Deus Necros

The canyon carried them deeper for several hours. Its walls rose so high that the sky had been reduced to a narrow gray wound overhead, allowing little light to reach the bottom. What little survived the descent reflected strangely from the white cubes embedded throughout the passage, casting a pale, colorless glow across the surrounding stone.

The cubes became more numerous the farther they traveled. Some protruded halfway from the canyon walls, their smooth surfaces fused with the natural rock despite showing no cracks or signs of pressure. Others stood alone along the path, forcing the procession to weave around them, while a few had been stacked into crude arches beneath which the unconscious tribesmen passed without hesitation.

No one spoke much as they walked. Tull and Redd remained lost within the effect, their expressions empty and their bodies guided by whatever command had been buried beneath their consciousness. Redd’s sister still drifted beside him as a shapeless mass of spiritual energy, while Thomas remained little more than a dim ember tucked safely within Ludwig’s cloak.

The tribesmen marched ahead without pausing or checking the route. Their bodies knew precisely where to go.

Ludwig watched them closely as the group moved. Every turn was taken without thought, and every obstacle was avoided before it came fully into view. They followed the road as though something beneath the earth were pulling them forward by strings tied directly to their bones.

Kaiser remained fascinated. He occasionally stopped to inspect one of the cubes, scrape its surface, or record the distance between different formations. His notebook filled rapidly with observations no one else could read from where they walked.

Cain kept his attention fixed ahead, while Celine remained close to Tull and Redd, ready to catch either of them should the influence change from harmless unconscious movement into something worse.

Nothing attacked them.

That was perhaps the strangest part.

The Dark Continent had never truly been empty. Even when its creatures hid from Sloth’s black army, Ludwig had always sensed something watching from the trees, beneath stagnant pools, or within distant thickets. Inside the canyon, however, there was nothing.

No insects crawled across the walls. No moss grew between the stones, and no winged creatures circled above the narrow opening. There were no tracks apart from those left by the people who had walked there before them.

The entire canyon had been emptied of life.

Eventually, the passage began to widen. The sheer walls gradually pulled apart, revealing more of the gray sky overhead. A weak breeze touched Ludwig’s face and carried with it the smell of wet soil and distant trees.

The tribesmen increased their pace.

The change was subtle at first, but Ludwig caught it in the quickening rhythm of their steps. Whatever instruction remained inside them had recognized that they were close.

The canyon opened.

Ludwig stepped out behind the unconscious procession and stopped. The landscape beyond was nothing like what he had expected.

The white cubes had not been used to block this end of the canyon.

They paved it.

Thousands of them had been arranged into a perfectly level road stretching away from the mouth of the passage. Their surfaces fitted together without gaps, forming a broad white path across otherwise barren earth. The road continued toward a raised platform constructed near the edge of a tremendous chasm.

That platform had also been built from the cubes, though smaller blocks had been arranged along its edges to form decorative walls and pillars. At its farthest point, a narrow tower rose over the abyss.

Compared to the monumental structure waiting beyond the chasm, the tower appeared almost modest. It was still several stories tall, possessing a narrow body and an open chamber at its peak. No doors or visible stairs marked its exterior, yet the tribesmen walked toward it without hesitation.

Beyond the platform waited the chasm.

It was vast enough that its bottom could not be seen. Gray mist churned far below, shifting slowly between walls of black and pale stone. The gulf stretched for miles in either direction, cutting the land apart as though some colossal blade had split the continent.

On the opposite side stood a long expanse of dreary forest. Its trees were thin, twisted, and nearly colorless, their branches tangled together until they concealed everything deeper within the land.

Everything except one structure.

A tower rose above the forest.

Ludwig had seen castles, ancient temples, imperial palaces, and structures built by species that had vanished before the modern kingdoms ever existed. Yet even he had to pause at the sight of it.

It was enormous.

The entire building had been constructed from the same flawless white cubes. They had been stacked and arranged into sweeping walls, immense pillars, layered terraces, and rising spires. From this distance, the individual blocks almost disappeared into the completed form, leaving behind a pale citadel that towered above the forest.

It looked majestic. Royal, even.

Its central tower rose higher than the surrounding spires and pierced the gray sky like a column of polished bone. Wide wings extended from either side, and enormous balconies overlooked the forest beneath them. Bridges stretched between separate sections of the building, suspended over empty space without any visible support.

There was no damage anywhere upon it. No creeping vines clung to its walls, and no dirt stained the flawless white surface. It stood untouched in the middle of the Dark Continent, perfect in a land where everything else had learned to rot quietly.

A heaven on earth.

At least from a distance.

Ludwig studied the structure for a long moment before looking back at the smaller tower overlooking the chasm.

"This must be the tower they talked about."

The tribesmen reached the platform. The moment the first man stepped onto it, he stopped.

His body jerked, and his shoulders tightened as though he had taken a sudden breath after being submerged underwater. Awareness flooded back into his face, followed almost immediately by horror. His eyes widened as he stared across the chasm.

"No."

The second tribesman awoke, followed by the third. Their unconscious march ended one person at a time. Bodies that had moved with empty obedience suddenly trembled, stumbled, and recoiled from the sight waiting before them.

"No," the first man repeated.

He turned fully toward the white tower across the chasm, and recognition struck him with enough force to twist his face.

"No! No!" His voice rose into a howl. "NOT HERE! WHY ARE WE HERE?!"

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