Filled with the light of the moon from so hidden chain of mirrors, the column around the throne began to glow with an ethereal light. A mont later, the mosaic joined the dim luminescence. The ceiling of the throne room began to shift.
The clouds of reflection, which had only appeared like they were drifting before, now began moving in earnest.
Like a dream, a world took form overhead. The Masters stared in wonder at the scene unfolding above them.
Bastion stood on the hill bright and beautiful. Below it, a proud city encircled the palace like a wreath. In the streets, people of all ages milled about, buying and selling. A wedding processional was taking place in one of the avenues while in another, a new mother was taking her child for his first walk in the sun.
Noble could see the whole picture of the city, yet she could also see every citizen in Bastion as if they were right next to her. It was a vast amount of input, but sohow Noble did not feel overwheld.
She felt between hundreds and thousands of people's emotions daily and sifted through them, so her own thoughts did not get lost in the crowd.
By the thin, riverlike lake that separated the city from the fortress, food stalls served every delicacy while rchants barked out their specials to attract custors. Children played tag in the street while old won called them in for a midday al.
n toiled and built, satisfied with a job well done and looking forward to the end of the day when they would be able to go ho to their families.
As Noble watched the thousands upon thousands of mundane scenes, she didn't pay much attention to the sky above the people. Unfortunately, neither did the citizens of the town. Noble blinked, and the sky was suddenly filled with clouds of unending darkness.
Was it night already? She wasn't sure how ti worked in the scene before her, but she didn't think so. The people didn't seem to think so either. They looked up with slack jaws, fear creeping across their faces.
Then, as figures erged from the darkness, their fear turned to complete panic. Children and their mothers fled into their hos. Shopkeepers shut their doors. Humanity went into hiding.
The cataclysmic figures crashed into one another in a titanic brawl, and when Noble finally caught sight of them, her heart froze in fear.
'Mirage!' The daemon did not look like the lithe woman that Noble had viewed back in the forest. No, that image of the divine being was rely an avatar. This image of Imagination was far more fearso and terrifying than anything Noble could have dread.
The beings Mirage fought were just as harrowing, causing so of the mundane humans that had not found shelter to die of fright where they stood.
Claws and teeth. That was all that could be seen when the lightning flashed, yet it was more than enough to rip at the foundation of True Bastion.
Defiantly, Mirage called on the moon. It appeared through the torrent of the dark storm at the behest of its fearso mistress.
The light brought countless reflections to the darkened world, causing the power of the battle to shift.
But it was for naught. The claws and teeth of the creatures would not be denied. Noble felt her bones shatter as the moon was rcilessly torn apart by powers she could not begin to fathom. She struggled against the overwhelming scene that played out before her eyes.
But there was no escape.
Even with the moon in pieces, the reflections enhanced the daemon's fearso might. Mirage would not let her enemies overwhelm her. With her army, she pushed against the monsters and hellish beasts.
Beings beyond comprehension lit up the sky as they clashed in the colossal brawl.
Noble caught sight of the Dragon Prince in his full glory. He was a mighty being before Mirage struck him to the ground, stripping him of one of his eyes and the use of one wing.
Noble flinched, trying to avoid a crack of lightning that accompanied his fall from the sky. It seed so real that she felt her hair stand on end when the bolt hit the ground.
The world began to unravel. The Palace was torn away stone by stone. While most of the people cowered in fear, a few brave warriors stood among the throng of unfathomable creatures to make a final stand.
One of them caught Noble's eye. His outline was familiar, though Noble couldn't exactly place him. He called over the storm.
Noble frowned. He wasn't yelling. He was...singing?
The man turned to look at her, startling Noble. His eyes were clear and blue as the sea.
'Is he staring at ?' Noble felt a small sense of dread fill her heart.
No, the man was blind, but she felt sohow that he was aware of her presence.
His head turned back to the storm, singing with all of his might a tune that seed to alter the state of the heavens.
It wasn't enough.
The blind man was crushed rcilessly by a mighty paw, painting the palace walls with his crimson blood.
Whoever the man had reminded her of, he was gone now. She sighed.
No matter how hard the daemon and her allies fought, the world continued to crumble. At last, a catastrophic crash caused the earth to quake.
Unable to defeat Mirage as long as her reflections surrounded her, the enemy attacked the reflections instead.
Water.
The dam of Northgate was breached!
The torrential flood washed over the land, taking with it any light and plunging the world into utter darkness.
Screams.
Noble could hear every wail and cry for help. She could feel the agony of the drowned and the dying. It was her agony as well.
The darkness obscured the fighting, but Noble didn't need to see it to know how the story ended.
Stripped of the bulk of her power. Mirage succumbed to the will of the gods.
When the world went silent of all but the torrent of floodwaters, Noble knew the deed was done. The Daemon of Imagination was dead.
Though she couldn't say why, tears ran down Noble's cheeks.
From above, the flood overran the bounds of the ceiling and poured out, enveloping her and pushing her beneath its waves. Noble gasped for air, waving her arms to push away the water.
Yet the world continued to flood. Bodies drifted around her aimlessly.
"Help!" she wanted to scream, but there was no help to co.
Everyone was dead. Soon she would be too.
'The others!'
Instinctively, Noble felt for the rest of the cohort. They were there, experiencing the sa struggle. She wanted to pull them toward her, to lift them out of the dire situation they were in.
However, the pressure on her soul was too intense. If not for Helios, she would have been pressed into the floor and experienced a second type of pain.
Even the single source of torture was too much. Noble's lungs burned. Closing her eyes, she spent her final monts thinking of her loved ones.
Then, she let go.
The world would have gone black if there had been any light left in it. Instead, her consciousness slipped silently away.
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