War of Lore - The Battle of the Unknown

Alex 43 · **Posted:** February 14th, 2011, 12:30 pm

If you guys have read the War of Lore Round Robin, you'll notice that I left Alex off having vanished within the Realm of the Gods to do battle with the greatest threat to the Universe. Then, suddenly Alex had returned for Return of the Eclipse.

So you're probably asking me: what the vanilla-flavored, butterscotch-topped chunk of milk chocolate FUDGE happened?!?

This is my answer. Make yourself a hot chocolate, and get ready for Alex's crowning moment of battle.

And the introduction of a new character and Alex's new "companion".

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WAR OF LORE - BATTLE OF THE UNKNOWN

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PROLOGUE - WHAT HAS PASSED
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As his foot touched the portal, and was getting sucked in, time froze to a halt. He wanted it to hurry, but the thought only made it slower.

He could not have guessed that it was all coming to this. Friends and deities he never knew existed calling him friend, servant, or even brother. A past life that he never knew he had. A conflict that he had helped attempt to resolve; its importance greater than any event that could ever occur anywhere else.

And now a fight. A battle. He had already accepted that this would be his last. He knew that after all of this, he was going to die for a great cause.

Or a grim mistake.

There was nothing left to it. If he died here, that was it. No resurrection. No second chances. There was no heaven or hell, nor any sort of purgatory for him in the realm. If he died out there, he was dead, and nothing else.

He looked out of the corner of his eye to his left. There stood Dex, eyes closed and patiently waiting. His hood was down and his robe tied loosely, ready if he had to move around quickly in it or abandon it altogether should the need arise. He was not smiling. He had the same look of emotionless acceptance as Alex did. He too was ready and willing to die, because otherwise, they would never succeed.

He looked to the right. There stood K, shorter than even Dex was, dressed in a full black battle uniform with loose sleeves and pant legs, tied at the waist by a yellow belt. His eyes were also closed, and he too boasted the fame facial expression. Even he was concerned about death and failure in the realm.

He looked in front. So many different gradients of swirling light, pulsing and waving through an endless void that stretched around them, eternally passing them by.

Alex closed his own eyes. He couldn't see anything now. It was strangely pleasant. Probably the reason Dex and K were doing it. But it was worry that forced them open again. He didn't know when this warp would end, and even if he did, the Unknown was somewhere on the other side. He wanted to be prepared for anything should it coincidently be within swords range.

Ages passed, and with every moment, his mind raced. Strategies. Tactics. Anything that he could use from what experiences he had with the Unknown, as brief and unexciting as it was. There was barely anything to go on.

His mind suddenly hit upon a thought. What if the Unknown knew about this attack, and was waiting for them? What if, upon entry, it would just stab them all before they got a chance to do anything? And with nobody to stop it, then Lord Sartranomin-

No! He closed his eyes and shook his head. Mustn't think of that. must think of something else! Something! Anything!

Anything other than death.

Anything other than the end.

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He opened his eyes. He was standing in a large, grassy field. It was raining, and a blast of lightning briefly lit the drenched ground. He was soaked, and covered in grass and mud stains.

He recognized this. This was the first thing he had ever seen before. His body materialized from the liquefied metal of PureBlade and formed a suit of armor. Slightly taller than an average human

He had heard that within an inch from death, one sees their life flash before their eyes. So this was what it was like. Not quite a flash, but he could see everything happening more in pulses instead. Also, he only thought that he was about to die. This was to be his final fight after all, and his mind naturally wanted to make sure he didn't leave any loose ends behind. Everything. His entire life, leading up to this point, almost as though it was destiny. As though somebody had planned the entire series of events that was about to pass in front of him.

May as well enjoy it, he thought. Anything to pass the time on a positive note.

He closed his eyes. Upon opening them again, he found himself standing on Entrana. The Holy Island of Saradomin, where religious monks and sanctified people came either to escape the evils of the world or simply live out the rest of their lives in sanctity. In one hand, he found a hammer, and the other, a plank. Looking in front, he saw the skeletal makings of his beloved initial SWC - Saradomin Warriors Chapel. He intended it to be a meeting and gathering point for warriors everywhere to fight in the name of the holy lord, but it was only then that he learned the monks began to stop travelers from entering their holy ground with weaponry, thereby forcing potential candidates to find another place to meet. A pity, but Alex never dismissed the name, for he would always and forever have a place for warriors to rest and recover.

He blinked. The clouds darkened into a thick black mass. There was the fire. The entire skeleton outstretched in front of him had burst into simultaneous flame. As had most of the surrounding buildings and forests. The horizon glowed an eerie orange, and a dim, red light shone from across the ocean towards the mainland. He was holding nothing but his spear, having just been lucky enough to save it alone from the rampaging inferno. Who had caused this again? Ah yes, it was the marking of Zamorak's potential return. What better way than to show it off than by casting a hailstorm of flaming meteors onto Saradomin's most treasured grounds? There would be a battle in a few days against the unholy wretch. Let's see if that was worthy enough to be repeated.

He shut his eyes and breathed in. He then opened them and whipped his spear upwards, clashing it against the unholy sword FlameTooth. An eruption of flame flashed, and a frenzy of sparks blew into his face. He slid the sword down to the ground and side-stepped around the Godly mahjarrat, raising an electrical shield to protect himself from an explosion of power. Instinct told him to duck, and by doing so prevented the upcoming hailstorm of arrows from embedding themselves in the back of his head. Alex knew exactly what to do now. Zamorak would slam his sword into the ground right where he is standing. He would've tapped it backwards with his spear, causing Zamorak to over-extend. Then he would plant his spear onto the ground and let Zamorak literally fall into the pointed end. How did he know this would happen?

Because it had already happened before. Zamorak dived, and Alex reacted. There was a tap, and an over-extension, and once his spear made contact with Zamorak's chest, there was a blinding flash, and Alex couldn't help but force his eyes closed.

He opened them. He was standing in an incredibly dark cavern, stretching out so large that even with his symbol illuminating his path, he could not see the walls anywhere around him. He looked down and saw a dust-covered, wingless dragon, slowly squirming as it sucked every last drop out of his water canteen. Ah, he remembered this moment well. This was when he first met his good friend and last survivor of the White Dragons: Giarathra. An array of half-skeletalized bodies littered the ground all around them both; each with hardly a scale left to their name. All that remained of them was their weapons, made from a solid, strange metal he had never heard of up until this moment. Understandable, since to create it, it involved the breath of one of these creatures regardless.

"Can you hear me?" Alex asked, unable to not, "Can you speak?"

The dragon coughed loudly, shaking dust from the ceiling. A marble tile broke from the ceiling and slammed to the ground somewhere in the distance. It had been trapped in this cavern, far under the wilderness for nearly a hundred thousand years. As such, a tremendous layer of dust had collected everywhere, and the air was incredibly stale and dry.

At first, Alex automatically thought that this being a dragon, no doubt it would try to devour him the moment it got a visual. But now that he got a better look at it, something about this dragon told him that it might be worth saving. Perhaps it was its crystal-white scales bearing uniqueness and, from his reflected light, a show of tranquility. Perhaps it was the fact he wore a slightly tattered, but otherwise carefully crafted leather vest, signifying civility.

"Please try to move." Alex said, grabbing its arm and starting to tug, "We gotta get you to some fresh air."

It was sore, but with Alex's help, it found its way onto its knees, which made it considerably easier for him to pull it. With one claw, it was scratching away at a built-up salt deposit in its eye, preventing it from seeing.1

"Can- … can not … see- …" it said, astonishing Alex with its Ancient Draconyte.

While it really wasn't a priority at the moment, Alex could not help but feel inclined to help the poor creature out. He carefully lowered it back down to the ground, so as not to create another dust cloud, and used his gauntlet to chisel away the salt and help it pry the eyelid open.

Success! It opened its eye, and Alex was blinded by the shining white light.

The world flashed, and his eyes slowly focused to the light. He was outside, under a cloudless sky, standing atop a large mound of flat rock in the middle of the ocean. All around him stood tall stacks of planks and tools. In front of him, he saw the newly revived, now energetic Gia whacking at a trench with a giant pickaxe, smashing away huge chunks of rock with each swing. Such incredible muscle and ability; Alex was inspired by the White Dragon's capabilities.

This island. They had been sailing to Entrana when they were caught in a huge storm, sweeping them further and further away from the shore. It was only when they found this small island that they were able to regain control of the boat and prevent themselves from getting lost at sea. As a result, Alex had decided that it would be a very good place to set up their chapel, as it was out of the way, secret, and a potential sanctuary to anybody else about to get lost at sea.

It didn't matter if they set up either there or Entrana. He doubted the monks would've liked a dragon living among them, no matter the wisdom, devotion, and allegiance.

Gia felt he owed Alex his life, and in return for his services and assistance, Alex guided him through the world and showed him how much it had changed after many thousands of years of development. At first, introduction to the human race proved to be a somewhat violent experience, as the history of humans chiseled dragons as being "savage, vicious creatures" and the incredibly ancient artifact that was Gia combined turned him into more of a wealth than a warrior. Another reason to have their newly built chapel on an island, escaping the pressures of over-population.

He jammed the square shaft of pressure-treated wood he was carrying into the hole he created with a blast of lightning not 10 seconds ago. A large line of burnt rock stretched out from the shaft in front of him, highlighting a large set of black squares born onto the ground.

"Hey, look what I found." Gia called to Alex. He approached and was just in time to catch a shiny clear diamond, roughly the size of his palm.

"Wow." he simply remarked, and then quickly added, "Hey, now, how do I know you didn't pull this off your own back?"

"Take a good long whiff." the White Dragon said, laughing, "You still being conscious will be proof."

Alex smiled. To amuse Gia, he pretended to do so and feigned passing out. Gia had to to stick his pickaxe in the ground and clutch his side because he was laughing so hard. The race of White Dragons were a race born to fight in Saradomin's name, so not too many of them cracked jokes like he did. Gia was grateful for this. Unlike other dragons, White Dragons did indeed sweat to cool themselves off despite being cold-blooded. Alex did not know why, but with Gia as the only living specimen, he decided to let it be for Saradomin-knows-why.

"This'll buy us both a hearty meal tonight." he said, holding it up to the sunlight to check for imperfections. A shard of sunlight blasted into his eyes from the flawed surface, and the world once again vanished.

Snow. So bright, especially in sunlight. He was standing over-top Zamorak's fallen body, clutching a book in one hand. This was something easily recognized: the Tome of the Seven Worlds. Originally, Zamorak had wanted it in order to summon forth an army the world had never yet seen, but after the revelation by Macan about how the book simply held 7 portal spells to Zamorak's world, it made much sense that Zamorak was really just trying to import a bunch of warriors from his own land to join the battle.

