Chapter 8
2303words
The edges of Liora's mage robes were curled from the intense heat. She raised the bronze plate, where runes revealed flowing golden patterns under the glow of magma—these patterns were resonating in sync with the heartbeat sounds coming from the darkness in the distance.
"The interval between each pulse is growing longer," her voice carried a barely perceptible tremor, "The vitality of the Star Soul is fading."
Kael walked at the front, with gold and purple patterns flowing steadily along his arms, causing strange disturbances in the void energy around him. The black mist seeping from the rock walls would be torn to shreds as soon as it approached him by the gold and purple light.
"My energy can dispel the void corruption, but the concentration here is too high," he stopped and pointed to the fork ahead, "The energy fluctuations on the left are more chaotic, as if something is destroying the Titan ruins; the right... is closer to the Star Soul's heartbeat."
Zik's resonance device suddenly emitted a sharp alarm, with the energy patterns on the screen twisting into strange spirals: "The Kaja Vein has extended to the core of the earth! Look at these branches, wrapping around the Worldsoul Core like blood vessels!" He tapped the device casing, "And there's a signal from Andorhal — the Alliance and Horde reinforcements are fighting against the Harvesters of Shadow, but some fanatics from the Order of Pure Light have seized the opportunity to attack the Blood Oath Clan's camp!"
Valery's sin stone floated in midair, projecting blurry images of the battlefield: above the Ruins of Andorhal, a magical array formed by seven medals had expanded to a hundred meters wide, with the Kaja Vein extending from the center of the array deep underground. At its top stood a figure in dark golden armor — the true leader of the Harvesters of Shadow, wearing an iron crown similar to the Jailer's on his face.
"It's Morrigan," Valery's voice was ice cold, "the former Jailer's chief deputy, he's actually still alive!"
In the image, Morrigan raised his staff, and void energy surged frantically into the planet's core along the mineral veins: "The Worldsoul's power will reshape the universe! All primal forces will be unified—unified into the Void!" His laughter transmitted through the Sin Stone, carrying a spine-chilling fanaticism.
Liora suddenly gripped the bronze plate, the runes resonating with her magic: "The Titan documents say that the Worldsoul Core has three defensive barriers, all constructed with pure order energy. But now..." She pointed toward the left fork in the road, "the energy signature from the first barrier has disappeared, definitely destroyed by Morrigan."
The four decided to split into two groups: Liora and Valery would head to the Worldsoul Core to attempt to repair the defensive barrier; Kael and Zik would go to the ruins on the left to prevent the Void energy from further corrupting, while searching for Titan devices that could strengthen the bronze plate.
"Remember, once the barrier starts to repair, I'll signal you with the Sin Stone," Valery handed a fragment of the Sin Stone to Kael, "Beware of Morrigan's vanguard — they've surely stationed guards in the ruins."
Before parting, Kael suddenly grabbed Liora's wrist: "If I can't control the energy inside me..."
"You will," Liora interrupted him, stuffing an enchanted crystal into his hand, "This is a stabilizer made from Sunwell fragments and Void samples, the last thing our mentor left behind."
Liora and Valery advanced along the right passage, and the deeper they went, the clearer the heartbeat of the Worldsoul became, and the denser the Titan runes on the rock walls. Suddenly, the ground shook violently, and rocks from the top of the passage began to fall.
"The vein is expanding!" Valery raised her Sin Stone, forming a barrier of shadow energy to block the falling rocks. "Morrigan is accelerating the extraction of energy. We must hurry!"
After turning a corner, the sight before them made the two gasp: the Worldsoul Core floated in the center of a massive cavern. It was a blue crystal a kilometer in diameter, with dozens of black Kaja Veins wrapped around its surface. Where the veins pierced the crystal, purple void energy was continuously seeping out. Of the triple defensive barriers surrounding the crystal, only two remained, flickering with faint light.
"The first barrier has completely collapsed," Liora crouched down and touched the runes on the ground, "these order energies have been corrupted by the void and cannot be directly repaired."
