Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

ONE YEAR AGO

Anrosh stood on top of a hill, looking into the distance, at the procession heading their way. It was a lot of people, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands. They had many different races represented, and had some semblance of order to their march. Her scouts had observed them, from as close as possible, though they were pretty sure that those people noticed them. And they had their own scouts running around, obviously they had allowed some of them to be seen on purpose. It was a dance of two sides, exploring each other without giving much away, though the manner in which they had conducted themselves indicated that they were not in fact here for any type of attack. At least not one that came as a surprise. Two air ships trailed above them, keeping pace with main force, and flanking what looked to be a… flying garden? It was bigger than the air ships, and she recognized it as something that Nayra had spoken to her about, a flying palace.

The scouts had told her that there were more groups behind this one, spread out in all directions of the frontier. Some, they said, were obviously preparing to go to war and fight. This one though was heading straight for her sect, and they made sure that they were seen as they arrived. They hadn’t separated their warriors from their non-combatants, which calmed Anrosh’s nerves a bit. Not that she was truly nervous. The Twilight Melody Sect had expanded, they were a power in the Frontier and beyond it. She had done her best to make deals and nudge the smaller sects in their neighborhood to join them, and she had succeeded. Their armies outnumbered the procession she was looking at, and that was just counting their warriors, but everyone in the sects knew how to fight. No, she wasn’t afraid. They had Tali who was standing next to her with Lesamitrius and two dozen warriors behind them, she had their guests, the Zenshuen Sect members that were back in Consequence. They had two immortals beside Tali and Anrosh, wandering Cultivators that had migrated from the core. True, they had joined the sect, and were providing a service in return for a place to… belong, but Anrosh hoped that she could eventually gain their true loyalty.

“The Third Iteration,” Lesamitrius whispered. “This isn’t good, is it?”

Anrosh grimaced, understanding his reasoning.

“It is not,” Tali was the one to answer him. “If what the scouts report is true, then they have abandoned their Empire. A whole lot of refuges will be coming this way. Some will look to conquer, and at the worst possible time too, with the core focused on their wars and the attacks by the Fallen.”

Anrosh took a deep breath. The Tournament Territory, taken by the monsters had finally shown itself. Armies of taken and monsters, led by… It was horrible, they were moving and conquering those weakened by wars, taking their populations and turning them to their side.

She turned her mind to the matters that she could influence. The people heading for their territory. It was… surprising in a way. The Twilight Melody was not on the direct path from the Empire to the Frontier, the Golden Coast and the Grey Marshes were. So, either there were too many people fleeing in that direction, which would be a problem all on its own, or they were headed here on purpose.

And there was only one reason why anyone from the Empire would come here, and Anrosh tried not to let herself hope. They had sent someone ahead of their group, after they had noticed them here probably. Two figures were flying through the air, and as they grew near Anrosh felt her heart start to beat faster in her chest.

They landed, two women, both wearing armor and holding their helmets in their hands. Anrosh didn’t speak, she took a step forward and the woman with the blood red hair across from her did the same. They met in the middle and embraced.

“I’ve missed you,” Nayra whispered in Anrosh’s ear.

“Me too,” Anrosh said back. She had known that Ryun would fulfill his promise, she had long since stopped doubting him. But… he wasn’t here.

After what felt like a few minutes of embrace, she pulled back and smiled at Nayra, seeing the changes. Her eyes were golden now, her hair just a bit longer, and her face… Her expression was tired.

Nayra gave her a weak smile, then took a step back and composed herself.

She looked back at the golden blond-haired woman standing behind her, wearing a golden red armor. Her eyes were familiar to Anrosh, but before she could place them Nayra spoke.

“This is Anrosh Kesh, Sect Leader of the Twilight Melody Sect,” Nayra said, then she turned to look at Anrosh. “And this is Karya Ornn, one of the Heads of House Ornn, my mother.”

Anrosh blinked. Nayra’s mother, she hadn’t expected to meet her today. Of all the things that had gone through her head, that possibility hadn’t ever even entered her mind. She was wearing armor, looked ready for war, that… that wasn’t how she imagined meeting her parents.

She shuffled, then inclined her head, not knowing what to say. The woman, Karya Ornn gave her a soft smile, and then her eyes turned to look at the woman standing next to Anrosh.

“It’s been a long time, old friend,” Karya Ornn said. “I see that life hadn’t been easy for you either.”

Anrosh blinked, then looked at Tali. She had been mostly healed, but faint scars still remained on her skin. Anrosh noticed Nayra She returned Karya’s smile, but only for a moment. It was replaced by a serious expression. “No, things rarely go the way we plan them to. Like you being here, something went wrong,” she then turned to look at Nayra. “Ryun?”

“We have a lot to talk about,” Karya said. “But… the Empire is gone, and the team we sent to kill the Dome Leader hasn’t reported back. We have no idea what happened to them.”

Anrosh closed her eyes. She knew that Ryun was still alive, but… there were worse fates than death.

“I assume that those are your people,” Anrosh pointed at the line in the distance.

“What remains of our House and those who had joined us along the way,” Karya said. “We have come to seek… refuge. My daughter assured me that we could find it here.”

Anrosh glanced at Nayra. “She is a Sect Leader of Twilight Melody Sect, she has a say in the sect’s rule in the absence of our Sect Head.” Anrosh was the one who was technically in charge, as Ryun had put her there, but still. “Of course, I will send for people with supplies and… our healers, they will guide you to our territories.”

“Thank you, Sect Leader,” Karya inclined her head.

Anrosh took a deep breath, it seemed like there was no chance of her getting any rest.

