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41 - A Murder Of Monsters

The last of the single Designations yet often the most vital. The Seers.

Not a single Seer stands within Congress or upon the Shattered Peak. Why is that? I do not know. No one does. But Seer Visere is our greatest eye toward the future.

The rarest gift is both a shackle and the most incredible boon. The sight of the future or the past can be a curse when wielded incorrectly. As such, everyone treats all Seers with the utmost care. They are the sirens of the end. Without them, we are blind.

Let us give praise to:

Seer Visere. Seer Yato. Seer Marae. And Seer Total. Without them and their sacrifices, Congress may have withered with the Drowned Dragon.

* Yarnen, Anomaly 0, Year 3986, in her Century Report.

Hours later, Dante stood beside Thanaris as she raised her right hand toward the void above. A smile crept across her face as she twisted her wrist, blood seeping from her flesh. Her voice echoed across the mint sea, bouncing off the still air and reverberating to Dante, “Here we are, just outside the entrance. I can already sense the other Caesars and the general location of the Inferose. Let’s open it up.”

“Tide Reversal: Haunting Dreamscape.“

A scarlet aura burst from Thanaris, shattering the air as the Lightsea expanded from within, ripping open a rift between dimensions. As awestruck as the first time he had seen such power, Dante gaped as the surface of a forested planet appeared beyond the scarred rift.

Thanaris turned, extending her hand toward Dante so that he could join her, “It’s time. When we step through, be quiet. The entrance’s locale won’t be exact, so I recommend you split from me. I... will likely be forced into a battle the second we exit.”

Dante’s gaze fell to the porcelain-skinned palm awaiting him. Then, a deep inhalation mimicking his old cigarette habit calmed his nerves before he stepped forward and claimed the offer. Thanaris grinned deviously in return and yanked the human through.

Footsteps echoed behind Dante as his companions followed, but the world he entered wasn’t what he expected.

The moment his foot passed through the rift, reality twisted, warping like a disturbed reflection on water. Such a sensation wasn’t painful but unsettling, as if every cell was stretched across the stars and snapped back into place. Such a feeling differed vastly from entering the Lightsea, so much so that he wondered why. But he had little time to think as when he emerged on the other side, feet hitting solid ground, his breath caught in his throat.

The oppressive heat hit him first—heavy and suffocating. It clung to his skin like a fiery cloak, filling his lungs with scorching air. Steam rose from the surrounding trees, and the damp heat singed his flesh with every breath. The kiss of the air on the ground, the hiss of heat, told him the air was at least slightly toxic, too.

On instinct, he cycled Surewinter, but it offered only slight relief. It was meant for cold, not searing heat.

But the heat wasn’t the only thing wrong with this place.

Around him, towering trees rose loftily into the sky, their thick trunks shrouded in mist and steam, blocking out the incessant rain that drummed down from the heavens with seamless canopies. The very same rain evaporated once more before it could hit the ground.

This was because the foliage was so dense that only slim fragments of the sky were visible through the gaps. And even then, it was an alien color—purple streaks bleeding into orange like a permanent dusk.

And then there were the figures ahead, too.

Even before Dante’s eyes adjusted to the dim undergrowth, he sensed them—the immense, dangerous auras of the other Caesars. Thanaris’ warning echoed in his mind, and his pulse quickened. He recognized one figure immediately: Geist, a ghostly form of mist. The other three, however, were unfamiliar but no less terrifying.

He hadn’t seen them prior, but Thanaris’ warnings were enough to pick each out.

Suaze stood stocky and short, his skin rippling with heat and steam. The low grass beneath him smoldered as he moved, igniting his Thermo. His narrowed eyes betrayed a smoldering fury, ready to erupt.

Across from him was the living sculpture of Wain, her body radiating frost and jagged ice. The ground cracked and froze wherever she stepped, steam rising from the heat, meeting her icy presence. Her attention immediately shifted to Thanaris, recognizing her power.

