Arrival

The world below was drenched in diffused blue light coming from the colossal ancient gateway, and the beast had been long defeated, now all that remained was to recover and emerge upwards.

Badly wounded and exhausted, both sisters were resignedly laid upon the slick rock, it had been dry before the battle but now the blood from the beast and theirs combined, had made a messy trail to the gateway.

Lakeer, was standing just beside Amawas, they had developed a sort of a complicated relationship by now, he had come to admire his captor.

Amawas grunted her teeth and sat up with her palms against the ground, the calm enveloping the whole citadel looked too odd and comical, just moments ago they were on the verge of death against the abominable genius worm but now everything was still.

Soon just by looking, the blue light changed its hue as millions of microbial luminiscent creatures, known as the cosmic migrators, emerged from the opening, these tiny creatures migrated beyond space and time, roaming the endless vastness of cosmos until they'd spot an opened gate.

They also served as a great indication of portal health.

Amawas turned her head, looking at her sister. She was badly wounded, one eye missing and the childish and jumpy demeanor she once held had long being suppressed, anything was acceptable to Amawas, seeing herself on the verge of death over and over again, almost killing Qatan, which was one of her happiest dominating memory.

But seeing Aatish like this, burdened by grave responsibilities, caged, hurted her more than anything.

She wanted to tell her their next move, give her a strategical piece of information but Aatish, as queit as a stone, never complaining, really needed a long rest.

Amawas cleared her throat,

"So... Aatish"

"Yes aapi,"

"I heard Rohaan has taken an interest in you"

A weird grin contorted Aatish's face, as sparks of childish playfulness somewhere deep within her eyes shimmered.

"Aapi, we are cats, Rohaan is entirely another species"

"Why worry when you've Amawas aapi here" Amawas grinned, Aatish did not doubt her, she could actually do anything if she really wanted to.

"I feel worried for him" Aatish said, after a brief pause, her eyes locked at the colossal gate.

"I know.. you see these glowrift explorers Aatish"

Aatish looked up, in the thick of rays were thousands of tiny glowing creatures only visible for glimpses.

"Yes.."

"Did you know, there's another blessing that the glowrift explorers bring with them, they bring with them a riddled prophecy, you see this deep purplish shade of light, they have taken, it means the land connected to the gateway is going face an enormous transformation, most likely for good, i can't promise if Rohaan will be left alive, i can't promise even our lives, but i do trust Empress Golden, she will not abandon us."

Such difference of usual tone brought a tear of longing in Aatish's eyes. Gave her much needed courage and a tiny bimpkin of hope.

*********

Tucked away between a round, almost unnatural formation of mountain peaks that pierced the sky, Roop had built herself a place, away from all the responsibilities and crimes she would continuously have to commit upon the people of Sehray-e-Qarb, the western planetoid.

The sanctuary looked like a castle but was built on a much smaller scale, it had its own pond where aquatic creatures were nurtured and taken care of and a giant garden, all mowed to perfection.

Uncharacteristically, the sovereigns were corruption themselves and hence creatures had learned to fear them throughout centuries, along the way that fear had changed into deep reverence and recognition of absolute rule.

But the creatures, even the smallest, did not fear Roop, as she walked barefoot among her garden, her white fabrics trailing behind.

On the contrary they seemed relieved to see her in good condition, it was an extremely odd sight, Roop was no hero, she had oppressed a whole half of a continent for centuries long time yet, sucking upon the planetoid and its energy like a leech, she had destroyed millions of lives.

But somehow, the creatures in her care, longed to see her with a genuine heart.

She did not look at them as she passed by, the creatures included a tiny colony of lawnmower like monsters, naturally built to take care of grass and shrubs and nothing else, there were squads of extremely tiny flying carpets, all sentient, they were extremely feral.

Tiny shapeshifting slimes, they'd take ages to climb up a series of empty stalks, then change themselves into flowers, and after a few seconds, fall down on the ground. It was a sort of game they played. Other than that there were few more creatures of bizzare yet innocent nature.

Walking by the freshly cut Grass, Roop settled on the tiny old pillow, overseeing the whole garden. She crisscrossed her legs as her mind wandered away.

The creatures gave her reverence out of respect and not fear as the sounds dimmed.

They knew their mistress would spend days, if not weeks, sitting in the same position.

Half an hour into meditation, Roop's eyes snapped open. She felt an awful premonition. Rising quickly, she glanced at a tiny, two-legged creature resembling stacked sea pebbles. It carried an even tinier bow on its back.

"I'll be back shortly okay, dont worry" The creature nodded, then conveyed the message throughout the garden in clicking sounds.

Everyone understood,

Roop disappeared.

******

Azlan, the first and the eldest son of the Dark Queen, was growing to be a valiant and charming creature, under the personal care of Empress Golden he had already witnessed more than a fair share of diplomacy, but he wasn't yet allowed to speak on her behalf during the important meetings, or even share his own personal point of view.

He could freely talk with the empress, but not during the official visits.

But that did not mean his growth was being overlooked, today marked a significant uprise in the caliber of tasks he would usually be appointed, as today he was given permission to contribute in an extremely covert A-grade mission, out of the blue.

