In a crystal cave, a solitary red shard rested on a quartz pedestal. The cave walls, adorned with iridescent crystals, reflected mesmerizing hues of blue and green. A gentle sphere of light magic surrounded the shard, guarding it and stopping some kind of black smoke-like energy from leaking out. The air hummed faintly as if the cave itself was alive with ancient energy.
A thin, pale creature scurried through the twists and turns of the cave until it reached a large chamber where crystal teal water surrounded a pedestal. It made a strange clicking sound with its mouth before picking up a nearby stone and throwing it into the water. Suddenly, runes illuminated the crystal walls, and a beam of solar energy erupted from the ground where the stone struck the water.
The creature tilted its head, its elongated neck moving in a serpentine motion as it investigated the pool's water. Stepping into the light, the flowing white hair on its body swayed with the cave breeze. Its mottled gray skin twisting and turning on its body as if every inch of its body had a mind of its own.
The two pitch-black eyes locked onto the water as it approached on its knuckles. Suddenly, a third burning red eye on its forehead opened, radiating warmth and sending ripples through the water. Its sharp, elongated teeth clicked together rhythmically as it picked up a stone and hurled it into the water. This time, nothing happened.
It didn't hesitate before sprinting across the water, climbing on the rock toward the pedestal. It attempted to reach into the sphere, but its fingers were burnt upon interaction, causing it to yelp and jolt back a bit. It stretched its hand out once more, and as its skin twisted,d it ripped open, revealing a larger and longer white hand, the hand of something familiar...Lucium. The pale hand thrust forth into the sphere, ripping out the small red shard; the black smoke that once sat outside of it absorbed itself into the shard.
????: "At last." It spoke, its voice scratchy and gurgly, "I finally found the shard, Master will be quite pleased once I return this to him, soon, he will be full once more." It wrapped its long fingers around the shard, but then suddenly, the cave began to shake as the pedestal shook. "What is this?!" It wasted no time, jumping across the water right before a huge wave of beams burst upward. The light absorbed itself into the pedestal, slowly creating a figure of light and white stone.
Arch-B: Its wings stretched out, feathers of solar energy burned bright as its blue eyes opened slowly. A large hammer formed between its hands, "Creature of darkness, return the shard and leave peacefully, or you will be eradicated." Its holy voice brought both peacefulness and authority to the pale creature.
????The creature snarled, roaring towards the large archangel of light, "YOU ARE FOOLISH TO THINK I WOULD DO SUCH A THING! Even if I wanted to comply with you, my master would kill me before I could even think of my next move!"
Arch-B: "Very well,l creature." It held its hand out, and a wave of light burst from within the creature, burning it from the inside out. Its howls of pain and agony could be heard throughout the cave until, suddenly, it was silent. It walked through the pool of water to the edge, leaning down to grab the red shard from the pile of dust. "I wish it did not have to end in such violence."
Arch-A: "Your weak mindset disgusts me...Brother." Its voice echoed through the cave as it crashed through the roof into the pool of water, the sun radiating through the hole. Its chest had a glowing red rune upon it, vanishing upon inspection.
Arch-B: "Protector Kwualvka, stand down immediately, or I will be forced to eradicate you. Do not make me do something so violent, brother." It slammed the staff end of its battle hammer crafted of light on the ground, sending out a shockwave of energy.
Kwualvka: He pointed toward its brother of light, staring him down with hateful eyes. "You are not worthy to speak my name, Ambriel."
Ambriel: He closed his eyes and sat still for a moment, appearing to be sad. "In the name of Xerion and my brothers Cahethal and Erathaol, I shall strike you down!" He raised his hammer high, and the energy of light burned brightly around its body, creating what looked like a force field of light. "Judgement shall fall upon you this day!" He flapped its wings, blitzing toward Kwualvka before grabbing them by the neck and flying the two of them out of the cave.
Kwualvka: His fist glowed a bright red, it raised its hand highly before sending it down upon Ambriel. "You wish to be some kind of hero in the eyes of Xerion?! He never acknowledged our existence once! He made us tools to hold pieces of Lucium and never looked back!" His fist clashed with the shoulder of Ambriel, sending them back down into the ground. He landed nearby him, grabbing hold of Ambriel's arm and raising them off the ground.
Ambriel: "What is this power you possess... No Corvex Protector should have the strength you do. We were supposed to protect the realms, not have the power to destroy them!" Its body began to glow a bright white, but something overwhelmed its courage before it could strike Kwualvka. "No..."
Lucium: "His power would be my doing, Ambriel~." He crawled out from a shadow, standing upright before the Corvex Protector of Light. "Release him Kwaulvka."
Kwualvka: "Yes sire." He dropped Ambriel to the ground, taking a step back.
Ambriel: He attempted to erupt his form with light, but a strange glowing red run appeared over his chest that disabled his ability to conjure the light. "What is this, What have you done to me!"
Lucium: He laughed maniacally, thrusting his claw into the chest of Ambriel before lifting him off the ground. "You protectors are so incredibly unique and yet so fragile, you are designed to stop me from using the powers of the shard you guard, not the powers I already have. That is why you were able to easily defeat my counterpart, but it is hopeless to try and fight me. I have dominion over you~."
Ambriel: "No corrupted beast will ever have dominion over me! Xerion, give me strength!" His hand began to glow a bright white as he clashed his fist into Lucium's face, "Feel the power of XERION'S LIGHT!" A powerful, blinding golden light burst from his hand, covering all that there was around them. "This light shall destroy all negativity within the Timeline Strand I stand within, which is the one you are in as well! Feel the power of positivity overwhelm you!" The golden glowing light shattered, turning into a blinding white light.
Lucium: He roared out in agony as the light engulfed his form, "You...you arrogant pile of rock! You can't do this! You..." His screams turned into laughter, Ambriel's eyes widened in shock as he felt Lucium's claw wrap around his arm, pulling his fist away from Luciums face. "You can't be this stupid to actually believe that would work on me~." The light energy was slammed downward by a burst of red smoke from Lucium, eradicating the light and replacing it with blood-colored smoke.
Ambriel: He felt fear as the fear like gas spiraled around them like a whirlwind, all of the light in his body began to turn red as the stone on his form cracked. "That is impossible...Xerion said-"
Lucium: "Xerion...was wrong~." He overloaded Ambriels form until he exploded, the rocks crumbled to the floor and from the rubble, the Shard of Shadows sat. He bent down, picking it up and absorbing it into his form. "Yes...I can sense everything, I can feel the darkness in every world again. Kwualvka, find the other two shards and bring them to me. My grand plan to clean the world of Free Will shall be glorious."
Kwualvka: "Yes sire, I will not disappoint you like I have before." He bowed down quickly, feeling ashamed for his failure to eradicate Star and the others.
Lucium: His neck snapped toward him, "You are right, you will not disappoint me for if you do...I will grant you mortality and torment you for all of eternity."
Kwualvka: "Of course sire, that is what I deserve if I am to fail." He flapped his wings, vanishing from before Lucium.
Lucium: "Soon, my creations will rise~"