Race Against Ruin

Liora hurtled through the void between realms, phantasmal claws raking her gleaming armor as Nether beasts gave maddened chase. Elara's voice echoed urgently through the maelstrom, weaving threads of sanctuary magic to expedite her knight's passage.

"The horde has gained the upper halls...only the Sealing Shrine yet stands untrespassed." Liora sensed profound exhaustion bearing down the anchorite's projected soul. Holding myriad realities from cascading into chaos took profound toll even on such an ascended being.

At last Liora's feet found purchase on crystalline flooring and she raced towards Elara's glowing aura at the chamber room's heart. Faelan stood stalwart nearby, arcane lifeblood caking smoking armor rents. He had fulfilled his quest if narrowly...the first anchor shard gleamed from where he had installed it amidst the intricate locking sphere.

"Elowen has not returned..." the warrior informed through strained breath. Liora frowned in consternation, reaching outward with psychic feelers and finding only silence in response. She could spare no further thought for their missing companion with entirety of existence balancing upon each passing moment. Perhaps the mysterious celestial anchor yet eluded the young spellweaver...

Striding swiftly to the apparatus, Liora lifted Periena's pendant skyward and felt matrices align as it was sucked into position by blossoming energy. She took scant seconds surveying the Sealing Shrine's defense matrix for weaknesses before the shrieking tide smashed against exterior bulwarks.

There stood last bastion holding fast against the demon swarm...psionic constructs shaped by Elara and spell masters of ages past. Liora's breath caught glimpsing the endless ranks battered them relentlessly. Twisted beings hewn from deepest nightmares howled for mortal blood, clawing their way over mountains of dissolving corpse constructs towards the precious inner sanctum.

Faelan braced the entryway with stoic resolve, rune etched greatsword singing death knells for each fiend breaching the inner perimeter...though not without cruel cost. Gaping wounds now marred muscled arms where hellforged steel found purchase and jaws meant only to rend immortal flesh savaged armor and bone. He locked steeled eyes with Liora in silent commitment unto death.

Elara hovered wraithlike over the now near complete locking sphere, weaving intricate spells with swiftly fading strength. Liora's heart clenched seeing her mentor's once beautifully vibrant aura now dimmed to wisps...fraying at the edges from the unfathomable mass of dark souls battering relentlessly, each seeking to consume divine essence.

"The sphere lacks but one final anchor alignment..." came the strained whisper. Elara raised gleaming eyes to meet her successor's worried gaze. "I can hold against the tide briefly longer while you seek Elowen beyond the veil. All existence turns upon the spellwounds success...make haste!"

Though the thought of abandoning her dearest companions at the crux of apocalyptic war felt akin to soul death, Liora trusted in Elara's wisdom implicitly. Burying anguish far beneath bone, she stepped into the etheric cradle and attuned senses to Elowen's subtle aura. Delving past myriad realms teeming with arcane anomalies, Liora finally detected the faintest echo beckoning from a long forgotten dominion.

There she discovered her friend locked in fierce arcane battle with a wraith like entity clinging to a resplendent crystal nearly thrice her height. Elowen's butterfly wings lay tattered and dim as she wove fulmination after desperate spell into the anchoring beacon in order to tear it from malevolent clutches.

Liora cried dire warning as she hurtled from the aether, Elara's time too far gone for subtle weaving. The small spell binder spun with alarm as Liora raised her opalescent sword high, drank deep of fanatic fervor...and slammed the consecrated brand down with all wrath of mother nature scorned.

A colossal shockwave of levin brilliance erupted violently, vaporizing all traces of the lurking wraith as matrices groaned. Liora did not spare breath for outraged accusations as she bodily flung the reclaimed relic through the closing portal amidst crumbling reality, praying the Sanctuary still stood to receive them.

Tendrils of lightning yet danced between floating debris surrounding the pair as they were sucked down vacuum vortex back into frantic mortal existence. Liora spared fractions of this painful magnification to rejoice as Elowen clung tightly to her fluttering chest, determination blazing brightly once more from sea green eyes.

The instant Liora's feet found purchase once more on crystalline flooring, she reached out and slammed the stolen anchor shard home within its matrix collar. Euphoria lasted but nanoseconds before dire scene slammed awareness home.

The chamber lay in ruins from relentless assault, acid and soot scarring every surface. Dear Faelan swayed upon his feet, grimly trying to stand tall as savage wounds claimed mortal due. Elara knelt Winged in prayer, precious strands of her soul fire bleeding out to fuel the sphere with borrowed time...

For even as the locking portal sighed to life, consuming demons by the thousands in purifying vacuum, the horrific tide seemed without end. The noxious horde climbed over endless dead, howling darker victory with each push inward. As Faelan fell beside his revenant brothers and sisters, the end seemed inevitable.

Yet Liora would not...could not accept such defeat with all she loved now claimed by soulless fiends. As the first wave of hellions breached the inner sanctum to claim its weakened queen, Liora lifted two blood stained hands skyward in final supplication. She offered up no words for none could encapsulate such fathomless despair and rage...only a piercing cry of defiance as the last bastion fell. Light and sound became Liora's anointed gods as she wept ruin upon their defilers.

Warriors of elder races may fall and weave myth of tragic last stands...but they have never faced power of a mother scorned. Liora emptied all that she was into the blinding crucible, feeling guiding hands beyond perception bolstering the torrent. It seemed she bathed but moments in searing cataclysm...ere stark silence greeted sudden weary gaze.

A gleaming orb now dominated the ravaged hall, pulsing slow rhythmic time to unseen celestial spheres. No evidence lingered of the all consuming horde washed away by sorrow's flood...Elowen alit nearby tending dutifully to Faelan's grievous wounds as Elara shone softly once more from the newly sealed rift locking shut elder evils. Existence flowed peacefully onward, order arising from chaos as ever it had... leaving but few remaining to sing harrowing tale.

Weary beyond all comprehension yet still shuttering with torrent adrenaline, Liora struggled simply to stand tall amidst hard fought salvation. They had triumphed at such dire cost...tears refused summons where numb shock yet reigned. But glimmers already danced within aura sight...of essence threads clinging still and warming Liora's heart more than any mortal flame.

Perhaps when full truth stood known come the light of dawn, fate may reveal itself not so cruel a mistress as numbly dreaded. For now, blessed darkness enfolded the champion's tattered form as consciousness collapsed grateful into emptiness...