The Twenty-Fifth Entry

Yulthar bathed in a cascading rainbow of colors that beamed from his eye sockets and mouth – screaming in response.

The Followers of Uldet, their skulls adorned in ash, responded in kind – the rainbow of colors momentary as their bodies fell limp upon the ground. The populace of Nathar burst into a panic, the idle screaming just a prelude.

The Red Door clumped as notches were created in its steel before bursting wide open upon the bottom section. The steel flipped upwards, the remaining defenders, the Grim Brimmer, and the populace of Nathar all now at the whims of their Reverent hunters. Hordes of the fleshy remains of the Reverent drones poured in through the opening like a wave, toppling over one another, and at their vanguard the Flesh Golems encountered on the surface.

The remaining soldiers who stood in disbelief, falling to their complete defeat, were devoured first. The Grim Brimmer was hoisted high by the wave and thrust upon the ground upon its side, the pulsing green energy completely disappearing from its smashed corpse.

Crowds of panicked Nathar citizens ran back towards the refuge, running over anything that stood in their path. Their homes becoming their tombs.

Yulthar screamed in agony, but he still grappled with his life. A reaction from Uldet’s shackles being lifted, or perhaps another mystery. Regardless, his condition was deteriorating, and ire of the Reverent horde appeared taken. The entirety of the middle section of the horde scrambled towards us, and I stretched out a hand in reaction. Closing the hand into a fist, swaths of the horde were crushed into flesh piles of temporary broken limbs.

Yet with their bodies disabled, the horde appeared more fervent in reaction. Waves of the horde piled in behind the corpses of their front line, while the rest circled around towards the refuge, and again rushed forward. Their feverish persistence appeared directed, not at me, but at Yulthar. Realizing this, I picked up Yulthar and ran down the closing middle section.

Aberus and A’re appeared unharmed – Aberus’s own influence diverting the hordes attention temporarily. Aberus pointed in my direction and led A’re to follow behind.

Swaths of the horde closed, but I quickly dispatched them with a telekinetic burst every few hundred meters; the tunnel burned with charred bodies and ash piles, flame still resting in the metal. Defeating the entirety of the planet was not my goal – Yulthar would be spared Nathar’s fate, and the Harrower would be our way off. And the realization, that I had defied the Obelisk, burned at the back of my mind.

Within minutes the passage upwards came into view, increasing my pace without realization. Aberus, having to pick up A’re, barely kept pace just behind me. Gliding over the stairs, I cleared whatever was in front of us, the dark bursting with the blood of bending and cracking bodies of the horde. Bursting through the entry of the building, the highways of Nathar again came into view.

 Awaiting us beyond the horizon of the planet, and above, was the darkness of a sun. Veiled completely in shadow on one side, the sun cast nothing but night. Aberus stood beside me, and out of the sky the Harrower shot towards us. Landing meters away, on a clear part of the highway, the Harrower rested and lowered its ramp.

The horde littered the highway like a river. Aberus and I jumped across the open space between highways and landed safely on the other side – the Horde scrambling to find a way to us.

Out of the eclipse came the Horror of Nathar, its form oblique and grotesque. Flesh rippled in purple hues with tendrils of blood. A skull protruded through the top of a human like figure, twisted and corrupted, with a headdress of flesh adorned with faces. It bellowed and the silent voice carried – washing over Nathar.

A’re screamed: “It’s in my head!” and started to pull at his metallic skin.

 Yulthar gurgled in response – his screams seeming to draw the Horror towards Nathar.

I looked to Aberus and gave Yulthar to him, who was barely able to hold A’re.

“Take them to the ship.”

Aberus looked at me, his runed expression veiled by the night.

“My lord?” Aberus asked with concern.

“Go!” I commanded.

Aberus tightened his grip on both and leapt towards the Harrower.

The Horror of Nathar was a fully realized Gol’uthra – a being whose mere existence could eradicate the entire universe. A lieutenant of the Reverent. With each scream, the planet warped as it was pulled towards the sun – which became ever like a black hole.

The Horror wouldn’t stop until it acquired Yulthar, and I stood to deny it.

The Harrower lifted off, and immediately pulled itself into speeds faster than light. The Horror noticed the Harrower and pulled the space around it, keeping the Harrower within reach. Taking up one hand I pulled upon its tug, which released the Harrower and allowed it to make its way towards the edge of the galaxy.

The Horror roared and sent a telekinetic blast which decimated a side of the planet, a cascading rippling wave of metal rocketed into the sky above the atmosphere and threatened the swallow the planet.

I had never fought one of the lieutenants of the Reverent before now, at least not one in recent memory. Its power was not perceivable. Whether the attack it sent was a purposeful one, or a whim – was a question that couldn’t be answered.

I would need everything to defeat the Horror. With every ounce of my being, my teeth clenching in response, I released The Excess in its full potential.

The cascading affect from the release sent a shockwave that blew away the wave of metal – the sky charring red. My armor flared with a pulsing red, but at its peak it pulled in the air itself and a black mist exuded itself into the air around me. My armor pitched itself black and red energy rippled through it.

The Horror took immediate notice and sent a stronger pulse towards the planet – easily enough to destroy it completely. In response I sent a wave, and the two met in deep space. The resulting friction caused a shockwave which destroyed several nearby star systems.

Instinct took over my body – but something felt off. I was no longer in control and something else seemed to drive my actions. The Horror in response to our clash increased its own power, and I in turn did the same - locked in a power struggle that threatened to turn into a singularity.

The Horror sought to undo my footing by destroying Nathar beneath my feet, but with a quicker draw, I clenched my left hand and pulled The Horror into its own eclipsing sun. The sun exploded in response and left the Horror’s lingering power struggle behind unchecked.

The resulting explosion tore the galaxy apart and formed a black hole upon its death.

I drifted through space, my armor breached – and a black unconsciousness all that remained.