Chapter 12

The golden stairway stretched endlessly upward, each step floating in the cosmic void. Chris stared at Violet with mounting concern, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I have to ask – what do we do now?" He gestured toward the writhing darkness above. "It's exactly as Krauser said. Bahumura's trapped here, stripped of Valmir's body, confined to that platform with nowhere to go. We've even accidentally given him a way out by opening that gateway, but..." He studied her face carefully. "What's the point? He's contained, just like we heard."

Violet swallowed hard, her eyes never leaving the distant platform. "I have to confront him."

"You what?" Chris grabbed her shoulder, turning her to face him. "Have you lost your mind? This is literally the Solaris equivalent of Satan! He's trapped – isn't that enough?"

But Violet was already moving, taking her first step onto the golden stairway. Chris lunged for her arm but his fingers closed on empty air.

"What are you doing?" he hissed, following after her. "Violet, stop!"

His feet hit the first step, then the second – but something was wrong. Each step forward seemed to leave him in the same place, like running in a nightmare. He could move, could climb, but gained no ground while Violet steadily ascended toward the platform.

"What is this?" Frustration and fear colored his voice as he watched her pull further away. "Violet, please! Don't do this!"

Was this the difference between mortal and immortal souls? Or something worse? Chief Milama's warning echoed in his mind as he watched helplessly while Violet reached the platform.

The dark cloud that was Bahumura shifted, yellow eyes forming within the haze as it focused on her. There was an almost palpable sense of surprise in its stillness.

Violet's voice carried clearly across the cosmic void. "Dark Lord, I have come seeking justice for what you did to my mother."

The cloud rippled, those yellow eyes narrowing. "Who?" The voice was like silk over broken glass, dripping with false ignorance.

"MY MOTHER!" Violet's scream echoed through creation itself. "GIVE HER BACK!"

A sound like grinding stones emerged from the darkness – laughter. "She is gone forever, my dear." Bahumura's voice oozed malicious glee. "And you will be next."

"You must give her back to me!" Violet's voice cracked with desperate rage.

"No, I don't believe I will..." The dark god's form rippled with amusement. "Your mother is gone forever! And now, so will you be!"

The cloud surged forward like a tidal wave of shadow. Suddenly, impossibly, Chris was there, materializing between them with his sword raised and a barrier of energy exploding outward from his body.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Bahumura hissed, but in that split second of protection, Violet made her choice. She slammed into Chris, shoving him clear as Bahumura's essence poured into her – mouth, nose, eyes, every opening filled with living darkness until she collapsed limply to the stone floor.

"VIOLET!" Chris scrambled to her side. Her skin was cold, lifeless – until her eyes snapped open, revealing nothing but darkness that shifted to a sickly yellow glow.

Her body convulsed violently, twisting in ways that defied anatomy. The spasms seemed endless until finally she lay still. Chris reached for her tentatively.

Violet's form exploded upward, hovering in the air before him. When she spoke, it was a horrifying chorus of her voice and Bahumura's: "SHE IS MINE NOW!"

The possessed form of Violet shot down the golden stairway like a comet, reaching the Builder gateway in seconds. Chris watched in helpless horror as her fingers danced across the symbols – using his own decoded sequence but changing the destination. Instead of the void, a forest materialized in the portal's frame.

"VIOLET! NOOO!" Chris's fist slammed into the platform as she vanished through the gateway. His scream of anguish echoed through the cosmos, a sound of pure heartbreak and rage.

He sagged to his knees, overwhelmed by the magnitude of their failure. Not only had he lost Violet, but they had just released an ancient evil back into the realms. The very thing they had come to verify was contained was now free – because of them. Because of him.

The silence of Primordia pressed in around him as he knelt there, surrounded by the beauty of creation while his world crumbled. Somewhere out there, wearing Violet's face, Bahumura was free again. And Chris had no idea how to even begin making this right.

