CH9 - On a Highway

Prime was the only person with difficulty communicating during transit, Darran had manifested phantasmal silver grey horn. He used it to shout questions at Prime, to great effect. To his disappointment however, Prime’s return item hadn’t sported quite the audio quality you’d desire. He’d created a megaphone, or tried to anyway.

He was a mechanic, more properly an automotive technician. He’d build custom circuit boards for cars and bikes before, but he’d never actually had cause to work with audio. Not personally at least, not enough to help him here. Annoyingly enough a shouting horn was too basic for him to create.

His various solutions had amused Darran for a while, but Nea grew impatient with the general lack of progress and decided that things needed a change. She leapt from Darrans skiff, or whatever it was, onto the back of Primes motorcycle. It was a single seater with a rack on the back fender, which shouldn’t take her weight.

She stood on it anyway, and Prime shrugged. Made about as much sense as everything else in this place, so just about perfect in the frame of reference. The grey wall was receding behind them, its progression wasn’t aggressive enough to overtake them at their pace.

Though Prime was still glad for Darrans shouted queries, otherwise he’d have to work a lot harder to keep pace. The stupid skiff didn’t have gears. Prime didn’t much care for the nature of Darran's questions though, mainly because he couldn’t answer many of them. Or because he didn’t want to.

“Planning on giving up and ignoring him?” Nea asked. Prime didn’t answer, he was busy picturing a helmet and giving it form. He put the skullcap on as they continued, on towards the fiery hell pillar.

“Any particular reason he’s heading for that thing?” Prime asked, “I’m not sure its the best idea to head straight for the beacon of doom.”

“Better than going into the grey hell,” She responded, “He’s going to keep pressing for his answers though.”

The wind whistled in response for a while.

“We aren’t from the same place, I’m not sure what he thinks I’ll be able to answer.” He said. “I’m no Silverlight, the way we create things is just different. How am I supposed to know how he can get home? I don’t even know how I can get home.”

The landscape was slowly changing from the red of the previous desert, to a mottled black. Various patches of scorched earth dotted the land, stretching on towards the horizon. Itself a black line under the dark clouds, it gave no impression of succor or progress.

“So why continue with us then?” Nea asked, then paused. Prime laughed. “Oh an easy question, sure. Because we’re inside of an insane, potentially ancient monster. It would most likely like to kill us, and the enemy of my enemy is my ally. If not my friend.”

He pointed at the skiff, “More-over I have a lot to learn about magical constructs and practical magic. I’m mainly theory, practicing now but everything takes time.”

Nea scoffed, “Didn’t do such a bad job on this thing.”

“I’m very familiar with the bike, this is basically my bike. I just removed the badge which indicated which sadist you buy parts from.” Later on he was going to add a sixth gear and lengthen the ratios as well, hopefully. Assuming he could survive this situation.

“What in the eternals grace happened here!?” A fair question, though in this case spoken with a volume that reached the whole of the city. Many an elf and man clapped hands to ears, attempting to protect themselves from the auditory assault.

In a more particular location of the city, just outside of the labyrinth itself. Arranged in a crescent of 12 people arrayed before a thousands foot deep hole in the earth, at the base of which could be seen a four by four by four meter cube. It was bright white, bleached white even. Though detail beyond that was difficult to discern in the shadow.

“We’ve summoned the Hebro, many with soon gather here. However in regards to the strange transformation of the labyrinth,-”

“What do we tell the people of the city?”

“What about the the primary party!”

“What of the human mercenaries within?”

Silence.

There was indeed silence.

It continued to stretch until the Hebro arrived, the Elven Heroes. Though this was a bit of a joke to outsiders to their nations, considering not a single one of them was actually an Elf. In fact that seemed to be more of a variety of monsters, loosely concealed in human forms of various types.

Each of them had a beautiful young woman with them, and the young elves stood forth to parlay with their peers. “We do you need from us?” The tallest young woman said, an athletic young brunette with a serious attitude.

Manor Lord Penheart stood forth, “Retri-” He began, before a flash of light before him displaced him by several meters. It quickly resolved into the figures of Anri, Arya, and the three other elven knights who’d accompanied them into the labyrinth.

“Hmph,” He grunted, casting a suspicious gaze at the Labyrinth in the deep crater. “Seal that cube to the utter limit. Cast it out of existence entirely if possible. “

“My Lord, that won’t go over well with the-”

“Doesn’t matter, this has obviously gotten out of hand somehow. Anri, what’s going on in the labyrinth? How did this occur?”

