==

The cogs of time turned once more as Templar's grip on the world loosened, sending out a dreadful and rapid pulse of energy.

Kabr and Pahanin sensed the harrowing eruption, instantly flickering to the ground. Kabr erected a barrier, the two slid into its safety. Yet as they braced for impact, the blast rippled right through them, as if it was but an illusion.

"What was that?" Kabr remained alert, his eyes locked on the Templar.

Pahanin placed his fist over his chest, whatever that energy was had made his heart skip a beat. Everything felt alright, but at the same time, it felt as if something crucial was now missing.

He couldn't place a finger on what it was.

"Don't know. But it didn't work."

He held his sword closer as its edge shimmered with light. Glancing at Templar caused his memory to stir.

'That's right I... ', he had chosen to challenge the Vault of Glass with Kabr.

Although he didn't think it was a two man job, Pahanin wasn't willing to let Kabr go alone. So why had he forgotten it? Hence, there was only one conclusion he could come to.

"It's trying to mess with our memory."

Kabr took his words to heart and steeled his mind.

"We need to finish it fast." But there was one problem, he couldn't remember how they got past the Templar's shields the first time. Almost as if the memory had slipped from his mind.

Kabr's frown tightened.

Their minds ran wild, struggling to catch up with the distorted memories.

Ominously hanging above them, the scion of the Vault, Templar watched as their futile struggle continued. Its azure core shifted towards the silver clad hunter. Identifying a new target, Templar initiated a second cycle.

So it began, a harrowing echo resounded in the Well.

-The First Oracle sang-

Pahanin's face darkened, he recognized that odd screech. Immediately his eyes darted around the and he spotted it- A glowing vex node, however before he could understand what it was, it flashed away.

A second later, it appeared again. Blinking in place.

He looked to the Templar, and saw that the Vex mind communed it. One thing was certain, whatever it was, the Templar needed it.

Pahanin's instincts screamed only one thing.

'I need to Destroy it.'

Before the Vex mind could carry on, he needed to shatter those Oracles.

Pahanin's feet dug into the floor as a malefic light coursed through him, at the last instant, he shared a quick glance with Kabr- The titan nodded, as if one glance was all he needed.

If Templar was immune to their attacks, they just needed to stop his machinations!

Shooting across, Pahanin swiped his blade, his strike erupted forwards, ravaging through the wind. The second oracle appeared, but just before it could sing, the sword strike crushed it completely.

Kabr rampantly charged towards the first Oracle, ramming through it with his fist.

Pahanin expected that to stop the terrifying ritual, but seeing Templar's inaction, his hunch told him otherwise.

'No, it's not that simple.'

His mind blanked as he searched for an answer. Then, one at a time, the Oracles spawned again.

Pahanin's eyes widened as realization struck, "Destroy them as they've appeared. Follow the order!"

When realization dawned on Kabr too, the duo immediately followed the pattern.

Just as Pahanin's sword cleaved the 7th and final Oracle, Templar was abruptly ejected from the time stream.

Facing its two intruders, the Vex mind concluded a terrifying realization, the secret of the Oracles was now known. With its plan exposed, Templar had no choice left.

It would do, what the Vex do best.

Templar shrieked, a rumble echoed in the vault.

Pahanin and Kabr watched as tremors rippled through the cavern walls. The floor shook and trembled as they struggled to find stable ground. Haunting shrieks of goblins, Wyverns and harpies surged. The bright Radiolaria lake quivered with tumultuous waves, narrowly receding into the coast.

And from within it, emerged horrors.

An endless legion of Vex, hell-bound on their extinction. A million Vex cores all had only one purpose, their defeat.

The legion advanced, cracking the ground beneath their feet, Pahanin and Kabr paled seeing the sight, they readied for a final stand.

Then, they heard it again, an unmistakable squalling.

-The Oracle's sang-

--

How long had it been? Hours? Days? Years? No one could remember.

What lay ahead was a necropolis for the Vex, their mighty legions buried beneath the coarse stone they once guarded, reduced to mere rubble.

Pahanin planted his sword and limped forwards, refusing to succumb to exhaustion. Every ounce of light had long been drained from his being, yet he fought on.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

That was right, he had fought, and struggled, given it everything he had, from every fiber of his being, he'd tried hadn't he?

