Part: The Eighth

Answers

Kianne, Aelias, and Andrella escaped to New Virtue where Andrella explained many things.

• She had been in Pagan most of this time, trying to find the parts of the Kill and nearly getting killed by daemons called the Virge. She had never expected to come back out alive but Rakiah had fetched her.
• Kianne had unknowingly absorbed K'mosh from Kilmas, thus transferring the title of “Son of the Kill” onto herself. It was Kianne who had turned Kilmas from a half daemon into an ordinary human. The daemon she'd absorbed gained strength in Dawn because of the proximity to the elements, and that was why he had overcome her that night.
• Kianne herself had been turning into the Kill, and those around her were absorbed as K'mosh's parts. Lord British wasn't dead, Andrella said—he was in a coma, just like Kianne, as one of the Kill's pieces. So were Dupré, Shamino, and most of Kianne's other friends and companions. Siva's note had been correct—except some of the pieces had gotten shuffled around.
• But this also meant that those who were in comas could be freed in the same way that Kianne had been—if they could be found. Andrella had been unable to locate them, though she suspected they were in Pagan. Also, while they knew there were ten parts of the Kill, only seven of those ten had been thus far identified.
• The Time Lord had allowed himself to be defeated by Mondain, because he had already chosen his successor. Aelias held his wisdom and a large part of his essence in his sword, and Aelias had been chosen to be the next Time Lord. Assuming they could wrest Mondain out of his ill-gotten title, of course.
• And finally, the agreement that Andrella had made with the Guardian was that Kianne would attempt to “dominate the Ether,” which was a process of becoming highly attuned to the elements. It seemed that once all the channelers were dominant, but the channelers had all been killed except for Kianne, and then Era had dominated the Ether for the defilers. Kianne still wasn't quite sure what this meant, except that it would require the Stones and the Runes of Virtue. Andrella said the Virtues and the elements were linked, something Kianne herself had been contemplating for some time.

The Virge

At Andrella's suggestion, Aelias attempted to tap into the Time Lord's wisdom and knowledge by using his sword. He was able to pull up bits of information, including the location of one of their friends who was currently in a coma in Covetous.

Before visiting there, they dropped by the Shrine of Valor. After taking care of the elementals and the blackrock pillar, they meditated. The shrine spoke to Kianne in a feminine voice, mentioning Pyros, Dawn, and the Ether, though its words were faint and vague.

Returning to New Virtue briefly before going to Covetous, they encountered Rakiah, who warned them that the Virge had returned and were guarding the sarcophagi where the other pieces of the Kill were sleeping. To free them, they would have to go to through the Virge. The Virge were powerful ninja daemons; Andrella had scuffled with some of them on Pagan. Rakiah said she could not fight them because of the code of the ninjas, but she could give them advice.

Covetous and Jaana

The three traveled to Covetous, where they faced the usual dangers before stumbling almost immediately upon invisible traps that would explode when they walked near. The traps were very damaging, adding another curve ball to the situation.

Unable to use her spells, Kianne focused on casting Reveal as needed to bring the Virge out of hiding. Andrella and Aelias then chased him down and, after a long battle, defeated him.

Rakiah came after the Virge was defeated and unlocked the sarcophagus. They found Jaana inside. Kianne learned then the method that had been used to save her—namely, stabbing her in the chest.

They bought Jaana back to New Virtue and Aelias healed her after Rakiah had broken the coma with her black crystal dagger. Jaana was still weak, but she was alive.

Kilmas came later and announced that he'd encountered the Valencian Knights, who were under the command of Lord Soth. Soth had demanded that they meet with him at his old headquarters at the heart of the Hedge Maze.

Soth's Part

They found Soth at the maze; he had imprisoned Nystul, although they were able to free him without too much trouble. Soth handed over the Stones and the Runes of Virtue, apparently as part of the agreement that Andrella had made with the Guardian. But Kianne was unwilling to give the Guardian that much credit; she was wary, knowing for sure this must be a trap of some sort, but not knowing how.

