THE BLACK THORN CODEX
Episode 53 — The Fractures of Marseille
Date: November 18, 2023 — Time: 6:08 AM
The sorcerers took a step back, surprised. But their laughter immediately erupted, dark and grating.
— Finally, worthy prey.
The battle had only just begun.
The last wave of light faded in the sky, leaving Marseille in an unfamiliar gloom. Clarisse was still staggering, her hands covered in a dark dust that was not of this world. Breathless, she looked for Léandre. He was there, a few meters away, on his knees, the Codex clutched to him as if this book had become the only anchor keeping him from dissolving into nothingness.
A brutal silence followed. Then, the ground shook.
The cobblestones of the street parted like torn scales. A crack opened in reality, sharper than a blade. Beyond it, there was neither stone nor earth: only an infinite chasm, a sea of cold flames that swallowed the very logic of the world.
Clarisse felt her blood run cold. She knew immediately that this was not a simple portal: it was a fracture, a scar left by Selerion.
"Leander..." she breathed.
He looked up at her. His pupils trembled, dilated, as if he could already see something other than this alley.
A scream suddenly erupted, a guttural cry coming from within the fracture. And from this breach emerged a man... or rather, what was left of him. His skin was stretched taut over twisted bones, his eyes burned with a purplish glow, and moving symbols appeared on his torso. This sorcerer of Selerion wasn't walking: he was sliding, carried by an invisible force.
He raised his hand, and immediately the air compressed. Clarisse and Léandre were thrown against the walls. The Codex fell to the floor, its pages flapping like wings.
The sorcerer spoke in a dull voice, grave as a tomb:
"You are the shards of Borax... The fragments of the monk. I must break you before the fracture heals."
Clarisse stood up, her face hard. Her fingers blazed with a fire she didn't fully understand, born of her fusion with Borax. She launched a burst of flames toward the enemy. But the sorcerer raised his other hand, and the fire turned to ice in mid-air, crashing to the ground in sharp shards.
Léandre, panting, concentrated his energy. A wave of electricity erupted from his arms, striking the figure head-on. The impact lit up the fracture with blue flashes. The sorcerer staggered, but he righted himself almost immediately, his body cracked, letting out dark smoke.
Then he struck back. A wave of mental force rippled through the alley, invisible but relentless. Clarisse and Léandre felt their minds crushed, their memories torn like pages ripped from a book. Clarisse screamed, clutching her head. Léandre fell to his knees, tears of blood welling in the corners of his eyes.
Then, a third presence appeared. In the fracture, a shadow rose, immense, like a meditating figure. Benjamin Borax's voice echoed in their heads, calm but sharp:
"Resist. Don't let this world swallow you up."
Their bodies straightened as if driven by a new strength. Clarisse opened her arms: fire and ice burst forth from her palms, merging into a spiral that crashed down on the sorcerer. Léandre leaped, his body surrounded by electric arcs, and struck the enemy's chest with a punch that resonated like an explosion.
The enemy's figure staggered, pieces of flesh peeling off and dissolving into thin air. But he didn't fall. His lips curled into a morbid smile.
"Do you think I'm alone?"
Then, behind him, the fracture widened even further. Other voices rose, deep, singing a forgotten language. Several figures were approaching.
Clarisse and Léandre understood that they were not only facing an adversary... but the beginning of an invasion.