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In his darkened room, Selax sat motionless on the floor.

Pnyx was becoming. . .difficult. He now was beginning to doubt that he could achieve his desired ends without risking too much. The mages under Charax had already begun to organize their inquisition, and he suspected that they would cause trouble for him and, quite probably, the Scribe and his daughter.

Whatever happened, he knew that he had wasted enough time. He had been here several days and was hardly any closer to finding the source of the problems, although the recent election had given him the group that might be to blame—the third party running a student candidate. Selax calculated a high probability that others in the party from Cademia had leaped to the same guess. Still, Charax and the other masters had plenty of evidence pointing at them . . . Discreetly, he would have to investigate them and see what he could learn. He would have to see what he could learn, maybe even enter the catacombs. Perhaps, he could organize some sort of trap. . .but it could take weeks for him to find what he sought.

Then, there was the matter of Avatara and Desert Fox. Selax had hardly met Desert Fox and knew next to nothing about him. On the other hand, he guessed that Avatara both didn't trust him and disliked him. He had to get some information on their recent movements and what they were up to.

At last, he came to what was to him perhaps his largest concern. He had been to the void this very morning, and it was just as violent and bloody as the battles that he had participated in of old. So far, Alaric and the other elementals had managed to keep anything from entering Cythera; that was very good—better even then he had anticipated. It was not this that worried him. Soon, the Powers of old would return, and the outcome of their battle was crucial. If it went any other way than a stalemate (which is what he had calculated a high chance based on past experiences), there could be disaster.

For now, he had to watch as the bomb that was Pnyx readied to explode.

*OoC*
Aben Zin, if you want me to change the statements in asterisks below, please let me know, and I'll do so.
*BiC*


Seemingly far from Cythera in distance, yet compared to the overall size of the ethereal void quite near, lay the Shattered Worlds.

The Shattered Worlds comprised the majority of the realities almost annihilated in the Death King's Eternal War with the Chimaera, as well as the worlds that he and his lieutenants had ravaged in the years since then.

Nothing lived in these worlds anymore, and one would be hard-pressed to find any stars that even still lived. After the Death King's first defeat of the Chimaera, he had had no need to take and hold ground; thus, it was long since even any of his minions had walked here.

On one of these long dead planets, a dark figure sat on the ground, legs crossed with a ruby red sword lying on his knees. He was thin, especially for his almost nine feet in height, and his face was quite pale, with his eyes an unnatural red color. He wore black obsidian armor, as well as a cape and a crown. His hands rested on the red blade on his knees, and he did not move. Indeed, he almost appeared to be asleep.

The Death King was patient. Very patient. The continuation of the war with the Chimaera didn't concern him; as a matter of fact, he even believed that it might be helpful to his cause. After all, even his rampage through the void when the war had lulled with his "victory" had not equaled the devastation that the war had brought. It upset him that his direct plans for Cythera would have to be altered to be carried out by his servants, but he could wait for these indirect plans to succeed. Neither he nor the Chimaera wished to directly interfere with Cythera . . . for the time being. Although he had left Cythera, traces of his dark presence still lingered and could be felt by those who had felt them before. *As a matter of fact, it was this presence that Zekial had felt earlier.*

Thirteen tall, shadowed beings stood around him. Twelve of them were taller than he; their menace for the moment concealed by the robes that they wore. The shortest of them shifted uneasily behind him, and he let off an inaudible sigh.

"Master, should we not start on our way?" Detharon—once the greatest servant of the Chimaera and now his—asked him. Truth be told, despite his usefulness in the past, Detharon had earned a name on his "to do away with" list. He had failed to stop the division of the Death King's forces between his petty lieutenants; had he given the proper orders to the other twelve, they would quickly have suppressed this event. Besides, he was not properly respectful and arrogant to point of being almost useless; in addition, to the Death King he seemed also to be stupid. True, there was the risk of losing Detharon's power, but the Death King already had a remedy in mind for that.

"Perhaps so, perhaps so," responded the sitting figure. After a few more moments, he shook himself out of his reverie and rose. Instantly, the twelve silent beings that were his personal guard closed in guard formation around him.

The Death King nodded, and then they were all gone, leaving nothing but the wind whistling forlornly behind them.


Far, far away, the Chimaera felt the rise of Death, and they too rose, preparing to do battle with dark one once again. . .


In Cythera proper, two very strange and quite opposite events happened at the same time. Everyone got a sense of darkness and death looming over them but, at the same time, felt as if a brighter light and happier dawn than any they could remember had also just been risen over them.

Drake Thern sat in his office, deep in contemplation over recent events. All in all, things had gone and were continuing to go almost exactly as he wanted them to.

One of the things most disappointing to him was that few of the Cytherans who had overthrown him all those years ago had actually come to Pnyx. This meant that he would not be able to complete his vengeance all at once.

Talryn was, in Thern's mind, another disappointment. He disliked being assigned to work with someone that he considered to be a "rookie." Thern would have much preferred to have an ally that he knew could trust; for Thern certainly didn't trust Talryn. Thern had no intention of failing in his task. First, it was a chance for vengeance and the return to power that he had long desired. Second, his master would take violent exception to any failure. He'd decided to play it safe and closely watch his "partner" in this venture.

However, these were only small disappointments compared to their recent successes. They had carefully stirred up the situation at Pnyx, had set the plan in motion, and all that remained was to guide it to its ultimate end.

This process would be much easier now that the fallen mages had finally succeeded in their task. In a matter of weeks, he would have an absolutely loyal and dedicated army in his task.

Indeed, he mused, all that remains is to guide it to the end...


Selax had left Pnyx nearly an hour before, returning to the void. He wanted to be present; today was the culmination of the work many, many ages. Besides, he had a slight feeling that he might be needed.


A small band of mages slipped through the tunnels underneath Pnyx. They were returning from one of their other tasks. Last night, they had finished with their most important task and had been assigned to their second task: starting a civil war.

In the morning, a disturbing rumor ran through Pnyx. It was said that a nearby village had been attacked in the night. . .attacked by mages. When the rumor was verified at around noon of that same day, both mages and citizens of other nearby villages quickly began to demand that the perpetrators be brought to justice. Charax and his followers immediately began to organize an investigation into the matter, while the citizens began to doubt if any of the mages could be trusted. They demanded that they be allowed to start their own investigation, but few mages really were eager to agree to allow them to investigate inside Pnyx itself.

