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| Battle For Disaster |
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Historian's note: This tale takes place after Birth of Chaos
We were loosing. Yes, in many universes we had banished the Darkness and restored the balance, but in many others we were the ones banished. In too many others. I had had quite a time learning to control my new powers. And my new body.
One of the other Defenders came up with the idea, to create a "dummy" universe that the Darkness would mistake for a true universe. Then, when he enters it, we trap him and kill him. The vote was unanimous.
The false universe was in place, within moments Dark arrived and began to undermine the basic nature of the plane, seeking to convert this universe as he had so many others. Now is the time to act! One of the other Defenders sent to me, Wind I think. Strike!
Acting as one, all six Defenders emerged from our hiding places within the folds of space and time. Dark was caught off guard and did not have time to react before we were upon him. I acted and removed the connections the other Defenders used to travel from one universe to another, trapping Dark with us.
He grinned, "So, you've decided to face me... And I see you've found a replacement. Have they told you who I am? Who I was?"
I hissed back, "I know who you are, more importantly, I know what you will be, DEAD!" I lunged him, feinting with my claws but drawing my glave from the Eternal Chaos when he moved to block a claw-strike.
My blade landed in his shoulder. In a normal creature, that blow would have removed his arm and most of his left side. Dark only smiled at me. "So sad, at least your predecessor was more of a challenge. Of course, I knew all of his weaknesses."
The lance of dark energy nearly took my head off, and would have had I not noticed him drawing energy. I moved back as the other Defenders engaged Dark, looking, not with my eyes, but with my mind.
I could see the flow of energy. I could see how each Defender drew mana from the Eternal Chaos and shaped it. I saw how we could win.
Stop using magic! I sent to the other Defenders, I know how to kill him, but you must use mundane weapons.
With that I sealed the mana off, preventing everyone here from using any magic save those magics drawn from the caster's own soul. The "Human Magic" as some call it, Telepathy, Telekinesis, Precognition, and Teleportation. But the other Defenders should be able to block those.
He tried to draw mana, appeared startled for a moment before saying, "Oh, so we've learned a new trick have we? But now your friends have lost there powers as well." He looked around, seeing the gleaming weapons pointed at him. "Ah, I see. You wish for a physical battle, but six-on-one? Isn't that a little unfair? How about we make it interesting... I will fight only one of you." Earth stepped forward, but Dark continued as if he didn't even notice. "That I choose."
The look of malice he gave me chilled my bones. "I choose you, Chaos."
I was a better warrior. But he was fast. Faster that he had any right to be. I spent my time trying to land a hit, while he appeared to dance right out from under a sure strike. I was quickly becoming tired and without magic I couldn't sustain this pace. My only option was to draw mana, but I couldn't with out allowing him access to the mana as well.
Then another source appeared before me. Darkness, I could draw mana from the other Defender's soul! With a grin, I latched on to his soul and began to draw power.
I'll never know what it was that caused it. But just as I was about to unleash the built-up mana, a massive influx of chaotic energy shattered the universe. I was knocked unconscious and flung to a far off universe.
I awoke to the sound of children playing. I could sense the nearness of many souls, most of them indifferent to me. But one seemed curious. I opened my eyes and winced as the bright midday sun shone into them. When my vision cleared I was treated to the best sight I could have asked for. A lovely young woman was leaning over me, peering at my face.
She jumped back when I started to move. "Wow, I've never seen someone make such a bad landing." She tittered. "You must be new at this."
I rubbed at the headache growing in the back of my head. Great, I'm bound this is going to be lovely...
Meanwhile, the young lady had continued to talk, "...and so we don't get many travelers through the Warp Points any more, not since Disa anyway. Oh, you should still move off the 'Point, never know! If you want I'll take you to see the Mayor, I'm sure he'll want to know how you got your 'Point to work. Oh! Silly me! Here I've forgotten all my manners! My name is Eve, and you are...?" She stopped, for a moment.
The headache was getting worse, "Call me Loki, could you point me toward the Mayor?"
She did, but she insisted upon coming with me, talking the whole way.
By the time we had gotten to what I guessed was the mayor's office, Eve's constant chatter had given me a splitting headache. I was hoping I could escape her soon. As we entered the building, the receptionist gave Eve a smile and said, "The Mayor is expecting you, go on back."
We continued down the hallway, Eve chattering about nothing, until we came to a large, double door. Eve stopped before the door, "Knock, then wait until the Mayor tells you to enter."
