Originally uploaded Sep 3, 2023
Vago Pov
Erurda politely bowed as she greeted me. Her beautiful flowing dress complemented her firey hair and personality. With phoenix feathers decorating the plume around her neck. Although phoenix's are one of the few asura races we hold some respect for, at the end of the day they were still asura. Vermin meant to be exterminated.
She was better than most of these squabbling nobles. When the emperor left and exiled himself in the aetheric void many of the remaining Highlord struggled amongst each other to fill the power vacuum.
Erurda has actually been slowly expanding her own territory. Taking over other realms and absorbing them into her own. The truth wasn't well know due to the fact she would actively target still slumbering realms and silence them before any news of her invasion would reach other's ears.
She was always aggressive and headstrong, useful traits for a tool of war. Having also killed two of the other council members she was proving her worthiness. While Oliurk was the embodiment of brutal industrialization and war, she was a natural general and tactician. Hence the reason why I have let her run free for so long. Her services have proven useful for now.
Oliurk and Erurda exchanged some greeting words, with a underlying tone of hatred for each other. I looked around the large chamber. It was sparsely decorated, the only real terms of furniture were the extravagant thrones each of the Highlord commissioned. Overly decorated pieces of trash in my opinion but I didn't really care.
There were many faces I recognized. I had made sure to send out a formal invitation to every major Highlord who controlled their own separate realm. Well, all except for one. Perhaps Neoth had gone and killed himself on one of his expeditions to liberate some dusty old artifact.
But knowing him he probably just ignored my message completely. He was always a bit of an outlier. He never involved himself with Highlord politics, only doing the bare minimum. In fact, most of the other realms outright banned him from entering their borders. No doubt the cause of him stealing relics and artifacts from other realms on the pretext of a diplomatic visit.
'I'll just have to deal with him separately I suppose.' I thought as I made my way to my own seat. Far away in the corner, a moderate chair designed for comfort than for its beauty. I was all but a Highlord in name, but I never liked exercising my power when unnecessary. Wielding such strength willy-nilly was for brutes. And it was far more entertaining dealing with things in more unorthodox means.
It wasn't long before the attention of the entire room fell back to me. As all of the other Highlords had great exceptions of the reason why I summoned all of them here. The imperial council was one thing, but having this many Highlords in one room was not a common occurrence. If I recall correctly it only happened once before.
I stood up from my seat, using my staff for support. I could feel my runes glow warmly around my eyes. I saw small fragments of things, like shattered pieces of glass and threads of steel. Each showing me a different path to the future.
Many people believe divining the future is a cut and dry deal. That by coaxing the aether you could see the future. But as always the world never worked that simply. Plucking at the very strings of fate meant seeing not just one, but all possible realities and forms the future can take. You peer through the endless infinite that is the void that surrounds our world. Even if you choose a singular path and focus on it only the destination could be vaguely seen. The hardships of the journey lays unknowable to all.
Even more so this past decade. An impenetrable mass loomed over all of my divinations. Like a large shadow that eclipsed my vision. Something was brewing on the horizon, and if we don't move forward as a race we truly will be extinct.
"Yes, ladies and gentleman. I have gathered all of you here for a purpose. A duty the Emperor himself has bestowed upon me." At the mention of our long lost leader the entire room seemed to freeze. Every single Highlord was now keeping a close eye of my every move.
While to the rest of our race, the Emperor had gone out into the aetheric void as a form as self-impose exile. While many saw him as their beloved savior and a fearless warrior, I was his closest advisor and I saw a small fraction of what he really was. In truth, he never even liked taken the title of Emperor. He believed it was too gaudy but only did on my recommendation and to inspire our forces.
And when the dust settled after the Great Scouring and we were pushed back into the Relictombs he believed he had failed our race and doomed us to a slow and uneventful death. But recently a form of communication was created on the throneworld. Starting as incoherent forms of ramblings. A mass of words and messages, all contradicting each other. But soon it formed into several coherent messages.
And with that hope was born within our race. A hope for our savior to return and restore our dominance upon the material world. And with that every other realm and Highlord carefully listened to any scraps of his words. So drawing them in was an easy enough job.
I straightened my back and cleared my throat. As I spoke the Emperor's decree.
