Part: The Ninth

Lord British Returns

Andrella decided they should tell Onos of their decision rather than letting him simply find out secondhand. Aelias advised them that should he and Kianne try to talk to Onos, things would turn ugly. So Andrella went alone.

She returned without incident, but warned them that Onos was angry, as they all expected. They would not be able to avoid a confrontation. Not knowing whether they could defeat him (particularly if he was still ethereal), they decided to get a gem of entrapment as a backup plan.

This of course required going to Nystul. He sent them on a wild goose chase after legs of lamb for payment that consumed most of the rest of the day.

That evening, they went to the healer's in New Virtue and found all of their friends gathered. Not long after, Lord British suddenly awakened, although no one saw the ninja who'd come. Aelias healed him, and Lord British recovered in the same way as the others, although he was still weak.

As it turned out, Lord British had been one of the last ones to drop off into the coma, and had had some warning that he would fall. Andrella had told him of some things that she knew would come to pass, such as that she would bring a paladin.

They left to let Lord British sleep, planning to return in the morning.

New Players

The next morning, Aelias told of a dream he'd had showing Viktor interested in some sort of shimmering portal underneath Castle Britain. The portal wasn't complete yet, he explained, but he had no idea what the vision meant.

The trio consulted Lord British, Shamino, and the others, and were told that the portal had been created by Michael and led to Earth. It had been inactive for years since Michael's death, and was a carefully guarded secret, so how the Guardian found about it about was anyone's guess.

Both Andrella and Aelias attempted to learn more about the portal, but neither came up with anything. Aelias mentioned that he had seen a vision of the Virge who had blinded him, Marveshika, who was free and somehow had an amulet made from his eyes. Also, Aelias remarked that he felt there was another player involved in this deadly game, but he had no idea who it was aside from that it wasn't anyone he knew. This unknown entity apparently was responsible for teleporting Aelias to places where he needed to be, so it seemed he was on their side. Aelias said his power felt similar to that of the Wizards, but said he wasn't a Wizard either.

At any rate, no one knew what to do about the portal, though Kianne was chilled by the thought of the Guardian reaching Earth. Still, they had the issue of the Pagan Lords to deal with, so they retrieved the Gem of Entrapment from Nystul and prepared to face off with Onos.

Shattered Artifact

The three traveled to Dawn as planned, and, as expected, encountered Onos not very long after. He summoned shadow elementals to fight them, but while Kianne and Andrella were doing that, Aelias saw through Onos's projected form and discovered where the Dark Lord's true body was hiding. Aelias then used the Gem of Entrapment on Onos's true form.

Even with one of Nystul's most powerful gems, Onos began to crack the gem from within in his attempt to escape. At Aelias's suggestion Kianne tried surrounding the gem with Light energy. For the time being Onos was subdued, but Ki wasn't sure how long it would last or even what it was that had accomplished it.

Still, with him temporarily out of the way, they went back to trying to contact the Ether Lords. Ruby, the Ether Lord of Fire, responded, and gave them a portal to a fiery place where she was imprisoned. They fought through fire elementals and discovered two crystals that seemed to both be trapping powerful forces. One they recognized as Ruby. The other they never had time to examine.

Kianne took out the Stone and Rune of Valor, having been told they would be needed. To her shock they crumbled to ash in her hands. But before she could do more than exclaim, Ruby was free and urging them to escape.

Together the four fled the place and returned to Britannia. Pearl arrived, happy to see that Ruby was free, but startled to learn that the stone and rune had been destroyed. Ruby also mentioned that the Pagan Lords had entrapped themselves in crystal, apparently under Onos's orders, though she had no idea why.

Pearl informed them that they couldn't free the other Ether Lords if it meant that the stones and runes would be destroyed. She urged them to release the captive elves in Dawn and consult with their queen, Anniosha.

Pearl's sudden appearance had also done one other thing: it confirmed what Kianne had feared for a while now—that there was some sort of darkness inside Andrella, probably a daemon. As Kianne had suspected, Pearl was able to sense it, although she spoke little of it.

