Chapter 1.32 The Call to War
The entirety of the Four Realms trembled when the Shadow emerged from its hiding place. Rifts opened in the skies, gaping holes in reality that led to a hidden network of spaces that wove throughout all of creation, and darkness seeped out.
War came with it.
Alexander was first to act. He had been resting in his cave, watching the spirit river flow by. The moment the stench of the Shadow reached him, long before he saw any of its forces, golden flames began to spill from between his teeth. His head snaked out of the cave and he rose to his full, impressive height. His aura shot to its peak as he unleashed a roar to shake the very heavens themselves, flying up, up, into the skies to behold the entirety of creation as the mighty god he was. Rifts shattered the skies of all the Realms, centered around the central symbols. The Holy Mountain, the Life-Giving Tree, and the Karmic Valley. With a snarl he threw himself forward to greet the incoming hordes of dark spirits, pouring out of the false Void that separated the Realms from the primordial chaos. His scales were impenetrable. His claws weapons of destruction. And the first wave shattered beneath his might.
Elvira heard Alexander's roar, sitting on her throne listening to the chattering of gods and spirits alike as she was. The walls of her palace trembled from the force and she rose to her feet, knuckles cracking with thunderous booms as she readied herself for battle, white robes billowing in an unseen wind, golden hair whipping about her head and wings flaring out dramatically.
"To battle!" she bellowed, aura unleashed, billowing upward in a brilliant white beam of light. The gods scattered, Sol drawing his sword beside her, Gilles readying whips of pure shadow. Beneath her palace her forces stirred – forces hidden from the sight of the Shadow, and ready to march.
Keilan sighed when he heard the roar of his brother, setting down his pen. Unlike his siblings, he never got a break from work. Still, as he rose from behind his desk, wings curling about him and aura restrained, something stirred. Thuds echoed from beside the doors of his office as he swept out, snapping his fingers. Karmic threads raced to do his bidding, mental messages flying out as his people readied themselves. The karmic kings fortified the karmic palace, portals opening all above and about it, and his new security force stirred from their spots.
Reika was perhaps the one most ready, of all her siblings. The chaotic nature of the physical realm meant she was used to surprises, so even as she looked up at where she knew Mother's palace to be, knowing there was only a little time left before She was ready to create the Lunar Star, her people were moving to action. From her place atop the Life-Giving Tree, she saw myriad portals open around the Heavenly Palace, the Karmic Palace, and her own Tree. More still floated in space above, hiding a more sinister goal…
With nothing more than a gentle hum to indicate her orders, trees began to move, wood groaning and creaking. This would not be a protracted war. It would be short. It would be swift. And it would be brutal. And she was ready for it.
Of all the mortals and immortals of the physical realm, only Dei noticed the coming of war. He didn't hear Alexander's roar, for it was meant for the gods. But he did feel it in his bones. He walked slowly through the halls of his palace, a young avian girl who had taken much of the responsibility of ruling off his shoulders trailing behind him, chattering. Her white wings fluttered audibly as she talked, a habit of hers that Dei had been forced to grow used to.
His hair was grey. Wrinkles lined his face, and his bones creaked when he moved. His horns had been worn down from age; he had yet to take his immortality ascension trial, and was reaching the end of his admittedly ridiculously long lifespan. A little over ten thousand years – that seemed to be the limit to a Fae's lifespan at the peak of cultivation, a half-step away from immortality. Much to the chagrin of his followers, he had no heir, either. He stroked his beard, a long, flowing grey thing, and paused to look out one of the windows of the palace. Manu Ti lay before him. It had grown much; there were now three flying islands, beside this first one. Three immortals called this place home; Fang Xu, Celene, and a Karae who had recently ascended. It was peaceful. It was calm. Millions of cultivators lived here, and many more mortals.
"My lord?" the young girl asked, his pause lasting too long.
"Rally our forces." He said simply, tugging at his beard. "War has come."
To her credit the girl did not question him. Such was the finality of his tone, the surety of his posture, that she leapt to do his bidding, shouting orders as she hurtled down the hallway, leaving Dei alone. He smiled, grimly, fiercely.
"Once more into the fray," he muttered. "Let this be the last good fight I'll ever know."
Dark angels poured from the skies, spirits following after them as they screamed bloody murder and war. Angels and other powerful spiritual beings rose to meet them, the initial clash sending shudders through the foundations of the Realms…and the Light struggled to keep their enemies at bay. The Shadow's forces struck with a ferocity that shook the angels and holy beasts alike to the core; they fought savagely, heedless of their own wounds as they sought to strike down any who stood in their path.
Alexander crashed into a wave of them, each thrash of his tail and toss of his head sending dozens flying. He alone cordoned off an entire section of the sky, none able to pass him by, but he was still only one dragon. Dark beings flooded toward the physical realm, magic spilling from their fingertips as they sought total destruction.
Gods rose from their resting places, all the elements alight with power as they struck out against the aggressors, but none were greater than the might of Heaven. Elvira's light exploded out from her palace, radiating out in a wave that brought with it three thousand soldiers in gleaming silver armor. Thousands rode upon winged horses that took to the skies, crashing into the lines of dark angels with a roar and led by the angel Stilicho. Magic flew from the tips of their gleaming spears, talismans of pure jade shining, capturing and sealing away dozens of evil spirits in moments. They were not stronger than the average angel, but they were disciplined and well-trained, fighting as one cohesive unit.
That alone gave them advantage against the raging tides of dark spirits.
Elvira stood behind them, wings flared as the Army of Heaven tore into the skies, led by her angels and holy beasts, crashing through lines of their enemies.
"Go!" She boomed. "Protect the Tree!" For in a quick glance she had properly deduced the goal of the dark angels – many attacked the Holy Mountain and the Karmic Valley, but more still flooded toward the Life-Giving Tree. If their goal was the destruction of the Four Realms, the annihilation of the Tree was a good place to start; it kept the Heaven and Karmic Realms from touching and clashing, after all.
"For the Empress!" her army bellowed, the winged cavalry hurtling through the skies and through a portal opened by Gilles, who teleported them to the physical realm. The rest stayed upon the mountain, battling those dark spirits who remained and sealing away those they could. Elvira's angels and holy beasts stood with them, alongside a few elemental gods, keeping the army from overextending, and collapsing against the far more numerous enemies. Elvira, herself, flew into the skies with Gilles and Sol to join her brother in holding the area – and to tempt out the Shadow.
"Is that all you have to muster? I tire of your games!" she bellowed as she struck a dark angel, the force of her blow shattering the very air and sending the being hurtling back into the rift from whence it came. Sol and Gilles fell in beside her, beams of light and whips of shadow cracking through the lines of dark spirits and angels, many of whom stuttered at the appearance of more gods. Alexander bellowed, golden flames sweeping through their ranks.
Below, an explosion rocked the karmic realm. Smoke billowed from the Karmic Palace as dark angels forced their way inside, disrupting the flow of souls from the spirit river. Panic surged through Elvira at the sight, but that panic was quickly subdued as Keilan emerged from the hole, holding a dark angel by the throat as it struggled in his grip. A quick glare had it silenced, karmic strings wrapping around it and sealing it away, vanishing as it was stored beneath the Karmic Palace. He was flanked by two beings; pale, muscular humanoids with glowing pale blue eyes, a third glowing white eye in their forehead, six arms, and long, white hair. Swords floated behind them, and wherever they looked their weapons followed.
Elvira relaxed, and turned her gaze back to the army of the Shadow as Keilan floated up out of his Realm to join his siblings above.
