God of Nothing

The demon king's outline began to recede, as abruptly as she arrived. Aleph was relieved, but this event left him mortified. The fact that the enemy can appear anywhere they pleased was a problem he still hadn't solved. Whatever the case, he refused to let down his guard.

"Wait!" Vaynard cried after her. He banged his hand against Aleph's prism wall, with such force that both his hand and the barrier came away worse for wear.

"Where's my father!?"

A glint in the shadows appeared, and the darkness paused its retreat. Emily's– no, Lost's eyes shone like beacons, curved upwards in sinister amusement. The shadows resumed its escape a second later, with only the echo of her voice remaining.

"He's advancing our cause, son of Mios. Preparing the way for our Lord takes much of his time as of late." The light of her eyes thinned to slits as she continued. "You'll meet him sooner than you think."

A large gust of wind blasted through the kingdom at that moment, chasing away the final bits of darkness. The sun shone on them once more, only this time, the chill that the night brought stayed behind, clinging to their bones.

__________________________________

Carrack's team arrived at their destination the following midday, all geared up and ready to take on a herald. Rayse was taking point due to his ability to scope out the ash. Naturally, that meant that he was the first to see it.

"Hold it." He brought his hand up, and the ones following him complied. They too saw, or at the very least felt, the eerie scene before them.

They came upon a cave, plastered in a white-gray substance they couldn't identify. Rayse had an idea, though. He tugged on a section with his power, and sure enough, the ash bent to his will.

"!!!"

What he did not expect, however, was the mass of fireflies that pulled away along with the ash. The little creatures emitted a strange, droning sound, but more importantly, Rayse could already feel his emotions heightening. Suddenly, the cave was alive with activity. The entire surface of it seemed to peel away, advancing onto the group as a tsunami of gray.

"Flamethrower!"

Lacey stepped up in front of him to spray them with flames. Their fellow mages followed suit, supporting her magic with wind or enclosing the space with well placed earthen walls. The 'battle' was short lived as a result, with only a field of dead insects to show for it.

When the flames stopped crackling, Carrack stepped forward to pick up the charred remains of one of the fireflies. He inspected it with an expert eye. After a short moment of observing it, he crushed the whole thing in between his fingertips, revealing a tiny sparkle that bounced against the noon sun.

"These things have mana hearts." He declared.

"Damn. Demons, then?" Brandon clicked his tongue.

"Likely. We do have magical creatures that develop them naturally, but none like this. None that are local, anyway." Carrack answered. "The ash that releases from their wings all but confirms it: these are children of the herald."

Sweat started pooling in Rayse's nape. It was likely that only a handful of these things were all it took to turn them against each other the day before, and there were hundreds of these things in the cave entrance alone. Carrack was right, this group cannot reach Mui. He knelt and felt the ground, connecting himself to the multitude of tiny hearts on the ground.

"The ones that used up their mana, line up." He said after a while. "It's not much, but I'll divert the energy from their gems into you."

They all stepped up, almost eager to replenish their strength. Looks like it wasn't just him that was spooked by these things. 

"..."

Rayse's control over outside mana has been growing lately. He thought it was a sick joke at first, giving him access to more mana than ever before, only to be unable to take it into himself. He's begun to make it his own, though, from being able to disrupt spells mid cast, to guiding mana into others mid fight. He constantly thought of other ways of making use of it, and this one was one of those ways.

"Haa!"

With a shout, glowing smoke exploded from the ground. The mana smoke hissed out of the dead insects' hearts, pooling around their feet instead of escaping to the sky like it normally does.

"It's the Abyss attribute. Conversion rate's terrible, but it's better than nothing. Won't make you mad, either." He quickly added. He drew in a tiny bit to be sure of that last part, though. Unused mana was usually benign, but they could never be too careful.

They entered the cave after replenishing their strength, going by Carrack's light so as to not burn away any harmful substances.

There weren't very many of the fireflies inside as they thought. In fact, there were almost none. Rayse did notice a bunch of holes all around its surface, though, so he thought something more sinister was going on. Was this monster trying to take over the mountain?