Ranged Rescue

With the help of Ruby, the three went to the Spire where Era had once been imprisoned to free the elves. Ruby warned Kianne not to allow any of the defiler elementalists to touch her, because if they defiled away her powers, escaping from the Spire would be a tricky prospect.

So Aelias and Andrella provided the forefront of the team, going in first while Kianne stayed in the rear and used her bow and magic. With Andrella's sword skills and Aelias's healing abilities, they were able to wade their way through gargoyles and daemon forces that would have torn them to pieces in earlier days.

They found the elves in multiple cells being guarded by a higher ranking daemon from the lessers that they had been fighting. After a fierce battle, he was felled and they retrieved the key to the cells from him.

Anniosha urged them to escape quickly while she freed the rest of her kinsmen. Kianne was able to summon Ruby to her, who provided them a moongate to escape the Spire.

Then they waited for a meeting place and time to be arranged with Anniosha...

Tied Gate

Finally, a day later, they were able to meet with Anniosha. She told them many things, among them being that the moongate under the throne in Britain was tied to the Ether—when the Ether weakened, the gate opened to summon the Avatar. The destruction of the Stones and Runes of Virtue weakened the Ether further. The Guardian was weakening the Ether on purpose to get the gate to open, hoping to travel to Earth and gain the power needed to return and destroy Britannia...and Kianne.

But the Pagan Lords had sealed themselves away voluntarily to thwart the Guardian's plans.

Freeing the Elemental Lords was necessary to restore the Ether, yet they would need the stones and runes to restore Ether. Yet freeing them also required the stones and runes and destroyed them in the process. This was the quandary that the Guardian had deliberately placed them in.

Anniosha explained a plan where they would convert the twisted stones and runes of the daemons into purified artifacts that could be used to free the Elemental Lords. The converted stones and runes would be destroyed in the process, but at least that would spare the original ones.

But they first had to recover the daemon's stones (Kianne already had their set of runes). No one knew where the stones were to be found, but Anniosha said that the Harvester of Blackrock, a close ally of Batlin and the master of the Virge, probably would know. Andrella decided to consult her ninja allies regarding that.

Finally, there was some other related discussion. Anniosha sided with the Ether Lords regarding Kianne dominating the Ether, which surprised no one. On the elf queen's suggestion, the three went to Shade and received readings from the mysterious gypsy, but all of the readings were cryptic and full of sorrow and death.

Answers

Kianne finally decided to insist on some straight answers, so she and Aelias traveled to speak with Pearl. There, Kianne asked persistently what would be required for her to dominate Ether.

Pearl answered most of her questions, revealing that Onos was once an elf, and that the Kill had been awakened once in the past. Pearl also explained that in order for Kianne to dominate, she would have to overcome the Ether Lords. A sort of test, Pearl said, although she avoided the question as to whether Kianne would have to kill them.

The way Kianne understood it, the strongest elemental or elementalist controlled the Ether. By defeating the current dominant entity, a person could take over that Ether. Kianne would have to prove herself more powerful than the Ether Lords, in essence. It seemed to be a power struggle at its root.

Pearl warned them that Andrella might be under the influence of the Kill; Kianne had long suspected that a piece of the Kill was inside Andrella. In fact, Pearl suggested, all of this might be the designs of the Kill. Aelias was called to Britannia because of Andrella, not the Time Lord specifically, and that might have been because it's what the Kill wanted. Kianne could become powerful if she dominated the Ether, but then the Kill could gain all of her power by simply dispatching her--because once she dominated, anyone who defeated her would gain all of her powers.

Perhaps it was the Kill's master plan, and perhaps the Kill was manipulating Andrella to arrive at that result...although privately Kianne wondered why he would need her power if he was already powerful enough to kill her to begin with.

When they returned from talking with Pearl, Andrella reported that she'd learned the location of the daemons' stones. They were in the possession of a Virge by the name of Bizonth, the Harvester...and the leader of the Virge.

Andrella had also realized that Karitheen was Rakiah's sister. The mystery of the bracelet they had found on Shilvanwa deepened.

