Beyond the Void

Chapter 95, Now, now, now, do it now, shatter it!

ANDARIS

Six moons since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

The renewal of Akresh and Balaar had not gone unnoticed. Rotting roots and vines sped with incredible speed towards Andaris who had no choice, but to flee. The blood-red blade flew into the distance and Andaris followed it through the shifting world.

The roots were desperately assaulting the two blades. The ground was churning, and a crater was forming around the blades. However, the assailant's power could not touch the two. Pieces of wood were torn off by black chains and devoured by the blades. Andaris did not have the time to observe this as more of the frenzied roots sped in his direction.

He met the first wave with walls of stone and ice. Whatever he could not stop with power, was severed by a slash of the blood-red blade. Soon he had fought his way into a maze of roots. He knew where the blades were and what he needed to do. But he was being pushed away, guided by the assaulting roots and rot.

New knowledge burned in his mind. The voidstones were unbound, ready to answer anyone's call. Blood was needed. Anyone's blood who had the strength in their soul. The cursewood being guarded the two stones and the keys closely. Andaris' needed the keys to undo this folly.

He attempted to shatter and burn the surrounding roots. That only earned him a few moments of respite as the barrage of new attackers was unending. Andaris would not be the one to let up either. Waves of ice and stone and wild power played around him, breaking more and more of the twisted assaulter. She could not keep this up, in fact, she could not push him. Andaris had not taken a single hit. She had other beings to be worried about too. If he kept this up, he would find a way.

Thinking this, something lifted him off his feet and slammed him into the ground a few times before Andaris realised he had to push the remains of scaffolding off himself. His head rang, and he was not sure what had happened. It was still a surprise to see only minor bruises after such a tossing.

More roots sped his way again, and the game started all over. Shattering the surrounding roots, Andaris bolted towards whatever opening he could find, this time constantly moving, not staying still for a moment. For the briefest of moments, he saw Eric and Jess back-to-back, trying to weather the assault. Somewhere nearby, the cool breeze under the sheltering branches broke through this ever-shifting maze.

Andaris let himself be pushed back towards the edge of the plaza. The assault did not relent, but here he had more control over his attacker. The twin blades were not that far away now, directly to the right of him. From here, he could see three masses of roots on the plaza and two more standing guard below the voidstones.

Andaris let the attackers in front of him run into a steady stream of lightning for a little. He broke the surge and ran towards the twin blades. Leaving part of the attackers behind, he advanced on the biggest mass of roots around the blades. This had been expected of him as new roots were chasing him from the sides and the large mass ahead was prepared for him.

Andaris sent several violent thrums of lightning ahead of him. More roots gathered away from his sides and to his front. He gathered more power and a firestorm of darkness tore into his left. He turned on the spot and advanced straight towards the middle.

The newborn being's defences were weaker there although Jess and Eric were still surrounded by quite a number of enemies. Eric looked to be in a bad way. There were no visible wounds, but Eric's flow felt puny, distant. Jess was doing most of the fighting. The fierceness of her fight swallowed Andaris' gaze. He could see the relief on the faces of the two.