Mobs within the realm were beasts born of raw, festering lucidium that had aged out of its inanimate, harvestable phase of life. Military exalts stationed outside of each city ensured that mobs would never live to cross urban borders.
The beasts outside of Libelle, however, were massive monstrosities.
Liam had once read that the wasteland mobs were easily the size of the Chevalier’s Spire. Beasts like that gathered in numbers to whittle away at the Realm’s life-preserving bio perimeter.
Without military exalts protecting Libelle from the wasteland mobs, the beasts could easily decimate the delicate system which preserved the realm’s artificial climate.
Liam could understand why it had been sixty years since Libelle’s last known contact with any other realm in the northern hemisphere. Perhaps it would only be a matter of time before the wasteland mobs took Libelle down, too.
The gates of the crystalline tower before them opened and the color scheme in Liam’s UI shifted from red to green. This shift indicated their entry into a neutral, combat-prohibited area.
A liminal space—a space to stop, recover, and then move on.
“Any traps?” James asked.
“Not picking up anything on the UI,” Liam answered.
“Good. I need a minute,” James exhaled and pulled off his helmet.
Liam did the same. With the ambient temperature within a safe range and no external threats identified, he welcomed the cool air against his skin.
With his helmet off, Liam’s world took on a hazy blur. Halos bloomed around every light source. He was born with poor vision that worsened as he entered adulthood. Twenty years ago, this may have exempted him from Exaltation.
Too bad I wasn’t born a couple decades sooner.
The visor in his helmet sharpened and clarified his view, compensating for the structural deficiencies in his eyes. Without that or his glasses, he could only just make out their surroundings with a tired squint.
A cold and sterile atmosphere dominated the entry foyer of the Chevalier’s Spire. Ivies sprawled and twisted across white walls and floors. Small glimpses of green gave the space an eerie air of forgotten life. Tall marble statues of past Chevaliers welcomed the newcomers with inanimate indifference.
Liam squinted up at them. Despite the fuzziness, he could still identify each effigy of Chevaliers he’d studied in his youth.
Heroes from their history books. Icons of their childhood. As kids in Euclid, they recognized each elite warrior and grew up being told that they must aspire to become them.
Exalts were always meant to be warriors in wait to protect humanity from the potential second coming of the beasts that left their world in its frozen state.
The Evigilari.
They came from the stars and they drained the planet of countless elements and natural resources. The first exalts forced the invaders out and bought humanity enough time to heal from the calamity that was the arrival of the Evigilari.
Liam walked alongside the statues slowly. The statues of Kier Cuevas, Adrian Harlequin and Jonas Blackwell among at least eighteen others all stared down at the two with empty marble eyes.
The visor on his helmet crackled and popped as the repair module reconstructed the cracked polycarbonate.
“Liam.” James leaned against the base of a marble statue.
“Huh?”
“Is there a word for like… those moments when you feel kind of… loopy and out of your own body?”
“Dissociation, maybe. Derealization?”
“I think I feel like that.”
“Probably from stress,” Liam said. “Just keep your head on straight. We’re almost done.”
I feel it, too.
Some kind of out-of-body sensation.
A sudden awareness that there are very few pages left in the book—we are so very close to the end. A feeling that I categorically should not be aware of.
Liam tried to steer his thoughts away from the tension. He was, however, still deeply shaken by nearly losing his brother. They had been born together and in the life path they shared, Liam had always assumed that they would most likely die together. After all—they were exalts.
Most exalts died in Exaltation if they didn’t survive the mandatory three years or reached the minimum Rank 3. Many who made to Rank 3 voluntarily returned to civilian life—that had been their original plan.
At least, until James and Jove decided to double down on their gamble for glory. Liam was merely dragged along for the ride. The rest was history.
The journey had reshaped him—irreparably.
James, on the other hand, seemed to be born for this.
We’re alive, though. For now.
Just let this moment last a little longer.
The statue of Chevalier Serena Lucienne loomed over him.
Like the other statues, Lucienne wore her own unique, Chevalier armor.
Upon finishing her battle with the Chevalier who preceded her, Lucienne’s armor evolved and changed into the immortalized in the statue.
Liam could still recall that decisive match, almost a decade ago.
He had been in awe of the way her sentisuit’s lucidium restructured itself into a white and gold suit, accented by glowing, cyan circuitry patterns.
Like the ever-evolving nature of the lucidium woven through sentisuits, the armor progressed alongside the exalt who wore it. At rank promotions, suits took on greater changes to compensate for intensified lucidium output.
“You remember the Lucienne and Cuevas match?” James spoke.
Liam nodded, “Yeah.”
“What an upset. She was at an elemental disadvantage against Cuevas, too. But still… she came out alive, and he didn’t.”
“Nobody expected her to live.” Liam smiled softly, recalling an amusing memory, “Dad was so pissed. He placed his bets on Cuevas… and at least three other challengers after.”
James snorted and laughed, “…after a couple failed bets, he just got petty. Someone sack this immortal bitch already!”
Liam reflexively winced—sometimes James’s impersonation of their father hit a little too close to home. While James laughed at the memory of their father’s frustration, Liam’s stomach tightened uncomfortably. The way their mother flinched at that shouting still echoed in the tensing of Liam’s arms and shoulders.
I didn’t want to remember that much.
“I miss watching matches as a kid,” James said, staring up at the statues. “All the exalts and Pillars were so cool back then. Now… having fought them… I guess I expected more. Everything really does look