New Old Friends

Not knowing how to find Bizonth--their only clue being a communication crystal that they knew was linked to the Virge's throne room--the three went to consult Nystul, who behaved like an entirely different person. The wizard explained that it was the weakening of the Ether that allowed him to think in a clearheaded manner.

Nystul directed them to Gorjez, who they learned was in jail. They used the Orb of the Moons to spring him, avoiding the town guards who had been replaced with Druids under the direction of the Guardian.

With the help of Aelias, Gorjez was able to discern the coordinates from the communication crystal. The codeword for the crystal that Aelias supplied was "sin of seven" which was a matter to ponder all in its own.

Blackrock Throne Room

The three heroes went to Bizonth's lair, and the Virge invited them into his throne room and sat down unarmed. He spoke to them willingly enough, his prideful words revealing no end to his self-confidence, although he of course had his own demands.

He offered to give them the stones in exchange for Marveshika's head. He said that the Virge who had blinded Aelias was plotting to overthrow him, so he wanted her dead.

As a side note, he called Aelias by the same unpronounceable name that Shade had used, and called him a "disguise." He also called Kianne a Dividre, which made no sense to anyone.

Pact with Darkness

Using clues from Aelias, they found Marveshika in a cave near Despise (after having sensed the Hangman ninja nearby). Andrella wanted to get the full story, so they did not attack Marveshika, but instead told her they wanted to talk.

Marveshika claimed to have been framed by Bizonth. The others were inclined to believe her because Rakiah had aided her, and they knew she would not have done that without a good reason. Marveshika also mentioned that Bizonth was trying to awaken Fehzullaba, the mother of the first Virge, who apparently had been human at one point, although she evidently was very powerful now.

Marveshika warned them that as a vile assassin, one of Fehzullaba's aims would be to kill Aelias. She would not explain why Fehzullaba would focus on Aelias as a target, only that she would.

But Marveshika was not without a suggestion. She offered them a silent alliance--if they defeated Bizonth and she became the leader of the Virge, Marveshika promised to not interfere with them in the future. They would have a pact--she would not attack them, and they would not attack her.

Marveshika also asked for the coordinates to Rakiah's tomb, which Andrella decided to give her.

But in order to defeat Bizonth, she said, they would need to defeat Onos, because Onos had given Bizonth some sort of dark protection that would make him invulnerable. And this opened a new can of worms.

Kianne feared that if they defeated Onos in her presence, she might inadvertently absorb his dark power. But after some private discussion with her friends, she decided it would not matter either way. If Onos died, the Dark Ether would be ownerless, and would dissolve if no one dominated it. Kianne would have to dominate it herself, as there were no better candidates to do so...and so she would have to deal with the dark power whether she absorbed it from Onos or not.

Overcoming Darkness

After making preparations, the team returned to Marveshika's cave and released Onos from the gem.

Their intention was to give Onos a chance to drop his protections over Bizonth willingly, but Onos attacked them almost immediately, angry at Aelias (whom he called by his unpronounceable name) for some unknown reason. He also unleashed his anger on Kianne for going along with "The Kill's" plans by teaming up with Andrella. Kianne understood what Onos was saying, but refused to be swayed by his words.

As a powerful elemental, Onos was shielded by a Dark aura that Kianne was forced to break with White. He could also slip into the shadows, but that was why Marveshika was there. She prevented him from becoming incorporeal, allowing the others to attack him. Andrella did most of the damage, while Aelias healed. Dark creatures like shadowy warriors formed from seemingly nowhere to come to Onos's aid, and Onos himself could fling about powerful dark blasts that inflicted multiple hits of damage. The battle was fierce and took quite a bit of time.

The fight finally ended when Onos managed to kill Marveshika right before he himself was taken down by the others.

The remaining three tried to save her, but as a daemon, Marveshika could not be resurrected using normal means. Finally Aelias took the amulet around her neck containing his own eyes and destroyed it. This choice of his allowed Marveshika to be revived.

