This is truly a strange development in Zone 4, Cazoran. We have discussed her meteoric rise before, but most recent reports indicate that Carmen the solar kraken has organized a beast galactic conference, center-stage in the coffee war’s conflict zone. The daring announcement comes with the backing and investment of stage-three powerhouses in both the Falkori and Charlaine beast domains. With the support of two of the largest beast players within the zone, we have seen movement from at least thirteen other beast species preparing their fleets to join in discussions. We suspect there is significantly more here at play than a simple lunchtime eatery. We will report back as soon as we learn more about the goals of this conference.
– Cazoran Times, Voidbreaker News
Chapter 30 – Mabu’Aris
Zeppo's form matched up with Toki’s memories of Hammaltin’s and under her firelight, contorted now with indignation. "Help me convince her, you hoot," he spat. “Ya didn’t need to know, so I didn’t tell ya.”
“Five, I was misinformed. Please continue. I’d rather like to watch him squirm.” She stepped back with arms crossed.
“Fucking Two, ya bastard woman. Ya’re in this as deep as I am.”
The black-robed warrior, known to Toki as Two, stood a distance away, impassive as a monolith. The dark fabric of her robe clung to her lithe frame as a second skin, and the hood obscured much of her face, save for the glint of eyes and the red of her hair. As Toki edged closer and illuminated the cavern further, she discerned the sigil embroidered upon her chest—a mesh or network of some sort.
"This is not worth the favor I owe you," Two's voice was a hiss. "Do you take me for a fool? She is exactly what I need. What we all need."
"Hardly," Zeppo retorted, the words laced with sarcasm thick as the webs adorning the cavern's cragged ceiling. "Hmph, it wasn’t until I heard her voice that I knew that our Five was Tokyo Twice… You know what that means… the old five was Elara.”
Toki bristled at the mention of Elara and the night she'd forgotten, but her attention was swiftly ensnared by something else entirely—the floor beneath their feet. It was not the solid stone she had assumed, but glass, clear and cold as the surface of a frozen lake. It’s the same as before. Beneath it spiraled a staircase, winding down into the fathomless belly of the earth like a serpent.
“That vixen?” Two stopped in contemplation.
“Slaying the envoy was something though, girl. Ya piled a ton of elfshit here for us – it’ll be our first war in centuries.”
“My lawyers restricted them already. The dragons can’t come inside.” As she lowered her flame to inspect the ground, the Alpha moved silently beside her. With a motion deliberate and reverent, he touched the glass, awe mingling with curiosity in his gaze.
“For how long? Ya can’t even begin to imagine the fallout, girl. Remember the city—that sprawling and silent clay world… that was Allie Ring… a millennium ago. There’s always someone who breaks the deal. Organizes a riot. Plays the hero. Fucks it up for the rest of us. Golgheim always has to pick up the pieces. Before the Falkori, it was the Corinthians. Before them, the Oathbreakers.”
“Don’t act like he’s our savior, Three. He’s running from the fight. We’ve defeated outsiders plenty before. We can unrestrict now. We’re ready for the world trial. Did you see her.” Two pointed to Toki, “That is an elite… and I bet she still has spare luck. We can use her to make more during the trial. Our enemies have never let a bounty in—something must have changed!”
“Even though we’re the ones paying for it on the surface, he’s held this planet together for millennia. Ispartika didn’t have a planet spirit and look what it got them. Pendulum didn’t even have to raise a finger… the fucking idiots did it to themselves. Fuck Pendulum. Fuck the beasts. Fuck the Spearbreaker. Also fuck Elara. That witch played me.”
Zeppo turned to Toki, “If Elara was the last five, all hells must have broken loose up there by now… Here I thought at least one of the factions was in check… Why the hells would she sacrifice herself?"
"The glass," the Alpha spoke telepathically for all to hear, "my people must be below."
Zeppo's calculating eyes darted to Alpha in surprise, his gaze sharp. "Hmph, so how about it, Tokyo? Let’s say bygones be bygones. At Hammaltin’s ya wouldn’t shut yar trap, so I had to give ya the hangover hammer – ya could call it returning the favor. I’ll surrender, I can owe ya one, and grant clemency to our friend Partridge here." His words slithered through the air.
Partridge's eyes ignited with the flicker of hope, but Toki's expression was a frozen mask. "Heh, you think that can make up for trying to kill me? You'll have to do much better than that for me to even think about sparing your life."
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A heavy silence loomed. The great beast turned towards Toki, his telepathy a low rumble from some ancient depth. "Doth not the adage hold true in thy heart? Blood begets blood," he intoned solemnly.
Toki faltered, the weight of his words anchoring her tumultuous thoughts. Zeppo had indeed hunted her. By all rights, his blood should now water the earth at her feet. Yet, doubt gnawed at her resolve, whispering of another path—a path paved with justice before the eyes of Alabaster Ring. Is it naïve? He surrendered. Can I bring myself to kill him in cold blood?
On the other hand, he is shrewd, ruthless, and political. Her decision crystallized like ice in her veins. "Zeppo shall answer for his transgressions, not here in shadowed whispers, but before all of Alabaster Ring. Then I’ll kill him," she decreed, voice resolute.
