633. The Truth of the Rivers

633. The Truth of the Rivers

The surrounding Impuritas made some distance, however, the Blind Paw was quickly devoured by its maw.

“… This is how you betray us? When we can recover… and inform our soon-to-be Stars of your betrayal…?” The Blind Paw gargled before he was minced by the jaws of Fafnir.

“Foolish. Hypnos. Raven. The Brightest Star will not let this go easily.” The Deaf Paw promised, moments before he too was killed off.

Then the Speechless Paw was met with the same fate.

“One of the beasts that breached level 140.” Anpu contemplated, thrusting an arm to the side, ordering the others to maintain focus on the Impuritas rather than the dragon itself. “In my current state, I would not be able to fight it without significant casualties.”

“Thinking of retreating already?” Cara asked, her eyes burning with no intent of doing so.

Any entity that breached the limits of normal life was a significant threat. Even Moons would struggle against such a beast, as their levels were closely matched with that of Eternal Night Corrupted.

However, this did not seem to faze Anpu, who still had not yet attacked.

His attention remained towards the wall where the sound of a broken seal had come. The threat of imminent death did not cause him to act.

Fafnir turned its attention to the Monarch whilst under immense fire, its body simply absorbing it like they were shooting at water.

“To be reborn again is a blessing.” She laughed. “You’ve marked yourself. The Monarchs will hear this. Marduk will know, and he’ll wring out every organ, every drop of blood, and every regret from the marrows of your bone. And you dare even speak of Fafnir’s name in the same sentence as the late Tiamat…? Ah… ahahahaha –!”

The upper half of the Monarch’s body disappeared. Her lower body dropped unceremoniously like old rags. A river of red ran from Hypnos’ side to theirs as the colossal dragon coiled around him, Raven, the Ankous and his legion of resurrected corpses defensively.

“Fascinating, no? Irredeemably cold Rivers brought the root of their origin into our world. Different from your Nile, and the Styx like the Eye, Fang, and Claw.” Raven mused. “Is it worth following the light of the Amalgam than to find your own Star?”

“It is only through the Amalgam that such changes are possible. The fact that you have not yet struck means we have use for you.”

“So long as you are willing to accept to come to our side. It’s a shame. They were quite gifted, those Impuritas.” Raven spoke again for Hypnos. “There are infinite tales out there. Infinite thoughts propagate the lands beyond Terra Astralis. But so do they within the Eternal Library.”

Anpu’s tail twitched.

“Cara. Usa. Cease fire.”

They did as they were ordered. The coils of Fafnir opened. An air of suspicion filled the air as Anpu took steps towards the outstretched hand of Hypnos. It was clear that they were from a group separate from the Impuritas, and they had finally made themselves known.

By deduction, it meant that they were at a stage where not even the Brightest Star could feasibly intervene.

Finally, Anpu was a meter away from Hypnos.

“Old friend, you will not regret this.” A smile could be seen within the darkness of his mouth.

“No. I don’t think I will.”

“–!?”

Anpu’s fist entered Hypnos’ chest. It had struck precisely where his heart should be, but only black liquid and rotting mush was crushed within his hand.

“W-Why…!?”

“It is ridiculous. End your dream.”

Anpu did not react to the scream of the Fafnir. Its maw came down to strike him and yet he did not move. The sound of chains shook the air once again, his attention moving back to the southern wall.

“A seeker of Stars also wishes to wash their hands in the Rivers from the Beyond.”

“A seeker who has not the faintest idea of what Stars look like.”

The voice came again. Suddenly, the Chains of the Chained Theocracy seized Fafnir just inches before it could chomp down on Anpu’s head. Still, he was unfazed, simply peering into his Traumatic Clock which had just struck midnight.

“I… Impossible…!”

“You must never have seen it yourself.” Anpu explained to Hypnos.

Even the Raven stared at the southern walls with widened eyes, unable to comprehend the sight. Fafnir melted into a pool of darkness, leaving behind skeletal remains and the carcass of the Clockwork Spindleworm.

Hypnos thrusted himself deeper into Anpu’s hand, whilst Raven hastily devoured the letter ‘S’, and immediately gagged on air. They knew instinctively what that thing was… No, what it meant.

“The Black Cube. Black Boxes preserve information. One can infer them as stasis chambers or prisons.”

An object larger than the walls itself had beached itself at the shores of Grandis. It was so large that it turned day to night, even hundreds of kilometers away. It was a black cube, easily many dozens of kilometers in size.

