Introduction

  Many thousands of years ago, a coalition of scholars, scientists, historians, and explorers from the furthest reaches of the Universe scoured for lost and common knowledge. These learned individuals were led by a man named Cevaalraad; who supposedly hailed from the first known empire of sentient life: The Excalrans. After searching the furthest reaches of both known and untamed Galaxies and following long faded leads, the coalition had found their way into the primeval system of the cosmos; held amidst the stars cradled in stasis. Among this dead space, two worlds held dominion under the undying sun; the one of note being the home of this ancient people. Cevaalraad had been overwhelmed by memories of his lost home and called it a name none of his contemporaries could pronounce; referring to her instead as ‘Excalra Prime’. Despite his adoration for this planet, he had no qualms about beginning massive excavations across the planet to discover the lost histories they all had left behind amidst great turmoil. The first of a great many artifacts found was a tablet scrawled in that same Excalran script, and as damaged as it was, ‘home’ was recognized by the historian. For ages, the search continued to the Universe at large--unquenchable curiosity driving more species than just he--this coalition continued to gather knowledge from across the stars and create what is now referred to as the “Cevaalric Codex” to honor their eternal founder, forwarding their ongoing opus to every civilized world that would accept it. Soon, due to a burgeoning in the trade of technology, goods and ideas, the Universe would soon take on the Excalran word for ‘home’: Kiaansi.

  A series of events that had introduced a new space faring species to Kiaansi took place on Earth, home to one of the innumerable inheritors of the Excalran genetic line: The Human off-shoot known colloquially as Earthlings, and these events were the cataclysmic years known as the Inheritance Wars. A conflict fought between Earth’s natives and the invading forces of the Khanibalish Ascendency; a splinter group of Earthlings that had left for the stars several hundreds of years prior, and who had brought solar war to conquer the ‘home star’ into their growing empire. It was years of grievous conflict before the Gyrand Elves were drawn into the chaos in an attempt to aid the flagging Earthlings. The fighting was too much for the peace-loving men and women of the Gyranduril, so they too sent out the call to any allies to aid them and their new charges, and it was the Dayhrkarans of Altheara--a race of Half Elves--that answered. Upon their arrival, chaos erupted in the Khanibalish ranks as this new enemy not only fought with ferocious battle tactics, martial skill, and were behemoths besides, they all fought enhanced by their mysterious magicks that destroyed their “indefatigable” war machine.

  The fighting raged for several years after their arrival, and soon the invaders’ hands would be forced, leading to gargantuan weapons being discharged all over the American continents. Massive quakes would savage the western hemisphere in the weapons’ wake, violently shifting the continental plates back together to form what would be later known as the Aurnuran continent. These campaigns would leave the whole of Sol in tatters, but with the solar denizens’ stubbornness to survive and the aid of their new extrasolar allies, a victory against the monolithic empire had been made possible; taking form in the hard fought destruction of the Khanibalish command fleet and the assumed death of the much maligned architect of this invasion: Grand Admiral Markus Aegorum. With tails firmly set between their legs, the Ascendency limped back into the infinite; vengeful bile spat all the while. The Inheritance Wars left devastation wherever conflict arose, with the Earth having suffered the most damage itself, after that of the moonbases at Ganymede, Callisto, and Titan; themselves being returned to their pre-spaceflight state of eternal silence. The Elves--the Gyranduril--looked upon the flagrant disregard of life and terra with horror and confusion, after all this, what would the invaders rule over? Thus they made a pact with the whole of the Sol system; the restoration of at least their key worlds by way of an ancient form of Aetheric manipulation known as Naturamancy. To aid in this quest, one more call of aid was sent to another group of universal denizens headed the call: the diminutive, yet endlessly miraculous Nefrolki.

  Due largely in part to the inherent kindness of the Gyrand and the bio-suited Nefrolki, the people and planets of Sol flourished. Damage done by the Khanibalish Invasion--and even centuries of resource consumption--had been largely reverted to a lush world that could truly cohabitate with the now merged technologies of Earth and Nefrolki, and for the decades onward that reconstruction continued. The techno-mechanical geniuses of the planet “Raastul” had enacted complex terraforming efforts to make many of the solar system’s satellites hospitable to a substantial degree. Before they all knew it, the denizens of Earth and her colonies had worked with the Gyranduril, Nefrolki and Althearans for just shy of a century, and together they gave a new lease of health and serenity to the empire under the great yellow star. A strong bond had been forged with these outsiders--and the system as a whole--officially forming an alliance that would grow to become the Unified Republics of Helios, and when the Althearans--those who served as the bulk of the combat reinforcements during the war--had asked to stay and escape Altheara’s own senseless conflict, the leaders of this new Earth were only too happy to oblige. As it happened, the Americas’ inhabitants decided to leave to the numerous Earthling colonies beyond the confines of the home system after their countries were irrevocably decimated by the Khanibalish weapons. Made thirteen years prior, the treaty of Awaji between the former Unified American and Japanese superpowers had been written up to start a new, more peaceful legacy for humanity in the stars beyond; and with that, they gladly relinquished the massive continent to the Althearans and to whom else would live with them.

  As time went on, more and more extraterrestrials came to live on Earth, revealing the ever expanding grandiosity of Kiaansi to the Earthlings, though with all things new and confusing, fear seeped into a vocal minority in this solar community. Centuries pass since their integration, and the fears of both sides had been reduced to all but ancient history, and all those who were once called ‘aliens’ or ‘interlopers’ were now simply Earthlings. Aurnuru itself had become a melting pot of ideals and cultures, mirroring that of the America’s past aspirations. This new society of mingling species gained the notice of a member of the Malca-Uran species--a race whose entire being is formed of Aetheric resonance; the lifeblood of Kiaansi and the source of Magic--arrived one day and began observing the peoples in their day to day. This “male” of the species named Nivarr had openly shown himself and asked all manner of things all over the world and her satellites, then simply settling down on the Aurnuran continent to the east of the Great Fissure Bay--once known as Canada’s Hudson Bay--and opened a center of education that was open to all. This school was a monumental success for expanding the minds of the new intergalactic society to culture, sciences, history, and the exciting schools of Aetheric manipulation; commonly known as the Magical Arts. Such a success was Nivarr’s academy that people began to live around the institution; eventually erecting an entire city around it, only to become the massive capital of Aurnuru: Naalentiert City. All appeared as a new golden age for the Sol system, but the Black Cataclysm would be a taste of the darkness to come.

