Alter; Deep Breath

Through the thick fog and dim light of the sunrise, the outline of a monstrously large spire could be seen. It was so large that it pierced through the clouds and into the heavens, obscuring it’s true height from the fleet of ships seeking to claim it.

A particularly large wave hit the side of the ship, sending it reeling upwards and interrupting the poetry Pax was trying to write in his head. The bow of the ship fell back into the water with as much force as had sent it upwards, spraying all passengers on deck with a fine spray of water. No one was particularly upset, though, as they had all already gotten damp at some point along the long journey.

“Djyn! Do it now!”

Major Vincent shouted loud enough for everyone on the entire ship to clearly hear him, even over the loud crashing of the waves. Now that they could see the spire, the fighting would begin any moment now.

Djyn didn’t respond to Vincent with words, but the fog around their ship and the ships surrounding them took on an odd quality. This would prevent the enemies from being able to pick out individual ships. Unfortunately though, it didn’t stop them from attacking nor did it provide any extra defence to the relatively brittle ships.

Suddenly, a blinding light pierced the dense mist. Two ships to the left of the one Pax was standing on exploded and burst into flames. For a moment, the very ocean was swallowed by flames too, but this sea was swallowed by the ocean’s turbulent waves, leaving nothing but open water where there were previously two regiments of soldiers.

Pax shuddered as he looked up, only to see a second sun descend upon him.

- - - - - - -

A particular room inside the castle was lit entirely by magical lamps and had no windows. It was here that important briefings and meetings would he held under secrecy. Major Vincent was hosting one of these important briefings for the, newly named, Misericorde strike team. He had no idea what a misericorde was, but if the other members had agreed to it, then he certainly had no problems with the name.

As important as this meeting was, Vincent still couldn’t help but find himself getting distracted. His one eye kept getting drawn to what was happening at the edge of the table where his subordinates were sitting.

For some reason…

For some reason…

Pax was sitting on Ivy’s laps…

Supposedly this was the agreement they came to in order for Ivy to support the team name that Pax had chosen. However, this didn’t explain Pax’s attitude about the situation. Normally he hated any and all physical contact with anyone, but here he was acting like a needy child. Seeing a child that looked to be around ten being coddled by a woman wouldn’t normally be something crazy, but Vincent had seen that very child massacre hundreds of soldiers and bathe in their blood. Not to mention the fact that it was Ivy, of all people, who was coddling him as if she were his mother. Ivy had been notorious for crushing men between her fingers as if they were grapes, even subjecting Vincent to her icy gaze at some points, so it was strange to see her acting so affectionate. Yes, affectionate, her eyes had softened beyond anything he’d ever seen before, to the point that she almost appeared enamored by the boy sitting on her laps.

Jealousy? Fear? What was making Vincent feel so strange when he looked at this scene?

Could it be? That Ivy is a…

Vincent shook his head violently to get that thought out of his head. There could be a hundred other reasons for the way she was acting. Glancing at the other members present, Vincent checked whether or not anyone was paying attention. Of course, his hopes weren’t very high.

Derrick, serious as always, had his eyes locked on the chalkboard depicting the large scale battle that was to take place. Djyn was staring at the board, but it was impossible to tell if he was actually paying attention or if his mind was somewhere else completely. Eris was busy brushing her tail, not even pretending to pay attention. Lastly, Sakura appeared to be fighting off the lulls of sleep, bobbing her head up and down sporadically. Well, as long as they absorbed a little bit of what was going on, Vincent would be happy. Thus he continued his debriefing:

“Ahem… So when we come in range of the Spire’s attacks, our strike team will be located here,” Pointing at the center of the formation of battleships, Vincent continued. “Djyn will put as much of the fleet as he can under an illusion spell while everyone else is in charge of protecting our ship. The real battle will start once we hit shore.”

- - - - - - -

Before the giant fireball could impact the ship, it seemed to crash into an invisible wall. Eris grimaced as her magic bore the brunt of the attack. Her outstretched arms trembled slightly, but her air wall held strong until the fireball dissipated.

The fleet of ships charged onwards despite the casualties, this much was within their expectations. Soon enough, cannonballs and arrows joined the fireballs in the air. Though the spire was the Rebels’ main defensive armament, it was surrounded by ramparts manned by thousands of soldiers. The Royalist forces opened fire as well, with high level mages casting extreme magic to destroy the enemy’s defensive fortifications.

