The air in the temple was heavy, heavy with a weight of oppression. Its shadows seemed cold hands pressing down on Rufus and Lyra, suffocating in that place's stillness, veiled by the battle that would soon engulf it all. There stood before them the dark mage-the body in snake-like elements of the shadows, shot with an evil design, with gleaming eyes in that thing. And behind him, the Void Gate swept upwards in a monstrous semblance of life, cut from black stone that shimmered with dark power, pulsing to the rhythm of the mage's own heartbeat".
"You've come a very, very long way, Rufus," sneered the dark mage, his voice low, soft whispering on the wind. "Here is where your journey ends. Elysara falls, and all that will be consumed by the Void."
Then stepped forward Rufus, his eyes fixed on the mage. Across veins flowed power, the strength of the 10th Circle rushing like a river through him. In his head, the Celestial Convergence system whispered back, telling him to let go of all fury. Yet there was a note attached to it, a note that bristled with danger: pure power alone would not be enough to win this battle.
Lyra's fingers gripped her staff beside him.
Her emerald eyes flickered with determination, but beneath that, Rufus sensed her fear. She was powerful in her own right, a mage of considerable skill, but the dark mage before them was unlike any foe they had faced before. He was no ordinary sorcerer; his power was steeped in the Void itself.
"You are wrong," said Rufus, his voice steady as a tornado raged inside of him. "Elysara will not fall. Not while I live."
The dark mage laughed, a low, empty sound, and it seemed to echo off the temple stones. "Well, let's have at it then, boy. Let's show you the foolishness of your stupid-minded resistance."
The dark mage flicked his wrist out, and a wave of shadowy energy surged out into the world. It went forward like a wave, stamping upon the earth with all its weight, which it sought to crush Rufus and Lyra beneath.
Rufus acted on instinct. His arm stretched out, and the system for Celestial Convergence sprang to answer his call. Glyphs throughout his area of influence took on gentle, ethereal luminescence as he called upon Voidwalker, one of his strongest skills. In a flash of movement, he vanished from view, phasing through shadows that seemed more like mist than concrete obstacles.
Not to be outdone, Lyra raised her staff and flung a shimmering barrier of light before her. The shadows howled and crashed against it, but the barrier held, cracks creeping like spiders across its surface. She gritted her teeth, her magic straining under the force of the attack.
Rufus reappeared behind the dark mage, his hands crackling with raw power. "Now!"
He let a bolt of energy go, a blinding arc of blue lightning that tore through the air toward the mage. But the dark mage was much quicker than he had expected. Turning and around, with a flick of his hand, the lightning dissipated to nothingness.
"You're going to do better than that," the dark mage spat in disdain, his voice growing with the words. His shadowy form seemed to swell, as if the darkness around him coiled and thickened into a palpable living thing.
Before he could even react to that, though, the dark mage came back. A spear of shadow shot from under his feet, aimed at his chest. On instinct, Rufus flipped on Temporal Shift; time slowed to near crawl. He dodged to the side; that spear skewered the ground where he had been a moment before, inches from his back.
Seizing the moment, Lyra poured all her magic into a powerful incantation. Her staff now emitting light, she thrust it forward and released a beam of blazing energy toward the dark mage. This time the attack went through, slamming into his chest, sending him backward.
The dark mage laughed, his body reforming from the shadows, "You cannot defeat me. I am one with the Void."
He couldn't put his finger on the difference, but he sensed that there must be more to this dark mage than a mere lust for ambition; he was siphoning off the very life force of the Void, which was going to disrupt the delicate balance of the natural cycle in Elysara. Pure attack was not going to contain his advance.
"Lyra! We have to seal the Void Gate!" Rufus bellowed as he retreated backward again from another round of shadowy filaments, his voice strained to the point of breaking.
