As soon as they saw the Goliath waiting for them, Nephis instantly summoned the Nameless Sun and augmented it with her flames. Her lantern memory returned to the confines of her soul sea as she held her sword with both hands.
Lucien, on the other hand, had a different reaction. Why was the goliath here? The gates to the citadel were open, it could have gone in. But it chose to remain outside?
Or did it come out once it noticed we were coming closer?
Whatever it was, Lucien didn't think it was there to stop them. That didn't mean he wouldn't be prepared though. White sparks covered his whole body as his memories began appearing once by one.
It didn't interrupt them as they landed, choosing to silently watch instead. It watched as the platform of sand flowed into the storage memory, controlled by the weapon in Luciens hand.
A moment later, it turned its attention to the progeny of Nether, "I thought you said you would bring hundreds of sleepers, not one."
Lucien paused, glanced back at Nephis, and said, "The others found a different way out."
Then, he stared at the Tyrant and asked, "What are you doing outside?"
The goliath tilted its head, as if confused why someone would ask that, "Why, protecting this place of course. That was, and always has been my primary objective."
Lucien blinked, was it really that simple?
Then, all of a sudden Nephis spoke, "Will you stop us if we try to go in?"
The goliath turned its gaze towards her, silently staring at her for a long while. Then, all of a sudden it pointed towards Lucien and said, "Not if he allows you in."
Nephis nodded, satisfied, and returned to her silent state. On the other hand, Lucien frowned deeply.
"I have that much authority here?" He asked.
The saint slowly turned to him, "That is the only authority you have here."
The meaning was clear, Do not overstep your authority.
There were things in the Citadel that he was not supposed to know, at least not yet.
From what I know, Saints are able to claim citadels for their own and gain access to all of its functions. I'll simply have to become one to uncover the secrets here.
Lucien nodded and began walking towards the doors. As he crossed the Tyrant, he couldn't help but notice that the corruption it had bound to one of its cores had grown a bit stronger.
Without another word, he pushed open the doors to Nethers Citadel and led Nephis in.
The torches on either side of the tunnel flared to life as they walked, lighting up the path ahead.
Along the way Nephis asked, "That was the Transcendent Tyrant who kidnapped you?"
"Yes," Lucien nodded, "It is the guardian of this citadel, the one Eurys was talking about."
Nephis frowned, "The one that used to be a Supreme Titan?"
"Apparently," Lucien said, "It fell to the corruption and fell down a rank and two classes. I don't know how, I never asked."
Nephis didn't ask any more questions.
As they got closer to the end of the tunnel, Lucien opened his mouth to say:
"There are going to be some corpses in there, don't be alarmed when you see them."
"Nightmare creatures?" Nephis asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No," Lucien shook his head, "Not nightmare creatures."
Nephis was about to ask him to elaborate when the narrow tunnel suddenly opened into a wide antechamber.
To her left was a wide workstation, filled to the brim with tools and materials used by a Daemon. Some of them were things she had seen before, but a vast majority of them were unknown to her, she didn't think anything like those even existed in the waking world.
Then, she turned her gaze towards her right, and froze. Rows upon rows of operating tables, each with a body on top of it. Each body had been cut open with surgical precision, each for a different reason. Some had their organs taken out and neatly arranged. Some had their entire skeleton system separated. Some had their muscles separated, arranged in three distinct groups. Clearly, each body had been taken for a purpose.
"Humans," Nephis breathed out as she stared at the bodies.
"Yes," Lucien sighed, "It doesn't end here."
They walked until they came across the last human corpse, kept in pristine condition, unlike the rest. Right beside it, was the corpse of a rudimentary stone child. Cut from rough stone, unlike the smooth pale stone of the completed model. Its face only consisted of two lumps of the ruby-like gem.
Behind the two bodies lay two massive reservoirs, one filled to the brim with human blood, and the other filled with the ruby dust that acted as the stone children's blood.
"From what I've gathered, this was Nether's first attempt at creating a Stone Child using the humans as a base." Lucien explained, "Clearly, it didn't work out very well."
Then, he gestured towards the next row of corpses, "And so he turned towards a different race of people."
Nephis' eyes fell on the bodies of the Stormforged, at first she didn't notice anything different about it. In fact, if Lucien hadn't told her, she would've thought they were more human corpses.
But then, as she was looking at the corpses, something changed. The bodies became translucent for a moment, as if they were going to fade into nothingness. Then, without warning, they became solid again as if nothing had happened.
"Yeah they do that sometimes," Lucien said, "I don't exactly know why."
Blinking, Nephis turned to him and asked, "Who are they?"
Rather, what race were they if not human?
A strange expression appeared on Lucien's face, a look of longing. He stared at the corpses for a moment before saying, "These are my people, the Stormborn."
Nephis frowned, looked at the corpses that kept fading in and out of existence, and then at Lucien who showed none of that.
Lucien hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'm a bit different, you see they are dead, I am still alive."
And I still have the spark of Storm Gods divinity in me.