Hakura and Aisis

At some point, Andrella learned that Aisis, one of her knights, had been jailed for attempting to attack Saitor. They went to speak with her, but she seemed resentful of them and they couldn't get through to her. Then an undead general attacked the jail; they thought at first it was Soth, but shockingly it turned out to be Hakura, a Paladin they had once met on an earlier quest. He was the father of Aisis and had turned to evil. He insisted on having his daughter brought to him.

Kianne got permission from the guards to free Aisis, hoping to take her away and hide her somewhere safe. But to their dismay, Aisis decided to willingly join Hakura's side. Kianne and the others were worried for her own safety, but they could not fight the hordes of knights that Hakura had accompanying him.

Deceit and Iolo

Aelias, trying again to meditate using his newfound powers, was able to snatch bits and pieces of knowledge about a bard, Deceit, and the doorway to Fire. With nothing better to go on, the three headed off to Deceit to find Iolo.

They explored for a bit before they came across the traps and the Virge. As with the previous one, this one summoned a lot of poison golems and also kept hiding himself. Once again, Kianne acted as the mage, wearing leather armor and using spells, while Andrella and Aelias did most of the damage with their weapons.

They were successful, but when Rakiah came, she warned them that these first two Virge had been runts, and that they were not a good representation of the power of the Virge.

The group brought Iolo back to New Virtue, where Jaana was recovering well. Jaana helped them to revive Iolo. It was a happy reunion except for the fact that Iolo had aged during all of the time he had spent in the warped time field of Dawn, and he really couldn't survive long outside of Dawn's protective properties. But Dawn was no longer an option; it had been taken over by the Pagan Lords, who had killed most of the elves. Iolo cried for his wife Gwenno, who he last saw when she'd pushed him through the gate to Britannia, evidently left for the dead.

Life to Give

Rakiah came to them with a potential solution to Iolo's malady. She could get a potion that would add additional years to his life, but they would have to gather items to trade. Andrella and Aelias and Kianne hurried to gather the gold and the other items that had been demanded. It was quite a bit, but they managed to make the deadline.

Rakiah took the items and returned sometime later with the potion. They took it to Jaana, who used it on Iolo. They could see the effects almost immediately as Iolo regained some of his health and strength. No one knew exactly how much more time he would have, but they were grateful for whatever he had gained.

Pending Attack

Rakiah warned them that Hakura and Aisis were plotting a move against Lord British's castle. Andrella, Aelias, and Kianne went to the castle to warn Lord Saitor. Kianne wanted to remain there to guard it, but Andrella said she would station knights, and at any rate, the three companions were needed for more important tasks.

Pearl Wind

Having learned from Iolo that the town of Wind was the last bastion against the Pagan Elementals, the three planned to travel there, hoping to at least find Pearl. They had learned that Pearl was the leader of the Ether Lords, the good Elementals. It explained why she was so knowledgeable.

Andrella said she had some things she had to take care of with the knights, and to go on without her. So Aelias and Kianne went to Wind alone. After some searching, they found their way to a hidden garden where they saw Pearl in person for the first time.

She took the form of a brightly glowing fairy, which did seem to match her cheerful attitude.

They had a long discussion, happy at times because they were all mutually glad to see one another alive and safe, but serious at other times, because of all the dangers that were taking place. As expected, Aelias and Kianne learned many things...

