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Cat noticed Shanadar run off with a small object in his hand, back towards the Undine. She turned to Starfall and said, "I'm going after him. He can't just run off and let himself be killed!"
Starfall knew better than to protest. Cat could be as stubborn as a mule at times, and this looked like it was one of them.
"Be careful." she murmured, as Cat wrapped her cloak around herself and shadowed Shanadar.
She was running beside him, unseen, just as he lobbed his object at the nearest Undine's feet. The resulting blast blew her backwards, and she watched as the Undine reformed after being levelled by the explosion.
Shanadar ran back, towards Selax, shouting something she didn't catch, as the explosion had partially deafened her for a bit. The Undine followed him, and Cat followed the Undine.
She drew level with him again, threw back her cloak, and shouted, "Keep running! I'll slow him down for you!" Spinning on her toes, she leapt at the oncoming Undine with all her strength, knocking him to the ground. Shanadar stopped, watching the fight. In the midst of trying to claw the Undine's face off, Cat noticed, and yelled back, "I said run, you idiot! I can't hold him forever!"
She was then too involved in the fight to see whether Shanadar had obeyed. Her only tactic was breaking the Undine's concentration, preventing it from casting the more powerful spells in its repertoire. Alternating clawing with kicking and punching, and not seeing much effect, she was gradually weakening. She knew it wouldn't be long before she was too weak to stop the Undine throwing her off and chasing after Shanadar, but at least he would have a decent start.
Rolling off for a second, she put one hand to her belt, and after recieving a decent jolt of energy, leapt back onto the Undine, who was struggling to get up. Nothing was going to make her stop fighting it, not until she was too weak to fight or the party had got the sword. Resigning herself to the fact it would be a long fight, she kicked the Undine squarely in the jaw.
I hope Shanadar got out all right.

After that, Silverfish started yanking out wedges whenever he saw the grooves.

As the party minus Selax, Cat, and Shandar ran down the hallway, Talryn heared the echo of wet feet hitting the ground was growing louder as the rest of the Undine broke through the barriers. Talryn looked back as the stragglers caught up. Talryn slowed down as to catch up with Silverfish, once he moved at his pace he told Silver fish to run ahead for a bit then pull one down. Toreon also began to slow down.

Silverfish got ot the designated point, and almost waved goodbye when he pulled out the wedge. Toreon rushed past so he could catch up with Talryn. Before the barrier closed, Talryn sent a thought over to Wizard, Don't come back to rescue me until you have the sword, I'll keep them distracted as long as possible. If you guys stop and comeback know, you'll be overpowered and then we will lose the sword. Go, but make sure you come back to rescue me. Talryn smiled with the last part and then backed up with Toreon still running to catch up.

Talryn stopped running turned around and drew his sword, something he hadn’t done in a long time. <So, will you help or do you want to die with me? >

<Its tempting... This is really going to hurt... Fine, Fine I’ll help…>

Talryn waited for the three Undine to grow closer. Three more...two more... one more... Once the Undine in the front was within range after breaking the last barrier that separated them, Talryn enchanted his sword with a quick ice spell and threw it. The sword sailed through the air and struck the Undine where a heart should be located. The Undine did not die as was part of the plan, but due to the force of the impact, it was thrown off its feet with ice slowly consuming him.

Toreon now had caught up and charged towards the Undine. Talryn ran forward and then jumped sideways so that he could knock the other two Undine down, however, the Undine simply reverted to a water state and let Talryn slide through them. A few moments later, they ran through Toreon as well.

Talryn hit the ground a lot harder than he planned and ended up getting the wind knocked out of him. Toreon charged forward as the remaining Undine pulled the sword out and wielded it. Toreon engaged in melee combat but was not going to be able to hold out for long. Talryn pulled down the ceiling behind him, sealing off the tunnel behind the still moving party, but ahead of the other two Undine. Another barrier fell first, preventing the rubble from filling up the tunnel. They glared back at Talryn briefly before jumping into the rubble and soaking their way through.

Talryn was almost breathing normal as he took a step towards Toreon. Toreon let out a cry of pain as his arm was cut. Talryn picked up his sword and engaged the Undine in a two versus one melee combat. Talryn attacked while Toreon parried blows. The Undine kicked Talryn out of the way and pushed Toreon into the other side of the Tunnel. Toreon dropped his sword and let out a final cry of pain as the Undine’s weapon pierced his heart.

