Note: This is a re-write of a prior story that went by the same name/premise but has had some subtle and major changes.
"Ergo in reality evident a ghost upon not which seen.
In terms a shadow is shed in Meconopsis,
Through a cancer the light is set for ransom,
In a ransom the stone azure ascends… in a vision an evergreen chrysalis,
Crimson metal set in monochrome loathsome.
A Maxim set to a debt an eon ago,
To malignance on pillars life,
Forthwith my devil travels on wings halo,
As bold a flower told in strife,
An epoch in Argo, my angel... tattered horns elevating in judgement.
Begin the cry in rogue torment,
Commence the war in the shadows malevolent,
Instigate the crime paid with a Revenant,
Begin the End that a thousand sons could not in a lifetime prevent."
Khaoron opened his eyes.
The ruby coloured fires looked into the darkness around him. Mechanical receptors made instant work of the lack of light bringing the haunted chambers to still life.
For what felt like forever he sat in the quiet chambers with a perfect stillness, hovering above a platform of liquid metal that rocked about like a living ocean. With each passing second the fire in the Overlords eyes cooled and a powerful frame more ancient than mankind shuddered with an alien hiss.
Necrodermis plates locked into place as a myriad cables shrank away to skulk back into the shadows of the Regents throne room and a giant ribcage ascended to a station above.
With a slow motion Khaoron tugged at the final cable that nested at the back of his neck. A sharp clarity stung his mind as the connection was lost. Severed from the digital enormity of the Shadowlith he could almost feel the serenity of the darkness.
The regents room was featureless and obsidian, without the useless pomp and grandeur that was usually prevalent amongst others leaving only a Spartan architecture.
Suddenly, as if reacting to a spatial change the sea of metal froze. Khaoron glared upwards into a red glow that now bathed the black room. A cube, interlocking and rotating upon itself into impossible shapes stared back at him.
"The Athias theatre, Koziko Ethmeht's 2nd verse…a sophomore opera of greed, love and vengeance. Have you heard it?"
"Of course I have." was all Khaoron wanted to say.
"Was it good?"
"Where are we?"
"Approximately ten hours from the Primary target. All vessels register a 100% success through the Celestious and the null-field engaged by the Shadowlith is operating a maximum efficiency. The fleet is one with the darkness."
He registered the words flooding into his mind and began working on a million thoughts at once. Engrams fired ruthlessly tossing about a generations worth of knowledge and refining them into a strategy.
"Did I recite the words correctly?"
Another metallic shudder and the Overlord stood to his full height, the throne hovering slowly to the floor.
"Will you sing them with me?"
Khaoron began to stride forwards. With each step on the frozen metal sea a wave of black scarabs rose up. The shapeless form melding with his skeleton body. Grafting into him the tools to harness arcane sciences and a carapace made from the most advanced sempiternal weaves.
"…. will you walk with me?"
Khaoron stopped at the end.
In a graceful motion he turned to the dim light. It had now dissolved into a frigid mass small enough to grasp.
"Never call me that name again." he said with a haunted tone.
"Don't leave me." It replied.
"You're not real."
"I exist."
He turned to face the fading light that now began to draw closer to him. The glow created a crimson tone on the Overlords body that matched his eyes.
"As a figment of thought, that is not reality."
"Unfurl my love but two realities present - your world, and others a phantasm evident. Existence like this are worlds of the mind dreams: their reality is not as forthwith seems. What is crucial is clause in judgement. The arrival of a Maxim evident.
A Vision observed knows not the written but a ghost to provide a threat, a dream and power; the solace of refuge, and pain. They give your reality meaning yet do not exist; and thus they are all that matters."
Khaoron opened his eyes. A cold breath escaped from an iron jaw sealed shut.
From the liquid metal, seemingly a million miles beneath him, a smooth orb dangled loosely in the air. He stretched out his hand but fell short.
Countless cables snaked around him, some plugged directly into the Overlords body while others into the giant ribcage that encircled him restricting his movements. He paused for a moment letting his arm hang outstretched.
In a ponderous flight the orb began to glide towards him.
As it nestled in his palm a radiance of blue light shone through its black sheen like and ocean wave flowing beneath its surface and Khaoron's ruby eyes chuckled.
"It was just a dream."