Unable to bear his own thoughts, he fell to his knees.

So why was it all futile? Why had the world forsaken him? Had his struggle truly been useless?

Questions sprouted in his mind, as his beliefs were shaken to the core. Why had it been him? Was fate so cruel as to throw him away?

Swept away in his thoughts, Pahanin felt his heart quiver, drowning in grief and sorrow.

Suddenly, a presence stirred beside him. Burrowing through the chasm of corpses, a minotaur emerged, towering over the decrepit hunter.

For a brief moment, Pahanin considered it.

'That's right...Haven't I done enough?'

His grip on the blade weakened, strength drained from his fingers.

Recognizing the Vex laser's distinct flare, the wearied hunter let out a dry chuckle.

'Is this...how it ends?'

'Perhaps, that will be best.', Pahanin heaved in a soft breath, his eyes drifted above, searching for solace.

But fate, was a bitter companion. In his last moments, Pahanin glanced at Templar exiting its separate dimension, the Vex mind scornfully looked towards his demise.

Whether it was pride, or arrogance. He did not know. But a wretched emotion bloomed in his heart. Pahanin didn't wish to die downtrodden. No, if the world was to crumble.

He would stand tall.

Rage coursed through his veins-The minotaur sensing the change, instantly blasted a debilitating laser, melting everything in its path.

Then, a sudden dizzy spell hit the Vex construct. Its head slipped and tumbled to the floor.

The next instant, a crude strike cleaved it in half.

Pahanin panted for breaths as he held his sword high. His blade was brittle and splintered, but his will was resolute.

Templar recognized the taunting gesture. The Vex mind had veiled itself in a different dimension, predicting its legion would annihilate the remaining intruders.

However, now it understood, sometimes things were not always according to plan.

The Vex held no concept of honor. They were neither driven by fear nor courage. Every decision they made was to ensure their survival.

One thing was certain. To ensure the future of the Vault, Templar needed to erase Pahanin himself.

It had already gathered the Oracles. There was no hesitation as its core flared.

Templar once again, communed.

Everything went white, the world stopped.

The symphony of time revealed itself akin to a frayed fabric. Templar let it flow, one by one, little by little, he gathered every string related to Pahanin, and plucked.

Each string represented a part of his existence. From the day of his birth, to his death. The day he was risen, till today, the day he would fall and forever be forgotten.

Severing the strings was equivalent to erasure. The fabric of time would not maintain its integrity unless this was done precisely.

However, suddenly, time seemed to disobey. Or rather, Templar's hold on it withered.

Buried under a mound of Vex corpses, Kabr punched a hole to the top, his hand emerged from within as it grabbed on the rocks above.

The forlorn titan pulled himself through the hole, dragging a crushed Wyvern from its heel. Kabr was covered in rubble, but most importantly he was drenched in Radiolaria, spilled on him through the countless cores he had smashed.

Spotting the Templar's ritual again, Kabr had somehow found himself unaffected.

Rather it was the Radiolaria.

The Vex were constructs piloted by cores, feasibly they held no weakness. No matter how many constructs died, they could simply be built again. However, the world was always fair.

Vex themselves were an antithesis to their own existence. Requiring Radiolaria-microscopic silicon based organisms, to function.

Unbeknownst to Kabr however, it was Radiolaria itself, that had allowed sanctuary from the Vex's machinations. Their own microorganisms were naturally free from the effect of their powers.

But Radiolaria was harmful to all creatures. Hence, keeping them away from Vex's weakness.

Right now, Kabr's eyes were bloodshot as it realized what the Templar was attempting to do.

The titan roared, hurling the Wyvern towards the Vex mind. Expecting it to bounce off its shields.

Yet as the crushed Wyvern slammed straight into the Templar, blasting it away and knocking the mind off its balance. Kabr's eyes widened.

Right now, at the edge of time, only two existences could move. But the Templar had already communed with the fabric of existence, to leave haphazardly would ensure its demise.

In short, it was stuck dealing with Pahanin.

Kabr looked around, as the perception of time dawned on him. His eyes lingered at Pahanin.