Talryn looked on in horror. <Okay that pushes it, if you are not going magic him into a freaking puddle for eternity, I’ll take over and do it.>

<No… I don’t care what we have to sacrifice, even if the curse consumes me, this Undine is dead.> Fueled by the rage of seeing a fellow party member slain, Talryn and his darker side lunged at the Undine. The Undine’s smile was wiped off his face, literally, as Talryn’s sword swept through its head.

The Undine really wasn’t in that much pain but was annoyed and wanted to help the other two retrieve the Sword. However weakened it was, it’s blows were still quite strong and sent a fist into Talryn’s chest. Not only did some ribs crack, Talryn flew backwards and hit the pile of rubble while his heart skipped a beat.
The Undine slowly walked forward then begun to summon some more mana in an attempt to overkill Talryn. He slowly stood up, cluching his heart and looked at the Undine and moved so that he was leaning on the side of the tunnel. The Undine laughed and released its spell. Talryn pushed off the wall to the other side, getting clear of the spell’s path and tapped into it.

The curse kicked in and Talryn felt a strong boost of power and quickly sent out spell after spell towards the Undine. The spells were too big for the Undine to dodge and too fast. Blast after blast from hate to ice to fire to earth to dark magic continued to pelt the Undine. Talryn fell to both knees and the last bit of his identity, his memory began to fade, he let out one final spell.

The spell used up every ounce of mana he had, and caused too much strain for his sporadic heart to handle. Talryn collapsed before he could see his work finished. The spell reverberated off of the walls growing in intensity till it collided with the Undine. Due to the Undine’s liquid form, the spell was increased that much more and eradicated the link between the water. After it passed through, the form lost its cohesion and fell into a simple, harmless puddle of water on the floor.

Talryn lay facing upwards as his vision became blurry and the last thing that Talryn ever would remember was a brick from the ceiling falling onto him. The curse finished erasing Talryn’s memory and more. The brick struck him and he passed out.

Talryn and his darker side were standing opposite of each other as they typically had done when Talryn lost conciseness. The darker side spoke first, <Well we did it, I have to say that was quite interesting. So much for me being evil, you just had to convince me to help you save the others didn’t you? >

Images of Wizard, Selax, Avatara and others flashed by before the curse consumed them. The ceiling of the tunnel on Talryn’s side finished collapsing and Talryn was no more. Through all the rubble remained only two bodies and a pile of water. One was Toreon who had died before he was crushed by the bricks, the other was formally known as Talryn. Despite reason and logic the heart in that body continued to beat, although it was sporadic and slowly failing.

-Dark

This post has been edited by Dark Jet: 15 January 2007 - 09:31 PM

From Kronos' domain outside of time, Temrel played the event back and forth on his time viewer.

"Mana-based magic? Why would an Undine use mana-based magic? And why weren't the barriers enchanted against them, like the rest of the stone in the tunnel? And where did that brick come from? Wouldn't the Seldane simply have formed the tunnel out of the living stone?"

He sighed, and shrugged. There were some things that he'd just never understand.

Rapierian sensed Toreon's death the moment it happened. Mentally, he instructed his two skeletal minions to close ranks; he feared that Retsy might turn around and try to run back. If she did so, his minions would have to carry her the rest of the way. He figured that he might as well tell her now to avoid being her bothering him later about not telling her. (He wasn't particularly sentimental; he just didn't like loud noises and didn't want to be yelled at later.) He'd be able to prevent her from acting in a suicidal manner or harming the group, so he figured it shouldn't cause any harm. The necromancer moved up behind Retsy.

"Retsy, I'm afraid it seems that Toreon has been killed," he told her.


Selax and Alkar continued to hammer away at each other. They were now standing on top of the ruins of one of the stone walls, having fought their way half way across the valley. For a moment, they locked swords and looked at each other over the blades. Selax shook his head.

"You should probably be aware that there is a high probability that I will succeed in terminating you," he stated bluntly.

Alkar snarled and shoved against the locked weapons, sending Selax flying back. Selax flipped back and landed on his feet. Alkar charged. Selax sidestepped, tripped him, and slashed at him as he went by. Alkar managed to twist enough to parry but landed in a heap. Selax leapt, intending to come down on top of Alkar. Alkar rolled out of the way and tried to stab Selax as he landed. Selax blocked and attacked again. Alkar managed to regain his footing but not quite fast enough, as Selax scored a slash along his arm.

