My LEGO Nexus Organization

Author's Note:
This story contains scenes of violence, gore, and mild horror. Read at your own discretion.




All parts of the text in this epic are original ideas created and produced by: Zero Legacy Shadow / Eleanor: Wielder of the Sword / Renegade Phantom / Me. Copying any part of the epic is piracy, and you will suffer the consequences. If you are in any way, shape or form reproducing this Epic without permission from the users listed above(all being ME), then you are illegally copying them, also known as plagarism.

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-ZLS / [ R P ]

 Crioone surveyed the barren landscape which was now littered with fallen trees, crumbled rocks, and the many dead bodies of the weaker deamons. From the cliff upon which she stood, Crioone was able to survey the land for miles, but it didn't change. The whole of the planet's crust outside of the villages and polis' was the same. A wasted ground.
 Her wings, which were still spread out, caught the wind, pulling Crioone up into the air where she was able to escape the land of the dead and coming death. The air was the only place to think to yourself, talk to yourself, or dream for yourself - and the rest of the freeliving deamons...

 Three years ago...
 King Forna, ruler of the deamons, fell hard against the rocky ground of Inchara, his castle grounds. Axerion laughed, leeping back and swinging the large ax down towards Forna.
"Your end is near, king," spat Axerion, "And my beginning is even nearer!"
The ax connected with Forna's upper left arm, causing the king to fall back once more. He was weakening. He knew it, Axerion knew it, Crioone knew, and so did everyone else. Forna stood once more, looking at his adversary with hatred. Axerion gave the same look back to Forna, and began to charge. Forna dodged the initial attack, but had missed the true purpose of Axerion's rush. The ax was swung back as the future king passed by Forna, and made contact with the king's back. Forna fell face first into the rocks, and the crowd gathered at Inchara booed and hissed. Axerion moved in for the final blow, lifting the ax high above his head. Forna's head turned, and he was able to catch a glimpse of the ax swinging down. With all of the energy that remained inside the king, Forna's wings lifted, and the crowd went silent, the world seemingly coming to a slow down. It seemed to take a whole minute for the ax to reach its destination, but in reality, only half a second went by.
 King Forna's wings pushed down, and the ax sliced through the middle of Forna, causing the king to be carried in two directions by the power of his wings. Axerion left the ax where it had come to its final rest, in the middle of Inchara, and leapt into the air. His arms flew out beside him, his clawed hands grabbing hold of the two halves of Forna. Descending back into the crowd, Axerion dropped both halves of Forna into the pit, where they forever remained.
No sooner had the new king landed, Crioone had left the stadium, returning to his polis. Seven powerful looking deamons leapt forth towards the new king, greeting their king with cruel smiles. Axerion's seven warlords carried him into the skies, each one looking down hungrily to the land that they now owned...

Present Day
 Crioone stared down at the very place that the seven Deamon Lords -as they were now called- had surveyed three years ago. Three years ago, though, the scene would have looked much different,. Forna's castle, along with Inchara, had long since been torn down, replaced by a massive castle further to the south, with a much bigger stadium. Seven towers had also been built, one for each Deamon Lord, and the polis' and villages had been reconstructed.
 After Forna's death, other deamons had begun to perish to an unknown source. Many deamons had ventured forth to try to discover the deamon killers, but not one had returned. The deamon hunters were responsible for the death of the dead deamons lying over the planet, and any deamon in their right mind would have suspected the king or one of his seven warlords, but no deamon in their right mind would have dared oppose the eight rulers of the deamon world. It was because of this power that the deamon rulers had, and the fear that they gave to all other deamons that protected them.
 As long as you were in your polis or village before the light faded, you were safe. And that was how it had been for three years, and how -the deamon king hoped- it would be for many years to come...

 Crioone folded her wings in, dropping towards the ground at high speed. When she was only seconds from crashing down to the land, she spread her four legs, landing in a powerful looking stance, her blue and silver hide shining in the remaining light of day.
 I've stayed too long, she thought to herself, I need to get back!
 Crioone's head looked up. In the distance, Extapolis, her home, loomed in shadows, and small shards of remaining daylight. The hunters would be out soon, and Crioone was not sure if she would survive the night for too long. She began to run towards Extapolis, her wings beating to a constant rythm, carrying her further and faster towards her destination.
 The last few rays of light shone on her back, and around her, she thought she spied small beings hiding, but dismissed the thoughts as shadows.
 Shadows, she thought, Shadows weren't good at this time, they meant death for all of those outside of the villages and polis'.
 Extapolis was within fifty feet when the first hunter attacked. Rounded and shaped like an eyeball, the small deamon flew towards her, followed by three others. The four deamons surrounded her, one in front, one behind, and one at each side of her. Crioone pushed her wings down, a cloud of dust and sand giving her momentary cover, and she was soon flying above the four deamons. The eyeballs turned to face her, and out of the darkness, another deamon approached. Black wings, no eyes, and a hole for a mouth, the fifth deamon looked up at her.
 "I am Gor, an Attalna. My eyes have found you, and through them I -we, the Attalna- am able to hunt you." Gor looked up at Crioone, and evil, lopsided smile taking over the 'O' shape of his mouth. A fifth eye appeared behind Gor, and in an instant, the eye was on his forehead, looking around. The smile on Gor's face dissapeared, and was replaced by small teeth growing into his upper and lower lips. The one eye on him blinked, and Gor began to charge, the other eyes drawing in close, the Attalna coming together to form the true mono being.
 The four eyes each took one of Gor's hands as a joining spot, and Gor was soon complete. A sole eye atop his forehead, one eye on each hand, razor sharp teeth, and feet that seemed to ride upon the dark night air.
 Crioone manuevered the sky with expertise, her many days of soaring the open skies had finally paid off. Gor trailed slugishly, but his sheer size and power made up for his slow flight. Crioone veered to the right, and as Gor began to turn, Crioone's wings folded as she dropped, spun around, and then the wings reopened. She flew straight towards the surprised Attalna, the horn atop her head piercing his side.
 Each eyeball opened wide as Gor gasped in pain. The Attalna were not used to being the weaker in a fight, and as Gor dropped, the eyeballs left him. Crioone flew down to where Gor had landed, kicking the fallen deamon many times before judjing him as dead. She flew off towards her home, Extapolis, unaware of the five eyeballs that had returned to Gor's death scene.
 Floating in a circle around their fallen host, the true Attalna began feeding upon the fallen deamon warrior...

 Once at home, in the tall one-story tower-like building made of randomly placed stones and rocks, Crioone flew up to her perch - an overhang carved into the mountainside which her home backed onto- and went back again to her thoughts, shifting her mind away from the present...

Three years ago...

 King Axerion looked out over his kingdom, one of the many planets that deamons inhabited, smiling in a cruel manner. Beside him, three of his warlords stood, awaiting his command, as did three others to his other side. The last one, the unspoken leader of the warlords, walked the way of war. The seventh warlord had already had his command given to him, take control over the small planet nearest them. So far, he was doing a good job.
 The king turned his attention to the lesser deamons working below him. Many of the deamons from the fight in Inchara were among the working deamons, but not all of the deamons working wanted to work. Many times already one of the warlords had gone down to turn the attention of the rebel deamons back to working, and when that didn't work, the deamons were replaced, and thrown to their grave on the surrounding grounds.
But what neither the king nor the warlords noticed were the three deamons fifty-so feet away behind them, tearing down small parts of the fortress that was being built.

 Crioone laughed as Nara shoved a small rock into what was to be a window, and almost blew their cover as Taverna kicked the rock into the room below, causing many deamons to fall back, taking away a few hours of work in only seconds. The three deamons had nothing against the working deamons, no, it was the king and his warlords they had problems with. Axerion and his followers had already taken at least onehundred and twenty deamons' lives, and that was only what the three of them had counted earlier in the week.
 "We should go now," said Taverna, looking ahead at the seven deamon rulers, "Axerion and his warlords have heard of the damage."
 Nara looked at him, then nodded, the red wings upon his back spreading out, ready to leave. Crioone's white wings didn't quite span as far as Nara's, but compared to Taverna's, both were dwarfed. Taverna's emerald wings were huge, spaning at least twenty feet, and the humanoid deamon himself was only about 7'3". Nara, bird-like and powerfully built, was shorter, at about 6'9", while Crioone, silver and blue in colour, stood somewhere in between. Among the rest of the deamons, the three were moderately sized.
Within seconds, the three deamons were in the air, and only moments after their takeoff, one of Axerion's warlords had discovered their previous position.

Present Day

The darkness had engulfed the planet of king Axerion, and the world was black. Crioone's white wings seemed to almost glow, and in the background, the sound of a few deamons could be heard, the terrified screams drowned out by what Crioone now knew were the Attalna...

 Fortress Metawar loomed out into the sky, casting a shadow to fall over the land below. Metawar, Axerion's castle, was the largest fortress the deamons had ever seen, and probably the largest ever. Made of smooth brown-gray stones, with blood-red tint added on in a unique pattern, the fortress itself was about seven hundred thousand feet around, nine thousand feet from floor to point of the cieling, and contained many rooms and an inner core palace. It had taken many deamons lives and three whole years to create, but Metawar was complete.
 Surrounding the fortress, three towers had been erected six thousand feet up, each one surving a purpose- according to the king- although what the purpose of the towers was was still a mistery.
 
 Crioone landed softly upon the top of the unguarded second tower, followed by her companions, Nara and Taverna. The three deamons hated the king and his warlords more than anything in the deamon world, although the world they knew had not had much to hate overall. Nara was the first to speak.
 "So why'd you bring us here Taverna?" she asked, questioning her long time friend with a laughable smile.
 The emerald coloured deamon turned to face Nara, his eyes closed. His wings spread out completely, dropping a small map onto the roof of the tower.
 "This map... it's a detailed route to take inside Metawar. It leads to something, although it could be a trap. Three days ago, you, Crioone, mentioned the Attalna. I didn't want to fight one or more, but my mind slipped, and after completely destroying it, I found the map inside the thing's body..." Taverna stopped, letting the thought slip into his friends' minds.
 Crioone looked at Taverna after a minute of thinking his words over, then said to him:
 "So... when are we gonna go check it out?" Nara turned to face Crioone, a look of shock on her face.
 "You guys are gonna walk right into a trap!?" Nara asked, the shock turning into confusion and then back to shock. Taverna nodded, followed by a nod from Crioone. Nara looked back and forth, then shook her head.
 "You guys are crazy!" She said, but then looked at them seriously, then nodded her head. "I'm coming too."

 A lone deamon stood in the remaining light of day. His gold and black hide was powerful looking, his legs holding him sturdily on the ground. Around him, three Attalna stood, waiting for his the deamon to make his next move. The large deamon spun with agility, taking the three Attalna back.
 "You know who I am, don't you?" The golden-black deamon asked the Attalna, "I'm Exaltoskull, hiding in the shadows, lurking in the darkness. And you three, you call yourself Attalna, but I've seen your true form."
 The Attalna looked at Exaltoskull with hatred and awe. Then the three bodies dropped, and fifteen eyeball like deamons emerged from the hosting bodies. Surrounding Exaltoskull, the Attalna prepared their attack, closing on on the lone deamon. Exaltoskull raised his head, lowered his tail, and his dark wings spread apart from his body, lifting him into the sky. The Attalna followed, but Exaltoskull was a powerful deamon, not easily taken down.
 The dark wings folded in, dropping the golden-black deamon drop, and at the same time his legs flew out, knife-like claws extending well over a foot. The Attalna hit by the claws dropped like stones, hitting the ground, laying in their new graves.
 Exaltoskull landed, but the Attalna had drawn back. The eyeball like deamons kept watch of Exaltoskull from a safe distance, and parted as another deamon approached. A deamon clad in white stepped into the center of the Attalna circle, and began to address Exaltoskull.
 "You are a very persistant deamon, Exaltoskull. One that may be even too persistant. You have been taking the attention of my hunters- my eyes- the Attalna for much too long each night. The purpose of my hunters is... not of your business. Leave them be, and do not take their attention away from... others anymore. You will be taught a lesson if I am called once more." The white coloured deamon stared at Exaltoskull for quite a while, then turned to leave.
 "Who are you...?" asked Exaltoskull, his head raising. The deamon in white almost turned back, but instead decided to stop instead.
 "Who I am, and what I do is none of your business. Staying out of my way is." By the end of his speech, the white deamon was gone, hidden in the darkness, shrouded by a sudden mist. The remaining Attalna turned, their eyes trained upon their leader. Exaltoskull turned and left, hiding in the shadows which he would stay in for the daylight. As soon as he was gone, the Attalna returned, levitating just above the previous hosts. The feast had begun. The Attalna had not succeeded in their hunt, but the feast was still allowed...

 The small pebble glided smoothly through the air, landing with a small splash in the round pond ahead. Small ripples surged away from the spot the stone had landed at, splashing lightly against the shoreline. The small brown dog rushed forwards at the sight of the small green frog leaping into the pond to investigate the disturbance. Stopping at the water's edge to peek at the frog, the dog found itself staring into a now still pond with a shimmering glass top and the reflection of himself. The dog barked, then backed up, timid by nature.
 To the side, a rustling of tall grass attracted the dog's attention, and it went to sniff about. Another stone found its way though the air and into the pond. But this time the stone was flat, without a crack, bump, or crevace. The stone skipped its way across the pond, the glass-like appearence fading, replaced by many small ripples, gathering together at the shores and in the center of the pond. The frog that had been perched atop the lily pad quickly dove for cover, burrying itself in the soft mud below. The dog, now tired with the rustling of the grass, focused his attention once more upon the pond, amused by the small wave-like ripples, the rocking lily pad, and the croaking of frogs and chirping of crikets.
 The dog sat down, panting slightly, it's tongue drooping from its mouth, and smiled as best as it could. A large splash caused the dog to leap up and dart backwards. A blue-green coloured fish poked its head out of the water slightly, then was gone. A large rock- the cause of the splash- sat in the middle of the pond, too big to sink its way to the bottom.
 A girl of about thirteen appeared beside the dog, laughing quietly to herself. Her left hand was just visible beneath the long red coloured sleeve of her shirt, while her right arm protruded further out, due to the torn sleeve of the shirt on the right side. Her feet were tucked inside small shoes, and she wore loose jeans over her legs, and the shirt she wore was faded white. Her hair was tied back in a long braid, and on her right arm she wore a black coloured bracelet with the image of a four legged creature with wings. Hanging from her neck was a necklace with the letter 'D' on it.
 The pond grew quiet, the girl no longer throwing stones into the water. The dog, still panting, lay down, closing his eyes. A drop of water fell on the girl's head, then a second and third followed. The sky was dark, it had been for quite a while, though the girl had no intention of going home. She had waited for this exact time to be at the pond. Pulling her left sleeve up with her right hand, the girl placed her left hand into the glass surface of the pond, and the water spread to the edges, pouring out the sides and soaking into the ground.
 The rain was now pounding down, the girl's clothing soaked, her dog's fur drenched. But the pond, still quiet, remained dry, no water entering the now magical place. A face, shrouded in mist, appeared from the ground of the pond, followed by dark wings and a clawed hand. The being spoke quietly, clearly, and with a sound of authority.
 "Once again you have called me forth, magician of Terra Eterna. Once again, the people of my universe are in jeopardy because I am gone. What do you want."
 The girl stared at the being with no emotion, not even a shard of fear. "I have called you... because the ultimate gate has been sighted..."
 The being stared at her, his face no longer covered by an angry smile, but by a stern and serious expression. "You were right to call me, magician. We shall keep in touch. If the gate is sighted again, make sure I know." The being's face, wings, and hand sank down into the pond's ground, the water returning to the pond.
 The girl reached around, her hand pulling the eleastic from her braid, her wet hair falling around her face, covering the tears that were falling along her face. The dog ran towards his owner, the wet fur squished against her side.
 "I know, Tanner, I know what needs to be done too," the girl said to her dog, "We need to follow him next time..."

Taverna tilted his head up, looking at the small spot on the map marked by a black point. Surrounding it were five lines, probably walls of some sort, but there didn't appear to be any door leading into the black point room.
 
Three days earlier...

Getting into Axerion's fortress hadn't been hard, even the the day's light had been directly above them as they'd gone through the doors. Once inside Metawar, the dark hallways had been easy to navigate, although without a map it would have been near impossible, as the winding corridors had many adjoining hallways leading off into other parts of the fortress. The red line leading to the black point had led the three deamons into a court area, which surrounded the cetral tower of Metawar, where king Axerion himself inhabited. Then the map had led them up a few levels, and then to a long and spiral stairway that went down mnay levels, not stopping off at a landing for any of the other floors. Upon a closer look at the map, this stairway had its own area, not interrupted by any other rooms until it ended.
 Once at the end of the stairway, Taverna lead the two others along the red path, leading up to a large door, bolted shut many times. Working quickly, the three deamons soon had the door open, but they had come across a problem.
 "If any guard deamon or other inhabitant of Metawar comes this way, they're gonna see a wide open door, and if they're down this far, they probably know that it's supposed to be bolted shut," said Crioone, looking at the others. Taverna and Nara nodded.
 "We'll come back here later, when we have a way to close the door behind us, but until then..." Nara's voice was cut off by distant footsteps, and the sound of dragging chain.
 "We need to leave. Now!" hissed Taverna, rolling the map and holding it is his hand. Crioone unfurled her wings, holding them above her head so that the other two could do the same. The footsteps were getting closer, and around the corner the three deamons could see a light approaching.
 "Now!" whispered Crioone, and she lifted off of the ground, hovering near the cieling. Beside her, Nara flew steadily, and behind, Taverna with the map lurked in the shadows. A red coloured deamon turned the corner, his eyes fixed to a small jewel in his hands. Suddenly, the red coloured deamon stopped.
 We left the door open! thought Crioone, and she was sure that the others had realized the same thing. It was now or never.
 Nara sped forwards, just as Crioone dove dove, catching the red hued deamon off guard and knocking him backwards onto the ground. The jewel tumbled through the air, the string holding it catching on one of Crioone's feet. The map flew out of nowhere, falling right infront of Crioone's other foot. Stretching out a claw, she grabbed it, turning just in time to see Taverna tackle the guard deamon back to the ground.
 "Get out of here now!" Shouted Taverna, his powerful hands holding the squirming red deamon down. Crioone didn't need a second shout, she turned, flying away. Only seconds later did Taverna catch up to her.
 Once outside of Metawar, the two deamons stopped, searching the skies for their companion. A rustling sound behind them grabbed their attention, and as they turned, Nara had just enough time to tuck her wings back.

 The female magician raised her arms, lifting herself off of the ground. Beside her, her  brother- Patrick- stood watching in amazement. A minute ago, Patrick would have never believed that his sister could levitate, even fly, but now, watching it all only inches away, his jaw was dropped, his eyes wide in shock and amazement.
 Her arms waving back and forth, the female magician called the dog- Tanner- up from his perch on the bed and into her arms. The dog was startled, and began to bark, but Patrick calmed him immediately. The hood that the magician wore fell backwards, revieling her long auburn hair, tied back in a  braid, her small ears, and a small smile across her lips.
 Renee- the magician- laughed as the dog licked her face, but the laugh was cut short.
"I need to leave Earth, it's too dangerous for me here," she said, her pale face now holding a sad smile.
 Patrick looked up at her, wondering what the heck she meant by leaving earth. Where else could she go. Patrick stood, his power arms and legs flexing.
 "Where?" he asked, replying to her previous statement. Renee looked at him, not catching onto the fact that he was replying to her.
 "Oh... where away from earth..." she said, catching on after several seconds, "To the land of magic. I can't stay on earth, the place of no magic, I must go to... the land of monstrous beings..."
 Patrick looked at her as if she was crazy, then got up, looking at her in a new way.
 "They always said this would come, that someone would be born as evil..." his sentence trailed off as Renee's eyes began to tear up.
 "You think I'm eveil!?" she asked him, turning away. Patrick walked around her, facing her directly, and nodding.
 The blade came fast, the shining metal of a knife flashing across Renee's arm. Red liquid poured out of her, the blood dripping fast. Again the knife moved across through the air, blood pouring out from the gash on Renee's leg. Tanner yelped, then barked loudly, baring his fangs at Patrick- who simply shrugged- kicking his foot out, and the dog flew across the room. Renee had gotten back to her feet, tears streaming out of her eyes, her vision blurred.
 The blade moved forwards again, though this time it did not make it to Renee. A hand burst through the floor of the room, Patrick falling back. The hand was followed by an arm, and then the body of a beast. The floor began to crumble underneath the huge weight, and soon Patrick, Renee, Tanner and the beast collapsed on the ground floor.
 The beast picked up Renee and began to run. Ptarick, not far behind them, flashed the knife in the sun's rays, the gleam pointed directly at Renee's assailant. The knife tore through the air, striking the hide of the beast, but nothing more. Patrick collapsed, his eyes rolling back in his head as the dog bit down hard on his leg. Then everything went black...

 ...Renee's eyes opened, and the sight of the beast from the pond gave her the energy to sit up.
 "The magician of Terra Eterna needs help, and so do my people. Come with me, and all shall be well..."

 The white coloured deamon walked into the cave to the east of Metawar. A small fire burned in the middle of the cave, giving a dull glow and a feeble warmth to the rocky crevice. Around the white deamon, four Attalna floated in the air, the eyeball like deamons twisting and turning, taking in the surroundings before their hunt.
 "Now!" The white deamon said, his voice quiet but stern at the same time. The Attalna floated towards the hunt leader, floating and unmoving. The hunt leader raised his left hand, his right hand bracing the left. A sudden wind formed in the cave, the small tower of smoke billowed further into the cave, the cape on the white deamon pulled tight against him. The leader of the night moved further into the dark cave, extinguishing the light of flames as he walked past.
 "The deamon in here has lived their last day... the nighttime shall forever hold him in my grasp... go forth my deamon hunters... go forth to the feast..." The deamon in white turned away, walking out of the cave as his hunters advanced on their prey. The screams of terror echoed throughout the cave, but the hunting leader of darkness was gone before the cave deamon was dead...


 Crioone stood in the village of Extapolis, her wings catching the light, turning the normally white wings into a shining silver. Raising her head to the sky, she beat her wings down, taking to the air, her four metallic blue coloured legs carried through the night sky towards the sound of a hunt. To the south, an eerie green being was on the watch, and advanced towards Crioone. From the north came the crimson red being known as Nara.
 The castle raid had begun, and as Nara and Taverna approached Crioone, the towering fortress of Metawar loomed ever closer to the three deamons...

 The fog began to clear as Patrick stumbled into an upright position, rubbing his sore ankle and cursing the dog for having fangs. Walking back towards his home, Patrick couldn't help but wonder what had become of his sister, the female magician. Turning his thoughts back to the encounter with the fact that his sister was magical, he struggled to remember why he had attacked her in the first place. Was he jealous, angry, scared, or just afraid of being lonely? He shook his head.
 "No way!" he said to himself softly, "No way am I gonna forget this. I'll learn from it. I'll grow stronger, and take out my enemies one by one. I won't stop!"
 By now, he had reached his home, and as soon as he entered, he knew something was wrong. Lying on the floor ahead of him was his dog- Tanner- a pool of blood lying around him, and a picture of his sister thrown to the side, the glass frmae cracked and shattered in certain parts.
 Someone was here while I was gone... Someone- or something- wants me to stay away... But I won't. "I won't!" He shouted, but his words were meaningless, and he knew it. He would stay away from magic. He would stay away for a lifetime...


 Riding on the back of the beast, Renee's hand gripped the coarse hairs that were positioned on the back of the beast's neck. The clouds seemed to part as the two magical beings flew past, but it was only an effect of the speed they were going that caused wind to split. The two of them had passed through three storms already, and Renee had questioned him about why they didn't just go through a gate of some sort to get away from earth, but the beast's reply was only, 'remember our first encounter'. At first Renee could not decide what that meant, but after a while, the memories began to pour in, and she began to remember...

2 weeks ago...

 The  beast slipped past the walls around it, entering the room of a girl around the age of thirteen. The girl looked up at him, and for a minute, he thought his presence would be unmasked, that the rest of her family would draw near to the screams of their daughter/brother. But the girl simply stared at him for a minute, then asked simply, 'who are you?' The beast stared at her for a moment, then shook his head.
 "That's not important. What's important is that you know something that has been locked away in your mind for many years now," the beast said, looking at the girl with no emotion on his face. The girl looked back at him with a look of equal status, then shrugged her shoulders, her face giving off the impression of, 'what do I need to know'.
 "You are a being of magic, born into the world of technology and simple sciences incapable of using your powers. You are the female magician that has been prophesized for many decades now, and you have finally arrived. I will leave my universe now, but only you can allow me to leave. As a being not familiar to earth, I can only enter or leave with my own powers. Since I came, you must send me back- you must create a gate for me- to my own world. For your powers to be confirmed, you must send me back to my world, then call me here again. If you do not succeed, then my world and people will need to wait. You cannot fail."
 Then the beast was gone...

 Present time

 If the beast had come on it's own, and hadn't been called, then Renee would have to open the gate herself. But she was unsure if she could at the altitude they were at, and if her magic was not at its strongest, opening a gate would be impossible. So that's why we haven't returned. My magic is too weak, and he's stuck here until someone with magic can get him back...
 "Where are we going?" asked Renee, craning her neck to get a better view of the world below.
 "To a place of magic, so that we can leave this place... but I still need to find one, which is hard at this hight, and if we drop down lower, then we're gonna be spotted. I'm hoping we can find a magic area in the skies..." The beast didn't look hopeful, and if he wasn't how could Renee be hopeful too.
 Just then the beast took a dive, swooping down ten feet and calling Renee's name. She had felt it too: magic! The moisture in the air began to dispate, and the oxygen amounts became thin. What looked like a hole in the middle of nowhere appeared, and began to grow. Renee's eyes were closed, but the female magician could still feel the gate growing, and could almost 'see' it.
 Then the gate was complete, and Terra Eterna slowly slipped away, only to be replaced by a completely different world. The world of true magic...

 Searing hot flames engulfed the female magician and her companion as the two collapsed to the ground in the land of the unknown. Somehow, something had gone wrong with the portal gate, and the two magical beings had not ended up where they were supposed to be. Instead, wickedly hot flames surrounded them, licking closer and closer to Renee's skin, and edging around the giant body of the beast next to her.

 From a peak high above the monstrosity of the flames, another being watched the two of them being devoured by the intense fire. This third being, wearing a blue hat and a dark black cape showed no emotion upon her face, yet behind the facade, the true female magician was laughing at the pitiful attempts of freedom by the weaklings below...

 Exaltoskull was being attacked, and yet, he could not find or sense the source of power from his assailant- whom he could also not find- and was now nearing the point of exaustion and death. The gold and black coloured eamon's eyes search the area around him, even as more powerful blows were being delt out. It was then that Exaltoskull noticed the fog, and as his vision began to adjust, many eye-like deamons appeared in a circle around him. The Attalna were on the hunt.
 The only problem with the Attalna theory was that they weren't near enough to Exaltoskull to hit him, nevermind dish out attacks like the ones he was recieving. A sudden blow to the neck brought the fierce deamon warrior to the ground, and his attacker finally faded into view.
 A dog-like deamon approached Exaltoskull, the moonlight gleaming and shining on the deamon's bared fangs. A long chain rattled against the ground as the dog-deamon moved towards Exaltoskull, but the other end of the steel chain was engulfed in the fog and mist in the background. The dog eyed Exaltoskull, then leapt towards the fallen deamon with incredible speed. Exaltoskull could only dodge enough as to recive a slight gash along his side from the dog-deamon, and even then, the dog-deamon was on its way back for a second attack. Exaltoskull's mind instructed him to get up and fight back, but deep down, the gold and black coloured deamon knew that without help soon, he was in grave danger.
 The dog-deamon stood still behind Exaltoskull, and for a minute, Exaltoskull thought the deamon had lost interest. But his idea was ut of his mind as soon as it had entered. The dog-deamon leapt over Exaltoskull, the chain hitting the deamon warrior as it went passed. Out of the fog, the Attalna began to regroup around the dog-deamon, slowly seeping into him.
 When all but one Attalna had entered the dog-deamon, Exaltoskull stood up, getting ready to attack as soon as every last Attalna was inside. But he never got the chance. One more deamon was present at the hunt, and the hunt leader never let his dog die. Never...

 ...Metawar... the ultimate war fortress... and the towering pinnacle of doom...