"Naivety perhaps… we can work on it, I suppose." Two countered, her tone laced with mirth. With a flourish of her cloak, ethereal ropes emerged from the ebony fabric, weaving an intricate net around Zeppo—a prison of spectral chains.
The Alpha, witness to this act of aggression, bristled with fury. His form expanded with [Proportions of the Heart] and he stomped on the ground in anger.
"Wait!" Toki exclaimed, her plea slicing through the tension. In that infinitesimal moment of hesitation, a fissure snaked across the glass floor. As the crack branched, everyone stopped.
Zeppo's gaze, once haughty and impervious, waned into a contrite shimmer. "I relinquish my claim as prime," he announced, his eyes locked with Toki's own. "My status, my power... I bestow it all to you, Tokyo."
[Zeppo Hammaltin has relinquished the Hammaltin Prime designation to Tokyo Twice]
“Noooooo. DAMN IT, Three!”
“Now help me, brat!!”
Toki could feel the shift in the atmosphere. Zeppo's hands were open, palms skyward—a gesture of peace, or perhaps a resignation to fate, all while he stood there entangled in the Two’s ethereal ropes.
"Ya have nothing to fear from me now," he gasped as the ropes threatened to choke him. "I know ya need the whole story. Don’t be a fool."
Toki, for a moment, felt skepticism bite at her resolve, yet she could not deny the allure of secrets. She nodded, granting him the time. “Release him.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
The alpha snarled and as he shifted, the cracks grew outward.
“I need to know.” She paused then continued, “All of this. Why?” She waved her hands around the cavern.
Zeppo drew a breath of relief as the chains loosened. "The primes have brought havoc upon Aris, that’s fair. We carry this darkness, so that others don’t have to. What’s a little graft as recompense for our sacrifice," he confessed.
"Beneath this glass lies another world, a world untouched by this fake world above, Mabu’Aris. Golgheim uses the outside to protect the inside. We are all expendable up here. Our families had made this choice for us long ago." Zeppo revealed, voice lowering to a conspiratorial hush. “Have you never wondered why there are so few cities, so few beasts? We have an entire world up here to spread.”
He continued, “Do you want to know the real reason why Two and Four’s plan could never work… even if Golgheim spared us?” He paused dramatically. “Because the world’s hub is down there too. How the fuck can you even become a stage-one and protect us in the world trial if you can’t [Evolve]. Ya’ll be facing fresh 51s. That’s a world of difference lass. All of us are stuck. As they get stronger, you’ll still be 50-capped.”
“Why can’t we just go down there. And who are they?”
“Cause Golgheim has been farming stage one and two beasts in the depths like poison mu. By gods, give it a try. Just don’t blow up the surface for the rest of us. Do you even know who the Spearbreaker is? Gods, girl. Of course not, how could you?”
“We can go back and forth. Over time, we can make our way down.”
“Hmph. I’ve personally sent half a dozen expeditions down there. Be my guest. The envoys have probably spent centuries sniffing around down there. Some are dead, others gave up. Our Aris is but a shield, a bastion encasing an entire world that’s working to finish the grand desi—"
"Enough!" The word erupted from Two's lips like a dark spell breaking. In one swift, merciless motion, her hand snapped forward, seizing Zeppo’s neck with a force that silenced life itself. There was a sickening crack, a sound that resonated with finality throughout the chamber. Zeppo's body crumpled to the ground, a fallen monument to secrets too perilous for daylight.
“TWO! WHAT THE HELLS!”
Two's gaze then shifted, cold and calculating, to where Partridge stood, trembling. "These revelations are not meant to be shared," she hissed, conjuring ropes of inky darkness that snaked toward him with predatory grace. "The veil must remain drawn, lest all succumb to the chaos it conceals."
Toki watched, horror-stricken, as the scene unfolded, her mind racing with the implications of Zeppo's unfinished confession. Shadows writhed at her command, coiling like serpents of smoke as they merged into one shadow claw. She glared down at the gossamer fracture spider-webbing beneath her feet. With a thunderous cry torn from the depths of her soul, she thrust her hands downward. 100% manadraw. The summoned darkness obeyed.
“Back away!” She yelled at the Alpha.
The glass floor, already marred by Alpha's stomp, could not withstand this onslaught. It shattered, an explosion of crystalline shards cascading into the abyss below. Partridge, Two, and the limp form of Three plummeted. At the edge of her vision, she saw the Rat King also jump down onto the stairs below.
The echoes of breaking glass sung a requiem for the fallen, a chilling melody that resonated through the cavernous hollows of the chamber. She stood on a single [Binding of Tyndall], flames illuminating the staircase below, hovering above the maw. Her eyes slowly lifted to meet Alpha’s gaze from the tunnel entrance.
"It was thy handiwork. Thou hast unshackled us from treachery," Alpha intoned. His massive frame shrunk and kneeled before her. "In the annals of our tribe, this day shall be etched with reverence, Glassbreaker."
The title hung heavy in the air. She looked upon Alpha, his deference both humbling and terrifying.