[Freezair]

"Done and done!" I swung around back toward Valor, and Sky landed with pinpoint accuracy. I shifted over to let Valor climb on board next to me. Somewhat laboriously, Sky set off at a run and thrust herself into the sky. She listed slighty and beat her wings more than average. Down underground, there weren't a lot of handy thermals or anything.

I swallowed when Valor told me his plan. "What? Risk? Like what kind of risks are we talking about?"

"I trust you, Valor, but I hope you know what you're doing," Sky said from below us.

Up ahead of us, Avani found herself boxed in by the strange panels Justice created. She bounded around between them, looking for the pathway out. She slipped between a few of the panels, and called back. "No! Please! Don't try to stop me! If you care about me, just follow me! We're going to meet an old friend!"

Avani wasn't the only one hollering, however. On the ground, in the maze of civilians, Krii had become trapped by a pair of very burly Sabbits. Their armor was even grittier than the stuff worn by the Battis, and their expressions were twice as dour. They'd accosted him, asking questions like, "Are you associated with this?" Krii swallowed and backed away. "Jimmy!" he shouted back. "You and Valor better do something quick, because I think we're in trouble down here!"

[endermage]

Valor charged a burst of null energy, "Remember, I don't think we should stop her journey, I just want her to calm down, so that we stop attracting so much attention. We'll catch her and go into hiding somewhere in the city. I don't REALLY want to explain myself to the authorities."

Justice swooped down to where Krii was standing, "Jump on buddy!" she said, whipping her body around creating a blockade against the Sabbits. "We have got to go!"

"This is gonna tingle," said Valor as he shot the charged bolt of null energy into Jimmy's body.  

[245] [215] [10]

[Freezair]

"Wait a minute! What the--"

But the bolt of null energy surged into me. All of my skin began to crawl. It was if I was being tickled all over. I wanted to laugh, I really did. But I fought back the urge.

The effect was sudden and instantaneous. Up ahead of us, boxed in by Justice's strange panels, Avani began to slow down. And not in the sense of she stopped running. She kept running and fluttering, alright. But she was suddenly moving in slow motion. Every stroke of her wings, every whip of her tail, suddenly took seconds to complete. Avani herself initially seemed unaffected. But confusion slowly dawned on her face. What was she seeing, I wondered? Did she sense herself moving more slowly? Or was everyone else suddenly moving at hyperspeed?

"Neat trick," Sky said. "How did you do that, Valor?"

I looked down at my own hands when she said it. I had hoped for a safe way to catch Avani, and we'd gotten it. Valor had shot the beam at me--had I done that, somehow? But it seemed unlikely. In a land like Evelon, filled with magic, I was one of the least magical people I knew. I'd pulled off a trick or two back in the day, but that wasn't really my doing.

But maybe this wasn't either.

Below me, Krii had hopped onto Justice's back. He directed her towards the slowed-up Avani. Unfortunately, it looked like the guards had taken notice. The chunky Sabbits, followed by a platoon of knuckly Gruss, were making their way towards Avani. The Gruss were even rolling into balls to chase her.

"Looks like they've got the same idea we do!" Krii shouted. "Hurry! We have to take her with us somehow!"

[endermage]

"I got her!" said Glory,working his claws into the top of the large cube that had trapped the paragon. Using his massive strength he lifted the entire thing into the air,"This things not so heavy..." His speed was pretty diminished but Justice was right behind him, using her spheres she lifted it just slightly. They met up with Valor, Jimmy, and Sky midair, "Um...now what..." said Glory. "Jimmy...this is your thing now...What should we do?" asked Valor.


[246] [216] [11]

[Freezair]

I looked behind us. The people of this underground kingdom were not precisely what you would call "happy." In fact, some of them were already prepping up magical shots to fire at us, and presumably hurt us. This didn't seem like a good place to deal with Avani. But I looked ahead, and the city seemed to cut off after a certain point. There were tunnels that lead deeper into the caves. The light didn't reach there, but neither did the people. Perhaps we could shelter there long enough to snap Avani out of it.

"This way!" I pointed, and Sky began to fly. The light of the bright blossom faded from behind us, and darkness began to engulf us. Up on Justice's back, Krii flickered a few fireballs into being to light our way. Beneath my feet, Sky began to glow with a faint light as the markings on her body sprung to life.