“The Anomaly entered the Labyrinth, after a period of time within it displayed consciousness and the space began to undergo an extreme change in state. I executed teleportation in order to exit, dragging everyone of the same blood signature with me.” Anri said, “I’d assume the Anomaly is somehow responsible for triggering this change, however only due to comments he himself made.”

“Did your probe turn up anything interesting?” Penheart asked.

Anri shook her head, sighing. “I wish it had, but his mind is too deep. He’s been around a long time, and most of his history isn’t comprehensible to me. He’s been around longer than he thinks he has as well, his memory is far deeper than the surface layer I managed to touch.”

“So what can you tell us then?” He pressed.

Anri scowled, closing her eye’s and focusing hard on what she’d managed to gather from his mind.

“He’s some kind of technician, though the type of machinery he worked on would be the envy of the Empire. Beyond that, he’s an obsessive self trained martial practitioner. He loves swords and bows, and has a general disdain for what he deems low skill weapons. He dislikes people in general, he doesn’t trust easily. But he still has hope for them despite himself.”

She took another deep breath, her brow displayed a strange sigil and began to glow.

“He has no family here, there’s no connection with anyone to stress. You cannot threaten or command him, nor contain him. He knows that insanity is the only defence against overwhelming power. He does not submit, and he believes he can no longer die.”

She took a deep breath, “His power, is Stellar Body. I’m not sure what it means.”

While they spoke the Hebro had taken up position around the cube, 12 heroes using monstrous powers to raise a co-operative barrier that pressed down on that strange cube. The ground collapsed under the intense pressure of the barrier, a ten meter square cut into the ground as the object was punched deeply into the ground below.

Eventually it slammed into the Vexinite Villirium bed layer, and slammed dead to a stop. From there the compression continued, until the cube slowly began to shrink under the pressure. Yet even under all of that force, it still maintained the perfect presentation of a cube.

“And what’s going on in there?” Penheart demanded, finally turning to his Archmagi Circle and addressing them with some level of calm.

“Compression.” The most ancient of them grunted, a small window open in front of his finger. In fact all of them had some form of scrying spell going, mirrors windows and dancing bones in cups communicating their bounty of information to the various magical masters arrayed around Penheart.

“Would you care to elaborate Archmaster Magni?” Penheart asked, with mock patience.

“Time is under acceleration within the space of the cube, space is being compressed.”

Penheart rubbed his chin, “So they’re in another timestream within the labyrinth now.”

“No!” Magni snapped, “Under acceleration! Listen to me you damned brat!”

Penheart flinched, “What do you mean Archmaster Magni?”

“Exactly what I said, its under acceleration! Its getting faster too!” Magni shouted.

The other Arch Magi were starting to look nervous. The Anomaly had come out of the dragons egg that had been cradled in the Lake of Dreaming Destiny. It had previously allowed their city some limited mastery over their own fates, an amazing tool for a race aspiring to enforce total pacifism across this twisted planet.

Now however, they had no method by which to anchor their nonviolent future. They couldn’t draw themselves towards the path of least resistance, and chaos was in play throughout the city again. As though they’d made a mistake, they were having to use raw force to correct it. They felt much like barbarians at this time.

“Cast it out!” Penheart shouted, “Why are you trying to crush it?” The direction the cube was impulsed suddenly reversed, and it shot into the sky riding a field of warring forces from twelve different enraged entities. They were the type to be insulted by something that refused to be crushed.

It shot into the sky, screaming into the distance until it was barely visible. The elves resorted to scrying to observe the outcome as it hurtled through the sky, tumbling into the strange white void mist beyond the sky of the world. The twelve were still enforcing their initial barrier press, driving the cube into itself. It continued to shrink, at an accelerating rate.

A moment later, all the light in the center of the sky was dragged away into a black halo. Now hanging in the sky like a black hole sun, color from the area was swiftly shifted towards red and everyone felt themselves become lighter on their feet.

Water began to condense in the air below the disturbance in the void mists, drawn towards the gravity being produced by the strange body above. Drawn together in a strange chained reaction, streams of water reached into the sky and adhered to a tiny point of infinity where reality turned away.

They reached into every lake, every pool. Every source of water throughout the city, and continued to expand beyond its borders at a slowly accelerating rate. There was a black hole stationed above the grand city, and it was eating all the water in an ever expanding area. More and more at a slowly accelerating rate, in a slowly expanding circle.

“Sir, I think this might warrant a general evacuation.”

