Interlude: Awakened Apocalypse.

Finally.

It was all Lyr’Rael could do to not sag in relief. The aberrant is dead, and I can leave this chamber-pot planet behind forever. She grimaced at the reminder of her human body’s unfortunate ‘needs’. There would be questions, of course— [Judgement of Heaven] was not an ability to use casually— but she was more than confident in her ability to answer them and maintain her innocence. Especially with the only possible voice of dissent currently having its soul seared from existence by the full might of the Assembly.

A scowl marred her perfect features as she recalled there was actually one more witness, and she turned her hostile gaze towards the infuriatingly slippery Nomad. Maybe it’s distracted…

To her surprise it was standing not far away from her, the ancient creature’s alien features looking at her sorrowfully. Startled by it, she flinched back before regaining her composure and sneering reflexively.

“What’s wrong Nomad? Sad your little pet abomination died?”

The creature shook its wizened head answering, “No, Emissary Lyr’Rael of the Ninth Host. Sad for what comes next. Your Heaven has made mistake today— you don’t know what you unleash.”

Alarm filled her when the Nomad revealed it knew not only her name, but even her posting.

“Is that a threat, creature? You wouldn’t dare—” She cut off as the Nomad began to chuckle.

“No, Emissary. Easy to forget how… sheltered your kind can be, like children despite your age. That why I am sad; you do not deserve fate your ignorance and pettiness has wrought. [Harmony] does not rejoice in suffering.” He turned his sad gaze on where the pillar of judgement's light still descended on the broken dunes, the strange creature fading away even as its last words reached her ears— the voice changing, becoming more articulate.

“Fate twists now, the Weave burning in black fire even I cannot see through. For your sake, I hope there is enough of him left… to remember mercy.” And with that, it was gone.

She scoffed, trying to banish the tangled knot of unease that wormed into her gut.

Insane creature. The aberrant is already dead, nothing in this world could survive the full might of the— Pain. Soft and small yet so, so sharp. Like a pinprick to her own immortal soul. The sound of splintering glass shouldn’t have been audible over the might of Heaven unleashed, but it seemed like all she could hear as her eyes shot towards the spear she’d left impaled in the abomination’s gooey flesh.

A fist of jagged black crystal gripped the shaft of her spear. So dark it drank up the cascade of light around it, the joints leaked out a heavy smoke that floated into the air like ink in water— disdaining reality around it in sworls to an unseen wind. An arm quickly grew out of the end of the fist, pouring out into the shape of a body like oil into a bizarre crystal glass. Strange lights like occluded stars sparked briefly under the crystalline ‘skin’ and vanished.

The creature stood, ignoring the wrath of Heaven that should have been pummeling it as it seemed to study her spear in curiosity.

“[Justice]? Judgement?” A pair of eyes locked with her own across the distance, shining like hot coals from within the jagged obsidian visage. Fear, unfamiliar and ice cold, flooded through her veins.

“Who are you… to judge me?”

His voice reverberated through space like a hammer to her psyche, and she couldn’t help a scream of pain as his grip tightened— shattering her spear and sending white-hot knives of agony through her soul.

She fell, her wings fading as she clutched her chest in pain, confusion blurring her thoughts at the foreign sensation. Her impact with the ash dunes was overshadowed by an explosion of oily black fire that latched hungrily onto the light of Judgement, sending the figures above reeling in shock. Their confused voices drifted to her in the communion shared by all her kind.

“What is this!?”

“That fire… Anathema!”

“Impossible!”

“No… Awakened.”

“How!?”

“Irrelevant. It is here.”

“Withdraw, lest the light be lost!”

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Lyr'Rael felt the connection begin to withdraw as the High Assembly worked quickly to dismantle the Circle of Judgment and flee. In desperation, she reached out through the fading strands.

"Wait! Please, take me with you!"

A mistake, she realized, as a flood of derision and anger was their response. Only one even bothered to vocalize their reply.

"You have brought this calamity upon us, Emissary. Let the consequences fall upon your head."

Flinching back from the unexpected condemnation, she scrambled to stop them.

"No! I didn't— don't leave me!" She begged, fruitlessly as the circle drew to a close.