• Pearl had been saved by the orcs, specifically Goarla, whom they had befriended long ago.
• If the Pagan Lords had been able to find all of the Stones and Runes of Virtue, they would have destroyed Ether. So it was Andrella's hiding of the Stone and Rune of Justice that saved them.
• The Ether Lords had made a pact with Erivalion, the father of Era and Erimani. It was through this deal that the daemons were sealed by combining the eight Elements with the eight Virtues. However, since there were only seven Ether Lords, the last Virtue required a pact with Onos, the Pagan Lord of Darkness.
• Pearl said that Kianne could not dominate Ether as a channeler, and Kianne had little desire to become a defiler. Pearl warned gravely that if Kianne tried to dominate as a channeler, she would likely destroy herself, which would only help the Guardian.
• Onos could perhaps be defeated, or at the very least, sealed away. Pearl claimed that Kianne had this kind of power, although Kianne wasn't sure she believed her.
• The Shrines of Virtue were actually the Ether Lords speaking through them. Pearl said if the shrines were still speaking to her, then there was still a chance. If they could defeat the Pagan Lords, they could perhaps free the Ether Lords. However, Pearl warned that the Pagan Lords could not be fought in Ether, as they'd be undefeatable. They would have to be lured out of Ether first.
• VayViktus had already released the daemon seal, but the daemons were still in the chambers, plotting, and waiting for enough hosts to be prepared for them.
• Gwenno, who had been trying to learn to become an elementalist before the attack on Dawn, had been captured during the battle and cursed to become a defiler. She was now under the control of the Pagan Elementals. Her soul was being held in the chambers of the Time Lord, but even Aelias did not yet know how to get there, for their location was a secret.
• Kianne could restore her bow, if she chose; she would need to take it to Dawn to throw it into the pit of Ether there, then Pearl could return her to the Rainbow Cavern and she could reclaim it as normal, becoming its new master.
• The dying nature of Britannia, cursed by the defiler's power, could be restored by Kianne; Pearl gave her instructions on how to do this.

Before they left, Pearl released the defiler curse that had been preventing Kianne from casting spells. Kianne could now channel the elements again, though Pearl warned that if she got too close to another master defiler, she could lose her powers again. But Pearl could always reverse the damage if necessary.

Conflict

When Aelias and Kianne returned to Andrella to report what they had learned, they were surprised when Andrella did not seem to share their enthusiasm. She said that Pearl had been wrong about dominating Ether, and that Kianne should still strive to do so. However, either way, Kianne didn't know how to go about dominating Ether even if she wanted to, so the issue was put on the back burner.

Kianne found herself in the strange situation of not knowing if she could fully trust Andrella, and not knowing who to believe. What Aelias learned during his meditations caused him to caution that Andrella might not have seen the future in its entirety in the Tome of Stars, thus leading her to possibly come to the wrong conclusions. Andrella, on the other hand, seemed completely sure about what she was saying. Neither of them would go into much detail about what they knew. Kianne, having no knowledge of the future to tap into, was left caught in the middle.

Lists

Kianne's parchment was filling up with lists, among them being:

Ether Elemental Lords:

• Ruby (Fire)
• Zircon (Earth)
• Coral (Air)
• Sapphire (Ice)
• Citrine (Lightning)
• Amethyst (Water)
• Pearl (Light)

Pagan Elemental Lords:

• Pyros (Fire)
• Lithos (Earth)
• Stratos (Air)
• Crystos (Ice)
• Electos (Lightning)
• Hydros (Water)
• Onos (Dark)

Parts of the Kill:

• Kianne = Son
• Lord British = Heart
• Dupré = Flesh
• Iolo = Breath
• Shamino = Eye
• Jaana = Bone
• Sami = Blood
• ? = Night
• (Andrella?) = Body
• Mondain = Hand

Taking Sides

Andrella had learned that the pending attack on the castle was a setup. The Guardian planned to betray Haruka, Aisis, and Soth, by fighting off the attackers and thus making himself and Batlin look like heroes. If Kianne and her friends fought the invaders, they would be seen as helping the Guardian, and if they fought off the Guardian, they would be seen as helping Soth, so neither way could they win.

With no other choice, they went to Soth to warn him of the plan. He did not seem as concerned as they were, even though his own demise was part of the Guardian's plan. However, he agreed to make a pact with them. If they would have Lord British (once he was freed) sign over Felucca to him, and give him access to something called the “Index of Souls” (which was in the Time Lord's chambers), he would call off his attack on the castle, thus eliminating the entire problem.

The three discussed it for a while, then finally agreed to Soth's price.

Restoring Nature

With no clear idea of their next step, Kianne decided to take care of one of the easier things that Pearl had told them they could do. Aelias went off by himself to meditate, and, following Pearl's instructions, Andrella and Kianne headed for the tallest mountain peak they knew—the same place they had gone to summon the comet.

