Date: February 12, 542 years since the Fall of Zanra the Dishonored.
The Gate didn't just swallow the Seventh Detachment—it tore it apart with surgical dispassion. As soon as the knights crossed the threshold of the silvery veil, the familiar laws of physics ceased to exist. The space inside the portal resembled a stormy ocean of mercury and shadows, where reality turned inside out every moment.
Kaedan felt invisible claws sink into his Unbreakable Armor. The stone greaves and cuirass, which usually gave him a feeling of immovability, now seemed like an alien burden, pulling him into the abyss. The young man's inner essence darted through his channels, unable to find purchase in this chaos.
"Hold formation!" Grak the Axe's voice sounded like a bell, momentarily drowning out the roar of the spatial rift.
The commander, glowing with the power of a Herald, tried to hold the knights around him, creating a ring of pure will. Kaedan saw Grak clinging with a death grip to Liana's shoulder, Elwin trying to grab the cloak of the nearest comrade. But the power of the Temple of True Equilibrium was immeasurably higher.
The space between the knights suddenly began to expand. One second Kaedan felt his neighbor's elbow, the next—that neighbor was tens of meters away, though none of them had moved. The silvery veil turned into hundreds of thin blades, which neatly "cut" groups of people away from each other, directing them into different currents.
"They're scattering us!" Liana cried out, and her voice was immediately silenced, swallowed by a suddenly appearing void.
Kaedan lunged towards her, but his feet seemed rooted to the very fabric of the portal. He saw Iskon, maintaining frightening calm, drive his sword into the ghostly surface beneath his feet, trying to "anchor" himself, but his figure too began to pale, drawn into one of the five funnels that had opened in the void.
A flash of pain, like a lightning strike directly into the center of his Vessel, made Kaedan lose consciousness for a moment. It felt as if his body had been stretched into an infinite thread, then abruptly released.
The impact against a hard surface brought him back to reality. He crashed onto a stone floor, and the sound of his basalt greaves echoed in the silence that, after the roar of the Gate, seemed deafening. Kaedan lay still for several minutes, greedily gasping for cold air. His inner essence was completely destabilized, his Armor had dissipated, leaving him in his ordinary gear, which now felt suspiciously light.
"Planning to lie there long?" a dry, emotionless voice made Kaedan flinch.
He propped himself up on his elbows. A few steps away from him stood Iskon. His cloak was slightly crumpled, and a fresh scratch adorned his cheek, but otherwise, he looked as if he'd just been out for a stroll. Beside him, two other knights from their detachment—Bert and Olaf—were picking themselves up from their knees. Both were pale and breathing heavily, their Warrior power barely flickering.
They were in a strange hall. The walls here were built of giant blocks that constantly changed their proportions: stretching upwards, then shrinking, becoming wide and flat. The corridor ahead seemed infinitely long, but with a blink, its end would appear just ten steps away.
"We've been separated," Iskon checked how easily his sword came out of its sheath. "Grak and the others are in other sectors."
Kaedan stood up, feeling the flow of power within him gradually stabilize. He looked at Bert and Olaf. They were experienced fighters, but now confusion was visible in their eyes. In Grak's absence, Kaedan understood that the responsibility for these men fell on him and Iskon.
"We have to move," Kaedan gripped his sword's hilt. "Sitting still and waiting for the walls to crush us is not an option. We need to find either an exit, or what we came for."
"Agreed," Iskon headed towards the corridor. "But stay behind me. In this place, each of your steps could be your last."
Kaedan followed, feeling his Unbreakable Armor begin to form on his shoulders again, responding to his will. The Seventh Detachment had been shattered into fragments, and each of these fragments now had to prove it was worthy of the title of Knight of Order alone.
The battle for survival in the depths of the ancient Temple had begun.