Jack tumbled through a current of chaotic energies, unsure of where he was or what was happening. Thousands of sensations washed over his body from extreme heat to frigid cold and spine-tingling pleasure to horrendous pain. He lost consciousness a few times only to be jolted awake by a jarring shift in the sensations affecting him. The journey seemed unending yet the myriad of sensations made each moment fleeting as they passed. Jack closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. The chaos was maddening; nonetheless, he held fast to his sanity by using the Blue Heart’s fear as an anchor.

When it ended, he landed on something hot and coarse. It clung to him, sticking to his body and aggravating his wounds. He groaned and opened his eyes. He was lying on a beach of white sand. The grainy material was almost pearlescent in the harsh light that came from above.

One notification stuttered at the edge of his mind. It was hard to make out like an image on a television with a bad signal.

[Wa… Conne… Logos… Retu… immediately...]

Dammit, my head… He blew out a long breath in the hopes of releasing some of the tension accumulating between his eyes. With his good arm, he pushed himself off the ground. He used his other hand to wipe the sand from his face but winced from the burning in his shoulder and the fresh heat of the Shadowtitan’s metal surface against his flesh. Once he blinked the grit from his eyes, he noticed that the Dark Maker’s Key had landed several feet away from him. Its strange sheen contrasted with the clean color of the sand. Not far beyond it, he spotted the Lightbearer’s Lantern which must’ve fallen from his waist during transit. He got to his feet on shaky legs and looked around. He doubted what he saw.

The sand continued for several feet to a shoreline but instead of leading to a body of water, it fell off into nothingness. He stumbled forward, legs moving on their own to the shoreline. He reached his destination and gasped. Emptiness stretched out before him like a great maw. The white sand falling from the beach disappeared into the maw almost immediately.

What… What is this place? His gaze swept through the void searching for answers. He spied another piece of land in the distance. He couldn’t tell exactly what it was but it had the same white glow of the sandy beach on which he stood. He glanced into the emptiness and felt its pull drawing him forward. There was a subtle intelligence to it lurking just below the surface. The maw of the void spoke to him; its words like whispers on the wind. He listened closely: a promise of endings, salvation from futility, and freedom from strife.

The Blue Heart cried out. His focus shattered and he looked down in time to see that he had one foot over the void as though he were about to step off. He fell backward scrambling away from the edge. A chime pierced the silence. Like those before it, the sound was familiar yet no memory came to mind. Before he could think, the maw of emptiness yawned.

First, he saw the landmass in the distance crumbled into nothingness, consumed by the void. Then, the edge of the beach began to rapidly fall away. Jack’s eyes widened and he ran toward the Dark Maker’s Key.

Suddenly, the scorching heat weighed down on him. Although the burning from his blood had relaxed, his body was far from His muscles ached with fatigue and strain while his breath came in great heaves. His eyes burned as he looked back at the rapidly approaching emptiness. In the sky, the sun or whatever it was began to flicker. The heat intensified manifold. He screamed, falling short of his destination as his flesh seared under the heat of the fading star. Something in the world snapped.

He reached for the Ore Father’s Token with the last of his strength willing it to activate. The pain vanished and his other hand closed around the shimmering sliver.

Instantly, he was thrown through another spiral of overstimulation yet the power of the Ore Father’s Token counteracted much of it. Thanks to the bit of clarity, he noticed a faint signal in his mind coming from the Blue Heart. It was something akin to a pull, as though an unseen force beckoned. He connected with the Blue Heart and gave it an encouraging push. The Blue Heart responded. Logos streamed out from the Blue Heart in a line that teetered in the chaotic flow. He had little power while in the grasp of the tumultuous energies but he pushed as hard as he could in the direction of the Logos stream. Almost as fast as the transfer started, it was over.

Jack emerged in a marsh. A red ring in the black sky cast a crimson tint on everything. Strange trees with white bark and skulls growing from their trunks were all around him. A low moan filled the air and putrid gases trailed from the wet ground obscuring the landscape. He retched at the smell.

Something hissed and he flinched out of paranoia. One glance down revealed that the hem of the lightweaver robes that he wore was being eaten away by the gases closer to the ground. His shoes were in ruins. The gas rested harmlessly against his low legs yet his alarm didn’t waver since the Ore Father’s Token was likely preventing the caustic fumes from hurting him.

He started to move. He could still feel the pull from the Blue Heart, concentrating on it unveiled a thin stream of Logos which extended from the World Core into the stinking mist. Jack rushed after the stream; conscious of the precious seconds ticking down on Endure’s duration. He also felt the slow drain of the Blue Heart’s Logos supply as it struggled to maintain the stream. He reached for his belt only to realize that he left the Lightweaver’s Lantern behind in the last location. He was stuck with what Logos he had left.

He passed horrific sights on his mad dash. Skeletal trees laughed at his passage. Ominous shapes shifted in the mists. A sensual voice whispered in the distance promising of the desecration of his body and soul. He nearly walked into the void which opened up, hidden by the fetid mist. It was the same as the place with white sand. The mist gave way to nothingness. Thankfully, Jack avoided tumbling to his death and the sudden visibility allowed him to see where he was going. There was a rift. It looked like a violent tear in reality, cracking with dark bolts of energy.

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Wait… That reminds me of the way the rift to Terras looked before the Twilight King opened it.

Endure ended so he was forced to make a decision: reactivate it or walk along the edge of oblivion where the caustic gases faded to save his last charge? He chose to walk the edge because he had no idea where the rift would lead and he might need the invulnerability.