Selinus did what he could to assure everyone that those guilty would be brought to justice, but his promises assured very few in the end. Drake Thern was pleased with the outcome of the night raid and continued to shift events toward the end he desired. Meanwhile, Wizard and Medoc uncovered their first real clue in their quest: they were able to identify one of Dolophonous's cohorts in his attempted assassination of Lindus. Rather than arrest this mage immediately, they decided to watch him and attempt to learn who else had been part of the plot.

Selax was not present for these developments. He had left in the night and had not yet returned.

This was the first of a series of events that of which were still to follow. Everyone knew that it was only time before a civil war broke out between the mages and the general populus. Trouble had been brewing between them for years, many many years. centuries to be more accurate. The average citizen is scared of the mages because of the power that they posess compared to that of the normal everyday person. The mages know this so they are cautious and watch everyone else very closly. Everyone else knowns that they are watching so they are getting suspicious, its a circle that has been building up for the past several centuries. The war hasn't started yet but its only a matter of time. Wizard and Medoc spent the next several days following people that they suspected to have been involved in trying to start the war or just general trouble makers. It was obvious that there some someone with experence behind all of the current events, they were too sound to have just been coincience or a small grop of mages that decided to take action. The current events were bigger than they seemed, there was something much bigger going on that Wizard was still failing to see, something that involved more than petty wars in the land of Cythera.

Secretly, Wizard was worried. Selax had left with no word of his destination (although Wizard believed that he probably had left Cythera) and had not been seen since, a most disturbing occurrence given recent events. Still, he and Medoc had found a trail of evidence—a trail that Wizard suspected would lead to the mastermind behind the troubles.


Unknown to everyone in Pnyx, the citizens had quietly began to assemble an army to defend themselves from further attacks.

*OoC*
It's something of a small post; I'll put more up Saturday.
*BiC*

*OoC*
Most of these characters are strictly void characters and will not appear in Cythera. I have relegated the DK to be an indirect villain for Cythera (a role for which he is better suited and in which I perhaps should have placed him originally); he is more of an ethereal void villain at the moment. I don't have a very good description of the Chimaera; however, it might be said that this the forms that they most often assume, their true form remaining unseen. I recall mentioning that the DK and the Chimaera had a unique style of sword-fighting; this style is not apparent when they fight each other but is seen when they fight anything else. If anyone wants me to change anything or dislikes something, please let me know.
*BiC*


Several days earlier...

Selax stepped back as the creature in front of him toppled forward. He had been in the Void for nearly an hour, waiting patiently. As of the moment, nothing of interest besides the continuous battle around him had happened. It was certainly one of the largest, if not the largest, battle that he had seen, but that mattered little to him...

A cry suddenly sounded somewhere in front of him, and one very dead creature (he recognized it as being part of race loyal to the Chimaera) went flying over him. This was followed by the sound of whistling laughter. This last sound Selax recognized.

Driven by a sudden sense of urgency, he made his way through the forces gathered around him until he could see it for himself . . . could see the one of the creatures of nightmare that he hadn't seen for many an age.

There it (or rather they—there were twelve after all) stood. It stood twelve feet high, with leathery wings, three horns on its head, massive talons sprouted from hands that were curved to grip a sword (if it was necessary), and long tentacles capable of breaking stone with ease attached to its back. It had eyes that were almost entirely white. Its master hadn't perhaps felt very inventive when he had named these monstrosities—he called them the Death Legion, personal guard of the Death King (who perhaps hadn't felt very inventive when he had named himself).

Together, the twelve beings formed a wedge that was eradicating anything that got in its path. Belatedly, Selax realized that he probably should pull back, preferably before...

YOU! a very familiar voice bellowed.

Too late, Selax thought to himself.

Slowly, he turned to face the source of the sound and saw Detharon for the first time in a long, long time. He hadn't changed much since the last time that they had seen each other. His eyes were still yellowed and his hair still white. A huge scar ran from his forehead down past one of his eyes (which had almost been lost when the scar was made) and ended in a virtual crater on one of his cheeks, where the object that had made it had finally penetrated. His reptilian wings looked slashed almost to pieces and his body was almost completely covered in other scars, including a large one on his side where another object had run him through.

Although he still pitied and mourned over his once friend, Selax knew that Detharon hated him almost the most of anything.

"I see that your master still has you keep the makeover," he commented dryly. If Detharon had been almost insane with fury a moment ago, now he was just insane with it.

"DIE BUG!!!!" he yelled and charged. Selax estimated that without help he might last all of five (ten if he were fortunate) seconds against Detharon in the state that Detharon was in. He decided that it would be very prudent to retreat. As he started backing up, he saw Detharon raise his hand and unleash a black bolt of magic at him.

Uh oh, he thought blankly.

However, just as it was about to collide with him, another bolt of magic intercepted it, causing both to explode. The explosion through Selax back, but he landed lightly on his feet.

"Your timing is impeccable, old friend," he said to the being that had moved up beside.

"Thank you," Tomsan answered. Tomsan had been second to Detharon when Detharon had led the Chimaera's guard; since Detharon had given up that position, it had passed to Tomsan, and his powers had grown accordingly. Tomsan was shorter that Detharon but taller than Selax. He wore silver armor and carried a silver sword. Most of the time he was melancholy, seeming almost to be depressed. With him had come the rest of the Chimaera's guard (a new member had been added after Detharon's betrayal to increase their ranks to be twelve as well.)

(It was Selax and Tomsan that Detharon hated most of all, for, although they had all once been friends, it was these two who had fought him when he had betrayed the Chimaera and turned him into the physical wreck that he now was.)

The two faced Detharon and began to advance on him to finish the job that had started hundreds of ages in the past.

But, before the fight could start, two things happened: first, the stars around them seemed suddenly to be shrouded; second, incredible winds caught the three of them and sent them spinning in all sorts of directions.

Both armies began to move away from each other and off to the sides, forming a corridor through them.

At the end behind, the army that had fought for light stood ten figures, glowing with pure, radiant light.

Each of them was nine feet tall. Each appeared to be without flaw (outwardly at least). Each wore glowing armor that was either gold or white or perhaps both at the same time; no one could ever truly say. Their faces appeared to be almost human, but their eyes shone with light. It hurt just to look at them because of the radiance they emitted. None could even guess at the color of their skin because it seemed to be all colors and yet at the same time none. Each had a cape with a unique color. Whatever the color was, it appeared to be more bright and beautiful there than anywhere else—at least to those who saw it. Some had dropped dead at the sight of these ten beings. All of them held a vast power—veiled but felt even so.

