Beyond
The Board of Stories hung suspended in the non-space between them, a plane of solidified starlight etched with impossible geometries. The Order Throne extended a hand; not flesh, but concentrated concept given form.
Its fingers brushed a pawn carved from pure, chill void-marble. The piece slid forward with a sound like frozen silk whispering across glass.
"The guiding hands of light will be victorious."
Its voice was the turning of vast, ancient gears; toneless, resonant, devoid of inflection. Its face, an obsidian plane beneath its conceptual crown, held no crack of joy, no furrow of anger. Only the absolute stillness of inevitability.
Across the Board, The Chaos Throne reclined in a seat woven from shimmering entropy.
A devious smirk twisted its ever-shifting features; a ripple of supernovae and collapsing realities. Its own hand, a fractal storm of potential, reached out. It didn't touch its pawns; reality bent around its intent.
Three pieces surged forward:
The Liquid Child, A droplet of mercury.
The Scorcherer, A jagged shard of black obsidian.
The Carpenter, A rough-carved figure of petrified wood, smelling faintly of sawdust and ozone.
Chaos moved them slowly, deliberately, its kaleidoscopic eyes locked onto Order's featureless obsidian plane. Its gaze wasn't just looking; it was probing, a pressure against the absolute stillness. It ceased movement only when the pieces formed a perfect, predatory triangle around Order's lone pawn.
"You have one pawn left," Chaos murmured, its voice the susurration of a billion conflicting whispers forming into cruel amusement.
"I hold three."
The silent reveling wasn't just implied; it vibrated in the non-air, a subsonic hum of triumph that made the starlight board shiver for a second.
Order remained unmoved, a statue carved from law. Its focus remained riveted on the board, on the lone pawn standing defiant amidst the encroaching entropy.
"We will see, Chaos."
Its words weren't a challenge nor a plea. They were a statement of fact, cold and hard as the void-marble pawn itself. The stillness around Order deepened, becoming an anchor point against Chaos's humming glee. The game hung poised, a silent scream in the fabric of the Beyond.
---
E.K.
They walked the In-Between. Not a place, but the absence between places; a luminous non-space threaded with the ghost-trails of entities moving between layers. A shortcut. Impossibly fast. One silent step here spanned infinities outside. E.K. carried no weight, made no sound. The Deiianian perched on his shoulder felt like smoke.
No Wayfarers manifested to challenge them. E.K.'s presence alone was a sigil carved into the fabric of the non-place. A warning. A legend. Keep back.
His mind drifted. The void pressed in. Not the In-Between's sterile glow, but the other dark. The voice slithered back. Fingers of cold memory clenched around his soul, squeezing. He fought it. Buried it. Denied it.
"Forgive me." The whisper was torn cloth, raw and sudden.
The Deiianian snapped its head around. "The fuck do you mean this time? Huh? Another hammer dropping from the fucking sky?" Its anger was a shield against the sudden chill radiating from the knight.
E.K. shook his head, the movement stiff. "Impossible. Outside time. Ism... isn't that strong. Not last time." He swallowed hard. "Something else..."
A wave of pure, old sorrow rolled off him – the smell of rain on ash, the taste of rust.
The Deiianian felt it, a physical dampness. It sighed, the fight draining out. "Alright. Spill it. Get the rot out."
E.K. hesitated. A single, fractured heartbeat. Then, surrender. The words needed air. Needed light. Needed to claw free of the grave he'd dug for them.
"After... after the only night I drank. With Ljoran. My friend. Came home..." His voice was ground stone. "Never touched it before. Not a drop. Fought them off. Shut the mockers down. Refused." A pause. The sterile light of the In-Between felt like a mockery.
"War ended. We won. Thought... why not? Kissed her goodbye. Kissed them... goodbye." The names wouldn't come. Ash on his tongue.
"Went to the city. The bar."
"Greeted. Respected. Ljoran... shocked. 'You'll drink?' Like I'd sprouted wings. Said yes.
Ordered whatever. Shot it back." He grimaced, the phantom burn searing his throat anew. "Wrong. Felt it here." A gauntleted fist tapped his chest plate. A dull thud. "Kept drinking. Hours. Lost count. Lost... balance."