But it was the last figure that made Dante’s stomach churn. Perched on a branch above, a humanoid figure oozed acidic sweat that hissed upon contact with the ground. This was Balba, the predator. His dark, hungry eyes assessed Dante, and a pang of unease tightened in Dante’s chest.

Dante squinted at this one momentarily before realizing this was a Miro, the one Tide he had not yet seen in action.

Despite his interest in this one, Balba was a predator. How the crouched Caesar’s dark eyes assessed Dante did more than make him uncomfortable.

The atmosphere inside the glade was thick with pressure, the kind that promised violence at any second. In response, Dante’s hand instinctively twitched toward the hilt of his revolver, but Thanaris’s voice cut through the stifling atmosphere.

“Have the Romans arrived yet?” she asked, her tone cautious yet inquiring. Blood trailed down her hands, dousing her legs in crimson sabatons to protect against the spreading mist from Geist and Wain’s ice. Here, no weakness could be shown.

Balba’s eyes twitched, and he growled a flat reply, “Yes. They’re in orbit. I found the planet first, so I get the head start.”

The reminder of their true mission snapped Dante back to focus. The Inferose. They were here to claim it after finding its true entrance. But where were the other Anacruxes’ subordinates?

Fuck.

Dante’s body tensed with that singular curse, his instincts screaming at him to run. He glanced toward the trees, ready to bolt if needed.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Geist spoke next, waving his hand toward Balba with derision, “You were only here a few minutes before us. Careful with your claims, Balba. You wouldn’t want us to turn on you, would you?”

Balba’s mouth opened into a cascading multi-row territory of fangs, but he still cowered beneath Geist’s threat. That left Thanaris to speak next; as she stepped forward, a tiny strand of blood tapped against Dante’s foot.

That’s a signal if I’ve ever seen one.

Dante instantly pivoted his feet on a dime, kicking out toward the trees behind him with bursting water at his steps. At the same time, his Caesar strode forward with blood on her hands and brutality atop her tongue, “No, I must agree with Balba. He was the first one here. Balba, how about we move together? If they disagree...”

Thanaris’s earlier grin had vanished, replaced by a cold, calculating glare. Geist laughed in her face, his haze devouring the air’s moisture as blood blades lashed out toward him.

Dante ran, his heart racing. The battle exploded behind him, shaking the air with every clash of Tide. Weeks of training with Astraeus gave him the speed he needed, but even that wasn’t enough to escape the chaos that followed.

No matter how fast he was, the battle followed him, shaking the very air with every clash of Tide. The splinters of Hydro emerging from his heels, the slight cushioning of his landing, and even the general enhancement of his body from Surewinter simply weren’t adequate against such monsters.

The searing heat of Suaze’s attacks and the drying haze from Geist warred alongside each other against Thanaris. Both steam and haze met together against the wave of blood that flooded toward them.

Suaze’s mind was elsewhere, absorbed in his Thermo, but the sudden roar of Balba’s legs moving faster than sound made him react in a panic. The acidic creature’s body blurred through the trees, moving faster than Dante’s eyes could track, with its Miro augmenting its flesh.

With Balba’s momentum, an open jaw soared for Suaze’s neck, but the Thermo barely evaded the lethal bite. Landing beside Thanaris, blood pooling around his feet, the timely ally spat out Suaze’s right arm, annoyed by his find, “Plah. So close. Let’s try this again, Miss Thana.”

Thanaris sneered, but the enraged roar from Suaze forced her to redouble her efforts. Balba blurred once more, vanishing with an explosive mound of dirt beneath him.

Suaze was relentless with his fury, attacking Balba with waves of intense heat. Fire rippled from his form, scorching the foliage and igniting anything in his path.

One half of the forest started burning, while the other surrendered its vitality. The scene followed behind Dante as it only ramped up in danger. None had used their strongest techniques or Domains yet. This was only an opening or a test.

Though Thanaris mentioned that none should collapse any Domains, after all, the pressure encompassing the entrance could shatter or damage it.

Still, they had far more than Domain Collapses in their repertoires.

