Chapter Text
When Phainon approached Aglaea in the upper level of the Hero's Baths he didn't expect to see Mydei there too, engaging in an intense hushed conversation with the former. Aglaea had summoned him most likely to discuss the last remaining Coreflame to be obtained. Worldbearing. It was locked behind the Council in a mechanism few knew how to solve. Recently, the black tide had been more aggressive in trying to breach the defenses around Okhema and after just returning the Coreflame of Strife they needed to hasten their progress to obtain the Worldbearing Coreflame.
“Phainon. It's good to see you.” Aglaea greeted him with a nod.
“Lady Aglaea. Mydei. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I was told by the council to relay a mission for you.” Aglaea set her gaze upon Mydei and sternly said, “And only you, Phainon.”
Mydei opened his mouth to say something but Phainon beat him to it. “What is it? Why only me?”
“There's a transport that Elder Caenis wants you to oversee from the city-state of Corinth.”
Corinth? Isn't that close to Janusopolis?
“As for why she wants you there?” Aglaea crossed her arms and hummed thoughtfully to herself, “all she said was that your expertise was needed. She was rather vague about it.”
“Which is why I want to go with him.” Mydei finally spoke up.
“Mydei, it'll be fine. It's most likely some relics that need to be authenticated.”
“I don't trust Caenis. I'm going with you.”
“It's a simple task, I can do it alone.”
“A task like this would aid in gaining the favour of the Council, especially since we need the Coreflame they possess.” Aglaea reminded them.
Phainon raised a brow and faced Mydei. “Don't you need to be recovering after your trial?”
“...”
After all, it hadn't been even forty-eight hours since the Coreflame of Strife had been submitted into the Vortex of Genesis.
Phainon sighed like he knew this would happen then smiled warmly and tugged on Mydei’s sleeve. “Come Mydeimos! Let's head down to the baths before I leave.”
“Perhaps you should be wary, this request came from the council after all.” Caution in Aglaea’s voice but he could tell that she found his little interaction with Mydei amusing from the small upwards tilt of her mouth.
He gave her a two fingered salute just to reassure her, “I will Lady Aglaea, no need to worry about me.”
☆☆
When Phainon got to Corinth it was a mess. The carriage carrying the items wheel was damaged as it slanted on its side with broken crates filled with artifacts were now cracked, chipped or shattered along with scrolls some half open others had little to no damage. Everything was scattered all over the place most likely in the hasty escape. The thing he found most unsettling was that there were no people around. Actually there was nothing around at all, no people, no animals, no black tide creatures, nothing. It was like any presence of life got wiped out. A breeze swept by ruffling his cape with just the right amount of something wrong in the air.
Corinth sat just outside of the Janusopolis. A what would have once been a bustling city-state long since abandoned by its people after the black tide engulfed its land. After the King of Corinth fled to major city of Janusopolis when it along with its neighboring city-states failed to invade Okhema during the Chrysos War there was no ruler to command the people and no more warriors to keep the people protected from the encroaching wage of the black tide. It ravaged the city-state and its people as it did in all areas it touched as it corrupted minds and flesh turning them into hideous mindless creatures with a singular purpose. Kill. Eventually Janusopolis itself would be forced to evacuate leaving all sorts of precious documents, artifacts and goods inside its temples especially in the states outside of the major city.
For what exactly Elder Caenis was looking for? Phainon did not know. He wasn't sure what he was doing there in the first place except to be a personal escort for an expedition. Not that he minded, he loved helping others as always.
He decided to explore his surroundings to look for clues as to where the transportation group could have ended up. In his immediate surroundings where some crumpled buildings most likely this was an area was touched by the black tide a while ago. Surely enough he did find a trace amount blocking the entrance to one of the barely standing houses. He could cleanse that later on. Still no signs of life.
A feeling in his gut told him to turn away go back to Okhema, declare the transportation group dead and what they were carrying lost but Phainon decided to ignore this feeling because he had to know and if they were corrupted by the black tide it would be a better fate for them to end their suffering. Plus reporting as much information as he could would be useful if any of the council members decided to give him trouble.
A little further in Phainon spotted the ruins of a Temple of Talanton, old and crumbling a little bit at the edges he figured inside would be the best bet of finding any signs of life. If there were any at all. The first thing that he noticed was the stench, the unforgivable smell of rotten flesh as he got closer then he saw the twisted marred corpse, no longer recognizable, laid in front of an altar like an offering to the Titan while the black tide ate away at what flesh remained.
The low groan of someone could be heard further into the temple. So Phainon covered his nose with his elbow and turned away from the grotesque scene to investigate. Although traces of black tide were present inside none of its creatures roamed around in the area. It was quiet, almost too quiet. Following the noise through the corridors of the temple where the paint of the murals were flaking off and moss covered the statues of the scales of justice, Phainon finally came across the sound he'd heard earlier. In front of him in the dark corner of a prayer room he found a half human half creature with the black tide covering his entire left side leaving the right entirely human nearly straight down the middle. The man's breaths were shallow and every now and then he'd groan in pain as the black tide ate away at his flesh even his voice was starting to distort as it slowly moved across his throat. This man wouldn't have long before the black tide would fully transform him and from the looks of what remained of him he could tell from his clothes that he was Okheman, most likely the last one remaining of the group.
