The miasma of roiling abyssal energies that was the final system sat on the horizon of Ibere, glowing like a dim star, Moyo stood at the tallest spire of his castle, robe flapping in the winds, hands folded behind him. Eyes closed, he took a deep breath, feeling the soft, pure air of a new world fill his senses, then he opened his eyes and thunder struck in the distance, cracks of lightning bolt running rampant through the clouds of Ibere and below, ascenders turned to the skies, wondering just what was happening.

He opened his palm, staring at the rune in his hand, eyes furrowed. Idris appeared next to him in a blink, broadsword strapped to his side and dressed in full armour,

“My lord” he said softly,

“Are the entirety of our forces ready?” Moyo replied,

“Indeed, the legion awaits your order, the cohorts marches with their strongests, and the clan has deployed, house titan blade stands ready to march” Idris replied,

Moyo smiled at that, house titan blade,

Eyes crinkling, he gave a sigh of satisfaction,

“Our orders have arrived” he said, flicking his hand as a scroll appeared out of nowhere, floating towards Idris who caught it, unfurling the flaming item,

“The brigade, we march with the Thousandblades and the clan of the scourge rune?” Idris asked confused,

“Mardar leads his house now, he’s ascended to the rank of a lord jade, effectively taking control of his clan, he leads the vanguard of the aether blessed himself” Moyo replied,

“The jades ride in full force?” Idris asked in awe,

“Yes, this is the end game” Moyo answered, the purple rune appearing in his hand again,

Idris sucked a breath,

“What Is that?” he asked,

Moyo glanced at him,

“The shard of eternity” Moyo replied softly,

“The shard of eternity?” Idris asked confused,

“Never mind, just something very important, to i and the other primordials” he responded,

“The matriarch gave it to you?” Idris asked surprised,

Moyo smiled,

“Not exactly” he replied with a smile

*************************************

The first thing Moyo realized was the liquid tar walls and floors of the hall room the matriarch of the shadow fox resided within, the floor a bit sticky like tar and laden with the power of the aspect of an ancient. He paused as he entered, the doors closing behind him and leaving him in perpetual darkness, he sighed and folded his hands behind him,

“The titan blade” a voice echoed from around him,

Moyo gave a soft smile,

“Matriarch Rizuki I presume?” he replied,

A sigh, and then the sound of a blade being unsheathed filled the room, Moyo raising an eyebrow as his eyes shone purple and gold,

“Is this some form of trap?” he asked,

Sage’s sight completely illuminated the room to a startling degree, it was the first time Moyo had activated it since his evolution, and the difference was like the distance between the sky and ground. Where previously, he could see the movements in advance, or rather the possibilities, this time though, not only could he see that, but he could see the movements of both aspect and aether in the hall.

“No, where I’m from, we introduce ourselves through battle” the voice of Rizuki echoed through the room,

The flooded floor filled with the sticky tar like substance that was as dark as a moonless midnight rippled around him, echoes of liquid dripping, attempting to distract him. Moyo saw the movements of aether and aspect though, watching as they coalesced into a spot in the fraction of a second. Without dominion or Gegun, the titan moved, fists cocked to rip apart whatever form of the matriarch sought to appear there.

The shadowy form of a fox appeared, its scream about to tear into the titan as his punch landed, the room visibly shook as the aspect of the matriarch was immediately shattered into pieces, the liquid tar on the ground exploding. Moyo flicked his hand, spraying tar all over the dried-up room. Eyes flicking around, he caught sight of reality rippling around a corner of the room as he twisted, dodging the swipe of an ethereal claw that appeared out of nowhere, sage’s eyes flicking across the room as the whistle of a weapon blew from his right.

Oshosi’s ferocity tingled this time, rather than the scream of danger, it felt like a simple warning, just to draw his attention to that side. With the ghost of a smile, the titan afforded the weapon one hand, smacking what he realized the moment his arm came in contact with it as a legendary weapon to the side. He briefly pondered how the room itself had been able to withstand the mild spar between two powerful beings but pushed it aside.

The matriarch appeared then, clad in shimmering camouflage armour that blended with the entire hall, making her into an apparition that twisted reality around her. Bathing her in silvery fire was the silvery and shadow form of a fox with eight tails lit with flames of aspect, the tails diluted, attempting to put him in a state of dizziness, trying to crush his mental defences,

A pity though,

Without a word, two pairs of sickles appeared in the matriarchs’ hands as she went on the attack the same moment Moyo moved. Clashing as they exchanged blows, Moyo felt not a prick from the legendary weapons, frowning as he realized the runes glowing from the sickles were attempting to cut off his connection to the aether and his aspect. He decided to give it a taste of his power, his aspect flooding the sickle, the legendary weapon shattering into silver pieces.

