Rulers were the supposed pinnacle of the archailect, their might legendary, their presence mythical and their powers glorious. A single rulers’ presence on a world either brought unseen wealth, obscene amount of prosperity by their very presence, or it brought unimaginable catastrophe, for wherever a ruler went, war soon followed. The tournament had been a success, the next swordsmanship champion chosen and the fate of the lesser planets all but decided in actions, all should be well with the archailect as a whole.
What was playing out here was the direct opposite of the intended vision, and Zane true blade couldn’t be more disgusted. Watching the rulers battle a being whose existence was an insult unto the supreme beings and all they represented, he ached to join the battle, but restrictions, rules born of the pact between supreme beings and their harbingers wound tight around him like a wordless chain. Harbingers for all their glorified name and power were little more than hounds for their respective beings and Zane had learned of that too late.
Eyes following the blitzing movements as the rulers fought through different layers of realm and reality against a simple master whose death should had been cemented the moment he angered a ruler, he frowned, flicking his eyes to the being that appeared next to him,
“I wouldn’t had thought a primordial would move” he said, soft voice echoing through the rip in reality he currently existed in, cut off from the current flow of reality and in tandem the battle that waged on his home world. Typhon Kairos as he was known to his fellow primordials or Kairos to the thousands who venerated his existence and the greater archailect in general was a primordial whose existence was as close to being a deity as the supreme beings would allow.
Reaching the pinnacle of all there was, he had somehow staved off the boredom of immortality by actively albeit subtly moving around pawns in the archailect, the entire archailect oblivious to the moves save the harbingers and a few peak primordials who played such games themselves. The being whose form flickered between humanoid and an ancient mythical creature whose real proportions defied the measurement of size shrugged, a smile on his face,
“It has been long since I’ve had an excuse to stretch my frame. Take a stroll” he replied, voice soft but carrying with it authority that had eons to wax stronger and be polished,
Zane didn’t believe that for a second, he knew Kairos didn’t believe that also, but they continued to play their intricate games, the only thing they had left to stave off boredom. Kairos pointed the battle happening below,
“Are they even aware that’s not the avatar himself?” Kairos asked, amusement in his voice,
Only primordials would find it amusing the literal embodiment of decay, destruction and oblivion was on a rampage somewhere and not care. Zane shook his head,
“No, but better they deal with this imposter, makes it easier for me to find where the vermin himself is holed up” Zane replied,
To the average ruler or even ancient as was being displayed below, the overwhelming power of decay that ate into reality even as the rulers excised it with brutal efficiency was proof enough for them that they battled Rohan, a master with the full aspect of the abyss behind him. The primordials knew better, they had been there during the early stages of the archailect, before even the word time became a concept and vast empires ruled the universe. They had seen the supreme beings stave off the corrosive effects of the abyss and had gained enlightenment in the process.
Kairos shook his head,
“you’re going about this the wrong way” he said,
“As always, you harbingers rely on the borrowed authority”
Zane knew Kairos was aware of the intricate connection between harbinger and supreme being, for he was one of the most sought after primordials by the supreme beings for the position of harbinger. The mythical creature however delighted in reminding Zane how much of a mistake he thought Zane made, the true blade unlike the rest of his peers who were harbingers had a different view concerning this position,
“This is my jurisdiction and part of the galaxy, you would teach me how to run it?’ he asked,
Kairos shook his head again, this time more with a fatherly feel to it that had Zane tightening his hands on his blade, the sentient weapon of pure intent itching to be let loose from its sheath. The last time he did that, it was to cut off an entire system in a galaxy from the decay of the abyss, it wasn’t something to be done lightly,
“Merely an observation from a friend” he said,
Zane had seen enough, tamping down on the power of the supreme being, he channeled his own authority, a power he had also spent an eon perfecting and uttered a single word,
“CUT”
Reality around the imposter Rohan shimmered, the abyssal being realizing too late what was about to happen as reality itself was cleanly cut into straight different parts, each one a pocket part of reality itself and with it a small portion of his power. The rulers made short work of each part, totally eliminating the presence, Zane noticed Azar and Raye staring into the folds between reality, searching out his very presence, their ancient authorities ripping into the layers upon layers of runic primordial authority he possessed.
