A pair of glowing eyes flashed open beneath crystalline red skin... followed by a second pair... then a third and fourth and fifth and...
She sat calmly on a sea of velvety cushions. Sweet incense tickled her glossy nostrils. On all sides of the unicorn mare there levitated jagged crystals—joined together in a halo by translucent beams of tapering ruby light. The crystals hummed from within, carrying the cadence of over two dozen murmuring, chanting voices—all hers and yet not.
She exhaled, blowing incense and fragrant smoke away from her pulsating horn. She sat in a rectangular chamber at the very summit of a massive floating structure—a geometric marvel constructed out of translucent glass that glowed faintly with crimson and fuchsia hues. Directly in front of the calmly-seated mare there stretched an open balcony... and past the balcony's razor sharp edge was a dead sky filled with lingering blue twilight. Far beyond, a dark gray valley of vulcanized rock sloped perpetually upward... so that the horizon was drowned high above in onyx mountains and even blacker canyons. Somewhere in the midst of all this lifelessness, a circular patch of earth burned forever around a solid square of black, from which shot beams of blended gold in every direction, piercing the nebulae floating above and beneath where the mare calmly reposed.
Several breaths later, the mare closed her surface eyes. Several more pairs of eyes deep within her translucent skull fluttered open and shut in quick succession. Her breaths came quicker now—quiet and contemplative.
Not long after, a body rose from several see-through floors beneath her. A blue stallion in flowing purple robes rode a glass lift to the top of the floating structure... until at last he joined the mare on the balcony. Upon seeing her awake, his crystalline lips pursed with anticipation. Several layers of eyes blinked on top of one another as he smiled delicately... then trotted towards the very edge of the room.
Thunder echoed in the distance, emanating from the patch of burning earth, but the rigid floating vessel scarcely felt a single vibration from that distance. The stallion's horn lit up, and several glass compartments unfolded to reveal a shelf full of diamond chalices. Without lifting a single hoof, the stallion levitated a ruby-colored vial and carried it with him towards the center of the room. The compartments slid magically shut on their own behind him.
Much of the incense had faded by the time the stallion approached the mare. He trotted around her calmly... patiently... swaying as if in a casual dance. Every time his hoof made contact with the floor, the glassy surface lit up with dim ruby brilliance. At long last, he crossed the mare's vision, ducking his head low with a loving smile. She gave no response—not that he expected one... at least not quite so soon. Floating a bed of cushions over, he sat leisurely down across from her, floating the vial between them with his back to the curved horizon and the flaming battlefield in the distance.
There, he waited... waited for a sound.
At last, she had one to give. "Mrmmfff..." Her horn flickered as her head swayed along with her shoulders. "...Archeantus. I... I just..."
"Shhhhhh..." He reached out with a blue hoof, stroking her cheek. "Gently, Alamais. Come up gently."
She shook in place—as if having surfaced from an arctic dive. "The darkness... so immense..." Multiple eyes blinked on top of one another. The crystals hovering around Alamais flickered bright and brighter. "...getting harder and harder... mrmffff... to penetrate..."
Archeantus kept stroking her cheek. "The Lord chose you for a reason, Alamais. You are strong... the strongest Vessel there is. Now... give me the good news already." He grinned from cheek to glossy cheek. "You had another vision?"
"A reflection," she clarified, her voice solidifying into a dull drone. "Of Endrax."
Archeantus' ears perked up. He adjusted the folds of his robe and cocked his head to the side. "Endrax, you say?"
"Not... not her of course..." Alamais winced, reaching a dainty hoof up to rub her skull just beneath her horn. "But... a memory... the final memory of the soul closest to her when she barricaded the Sepulcher of Ages..." She shuddered, her voice faltering again. "But... but it's so painful... almost too painful to—"
"Ah ah ah..." Archeantus waved a hoof. "Easy does it, precious. Here..." He levitated the vial beneath her muzzle and popped the diamond cork. "Stillborn." His glossy brow furrowed. "Inhale."
As soon as the lid was opened, plumes of ruby smoke shout upwards. They took the form of curled, fetal shapes, and the air shook with high-pitched wailing. Alamais inhaled the fumes, and her many layers of eyes lit up until they all pulsed as one. A blink... a second blink... and her figure stopped teetering atop the cushions altogether.
"Now is it coming into focus?" Archeantus asked, corking the vial shut again.
"Hmmmm..." Alamais' ears twitched. "Vy'lyssa."