 Taverna took his hand away from the stone wall and the words scarred into the smooth bricks, re-reading the sentence in his head. To his left, Crioone's wings were spread far apart, catching the wind and protecting the three of them from falling rocks or a short sandstorm. To Taverna's right, Nara held the map on her back, her wings tucked in and her hands at work shifting the order of stones quickly in order to create a small doorway. Taverna moved his hand over the smooth stone tablet, trying to better read the words on the wall, but he could get nothing more of them. Nara nodded slightly, catching the attention of both Crioone and Taverna, and as they looked over, they saw that the doorway was complete. Nara slid in, folowed closely by Taverna and Crioone.
 Once inside the fortress, the three deamons crouched low, searching the large hallway they had come into for guards of any sort. They couldn't see any, but that didn't mean there were no guards. Creeping close to the ground, the three deamons moved silently forwards, their eyes searching the close vicinity, but there was nothing to be seen.
 Once they had crossed the hallway, Nara took the map, pointing to the red line. Crioone silently memorized the directions in her head, and as soon as Nara had rolled the map up, Taverna took the parchment, shoving it inbetween his shoulder blades, then took the lead...

 The three deamons headed towards the stairway they had previously visited upon their last raid on the castle, moving from shadow to shadow, staying hidden from any guards that happened to be on the look out. But no guards came- in fact, the three deamons didn't spot a single guardian of Metawar- and after about an hour of darting back and forth across hallways and corridors, Crioone and her companions reached the stairwell. Climbing up the stairs as fast as possible while still staying silent, they soon came to the top of the stairs, where they then began to go down. Suddenly Taverna stopped them, pointing downwards with his right hand. The stories below them, a large door stood open- one that hadn't even been there the previous time.
 "Did we come the wrong way? I mean, the stairway looks the same, but maybe there's more than one like this..." Nara let her sentence trail off, knowing that her words were only trying to calm herself and the others down, they were surely in the right spot.
 Taverna's eyes darted back and forth, searching for a way down. His eyes fixed on an overhanging light only feet away from him, and he smiled. Calling Crioone and Nara to his side, he stretched his wings out, hitting the light with enough force to overturn a small house. The light shattered, the stairway becoming dark, the sound of glass hitting rocky ground echoing throughout the towering stairwell. Below, the door still stood open, nothing had changed, no deamons had come rushing out of the mysterious room. The three deamons continued down the stairway, their movements slow and silent as they passed the doorway.
 Crioone took to the air, her wings spread out just enough to carry her, but not enough to hit the side walls of the stairway. Taverna and Nara followed her lead, the three deamons coming to a stop at the bottom of the stairway. Ahead of them lay the long stretch of bare walls and floors, all leading to the bolted door, and behind it? Crioone did not have a clue...

 Working with both speed and silence, Crioone, Taverna and Nara had the olted door open in only a few minutes. Swinging the door open, the three deamons peered inside, trying in vain to locate a source of light or anything of interest. They found none.
 "Now what?" asked Taverna, obviously not aware of the light Crioone had brought.
 Crioone held the gem from their previous embarkment into Metawar infront of her, the purple-blue jewel glowing dimly, giving off a faint light. Taverna and Nara smiled, and the three deamons entered the room. From a bag hanging around her neck, Nara pulled a piece of folded metal out, handing it to Taverna, who slid it under the door, swinging it shut on them. Many clicks- and hushed cursing from Taverna- later the door was finally bolted shut properly, and the three deamons were locked in.
 Crioone lifted the jewel up, the dim light illuminating the room just enough for them to see that they were surrounded by smooth square shaped stones, as well as oddly defined statues and clay pots. Taverna pulled out the map, holding it below the light so he could read it.
 "We're getting closer to the mark on the map... we're about an eigth of the way there now..." he said, a smirk coming across his face.
 Crioone and Nara looked at him, then the map, then Crioone nodded. The three deamons continued onwards, further down into the fortress, and further down into a world unknown...


 The door slamed shut as a deamon walked out of the sideroom, his feet stepping onto a long winding stairway. Black eyes and a grey hide, the deamon was about as dark the the light further below. The grey deamon grunted, and from the bag he dragged behind him, a red deamon scurried out, no jewel in his hands this time.
 "Don't mess around this time, if you see the deamon intruders, kill them. If not, the jewel won't be the only thing unaccounted for," the deamon with black eyes said. And as he began to walk down the stairs at a slow pace, the red coloured deamon could only hope that his jewel and its highjackers could be defeated easily...

 The smooth stones slipped away into the darkness as Crioone and her companions began their journey further into the fortress of mysteries. Led by the dim light of the glowing gem, the three deamons crept forwards at a slow pace, keeping silent and hiding in the darkness as much as possible. As they went further into the long winding and twisting tunnels of the fortress, and temperature began to drop slowly, and the levels of breathable air began evermore scarce. Soon enough, the three deamons came to a stop, the tunnel they were in leading off in two directions. Taverna's hand reached back to his shoulder, grabbing and unfolding the map, allowing Crioone to hold the gem at an appropriate distance so that he could read the map and still have enough light to see. Nara spread her wings out behind her, casting the three deamons into shadow, hiding them from any watchful eyes.
 "The map shows us here," said Taverna, pointing to a spot in about the middle of the map, "But the line that we've been following stops here, only to re-appear way over here, nowhere nere where we are now..." his voice trailing off, Taverna lay the map on the ground, allowing Crioone and Nara to get a better look at it.
 Suddenly Crioone cried out, her head no longer facing the map, but the wall to its side. etched deeply into the stones, words could be faintly seen, their true meaning hidden behind many years of erosion and fierce winds before being placed into the castle. Taverna ran his hands along the stone wall, his fingers slipping in and out of each groove. Nara's eyes glimmered as they moved back and forth, taking in everything she could. Meanwhile, Crioone's eyes were closed, her sixth sence taking the words in for her. And then, all at once, the three deamons spoke what they could understand:

   

 The sound of a crumbling wall caught the attention of Taverna first, and as the first red fist emerged from the clouds of dust and rubble, Taverna's wings opened wide, the joints bracing for impact. The fist hit his wing, both deamons crying out in pain. Taverna fell back as Nara surged forwards, her wings beating furiously, her hands doling out quick blows to the red coloured deamon. Crioone, now completely aware of the deamon intruder, took to her four powerful legs, the claws in her feet cracking th ground, her wings ripping through the walls of the small tunnel in which they were in. Scooping up the glowing gem with her closest foot, Crioone tucked the shining stone away for safe keeping, moving forwards to aid Nara and Taverna, both of whom were fighting off the red deamon.
 As Crioone neared the fight, the wall to her right exploded as shards of stone flew out, hitting Crioone and knocking her to the side. A gray coloured deamon emerged from the smoke, carrying a mace in his left hand and a club in his right. Nara leapt backwards, her hand grabbing a dagger as she passed by the grey deamon. Crioone's wings moved backwards, propelling her forwards, knocking a startled red deamon aside as she and Taverna began to fly to safety.
 Nara, still trapped in the tunnel, extended her arm, holding the dagger as close as she could to the gray coloured deamon, while still staying out of reach. Then, after allowing her decoy fake-out work, she flew to the side, just as Taverna hurled the red deamon at his master. Both attacking deamons fell to the side, and the tunnel began to collapse, Nara's body crushed beneath a boulder, unable to free herself.

 A cry of pain came from the pile of rubble and dust where a tunnel had previously stood. Crioone's feet touched down to the ground first as she ran towards the rocks to aid Nara. Taverna's body landed on the other side of the rocks, his hands moving quickly throwing boulders away. Crioones claws dug into the rocks, and as the tightened her claws, the rocks shattered, the small shards of stone falling away harmlessly.
 Suddenly Taverna's shout was heard by Crioone, and as Crioone looked up hopefully, she was quickly shocked and full of hate. The red coloured deamon had his bloodred hand grasping Taverna's arm, the claws digging in quickly. Taverna's un-attacked hand dole out quick and powerful punches to the deamon, but they seemed to tak no effect. Crioone leapt over the rocks, taking the red deamon by surprise, and ended his life with a quick cut to the neck.
 Taverna dropped to the ground, his arm now completely useless. Crioone lowered her head, looking at Taverna with sadness in her eyes.
 "Go back to... saving Nara," said Taverna, his voice quiet. Crioone nodded, turning back slowly, then working quickly.
 As the last few rocks slowly dissappeared, Nara's body could be seen, crushed and crippled. Crioone pulled her out quickly, but the damage had been done.
 Crioone dragged her companions into the shadows, staying their for quite a while, trying to recover.

 But they were being watched the whole time by the dark black eyes of the still quite alive gray coloured deamon. The countdown to death was on.

 The gray deamon's eyes flashed as Crioone turned her back to him. His claws extended, his legs bent, his hand holding a small sharp piece of brown stone, the deamon was prepared to strike at any moment. There was only one thing that could go wrong at this point, but the gray coloured deamon had put this thought away long ago. If only he hadn't, his life would not be in certain danger.
 It was the gray deamon who thought he had the edge of surprise, but it was he who would end up shocked and crushed in death...


 History of a Kingdom...Part One

The deamons- more commonly known as beasts of the otherworld, or beasts of the night- originally came into being in the early years of the universe, residing in a place they called Terra Eterna. Living in the shadow of the larger planet in front of them, the deamons became used to not having light, and their forms and being became as dark as the land surrounding them.
 Then one day, a few centuries into the creation of the universe, other sapient beings came to live on Terra Eterna, but calling it Earth. The deamons were at first willing to share the land, but as time passed, the deamons colonies slowly had less and less land, all of it going to the beings which called themselves by many names, but the most common being 'Human'. Then came the rebellion.
 The deamons struck back at the humans, but their weapons were at a far disadvantage to those of human kind, and the deamons were forced back. And it was at this point that the larger planet infront of Terra Eterna broke apart, explosion into a shower of cloud and dust. The light shone upon Terra Eterna, and the deamons were never seen again until-

...

 The gray coloured deamon launched himself forwards, his claws extending to cut right through Crioone's hide. But just as he neared the silver and blue coloured deamon, Crioone whipped around, the glowing gem protruding into the gray coloured deamon's skin, causing him to cry out in pain. Somehow, throughout the whole attack and fall of her teammates, Crioone had still been able to sence the deamon's approach and attack.
 The gray deamon howled in pain, his hand clutching his chest where the gem had torn the skin open.
 "How... how did you know..." the gray deamon gasped, his lifetime almost up. Crioone looked at him with hatred in her eyes, the normally calm deamon now in a state of fury and rage. Crioone's foot moved forwards, her claws extending. Picking up the gray deamon, Crioone's claws pierced the deamon's skin once more, and then, with her second foot, she reached deep within the deamon's body, moving her claws around, searching for an object.
 "The sixth sense is a wonderfull thing. Sometimes, it can be used for evil, while at others, it can cause great actions of benevolence. At this time, I have been watching you for three hours. You have something in you. If you died on your mission, nothing would go wrong. But your masters were wrong. They don't know the full extent to my powers. No one does, and no one ever will. It is your time to die, and my time to take the object from your dead body..." Crioone's hand jerked backwards, the grey deamon slumping into an odd position and staying there, frozen in death.
 Crioone stepped back, the object covered in bloodred lumps and liquid. Crioone turned around, facing her companions- who were still unmoving. Don't let them die... please, don't let them die... Crioone held her head up high, opening her mouth as wide as it would go. Throwing the bloodied object into the air and letting it drop down into her mouth, Crioone spread her wings far apart, swallowing, and lifted herself up, taking to the air, and crashing through the low rock cieling. The sunlight shone through the hole, and as Crioone dove back into the fortress to recover her companions, not a single being in the world would see her. She had entered the realm of the unknown, the lost map trail would lead her and her companions onwards, deeper into the fortress of history. This was just a small resting point, completely oblivious to all outsiders...

 From the slowly dissipating fog approached a deamon clad in a dark cape, hiding the completely white body inside, keeping the hunt leader hidden from all intruding eyes. The dog-like deamon -now completely in the control of the Attalna, and more so, by the hunt leader himself- moved backwards, away from Exaltoskull, and towards his master.
 "Exaltoskull... your time has come... to die..." the hunt leader proclaimed, his dark cape now thrown to the ground, his white coloured body an eerie glow in the dark fog consumed night.
 Exaltoskull fell to the ground, his eyes rolling back in his head. The hunt was over...

 History of a Kingdom...Part Two

...

 -the dawn of sacrifice. Three millenia later, the deamons were seen once more by the dull fading eyes of the mages and magicians of Terra Eterna. The only living beings that could withstand the great fall witnessed the deamons return to life. The deamon lords and masters arose, their gargantuan bodies overturning mountains and emptying oceans. The mages and magicians could only watch in horror, their powers only strong enough to set up gates that would prevent any more deamons from entering the dying planet.
 In only months, the planet known as Terra Eterna was shattered. The deamons, saw the destruction they had caused, and also that the people on that planet could not be ruled. The deamons left Terra Eterna, leaving the destroyed and desolate planet to die.
 But Terra Eterna did not die. After the exodus of the deamons, the mages and magicians joined their powers, sacrificing themselves to bring  back into being the ultimate creation. True humans.

...

 The man cloaked in a dark red outfit turned his face towards the man slumped in the corner. Pointing the shiny metalic object in his hand towards the man, his finger slipped backwards, the dying man's face struck backwards, blood slowly trickling down his chin and onto his old tattered robe. The man in dark red turned backwards, his hand grabbing the pen once more, and putting it down to the piece of parchment.

Note: if my death may come, this manuscript has been written by-

...

 History of a kingdom...Part Three

...

 -Hawk, deamon captive, chronicler of all deamon events up to the present.

...

 Hawk looked up at the cieling, his thoughts now clouded and unsure of what to write next. The man's eyes closed, his breathing slowed down, his hand moving in circles over the page, the pen not quite touching the paper.
 A winged deamon flew down from the rafters above Hawk, landing beside the man- who didn't seem to notice. The deamon, roughly the same size as Hawk, raised both of his clawed hands, grabbing Hawk's head and squeezing until blood showed. Hawk screeched in pain, and as his hands went up to try to shake the deamon away, he fell back, a loud crack sounded out as the wood below him splintered. The deamon broke away from Hawk, its hands sealing the wounds as it moved back.
 "You've stopped working- my precious slave writer- and with that comes great punishment," said the deamon to Hawk, his face obviously displeased. Hawk stared back, his eyes going wide. Punishment was not a good thing, and it always created great pain. Almost deathlike pain.
 "I... I stopped an attacker today... doesn't... doesn't that count for... any...thing?..." stammered Hawk, his eyes shaking in fear. The deamon looked at him for a while, uncetain of what to say. Pondering for a bit, the deamon floated into the air, his hands moving around as if organising an imaginary collection of photos.
 "Hmm... if what you say is true... I shall spare you the true punishment, and give you one far less... painful..." Hawk looked at his master, the fear slowly fading from his face.
 "Yes... anything is better... than the true punishment..." Hawk said, practically begging for anything else. The deamon eyed him coldly, than raised a hand out towards Hawk, a small eyeball like creature forming in his hand.
 "As I'm sure you know, this is an Attalna, a deamon with its eye set on hunting to kill. Follow this deamon to a place called the Eterna Peninsula. There you will need to seek out a quite annoying deamon, one with his eyes set out to finish the hunters off forever. Your mission is to kill him." The deamon turned around and began heading towards the doorway at the end of the small room.
 Hawk's eyes followed him all the way to the door. He had survived one more day, but his journey would now lead him into danger- fighting any deamon with only human abilities was near impossible. But as Hawk watched the white coloured deamon leave, he was only glad that  the true punishment had not been given. Because fighting the white coloured deamon's dog was a deathmatch...


 ... The Attalna floated away... The dog turned its back... The white coloured deamon dissapeared into the darkness... The deamon lying on the floor dissapeared, still very much alive... The hunt leader growled in hatred...

 Metawar

 Crioone raised her head, looking around at the seemingly large open space around her. The crumbling rocks and dry sandy ground looked the same as everywhere else on the deamon's home planet, and yet, it looked strange and different to her, as if it was not naturally like this because of the Attalna, but staged like this as a horrible reminder. Crioone crained her neck to the side, trying to avoid eye contact with the disturbing ground, and found herself looking at a large towering wall, erected alone, as if to block something from her sight. Since Taverna and Nara were still lying on the ground, their breathing slow and unchanging, Crioone began to head for the lonely wall.
 Only a few paces into her destination, Crioone turned back. Looking at her companions lying on the ground, her eyes saddened, and she flew back to them. Upon landing, Nara's head turned to the side, her mouth slowly opening.
 "Wha...?" Nara's voice was shallow and hoarse, her quiet rasping voice showing a lot of pain. Crioone immediately dropped to the ground, looking at Nara.
 "Nara... I'm so sorry that..." But Crioone wasn't able to finish her sentence, as Nara began to rise to her feet, her face detremined, and the look of 'it's not your fault' in her eyes. Once she was standing, Nara spread her wings, wincing as they moved further apart.
 "Nara... don't hurt..." But once again Crioone was stopped, and as Nara began to rise into the air, Crioone's face began to grow less sad. Slowly at first, Nara flew forwards and back, trying to ease the great pain. But her wings were still distorted in form, and her flying wouldn't be nearly as good for quite a while. Crioone watched her, and as their were now two of them able to move, it would to be time continue onwards further into the fortress, or leave and return at another time. Crioone spread her wings, pushing down and soaring up to meet with Nara.
 "So... what do we do now...?" Crioone looked at Nara for an answer. Nara shook her head.
 "Taverna would want us to continue, but in a situation like this, we need to go back. We don't stand a chance if we get into another fight. We'd lose for sure." Nara turned to face Crioone, and Crioone nodded.
 "I'll take Taverna, you concentrate on not getting more hurt," said Crioone, and as one, the two deamons flew down to the ground, Crioone picking up Taverna, Nara retrieving the remainder of their tools and the map. Returning to the hole Crioone had made, both deamons dropped down and began their journey to the exit of Metawar...


 Hawk looked around the area he was now seeing. Having been brought into this world blinded and basically dead, he had never seen the outside world before, and as he looked around, he was amazed and disgusted by what he saw. The rolling hills and valleys were brown and gray, the bare rocks long ago burnt of whatever once grew upon them. The last remaining soil was dry and baked, and would never grow any sort of vegetation again. The trees that lay on their sides were torn apart and chared to the core in someplaces, and the wind that wistled throughout the region gave an awful wining sound. Their were no deamons visble in this area, only large caves that dotted the mountainsides for miles.
 The Attalna residing in Hawk's tattered pocket hovered out, the eyeball like deamon moving forwards at a slow pace. Hawk began to follow it, pulling a small map encrusted in dust from ages of non use. Unfolding the map, Hawk located his master's cavern, and traced a line with his finger over to Eterna Peninsula. The map had no legend, so there was no way of telling how far away his destination was. The Attalna leading Hawk flew back, leeching onto the distant human with vampiric teeth, causing Hawk to cry out in pain. Then the Attalna spoke:
 "Stop fooling around human, and get going!" although it was not the voice of an Attalna, as they have no voice. It was his master, and when the white coloured deamon gave an order, it was meant to be followed.
 Hawk swallowed, then nodded, and together, human and Attalna, the two began their journey towards the Eterna Peninsula...
 

 ...I am The Scripter... as one of the only humans to ever enter the world of the deadly beings known as deamons, it has become my duty to write and record all of the history of the deamons. I have given my work the title: History of a Kingdom. The deamons will rise into power again, and only the fallen mages and the true souled deamons will be able to fight back. I am calling on the magicians of Terra Eterna, the sages of Area Distortia, and of the free living deamons to come to me and release me from my imprisonment. If you wish to help me, do so soon...
 
 The Attalna following Hawk slowed its pace as if sensing something, but Hawk's minimal powers were able to block the telepathy. As the Attalna came up close to Hawk, the human chose his time to strike.
 "Others are coming, and you pose a threat to them. This planet... no, this world is coming to an end under Axerion's rule. I will terminate you here and now, and the beginning of a new era shall soon arise! Aghhhh!" ... ... ... ...





 Bellcast is my name... though you've seen me before, you didn't know me truly... You have betrayed my orders Hawk... and for this, your death shall be one that is most painful... ...


 Tearing one's soul is probably the hardest thing to do as a mage... but I've succeeded. My body may be worthless, but I have survived, though barely... The meeting point is... Eterna Peninsula... ...

 Death is a horrible thing. Some embrace it, while others reject it completely. My name is Exaltoskull. I reject death, almost daily. Fighting the Attalna is one of the hardest things to do, and fighting their leader is an even worse death penalty. And so, with these final words... ...

 "Hey... hey you... are you? ... dead... ?"

 What's this... someone who's come to ensure my death... what do you... what do you want...?"

 The deamon called Exaltoskull closed his eyes, his thoughts drifting apart. As he shifted away from the deamon world into his own dark world, his body dragged across the rough ground, the small forest area in the middle of the swamp he was in nearing as the small green deamon pulled him along. The mysterious forest of Eterna Peninsula loomed ahead, the dark fog and low hanging branches hiding the many paths that Exaltoskull would soon be dragged over...

 Axerion looked through the small holes in Metawar's fortress walls. The two flying deamons trying to escape his palace would find that doing so was harder than they thought. Because when a fortress came to life right into your face, escape would become the last thing on you mind.
 Behind Axerion, six of the seven Deamon Lords surveyed the scene along with their king. And one by one, they began to leave the king's presence.
 "We will meet here two weeks from now, when the sun is at its brightest, and the night hunters have retreated. For now, survey the rebels from your towers. Do not interfere with their plans, but find out as much as possible. The seventh lord is away at the moment, do not seek him out. If you do not listen... ... you will die!" Axerion turned backwards, facing away from his warlords. "Begone," were his final words, and as his mouth closed, the throne room became empty, everyone was gone...




 Crioone dipped low, avoiding yet another wall slid into her way. Nara narrowly avoided the wall, but instead of dipping, she dropped, stopped flying completely, letting herself touch the ground. Running along close behind Crioone and the unconscious Taverna, Nara called out, "What the heck's going on? The walls are... alive...!"
 Crioone flew down closer to her, and began to reply , just as a wall threw itself up underneath them.
 "What the- " Nara said, before her instinct took over, and she took to the air.
 "The fortress... someone's controlling it... they know of our presence... we need to..."
 "Shut up! you really are dumb aren't you? It's been me all along, and now I'm taking you out with me... so Crioone... die!"
 Crioone's wings snapped back against her back, causing her to fall towards the ground. Somehow, she managed to keep hold of Taverna, but it was all she could to. The punch from Nara had hurt, though not as much as she'd expected. Then came the second blow. Nara's fists flew forwards, grabbing Crioone and holding her up just long enough for the next wall to throw itself at the two of them.
 It happened quickly, the wall came crashing down. Crioone screamed. Nara let go of Crioone, but it was too late. The wall hit them both, delivering a swift but effective blow to the three deamons. Nara cried out in pain, but it was much to late. The wall crashed into the ground, and as it did so, a cloud of dust erupted all around them, silencing Crioone's last scream...

 ..."What the hell just happened!?! Where am I?" Crioone looked around, taking in the scene surrounding her in all at once. The darkness was dimly lit in the four corners by small torches. Crioone found herself able to stand, but the feeling was gone from her legs. Next to her, groaning in pain, was Taverna. Now awake, the green deamon warrior slowly began to stand, but found himself falling back after each try.
 "Taverna... stop... just rest..." Taverna faced Crioone, then nodded. 
 "I remember... Nara's betrayal... ... but why? Why would she do that?" Crioone looked at Taverna, then shrugged, softly moaning in pain. Taverna lay down, his wings bending back at an odd angle. Crioone watched Taverna for a while, then slowly move towards the corner of the room.
 "Where's Nara... she got hit too... she should be here too..." Crioone looked for Taverna for a reply, but Taverna was out cold once again, the pain having come back. Crioone faded out of reality...

 The room holding Taverna and Crioone blasted open as the fierce deamon warrior punched his way out. Taverna's emerald coloured hands were a dark shade of navy blue, the colour of deamon blood. Behind him, Crioone bursted out, map and other tools held on her back in a bag of poor condition. Taverna knelt on the ground, his body exhausted from the small amount of energy he had only seconds ago used. Crioone rushed up to him, but Taverna held her back.
 "I'm... fine for..." said Taverna, slowly getting back up, "But where... are we...?"
 "You're in the world of Mitora, the space in between the world of the living and dead." The voice came from a small deamon to Crioone's right. "To explain it in all truth, you almost died, along with your companion. The two of you blacked out, but your souls had been torn almost completely apart, to the point where they were mere strings, instead of the healthy circle of life. You were forced to the area of the afterlife, but the souls weren't fully ready to deaprt the living. Therefore, you wer put in Mitora. You have looked at what the dead look at each day, yet you were not forced to experience it. Having broken out of the Kodri, or cell of devastation, you have succeeded in temporarily repairing your soul. But to completely repair your soul, as well as your body, you must return to the world of the living.
 Breaking out of the Kodri was the first step towards life. Fighting your way out of Mitora is the second. And the last step towards complete soul restructure is leaving the place of darkness from where you were transported here. After that, you should have a full recovery...
 But if you fail to leave Mitora in two nightfalls, you will forever live in the land of the dead." The small deamon turned away from Crioone and Taverna, leaving a small shadow as their only company. "Farewell Crioone of Extapolis and Taverna of Renkapolis... and as I know you wish to know, my name will soon be revealed to you, and my appearence is only a small disguise. You will come to know my true identity when the time is right. For now though, you have only so many hours left to escape, I won't bother you with any more talk." And with his final words, the deamon crept away, his shadow dissapearing completely, leaving Crioone and Taverna alone in the land of Mitora...

 "So what now?" asked Taverna, "How do we leave this place?" Taverna looked around, as did Crioone. There was no apparent escape, and the light of the day was slowly fading. Crioone's wings bent out, lifting her off of the ground, and Taverna followed.
 "The exit should be somewhere out of our line of vision. We somehow ended up in here, so there must be a gate or tear in this place showing where we came in. We just need to find it..."

 The cold cell holding a red deamon creaked as the metal bars bent apart, the deamon's fist clenched around the iron, her determination easily seen. Escape was necessary if she was to stop her former comrades. Nothing mattered more to her than stopping the plan. And so therefore, there was nothing able to stop her from leaving at that time and place. The shattered cell lay on the ground, ready to be devoured by the darkness of nightfall while the red coloured deamon flew off into the night, the blue blood dripping slowly down the sides of the broken bars...


 Mitora extended much further than either Taverna or Crioone had expected. The mountainous landscape combined with stale air and rolling sand and dust made an environnement that slowly took the life out of you, and in a place like this, losing the little amount of life that remained was not a good thing.
 After topping the latest mountain, Crioone paused for a moment, resting her four legs atop the peak of the mountain while Taverna dropped to the ground, kneeling once more. Crioone pulled the bag off of her back, spilling the contents out onto the mountain, looking for anything useful.
 "Find anything?" asked Taverna, looing at the objects that spilled from the bag. Crioone shook her head, her two forelegs reefing through the objects faster than Taverna could keep track of. Finally, she came to the gem and map, the last things that might have been helpful. But neither proved to be of any use, as the map remained a map, and the dimly glowing gem didn't shine any brighter.
 Crioone stuffed the objects back into the bag, putting it back onto her shoulder blades and flying into the air. Taverna followed, but his normal bravado was gone, and for one of the first times, Taverna seemed concerned that they would not succeed this time.
 Once in the air, Crioone headed for the next mountain chain, and as Taverna followed her, both deamons wondered wether or not they would ever escape from the place known as Mitora...

 The long peninsula of rock and sand extended far into the distance. After crossing many mountains and passing over multiple valleys, Taverna and Crioone had arrived at the end of the point of land. The large sea looked seemingly endless, and the peninsula that jutted out into the sea looked eerie and deadly. Taverna and Crioone touched down to the ground, surveying the landmass ahead of them.
 "If this doesn't lead back to the fortress and our world, I'm not sure if we'll be alive for much longer," said Crioone, out of breath and almost out of hope. Taverna nodded solemly, his eyes on the ground.
 "We need to get to the end of the peninsula, and hope that the answers and the way back to our world is there," replied Taverna, and both deamons continued their journey to the end of the landmass.



 Hawk shuddered in the harsh cold temperatures of the Expansion Desert. The land was covered in sand and rocks, and the fridgid temperatures made it even worse. Far off in the distance, Hawk could see a small patch of dull green, a sure sign of the northwestern marsh. Beyond that lay Hawks destination. He had to make it. The deamon world, as well as his own depended on his success. The Eterna Peninsula was the ultimate destination...