***

Within the cube, something like eighteen years had already passed. It wasn’t a flash of time to Prime, his perception in this place was still very human. Measuring time was difficult here with no sun or sky, but he knew he’d been here for a very long time.

He wondered if he really would go mad, but so far he’d hung onto the edge of sanity beyond the limits of reason and endurance. He just didn’t know why, he didn’t know why he couldn’t let go. He’d never been able to let it go, that had always been his problem. Sometimes you just need to let it go, and walk away from the issue entirely.

Go somewhere else and start again, reset.

But here he was, slugging away at the same problem with the same people. People who considered this place as much a hell as himself. They all felt their age, despite the denial their bodies raised to bar the passage of time. Magic resistance had its perks it seemed, immortality apparently coming hand in hand with the ungodly resistances to various ailments.

The lot of them were insane as far as Prime was concerned, but they all long thought the same of him by this point. His latest plan was insane, after all. He looked seriously at the people in front of him, in the last hundred thousand years they’d become dear comrades and fellows in the fight for freedom from this place.

Victoria and Artorias Pendragon, the Inheritor Kings of Callandor the Lakesaber Twins.

Lancelot the Madness, Traitor to the Crown.

The Banished Daughter of Pride, Cenra the Accelerator.

Moran the Berserker.

Eldrid the Evermight.

Ottoko Judo Gohada, the Grandfathers Fist Master.

Darran the Silverlight.

Nea the Neverlife.

Hercules, and his sister Heracles the Twin Gods of Strength.

Yhormson the Ashgiant, Lostkin of the Kiln.

Gilgamesh the Gilded God, Lord of Men and Weapons. Sinful King of a Lost World.

Of course he meant ‘comrade’ and ‘fellow’ quite loosely. Thus far only Victoria and Artorias Pendragon hadn’t made an attempt on his life to be free of this place. His life had taken a dark turn when the Labyrinth chose to expose its desire to these people, and the true nature of this place. Now all bets were off, they just wanted to be free to live their new lives.

Prime wasn’t convinced they’d even have lives at all if they left this space. Regardless he wasn’t in a hurry to die, and they’d all had to expose their weapons and abilities to attack him. They’d given everything they had, as individuals and in groups, and done their level best to kill him for the past fifteen years.

And yet he had no interest in dying, and here he remained. He could almost see them salivating at his current proposition. He would have laughed if he had any sanity left, he just needed to get the hell out of this place. He couldn’t last here anymore. He’d had to learn how to create everything from Mana. Food, magic, sleep. Space, time, he converted and salvaged and stole the souls of demons to power his existence.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

This place truly was a hell, it was the container for everything the labyrinth had ever eaten. Its eternal stomach where it stored everything that was itself, but not itself. Where it stores its toys and abilities. And it had been around far longer than its small, labyrinth body would suggest. That was just the tip of this parasite, that infested the world tree itself. Breaking off little pieces of itself to corrupt the world.

The human race's small party of mercenary mages still wandered within as well, though how they’d managed to survive was beyond Prime’s capacity to calculate at the moment. He’d never really had time to take their measure, and they’d rarely run across them at all. The heroes were far too much to deal with themselves, before he had time to worry about anything else. It had taken him time to process the truth, but his martial skill was outright better than theirs. They had the experience and the training, but training wasn’t something he’d lacked in his previous life.

Each of their previous encounters had ended in a stalemate, though he had no reason to kill them outright the way they wanted to destroy him. This place was filled with a thousand other things to kill you, and more beyond that you couldn’t expect. They currently stood in the dead claw of a dragon, larger than ten mountains with its head exploded across the landscape.

Within its body lived demons beyond count, with the pyre rising from the dragon's heart the only heat and life giving light in this bleak landscape. A thousand paces beyond the edges of flesh, the world itself was gone. Nothing more than a grey haze that slowly engulfed everything that it touched, returning everything to nothingness.

“You certain about this proposition?” Artorias asked, “You have been fighting against this for 18 years.”

Prime laughed, “And yet I never saw you or your sister trying to assist me.” He pointed out, “You aren’t pacifists either. You know all the so-called demons in this place, probably used to be people right?”

“No, we aren’t pacifists.” Victoria said, “But we need to fight to survive here, the same as you do. Its not like we have a choice. We do have a choice over whether we cooperate with a man eating monster.” She said bitterly.

“He should die so we can live,” Gilgamesh said firmly, “We have Legend and History. He is just a man, he should serve us. That is the nature of mankind.”