There, Andrella stood guard while Kianne closed her eyes and focused as Pearl had instructed, trying to sense the elements and draw them back into balance. It took some time, but she was successful.

Then Aelias appeared out of nowhere, saying he'd sensed that Kianne was in danger and his sword had teleported him to them. Andrella and Aelias looked around, confused, because Kianne was not in any trouble at all.

Then Kianne sensed a powerful darkness drawing nearer. They decided they really didn't want to stand around and wait for it, so she opened a moongate for them to leave. As she was doing so, Onos stepped into view. Andrella shoved Kianne through the gate just in time, for Onos managed to close it a moment later.

Frantic with worry, and not having any way to open a gate back to the location directly, Kianne gated herself to Wind as the nearest destination. She finally found Aelias and Andrella alone; Onos was gone. They reported that Onos had wanted to deliver a message to Kianne: that he had the Rainbow Sword, and that Andrella would know where he was. Andrella guessed Siva's tower in Dawn. But Kianne couldn't figure out why Onos would tell them such a thing unless was a trap, and the Rainbow Sword—an artifact she had known on another world—though powerful, perhaps did not warrant walking blindly into a trap to obtain. Besides which, they had more pressing issues.

Despise and Sami

Once again drawing from Aelias's knowledge, the small group traveled to Despise next. But this time there was no Virge to fight. The Virge assigned to this place had already been defeated, leaving behind only a daemon imp familiar named Zomusborik (Zomus for short) who proved to be rather incompetent. Kianne and the others took pity on him and, once they'd confirmed with Rakiah that the imp was harmless, they brought him back to the keep with them and offered him to Kilmas as his new master.

They also freed Sami, releasing her from her coma and healing her as with the others. As usual, it was a joyful but somber reunion.

Taking Sides Part Two

Upon their return, the three discovered that Soth had gone one step further in their agreement. Not only had he called off the attack on the castle, but he also took his forces (which he was now calling The Legion) and used them to launch a direct assault on the Guardian. The battle was apparently still going on, but Soth was, surprisingly, having some measure of success.

But even so, Andrella warned, it didn't mean Soth was on their side. And he wouldn't appreciate their help, even though Kianne was willing to join him in his fight against the Guardian.

Also, Rakiah gave them information about three of the most powerful Virge they would have to face in their quest to free their friends. They were:

Marveshika, who was blind. She would blind her victims before killing them; because she accomplished this using vials of potion to create a mist in the air, they would need to fight her blindfolded or risk being blinded. On top of this, Marveshika was fast.

Shilvanwa couldn't be harmed by weapons and she would destroy any weapon used against her.

Gilvikozia had been scarred by Andrella during her time in Pagan. He was powerful, with a devastating attack that could break every bone in the body in one blow.

Soth and Shrines

Another piece of news that came as a surprise to Kianne: Soth had sent his forces to drive the elementals away from the shrines as part of his battle against the Guardian. Kianne, Andrella, and Aelias went to check on them, and indeed, they found them being guarded by Legion knights. The knights did not attack them, and they did not attack the knights. They began to systematically destroy blackrock pillars, and Kianne meditated at the shrines as they went.

Kianne began to realize that all of the shrines were urging her to destroy the Pagan Lords. But they could not open the way to Ether until all of the pieces of the Kill were freed. Kianne noted that she may have misunderstood the Shrine of Justice that one time; perhaps it had been saying to free those in the comas, not those who had been imprisoned by Saitor.

All I See Is Darkness

Much time was spent discussing how to defeat Marveshika, whom Aelias warned would be the next Virge that they would fight. As part of her training, Andrella had learned how to fight effectively while blindfolded. Aelias though he might be able to use his time-based abilities to “see” even with his eyes closed. But Kianne had neither of these advantages.

As the best plan they could come up with, Andrella and Aelias alternated in scouting on ahead. Thanks to Rakiah, Marveshika was supposedly down to only one vial, so they hoped they could at the very least get her to waste it on only one of them instead of all three. When the found Marveshika, they planned to put on blindfolds.

