The Broken Halo

Simon remained close to the opening, his raised hand slowly falling.

He looked again, searching for something that would prove he had been mistaken. The image stayed clear, and his mouth could not help but open in disbelief.

”What... the... fuck?”

A man stood beyond the barrier.

He resembled Simon.

The familiar features were there, but older and more sharply defined. His face held a maturity Simon’s present body lacked, although that alone couldn’t explain the difference.

The man was beautiful to an almost unreasonable degree.

A straight nose, a firm mouth, and a jaw that made Simon unconsciously touch his own. Nothing looked out of place. Even calling that face perfect seemed inadequate.

Long white hair was tied behind his head, with a few loose strands resting against his neck. His eyes were black, and they remained fixed on something outside Simon’s view.

He wore black trousers and nothing over his upper body.

Broad shoulders narrowed toward a lean waist. The muscles across his chest and abdomen were clearly defined, and there was an effortless strength in the arm hanging beside him.

Simon remembered statues of Greek gods from Earth. Even those carefully sculpted bodies would have looked ordinary beside this man.

Marks and symbols covered parts of his skin like tattoos.

Simon barely glanced at them before his attention moved to the sword in the man’s hand.

The blade hung at his side, its tip lowered.

There was nothing beneath his feet.

He stood in space.

Simon’s fingers pressed against the edge of the hole.

’Who are you?’

No answer came.

The man didn’t turn. Whether he could hear Simon, or whether this was another memory, remained impossible to tell.

But Simon could feel his aura.

He tried to judge it and found himself staring without a single useful thought. There was strength there, but he couldn’t tell where it ended or even what sort of power he was sensing.

He had felt the God of War’s presence. He had endured The One’s gaze.

Neither experience helped him understand what stood before him now.

Behind the man, stars bled out their light.

Long streams poured from their bright surfaces into the surrounding darkness. Some still blazed, while others had dimmed to dull shapes with light leaking from their edges.

Simon followed one of those streams until it vanished beyond his sight.

How far did this place extend?

The hole before his face was barely larger than his fist, yet looking through it showed him distances he couldn’t begin to measure.

He shifted his attention toward whatever the man was facing.

And then... he forgot to breathe.

An army filled the space ahead.

Simon tried to find its end.

He looked left, then right, and finally beyond the ranks closest to the man. There were more behind them. More above them. Entire formations disappeared into distances where he could no longer distinguish individual bodies.

He couldn’t count them.

Horned beings stood with weapons in their hands, some covered in armour, others with exposed skin that resembled stone or polished metal. Wings spread behind several figures. Simon recognised shapes that reminded him of demons, though he couldn’t name their races.

Enormous beasts occupied the spaces between their formations.

Scaled bodies coiled around one another in the distance. Claws hung beneath creatures whose shadows covered countless smaller figures. Farther back, wings opened slowly, revealing still more of the army beyond them.

Then Simon noticed the humans.

At least, they looked human.

Some wore armour. Others stood in plain robes, carrying swords, spears, staffs, or nothing at all. Their appearances would not have surprised him on Earth, but their auras left him staring with wide eyes.

’Those are humans?’

He had spent most of his first life pursuing strength. Even after everything Lilith had told him, he hadn’t imagined humans could possess power like this.

Radiant figures stood among them, surrounded by floating weapons and crowns of light. Looking at them brought the word gods to mind, but he had no way to know whether that was what they were.

Then he recognised something else.

Heralds.

His gaze stopped upon their immense bodies.

He knew how much power could remain within a Herald’s corpse. Here, there were living ones standing among an army he still couldn’t see the end of.

All of them faced the white-haired man who was all alone.

Simon returned to his face for a moment. The man hadn’t moved. His grip on the sword remained loose, his expression unchanged.

The utter indifference, calmness, and even disdain Simon could see in the dark eyes of the man shook Simon.

It felt oddly... familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time.

Something above the army drew Simon’s attention.

He looked up and his thoughts faltered.

There were other beings there.

He could see them, but trying to understand what he was seeing made the pressure in his head suddenly worsen. His eyes followed a shape, and he struggled to decide where that creature ended or what shape it had.

Simon looked away.

Immediately, he forgot what it had looked like.

He blinked.

’I just saw it.’

He remembered where it was. He remembered the pain.

But its appearance was gone.

He tried again, fixing his attention on another of those distant existences. For a brief moment, he saw enough to wish he hadn’t.

Then he lowered his gaze, and that image disappeared too.

His own mind seemed unwilling to keep it.

Whatever those things were, nightmare was the closest word he could find.

Skreeeee!!!

A sword howled.

The sound tore across the vast expanse, reaching the farthest ranks of the army and echoing among the dying stars. It reached Simon through the opening, making his teeth ache.

His eyes widened as he looked back at the man.

The sword was raised.

Nothing gathered around the blade. There was no visible wave of power, no bright edge extending toward the army.

But Simon’s instincts screamed.

He pushed away from the barrier.

The man swung and said the word...

”Begone.”

Something struck Simon before he could see what the sword had released.

He was hurled backward.

The opening vanished from his sight. Black water rushed past him, followed by a blur of memory fragments.

The distance he had spent so long descending disappeared in an instant.

He burst through the surface.

BOOM!

His body shot across the sea of consciousness and crashed into its outer barrier.

The entire boundary rippled.

Pain tore through his awareness, swallowing any attempt to stop himself. Below him, the water rose in enormous waves that crashed together and spread across the sea.

The demon dog sprang up with a frightened howl.

Gnawers scattered, several tumbling through the water when another wave struck. The abyssal grass cutter crouched low, its forelegs spread as the surface beneath it heaved.

Above them, the seven black stars remained suspended over the turmoil.

Simon could barely see them.

In the room, his physical body jerked.

A mouthful of blood burst from his lips, splashing across his knees and the floor.

[Blackmoon?]

His vision went dark.

He pitched forward off the bed without putting out his hands.

Thud!

His face struck the floor.

Blood ran from his eyes, nose, and ears. One hand lay open beside his head, the black wraps darkened where they touched the spreading blood.

[Blackmoon!]

Lilith received no answer.

[Simon!]

Light escaped from his chest.

A black-haired woman appeared beside him and immediately knelt. Her golden eyes moved over his face before she placed a hand against his back.

”Damn it.”

She turned him carefully onto his side. Blood spilled from his mouth, and his next breath caught in his throat.

Lilith pressed her other hand above his heart.

His demonic energy was circulating unevenly. Some pathways carried too much while others received almost nothing. His heart continued beating, but the rhythm kept changing beneath her palm.

His regeneration was still working, but she could see that his mental state and body was a mess.

It also needed a steadier supply of power.

Lilith used her connection to the Chaos Blade, drawing the scattered demonic energy back into circulation. She slowed the violent surges and guided power toward the injuries she could perceive.

”Come on, Blackmoon.”

His fingers twitched.

Then they went still again.

Lilith’s brows drew together. She adjusted the flow once more, keeping his blood moving while preventing his heart from forcing another uneven surge through his body.

He had been sitting quietly only moments ago.

There was no enemy in the room. No weapon. Nothing to explain why he had suddenly collapsed like this.

Though she had an idea.

”But why are you injured?”

He didn’t answer.

She remained beside him, one hand over his heart, watching each shallow movement of his chest.

Deep beneath the violent waters of his sea of consciousness, the fist-sized hole began closing.

Its edges drew together. The cracks around it shortened and vanished until the surface was smooth again.

Beyond the restored barrier, the ivory-white ring flashed.

An ancient male voice sounded in the darkness, rough with irritation.

”Damn brat. Still as greedy and reckless as ever.”