His spear was lightly clutched in his right hand, with the tip puncturing Zamorak's chest. He was not yet. Not from that blow. But this was Zamorak's defeat he was remembering. The unholy Lord had surrendered to him that day, withdrew all his forces, and ultimately gave up on the book, which Alex wound up destroying by mistake.

Well, not entirely by mistake. He had believed he won, so was willing to safeguard the tome more properly in case Zamorak returned. However, he was so involved in shouting out orders for a moment to help his comrades that Zamorak raised FlameTooth in the air. He swung downwards, and Alex, with no other option, held the book upwards as a shield. As intended. It split in half, and there was an explosion of light.

The flash came from a bolt of lightning. He was standing in a half-split between two large rocks, tying a rope to the tier of a small boat, which was illuminated only by his symbol and the large, glowing star atop their chapel. It was a severe nighttime lightning storm, with torrents of water splashing down from the heavens. Thankfully, it wasn't very windy, and the amount of waves crashing against the boat were manageable. Somebody, or something, tightly bundled up in a mess of robes lay sprawled on the floor of the boat, which was already half-filled with sea-water. He knew he couldn't get close enough to pull the figure out to safety, but he was just able to reach the looped section on the boat to string a rope through.

He tightened the knot and gave the rope a yank, signalling Gia to pull. He did, and the boat was heaved forward and tipped up onto the rocks. Alex transferred his weight to the left rock, kicking off the right, and stumbled slightly to keep his balance on the wet stone. Unable to do so, he instead let himself fall into the boat, causing no extra hindrance to the mighty White Dragon. The boat lurched onto the two rocks and leaned down onto a third, propping it in place above a small stream in between. Alex pushed himself out of the boat and, with careful balance, heaved the figure out of the boat and over his shoulder.

"I got him!" he shouted, pressing a foot between the rocks to keep balance. Gia shouted a reply, but it was drowned out in a roar of thunder. Between his gauntlet fingers, he cut the rope holding the boat and grabbed the piece Gia was holding before it could fall. Gia continued to pull, giving Alex the momentum he needed to traverse the rocky outcrop. After several close calls, his feet finally found stability on the surface and his hand was now in a dragon's grip. Not even stopping for breath, the two supported themselves all the way to the chapel.

"Is he or she alright?" Gia asked.

"I don't know." Alex said, looking at the bundle of robes, "He's very light, but at the same time, quite soft underneath the fabrics. He's probably got furs on or something."

"Only good if they are dry." Gia replied, having experience with similar materials before, "Otherwise they can be deadly."

"Tell me about it." Alex smiled, having his own share of experiences to help relate to the statement, "Let's get him near a fire, quickly."

They were halfway there when Alex heard mumbling coming from the (apparently male, by the sounds of it) creature. He could barely make out the words "why" and "can't" amidst the others.

"Hey, save it until we get some food and warmth in you, OK?" he said.

Gia turned, and Alex made a hand-gesture. The creature, which he already knew because he had already experienced this, was regaining consciousness. They would bring him inside and get all the robes off to find a creature they had never before sen the likes of. Wrapped in a blanket next to the fire with a bowl of soup half-downed in almost one desperate gulp, it explained to them that it was from another dimension altogether, and was trapped in theirs. It could also speak the same language as he could, which was apparently explained by the fact that once language was crafted as means of general communication, there was instability between dimensions, and the concepts were shared and evolved all throughout the universe, creating similarities everywhere before they stabilized again.

At the moment, however, Alex had no clue what or who he was carrying to the doors of his chapel. At the time, he imagined it to be a poor soul with nary a penny to his name, lost at sea in attempts to leave his cruel life forever (turned out he was half-right in the end). He had no idea that he was carrying a creature that had taught itself a lost art to the Gods, and even now, was ready and willing to do battle with perhaps the most powerful one in the realm.

A great flash, a loud clasp of thunder, and Gia opened the doors. The darkness of the storm was greeted by the bright light of the already-roaring fire. Alex had forgotten to adjust his eyes in preparation, and the thankful sight itself was blinding.

He rubbed his eyes. Flash powder! Fortunately he was already moving, driving his spear through the strange, humanoid creature's head and slamming it into the waist-deep water of the beach-head. instinctively reacting, he ducked a projectile, twirled his spear around, and fired a blast of lightning into the water around him, shocking dozens of advancing opponents. Slowly, his vision cleared, and he saw, all around him, the water was tinted with blood of several different colors. He heard something explode behind him, but that was not nearly as interesting as what was going on above. The sky lit up in a frenzy of cool colors, and he saw the creature he had once rescued from a boat in the storm rocket towards an insane-looking metal-covered monster, slashing through the air and distorting the fabrics of reality itself.

He couldn't take on such a wild, devastating foe. Not in his life. Fortunately, though, this foe was not his to deal with. The one it was fighting, the fox-like creature named Dex, was its more intended, and heavily more threatening adversary. Turned out that both the monster and Dex came from the same realm, and even there they had fought to the point in which they were both cast into his world - a different time and space altogether. In his hand, Alex saw an eye-numbing spark of black and white protruding outward in two needle-shaped protrusions. He had just helped Dex create the ultimate sacrificial weapon - appropriately named Third Eye, with which at the expense of the user's life, the weapon performs a devastating, unguardable attack.

He could do nothing anymore, but watch his good friend and his worst enemy destroy themselves in one decisive moment. There was a blink of light. The monster tried to force Dex back, but with every ounce of ability he had, he instead forced it to get closer. Suddenly, he saw a ray of uncontrollable energy zip throughout the sky, an envelop of darkness covered the entire planet and blocked out the sun entirely. And then, nothing but an enormous, white, vaporizing hot explosion, covering the ground, boiling the water, glassing the sand, and completely overwhelming every last one of his senses.

His next memories were more recent. An argument with Gia, out of the fun of sport. A battle just north of the city of Edgeville, resulting in the world's first encounter with the Unknown. The reuniting of his friend Dex, whom he thought had died. A great excavation project in the midst of the desert, so intense that the scabarite went so far as to enlist the humans' help. His first-impression encounter with the ancient Venosyvan, his Lord's stone watcher and his long lost sister. Flying over the desert, on her back, fighting against the Unknown for the first time. Flying over the ocean on the way to realize and learn just who he was. Diving underwater to great depths, discovering a hidden city of a sentient race nobody had ever seen the likes of and his brother, Macanyale, hidden deep within. His first entering and sightseeing of Joons El Ka Valgnifra; the Realm of the Gods.

His last meeting and farewell with his good friend, Gia, at the Tower of the Star.

This adventure had taken him a long way. It had changed him more than he hoped he would. It had driven him to extremes he never thought he was capable of.

He wasn't expecting to survive this final quest. Despite his two allies and their capabilities, he didn't think he was going to survive this encounter. Having originally retired from fighting and setting most of his amends straight in the past, he was ready for death, as any soldier was. He just kind of wished he knew what he was getting into at the time. At least then, he could've given Gia a proper farewell.

No matter. If anything, he'll see him again in the afterlife. If anything, that was where they should've been in the first place.

If anything, it was about time.

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He opened his eyes. The world around him still consisted of nothing but glowing ribbons and a wormhole of fast-flowing clouds of light. How long had he been out, he wondered, and how long was this going to take? Why must he have to wait so long? He was prepped and ready for action the moment he stepped in the doors, and yet with each passing moment, he was growing more and more uncertain of whether or not he really was ready to die.

And all of the sudden, he wasn't. In one instant, his mind was suddenly overwhelmed with guilt. The things he should've done, but didn't. He should've been at the Tower of the Star, fighting with the humans. That was his purpose, wasn't it? To serve in Saradomin's name! Not Sartranomin! He shouldn't have had to kill him! He should've just forgotten about everything that happened. The Universe could've waited for another hero to rise, couldn't it? He shouldn't be here! He shouldn't-

He felt a hand grip his own. K turned his head toward him slightly, giving him his famous smile of reassurance, and he found himself able to relax.

"You ready?" he asked.

Alex shook his head. "Not really." he admitted.

Dex added in, "We're about to get ourselves killed against, as you say, the universe's most threatening foe. I'm not ready for that."

The Guardian didn't drop the smile.

"Good. Neither am I." he said.

And suddenly, Alex found himself smiling as well. That's right. Despite how he stood here in front of the guillotine, the two standing next to him were getting in with him. And three necks are definitely stronger than one. Perhaps with their combined strength, they might stop the blade's decent.

They had no choice, after all. This was the universe they were fighting for. A gamble, with all the chips and a pair of twos, and the opponent didn't fall for the bluff. Despite the fear, the anxiety, the nervousness. Despite the mind-numbing realization of what they had gotten themselves into. Despite it all, Alex couldn't help but feel the strangest, reinvigorating wave of excitement. When it all comes down to it, it was still just a fight. Something he had been doing all his life.

They were about to fight the Unknown.

And it was going down.

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CHAPTER 1 - ENLIGHTENMENT
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Finally, his feet touched ground, and he held his sword up. Slowly, the realm blurred into focus.

Nothing came to meet them. No Unknown sword, or vanguard, or sudden attempt to cast them away.

They were going to have a fighting chance at this after all.

Alex didn't know what K said to the doors, but upon passing through the tunnel, he had suddenly found himself within the great marble courtyard that led to Lord Sartranomin's quarters. For a moment, he frowned. The fortress of a God greater then Saradomin, Guthix, and Zamorak combined, and it was naught but a door at the end of a lovely little courtyard. No great spectacular castle, no looming endless fortress, no exquisite palace of incredible detail and craftsmanship. Just a door at the end of a marble courtyard, and a few rooms within that reminded him of the first floor of his little chapel back on the small island.

This was his home once.

Must've been really boring being himself back then ...

As they approached the doors, Alex confirmed the strange feeling he had when he first looked at them. There was something peculiar about the doors themselves this time. Instead of a splendid white, they dimmed a dull grey, and one was even somewhat offset the other, leaning forward against it and allowing bright white light behind it to shine through.

Something had passed through those doors. Something violent.

Only one thing that could've.

"No! Sartranomin!" Alex said aloud, and without thinking, dashed ahead with his sword in front.

"Wait!" called Dex, but he was too late to react. Alex leapt at the doors in a full-body tackle and they engulfed him. The world changed around him, and in the next moment, he was standing in the oddly unfamiliar meeting room of his lord, sword brandished and ready for action.

Action met him. A sudden force threw him against the wall and held him there. It felt like a majiya technique. A darker, more sinister one than Dex had.

"So good of you to drop in." said the Unknown, eerily impossible sword pointed at his face, "Now I need only say things once since everyone's here."

