Aku o yurusu na ... Avail No Evil

The ceiling groaned before it gave way. Concrete and asphalt crashed in. Dust cascaded like ash from a dying star, and the tunnel’s breath turned heavy with the stench of ruptured stone—and beneath it, the faint sting of sulphur. Only the trained would know what it meant. A breach. Ms Nell had sensed it long before—the weak seam in the labyrinth, the place where reality itself thinned.

The alarms wailed, red light pulsing against the walls. It did not frighten her, nor pump her with endorphins, alluding to glory like a rookie. She merely sighed and performed her ritual, as required of every Keeper of Secrets.

Heels off. Clothes discarded. The veil tied across her eyes. The world of flesh and stone dissolved, and the other-worlders revealed themselves: writhing silhouettes, impossible geometries, whispers that clawed at sanity. Unbothered, she reached for the implements of her task. Katanas coalesced into existence in her hands.

Repetitious breaches exhausted her more than they frightened her. But she kept discipline. It wasn’t the breaches that killed her fellow members. It was routine. Routine bred laziness. Laziness lowered guards. That was never her. Her body moved before her mind could register. Some called it being one with the blade.

She stretched once, a feline coil of muscle and intent. More out of habit than tension. Then launched forward, slicing through dust, through the veil of dimensions, into the breach where the other-worlders clawed their way in.

It was a thankless task. But it was hers.

*** END***

Hope you all liked my story and artwork.
Thank you for your support and comments/likes.

The artwork combined both the Daz Studio Iray Render and Postwork in Photoshop.
Layers of render and brushwork was undertaken for this final submission.

Thank you.
Yaz