"How?" she asked, her eyes flashing back and forth for a glimpse of the monolith looming in behind him. "Too strong—if we close it wrong, it'll rip reality open,"
Rufus gritted his teeth. The Celestial Convergence system had given him monstrous might, but even at the peak of his powers he knew it wouldn't be an easy thing to shut the Void Gate. They had no other choice, though. Should they fail to stop the dark mage, the Void would swallow everything whole.
"I can do it," he insisted, his voice hardening with determination. "You handle the Gate."
He met her eyes one brief second longer before nodding in affirmation. "Be careful, Rufus."
She ran toward the Void Gate; now already warm with beginnings of the complex ritual to break their connection with the Void. She caught the dark mage's attention, forcing him to snap his head up; he growled and darkness rippled across his body as he stirs to try to catch her.
"Not so fast," Rufus muttered to himself. This time, his contact reached out and touched the Celestial Convergence system once more. The symbols on all sides of him now responded to his will. He activated Starfall, one of the most powerful of the spells, drawing forces from the universe. Above them, the air began to ripple and then in the very next instant, a storm of bright meteors descended on the black mage.
He opened his eyes wide as the first meteor came for him, blasting him out of his shadowy form with deafening clang. More followed in quick succession, with each impact sending shock waves ripping through the temple, cracking the stone floor, and sending debris scattering in all directions.
For a moment, he appeared stunned by sheer force of assault. And then he emerged from the smoke and wreckage, his countenance set hard and grim, his eyes aflame with fury. "You try to balk me with such tricks?" he snarled in distortion, his voice full of malice.
He could feel the strain working its way through his body. The 10th Circle power was certainly huge but not unlimited. He had to stop this before the dark mage finished recovering.
He leaped forward with a speed that took Rufus' breath. Dark claws erupted from his hands as if he planned to cut the spaces between them. Rufus rose reflexively, carving a ball of light into an imaginary barrier between himself and the mage. The claws tore through it as if they cut paper; they lashed up, caught Rufus's arm, and jolted like a live wire against his body.
"You can't win," the mage breathed close to Rufus' ear. "The Void will consume you."
But Rufus was far from leaving his game just yet. He took a step back, hand clasped over his side where the blade had nipped, drawing the final spark of energy out of his reserves, then hurled a disheveled thrust of pure force at the mage, throwing the latter back.
Meanwhile, Lyra focused on her spell. The void gate thrashed with convulsive spasms, churning darker and darker with each incantation, as she poured magic into the ancient structure. Beads of sweat stood on her forehead while she battled for control.
"Almost there," she muttered to herself, fighting to steady her shaking hands.
Yet the dark mage still hadn't finished. With a deafening roar, his body crackled and lurched with unstable shadows as he prepared himself for one final, desperate charge. "You're coming down with me, Rufus!" he screamed, his form expanding into its fullest potential on the Void.
He could feel a tension in the air build, the sheer force of the power the dark mage wielded threatening to rip them asunder. He had no choice-had to end this now.
He closed his eyes, dropped deep within himself, feeling the Celestial Convergence system into its utmost state. The glyphs around him lit up at a light that had never before been reached; it blotted out what little darkness was left to harbor. Time wound down as he channeled all energy into the final spell.
"Celestial Collapse," he breathed.
The temple illuminated from the spell of Rufus. A flow of energy spilled out of him to cover the dark mage in a blinding explosion. The mage shrieked as his form dissolved into nothingness due to the severance of the link to the Void.
Lyra finished her own rite at the same instant. The dark energy swirling within the Void Gate slowed to dissipate completely. The ancient structure crumbled-it was powerless.
The temple fell silent.
Rufus collapsed forward onto his knees, panting to every beat of his chest. Lyra ran toward him, pale but otherwise relieved.
"It's over," she whispered.
Rufus nodded, but he couldn't feel that this was only just the beginning. The dark mage had pawned-they had bigger forces at play that could threaten Elysara and even further on.
And now, Rufus knew his journey was far from over.