The fall of the Starborn empires and the Starmarked Dynasties already on the cusp of destruction from internal problems with powerful and corrupt nobles vying for the throne began on the Dawn of the Riftfire conflict and the Eve of the Celestial Schism.
The Starborn and Starmarked exploitation of permanent and temporary rifts in hopes of producing more mystics and channelers than the other in their battle of ideals had weakened the Universal Veils surrounding the Celestial nodes so much to the point that it ignited the dawn of the Riftfire conflict.
Spawned from the weakened universal veil, the world of energy burst out of the hole in the veil, forming devastating Aetherstorms that tore apart once prosperous cities and valiant fortresses turning them into forbidden dead zones rampant with uncontrolled and chaotic Aether.
These Devastating Aetherstorms that ravaged the kingdoms and cities built around them created from pure and raw Aether further weakened the Universal veil, creating spatial and temporal anomalies that gave birth to the second crisis as reality itself warped those living around the celestial nodes now turned into death traps.
Many a citizen and soldier untrained in the mystic arts were transformed by the raging anomalies, flesh itself warping in an attempt to withstand the chaotically changing environments, time accelerating their evolution to a higher state of being.
But just because they were evolved into a higher state of being didn't meant that their psyche lay intact in wake of it, several thousands of years passing by in mere moments as their bodies evolved, irreversibly breaking their minds and making them mere husks of their former selves, only brought to life by the instincts engraved into their bodies.
These former people were the voidspawn, the past inhabitants of the cities built around the celestial nodes who began to wreaked havoc on the rest Starborn Empire and Starmarked Dynasties that were untouched in the initial Aetherstorm crisis, taking revenge on the Empire and Dynasty for sparking the Aetherstorm crisis with what little sanity they had left.
The fall of the Empires and Dynasties was a definitive thing as various Voidzones were spawned within incredibly crucial and important facilities dotted within their territories, cutting off the Starborn and Starmarked from consolidating what little power they had left all the while the voidspawn nibbled away at their foundation.
And this sparked the third crisis as enemies old and new, internal and external who had smelt the blood in the water came like sharks, aiming to tear apart the once prosperous dynasties and empires to further grow their own agendas.
But as the saying goes, a dying tiger was still a tiger and the Empires and Dynasties wouldn't go down without a fight.
This marked the culmination of the third crisis, the beginning of the Riftfire conflict, intergalactic battles fought between various separated planetary states as opportunists aimed to take over what was left behind in the wake of the Aetherstorms and Void zones.
Empires pulled out dusty and ancient devastating planet ending weapons from their vaults while the Dynasties pulled out ancient ancestors aplenty from who knows where to aid them in their battles all the while the third parties pulled out trump cards aplenty.
Mystic deaths was an inevitability in the Riftfire conflict as they served as an important standard of military strength and power between every planetary state and solar nation, especially the truly powerful mystics who could turn the tide of wars by their lonesome like the Ancestor of the Dynasty, the First Emperor.
They were picked off in any way possible as various schemes of assassination, poisonings, bribing, sacrifices, turncoating were used to eradicate the truly powerful mystics.
The most significant turning point of the Riftfire conflict was the Shattering of Luminaris, the brightest moon that could be seen from lightyears away turned into fragments that still wander the universe to this day.
The Riftfire conflict continued over the ages of several hundreds of years, the entirety of the Universe embroiled in an eternal war with themselves as the once prosperous Starborn Empires and Starmarked Dynasties were rendered to nothing more than a series of broken planetary states and weakened solar nations that had lost several hundred centuries of history.
And it was only when the founder of the Solari Technocracy had come up to the forefront and quelled the war with a combination of strength, wits and skill that the centuries long war had come to an end thus marking the end of the Riftfire Conflict, a chatic time in the history of the universe.
"And then came the Lunari cults, Rift Raiders, Mechanist Revolution yada yada yada, tell me something new."
Ester let out a long sigh as he stared at the bustling crowd filled with people mulling about, people of various origins browsing through their items which came in all sorts of shapes and sizes "You wanted a story and you got a story, what else do you want?"
"Something else that I don't know? Even children know the story of how the Solari Theocracy came to be, the Genesis priests aren't exactly shy in bragging that their founder ended the war, never mind how it turned into a technocracy." Eva played with Ester's left mechanical arm showing off its niche functions to the crowd of spectators as others accompanying them described the arms characteristics.
