The sea of white melted away into pitch black darkness. Something solid materialized beneath Noah’s feet. It bobbed like a cork in the water. He blinked, the final strands of Beyond peeling away to reveal the open space stretching out all around him.
He was in the Citadel.
A somewhat familiar pitch black corridor surrounded him. Even though he couldn’t see, his Domain told him everything he needed to know. Noah turned on his heel and started back through the darkness. He walked at a brisk pace, and it didn’t take long before he reached the edge of the corridor, where a path of dimly glowing stones illuminated the way back to the Heart Room.
Noah smiled.
Then he stepped onto it, continuing through the dark void. He passed by the legs of the Devourer, twitching almost as if in anticipation. It didn’t take long before he could see the platform suspended in the center of the great cavern. The Heart was inactive.
That really didn’t come as much of a surprise. Noah hadn’t expected the Devourer to be sitting around as the Heart while it was waiting for his return. It was just fortunate that the pathway back had remained where he had left it.
He stepped onto the main platform of the Heart Room, glancing around. It was completely silent. There was no sign of the Devourer’s head or Prayer. They must have gone somewhere. Standing around waiting for Noah to come back would have been painfully boring.
That or the Devourer had eaten Prayer.
It better not have.
“Hey!” Noah called. “You going to leave me in the dark forever? Wake up!”
There really wasn’t any need for him to shout. The Devourer was aware of everything within the Citadel. It was the Heart, after all. It knew he was here already. But shouting felt considerably better than just standing around and doing nothing.
He crossed his arms in front of his chest and tapped his foot on the ground, glancing around the darkness.
Come on. I’ve got a schedule to—
Something rippled in the darkness.
A great, looming presence lifted out from the depths beneath the floating platform Noah stood on, rising up above him. It was eerily silent for its immense size, only really separated from the rest of the darkness by the twitch of the many legs lining its great body and the molten red gaze of its eyes boring into him.
“There you are,” Noah said. “I hope you didn’t enjoy the silence too long. I’m back.”
“I did not expect you to survive,” the Devourer said, bringing its head in closer to the main platform. The monster’s massive mandibles clicked. “You walked the Beyond.”
“I’d say our relationship has gone a bit past a walk,” Noah muttered. “At this point, I think it’s touched me in ways that no man or woman ever could.”
The two of them were silent for a moment.
“Let’s not bring that up again,” Noah suggested.
The Devourer made a sound that sounded a little too much like an uneasy swallow. “Did… you have intercourse—”
“No,” Noah said. “I did not. That was just very badly worded.”
“Having intercourse with the Beyond is not something that the Lead Researcher ever attempted. It has become clear that I lack the understanding of the manner of entity that you are. But I still cannot suggest such a thing. It will inevitably lead to ruin.”
“Right,” Noah said. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let’s drop the topic.”
“Very well,” the Devourer said. It coiled around the platform, its eyes never once leaving him. “I do not understand how you are here. You should have been destroyed by the Beyond. It consumes all it comes into contact with. Your existence is likely to pose a threat to existence.”
“A bit melodramatic, don’t you think?” Noah asked. “And your understanding of the Beyond is simply flawed. There’s more to it than just mindless destruction.”
“That is similar to what the Lead Researcher stated,” the Devourer said. “Shortly before she requested that I consume all who lived within the Citadel because their research into the Beyond proved to be disasterous.”
Noah cleared his throat. “Right. Yeah.”
“Right,” the Devourer said. It paused for a moment, then tilted its head to the side, sending a ripple down its massive body. “Would you like me to consume you?”
“No,” Noah said. “I would not.”
“I see,” the Devourer said in disappointment.
“You’re welcome to try, though,” Noah said. “If you think it’ll go any better than the last time we fought. But I’ve only gotten stronger since then. I hope, for your sake, that you’ve been training.”
The Devourer pulled back. “I have no desire to fight you a second time. We have a truce.”
“So we do,” Noah said. “And don’t you forget it. I’m about to bring my people here. If you touch so much as a single hair on their head, you can consider every deal we’ve made off.”