 "Where... where am I?" shouted Exaltoskull, his surroundings a mere blur to his squinted and scratched up eyes. Unbenounced to him, surrounding Exaltoskull was the Forest of the Sacred Ones, the only true remaining forested area on the mainland.
 "You've been brought to... my council, Exaltoskull. Your beliefs and actions have come to my attention, as well as that of many others, and I have brought you here to help you fulfill your destiny. The only thing is..." the small green deamon paused, looking away from Exaltoskull for a moment.
 "What is the only thing?" asked Exaltoskull, his eyes trained and focussed on the deamon next to him while the rest of his vision remained blurred.
 "I must take away your soul... and let you become a reaper of the night... a Deamon Shadow..."

... ... ...

 A large circular design was etched into the ground at the end of the peninsula. Surrounding the pattern were seven stones erected in such a way as to form a kind of hut, each stone leaning in towards the center of the circle. Crioone and Taverna stepped carefully around the mysterious looking shape, not sure of what it was. But they were certain of one thing: the markings were not natural, nor did they fit into the rest of the landmass.
 The waves hitting the peninsula splashed upwards towards the two deamons, the blue-grey water landing on the ground, then receeding back towards the ocean.
 "So what now?..." Crioone turned back to come face to face with an old face.
 A large sized deamon stood behind Crioone and Taverna, his face full of wisdom. Although his physical appearence and size had changed, the face of the small deamon of Mitora remained the same.
 "What are you-?" Taverna exclaimed.
 "Your time is almost up, Taverna the emerald and Crioone the blue. What you see before you is known as the circle of space. Stepping into it will open a window in time and space, allowing you to return to your own world. This rift will appear at the end of the peninsula, and will stay for only a few seconds after you leave the circle. Concentrate your whole willpower on the rift to hold it for as long as possible, and get into it. Once in the rift, you will go unconscious for as long as it takes to get back to your world. Your thoughts before and after your get into the rift must be one and the same: your destination. If they are not powerful and true, your lives will be taken, and your life will end in the rift. You knwo have only little time to remove yourselves from Mitora, as well as your next destination. Now go... you have used enough time." The deamon moved back from Crioone and Taverna, letting them step forwards towards the circle of space. As soon as Crioone's foot touched the circle, the mysterious deamon was gone, leaving Crioone, Taverna and the rift the only things left in their states of mind...

 A wide circular window like field of energy came into being only a few feet from Crioone and Taverna. The purple window slowly grew in size, until it was large enough to fit both Crioone and Taverna in at once, with space remaining. Then the energy of the window became a mass of swirling shades of purle, until it finally split into thousands of pieces, each one flowing apart from one another, until the window was no more. Then each piece dropped like a pebble into the endless ocean, the waters accepting each piece of the window with nothing more than a splash and a few ripples. But the area where the window had been was not empty. The circle of stones was erect vertically in the position of the former window, each rock jutting out towards the land. The ground with the circular images on it had also been moved, as well as the two deamons who had stood there before. And from the new position, the land of Mitora took a dive, the whole landmass turning ninety degrees so that the circles of stones stood upright. Through the hole that had been created by the dissapearence of the circle of stones shone a thin beam of light, the level of light constant, never dimming, never growing. Crioone and Taverna stood stalk still, awaiting the coming of the rift that would bring them back to Metawar. Each deamon thought of nothing but the rift and Metawar, and as the beam of light continued to shine constantly, multiple flashing lights sparked around the center beam. As the lights continued to flash, a sphere like object seemed to be forming itself inside of the hole, a semisphere on each side of the hole. The beam of light went out, as did all of the remaining light of Mitora, other than the flashing lights. The sphere became more and more visible, until finally it became a solid object. At this point, the ocean was raised up, the water leaking away into the ground and sky, leaving only small glistening shards of solidified energy. The broken window shards flew into the sky, then moved towards the sphere, covering the solid sphere until only one spot remained uncovered. The beam of light returned, shining through the last hole in the sphere, until the sphere exploded. Shards of energy flew out in all directions, and the world of Mitora suddenly moved back and forth at odd places, creating a hazy substance in the air. And then everything stopped moving. The light went out, leaving darkness to reign over the land. But as suddenly as it had happened, the light returned. White light shone throughout the whole region, blinding everyone who had had their eyes opened. Crioone and Taverna cried out in pain, then fell to the ground as the wolrd began to spin. All of the land became distorted, leaving noone to see the opening of the rift...

 ...A stone wall came into contact with the bodies of two deamons. Crioone's head slid to the side, hanging limply against a small stone on the ground. Taverna's body dropped to the ground, but was held up by the deamon's two powerful hands, which brought him to his feet. Reaching forwards, Taverna carefully grabbed Crioone, hauling her onto his back just after his wings spread wide apart, lifting the two deamons into the air, allowing them to begin to end their escape from Metawar...


 Nara slipped out of a shadow, her body visible for only a few seconds until she returned to the shadows. The distorted and demented deamon stood still, her body much different from the last time she had been seen by any other deamon. The old small red coloured body was now covered in spikes and her arms and legs were bent at odd angles that gave her a hunched and bent look. The skin was still red, but streaks of blue-black dried deamon blood were apparent all over her body.
 Moving in and out of the shadows of large trees and swirling sand, Nara continued on her way towards the south-eastern corner of the island. As she got further and further south, the trees began to thin, and the sand became ever more present.
 Only a few more days until I arrive... Thought Nara, then the answers to my questions will be mine, and the ability to stop my former comrades will be possible... only a bit further... only a few more days...

 ..."What?... A Deamon Shadow?... Those don't... exist, do they?" Stammered Exaloskull, his legs scratching the ground, his claws penetrating the soft ground of the Forest of the Sacred Ones.
 "Deamon Shadows do exist... although the success rate of creating one is so low that they are known as mythical deamon beings," replied the small green deamon.
 "So... you're telling me that if I want to eliminate the threat of the Attalna, I need to become a... Deamon Shadow... and that the most likely outcome of this process is me dieing?" questioned Exaltoskull, a frown coming onto his face.
 "Yes... so you'd better decide now: die fighting a lost cause... or die in the hopes of a future win..." The small green deamon turned his back to Exaltoskull, slowly moving away from the deamon warrior. Exaltoskull's gold and black hide slowly began to follow the mysterious deamon deeper into the forest, and with each step, the deamon warrior came closer and closer to his ultimate act...

 Nara's red wings folded outwards, thin blue lines of crusted blood forming stripes over the powerful appendages. The deamon's fierce blue eyes looked off into the distance at a square shaped object, her view partially obstructed by the swirling sand and dust that was being picked up by the gale force winds and the howling gusts. A streak of lightning lit up the dark sky for only a second, but it was enough to give Nara a clue as to where to head next to keep herself protected from the desert's demise.
 With her wings fully spread out, Nara shot forwards, propelled by the wind towards a rather large boulder, where her claws stuck deep within. As her wings folded back in, Nara carefully removed her hands from the rock, and took time to seek out her next destination. A loud cracking sound from the sky released a rolling thunderous noise, and as Nara crouched down low to protect herself from the wind.
 As the thunder subsided, the wind died down a bit too, but not enough to allow Nara to move forwards without knowledge of her destination. The dark sky was once again lit up, as lightning dance across the sky, illuminating the desert for quite sometime, allowing Nara to plan out many of her next moves.
 But as Nara darted forwards, the sky's resevoir was opened, and as the sky began to darken once more, the waters from above began to rain down upon the desert area occupied by Nara, and as the rare rainfall poured down, the sand became mud, and the mud began to slowly swallow the stones and boulders, allowing the fierce winds to reach their full strength and blow Nara down towards her destination, but also tearing her body to its extremes, causing every muscle in her body to experience extreme pain.
 And as suddenly as it had arrived, the rain stopped, allowing the mud to settle, and limp body of Nara to sink downwards...

 A red coloured hand slowly reached around for something to grab hold of in the middle of a scorching desert. The hand, leading back to an arm that snaked its way out of a crack in the ground, grabbed hold of the top of a stone that had also sunk into the silent sands of the desert, and as the muscles in the hand tensed, the body of a fierce red deamon erupted from the ground.
 As Nara slowly got her footing right, she began to search the barren landscape for a sign of her destination. Looking southwards, Nara's eyes focused towards a slight bump in the far distance.
 There! She thought, her legs already moving towards the point of land, her wings catching the wind and allowing her strides to become longer and more powerful. Finally, Nara's body left the ground, her powerful wings propelling her faster than most deamons could move towards the bump, which was now becoming more and more visible.
 Finally, after several hours of flight, the bump of land had taken its form, and as Nara came in for a steep dive, the massive tower that was Nara's destination became truly visible, and as Nara crashed into the ground beside the tower, the stars of the world beyond, as well as the answers she sought became ever closer to being discovered...

 Nara launched her fist at the wooden slates blocking the entrance to the large tower. As powerful fist met with weak and rotting wood, Nara's body followed her powerful attack straight through the barracade, finding herself in a dark room, full of space. As Nara's eyes adjusted to the dim light, objects formerly hidden by the darkness became visble to the female deamon, and as she began to look around more and more, she soon discovered what she sought.
 Moving slowly towards the end of the room, Nara kept careful watch of her surroundings. If her suspitions were right, she wouldn't be the only one seeking information at this place. Her only hope was that she would be the only one at this time. Upon arriving at the small stairway at the back of the room, Nara quickly climbed the old stairway, the wooden boards creaking and heaving with each step she took.
 Each step that Nara took brought her closer to her ultimate destination. As she reached the last level of stairway, Nara paused, her ears bending forwards to seek out any presence in the upper room. Creeping forwards at a pace so that no oen would hear her, Nara arrived at the final footing, planting herself firmly against the solid wooden floor. Keeping her eyes directed forwards and her claws out and ready to tear apart anyone who got in her way.
 Peering into the room ahead, Nara saw nothing upon first glance. But as she entered the room and looked out of the wide windows, she saw that her first glance had been wrong. Only fifty feet into the distance flew a lone deamon, his pale white wings easy to spot in the dark night sky. But as Nara watched, his body was slowly dissapearing, only to be covered by gray black blotches. And as the deamon continued to fly away, the small spots on him began to take on a certain form. And as Nara continued to look on in fear and amazement, she was greeted by a cruel smile on the white deamon's back. And as the smile began to move in what looked like a laugh, more spots appeared around the deamon, who had stopped moving and was only levitating in the night sky.
 The latest spots to appear on the skyline were a more white colour on the gray scale, and as they moved around, they began to form odd shapes, and as they all finally stopped moving, they were in a cloudy disperced formation. But as the cruel smile on the deamons back closed, the white spots moved as one, forming deamonic lettering in the sky.


 Nara looked on in horror, but as soon as the lettering had formed it left. Gone was the mysterious deamon. Gone was the cruel smile. Gone were the letters. Gone was Bellcast...


 Nara shook her head, the thoughts slowly leaving her mind. But as hard as she tried, Nara could not rid the cruel smile and the name. Bellcast... Bellcast... Bellcast...
 The crimson coloured deamon moved backwards, away from the windows. The remainder of the dried blue blood that had caked itself upon Nara's body had cracked off, allowing new and fresh blood to take its place. But Nara had a task at hand, and no matter what had just happened, or what her body was doing now, none of it mattered. Dismissing all thoughts that were not on task, Nara moved swiftly towards the left side of the room, where a large mechanism stood facing into the outside world. Peering into it, Nara began to fumble with the small dials on the object's sides. Focussing in on the distant sky above, Nara's mind was completely taken over by the pitch black sky dotted with gleaming stars and spinning rocks. Seeking the areas beyond the stars and rocks, the dark spots, Nara's eyes began to take in information.
 Written in the darkness of the sky were words. Thousands. Millions. An infinite number that could never be truely read. These were the words of the past. The words of the present. The words of the future...

 Exaltoskull faced the deamon who stood in front of him, the serious look on Exaltoskull's face only a masquerade of the true concentration he was in. Standing in the middle of the Forest of the Sacred Ones, Exaltoskull and the small green deamon were compltely hidden from all outsiders. Finally, Exaltoskull's face began to rest, and the concentration left him for a short period of time.
 "Who are you?" asked Exaltoskull, still unsure of the true nature of the one who would soon allow him to become a Deamon Shadow. The green deamon looked at him, and ever so slightly, the skin colour changed a tone down, remaining green, but with the smallest hint of purple. And then the green was all gone, replaced by a purple deamon who stared at Exaltoskull with a look as if he weren't in the same dimension as Exaltoskull. Then came the deamon's answer.
 "I am older than time itself... in fact... I created time... as well as space. Under the control of the Elite Ones, the ultimate creators of the universe, I came into being. Born from light and darkness, I was given a name and a purpose. Slowly and surely, my purpose was fulfilled. But not without consequences. After I had finished my duty, Lighteora, one of the five Elite Ones, banished me from the presence of the Elite Ones, sending me spiralling dwon to the lands and continents. And though Lighteora had wished for me to go to this world, I chose Terra Eterna as my home planet.
 But soon afterwards, the Elite Ones brought forth others to inhabit my land, and I was once again banished, not only from the Elite Ones, but from my planet. I was sent here.
 I am Tyranac..."

 Patrick pressed his foot down, revving the engine of the black car he had stolen only minutes ago from the convenience store two blocks back from the red light he was sitting at. As the light changed to green, Patrick slammed his foot against the gas peddle, the car jumping forwards heading down the road about twenty kilometres above the limit. Around him, other drivers honked their horns, while others used a form of sign language that Patrick was all to familiar with. Ignoring those around him, Patrick took a dangerously sharp turn right onto the on ramp of the freeway.
 As soon as he was on the freeway things got fast. Now at a speed where one mistake could cost his life, Patrick swerved to the side of the road, driving on the shoulder lane to pass those in front of him. Passing road signs at a speed where they were just a blur, Patrick's instincts were becoming greater by the second. Switching lanes faster than most of the other drivers could count to one, the black car was now at the point where the speedometer was running out of space to go. Soon, the small orange needle would stop, not able to go over the speed of 200km/h. But at the moment, Patrick didn't care about stupid things like that. The plane he needed left in a little under an hour, and it would take him long enough just to get to the airport...


 The heat was unbearable. blue and white flames licked Renee's clothing, and as the beast beside her reeled over in pain, the female magician high above the two pitifull warrios laughed. Pulling the hood of her robe low over her head with one hand and holding the long scepter in the other, the female magician finally began to float down towards the two intruders. 
 Renee saw her coming first, and alerted her companion. But in their current state, their low amount of magic was the only thing keeping them from death, and so none could be spared to stop the incoming person. As the true female magician held out her scepter towards the two weaklings, a small beam of light shone out over them, and the flames began to part.
 As Renee fell to the ground beside the beast, the female magician held her hand forwards to her, and as she did so, the ground Renee was lying on shuddered, then became nothing, as did the ground underneath her companion. And as the wto of them fell, the mysterious magical being followed them into the depths of the land, and into the true world of the Land of the Lost...

 The stolen car swerved into the lane to the right, taking Patrick onto the off ramp of the freeway. Taking a sharp turn through the red lights, Patrick sped down the road towards the large buildings in the distance.
Shoot! thought Patrick, the cops are gonna come now, someone's reported me for sure now!
 As Patrick steered tha car into the parking garage of the airport, he crashed through many gates blocking the way, cursing at everyone. At last, he slammed on the brakes, the tires squeeling against the hard paved surface, the smell of burnt rubber in the air. As he kicked the door open, he heard the sirens immediately. Taking the keys with him, Patrick closed the car door and began to run towards the elevators that lay in the center of the garage. Punching the button with his fist, the sliding doors began to open, pinfully slowly. As soon as he got in his fist hit the 'close doors' button, followed by the 3rd floor button. The doors closed, and as the elevator began to rise, Patrick rethought his crazy idea over again in his head.
I came here to meet Jet, who I learned about over the internet. He says he's got info on the world of the supernatural, although really he could be some thug... My sister's gone missing, and the police are still searching for Patrick Inoru, prime suspect number one. And what do I do? I steal a car, run more than two too many red lights, and vandalize the national airports elevator. And in a matter of minutes I'm gonna board a plane to South America, and I'm gonna take over it... wow. Never thought these thoughts would come to my mind... but it's all true... every word...
 The elevator came to a stop, and as the doors slid open, Patrick was greeted at gunpoint by two officers, badges out, fingers on the gun triggers...


 Renee collapased as she hit the solid ground far below where she had knelt only seconds ago. Beside her, the beast was in the same sprawled position, black marks scorched into his body. Standing in perfect condition next to them, the hooded magician laughed softly to herself, before raising her hand, forcing the two of them to get up. And as they slowly and painfully got up, their eyes were welcomed with a strange surprise.
 "Welcome to Infinitora, the Land of the Lost. I am the keeper of hell."
 Renee's eyes opened wide, taking in the catastrophic landscape around her. While the land they stood on was solid ground, surrounding them were many islands that seemed to float in the air. The small piece of land upon which they stood was but one of the many parts of this strange world.
 "I guess I should explain more to you... I am Lyela Shinusa, the female magician, and the keeper of hell. The place you are in now is Infinitora, the last land of the three lands of Distortia.
 Distortia is the forgotten universe, comprised of three galaxies, each galaxy having only one landmass. Speed Galaxy, known as the land of deamons, or Primitora. Speed Galaxy is the first of the three galaxies. The second of the three galaxies, Mitora, or the in between land, is unihabited except for the First Being. The last galaxy is Infinitora, or the Land of the Lost. Here, I am ruler, and you two have intruded..."
 ..."So how do we... leave this place?" asked Renee, the beast beside her still not talking.
 "Leave?" Lyela began to laugh, "You don't leave from here on your own choice... I choose when you leave... and I say that... you must first become alive, then you may leave this place..."

 Patrick's hand moved faster than the cops could react, he gleaming blade tipped with a crimson red blood stain, stabbing the first officer repeatedly. The second officer, stunned and shocked, let out three shots, but in his dazed position the shots were useless, hitting Patrick in his shoulder and lower arm. The blade dropped from Patrick's hand, only to be replaced by a second blade reappearing his his other hand. This blade left its last memories deep inside the second officer's chest, the bloodlines slowly trickling down the neat suit.
 Patrick gasped in pain, the gunshot wounds only truely arriving to him at this moment. Clutching his arms with his opposite hand, the teen slumped to the ground next to the fallen officers. You have to get up you idiot! Any minute now the rest of the squad's gonna be here, and when that happens, you're dead! Patrick steadied himself, pushing against the wall to support himself. Then, shoving the pain away for the time being, the boy tore off down the empty hallway, his heavy breathing the only sound left in the area.

 A tall man paced back and forth in front of his desk. He was a busy man, and waiting was not his thing. He needed to leave, and if the boy didn't arrive soon, the cops would catch him, and that wasn't a good thing. Jet looked out of the window of the room he had taken over, and as he prepared to leave, he kicked the dead women infront of him once more, before leaving his victim and her room to the silence of death...


 ... Life... Death... It's all the same in Infinitora...

 Jet walked silently down the empty hallway towards his small airplane. The sleek white coloured fighter stood only about seven feet high, and was only twenty-three feet long, but that was all Jet needed to fly himself around the globe to ensure his business was done properly. Stepping out into the cold spring air, the man was met by the face of a teen boy, the body of the teen wrapped in a long dark cloak, and the small silver glint of a gun was just visible from beneath the clothing. Jet stared at the boy for a while, then smiled.
 "You must be... Patrick..." said Jet calmly, his voice low and confident.
 "That would be me. Although, once we get started on business, you won't refer to me by that name at all. For safety from the cops," replied Patrick, as his hand slowly shoved the gun back into the inside pocket of his cloak. As the man he had confronted began to walk away, Patrick quickly followed him, heading for the small but powerful airship.
 

 "Uh... uh... aaaagggghhhhhhhhhh!"
 The body of the beast beside Renee collapsed, sliding into several pieces, each one still moving, but all of them dead. Lyela turned to face Renee, but the novice magician was already on her feet. "Why'd you do it? Why'd you kill him?"
 Lyela looked at Renee directly, then laughed cruely.
 "Life... Death... It's all the same in Infinitora... It's all the same in Hell..."

 "Deamons... that's what you seek?"
 "Yeah... and apparently you can show me one?"
 "That would be party correct... except that the deamon I captured is gone... something about helping a girl save herself..."
 "Which is where my sister comes in."
 "Yeah..."
 The discussion was on a plane. It was between to very different people. But it was concerning one thing that both knew about, and one thing that could potentially destroy the universe... Deamons...

 Tyranac stepped back from Exaltoskull, and as he did so, his hands morphed into the shape of swords. Then, with the speed that only the greatest deamon warrior could have, Tyranac lunged forwards, stabbing Exaltoskull repeatedly until the golden black warrior dropped to the ground, his body seemed lifeless, his soul no longer willing to live.
 "Only the strongest can survive in the new land. This is the reason that you must become a Deamon Shadow, a reaper. King Axerion is finally bringing forth an army of ultimate power. He plans to destroy the rule of the Elite Ones completely. Even if my creators banished me from my land, it is still my purpose in life to protect them... And my act will come from you, Exaltoskull. Once you are a reaper, you will be able to defeat Axerion and the seven Deamon Lords." Tyranac's voice echoed slightly in the shadowed region of the forest. Moving away from Exaltoskull's body, Tyranac's hands morphed once more, this time becoming a shape of endless wonders, one that seemed to go on forever.
 Exaltoskull's body remained limp and lifeless, but as Tyranac approached him, the power emeniating from the shape his hands had formed caused him to move, slowly lifting himself into a standing position. The shape glowed, then flashed, the power level increasing as Tyranac moved closer.
 Then the shape and Exaltoskull touched, and Tyranac's hands entered the body of Exaltoskull. Exaltoskull gasped, his body live once again. Tyranac removed his arms from Exaltoskull's body, but the shape and his hands were gone.
 "What... What did you do?" exclamed Exaltoskull.
 "I have infused you... with the power of the Elite Ones. You are now Exaltoskull, Deamon Shadow, reaper of the Elite Ones!"

...

 Bellcast stretched his arm out, gathering the Attalna around him. As the eye like deamons swooped into his hand, Bellcast absorbed them, sealing them away until he needed them again. Landing on the turret of the northern tower of Fortress Metawar, Bellcast's white cloak bgean to darken, and within seconds, Bellcast's form was hidden in the darkness.
 "Lord Axerion... your humble servant reports back... the prophecy is wrong... " Bellcast's voice was silent, only a select few deamons able to hear it.
 "So, you've finally returned, Bellcast," the voice belonged to one of the Deamon Lords.
 "Yes... it is I... the seventh Warlord," said Bellcast, this time out loud, "Bring me to Axerion... I seek his presence..."
 "You wish to be near Axerion after such a short arrival?"
 "That is what I have said. You would do well to listen to my words."
 "Then you shall see Axerion, Bellcast, the seventh Lord. The other five Lords are with us now... we shall all report to our King..."


 Axerion sat on his throne, his great ax to one side, and a small sphere shaped object in the other. The large room in which resided the throne was dimly lit by large candles, and the stone walls surrounding the room reflected light, maximising the light from the candles. As Axerion moved his hand towards the sphere, it vibrated slightly, the magical pressure from Axerion's hand putting an enrmous strain on the sphere.
 The Oracle del Infinitora, the proper name of the sphere, was a unique object. It possessed the power to read the stars words, without requiring the special gift of Star Seeking. It was this object that had recently been returned by Bellcast, the seventh and most powerful of the seven Warlords.
 Axerion, his hand finally grasping the Oracle del Infinitora, looked up, and the space that had been empty only miliseconds ago was now full, seven deamons  standing infront of the king. The closest deamon to Axerion was clad in a white cloak, and as Axerion's gaze fell upon the deamon, the deamon knelt before his king.
 "You have finished the mission, I hope," said Axerion, his voice fierce yet quiet.
 Bellcast looked up at him, nodded once, then recited the words he had learned from the stars. Upon finishing his speech, Bellcast faced Axerion once more. "What shall I do now," he asked.
 "Take your Attalna with you," said Axerion, "and destroy the one who calls herself Nara. Destroy her completely... after she reveals the names of her comrades... And when you have finshed with her, destroy her friends. I want them annihilated."

 Crioone's legs touched down to the ground inside the city of Extapolis, followed by Taverna's landing. The two deamons, finally in a safe area, began walking towards the center of the village, where the central tower stood. The tower in the middle of the village was a fairly new developpement, having only been constructed after Axerion came into power. The tower, along with other such towers in villages that resided more to the west, acted as a transportation tower used by Axerion and his followers. But Crioone had a different intention for it. And this intention was not something that the king would appreciate...


 Bellcast's body shimmered in the air for a few seconds, then dissipated, the ancient and powerful deamon warlord long gone. Axerion stepped forwards, taking Bellcast's former place, and looked at each warlord in turn. Then, nodding- his sign of dismissal- Axerion bid farewell to the six deamons. Once again, the throne room was empty. But this time, it was empty for good. No deamon would ever set foot in the room again. For only seconds later, the central tower of Fortress Metawar exploded, leaving an empty space in the skyline, a sight which all deamons in the close area saw...


 Location equals Axerion Infinite, HQ of the King and his Seven Warlords. The Silver Deamon also resides here. This is the final act. It shall happen here...

 Axerion stood in the center of the large domed room, a small beam of light the only light prsent in the room. Infront of him, a deamon covered in metallic silver hovered in the air, muttering quietly and quickly. Axerion watched him, then grabbed him as soon as he was done.

 "You put the shield up right?"
 The silver deamon looked at Axerion, his face plain of expression, his eyes dead, his mouth closed. He nodded slightly, then extended his arm. As he did so, Axerion tightened his grip on the deamon, but even his power was no match for the xtraordinary power of the Silver Deamon. In a fight of pure strength and talent, Axerion would win by far. But the Silver Deamon had something Axerion didn't. The silver one was a cast away creation of the Elite Ones, and posessed far more power than Axerion.
 As the Silver Deamon's arm extended, his body seemed to move with it, and as it did so, his body escaped the grasp of the king. "I have done as you so commanded me to. My work here is done, but I presume you wish to use my powers more than just once. Am I right?"
 Axerion nodded. 'Your powers are needed for me to complete my act. You and I share something, something that cannot be destroyed no matter what. That is why you must do my bidding. My power and rule over the galaxy, combined with your mystical powers will lead us to dominate. I have my resources, yet you have nothing. I could crush you in a second if I wished to. You may have power in a different way from me, but without the Oracle del Infinitora, you cannot use it. We both hate the Elite Ones. They cast you away, and they took power away from me when... in the past. Together we can reclaim that power. Together we can conquer not only one galaxy, but the universe and its origin itself."
 The Silver Deamon looked at Axerion with still no expression appearing. "Your plan... you say that you have resources. What will become of the resources when the plan is fulfilled? Will they not fight back for what they helped to achieve?"
 "You are a being of power, as am I. What can they do to us?"
 "There is one who may even be able to take you yourself out... the one who calls himself Bellcast... his power is beyond even my own... the deamons he can create and control can destroy your army... I would advise taking care of him first..."
 "His mission is too kill a deamon... after he compltes the mission, then you shall see. I am stronger than he..."

 Nara's wings ached, the deamonic blood coursing through pulsing rapidly, the muscles working with seemingly no end. The red deamon was flying north, to a point which the wisdom of the skies led her to believe as the ancient tomb. It was supposedly the place in which the being known as Taverna had been born. It was also his death bed.
 Drops of blood began to appear on the outside of Nara's skin, and as she continued to fly, she cursed the wounds she had recieved earlier. The once healed blue lines on her wings burst open as a flock of deamonic birds flew into her, and Nara cried out in pain as she was dragged down to the ground. As she plumetted, the bird like deamons began to morph, reverting to their original forms- eyeball like deamons called Attalna. Nara cried out in shock, as she remembered Crioone's words of the foul creatures she had once encountered.
 It was then, that out of the ground below, a deamon clad in white emerged, his presence overwelming the area with magical power. The deamon warlord known as Bellcast stretched his arms out, gathering the Attalna around him, bringing the doomed red coloured deamon towards him. Even as he did so, blades sharper than the the crisp air itself appeared, the silver swords moving to Bellcast's hands. Nara dropped onto the ground, her sprawled body an easy target for the deamon lord.
 Bellcast brought his arms together, uniting the two blades, forming one large blade, which then curved itself, the shaft enlarging to form a long staff for which Bellcast to hold. The deamon's eyes turned blood red, his white cloak becoming a dark black. The cloak's hood folded over the deamon lord's head, blocking his wickedly cruel smile from showing. Bellcast lowered the newly formed blade, allowing the tip to touch Nara's neck. He then whispered one word. A word that all deamons and humans alike fear.
 "Death..."


 Crioone felt a sudden shock, even as the two deamons entered the tower. Nara was gone from existence. She was either expelled from Speed Galaxy, or she was dead. Crioone turned to face Taverna, about to tell him the same thing, but the look on Taverna's face showed her that words were meaningless. He knew just as well the fate which Nara had suffered. Neither deamon felt like speaking. Even thoguh Nara had betrayed the two of them, each had always thought that maybe, perhaps, there was a chance that it had been accidental, or that there had been a reason for the act. But it was useless to put thoughts towards one who was gone. The chance of return was slimmer than nothing.


