The Edge of Worlds: Solid Ash

David struck the mighty trunk of Silvarion — again and again, feeling no pain. His fists were burning, skin splitting, but he didn’t stop. He screamed, tearing his voice, hurling ultimatums and threats at the Tree, demanding it return Anabet immediately. And when his strength ran out, he stepped back and collapsed to his knees. The fury crumbled, leaving only desperate pleading. He begged the Tree for compassion, then offered his own life in exchange for his beloved’s — but the answer was the same merciless silence. And on the pearlescent bark of Silvarion, ugly blotches of crimson remained — the marks of his hands, which he had shattered to the bone in a fit of madness.

At some point, when nothing remained inside but emptiness, David cried out for Silvarion to take him too, not to leave him here alone, to swallow him just as it had swallowed Bet.

He had tried everything: rage, tears, surrender… But the Great Tree remained deaf.

A strange silence hung over Aurelia. Silvarion, which had suddenly severed its connection with its people, now inspired not reverence but wild terror.

The crowd on the square whispered, glanced around, retreated — people didn’t understand what had happened and what secret this fragile Earthwoman hid within her, if their deity had taken her without explanation. Gradually the square emptied. Frightened and bewildered, the Aurelians went home. Only two remained at the foot of the silent Tree — the prince and his mother. They sat with their backs pressed against the cold bark, which now felt alien and hostile to David. Queen Arisan clasped his hand tightly, trying to convey at least a drop of warmth, to somehow keep him in this world. But David’s gaze was glassy: he saw neither her, nor words, nor touch.

After several hours, when even the shadow of hope had vanished, Arisan was forced to return to the palace. David remained sitting until midnight, and then, without even entering the palace, simply dissolved into space. He returned to Earth, to Bet’s house. A furious resolve grew in his chest: he had to hunt down Adam. Bet would have wanted that. And he would stop him at any cost — even if he never managed to find that cursed Keeper of Worlds.

When he materialized right in the middle of the living room, he was met by a worried Kevin. Seeing David, he rushed toward him:

— David, where have you disappeared to?! We’ve been looking for you since yesterday! Where’s Bet?!

But a second later he already understood everything. One only had to look at his friend’s face — pale, gaunt, as if all the strength and soul had been pulled out of him. Something irreparable had happened… Realizing this, Kevin could only whisper:

— David… no…

They silently sank onto the couch. David couldn’t find the strength to speak, and Kevin, seeing this, didn’t dare to dig into the fresh wound with questions. Minutes dragged on, heavy and empty.

About half an hour later, the prince finally spoke — in a lifeless voice, tearing each word out of himself: he briefly told what had happened at the foot of Silvarion. Kevin listened, and his mind refused to accept what he heard. He didn’t understand why the Tree had acted so monstrously.

Then Kevin quietly asked:

— What are you going to do now?

David tiredly ran his palms over his face, trying to erase that night. And in his gaze, where only emptiness had been a second ago, fury flared again — harsh, cold, focused.

— I will find Adam, — he said calmly. — I will search until I find him. And I will destroy him.

At the same time, in the underground IBAR bunker, Vael finally regained consciousness. Ionix’s antidote had worked and restored clarity of thought to the wounded man.

Then Ionix and Joseph, using all available agency technology, began the most complex operation to remove the metal collar. It had to be cut with a high-tech laser cutter right on a living body. The laser cutter whined laboriously, biting into the dull alloy, and the air in the ward was instantly saturated with the acrid smell of burnt skin.

The tool kept slipping from Joseph’s hands, slicing Vael’s neck. Red-hot metal shavings embedded themselves into his flesh, inflicting excruciating burns, but regeneration worked at its limit: the crimson cuts closed and sealed faster than blood could gush outward, turning the operation into an endless cycle of pain.

With enormous effort, overcoming the resistance of the reinforced alloy, they managed to deactivate the power chains and finally cut through the thick metal. As soon as the shackles fell, Vael breathed heavily — for the first time in many years, regaining freedom over his own mind.

