Abyssal Awakening

Gwen hurried.

Her heart pounded with nervousness as she flew through the Abyssal skies.

Her eyes desperately searching for a portal out to the surface through the gaps of space.

Winged beasts lunging after her but she had no time to deal with such rabble.

With an explosive burst of speed, she turned everything around her into ash then transformed into a streak of radiant fire.

###

Gwen made it to the north after what felt like an eternity. Her eyes sweeping across the landscape as she felt her blood freeze.

The land itself was scarred and fractured, as if a giant invisible claw had dug its nails into the earth and torn up large chunks on a whim. Craters of charred dirt.

And worse of all, the fissures peaking through the gaps of the land.

Gwen winced. She could sense the black and red miasma polluting the land, the same miasma that originated from the Abyss.

Had she not become a Lord and spent a week in the depths, she might've struggled to breathe in this environment.

Even the remnants of what used to the northern capital was now gone. No bloodied land, no twisted spire.

Just ruins.

Nothing more.

Corpses sprawled across the earth, twisting in grotesque ways. No corpse left intact, limbs hanging and twisted in unnatural ways.

Some were buried beneath the ground, insects eating away at their withering flesh. Some had eggs nestled in the ribs.

A few even had Abyssal plant life feeding off their blood, blossoming in corpse bouquets.

Petals of flesh, honey combs of blood.

Gwen even saw a few corpses meticulously brought together to form a mound on a hill. Their blood seeped into a pool where a single lotus floated happily. Beasts with small seeds and roots digging into their bodies doing the lotus's bidding, bringing in more nourishment.

A land of the dead where the bowls of the earth threw up the depths of the Abyss.

That's the best way she could describe it.

Clenching her fist, Gwen rushed towards the bundle of auras she could sense in the distance. What worried her was the fact that all she could sense was the remains of divinity strewn across the land from the remnants of battle and…

She shook her head.

It was probably the miasma and the remnants of battle that made it hard for her to sense the sources of divinity.

If she get's closer, she'll be able to find it.

She'll be able to find her dad.

As she approached what felt like a safe camp, Gwen could see 'living' people wandering outside. They weren't screaming or running.

Moreso dragging their bodies however they wished. Some kneeled in the miasma. But what they all had in common was their hollow eyes.

Some gave up and accepted their fate, others wandered in futility. But all of them knew that it was the end.

They had been assimilated into the Abyss.

Gwen bit her lip and pushed on.

Then, she saw it.

Sunken into the ground, a fluctuating barrier of radiant divinity. Weak but no doubt the work of her father.

Flimsy yes. But tenacious and worked in keeping out the miasma and corruption.

Despite the gloom, Gwen felt a ray of hope in her chest.

Gwen jumped down.

She could see what remains of the Sun Church's believers trying their best to salvage the situation.

They looked at her curiously but was more focused on solving their own issue than a stranger.

Some recognised who she is.

Gwen looked around. Where was her father?

She activated Vision but still couldn't find a source.

Not yet.

"Gwenny…" A weak voice called out as Gwen looked to her right.

She saw Shiera leaning against a pillar.

"!!!" Gwen held her breath.

Shiera, the radiant Apostle of Preservation was…

Bandages soaked in blood wrapped around her body. Scars that still crackled with corruption and a gaping wound on the left side of her stomach. Yet despite the severity, it was preserved in its current state.

And… Through the gaps of the bandages on her face, Gwen noticed that Shiera was now missing her left eye.

"Aunty… what happened? Where's dad?" Gwen rushed over. Her heart slammed against her chest in worry.

Shiera opened her mouth before coughing violently. Her body stumbled as Gwen caught her.

Her breathing was weak.

If her body wasn't preserved in its current state… Gwen's blood ran cold.

Apostles, the strongest beings beneath the Divine...

Was wounded to this extent… Not to mention the fact that her Aunty should've been untouchable with her authority.

Yet she was now forced to resort to such methods to maintain her life.

"I'm... I'm glad to see that you're safe. A-Are you able to call some reinforcements over to get these people out of here? As you can see… Your aunt is occupied with something right now." Shiera forced a smile.

Gwen bit her lip.

It's clear that Shiera wouldn't tell her much.

Not right now.

"Alright. But where's dad? I see his barriers but I can't sense him at all." Gwen furrowed her brows.

She looked at Shiera's expression, desperately hoping that her worries were unfounded. That her worst thoughts didn't come true.

