Glenn pressed his lips together, hesitantly reaching for the purple ball that acted as the sole source of light in the darkness surrounding him. He flinched at the touch, pulling his hand back.

  "Cold. But what is...Purple, so maybe Diamanes?" He shook the feeling off and tried grabbing the purple ball once more.

  A wave of purple light blinded him, invading his consciousness.

  'Ah, what the f—'

  "I'll kill them!"

  A strange, foreign voice exploded through Glenn's mind. He grabbed his head, scowling painfully. He forced his eyes open, finding himself to be floating in what he guessed to be space. Encroaching darkness all around with countless, small lights shining in the distance. Amidst that infinite expanse was a massive Sarcophagus of smooth black stone.

  "I am the last one. The last!" The voice roared hatefully from within the sarcophagus.

  'Wait, who are you—No, I can't speak. This isn't real,' realized Glenn as he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly. He couldn't even imagine why he was being shown this, but now that he was here, he wouldn't miss a second of it.

  "...But what am I supposed to do now? I can only wait. Wait. Wait for the possibility of a connection being made... No matter. I have all the time in the world."

  Glenn's eyes widened as he watched the stars in the distance begin to fade away and reappear at incredible speed. 'A time skip, maybe? How convenient.'

  Despite the passage of time, the Sarcophagus remained unchanged, the black stone as pristine and smooth as when Glenn first saw it.

  "Ahh..." The voice sighed deeply. "I'm bored. This is boring. What even were their names? Why is it taking so long? I'm sure a connection should have been made before..."

  The voice grunted with newly renewed determination. "That can't go on. I'll just forget everything if I keep at it. I need to speed things up. Split."

  The Sarcophagus shattered into three pieces, three massive white crystals of similar sizes.

  "Ah-ha! I finally came to life! The future is in my hand, haha!" A first voice exploded with wicked happiness.

  Another clicked its tongue. "Shut up. Your lack of manners will taint our reputation. Stob chattering uselessly and let's reach the Goal."

  The third voice hissed furiously. "I... WILL... KILL THEM ALL! Rip, tear, and devour them! Show them our combined might! My revenge will be swift, and it'll be painful for them!"

  Glenn's eyes widened as he let out an awed laugh. 'Shit, are those Diamanes, Tiamanes, and whatever the third guy's name is? I know Diamanes was one piece from a whole, but...so there are three pieces, and I know where all three are. Alright. That's a lot to handle.'

  Diamanes' crystal turned to the third, unnamed one. "Ah. I think he lost it. Well, he did get most of the resentment. Anyway, I'm sure it will be fine."

  "You!" Tiamanes sighed. "I know I have been designed as perfection, but can't you at least try to hold a candle to the original? He was the pinnacle of the world, after all. He deserves that much, even though not much of him is left."

  "Yeah, yeah, like you say. I'll go on my merry way searching for the connection. Good luck to you guys!"

  "I'LL KILL THEM!"

  "...Good luck to you too."

  The three crystals suddenly shot in different directions, all spiraling into space without any clear objectives. Glenn watched with his arms crossed as his metaphorical presence followed Diamanes' crystal flying through space.

  "Thank the original that he made me this way..." muttered Diamanes during the flight. "I wouldn't have it otherwise. And I got the original ability, too. He knew I was the right one for the job, not like that crazy fucker or the stuck-up bastard. Anyway, connection, connection, where are you...?" The crystal's course went on uninterrupted, stars dying and birthing with each passing second. His specialty was intrinsically linked to space and the stars, after all. It wasn't called Astral Sorcery for no reason.

  Eventually, the crystal slowed its course and came to a standstill.

  "Hmm. Hmm... This isn't going very well, is it?" Diamanes' crystal spun on itself as if to find a way to go. "Why am I even speaking to myself? What am I doing? Am I just losing it too? Ah. Oh well. Not like we had all the screws on before. I'll just float around, I guess."

  Diamanes sighed. "This sucks. I can't believe I'm struggling to handle the loneliness. Ah! I know!" The crystal suddenly resumed its course, shooting through space once again. "I'm sure I'll find one of these Outer things they spoke of before! I'll just force them to tell me the direction. The connection can't be that far."

  Glenn pressed his lips together, watching as the crystal shot into the distance once again. This time, he didn't automatically follow it. Instead, the surroundings faded back into darkness, the countless stars swallowed by the void.

  'Why am I seeing this?' Glenn rubbed his chin, confused. 'Am I just...scrolling through Diamanes' memories for some reason? Why? And how is it helping me? Or maybe I'm just getting a Diamanes' history lesson for once?'

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Glenn looked around in the now familiar nothingness. 'Looks like the lesson is finished, though. And I still haven't figured out a way to get out of here. Diamanes, Diamanes, what kind of mess did you pull me into?'

  Unfortunately, Diamanes didn't answer him. But something else did.

  The young man clenched his teeth as his blood turned to ice and cold sweat drenched his back. Even as a sort of metaphorical, non-physical being, he couldn't help but shiver. That...something else, it replied by sending a wave of pure dread. An ancient hatred so overbearing and powerful Glenn couldn't even begin to fathom it.

  "Ah-ha! Finally!"

  Diamanes' voice echoed once again, cutting an opening through the nothingness Glenn was plunged into. The white crystal appeared in sight once again, moving through a dark space with no stars. There was no light aside from the one coming off the white crystal.

  The crystal stopped seemingly in the middle of nowhere, floating in nothingness. "Yes, yes, I can hear you, you are very, very scary, and certainly look the part too. Anyway, would you happen to know where—oh." Diamanes' mocking voice suddenly turned as cold as ice. Glenn could almost imagine the evil grin Diamanes must have been wearing at that moment in time.