For a moment, the Undine stared at Selax in shocked rage. Then, he gave an incoherent scream and charged again. Selax flew upwards, and Alkar soared after him into the sky. Each charged the other and the fight continued.

This post has been edited by Selax: 14 January 2007 - 12:12 AM

Retsy was in quite a sour mood. Besides how exhausted she was from all the running, she was really sick of being a magess. She hated magic, considering it all evil. And her mood was not improved by Rapierian bugging her.
She turned to face him, and gave him the best death-glare she could muster (which wasn't great, but it's the thought that counts). "Go. Away. Just leave me alone! Stop trying to get me in trouble; you're just a mean person! I'm a brilliant evil sorceress, I would've known if my own big brother died."
Rapierian looked as though he was going to reply to her, so Retsy added, "just go away before I kill you with my mind!"
Retsy stomped off to walk next to friendlier people. But still she turned her head to stare at the path behind her, wondering what Toreon could possibly be doing with those Undine.

The group was still running down the tunnel, but everyone was exhausted and hoping to reach the Sword quickly. The only thing working on their side was the fact that most, if not all, of the Undine on their trail had been delayed along the way. Alice kept glancing behind them every few seconds, paranoid that more were going to show up.

The elves in the group were the first to notice something wrong. "What's that sound?" Moonshadow said.

"What sound?" Sideline said, frustrated with not being able to see or hear as well as an elf. But his question was soon answered as they progressed down the tunnel, and soon everyone could hear the smashing sounds coming from up ahead. It got louder with every step they took, echoing down the tunnel and shaking fine pieces of dust onto their heads.

"It's coming from above us," Brianna realized. "It's in the ceiling!"

"Of course!" Wizard said, gasping for breath as he tried to speak and run at the same time. "The Undine can't teleport into the tunnel, so they must be trying to smash the ceiling in! There must be more of them up ahead!"

Alice looked around, quickly trying to evaluate the situation. Retsy, Starfall and Silverfish, being the smallest, were lagging behind. He picked up Starfall in mid-run and deposited her on Brianna's back. Rapierian might have been stronger, but Alice didn't trust him, and Wizard was too old to carry anyone else. "Sideline!" he called, and the other man looked back, understanding right away. He nodded and pulled Retsy onto his back, continuing to run full-speed down the tunnel. Alice scooped up Silverfish, giving him a slightly odd look as he did so. "Mind keeping those spikes tucked in?"

"Sorry," Silverfish apologized, and tried curling up in a ball best he could.

The noise was almost deafening now, and they had to shout just to make themselves heard. "I think they're almost through!" Moonshadow yelled, covering her ears to protect her extra-sensitive hearing. "We have to hurry or else they'll cut us off from the Sword!"

They were madly racing down the tunnel, ducking as pieces of stone started to fall from above and threaten to hit them. Far ahead, the tunnel was illuminated slightly, and seemed to open up . "Look!" Uzsuy said, pointing ahead. "Is that it?"

"Come on!" Sideline yelled, urging everyone along as fast as their feet could carry them, just as an ear-splitting crash sounded from behind them. The ceiling of the tunnel caved in, and several Undine came streaming in through the hole, heading the only way they could now that the tunnel was filled with rubble- towards the adventurers.

Alice passed Silverfish off to Wizard and stopped in his tracks, turning to face the Undine swooping down the tunnel towards him. He braced himself and drew his sword, face contorted with fury and perhaps insanity. "I... am... sick... of... weird things FOLLOWING ME AROUND!"

"What are you doing?! You're going to get yourself killed!" someone yelled after him, but Alice didn't respond. He stood stock-still as a translucent figure came at him from the other direction and went inside him, essentially inhabiting his body, just as the Undine came within arm's length. Alice went rigid as the ghost took shared control, and thrust forward with his sword, sending it right through the middle of an Undine. It snarled, more annoyed than hurt, but the others circled around for a second in hesitation, confused about the presense of two souls.

Alice kept fighting, using his reflexes and rage in combination with the ghost's swordfighting skills. It was just enough of a delay for the group to make it to the end of the tunnel, but they watched in horror as the Undine swarmed him, and his body collapsed to the ground. The last thing they heard was him yell angrily, "Keep going! ... ARGH! %$&@ING THINGS FOLLOWING ME EVERYWHERE!"

