The palace stood like a wound in the world, its obsidian spires spearing a sky choked with perpetual storm. Time itself seemed to fray at its edges, walls shimmered between decay and grandeur, as if the structure existed in a dozen eras at once.
The shadowed entity lounged upon a throne of fused bones, its form shifting between corporeal and smoke. Its grin split the darkness, emerald eyes burning with cruel amusement.
"They have made a move," it mused, voice like a blade dragged over stone. "She can no longer hide behind her walls. How… predictable."
A chuckle rattled the air. "I will watch. For now. My last interference stirred the hornet's nest… let them buzz awhile longer."
The great doors groaned open. A tall, slender dark eldrida glided in, her silver hair a spectral contrast to her onyx skin. Her pointed ears and ethereal beauty were striking, but her expression remained cold, detached.
Her limbs moved with eerie precision, each step measured, each breath controlled.
The entity regarded her. "I sent you to wash the specimen, not to interfere. Why save the rat from the goblin?"
The dark eldridas replied without emotion.
"You went to great trouble to take that creature from their hands. It seemed wasteful to let it die without... interest. So, I interfered. But all I did was drop a coin. Nothing more."
"A coin's toss is still interference."The entity's grin widened."But I'll allow it. I cannot truly be unhappy after all, I got to wash that... rat, Perform such a wonderfully, entertaining fight with the fallen king."
Though its tone dripped with amusement, an undercurrent of warning lingered.
A clawed hand emerged from the shadows, tapping the throne. "Still, disobedience demands consequence. Five years in the hollow cells. No light. No sound."
She bowed, face blank. "May I take my leave, my Lord?"
With a dismissive wave, the entity allowed her to depart. Once alone, it mused aloud, "That girl is no fun. "No screams. No begging. Boring."
It examined a jar on the armrest, inside floated a pair of violet eyes, still glowing with stolen visions. Even after using her eyes to play a game of foresee the future, she showed no reaction."
"Perhaps I'll gift her limbs to a goblin next time."
Its emerald gaze burned brighter as it whispered into the darkness.
"Well, then."
"They believe they can wash me away... but my plans are already in motion."
"Nothing will stop what is coming."
A tremor shook the palace and the entity's grin widened.
"Ah. Right on schedule."
---
Nala ran.
Her armored body thundered through the colossal, trembling corridors of the Black Gate Fortress.
Clad in battered steel plate, she barely registered the missing pieces of her armor, the way the mangled steel clattered with every stride. Agility carried her forward, fluid and relentless, her movements an unconscious grace honed by decades of war.
Even now, her speed would shame any common soldier.
Yet it meant nothing.
she thought bitterly, her amber eyes red-rimmed, tears threatening to spill anew.
Around her, the fortress shuddered under relentless assault.
Enchanters collapsed mid-incantation, their aura guttering like dying candles. Dwarven sappers lobbed volatile alchemical spheres into the breach, buying seconds with their lives. A fae knight, her wings shredded, sang a dirge as she plunged into the fray, sword blazing.
Their faces were haggard, their movements frantic. Not the acts of victors, she knew. These were the last, defiant strokes of the already doomed.
Another titanic impact rocked the fortress, slamming her into the reinforced stone. She barely grunted, pushing forward. Compared to the devastation outside, her pain was a teardrop in a storm.
At last, The iron doors loomed before her, twelve meters of humming, rune-carved defiance.
Two Arc Watchers flanked the entrance, their armored forms still as statues despite the fortress crumbling around them. The world ending. Fire raining down beyond the walls.
Yet here they stood, unmoved and unshaken.
"As if it's just another day."she marveled
The absurdity of it rankled her, but there was no time to dwell.
Inside, controlled chaos reigned. Officers, scribes, and attendants moved with disciplined urgency, their expressions tight with suppressed despair. The War Room, the heart of their resistance, was a place of cold efficiency, but beneath it, panic simmered.
And she was the one who would shatter it completely.
"The Black Gate has fallen!" Her voice, sharpened by years of command, cut through the din. The room froze. Dozens of eyes locked onto her, shock, disbelief, resignation.
Silence.
"The Grey Ones are through, my Guardian!" Her voice cracked. "The Arc-Watchers have failed. The line… the line is broken."
A ripple of horror spread through the chamber. All eyes turned to the figure at its center.
The Guardian.
Golden armor pristine, black hair framing golden luminous eyes, his face was an unreadable mask, until, slowly, it settled into something like calm acceptance.
"How?" he asked, warm as ever, beckoning her forward.
"The Apostles," she choked out. The word sent a shudder through the room. "They came at the last moment. The Arc-Watchers couldn't .... They had been.....shattered."
The Guardian didn't flinch. Instead, he turned to his officers.
"The Night Watchers will hold the rear. The dawn Watchers will buy us time." His gaze softened as it returned to her. "You have done your duty well."
Praise, from the Guardian. She should have reveled in it. Instead, it felt like a funeral dirge.
The world was ending.
Then the Guardian spoke again, his voice a clarion call. "Tonight, the centuries of war end." He met each of their eyes. "The Watchers will fall. Such is our fate."
A punch to the gut. Nala nearly doubled over, another sob clawing at her throat. Around her, hardened officers broke, tears streaming down their faces.
"However…"The Guardian's voice snapped them back. Against all reason, against the certainty of death "hope" flickered in her chest. "We are not lost. We may fall, but our will would not be extinguished."
Another explosion rocked the fortress. Distant screams echoed as the southern gates shattered. The end was coming.
Yet no one looked away from him.
He was the sun in the storm.
And she clung to that light like a drowning woman.
"I ask you now," the Guardian said, "to join me in one final defiance."
Confusion rippled through the room. Nala's breath caught.
"Within this fortress lies an escape route." His words dropped like stones. "I ask a chosen few to carry word of our fall to ensure the world remembers the ancient treaty, and prepares for true victory."
Silence. Disbelief. Despair.
"Escape?" Nala's lips parted in shock. "After everything, this is what he asks?"
"My Guardian!" someone cried. "You ask us to flee?"
"I ask you to endure," he corrected, his tone brooking no argument. "This is no retreat. It is the last mission of the Black Gate."
Her entire being rebelled. years of service screamed that this was wrong.
BOOM.
The fortress heaved. Screams erupted. For a heartbeat, terror reigned.
Then the Guardian spoke again, and silence fell like a shroud.
"I do not ask you to abandon your posts," he said. "Only to carry our mission forward. To remind the world of the ancient treaty. To prepare for the final battle."
His golden eyes locked onto hers.
"Nala. You will lead them."
He pressed a parcel into her hands, a map of the fortress's underground network.
"There is no time to argue. Go. Now."
The Guardian lifted his helmet, its enchanted surface shimmering.
"Our last duty is simple, old Watchers," he said, grinning. "We buy time for the young. We show the Grey Ones what it means to face the Black Gate."
His voice was like a fire in the dark.
Nala felt her spine straighten.
"Now is the hour when all walls fail!" he roared."We show the Grey Ones what it means to storm this fortress. We make them bleed for every step."
"Here, under the gaze of our ancestors, we make our stand!"
Golden "kuros" erupted from him, a sunburst of power. It wrapped around her, warm, invincible.
Around the room, weapons were drawn. Helmets secured. Tears were shed but resolve hardened.
"FOR THE BLACK GATE FORTRESS!" the Guardian thundered.
"FOR THE GUARDIAN!"they answered.
"FOR THE REALM!"
Nala wept.
For she knew this was the last she would ever see of them.