In the Shattered Folds of the Crucible Expanse.
Achilles appeared in a region that was simultaneously breathtaking in its alien beauty and lethally dangerous to anyone lacking sufficient power to withstand the environntal hazards.
Storms of tallic objects swirled through the void in complex patterns that created ever-shifting mazes of deadly projectiles, and massive tallic teors drifted on unpredictable trajectories that could crush unprepared beings against their impossibly dense surfaces.
The tals themselves possessed unusual properties as they had been transmuted through eons of exposure to concentrated Alchemical authority, and they glead with inner radiance that suggested they were more refined essence than simple matter.
Copper shone with verdant luminescence, silver blazed with lunar brilliance, and gold pulsed with solar intensity as these materials flowed through space in rivers of liquid tal that defied conventional physics.
Anyone with weak Civilization Quotient would not survive long in this environnt as the ambient authority pressed against existence with crushing weight, and the tallic storms could shred unprotected bodies into component particles within monts of exposure.
Around Achilles, Dream Walker Cyna could be seen yawning with characteristic laziness despite the dangerous surroundings, and the massive Sphinxes she always traveled with ford an orderly line behind her position.
They maintained protective formation out of habit rather than genuine concern about the environntal threats, as beings of their capability could navigate such hazards without serious difficulty.
She yawned again at this particular mont while her wings twitched with mild irritation about having to wait, and her voice held complaint.
"Who are we even waiting for anyway? The other Firstborns of Dreams who are already positioned near the target are growing impatient for us to initiate the attack."
Achilles looked calmly at the cat-like entity with wings and jeweled eyes, and his response was delivered with complete casualness.
"My wife."
...!
Cyna’s bejeweled eyes imdiately lit up with spark of genuine interest that cut through her habitual laziness, and she spoke with curiosity that suggested this information genuinely fascinated her.
"What? The disastrous Heretical Devourer who consus entire Sanctuaries and lifeforms actually has a wife?" Her tone carried sincere bewildernt. "You can manage to keep people around you without eating them up eventually?"
She seed genuinely captivated by this revelation as she waited for his answer with focused attention that was rare from soone who preferred to spend most of her existence sleeping.
And yet before Achilles could respond to her question, the space directly around him shimred and materialized as a glorious and calm voice replied on his behalf with words that carried layered aning.
"He gets to eat every day, Little Cat. Don’t you worry about him."
...!
Rose manifested with composed grace and delivered these words with perfectly straight expression that made it unclear whether she was being completely literal or making sophisticated innuendo, and Cyna’s eyes opened impossibly wide in response.
The Dream Walker imdiately began sniffing the air around Rose with enhanced senses while studying her transford physiology, and after brief analysis she physically moved away with visible caution as her voice carried genuine wariness.
"Both of you sll fundantally the sa in terms of underlying authority signature, but why does she seem significantly more unpredictable and dangerous than you do?"
At these words of concern, Rose smiled with a look that combined warmth with sothing slightly predatory as she looked at Cyna and spoke with reassuring tone.
"I am not dangerous at all to allies. I would at most want to pet you gently and nothing else."
...!
The two powerful entities looked at each other with Cyna maintaining suspicious distance while Rose’s smile suggested she found the wariness amusing, and the mont stretched with peculiar tension before Achilles cut through the standoff.
"Alright, let’s get moving toward our objective."
His eyes shone brightly with focus as there was trendous amount of work to accomplish across multiple fronts, and every mont spent waiting was mont wasted.
One of his bodies remained playing the designated role of prisoner in custody of combined Life and Necrocracy forces, even though he had trendously exceeded the power level of Atraides and would certainly surpass any individual Firstborns of those Civilizations who were supposedly en route to interrogate him. They would need to send multiple False THE or legitimate Pre-THE entities from their respective Lineages simultaneously to potentially match his current capability.
And since he couldn’t Assimilate anything for a little while, while his Existence Corruption Value stabilized, a significant handicap he was already actively working to overco by using THE Civilizational Authority of Dreams to continuously reduce the accumulated corruption, he couldn’t simply consu Atraides and the assembled forces imdiately.
At most he could decisively defeat them through direct combat and lock them up as prisoners until his restriction lifted and he could properly Assimilate their authorities.
This temporary limitation was also the primary reason he had brought Rose to participate in this operation. She could Assimilate THE Barrier on his behalf since THE Endless Dream wanted to move with speed, and he preferred not to reveal that he was currently operating under such handicap to his new ally.
With everything he was simultaneously coordinating across multiple Constellation Dream Bodies, including having Mycelle and the Shadowborn Legions continue raiding Sanctuaries while transforming captured Living Existences under his growing Civilization, he was actually operating at ridiculously active and demanding pace right now.
He was a hardworker!
And so they began moving through the dangerous environnt toward their designated objective.
They traveled across this hostile region with practiced efficiency as Achilles and Rose moved through the tallic storms without difficulty while Cyna and her Sphinxes navigated the hazards with casual ease.
After so extended ti crossing vast distances, Cyna finally waved her small paw with deliberate gesture to reveal a hidden river of sand shining with gold radiance that appeared from nowhere.
They entered this flowing pathway without hesitation, and the current imdiately pulled them into transition between spaces that deposited them in completely different domain.
In this new location, Achilles raised his brows with genuine interest as he actually felt the distinctive aura of another Pre-THE Existence radiating from nearby position.
The entity sat regally atop a mountain ford entirely of compressed silver sand, and he appeared as a winged giant whose body was constructed from living tallic sand that shifted and flowed while maintaining coherent form.
His eyes blazed with piercing intensity that suggested trendous power barely contained, and he wielded a massive mace that looked capable of shattering continents through casual application.
And gathered around the sandy mountain’s base, there were three entities whose power signatures matched Cyna’s approximate level, likely other Dream Walkers who served THE Endless Dream.
Beyond them stood dozens of additional beings whose capability clearly exceeded even the formidable Sphinxes.
The mont Achilles’s group arrived to observe this impressive legion, the silver sandy dream titan rose from his seated position with movents that caused the mountain beneath him to tremble.
His voice when he spoke carried deep resonance that made the surrounding space vibrate.
"I welco the blade of THE Endless Dream to this staging ground. I have received the dream vision through my connection to our shared Civilization, and I know my purpose in this operation." His tone was formal but carried genuine conviction.
"I will give my life and dedicate all my accumulated dreams before allowing yours to be threatened by enemy forces. I will ensure you reach where you need to penetrate within the Sacred Holy Land, for I am Jornaga, The Titanic Drear who has walked the path of Dreams since before many beings existed."
...!
User Comments
0 comments from readers