The throne stood empty behind him, the statue its only guardian, as the weight of consequence settled over him like a shroud. He had failed Violet, failed the realms, and now he was alone at the heart of creation with no way home and no way forward.

His fingers dug into the stone as another wave of anguish washed over him. "What have we done?"

***

A soft sigh cut through the silence of creation, startling Chris from his despair. He spun around, heart racing. "Who's there?"

The nearest statue – one of four, though three stood destroyed – began to move. Stone melted away like morning frost, revealing a female figure of otherworldly beauty. Her nearly nude form was covered in elaborate symbols that seemed to shift and dance across her pale skin as she stepped down from her pedestal.

Chris scrambled backwards in panic, but her voice froze him in place.

"Do not fear me..." The words carried both power and gentleness. "I am Lucia, the last Guardian of God. I mean you no harm."

Before Chris could react, she closed the distance between them with impossible grace, kneeling to grip his chin with delicate fingers. Her face inches from his, she spoke with surprising casualness:

"Boy, you screwed up majorly..."

Then she laughed – actually laughed – releasing him and twirling away with an almost childlike energy. "You brought the demon princess to God's Altar, allowed the Dark Lord to possess her, and then allowed him to return to the mortal realms! Holy shit!"

Chris stared, baffled by her reaction. Here was clearly one of the most powerful beings he'd ever encountered, treating cosmic catastrophe like an amusing anecdote.

"What the hell do I do now?" he demanded, pushing himself to his feet. "How do I fix this?"

Lucia glided back to him, still wearing that amused smile. "I am the last Guardian. Tasked with protecting Noma, the god of this realm... who disappeared many eons ago." She shrugged elegantly. "So I can't say I have much purpose other than to remain in this place forever and silently observe the realms."

"You just watched it happen? You could have stopped this!"

"I am forbidden from interfering with the affairs of the mortal realm," she said, twirling again. "I can only observe..."

"Oh brother!" she suddenly called out. For a moment, Chris thought she was mocking him – until a silver streak blazed across the cosmic void, impacting the platform with earth-shattering force.

The silver light coalesced into a man dressed in an immaculate suit, leaning casually on a cane. Everything about him radiated power contained in an elegantly human form.

"Dear Jon," Lucia practically sang, "Please help this mortal fix this immense mess he just caused."

Chris's mind reeled. He knew this being from the texts he'd studied in Elyndaar City – Obel'jon, Lord of the Watchers, one of Noma's first children. Quite possibly the second most powerful being in the entire Nomaverse.

"I just watched all of that," Obel'jon said, twirling his cane. "You really screwed up, my boy..."

Chris felt his temper rising at their casual attitudes, but bit back his retort. These beings could presumably blink him out of existence.

"We gotta get you leveled up and up to par so you can handle this hell you just unleashed." Without warning, Jon pressed a finger to Chris's forehead.

Knowledge exploded through Chris's mind – countless realms, ancient secrets, powers and principles he'd never imagined. It was like having an entire library downloaded directly into his consciousness.

"I brought you here to help, not hinder, my boy..." Jon's words cut through the cascade of information. "And here we are."

Chris's world tilted sideways. "You... you brought me here? To Solaris?"

"I've just planted an incredible amount of knowledge into your mind, which you will unlock with time." Jon ignored the question, spinning his cane. "Now, you need to go fix this."

Questions burned in Chris's throat – Why me? Did you know this would happen? What's the point of all this? – but before he could voice any of them, reality blinked.

The cosmic majesty of Primordia vanished. The laughing gods, the golden stairs, all of it replaced in an instant by the sound of waves lapping at a shore. Chris found himself standing on an isolated beach, the taste of salt in the air and absolutely no idea where he was.

The weight of divine knowledge pressed against his mind like an overfull balloon, while questions about his true purpose here threatened to drive him mad. But somewhere out there, wearing Violet's face, Bahumura was loose again.

And apparently, it was up to Chris to stop him – whether he understood why or not.