Several hours later, Arisan and David entered his ward — they wanted to speak with Bet’s father. The Queen stopped at the bedside and said quietly:

— Hello, Vael. I’m glad to see you conscious.

Vael slowly raised his head. An age-old sorrow was frozen in his exhausted gaze. He could only nod in response.

Arisan stepped closer. She looked at him intently, and her eyes held hundreds of questions she so desperately wanted answered:

— Vael, I didn’t come to judge you. I simply want to know the truth. What happened back then? Why did Endin die?

— I never betrayed my friend, Arisan. And I didn’t kill Endin, — Vael began in a trembling voice.

It was clear that the old friend found it hard to speak, but he continued his story, and the Queen listened attentively, catching every word.

— Many years ago, in one of the distant worlds, I came across a captured Adam. He looked helpless and emaciated. He tricked me into freeing him. Out of pity, I transported him to Aurelia to help him recover… But as soon as he regained his strength, he tried to enslave me, and at that very moment Endin appeared. My friend came to my aid, tried to protect me. But Adam was cleverer. He struck Endin a mortal blow — straight through the heart — with his terrible blade.

Arisan could barely hold back her tears, and fury burned ever stronger in David. And Vael continued:

— My close friend died in my arms. And immediately after that, Adam shackled me. But to gain full control over my will, he needed leverage. My little daughter. Adam forced me to transport him to Earth, to Olivia’s house. There, right on the doorstep, a terrible scuffle broke out. Olivia tried to protect the baby and was killed. In a single day, I lost two people dear to me. I was broken. And then I submitted to Adam — I agreed to help him on one condition: he would never touch my Anabet.

Vael fell silent, briefly transported in thought to the distant past.

— Adam allowed me to say goodbye to the woman I loved and lay her to rest. I buried Olivia in Hallerbos — in that very beech forest in Belgium, where she so loved to walk in the spring…

Then he rubbed his forehead and continued, but now his voice carried fury:

— All these years I tried to free myself, but nothing worked. I could only secretly save the inhabitants of worlds destroyed by Adam — at least a small fraction, those I managed to reach. I transported them to Earth. And when this mad destroyer married Anabet, when he began living with her under one roof, I was going out of my mind, but couldn’t do anything lest I harm her. And only when you appeared in her life, David…

Vael shifted his gaze to the prince:

— I calmed down a little. I believed that now my daughter would finally be safe.

At some point, his gaze filled with warmth, and his voice grew softer:

— I can’t wait to meet her. I desperately want to talk, to somehow explain myself… To embrace her, after all this time.

Covering his face with his palms, he looked guiltily at Arisan and David:

— Forgive me… Because of my foolish gullibility, so much misfortune has occurred. So many deaths…

David stepped closer to the bed. He dreaded telling Vael the truth about Bet, but listening to him make plans for a reunion was unbearable.

— Vael, your foolishness unleashed a monster. Because of it, many people died — and not only people. But I’m no better than you. Because of my foolishness, Bet is gone now. Silvarion took her because I wanted its blessing…

For Vael, this news was a blow. Having endured years of captivity, he instantly changed in the face. A hoarse sound escaped his chest:

— No… not this…

He sat paler than death, trying to comprehend that he had lost the one for whom he had endured years of imprisonment. Vael couldn’t utter another word — the prince’s words had literally paralyzed him.

David and Arisan stood silently beside him. Vael’s grief was so tangible and terrible that it made the Queen forget her former grudge. She embraced her old friend, sharing his tragedy.

The sea of sorrow that had flooded the bunker gradually grew into an ocean of hatred for Adam. Barely recovered, Vael decided to join David, to fight together against their common enemy. He also wanted to help search for the Keeper of Worlds — the one who could deactivate the cursed device that held the universe in terror.