She opened her mentor's notes and quickly scanned through them: "Need to use 'pure balance energy' to reactivate the barrier — the perfect fusion of light and shadow, life and death." She looked at Valery, "Our energies alone can't accomplish this, but if..."
"If we combine them." Valery understood immediately, raising her sin stone as shadow energy flowed along her arm; Liora concentrated the residual energy of the Sunwell — a trace of light she had borrowed from Kael.
When the two energies converged on the bronze plate, the runes suddenly erupted in a dazzling white light, and a wave of energy rushed toward the second barrier, dispersing some of the void corruption.
"It works!" Liora exclaimed with delight, but noticed her magic was rapidly draining away, "But our energy isn't enough, we need more balancing energy..."
Meanwhile, Kael and Zik encountered trouble in the Titan ruins on the left side. In the great hall of the ruins, dozens of constructs corrupted by the Void were destroying Titan devices, their cores replaced with Kaja stones, eyes flickering with purple light. "These things are tougher than the ones in Maz'roxas!" Zik threw a modified bomb, but it only blasted off the constructs' outer shells, "Their cores are protected by Void energy!"
Kael shot a gold-purple arrow, precisely hitting the core of one construct, causing the purple light to instantly dim.
"My energy can neutralize them, but there are too many!" His arm suddenly felt excruciating pain, the gold and purple patterns began to jump frantically — void whispers from deep within the ruins were interfering with his control, "Zik, find the Titan device quickly! I can't hold on much longer!"
Zik's device suddenly pointed to the control panel in the center of the hall: "There! That's the 'Order Energy Amplifier', it can enhance your balance energy!" He rushed toward the control panel, but was blocked by a giant construct — the core of that construct was made from Ulduar fragments, sharing the same origin as Bastion's medal.
"Move!" Zik pulled out his last "Bone Dust Smoke Bomb," but was blasted away by the construct's energy cannon, crashing hard against the rock wall.
The device slipped from his hand, its screen shattering completely. "No!" Zik struggled to get up, only to see Kael suddenly rushing toward the construct, pressing his palm against its core.
"Stop right there!" Kael's eyes turned gold and purple, and the energy within him exploded without reserve. The construct's core began to vibrate violently, void energy and balance energy collided frantically, generating shock waves that shattered all the surrounding constructs. When the light dissipated, Kael lay on the ground, his gold and purple markings dimmed, his breathing weak.
Zik hurriedly crawled over and found the control panel intact: "Hang in there! I'll activate the device right away!" He pressed the runes on the control panel, and a beam of golden energy shot out from the device, enveloping Kael. A miracle happened—Kael's breathing gradually stabilized, his gold and purple markings brightened again, and became even purer than before.
"This device... can purify my energy." Kael slowly stood up, feeling the light and darkness within him reaching an unprecedented balance, "Now, let's go support Liora!"
When the two arrived at the Worldsoul Core cavern, Liora and Valery were surrounded and under attack by Morrigan's vanguard forces.
These vanguards wore the same black armor as those from the Maldraxxus armory, with spears that could emit void energy. Valery's sin stone barrier was already covered in cracks, and Liora's magic was nearly depleted.
"Stop!" Kael shot a gold-purple arrow that split into dozens of smaller arrows in mid-air, precisely striking the spear of each vanguard and neutralizing the void energy.
Zik rushed to the control panel and used the energy from the Titan device to slow the expansion rate of the Kaja Vein by half.
"You arrived just in time," Liora said breathlessly, "we need Kael's balancing energy to repair the barrier, but Morrigan certainly won't let us succeed."
Before the words could finish, the top of the cave suddenly split open with an enormous crack, and Morrigan descended through the fissure, his staff pointing directly at the Worldsoul Core: "You think these little tricks can stop me? The energy of the Worldsoul has already been corrupted by me. In another hour, it will become part of the Void!"
Morrigan waved his staff, and countless void tentacles emerged from the ground, wrapping around the ankles of the four. "Taste what it's like to be devoured by the Void!" he sneered, as the void energy at the tip of his staff grew increasingly dense.
