When the flash disappeared, Matt lifted his hand from his eyes. The Chaos Control had managed to take them some distance from the canyon-he could see the beginnings of the crevace in the far distance.

"Looks like it worked, R.D.," Matt said, turning to face the other boy.

Who didn't seem to be there anymore.

Huh.

"...where's R.D.?" Helena asked.

"Shit!" Hugo leapt off Helena's back. "Is he still at the canyon?!"

R.D. stared out at the massive horde as they struggled to get over the ruined terrain to his position. Alone against an army... a saying came to mind. Remember the Alamo.

R.D. lowered his head slightly and narrowed his eyes, causing them to briefly flare a golden hue. He let out a slow, calming breath and chambered his arms back, spreading his legs out slowly. Closing his eyes, he delved deep into his inner strength, drinking in the power of Lumiya. To win against these kinds of odds, he needed power... more power than ever. Within his mind's eye, he could feel the golden might of Lumiya, basking in its warmth. He felt around it, found the Ciphers blocking his path. Now, he would wrench free one of those barriers and unleash his wrath on the army before him.

Without realizing it, R.D.'s body began to glow, and he slowly was lifted off of the ground, floating a couple inches off of it. He gathered more and more power, steeling himself for the bold move he was about to make. And his body felt aflame, like thousands of tiny white-hot needles were piercing him all over. He was crossing a threshold, and taking in too much of the power. In his mind's eye, he struggled with the Fourth Cipher, cracking it open, willing himself to shove it apart and free the dormant power.

And then, it was free; the Fourth Cipher gave way.

Power flooded into him, consuming him, washing him away. The ground trembled and groaned all around him, beginning to shake violently as his body radiated the power. His enemies had halted their advance, staring at him with fear and awe as he blazed like a miniature sun.

At the edge of the canyon, Michael suddenly stood up, his eyes widening in shock. He gripped the neck of his guitar tightly and watched R.D. in amazement. "Oh fuck, I have to get out of here," he swore, and disappeared into thin air.

Suddenly, R.D. opened his eyes. Something was not right. Something was wrong... terribly wrong. It kept coming, kept flowing into him. He couldn't control it!. Desperately he seized the power and willed it back, trying to hold it at bay before it destroyed him. But it was too late; he couldn't stop it. He found himself awash in the power; it was like he stood on the sun; like he was trapped in a blizzard.

Six spheres of strange, unearthly light burst from around him and into the air, swirling rapidly like energized serpents. They wove around each other for a brief moment, and crashed back into the source.

There was a flash of light from R.D.'s body, and the power ripped its way free of the amnesiac boy, spreading out in a massive shockwave of pure power. Winds crashed and shrieked as they spread out for miles, the shockwave crumbling the canyon as it expanded. The world seemed to shake as a brilliant light spread out from around him in an ever-widening dome, crushing everything in its way. The canyon was blasted apart; monsters in the sky were burning and falling; demons screamed and ran in terror, only to be caught and consumed by the blazing light. The explosion spread outwards and upwards, reaching for the heavens.

The second Cora left, the mirrors were gone. Riul turned to Alasea and gave her a reasuring smile, "My name is Riul, apprentice to Awai and sometimes known as the Daughter of Light. I was requested to come here due to the fact of dark injury. Several puncture wounds littered one of Alasea's cheeks, at first the wounds seemed mild, but on closer inspection darkness was beginning to creep through the vains around the puncture.

"Well," said Riul, "as I'm sure Cora has done the liberty of telling you what she did to you." Riul continued while motioning to Alasea's cheek. "Typical villain," she muttered. "Anyways, the point is, it will spread quickly if something isn't done, that's why I was sent. Awai is the only one reasonable enough to remove that, but I can slow it down while we get to him." Before Alasea could say anything, a box of light appeared at their feet which Riul stepped onto, making herself level with Alasea's eyes. "Please," she said, "don't blink."

Riul's body lit up and her eyes turned a brilliant yellow. Suddenly, a thin beam extended from her eyes and entered directly through Alasea's. The beam stayed connected for a few moments than dissapeared. "We'll have to do that every little while, we can't take any chances. Do you have a preferred method of transport, or shall I provide?" Riul finished simply.

Edited by Ribitta on August 29, 2007 at 21:57:39.