Meanwhile, Onos's body dissolved into a dark cloud that suddenly shot into Kianne. She collapsed and nearly fell unconscious. Before she could be overcome by the power completely, Aelias told her suddenly to seal it away in one of her senses. She didn't understand this at all, but took the choice of taste, thinking it was the one she needed the least. Aelias helped her, and the dark power was sealed into her sense of taste, turning her tongue black and making her breath cloudy, like steam on a cold day.

The three returned to Valence Island to let Kianne rest. Bits of the power occasionally escaped from her, sometimes materializing as shadowy creatures that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, or sometimes causing her to say things outside her control. Aelias and Andrella stayed overnight in her house to watch over her.

Battle with Bizonth

The next morning, daemons approached Valence Isle, and Aelias warned that they had to take care of Bizonth soon or it would be too late. Kianne gave Kilmas the energy sword they had received from Xavier, his father, and they left the defense of the island to Andrella's knights.

Andrella, Kianne, and Aelias returned to Bizonth's lair, but there they found a surprise. Bizonth had prepared for this eventuality by setting a trap consisting of a materia gem on a coffin containing the Virge mother Fehzullaba. This gem would absorb any damage done to Bizonth or the daemons he'd sent to attack Valence Island, converting it to energy that would work toward reviving Fehzullaba. In fact, Bizonth taunted them and challenged them to fight him, knowing that any harm he suffered would go toward the revival of the Virge mother.

Knowing this, the three avoided him as best they could, focusing their efforts on trying to get the gem off the coffin. Nothing they seemed to do was successful, and when Kianne tried to simply grab the gem, wounds opened on her hands and arms as if the gem was shooting out beams of lights that pierced her. Bizonth laughed at this, and said that Batlin had treated the gem specifically to prevent Kianne from absorbing the energy from it.

The materia gem, he said, was just a small piece of something Batlin had made to counter her...

Aelias urged her that he would heal her as quickly as she took damage from the gem. Putting her trust in him, Kianne set about absorbing energy from the materia.

As she absorbed the energy, it lanced into her and then shot out of wounds on her body. The energy was like nothing she had ever felt before, and it wasn't anything she could channel in any way. Aelias healed her continuously, the only anchor that kept her alive.

At first Bizonth was amused, but as the minutes ticked by, he realized that Aelias was going to be able to keep Kianne alive despite how badly the energy was harming her. Realizing the trap was failing, he moved quickly to attack Aelias. Andrella intercepted him and fought him away. Every blow Bizonth took was transferred into the materia gem, which Kianne consequently absorbed as more wounds to her body, but Aelias continued to heal her.

Bizonth was unable to fight his way through Andrella and finally fell, too wounded to continue fighting. Andrella finished him off as Kianne collapsed, unable to keep it up any longer.

Marveshika arrived, now the new ruler of the Virge. The materia orb stopped glowing; evidently the battle on the island had come to a sudden halt, although the reason for that was unknown.

Kianne was extremely weakened from her ordeal, barely able to move at all, and Aelias was exhausted as well from expending so much energy healing her continuously for so long. His senses were dulled, leaving him blind and with little of the enhanced senses that he was so used to.

It was into this situation that the Hangman arrived.

Marveshika did not seem worried, looking at the Hangman speculatively. Before anyone had time to panic too badly, the Hangman pulled off her cloak and revealed herself to be Rakiah. It turned out that Rakiah had killed the Hangman rather than the other way around, and she had kept this fact hidden by posing as the assassin. Marveshika had suspected this because she'd visited her grave.

They searched for the stones that Bizonth had possessed, and Rakiah determined that they were in the coffin with Fehzullaba. But Marveshika forbid them to open the coffin until she could be clearly established as the leader of the Virge; otherwise it could be dangerous. She said to give her three days and return, and then they could get the stones.

Rakiah left, but Kianne was too weak to use the Orb of the Moons. Marveshika offered to let them stay in the lair until they were stronger, then she, too, left the room.

Andrella helped the other two over to a quiet alcove in the room where they could rest. As she was doing this, they all heard a quiet scraping sound behind them. The coffin was opening on its own...

