunar surface?
Three Thrones sat. Lunar dust clung to my boots.
Bronze sigils rose. <<Welcome Thronebearer. Inquiry noted. Syncing with Ur-Flow>>
<<You are currently inhabiting Vigil’s End postdate….>>
My eyes bugged out of my head. No. That date couldn’t be right.
I took a few tentative steps towards the Thrones.
An old German Shepherd landed next to me. His black muzzle covered spotted with gray and white fur. I knelt. <<Cooper!>>
I scooped him up. <<Easy there old boy.>>
His ears perked forward, << It's not who he is. It’s what he wears. You must remember!>>
∞
The knife pierced my chest. Thoth let out a war cry. Those ruby red orbs blazed.
He smiled, “Who’s the puppet now Abbadon? I’ve cut the wasted vessel of the Highest from her perch. Sing for me pretty bird!”
Family is more than blood.
The pressure on my chest increased. The sleeve simulated the proper blood patterns. My HUD redlined as the tactile sensations flooded my real body. Phantom hands held me down.
Thoth leaned in. His lips against my ear, “Is each of these deaths worth it? Just to be used as a puppet? Gods or demons. Does it matter?” He pushed the blade all the way in. “You never really recovered from that first demise did you? All smoke and mirrors from that Arcane Order. How long has magic fueled your pitiable existence?”
I took the shards into my real body.
The sleeve’s inner matrix counted down. None would reach the Bone Throne of True Death until my brother was ready. Thoth’s hands ignited as he attempted to crawl up the steps to the Throne itself. With the last bit of consciousness I had I ordered the Sleeve to implode. White fire consumed all corruption within the Summoning Sphere.
I never gave Thoth an answer.
Perhaps I never would.
∞
Lorain struggled as a doorway appeared behind the Throne. Dexter’s vice-like grip absolute. There was more than one Icath Ruling Pair! She gawked as all three sets shimmered beside them. Her mind blanked. The Silver Pair were as she knew them. A giant White Lion and his silver lioness. The others? A blurred shape. Nothing more. Each took a portion of the party.
The White King Targus growled, “All is ready.”
Lorain fainted in a dead heap as the lioness took her through the looking glass.
The Highest removed Eliza from the Ur-Amplification chair. Already the broken shards were burrowing closer to her heart. He chanted. The shards paused. He placed her back within the crystal coffin. The Highest knelt, “For you, it will be countless eons before you return to this place. This time. Walk carefully. He will hide from us all.”
He touched Lorain’s forehead. She slumped into his arms. “Remember your pledge Lethe.” He placed the sleeping demi next to the Arbiter of All Life. The Arbiter of All Death followed. Sinking into his sister's shadow. Two sides of the same coin. Dexter would begin the proper soul binding.
Her body would finally catch up to its full potential.
Earth
Nile River
May 10th, 5352 BC
I groaned and lifted the coffin’s seal. Not the first time. Wouldn’t be the last. I clutched my chest. Jupiter’s sister ship linked in high above. >>I will switch platforms with my sister. So you may have a familiar companion, Arbiter.<<
Three ships. Three sisters. Three fates.
I reached through the physical. Into the soul layer. I plucked one of the feathers from my back. I synced with the Ur-Flow. <<Analyzing offering. Noted time/era. 4000 years before Golden City emergence. Reinforce Earth Laylines against temporal incursions. Place three feathers upon each line.>>
Lethe rose next to me. I could tell because her eyes were stark white. Not the ghostly sickness of one devoted to Abbadon. She reached out to pluck the required amount of feathers. I rubbed my forehead. They were important. Not only tied to the last sparks of Elysium but they carried fragments. I mumbled, “Make sure to--” She cut me off with a sharp glance skyward. Pain exploded behind my eyes. The whispers of the Black Scrawl. Abbadon’s perversion. An attempt to replicate the Tears.
Right. The murky outline of Keeper Probes circled this “primitive” planet.
Dexter tapped my inner eye sharply. We’d have to form a new line of communication.
The coin that Eliza Odessen had given me so long ago materialized in my palm. It had been made to summon them. Light Speech flowed into my brain. To my eye it resembled a continuous golden chain. Each note vibrated at different frequencies. The coin’s surface shifted. One side had my face. Black with white outline. The other had Dexter’s. White with a black outline.
I flicked it in the air. It came up Dexter.
Soul channeling activated.
