The Void Rift Crisis

by Visiden Visidane

The Rescue - Lexarius

That moment in the core of the Agamanthion...yes, that was a trying moment.

If I must praise our esteemed General Gravitas for anything at all, I would say that he is quite an effective wall. Well, that might be an exaggeration. He did have Animus Arcem to support him.

We had reached the core of the Agamanthion; a feat that the Seekers couldn't accomplish with their meticulous and respectfully careful tinkering for nearly ten cycles. I would not expect any pat on the back from them any time soon. We bludgeoned and cut our way through, and the walls sprayed us with something that suspiciously looked like glowing blood. If somepony even suggested this method before the crisis, the Seekers would have likely assaulted that alicorn.

We did not find the Sixth Ascendant as some Seekers had theorized and hoped. The core itself was a massive chamber; all black stone and metal, hideous arcane machinery loomed at us, almost leering with their bizarre design. They all pulsed with that same glowing liquid from the walls. From what we saw, I would guess that the Agamanthion was extracting this liquid from its exterior and feeding it to the machinery here. But I'm merely describing the peripheral aspects of the place.

At the center of this madness was the thing that gave this crisis its name. We call it "void rift" as the term best describes it, for the brief time of that encounter. It resembled a large, badly-formed gate, the sort you'd expect from a colt still learning his summoning conjurations. The edges were rough, and the structure was unstable. If it were a simple gate to another layer, entering it would have thrown you to a random spot.

But this was no ordinary gate. The destination you could see at the other side was a pool of blackness; a gaping void that seemed to draw all around it inside. How had it been opened? Why? What was the Agamanthion feeding it? These are all questions that we are unfortunate enough to have now, and likely forever will.

We did not have the luxury of either giving it a thorough examination or debating a solution. Closing this rift would end the crisis, we just had to make sure we succeeded with the least possible damage. The machines in the core chamber included a transparent, enchanted container that insulated the rift from outside conditions. Tubes fed it from different directions, and I recall the glowing red swirl around the edges of the rift.

Her Majesty's sight was hazy, as was always the case with the Agamanthion. The core's destruction would bring about the end of the crisis, she said. How badly it would affect the rest of the Herd, she couldn't see.

I don't know if it was mere recklessness or if he had some instinct that cannot be explained which guides him, but His Majesty struck without hesitation. He severed the tubes that fed the thing, and then the machines all around us.

What about me? I was terrified. The complexities of the Agamanthion paralyzed me with fear. Pinnae tinkered with this artifact, and it cost him greatly. I had neither the knowledge nor the hubris to act with conviction. This was beyond playing with fire.

Finally, His Majesty turned his twin swords on the insulating container. Here was when something curious happened.

Upon that blow, the container shattered, exposing the void rift at last. At that same moment, one of His Majesty's swords shattered as well. Four pieces of what I was later told was his left blade flew around the chamber. It seemed a small incident at the time, but, I swear, I saw a smile and a tear escape Her Majesty at the sight of this.

As for the void rift, I had feared that the loss of the container would cause it to violently suck everything around it. Instead it floated before us, seemingly helpless.

We could have closed it at that point. Even I could sense that hard part had been resolved, and closing the void rift would not take more than a modified gate-closing spell.

But the loss of the container alerted us to another thing. We sensed the lingering trail of Turbo Pinnae, in the same way you might feel the faint presences of our diminished in the Midnight Grove's Pools of Reflection. The trail and the circumstances were obvious. Pinnae had been sucked into that void past the rift. Closing it right away might have doomed his diminished state to an eternity of oblivion. His Majesty sought to go through the rift, find Pinnae, whether he was in a diminished state or not, then close it entirely.

Complications had also arisen. To access the rift as we had done, we destroyed the machines that fed that substance, which continued now to pool inside the Agamanthion. I sensed the walls straining, and knew that it wouldn't be long until the artifact burst. We didn't know how bad the explosion would be or what it would do to the rift itself.

I begged His Majesty to consider things carefully. We did not know what lay on the other side. We did not know if there was even a sliver of a chance to save Turbo Pinnae. We ran the risk of losing him, one of the Herd's greatest defenders, for an impossible task.

Her Majesty pleaded with him too. I believe it was the first and last time she had shown that emotion. As it was the first time she was so unsure of the likelihood of the task. Tears do not befit Her Majesty's countenance, let me tell you. It hurt to witness it, and I would gladly fight the worst of our enemies to avoid it.

And, of course, His Majesty dove in anyway, advising us to escape the Agamanthion to warn the others.

Our flight to escape the Agamanthion has to be the hardest flight I had ever undertaken. So much more so for Her Majesty. It was not out of any external danger. Already, the Agamanthion was failing. Its defenders had either died or fled, and the planar shadows winked out of existence. The difficulty lay in our own guilt. Even though he was the one who told us to go, even though he was the one who insisted in going in, to flee while His Majesty charged felt like a betrayal. When we gave the warning so that all of us in Elys retreated, it was hard not to feel outraged upon seeing so many escape while His Majesty was in danger; a foolish notion, but a foolishness I couldn't help.

I think Silva Inber describes what happened afterward better. It's not as if I can keep you in suspense when History lets you see the result. The Agamanthion was destroyed, and from its void rift heart, Sanctus Dominus, who would be King before the dust of that massive explosion settled, flew out with his wayward friend's diminished essence.

Comments

[TheWhisperInYourHead]

wow Sanctus Dominus is a true badass.

[Stjonal]

Lexarius and Devina Gratia, are they from the same cycle?
and Dominus Sanctus?