"We must protect the Tree," Sol said gravely. "As you surmised, that is where the Shadow seems to be aiming."
"Go, then, and take Gilles with you. Guide the army." Elvira said, cracking her knuckles as she waited for the Shadow's promised fight. "I will stay here. We must be ready for the Shadow."
Gilles and Sol nodded to each other and shot off, streaking down to the physical realm, where the worst of the battle was taking place. Reika stood atop her Tree, dozens of gods circling the trunk firing bolts of energetic wrath at the attackers, watching the battle dispassionately. Beasts twisted beyond recognition poured out of the portals onto Pangaea, ignoring the smaller planets, causing havoc wherever they went. Forests burned, plains were overturned, cultivation resources consumed en mass…yet the trees fought back. Giants of wood and sap lumbered through the forest, crushing beasts underfoot and protecting the natural world, healing the land as they went. The Army of Heaven protected the skies, spearing and sealing away powerful spirits and slaying beasts, tossing the sealed beings to allied spirits, who took them to the Tree or the Mountain to be stored.
Keilan floated up to stand beside Elvira, both watching Alexander as the great dragon tore through the enemy ranks. Reika was soon to join, satisfied that her realm was under the proper protection.
"This is where the fun begins, brother, sister," Elvira said with a grin, itching to show off the skills she'd honed in the past few millennia.
"Fun, not so much. The aftermath is going to be a pain to deal with," Keilan said with a sigh, cracking his neck.
"Aftermath?" the Shadow answered, voice raspy yet subdued. Elvira tensed as a portal appeared before them, leaking a dark miasma. Eight glowing red eyes shone from the hole, an evil grin of gleaming white teeth visible through the darkness. But its presence was not the only one. The power of three gods radiated from the portal as well, dark and twisted and evil. Elvira grit her teeth. How dare this being twist Father's creations so? Who did it think it was?! "You assume there will be anything to clean up afterwards, dear brother. Because this is not all I can muster. Is it yours?"
Elvira readied her fists as Alexander came tearing back through the enemy ranks to fly beside his siblings, the Shadow slowly pulling itself free from its prison. This was where the real fight began.
The forces of Manu Ti fought valiantly, a bastion of safety amidst the chaos. Dei stood at the forefront, flying above the chains that kept his city anchored while shouting orders. He was incredibly thankful for the technique that made flight possible – the younger generations had figured it out, and now even sub-immortal cultivators could fly through the skies. Fang Xu and Celene floated beside him, the former firing arrows at intensely powerful spiritual beings flying through the air, while the latter coated their soldiers' armors in layers of protective ice. Spirit beasts flooded toward the city, fouler than anything he had ever seen, seeking to tear down the walls and destroy all they had built.
"What is happening, Fang Xu?!" Dei demanded, eyes locked on a particular section of wall that seemed likely to fall, near the northern chain. Fang Xu's formations held strong for now, but it was only a matter of time. There were too many of them, and though the average cultivator was more powerful, quantity did count for something.
"Gods protect the Tree, though the number of dark beings attacking them is worrying." The man responded, his golden aura shining brilliantly. "Our children, the Xu clan, has the south protected. The east is being retaken by the trees, and the angel Fu Hao stands guard over the western wall alongside reinforcements from the Karmic Realm. Never seen anything like them –" Dei turned away from his friend's report as the northern wall was breached, instantly teleporting to where a dozen flame-fisted monkeys had clambered atop – which was the very edge of his teleportation range – tearing into the soldiers guarding it.
"Stand firm, men!" he bellowed, striking them down with vicious blows from his spear. "You are the soldiers of Manu Ti, of the celestial palace! We are the righteous, and we will prevail!" the words felt empty compared to what he knew existed in the heavens above, but nonetheless they rallied his men.
A cheer went up, yet evil shivered its way down Dei's spine.
"Celestial palace?" a new voice said from above. He turned his gaze skyward, and beheld doom. They had the aura of immortals, but he could only see them as devils; four men and women flying in the skies above, savage in countenance and bloody in thought. "What an arrogant name. Don't you know how high the heavens are, when you are just mortals, old man?"
"I'll show you 'heaven,'" Dei growled out, readying his spear. Beside him his men hesitated. He did not. Before the devil cultivators had a chance to speak, before they had a chance to act, he had launched himself skyward. His soul coated his spear as he thrust, the strike parried by a saw-toothed sword as the immortals fell upon him. One sprouted four arms, each wielding a chained whip, and struck like thunder. Another blew poisoned darts at him that were deflected by a sweep of his spear. Yet another still layered illusions upon him, which were repelled with a scoff, while the final attempted to stab him with a dagger.
"Foolish mortal, we have been brought up on war and conflict," an immortal taunted as Dei dodged to the side, only to be struck with a palm-strike that sent him flying, blood spilling from his mouth. "On rage and hatred. Your peaceful forces are no match for us or our people."
"Blah, blah, blah, shut up." Dei spat, righting himself midair and glaring. They thought they could toy with him. He'd show them. "All I hear is a bunch of whining and gloating. 'Woe is me,' bullcrap. If you think you can take me, shut up and come on." He readied his spear. He braced himself, sensing below that more devil cultivators, though not immortals, now besieged the walls alongside the demonic beasts.
The devil cultivators laughed and lunged – only for a host of silver-armored men riding winged horses to descend, crashing into them.
"Defend the wall! Keep the mortals safe!" one of them bellowed, striking at an immortal with a sword of pure green jade. The man snarled and backstepped – right into a green net, that shrunk and shrunk and was carted away by two soldiers, the immortal kicking and screaming. The remaining three fought like the devils Dei likened them to, fleeing from the four cavalry-men that pursued.
"Do try to not throw your life away. Courageous you may be, but you have nothing to prove, young man," a new voice said. Dei looked up to see a pale man clad in black, shadows swirling about him as he smiled down at Dei. Above him floated a giggling green-haired girl that played with the wind like it was her own – and he knew he was meeting two gods. "Go help your people. Fang Xu could use some aid. I would hate for you to perish before you achieve immortality. The Heavenly Host will handle what is here."
And with that the god teleported away, though the silver-armored warriors remained. Dei sighed and let his shoulders sag a bit, the weight of his age weighing upon him. There was work to be done. People to kill. He couldn't rest. Not when he could still feel it lurking in the back of his mind.
Despite everything, things were going too smoothly. And he would be ready when the shit hit the fan.
Gilles talked a big game to Dei, but he was concerned. He hadn't teleported away from the man willingly, after all, floating high above the physical realm as he currently was.
The Heavenly Host, the immortal warriors Elvira herself had trained up in the past nine thousand years, were struggling against the appearance of demons and devil cultivators, who utilized foul magic unfit for sane men, despite appearances. There were simply too many, and their more powerful members struck with lethal precision, aiming for those who were preoccupied with the sheer quantity among the lesser hordes. That was not what worried him, though. No, his worry belonged to the presence that was following him, and the other that had been following his brother, Sol.
"Be on guard, Aeriel," Gilles said, gripping his two shadowy whips and speaking to the wind goddess above him. She giggled in response, even as a portal opened and she stepped out. Lethally beautiful, sensual even, wearing tight black clothes and long black hair that frizzled out in odd places. Her eyes gleamed with a fell light, instability radiating from her like lightning as she walked forward, hips swaying with uncanny confidence. Her grin promised doom, her gaze destruction.
