Working With Phantoms

Breaking the Barrier

Madran guided everyone down towards what she remembered was the hall where Tiamat presided. However, upon seeing that the path was much longer than what she remembered it as when Asura had taken them to her, she looked back to her group and shook her head.

"Ok, um, something tells me that Tiamat doesn't want us here. Every time I turn the corner to get a bit closer to Tiamat, the path suddenly lengthens. Maybe, we weren't supposed to come here..."

Madran looked around at the walls and had an idea.

"Hmm... hey, remember when Morax busted that wall down?"

"Don't tell me..."

"Oh, you bet I am! Dharma, go!"

Madran then hit the wall with an Explosion, which got her nowhere.

"Ah. Well, it was worth a try."

"Hold on... remember how Morax was essentially one of those elite shadows that we face? What if we all use that attack that pretty much ends any of those shadows, PERISH?"

"Oh, good idea, Plague. Ok, everyone, attack!"

The group then hit the wall with a PERISH, which caused a massive explosion and caused a long wait for the dust to settle. Once it did, Madran saw that the area had been rearranged into a single hallway that she recognized as the one that Asura had taken them down. Then, she heard Tiamat's voice.

"Humans with the power of demons, you come once more... very well. I welcome you into my home. Come, my friends, so that we may talk more of this world of yours."

Madran gave the corridor a shocked look before cautiously advancing with her team. Then, once she arrived back in what she recognized as Tiamat's lair, the demon wormed her way out from a seemingly small hole in the floor.

"Madran... it seems that, after a day, you have returned."

"It's been a day?"

"Why, yes. Time in your world must not be the same as this one's, it may seem."

Tiamat smiled and turned her attention to Philemon.

"Ah, you must be new. I get... a different scent from you, compared to the others. Are you human, or are you like me?"

"I am neither. I am Philemon, a being comprised of humanity's collective unconscious."

"I see. It is no wonder that you recognized a threat to your world, and came here."

"Indeed. Do you now understand how my humans differ from yours?"

"Quite so. The humans here are violent... prone to killing, and prone to only talking to demons for their own goals."

"I believe that this issue, pardon me, is partially your fault. Instead of trying to be cordial with them, you immediately sent demons after them to erase their mark here."

Tiamat coiled up and hissed upon Philemon's mention of her actions.

"They weren't supposed to come to this place... the Schwarzwelt was designed to make these broken humans whole again, but they instead come with the intention of removing their salvation! If only a few humans die, then the rest can join the Schwarzwelt and achieve their true strength as one with demons, just as you are!"

"So, you wish to push two opposite forces together to make them whole? Might I warn you, this may just result in a world filled with the same wars as the current one, just this time with humans and demons fighting."

Tiamat glared at Philemon.

"Leave these altruistic views behind! Didn't you come here to get your world freed?"