Chapter 341: Know thy enemy! I
Two titanic mountain ranges rose like the jaws of titans from a silent deep of a vast, twilight-streaked sea!
Achilles had seen them in a vision soaked in the hues of Ti- violet, soft, and unfathomable.
One range was cloaked in endless snow, its razor-edged peaks crowned in frost, and the other range seed shaped from sorrow itself, gray mists coiling down its flanks like waterfalls of shadow.
Between these ancient titans sat an island- still, dark, and breathing.
There, darkness had risen. There, he had seen it: the Primordial Light of Darkness, a silhouette with wings darker than void, reaching toward the skies where sothing more horrific stirred- a crimson eye wrapped in writhing tendrils and wings of dread.
He ca back to himself as he breathed out heavily.
Still on Rose’s lap, Achilles opened his eyes. Purple rings shimred in his irises, pulsing softly with residual echoes of the vision. Her fingers, warm and steady, slid through his hair.
“Was it fruitful?” she asked, her voice brushing against the mont like honey.
He didn’t answer. Not with words. Instead, he pulled her close, his hand at the back of her neck, and kissed her with a brilliance that made the sea around them pause. He went for the taste he enjoyed the most in this world!
When they finally parted, she blinked, breathless, her cheeks flushed as laughter bubbled from her lips.
“That good, huh?”
“Too good,” he whispered against her cheek. “We have to celebrate.”
It was too good!
He had found the Primordial Light of Darkness after all!
And so he drew her into his arms. Around them, the coral reef responded, blooming with bioluminescent light, growing to form a barrier of violet and gold. A sealed, sacred sanctuary of soft warmth and tangled limbs, carved into existence for the two of them alone.
—
Far from the Sea of Thalassara, in what was once the heart of the Colony of Neon, the echoes of a different kind of life blood.
Not the crystalline seas or tides of the Sea of Thalassara, nor the Titanfall Mountain, nor the awe-inspiring Primal Neon Tower- but a rooftop, frad by dusk and city lights.
The sky above was a canvas of gold and blue. Below, towering skyscrapers rose like trees in a tal forest, each lit with life.
A rooftop bar, carved into the highest spire, was filled with murmurs and tension. Advanced Humans sat with drinks in hand, speaking in reverent hushes while stealing glances at the two figures standing at the edge.
One was cloaked in resplendent golden light. The Primordial Avatar of Achilles.
The other, barefoot and laughing at the absurdity of everything, was the Monkey King, Sun!
He exhaled as he looked over the ever-growing tropolis.
Down below, humans coexisted with Thalassarians from the sea, and Titan Dwarves from the Mountain.
Atlantians were adjusting to their new life within the Sea of Thalassara, and even Phoenixes- newly subjugated from the Everburn Aerie Continent, were glowing faintly with crimson-gold embers under Achilles’ command.
Sun gave a soft smile, his staff resting on his shoulder.
“I don’t know how you did it. But this? Humans and Ancients living side by side… No fighting. No blood in the streets. This might actually be the answer many were too stubborn to see…”
Achilles stood quietly beside him, gaze fixed on the sprawling city below. The weight of it pressed against his spine as his eyes sharpened.
“I’m doing everything I can for that future,” he said softly. “And to protect it, I need to find the Primordial Light of Darkness.”
Sun turned, ears perking slightly.
“You…know where he is?”
“Maybe. Would you happen to know where two mountain ranges in a vast sea are? One covered in snow and in frost. The other draped in mist. Between them, a small island.”
HUUM!
The mont he spoke, the air between them shifted.
The Monkey King stilled, eyes narrowing as he repeated the words slowly.
“Two mountains in the sea…?”
His golden eyes glowed faintly, then widened.
“That should be the Cerulean Dead Sea,” he muttered. “The Mountains of Moira and Niflurne. And the island between them… Aevareign.”
Achilles turned toward him.
“What do you know about them?”
Sun hesitated. “That was a place of origin. Aevareign was once the heart of Living Scripts. Ancient Ones first learned to etch Runescriptures there. As far as I knew, only a few Mythological Ancients guarded it now. It was sealed a while before the Long Slumber, inaccessible.”
…!
Aevareign!
A historical sight for this Plane of Existence, and that was where he saw the Primordial Light of Darkness in the future!
Achilles looked toward the horizon.
“Then I want to go there. Lead .”
Sun looked torn, frowning with growing concern. “If that’s where the Primordial Light of Darkness is hiding… Should we not wait? The remaining Nine Supre Forces will co. You displayed Destiny itself. They’ll send their strongest. Empyrean Star Nexus Transcendents, maybe we can put together a force…”
“No,” Achilles said simply.
…!
Sun blinked. “Why? You want to face this alone?”
The Primordial Avatar of Achilles turned his head. Golden hair shimred under the lights of the city. His voice dropped as he spoke with glorious serenity. He rembered the words of the Fourth Adrastia Emperor King on how to win wars and battles.
“For the things that are truly difficult, truly monuntal, more hands do not always ease the burden.”
He stepped forward, eyes reflecting stars.
He turned his gaze on Sun.
“I don’t trust unity without conviction. I don’t trust Ancient Ones whose loyalties shift like drifting mist. We do not yet fully know which of them stand for this Plane and which bow to Outside Forces.”
The wind pressed against them. Neon lights flickered below.
“I trust what I can build with my own hands. With my own will. That… is the only thing I believe in.”
For a mont, there was only the silence of the rooftop. And then Sun smiled, a slow, dangerous smile.
“You’re fucking insane my guy,” he muttered. Then he spun his staff once, the golden weapon humming in the air. “But okay.”
…!
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