Page 169 of Stars in Aura

Not just from the void nor the netherworld but from the very bones of time itself.

The Witchmen arrived.

They did not walk nor stalk into the throne room.

They unfolded from himself.

He raised both hands as he shuddered.

An otherworldly storm rose from within and without him, and with a rush of air and clap of thunder, the Soothsayer, the Seer, and the Sorcerer arrived, their massive, rippling forms wreathed in writhing, liquid darkness.

In an instant, Ki’Remi’s Witchmen spoke through him.

Twas a roar that sounded like wild, roaring sea storms, with thunderous breakers mingled with the terror of a whispered breath. ‘You will not raise a hand against her.’

Their voices wove through the air, an incantation of ancestral tongues, deep and resonant, vibrating through the stone, the stars, the very fabric of being.

Then the Witchmen’s power inside him unleashed, arcing toward the celestial Sentinel.

Zavei erupted into a maelstrom, its force splintering the air.

He was met with a storm released from the the triad of witchmen, a tempest of fire, frost, and warlock rage.

The throne room became a battleground of the elements.

Ice spears hurtled through the atmosphere, jagged shards forming mid-flight and embedding themselves into the obsidian walls with an eerie shriek.

Waves of molten gold bled from the cracks in the marble, bubbling and rising like a cursed tide, seeking flesh to devour.

The atmosphere fractured, becoming a deadly cascade of gales and razor-sharp sleet.

Until the Witchmen persevered and, with a gust of freezing wind, Zavei’s body froze, his arms arrested in place, unable to shift even a muscle.

Terror overtook him as the immobilization gripped him like a curse woven from the marrow of the universe itself.

The Saatifa commander’s eyes burned with rage, his lips twitching, straining to speak, but the hold was unbreakable.

Ki’Remi’s mouth quirked, arms still raised, his glowing silver aureate eyes on the enraged god. ‘You move when we allow it, Saatifa.’

On the throne, Sulfiqar hissed, witnessing the power of the mighty Seer, Soothsayer, and Sorcerer.

The mighty monarch of the heavens, once untouchable, now weak and fading, regarded Ki’Remi in shock.

But Sulfiqar was not a god noted for submission.

He rasped out a laugh and canted his eyes towards Issa, the energy within crackling like the dying embers of a cosmic storm.

‘I will summon the Sullied.’ His growl, though weakened, still carried the weight of a divine decree. ‘They will tear that jar from your unworthy hands.’

Issa shrugged. ‘Have at it, but you might want to know that they now serve Zenas, who is kin.’

Sulfiqar jolted. ‘Traitors.’

‘Also, the betrayers you seek are not daemons but the deities that whisper fallacies in your ear,’ she gritted.

Sulfiqar’s fingers curled into claws, the air distorting around him with his fury.

Watching the stalemate unfold, Ki’Remi perceived a stirring deep within him.

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