Sanctuary II

Rychard and Treleva stood in the ruins of Utopia, the rift gazing down at them from across the city.

"Right, best we inject ourselves here, give the nanomachines time to kick in" Rychard suggested.

"If you say so" Treleva shrugged, as he took the vial from his pocket. "You first" He looked at Rychard with doubt.

"Fine" Rychard shrugged with a smile, and injected the nanomachines into his body. "See, no trickery" He scoffed.

"Hmm..." Treleva grunted, he then took his vial and injected his arm. Rychard watched the nanomachines flow from the vial, before turning and walking ahead, after tossing the glass vial to the ground.

"Time to become gods" Rychard proclaimed as he headed toward the ruined Lumina Academy.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Treleva sighed to himself, before following Rychard, he gazed up into the rift, and felt like he was being watched by a thousand eyes, he shivered and put up his hood.

Rychard kicked the bones of the old residents of the city. While Treleva looked around at the destruction that he himself had once wrought in revenge.

"Admiring your handiwork, I assume" Rychard asked.

"You knew?" Treleva frowned.

"I put two and two together" Rychard shrugged, as he walked ahead, and up the steps into the Academy, as he entered he lifted his hands above his head.

"Oh hear me, Ancient Ones, come down and claim us as your vessels!" He called out.

"Puny man" A thousand voices echoes. "Why would we want you as our vessel...?" They asked.

"I have power, and technology. Technology that could give you an edge" Rychard yelled up, as the hum from the rift got louder. Treleva backed up slowly.

"You have been tainted, both of you" The voices laughed.

"Tainted?" Rychard asked.

"Your blood runs with machinery... you are no mere men" The voices churned.

"We..." Rychard began.

"SILENCE!" The voices roared. "It has been decided, we too shall become tained" The voices laughed, as a dark beam shot into Rychard's heart.

"ARGH!" Rychard yelled in pain, he looked at Treleva. "Help... me" He gasped for air as his eyes turned purple and machinery began over taking his skin. The dark beam retracted and Rychard fell to the floor, the beam took some nanomachines with it.

"Rychard?" Treleva asked. Rychard got to his feet and looked at Treleva, his body was covered in metal and various pieces of technology, his face was stretched into a pained expression, with his lower jaw being completely metal.

"Rychard is dead" Rychard's body said.

"Dead?" Treleva asked.

"Yes" Rychard's body replied. "You were a disappointment, Treleva, we gave you revenge and you never paid us... no, ME back" He laughed with a mechanical voice, Treleva stumbled backward toward the exit.

"What... who are you?" Treleva asked.

"We are... hmm, no, I am the Infernal Harbinger, Infernus" Rychard's body announced.

"Infernal Harbinger?" Treleva asked.

"Yes" Infernus replied. "It is a meaningless title, like everything in this realm, but it shall strike fear into the souls of those who resist our... no, my will" Infernus laughed.

"Are you the Senior Partners?" Treleva asked.

"Yet another meaningless title that we adopted to gain access into this worlds hierarchical structure, that we might disassemble any resistances that we... I, encountered" Infernus said, as he began walking toward Treleva, before coming to a stop in front of him. "But, to answer your query, I both am and am not the Senior Partners" Infernus shrugged.

"Will you kill me?" Treleva asked, his voice trembling.

"Yes" Infernus grinned. "We will destroy this city, this island, this world, this solar system, this constellation, this galaxy, this universe, and this whole reality and any associated realms that are linked in any way shape or form" He stated. "But I will spare you on this day, so that you can tell all the other creatures down on the continents that they should submit. Tell them it would be faster and less painful if they do so..." Infernus grinned, as he walked toward Lumina's old throne.

"I..." Treleva shook as he got to his feet. "Yessir" He nodded, and ran away, through the ruined streets of Utopia, not daring to look back, in the sky above, the rift had widened. Time was running out.

The final chapter of the tale of the Crystalla was about to commence.