They walked in pairs of two, entering deeper and deeper into the cave. Eventually, the path shrunk so much to the point that they had to crouch, then crawl, through some areas. That only heightened the pressure they felt. Rayse does not want to face the enemy in this space. 

Eventually, the path was big enough to walk on again, and the group was able to walk abreast once again. It sloped upwards, adding to his fatigue.

Huff, huff. Rayse breathed heavily as he slogged through. They've been at it for a while, but his exertions have been unnaturally heavy.

"Hey, Ray. You okay?" Lacey said, breaking the silence for the first time in a while. Her voice traveled forward, echoing endlessly down the way. Rayse took that moment to stop and collect himself. The ones in front took the cue, and stopped their advance as well.

"Yeah." He breathed. "I've been sensing wisps of ash at the edge of where we are, so I was pushing them away as we advanced." 

"Hey, don't talk too much! You're announcing our arrival!" One of the soldiers hissed. 

"Didn't you hear what I said!? The ash has been steadily marching towards us basically since we entered. Do you think that's a coincidence?" He said that louder than he normally would, octaves higher than necessary. His voice bounced around for a while, but he didn't really care. His senses told him that soon enough, they'll be facing the horror that created this space.

He would normally let comments like that slip, but the exhaustion got to him. He breathed in just in case, collecting any ash in the vicinity as a precaution.

"Besides, look around you. We haven't encountered a single firefly in ages. Where do you think they are?"

With no answer forthcoming, they soldiered on. It took Rayse all he had to stay focused on the march. Thankfully, the path seemed 

His mental state, however, was steadily being worn down. He’d been sneakily taking in as much of the ash as he dared to keep him awake, although from his earlier outburst, he decided to take it easy on that front. He thought everyone knew, too, although that might be the ash sending him into paranoia.

Noone questioned him the rest of the way. They were deep in the mountain, now. Or under it, to be exact. One of Carrack’s earth mages mentioned a widening of the path coming up, presumably where they would face this elusive herald.

Fifteen men. That was all they had to face it. Could they handle it? Rayse thought they had more than enough. He briefly turned to his sides, to his friends that are now marching either side of him.

Yes, he thought to himself, this is more than enough.

“I sense a massive cluster of fireflies up ahead.” Rayse announced after a while, slowing his pace down. “What do we do, Sir Carrack?”

“Halt.” A curt voice somewhere behind him answered.

“We push on, lad.” Carrack continued. “Earth mages, take point. Everyone, ready your weapons.”

And so the march resumed, this time with Rayse and his friends squarely in the middle of the pack. The cave widened as they expected, and eventually, they reached a massive cavern. Rayse shone a light above to try to see how high it went, but only saw a distant impression of stone. He felt that this cavern could probably fit into this weird place. It would have been a relief having this much room to fight in, if it weren’t for the sound.

Sksksksksksksk.

The wingbeats of innumerable bugs were all that they could hear. The fireflies’ tails weren’t glowing for some reason, but Carrack’s light bounced off their sheer black bodies. It made the cavern seem like one undulating, hissing mass of flesh. They were at the heart of the mountain, in the belly of this beast the scouts called Rage.

Within the cavern, they came upon a large mound of fireflies. They were perched on top of each other, to a height that easily doubled Rayse’s own. The group stopped there, weapons already drawn.

“Lightblade.” Carrack stepped forward, enveloping his sword in a blinding light. Rayse had to shake off the awe he felt, as the blade’s light was enough to illuminate the entire cavern. It was to the point that it revealed the beady eyes of the fireflies that were perched on the walls and, surprisingly, that the mound they faced was no mass of insects at all. Not exactly.

“AaHhHh…”

A sigh emerged from the large shape, accompanied by a localized storm. It threatened to blanket the party in ash, and immediately, Rayse responded.

“Tailwind!”

An emissary gem disintegrated into dust in his hands as the mana within enacted the spell, blowing air in all directions to protect them from the enemy attack.

“oOoOhHhHh?” The voice yawned as the massive body stirred once more. It stood up and shivered, scattering even more of that maddening dust. Rayse’s eyes widened, finally getting a good look at the herald they came here to defeat.