Alex looked. There too helpless against the wall was Venos, Macan, and Lord Sartranomin, separated and held by equally immobilizing and uncomfortable forces. The Unknown stood in the middle of the room where the large round table once was. Alex noticed that it too was cast aside with extreme force along with just about everything else. It was as though every movable thing in the room wanted to get as far away from the Unknown as possible. Even the fountain, which lay in a crumbled heap to one side. He didn't blame them.

He thought the Unknown was scary when he fought it in mid-air. This was entirely different. The once victorious, all-powerful, and somewhat merciful Unknown was now downright ticked and thirsty for revenge. Every bit of its body was vibrating with uncontainable energy and its blue outline flickered as though it was on fire. Upon looking in its eyes, Alex felt fear, and with each passing second, the fear had risen to a whole new level.

It turned to look at everyone and make sure they were "comfortable", and then it began.

"Pop quiz. Do you know what the hardest part being the King of the Universe is?" it asked.

Nobody answered. It expected that.

"Discipline." it answered, "Making sure all your subjects stay in line."

It began to pace. Alex struggled to move, but was unable to. Pureblade lay helpless to the side and, judging by the Unknown's temporary reaction to seeing it, came as a bit of a surprise to everyone.

"You see," the Unknown explained, walking over towards the broken fountain, "Everybody has their own beliefs. Thoughts. Values. All of which is derived from experience. You cannot change that. Nobody can. Such is the way of life and existence."

It stooped down, stuck its sword in the ground, and picked up a marble shard from the fountain.

"For example, you hold a rock," it said, holding it up for all to see, "And you let go."

The rock slipped from its hand and fell, clacking against the rubble of its former construct.

"It fell. That is what happens each and every time. Henceforth, whenever you cease to hold an object, it will fall." the Unknown said, making it sound like a big discovery. Alex had no idea where it was going with this.

The Unknown picked up the rock again.

"This is the belief that what is known as "gravity", in some languages, will always exist, at any time and on any planet. Perhaps on some planets it's much stronger, and on some it's incredibly weak. But that's the belief. Nobody would believe it if they didn't see it happen, and this is not such a hard thing to do."

Between its fingers, the Unknown snapped the shard into two pieces.

"So, to make somebody act against their beliefs usually takes what is called "persuasion"." it explained, holding the two shards separate, "Simply that, you use your own experiences or the experiences of others to contradict their beliefs so that they themselves can change their views. Preferably for your own benefit, of course."

"Suppose I try to tell you that gravity, in fact, does not exist, and that dropping these objects will not result in what you believe through your experience? That is my experience, which I am relaying to you. You will not immediately believe me, at first, as it sounds rather ridiculous."

It held both pieces in front.

"But with the right proof …"

It let go. The pieces hung, suspended and immovable in the air in front of him. Nothing the Unknown did was evidence that it was his power that kept them suspended.

"You WILL believe."

Suddenly, the shards exploded into dust, sweeping around the Unknown like a twister before settling down atop the rubble.

"Such is what a king must do." concluded the Unknown, drawing its sword again, "To keep his subjects from believing the wrong things."

It started towards Sartranomin.

"A subject betrays his king and leader, that subject is punished." it said with increasing intensity, "All the other subjects are to witness this to obtain the belief that betraying the king results in something bad. Therefore, they do not do it. A simple, natural method with minimal casualties and undesired violence, right?"

Venos and Macan stayed silent. The Unknown was within reach of their lord.

"Then how many times … "

The sword was held up.

"Must I PUNISH …"

The sword was thrust.

"In order for these beliefs to change?"

The Unknown intentionally missed. Even Alex could tell that. The sword was stuck in the wall just millimetres from the helpless God's head.

"Can you tell me?" it asked, tilting its head and waiting for an answer.

After some hesitation, Sartranomin finally got the confidence to answer.

"Three times." he said. There was strain in his voice.

The Unknown didn't expect that answer.

"How so?"

"The first two …" he explained, "… are most likely seen as coincidence and will not affect anybody skeptical enough. It is highly unlikely that the third time happening in a row can't be seen this way."

There was no way of telling whether or not the Unknown was insulted by this logic, but it yanked its sword out and held it up again.

"You make a good point." the Unknown admitted, "But you see, the reason a king punishes is so the subjects will get the hint the first time. This way, it's much more quicker, easier, and effective for him. But I think I will set aside these beliefs for a moment and assume yours is correct."

He twisted his sword slightly, looking over it as though checking for imperfections.

"What you're saying is that punishment must be dealt three times in order for the individual to understand the consequence of an undesired action? Answer me now."

Venos was trying to shake her head "no". A cold chill went up Alex's spine. He knew now that his Lord was about to suffer something in triplicate.

"… yes." Sartranomin said after some hesitation. He bowed his head, and his body tensed slightly.

The Unknown smiled, and turned to face the dragons.

"All right, then." it said, taking a step back and angling its sword, "Now for the proof. Let's count together, shall we?"

Alex closed his eyes. He just couldn't watch.

"ONE!"

*SLASH!*

"TWO!"

*THRASH!*

"THREE!"

*SMASH!*

Sartranomin took the punishment with a few mere grunts. Alex didn't doubt that he didn't scream because he lacked the organs to, because otherwise, he definitely would have. The Unknown, satisfied with his work, lowered his sword and took a few steps back, leaving a beaten, tattered, and ruined Sartranomin hanging there, struggling to hold on.

"Now you will listen to me, won't you?" the Unknown said, glancing toward the helpless dragons, "I did what I was supposed to in order to prepare yourselves for change, said by your Lord himself, so now I get to manipulate you properly. Now that I have your full attention and, hypothetically, your willingness to believe, … "

It shook something off his sword and sheathed it. Venos couldn't take her eyes of her Lord. Unlike Alex, she had the guts to witness the full punishment.

"… let me tell you a story."

The Unknown floated to the middle of the room and sat down on the air.

"A great many hundreds of thousands of years ago …" the Unknown said, "… my time, of course, there was a time of peace. Peace and equality between mortals and immortals. Immortals, being ourselves, and mortals being those you govern. But I sure you all already know how that turned out. Big war, big conflict … I'll spare the details. I know you'd rather not hear them.

I was born. I remember it well. A dark void, a bright hopeful light, and then, suddenly, back to a dark void. From birth I was immediately disappointed. They told me my powers of a proper God were stripped due to a curse caused by our ancestors. I argued, saying that I did nothing to deserve this, but there was nothing they could do. So, naturally, I trained myself up, taking up the apprenticeship of several famous teachers of our time. I became an unstoppable force, taking on all challengers and desecrating their hopes and ambitions.

What would I use this ability for, though? Getting my powers back, of course. I had to be ready for any task and challenge. Declaring myself ready, I left our hidden realm and entered the realm of reality to take on the demands of a single mortal. See, if I could grant the long-term wish of any mortal without influencing their decision with "persuasion", I would be granted my powers back. Should I fail, I automatically die. Ah, and failure came in so many different languages.

Ah, but once it was complete, there was no limit. After finally granting that greedy mortal's wish, I wasted no time in removing him from his self-afflicted life of misery. I had become the God of Death and Beyond - the realm of the Unknown.

What do I do with the power? Good things, of course. I wanted peace to return to the universe between mortals and immortals.

But they didn't. That's what their beliefs were. That there would forever be inequality because they either worshipped the Gods or they didn't interact with them whatsoever. I tried to descend to several different planets, offering my ray of hope for this equality, but I was shunned by all. And get this, most of the time it was because they already "had a God" that never existed! Really!

So, how would I … "persuade" them to think like I did? Well, at the time, I did not know, but I had a few ideas. Unfortunately, I couldn't put any of them into effect because I was powerless. Yes, I said "powerless". There I was, the God of the Afterlife, and I was powerless to do anything. How could that have happened?"

The Unknown started laughing as though recalling an overwhelmingly stressful memory.

"The ancestors. Of course! Of COURSE they had to interfere. They sensed my intentions were of a dark sort, so guess what they did? Take my powers away and make me start over? As if. I'd done it once, so I could easily do it again. No, what they did is rather than my powers in general, they stole my SWORD and hid it from me! My SWORD!"

It trust its sword upwards, and it exploded in its own fury at the memory. Alex felt his body vibrate violently.

"It was taken from me, they told me that I was no longer worthy of the power, and I was to be left alone once more, unable to influence anything upon the Universe any more."

It bowed its head. The room seemed to darken.

"But I'm never alone. Not when I have … "persuasion" …"

Its head rose again and it quickly looked at all of them, increasing the pace of his speech.

"I have influence. I know how to manipulate. I know what the mind likes and appreciates, and I know how to take advantage of it. I became a nice, friendly force wanting to intermingle with the mortals of many different Gods, hoping to help subliminally lead them to prosperity. It's like a gift that you eat and it stays within you. You cannot remove personality! And so, after many thousands of years of searching the realm, one planet at a time, I had finally FINALLY found it! And guess where it was? Hm?"

Alex figured he already knew the answer. It was perhaps the only thing keeping them alive.

"Inside YOUR planet. Of all the Gods' realms in the Universe, it was in yours."

"What has happened to you?" Sartranomin demanded to know, rising his head slightly. On closer inspection, His body appeared beaten and tattered by perhaps a hundred sword whips dealt by the Unknown rather then merely three. "You were not like this before! Remember when we were friends? You were so much different! It's like something has corrupted your mind!"

The Unknown disappointedly smiled.

"Unfortunately, I do remember." he replied, "Ah, the powers of persuasion. The only reason I became friends with ANYBODY, no less you, was so I could get permission to examine their realms and find my missing weapon without any suspicion. It's incredible what a smile and the will to listen will get somebody ... isn't it, Allezyamos?"

Alex couldn't move to even bow his head. He felt his body, but could not seem to control it.

"With my blade back, and no reason to maintain this image any longer, I immediately went ahead and broke my cover. No ancestor will thwart me ever again! I took the fight directly to them and sealed them away, leaving the Universe defenceless. Oh, but such a dark, purposeless place it was even with them gone. I had to fix that. I proclaimed myself King and challenged anybody against the idea. I'm sure you already know how that turned out. Some "legion" you guys had. They couldn't even get it decided that I was their enemy in time to fight back properly.

But of course, there was always the threat of future rebellion. To prevent that, I issued payments so that, no matter how much stronger you became, I would always be on top. A trust precaution. Absolutely unnecessary for the universe I wanted, but I had no choice. There was talk of uprising. So much, in fact, that I was forced to keep all the major Gods sealed up inside their rooms, and to communicate would be through their considerably weaker and far less threatening agents. I just couldn't let anything happen; this was the only chance to correct all wrongs."

It then stared at Venos.

"Even then, I still didn't have the power I used to. I needed it all in order to maintain order. Regrettably, I had to not only kill Gods, but salvage their planets for the missing bits and pieces of my power. Even on yours, I found a large chunk hidden away. Big difference, considering the calibre you already fought me at, but that is all now a thing of the past. Irrelevant to now."

