Defiance passed through the portal, entering real space behind the sleek red ship of the overseer Atreus. Arriving at what looked like a nexus point planet, it was an oddly shaped planet looking more like an hour glass than the usual round planet and Idris pointed it out,
“Probably a construct planet of some sort” Moyo replied,
His champion turned to him astonished, Moyo smiled as he stood up stretching,
“The archailect is a place filled with as much wonders as horrors my friend, it’s time to prepare” he said,
The rest of the ten stood up,
“You all know the plan, let me do the talking, keep your eyes peeled out, no one is our ally, not even Atreus” he warned as they nodded,
Leaving them to their preparations, Moyo stepped into his obscenely large quarters, his attire, a black martial artist robe with its arms shredded away giving it a sort of street fighter look with purple and gold trimmings on its edges along with dark purple sash at the waist.
He wore the robes, tying the sash and sitting on the ground, legs crossed, reeling in his aspect tightly to his body. Most if not all of the rulers he would be meeting there had no idea he was a master ranked primordial, he therefore decided to keep it to himself, the unspoken rule about the mysteries of the primordials warned to him by Kairos himself.
Sending a message to his guard, he waited as he felt Idris knock and they entered. Gesturing for them to seat in a circle round him, he opened his eyes as he exhaled, purple eyes glowing,
“My guard” he started,
“What you’re about to step into is a nest filled with vipers, I keep reminding you of this warning to enable you to survive any surprises that you might come across. Expect a fight to break out at any moment, like I said before, none of the people I know are mustering at this particular nexus point.” He said,
“Like Idris, to be linked to me, you need to have a bit of my aspect, but a note of warning, should you choose to accept it, under no circumstances should you reveal the aspect without my explicit say so” he warned gravely,
“The archailect or the majority of the archailect rather, have no idea what ancients and primordials are, to the greater archailect ascension ends at ruler and only ancients, primordials, emissaries of both and the harbingers of the supreme beings are aware of each other” he said,
“The shadow government is real” Marcel said as they all gave light chuckles,
“In a way” Moyo replied with a smile,
“So, as I said, the titan aspect must be given freely, I will take nothing in return, I am not the bright scourge or as I suspect, any of the celestials, if you’re no…oh, okay” Moyo said as all hands went up, surprising him,
“We were thinking you’d never ask” Amiya said with a smile,
“And you’re all in agreement?” he asked with a finality as they nodded,
Accepting their decision, Moyo summoned his aspect, coalescing it into ten different marbles that hummed with power, he linked it directly to his aspect within him, ensuring the marbles will be infinitely filled his aspect. Sharing it to them he spoke,
“absorb these within you, it’ll open a sub-path for you enabling you to tap into my path” he said,
They all held one, absorbing it into themselves as a notice blinked to life in Moyo’s HUD,
Notice: you have bestowed the aspect of the titan on ten ascenders, linking them to you and you to them, they are designated: guards. They get:
- Titan’s might: you are able to wield the might of the titan whenever you invoke the aspect of the titan, able to hit with the strength one rank above your current rank.
- Titan’s invulnerability: complete resistance to toxins, poisons and high resistance to soul-based attacks, one rank higher than current rank.
- Titan’s repel: you have a limited ability to repel attacks of the same rank as yours or in extreme cases, one attack above your rank.