After Vael’s discharge, they spent several months searching like men possessed. Practically without sleep, eating on the go, they raced through inhabited and uninhabited worlds, checking every lead and chasing every rumor. But there were no traces of Adam, his mysterious companion, or the mystical Keeper anywhere. This trio seemed to have vanished into thin air — no trace, no whisper, no hint that they even existed.

In this frenzied regime, the first six months since Anabet’s disappearance flew by. On Earth, a fragile peace reigned all that time, which abruptly shattered when a true interuniversal war erupted.

On the distant Putorana Plateau, a giant rift suddenly opened, larger than anything before it. Through this torn wound in space, Adam burst into our world. He was not alone: beside him stood that same mysterious woman, and behind them marched an army of hundreds of deadly creatures.

At the vanguard of this army raced savage leoraxes — monsters from the same world as Balamut, incredibly dangerous and merciless. Behind them came the revei from the Desert Pass, whose mere appearance made blood freeze in the veins. These creatures seemed spawned from someone’s sick imagination: completely skinless, they were a continuous pulsating tangle of exposed muscles and tendons. Their eyes burned bright red, and their sharp teeth could easily bite through human bones.

Battle erupted. The human and Aurelian posts that had been guarding the device all this time instantly charged into combat. The air trembled with explosions and gunfire, terrible screams echoing everywhere. Casualties on both sides numbered in the hundreds, but still the fighters held the perimeter, protecting the deadly Weave.

To everyone’s horror, Adam had found another way to activate the device — and now threw all his forces into breaking through the cordon. His companion actively helped him: possessing colossal power, she effortlessly sliced through space, opening rift after rift. Through them, increasingly horrifying and dangerous creatures poured into our world. The Aurelian troops couldn’t seal one breach before the woman already tore open a new one.

When the situation on the front became completely critical and began rapidly spiraling out of control, David appealed to the Council of Worlds to send reinforcements to Earth. The Head of the Council agreed that the Weave had to be defended by all means, for at stake was the fate not only of the Earth but of the entire known universe.

But the Council chamber, usually drowning in dignified arrogance, this time met the Prince of Aurelia with indifference and sullen murmuring. As soon as David finished his report, one of the key delegates rose — a massive humanoid with stone skin and an oppressive gaze. Thrusting his four-fingered hand forward, he boomed:

— We will not shed the blood of our warriors on the Putorana Plateau, Prince. Why should the entire universe pay with lives to protect someone else’s home? We will block the passages to our territories and wait out this storm behind our shields.

David, whose clothes were covered in soot and blood after weeks of continuous fighting, stepped to the center of the tribune:

— Wait it out behind shields? What shields? The Weave won’t just tear apart Earth… It will destroy everything! How do you not understand?

Then the representative of Zhiveia proposed simply destroying Earth to finally solve the problem:

— For the salvation of the universe, the price is small. Just one world.

A wave of whispers swept through the hall. Delegates exchanged glances, but cowardice and egoism proved stronger than logic.

A representative of another, technologically advanced race, cynically adjusted his glasses and coldly concluded:

— Our world votes against destroying Earth, but we will not send troops either.

The Head of the Council sternly struck the marble table with his palm, calling the assembly to order. Surveying the subdued delegates with a heavy gaze, he said firmly:

— The behavior of many of you is cowardice bordering on betrayal. The Aurelian is absolutely right. The survival of all living things is at stake. The Council officially approves the dispatch of reinforcements, but I cannot force anyone to fight. Let each decide for themselves.

Far from all representatives of other worlds agreed to join the battle. Many answered with a categorical refusal, deciding to simply block the passages to their territories in a pitiful hope of avoiding a terrible fate.

In addition to the interuniversal war tearing Earth apart, dangerous creatures like skrei were spreading across it, driving people to madness. IBAR agents couldn’t keep up with the threat. Even Joseph and Kevin had long ceased to be “backup” operatives: now they actively hunted alien creatures, saving the lives of civilians.

