City of IF

[Kalanna Rai]

Since you're all agreeing on Asalia's choice I just decided to post this chappy. Enjoy!
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Chapter Ten: Believe pt 1

And so did the First Knight recount tales of his youth unto Faelyon. He told of grand palaces and secret treasures. He told of battles beyond the wildest imaginings of the Golden One. And he told of a maid with hair like the fire of the summer son and eyes as blue as midwinter twilight...
-Legend of the Black Wings
-Unknown

Asalia stared into those eyes and felt her heart thump against her chest like a scared rabbit. There was eternity in those eyes. Power, pain, and death all locked together in orbs of unsurpassed violet beauty. Her mouth was dry as the scenes she'd seen from Fallon's life replayed before her eyes. "How did you get the others to agree? Or did I miss something."

His voice thrilled her ears despite it's flat tone, just the rich tembre of it...the strange way it was both rich and golden deep, and seductivly silver and soft. "Ceddon agreed the moment he came into existance, not that he was given much of a choice. Darith agreed the moment he chose not to fight me when the Xalthian mage was manipulating him. Layla chose the moment she challenged her beliefs and took hold of my sword."

"Your sword," Layla gasped. "But that blade is supposed to belong to Faelyon...or is it not the Legacy Blade?"

Asalia watched Fallon's face, almost fainting when the corner of his mouth twitched upward sharply for a split second. Slowly he stood, leaving Asalia sitting on the floor. Realizing that the house robe she'd borrowed from Layla was now filthy, ripped, and not really covering anything at all. With a squeek and a bright scarlet blush coloring all her visible skin, Asalia pulled the robe closed...or as closed as it could get.

Ceddon, noticing her discomfort, walked over with a fur he'd managed to find in the tangled heap of Layla's belongings. As he draped it over her shoulders, and gave those shoulders a reassuring squeeze, she smiled up at him. "Thanks."

"No trouble." He slowly settled next to her, Darith following suit on her other side. As her big brother looped an arm around her shoulders Asalia leaned her head against him. She was profoundly greatful that he was with her, she knew that come what may Darith would be by her side.

Fallon, meanwhile, moved to the pile of furnature. "I suppose you're expecting me to explain arn't you?"

"That and put everything back where it was." Layla clapped her hand over her mouth and Asalia bit back a laugh. You couldn't keep Layla meek and mild for long could you? Asalia suspected that, had she been able to see his face, Fallon would have been wearing another smile.

"Hum, normally I wouldn't do this but I suppose time is growing short now that they know I'm back." With that Fallon flicked his fingers at the jumbled heap and things flew across the room, whirling and dancing as they returned to their former places. Asalia was no stranger to magic so she was shocked at Layla's response to what was perfectly ordinary by Terrinian standards.

Layla, who's whole appearance had changed from the ebon and ivory lady to someone far paler, grew paler still. Asalia would have comforted her except that Layla was beyond arms reach. Fallon picked one of the open-backed chairs and sat in it. But he didn't just sit, it was as if he'd taken possession of that space, made it his. Asalia didn't know a soft sigh had escaped her until Darith whispered in her ear. "Are you alright?"

She shook her head, blushing a bit just as she had when she was little and was caught being naughty. "Fine Darith...would you mind if I sat on those furs over there?" Darith stood, his own robe having been knotted around his waist like a loincloth, and helped her up. He sat just a few feet from her, shooting her nervous glances out of the corner of his eye. "Really Darith I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You seem...distracted..." Asalia smiled, her smile becoming slightly tinged with annoyance when Ceddon laughed from another chair across the room.

"Easy big brother. You can't cure what ails her, best let her alone." Darith stood at Ceddon's casual words and Asalia had to catch him by the arm to prevent something drastic from happening.

"Please will you two settle down? Darith, what's gotten into you?" Her brother glanced down at her sheepishly, settling back down to sit slightly closer to her, almost hovering. Asalia had the sudden image of the honor guards that she'd seen accompanying one of the many noble ladies that had been paraded before Darith back home. She hadn't quite grasped what they had been there for back then, after all Darith had been, and still was, the most honorable person she knew.