"Well then… What story would you even like me to tell you?"
"I don't know, something about you I guess?"
"Honestly speaking, I think I already told you everything about myself down to what I like and don't like." Taking off his shirt to show off his missing left arm to the crowd of watchers, Ester revealed his muscled body forged with the various odd jobs he was required in around in the tower.
And honestly speaking? The tower had a much higher need for physical labor than one would expect as they dealt with heavy metals a good majority of the time.
So as Ester ignored the admiring eyes from women from abroad while he took off his shirt with his one good arm, exposing both his body and the nebula shaped birthmark on his shoulder, Eva listed the food Ester abhorred.
"I still find it weird that you don't like cheese."
"And you don't like honey you heretic." Pointing that little factoid out, Ester took the arm from Eva's hand and acquired her help to place it onto the X shaped scar on his shoulder.
"And that's because cheese just has a weird texture to it." Adjusting the metals around his arm, Ester pulled the leather belts around his torso and shoulder before locking them together allowing Eva to do her thing as she replied in kind.
"And I find honey a bit to sweet for my tastes, but to each their own."
Feeling a slight pinch of pain around his arm as the Runes written in Aether did their thing, acclimating themselves to his bio aether signature, Ester soon relaxed his face as he was quite familiar with the process now.
The ache in his shoulder from the rather rough acclimation process wouldn't be going away any time soon however until they refined the runes written in it.
It was for that reason specifically that he didn't like taking it off.
That and he felt off without an additional arm.
"So honey heretic… Are you ready for the event today?"
Watching Ester as he rubbed his shoulder, using his left arm in a few tests to showcase its effectiveness to the crowd, sounds of awe and admiration coming from the crowd as Eva whispered into their prototype communication device pinned to her shirt.
"You mean the celebration of the leap year or the other one?"
Picking up a few balls set to the side, he began juggling them with both hands.
"The celebration of the Leap Year, but I also want to hear your thoughts on the Other One, of course it's the Other one! The leap year is nothing more than a governmental tool to synchronize our years to the Astronomical Years!"
"Please calm down my oh so violent conspiracy theorist friend, the leap year is just the planet drifting slightly away from the sun, it's not that serious."
"The number of days in a year is actually 365 and a quarter d-!"
Ester placed his hand onto her mouth as stares were being dragged to his female short haired friend with oh so violent tendencies and the worst sense of personal space one could've seen.
It wouldn't have been a big problem if Eva was just speaking out her rather conspiratorial views through the prototype communications device the two had made, but it was a different story if she spoke them loudly in front of a crowd where people from said government existed on vacation no doubt.
Still juggling the three balls with his left arm, Ester jolted when he felt a tongue lick the palm of his right hand, positively ripping it away.
"Gah! Eva!"
Sticking out her tongue in reply, Ester grumbled as he wiped his palm with the hem of his shirt as he answered Eva's previous question in hopes of turning her away from her conspiracy theorist ways. "Honestly speaking about the other event and the Leap year… I feel my heart pounding."
"Why?" Curiously sending a glance at Ester's way, Eva watched as he put down the balls and began to spin two glowing sticks in front of the now largened crowd cheering loudly.
"If we mess up this job as a zoo animal, I doubt Gramps is going to let us go." Ester nodded to the tower where the four armed grandpa was currently talking with various figures from abroad, now juggling the glow sticks in the air much to the awe of the crowd.
"True, that is certainly problematic since we still have to get through the rest of the day without fucking up."
"On that note we're finished here."
Placing the glow sticks back onto the table in front of them, Ester, Eva and a few of the others accompanying them bowed to the crowd, more than a few distinguished gentlemen and ladies writing things down on a notepad.
These were either reporters looking for a scoop to place on the newspapers or scouts looking for talents that they could take to their respective places.
What those places could've been Ester didn't know, but he knew for a fact that they were at the least better than this place here.
Maybe.
It really depended on how well connected they were.
"Good work you two."
Turning to face a skinny figure in windy overalls, they showed off their shining white teeth which stood polar to their exotic skin reminiscent of someone who originated from the Desert land
It was honestly a mystery how a land could be so hot yet so cold at the same time.
