Flashback
When Hadrian had stared into Hazkar's eyes after he returned from within Chroyane he used Legilimency to ascertain what had occurred.
Hazkar POV
I stepped away from the potential safety of the Godling's dome, the sea of mindless Stone Men parting before me. I barely noticed them. My sole focus was the towering structure looming in the mist.
The gates of the Grand Temple of Rhoyne stood before me in a pristine state. The pale marble was unmarred by the millennium of decay that had consumed the rest of Chroyane. For a fleeting, foolish moment, my heart swelled with hope.
Yet, the moment I crossed the sacred threshold, a wave of profound, sickening wrongness washed over me.
The illusion of purity violently shattered. As I looked upon the courtyards, I saw that the statues of the lesser river gods lining the promenade had all turned a vile, corrupted black. I rushed toward the pedestal of my brother, Sartan, only to find his effigy entirely crumbled into a pile of jagged rubble.
At the base of the ruined stone sat a pitch-black, oozing rock.
"Nemesis," I cursed, the ancient word tasting like ash on my tongue. It was the antithesis of our divine mana, a physical manifestation of the Taint itself. Yet to find it here struck me as odd.
I tore my gaze away, sprinting toward the central dais. There she stood—the grand statue of Mother Rhoyne, still seemingly carved of pure white marble. But nestled deeply at her feet was another of the dark stones.
A blinding rage seized me. "A desecration!" I roared, dropping to my knees. I dug my hands into the earth, desperately attempting to pry the foul stone from her pedestal. I pulled with the strength of a god, but the stone would not yield. It was perfectly fused into the bedrock, anchored by a magic I could not break.
I released a shuddering breath, forcing my anger down. Tearing at a stone would not bring her back. I had more important matters to attend to. I reached out with trembling hands and gently touched the cool marble feet of the statue. I closed my eye, casting my consciousness into the divine realm.
"Mother," I pleaded, my voice breaking under the weight of a thousand years of grief. "Please, grant your son an audience."
I waited for the warm, golden embrace of her presence while channelling divine essence into the plea. But there was only a vast, suffocating darkness.
Suddenly, the earth beneath my knees violently shook.
I opened my eye. The black stone at her feet had erupted. Thick, viscous liquid rapidly oozed upward, latching onto the white marble of the statue like a parasite. The earth trembled so fiercely the plaza began to crack. From the pooling darkness, an abominable entity violently dragged itself into the physical realm.
It was a demon reviling in its pitch-black corruption. Thick, writhing tendrils of shadow acted as its hair, snapping aggressively in the damp air. Beneath the shifting muck, a face was barely visible—a hollow, mocking imitation of life.
I did not hesitate. Drawing upon the ancient fury of the river, I manifested blades from the water in the air and launched myself at the monstrosity. I slashed relentlessly, severing the demon's arms and cleaving its torso into jagged pieces.
But my physical strikes were meaningless. The black stone at the pedestal flared, rapidly pumping more dark liquid into the demon. The severed limbs slithered across the cobblestones, seamlessly reattaching to the beast's core.
"Abomination!" I roared.
I shifted my tactics, igniting my physical form with divine essence. I struck the beast again, this time with fists wreathed in blinding golden light. The divine magic burned the demon. The creature shrieked, the dark liquid sizzling and turning to foul smoke. The holy energy severely stunted its ability to draw from the Nemesis stone, slowing its reformation to a crawl.
I raised my arm, gathering the entirety of my divine strength to deliver the final, killing blow.
"ZAH... KEN..."
The voice was broken, gurgling through the thick sludge, but the cadence froze the very blood in my veins.
I halted my strike inches from its throat. I stared into the shifting, shadowy face beneath the tendrils. The shape of the eyes, the curve of the jaw—it was a cruel mirror.
"Mother?!" I gasped, the divine light flickering out from my hands.
The demonic being gave a slow, jerky nod.
The revelation shattered me. I dropped my guard entirely, stumbling forward. "Mother... what is happening? Who did this to you?"
The moment I stepped within reach, the demon's sorrowful demeanour vanished. The black tendrils violently lashed out like vipers, piercing the flesh of my right arm.
Agony, sharp and piercing, exploded through my nerves. The pitch-black corruption began rapidly climbing my skin, devouring my iridescent scales and turning my flesh to dead, grey stone. I stared in horror as the grand, white statue of Mother Rhoyne behind the demon began to peel away, revealing the pitch-black, corrupted marble beneath the illusion.
In a moment of pure desperation, I manifested a blade of water and violently chopped my own right arm off at the elbow.
I kicked away, landing heavily on the cobblestones as my severed limb was entirely consumed by the black sludge. I clutched my bleeding stump.
Divine power was the only counter. I knew this. If I could not save her body, I would destroy the source. I bypassed the demon entirely and forcefully channelled a massive surge of my pure divine essence directly into the black stone countering its essence.
The reaction was catastrophic.