Amalgam

Flame in the Night tilts her head back, and her mind drifts into Unari's Spectacles — where an old friend and intellect should come to greet her. Without waiting for her return, the vision comes on the tides of warning, screaming for attention from every sense, dominating every conscious thought and drowning it in favor of this dream.

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The Thing-Called-Bast stared down upon the city of Maro, watching the lights of the city rise up between the clouds, and wondered at the folly of mankind. The city was constructed inside a rift, buildings stacked on top of buildings, from the top crust of Akiton to as far deep as one could see. The lowest sections ended in caverns, often occupied by bandits and now refugees, and those caverns stretched further still into the earth.

Thing-Called-Bast: “It's like Gormuz, isn't it?”

Static built in the vision, but it was not from interference, or from a failure of the Haze. We see but the truth, as the data ghost of Sara No-Name formed beside the Thing-Called-Bast, joining him in the skies above Maro.

Sara No-Name: “I suppose... Come to watch?”
Thing-Called-Bast: “You've changed so much this time. I wanted to see.”
Sara No-Name: “You don't have long to wait — Crow is coming.”

The Thing-Called-Bast hunched his shoulders, a melancholy feeling building in his clenched fingers.

Thing-Called-Bast: “Why did you give me back my memory?”
Sara No-Name: “Because Arin has always been easy to manipulate... And I wanted you to know what was happening at End Day.”
Thing-Called-Bast: “I just want to sleep.”

Sara scoffed, and the lights in Maro started to go out. Building by building — not in the manner of a failing power grid, but like a child smashing a colony of ants — one victim at a time.

Sara No-Name: “There are no more dreams, Bast. No more luck, no more mystery powers or magic axes. Lu isn't here to save you, and you've driven Valka fucking insane! There's nothing left for you — not even hope!”

The clouds above Maro grew thick with smog, arcs of lightning splashing between them, the rumbles of a storm building on the horizon. The Thing-Called-Bast watched without emotion, until the very last light began to fade. The city of Maro went truly dark.

Thing-Called-Bast: “Hope was all I ever had."

The Thing-Called-Bast didn't move or draw his Weapon. He didn't invoke the Power of the Maelstrom or the Name of Names. He didn't even change the Dream.
But there he was, standing in the middle of the shadow of Maro.
A single light spread from the rift, a sun's light pouring from an outstretched lantern, illuminating a man clad in all-black robes. Golden sigils embroidered every edge, offering protection for others instead of himself, written in the language of the Elder Numens. But it all looked pale in comparison to the dagger in his other hand, a black hole in the form of a blade — the Eclipse Malkin.

Sara No-Name: “There you are! I've been looking all over for you, Max.”
Maximus Erebus: "Get away from him."

Sara cackled in reply, floating in between Max and the Thing-Called-Bast. A lightning bolt arced into her hand, forming into a sword, and black cloud twisted into the shape of a crook. At her call, the shadowy reflections of great beasts began to pull themselves into reality, summons made from the maelstrom itself, and rain began to pour onto the starved earth of Akiton.
Two sides stood at odds, as the Thing-Called-Bast watched from on high, and the city of Maro shuddered towards the only light. The great beasts growled thunder and flexed with fangs made of lightning, and Max's lantern swayed in the rising wind.
In the space between two thunderclaps, Sara bolted into the rift with the fury of the maelstrom, all the great beasts at her heels. But rather than striking the Child of Shadow, the crashed into the aura of the lantern — a barrier made from the light of the Soul within. The two sides howled at one another, eldritch chants pouring from their lips, as much words as they were weapons.

Sara No-Name: “—AND HIS HANDS WERE WARM DESPITE THE BLIZZARD—”
Maximus Erebus: "—TO MOVE AND MOVE THEN MOVE LIKE THIS—"
Sara No-Name: “—AND HE HAD THE LOVE OF THE PEOPLE—”
Maximus Erebus: "—AND BREAK AND BREAK THE SKY—"
Sara No-Name: “—AND LACKED THE FALSE LOVE OF THE NUMENS—”
Maximus Erebus: "—TO CHOOSE AND CHOOSE THEN CHOOSE THE MIST—"
Sara No-Name: “—AND SO WE BOWED AND NAMED HIM GOD!”
Maximus Erebus: "—AND SWALLOW WHOLE THE EYE!"

Sara's crook shattered a hole in the barrier even as the maelstrom beasts still pounded upon it, and she slid through the gap. The Eclipse Malkin rose to meet her, digging into the ephemeral material of her weapon, but unable to sever its meaning.
The barrier shattered completely. The great beasts swarmed in. The light of the lantern dimmed.
The Thing-Called-Bast watched a piece of himself begin to die.

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The vision howls into the darkness, thrusting you back into the waking world...