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"We could get out popcorn and watch the others attempt to drown it," Rapierian suggested. "That seems like a good choice to me. It would probably be pretty fun."

"I think not," Shanadar countered grimly. "However, you are correct about one thing."

"I am? How nice of you to say so!"

"We have wasted too much time here. We are going to stop that golem and you are going to help."

Having said this, the Enforcer turned and, pulling the necromancer along, hurried toward the river.



Meanwhile, Selax and Silverfish had continued to guide the golem toward the water. They had headed due east from the Castle across the northern part of town. Fortunately, that part of Cademia was relatively devoid of houses and people (most of whom were now running to the fires in the slums and attempting to put them out). Nevertheless, the golem continued to grab at whatever it could find and to hurl it at Wizard.

At last, they reached the river. Still holding Wizard out of the golem's reach, Selax paused at a point just midway across the river. The enraged beast waded out into the water after them, showing no sign of hesitation. It did not even appear slowed by the water. Despite the dirt used in its construction, it showed no sign of damage. At last, it paused below them and roared furiously at its quarry, which was still out of its reach.

Selax then began to move south, planning to lead the creature toward the deeper water where the river emptied into the sea. The golem followed them. As it went, the water slowly climbed up to its chest but still it came after them. However, it soon began to have trouble lifting its legs out of the thick mud along the bottom of the river. Slowly, the monster's pace slackened until, quite suddenly, it found itself completely stuck in the mud.

Furiously, it roared and struggled to free itself. However, its great weight had caused it sink deep into the earth and not even its strength sufficed to loose its legs. Still, it fought tirelessly to free itself, all the while continuing to bellow defiantly at Wizard and Selax. All the while, Silverfish continued to pummel it with lightning, and Wizard soon began to batter it telekinetically.



Moments later, Shanadar, Katerei, and Talos reached the shore, still pulling necromancer along with them.

"It worked!" Talos yelled. "It's trapped!"

"But for how long?" Katerei responded, eyeing the golem worriedly.

Sparing only a glance at the raging giant, the Enforcer turned to Rapierian.

"Even if this isn't some abomination you've created, you deal with the likes of these, necromancer," he growled. "Stop it."

Rapierian laughed.

"Why certainly . . . oh wait, I left my Giant-golem-be-gone formula in my other cloak," the necromancer replied. Before Shanadar could do more than take a step forward, he continued, "Of course, I could try an unsummoning spell, but that doesn't seem like it would be much fun, unless you were willing, perhaps to listen to my side of the story afterward and perhaps to let me tag along with you."

"If you think for one moment that—" Shanadar began angrily.

A deafening roar from the trapped golem drowned out the rest of his statement. The beast succeeded for just a moment in pulling a leg free of the mud before it sank down again.

"I'm not sure we have a choice, Shanadar," Katerei said.

"We can't trust him!" the Enforcer replied, eyeing the golem warily.

"I don't think we have time to debate," Talos replied.

For a moment, Shanadar stood, obviously weighing his options. Finally, he gave an irritated sigh.

"All right," he ground out. "You can tell your story afterward. But one trick—or even the hint of one— and I will make you regret all of your evil deeds."

"Always cheerily optimistic and full of happy sayings," Rapierian replied. "You could teach a course about making friends and influen—"

Shanadar grabbed the necromancer's collar and shook him for a moment.

"No games!"

"For an Enforcer, you sure have appalling manner—"

The golem roared again. Rapierian turned to regard it for a moment.

"Ah, yes. Now, let me see . . . how did that spell go again? Ah yes, now I remember. Hmm, this is a bit oversized for a golem, probably won't unsummon all at one go," he stopped a moment. "Could you shrink a little maybe?" he called.

The creature ignored him.

"Maybe you'd like to join this group of 'heroes?' You'd fit right in, you know!"

The golem continued its struggles to free itself and reach Wizard.

"Well, that's too bad," Rapierian sighed. "He would have made it a lot easier to cut in line. Oh well, these things happen."

Raising his hands, he focused on the creature. For long moments, nothing happened. Then, blue energy began to gather around the necromancer, and the golem suddenly seemed to stumble slightly. Its form seemed to be losing cohesion for a moment.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash and a loud explosion was heard. Rapierian went flying back against the wall of a nearby building. Talos ran over to him.

Shanadar and Katerei gazed toward the river. The golem could not be seen.

"Do you think—" Katerei began.

Then, with a roar, the golem broke above the surface of the river. Again, it flailed at Wizard, but this time it did so with only its right arm. The other ended in a stump about halfway along its length.

"At least, he damaged it," Shanadar sighed.

"Is he in condition to try again?" Katerei asked, turning toward Talos.

Bending over the necromancer, the warrior shook his head and replied, "He's conscious, but his power seems drained."

The giant seemed undismayed by the loss of half of its left arm and continued single-mindedly to attempt to reach Wizard. Wizard and Silverfish continued to attack the golem, but it still showed no sign of stopping.

"What are we going to do?" Katerei said to no one in particular. "The mud doesn't seem to be holding it, and it's still dangerous even without arms."

Talos turned from examining Rapierian to look out at the river, but he was unstable on his injured leg and stumbled as the sand shifted underfoot. "Oh, Talos, careful–" Katerei said worriedly and reached out to steady him. She scooped up a long piece of driftwood, worn smooth from the river water, and offered it to him. "Here, use this."

"That golem might mistake me for the Wizard," he said with a dry chuckle, politely waving away the makeshift cane. "Then again, Andru did a number on its leg back there, maybe we have something in common."

"Perhaps we could use that to our advantage. If we could knock it over, the water might hold it down long enough to get some good blows in," Shanadar said thoughtfully, and turned to Katerei. "How do you feel about tidal waves?"

It was too dark to see Katerei's expression clearly, but her tone was surprised. "I... guess I could try?"

"We're running out of options," Talos said, then paused and frowned. He looked down at the barely-conscious Rapierian. "Is he saying something?"

Shanadar furrowed his brow and leaned over the necromancer's prone form, listening carefully to the faint mumblings. "He says if we get Silverfish to channel enough electricity through a wave that Kat creates, it might interfere with the magic that binds the thing together, and–" Shanadar's eyes widened as Rapierian mumbled something else– "I'm NOT repeating that!"

"Is that such a good idea?" Katerei asked uncertainly. "I mean, what if there are fish in the river? I don't want to kill the fish!"

Shanadar stepped away from Rapierian, as if tempted to kick him otherwise. "Rest assured, no one has ever seen any fish in that river," he said, sounding grumpy.

"Well, if you're sure," Katerei said with a note of hesitation, but she cupped her hands around her mouth and called out to Silverfish. When he had flown over to where they stood on the riverbank, she quickly explained the plan to him. "Are you okay with that? I mean, you're not too exhausted?"

"Not yet, but I will be after that," Silver chirped. "Let's hope it works!"

Katerei nodded and raised her hands, putting all her concentration on guiding the water from out in the ocean toward the shore, willing it to move to where the golem stood half-immersed in the mouth of the river. She knit her brows together as she focused, sensing her magic meet with the sea and swell into a single, colossal wave. The golem seemed completely oblivious, bent as it was on beating Wizard to a pulp.

Overhead, Silverfish fluttered silently as he waited, until finally the wave crested and rose in the air higher than the golem's head. "Now!" Katerei cried out, and Silver dove toward it, flinging bolts of lightning into the water as he skimmed along the surface. He spun away just as the wave struck the golem with a mighty crash, sparks flying haphazardly.

Katerei looked skyward as Silverfish flew back toward the shore in slightly askew spirals. "Somebody catch him," she said faintly before slumping to the ground in exhaustion.

A plume of smoke rose from the water, momentarily obscuring the golem. Swooping down toward the shore, Selax caught Silverfish. Coming over to where Talos knelt over Katerei's limp form, the elemental set down Wizard and Silverfish down. Shanadar was gazing toward the river, clearly ill at ease.

"Is she all right?" Wizard asked, as Talos straightened. Looking about, he noticed Rapierian, and the old man's eyes widened. "And what is he doing here?" he asked in shock, not waiting for a response to his previous question.

"She'll be fine. I think she's just drained," Talos replied. "That one," he added, glancing at the necromancer, "showed up at the Castle after you left. He claimed innocence in all of this matter and, in exchange for being able to tell his side of the story, agreed to help us with this monster."

"We have to listen to one of his stories?" Wizard sputtered indignantly, looking about as furious as Shanadar looked.

Before anyone could reply, another earsplitting roar shook the air.

"Again?" Wizard sighed wearily, turning to face the water. The golem rose above the surface of the river, roaring once more in defiance. The creature struggled to free itself and to reach Wizard, but it no longer possessed its impossible strength.

The stone that made up the creature had become sieved and porous, as the magic that had held it together had been damaged by Katerei and Silverfish's combined attack. Its face was cracked and rent. One of its arms was missing and the damage of the earlier explosions was now starkly revealed. However, it still roared and struggled, showing no signs of giving up.

Throwing up his hands, Wizard flung another telekinetic attack at the monster. Unlike the previous assaults, this attack succeeded in slashing the creature's stone chest—weakened by the assaults upon it—leaving a dint.

"The creature must be destroyed before it can recover. It has been damaged enough that a conventional attack has a probability of success," Selax said, still sounding eerily calm. He turned to Wizard, "Prepare all of your strength. It is unlikely we will have another chance at this."

Wizard nodded. He had worked with Selax long enough to know what the elemental intended to do.

Suddenly, Selax drew both of his blades and soared upward, rapidly becoming a dark speck high in the sky above. Circling, he began to descend in a steep dive toward the golem. Meanwhile, Wizard closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Slowly, he raised his hands. As Selax passed over the group in a rushing wind, Wizard threw him forward, placing all of his telekinetic might behind Selax's strength and the speed of his dive. Momentarily winded, the old man staggered, leaning on Talos for support.

In a collision of sparks and a loud echoing crash, the racing elemental struck the golem squarely in the neck. Before its earlier damage, even this attack would have failed to do more than scratch the beast, but, now, the blow smashed the golem's head off of it shoulders and crumbled part of the upper portion of its chest. Smashed almost flat by the force of the attack, Selax went spinning off to the side. The golem staggered, unable now to bellow. Nevertheless, its remaining arm continued to flail, attempting to hit the falling elemental.

For a moment, Selax floated seemingly stunned. Then, his physical form seemed to waver and rapidly began to resemble his regular appearance. Recovering, he regained control of his flight and turned back toward the monster. Drawing his weapons again, Selax flew at the creature again, approaching from the side where it had only the stump of an arm.

Somehow, the golem still detected his presence and tried to strike him, but the wounded beast had lost much of its strength and dexterity and was no longer able to move as rapidly. Easily dodging its strikes, Selax hacked at the creature's chest. As he recovered, Wizard began to fling more telekinetic attacks at the creature. The creature's hide had now become softer and the blows of both were able to score deeper slashes in its hide. Nevertheless, its durability remained high.

The process was slow, but, after what seemed like hours, the golem's chest at last crumbled. This damage proved too much for the creature, and, finally, it crumbled, its remains falling with great splashes into the river. For several moments, the group waited, but the monster was finally defeated.

Still seeming unaffected by the difficult events of the day, Selax returned to shore and landed next to Wizard.

"So, what now?" Wizard asked, looking around at the various group members and their injuries.

"We need to get them to a healer," Talos replied inclining his head toward the others. "We also need to do something about this dark mage."

"We can't just leave the city burning!" Shanadar replied, looking toward the smoke still rising from the southern part of the city. "But we can't let Rapierian out of our sight." The Enforcer sighed, clearly uncertain what to do next.

"Don't forget Andru or Yomu," Wizard interjected. "We must see if we can fi—" Suddenly, the old man stopped speaking, looking as though something had suddenly occurred to him. "Why was that creature attacking the Castle? What happened to all the guards?"

"It seemed to be after you. It might have believed you were in the Castle," Selax stated.

"Perhaps, but what about the Judge? Or any of the other mages? We saw no sign of them. With their help, we might have finished this much sooner."

"The creature might have been a diversion," Talos said. "Maybe it was to draw us off while someone struck at the mages!"

Shanadar turned toward the Castle, no longer looking uncertain.

"You're right, Talos," the Enforcer said. "We must investigate the Castle. We have no clue where that creature came from or what it's purpose was, but we must determine what damage it caused."

Elie screamed in pain from where she lay on the makeshift cot in the corner of the room. “Hold her still,” Katerei sternly commanded Iannah as she leaned over the injured girl. As she applied another dab of a healing paste to the blackened flesh streaking down Elie’s cheek, the girl screamed again and violently kicked Iannah before elbowing Katerei and withdrawing to the corner.

“I told you to hold her still!” Katerei snapped harshly as she rubbed her bruised collarbone.

“I’m trying!” A visibly flustered Iannah retorted, “Elie, you need to stop this and let her treat your wound.” The blond girl on the cot just stared silently back, tears running down her face. A long black streak of burned flesh streaked from her right cheek all the way down to a mess of charcoal and dried blood on the inside of her right thigh.

“If you need me to, I could-” Bastian began.

“No, I can handle this,” Iannah cut him off without even looking at the two men standing watch near the door. “Listen to me Elie, you need to let her finish so you will heal properly. I know it hurts...” Iannah paused for a second, just long enough for the silence to be noticeable, “Just be strong for me, okay?” The injured girl nodded, wiped away her tears with her left arm and slowly lay down again on the bed.

“Here, use this,” Katerei offered Elie a bunched up linen rag. “It’ll stop you from biting your tongue.” With Iannah firmly pinning down Elie’s chest, Katerei resumed applying the salve. Elie writhed from the sting of the salve, but much less forcefully than before.

Avatara watched quietly from the door of the single-room house they were “borrowing”, replaying the events from an hour ago. He had thought this Iannah was someone who remained in control of the situation, only to have her suddenly risk everything in a fit of emotion. If her pride continued to get in the way of reason, they were all in danger. Especially now that the Hand would be after them.

Moreover, he had hoped Selax would have shown up, yet the treacherous elemental was nowhere in sight. Nor would he be, once he learned what had transpired in his absence. The fact that he had not attempted to contact Iannah after the failed meeting implied he had probably cast the assassins off as a useless liability, but that was not a suspicion Avatara dared voice aloud. He resolved to split off from the assassins as soon as they could manage to break away.

Avatara heard the quiet footsteps of Bastian approaching him. “She won’t admit it, but she’s scared,” the big man spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear.

“Seems like there’s a history there she neglected to mention,” Avatara replied.

“It’s never been as bad as today,” Bastian admitted. “I think she has been rattled by everything that’s happened recently. This whole invasion hasn’t exactly gone as planned.”

“Some people are more interested in looking after themselves than in doing what is best for the empire,” Avatara admitted.

“At any rate,” Bastian’s voice became a lot more serious, “I know you two risked a lot to come here, and I wanted to thank you for sticking around and helping out.” When Avatara didn’t reply, he continued, “I had my doubts at first, but now I think I can trust you.”

K slumped against the wall where she sat on the floor next to Elie's cot, knotting a piece of threadbare fabric between her fingers. It was all that remained of the spare linen she had purloined from the house, the rest being used for poultices. She had unbuckled her belt and her two sashes lay spread out on the ground, the various hidden pockets of herbs readily accessible. Her long blue hair, tied up in a high ponytail to keep it out of the way while she tended to Elie, hung limply over her shoulder. She felt absolutely bone-tired.

She cast a glance over at the cot, but Elie glared moodily back in a half-conscious daze. K couldn't really blame her. She didn't think the younger girl liked her all that much to begin with, but it came with habitually avoiding fire that K knew rather little about treating burns. She had no doubt put the poor girl through more pain than a qualified healer would have, and to less benefit.

We need to get out of here. The thought had weighed down heavier on K since their near-death confrontation. She sighed and looked out the window. It was well past sunset, but an orange glow in the southwest corner of town lit the night. They had seen the fire on the horizon as they searched for a house to commandeer. Nowhere in this city is safe.

The problem was getting away without raising the assassins' suspicions. She wasn't sure if Avatara wanted to leave yet, but maybe if she could come up with an excuse that would allow them to return later... K dropped the scrap of fabric onto the dirt floor and pressed her fingertips to her forehead, knuckles whitening with frustration.

A hacking cough interrupted her thoughts. K looked up to see Elie doubled over, whimpering with the pain of moving, but Iannah had already jumped up to press an earthenware cup of water to the girl's mouth. The dust and smoke from the collapsing house had settled in all of their lungs, but Elie seemed to have received the worst of it.

"Are you sure there's nothing else we can do?" Iannah asked anxiously as K gently re-applied the poultices that had fallen when Elie sat up.

"There's very little else I know how to do," K replied. Ignoring Elie's protestations, she checked the girl's breathing and heart rate and frowned slightly. She didn't like it, but an idea was forming in her head.

"Ia, can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked quietly. Iannah looked surprised, but K took her good arm – the one that Scry had hit still hung disconcertingly limp at her side – and led her over to where the men stood at the doorway.