It was a grotesque being, not unlike its brother Agony. It had a rotund body, wide around the waist, and a lumbering gait to match. Its bare skin was filled with little holes, with fireflies skittering in and out of them like a living beehive. The giant scratched at his belly, making some of his fireflies fall lifeless as a result.

“AhHhH, UhHhHhH...” This one wasn’t as chatty as the others they fought, but that only served to heighten his nerves even more. It murmured something else, something primal and incomprehensible, but whose effects were anything but. All the fireflies around set their tails aglow, filling the entire space with a bloody red that rivaled Carrack’s white.

Rayse felt the air around the woman beside him grow warm, making the back of his neck sweat.

“Don’t start any fires, Lace.” Rayse warned just in case, as he himself prepared to advance. He ground his heels, waiting for a signal from the commander, when suddenly, from somewhere ahead, far behind where Rage stood to face them, a voice was heard: One of a kindly old man.

“Brother! Father sent me to aid you!” It bellowed, and suddenly, a large section of red lights on that side just turned off. Rayse’s bad feeling continued to heighen.

“Brother! Are you here!?” The old man said, voice growing closer by the second. The skittering stopped at this point, and all that could be heard was a pair of echoing steps.

“Men.” Carrack growled. “Barricade.” The soldiers looked at each other, dazed and confused. Fear started to reflect in their eyes, and its meaning was clear. This wasn’t what they expected, their orders were clear: Eradicate the herald. But why was there another one?

“Close him off, now!” Carrack bellowed. This time, someone complied. It was Brandon, brandishing his massive blade towards the ceiling.

“Earthsplitter!”

Another red entered the mix, deeper and more brilliant than the fireflies that surrounded them. It arced across the sky and hit the earth above, sending About half the cavern to start to collapse into itself.

The steps thundered into a run, louder even than a mountain being brought down. The heat that Rayse felt was totally gone now, replaced by the sickeningly familiar dread of death approaching.

“Valiant Throw!” He shouted, targeting the horrifying newcomer. Unbroken split through the ash as it sailed through the air, heading towards their unwelcome guest.

“Ack!” 

His aim was true, skewering the old man and making him stagger a few steps backward. Thankfully, that bought enough time for Brandon’s attack to connect, burying him under tons of rock. The mages had recovered at this point, and were pooling their magic together to prevent even rocks from collapsing over them all. Eventually, the shaking stopped, but that didn’t stop the quake that was emerging from within Rayse.

“Fight, you cowards! Fight for your lives!” Carrack declared, before charging at Rage. The rest of the soldiers followed suit, beginning the assault on the now advancing fireflies that surrounded them. Nobody else even dared to look at the broken earth, as if ignoring it would make it vanish from existence.

Except they knew. Rayse advanced towards the rumbling remains of the cave-in, all but certain of the intruder’s fate. Sure enough, rocks blasted forward to meet him, rebuffing his advance. Rayse deflected the rocks with his shield, cautiously hiding behind it as he observed a shape emerge from the settling dust. 

The dust soon settled, revealing an old man, still with a spear lodged in his abdomen, panting heavily while his mangled body fixed itself in real time. He stared blankly at them all, a surreal contrast to the noises his body made as it recovered from having half a mountain brought down upon it. Rayse stood there, still in unbelief, not just at the man’s identity, but the threatening energy that emerged from within him.

The old man, oblivious to Rayse’s thoughts, saw the battle behind him and smiled.

“Brother! I’ve come!” He declared with glee. No answer was forthcoming, what with the battle unfolding. Spells flew freely behind them, with the skittering mass of fireflies falling to the ground in droves. Rayse dearly hoped to aid on that front, too, but he felt that this new threat was all the more pressing than the herald at his back.

He sprung into action, holding his hand out in command. 

Shwing!

He tugged at his weapon with his mind, slashing the old man’s stomach open once again as Unbroken returned to his hand. Brandon stepped up to his side, sword once again at the ready. He nodded to his friend, a bit of relief washing over as he realized he would not be fighting this one by himself.

“Eh? Who’re you?” He said, still wearing the kindly mask of indifference. Rayse gulped and stepped forward, shield and spear raised at the former monarch, King Mios himself. 

“I’m sorry, your Majesty, but you need to stand down.”