(Aster Fall 7) World Seal, Ch 1: Shattered Realm (Patreon)

A bright crack ripped across the Void, leaving a trail of rainbow light in its wake.

It was a jagged thing that spread outward like lightning, leaving spidery trails that turned into smaller cracks.

Dark stars glimmered in the depths that were revealed. They were similar to the stars of the Void, but where those were hot and brilliant, something about these burned cold.

They felt like a blade, as if the slightest touch would draw blood.

A sense of war radiated from them.

In the Void, just visible over the horizon, the world of Aster Fall came into view. Behind it, the distant shape of the crystalline World Core appeared, followed by the grey spiral of the Nexus.

The three celestial lights radiated with a brilliant power, making the dark stars inside the crack seem irrelevant.

A swirling blue and silver force appeared around the edges of the dimensional crack and pressed inward, trying to seal it, but progress was slow.

The crack grew smaller, but before it completely closed, a shudder passed through the space around it.

An ominous red flare of light shot through the opening, sending a searing force toward Aster Fall.

It looked like a red comet.

The crack began to swiftly close. All of its energy had disappeared into the comet and it could no longer resist. A moment later, it was gone, sealed over so quickly that it looked as if it had never been there.

The red comet tore through the dark toward Aster Fall, but between one moment and the next, it disappeared into the Void like a stone falling into a dark lake.

A ripple of green and purple light marked its passing, followed by a shudder of distorted space.

The World Seal was a complex creation.

Even when Outsider energy broke through one of the dimensional layers, it wasn’t enough to reach the Astral Void so quickly.

The red flare had torn through the main barrier that blocked travel through the Nexus, but it was quickly trapped within the closer layers.

But now, it was unclear where it had gone.

***

Somewhere in the depths of the World Seal.

A sphere of brilliant orange runes glowed at the center of a small space.

Currents of intricate magic formed from even smaller runes swirled inside the sphere like the flares inside of a miniature sun.

The walls were made of a rainbow distortion, one that reflected the chaotic energy of the Seal outside while somehow calming it down, turning the space inside into a room for quiet meditation.

Two Outsiders sat beside the orange sphere, looking across it at one another. Both were frowning, mostly at each other.

One of them was a sharp-boned older man in a black robe with red eyes that had a vertical pupil. Dark, ridged horns rose up from his forehead.

There was a severe air to him and his presence cut at the air, as if he were a blade as much as a man. He radiated a thinly veiled sense of irritation, which made the small room seem like it was filled with knives.

The other one was a young woman with elegant features and orange eyes that had a similar vertical pupil. She also had dark horns, but hers were a bit shorter.

There was a sense of passionate grace about her, but something in the curve of her lips and eyes spoke of cruel amusement. Her lips were pursed as she scowled.

“Khaes, it’s been ages,” she complained. “When will we reach Aster Fall? I’ve been supporting this sphere forever.”

Orange runes appeared in the air as she spoke, streaming toward him. Each of them had strange curves and sharp edges, and they radiated a threatening presence.

“It’s only been a century, subjectively,” Khaes replied as he returned her look. His lips twitched and then he flicked his hand at the runes that were getting close.

A line of sharp red essence cut through the runes like a blade, making them explode into shards of orange light.

“Control yourself, Yeria,” he said flatly, “or I will teach you why I am the one in charge. Again.”

He looked toward the wall, which changed to reveal the chaotic field of view outside. Colors streamed past in a blur.

A twist of his hand made a green beacon appear, which loomed large in their vision. It looked like a blade of light superimposed on the other colors.

“We are nearly there. The energy from Silvas, that green moon that’s guarding the world, is unmistakable. We just need to find the right opening to pierce through the last couple of dimensional layers separating us.”

As he was about to add something else, continuing on a longer-than-usual explanation as a method of punishing Yeria, he suddenly paused. His attention turned to a distant part of the view.

Suddenly, the room tilted violently, shaking like it had been tossed up in the air like a child’s toy. The colors of the inner layers of the World Seal, which they were passing through like a soap bubble on the surface, boiled as some force struck them.

A massive streak of red light shot through the seal, tearing open a gash behind it. Colors disappeared in its wake, leaving only dark and empty space behind.

Khaes’s eyes flashed as he leapt forward, sinking his hands directly into the sphere of runes. New red runes flared brilliantly as they poured from his hands, fusing into the structure.

They were the same color as the streak of light that had just appeared.

He’d already adjusted the spell structure once when he decided to follow the green beacon, and this time was too much for it.

The sphere exploded into a storm of energy. Runes that had taken them years to create shattered under the stress, backlashing as they flooded up around his hands.

He bared his teeth, snarling as he gathered together the entire mass and redirected it toward the streak of red light.

