THE DIVINE CORE: civil war in the dark

Trial by Lightning

The jagged ruins of the Lost City swallowed Japh whole as he sprinted headlong through the dense, unnatural fog. Behind him, the deafening roar of warship thrusters and the heavy, earth-shaking thud of Iron Syndicate ground scouts rattled the crumbling stone structures.

He was entirely unarmed, running on empty, and trapped deep within hostile territory.

A sharp screech tore through the fog. Two surviving Null-Beasts, their dark iron armor scraping aggressively against ancient marble, sprang suddenly from a collapsed archway. With blood dripping freely from his scratched arms, Japh didn't charge. He knew he couldn't afford another drawn-out, brute-force clash against their magic-dampening plates.

Instead, he dove hard behind a moss-covered pillar, his sharp eyes scanning the decaying ancient architecture for an environmental advantage. High above the lunging beasts hung a massive, cracked stone gargoyle held aloft by a rusted iron winch.

Japh pinpointed the winch, channeled the last dregs of his remaining divine energy into a razor-thin needle of voltage, and fired.

Crack!

The lightning struck the rusted gear with pinpoint precision, instantly snapping the tension cable. The multi-ton stone block collapsed straight down onto the beasts, crushing one instantly and pinning the second beneath thousands of pounds of heavy rubble.

Before Japh could even draw a full breath, a heavy iron spear whistled through the air, embedding itself violently just inches from his boots.

A squad of eight Syndicate vanguard soldiers emerged from the mist, their black-alloy swords drawn and magic-suppression nets raised high. "Target located! Restrain the anomaly!"

Japh backed away quickly, but his heel struck something hard and metallic hidden beneath the overgrown vines—a heavy, ancient vault seal embedded in the stone floor of a sunken amphitheater. The divine core glowing in his chest violently pulsed in response to the metal.

Suddenly, the ground beneath him gave way.

Japh tumbled down a steep, slick stone chute, crashing hard onto a cold, polished floor deep beneath the earth. The angry shouts of the Syndicate soldiers faded above as the heavy stone doors slammed shut overhead, sealing the subterranean vault tight.

He scrambled back up to his feet, his glowing forearms illuminating the vast, cavernous chamber.

All around him lay a legendary hall of ancient relics—the long-lost armory of the First Founders. In the center of the hall stood a lone stone pedestal holding a weapon forged entirely from white-gold celestial steel: a double-headed spear etched with intricate lightning runes that hummed in deep resonance with the pulse near his heart.

You stand in the Vault of the Aegis, boy, Zeus’s voice thundered, vibrating directly through the cold stone floor. The Syndicate's hounds break through the outer seals as we speak.

"I need to fight them!" Japh gasped, striding purposefully toward the pedestal and the waiting spear.

You are still weak, Zeus growled, cold and unyielding. Your mind is cluttered. If you grab that weapon with an unrefined spirit, the divine current will vaporize your soul before the Syndicate even touches you.

"Then teach me!" Japh challenged.

Cross the threshold, then. Prove your willpower.

Without hesitation, Japh placed his bare hand firmly upon the spear's grip.

The real world instantly dissolved into white noise.

Japh found himself standing on a narrow, precarious pillar of rock suspended in the dead center of a swirling cosmic tempest. High above, Zeus loomed as a colossal titan of pure golden thunder, his eyes burning like twin suns.

"In this realm, one second is an eternity," Zeus roared, raising a massive hand that spanned the entire horizon. "Survive the trial, or be consumed!"

A catastrophic tidal wave of divine lightning crashed down directly upon Japh. Pain beyond mortal comprehension ripped through his consciousness, threatening to shatter his mind into a thousand irreparable pieces.

Outside, in the physical world, the heavy stone vault doors blasted inward with a deafening crash.

Syndicate soldiers flooded the chamber, their weapons bared for the kill. Beside Japh's motionless, meditating body, the celestial spear began to hum with wild, uncontrolled electricity, its violent aura cracking the surrounding stone floor.

"He's vulnerable!" the Syndicate commander barked over the electrical static, raising his blade. "Kill him where he kneels!"