Edited by Ribitta on August 29, 2007 at 21:59:04.

Alasea blinked away the afterimages in her eyes after Riul cast her spell, then rubbed them slightly with her gloved hand. She sheathed the Megami Tsurugi and looked back at the woman. "I don't even have the slightest idea where Awai would be," she explained, "And I don't know how to teleport far distances with the Pillar of Dawn. You're going to have to get us to him."

She paused for a moment, and a question rose to her lips. "Who requested you to come here?" she asked, slightly hesitant.

Riul nodded as Alasea explained that she would have to transport them and turn around to summon some method when the next question was asked. "Who?" Riul said blankly repeating the question, "Tomoko Saeki." Riul focused her thoughts on making a transport large enough to carry two people. Without hardly even meaning two, two of the massive mirrors came shuddering upwards from the ground and rotated to a fixed position. The ground began to burn as the intense light shined fiercely, and Riul focused her willpower into shaping the light.

It refracted and bent, shimmered and solidified into a massive wild boar. Riul grimaced slightly at the sight of the huge pig that was normally a lethal hunter. With legs this large though it would be incredibly fast and would be able to knock over any trees that got in the way as they moved. She wouldn't risk flying, if Alasea was seen by an enemy things could get nasty. and Riul didn't want Alasea to agrivate her wound.

With a quick jump she hopped onto the back of the oversized pig and motioned to Alasea, "It may be a pig, but it'll get the job done."

"I've faced scarier things before," Alasea said cheerfully, climbing up onto the boar's back. She settled herself comfortably and rested one hand on the dragon-head pommel of the Megami Tsurugi. "So, Tomoko sent you, huh?" she said, making conversation, "I kinda thought it was Aisha who would've sent you."

The Daughter of Dawn took one look back at the shielded totem, and hoped she'd be able to return soon. "I take it you've had connections to the Daughters of Dawn before I became one?"

Riul slammed her heels into the side of the boar, sending the behemoth into a quick run. Once the boar was at the right speed and direction, Riul turned around on the boar's back and faced Alasea. "Vaguely," said Riul, "whenever it comes in contact with my work. I enjoy their company" said Riul with a small giggle. The boar's speed picked up a little bit as it dodged around trees knocked over a few smaller ones.

Her golden hair whipped silently through the air as the boar charged onward. The journey would hopefully not take too long, she enjoyed the company of Alasea, but the trip seemed to be tainted by the fact that they both new that a piece of Xastra's soul was trying to expand itself within Alasea's body. Alasea seemed to be doing a good job of ignoring it, however, so Riul supposed she should do her best to do the same.

Perhaps when she reached Awai, she could train more. Her animals were indeed improving, but she still wished to make something large and complex like a dragon. There were a few other techniques that she had heard him mention before, then a thought struck, her, "Alasea, not that it's anything incredibly important, but have you ever heard of heard of a technique called Balefire?" The words seemed to be more powerful than they would seem. It was a technique that was rare and only a couple of people could use. Awai had only mentioned it briefly, but the way he had mentioned it had made Riul more curious about what it actually did.

When Riul spurred the giant beast forward, Alasea let out a small yelp and clung to Riul in an attempt to stay on the beast. When she was sure she wasn't going to be thrown off by the beast accidentally, she relaxed her grip and giggled slightly. Distantly she wondered where Awai was, and if he really would be able to help her. While Cora had mentioned that three people had the power to remove the soul piece, she never mentioned who they were. As she thought of the broken shard of soul within her, she frowned. Juno had made it sound like this Xastra was a different kind of evil, something beyond normal evil. If the Sadistic One's soul was in pieces, that'd certainly explain why he was so evil.

She was startled out of her reverie by Riul's question. "Balefire?" she thought aloud, and cast her mind back to her training from the previous day, cocking her head to the side and looking up as she concentrated. After some thought, she realized that she had never heard of it before. "Sorry. I've never heard of it before. Aisha might know what is, though... she's the wisest of us, really."

The Firebird abruptly stopped, lurching the passengers foward-Helena almost feel over due to her awkward four-foot placement in the backseat.

"R.D.!" Matt shouted at the tremendous explosion.

"What the fuck happened?!" Hugo demanded, trying to hop up to glance over the dashboard.