Barely being able to hold his excitement, currently, he was roaming behind the Queen of light, Lara, through an endless maze of tunnelways somewhere deep underground Shomaal, the tunnels were built to confuse even the sharpest minds, they abruptdly ended at times and were squeezed with only tiny rifts opened to move further.

Azlan kept touching the stone as they all moved forward, in their squad was the Queen herself, an elite unit of Luminaras and an elite squad of the bees, If not for the Queen's brilliance, they'd have lost their way in seconds.

Spreading outwards from her were thin tendrills of light, latched onto the slick stone of the tunnels. She had casted them the moment their journey had started, they exactly took them where they were to be taken.

Queen Lara was a fierce warrior, and ever since regaining the Luminaras artefact, her abilities and powers had drastically improved, her whole society was constructed in the ways of valor and honor, two of the most important core values they were based upon.

Slithering and shifted, then coiling around just to end up ascending in the most random manners, the tunnels finally ended and infront was a scene that shook even the bravest soldiers among them, a seemingly infinite depth of darkness, filled with the stench of death and inevitable doom.

The Queen stopped then knelt on the slick rock that was bordering the cataclysmic depth, then whispered an enchantment and suddenly, the entire mountain like structure they were standing upon, shook itself as huge gashes tore it open and light flew out. Succesfully illuminating the depth enough to make all the details.

A giant sillouhette was seen moving, just at the bottom, which was easily thousands of metres below.

Queen Lara then stood, the rest of the squad behind had slowly encircled her and their eyes fixated on whatever abomination was crawling below but she seemed too casual about it, she turned around, facing Azlan.

He was terrified out of his bones, visibly shivering, this was not the usual kind of task he would be assigned normally, this felt like barely inches away from death itself.

Looking at the Queen, he straightened his back and pretended to look okay but his legs could not stop shivering,

Upon this the Queen smiled

and Deep yellow light spun and danced in the reflection of his violet and black eyes, just like that, the world changed, it felt like fresh springs, like an endless field of flowers, it felt like peace itself.

Azlan looked around and found himself sitting on a high rock, overseeing a scenery of pure magic and bliss, his heart deeply satisfied and at peace.

The situation was different in the real world though, Queen Lara had put him to sleep and he was currently being dragged away towards the entrance, the mission onwards was too dangerous for him.

After Azlan was handed over to the carriers outside, Queen Lara and the rest of the soldiers including two elite squads of bees and a few Luminaras, all together, jumped in the dark abbys below.

***********

Rohaan thumped his foot and took a defensive stance against the inevitable death that was approaching them, the ground cracked under his feet with the intensity, infront was a colossal sandstorm approaching from the far away horizon, the entire scenery had changed into hues of dreadful red and orange.

Behind him, the soldiers had dug their spears and lances into the ground and were barely holding on against the pre arrival winds, but their strength was about to fail,

A violent scream tore through his ear as he quickly turned around, the captains behind him were not there anymore, they were flown away like some mere chaff, Rohaan spotted a familiar figure standing some yards away, bracing with all it had, the same captain who had stayed beside him during the entire battle and helped him by giving him the lightsword.

Upon seeing the soldier struggling, Rohaan spread out the only arm he had left but fate had something else in the store for him, as in the next second a violent gust plucked the huge chunk of ground he was standing upon and threw it away,

To breath under such obnoxious pressure was impossible as his vision fainted in mid-air for a long few moments, Opening his eyes, he saw a scene of pure horror and anguish as the same soldier, whom he had tried to save just seconds ago was impaled upon the long dagger, it sputtered blood on Rohaan's face and then the winds tore him away.

For long few seconds Rohaan's mind broke.

"I'm sorry," Rohaan mumbled, his eyes trailing along the fallen captain until the winds had completely engulfed him.

Then everything went black as he crashed against a tall boulder, or the boulder came flying towards him. Noone could tell due to the ferocity of the winds.

****

The sandstorm had settled and both armies had been completely ravaged, plucked and thrown away like mere chaff, and among the many corpses, walking barefeet was a figure drenched in flowing blood from shoulder to toes, the stone demoness, Wasl, had arrived.

She looked a slender humanoid with two demonic horns that protruded backwards, her lips were a shade of luscious red and her hair were raven black,

Madness brimmed in her eyes,

Dodging, tip-toeing, jumping in childish maneuvers, Wasl reached a lonely dimming light among a hugle pile of corpses.

An arm protruding outwards from a pile of corpses, holding a peculiar dagger. She swirled her hand as the ground deeply obeyed, thick slabs of stone rose up and cleared the pile until a figure bloodied from head to toe, with golden armor emerged from underneath.

The slabs simply lifted Rohaan up, until he reached the eye level of Wasl, she was way taller than he was. Heighting up to some eight feet.

She grabbed him by the neck as he limped freely, moments away from death, Rohaan was breathing his last, he was captured in a state of limbo by the sheer presence of the sovereign.

However, Wasl had different intentions. She hurled him aside, and he tumbled down until he lay motionless on the ground.

"But i'm not here for you" she said, her voice was perhaps the most horrible thing about her, it was as sharp as the sharpest swords but with underlying silky tones.

Rohaan shivered in fear.

"I'll wait here, for the dark one, she dared make a fool out of me"