I knocked, a moment later, I heard a man's voice say "Enter!" I opened the door, and walked inside. As I pulled the massive doors open, something struck me as familiar about this place. It seemed that I had been here once before, yet I could not recall when or how.
The short entryway gave way to a large chamber that I can only describe as an audience chamber for a giant. Then man sitting on the dais, however, was no giant. He wasn't even large by human standards. This is for the Mayor? I thought to myself, I wonder what these people would do for a king...
The Mayor seemed to be sizing me up as I approached. I, unsure of the customs of this strange world and having lost Eve's chatter, stopped a good distance away. The mayor seemed to smile, "You can come up here," He got up from his chair and pushed it aside. "I always hated this place, makes me feel... unwelcome somehow. Come with me, we have much to discuss."
Almost as in a dream, I followed this odd, yet likable man down a side hallway.
Interlude
Deep within the reaches of space and time, something has begun to stir... Something that has been sleeping since the beginning of time. Something Evil.
We chatted for awhile about nothing after reaching his office, a comfortable room of a man who enjoys his job. He knew many things I did not. The world I had so unceremoniously landed on was called "Gynt" and was referred to in, what he called, the "Legend of the Crests." He inquired about why I had come here in the first place. He had recognized me as a Defender as soon as he'd seen me. I told him about my battle with Dark, and the chaotic energy that had torn that universe apart.
He looked quite thoughtful for a second, then stood and went to a bookshelf. He rummaged around in it for sometime before returning with something in his hand. "That would explain how this got here."
He set the object on the table. It was a small pice of grey rock, vaguely wedge shaped and about two inches long. Two of the sides looked as if they had once been apart of something larger, yet third side was smooth. The top looked to be carved with numerous runes and symbols, none that I knew or recognized.
I reached my hand toward it almost unconsciously. As my hand neared it, the object began to glow with a soft turquoise light. I stopped, "What is it?"
The mayor had been watching with mild interest, "At first I wasn't sure, but you have just confirmed my guess. It is a piece of the Crest of Wind. This is bad."
Prophesy
When Time stands still
And the elements are no more
Darkness shall fall
Yet Evil will reign
One shall remain
From that Fateful moment
A Last, a Hero
A warrior shall rise
Yet without Fate's touch
So to will the Continuum fall
Deep within the building in a long unused chamber, I stood looking at the inscription on the wall. Written in an old and long-dead language, I nevertheless could read it as if it were in English. The mayor was standing a few feet away. "What dose it mean?"
He sighed, "I believe this is what the inscription is referring to when it says; ...and the elements are no more, the shattering of the Crests. At first, my people took this as a good omen, that the eons-long struggle against the dark was finally coming to an end, then we read the rest.
"The other lines, though... I have no idea what they could mean, it's very obvious that it's bad. I'm almost positive you are the 'hero' the text talks about. The one who is left after
that last battle, the 'fateful moment.'
"Well, you're better qualified at this than I am... I shall leave you to it." He started to walk away, then turned and handed me the piece of the Crest, "I think you should hold on to this, there's allot of power in these shards, even broken, a single one--left unchecked--could tear a universe apart. Well, I have mortal matters to attend to, if you need me, I'll be in my office. Please stop by before you go." He walked away.
I thought he'd never leave. The voice of Mjolnir proceeded his appearance in the room, a much smaller version than the one I had first laid eyes upon.
He sighed and spoke, "The other dragons and I had hoped this wouldn't happen for a long time yet... but Time doesn't always listen to the likes of us. There is much danger to the Continuum now, those shards of the Crests have scattered across the Continuum, and are even now unraveling the basic nature of existence. You are the only one left, you must comb the universes and find the shards before they undo all of creation."
I looked at him, "Every time you show up, you have bad news. What about you? Why can't you go get the shards? And the other dragons? what about them?"
"I can't sense the elements the way you can. And my powers are bound even farther than yours. So far as to render me immaterial in most planes. As for the other dragons..." He drifted off.
"What ever, look, I've got to have some help! You told me that the Continuum contains everything that ever was, is, will or could be. That's allot of ground for one man to cover! Can't we recruit some new Defenders or something? Or what about the others? Can't they help?"
"There're dead. When the Crests were ripped from there're souls, it destroyed them utterly. They are gone, forever. The only way to make a new Defender is with a Crest. But all the Crests are scattered all over. And I was quite serious when I said you were the last choice. There isn't anyone else."
"Now how can that be? Arrgh! I give up, I'm in way over my head. Just tell me what I need to do."