The Unknown floated over and landed right in front of Alex. His head was still slightly turned towards Sartranomin.

"Despite hating the guts of you pathetic EXCUSE of a God, I had given you a chance to cooperate with me. Because I found my blade on your planet, I decided to reward you with my gratitude. Comparatively smaller payments, second chances, the works. Heck, if you think about it, I was really being quite generous. A pity that you decided to take advantage of it. Or rather, a pity you DIDN'T."

It stuck its sword into the ground again and looked up into Alex's eyes with its arms crossed.

"I was to receive a comparatively small payment from you; something easily summoned up considering the incredible number of mortals existing within your realm. And what did you do?"

Alex already knew the answer. It jumped, spun around, and kicked him across the visor . Such force within its legs, Alex felt a ripple of blunt energy vibrate his armour and buckle him slightly. It hurt. A lot. And considering that he was being held in place against his will, the ability to cringe it off was also removed.

"You BETRAYED ME!"

The Unknown whipped its sword out of the ground and pointed it into the centre of Alex's visor.

"You didn't give it to me. You gave it to somebody else, didn't you?" he disciplined, words shooting out at their quickest rate yet, "You gave it to somebody you didn't even know, that promised you that you would never have to make these kinds of sacrifices again. And then … to INSULT me …"

Alex was hurting. It almost felt like the blade was sucking his life out.

"He publicly freed them. FREED THEM! He didn't even use them for HIMSELF! A WASTE!"

Another kick. Alex somehow found himself not screaming in pain.

"With your memory obviously gone, that would have left Sartranomin here as the only one left to know what had happened back then. And of course, he being on my gratitude list, I wasn't to suspect him immediately. Fiendishly clever tactic, even for someone like HIM."

A third kick. He wondered why his helmet didn't fall off yet.

"And now HE's here, isn't he? To finish me off. Am I right?"

Alex glared.

"ANSWER ME!"

*WHACK*

Now he screamed. The extreme energies that originated within the sword burned, froze, melted, and everything in between. It did all of this to his forearm when the Unknown slashed it clean off.

The sword was immediately pointed to the front of his visor. The uncomfortable energies sent a chill of unease up his spine. His mind immediately forgot about screaming.

"Scream again …" it slowly warned, "And I will hack you up so much you won't have the means to scream a third time."

The blade lowered towards his symbol, "Now, answer me."

"I …" Alex said with strain and whatever bravado he had left, "… don't know what you're talking about …"

The room turned black. That was the wrong answer.

*WHACK*

Heeding the first warning, Alex forced himself to bear the pain silently. He knew now that below his shoulder-blade was nothing, and it told him this with an incredible, white-hot pain jetting through his entire body.

The Unknown's face had dramatically changed. He was now seething with negative emotion.

"Lie … to me again …" it repeated the warning, but with a darker, slower, and more intense mood, "And everything you believe to be true will be wronged."

This wasn't the first time Alex was tortured, but they was nothing compared to this. He couldn't move; he wanted the creature to simply die a painful, bloodcurdling scream-ridden death, but he knew that he had no means of making that happen. None of them did. Hundreds of crystals lay all over the floor, shattered. Venos and Macan no doubt did their best to defend their Lord, but it wasn't enough. What was he kidding? The God was just too powerful for any of them.

"Stop it!" yelled Venos, "He did NOTHING! We didn't give it to anybody! It was STOLEN from us!"

The look of discipline back on his face, he slowly turned to face her. She held her aggravated stare long enough to make the Unknown shoot over and stick its blade right under her chin.

"That's what you believe." it hissed, "Now it's time you believe the truth. And I really hope I don't have to repeat my lesson."

He pressed the sword against Venos' chin and slowly moved her head over to point at Alex.

"Do EITHER of you know what your brother did?" it asked, temporarily turning its head towards Macan. Its calm, soothing tone creeped Venos out. She expressed her feelings with an angered glare.

Alex knew what it was about to say. It was going to reveal the truth that himself and his Lord shared among themselves. There was no stopping it.

"Yes, the betrayer was the one who stole from you. That's what he did." it said, "But it was your brother that did it for him!"

Venos was in utter disbelief, "WHAAAT?"

"He broke in while you both were away, stole your collected payment to me, attacked his own Lord to maintain secrecy, and handed it over to the traitor."

Venos didn't break her emotion, but looked up at Alex for a moment.

"Would you believe it?" he asked.

"You LIE!" she shouted, restraining herself throwing an insult to finish the otherwise weak sentence.

"You think I'm lying?" he asked, expressing fake shock and turning to Alex, "Allezyamos, am I lying?"

He wasn't. That's what Sartranomin told him. He had teamed up with K and betrayed his lord without his siblings' knowledge, and they both had agreed to keep it a secret from His two agents.

"Answer aloud, Allezyamos, I don't think she has the common sense to detect subliminal gestures."

Remembering his warning about lying, Alex was forced to admit it.

"Yes, it is true." Alex said aloud, then quickly added, "But it was for a good cause! So much that Sartranomin kept it a secret from you both. Not from humiliation, but for protection! He wouldn't have kept my betrayal a secret otherwise, would he?"

The Unknown withdrew its sword and immediately walked over to Alex.

"Oh, I don't know about that." it said, spreading its arms out to portray the room and everything in it, "Does this look like a good cause to you?"

He stopped, decided to change his mind, and averted course. It was now walking to Sartranomin, probably deciding that he deserved punishment for raising such a disrespectful spirit. He knew he had to save him, and he knew how to do it. There was only one thing left he could do now.

Go out with a bang.

He chuckled. The Unknown turned its head to look at him.

"Fine, then." Alex said, half to himself, "You want the truth? Here's the truth. Yes, K's with me. He's right outside, in fact, waiting for you to come out. You may have us all pinned to the wall, helpless, while you do as you please to our bodies and souls, but he's out there ready to take you down once you leave this room."

The Unknown turned and looked at him as though he just called him a "doodoo head".

"Heck, while you're standing there in the middle of this very room, he is probably calling forth action to all the agents of the realm to come forth and watch as he beats you to a pulp the moment you set foot outside those doors."

He couldn't tell if he had annoyed it, threatened it, or hurt its feelings, but it was starting towards him with a thirst for blood on its eyes.

"Alex, what the heck are you DOING? SHUT UP!" Venos hissed.

Alex braved the viscously active sword, ignored the stone dragon, and continued.

"Sure, walk over to me on the right side. Beat me down. Strike me! KILL me! You're only delaying the inevitable. Knowing K, he's probably even getting payments donated from the agents to power himself up even more. Every second that passes makes your defeat just that more inevitable!"

The sword came in front. It was almost exploding. Just a little more ...

"Admit it. You're screwed. That was the entire plan. We purposely lured you into here knowing that there would only be one method of escape, and no way of telling what's on the other end until you're there. You telling us that story was merely a bonus for time. As though we'd believe anything YOU'd say, foul creature of the abyss!"

Oh yes, he was enraged. Alex decided he didn't know fear anymore and lashed out with one more vocal attack.

"Come on? Torture me! Let's see what you've got! Show me the true meaning of pain! BRING IT!"

Here it came. Wordlessly and violently, it heaved its incredibly unstable sword up, poised for a devastatingly powerful stab. Without any courage left, Alex closed his eyes and braced himself to take the fall. This was for the universe!

*KSHUNK!*

...

...

… what, no pain?

Alex opened his eyes.

The Unknown's sword was mere millimetres away from his symbol. Time appeared to have just stopped in the room. Sartranomin and his watchers were staring, transfixed on the action, unmoving and unreactive. The Unknown stood there, transfixed on Alex, intent on bringing his sword into his stomach. He had no doubt that if would've definitely happened had he not been interrupted by another duo of swords. One of them, a perfectly black one, just hardly visible against the Unknown's blue outside, had found its way into its arm and up towards its neck. Its twin, a thinner white sword, had brought itself downwards against its victim's elbow to thwart off the force.

Alex didn't hear him enter, and judging by the reaction by the Unknown, he had slipped in undetected. Either that, or so quickly that none of their minds had time to register his movement in time for it to have already happened. Like the Unknown, the look on his face depicted anger and seriousness towards his opponent. They had indeed met once before, and he knew how to treat him in terms of facial expressions.

"Nice move." the Unknown said, chuckling to himself, "… very nice move. Distract me with my own uncontrollable rage. I should have been more careful."

That was the idea. Alex knew he could project his thoughts to the Guardian no matter where he was with the proper spell-summon, which didn't involve any body movement, and by doing so to subliminally let him know of the Unknown's position while diverting his attention over towards him and, therefore, closer to the door. This had allowed K to dash in without a moment's hesitation and immediately drive his swords into the Unknown's arm, stopping Alex's immediate death.

Not only that, but the Guardian had him pinned now. One sword was inside its arm and held against its neck, and the other one, atop the elbow of its outstretched arm, could come in anywhere should the need arise. It was over for the Unknown.

Alex heaved a sigh of relief (or a spirit's equivalent).

"Are you all right, Allezyamos?" K needlessly asked.

"I've been better," Alex said. This wasn't exactly the first time he was missing an arm, either. Just this time, it would not stop stinging.

The Unknown closed its eyes in disappointment.

"Does this spirit really mean that much to you to protect it like this?" it asked, "You could've gotten me. I didn't see you coming at all."

Alex almost had to agree. This was perhaps the only situation where K could've plunged his swords into its head or torso with ease, as he had told Alex they were his only key weak points. However, should he have done that instead, Alex no doubt would have found his torso the host of the bladed end of the Unknown's destructive weapon.

"So, let's try this again." it quickly added.

None of them expected this next maneuver. The Unknown closed his arm atop the white sword, heaved his impaled forearm forward to momentarily knock the sword from his neck, and shifted his entire body sideways to force K to sidestep. Now cleared for movement, Its other arm shot forward, grabbed his sword from his trapped arm, and held it directly at Alex's chest. At the same time, K retracted his white sword (no doubt slitting the Unknown's elbow in the process, doing nothing), and held it right at the Unknown's head, ready to impale. All in one fluid movement.

"Make a move, and I kill him." the Unknown threatened.

The Unknown was giving K another opportunity! It really wanted to see the lengths as to how far they would go to stop him!

"If you kill me, he'll kill you." Alex warned the Unknown without hesitation, finding courage once again, "Is the life of a simple spirit really worth the Universe, K? Don't you dare back down! Let me take the fall!"

K didn't need to make a moral decision. They both knew that should the need come to it, Alex will die if it meant the guaranteed freedom of the universe, and he was ready to accept it.