This post has been edited by iKaterei: 13 January 2007 - 10:30 PM

A shudder passed through Silverfish's small body, he wasn't sure what was happening anymore, the last thing he could really remember was flying up with Selax to get a glimpse of Mayer before the others, and he wasn't sure what his reasoning had been. After that, everything was a complete blur, but why? Then, a small little used corner of his mind spoke up, "I haven't had a chance to rest since returning from the void. You should have taken better care of me."

Silverfish muttered something, then his spikes disappeared, and (much to Wizard's astonishment) a smooth, strong, ball of metal formed around him. And he slept.

The running party rounded the last corner and came out into an illuminated chamber. In the middle sat a pedestal and on that pedestal sat the source of the glow—the Sword of Elements. At first glance, it looked like an average sword, except that it glows. On closer inspection, one might first note its golden hilt encrusted with gems. Then, one would likely note that the color of the glow changes every moment, reflecting the power of the elements in it.

The pedestal sat in the middle of a moat of fire. Only one bridge with space for only one person spanned this moat. Sideline was the first to act and dashed across the bridge...

The Undine rounded the corner and saw what was happening. They raised their hands preparing to annihilate the group...

Rapierian noticed them and not having time for a spell grabbed something and threw at them...

It turned out that he'd grabbed the sleeping Silverfish out of Wizard's hand. The metal ball passed right through the lead Undine and, although not fatal, disoriented him, causing him to stagger backward into the others. This diversion lasted only a few seconds, but it was all Sideline needed.

He scooped up the Sword and felt its powers fill him. Somehow he knew just how to handle the Undine.

"Burn!" he yelled at them.

The Undine screamed and began to evaporate before the group's eyes. For a moment, the tunnel was choked with steam, and then there was nothing. The Undine were gone, and it was over. Almost. They had to return to the surface, see what had become of their comrades, and decide what to do with the Sword of Elements.

With the Sword, they had no problem clearing the tunnel of debris, and they proceeded cautiously forward...


Selax and Alkar continued to fight, swords clashing repeatedly and sending up streams of sparks. Alkar had now been wounded several times: despite his skill, he simply was not as knowledgeable or skilled as Selax was, in part because Selax was older and more traveled. Despite this, the Undine refused to give up or to use his magic.

Alkar felt himself growing weaker and figured he had to stake everything on last try. He redoubled his attack and somehow, through sheer fervor or willpower or surprise, managed to open a hole in Selax's defenses.

He plunged his sword in...only to fall back as Selax ran him through. Alkar had been so focused on getting an opening and exploiting it that he had completely forgot that he might be falling for a feint.

"I'm sorry, boy; you lost because you've learned nothing—haven't changed a bit, haven't grown at all—still acted like a boy with a sword," Selax told him.

Alkar roared with fury and although now mortally wounded lifted his sword (he still didn't use his magic in his insanity). He charged again, and Selax was forced to remove his head to stop him. The body almost instantly evaporated.

Selax went back down to the ground, landing near the trapdoor just as Shanadar came out.

"What has happened?" Selax asked.

"Cat is fighting an Undine back there—more following the group," Shanadar panted, pointing to the tunnel.

Selax went down the stairs and flew along the tunnel, rapidly approaching Cat as she continued her fight. He came around the corner just in time for Cat to knock the Undine she fought back. (Although Cat might be beginning to tire she was still giving the Undine a hard time, preventing it from casting.) The Undine just happened to fall back toward Selax, who never one to miss an opportunity, calmly held out both his swords and let the Undine fall on them. The Undine's eyes bulged for a moment and then glazed over. Its body, like Alkar's, quickly evaporated.

"Well done," Selax told Cat as she recovered and the two proceeded down the tunnel (now joined by Shanadar), "few could have lasted long against that foe without knowing much more about them."

This post has been edited by Selax: 14 January 2007 - 12:12 AM

"Well done," Selax told Cat as she recovered and the two proceeded down the tunnel, joined by Shanadar, "few could have lasted long against that foe without knowing much more about them."

"No kidding" Shanadar said with a rasp, his thought sore from heavy breathing he had endured from the running, "When I go a suicide charge, I don't expect anyone to follow me. I swear she is crazier than I am." He turned to Cat, "Thanks."

Sincere though his word were, he still could not help but feel that he was committing to a terrible cliché.

Cat grinned happily. "That has to be the best fight I've had in ages!. We were pretty even, because I stopped him casting. Has everyone made it alive?"