But it didn't turn out the way they had planned. When they found her, Marveshika told them she did not want to fight. She wanted a duel with Rakiah. She gave them a vial of blinding poison and requested that they go deliver her message to Rakiah.

When they returned to New Virtue, Rakiah saw through the daemon's trick and realized Marveshika had followed them to New Virtue. Rakiah destroyed the gate out—trapping the daemon there—and vanished. Andrella and Kianne split up and ran crisscrossing through the town, trying to locate Marveshika before she could kill more people. Aelias used his sword to teleport directly to Marveshika, and he fought her alone. He almost killed her, but she blinded him and escaped.

Rakiah returned when it was all over, saying she would finish off Marveshika, and vanished again.

The Rainbow Cavern

After spending a couple of days helping New Virtue recover from the attack, Andrella, Kianne, and Aelias finally resumed the task from which they had been interrupted. They recovered Shamino from the dungeon and brought him back to New Virtue, although Rakiah could now only help them from the shadows, having had her cover blown by Marveshika's bluff.

Aelias learned how to use his “future sight” to move normally, although nevertheless he was still forced to keep his eyes covered because Marveshika was still alive. He knew she was in a prison somewhere, but had no idea where.

Not knowing where the next sarcophagus would be, Andrella suggested they take care of Kianne's bow first. They traveled to Dawn, where they fought through elementals and dark elves to get to the Shrine of the Elements. Sensing Onos drawing near, Kianne quickly tossed her bow into the fire pit and they left without delay.

Once they were safely away, Kianne and Aelias returned to Pearl (Andrella refused to go), and Pearl transported Kianne to the Rainbow Cavern, a place where only elementalists could enter. There, Kianne was surprised to speak to the spirits of Rubicant and Era. She was able to say some of the things that she'd harbored in her heart all of this time, but still left with almost more questions than she went in.

The spirits did not test her a second time, so she was free to claim her bow without contest.

Light and Darkness

Now that they had the bow, they returned to Iolo and retrieved the light arrows he had prepared. It was actually a sphere of energy that she absorbed into her bow, like the Stones of Virtue. They were at a loss as to the enchanted bow's function, however; Ki tried shooting an inanimate object, and all that resulted was a flash of light. She then asked Aelias to be a test target, as he would be the one least likely to be harmed by the arrows. The result, however, was nothing that any of them anticipated: he received a vision where he saw Marveshika and what looked like a ninja.

Aelias was able to supply them with some additional information. He said Mondain had apparently been killed in the Chamber of Time by a shadowy hand. Andrella thought it would be time soon for Aelias to travel to the chamber. Aelias identified that Dupré was in Wrong, guarded by Shilvanwa, and Lord British was guarded by the scarred Virge, Gilvikozia.

Chains of Deception

Knowing Dupré was in Wrong, the three made some preparations and traveled there, deciding they would have to play it by ear after Aelias let them know that the Virge was likely to be imprisoned there.

Sure enough, they found Shilvainwa in golden chains. The Virge said she had been bound by her own kind, forced to defend the sarcophagus. The chains could only be released by those of pure heart, and only if all of the locks were released together.

They had misgivings, but Shilvainwa was weaponless and accused them of judging all Virge by the actions of a few. None of the three could kill a defenseless target, so they decided to try to free her to see what she would do. But as soon as Andrella, Aelias, and Kianne took hold of the chains, they locked around their wrists and bound them there, even as Shilvainwa went free.

They tried to fight back even chained as they were, but they could only use spells and long-ranged weapons. Shilvainwa seemed only marginally affected by their spells, and she knocked away Kianne's bow, out of their reach.

Shilvainwa gloated, saying she had a different punishment in mind for each of them, but Kianne didn't let her finish. She charged up a White spell and channeled all of her energy into it. Shilvainwa was pummeled and began to fall.

With her last breath, Shilvainwa tried to hurl a throwing star at Kianne. Having seen it coming in a vision of the future, Aelias deflected it, taking the hit instead.