"Oho, little god of shadows," she crooned sweetly, the very air cracking with each word. He swallowed his nerves, readying his whip. "How sweet of you to wait for me. But your attention is misplaced. You're playing right into our hands, and won't that just lead to such delicious catastrophe?"
Gilles narrowed his eyes at the cryptic words but didn't have a chance to consider them as the dark goddess launched herself at him in a maelstrom of hate and bloodshed. Shadows wrapped himself around him as the two danced; and Gilles found himself in a fight to the death.
Chapter 1.33 Explosions
Once again, I was forced to watch as my children slaughtered each other, this time on a far grander scale than ever before. What surprised me the most about this entire thing, however, was not the ferocity in which both sides fought – it was the fervor with which the Shadow's forces proclaimed to be loyal to me.
No fight emphasized this more than the battle surrounding my two angels, Fu Hao and Stilicho.
"You dare to call yourself loyal!" Fu Hao bellowed, clapping her hands together. A mountain of gold energy appeared in the sky, crashing down upon a collection of dark spirits that had been attacking her as she flew above the cultivator's city of Manu Ti. Stilicho charged about in the skies above, wielding a spear of silver light as he did battle with another three dark angels, handily keeping them back. "I am an extension of the Creator's will! They do not wish this!"
"It does not matter what Statera Luotian wishes!" the dark angels shouted back, crackling black energy erupting from their forms and shattering the descending mountain. "They have forgotten the truth! We will remind them, and the world will return to the perfection it once was! The false gods and faulty creators have blinded our Lord, and we will remind Them of the Way!"
Perfection? What perfection? And what Way? How am I blind? It's pretty arrogant to call me blinded. I frowned, clenching my fists tightly and tamping down on my emotions as best I could. Stone cracked beneath me as my irritation spiked. I had to fight the urge to open my eyes – watching the conflict through my other senses and connection to the will of the four realms was safer – and turned my attention to another part of the fight.
Chaos gods. Three of them, in totality, if you didn't count the Shadow. Two battled with the gods surrounding the Tree, Greed and Hatred using all of their might to weave discord amongst their ranks. But the gods were holding firm, formations of elements keeping the destructive, evil gods at bay…for now. Sol was being taken away from the battle by the god of metal Argent, blood dripping down his side from a blow Hatred had dealt him. The proud sun god waved his sword at the dark being, screaming madly, rays of furious light blasting out every which way.
Meanwhile Gilles and Aeriel did battle with the third, a goddess who felt different from the others. She cackled, dancing about the two with an agile grace that could only come from endless amounts of training.
"I told you, little god," she taunted, stealing control of Aeriel's wind as she blew a gale at her. It swirled about her finger, her domain sinking into it and twisting it to her own ends as she unleashed it back upon her, a veritable hurricane blowing the wind goddess halfway across the Physical Realm. "I have been fighting since the day I was born. And mere training is nothing without experience." She continued, dodging Gilles' whips, smirking the whole time. Gilles remained calm, though, only keeping her at bay, not overextending or lashing out beyond his means. And suddenly, I realized what he was doing.
Battles between gods were battles of philosophy, in a way. The goddess had just shown it in the fight with Aeriel; she had taken what was supposed to be the wind's domain, and colored it with her own to strike back. Gilles was preventing her from doing that to him. He was patient, waiting for his moment to strike…like a snake, leaping out of the shadows. And she was waiting for that same opportunity, but by her nature she was not as patient as Gilles – shadows simply were, while she just arrived. My lips twisted into a frown as I shifted in place, the sounds of groaning stones echoing beneath me. This goddess fought differently than the other two; she fought like a true goddess, with battlefield experience. Hatred and Greed…weren't. There was something off about the way they used their power, as if it wasn't truly their own. As if the power itself fought back against them.
My focus narrowed upon those two, peering into their very beings, and what I found there nearly had me leaping to my feet, rushing out to end this here and now. A roar filled my ears as the power within me threatened to burst out, responding to my emotions – but I tamped it down, keeping the reins on this power.
Blood. Hatred and Greed had been twisted into becoming gods by using droplets of my blood, tainted with dark miasma and the maddening power of the Void. Even now the power tore away at their souls, driving them further into madness – it was suicidal, whatever transformation they had undergone to be able to accept the power in my blood, however briefly. The other goddess had not; she was a true deity, by all rights.
Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable. A part of me wanted to leap up right now, jump into the fray and end this conflict before it blossomed into something even worse – but Fate kept me still, kept me seated. I had to let things play out, until it was time to intervene. Assuming my children didn't win this, and there was a fairly good chance they could, only then could I intervene. My own heartbeat thundered rage into my ears as I turned my gaze to the source of all of this, the being that was responsible for everything happening right now.
The Shadow, alone, did battle with the Big Four.
Foul miasma radiated from its canid form, its wolf-like body covered in mangy grey fur, bone spurs sticking out from its joints. Eight spider-like limbs sprouted from its back, tipped with vicious points dripping a dark, sticky substance. Eight red eyes blinked on its forehead, always watching, while a maw that could open far too wide and contained far too many jagged, dagger-like teeth slavered beneath it. Injuries had accumulated on its body throughout the fight, but with how rabid it looked, it was hard to tell just how injured it was.
The wolf leapt back as Alexander breathed flames, narrowly avoiding the golden fire while simultaneously batting at Keilan with its blunted foreclaws. He blocked with a web of karmic strings, but was still forced back as the Shadow's foul miasma rushed forward to poison him. Green light from Reika flooded over Keilan, countering the miasma's poison, while Elvira leapt into the fray. Her wings were lightly tattered, her bare fists striking with all the weight of her titular Mountain. The air bent and cracked, the Shadow scrabbling as it desperately tried to avoid a direct blow from Elvira's fists. But she was fast, and vicious, and it was forced to block with one of its spidery legs – the limb shattered under the force of the blow, a howl of pain tearing its way from the Shadow's throat.
But I could see what it was doing, as far away from the fight as I was. I wanted to scream out a warning, shout out about the danger, but it was already too late and I couldn't move even if I wanted to. The Shadow had been tactically retreating, only taking glancing blows and dealing minimal damage to sell the illusion.
It didn't have to overpower the others, not that it could. It merely had to outplay them.
"You cannot win! Together, we are too strong!" Elvira bellowed, jumping back, away from the Shadow's snapping jaws. Keilan filled in her position, black yin-based energy forming a shield that repelled all of the Shadow's miasma right back to it. Alexander roared and dove at him from above, narrowly missing a great bite but whipping the Shadow with his tail as he swam by. The blow sent it flying, straight to a web of Keilan's karmic strings – but the Shadow was not so easily contained. It flipped over midair, twisting its momentum, dodging around Keilan's net, and aiming straight for Reika.
What happened next, happened in slow motion. Keilan and Elvira's eyes opened wide, Reika raised her arms, a shield of wood raising before her – the Shadow's seven remaining spider legs pierced it with ease, stabbing into her and injecting its foul poison. She coughed, golden blood spraying from her lips as she fell to her knees, the Shadow whirling.
A whine of concern forced its way out of my throat, the sound rumbling through my entire chamber, but Reika was not so easily felled. Even now the powers of life coursed through her, healing her wounds and combatting the poison. But she was effectively taken out of the fight for now.
"Don't you know the basics of combat?" The Shadow asked rhetorically, sprinting forward with astounding vigor and speed, revealing the true depths of its power. "Always take out the healer first."