"You realize what would happen to you if it's my sword that kills you?" the Unknown asked, as though Alex just made a terribly stupid mistake.

"The realm of the Unknown is a realm of nothingness." K explained to Alex for the Unknown, "It is true torment, pain, and anguish for all eternity and beyond for those trapped there. Even I cannot retrieve those poor souls should they become the victims of his wrath."

Alex didn't know what he was saying now. His anger against the Unknown was just heightened that much more. He wasn't thinking anymore. Let him taste true torment.

"Then I will go there with the one tiny bit of satisfaction that the Unknown is going down with me, and it will have to last me throughout that eternity."

K looked at the Unknown with a smile as though to say "Your call". It closed its eyes.

It chuckled to itself.

Foolish spirit ...

"Very well, then." it said, relaxing his arm, "If that doesn't work …"

There was a sudden blink of light, and the Unknown vanished without a trace. A millisecond later, another blink of light, and it was suddenly standing in the middle of the room, sword pointed at K.

"Let's do this properly, then." it said, bringing its sword up.

A vast swirling energy engulfed it from the hilt, pouring down its hilt and towards the ground. When it stretched to about the length of the blade down, it exploded, and its newly revealed sword had changed. No longer was it a two-handed, impossibly twisted longsword, but instead, it had become a violently spiky, guard-hilted, double-bladed cleaver sword. The God quickly twirled the transformed weapon and squatted down on a bow-and-arrow stance with the sword outstretched horizontally behind its back. With its free hand, it shot K a hand gesture that, though it didn't mean anything to Alex, K emotionally took as a great offence. It was done playing games. Each of its strikes now were to kill, and everybody in the room was now a target.

His own swords still held in their respective positions before the Unknown teleported, K broke his stance and also twirled his swords into his own, relaxed upright battle pose like he used with Alex. The white sword outstretched horizontally in front with the black sword held diagonally in front of his centre.

Both warriors finished their battle poses simultaneously and a wave of potential force blasted against the walls of the room. Everything was silenced. The battle that was to unfold against these warriors promised to be the greatest the universe has ever seen. Venos and Macan were struggling to move, and Alex did the same, but the immobilization was still in place. He feared the Unknown would use them as hostages against K and get the upper hand.

Alex heard the blades clash before they even started to move. The force was so powerful that it blew the resulting sound waves faster then the speed of light. It was loud. It was powerful.

It was merely the beginning.

Adbot · **Posted:** February 14th, 2011, 12:30 pm

Alex 43 · **Posted:** February 14th, 2011, 12:31 pm

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CHAPTER 2 - HANDICAP
__________________________________________

The room was almost tearing itself apart. Each movement was so fast it was but a mere blur, and the only way Alex could tell who was who was because of the color. If it was black and white (or gray, for the most part), it was K. If it was blue, or anything else, it was the Unknown. Each time the blades made contact, he was bombarded by a blast of pulsed multicoloured energy. Each one intensified the pain he was already feeling, and it wasn't long before he was in a state where he could barely take any more.

Such speed. Such power. Such force. If it didn't hurt to watch, he would've been marvelled, perhaps even inspired by the smooth, fluid motions. When Gods fought each other, they definitely made it look as incredible as it was, even if it was unintentionally. While K was an incredibly swift and silent fighter, Alex would hear the Unknown shout a long, drawn-out war-cry and make something violently explode in the room. He was fortunate it was such a big room.

Several times, Alex averted his gaze towards the door. Where was Dex? K couldn't take on this monster alone. Not in its current state of power.

Another clash, and Alex felt his arm vibrate. He was moving it himself. The Unknown's hold over them must be beginning to waver since it was so focused on fighting K. He made eye-contact with Venos and demonstrated an attempt to struggle out of the hold. Taking the hint immediately (no common sense, eh Unknown?), she summoned up a barrier of lightning and started fighting the hold. Noticing her violent movements, Macan also acted, attempting to project his power into whatever crystal shards remained around the floor.

With all the force he could muster, Alex forced his arm slowly upwards and aimed his palm towards Pureblade. Something clashed incredibly close to him, and he braced himself against the force.

*KER-VAASH*

With a great explosion of lightning, Venos broke free of the hold and the wall, and landed on all fours. Not wasting any time for a second thought, she darted behind one of the large fallen pillars for cover, looking towards her brother. Macan hissed "Priority! Save our Lord!" to her and she nodded. Crouched and ready for a dash, she waited for the combatants to move to the other side of the room, and after nearly 15 minutes of hiding, she was satisfied with the distance and dashed at her Lord. She gripped His robes with her claws and, like a piece of flypaper, peeled Him right off the wall and onto her back. Again, without hesitation, she dashed with Him into His quarters and the door was sealed with the force field that once kept him and Sartranomin isolated from the rest of the realm as all the answers were unveiled.

Good, Alex thought, one less thing to worry about.

Fortunately, the Unknown didn't appear to be too concerned about his prisoners. However, that was because once he dealt with K, he could easily return them to their former positions. But Alex knew he had to help, one way or another. Another great clash exploded in front of him and he was blown harder against the wall. Sending a magnetic charge into his hand like he did in the desert cavern, he recalled Pureblade and gripped it. He then flipped it around his wrist and started pushing against the wall with it, hoping to drive himself off and free with brute force.

Macan had gather up a small load of crystals and were using them to pry himself off the wall as well, but it was a fruitless task. Looking toward his brother's efforts and considerably smaller size, he shot the crystals over to him instead and shoved them behind his back. Alex felt the sharpened shards slightly pierce his back, but Macan had way more power than he did. With their combined efforts, Alex was forced away from the wall and, after some struggling, he too broke free of the hold.

*CLAAASH!*

Instinct told him to hold his sword up, and a loud, hard *CLASH* against the Unknown's sword saved his life. With only one arm to work with, Alex doubted his usefulness in the battle itself and instead dashed over to Macan with his sword in hand and his arm still vibrating from the jarring of that block. K took the Unknown to the other end of the room and the battle continued there while Alex, using the sword as a lever as well as his legpower, attempted to pry Macan off of the wall himself.

*CRRRINK*

It was considerably easier to do when he wasn't trapped himself. Macan was freed quite quickly and immediately launched the shards at the Unknown. But several quick twirls of the blade not only turned Macan's shards into dust, but it was also in time to flip its sword around, drive both K's blades down, and kick him against the far wall. Momentarily freed from the task of defending himself from the opponent, the Unknown's attention immediately went to Alex and Macan.

Alex dove forward and brought Pureblade down against the Unknown, but it was faster. It tapped the sword away to the side, spun, and shot with a thrust, and it was only by this strange recollection of training he received a long time ago that Alex knew to sidestep around to avoid the attack. His sword parried around and knocked the Unknown's sideways, but the Unknown went with it and twirled into a spinning blade attack, to which Alex ducked the first two blades. The third came around too low, and Alex thrust his sword into it with a bow-and-arrow stance to stop its spin. However, the Unknown received the force and instead spun in the other direction, and Alex rolled to the side to break formation altogether.

Suddenly, a flash of light, and the Unknown was immediately behind him. In mid-roll, Alex stabbed his sword into the ground to block a side-swipe and flipped himself into a backward cartwheel with his one hand. The double-bladed sword came around again and Alex jumped it with an airborne kick. But not only did the Unknown take the kick to the head, but it also grabbed Alex's leg with its free hand and heaved it upwards to make his back vulnerable. It was then that Macan entered the scene by blasting a great lightning bolt at the partially exposed God.

*BAM!*

It was quick to defend itself against most of the attack by holding its sword up against the lightning, but the key was that it no longer had Alex exposed. He flipped himself over in mid-air and landed upright, but he was still without a sword. The Unknown took that to his advantage and raised his blade.

*CLANG*

K was back in the scene, and brought both swords down atop the Unknown's head, forcing its weapon upwards. Alex seized his chance; he leaped to the side, snatched back his sword, and lunged forward in one solid movement.

*PING*

No good. The Unknown kicked the sword up and away, and flipped its own sword up to misbalance K. However, a quick double-step to the right, and K was just in time to defend himself against a powerful slash attack. Alex jumped back to catch his own, and Macan fired another lightning bolt into the fray. He had to be careful, since he had two other allies in the battle to avoid hitting.

"Macan, get out of here!" Alex shouted.

No good. He was already in his mumbling, trance-like state, focusing directly on the battle and the protection of his brother.

Alex swung his sword at the Unknown's, and a clash shook his armour. He swung it the other way, and the Unknown blocked again with an equally shaking result. He jumped over a lower swipe and brought his sword down, but the Unknown jumped away to the side and whipped his sword up to counter K, who stabbed at a range with his black sword. Upon being blocked, the black sword called forth the white one to knock the Unknown's sword off-set and allow the black one to come around for a crushing blow. It ducked the blow, and Alex jumped in with a stab of his own. The Unknown suddenly spun himself in mid-air at incredible with his swords out to the side, though impossible speeds and Alex leapt back at the last second to prevent himself from getting sawed in half.

K, however, met the attack head on, and slid under the blades to take out the Unknown from below. He braked with his forward leg and swept his other around in a sweep kick, launching the Unknown into a backflip. He then wheeled around atop his kicking foot and whipped his other one around in a spinning roundhouse, whacking his opponent away to the side while pushing himself back up with his swords. The Unknown's blade suddenly came around in a parry, and K, moving quickly, stuck his black sword into the ground and performed a hand-stand on top while the Unknown's sword struck the already grounded blade. The white sword flipped up, was caught between his feet, came down hard, and the Unknown was forced to make an awkward block from above.

Incredibly coordinated move, Alex complimented. He jumped in, seizing the opportunity, and drove his sword down, but the Unknown was just too fast. It ducked the blow and twirled its sword around to impale Alex.

*BAM!*

Saved at the last instant again. Macan fired a charged blast of lightning, blowing the Unknown right off his feet. Unfortunately, it got the distance it needed to recover from the scuffle, but at least Alex and K did too. Or would have.

"Focus!" K warned.

Alex saw it. The Unknown's weapon was pulsing with a violent, disfiguring energy. Its next swing would result in something destructive. Forcing his legs to move while in a half-squat, Alex quickly moved in front of K to take the attack for him should the need arise.

But when the Unknown swung at nothing, a great, sharp dart of explosions erupted from the sword and blasted towards them. He raised his sword fruitlessly and braced himself. It was coming at them way too fast for a dodge.

*CRUNCH!*

But it was Macan who took the blow, diving in front of both warriors to receive the blunt of the energy with his body. A large chunk blew off his forehead and several shards were blasted from his torso as he was launched back into the wall. At first, Alex was relieved to see Macan rise back up, but then he staggered and a series of sparks blew out of the hole in his symbol. He endured a quick seizure.