"How is she?" Bastian asked as they approached.

"Not well," K whispered truthfully. "The burns are bad, but I'm concerned about giving her something for the pain. Her heart rate is erratic and I don't know what could happen. I don't want to know."

At these words, Iannah's fractured composure began to visibly break away. "You mean she might..." The assassin's voice shook and she fell silent.

"There's one thing I do know," K continued. "She needs rest, but she seems stressed out by me. Her vital signs seem to fluctuate more when I'm tending to her. I think Avatara and I should leave for awhile, a few hours at least, so she can rest."

"You can't leave!" Iannah immediately cried in a hushed tone, then quickly amended, "I mean, where will you go? Kain and the others will be in the city still, and now they know you are too."

K looked at Avatara, who gave her the tiniest of nods. "We'll figure something out. You and Bastian will be fine in this house; the people who live here must have fled when the city fell. I doubt they'll be back tonight. I won't stay here and endanger Elie though. I can't do that to her – to either of you."

"But-" Iannah sounded desperate. Next to her, even Bastian's normally impassive expression had turned grave. "I need you, Kat," she said plainly and helplessly.

K seized the assassin by the shoulders and stared at her levelly. "Iannah, listen to me. I am not a healer. I never have been. I'm just a herbalist, and in this case I don't know anything more than I've already taught you. I'll leave you all the supplies you need, and if her vitals get better, you can give her something to ease the pain. But she won't get better with me here. She trusts you to take care of her."

The other woman seemed to crumple under her gaze. "All right. But you'll come back in a few hours, won't you?"

"Yes," K said, not even knowing if that was true. She would settle for just a chance to talk to Avatara privately, but she wouldn't know what he wanted to do until then. If I don't return, I'll try and find a healer to send here instead, she promised herself in a weak attempt to assuage her guilt.

She was about to turn back to the cot and retrieve her belt, but Bastian reached out a hand for her to wait, and she looked at him in surprise. "Thank you," he said simply.

"You're welcome," she stammered, before beckoning Iannah to follow her, leaving the men alone again at the door. At the cot, K quickly sorted through her collection of herbs and left the required ones in neat piles, reminding Iannah how they were to be used. Elie watched them through half-closed eyes, but K had the odd feeling that there was less resentment in the girl's stare now.

"So what do I do if she gets worse?" Iannah asked hesitantly when they were back at the door, preparing to leave.

K finished re-buckling her belt and straightened her sash before looking up at the assassin, perhaps a bit sadly. "I suggest you start praying to whatever higher power you believe in, because that's the best chance she'll have."

This post has been edited by iKaterei: 09 September 2010 - 06:18 AM

He looked out over the last smoldering embers in the city below. The stars were partially obscured by the smoke rising from the remains of the slums. The damage to the city was irrelevant to him: Wizard's minions had been tasked with removing the heroes of this land and they had failed. Evidently, so too had Iannah and her assisants. Yet, even this would not set back his plans. It was always expected that one's servants might fail in a task and he always was ready for such occurrences.

Indeed, Selax made a habit of planning for everything.

He had been waiting quite some time for this, almost since the beginning of Cythera itself...


The rise of Alaric had not been unanticipated.

Bahoudin–called Magpie among mortals—was more clever than others of his kind and his motives different, but Selax had had ages to anticipate him.

Whether Bahoudin knew it or not, the birth of his son had greatly accelerated Selax's plans—making what would have taken millennia instead take mere centuries. The ancient entity knew that the Undine would not be able to resist the chance to corrupt Alaric with the Crolna and so defeat the Seldane at last. To Selax, this meant only that the Crolna would at last be brought within his reach and that his chance to remove the elementals of Cythera was at hand.

For many ages, Selax had pondered how he might escape this alternate Cythera—that it was indeed an alternate version of Cythera and that he himself was only an alternate of another, original Selax he had long ago realized—in which he found himself trapped. The great barriers that surrounded the original Cythera within the Ethereal Void also enshrouded its alternate—cutting off its access to the Void. Ironically, it was these same barriers that made Cythera itself so accessible to the Void. Not even Selax could enter the Void from this mirror-Cythera, unless perhaps he could somehow reach the original Cythera. However, even this short jump would require a brief transit through the Void. . .

Selax was undeterred and set to work immediately. The boy Wizard grew to be a powerful ally and together they sought an answer through many ages of men.

Nonetheless, the arrival of the humans in mirror-Cythera took them by surprise, but they were quickly folded into the web of planning that had been cast over the land. Once he had had a chance to study the newcomers, Wizard was delighted. The domination and rulership of these lesser minds appealed to him, and he did not doubt they would be most useful to him. Along with Selax, he bided his time, watching as the Tyrants rose to power and then fell from it.

When Alaric at last became ill and Bellerophon was summoned into mirror-Cythera, Selax and Wizard were ready. When the hero and his companions had finished gathering the scattered fragments of the Crolna, they struck. It was not easy, but Wizard was able to separate Bellerophon from those who traveled with him. Then, Selax attacked and killed the man who had been destined to save Alaric. At long last, the elemental seized the Crolna.

Although he had never had access to more than a fragment of this powerful artifact, Selax had long studied it and its properties. When at last he took it, he knew its powers better than perhaps any other. Disguised as Bellerophon, he went at once to Land King Hall. Using his knowledge of the device, he slew not only the Land King but also the Undine lord who had been hidden inside the Crolna.

But Selax had made one mistake: he had underestimated Bahoudin.

Somehow, though it cost him his life, Alaric's father shattered the Crolna into many shards. Not even Selax could restore it.

Undeterred, the elemental gathered the shards when he left Land King Hall.

He was determined that their power would not be wholly lost to him. . .

"I need to tell you something," K said, "before it's too late."

It was dark where they stood in the trees outside Cademia, branches concealing them from moonlight, though they were still near enough the sea that the taste of salt stuck on her tongue. It was hard to make out Avatara's expression as she looked at him sideways, her body angled away from him. She felt calmer than she expected she would; deciding to finally confess had been so agonizing that she almost wondered if it couldn't get any worse. Now that she was committed to the prospect, doing anything else seemed out of the question. Even so, she had trouble meeting his gaze as she spoke.

"I want you to promise me something first though," she continued. "I know you're not going to like what I have to say, but please hear me out first and let me explain. It's... it's important to me that you understand."

He raised his eyebrows slightly, but nodded. "All right."

In a distant part of her mind, she noticed that her hands were shaking slightly. She twisted her fingers together and took a deep breath. "Five years ago, after Selax came to you and asked for your help, you told me that you had no interest in doing so. You'd gotten married not long before, and you seemed... happy finally, with your wife and everything else. I knew you didn't want to risk that, but I still thought it was the wrong choice. I thought maybe if you helped Selax, he would move on and relinquish the control that he and the Wizard had on Cythera. I couldn't just let an opportunity like that go by. So I... I did something terrible. I went to Selax myself and told him why you refused to help him."

She dug her nails into her hands until the skin stung painfully, steeling her nerves for the next part. "We negotiated an agreement. Once Selax knew that your wife was the main thing keeping you from helping him, getting you on his side was as simple as removing her, or so he thought. He would make it look like ruffians had done it. I... I promised that after she was gone, I would try and persuade you to help him, since I knew you would still be reluctant. In exchange, I made Selax promise that you would be safe after you aided him, and that he would never ask you for help again. It was the only thing I could ask for to make up, even a little bit, for what I had done to you."

K had expected some kind of obvious reaction, an angry protest or a look of betrayal, but whatever he was feeling, she couldn't read it. Maybe he was taking her request for silence a little too literally. She finally looked straight into his eyes, mentally hoping, praying that this wouldn't be the last conversation they would ever have. "I know it was awful. Please understand – I thought it was the only way that any of us would have a chance at living a normal life, free from tyranny. I have never believed that we could overthrow Selax. I only hoped he could be made to leave once he had what he wanted, and it seemed inevitable that sacrifices would have to be made to get there."

"I couldn't go through with it though. It didn't take me long to realize that this wasn't my decision to make, and... that maybe I had done it for the wrong reasons. I went back to Selax and called it off, prepared to give my own life if he demanded it instead, but he said it was too late." Tears stung at her eyes, but she bit her lip to hold them back. "I won't ask for your forgiveness. I don't deserve that. I just hope you understand that I at least tried to make it right again. As soon as I left Selax, I came to your house to confess and to warn you what was going to happen. But it was too late. She was already dead."

"After that... I did try to persuade you to help Selax. I hated to do it, but nothing I could do would bring her back or make it right, and it would have been worse if her death was for nothing. I didn't tell you that Selax had killed her because you never would have agreed then, but you suspected him anyway. And then you were determined to avenge her, when fighting Selax openly was the one thing I'd been trying to avoid the whole time. So two days ago when you asked me why I disappeared for good after we fought... well, what I said then was part of it. But I couldn't bear the thought that it was my fault you were bent on going to your death. And I'd messed things up enough already, and if you found out what had happened you'd never want to see me again, and I was scared that Selax would come after me because I'd turned you completely against him. The only thing I could do was to leave forever and hope I never saw anyone who knew me again."

"Five years ago, after Selax came to you and asked for your help, you told me that you had no interest in doing so.”

Avatara stood very still, the chill of the night seeping in through the fabric of his clothes. From the sound of her voice earlier, he knew he wasn’t going to like this.

“You'd gotten married not long before, and you seemed...” Katerei paused briefly, a slight hesitation that was barely noticeable, before continuing, “...happy, finally. With your wife...and everything else.”

Even now, after all this time, disjointed images of her rose unbidden and rushed through him. He remembered her tending the garden outside their new home. He stood among the charred remains of a castle, aware of her beside him as they prepared to fight their way to freedom. They were on top of a great mountain, watching the orange sun set over the ocean in a brilliant display of color. He was warming up a leftover broth while she leaned over the bed, calmly attending the nearly comatose blue girl they had stumbled across. And then they were both kneeling, hands locked, exchanging vows to share both fortune and misfortune, for all eternity.

He had spent years of his life longing for a family, a place to belong, and when she had agreed to share in his dream, he had been overjoyed. It was all he could have hoped for, and more. He had gained a sense of peace and fulfillment that he hadn’t been able to attain from years of reckless adventuring.

“I thought maybe if you helped Selax, he would move on...” Katerei had continued to talk while he was engulfed in a wave of memories. He tried to clear his mind and focus on the present, but figments of the past swirled around him, mingling with the despair of shattered dreams.

“I couldn’t just let an opportunity like that go by.”

What are you saying?

“I did something terrible.”

What do you mean?

“I went to Selax myself and told him why you refused to help him.”

It felt as if the temperature had dropped several degrees. Avatara resisted the urge to shiver. Part of him wished she would stop before it was too late and she completely changed their friendship forever. Part of him knew it was already too late, the suspicions she had just sown had already taken root and he knew she was irrevocably implicated in the single most painful moment of his life.

“We negotiated an agreement,” her voice took on an unsteady tone, as if the words were difficult to say. “Once Selax knew your wife was the main thing keeping you from helping him, getting you on his side was as simple as removing her...”

He had known something was wrong before he caught sight of the smashed door on the house, the broken windows, the ravaged garden. Racing inside in a frenzy, ignoring the possessions scattered about in disarray, he was greeted with the body of his wife. She was lying face-down on the floor, her long silvery hair matted with blood near the wound on her back that had taken her life.

“...or so he thought,” Katerei continued.

He thought wrong.

“He would make it look like ruffians had done it.”

Superficially, it had seemed like a group of ruffians had broken in and taken her life. But they had encountered far more dangerous foes than a band of ruffians. If nothing else, her magic should have saved her.

“I... I promised that after she was gone, I would try and persuade you to help him, since I knew you would still be reluctant. In exchange, I made Selax promise that you would be safe after you aided him, and that he would never ask you for help again.”

A hollow promise. What else was there left for him to take?

“It was the only thing I could ask for to make up, even a little bit, for what I had done to you," Katerei said quietly.

A moment of silence passed. She looked up, staring directly into his eyes. Avatara could see she was expecting something from him, but she was uncertain what it would be.

What do I feel? They had taken in a badly injured girl, nursed her back to health. When they found out she had lost her home, they even let her stay with them. For almost half of a year, she had shared their life, and yet she had been the one to betray them and end it all. What did he feel?

Nothing.

He felt empty. The anger and fury he had bottled up, the determination for vengeance that had sustained him had been drained away by her revelation, replaced by despair? Helplessness? Fatigue? He wasn’t sure.

Katerei took a deep breath and continued, “I know it was awful, please understand...”

What do you want from me?

“I won’t ask for your forgiveness.” Tears were forming in her eyes now. “I don’t deserve that. I just hope you understand that I at least tried to make it right again.”

What am I supposed to do now?

“As soon as I left Selax, I tried to warn you about what was going to happen, but it was too late.”

She had stumbled across him later that night, cradling the lifeless body of his beloved in his arms. He remembered looking up as she entered, the full moon behind her casting a shadow across the floor. At first, she had been as grief-stricken as he was, but then as night turned into day and he refused to move, she began to try to get him to let go, to distract his mind with work. At the time he thought she was concerned at his sudden withdrawal, but now he knew the truth.

Katerei finished her story. He always suspected his stubborn refusal to leave the confines of his home had driven her away. He had shut out the world, choosing to wallow in self-pity, and from there a grudge began to fester. He loathed his solitude, and above all the one whom he suspected had been responsible. Selax.

Even now, he still hated the elemental. Despite Katerei’s confession, it was still Selax’s hand that had irrevocably scarred his existence. He still believed as firmly as he did then, that the world would be a better place without Selax’s tyranny. His mission hadn’t changed then; he still needed to stop Selax before the elemental could ruin someone else’s life. But, alone he would be no match, not even with the reserves he had painstakingly stored up over the last few months.

Katerei shifted nervously in front of him. “I’m sorry,” she said softly, “If you want me to go away forever, I will understand. Maybe that is what I should have done all along.”

“That won’t be necessary,” he broke his silence, startling her. What was she expecting from me? He took a deep breath, “If you were so worried about me finding out, why did you agree to follow me here?”

“I...” she looked away, embarrassed. “When I found you, I was running from myself - the other me, in this world - and I thought it would be safer to travel in company,” she said unconvincingly.

He paused before replying, considering his words carefully. What am I expecting from her? “You know I am hunting Selax, that hasn’t changed. Are you still so willing to follow me, even though you would have to face everything you’ve been running away from?”

“Yes.” She didn’t take very long to reply, but her voice sounded less than certain. “If you can tolerate me.” She directly stared at him and said in a much more steady tone, “I want to make amends for what I have done.”

“Help me take out Selax,” Avatara replied quietly. Katerei nodded in understanding. Is this a fair price to ask? He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before continuing, “I don’t think we stand a chance alone. We’re going to need the assistance of others.”

“Iannah will never agree-” she started to protest.

“I’m not talking about her,” he interrupted. She looked at him in confusion. “I’ve been considering this for a while, but I think there is one person from this world who would listen, at least.”

“Who?”

“You.” Katerei’s eyes widened in surprise, as he knew they would. Preferring to avoid conflict, the very idea of her of having to face herself would run against all her instincts. But, it would be necessary. “I think the other you will listen, but her companions may not. If you can separate her from the others, we may have a chance to win her over to our side. That’s where you come in.”

“Me?” Katerei’s asked more shrilly than she had probably intended.

“I don’t think I would be able to meet her alone, but you could.”

“What makes you think she would actually listen to...” her voice trailed off. “I’m not sure I can do this.” 

“You can,” Avatara told her. “And you will, if you truly meant everything you said.”

“I...Of course I did!” she retorted indignantly.

“If you really want to atone for the past, if you truly believe the world would be a better place without Selax, if you were sincere when you said you would help me bring him down, then you will need to help me find allies for our struggle. And our best chance at winning over people from this world lies in you, meeting face-to-face with yourself.”

Carrying their wounded as best they could, the group struggled toward the Castle.

When they were almost within sight of the Castle's gate, they spotted someone running toward them. Wary of an attack, they paused and waited for the runner to approach them. The man spotted them and hurried toward them.

Squinting, Talos said, "That looks like one of the guards."

"It is," Shanadar replied, having recognized the man as the guard that he had spoken to after the earlier attempt on the Judge's life. "He's a friend of mine."

At that moment, the guard reached them and stopped, momentarily gasping for breath.

"Shanadar! I'm glad I found you!"

"What happened? Is the Judge safe?" the Enforcer demanded.

"Yes! Just exhausted." Pausing, the guard composed himself and continued, speaking rapidly. "That monster came up right outside of the Castle and slaughtered most of the guards, except those lucky enough to be out on errands. The mages were able to hold it off until you arrived, but the effort weakened them greatly. They can't do anything about the fires, and Berossus fears to send the remainder of his guards away in case this is a diversion. He sent me to find you and to implore you to do what you can about the flames, before the city burns down!"

"The Castle can send no aid?" Selax asked.

"No, none can be spared. Please, you must help!"

