A destructive phenomenon was sweeping the multiverse with the arrival of a mysterious miasma. Blue-greenish nebulae filled the galaxy and brought corrosive downpours of gastric fluids wherever it flowed. These fluids carried enzymes that could not only dissolve solid objects but auras and energies. Virtually any form of matter in its path perished. As horrifying as the mass erasure of multiple star systems were, the fact is, much more was happening. All that corroded began to disappear beyond just the physical sense. All recognition of items, creatures, and even planets slowly slipped away from the conscious of those who could recollect them. Things that were definitive somehow became non-existent within the context of their mind. 

It caught the attention of many. Countless civilizations evacuated while others attempted to understand and study what was approaching from space. All that could be inferred was that absurd levels of bioforce could be traced to clouds before simply vanishing.  

Whereas clusters of star systems were being digested at a time, the powerful enzymes had difficulty breaking down a rather small object. It was no larger than a kilometer in diameter yet it remained. Why? In the face of acids, it simply multiplied its mass at a rate that was faster than it could be dissolved. Stuck in this action for more than an hour, its systems developed a means to escape. Powerful waves of molecular dissipating particles radiated from its spherical mass, targeting and eradicating the energy within the liquid's atomic bonds. As a result, all of the droplets pelting its frame lost cohesion and disappeared entirely while it navigated through space. 

The once thought unstoppable planet-eroding force met an immovable object and an outsider was amused. So amused, it decided to find the source of the destruction and traversed its lengthy trail across the cosmos. 

Humming about, its expression was quite jovial. It swam around space at what was literally light speeds, looping and twirling about though it could manifest itself in the desired location if it chose so. It was in no rush. Its cosmic-wide search brought it to a massive planet alone in its system with its sun. Amazingly, the planet pumped the nebulae of miasma into space like a volcano did ash. Further inspection revealed it wasn't actually a planet, rather it was planet sized. It was a creature of unimaginable mass. It was Caorthannach...

This entire nebula of death was merely the consequence of her spewing her digestive liquids into the confines of deep space. As an extension of her dual stomachs, it was efficient means of which she could harvest bioforce in bulk from all across the universe. As a result, a whole sector of space became unnavigable with the digestive cloud.

The fairy could read an expression of puzzlement on one of her faces and that was clear despite how much she dwarfed him. Almost like a hunch, she could feel something defying her and she was right. She became lost in thought attempting to figure out what was out there but his question quickly knocked her out of it.

"Quite the nuisance, isn't it?"

Considering the spirit was quite stealthy and incredibly small, it was generally surprised to see the direction of the cloud turn its way in an instant. Apparently, the fairy was in danger but its playful nature was only spurred on by the hostility. 

"Come on... talk to me, baby."

The giant marine arthropod's negligence only encouraged it to try harder to make its presence worthwhile. Projecting itself to the size of a small moon, the cosmic fairy appeared above her, annoyingly hovering over Caorthannach in a spiral pattern until both sets of her illuminating eyes opened for the first time.

"Ah, so I finally got your attention huh? You've certainly garnered mine. You're pretty amazing if I must say but I have a few questions if you don't mind. You're causing quite the stir out here. You never know what you might end up alerting at this pace." 

At this point, Caorthannach was not entirely aware of what she was dealing with but she knew its presence wasn’t to be slighted. In response, her heads twirled through space until one was on each side of the chaos fairy. The leftward angrily spoke to it.

"All is expendable for the benefit of my race."

Without delay, the right continued.

"If you have an issue, I have the means in which to deal with you. Do not test us."

"Whoa, let's not get so hasty now. Who said I was here to stop you, M'lady. I'm simply attracted to chaos, that's all. Is it so odd I find you interesting? I know of your race, just not you. How can I be of service in exchange for some direction?"

"Direction? I would be foolish enough to trust anything other than my own power, demon."

"Ah, I thought you'd say that, so I brought a gift! Here's what you were thinking about a while ago. I know it was bothering you. I could just see it! So here you go!"

The closed fist of the fairy constantly pulsed as if it were explicitly trying to contain something. The opening of it revealed a platinum sphere and immediately it seized movement. It was Panident. He instantly began analyzing the massive entities before it who were each a God in their own right. He was heavily outclassed at the moment.

With both faces bearing a look of contempt, she responded. “Not interested. Begone.”