Helena poked her head through the gap between the front seats, jaws slightly agape. "R.D....!"

His knuckles burning white against the steering wheel, Matt slammed down on the pedal. "I'M COMIN'!"

While the canyon entrance had been decimated from the immense, silver-white explosion of pure energy, the place was quite inaccessible due to the massive blaze of power sitting on top of it. It seemed to burn for an eternity, scorching the sky and warding everything away. Light was warped around the explosion, like a massive heat mirage. The clouds overhead were pierced by the pinnacle of the destructive energy, causing a ring around the white fire. And eventually, the power seemed to fade. The explosion lessened, slowly dying out, and the light seemed to dim with it.

After many long moments, the explosion was gone, and the only thing left was a crater more than a mile wide and nearly a hundred feet deep. Of the army Xazax and Terranox had brought, there was no sign. Dust and smoke filled the air, obscuring much from vision, and the distant rumble of thunder was all that could be heard.

At the very center of the crater, in ground zero, R.D. stood. His emerald-green eyes were vacant and glassy, his clothing tattered and ripped, and wherever his skin showed, there was blood. Lightning danced across his skin every few seconds, and after a few moments, the amnesiac teen fell to his knees and collapsed, blank eyes staring upwards into the dimming sky. The sound of his somehow still alive body impacting into the dirt seemed thunderous in the still air.

Edited by RisingDragon on August 31, 2007 at 16:41:04.

The door shut behind them. The hallway lights turned on and before the few who made it, a good six men, was a blood bath. It was as if the walls were painted in the crimson color and the buckets were the bodies that lay on the sides of the halls. One of the men threw up almost instantly from the sight. LT. Patterson only winced from the gore. He gripped his assault rifle firmly and reached up and quickly took of the helmet that kept his head warm. There showed the somewhat aged 34 year old Lieutenant. He was gifted with auburn hair and hazel eyes. The other soldiers took of their helmets as well, giving the same characteristics, but a variety of ages. They were a special force. A force made by the administrators of the game. They were an elite group given the best accuracy and weapons exclusively. Their job was whatever the administration gave them. Each had their own personality, making them unique, but because of the lack of time, they were not given different looks.

Lt. Patterson stepped forward a bit, braving the unknown and as if waiting for an ambush. He took more steps and then turned back with a nod to allow the other six to follow. The men kept their weapons close. Luckily for them they were mostly intact. Patterson held is assault, while the soldier to his left and just behind him, with the D.O.G Tag saying ' Pvt.Young' held a shotgun. The solider behind him, with the same tag held the name 'Pvt.Timmons' and held a 9mm while a sniper rifle rested on his back. On his leg was a bandage, he was the shot man from earlier. To his right was another Pvt.Timmons his twin, he held another assault rifle. In front of the second Timmons was Sgt.Ross who held a smaller Sub-Machine gun with a counter that said only 30. On his back was a SADAR, with all three barrels filled with rockets. Then behind the group, the soldier who vomited, was Pvt.Hudson, who weakly held his assault rifle.

"Alright, men," Began Patterson quietly as the soldiers listened, "You know who we're looking for, and this is now an infiltrate mission. We do this delicately and try to keep our being here in the building unknown. Alright marines?" They nodded, "Good." Patterson finished, satisfied. The soldiers then raised their weapons to eye level and grew to a tense position and began to proceed through the halls quietly, with their guns pointed forward.

.....In the German Mountains......

Blazen had created a dome of fire to cover himself in to block the shield's shards from damaging him. Soon the shards ended and Blazen could see the glow of the gem glaring at him. On Kalmar's command Blazen had already began an attack ready to defeat the guardian, or so he hoped. Blazen had formed another ball of white fire within his palms, them being cupped behind him. Then some blue was tossed into the white mixture, then red. Soon it was a beautiful orb of colors that was as pretty as a pearl. However this pearl was as deadly as an a-bomb.

Blazen continued to allow heat and fire build up power as the orb rested between his palms. Now that Blazen was calmed because of the success of his previous attack, Blazen could focus more and control the flame better. He panted a bit, trying to gain more oxygen as he slowly lost it from even his body as the flame began to control its own consumption of the air needed. Blazen then felt a bead, of sweat go down his brow and fall to the ground below. Blazen then grunted threw his hands forward as the orb then aimed itself at the creature then began to break open.