Now it came to her in a flash and she almost fainted from shame. Was she being that obvious? Had he seen through her? It wasn't as if she was experianced at flirting. That hadn't been part of her schooling back home...she wouldn't have remembered it anyway. And she didn't remember now if anyone had ever jokingly told her about it. Obviously Ceddon knew, but how much of it was his own astute observations and how much of it was his former double occupancy of his flesh with Fallon?

Her attention suddenly snapped back to Fallon, even though he'd done nothing discernable to gain her attention, as did that of the others. "This bickering will solve nothing. You have asked for answers and I shall give them."

"About time." Asalia shot Layla a warning glance even as Fallon turned to face her. However, he didn't seem ruffled by the comment as far as Asalia could tell. But then he never seemed ruffled to Asalia.

He slowly returned his gaze to Asalia's own. "Before I can explain though I must have your answer Asalia du'Maldon. Are you going to aid us?"

Asalia swollowed, the sound sounding horrifically loud to her. "I have to agree. I can't just let things stand as they are can I?"

"You could have, it's your choice after all, but I doubted you'd disagree with me LifeHeart." Layla stiffened at the mention of the term, glance rapidly from Asalia to Fallon and back.

Asalia's temper sparked a bit, not enough to make her rash, but enough to straighten her spine. She wasn't some little kid or thoughtless court daisy...well not anymore. "And that's another thing. What is a LifeHeart?"

Fallon had just finished buckling his sword into place. He glanced at her from under wings of dark hair. "Forgive me. I'd forgotten that neither you nor Darith have any formal magical training so you havn't read those manuscripts." He settled back in the chair, his massive wings spreading out and curling around, too large to fully spread or mantel in the space of Layla's living room.

Asalia noted that, on Fallon's wings, the golden stripes along the primaries blazed stark contrast to the rest of him...like they didn't belong. On impulse she glanced at Ceddon's wings and raised her eyebrows. He'd had golden stripes...but now they were gone, leaving an unbroken plain of beyond snowy white behind. Her mind had nearly put two and two together when Fallon began speaking again.

"A LifeHeart is a person so pure in spirit that they have been granted a great but terrible power. As long as they remain innocent, they remain a danger to themself and others. In exchange for that they are given the power to bend reality according to their heart's greatest wish. In essence...what they believe becomes the truth."

Asalia was stunned! She could believe anything and it would come true! There had to be a catch...and Fallon provided the catch a moment later. "But before you go testing it out I have a warning. You can believe many things and all will be altered to a degree, but once you focus on something with your whole heart you will drain your Life Essence to make it happen."
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More later.

[Kalanna Rai]

Sorry about the gap between bits. I'm doing this whenever my net is stable enough to post...You'll just have to be paitent.
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Chapter Ten: Believe pt 2

"What do you mean she'll drain her Life Essence to make it happen?" Darith had caugh Asalia's shoulders as she'd cringed back against him, fist jammed in her mouth. Now he glared at Fallon, wishing he had the strength to reach out and grab the...man...by the throat and make him spill everything.

Fallon just continued to gaze at him, eyes as cold and hard as they had been when Darith had first met him. Only now they weren't the eyes of Darith's bastard elder half-brother, powerful mage though he might have been. They were the eyes of a being so powerful he was elemental. A primeval force of nature as dangerous and fierce as any other Darith could name. And from the way he looked at Darith right now Darith knew, somehow, that Fallon had more than guessed his thoughts.

Yet he did nothing, his very posture indifferent to any strike Darith might try not that Darith would be so foolish. He merely twitched his left wing, feathers rasping across the stone floor, before speaking again. "To answer your question Darith, a LifeHeart's power comes from within the same as all mages. The difference is that, unlike mages, they don't tap into their Magic and, therefore, cannot pull magic from their surroundings. Instead, to work the changes upon reality they desire, they draw from themselves in prime sense. They draw from their Life Essence, that which allows them to remain living."

Darith still didn't understand and opened his mouth to say so only to be stilled into silence as Fallon twitched a finger. There was no power behind the gesture, only a visceral understanding that the powerful creature before him expected him to remain silent a few moments longer. "Life Essence, by it's very nature, is the second most potent source of power aside from the Soul itself. Thus just a pinch can bring about great results. A spell that would take a Full Circle of Thirteen, like the one that brought us to UnderDark, would take but ten minutes worth of Life Essence."