And David, spending weeks without leaving the battlefield, increasingly resembled a vagrant rather than a prince. David charged into battle with complete recklessness: having lost Bet, he no longer valued his own life. Several times he even managed to reach Adam, and once in a fit of rage he nearly killed the enemy, but his silent assistant managed to snatch her master away at the last moment. Around her neck was the same kind of collar Vael had once worn — apparently, with it the mad puppeteer controlled her, having completely subjugated her will.

On another day of battle, the intensity of passions grew so great that it seemed the planet was about to split into pieces, its shards scattering to different corners of space. The air trembled with energy, every blow, every surge of power echoed through the earth as a painful groan. The planet itself begged for respite, unable to withstand the unleashed fury.

David, now almost indistinguishable from a shadow amidst the chaos, moved through a maelstrom of fire and darkness — fast, sharp, surgically precise. But even in those movements, exhaustion now showed. Only the wild fury, worn into his bones, still kept him on his feet. Silhouettes of allies flashed nearby: Aurelian warriors, whose bodies glowed with blue neon lines rippling across their skin; IBAR agents in battered bulletproof vests; Earth military and fighters from other worlds, whose names no one had time to remember. They still held, but with every hour their numbers dwindled.

Another wave of creatures from the rifts crashed against the perimeter. Leoraxes tore through the ranks of defenders, revei broke through where the defense seemed impenetrable. Every new rift opened by Adam’s companion drained the defenders’ strength.

Vael stayed close to David, fending off blow after blow, but even his endurance was failing.

— We can’t seal everything. There are too many, — he shouted.

David didn’t answer. He knew it perfectly well himself. He saw the ranks thinning, fighters falling without even managing to cry out, those who had held the line confidently just a minute ago now retreating, covering each other.

Spotting Adam once again, David closed the distance, and they clashed in hand-to-hand combat. The world crumbled around them, but for the two men, space had shrunk to the size of this blood-soaked arena. They fought like men possessed, mercilessly, landing devastating blows on each other. Every strike echoed with a crack, David’s fists had long become a continuous crimson mess, and the azure lines beneath his skin pulsed in a frantic rhythm, desperately trying to heal fresh wounds. Both could barely stand, wheezing with exhaustion, but neither stopped the fight, driven by blind hatred.

Somehow, twisting in his fall, Adam managed to get behind David and wrap his arms around his neck. Squeezing tighter and tighter, he screamed madly right into the prince’s ear, and in that cry burst forth all his centuries-old agony:

— Where is she?! Tell me, where is Bet now?!

David, choking, feeling darkness boil before his eyes, only bared his teeth in a mad grin. Gathering his last strength, he snarled back, spitting blood:

— She’s… gone!

From that short phrase, Adam was pierced as if by an invisible blade. All his arrogant confidence evaporated in a fraction of a second. The grip on David’s neck instantly loosened, Adam’s arms dropped, as if his entire spine had been yanked out at once.

David immediately broke free, gulping cold air, and on autopilot lunged at the enemy again. Blinded by grief, he struck mercilessly, nearly unconscious as he pounded his fists into his opponent’s face. But Adam didn’t even try to defend himself. He accepted every blow obediently, falling back limply, and such emptiness froze in his hollow eyes that David felt a chill. It seemed this mad puppeteer was desperately seeking death himself — as if, learning of Bet’s death, he had lost the last reason to breathe and stay alive.

But once again, Adam was saved by the stranger. She threw herself at David and with a blow of her staff sent him flying several meters, then scooped up her master and disappeared with him in an unknown direction. David was left lying on the ground, then sprang up, deafened by rage. He screamed like a madman, ready to destroy everything around him, because he had lost the enemy once more.

While the troops, sparing no effort, held the sealed perimeter, Aurelian searchers combed the most hidden corners of the universe, hoping to find the Keeper of Worlds — to finally put an end to this bloodbath.