Moyo waved the notification away as he watched their bodies become suffused with his aspect, the power intertwining with their paths, adding a layer of protection to them. Yemi panted,
“this was how strong you were as a silver?, pretty sure I could exchange blows with a gold!” he exclaimed, feeling the power run rampant within him,
Moyo smiled as he shrugged,
“more or less” he said cryptically,
Idris raised an eyebrow at him,
“why do I feel like you’re understating the matter my lord?” he asked,
Moyo waved it away, getting up,
“I was a bit of a battle crazed idiot as a silver ranker, looking back at it, I wonder how I survived with the types of gambles I took” he chuckled,
“I’ll leave you all to get accustomed to the power, meet me at the exit ramp, remember to lock the aspect away” he reminded them, gesturing for dominion who floated to his side, moving with him,
Leaving his guard, he made his way to the exit ramp, watching as the ships drones began to organize the exit, shola manifesting as an hologram next to him,
“I thought it prudent to catalogue the crests of the ships and those I recognized from the data inputted into my system upon construction” she said,
“Thank you shola, anyone I know?” he asked,
“one, the ship of Xerxes sun burner” she said as he paused in his steps,
“the brigade leader is among those ships?” he asked, surprise etched all over his face
Shola nodded,
“Xerxes of house Tarrengazer, as the ruler and patriarch of the house, he brought his personal army along with him” she said,
“huh, always thought his name was sun-burner” Moyo joked,
“negative my lord, sun-burner is the name or title given to all members of the brigade” she corrected,
“That was a joke shola” Moyo sighed,
“Oh, noted lord, I shall endeavour to work on my sense of humour” she replied,
“Give it time around me” Moyo said,
“records indicate you have a 1% chance at humour lord Moyo” she stated bluntly,
“Who said so?” Moyo sputtered,
“According to lady master Ashira, I quote” shola said,
“Moyo’s jokes are as dry as his mercy to foes he dislikes” she said in a perfect imitation of Ashira’s voice,
Moyo huffed,
“we’ll see who’s the better” he murmured,
Echoes of footsteps rang down the hallway as his guard led by Idris,
“We are ready my liege” Idris said,
“Alright, new information, Xerxes the head of the entire dragons brigade is down there, do be extra courteous, he doesn’t like me much as it is” Moyo huffed,
“We will be as silent as your jokes my lord” Idris said with all respect in his voice,
Moyo whirled to him, eyes narrowed,
“Idris” he said,
“Yes my lord?” Idris asked staring ahead,
“Did you just mock your lord and primordial?” Moyo asked,
“Far from it, such sacrilege is unthinkable, the very notion of a mere champion insulting the great and mighty titan blade, a blasphemy onto the very core of the tenet of the titan guard!” Idris said with a straight face,
“One day, you all shall laugh at my great jokes” Moyo said shaking his hands in the air,
“It will be a glorious day” Romulus said, Moyo nodding along,
“Onward my faithful warriors, let us announce our presence to the greater archailect!” Moyo shouted as he turned and began marching towards the now opening exit, his guard chuckling behind him
*****************
The ships were arranged in a circle, the ship of Xerxes a large behemoth that dwarfed even the Defiance in size towering above them all, it was a pitch-black orb that literally hummed with power, built for luxury as well as siege warfare. Lining its entrance were guards in the gold and bright blue colors of house Tarrengazer, all saluting as Moyo and his guards accompanied Atreus into the ship where he was told a war meeting was taking place. Atreus whispered to him, his voice low,
“I assume you know better than to announce your position as a primordial?” he said softly,
Moyo gave an imperceptible nodded as Atreus turned away satisfied, they turned and entered a long hallway built to monstrous proportions with pillars of mithril coated in pure gold like material that went as high as the eyes could see. At each pillar was an automaton, a robot that glanced at them and turned back when they cleared authorization,
“What are those?’ Moyo asked,
“We call them guardian sentinels, they’re built by the construct empire” Atreus replied,
“Overseer Iveph is a member of the empire?” he asked again as Atreus snorted,
“he’ll rip your jaw from your mouth for that insult” Atreus replied,
“The construct empire is a galaxy spanning empire made up of conquered systems of the construct race” Atreus explained,
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“Would love to go there someday” he replied,
“it’s a dictatorship over there, the empire is…corrupt, rotten from the inside, and for some reason the brigade won’t move on the empire” Atreus said darkly,
“There are few planets for constructs that are free of the hold of the empire, they call themselves the android alliance, they’re closer to the galaxies controlled by house Wolftide, their ruler is the harbinger of Draulr the supreme being of force and personification of aura” Atreus said,
“And what house rules the construct empire?” Moyo asked,
“The great house Crestsun” Atreus said,
“These guardians” Atreus said waving his hands at the androids,
"were a gift from the ruler of house Crestsun, an ancient at that, but I doubt he’s here, you will meet Talus Crestsun soon enough” Atreus said,
“House Tarrengazer and Crestsun are allied?” Moyo asked,
“No, Talus gave them as a gesture of good faith to get on the good side of Xerxes and the brigade, it has yet to be seen just how far Xerxes would permit whatever nefarious activity Talus would decide to engage into” Atreus said as they reached the large door that stood tall and thick, forged from mithril and coated in gold as well,
The door opened to reveal a large room, five times the entire command deck of the Defiance itself and it was just the meeting room. Their entrance drew stares from every being in the room and Moyo could feel the burning stares of both rulers and masters descend on him, with a brief flare of his aura, he shielded his guard, lest they become overwhelmed by the mere power in the room.