Shilvainwa died, but Aelias collapsed, wounded so badly that even healing spells could not help him. Andrella carried him back to Kianne's house, then fetched Jaana. The healer managed to treat his wound enough to save his life, but he would need a lot of rest in order to recover. Kianne fell unconscious as well, too exhausted to stay awake, having expended all of her strength casting her spell at Shilvainwa.

Andrella and Jaana kept watch over the two of them throughout the long hours of the night.

Dupré and Wrong

Kianne and Aelias awoke the next day, and though Aelias was still recovering, he was able to walk downstairs to eat breakfast. When he felt able, the three returned to Wrong to retrieve Dupré.

The reunion was, as usual, a bittersweet one; Dupré needed time to recover, but he was alive. The three left him in Jaana's expert care, and went to the tavern to discuss their next move.

Aelias's meditations had indicated that Lord British was in Hythloth (which was ironically appropriate), but that the Virge that was meant to guard him was no longer there. Still, Rakiah could not unlock the sarcophagus as long as its guardian lived, which meant they had to take care of the Virge, Gilvikozia, first.

Gilvikozia was the scarred one, who apparently had come to Britannia of his own free will because he wanted revenge on Andrella. He would be a difficult adversary, and Andrella did not want to fight him in the open.

They finally agreed to lure him to the Shrine of Honesty, a remote area that was relatively closed in. They had little doubt he would respond to their message; once he heard that Andrella was there waiting for him, he was likely to show up.

Still, they decided another night's rest would be good, particularly for Aelias, so they sent their message on its way and went to bed.

The Victor

The next day, after some preparations, the three traveled to the Shrine of Honesty, where they waited alone for several hours.

Finally Gilvikozia appeared, flying in the sky, and came down on top of the building covering the shrine. He tried to challenge Andrella to a duel, offering to tell them where he had hidden Lord British regardless of whether he won or lost. But, given their previous experiences with the Virge, even Andrella wasn't about to agree to anything this one offered.

Finally Aelias cut the conversation short by teleporting up to the rooftop and attacking the Virge.

The three joined the battle, which was long and tiring, but they came out on the top in the end. Gilvikozia went down without managing to fell any of the others.

But with his last breath, he managed to chant a spell, reflecting all of the damage they had done to him back at them. Aelias and Kianne were badly wounded, but not in a life-threatening way. However, Andrella had fought Gilvikozia in the past, and all of those old wounds, even though they were from weeks ago, were still triggered as part of the spell on top of everything she had done to him that night.

Andrella collapsed next to the shrine, more dead than alive, most of the bones in her body shattered. Before passing out, she requested that they ask Kilmas to fetch “Victor.”

While Aelias stayed with Andrella and tried to heal her, Kianne went back to New Virtue, delivered the message to Kilmas, and went to Jaana, all the while ignoring her own injuries. Jaana traveled with her to the shrine and tried to bind Andrella's broken bones, but there was little anyone could do to help.

But then “Victor” appeared, or, rather, VayViktus, the Guardian in humanoid form. He acted much like Batlin, and healed Andrella without asking for anything in return except for her to keep an “open mind.” When he was done, he offered to heal Aelias's blindness, but the paladin refused. So Viktor smiled at Kianne, who watched the entire thing numbly, whispered something in Andrella's ear, and left.

Andrella was healed, but, ashamed, she refused to meet Kianne's eyes or talk much on the matter. Everyone returned to New Virtue, and Aelias and Kianne went to bed to sleep off their own injuries.

Beginning of the End

The next day dawned a growing realization of just how much the Guardian had been planting his seeds of discord. Outside of New Virtue, the general population of Britannia had pretty much turned against the Virtues and decided that “Viktor” was their savior...to the point of chasing Saitor out of the castle and trying to put Viktor on the throne as regent.

Andrella, Aelias, and Kianne tried to save Lord British, but the sarcophagus was still locked and being guarded by an assassin ninja that was waiting to ambush Rakiah, who moved so quickly he could not even be seen.