It was a fruitless effort though, he had as much layers as there were folds to infinity plus, he could do this all day, they in turn were merely ancients, barely stepping into the realm of infinity and its mind-numbing secrets. Kairos frowned as he turned into the distance,
“The titan blade” he said,
Zane glanced at the primordial,
“I wasn’t aware you took an interest in him, taking him into your faction proves a big risk” he replied,
Kairos waved his hands,
“No, not that, until a moment ago I could sense him, the aspect of the titan rang loud in reality, now…” Kairos said, leaving it hanging,
Zane frowned as he spread his aura, interwoven with his world, a true dimension in its true strength to search for the enigma, he came up short with nothing,
“Rohan” they both said,
Kairos moved his shoulders as large falcon eyes appeared above him, the very aether in the air turning a distinct orange color,
“The eyes of Ra, you’ve found the relic I see” Zane said,
“Indeed, but not the primordial” Kairos replied,
Zane ran through a series of thought processes at that point, the titan blade couldn’t possibly be working for the abyss, his aspect literally oozed of some sort of anathema of abyss and he was sure that was why Rohan targeted him. A sliver of his mind touched the supreme being, in another reality all together, requesting permission to root out the avatar of chaos,
He got an affirmation,
Blistering with pure raw primordial intent, Zane prepared to move until Kairos raised a hand up,
“Before you do something overly flashy, realize this isn’t the nethervoid, you can’t just fracture reality as you like” he said,
“Do you have another plan in mind?” Zane asked,
Kairos snapped his fingers as his daughter appeared next to him along with a woman who had floating chains for hair,
“I need to- “Ashira said, pausing as she realized where she was,
The woman immediately went to her knees, head bowed in supplication to Kairos himself, Zane could see thee wisps of devotion flowing off the woman into Kairos and frowned. Only the supreme beings were worthy of veneration, and in that line of thought the cults of the supreme beings were indirectly a religious organization, a fact the beings couldn’t care less about unless it served their own uses.
The newly forged master who steadily tapped into the authority laced aspect of her parents grabbed her father, eyes wide,
“Father, Moyo, I can’t sense him” she said,
Moyo watched the primordial being known as the ender of life and the universal bringer of doom in some civilizations smile and pat his daughters head lovingly on the head,
“Calm yourself little one, it is for the same reason I brought you here, but before that, I believe our esteemed host owes you a reward” Kairos said,
“you’d place the mythical path scroll over Rohan?” Zane asked,
Kairos simply smiled, the smile stretching from ear to ear in an almost terrifying look,
“Are you denying my heir what is due to her?” he asked back,
“Father?” Ashira asked, unsure of what was going on,
Zane stared impassively at the monster of monsters before snapping his hands and a path scroll appeared in it. Brimming with pure primordial energy, he tossed it to Ashira, Kairos catching it out of the air with a smile on his face,
“Tsk tsk tsk, we can’t have you sealing the path to one linear line, can we?” Kairos said,
Zane shrugged, aware his scheme of ensuring he had a loophole into her path now foiled,
“I’m not sure the archailect can survive another monster born of the house of Kairos” he replied,
“You let me handle my house, hmm?” Kairos said as Zane watched a sliver of the monsters’ aura rip through the binding runes like they were nothing,
Not even Azar, Raye, Hagan and all the ancients put together could had broken it without prior preparations.
As the runes shattered, Kairos placed his own runes on it, its power speaking of feral, monstrous powers, of an unending yawning chasm of power from which monsters were born and Zane could only look on in helplessness, now aware that Kairos had been anticipating his messing with the scroll path, giving him an opening to make his move on it. Zane watched helplessly as Kairos fashioned the scroll into something deadly,
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Be aware you would be throwing her into dangerous waters, they would move now that you’re making your intentions clear” Zane warned,
“You let me bother about those pesky decrepit beings in the deepest corners of the archailect” Kairos replied,
The scroll which was previously spinning came to a slow halt, Ashira quietly watching the both of them, urgency in her every move but knowing enough not to come between two beings powerful enough to power an entire galaxy or galaxies should they put their mind to it. Kairos turned to his daughter,
“it’s time to come into your full power my little monster” he said,
“But Moyo” she weakly protested, eyes wide as she begged her father,
Zane noticed with distaste that the other woman was still bowed, mortals were a fickle breed, it wasn’t like Kairos could care any less about her. Kairos nodded patiently,
“In time, we have our assumptions, but in order to locate him, I need you to grow into your full strength” he replied,
“can’t you find him?” she asked,
“We could, however we fear what the enemy would do when they sense our very presence” Kairos said,
Ashira nodded and took the scroll, absorbing it as her back arced and her body began to crystalize, green, golden and bronze light glowing from the ovoid shaped cocoon she was currently asleep in.