In the box, Avani seemed to have sprung back into the normal timeframe the rest of us followed. She looked down the dark tunnel, and seemed weirdly pleased. She sat back almost casually, as if to enjoy the ride. As if she had no idea what a fright she'd put us through.

"I think we're losin' 'em! Get ready to set her down once the light fades, OK, guys?" I shouted.

[endermage]

The darkness of the crevasse cocooned them like a safe blanket. Valor always had preferred it dark. Light seemed probing, impersonal, and rude compared to the quiet dignity of darkness. Glory gently placed the cage of light onto the ground.

Valor approached, "Avani. Please calm down. You know we are not going to hurt you. Remember, we are your friends. We just crawled into the underworld of Evelon with you and we want to help you, but you have to slow down. We don't know how this place works, and clearly we've already aggravated some locals. Take a deep breath and remember, we will get to wherever you need to go. Slowly and carefully."

Valor nodded at Justice, who snapped her claw shattering the cube.

[247] [217] [12]

[Freezair]

Avani slumped out of the box. I saw a faint glitter from her eyes from Krii's fire, and then she fell into shadow, save for a few faint red outlines. She stood without twitching or shuddering. She seemed calmed. Was it the sound of Valor's voice? The darkness? Or was that strange spell that Valor had helped me use to blame?

Avani looked down the tunnel. "...I... I remembered," she said. "A... a long time ago. Someone... someone I knew is here in this cave. Sleeping. Waiting. For me."

"Avani, love, I hate to break your bubble," Sky said. Her feathers ruffled beneath me, like pieces of shale grinding across one another. "But if there was someone in this cave you knew, we'd know about it. We've known you all your life--"

"This life," she breathed. "Not... not my previous one."

Krii responded for all of us, I think. "Oh."

"I'm sorry for making you all worry so. But it was fuzzy for so long. And suddenly, it felt clear to me as we approached the cave. I heard him, calling me. And I... I had to know. I apologize."

"Who is this 'friend?'" I asked. "Where is he, then? What does he look like?"

"He's this way," Avani said. "Down this tunnel, right here. I... don't remember his face, exactly. But I know he's a Paragon, too. A much bigger one. A much... a much older one." She swallowed. "But I think we may need time to wake him. Valor?" She turned to the Incarnation and his crew. "That spell you helped Jimmy use to catch me... do you think I would be able to use it? I think... I think I might be able to use it to locate my old mentor, and help wake him up. Would you let me?"

"Mentor?" Krii questioned. "She had a mentor in her past life?"

[endermage]

Valor shrugged, "Right now I'm sort of playing blind. But it could work. Hold still and focus on what you want to be able to do. I would step back everyone, I'm not sure how this is gonna manifest." Glory and Justice scooted back a little bit. Justice raised a shield, Valor's powers were acting so strange recently, something had changed and it made her nervous. Valor charged a bolt of null energy,"Hope you are ready!" he yelled as he unleashed it, launching it into the heart of the Paragon.

[248] [218] [13]

[Freezair]

I found myself biting my nails--a habit I hadn't done since I was little. Valor shooting weird, random energy into me personally? Sure, no problem. If I got hurt, I was the only one who had to deal with it. But this was Avani we were talking about. I had turned out OK, so who was to say I was?

Avani rose slightly into the air. Her eyes were closed, and something like a smile crossed her mouth. Her breastbone began to glow. A circlet of light surrounded her shoulders. Suddenly, as if from a searchlight, a great beam of light shot out from her back, and pointed into the depths of the cave.

Avani turned around, but the light remained fixed and stationary. Like a compass needle, it pointed resolutely deeper. Without question, Avani set off after it. Once again, what choice did we have but to follow?

I moved in towards Valor as we moved. I intended to compliment him, but Krii caught him first. "Neat trick, Val," he said. "Can you do it to me, too? I could do with a cheeseburger..."

"I imagine it's very draining. And certainly not a toy," Sky said. "Still, I'm actually... sort of glad to see the spell work like that. It lends a kind of... validity to her raving, you know? It means there really is something down here for her to find, if the beam goes to it."

"Yeah, but I'd be on our guards anyway," I said. "There's probably Akail down here. Not to mention, some weirdo from that city could have followed us."

