Chapter 247: Dark Tides

A pale grey light swallowed the world.

It arrived without sound, flooding the Garden’s horizon inward until the entire realm had bleached to the colour of ash. Following it, a weight emerged that pressed against the chest from the outside in, enormous and deliberate, moving through the realm akin to a tide.

The altar shuddered, and pale light erupted.

It came from beneath the altar’s stone in one violent upward burst, and the altar came apart under it. The geometric scripture cracked along every carved line simultaneously, the stone launching outward in every direction.

The Black Heart contracted violently, its ichorous skin pulling inward as the pale light drove into it from beneath, boring through it, consuming it from the inside out in a sustained and total annihilation that left nothing behind.

With the last of its essence consumed, the heart split open. Sending a terrifying shockwave outwards.

The blast wave hit the players and Void at full force, hurling them off the mountain entirely. As the edge of the mountain disappeared beneath them, the group fell towards the endless abyss.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING!" BearSpray’s pov was still rolling.

"ARE WE DYING?" Undecided’s voice cracked.

"WE’RE DYING!" TheOneWhoKnocks confirmed.

"&!#&&# WHAT THE #&@&!" Waffles said something the comms channel filtered out.

"Mamaaa! Life had just begun🎶" Gandalf broke out into a song, and IEatPaint immediately joined him in a duet; the two had lost all hope.

Void said nothing.

His instincts had fired the moment the grey light first appeared at the horizon; he already knew what was going on. He let the fall happen around him and kept his eyes on the ashen expanse above, reading the shape of the presence moving through the realm.

A pale silhouette rose over the horizon slowly at first, then all at once, a form so vast it covered the Garden’s violet expanse. And then, it revealed itself. A sinuous serpentine body came into view with scales that radiated pale light. A gargantuan Ahamkara reared its head below the horizon, and opened its jaws wide.

Void’s lips curved into a smile as he fell.

The pale Ahamkara coiled and rapidly descended towards them. With a swipe of its claws, Zamyr gathered them all and banked wide across the Garden’s expanse in one long arc before gently placing them on the broad face of a lower island

The players hit solid ground and went completely still.

Nobody spoke.

Above them, the coiling form diminished as it descended toward Void, the pale radiance concentrating into a single thread of light that conjured itself into a blade that slung into his grip.

Void caught the blade, and immediately noticed the changes.

A new pattern ran the full length of it from hilt to tip. A coiling dragon, its scales rendered in detail too precise for any hand to have made, spiralling the blade with its head raised at the point.

Then a notification surfaced.

-

Zamyr’s Requiem

Rank: Legendary (Infused)

" A lament, an Odyssey, a pilgrimage to ascension, shattered through fate but bound by vows. "

Perks:

(Fated): Only those chosen can hear its cries; the blade answers to its wielder.

(Hunger): Feast on the paracausal paradigm, an ever-shifting gradient dividing the light and dark. Consume the souls of your enemies. The blade will ascend and fulfil the lament of an everlasting wish.

[Unlocked!] (Cleave): Cut through the very souls of your opponents. No armour shall protect them, and no magic shall elude your blade.

(Locked): Infusions Required

-

Void read it once and lowered the blade.

A shrill voice grated on his ears. Void scoffed in disbelief, "You could have warned me about the entrance."

Zamyr broke into a chuckle, «Where’s the fun in that?»

"What about the heart?" Void sheathed the blade.

«I consumed it entirely.» Zamyr paused. «It will not be remade.»

Void nodded and read the Cleave inscription in the status screen. "What’s this second infusion?"

«The Heart’s power was potent. Far beyond my expectations. It has allowed me to delve further into the magic of souls. With this, the blade can reach the souls of even the strong, given enough time.» Zamyr’s voice steadied, the resonance of it settling into something more familiar.

"Powerful. We’ll need to test that later." Void turned back to the players. "For now, let’s leave this place first."

«As you say, O brother mine.» Zamyr’s voice faded. The pale light along the blade dimmed to a quiet, steady glow and held there.

The players were still awestruck.

Waffles stood with both hands at her sides, looking at the sword. Gandalf had his head tilted at a slight angle. BearSpray had his camera pointed directly at the blade and was breathing audibly.

"The sword," TheOneWhoKnocks said carefully. "The sword just talked?"

Void noticed their reactions, but chose to stay quiet.

"It has a voice?" Gandalf marvelled.

BearSpray turned his mic back on. "Guys," he said, his voice very measured. "Guys, are you seeing this?"

"We need to move; our job here is done," Void said, already reading the horizon.

The realm shook. A ripple moved through the violet expanse in slow concentric rings, spreading outward from a single point far below. Void’s eyes darted along its path.

The rift they had entered from was glitching in and out of existence.

"The gate’s unstable! Move." Void grimaced and ran towards the edge of the mountain. "Now!"

"Zamyr, make a path for us." Void jumped from the edge.

«As you wish.»

A coiling path unravelled below Void and stretched above the jungle, back to the rift.

"Oop! We’ll talk about the sword in a depth video, dropping tomorrow! Let’s continue the raid!" BearSpray rattled off into his mic; the rest of the players jumped into action and raced behind Void.

As the group rushed back, the Black Garden shook again.

-

[Freehold]

Freehold burned.

The Vex advance hadn’t paused. It hadn’t slowed. The rifts above the crater replenished what Vex forced faster than the combined forces of the Cabal and Guardians below could reduce it. The Cabal fought tooth and nail, the two surviving tanks firing in alternating salvos to keep the Minotaurs from rolling through what remained of their infantry.

As the battle continued, the southern ridge of the crater broke open, and the Cabal reinforcements arrived.

The Cabal pressed forward with a squad of imperial tanks and a legion of their soldiers. Weapons charged and loaded, they marched in formation towards the centre of the crater and read the battlefield.

The Legionnaires opened fire on the Vex without a word exchanged with anyone.

Shaxx watched the reinforcements arrive, and the gears in his mind turned.

"Everyone! Pull back," he bellowed "Staged withdrawal. All squads off the western engagement. Let the Cabal hold the line."

The Guardians followed his orders, slowly retreating from the front lines in droves that were too busy to track. With the fresh reinforcements, the Cabal finally struck back with full weight, and the Vex advance slowed for the first time since the Gate Lord’s second shriek.

Shaxx himself retreated and reached the rift’s perimeter.

He Exhaled once.

Tevis appeared to his right, and behind him the Nightstalkers pulled their forces back. On the other side of the crater, Wei Ning, Sai Mota and Eriana had safely joined the Tuyet Fireteam and secured the Gate Lord’s cage.

Both Tevis and Shaxx felt their wrists buzz. A bright red light flashed on their transponders.

At that instant, Pahanin, Marcus and Kaviss landed beside the two, heaving exhausted breaths.

"Rasputin?" Pahanin raised a brow.

Shaxx and Tevis exchanged another glance; a hint of unease was present in both their eyes.

Shaxx opened the message, and Ikorra’s voice urgently leaked through. "All Guardian forces. Be advised, we’ve got ships inbound!"

"The hell? Is it the fallen?" Levi’s eyes widened.

But before any of them could answer. The horizon above darkened.

-

A/N: Enjoy chap, THROW STONES AND leave a polite review or I will throw stones at you (real ones).

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