 Bellcast's eyes moved back and forth, studying the empty body of the former Nara. Probing her mind, Bellcast attempted to retrieve any useful information. But the fact was, there was nothing to be retrieved. The body of Nara was a shell, the method of transportation and communication for the being itself.
 This was not a problem for Bellcast, however. The soul of Nara floated infront of him, now occupying the body of an Attalna. Moving his mind to focus on the soul of Nara, Bellcast began to examen it. But it was here where he encountered a problem. The soul was empty as well. Empty of all thoughts, memories, and future plans. It seemed, to Bellcast, that the red deamon was nothing more than a puppet, controlled by the puppet master himself. But the only trouble was: who was the puppeteer?

 Taverna shook his head, then continued to walk forwards. Followed by Crioone, the two deamons stepped into the tower, their energies flaring out immediately, taking out all of the guards in the immediate surrounding. Only six deamons remained standing, their dull colours hiding them in partial shadow.
 The six deamons turned to face Crioone and Taverna, rushing towards the intruders. But the weak deamons were no match for the two experienced deamon warriors. The remaining deamons fell to the ground, their life suppressed by the energies of Crioone and Taverna. The two deamons advanced once more, their new mission one of much more importance than a simple search of Fortress Metawar...


 Axerion and the Silver Deamon watched as a shimmering light appeared infront of them. As the bright flash cleared, Bellcast stepped through, holding the limp and lifeless body of Nara. Dropping the red deamon onto the ground infront of him, Bellcast looked at Axerion, awaiting his next orders. Even though he could not care less what he was asked to do, he ablidged to the orders, looking at them only as a way to experience some fun.
 In the old world, where Forna had been king of the deamons, Bellcast had simply perfected his skills of fighting both physically and mentally, using pure power, and magical energy. Only when the threat of a new king coming into existance came into being did Bellcast change. Creating a physical manifestation of deamonic energy, something that had never been done before, Bellcast called his army Attalna, ensuring that no one would realise what his creations truly were. Bellcast then fled from his habitation on the northern cost of the main island of Speed Galaxy, relocating himself to the outskirts of Extapolis, where he roamed the shadows for just over a year.
 After completing the Attalna experiment, making sure he was able to control his creations, Bellcast assumed the role of the seveth warlord to Axerion, as a way to succeed in the new order of Speed Galaxy, as well as to test his Attalna army on the weaker deamons. Axerion accepted Bellcast as the seventh warlord, seeing immediately that the deamon clad in white was unique and powerful.
 This was how Bellcast and the Attalna came into Axerion's leadership.
 "You have done well, Bellcast. What does the deamon know?" Axerion's eyes met with Bellcast's, the deamon king trying to intimidate his follower.
 "There is nothing, King Axerion. The body and soul were empty, the information from the skies is gone, or, perhaps, it was never there..." Bellcats's sentence trailed off, his voice becoming quiet, yet still filled with a certain athority. The Silver Deamon stepped forwards, raising his hand with a slight sigh. A barrier appeared around Bellcast, the white deamon crying out in surprise. Bellcast looked at Axerion with hatred.
 "You planned this, did you not, you sick coward. You use us to do the work you aren't able to do! You're a fool Axerion! You can't defeat me using this weekling you call a deamon! I am far too strong for you or anyone. I am Bellcast, future king of deamons!" Axerion looked at Bellcast, hatred coursing through his veins, a wicked smile crossing over his face. The giant king stood up to his full height, dwarfing the Silver Deamon and Bellcast in his shadow. Raising a small sword behind his head, Axerion laughed at Bellcast, and as he did so, the small sword revealed its true form, that of a great war ax. Axerion laughed more, as he began to swing down with his powerful arms. The ax crushed the barrier holding Bellcast, and as the barrier dissapeared, the Silver Deamon cried out as a load of magical pressure overwhelmed him. Out of nowhere, thousands of eye like deamons appeared, covering the Silver Deamon.
 Axerion's ax rested in the ground, and as Axerion looked around for Bellcast's body, the king was struck by a blast of magic that even he could not comprehend. Axerion fell back, his body bringing down the main section of his headquarters. The white body of Bellcast shimmered into view, and as Axerion tried in vain to grab him, Bellcast swooped down, holding a small silver blade in his hands.
 The blade itself was not powerful, but the magic imbued within it was its strength, and as it struck Axerion's head, the deamon king came to rest, covered with Attalna, who's mouths were red, green and blue, the colours of deamonic blood. Huddled in the corner of the large room, the Silver Deamon lay dead, only a few Attalna still feasting.
 Bellcast landed on the ground of Axerion Infinite, and as the Attalna filled themselves with enrgy, Bellcast abosrbed them, never dirtying his hands, never really killing what was already dead. The hunt was successful. The feast was great...

 Exaltoskull looked at Tyranac, and as if by an invisible force, Exaltoskull was gone, reappearing in miliseconds right beside the ancient warrior. Tyranac looked at Exaltoskull, then spoke softly.
 "Your Reaper powers will begin to adapt to your body. Until this happens, you will be subject to extreme danger, as your usual powers will be greatly weakened, and your Reaper side will try to take over. If you die during the process, you shall forever reside in the cursed land of Speed Galaxy, living the life as a mere shadow of another deamon."
 "Then what should I do?" asked Exaltoskull, only now aware of the danger he was in.
 "I will guard your body... by taking your spirit as my own for now. When your body adapts, I will return you to your body..."

 The walls of the inner chamber of the tower cracked as Taverna passed through, and the walls crumbled following the netrance of Crioone. The two deamons lookd around for a stairway or a rift in space, but could not locate one. Blood dripped down from the wall closest to Crioone, and as she turned to inspect it, a deamon launched itself at her, claws spread wide, fangs aimed at her neck. Crioone leapt backwards, her own claws out, ready to attack. Magical pressure filled the air, and as Crioone braced for an attack, Taverna lunged infront of her, stabbing two deamons just as the shimmered into view.
 Crioone jumped over Taverna, slicing the unprepared assaulter's shoulder. The deamon cried out, but was stopped as Taverna launched a razor sharp blade into the deamon's mouth. Blood spurted out the back of his head, and the deamon's body flailed madly. Crioone spread her wings, taking to the air, watching for any oncoming attacks.
 Taverna removed the blade from the dead deamon's body, and as he did so, a sucking sound came from the deamon's body. Then the deamon exploded, his inner body parts splattering across the room. Bones flew around, still covered with wet blood. Then, from the spot the deamon's heart remained, a rift opened up, leading into a dark tunnel that lead into the depths of Metawar. Crioone looked at Taverna, then nodded.
 "Let's go. We have a job to do. We can't wait for long. Casualties will happen."
 Taverna nodded in agreement, and the two deamons stepped forwards into the darkness.

 Crioone screamed in pain as her body was ripped to shreads. Upon exiting the rift, Crioone had discovered that the place the window had led to no longer existed. It had been destroyed. Below her, several deamons lay on the ground, life, their bodies torn apart, bones jutting out at odd angles, dried blood caked along cracked seams, and no magical energy either.
 Life was over for Crioone, or it would have been had Taverna not entered into mid air next to her. The green deamon cried out in pain, the same thing happening to his body. But Taverna acted quickly, his life, as well as that of Crioone's depending on quick actions. Exerting vast amounts of stored magical pressure, the rift behind them slowly closed, the process of destruction slowing. Blood seeped through Taverna's arms, but he didn't stop. Soon, Crioone found the strength to exert small bits of pressure, but only enough to temporarily stop the process of death.
 Taverna's eyes focused on the rift one last time, and the portal shut, the entrance sealed. Taverna dropped to the ground, to exhausted to move. Crioone purged the last amount of energy from her body as well, causing the stone floor below to soften their landing. The two deamons collapsed on the ground, not noticing the eyes hidden amongst the dead deamon bodies. The eyes moved around, Upon finding them, the beast hidden among the dead leapt out, his savage teeth ripping into the bodies of the remaining deamons next to Crioone and Taverna. Every good meal started with an appetizer...


 A large ship moved slowly across the pacific ocean, making its way through a war zone, hoping to remain under the radar. The ship, piloted by a tall skinny woman, moved along at a pace that would keep it moving, but keep speed sencors off of it. Since the crossing of horrible beasts the news had called 'deamons,' war had broken out over Terra Eterna. Different people wished to control the beasts that crossed, while others wished to do testing and experiments on them. Overall, the world had turned upside down, and the earth had become a place to capture whatever you could, and kill anyone you were able to, anyone standing in your way.
 But Dolphin lead a group of refugees out of war. Dolphin was not the real name of the women in charge of the sea liner, but the people had come to know her as Dolphin, because of her vast nautical resources. Dolphin was in control of over 25 large battleships, over 100 submarines, and well over 1000 other war watercraft. Her HQ was on the ship called RainShield, the largest of all ships, as well as the only one able to fight back against any enemy ship.
 So why hide from the world? Dolphin was not an ordinary human. No, she was a mage, capable of limited magic, as well as the ability to open gates to the otherworld. Some leaders of the war had heard the myth of the women able to contact the world of the deamons, and now many people were after her. But Dolphin wasn't stupid. She had set up HQ in the middle of the pacific ocean, continuosly moving around, guarded at all times by a fleet of subs and war ships. She also had fifty men on board the RainShield, ready to launch an aerial attack, as well as to add extra defence if anyone were to board the RainShield.
 Dolphin hummed to herself, inspecting the ships own radar. Two enemy ships were within attacking range, but there was no use launching an attack on them yet. If the opposition had backup troops to send in, Dolphin's location would be easily found. Dolphin always waited until the last minute to attack. Some of her crew members had even given her a sub nickname. Because when Dolphin launched an attack, the prey were small fish, and the attacker was the Shark...

 The eyes of the beast belonged to a large an unproportioned deamon, whos head was quite large, housing massive dagger like teeth. Unfortunately for the deamon, his mouth was so large that his eyes, ears and nose were greatly reduced in size. The deamon's body was long and skinny, its fore arms long, its hind legs short and muscular.
 The deamon was called Vulture, as it was a scavanger. The deamon looked powerful, but in reality, the reason it scavanged was because it was weak. Opening its mouth wide to bite into another deamon's chest, Vulture let out a roar, as he he clenched his teeth into the dead flesh of the deamon, blood spurted out wildly, and the sound of crunching bones could be heard.
 Taverna rolled to the side, his mind coming back into control. He stopped moving as soon as he recognised the presence of another deamon in the vicinity, and focused his renwed energy on Crioone, binding her down, while also healing her. When he was sure that the savage deamon was turned away, Taverna propelled himself into the air, keeping himself up with his powerful green wings. Searching the ground for any other living deamons, Taverna continued to heal Crioone, but also fed his own energy to himself, ensuring his ability to take out the deamon below. But while he was looking around, Vulture, below him, had discovered his missing meal, and had spottoed it in the sky. Leaping up, Vulture's mouth opened, rows of teeth tipped with blood moving towards Taverna's leg.
 The green deamon's energy flared out around him, blasting Vulture back, knocking many teeth out, and cracking many others. Vulture howled in pain and rage, and thrust himself up to fight back against Taverna. But Vulture had met his match, and both deamons realised it. Taverna flew towards Vulture, grabbing him by the neck and plowing him into the sea of dead bodies below. Vulture's eyes rolled back in his head, but he wasn't dead just yet.
 Taverna walked over to Crioone, and as he neared her, Crioone managed to stand up, dried blood falling off of her as she did so. "What happened to us?" she asked, still regaining consciousness.
 "Metawar's central tower has been destroyed," responded Taverna, "Meaning that the rift led to nowhere, and that to rid itself of something to nothing, it had to destroy us."
 Crioone turned away, then asked, "Now what. We came here to fight Axerion, but if he's not here..."
 "Nara. We need to find her," said Taverna calmly.
 "That lying traitor! Why do we need her?"
 "Don't you remember the prophecy we read deep in Metawar's depths? It said something about joining together to defeat the evil something or other. We need Nara to complete ourselves. She may have lied, but what if there's a reason for it?"
 "She's dead. Remember?" Crioone said bluntly.
 "No. She's not dead, I'm sure of it. But even if she did die, we could get her. We could go to Infinitora to find her and bring her back. We have to, don't you see?"
 Crioone shook her head. "One day I'm gonna regret this. But I knda miss Nara, and if we find her, it would be two on one, so we either get her back, or kill her again."
 Taverna looked around the old chamber, at the many dead bodies surrounding them. "When we leave here, there's gonna be an explosion. Metawar is getting taken down completely, then no deamons need to suffer death because they came to visit. The rifts will all close," said Taverna, turning away from the ground and looking at the sky.
 "And what do we do with this deamon you injured, leave him here to die?"
 "No. He's coming with us. We're gonna need him later. I can feel it." Taverna looked at Crioone, his face sad yet determined. "You ready to go?" he asked, and when Crioone nodded, Taverna gathered Vulture in his arms, and pushed himself into the sky, following Crioone. When the two deamons were only one hundred feet away from the fortress, a small crackle began. Taverna smiled.
 "And then things went boom!" he said, laughing.
 Metawar exploded in a fiery uproar of flames. The heat in the surrounding area was unbearable, but Crioone and Taverna pushed onwards, their flight headed towards the northwestern point of Speed. Eterna Peninsula...

 ... The earth skook violently, and waves crashed over nearby cities, the ocean's quickly claiming over a million victims. Tidal waves rose up, only to crash down on bridges, tearing them from their foundations. Earthquakes vibrated the whole world, knocking over buildings and communication towers. Men and women scurried this way and that, trying to escape the treacherous disasters that were  appearing all over the world. Magma bubbled over the edges of volcanoes, streaming down the sides, burning through anything that got in its way. Trees caught fire, and spread over the land, burning crops and shrubs, flowers and bushes. The wind picked up, hurricanes brewing over the raging seas, and tornados twisting their way across the quaking mainland. Very living thing was facing death.
 The apocalypse had come, and it had spared no one. And yet, out of the shadows, an army of warriors in white emerged. The people reached out to the army, but as the gunshots rang out, the people recognised the twisted faces of the warriors in the army. They were human, but thier faces were warped, and the deamonic like cries put fear into the people's hearts, and death to their bodies.
 It was the end of the universe as it was known...   


 Present day

 As soon as Crioone and Taverna touched down to rest their wings, Vulture awoke, his teeth gnashing, his claws slicing through the air. Crioone flexed her leg, trapping the weak deamon in a bubble of energy, then spoke softly to him.
 "We're on an important task, deamon, and your wild atacks won't make it easier for either of us. So shut up, and stop wildly slicing through the air. We may someday find use for you, but until then, your a simple free loader, susceptible to whatever we do with you." Crioone's words were quiet and harsh at the same time. Once she had finished, the bubble of energy surrounding Vulture broke apart, and Vulture collapsed onto the ground.
 "You ready to keep going?" asked Crioone.
 "Yeah. By the way, what's your name?" asked Taverna, his question directed to Vulture.
 "Some people call me Vulture. Other than that, I have no real name."
 Crioone kicked Vulture with just enough force to put him out of consciousness, then picked him up, tossing him onto her back. "Let's go."


 "Miss, we're surrounded. Enemy ships came out of no where, and most of the guard ships have been wiped out or taken over. They're using our army gainst us!"
 Dolphin looked at the man speaking to her, then slapped him. "So why are you telling me this? Call Jet and ask him to get the airforce over here ASAP. Then get all personnel into the last defence war ships, and get an inventory on how many navy forces we've got left!"
 "Yes, miss Dolphin, I'll go immediately!"
 Dolphin sighed, then went back to the main controls, directing the ship to a defensive position. If the RainShield was going to be attacked, it might as well be in a good position to fight back. Once the ship was turned, Dolphin lowered anchors, locking the ship in place. She wasn't going down without a fight. Triggering multiple torpedos, Dolphin launched offensive attacks at any nearby enemy ships, sinking them immediately. But more were pulling in, and as powerful a ship as RainShield was, it could not take assault from multiple enemies. The intercom hummed to life, and a male voice came into frequency, his voice blaring orders to the RainShield's captian.
 "We've got you surrounded miss Dolphin. Stop your attacks, and my men will deal with the situation quickly and harmlessly. If not-"
 "Stop your idiotic ideas and get real. This is war we're at. There is no quick and harmless way to end this. So come at me with everything you've got. We'll fight back!" said Dolphin, cutting off the voice on the other end.
 Dead air, and then, "So be it. I'm sorry it had to end this way."
 Dolphin laughed. It wasn't close to ending yet...

 The wind picked up as Crioone and Taverna passed over the Desert of Craiyo, and as the wind picked up, flying became harder, and the sand picked up by the wind greatly lowered their visibility. Below, scouring the sandy land of Craiyo, many deamons coloured to match the sand moved about. No plants existed in Craiyo, and even though it was a desert, the conditions of this one were vastly different. During the day, the sun beat down on the land, raising the temperature to an unbearably hot heat. Any plants that would spring up withered immediately, and any deamons that walked along the dried earth had feet with exceptional heat endurence. But during the night, the temperature plumeted to freezing temperatures, changing the entire land form. Sand would cling together, forming rocks that rose up, leaving giant pits and tunnels. The wind dissipated completely. The frigid wasteland could not support any life, and most deamons had to dig down into the depths of the sand late in the day to escape the night. There were, however, ceratin deamons that roamed the night land of Craiyo, but these deamons were rare, as well as powerful. Any daytime deamon left out for the night would die by morning, whether it be the weather's murder, or that of a night deamon.
 Vulture landed on the desert floor, scattering the day deamons apart, leaving room for Crioone and Taverna to land. The two deamons searched around, then looked at Vulture. Picking him up, Crioone hovered to a nearby rock that jutted out from the ground, and using a minute amount of power, morphed the shape of the rock into that of a small cave. Tossing Vulture into it, she seeled it, then hovered back to Taverna.
 "We can start searching now. When we find what we need, we'll get Vulture back. For now though, he's locked away, out of the way completely."
 Taverna laughed, then followed Crioone, the two deamons beginning their search for Nara in the vast desert of Craiyo.

 Tyranac's hand plunged into Exaltoskull's mouth, ripping its way through gut and flesh, and venturing into the deepest part of Exaltoskull's spiritual body. Exaltoskull gasped in shock, spluttering blood and chunks of flesh onto the ground. Coughing violently, the black and gold coloured deamon slowly weakened, both physically and spiritually. Tyranac's hand finally reached its destination, and as Exaltoskull's eyes went wide in shock and fear, the deamon master dissapeared, following the path of his hand to the Chamber of the Soul.

Inside the Chamber of Soul; Exaltoskull
 The darkness surrounding Tyranac quickly faded away, pushed back by an eruption of light. Tyranac's body shimmered, its form now that of a frog, his eyes milky blue, his skin clear and seethrough. Inside of his body, Tyranac hosted a large ball emitting light, the object illuminating the Chamber of Soul.
 Tyranac looked all around, searching the entire chamber for the soul of Exaltoskull. When he had located it, a formless mass of moving darkness, Tyranac's mouth opened wide, his tongue shooting out a light speed, grasping the soul. Exaltoskull's soul retaliated, the dark form spreadin and enveloping Tyranac. Tyranac leapt back, his webbed feet sweeping the soul off of his body. The light inside his body dimmed momentarily, and both Tyranac and the soul became invisible. Tyranac purged deamonic energy from his body, the magical force grabbing anything alive in the chamber. The light inside of Tyranac's body flooded the Chamber of Soul with light, and Tyranac advanced on the trapped soul.
 Stretching his arm out, the webbed toes on his feet grew claws. Tyranac's back was instantly covered in powerful spiked armour, and his back legs glistened in the light, the silver titanium covering them reflecting the brilliant light. A steel visor dropped over Tyranac's eyes, leaving only his stomach uncovered. As the soul writhed in an attempt to break free of the energy that held it, Tyranac morphed once more, this time, his body taking on the form of a serpent. The armour that had covered his arms and legs had shifted, and now Tyranac's body was completely coverd in deamonic magical armour.
 Tyranac advanced on the soul, his mout wide open, his fangs ready and alert, prepared to strike the soul with power and venom. But the soul of Exaltoskull had already given up hope. The soul dropped to the ground, willingly giving up. As the snake devoured the soul, hosting it while its body recovered, Tyranac wondered if the deamon he had just stolen a soul from would live, or if the powers of a Deamon Shadow were to much for him...

A small clearing in the Eterna Forest
 The body of Exaltoskull collapsed, sprawled on the forest floor. From the deamon warrior's mouth, a small deamon crept out, covered in blood and guts, holding a small broken bone in one of his hands. Stabbing the bone fragment into the ground next to Exaltoskull, the deamon chanted several words softly to himself, and once he had finished, he touched Exaltoskull, then the bone. At once, Exaltoskull's body was gone, leaving only a space covered in blood to show he had once lay there.
 The small deamon picked up the bone, then morphed, becoming a stallion, dripping in blood. The stallion's mane was red and orange, as it was on fire. The legs of the horse were pure white, as was its body. Its head was shaped like that of a stallion, but inside of its mouth lay rows upon rows of knife sharp fangs. Its eyes were deep red in colour, raging like the fire upon its mane. The bone containing the body of Exaltoskull rested inside of the stallion's mouth, in the third row, right in the center.
 Tyranac walked forwards, adjusting to his new form, and as he did, he took note of each and every deamon watching him. Those deamons did not live for more than ten seconds after the first was killed. Tyranac laughed hoarsly, then lept through the forest, heading to the northernmost of point of Eterna Peninsula...

 The desert's wind whipped small rocks around, scratching Crioone as she walked along the sandy earth of Craiyo Desert. Taverna, who was at this time flying through the air, was fortunate enough to not get hit by rocks, althouhg his altitude did not leave out all bad aspects. The wind that hit his wings normally aided the avian deamon's flight, but the wind in the desert was different. Gone was the warm, gentle breeze that normally blew across the mainland of Speed, only to be replaced by high speed, bone chilling gale force winds. Taverna's muscles were all flexed, and the effort he put into his flight was more than the effort used to fight the average deamon.
 Taverna winced as the wind hit directly into his face, momentarily paralyzing him. The green deamon dropped five feet, and was then able to recover and continue to scan the desert below. But there was nothing worth noting below. Any rocks that had survived the day's heat were scarce, and the sand all looked the same. Hidden in the shadows of rolling sand dunes, small deamon's scittered about, searching for any scraps of food that were still open game. The air did not seem to show any signs of giving Taverna a hint of where the object they sought lay hidden...

 Down below, still being bombarded by bits of rock and specks of sand, Crioone was having no better luck than her companion. The desert layout held nothing that seemed to be of use, and if the object that they were searching for was buried beneath the endless sea of sand, then it would take ages to find it. No, there had to be a clue of where to look, or where to begin, but at the time, one would not appear. And the clue would not appear until later. Much later, when the sun went out, and the harsh cold of night was upon them...

The In Between Time
 Wind howled across the hot sand, quickly, cooling it down to the freezing point. The temperature in Craiyo Desert dropped from extremely hot to extremely cold in a matter of minutes, and any day deamons who were still roaming the endless sea of sand had only minutes of life left. Crioone yelled out to Taverna to come back, but the emerald coloured deamon was too far away to hear, and the wind drowned out Crioone's cries. The sand upon which Crioone stood began to freeze together, the moisture from the daytime that lay in the sand now acting as the cement used to keep them pieces of sand together.
 The wind was now blowing at over 180 miles per hour, and it was all Criooned could do to create a tomb of rock hard sand to save herself. Up above, being thrown this way and that by the wind, Taverna cried out in pain as the wind tore his wings apart, and as blood began to flow from wounds near the base of his wings, Taverna threw a wall of energy around himself. The wall only lasted for about a second, but it was all Taverna had needed. His wings folded back behind his body, and his arms held his body together to prevent the wind from harming him. As soon as the energy wall was gone, Taverna dropped, only to be grabbed by the wind and tossed around above the desert. While he was being thrown around, the desert below was changing vastly. Deamons with a ghostly blue-gray colour to them emerged from the sand, their powerful hulking bodies protecting them from the environment around them. Stones erected themselves all over the desert, formed by particles of sand glued together. Deep trenches formed throughout Craiyo, and when Taverna was finally able to glimpse the night desert below him, what he found was astonishing...


 The tomb of rock holding Crioone shattered, and the blue coloured deamon rushed out, energy that had been stored up inside of her flaring out around her, threatening any deamons that would dare to confront her. Looking around, Crioone noticed the large rocks that had formed throughout the desert, as well as the deep trenches that came into being from the sand that formed the large boulders. The wind had finally died off, and the cold was now only the temperature, no added effects from the wind.
 Large deamons had begun to gather around Crioone, thier dull and lifeless eyes complimenting thier ghostly skin tone. As the deamons drew nearer, Crioone sensed that something was wrong. The deamons were silent, not even making a sound as they marched forwards across the cold dark ground. Crioone shuddered, and closed her eyes, drawing the positions of the advancing deamons in her mind. Their movements were slow and predictable, and yet, the deamons' energy did not seem to be responding to their movements. There was definately something wrong with the deamons of Night Craiyo, but Crioone could find the answer to the problem...

 Taverna dropped, and as he did, he realised the wind had stopped. Hitting the ground brought him back to his sences, and he knew at once that he needed to find Crioone and tell her what he had discovered. Moving quickly, Taverna dashed across the silent desert, not noticing the ancient deamons that were gathering on either side of him, their silent bodies matching his amazing speed. Only when he notcied the circle of similar deamons standing ahead of him did he see the deamons following him. Crying out in surprise, Taverna stopped immediately, turning and flaring his energy around him, and at the same time dashing to and from his position to knock the ghostly blue deamons back.
 But as he continued to move back and forth, he began to realise the horrifying fact that the deamons stood untouched. The truth came to him like a painful punch to the stomach, and as he dropped to his knees, Taverna cried a cry of defeat, allowing himself to be gathered by the deamons of Criayo Desert...

 Crioone stood her ground fighting back the oncoming deamons with everything she had, but as she grew tired, she realised her efforts were in vain. The deamons stood unfased by her attacks, and the emotionless faces seemed to grow a cruel smile as crioone realised her defeat. When the cry of defeat came out from a nearby Taverna, Crioone dropped to the ground as well, knowing that she stood alone, and that if Taverna had given up, she was dommed as well...


 The ghostly deamons lead Crioone and Taverna to a large hole towards the northern end of the desert, and as they neared, both deamons sensed the powerful essence that lay ahead of them. Once they were within ten feet of the hole, the deamons surrounding Crioone and Taverna began to disperse, forming a large circle around the hole. Crioone and Taverna were pushed forwards by invisible hands, and at last they were able to view the inside of the hole.
 "There's something you need to know..." Taverna's sentence trailed off as he waited for Crioone to respond.
 "There's something wrong with this place... During the day it's fine, but once the heat and light go away, something happens..."
 "That's what I need to tell you," said Taverna, "When the night comes, the desert's geography changes completely... and that's where the secret comes in. The trenches that are formed at night aren't random. This place isn't Craiyo desert anymore. It's the Desert of Death. All the deamons in this place now are dead. They used to be deamons, but something in this desert changed them. That's where the trenches come in. They spell out C R A I Y O-D E A T H, and every so often, there are arrows on the letters, all pointing to this point. I noticed it when I was flying, a large black spot. This is where the artifact is. Inside of this hole, is the gate to Hell..."

 The ship in which Dolphin stood rocked violently as it was blasted by multiple bombs from neighbouring ships. Dolphin's navy of subs and efensive ships had all dropped back, and were presently bombarding the enemy with any attacks they could to hold them off. As the enemy was slowly driven away, Dolphin's subs pulled forwards, keeping the enemy at bay as the defensive ships pulled their walls up, shutting the RainShield off from all navy attacks.
 Dolphin shouted out commands to her army, directing them in their counter assault against the unknown enemy. As she did, she came to realise the cease in enemy fire, and quickly ordered a cease fire to re assess the enemy's power. Once she was sure that their was no more fire, Dolphin began to search the radio waves for a signal from the commander of the other side. Finally, she tuned into an airspace, and quickly growled out orders for the other end to respond.
 ..."Who... who is it?"
 The transmission cut out for a second, then dead air came back on, the sign that the enemy still wished to speak.
 "...Who... who is it? What do... do you want?"
 The transmission ended, this time leaving open air, allowing for Dolphin to respond.
 "The is Dolphin, commander of the RainShield, leader of the FreeAllianceNavy, also known as FAN. You called in earlier ordering me to surrender my forces. Now I'm asking you to surrender your forces to me, or I'll be forced to kill every living being on board your ships!"
 Dead air, then the line opened again, only to be filled with the man's voice once more.
 "Can you... see my ships? I ask only because... I have a gun trained on your head, and if you so much as... give a simple order to your forces... I'll shoot to kill... We're not done yet... miss Dolphin."
 Frusterated, Dolphin watched as outside, her forces drew back, giving her forces only a small area of sea to defend.
 "You see," the voice came back over the air, "I've told your navy what's happening, and now they're under my influence. What I say goes. They'll only rebel if I tell them to capture you. They'll do whatever it takes to protect you. Not that it matters much. You're doomed, I win."
 Dolphin dropped to her knees, crying out in anger and frutration.
 "Let my people go, they aren't worth anything to you. Just, take me..."