For a moment, Shanadar considered all that he had heard, pondering how it affected the group's earlier conclusions. He did not like the situation, but the Enforcer realized that, if no help was to come from the Castle, the group would have to do what it could. Even if something did happen to the Judge, the safety of Cademia itself took precedence.

"If the mages are safe, I believe that we must go," he said.

"Agreed," Selax answered. He turned toward Talos. "You are injured but less than these others. We will get them to safety if you can care for them and make sure the necromancer does not recover and escape." Speaking to the guard, the elemental added, "Inform the Judge that we will deal with the fires."

Talos and the guard both nodded. The latter turned and hurried back toward the Castle.

The group hurried south, turning slightly toward the western part of the city. As they approached the buildings north of the slums, the smell of smoke became stronger and the roar of the flames louder.

After a few minutes, they reached Apis' Inn, where they left Talos with Rapierian, Katerei, and Silverfish. Selax, Shanadar, and Wizard then hurried eastward toward the raging inferno. Talos, meanwhile, sat down in a chair in the doorway of the room they had chosen and waited.



Hours later, the other returned. Talos stood up to greet them. The injured and exhausted group members were still resting, but the warrior suspected they would all be much recovered by morning.

"How it'd go?" he asked the returning group members as they came up the stairs. Shanadar and Wizard were covered in ash and soot, and both looked somewhat weary. Selax seemed untouched.

"The fire has been extinguished," Selax replied.

"No one was killed," Wizard added, "but there was a great deal of damage done in the slums."

"And no word or even sign of life around the Castle," Shanadar growled. "I don't like it."

"Nor do I," Wizard agreed. "But I don't think there is anything we can do until the morning." The old man turned toward Talos and asked, "Any change in the others?"

Talos shook his head.

Shanadar sighed.

"Then, I think we have little choice but to rest and prepare for the morning."

The others nodded in agreement.

With their course of action decided, Talos climbed into one of the empty beds and was soon asleep. Shanadar sat down in the chair that Talos had been using and fell into a light doze. Selax and Wizard, who had both volunteered to stand watch, sat down in chairs outside in the hallway.

The night passed slowly and uneventfully.

What happens when matter meets antimatter? I'll tell you what. The world ends! Even the Void could not fully contain the damage... Why should I care!? I don't know why. The Masters direct me... I am but a pawn in their game! Or maybe I'm a bishop... yes... or a rook! *caw* *caw* hee hee hee! ...What! don't go! the dream's not ove-

Silverfish didn't know where he was. A moment ago he was flying toward that giant golem, preparing an electric storm... A dream! Garbled meaning... Was it all a dream? He looked around. This was definitely not the Tavern, not noisy enough. He was laying on a bedside table... The Two-Tailed Rat! It was real at least until the return to Cademia. Cythera was in trouble. He glanced over at his companions. No, last night was real. Cythera is in Major trouble.

Silver slipped into a light trance-like state as he began restoring his body to its proper condition.

Katerei stood alone in the harsh gray light from the early morning sun. Directly in front of her lay the blackened husk of a burnt home. Light bluish smoke rose from smoldering charcoal in one corner, filling the air with an acrid stench. The far wall was completely devastated, revealing blackened ruins beyond. A few bleary-eyed stragglers wandered solemnly through the charred remains, surveying the damage and looking for salvageable valuables.

Most of the city appeared to have escaped relatively unscathed, but the heart of the slums had been torched fairly thoroughly. Years of poorly-built makeshift shelters all packed together had only fueled the frenzy of the inferno that had descended upon Cademia throughout the night.

She was exhausted both from the ordeal from the night before and a poor night of sleep. Her head hurt and her insides felt queasy. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold down any food she tried to eat, which did nothing to soothe her rumbling stomach.

A brief movement off to her right caught her eye. She turned towards the source, and all thoughts about herself and the injured city fled her mind. At the end of the block in front of her was a woman, clad lightly in black-laced garb, with long hair flowing behind her, brushing lightly against her hips. Yet, the most distinguishing feature about the foreign woman was her unmistakable blue complexion.

Katerei inhaled sharply as she stared at the mirror image of herself. The other woman looked so much like her in many ways, yet there were some differences as well. The other Katerei seemed much more sure of herself, betraying no hint of nervousness or uncertainty at all as their eyes met.

Katerei blinked. Did she just beckon me over? She felt a sudden rush of excitement at the prospect of meeting herself, but it quickly turned to a cold terror. A thousand questions swarmed through her head. What does she want? What kind of person is she? What would she think of me? Do I really want to find out?

Despite her fears and doubts, a small part of her was curious to find out. She almost had the urge to follow after her alternate, to see another side of herself.

“A terrible tragedy, isn’t it?” The voice jarred her back to reality. Katerei turned and found Selax standing behind her. She followed his gaze back towards the ruined slums and nodded.

“Have you recovered?” Selax turned his attention to her. Somehow that made her feel more nervous than she had been earlier.

“I’ll be fine,” she managed to say in a steady voice.

“We’ll probably need your strength again soon,” Selax replied, before turning and leaving.

Somewhat dazed from his sudden appearance and rapid departure, Katerei turned back to where she had seen her alternate moments before, only to find a deserted road. There was no trace of the other woman, yet Katerei was certain that she had been searching for her.

Rapierian woke up in a daze—a state of mind which, incidentally, did not particularly bother him.

Disoriented, the necromancer had a vague feeling that his magical energy was greatly depleted and that did bother him. It made having fun so much more difficult…

Sitting up, he looked around. The room was empty, although he heard voices coming from outside the door and surmised that the others were already up and about. Recalling the events of the past day, the necromancer frowned. Rapierian had the feeling that there was something that he wanted to ask somebody and that it was potentially important; however, just now, he couldn't recall what it could possibly be.

He laughed. It would come to him eventually.

As he got up, the door swung up and Shanadar stepped in, glowering at him.

"Good morning! What time will breakfast be served? I must say, you run a lousy form of room service! Although I guess you could curdle milk with that face—"

"Be quiet," the Enforcer growled. "We're going to the Castle and you'll get a chance to talk there. Afterward, it is my sincere hope that we will be able to lock you away for a very long time."

"It's nice for old men such as yourself to have goals," Rapierian replied, as they exited the room.




Meanwhile, another Rapierian was crouching in a darkened alleyway near the Castle.

The ranger had followed the members of the Hand all night, taking care to avoid the traps that Iannah and her compatriots had placed; however, he had not expected the trail to lead him here.

Studying the Castle, he shook his head. When he had trailed Kain, Ral, and Scry on the previous night, they had at first headed south along the river, seeming intent on leaving town. Then, for some reason he could not discern, they had about-faced and under cover of night had headed back toward the Castle. He had barely avoided being caught by them and, suspecting a trap, had waited nearly an hour before resuming his pursuit.

As nearly as he could tell, the trail had continued for the Castle. In the bright morning light, it was too dangerous to follow the trail any closer to the Castle, so he could not be certain that they had entered the building…

Rapierian shook his head again and settled down to watch. He had a very bad feeling about this.




In a grove of trees, south of town, Beorn staggered to his feet and almost fell over.

His uncomfortable sleeping position (in the top of one of the trees) had made getting to sleep difficult in the first place. Now, it was causing him all sorts of uncomfortable cramps and muscle twinges. Painfully, he fell back against the tree and made a mental note to be more careful about such things in the future. After a few minutes, he was able to stand up and to begin again his physical exercises.

Carefully, he contemplated the situation.

Escaping the locked room that he had been confined in had not been as difficult as he had at first feared, and it seemed his timing had been fortuitous. Wizard and his companions had arrived shortly afterward. Beorn had spent the rest of the day following them around town, attempting to catch Wizard alone. Unfortunately, before he could succeed, the group had been attacked by a well-armed and well trained force. Not wanting to get caught up in the battle, he had been forced to flee.

Barely had he avoided that fight when he found himself in the middle of the slums as a massive fire swept through them. In his current weakened state, he had again been forced to flee again, staggering blindly through streets that he could not discern through the smoke and flames. In the process, he had been half-choked by the smoke, but, fortunately, he had managed to find a way out to the south. (He reflected that he was not coping with his injuries as well he had hoped and made another mental note to deal with that.) Knowing that the armed force that had attacked the group had also escaped, he had been forced to take shelter in a tree.

Matters were progressing much as he had feared. Beorn was beginning to think that he might not be able to reach Wizard in time after all. If that was indeed the case, then his options were greatly reduced. It might be that he would be forced to head for Land King Hall at once. Only from there might he still have a chance of staving off total disaster.

Finishing his exercises, Beorn made up his mind. He would head around to the north of Cademia and wait. From here, he would be in a position to observe matters and still be ready to head for Land King Hall. Still, he would not be able to wait long. Time was running out…

Carefully, he looked about. Seeing no sign that he was being watched, he crept out and began to work his way north, moving west and avoiding the city. 

For as much as the Necromancer liked to derisively call the Shanadar an "old man", it would have seemed that he had no designs to live anywhere near as long. The role of Enforcer was perhaps the most dangerous occupation imaginable for a 'mundane' person, and Shanadar had survived -- while his compatriots perished one by one -- in a career of law enforcement that had lasted greater than three decades.

Yes, let the youthfully arrogant idiot mock his age all he liked; let him brag and rant about how superior his dark magics were over a 'mere' strong arm. When it came down to it, the Enforcer had endured when the foul Necromancer had exhausted himself. Ha. Rapierian would be fortunate to be half as spry in his mid-forties; dark magic or no, the Necromancer could hardly keep up at his present age.

Assurance of the fool's bravado was no reason to become overconfident, however. Shanadar had survived through caution as much as physical fitness, and it would be unwise to revise that particular policy.

While Rapierian was unconscious, the Enforcer had rifled through the Necromancer's possessions, confiscating various things both as evidence and for the safety of the party. Rapierian was prone to traveling with an assortment of blades, poisons, potions, a few decaying tomes whose contents he couldn't identify (undoubtedly grimoires filled with secrets of dark magic), and even a few lockpicks hemmed into his clothing. More interesting, however, was his possession of the personal journal of the local Judge. With that, he could at least pin Rapierian with petty theft if nothing else; Shanadar knew from experience that Berossus tended to be rather protective of his private memoirs.

Still, as a practitioner of the magical arts, he was to be considered dangerous even when unarmed. The mysterious exploding golem that had appeared last night had been proof enough of that wisdom if nothing else. Still, in his current state he would hopefully be unable to prevent being brought before the Judge for his own private session of justice.

Alaric willing, Rapierian would be locked behind bars (hopefully for good this time), and everyone else could resume their focus on solving the present situation. Certainly, Shanadar did not relish the thought of there possibly being another Rapierian out there, and Katerei had become increasingly agitated at the very thought of her own double. It was a little confusing for Shanadar, since the thought of encountering a double of himself didn't really bother him, much less unhinge him to the point of near-hysteria, but then the shape-shifting blue elf/wolf whom he had befriended had a rather different perspective than he did.

At any rate, the sooner he delt with the Necromancer's distractions, the sooner he could focus his full support on the matter at hand.

-----

Deep within the hollowed corridors of growth snaking through forest north of the mother-city, the world slept, blanketed in a dark silence. Quickly coming about from behind the trees, the footsteps of a man could be heard. The woods' stillness was broken and now filled with the blue sound of weeping.

The stranger tried to calm his mind and body, carrying away the fog in his eyes with the end of his sleeve. The memory of fire still burned in his legs, running for so long hadn't helped it. The confusion that had grown in his mind was like the tears he couldn't seem to wipe away fast enough, it was enough to make him sick; but still one thought stuck out in his mind like a dagger.

"Why?" he asked the night, to which no reply was given. He arose off the ground and in anger slammed a fist into the old trunk of a tree, "Why did they have to die?!"

Regaining his temper, he returned to the soft bed of the forest. "There was another way, there had to be, there always is-always." I just didn't see it.

The man turned his focus inward, into pondering what had happened surrounding him once more.

One name kept popping up like an echoing laugh, Firecat. The haunting voice hadn't made the best impression on the man, too many 'something's kept seeming slightly wrong to the man, and what had happened tonight was definitely one of them. It also felt so clear that if the man had never been contacted by this specter, for whatever reason, that he would still be with his friends, fighting to save the land, if they were ever actually friends that is. The night at the judge's estate still left a question in his mind. He had seen two Katerei's, what did that mean, and who then could he trust?

Still, he had found a new role working with Firecat, one that seemed closer to the truth at least, even if it didn't feel close to his conscience.

Why do I still ask myself who this being is? That was probably the most frustrating aspect of all. So be it, if the answer shall not be given, then I shall fetch it.

The stranger's tears had gone, and clarity had returned to his mind with a keen focus. The man now sat in the comforting silence of the forest, looking deeper into his own thoughts.

He does not reveal himself. Either he can't or it would jeopardize him somehow. He also has not acted directly in any detectable way I have seen. Again he either can't or the action is endangering. He does have adequate knowledge of this world however, making him at least somehow linked to it. I can't recall mention of a someone like this, and the places he lead me to had been untouched for years until recently. Why had he not been there himself?

His mind paused, he seemed only to be generating more questions.

But what does this mean? He 'appeared' after the strange happenings began, and does come off as being interested in the halting of whatever is causing them. Damn, if he didn't have such strong knowledge of these matters I'd have no reason to trust him.

The man sighed again, the pain in his legs was coming again.

This whisper, he operates from the shadows, has knowledge of the enemy and how to stop them, but does not do so himself. A traitor? Could he be working with the enemy? That would explain why he uses me, but why would a traitor not work with the whole of the enemy? No, maybe this person is unable to act, or is occupied with something else. A prisoner perhaps. Again no, if he had such an innocent role he would have no reason to hide it from me, unless he also has some reason to fear me. Perhaps I pose a threat to him in some way? What I know? This man, he's planning something. His knowledge of the enemy shows he's close to them. Whoever Firecat is, he seems dangerous, operating alone or with others, and not to be trifled with.

Firecat's assistance had now become something too costly to use by Yomu's thinking, so for now, Yomu would block his mind from the intrusive specter, or at least attempt to.


Night enveloped the forest in silence once more, now with the man along with it.

Yomu looked up to the stars and sighed. His mind started to wander as his gaze wandered across the heavens, but out of the nothingness a pain worse than anything he'd felt pierced his mind, as memories of the men he'd just seen brutally slaughtered rushed back into his head. He nearly lost control of himself again, trying not to remember.

Yomu never wanted to experience a sight like that again, let alone remember it. He turned towards the south Cademia was a ways away; remorse was dying in his eyes now, with determination taking its place. As he readied to leave the forest he promised himself that he would not see another life disappear in pursuit of someone's selfish desires. He would find his own answers now (without otherworldly aid) and there had to be plenty floating around the tangled streets and back alleys of Cademia.

Like the rest of his problems, the pain in Yomu's legs was starting to become bearable again, although he still wasn't looking forward to the scars. Rising up from the leafy forest bed, the determined fetcher reached into his pouch and withdrew a familiar metal contraption attached to a harness. After it was strapped to his back he spoke the words, "To the heavens." And went off towards the mother city with the forest disappearing below.

------

Morning had come to Cythera by the time Yomu had reached the perimeter of Cademia. Not wanting to attract attention, the discreet visitor took back to the ground as he drew closer to to the city.

The city was obviously in distraught, not that he couldn't smell the smoke miles away, but with groups of guards hurrying from location to location and great lack of any normal activity Yomu began to wonder just what had happened after he left.

He could not spot any force or soldier not belonging to Cythera, and definitely not a hulking golem.

Then.. did it succeed? Were my actions not in vain? Was Firecat truthful, and fend off the coming storm? Yomu pondered, while moving eastward to examine the city in the distance more closely.

The judge's estate was heavily damaged in the front, the site of a fierce battle. A strong guard presence occupied the area. But that wasn't all, the fight seemed to move... south.

Yomu hastily made his way down the eastern border of the city examining the trail of debris and scorched holes that scarred the soft earth. The trail led him to the river banks east of the city, This is where it was finished.

Covering the shore were black marks and streaks, fallen dust, the same obsidian color Yomu had seen before in the pile of powder he had gathered for Firecat. Downstream, Yomu spotted something more unsettling: across the river, half submerged, lay a large stone object, a mask of some sort. The expression the mask bore was terrible and stoic, with strange engravings like tattoos all over it.

Was this what came to be when I took flight?

...

I hope it was worth...

No.. it wasn't.

A lack of clues at the river led the fetcher to no definite conclusions, and so he took back to the city where in the distance he could make out smoke rising off the west end of the city, in the slums.


After running along the southern border, Yomu had managed to get to the slums undetected with relative ease.

These grounds must have been the beginning.

Smoke and dust emanated from the fallen walls and ceilings of the old slums. Echoes and far off calls and cries could be heard every now and again, but for the most part the area was deserted.

Yomu could make out most of the battle, many soldiers by the pieces of armor and weapons, magic from the strange burn marks and strucural damage, They were here too then.



A steady wind blew through the remains. Yomu had surveyed the area but had come up with little useful information. Perhaps his old companions would have learned something new by now, he thought, after all they were the only ones he knew involved in all of this besides an untrustworthy voice.

