The ruined battlefield grew slowly quiet beneath the crimson sky of Tartarus. Winds carrying ash, frost and burning embers drifted through the shattered remains of the domains and swept across broken mountains and cracked plains left behind by the clash of rulers. Far away, the fires Albatros had lit still burned along the horizon, while Tikadello's frozen storms rolled on through distant valleys. In the middle of that devastation stood Youri — silent, and thinking. Behind him Altopereh stood motionless, towering over the broken ground like a black monument to war, the dark hues across its damaged frame still slowly repairing its armor in a way that seemed almost organic. But Youri barely looked at it now, because one name had buried itself in his thoughts. Almesis.
A low laugh echoed through his mind. "That thing is still around?" The Orbiton sounded almost amused, and then it laughed again, deeper. "This is going to be interesting."
Youri frowned. He had heard Altopereh speak arrogantly before — the monster mocked almost everything in existence and looked down on rulers, kingdoms and whole civilizations. But this sounded different. Not fear, and not concern. Excitement.
He folded his arms slowly as he looked out at the endless desert around the domains. "Who is this Almesis?"
For a moment Altopereh didn't answer, and the silence lasted long enough that Lea glanced at him with suspicion, noticing the faraway look in his eyes again. Then it spoke. "Among the ten rulers of Tartarus, there was one other presence." The dark hues around the Orbiton pulsed faintly. "And that was Almesis."
Youri's eyes narrowed. "You never fought him?"
The question almost sounded absurd after what he had seen Altopereh do. It had spoken of itself as one of the original rulers of Tartarus — one of the monsters that had dominated the realm before the Sacros came — and a being like that should have crossed paths with every ruler there was. But Altopereh only laughed, softly and knowingly. "You can't avoid Almesis."
Youri blinked. "What do you mean?"
And the answer made his blood run cold. "The endless desert beneath the crimson sky," Altopereh said, and paused, "is Almesis's domain."
Youri froze, and for the first time since arriving in Tartarus, real disbelief crossed his face. The desert? The endless wasteland that stretched across the whole of Tartarus? His mind replayed every moment since he had arrived — the endless dunes, the crimson sky, the storms, the silence. He had walked through it thinking it was empty space between the domains. "You're saying," he said slowly, lifting his eyes to the blood-red heavens, "that this entire place belongs to one ruler?"
"Yes."
The answer didn't come from Altopereh this time. It came from Lea. She had been watching him closely, and had noticed at once when he began to drift away again, most likely listening to Altopereh in his mind; her face behind the mask was unreadable, but her tone had turned serious. "That's how I found you."
He turned to face her fully, and she looked up at the endless sky. "When you first stepped into Tikadello's domain," she said, as the winds around them faltered, "the sky glowed."
He frowned. "What?"
She nodded faintly. "Every time something enters Almesis's domain, the sky reacts. A ruler. A creature. Even a mortal." She looked straight at him. "The crimson sky shifts toward the intruder."
He remembered it now — the strange glow, the unnatural shifting light in the distance when he had first wandered through the desert. At the time he had thought it was just another part of Tartarus's madness. "That was him noticing me?"
She hesitated a second, and then answered honestly. "Yes." She walked slowly to the edge of the broken cliffs overlooking Gaisen's ruined domain, the wind tugging at her dark cloak. "When I saw the sky change, I thought another ruler was making a move. In Tartarus, that usually means war. So I went to see." Her gaze drifted toward the distant frozen mountains where Tikadello had retreated. "That's when I saw you. You were thrown straight into Tikadello's domain like someone who had no idea where he was."
Youri breathed out quietly through his nose. "That sounds about right."
For the first time in a while, Lea almost smiled behind her mask. Almost. "I followed you after that," she admitted. "And when Tikadello noticed you…" Her expression darkened slightly. "…I knew you were going to die."
He looked down for a moment. If Lea hadn't interfered, and if Gaisen hadn't saved him, Tikadello would have torn him apart long ago. Silence settled again — the heavy kind that lingers after learning something impossible — and he looked out across Tartarus once more. The desert felt different now. Before, it had been emptiness. Now it felt as if he were standing inside the body of something sleeping. Watching. Listening. Waiting.
Altopereh's voice returned to his mind, cold and sharp, every trace of amusement gone. "If you want that ship, you will have to go through Almesis."
Youri's jaw tightened. Far away, lightning flickered across the crimson sky. The endless dunes shifted beneath the wind like waves on an ocean. For the first time the true scale of Tartarus settled into him. Tikadello ruled ice. Albatros ruled fire. Gaisen ruled storms. But Almesis ruled everything in between.
"What kind of ruler is he?" he asked at last.
"The oldest," Lea answered at once — and in the same instant Altopereh said, "The strongest." The two answers overlapped almost perfectly, and that alone told Youri enough.
Lea folded her arms. "The others clash constantly. They expand their domains, fight each other, hunt weaker rulers." Her eyes lifted to the endless desert again. "But Almesis never moves."
That disturbed him more than if she had called him violent. "Why?"
She was silent for several seconds before she answered, quietly. "Because he doesn't need to."
The wind rose suddenly and violently. The crimson sky shimmered faintly overhead, and somewhere far beyond the horizon a deep sound echoed across Tartarus — not a roar, not thunder, but something heavier and older, and alive. Even Altopereh fell silent for a moment.
Youri turned slowly toward the endless desert stretching away beyond the ruined domains — toward Atlantis, toward the buried city beneath the crimson sky, toward the ruler whose domain had surrounded him from the very beginning. And deep inside him, for the first time in a very long while, he felt anticipation. Not fear, and not hesitation, but the feeling that his path forward had finally appeared in front of him — however monstrous it might be.