Turning back, Alex was just in time to see the Unknown shoot right at him. Alex ducked the Unknown's blade and, no longer thinking, ran to Macan's side to protect him. K resumed solo-combat against the Unknown, clashing violent blades at incredible velocities.

"Macan, get out of here. You can't do anything more." he said, trying to hoist him over to Sartranomin's room.

"Damage levels … critical. Survival not possible. Final me-me-easures will be taken." Macan said to him, struggling to stay on his feet and out of Alex's grip. His voice was full of distortion.

Alex's eyes went wide.

"Wait, you don't mean-"

"I do. Diverting full discharge into final procedural technique. Unable to continue service henceforth." Macan said. His symbol sparked and flickered, and his eyes mimicked them.

"No! Don't do it!"

"Cannot … be helped. Die from wound or die from … sacrificial tec-tec-technique. The latter a more beneficial option considering … cir-cir-circumstance."

"No, hang on!" Alex shouted, but Macan turned away. His final target was in view, forcing its blade against both of K's. His entire body began to glow with intense energy.

"Farewell Brother Allezyamos. Let us … reunite in the eventual afterlife." Macan said, bowing his head. He was already dead, and they both knew it.

Macan suddenly took off and dove headfirst into the Unknown, shooting out a blast of energy towards it from his tail. Knocking K aside, the Unknown received it with its sword, leapt at the crystal dragon, and in midair, plunged its sword straight into the diamond on his forehead and down his neck.

"MACAN! NO!" Alex yelled.

He didn't even let out a final scream. There was an incredible explosion of grey electricity, drilling the walls, floor, and ceiling with a crazed frenzy of lightning bolts before dissipating into a great blast of energy. It threw the three of them against the wall, which was now coated in a series of blackened burn marks spread all around like a maze. Again, the Unknown took the hit, but with such a brutal head-on sacrifice, it had to have taken damage of some kind from such an explosive discharge.

Macan's body went stiff and a large crack shot down its centre. The sword still stuck in his head, the Unknown was momentarily weaponless. K attempted to take advantage of it and dashed against the Unknown.

Suddenly a blink of light, and the Unknown was at the motionless Macan. The Unknown yanked its sword out of the statue's impaled symbol and kicked it away with a double roundhouse. Macan flew towards the wall, stiff as a statue, and upon contact, shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. By doing so, however, K had an opening.

*SHUNK*

NO! Just about! His blade pierced the joint of the Unknown's leg. It had attempted to kick the sword away again, but was too late in doing so, and as a result the force pried himself around and he fell away from K and to the floor.

Angered by Macan's death, Alex leapt at the Unknown's head with his sword and drove it down. But there was a sudden blast of energy from the Unknown's sword and both Alex and K was launched several feet away. They quickly rightened themselves, but the Unknown was back on his feet, had tossed the brilliant white sword aside, and sunk in its battle-pose once again. Macan's sacrifice was for naught.

"One down …" it said, sounding rather disappointed.

The white sword zoomed over by itself to reunite with its master. K casually retrieved it and flipped it back around as though it was a natural instinct. All three warriors circled for a moment before the Unknown struck again. He clashed against K with two highs and three lows, a couple of spinning blocks, and a kick before the Unknown was launched into the air towards Alex.

Alex drove his sword into a stab, but the Unknown twirled itself in mid-air, whacking his sword offset and threatening to slice him with a follow-up. Alex leapt backward and forced his sword downwards lengthwise to intercept the blow, knocking him upwards. He caught himself with his feet on the ceiling and jumped off, twirling his blade into a slicing motion.

But the Unknown had landed and spun himself yet again for another aggressive deflection. Such incredible technique - it was only using attack strikes to defend itself, and it was doing it very well. Once again, Alex was airborne, but he still gave K enough time to come in from behind. The Unknown managed to react by backflipping over K's attack, spinning itself through a series of upward slashes, and finally clashing his blade against K's from behind, It yelled out a battlecry, kicked K back, slammed K aside with a powerful blow, and dashed right at Alex. All while Alex was still twirling himself upright in mid-air.

He landed, and the Unknown swung again at him, but he was ready this time. He whipped his own sword around to block it with a powerful defensive stance, and found himself with time enough to get it properly in place. Finally, a perfectly coordinated block! So long as his arm holds, this block should stun the Unknown and he'll be able to parry-

*CRAAACK!*

"Ah! Two down!"

Time suddenly seemed to slow down. The force of the clash was so powerful that the blade on his sword, unable to take the intense force, shattered in an explosion of power. It blew him backwards, off-set his footing, and nearly made him topple over backwards.

The movement was instantaneous. His sword-arm was knocked upwards by a parrying strike and the Unknown twirled its blade around in a horizontal sweep. Caught off-balance, there was nothing Alex could do. A loud screech of metal pierced the air for a moment as the blade drew itself through his legs, knocking them out from underneath. Before he had a chance to fall, however, it spun around again, reared its blade back, and launched it into a jab that his mind didn't even slow down for to witness.

*SHHUUNK!*

He screamed. He couldn't help it. His mouth wanted to, and his brain wanted to let it. The blade punctured his torso and went clean through one of the edges of his star. Everything around him exploded in a frenzy of blurred colors and lights, and all feeling within his body was lost to the inextinguishable blast of cold, raw pain. He could barely see K shout something at him, but he couldn't make it out.

The blur of colors spun around, and an extra blunt pain to his chest joined the rest. How he wanted his body to numb itself to it so much.

He saw the room spin. He saw the familiar light from the open door rush over. He saw his surroundings bathed in white.

He saw darkness.

_______________________________________________

CHAPTER 3 - UNLIKELY ALLY
_______________________________________________

It hurt. There was no achievement in this pain. It just hurt a lot. Too much to prevent him from letting himself fall. What could he move that wasn't frozen either by tension or warping? … his arm. That was it. His arm, which still had his gauntlet, which still had his sword. … well, the hilt of it, anyways. Not really a sword anymore, was it?

Yeah. It was useless now. It got shattered. Destroyed.

Like he was.

He was looking right at the grass in the outside courtyard. It was like blue-grass; a nice, almost silvery tinge to the bright green blades. He never really got to appreciate plant-life like this. In this sort of realm, he wondered if the grass actually had life to it or was merely for decoration. It did have a lovely scent to it, though. Like lemon mixed with birch. The surroundings of where he looked were blurred so much that he could only distinguish three colors at maximum.

Bending his arm back, he pressed against the grass and lifted his head upwards. There was the door that, no matter how he looked at it, spelled death. Macan was dead, and it would only be eventual that he and his brethren would be too.

A body. He had to get another body. This one was dead. Useless. And it wouldn't be long before he was too. Not unless he transferred. To something.

Anything!

His eyes moved up to centre the show of metallic cyan. There was a statue plinth, and atop it, a statue. He remembered that. That might do. If it had a gemstone to contain his spirit, he would be saved. His was cracked upon and leaking. Leaking energy … stamina …

Memories … washing away …

He forced the arm to pull him forward. Towards the statue. It was his only hope. He didn't know how he could get onto the plinth, but he felt it shouldn't be a concern until after he got there. He must get to it. He must!

He was … what was he doing there? Where was ...

*OMMPH!*

Something from behind had gripped him by the back of his plate and lifted him upwards, partially arousing his mind again. Statue. Yes, transfer into statue. Am flying? No, I cannot fly. I don't think so. Somebody … lifting me … who?

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to see you like this." said a familiar voice behind him.

Voice. Familiar. Friend? Shouldn't be. Not a friendly voice. The hand that grabbed him flipped him around and he was staring at a face he had seen a couple of times in the past.

Not a friend.

"I want to just take a moment to bathe in the satisfaction of holding you up like this, an inch from death and entirely at my mercy." said Lord Zamorak, squinting his eyes gleefully.

________________________________________________________

It was over. All over. He couldn't move any more. He could only think and speak, and even that ability was being lost. He was entirely at the Dark Lord's mercy.

"You … Zamo …"

"What? Surprised to see me here?" Zamorak asked, "Why should I be denied access here? I am my Lord's agent, after all."

Alex tried to shake his head. The former mahjarrat paused.

"Oh, I see." he replied, "Fine. If you must know, I heard from your annoying little mortal friend what was happening here, so I rushed over out of curiosity. In fact, I should be the one surprised to see you here! You're an agent of your Lord's agent, and you still have permission to be here? Unheard of!"

Alex tried to remember his objective, "Need … to stop … him … the …"

"I know. The Unknown's in there, isn't he?" Zamorak asked, looking towards the damaged doors. Still holding Alex up, he turned and walked towards the front of the courtyard around the statue.

"What … you're doing … ?" the weakened spirit of Saradomin asked.

"You want to fight him, don't you?" he asked, "You'll never do anything in a state like that. I've fought you twice, and I know you're not that dumb."

He felt himself getting lifted higher. Below, he saw the familiar color of runite stretch out.

"You … helping?"

Zamorak chuckled to himself, "Yeah, I suppose you're wondering why, after all these years of rivalry and hatred, that I'm aiding you. You are an inch from death, stabbed by the Unknown's sword, which is the worst possible sort of death possibly imaginable, and yet I desire to save your life, after all these years of fighting against my attempts of world domination."

Alex felt himself getting turned to face his unlikely saviour again. Despite the blur and inability to recognize distinct shapes, something told Alex that his second-most hated enemy was, at all costs, fighting back tears.

"My Lord was … murdered." he said, his words breaking slightly, "The Unknown did it. Everything … on my former home … was destroyed. Only myself, the Mahjarrat on your planet, and a handful of Ormra survived. Destroyed on a mere assumption, and we cannot do anything about it. He had … to just sit back and watch! But you … once I heard you were resisting, and doing something about it … well, I wanted to see the Unknown beaten down for this."

Alex was brought close enough to identify where Zamorak's eyes were on his skull.

"I was, and still am, thirsty for power and control. Sartranomin was a friend of my Lord. They had collaborated. And I respect my Lord. He ordered me that I was to be rivals with Saradomin. To help create payment to help stem us both. Your quest … the Tome of the Seven Worlds … there never were seven worlds. Only one: mine. With such a misanticipation, it would've been much easier for a conflict of faith to be passed on between both during that time. Thanks to you and your friends' efforts, wars had started on my planet and were kindled enough to keep the Unknown appeased. You may not know it, but I do owe you."

Alex spoke, "How … long ago … was your Lord ..."

"Several of your years ago." replied Zamorak, "You were fighting some strange otherworldly metallic being at the time. If my Lord hadn't been killed, I would've gleefully watched the massacre."

Something glistened in the Dark Lord's eyes. His voice began to falter.

"My Lord … all of them. My hometown. My kin. My planet. It collapsed onto itself. We are now an endangered species. I can only pray that enough have survived so we may continue to live on."

