Issue 2: Do You See It?
The first to die. The first to cry. The first to never die. To continue on. Beyond all reason and flesh. That is the Bone Man.--Fragments of the Void.
What is left of hope but ash within the mouth of its followers?--Outer Archway of the Ninth Circle
What do they have left? She gave it up! The power of the Thronebearer is near that of the Oversoul. It is madness! What chance do the Shield Worlds have now?!--Ruminations Vol 8
We await the Future. Question the Present. Regret the Past.--Markav Histories Vol 1
The Golden Days are gone yet a field of new growth remains. I will tend to it. One last time.--Fragment noted by the Curator.
Final Home Shield Hub
Light Mirror Network
Date Redacted
I stood nose to nose with myself.
She handed me a piece of paper. The words bore into me.
What would you give up to save everyone?
Silver Fox held up a hand, “You don’t have to answer now. Even though I know what you’d say.” The Weave rippled around us. Her wings were gone. Silver Fox grinned. “Each step brings us closer to home.”
I focused on her heartbeat. My other senses caught the gaping hole.
No trace of Thronebearer ability or aura.
She rose. Dozens of feet into the air. I followed. Blazing white spheres circled us. We landed upon a silver disk. Notifications flashed too quick for my eye to follow. I edged to the lip of the disk. My eyes widened. “Goodness.”
It was a rather lame response. Below us? The bright white metal network housed countless Shield Worlds. Each hummed at a different tune while circling the core. A trio of planets.
Earth.
Typha.
Bardax.
All vibrated at the frequency of Edenverse.
Sentinel remarked helpfully, <<We will always provide assistance to our friends!>>
I gawked. On the flip-side? The Titans remained curled about the Ninth Circle. Silver Fox said, “It will be required. Where do you think all the corrupted will go? Light cannot exist without the Dark but we will contain it properly for the renewed Path of Ancients.”
It was all smoke and mirrors. “Why let me see this?”
Silver Fox responded, “Because the Enemy finds you utterly useless.” Her eyes gleamed. I crossed my arms. She continued, “For information. The Oversoul wanted me sans Us to understand the stakes. We are not out of the woods yet.”
With my enhanced vision I examined the surface of Earth.
New Ashbury was a bright 8 pointed star. A mega city.
A familiar structure rose: The CCT Tower.
I turned to glance at my future self, “So that’s why I never got to see the 42nd century proper.”
She tapped the side of her nose, “Hiding in plain sight.”
All to transport every resident we could muster into a newly formed Multiverse. The Ur-Flow ignited around me. Helping me to connect the dots. “This Climb?” I faced myself directly. “What is the goal?”
I didn’t expect an answer. She replied, “Not all souls are stuck within the confines of Unity-infested universes. He keeps many for sustenance.”
He.
Not Abbadon. The one who held the leash.
I muttered, “I know the taste of her Tears.”
Each of our enemies thought themselves the rightful ruler of Creation. Unity, Abbadon, Chronos, Lucifer. Even Hilary desired power beyond her reach. My heart locked up in my chest as I managed to utter a single word.
“Epiales.”
Every bit of history had been obfuscated. To protect us.
My vision darkened around the edges. I sat cross-legged as every other thought fled.
Much like the Highest? The Oversoul had many names.
Silver Fox rested a comforting hand on my shoulder.
“How can we guard everyone’s dreams?”
She replied, “By taking up the mantle. We were always meant to be the shield.”
∞
Lorain watched until she could no longer see her Eliza. She faced her double. Her mirror. Never aging. She asked, “Why do I get the impression all of this is just a pitstop?”
Lethe responded, “Just so. There will come a day where you must let her go.”
As Doctor Impossible she had faced down an array of situations well outside what most would consider normal. Lorain spotted an oval white bench. As she sat it warmed her back. Lethe kept her tone and mannerisms close to Lorain’s normal output. There would be a day when all pretenses were gone. Only the future would remain. Only a few would remember the Fractured Multiverse. Herself included. With all cycle memories intact. Passed on through the annals of Starlight.
Lethe rubbed her right palm against her uniform. The Tears of Man’s Nightmares responded.
You think you can hold us here?
The Oversoul is foolish. We are beyond Mortal consideration!
To save everyone Eliza would bear the Tears of Dreams. Together they would hold back the Eternal Night. So that the next cycles could live in peace.
∞
I stood quickly. My head swam, “They were a bonded pair!” The vision coalesced into a vivid landscape. The apex of the Dream realm. Before the split. Before the Three Lands of Mortal Kind existed. The Ur-Flows commentary whispered incessantly.
The Dreamweaver stood over two slumbering forms. One female. One male.
Each touched by the power of the Oversoul. He knelt. Bone knife in hand, “One should know better!” He placed a bright crimson apple next to the woman’s mouth. “Eat.”