Understanding dawned on Darith then and he gazed into Asalia's terrified eyes. "So she can bring about great changes in exchange for an hour or a minute of her life? She uses that power to accomplish her goal, channeled through her heart?" Fallon nodded.

"Excellent, I see you've grasped the concept. Now here are the problems with this. A LifeHeart, once they realize what they're doing, knows exactly how much Essence they're using to accomplish whatever task they've turned their heart to. They can keep track of how much of their life they're giving away. But what they don't know is how much they've already used. How much Essence they spent before they realized their power."

Darith wrapped his arms around Asalia, hugging her as she shook with fear. She was cold and he tried to impart some of his own scant warmth through the pelt that was wrapped around her. "It's alright. Fallon...can you tell how much she's used."

A dark eyebrow twiched upwards. "Indeed I can, I'm surprised you thought to ask though." Darith felt a surge of indignance at Fallon's words, did the man think he was a child? The indignance changed to a flash of cold terror as Fallon's blade was suddenly a heartbeat away from Asalia's forehead...then it was gone, back in it's sheath. All Darith's foolish thoughts of challenging Fallon, of fighting him, vanished and never returned.

"It's rare to find a LifeHeart that is more than mortal, as Asalia is, because of the power potential such a nigh-infinete lifespan bestows. She's already worked two powerful spells, and maintained them for several years. Such a feat would normally be a massive undertaking for a LifeHeart, although it wouldn't quite be a Cause. Instead it's cost her maybe twenty years, an igsignificant amount considering that she's going to live well in excess of ten thousand."

"Ten thousand years?" Darith couldn't blame Asalia for her incredulous tone. He was having a hard time believing it himself. And if she was going to live that long...how long would he walk the physical realms before moving on to a spirit-life?

Fallon seemed unfazed. "Give or take a century or so. Ceddon will live even longer than that...he's pure-blooded without any mortal outcross in him. And once Faelyon returns I wouldn't be surprised in the least to find all of you granted limited immortality of some kind...assuming you live that long."

He paused a moment before speaking again. "But I've gotten off topic. As I was saying LifeHeart's can alter many things for the cost of a few hours of their time in the physical world. But a LifeHeart's Cause is different. For their Cause they give up all their remaining time, unleash all that power, to make sure the outcome they want is realized."

Darith nodded, now he understood. His arms wrapped tighter around his sister and she wriggled her pseudo-wings to signal her discomfort at the strength of his embrace. "Sorry."

"It's alright Darith. If I'd had to choose the person to stand beside me through all of this I couldn't have made a better choice than you." His spirit, or maybe just his ego, soared at her words. But he knew she was just saying it for his benefit. She'd have to be crazy to pick him when much better people were around...two of them sitting in this room. Still he patted her arm and felt her fingers twine into his own.

It was that, more than anything, that made him feel inadiquet. Her fingers were fragile, slender, and delicate. They made him realize just how thick, rough, and calloused his own were. He knew that with a single flex he could crush her hand...and yet with a single wish she could break his arm. She didn't need his protection.

And yet she still hadn't stopped trembling, was still shaking. Whether it was from fear, or chill, or just the realization of the hard road before her, it didn't matter to Darith. As he rubbed her fur draped shoulders he felt that shaking and knew that he'd die to keep his sister safe, to make her journey one step easier. He leaned in close, his lips by her ear. "I'm right here...don't worry."

And the shaking stopped as her grip tightened on his hand. She adjusted herself to lay flat against him, as if seeking shelter in his presence. His pseud-wings twitched, as if he were trying to wrap them around the two of them and close them off from the word. Her voice was hushed but powerful when she replied to him. "Thanks be given."
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I'm trying...really I am.

[Kalanna Rai]

Right, net's still holding so I'm go to try to get this part up as well...Cross your digits.
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Chapter Ten: Believe pt 3

Ceddon watched Darith and Asalia with a pang of envy. He'd never be close to them despite the fact they were his family. But the only person he was close to, aside from Fallon and they weren't really 'close', was Wyvril. Even his own mother knew little about him. They'd talked a few times but Abullia always came under attack whenever she ventured outside her own spirit space. Such was the legacy of being a pure Gallaeni.