The air was dusty and dry. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. From what I could see, i was in a dark area with rocks all around. I tried to sit up, but my body screamed no. I lifted my head to see a rock of some shape and size on my stomach. I tried to move other parts of my body, my arms could move but were sore, as were my legs. I moved my arms so that i could grab the cold heavy rock that was crushing me.

I inhaled deeply before i pushed and I was filled with a lot of pain and I felt my chest. I could feel the skin pulsing but it didn't feel right. Something in my head told me that it wasn't like it was supposed to be, but as I grasped the thought, it would continue to elude my efforts. Then I realized that I could remember nothing. The first thought that I could remember was inhaling the air and looking around. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't recall anything beyond my awakening.

After resting for a bit waiting for the pulsing to even out more, I once again tried to lift the cold rock off my stomach. I strained my arms enough that i could slide out. I then rested again as pain coursed throughout my chest. After the pain subsided, I rolled over and pushed up. After the third try of standing up, I did. I put one hand against the nearby wall and looked at my self. I could see that I had something covering my skin. A word floated around and I was able to catch this one. I was wearing clothes.

I smiled to myself and looked over the rest of my body observing scratches and the like. I pulled up the cloth that was covering the upper part of my body and examined my chest. Part of the chest, around the area which pulsed, was a darkish blue/red spot. After looking at that, I put the cloth back on and concluded that my chest had some damage done to it on the inside. Maybe it could be related to why i dont remember anything...?

Now standing up, I could better see my suroundings. My stomach growled as i glanced around, seeing that i was in some sort of tunnel, with a cave in on both sides. I saw a red stream coming from behind a rock that was on the opposite side of the space. I slowly moved, each step causing the muscles in my legs to scream in pain. It took what seemed an eternity to walk that very short distance. As i approached the rock, I could see that the red stream was coming from a shape proped up against the wall next to the rock. I staggered over and fell to my knees. I looked at what appeared to be hands and concluded that it was the samething I was. Again my mind hinted that I knew this person, but the thought eluded me again.

I felt it's chest looking for the pulse, but i felt none. I remembered that my upper part of my body moved when i breathed, i felt near where i breathe from on it, and no breathe came in or out. Fear slowly invaded my thoughts. I had no idea where i was, what i was, or who i was. I continued to examine it and as i lifted up the cloth that covered it's upper body, I saw a hole in it and also a hole at the center of the thing that caused the regular pulses.

I saw the red stream that lead from this strange opening, down its form onto the ground leading under the rock to where I had first saw it. I fell backwards as another stray word stuck into my mind. Dead... He is Dead.... He is a he.... What is a he? Confused and frightened I shook my head. My neck begun to hurt and i stopped. Then came the coughing. I had inhaled the stench of death and it seemed somehow familiar. My chest began to hurt and put my head against the wall and painfully coughed out a red liquid. After the coughing subsided, I stuck my finger into my red liquid and tasted it.

The taste wasn't completely repulsive, but after tasting a bit of his dead body, I wasn't looking forward to sticking that into my mouth again for a long time. As I looked at his head, another thought drifted out of the shadows of my forgotten past. I... I..know this person... He is a person... close to a girl... His name... What is his name, I had it there for a second... Oh, its Toreon.... And that wound it was caused by a weapon I carried...

I backed away to the other wall looking at Toreon in horror, I.. I killed him.... The reason he is dead is because of me. I sat there and looked at Toreon. He almost looked peaceful... I just sat there, staring at him untill I heard something. The debris toward the side that felt like the way out begun to move. The debris on the otherside as well begun to move. I heard voices coming from the side with the exit. The voices were so familar and the words were too. Words.. Speach... They must know... what I've done.

I now saw the sword that had killed Toreon, and I reached for it. I couldn't remember how to swing it or how to use it properly. A rock at the top of the pile that i was looking at (the one with the exit) was pulled away and some light shown through. Along with more fresher air. Someone said something and I tried to remember what the words "Anyone alive?" meant. As the pile kept being removed, I sank to the ground with my head on my knees, with a clear like liquid falling from what i use to see. While still holding onto my sword I covered my head awaiting the enterance of someone. I didn't care anymore that the blood of the sword stained the clothes that I was wearing. I didn't care if the thing that came through was a foe or friend.

With out my past, and after all that, I just didn't care what happened next. I am no longer the same as what I once was, whatever it was.