The landscape changed. The first mortal woman cried out as the frigid winds of the Physical realm hit her face. The man jerked awake. In his panic he grasped a limp of a white tree. He struck the Dreamweaver. Its beastly laughter mocked the human.
The man bared his teeth. He spat upon the pristine green foliage of the Dreaming. He joined his mate within the barren physical realm. The tree limb still grasped in one hand. Light Shaman sigils flared to life.
Dreamweaver turned as footsteps approached. The bone knife concealed within his belt. He gesticulated wildly!
“See! Your creations have fallen from grace!”
The Highest peered around his father. His child-like visage contained a note of suspicion. The Oversoul gently prodded his son, “Go see to the Icath.” The boy dutifully obeyed. Dreamweaver indicated the spoiled patch of grass. “You see? They spat as they left!”
The Oversoul turned to the man wreathed within obsidian armor, “Find these new mortals.” Dreamweaver recoiled as the armored monstrocity withdrew his golden blade.
“As you will it.”
∞
Meathook let out a high-pitched squeal, “Yes!”
The true beginning. They all reveled within the Realm of Gods and Dreams.” He knew that knife. Lucifer had aquired it for a time. But now it rested with Abbadon via Thoth’s mortal form. Thoth. The vessel for the Dreaming God. It was all lining up. The Banner was a false Thronebearer. She would meet her end at the milky white edge of that blade. The ground shuddered. White hot flames erupted around them. The Bone Man howled, “The Tears are not for you!”
A deep baritone voice replied, “Excellent!”
Shards of bone crumbled to dust as the yellowed mottled creature backpedaled into a bush of black scrawl. The voice called out, “I see with my little three eyes….”
A tall Markav male in Soul Armor joined the shrouded figure.
The Bone Man rose from the rocky blasted surface. His fingers twisted. Fell sigils exploded all around them. “Thronebearer.” That one word laced with abject hatred. Meathook pressed his belly into the jagged earth.
Nyx’s words came back to him.
Watch. Wait. Observe. Information is key.
∞
I motioned to Taleer. <<Get ready.>>
I taunted the Bone Man, “So this is where Cain spends his days.”
Cain withdrew a simple stone knife, “I will cut your wings, little Host.”
My back twitched in response. My wings folded tightly against my back. I would not allow him an opening. It didn’t look like much but the Dreamweaver had imbued that bit of stone with the ability to hobble Thronebearer auras. I caught a whiff of Meathook’s horrid flesh. Made from the carcass of an Artock, Lesser Thronebearer, made to hide. It was time to hurl Cain back into the abyss. He would adorn the Doorway to the Ninth Circle. Taleer’s rifle crackled with purple energy. Yellowed lantern eyes fled.
Wraiths. Those souls so far gone they hungered for the scraps Cain threw at them.
The time for waiting was over.
My fist tightened as I connected with Cain’s lower jaw. I sent him sprawling. He climbed unsteadily to his feet. His sunken sockets flashed crimson. “Is that all?” He sucked in a wheezing breath. Black pustules formed on his head. “Abel. Dear Abel.”
Cain chortled, “He was never one to die quietly you see!”
Taleer emptied his entire energized clip into Cain’s chest.
Cain pulled off his blackened rags. Each rib adorned with Black Scrawl tattoos.
“The Children of Abel shall perish in the fires of the First Lord.”
I filed his ravings away for later. I had to draw Meathook out.
My thigh burned as Cain scored a hit.
One punch at a time.
The Dreaming was not my realm. It would be hers. No, I amended. Theirs.
∞
Meathook glared.
Why was this Thronebearer holding back? Surely the Eden Universe had all the best toys available. It made no sense. He crawled from the protective bramble of Black Scrawl. The humans were the descendants of Abel. The first Mortal Man to fall from the Dreaming. From that sacred place of divinity. Each cycle had built upon this truth. Yet the Oversoul and his son hid this from the Humans. As each age circled, expanded, exploited the bones of the past. He froze. A black feline tail twitched mere inches from his extended eye stalks.
Black.
His hearts pounded.
Three golden eyes flitted about in that massive tiger face. Black’s nose quivered.
Meathook clutched at the ruby around his neck.
∞
Abbadon whispered into the ruby, “What did Cain learn from Abel?!”
He had to know. Rarely did his master give him a concrete answer.
Thoth’s voice clamored around his mind, “Who’s the almighty Red King God now?”
Stupid human. He motioned to the orbs circling his throne, “Find that body will you!”
There had to be a reason why one such as Thoth had been given a sliver of….
∞
Dreamweaver rested one delicate cup against the flow of black scrawl. “Cain. Why must you play with your food?” He sent the threads into the Barrens. That which housed all the souls the murder had farmed for himself. “I know you can hear me dear Oversoul. Is this the best you can do? I think not. What are you really hiding hmmm?”
Issue 1: Here
Issue 3: Here
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