"Everyone, excluding the two present members of the imperial council are to be executed."
My words hang in dead silence for a few seconds. Nobody dare move as they comprehended the order I have relayed. And all at once the entire room fell into chaos.
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"Traitor!"
"The old man has gone mad!"
"Ah, excuse me. I have misspoken." As I said these words some of the tension was released.
"All of you are to be captured and executed at the throneworld." As I corrected myself the room erupted into a uproar again.
"You old fuck!"
"This is a declaration of war!"
"Someone up this old man down."
Were some of words that were thrown my way. Actually I was surprise I wasn't attacked yet. I have already prepared an aevum array around Oliurk's entire fortress in case of such a thing. I have already informed HIghlord Oliurk of this decree and he didn't seem to care much, as long as it didn't impact him in any negative way he hardly cared about most things.
He was also an individual who didn't like other Highlords and saw most of them as useless leaders any way. So in all honesty he would have supported this decision in the first place. And I am sure Erurda will be pleased with having less Highlord competition around. They both will likely try to expand their power further to the realms with no clear leader. And I might as well entertain them for a while.
One of the Highlords dress in a ornate battle armor jumped up from his throne. Brandishing a set of twin swords that hummed with aetheric runes running up and down the side of the blade. He pointed his two weapons at my throat as he questioned me.
"It seems you have forgotten who all of are, old seer." He hissed with poison. As all of the other Highlords echoed his conviction.
I couldn't help but laugh at his feeble response.
"What are you laughing at you senile old man!" He yelled as he lunged forward, ready to liberate my head from my shoulders.
He would have done so if I hadn't taken precautions. The array of aether runes and wards I had drawn onto the floor light up. Casting the entire room in a lavender hue as time halted in its tracks, for all except me and the other two council members.
My attacker was frozen midair. And I could just tell from his facial experssion he was greatly regretting his brash actions.
I leaned in close to his ear to remind me an important detail he had forgotten.
"Always prepare countermeasures for aevum arts."
A rune on my staff of dilation glowed a bright gold as time accelerated for the Highlord. Despite aether prolonging all of our natural lifespans a million, a billion years turned it all to dust. He armor began to rust and crumble away as his skin wrinkled before falling off into a goop. Time rapidly aged him before our eyes until even his bones were turned to dust.
After taking care of him I turned to face everyone else. I tapped the butt of my staff onto the ground, releasing the aevum array I had prepared. Freeing everyone from my spell. They all looked surprised and shocked as they tried to regain their bearings.
I placed my arms out in an inviting gesture.
"Come, I shall show you why I am the Emperor's chosen representative!" I announced as two large guardians appeared to my side. The Emperor's very own bodyguards, often called his custodians. They were the most loyal and fierce warriors who served directly under his imperial majesty. Only listening to the Emperor himself, they were further trained and geared in the thousands of years our race had spent in hiding. There were only ten of them in existence, but only two were enough for this task.
Many of the Highlords seemed taken aback at first. Indeed it was the first time in several thousand years that these custodians had made an appearance. But the younger members seemed to be no intimidated by their presence. From their perspective it was only two guardians, and their were a couple dozen of them. And each of the Highlords were nothing to sneeze at in terms of their own fighting power.
Lord Oliurk rose from his own throne. His trusted glaive at his side crackled with lightning as he made his way down to join me. It seems I had made the right decision, of course if Oliurk saw this opportunity to remove me and take control of the throneworld himself I would have simply mucked about with aevum but it seems I had no need for it, for now.
"Come, show me that you all deserve to live!" I announced, trying to play up the theatrics for them to join in.
Erurda Pov
The two custodians stood shoulder to shoulder with the old chronomancer. I have never seem them in person. There were only ten of them after all, I have only heard of their deeds in stories and rumors. How they could each match the strength and ferocity of a dragon and fought side-by-side with our glorious leader on the frontlines.
And having two of them here, with a master chronomancer and Oliurk, who was known as a machine of war. It didn't look all to good for the other Highlords who were know charging to attack them. Some took out spacial storage artifacts and released their own armies. Runes and arrays of aether glowed as space and time was ripped open. Sending out sparks of reality and opened portals to other realities before they fizzled out.
