Chapter 53

Piercing the rupture, Wil found himself in an endless world of white, a sea of blackness beneath his feet. He had been here before. Desire had used an illusion spell to recreate this environment. Even the feeling it gave was similar, an oppressive weight, the air humid and clinging.

The sea of black tar was undisturbed, a flat, mirror black. Staring into that darkness, he could see a figure, writhing far beneath its surface. The Outsider, blocked from entering the rift, just on the edge of their reality.

The creature felt wrong to his divine senses, an intruder, a foreign entity that didn’t fit into their world. It was strange and confusing. Since he had ascended, Wil felt a connection to everything within the barrier, but this thing existed beyond them.

He could still feel things from it, fleeting insight into its emotions. Hate nearly overpowered everything else. It detested life, leading it to loathe and despise its forms. But layered underneath, Wil could sense fear as well. It feared life because it was unknowable to it. The Outsiders did not understand life, despite encountering it innumerable times before.

The more they found it, the more fearful they became of it. The more fear they felt, the angrier they grew. Their hatred led them to seek out all forms of life and extinguish it.

Wil looked up from the black tar, ignoring the creature lurking below. The barrier was thin, barely able to keep it away. It would have already fallen had it not been for him taking the place of Erebus. His White Moon was reinforcing the barricade, its shining light driving back the darkness.

But he still couldn’t close the portal. Something was still connected to the Outsider, a piece of their world that sustained the link. His senses found a familiar figure, and the pieces clicked into place.

“I didn’t expect to find you here.” Wil said, his voice echoing through the white void. A faint ripple spread across the tar, his words forming waves. In front of him, there was a circle of stillness, an area that remained undisturbed, resisting the intrusion.

“I go where I am called, in service to the One.” A woman’s voice sounded out. In the center of the still circle of tar, a figure emerged. Coated in black tar, it ran in rivulets down her pale skin. Her eyes glowed bright red, a symptom of the infection within her body running rampant.

Tabitha stood on the ocean, smiling broadly at her brother. Wil could feel the mana within her, it was strong, equal to a god. But it was borrowed power, he could follow a line of power from his younger sister, all the way to the creature beneath the tar’s surface.

Wil sighed deeply, regret tinging his voice as he responded.

“You should have stayed in the Capital, Tabitha. Nothing good will come of this.”

“Only good will come from my service to the One, Wil! It is our salvation! If you would simply stop resisting, I could show you.” Tabitha said. Her mana swirled around her, pitch black and perverse. The taint within her was visible, the corruption plain to see.

Her flesh bulged grotesquely in places, her left cheek was swollen, her right arm hung three times its normal sized, her knuckles touching the tar. Through the tar, Wil could see her veins were black, contrasting her white skin.

“You appear to be ‘saved’, Tabitha. Tell me, how much of ‘you’ is even left? You threw away your humanity, your hope for salvation and rebirth, for nothing, sister.” Wil said sadly. Despite the evil she had committed, the atrocities she had participated in, they were still family. Everyone deserved a chance for redemption, even Tabitha.

But her connection to the Outsider removed that possibility. He doubted much of her remained, her soul was likely tainted beyond repair, devoured by the creature below. With another, heavier sigh, Wil hefted his sword, the Gluttonous Blade howled in his mind, eagerly anticipating the coming feast.

“I’ve already attained my promised redemption, dear brother. The One will grant me my greatest desires. You don’t know the pleasure such service to an entity such as it brings.” Tabitha shuddered as a feeling of joy and orgasmic bliss ran through her body. The One was pleased with her.

“I know that you’re a traitor, you would sell out humanity for your own selfish gain. Enough of this talk, Tabitha, I’ll see you dead and the portal closed. Your beloved ‘One’ can join you in the nothingness that awaits you.” Wil spat, lowering his stance, and raising the blade in both hands.