But that truth is more intricate than that.

Yomu was right, after all he did know of more people that had to be involved with the developments in Cademia: Rapierian's strange disappearance and escape from custody in Kosha, the drifter Beorn seemed to know something but wouldn't say, the woman and doppelganger of Katerei he had caught talking at the judge's estate not to mention the two men that took flight when he rejoined his past companions in the judge's front garden.

Yomu was stuck for a moment on his relationship to his former companions, especially Shanadar and Katerei. He wondered if Katerei had yet reconciled with the fear of her duplicate, and if Shanadar had finally put Rapierian back under lock and key (and maybe some stronger enchantments this time..). It felt distant to him now, almost to an extreme.

A brief gust of wind parted the discolored fog in front of him, and he nearly disappeared from the slums at the sight of a man in the distance, but he stopped himself. He had seen this man before.

Yomu crept closer, unknowingly to the man. He looked lost in thought, or examining something, all the smoke made it hard to make out exactly.

This man is! From that night! The night I shall never forget, he ran! Surely his presence that evening shows his relation to the troubles of the mother city, and the connection to knowledge I desire.

Yomu crept closer still. Possibilities and ideas swirled through his head like a mighty ocean torrent, but only one answer prevailed.

He ran before, he might run again, and wisdom would strongly paint him an enemy. No, I can't let such good fortune pass away. Yomu decided: he would tackle the man, pin him down, take him away if he had to, and get the answers he so desperately wanted, in order to save Cademia, or even Cythera itself.

I shall unveil my enemies and bring them into the light, and in that light, they shall fall.

A strong breeze swept past the two as Yomu leapt at the unknowing and unprepared, Avatara.




~*~*~*~*~

"Cowards!" the voice announced in the dark, "It's not dogs we've raised, it's mice!"

Sparks flew off the fire into the shadows.

*grumble* "And my pebble, so meticulously crafted, washed away with the tides?!"

"No matter I suppose, the pebble did manage to skip at least once before sinking."

The voice snickered to itself.

"Yes.. Once my mouse comes back to me, then that ripple shall become a wave, and carry all the water in the pond away with it! And even if he doesn't.... I still have another mouse to play with.."

~*~*~*~*~

Berossus thumbed through the pages of the dusty tome he had just removed from the bookshelf. He chuckled to himself as he skimmed over the contents. Closing the book, he wiped the dust from the cover. "Alaric's Government, an analysis by Meclemelus. . . Ah yes, Alaric's 'government'; I had forgotten how inefficient his system was," Berossus muttered to himself. "Fortunately for the people of this land, they'll also be able to forget it soon enough, if all goes well."

Berossus replaced the book to its place on the shelf and returned to his chair. He was expecting the party of heroes at any time. They would have questions -- and understandably so. That giant golem was not part of the plan, after all. It would be irresponsible for the heroes to let such an event pass without careful examination. Berossus leaned back and shut his eyes, recalling his own discussion of the event the previous night.

* * *

"Yes, I'm fine." Berossus smiled warmly, satisfying the concerned guard that he was all right.

"I am relieved to hear that. After seeing the damage the front hall sustained, me and the others feared the worst. Unfortunately, many of the men are now dead. We do not know the exact number, nor have we found any bodies, but the front entrance is a disgusting sight. Blood everywhere. . . " the guard's eyes dropped to the floor.

Berossus sighed deeply. "I know. . . such a tragedy. But do not be concerned; all will be put right soon." He smiled knowingly, "We have those wonderful heroes who came to the rescue. They've helped before, and they'll help again, I'm certain of it. Now, why don't you join the others standing guard and try to get this place back on its feet?"

"Yes, sir!" the guard turned to leave.

"As for me, it is very late. I think I will retire for the night." Berossus disappeared into his private chamber.

Later that night, long after the activity around the castle had died down and everyone had gone to sleep, Berossus sat silently in the dark council room. A single candle flickered on the table beside him, illuminating a small portion of the vast hall. The flame began to dance and was nearly extinguished by a chilling breeze that seemed to emanate from the darkness.

"I've been expecting you," Berossus spoke quietly.

"We have matters to discuss," a voice echoed from the darkness, almost as though the shadows themselves were speaking. There was no one to be seen, yet the chair across from Berossus vanished as though it were veiled in shadow.

Berossus face began to melt away, as did the rest of his form. Another man sat where Berossus had been only a moment before. He was short but very thin, almost gaunt. Underneath long, flowing white hair was a clean-shaven, yet weatherworn, face. His features were very similar to those of his alternate, Wizard, but he did not look as sturdy, mostly due to his slender appearance.

"That strange golem and the little 'misunderstanding' between Iannah and Kain," the old man surmised.

"Among other things," the voice replied, slipping easily into an ancient Cytheran dialect.

Wizard chuckled. It was an old precaution of the two when they met: speaking in long-dead languages to prevent eavesdropping. It was not uncommon for them to alternate through a dozen different languages in any given meeting, many of them ones never before heard in either Cythera.

"You refer, of course, to the rumors that the Avatara, Katerei, and Rapierian from our world have been spotted here?"

"Yes. Have the mages been prepared?"

"Of course," Wizard replied, sounding amused. "It took a bit of work—I had to work on one at a time—but they have been 'prepared.' They have also been moved to a safe location."

"Any word from the Hand or from Iannah?" the voice replied.

"No, not since they violated my orders again." The old man's tone changed to an unsettling growl, "Very wise of them if you ask me." As he spoke the candle's flame began to leap around, desperately grabbing for air.

"Indeed, the matter of their punishment can wait, but they must be found soon. We might have need of their services."

"Agreed. Aremis and Devlin are dead, and I have not heard from the daemon's in quite some time. There is a traitor in the ranks."

"Or several," the voice pointed out.

"True, but they do not concern me. If the daemon's begin causing trouble we shall simply banish them back to the darkness from whence they came!" Wizard paused at his last line, grinning broadly. Then he laughed as though he were a little child. "Sometimes I do sound rather poetic, don't I?"

"I am sure," replied the voice, emotionlessly. "What of the golem? Did you detect any hint of who might have summoned it? It seemed interested in both you and this world's Wizard, but it was summoned next to you."

Wizard's expression turned deathly serious; the possibility that someone had dared to attack him directly was unacceptable. "Unfortunately, I was working on trapping a master mage inside his own mind with an illusion, not an easy task. I do not know who was behind that monstrosity, but I have my suspicions."

"As do I. The location of its summoning suggests an awareness of your presence here. Only a few of our allies have such knowledge," the voice answered. "Send someone to check on our allies in our world. Not all of them are where they belong. We must be prepared to act if the summoner is who we suspect."

"Well, whoever it is, they have succeeded in disrupting my masquerade here," Wizard answered. "The 'heroes' will surely come tomorrow. I don't care to gamble on being able to deceive them."

"You should not. Your disguise has served its purpose."

"Good," Wizard replied. "I plan to amuse myself tomorrow then. Will you join me there?"

"Not yet. There remains one other matter."

"Ah, let me guess. . . Avatara?" Wizard answered, sounding amused. "Come to kill you, no doubt!" He laughed.

"Without a doubt. He seems also to have Katerei working with him. It is unlikely that Rapierian is aiding him much: he would not gamble on such a chance."

"Too bad," Wizard said bitterly. The ranger's continued resistance had long been an irritant to him. "We might have been able to grab all three of them."

"That is not outside the realm of possibility. I will be ready for them when they come," the voice answered. The shadow shifted slightly. "Despite minor difficulties, all proceeds according to plan."

"By which you mean that you will return to the shadows for a time and leave me to do all the hard work?" Wizard concluded.

"Briefly, I am not yet ready to deal directly with our counterparts."

With that, the shadow on the chair lifted. The air in the room shifted slightly as a chilling breeze fluttered past the candle again. Then, there was silence, as though the past five minutes had been a dream.

* * *

"Master," someone spoke, pulling Berossus back into reality again.

"Yes," he opened his eyes. Berossus was glad he had taken advantage of the opportunity presented by the death of so many guards yesterday. By now, he had replaced most of the guard force with alternates from his Cythera. These were his real guards. He found it very refreshing to be called "Master" again.

"Everything is ready, Master." The guard withdrew.

"Excellent," he smiled. "Now everything is in place for our heroes to visit."

Finally, after nearly an hour, Beorn had arrived at a position north of town from which he could survey the Castle and its surroundings. He not been in this position for more than five minutes before he heard voices nearby. Glancing around quickly, he saw no hope of cover other than the tree he was now crouched under. Sighing internally, Beorn quickly climbed the tree and hid himself among the upper branches. Then, he waited as the sound of the voices drew closer.

"This will never work," someone said gloomily.

"Demodocus, your constant complaining is becoming very tiresome," another voice replied quietly. "Are you trying to make me forget my orders—specifically, the part about not harming you?"

"No, of course not," Demodocus hastened to reply.

At this moment, he and the person to whom he was speaking came into view. Beorn recognized the bard at once, although he was not initially certain of the identity of the magess walking next to him. Mentally running through the list of mages he knew of, he finally identified her as Alcyone, a freemage. Beorn was momentarily surprised to see several other people behind them. Most of these appeared to be guardsman; however, three of them were also mages, specifically the Judge Berossus, the magess Anisa, and the mage Bryaxis. They walked along as though unaware of their surroundings, staring vacantly ahead.

"It's just that I still don't understand how we can expect to fool all those mages and house leaders," Demodocus continued, his voice rising slightly as he spoke. "They know this world's versions of us, and, besides, won't they recognize those three are not exactly acting normal?"

"Keep your voice down," Alcyone hissed angrily. "Do you want everyone to hear you yelling? I've already told you: their trance will fade when we reach the road. Beyond that, I don't know what the Master has done with them, but you, if you are so foolish, may ask him when you next see him."

Demodocus's face went pale as he weakly shook his head.

"As for you, Demodocus is already overdue, so no one will think your arrival suspicious. You're going to be tired when we reach our destination and will need to rest for some time."

"What about you?" Demodocus asked nervously.

"Never you mind," Alcyone replied. "Now, come on. I don't want to be late."

The bard nodded nervously and hurried after her. The conversation stilled, as the group of people passed silently under Beorn.

After they had gone, Beorn descended the tree, thinking quickly. He had little doubt they were headed for Land King Hall and their conversation clearly indicated they were not who they seemed to be, which meant he could no longer wait but must find some way to arrive first. Carefully, he considered his options: Alcyone had indicated they were heading for the road but had headed in a northern direction. Thus, it was not likely they meant to cross the bridge at the eastern side of Cademia. It was more probable that they intended to ford the river and head through the forest until they reached the road. In so doing, they would take one of the shortest routes to Land King Hall and avoid any potential travelers on the roads from Catamarca or Odemia.

For a moment, Beorn hesitated. He knew of one faster route, but it was potentially risky in his weakened state. Grimly, deciding that he had no choice, he hurried to the southeast until the bridge over the River Sitia came into view. He expected the bridge to be guarded, but, strangely, he found no one present. Still, he wished to take no chances being spotted on the bridge. After watching the area for a minutes, Beorn finally scurried across the bridge.

Immediately, he turned to the north and approached the standing stone that marked the entrance to the caverns under the northern part of Cythera. The entrance had been left open after Bellerophon had departed but few people—other than the occasional band of adventurers—had ever entered the caves. Fortunately for him, he had been one of those few; unfortunately for him, he had been much healthier the last time. Despite the risk, Beorn knew this was the fastest route to Land King Hall and began to prepare a torch. He suspected that the exits in the Hall would be guarded, but he would have to deal with that when the time came.

Lighting his torch, he approached the entrance and gazed into the dark recesses beyond. Momentarily, he hesitated, feeling strangely claustrophobic about entering the caves. Shaking off the sensation, he lifted his torch and plunged into the darkness.



Carefully, the group approached the entrance to the Castle, stopping momentarily to survey the damage. The front gates lay twisted in ruin, and the roof of the front hall of the Castle was broken and battered. There was no sign or sound of movement all about the great edifice.

"This is not right," Shanadar said, eyes narrowing. "I know the men of this guard. They would not allow the Judge's home to sit in ruin so."

"Well, maybe, he's moved," Rapierian said. "After all, his house is a wreck."

"Quiet," the Enforcer barked at the necromancer. He turned to Wizard. "What do you think?"

Wizard closed his eyes for a moment and focused on the Castle. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and staggered back. The others turned toward him in surprise.

"Are you all right?" Katerei asked, as she helped him stand.

"I'm fine. I was just surprised. Whatever was blocking telepathy is weakening," he reported. "But something very powerful is in there . . . I have not felt it's like before."

"I could have told you that," Rapierian replied. He took a deep breath, "sniffing" for the "smell" of magical power. "Can't you smell the scent of power? Oh, I forget: you're an old man and your sense of smell doesn't work—nor does your sense of balance or your—"

"Quiet," Shanadar repeated, irritably. Ordinarily, he would have taken the time to knock the necromancer over the head, but concern for the Judge distracted him. "Do you think Berossus or any of the other mages are in there?" he asked Wizard.

"I can't tell," the old man replied, grimly.

"We have to find out," Shanadar replied, eying the Castle doubtfully. "I don't like the thought of taking the main entrance. It could be a trap."

Selax turned to Katerei and asked, "Can you smell anything?"

Quickly, she changed into her wolf-form and scented the air. Changing back, she shook her head and replied, "There's been too much coming and going over the past couple of days. It's hard to determine anything specific."

"I could check it out," Silverfish offered. "They might not notice me."

Selax stated, "It is dangerous to split up if we are expected and if this being has power of the magnitude Wizard suggests."

"It does," Wizard assured them.

"We could take a secret entrance," Shanadar offered. The Enforcer regretted risking exposing such secrets to Rapierian but he vowed to make sure the entrance was blocked up later. "I know one or two."

"Can we get there without being spotted?" Talos asked.

"I'm not sure," the Enforcer replied, honestly. "But it won't be as dangerous as going into the main gate."

Quickly, he turned and led the group toward the western side of the Castle. Entering one of the sewer drains, the Enforcer took a few steps forward and, placing his hands against the wall, pushed. The wall slid back revealing a secret passage.

"Nice trick! Tell me do you do birthday parties?" Rapierian asked.

"Quiet!" everyone else replied as one. Entering, the small, narrow passage, they proceeded forward silently.

The passage was short, ending in a ladder that led up to a trapdoor. Shanadar climbed the ladder, pulled out a key, and opened the trapdoor. Carefully, he raised his head and looked around him.

"It looks like the coast is clear," he said, as he climbed out. The others followed him and found they were in the Judge's kitchen.

Even here, there was no sign of life. The room was silent and dark with the only light coming through the windows.

"We should head for the throne room," Wizard said. "I think we'll find our host there."

The group headed down the hallways of the darkened edifice. Nowhere did they see any sign of activity or indeed any sign that anyone had been in the building for some time.

Finally, they reached the entrance to the throne room. Selax carefully stepped forward, followed by the rest. For a moment, there was a silence. Then, abruptly, the candles around the room flamed up, illuminating a single figure sitting in the throne with his back to them.

Rising, the man turned to them, showing his face—the face of Berossus.

"So, you have come, my friends," he said.

Before anyone else could reply, Wizard stepped forward and raised his hand.

"You are not the Judge," he stated decisively as he pointed at the man.

"Me? Not Berossus?" The man seemed surprised at the accusation. He looked at the others in the group with a puzzled expression. "What insanity is this?"

Again Wizard spoke, "It's not insanity. Something's been wrong here the entire time. . . and I have been too blind to see it. You have been interfering with my powers."

"You come here -- without an invitation I may add -- sneak past my guards, and confront me with these ridiculous lies?" Berossus face reddened with anger, "You have abused my hospitality. Leave me now!"

"If you do not show yourself, I shall remove the disguise for you!" Wizard responded. He closed both eyes, focusing on breaking himself and the others out of this illusion. Berossus' form began to quiver; then, before the group's eyes, he faded away. In his place, there stood an emaciated figure. His face was virtually identical to Wizard's, except that he had no beard and his hair was long and pure white.

Wizard stared for a moment in shock. Behind him, the others, obviously surprised as well, raised their weapons.

"Who are you?" he said in a voice that was almost a whisper.

"Your worst nightmare," the other replied with laughter. At this moment, there came the sound of many footsteps around them. From the side doors, guards suddenly poured forth, taking position to defend the other Wizard.

"It's too bad you had to try to spoil my fun," he sighed before smiling again. "But, no matter. After all, this game has only just begun."

Around him, the guards raised their weapons and began to close in on the group...

"No wonder Berossus claimed this chaos was the work of a shape-shifter," Katerei hissed.

She couldn't be sure that it was even the Wizard they faced now, or if it was merely another disguise; but as her mind raced, she recalled the brief glimpses she had seen of the Wizard she knew when his guard was down, time and battle worn on his face. If he could alter his appearance, perhaps complete shape-shifting was not beyond him. Another Wizard could easily have the same capability – for she no longer had any doubts about the existence of these duplicate people – so it seemed safe to assume that Berossus-in-disguise was indeed a duplicate Wizard. Not that it made her feel much better.