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The two custodians seemed to teleport around as they cut down the Highlord and their summoned armies. Effortlessly making their way through the chaos, completely unfazed by any of the Highlord's attacks.
Seeing this commotion as the perfect chance I quietly step back. Carefully making my way to the door. Not that their was any need to, the room expanded in size as aether rushed to expand space of the now battlefield.
A rune on my robe glowed a subtle purple as aether carried me away and outside the meeting chamber. From the outside I could see the protective wards on the walls struggle to keep the battle inside from destroying the entire fortress. I didn't have much time before this completely got out of had. I hastily rushed down the dark corridors.
'Damn that meathead! He had laced his inner fortress parts with runes that interfered with my spatium runes.' I tried multiple runes but all of them glowed but nothing happened, the aether was drawn in but canceled out. Reaching the end of the long hallway I come across the large staircase that lead down. Without a second thought I rushed down.
I had already scoped out most of the inner-workings of Oliurk's fortress, I had a vague idea where I had to go. The flight of stair was long, I could tell Oliurk had done some fooling around with spatium and aevum to make it feel longer than it truly was. The entire fortress shook, no doubt from the battle that was happening upstairs.
Several glyphs on my robe and cloak glowed gold and purple as a shield of aether was formed around me. Reaching the bottom of the stairwell took longer than I expected but I was here.
The entire lower floor was cold, freezing cold. I could see the white mist as I breathed. Wrapping myself tightly in my large cloak the phoenix feathers emitted warmth as I rushed forward.
When I turned a corner as Djinn servant appeared, holding what appeared to some sort of weapon. Without a second thought I summoned my longsword, the mana and aether laced blade ran through the servant before she could even realized what had happened. And apparently that was enough to alert the defense system down here. As a small task force of Djinn warriors in blackstone armor appeared from a portal that ripped open the space in front of me.
They marched forward, as one of them, judging from his more decorated helmet he was a captain of some sort, stepped forward.
"This is a restricted area, please evacuate the premises." He said in a monotone voice, like a simple golem or machine.
I didn't have any more time to waste. Bright blue flames light up the entire room as the flames danced upon my sword. With a single large sweep a tidal wave of fire engulfed them all. Burning through their armor and knocking them back. Channeling mana into my limbs I sprinted forward just as I reached the stasis chambers.
Steel walls and floors, with rows upon rows and large coffin like chambers created to store a Djinn for thousands of years. Originally created at the tail-end of the Great Scouring they were used to placed most of our species into a deep slumber upon the order of the Emperor. Who hoped one day that the age of asuras would end and that we could retake the outside world that was rightfully ours.
With only a few select members of Highlords being awakened first, and gradually a majority of them were all risen from their slumber. Going deeper into the large chamber the air practically buzzed with aether. And at the end of the long room I saw it.
A large coffin of aether and metal. The sides were etched with images of a great Djinn army slaying a dragon in battle. With a long cloak made completely of red dragon scales that shined like rudys draped over the stasis chamber.
Grand general Demeptah. Undefeated in battle, slaying countless asuras with his tactics and strategies. Kept in suspended animation due to the political upheaval he would cause for Oliurk. But I was now here, right in front of this legendary general. A being who can turn the tide of war, a being who could lead us to salvation. And with me by his side not even the emperor's return will stop us.
With general Demeptah my realm shall rule over not only all of Djinn kind, but the material world as well. I stepped forward, towards his stasis pod. The barrier of aether and mana formed around me buckled at the raw amount of aether that bombarded it. I reached out and touched its cold metal surface. The circitre of aetheric runes and arrays were elaborate, but simple. It was a design feature when these pods were first created. So even the most lowly of servants could aid their own kind.
With a simple turn and injection of my own mana the array unlocked with a loud clunk. Lines of purple glowed around the entire chamber as they pulsed with energy. I could feel the local time around me accelerate and stretch as the aether worked its magic.
It all seemed a bit to easy. While I hadn't expected Oliurk to be overly cautious with guarding Demeptah's coffin, it was suicidal to stage a full attack on his fortress and reach this far anyway. But I would have imagined Vago to have predicted my motives. Chronomancy was never my strong suit but I did know some of the basics. Perhaps he had judged which path we were all on. It didn't matter now.