  In late February of Earth year 3527, it appeared to be yet another day for the young planet. Some worked, some slept, some learned and life flourished, and then a shadow overhead scourged the sky and threatened death. Even those in the light of the moon saw all blotted out in every direction their eyes laid upon. Over the Pacific Ocean, sailors from Aurnuru and Japan saw black and purple flashes erupting from the seemingly shattered sky, bringing horrid torrential winds and massive waves from re-entry of the object. In their final moments, those close enough could make out a small figure enveloped in black hurdling toward them and collided with the planet in a hellish display. The impact ripped a massive hole in the center of the Pacific Ocean and created an explosion that rivaled those of the mightiest weapons from the Inheritance Wars, incinerating all life for miles and destroying the closest islands and shorelines. The shock of the impact was so great, all of the Earth responded in rapturous agony with monstrous tidal swells smashing into shores and wiping clean the slate of civilizations there, and the resulting quakes devastated parts safe from the angry waters; then the planet itself wretched with infection. Fissures arose from both the faults that split open from the earthquakes and from the radiating blackness of the rift that now scars the Earth’s largest ocean came forth a malevolent, ink-like blackness that poisoned the reborn world. This devastation left behind in the demise of one named Kaz-Ryn; who was later found to be a young Elven boy that was the living vessel for the Aether’s primordial essence of Dark. He had reduced Aurnuru’s western border to a smoldering crater of electrified black masses. Japan had barely survived the chaos that unfolded, while nearly all other Pacific islands were vaporized, and the historic borders of China and Russia were relegated to only near annihilation.

  This event would become the planet’s greatest catastrophe; an Armageddon without any of the ceremony spoken about in Earth’s many religions. The planet died that day. The warm rays of Sol could scarcely pierce the infected skies, leaving billions of dead laying in darkness. For most, their home had been extinguished and the light of hope of the past few centuries had been ripped from them, with even the Earthen Gyranduril unable to fix this calamitous damage. The ill-omened sludge that had spewed from the planet like pus from a gangrenous wound had formed into truly malign creatures with the solitary urge to render Earth a lifeless husk. These things had truly struck when the world was already down, bursting forth from the dark ground or dropping down from the sky of infinite gloom, coming in many nightmarish shapes and sizes; resembling hideous crustacean-like insectoids. Four years had gone by since the Black Cataclysm struck and the remnants of the Sol government had retreated from their seat of power in Berlin to the largest city in the system on Mars; Tharsis City, leaving the Earthlings to fight this pall that hangs over them alone. Two main forces had risen to the defense of the homeland, the last remaining superpower that refused induction into the URH: The Nimoyzhik Hegemony, which held dominion over all of Eastern Asia, and the Crimson Knights of Aurnuru. It was the Knights that gave these monstrosities a name--specifically their leader; Althearan of the Dayhrkars and the Crimson Knight: Scaeyv Albyrm Roenon--for all those fighting in the nightmare; using the Althearan word for ‘vile shadow’, Yurlviisat, or Vees for short. The Knights spread out all over the massive Aurnuran continent hunting the Vees, finding the hives they had formed from the remains and gore of the dead; marking them if they were unable to destroy it due to the presence of a particularly powerful Yurlviisat colloquially called a “Queen”. One of these hives had been marked within the ruins of New Baltimore and close to an Althearan village named Raezuron; the very village Scaeyv acts Elder over. Learning this, his only son takes weapons in hand, grabs his fiancée and long-time friend, and ventures off into a familiar danger. Their names were Ashlyn Auralie of the magically inclined humans of Altaeir, Kaeyri Furyn; Dayhrkaran beauty and star pupil of Scaeyv, and both her betrothed and son of the Crimson Knight, Zyrin Scaeyv Roenon.

  Some ways beyond the once vibrant forest that surrounds the village named after a royal capital, Zyrin finds himself separated from the very people he dragged onto this endeavor. His enormous sword that fails to reach his own large six-and- half-foot self, lays beside him as he sits on a dreary hillside fiddling with a pair of--now considered archaic--solid propellant handguns. The traditional--albeit large--pistol is quickly replaced with a monstrously large revolver that’s outstretched with a sense of resolve. The pointed-eared man raises the weapon toward the sky, reddish brown hair revealing his bronze-colored eyes; filled with boundless sorrow and blinding rage.

  “Somehow, Joe… I’ll get him. Even if I have to- The hell is that?” After that moment passes and his attention turns from the barrel of the revolver; Vylaerkha, Zyrin narrows his eyes toward the sky itself. It’s all hard to make any difference of, with the perpetual darkness that hangs over the planet, but he could have sworn he noticed something truly unusual; even in these oh so unusual environs he finds himself. “A… a crack? Xe Althera, I’m seeing shit now.” He grumbles in a gruff voice as he returns to Vylaerkha’s maintenance to await his beloved and close friend..

  Prologue

  Regicidal Ambitions and Ravenous Power

  By the time Kaeyri and Ashlyn had emerged from the dark forest, the former stops and crosses her arms; peering from beneath hair of deepest blue. The young woman takes a step forward and belts out the first word with clear intent to interrupt.

  “So, didn’t you check that before leaving? Ah wait… yes, yes you did.” Kaeyri’s first word did in fact cause the large man to shudder and succeeds in getting a reaction out of him.