"Please… I just want to go home…"

A choked sob escaped her lips when the last of the light faded, narrowly escaping the grasping tongues of flame that swirled out from the abomination like an unholy vortex. Leaving her as the only one left to vent the monster’s fury. She shuddered in pain as she stood, her broken spear still digging at her soul while she summoned up every dreg of defiance and her shattered confidence to face the creature she’d defeated so easily before.

I am the pride of Heaven, I shall not fall so long as— A harsh buzz was her only warning before the first blow landed, her body tumbling like a ragdoll over the dunes before she impacted something solid with a *thud*.

“Have you ever felt… Helpless?” The abomination’s cold, impassionate voice tortured her ears from above, having stopped her brief tumble with its crystal body. There was no warning for the second blow either, just pain and a sickening crunch from her side as she was tossed into the air again. The creature moved too fast for her to see and caught her by the neck, bringing her to a jarring halt.

“Ever faced something so far beyond you… that you had no hope?” Wind whistled in her ears as she was slammed into the ground, a crater of loose ash forming around her body. “Been afraid—” *crunch* “—of something powerful taking everything from you—” *slam* “—because your existence was inconvenient?” A final kick sent her skidding through the ash. Gasping in pain, she scrambled away from her tormentor, frantically summoning her wings in an attempt to escape.

Shockwaves split the air around her as she poured on speed. Risking a glance behind she saw the monster hadn't moved, but that brought her little comfort as she locked with its burning eyes. With agonizing slowness it raised an arm and clawed the air. Space twisted and warped around her at the motion, so even as she pushed ever more speed from her wings she found herself being dragged steadily backwards.

Screaming in terror and defiance she sent lances of fire from her hands directly at the thing's face. Waves of energy spilled from her wings as she fought the creature's control with everything she had.

It didn't even flinch.

Despair filled her like a lead weight in her stomach as a black hand reached through her fire and swallowed up her outstretched hands in a vice grip— then squeezed. Her eyes watered with pain and she found herself kneeling at the creature's feet.

"Fire?" It snorted contemptuously and raised up its other hand, summoning a tongue of black flame that chilled her despite its heat. "This is fire. Those assholes who ditched you called it Anathema, didn't they?" He stared at the fire in his hand for a moment before turning back to her.

"I know what it's doing to me right now, I wonder what it'll do to you…" It brought the flame closer to her face. She closed her eyes in defeat and waited bitterly for the end… but it didn't come.

"Let go of me."

"No, friend."

Her eyes snapped open. The fire was inches from her face but came no closer. A tentacled hand was lying gently on the aberration's forearm, preventing it from crossing the last small distance that was the boundary between her life and death. She blinked blearily in confusion.

The Nomad??

"She deserves this. They deserve this." The monster's metallic voice quivered with emotion for the first time since she heard it. "They did this to me. Let. Me. GO Murgui!"

Sighing softly, the Nomad shook its head. "No, friend. This is wrong."

"You saw them! You saw what they tried to do!" The crystal beast practically screamed.

"Yes, friend. That does not make this right." To her surprise, the Nomad leaned forward and… hugged the monster. "You have power now, friend Kosimar. With power, comes choice. Choose better." Then it stepped away.

Locking eyes with the monster once again, Lyr'Rael saw the fury and madness contained within. The last of her hope shriveled and died as she knew the beast described by her elders would show no mercy. Bitter tears stung her eyes and she resigned herself to fate, letting loose a final prayer that her end would at least be swift.

A roar shook the air and heat seared her skin, making her cry out before a blast of force sent her tumbling backwards. Involuntarily she curled up to brace for more blows, but after long moments of agonizing waiting she opened her eyes to find the creature had disappeared. Stretching before her now was an immense canyon of charred ash. Small spurts of black fire still burned at the edges, but their creator was nowhere to be seen.

She sunk to her knees again, confusion warring with disbelief as her eyes settled on the Nomad still standing nearby.

"Why—" She coughed as her voice rasped painfully through her bruised throat. "—did you save me?"

It glanced at her for a moment, its eyes not hostile but definitely not friendly. "Was not saving you."

The strange creature marched up to her determinedly as she sat there too exhausted to move. It raised a hand up to her forehead and said, "Go away now." Then flicked her.

A powerful force grabbed her, and Lyr'Rael's battered body was too weak to resist as she vanished from Haven completely in a burst of light.