And what of that? How long had the ruse been going on? How much had they inadvertently revealed to their apparent enemy in their dealings with the judge? Perhaps more worrying, what had happened to the real Berossus?

There was no time to think it through before battle was upon them. "Aim to disable, not kill!" Shanadar instructed the group as guards closed in. "We don't know if they are duplicates or not!"

Talos and Selax immediately swept forward to meet the onslaught, swords flashing in the candlelight. Silverfish fluttered overhead, ready to strike nimbly at any second. Katerei stepped backward to prepare both for a ranged offensive and to heal her companions if needed. She didn't know if the guards had such noble intentions as Shanadar and wasn't about to take the risk. Wizard and Rapierian were also preparing spells, though Katerei couldn't be sure what kind. Shanadar himself stood near the spellcasters, staff at the ready to meet any guards that slipped past the front line – and, she speculated, to keep an eye on Rapierian. At least the necromancer could be trusted to fight to save himself, but she wouldn't put it past him to change sides on a whim.

Katerei felt the familiar shock of cold on her palms as she pulled water out of the air and shaped it into a long, wickedly edged shard of ice. "I hope you're not one of Shanadar's friends," she muttered as she took aim at a guard and flung the shard like a dart. It soared across the room and grazed the back of his sword hand, leaving a nasty red gash.

The sound of the ice shattering as it collided with the wall behind him confused him long enough for Katerei to create a dense ball of ice and hurl it as his head, but he turned back in time to see it coming and ducked. Now that he knew who his attacker was, he began to advance toward her.

Katerei pretended to cast about for something to use as a weapon as she hid one hand behind her back, relying on her full skirt to conceal the long whip of water she was quickly shaping. When the guard was within range, she suddenly lashed out with the whip and coiled it around his ankles. A swift tug had him flat on his back, sword clattering to the ground where he'd dropped it in surprise. Katerei darted forward and stomped on his fingers as he scrabbled for his weapon. Water whip dissolving back into midair, she scooped up the sword and slammed the hilt into his head. The guard groaned in pain and passed out. He would live, but have a terrible headache upon waking.

Gripping the "borrowed" sword a bit awkwardly, as it was too heavy for her, Katerei looked around the room. She noted with some puzzlement that there appeared to be far more guards than had originally entered the room. Her allies were fighting well, but they were severely outnumbered. "Shanadar!" she called to the Enforcer, who stood nearby fending off two guards with the opposite ends of his staff. "Where did all these guards come from?"

"Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much-" Rapierian began, but Shanadar roared something impolite so loudly that Katerei didn't hear the rest of the necromancer's comment.

"I have no idea," Shanadar confessed to Katerei when he had rendered the two guards unconscious and she was finally able to maneuver close enough to for them speak without being overheard. "I'm sure Berossus didn't have this many guards, but they just seem to keep coming. Look out behind you!" he warned suddenly, and rammed the end of his staff into the ribs of a guard who stumbled away, gasping for breath.

"We won't be able to fight our way out of this gray," Katerei said worriedly. She gradually found herself fighting back-to-back with Shanadar as more and more guards pressed in around them. There wasn't enough time to form proper combative spells, so she resorted to tactics of desperation: attacking with the flat of the sword blade, scalding guards' hands with hot water so that they dropped their weapons, flinging dirt and rubble into their eyes.

She'd lost track of the rest of their group, though the sounds of combat still echoed throughout the increasingly cramped room. The dust that had coated the floor after the golem's assault on the castle roof now filled the air, disturbed again by battle. Between that and the flickering candlelight, it was hard to see far. Only in the centre of the room, where a small section of the ceiling had collapsed the night before, did the morning sunlight stream through.

And were they getting pushed toward it by the fray, closer to the other Wizard? "Shanadar, look over there!" Katerei cried, pointing at the bright patch that illuminated a guard nearby. The man seemed to flicker insubstantially in the sunlight. There was something not right about it, but she felt oddly disoriented and couldn't quite get her mind around it.

"What's going on?" Shanadar asked, sounding as puzzled as she felt. "Where's our Wizard? I feel like we should ask him-" but his words were cut off with a sharp cry of pain.

"Shanadar!" Katerei spun around in alarm to see that a guard had broken through his defenses, and the Enforcer was clutching a gash on his side. Blood seeped out through his fingers.

"I'll be fine," he said, gritting his teeth. "We have to find the others and get out of here somehow."

Angered at her friend being hurt, Katerei drew back her free hand and decked Shandar's attacker in the face. She was rewarded with the sound of his nose breaking and the guard stumbling backward, mainly out of surprise as blood poured down his front.

But she had left herself vulnerable in the process, and only saw the glint of a guard's sword when it was almost upon her. Katerei shrieked as the blade tore across her upper arm. The guard was already drawing back for another strike, when a shower of dust and rubble rained down upon them as part of the ceiling collapsed on their heads.

*

It hadn't been hard getting the roof to give way. The golem had done enough damage already that a few good blows from K's flail at the edge of the small hole had caused it to cave under her feet. She rappelled down in the midst of the falling debris, the other end of her rope anchored to the chimney on the roof.

A swift kick to the head forced one guard to recoil. K leaped lightly to the ground and and swung her flail at the guard that had been set on skewering the other her. The spiked flail head connected solidly with his chest, leaving bloody tears in his leather armour. The man staggered backward and collapsed as quickly as the roof had.

The guards weren't the real problem though. K squinted through the dust and sunlight into the murky candlelight at the back of the room, where a gaunt, white-haired man stood observing the room. "Come with me," she commanded, and seized Katerei's uninjured arm. The other woman protested, but K kept a firm grip as she dashed away from the patch of sunlight toward the front of the room.

"We're running through people!" the other woman yelled behind her, but K ignored her astonishment and kept going. She flung open the great front doors of the castle, and bright sunlight streamed past them into the entrance hall as they raced toward the mangled gates and the rest of Cademia.

Distantly, K heard Selax calling out Katerei's name. "I can't leave them there!" the woman cried. "Stop, let me go back!"

"Keep running!" K yelled over her shoulder. "It's just some sort of mind trick going on back there, they'll be fine!"

It wasn't until they were past the western edge of Cademia, sheltered by trees, that K finally slowed and let go of the other woman's arm. They both doubled over, panting with the exertion of their madcap escape.

"You might have killed that guard," was the first thing Katerei said reprovingly when she caught her breath.

"He might have killed you," K replied tonelessly.

There was a tense silence as they stared at each other. Now that they were out of danger - or so K hoped - they had only each other to deal with. She felt a little like she ought to introduce herself, but wouldn't that be the most pointless thing in the world? "You're bleeding," K said finally, indicating the other woman's arm.

"It's nothing," Katerei muttered, although she turned away for a moment to tend to it. K noted with some interest that the woman seemed to be using a healing spell with which she herself was not familiar. Something to think about later.

"So what was that all about?" Katerei said when she was finished. "You were so urgent about getting out of there, and now..." she trailed off pointedly.

K exhaled and rubbed her eyes with her wrists, the only part of her hands that wasn't smeared with dirt. "It's... complicated," she said lamely. "You - we shouldn't both exist. That's not something you can just ignore. And it's kind of a long story."

"Fine." Katerei sat down on the grass in the shade of a tree, arranging her skirt neatly about her. "Start talking. I'll listen. But it had better be a damn good story after you forced me to abandon my friends to people who were trying to kill them."

The other woman didn't look angry, but she was. Furious even. K looked at her duplicate in astonishment. Not astonished that she was angry, because she thought she could understand that, but that it was so easy to tell. Something about the set of her eyes and the straight line of her mouth.

She'd have to make amends though if she wanted to get any help out of the woman. At least she could take comfort in the fact that Katerei wasn't yelling anymore, or trying to attack her or something equally unpredictable. "I'm sorry I made you leave them behind," K acknowledged. "They'll get out of it all right though. They were fighting well, and there weren't nearly as many guards as there seemed to be... I think the Wizard was casting some spell to confuse us, make it seem like there were more guards than there really were. It didn't seem to hold up as well in the sunlight though, so I made sure to leave the doors wide open to help your friends clear their heads. Things always seem clearer during the daytime." She shrugged.

"How did you figure it out?" Katerei asked immediately.

The question automatically made K a little suspicious - was she prying to see how their knowledge differed? To check her allegiances? But at the same time she knew it was the sort of question she would ask in that position. She, too, wanted to figure out just how they stood in relation to each other, in skill and knowledge and personality. Plus, talking about present events was a way of skirting the titan in the room, so to speak.

"I was watching from the hole in the roof. The spell didn't seem as strong up there; I noticed it more as soon as I came down. That... disoriented feeling. Maybe the Wizard couldn't target me well because he didn't know I was there. I could also observe the guards better from outside the fray. Most of them weren't actively attacking. I figured out to only attack the ones that came after me. Those were the real ones."

"How did you get onto the roof in the first place? Why did you wait so long to help us? And how did you know where we were?" Katerei's questions came quickly one after another, as if she was struggling to fit the pieces together, but the last one caught K entirely off guard. "And why are you wet?"

K flushed with embarrassment. She'd forgotten about that part. "I'd better start at the beginning," she said, then paused. What was the beginning? There could be twenty-three years to cover. No, today was all that mattered for now. Today was the first time they had come face-to-face with each other. Everything else could wait.

"I had to talk to you about something alone. I tried this morning, in the slums, but Selax appeared out of nowhere. I... well, I thought he was somebody else, so I ducked out of sight. But I followed you and your companions to the Judge's Castle in hopes of getting you away from the others. I thought I could remain unnoticed, until you... changed shape. I panicked and doused myself in water to hide my scent from you," she said sheepishly. "It seemed to work, but you all began to leave and I realized you were working out a way to enter the Castle."

K took a deep breath and turned slightly aside to gaze out over the Cademia that belonged to another people, another land. Leaves brushed lightly against her hair as she leaned on one of the tall trees that surrounded them. "I knew who would be in there waiting for you, but not with what. I couldn't let you just walk in there and get slaughtered. The roof looked damaged enough that I thought I might be able to get in that way, so I followed you and your companions into the castle and found a maintenance ladder in the grounds."

"I was lucky," she continued. "Did you notice how all the windows were covered up to keep the daylight out? Maybe the Wizard didn't notice the hole in the roof because it wasn't obvious during the night, or he hadn't got someone to repair it yet. Anyway, it took me some time to get up there, and then to figure out what was going on. I intervened as soon as I could."

"Why did we have to leave right then? What's so urgent that you couldn't come back later to talk to me?" Katerei looked suspicious.

"I gave myself away by helping you." It was frustrating, and worrying, but there had been no way around it. "If they didn't know I was here already, they certainly do now. It was my only chance to get out, and it was easiest to bring you with me."

"Who knows?" Katerei pressed. "Who's "they"? We only found out about this other Wizard just now. Who are you people, anyway?"

It was a chilling reminder of just how far from home K was, but as she looked back at her duplicate, she noticed that the traces of anger had left her face to be replaced by worry. Maybe all we both want is for our lives to go back to normal, she realized with a sudden pang of sadness. It wasn't much, but maybe Avatara had been right. Maybe that would be enough to persuade her to help.

"I don't know much for sure," K said cautiously. "I came here by accident, really. I know that this isn't my land. It looks just like the Cythera I lived in, but it... feels different. I can find my way around Cademia like it's the Mother City I know, but there's always this sense of not belonging."

K pressed her fingers to her lips anxiously, and saw the slight widening of the other woman's eyes as she recognized the gesture. There was an odd twisting in her stomach as she recalled that same moment of recognition, days ago in the woods near Kosha. It made her a little nauseous to be this close to her duplicate, like a defilement of nature. But somehow they were going to have to work together.

"Once I started to figure out what had happened, I only planned to pass through. I was going to set sail and leave this island forever." K's voice shook slightly as she thought of how quickly everything had changed. "Not everyone from my Cythera seems to have the same idea though. You met one of them this morning, but the Wizard isn't working alone. There is someone else who I believe is behind all the chaos lately."

"The person you know as Selax - your companion who fought alongside you just now - is, in my world, a murderer and terrible tyrant who rules alongside the Wizard. They appear to have set their sights on your world now. If you want to have any hope of avoiding our fate, the curse of living either oppressed or forever hunted and in fear... you and your allies must help us take out Selax."

"However does the asp coil, to meet the gator's inviting smile. As rubbing scales cause blood to boil, and fuel hunger all the while." The voice laughed in the darkness.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The course white clothe of a twisted headband softly creaked as the final knot tightened the loop around Athes's head. The small act brought him a sense of calm and focus.

At his side was his swallow, a weapon only used by those his bloodline. Slowly he pulled forth the instrument: the two adjacent blades black and smooth as the most resilient obsidian he could find forge from his homeland, with the middle covered in the tanned strips of titan leather. Following two quick swipes from a small, old clothe, the strange and beautiful blade was quickly fastened onto it's wielder's back.

The constant stream of air rushed passed Athes who now rose at the mouth of a cave. The shadow cast by the cave's jagged mouth wasn't enough to hide Athes, nor did he want it to; his fiery red skin always had a way of being easily visible. Athes embraced it. He was proud of his lineage, his fathers before him had not allowed their bloodline to be tainted as other had, and he would do the same. The forces of nature could not be stopped or controlled,only slowed or helped along, and the proof was him and his weapon.

He closed his pitch black eyes, letting the world of the surrounding forest overtake him, trying to clear his mind of the foulness that lurk behind him in the darker depths of Cythera.

Athes cleansed his mind say for one uninvited thought, "Tsk Tsk. I can't see how anyone can follow or lead the followers and leaders. Then again I can't see much anything at all." The voice spoke into Athes's mind.

The demon remained still, letting the soothing air breeze past his bare and scarred chest.

Feral's dead, and so is Biter. As far as I can tell, Black Horn began to lead the rest of us, but rumor is that he's under command of some other man, or two, I wasn't there when it happened. It doesn't matter though, this idea of unity was a lie to begin. We had started progressing underground, we stopped and for some reason we began moving our supplies forward, but a fight broke out. The freaks started taring each other apart, and then they caused the cave to return to unspoiled earth. A large group of us made it out, most of the others scattered or killed each other for supplies like the vultures they are.

"Oh? But it's only natural I suppose." The voice spoke ringing through his mind.

Natural?! Athes thought in outrage, There's nothing natural about this filth, the earth taking them back is proof that those mana soaked deformities don't have a place in this world.

The voice laughed ever so lightly, it annoyed Athes to no end, "And how much of this 'filth' still ravages your precious world?"

Athes scoffed, No way remains for me to tell, nothing's come out of the cave, and nothing's going in. I don't know how many of the one's that made it in are dead or even if any left are still active, and this place is not my world. I-

*fwop*

Athes reached up and pulled away a leaf that had gotten caught by the left of his gray horns. He looked at it for a moment, it reminded him of his old world and made him yearn for the departure from this abomination he found himself in. He set it back off into the wind current, where it flew down into the cave.

I saw other passages branching off as we made our decent. It's possible there's another way to get to where the others might be. I don't know for sure though. It depends on what you want me to do next, rebuilding an 'army' is definitely not an option.

"Options are options and some stop being either." The voice laughed.

Athes did not engage Firecat's 'playful' banter, it was beneath him.

"Oh? Becoming optional are we? Well it doesn't really matter, it's not your decision after all. If you wish to go back then you can become completely optional, but if you don't... well that's still just an option now isn't it? Which to choose. Which to choose."

Clearly the right path is not be as unreal as an idea.

"Oh-ho-ho." Firecat remarked playfully, "Not quite the same spark as before are you?"

...

"Very well, conjecture has gone to sleep, and now reality takes his dreams. The Eastern city has such growth, enough to merit a trimming, wouldn't you say? Or think? Which do you prefer?"


Firecat's last thought lingered in Athes's mind, but it was fleeting, he would head to the city of Catamarca in a moment. First he would attend to the three demons slowly moving in on him.

A deafening voice broke the serene peace of the forest. "Halt, filth. Come no further or die." Athes boomed with the crackling of a raging fire.

A voice screeched from behind a tree, "Creed says no! No for red! Die! Die and feed us, slime!"

A demon of black fur and mangled horns emerged and launched a fireball at the mouth of the cave.

"HeheheHAHAHA! Mmmm, smells delicious!" The demon spoke wildly as smoke poured into the sky.

From the roaring blaze at the entrance to the cave the red demon Athes emerged. "Fire? You dare try to slay me with with which I was born from? Fools."

The demon named Creed stumbled backwards, his other two companions came out of hiding and drew their weapons.

Athes reached down by his left and pulled forwards his obsidian counterpart. "Your perversion will no longer be tolerated by this world."

Creed was the most defenseless of the three having apparently no remaining mana. Athes darted forward severing the beats head with a single swing of his swallow.

The attack left Athes open for only an instant, but in that moment the demon adorned in blue paint had struck him with a dagger in his left arm.