  “Just… being doubly sure nothing jams, Myurla. I don’t wanna be caught with my pants down.” Spinning the cylinder before grabbing Vylaerkha by the barrel and closing it to a satisfied click, Zyrin stands to his full height, and upon turning to face the pair of women, he is met by the shimmering violet eyes of his one and only love; staring him down at his level and wearing a slight grin.

  “Mmhm. We both know you know that gun like the back of your hand. You’d know if something was off with anything…” She then looks down and then up at him with a far wryer tilt to her lips. “As for your pants being down… we have been busy hunting Yurlviisat for a few days. Soooo…” This eeks a sultry gaze from the warrior, who shoves the revolver in a holster at the top of his thigh and outstretches a hand to grab hers.

  “Well… I suppose if we kill the Queen, we’ll have some free time, mm?” The two Althearans are momentarily lost in each other’s eyes when a sudden cooing breaks from their other companion.

  “Have I ever told you how adorable you two are?! I meeeeean, I coulda done without the image of you guys doing it right after this job, bu- Zyrin frees himself from Kaeyri to shoot a rather barbed jab at the gilded haired mage.

  “Don’t worry, Ash. One day you’ll find someone that will stay and love you like we do.” Like clockwork, Ashlyn’s face flushes and her cheeks balloon as she blasts hot air through her teeth.

  “Asshole!... Eh, though I love you guys too!” Zyrin chuckles and thinks to himself as he descends with Kaeyri down the rock.

  “Nothing phases her for long. Always good for a laugh.” Kaeyri chimes in as she pulls a silvery arming sword from her right side.

  “Price of beauty, Ash. Guy was fauriiti tyrf.” She then proceeds to slice the air with terrible quickness. “Should’ve got to him before he got to you.” Ashlyn feels fully propped up from Kaeyri’s words and erupts with a spritely shower of Light essence.

  “Yeah! Saresh was the real asshole!”

  “He was… but you’ve had a weakness for honeyed words.” Zyrin spoke again with another playful blow, but the bubbly Altaeiri was ready for retaliation.

  “Pffft, you would know, “hero” I remember when we were kids and you- Hey, where’re you going!?”

  “I’m no hero. Not then, not now. We gotta get moving anyway.” He moved someways ahead of them before turning on his back foot and calling out, “And ‘I’ll save you’ isn’t honeyed words!”

  The unusually calm trek through the blackened flat lands and marshes of the Aurnuran northeastern region--known locally as Iroqyaerta--promotes a healthy bit of alertness in the trio. Kaeyri is particularly aware of her surroundings; her violet eyes flitting across the swaying patches of tall brown grass and rolling pebbles from lonely stones. Zyrin and Ashlyn look at the woman with matching smiles. When she catches the two, Kaeyri could do nothing but grin and join them in the mood, thinking that these moments of calm have been few and far between. After an hour or so, the abandoned spires to cohabitation were mere miles ahead of them, and the once great success of post-Inheritance War reconstruction called to them with the skittering of hordes of grotesque Yurlviisat. With one toe stepping into their usurped territory, a wandering mass of blackness disconnected and turned toward them like a murderous school of piranha on a fresh piece of meat. Without a single word from the protectors, they prepare for the attack; Zyrin leading the charge by freeing his sword from its magnetic scabbard and pulling the pistol from his back holster to fire a volley of semi-automatic gunfire into the incoming wave. Whilst her man guns down scores of Vee with fire and blade, Kaeyri had taken to racing to the flank and uses the aggression that Zyrin afforded her by leaping up on a ruined storefront to then springboard toward the writhing wall with a well-made arming sword and accompanying short sword; slicing through the battered remains like a screaming buzzsaw blade. To her husband-to-be’s eyes only, Kaeyri was wreathed in a supernatural cloak of spiritual energy known as Ymynsera, a gift to their people by the Goddess, Althera. This powerful magic enriches her to perform feats of martial skill beyond that of their other half-Elf cousins. Swinging his large sword, Zyrin cleaves through several more monsters with his own feat of herculean strength, but it does little to blunt the sense of loss his own broken link to that selfsame blessing affords him. Just as the two finish their onslaught, the ground rumbles with the telltale sign of more to come. The couple push together and ready themselves for when the rest of the horde charges their way. These blighted creatures start battering into one another as they bare toward them, snapping at each other over who gets to devour the obstinate pair; when a glinting shimmer precedes a harsh heat burst behind them.

  “You two’re ready for some fireworks, right?” Ashlyn had taken to using the two Althearans as a means of distraction to build the requisite Aetheric energy for a one-and-done spell, divining from her mastery of Light magicks a cloud comprised of thirteen static comets of such voracious concentrations, they mimic the properties of a series of blazing stars. The human mage waited for the moment the two would alert the rest of the locals and--still finding time to slip a quote in--released the spell in thunderous fashion. The blinding star shower hurled over their heads and smashes into the Yurlviisat ranks and ruined cityscape alike, causing what would be later described by Zyrin as the single most beautiful act of mass destruction he had ever seen; it having released explosions of golds, pinks, oranges and spritely white remnants of Light essence all over the perimeter of the huge city. With the Vees down for the time being, the two Althearans turn to Ashlyn with smiles directed her way.

  “ ‘Fireworks’, huh? No warning?” Zyrin says as he reaches his sword behind him with a satisfying click and gun still in hand; Kaeyri leans against him with a newly minted cocked eyebrow for emphasis.

  “Naaaaah! With all your killer moves and romantic synergy, I knew you guys’d be fine… aaaaand I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

  “Ashlyn!” Kaeyri barks as she had lost her grin and pushed from Zyrin’s right arm.

