This is the last area? I asked as I watched the approaching cluster of islands.
Yes, Damien said, standing beside at the front of our battleship. Around us flew a cluster of small, fast-moving undead animals Damien had created specifically for this fight. The rest of the regions have been subdued and taken back under our control, but this one has proved challenging. Each ti weve tried to assault it, we have been pushed back by an overwhelming force.
From what I can see, I think this is the stronghold of a creature brought into your mindscape. Either by a creation of the ti magic or sothing that entered from the Plains of Eternity, Ilore explained.
If I had to choose, I hope its just a simple creation of magic, I said nervously. I dont want to fight sothing from a place called the Plains of Eternity.
That seems logical, Damien made a face. None of us even know what the Plains of Eternity are. I didnt even know they existed.
The Plains of Eternity are a place your weak, mortal minds were never ant to see, an ominous voice echoed around the battleship. Though this mindscape of yours has been quite the fascinating distraction, so Im glad you visited.
Well, I guess that answers that, Ilore said.
Unfortunately I said. So, any chance you can just leave? Or do we have to co down there and kill you?
Ha! The voice let out a disdainful laugh. You want gone? You will have to force out. Even if you kill this body, its of no concern to . Its not like its who I really am. I rely slipped a fragnt of my consciousness into your mind as you passed by.
I wonder Damien thoughtfully looked at . I wonder if this creature is the real reason behind Altor closing off your mind. It would make more sense than what he proclaid.
I think youre right, Ilore agreed. Ti magic exists here, so a mind being damaged by it shouldnt have been enough to cause your mindscape to be walled off.
Thats not reassuring, I said in alarm. A creature powerful enough that the creator didnt want it in his universe seems like sothing beyond our ability to deal with.
Hordes of etheric creatures were starting to form around the islands as we drew nearer.
I am not entirely certain about that, Damien argued. Inside your own mindscape you wield a lot of power. Even a god should be wary of entering. I think we can handle this. If we couldnt, Im not sure Altor wouldve let you live. Youd be perceived as too much of a threat.
That thought both reassured and made sick to my stomach. If the creator of the universe thought we could handle this, then we might be able to. But if we proved him wrong, he could just wipe out of existence.
Do not worry, mortals, the voice mocked. Ill make your deaths quick.
Youre welco to try, Ilore shouted back with surprising vehence.
At the sly gleam in her eyes, I thought I understood. Whatever this creature was, it was a creature of ti in so aspect. She was probably excited to see what he could do.
Damien, I think its ti you summoned the rest of our friends, I said.
Magic started surrounding Damien. Matching Damiens dark magic, a gray magic surrounded Ilore. I couldnt do anything at this mont, my assistants were far more powerful casters than I. Piles of bodies that wed brought with us stirred to life, and a mont later, the gray magic from Ilore surrounded them and suffused the bodies.
As they were casting, I carefully aid cannons, firing in a wide dispersion. A wall of energy slamd into the horde of creatures, blasting a hole through them. As if it was signaled, a whaling cry emanated, and the creatures began to swarm toward us. Damiens new undead ford up their ranks as an aerial battle surrounded the battleship.
Streams of projectiles shot out as smaller caliber weapons engaged the hostile flyers. Damien directed his undead to jump down, using a levitation spell we built into the battleship. As we passed over different islands, we released our armies.
The battleship was directed at the central, largest island, and thats when my job began.
I enhanced my own ti magic, my blade glowing with an eerie, gray light. The spectral foes fell before , as slashes rended them in half and blasts of ti magic froze them in place. The creatures werent physically strong, but they were fast. When they attacked, at first nothing would happen, but a mont later, horrible lacerations would appear where their claws had passed.
There was so sort of ti effect to their attacks that delayed the effect from taking place. The advantage this gave them was that it allowed them to land blows without their foes realizing it and reacting. Simple cuts could be widened into debilitating wounds because the defender didnt feel the claws sinking in.
Fortunately for us, the undead under our command werent as affected by the strange ability as living creatures mightve been. The undead wouldnt react any different regardless if they felt anything. They were undead, after all. The only people who had to really worry about it were Ilore, Damien, and myself.
