Outside the Cycle - Act XVI

Everything is heating up quite nicely, isn't it?

A lot of expression is lost from this Act as there is no way to change font types that I can find. This is sad :(

Act XVI: A Cure for the Itch

They had gone out of their way to make him uncomfortable; that much was clear.

Arash's frustration rose as he paced around in the tiny cell. Everything had slipped his grasp! Now he had undergone a forced allegiance change, and was a prisoner of the faction he had defected to. His plans lay in shambles, his carefully constructed schemes wasted to nothing.

The door was unlocked, as the sorcery powering it would not seal him in, but there was no point escaping. The guards and heroes outside would just throw him back in there, with more force than last time. Yet now, all was quiet outside, suggesting that an offensive had been launched. The destroyed Dire barracks offered an opportunity the Radiant could not afford to squander.

Deciding to risk it, Arash opened the door and walked out. It was… empty. Aside from some creeps milling around in their duties, not a Hero could be seen. Truly, they had all joined the fray.

Laughing at his luck, the Psychomancer strolled out of the fortress casually. He encountered his first 'ally' at the middle tier two tower.

"Not fighting?" he asked Ezalor. The white rider shook his head.

"I remain behind to save those who are injured in the fighting. The quiet down here belies the chaos up ahead. All the lanes have erupted into full war - one that I fear we are losing."

"Whoever wins, everyone loses."

The Fundamental gave him an odd look. "You know something few others do. Secrets are second nature to you."

"Just be ready to react if something goes wrong."

"Things always go wrong in war."

"Exactly."

Arash threw dignity to the wind and ran as fast as he could. With Fundamentals, Weavers and other uncontrollable forces, the Ancients would not just doom themselves - the entire would rupture from the forces unleashed today.

He emerged in a field of corpses. The river was awash with blood, creeps and dead Heroes. Arash recognised Gondar there, sans head and intestines, which made him feel rather happy.

Yet the battle had passed him, and he needed to go further ahead. The Psychomancer started to run-

-and a huge crack, the sound of shattering earth and the screams of dying tectonic plates, stopped him in his tracks. He turned in the direction of the noise, eyes wide.

"Oh, ****," he whispered.
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"WHAT IS THAT THING?!" Tresdin screamed to be heard over the noise of the battle. On the edge of the southern lane, a titanic being, at least twenty times the size of the Ancients, sucking in light to become void and splitting the ground with the force of gravity, loomed, casting a shadow over the battlefield. Rubick feared he knew, but dared not voice his

Ezalor's voice echoed in their heads. That is the Enigma, the last Fundamental. The Ancients - have lost control.

The Enigma's voice shook the ground. All around the battlefield, the fighting ceased to gaze upon this new, all-powerful force.

"The void hungers," he announced. "I have seen your war play out, and you are weak, unfit for life. Now, at the crux of fate, you shall be devoured in my crushing grasp. This little war has led my brothers into a trap from which there is no escape."

Rubick was unable to act as Enigma raised his arms, and as he did so, the ground around him ruptured, massive clumps of earth flying into the air and circling around him as gravity itself shattered. Even from such a great distance the Grand Magus felt the pull dragging him inexorably closer to doom. He resisted for now, but barely…

Once again, the voice of Light's Keeper ran through his mind, but this time the horror in his voice was undisguisable. He's summoning a black hole! We have to-

The Fundamental's voice was overshadowed by a keening shriek from both Ancients. For the first time, they spoke to their heroes.

DESTROY HIM!

Arrows flew towards Enigma, but they shattered before they came near him. A runner came for Tresdin.

"Commander!" the exhausted creep said. "Our southern flank is being assaulted by the Dire! They bear the standards of Avernus, and are aiming straight for our barracks!"

No, that's not the Dire, Rubick thought grimly. That's Arash again. He glanced towards the Fundamental, who laughed at their feeble attempts to stop him. Pure void rippled between his fingertips, and he opened his palms, slamming them into the ground.

"Stare into the aby-"

A force of violent energy erupted around Enigma, a being almost as titanic as he was coming into focus, the haunt manifesting into a malevolent spirit. The Dire forces renewed their assault, yet only the Spectre succeeded in disrupting the black hole.

