Grey Hesitated, "What of Julia?"
Faker didn't reply at first. He could have just left the question unanswered. But some questions need answering.
"Mark the contract as failed." Faker replied "Don't come to the central stairway, we move for extraction now."
At that moment the world of Julia stopped. All activity seized. The shadows started to expand, the moons started to dim, and the trees they stopped rustling in the wind.
"Extraction window closes in five minutes" Grey warned.
Faker stepped away from the throne. "I will meet you guys at the castle gate. the thing that killed the Demon lord... I think it has noticed us."
The three of them ran to the gate. Once at the gate the tree came into formation. this wasn't the first time they had lost a world to whatever that thing was. They knew what came next and they didn't want to be stuck there waiting for it.
Tolstoy took the rear. His massive frame moved more quietly than it should have, claws flexing and retracting as if unsure what they were meant to tear into. The threat was now everywhere, his animistic senses were picking up danger left and right.
As for grey, he was always the front man. He walked ahead sword low, posture tense. Since the end of utopia, his precognition hadn't worked correctly, but right now it had become dead silent.
Faker could feel it there were tiny hesitations in his movement, micro-adjustments that came a fraction of a second too late.
How will future sight work if the danger lurking is everywhere?
"Grey" I transmitted "I want full isolation. No open channels."
A pause.
"Already done"Grey replied. "You think that thing can interfere with the working of my telepathy?"
"I don't want to find out" Faker said "We know nothing about this entity anyways, and right now it's not the best thing to find out more."
They reached the outer courtyard. The bodies were still there the fifty demon grunts sprawled across shattered stone, blood drying under moonlight.
The sphere Faker formed earlier hovered where he left it, slowly rotating, obedient. Magic like that usually drew attention. And in a world that was full of Magical creatures a few hours, it was weird if nothing came out the forest sniffing the smell of blood.
"I don't like this" Grey muttered.
Tolstoy huffed. "You don't like anything that doesn't try to kill you."
Grey ignored him. His eyes were fixed on the far wall, where cracks had begun to creep along the stone it was not fresh damage. Old stress fractures, spreading slowly, like veins.
Suddenly the moonlight dimmed more. the star's had already vanished.
"Julia is hollow" Grey said. "Like it has lost something important."
Faker stepped forward and released the blood sphere. It didn't fall like it was supposed to. It evaporated. Not dispersed. Just Gone.
Faker realised what the world had lost... and Grey wasn't going to like it. "Grey, Julia's devoid of magic. Your precognition won't work because there is no magic to work it." Faker said as he looked around.
"Fuck.." Grey realise something even more horrible "How are we supposed to form a portal when there isn't any magic left in this world."
Tolstoy was now slowly starting transform back into his human self. The fifteen foot were wolf was now just a measly ten. "Guy's my magicule void is about be empty."
"And... not to be the bearer of bad news, but I can't hear anything" His ears flattened against his skull. "No wind. No animals. No insects."After few moments he said, "No moon either."
Faker looked up. The twin moons Amethyst and Sapphire were still there. Not as bright. But perfectly in place.
Tolstoy shook his head. "I see them. I just don't… feel them., My magicules aren't recharging."
That wasn't natural. Not for a werewolf at least.
"Grey" Faker said, "we're accelerating extraction."
"How am I supposed to do that, portals require magiclues Faker. I don't have any. The world doesn't have any."
"You could use mine.... If you are okay with it."
"That could work.... Alright Evacuation in 60 seconds" Grey said as he readied himself.
Grey stepped into the centre of the courtyard and planted his sword point-first into the stone. The blade trembled as runes crawled up its length, dim and unstable they were like embers struggling to stay lit.
Normally, portals bloomed open with resistance. This time, the world didn't fight back.
That scared Faker more than if it had. That meant the world had died. it was just an echo, of the real deal, that the three outsiders not stood upon.
Faker extended his hand. Blood welled up from beneath his skin skin it was not spilling, not dripping, but pulled. Magicules answered his will, tearing free from his body as glowing crimson threads. Pain followed immediately, sharp and intimate, like something vital being peeled away.
Grey stiffened. "That much should be enough."
"Don't worry about me. Take more, this world doesn't have any left, the portal won't sustain for long enough without it."
The threads flowed into the runes, feeding them, forcing structure into a world where reality was already unravelling. The stone beneath them groaned, hairline fractures spreading outward from the sword like a spiderweb.
"Thirty seconds" Grey said. His voice was tight now. Focused. "Faker, whatever that thing is..."
"I know" Faker felt it too. It had noticed them. In a world devoid of magicules... this was the place that had lot's of it. It was like a flare in night's darkness.
The shadows along the courtyard walls stretched unnaturally, no longer bound by light. They bled into one another, merging, deepening, as if the absence of structure had given them permission to exist freely.
Tolstoy at this point was more man than wolf. He was barely standing on his feet. the fatigue was catching him.
Tolstoy forced himself upright and took position beside's Faker. "If it comes through before the portal opens" he said quietly, "I'll slow it down."
"You will do no such thing" Faker commanded.
As he said that Tolstoy met his eyes. Faker looked back "If it comes for us, there is little we would be able to do about it."
Grey swore under his breath. The runes flared. The fabric of reality tore open. On the other side waited darkness that moved correctly. Reality that still breathed.
It was home. Or something close enough.
"Ten seconds!" Grey shouted.
The ground beneath them pulsed again it was stronger this time.
The castle walls groaned, stone shedding in slow, deliberate collapses. The throne room behind them folded inward, as if being gently crushed by an invisible hand.
"It's coming" Grey said.
"Ah. yes mister genius. we didn't know that." Tolstoy said as he fully converted into a human being.
Faker felt his magicules tearing away faster now they draining not just power, but memory, instinct, reflex. If this went on any longer, he wouldn't be leaving as himself.
"Move!" Faker ordered.
Tolstoy went first, lunging through the rift without hesitation.
Grey followed immediately after, dragging his sword free from the stone with a cry of effort.
Faker took one last look at Julia.
At the darkened moons.At the frozen trees. At a world that had been hollowed out so completely it didn't even know how to die properly.
Faker took of his hat and bowed to the dead world and flung his red hat in air. "I am sorry, oh dear Julia. I hope you find it in your dead heart to forgive me"
Then he stepped through.
The portal snapped shut behind him.
And somewhere, in the space where Julia used to breathe, there was nothing left.