The metamorphosis of an ascender into a mythical path wielder was a thing of pure marvel, there were few mythical masters in the archailect anyways, not even Zane boasted of more than one, his heir Sigmar. It brought to question the pure oddity that was the titan blade, Zane had a feeling his supreme being was also in the dark concerning who or what the titan blade was.
It explained why Alastor wanted the boy as his harbinger, not out of any feeling of worthiness, the supreme being of edges was practical as he was pragmatic. The titan blade had evolved his path into a mythical one out of pure authority-tinged aspect and willpower, Zane had travelled the infinite galaxies of the archailect and he could count on one hand the beings he knew that had done such.
Plus, he had sensed the beginnings of a throne, a feat that in all manner of realities shouldn’t be possible for a diamond who hadn’t even crossed over to master rank yet. Thrones were for rulers who were ancients, a source of power for them to tap into their aspects while bestowing a portion of said aspects to master who would become emissaries.
To put it in simple terms, the titan blade was all manner of messed up and the only reason the true primordials of the archailect hadn’t grown aware of him was due to the fact that he was restricted currently to one little part of the archailect, the moment he began his sojourn into the greater archailect, all manner of beings would either flock to him or want him dead as a threat to their position and power.
And of course Zane noticed the protection offered by houses thousand blades and Kairos, the child was being primed for political reasons and he had no idea, Zane noted that freewill in truth was subjective to point of views. He watched Kairos increase the flow of time around the pocket realm they were in and allowed it, the cocoons’ glow dimming slowly as the girl absorbed the power of the mythical path evolution scroll till it cracked and shattered.
Zane eyed the girl as she floated in the air, creamy skin now with a more brownish hue, her nails tinged green and a long green tail with a pointed edge that dripped with poison so corrosive, Zane wasn’t sure an average master could survive a lethal dosage without immediate help. She opened her eyes, glowing gold irises with a green tinged pupil, Ashira Kairos took in a deep breathe and exhaled, power followed the action.
Stepping back on the ground, she stared at herself, her form shimmering, settling down from the absurdly high amount of aether she now possessed within her. She stared at her father,
“Well?” he asked,
“Chimera, I evolved into a chimera” she said,
“Another primordial aspect now released back into the archailect, congratulations Kairos, one more piece in a never-ending war” Zane said,
Kairos turned to Zane, a smile on his face,
“are you really going to stand here and preach to me about the intricacies of pawns?, you who commands the might of the cult of Alastor?” Kairos asked,
“What?” Ashira asked, eyes wide open,
Zane ground his teeth,
“You thread on dangerous territories Kairos” Zane warned,
“father” Ashira pleaded,
“Ah, yes, your boy toy” Kairos said as his daughter blushed, sputtering,
“You have a connection of sorts with the titan, a link due to the time you’ve spent with him, call it a bond if you will” Kairos explained,
“We need you to tap into that bond, that link and tell us, no, show us where he is” Zane said,
Ashira nodded and closed her eyes, and then they saw the bond, where most were thin lines of wispy threads that flowed imperceptibly at times, she had a thick knot of rope leading from her into the distance. She opened her eyes with a start,
“The spire!” she gasped,
Kairos began to laugh, a deep below as Zane snarled and moved.
********************************
Moyo felt everything in him push at the power that had him locked into that position, even as he groaned softly, his throne of the titan had absorbed as much chaotic essence as it could to the point that Moyo simply twitched on the ground where he laid, using his Ashe that now sang with the aspect of the titan to hold back the growing power within him.