  “Pffft, oh come on, you two did much more dangerous stuff. This doesn’t even come close to five ye-…” Her and everyone’s jovial attitudes disappear in one fell swoop. “Uh… shit. I-I’m sorry.” Zyrin sighs and starts walking further into the city in silence. Ashlyn shakes the tingle from her fingers and lowers her now sullen golden eyes toward the ground and shuffles after her friend. Kaeyri folds her arms and clicks her tongue, thinking on those five years for a moment before kicking a rock off into one of the still radiating craters; the residual colors of the Altaeiri’s spell vanishing from the foreign object tossed through it.

  “Welcome to New Baltimore.”

  If luck had any influence on Earth these days, it was that alone that got the three to talking again, and though it seemed the most forced with the large sword wielding Zyrin, they still tried to not be as sallow as their world. Walking through the abandoned remains of a fully intact city, they had to rely on the reports of the Aurnuran Knight scouts and a map that formulated from a device held on the man’s person, depicted by way of holographic technology; this phrasing being a misnomer for a form of Haileon technology known as Ynsevar or “Hard Light” tech. Kaeyri had taken to grab hold of Zyrin’s free hand, offering her genuine affection to serve as a simple salve to the ever-present weight that sits on his shoulders. A weak smile reforms on the man’s face as he feels a dormant darkness fall deep into his psyche.

  “E urla ava.” She whispers lovingly to him as they trudge the dark streets of the city.

  “E urla ava yii, Myurla.” He responds with a soft kiss onto her head. Ashlyn wanted to squeal as a way to get out those fuzzy feelings that see them like this causes her, but she manages a degree of self-control not to ruin the moment; electing instead to raise her hand aloft and cast a simple spell of illumination to penetrate the oppressive darkness of New Baltimore’s tall skyscrapers. “I… remember when I first came here.” Kaeyri and Ashlyn look to Zyrin just as the words slipped from his lips. “Was with my mother. Went for something, I don’t know what, but… I remember being overwhelmed by everything: Buildings were tall. So many people. It was so loud.” He tightens his grip around Kaeyri’s fingers. “Now I’d do anything to get that back. Kill anything that stands in my way to that reality.” Kaeyri looks into his bronze eyes to see them still straight ahead, staring a thousand miles into the Aether itself. “I can’t fail this time. I won’t fail this time.” The rest of the way they walked in silence, both invigorated and worried by Zyrin’s resolution. It wasn’t until--what the holo-tech device said was--the wee hours of the next day did they reach the coordinates the scout had marked: The destroyed husk of what was once a schoolhouse.

  As the women looked on in horror at what the sight implied, Zyrin marched forward; bearing a stream of fury on his lightly stubbled features. Removing the sword from his back, he quickly marches toward the empty threshold. Passed he through the school entrance, his wrath disappeared as he stands idle with blade sitting in the cracked concrete. Ashlyn had become almost too emotional at the thought of the life lost in this place; holding herself tightly as she tries to venture through her emotions. Kaeyri, however, was far more curious with what switched Zyrin’s unswayable fury so quickly. The woman picked up the pace only to be lost in the same awe as she hangs over her lover’s shoulder. Beyond the admittedly untended schoolhouse exterior was a monstrous hole that burrowed an abyss into the ground.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Xe Althera.” Ashlyn looked up and rubbed her forearm across her moistened eyes--taking care not to smudge the sleeve of her elegant rose-hewn battle gown--and hesitantly moved to the two, squeezing underneath Zyrin’s now free arm to view the hole.

  “Holy shit. That… is a big hole.” Zyrin looked down at her with a cocked eyebrow and a hint of judgment.

  “Got over the potential dead quick, huh?” She pulls herself away and stares back in genuine disdain for the callous comment, and Kaeyri punches him enough force to leave his arm thumping.

  “Zyrin, what the fuck is wrong with you?!” The man looks at Kaeyri and sighs, ruffling the back of his shoulder length hair.

  “I… Ashlyn, I’m sorry. Listen: this place was a historical monument. It hadn’t been used for anything besides guided tours for decades.” She lightens up at him and shifts her lips some to find the words.

  “B-but you know how Vees work, they only nest where they can feed!” He stares at her for a moment, gripping his right hand into a fist several times before taking a big step toward his friend; putting away his sword and placing the same hand on her shoulder.

  “I can’t… say that no one died here, so you’re right, but no one would be stupid enough to try and escape the Yurlviisat in a rundown building like this! They uh… must’ve-

  “Exited from it.” Kaeyri spoke and Zyrin worked from that.

  “What she said! The bastards probably dug it out from the Queen’s nest, yeah?” Ashlyn nods and removes his hand from her shoulder, sidling around him and looking back into the hole. The blue-haired Dayhrkaran continues to glare at Zyrin, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him a few feet away. “Myurla, wh-what are you doing-

  “Don’t Myurla me, Zyrin! I get this is kind of you two’s dynamic, but that shit was just too far! What the hell is going…” She takes a long breath and considers her words.

  “What… is going on with you today? You missed breakfast, wouldn’t go and see your parents before we left, and then you disappeared into the woods to go and work on Vylaerkha.” The chided man had no words and merely averts his eyes to the dark ground to avoid her violet gaze. She grabs his lightly armored sword hand and massages it with her thumb.

  “I… miss the o-

  “Guys! You should really see this!” Ashlyn beckons from the hole, ripping Zyrin from his confession to race over. Kaeyri grumbles and runs over in a jaunt. The mage had since tossed an orb of concentrated light into the void to find that the massive hole had winding paths that descended along it side, giving them a way down into the Vee lair. Eager to run from his trauma, the bronze-eyed man grabs his sword once more and leaps down to the closest ledge and races into the hole.

  “Wha- Hey! Zyri- fauriiti zytia. Wait for me!” Kaeyri then follows with the same reckless abandon, leaving Ashlyn the last above ground.

  “Awwwww, couldn’t we go another way?!” As they go lower into the tunnel, she began to lose sight of them; panic setting in.

  “Shit shit! I’m coming!” And so she too follows into the domain of the creatures that perpetuated the Earth in an era of fear and hopelessness.