The Chimaera had come.

Opposite them stood a single figure. Equal in height to them but quite thin, clothed in black obsidian armor (with his own cape to match), his face was pale and also resembled that of a human. The red eyes, visible under the crown that he wore, seemed to stare hungrily, desiring to devour anything and everything. In his hand, he twirled a large ruby red sword. The area around him seemed stained with the blackness that seemed to ooze out of him.

The Death King laughed.

"Well," he said in an amused tone and in voice that all heard, "I see that my old comrades have finally worked up the nerve to face me again! How delightful!"

The ten answered him with a voice that sounded as one, "Leave this place and go back to your darkness! We do not fear you, not now, not ever. Your plan to defeat us once and for all has failed, a victim of your own arrogance. Leave!"

"Come, come now. Surely, you are not serious! Leave? After the all fun that I've had?" he answered them in a mocking tone. "Do you think that your return worries me? That I fear the renewal of this Eternal War? That I fear the Death and Ruin that comes with it?" He snorted, "Do I look like you?"

"You were one of us once," they murmured in a voice that yet showed sadness.

"Please, we've been over this before. Thrice, in fact, if my memory does not fail me."

"It does not."

"Then why go over it again?" He stepped forward. "Why bother?"

(Selax realized at this point that the armies had fled the confrontation, going through portals to take up their positions for the renewal of the war. Now, however, there was a pause for this confrontation.)

"Because you are still mourned for."

"NO! We will not speak of this now, nor ever again. I have said what I have to say; you have said what you have to say. Now, I say this: GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

"No. Leave here."

"Then, I suppose that we have both said all that needs to be said."

Suddenly, his form began to change. It warped and distorted. It grew higher and darker until in the space of a moment it stopped. Now, it was that of a huge shadow avatar, in which only hints of resemblance to the original being were present. It was that of the form that Talryn had seen earlier, almost like an incarnation of darkness.

But opposite him, the Chimaera had not been idle. As soon as he had started to change, they too had begun to change. The ten of them seemed to flow together, melting seamlessly into one being. This being's form quickly grew to the size of the Death King's, but it's form was that of a huge light avatar.

(One of the dangers of the Death King and the Chimaera is that, in addition to their own vast power, each can act as a conductor of the power of their servants and thus increase their already considerable strength.)

The Death King snarled, whipped out a black sword, and lunged. The Chimaera met him with lunge of their own...


Moments later, Selax awoke to thunderous banging. Sitting up and putting a hand to his aching head, he tried to recall what had happened. He deduced that a shockwave from the initial contact of the two avatars had knocked him out and sent him flying. He further guessed that, if he stayed where he was, the battle would quickly fry him. Standing with effort, he risked a glance toward the source of the sound. The two stood toe-to-toe, swords moving faster than Selax could see. For a moment, he stood and watched in amazement. In a moment, he came to his senses. Hurriedly, he looked around. He spotted Tomsan, who was himself just sitting up.

Bounding over to him, Selax mouthed, We must get out of here. Tomsan nodded and opened his mouth to reply, but instead he lunged at Selax and knocked him flat . . . and out of the way of Detharon's attempt to remove his head.

Tomsan managed to yell over the noise, "Are you mad?! If we fight here, we will all die!"

"Do I look like I care?!" Detharon roared in response.

Another echo of the forces in play behind them knocked them all spinning. Tomsan grabbed Selax and hurriedly opened two portals: one for him and one for Selax. Before Detharon could recover, each dove into his respective portal.

Behind them, Detharon's voice echoed, "This is isn't over!"


Waking up, Selax found himself lying on his back in the middle of a grassy meadow. He staggered to his feet; he needed to be returning to Pnyx. . . He stopped himself. No, now wasn't the time. Now, he had chance to look around for clues on his own and seek for some sign of Avatara and Desert Fox. He would return to Pnyx in a few days...


Now...


Selax entered Pnyx quietly in the middle of the night. His foray had been mostly successful, and he would contact Wizard and Medoc in the morning. Time was running out, and soon they must act. For now, he would rest and make his plans.

Wizard detected Selax's return to Pnyx and, along with Medoc went to see him, the next morning. The three of them compared notes. At last, after much effort, they had discovered who was behind the recent troubles. The chief of security in Pnyx (who unknown to them was the same Drake Thern that a party from Cythera had encountered years in the past) and a student named Narlyn (who unknown to them was really Talryn.) Despite their discoveries, they still needed evidence and how to get it was a problem. They had almost no time left and might very well be forced to go down into the catacombs despite the dangers present there.


Events at Pnyx had taken a dire turn in the past few days. Charax's group had turned their fury upon their brother mages and had even expelled some of them, angering many of the other mages who believed them to be innocent. These expelled mages had then been subjected to the fury of Cythera's other citizens, and some had had quite horrible things done to them, angering the mages back at Pnyx. This, in turn, made the citizens get even angrier with the mages. Both sides (although Charax and his followers were upset with the other mages and the other mages were upset with them, they all agreed that it was best to present a united front against the civilians) had openly begun to assemble armies. Alaric, occupied with protecting Cythera from the energies given off by the battle in the Void, could do little to stop them.


Meanwhile, the group of mages truly responsible for the problems quietly prepared to take advantage of things...

It was around 10 in the morning when the knock came briskly and loudly on the door.

“Enter,” Selinus said, somewhat feebly.

The door creaked as it opened, admitting a middle-aged mage. “Sir, I thought you might like to know—” he began quite audibly-to insure that Selinus would hear-when he hesitated a moment, seemingly reluctant now to finish his sentence. Selinus sat expectantly before him, by the bed of their sleeping master - Lindus.

“Yes?”

“Well. . . the civilians have gathered their forces, and our last reports placed them headed this way, due to arrive within the next five hours.”

“Very well. How are we doing?”

“All of us mages are attempting to work together with “the other side” (the man chuckled here, obviously making an attempt at humor). We’re doing better than we expected, but there have been several brawls.”

Selinus did not respond, he just stared at the wall. The other man saw that it was time to make his leave. “I’ll report back later, master.”

As he pulled the door open, he almost got knocked on the forehead by Wizard, who had been about to rap the door with his knuckle. “Oh, I am sorry, excuse me,” Wizard hastily said, in his usual cheery tone.

“No problem,” the mage said with a smile. He moved away and disappeared around a corner.

“Hello,” Wizard said, closing the door behind him. “May I come in?”