-Dark

This post has been edited by Dark Jet: 15 January 2007 - 09:32 PM

"I heard someone moving down there! Do you think it's the others?" said Cat exitedly. Even after her battle with the Undine, she was still managing to look bright and cheerful.
Selax stuck his head through the hole, but it was too dark to see anything. Cat looked too, but whoever it was, she couldn't see their face, and their clothes were so dusty as to be unrecognisable. "We'll have to take more of these rocks off."
Shanadar agreed, and the three started moving the rocks again, faster now. Soon they had moved enough to admit a body, and after checking for a drop, they slid down.
Cat rushed over to the person. "Talryn! You're alive!"

Sideline held up the sword, awestruck by the power he'd just wielded, yet at the same time, loathing it.

Moonshadow touched the blade. "You were right, Brianna," she said. "It is like Trinias' bow - only much, much more powerful!"

"But which was first?" Brianna wondered. "Who gave the idea to whom?"

Moonshadow shrugged. "We'll probably never know; but I suspect it was the Ronin's weapons that inspired the elementals. Before the seven and Boralis arrived, the elementals were at peace. According to what Flynn and the others have told me of that time, their hosts didn't know what war was, and had never even seen a sword before they arrived. Also, the manuscript mentioned Sabinate, and he was just a boy when the Ronin first met him."

Brianna acknowledged Moonshadow's reasoning with a nod.

"Wha -" Sideline croaked, then cleared his throat to try again. "What I did - back there - all that power, rushing through me. I think it drained a little part of me with it. Is that what it's like? For the Ronin, I mean - when they use their weapons, or the elemental magic?"

"Their weapons?" Moonshadow shook her head. "I don't think so. Their elemental blades seem to just work by contact, without any extra effort. Trinias' bow is a little different, but I've never noticed that it drained anything out of him. Brianna?"

"No, it doesn't look like it takes any effort at all."

"As for the elemental magic," Moonshadow frowned, "if I had my way, they wouldn't use it at all. It's far too dangerous for them. It feeds on their life force - Leandra's come close to killing herself with it, at least once."

Sideline held the sword as if it might bite him. "I don't want to hold onto this thing any longer than I have to. Lets find the others and figure out what to do with it."

This post has been edited by cache22: 12 January 2007 - 12:15 AM

"I'll carry it for you," Rapierian offered.
"No!" responded several people at once.
Wizard commented, "I think this sword might be our only way out of here."
"Okay," Sideline said, and he walked up to the wall of rubble that had trapped them in. He reached out to brush the sword against the rubble, but the sword did not even touch it when the rubble began to shift and move out of the way.
"That was easy," mused Sideline.
Alice fetched the sleeping ball of Silverfish, and the group continued on; moving rubble when needed. Finally they heard voices, and they pushed through one last wall.
From the other side, Cat quickly surveyed the returning group. "Everyone's okay!" she exclaimed happily.
"You got it," Selax added, sounding none-too-upset himself.
"Talryn's not okay?" Starfall asked lightly, stepping forward.
"He needs healing," Shanadar said.
Everyone approached Talryn, hoping to help.
"Who are you?" Talryn demanded, terrified by how outnumbered he was.
"His memories are gone," announced Wizard.
"What about Toreon?" Alice asked, wondering if Tor could clear up that mystery.
"Nalkii!" Retsy exclaimed, realizing she hadn't seen her brother yet. She looked around desperately until her eyes fell on what was obviously a corpse - covered in blood, covered in owies.
The others noticed what Retsy had just noticed, and fell silent to see how she'd react. Retsy's eyes burned; she turned around and wanted simply to escape. "Can we leave?"

Selax stepped over to Sideline.

"So you found it I see," he said, looking at the Sword. "It seems to be working normally."

Selax looked at the Sword for a moment in silence. It had been a long time since he had last seen it. Ages ago, his had been one of the voices urging its forging to aid in the battle against a great evil. Now, perhaps, it had served its purpose.


Rapierian leaned over Toreon.

"Well, I am afraid that there is nothing that I or anyone else can do for him," he told the others. Then, he pointed to Talryn who was still huddled by the wall. "He's been saying that he killed Toreon. It's possible since his weapon was used, but this wound seems to reek of Undine." He stood up and began walking down the tunnel toward the exit. As he passed Talryn, he said, "You know, you really should cheer up. It seems you might not have killed him after all."

Behind him, Selax stooped and picked up Toreon's body, while Sideline gathered the weapons lying around. Slowly, the party proceeded out of the tunnel.


They went east for several hours until they found Retsy's old family home. Here, they held a short funeral for Toreon and buried him next to his parents. Then, they headed back to Cademia.