Purple, pulsating letters were inscribed into its side. Countless chains wrapped it like some kind of cursed object. The chains were thrown into the world like harpoons, flying over mountains where they anchored themselves in place.

It was far closer than just the shoreline. Soon, the outer walls of Paradise were bulldozed by the colossal things. It stopped only hundreds of meters away from them. The sheer scale of the Black Cube inspired reverence in the Recovery Team.

“The Black Cube can do the same for the living.”

“… The Chained Theocracy… Are… bringing out them?”

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the cube like a spirit. It was woman adorned in what was a cross between a dress and a suit. It was primarily black with white highlights. Golden cuffs were found on her arms and neck, each with a broken chip like the halo of a fallen angel. Connected to them were dark chains that looped around her waist like a belt.

On her legs were black, opaque tights that pulsated with the purple inscriptions written into the side of the Black Cube.

Purple eyes stared back through long, chaotic locks of blue and black which ran down past her hips.

“No. We have only decided that now is the perfect time to make our pilgrimage to the Nexus.”

She spoke tiredly, but carried an air of authority that no human should possess. It was the same voice that had spoken earlier.

“Months long voyage in a sloshing sea of bleak nothingness like the aftermath of Blue Star Kachina’s fall into the world so long ago.”

She merely touched the Raven, and his body burned up into ashes. She was not a tall woman, standing at only 150cm, but the sheer dominance she possessed brought even Hypnos to his knees.

“… I… Iron…” Hypnos uttered, fear sowing deep into his heart.

She was perhaps the reason why he insisted that the Ateliers were the largest threat, rather than the Amalgam herself.

“I can make such tales up too. Poor you, seeking things that should be left alone. Reaching heights in a body smaller

than mine.” She slid on a pair of white gloves before cupping Hypnos’ dying face.

The smoke he vented had zero effect on her, and only caused her smile to elongate sinisterly.

“Rivers merely carry tales and thoughts downstream. Ordeal. Eridanos. Styx. Nile… Such pitiful things compare not to the likes of Hiddekel; the cradle of civilization itself. But it’s all myths. Obscured truths of a place none shall ever visit.”

She hummed, her grip tightening as his metal head began to creak.

“It must be surprising that you, Hypnos, did not recognize the sound of the First Seal.”

“Moses…” Hypnos groaned the woman’s name, causing her to giggle to herself. “… Why… has an Iron Star… come ashore… to our lands…?”

“Because –”

She didn’t answer him. His head was crushed by the woman as she wore a pleasant smile. Black blood splashed onto an invisible barrier on her face, trickling down her cheeks like tears.

“If he was listening then he would’ve seen a fairer ending. Anpu. And… people.” She didn’t know what to call the Recovery Team, referring to them as a collective as she folded her arms, her hands slipping to the sleeves of her oversized apparel. “You sensed it, so you came.”

“… I only felt something awry in the presence of the Amalgam.”

Anpu didn’t spare any small talk with her and immediately moved to the point. He was not completely familiar with Moses and did not want to disrespect her. Their last interaction was over 75 years ago when he was scouted as a Black Moon candidate.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

He vaguely recalled how many would-be-Moons perished alone by her hands.

“How did it feel?” She asked, staring at the gates of the inner garden.

“Pleasant.”

“Good.”

She didn’t elaborate further, only breathing the desolate air of Paradise before basking in the presence of the Nexus with a solemn smile.

“The glimmer of a Star has showed itself. It smells so utterly perfect. It didn’t occur to us that it was possible, so, regretfully, there is some degree of truth to the Impuritas’ ambitions for the impossible.”

She held out her hand to the others, still staring up at the Nexus.

They looked at each other, wondering what she wanted. Anpu rummaged into his Dimensional Storage, retrieving a sticky, fruit snack that only children would enjoy. Moses was the kind of person who expected people to know precisely what she was thinking.

It was one of the reasons why Anpu was still alive from that turbulent era.

“What you felt was a fraction of a Star’s potential. If the Amalgam has managed something so outrageous…”

She took a hefty bite from the fruit bar. Once swallowed, she tapped the air above her head. A golden light appeared like that of a halo, only that it was broken. She pulled it to her eyes and peered through it like a monocle.

The world was dyed black. Amongst it all was the Nexus, which shone brightly like the sole star in the night sky.

“… Then I suppose it’s time to finally begin our orbit.”