"Let's see you guard this you giant sack of SHIT!" Blazen roared, being rather vulgar, but this damn thing had made a fool of Blazen long enough. The orb then ripped open allowing the beam-like blaze of fire roar and travel to the gem of the beast. Blazen wanted this thing turned to ashes before his eyes, and he didn't care how much power was needed any more.

The Firebird in the distance roared toward the canyon.

In the crater, Akuma stood, staring down upon R.D.'s ruined form as the thunder rolled.

He finally acted, walking over to the boy and slinging him over his shoulder. Scaling the crater, he began his walk toward the oncoming car.

***

"...what's that?" Helena growled in Matt's ear.

Now Matt could see it too-nowhere near the crater, coming up on them very quickly was R.D.'s prone form.

He hit the brakes and scrambled out before they could feel the car settling to a stop. Shit shit shit shit shit, this wasn't good, this wasn't good at all!

"Everyone stay back and let me work my magic!" he snapped at Helena and Hugo.

Standing over R.D., he spread his arms, stared straight ahead, and intoned, in a voice far deeper than normal, "RESSURECTION!"

Nothing visibly happened.

"It didn't work, Matt!" Hugo shouted.

Matt pulled out the watch he kept in his jacket pocket. "...eh, give it a while, he'll come to." Sliding the watch back in, he gestured. "All right, kids, let's set up camp!"

Edited by The Helldragon on August 30, 2007 at 23:09:04.

Night was quickly falling on the encampment, and after many long hours, R.D. finally came to. His eyes opened and stared upwards into the night sky, and after a moment of brief confusion, he realized that his sight was incomplete; something was covering his left eye. Frowning, he tried to push himself up into a sitting position, and immediately regretted it. He barely managed to stifle a pained cry as pain lanced through his entire body, and laid back down.

As the pain slowly subsided, R.D. closed his eyes and tried to feel. Cloth covered most of his ribcage and his arms, as well as his legs. There was a patch covering his eyes, and his right arm was in a sling. Slowly this time, he shifted himself into a sitting position, earning himself only minor aches. He looked about, his vision blurry, and unwittingly his exposed eye glowed yellow for a brief second.

===In Quebec===

Re-Tuul did not attempt to avoid Carnax's bite, and as the icy fangs bit in, they managed to pierce... slightly. While they sank in, they were unable to truly pierce the armored flesh, and the insane demon screeched in something akin to glee as it slammed its knee upwards and its elbow downwards at Carnax's neck, where the spikes covering the limb joints would spray a highly-corrosive acid into the flesh to dissolve it. As the demon attacked with its arms, the wings spread out wide, and reddish-orange lines ran across the undersides of the wings, creating four glaring eye designs. The pupils of each design began to glow as energy gathered into them, and rays of energy began to rapid-fire down at every inch of Carnax's massive frame.

Within the research compound, Dr. Anstine sat in a chair as the terrible battle between his greatest creation and the strongest of the Seven Beasts began. On a distant monitor, an alarm went off as six men penetrated the compound, and throughout the base, doors began systematically locking down while others opened to release strange creations. The soldiers would have to find keycards and the like to progress through the compound, if they sought out Dr. Anstine.

===In Germany===

The Devil Guardian bellowed, its cry echoing out across the lands. Dark lightning and fire gathered in its maw, and the great beast unleashed it all in a streaming torrent to counter the God of Fire's attack. The two blazes crashed into each other and spread out, with tendrils of black lightning breaking free and striking out at Blazen even as great streams of white fire pushed through the black and lanced out at the Devil Guardian, searing its hide and drilling holes into its armored skin.

Blazen continued to push on his flaming attack, continually pouring his own heat and energy into the blaze. Several tendrils came down upon Blazen, whipping and slashing him as they made contact. Blazen hardly would care for the pain they made and only used the adrenaline rush added from the high of pain to add to the energy put into the beam of fire.

Blazen's feet began to slide in a further stance, allowing him a more stable base as the two forces clashed. Blazen didn't lose confidence in his abilities, nor did he really gain, but he was certain that this beast would fall to his power sooner or later. He gave another grunt however as a tendril whipped at his temple and at other places of his body, but if Blazen could take it long enough the guardian would have to give in.

.....In the Snow of Quebec.....