Rakiah's ninja master, whom Andrella addressed as “Master UnLight,” agreed to meet with them, although he spoke only from the shadows. He informed them that Rakiah had been marked for assassination because of her involvement against the Virge, which was forbidden. If it could be proven that the Virge had wronged her first, before her actions against them, then she could be justified and the mark would be lifted, but even then, the process would take weeks.

And the Viktor-inspired mob would march on Castle Britain the next day...

Midnight Meeting

In the middle of all of this, Kianne received word from the Guardian that he wanted to meet with them at the Yew Crypts. And just to make sure they would come, he informed her that he'd had his ninja ally capture Shamino.

At the crypts, the Guardian, still in his humanoid “Viktor” form, complained that they were trying his patience. The “deal” that he and Andrella had come to involved Kianne dominating the Ether, and she had yet to do so. Ki, for her part, couldn't figure out what, exactly, the Guardian wanted out of the deal. Rubicant had claimed that the Guardian simply wanted an opponent that could give him a good fight, as that was the only way for him to gain in strength. But Kianne felt that there had to be more to it than that.

In the end, the Guardian left them without incident, and even released Shamino unharmed. As always, his behavior continued to mystify Kianne.

Tests and Trials

The next morning, having received word from Rakiah that she was alive and would be able to follow through, the group went immediately to retrieve Lord British. The casket was unlocked as promised, but the monarch was not there. Only a note remained, written by Onos, explaining how to retrieve him.

Following the instructions on the note, Aelias discerned the new location of the casket, Andrella brought it into the open, and Kianne unlocked it using a materia key that had been left with the note. This time they were rewarded when opening the lid revealed Lord British, in a coma as all the others.

They returned him to the healer's at New Virtue, but Rakiah, who was the only one who could bring him out of his coma, did not appear. Finally Aelias received a vision of Rakiah running from another ninja, the one who had been guarding the sarcophagus.

Without knowing Rakiah's location, there was nothing they could do to help her. Not to mention that retrieving Lord British had seemed a little too easy, and they wondered why Onos had handed them the clues and tools needed to retrieve the king. Why hadn't he killed him or tried to seal him away where he could not be found?

And in the midst of all this, Viktor's mob approached Britain to insist that he be put on the throne...

Aelias's Eyes

Without being able to wake Lord British, all they could do was evacuate the castle, bar the gates, and leave the matter in fate's hands. Trying to stop Viktor would make them appear as enemies, yet there was no way they were going to welcome him in with open arms either.

A doctor who had been appointed by Rakiah arrived just then, to take Aelias's eyes as she had requested. Someone had been going around killing all of the victims of Marveshika. Aelias had been the only one saved. Though no one said, the trio suspected that it was the curse that the daemon had planted in their eyes that was the problem...and Rakiah was trying to spare Aelias's life by having his eyes removed from him.

After a bit of a delay, Aelias finally decided to allow the operation to be performed. He came out of it without any pain, reporting that he felt little different.

But there was still no sign of Rakiah.

Aelias's Trials

Since they could not get any further with Lord British, Kianne wanted to proceed to Dawn and begin defeating the Pagan Lords, which would free the Ether Lords. After this, Pearl had promised, the channelers would be dominate in the Ether again.

But Andrella felt there was something different about Kianne, that perhaps she was not a channeler or a defiler, but something altogether different. This made some amount of sense, since the Pagan Lords had hunted down all of the channelers and killed them, yet as far as anyone knew, none of them had ever gone after Kianne. Perhaps they didn't because she wasn't actually a channeler.

Andrella pointed out that they would have to deal with Onos, and suggested going to him first.

Aelias, on the other hand, wanted to visit the Chamber of Time.

Andrella tried to talk him out of it, but in the end, they traveled there using secret coordinates that Andrella gave them. They found Mondain, who was in a coma, affected by the Hand of the Kill, similar to Kianne and Lord British and the rest of them.

