The cavern was frigid, frost coated the floor where it had been squeezed out of the frozen air. Every now a then a sharp crack would echo off the stone walls as the rock in the walls and ceiling fissured and blew apart from the thermal shock. 

Everything was outlined in white frost except for the dead black surface that bisected one end of the cavern, the cold seemed to end at its unreactive surface. 

A mound in the center of the cavern had swirls of icy mist swirling off its rime coated shape, the only thing on the floor other than shattered bits of cold rock. 

A massive crack thundered across the cavern as the mound fissured, a hissing shriek followed as the mist laden air was sucked into the mound. The sound slowly lowered in pitch till the rush of air stopped. 

The mound shivered for a moment before one side was pushed out revealing a skeletal arm, glittering a light blue in the faint light of the cavern. A skeleton step out of the broken mound, boney feet squeaking in the layer of frost on the hard stone floor. It held up its hands in front of its skull, seemingly examining its hands with empty sockets, flexing the fingers. The skeleton seemed to lose interest in its hand as it focused on the enigmatic black wall, walking towards it to stop short. It examined the extent of the wall before reaching out a hand closer to it. 

“I would be happy if you did touch it and disappeared for good, but I fear that the elemental would be upset at losing his second favorite crystal he provided as material for your new body.”-Blindfolded Angel 

The skeleton stopped and turned to face the group that had appeared from the shadows nearby. A creepy voice entered the minds of the four. 

“I appreciate the sacrifice of your treasure old friend and am saddened to inform you that our fears are true. Everything beyond the black veil is gone, including your favorite treasure.”-Elder Lich 

The hematite Elemental sagged, then slowly sank into the floor. The red skinned female devil looked annoyed at the spot it disappeared. 

“Where is it going?”-Devil 

The skeleton waved its hand in a soothing gesture. 

“He is just a bit sad now, he will be fine in a few years. He has already done enough by alerting us to this problem so early.”-Elder Lich 

The skeleton turned its blue tinted skull towards the black wall. 

“What did you find beyond the surface, fiend?”-Blindfolded Angel 

The skeleton turned and walked across the frost coated floor towards the others, stopping in front of them. 

“There is nothing. No space, no time. All that is left is a single memory trapped on the thin edge of the wall.”-Elder Lich 

The Female devil smiled and stepped forward proudly. 

“So, I was right. It's a void incursion.”-Devil 

“No, foolish imp. He did not say void, he said nothing.”-Blind Angel 

The angels melodious voice was like a father patronizing a wayward child. The Devil turned angrily towards the angel. 

“The void is nothing, you sanctimonious twit!”-Devil 

“Calm Edel. You are both right. The void has no volume, and does not experience time, but it is a singular point of potential where all things could exist. What is beyond the wall is something we don’t have words for. There is no space, no time, no volume, no potential. Nothing exists, has every existed, or ever will exist.”-Elder Lich 

The devil Edel pursed her lips, laying a graceful finger across them. 

“Nihility. I didn’t think it existed.”-Edel (Devil) 

The blindfolded angel sighed and looked down. 

“Then it is even worse than we feared.”-Blindfolded Angel 

Before any of the others could continue, the elf spoke up, gesturing around the white frosted cavern while shivering. 

“I know in doesn't affect you guys much, but it’s ridiculously cold in here.”-Elf 

The Elf’s breath was a cloud that visible crystalized in the cold air, creating a new haze of frost to fall to the floor below. 

“And for the love of the gods, cover your sparkly new bones. I keep picturing what you would look like with flesh and skin and it’s creeping me out!”-Elf 

…. 

Later the four sat around an ancient table, which was in turn surrounded by tall stone columns. The site was at the top of a small hill that allow the four to view the small village bellow and the green valley beyond. 

The reddish skinned devil, Edel flip her long black hair over her shoulder as she leaned forward. 

“Spill Ezhil. You said you saw a memory?”-Edel 

She picked up the crystal goblet and swirled the red wine while she was talking. The now robbed and hooded skeleton nodded. 

“But you said it was Nihility, there shouldn’t be anything to see. Did your skull get scrambled?”-Elf 

The blindfolded angel taped a finger on the tables polished wood surface. 

“Monveer, please refrain from interrupting. You should be able to at least think before you speak by now.”-Blindfolded Angel 

The angel spoke like he was talking to a student, and a dense one at that. 

The elf scowled across the table at the blindfolded angel. 

“Just because I don’t pre-date most fossils does not mean I'm a child.”-Monveer (Elf) 

Edel chuckled and tilted her glass at the elf. 

“You haven't even passed your first millennium, which in this group, means you are a child.”-Edel (Devil) 

The elf started to open his mouth but was cut off by a sharp look from the beautiful devil. Her voice lowered and took on a deadly sharp edge. 

“And children can be forgiven comments about fossils and how old others are.”-Edel (Devil) 

The elf face went white as he realised what a horrible mistake he had just made. Before the elf could break out of the horror-stricken panic his mind was flailing around in, the creepy voice broke through. 

“Be nice Edel. Monveer is young compared to some of us, but his alchemical skill has risen him to a seat at our table. Time will temper him even as it has tempered a rash and impulsive young ash mage I once knew.”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

The raven-haired devil gave the elf one last look before pursing her ruby lips. The angel spoke up, tapping the table with his finger again. 

“Assuming young Monveer has time. I suggest that we keep in mind that the Nihility continues to grow. Continue fiend.”-Blindfolded Angel 

The skeleton nodded and brought his blue glittering bone hands up to indicate a sphere. 

“There is a memory that exists just on edge of the Nihility, captured on the thin line where time no longer exists. It shows the exact moment that the Nihility was created, born in one of the Demons labs.”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

“So, it was the cursed spawn. A doom weapon left behind to destroy those they could not subvert.”-Blindfolded Angel 

The skeleton shook his head side to side. 