 "... So you've... given up?" The voice that came over the transmission was weaker than before, but still had a sting of cruelty and pride in it.
 Dolphin brought the mic to her mouth, and began transmission. "No... I've realised who you are... and I can't give up now... "
 "You seem... so sure of yourself... all of a sudden... Does my prsence give you... a jolt of power..."
 "No, that's not it. It's the fact that you can't shoot me anymore that will allow me to win. This whole time that we've been talking, my second in command has moved himself infront of me. You didn't order him to stop, nor did you give any sign of dismay that he's blocking me now. You were bluffing!"
 The line went dead for a minute, then the voice came back on, a small laugh starting the speech. "My dear lady. You are wrong. Completely wrong. You see... I can't shoot your face... but I can shoot you're back. And if that man with the black hair moves an inch, I will destroy your ship completely. I will tear you... limb from-"
 "What the hell just happened? Why'd you cut out?"
 The line was silent, then, "Sir, Captain Grelacta, respond!"
 'Who the hell are you?" Shouted Dolphin.
 "What? You're Dolphin, from the RainShield. Captain Grelacta is dead. He was shot. It was your doing!" The line closed completely, shuttuing Dolphin off from any further responce. Then, suddenly the voice returned over large speakers from the enemy ships.
"This is Commander Seril. Captain Grelacta has been shot, and has died. All foot soldiers get into boats and raid the enemy's ship. War ships, provide cover fire. We're taking the RainShield and its occupants in one final all out attack. Destroy everyone but the commander. Bring Dolphin back alive, even if she's only got one limb left. I want her for my own purposes. Kill them now!"
 Dolphin shuddered, moving away from her position and back to her seat. Shouting orders into the mic, she began to command the ship's occupants, but was stopped by her second.
 "The enemy has destroyed the com system. We need to give orders by direct confrontation."
 

 Taverna peered over the edge of the large hole, looking into the depths that lead to Hell. Beside him, Crioone shuddered as she viewed the dark tunnel. But before the two deamons could completely explore the hole with their eyes, they were pulled back by the ghost deamons. From within their large group, a sinister deamon that looked nothing like the dead deamons had emerged, and stood before Crioone and Taverna. Looking the two deamons over, the sinister deamon gave out a noise that sounded somewhat like a laugh.
 "The great Craiyo awaits you in the Chamber of Hell. Move back, and make your way into the grip of death." The deamon backed away from Crioone and Taverna, then snatched one of the ghost deamons that Crioone and Taverna had not been able to grasp. "And if you are wondering who I am, well, I am known as the Bringer of Ghosts. My true name was lost long ago when Craiyo took me as his slave. But I was lucky to survive, and even as his slave I became more powerful, and the ruler of the ghost like beings you see around you. But enough from me, go forth now and confront with Craiyo. He will decide whether or not to open the gate for you, for that is what you have come for, is it not?"
 Crioone looked at the Bringer of Ghosts with a fearless face, then nodded. "We'll be going now, but we'll return one day to uncover the true secret of this desert. Until then-" Crioone's claw ripped the skin from the Bringer of Ghosts' face, and as the deamon cried out in pain and anguish, Taverna plunged his fist into the deamon's chest pulling out a small flask containing a green coloured liquid. Seeing the flask, the ghost deamons backed off, dispersing wildly. The Bringer of Ghosts looked at Crioone with hate, but it was all he could do before he died.

 Blinding light flooded through Exaltoskull's eyes, and as the deamon warrior cried out, the light dissapeared, only to be raplaced by darkness. It had been a week since Exaltoskull's soul had been removed, and the deamon warrior was becoming restless. His soul, the only part of himself he could control, was trapped in the Chamber of Soul belonging to Tyranac, and the two souls had come to a stalemate fight in the chamber. Each soul had its own instict to battle off another soul that resided in a Chamber of Soul, and it was all Tyranac could do to influence his own soul not to kill Exaltoskull.
 Exaltoskull's soul, a formless mass of dark matter, absorbed a stab from the sword held by Tyranac's soul, and as the sword plunged through Exaltoskull, so did Tyranac's soul. This process had gone on like this for a week. Tyranac's sword should have been able to cut through Exaltoskull, but the willpower from the mind of Tyranac allowed Exaltoskull to survive. But there had been times when the sword had hit Exaltoskull. The pain had been excrutiating, and was always followed by a blinding light, then darkness.
 Blinding light flooded through Exaltoskull's eyes, and as the deamon warrior cried out, the light dissapeared, only to be replaced by a darkness darker than any before. Exaltoskull cried out in shock, but his voice was muffled, and his vision slowly faded out of focus, causing Exaltoskull's soul to be wrapped in a darkness that was even darker than the darkness in which he floated. This darker than darkness was Death. It was also a Deamon Shadow, a Reaper of Death. Exaltoskull cried out in pain, this time his cries exploding from out of Tyranac's body. Exaltoskull's soul was launched out of the ancient deamon's body, causing the formless dak matter covered by the Deamon Shadow to emerge in plain daylight.
 Hands emerged from the formless mass of matter, tearing at the Deamon Shadow in an attempt to remove it. But Exaltoskull's effort were useless. In only minutes the Shadow had taken over, the Exaltoskull's soul was reduced to a ball of darkness, with rings of gold spinning around it. Red eyes appeared on the soul, and a large hole in the back of the ball was opened. A light brighter than any other that had ever existed or would ever exist came out from the hole, and the Deamon Shadow let out a noise that could be interpretted as a cry of pain. Then, when the light was gone, the ball that was Exaltoskull's soul closed, the red eyes remaining. The Deamon Shadow spread itself apart, covering the ball, then wrapping itself around the ball, muffling all noise. Once wrapped around, the Deamon Shadow dissolved into Exaltoskull's soul, creating a human form, than that of the body of Exaltoskull. The Deamon Shadow ended by creating a mix of the two forms, and once the shape had been created, darkness covered the universe, only to dissapear once again, revealing the true form of Exaltoskull, Deamon Shadow...

 Taverna pulled Crioone back from the dead deamon, protecting her from the sudden wind that sucked them towards the seemingly bottomless hole. The Bringer of Ghosts' body slipped slowly into the hole, chunks of blood seeping out of his stomach, and bones protruding from his arms and legs. The skin on his face peeled back, revealing a white skull, with small bug like deamons crawling over it. The bug like deamons, known as Yits, appeared on powerful deamon's bodies the second they died, extracting as much energy as they could from the dead deamon before it was all lost. Most died in the process from an overload of power, but those who survived simply moved onto the next prey, duplicaing themselves using the energy they had gatheredto ready themselves for the next death.
 Crioone turned around, looking away from the horrible sight, only to be greeted by a sight which scared her half to death. Moving towards them, the ghost like deamons floated through the air, their claws extended. But their was something different about them this time.
 "They're not ghosts any more... that other deamon was simply a controller of matter. He made them untouchable and ghostly, but once he's taken care of, the rest of them are just normal deamons." Unluckily, Taverna was only half correct. The deamons were now actual matter, but they were not ordinary. These deamons were an elite form of normal deamons, created and modified to be the ultimate deamonic warriors. The ghostly blue colour had now become a metallic blue, and their skin had been removed. Bones and muscle moved akwardly, but the power behind their attacks was immense.
 In only minutes, Taverna and Crioone were pushed back to the outer limit of the hole. And when the deamons struck once more, Crioone fell back, followed by Taverna. Even with wings, the two deamons allowed their defeat, knowing that the dead deamons would only fly after them, and eventually capture them. It would only cause them to lose energy, and the place they were headed would require all of their energy...


 The sun rose up over the cold desert of Craiyo, and the powerful deamons that had roamed the desert during the frozen night sunk into the warm sands, sinking to the bottom, where the sand always remained cold. And there, a deamon with a beautiful white hide stood before a throne. Beside him, a dog like deamon growled quietly as the dead deamons rested their bodies in large tubes. Bellcast smiled a cruel, evil, yet genius smile, and rested his hand upon his pet's head. "Follow my words, and the prophecy will not come true... the deamons who have discovered it have only discovered a part of it, as I planned. They think they are the heroes in this prophecy, and yet, in reality, the prophecy goes against them.
 "Alkyra. Geminest. Hardok. Illyare. Ninmeko. Omnimega. Arrange your battalion forces. Line up at Central Peak. The west side. Bring forth the Tower of Millenia once more. There will be the site of expulsion. I will be retiring to the Fog until the time is right. Until we meet again, Queen Lyela is in charge. She will appear once I am gone. She may look human, but her magician side is more powerful then Axerion the fake. Take good care of Anlatta until I return. And the beings from Craiyo... kill them all. They are no use to me anymore. Act two of phase one is done. The king is killed, the deamons lured. Ahead to act three, the ultimate act of phase one..." And with his last words, Bellcast shimmered out of existence, leaving in his place a hooded being with long flowing hair, and a spiritual pressure that made the six remaining warlords shudder. As Queen Lyela sat down upon her throne, the six warlords, as well as Anlatta-the dog deamon- rushed forwards, destroying the tubes in which rested the Craiyo Desert deamons.
 As the warm sun beat down upon Craiyo desert high above, the temperature changed, and a warm, almost happy, feeling came acroos the desert...


 Craiyo, a monstrous deamon, keeper of the gate to Hell, closed his mouth. The large hole in the desert shut, the gate had been closed. In a heart beat, the two deamons that had entered were gone from his presence, their bodies roaming the endless sea of desolate islands that was known as Infinitora. But that didn't bother Craiyo. His task was done, the gate was closed, and only those who had needed to go through had gone through.
 Then something terrible happened to the great deamon. His heart skipped a beat, then another. The beings that kept the main body alive, the ghostly deamons, were dead. Craiyo's life force slowly escaped his body, and the desert he housed shook violently. The deamons of the day scattered quickly, the sand beneath them suddenly becoming too hot to bear. Craiyo's body spasmed wildly, shaking loose any rocks from his body, and the sand upheaving, creating sandstorms. Any deamons still in the desert of Craiyo died immediately. And then, the last deamon to die lost his life. The being known as Craiyo faded away, leaving a pack of Yits to scavange his body. In only seconds, Craiyo Desert sunk into a large crater, shaped like a large deamon...

 A small child stood infront of two bewildered deamons, one of them blue, the other green. The child looked at them, then raised them into the air, using her magical power of her magician side.
 "Who are you? And why have you come here?" The two deamons stared at the child in awe, and then, exerting a minute of power, each deamon freed itself, blasting the female magician with power strong enough only to mildly hurt her.
 "I'm Crioone, from the planet Speed. This is Taverna, also from the planet speed. We came here looking for a deamon."
 "A read one," added Taverna.
 The girl looked at the two deamons, then stepped back, putting her hands at her sides. She immediately grew in size, into that of about a teen. She then unhooded herself, revealing her face and hair. "I'm Renee. I came here trying to get to a deamon's home land, but something went wrong. We crashed here, and then he died, leaving me here with another magician. Except she's gone now. Leaving me here by myself."


 Whisps of smoke, mist and vapour swept up against Bellcast's body. The white coloured deamon stayed silent and walked forwards, into a land filled with darkness. Coming from around him, many Attalna surged forwards, surrounding him and clinginng him. The eye like deamonsfloated loyaly beside their master, preparing themselves for the battle that was to come...

 Renee walked ahead of the two deamons, leading them across yet another mass of land, towards a place she called the Tower of Infinitora. It was there, apparently, that one could locate any being in Hell. Using her magical powers, Renee had found the tower, and put the three beings on the correct route to to get there. The land of Infinitora was mostly dry land, with fallen trees here and there. Once, the land of Infinitora had prospered, and the land had all been connected as one. But then, one day, a deamon with the power to tear islands from the sea, and uproot trees by breathing in had come to the land. As the deamon walked through, he broke the land, bit by bit, and spread the smaller islands all around the area, causing them to float. But then, the montrous deamon known as Craiyo left, seeking another area in which he could reek havoc.
 "So, how long will it take to get to the tower?" asked Crioone, looking around in awe at the place called Hell. Renee looked at her, then at Taverna, and answered,
 "If we can move faster, then the journey won't take too long. A day or two at most. At which point, we should be standing infront of it."
Taverna immediately spread his wings, floating up into the air. "Can you fly?" he asked Renee.
 "Of course. Just, not the way you two can." Renee raised her left hand, and at the same time, murmurred a few words. At once, Renee was lifted into the air by an unseen force, and then dissapeared. Only to reappear a second later fifty feet away.
 "So... shall we get going?"


 Lyela watched with mystefied eyes as the six deamon warlords tore through the ghost deamons bodies viciously, ripping bones and gut long ago dead from their remnants. At her side, Anlatta growled, a sign that it was time to move on.
 "Stop. Bellcast has planned a most intriguing plan. Let phase three begin. Move out, and destroy the seven towers of Speed. Once that is complete, return here, and prepare for the ultimate act"...


 Hawk stabbed the body of a human once more, and then, using his magical energy, forced the soul from the body, and stabbed it as well. "Its come... to this... has it..." Using his last  bit of magical energy, Hawk healed the human body, then slipped his soul into it, and immediately pulsed a message out to everyone he had called earlier.
 "The plan has changed. The meeting point is Celestial Valley, Terra Eterna. I am currently on Terra Eterna, but I won't be at the meeting area for a week or so. Jet and Dolphin, my brother and sister, are in danger, and must be saved. This is Hawk. Out."
 Hawk reached his hand out, adjusting to his new body. His muscles flexed, and the sheer human power from them was amazing. His body was powerful, tall, and physically fit.
 Taking the bloody knife from the ground, Hawk pocketed it, and kicked the empty, half human hlaf deamon shell, then exited the alley, running towards the outskirts of the city...


 Dolphin was in a bad situation. The enemy ships had closed in, and the RainShield was the last ship in the Freelance navy. As if things weren't bad enough, the com system was down, and the people onboard the RainShield were in complete disaster. There was no more order upon the ship, and the enemy was beginning to board the RainShield in mass numbers. And then the worst shock came to her.
 "Hands up Dolphin. It's game over for you." The voice came from the second in command, who held a pistol to her head. "It's over Dolphin. I'm doing this for your benefit."
 "Actually, you're not going to kill her. I'm going to kill you."
 The pistol clicked, and a bullet fired out. But not the way the second in command would have wished. The bullet came out the back of the gun, and hit the second in the head, killing him instantly. Dolphin cried out in shock as the second fell into her body, the blood from his head wound gushing out all over her body.
 "Hello Dolphin, long time no see. My friend here is Patrick. He's a part magician. You may remember me as Jet. Your brother. My flying squad has moved in, and the enemy has been conquered. I've been ordered to rest our position here until Hawk arrives. Then we pull out."

 Things had gotten bad in the galaxy known as Infinitora. The deamons long ago perished, as well as the lost souls of humans had launched an assault upon the weaker dead among them, and for some unseen purpose, the dead had seemed to form their own leagions, each on set out upon another. But that was not the most distrurbing thing. Uproars came about often in Hell. The disturbing thing was that, in this most destructive uproar, the dead were dissapearing, fast. The lost souls were quickly being destroyed, their last remnants of the world as they knew it were being torn away from them.
 Meanwhile, Crioone and Taverna had also been caught up in the uproar, and as the deamons fought back against the oncoming mobs, each one thought the same thought.
Is Nara still here, or is she...


 Renee scrambled as she fumbled around trying to grip the rock cliff she had tumbled from. She had been flying with Crioone and Taverna, deamons and sworn enemies of human kind of so long ago, and yet, now her only means of survival. That was when the deamons who inhabited Hell had struck her two companions by surprise.
 Crioone had immediately ordered her to flee and get to safety. But Renee had other ideas. She did flee, but not in the way Crioone had wished. Taverna had cursed her name as she flew off in the direction of the Tower of Infinitora.
 But Renee had been followed by a lone deamon, and had been whipped into the side of a mountain and left to die. But it was the attacking deamon that would die. Renee's cold eyes had looked at the deamon flying away, and within seconds, the deamon's body had exploded from the inside, splattering bits of dead flesh and blood over the ground and Renee's cloak.
 The female magician had immediately gotten up and continued on her way, when she was struck by vertigo. She had tumbled down the side of the cliff, slicing a large gash up the side of her arm, and effectively breaking her right arm. The knife she had carried when she had been on Terra Eterna slid out of her pocket and dropped to the ground far below. Her vertigo dissapeared, but she was wounded, and the smell of living blood had attracted a hunter who's teeth had long ago shred the bodies of thousands of deamons to death. The hunter had destroyed any deamon who had come in his way.
 Upon the hunter's head lay a shattered crown, and his wrist still held the shackles that his opponent had confined him to. Forna looked at the gril in the distance with nothing but hatred. After all, she was a living, torturing his dead body with the warmth of life...


 Patrick watched as Jet and Dolphin had a quick reunion, then shifted his position to directly infront of Dolphin. "Change of plans. We have to go," he said bluntly, extending his arm to a small protal that was slowly closing. Jet nodded, but Dolphin shook her head.
 "This is my ship. I can't abandon it."
 Patrick grumbled, then closed his extended hand, causing the boat to dissapear. Pulling his hand back in, the portal moved towards the three humans, and in a split second, they were gone...


 Hawk walked into the open desert area just outside of the town where he had just murdered a man. His eyes closed, blocking any tears that tried to come out. Even after all of his years as a deamon prisonner, he still had human emotions. That was a good thing. But he was a murderer, and how could he live with himself now.
I know.. I will finish this war that I've started, and once the deamon who enslaved me is dead, I will kill myself. Ending my life is the only way to atone for my actions...


 Vulture looked around at the scene around him. Small bug like creatures tore away at the largest bones he had ever scene. Being a scavenger himself, Vulture could not resist the temtation of food. Moving in on the meal, he quickly scattered the small deamons away from his, and as they watched him feast, they realised that this deamon did not only eat dead food, but also those who still lived, if he was able to capture them.
 The Yits acted immediately, attacthing themselves to his body, not to hram him, but to aid him. In only a matter of minutes, the Yits, combined with the body of Vulture, towered above the bones of the dead Craiyo. Vulture cackled with delight at his new appearence and power, and as he walked away from the meal he had finished, he did not realise that his death was imminent. He had interfered with a plan so precise that if his actions continued, the course of destiny could be altered.


 Lyela suddenly felt that something was wrong. The body of ancient Craiyo was empty of energy. Something had sped up the process, and if the timing of Craiyo's finishing was too quick, who ever had commited the act would pay. She was now alone in her underground base, as the six warlords and Anlatta had left to fulfill Bellcast's great plan.
Fine, she thought, then I'll do it myself.
 It only took a second. Anyone watching Lyela would have thought that they had blinked. One second, Lyela sat upon the throne, the next she was gone, the next she returned. But to anyone with an eye that could watch things at the speed of light, they would have seen Lyela draw out her sword, swing down, then return it. Of course, the sword swinging down was only an after image.
 What, in fact, had happened, was quite simple. Lyela had teleported her self to Vultures body, causing the Yits to disperse at the sign of an intruder. She had then swung her sword down, cutting with metal as well as magic to destroy the deamon caled Vulture. Then she had teleported back, the job done, the plan saved.
 Lyela laughed, a dark, eerie laugh. She had almost forgotten what she had been doing before Bellcats had called. "Ay yes... the girl... she must be taken care of." ...

 Crioone's wings spread apart as she dismissed the thought of Nara and took to the air. Next to her, Taverna had done the same thing, and in an attempt to shake the deamons of Hell away from them, Taverna had launched a massive wave of energy that tore through their ranks, sweeping the deamons back, knocking the human souls away too. Crioone began to fly away, but was stopped by a sight amidst the mob of deamons. A crimson deamon lay unmoving in the middle of the pack, the wings lined with dried blood. As Crioone continued to stare, Taverna caught sight of the deamon, and immediately took action.
 The emerald coloured deamon rushed the mob of deamons, his claws extended, his wings flapping madly, scattering deamonic energy throughout the area, causing multiple souls to take their last look at the world. Once he was sure the deamons were not going to launch an attack, Taverna touched down to the ground and walked toward the red deamon body. When he was only feet away from the deamon, a puff of smoke appeared, and the deamons of Infinitora backed up, bowing their heads to the coming being. Taverna stood stalk still, and Crioone floated down to join him.
 "What is it?" murmured Crioone, her breathing almost completely stopped. They had come so close, and the deamon they were eyeing could possibly be Nara. Without thinking, Crioone rushed through the cloud of smoke, grabbing the body as she passed. Taverna shouted a cry of warning only seconds too late. The bing who had emerged was a familiar being. One all to familiar...


 Renee blasted the oncoming deamon with a surge of power, causing Forna to suddenly speed up. Renee masked her presence, moving out of the way of the former king, allowing the deamomn to plow headfirst into the mountain. Renee then poured magical energy into Forna's body, causing the deamon to slowly overflow with power.
 What resulted was a cry from Forna of rage and pure anger. Renee unmasked her presence, and at the same time conjured a blade made of diamond to form in her hand. Renee drove the blade into Forna's neck, just as he exited the hole in the mountainside he had created. With a cry of overwhelming pain, the body of Forna slowly dissapeared, his legend and legacy finally over. Renee dropped to her knees, a sudden weakness coming over her.
 "You didn't think I had forgotten about you, did you?" The voice belonged to Lyela, Queen of Hell.
 Renee turned to face the magician, but instead found that her body was being forced to stand, and even forced to move towards the edge of the mountain side. "What you are seeing before you is the end of your life," said Lyela, smirking, "and the beginning of the end of the universe!"
 Renee looked over the edge of the mountain, and in the distance, she could see Crioone and Taverna fighting widly for survival, then saw them rise into the air, out of harm's way, where they stayed, transfixed by some unknown presence. And then Renee felt extreme pain, and her vision caught sight of the point of a diamond, tipped with red liquid. Renee coughed, but instead of air, being released, blood splattered over her chin and onto the ground. The diamond tipped with blood slowly receaded back from where it came from. Renee's eyes closed, and as they did, the diamond blade was pulled back by Lyela, and came out of the back of Renee's neck.
 "And what you see now, is your spirit departing its dead body, only to roam and burn in Hell for a short time, until the ultimate act is complete." ...


 Hawk was suddenly surrounded by three people, two of which he knew, while the other one was unknown to him. Hawk exchaged a glance with Jet, then Dolphin, then looked at the boy. "Hawk," he said, lifting his hand toward the boy.
 "Patrick," replied the boy, in the same tone, also extending his hand, shaking that of Hawk. Jet watched as each one analysed the other. Both were magicians, although their power's were quite different.
 Patrick's powers were still developping, and were, for the most part, non combat skills. On the other hand, Hawk's powers were almost fully complete, and were used in direct combat as well as for transportation.
 Dolphin looked at Jet, and then Hawk. "So, what now, where are we headed?"
 "Celestial Valley," replied Hawk, already beginning to open a gate.
 "Don't worry about that, brother, my friend has already opened one, and has stepped through," Jte said, laughing at his brother as he closed the gate.
 "Yeah well, we'll just see how he does in combat."...


 "Tower one is destroyed."
 "As is tower two."
 "Tower three has been taken care of."
 "Tower four... is no more..."
 "Tower five is like the rest."
 "The sixth tower is flattened."
 "The.. seventh.. tower.. destroyed... Returning.. to.. base.."

 The last voice belonged to Anlatta, who did not often speak. No one was at the base to reply to the messages sent out by the dog deamon and the six warlords, but the message had reached Bellcast. The white deamon stretched his hand out, the Attalna crawling over him retreating to the shadows of the mist. The time was coming, and in mere hours, Bellcast would arise, and the universe, and every living being, would belong to him. Bellcast closed his eyes, and as he did, the shadows around him dissapeared, revealing an area filled with nothing, with no floor, cieling, or walls. The area was simply known as-

To Be Continued...

 Exaltoskull's body phased into view, a powerful spine above an even stronger looking abdomen. Plates of shadow like armour shone in the part light that glimmered over the body of the Deamon Shadow. Claws sharp as the sharpest knife in existance protruded from his four legs, and wings blacker than night sprouted from his shoulder blades. His head was covered in golden armour, and his jaws were lined with teeth that matched the sharpness of his claws. His legs were powerful and aerodynamic at the same time, and his tail had become a powerful whip like tool for him. His eyes were no longer red, but black, containing the Deamon Shadow's essence in them.
 Tyranac's body changed from purple to white immediately, his form also changing into a blanket. Tyranac leapt up, draping his body over Exaltoskull, containing the new deamon creation. But Exaltoskull's power was exploding out of his body at an enormous rate, and even Tyranac's body could not contain the power. Exaltoskull burst out of Tyranac's containment, and cried out a cry out pure hatred.
 "Why? Why did you do this to me?" he exclaimed, even as the Deamon Shadow clawed its way out of its new body. Tyranac changed back to his stallion form, and spoke calmly, trying in vain to control the deamon.
 "You made the decision yourself-
 "Don't give me that bull! You knew the outcome, yet you failed to explain that to me. You only said I might die, not what I'd go through!''
 ''I did know that... something might have gone wrong... but what's happened here was... unpredictable...''
 Exaltoskull eyed Tyranac, but before he knew what was happening, the Deamon Shadow took over. An arm made completely of shadow emerged from Exaltoskull's body and made a grasp for Tyranac. Tyranac dodged, but the shadow arm was too fast.
 ''Agghhh!'' Tyranac's cry of pain deafened Exaltoskull for a moment, but before the deamon and his Shadow could fight back, Tyranac was upon them, slashing away madly at the two beings who had become one. And suddenly he wasn't. Tyranac looked around but the plain they had been fighting on was empty except for himself. Exaltoskull was gone, and even the presence of the Deamon Shadow was not present...


 A body darker than night emerged in an alien world. His eyes search the baren landscape, but he could see nothing, hear nothing, nor feel anything.
 ''Where... am I?'' Cried Exaltoskull. But he would not find an answer. No one would answer him for a while...

 "Your days of living are over, Crioone," said Renee, akwardly, as she drove the diamond blade straight at Crioone's head. Energy flared around Crioone, slowing the diamond blade just long enough for her to dodge and counter attack. Renee tumbled to the ground, putting her hand done at the same time as she forcec claws to extend from her fists to stop herself. Crioone moved in to attack, but Taverna's hand stopped her.
 "Why are you attacking us, Renee?" said Taverna, his tone harsh. The girl looked up at the emerald coloured deamon and laughed.
 "You never suspected me. I was the last person you thought would betray you. Well, here's why. As I made my way to the tower, another magician stopped me, and prophecised my death. And she also let me see the true way of the future: death and betrayal. Of course, I couldn't care less of what she has to say, but I realised that her words were the truth. And surprised her by retaliating, and killed her with ease. And now I'm coming to get you!"
 Renee slid back away from Taverna and Crioone, and at the same time conjured multiple stone soldiers to provide cover. Blasts of magical energy exploded from Renee's fists, pulverising the two deamons and at the same time pushing the deamons of Hell away from the battle area. In a matter of minutes, it was a two on one battle, and even though Crioone and Taverna were fighting together, they found it quite hard to land an attack as they were rained on with magical energy...


 The six warlords sat around in a circle, surrounding Anlatta. It was only a matter of time now, until the ultimate act wold be accomplished. Only a few more minutes. Anlatta barked one. The countdown to the end had begun...