The men then froze in place as the factory began to go to alert and signal to eliminate the intruders that they were. Patterson's eyes quickly went back and forth from the sides to look for some sort of movement. He then squatted down slightly as did the rest of the soldiers, following his lead. Patterson then held up a hand signaling for them to hold, a knee fell for each to keep them from wearing out.

Patterson moved on and found the end of the hall they resided in. He then hugged up against the left wall and inched to the edge. From his position he looked down the side of the next hall opposite of him, he saw nothing. He then slowly peaked down, leaving only half his head in view and looked down the rest of the hall. The lights of that hall flickered only to briefly show the blood on the gray metallic walls. Patterson held up a finger and rotated it in a circle for them to form up on him. Slowly, the five men caught up with Patterson. They stopped and watched around them cautiously. Hudson was the first to sweat, fear had already stricken the weak soldier.

"Young," Patterson began and the solider came forward.

"Sir." He responded squatting next to the officer who was still watching the flickering hall.

"You go down that hall, and signal when you find it clear." Patterson ordered. The private nodded and stood, he walked down the hall cautiously and about half way down he raised a hand to signal it was clear. Though he quickly lowered it and himself when a low but fearsome moan sounded in the distance.

"Ross," Patterson said, talking to the Sargent who was already ready to go help his comrade.

"Sir." He responded quickly.

"Go with Young and you two continue on, laser sights on." Patterson ordered as Ross quickly turned on his sight and jogged quietly to Young. The moan came again as Ross stopped next to Young, both down to a knee, ready for combat.

"Timmons,Hudson," Patterson then said, looking to the other hall.

"Sir." The twins responded.

"Hudson," Patterson repeated then looked to the whimpering soldier, "Hudson!" Patterson said more firmly and the soldier finally snapped out of his trance and looked to the officer.

"S-sir?" He studered.

"Stay with me, boy. We'll be alright." Patterson then assured and came next to the soldier, "Now I want you and the Timmons twins to go down that hallway and continue on, I'm going with Young and Ross. Ok?" Patterson informed, keeping a calm tone. Hudson nodded slowly, Patterson then patted his shoulder for reassurance. The three then stood and jogged a bit to the other end, only to stop and lower when the moan came again, but louder.

Patterson still was unable to come up with what that was, but he stood and jogged next to Ross and Young. All the soldiers knelt down then looked back to each other. They nodded and stood walking slowly down their hallways. Soon Patterson's group came to a turning and quickly took it after securing the turn was clear. However the hallway's lights were out, leaving an insecure feeling in the three. Hudson's group had continued down their hallway, finding no turns and continued down the flickering hall, their laser sights leading the way.

Even though the Tenma-Aisu prevented the spikes from penetrating Carnax's neck, the pressure of the opposing forces caused the acid to gush out from Re-Tuul's limbs. The beast reared its legs up and planted them firmly on his opponent's chest and shoved off, causing Carnax's teeth to rend gashes in the armor as the transformed Khaglessi was freed. Once into the air, Re-Tuul unleashed a screeching roar and flapped its wings, launching a massive sonic boom at Carnax.

It came with a flash and a bang that rippled the sky and rent the earth. Unholy lightning filled the void left behind in the boom, and the purple lightning bolts tore through the air as they streaked for Carnax while Re-Tuul took to the skies. The transformed Khaglessi's shriek echoed across the snowy lands, and the demon banked around to attack once more, its five eyes locked onto the Apocalyptic Beast.

Riul made a mental note to ask Aisha about the technique the next time she saw her. Pushing her thoughts about Balefire out of her head, she peered at the sun, judging by its position it was nearing the evening. Alasea would either need to be treated again, soon, or they would have to get to Awai quickly. It was lucky for Riul that Awai's presence was in the area, the boar was following the sense of Awai on its own, and Riul wasn't sure when they would get there, but the presence was getting stronger, so they had to be getting close.

Riul, who was on the back end of the boar moved backwards a little more, putting her right on the end. "You might want to grab around the neck," warned Riul, "there isn't much time we can afford to lose right now." Riul waited a second for Alasea to get ready and then slammed her hand into the rear end of the board, urging it forwards. The result was instantaneous. The boar charged forward with vicious speed, bucking down trees and leaping over rocks.

