Hunt for the Warden:

Prologue:

"So, this is Khazan." A cloaked figure spoke to himself, holding an unadorned staff in his hand.

"This place's very existance is our antithesis..." He mumbled quietly, remembering why he had come here.

*****

"You're going where?! You can't possibly hope to destroy Khazan! If we're lucky, Quietus will annihilate it for us!"

"It would be foolish to believe that I can destroy it by myself... Indeed, I doubt it is possible to destroy it, without millenia dedicated to weakening its grip over realities... But that is not the issue. I am not going there to destroy it. I have heard rumors of a being there..." He opened up the great book before him, ultimately turning to a page, where the name "The Warden" resided.

"The previous Guardian dedicated much of the book to this being... I would like to find out for myself why he believed this 'Warden' to be so important."

The gatekeeper simply sighed in responce.

"I should have assumed you wouldn't be willing to listen to reason, Wakuseino... but if you go there, try to avoid conflict as much as possible. Surely you've heard the stories-"

"Of course. 'At the center of reality all is manifest. Those who exist here, are tenfold as strong.'.. So speak the prophecies... However, I am just going there to investigate. Once I have the information I need, I will be returning."

"Of course... Just make sure you don't die. You haven't been training a successor either, you know. We don't know what'll happen if you wind up dying on us."

*****

Wakuseino Mamoru - his title for so long he had forgotten his original name, continued through the slums of Lowtown, making his way through attempting to find anything he could on the individual that his predecessor had spent so much time identifying the history of.

Part 1:

And so, he found himself at a bar. Whilst logic dictates that bars are not necessarily the best sources of information, as most of the people therein would likely be too drunk to glean any real information from, he did overhear one speech in particular.

"And then this three headed dragon bursts into town, to fight this blonde woman with bat wings. So this blonde women yells some weird stuff at the dragon, mostly stuff about 'perfection' and 'Sparkza stupid idiot' or something along those lines... then the dragon disappears... and falls on me! It just stops mid-teleport and falls on me! It took me days to get out from under than thing!" Of course, that entire speech was slurred, but we deslurred it, as this writer in particular doesn't want to go through the trouble of 'drunkifying' it to make it look more authentic.

Wakuseino gauged the information cautiously, making sure to reference the Book during the breaks the drunk made.

"A three headed dragon, created by Spark... that would be Bolt, if I'm not mistaken." After listening a bit more to the drunk, he managed to identify the general area, and identify where the battle took place.

Once he got to the area, he found that it had for the most part recovered - there was little signs of the fact that a dragon stopped halfway through teleportation and made a crater in the ground. Perhaps this 'Khazan' was far beyond even his estimates of power... One thing that did remain, however, was a strange flyer, cast along by the wind, covered with remnants of what would have originally been the ground. He looked it over, carefully.

"...The One True Church of BOOM?"

Part 2:

"This should be it, The One True Church of BOOM..." Wakuseino said, looking forwards... to find a scorched, hollowed out building before him.

"What... happened here?"

A follower of the Church, standing outside the wreckage spoke up.

"In a great battle against the Infidel calling herself Akiko, Father BOOM destroyed the building's foundations, causing the One True Church of BOOM to go..." The follower paused a moment, as though to reflect upon thoughts, before proudly finishing his sentence with one word: "Boom." Wakuseino inwardly sighed at the group's simplicity before speaking up.

"And where can I find this... Father BOOM?"

"Father BOOM went to the Lava Cliffs, to observe nature's Booms, to see if it can enlighten him as to where to rebuild the One True Church of BOOM... I believe he said that the One True Church of BOOM was destroyed because it did not suit the purposes of The Big BOOM, and as such he must find out where to rebuild it..." Wakuseino sighed again: It looked like this investigation was going to take much longer than he initially thought.

******

Akiko stood within the Endless Caves, taking satisfaction in her newfound knowledge.

"It would appear that Bolt's been far less useful to Spark than he anticipated... But of course, I'm not going to let him go that easily..." And so, in her mind, a pathway to spark still remaining, the played her card. Within the endless caves, a small family of Geo appeared, trembling in fear at Spark's power, unable to defend themselves against his fury... and like a wild animal, the bait was answered with Bolt appearing in the flesh, to eliminate the weak, useless creatures, which were an affront to his power. As the three headed dragon appeared, Akiko smiled.

"Spark! I will now finish what I started! Your ego and thirst for power precedes your claims of fighting for 'freedom'... I must admit, it is always refreshing to see someone with such a flawed view of reality... the belief that they are moral beings, despite performing things which by all definitions would count as amoral... I would like to thank you for the amusement you have given me... Once and for all."

With that, a battle of wills started once more, as Bolt prepared to assault Akiko... only to once again stop in its tracks, as the strings connecting its basic mind to Spark's were ripped in two. Once again, she spoke, knowing full well that noone, not even the being that stood before her, could hear her.

"An amazing being of destructive potential... however, Spark over-estimated your power. His ego is without bounds... and that is why I have a very special purpose for you, Bolt..." She once again smiled, as she began manipulating its basic mind as best she could.

"As fascinating as it would be to send you against your master, it's quite obvious how that would turn out... Instead, We're going to make things a little more... shall we say... stacked against him?"

With that, she began adjusting some nerve pathways... nothing powerful enough to be noticed, but just enough to slow down the connection between Bolt and Spark for a millisecond.

"The fatal error of directly controlling a being with your mind, is that this requires one to interface with the brain of the controlled, so to speak... by adjusting the smaller parts of the brain in subtle ways, I can slow down the response time from when you recieve a commmand, and when you actually perform the command... Not an especially significant amount - a split second, perhaps, but regardless, it will cause your master quite a bit of trouble... When he needs you most, you will fail him... and when that happens, you can be assured, I will be there to show your master the truth."

With that, Akiko began winding her way back through the Endless Caves.