The Beginning of the End (Argence)

**Description:** In the beginning, he arrives.

And everything begins to end.

**Arrival**
A surge of impossible energy swirled about in the dusky air. Their chanting continued as the world fell to ruin. In the distance, a man saw the fires grow, the skies blacken, and an unearthly roar above the cries of children and their families.

All is lost.

The chanting grew in volume as tears began to stream down their faces. His face. They grit their teeth forcing themselves to ignore the calamity surrounding them. In the distance, a mountain crumbled to ash.

All is lost.

The energy coalesced. It shined with blinding light and the nearby shadows were etched into the ground forever. A soft hum grew higher and higher in pitch until it hissed raw power. The ears of several chanters began to bleed, yet they did not stop. The glowing swelled and space began to churn. Twisting. Writhing. It grinded against itself until a small ring, a window, began to form itself every so slowly.

And then immediately dissipated.

One of the chanters swore and pounded his fists into the earth. Another dropped to her knees and fell to the ground unmoving. She was empty. What hope left was there? The man closed his eyes and grimaced. A hand came to his shoulder and reassuringly patted it. He met gentle eyes, ever so tired, but willed him to go on. The others closed their eyes and began the ritual once more. Desperately, he did so as well.

A shriek from the darkness startled them as a black beast lunged toward them. With a flash of arcane light, a guardian leapt forth and killed the Beowolf. Nodding in thanks, the chanters resumed.

From beyond the temple, another mountain turned to dust and blew away in the dark winds. The Grimm arriving so far meant the front lines were already breaking down. It would only be a matter of time before they would flood the temple entirely.

In the distance, black storms roared silence and void cracked from the clouds. Noise itself was swallowed. The seconds turned to minutes and perhaps minutes into hours, but they could not tell as time itself seemed to slowly shatter.

Patiently, they continued. They thought not of the cries of children, nor the terrors surrounding them. They thought not of the land crumbling to ash, nor the seas boil into nothing, nor even the skies devoured by nothingness.

For they had one last duty to the world they had help bring to an end.

In a second occurrence, the familiar energy swirled about once again. The air hissed and the window slowly formed bit by bit. They dared not believe. They couldn't. But they wished.

All was not lost.

Gradually rising, the hissing merged into a constant buzz of energy as the doorway stabilized. Relief took over their faces and they allowed themselves to smile. A woman kneeled, laughing even amidst the end. Tears formed from the man's eyes as he stepped closer to the portal. This was it.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his back push.

"Go." A single word from a single voice.

He stumbled forwards into the doorway alone. As he fell, he looked back and saw the faces of his companions. Joy. Sadness. Despair. Hope.

He screamed after them and fell into the well of eternity. Before the doorway above him closed, a swirling light chased and enveloped him bending itself into his very being.

The tunnels flowed around him in incomprehensible colors and shades. He tried to grasp the strands of aether around him, but they melted out of his hands almost whimsically.

Without warning, the light vanished and he found himself thrown on the cold ground. The doorway closed behind him and the air warped and hissed as the fabric of space slowly healed itself. It whirled into a ball emanating a grave flashing of light and dark.

Struggling to comprehend what had happened, the man twisted his limbs and wiggled his fingers. They brushed against something cold. Something soft.

It was soil, pure and untainted.

He held the dirt in his hands as his tears slowly began to wash them into mud. He screamed in joy, and then again in anguish. Yet no one came. Nothing stirred.

He looked back at the small orb levitating. The only trace of his home, and the only trace of the terrible entity that came to devour it. He felt the surge of power flow through his body. At this whim, the earth began to shake and stones rose. They collapsed onto the contained doorway condensing their iron and soil into something new. The shell grew with every new layer as the man tore out the land itself. He continued to pile upon the great cage of stone until it was all he could see. With a flick of his wrist, it began to rise.

Sobbing, he rolled onto his back and stared lifelessly up towards the twinkling lights in the night sky. The newly born moon shined gently from the light that had not yet risen above the horizon. It soared further up beyond the hold of this new unknown world and found its place among the countless stars that he cared not to see.