Have you ever heard the story with no words?

It’s not a story that can be given or taken easily.
Each story-teller has a different tale. The names change. The actions change. The emotions change. But the world… the world is the same.

Six of them, exhausted, walked into a chamber larger than anything they’ve seen before. It was a cylinder, stretching to what seemed like infinity above them. They each adjusted their armor while staring at the massive tower in the middle of the room.

A pillar made of the finest marble with sapphire embedded within the cracks. In any other scenario, it would be considered beautiful. But at that moment, they only saw the creature wrapped around the pillar. A twisted beast with claws the size of a house and a face concealed by the hardened skin that grew on it. Its jaw was unhinged at the center, capable of opening up to reveal rows of massive teeth and the abyss within. Tentacle like appendages hung off its neck, writhing around with a razor sharp tip.

One stepped forwards and took aim with a sleek rocket launcher, unique in its origins. It was a vivid pink and had a distinct fox insignia on its side. Despite this childish appearance, pulling the trigger quickly revealed 2 rockets in succession, each initially coming out of the barrel before firing off a second jet to speed at whatever its user locked onto. The first rocket would have a brilliant yellow stream behind it while its twin had an oppressive purple trail.

Lowering the weapon to check his mark, the rockets detonated right on target, the beast’s face. However, the shock wave that went over the group barely left an impression on the monster. Not a single movement out of the ordinary, like the rockets didn’t fire at all.

“Zephyr, did you actually expect anything to happen?”

“It’s honestly a 50/50 with these things, you never know”

With a quick wave, Zephyr blew off his companion’s question while going to inspect the room. During this, the rest of the group had finished going over their equipment for the inevitable encounter.

“So how are we splitting this?”

This confident voice came from one of the warlocks of the group, wearing a blue robe-like chest piece that glowed with the same light that came from the dragon.

“Doesn’t really matter, does it? How about me, Zephyr, and Illusion on one side with Raven, Matriarch, and Striker on the other?”

A consensus sounded among the group as they split up to the left and right of the monster. These sides contained glowing platforms, 3 on each side, enough for these improvised teams. As the final member took their place, the platforms started to lower.

This revealed both the room and creature were larger than expected; the room extended far below the floor and the beast did the same. While they descended, doors lit up on their respective sides. As if they were on an unwritten script, these doors immediately caused everyone to leap off towards a single door in particular, the one closest to Zephyr’s group.

The distance to the floor, fatal to most, would prove to be no issue. The confident warlock glided down to the floor, held up by the unknown. Following him, Zephyr mimicked the maneuver. Illusion was a hunter by contrast, falling past both of them before letting out a quick jet from their boots to negate the impact.

On the other side, Matriarch did the same to the sound of 2 titans slamming into the floor. The otherwise quiet descent was interrupted by laughter from the comms.

“That was not my fault, I was timing my jump with Striker”

Half joking, one of the titans picked themselves up quickly before continuing to rush to the door.

“Don’t pin this on me! I wasn’t even awake during the jump”

Their injuries would mean nothing as a light faintly shone off their armor, removing the dents that resulted from the impact.

The short-lived teams, passing the door that had lit up, felt the motion of the same door closing behind them. Now locked onto this path, they continued the operation.

Both sides were mirrors of each other, perhaps by chance or by design. The party would continue through a short winding hallway, reaching a room filled with platforms. These platforms were dim, unlike the ones they rode down here on. Looking out from the hallway, there was a small lookout to the left and a pitch black wall to the right. The lookout was built into the room, sticking out of the floor and into the ceiling. It had a platform one could stand on to look through glass, providing an overview of the room and a straight on view of the black wall.

As quickly as they arrived to the room, strange black voids would appear along with them. These voids would bend and shift light around them as robotic appendages stuck their way out before bringing the entire body through. These robots with skinny, with their only weapon attached to the body. Powered by a vulnerable gel core in its stomach, they would make up for durability in numbers. Each void quickly pulled more robots through along with another, different being. Bulky with limbs like trees, contrasting greatly with the bots, a void taken creature called the “phalanx” would arrive to defend its comrades. These living tanks had impenetrable shields attached to their arms and would fire rifles from the safety provided behind them.

Faced with this opposition, their response was a simple exchange.

“On your command, Kai?”

“Are you an idiot? Glass them!”

With practiced precision, the crew quickly drew their arms and started firing while evading oncoming attacks. Despite being in 1 big group again, they instinctively split up to clear the room with efficiency. Kai, Zephyr, and Illusion on one side with Raven, Matriarch, and Striker on the other, just like before. They all used similar weapons, a white SMG with a spider on the side. As an enemy goes down, the one who shot it down would seem to get stronger and faster. This was no placebo, this was the Recluse, a specialty weapon made from the heat of combat. Automatons and phalanxes stood no chance against this show of force.

The room was cleared, and everyone reloaded their guns before turning to look at the black wall. The entire wall started to warp and bend, just like the voids that came before. With no fear in their eyes, the split up teams met up once more in the middle of the room, facing the wall. Their SMGs were put back into their holsters, the majority of which being replaced by much bulkier looking rocket launchers. These weapons had large round metal bulbs at the head of the launcher, where the rocket would normally come out. The bulbs had many holes on the side facing away from the user, and this was a sight that nobody wanted to be at the end of.

As the wall was at its limit, reality seemed to tear as the beast that was once peaceful tore its way into the room. Closer than ever to this monster from the void, Zephyr lit up with the light of the sun before conjuring a sword to stab into the floor. The sword penetrated the cold surface and warmed its surroundings, bringing a very real strength to the group.

The creature roars, opening its split jaw to reveal yet another familiar void inside it. However, this one was different. Instead of bringing something in from beyond, this void would attempt to eliminate the foolish party by changing reality itself.

Either unfazed by the possible threat of death or too deep in the situation to run away, Kai would be the next one to move. A purple energy would go across their body before coalescing in the palm of their hand. With the same motion one would use to throw a dodgeball, Kai flung out this power in the form of a slow moving sphere that would destroy anything in its way.

Matriarch and Illusion would follow suit by embodying a familiar solar light before condensing it into a different form. Like they’ve done a million times in the past, both mirror each others’ movements by summoning tens of throwing knives from their hands, thrown in the direction of the monster with a stylish twirl.

Finally, Raven and Striker summon the energy of a lightning storm around themselves, striking their surroundings before launching at their enemy like human rockets. The sound of thunder rings throughout the room as they impact, leaving sparks floating in the air.

The dust still in the air from Kai’s nova would not cue the cease fire. As each guardian finished firing off their signature attacks, they would shoulder their launchers for the true final assault. Zephyr’s rocket launcher would seem normal compared to the ones his teammates had. On their trigger pull, tens of rockets would come out of the small holes on the front of the sphere, lighting up their surroundings like fireflies. Unlike fireflies, these would quickly find their target by homing onto the void within the monster’s mouth like some kind of explosive wasps.

With one final explosion and a crackling in the air, the dust would quickly clear as the beast lets out a roar. The void within its body had been damaged beyond belief in this small window of time, and it was unable to summon up the energy to wipe out the team. It would retreat back into the wall it came out of, with the party hot in pursuit. Quickly holstering the launchers, everyone would run to the only hallway into this room, knowing this fight wasn’t over.