The top of the sarcophagus lifted up. Releasing white mist and aetheric particles. I hastenily went down on one knee as I bowed my head. A scarred hand grabbed ahold of the edge of the opening and lifted himself up.
I didn't dare stare at him yet. But I could feel the heavy presence emanating from him. The same feeling as facing down a squad of dragons. Demeptah lifted himself out of his coffin as he looked around for a second.
It took him a few seconds before he could fully form words. But after a couple tries he managed.
"Whe... Where am I?" He croaked in a voice that hasn't been used for thousands of years. He soon noticed me kneeling before him. He seemed to regain consciousnees far quicker than most as he picked up the dragon scale cloak from the floor next to him and wore it.
"You, raise your head." He commanded as he pointed a finger at me. And I complied. And for the first time I got a good look at him.
A pale complexion, lavender eyes and pierced through my very soul. With ash-black hair that was neither long nor short. He would have been handsome by every definition of the word if it weren't for the several scars that marked his face. The most notable one being the long gash that crossed his entire face from the side of his jaw up to his temple. His body was covered in a jetblack armor, that looked more like a second layer of skin than the typical armor our forces wore.
"Where am I?" he asked again.
"We are currently under Highlord Oliurk's fortress general." I answered in the most polite way I could. There was no point trying to get him on my side if I were an ass to him.
"How long has it been since-" General Demeptah placed a hand on his head as if he was having a headache.
"Since the mass slumber our calendar system has been rendered useless sir. But observing the outside factors of the material world it is save to assume thousands of years has passed." With all of our forces either having been placed in stasis or being destroyed by the natural entropy of aether, dating the current year has been difficult and was a topic of debate.
"Thousands of years?" The general asked in disbelieve.
"And we are still just rats trying to survive in the desert?" He asked, with a hint of anger in his voice.
"Our main forces are still held within the aetheric realms but news of the emperor's return-" I tried to calm him down but the mention of the emperor only seems to stoke the fires.
"The emperor! That traitor who doomed our race in a war we could never win? Where is he now?" as he yelled the mana and aether around him seemed to shake with his anger.
With General Demeptah being placed in stasis earlier than the others, and before the emperor's self-imposed exile he had no idea of the current pitiful state of our race. It is said that he engaged in single-combat with a accomplished dragon general of the opposing army. Where he was victorious but gravely injured and placed in a specialized stasis chamber to slowly heal his wounds.
"General."
"What has become of our race? Have we been just rotting in a prison we have constructed ourselves? What of the asura? Have we allowed them to run free and rule over a world that was once ours?" He began to rage, runes appearing on his armor-like skin as he seemed to swell up in size.
The entire floor began to tremble, as a loud impact could be heard. The walls shook as several of the stasis coffins rolled and tumbled onto the ground.
"An attack?" Demeptah questioned as a great staff materialized in his hands. The shaft was a dark metallic grey, ending in a multi-pronged blade head that shifted between shades of rich amethyst.
"General please wait." I tried to reason with the war general but it was no use, in a flash he was gone.
Oliurk Pov
"I hope you didn't just bring them all here to have me clean up this mess." I shouted to Vago as my concentrated beam of aether sliced through the neck of a Djinn warrior.
"If you don't pick up your pace you will have bigger problems." The old chronomancer shot back as he sent a barrage of spells back to their sender.
My masterfully crafted armor hummed with aether as my glaive crackled with lightning. With a large sweep a claw of lightning tinged in a purple hue ripped across the floor, striking several battle groups in its wake.
With another swing I severed the space in between a Highlord's neck and his head. Cutting through the very space itself with no resistance.
Suddenly I felt a strong pull. Turning to see I saw a large dark mass, sucking in the air around it. I stabbed my trusted glaive into the stone ground, planting myself. But I was still getting pulled in. Another Highlord, this one with a large staff in their hands stabbed forward. Her body instantly teleported right in front of me, stabbing me in my chest.
It pierced the blackstone material and drew blood. The weapon and the runes on it glowed as it began consuming my lifeforce. With a swift kick I struck her in the face, knocking her back momentarily. But she was on me again as she warped behind me. Before she could land a deadly blow to the back of my head a large sword glowing icy blue with electricity cleaved her in half.