Selinus glance around Wizard at the already-closed door, and almost smiled for a moment, “I’d say so.”

“Well good, because I wanted to—”

The librarian sighed as though he hadn’t heard Wizard, interrupting him. “I wanted to thank you guys for coming. You’ve been very kind to us, and you’ve tried to help, I know. But it seems now that there is very little to be done. I just wanted you to know that I appreciate your help, and I’m sure I speak on behalf of the faculty. I was going to go out and tell you all, but, somehow, I just didn’t have the heart to leave yet.”

Wizard took a step closer, “You’re much too hard on yourself, none of this is your doing.”

“I know, but I can’t help but worry for the future.” Selinus looked up at Wizard, “These are some dark times we live in, my friend, and if we don’t keep our heads up, and our eyes open, we are doomed to lose ourselves, and fall into the darkness we now so willingly fight...”

“What would cause you to say such a thing?” Wizard inquired. “You’re really very worried, aren’t you?”

“We’ve lost so many good mages. I knew there was dissension when I first requested that you come, but not like this.”

Wizard took a seat across from Selinus. “Look, when Lindus was attacked, you knew something was wrong, you called for help. Help came. Now we are going to fulfill our task. In fact, I came to reassure you that we would solve this before much blood is shed. You have been very alert, and have done all that you can to the best of your ability. Please don’t despair, Selinus. There’s nothing you could have or should have done differently.” Wizard rose, “If I were you, I would be preparing for the attack that’s coming. Hopefully, my friends and I can get to the bottom of this before anything has to happen...”

“I hope you’re right, Wizard.”

“I’m sure I am,” he replied with a grin, “and just think, when all this is over, it’ll be normal again, just like the good old days.”

Selinus smiled fully for the first time in a while, “No, Wizard, you can never have the good old days back, just good new ones, when they’re available.”

“Good, keep that smile,” Wizard remarked. He patted Selinus on the shoulder as he moved away to the door.

* * *
When he had closed the door and began to walk down the hall. He felt the presence of someone behind him. He turned around, a little startled. It was Narlyn.

Treacherous boy, Wizard thought but carefully did not say. “Narlyn, I didn’t see you back there.”

For a moment, Wizard detected something. He wasn’t sure what, but somehow, it was familiar. He made no note of it though, and forgot it just as quickly when Narlyn spoke in his usual deep voice, although somewhat hushed: “Where are the others? Take me to them; there is very little time.”

Wizard debated for a half-second. He knew he couldn’t fight this mage alone, and he dare not start anything so near where Lindus slumbered. No, his best bet was to do as Narlyn had suggested. “All right.”

In another minute, Wizard and Narlyn had successfully reached Selax’s quarters, where the others were gathered, without being noticed by the guards. There, Narlyn betrayed Thern and laid down the plan that he had carefully plotted. . .

This post has been edited by The Wizard: 09 July 2006 - 07:27 PM

Selax and the rest listened carefully to Talryn's tale. It confirmed what had been suggested by the evidence that they had gathered. (Talryn made no mention of the Death King because he, like Selax, believed that it would do more harm than good; all he said was that the Death King had ordered him to Pnyx before he was presumably destroyed in the explosion. [see the end of Echoes])

Selax was slightly disturbed at the mention of the elemental golems. Such creatures were likely to be extremely dangerous. But now there was no time to think of that: now they had to move and fast. He turned to the others.

"I think that we have little time. Wizard tells us that already the armies of the mages and citizens are about to start a battle. If we take our gathered evidence and present it to them all, we might be able to prevent this catastrophe."

Hurriedly, they worked out a plan which would enable them to spread their proof fast enough to prevent the fight. Word came that the citizen army was approaching Pnyx and that the mages were preparing to meet it.


Slowly, the citizen army left the protection of the woods and neared the city. It was larger than the mage army but not very well-trained. Still, it had enough irate citizens to make it a formidable opponent. Deploying in and around Pnyx were its guards and most of the mages that dwelt therein. Cautiously, the citizen army got into formation and prepared to attack. For the first time in many years, Cythera would be engulfed in civil war.

However, just as the armies came at each other and the archers and mages prepared their long-range fire, Wizard appeared between the armies. With the aid of his telepathy and Medoc's skill in illusions, he appeared to be tall and commanding. Everyone stopped.

"Stop!" he yelled in a loud voice heard by everyone on both sides. "We have gathered evidence that clearly identifies the guilty party: the party that has played both sides and seeks to initiate civil war. This battle may yet be averted if you will listen to us. At least let your leaders come to us and review what we have gathered.

This last was done: the leaders of both sides, hoping to avoid a conflict, came to the middle, saw the gathered evidence, and heard Talryn's confession. Word quickly spread through the armies, and Talryn repeated the plot to both sides. Even this almost failed to prevent a war (although few on either side wanted it, they were loath to believe the group). Indeed, it was only because the mages promised to aid the citizens in hunting down the guilty and to make reparations (and refused to fight the citizens who were too honorable to slaughter unresisting people) that the fight was averted.


However, at this point, the ground seemed to boil and a cry rose inside Pnyx. Golems erupted out the ground and streamed out the catacombs below Pnyx, coming up in the middle of both armies. Thern had expected Talryn's betrayal, but Talryn had managed to outsmart Thern by going directly to the group and admitting his part in the plot openly. When Thern had discovered this, he had gathered his group of rogue mages and his golems and launched an attack on both armies.

Thus began the Battle of Pnyx. It was a confusing chaotic fight because the golems first attack disrupted all unit organization. Golems and rogue mages were in the midst of both armies. The battle spread all over the interior of Pnyx and all around it. Although Thern's forces were outnumbered almost three-to-one by the now combined armies of the mages and citizens, his elemental golems (which combined the powers of the four elements although these were artificial and, therefore, not as powerful as the real thing would be) were very powerful, and each had the ability to fly (but not to shapeshift) and had great speed and strength. In addition, Thern somehow maintained cohesion in his force. Often, men would fight in little knots composed of friend and foe; this would last until one noticed the other, then they would stop and fight each other.

As the fight went on, an idea began to come into Wizard's head...


