Exiting the building they’d only spent a few minutes inside, Hiral wrapped his scarves around his party, then shot into the sky. A faint whomp echoed behind him from his liftoff, but he cut through the falling rain like a knife, Rejection shielding them all from the water. Up, up, and up they went, a pulse of energy from Yanily opening a tunnel through the storm clouds directly ahead.

  Churning cloud and lightning swirled around them as they passed, the dark-grey-almost-black flashing with phosphorescent bursts before they exited above. Several more seconds carried them a few thousand feet over the clouds, where pink planes from the Path of Butterflies formed under their feet. Here, clear of the constant storm that always seemed present in the skies of Genesis—and Terminus, apparently—the group got their first good look at the sky.

  As before, the sun—the last sun—was only as bright as a moon would be, leaving the rest of the sky a canopy of black. Utter, empty black. As hard as Hiral squinted and pushed the limits of his Atn, he couldn’t see anything else in the sky. There wasn’t a single, other star anywhere in the vast expanse beyond the sun.

  Terminus and its sun are completely alone.

  “That’s… uh…” Yanily started. “A little creepy. Where did everything else go? What Tomorrow showed us, space, it was a real thing, wasn’t it?”

  “It’s all dead,” Seeyela said, her eyes locked on the sun, the helm of her armor tucked under her arm. “The Raze did this. They wiped everything else out. Every world. Every star. Across aeons. Until nothing was left but them.”

  “Designation: Seeyela speaks the truth,” the PIMP construct said. “My scanners detect nothing else beyond the dying sun.”

  Snuff.

  “Yes, the Raze are assholes,” Romin said.

  “Can we fight something like that?” Seena said. “Can we stop it?”

  “No,” Seeyela said. “We’re not strong enough.”

  “Then why are we here?” Laseen said. “If we can’t fight them, and if we can even get Genesis out of the dungeon it’s stuck in, what’s the point? They’ll just stuff us back in, won’t they?”

  “That’s no reason to give up,” Seena said after a few seconds of silence.

  “Not giving up, girlie,” Laseen said. “Asking a serious question.”

  “We stick to the plan,” Hiral said. “We find out anything we can about the Raze here on Terminus. Maybe there’s an answer in there.”

  “And if there isn’t?” Laseen said.

  “Then we’ll make one up,” Hiral said.

  “There is a chance,” Seeyela said, her head turning so she could look at Hiral. A tightening of her face—that wasn’t hope. Grief?—and she looked back to the sun before anybody else could notice.

  “What chance?” Seena said.

  “Let me take the advanced class,” she said. “I should be able to understand the Black Gate up there better then. It’s still a bit confusing.”

  “Seeyela,” Hiral said, something about that passing look across her face making his stomach drop. “Are you sure…?”

  “Yes,” Seeyela said, vanishing with a Bamf to appear a few hundred feet away from the others. Then, without another word, her hand reached out to tap the air.

  “Notification,” the PIMP said. “Unscripted class evolution underway.”

  Not that the party needed the PIMP to tell them that, with the white sun overhead suddenly glowing brighter. Like it was pushing its remaining power to the surface, thick lashes of white plasma erupted off the shell, bursts of solar energy traversing the distance in an impossible instant to reach the party.

  In the next instant, the sun was huge in the sky, filling it. Looming over the party and the world, the sun stretched from horizon to horizon. More and more direct, ancient solar energy infused the group, supercharging their solar energy reserves. One of them more than the others.

  Where Seeyela stood separate from the ground, the focus of the sun—if it could even be called that—zeroed in on the woman. She was the target, while the rest of the party benefitted only through their proximity to her.

  “Yes, I know,” Seeyela said quietly, her words directed to the sun bearing down on her. “I accept.”

  A flash from the center of the glowing orb brought a new wave of power to the surface of the sun. Lines of jagged black split the white, then reversed and shot inward again, converging to form a single crack in the heart of the sun. Another Black Gate.

  Compared to the others Hiral had seen, this thing was on another level entirely. If the gates could have Ranks, this was S-Rank, while the others had been closer to C-Rank. To call it powerful was an understatement. To call it ancient was an understatement.

