[Note: Have you read my novel yet? It's called: The World is Die. It's a good novel, go read it!]
...
Several minutes passed as the Saints spoke, but in the end, war was inevitable. The words were lost in the wind, the ultimatums ignored, and the hatred accumulated over decades finally found its outlet.
Sunny and Jet joined forces to fight on Valor's side, while Shade remained motionless, observing. It wasn't his war. Not yet.
Shade watched as Saint Cor, Effie, and Kai returned to where he stood. They would only be spectators in the war that was about to happen in a few minutes. The government had decided to maintain neutrality, at least for now.
Kai was the first to speak upon reaching Shade. His expression was grim.
"What do you think of all this?" Kai asked.
Shade shrugged. "Nothing in particular. In fact, I'll tell you something: in the end, no one will win. That's how it is with all wars."
"You say that as if you've been in one," Effie commented, her great axe resting on her shoulder. She had seen enough combat in her life to recognize someone who spoke from experience.
Shade didn't respond to that. His eyes remained fixed on the horizon, where the two armies were beginning to deploy.
"What do you think will happen?" Effie asked, changing the subject.
"I don't know," Kai replied, but his tone was uncertain.
"I have a rough idea," Shade said, finally looking away from the battlefield.
"And what would that be?"
Shade smiled. It wasn't a happy smile. "I suppose one Saint will die, at least two. And many Awakened." He paused. "Ah, and bones."
Kai blinked, confused. "What's your thing with bones?"
"They're great." Shade turned his head toward him. "Do you want to see the skeleton of a great leviathan?"
"No thanks."
"Well, your loss." Shade pulled a peach from somewhere and began eating it calmly, as if he were at a picnic instead of witnessing the prelude to a massacre.
A few more minutes passed until the war began.
It started with an avalanche of abominations sent by Beastmaster. Nightmare creatures of all sizes and shapes emerged from cracks in the ground, throwing themselves against Valor's lines. It was a classic Song Clan tactic: using beasts as cannon fodder to wear down the enemy before committing their own warriors.
Soon the battle entered a state of frenetic destruction.
Thousands of aspects of all kinds were being used. Many died continuously in the first exchanges — their bodies falling to the ground like broken dolls — while others lasted longer, their abilities allowing them to survive where others perished.
The Saints fought against the Saints, while others fought against the reflections.
Shade raised an eyebrow upon seeing a reflection of himself made by Mordret. The double was fighting against the Summer Knight, helping Silent Stalker. The Valor Saint seemed to be in trouble; even though his reflection had less than a quarter of his full strength, it was difficult to eliminate.
Apparently, Mordret had studied Shade in his battles against abominations to recreate him as closely as possible. Each movement of the reflection was an almost perfect copy of how Shade would fight. It was impressive. And terrifying.
Elsewhere, the Saints of the Song Clan fought against an invisible enemy. Shade couldn't see who it was, but he could feel the distortion in the air. Stealth aspects, perhaps. Or something more sinister.
At the same time, a massive worm emerged from the ground. It was a Titan created by the Valor Clan, a beast of engineering and magic that spat acid and crushed everything in its path.
Immediately, Shade's reflection moved away to fight the Titan alongside other reflections, leaving Silent Stalker to deal with the Summer Knight. Both began to have a more evenly matched battle.
Shade looked elsewhere and raised an eyebrow as he saw, amid the chaos of battle, Sunny helping Sky Tide while Dire Fang hunted him to kill him. It was a deadly three-piece dance: the wounded, the protector, and the predator.
Shade looked away and watched the battle of multiple Awakened fighting with great ferocity. He also saw the encounter between Mordret and Morgan. Both siblings fought without any kind of technique beyond pure, wild savagery: they wanted to kill each other, and nothing else mattered.
When Shade looked back to where Sunless was, he only saw a great veil made of shadows. Elsewhere, he saw Cassie escorting Sky Tide, badly wounded.
Shade yawned.
Then he frowned.
Despite all the chaos unfolding, his heart wasn't moved in the slightest. He glanced sideways at Kai and Effie, who were tense and somewhat horrified by the unfolding massacre. Effie's knuckles were white from gripping her axe. Kai had closed his eyes, as if he couldn't bear to watch.
Shade sighed.
Well, this is over, he thought, watching as the veil of shadows fell and revealed an enormous corpse. It was Saint Dire Fang, dead.
Elsewhere, the enormous worm fell to the ground, defeated by several reflections. Somewhere else, Mordret had Morgan against the ropes. The situation was still undecided as to who would be the final victor.
Shade looked toward the sky.
He felt a subtle change that grew stronger from one moment to the next. The battlefield fell silent — an unnatural silence, as if the world were holding its breath — and then enormous cracks manifested in the sky, tearing downward.
The call of the nightmare was instantaneous.
Awakened screamed as they clutched their heads and fell to their knees. Others had their eyes wide open but saw nothing. Others spilled blood from their noses, ears, eyes. Others crawled toward the open gates that appeared in the air like wounds in reality.
Three category four gates opened.
Enormous abominations began to emerge from inside the nightmare gates.
Shade sighed.
This is terrible, he thought as he watched all the chaos and terrifying death unfolding. Even after mentally preparing myself, it's hard to watch.
He concentrated on feeling his anchor in the Dream Realm. If he could hold onto it, perhaps he could resist the call. But he didn't feel it. It was too far away, or too weak, or simply not enough against three category four gates opening at the same time.
So he decided to let himself be carried away by the call of the gates.
It worked. The world faded around him, and he disappeared from Antarctica.
---
Shade felt the world disappear. He felt an infinite emptiness, like an abyss between reality and dream. It happened so fast that he couldn't properly experience it. A blink. A sigh. And then nothing.
He was blinded by an intense light.
Immediately, he felt the heat. And something terrifying. Something watching him from above, something that shouldn't be looking.
Opening his eyes, Shade looked around and understood that he was in the Nightmare Desert.
Yet what he saw made him pale.
It was an enormous construction, of colossal size. A black pyramid rising toward the sky like an obsidian tooth. On its surface were three deep marks from titanic claws, leading into the dark, vast interior.
Ariel's Tomb.
Shade closed his eyes. He didn't want to look at the top of the pyramid. He refused to do so. He felt that every pore of his body warned him: he must never look at what was at the top. There was something up there. Something watching him. Something smiling.
Trusting his instincts, Shade created two dark wings and increased his speed. His senses sharpened, as did his connection to the darkness. He felt a vast darkness in some direction, something deep and ancient, and he flew toward it.
He entered the largest and deepest crack in the black pyramid.
Ariel's Tomb. The true tomb of Ariel.