Far from the expanding waters of the Sea of Thalassara, another kind of change was stirring in the cosmic void.
The boundary of Nihilus Pri stretched like a wound in space itself. This was the crown jewel of the Sovereign Void Imperium, a Plane of Existence that had been carved from the space between spaces!
Deep into this place.
A far distance from the imperial palace where an Emperor and multiple Marshals were decimated not too long ago.
There was...a unique tavern.
The Void’s Rest Tavern occupied an impossible amount of space for what should have been a simple drinking establishnt as it was the size of a football field.
Thousands of patrons filled the vast space, their forms ranging from baseline human to entities that required special perception just to observe.
But tonight, there was no revelry in the Void’s Rest. No raucous laughter, no drunken boasting, no casual flirtations between beings whose species had only theoretical compatibility.
Instead, a somber atmosphere hung over the establishnt like a funeral shroud, conversations conducted in whispers that seed loud in the oppressive quiet.
Achilles sat at a bar carved from a single piece of voidstone.
His current appearance was a masterwork of transformation: skin the characteristic ash-grey of Nihilus natives, eyes that held the distinctive triple-iris pattern that allowed them to perceive great distances, and hair that moved wildly. He looked like he had been born here, raised on the peculiar physics of this plane.
The golden drink in his hand, Stellar Nectar, imported at ridiculous expense from planes where stars shone brightly, caught what little light existed in the tavern and seed to hoard it greedily.
He listened to the conversations around him with the patience of a predator who had already caught his prey but was allowing them the illusion of continued freedom.
"Did you see them?" A woman three tables away whispered to her companion, her voice carrying the distinctive hollow echo of soone who had been born in the Void. "The ships? There must be hundreds... thousands maybe. All just... waiting."
"The Taboo of Adrastia passed through here," her companion responded, and even speaking the title made him glance around nervously, as if the na itself might summon its bearer.
"They say he killed Marshal Korvain and many others. Turned them to dust that not even the Void would accept. And then be devoured that dust...fuck its scary!"
"But why would he co here?" Another voice joined the conversation from a nearby table. "Do you think... do you think he would lay waste to our entire Plane of Existence?"
...!
The fear in that question was palpable, spreading through the tavern like spilled wine across white cloth.
Achilles shook his head minutely, an expression of amusent playing at the corners of his mouth as he raised the golden drink to his lips and downed it in one smooth motion. The liquid fire of distilled starlight burned pleasantly down his throat.
There were many nas on his list...carved into his consciousness with the permanence of stellar scarring.
But the natives of countless Planes who had nothing to do with his vendetta? They were not among them. He was the Last Adrastia Emperor King, not a mindless force of destruction. His revenge would be precise, surgical, devastating to those who deserved it and only those who deserved it.
But beyond the necessity of vengeance, he found himself in unexpectedly good spirits.
The reason for this emotional elevation ca from a future he hadn’t foreseen....Rose’s transformation into sothing that transcended conventional limitation.
The Primordial Geno Empress! Even the title carried weight that made thr void pay attention.
He reflected on the implications as he gestured to the bartender for another drink.
The grand ideal of progeny for the Adrastia Emperor King lineage...that crushing limitation that had seed insurmountable, had been resolved in a way that defied even his perception of possibility.
For him, the idea of gathering a harem of won had never held appeal. It wasn’t about moral limitation or social convention.
It was simpler than that: Rose Adrian was more than enough.
She had been enough when she was dying in that hospital bed, fighting against poison with nothing but human will. She had been enough when she stood beside him as he discovered his inheritance. She continued to exceed anything and everything, constantly evolving, constantly surprising him, constantly proving herself more than he could ever hope for!
He would give everything for her. Had already given everything, and would do so again. And she had done the sa for him, transforming herself into sothing unprecedented just to ensure their lineage could continue.
As for the Hive Queen, Kythara... Achilles’s expression grew more complex as he considered her role in recent events.
She had been the one to help them overco this limitation. If she was successful in bearing progeny...an outco that several futures suggested was possible, he had no issue treating her as a benefactor, perhaps even a friend.
But that relationship would be complex and ssy. Maybe.
He could attribute the entire situation to not spending enough ti looking at alternatives, to being so focused on gathering power and securing safety that he had overlooked possibilities closer to ho. But that was the nature of existence...sotis the most profound solutions ca from the most unexpected directions.
His contemplation was interrupted by a shift in the cosmic pressure surrounding Nihilus Pri.
Sothing massive was entering the plane’s atmosphere, its presence sending ripples through the Void that made every patron in the tavern look up instinctively.
Through the tavern’s transparent aluminum ceiling...a ship beca visible.
No, not just a ship. A statent. A declaration. A promise of power that needed no words to communicate its authority!
The Radiant Proclamation of Infinite Dawn descended through Nihilus Pri’s non-atmosphere like a sun deciding to visit the darkness personally.
The vessel stretched for miles in every direction, its hull composed of crystallized light that had been convinced to maintain solid form through sheer force of will.
Golden wings extended from its sides...not for aerodynamics, which ant nothing here, but as displays of power that painted aurora across the Void’s darkness.
This was a flagship of the Infinite Radiance Sovereignty, and its presence here ant soone of incredible importance had decided to investigate the carnage Achilles had left in his wake.
Achilles raised his head, his transford features maintaining their casual expression even as his true consciousness reached out, penetrating through the ship’s multiple layers of shielding as if they were made of tissue paper.
His perception swept through chambers filled with soldiers whose armor glead with captured starlight, past weapons systems that humd with barely contained violence, through command centers where officers tried to maintain calm despite the magnitude of what they hunted.
And there, in the ship’s strategic heart, his gaze found her.
General Lydia!
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