"He's… *sigh. Follow me." Shiera forced herself to stand up.

Gwen wasn't sure if she was glad to hear this response or fearful.

Helping Shiera walk, Gwen was led deeper into the temporary sanctuary. As they reached the heart, she paused in her step.

She saw her father sitting with his back against a wall.

Shield in hand.

His eyes closed.

Wounds frozen across his body along with a missing right arm.

"The enemy was beyond what we were prepared for… As a last resort, your father… he used his authority of protection to meld his lifeforce into a barrier. So long as this wall persists, he is alive." Shiera explained.

"But his situation is a lot worse than mine. You need to call reinforcements, evacuate the people so that we can halt your father's duty." She ordered.

"At least then, we have a chance at helping him." Shiera clenched her fist. She opened her mouth but decided not to say anything.

In the time it takes for the reinforcements to arrive, the chances of Arax surviving are not high.

Gwen helped Shiera sit down slowly.

She walked up to the sitting body of her father.

Even now, he was a wall of defence for the people trapped within this hellscape.

Her throat tightened.

Maybe… Maybe if she hadn't been so dull. Maybe if she had grasped the key sooner. Maybe if she had completed her training faster and gotten her title earlier, she would've been able to help her father.

"Dad… I'm here." Gwen mumbled.

Clenching her jaw, Gwen glared at the sky and held back her tears from falling.

It wasn't over yet. The barrier is still here and her dad is still alive.

For what reason did she have to claim a Lord title? Was it not to support her dad in the first place?

Then what about Solaris? As a God, he can feel his two Apostles teetering on the edge of death. Yet he has not made a single move.

Why?

Gwen's blood boiled as from her core, the spark of the First flame began to rage.

Rage towards the Sun, rage towards the God who sits idly by and watches his loyal retainers approach death.

Rage towards this world that gave this kind of parasite the throne of God.

Since the Abyss has granted her the Authority of the First Flame, she'll use it!

Stomping her foot down, Abyssal energy blended with Divinity erupted from Gwen's core. A spire of red and blue flames pierced into the sky as Shiera widened her eyes.

Divinity…

Radiant, resplendent like no other.

A different kind of divinity from that of Solaris' Sun.

The light of a new dawn.

Gwen turned around, her eyes focused, serious.

Her tears evaporated in the heat as she reached out and clenched her fist.

Flames coiled around her fingers, transforming into a blade.

The First Flame is a power that redates all forms of fire. Older than the stars, older than the Sun. The ember of life and the spark that can set everything ablaze.

As the oldest power, as the primordial power that gave life to Solaris, it too is the crucible where all fire originated from.

Gwen swung her blade. Fire digging into her flesh, melding with her own blood.

Kindling for this roaring inferno that cries out from her core!

The purifying flame, the healing flame. The radiant flame.

All shall return to one.

*RUMBLE!!!

The land began to tremble as Gwen's power started to climb.

The primordial ember, the root of all fire.

Burn!

"Burn!" Gwen roared.

*Badum!

A heartbeat originating from the depths of the earth.

"Burn!"

Around the barrier that Arax had created, rings of fire began to form.

Whips of raw energy lashing out at the abyssal corruption that plagued the lands.

"BURN!!!"

A tsunami of flames burst out, washing over the fractured earth.

Before creation must come destruction, with the ember of cleansing, she will wipe this land clean!

"BURN IT ALL AWAY!!!" Gwen ripped out her blade and transformed into a streak of fire that rushed towards the fractured sky where no sun could be seen.

She will become the Sun in this sunless sky!

###

Solaris, o' foolish god of the Sun. He who sits atop the divine throne drowned in the sin of sloth. Do you still remember the oath you took when you stood before the masses?

Do you still remember the noble deeds claimed under your name?

O' slothful god of the Sun, behold the creation of myth. Observe the embers of the first fire. Relinquish your title of the Sun.

Be the witness.

Go on, veil your folly with arrogance. Drape yourself in silken threads of pride and be the silent observer.

Be the foundation on which a new legend is born in this new age, this new order.

O' sinful god of the Sun, await the wrathful fire that burns away the pillars of your throne.

The First Fire will reclaim the Sun and crown her with a laurel wreath of solar radiance.

For the birth of the second dawn shall be adorned in radiant splendour.

Your blood cast down from the heavens will become the golden baths in which she cleanses the old order.

Thus spoke Yvael Velcarion.

Seer of Cogs, Observer of Fates

And…

The Watcher at the Axis of Time.