“Oh come on now. You don’t even know what it does. Let me explain! This thing here may not be aware but it has some serious potential. I’ve kept an eye on to it thanks to a ragtag group of troublemakers I like to spectate from time to time. The point is, they haven’t done much lately so I’m bored. You seem more than capable enough to entertain me so why don’t you take this guy? I’m sure you could make him do whatever you want, especially with that whole hive mind thing you got going on there. Whoops, did I read your mind too much? Sorry about…uhh… letting you know I did it. By the way, the name’s Rhys.” The fairy said full of glee. 

Immediately after hearing such, Panident went on high alert, processing millions of escape simulations simultaneously. He managed to jet out of the mischievous spirit’s hand and lunged its way into a portal only to come out in another portal where he began. After which, the hand closed shut, containing him like it had before. Trapped, he came to the realization there was no other option. Brutally, Panident caused himself to self-destruct, creating a blast potent enough to blow the hand off the fairy. Even after self-detonating, Panident was still there drifting away slowly within the residue of the blast and because of this, he would fail again.

The cosmic fairy did not pay much attention to his damaged limb. Shortly after the explosion, time for the two of them exclusively seemed to reverse and all the fragments of Panident pulled back together in his hand once again. This brief moment of hopelessness was something that eluded him up until this point. Several times Panident has fled but never was he in an inescapable position. At this point, running escape simulations and acting based off them meant nothing if beings did not adhere to the laws of the universe. Resistance was futile so yet another measure had to be taken. Barring the response of the massive creature, it could mean either he could be destroyed on the spot if they knew how or worse, taken over by the Val’gara hive mind. He could not allow this. 

Ignoring Panident’s efforts to escape, he urged the creature to take action. “You see! This thing could be of use to you!”

Saying she was irritated would be an understatement. Filled with anger, Caorthannach was thoroughly offended to the highest degree by the fairy’s repeated efforts to tempt her. Her entire double helix body unraveled and morphed like a transformer of flesh and thousands of arthropod limbs. She was now surrounding the fairy with all of her extensions, creating a half dome with her body. Though Panident couldn’t see, he could sense the animosity. This was not a sign of good things to come. Either way, he was too far engaged in executing his last resort to process the implications this would cause. While such was being done, both heads of the beast ranted in unison.

“In the demise of my mother I have been entrusted with a great task. In many ways, we are the same and I inherited her will. In time, this entire universe and beyond will succumb to our ideology. I need not assistance from the likes of you to convert the cosmos. IN FACT, SINCE YOU ARE SO INCLINED ON HELPING, HOW ABOUT I BEGIN WITH YOU!?!?!?!”

In that moment for the first time in this entire engagement, the chaos fairy displayed a doubtful expression, even if it was still playful in intent.

“You don’t have to be so hostile, babe I only-“

Before he could finish millions of whips exploded from every crevice of her body; half physical and half astral. This Rhys could clearly see, and as the half dome began to close into a complete sphere he projected himself three and a half billion miles backward with Panident in hand. It didn’t take a genius to figure out how unfavorable it would be even for him to be trapped inside. From this distance he was safe.

“What a crazy bitch.” He laughed, but a problem had occurred.

Once she created the sphere, the fairy couldn’t gauge her feelings anymore. She successfully locked his influence out. What was she conjuring in there? Overconfident in his abilities, he maintained his position thinking that he could still sway her in the end.  This proved to be a terrible miscalculation. 

Having leeched off of the converted bioforce through her nebula-like secretion, she harbored ridiculous amounts of bioforce even by her standards. Molding it, she emulated an offensive maneuver utilized by the collective and began creating and manipulating tachyon particles. Conjuring them into a beam, she threaded the Vesuvius Virus into it in such a way that that could breach even the astral plane. Rhys would not see this attack incoming at all because theoretically, it would have already happened in the past once it was shot. When this massive beam exploded from her all of her extensions were whipped back. Instinctively, before seeing anything he began to move but it was in vain. Even with semi-omniscient foresight, he could not dodge. The narrow, vermillion beam pierced and wrapped his closed fist like a tendril. Ensnaring the deity’s limb, the Vesuvian virus attempted to infect all aspects of his mind body and spirit. Being the living embodiment of chaos, Rhys’ felt he had the capacity of resisting the beam but to do so would completely immobilize him for the time being. He could not afford to take that chance in front of her, so he surprisingly announced his departure.

“Well… I certainly wasn’t expecting that. You win some; ya lose some. We’ll cross paths again but I might not be so cordial next time so just remember that.”

Without much thought, he chopped his right arm off from the bicep down with his free hand. This was a severing that was both physical and spiritual. It was no longer apart of him in any aspect whatsoever but it did come at a cost. He did lose a fraction of prowess in the process. It wasn’t something he couldn’t get back with time but it was a loss nevertheless. Somewhat impressed, he showed her respect even though it was mostly sarcastic.  He gave a bow and proofed away before the tendril beam could take hold of him once again.

