The evil in the place was taking on a distinctive order, and they could see why Vergus feared the Emperor. With this army he would be difficult to stop. Denise shook that thought out of her head as they moved up to the next level, but she could not shake the feeling of impending doom. The air was so charged that it made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. They came to a door at the top of the stairs and both of them hesitated. They could feel there was something bad behind the door. This was their last chance to turn around and go home, but no. Denise reached down to open the door, and she found it locked with no visible way of opening it. They looked up and down both sides of the door, but they could not find any hided buttons or even a ID reader of any kind. Denise had just given up and leaned against the door, and it opened catching her off guard. She fell to the floor and when she looked around she was almost blinded by an incredibly bright light.

She could not see but her other senses were working fine. She could hear the sound of wind rustling through the leaves and the smell the rich smell of loamy soil. Her mind was spinning, Had she some how ended up outside, or was she finally going mad. He eyes quickly adjusted and she looked up. Above her was a vast canopy of vegetation and above that was a clear crystal roof, so she was still in the Emperors complex. Then Connor's face came into view and he said,

"Are you all right? She nodded yes and he helped her up. He then said,

"I guess someone is expecting us." Denise again nodded and rubbed her behind. She said,

"It would seem so, but do we want to meet them?" There was a low hiss sound founded by a click and Connor said,

"I don't think we really have a choose. The door just locked behind us." Denise tried to open the door but found he was right. She said,

"Ok then lets have a look around."

It was amazing they were in the middle of a huge indoor garden. The garden was obviously very old as there were even a couple of trees that looked to be at least a couple of centuries old. Every where they turn they could see the beauty of nature from who knows how many worlds. It seemed safe, and there were even a few small animals running around. Denise saw a couple of small mammals and a reptile or two. There were even some insects. Denise wondered if these could have been the original life forms from this planet, from before the war. They were on a path that lead from the door into the garden. The beauty of the garden had them spell bound as they walked down the path. She did not realize it at first, but after walking for a few minutes she found herself thinking about home. She thought Jessie her daughter would have loved this place, she would have run laughing and giggling, pointing out all the wonders she found. She stopped and Connor walked into the back of her. She said,

"What were you just thinking?" Connor blushed and said,

"I was just thinking how nice it would be to be walking here with Linda."

"Just as I thought. This garden was put here to distract people, or what ever came in to it."

"But from what?"

"I am not sure, but probably from what ever opened the door and let us in." Connor thought for a second, then said,

"It would be a perfect trap."

Denise grabbed his hand and lead him into the undergrowth. She said,

"We are going to do some hunting. Lets find this thing before it finds us." Connor smiled as he checked his gun, then they moved off as quietly as they could through the underbrush. Keeping to the shadows and undercover as much as possible they slowly made their way to the center of the room, but when they got there all they found was a large pool of what looked to be liquid mercury. The pool was about 100 meters long and about 50 meters wide and it was so still that it almost looked solid. They started to walk around it and Connor noticed that none of the animals came near it, not even the insects. He said,

"Have you noticed none of the life forms in the room come near the pool." She nodded and picked up a small stone and threw it at the liquid. It hit and sank just as any object would have with such a thick liquid. Then after a second the stone came flying out of the pool and landed at their feet.

They both jumped back with their weapons at the ready, even though they felt a little silly aiming them at a pool of liquid. Connor said,

"Was that the pool itself or something in the pool, what do you think?"

"There must be something in the pool." Then a large pseudopod came out of the pool made of silver liquid. Connor looked at Denise and said,

"What the in the name of all the suns is that?" She shrugged and said,

"I don't know but I think we should get out of here until we figure out if it is friendly or not. Connor or Denise did not have to be told twice. They started off at a run for the door they had come in. They made it to the door before anything happened. Denise ran up to the door and pulled on it with all the strength that fear and desperation had given her. It was not enough the door did not budge. Connor ran up beside her to help, but even the two of them could not move it.

They turned to see the silver pool had turned into a huge silver monstrosity. It was about seventy five meters tall and had two legs and four arms. As they watched in fascination, it's silver skin turned into lovely ornate robes, with every color the universe had in it. The robes appeared to be changing color all the time while they watched. It's skin was being colored at the same time, it was now a deep plum color. Up to this point it had been a featureless form, but now the head started to take shape. It had shape angular features and it's chin almost looked as if it came to a point. The eyes were only slits in it's face, and seemed to absorbed everything around it just like a blackhole. The mouth was also just a slit in the head, but it had two short appendages with claws on them, extending from either side of it's mouth. That was weird enough but their were also two one meter long tentacles coming out of what on a human would have been a cheek. These all eventually went purple except for the claws which went a translucent black. It had the look of an evil creature, even it hands were all covered with worts and deformed. That is except for the big black claws that extended out of each finger.

The two of them stood there trapped and almost frozen with fear. The thing then looked towards them and said,

"It has been a long time since I have tasted a living brain. You should be honored to serve me in such a grand fashion, I must be feeling generous because of my resurrection." It took a step and the whole building shook, with the next step the building shook even more and Denise and Connor stumbled and held on to each other to keep from falling.

After they recovered she said,

"I have an idea. When that thing takes another step aim at the floor under it's foot and see if we can collapse it under him." Connor smiled and gave her a little wink. Then they waited for what seemed an eternity.