Sometime later, the group returned to the Tavern and headed straight for a back table. Here, they sat and debated what to do with the Sword. Although they had originally planned to give it to Alaric, several of them now opposed this plan because it would almost certainly sway the Balance to Seldane and create an imbalance. (Selax stated that he believed this had probably been the Seldane's intent all along, which is one reason that they didn't really try to recover the Sword but allowed the group to.) Some proposed destroying it, but others argued that it might be needed later.

While they were debating, Linius, the town librarian and the one who had given them the clues that had started this quest, burst in.

"Is it true?" he asked, out of breath. "Did you find it?"

In answer, Sideline held the Sword up, and Linius looked at in awe.

"Amazing, simply amazing," he said quietly, "a true piece of ancient history. Were there any other artifacts?"

Wizard showed him the clues, and he examined them quietly and with a stunned expression. "May I take these to the museum?" he asked, and the group, no longer needing them, assented. Linius looked at the Sword again. "I don't suppose that I can take that to the museum, can I?" he joked. "Still, may I see it for just a moment? It is such ancient history..."

Selax, Sideline and Wizard all reacted at once and in a completely unexpected way. All leapt to their feet and pulled out their weapons.

"Now, Sideline, reveal him!" Wizard yelled, eying Linius with some distaste.

Sideline pointed the Sword of Elements at the startled Linius and commanded, "Reveal yourself...Ignae."

To the shock of the Tavern's other patrons, Linius began to ripple, flames began to run over his skin, and then all semblance of human skin was consumed by flame. Now, a pillar of flame with a vaguely humanoid form stood where Linius had only moments ago. The face warped and distorted until the almost features of Ignae appeared.

"Well, you win some; you lose some, he sighed. Ignae never reacted with the defeatism of the Seldane, the fury of the undine, or the insanity of the Sylph when he lost something. He was always quite philosophical and in control of himself.

"You planned this from the beginning, didn't you?" Selax accused. "It was you, not the real Linius, who brought us the first clues. You couldn't solve them yourself, so you decided to have us do it for you."

"Of course, I found the manuscript and the map, but I couldn't risk going for the Sword myself, not with the Seldane and Undine always prowling about, that and the clues are designed to be hard for elementals to decipher," Ignae replied, smiling despite his loss. (Ignae never minded explaining his plans after their completion.) "What made you guess?" he asked.

"I and Wizard have known you too long," Selax replied. "Sideline knew of you from the Ronin and figured that you had your hand in this somewhere. We knew that you would have to retrieve the Sword for yourself: you couldn't take it from us by force so we would have to give it to you. We would never trust you with it, so you had to use disguise. You knew that we wouldn't give the Sword to anyone but Alaric in person, so you had to ask to hold it. From then on, it was just a simple matter to wait for the first non-group (The Undine would've spotted you if you had been a group member) member who asked for it. Taking into account your reputation for trickery, one must also realize that there is every possibility that you started this whole quest and hence be on the watch for Linius. You took a gamble that we wouldn't guess or that we would ignore you as some many have until it was too late for them. I'm guessing that you also thought we wouldn't believe you had a motive for it but you did: you would do anything to restore your race and you thought this was the key."

"Of course, perhaps I was a little obvious when you put it like that, the fire elemental shrugged his shoulders of flame. Oh well, I'll be back, and I'll succeed someday. I have all time after all... He faded and winked out.


The group sat back down, still no closer to deciding what to do about the Sword. At that moment, Jehezekel approached their table.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation about this artifact. I think that I might have a solution for you."

"Let's hear it," Moonshadow said in the silence that followed.

"Well, I noticed—one can tell if they know what to look for—that you at least seem to know of—" he leaned over and whispered a name in her ear and her eyes widened in slight surprise. "Why not give it to him?"

"That's brilliant!" she said, and they both leaned over the Sword (which now sat on the table in front of them). Suddenly, the Sword of Elements winked out of existence and was gone.

"Where'd it go?" Cat asked, surprised.

"To a place where none can reach and from which it can return at the time that it is most needed, if it is ever needed again," Moonshadow replied cryptically, although none doubted that she told the truth.

Wizard leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Well, I guess it is over then," he said, and the rest agreed.


In his timeless realm, Kronos looked at the Sword of Elements and wondered what on Cythera to do with it.

This post has been edited by Selax: 15 January 2007 - 03:24 AM