Still...it wasn't as if he didn't want a family. Fallon, cold and heartless thing he was, hadn't exactly cultivated relationships. That left Ceddon lacking, lacking friends as well as family. He knew he could work with Darith and Asalia, the little scrap with the Cabodise had proven that...but he doubted they'd ever be more than good friends. A velvety nose nudged his back.

Looking over his shoulder he found Callix standing behind him. The kession had been uncharictaristically silent throughout Fallon's return and this tiny debate, which Ceddon wasn't really paying attention to. He knew what a LifeHeart was, it was the rest of the people he was going to have to trust with his life that were interesting him. Now, however, he gave the kession the benefit of his attention. "What horseface?"

Callix snorted. "Horseface am I? Better that than being a blank space in reality. And here I thought you needed a little cheering up. You looked like a portrait of the doldrums."

Ceddon's wing tip flicked Callix in the flank, a gesture he'd seen Fallon do with his hand when Callix had been teasing him. The kession snorted and shied back for a moment before resuming conversation in that deep bass voice of his that seem...strange coming from an equine muzzle although Ceddon couldn't think of a better voice for the kession to have.

"I wasn't expecting that. You have to understand I'm still getting used to the fact that the person I thought was my companion was nothing more than a symbiotic soul borrowing your body. You've known me for years but I'm just realizing you exist. It's going to take me a few days to reconcile myself to the fact."

Ceddon chuckled. "It's going to take me a few days to reconcile myself to the fact I'm not just alone in my own head, I'm in control of it." For a moment Ceddon and Callix locked eyes...and then they both began to chuckle.

"I like you. You're easier to talk to than Himself."

"I'm glad I'm better at something." That remark drew a snort from Callix. A snort Ceddon knew ment 'no contest'. He patted the slab-like shoulder of the charger, and instantly felt a massive wing sweap over his head, messing up his long tail of white hair. Peering up through the tangled strands, Ceddon gave Callix a faux angery stare. "Don't make me geld you."

The kession who'd been looking like the picture of innocence, even giving the strange sound that passed for 'whistling', looked back at him in mock horror. "You wouldn't dare."

Ceddon realized with a pang that he and Callix could grow to be close if given half a chance. But Callix belonged to Fallon...didn't he? Ceddon resolved that wouldn't stop them from becoming friends. He laughed again, giving the kession a final pat while Fallon finished explaining the workings of being a LifeHeart to Asalia. Ceddon yawned loudly to punctuate the end of the topic.

"Well I'm sure that's all well and good for the LifeHeart's amoung us but, unfortunately, that covers a whole one out of the five of us that are still in the dark here. Care to explain the topics that matter to all of us? Such as, where are the spheres and how are we going to get them?"

Ceddon was an expert at reading Fallon, as much as he could be read, and saw the signs of irritation in him now. They both knew Fallon had better things to be doing than explaining what must be infantile subjects to the strange crew that sat in Layla's living room, but it had to be done for things to go off smoothly.

There was a current of unreadable something in Fallon's voice when he spoke again. "We don't need to retrieve all of them, just the sphere of Magic. Once I've gotten that one I can craft a spell to call the other five to me."

Ceddon relaxed back against Callix, in much the same posture he'd used when Fallon had first entered their shared space after stopping their shared heart. "Brilliant. Just point us in the right direction then."

"Not so simple. The location of the sphere, and even the easiest way to it, are known to at least one of our party..." Ceddon watched Layla visibly stiffen. So she was holding out on them eh?

"But the Gods will be watching all the sphere's intently. I expect them to make an attempt to move the sphere to a place where they can safeguard it better. This means we've got to move quickly, and strike hard to obtain it. I've got no wish to fight the Gods for each sphere on it's own much as I would relish the task. I've also got no wish to drag you into a battle you're unprepared for and havn't the ability to fight...even you Ceddon."

Ceddon shivered a bit under Fallon's gaze, feeling the pressure of his aura more than the others. He was almost hyper-sensitive to it. "Alright, alright. So what can we do?"

