Chapter 4319: Entry! II

On the other side of The Veil.

A massive, oval, white-obsidian vessel floated through the silent, starless void.

It was The Ashen Ark of Judgment, its surface as smooth and as cold as a polished tombstone.

Upon its vast, flat deck, a legion of The Dead stood in perfect, silent formation. There was no chaotic aura, no mindless rage. There was only a profound, chilling sense of Order.

At the forefront stood Tatiana, her dark hair a stark, beautiful contrast to the pale, deathly perfection of her skin.

Around her, other Dead Early Creatures stood as silent sentinels, and behind them, in hundreds of perfect rows, were Dead Existential Armors, their obsidian-black forms radiating a silent, contained power!

The air was thick with a regality that was both beautiful and utterly terrifying.

The Ashen Ark approached a Tear of The Veil, a jagged, weeping wound in the fabric of their reality.

The Early Creatures around Tatiana watched it with calm, ancient eyes, their expressions unreadable masks of power and purpose.

Tatiana stepped forward, her voice echoing out across the silent deck as they began to cross the threshold.

"We are asked to have a purpose," she began, her tone a perfect, commanding cadence that brooked no dissent.

"We are asked to have a singular focus, a driving will that defines our every action. For many, that purpose is a scattered, chaotic thing, a collection of selfish desires and fleeting ambitions. But for us... for us, there is only one purpose. One Order. Our Way is the Way of THE Dead Order."

HUUM!

Her voice grew stronger, more resonant, a creed spoken into the void!

"We adhere to the Doctrines. The First Doctrine: Order is Salvation. All chaos, all the messy, unpredictable weavings of life, are a sickness. We are the cure. The Second Doctrine: All Endings Are Beginnings. We do not bring death; we offer a new, more perfect, more ordered form of existence. The Third Doctrine: The Will of THE Creature is Absolute. All that we do is in service of a design so grand, so profound, that lesser beings cannot even begin to comprehend it."

She paused, letting the weight of her words settle upon her silent, loyal legion. "Existence has unfolded in the way it has as The Fallout is coming. Our purpose is to establish Order before it does, and afterwards. We are to transform the countless Lifeforms in Existence from The Living... to The Dead. Not kill. Transform. Anyone who kills a single lifeform without a transformation occurring will answer directly to me and the other Commanders."

...!

The Ark was now halfway through the Tear, the chaotic, vibrant light of the living Folds bleeding into their silent, monochrome world.

"We are simply an advanced party, sent to get things started. The Forgemaster and the other Lords of the Cryptlands will soon join us to ensure Order as The Veil continues to thin. There will be those who stand in opposition to what we seek to do, as they do not understand. The protocol for such beings is to transform them first and have them understand later. Understood?"

A single, unified roar, a sound that was both a shout and a silent, psychic affirmation, erupted from the legion behind her. "UNDERSTOOD, MA’AM!"

The Ashen Ark of Judgment crossed fully into the new Fold. An Early Creature, his form regal in a pristine white robe, half of his face a bare, gleaming skeletal structure, floated over to Tatiana.

He whistled, a low, appreciative sound. "Nice speech there, Tatiana. I told you the role of a leader was always meant for you."

Tatiana merely scoffed, her gaze remaining cold and fixed on the new reality before them.

"Remain focused, Valerius."

They had arrived. The air here was thick, vibrant, and alive. They were in the Transcendent Elemental Folds, in a region surrounded by bronze, flowing rivers of earthen elements and sands that shone with a stellar brilliance. It was a world of pure, untamed life.

And that life had just noticed them.

In the distance, a group of Living Elementals, their forms blazing with the bronze light of their authority, froze.

They stared at the Ashen Ark, at the few hundred Dead Early Creatures, at the legions of Dead Existential Armors.

A wave of pure, oppressive Haki, the silent, collective will of the arriving legion, washed over them. And in an instant, their lights were snuffed out. They fell from the sky like extinguished stars, their consciousnesses collapsing under a weight they could not even begin to comprehend.

...!

Tatiana gave a light, almost imperceptible nod. Behind her, a Dead Early Creature, his skin a grotesque, beautiful mosaic of decaying flesh and vibrant, living power, flew out.

He moved towards the unconscious Elementals... a paltry force of three Honored and nine Prime Living Existences, their combined complexity a mere whisper against the storm that had just arrived.

The Early Creature came to a stop before the first of the fallen Elementals. He raised a hand, his fingers long and skeletal, and plunged it into the creature’s chest. His hand sank in as if through butter.

He did so rapidly in the span of a nanosecond for all the Living Elementals here!

And then, the shocking phenomenon of... The Change began.

On the first Elemental.

A brilliant, obsidian-white light erupted from the point of contact. It was not a destructive light, but a transformative one. It spread across the Elemental’s body like a fast-moving frost, its bronze skin turning an ashen, obsidian white. It looked lifeless, and yet, impossibly, the complexity of its existence began to rise!

The process was a terrible, beautiful thing to witness. The vibrant, chaotic energy of the Living Elemental was being... ordered. Refined. Distilled into a new, more potent form of being. The light faded, and the Elemental, now a being of ashen, dead perfection, opened its eyes.

It woke from its state of unconsciousness, and its eyes, once a simple, bronze glow, now shone with a new, grander power and a profound, chilling intelligence. It radiated a power of over one hundred trillion in both Complexity and Purity. A Duke. From a mere Honored, it had become a Duke!

The newly changed Elemental looked at the Dead Early Creature who had transformed it, and it bowed. "Thank you," its voice was a new, resonant thing. "How can I be of service?"

The Dead Early Creature nodded. "Return to your homes," it commanded, its voice a low, rumbling echo. "And grant this Change to others. Do it silently. Make the spread as vast as possible before any conflicts arise."

...!

The new Duke, and the twelve others who had been similarly transformed in a silent, terrifyingly efficient process, bowed as one.

They turned and flew back towards their home, towards... The Heart of Elementals.

...!

Back on the Ark, Tatiana watched this scene with a calm, almost detached, expression. The vessel had now fully entered the Transcendent Elemental Folds.

But in the next second, she frowned. She sniffed the air. Her eyes, which had been as cold and as still as a frozen lake, now showed a flicker of surprise. She sniffed again.

"Can you all smell that?" she asked, her voice a low, puzzled murmur.

...!

The Early Creatures behind her stirred, their own ancient senses reaching out. A collective, silent gasp rippled through their ranks. They could smell it too!

Tatiana’s eyes turned sharp, a dangerous, inquisitive light burning in their depths. "I can smell Order," she said, her voice a low, dangerous whisper. "But... Living Order. How could there be Living Order on this side of The Veil?!"

WAA!

They all knew Order was dead. Dead, but still gloriously present, as could be seen through them. But this... this was different. This was a vibrant, living echo of a power that should have been an impossibility.

Tatiana’s gaze was a thing of pure, unadulterated focus. She turned to her legion. "You three," she commanded, her voice a sharp, cutting command, "report this back to Forgemaster Vulcan. The rest of you... let us follow the light of Order and see why it is emanating on this side of The Veil... and whether it is true Order, or False Order!"

...!

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