Fighting with the fury of a betrayed and cornered goddess

The air in the reinforced laboratory in Cancún—to which they had returned from Calakmul due to a strategic need for access to certain technology and the growing instability of the jungle vortex—was a mixture of exhaustion and the fleeting hope brought by Enki. The news that Amitiel, the Netlin Supreme Commander, had granted a reprieve, albeit conditional, had bought them precious time. But that hope was about to be brutally shattered.

Merlin and Quetzal were deep in discussion with Enki about the exact nature of the "cooperation" Amitiel expected. Dracula and Sorcha watched from the shadows, analyzing every word. Aria, still vibrating with the energy of her new magic and the Gaia resonance she had felt in Calakmul, tried to maintain a state of meditative alertness.

It was then that the base's outer barriers—a complex web of Umbrian magic, Anunnaki technology, and Mayan shamanic wards—spluttered violently. An instant later, a shadowy figure with the emerald glow of a dark, wounded divinity materialized in the center of the room, falling to its knees, gasping.

"Morgana!" Aria exclaimed, running toward her, as Kaelen and the Punishers instinctively went on guard.

Morgana Le Fay, the Dark Faerie Goddess, was covered in ethereal wounds that seemed to ooze darkness and corrupted light. Her regal bearing was broken, her eyes filled with a horror that transcended fear.

"They're... they're alive!" Morgana gasped, grabbing Aria's arm. "Nyx... Poimandres... They're still holding! But only just! The onslaught... is... unimaginable."

"What did you see, Morgana?" Merlin asked, his voice deep and urgent. The alliance with Nyx and Morgana was one of extreme convenience, but now they shared a precarious fate.

Morgana fought to catch her breath, her gaze scanning the hall, settling on Enki with a new and terrible realization. "Cthulhu's alliance... is not only with his spawn. The Netlin... the Luciferians, as they call themselves in their tongues of dark fire!... They are fighting with him! As one!"

Enki took a step back, his golden eyes widening in shock. "No... Amitiel swore... his war is against the Great Old One. He..."

"Lies!" Morgana spat, venom in her voice. "Either one faction has been deceived, or all of you have been its pawns. This is not new, Anunnaki! This unholy alliance is ancient!" Knowledge seemed to well up within her, perhaps unlocked by the trauma of battle or by her deep connection to Fae magic, which recalled echoes of forgotten wars.

"When the Lyran Wars consumed the stars," Morgana continued, her voice trembling with fury and revelation, "Great Old Ones like Cthulhu and this Netlin sect, the Luciferians, were already united. They were not fighting the primordial Chaos as an opposing force, but using it! They were fighting the Lyran civilizations, those they called the Lyreans, and other cosmic races that defended a balance that submitted neither to Cthulhu's all-consuming Void nor to the Netlin's absolute, tyrannical Order!"

The room fell into stunned silence. This revelation rewrote the cosmic history they were only just beginning to understand.

"And Amitiel..." Morgana turned to Enki, her emerald eyes blazing. "The 'Fallen Strategist' you contacted... the truth is an even greater blasphemy! During the battle, through the psychic nightmares Nyx projected in her agony and the chants of power of the Luciferians... I sensed a familial connection, a resonance of dark blood. Amitiel is not an enemy of Cthulhu in the sense you believe! He is his kin! His younger brother!"

If Enki had been in shock before, now he looked devastated. "No... it can't be... the annals... the prophecies of the Netlin Fall..."

"They are lies woven to hide a monstrous truth!" Morgana insisted. "His 'Fall' was not due to rebellion against a nonexistent Heaven of Light, but perhaps to power struggles within his own dark lineage, or an elaborate strategy to infiltrate other spheres of creation and prepare them for the harvest. Amitiel's 'war' against Cthulhu is a sham, a ruse to consolidate the power of his lineage or to eliminate other rival Great Old Ones who do not abide by his pact! His true base of operations, his hidden citadel, is not in some lost celestial realm, but on Neptune! In the cold, dark reaches of your own solar system, watching, waiting!"

A strangled gasp escaped Elena Rossi's lips. Merlin seemed to have aged a century in that instant. Quetzal watched with a solemnity that transcended surprise, as if this new layer of cosmic deception were just another turn in the spiral of the Great Cycle.

"So," Merlin said quietly, "Amitiel's ultimatum... our 'hope' for a reprieve

It was all a diversionary maneuver. A way to assess us, to ensure our passivity or our submission before the real offensive."

The decision not to send information to Amitiel, made at Calakmul after Aria saw the attack on Nyx, now seemed not only wise, but prophetic.

"Nyx knows now," Morgana said, exhausted. "She saw the truth at the heart of the storm. She is fighting with the fury of a betrayed and cornered goddess, Poimandres at her side. But the combined power of Cthulhu and his Netlin kin is... inconceivable." She shuddered. "I tried to contact you, Merlin, to warn you. But the interference... was too great."

Suddenly, Aria, who had been silent, pale but with her eyes glowing brightly, put her hands to her head. "Nyx!" she gasped. "Her scream... I feel it again... Despair!" "Pure terror!"

Everyone feared the worst. Hope had been shattered, replaced by the certainty of cosmic betrayal and the imminence of a unified, monstrous enemy with the advantage of deception. They were alone, and the night had just become infinitely darker.