  And it reached out a single line of power to connect with Seeyela.

  As soon as it touched the woman, she vanished within a burst of black light that immediately collapsed to leave a crack in reality. Another, new Black Gate?

  Hiral barely had time to ask the question in his head before Seeyela stepped out of the newly formed portal. Her white armor stood stark against the gate she’d just exited, her own solar energy carrying a new weight to it.

  “It’s done,” she said, the crack behind her slamming closed and vanishing as if it’d never been there in the first place. Overhead, the sun too had returned to its normal place in the sky.

  To Hiral’s Atn, the light from it had dimmed. Weakened. Whatever it had done for Seeyela had cost the sun—or maybe even the Black Gate within—significantly.

  “As much as I want to know what her new class is,” Laseen said. “That’s two lightshows in short order. If the first one didn’t get somebody’s attention, this one probably will. We should move.”

  “We should,” Hiral agreed, calling Drake out of his Shared Storage. “Let’s use our mounts.”

  No arguments came—though Seeyela got a few curious looks—while everybody summoned their mounts. Vili, Bliss, and Thunderclaws came at Seena, Seeyela, and Yanily’s calls respectively, while Romin and Gran pulled out their Skybikes.

  It only took a few seconds before everybody zipped across the sky, Hiral in the lead as he tracked the paths of runic energy below the clouds.

  “Something about that class evolution was different,” Right said from behind Hiral on Drake, his words just for Hiral and Left.

  “And with Seeyela, too,” Left said. “Should we be worried?”

  “Yes,” Hiral said. “But… she knows what’s at stake here. We all do.”

  “You think she’s doing something reckless.” It wasn’t a question from his double.

  “I absolutely do,” Hiral said. “And it doesn’t change I have a promise to keep.”

  “Any idea what it is?”

  “None. Don’t think she’ll tell us either.”

  “I have something to tell you all,” Seeyela interrupted the small conversation.

  “Or… I could be wrong,” Hiral muttered.

  “Is it what your new class does?” Yanily asked, some of the usual excitement at the topic missing from the spearman’s tone.

  “No, but since I know you’ll keep asking, let me share that with you first,” Seeyela said. “Then we can talk about the chance this gives us.”

  “Chance for what?” Seena said.

  “For saving Genesis,” Seeyela said. Then, before anybody could comment on that, a notification window popped up in front of Hiral.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  Advanced Class: (Lost) Daughter of the Last Sentinel.

  Standing firm against the encroaching darkness, where there was one, there is now also a chance. A flicker of a new light to bring hope to a universe lost through time and space to an unstoppable foe.

  You are that light. The last line of defense that must not falter. Must not fall.

  Class Abilities

  Gain +8 attributes per level, starting in S-Rank.

  Class Ability (Passive): Last Stand—When the final sleep threatens, you shall not close your eyes or yield. You shall not die for as long as your determination holds true. No wound will cause you pain, and no injury shall slow you down.

  Note: Last Stand has a cooldown based on severity of injuries and duration of last usage of ability.

  Note (2): Duration of Last Stand is entirely dependent on user’s determination to succeed. Should your will falter for even an instant, so too shall Last Stand.

  Note (3): When Last Stand ends, you will be left at 1% health, free of any debuffs or effects that would further damage you. Any new damage will not be prevented.

  Class Ability (Passive): Final One, One Above All—The last to remain must prove themselves to be the strongest, as must their tools. Any items bound to you through Entwined Destiny or Greater Entwined Destiny now share your Greed, allowing them to consume similar items.

  Note: This consumption completely destroys the secondary items to empower your Entwined Destiny item.

  Note (2): Only like-items can be consumed.

  Note (3): Abilities or raw power gained through Final One, One Above All will vary depending on the item(s) consumed.

  Class Ability (Passive): Sun and Moon—When wielding paired weapons, one takes on the role of the Sun, the other the Moon. Consecutive, alternating strikes following the natural Sun / Moon cycle increase the power of each blow through multiplying gravity.

  Note: Breaking the cycle resets the building gravity, returning power to normal until a new cycle begins.

