The skeleton of the Cathedral remained in quiet stillness, only the spluttering traces of ancient golden energy remaining upon the broken Nexus Gate. Asher's breathing was heavy and labored as he forced himself to sit up, his body still vibrating with the ferocity of the conflict in the void. All his muscles screamed in pain, yet pain was an old acquaintance—one he'd grown accustomed to suppressing.
Ardyn stood there, his sharp eyes taking in the wreckage. The rogue had witnessed his share of devastation, but even he seemed agitated. "You sure that thing's dead?" he asked, kicking a shattered sigil with his boot.
Asher exhaled slowly, his fists clenching around the after-wisps of shadowflame between them. "The Architect is dead. Something else." He stopped speaking as his eyes moved beyond the ruin.
A presence.
It was faint—so minute it hardly ticked over in the first place. But the further he probed into the void, the more convinced he became. A heartbeat. A silence at the edges of life. Something had awoken within the wreckage of the Nexus.
"'Something else lived," he spoke low.
Ardyn snapped into place. "Brilliant. Because that worked so very well last time."
A shudder traveled across the ground underfoot, the loose stone creaking with a low, otherworldly sound. Asher's heart was racing in her chest. Whatever had been waiting across the Nexus Veil, it was here now. And it was coming.
Earlier. Both might even tremble, a low, thrumming hum charged the atmosphere. The gilt ornamentation on the Gate writhed and blazed—tainted into something evil. Shadows crept into the sigils, reconfiguring them into queer, jagged forms. The Cathedral walls creaked as unknown forces tugged at the very fabric of the space.
Then—
A tear.
Unlike the Nexus Gate, no. That had been different. A rip in reality itself, torn open by some unknown force. Out of it, a voice spoke, not in noise, but in sensation—a biting, wriggling thing that pushed against Asher's brain.
"You are not alone."
Frosty fingers of fear curled around his spine. He had battled gods, flouted destiny, ripped through realms he didn't even comprehend. But this? This was older. Darker. Hungrier.
Ardyn growled. "Tell me you've got a plan."
Asher's fingers jerked. The void throbbed. And from the rent, something started to emerge.
A shape. A presence.
Something so much worse than the Architect.