Sending them a message through his HUD to be as inconspicuous as they could make themselves, he halted next to Atreus as a man in a large blue robe shouted, his voice echoing around the room,
“Finally, introducing overseer Atreus sun-burner of the galaxy known as the milky way in the tongue of its natives, and beside him is the master ranked ascender, moyosore titan blade along with his retinue” he proclaimed,
Moyo noticed the haughty and dismissive stares from the rulers, the condescending and appraising looks from the masters and nodded satisfactorily to himself,
Good, better that way,
He would prefer to remain as unpopular as he was right now, glancing around as the titan guard along with their captain Idris melted into the shadows of the pillars around, he spotted a plaque reserved for him, his name and that of Atreus on it.
Sending a message to the guard, they followed seamlessly, making sure not to make eye contact with any of the higher powers in the room. Moyo however could feel their fears, even that of Idris as well. The sort of beings in the room daunted them and the power that charged the air made them feel as insignificant as ever, reassuring them of his presence, they made their way to the box where the plaque had hung, chairs materializing with aether from the very air for each of them.
Arranging themselves on the chair, Moyo watched as an holographic display of Xerxes who appeared in the middle of the now changing room folded his hands behind him. The room rumbled as the boxes shifted, some rising and some descending to form a sort of opera looking venue. With Xerxes at the bottom where all can see him, Moyo gazed from on high, turning to Atreus who tapped him,
“The seating arrangements signify your level of importance” he said,
“The higher you are, the more important you are to the war effort, more than a few rulers and masters will notice your position titan blade” he said amusingly,
Moyo kept a cold face as he realized they were at the top circle of seats, already he could notice a few stares being shot his way but ignored them, let the curiosity eat deep into them, soon enough they would see the bite of his blade in battle and learn to respect him. Xerxes clapped his hands once, drawing all attention to himself as he cleared his throat,
“Rulers, masters, experts, ascenders one and all, welcome to mustering point Lotes, one of the six mustering points before we move on to the main mustering point” he started,
A large display of a galaxy filled with different systems and suns appeared on screen.
“This is the galaxy designated dire” he said, the projection of a galaxy filled with a few suns and hundreds of planets scattered around the systems within the galaxy,
The galaxy looked sick for no better words of description, Moyo sat up, fingers stapled together as he stared critically at the map,
The abyssal infestation,
Every planet was now a black ball of roiling energy that slowly rotated around what Moyo suddenly realized were black suns that somehow radiated a dark light, the abyss attempting to imitate life itself,
“Originally, dire consisted of just one system, it was a modified maximum cell prison built to house the worst of the worst the archailect had to offer. This system comprised of a single prison world and four smaller worlds or moons depending on how you viewed it” Xerxes continued,
“however, upon Rohan and his abyssal ilk seizing the galaxy, they’ve managed to corrupt all five planets, somehow increase their masses and have actively been dragging pseudo worlds from the abyss into reality itself, attempting to create their own full fledged galaxy with numerous systems” he said,
Pointing at the systems, five in all, Xerxes spoke,
“It has come to our realization that each of the original planets are now spread across the five systems that now encompass the galaxy” he said,
“We at mustering point Lotes have been assigned system Lotes/molrik, meaning one of these five systems has been designated system Lotes/molrik” he said,
He glanced at a large man who abruptly stood up, bowing to the leader of the brigade,
“pardon, I am master Utull of house Iju, my ruler would like to clarify something” he said, his green skin glowing softly in the lighting of the hall room,
Xerxes nodded,
“It is to our understanding that there are six armadas representing the six supreme beings, yes?” Utull asked,
“It is so” Xerxes simply replied,
“Meaning one armada per system, therefore one armada would be left out, what then happens to that armada?” he asked,
“That remains the decision of the commanders of this war and nothing for house Iju to bother itself about” Xerxes bluntly replied,