Archeantus looked up at a crystal pulsating towards Alamais' right—one of many. The phantom shape of leafy ears flickered in and out of existence. "The... bloodwing, yes?" His jaw tightened slightly in disgust. "That poor old soul... from the Raid on the Very Last Bastion?"
"A warrior. A fighter," Alamais pronounced. "Mother of two. Both sons. Nightbloods who died defending their separate patrols from the Onyx Brood." She breathed in, breathed out. "At night when they were foals she sang them to sleep in their hammock high above the Huntlands, telling wholesome tales of glorious victories won by the Mother of Nightmares on the Light Side." A shudder... then something close to a sob. "She never was able to rescue her beloved mate V'ynxxm from the deep hives..."
"Knowing the matriarch at that time, the bloodwings probably used him and hundreds of others as bait to drag the swarms out of hiding." Archeantus smiled smugly. "You know how they are, Alamais. Treacherous... rat-haired scoundrels—the thieving lot of them. Why, it's their bloody damned fault the Sarcophagus got sealed up to begin with. If they had just allowed us to eliminate the Onyx Brood on our own terms instead of resorting to pathetic alchemy, then this never would have—"
"I was her just now," Alamais rambled on. "Hundreds of years ago... running alongside Wy'nnxx and company..."
Archeantus stifled a groan. "Uh huh..." He rubbed his temple and calmly listened. "Do go on."
"After assassinating the entire Brood with the runic payload... I reached..." Alamais winced. "That is... Vy'lyssa reached for her pendant... to kiss the emblem of Luna and be ferried off into the Eternal Dream with the Goddess of Nightmares' blessing..." Her eyes lit up as she stared past Archeantus. "And... I saw something..."
"Endrax, yes?" Archeantus cleared his throat and folded his forelimbs again. "You saw Endrax sacrificing her stubborn self to rob the Lord of greatness."
"Yes... and... no..." Alamais murmured. Thunder rolled in the distance beyond the balcony as she said, "I saw something else. Something... that Vy'lyssa never could have seen."
Silence.
Archeantus leaned back, taking a breath. "Alamais... darling... you said that this vision was a... 'reflection,' yes?"
The other unicorn nodded. "Very much so."
Archeantus' glossy flesh glowed bluer. "Well, if Vy'lyssa wasn't reflecting something, then something else must have been. So, what is it?"
Alamais was silent. Still as stone.
Archeantus sighed inwardly. He flexed his leg muscles. "Let me go get another vial, then—"
"Endrax..." Alamais said.
Archeantus shifted back onto the cushions. He blinked at her. "A reflection of Endrax?" He cocked his head to the side. "Do... do you finally know where Lexxic and his bastard brothers are carrying the third fragment?"
"No. It's..." Alamais held a hoof tenderly over her chest. Something was pulsating visibly within her translucent figure. Something black and necrotic and muscular. "...it's not the third fragment."
"Then what is it? Please, precious. Give me something to tell the Lord."
Alamais' eyes hardened. Half of the crystals floating around her burned with sudden violet brilliance. "Sssssssister."
Archeantus blinked. "Sister?" He blinked again, his blue hue paling. "As in... another Divine? From the Light Side?"
The crystals dimmed slightly. Alamais glared past him. Her voice took on a different tone altogether, hoarse and gravelly: "'I only ever had one sister.'"
Archeantus stared at her with his muzzle agape.
At long last, Alamais' gaze faltered. She looked the stallion in the eye, and her voice was more tender this time. "It is a light, Archeantus. Whatever the memory... the spirit of Endrax reflected, it's more brilliant than the beams that emanate from the Sepulcher. It can only be this bright because it's every color of the spectrum thrown into one. And it's here, Archeantus. On this plane."
Archeantus swallowed. "So then..." He nodded. "...at long last... after all these forsaken centuries... the sisters of Tchern have come this way to invade us."
"It's... not them," Alamais insisted. "This light... it's somehow brighter. And older."
"Older than the alicorns?" Archeantus asked. His ears twitched. "You mean... a light from the machine?"
Alamais merely teetered.
Archeantus turned to gaze beyond the edge of the balcony. He pointed nebulously into the twilight while looking back at Alamais. "From... where does this strange sun rise?"
Alamais swallowed. "From the only edge it's purposed to."
"Which, Alamais?" Archeantus squinted. "Farside or Nearside?"
"Farside," she said. "As indicated in the Web Etchings of olde."