Athes did not cry out, only growled and grit his fangs as he pulled the dagger out and proceeded to grab the blue demon by the throat and lift him off the ground. The other demon, covered in piercings, began to glow as he casted a lightning spell.

Athes quickly threw the demon in blue towards the other, and in a blur of blood and pieces the demon in blue was blown apart by the blast.

The demon covered in trinkets was in shock at what he had done, and in those defenseless moments Athes cast a spell on the him, causing him to become deathly afraid. Athes threw the beast to the ground before he could escape.

"Foul being, you're unfit for the natural order. Worry not, the land will be restored." Athes's Raised his swallow, looked into the frightened creatures eyes with soulless black ones of his own, and struck it through the demon's thick skull and minuscule brain.

The lone red demon stood above the two corpses and flicked the blood off his wild instrument.

After a pause he returned his curved and crooked blade to his back, and went off east, towards Catamarca.

----------

Lysander waited patiently on the outskirts Northwest of Catamarca. The city had already been infiltrated by the first wave. His own troops remained hidden near the city. With everything in order, his only concern now was waiting for the orders to drop the guise and take over this pitiful and un-mastered land. However Lysander's patience could only be stretched so thin, and soon he would station more troops by Odemia if he was given nothing to kill the boredom in the near future.

This post has been edited by Two Jacks: 13 January 2011 - 04:19 PM

Cademia was burning. Even from where she was, Moonshadow could see the smoke rising from the city, dimming the pre-dawn light even further. The sight was shocking, giving sudden credibility to the rumors she had heard at Pnyx.
She had arrived there barely a day previously, returning from her homeworld, to find the mages in a state of unrest that was quite unlike the usual atmosphere. Apparently, both Alaric and Magpie had suddenly fallen ill, and some of the most prominent house leaders and mages, including Headmaster Lindus, were traveling to Land King Hall to help. The remaining instructors had been doing their best to keep the students calm, yet they couldn't quite quell the whispered tales of gruesome murders and invading armies. It had seemed ridiculous at the time - where would the invaders come from? Cythera was an island nation and it seemed unlikely that any army could approach unnoticed across the oceans. As for the tales of murders, even if they were not exaggerated, she had been confident that her friends would be able to deal with any trouble that arose. Even though it wasn't what she had returned to Cythera for, she'd decided to head to Land King Hall herself, to offer her own healing abilities, and then to find her companions.
But now, watching the columns of smoke rising from the biggest city of Cythera, she wasn't sure of her decision anymore. At the least, she felt like she had an obligation to find out more and lend assistance if she could.
---
As Moonshadow approached Cademia, she could see that her initial assessment of the situation had at least been partially wrong: though smoke was still rising from the southern part of the city, it seemed like whichever fire had caused it had been put out. She had a hope that the fire had been caused by nothing more than an accident, yet as she circled around the city, she noticed that the Judge's Castle also seemed to have taken some damage - damage that did not look as though it was caused by a fire. Worried, she completed her circle around the city and finally landed near the southeastern road into Cademia, transforming back into her elven form. The first thing I need is information, she thought. Her stomach growled, choosing that moment to remind her she hadn't eaten since shortly after arriving at Pnyx. And food…
---
Despite the early hour, she managed to find a stall at the market that sold food. As she ate, she listened to the stallkeeper talk in hushed tones to another older man.
"I'm telling you, this city is going downhill! First that… THING... at the Judge's Castle, then the explosion… this can't be good."
"I'm sure that group of heroes will deal with the trouble," the other man opined.
"Like they dealt with the trouble in Kosha?" the stallkeeper inquired scornfully.
"We don't know anything's wrong in Kosha," the older man said.
"We don't know anything's right in Kosha! These so-called heroes -"
"Are doing their best to keep all of us safe! You should be more grateful."
"Excuse me," Moonshadow interrupted before the two men could argue further. "These heroes… could you tell me where I can find them?"
"Huh…I think they're staying at the inn," the older man replied.
"Thank you," Moonshadow replied, inclining her head towards the men and turning to leave.
---
She went around the burned part of Cademia on her way to the Two Tailed Rat, and when she arrived she was told by the harried-looking innkeeper that the group she was looking for had left not too long ago. This is typical.
"Can you tell me where they went?" She asked.
"Not sure exactly… but I think one of 'em mentioned talking to the Judge. Might wanna try there."
"Thank you."
---
She approached the Judge's Castle slowly, wondering at the destruction - the southern part of the wall that had once surrounded the keep was destroyed, and she could see that part of the building behind it was ruined as well. The stallkeeper seemed to think the damage had been caused by a single creature, yet how… and something else was strange about the scene. She stared for a few seconds, frowning, trying to put her finger on it, then it occurred to her. Where are the guards? This much ruin, surely there should be people around, even at this time of day. Yet the place seemed deserted. She walked along the ruined wall until she reached what remained of the gate. The fountains were gone, yet strangely the hall behind them seemed undamaged, the great doors closed. Still nobody was visible.
As she regarded the scene before her, she became aware of sounds. She frowned, tilting her head - fighting? Yet the sound seemed faint, as if coming from far away; she doubted a human would have heard it. She stepped carefully up to the doors, focusing on the sounds, trying to figure out where they were coming from. Somewhere inside? She reached out a hand to gingerly push against the door, intending to open it just a crack - and paused as her fingers slid right through it. An illusion? But why? For a moment, she debated just stepping through, but common sense prevailed. If her friends were inside they might need help, yet stepping right into what might be a trap was not the best way to go about it. She climbed over what remained of the right fountain, peering carefully through the window, and gasped at what she saw. Guards, more than should have been present in all of Cademia, were fighting - no, attacking another group of people. Most of them looked unfamiliar, yet she quickly recognized a few faces. Selax and Wizard were surrounded, fighting back to back, a few steps away from where another man she thought looked familiar was trying to hold off three guards at once, bleeding badly from a wound in his side. Yet not all the guards seemed to be fighting - some were standing, looking blank, others seemed to be merely going through the motions.
What is going on here? she wondered, worried and more than a bit confused. She did not want to hurt the guards, yet one thing was clear - she could not let them hurt her former companions. Determinedly, she stepped away from the window and through the door that wasn't really there. She skirted around the edge of the room, making her way closer to the fighting adventurers, grateful the guards were too engaged in the fight to pay much attention, until a guard appeared right in front of her. She'd almost stepped through him before noticing him, and her eyes widened in understanding. Another illusion! She reached forwards, infusing her hands with a touch of magic, dispelling the illusory guard, then turned to survey the room. She did not need to fight anyone - if she could just destroy the ones that were not real, the others would stand a much better chance.

This post has been edited by Moonshadow: 13 January 2011 - 06:49 PM

Outside of the Castle, Rapierian moved forward cautiously. He had seen the group arrive earlier, but he had not seen them come out nor seen any sign of activity at all at first. Then, both Katereis had come running out of the Castle. Moments later, an elf had entered the Castle, also running through the gate.

The ranger slipped into the Castle grounds. Hesitating a moment only, he began to climb the ruined roof. As he did so, he began to hear faint sounds of battle coming from below him...



Selax and Talos had been attempting to fight their way through the guards to reach Wizard's strange double. Their progress had been hindered by the seemingly endless influx of guards and the fact that the old man never seemed to be in the same place twice. Although they had quickly realized that illusions were involved, they were still not quite able to determine how to penetrate them. Wizard was staring at his double without moving, seemingly locked in some sort of mental battle. Silverfish hovered around him, keeping the guards from reaching him.

The collapsing roof caught everyone by surprise.

Digging himself out of the rubble, Selax stood up. Casually backhanding a guard into a nearby wall, the elemental glanced around and assessed the situation.

The first thing he noticed was Katerei being dragged out of the room by what appeared to be another Katerei. The next thing that he noticed was that sunlight seemed to be interfering with the illusion of the false guards, enabling him to more accurately determine how many foes they were facing.

Unfazed, he called, "Katerei."

Neither woman stopped, and Selax could not take the time to pursue them. He could see no sign of Shanadar, Silverfish, Rapierian, or Talos. He found that he was now closer to Wizard than to his double and that the former now had no one to cover him.

Leaping over to the old man, Selax knocked three guards away from him. Stepping in front of Wizard, Selax found himself facing several guards. When he stepped toward them, they backed up and he noticed two or three others attempting to close in on Wizard from the sides. He stepped back and considered the situation. The guards did not want to engage him in combat directly—a wise decision—and were attempting to pin him down by threatening Wizard.

Of course, this depended on the guards being fast enough to avoid his engaging them. Catching one guard who was too slow to dodge, he lifted the man and threw him into the others in front of him.

Surveying the situation once more, he finally spotted Shanadar and Rapierian. The former was wounded and in a fight with three more guards. The latter was strolling toward him and Wizard, occasionally using a spell to keep any attackers away from him.

"The quality of the Judge's reception sure seems to have improved," the necromancer said cheerfully as he reached them. "I'd even go so far as to say—"

"Help Shanadar," Selax interrupted, as he stabbed one of the guards facing them.

"Alas, I fear he is beyond my help!" Rapierian sighed dramatically. He opened his mouth to continue, but, before he could do so, Selax spun toward him and, lifting him off the ground, threw him across the room into one of Shanadar's attackers.

Turning back to his immediate opposition, the elemental noted that there seemed to be fewer of the guards opposing him. Indeed, as he looked around the room, he realized that the illusory guards seemed to be disappearing. Glancing toward Wizard, he observed that the telepath also seemed surprised.

"Not me," Wizard said, sounding strained from his mental battle. He pointed toward the wall. "Moonshadow."

Turning, Selax spotted the elven woman standing against the wall near Shanadar and Rapierian. Her hands were upraised toward the room as she took advantage of the other Wizard's distraction to dispel his illusions. Having finished off most of the illusions, she rushed over toward the wounded Enforcer and began attempting to heal his injury.

The guards hesitated, caught off-guard by the unexpected attack. Suddenly, from among the ruins piled near the opening in the roof, arrows began to fly, striking the startled guards, who momentarily drew back to regroup. Some of them turned toward the new source of attack and began to advance slowly, keeping behind their shields.

Shanadar, Moonshadow, and Rapierian took advantage of the relative lull in the combat to regroup with Selax and Wizard. The Enforcer moved stiffly, clearly better but not quite recovered.

"Thank you—" Shanadar began to say to Moonshadow.

"You're welcome!" Rapierian interrupted. "How nice of you to appreciate my inventive rescue."

"I'm not talking to you!" the Enforcer roared. Calming himself, he turned toward Moonshadow and continued, "I apologize if this sounds strange, but how do we know you're the real Moonshadow?"

Surprised by the question, the magess blinked, but, before she could reply, Silverfish flew down from the ceiling and said, "I don't think we have time to check right now."

He pointed toward the other side of the room. The guards had regrouped around the other Wizard and were beginning to advance slowly toward the group. Others were still attempting to reach the mysterious archer hidden in the ruins.

"She has helped us so far," Shanadar answered. "That will have to do for the moment."

Deciding that Wizard had sufficient protection, Selax stepped toward the oncoming guards and lifted his swords.

"Failure to surrender strongly indicates a lack of self-preservation," the elemental said calmly.

"Try not to kill them," Shanadar repeated from behind him, as he lifted his staff.

"If possible," Selax replied.

Leaping, he landed in the middle of the attacking guards and began to cut his way through them. Behind him, the other group members charged forward.

Avatara wandered down one of the narrow streets in the slums, the smoldering ashes from the fire blanketing the passageway with a light gray haze and the acrid smell of smoke. He had managed to piece together snippets of conversations to form a rough idea of what happened the night before. More than ever, he was sure Selax would be coming to this city, if he wasn't here already. Yet, surely he would move on soon. Time was running out and most of the pieces were still out of place.

He was supposed to wait out of sight for Katerei to return. By now, Iannah had to suspect she had been abandoned, and the attackers from the night before had shown no qualms about being seen openly. Being caught up in a heated battle could destroy any hope he had of mustering enough strength to bring down Selax. Yet, when he was sitting idle, memories of Katerei's revelation flooded back to him, mingling with fragments of happier times, when everything in the world had seemed right. Trying to sort out the grief, anger, and hurt from her betrayal became so unbearable, he shoved his emotions aside and took a walk to help clear his mind.

And now he found himself standing over the blackened remains of a makeshift structure that had been devastated by the fire, thinking about the very things he was trying not to focus on. A part of him couldn't quite accept that such a close friend could be responsible for such a terrible betrayal. He wished it wasn't true, but the guilt and shame he had witnessed from her while she had confessed her dark secret was real. Even more frustrating was his inability to decide what to do with her now. He should push her away, it would be the sensible thing given her violation of his trust, but she was also the only living connection he had to the world. The past few days had reminded him of how much he hated being alone, of how much he had locked away in his isolation.

Mulling his thoughts distracted him from his surroundings. Where he would normally be attentive and alert, he was fixated on the tendrils of smoke slowly wafting into the air, reminding him of silver hair waving in the wind. And so, he was completely unaware of the man behind him until it was too late.

Without warning, Avatara felt a heavy weight crash into him from behind. His arms were quickly pinned to his sides and his attacker attempted to force him to the ground. He strained to reach his weapon, but his opponent was stronger. Unable to break free, his mind raced through his options. The doubts clouding him a moment before were pushed aside; there would be time to dwell on them later.

Avatara lightened his struggle as his assailant forced him to one knee. He knew if he was pinned to the ground, it would be over. Almost... The oppressing presence seemed to grow more confident in its victory. All he needed was an opening...there! Avatara pitched forward and twisted. The sudden change in pressure flipped his opponent over his shoulder and threw them on the ground.

As Avatara landed his shoulder heavily on his foe, he got his first glimpse of his opponent. He didn’t recognize the face of the man underneath him, but they were bigger than him, and they had managed to maintain their grip on his collar. With sudden force, the man yanked Avatara’s head closer and slammed his forehead into him. For an instant, Avatara was stunned by the pain flashing through his skull. Seizing upon the opportunity, his opponent pushed Avatara back onto the ground, trying again to restrain him. Gritting his teeth to banish away the pain from the concussion, Avatara used the momentum from his opponent to push him to the side, the two of them rolling through the soot and debris from the burned-out ruins.

Unable to free himself from the man’s grasp, Avatara brought his knee up, jabbing it into the enemy’s gut. The man grunted and slackened his grip enough for Avatara to tear away and rise to his feet. Free at last, he quickly drew his sword, but with the flash of a boot his sword hand exploded in pain, and he dropped the blade.

The man had recovered quickly, already standing in front of him. While Avatara reached for his offhand sword, the man lunged forward, grabbing his neck and pushing him back into the blackened brick wall of the adjacent structure. He abandoned his futile effort to draw his weapon and grabbed the man’s hands, frantically trying to stop the fingers closing around his windpipe.

“Stay your hand, I only desire a few words,” the man hissed.

Avatara used his opponent’s arm to support himself as he swung both feet up and kicked his enemy away. Quickly gasping in breath, Avatara pressed forward during his brief advantage. A punch to the head followed by an uppercut to the chin staggered his opponent backwards, leaving him momentarily vulnerable. Now he had to make a choice, and make it quickly. There was no guarantee the man would tell him anything, but someone had obviously recognized him and tried to kill him. It was worth the extra risk to keep his opponent alive and find out who was after him.

He grabbed his enemy and threw him against the wall, using his forearm to try and choke the man unconscious. His opponent, realizing what was happening, used his chin to pin Avatara’s arm in place, freeing up a hand to reach for something. Seeing the movement, Avatara tried to stop it but was at a disadvantage trying to pin two arms with only one hand. The man was slowly but surely raising up some kind of weapon, intent on ending this struggle. Positioning himself so he could dodge the inevitable blow, Avatara looked up and saw...a red hat? The man’s hand released his grip on the hat, and it plopped down snugly on his head.

The next moment, Avatara felt himself lurching at the wall, grasping at air. The man was gone, leaving behind only a cloud of smoke. Slightly confused, Avatara looked around, up, and down, but he saw no trace of his assailant. He waited a moment, taking a defensive crouch against the wall, but nothing stirred. The only sound was the faint noises from the waking city, as people began sifting through the rubble.

Somewhat wary of another attack, Avatara finally moved away from the wall. He walked slowly towards his discarded sword lying on the ground. As he leaned over to pick it up, he saw a shadow, and abruptly twisted away. The hilt of a spear whooshed through the air, barely missing his head. The man stepped forward onto the sword, trapping it beneath his boot, and readied his weapon for another attack. The red hat was nowhere to be found.

The man lunged forward, using the spear as one would use a staff. Avatara ripped his belt knife out of its sheath and parried a pair of blows with the flat of his blade, but the superior reach of his opponent’s weapon put him at a disadvantage. He was quickly being backed into a corner again and his other defenses might kill the man.

His adversary quickly tapped his spear against the ground and then swung it broadly. Avatara raised his left arm to easily block the attack, but as his forearm connected with the metal shaft, a jolt of electricity surged into his body, momentarily dazing him.