  Their descent into the depths of the hollow had blotted out whatever light had penetrated the Earth’s skies, therefore forcing Ashlyn to lead; much to her abject reluctance to do so. She had since taken up what looked to be the remains of a rather beautiful scepter--the gilded handle and cloudy gems still managed to glint in the light of the leading orb of photonic radiation--and used it to project a static blade of brilliant golden Aether; itself resembling the form of a certain Altaeiri knight’s sword. Zyrin and Kaeyri were closely behind her, both keeping within her bubble of light and ensuring she would be safe.

  “Hey. Don’t you guys have flashlights or something? Why do I have to lead, huh?” A grin forms on Zyrin’s face as he’s about to say something, but Kaeyri had been right; he had been more callous toward her today.

  “Well, yeah we do… but yours is just so much more effective than our shitty little lights.” The young woman smirks as she glances back a moment.

  “Yeah, well you have a friggin’ gun that can just run out of bullets, and I can run out of Aether to us- Suddenly, she’s stopped by a strong grasp and a blistering blue fire ball rushes past her, smashing into and immolating a solitary Vee that nearly struck at the distracted Ashlyn. While the male Althearan has her pulled to his chest and aforementioned gun outstretched, Kaeyri walks in front of them with a right hand crackling and swirling with that same blue flame; itself creeping up her arm and flaring out her silhouette. She remains at the ready with blade and fire, and Zyrin releases Ashlyn and slots the pistol behind him to retrieve Vylaerkha, arcing the weapon down the hole.

  “D’you hear that?” Zyrin inches toward his beloved as they both struggle to peer down into the Yurlviisat’s abyss.

  “I feel that.” Returning to their side, Ashlyn looks down and sees nothing, so she generates another light from the tip of her sword and casts it down below, revealing millions of glowing, ravenous purple eyes.

  “Oh my god oh my god oh my god! We should probably go back and try to get in some other way, huh?!” Ashlyn stands up and tries to pull at both Dayhrkarans to no avail, as one remains as focused as ever and the other has a gleeful grin as he pulls back the hammer of the gargantuan revolver “Or not… Well, let’s get this over with.” With that, Zyrin pulls Vylaerkha’s trigger and ignites a howling shot that expels a burst of fiery light that--upon impact--results in a massive explosion that takes a huge chunk out of the walls that support the tunnel. In the light of the impact, Zyrin quickly saw the bottom chamber and the adjoining tunnel that it feeds into.

  “I saw the way through, follow me!” Taking another deafening shot, Zyrin jumps into the momentarily blasted away darkness below, leaving both women and the path above crumbling from his actions. Though Kaeyri sighs in exasperation from his blithe strategy, she trusts Zyrin and grabs hold of Ashlyn as they follow the haphazard swordsman.

  “Hold on tight, Ash!” The young woman screams as they fall some ways down, only for both to be caught in the stalwart arms of Zyrin.

  “See, not too bad. Kinda fun, right?” He raises the eleven inch barrel once more, and fires off another shot above them, killing scores of Vee and blocking the way in and out.

  “Zyrin, I swear you’re trying to deafen us.” Kaeyri says as she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and frees both herself and Ash.

  “Deafen us?! Dude fucking sealed us in here!” Zyrin chuckles as he slots the smoking firearm in its resting place. “What’s so goddamn funny, asshole!” He laughs some more before he stops against a weirdly swirling wall of black, scratching the tip of his nose.

  “Well, it’s funny.” Both women glance at one another before returning to address the man.

  “Funny? Funny?!” Choosing to be the cool headed of the two, Kaeyri walks to her counterpart and leans on the same wall; squirming at the strange sensation felt through her armor and quickly retreats from it.

  “What do you know, Myurla?”

  “Remember when Ash said we could find another way?”

  “I wasn’t serious!” Another chuckle escapes his lips--which causes the Altaeiri to growl in fury--before Kaeyri slowly nods.

  “Well, I remembered something too: They came out that way, but I think they came in through the caves that overlook the Chesapeake Badlands.” Ashlyn’s mood changes almost immediately, going from angry, to reflective, to bubbly.

  “Hm, you remembered that because of what I said? Well then… you’re welcome.” One more laugh comes from Zyrin before he nods at her.

  “So, how about we find that, kill the Queen, head out that way, and get a cold drink to celebrate.”

  “Sounds good to me, Myurla.” He turns to Kaeyri with a smirk, giving her a light smack on her behind before all three venture into the Queen’s lair.

  The tunnel was surprisingly small, lending more credence to the school being an additional exit. The surrounds of the obsidian pathway only held enough room for the biggest of the Vee; called Chargers by Zyrin himself, and whatever other smaller variants that would trudge into their path. Along the abyssal tunnels, however, they did stumble across several of Kaeyri’s least favorite Yurlviisat variations, the Stalkers. She herself had become quite proficient in detecting the natural cloaking of the monsters and deftly evading their long sharpened arm blades and retaliating with steel or magic. Suddenly, Ashlyn catches a whiff of something foul, jamming her hands against her face in abject disgust.

  “What is that sme- Whatever food she had in her stomach left in a hurry as she was nearly brought to her knees from the ghastly stench. Kaeyri had proven better at holding her bile in as sheathes her short sword to cover her mouth, but Zyrin continues into the source of the smell; senses blocked by repressed memories bubbling beneath the dark of his mind. Spying her beloved wandering headlong into this nightmarish assault on the senses strengthens her resolve to reach him, making it so they are the first to gaze upon the source of the sickly sweet maelstrom of rotted gore, tattered clothing awash in dried blood and few corpses still recognized as a sentient being.