Handing his shirt over, Ester took it from the skinny bald man and thanked him in kind.
"No, thank you actually."
"Hm?"
"You made my arm." Ester showed off his glistening metal arm "Without it I doubt things would've been as easy as they were for me right now."
"Oh that's not something worth praising for." Waving Ester off he gestured at his legs "I really only just adapted my leg modifications to an arm one without any of the usual flesh bits in them."
"Still, thank you for creating this."
"Again, not worth the thanks since I'm not the only one who made it, I'm just the director."
"But-"
"And that's enough out of you two today! Me and Ester have to do our jobs otherwise the old gramps is going to break a hip trying to discipline us, and we don't want him to do that do we."
Interrupting the two's conversation that would no doubt go on for a long time due to their personalities exchanging excuses after excuses, Eva saw brief nods of gratitude from the other workers before she dragged Ester away from the man.
"Bye Jack!"
"Later kid"
Nodding away with a mysterious look on his face, Jack waved at Ester all the while Ester was feeling the grip strength of a woman who worked in the same conditions as him.
"…Can you let go now? I think I'm starting to bruise."
Glaring at Ester for reasons beyond him, he rubbed his arm as the blood flowed back into his poor muscles, taking the time to put on his shirt while following her to the next portion of things that their grandfather had arranged them to do that day.
And while they were at it, they would continue their conversation from where they had last left off while navigating the streets of El Sarath.
"Now where did we leave off of?"
"We were talking about the day of the leap year and the other event I believe."
"Oh yeah!" Snapping his fingers together, Ester and Eva weaved through the crowd, the minimal distance and little ambient Aether allowing them to speak clearly through the prototype. "I think I said we may not survive if we don't do our jobs?"
"You did say that."
"Well, in addition to that I don't think we'll be able to fit in the time in our schedule to attend the viewing event."
"The one where judges from all over look at people's work? Two Frapples please"
"Exactly, and since the day of the Leap year is the only day that all the major universities in our galaxy pay attention to our little dirt ball, if I miss it I'll have to wait 4 years, and by then, unless I produce spectacular results, I don't think I'll be able to join them."
"You're speaking as if you won't even join in the first place." Tilting her head in response, Ester replied with a withdrawn voice before catching the red frapple thrown at his head.
"I mean, why wouldn't I? On that day, every single person with ambition is going to travel to any of the major cities like our El Sarath, and from what I can remember from the Knight stories written by TreeBriarWood, the world is so much wider than one would think, and the talents in it are just as numerous."
Eva tilted her head, took a bite out of the frapple and pointed out.
"By that logic, instead of a talent show where many talents appear to contrast the protagonist, the Leap Year festival is instead going to have cultists taking advantage of the festival time to attack all of the important figures and you know how improbable that is."
"…Well maybe the world isn't a novel like in those Knight stories, but the fact that I'll be competing alongside others who are probably equal to me in skill, whether that be practical experience or by theoretical knowledge is still a true fact."
"That is true but…" Eva gave a reassuring smile "I trust that you'll be able to fly past all of your competition, I'm the one helping you after all."
"I don't know" Ester shook his head before playing with the bitten into frapple. "You really underestimate the number of graduates from the Academy wanting to enroll into prestigious Universities like Starfall College, Nebulu's university, Nova's Academy and the Ivy league, especially the Ivy league since their founded by the Solari Technocracy's pope."
"And you underestimate the power of your practical skill."
"Well… I only started my studies around… ten? I highly doubt that the noble progeny wouldn't have started long before that." Ester scanned the starry night sky that was devoid of any signs of light pollution, absentmindedly squinting his eyes at the numerous streetlights lighting up the streets to the point that it looked as if it were the day.
"And no offence Eva, but I don't think that your grandfather is going to give me his recommendation letter to put me in the eyes of someone who may be interested in our work." He made a throat slitting gesture. "I don't think he likes me very much."
"That's just your imagination Ester." Waving away his doubts to no avail as Ester recalled how Eva's grandpa burnt a piece of toast while giving him a hard stare, Eva continued to navigate the streets, followed closely by Ester.
"I'll convince him somehow, if not through my beauty and skill-."