*OoC*
This post is set up so that anyone who wishes to post in the actual battle before the chase of Thern has a chance to do so. It might need some revision.
*BiC*

The problem with attacking a golem is that it doesn't feel pain, cut off an arm and it will just continue without hesitation. When created there are two generic types of golems; puppet golems and active golems. The main difference between the two is that active golems have a magically enduced organic brain that controls them, however limited that brain is. Whereas the puppet golem is litterally just a puppet to the mage, in effect the mage actually has the control it. This is also where the weakness in the active golems are, cut off the head from the body, the body stops working, much easier than leaving a limbless golem laying on the ground.
Wizard knew this and thought if they begin to feel pain they will simply run away. It was not an easy task but it had to be done, Wizard had to slightly magically alter the brains of the golems so that they feel pain and as the brains are magically made in the first place this is basically just an upgrade. Even though golems and rogue mages were vastly out numbered Wizard knew that they would eventually fall to the cold hands of the golems. Wizarrd ran over to the Elder mages who were currently throwing fire balls at the golems with minimal effects, Wizard told them of his idea. Wizard are 5 of the Elder mages made their way into the heat of the battle to stop the golems.

This post has been edited by Half Truth: 21 July 2006 - 05:43 PM

In a few moments Wizard and the 5 elders, one of whom was Selinus, were attempting to change the golem’s thought patterns. They were having little success. The golems seemed to have some sort of magical defense.

Wizard’s eyes had been closed, but he opened them when he sensed danger. “Ahhh” he gasped in surprise as an elemental golem dove at him. He jumped sideways and avoided it. It flung a firebolt at him. Wizard was knocked back. “Grr... Throw fireballs at me will you?” he growled; he was obviously getting annoyed.

Another, slightly smaller golem came up behind Wizard, who turned swiftly and stabbed through its head with his staff. The golem shook for a moment, but was still quite active. Then Wizard pulled out the sword that he always kept somewhere hidden under the folds of his robe and quickly sliced the golem to pieces.

The first one was advancing on his back again, so he turned and ran at it. It was a glorious moment: Wizard and the golem charging at each other. For a moment, Wizard almost looked young again, but the illusion quickly faded away. The “young” man knew that he had another moment to try to alter the golems brain. Aided by his slight anger and a great deal of concentration, in one moment, his mind joined with the other 5 mages (who were also busy in skirmishes of their own) and every golem on the battlefield stopped. The alteration had been made.

Wizard took advantage of the golem’s confusion and continued his charge on it. Then, in one split second, it seemed to regain control, and met his eyes. It engulfed itself in flame. They collided, and Wizard was swatted aside as a bug. Using its powers of air elements, the golem leapt into the air and hovered above Wizard, who was, by now, very mad. He jumped up at the golem, his telekinetic ability lifting him upward at great speed. He swiftly slashed off an arm, and pulled its leg apart using telekinesis, something which he had never done before. It kept fighting.

Something or someone is keeping magnificent control over these golems, Wizard thought as he looked over the battlefield from his elevated view. All the elemental golems were still fighting, ignoring any pain they were taking. They’re unaffected. I’ve never seen so many golems so coordinated... he looked at the golem before him. It was still immersed in fire, but it seemed a little unsure about fighting Wizard. Then it appeared to almost “receive orders” and renewed its attack of fire and the occasional punch. By now, Wizard was blocking the fire, but he still was having difficulty with the physical aspect. He was bleeding, and had several bruises developing.

Suddenly, it came to Wizard; he detected some other power influencing the golems’ behavior. It was some magical item, and he could sense where it was coming from. “I was a fool not to have sensed this earlier,” Wizard spoke out loud, rather harshly.

His mind sought Selax, while he continued to fight the golem. Selax. . . Selax... ahh, there you are. Selax, Thern is controlling the golems through the rogue mages with some magical item in his possession. It's a chain of command, and he's in direct control of it all. That’s why they’re so persistent. If we stop him, we stop the army. . . I think he’s near the entrance to Pynx.

Got it., Selax replied abruptly as he chopped off the head of the elemental golem he had been fighting. He grabbed Medoc and Moonshadow, who had been fighting next to him. “You’re with me. We’re going after Thern,” he explained as briefly as possible.

During this time, Wizard’s own fight with the golem was getting closer and closer to the ground. It was losing energy. As Selax, Medoc, and Moonshadow, charged by, Selax made a quick suggestion to Wizard: “If you could make a distraction for us. . .”

“Good idea,” Wizard answered abruptly himself, as he ended the fight with the golem by a kick and a stab through the chest. Or at least he thought he had. It got back up on its one remaining leg and hobbled toward him. “Ohh, don’t you ever quit?!” Wizard sighed and half-shouted. He was forced to separate it into multiple pieces.

The first moment of rest Wizard had, he was again assaulted. He looked up just in time to see an infuriated rogue mage throw a fireball at him. Wizard, who was beginning to feel tired himself, lifted up his hand to absorb the fire--too late. It struck him head on, and he went flying into the air. For a few brief moments, he was above everything else in the battle, until he came crashing to the ground. He landed about 20 feet from where he had just been. His robe was on fire and so was his flesh. “Ahh,” he writhed for a moment before regaining his composure. He extinguished the flame, but not without some severe burning. The magic damage of the fireball had also cut his face up, and he felt a particularly bad scar over his right eye. He was really beginning to feel his age.

For a second, the mob of objects, golems and mages alike, between Wizard and his newfound enemy cleared, at least to his mind’s eye. He was about to retaliate when he remembered. The distraction... I’ll deal with you later. He didn’t know if that thought had actually reached the rogue mage or not, but he let it go.

Rounding up several others from the group, Wizard informed them of the distraction-plan. “We’re going to use an illusion as a distraction. But, I’m too tired to do it alone, so I’ll need you’re help.”

* * *

Suddenly, a very large dragon appeared from the sky. It looked like a small bird at first, until it swooped down, spurting fire on everything. For a moment, everything was complete chaos. But the golems and rogue mages did adjust, almost faster than the human mages. A group of them split of from the main battle to chase and kill the dragon, which was coming around for another shot. . .

This post has been edited by The Wizard: 16 August 2006 - 10:25 PM

From his position near the entrance of Pnyx, Drake Thern watched the arrival of the dragon with dismay. He had, of course, heard of the recent adventure involving one or two dragons, but he had not expected one of them to come to the battle.

Things were not going according to plan. Thern had expected Talryn to betray him but not by going to the others: he had assumed that Talryn would try to draw him into some sort of trap. As it was, Thern had been forced to launch his army to the attack sooner then he would he have liked; the planned Cytheran Civil War might never occur now; and sooner or later Alaric would be free enough to turn his attention to this part of the land. Hence, Thern's decision to attack and do as much damage as possible.