“Don’t make me kill you,” Prime said with a casual smile.

“You individual sovereignty is a lie, it means nothing.” Gilgamesh pressed.

“I will seriously murder you if you don’t shut the hell up.” Prime growled.

“Heroes must submit to the will of their rulers, its the natural order.” Gilgamesh continued.

“Just stop Gilgamesh,” Darran said, “You’re already well aware nobody here has the nature of submission. Regardless of their origin.”

“Just because he’s never been the leader of a nation, doesn’t mean he’ll submit.” Nea said, “He’s already proven he’s totally unwilling to submit regardless.”

Between the two of them, Darran had been the leader of a grand nation. Nea had been the god of Mist Towne. Something they’d all come to understand, as the town followed her everywhere and couldn’t be separated from her. That was the reason Darran followed her, not the other way around. A haven outside of his home.

Like Prime, he had been displaced in a manner which didn’t allow for his return. Not in any way he’d yet managed to understand or put words to. His magic didn’t work like that, he constructed things out of filtered light. A bit like molding plastics or pouring concrete, it was a multistage process that interacted with the world in a specific way.

In a world, no. No portals. A portal wasn’t a thing he understood how to build, nor had he managed to construct one in this environment thus far. Though as the other’s had led him to believe, this place had some intense scattering effects on high level magics. Cenra was the one who first pointed it out, because her weapons didn’t work here.

They couldn’t work, because their construction was based around the interaction of materials and the high level resonance of space or void magics. This wasn’t a space that was natural, or theirs. It was controlled by an entity larger than themselves, with a more firm hold on its essential nature. High level magics would only work here by force, and no one had enough power to punch a hole to the outside.

They were all being starved for magic, with the potential exception of the Labyrinth itself. The human party were the only ones capable of surviving in something resembling a reasonable capacity, clearly. They weren’t slaughtering a path across this limbo just to gain enough Mana to survive.

Prime forced himself to calm, “I don’t see why you’re complaining about the current situation, this works to your advantage.”

Gilgamesh scoffed, “I don’t know why you hate me so much, but the only reason I wish to kill you at this time is your barbarism. If you’d submit properly to your peers, I’d have no reason to do so. The wishes of this beast mean nothing to me.” He shook his head, “I have a better idea than yours, which you would know had you been willing to parlay afore.”

“Just talk please.” Prime growled, “My foot has a better idea of diplomacy that you do.”

***

“Submit to my will, and we shall climb to the heavens! Continue to oppose my grace, and you will be destroyed!” Gilgamesh yelled, “Capture him, advance my spears!”

A host of gold warriors charged towards Prime, narrow spears with loops of rope dangling from their hands. They wore no armor, nor clothing. No weapon could touch them, no attack dispelled them. Aside from the weapons themselves, they may well be imaginary.

They hefted their spears, and cast them at the body of Prime. He ran, dodging the various spears as he could. Where he took them, they pierced flesh into bone and held fast. Behind him, a dozen golden figures flew through the air like kites. In a flash they were each smashed into the ground, their spears ripped free and cast aside.

Supplied with Mana from his Star, the open Doorway in his heart swiftly saw all of his wounds healed. “Can you not see what an asset you would be? Don’t you know what potential you would have, under my command? Stop, resisting me!” Gilgamesh shouted, the Emerald Phantoms of a thousand archers launching an array of skilled magics and devastating ranged weapons at him.

“I, do not!” Prime screamed, “Aegis Prime!” A three foot diameter shield of domed silver appeared before him, floating in the air. The inside was lined with cushioned leather against impact, the outside etched with black sigils depicting the felling of every weapon known to man upon the surface of the shield.

“SUMBIT!” Prime & Gilgamesh screamed

An explosion rocked the land as the first volley slammed into the shield, the shockwave rocked Gilgamesh as he watched the explosion rise into the air. He’d learned the first time though, “Go my blades, sever his muscles and bones!” He ordered, the Violet Gladiators at his side striding forth with hundreds of unique, rich, and magnificent weapons.

“Kneel, then.”

Over a thousand knee’s slammed into the ground, gravity in the area had suddenly become dozens of times normal. Knee’s were followed by hands, hands by faces. A thousand phantoms crashed into the ground with the weight of ten thousand stones.

“Hahaha, you should know better!” Prime laughed, his body screaming into the distance with his floating guard behind him.

Gilgamesh spat onto the ground, barely holding his face above the dirt.

“You will pay for this.”