He stared into the symbol for a moment, then immediately turned his head away, hopelessly fighting emotion.

"I found another God that took me in. Another good friend of my Lords. Again, we collaborated with Sartranomin, and he allowed me to transfer some of his surplus of demons to your world to continue the war and keep us stabilized."

The Dark Lord's eyes closed.

"Hardly worth it now that you have proclaimed yourself an enemy to the Unknown."

Alex felt himself lifted back over to the statue.

"If … we win …" Alex struggled to say.

"Yes, yes." Zamorak said, already knowing the question, "If you SOMEHOW manage to defeat the Unknown and destroy him, I will recall all those demons and stop the war on your planet. Not much point in getting all my troops killed frantically just for the sake of having them killed. I'd rather lead them to battle myself. To WIN!"

Alex was partially yanked back to face him. The familiar look of rage was pasted on its face, but Alex couldn't tell. An enveloping darkness was overcoming his vision. It was becoming difficult to understand his words.

"But remember this. This changes nothing between us. We are still enemies. I hate you, but I despise the Unknown much more than you can ever bring upon yourself. The only reason I'm even helping you is to avenge my Lord. In fact, I'm hoping you die. Should you succeed, the Unknown is gone, and I can hog all my revenant spirits for myself. Should you fail, you and all of your faith die. It's a win-win situation for me, no matter how it's looked at. I'm just … influencing the ideal scenario, that's all."

"… … thanks …"

"Just give him one for Lord Zamcatristak." Zamorak said, "That much, you can do for me in return."

Alex saw something scrape at the statue in front. A dim blue light shine in front of him. He felt a clawed hand grip his chest. Something was yanked out. A blinding light flashed before his eyes.

And then …

… nothing else.

________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 4 - THE GAME
________________________________________________________

Where was he? On a stone platform. He recognized this area. It was the stone balcony on the Tower of Solen that lead to Gielinor that he waited with Dex. He was seated on the ground, and in front of him was a large game-board. Several small pieces lay strewn all over, each of them one of ten almost random colors.

Sitting at the opposite end was K, one hand under his chin and deep in thought, but still waiting in anticipation. It was Alex's turn to move.

He couldn't move. K was looking at him. His head, his hand; his entire body then moved on its own accord. He saw his hand stretch out, grasp a piece, and place it on a different square on the board. However, his somewhat misshapen gauntlet was a strangely pale shade of blue rather than green. This was probably his old body he was using.

K spoke.

"How goes the watch?"

Watch? What watch?

"If you're trying to distract me, it won't work." he replied unwillingly. He felt his lower visor curve upward and move as he spoke. He couldn't control himself at all. He then realized: it was all a dream, of something that had already happened, and nothing he could do could altar it. All he could do now was listen.

And listen he will. It looked to be a very interesting dream.

"This might be our last game together, and I want to maintain a perfect record."

K smiled, "Always the stubborn one."

He felt satisfaction. He moved a piece over. K moved his, thinking he was doing something right, and suddenly Alex snatched one of his pieces and slammed it down on the one K moved, shattering it into dust. K smiled, as though expecting this, and lifted up his own piece to repeat the maneuver on the one Alex slammed down. But suddenly, an inch before touching, K's eyes grew wide. He scanned the board, bowed his head slightly, and returned the piece back to its original square. He then moved a different piece, and the excitement died down.

"I could never beat my master at this game." he admitted, "I was trained to be a warrior. Not a tactician."

Alex shook his head. Even his conscious mind knew that wasn't the case.

"It's not a matter of occupation or profession." he replied, moving a piece, "It's simply a matter of understanding the pieces and what can be done with them."

K, after a moment, moved a piece diagonally four squares, and then sideways one.

"For example, the Speedy piece beats the Strong, but not the Sturdy." he said, "It takes advantage of its wide range of movement to whittle away at the aggression even before it can attack. That's why it's best to guard them on all sides by the Sturdy, which beats the Speedy and protects your force."

Alex tapped a detailed square twice, and two new pieces appeared inside what appeared to be his "base". It was a dome-shaped area, with a very large piece standing inside. His "Master", some part of his memory told him.

"However, if you had an infinite number of pieces, this would be an easy tactic to follow. There are certain conditions and events that you must prepare yourself to work around."

K moved. Piece by piece, his large strike force was held up against's Alex's, who had a very effective-looking arrangement. The majority of the battle was happening around this powerful stalemate. Instead, Alex had a much smaller force hugging the wall on the left, and it was proceeding down the game-board at a rather rapid rate.

"Take this for example. I only have 2 available Speedies here to guard this large section. So what do I do? Cover their left side using this mountain wall. Use the environment as a defensive extra."

Alex went through another burst of excited actions and succeeded in taking out 3 more of K's pieces without retaliation. He whittled at the side of the large strike force, opening a hole in the defence, and prepared to move his pieces in to over-power them.

"What piece do you see yourself as?" K asked, looking at the board.

"Again, I'm not letting you distract me." Alex smiled.

"It was just a friendly question." K sneered, but he didn't probe Alex for a response any farther.

He moved again. One by one, pieces took their turns. Alex lost a couple of pieces here and there, but they were nothing compared to the large sacrifices K had to make. His force was drilled into half its original size before Alex spoke again.

"You can put up a much better fight than this, Guardian." Alex taunted.

But K shook his head, "No, apparently I cannot."

"Can't you strategize at all?"

"Allezyamos, I TAUGHT you the right-wing, the centre-fork, and the stage-back maneuvers. I know how to strategize."

"All of which I have upgraded and derived some new techniques from. Just because you know strategies doesn't mean you know how to strategize. All it takes is creativity-"

"And that's the thing! You can evolve! I cannot!"

Alex tilted his head. For the first time ever, the Guardian had just raised its voice at him. Was he really just making up an excuse?

"I am a Guardian. Once I get my abilities back, that's it for me! No matter what I do, I will no longer get anything new. All I can do is train and develop, and even that takes a long time for me to improve."

K realized he was almost half-shouting, and relaxed. His eyes closed and his head bowed in apology.

"The immortals revolted against the mortals out of envy. We were cursed by the 96 and dominated by the mortals to the point of near-extinction. Why, even with such capabilities, did those significantly weaker than us succeed? Because of their ability to adjust.

You stab one in the chest, they will put a plate on to cover their chest. You decapitate them, they will wear helmets and neckguards. You outmaneuver them, and they will thin and lighten their armor and stretch their limbs more."

"And what stops you from doing the same?"

K lowered his head and closed his eyes. He was ready to confess something.

"Because you have imagination. Creativity. The ability to see things that do not exist. Our minds cannot function like that. We cannot 'imagine' like the mortals or the 96. We know the truth and are infinitely wise because we cannot fabricate. The Unknown hates mortals' lies because they have the ability to provide false information, and he does not. He hates lies because he is jealous of them.

And, truth be told, I'm also jealous. But I know that nothing I do can change this. That's why I want to strive for universal unity. I want a lot of mortal friends who can imagine for me. I want mortals to play tricks on me. To beat me in strategic board games. I'm fed up with knowing the reasons behind everything.

I want them to teach me how to simply not care anymore."

Alex did not know what his past-mind was thinking, but he doubted it was far off of what he currently thought. Unable to imagine. Unable to make up stories and tales about a character from some alternate dimension in order to entertain. Unable to even dream and escape the reality around him. It did explain why Gods appeared all-knowing. Everything that happened around him happened for a reason, and he couldn't help but know the reason. He couldn't just call anything "magic" or "coincidence".

He felt himself sigh. Without even looking at the game-board, he felt himself moving a piece. He was gazing directly out into the abyss of the realm. Out of the side of his eye, he saw that K's eyes suddenly widened. He stared at the moved piece, looked up at Alex, and then slowly moved his own piece after a moment's hesitation.

"… is everything alright, Alex?"

His field of vision centred onto K again.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"This is the first time I have ever won against you."

He looked down at the gameboard and his eyes widened in false surprise. Indeed, K had placed one of his pieces inside the dome-shaped area on Alex's side, on top of his largest piece.

"What? Oh! You did! Oh. Whoops. I guess even the best will eventually fall, huh?"

"You're nervous, aren't you? Your mind is everywhere. Don't deny it."

"… yes. I am. I haven't been able to rest properly for a long time."

Strange. They instantly changed the topic. Alex assumed that this probably wasn't the first time K had mentioned this to him.

"You're scared?"

"Very. After watching the mortals for a while … all of the sudden, I have a strange outlook to the reality around me."

"Do you think you'll be OK? Should we postpone the attack and wait for your Lord's next payment?"

Alex looked down onto the game-board. He picked up one of his pieces and looked more closely at it. It was a basic dark blue piece with a flat coin-shaped base with a small figurine on top. The featureless humanoid figurine carried a short sword held upside down in one hand while in mid-dash, attached to the base by its front foot with its back one outstretched backwards to keep its balance. This was the piece that was apparently called the "Speedy", aptly named for being able to dash around the battlefield and take on the powerhouse "Strong", falling only to the tank-like Sturdy, who served as guards against this threat.

"No. We're doing this. We both made a promise to each other. We're both seeing this through to the end."

K smiled, and was about to nod in agreement, but Alex wasn't done.

"If the Unknown succeeds in wiping out all the mortals, there will not be any imagination left. Everything that happens will be set in stone and understood. The concept known as discovery will cease to exist. And with nothing left to discover, nothing will have a purpose anymore.

I'm not fighting to save the mortals.

I'm fighting to save the universe."

Those words inspired K. His large, tear-shaped eyes shone wondrously at Alex's resolve. He spoke with a solid poise and utmost confidence, and was as fully honest and resolute as he could possibly express.

They both rose. The gameboard burst into a blue flame and vanished.

"You were keen on maintaining a perfect record, weren't you?"

"Yeah. I would've liked to win that game. Just one more time."

"Then why did you just randomly move your Speedy out of your defensive line and allow me to enter? Two more turns and you would've had my Master. I was willing to admit defeat even before you made your move."

A long pause.

"This might have been our last game together." he repeated.

"… and I think you should at least have a victory, as minor and voluntary as it is."

K smiled.

"I know you speak truth about not having the ability to imagine, but it is something that comes with practice and desire, not capability. If the 96 can daydream up the realm of reality, then why can't you? So long as you have a mind that functions, all you have to do is not be true to it. It always tells you to go right, but sometimes … you just … know you have to try going left, just for the sake of going in that direction and seeing what your mind was trying to warn you against."

K was clearly trying to grasp this concept. The look of confusion was evident. How does one disobey their own mind? Alex knelt down to his eye level.

"Don't worry about it for now, though." he said, "We're about to face the universe's most deadly adversary. We'll need what works for this job."

Alex then felt himself hesitate. He had just remembered something.