  “Xe Althera, what the fuck is th-

  “A massacre. Men, woman and children all; none were spared.” Having realized he’s losing himself, Kaeyri quickly grabs hold of Zyrin and pulls him toward her. The Althearan’s world turns to an ocean of blood, piles of dead--not unlike the Queen’s abode--act as islands that entrap him beneath a writhing sky of dark, swirling clouds; a single singularity of pitch blackness at its center, and beneath all of that stood a figure shrouded in an almost glittering fog. “Wha...” The blue-haired Althearan pulls him closer and strikes him across the face

  “Snap out of it, fauriit!” Zyrin awakens from his hallucination with a stinging pain radiating from his cheek; rubbing it whilst looking around them. The shining aura of light magic caught his attention before he locked eyes with Kaeyri. “You finally back??” He nods slowly as he shakes his head.

  “Eh… yeah. Just… I thought… Just a… I don’t know. Where’s the Queen?”

  “Ohhh… right in front of us.” Upon glancing at Ashlyn’s slack jawed expression, Zyrin and Kaeyri turn to face a veritable titan of shifting black masses and gross sinewy outcrops acting as arms and legs, radiating with a black and purple sort of Aetheric essence that alone causes their hearts to race. Sensing eyes upon it, the pulsing demon makes its presence known.

  “Uncommon, it is. For flesh and. Soul. To crawl into. Our nest.”

  The words of the Yurlviisat Queen weren’t words as much as they were telepathic scratching that each of the three felt from head to toe, translating her “thoughts” as broken intentions of elation and bottomless hunger. Kaeyri was the only one to resist the urge and erupted into a lantern of cerulean fury; pulling her trusty short sword to accompany her tightening primary one. Before racing off to fight the horde of ravenous monsters, she looks back to gain recognition of the fight on their hands from her friends, only to find Zyrin still affected by the machinations of the Queen; writhing on the ground as he pulls into himself and grips maddeningly unto his skull. Just then, one of the flying Vee swoops in by the Althearan warrior to go for the easy target, only to be vaporized by the glorious magicks of Ashlyn Auralie. Her eyes glittered like a sun and a body that emulated the warmth of said star.

  “I-I’m back! I got ‘em, Kay!” She offers a simple nod before looking at her beloved with a deep sorrow; growing tired of the suffering he forces upon himself. An urge pulls her to the battle, slicing through a pair of Vee with clenched teeth and vitriol.

  “Keep fighting, Myurla. I’ll always be with you. Here we go!” She pushes off her left foot into the fight, hurling a ball of flame and sinking her swords into the foes. Slicing, stabbing, dodging, jumping and burning, Kaeyri did it all and then some to keep herself alive with Ash and Zyrin safe. The woman’s blue flame that had been with her since she had turned ten blazed with an intensity not seen since their friend José Alvarez lost his life eight years ago to a truly malevolent horror that still plagues Zyrin’s fractured memories, but she had learned much from that terrible day, that she must be source of structure and strength. He had already been submerged in a deep darkness and losing his best friend had sentenced him to drown in it, so she trained harder; within and without, to pull Zyrin out so they can flourish together. Her efforts in the here and now were proving she had truly come a long way, as all manner of Vee could barely touch her, but she was getting tired. Her hands began to ache from cutting through so many of those things, and all whilst the Queen “watched” with her faceless visage. Sensing her near exhaustion, Ashlyn took the risk and filled herself with a vast bounty of Aetherial essence to begin casting one of her old teachers incantations; a glowering frown forms on her diamond features.

  “This means nothing, Rael… I’d die for my friends!” Her body explodes with repeated tremors of light, reducing all Vees near her and Zyrin to glittering dust and then outstretches her hand; left gripped tightly around her wrist. “Get ready to run, Kaeyri!” The ferocious warrior nods her head, takes a deep breath, and squares with both blades aching for death; Zyrin’s glazed over eyes seemingly twitching with recollection. While the Altaeiri mage muttered syllables laced with powerful magical energy, and body glowing with her own life force to split the remaining mana needed, the comatose Dayhrkaran comes to with only a fragment of consciousness.

  “What’s… happening?” His half-open eyes are immediately locked onto Kaeyri, who storms through what he can only make out as a sheer wall of shadow, and the malign eyes peeking out from its apex. “By the Goddess… she’s gotten so damn good… She doesn’t need me anymore; why would anybody even want me?” Turning away from the love of his life, Zyrin manages to look up to see Ashlyn in the middle of her incantation, in awe of the magical might that little girl he met in the woods all those years ago is generating. “I never could stand when you would call me your ‘hero’ but look at you now.” Noticing the aura that surrounds them, watching as its shining heat incinerated all those that drew near. He closes his eyes only to see a pair of hateful rubies staring back at him, sending a jolt up through the Althearan. “No… I’m… I’m not… It wasn’t my fault!” His sudden apologies throws off Ashlyn as she turns her attention to him.

  “Zyrin?! You’re ba- The sudden lapse of protection granted a pawn an opening to tackle the young woman to the ground and gore her through the shoulder. The Althearan’s eyes widen in terror as his nightmare and reality join together.

  “Ash!” Then a yelp of pain screams from Kaeyri’s direction, with her blades slicing through several Vees, a Stalker gets her in the back. Her attacker now lies without a “head,” and she continues her defense with blood now staining the squirming ground. “No no no! This… can’t be… Kaeyri! Ashlyn… I…” His body begins to feel as if it’s tearing itself apart in indecision, self-deprecation, hatred, sorrow… but one emotion trumps them all: Rage; and one message to trod within it: Destroy them all!

  In a burst of inhuman speed, Zyrin gets to his feet and blasts toward Kaeyri to unsheathe his sword and skid into a monstrous revolution that cuts through scores of Vee that were overcoming her; firing off several shots too from his pistol to eliminate the attack on Ashlyn. In that instant, Kaeyri looked up at the triumphant Zyrin with an ephemeral smile, seeing the aura that aids all of their species being burned away by a swirling maelstrom of crimson.