"You five can travel towards the sphere's location while I draw Their attentions. They'll expect me to make the bid, not you...especially not you. As far as they're concerned you're my puppets, you've got no power without me." Wait, Ceddon thought. Wasn't that basically true? Yet if Fallon was implying they weren't, which is exactly what he was implying, then what power did they have individually?

"So you're sending us on a suicide mission?"

"No. That will come later." Ceddon searched Fallon's face for a hint of humor, a whisper that that last statement had been a joke. He found none.

"That was a joke right?" Ceddon flashed Layla a smile for saying what he'd been thinking...a smile that died as Fallon shook his head.

"No. Getting hold of the sphere is only half the battle. You'll then have to come with me to the non-world and help hold the spell. I can craft it...I can defend it from the Gods. But even I can't protect it from all Nine of them and their minions at once. I'm not a God."

Ceddon stared at him with raised eyebrows. "You're not?" Similar expressions were plastered on the faces of the rest of the party. "Well then...what are you?"

Abruptly Fallon stood and looked toward the doorway, eyes hard, like those of a warrior who's just spotted his foe...the eyes of a man ready to commit harm. "What am I?" He respoke the question as if musing it to himself. "A traveler, a warrior, a man sent to his own distruction..."

Ceddon snorted, rising into a wary crouch. "Well that was helpful. I understand completely now."
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That's all I can do now. I'll try to get the last bit up tomorrow.

[Kalanna Rai]

Yay! Net's working again...well enough for me to finish this. Enjoy!
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Chapter Ten: Believe pt 4

Layla swung to her feet, cursing that she didn't have a weapon handy, uncustomary for herself. Darith had already switched places with Asalia and that kession, whatever his name was, had moved behind the pair to offer them any support he could. Of them all only Fallon had a weapon at all and he had yet to draw it. Indeed after that single moment his face had resumed it's impassive stone hard expression...which was to say no expression at all.

Slowly he moved over to one side of the doorway, leaning against it like any man not willing to participate in the battle about to unfold. Like a bounty hunter realizing he would get paid nothing for pressing his cause at this time. Layla shot him a disgusted look. "What? You sound the alarm and sit back to watch us scramble? Some warrior you are."

"Would you have me sink this city to the depths of Hell just to serve your notions of honor Priestess? Because if that's exactly what will happen..." His words trailed off into silence as an eerie white light eclipsed the strange luminous glow that had straggled in from beyond Layla's door hanging. The Priestess felt the overwhelming presence of a God and not just any god...Vathos himself had come.

The hanging exploaded into flame as the being behind it brushed radiant fingertips against it. Layla gasped as Vathos's chosen Avatar moved into her living room. It was the High Priest who had, only scant moments before, orchestrated the abduction of Asalia and Darith. A low sound rumbled from the kession's chest as Asalia bit back some nameless sound. Layla spared them a glance to see Darith tensed so hard his fingernails were drawing blood from his scored palms, fists white-knuckled with restrained rage.

Then she returned her attention to the Avatar. The High Priest had been wholly consumed by white light that danced and whirled around his body, like sunlight dancing through clear water and onto the black sand beneith. His hair was now a blurred halo of light, his own features lost under those super-imposed by the eye watering brilliance that was Vathos's presence. It came to Asalia at once that the God was using his vassel without regard for the vassel's survival. At this rate Triss would be quickly burned up.

The glowing figure stepped forward, naked as his clothing had burned free, hovering a few inches off the floor. He was suspended by the sheer power of that which had consumed him, and Layla thought that it was all just another kind of bullying. She could feel Vathos's fear, the smothered terror of the High God like rancid meat in her mouth. Carrion heaped upon her spirit.

"What do you want. You have no business here." She didn't glance at Fallon who remained immobile and unchanged as the Avatar swept past him to close distance with Layla.

"You are a fiesty one. Elonia is rather upset that you have chosen to renounce her in favor of Him. I can see why she'd be ill content about loosing you."

Layla folded her arms across her chest, refusing to allow Vathos to itimidate her. Fallon watched from his position in the entry way with seeming disinterest yet Layla had a feeling nothing could be further from the truth. She could only gamble that Fallon's need for her to serve as the party's guide would outway any reservations he had about joining the fray should things turn ugly. She returned her attention to Vathos.