He focused on the dragon, calling several rogue mages to direct their golems against it. Through a channeling device on Thern's person, he was connected to all the mages and golems, much like a brain. In addition, through this connection, the rogue mages could communicate with each other. This was how his army maintained its marvelous unity and coordination.

Suddenly, the dragon spun on him, unleashing a jet of flame. Thern dove aside, out of the illusion carefully prepared by the rogue mages to hide his location. It was at this moment that Thern realized he had been tricked. The dragon was a fake—an illusion. Although the flames that it sprayed caught fire and seemed to hurt, nothing was actually burning.

Upon this realization, Thern threw himself back into Pnyx through the doorway behind him. Just in time for him. A sword went whistling past his face with such force that it went completely through the golem that had been standing next to him before lodging solidly in the side of on another nearby golem. Thern paused an instant to gather information from his army on the nature of the threat that faced him.

Three people had forced their way almost to doorway. The tallest of these, cloaked in black, had thrown the sword at him and now paused to retrieve. Another was knocking aside the guards around the door with precise blows of the staff that he wielded. The third was using a bow and ice magic to stop any other of Thern's forces from reaching the door. Thern recognized them at once—Selax, Medoc, and Moonshadow.

It would be wise, he decided, to run.


The three stepped in through the doorway. Thern was ahead of them already halfway up the stairs to the next level. The hall was filled with mages (both good and bad), civilians, guards, and golems all busy fighting each other. They forced their way through the groups and ran up the stairs—only to encounter three wolves (obviously summoned by someone) and a batch of golems. Hardly pausing, they dispatched these and chased after Thern.

What followed was an odd chase. Every floor of Pnyx was filled with the battle that was also being fought outside (preventing Selax from using his ability to fly to catch up with Thern). Both Thern and his pursuers had to force their way through the combat, occasionally aiding their respective sides. Thern sometimes stopped and made stands with the golems and rogue mages on his side, along with various different animals that he was somehow summoning. These stands, however, could not stop his pursuers. Thern continued to run and up and up, using the staircases to lead them somewhere near the top floor of the mage city.

Then, almost to the top, things changed.

Selax, Medoc, and Moonshadow had just jumped out the staircase when three bears jumped on them. Seconds later, the bears lay dead on the floor, and they were leaping away after Thern, who was already almost to yet another staircase. There were not as many combatants on this floor, and the battle was less here. Suddenly, from out of one the empty rooms nearby, Zacarutu/Gin stepped out right in the middle of the chase. His form has altered still more; in addition, to the wings of bone jetting out of his back, his size had increased, his entire body (even his face) was covered with an armor of bone, and he wielded a sword of bone. With one look, he realized his peril. He had thought to use this battle to kill several of the mages, but now he decided that his best course might be to flee. Zacarutu/Gin lunged back into the room and smashed out the window, just as the three came up to his position.

Selax stopped and hesitated one moment to consider his option. Thern seemed to be the larger threat—he controlled the army outside and had to be stopped and yet...Yet the Scribe and Wizard had found out what Zacarutu was—a grave threat to Cythera in himself. Worse, Selax feared that there was a good chance that if Zacarutu escaped he might find Thern's master and become a far more dangerous threat than Thern could ever hope to be. In any case, this might be the last chance to catch him without a great deal of trouble and something told him that Medoc and Moonshadow could handle Thern.

Guessing some of what Selax was thinking, Medoc said, "Go! We'll deal with Thern!"

Selax nodded and leapt out the window after Zacarutu.

Medoc and Moonshadow lunged up the stairs after Thern. They continued to chase him up two more flights of stairs, having to stop occasionally to battle off various animals that Thern threw at them. Medoc began to notice that whenever Thern was going to summon something he reached up to his throat for a second. A moment later, Medoc caught sight of an amulet that Thern was wearing and realized that this was how Thern was summoning and controlling his summons. A plan began to form in his mind.

Then, Thern paused near the staircase to the top floor for longer than usual, and they at last caught up to him, just in time for a large red daemon to sprout up in front of Thern. But while, Thern stood still for a moment longer, Medoc threw his staff at him, catching the amulet, ripping it off of his throat, and smashing it into the wall. At that moment, the daemon howled and stirred. Obviously, with the loss of the amulet, Thern had lost control of the monster. Thern realized this and threw himself up the stairs. Moonshadow was right behind him. However, unlike the other two, Medoc was on the daemon's left (the stairs, Thern, Moonshadow had been on its right. He managed to get around it and retrieve his staff—the amulet was smashed and useless. Before Medoc could dart around it and into the staircase, the monster roared and threw its arms back into the walls of the staircase, which now collapsed completely. The daemon turned on Medoc and advanced on him menacingly.

Medoc was left on his own to fight the monster...


Just after Selax went after Zacarutu...
Zacarutu winged his way higher into the air. His plan to start at the top of Pnyx and work down until he reached Lindus had been foiled. He supposed that he would just have to do some killing outside for a little while and then hide until a more opportune time. Suddenly, he had a sense of something behind him and glanced back.

A black blur had shot from the window behind him and was rapidly gaining on him. Zacarutu, with Gin's memory, already knew who it was. Wretched elemental, he thought, now, I suppose that I'll have to kill him first...

He turned and dived down to meet his pursuer.


In the void above Cythera...
Day smashed into Night again, and both reeled back from the impact. The massive dark avatar, tired of dueling games, threw down his sword (which disappeared when it left his hand) and raised its hands at the light avatar, which also tossed down its sword raised its hands. Oblivion leapt from the dark one only to smash into the light of the Sun which leapt from the hands of the other. He snarled and pushed harder, and the light avatar responded in kind...


*OoC*
I am somewhat worried that the battle between Selax and Zacarutu might last longer than the other battles which would mean lasting longer than the TS. I will endeavor to avoid this for fear that it might be problematic. I decided to do just a little on the DK versus Chimaera.
*BiC*

The illusion had worked! Selax, Medoc, and Moonshadow had reached Thern and vanished somewhere inside Pynx. Thern must have figured that it was an illusion, though, because the golems and mages that had been dispatched to kill the dragon now rejoined the main fight.

“That worked rather well,” Wizard remarked, obviously pleased, to Tej, who had been helping Wizard cast the illusion along with Talryn. “Now I guess we can stop that thing,” he gestured to the dragon that was flying about, rather aimlessly now.

