Arcane general known to her fellow brothers and sisters of the flames as Teine felt the tremor of the death of her battle brother pyre, it rang through the bonds of battle and fealty they had sworn to each other before the onset of the war, the chord woven like hardened metal melting within her. She was an arcane general, she felt no emotion apart from inspiring veneration to Lotes herself and pure hatred to the enemies of her supreme being, and yet, in that moment, something struck her in the deepest recess of her being.
Even as runes after runes dredged up from memory blazed around her, protecting her from the attacks of the weapons master of Molrik who produced bizarre weapons after bizarre weapons to crush her. A gun that shot distilled bones of some creature, intended on shutting down her powers, another blade that severed her very life line from reality, a helmet that pushed terror and attempted to disrupt her thinking process, she held on.
A rune blazed, a giant great eye burning atop the runic circle, glaring down at the weapons master who produced a shield immediately, the rune of Ra, a legendary ranked rune with the power to burn away any being its gaze fell on. A pity the weapons master produced a shield to deflect it, the unholy weapon sacrificing itself in the process, a loud wail coming from the near sentient weapon as it was burnt out of existence. The weapons master set in on her with an almost feral grin,
Abyssal fae,
A species that if the records were true, abandoned the archailect thousands of years past, when they were ostracized for dabbling in arts and oaths too dark that on numerous occasions had drawn the attentions of the harbingers of that age down on them. First had come the censuring, then the shunning, and when the Yazen as they were known then had finally begun their conquest of the known system and galaxy around them, the brigade had moved on them. It was a period of strife and blood, the brigade led by Xerxes tore through their growing empire like an inferno, laying waste to their places of power and destroying entire planets.
Finally retreating to their home world, besieged on all sides by a sizeable force of the brigade, their leader whose name had been blotted from history had struck at deal with the lords of the abyss, dragging their entire planet along with all its inhabitants straight through a pathway into the abyss itself. It had been a momentous shock, that billions had been taken by the ravaging powers themselves. Ever since then their absence from all records had made the powers of the archailect assume they were either lost in the abys or totally extinct, that is, until the war began.
Twirling her staff as quickly as the used its sharpened bottom to draw runes on the ground, she went through her knowledge of their entire specie as a whole, any weakness or any other thing she could take advantage of. Vheldi pressed in on her with all the skills of a weapons master and she could hardly hold him at bay, her runic armor blazing to life, taxing her core as she stood her ground, the rune of Ra blazing high above her shuddering from some attack Teine hadn’t seen. Gritting her teeth, she whispered a word of power, slamming her staff into the ground and a pulse of explosive power blasting in a circumference around her, pushing back Vheldi a step or two.
The master’s body shimmered with some sort of shield that came to life, protecting most of his body from the scorching power of the explosion. Landing fully armored in a green crystalline armor along with a face guard, only glowing green light coming from the slit where his eyes were. It emanated a single power, and so great was it that even an arcane general of Teine’s strength shuddered at the raw energy. A glaive in his hand, the weapons master pointed it to her,
“Funny, I remember you arcane generals being more powerful than this, times of peace have dulled your minds and weakened your blades, your rulers and ancients have become fat on greed and petty ambitions, the universe is not so forgiving of such useless fodder” he rumbled,
“The only thing weak here is the powers of the abyss, the brigade came close to wiping you filth all out, let me remedy that” she snarled back,
Slamming her staff into the ground, she spoke, her eyes blazing with power as she tapped into the aspect bestowed upon her by Xerxes,
“Come, Atash, burning ember” she said,
Around her, runes of fire burned to life, incoherent runes tapped from all corners of reality as they rotated around her,
“Petty tricks again arcane?” Vheldi taunted,
“The only reason you’re alive is my pleasure to kill you slowly” he chuckled,
Teine spared him no response, fueling the power as her core shuddered, the being she was calling into existence draining her core faster than she could tap into the aspect of the aether fire. The runes paused as if frozen in the air and them came together to form a humanoid shape of a woman with two blades. The being turned to her, its gaze pressing in on her,
Atash, greater elemental of fire, a piece of her soul imbued over the centuries with pure aetheric fire, with each rank she climbed she added more of her very soul with more aetheric fire till she had finally created a new existence, one of lethal use and even deadlier consequences, for both existences could not reside in the same place at the same time without attempting to absorb one another. Immediately she clamped down on her throne as she felt the intrusion, grabbing the link she had with the being and infusing her very aspect into the command,
“OBEY” she said,
The being became rigid, fighting the command as a contest of wills began, Atash was powerful, so powerful that even an emissary of a ruler would have a hard time just trying to keep her at bay, but she was an arcane general, she had gone through the fires of purification, had bathed in the pain of six days and night under the pure aether of Lotes through Xerxes himself, her will was steel and her authority was law, Atash had no hope whatsoever.