While there, they heard voices of the Time Lord and someone else. After some confusion, Kianne realized that it was a recording of some sort; the Time Lord was apparently talking to someone, telling him of what would take place in the future, knowing that Aelias would be there to hear it when the recording was played back later. The Time Lord spoke in the past tense, and spoke of each of them by name, rather than referring to anyone as “you.”

The Time Lord talked about three questions that he “asked” Aelias (he spoke always in the third person, as if telling a story to someone with him). The three questions were not ones that Kianne liked. First was whether Aelias would save Kianne or Andrella, if forced to make the choice. The second was whether Mondain or Batlin would become the Time Lord, if forced to decide between them. The third was whether Aelias himself would accept the powers of the Time Lord, if given the choice.

Kianne didn't like where those questions were leading at all.

Taking Mondain with them, they left the chambers. They would need to destroy the piece of the Kill festering in Mondain just as they had done with everyone else, but it was uncertain what they would do with him afterward.

Gemma Vallon

The trio finally met with a ninja ally of Rakiah's named Gemma, who reported that Rakiah had been killed by the “Hangman” ninja assassin. Gemma mentioned that Rakiah could be restored to life, but his words—something about “when a new deamon is seated in Bizonth”—made little sense. Nevertheless, Kianne at least clung to the hope that they would find some way to save Rakiah.

Gemma agreed to carry on Rakiah's mission in her place, but he needed preparation before he could bring Lord British out of his coma. He promised to return the next evening to take care of it.

Meeting With Darkness

With no other paths before them, the three went to Dawn to meet finally with Onos. Kianne was tired of always running away. According to Pearl, they had little chance at the present time of fighting Onos straight out and winning, but they knew they would have to deal with him in one way or another.

Onos met with them and claimed that all he wanted to do was speak with Kianne. He allowed Aelias to remain, but insisted that Andrella be excluded from the conversation.

When Aelias and Kianne were alone with the dark lord, he explained that he was just a pawn of the Guardian, and claimed that Kianne was just a pawn of Andrella. Both Andrella and the Guardian, he said, wanted the same thing—for Kianne to dominate the Ether—although he would not explain in either case why that was. As it stood, Onos claimed he had a better way.

Onos told them that there existed two more elements that he called “Life” and “Death” (although privately, Kianne was unsure how these could be different from Light and Dark). These two elements were ruled by something he called “Wizards” whom had also been responsible for creating the Ether.

Onos seemed convinced that if Kianne requested the Wizards to create a second Ether, they would do so. (He would not explain why only Kianne could ask of them such a thing, nor why they would grant it to her and her alone.) This—according to Onos—would allow the Pagan Lords and the Ether Lords to each have an Ether of their very own, thus eliminating the need for them to fight over the existing Ether. There would be no need for Kianne to dominate the Ether in this case, Onos said. They could resolve the war without conflict.

When Onos had spoken everything on his mind, he gave them the Rainbow Sword and allowed them to leave in peace.

Andrella, as Onos had predicted, did not like the news and insisted that the only possible course of action was for Kianne to dominate the Ether. But Kianne remained thoughtful throughout the entire situation. She was not about to blindly believe everything a Dark Elemental like Onos said, but at the same time, she was curious about these two supposed new elements and these so-called “Wizards.”

The answers would not come easily, however.

The Wizards

Aelias attempted to discern information about the Wizards that Onos had mentioned. However, when the Death Wizard noticed what he was doing, he attacked Aelias in some way and nearly killed him. Aelias claimed the Life Wizard came to his rescue, but he could tell them little about the Wizards themselves. He did say there was a way to “summon” the Wizards to Britannia, and a way to “unsummon” them as well, but little else.

Kianne did some thinking that night. She came to the conclusion that they couldn't create two Ethers, because then Onos would just dominate them both and become even more powerful. Add to that the apparent danger those Wizards posed, and Ki decided it was too dangerous to attempt to summon them.

Ironically, the next morning Andrella said to them that she had decided to go with whatever plan Kianne decided. And Kianne had already decided to go back to Andrella's plan, at least as far as freeing the Ether Lords. What would happen after that, she didn't know, but for the present time, it was the best solution she could think of.

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