Page 100 of Chaos Carnival

Then Baphomet's true form emerged.

His horns spiraled out of his head, wings of pure darkness unfurling across the sky. Ancient power radiated from him in waves that made everyone pause.

He abandoned his fight with the hunters, moving with mysterious grace toward the spreading emptiness.

Using clawed hands, he traced burning symbols through the tatters, each gesture forcing existence back into focus for precious seconds. The hunters seized their chance, charging with celestial weapons blazing. But my family moved as one, acrobats diving through fractured space, knife throwers' blades singing through dimensional tears, fire dancers weaving walls of flame.

“Keep them back!” Stone's voice echoed, his armor reflecting in all directions. Baphomet began to chant in a language I’d never heard, each syllable vibrating through the atmosphere.

The Null God writhed, its formless mass contracting and expanding as the demon's influence fought to contain it. I tried to reach for Maverick, forgetting for a moment that I no longer had form. My consciousness rippled through the space where my hand should have been, and I watched him shudder as my essence passed through him like a cold wind.

“Whatever you're doing, hurry!” Lux's barriers of pure light strained against the hunters' assault. The world fractured around us.

“The banishing must be completed.” Baphomet's voice resonated across dimensions. “Or all realities collapse.”

A hunter burst through our defenses, blade aimed at Baphomet's exposed back. Maverick materialized from darkness, tackling them away.

The ritual's power built like a storm.

Dark energy swirled around Baphomet's true form as he fought to contain the enemy. Our performers moved in perfect synchronization, keeping the hunters at bay while existence crumbled around them.

Reality buckled. The air grew thicker.

My consciousness stretched across multiple planes as pressure built to impossible levels.

Baphomet's words thundered.

The Null God imploded.

The shockwave hit like creation itself being born again. Pure force rippled outward, through every plane of existence.

The timeline flexed and snapped back like a cosmic rubber band.

My family scattered like leaves, Maverick phasing between shadow and solid as he fought to stay upright, Stone's armor spider webbing with cracks, Lux's barriers dissolving into prismatic mist.

Hunters tumbled through the air, flickering and dying. The ground liquified and reformed in impossible patterns. Trees bent, their leaves cycling through colors.

I felt the wave pass, like being unmade and remade a thousand times in a single instant.

Then silence.

The universe itself seemed stunned, holding its breath as it settled back into proper alignment.

Where the Null God had been, nothing remained. Just space, healed and whole.

But I remained scattered, formless.

Maverick stumbled through the wreckage, his movements were jerky, uncoordinated, nothing like his usual predatory grace. Blood soaked his torn shirt from wounds already healing, but he didn't seem to notice. He fell to his knees beside my empty shell.

“No, no, no...” His voice shattered on each word. “Tess, baby, please.” His hands trembled as he gathered what remained of my body into his arms. My skin had turned ashen, entire chunks of my body missing, seemingly cauterized.

My eyes—once burning with cosmic power—stared unseeing at the sky, dull and empty. “Wake up.” He pressed his forehead to mine, tears falling onto my cold face. “You can't do this. You can't leave me.”

Each word tore from his throat, bleeding and raw. I tried to reach for him, to touch him, to let him know I still existed somewhere in the spaces between moments. But I had no substance, no way to bridge the dimensional gap.

I could only watch as he clutched my corpse closer, rocking like a child.

“We were supposed to have more time.” His words crumbled like our shattered dreams. “You promised me forever. In every time and place, you said you chose me.” His voice dropped to a desperate whisper. “So choose me now. Come back.”

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