  "You're not an Outer. Outer don't exist, do they? And they're just another lie that you and the other bastards came up with. Of course. And so, they sent your fucking body here. Shit. Just my luck."

  Diamanes sighed heavily, staying silent for a moment and giving Glenn some time to think.

  'T- The thing that's terrifying me so violently is already dead? And Diamanes doesn't seem to give a single fuck about it too. What kind of cosmic level of strength am I watching? And how powerful was Diamanes for him to just shrug that pressure off like that?'

  "But your body...Hmm. The age doesn't match up. Is time passing differently between here and there? Because I and the original certainly spent more than two thousand years in that hell hole." Diamanes sounded curiously confused, his initial cold rage fading away.

  Suddenly, something moved through the darkness. Glenn's eyes widened as he watched a very recognizable pale finger come out of the darkness and press onto Diamanes' crystal.

  'That's one of the fingers that opened the Moon Rift yesterday! Or whatever day it was. Shit, this is insane! So Diamanes already met that...thing before, and it still moves despite being dead? I can't even criticize, I apparently already died after all.' Glenn's thoughts were drowned under a torrent of chaotic explosions as Diamanes cursed.

  "What the hell is—" The finger ripped a hole through reality, splitting space open. A world seemed to spill out of the hole, oceans pouring out as continents crumbled. Diamanes' crystal shattered into countless pieces, all splitting away into the newly arrived mass. Another finger appeared, ripping out another hole and sending the mess Diamanes was mixed with into it. Some of his pieces remained behind, while most fell into the newly opened hole.

  Glenn rubbed his eyes in disbelief as the vision disappeared.

  "This was fucking weird," he blurted out. "Ah, and I retrieved my voice. Great."

  He drew a short breath and shook his head. "What the fuck was that?"

  Just as he thought this, a new ball of light appeared in the darkness. But this one wasn't purple, Diamanes' distinct color.

  No, it was of pure, white light.

  ***

  Liara and Nelg forced themselves to put one foot before the other. They were back with the other slaves, pulling the carriage by the strength of their throats. The slave collars binding them were heavy and cold. Nelg gritted his teeth in frustration. The Silence collars made it impossible for him to communicate with Liara.

  'This is still better than having to torture her myself, though...' That thought sobered him. He checked on his energy reserves before bumping shoulders with Liara, transferring every ounce of his power to her. Every time he did that, the Black Heiress stood a little straighter and regained a little more of her strength, tiny bit by tiny bit.

  'How long will it take for her to completely recover, though?' Nelg bit on his lip worriedly. 'The power of the souls Glenn reaped for me isn't infinite. I probably will run out at some point. Shit...'

  He couldn't continue pondering over his worries as the carriage driver suddenly ordered them to stop. Some slaves fell to their knees, exhausted. Those were the lucky ones. The rest had already been dragged under the carriage after their legs gave in. Their corpses were still tied to the chains, dead weights that left a bloody trail behind the carriage.

  Their surroundings had suddenly changed from dead forests and muddy swamps to a more luscious environment. Trees as tall as towers stood on the side of the dirt track they followed. Exotic beasts glanced at the carriage and fled without thinking twice, terrified of the monster sleeping inside it. It seemed like a powerful Saint's presence was an incredible deterrent to stop wild monsters from attacking.

  Liara swallowed heavily, struggling to breathe due to the heavy slave collar. She ignored the pain and processed Nelg's energy as quickly as she could. The faster she recovered, the better. She couldn't afford to not have the strength necessary when the opportunity to escape would present itself.

  'Still no signs of Glenn waking up...Did he really die, like that Nora keeps saying?' Liara's conviction trembled slightly as she had that thought. She shook the idea out of her head and concentrated back on processing the energy. One step after the other. One portion of energy after the other. She was back at half her capacity.

  Even at her best, she wouldn't be able to handle Nora. 'But I'll take anything I can get. Patience, just a little more patience...'

  Nora came out of the carriage, her eyes bloodshot. A couple of dark circles under her eyes reinforced the ominous atmosphere around her. She was chewing on her nails anxiously, glancing back into the carriage from time to time. She clicked her tongue and aimed a finger at the sky. A bolt of Aura flew above the treetop, exploding into the sky.

  The carriage waited for a dozen minutes before the ground suddenly shook. Liara and Nelg crouched worriedly, stabilizing themselves. The ground lowered itself slowly, bringing the carriage down with it. Liara looked up and watched silently as the sky disappeared behind an advanced mechanical contraption.

  'A hidden passageway into the ground. Clever. I wouldn't have missed it if I wasn't so exhausted. I need to focus.' Liara's eyes were steeled with resolution. The platform sunk deeper into the depth of the earth, rumbling loudly. Eventually, the walls left the place for an incredible sight, one that Liara would have never believed unless she saw it with her own eyes.

  Below the ground, hidden from sight, was a massive cavern supported by a gigantic roof of thorny vines. Below, filling up the cavern almost entirely, was a large, prosperous city.

  'Incredible...' Nelg was similarly amazed. 'I wish Glenn and Diamanes could have seen this. I'm starting to seriously miss both of their comments...'

  The platform eventually reached ground level, and the driver gave a lash with his whip to make the carriage advance once more. Nelg's eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he saw a group of bald men approach them in sober priest gowns. All of them had more than familiar scars on their foreheads. A cross in a thorny circle.

  "Welcome to Penitentia, Saint of the Mother," one of them bowed politely.

  "The Thorn's Church wishes for your sins to be washed away and for you to come to repentance."

  Patreon, there are fifteen chapters posted in advance right now, but I'm taking a break and not uploading on it until the 9th of March. Just letting y'all know. Royal Road's schedule is not affected.

  It would still please me greatly if you could impart some of your coins to me, of course, huh huh huh. The Gold Church welcomes any donation and guarantees no returns and only dubious blessings...