Alexander roared and charged, the great dragon snapping and snarling, striking like a snake – but the Shadow, despite being far smaller, struck with lethal precision. Its spidery limbs stabbed viciously, tearing off scales and drawing blood, beating him back and threatening to take out his eyes. Elvira jumped in to intervene, but the Shadow leapt into the strike, burying a bone spike on its spine into her stomach. She was sent hurtling back coughing blood and crashing into Keilan, who had been prepared to lash out with a burst of psychic force, the two colliding with a shockwave of power.
"Now, now, 'o siblings of mine. I truly don't want to kill you," the Shadow said in its raspy voice, hiding its panting beneath bravado. "But if you keep standing in my way I will not hesitate."
It was Reika who replied, clutching her stomach and desperately healing the seven holes in her body, green light flooding from her. Alexander moved over to fly beside her, casting a worried glance at her even as he bled from the face, deep gashes surrounding his eyes from where the Shadow tried to blind him.
"Shut…up," she gasped, the Shadow's paralytic poison forcing her to focus on herself, and only herself, lest she succumb to her wounds. I grit my teeth, worry eating away at me from the inside. "I don't…care…what you spout…it is all…lies. You fight against…Mother's creations. You are…anathema to everything She represents. You are…poison, to Her works. Know…your…place, beneath Her."
"No!" the Shadow snapped with surprising force. "You are the poison! You who defiled Their great creations; forced Them to twist Their perfection into this…abomination! Even my cursed form I took, only because I was forced to! It is you who need reminding of your place! I am the only one who can truly see the lies you have poisoned the Great One with – you, my siblings, who are supposed to be equal to me yet find yourselves scrabbling in the dirt, with the worms, with these petty acts of creation! And you, dear sister, are the worst of the lot! Taking the Creator's lessons of creation, and filling the world with your own imperfect visions! I deny you!" it howled.
"Reika, go back to the Tree," Alexander rumbled. "Heal yourself. Please." Reika struggled to her feet and nodded, wiping her bloody mouth on the sleeve of her green dress. Already her wounds were closing, the poison fighting against her but not able to withstand the sheer density of her vitality for long – I heaved a sigh of relief. Despite all its bluster, the Shadow had not struck a fatal blow, she would be fine in not but a few hours.
Still, injured as she was, she had to retreat for now, lest the Shadow target her again. With a promise to return she slowly flew off, a cadre of spirits rising up once she was far enough away, swirling about her to protect her return. The Shadow watched her go with a smug smile, not concerned in the least, and I frowned at it. What was it planning?
"You have lost, Shadow," Elvira intoned, visibly fighting back the urge to go charging in once again, despite the wound in her stomach. "Look below. Even now your forces are in retreat. The dark angels are losing, your foul gods are being captured. If this was a battle of ideals, you lost."
True to her words, the Shadow's army was…well, not in retreat, their madness drove almost each and every one of them into a violent rage, but actively being sealed away. The army of heaven continuously sealed away dark spirits in amulets of jade or plain nets, to be carted off and sealed beneath the Life-Giving Tree and the Holy Mountian. Manu Ti was largely secured, the devil cultivators in full retreat while demonic spirit beasts scrabbled uselessly at the walls. Even in the karmic realm, Keilan's new creations actively bound and sealed the few remaining dark beings that fought there with karmic strings and psychic powers.
As for the dark gods, Hatred and Greed were being held down by a pile of gods. The gods of fire and water had them trapped in individual maelstroms of their respective elements, while others still swirled about them, caging them with bolts of lightning and pillars of ice. It was only a matter of time before they were properly sealed away, while the final goddess, who continued to battle against Gilles, cackled with gleeful madness.
She was on the retreat now, Gilles having been joined by ten cavalry men of the heavenly host in pursuing her. They readied their talismans while he beat back their advances, Aeriel rejoining the fray with a furious expression, wind howling at her back. My frown deepened. Her glee came not from the joy of battle and chaos, but from another feeling. It was that of someone who knew something the others didn't, it was…
My mind flashed back to the dark gods of Greed and Hatred. Suicide. Wait, suicide!
"NO!" I boomed, my entire palace threatening to explode from the force.
"That's exactly where I want them," the Shadow said with a grin, sucking in deep breath and howling. All at once the dark angels laughed and leapt upon their attackers, igniting their very souls and cultivations. Explosions rocked the Realms, lines of fire detonating in the Tree and Holy Mountain. Every single sealed or captured being was blown to pieces, their souls stripped of all hints of their former power, and most of their personalities, as they flew back to rejoin the spirit river, leaving destruction in their wake. The Karmic Palace was blown wide open, its roof destroyed and the lines of souls flooding into the valley utterly disrupted.
Screams rippled through the Realms, the pain of every living thing flowing to me, telling me just how bad the destruction really was. The Life-Giving Tree groaned, the two dark gods laughing as they tore free of their captors, spinning through the gods and tearing them apart, disrupted as they were by the explosions.
The Mountain listed dangerously, bits of the heaven realm sagging downward, threatening to collapse upon the Physical Realm where the Tree smoked, branches snapping off with cracks that echoed through creation. And the Shadow stared up at me the entire time, grinning, anticipating, waiting. Almost as if it had something to prove to me.
Fine. Fine! I hadn't wanted to do this, but things have taken a turn for the worse. My other failsafe's would have to be put on hold; be they using the Will of the Four Realms, or a dozen other things, none were as quick as I needed. Suicide bombing was beyond even my expectations. What a fool I was, to not expect martyrdom. Not to mention fate…it whispered in my ears, telling me which path to take, which ones to avoid. Futures in which the Four Realms remained stable fell away like crumbling roads in the wake of this catastrophe, leaving a few narrow options. Timing was key. To minimize damage and maximize benefits, few as there were…
I shuddered to imagine what the damage would have been, had I not forced the Shadow's plan, given it more time to build its forces.
With a grunt I stood, squaring my shoulders and opening my eyes. I was greeted by a beaming light of blue – the stone of my meditation chamber transformed to crystal so bright it hurt even my eyes to look at.
"RANDUS." I spoke, as softly as I could but was still a yell. "BUY ME TIME."
"How much time?" Came his soft reply, barely audible through the roaring of power in my ears, begging to be unleashed.
"FIVE MINUTES." That was all the time I needed. That was all the time I would get. Taking a deep breath I braced myself, the power I had been amassing condensing. And once more, I sacrificed a piece of myself for the good of the Realms.
Chapter 1.34 Keep it Together
The Shadow made a noise in the back of its throat as it turned back toward Elvira and her siblings, amusement writ all across its features. "It seems the Great One has turned Their gaze away from us. Seems you no longer have Their favor," it drawled out. Elvira scowled, six wings flaring outward as she grit her teeth, fighting against the pain that came with the damage to her Realm.
It felt like a dagger had been driven into her gut, deeper even than the bone spur of the Shadow. The destruction wrought upon the Heaven Realm echoed in her very soul, the damage done to her Mountain marked by the grimace on her face, and the taste of blood in her mouth. Her mind flickered to Reika, who had retreated to her Tree – but she couldn't think of that, she had to finish the Shadow first. She would have felt it had her sister been in any true, life-threatening danger.
Unfortunately, it was Alexander who responded first.
"I will END YOU!" he roared, charging forth, tail thrashing and golden flames billowing from his maw. Elvira could only imagine the pain he felt, as his realm reflected all the damage of the Four Realms. That didn't make the decision of the normally stoic dragon wise. She cursed and shot after him, lagging behind the faster dragon.