"Carrying Ljoran. Back to his place. Then... it hit." His breath hitched. "Like a sword. Through the soul. Cold. Final." A phantom shove. "Dropped him. Had to go..."
A single tear traced a path through the dust on his cheekplate. Fell into the luminous void. Vanished.
"I... came home. Or... what was left." His gaze was fixed on nothing, seeing only smoke and ruin. "Looked. And looked. And... found them."
Silence. Thick. Suffocating.
"My fault."
The stillness that followed was a tomb. The Deiianian didn't move. Didn't breathe.
"Even though..." E.K. took a shuddering breath, the sound harsh in the non-space. "...this helps... I must tell you." His voice hardened, final as a vault door slamming shut.
"This never happened."
The memory of this very talk, the smell of smoke, the sound of silence where laughter should be; crumbled. Pushed down. Buried deep beneath millennia of armor and will. The Deiianian blinked. The weight lifted. T
he story... gone. Like mist.
Moments later. A sharp snap of E.K.'s fingers.
The Deiianian jolted; a flicker of nothing emerged and was gone at the same time. "What was that snap for?!"
E.K. laughed. A short, brittle sound. Like breaking ice. "Found him. Silly Angel."
Reality twisted. The gut-punch lurch of displacement swallowed them whole, yanking them back into the decaying embrace of Desolace.
---
Illirim landed with a soft thump, his wyvern companion settling beside him like folded shadow. "Ooohhh!" His voice cracked with childlike glee, four eyes wide as saucers.
"Houses! Like... like the time Mommy and I built castles in the ash!" He practically vibrated, spotting the small, murky pond. Restraint vanished.
He scrambled, leapt; and landed hard on dry, cracked earth. The water was simply gone. He sat in the dusty bowl, shoulders slumping. "Hmph." A flicker of genuine sadness crossed his face before vanishing.
Simultaneously, a star fell.
It struck the village's edge with the sound of a universe tearing open.
Half the structures vanished in a white-hot instant. Air superheated, shimmering like a mirage, carrying the stench of ozone and charred wood.
From the heart of the inferno, Ajnido strolled, robes untouched, his two companions stumbling behind, coughing.
"Damn, that's hot..." one wheezed, wiping soot from his eyes.
"Hot hot, indeed," the other gasped, shielding their face.
Ajnido scanned the ruins. His gaze slid past Ilirim sulking in his dry pond, past the smoking timbers, landing on the few untouched huts. "Boring," he muttered. Then his eyes sharpened.
"Wait a minute..." A slow, terrible grin spread.
"They burn." A snap of his fingers. The remaining huts erupted. Not just fire – radiance. Wood vaporized into screaming pillars of white flame. Shrieks, raw and short-lived, cut through the roar.
Out of the slaughter, figures stumbled – silhouettes against annihilation. Ajnido's smile widened, a predator's grin. "One, two, burn right through..." Snap.
Four shapes became silhouettes of ash, blown apart before they hit the ground.
"Three, four, char the floor..." Snap. A woman clutching a child vanished mid-stride, leaving only a scorch mark. "Five, six, watch it fix..." His finger aimed at a squalling infant.
His grin reached manic proportions, almost as the first time he watched her burn...
The white fire flickered. Stuttered. Reversed like film spooling backwards, collapsing into nothingness.
"Well, well, well." Ism leaned against a still-standing post, hammer resting on his shoulder. His grin matched Ajnido's, but his eyes were glacial shards. "Killing babies now, are we?"
Ajnido scoffed, steam curling from his pores. "Wasn't really gonna do it, Timewaster."
"Hmhm." Ism chuckled slightly, Ajnido boiled.
"At least I don't suck the toes of the guy ordering us around just to keep my family breathing—"
Ajnido's eyes ignited, white-hot embers flaring, laughing, mocking Ism.
But, Ism just laughed – a single, sharp bark like breaking stone. Ism was not fazed, he had heard worse in the older days. He pushed off the post. Each step towards Ajnido was measured, unhurried.
The air thickened, heavy with unspent temporal force. Ajnido took an involuntary step back, the fire in his eyes dimming to nervous flickers. Ism stopped inches away.
"I won't allow something like that again. Understand?" The words were soft, colder than the void between stars.
Ism his companion just standing in the background, like "Wtf am i doing here?" rolling his eyes.