Ester made a gagging motion before dodging a rather hurried boy covered in cold sweat, noting the unusual color of his reddish skin.
"-Then by through your skills and by virtue of being his only granddaughter, we shall convince the damned old man with this communication device."
"On that note, what should we even call it?"
"That's a good question actually, I don't know."
"Why not our family name?"
"You mean Echo?"
"Yeah."
"I guess that makes sense, but doesn't it seem a bit…"
"Vain?"
"Yeah that."
Ester shrugged his shoulders before flicking her on the head.
"Ow!"
"We created it, don't we have the grounds of calling it after ourselves? The Echo Communicator, just saying it out loud anyone would think that it's just a normal name."
"Well we'll know."
"Well we're not just anyone are we?"
"…" Flushing slightly as Ester neared her, she angrily placed her finger on his chest and pushed causing him to dramatically flail around before being reeled in with a hand taking up the neck space on his shirt.
"…Damnit."
It seemed like she couldn't find a rebuttal, and Ester took all the joy in the world for it. "What happened to you Eva? Cat got your tongu-!?"
The ground shook around them causing the hand surrounding his shirt to instinctively pull himself forwards.
And since the shaking ground was unexpected, Ester barely had the time to regain his footing before falling forwards.
And guess who was in front of him?
It was his violently inclined step sibling from another mother.
And seeing as he was pulled down due to the height difference between the two of them and the fact that Eva currently had her hand on his shirt…
*Smooch
Immediately moving away, Ester and Eva had flushed and confused looks on their faces as they broke eye contact with each other admiring how black the walls and sky were.
Wait black?
Blinking in a separate confusion from the one that had just occurred bodily, Ester stared at his surroundings that seemed to take on a dark purple hue, everything being dyed a specific shade as if they weren't real in the slightest.
"What the…" Sounding out his confusion, Ester's eyes traveled across the entire length of the city around him, eyeing everything as no matter where he looked, purple or black dominated.
Even the initially blue streetlights lighting up the street to the point that It seemed like day were replaced by the purple ominous lighting as they shone on the pedestrians mulling about in confusion
Glancing at each other awkwardly, Eva broke the silence and whispered into the Echo Communicator all the while people began murmuring in confusion to the sudden shift in their vision.
"Let's deal with the situation at hand before dealing with what just happened."
"Yes, lets"
Replying in kind, Eva turned towards the Celestial tower that stood especially stark against the purple backdrop as it stood as the only normal colored stone building for as far as the eyes could see.
Instantly moving towards the celestial tower instead of the destination they were initially at, despite the fact that they said they were going to ignore it didn't mean they would be able to purposefully forget it anytime soon.
They would actually forcefully forget it as the top of the celestial tower suddenly exploded into a ball of flame as a horrid scream filled the air with the feeling of dread.
*Thump
Stones flying in the air, the sky darkened even further as the once visible stars in the sky were erased, the machines responsible for taking away the light pollution breaking apart as a surge of darkness came from the top of the tower
Eyes widening, their gazes met, the initial confusion now gone and only tension was visible within their grey pupils as the two of them instinctively snapped their heads to the many alleyways surrounding the streets
And from within them, purple eyes blinked into existence as screams filled the air.
Demons.
*Thump
There were several names to the things that were coming out of the alleyways, but the most apt amongst them would be that they were the demons of the void incarnate.
Dark black and purple skin writhing unceasingly, the multi eyed insectoid beings screeched loudly before slashing their frontal claws at the crowd in front of them.
*Thump
"Ah!"
"The Void!"
"Mommy!"
"Son!"
Screams filled the air as blood was spilt onto the pavement.
*Thump
Pushing and shoving each other aside, those who were in front were pushed by those trying to escape even just a bit faster while those behind them were killed by the voidlings, the official name for those insectoid monsters and also the most common amongst them all.
And of those who lost balance in the stampede of figures they were trampled by others or killed by the voidlings.
*Thump
"Eva!"
"Ester!"
*Thump
Performing the back hand of a life time, a leaping voidling was sent back to whence it came before being grabbed by Ester and ripped away from the advancing horde of darkness.
Despite how menacing the voidlings looked they were rather light and fragile being no bigger than a head, the problem was how many of them there were.