In the IBAR headquarters, work didn’t stop for a second either. Kevin and Joseph slept only a few hours right in the office — and even then in snatches. There was no time for proper rest at all. Without pause, they developed plans to capture alien threats and drew diagrams of devices to neutralize them.

The only island of normal life amid this madness was Joseph’s wife. Helen regularly brought the exhausted men containers of hot homemade food. She scolded them, made them drink at least a cup of tea, and made sure they ate something, bringing a drop of family warmth and care into the bunker.

Edward had also practically moved into his workplace. He monitored the reports from the Putorana Plateau and coordinated operations across the city, holding the defense network from total collapse. His eyes were red from endless strain, and his fingers, always known for their flawless precision, now trembled slightly from exhaustion. But he didn’t allow himself to stop for a minute.

And beyond the bunker, Earth was sinking into total chaos. Civil defense sirens wailed everywhere, and the streets of once-bustling metropolises lay empty. People, gripped by panic, barricaded themselves in their apartments, drawing the curtains and listening in fear for any rustle outside the door — alien creatures could appear right out of thin air.

The only thread connecting humanity to reality remained the screens of televisions and smartphones. Billions of frightened eyes, holding their breath, watched the news broadcasts from the Putorana Plateau around the clock. Trembling voices of reporters, intermittent footage from military drones, a barrage of fire, the roar of explosions, and the eerie silhouettes of monsters tearing through the cordon — it all drove people insane. The world was crumbling before their eyes, civilization was cracking at the seams, and everyone sitting in front of a screen understood with horror: this nightmarish slaughter beyond the Arctic Circle was the last thing separating them from absolute annihilation.

And on the plateau, the defense line grew thinner with every hour. The forces of Earth’s people and their allies melted at a frightening pace, and the threat of the enemy breaking through to the Weave grew ever more real. This horrific battle had been raging for half a year now, and everyone was holding on by their last strength.

David, already exhausted by endless battles, was today completely not himself. The prince’s thoughts were consumed by Anabet, who had been gone for exactly a year. Mentally, he was infinitely far from the battlefield, causing him to lose focus time and again, make tactical errors, and constantly expose himself to attack. The warrior’s reflexes that had always saved him were now failing, displaced by this exhausting yearning.

Another such mistake nearly proved fatal for the prince. A huge leorax lunged at David from a rocky ledge, knocking him off his feet. The creature pinned David to the icy ground and with a mad snarl raised its clawed paw for a strike, taking advantage of his momentary distraction.

Vael, who had been following the prince relentlessly and covering him time and again, reacted instantly. With a cry, he threw himself in the monster’s path, taking the entire blow upon himself. The deadly claws of the leorax sank deep into Vael’s side with the sickening sound of tearing flesh. The toxin instantly blocked the cells, giving regeneration not a single chance.

Their comrades barely managed to fight off the wounded warrior and drag him from the battlefield. Vael was urgently transported to the bunker’s medical block, where doctors desperately fought for his life.

David was left without cover in the middle of the Putorana hell, completely knocked off balance by what had happened. He breathed heavily, trying to regain concentration, but the boiling fury mixed with wild exhaustion finally destroyed his tactical thinking.

And at that very moment, amid the ceaseless roar of battle, the screams of the wounded and the ring of steel, all Aurelians — those on Aurelia as well as in other worlds — clearly heard a dreadful rumble. And then a powerful voice resounded inside their heads. The Great Tree, which had maintained its silence for a whole year, had finally spoken:

“Welcome your true sovereign!”

David was instantly drenched in cold sweat, and his heart beat harder. His first thought was: his mother had been overthrown. He well remembered that discontent with Queen Arisan’s rule had been brewing in the Aurelian Council for a long time, and the opposition was looking for any excuse to seize power. Could it be that while they were shedding blood here on Earth, a coup had erupted in their home world?..