Fear

Eratemus froze as the yeti sent Nayra flying to the ground. He stared at the yeti as he used a power to control the wind. During all of their battle, Eratemus had felt the yeti’s Soul. He had felt it infusing his constructs, his armor, his weapons. And he had felt something else, something that had been nagging at him since the start.

It was as if he had a Soul grafted on top of him, attached to his constructs in ways that Eratemus didn’t understand. But also attached to his own Soul, there were areas that felt off to him.

Now he understood. Ra’azel retreated as his constructs rained fire down on top of them. Eratemus pulled his prepared formations and shields sprang into existence, protecting them.

Nayra recovered and flew up to hover next to Eratemus.

“That was—”

“—I know,” He interrupted her.

“Are we too late?” Nayra asked a moment later.

Eratemus didn’t have an answer. He was afraid that they were, he just couldn’t say it. The proof was before his eyes, and yet.

His life had not gone the way that he imagined it would. He had lost so many friends over the years. When Tali first died, or rather when he thought she had, he had pulled away. Isolated himself and stayed away. He had felt responsible for what happened back then. For not urging Tali to be more careful with Awirren, for not taking Sigmund’s side.

Her death had weighed on him for three hundred years. When he learned that she was alive, it was as if that burden had lifted.

And now, here he was again. Zenker was dead, Sigmund was dead, and Tali… There had never been any doubt in his mind about helping. He had to be here. If they were already too late…

His shields broke, and Eratemus was forced to react. He activated his Death Aura, and filled the area around himself with Qi. Nayra realized his intention and moved in front of him, her shield raised to block.

The bolts of energy from above struck her, and the Death around them was sucked into her body, used to fuel her Aegis of Death perk.

He was envious of her, that perk was an incredibly powerful tool, and an even greater one in the hands of someone who dealt with Death Essence. While there was Death around her, she was for all intents and purposes invulnerable.

Though the drain was significant. She had already completely drained his Domain, and was now drawing his Qi at an incredibly high rate. Regardless, it was worth it. She protected them for long enough that there was a lull in the battle.

Then a field of thin light expanded to engulf them, Selia’s perk. The yeti visibly staggered, and Nayra took advantage.

She stabbed with her spear, extending it to the sky, and Eratemus focused on the form of the yeti above them.

He pointed his hand and fired a wave pure black Essence, his Power Manifest perk—Death’s Embrace.

Nayra’s attack pinned the yeti in place, and then his attack arrived. The wave of Death latched on to the yeti, and started draining his life away.

Eratemus could see it working even through the defenses that the yeti’s armor provided. Then, he pulled out an orb and activated it.

Then everything around them was suddenly pulled straight to him, the Clouds, the Wind, the Air, even the Light and Sound. All the things that made up the Sky.

It all bound together into a veil that shrouded him then deflected Eratemus’ attack, scattering it away from him.

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That sealed it for Eratemus, he remembered that perk. It was Tali’s Hold the Sky, a defensive perk.

“What did you do to her?” Eratemus yelled, unable to contain his anger. To have her powers, to be able to use them like that, seeing it, frightened him. There were paths and classes that might allow someone to copy another’s power. But the yeti had no access to such things. And besides, Eratemus could feel the pieces of a familiar Soul, butchered and turned to vile purpose.

The yeti’s laughter filled the air, filled with unabashed delight, with madness, with glee at the cruelty that he had inflicted.

Eratemus had met many beings in his life who had done evil for its own sake, many who were selfish and cruel by nature. Something about the yeti, about Ra’azel, struck him to the core. He could sense his Soul, and there was nothing but malice in there, a hate that was all consuming and overwhelming.

“Don’t worry,” Ra’azel spoke. “You’ll see soon enough.”

Then, as he gloated, thousands of spears made out of Qi manifested above him, and a moment later descended.

The attack came so suddenly and so fast that Ra’azel barely had the time to react. He was feeling slow, the weird field around him was sapping his speed, but he only just now realized that it worked on more than just the physical level. It was also slowing down his thoughts, his reactions, everything about him. That was… interesting. He looked forward to finding out who and how they did that.

But he had made precautions for nearly all eventualities. He was more prepared now than he had ever been, and someone impacting his physical abilities in a way like this was not new. He had experienced similar things before.

He triggered a rune string in his helmet, and his perception of time changed. He might not be as fast, but he bought himself more time to think. He noticed that his string wasn’t operating at its full capability, there seemed to be around a 25% loss, but he shelved that thought for later.

Instead, he reacted to the attack coming at him from above. It was time he taught these children a lesson. He had been preparing for it ever since his last encounter with Zacharia. Since he realized the heights these people were capable of.

He pulled out three of his newest constructs, orbs modeled after the drones he had scavenged in the Exalted Empire. Each of them possessed a control rune, as well as a measure of his own Soul, a tiny piece of it.

Then activated a rune string on the inside of his breastplate.

He carved a rune in the air, and the three orbs did the same, allowing him to complete the complicated rune string in a far shorter time.

The thousands of spears fell, and space in front of them bent, teleporting them away to a pocket space maintained by his armor.

The rune string on his breastplate finished its startup sequence, and a sphere around him manifested, cutting him out of Time itself. Within it, he had all the time in the world. Or at least more of it.

He was yet to figure out a way to regain what the string was once capable of doing. Something about the way Time worked in this reality made his sphere unstable.

But it was enough. He held the spears in stasis and studied them, one he experimented on and realized that it and all the others were perfect copies, and that each was meant to explode. He grinned as he carved runes and modified the spears.

His Time string held for less than five minutes, but that was enough. He dismissed the sphere, allowing the string to start recharging, and then he sent the spears back to their creator.

Selia was above the yeti, watching as her spears disappeared and a strange flicker appeared around him. She barely had the time to react when her spears blasted through the air toward her.

She was so surprised, that she barely managed to reach out to them and dismiss them in time.

Only when she did, only half of her spears vanished. The rest were touched by a power other than her own. She focused all of her will, but even with her greater speed there wasn’t much time. They were flying at the speeds she had sent them at.

She evaded, manifested shields around her. Her spears hit and detonated as she had made them do. Then something else joined in, a concussive force wave that moved through space and rocked her from behind her defenses. It bypassed her shields and her armor, even Scorn, and rocked her insides.

Her platform shattered, and she started falling from the sky. Her Ascended State: Sanguine Flame Ascendancy saved her. Her regenerations were increased, and all the internal wounds she suffered started healing immediately. She was still vulnerable, unable to think properly as he brain turned to mush.

She saw bright bolts cruising in her direction, and had no way of avoiding. Then, she felt gravity around her lessen, the bolts had their courses altered, and she was caught in giant hands.

Erdania cradled her then slowly floated to the ground in her Evolved Form. As soon as they touched the ground, a giant fist made out of blue light smashed into Erdania’s side, sending both of them to the ground.

Selia hit the ground and rolled, the pain she felt inside stabbing through her head and making her see flashes. She groaned and managed to pull out a healing potion and down it.

Once she had recovered enough, she took stock of the situation around her. Up above her, the sky was washed with black fire battling a wave of flying constructs. Erdania was fighting what looked like an Exalted Empire mech, only made out of blue light, or at least covered in it.

Selia grimaced and shook her head, then rejoined the battle. She sent a silent plea to Ryun over their link, even though she knew that he wouldn’t hear. They were going to need everyone if they were going to win.