  “Xe Althera, what’s going on- When Zyrin looks down at her in those scant moments, she locks eyes with the man; peering at eyes that mirrored the fury that overtakes his birthright. Horror holds her as he launches himself wildly at his prey. “It’s back.” With wrath and hatred in his heart, Zyrin raced about the Queen’s throne room in a garnet blur, swinging his sword with such speed and strength, skill was no longer necessary. The man himself roaring and heaving like a demon possessed, even taking to toss his gun to the ground and smash the lives out of several Vee. At one point, to avoid a Charger, he leaps to the ceiling to then propel himself to the ground with sword pointed down; exploding forth a barrage of the writhing flame that surrounded him. Another bestial roar echoed from his burning throat, turning into a painful one as the aura itself began to burn away the very armor and cloth from his body; revealing cracks and fissures all over his chest, back and arms that emanated with pure red Aether. Zyrin was beset by hundreds of thoughts that weren’t his own; all that emulated his rage.

  “Kill! Kill The. Red One. The Ca…cophonous One! Too! Many! Voices!!” They all begin to lunge into and pile atop Zyrin as the thoughts turned to the thousands, the millions! Untold voices joined with his cries of agony and wrath. The heat seethed the creatures into ash, leaving the man with lethal wounds all over his body as he falls to his knees and dropping his bubbling sword.

  “Zyrin! Fuck! I’m coming!” Throwing caution to the wind, Kaeyri fights through her own pains to save the seemingly unstoppable monster that inhabits Zyrin’s flesh but is blown away by what came next. His aura had transformed into a whirling windstorm of palpable hatred; punishing what remained of the somewhat intact cave system. She was not deterred, however, as she dug her burning fingers into the bog-like ground and crawled through the headwinds to try and reach her husband-to-be. The Aether raging from his opened body had begun to reach a fever pitch, burning all around them but Kaeyri, Ashlyn and the Queen; who remained somewhat protected in her veil of Dark magicks. The wounds inflicted by the Yurlviisat closed by the swirling Aether passing through his body, and when he was only covered in fresh scars, another voice roared in his mind--this one both familiar and personal--to make a demand of Zyrin.

  “Rebel, Zyrin Roenon. Do that which you have no equal!” The voice brought up a memory that surged Zyrin to act yet again, but as his true self.

  “This… this is… my body… It’s mine… It’s mine!” His eyes regained focus as he trains them on the Queen and grabs what remained of his sword; it being nothing more now than a hilt with a vibrating blade of overcooked molecules. As his fingers gripped the weapon, the instability reached a fever pitch and exploded in a surge of violence, leaving behind a manifestation of his fury. The Vee Queen’s thoughts were expelled from his mind as he charged her in the blink of an eye, driving the flaming blade through the protective veil in a spectacular flash of dominant reds and secondary prismatic flairs, ending his assault in an upward swing of the long incorporeal blade that bisected the monstrous virus like a scalpel through soft fetid flesh.

  The eerie howling of the Yurlviisat would have sent shivers through their spines if they weren’t all otherwise preoccupied with the molten figure of Zyrin heaving before them. His body twitches as the energy violently pulses from the grotesque blisters that appear to be multiplying on the young man’s body, the very weapon he used to destroy the baleful Queen had since been reduced to atomic ash. Through another subsequent flash of heat, Zyrin’s fists and teeth clench to hold back the pain and rage that drove him to march his now naked feet through the crimson haze of the dead creature before soon collapsing from the life threating power that takes hold.

  “Mortal! You are not to give up this eas- The voice is soon buried amidst the howling storm that rages in the Althearan’s mind.

  “S-s-s-so… loud… I…” Through the last vestiges of strength he had, Zyrin grips the thick layer of black and belts out a roar of desperation. The storm reforms yet again, shredding away more of the bristling Queen, but Kaeyri won’t be denied this time. The woman grits her teeth and charges through the storm, blasting her back before she makes it within a foot of her beloved. She banks herself forward and lands on her feet to crawl forward.

  “Just hold on, Zyrin! A little longer!” Before her eyes, Zyrin looks as if he’s tearing himself apart far worse than this accursed power showed up eight years ago. Back then, his body gave out after there was nothing to direct the rampage onto. “What in the name of the Goddess is he doing!? Just fucking pass out or something!” She manages to enter the whirlwind and suffers a barrage of cuts and burns that even her flames don’t ignite in response of, forcing her momentum to falter, until a healing and protective light surrounds her. “Ash! Thank the Goddess you’re okay.”

  “I’m good, yeah! I got you now, just focus on saving that great big dumbass; I can’t lose him too!” Her heart swells with the fear of that possibility, but she won’t let that happen. Through the winds of fiery rage and the savage wails of Zyrin’s fight to survive, the blue-haired Althearan reaches her writhing paramour, and grabs hold of his burning hand. He shudders at her touch and tries to pull away, and despite his titanic strength, she holds onto his hand and pulls herself closer to his body.

  “It’s me, Zyrin, it’s Kaeyri! Come on, come back to us! Come to me, Myurla!” His reduced growls have subsided completely, and his other hand finds her to pull himself to cling to the woman.

  “Kaeyri…” The woman tightly wraps herself around him and calms the maelstrom that brews both within and without. “Are… you okay? You hurt?” She remains quiet as the fear of seeing what damage had been done still holds her, she simply nods and utters meekly her next words.

  “Ash too. You did good o-out there, Myurla.” His breathing slowed after hearing this, finally letting go of her hand and embracing her completely.

  “Bout time I did something good, huh?” His self-deprecation had always been a quick way of getting her to give her that violet glare, which in this case, allowed her to see him again. Zyrin half-naked had become a scintillating--and a little frustrating--image for her, but never before had it been this reassuring. The fissures and cracks that previously crossed his upper body had since disappeared without a hint of them ever being there.

  “Tyrf… I… thought I… You really made work, today.” A smile crossed his lips, and he pulls their foreheads together; noses touching.