There was a colossal roar, and I glanced up from my fight in ti to see the massive living dead dragon that Damien had raised co hurling out of the sky, spewing black fla. The flas incinerated the spectral creatures, leaving nothing behind. The mighty living dead dragon landed on the battleship with a boom and swept its tail out in a wide arc, annihilating dozens of creatures at once. It let out another gout of fla, incinerating more before it leapt back into the sky.
The cannons fired again, set to the widest dispersion. Cones of destruction blasted out, destroying large sections of the enemy swarm. The battle was chaotic in the sky. Creatures clashed and tore each other apart, tumbling down out of sight. Beams of magic cut into the air, slashing at the spectral creatures, while the creatures themselves fired occasional blasts of twisted ti magic at the battleship.
I kept my blade enhanced with ti magic and a small amount of death energy to cut through the specters. Tendrils of necrotic energy reached out from Damien and wrapped around the specters. Slowly, many of them began to change colors. Before long, they were released and turned against their forr allies.
The sky cleared around the battleship, and when I stepped back to the front of the battleship, I leapt away just in ti to avoid a massive beam of silver energy shooting up from one of the islands. Before the monster could cut into our battleship, Ilore ford a barrier that deflected the beam off into the distance.
Damien reacted, and a mont later, one of the massive cannons fired down at the island where the attack originated. The cannon struck like a tactical nuclear weapon, the explosion all but destroying the island. As wed cleared more of my mindscape, we devoted many resources into upgrading the battleship. It was our mobile war platform and had allowed us to attack most places of impunity.
We began to shell the main island with mortar shells fired from the back of the battleship. The main cannons continued to take out massive creatures that were twisted amalgamations of things that had once existed in my mindscape.
Impressive, the voice said with disdain, though there was a hint of respect as well. I shall co and join the fun.
Sothing jumped off the side of the main island. It was smaller than the creatures firing the beams of destruction, and as it fell, it shimred and then rocketed toward the battleship. I barely had ti to register the incoming foe before he was upon us.
He touched down onto the bow of the battleship like a moth landing on a flower. The ground cratered below him as the kinetic energy of his rapid flight hit. This creature was different than anything Id ever seen before. He was covered in blue, leathery skin, with a face that made think of so amphibious creature. Gleaming white teeth, sharp like animated demons were exposed in his grin. His eyes were violet, and the irises ford six pointed stars. He had two arms and legs, and was completely hairless. The monster wore a robe of purple and gold, and when it moved, its arms seed to leave mirages behind.
Damien flicked his fingers without a thought, and the hordes of undead still on the battleship rushed the creature. The foe lashed out, revealing that his hands were tipped with long, black nails. The slashes did not appear to do anything, then blades of cutting force ripped through the air, slicing the undead apart.
That was unpleasant. The creature shook his head. You didnt even let introduce myself. My na is He said sothing that even now, I dont know what he said. When none of us responded, a frown crossed his face, then he realized his mistake. I see. Your mind cannot comprehend a na that has aspects of ti in it. My na, as best as you can understand, is rck.
Well, rck, I t his unnerving gaze. I dont suppose youll change your mind and leave?
No, rck said. It is not often creatures who live on the Plains of Eternity ever get to experience anything new. I will be staying here for as long as I can.
Youre preventing from healing the damage that was done to my mind and reconnecting with the universe were in, I said.
Ah, that makes a certain amount of sense, rck said, nodding as if hed never considered that. I cant imagine your creator was thrilled to have hitch a ride.
No, he really wasnt, I agreed.
I suppose there is no way you would let stay? rck asked.
Most definitely not. I took up a defensive stance with my blade-staff. If you wont leave willingly, well just have to kill you.
What followed is probably the most confusing fight Ive ever fought. Even to this day, I struggle to comprehend what happened.
rck attacked in a blur, moving so fluidly it seed unnatural. He was upon before I had a chance to react. He drove a knee into my stomach, and at first, I felt nothing, then as he was dancing away, the impact ca all at once. Bolts of magic rocketed out from Ilore and Damien, chasing rck across the battleship.