If the matriarch had been caught off-guard by this, she neither revealed in both her skills or movements, her face covered by a helm shaped in the form of a snarling fox, she twisted as one of her shadow tails lashed at him. Trying not to give her the idea that he was neigh invulnerable to her attacks, he summoned his mantle the work of gold and purple armour shielding his body as the tail crashed into it with all the force of an ancient. He shrugged it off, grabbing it and slamming her into a pillar of dark mithril.

With the endurance of an ancient, she flipped like she hadn’t just broken through three feet of mithril, twisting through the air before levitating a few feet above the ground, her armour unblemished nor dented. Moyo folded his arms,

“This is going nowhere lady Rizuki, I have an entire clan to prepare for war, I can’t afford to play sports with an ancient as powerful as you” he said,

The matriarch cocked her head,

“One attack” she said,

“What?” he asked,

“One attack each, we each use our strongest attacks once on each other, show me how far I still need to climb” she said, her voice literally shaking with excitement,

“You mustn’t value the lives of your house members nor your ship then” he replied frankly,

“Are you implying you could crush my ship with one attack?” she asked, her voice dripping with amusement and mirth,

Moyo raised an eyebrow,

“Like a tin can” he replied,

She paused, unsure if he really meant it, but seeing his expression, she hesitated before shaking her head,

“then their deaths would be on my hands, but if we go by what I’ve heard of you, you wouldn’t let that happen, would you?, primordial Moyo of the titan blade path?” she asked,

“doesn’t mean I’m not itching to fight you though, alright then, half strength” he replied,

The matriarch paused, shadowy ethereal tails flicking through the air, head cocked, she nodded,

“So be it” she said, her voice reverberating through the entire hall room, she drew her hand back and Moyo felt Oshosi's ferocity rear its metaphorical head in curiosity but keenly aware of her move.

Moyo watched in awe as she seemed to grasp a piece of reality, her hand burning with silver and shadow fire, and then she spoke, each word a sort of command that drew the attention of reality itself,

“Primordial ascendence”

Oshosi and sage’s sight acutely sharpened as Moyo watched the ancient strain and stagger under the strength of the power she summoned. The strength of an ancient was nothing to scoff at though, and as she prepared to drop her attack, Moyo felt something resonate within him, eyes widening as he felt that little pond within him bubble.

Grabbing unto the elusive power that left him in a sort of haze drunk with pleasure and power, he felt dominion call to him from within his deific vault but resisted the urge to summon it forth, the blade would leave nothing of the vessel and all the souls within it. Instead, he latched onto the power, fusing his titan aspect with it and felt reality itself welcome him, and then he snatched whatever workings of power Rizuki had been summoning, staggering as he felt reality sing in joy, eyes wide.

The matriarch crashed to the ground in exhaustion as her armour shattered and Moyo stared into the face of an almost Asian like woman, sleek silver and white hair braided together, milky white skin and an almost fathomless black eyes opened in awe,

“it’s you, it really is you” she said as a whisper,

Moyo in confusion was about to ask her just what she meant when he felt the power he grabbed begin to wax in strength, turning his head to the power in alarm, he used sage’s sight to tear the veil of illusion over it to reveal a black and purple stone, humming with power untapped, power that seemed and felt truly infinite, an aspect,

The prime aspect,

Without a second thought, like instinct was driving him, he latched that little pond within him to the rune and felt the rune hum, like a discordant note of a musical play had been realized, his body quivering as his titan aspect began to rage within him, begging, pleading with him to release its flood-like fury. His will however, was as steadfast as the mountain he embodied, his Ashe locking down the rage of his aspect and grabbing the rune, in a flash he was seized in a vision,

He was himself, or he wasn’t, it mattered not, not when the fate of reality hung in the balance. He had been here before, in another vision, replaying the same scene over and over, the battle for the cradle of existence. Titan versus serpent, creation versus destruction, so many terms to describe the battle between the first titan and Apophis, the raw presence of chaos itself. This time however, he wasn’t there to witness the fight, he’d seen that before, this time however, he was here to witness what happened at the end.

He watched the celestial body of the titan, his body break down across space and time, watching as Lotes the dragon supreme being gave a keen cry at the loss of the eldest, and he watched as that scream rippled through the entirety of the universe, generating aether as her younger siblings grew into consciousness. He watched the body of the titan shatter into seven distinct pieces, each glowing a separate colour of power,

Burning red for the power of the dragon and aether,

Burning silver for the power of the blade and intent,

Burning yellow for the power of the shield and mantle,

Burning green for the power of the crystal and mana,

Burning gold for the power of the planet and aura,

Burning diamond for the power of the first construct and technology.