His attacker rushed forward, using the spear as a bar to pin Avatara against the wall. As his opponent forced him backwards into the brick, Avatara brought up his dagger in a feeble attempt to stop the assault, but stopped as the cold metal shaft pressed harshly against his neck, threatening to fatally crush his windpipe.

“Please, all I ask for is your cooperation,” his attacker pleaded.

“You have a funny way of asking,” Avatara managed to gasp out.

The man opened his mouth to reply, but then froze as he noticed the dagger pressing up against his neck.

Stalemate.

Yomu and the man stared into each others eyes, each with a grip on the others life. The only thing hold them back from killing each other was calculation if it would take longer to crush a trachea or slit a throat, that and the moral dilemma of killing someone; however Yomu felt reluctant to free the man. After finally coming so close to the truth, he couldn't seem to bring himself to pull his spear away from the man.

The man was the first to break the silence.

"We could do this all day, but I don't think it'll do much good."


Would he run if given the chance, would even try to kill him? Yomu couldn't tell, but the man was right: he had no choice, and so Yomu began to slowly pull back his weapon. They were both cautious at first, but once it was safe Yomu jumped back away from the man. Both stood still with their weapons ready.

Yomu watched the man closely. It didn't seem like he was going to run off anytime soon.

"Will you agree to help me?" Yomu asked plainly.

"After all that? Seems like you want a little more then my 'help' stranger."

"I didn't want things to proceed to this, but I could also not risk your escape again."

The man's expression changed, he seemed to be scrutinizing Yomu.

"Just who are you, stranger, have we met? I can't seem to place a name to that face of yours."

"They call me, Yomu. Our paths crossed once before, a past night at the judge's castle. I saw you there with another, and then you both ran."

The man paused once again, as if trying to remember the night more carefully.

"And my I ask what is your name?" Yomu questioned, waiting for a reply.

EDIT: Forgot to add disturbing content warning for the first chapter. I won't blame anyone who skips it should blood and gore in detail not be where you get your jollies. Warning in place, conscience relieved.

Beneath Cademia

The twisted caverns beneath Cademia claim no god god but Darkness now. That was what the man-creature Rythan said to the Daemon before leaving him alone to keep watch on the black altar. Hidden by a maze of tunnels worming their way beneath the city is a great chamber. Fangs of stone bite down from the shadows above. Flames from a handful of iron braziers give off a weak untrustworthy light. Shadows dance where there should be none and are wholly absent where there should. The silhouettes of nightmare creatures that aren’t in the room come to stand by the daemons shadow. To stare at him. When they brush against it he flinches away from their touch.

At the heart of the floor is a circle of bones and blood that cradles a pool of black ichor. Its surface is like a dark mirror reflecting the cave loyally. Looking at your own reflection is not something you would ever do more than once. You can see the horrors it wishes for you if you look. Sometimes it speaks to him in a language that he’s terrified he may one day understand. He is no longer curious about what the altar is for. He just wants to leave.

He is the Daemon called Black-Horn. Once proud and strong. Now broken by fear. Leader of nothing and no one. He keeps no company but the shadows that mean him harm and a stench of death so powerful that if it were alive it would be worthy of your fear.

He commanded many of his brethren until... The tremors from topside sent dust trickling down the night before. Rythan left him with orders to send his Daemons out in the confusion. They would retrieve sacrifices from the city for his altar. Black-Horn’s charges had different plans. Mutiny broke out as he made preparations. They fractured into bands of varied bloodlines and allegiances. He and his most loyal slayed all who opposed him for leadership. Other bands decided they would leave and fend for themselves. The best of his brothers found their pride and struck out on their own, Athes was boldest and strongest among them. He was unkind to those who barred his path. Black-Horn did not bother. He would lose loyal warriors trying and failing to bring Athes to heel.

At the end of it there was only he and three others remaining to guard the altar. The sounds of other bands fighting echoed faintly through the tunnels. Then the shadows beyond the chamber darkened. That was when the screaming started.

It is hard to judge time underground but the horrible sounds seemed to last hours. His warriors kept their nerve. They were used to inflicting pain and suffering. But then those creatures came marching out of the darkness. If you flayed a man of all his skin and sealed half the wounds with fire. Fractured his bones so splinters ripped free of his flesh at every joint when he moved. Smashed a rock into his mouth and shattered his teeth until he smiled at you with two rows of jagged fangs. Carved out his eyes so the empty voids stared at you with all the torment he felt. If you did that to a man and somehow let him live he would be one of those things. For much of the night they dragged in the bloody pieces of Daemons who left. Chunks so ragged none could be recognised.

They worked in silence. One after another they fed his kin to the black pool. It spoke fervently then. One of his warriors, Tartarus, began to grasp what it was saying. It made him weep from the fear. He clawed his own face and neck so badly he died before they could fully restrain him. The ghouls dragged him to the pool before the body went cold. Rythan returned before the night was through. Black-Horn’s followers demanded to know what was happening. Rythan fed them to his altar. Black-Horn whispered something unbidden. Something to whatever higher power might have been watching. Then Rythan turned to him, most of his face hidden by that black veil, and said, “All was born in darkness. To darkness all returns. These caverns claim no god but Darkness now. Do you not feel him?” His crimson eye burned with madness and something the Daemon had not seen from him before. Something even more disturbing. Reverence.

Rythan told him the altar needed to be fed and disloyal followers were of no use. There was no threat there. Just a statement of cold fact. It sent a shiver through the Daemon’s soul. And then Rythan left him. Alone. With no tasks to occupy them the ghouls stay just out of sight, eerily silent. He wished they were always that way. But they aren’t. And that’s why he can’t bring himself to leave. Sometimes when they wander close he can hear them. Whispering through their mangled jaws or the mutilated holes with teeth he sometimes sees on other parts of their bodies, “_{The pain... why won’t it stop... gods why...}”

“KILL ME!” one of them screamed in his ear and he scrambled away in surprise. It stared at him eyelessly. Drool hanging from its lipless mouth. No, not drool. Its own blood leaking from the holes where its eyes had been. It stood there crying or glaring or both. He couldn’t leave because he knew this was the fate waiting for Rythan’s victims. Eternity spent in unimaginable pain with your mind and soul bound to a mangled slab of undying meat, “_{Kill me...}” The creature half rasped half sobbed.

Tartarus wielded an iron and stone battle-axe that Black-Horn had taken to carrying. A wicked looking weapon that lessened his own fears by a hair. Tartarus wouldn’t be needing it anymore. He raise it up over his head and slashed down through the ghoul. The weapon cleaved through flesh and bone like it might a bolt of cloth. Red splashed across the stones and two halves of the creature fell to either side. For a few blessed seconds there was quiet again. It didn’t last.

The pieces convulsed violently. Bones crackled and snapped muffled by disturbing wet sounds. Spindly insect legs of bone and sinew tore free as each chunk stood on its own, already unrecognizable as what they were moments before. Flesh split in more than a dozen places to reveal hungering teeth. They all rasped in sorrow and pain, each a variation of the same voice. The tick-like monsters didn’t even say words anymore, only insane gibberings. He could feel his mind fraying just listening to them. But then they skittered away. The monsters disappeared into the shadows. Likely to join the greater swarm of them stalking the tunnels. At night he heard their pointy legs scratching against the smooth stone out there. He pitied anything they stumbled across in the dark.

***

The old houses

In the night, the fires were hungry. A graveyard of houses stood blackened and stripped to the bone. At dawn people wandered the streets unable to look at the charred timbers that were once their homes. Or unable to look away. But one of those burned out husks wasn’t what it seemed. Inside a home miraculously untouched by the flames Krys sat on a couch, eyes closed. She used her powers to project the image of smoldering ruin to everyone who passed. Ral leaned back against the wall beside her wearing a worried frown, “Jacob, is this really necessary?”

The leader of the Hand considered the question for a moment. To his right Scry hung in the air, arms pressed to her sides and feet dangling inches above the carpet. In front of him glared Kain, also suspended by Jacob’s powers. The pyrokinetic sported many fresh bruises and a busted lip. “I wonder about that.” the leader said slowly.

“Let me down damn you!” Kain snarled, “You have no right to--” Kain went flying across the room. WHAM!. He slammed into the far wall. Again. Ral winced as his companion floated slowly back to Jacob. If Scry cared an ounce for her master’s well being she gave no sign of it. She simply hung there, expressionless, in the grip of a massive invisible fist.

“I don’t think you grasp the consequences of what you’ve done Kain.”

“It isn’t my fault! Iannah attacked me without cause I had to--” he trailed off making strangled sounds as something unseen tightened a grip on his throat.

“I wasn’t finished.” Jacob continued calmly. The grip loosened and gave Kain the chance to gasp for air, “Krys looked into your mind. I know exactly what happened.” a hint of amusement entered his voice, “You deviated from the plan. You instigated a confrontation. And for what? To boast? To show up a rival? We don’t have rivals. We are the Hand. The Master commands and we obey. Nothing else is important, especially not your fool pride.” Even through his pain Kain shook with an uncontrollable rage. It was the fight with Iannah all over again. Ral stepped forward to intervene. Their leader spoke first, “Do it Kain.” Jacob smiled, “I can snap you in half before you singe my clothes, but do it. Give me a reason.”

There matched stares for a hard minute. Kain was first to look away, “It won’t happen again.”

“I know it won’t.” Jacob said cheerfully, “Because we’re going to meet with the Master now, you and I. And you are going to open your mind to him so he knows fully what happened last night. And then,” Jacob leaned close, “he will judge you. And if he wishes I will tear you into very small pieces for his enjoyment. Unless he already has something more special in mind. At the very least he already knows we failed our mission.” Kain paled. Whether from Jacob’s threat or what he feared the Master might do was hard to tell.

“Jacob.” Krys spoke up for the first time, concern coloring her features, “I’ve reached the Master.”

Kain unceremoniously dropped to the floor as the leader released him and went to her, “What did he say?”

“There’s a problem.”

**

The Throne room

Talos stepped back and turned aside another slash. Moonshadow’s timely appearance broke the illusions surrounding them but more than a few enemies remained to press the group. The warrior struggled with the task of disabling his foes. It required far more skill than simply killing a man. The guard facing him now was no novice either. The man’s sword darted in to punch holes in Talos’s defence and scrape his armor. They picked their way across the rubble strewn floor with other battles all around them. Talos didn’t have the time to see how his allies fared.

The guard snarled and swung his sword in a deadly arc. Talos brought Shimmer to meet it. The golden blade flared against the guard’s iron and the man staggered back. Talos rushed in and slammed his fist into the man’s gut, lifting off the ground. As the guard doubled over Talos smashed Shimmer’s hilt over the back of his head. A glint of sunlight was all the warning he had from another blade slashing at him. He dodged by a hair but the new guard’s next attack would strike true. With an audible crack Shanadar’s staff broke the guard’s wrist and sent the weapon clattering to the floor. The other end of the staff slammed into the man’s temple and he dropped like a sack of grain. The enforcer gave Talos a nod before scanning for his next challenger. But none stepped forward.

The floor surrounding the adventurers was littered with bodies. Most of them groaning in pain or unconscious. Someone started clapping. A gray haired man Talos had never seen stood at the side of the throne room. He sported a think beard and regal robes of red and white. A massive set of doors loomed behind him. The three remaining guards were defended the stranger. Each seemed to wear odd, heavy armor beneath their clothing. “Impressive.” he smiled, “For uninvited guests you were very entertaining.”

“Who are you?” Talos asked.

“Oh?” the stranger arched an eyebrow in amusement, “You peasants don’t even recognise your King?”

“That is not Alaric.” Wizard assured the group, “He is projecting another illusion.”

“Not one so easily dispelled this time.” the false king chuckled, “My attention isn’t so divided as it was.”

“I know those men.” Shanadar but in, meaning the three defending their enemy, “I don’t know how you’re doing this to them but you will release them from whatever spell they’re under or so help me--”

Wizard laid a calming hand on his friend’s shoulder, “It’s over.” he said, stepping forward, “You are outnumbered and cornered. Your tricks won’t help you now. It is done.”

“Nonsense.” The other said icily. The doors behind him slammed open and out poured a dozen more guards along with a lone man who came to stand beside of the mysterious villain. It was the bowman who injured Talos the night before with those strange powers.

The man dropped to a knee, “Master.”

Something streaked down through the sunlight pouring in from above. The kneeling man looked up angrily and the arrow froze in midair. It spun and roared back where it came hitting the roof with a great crash. Talos looked up to the hole in the ceiling as more debris broke off from the impact and smashed down to the floor. He caught the barest glimpse of the archer who had helped them earlier, chased away by plumes of fire.

The old man’s eyes flashed with anger but that melted away almost as soon as it came. “Stand.” the Master continued in that cold voice, “You’re lucky. Had you been any later your punishments would have been dire. I’m almost disappointed that I won’t have the chance to kill that one personally.” He looked to the roof and grinned, “No matter. The fun’s only beginning.”

Talos’s allies squared off against the new force arrayed against them. But Wizard... The old sage couldn’t stop staring at their strange foe. Beads of sweat ran down his face as if he’d been running through the fray. In fact they same was true of the Master now that Talos had the time to notice. A separate battle was being waged between the two, one that had gone on since the fighting began, “Who are you?” Wizard asked, “Really.”

The Master turned his attention back to them, “Isn’t it obvious?” he sneered, “Honestly, I thought I would be smarter than this.”

“Is that possible?” Shanadar asked.

“It is.” Wizard replied solemnly, “If there can be a second Katerei, and even a second Raperian as we have suspected, why not another Wizard?”

“Ah.” the Master intoned, “There we are. And I worried your mind was too feeble to puzzle it out.”

“No.” the old mage shook his head, “That I could be capable of such perversion... I simply did not want to believe. Why do these things? I need to understand what made you into this.”

“Why?” the Master echoed, “Why?” he laughed, “You old fool. Because I can. Now, you’ve been such wonderful guests. I would be a poor host if I didn’t give you a gift.” he snapped his fingers and the three guards in his control slowly walked forward. They opened their vests as they did. Misshapen black rocks were strapped across their chests, “My men found these beautiful stones just lying about after the attack last night. Can you believe someone just abandoned these treasures?”

Raperian edged backward, “This is slightly less amusing than it once was.”

“Pieces of the golem...” Shanadar breathed. Realization washed over the party quickly and they shied away from the slow approach of the guards rigged with explosives, “What do you want?”

“There is no fire here.” Talos said quietly, “If there is no spark there is no danger. We can disarm them before they become a real threat.”

“Are you sure about that?” The Master asked as if he heard every word clearly, “Are you ready to risk all of your lives on that gamble?” he cast his gaze over them. Suddenly Talos was not so sure of his plan, “I didn’t think so. You will all stay where you are while I walk away. When I feel you’re cooperating I will release these fools and you may do with them as you wish. Follow my instructions and I promise I will not harm them.”

The group traded looks but no words. Selax answered for them, “No.”

Dust and pebbles rained down from the widening hole above them as a small boom shook the roof. Flares of light and heat that were not the sun went off every few seconds, “A brave one are we?” The old villain remarked.

“You will not trigger those explosions.” the elemental responded, “Not while they are close enough to endanger your own life.”

“And what makes you so sure?”

“You would have already done so.”

“Clever.” the Master said slowly, “It seems we’ve reached a stalemate. I suppose there’s nothing for it then.” he grinned wickedly. All three guards suddenly charged the group. Talos caught the eyes of the man who ran for him. Distant and dazed as if caught in a trance. He tackled the man. They landed hard against the stone floor.

The guard’s eyes snapped into focus as he winced in pain, “Where?” he grunted under Talos’s weight, “Where am I?”

“No time to explain.” Talos grabbed the man’s vest. Strips of leather and rope held the stones in place. Flint stones were scattered through the mess. Each threatened to scrape the other and ignite the whole thing. Talos’s breath caught. It was a miracle that he didn’t kill the man, and himself, with his reckless tackle. He drew Shimmer and the golden blade became a dagger.

“Hey wait!” The guard panicked, still without an understanding of the situation.

“Be still.” The warrior ordered as he carefully cut the straps. Swords clashing beside him only maded matters worse. Shanadar and Silver each struggled with another rigged guard but everyone else was pulled into fighting with the reinforcements who arrived. Wizard and the Master seemed to be on their own islands of calm in the chaos but something told Talos that their battle was the most intense. Strangely the man called Jacob contented himself to watch.

Talos cut the last strip and ripped the explosive stones away from the guard and the flint stones still bound to him. The warrior chucked the volatile rocks to a darkened corner at the far edge of the room. Silver had already disarmed one of the guards as well and he helped them fight off their attackers. Shanadar though, only yards away, still struggled with a young man who hadn’t snapped out of the Master’s control.

“”Don’t worry kid.” the enforcer told him, “We’ll get you out of this.”

“As amusing as this has been.” the Master said loudly, “I have places to be.” Jacob focused on Shanadar and the youth.

The guard was violently ripped from the enforcer’s grasp. A move that finally snapped him out of it, “Shanadar?” he asked in his confusion.