  Class Ability (Passive): Advent—Striking the same opponent with multiple Sun and Moon cycles will draw you both toward the Advent, transferring a fraction of their power to you.

  Note: Number of Sun and Moon cycles needed to reach Advent is dependent on power of the opponent.

  Note (2): Chance of power theft as follows: Buff theft—60%. Temporary attribute theft—30%. Temporary ability theft—6%. Permanent attribute theft—3%. Permanent ability theft—1%.

  Note (3): Buffs stolen in this manner need to be reapplied (if possible) by the target to return. Temporary thefts make attributes and abilities unavailable to the target for the duration of the theft (12 seconds per Sun and Moon cycle). Permanent thefts make the attributes and abilities unavailable to the target unless / until the Daughter of the Last Sentinel is killed.

  Class Ability (Passive): Black Hole—Consecutive Sun and Moon cycle strikes to the same specific point on a target have a chance of activating Black Hole, resulting in an instantaneous and destructive birth of a localized Black Hole.

  Note: The Black Hole will consume anything it touches, leaving nothing behind. There is no defense against this.

  Note (2): Anything consumed by the Black Hole will transfer a portion of its power to the Daughter of the Last Sentinel. Permanently.

  Note (3): Generating Black Holes on targets weaker than the Daughter of the Last Sentinel will have greatly reduced transfer effects, if any.

  Class Ability (Passive): Unfettered—Nothing can truly bind you or stop you from moving if you wish to. Through your connection with Black Gates, nothing can prevent you from teleporting, while anything attempting to restrict you is left behind.

  Note: This does not allow you to teleport into things you normally would not be able to, just out of. This can not be circumvented through technicalities you may attempt to justify in your own mind.

  Like everybody else flying above the storm clouds below, Hiral didn’t say anything as he read. Similar to his own advanced class, there weren’t any active abilities associated with this Daughter of the Last Sentinel class Seeyela had already taken. On the other hand, it more than made up for that with some very potent passive abilities.

  Last Stand and Unfettered were both crazy good, with the first sounding similar to Hiral’s old self-resurrection ability. Actually, looking closer at it, it was potentially much better. The way it read suggested Seeyela could continue to act beyond a point that would naturally kill her. Could continue to fight. That could be very potent, assuming her body wasn’t so damaged.

  One of those abilities I hope we never need to see in action.

  Then there was the Sun and Moon abilities, along with the one that clearly empowered her Fangs of the Lady to work alongside them. Stealing attributes and abilities, sometimes permanently? Crazy, crazy, crazy. If she’d had that against the old goat…

  All in all, it was a powerful advanced class that would help them in any battles coming their way. Was it enough to address their bigger problems though? Somehow, Seeyela seemed to think it was. Or, at least, it was connected.

  “That’s a pretty great class, Seeyela,” Yanily said. “More passive abilities like Hiral’s.”

  “Agreed,” Seena said, though her eyes weren’t on an invisible notification window, and instead rested firmly on her sister. “So, how does it connect to that chance you were talking about? What did the Black Gate tell you…”

  “… or sell you?” Hiral whispered to himself.

  “… to get you to take this?” Seena finished without hearing him.

  “Somehow,” Seeyela said. “The Raze have separated both Genesis and Terminus from regular time. We really are at the end of time. A point that never progresses even a moment further, because there is nothing after. In a way, the world is frozen like that forever.

  “They were able to do this by stuffing the past version of this world—Genesis—inside a dungeon, and getting it to reset over and over again.”

  “Are they stealing time from Genesis?” Laseen asked. “Along with the runic energy?”

  “In a way, yes,” Seeyela said. “Just not so directly. It’s either part of the balance thing, or maybe even the cause of it. Because Genesis keeps repeating, Terminus never has to change. So, here it sits at the end of time, with the Black Gate up in the last sun there trapped right along with it.

  “The Gate, by the way, only knows this is happening because its kind really does transcend time and space. Normally. It exists now, but also at every other point in the past. Unfortunately, unlike me and my new Unfettered ability, the Black Gates can be easily bound. It’s part of the reason it made sure I got that ability as part of my class. Like an evolution for their own kind.