((AKA: If you want to have a fight or something before we get there, you can introduce an antagonist for us to fight. Otherwise, we can go straight to waking up Constantine, afterwards, I do have some more plot cooked up for us that will actually get us wrapped up in the war plot.))

[endermage]

Out of the shadows of the empty cavern glowed a slight luminance from the far corner.

"Well...you plan on waking him do you." said a smooth yet cutting voice, "How quaint."



Valor turned to see a Dreamsnare Choopa watching them with a devious smile on her otherwise  empty and hollow face.

Glory, knowing he could not defend his allies at his current size, returned to his human form. "Um...Mam.. Can we help you?"

"I was really wanting to avoid this you know," she scoffed a bit,"All the machinations are in place I just wanted to watch how it played out, but the big green monkey wrench here got in the way. You should have stayed dead honey, you're just making it harder on yourself. Just go back to sleep. Let your last life die so this one can survive."

Valor stood up, he could barely stand, something had seriously drained him of his powers, spells this simple should not be sapping his energy so. "What do you want....we have to find out what Avani needs...I won't let you get in our way." He started to summon a crystal weapon, however instead of manifesting the Odin Configuration, a small crystalline structure burst out of his left hand, leaving a small wound. "Oh damn it that hurts, what the hell is happening...."

"What indeed...." the stranger said in a coy voice,"The all powerful abomination of the Prometheus Corporation, broken and battered. Still, when I sense you I detect something quite off putting. Your brethren are so much different than you, while they are merely experiments, you are a blot on the very Universe itself. A scar in the fabric of reality, distorting and dismantling everything around it."

Valor was quiet as this all was said, his eyes seeming to sink with each toxic statement.

"I'm not going to kill you just yet, not till I can harvest all the power and calamity you wield...but I am going to kill that lizard if she steps even one claw towards that sleeping problem." she smiled,"As Eris, Incarnation of True Chaos. I cannot allow you to stop this beautiful, elegant, and tragic disaster that is about to unfold."


[249] [219] [14]

[Freezair]

((Eris? Me likey.))

"What the--?"

We all whirled around, drawn by the sound of the vitriolic voice seeping up from behind us. Our pursuer made herself known: A Dreamsnare Choopa. Small. Alone. Not a true threat, correct? But her eyes burned with malicious intent, and I felt something twinge in my heart, something I'd long since stopped thinking about. That place where, long ago, I'd been touched by the Incarnation of Logic. That spot, just below my neck, was beginning to thrum. This Choopa was an Incarnation, too. I didn't have to hear her say it to realize it.

Avani froze behind us, not moving, just listening. Krii, however, was not so still. His face shook and his teeth grew more and more exposed as every word came out of her mouth. When there was a lull in her speech, he sprung forward, full of flame and anger, by Valor's side.

"And just who do you think you are, dream-guts? Where do you get off, picking on Valor and Avani like that? You wanna pick a fight, huh? Well, come at me, bro. 'Cuz I'm sure as hell not afraid of you!"

"Krii, get back," Skycutter cawed. "You don't know what you're dealing with--"

"You bet I know what we're dealing with!" Krii snarled. "A threat to our friends and family, that's what! She wants a fight, she can tangle with us!"

Shivering, I saw it prudent to duck behind Skycutter. I felt a twinge of guilt for using her as a meat shield, but she spread her stony wings defensively, as if she agreed with me. Ahead of us, Krii still bristled, but he did not throw his fire. Perhaps he was being strategic after all, and waiting to see what moves she would make.

Avani was speechless. I looked back at her, and saw her eyes were closed. Though there was no wind, the branches on her head stirred. Something flickered in the firelight behind this Eris character--something almost woody and vine-like--but I quickly lost sight of it.

[endermage]

"Pathetic." said the vicious voice as a corona of dark light, if such a thing was possible, was emitted from her body. "You haven't even tapped into half your power yet, big lizard. While I on the other hand have been soaking in this distrust, conspiracy, violence, and cruelty of these lands for many many years. I was here when the fear of this land was born, that one violent act that lit a brush fire of the most delectable chaos."

Glory ran at her, his sword of flames a lit, "Your no Incarnation I've ever seen before!" He raised his sword to strike her, but the space around it distorted and curved the blade of flames, blasting Glory into the wall of the cavern. "What...are you...."