Ajnido swallowed, a dry click in his throat. He nodded, once. Fear. Raw and primal. Ism, Golden Generation. Not a title. A warning.
Ilirim, oblivious, crouched nearby. A lone beetle scuttled over cinders. "Pretty..." he cooed. His touch brushed its shell. It shimmered, transmuting into a fist-sized cluster of iridescent gems and miniature, dying stars. He held it up, beaming.
Ajnido's companions shuffled over, wary.
"Hey, little guy. Whatcha got?"
"Yeah, what is it? A rock?"
"It's a... Starry-Lizardy-Gem!" Ilirim chirped, thrusting it towards them.
The gems pulsed with sickly light; the stars within sputtered.
"Ahh... I see..."
"Yes. Beautiful." Their voices strained.
Ilirim's smile vanished.
His face darkened, eyes clouding over. "I made one... before Mother died. Hands gripping her soul... so tight..." His fingers clenched. The Starry-Lizardy-Gem imploded with a sound like shattering glass and a dying gasp.
Utter vacancy replaced it. "...it broke."
The companions flinched. Before they could react, Ilirim's face snapped back to radiant joy. "Whee!" He skipped away towards the others.
"What the fuck was that?"
"Don't know..."
They exchanged a look, shaken, and followed.
The group reformed near the crater's edge. Ajnido's flames still licked the sky. Ism idly swung his hammer. "Presence came from here. It's still here. Eyes open."
Nods all around, some reluctant.
"COME!" Ajnido barked at his companions, pointing towards the smoldering ruins. "Or I char your bones to dust!"
"Oooh, he'll char us!"
"So scary!" They mocked, trailing after him with exaggerated slowness. Ajnido growled, steam jetting from his pores. Soon you'll burn.
Ism strode towards the largest remaining structure – a scorched hall. Time-essence clung to it, thick and cloying. His companion peeled off towards the skeletal trees, not bothered with Ism his talks, desperate for silence.
Ilirim danced through the ash-field, humming. He paused by blackened lumps – former villagers. "Sad shapes," he murmured. A bright smile. A touch.
The charcoal corpses shimmered, reforming their structures into smooth, obsidian slabs embedded with cold, distant stars. "Pretty slabs!" He clapped, leaving them glittering amidst the ruin.
Ajnido cornered a survivor; a woman trembling behind a collapsed beam. "Speak. The being in black armor. Where?" His voice was flat, bored.
"I... I don't... know, sir..." she stammered.
"Boring." Snap. She flashburned; a brief silhouette of white light, then nothing. Snap. She reconstituted, screaming mid-breath. Snap. Flashburned again. Ajnido sighed, a sound like escaping furnace gas. "Satisfactory."
"I move The Scorcherer, I grant him, Knowledge." Chaos laughed.
The information he received from the women was satisfactory, "A shame she needed to die" he laughed, and walked to his next victim. His companions just loitering around, as they know that he likes all the action, and that 'they are just in the way' so they let him be.
Ism pushed open the heavy hall door. The smell hit him first: blood, voided bowels, and beneath it... Time. Stale and violated. Bodies lay scattered. He grinned. "You. Again. I like this game."
He swung his hammer; not at the room, but through the timestream. Four impacts sent ripples, one backwards and three forwards. "Let's play."
His eyes scanned the carnage. A half-eaten apple lay near a corpse. 'Odd...' No sustenance needed here. Then another scent: ozone, vacuum... Anti-Matter decay. Faint. Recent. he thought for a second. "Possible. Yet, Intriguing..." He turned to leave.
"My sole piece had a trap all along." Order saidcalm.
he smiled and snickered. He looked around better this time, he noticed a half eaten apple on the floor, 'weird', he thought, "no one needs food here". Another faint smell... someone was... "Decinerated, Anti-Matter... how intriguing..." he walked back outside, as he opened the door he got punched in the face. a sound was heard...
Another faint smell... someone was... "Decinerated, Anti-Matter... how intriguing..." he thought for a second. "Possible." As the door creaked open, a fist of crackling blue energy materialized, aimed at his face. It connected, his face shattered into a billion pieces-
As the door creaked open, a fist of crackling blue energy materialized, aimed at his face. Ism flowed sideways. The punch missed, but its shockwave hit the landscape behind him.
A loud boom was heard.
