Into The Void

What greeted them was a kingdom of silence. After the vessel’s doors opened, nothing happened. There was no attack. No rush of antagonistic forces. Mathael was not there. Only an eerie silence welcomed them. Tomita stepped out first to gauge their surroundings.

Cautious steps landed on cold stone tile. The sky was different. Gone was the immortal fog. Now the air was filled with throbbing waves of energy that streaked upwards, not unlike the echoing pulses of the cave. Above them, more memory star falls were streaking the sky than ever before.

Then Tomita saw that there were thousands upon thousands of people and beings shuffling through the buildings and paths. All of them moved in the same general direction, steadily making their way towards whatever was in the distance. None of them looked up. None of them seemed interested in Tomita or the vessel. None of them seemed fully conscious.

It was a strange, sinister place.

Every building that Tomita could see was simply an enormous square of stone. Each facade was undecorated and bare, without a single window showing what was inside or outside. Brutalist simplicity hid whatever was within. Row after row of giant square blocks spanned in each direction, with a simple, straight pathway cutting between them that led Tomita’s gaze towards a building that almost resembled a skyscraper. Something about its familiarity unsettled Tomita.

Glowing lines of energy surged through suspended cables, which rose from the tops of each large square and ran forward down the path to some unseen termination point in the direction that the crowds were shuffling towards. Tomita took that as a sign to follow.

“What is happening? What do you see?” Izhari asked.

“It… almost looks like one of my world’s cities. There are thousands of people here, but they’re walking past us, towards this one giant tower. I-I-I think we should follow them…”

“I agree,” said Izhari as Tomita returned to the vessel to prepare their exit.

To his great relief, the bear had thrown their cart into the vessel with them. As Izhari waited nervously, Tomita set about clearing out the cart of any unnecessary belongings. This would be a one-way trip.

As he set all of their precious travel materials on the floor in an orderly pile, he said goodbye to each of them. When he reached the history books, he opened the most used tome for one final glance. Only then did he see it was blank.

Every page was empty.

He checked the other books. Not just the history tomes, but the mageworks tomes. The map tomes. All of them were simply leather bindings holding clear, untouched parchment.

“Izhari… the books. They’re all empty…” he said nervously.

Izhari turned towards him in concern.

“First the Shores of Time, then the Lexicon, now the tomes? And he’s already burned down every library and knowledge house across the realm. What is he doing?” Izhari asked.

“Changing history?” Tomita asked.

“No… erasing it.”

Once Izhari was in the cart, Tomita pushed forward, and they left the vessel. Dozens of beings were around them already, but none seemed to even notice them as they exited the craft. Tomita paused for a moment, but when no commotion arose and no attacks appeared, he deemed it safe to move on. Thus, they entered the sea of meandering souls.

Walking beside them, Tomita could see that their eyes were awake. They were not under a spell it seemed. There was a tired hollowness to them that Tomita recognized. All of this was starting to feel all too familiar to the familiar. It felt like a morning commute.

Years of riding crowded subways with the eternally miserable workers of Tokyo as they flung themselves across metro lines to reach jobs they hated had left a lasting impression on Tomita’s mind. Now, seeing these blank faces of people and creatures as they dragged their feet forward like zombies reminded Tomita far too much of such mornings and late evenings.

Tomita dared to move faster so that they could weave through the slow-shifting crowd. As he walked, he noticed that sound was all but muted. Izhari noticed as well. Though her ears were up and searching for any hints of danger, the only thing she heard was a low hum and the dampened steps of those around her.

After several minutes of walking without talking, Tomita was finally able to see what awaited, and the image unsettled him more than almost anything thus far. Before them was a sea of what resembled cubicles. Tens of thousands of small square seating areas waited for the crowd. Thousands were already full. Individual walls rose to cut the majority of the occupants from sight, but Tomita could make out their waists and shoulders and heads.

Every cubicle occupant was wearing some sort of new crown that was wired into the glowing cabling. Much like Currtasi, there were tubes plugged in to each occupant, which Tomita assumed was for feeding. Every glowing cable rose into the air and snaked up towards a gargantuan floating machina. The great machine rotated in a deep, muted hum as it received power from a single conduit beam that ran from its top and up into the mysterious fog that still blanketed the sky.

“What is this place?” Izhari asked.

“It, i-it feels like an office. Like my world…” Tomita said nervously as he watched dozens of workers moving through the innumerable cubicles to connect new occupants to their work stations.

Behind them, all that remained was the obelisk-like tower. It was at least one hundred stories tall. Upon getting close enough to make out the detail, Tomita could recognize the stone. It was a Lexicon. The entire tower was a shard of Lexicon stone.

“Izhari, there’s some sort of tower ahead. It’s the biggest Lexicon I’ve ever seen. It’s hundreds of meters high.”

Izhari snarled to herself.

“That’s where He is, then,” she replied.

And just as she spoke, pulses of energy in the sky proved her to be correct. Streaks of glowing energy radiated upwards, highlighting all that was before them. At the very top of the tower, looking down on everything beneath it, Tomita could see the terrifying silhouette of Mathael.

“He’s there. At the top,” said Mathael.

“Then that is where I must go,” Izhari growled as her eyes flickered, then boomed with uncontrolled malice.

The blue glow glitched and began to shine brighter until actual light emanated from her eyes. As she stared ahead in the direction of her goal, she opened her pouch to remove every remaining vial and her small personal blade. Tomita knew what was coming, and stopped himself from speaking.

“TAKE FROM ME EVERYTHING, AND GIVE ME ALL!” Izhari growled in a dangerous, hateful voice as she raised the knife before plunging it into her stomach.

The blade stabbed into her small body, and she flinched in agony, but she did not look away. 

Growls became snarls that became roars before turning into a wail. Thousands of unseen screams blended into a single chorus within Izhari’s mouth as she howled in agony and consumed the contents of every vial.

Tomita’s hand raised to reach out to her, but she was already forcing herself up with her staff. Pure, unfiltered rage coiled and bristled across her body as the mass of black smoke and ink drifted along her fur.

“MATHAEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLL!!!!” she roared as her claws ripped from her paws and grew to twice their length.

Shocked bursts of enraged screams popped from Izhari’s mouth as the hate consumed her. Though she did not grow in size, something about her presence felt drastically more terrifying now. Tomita stepped back, and though something in his heart made him want to look away, he stayed focused and watched as whatever was left of his master let out a roar and vanished in an explosive concussion.

Tomita was left alone.

Izhari teleported to the top of the great Lexicon tower and arrived before Mathael. Calatravos was beside him. Radiation dripped from Izhari as she flinched but steadied herself. Shuddering gasps hinted at an uncontrolled mind, but she stayed facing her prey.

Though she did not see it, Mathael’s mouth turned down in slight fear and disgust.

“Voidspeaker. You’re finally your true self, aren’t you?” he asked.