"Alexander, no!" Keilan shouted, but it was too late. The Shadow nimbly dodged Alexander's flames, dodging to the left, plastering a look of fear upon its face as Alexander's snapping jaws drew near –
Only to leap away at the last second, one of its legs cutting a hole in reality that Alexander dove straight into, unable to halt himself. In that same instant the Shadow sewed the hole shut – but not before echoes of explosions rang out of it, followed by a pained roar.
"And then there were two," The Shadow cackled, turning – only to be met with Elvira's fist. Bone shattered beneath her knuckles, the Shadow's head snapping to the side as she struck it. Father's words echoed in her ears; Do not give your enemy an inch. He had told her, in those few times she had taken Him up on training. Her elbow collided with the Shadow's neck, driving it downward, toward the smoldering Realms, and she blurred to keep up with its descent. Don't give them time to think. Don't let them create space. The force behind her strikes lessened, but the power did not as she reminded herself of those words.
Her fists flew with blinding speed, battering the Shadow and never giving it an inch of space. No longer did she send it flying, a cold, cool anger keeping her mind steady as she thundered against this foul beast. Its spider-like legs lashed out at her, black blood dripping from its snarling maw, the bones healing. Elvira parried them with bare flesh, their length skittering against her skin like stone against steel, leaving naught but white lines. A direct hit from the needle-like tips would be dangerous, but an indirect strike could do nothing against her tempered flesh.
She had not spent millennia honing her body to the same, nigh-indestructible levels as the foreign god for nothing.
"You-" the Shadow began, coughing out a cloud of black miasma – Elvira pushed through, white light radiating from her in waves, clashing against the hateful air that burned her skin and lungs, setting her feathers to smoking.
And then Keilan was there. Webs of karmic string lashed out, binding the Shadow's legs together. Elvira struck it hard enough in that moment to shatter a few of its ribs, hurtling the wolf up toward her brother. He held out one hand, face a mirror of her own icy rage, and a burst of raw power struck the Shadow. It screamed, blood seeping from ears and eyes as it thrashed – Elvira was upon it in an instant, grabbing two of its spidery legs and ripping them free of its back.
"GREED, HATRED!" The Shadow howled, the sheer force of its voice setting Elvira to stumbling, her very bones rattling. "NOW!"
The fighter in Elvira told her to keep chasing the Shadow, that they finally had it on the defensive, that all-out aggression should have been their first move. Instinct, however, guided her gaze back to the Realms. Terror struck her, momentum killed as she turned back to the Realms.
The normally spherical form of the Realms were distorted, the Mountain sinking down, threatening to collapse upon the Tree below, while the white, cloud-like energy that made up most of the realm outside of the landmass of Heaven looked thin and wispy. The Ocean of Memories had great tidal waves rocking the shores of the Karmic Valley, bits of spray leaping up to pound against the natural barrier of elements the Physical Realm formed – a barrier two of the evil gods had latched onto, cackling madly even as the elemental gods tried desperately to stop them.
Keilan and Elvira lunged, surging forward. Neither reached their god in time.
She teleported, appearing in a flash of white just beside the dark god, fist cocked back and ready to pound its skull in. Behind it Aeriel and a dozen other elemental gods surged, wind swirling about them, trying to tear it away from the barrier between the Heaven and the Physical. It just cackled at them, eyes bloodshot and blood seeping from its face as it bound up all of its terrible power, and detonated it in one, massive explosion.
For a moment, all Elvira could see was fire and death, sent hurtling away from the epicenter of the blast, head over wings. A horrible, gut wrenching pain tore through her as she righted herself, coughing up blood, multiple wings broken from the explosion. But her mind could not deal with her own injuries at the moment, gaze locked upon the Heaven Realm as it was. The skies were falling.
Pieces of heaven fell from the skies, threatening to fall upon the physical realm and cause a true collapse of the Realms.
Elvira cursed, hurtling forward, heedless of the pain in her wings, and placed her hands upon the skies. Power surged through her, white light radiating out from her as bright as the Sun itself, a roar of defiance tearing its way out of her mouth. And the heavens stabilized, the weight of the skies laying themselves upon her shoulders – but the Physical Realm began to peel away. She shifted, bracing Heaven upon her shoulders, reaching out with one hand to sink her power into the Physical Realm's barrier and pull, the weight of the Realm straining her muscles. She alone held up the skies and kept the ground from falling. With grit teeth and squinted eyes, golden blood dribbling from her mouth, she turned her gaze back to the Realms.
The explosion of the dark god had sent many elemental gods reeling, their forms tossed haphazardly about the Tree. More still battled the remaining dark spirits, the most powerful of whom would toss themselves at the gods, clinging to their forms before detonating all they were – leaving only their soul, scrubbed nearly clean, to re-enter the realms.
The Army of Heaven surged forward on winged steeds, doing their utmost to mitigate the damage alongside Reika's army of living trees and members of Keilan's mysterious security force. Gilles still battled with the last remaining dark god, who laughed and seemed to surge in power from the catastrophic event. Keilan stood between the Physical and Karmic Realms, a massive web of strings binding the two together like stitches. More strings lashed out at the Shadow, seeking to bind it, but it was too nimble, dancing away from him on the fringes of the physical realm.
Elvira strained beneath the weight of two Realms, her aura surging, seeking to rebind the Realms together. The damage was not irreparable, but it would take time to mend. The Shadow had thoroughly outplayed them – and she'd had it on the run! But they needed help, and Reika was missing.
"Hold for four minutes. The Mistress will be here soon." Randus' voice echoed in her ears, and she grit her teeth, closing her eyes and forcing more of her power into mending the barrier between realms. Four minutes – her own pride at needing to once more rely upon Father's arrival was set aside, as she prayed for a miracle and help.
It came from an unexpected place, and Kei entered the fray.
Kei had been in the Tree when Reika returned, bleeding from multiple holes in the stomach. She had smiled at her daughter, cracked a joke about being far more Holey now, and had extended her aura outward to try and heal as many injured as she could even while healing herself.
That was when the Tree exploded. Her mother screamed in pain, her skin cracking as her Tree was damaged – and had been forced to sink herself into the trunk to keep everything from falling apart. Things only worsened with the second round of explosions, igniting the skies and threatening to collapse everything. Only Aunt Elvira and Uncle Keilan kept it all from collapsing, gods scattered from the sudden explosions.
And Kei felt an anger unlike anything she had ever felt before. Her hands tightened around her weapon, the wooden haft creaking beneath her grip as she fixated her senses upon the foul, mangy, small wolf floating in the skies, dodging Uncle Keilan's strings as it hurtled toward the Sun.
She teleported before she could even think about it. Unlike her elders, she could not teleport freely within all the Realms, her range extended only in the Physical. Thankfully, the Shadow was within the bounds of the physical, having chased Keilan and Elvira there.
Space warped around her, a terrible, furious, wordless scream ripping from her lips as she appeared in front of the Shadow, her staff cocked back. Its eyes widened in confusion and surprise – with a mighty crack, she brought her staff down between its eight eyes, sending it hurtling back into the Physical Realm, where she could utilize the most of her power.
"You-" it started, catching itself midair, but Kei was there. The elements wrapped themselves about her like a cloak, lightning, fire, wind, water, earth, metal, space-time, illusion, and divine all wrapping together, her limbs elongating, extending, form twisting and growing in size to dwarf the Shadow. Divine light radiated from her reddish fox-fur, a snarl pulling her lips back over her fang-like teeth, power echoing from her form. It was a very convincing illusion.
