Sitting behind an ornate desk made of darkwood was King Atlas Stoneshard. He had been in his office for hours, going over the old maps and various records leading back as far as the fall of the second silver wall. This wasn't the first time he'd done this, but news from the front had arrived that stated that the breaches were getting larger. As well as a few extra ones had been discovered. They weren't large enough to warrant any attention for now but they'd grow in size in the future, just like all the other before them.

Running his eyes over the map in front of him he could see all ten of the silver walls depicted there. It had been more than a thousand cycles since anyone even saw the outer most wall with his own eyes. His kingdom was the descendant of the empire that ruled when all the walls were operational. The records stated that it was a massive empire, ruling from the pillar itself. It stretched across the entire continent.

Something had gone wrong though. Some calamity that originated in the eighth ring. It took no longer than a year for the ninth wall to fall, then the tenth wall fell almost a year after that. Thankfully the wall surrounding the eighth ring held for hundreds of years as the Heaven's pillar employed some ancient magics to put a nigh unbreachable shimmering wall to protect them.

Alas, it was not enough. Eventually, it faltered and the scourge came flooding through the breaches. It caught the empire by surprise yet again and it left a wake of devastation in its wake. Tens of thousands of lives lost within days. Though the sacrifice of most of it's military force at the time a lot of people were evacuated behind the seventh wall. This event was a rude awakening for the empire, it showed them that even if the pillar was protecting them it was not infallible, not eternal.

Every ring from the first had twice the amount of space in between them. The first ring had five hundred kilometers from north to south, the next a thousand from one wall to the next. The third ring had two thousand kilometers in between walls, and now the protection granted from the pillar was failing yet again. It took them the fall of the sixth and the fifth to cement their guess about the timeframe allotted to them.

The fourth wall fell only forty-nine cycles ago. If they were correct they had only around five months left until the third one fell to the scourge. The loss of the third wall would set in stone their extinction for the remaining living space and farmland they would lose there would cripple them. The next twenty-five cycles would be the beginning of a slow but sure death of the people remaining behind the walls. His people and the people of the other two powers that existed here.

Sighing heavily, Atlas leaned back into his chair. "Are we just meant to fade away like this? To become food for the scourge?"

Sitting there with what felt like an unmovable burden on his shoulders Atlas felt like a defeated man. Is there nothing left to do but wait for the inevitable?

As he sat there in silence, feeling the tendrils of despair creep upon him he heard a knock.

"Yes?" He answered in a firm tone. His earlier weakness nowhere to be seen.

The door opened to reveal a tall young man along with a slightly younger woman by his side. "You asked to see us father?" The young man asked.

"Enter, and close the door." Atlas said without emotion.

Doing as told he and the woman entered the room and came to a stop a few meters from the desk.

Looking over his children he could see they too shared his worries. Samuel was shorter than him but shared his features. Greyish skin, specks of grey and white shards of hardened stone could be seen growing out of his skin up to his lower neck. As was usual with most men in his kingdom, though his family was among the only ones that had this particular color scheme.

They both had black as night hair though his son's hair was cut short while hers flowed down to her lower back. The women of their species had less obvious hardening on their skin and he'd be damned if any daughter of his would dress in a way that showed it. Hmph! He snorted in his mind as he'd defeated some invisible enemy.

Finally cracking a small smile he spoke. "Samuel, Ava. It's good to see you, it's been rather busy around here."

Ava smiled while Samuel responded. "Yes, father. You look tired, are you alright?"

Running his hand through his graying hair he chuckled. "Quite tired, with our impending crisis the nobles who rule behind the third wall have become increasingly desperate." A small sigh escaped his lips. "Not that I don't understand their plight. This is a terrible situation for all of us."

"What about uncle Gustaf, father?" Ava asked in a soft tone. "Has he found something?"

Atlas and Samuel's eyes both turned towards her as Atlas responded. "He's been trying for days and it seems like he's on to something yes. But I worry about that old codger, he's becoming a little strange since he started."

Samuel turned back towards his father. "Strange how exactly?"

"He's been in some kind of delirious state after each session," Atlas said as his brows furrowed. "Muttering about something that approaches from beyond the ring."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Samuel and Ava drew in a cold breath.

"Another scourge?" Samuel asked slowly, with an almost unnoticeable shaking in his voice.

"No. At least he doesn't think it is." Atlas said slowly as a slight look of confusion could be discerned on his face. "His apprentices delivered a report on most of the things he's been rambling about."

He took out a piece of parchment and handed it over to Samuel. "Take a look for yourself."

Walking up he took the report from his hand and started reading. Soon his eyes became focused as he slowly read the report. "He can almost see him? Them? Him?... He approaches? The indifferent berzerker?... Beware the fractured god?"