*Thump
Black shells glinting underneath the streetlamps as their insectoid frames skittered forwards, they chittered ceaselessly as screams continue to sound out from those unlucky enough to be caught up by the horde, Ester and Eva gritting their teeth before dodging into a nearby corner store that didn't seem to house the numerous demons.
Rushing past them, the black tide followed the screams of terror, a scant few splitting off from the main body as they followed others into the other streets of the city.
And watching a few of them run away in bated breath, the two figures stared at each other as they saw themselves reflected in each others grey eyes, a spark of a shared thought bouncing around in their minds.
*Thump
Rushing backwards, Eva began pulling out various tools from her bosom while Ester ran to the entrance.
Forcefully suppressing the bile welling up in his throat as his breaths labored in tune to the screams in the air, smelling the iron in the air.
*THump
Swinging his arms several times, Ester felt an impact travel up his arm as black shells covered his right arm, the voidlings which once wore it now rendered into an unrecognizable black goop.
*THUmp
Widening his eyes as the shells on his arm suddenly melted and began biting into his skin, Ester suppressed a scream before whipping his arm to the side revealing his right arm covered in sore red marks, his left arm being no better as the shell that was once covering it now had corroded in several places.
'Don't get touched by their bodies, noted'
*THUMp
"OUT OF THE WAY!"
Hearing a loud shout from behind him Ester immediately dived to the side as Eva slammed a large makeshift cannon, several glyphs covering what had once been a counter responsible for receiving customers as turned into a machine gun.
Wooden chips enhanced by the stars and fired with the strength of the meteors fired out the machine as Eva began breaking apart chairs and tossing them into the chamber.
*THUMP
A sound suddenly exploded into Ester's mind, the sound of stars connecting to form a grand constellation as images flitted past his mind like one of those film reels.
An explosion of stone soaring through the air, a splotch of red blood on the ground, a black hand with four fingers, malevolent purple eyes, black acid like tar eating the ground.
A premonition sparked through Ester's mind as instinct took over his body, leaping and tackling Eva away just as numerous stones exploded from the wall that was previously behind them.
"Eva!"
"Huh?" A dumb sound left Eva's mouth as Ester tackled her, a black hand whipping past her previous position and now Ester's current one as stones flew through the air.
Tumbling against the ground and planting his back against the wall, Ester heard a resounding crack resound from within his sternum as all the oxygen left his wind pipes.
"Ack!"
Sinking to the ground Eva cursed as she shook him.
"Damnit Ester, you Sloggoth! You should've let me take it! I can't Ward something on the fly!"
"Heh." Ester chuckled as blood bubbled up in his throat, glaring at the source of the damage "I couldn't just let my sister take something like that could I?"
It was big, to say the least.
Vaguely humanoid, it had two arms, two legs, one torso and a head placed onto that torso, but that was where the similarities ended.
Covered in a thick layer of black skin that writhed and coiled, the gigantic being that stood at near three meters seemed to swallow up all of his vision.
A series of thick black spikes protruded from its back as a head filled with rapidly spinning purple eyes locked onto them, a set of serrated knife edge teeth revealed themselves in its dark maw, lit up by the purple glow coming from its chest.
Four claw like fingers flexing and curling, the gigantic beast drooled black tar which ate through the ground with a hissing noise.
"Hey help me up." Gesturing at her, Ester glared at the monster.
"What?! Now that you're useless you should just stay here while I deal with this thing." Grimacing Eva tried pushing him physically down, pulling out her Glyph Scribe.
Slapping her hand trying to push him down away, Ester let out a grunt of pain as he stood up, pain wracking his chest as his every breath seemed to cause pain.
"Don't call me useless Eva, unlike last time on the night of the blood moon, this is nothing."
Rubbing his shoulders, Ester felt the bones in his chest crackle as he willed the various add on's in his left arm to life. "And besides, I don't think I'll rest easy until I punch the fucker in front of me until all of his bones are as messed up as mine."
Crouching downwards, a series of spikes protruded from his nails, where they were once used to clamber up walls, they would now be used to claw at something that was once but now not human.
"You just Ward something else in the meantime."
Ester spat a splotch of red blood onto the ground as his grey eyes glared at the demon, his every breath aching in his chest.
"I've got this."
ROARRRR!
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Tree