Moyo saw Utull narrow his eyes as he sat stiffly,
“Let the games begin” Atreus whispered,
Moyo glanced at him curiously, Atreus waving his hand at the assembled powers,
“Half of them came due to being strong armed by the brigade, the rest either owe the greater houses, ancients or even primordials a debt and will gather under their respective banners when the war unfolds” he said,
“won’t each armada hold the currents houses gathered?” Moyo asked confused,
Atreus snorted,
“Things in the archailect have a way of going according to the decisions of those in power” he started,
“sure, Xerxes and the other harbingers as the voices of their respective supreme beings are the commanders of this war, but everyone who understands how the archailect really works know the primordials are actually in charge, they pull the strings” he said darkly,
“You say it like it’s a bad thing” Moyo replied, aware his guard were listening attentively,
“I get you’re friends, even allies with a few, the big ones, the great maw himself vouching for you, no idea how you accomplished that by the way” Atreus started,
“but you need to realize there is a bigger war going on than whatever tantrums Rohan is pulling, the primordials, I mean the celestials and terrestrials have been waging a silent proxy war since time immemorial” he said,
“Be it for resources, bragging rights, ego or even venerations, these beings that seem so close to the lofty heights of the supreme beings themselves care not for the average citizens of the archailect Moyo, sad as it may seem, we’re all pawns in their games, maybe even you too” he said,
Moyo paused, digesting everything Atreus said as he glanced down at Xerxes who was busy answering silly questions from pompous rulers,
“What you mean is that these musterings are simply the harbingers playing their hands?” he asked, Atreus nodded,
“the harbingers have their own games, most times it clashes with those of the primordials, everyone has an end goal and if you think Rohan and his incursion into the archailect is in any way the glue that united all factions to bring their wrath down on him, then you’re mistaken” he said gravely,
“What could they possibly gain from coming together?” Moyo asked, already analysing a few options in his mind already,
“Apart from the fact that they can quietly take out whatever opposition they desire, the very fact that these corrupted worlds when converted will be brimming with aether, causing an influx of ascensions the likes you’ve never seen before” Atreus explained,
“An ascender can go from bronze to diamond in the space of a month just like this” he said as he snapped his fingers,
Moyo’s eyes widened at the implications,
“There are billions of advocates and below coming, to serve as messengers as well as servants, hundreds of millions of experts also with thousands of diamond rankers, can you understand why everyone wants a piece of the cake?” Atreus said smiling,
“But the deaths, advocates can’t survive against blights” he protested,
“fodder” Atreus said dismissively as Moyo saw Idris from the corner of his eyes clench his fists tight, rage in his eyes,
A quick message through his HUD warning his champion got Idris to calm down a bit, Moyo could understand where his frustration was coming from. This was why Moyo fought to protect Gaia, to protect the milky way from those who would exploit it, it was why he strived hard not to owe any being a debt in this mad house that was the archailect. With a deep breath, he continued,
“And the experts, a good number of them will die, I’ve fought blights before, I can tell” Moyo said as Atreus nodded,
“An acceptable risk to these powers, so far you’re one of the few powers I know that actually take the lives of those under you seriously, most just consider them fodder, throwing them at the mercies of the archailect and reaping the fruits of their labours after, claiming to be their patrons” Atreus said,
Moyo reclined back on his seat as Xerxes cleared his throat, eyes honed in on them as Atreus waved childishly and Moyo nodded apologetically, Xerxes rolling his eyes at his brigadier. Xerxes tapped the hologram as it shifted to a table listing,
“now for those not aware of the dangers of the abyss, we will be most likely in the early stages of our engagements, clash with the lower ranked blights, now for reference purposes and strict compliance, we have tabled the blights and their estimated categories” he said,
BLIGHT CATEGORIES
- Category 1- drone (fledgling)
- Category 2- drone head (initiate)
- Category 3- soldier (acolyte)
- Category 4- head leader (advocate)
- Category 5- swarm leader (diamond expert)
- Category 6- elite (master)