All the Caesars, despite their greed for the dimension and loathing for each other, were aware of the looming threat above.

Praetor Sun.

Yet even if the five weren’t going all out, Dante still struggled for his life. His presence was like standing beside a blazing furnace and a freezer of absolute zero. Dante felt the temperature deviate even from a distance. A devouring paleness was on his tail while fire eclipsed the circling trees. But Wain—ever the opportunist—was already gone, slipping away from the fight with a chilling grin, vanishing into the chaos while the others clashed.

Dante had no time to worry about her.

He ran with everything he had, his feet kicking up the dirt and fallen leaves, trying to stay ahead of the chaos. The man barely had time to think and find his next step, but he did so without falling, for now. Dante was weaker and slower, and without Thanaris’s protection, he was little more than prey. All he could do was run and hide until he entered the dimension where the Caesars could not delve.

Well, they could, but they risked destroying it with their mere presence before anyone claimed it. That’s why Geist brought Hana. She’s the strongest Dirge he could recruit, and she more than likely wouldn’t damage the MD. How Geist planned on taking it from Hana was beyond the human, however.

Thanaris would wait until Dante or Astraeus had stolen it to enter and gain its power. Dante would do so willingly, of course, not wanting to fight either. All that was a distant future, however.

A defining burst of an unknown force screamed through the air behind him as it sliced through a gargantuan tree trunk—a bolt of super-heated vapor. Dante didn’t hear it until it was nearly upon him, the sound rushing in after the steam. His instincts flared, and he dived toward a nearby tree, his hand slamming into its rough trunk. The bark burned his palm as he barely avoided the blast, dragging him around its wood.

An explosion shook Dante’s brain inside his skull as dirt rained atop him. More burns racked up across his flesh while he inhaled agonizing air.

For a second, Dante crouched still, panting despite the discomfort. Yet more footsteps were coming, and he raised his head to see Astraeus dashing toward him, his shifting form weaving between trees with ease, his dotted eyes focused, unreadable. There was no time for words between them—just survival.

Hatle and Saerer weren’t far behind, their own desperate escape joining him as the battle unfolded in horrifying flashes behind them.

They didn’t make it much further before Hatle, the larger Anathema, stumbled. His bulky form was no match for the creeping death that spread above the ground’s expanding void, Geist’s mist slowly devouring the enveloping forest.

While Suaze burnt the sky, Geist’s devouring Arido consumed the life beneath it.

Dante couldn’t even shout.

The chilling fog reached Hatle. It moved so quickly, so silently, like the stiff hand of death, and as it touched the quiet Anathema’s massive form, his body began to crack and dehydrate.

Dante had seen Hatle’s physical strength before. The sheer magnitude of it had left him in awe, ten times his own, even with Surewinter, but none of that mattered. The Dirge’s leathery flesh became powder while his essence was sucked away. With just a few staggered steps, the towering figure transformed into a hollow, fragile husk.

Hatle’s final, silent scream echoed in his mind, but it could not stop his momentum. There was no saving him. There was no turning back.

Dante had spent many days with the Dirge, though he knew little about the man. Unlike Astraeus, Hatle refused to speak unless absolutely necessary. Nonetheless, the pang of death lashed through the human’s heart.

Like an uncaring deity, the mist moved on, and Dante threw himself forward, sprinting harder than ever.

The jungle overhead seemed endless, the heat unbearable, with his lungs charring with each ragged breath. His Stigmata would heal it later, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel the misery. His legs ached, his muscles protesting every movement, but he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t afford to.

They ran harder. Every breath was a struggle, every step a race against death. The jungle seemed endless, the heat unbearable, the explosions of Tide chasing them like a living nightmare.

Finally, Dante saw something ahead—an oddly shaped tree, its branches twisted like a gallow.

Dante raised his eyebrow, but he was desperate. With a dive, he kicked off the ground and collapsed against the trunk, feeling the immediate sting of the heat searing into his skin. The burn would be worth it, for as he sat, he heard the battle continue off in another direction, gradually growing distant.