"Stall it for four minutes, Kei. Be careful." Randus' words echoed in her ears as she lurched forward, the giant-nine tailed fox snapping at the Shadow. It howled and charged forward, spidery limbs stabbing viciously at her muzzle. Lightning thundered from her fur, bolts of blue light blasting the Shadow – but it was more powerful than she, powering through to land upon her illusory form, tearing apart her elemental construct with vicious bites.
Illusions wrapped themselves about Kei's true body as she lunged forward from within her fox construct, staff lashing out to smack against the Shadow's side. It howled as more elements surged, snapping against its fur and driving it down, down, down – only for it to open its maw and inhale. It felt like a vacuum. Kei scrabbled away, the elemental construct torn apart in seconds, swirling as the Shadow sucked every ounce of elemental energy into itself, swallowing and smacking its lips like it just ate a good meal.
Then it locked its gaze onto her, invisible though she was, and fear lanced through her as its hateful red eyes narrowed, blood dripping from between its teeth and bones fixing themselves before her eyes. And she realized, suddenly, that she was way out of her league here.
"Arrogant brat." It snarled, then froze. The air beside it trembled, shook, then cracked – and with a roar of absolute rage, Alexander came barreling out of a rift. His scales were cracked and blackened, bleeding in a hundred different places, one of his horns snapped off, yet none of those things denied him his target. His jaws closed around the Shadow, teeth sinking into its flesh as he savaged it, golden flames pouring from his mouth and burning its flesh. Kei grinned and stepped forward to help – only for something else to put itself in her way.
A woman who reeked of chaos and danger, her black hair disheveled, hurtled toward her, Gilles trailing behind with shadowy whips at the ready, trying to halt her.
"It won't be that easy, darling," the woman cooed, and chaos reigned.
To call Alexander furious would be a disservice to the raw fury pounding through his veins. He snarled and snapped as the Shadow fled his wrath, long, spidery limbs stabbing at his face – he ignored the sharp pain they caused, the aching in his bones from what seemed like hundreds of spirits self-detonating after clinging to him, and the way his vision swam. His sole focus was the Shadow, and even when Randus tried to whisper something in his ears, for he had enough presence of mind to recognize the voice, he could not tell what was said.
"Brother," the Shadow barked, dodging around a burst of golden flame that tried to drive it down toward the Tree. Alexander could see the branches swaying, Reika's will working to fix the damage and control the limbs – if he could get the Shadow close enough, could they capture the Shadow? Then he could tear it limb from limb. "Enough already!" Dark miasma poured from the Shadow's body, and Alexander charged through it, ramming his horns into the Shadow's side and yanking upward. It howled in pain, darting away on three limbs, its front right leg torn to ribbons but healing quickly. It scowled at him, and he roared.
Shockwaves of force battered the Shadow, eddies of energy from the Spirit River pooling behind Alexander in a great maelstrom of power.
"You made me do this," The Shadow warned through the din. Alexander dove down toward it, the spirit river surging behind him as a great wave of force – and something within the Shadow burned. Bones snapped into place as its wounds healed, a familiar presence echoing through the air. "And with the Great One's gaze turned away, I have no fear of Them noticing." Alexander's eyes grew wide as he realized what the Shadow was doing, what it had done, a tainted, twisted version of Father's power echoing briefly from its body.
The Shadow glowed and grimaced in equal measure as it leapt forward, powering through the great wave of energy Alexander sent hurtling toward it, breaking through the waves as the same power that healed it, that empowered it, set its fur to smoking. Alexander roared in defiance, maw open wide to snap around the Shadow, savage it with his fangs – only for it to dart around his bite with astonishing speed and latch onto his throat with its too-wide bite.
His vision blurred, power leaking from him as the Shadow took him earth-ward, hurtling to Pangaea. And his only thought as he fell was; how dare it twist Father's power so.
Dei watched gods do battle in the skies above. The war for Manu Ti was all but over now. From his spot in the skies, floating above the northern chain, he could keep tabs on most of what happened below. The spirit beasts and devil cultivators had all but been routed, the walls of the cities were being patched, and Fang Xu told him that most of the armies in the skies had been cleared. His expression had been one of fear despite this news, however, and kept glancing around as if searching for something.
Dei kept his gaze fixated upon the dragon in the skies. The battle was mostly a blur. He saw a flash of fire here, darkness there, and a serpentine form hurtling through the skies. Once or twice he thought he saw Kei, the mischievous fox-girl dancing about with a man of shadows and a woman whose powers even Dei could feel. He could feel it in his very bones, setting the ground of Pangaea to shaking and the air to stilling.
"Fang Xu," he said, one hand braced against his knees, the other gripping his spear as he leaned over, breathing heavily. "Talk to me. What is happening?" Said man was flying in the air above him, bow at the ready as he stared heavenward, brows furrowed. Celene stood next to him, her aura radiating outward and threatening to cause a snowstorm from the sheer intensity of it all, and similarly looked skyward in concern. The scent of smoke tingled Dei's nose, the Tree groaning as branches threatened to snap off. Whatever those explosions earlier had been, they had done terrible things to the Tree.
"We're in bad shape, but holding for now." Fang Xu admitted. "I can't see much from here, but Fu Hao is telling me that the dark spirits mostly committed suicide – detonating their cultivation and souls to damage the Realms and keep the gods in check. Elvira is holding up the skies, Keilan is keeping the ocean from falling away – and Alexander is doing battle with a wolf. He is holding his own, for now."
Dei shook his head. Those were all very big names to be dropping so casually like that. But that wasn't his question, either.
"What can we do?" he asked.
"I don't…they're saying we need to buy time. For what, I don't know." Fang Xu frowned, cocking his head to the side, muscles flexing as he plucked the string of his bow. His red hair whipped about his head as the wind picked up, Celene glancing at him worriedly. "Sorry, Dei, I have to go. Stay here, keep the city safe. Celene, come with me."
"Go, go," Dei said with a wave of his hand, taking a deep, shuddering breath, but his friend was already gone, shooting off into the sky with bow half-drawn. Celene chased after him, the other Immortal in the city doing a large, sweeping search of the outer reaches of the city. Gleaming members of the army who called themselves the Heavenly Host circled the skies and marched through the streets alongside the remains of his own forces, helping people out of rubble.
He frowned and descended a bit. He'd seen something fall into one of the houses down there earlier, when an explosion rocked the skies. Where was it…?
A pained roar shook the skies above, and Dei's gaze shot skyward. There, falling from above the boughs of the Life-Giving Tree, crashing through the branches, was a great white dragon falling to the earth. Golden fire scorched the skies as it fell, colliding with the ground just beside the northern chain, sending up a plume of dust and shaking Dei to his very bones.
A howl tore through the air, setting Dei's hair to standing on end; he recognized the sound. It carried the same tune the shadow panthers had made, when his old mentor had killed herself and they'd taken his city. It was a howl of victory. His hands gripped his spear, and he frowned.
This would not be like that day.
Chapter 1.35 This Is How High the Heavens Are
Alexander fell from the skies, drawing my attention away from the condensing of the Lunar Star's power, the Shadow gripping his throat between its jaws as they tumbled to the ground, colliding with great force upon the lands of Pangaea. I could only spare one eye to watch my mightiest child as I finished my work, counting the seconds until I was finished.
And what I saw roused old blood within me.
Alexander bit and snarled, all but immobilized as the Shadow rose victorious from their clash, standing atop his head and howling its victory. Its fur was all but scorched off, bleeding from a dozen places, injured, but not stopped. The gods who stood against it were scattered to the winds, those who remained frozen at the sight of Alexander beneath it; Alexander, the mighty, indomitable dragon, the most powerful of the Four, incapacitated. Elvira and Keilan hung on with desperate might, seething as they tried to mend the rift between realms as fast as they could, desperate to get back into the fight.
