Galaxy 5: Black Abyss

Fissura is not a planet: it is a tear in space, at the edge of the universe. A rift opens there onto the void, and the void looks back inside. What comes out of it has no fixed shape; instruments pick up only shadows. The Shades are fast, silent, and always strike the weakest. A cult worships them, convinced they herald a god from beyond the stars. The cultists have set up their orbs on Fissura, to widen the rift. Every day, the tear grows, and the Shades grow more numerous. Command doesn't know what waits on the other side. It only knows the door must be closed. Fissura is the first step into the Black Abyss. There will be no light.

The rift pulses before you. A shade peels away from the void.

Ritualis is a starless planet, plunged into a night that has never had a morning. The cult of the Abyss has built its temples there, circle after circle, towards the centre. The cultists chant there endlessly, and their voices open doors. A demon came through one of them, and took charge of the cult. Since then, the rites are no longer prayers but orders, and Ritualis obeys. The Shades stand guard, invisible in a night that hides them perfectly. Every ritual circle completed brings the Abyss closer to the galaxy of the living. Command wants to interrupt the rite before it reaches the last circle. You will have to fight in the dark, guided only by the glow of the orbs.

The chanting stops. In the silence, dozens of violet eyes open.

Suspiria is a bridge of black rock flung between two dead worlds. It spans an abyss whose bottom no one has ever touched. The wind rising from it carries voices: whispers, names, regrets. Those who cross Suspiria hear their own name, spoken by the void. The Shades are at home there, and gargoyles sleep on the parapets. The bridge is the only way to Gargantia, and there is no way around it. Three Shades guard it, then a gargoyle wakes as soon as you reach the middle. Command advises you not to listen to the whispers. No one has ever managed it. You will cross, or you will join the voices in the abyss.

The wind rises from the abyss. It knows your name, and it repeats it.

Gargantia is a planet of statues, thousands of gargoyles carved into the rock. The ancients of the Abyss carved them to guard a secret buried beneath the surface. For millennia, they did not move, frozen in their vigil. The cult woke them, one after another, with the blood of its own members. They fly slowly, strike heavily, and feel nothing. Their nest, at the centre of the planet, shelters the oldest and largest of them. A cultist leads the swarm there, surrounded by Shades that finish off the wounded. The buried secret is still there, and Command wants to see it before the cult does. You will have to bring down statues. They are made of stone, but they bleed.

A crack of rock. On the cliff, a gargoyle opens its eyes.

Infernum is a molten planet, as black as the lava of Zharrak was red. The demons of the Abyss have built a forge there, the cursed twin of the one on Forgia. They forge weapons there that do not rust, do not break, and do not forgive. Every blade is tempered in the void, and cuts hope as well as flesh. Two demon smiths rule there, surrounded by cultists who feed the fires. Gargoyles bring the ore, Shades carry off the finished weapons. Infernum is arming the Abyss for a war the galaxy has not yet seen coming. Command wants to put out the fires before the first blade leaves the planet. Two waves, a black heat, and hammers that have never stopped striking.

The forge glows in the dark. Two demons set down their hammers and turn towards you.

Vestibulum is the antechamber of the Throne, the last planet before the Archdemon. His personal guard lives there, trains there, and has waited there since the dawn of time. Ancient gargoyles, high-ranking demons, first-circle cultists. No one has ever got past Vestibulum without losing at least half their troops. Command has gathered here everything it knows about the Abyss. It won't be enough. Two waves await, each denser than anything you have faced. The guard does not flee, does not negotiate, does not surrender: it protects its master. Getting past Vestibulum means earning the right to stand before the Throne of the Abyss. And behind the Throne, the one who opened Fissura, woke Gargantia and armed Infernum.

The black gates open. The guard falls into formation, in silence.

Thronos is the end of the universe, the point where space ends and the void begins. The Throne of the Abyss stands there, carved from a substance that exists nowhere else. The Archdemon has sat on it since before the stars were born. He sent the Shades, guided the cult, woke the gargoyles, lit Infernum. All of it for a single reason: to break open the galaxy of the living and make it his. His wings are vaster than the dragon's, his breath blacker than lava. He was waiting for you. He always knew someone would come in the end. Command gives no orders for this battle. There is nothing left to add. Behind you, five galaxies. Before you, the last enemy in the universe.

The Throne looms in the void. The Archdemon rises, and the void rises with him.