He was a ticking time bomb, his skin lined with purple veins of power that glowed with his heartbeat, but even with all these going on, Rohan simply stared at the spire. The leader of the cult of the undying hand ignored Moyo till he was he was close to comatose before speaking,
“a diamond with access to his aspect and from what I’m seeing, a throne, quiet early in your line of ascension” Rohan said,
Glancing at Moyo who followed him with his eyes,
“Moyosore titan blade, I must confess, a few weeks back I barely even knew you existed” he started, crouching down to eye level with Moyo,
Moyo stared into the inky black bottomless eyes and saw nothing, the literal end of all things and he shuddered, this was not something he could deal with or phantom. His aspect of the titan kept his mind from unraveling from the sheer weight of the reality of nonexistence, he watched Rohan smile,
“Then you came from nowhere, always at the wrong place and at the wrong time. A carefully planted ascender who rose to the rank of master in house Dracon?, gone due to your meddling, a world in which it took years of planting and patience also, almost ruined due to your presence” Rohan continued,
“Then you managed to shatter the runic ritual here, on Altera. It was to be one of my biggest accomplishments you know” Rohan said,
“Instead I’m forced to make do with back up plans, quite distasteful going forwards” the cult leader said with bile in his mouth,
Moyo groaned as he felt his throne humming within him, his heartbeat racing, he couldn’t bear this for long, he had to escape this punishing hold Rohan had on him. It was easier said than done, for the hold felt nothing like what should come from a master, it felt like a series of rulers were holding him down on the spot and he was powerless to do anything.
Rohan stood up, pointing at the spire,
“This monument, this egotistical structure of pure blasphemy set up by your false supreme beings have blinded you all to the true fact, but I suppose I can’t blame you, ignorant as you are” he said,
“See, what your rulers and I mean the ancients and primordials, not those average run in the mill rulers that make you all bow at their awe and scrape at their feet won’t tell you is that you all depend on the abyss” Rohan said,
“You all are the virus eating into the natural order of things, chaos, and once and for all you need to be exercised for the good of the universe, this archailect, this false power you all have come to depend on must be broken bit by bit”
Then Rohan faced him,
“But I suppose trying to convince you would be fruitless, I can see it in your eyes titanblade, the urge to gut me where I stand. I applaud your conviction, so few have the willpower to look me in the eye with such blinding hatred” Rohan said chuckling,
“But deep down you must know you aren’t a match for me, I suppose I could let you go, see how strong you could become in the next decade or so when you eventually reach ruler as your types always do, the archailect pushes you towards the pinnacle as fast as it can knowing it needs bodies to protect its existence”
Glancing back at Moyo, he pointed to the spire,
“Your rulers think I’m here for their farce of a competition, but I suppose it was fun while it lasted, besides I wonder what state the spawn of the red jaw is in right now” Rohan mused,
“Anyways, I want you to pass a message to your rulers, to your harbingers who hide in the shadows and direct you all like puppets, to your supreme beings who think they can flaunt their insolence since time immemorial and get away with it” Rohan said as he smiled and touched the spire, a pulse of black energy ripping into the very metallic structure of the spire as Moyo saw his HUD go haywire,
Not before he somehow felt the presence of Ashira,
Perhaps it was his mind playing tricks on him, or his HUD going wonkers, Moyo grabbed onto that lifeline, fighting as his aspect threatened to destroy him from the inside out. He pulled at the line as his eyes widened, feeling the actual link between he and Ashira blaze, and what he felt from her left him astonished,
Ashira was a master now,
Too many things happened in that one moment, the hold of Rohan broke from him and Moyo lurched, even as his blazing eyes saw the runic barrier of illusion Rohan had set up all around them shatter from the entrance of Zane true blade who glanced at Moyo in that millisecond, understanding what Moyo wanted to do and moving accordingly.
Madness and fury drove Moyo as he grabbed Rohan by the hand, the cult leader smiling while gripping something he tore out from the spire, the structure decaying even as intent fizzled in the air to nothing. Moyo didn’t bother, he produced his own intent, besides, that wasn’t the plan. With the roaring sea of Ashe within him and his aspect glowing, his throne humming and beating faster, he uttered the edict,
“Da pa da!”