 "The... time has.. come..." Anlatta said, his voice barely audible as a low growling sound also escaped his mouth at the same time. The six warlords stood at once, and Anlatta, howled a cry so awful and dark that even the warlords, accustomed to death and treachery were astounded. Attalna suddenly flooded the area, clinging to Anlatta as if he were giving off life energy in plenty. Six lightining bolts suddenly struck each warlord, and Anlatta barked once more. The area in which the seven of them had been standing crumbled to the ground, as did the city it had been in. In seconds, a city that had housed hundreds of deamons was flattened, and if any onlooker had gazed upon it, they would not have recognised it as a city.
 From amidst the rubble, a small head broke loose, and following it was a body with four legs and a tail, covered in Attalna. Anlatta growled, and lunged to the side, just as a being shot past him. The being turned around, but was not fast enough to escape blades of powerful steel, that slashed into its side. Anlatta growled again, then walked over to the fallen warrior.
 "You.. played a.. funny trick on... Anlatta.. and for that... you will... pay dearly.."
 The being underneath Anlatta struck a blade up, directly into Anlatta's flesh, laughing as he did so. Anlatta looked uneasily at the third warlord's eyes as they in turn watched Anlatta's pain.
 "Death.. to traitors..!" Anlatta broke away from the blade in his stomach, and with claws extending further than any deamon had thought possible, Anlatta drew blood from the deamonic traitor, killing the third warlord as if he were a weak and unexperienced deamon. Anlatta considered taking the warlord with him, but he figured it would be worse to leave him here to be picked at by scavenger deamons. Anlatta teleported from the seen immediately afterwards, and proceeded to the meeting place: Hell...

 "Taverna! We need to counter. We're stronger than her, especially with both of us. Give me just enough cover to unleash a deamoncic energy blast, then we pounce."
 Taverna immediately launched himself at an unsuspecting Renee, pelting her with beams of energy, only strong enough to blast her back. Crioone had meanwhile set herself onto the ground, and an aura of energy had gathered around her, slowly gathering more energy from the area around her.
 Renee countered Taverna's weak attacks with blasts just as frequently, but at twice the power. Overwhelmed, Taverna was forced backward, getting dangerously close to Crioone.
 Taverna bent his wings, forcing them to catch the wind and blow him towards Renee, all the while fighting back her blasts of energy. Renee drew back, then launched herself at full speed at Taverna, knocking him back in a surprised and vulnerable state. But there was something wrong. Taverna had fallen, and he did not appear ready to fight back. The diamond blade held in Renee's hand twitched suddenly, and that was when she realised what was wrong.
 "Gotcha."
 A fist plunged into Renee's back, grabbing her and holding her. The red hand was lined with deep blue lines-dried blood- and was attached to an arm Crioone had never thought she'd see move again. Nara had risen, and for some unknown reason, she was helping them.
 "You shouldn't have toyed with Taverna. He doesn't go down easily. I know, because I tried to kill him and Crioone, for their own sakes. But then-"
 Taverna's green body flashed infront of her, and in a flash of light the two were behind Crioone, who at the same time unleashed her completed deamonic energy blast. Renee toppled from the air, landing on the mountain top, only to be stabbed repeatedly by a thrashing Nara.
 "Calm down Nara... Just explain what the heck you did to us back in Metawar!" Screamed Crioone.
 "You freaking idiot, she's dead, just leave her body!" Yelled Taverna to Nara.
 Nara was about to respond, but was cut short. The three deamon were suddenly surrounded by six deamonic beings of extreme power. Each one looked at the three deamon, a slight grin on their faces, and then, one shaped like a dog stepped forward.
 "My name.. is Anlatta.. I have come.. to proclaim.. a false prophecy.. as well as.. your deaths." ...

 Anlatta leapt forwards, colliding with Nara in mid air, slashing her with powerful claws and gnashing teeth. Nara fought back with powerful blows from her clawed fists, and Taverna and Crioone each moved in to prevent any further deamons from advancing. But even then, the odds were still against them, and with six deamons of superior strength against three of medium strength, the fight was only a time buster, the outcome already determined.
 Within minutes, Nara was back to back against Taverna, and Crioone surrounded by two warlords. Anlatta and the other three warlords surrounded Taverna and Nara, and the mini combat was over.
 "...You did.. better than.. expected," said Anlatta, mis mouth opening and closing, his eyes showing no fear, only anger, "But.. in the end.. the weak and.. the strong seperate.. and the weak.. are banished..."
 Crioone looked over to her friend and her former accomplice, the bowed her head. "What shall our outcome be?" she asked, her eyes closed.
 Anlatta watched her, then responded in short sentences filled with pauses. "Our leader... shall come... and re-write history... a new prophecy.. shall be... created..."
 "Then what of the original prophecy?" the question came from Taverna, who had also given up for the time being.
 "Which.. original.. prophecy..?"
 "The one which we read long ago in Metawar... This one," said Crioone, and began to recite the word they had discovered in the chamber of Metawar.

 "...joined together...and vanquish their... The great one... into the fog... demise... destrought... destroyed...
When the... rose up once... conquered... the fog is only... are banished..."

 Anlatta looked at Crioone, then Nara, then Taverna. His claws extended, and as he looked at each deamon in turn, his eyes seemed to change, if only slightly. A note of sadness seemed to appear, but as soon as it appeared, the dog deamon banished the feeling from his mind.
 Omnimega looked to Anlatta for a sign, but the dog deamon leader did not give one. Alkyra and Geminest stepped forwards, most likely to aid Anlatta in an explination, but were stopped by Ninmeko. "Anlatta needs not our help. Bellcast is to return very soon, and then we shall see what is to happen."
 "Ah.. the prophecy of Bellcast.. is the one.. which you have.. spoken... Yes, that one.. is quite.. misleading..." Anlatta's voice trailed off, but a small smirk seemed to appear on his dog like face.
 Ninmeko then stepped forwards, and if any of the warlords had any intention of stopping him, none of them showed it. Of the five remaining warlords, he was by far the strongest, and quite possibly the most loyal, apart from Anlatta. Anlatta looked at Ninmeko, and even he realised that time was short. Anlatta nodded.
 "The prophecy which you speak is that of Belcast and the Attalna. It speaks of Bellcast and his army rising into power and killing the former king Axerion. Then banishing his enemy. The original prophecy, if I remember correctly, was written by Forna, who knew that one day Axerion would rise to power. It was then that Forna sacrificed his elite power and genius to create such a prophecy. The original prophecy read as such:
 
"A warrior clad in white joined together with deamonic beasts of the night to destroy and vanquish their ultimate foe, the king of deamons. The great one, known as the king of deamons, was banished into the fog leaving a world of demise, destrought, as well as a destroyed kingdom.
When the old king rose up once andtried in vain to defeat the warrior, he was once again conquered.It is written that the fog is only a part time graveyard. Evil doers are banished into the fog, and only with a miracle can they escape the alternate Mitora, the Fog."

 Ninmeko looked at the horror stricken faces of the three captured deamons, the stepped back behind Anlatta. Alkyra and Geminest stepped back to stand beside Ninmeko and Omnimega, and it was then that Illyare floated up into the sky.
 "I am Illyare, the fourth warlord of former Axerion and future Bellcast. It is now the time that King Bellcast shall enter our world once more, and banish the three deamons into the darkness of the Fog. Bow down if you love life, for Bellcast is the ultimate deamon in terms of mind, strength and speed. He is truly the ultimate king, and the most powerful deamon alive! Arise my lord, the time has come to set in place a new order of life! Bellcast, I call to thee!"
 A flash of light appeared, and as every deamon in Hell dropped to the ground, a being of raw power emerged from the window. Clad in armour white as snow, with eyes as deep as the oceans, Bellcast's presence was enough to weaken many of the deamons in the close proximity.
 As the king of deamons floated down, Anlatta rose up to his side, and millions of Attalna floated towards him from out of nowhere. The king of deamons was truly the closest being to a god...


 "Something is happening in the deamonic world!" exclaed Patrick, already opening a gate in which they could travel to see what was happening. Jet and Dolphin ran towards him followed closely by Hawk.
 "Brother, you must send out another mental message. Warn the people around the wrold of a cataclysmic event. Tell them to get to safety, and continue on their way to the meeting point. The four of us will assume a role of human warriors. We will enter Speed, and fight back the evil that is spreading throughout the universe. Something is happening, as Patrick has said, but what is happening is not good. We must go."
 Hawk nodded, and together, the four humans leapt through the window, with no idea what would happen to them. If they had known the outcome may have been different...

 Bellcast touched down to the ground. As he extended his hand, everyone around him froze, Bellcast's energy level paralysing them. As his hand extended, multiple Attalna shot out from his hand, covering his subordinates. Then, from Bellcast's mouth, seven larger Attalna emerged, each one containing three eyes instead of one. Strings of energy poured out from his mouth, attaching themselves to the larger Attalna.
 The Bellcast spoke. "What you are seeing, Crioone of Extapolis, are seven Alpha Attalna. Strings of energy from me control them, as they cannot be controlled simply by orders. As I release the Alpha Attalna, they will each choose a host which they will inhabit, either one of the six warlords, or you. And when this happens, I will have complete rule over the land of Speed. And once Speed is conquered, the rest of the universe awaits me.
 "For thousands of years I have worked under the eyes of others. Each one of my 'masters' has worked me hard, and almost to the point of death. But when I was hired to work for King Forna, it was then that I decided to rebel. I went to Axerion and injected him with the first stage of an Alpha Attalna. What he didn't know was this. From that point on, I controlled him. Every thought that he had was one of my own, put into his head as one of his own thoughts. Even when I killed him he thought it was he who had lost, when in fact it was simply me losing part of myself.
"The Attalna are a form of deamonic energy combined with a single cell from a deamon body. Combining them is the hard part. I had to take down multiple magicians from Terra Eterna until one of them finally lended their binding power. In return, I gave her control over Hell, as well as a first stage Alpha Attalna. She was also controlled by me.
 "And with her, I was finally able to build up an army of deamon that were undestroyable. With my army, you and all of your dreams, hopes, friends and enemies will be destroyed... eventually..."
 Crioone looked on helplessly, as did Taverna and Nara. Surprisingly, the six warlords looked on with no expression. Their leader had just told them that he had betrayed them, that he was exiling them to a life of slavery and an uncontrolled will. Then Illyare laughed. The fourth warlord's mouth moved slowly against the deamonic pressure of Bellcast, but the laugh was still there.
 "Crioone... the end has come for you... and yet... there is still more for you-" An Alpha Attalna latched itself to Illyare's face, and at the same time five others attacked the remaining warlords. "Gah! Gaaaaaaahhhhh!"
 Bellcast launched himself and the last Alpha Attalna towards Crioone, but at the same time, Illyare, using the last ounce of strength he had, knocked Crioone out of the way , shoving Anlatta into Bellcast's sight. The Alpha Attalna latched itself to Anlatta, and in seconds, Anlatta stood still, awaiting a command from Bellcast. The other warlords also stood still, awaiting Bellcast's orders. But Bellcast did not speak, nor did he send telepathic orders.
 A black armoured deamon with golden lining had entered the battlefield of Hell, and emenating from his was a Deamon Shadow. "Exaltoskull."
 "Bellcast," replied Exaltoskull, "the one deamon capable of creating the beastly Attalna.
 "And you, Exaltoskull, the deamon capable of defeating them. You have interfered to much, and you have visited the Fog. You will be banished there this time though, and to return, you won't simply be able to walk through the shadows. But I won't leave you there alone... My three.. friends.. will join you there." And with that, Bellcast launched his fists out, knocking Taverna and Nara to the ground, but instead of simply hitting the ground, they dissapeared, and as Exaltoskull realised what was happening, it was too late. The deamon warrior was slowly sinking into the ground, and at the same time being transported into a realm he had just left. Only Crioone was safe from Bellcast's attack. Illyare held her up out of the way of the portal, aided by a faint glow of light from within his body. That glow was Tyranac, protecting Crioone from the depths of the Fog.
 But Bellcast had not forgottoen about Crioone. "It seems that, you will not be accompanying your friends in the Fog, for they have already departed from the place they were dropped at. Instead... you will roam the Fog alone." Bellcast's last words struck Crioone like a rock, and as Bellcast launched himself at Illyare, ready to kill him, Tyranac left. In a way, he had betrayed Crioone, letting her fall into the Fog. but in a way, he had changed the course of destiny. Illyare, one of the warlords was dead. If Crioone and her companions were to re surface, they would have one less deamon to deal with...

 A harsh gust blew its way across the smooth surface of a large body of water, the Lake of Mist. With it, the gust acrried colourless leaves, black feathers, gray fur, and small pieces of dust. Each and every object carried by the gust had at one point belonged to the world of the living.
 But at some point in histroy, a deamon who was only spoken about in lore and legend was destroyed, leaving a small, ever growing rift, leading to a world the complete opposite of the living world. This world had been called the inbetween world, as it was a world in which the living and dead could go. Mitora.
 But when the deamon who had been destroyed regained life, he wished to destroy Mitora, as it was a place of lonliness, as well as a place he spoke of as: 'Unnatural'. But in is attempt to rid the universe of Mitora, he created yet another world, identical to Mitora in every way but one. This world could only be accessed through a series of magical and deamonic energy and power combined to open a rift in space. This new land was called simply The Fog. The Fog was geographically identical to Mitora, but the land was covered in eternal mist and fog, and each day that an unfortunate traveller spent in The Fog, a year went by in the land of Speed.
 The Fog was also subtly different from Mitora, as a rater in Mitora could be filled with water and be called a lake in The Fog. And if Mitora was a place of life and death, The Fog could be classified only as a place of death. And even in death you could not be free from The Fog's grasp...


 "There is only one way to escape The Fog if you have been banished here. Find the scrolls of Mitora and bring them together. They will lead to a fountain of water, ever flowing. The Fountain is called Speed Galaxy. Through the Fountain you will be replaced in the Galaxy of Speed. From there, simply follow the route of rivers back to Speed." Crioone replaced the tablet back on the alter she had seized it from. She had no idea what the scroll of Mitora were, but she presumed that they would be ancient instructions that would be necessary to her escape from this place. 
 Crioone turned to leave the altar she had been dropped onto, but was confronted by a large deamon shaped like a stallion. The deamon seemed oddly familiar, but Crioone could not place the deamon to her memory.
 "You must be wondering, Crioone, who I am. You met me in the real Mitora once before. I am Tyranac, the first deamon created. Follow me, we have much to discuss... I will lead you to your first destination, the Lake of Mist... from then on, I will be no help to you, but up until then Ican teach you things you never imagined... so come, Crioone, meet your true fate...


 It had been one 'day' since Tyranac had begun to lead Crioone towards the Lake of Mist. During that time, Tyranac had explained much about The Fog, as well as the origin of Mitora. Crioone had found it hard at times to concentrate, but at other times, she seemed quite alert, almost too alert.
 Everywehere Tyranac led them looked the same, a barren land shrouded in fog and mist. The gaseous vapor seemed uneneding, and when asked by Crioone about the fog, Tyranac had simply replied, "It's cause and origin are unknown".
 At last, Crioone grew tired of the constant walking and took to the air. Tyranac had immediately brought her down, shoving her to the ground cursing her. "If you fly up there one more time... it may... draw attention... unwanted attention."
 From that point on, Crioone had walked. And walked. And walked. The journey seemed as unending as the mist and fog itself...


 Nara growled at Taverna as the two sparred back and forth, claws, fangs and deamonic energy all out and raging. Exaltoskull stood in the background of the excitement, darkly pondering the future to come.
 "What the hell did you think you were doing back in the fortress? Trying to kill us and be rid of us? Having your unusual sence of fun? Huh?" Taverna yelled as he lashed out with a fury of fists and blades, slashing Nara's old wounds and reopening them for the upmteenth time.
 Nara allowed Taverna's next blow to hit her, hurling her to the ground. "I did it for our own sake, believe me! I sensed we were being watched, and I'm sure Bellcast was there with us. I tried to get out with you guys but I failed. Instead, I was launched in the opposite direction, and as soon as I regained my bearings I went in search for you!"
 "Yeah, right. The only reason I didn't kill you when I saw you was 'cause Crioone was there. Crioone forgives. Unfortunately for you I don't," shouted Taverna, driving himself forwards towards the grounded Nara. And with his claws exntended and deamonic energy flared out in the shapeof a sword, Taverna aimed to kill Nara once and for all in the depths of the Fog.
 "Not today Taverna.. if that is your name.." The words came from Exaltoskull, and as they were spoken, an awful feeling of sadness, hatred and darkness all combined flowed into the area. Exaltoskull pressed his clawed foot against Taverna's outstretched hand, pushing it aside. "I wasn't there when she did whatever to you, but I'm stuck with you now, and as I'm sure you know, three of us fare better than two, so let's move out and find a way out of here. I'm not sure how long I can stand to be around you two, and I don't want to find out..."
 Taverna growled at Exaltoskull, then returned his deamonic energy to his body and lowered his arm. Nara slowly stood up and started off, but Exaltoskull stopped her. "We're not going that way... we're headed towards Crioone's energy. A deamon named Tyranac told me about her, and I saw her just before we got banished here. We're going to find her, because according to Tyranac, we need her to beat Bellcast... my brother..."


 A breeze blew across Crioone's face, and as soon as it hit, Tyranac leapt forwards, sensing the change in the atmosphere immediately. Only feet ahead, a large pool of water sat still in a large crater. The Lake of Mist.
 "We've arrived at the first destination. I can help you no longer, or I would be stuck here too. Beneath this lake lies the first of many scrolls which will lead you to the exit of the cursed place.
 "I'll go in search of your friends now and hopefully point them in the right direction, but you will not see me anytime soon. Farewell Crioone of Extapolis. May our paths meet once more..." And with that, Tyranac dissapeared into the thick fog, his body gone within seconds...

 Crioone craned her neck over the edge of the lake, peering down into the murky waters below. The fog and mist in the area blocked any real light from hitting the water, which allowed her to view more clearly, but also not as far down. There was only one way to find the scroll below the water. Crioone hovered into the air, only for a second, then dove into the fridgid water. Darkness surrounded her, and beasts like none she had ever seen swam by her, most of which didn't give a care that someone new had entered. But there were other beasts amidst the waters that hungered for a live meal, and these beasts always got what they wanted...

 Beneaths the waters of the Lake of Mist, four eyes opened, followed by one large fifth eye. The beast of the sea opened its mouth, roaring a beastial roar that vibrated the waters of the lake. As the beast surged forwards, many smaller sea beasts swam out of its way, knowing that it was never good to get in the way of the beast who 'owned' the Lake of Mist. As the beast propelled itself through the water, its mind emanated one word, causing all sentient beings to become aware of its presence, and its name...

 Leviathan...
 The word struck Crioone like a fatal blow. In the land of Speed, the creature known as the Leviathan was said to have died out centuries earlier, although some deamons claimed that they still existed north of Eterna Peninsula. But extinct or not, the Leviathan was a dangerous creature. With five eyes, the Leviathan could see in all directions at once, and still process in the information. The Leviathan could also change shape from its massive form to a much smaller form, in case it needed to adapt to its surroundings.
 As Crioone pondered over the beast, she suddenly realised that it was slowly moving towards her. Whipping around, Crioone came face to face with a large shark-like beast. Only to see its blood spurt out as its bones and flesh were crushed by teeth the size of large swords.
 Who are you, small one of high power? You are like something I have seen before, long ago. You are... Deamon.
 Crioone stared at the Leviathan, wondering whether to marvel or cry out in shock at the sight of it. As the teeth grnashed about for her, Crioone decided that crying out in shock was the better idea, but that swimming away at high speed was the best idea. But she could only outswim the Leviathan for so long. The beast ruled the waters of the Lake of Mist, and Crioone was sure that its physical attributes were not the extent of its power...


 The Leviathan shot forwards towards Crioone, creating a small whirlpool behind it. As Crioone turned to calculate her position, she found the waters empty behind her. The beast had blinked out of existance. And yet, something didn't fit.
 The realisation of what the Leviathan had done shocked her, but she realised that being shocked was not the right thing to do. Crioone shot herself up and out of the water just as a small speck of dust in the water grew to the size of the beast of the water. Using its shape-shifting power, the Leviathan returned to its original state, then lunged out of the water, shifting again, this time into a humanoid figure.
 "You are Crioone... What are you here for... Crioone?" asked the Leviathan, as it hovered just above the water.
 Crioone stared at the beast, never taking her eyes off of the beast as she responed. "I'm here because I was exiled from the land of Speed by a deamon of purely evil intentions. This lake contains a scroll that I need. You know where it is?"
 The Leviathan stared back at Crioone, taking in what the deamon had just said. "If you are truly on a journey to defeat this evil, you may have the scroll of the sea. But let me ask you three questions first.
 "Who is the evil? Respond honestly, or I will be forced to destroy you."
 Although Crioone was unsure if the Leviathan could beat her, Crioone was honest in her responce. "His name is Bellcast. He leads an army of deamon like beings called Attalna. He is able to control deamons almost at will."
 "Why did the evil one exile you?"
 "He had no need of my interference. But before I was exiled, Bellcast was betrayed by one of his followers, who spoke of my future as necessary to rebuild the world after Bellcast's destruction is over. I am apparently essential to the universe."
 "And finally, how do you, Crioone, plan to defeat Bellcast?"
 Crioone stared at the Leviathan, with a saddened expression upon her face. "I don't know."
 The Leviathan looked at Crioone, then spoke softly. "Your honesty has granted you my scroll, the scroll of the sea. It will guide you to the next step to leaving this place. But let me tell you something you may find interesting. Regarding the future.
 "Although I am unsure as to your purpose in life, I can tell you that it is not to defeat Bellcast, but simply to weaken him. The one to defeat Bellcast will die in doing so, but I am unable to see who has that unfrotunate destiny. The future is as clouded as the land we are in. But one thing is for sure. I will be with you during the final confrontation, as will my brother. He will be essentiel to Bellcast's downfall. You will eventually cross paths with him. He is a dragon, an ancient dragon, the last to live. And his name is Ragnon."
 "A dragon... how does one still exist?"
 "All will be explained... later. But you, Crioone, must continue your journey. The Fog is not a place of peace. I am but one of the many guardians in the realm of The Fog. I ask only for truth in answer to my questions to obtain the scroll. Other guardians will not so kind as to let you off easily. Now go. Seek out the next destination. When all of the scrolls are obtained, a map will be revealed, and will point you to the exit. Farewell."
 And before Crioone could respond, the Leviathan was gone. Only one word pulsed into Crioone's mind, and as the word repeated itself, Crioone was sure she had just learned the name of the Leviathan, only after it had left.
 Vialien... Vialien... Vialien... ...



 A single stalagmite stood in the center of a large cavern. Around it, many strange markings were scribbled on the ground, as well as a few pictures. Standing above the stalagmite on a floating stone, a fierce dog like creature growled a low growl, only to be repeated twice more, and the a shriek. Three heads turned as one to face a being shaped like a human, but with wings and a beak. The being, called an Aporactyla, floated above its pet, a cerberus. The Aporactyla settled itself onto the ground, standing beside the stalagmite. The being reached its hand towards the stalagmite, and amazingly, the clawed hand passed through the stone. The cerberus watched with a look of doubt on each face as stones from around the cavern were pulled together by a force unknown to any living being.The Aporactyla sneered, the closed its eyes as the cerberus and itself were surrounded by stones. In the Aporactyla's hand lay a scroll. The scroll of unknown...


 Nara thought back to the times when she had been a simple deamon without a care in the universe about what went on around her. Her life had been simple, easy going, and best of all- not life risking or being utterly whipped by one of your best friends. Unfortunately for Nara, those were times of the past.
 The first day that King Forna had become ruler of Speed marked the day that Speed fell into destruction. Forna had been better than Axerion and Bellcast, but he had still been a power hungry deamon who set aside his people for the greater evil. But Forna lost his title to Axerion, who dropped a blanket of shadow over the land of Speed.
 Manipulated by Bellcast's mind, Axerion had allowed legions of Attalna to enter the land of Speed, and under Axerion's watch, Speed was turned into a land of baren dunes, bloody cities, and long ago beautiful forests and springs were the ugly and dried up.
 But a light had shone in the distance, a light that Nara could not name, but one that had called to her, claiming an escape from the darkness that was Bellcast's rule. The light had told her that if she was to find a way to return the land of Speed to its prosperous way, she had to journey alone to a tower in the southeast region of Speed.
 The light had also mentioned Crioone, although the words that had come to Nara concerning Crioone were vague. Something about a portal to a world in between life and death, where all things would come together. The light had mentioned that the portal resided deep within Fortress Metawar, and that when the time came, Nara would have to betray her friends in order to seek out the light in person. The time would also be when Crioone was nearest to the portal.
 Nara's thoughts turned back to the present, just as Taverna's fist conected with her jaw. Blood spurted out from Nara's mouth as her teeth clenched down on her inner cheeks. Nara swore, the lashed out a kick that connected with Taverna's legs, dropping him to the ground. Energy purged from Nara's body, slamming itself into Taverna, holding him down.
 "Enough! We go now, or I'll be forced to kill you both."
 This time the two feuding deamons both stopped, turning their attention to Exaltoskull.
 "She's near our position. I think. We head out for her and-"
 Exaltoskull was interupted by the appearence of a stallion of pure white colour. Tyranac.
 "I found you, finally. Although with the amount of energy I felt from those two, I'm surprised every being in the Fog hasn't found you. But on to what's important. Crioone must go through the Fog alone. You musn't help her. make your way to the Desert of Sigma, far to the west of here. You will find your escape from this place there, but you will also be confronted by one of the remaining warlords there. Beat that lord and you have escaped. Lose, and your life is no worse than right now. Any questions?"
 Tavena looked at the stallion with awe. "It's... you... from Mitora. I knew you were familiar. Now, why can't we help Crioone?"
 Tyranac stared at Taverna with eyes of no emotion. "She was sent here alone, she must face this world alone. Besides. She is also doing something different than you. Your time here is limited. You have only three days to reach the Desert of Sigma. After that... goodbe. Crioone has unlimited time here, but her requirements to escape are quite different from yours. The Fog works in strange ways, but me talking will only lower the amount of time you have here. May we meet again."
 Exaltoskull began to talk, but before the words left his mouth Tyranac was gone. Exaltoskull turned to Taverna and Nara.
 "There's something you should know before we go on. When I said Bellcast was my brother I wasn't joking. We're twins. He has the power to create life, and I have the power to destroy it. Funny thing though. You'd think I'm evil and he's good. But we use our powers differently.
 "Creating Attalna and different breeds of them is all he creates, and is all that I destroy. If we meet Bellcast -ever- on our journey, stay back, or even better, run away, flee at great speed. Because when we meet again face to face on even ground, it will be the last time we meet like that."
 Taverna and Nara stayed quiet. Exaltoskull turned away and begun walking in the direction Tyranac had showed. Taverna and Nara didn't speak or fight along the way. The mood had changed. Exaltoskull's Deamon Shadow may have been controlled, but his emotions were changing him. In a bad way.
 The dark deamon warrior walked ahead of his companions, none of them speaking, none making noise. The Fog was changing each of them... for the worst...


 As Crioone moved further away from the Lake of Mist, the fog around her became more dense, and her visibility was greatly lowered. The ground beneath her feet was even hard to see due to the amount of vapour in the air around her.
 Above her, soaring through the bleak sky, montrous birds squawked at one another, ernestly searching for a way to hunt the beings far below. Sensing the danger the birds could bring to her, Crioone emmited a thin layer of deamonic energy, covering her and blocking her scent from the predators above. If anything, dying here in The Fog was the last thing on her list of things to do.


 A wind from the west pulled sand from the ground beneath Crioone's feet away from her, a sand from infront of her was whipped into her face. The journey was long and treacherous, but it was necessary. The scroll Vialien had given her instructed her to move westwardly towards a series of mountains. There she would fnd a cave, and within the cave a beast would welcome her, not with open arms, but with a open mouth and extended claws. The beast was an Aporactyla. Savage, fearsome, and never in a good mood.
 Crioone continued walking through the ever long mass of fog covered ground. But not all was right with Crioone. Her body was weakening as the hurs and days went on. The Fog was not an area of safety, and even if Crioone had an unlimited amount of time to complete her mission, the mist that was spread throughout the land was not gentle and kind. It was filled with a strange substance remotely resembling toxic. And it was injuring Crioone's body, one painful cell after another...


 "Who are you?"
 The voice belonged to a large Aporactyla, who, at the moment, was deciding who would win in a fight, the blue deamon or itself. When a wave of deamonic energy whipped out of Crioone and lashed the large bird, the Aporactyla made its decision.
 "If you don't speak, maybe Helrades will be good for you," said the grotesque bird. And then, the Aporactyla struck Crioone with a knife-like talon, the dragged her through the dark sky towards a large mountain range. Helrades would have to see the specimen...