These pieces, these runic stones hummed with the power of creation,

No, the titan blade shook his head, not just creation, something more, something…greater…like a fundamental law he was missing,

He felt a soothing feeling suffuse him, as if the vision asked him to be patient, to let the strings of fate eternal play out, and that the answers were closer than he thought. Of course, these feelings could simply had been his own mind playing tricks on him, but the titan blade doubted that. Instead, he watched as these runic stones were snatched up by the supreme beings,

With the exception of one,

The last runic stone that tumbled away, somehow invisible to the rest of the supreme beings who suddenly saw their very aspects bolstered by the powers of creation, driving them to true ascensions into the ranks of supreme beings. He watched as the last runic stone went through time and space, flashing in and out of existence, growing dimmer and dimmer by the second, as if its powers were further receding into itself as time went by. And then a mortal tapped into its after presence, like grasping at the end tail of a comet,

Gaius golden champion,

The rune had flared but for a few decades, a prick, a fraction of a second in the grand scheme of eternity, and with his improved sage’s sight, Moyo watched as reality quivered, drawing the nascent attention of the sliver of consciousness of Apophis that had merged back together since its destruction. It wasn’t much when the being of chaos was concerned, in fact, it wasn’t enough to do anything but a reflex action ingrained into its very being from the beginning of its existence, but it moved.

It tapped into a presence of chaos as well, one that had been mutated by the passage of time and by its essence’s interaction with the archailect that created a blasphemy, an abomination of unspeakable proportions to both creation and chaos,

It tapped into the abyss,

It latched unto a presence and it empowered the presence into hunting down the rune touched Gaius. Like a hound on the hunt for blood, it sent this presence after Gaius,

It sent Araman the destroyer,

Of course, the future lord of destruction hadn’t bore that title then, he had simply been lucky enough to be chosen by the subconscious of a greater existence. The hound had found the champion, and he had ended just what little growth, the runic stone had been able to impact on the archailect, casting it through space and time again. However, a series of events had shaken the power of the rune free again, sending its power echoing through the wide expanse of space,

Lotes, the dragon of aether had somehow sensed its presence, her gaze ever watchful as she shielded the ripples the runic stone had made across the strings of time and fate, lest her sibling sought to grab it for their selfish games. Like a careful gardener, she had gathered the trails of its powers, fusing it into a path and locked so deep within the archailect, that she doubted anyone could had gotten the qualities to unlock such a path,

And then she had sent her servants across the wide expanse of he archailect, hunting for signs of the runic stone in an attempt to seize it and lock it away, again, in the most unlikeliest of chances that should someone worthy unlock the path of the titan, and that person grew to sufficient heights, then they might obtain the runic stone and herald the coming of the titan again, for the chaos serpent had been growing in consciousness as well despite the best efforts of Lotes to covertly delay its ascendence.

All these, the stone had recorded, and even as one of the agents of Lotes found the runic stone, alerting the dragon who seized it and turned to find a protector, one shrouded in mysteries and not noticeable by the powers of the archailect.

She had found a sacred fox, one whom had just attained sentience as a gold ranker, and whose corner of the archailect was as opaque and uninteresting to the powers of the archailect as possible. She had sent her greatest agent, one of cosmic powers but still within the powers of the archailect to train said fox, and then, bestow the runic stone to said fox as the sacred beast attained the rank of ancient, her powers suitable to shroud the stone from the gazes of all.

Rizuki, the matriarch of the shadow fox clan had sealed the stone away for thousands upon thousands of years, unable to ascend past the rank of ancient for fear of her presence drawing the attentions of the primordials themselves. She had searched, waited for the signal from the supreme being through her agents sent periodically to ascertain the presence of the stone to bestow it on its rightful owner.

And then the call had come,

The titan blade,

A being whose rise to power she had shadowed, watching like every other great power had done in the hidden corners of the archailect. She had made her own verifications and now, with runic stone itself accepted, clicking in place within him.

He staggered out of the vision as he saw the matriarch in front of him, bowing at the wait as he huffed softly, bending his Ashe into stopping the stone from completing its fusion with him,

Not yet he urged,

Not now,

He could feel its burning desire to be made whole, the titan blade considered the ramifications of what that meant, the eyes that would fall on him almost immediately. Eyes flicking back to the matriarch, they had spoken at length, Rizuki now free of her oath to Lotes and able to ascend to primordial status and the titan blade, a being that defied existence.

******************************

The stone fading from his hands, he turned to Idris,

“The wheels of the archailect are turning my friend” he started,

“Things are beginning to reach a crescendo, and we’re in the middle of this” he said,

“and that thing?, that shard of eternity?” Idris asked,

“My key, our key to victory” Moyo completed.