Episode 52: Echo of 1945
Date: November 17, 2023 — Time: 9:58 PM — Marseille
Léandre clenched his fists.
"Then we have to find a way to close it... before it's too late."
The light from the fracture pulsed violently, casting distorted shadows on the walls. Something behind it seemed to be preparing to break through.
The fracture widened.
The sky above the Old Port vibrated like a rope about to snap. The crack hadn't disappeared; on the contrary, it was still opening, sucking in air, light, and even the noise of the world. The streetlights crackled and then suddenly went out.
Léandre stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the anomaly.
"It's calling us... or it's swallowing us."
Clarisse felt dizzy. The space undulated, the buildings around her stretched like reflections in the water.
"It's... as if Marseille were slipping out of time."
A powerful gust suddenly swept them away. They tried to resist, digging their feet into the cobblestones, but the pull was irresistible. Their bodies dislocated into bursts of light and disappeared into the fracture.
Borax, meditating in Japan, suddenly opened his eyes. His inner vision shifted: he saw Léandre and Clarisse falling into a chasm of flames and shadows, sucked into an ancient time.
His astral body split, each fragment passing through the veil of time to join them.
When Léandre and Clarisse regained consciousness, the world had changed. The suffocating heat, the smoking ruins, the acrid smell of burning flesh... They were in the heart of Hiroshima, just after the explosion.
The silence was worse than the screams. Human shadows still appeared on the charred walls. The sky was nothing but a sheet of ash.
Clarisse put a hand to her mouth.
"No... tell me this isn't real..."
But Léandre dropped to one knee and picked up a handful of still-warm ashes.
"It is real. And if we're here, it's because the Codex threw us into this hell to break us."
A high-pitched hiss pierced the silence. Three figures emerged from the rubble. Their bodies were covered in moving tattoos, like black snakes, and their eyes shone with an obsidian glow.
The first raised his hand, and a column of flame rose from the ground. —Welcome to Selerion. Here, the past is our weapon.
The second snapped his fingers: the sky opened, releasing a shower of incandescent shards of glass.
The third stretched out his arms, and illusions appeared: the faces of Léandre and Clarisse's loved ones, burned, screaming in the flames.
Just as despair threatened to crush them, a glow ignited behind them. Benjamin Borax appeared, or rather, several silhouettes of him, splitting into two, fading, and returning, like a cascade of echoes.
He placed a hand on Léandre's shoulder, another on Clarisse's.
"You cannot survive alone. But together… we can challenge this world."
His astral body melted into theirs.
A searing heat coursed through Léandre. His muscles tensed, his senses exploded. Clarisse felt her mind expand, her thoughts flash like lightning.
They had changed. Now they could fly, manipulate the elements, fight like the warrior monks of Selerion themselves.
The flame sorcerer advanced.
"Show me your worth, children of the Codex."
Leander leaped forward, surrounded by electricity. His fist struck the ground, unleashing a shockwave that sent blocks of burning ruin flying. Clarisse spun around, her hands forming a circle: a storm of ice erupted, extinguishing the black flames.
The sorcerers took a step back in surprise. But their laughter erupted immediately, dark and raspy.
"Finally, worthy prey."
The battle had only just begun.