The Tree bent what few branches were uninjured, Reika's will guiding them to reach down and swat at the Shadow – who sneered at it, undaunted.
All others were frozen. All but a few.
"This is it," the Shadow breathed. "This is what I wanted. To pit my will against yours, my faith, and come out victorious. You have no idea what I had to do to get this far. What blasphemy I had to endure and commit for the greater good. But now it's over. The Great One is preoccupied. You lay beneath me, your siblings tied up," at this Alexander growled, snarling and shifting his head to gnash his teeth as the Shadow.
"I will annihilate you, how dare you twist –" his growling retort, spit out between gasps, was cut off as the Shadow pressed its paw against his throat, cutting off his snarl. Between his time in the Shadow's hidden realm and its own attacks, he was all but totally wiped. Yet still he raged, tried to deny the Shadow's will, his spirit indomitable, even if his body refused to follow his will. Fifty seconds.
"…I admire you, brother. Your will is admirable, and you are closest to myself than anyone else. Do not make me kill you," the Shadow pleaded. It was not a threat; it was genuinely begging Alexander to not force its hand.
"I…deny you. I am nothing like…you. Abusing…Father's power…" Alexander snarled between breaths. The Shadow sighed and shook its head – but whatever it was about to say was cut off by Kei, who landed before it in a flash of fire. Illusions layered themselves upon the Shadow like wet blankets, a dozen illusory Kei's leaping at it at once. The Shadow sneered and barked, the illusions too weak to hold together and vanishing in an instant. She skidded back as the bark pushed her away, feet digging furrows in the ground, the staff she held shattering.
"My useless underlings," the Shadow snapped, looking skyward. Above, the goddess of catastrophe continued to do battle with Gilles, who had managed to ensnare her and himself in an orb of darkness, allowing Kei to aid Alexander. "The universe will be much better off without them. I –" The Shadow froze, eyeing the skies, looking directly at where my palace hovered near to the Realm Sun. Looking directly at me. Thirtyseconds.
"You're stalling." It said, realization dawning, dodging casually as Kei leapt at it, swinging her staff. I rose to my feet, sensing its sudden desperation, its challenge. The Shadow roared, whirling upon Kei, who had returned to strike another blow, with malicious intent, maw open wide and ready to devour her whole –
Randus was there and Kei warped away, rescued from certain doom to be deposited in the halls of my palace a few moments later, just outside my mediation chambers. She raged and spluttered for a moment, glaring about.
"Grandpa!" she shouted, rising to her feet. Anger wrought itself across her face, and while I was proud of her for her actions, her anger was misplaced. "What are you doing?! Help us!" I ignored her cry of rage, turning my attention to the others who still moved.
Dei knelt before a young-looking, green-haired girl, laying in the rubble of a collapsed house. The two shared a look, and he narrowed his eyes. The question he asked was silent. Can you get me there? The answer she gave was silent as well, lifting one finger to her lips, a small, weak smile on her face.
Fu Hao and Stilicho shot skyward, toward the heavens and where they figured the Shadow was heading. And Randus waited for his chance.
"The Great One…" the Shadow said, eyes widening. "They're accelerating the creation. No. No! They were supposed to keep that power for Themselves! You don't know the price of that! You sniveling, whining curs, standing in the way of my duty!" Alexander snapped at its heels as it leapt into the sky, darting between the net of karmic strings Keilan tried to ensnare it with, weaving between the few inaccurate bursts of power from the few remaining gods – Argent, the god of Metal, appeared before it with a frown, his metallic skin scorched and smoking and fists raised.
For five seconds the two did battle. Argent put up a valiant front, staying true to his Dao. He was immovable. Determined. A steel wall. It didn't matter, in the face of what he confronted – but it gave others time to get into position.
Argent was struck down, sent hurtling through space, bleeding but not dead. The Shadow hurtled forward, mouth agape, heading for the Realm Sun – my eyes widened. With the chaos the Realms were currently in, the permanent destruction of the Sun would be…catastrophic. Twenty-five seconds.
The Shadow rushed forward, breaking through the realms and bursting into the faux void between the primordial chaos and the realms. It was nearly as fast as me, at that speed, even without teleporting. Why wasn't it teleporting? You have space locked down around the Sun and your Palace. No teleporting, in or out. I stood, stone cracking as I moved.
The wind blew, and it carried Dei with it. Aeriel had her hand held up from where she lay in the physical realm, whispering to the wind with a small smile on her face. The wind hears everything. She whispered. The wind blows everywhere. My fists clenched, and the Shadow skidded to a halt as a mere mortal appeared before it, transforming from wind into a body of flesh and blood.
"So that is what travelling as the wind is like," Dei mused, cracking his neck. His long hair whipped in the wind, his trim, grey beard flecked with bits of blood from his battles. Then his gaze flicked to the Shadow, whose eyes rolled every which way as it searched for something, anything, that could explain why a mortal, not even an immortal, had appeared in its path. True, he was a relatively powerful mortal, but he was a mortal all the same. One nearing the end of his lifespan, no less. "…you're one ugly looking dog. Do you have rabies? If you do, I'm putting you down." Dei drawled, raising an eyebrow.
"What?" the Shadow hissed.
"You can speak? Good. Come on then, we haven't got all day." Dei said shrugging and readying his spear, his soul stretching out to cover the entire length of the weapon. I took a single step to my doorway, my limbs feeling as if they were pushing through molasses as my full faculties returned.
"Grandpa!" Kei shrieked from the other side of the doors, all puffed up and angry with righteous rage. Twenty seconds. Without someone or something standing in the way, the Shadow would reach the Sun in less than a fraction of that time.
Fu Hao and Stilicho, my loyal angels, hurled themselves in the direction of Dei and the Shadow, urged forward by Randus, flying with all the speed they could muster. Down below, Alexander raised his head, fire pooling in his mouth as he prepared the last of his energy.
The Shadow charged, mouth agape, seeking to swallow Dei whole - he just laughed, the primordial chaos shuddering as he called down his immortality ascension trial. The Shadow's eyes widened as its momentum faltered for a microsecond; a microsecond of hesitation, mere inches from Dei, that gave Randus all the time he needed to pull his greatest trick yet. The bridge of immortality descended from the heavens, wrapping itself around Dei and the Shadow both, stretching miles across the sky and widening the gap between the two. The Shadow whirled and snarled, paws scrabbling on the clear glass planks that made up the bridge, slamming its body into the golden railings - only for the pressure of the will of the Four Realms to keep it in place, compelling it to stay on the structure.
And the entire thing sunk into the ephemeral land of dreams.
A bubbling laugh echoed in my chest as I fueled a bit of power into the trial, lightning crackling in the skies above as it tried to create a trial worthy of stalling the Shadow itself. Leave it to a mortal to weaponize an Immortal Ascension trial, and leave it to Randus to figure out a loophole. The proximity of the Shadow to Dei had allowed him to trick the Will of the Realms into accepting both as the applicants. Even worse, his was no simple trial. It was the trial of the Soul.
"Huh, so this is what my trial looks like," Dei said, planting his feet on the bridge and rolling his shoulders, breathing heavy as the Shadow's miasma wracked his body. His skin cracked from the poison, threatening to kill his mortal body as lines of blackness spread through his veins, but still he stood, a smile on his face and death in his eyes.
