The Celestial Way

Chapter 24.3 - The Way Crumbles

She had lost all sense of time and place. It could have been hours, or days, or years. She did not remember where she was. She had almost forgotten who she was.

She knew there was only pain, infinite and absolute. So endless was her agony, she knew not whether she was alive or dead. Whatever her state was, it was perpetuated by primal torment, focalized right into the very core that was Her. Nova-hot, limitlessly-sharp edges cleaved her essence, crawling in all directions, deep and less deep, vast and narrow, within and without, searching for something.

She had no memory how long it took.

She only understood, distantly, on the rim of her perfectly-fixed awareness into the pain, when Separation happened.

She was Lessened.

Her Essence was Diminished.

Her soul was Reaved.

In the span of a singular eternity, the pain was gone. She sagged, so drained of vitality her being had no strength to even slip into blackout. She watched, her eyes opened by default, as a mote of her very life ascended from her and floated into the shower of light which kept her prisoner to another.

The another, Mentoria, raised extremities and made sounds of praise.

"He was telling the truth! At last my path to transcendence is open! Not even Heaven itself can stop me now! I shall possess the ultimate power!"

Mentoria lowered herself and gazed at Veralla.

"Are you ready for us to become sisters, Great One?" she laughed, and with a ripping motion stripped herself naked. She made a graceful step and entered the energy field. They floated next to each other, the torn essence of Veralla's soul hanging above them, tethered by a single silvery thread to its rightful possessor.

Then Mentoria severed the thread and absorbed the essence of a Primordial dragon.

***

"By the Ancients, what's that crazy bitch doing!?" Tehalix exclaimed.

Veralla's torture had continued for hours. By then Airo had become half-insane, wounds which had barely healed torn open once more in his mind and soul. The Radiant Knights had tried to console him as best they could, yet even they were driven into despair by the incessant agony of their dear friend.

Now, without warning, the screams had stopped. The comparative silence was deafening. The Knights all pressed forward, trying to see what was happening. Airo suddenly lifted his head and hauled to his feet, his physical injury searing his chest.

"The Goddess protect us," Lung rawr–ed. "She has taken part of Veralla's soul!"

Airo pushed away the Knights just in time to see Mentoria undressing herself and entering the Æther forge alongside Veralla. There, a small, ephemeral orb hovered above both of them, and to Airo's eyes the orb was somehow simultaneously made of the purest light and the greatest darkness. Then Mentoria reached out, and absorbed the orb within her body.

As one, all of the Radiant Knights gasped in horror.

"Great Cosmos," Magus Dei whispered.

Mentoria abruptly left the Æther forge, naked as she was. She made several stumbling steps, her lascivious shape swaying, and she laughed as her whole body began to glow.

"Yes! Yes! Oh, YES!" she called, her laughter becoming hysterical as the primeval werelight engulfed her. "I can feel it! I can feel the greatness rising in me! I–"

Her rave turned into a primal screech. The supernatural glow consumed her, leaving behind only shadow, yet at the same time kept perfect clarity, as if the change about to take place was no mere metamorphosis.