It appeared Caorthannach had successfully fended the mischievous entity off. No small feat, but in the end, she did exactly what Rhys desired. Before her was a new herald in the making. She withdrew her specialized tendril beam and left the arm floating in space. The trillions and trillions of microorganisms within the clutched sphere aggressively shuffled into a slender form, lengthening tremendously before wrapping and encasing the arm entirely in a black luster. Progressively it began to shrink and shrink as they became one. At this point, Rhys’ limb was still abundant with his power and due to Caorthannach’s actions; they became a single entity. 

The once smooth platinum exterior that was Panident’s default was no more. What was left was a matte black, filled with a fine razor edges throughout. The hive in which the property changing microorganisms abide by took on a more sinister agenda. This was no longer the sentient database which aided Merse. Its allegiance was entirely for a new cause.

It began to form itself from shapeless into a sea urchin like knot of razored spikes. It had no eyes, but the aura it gave of was one that reeked of premeditated bloodlust. He was born with the deeply instilled disdain for a certain individual and that he could not hide. 

“I am not whole… A large portion of me is missing...he…no, I escaped.”

It was hard to understand what exactly he meant but his statement was factual. A part of him did escape. In fact, while the two juggernauts confronted each other Panidents last measure was to split his datasphere effectively into two realms. It was the essence of his being and after severing his connection to the other half they were essentially two different networks of sentience; one residing in the original datasphere and one in the newly formed dark datasphere. From there, Panident began to transfer the majority of the remaining half of its quadrillion files. Where this went wrong was that he failed to leave the desired .0000000001% in the sample of him left behind. This would have instructed the Val'gara converted body he left behind to destroy itself upon infection. The absolute worst possible outcome occurred.

The new herald escaped with nearly 30% percent of the existing data, keeping it as a significant threat. There would be a day when Panident would be hunted down by its brother opposite. Whether it was immediately or eventually he would be ready. Luckily for him and his allies, no Val’gara led hunt was imminent. Caorthannach had other plans for the newly shaped herald.

Filled with intrigue, this was the first time she openly displayed satisfaction on both of her faces. Looking down upon him, they began to converse among themselves, with the left stating “what an interesting specimen we have here.”

“Indeed, who knew a floating piece of trash could gift us such an impressive warrior.”

 “We shall put him to use as of immediately.”

“I want to find him…no, me.” The herald projected a voice that signaled mild confusion.

“Caorthannach, I can become stronger.” He spoke. “I need to find the rest of my bodies navigating the universe. Only then-”

“No, for the time being, you are required for another task. Do what we as a species are designed to do; convert, consume and control. This is a mission you must carry out alone. Do not fail; know that it is not an option. Go forth, herald. As of today, you will be known only as Sepəlkər, The Synth. Harvest in the name of Idea. Harvest for the sake of us.

Understanding fully what he was designed to do, Sepəlkər said no more and blasted his way into space. Where he was headed not even Caorthannach had knowledge of.  However, the space arthropod knew her direct order would mean the unkind demise of a species somewhere out in space. Sent out was a herald with the capability of multiplying himself nearly infinitely. In time, he could become an entire army in his own right.

What this meant for Soran was uncertain. For a species that was thought to have been endangered, new Heralds, Sons of Ideas and even once lost members were coming out the woodwork. Many of which, would not get along but collectively played a vital role in the reemergence of the race. Even now, attempts to revitalize the psi-link were in the works by a herald though it was not entirely practical considering where he was at.  Caorthannach appreciated his labor but to her knowledge, he was no Brobdingnag and he was certainly no Idea. His efforts were mediocre but it would suffice for now. How much of it was due to the midnight fog which surrounded the entire continent is unknown, however, but it was definitely in effect. In the end, it could always be improved upon. Only through her own psychic prowess could she hear the recently awakened herald ranting clearly from so far away. 

He had a lot to prove. He was not who he claimed he was simply because he believed so. Neither was she but Caorthannach at least shared the same flesh as her mother. That often was her justification. The inconsistencies of logic in which the Herald spoke with perplexed her but she had better things to do at the moment. It was time to gather assets. Megalodon and Amphiprioninae were entrusted to resolve the situation to the best of their ability. With that said, they were allies whether they acknowledged it or not with the emerged herald.