After a few more minutes the boar began to slow down considerably, and Riul felt the force of Awai's presence stronger than it had been the whole journey. ((Gunna take a bit of liberty here if you don't mind, Juno)) Awai was meditating on a rock jutting over a small lake. The mood was incredibly serene and slowed down Riul's heartbeat which had been jumping around since the boar ride.

Riul nodded to Alasea, and the boar dissapeared with a flash of light. Riul timidly approached Awai from behind and spoke, "Awai, Alasea requires."

Meta shrunk backwards, her hand instinctively wanting to grasp the hilt of a sword, but she knew it to be futile, for she recognised the signs, the large jaws closing in around a creature multiple times as large as any humanly human being could ever be, indicating that which was about to swallow the Gan was even bigger, and she knew of only one who could be of such a size. "Hydro." She spoke, being seperated from the creature by mere hundreds of yards, the massive Beast in clear view.

OOC: I might have to kill myself for missing that word. Oh well, go with the flow I suppose.

Riul gave Awai a sort of half bow, half curtsy and backed up a little bit in respect. "Alasea was recently in a battle with Cora. She infected Alasea with some of Xastra's soul. ((Its Xastra right? I hate all these names)) As far as I know, you are the most reasonable out of the three people that can remove the soul from the wound. I was able to stall it for a little bit, but I cannot remove it."

"Stop moving," Matt said, eyes focused on the campfire. "You got beat up pretty bad."

Matt was sitting near R.D., hunched over on a log, casually holding a can of soda in his right hand. On the other side of the small fire, Helena raised her human eyes in shock. "R.D.!" She scurried over, crouching down next to him. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Besides the grievous wounds, that is," Matt muttered.

R.D. grunted in response to Matt's order, and blinked away the blurriness in his uncovered eye. He sighed and looked about, wondering where they were. "Wha..." he cut off, coughing slightly. His voice had sounded rusty and his throat was sore. He cleared his throat and tried again, getting better results. "What happened was... I tried something stupid."

He sighed, and tried to sit up more, struggling slightly. Blood spread across an arm wrapping slightly. "I knew we couldn't let the army go unchecked," he explained, "I had to do something, but I didn't want any of you to get hurt. So I used Chaos Control to get you guys out of the way."

He looked at his arm, indifferent towards the blood that was staining the wrappings. "And then I..." he said again, trailing off slightly, growing nervous.

===In Quebec===

Re-Tuul screeched again as he flew, and the gigantic demon thrust one hand out at the incoming eye beam, splaying the scythe-bladed fingers out and catching the beam in the palm of his hand. The beam immediately lanced downwards, and Re-Tuul quickly redirected the beam into a cutting motion across Carnax's shoulders and chest. Even while the demon redirected the attack, the Gouka surrounding Re-Tuul's wings melted the earth into falling magma, and with a single flap of his wings, broke the sound barrier as he streaking forward to slam into Carnax's body.

===In Japan===

Alasea slipped off of the boar's back and patted it slightly before it disappeared, and nodded back to Riul. She turned and faced Awai, and curtsied just as Riul had. She remained silent as Riul explained the situation, and when Awai's apprentice had finished, she gestured to the wounds made on her cheek, where she had been injected with the soul piece.

"Yeah, it was Cora," she finally said, "Damn skank has issues, and I mean to take her head off because of them."

Edited by RisingDragon on August 31, 2007 at 16:44:05.

"You went supernova?" Hugo offered. Slinging pickaxe behind him, he approached Helena's left, eyeing the injured boy. "We saw it from where you teleported us."

"Damn thing was huge," Matt added.

Helena batted away tense hairs in front of her face. "Well, it doesn't matter anymore. You're okay."

"So don't move," Matt said again.

"You don't understand," R.D. said bitterly, lifting a gloved hand up to his eye level. "Yeah, I went supernova. I knew that if I could reach a new level of power, I could... destroy them all. Every last one of them."

Using his teeth, R.D. unstrapped the glove and yanked it off, and looked at the back of his bare hand. Not one, but two symbols had joined the other three, one above each lower symbol.

"So I forced open a Cipher."

He didn't even bother to wait for his friends' reactions. "I succeeded, too. I had more power than I had ever thought possible. Too much, in fact. Something happened, and I lost control of it. And I think what happened... was that I unlocked the Fifth Cipher along with the Fourth."