 Helrades' eyes opened, but the stones that surrounded him prevented him from eyeing the intruder. The Cerberus that stood below him had a different reaction. Its eyes glowed, and it grolwed a low tone- a sign that the intruder was not harmful, but another Aporactyla.
 Helrades patted his pet, then reached his arm out, manipulatiing the sphere of stones to form a hand shape. Using the Cerberus' eyes and his own power, Helrades grabbed the bird below, flinging it out of the cave but retaining the captured deamon.
 "Speak, deamon from the surface world. Why are you here?"
 Crioone's eyes fluttered open, and a shocked appearence came across her face. Their was no being in the cave, only an oddly shaped collection of rocks and a few bones here and there. Standing up, Crioone looked around the cave, seeking out the being that had spoken with her.
 "You will not find me with eyes such as your own. I am Helrades, leader of the Aporactyla tribe, hidden within the rocks of The Fog. I have introduced myself, now respect my wishes and answer for yourself."
 Crioone looked at the collection of rocks, and the realisation of the power of the being she was dealing with caught up to her. "My name is Crioone. I come from the planet Speed against my own wishes. I was banished here. I have been told that If I collect scrolls from this place I can find my way out. You have what I'm looking for."
 Helrades reached out his arm once more, this time making the rock hand grab Crioone. "You think you can just walk into my lair-or get taken here in your case- and expect me to give you my scroll. Think again, deamon from Speed. You'll have to prove yourself."
 Crioone stared at the rock, and began to reply. "I fully expected a response like- "
 But she was cut off by the shattering of the sphere of stone. A bird flew out of the rubble and landed infront of Crioone, holding out the scroll. "This is what you came here for? Well then, I'd like you to meet Cerberus, my pet. Beat him in battle and you win the scroll. Lose to him, and you're no worse off than before. You're dying anyways." Helrades stepped back, then vanished into the ground beneath him, only to be replaced by Cerberus. The three headed dog growled, and the showered Crioone with flames. Knife-like teeth shot out from the third head's mouth, heating up in the flames and cutting Crioone all over.
 Crioone summoned her willpower, then covered herself with stone from the ground. The Cerberus noticed the change and ran forwards, batting the stone with its clawed paw, tearing the rock away from Crioone. But Crioone was no amateur at battle. Shooting herself at the Cerberus from behind and encasing it in energy.
 The Cerberus howled in pain as the energy from Crioone's blast entered its mouths and exploded on the inside. Crioone watched, a grim look on her face. Then, as the Cerberus collapsed on the ground, Crioone floated towards the pile of rocks from which it had emerged. Within, Helrades looked at Crioone with a look of hatred, but also shock. But Helrades was honest and proud by nature. The Aporactyla raised its hand, giving the scroll to Crioone, who put it next to the first scroll- in a small sack attached to her neck.
 Helrades looked at Crioone, then spoke. "You are different from others who have attempted to come by me. Your presence is odd. Your soul feels more alive, and yet dead at the same time. I wish you luck on your journey, and although I hate to say it, you have free passage within the ranks of the Aporactyla. Maybe one day we can fight head to head, ad we shall see which of us is the stronger..."
 Helrades dissapeared into the ground, and then reappeared, sitting inside a group of transparent rocks. "No," said Helrades. And Crioone knew what he meant. The rocks were not transparent. Her eyes had changed. She could see in a completely new way. As Crioone turned to leave, the Cerberus- or at least, the remains of it, changed into dust. Crioone's job here was complete. As she took off into the sky, the land in which she was seemed to brighten, if only slightly, as if a layer of fog had been removed...



 A cool breeze blew across the the endless sea of sand, the Desert of Sigma. Taverna stared around himself in awe, as did Nara. Exaltoskull was the only one who did not seem amazed about the desert in which they stood.
 "So what the heck do we do now? Tyranac said that we come here and we're freed, but nothing's- " ...
... ... ...
 The desert of Sigma was empty. It had held three deamons in its grasp only seconds earlier, but it was now empty. Fog rolled over the Desert of Sigma, and other than that, there was no sign of there ever being anyone there. Ever...


 Crioone stumbled over a small pile of rocks. As she looked up, she was surprised to see a shadow that moved towards her. Suddenly, a hoard of circular shaped shadows appeared around her, and a humming sound accompanied them. From afar, a voice barked out orders to the unseen army of beings. Crioone shut her eyes, and immediately she saw that she was surrounded by many large deamons, each of whom stared at her with hatred. Then the leader appeared to her in the form of a dog wearing a crown made up of dry bones and dried flesh.
 Anlatta.
 The dog deamon stared at Crioone, then spoke to Crioone in slow phrases, taking long breaths in between.
 "You have gotten... further than lord... Bellcast had predicted. ... But in order to... fulfill his orders... you must die... here and now. ..."
 Still with her eyes closed, Crioone was now able to see how Bellcast's dog was controlling the deamons- or in this case, long dead deamons, now merely ghosts. Many Attalna had placed themselves within the heads of the deamons' souls, ultimately controlling the dead bodies. Anlatta controlled a large legion of Attalna, and they followed him as strictly as the followed Bellcast.
 "How appropriate... is it that this place... is named the... Deamon Graveyard. ... I control a dead army... and you will soon... join my army," said Anlatta, cold sneer coming across his face. "Attack the blue deamon. Kill her."
 The dead army of Attalna infused deamons jumped towards Crioone, claws stretched out, teeth gnashing, screeching and crying out as they attacked. Crioone flashed out of view, only to reappear behind Anlatta, claws around his neck, deamon energy pouring out of her onto Anlatta. "You'll have to be faster than that to get me," said Crioone in reply to Anlatta's feeble attack.
 Anlatta smirked, and Crioone choked back blood from her neck. Anlatta's forepaw had punged itself up through his body and into Crioone's lower neck. Anlatta laughed. "Pain is just one... of the many duties... invloved in fighting... for Bellcast. ... Winning is another part... slightly more important."
 Crioone caughed, releasing Anlatta from her grip. She fell to the ground and was immediately surrounded by the dead army. But it was not Anlatta's blow that had caused her sudden pain. The fog in the area was entering her body rapidly, and was destroying vital organs in her body. Unless she could escape from The Fog soon, she would die.
 In a last attempt, Crioone purged deamonic energy from her body, blasting away the front lines of dead deamons, ripping through the back ranks. Sidestepping Anlatta's kick, Crioone twisted her body away from a follow up attack, but Anlatta's third kick landed on her side, knocking her back to the ground. Anlatta laughed again, and with a wave of his paw, the Attalna came out from their hosts, returning to Anlatta's side.
 "Give up, Crioone... you cannot defeat me."
 "I don't need to. All I need is the last scroll. Once I have that I can escape from this place." Crioone melted into the sand, hoping that Anlatta would follow her. He did. That was his mistake.
 Upon entering the sands of the Deamon Graveyard he was pelted by punches and kicks flying at high speed from Crioone. In a matter of seconds the dog deamon was breathing deeply and did not show signs of getting back up. "You may be the leader of an army of deamon like beings awaiting your orders, but you're still stupid and ignorant. You think you're strong and powerful and smart. You're wrong on all three."
 Crioone returned to the surface, and just as she did the Attalna sunk into the sand, seeking their leader. Like a pack of weak animals. They can't survive without the leader, thought Crioone to her self, before running towards where Anlatta had come from. She was sure the scroll would be nearby.


 Anlatta had come from a nearby valley. Crioone knew this because waiting in the valley were hundreds of Attalna. In the center of them all was a large tree, the only thing with colour in the whole area. For some reason, Crioone knew that the tree held the last scroll. She did not know why, but something about the treewas odd, and different.
 But there was no longer time to think. Only to react. The Attalna from the valley had sensed Crioone, but not their leader. Anlatta had not been such a fool as to leave his last legions without order. The order he had given was simple. Kill Crioone. No matter what the cost was. Make sure it was done.
 The Attalna floated towards Crioone, emotionless, yet embodied with a sence of anger towards Crioone. But Crioone could not go on to fight. Anlatta's loss had only been partial. He would accomplish his job, and pain was just one of the things that made up the job. Overall, he would succeed.
 "Move, you fool!" The voice was familiar. Crioone struggled, but a wall of Attalna was still infront of her.
 "Get up! If you start to move, I'll open the way for you!" Crioone began to move once more, but the fog in her internal systems was slowing her down. And in her mind, she struggled to grasp the name of the deamon who was speaking to her.
 "I can only hold them off for so long! After that, they'll be on you like a pack of wolves on a young deer. You'll die before the fog kills you! Once you get moving I'll begin to hold them off! I'm your only option, so don't doubt now! If you stand there waiting you'll die from either their attacks or the fog. If you go in and I'm lying you'll end up with the same result, only faster, maybe. But I'm not lying! Go Crioone, now!"
 Illyare. It was his voice. Trator to Bellcast, somehow alive-or dead- in The Fog. Crioone knew his words were true. Either way she put it, she was dead, unless he could stop the Attalna long enough for Crioone to retrieve the scroll. With a last burst of energy, Crioone pushed herself towards a wall of Attalna. And the wall broke apart, and continued to break as Crioone pushed on. Illyare had kept his word. Crioone arrived safely at the tree. The scroll was right infront of her, sitting in a branch. Crioone grasped it, just as Illyare stabbed her with his claw. Crioone began to drop, and Illyare prepared for the final stab.
 "Why?"
 "I am a traitor by nature. I let people get so close to their goal, then betray them. It's funny, really. The look on their faces when they get stabbed or lose their prey. Or even if they get crushed beneath a falling wall of a fortress..."
 "Nara? ..."
 "Huh? Oh... no, I'm not Nara. I'm her brother!"
 Crioone dissapeared. Illyare cried out in surprise. "What the hell?"
 But no one answered his question. Illyare had not completed his task that needed to be accomplished to escape The Fog. He had failed to kill Crioone, and now he would finally die. He would live on in death in hell...

 A light shone through Crioone's closed eyelids. The light was great, beautiful, natural, and deadly. Crioone groaned in pain as she tried to look up at the source of the light.
 Stay down. You are not meant to see me, only to here my words and listen to them. Learn from them. Fronaly will care for your wounds. You must only listen to my voice, and you will be freed.
 Crioone obeyed the voice, even if she had been betrayed only a few minutes ago. Or atleast what felt like only minutes ago. Laying her head back down, Crioone relaxed herself, shutting out all other noise and thoughts, only letting the being's voice who emitted the light into her head.
 You are in a place where magic and deamonic energy have collided. You are Crioone, the only one who can eventually save our universe. You know this. But what you don't know is how you got here, and when you save our universe. The former is your only concern at the moment.
 After retrieving the third scroll of Mitora you were immediately transported here. It is a secret of The Fog. Even I do not know how a place such as it works. You are here because The Fog tasked you with retrieving the scrolls and entering the Fountain. This world holds the foutain. You have survived Crioone. You are now in Mitora...


 "Who are you?"
 The voice was gone, leaving no answer. The only name she could come up with was Fronaly. But she was unsure as to whether that voice was the voice of her savior.
 Ahead of Crioone was a pool of water. The water sparkled, its surface gleaming. Crioone walked towards the fountain, and as she neared it the fountain of water grew in size. Crioone stepped into the fountain.
 Crioone was hurtled through space into a world she was quite familiar with. It did not seem changed, and yet, it was different. But Crioone could not place the difference, or undifference.
 She was home, and that was all that mattered...

 Patrick looked around at the surrounding area. The area was a bleak wasteland with devastation written across it. Behind him, Jet, Hawk and Dolphin stared around in amazement and shock. None of them had imagined Speed to take on this appearence.
 "So. We're here, what now?" It was Dolphin who spoke first. None of them really felt like talking. Speed was not what they had thought of, and it didn't make any of them feel comfortable in the alien world.
 It was Hawk who replied. "How much magic can each of us use? Before we can go on we need to figure this out."
 Patrick shot a ball of fire straight at Hawk, then manipulated the flames to make it go around Hawk's body, reforming as soon as it passed around. Then the ball of fire was gone, replaced by a sheet of metal. The metal plate came back to Patrick, wrapping itself around his left arm, moulding into place.
 "That's what I know, and there's more."
 Jet looked at Patrick in amazement. He then stood in place, then teleported a few feet, reappearing behind Dolphin. Dolphin moved her hands around, and in a matter of moments, a small portal was opened. Steeping through, Dolphin was gone for several minutes. She then reappeared in the same place, unhurt and smiling.
 Hawk looked at each one. Then he spoke. "Okay. It seems that Patrick is the strongest one of us, and also the best suited for hand to hand combat, as well as mid distance combat. Jet, you're a distraction. You keep moving around, landing a punch when you can. Dolphin, can you put other people through your portals?"
 "I guess. I've never tried it on a deamon though."
 "Doesn't matter. It should work on anyone. You're a distraction, but also a wall. You lead predators away from us. That leaves me. I am telepathic. Other than that I don't have many powers. I have limited flight, and I can speak in the old deamonic language, although I am unsure as to whether that will help. I also have similar powers to Patrick, although at a much lower level."
 Patrick looked at Hawk, then asked the obvious question. "So? What do we do now?"
 "We head towards the source of all evil. His name is Bellcast. He will not be happy to see me alive, but we must face him and defeat him. He is the source of evil. If he is defeated, evil will be vanquished. We will win."
 No. That is not your duty. It is the duty of only one being. But do not be put down. You have your own tasks. As I speak to you, the universe is being torn apart by an ancient evil, greater than anything you have ever seen. Your world is dying. Ocean levels are rising, earthquakes shatter large cities. Volcanoes erupt, spreading flames across the land. Hurricanes tear trees from their roots, and lift buildings from their foundations. You are needed there. Your task is saving humanity, not the universe. There are others for that job.
 Hawk looked around for the voice that was delivering orders. But he was forced to stop as a brilliant and blinding light burst into his eyes.
 Do not seek me. The time for that is not right. Three of you must return to the world of the living human, Terra Eterna. But one of you will not accompany your friends. It is not written in the illuminated stars. You have another destiny. But I cannot say the words when others are around.
 Begone, Hawk of the land, Jet of the sky, and Dolphin of the sea. Your duties await for you in your homeworld.
 Patrick was left standing alone. If his companions had been standing along side him still, he would have heard their cursing and cries of despair. But he was lucky enough not to have to suffer.
 "Who are you? And how do you know the destinies of everyone?
 I have said, the time is not right for you to learn of my person. But I will tell you this. When destinies are created, the creator knows them all...
 But onto you, Patrick. Your sister came here, did she not?"
 "Yes..."
 You wish to save her, no?
 "Yes... I came here, in part to seek her and save her..."
 There will be a time for that. But as is my name, the time is not right. You need aid to save her. Alone you are powerless. Bellcast's army will not fall easily, and a few fireballs and shields of iron will not take him down. You must seek power. You must seek out a deamon by the name of Crioone. She will understand you problems, for she has encountered your sister. Hopefully when you find her your sister will still be alive...
 And just like that, the voice was gone, leaving Patrick alone to ponder the words of the being of light.
 "Crioone... where are you?"

 It had been a month since Patrick had left on his quest for Crioone, but the deamon had been either in hiding or gone from the universe. As the young magician journeyed through the land of Speed it soon became clear to him that his powers were much greater in a world dominated by magical and deamonic energy. At times he encountered deamons of weak calibur and found that with the wave of his hand he could do anything from shoot balls of fire that were hotter than anything humans had ever encountered to being able to transform his entire body into a form that suited the terrain better.
 In his current form, that of a wolf, Patrick scoured the land that he was sure was the north of Speed. The area was covered in tall trees and cool ground, with rivers flowing freely in every which way, sometimes crossing over each other. Even when Patrick encountered deamons that were strong and could speak to and comprehend him the only answer he got in return from them was that the deamon he was searching for was dead, killed by the King of Deamons for treason and rebellion. It soon occured to Patrick that the voice that had told him to search for this Crioone may have been lying to him, and he was searching for his own death with every second he spent in Speed.
 After another week of searching for the deamon Patrick gave up hope. Crioone had left no trace of where to look for her, and Patrick was tired. In despair and anguish he transformed into a flacon and flew overtop of Speed, searching for something else to look for.
You have stopped your search?
 Patrick stopped flying and turned to find where the voice had come from. He swore when he realised it was the same being who had sent him on his chase.
Do not be mad. Under normal circumstances and times you would have succeeded with your journey. Quest. Whichever you choose to call it. But times, as you know, are not normal. Crioone is not where I expected she would be. In fact, she does not even know where she is, although from her position she can see you.
 Patrick looked around for the being who spoke to him, but the same thing happened when he looked this time as he looked last. Blinding light was all he could see.
It is useless to seek me. I will reveal myself when the time is right. But as I was saying, you may not see her, but Crioone can see you. Infact, she has been following you this whole time. You see, the two of you, as odd as it may seem, are intertwined in each other's destinies. When you came into the Land of Speed Crioone also entered at the exact same time. In the place where she was, time was distorted, and the land she walked upon was different also. So even though she left after you arrived, she returned to Speed when you arrived. It is hard to understand, by I speak correctly. Even the others, who were banished from Speed before her and left their exile before her, they have yet to return, because in the place they were, time is different for everyone.
 "What are you seeing? What does it matter what time we arrived in Speed?"
Actually, it is not only the time that was the same. It was the place. Your destinies are intertwined, but at no point can they be the same. But you two conflicted with that. By being in the same place at the exact same time with bodies, souls, and destinies that cannot do that according to the laws of the magical and deamonic beings, one of you had to be eliminated. In order for you to find Crioone and take down Bellcast you must fulfill the first part of your own destiny. Once you do this, the being you find will be able to seperate the two of you from each other and you will be able to continue with you own respective jobs until the time comes for you to work together.
 Patrick suddenly felt alone, and when he called out for the voice to return he found it was gone. "He, or she, does it again. Leaves me wondering what to do next, with no clues as to what to do!"
 Ragnon
 The beings presence was back for only a second, but the voice had been there too. And it had spoken the one word that Patrick needed to know. He could begin his search for the beginning of his destiny now.

The sea of sand that had loomed infront of Patrick for the past weeks began to fade, but that still meant he had a long journey ahead of him. Many deamons in the area had heard of Ragnon, and once Patrick found out he was looking for a dragon the answers he recieved from deamons began much more numerous. Yes, there were still deamons who knew nothing about dragons or Ragnon, and others who knew about Ragnon but would not give any information.
It was these deamons that caused Patrick the most pain, for they were generallystrong and did not go down easily without a long fight. But these fights also allowed Patrick to grow in both mind and brawn. By the time he had gathered enough information to begin his search for Ragnon, Patrick had the build of a grown man with powerful muscles and a well toned body. His mind had also enlarged mentally to hold more information and detail, a side effect to living in Speed.
As Patrick glided across the top of the desert his wings brushed the sand ever so slightly, and as he rose the sand followed him. A deamon is disguise. Patrick flipped in mid air and reverted to human form, blasting searing flames towards his attacker and sucking the air from inside his attacker at the same time to create a vaccuum inside the predator and enlarge his fire on the outside. The deamon gave a sharp shrill cry and its body dispersed into thousands of tiny micro-organisms surrounding a larger bloodthirsty looking deamon.
"You fool! You cannot simply remove my power from em like that!" cried tha Deamon.
Patrick transformed once more, this time into a sand coloured wolf, and in seconds his fur was blended in completely with the desert sand. "Who are you?" he cried out to the deamon.
The micro-organisms gave an answer to his question. Alone there voices were unhearable, but with so many of them in such a close proximity the answer was clear. "He is Vulture."
Vulture clawed his way towards Patrick's sound and the Yits, the tiny micro-organisms, returned to the host body. Patrick struck out with a sword formed completely of sand but heated to the melting point. The sand struck Vulture and the deamon rolled to the ground, the Yits remaining motionless upon his body. The sand cooled at once, but because it had struck Vulture and bent and curved at many moments the sword was not shaped well. The Glass Sword  was shaped like a wave, and Patrick decided that it may be useful sometime on his journey for Ragnon, so he stowed it in a bag he crafted from the fur on his back. Then he advanced towards Vulture.
"What do you know about the name Ragnon?"

 "Nothing. Never heard of such a name," replied Vulture, lying on his back, his arms outstretched awkwardly.
 Patrick extended a hand towards the deamon, but it was not to help him get up. The sand underneath Vulture seeped out from below him and made its way across his chest, all the while controlled the Patrick's hand. When Vulture was covered completely in sand Patrick closed his hand into a fist and tightened his grip and the sand split apart, forming bonds that held Vulture against the desert floor.
 "You may not know of the name, but the small organisms on your body know of that name. Command them to speak or I kill you and I'll find out what I need to know without you."
 "... Tell him," said Vulture, gasping for breath underneath the bonds of sand.
 "Ragnon is the most powerful dragon, as well as the last dragon. His home is not on Speed mainland, but rather the Valley of Dragons, in the far western reaches of the Speed Minora Islands. We as a group have been to the valley, but it is shrouded in mist and caverns are numerous, so locating the right cavern in which Ragnon resides is nearly impossible. However, we say this not to discourage you, for we know you will go no matter what. We tell you this because our host, Vulture, has eyes that we find most extraordinary. He may be able to locate Ragnon's cavern, but we, nor he, will help you on your journey of one of us dies. Release Vulture and we can begin to make our way towards the Speed Minora Islands."
 Patrick opened his fist and the bonds of sand holding Vulture went limp, and as Vulture stood up the sand dropped away from him as if it were ordinary sand- which it was. But Vulture had no intent of helping the human mage. Patrick realised this much to late, and also realised his fatal mistake of assuming that the only micro organisms present were with Vulture already.
 As Vulture ran towards Patrick, the magician raised his hands in defence, only to find his palms covered in Yits, the micro organisms. Vulture's body grew with each step he took, as more and more Yits attached themselves to the host. With his palms covered, Patrick had no way to emit the energy inside of him, and his body grew weaker with each second. Then, suddenly, the energy inside of him was outside of his body, and yet, it still felt contained within him. He turned his head to see what had happened, and there, standing where he had just been standing was his body.
 Patrick looked down at himself and cried out in shock. His arms and legs were transparent- no- they weren't there at all. Instead, his body was blue in colour, with wings on his back and armour like he had never seen on a human before. His neck was much longer and his arms were no longer in front of him, rather, they were on the ground. He had four legs.
 The energy inside of him suddenly changed from what it had felt like into something completely different. It was as if the energy were no longer filled with anger, but with sadness and emotion. "What the hell is going on?" he cried out.
 -Fear not. You are fine. I will guard your body while you fight with my own. I am Crioone, the deamon you have searched long and hard for. Use my body to destroy this deamon's hope, but do not kill him. What the Yits said was true: he will be usefull in the search for Ragnon. And one more thing. The energy that you feel now is Deamonic energy. It is much more powerful than human magical energy, but it is much harder to use. Don't try any of your stunts with it. It won't work out the way you plan for it.
  Patrick was in awe. Not only had he found the Crioone he had been searching for, he was using her body. But he was not adapted to the deamon body, and when he first moved he was slugish and slow. The Yits caught on quickly to what had happened, but Vulture had not. He was still rushing for Patrick's body, and as he did he was shoved hard by Patrick- in Crioone's body. The Yits held up Vulture and explained what had happened, and after they did Vulture ordered the Yits to attack Crioone's body.
 -Do not fear when they cover you. Like I said, Deamonic energy is different from Magical Energy. You don't need to focus my energy anywhere; it will come out in a wave of power from all over my body, so it can't be blocked the same way they blocked your power.
 Patrick nodded, through Crioone's neck. The Yits covered him and in seconds he could not see. But he built up the energy the same way he did in his human body, then released it, all at once. The Yits exploded from Crioone's body and Patrick's body suddenly dissapeared only to re-appear behind Crioone's body.
 A light flashed and Patrick was blinded. When he opened his eyes again he was looking out from his own body. Millions of Yits were scattered all around him, and Crioone's body was no where to be seen. Vulture was lying on the ground once more, this time on his front. As he tried to get up Patrick raised his hand and prepared to attack. But a voice stopped him.
 No. Do not kill him. He will be of use to you.
 It was the same voice as before, and, just as Patrick had expected, a blinding light was just to his right.
 In your current state of only one body, you cannot communicate with Crioone, and although she can here you, she cannot communicate with you either. I am not sure how you were able to split your beings apart like that, because of according to the laws of Deamonic and Magical beings, once together like this you cannot be split without meeting where you destinies would normally meet. However, what you did in your deamonic state was incredible, is not fatally dangerous to the world of Speed. The amount of energy you released was amazing. Don't do it again. It offsets the balance of enrgy in the atmosphere.
 And once again, the voice was gone, leaving Patrick in the middle of a thought.
 "He can never stay long enough to answer my questions, can he?"

 Patrick's hand stayed pointed at Vulture, and as he slowly brought his hand away Vulture began to get up. "Don't do anything stupid. I've had enough of your stunts," staid Patrick in a steely voice, filled with contempt.
 "You can't order me around, because if you do I'll leave here and never help you. You need me," replied Vulture, sneering with evil happyness.
 Patrick punched Vulture and the deamon's mouth opened, air rushing out and being replaced with water vapour from the air. Vulture grabbed his own throat and gasped as Patrick pulled his fist away. Spluttering, Vulture regained the ability to move and cursed at the magician.
 "I don't need you for this. It will only help me if you come along. Don't push your luck, and don't get me mad. I'll kill you."


 Ninmeko looked at Bellcast, ruler of deamon's and leader of the four remaining warlords and Anlatta. Omnimega stood beside Ninmeko, his skin changing colour and form constantly. Geminist, who stood at Bellcast's left side, was staring at each of the four deamons who follwed Bellcast along with himself.
 "Why'd you call us, Geminist?" asked Ninmeko, silently hoping that Bellcast had a new plan to put through.
 "I have decided that it is time to head out for Terra Eterna. With a war on the verge of beginning in Speed we will not be needed here. Terra Eterna, our sister planet, will be much more fun to act over."
 Ninmeko silently hated Geminist's plan. After Bellcast had banished four deamons into the Fog, Geminist had taken over Illyare's position of leader of Bellcast's elite force. Bellcast had agreed to this plan, simply because Geminist had been brave enough to declare himself leader under Bellcast. Anlatta followed Geminist with pride- of course, Anlatta followed anyone in power with pride. Omnimega followed Geminist, only because Geminist seemed to always propose plans that involved pain and destruction. It seemed that only Ninmeko was truly against Geminist's role in power, because even Alkyra followed Geminist.
 Bellcast stood up, and Anlatta rushed over to his side. "Do as you wish, Geminist. I will stay here, beneath the body of Craiyo. Our new fortress will be built here. I will have the Attalna build it while the four of you enjoy yourselves. Anlatta will stay with me for the time being, until Crioone returns to detectable presence. Then the hunt will begin."
 "Yes my lord," said Geminist. Alkyra saluted, and Omnimega bowed. Ninmeko was the only one who did not respond immediately.
 "I won't be joining Geminist this time, Bellcast," was her final responce. Bellcast gave her a questioning look.
 "Ninmeko, you're needed at Terra Eterna with the rest of us. I've already devided the world into four regions."
 "No. I've already sensed Crioone's returned presence. Just now. She was here, but now she's gone, as if she never existed. I'm taking Anlatta with me in search of the deamon. You go on without me. I'll catch up. Maybe." And with her words that astounded everyone, she was gone, Anlatta by her side. Omnimega looked at Geminist, who only shrugged.
 "Let's go. Earth awaits us, those who will conquor the world once and for all!" Shouted Alkyra. Geminist nodded and Bellcast smiled.
 "Farewell," said the king of the shadows of Speed.

 Crioone flew through the airs of Speed, wings outstretched and eyes open, taking in the beauty of real life, true colours, and beautiful tyrany, which was not actually beautiful. But the sights were more vivid and much more breath taking than anything found within the Fog. The red of fire, the green of grass, and the blue reflection upon the waves on laks and seas.
 And yet, she always found a nagging sence that something was pulling her from her destination. She could not control her pathway. She would head east, and she was pulled west. She found herself having the urge to flip in mid air, then dive towards the ground at high speed and pull up just before colision.
 It was on her fifth day in Speed that she began to understand that something was wrong. She had missed the detail because she had been isolated from life in the Fog, but even back in Speed she was isolated. She had not seen a deamon or any creature for that matter since she had arrived. It was as if she was the last being alive.


 Three weeks later Crioone's eyes stayed closed at all times. She could see where she was going in her mind, something to due with her sixth sence was what she had guessed at first, but she doubted herself. Her mind carried her wherever she went, and she had no fear of encountering deamons or any threat. She was alone.
"Crioone, where are you?"
 "What?"
 But the voice did not respond. But Crioone had definately heard it. She was not alone. Quickly, she looked all around herself for the voice. When nothing appeared and no sound was made, Crioone purged deamonic energy from her body and the area surrounding her was devastated by a blast of pure power. Nothing was left standing. Anything that had been there was gone by now, and the immediate danger was gone. If the belonger of the voice had escaped, Crioone did not know. But nothing could survive a blast of that strength at such as close distance.