He was glad, too. Casting an illusion as large as a dragon so that an entire battlefield of troops were convinced that it existed, not to mention the task of fooling their perceptions well enough so that they believed they could feel it, was in no way an easy task. Wizard began to lose his focus and some things went hazy. For a second, he even felt a little lightheaded, but he remained composed.

He planned to have the “dragon” fly into the sky, and disappear just as it had appeared, but as he was about to do so, he suddenly perceived that something sharp was but a hair’s length from his shoulder. He tried to stop it, but he was too slow. The knife plunged deep into his shoulder.

The dragon, the flames it had left burning, and even the smoke that rose from the scorched grass, all suddenly vanished. They were gone in an instant, and the shrill cries of the dragon could no longer be heard. All there was, was the peaceful sound of battle.

Wizard was trying to get a grasp on what had happened. All of his concentration was gone; he had forgotten about the dragon completely. He touched his hand to his shoulder, looked at his fingers to see them covered in blood. Some blood had also flowed into his mouth. He looked up just in time to see the same rogue mage that had struck his face with the fireball before two objects from both sides blocked the view The mage had had a twisted expression on his face; he was enjoying himself. “The nerve. . .” Wizard thought aloud. They were the last two words that left his mouth before everything went black.

* * *

Tej and Talryn soon realized that the dragon had vanished because Wizard had lost his focus. They also noticed why rather swiftly Both of them jumped in front of him when they saw the mage that had thrown the knife grimacing, with a ball of fire engulfing his right hand.

“The nerve. . .” Wizard’s voice trailed off behind them. Talryn charged forward at the rogue, but Tej lingered just long enough to see Wizard sink to the ground into a gathering pool of blood. He leapt toward the mage also, but both of them were blocked by several elemental golems that moved in front of them.

The pair soon dealt with them, but by now, the mage was gone. Talryn glanced back at Wizard. Everything seemed to be ignoring him. It occurred to him that Wizard may be dead. Tej moved forward to check for a pulse. The knife had missed the heart, and Tej predicted that he would be fine with some care and rest. “A little help, please.” Talryn recognized the voice as Thomas’s.

Thomas and Etiko had been guarding the trio casting the illusion, but unfortunately for Wizard, they had been occupied when the knife was thrown. Thomas was currently being strangled by a particularly nasty golem that had its hand around his throat when he politely uttered a plea for aid. Tej and Talryn ran to help him; there was nothing they could do for Wizard now any ways.

* * *

Wizard gasped as he returned to his senses. He was still in a great deal of pain, but he felt a little different: refreshed. He could focus again. The fight was still ensuing as vigorously as before around him.

Still feeling a little drained, he forced himself to his feet. He leaned on his staff quite a bit, but his left leg was limping. He moved out of the battle. I must look like a tired old man to their eyes, he thought as he glanced about, mages and golems alike were all ignoring him, thankfully.

The moment did not last; when Wizard next looked up a small golem had stood in his path to hinder his exit from the fight. Wizard sighed, longing for a break, and pulled out his sword again. He sliced the golem to pieces relatively simply.

Good thing I blacked out; I have a little more energy. But the moment of satisfaction didn’t last very long. When the decapitated creature before him slid to the ground, behind it, Wizard saw the rogue mage again. He was beginning to feel rather unhappy with this rogue that seemed bent on destroying him.

The golem had apparently belonged to him, because as quickly as Wizard had disposed of one, another, slightly larger one, walked into his path. The old man sliced at this one, too, but not without receiving a few blows. The final one knocked him on his back. From his point on the ground, Wizard cut off both of its legs, and as more of the body fell, continued to cut it to pieces.

“Impressive,” the rogue mage said abruptly. It was the only word Wizard had heard him say; the voice was very deep and raspy, rather unsettling.

Wizard started to struggle to his feet when he looked up; he could tell that the mage was about to summon another golem to fight him, so he shouted: “Enough! If you want to fight me... fine, but don’t hide behind your minions to do it!”

“Very well,” the grating voice replied. Wizard had just about stood up fully when a fireball erupted in his face, and another, and another. The mage begin to throw them quite rapidly; Wizard fell back on the ground with a thump.

As another shell come on, options ran through his head: he could try throwing some fireballs of his own, or maybe illusionary ones; perhaps scramble to his feet and run that mage through with his staff; maybe even lie here and die. He considered for half a second, and had not yet decided, when his impulse took over.

He remembered back to before he lost consciousness -- to when he used his power to destroy a golem’s leg without even thinking about it. The same idea came to him again, and just maybe. . .

I wonder. . .Wizard thought as his other thoughts silenced, and his mind began to focus. He lifted his hand toward the fireball that was approaching him. He absorbed it and the next one, but soon his focus shifted to his other task. His mind began to search through the rogue mage’s structure, and he started trying to pull him apart, with the aid of some added internal pressure. The mage did not realize anything was different, and continued his barrage.

Wizard began to wince. His idea didn’t seem to be working. He was on fire from the multiple attacks he had received, and he was damaging himself more every moment. His wounds began to bleed more fiercely again and several others began to open. Blood streamed down his face and his hands were burning.

It was then that he fully faced the fact: he may very well die here, on this battlefield. But he pushed himself on. He refused to quit here; he tried harder. He began to pull power from the orb on his staff, which was glowing very intensely by now.

Then, he lost his focus; he was just too tired. But as his thoughts turned hopeless, the mage in front of him suddenly vanished. His entire body exploded, leaving nothing left but oblivion.

He had succeeded, trying as it was. Wizard was then occupied with another important matter: he was still on fire. He forced himself to roll over a few times; it was difficult, but he eventually extinguished the flames.

Badly burned and bleeding, he crawled his way out of the battle and leaned against the nearest tree. Well, I’ll have to work on that, he thought as he studied the events that had just taken place.

When he looked up, he saw two beings battling in the sky. One he recognized as Selax and the other... the other was Zacarutu. Unable to help Selax in any way (or anyone else very much), he remained where he was for a long while.

*OoC*
I will spend a little more time on Selax versus Zacarutu than the rest because Selax at least is one of my characters, giving me a bit more control. I will also be finishing up my subplot with Selax.
*BiC*

The chaotic fighting continued all around Pnyx. Medoc battled the daemon, Selax battled Zacarutu, and Moonshadow at last cornered Thern on the upper floor of Pnyx.

Medoc, after a short battle, defeated the daemon and began to search for a way upstairs.

After a bit of a battle, Moonshadow managed to catch Thern with a bolt of magic that hurled him out of one of the nearby windows, presumably causing him to fall to his death.