"Time was when I would have considered that a compliment. That time is gone. I feel your terror Bright One, your rising panic. Just what has caused you to come here of all realms? What has caused you to leave your throne and stoop to my mortal level." Vathos's power lashed around her, searing the edges of her very soul to ash and raising boils upon her skin. Layla gritted her teeth against the pain and blinked the brilliance induced tears from her eyes.

"You worthless creature! You have the gall to stand there and throw words in my face! You, who helped return the Dark One to life! Who brought the Black Wings back to the physical worlds from whatever Hell his vile spirit had been consigned! You have brought damnation upon us all and yet you stand unrepentant! How dare you!"

Each word struck Layla like a hammer blow, driving her down, bowing her spine and buckling her knees. And yet still Fallon did not move to help her, did not so much as twitch a finger at her suffering. Vathos continued his speech.

"You knew the Prophecy! You could have stopped it from happening! You could have been the hero, the legend of which tales are told and songs are sung! You could have walked by Elonia's side, forever her companion in eternal grace but no! You have chosen to wake Him! I want to kill you...yet it is a more fitting punishment that you should watch creation die because of your actions!"

Layla bit her lip and tasted blood, that metallic tang stoaking the fire of rage in her soul that was warring with the chill of dread that was trying to freeze the marrow of her bones. Vathos was wrong, the Prophecy was wrong...it had to be. Or else she had thrown everything to distruction because she had a feeling that the Prophecy might have been wrong. Vathos's next words finally beat her prostrate.

"You, you to whom the old legends of your people have been both taboo and the stuff of dreams. You to whom the idea of Faelyon seemed both sinful and glorious. Revel in the knowledge that you have set his killer free!"

"Not true!" Vathos's eyes broke from Layla's to lock onto the speaker. Asalia stood between Darith and Ceddon, the kession at her back, glaring at the god. Her eyes flashed sapphire fury and the pressure eased off of Layla a bit. Slowly Ceddon came forward and helped Layal to stand while the God pondered the princess.

"A LifeHeart...my but the corruption runs deep."

Asalia's smile was fierce and brittle as she looked the Avatar in his glowing eyes. "Yes, yes it does Vathos. But I know the truth, I've seen it." Layla felt a cold sensation, a soothing chill not a terror, run across her skin. Looking at her blistered flesh she watched azur magic crawl across her pale skin, healing the damage done. Looking abruptly at Ceddon, the gallaeni youth that had wrough so many changes in her life, she gave a quick nod of thanks.

"Stop that!" Vathos's power crashed against Ceddon's, white light against the azur shimmer...an azur shimmer that suddenly turned from cornflower blue to a deep shade of twilight dusk as amythest power poured into it. The High God pulled back his power, eyes narrowing as his gaze burned into Ceddon's own pale orbs. "So you are the one who harbored him."

"That's right. I'm the second head of the Hydra and damn proud of it you bastard." Layla felt a surge of admeration for Ceddon. He, like herself, was one of the few willing to stand up to the High God. Her sense of admeration turned to sour fear as Vathos's features twisted at the insult.

"Then die Gallaeni scum." He raised a hand to unleash his power and froze. The hand, with it's curles of white power waiting to be released, was covered in thick blood. Blood both golden and black. It twisted together and dripped from his fingertips, spatters of it covering his arms and a fine spray misting his chest.

"The blood of Faelyon is upon your hands Vathos. Fallon's blood rests upon that hands of you Nine...you vile beasts! How could you slaughter him! He was only a child!" Layla turned toward Asalia. It was clear the LifeHeart had used her power, how much Layla knew not, to bring the blood back to freshness upon Vathos's hands.

But what did the girl mean about a child? Surely she wasn't speaking of Fallon...which meant that Faelyon was the child she spoke of. And how did she know this? She said she'd seen it, what vision had the girl had? It must have something to do with the way the girl had touched the collumn of power from which Fallon had been reborn. Asalia had seen something in that moment that Layla had not.

Layla's eyes flicked to Fallon who had moved in close behind Vathos. The High God seemed totally unaware that his foe was only a hands-bredth away. But how could that be? Vathos couldn't have missed seeing Fallon when he'd come in, or if he had by the chance of some spell, he couldn't have missed the aura Fallon cast.