“No. It appeared that they were using our rocky friend's favorite crystal in an attempt to create the heart of a star. A power source, not a weapon. I’m afraid that some of the fault for this tragedy lies with us.”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

The Agel tilted his head before he spoke. 

“You say some action of the table caused this?”-Blindfolded Angel 

The hooded skeleton sighed. 

“It comes under the guise of unintended consequences. It has to do with the project that brought young Monveer to our attention. The Hero project.”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

“The Hero project was a complete success. They were pivotal to our victory over the cursed spawn, and most did not last long enough beyond the war to have any consequences.”-Blindfolded Angel 

The devil ran her fingers down the now empty goblet and smiled. 

“That was inspired. There were so many hidden controls in their construction that none of them survived long enough to try to take over. Or be used by anyone else.”-Edel (Devil) 

She looked towards the elf again, but this time with a whimsical smile. 

“I was especially impressed by the death reaction you placed in them Monveer. To be killed by just a faint whiff of a specific flower, unique to each of the heroes. Genius. It is the reason you gained my vote to offer you a seat at our table.”-Edel (Devil) 

The elf looked relieved that the devil was no longer eyeing him like a house wife calculating how many meals she could make out of him. The blindfolded angel shook his head. 

“A waste of good resources. We should have retained control of them and controlled the lesser through them.”-Blindfolded Angel 

The skeletal hand knocking on the wood of the table stopped the budding argument. 

“Danyahyel. As you said earlier “if we have time”, which we won’t if we rehash old arguments. A common failing of us that have passed a millennium.”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

The rising glow from empty eye sockets forestalled Edel’s almost instinctual reaction to fight at the angel's critical statement, and Ezhil’s oblique reference to her age. 

“The Hero project fulfilled its purpose, but it’s the regrettable early problems that I am referring too.”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

Edel sneered and held her nails up to catch the light. 

“What? The rejects? We found use for them before the successful products were ready.”-Edel (Devil) 

She smiled at the angel, remembering her victory over his position that the hero summoning failures should be culled. Instead, her argument that they could still be of use as shock troops till the hero's debut had carried the table. If the skeleton still had flesh, his face would have been frowning before he continued. 

“Yes, the rejects. The souls we pulled from their rest for our purposes, and yet we treated them as less than animals when they were of no use to us. Both of you miss handled that situation.”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

The opening of the skeletons hood glowed bright with Ezhil’s words as it turned to look at both the angel and the devil in turn. Slowly the glow faded, and both the angel and devil relaxed from the tension they had not realised that they had felt. 

“I bare blame too. But it seems that one of our failures preformed far beyond our expectations. You recall that before the final assault on the Demon mesa, the united command sent in the remaining shock troops as saboteurs?”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

The elf sat up straighter with a eureka lock on his face. His hands waved in the air as he exclaimed. 

“The explosion! The massive one from before we attacked. You said power source earlier, one of them got close and set off one of the mana accelerated conversion explosives and caused this!”-Monveer (Elf) 

The skeleton waved his hand and an illusion showing the shadowy humanoid figure connected to the pulsing line of mana leading to the bright cracked point, appeared above the table. 

“One of our failures managed to hold off against his or her programing long enough to get close to the Star Heart and set off the M.A.C.E right next to it.”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

The three leaned in closer. The elf leaned in even closer and spoke in wonder. 

“How much mana was he pumping out to have the mana lines materialize visually?”-Monveer (Elf) 

“Only the best of the heroes were able to exceed the limits of the bodies we created.”-Danyahyel (Blind folded Angel) 

The hooded skeleton nodded towards the angel. 

“It appears that at least one of the failures was able to reach the same heights as the trained and well-equipped heroes were.”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

Ezhil turned from the angel to look at the beautiful devil. Edel looked defiant for a bit, but soon looked away from the weight of the skeletons gaze. 

“When the MACE detonated, the reaction must have cascaded into the Star Heart. Depending on how dense the mana was …”-Monveer (Elf) 

The elf trailed off as the implications started to sink in. Edel perked up and a fascinated smile light up her face. 

“OH, with that much mana, the conversion into kinetic energy should have shredded half of the continent.”-Edel (Devil) 

Ezhil leaned forward, elbows on the table, clicking his bony fingers together. 

“Instead, something unexpected happened. I intend do some experimentation later, but for now we have to address what we are going to do about the expanding Nihility.”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

The Angel lifted his hand and the illusionary image changed to show a black sphere buried deep inside a partially collapsed mesa. 

“At the current rate of expansion, the leading edge of the Nihility will reach the surface in approximately four decades. The lesser races won’t take notice of it for even some time after that and when they do it will take some time for them to recognize the threat it poses.”-Danyahyel (Blindfolded Angel) 

“Somewhere about 60 to 70 years before they start to panic and start a new round of wars.”-Edel (Devil) 

The angel frowned at the devil. 

“Foolish and wasteful.”-Danyahyel (Blindfolded Angel) 

“Agreed, but we should discuss how to procced before we call the rest of the table and break the news.”-Ezhil (Elder Lich) 

Edel smiled again. 

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun!”-Edel (Devil) 

KurtHudson

Filling out each of these characters and revealing their names as the reader observes, was interesting. Hopefully it gives you the "fly on the wall" kind of feeling.

Did I get the introduction of  MACE (Mana accelerated conversion explosive) clear with out breaking the flow of the conversation and not having to add in an ignorant audience surrogate character? (Audience surrogate character is the one that everyone else explains things too, therefore explaining it to the audience.)

Final Note: These Existential Crisis chapters occur somewhere around the MC's 10th life. (this being subject to revision if it becomes apparent that screwed up my timeline as I write new chapters.)