After a long and tedious trip through the astral, they arrived at The Sundered Throne. A massive spaceship, large beyond comprehension, dwarfed Jason's vision. He could see the marks of enormous attacks, melted slag the size of solar systems, gashes that held resentment after trillions of years. Some of them felt, familiar to him. He could feel the anger of the World Phoenix.

"What happened here? It feels like when Dawn nuked a Builder city with a giant sky fire ritual."

Carmen turned to face him.

"That was her channelling the true power of the World Phoenix. The Sundered Throne wasn't always sundered. The true purpose of it was to keep the Great Astral Beings in check. It worked for a while, but they eventually rebelled, breaking the former Cosmic Throne, and turning it into this, mess. Instead, they created the pacts that you know of. The World Phoenix was one of the ones who opposed the throne's rule."

"So, Great Astral Beings didn't like being told what to do by a giant space chair, so they blew it up. Then, they realised they kinda needed restrictions, so they made the authority pacts. Is that all about, right?"

"That is inaccurate on so many levels, but essentially yes."

"And I'm here because gods can't come here, Great Astral Idiots can't do anything, and no-one has a strong enough aura to withstand these intruders. I can also fix the throne somehow. I'm getting a second soul forge as compensation as well."

"Good, you understand. Now, onto the layout. The ship is split into three parts. The perimeter defence, the inner sanctum, and the throne room. The intruders are attempting to break through to the throne room. We must stop them before they do. Completely destroying the throne will have immense consequences across the astral."

"Let's go then."

Jason started towards the largest hole in the ship.

"No, hold on. The perimeter defences will still blow a hole in you. I must go first to allow us in because I am approved."

Jason nodded and let Carmen fly in front of him. They passed through the threshold of the ship and gravity kicked in.

"Woah, you guys have artificial gravity?"

"You can summon a world devouring apocalypse at will. Of course we have artificial gravity."

Jason looked like he was physically hurt by those words.

"Don't call Colin that. He's a good boy. He doesn't eat worlds that often."

A leech crawled out of Jason's shoulder and nodded, agreeing with him.

"See? Good boy."

The patronized leech retreated into his flesh

Carmen scanned one of her orbs on a panel and a door leading deeper into the ship opened. Jason followed as the twisty hallway led further in.

Chapter 3: Press 1 For Customer Support. Press 2 For Context.

After a long and tedious trip through the astral, they arrived at The Sundered Throne. A massive spaceship, large beyond comprehension, dwarfed Jason's vision. He could see the marks of enormous attacks, melted slag the size of solar systems, gashes that held resentment after trillions of years. Some of them felt, familiar to him. He could feel the anger of the World Phoenix.

"What happened here? It feels like when Dawn nuked a Builder city with a giant sky fire ritual."

Carmen turned to face him.

"That was her channelling the true power of the World Phoenix. The Sundered Throne wasn't always sundered. The true purpose of it was to keep the Great Astral Beings in check. It worked for a while, but they eventually rebelled, breaking the former Cosmic Throne, and turning it into this, mess. Instead, they created the pacts that you know of. The World Phoenix was one of the ones who opposed the throne's rule."

"So, Great Astral Beings didn't like being told what to do by a giant space chair, so they blew it up. Then, they realised they kinda needed restrictions, so they made the authority pacts. Is that all about, right?"

"That is inaccurate on so many levels, but essentially yes."

"And I'm here because gods can't come here, Great Astral Idiots can't do anything, and no-one has a strong enough aura to withstand these intruders. I can also fix the throne somehow. I'm getting a second soul forge as compensation as well."

"Good, you understand. Now, onto the layout. The ship is split into three parts. The perimeter defence, the inner sanctum, and the throne room. The intruders are attempting to break through to the throne room. We must stop them before they do. Completely destroying the throne will have immense consequences across the astral."

"Let's go then."

Jason started towards the largest hole in the ship.

"No, hold on. The perimeter defences will still blow a hole in you. I must go first to allow us in because I am approved."

Jason nodded and let Carmen fly in front of him. They passed through the threshold of the ship and gravity kicked in.

"Woah, you guys have artificial gravity?"

"You can summon a world devouring apocalypse at will. Of course we have artificial gravity."

Jason looked like he was physically hurt by those words.

"Don't call Colin that. He's a good boy. He doesn't eat worlds that often."

A leech crawled out of Jason's shoulder and nodded, agreeing with him.

"See? Good boy."

The patronized leech retreated into his flesh

Carmen scanned one of her orbs on a panel and a door leading deeper into the ship opened. Jason followed as the twisty hallway led further in.