To Pax, it looked akin to hell on earth. Strange colors painted the skies and waters as if they were a mosaic. The winds didn’t even seem to know which direction they should be flowing, constantly changing directions due to interference from the battling of hundreds of mages. At one moment, Pax saw dozens of lightning strikes rain down at once, only to be swallowed by a tornado of fire. The world itself seemed to be screaming in pain from the recoil of all the battles.

Luckily, the ships didn’t rely solely on wind power to propel themselves. The sails had been pulled down and dozens of large men strained themselves as they rowed the battleships forwards. To Pax, it felt a bit archaic, but the results were clear as day: The port was approaching at a dizzying pace, much faster than it had when the boats had been reliant on wind power.

Unbeknownst to Pax, the fighting was not only taking place above the water. Gargantuan tentacles had intercepted the scuba mages that the Royalists had sent to infiltrate. These mages, though highly skilled, hadn’t even been able to see what had killed them, much less report what had happened to command. It was for this reason that no countermeasures had been put in place to fight this monster.

With a single flick, the ground beneath Pax’s feet had fallen apart. He instinctively kicked off the ground and observed the situation. From below, Djyn’s illusion magic could be easily seen through, so finding the most crucial boat to the operation had been easy for this monster. All members of the Misericorde strike team had been flung in different directions while everyone else on the ship had simply died.

“Luckily, I hadn’t gotten close to any of those guys,” said Pax without much thought. When he realized the meaning behind what he had said, his own words made him feel a bit strange. Given that the situation had potentially turned deadly, he probably shouldn’t have had the time to think about such superfluous things. Pax, however, knew that he wouldn’t be dying anytime soon, so he didn’t feel particularly pressed. He had time to remember the words that that woman had told him not too long ago, and he had time to shout out his answer in anger:

“SO WHAT IF I’M A BIT EDGY! I DESERVE AT LEAST THIS MUCH FOR ALL THE SHIT I’VE BEEN THROUGH! I WON’T LET YOU TAKE MY EDGINESS TOO DAMMIT!”

- - - - - - -

At least Vincent knew that Pax was fine from his stupid shouting. Unfortunately, not all the members of the strike team could keep the same level of cool headedness as that boy. Sakura, the only other member he could see in this moment, was screaming a string of not-quite-curses he'd never heard before.

looking down at the tentacles underneath him, Vincent couldn't help but question what was happening.

Why did this octopus attack us specifically?

it was hard to believe that the enemy had known that the members of the strike force were the ones who would be in charge of taking the spire. Perhaps the octopus had simply gone for where the concentration of strong fighters was highest, or maybe they were just unlucky.

He stopped himself from thinking any more than this, right now he had to ascertain the safety of his subordinates.

With one swing from his battleaxe, Vincent chopped off a tentacle that lunged at him, landed on it, then launched himself towards where more tentacles were writhing about. He would have preferred if he had some solid ground beneath his feet, but even the ships that had been escorting the strike team’s ship were gone. In this scenario, only Pax, Eris, and himself were able to use most of their strength. Ivy needed plants and earth to properly use her magic, while Djyn and Derrick were simply not great in battles against giant monsters, much less so against giant monsters on water. Sakura… well, if she got serious then she could probably fight well too, but Vincent didn’t know if this situation was enough to warrant that.

Vincent ran along the length of the tentacle, leaving a deep gash upon it as he did so. When the tentacle retreated back into the water, he leapt onto another one. For some reason the tentacles didn’t seem to be focusing on him. He looked to his right, and saw Pax ripping apart several tentacles in some sort of bloody dance, but that still didn’t account for the majority of the tentacles. Over the mass of dozens of tentacles, he saw a lone figure rise to the sky.

Eris was looking rough. Her right arm was covered in deep cuts, and even from a large distance away Vincent could tell that she was exhausted. Perhaps the fact that much of her mana had been used to protect the ship from fireballs was why the monster decided to go for her first, but Vincent had a sick feeling in his stomach.

A tentacle much smaller than the others shot up into the sky and wrapped itself around Eris’s leg. She screamed and kicked at it as it dragged her down.

Down, into the pitch black waters.

The mist around Pax seemed to take on a new quality, becoming prickly, almost sharp, to the touch. He too had seen Eris fall into the ocean. Perhaps if he had moved to rescue his teammates from the beginning, this wouldn’t have happened.

But before he could grieve or even regret this loss, a voice seemed to etch itself into the very fabric of the world.

It was the kind of words that Pax had only ever heard once before, uttered by Kael Drogo himself.

~~~ This reality, Unacceptable ~~~

Time not rewritten, nor fate rewoven

What is truth, become falsehood

What is lie, become real

The realest illusion, stacked upon the forgotten world

This Eclipse– never existed