"FOOL!" Enigma roared, turning to face his assailant. He caught her ethereal blade in one hand, and with the other, reached forward, and crushed her. Within seconds, the Spectre faded from existence, all that remained a shriek of horror.

Yet the damage had been done, the black hole disrupted. Enigma gazed furiously at the scurrying forces, still assaulting him, as if pondering how best to swat them.

"This is not over. I shall return, and you will all succumb to the void," he rumbled. The Fundamental raised his hands, and disapparated, his essence sparkling upwards into the sky.

It is over, Rubick breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did he become aware of Ezalor standing next to him.

"You should go as well," the Grand Magus said. "Forces such as you are too powerful to be contained here."

The Keeper nodded. "I see the wisdom in your view. Very well, I shall contact my brothers and leave. May this war have a happy ending."

Ezalor, too, dispersed into sparkles of light and dematerialised, leaving Rubick with his mortal allies. Tresdin looked at him impatiently.

"I shall go and defend the bottom lane," he offered. The Commander waved him away as reports poured in of the battle restarting now that the greater threat was gone.

"Go," she ordered. "Best of luck."
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The battle was nothing like Lanaya had expected. The death, she had been prepared for that, but nothing else. Not the smells, the screams, the flashing lights, the bloodied ground. It was a new experience, and it scared her.

She blinked away from an incoming strike and almost ran into Vanath d'Avernus.

"I've been sent to take you away!" he shouted, slashing a Radiant creep and splattering his horse with its blood. "We must go and find Arash to coordinate the attack!"

A blinding light erupted over the lanes, and hundreds of flying forms swooped down towards the ruined Dire barracks. The Skywrath had arrived.

"Let's go," she agreed, not looking forward to finding the Psychomancer but rejoicing in the possibility of escaping the cacophony of blood and screaming. She leapt atop Vanath's horse in one smooth motion and they rose off, leaving the war behind as they headed towards the middle lane. The jungle flashed past in a blur, and the river came into view.

Suddenly, the horse reared, toppling them off. Lanaya rolled with the impact, coming to her feet almost immediately. Vanath was slower to rise, and as soon as he did toppled back again, a dagger in his throat. He wheezed around the blood rupturing from the wound, and collapsed face-down in the water.

Lanaya flashed towards the other bank, towards a slight female figure in black leather, a smile upon her face. Her psi blades flickered into being, and a twin-edged blade appeared in the other assassin's hand.

"You have been marked for death by the Sisters of the Veil," she announced.

"One does not simply assassinate an assassin," the Templar replied. "Bring it, Mortred."

Vanath was soon forgotten as klaive met psi blade in a shower of sparks. Lanaya blinked behind the Phantom Assassin, only to have Mortred replicate the feat, her blows deterred only by the refraction shield. Lanaya hurled her strike at a tree in front of her, cleaving it in twain and reflecting the shot back at Mortred, who blinked to a disturbed Hellbear, slashing it in half in a spray of blood. She then leapt into a tree, hurling a dagger towards Lanaya, who slipped into shadows and sent it sailing harmlessly by.

She raised a hand, and grasping psychic tendrils entangled the Phantom's legs as she prepared to jump off. Instead, she fell to the ground, rolling with the impact and kicking out Lanaya's legs from under her. They toppled down, twisting away from the other while simultaneously trying to land a killing blow.

The assassins fell into the river with a tremendous splash. Mortred tried to rise, but Lanaya aimed a kick at her stomach that sent her down again. She leapt on top of her foe, and with all the strength she could muster, forced the Phantom's head underwater. A rain of cuts and slashes landed upon her, but she ignored them, until finally the struggles ceased and Mortred collapsed, her body floating up to sail slowly down the stream.

Lanaya brushed a strand of wet hair out of her eyes and stood up, shaking her arms to rinse some of the water off of her.

Arash was bound to be nearby, she assured herself. She searched desperately past the piles of corpses and red-running river before her sight alighted on the last thing she wanted to see.

"Damn them all to hell!" she cursed loudly, and with a sinking heart sprinted as fast as she could towards the darkness.