Rohan’s’ eyes widened even as reality took in a deep breath and roared out in the mother of all explosions. Moyo felt his body literally burning up and the pain was mind numbing, but still he smiled as he saw Rohan go up in purple flames, eating away at his abyssal essence as the power came from his throne. It was a necessary sacrifice; one he had been determined to do if it would rid the archailect of such evil and taint.
His felt his core shatter and his vault phase in and out of existence, his body breaking down into wisps of aether. With one last look at Rohan whose features were nothing more than bones with glowing eyes, he smiled, Rohan in a creepy look nodded even as his bones shriveled to dust and the cube he took phasing away in a swirl of black smoke.
Moyo closed his eyes and was no more, all that was left was a throne, a purple throne floating in a purple realm of pure energy atop a mountain.
**********************
Zane true blade, harbinger to the supreme being Alastor of edges had known he was too late, in hindsight the idea of leaving the protection of the spire to the cults had been a bad idea. On his part he didn’t expect Rohan to go for the spire, maybe send a few of his cultists, but go after the spire himself?, no. He had tapped into the authority of Alastor, snarling as he saw Alastor steal away the literal essence of a supreme being but wrestling most of its strength, siphoning the power back into the spire before Rohan could steal it away.
Even as the spire began to slowly stave off the power of the abyss, he felt the ships of the brigade pulling in to the space around his world, the generals, ancient rulers with bloodthirsty attitude and arcane weapons to booth appearing in the air as they cordoned off the world in a bid to trap whatever cult members they thought they could, a futile gesture. The titan blade had almost singlehandedly wiped out every notable cult member on the planet, spoiling the plans of Rohan for his world and saving countless millions.
Zane owed him a debt, a harbinger of a supreme being owing a diamond a debt, a scenario not even conceivable. However the harbinger knew that could come later, with a swipe of his hand he sealed the throne of the titan in a pocket dimension, marveling at the pure power it possessed. Zane still wasn’t sure where to classify the monstrosity that was the titan on a scale of things, but he knew well enough that the titan was going to be a force of pure universal power when he awoken.
He felt Kairos and his daughter appear next to him even as Xerxes world burner and his assistant Tania appeared also. Ashira turned around, apparently looking for the titan blade,
“Where is he?” she whispered, a haunted look slowly glazing her eyes,
Zane glanced at Kairos, a quiet subtle message going between them, Kairos’ eyes widening a bit before understanding. He touched his daughters’ shoulder,
“I’m sorry little one” he whispered,
Zane for the first time in a millennia felt a twinge of pity for the girl who crashed to her knees and bawled her eyes out, the skies overhead growing grey with clouds as a heavy rain began to fall. Xerxes marched forwards, totally ignoring Kairos and his daughter,
“Was Rohan here?” he asked,
Tania glanced between her sister and Xerxes who nodded at her, the harbinger of fire and aether might be a bastard who cared for nothing but advancing his supreme beings’ goals, but even he understood. Tania gathered her step sister in her arms as Ashira let out a wail so filled with pain; Zane had to lock out the aura lest it caused mere experts to fall dead. Xerxes glanced at the spire, eyes widening,
“Did he?’ he asked,
“Yes, I managed to stop him” Zane replied,
“So that was his plan all along” Xerxes growled,
“the spire?, why did he have to go through all those tricks and even risk the nest?” Zane asked,
Xerxes shook his head,
“No, he wasn’t even after the spire nor the nest, he was after the essence of a supreme being and something else, a nexus point” Xerxes said grimly as Zane’s’ eyes widened,
Xerxes nodded as he stared up to the sky,
“As of this moment, nexus point 001 belongs to Rohan, along with the four planets orbiting it, cut off from the archailect, and with the essence of a supreme being, you know what he wants to do” Xerxes continued,
“he’s going to do it, he’s building a true spire so close to the archailect itself, that means the Rohan we faced wasn’t the real Rohan?” Zane asked,
“Most probably, he never really came, we were played as fools” Xerxes growled,
And amidst all these, rulers, masters, experts and a wailing woman all watched in silence as the horror of what Xerxes just said permeated the air.