The link was complete, her authority solidified and Atash danced to her tune, Vheldi nodded,
“at least you’ve presented a ch-“he said as he twisted, glaive clashing with two burning weapons of pure fire,
Atash twisted, her body moving in ways Impossible for a humanoid form to, blades flashing as the weapons master dedicated his entire focus on holding back the form of fire. Teine moved in that moment, grabbing her staff and blitzing forwards, her coat exploding in a rush of fire, her speed enhanced with its power,
“Command of fire, dawn of immolation” she said,
Like hail from the nonexistent skies above them, fire rained from runes, rather than the gold and red flames, this were as black as the very Nethervoid they occupied, honing in on the weapons master. Teine stepped close to the weapons master and felt the insane urge to flee, biting deep past her defenses as some primal aspect of her told her to backpedal, without thinking twice she threw her staff backwards and spoke a word of power, switching places with the staff that got crushed immediately.
It was then she saw it, floating almost inconspicuously behind the weapons master was a being made of pure abyssal power, like a mirage, it began to solidify slowly, seeing as its greatest element of surprise had been discovered. Vheldi laughed, clashing with Atash who fought on in pure bliss, twisting and summoning blades of fire amidst the black flames that fell like hail around them, splashing on the weapons master and biting deep into his armor without stopping.
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Teine sucked in a deep breath, staring at the form that came to life,
“Impossible, it was destroyed!” she snarled,
The creature with the head of a feline, a tail glowing with a stinger filled with what was no doubt abyssal toxin or the likes, and its body shimmering with what she knew with dread was draconic scales. She was frozen, knowing well enough that should it roar, the effect would be worse. It was a creature created by some lord mutator of old, a most despicable creature that had taken the then vice leader of the brigade, venerable ioa of the peerless art sacrificing his very life to put it down. Destroyed and its very existence annihilated, the archailect had seen peace, but here it stood, in front of her.
Teine summoned every form of protection possible, runes, armor, mantle, words of power, everything she could use to protect herself from the very roar that was about to tear down the very fabric of the Nethervoid itself. Roar it did, the very echo slamming into her with all the force of destruction she could think of, shattering runic armor after runic armor as she hastily summoned them. When the roar was done, Teine was a mess of broken bones and bleeding body, crouching as she fought to keep Atash in reality, the elemental of fire flickering on and off with a snarl, fighting the leash she had placed on it, attempting to gain possession of her body.
She chuckled to herself, realizing that this was the sort of scenario that pyre would had thrived in, being pushed to the limit of his capabilities. Standing wobbly on her feet, sight dizzy but body rapidly healing despite the power of the chimeral tamping down on her ability to do so. Vheldi spoke again,
“Beautiful isn’t it, the chimera reborn, albeit not fully, but with the consumption of a true arcane general, well” he said,
She staggered softly watching as the creature stalked towards her, raising her eyes to the dark expanse of the Nethervoid,
“Great mother” she started,
A rune bloomed on her forehead,
“Eternal dragon, supreme of aether, the great protector, the blessed flame of life, I devote my life, my existence and my core in this moment, I accept the burden, I accept my beginning and my end” she continued,
The Nethervoid quaked with the invocation of power, quaked with so much power that the chimera stopped in its tracks, its barbed tail swishing around nervously,
“What are you doing?” Vheldi snarled,
Atash blossomed to full existence as she blazed brighter, at the expense of Teine who began to somehow fade,
“I invoke the right of burning death and resurrection, I shed my mortal form, I accept the sage’s might, I follow the path of both mage and fighter, I sacrifice my very throne in honor of your glory, I tell my brothers and sisters in the halls of the great flame to hold the lines, that I hold the doors of eternity” she continued,
“Kill her!” Vheldi shouted at the chimera,
It roared again, its power demolishing the very surroundings around them, it did nothing at this point to her, not really then a mild breeze. Teine of the order of the arcane generals had proved over and over on numerous battlefields that she was nothing short of dedicated to Lotes herself. Climbing to the rank of arcane general, she had delayed the last step in her evolution, one only a mage in the dragon’s brigade could attain as they closed in on the rank of what would be assumed to be an ancient in the archailect proper.
Avatar of Lotes,
Not to be mistaken with the position of a harbinger, avatars were simply the embodiment of Lotes’s wrath and sometimes benevolence in the physical realm. Drawn to where the battle was toughest or wherever the blessings of Lotes was needed the most, there were akin to forces of nature themselves, and the archailect hadn’t seen one in over three thousand years, no mage surviving to that rank anyway. It was an oath to cast out all physical needs, to devote herself wholly to the bidding of the supreme of aether, an undertaking that wasn’t done lightly, yet here she was, taking it in stride.