Nephis stared at him for a few seconds before turning back to the line of corpses. The Stormforged were dissected in a similar manner to the humans, each corpse serving a different purpose.
As they reached the end of this line of bodies, Nephis expected to see a pristine Stormforged body and a primitive stone child body, but there was only the body of the Stormforged.
The place where the stone child should have been was empty.
Just as she was about to ask about it, she noticed the pile of discarded stone children near the wall.
"Failed attempts," Lucien said, that was his best guess. "He did eventually manage to succeed, but it wasn't here."
Slowly nodding, Nephis turned away from the corpses and turned towards the far end of the room. There, something caught her eye.
An altar cut from a single slab of black onyx stood at the end of the room. And behind it was an incredibly beautiful statue of a young woman dressed in a flowing tunic, her face obscured by a veil. The young woman was holding a star in one hand, and a bolt of lightning in the other.
Lucien stared at the statue of his ancestor, the statue that acted as a 'gate' to the tower of frozen time.
"Storm God," Nephis said, receiving a nod from Lucien.
"Whatever you do, don't touch that statue." He warned, "Unless you fancy being frozen in time for an eternity."
"Noted." Nephis nodded. and turned towards the other side of the room where Nether's workstation took most of the space. And right beside it…
Her eyes widened as her gaze fell on the stone arch with runes shimmering on its surface. Around the arch, a ring of ruby dust lined the ground, marking the boundary of the gateway.
There it was, her way back home, back to the waking world. This was her path to becoming stronger, the moment she passed through that gate she would awaken.
Subconsciously she had taken a few steps forward, and one of her hands reached out towards the gateway.
Lucien watched all this from a distance, choosing not to disturb her as she went to touch the gateway. This was what she had been waiting for all this while. This was what hundreds of sleepers died for back in the Crimson Spire.
But then she stopped and turned around. Her gaze drifted away from the gateway before shifting towards Lucien.
"You'll stay alive. We'll meet again." Her eyes hid guilt and longing. Longing to become awakened. Guilt at leaving him here all alone.
And this time, she couldn't trade her place.
"Of course I'll live." Lucien said, a confident grin breaking into his face, "Surviving is something I'm very good at. So you can rest easy."
Staring at Nephis and the gateway behind her, Lucien said, "Go, return to your world. Your friends are waiting. Your mother is waiting."
Nephis stared at him for a few more seconds, and then nodded and turned around. Soon, her foot entered the arch, and a light slowly began enveloping her body. As she stood there, waiting for the gateway to take her back, she didn't dare turn around.
And just as the light turned blinding, Nephis heard the voice of the spell say:
[The Second Seal is broken.]
[Awakening dormant powers…]
Outside, in the waking world, inside the Awakened Academy.
Deep underground, in a heavily protected room, a sleeping pod was glowing softly in the darkness.
Inside, a young woman with silver hair slept, her face pale and still.
Then, however, her eyes suddenly began to move beneath the eyelids, as if she was experiencing a terrible nightmare. A strange heat suffused the air.
A split second later, something flashed.
The room was instantly engulfed in bright light. A maelstrom of fire filled the sleeping pod, licks of flame leaking from its crevices.
Then, with a bang the lid was thrown away, and Nephis opened her eyes.
Inside Nether's citadel, a lone figure stood in the middle of a room. The only source of light in the room was from ghostly torches that lined either wall. An ethereal gray light bathed the room, giving it an eerie feeling.
Lucien stared silently at the now lifeless gateway, the grin on his face slowly crumbling away.
Just like that, Lucien was left alone again. But this time, there was no Dark City to return to. There was no Fallen Terror to prepare for, no artifact to fill up.
There was nothing to occupy his mind with.
All that remained was Lucien, the only remaining proof that humans once lived in these forgotten shores.
—
In a secluded corner of the Hollow Mountains, a lone figure swiftly slipped past a small army of stone saints. Wary of the Darkness pooling underneath, she sped up towards the giant stone doors.
Something had struck this door in the past, leaving a large crack on it's surface. Even though it wasn't wide enough for any being to pass, there was enough space for wind to go through.
Aletta squeezed through the broken gate and entered a long hallway leading to a single room. The hallway was shrouded in darkness, even as she passed the torches hanging on either side did not light up her way.
Soon, she left the tunnel, entering the wide room at the end of it. Any other time, she would spend a while to look around the room, to see if there was anything valuable in there.
But this time, her eyes were clued to one thing in particular, the statue of her God at the far end of the room, made entirely out of obsidian.
Wasting no time, she rushed to the figure, turning corporeal on the way. An unknown emotion welled in her eyes as she stared at the visage of the Great Mother. Something in it was calling to her, and she raised her palm towards it, hovering a mere inch away from it's surface, as if she was afraid it would burn her.
Taking a deep breath in, she gathered all her courage, and touched the statue. The space around her suddenly warped, and her body disappeared from the underground room.
In the darkness, a pair of eyes was staring towards the statue, at the spot Aletta was just in.