"I'm not one of you...dirty man-made counterfeits. I am a true, naturally occurring Incarnation, birthed from the Chaos of this world. I WILLED myself into existence. It was no accident or experiment. I am the Will of Chaos, its true desires. And because of that, I will also be more powerful than all of you others combined."

Justice looked on in horror as the dark energy cracked around Eris.

"But I will enjoy pulling each and every thread of your existence apart until you fall back into the Abyss." she gestured to Jimmy," You, hiding behind the great chicken, your suffering I will enjoy most of all. Watching your little farm girl mind look onto the madness of a world without meaning. Watching the hope leak out of you will be quite enjoyable."

[250] [220] [15]

[Freezair]

Eris was staring at me. Some sort of primeval force crackled around her, and darkened her from within. What had I done to her? What had any of us done to her? But here she comes, waltzing out of the darkness, intending to give us hell. Eyes jittering, body frozen, I was just about to let her.

Until two words slipped out of her mouth:

"Farm girl."

The farm belonging to my parents, she meant. The mother who had forsaken me. The father who ignored my desires. The family whom I could not longer speak two words to without foaming over with bile.

No... creature who associated me with them was going to get away with it.

Nor, apparently, would a creature who called Avani a half-powered lizard. There was a sudden crash, and a great rustling. From the ground, all up around Eris' feet, enormous vines began to spring. Sky and I leaped back, with Krii on our heels. Avani's eyes glowed. Vines burst the walls asunder, and chips of stone rained down. Great caverns of vegitation closed around the incarnation.

And, lords help me, I decided that was my chance. Weaponless, and lacking in any magical powers save the ability to understand all Temple creatures, I charged. My fists flew in front of me, and I intended to make Eris pay.

[endermage]

"You are just like her you know." said Eris from deep within the cocoon of vines, "I thought you might be different in this life, but again, you don't know when to quit." There was another crackle of dark energy and the vines turned against themselves, bending backwards, and then dissolved into a black smoke.

"Can't you understand how long I've been waiting for this particular project to come to fruition?" she said like she was hurt,"All the planning, the coaxing, the manipulation, the misdirection... and that's not even counting what I did. I've decided it's more trouble to kill you and make you feel bad about yourselves then it's worth. If you leave right now, and never come down here again, I won't kill you and we'll call it square."

Justice cringed,"I don't know what to do....she's so powerful....can we even beat her..."

Valor stood up,"I think this is it everyone, whatever is past here is clearly too important to leave behind. No deal Eris. I'm going to trap her, once I do I need all of you to get past her and keep running."

"We can't leave you behind Valor!" said Glory urgently, "You'll be killed!"

Justice turned and gave a sour look,"Seriously Valor, why are you always trying to martyr yourself...it's not attractive...."

"He won't be a martyr if he tries anything....he'll be a casualty. One of many.... None of you will escape my grasp." said Eris. "My very presence is already disrupting your order. Physical contact with me will dismantle any of you artificial fakes."

[251] [221] [16]

[Freezair]

I pulled back, a sneer creeping up the side of my face. "No! You want to know what's fake here? You are! You're chaos. You shouldn't have a form. You shouldn't have a body, let alone a perfectly formed one. You shouldn't be speaking in complete sentences, or even a language, for that matter! But you know what you are? You're orderly. You're tidy. You should be ashamed of yourself."

I looked to Valor, and my teammates. Sky was already muscling up her wings.

"There's no way we'd let you fight this alone," Sky crowed. "No man left behind!"

"Yeah!" Krii added. Several fireballs whizzed through the air, directly towards Eris. She would probably turn them aside. Krii didn't care. He was more beating his chest than anything. If it did damage, then so much the better.

I heard no comment from Avani, but I assumed she was still behind us. Not like her to run off in the middle of battle, right? I didn't look behind me, but I was certain she was still there.

I summoned up all my wordsmithing talent, learned from years of storytelling, and whipped up a boast. This foe was unlike any we'd fought before; it would have to be a good one. And since I was already being boastful, I don't mind admitting that I was pretty proud of it:

"Chaos leads to entropy. Entropy leads to death. So if you're serious about being Chaos, Eris, then it's time for you to die."