An array of writing and runes shined on the floor. As chains erupted out from the ground, encasing the dark mass and dragged it into the ground and through a portal that was created.
Before I could regain my footing a heavy blow sent me flying to the nearby wall. Cracking the aether and mana reinforced stone. One of the Highlord now stood at twelve feet tall. No doubt some sort of spatium arts. He pulled his fist back again to plant me into the wall.
I brought my weapons up to block his attack. And caused a lightning filled explosion as it did. Creating a cloud of smoke. Using the opportunity I launched myself off the wall. Pushing mana to my muscles I point the tip of my blade at his eye. But before I could kill him my body became as heavy as lead and sent me plummeting into the ground.
With no other real options I unleashed a powerful blast of lightning, trying to give me some time and distance to recover.
It has been a while since I have seriously fought anyone, let alone this many opponents who would wield aether. I didn't want to admit it but I was rusty. And I couldn't rely on Vago or the two custodians. I could seen them in the corner of my eye and they were dealing with their own business. I had to pull my own weight.
I pulled myself back up from the ground. Blood trickling down from several wounds. My armor was already pulling in aether and mana to heal them.
The massive Highlord was now in front of me. He looked down at me with disgust as he picked me up from the back of my neck and brought me up to his eye level.
"Why are you doing this Oliurk. We Highlords are meant to aid each other are we not." He questioned my actions.
"Don't make me laugh. I don't even know your name nor do I care to learn it. We might be the same in title but I do not ca-" Before I could finish he threw me with incredible speed into the ground. The impact shook my entire fortress as blood shot out from my mouth.
"You don't deserve to be a Highlord." He cursed as he lifted up his massive foot to crush me. A gesture I couldn't help but laugh at. Did he really consider himself so high and mighty? That he could crush a person like me like an bug?
I slowly stood up as I stared him down. He was waiting for me to make a last feeble effort for my life. But it was too late. As I stared up at him I couldn't help but smile.
"Neither do you." I said as I plunged my glaive into ground. My entire battle fortress shook as mana and aether from the entire realm rushed to me. I could feel my body burning up, I would survive with injuries, but it was worth it.
"What?" The enlarge Highlord said, befuddled as the aether abandoned him and rushed to me and my weapons.
"Let me show you why you don't challenge a Highlord in their own domain." All of my aether and mana condensed itself into the tip of my glaive. My weapons trumbled as it threatened to explode. Before it could do so I unleashed my spell. As a bright flash of light consumed my vision.
I awoke, on the bout of backlash. I tried to move but my body ached and sent needles of pain throughout my entire body. A large armor hand offered to help me up and I took it. The custodian effortlessly hoisted me up as Vago approached me with the other custodian. The old man had a smile on his face as he slowly clapped.
"You haven't lost your edge Oliurk." He congratulated me as he patted me on the back, which sent even more pain to my back.
I looked around the room. Many of the Highlord were either dead or completely incapacitated. The aether and mana drained from their bodies. I took a second to admire my work before I turned to the old chronomancer.
"Will this do?"
Vago mulled over it for second before replying.
"While this was less than I would have wanted I'd bargain that this amount is enough." He said with a satisfied grin as he withdrew a sealing tesseract from his robes. With a single tap of the cube all of the still alive Highlords were drawn in and stored with its dimensional space.
Using my glaive as support I stood tall as I surveyed the remains of my fortress. Heavy rain was washing over us as through the large opening in the roof. Having drawn all the aether in my fortress it would take much longer than usual to restore it.
"I hope you can fix this." I said to Vago who stored the sealing tesseract within his personal dimensional storage rune.
"As yes. Don't worry about th-" Before he could finish I couldn't help but notice something. Well, more so the lack of something.
"Wait, where is Erurda?" I questioned. I hadn't paid attention to her but I doubt she would have fled. Doing so would only distance herself from both the Highlords and the imperial council.
Before we could have our questions answered a shadow loomed over us. Both of us stared up and saw a floating figure. A red cloak bellowed in the stormy weather. With his deep lavender eyes and scarred face there was no mistaking it. The one thing I was worried about.
The general stared down at us. The anger emanating from him was palpable. In his hand he wielding the Lance of Light. His eyes bore down at me specifically as he spoke.
"It's been a while."