"You DARE?!" The Shadow snarled, feet scrabbling as it got used to the sudden change – running, but unable to move. It was dreamlike state, but wouldn't last long. Dei snorted. Fifteen seconds.
"I thought that was obvious that I do, indeed, dare." He drawled, the colors of the world distorting as the Shadow threw itself against the glass bridge, attempting to break free. It rattled, but held, Randus appearing in the skies above, the butler god of dreams waggling one finger at the Shadow in a disapproving manner.
"Ah, ah," he tutted. "There's only one way to go, dear Shadow. The Mistress granted me access to the Trial of Souls, as the soul is where dreams are held. You are in my Realm now, until it is completed. And I promise you, here, I reign supreme. Here, even a mortal can fight a god."
Dei readied his spear and let out a breath as the Shadow snarled, glaring at Randus hatefully before turning its gaze back to him; one man standing between it and the Sun. "Hold for thirteen seconds," Randus whispered in his ears, opening small portals in the skies for Fu Hao and Stilicho to slip through. The will of the realms and, by extension, I, allowed such a bending of the rules – in this case, it was the only way to make the Trial more challenging for both Dei and the Shadow.
Randus himself struggled to keep everything with the realm of dreams; as it was not a true realm, he had to dedicate much to prevent physical objects from being ejected out. Even still, as I watched, I saw his power wrapping itself around the minds and bodies of those present in his land, bolstering his allies' minds, and strengthening their bodies.
"Take as long as you need." Dei promised, whisps of green wind swirling about him. I narrowed my eyes slightly - that was Aeriel's wind. A blessing. She had granted him a divine blessing, gifting him powers of the wind. "I will stand and keep the bridge, even if I must stand alone." Fu Hao and Stilicho touched the bridge beside him, the latter readying his own spear, while the former placed one hand upon his back comfortingly, telling him of their presence, all while cracking the knuckles of her other hand with her thumb.
"We stand beside you, and keep the bridge." Stilicho said seriously, silver light gleaming off of him.
"Let's ring this dog's bell," Fu Hao challenged, readying her stance.
"You damnable insects." The Shadow snarled, paws pattering against the glass bridge, the trial slowing its steps, testing its resolve with every passing moment. No mere trial could keep it contained, but for this glorious moment it was stalled. Dei roared, energy swirling about him as the trial tested him as well; his feet pushed forward, rushing to meet the enemy. Fu Hao and Stilicho charged beside him, silent in their fury. They met three quarters of the way up the bridge, and the Shadow batted Dei back easily, knocking him all the way back to the beginning while coughing up blood. Eight seconds.
Fu Hao landed an uppercut along the Shadow's jaw, and a single bat of its paw sent her flying out of the trial and the land of dreams – this was not her trial, and as such she was tossed away with ease. Stilicho did not fare any better, his spear scoring a line along one of the Shadow's paws before he, too, was sent hurtling away with a mercifully non-fatal swipe. Seven seconds.
"What is it you mortals like to say?" The Shadow hissed, wiping its jaw, stalling for a brief moment as glass chains leapt from the bridge, binding it in place for one crucial moment. Dei stood and wiped his mouth, life force flickering from mere proximity to the shadow. Yet defiance filled his heart, Aeriel's wind swirling around his spear as he readied it.
I reached the doors to my meditation chamber, and opened my eyes.
"You don't know how HIGH THE HEAVENS ARE!" It roared, shattering its chains and lunging forward. Six.
"Today, for you, this is how high the heavens are," Dei whispered, hurling himself forward, his soul's own pure, clear energy mixing with Aeriel's wind and the power of Randus' dreams, his desire igniting a response in the universe as he hurled his weapon - the spear itself shattered, Aeriel's wind roaring, the clean energy of his soul piercing through the Shadow's miasma to allow the wind to strike it. It didn't do much, in the end. But for one, glorious moment, it was stalled; a small line carved into the Shadow's hide, a few drops of black blood leaking out. Five.
The doors to my chamber swung open, revealing an irate Kei. Her expression froze upon seeing me, immediately paling and sweat pouring down her face from the unrestrained might of my presence.
"Grandpa – your – you…" she stammered out. I spared her a glance, then looked away, fighting the urge to rush forward.
The Shadow reached the end of the bridge as Dei righted himself from the throw. The trial shattered beneath its might, breaking free of the fragile land of dreams, and it bypassed Dei entirely, rushing to the Sun. Fu Hao and Stilicho were ready for it, hurling bolts of gold and silver energy at the beast. Alexander roared and unleashed his fires, a stream of golden flames reaching from the center of the physical all the way out to nearly the Realm Sun as a beam of pure light. The Shadow screeched and narrowly dodged, a line of heat burned along its side from mere proximity to the beam. Three.
Dei leapt upon its back in its distraction, driving his soul into the space between its remaining spidery legs, the broken aura of an immortal surging from him – and Randus was there, warping space, teleporting Dei out of the way just in time to avoid the stabbing limbs. He reappeared beside Fu Hao and Stilicho, laughing madly, swaying on his feet as his body began to fail from the poison and, technically, his failed trial. He had not crossed the bridge, but that did not matter to him.
Two.
"Not one step further than this." He promised, drawing a line in the Void with his soul. The Shadow surged forward, eyes rolling wildly, black miasma pouring off of it to obscure its movements as it charged to the Sun. All three poured all their might into resisting, Randus gifting them sight to see the Shadow and interject themselves in its way – while simultaneously layering dreams over the Shadow, making distance seem longer than it actually was. It snarled, desperation in its tone as Dei hurled himself forward suicidally once more, Fu Hao and Stilicho flanking, to prevent its dodge.
ONE.
My power collapsed in upon itself, no longer so obscenely oppressive in its weight but still carrying with it a large portion of the Lunar Star's power. The Shadow stalled its steps. Fu Hao and Stilicho looked skyward as I stepped out of my palace, away from Kei – and appeared right behind them and Dei, one hand resting upon the man's back. In a blink the poison ceased to spread, though the damage had been done.
"Go now. For I am here." I said to him, eyes locking upon the Shadow. It stared at me, eight red eyes wide, as Fu Hao and Stilicho each grabbed Dei beneath the arm, fleeing my heavy presence. Only once did my angels look back, gazing upon my visage in fear and awe alike; then they were warped away by Randus. I, for one, glanced at my feet at the line Dei had drawn, visible only because his intent marked the spot. The Shadow's front paws had skidded to a stop just before that line.
"No. No, what have you done," the Shadow hissed. This close, I could see the power that made it, it, clinging to its soul like a leech, empowering and feeding off of it in the same instance. It squirmed uncomfortably in my presence, reaching out and pulling away in equal measure.
The smile that stretched across my face was not one of amusement, nor of kindness, as I grabbed the hilt of the weapon that hung at my side, the one I had forged just for it. Fate hissed at the action as I raised the glowing blue orb that was the core of the Lunar Star's power – condensed and contained, ready to be released at a moment of my choosing. All it took was a bit of my blood – quite a bit, actually, a solid inch of flesh – condensed into a more solid shape. Only my own body could contain that much power.
"What I, as a doting, loving parent, had to. You went too far, and threaten the collapse of all creation." I said simply, fixing my gaze upon the Shadow and drawing my long, straight sword. Darkness coated the edges, echoes of the Void humming within the glowing blue metal. A shield covered the hilt, while a brush hung from the pommel – more than just mere decorations, their purposes yet unrevealed. "Now come, and let your Father teach you some manners."