Chapter XLII: Cion Sky

Baen marched forward, his feet echoing across the golden tiles of the great hall of Cion Sky. This was it! Finally, he had arrived at his destination and there was none who could stop him now. It had been so long since he had seen the great towering statues of his castigators and the shattered remnants of his own, the stones still sitting in the middle of the hall. No one ever entered, so what was the point of keeping the entrance hall clean? Sunlight slowly died away as the suns began to set once more, the last rays spilling through the green crystal glass skylights. Carvings of all the wars, the battles, the races, and the animals that had been spawned by the Watchers and God himself filled the walls from side to side. They said that the entrance hall grew longer and longer as more events happened, and Baen realized that it was true, but not completely.

He remembered walking down the great hall as a Watcher and remembering only the few steps from one side to the other, but to a being of mortality, a being not meant to walk within the great walls of Cion Sky, it seemed to grow longer and longer with each passing second. On Baen trudged, unmoved by the yells of the eight charging through the great opening and entering Cion Sky themselves. They would be stopped sheerly by the amazing sight that was Cion Sky. Baen drew his sword and staff, glancing to his right and seeing Adelia marching right next to him, her eyes set on the great golden doors ahead of him. He drew close to them, the runes on his sword glowing a brilliant red as the prospect of blood and battle floated into Baen’s mind.

For a moment he handed his staff to Adelia, letting his talons trace across the beautifully carved doors and fingering the beautiful image of the sun bursting out onto the original lands….the lands before they were shattered by the Watchers’ foolishness. And now they themselves would be shattered apart, just as the land had once been. A slow smile filled Baen’s face as his eyes took up an unsettling sparkle and he brought his staff back into his hand and swung at the doors, striking them so hard that thunder rolled down the hall. Baen’s hair whipped against the cacophony of echoes as Adelia was bowled over and the statues shook with the unending tremors as echoes bounced against each of them. One by one they shattered into pieces, the skylights shattering and spraying glass down into the hall. Far behind, a portion of the hall collapsed inwards as Blackheart and the others disappeared from sight.

Baen turned back and eyed the damage happily. “Come out, you vain fools! Come out and meet your end or I shall bring the walls down around you!” Baen swung again, this time the head of the staff striking the left door inwards, snapping the uppermost hinge. The echo roared down the hall again and the walls began to buckle all over. Baen smirked and sheathed his sword and took the staff in both of his hands. “No keeping me out…not very hospitable at all!” He drew his staff back and felt his muscles tighten fiercely as he brought the staff around and one last swing crashed against the doors. Both of them buckled and blew into the great circular hall, the doors crashing against the floor and rolling away as Baen gazed into the great hall itself.

His eyes crystallized with emotion as he saw his home once more. “So long……so long have I been away…….” His tears rolled away as his eyes became set and determined, “I have endured all this for what? Now I return! I RETURN!” He stepped into the room, his armor glowing in the golden light that radiated from the beautiful gold-glass ceiling that shimmered. Small white lights rolled across the glass, though they seemed to be contained within the very glass itself. The main floor was marble and covered with the beautiful paintings of the entire universe shrunk down as much as it could be. The Watchers would sit upon their throne and concentrate and watch as their world slowly drew close and they could watch what they pleased. There were other places they could do this, too, but this was where all twelve worked together. All they had to do was wave a hand or stomp upon a human or mountain to crush or destroy it. It was so simple then, he remembered. Pillars circled the room and held up the main ring of thrones that hung halfway up within the air and were rooted squarely within the walls. There were several beautifull carved oak doors that led out of the central room, but they didn’t matter, this was where Baen wanted to be. He spiralled around, staring at the beautiful thrones, each one carved in a unique design much like that of the race of creature that the Watcher himself had been given the corporal form of. Baen was one of the three humans that had been within the Watchers, the other two being Creator and Maximus, the two heads of the Twelve Watchers.

Baen glanced over at Adelia, whose eyes were beginning to change, darkness spiralling oddly within their very centers. He disregarded the oddness as her giving in and turned to see his throne, a shattered wreck. He leapt up to it, the magic carrying him up to it with absolute ease. He fingered it angrily, observing the shattered eyes that had glowed a beautiful red when he sat within it. They glowed at the meer touch of him, now they were dead. “You wretches…you defile my throne? You defile my statue? Was it not enough that you cast me from my home…the home that our God gave me just as much as you? You shall all pay for this! Come out!?” He wheeled around and stared about the echoing room, the glass on the ceiling shaking. “COME OUT!” Baen brought his staff up, it’s mouth flaring and a great ball of white magic flying across the room and blasting several of the thrones apart, the rubble crashing down to the floor and gauging the floor.