======

High above the world, standing on the air itself and watching through the passing clouds the very small man below, an Artisan and a Principality engaged in a conversation that each knew would most possibly be their last together for a long time to come.

"That was unexpected." The Child's voice was soft.

Ondal answered slowly, his body still wracked with pain from what had just occurred. "... I did not expect it either. The Ciphers were supposed to act as a buffer between him and the power." Ondal looked to the small boy and studied him with a bloodshot eye. Bandages were wrapped around his head and across his right eye. The dark flesh around his injured socket was blackened and charred dry. Moonlight shone off his black skin. He had no left arm or right leg below the knee. "What happened?"

The Principality sighed, sounding far older than he looked. "I don't know, Ondal. I really don't know. The power seems to have a mind and will of its own at times. But... this overchanneling--"

"It felt like I was fighting the Dark Balance himself inside. I barely managed to keep the Sixth Cipher in place within his body. And with this existence," Ondal looked down mournfully at his destroyed limbs, "I don't stand a chance of defeating a second assault like that."

"Your wounds are terrible, yes. But, what happens to the Dragon now is more important than even the duties that were entrusted to me at the coming of the Age's end. You must see that the power does not overcome him before the precise moment we need it!" Ondal was openly glaring at him then, which the Principality of Observation returned with a thin and narrow look. "If that force is let loose like that again, how long do you think existence will stay as it is now? The Pillars would be completely destroyed in the blast, along with the rest of the world, if he continues to recklessly open Ciphers like he did. Now, what's happened to him?"

Ondal was silent for a time, trying to reassemble all the shattered scatterings of his mind. His throat cleared, a rough, raw sound that tumbled into a bloody cough before it was choked down. Then he was ready. "Inside... the Cipher had weakened. All that power, it had withdrawn from his body. Coiled itself. When the Dragon decided to open the Fourth Cipher, the power simply rushed the barrier." Ondal fell silent for another moment as his one remaining eye roamed over the wasteland of destruction that the amnesiac teen had wrought, miles away from the camp. "It didn't help... him being mad either."

Edited by RisingDragon on August 31, 2007 at 16:34:26.

"You can do that?" Hugo asked.

Matt shrugged. "I guess so. And that's not too bad, is it? I mean, more awesome potential is always good." He made a gesture with his hands, musing. "Of course, it probably means something very horrible, to match our crappy luck."

"Yeah, I can do that," R.D. grunted, looking angry with himself. "And it's the last time I'm going to do something that stupid. Those Ciphers were put there for a reason, and I pulled a stupid stunt. There was way too much energy there. You saw what I did. What if I had unlocked the Sixth Cipher? And, god forbid, the Seventh as well?"

His mind seemed to hold an image of the world burning, disintegrating into nothing. Frowning, R.D. shifted his weight to his other side, as he was getting uncomfortable from sitting in one position for so long. "Each time I've unlocked a Cipher, it was painful for me. That weapon wasn't meant for a human kid to be fighting with. But I guess that's all they had left," he spat bitterly. "I'm sorry. I did something stupid and dangerous and I put everyone's lives at risk. I can't do something like that again. I just... if I hadn't thought of that girl--" he cut off suddenly, realizing he had said too much.

Matt caught it. "What girl?"

Fuck.

R.D. sighed. "I don't know who she is, exactly," he started, looking off to the side. "I've had dreams of her. I know her name. Remember that time when we were first loading up that yacht, and I accidentally called Alli 'Mesia'? That's her name."

He looked back and put his glove back on with a bit of effort, strapping it back up with his teeth again. "I know it's her name because Alli reminded me of her. And after Persior," he continued, looking apologetically at Helena for mentioning the island, "Alli and I found the place that was where I lived. I found pictures of her there."

R.D.'s hand clenched tightly as images of the red-haired girl swam in his mind. "I can't help but think somehow that... that fucking bastard Re-Tuul is involved in this somehow. I just... I get so mad when I think about her," he growled, his face twisting angrily, "And I've been dreaming about her a lot lately, ever since Alasea left and Bahamut died. And when I saw that army... I knew if I left it out there, they'd hurt others. I had to take them all out. So I forced open the Cipher, and I endangered you, everyone else, and the whole fucking world because I got mad."