I recovered and chased after him as well. We managed to corner him briefly, and I stabbed, but when my blade hit, it just passed through him as if he wasnt there. His eyes grew wide and he dodged to the side. Id cut his shoulder. I knew I had, but the wound wasnt there.
He again landed one of his delayed blows. This one created a slashing cut across my chest that only appeared after rck slipped away. It took a while to piece together what was going on. As I watched him attack Damien, then Ilore, I figured it out.
When he attacks, hes attacking into the future, I called out. And when we land a blow, he dodges in the future, which sohow prevents him from taking damage in the past.
Future, past, its all the sa to , rck mocked. You three-dinsional beings are so unimaginative.
How do we fight him? Damien asked.
I have an idea, Ilore called out. And if anyone could think of a way to get around it, she could. For now, focus on always having your defense up, regardless if it seems like he is near you or not.
I fell into a purely defensive posture, always trying to position myself in front of rck to prevent him from getting to Ilore or Damien. Ilores advice mostly worked. rck would slash at with one of his wicked claws, I would block both the blow that wouldve landed in that mont and the one that would land in the future. The first ti I did this, his hand passed through my staff and still struck , but it left no damage. When he moved away, the real attack hit and my shaft rang with the impact.
Keeping in mind that he might switch up when the attack landed, I continued to attempt to block all of his blows, regardless if I thought they were delayed or not. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ilore building a powerful spell. Runic circles made of gray magic surrounded her as she wove together ti magic.
One glance at rck, and it was unmistakable that he recognized the magic and the threat it posed to him. He tried to get to her, but between myself and Damien, we always managed to keep ourselves between him and Ilore. I used my limited understanding of ti magic to give myself the speed to match rck, while Damien poured debuffs on him as quickly as he could.
The magic grew around Ilore, and she pointed a hand at rck. A massive, hollow orb made of runic circles and patterns left her hand. The orb moved slowly at first, but picked up speed as it honed in on rck. rck ran from it, yelling sothing back at us a mont before the orb sped up and caught him.
rck passed through the surface of the orb, the runic patterns opening to let him through.
What have you don!?! rck scread as he was suspended in the middle of the orb by unseen lines of power.
Just wait, I think youll understand. Ilore smiled.
The orb constricted and conford to rcks body. He thrashed, trying to escape, but it proved fruitless. As the ruins of the collapsing orb t his skin, they burned patterns into it. Those patterns filled with all sorts of gray light, and rck collapsed, wheezing for breath.
Ilore dropped to the ground as well, the magic of the spell having drained her completely. But still, she smiled. Do you understand?
I didnt know this universe had magic like this! rck hissed. How do I undo it? How dare you lowly, three-dinsional creatures do this to !
What have you done? I asked.
I locked him in ti, Ilore explained. His attacks were out of sync with ti because he could move through ti. Locking him in place fixed that issue, she said in a smug tone shed fully earned.
Deciding not to waste the opportunity, I reford rcys blade into a heavy, one-sided ax, and walked toward rck, raising the blade-staff in one hand. rck looked up at , rage in his eyes.
I just simply smiled.
You shouldve left. I brought the blade down on rcks head, splitting it in half like a waterlon.
With the death of rck, the remaining spectral creatures dissipated, and the fighting ceased. We wrapped up the remaining region and took control of it. The restoration process began imdiately, as buildings and plants practically grew out of the ground.
I guess all thats left is for you to face your cores, Damien said.
Im not sure Im ready for that
I think youre more ready for it than most, Damien said. I stopped you from doing it before because I wanted us to finish securing your mindscape before you delved into sothing so dangerous.
It will also likely be good for you, Ilore said. Im sure Damien told you doing that will allow to repair the emotions faster. It should also help you to co to grips with what you are.
I looked back toward the central island and ntally commanded the battleship to change directions and head ho. We could fly there much faster, but I wanted ti to think and prepare myself for the battle to co.
One thing I knew for sure, is that my current lack of most of my emotions would likely serve very well in dealing with whatever faced inside the core.
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