The Salvation of Saint-14 (prompt fic)

by NetRaptor

Ambrose is a young Guardian who is terrified of the pyramids that lurk at the outskirts of the solar system. He is also unwilling to go back to Mercury and delve into the Infinite Forest, where Saint-14 died. But when Ikora personally sends him back, Ambrose has no choice but to face his own fears and venture down the Corridors of Time in search of the timeline where Saint-14 died.

15. Chapter 15: Vex

Time. Space. Inextricably linked. One affecting the others. Delicate possibilities playing across the higher dimensions like vines stretching between great trees of unchangeable events.

Here dwelt the Vex in their hierarchy, each class with a different function and focus. Always calculating the ideal future. Always calculating how to best opponents and enemies. Always trying to calculate the movements of Light and Darkness. The trees moved, throwing dappled shade across the possible and the probable, adding the delicate touches of change and chaos. Among them the Vex moved as gardeners, pruning, tending, guiding the delicate growth of the eons.

The Child called Saint-14 had been silenced but at great cost, the branch of his tree cut away. Light could not be simulated, only drained. Many risks had been taken and many futures lost to Saint-14, the connecting branches shattered and fallen away. The Axis Vex tore away that branch and cast it into the void, seeking to destroy it and erase it forever. But a branch filled with Light could not be so easily removed. Threads still connected to its tree, even as the trunk bled red sap.

What! The Light called Osiris built a paracausal machine that whispered and burrowed through the timelines. It pierced through the forest like a ravenous worm, gnawing through the trunks and branches, flinging itself between them on gossamer threads, ever seeking its nameless goal. The Axis Vex studied it and ambushed those who walked its pathways. Even here, they could not predict the Light. But they could thwart it, misdirect it, choke it off. Ever the Reflections of Osiris roamed in the trail of the worm, seeking the death moment of Saint-14, the triumph of the Axis. Always they hid that moment, buried it, pushing it out of the path of Osiris's Reflections. He was but one mind while the Vex were many. He would never find the severed branch. He was the Light and they were the shadows that danced in its periphery.

What was this? A beacon was planted at an earlier time, altering the moment of Saint-14's death. Alternate timelines spun off the severed branch, ripe with probability, messy as splattered fruit. The Axis descended upon them, paring them away, cleaning the splatter before it could attract the worm-

No! Light was coming, drawn to the beacon. The worm used the Sundial to tunnel toward the severed branch, leaping through the void. In panic the Axis fought to purge the futures, but it was too late. The Light found a stray seed of possibility and slipped into the moment, guided by that beacon.

The Axis conferred among themselves. This was an emergency. Saint-14's death must not be undone. Too many timelines pivoted on it. The Martyr Mind must be prepared to drain the Light of two, not one. There was a 67 percent chance of success, even without the possibility of simulating the outcome.

The severed branch was returned to its tree, bound by the sweet, sticky sap of continuity. The Axis Vex descended upon it in the terrified fury of uprooted gods. The Light must not persist, must not spread its joyful chaos. The entire forest might be set ablaze by the smallest spark, therefore, the sparks must be quenched.