Looking up from the report he locked eyes with his father. "Are you sure Gustaf hasn't gone insane?" He asked in full seriousness.

Atlas started laughing as Ava punched Samuel's arm. "Don't talk about uncle Gustaf that way Sam!"

While Samuel rubbed his arm he smiled at his sister. "Sorry, Ava."

"No his brain hasn't turned to rock son. This happens when he uses his gift too much, you just haven't seen it since the last time he did it you were still just a pebble." Atlas smiled seeing his children fool around. I hope your efforts aren't in vain old friend. I'm not willing to give up on us yet, I have things that must be protected.

Samuel turned his head towards his father again. "So why did you summon us father? Unless it was just so I could have more things to tease uncle over."

Atlas's face turned serious. "No son. I want you and your sister to lead the second army towards the cliff that overlooks Titans' rest in Duke Ezra's territory. He's applied for reinforcements."

Ava's eyes narrowed slightly. "The breach there about to widen father?"

"Correct. It wasn't discovered in time so he couldn't build fortifications soon enough to hold it." Atlas sighed. "Help him defend the location until they've set up the proper defenses, but don't do something stupid. Your mother would have my head if something happened to you two. Thronekeeper or not."

Ava giggled lightly as Samuel just smiled.

"I understand father. I'd rather not have her mad if I can help it." Samuel shook his head. "Can't we just throw mother at the scourge? It seems like a sure way to defeat them." He said in mock seriousness.

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The Prometheus, Engineering.

Trilla entered into something that looked like some kind of meeting room. Vii, Rylo, Beatrix, and Coda were all here as well as some RG's she wasn't familiar with. Coda was talking to one of the RG's with a sunny smile as he turned towards her.

"Ah, Trilla! You're finally here. Great!." Coda nodded. "Take a seat, I'll join you guys in a jiffy."

She simply nodded and sat down next to Beatrix. Turning towards her Trilla asked. "Why are we here?"

"He had some ideas to run by us. New gear and so on." Beatrix answered in her usual matter of fact tone.

Looking over to the two newest members of their group she saw the large Vii leaning back with his eyes closed while Rylo was reading through some documents at breakneck speed.

"Cap'n! I don't know about you but I'm getting the augments, the specs we'll have will be amazing!" Rylo said with stars in his eyes. "Not to mention the suit's we'll get along with it. We'll be walking tanks!"

As Trilla observed the chipper man he continued. "I'm so glad I beat out Lucival to come to this meeting. He'll be crying tears of blood once he hears about this stuff!" Rylo said as he giggled maniacally.

Coda finished speaking with the RG and walked up behind Rylo and tapped his shoulder. "I'm glad you like them."

"AHHHH!" Rylo screamed as the bundle of paper he was reading was shot into the air. As his face flushed he answered Coda. "Boss! Don't scare me like that, please!"

Coda chuckled while Vii just sighed heavily.

"Focus Rylo." Vii said shaking his head.

With a wry smile, Coda walked over and took a seat. "Now that all the relevant people are here we can start."

"While we don't have an R&D department set up yet we can't start production in full force but I wanted your input on some of the ideas I've been cooking up. Sound good?" Coda asked as he turned to look at each of them in order.

Seeing nods from all of them Coda continued. "Great. Now for the first item." He turned to the RG he'd been speaking to while they all got here and motioned him over. He held a couple of documents and handed him a couple of them.

Counting that there were five of them Coda nodded and handed one out to each. "The first one is this. The HK-Z, or Hunter Killer Zero."

Beatrix was here just as a formality, she had access to all the information the other RG's had but Coda insisted that she'd participate because she was a part of the group. She agreed, of course, the input from the others might point out something they'd missed.

Rylo scanned over the document and saw it had specifications and illustrations of what this HK-Z was supposed to be. It was an orb with one spoke that had a thick ring attached to it, it was only about half a meter in size. Reading further he came across something he didn't understand fully.

"Ehm, boss? What's black matter?" Rylo asked with a puzzled expression.

Coda turned to Beatrix. "Demonstrate please."

She nodded. Lifting her hand she made the part that looked like her palm and fingers lift off her skeletal frame and made them both do a fist. Then recombined the two before returning her hand to rest on the table.

Rylo's mouth gaped for a few seconds while Vii's eyes widened.

"That's amazing!" Rylo exclaimed. "That's black matter? I thought it was something to do with physics."

Shaking his head while sporting a wry smile Coda responded. "No, it has another more technical name. Poly mimetic alloy or something like that. I just call it black matter for convenience."

"I see." Rylo nodded. "So the orb in the middle is the control hub for the black matter that will make it into a bigger orb. What caused you to think something like this up?"

Chuckling darkly Coda answered. "After Geonosis, I discovered that I hate fighting in tunnels. These little bastards will make tunnel rats hate fighting there more then I do."