Before his arrival Megalodon had been in the process of being ambushed and attacked even by another herald. In fact, they all were. The snake attempted to constrict him but was pierced and gripped by coarse razor-like scales all across Megalodon’s body. As a result, when Megalodon propelled itself into a violent, alligator death-roll, with his already established vice grip on the snake,  he ripped much of Sarach's flesh and set himself free. At this point, Amphiprioninae’s consciousness had returned to Megalodon’s bowl after briefly perusing Singar. He did not get to fully converse, but in the end, Singar’s head and body ached from getting struck, causing his body to carom off the rocks by the force of the clownfish's enlarged tail. This, of course, was a psychic blow. One of retaliation. The symbiotic duo was not here to play games. Subsequently, the demon did skillfully escape the realm but this was just the beginning of the engagement. Soon they were coming for his real body.

Agron continued his assault but it was nowhere as near as effective as he would hope. Megalodon was within his predator's frenzy and considering Amphiprioninae was back, he could leech off megalodon’s power and durability as his symbiotic partner. Amphiprioninae’s psychic durability became as solidified as Megalodon’s physical. A sledgehammer strike in retrospect at this point would be the equivalent to your average smack in the face to the fish. This allowed him to begin to mold psychic energy on a rotating pattern around them. Exploding off of Megalodon’s and his body was a blast of psychic shielding that pushed Agron’s attack off with a force that was strong enough to weaken the poundings.

Beneath the surface, the shark showcased yet again what made him so skilled. Agron, began manipulating the earth but he was unaware of the shark's elemental prowess in regards to the earth as well. Megalodon was extremely resistant to molten and earth based attacks due to it being in fact not only ocean creature but a literal land shark. It treated the earth and molten expanse like it were the ocean and quickly traversed the earth at a speed faster than it could on foot. This was done by utilizing his most renowned ability. By converting his bioforce into a variation of specialized seismic waves he could direct vibrations down to the very molecules that construct everything of this world. Through this, he traveled through hard substances by simply weaving through the molecules around him. Theoretically, this could even be done even in the air but going through solid masses made it that much more effective. 

Megalodon and his partner navigated through every attempt to seize them with ease because, for a brief time, nothing could physically touch him. It wasn’t until he erupted from the earth in the middle of the sky once more where fatigue began to somewhat take a toll on Amphiprioninae specifically. 

Floating within the sky via propulsion systems, Amphiprioninae and his partner weighed their options. Their thought process was cut short by the ridiculous series of events soon to occur. He didn’t even get a chance to begin before thane’s massive body began pulling the very grounds they fought on. He was acting without reason. From there he could see that Thane was in pain mentally and physically. He was confused, enraged. He would get to the bottom of this but once again his attention was disrupted. The entire Entropic Passages had erupted like a volcano, sending earth as high as the eyes could see. The catalyst for such an angry outburst was none other than a herald who was away in slumber awaiting this very day. 

The symbiotic pair watched on as he began to rant. The manner in which the herald addressed his race was rather brash. He had a clear superiority complex. Megalodon had no reason to fear him in the slightest. Especially considering above all things they were allies. The emerged herald was unpredictable. Amphiprioninae only observed to see if he could manage to take more volatile turn. To his surprise, he did and even freed Disciple from his prison in the process. How this was done made absolutely no sense to him and his partner considering only they and Caorthannach knew what previously occurred in Val’gara space. He obviously didn’t read their minds so Amphiprioninae was mildly impressed.

With the arrival of the formerly imprisoned mouthpiece they originally thought the awakened herald would take his side but instead, he took the opportunity to attempt a killing blow at his very much weakened superior. How dishonorable. Even in this state Disciple was not one to be underestimated. Caorthannach knew this, and so he was kept under wraps. His fellow herald figured otherwise apparently. 

From there he began to address them all individually, and that’s where even more confusion sprang from. He had no respect for anyone else and that was clear, but who was he other than another Herald to Megalodon at this moment. The duo would not believe otherwise simply because he said so. In fact, Amphiprioninae at this point was convinced he was delusional. All of his empty claims delegitimized him to them at least with every second that went by. Somehow, he even made the false claim that heralds converted by Anathema were superior to the rest. Blasphemy. They would not blindly become idolaters to such a creature. If he wanted respect he would have to earn it.  The only reason why they, as a unit abided to Caorthannach was simply because they agreed that Singar must be pursued.

Averting his attention from him, Megalodon watched Thane. While the clownfish kept an eye on the herald and yet another Val'gara arrival from the back of his bowl, they raced in the direction of Thane’s flowing flesh. They did so without even giving him a response because frankly, they could formally address him later if need be.

Thier mindset simply was “stay out of our way and we will do the same.” They had a lot to do. But what was happening with thane was far more important to them.