Her form vibrated and shattered, fusing with Atash in a maelstrom of power that blew the weapons master backwards like a blow. She felt her consciousness settle within that of Atash, the elemental emanating vicious pride in finally conquering her physical form. Teine felt peace as she touched the very core of Atash,
“purify” she thought, the command blossoming from her very existence,
Every single time she had added a bit of herself into the shard, it had been her anger, her hate and every negative emotion that could hinder her back, now though, as she touched the core, she finally realized what she had to do. The flames of Lotes burned the shard, immolating every negative emotion she had and revealing the true Atash, a being of pure fire who smiled at her,
No, she smiled at herself,
For Teine as Atash, and Atash was Teine, both were halves of whole,
It clicked like a key in a lock, Teine feeling her consciousness merging with Atash’s in flames and in that fraction, she could had sworn she had felt the presence of Lotes herself, and a burning presence, with wings outlined, and a sword in hand. She blinked, cocking her head as the presence appeared in front of her, understanding flowing through her very being,
“Ishum” she said,
The being of fire, a messenger, the true messenger of flames nodded,
“Well met sister of the flames, your watch is at an end, you have shed your burdens and embraced the true fire of the great mother, but you know our battles never end” he said,
“No, not until we bring either her light or her flames to the farthest reaches of existence” Teine said,
Ishum nodded, Teine’s eyes glancing down at the blade of red metal,
“pyre” she said,
“Indeed, your brother warrior slumbers until the day of the true battle, but comes now to your aid, not that you’ll need it though” Ishum said as she gave a light smile,
Giving her the blade, Teine gripped it tight as the very blades burned with white flames, she smiled into it,
“I am reborn, in her name I will be her wrath at this moment, I hoor my past and future, I am Teine and Atash in one, I am Teisha, avatar of fire” she said,
The ritual complete, she felt the final oath settle on her very existence like a warm mantle of protection around her, Ishum folded his hands,
“Till we meet at the gates of eternity, lead her banner sister” he said with a smile as he disappeared in a column of fire,
Reality continued as she effortlessly dodged a swipe from the chimera that attacked, pyre swinging up and slicing its barbed tail in one clean slice. The sliced limb exploding in flames as the chimera roared in pain, Vheldi snarling as he attacked her, Teisha grabbed him midair, burning the very protection of abyssal armor around his body, the crystal cracking and shattering at once under her power. Vheldi cried out in pain, eyes wide as he stared at his death, Teisha’s very hair a white burning flame, her eyes golden embers and her body wreathed in reddish burning fire, the abyssal fae cried out,
“I accept the oath of power lord Molrik, I am your pawn, reborn me!” he screamed as a scroll of abyssal power appeared next to him, the very gaze of Molrik settling on her and the abyssal fae,
Teisha stared unfazed,
“You are not welcomed here unclean one” she said,
The power of Molrik pulsed once as if in laughter and Teisha flung the fae aside as she realized what was about to happen. The chimera became a puddle of black and green liquid, swirling around the fae who screamed in what she realized with disgust was agony and pleasure all in one. Fae and chimera fused into one being, bones crunching and skin tearing in a shower of gore as humanoid scream and animal snarls fused into one. Through it all, Teisha stared unfazed at the sight before her.
When it was done, an abomination stood before her, large batlike wings attacked to its back with a tail ending with a greenish stinger, large feline feet and acid greenish eyes glared at her, mouth frothing with what she knew was venom as what was now a fusion of fae and chimera snarled at her,
“Praise be the lord Molrik” it roared, spittle flying everywhere,
Teisha raised one flaming eye, still staring stoically at the creature,
“Tremble before the might of the pinnacle of lord Molrik’s creation!” it screamed,
Teisha sighed as she shook her head,
“I become an avatar and this is my first foe, some deluded cretin” she said vocally,
The creature paused, as if dumbfounded by what it had just heard, blinking at her, it snarled and blitzed at her with the speed of a peak ruler. Teisha raised one foot and with a flip slammed her feet into its face, blasting it backwards with the speed of sound, then she was next to it, driving pyre straight into its chest as it exploded in white flames that left absolutely nothing behind, not even ashes, the creature dead before it even knew. Idly she realized the actual weapons master would had been more of a sport to her than the useless abomination the fae had become.
Then again, she knew it was unlike the mutator to make something useless, and with her sight, she saw the tendrils of power sucking what she realized with horror was the echo of the creature’s existence back to the planet outside the Nethervoid, infact, she saw other echoes flowing as well,
The other vanquished chosen’s of Molrik, she realized,
They had fallen for the trap, the warriors of Molrik weren’t meant to stop them from destroying the rune on the planet, no, they were sacrifices, offered willingly to their lord, even if those poor existences had no idea. With no time to waste, the Nethervoid parted like a curtain around her, pushing her back into the planet as she silently prayed the rest followed as soon as possible.