The hall, the surrounding ruins, miles of Desolace behind the doorway simply vanished. Not destroyed. Erased. A perfect, smooth hemisphere of nothingness yawned where solidity should be.
Standing in the newly-made void, framed by the doorway, was a figure in shimmering blue armor, A crackling laugh echoed from its helm. "You?"
It lunged, a blade of condensed starlight screaming towards Ism. He met it with his hammer. The sound tore the air.
Red flames erupted, then shifted to searing blue-white. They washed over the attacker, clinging, slowing it.
"Watch it, Firestarter!" Ism snarled from nearby, Ajnido his finger-snap echoing. The blue-white flames intensified.
Ism saw his opening. Hammer met armored stomach. Not a physical blow, but a temporal dislocation. The figure stuttered, flickering through moments, its temporal anchor challenged.
Ajnido snapped a final time. Blur flames this time – not heat, but pure unmaking. They consumed the armor, then the flesh beneath, then the screaming essence within.
A crack.
Where the figure stood, reality fractured. A tiny, impossibly black sun pulsed within the rift; a sting of absolute negation.
"Pathetic!" Ajnido spat. "Blur flames melt gods!"
Ism's smirk died. He knew that darkness. That hunger.
"Fuck."
His hammer flared pure white. Time didn't slow – it stopped. Sound ceased. Flames froze mid-roar. Dust hung suspended. Only Ism moved.
He blurred, grabbing Ajnido , ignoring the steam-shriek of protest, then Ilirim, who was poking a frozen cinder, and finally his own companion near the trees.
He hauled them sideways through the frozen Now, into the infinitesimal gap between the stopped instant and the next.
The tiny Black Sun detonated.
Silently. A sphere of purest void expanded where the village had been. It consumed the frozen flames, the ash, the star-slabs, the very concept of the place.
Absolute erasure. Then it winked out.
Time restarted with a sickening lurch. They stood in a fresh, smooth crater. Ism's hammer lay at his feet. He picked it up, dusting off non-existent grit.
All were confused.
"DON'T TOUCH ME, TIMEWASTER!" Ajnido screamed, white flames roaring in his palms, melting reality into dripping slag around him. Ism just chuckled.
"What was that, Ism?" Ilirim asked, tilting his head, untouched by fear. "The pretty dark spot?"
Ism hefted his hammer. "A very small Black Sun. Candle flame to the bonfire I saw back when."
He met Ajnido's furious glare. "It voids everything. Time. Space. Existence. You can't burn it. You can only... sidestep. I pulled us into the 'Next' moment. Let the 'Now' containing the blast become the 'Past' before we landed... Well to be honest I did not know it would work, as the big one could also bypass causality, and thus i needed to just take the chance and-.""
He shrugged. "Took a chance the little one couldn't follow."
The two were distracted, he was talking too long, he sighed. "Whatever, you're welcome for saving you." He smirked.
Ajnido waved a dismissive, still-flaming hand. "A woman... before this... babbled locations. The Knight heads to:
Tower Tower, what that means no idea.
Lake Meminipi, somewhere south.
and as last
Tree of Daaeem, and i surprisingly do know where that is, so... I'll go there, and you two can go fuc-. No, only you Timewaster, can go fuck yourself.
He scanned the desolation. "Where are my useless sacks of meat?!" No life-heat answered. "Idiots. Burned themselves." With a final snarl, he merged. A miniature star ignited, scorching the crater floor, and shot skyward.
Ism watched the streak vanish.
He and Illirim were just quiet, Ajnido was going too fast.
Ism looked at Illirim, "I have put our companions into an eternal stasis, I realized they were just being used as if they are trash, so i just wait till we finish this, before they can come out, okay?"
Illrim was not paying attention, he was looking for his friend, wyvern... Ism smiled "Oh yeah, here it is", he pulled it back from the next and it was safe and sound.
Illirim squealed and jumped up and down "AH! Yeaa, thanks old man!" Ilirim talked to it, "Old man! He knows where the Tower Tower is!!! I'll go there!!!! SEE YA!" He scrambled onto the beast, and with a happy screech, they launched into the grey sky. East.
"Lake it is." He sighed, almost wishful. "Could use a sit-down." he walked westward.
--
"He is the only one who can solve this... this void inside of him, it is the Lightless."