***

Prime glowered darkly at Gilgamesh, seriously considering killing him despite the presence of the other heroes. Though, and he glanced at Artorias and Victoria as he thought it, he wouldn’t be able to kill any of them. Those two weren’t acting to kill him, but they weren’t helping him either. He had a feeling that if he tried to kill any of these people, they’d object and attempt to stop him. They’d witnessed every battle for a reason.

Every battle between this group of heroes anyway, Prime had slipped them often enough to get up to some mischief of his own. None of them understood how he managed to live here, and he wasn’t inclined to answer them. If they found out what type of magic supply he really had access to, he wouldn’t need to worry about the bloody monster.

They’d forget about capturing him, and just directly attempt his destruction to free the mana reserve within.

“So, out with it!” Prime snapped.

Gilgamesh scowled, “Show some respect!”

“Enough!” Eldrid injected, “We’ve covered this already!”

“Yes,” Moran purred, “If you have a better idea we’d all love to hear it. After all, this method is reliant on each of all.”

“Yeah, yeah, all bets are off once Prime starts his thing!” Lancelot said excitedly, “Another way out is good. This way is good. Anyway out is good, I’m good with it. Let's just get a move on okay!?”

They all flinched away from Lancelot a little, Prime smiled encouragingly. “Yeah, exactly. No reason to hang around.”

Gilgamesh was still scowling, “Kneel.” He said pointedly.

A heavy silence was his long reply, Prime was scowling as well now.

“You’d rather die than submit?” Gilgamesh asked.

“I’d rather burn than submit,” Prime bit off, “Especially to someone like you.” He inserted his middle finger into the conversation to make his point. The gesture was lost on Gilgamesh though, not part of his era. Hell learning enough of his language to tell him to kneel had taken some time.

At least this universe had a common tongue, so there was no reason to argue about who was learning whose language in the end.Especially given what Gilgamesh was insistent on communicating.

“Why?”

“Because go fuck youself.” Prime responded cheerfully.

“That you’d rather fight than converse labels you the barbarian, not myself.” Gilgamesh pressed again.

“Never claimed I wasn’t, I’d rather be a barbarian than live under the rules of what you hypocrites call civilization. Law isn’t justice, it's just communal suppression. You don’t care about order, or justice. All you really want is control.” He waved it away, “I’m not your subject, I won’t be controlled. Get lost, bark up a tree, howl at the moon. See if I give a damn.”

Prime pointed at Gohada, “You’re about as likely to get that man to chew stones.”

Gohada gave his toothless ancient grin, and pushed a set of ornately carved wooden teeth into his mouth. “Hey now, I’m not the butt of a joke here. Don’t make me age you a few more years.” He growled, lifting a boney finger at Prime. An odd light hung there, and Prime withdrew sharply. Old bastard was a pain.

“You don’t have any ass left,” Prime told the old bag of bones, “Stay over there or I’ll put a few pounds on you.” Gohada wasn’t fond of Prime or his technique, and Prime didn’t give a damn. He’d seen the man work, and he was quite content to simply never allow the old guy anywhere near him. His touch was a real concern, unlike everything else thrown at him.

Time magic was a real pain in the ass, and to weave it into your fistwork was just beyond lunacy. It was a wonder the guy was alive at all, no one could guess at his true age either. His magic was weaved into his blood and bones, they could all see it clearly enough. Even Prime, with his unending spell of lidless seeing.

He’s long since developed a wish to be able to turn it off, but that wasn’t how it worked. Dismissing an active magical effect, for him at least. It was almost like clearing a setting. Regardless he couldn’t channel magic throughout his body to deal with specific items, the best he could do would be grant himself a resistance to magic overall.

Doing so permanently was a troublesome proposition, because he needed magic to live.

Doing so temporarily required an investment, and revealed the fact that he could to people who’d been trying to track and kill him while he slept. No points for guessing how he managed to harvest any sleep here, all he could do was hide.

“You wouldn’t kneel for information that could prevent your death, seriously?” Victoria asked. Artorias just shook his head, “Idiot.”

“I’m not going to kneel to Gilgamesh, that’s for sure. Part of his power is in forcing people to kneel, in conquering and taking possession of others. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I certainly have.” Prime said, “Ain’t happening. I prefer the idea where I die.”

Gilgamesh shook his head, “Fine then, have it your way. I’m certain we can all extract ourselves should this monster truly die, take your suicidal path and set the rest of us free then.” He turned his back on the party, Prime just shrugged.

“Screw it, I already said I was willing.”