 Taverna looked at the fifty deamons assembled in front of him. Standing there, the deamons all aknowledged Taverna as their new leader. He had, after all, freed them from the ruins of Fortress Metawar where they had all been slaves. Each deamon was fully prepared to die for Taverna. In the revolution against Bellcast that Taverna had warned them was approaching, each deamon would follow Taverna to death.

Four weeks earlier...
 Exaltoskull exploded in a cloud of dark shadows. Nara and Taverna watched in horror as their companion who had guided them through the Fog departed in death. Whatever had just happened was beyond anything Nara had seen.
 The three deamons had just returned from the depths of the Fog, and as they entered Speed, Exaltoskull was attacked, or hit by an unseen force. Taverna had acted on instinct when he had dived over Nara and carried her out of harms way. Nara growled at Taverna once Exaltoskull was gone, but inside she knew he may have saved her life.
 "What now?" she asked.
 "What d'you mean? We go back to normal, like before Crioone led us into Metawar."
 Nara eyed Taverna, then responded to him.
 "What about Crioone?"
 Taverna shrunk back. He had forgotten that Crioone might still be alive. He even remembered when Crioone had wanted to find Nara even after she had betrayed them, whatever her motives had been. "... Fine. We look around for Crioone, but we stay away from Bellcast or anyone who's working with him. We don't do anything stupid that wrecks our cover."
 "Okay. But if we do this we have to not attack each other every minute."
 "Just don't do anything that might kill me or banish me from Speed."
 Nara looked at the ground. "One day I'll tell you why I did that. And maybe then, when the time is right, you'll understand."

 It had been three days and Nara had seen nothing that gave her any hope that Crioone was on Speed, or alive, for that matter. There were times when during the search she had wanted to give up, and maybe, just maybe, go back to a normal life the likes of which Taverna had suggested to her. Then she hated herself for thinking it. She had already betrayed Crioone once, even if in her own mind she had a good explanation for it, and she would not do it again. Nara began flying faster, scanning the ground more precisely, and her senses for any energy that resembled that of Crioone were at their peak. And yet, in the back of her mind she found that she knew the search was pointless. Crioone was not on Speed, and in the unlikely even that she was still alive, she would not be returning to Speed for a while. It was during these thoughts that Taverna spoke up.
 "Crioone's not here."
 "So you're just gonna give up?" replied Nara sceptically, even if she had been thinking the same thing for the past few hours.
 "No. Only in the actual sense of stopping to search."
 "What's that supposed to mean?"
 "She's not here, so why waste time looking for her. It's like trying to find a butterfly in an empty coccoon. It will never be accomplished."
 "So what are you saying we do, oh great one of crazy plans?"
 "Shut up. I don't need you insulting my plans. And this one happens to be good."
 "Sure. Get on with it. Tell me your great plan of bound to be success."
 "We can't find Crioone, so we take out Bellcast, bit by bit, piece by piece, until his empire of deamons is down to one: himself. Starting with the dog from hell."
 "Yeah. That's a good one. How 'bout I just kill you here on the spot. It will be much simpler and far faster."
 "Do what you want. I'll see you in two months time infront of Bellcast's fortress. We'll see who was smarter."
 Nara and Taverna took off at the exact same time. They would not see each other for two months, but as they worked, they would be watched. Exaltoskull stepped out from the shadows and stood where Nara and Taverna had been quarreling. It had taken a lot of effort to explode his body, but with the power of a Deamon Shadow anything, almost, wa possible. But his dissapearence had been on purpose, and it had served its purpose. He had found out a lot about the two deamons who had accompanied hi through The Fog. They were both selfish to an extent, but they also hated Bellcast and what he had done with Speed. They would be the perfect pawns to use in Exaltoskull's great plan of redemtion. No longer would he be the exile of Speed, but the bringer of light. The recreator of Speed.


 Taverna landed in the middle of Extapolis, Crioone's hometown. The village had suffered a lot since the dissapearence of Crioone, but it still thrived, since it prospered from it's location so close to the former Metawar. At once Taverna was recognised, and deamons gathered around him. He was, after all, one of the most respected deamons. He had faced Bellcast in a deathmatch only weeks earlier. And even if it had ended with Taverna being banished he had still gained enough respect that no one in Extapolis attacked him- if anyone had dared to move against Taverna he or she had been stopped by others and murdered.
 " I need fifty of you who are willing to die in a revoltuion against Bellcast. The fifty of you will be trained in combat with me. Actually, make it seventy-five of you. Many of you are bound to die in this training, because when I make my move in rebellion against Bellcast I don't want anyone who's not prepared. The fifty who succeed my training will then march our way to Bellcast's fortress and die. But not before we make dammed sure that Bellcast knows what he's up against. I have a friend who will finish the job we begin, but anyone who follows me now is guaranteed to die.
 "So who's with me?"
 No one stepped forwards. Taverna waited. Five minutes passed. No one had moved.
 "Okay. You're all dead. When you look at me on my way out, you'll be seeing some one who's proud to rebel. Proud to fight for a cause- not only to free the land of Bellcast's evil, but also to avenge a fallen friend, Crioone, from this town. But none of you can follow me now, because you know my true intent of the mission, and you'd be held back by that. So stay here. Don't do anything at all. Pretend I was never here."
 Taverna turned around and flew off to the south, towards the remains of Metawar. It had been his true intent to recruit the slaves of Metawar, but he had to see what Crioone's own village thought of the idea first. After all, an army of one hundred is much stronger than an army of fifty, if not just a bit harder to control.

 Exaltoskull snapped out of his daydream and back into reality. True, he was going to Nara and Taverna as pawns in his plan, but it would not be for somethign too dangerous, something that would affect their lives in a great way. Exaltoskull would not be revered as the great deamon who tore life from Bellcast the evil, but rather as the deamon who rebelled against the kind, the regicidal deamon. The deamon who killed his own brother.
 No, if Exaltoskull was to succeed, he needed Taverna and Nara to rebel first. Then he could act out his own plans. But all the while, he would remain in the shadows as he had done since birth. And at last, when Nara and Taverna would confront Bellcast, and as Bellcast reached out to kill them, Exaltoskull would kill them all, if necessary. First Bellcast would be murdered. The others would be left alone, unless they needed to die.


 The deamons who had for years stood around Metawar, gradually fortifying it, building better defences, and slaving away during the day and the night recognised Taverna immediately. He had once worked along side some of them, and his power and prestige were known throughout the mob.
 Taverna landed on one of the stone pillars that was still intact and looked at the deamons, blood covered with bones almost showing. Since Axerion had died, no one had bothered to release the deamons from slavery. Bellcast had even come by and ordered then to rebuild the fortress. But he had not stayed, and he had left no one to oversee the work being done. The deamons were not fed, and so the deamons that remained were the strongest, all of the weaker ones had died off or been used to keep the alive ones undead.
  When Taverna landed, the chains that bound the deamons to their positions rattled, as each deamon forced its way nearer to Taverna, the emerald warrior who brought them hope.
 Taverna opened his mouth, and the crowd went silent. Bones from dead deamons rustled in the wind, but no one paid attention to that. Taverna was their focus. The green deamon began his speech.
 "I am going to lead a rebellion against King Bellcast, ruler of Speed and tyrant of the universe."
 Boos resounded when Taverna pronounced King Bellcast, but they were followed by cheers as Taverna disgraced his name. Taverna raised a hand, and a gust of wind escaped from his wing, blasting the deamons with air, immediately shutting off their voices.
 "But a one man rebellion is not very strong, nor would I stand a chance at fighting the dark lord." A few deamons laughed, while others hit those who laughed, ensuring that they stayed silent as Taverna had made them. "Anyone who joins me will surely die. But your death will be quick and filled with pain. I'm sure that it is preferable to staying here and dying. So, I need volunteers. Around seventy of you, who I will train in combat. Of those who choose to follow me, only fifty will survive long enough to begin the revolt, and later rebellion against Bellcast. Who will join me?"
 Many deamons cried out in responce, while others began fighting those who responded in order to kill them, to ensure a spot with Taverna. Seeing this, the emerald coloured deamon flew over the crowd and blasted the agressors with deamonic energy. Within minutes the crowd was silent, half of the deamons who had been listening were silent- dead.
 "If you wish to follow me, then break free of your bondings and fly up to me. As I flew by I weakened the power of the metal. Those who I've already selected should find that escaping is easy.
 Seventy-five deamons broke free during Taverna's words, but on their way up to meet the deamon they fought, and eight fell from the skies into the hands of the unchosen. They were devoured, giving the deamons below a little bit longer to live. Or it would have given them longer to live, had Taverna not given out his first order.
 "Kill the remainders!"
 Most of the deamons who were now free launched themselves at the slaves still imprisonned, but a few stayed behind. Those who hung back were killed by Taverna himself. They had not listened to orders, therefor they could not be trusted on the battle field.
 The prisonners cried out in fear, but their restraints held them in place, and the massacre was easy. Blood splattered the ground and stone, and death was in the air. Taverna shut his eyes, then dropped down to the ground, where he grabbed one of the dead deamons, seemingly at random. He addressed his warriors when he spoke.
 "This deamon, like all of the others here this day, heard my speech. When Bellcast or one of his followers discovered many of you missing this deamon would likely give away my plan in a second, just to save his own life, which he would losse as soon as he finished his story. By killing this deamon, and all of the others here, you have ensured that we will have more time to prpepare for the war that is to come."
 Taverna dropped the dead deamon to the ground, then released a small wave of deamonic energy. The dead deamons exploded from the inside out, leaving everything in their systems on the ground before Taverna and his warriors. "Take whatever may be of use to us here. Many of these deamons swallowed weapons. They may come in use in your training. Also, feed on them until you no longer need to feed. You will need your energy."
 And with that, Taverna stooped down and sunk his teeth into the blood that covered the area. He was a true beast at this time. He was a true deamon.

 "Where are we headed?" asked one of the deamons who followed behind Taverna. The green hued deamon had flown due west for three hours without speaking to anyone. His eyes moved back and forth, catching glimpses of the ground below, probably looking for anything that looked as if Bellcast had spies following them.
 Taverna turned his head in mid flight, then flipped over, his hand blasting wind in the faces of the flying slave-used-to-be's. At once they stopped and floated in the middle of the sky. "We're headed to the mountains to the west. There are many valleys and caves which we'll use for training, and it gives us cover from anything Bellcast sends our way."
 Jirba, the deamon who had spoken to Taverna, nodded. Taverna flipped back into the position he had been flying in and began to fly once more. The others followed him. Jirba casually flew slower than the others, allowing him to soon be at the back of the pack. He began to drop in altitude, and at once he felt a great pain in his back. Taverna's claws pulled out from the lifeless body Jirba, and as the deamon fell to the ground, Taverna released a wave of deamonic energy at the ground. The trees of the forest rustled as a gray coloured deamon tried to get out of the way of the blast, but Jirba's body colided with the deamon, and both bodies exploded in a bloody mess.
 "Traitors are unacceptable. If anyone plans to betray me now, come forwards and attack me!" No one stepped forwards. "Good. Your second mission in my training is as follows. Destroy any living being in that forest. Incinerate the forest if you need to. And if you knwo of a traitor who did not step forwards when I asked, kill him."
 The deamon warriors of Taverna dropped down to the forest and began using their powers to set fire to the forest. They somehow had learned to fight in unison and with strategy, as not all of the deamons were lighting up the forest. Others skimmed across the top of the massive inferno, looking for anything that was struggling to live, or anything that tried to escape. And as the deamons began to come back up to Taverna, two were struck from the air and tumbled into the fire below. The traitors.


 Nara's wings carried her across the desert of Craiyo to the northern shores of Speed. The ocean surrounding Speed's main island was gray-blue in colour and waves over fourteen metres high rolled along the top, collapsing down on each other and rising with twice the force. Aquatic deamons lived in the ocean, although they were few in number, as the beasts of the sea were generally larger and much more ferocious. Nara began her descent and as her altitude rapily dropped her speed rose, up until the point where she was in pain because of the air resistance.
 The red hued deamon's head crashed through the water and Nara's speed quickly decreased. But her built up speed carried her down quite a ways, and when she felt deep enough she extended her wings, arched her back, and began to move forwards and up in direction. This direction resulted in her entering a small cave that, due to it's position, allowed air to remain and kept water out. Once Nara had surfaced from the water and was breething again she beat down with her wings and propelled herself up into the cave, through a small network of caves and tunnels. Whoever had originally forged this place had been sure to dig well so as to prevent water from flowing into the cave in the unlikely event that it was forced up.
 Nara had originally found the cave two years ago when she had been seking refuge from Axerion's henchmen. She had been chased to the northern most point of Speed- Lislama Point, and from there she had headed west, to where she eventually collapsed from exhaustion and fell into Iskarna- the ocean the surrounded Speed's main island.
 She had somehow survived and found herself in the first tunnel, floating in the water, face up and breathing. It had then been her life saver. It would now serve a purpose much greater. From here she could gain access to Terra Eterna, and from there, she could re-enter Speed almost anywhere, since flying in Terra Eterna was much safer than flying in Speed.

 Three weeks into Taverna's training of the deamons, Taverna realised that the ones he had chosen to follow him were near perfect warriors. After eliminating the weaker deamons from his group, and killing off all traitors, Taverna had finally recieved total control of the deamons following him. They acted upon hearing his voice, and they encountered death and laughed in its face. Many times the fifty one deamons had attacked wandering deamons who were alone or in groups of two or three. These were easy wins, and by doing this, Taverna's group of murderers became more known, and deamons began travelling in groups across large distances to avoid began raided and attacked. But this only spurred Taverna on, and it grew to the point where his crew began wiping out small villages.
 Taverna looked at the fifty deamons assembled in front of him. Standing there, the deamons all aknowledged Taverna as their new leader. He had, after all, freed them from the ruins of Fortress Metawar where they had all been slaves. Each deamon was fully prepared to die for Taverna. In the revolution against Bellcast that Taverna had warned them was approaching, each deamon would follow Taverna to death.
 "Today we do not fly. Nor will we fly tommorow or for a month to come. No. Today we begin our journey towards Craiyo Desert, to a place deamons refer to as the Sorceror's Shadow. The desert of Craiyo holds many secrets, but one of them was not uncovered until a month or so ago, when Bellcast the tyrant destroyed Craiyo and built his fortress within the sandy dunes. He calls his fortress the Palace of Panredden, for unknown reasons, but the fortress is known to be hidden in the shadows of the hills, and some deamons even claim that it is underground. Nevertheless, it is well guarded, and we will most likely die upon entry.
 "Anything you encounter upon our march of suicide is to be killed. Today the genocide of the Attalna begins, and the regicide of Bellcast is to follow. Today, we are the lowest of deamons- merely murderers, with blood on our hands and in our bodies. But later we will be heroes. We will be remembered as the slayers of evil!"
 Cheers from his army erupted during his speech, and by the end of it each deamon had it in his head that Taverna was the only being worth listening to. So they marched, from the southwestern end of Speed- the Bay of Forna- towards the Desert of Craiyo, in the middle of Speed.


 Exaltoskull looked at the Attalna surrounding him. Once more, Bellcast was trying to delay his brother from arriving at the Palace of Panredden. But Bellcast must have known that Attalna could no longer contest with deamons who knew of their existance. It was for this reason that the Attalna had been upgraded. Not a major difference, only one percievable if you were looking for it. The Attalna were now able to move faster, slightly, and their bodies were covered in a transparent film of metal.
 The Attalna launched themselves at Exaltoskull and hit him before the black hued deamon had time to realise what had happened. It was then that Exaltoskull realised that they had been upgraded. He had noticed that they moved in groups, but now that they allowed him to stand back up he realised that they were all in groups. The groups, when using the imagination also resembled deamonic bodies. Exaltoskull released a small wave of deamonic energy and the Attalna fell back before the wave made contact with them.
 So, invisible host bodies. This should be interesting.
 The Attalna regrouped and surged forwards. But this time, Exaltoskull was ready. The Deamon Shadow within him released itself and lashed out at the invisible bodies, and immediately the area was shrouded in mist. The bodies became semi-visible, but that was all Exaltoskull needed. The Attalne fell group by group, until only one remained. From this group a dog like deamon came slowly into view, and from behind it another deamon entered, a female.
 The dog rose onto it's hind legs and barked at Exaltoskull, but the black deamon only shrugged in responce. The female deamon spoke up.
 "You probably remember me from before your banishment, and if you don't, that's alright, I know who you are." Ninmeko fell silent while looking at Exaltoskull's face. Deep down, there was a slight resemblance to Bellcast. But the skin tone and the attitude made them different enough that you'd have to know they were brothers to see the resemblance.
 "I'm Ninmeko, princess of Panredden and soldier to Bellcast. Leave now, I have other business to attend to and you are not to be harmed, except by Bellcast himself." She didn't bother to mention that Anlatta and Geminist also had the power to attack Exaltoskull if necessary. No use giving Geminist anything else to be proud of.
 "I'll leave, if you tell me what you're here for."
 "Like that's... gonna happen..." replied Anlatta in a slow and slurred voice. The dog deamon's chain rattled and Anlatta growled at Ninmeko, who had taken hold of the leash.
 "Shut up. You don't have permission to speak." She turned to face Exaltoskull."Nor do you have permission to know why I'm here." Ninmeko rushed towards Exaltoskull and as she neared him Anlatta passed her and took down Exaltoskull.
 "You have no... permission... to attack..."
 Exaltoskull began to step back up, but Anlatta's paw rested on his chest, the claws extended. Ninmeko released the chain and circled her hands around Anlatta's neck. A blast of light erupted from her palms and Exaltoskull was blinded. He heard Anlatta roar at Ninmeko, but the deamon princess only shushed him and took off. They must have opened a rift to escape, as their voices were gone long before they should have been. Exaltoskull rose to his feet and his vision slowly returned. Panredden was still quite a ways off, but the two deamons had not moved him away. Instead, they had brought along an army of soldiers dressed in shining black armour, swords raised and eyes all focused on Exaltoskull. When their mouths opened no sound came out. Instead, Exaltoskull's ears rang with pain as Bellcast's voice resounded within them.
 Do not move any closer. These deamons are not what they seem. They have all been infected by the Attrezlets, the virus that infects you and I to this day. They can kill you, but really, it will be me killing you, and you killing yourself.
 Bellcast laughed in delight as Exaltoskull stood still as the deamons in armour advanced upon him. He was neutralised and chained up in less than an hour. He had put up a fight, but only to delay the soldiers. He blacked out at the end, and when he was awakened, Bellcast's smiling face greeted him.

 Nara looked around at the earth from the sky. Smoke billowed from towers, and cars and buses moved about constantly, emmitting toxins into the air. Birds circledher, trying to figure out just what the giant red being was. Nara shoowed them away and descended to the ground of Terra Eterna, otherwise known as Earth to the people who inhabitted it.
 She immediately discovered that she was an outsider and would be tracked as she moved by everyone. She was also likely to be found by any deamon currently on Terra Eterna, not that that was a lot. So Nara flew bac upwards and landed upon a tall building and began her journey from there.
 Inside of her head she had a mental image of Speed combined with Earth. From this image she positioned herself to fly towards the approximate area of Craiyo desert here on Earth.
 But in her haste to find the area she had not checked her surroundings for deamons. She had not thought to look around to see if she was being followed. Had she done this, she may have spotted, or at least discovered the presence of Omnimega, the large green-black coloured deamon, who currently worked with Geminist.


 Omnimega watched as Nara slipped into the skies of Earth. Omnimega hated Earth for the sole reason that his powers were greatly reduced by the amount of energy in the air. Following Nara was tough, especially since in Earth's atmosphere it was physically demanding to fly, and because Nara kept dropping to the ground to inspect the smallest details.
 <Where are you?>
 Geminist's drone voice made its way to Omnimega's ear, and the deamon growled quietly to himself.
 "I'm following Nara the red. She's quite annoying. You?"
 <I'm flying with Alkyra in the south. Land troups have been rapidly organising. Someone's starting a war before we can even start.>
 "So what do we do?"
 <Alkyra's gonna watch the land troops movement down here. I'm gonna head east and try to intercept Nara, if I can. You turn around now and head west towards a large ocean- the Pacifica- and get ready to intercept and water vesels that are aligned for war. Once we're in position we'll take over the command of land sea and sky. We'll rule the world while Bellcast and Ninmeko dominate Speed.>
 "I just forget about Nara?"
 <Yeah. She's not important.>
 "Sure."
 Geminist's voice did not return. The plan was made. Within forty-eight hours Terra Eterna would likely be controlled by three deamons.


 "Hawk. Jet. We have newcomers to our game. Leave all formations as they are and begin to recruit new forces, but don't organise them. All current formations are to be ordered to stay in position and end all movement for the time being. Our forces are gonna be taken over soon, and when they are we need to be able to counter our own forces. Move to another location immediately. When war breaks out, everyone whom we've allianced is gonna be against us."

 Crioone raised her head to the west and cried out as a pain struck her light a bolt of light. Fear entered her, for she could not sence anything unnatural aound her, which meant that the attack had come out of no where. Unless the pain had come from an actual bolt of lightning.
 But she was not that lucky. The pain continued and seemed to grow with each second she stood in place. Crioone took to the air, but nothing she did could get her away from the pain. And she was blinded, and as her eyes widened, not taking in anything, she crashed into the ground, her legs cracking and her wings folding uderneath her body.
 The blue deamons opened her eyes once more to see if her vision had come back, and she was shocked at what she saw. The deamon called Vulture was in front of her, and he was covered in small micor bugs. She looked at herself and cried out when she observed a human body, with hands and dark hair.
What the hell is going on?
 Suddenly the body she was looking through twisted it's head and cried out in shock. Crioone tried to see what was wrong. At first it eluded her. Then she noticed why. She was in her own body. And then the image flashed away and he was back in the human body.
 Waves of deamonic energy spilled over her and she looked up at her body ten feet in front of her. It was at this point that she finally realised what was going on.
 -What the hell is going on? The human echoed Crioone's own thoughts from her own body. But Crioone was ready to respond.
 "Fear not. You are fine. I will guard your body while you fight with my own. I am Crioone, the deamon you have searched long and hard for. Use my body to destroy this deamon's hope, but do not kill him. What the Yits said was true: he will be usefull in the search for Ragnon." Crioone continued and explained the basics of deamonic energy, as well as to caution the human in his actions with it.
 The micro organisms that covered the human's body that Crioone was watching through reall bugged her. Their constant movements were a distraction, but she tried her best to ignore them She was protecting the human's body, not fighting with it.
 "Do not fear when they cover you. Like I said, Deamonic energy is different from Magical Energy. You don't need to focus my energy anywhere; it will come out in a wave of power from all over my body, so it can't be blocked the same way they blocked your power.
 The human nodded, and a wave bigger than any Crioone had seen in her life exploded from her deamon body. All around the micro organisms fell to the ground. Crioone almost cheered, but as she opened her mouth to do so she found she was opening her own mouth. Crioone stayed quiet, waiting for a sign that what she had experienced was real.
 A voice that sounded familiar echoed in her head, but quiet at first, so she did not understand the words. Focusing more, she began to here more of what the voice was saying. "In your current state of only one body, you cannot communicate with Crioone, and although she can here you, she cannot communicate with you either. I am not sure how you were able to split your beings apart like that, because of according to the laws of Deamonic and Magical beings, once together like this you cannot be split without meeting where you destinies would normally meet. However, what you did in your deamonic state was incredible, is not fatally dangerous to the world of Speed. The amount of energy you released was amazing. Don't do it again. It offsets the balance of enrgy in the atmosphere."
 The voice finished, never giving any hint as to who it was. Then the human voice returned, and Crioone knew that what she had experienced was real.
 -He can never stay long enough to answer my questions, can he?

 "Even if death has consumed my body, my mind and soul alone stay free from its grasp. The evil Bellcast has surpassed everything I ever thought he would amount to. Thnking back to his beginning, it seems almost obvious he would amount to a great evil, who would eventually push me aside and take everything I had built up. Thinking back to his birth, if it can be called that, is almost as scary as what my life has become."

Six hundred thousand years ago

 Axerion watched in awe as a being clad entirely in blinding light floated in front of him. Even more disturbing was the dark shady figure behind Axerion. Each one carried a small ball shaped like a cocoon, deamonic energy eminating from each of them. The being of light and the being of dark had no energy eminating from them, or atleast, if they did, they were able to hide it completely, nothing Axerion had ever thought possible by any individual deamon.
 <We're here to place these two 'deamons' into your hands for you to care for them. We trust you will not disturb their growth in any way.>
 -If you disobey our orders you will be killed by one of them. And I myself will see to it that you die if you disobey.-
 "And if I decline?"
 <Loxtrida will see to it that you die immediately.>
 -Death to those who go against the Lox Beings.-

 Fourteen years passed before the Lox Beings, as they had called themselves, returned to Axerion. In the fourteen years, Bellcast and Exaltoskull, as they had named themselves, had grown into great deamon warriors, capable of defeating Axerion in pure hand to hand combat. The day that the Lox beings returned, there were three of them. The third being, a new one, attacked Axerion at once.
 //You are no longer needed. No one can know about what has happened here. Our little, experiment, is to be kept a secret from everyone. You are a livin deamon who can let word out of our presence.//
 -The Lox are not to be disobeyed. Turn around and allow Phantomalox to kill you.-
 "Why? Who are you to order me around?"
 <We are the Lox Beings. For this reason alone you are to die.>
 Phantomalox stabbed Axerion and the deamon fell to the ground. //In just under six hundred thousand years maybe you will remember this. But by then Exaltoskull will be the ultimate genocidal deamon. You will be killed by his hands. Your only hope will be in Bellcast's hands, and yet, he will be your greatest enemy. And when, if you do, remember this, you may seek we three, the Lox beings. Finding us will be hard, and on your way a human may kill you. But through it all, remember this. The Lox Beings are the greatest beings to ever live. We are Gods.>
 Axerion's body crumpled against the ground, and Phantomalox removed the stabbing blade. Loxtrida laughed, and the Lox Being of light remained silent.
//Farewell, Axerion.//

 When Axerion awoke, he had remembered nothing. Bellcast and Exaltoskull were nothing to him, for they too were gone. He had fourteen years of nothing. He did not relive those years until nearly six hundred thousand years later.

Present day
 "I guess I have remembered this for quite a while, although the Lox Beings are somewhat more recent. But what they said was wrong. Bellcast is the genocidal deamon, while Exaltoskull tried to help me destroy the evil one."
 //It took you quite a while to remember me, didn't it?//
 Axerion stood still as the icy voice of Phantomalox breathed down his back.
 "How am I alive? Bellcast murdered me. My blood splattered on his hands."
//Axerion. You raised Bellcast and Exaltoskull, and even if you did not remember until the moment of your suppsed death, they did. Bellcast left you alive, but banished your soul into the Fog, land of the Lox Beings. Here you will walk forever, gathering an army capable of destroying Bellcast the failed. And once he is destroyed, Exaltoskull must also be killed. For he has failed all of our tests as well. Do not ever speak my name or my fellow Lox Beings names again. Here you can live in our protection, but if the word Lox is spoken you die. This is your finale, for we are done with you. For six hundred thousand years you have lived a planned life. A lie. You are a fool. You always have been. Farewell.//

"Keep moving are I'll kill you. We march our way to the kingdom of Bellcast. Nothing can stop us, because even Bellcast himself has a weakness. He fears Exaltoskull, who is not in fact dead. Nor is Nara. Keep marching, because when we arrive, the bell that rings death will ring for us. We cannot die before then."


"Who are you?"
The question was irrelevant, to say the least. Lying face down with a claw dug into her back, Nara was in no position to ask questions, and her capturers were in no real position to reply.
"Answer me or I'll kill you!"
The threat was irrelevant, to say the least. Lying face down with bllod pouring out of her neck, Nara was in no position to demand and answer, and her capturers did not need to reply.
"Aaaaaaaarggggggggggggghhhhhh!"
The scream was irrelevant, as all screams are. They don't change a position in a fight, war or argument. Needless to say, they do provide a distraction. As Nara screamed her wings pulled together tightly, and her shoulder blades tightened. The claw that was dug into her back was not moved or hurt at all. It was simply stuck, because unless Nara died, she would not release here hold on the claw. And this was relevant.
"We are your killers."
She recieved an irrelevant answer, as it told her nothing she did not already know. The monotone voice offered no clue as to gender, nor age. The tone did not imply what her killer wanted, nor why. But the power it was spoken with gave her the answer she needed.
"Geminist. Your name is Geminist. I saw you just before I was banished. You're with someone else. I'm sure of it."
"Yes. You're right, I guess I slipped. The claw is my own. The one holding you is Omnimega. You're in Terra Eterna. This is the last thing you''l ever see before dying, so get a good look."
Nara tilted her head up and saw a sword blade shoot towards her. It was the last thing she saw.