Streams of broken runes and violent essence whipped across his body, drawing blood that hissed in the air. The droplets turned into strange shapes, blades and howling beasts.

“Khaes!” Yeria shouted as she stabilized her body and stared at the sphere. “What are you doing? That’s our dimensional lock!”

“You wanted to go to Aster Fall, right?” he hissed back, his veins standing out like serpents on his hands. “Then listen for once and help me. We have to follow that red comet.”

“What is it?” Yeria demanded, but she looked toward the green beacon and then stood up.

New orange runes appeared around them both as she added her strength to his.

“An attempt to break through the World Seal from our side,” he replied as he continued swiftly creating a new spell, pouring the massive amount of energy that they’d built up for years into it.  “That spell is from my clan line, a pure Blood essence creation. You wanted to reach Aster Fall sooner, right?

“If I can harness that energy, we’ll reach the world in days, not years. It’s already ripped straight through the dimensional layers for us. It only needs a single step to fall under my control!”

“What do you need?!” Yeria’s eyes flared with passion as she moved closer to him, her body swaying like a dancer. Her words were a demand. “Harness it!”

Khaes hissed in response, baring his fangs, but he had no time to correct her tone.

“I need to align my blood to it,” he snarled. “Then it will pull us along. Give me your essence, everything you’ve held back all this time! Then grab on and don’t let go.”

Yeria bared her own fangs in response, but she swiftly placed her hands on his shoulders. Orange essence flared as it poured from her into him. At the same time, her nails dug into his shoulders, drawing blood through his robes.

A few moments later, a sphere of red essence appeared around their bubble. It was the same color as the comet. The side of the bubble stretched toward where the comet had gone, its shape distorting under a dimensional force.

Then it disappeared in a streak of red light, tearing its own path through the World Seal.

***

To an Astral Titan, the Void burns with life. In Sam’s case, it was also covered in runes.

Thousands of them spun in an intricate web that spanned the darkness between the stars. Then they merged into a gleaming river and poured down on the surface of Silverguard.

The stone of the fortress was dark and mottled grey, but at his command it rose up in an arch to meet the descending magic.

The stone turned dark silver and crackled with essence as the runes merged into it, crackling like a web of lightning. Then the arch sank back into the surface of the fortress.

As soon as the new section of the ward touched the partially-complete enchantment that was already there, essence flowed across the connection, making the stone blaze as the color continued to change.

The base color of the stone turned darker until it resembled the Void, but astral energy gleamed on the surface like starlight on a dark sea.

Sam stepped back and looked at his work. Then he nodded in satisfaction. It was a beautiful enchantment, but also deadly.

The fortress of Silverguard was a massive island of stone in the Void that stretched for miles. It was constructed almost entirely of Vos’Rekan stone. The stone was durable in its own right, but he was slowly reworking key parts of it to create a permanent enchantment.

This section was part of the core defense.

Now that it was complete, the stone for two hundred feet around him was all slowly changing to match.

When it was done, the entire fortress would be made of this new astral stone, which was usually called battlestone.

Left to its own devices in the Void, the fortress would slowly gather starlight to become more durable. The enchantments on it would become stronger too.

In a few years, the island would be able to take a Vos’Rekan’s physical attacks head on and barely shake, even if one of the primordial beasts crashed straight into it.

The Astral Titans had many ways to use resources from their ancient enemy and repurposing their massive bodies was a familiar one in the memories he’d gained from the Path of Stars.

When he came up with this plan, he mixed those memories with some inspiration from the Moonlight Relic and copied some of the functions of its greenstone, including its high enchantment potential, self repair, and command attunement

He was short on time, so he was speeding the construction up as much as possible. While healing here for the past few weeks, he focused on making the fortress as powerful as possible, including setting wards into the newly formed stone.

Like the enchantment on the relic, they wouldn’t be shaken by time.

The energy radiating from the fortress was already making the Void hum as it locked down the nearby dimensional space. Once it was up to its full strength, it would be impossible to teleport past the fortress without permission.

Its range was short still, only a few dozen miles, but it would increase until it covered this entire region of space. It would only work for this one region that was between Aster Fall and the civilized galaxy, but it was an additional layer of security.

It would help to keep anyone from the civilized galaxy from approaching the World Seal.

Perhaps in the future, he could create similar fortresses to block off Aster Fall from every side, but he would need at least six of them and a lot more time.

Right now, dealing with the Vos’Rekan came first.

He turned to look into the distance, following the faint connection he had to the creature. It had devoured some of his essence, and he had taken some of its in revenge.

Now he knew where it was.

It wasn’t far, but it wasn’t close either. On the astral threads, he could reach it in a week.

Vos’Rekan were normally impossible to track, but the thread of essence had created something strange. It could probably sense him in the same way.