  “Apparently, I’m the second, true attempt at a Black-Gate-human-hybrid, though it wouldn’t give me any more details on that. Just something about me not being able to see the future.”

  “All of that helps us somehow?” Hiral said.

  “Yes,” Seeyela said. “If we can get Genesis out of the dungeon, we can use the Black Gate up there…” she pointed at the white sun without looking at it, “… to send our world back to when it should be. Doing that will also break the spell holding Terminus in place.”

  “Two questions,” Hiral said.

  “I’ll answer if I can,” Seeyela said, Bliss galloping along on hooves of flame.

  “First, are Genesis and Terminus separate now? I mean, they are—were?—the same world.”

  “The Black Gate says they’re separate now,” Seeyela said. “The three other Black Gates have held Genesis for so long, it’s become its own world, cut off in time from this one. It’s hard to wrap my head around, but Terminus is a result of a different Genesis. Our Genesis is something else. If we succeed, our cycle on Genesis will even become the true cycle. Part of history. Does that even make sense?”

  “Enough, if it’s true,” Hiral said. “Then my second question—will doing this destroy Terminus? And the Raze? You said this world was an instant away from the end of everything, so will starting the clock again bring that about?”

  Seeyela forcefully blew out a breath before answering. “The Black Gate isn’t sure about that. Best guess is that it will either do that—end Terminus and the Raze—or it will take Terminus back to the same point in time Genesis returns to.

  “If it does the second thing, the end of time will officially end, but Terminus won’t.”

  “We’re going to drag the world right back down to be our new next-door neighbours?” Laseen said. “Don’t think they’re the kind that’ll be lending us sugar when we need to bake.”

  “Will they actually be that close?” Seena said. “Space seemed really… big.”

  “These are the Raze we’re talking about,” Yanily said. “I don’t think they’ll care about space. But, if they come, we just need to be strong enough to stop them, don’t we?”

  “You have already surpassed the limits of where I can take you,” the PIMP construct said. “While you can gain additional experience and levels through running the existing S-Rank dungeons on Genesis, each of the upgrades I can offer at this point will be minimal.”

  “S-Rank items?” Romin said. “Those could help us.”

  “There are several within the vault I have access to,” the PIMP said, but looked at Hiral. “Outside of Project Emperor, my reward sub-routine has more checks and balances in place. Even completing an S-Rank dungeon may not warrant the reward of such a limited item, especially if you’re already strong enough to easily clear the challenges.”

  “If the dungeon is too easy, we can’t get S-Rank rewards?” Hiral said while he kept his eyes peeled on the storm clouds below. The flying mounts were making excellent time, and he could feel the paths of runic energy below, but that didn’t mean he didn’t expect the journey to be so simple. They’d been left without hassle since they’d arrived. That couldn’t continue. They’d never been that lucky.

  “Correct,” the PIMP said to his question. “The reward subroutine uses an algorithm that takes challenge into account. To earn an S-Rank item, you would need to overcome something of equal difficulty.”

  “What about achievement rewards?” Yanily suggested.

  “Those are regulated by the quest or challenge completed, and are static within pre-designed dungeons,” the PIMP said. “As most remaining dungeons are. Again, outside of Project Emperor, I have less leeway to generate Lost dungeons. And, even if I were to do so, they would again only be artificial S-Rank.

  “You would gain new abilities, but I am not confident they would adequately increase your power.”

  “What about the Ascender’s Tower?” Romin said. “The abilities there were powerful. Same with the Cradle.”

  “Both were created by Tomorrow,” the PIMP said. “A true, S-Rank creature herself. The rules for her are different.”

  “All that’s to say,” Hiral looped back around to the topic at hand. “If we succeed at pulling Genesis out of the dungeon and dropping it back somewhere and somewhen, there’s a good chance we’ll still have the Raze to deal with.”

  “It’s a bit worse than that,” Seeyela said. “It’s not just us who will have to deal with the Raze. If Terminus goes back into regular time—around the same time and place our Genesis got pulled from—they will have the whole universe to wipe out all over again.”

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