Archeantus scoffed. "Oh please, darling. The Spindlers are more ancient than we are. Senility poisons their souls to the point of being unharvestable. You know this."
"But their words on Ilrifa—"
"Are just words, Alamais!" Archeantus growled, nostrils flaring. "Just like the word 'Ilrifa' itself! Pointless and religious and drab and nothing!"
Alamais shook in place suddenly. One crystal lit up to her left side, and there was the flicker of a foalish effigy. Her voice whimpered to match it. "I'm so sorry, Archeantus."
Archeantus sighed. "Oh precious..." He leaned in and hugged her gently.
"There're just... so many voices..." Alamais cried, her red gloss taking on multiple pale hues. "...so many voices to parse through... and trying to find the truth amongst them all is so... so..."
"Shhhhh... it's okay. Truly, it is." He patted her shoulder and leaned the two of them back so he could smile gently into her face. "You are one of a kind, Alamais. A vessel like no other. There are bound to be some challenges along the path to ascension."
Sniffling, she looked meekly at him with multiple glowing eyes. "Will... you tell the Lord about this?"
He stared at her for a few quiet seconds. "No," he said eventually, then kissed her on the forehead. "Not until we learn more."
"We?"
"Yes, we." He smiled. "You're not alone in this. None of us are ever... ever alone." He tapped her chin. "In many we are strong."
She gulped and nodded. "In strength we are m-many."
"That is correct. Besides... this shouldn't necessarily alarm us." Adjusting his robe, Archeantus swiftly stood up. "If there is indeed a new presence arriving Farside, it'll soon become Lexxic's problem. And anything that threatens him can only be a blessing to us and our quest to bless the Lord with the Sarcophagus' treasure."
"Yes, Archeantus." Alamais nodded shakily. "But of course."
"There's a good girl."
"Shall... shall I continue searching?"
"No, darling." He trotted past her, giving her shoulder a loving pat. "You rest now. You've earned your waltz with the stars." He aimed his horn at a nearby wall. The air rang with chimes, and the glass panels of the ceiling receded... exposing Alamais and her crystals to an endless expanse of glittering constellations. "Perhaps—amongst those—you will find more savory sisters. Hmmm?"
"Hmmmmm..." Alamais laid herself back on the cushions. Her body dimmed as her face sported a delirious smile. The crystals above her lowered slightly; the ruby bands that connected them drooped over Alamais like a loose duvet. The dark organ pulsing inside of her slowed to a cool, thumping pace. Relaxed.
In the meantime, Archeantus returned to the lift. As it lowered down the tall narrow shaft, the brotherly smile from his muzzle soon faded. He glanced aside and aimed his horn at a rectangular panel attached to the translucent lift. It glowed slightly... pulsating with a voice broadcasted throughout the descending chamber.
"Praetor?""
"Commander Eutropius," Archeantus spoke firmly. "There's been a development."
"A vision from the Vessel?"
"That's between me and the Lord," Archeantus said. "Right now—set a course away from the harvest fields. We are to return to the Hesiod immediately."
"Yes, Praetor. Shall I reign in our scout vessels?"
Archeantus lingered in brief silence. "No, Commander," he said. "Send them beyond the Sarcophagus. Start scanning for anomalous souls along the fringes of the Huntlands."
"The Huntlands? But... that will take them to bloodwing territory. Beyond Petra!"
"It's a risk I'm willing to take," Archeantus said. "Tchern's been silent, wasting time and resources over this damnably mysterious 'Flux' of hers. What's more, Lexxic's forces are spread out and weak. They should be of no concern to us." He stared up through the passing floors, spotting Alamais' slumbering figure high above. "Just in case... anchor the scouts' prime souls before we disembark. Worse comes to worst, we can retrieve the most out of their legions."
"Is there a threat from Farside?"
Archeantus took a deep breath. "I don't know yet. But I must speak with the Council at the Hesiod at once. In the meantime... we must get all the information we can from the Huntlands and beyond."
"Yes Praetor. And what of the Lord?"
"Nothing's changed about that, Eutropius." Archeantus' many eyes flickered until they aligned in one blue beam. "The Lord is my responsibility. Nobody else's." As the lift reached the command floor at the base of the structure, he stared out at the burning patch of earth beyond the glass surfaces. "He gave us life. I aim to give him back ten times more." He stepped out with a flap of his robes, sneering: "I'll be damned to oblivion if there's a creature on this plane that deserves what's inside the Sarcophagus more than him."