“Chrysos ⬜️eir.” Said the slightly distorted voice barely above a whisper.
“Where are the rest? Are you the only one left?” He asked hoping for an answer as he looked at the man's glassy green eye and pale face.
He lifted his human arm as if reaching for Phainon. “Save ⬜️us, Deli⬜️erer. S⬜️vi⬜️r.”
“ …I'm sorry. Don't worry, you won't feel a thing.” He said somberly summoning his sword and in one swift motion ended his suffering before the black tide consumed him.
Phainon turned around to leave the temple and head back to Okhema since he doubted, based on what he'd already seen, that anyone would have survived whatever happened here.
Suddenly he was leaning back as a blade narrowly missed his neck and it was only through instinct that he swung his sword as it caught onto the monster before it dissipated into the void. It seemed whatever interaction he had with the half turned man had made the black tide creatures finally show up. Beyond the prayer room the creatures and some titankin were approaching. He had to get out before he got cornered.
How hadn't he heard their approach? He was sure that when he passed through the temple these monsters weren't there before.
Leaving the room he turned the corner to find an exit but somehow monsters littered the area. Cutting through them with ease. One titankin down, three black tide creatures and another two titankin all crumbled beneath Dawnmaker.
Where did they come from? The corruption in this temple wasn't even severe enough to warrant unexpected attacks.
A titankin he hadn't noticed knocked him to the side and he hit a wall hard while another who was waiting drew back on the bowstring and let go as it pierced his left arm. He swung his sword and the titankin crumpled into dust, another arrow pierced his right leg. He really needed to get rid of that archer. So he ripped the arrow out of his leg as golden blood soaked his pants and lunged at the furiae archer, who was preparing another arrow, driving Dawnmaker deep into its chest as it crumbled to dust. To his right a black tide creature tried to take a swipe at him but he blocked the attack and swiftly disposed of it.
This wasn't any normal black tide attack.
This was an ambush.
“Shit.” He muttered out loud and grimaced, noticing the growing number of creatures in his way. Nothing in the request from the Council would have suggested that anything like this could happen. If anything it was a pretty routine and nothing out of the ordinary of typical requests the Chrysos Heirs would be tasked to take care of.
Pain blossomed in his side, he swung his blade to the left, cutting down the creature. Frankly he was starting to get overwhelmed by this attack, there were monsters everywhere and Phainon had only gotten himself cornered. No this wasn't some mindless attack by the black tide, it was an ambush. A slash on his sword arm nearly made him drop his sword so he switched hands and finally took out the arrow lodged in left arm. Bleeding in multiple places he wasn’t going to last very long unless he found a way out or some sort of reprieve to slow down the bleeding. The one in his side was especially bad and it hurt just to move around, slightly impeding his movements. Pressing his hand to the gash in his side he hissed in pain to hopefully stanch the bleeding only for it to gush more golden blood on his hand. No time to find a way to stop the bleeding, he had to focus on the task at hand. Escape. Blocking the axe of one of the black tide creatures he cut it down and another and another but he was starting to slow down.
This time when one of the monsters made a wide swipe at his chest Phainon had a split second to dodge but apparently he wasn’t fast enough since it cut through fabric and flesh alike leaving a large but not deep gash across his chest. That wouldn’t even be the worst of it because with no reprieve whatsoever a burst of pain came from his chest causing him to stagger backwards until he hit a wall and dropped his weapon. Looking down all he could see was the golden arrow protruding from his chest while blood leaked out the wound and down his chest. He brought his hand up, maybe to yank out the arrow but that wouldn’t be a good idea so dropped it back down and let it hand limply by his side. His breathing was becoming more shallow and blood dripped from the corners of his mouth. He didn’t even have the strength to push himself off the wall.
Then came the fire.
His chest felt like it was burning from the inside, his back was starting to ache and his head was pounding.
He had no time to think of what to make of this but the burning fire eventually turned into a warm fire. Still burning, still hot, still the pain persisted.
The monsters parted ways like the sea to make a path for two humanoid figures. He nearly gasped as he recognized them. The first was a familiar antikytheran with a white exterior and golden streaking with a purple chest that had a hole in the middle wrapped by golden arms. The Theoros: Lygus. What was he doing here? He wished he knew but he was leading a malformed thing that would haunt him for the rest of his life through the hoard of monsters in the corridor. Speaking of that half human half black tide creature he left back in that room it was now walking towards him. The man was now more black tide than human with every part of him transformed except a small part of face left. The closer it got the more he noticed that the once green eye he gazed into right before ending his misery was now red. The creature raised its red malformed hand to Phainon’s face making his jerk his face away instinctively but when it laid its hand on his face pure agony coursed through his head, his blood and every nerve of his body.
The agony of his insides being on fire and whatever encroaching on his body was unbearable.
It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. Was all he could think as it invaded his very being.
In the deep recesses of his mind something stirred.
Bright and golden against the agonizing red.
Then nothing.
What a beautiful vessel.