He watched the hunter defiantly standing against the Templar.

As Kabr looked to his hands, covered in bright Radiolaria. He understood what was happening.

The Templar's power not working on him was the best evidence. If he wished to fight against the mind, the Radiolaria was the only way.

A bitter smile rested on his lips. Kabr knew more than most what using the Radiolaria would do. But as he looked to the Templar shifting the world's reality. His resolve hardened.

'So be it.'

Kabr leapt, harnessing the last of his light, he rammed into the Templar. The Vex mind was far too occupied to dodge.

So came another blow, slamming Templar through the cavern walls. Another and another.

Then, another.

Without rest, Kabr poured every ounce of his rage in his blows, not a second passed that he channeled his entire being into it.

Finally, the mind's hold on time seemed to weaken even further, as it let out a feeble cry. Seeking to summon a legion, but it fell on deaf ears. As it couldn't resurrect them in It's time domain, that was now its undoing.

Kabr hurled Templar to the ground, as he slammed fist first into it, each blow sent out tremors that shook the cavern.

This entire time, Templar hadn't stopped erasing Pahanin's existence. But, when faced with immediate death and prolonged survival, Templar chose the latter.

Inadvertently, it wove the fabric of time. Unable to completely erase Pahanin Templar had chosen to save its life from Kabr's rampant strikes.

As for the hunter's fate? None had ever encountered a partial erasure of existence. It was an anomaly.

Suddenly, it's domain of time crumbled, as the world continued on its axis.

Kabr felt the same pulse of energy erupt again. He immediately looked towards Pahanin. But alas, no one was there.

'Have I failed?'

'No!'

Though he couldn't see him, Kabr's senses did not lie, wherever Pahanin was, he was alive, and he was watching.

The titan heaved a sigh of relief. As he faced the bruised Templar once more, Kabr ruefully got to his feet.

"Pahanin...I may have dragged you into this. But I'll finish this." His voice trembled as he gasped for breaths.

No response came, but Kabr knew he was heard. It was a strange feeling, as if Pahanin was right there, but at the same time, he wasn't. A strange limbo.

The Templar could not account for Pahanin, yet now in its calculations, Kabr had breached its shields.

From the ruins of the Vex, the mind rewound time, constructing its undying legion to face the titan.

A strange smirk landed on Kabr's face, "Even if you hadn't I'd have nothing else to ask for."

Templar was certain, the last and final intruder needed to be eliminated.

Fate was truly a bitter companion and a shrewd enemy. Unbeknownst to Templar, it had inadvertently assured its own defeat.

Kabr sauntered towards the legion, his true purpose dawned on him. He would ensure the Vault's fall. For hope, and for the future.

No legion could hold him, no army would prosper against his will. His resolve was certain, victory and defeat stood right before him.

All he had to do was embrace both, and he would not hesitate.

Kabr was solemn. He snatched a Vex core off a goblin's carcass and crushed it. Drinking from what remained.

In Kabr's veins, coursed the Radiolaria fluid, the very foundational organisms of the Vex. His body was changing, forever.

He was but now a mindless machine, one that would fashion itself to a new shape and s erve a singular purpose. The purpose Kabr chose was simple.

'I will destroy the vault'

Time flowed, and Kabr fought the Vex, drinking from their cores till his light faded away. Till he was a mortal once more. He fought till he changed, transforming himself into something that should've never been.

He fought, till Kabr was no more.

---

"I have destroyed myself to do this. They have taken my Ghost. They are in my blood and brain. But now there is hope."

"I have made a wound in the Vault. I have pierced it and let in the Light. Bathe in it, and be cleansed. Look to it, and understand."

"From my own Light and from the thinking flesh of the Vex I made a shield. The shield is your deliverance. It will break the unbreakable. It will change your fate. Bind yourself to the shield. Bind yourself to me. And if you abandon your purpose, let the Vault consume you, as it consumed me."

"Now it is done. If I speak again, I am not Kabr."

Those were the last words of Kabr, the one they would call, The Legionless.

So concluded the odyssey of a prideful titan. A tale of hubris and arrogance that ended with the greatest sacrifice.