Apparently, what I needed to do was go find Eve. I shuttered at the thought, but did anyway. It took me a few moments to find my way from the chamber the mayor had lead me to. But I found my way out.
It didn't take me long to find Eve, she was waiting for me outside the building. And it didn't take her long to start up either, "Hi! How'd your visit to the Mayor go? Did he tell you anything good? How long are you going to be staying here? I know this great inn just north of here, Disa stayed there while she was here, before she left. Ooh! Are you going to take me to another world like Disa did? That would be fun, I had such a wonderful time when Disa did. Do you know Disa?"
She actually stopped talking, waiting for my response, "I know of her, but we've never met. Can I see the Hanging Gardens?" Mjolnir had told me I would find something important there.
She seemed slightly said at my swift dismissal of Disa, they'd apparently been rather close. I did know of Disa, the former Defender of Wind, but I had no idea what had happened to her after she lost the Crest.
"Oh, well, that's okay. Why do you want to go to the Hanging Gardens, that whole area was destroyed by a ground-shake months ago. I could show you the way, but it's a rather long walk... the Warp Points haven't worked for at least that long. I..."
I interrupted her, "Could you show me to the Warp Point? I'd like to try something."
"Sure, it's just right over here..." She lead me to the same 'point I had arrived at. "This is the closest one, it had a link to the Hanging Gardens back when it still worked..."
I blocked out her continuing chatter as I knelt to look at the Warp Point. Visually, it was simply a bunch of lines on a cement block, as I looked closer, I could tell that the lines were mostly for show, the real action was in the block it's self. I looked around the edge of the block and found a small access panel, upon opening it I found a small green crystal set within a network of small, silver wires. "Hum, what's this?"
"Huh? Oh, that's the power crystal, it powers the 'Point, but all the one's we have don't want to work. They have power, they just don't want to work. No one seems to be able to get it to work either..."
I turned back to the crystal, ignoring Eve's further chatter. I looked with my magic and could see the route the power was supposed to take, but it was being blocked by some kind of energy force. As I probed the energy, it reached for me, it seemed to want to know who I was. I easily avoided it and moved past it. As I touched the crystal, I could feel the power still within it. The energy force was definitely the cause of the blockage. I grabbed ahold of the energy and pulled it away from the crystal.
Once the energy force had been removed from the crystal, the Warp Point came alive again, power flooded through the block and I could feel space rippling as the 'Point made a connection with the others. It seemed that this one was the main junction for the Warp Point network.
Meanwhile, the energy thing had started to grow, becoming visible and more wolf-like. It stopped once it was the size of a large dog, it had a mouth full of sharp-looking teeth and some nasty claws. It growled at me and I turned to look at it. Eve screamed a moment later.
"Well hi there," I said to the creature, "are you friendly?" The creature continued to growl at me, the hairs on it's back bristling. "Apparently not. Wish I had a weapon..."
By this time the city guard had responded to Eve's scream, they came around the corner with swords drawn. I looked over to them, "Say, one of you wouldn't happen to have a spare sword, would you?"
One of the guards, I think it was the captain, threw me a sword. I caught it and turned to face the creature, "I don't suppose we could do this the easy way?"
The creature only growled and lunged at me, I sidestepped it and removed it's head with a single swing. "Wow, either this creature isn't very solid, or this sword is really sharp."
The severed head floated around and reattached it's self to the body. "Hum, well that didn't work." The creature continued to bite at me as I tried to come up with another plan.
As I was avoiding the creature's attacks, one of the braver guards noticed the 'Point was working again, "Hey, the Warp Point is working!" He walked over and stepped on it, vanishing.
As he disappeared, I saw how the Warp Points worked and got an idea, "Over here doggie... come and get me." I moved to stand on the other side of the 'Point. The creature did not disappoint, I came at me at a run. As it crossed the Warp Point, I triggered it. The creature vanished in a burst of chaotic energy.
Eve looked at the spot where the creature had been a moment ago, "Where did it go? Is it going to come back?"
"No, I don't think it'll come back, I sent it in to the Eternal Chaos, the space between worlds. It'll get destroyed before long. Now I can go see the Hanging Gardens!" I walked over to the 'Point and stepped in, at first nothing happened, but when I thought of the Hanging Gardens, the world vanished.
I was hurtled through an inky blackness, completely deprived of all senses save for the odd sensation of flying. The trip only lasted a moment, and I found myself standing before a large cliff, with a set of stairs winding up the face. I sighed as I saw the stairs and, wishing I had my wings, started to climb.