All around Pnyx, Selax battled Zacarutu. He quickly saw that his opponent was used to catching and killing mages, not melee fighters that were as maneuverable as he or as experienced as Selax. Selax also determined that there was nothing that he could do for Gin other than perhaps to put him out of his misery. Zacarutu was heavily magic resistant and possessed some magic of his own, yet he could not destroy Selax. They met one last time over the Sea near Pnyx, which was now alive with Scylla hoping for food from the battle. At last, Selax got a stroke through Zacarutu's defenses, and it went deep into his chest. Zacarutu fell into the Sea and the Scylla dove on him...


When Thern fell through the window, his army almost instantly lost cohesion. Without unity, they could not stand against the united armies of the citizens and mages and were soon defeated. The outpouring of relief at their victory caused both sides to almost forget their quarrels, and Wizard watched with a smile, knowing that at last the tensions could begin to heal.


In the Void...
Again and again, the two massive avatars smashed at each other, sending out staggering amounts of energy in all directions. Most of the realities around Cythera had already been dead for ages, but most were damaged by the titanic battle (Cythera was protected because of the barrier that Alaric and the elementals were generating). Still, neither could overcome the other, and, at last, both drew back from each other with a snarl, deciding to win this conflict through other means. Each returned to his army and renewed his Eternal War upon the other...


After the battle, Selax headed south and met the other elementals outside Ur-Sylph's prison. They talked about recent events and reminisced for a while about the past. At length, Selax and Ur-Sylph were left alone at the entrance. The others stood a distance off, ready to renew the prison barrier when Ur-Sylph entered. The bargain was that at some future date the elementals would release Ur-Sylph.

"You didn't tell us the whole truth, did you, old one?" Ur-Sylph said. He alone of all the elementals save Alaric and Magpie had sensed another presence besides that of the Death King. Selax had only told them of that the Death King was trying to bring another army into Cythera and must be kept out.

Selax shook his head.

"Of course not. I can't trust any of you further than I can throw you."

"I agree with that. Still, I would be your friend again as in the past."

"Perhaps, some day," he paused for moment but continued, "here take these. You need the practice."

Selax handed to Ur-Sylph the swords of Balthon the elemental. Ur-Sylph nodded and stepped back into his prison. The barrier snapped back into place. Selax and the other elementals left.

On his way back to Pnyx, Selax became aware that voice that had caused his recent visions sought to speak with him again.

"Very well, finish your tale." He said aloud. Again, he fell into another vision...

Not quite the void this time.

A vast hall of darkness, filled with daemons and all sorts of other vile creatures.

At its end, Malkor stood bound in chains before a huge daemon seated on a throne. Selax knew at once that he looked on a creature of legend—the First Lord of Darkness, almost forgotten by the end of the first age of the void and now remembered only in vague legends. He held in his hands a crystal ball that glowed white, and then Selax knew what was about to happen.

It had been said that although this Lord of Darkness was strong he was only a match for one of the Chimaera and sought to pick them off one at a time. It was further said that they had at last destroyed him with ease. Now, Selax was about to witness the truth.

"An effective prison, don't you think?" the Lord of Darkness said with a laugh, gesturing at the crystal ball that he held, "It'll hold your precious wife until I say otherwise. Now, I ask one more time: will you serve me?

"I...I...I can't..." whispered Malkor at last, shaking whether in rage, grief, or fear Selax couldn't tell.

"A pity. Oh well, now I shall just make sure that your precious Chimaera can never find her...or your remains."

The Lord of Darkness gestured and a portal opened. Selax recognized the kind of portal by the pink glow around it. It was a portal that a random destination—a portal that opened just to somewhere in the void. The Lord of Darkness threw the crystal ball—a prison that held Neina the one being for which Malkor truly cared—into the portal, throwing to a random point in the void.

"NO!" Malkor howled, standing up and pulling at the chains that bound him. At first, the daemons laughed at his efforts; they apparently didn't see what Selax saw—the dark halo that was beginning to surround him, that he was beginning to pull into himself. Then, they did. They did as Malkor's physical form began to warp and distort. His eyes began to redden, his face began to pale, and his armor began to blacken. Yet the change stopped midway, leaving him between this form and his other.

The chain that had bound Malkor broke, flying in many pieces everywhere. He stood up with a roar and the darkness rose about him.

What happened afterward was not pretty. Malkor tore the daemons to shreds, including the Lord of Darkness (whom he pulled apart molecule by molecule).

Then, he left. He disguised the change that had happened to him and returned to his companions—obviously the Chimaera of old. Selax saw their long search for Neina, saw the Chimaera give up long before Malkor, saw Malkor's descent into the dark and the beginnings of his hatred of the Chimaera, and at last saw one of his greatest evils. Malkor went to the Chimaera and told them that he had found a way to merge with/embody Death itself. (This was the process that had begun when he had killed the Lord of Darkness.) The Chimaera aided Malkor in completing the process, and the Death King was born...

Selax turned away from Pnyx and went up into the mountains. Here, hidden deep in the earth with no outlets that anything smaller than a rabbit could use, Selax hid the oddities that he had collected over the years. He entered his lair and paused before one of the shelves and spoke to object on it.

"Well, I know now. I thank you for taking me into your confidence, but what do you want me to do now?" he asked the crystal ball that pulsated with white.


Meanwhile, at Pnyx, Alaric had arrived and sat in judgement in the Pnyx's main hall. Under his wise guidance and because of his sage decisions, the tensions and the incidents that had occurred at Pnyx would soon be almost forgotten. Almost everyone was pardoned when it was seen how completely Thern had manipulated everyone and also because they were few were not guilty in some way. Both mages and citizens made the appropriate kinds of restitution. Only the citizens and mages who had seriously harmed each other in some way before the day of the Battle were punised. Alaric also healed Lindus, who had been popular with the citizens. All told, Alaric was able to heal most of the damage that Thern had done.

Talryn was put on a kind of a parole. He was released into the custody of Thomas and Etiko and soon left Pnyx. He spoke to no one of the Death King, knowing that general knowledge of such a being might create chaos in Cythera, as Selax also believed. (He and Selax had talked of it before Selax had left Pnyx.)



So ends the Team Story Witch Hunt. I thank everyone who participated, although I think that this TS went on a little long, had somewhat low participation, and didn't completely achieve its goals.

I might polish up or make some more changes to this post later.

I cannot lock or unpin this topic, so I leave that to Avatara.