  “Sorry, Myurl-

  “She’s back!” Before he could finish, they were set upon by the ragged reformation of the Vee Queen; whose dark magic threatened to end the love birds’ reunion in horror. Ashlyn scrambles toward them with her fragmented power and forms a barrier to protect them. The languid monarch reels in frustration and echoes of sharp shrill howl at the Altaeiri’s timely intervention.

  “You. Will. Suffer, golden… morsel!” Ashlyn took this attack personally, and while she protects her charges, the mage plans a blast of concentrated solar energy to make her regret those words, but her newly formed limbs shuts that down by nearly splitting the shield in one fell blow. All her focus now supported the barrier as her eyes fell to the tired Kaeyri and the now unconscious Zyrin.

  “Fuuuuuuck!” Suddenly, a cascade of lightning bolts disintegrates the fragile cavern ceiling and immolates the pustulant predator.

  One after another, lightning bolts rained from the dark heavens to reduce the Vee to a perforated husk of wailing tendrils until a final grandiose attack arrives in the form of an orbital strike of pure energy that de-atomizes the mistress of the Appalachian Yurlviisat until she explodes into a wave of neutralized Aether. With her heart beating like that of a drum line, Ashlyn’s eyes trace around her environs before looking up at the newly formed hole in the ceiling of this once thought deep cavern, spying the familiar electricity-flickering young Earthling with those gorgeous light blue eyes.

  “Jared! I knew it was you- pfft, who else, right?!” She had since dropped her shield and leaned into one of her hips. The man--assumedly Jared--above smiles down on her with a little blush forming while he scratches his nose.

  “Um, hi, Ash, and it’s Baalruk now. Remember?” She feigns a surprise and claps her hands together and shoots him two index fingers.

  “Mmm, right right right: Baalruk, the mighty Mortal Vessel of Aetherial Energy.” Her infectious bubbliness returns in force and this Baalruk is her new victim. “I haven’t forgotten, Jared… Oops.” She smiles at him, which he returns with a face almost as crimson as Zyrin’s whirlwind.

  “Okay, Ash- Now this one is beset upon by a massive rose-hewn humanoid with horns protruding from his head, elbows and twisting from his shoulders. His fiery jade eyes leer down on them with an energy that matches Ashlyn’s.

  “Heeeeeey, ye ain’t dead. Brilliant! Better late than never, ey?” The eight foot daemon looking character the speaks with a strangely faux Irish accent is Fengiir; a member of the primordial race known as the Halvoran, and his mighty belting laugh is enough to startle Zyrin awake.

  “Gah!” Fengiir frees himself from Baalruk’s shoulder and looks down to see his friend’s less than healthy state.

  “G’damn, Zyrin! Well… guess it was your screams we were trapsin’ after.” The wide-limbed giant walks off the edge and crashes with little reaction to the impact. He does, however, raise his cloven foot with disgust from the gooey black sludge stretching from beneath it. “Lovely.” He marches over to the muttering Dayhrkaran and looks him over, then Kaeyri; still covered in a number of thin cuts across her face and arms. Baalruk floats down atop a concentration of electrical updraft.

  “You guys should’ve asked for help.” Kaeyri pulls herself from Zyrin and stands on her feet with nary a stumble, looking at her lover with less warmth than previously.

  “He overestimated our chances, but he was confident we could handle it.” Fengiir looks around them and chuckles with a glib remark on the way.

  “Well, lass, you did kill it… ehhh, almost.” The Dayhrkaran swordswoman glares at Fengiir while she cross her arms. Ash and Baalruk look over Zyrin’s nearly naked form in amazement.

  “Almost no damage… Hey, Ashlyn.” She kneels before her friend to cast some magicks regardless of his physical health.

  “What’s up?” He kneels with her and traces a finger along a long, unusual-looking scar around Zyrin’s shoulder.

  “Some of his wounds look almost like… geological striations. Was all of… this caused by that thing that happened to him with José and that Kaalvaraaz thing?” The woman nods and runs a hand through Zyrin’s sweaty hair.

  “Yeah. Y’know, several weeks after that happened, he called it a… Rage Ascension.” Having invoked Baalruk’s intellectual curiosity, he tries to press more, only for Kaeyri to pull them away and raise Zyrin to his feet; catching sight of Vylaerkha on the far side of the room.

  “Hm. Even in a state like that, he doesn’t risk his promise.” She turns back to the three and answers the earlier question. “Zyrin said that the ‘Ascension’ part came to him out of nowhere, and the other part came from the fact that he felt nothing but anger… and sadness.” Having answered that, the two amble over to retrieve the revolver, only for the trio to rush past and pick up the weapon to hand it to the tired and flummoxed Althearan. Baalruk, leading amongst the lady and the giant.

  “Let us help.” She simply shakes her head and walks past them.

  “Come ooooon, Kay! You’re tired, he’s… asleep. Just let us help. At least let me heal yo-

  “I’m fine.” Kaeyri brushes her off and makes for the massive hole in the once wall of the Vee lair, only to be stopped by the massive Halvoran. “Fengiir Aranocte. Let us go.”

  “You’re bein’ stubborn, lass. Look at me, I can carry ye both back home in no time!” She sighs and turns to face him; Zyrin having fallen into the chest of her dented armor.

  “If you all would think about this for just a fucking moment, maybe I wanted to be alone with my fiancée after all… this!” Her sudden bout of antagonism is rife with defensive posturing and clear complicated emotions the ancient being had long since come to understand.

  “Course… right. You two get outta here, I’ll deal with them.” She sighs once more with a weighty smile.

  “Thanks, Feng.” He nods and turns to face Baalruk and Ashlyn, walking over with arms outstretched.

  “Okay, ye bastards, we lost this fight. How’s about we go an’ clear out the tunnels for just in cases, eh?” The two humans look at one another and shrug, taking one last look at the shrinking Althearans disappearing into the Chesapeake Badlands to head home.