It took a long time to reach the top, mostly due to the amount of rubble on the stairs, this area had obviously been the site of a 'quake. At the top I found the ruined remains of a building. I could tell it had once been a remarkable structure, I could still see beautiful arches and columns protruding from the rubble. I could also sense the faint, lingering, magics that had once filled this place.
Mjolnir faded into view before me, "Rather sad this, it was a remarkable structure..."
"Why was is destroyed?"
"It was just Time taking it's toll. All things made by humans will eventually fall to the passage of Time. But this is good news for you, the object I wanted you to find should be right over there." He pointed at a section of the ruins with his muzzle.
I walked over and started looking through the rubble. As I was rooting around I heard a strange sound. A soft meeping was coming from a little pile of rocks a short distance away. I walked over to it, nearly tripping over the remains of a creature, it was far to decayed to tell what it had been, but the cause of death was still apparent, a large rock lay on it's skull.
Rounding the corner, I saw a small dragon-like creature poking it's head out a hole. This was the source of the sound and it only increased as I came closer.
I looked at the poor thing, thin and battered, it looked young. "Poor thing, I bet you haven't had anything to eat since you hatched. Here, I think I have something..." I pulled a small bag of jerked something or other and carefully handed the little guy a piece.
He grabbed it greedily and wolfed it down in a few seconds, then began meeping once more. I sat there for a while handing him small chunks of the meat, until he decided to climb out of the hole and I could get a good look at him. He was a little longer that my index finger, about three or three and a half inches long. He was definitely either a baby dragon or related very closely to the dragons as his body was a perfect miniature of Mjolnir's. His scales were a deep purple, the very same color as mine. He had small wings, but I could tell they were too weak for him to fly with.
He climbed onto my lap and curled up in a little ball, making a sound I can only describe as "murh," something like a cat's purr. He swiftly fell asleep there. As I looked at him, laying on my lap, I thought of all my other pets that have come and gone, and wondered what would happen to this little creature if I left him here to fend for himself.
A hearty chuckle announced Mjolnir's return, "I see you've found a friend, an orphaned dragonnet. That's not what I wanted you to find, though. I did a little digging and found it for you." He handed me a small crystal, about the size of my fist. As I touched it, I felt a small shock of energy and almost dropped it.
"What is it?" I asked, looking at it.
"One of the stones placed here to help water the plants, the elemental energy in it should help you find the shards." He looked at the dragonnet in my lap. "What are you going to do with that?"
"I don't know, I can't just leave him here, he'll die. And I don't think he'd let me go without him." I put the crystal in my pocket as Eve came around the rubble. Mjolnir vanished before she saw him.
"Oh, here you are, I was looking for you!" She looked at the ruins, "such a sad fate for something so lovely... Oh! What do have there?" She came around to look at it, "Ooh, it's a baby dragonnet! I thought they were extinct! Aw, he's so cute! Are you going to keep him? What are you going to name him? He kinda looks like the old pictures of a dragon's claw."
"Hum, that sounds like a good name, but not 'claw,' talon sounds better. DragonTalon..." I tried it out, "A little to long, D'Talon. Now that's better, what do you think?" The little creature had woken up and was looking at me. "You like the name, D'Talon?"
He meeped softly and nuzzled my stomach. I chuckled, "I'll take that as a yes."
Eve sat next to me, "So, did you find anything else?"
"No, it's just so sad about the Gardens though, I had heard some wonderful things about it."
She looked sad, "Yea, and no one knows how to build another."
I looked at the setting sun, "Wow, It's sure gotten late, I guess we should head back to town," I stood, cradling D'Talon in my hand, and headed for the stairs. Eve followed a few steps behind.
The trip back was quiet and uneventful, Eve seemed lost in her own thoughts.
I spent a few more days in this small town, learning how to use the stone and caring for D'Talon until he was strong enough to fly. At first the people were rather startled to see a dragonnet hanging around me, but they soon grew accustomed to the two of us. When I decided to go, they had a nice, town-wide meal and party for me. The mayor made a speech, thanking me for restoring the use of the Warp Points and wishing me good luck in my travels.
The next day I left, D'Talon on my shoulder and the crystal in my pocket. I stepped on to the warp point and, following Mjolnir's instructions, stepped off into another world.
Author's note:
There you have it, part two of the "Last Defender," I hope I've answered many of your questions and created even more. This is only the beginning of Loki's adventures.
Next tale: Man of Fire
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