Vathos snarled, his power lashing them all to their knees. "Insolent scum! I shall scrape you from the face of reality!" His hands arched up over his head, power like a small sun concentrating at the tips of his ten fingers, as the form of his Avatar began to crumble to ash.

It was then that Fallon's black blade was pressed against the Avatar's neck, drawn and threaded through the curve of the arm in the half flutter of a heartbeat. Vathos froze as his form crumbled, a look of shock Layla found comical etched upon his face. Fallon's perfect countenance was nearly cheek to cheek with him, pale lips next to a shimmering ear.

"I'm coming Vathos."

Layla felt the reek of the High God's panic the way someone might have felt a bucket of filth and slime poured over their naked skin. Had Vathos been an ordinary man, his bowls would have let go. As it was Layla watched in utter disbelife as that black sword stole the flaming incandesence from the figure of the Avatar, a single bloody rune upon it's ebon length blazing. She knew that rune, it was Vathos's name.

A howl, a cry of ghastly anguish, unlike any other ever before heard in the the terror ridden expanse of the eternal night that was UnderDark, made the party clap their hands upon their ears as the essence of Vathos was sealed away in the blade. The God himself escaped, Layla felt him go, but much of his power remained with Fallon. Slowly the figure of he High Priest crumbled to useless ashes, a fine grey dust upon her floor.

Fallon stood for a moment as if carved from stone. Then slowly that black sword danced a graceful arc as he replaced it in it's stone sheath. The sound it made was akin to a funeral dirge, a single haunting note that made it perfectly clear it's hunger was undiminished. Layla, who'd always prided herself upon not being one of those quivering females that nearly fainted under intense pressure, suddenly felt a massive weight bearing down on her.

She felt, more than saw, Ceddon wince behind her. He felt it too and so did the others if the uncomfortable looks she spied from the corner of her eye were any indication. Yet the brunt of it fell upon her shoulders as her eyes were drawn to those of the black winged man before her. From behind wings of ebon-black hair stared a pair of eyes that couldn't quite hide bloodlust in their fathomless depths.

"I've got to go now. I should be able to give you three days. Three days to get the sphere. I know they'll move it after that so you must gain it before then."

Three days! But that meant...Layla didn't want to think about what that meant. Bad enough she'd have to go back, face him, but to have only three days to prepare...

"It will be done."

But what to do first? There was equipment to get, maps and charts to collect, plans to make. Where should she start?
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There you go...finally. Hope you liked.

[Lilith]

*barely breathing* Intense chapter Rai. Very intense. It seems things are beginning to get serious and you are revealing the part of the plot that will help the readers to train their suggestions to things that will move this along the way you want it to. Hmm... I see your tricks Rai. But I like them and it keeps the SG from becoming something that isn't related to the story.

*sighs* I am really loving this story, Rai. I wish that there was more to read.. hint, hint!

Hmmm.. I think that they should start off trying to pinpoint the location of the Magic sphere and then plot out their course. Wait, do they need to leave Underdark to do that? Or are the speheres locating in Underdark? You might want to figure out where the sphere is in the first place, Rai.

[dinranwen]

Well, to quote an old expression: Divide and Conquere.

Split up the responsibilties between each person, things will be alot quicker, easier, and less boring that way.

For example Miss High Pristess with an Attitude can handle the maps.

Miss Lifeheart surely can gather everyone's belongings and provisions.

Mr. Giant Heart but No will can handle the weapons.

Etc...Etc...Etc.

To quote Spoke: It's logical.

[Polokin]

Do you mean Spock?

Loved this chapter Rai. Splitting the responsibilities sounds like a good idea.

[Kalanna Rai]

OMG a Poll!!!

That said, vote.

[Lilith]

Duh, Rai! The smart thing to do would be to spilt responsiblities and for some unknown reason I am getting the feeling not to trust Layla... So leaving up to her.. bad idea!

[Kalanna Rai]

Yes but realistically speaking people don't always do the smart thing and without Fallon around to keep things in line...well they dissolved into an argument infront of him...WHEN HE'D PROMISED ANSWERS. Obviously there are a few issues they've got to work out.

Course that's my insider info talking...