The human’s head hung low, and he gasped for air with desperation. His entire body screamed for a break, but his mind remained in survival mode. Dante’s eyes deviated upward, scanning the impenetrable canopy of trees, listening for any sign of pursuit.

And that is when he saw what lay above him. Dante’s eyes stared upward, lost in shock, while Astraeus caught up to him and dropped to his knees. The loyal coldness in Astraeus’ eyes had been replaced by another—determination with a hint of fear.

“What are you looking at…” Astraeus began, but his voice trailed off as his gaze followed Dante’s upward.

Above, hung by the tree’s gallow, was an Anathema, not one either recognized, but it still was enough of a shock to leave both speechless.

Another one of the explorers was already dead. How?

Neither knew the answer, and they could only glance at each other as Saerer came into view. She stumbled around the tree, too, collapsing into a heap while spreading out her arms, exhausted.

For a long moment, there was only the sound of their labored breathing, the distant crackling of fires, and the echo of battle that raged far behind them. Dante and Astraeus held their tongues, concerned that whatever killed the ‘Thema above was still around.

However, Dante’s paranoia kicked in just in the nick of time as his eyes drifted to the tree itself.

Wait... I don’t sense the Lightsea around here. No sign of Tides either... The Inferose... plant... fire... Shit!

As the human dove away from his cover, his right leg split open by a sudden lashing vine whip. Dante rolled with the momentum while trailing blood behind him, and Astraeus followed him.

The Frigo dragged Saerer while shooting an avalanche of snow behind him, stopping the gallows tree’s next attack. There were not just Dirge here. Plants and animals had gathered on this planet for the benefits the Inferose could provide.

Dante tried to steady his breathing once he saw the vines couldn’t reach him, his chest rising and falling as he fought the panic that threatened to overtake him.

He had barely escaped Geist’s haze, and Hatle’s demise weighed on him. Even worse, he had nearly just died. As much as he wanted to rest, to collapse and let the exhaustion take over, he knew he had to keep moving.

For... In the back of his mind, he could sense something. It was like a beacon. An echo of power, of strength, it called to him through the planet’s atmosphere.

However, it wasn’t an exact sense and more like a general insight into this planet.

His eyes turned toward the direction that Dante assumed to be northward. He wasn’t sure why he was feeling the sensation or how.

All he knew was that the others must feel it, too. The Inferose.

Astraeus was the first to speak, his voice rough and strained as he lowered his snowy hand and twisted his face in the same direction, “That... was not how I expected this to go. You feel it, too? It’s... so weird. Though, all MDs are. Grand treasures, I suppose.”

Dante let out a hollow laugh, though there was no humor in it, “No kidding. Though we won’t get the most of the treasures.” After what they had just survived, bits of indignation hid in his words, but Astraeus didn’t point it out.

Instead, Astraeus wiped the leaking water from his face and diverted his gaze to Dante, his tone shifting to something more serious, “Let’s keep moving. The Caesars will only grow more destructive once the Praetor lands, and they team up to kill her.”

The human doubted the Dirge would align after what just occurred. They seemed no different from Dante’s forefathers, constantly in turmoil with each other.

Dante clenched his jaw, glancing up once more instinctively, though no danger was present. His pupils shot around, searching for Judas’ suspiciously absent presence. The ghost in his mind had been relatively quiet since he met Thanaris.

The implications were obvious, but his suspicions weren’t high enough to reveal Judas to Thanaris. Who knew what the thing was? It could be stronger than the woman, and if that was the case... he’d rather just ride the wave as it was.

Alongside a sigh, Dante trekked onward, weighing how much longer he should wait before using Reset to heal his burns. Then, he heard another discharge of energy behind him, and without turning around, he bounded ahead toward that unnatural sensation awaiting him.

With no more words, they ran under the weight of impending death at their heels as they all knew they were way out of their league.

And then a voice echoed through the air.

“Domain Collapse: Ghosts Of The Damned.”