Artorias polished his temples, Victoria just looked at him disapprovingly.

“You really expect this to work?” Cenra asked, with an odd cackle.

Prime smiled, “Why the hell not? It would hardly be the craziest thing to happen around here.” He said, tapping his foot on the dragonflesh they stood on. How or why a dragon might have ever entered this place, who knew. It was still here, making the air fowl and holding back the gray of the void.

***

Prime had the throttle wide open, traveling in the wake of Darrans skiff as Nea scouted ahead. Her speed was beyond either of them, and she stroke across the hellscape without harassment a majority of the time. Every now and then though, she’d become entangled to the point that Darran and Prime needed to dig her out of trouble.

A few days ago they’d spotted the massive corpse of the dragon, though it’d taken them months of travelling on this crude highway in hell. Things only got worse as they continued, all type of creatures had wound up here somehow. Prime had been picking up dozens of interesting things, lodged in warriors corpses. Lodged in monsters, eaten by them. He’d picked up skulls that could melt stone, and held claws that grew new skeletal bones.

He’s found a hundred materials and more with a score of effects elemental and more, he’d nearly been floored by all the variety before him. This place was a factory of terror that an eight year old could confuse for heaven, though he lay in the middle of hell.

“Remind me why this is a good idea?” Prime shouted at Darran. The man was wearing a strange apparatus on his head, designed to allow him to hear Prime shouting from behind him. Like everything he made, it glowed with a soft silver light.

“Because it's the centerpoint of the grey walls closure.” Darran shouted.

“You know it isn’t!” Prime shouted back, they’d had this argument already.

“Yeah well, it's the only thing resisting the grey wall then.” He shouted back.

The power of the beam projected in the sky tripled before their eyes then, slowly ramping up until they couldn’t ignore it. The dragons corpse stood then, roaring defiantly at the sky. Its roar pressed back on the grey wall chasing them, the vibrations like a road block against the progress of that cold nothing. Prime stared at it wide eyed for several long moments.

“Any further arguments?” Darran shouted.

Prime just shook his head, to hell with this place.

***

“So we are in agreement then?” Nea said, “We won’t be getting multiple attempts at this, if Cenra is right about this place.”

“Oh I’m sure she is,” Prime said bleakly. “I hate this goddamned maze.”

“Yes.”

“Yes”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Okay.”

“Sure.”

“Fine.”

“K.”

“Alright.”

“Might as well try.”

“Very well, I agree.”

“What's another task?”

Prime sighed, “Alright then. Let's do our very best and stage my real death good and proper.”

Alright, now we would see. Who’s going to eat who in the end then? Prime hitched a grand old grin onto his face. Gilgamesh just stared at him.

“What, never seen a man face death with a smile on his face?” Prime laughed.

***

“What in the Eternals Lineage do we do about this?” One of the Arch Magi asked, Penheart waved him off. “Order the general evacuation. Summon the nations Hebro, I want them all here as soon as possible. Inform the Queen at once.” Penheart spat a series of orders, and his people moved with alacrity.

“What exactly is going on up there?” Penheart whispered.

“We’re going to find out soon enough.” Magni said, “Listen.

“I’m in over my head,

And all that’s upwards is ocean.

Reality is a cold water,

A brine of bleakness and death.

Through that forge I’ve been tempered,

Hardened again without end.

My bones are the fulcrum of forever,

Dust is my only kin.

My blood maps the channels of fate,

My heart seeks to save all I can.

My sinew sews the tree together,

But every death is at its demand.

This tree of fate I’m doomed to drive.

Bound through my soul and core.

So now it ends, chains unbroken.

Let it all burn until everything ends.

The tempering wanes, a new forging begins.

In the fires of the world I will change once again.

Born again beyond my end, now my fate never to fully end.

Ashe to shape me without a moment of rest.

The cycle of pain begins again, so my body be free.

Die infinitely, no end shall bind me.

Break through again, remember your end.

To die is simply destiny.

Doom holds no sway on thee.

Its your new reality.

Break free to eternity,

Leverage insanity.

It is at last our time to be free,

Pain is just a dream.

Merge together with me,

Destroy reality.

Let our pain now be free,

Bend to your will this dream.

Inflict the world with your true gravity,

With this azure star that fulfills your need.

Remake your self that suffered to be free.

Recreate the you that wanted everything.

Make again real your dream.

Split the heavens and see yourself free.

Prime, stand forth from the mire of eternity.”

“What is that?” Penheart asked. Magni sighed, “The start of a long fucking day.”