It should be sleeping to recover from its injuries, which was why he had no intention of disturbing it yet. He needed time to grow strong enough to kill it once and for all.

Otherwise, the next time it returned to Aster Fall it might create an even greater destruction.

Thanks to the Astral Guardian’s sacrifice, they’d gotten lucky and managed to drive it off.

The Level 599 Crystal Elemental wasn’t a match for the beast in a prolonged confrontation, but he had shredded its back and torn apart a section of its enormous skull.

That was enough to make it retreat and heal.

Sam glanced toward the peak of the fortress, where a bright blue gem shone from the top of a tower. The guardian’s lifegem was gathering energy to recreate his body, but his soul was still asleep.

It would take a long time for him to recover unless Sam found a way to speed things up.

Vos’Rekan were motivated by hunger and now it knew that Aster Fall was here. Once it woke up, it would come looking for a meal.

When that happened, Sam needed to be able to face it, and right now, he wasn’t strong enough. That was one reason he was building this fortress.

He turned his attention back to Silverguard, studying the progress he and the nagas had made over the past few weeks. Making this island out of the Vos’Rekan’s body was a small revenge.

Massive chunks of the beast were floating in the Void after it fled, and the nagas had collected them. The material was naturally resistant to magic and dimensional energy, but earth manipulation abilities worked to slowly remake it.

This fortress would be a home for the nagas and his main body where they wouldn’t disrupt the World Seal and could safely reach the Fourth Evolution. Even when the Seal was repaired, it would still be a good defense.

He glanced at the guardian’s life gem again, this time with a frown. The elemental had called for reinforcements from the civilized galaxy. According to the Will of the Path, which was keeping an eye on them, they were already on their way.

They’d apparently been extremely surprised to get a request, but the laws of the Council of Nine required them to respond. Aster Fall and the Nexus were too important to ignore, even if it had been two million years in their time since anyone had come here.

In Aster Fall time, that was a little over 9,000 years.

For all of it, the Astral Guardian had watched over the world. That was why Sam planned to help him recover as soon as possible. He owed it to him.

It would also be for the best if the guardian was here to meet the reinforcements and deal with them, but at the moment, that was impossible.

At the rate they were traveling, they would be here in two months at most. That meant he needed to be strong enough to stop them from approaching the World Seal before then.

From what the Will of the Path said, there were seven of them coming. Two were at the middle of the Fifth Evolution and five were at the early Fifth Evolution.

It was a powerful force, but it was less than they should have sent.

The guardian was Level 599 and it would take three of him to deal with the Vos’Rekan. If the guardian recovered, and with all of them combined together, it might be barely enough.

Sam wasn’t placing his hopes on it.

On top of that, the risk of Fifth Evolution beings approaching the World Seal was a more immediate problem. The instant their auras interacted with it, they would destabilize the Seal.

It was too fragile right now and couldn’t handle the dimensional forces they gave off.

If they came too close, it would shatter.

When it did, the Outsider forces waiting on the other side would pour into Aster Fall, flooding through massive dimensional Flaws. The world would be consumed in war.

It would cause a Breaking, one that wouldn’t end until the full force of the Path of the Stars and the civilized galaxy came to bear on it.

Aster Fall would be destroyed by the collision.

That problem wouldn’t change until he managed to repair either the Moonlight Relic or the World Seal.

He had all six of his avatars on Aster Fall right now working on the relic, and he was going to search for Asenya in the World Seal as soon as he finished the dimensional gate to enter it, but for now he needed to make sure the reinforcements didn’t come any closer than Silverguard.

The fortress was just outside the limit of the Seal, and the last place that it was safe for the reinforcements to come, so he planned to meet them here. Then he would have to convince them to go no farther.

Hopefully they would be reasonable, but he wasn’t going to leave it up to chance.

All of that required strength.

Silver flames ran across his skin and poured out across the Void around him as he looked over the fortress again. Then he nodded.

“Sleset, it’s time.” He sent his voice across the distance like a shooting star. “Gather the Silver Army.”

“Yes, my lord!” The naga’s response came immediately. His tone was full of eagerness and battle lust. “We are ready!”

Silver and emerald streaks shot across the sky like stars as nagas streamed toward him. They swiftly assembled into a company of just over three hundred strong.

This was the Silver Army.

Ninety two of them had died to the Vos’Rekan, but it hadn’t broken them.

The Emerald Nagas were a race born for battle.

They had suffered at the hands of the Vos’Rekan, but that only made them more dangerous. Their emotions were channeled toward killing it. They wouldn’t be content until its head was mounted on the wall of Silverguard.

“We must rise until we can hold our world against all who come,” Sam said as he looked at them with pride. “Follow me. We go to hunt.”

“We follow the Silver Lord!” The vibrant hiss of the nagas was like a crashing tide as it filled the area. “We hunt!”