The Devourer flinched. “I will not touch them. Your stance is clear.”
“Good,” Noah said. “Then I need your help. In the interests of preventing what happened the last time the Lead Researcher went messing with the Beyond… how am I supposed to bring a bunch of people to the Citadel without corrupting them?”
“Not through the Lead Researcher’s passage,” the Devourer said. “They will be corrupted. I will need to consume them.”
It didn’t sound too torn up about that fate.
“Yes,” Noah said. He swallowed. Maybe it was a good thing that he’d accidentally brought everyone to the Line. At least a few days in the Line didn’t infect anyone with anti-magic. “I gathered as much. So how do I do it safely?”
“The safest way to enter the Citadel is through the Outer Gate,” the Devourer said. “The passage through which you arrived.”
“Can I move the entrance to that?” Noah asked.
“No,” The Devourer replied. Its legs rippled in unison. “It is bound to a specific point in Obsidia.”
Noah shook his head. “That won’t do. We don’t have the time to go hunting it down. Is there a different way I can get them here? One that doesn’t involve the Beyond. I don’t want to risk anything happening.”
“There is no safe or simple way for anyone to enter the Lost Citadel,” the Devourer said. Its eyes narrowed. “That is why it is lost. It was not meant to be easily accessible. The only one who seems to be able to stride in and out of it as they please — inexplicably — is you.”
“Right,” Noah said. He pursed his lips. “Well, that doesn’t help me at all. It’s in a fully separate plane of existence or something like that, right?”
“That is correct,” the Devourer said. “It is only anchored to Obsidia by a few bindings. The Citadel exists within a cradle of the Beyond. Establishing stronger links to Obsidia risk immense damage to everything. It could end up infusing aspects of the Beyond into Obsidia itself. It would be disastrous.”
Something tells me Vivian wouldn’t be all too thrilled with that. I should probably avoid destroying the entirety of Obsidia. I’m already a bit too connected to the fall of one empire already. I don’t need to add a second one to the list.
“Do you have any suggestions, then?” Noah asked. “Did literally every single Researcher come here through the main gates or with Beyond? There aren’t some other forms of passage that I could establish to where I need to go? Ones that are isolated from the Beyond itself?”
The Devourer was silent for several long seconds. Then its mandibles clicked.
“It might not be impossible to modify one of the standard passages to follow the Beyond path that is already established. It would not be entirely stable, and the path would be likely to collapse shortly afterward. If you only plan to use it a single time, it is considerably safer than bringing anyone through the Beyond itself.”
“Would it last long enough for a dozen or so people to pass through it safely?” Noah asked.
The Devourer inclined its head. “Yes. It would last a minute, maybe two. More than enough time so long as nobody hesitated to pass through it. However, the Citadel’s power reserves are low. We would need to re-route energy to allow the passage to function, and it is likely the Citadel would take damage in the process.”
“How much damage?” Noah asked. “This place is already kind of fucked.”
“I do not know,” the Devourer replied. “It would not be insignificant, but I do not believe it would be structurally threatening.”
“Then that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make,” Noah said. “This place is so trashed that I don’t mind doing a bit more damage to it. We can fix it up later. Going to have to do that anyway at this point. How do we get that passage moved?”
The Devourer let out a sound that seemed suspiciously close to a sigh. “Come. I will show you.”
It turned toward the Heart Room’s exit.
“Hold on,” Noah said. “One more thing.”
One of the Devourer’s glowing red eyes flicked back toward Noah. “What?”
“Where’s Prayer?” Noah asked.
“Hiding,” the Devourer replied.
“Did you eat him?”
“No,” the Devourer said. “It would not have been worth my time.”
“Good.” Noah rubbed his hands together. “No further questions. Let’s go blow a bit of the Citadel up, shall we?”
“You don’t need to sound so excited about the prospect,” the Devourer said, reluctantly turning to continue along its path.
Noah just grinned and followed after it.
This was a rare opportunity.
He was no stranger to blowing things up, but it wasn’t often that he got to do it in a constructive manner.
Just hold on for a few more minutes, everyone. One fresh passage to the Citadel is coming right up.