Old Faces

Fehzullaba awakened but mysteriously did not attack them. She smashed the materia that had been on her coffin and said that Batlin had schemed to kill them all. The coffin had been her prison, and the materia on it had been sent to explode after absorbing enough power. But Kianne had siphoned off enough to prevent the destruction from taking place.

Fehzullaba introduced herself as Abella. She was considered mother of the Virge because her son, Exodus, was the first Virge. She claimed that Mondain and Minax had taken Exodus and corrupted him, and Abella wanted Exodus's remaining parts so she could finally put him to rest.

Exodus's father--Abella's husband--was Eromonlith, who became Onos.

Long ago, Abella explained, she had made a pact with a daemon, Arcadion. Abella trained some daemons in the art of ninjitsu, and these ninja became known as the Virge. When Mondain arrived to conquer Britannia, he managed to take Abella's son, but he could not defeat Arcadion and Abella. So he teamed up with the Guardian to imprison the two of them--one in a coffin, and the other in a mirror.

It was the Guardian, Abella explained, who corrupted Eromonlith. Eromonlith and Hawkwind and Viktor were once all friends. (Viktor and Hawkwind had been human, and Abella and Eromonlith were elves.) And together the three of them summoned the Wizards. But Viktor was the only one who benefited from the fallout that came as a result.

The event turned Eromonlith into Onos and he left Abella in his new quest to conquer the Ether. She had no idea what happened to Hawkwind, but she never saw him again.

Despite the fact that Arcadion was now likely dead, Abella explained that the pact still stood. She had to serve the master of the Virge. But for the next few days, during the transition due to Bizonth's death, there would be no master, and she was free to do as she wished.

Old Foes

Abella was explaining everything to them when Batlin appeared in the throne room. He, evidently, had come to see the result of his materia bomb. Abella instantly put him into a hold, and while they had him captive, they tried to get him to answer some questions. But about all they were able to learn from him was that Aelias's power was an entity separate from him. And the name of that entity could not be spoken while Andrella was in the room.

Andrella left the area temporarily so that Aelias and Kianne could speak with Batlin. He told them that the entity's name was Radium, and that it was Radium who was garbling his own name whenever it was spoken so that K'mosh (in Andrella) would not hear it.

Batlin mentioned that Radium's plans might be an enigma, but it was pretty clear that the entity would protect Kianne and "the Wizard." Aelias asked if he meant "Seraphily." But before Batlin could respond, the Guardian showed up.

Angry at Viktor, Abella started to attack him, but Andrella urged her not to do it. After all, she'd tried once in the past to fight the Guardian and had failed. Strangely, the Guardian seemed to have no interest in fighting them, and after a few words were exchanged, he formed a moongate and he and Batlin left.

After they were gone, Abella asked again for the parts of Exodus, and agreed to meet them in the evening of the next day. Kianne dredged up the strength to activate the Orb of the Moons, and they left the dark halls behind.

Aftermath

When Andrella, Aelias, and Kianne returned to Valence Isle, they learned to their shock that Kilmas had died killing the daemon general.

The aftereffects of that piece of news occupied them for quite some time. Andrella and Kianne didn't want to admit that Kilmas could be dead even though it was difficult to retrieve his body out of the ocean. Andrella wished she hadn't been so harsh with him while he'd still been alive.

It late before they went to bed, and even then, they did so only out of sheer exhaustion.

But the next day, Kianne asked Aelias about what Batlin had revealed. Aelias noted that Radium was speaking to him more plainly now, perhaps because he had been ousted by Batlin.

K'mosh and Radium were guardians of the Wizards, Aelias explained. K'mosh guarded the Wizard of Death, and Radium defended the Wizard of Life. The Dividre was part of all of this, which was also a separate entity of sorts. Kianne was the Dividre, but it was also somewhat separate. As Aelias put it, the Dividre was the line that divided life from death, the balance between them. Kianne didn't really understand it all, and Aelias knew only what Radium was telling him.

The Guardian had wanted the Dividre, but it had rejected him.

Ironic, perhaps, that it had accepted instead one of his key enemies...

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