For once, his decision didn’t screw him over. He made it to the rift in one piece albeit with burning lungs and watering eyes. The Logos in the Blue Heart was running low. Jack closed his eyes, his focus narrowing to the rift. It was a familiar routine from simpler days. Unfortunately, his connection felt tenuous as though it were being impeded. The stream of Logos began to waver and Jack’s eyes snapped down to the Dark Maker’s Key. The Artifact pulsed with incredible power in his hand, waiting for him to use it. Then, it clicked.

Is the corruption in this thing hindering my ability to open the rift? He dropped it to the ground.

As soon as it left his hand, the Blue Heart nearly jumped out of his chest with relief. His connection solidified as the influence of the corrupted Logos faded. Bolts of energy shredded the damp terrain around the rift as the crack in reality widened into a full-blown portal. Unlike a Remnant Gate, the connection was unstable so he had to keep it open by force of will.

A chime echoed in the distance but Jack was already moving. The tear was open. Unwilling to leave the Dark Maker’s Key behind, he scooped it up, much to the Blue Heart’s dismay, and leapt through the gate before the corruption could disrupt his connection.

***

The passage was much smoother this time. Like stepping through a Remnant Gate, he walked from the horrid marsh into an odd metal hallway. Behind him, the gate collapsed in on itself releasing a wave of power that knocked him to the floor. He laid there for a spell, sucking in huge gasps of air and enjoying the chill of the cold metal against his back.

He jammed the Dark Maker’s Key into his belt, partially to appease the unease of his World Core and partially due to his own paranoia about touching a corrupted Artifact. It hadn’t tried to take Logos from the Blue Heart like the Seed of Corruption but he wasn’t taking any more chances. He undid the fastenings of the lightweaver robes and reached underneath to run his fingers over the Blue Heart.

To it, he muttered, “I don’t know if you can understand me, but thanks for getting us out of there.”

As he expected, it didn’t respond though he sensed something akin to exhaustion from it. He attempted to summon his World Core Status and nearly cried when it worked. A quick look at his Logos confirmed his suspicions. Seven Logos left in the tank. Fucking hells, I really cut it close. And I don’t even know if I’m safe yet.

While ruminating, he noticed the notification flickering at the edge of his thoughts. He pulled it forward in the hopes that it would be clearer than before.

[Warning: You have been transferred into a restricted world. Connection to Logos is failing. Return to Fracture or an authorized Remnant immediately. Failure to do so will result in permanent severance from the Logos. Time Remaining: 19:56]

“Can I please just get a fucking minute of peace?!” Jack shouted slamming his gauntleted fist on the floor. The shout echoed off the walls along with the loud bang from his fist. Well… If the noise from the portal collapsing didn’t alert whatever is lurking around here then I just did.

He smiled as a grim reminder floated through his thoughts. He chose this. The day he decided to run and fight instead of surrendering to Azatiel, he chose a life full of strife. The more reasonable side of his mind produced dozens of reasons in defense of the decisions he had made but he recognized them for what they were— excuses. Since his encounter with Ciel, he had been in a mad dash searching for answers, searching for a way out of the stranglehold closing in around him.

Why do I bother? He turned his gaze inward combing over his mind to find a reason for it all. Many rationales presented themselves back by a plethora of emotions. They were familiar; ideas and justifications that he’d clung to in the past. But when he really got right down to it stripping away all the obligations and surface desires, only one answer really stood out. Like the chimes, it tickled a part of Jack hidden by forgetfulness, hinting of something which transcended his memory loss. He chuckled. I might just be a vindictive bastard.

Aching all over, he got to his feet and made his way out of the strange hall— which he realized was actually a train car —onto a platform lit by flickering bulbs in the ceiling. The time in the notification ticked down as he stepped into an actual hallway. The failing light caught the gleam of his metallic jawline illuminating his smile but like the smile, it failed to reach his eyes.

***

Following the barely perceptible pull from the Blue Heart, Jack wove through dark hallways. Wherever he was, it lacked any fantastical elements. The place was all metal and stone shaped into practical shapes that favored efficiency over aesthetics. His path led him through what appeared to be a metro station of some kind. Large signs in a foreign language hung over various tunnels and stairways. He saw what looked like ruined storefronts in between various entrances and exits. Linked box-like train cars populated broken railways along with a few pod-like shuttles which sat alone. It was all very familiar.

The worst part was the eerie quiet. Either whatever lived here was quiet enough to avoid his enhanced hearing or there was nothing to make noise nearby. So, his only companion was the sound of his own footsteps. It took nearly four minutes to exit the metro station.

Outside, he glimpsed the dark ruin of a silent metropolis. Skyscrapers punched into a featureless plane of endless gray sky. He saw a few massive screens on the buildings near the metro station but they showed nothing but static. In the center of the courtyard outside of the exit, a statue of some kind of humanoid dominated the view. The Blue Heart’s signal pointed him to it. He felt the potential energies of a rift; however, he stopped in his tracks.

There was someone standing in front of the statue.

The figure turned around and the blood in Jack’s veins went cold. The Blue Heart jolted from its weary state and sent warnings of danger and something else Jack had never experience before.

He met a pair of scarlet eyes. It was a man or at least, the form of one. The feeling from the Blue Heart was reminiscent of his ability to recognize Celestials. This was no man nor was he a Celestial. He wore dressed in a pin-striped suit complete with a dark tie. The man’s silver hair swept back against his scalp like it had been styled and his goatee was neatly trimmed. He smiled at Jack while his eyes danced with cruel amusement.

“Jaxanus, so good to see you again.”