Location: Arcadia District – The Convergence Nexus
The shattered silhouette of Arcadia's skyline towered over them, jagged lines against the twisted sky. At its center was the Nexus—a massive obsidian spire crowned with twisting loops of Shard energy, pulsating like a corrupted heartbeat.
The Nightbound streamed out from under the tunnels, eyes narrowing as the scale of the host of the Eclipsed Order spread before him. Hundreds of hooded acolytes stood in ranks around the Nexus, chests blazing with embedded Shards. Beyond them, and the tower, shaking walls of distorted space crackled and spat—gates to planes the human mind could not conceive.
And atop the spire, Zara floated suspended.
She was no longer at the center of the tempest. She was the center. Her body blazed with power, white-gold Shardlight bursting from her fingers. The wind screamed in demented whirlwinds around her as the rest of the Shardkiller's seal dissolved.
Eira's breath snagged. "She's. rising."
Myles's tone was grave on the comm. "If she completes the ritual, she'll be one with the Shardkiller in full. She won't be Zara any longer. She'll be it."
Helena didn't doubt. "We end this here."
She proceeded, the Nightbound parting to either side of her.
The High Herald came down from the stairs of the Nexus, her black robes billowing erratically. Her voice echoed among the ruins.
You are too late, Nightbound. The Vessel is ours. The cycle will be broken. A new order shall emerge.
Helena's fists were clenched, her eyes burning with defiance. "Not while we live."
The Herald smiled weakly. "Then you will die.".
She clicked her fingers, and the acolytes went out—the waves of black-clad men, their flesh burning with Shard energy. Ground shook as elder machinery burst out of the desolation—jumbled machines hitched to crystal, staggering on the Nightbound.
Helena never hesitated.
"Nightbound—engagement!"
Battle burst out.
Nova went first into combat, her kinetic gauntlets sending concussive blasts through two acolytes. Orion followed, his ghost blades slicing through the nearest constructs with surgical precision. Eira called down barriers of faint blue light, deflecting Shard projectiles from the air as Myles remotely gained access to the Nexus defenses and shut down turrets and energy shields.
Helena plunged straight at the High Herald, their impact creating shockwaves across the broken plaza. Fist met dark magic. Light met shadow.
Suspended above it all was Zara, her body shaking.
Within her mind, two voices fought.
You are the storm. You are the end. Let them fall…
"No."
They will betray you. Release.
"I won't. I won't—"
Her scream rent the skies apart. A titanic surge of Shard power burst forth, throwing friend and enemy both off their feet. The spire burst open, and beneath it there yawned a churning nothingness—the Rift. Un contained, raw Shard power churned within, the seal breaking by the second.
---Helena slammed into a pillar but got up again. Her stare was locked on Zara.
"She's still in there," she growled. "We have to reach her before she's killed."
Eira stood among them, bruised but unbroken. "We need a diversion."
Nova, with blood smeared on her lips, grinned. "Leave that to us."
The Nightbound launched a counterattack. While Orion and Nova fought to cut through the acolytes, Helena sprinted for the Nexus, vaulting over crashing rubble and energy bolts.
Above, Zara clutched at her head, her body ripped asunder by frantic bursts of energy. Her skin pulsed with cracks, sending forth inner illumination—as if she was rending herself apart within.
They are beneath you. You are over them.
"No! I remember. who I am. I'm Zara Kane. I'm not your instrument!"
Her shriek wracked the universe.
Helena climbed the shattered steps of the Nexus, every step falling heavy as a war drum.
"ZARA!" she bellowed above the din.
Zara's gaze slashed downward. For one gasping, brief moment, her face twisted—her mouth agape, her eyes wide, recognition glinting in their depths.
Then the High Herald coalesced in an instant of darkness, appearing between Helena and the summit.
"You can't rescue Zara," the Herald sneered, her hand flashing black. "The Vessel is ours."
Helena's jaw was still clenched. "Not over my dead body."
With a scream, she launched herself at Zara once more.
Above, Zara's tears blended with Shardlight as the Rift beneath her pulsed with dark power.
Inside her, the final seal shattered.
The storm exploded.
And Silver City's destiny hung in the balance.
---