Kael suddenly broke free from the tentacles and pressed his palm against the bronze plate. Golden-purple energy flowed along the bronze plate, intertwining with Liora's light energy and Valery's shadow energy, forming a massive energy shield that blocked the void tentacles. "Zik! Activate the Titan device at maximum power!" he shouted.
Zik immediately pressed the red button on the control panel, and the entire ruin began to shake. Countless golden energy beams shot out from the rock walls, converging into a pillar of light that rushed toward the Worldsoul Core.
When the light pillar made contact with the energy shield, the resulting shockwave sent Morrigan flying back several meters.
"No!" Morrigan roared, throwing out all seven medal fragments to form a massive void array, "I will not fail! The Jailer's will lives on through me!"
A black energy beam shot from the array, striking the Worldsoul Core. The blue glow on the crystal's surface instantly dimmed significantly, and the heartbeat sound grew faint.
Liora's mentor's notebook suddenly flipped open by itself, the runes on its pages lighting up simultaneously with the bronze plate and Titan device: "It's the 'Primal Circuit Array'!" she shouted, "We need to infuse four types of energy—Light, Shadow, Balance, and Order—into the Worldsoul Core at the same time to purify the Void corruption!"
The four immediately took action: Kael stood in the center of the energy shield, providing balanced energy; Liora and Valery stood on either side, infusing light and shadow energy; Zik operated the titan device, channeling order energy into the shield. When the four energies merged within the energy shield, they formed a rainbow-colored beam that shot toward the Worldsoul Core.
Morrigan tried to stop them but was struck by the beam's shockwave and fell heavily to the ground. He watched in despair as the void contamination on the surface of the Worldsoul Core gradually dissipated, crying out, "This is impossible! The power of the Void cannot be defeated!"
At that moment, shouts from the Alliance and Horde came from outside the cave — Vereesa had arrived with reinforcements! They charged into the cave, surrounding Morrigan. Elias raised his staff of holy light and purified the void energy from Morrigan's body: "Your conspiracy is over."
But Liora frowned: "No, the Worldsoul's heartbeat is still very weak." She looked at the bronze plate, where the runes were rapidly flashing, "Morrigan was telling the truth, the Worldsoul has been corrupted, we've only temporarily suppressed the Void energy."
Valery's sin stone suddenly projected a final image: although Andorhal's magical array had been destroyed, the roots of the Kaja Vein continued to seep Void energy, and the source of this energy was an unknown fissure deep within the earth's core — it was a Void entrance left by the Jailer years ago, never before discovered.
"So that's it," Kael gripped his longbow, "Morrigan was just a decoy, the real threat is that Void entrance. If we don't close it, the Worldsoul will eventually be completely corrupted."
Although Zik's device was damaged, it could still detect the location of the Void entrance: "It's right beneath the Worldsoul Core, and the Void energy concentration there... is a hundred times what it is here!"
Morrigan suddenly burst into laughter: "You cannot win! That portal connects to the Void abyss, and once opened, all of Azeroth will be devoured! And you will all soon witness this with your own eyes!"
Liora looked at the Worldsoul Core, then at everyone around her, and said firmly: "We must close that portal. No matter how dangerous it is, this is our only option."
Vereesa walked to her side: "The Alliance and the Horde will help you defend this place, preventing any Void corruptors from getting close."
Elias and Grom also nodded, the previous faction divisions vanishing in the face of a common crisis.
The four walked toward the passage directly beneath the Worldsoul Core. Inside the passage was complete darkness, with only the purple glow of Void energy illuminating the path ahead.
From the distance came the hissing roars of Void creatures, a calling from the abyss.
"Are you ready?" Liora asked.
"Ready." Kael, Zik, and Valery answered in unison.
They walked side by side into the darkness, with the guardians of the Alliance and the Horde behind them, and unknown dangers ahead.
The heartbeat of the Star Soul echoed in their ears, as if cheering them on, yet also seeming to send out a final plea for help.
In the darkness, a massive void rift was slowly opening.