An invisible force turned the youth in the air to face the Master, “Any last words young man?”

“Don’t.” Wizard strained with the effort of his unseen struggle as Selax fought to protect him from would-be attackers, “Do not do this.” the Master ignored him.

“Who are you, wh-what’s going on?” the young guard stammered.

“Oh.” the Master tsked, “Poor choice.” Sparks danced across the villains outstretched hand.

A lance of light streaked from the villain’s palm. The guard screamed in surprise. Talos sprinted forward, grabbed Shanadar, closest to the guard, and hurled him back. Then the thunderous boom. Some bored god smashed Talos with a hammer of burning wind. He flew through the air, skipped across the ground, and smashed into the far wall. If not for his armor he would have died. As it was his world went black.

**

An unblemished cloudless sky mocked the pock marked and fire scarred roof of the Judge’s castle. Raperian rolled away from another flaming wave, landing in a crouch and loosing an arrow in fluid motion. A whirlwind of fire swirled around Kain and reduced the missile to smoke and ash. The bear of a man smiled menacingly, “Today is the day Raperian. You’re going to burn.”

“Really?” the ranger quipped, “And how many times have I heard you say that? I’ve honestly lost count.” he sprinted off as fire consumed the stones he stood on. Raperian ran in a wide arc around the pyrokinetic, dodging fireballs and narrowly avoiding burning blades of death. Don’t stop moving. He warned himself. He doesn’t need to throw the flames at you if you stand still. Years of skirmishing with the Hand gave him as much knowledge as anyone about their attacks. If only beating them were as simply. He fired off arrows on the run with no real intention of causing damage. It kept Kain angry and off balance. The ranger slowed only long enough for can to focus his attack on a specific spot then darted off before it could kill him.

“Damn you.” Kain growled, “Just die!”

“Someone’s agitated.” Raperian huffed, sweating as much from exertion as from the staggering heat of Kain’s attacks, “Could it be you have a lot riding on killing me? Maybe trying to make up for all those recent failures?” The pyro swore in wordless rage and redoubled his attack. The roof shuddered the way Raperian had hoped. Kain lost his footing. Enough damage had been done in a circle around him that some of the stones under his feet gave way. The ranger fired another arrow. Kain’s powers weren’t fast enough. He threw up his hand at the last second.

The projectile skewered Kain’s palm as he tried to protect his face and he howled in pain. As he lowered his right hand he revealed his left eye to be a bloody mess. A second arrow was already on its way, but too late. A blazing serpent seared it out of the air and streaked through where the ranger had just stood. It was close. The side of Raperian’s shirt was charred and he winced from the light burns he had along his ribs.

Kain snapped the arrow shaft in his fist and pulled it out of his hand. It was blackened dust before it hit the floor, “I’m going to--” a sudden explosion from the room beneath staggered both me. Kain looked about in confusion, then spoke to someone who wasn’t there, “No, he isn’t dead yet but... But Master I can end it I can...” His face suddenly paled, “Yes Master.” he answered obediently. Kain glared at Raperian, “You’re lucky.” he snarled, blood dripping down the side of his face. His raised his left hand high overhead and a geyser of fire erupted skyward. In seconds the flames began to rain heavily back down on the roof.

Kain just stared at the ranger angrily but it was difficult to keep an eye on him and the storm of fist sized flaming hail at the same time. But the difficulty came from the sheer number of them and not from Kain trying to hit him directly. So what was the man trying to hit? A heavy explosion went off far behind Raperian and the force almost knocked him off his feet. A second blast came from his right and that did stagger him, making him lose sight of Kain. He quickly scanned the rooftop but the man was gone. Another set of explosions went off on other corners of the roof. Cracks rippled across the ground in a drunken spiders web and the whole thing began to crumble under Raperian’s feet. He wasn’t very confident in his ability to discover the power of flight. It was time to run.

**

Talos’s vision was slow to clear as he opened his eyes. When it did he saw the newcomer looking down at him. Moonshadow he thought it was, “Good, you’re passed the worst of it.”

“Thank you.” he croaked out, “The others?” He tried to stand.

Shanadar walked over and offered him a hand getting up. He gingerly accepted, “Wizard raised a barrier in time. Aside from minor injuries everyone is fine.”

That was hard to believe. Talos glanced at the blackened crater where the young guard had been. The only evidence of him was an unsightly stains on the floor. There was far more rubble than before. The warrior realized sunlight streamed in from above completely unopposed. The ceiling that had been there was merely a memory. The explosion must have cracked more off, “I am sorry about your friend.” was all Talos could think to say. He tried to take a step, but everything hurt. Silence was anything but. It admonished him for mistaking recklessness for valor.

“You’ll want to take it slow for a while.” Moonshadow instructed, “I said you were passed the worst but the healing has left you weak. You’ll recover but you have to give it time.”

Talos nodded in understanding. Shanadar stood beside him. The enforcer ran a hand through his hair, “So am I. But it isn’t your fault. Thank you for the save by the way.”

Talos shrugged, “I owed you four or so.” The enforcer grunted. The rest of the group seemed to be discussing a new plan of action, “Are we giving chase?”

“No.” Shanadar replied bluntly, “Some columns broke off and blocked the doors from the other side. Even if we caught them going around the long way there might be another trap there waiting to be sprung.”

“You think this ‘Master’ was expecting this?” Talos asked incredulously.

“I don’t know what to think.” the enforcer replied honestly, “If he really is some other version of our Wizard anything is possible. Our Wizard is too cunning by half to have for an enemy.” Shanadar gestured to the destruction around the room, “This Master had to have seen at least some of this coming. Those guards were ready for a fight. And those explosives had to be prepared well in advance, crude as they might have been. And then there was the man from the inn yesterday.”

Talos remembered his brief meeting. He was tossed aside like a child’s toy, “The man in black armor.”

“The same.” Shanadar confirmed, “He mentioned the Master to Wizard personally.” Talos hadn’t witnessed that specifically, having been thrown through a window to the street below.

“We’ve been chasing or fighting one strange enemy after another for days now. That cannot be coincidence, but what does it mean?”

“It means we have to stay on our toes.”

Raperian stood apart from the group and paced the room. He cut into the conversation as he reached Shanadar, “You know,” he started, “At first I really didn’t want to come to this stuffy old castle but I love what you’ve done with this place. I mean the sun roof and the new paint job. Sure the splatter is pretty spotty but I think you’re onto something here. If you want a pointer or two I’d b happy to--” he jumped back as Shanadar lunged for him.

The enforcer regained his composure with visible difficulty, “Not now Raperian.” he said darkly.

“Ah, right.” the black mage replied, “I, uh, I’ll be over there. Out of strangle range.”

“You do that.” Shanadar bored a hole through Raperian with his eyes as the mage walked away.

“Are you okay?” Talos asked.

“I’ll be fine.” the enforcer said, “For once there’s someone I want to take down worse than that scum.”

**

The old houses

Ral was pleasantly surprised to learn the former residents of his current hideout knew how to make a decent cup of tea. It wasn’t long before he was able to brew a pot for he and Krys. The mage brought her a cup and took the seat across from her in the study, “Ah.” he said, after a nice sip. He set his cup down on the oaken table between them with a faint clink. Old but very well cared for, “I’d give anything for a cookie about now. Something light and sweet.”

“They don’t have any?” Krys pouted. She shared his love of the simple pleasures, “Barbarians.” she mocked. Technically neither of them should have been slacking that way. But with nothing to do but wait for word from the Master or Jacob’s return tea time seemed a better choice than time spent staring at the walls, “You weren’t all that generous with the honey either.”

He spread his hands, “There was little.” He looked out the window as Scry passed on the street. She was making her rounds on patrol. A precaution now that Jacob suspected an outsider knew of their presence.

“I doubt Iannah and hers would try to find us now. They aren’t fools.” Krys was of the opinion that the assassins had laid the many traps which confounded Scry in the escape after the battle, “And even if they were,” she continued, “They can’t find this place.”

“It wasn’t them.” Ral assured her, “They’re a skilled group but have no mage. Not one with the prowess to lay traps like that. It was the work of a master, I could barely understand it.”

“It sounds like Kain wasn’t the only one whose pride took a hit.”

“Maybe.” he took another sip of his tea.

Krys cocked her head to the side, the way she did when she sensed something or listened to a telepathic message, “A few of our men are about to arrive. And Jacob has met with the Master. We need to meet them.”

“Where?”

“He didn’t say yet but should get ready.”

For Ral getting ready consisted of finishing his tea and placing a few texts back in his small pack. By the time he had finished their guard escort hand arrived, “My Lord and Lady, are you ready to depart?”

“We’ll be right out.” the mage replied, “let me grab my bag.”

“I’ll meet you outside Ral.” Krys said on the way to the door.

A howling wind cut through the house sending splinters flying through the air like shrapnel and knocking Ral back. Knives of wood stabbed into the arm he just to guard his face. When he looked up a literal slice ran through the front wall and two halves of the door were sprawled out on the floor. Dust and ash from the street choked the room. Carried in by that gust of wind. The soldiers were already falling over with massive gashes on their backs. They were too close to whatever cut the wall in half.

Krys struggled to rise as a man in fine clothes and a green cloak stepped through the door. He was dressed like dark nobility and held a sword as black as all night. Galahad, one of the Dread who should have still been confined to their world, “Call for help!” Ral urged Krys.

Galahad grabbed her by the collar and pulled her up with ease, “ I would rather you didn’t.” She gasped as his sword blossomed from her back. He pulled it free and dropped her to the floor where she writhed in pain.

“I’ll kill you!” Ral swore, raising his hand to hurl a nasty spell. Someone else grabbed his arm and made a fist. The spell somehow died at the touch. His bones snapped under the strength of the grip. Ral cried out in pain and stared up at his attacker. The blood drained from his face. Rythan stared down at him with that one crimson eye, “How?” he whispered.

“Don’t kill him.” Galahad instructed, “He comes with us.”

“As you wish.” the monster replied. Why is he taking orders from Galahad? Why is he alive?! The mage’s panicked thoughts fought each other even as he wondered what happened to Scry.

As if summoned the blademistress burst through a window with a shower of glass and flash of steel. Galahad was a blademaster, and powerful besides, but in the first few moments all he could do was fight to stay alive. Rythan seemed content to watch him struggle and indifferent to the outcome. Ral used his chance wisely. FIRECAT! He concentrated as hard as he could through the pain. Where are you? This is an emergency!. But there was no reply. No, worse than that. He couldn’t sense the telepath at all. He could always feel something. Now there was a strange emptiness where that feeling should have been.

Scry sent Galahad smasing through the oak table with a kick. She rushed in to finish him off. Rythan burst across the room grabbed Scry by the shoulder and tossed her into the closest wall. The mage gaped in complete shock. It wasn’t that she had been too slow to react. She hadn’t reacted at all. Scry stood up looking as confused as he felt, “Are you injured?” Rythan asked his fallen comrade.

“Only my ego.”

When Rythan spoke Scry turned to face him as if surprised he was there. He took a few steps to the side but she didn’t seem to track his movements, “And what about this one?” Rythan asked of Scry. She whirled to face him at the sound of his voice. Her confusion was gone, replaced with extreme caution. Ral began to realize just how bad the situation was. Scry’s powers could not see or sense the monster. For all intents Rythan was invisible to her.

“She’s dangerous.” Galahad admitted, “Kill her to be safe.”

”Understood.” Scry’s blade struck at Rythan’s neck the moment he spoke but he dodged and stepped in. She jumped back and barely escaped an uppercut that would have killed her. Perhaps she heard him move in. Whatever happened she was lucky. The gauntlet on the monster’s right hand was bladed. A drop of blood trickled along the edge. A thin cut appeared on Scry’s cheek.

“Scry.” Ral groaned, fumbling through his pain to cast a spell, “Run.” she hesitated until he raised his good arm and hurled a weak fireball in her direction. She leapt out of the way and the burning orb splashed across the wall behind her. The wood was quick to catch. The home would not be lucky enough to survive a brush with flames a second time, “Find Jacob!” he bellowed. She vaulted over a chair and sprinted through the front door.

Rythan moved to chase her but Galahad waved him off, “There’s no time. Grab the mage and get out of here before this barn fire attracts too much attention.” the swordsman followed his own advice and disappeared into the street.

Ral put on a brave face as the monster came to claim him, “We stopped you once before.”

Rythan lifted him so they could see eye to eye. Chills went through the mage even as the fire spread around them, “There will be no second time.”

**

Krys faded in and out of consciousness as she lie there bleeding to death. She coughed from the dust and ash on the floor. Blessedly she was low enough not to worry about smoke just yet. Though she might not have chosen that precise word as she watched the fire march across the house. First I miss out on cookies. Now I’m not dying fast enough to avoid burning alive. This was not my day I think. She was hoping to be unconscious when the fire finally claimed her but it didn’t seem that luck was on her side.

A pair of shiny black boots stopped in front of her. She looked up at a man in a black hood and cloak with impressive plate armor to match. Runic red patterns ran across it. Death was much better dressed than she imagined he would be, “You’re late.” was all she could manage to say. He knelt over her and the world seemed to melt away.

This post has been edited by Ragnar0k: 19 January 2011 - 09:49 PM

The caged bird

Scry’s senses led her through the streets. She stuck mostly to shadowed back alleys. Dark or bright didn’t matter to her but she had a sense for places where she would not be seen. She viewed the city with more clarity than most of the people who ever walked it thanks to her powers. The powers of others, which seemed invisible to her masters, appeared to her in clear bright colors. Even the future was open to her when times of need arose. But those same powers of sight had failed her. Something... Wrong had attacked her. A shadow across her all seeing vision. It left her lost and confused.

Her last orders had been to run. To find Jacob. But she had no idea where to go. She was an arrow fired blindly into the air at a target that no longer existed, for all she knew. Her powers were her whole world. The essence of her being. If they could not be trusted, what could? She stopped dead at the mouth of an alley. Fearful citizens passed on the street without seeing her hiding place. There was one person who could make sense of this. one who could help her. She reached out with her mind.

"Ah, poor little bird. It has been some time hasn’t it? What troubles you in your cage?"

Her mental communication with Firecat generally relied less on words and more on images until he saw fit to help her clear her mind. That’s what she wanted but she’d first have to prove it worth his while. She projected images to him a replay of the last hours all the way back to the night before. But her concept of time was different than others. Present and future events often overlapped and melted together.

"Too much little one. Too fast. You’ve given me a puzzle but the pieces don’t fit together. This is many puzzles, many mysteries." he puased, thinking. "Galahad in that world? Curious. When did the fox leave his den, and with such a toy no less. I thought all the other cat’s play things were still in our world." He mused a bit more, "Your morning song brings intrigue this day, little bird. Very well, I know what you know you want to know. That bit of seed your Master keeps hidden from you.

Scry felt Firecat reaching into her open mind. Navigating tunnels and locked doors she couldn’t sense but knew were there. Something creaked open just a hair...


Scry sat in a chair on the back porch of her home. It was a small thing, nothing she could ever brag about, but it was beautiful in the spring and all she ever needed was there. Lisa, her baby girl, fussed in her arms. She smiled down at the infant and cooed to her till she was calm.

“Why can’t she behave like that for daddy?” Evan asked as he brought some fresh firewood inside.

“Because she doesn’t like you.” Scry smiled without looking up.

“Ha. Ha.” Her husband replied, stopping only long enough to lean in and kiss her...


And then she was back in that alley in Cademia. The memories slipping through her fingers and back into whenever the Master had sealed them She struggled desperately to hold on but it was pointless. In seconds they were a half remembered dream.

"Better?" The voice inquired.

A bit. The swordswoman whispered in her mind, Can you take me there again, t-to my past?

"Patience little bird. Let’s see what other songs you can sing."

She showed him the images again, only this time around they were in a timeline that made sense to him. She leaned back against one of the buildings. A breeze swept through the alley. For some reason she recalled the scent of flowers in bloom. But then it was gone, replaced by a deep sense of loss. Last night, she thought, after I fought off the assassins there were traps waiting for us. Many. It took most of the night to get around them.

“Someone else is playing the game too I see.” Firecat replied. “Setting mouse traps and having you scurry through his maze. But I’m more interested in how the fox manged to chase you off. His claws can’t touch you. No one’s can.”

It wasn’t him.

"Oh?" The voice spoke playfully. "These games we do not play little bird, for by your rules, if I've seen what was there, then what was there wasn't what I saw."

Something... was there. Something, I couldn’t truly sense.

"Not truly? But you sensed something did you not? A description, if you would be so kind."

Scry thought for a time, trying to build an image in her mind's eye. A shadow. A wrongness in the world around me. It felt like something that should not have been.

“That is... peculiar.” Firecat echoed after some time. "But it is... interesting. I suppose seed for your troubles is in order?"

Scry felt very few emotions to any degree without Firecat’s help, but in this she allowed herself to feel the smallest measure of accomplishment. The spectre escorted her through another soon forgotten dream about a life stolen from her.

While the injured received healing, Silver hurriedly brought buckets of water for his companions' refreshment.