Dexter took control of my left arm. He tapped in code against my right arm.
//Take the Jupiter to Gilgamesh Sector first. Mine the stones from these coordinates.//
We would need it to build the Golden City and the wards.
∞
Lorain shivered. Planet Armathia.
By all accounts, a world shrouded in rocky mountains and swaths of jungle. Orbital platforms kept the residents safe from the elements. They often ventured below for the medicinal herbs. Lorain made sure to leave missives with the Arcane Order networks. One day half of these would be used to produce healing salves that would eliminate all manner of issues for the humans of planet Earth.
Removing all the shards had taken a while. 1000’s of years. All the while Eliza’s body had been cleansing the metals. Metal that had passed through all cycle life stages. The guardians of Gilgamesh sector had been overjoyed. While on Earth? Eliza wore her Arbiter of the Sands gear. Out in this place? Her identity was hidden but when they came back? Well into the future? They would recognize the aura. Twin Thronebearers. They wouldn't miss the signs.
Every single prophecy had been manufactured to corral Thoth of all people.
Eliza had experienced a second death but one linked through an active Sleeve unit. But why play up the second death so fervently? The woman within her dreams stared with those unsettling white eyes. She used to think it was Renenutet. Before the realization that the “undead” sorceress of the Eternal Empire had been masquerading as a false mirror to Lorain’s own healing powers. As one of the members of Unity? Lilith had attempted to find out the inner workings of the early Terran Alliance. Almost made Lorain forget her first go around with the All-Father and Tarkanan.
Eliza landed next to her. Her form cloaked in silver and white robes. A solid silver mask covered her hair and upper face. Only her lips and chin showed. “They are loading the final blocks now.” She stretched her arms over her head, “Now the threads come together. My body is nearly ready for the task ahead.”
Lucifer and the reclamation of Elysium.
Lorain pointed at the ground. “I’ll run one more sweep.”
Eliza saluted. Two fingers to her eyebrow. That crooked grin in place. “You got it!”
They took special precautions to hide their American upbringing. Even here.
Trouble waddled up next to them, “Just wait! You get to help forge Excalibur!”
Eliza snorted, “Next you’ll say I helped write a certain set of papers of my homeland!”
The duck hopped onto her head as Doc stress tested the “wings”. She could barely see them. Gossamer light outline. Trouble concentrated. They didnt need to summon Lethe or the Tears for this. That would be a surefire way to attract undo attention. So he assisted the human with the process of tending to Thronebearer wings. Dexter added, >>I have the source needed to imbue the sword with the proper element required.<<
Soul Essence.
Now to find one willing to take up the cause. He would start with the Duat. Then move onto the Undying Lands of the Intez. Both were within the same death realm but each race had different names for it. The physical world was only the beginning. No wonder Abbadon wanted control of the soul first and foremost. All things echoed outward from that baseline. The images of Helios rippled across his mind. They would be ready.
It would be their greatest challenge.
Not even Lucifer would hold a candle to it.
∞
Thoth howled as the divine energy of all three layers sent him catapulting from the protective sphere of the Enthroned. Gods, demons, what did it matter?! He knew there weakness now. Let that half broken Thronebearer fix the Knife of Awakening. It would mean Abbadon’s doom. He would rot with the Highest. He had taken what was needed. He would not circumvent the Oversoul. That was the path Chronos would climb and fall to. He would not wish to take another’s mantle. That was Abbadon’s folly. He would endure. Much like the hated Wall between each of the Three realms. Idiots.
All of them wanted to fight against fate.
He would mold it.
To hide from the Chessboard was the first step in evading the threads meant for him.
He laughed as the fire burned his body. Abbadon wouldn’t get much use out of it for quite some time. His bones glowed white hot. It would be a slow healing process. His soul shard glimmered in the heat death of old stars.
A single fracture line of ghost white tendrils spread across its rusted surface.
A mote of god level essence was his.
He laughed. The sound tore through the barrier guarding the secondary birth sight of Unity. It was his now. He would wait. Let Lucifer and the others take the brunt. His fight was with Dexter. The one who would be King of the Underworld. He thought the Light of the Covenant would be enough.
Thoth continued to laugh even as his throat reformed.
He had a demi ability. One born through Abbadon’s abduction of his body.
He could hide from Creation itself.
“Your move.”
Issue 22: Here
Issue 24: Here
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