- Category 7- lords (rulers)
Moyo watched it update on his HUD, Xerxes continuing,
“Now as you can see, we have seven categories of blights, one to four are considered fodder and make up the bulk of the forces we will be facing, not to be underestimated however because their numbers are near infinite, meaning they are made of the very abyss itself, they manifest in the millions every second and unless we claim the spire of whatever planet you are in, expect more to come for you” he warned,
“Their weakness is anything aether related, meaning you all have an abundance of weapons to kill them” he continued,
“From category five however is where the main issue starts from and where the difference in power levels are staggering” he said,
“Experts in general have a fighting chance against category fives” he said as Moyo frowned, remembering Eogan saving their lives from a category five back at Duhiri,
“Same thing I’m thinking” Atreus said,
“they’ll be slaughtered” Moyo growled,
“However, as a precaution, you are advised to send a diamond to lead the force, that should reduce casualty rates” Xerxes said,
“Grow stronger or die, let the experts test their might, we shall weed out the weak that way” a voice shouted from a box,
“Not advised, we need every ascender for this war, we cannot afford to waste bodies” Xerxes curtly said,
Moyo felt disgusted and it showed in his body language, he glanced behind him at his guard who were all staring ahead, cold looks on their faces. However Moyo could feel their revulsion, understanding their predicaments, he wouldn't blame them if they wanted to go home. He turned back to Xerxes who continued,
“Category six are to be handled by masters of rank 800 and above or masters with special clearances, we cannot risk masters dying this early into the war” he warned,
Moyo tapped his finger on his chair in thought, raising one hand as Atreus grinned,
“Yes master titan blade” Xerxes said,
Moyo nodded as he stood, understanding the game Xerxes was playing. By acknowledging his name and rank, he was bringing him into the notice of the greater archailect, not as some powerful master but as one with potential, enough potential that even the leader of the brigade knew his path name. speaking gently but letting the aether carry his voice, Moyo asked a question,
“These elites, what purpose do they serve in the abyss?” he asked,
“They are the guardians of the lords, a topic I was just getting to” Xerxes replied as Moyo nodded and sat down,
“Each categories serve a purpose in their chaotic army” Xerxes said,
“Categories one to three are the fodder, the forces they will throw at you and keep throwing at you. Category four is the head of these force, the monster whose instincts direct the entirety of the swarm you will be facing” he continued,
“Category five is the sort of hive mind that runs the entire battle on the planet, they gave the orders to the category four or head leader, you take out the swarm leader or category five and the forces will be in disarray” he said,
“Category 6 or the elites are the protectors of their lords or category seven, intel given to us by the jades indicate that there can be as low as three to as much as five elites guarding a particular lord, they are deadly, fully sentient and will stop at nothing to protect their lords”
“’category seven, our true bane and main targets are known as the lords of the abyss, they each represent a vital sub-,aspect of the abyss” he said as Moyo’s eyes widened,
“yes, aspect, it might come as a shock to the most of you, but these ravaging powers also have a perverted form of aspects and it is deadly, if you so much as see a glimpse of one, fall back and call the brigade or the ruler in charge of the subjugation of the planet, do not under any circumstances try to be a hero and take one on yourself, in fact, rulers are to move in trios to ensure they can handle the lord giving time for the brigade or one of the ruler jades or the special forces we have to appear” he said,
“And who are these special forces?” a voice asked from a box,
Xerxes turned in the direction, arms folded behind him as a loud gong echoed,
“You will know when they move” he said,
“That is the mustering call, the barrier between dire and the greater archailect is weakening, we must meet up with the entire force waiting, that will be all, follow your overseers to the main mustering point, may the supreme beings be with you all” Xerxes said as he simply vanished from existence.
Moyo stood up and turned to his guard who were on their feet already a grave look on their faces, without a word they followed behind the titan blade back to the Defiance.