“I know you won’t believe me, Wil. But I’m glad you are here. With your sacrifice, I may prove my worth to my Master. Once you are gone, I will offer the rest of our world to the One. The rewards will be…exquisite.” Tabitha said, narrowing her eyes as she thought of the pleasure her master could bestow upon her.

With a grin, she opened her mouth wide. Throwing her head back, she screamed, a terrible wailing sound that split the silent void. The ocean roiled, waves rippled in all direction. Her black mana formed a vortex around her. Her wailing cry grew stronger, the noise slamming against Wil.

He could feel the sound attacking him, crashing against his mental defences. The ‘Psychic Scream’ hammered into his mind, stabbing at his consciousness with what felt like thousands of piercing needles. The wailing ripped through the barricade he formed around his mind. Wil screamed, squeezing his eyes shut, tears welling in his eyes as a headache threatened to rob him of his reason.

Howling, Wil’s own mana surged around him, forming a barricade of Abjuration magic. Panting, he felt relief as the barrier cut off the sound.

Grinning, Tabitha’s attack slowly ceased, the ocean growing calm around them once more.

“What’s wrong, brother? Bothered by a little noise?” She taunted. Seeing Wil was on the defensive, she seized the initiative, raising her hand and pointing at his barricade.

“Finger of Death.” Tabitha whispered. A sickly green energy formed on her fingertip. With a flick, she sent the stream of light shooting towards Wil. In response, he let the barrier drop, knowing that it wouldn’t stop at spell of this Tier, one that concentrated its power in a single, small point.

Wil lifted his black sword above his head, timing it perfectly, before slashing vertically. It cut the green light in half, splitting it in two. The spell buried itself into the ocean on both sider of him, sending twin geysers of tar skyward.

The Gluttonous Blade absorbed a fraction of the energy, funneling into Wil for his use. Cycling through his body, he amplified its power, before sending it back. Thrusting his hand forward, he shouted the incantation.

“Disintegrate!” A wave of greenish energy erupted from his palm. The Tier 6 Transmutation spell swept towards his sister. As it moved, it consumed everything in its wake, devouring the tar from the ocean’s surface.

Tabitha smirked, amused by the attack as she crooked her finger at the ocean. The tar responded to her beckoning, a wave of the black liquid crashed against Wil’s spell, canceling it out and leaving fine grey dust that drifted gently on the air.

“Pathetic. I can see why Father was forced to send you away, if this is the best you are capable of.” His sister mocked, already forming another spell. Wil waited, holding the blade in front of him.

“Immolation!” She cast the Tier 5 Evocation, flinging her had forward. Flames shot out from beneath Wil’s feet, obscuring him from Tabitha’s sight. Reacting quickly, he leapt backwards fire clinging to his robes.

Spinning in the air, he slashed at the spell, using the blade to absorb the mana before landing back on the ocean’s surface. With a wave of his hand, he extinguished the stubbornly clinging flames. Rather than redirect the spell with one of his own, he drew in the devoured magic, cycling through his body, strengthening it with each circuit.

Tabitha laughed, clapping her hands together like a delighted child as she saw her brother’s singed appearance. He hadn’t taken any damage, but his pristine white robes were burned black around the edges and covered in soot.

“This will be fun.” She whispered, her grin splitting her face as she cast another spell. Fire, lightning, negative energy, even Illusions, she sent waves of magical attacks at Wil. Her brother leapt and spun, dashed and blocked with his black sword, each time his movements slowing, her spells coming closer until…

Wil blocked a Fireball, slicing it in half and absorbing the remains, when a bolt of lightning, hidden in the flames, struck him in the shoulder. Spinning, he rolled on the ocean’s surface.

Coming to a stop, he kneeled, out of breath. A hole was burned through his shoulder, his left arm hanging uselessly. His body spasmed slightly as the electricity raged through him before he could get it under control.

Tabitha cackled, savoring the appearance of her brother, kneeling before her, panting. She wished she could see this forever, the look of pain on his face. She sent her thanks to the One, worshipping him for this opportunity.