SIX MONTHS AGO

The piece of paper in her hand felt… heavy. The message was not good, too much had gone wrong. She held the paper out in the open, not worried that another would read it. It was made by a high tiered Scribe, it was meant to be read only by one person—her. It was rare to see such messages, or at least in this form. The written word was not as important when one had powers that could do so much more. But in other ways it was… simpler, and it was a good way of communicating if you couldn’t exactly speak.

She glanced at the message again, skimming the first part that talked about the state of the core, it only depressed her. She got to the more important part and started to read again.

Heor didn’t kill him. He is searching, the Speaker for the Blind is nowhere to be found and his people have scattered. My own network hears nothing. The last place he was seen was near the City of Invention—Dall’dvor. Heor believed that the city council was helping him hide, he nearly burned the city gates down before a truth seer confirmed that they were speaking the truth. He fell back, but remains unconvinced. He remains in the city, searching. I fear that Kael has fled into the Under and the Ethereal Realm. We both know what is down there, what he is hoping to achieve is unknown. If you have a chance, I would like you to go and check the dungeon. I understand that it is… unlikely that you will be able to do so by the time this message reaches you. If you do not respond, I will send someone else.

—S

She closed her eyes, then sighed. It was… so many things going wrong. She raised her head and looked at the sky, the three floating islands of the Heavenly Cloud Kingdom. The jewels of the sky, mountains that floated high above the ground. Each a city, with high towers and glowing crystals, each city built out of different type of stone. Each shining a different light. She was on the main island, the City of Light, with its white walls that reflected the clouds around them. It made the city look as if it was made out of them, a city of clouds.

It saddened her to see war mar their great cities. Black shapes surrounded the cities, besieging them. Flying monsters, small and fast that attacked their air ships, bigger ones that besieged their walls. And others that were double the size of their airships, carrying on and in them a landing force. The cities had been besieged for months now, but the enemy hadn’t been able to breach inside the walls.

It didn’t really matter though, they were trapped here. They couldn’t leave even if they could evade they couldn’t escape. She looked to the side, studying the ever present clouds around the three islands. She saw glimpses of black, moving through the air, a shape that even from this distance looked enormous. A General, a monster that was so large that it could wrap itself around one of the islands. It was flying in circles, a great black scaled serpent, a leviathan that tested their defenses now and then, but never pressed. She didn’t know what it was waiting for, it had to be one of the more powerful Generals the enemy had.

It hadn’t gotten through the portal in the Tournament City, that much she knew, it was unknown how it arrived here, though… It could’ve probably just flown over from the Dome.

“Princess Fenera,” she turned around and saw the Guard Commander standing there, she hadn’t even noticed. He had to have called her several times before she answered.

“Your highness,” he continued. “You should retire inside, it is dangerous being in the open.”

Fenera chuckled, she was on the palace balcony, in the heart of the city. If something reached here they would have far more problems than they had now.

She shook her head, looked out at the siege. Fire streamed from all three cities, fighting the monsters trying to reach them, to land troops and disable their defenses.

“I am as safe as I can be here, Jenu,” she told him.

The air shook with a roar that clapped like thunder. Fenera turned around, looking in and seeing the great leviathan break through the clouds. The serpents maw opened wide, roaring. She readied herself. And then the General banked, the clouds behind it turned crimson with fire, and she watched in amazement and terror as the general’s scales burst, wounds opened up all over its body. It slithered through the air, running away, and bright lances of light pierced through the clouds behind it, carving pieces of its body. A swarm of glowing blue spheres flew out of the clouds, then cracked open, sending glowing spikes of light that followed the General and struck its body, exploding. It was screaming now, falling to the ground. The cities opened fire, the army sieging them trying to turn and go after their General.

A shape broke through the clouds, a massive beast made out of metal. Its shadow fell on the city, it was the size of a mountain. It looked like an elongated wedge, with turrets lining its surface. Long tubes the size of towers were pointed at the General and fired beams of light. She saw the crest on the front of the vessel, and she knew.

Smaller vessels followed behind it, and she looked in amazement as they alongside with the defenders broke the siege and exterminated the enemy forces.

“That… that is the Memory of Stars, isn’t it?” Jenu whispered.

Fenera nodded. “Yes, the flagship of the Exalted Fleet.”

A ship capable of flying through the sky, of submerging beneath the oceans, of traversing the Void above them all. The flagship of the Herald of the Machine.

NOW

The city was burning in the distance, the screams were filling the air. She turned away and walked back inside, she walked past the corpses whose white cloaks had been stained with blood. Past the broken bodies and dead monsters under her command. The bulk of her forces were the taken, she had been granted a great honor of being able to command both them and the monsters. Her task was to take more, to show them all the glory of Hastur. He—it—was true freedom, the release from the bonds of their mortal making. She had struggled with that before she became his servant, she had thought that she had to be something that mattered. Now she knew that there could be no true peace, no true order, unless all followed the same will, the same law.

She made her way through the rooms and corridors, until finally she entered one that was familiar to her. Another of the taken was there, her second in command. He was not as useful as Bera had been, but, one couldn’t really pick and choose.

She opened her mouth—

She froze, her second froze. The armies in the Citadel and the city froze. She felt it in her core, the link severing. Hastur was dead.

She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. It had come to pass, what Hastur had feared. There would be no more taken, there would be no more monsters spawned, no great will leading them. But they remembered, they would take up and ensure that Hastur’s legacy endured.

Yirrel Annsi, Chosen of Hastur, walked behind a desk and took a seat as the Citadel burned around her.