Black Pearl Cluster

For years I have chased the elusive third Pearl of Blackness. For years I have commanded thousands of Hexics, moving them to my will and creating powerful patterns. The first Pearl, the first of the dark mysterious artifacts partly inherent in every Hexic, came to me in a vision: "Forge a Hexagon of Thirty-six Hexics thrice and be granted power to shake the very core of Hexilia."

Thirty-six Hexics, I wondered. How could a Hexagon be made with such a number? It defied maths and it defied the sacred ritual; six Hexics of the same spirit-colour banded together in a Hexagon around a lonely, different soul-colour. This caused a harmonic energy to cycle through the six and, in a dazzling display of light, all seven Hexics are fused into a Stars of Six Sides.

Six! For one Star of Six Sides I needed six Hexics in a Hexagon. If I did this six times, and no Stars connected in the forbidden patterns (to be lost in eternity), I would have used thirty-six Hexagons and would have six Stars of Six Sides. A hexagon of Stars of Six Sides - thirty-six Hexics in a Hexogon.

I knew it to be the true meaning of my vision, and thus I went forth and moved the Hexics. I was rewarded with a frightening object; an object darker than anything I had ever seen. It didn't shine bright like the Stars of Six Sides. It didn't have a colour like the Hexics; it was the absence of every soul-colour and at the same time it was all of them together. It lacked three sides. It was the very essence of Hexilia.

In my excitement I had forgotten the vision and declared myself victorious - truly my command of Hexila was unrivaled and complete.

But it wasn't so. A message tingled at my subconscious and I lost sleep. I would dream of strange things, nightmarish things: Stars merging in threes and fours; even five stars falling together and turning to getheral dust. The strange black object haunted me. It's three marks - placed on non-adjacent sides - glowed and spun. In my mind's eye it dominated every scene.

I began to descend into madness. Since that first dark object I had lost my will and my direction. Hexics merged and moved. Soul-colours blended and thrived and I couldn't fuse them. From my greatest height of achievement I had fallen over backwards into an abyss; the black abyss, made from the blackest object.

Hulic ex alic hipt a thir.

These words echoed in my mind and I understood not. But I traveled to the hills where I could seek wisdom and perhaps hide from the overbearing presence of the dark object. I couldn't outrun the blackness , but the hills gave me strength far from it; now I hungered for completion. I felt a fiery desire like nothing I had ever known.

My return was as glorious as my departure. I was half-driven mad and moving forward on a primitive and strange energy. I didn't know if it was mine or a being's more sinister.

Hulic ex alic hipt a thir.

Hexics once again moved and merged. I faded in and out of nightmares and consciosness. I didn't know who I was anymore, I just moved Hexics and fused them into Stars of Six Sides. I lost count of how many were lost to the getheral, but it didn't matter on the day I found the second dark object. By now I had started to call them Pearls of Blackness. They held the key, I knew that, but I didn't know what the key unlocked; power unrivaled or a void to Hexilia's demise. I had no idea how many I needed or what to do with them. Perhaps it was six; perhaps I needed thirty-six Stars of Six Sides in a Hexagon. Thirty-six stars, one thousand two hundred and ninety-six Hexics. Crah!

The vision came back to me in another nightmare: "Forge a Hexagon of Thirty-six Hexics thrice and be granted power to shake the very core of Hexilia."

Three.

I was one Pearl from ending this maddening journey, for better or worse I didn't care anymore. I wanted an end. It consumed me. My will wavered, but the two Pearls I had called forth imbued me with unreal energy. An energy unnatural that burned inside my being. My own soul-colour had long faded into a dull grey. I had stopped thriving on the moving of Hexics. No longer was it a satisfying ritual to fuel my being and, thus, Hexilia.

Dull darkness clouded every horizon. The hills in the distance where I had come back from were hidden by a shadow. Would the symbolic merging of three Pearls of Darkness be the promised power or the dark doom? Would I shake the core to its demise?

Could I? I could. Why... thirty-six Hexics in a Hexagon of Stars of Six sides thrice and the power... the power... would be mine. I had but one final Pearl of Darkness to summon.

Although my own essence was depleted, I began to utilize the power of the two Pearls I had invoked. They were joined now; I discovered their separation caused a rift that sucked the colour from a soul, as the Pearls sought each other out. Hungered for a trio.

I awoke on what I shall call the final night. Prepared myself with everything I had left inside and out of me. Every Hexic was my essence; every Star of Six Sides and, unnaturally, every powerful Pearl of Darkness.

"If not this, then never it will be," I told myself. Grey colour peeling away, black dots appearing.

A wind hummed in my ears, though nothing moved. All soul-colours mingled in the air and gravitated towards the two black voids connected by their glowing shards. The stillness was like a collapsing sky, heavy and foreboding. I felt the Hexics in my mind, and felt them move to my will in a final dance. It was as if they spoke, in whispers, of their great puzzle.

Hours passed and not a sound escaped my lips. I had to squint my eyes to conserve energy. As the Stars formed and moved together in a Hexagon, the mix of colours in the grey mist was almost beautiful to gaze upon. I felt tired. Content. But not finished.

The final Star of Six Sides came to be and, in an exhaustive effort, I moved it to the others, finishing the Hexagon, and moaned as the third Pearl of Darkness appeared. Its dark, voiding energy, sucking the last colours from the world. I fell to my knees, at the limit of my essence, and closed my eyes. The two Pearls together created a powerful attraction to their third as all three attempted to connect.

I felt three red Hexics call to me and I moved them together. They merged and the Pearl of Darkness fell into their space, closer to the pair. Close enough now.

On hands and knees and willed two more Hexics - I felt them faint and weak, but together strong enough - to move the voidious Pearl to the others. With them so close, their dark energy was localised and the draining was less powerful.

I collapased before they connected, but then rose to kneel once they hit. The world rumbled and a blazing light shot in all directions. I was blinded for those few seconds. Knocked backwards by the burst of energy and shaken by the rumbling. Every soul-colour flowed like a river through the air and fused itself with me. I was lifted high into the sky and felt the Hexics fade away. The Pearls of Darkness expanded as the colours poured out and the world shook and I was filled with the most powerful energy ever felt.

Moments later I exploded in colours and the grey, rumbling world was filled with it. For those seconds I understood the true meaning of beauty. Then I fell.

I fell the full distance I had been lifted. Into the black void that swallowed me and disappeared. I do not know what happened inside that dark place, but I did awaken later. To a different world. I felt light and full of... power.

I wasn't confused. Knew it was the Pearls fused with my essence. I was everything Hexilia was. Powerful, all-being. I understood, even as I looked to a tree and noticed it wasn't jaggered or straight-edged, but rather curved and round. I understood the change.

Now the world is round once more.

I am Hexulu, Champion of Hexic and Lord of Hexilia.



- G .|

Thirty-six Hexics in a Hexagon thrice
Six Star of Six Sides in a Hexagon thrice,
Black Pearl Cluster the world a-tumblin' down
Awaken to circles and curves
Ah, but the power you've earned
O Lord Hexulu