"Oh, and to answer your earlier question," Alex said, "I've always seen myself as a Speedy. Weak, but quick to strategize and move about, taking advantage of subtle weaknesses rather than head-on attacks."

K nodded. He expected the answer.

"How about you?" Alex asked, "No doubt you're a Hero or Master."

"No." K replied, "I'm nothing but a Sturdy."

Alex didn't expect the answer, "Why a Sturdy? Doesn't a Speedy more suit your style? Despite being the weakest unit, you use your speed and capabilities to your full advantage, bypassing your enemy's defences and striking the core."

"That might be you, but not me." K said, "No. I really don't think I'm a Speedy. All I am, and want to be, is the bodyguard. The guy who protects the Strong from their smaller, unexpected weaknesses, despite the sacrifices necessary. A small part of a much larger force, but nevertheless necessary."

Alex felt himself smile.

"No, you're not just a Sturdy." Alex said, "At least, I don't think that. You have the qualities of every piece on the board. You have the makings of a Hero piece. Rare, one-of-a-kind, all around valuable. They can be used to defend like the Sturdy, but they can also do so much more. All you have to do is let yourself accept that."

K stood, staring into nothingness for a long time. He slowly pulled his white blade out and run his hand down the back of the blade.

"You really think I can be a hero?" he asked, almost as though he wanted the sword to respond.

"I know you can. " Alex replied, "You just need to … get a little gutsy, you know? Go wild. Have a little fun."

K re-sheathed his blade and turned to Alex.

"We are about to die, and you're telling me to get gutsy?"

Alex's attention was fully on K now.

"We are not about to die." Alex strictly informed him, "We're setting out to win, and we are going to win, so you might as well go ahead."

Alex stepped closer, and his mood changed from philosophical preaching to dead serious.

"But, if we do succeed- what am I saying? WHEN we succeed with this, we're having a rematch." Alex said, "And I'm not letting you take even one of my pieces this time."

"You're on." K nodded, smiling. They shook hands. That was a promise.

Together, the two of them walked off the balcony, and the stars and lights around him spun themselves into a blinding light, overwhelming his senses and casting him into nothingness.

________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 5 - RESURRECTION
________________________________________________________

Existence faded into view. The color was white. He knew that color. White. Black. That part looked … what was it called? Blue. That's right. Not like any old blue, but a blue that had been in conflict with the black. This interpretation was the resulting of an ability he knew that allowed him to locate distinguishable objects in the world. He knew this. This was called "sight" by most. He figured he might as well adopt the term in case it was to be directly referenced in a future conversation.

A shining, pale … cyan. Yeah, not quite blue, but more a pale cyan. A shining pale cyan something. Pointed. … something … claw stretched out in front. He recognized it somewhere. Is that a dragon's claw outstretched in front? He wasn't a dragon, was he? It must be lying next to him. Looking to the right, he saw nothing but shining white pillars, still blurry from the recovering reunification with the light. The claw seemed to outstretch from under him. Perhaps he was on top of it.

Limbs. A body's method of dynamic movement. He had them. He knew he did. Where were they? He knew he had some somewhere. He had to find them. He felt a numbing pain reach from his brain and down his body, as though he was asleep for many millennia. The pain seemed to stretch out into many different points. Ah, there they are. Stretched parts. Let's try manipulating one, he thought.

The world moved around him slightly, and a scraping sound was heard. Sound. Yes, another bodily ability was that of hearing. And with that came feeling. The limb he moved gave him a rough sort of feeling. Like a blunt tingling. Interesting. Let's try another.

Suddenly, the claw moved. The dragon was waking up? He'd better hold still! … no, it stopped suddenly. Why would it stop, though? Wouldn't it want him off? He paused a moment, then decided to try moving the limb again. Maybe it was this limb that aggravated the dragon? The claw suddenly moved again, but upon stopping it, it once again relaxed. There was a pattern in this. What if he tried twisting the limb? … aha! The claw twisted too! He attempted to flex his digits, and the claw mimicked his desires. Either this dragon knew his thoughts, or …

A sudden shock overwhelmed his body and snapped him out of it. His name was Alex. He was a Spirit of Saradomin. What was he doing, lying there in a dream state? Gia was going to call him "sleepy-suit" again for this. His head hurt, and the dragon claw gripped his own head in equally expressed pain. Thoughts and memories overwhelmed his mind as they struggled to come back to him. His brain was overwhelmed, and experiencing an incredible shock, he suddenly blacked out for a moment.

Memories flooded back in through dreams.

Including one in particular …

____________________________________

A grey scene. He was on a plateau, surrounded by vast murkiness. There were no stars, no audience, and the only light there was being emitted from the ground, which shone a dark horrid blue. He saw he had an ally a considerable distance away. Who they were fighting was nowhere in sight.

"Now! Impale him!" his ally was shouting. He was struggling to stay up by using both swords as props.

He looked down. There was the Unknown, weaponless and at his mercy. His weapon was lying to the side, way out of arms reach. He saw there was a blade in his hands. It should go through its chest, and the fight would be finished.

So why couldn't he do it? It was some shine in the Unknown's eyes. Something that almost made him think he shouldn't. Was it really OK to go on with this? To kill a deity that existed to maintain the balance of the Universe? No, not that. Something else. Was this really a good idea?

He couldn't help it. He pulled back his blade and had lifted himself off of the Unknown. Seizing the chance, it dashed to the side, regained its sword, and then … vanished? There was a blink of light, but after looking around, there was nothing. His ally was bowing his head with his eyes closed, but it was raised again in a smile. He hurried over to him.

"Not the result I was hoping for." his ally said in utter disbelief, "But it's an honourable one. Let us return and plan our next move."

________________________________________

His eyes opened. He looked at the outstretched claw again and flexed it a few times. Working with his other front limb, he revealed a second claw, tested it in the same manner, and pressed both upon the ground. He forced the ground below him to move away and bring his body slightly higher. His muscles didn't feel proper just yet however, and immediately losing balance, he suddenly staggered and fell. All became black, but for a moment.

His eyes opened again. He was staring at the shiny metal plinth that boasted the great dragon statue. Or rather, it did. Looking up, he saw the statue was gone. Looking at the plinth itself, he saw the statue was now inside the metal plating. No, it wasn't inside it. It was outside.

It was him.

He pushed himself up again and his rear legs were forced forward. The extra joint served as a sort of spring that he had to be gentle with to prevent himself from losing balance, but this was done almost naturally. Now he was balanced upright.

He looked down at his body and was presented with a long, shiny plated torso, identically coloured to match his claws. His rear legs matched the front ones in size and, for the most part, shape. Able to look more properly at his limbs now, he saw his double elbows protruded expanded duo-spikes at the joints, almost like he was wearing tight fore-arm guards. The sides of his torso was coated in sleek, metallic scales, the same material composition as everything else. Squatting down and looking in the plinth at an angle, he got a good look at the long tail that protruded from the bottom of his torso out back like an extension of his body. The rough feeling still lingering within it meant that it was his tail that he first moved upon waking up.

He tried that limb again, and it waved around at his will. So this was what it's like, he thought. Like his siblings, it was long and slender with a burst of detail at the end, but unlike Venos' scorpion-like tail or Macan's flipper fins, his boasted a sharp, triangular bladed protrusion, barbed and sharpened in what he would've guessed to be more like a double-bladed harpoon. Or a sword.

Sword. Alex looked over and saw the mangled mess of twisted, mangled metal that was once his body. The once proud Pureblade was shattered; its hilt still clenched within his old gauntlet. It looked so small and frail now. He too felt disappointment at what he used to be in the past. Seeing as it was no longer his body, he took a much greater interest in this new one. Squatting down again, he looked at the large plate directly into his own eyes.

Such a marvellous visage. His was triangular; sharp and swift-looking, as though he could run at the speed of light. Unmarred by scales, his snout stretched out, somewhat bony and thin, but nevertheless smooth and proper. Horns swept over the back of his head in flat spikes overtop sharp, pointed ear flaps. The eyes were the same as his siblings; large, slitted, and alien-like, glowing a brilliant cyan that reflected off the metal plate and back over his body even in this lighting. On top of his forehead bore the familiar symbol, shining in a cyan-coloured Aquamarine like a forehead protector. Unlike Venos and Macan, this symbol didn't have the two adjacent pieces at all, and was simply a broken Saradomin symbol.

Strange, though. He didn't look a thing like the statue did, now that he took a good look at himself. He was much more smooth, solid, and, if such a word could apply here, "complete". Nevertheless, why would he not look like the statue? It was puzzling.

But darn it if he wasn't the most handsome-looking dragon he had ever seen.

There was a bow-tie shaped collar plate protruding from the neck joint on his torso, stretched out to his shoulder-blades. His back boasted a thin, cape-like back-plate that smoothed and levelled his otherwise rounded back. It almost looked like he was wearing an armoured tuxedo.

He moved his mouth. It felt incredibly strange having a jaw that stretched out almost to the tip of the snout. Heck, it felt weird to have a jaw in the first place. He was too used to his visor to even recall having a proper face with blink-able eyes and a nose he could even smell properly with. He looked at his chest. Smell. Breath. Did he actually have lungs now? He could detect scents as a suit of armour, but now he was experiencing them in a whole different level.

Alex leaned forward by pressing his tail against the ground, forcing his rear legs to bear the weight. Leaning over, he fell onto his front legs, raised himself up slowly. and then looked around. With a considerably longer neck and larger eyes, his area of view was dramatically widened. Something kicked in his head, almost like his eyes felt loose. He tensed them, and that strange internal joint pulled back. Suddenly, the world expanded around him, and he saw the distance stars in much greater detail. Excited by this interesting function, he relaxed and tensed his eyes to focus the universe until it was reverted back into a familiar focus.

Walking on all fours, he moved around the plinth towards the adamantite heap and nearly lost his grip on the ground. His drove his front claws into the floor and hoisted himself down to prevent himself from suddenly floating away. The adrenaline momentarily got to him, and when he relaxed, he found he was once again able to walk around. He traversed over to his body, lifted it up, and placed it onto the plinth and out of the way of visitors. Reaching in through the helmet, he recalled the small, but delicate magenta orb and, without any second thoughts, placed it in his mouth and swallowed it, following Venos and Macan's example.

It was then he noticed he was actually now standing on his rear legs almost naturally as he positioned the damaged suit of armour. He looked down again and was suddenly surprised to see how much his torso shrunk. It had bulked up and his rear and front legs expanded slightly to better balance his body upright than if he was a four-legged creature. "If" he was. He had sudden transformed into a bipedal dragon, and looking at his frontal claws, he saw they protruded out more to create much more definite digits to properly grip objects with. When did that happen?

A thought hit him. He looked at the his material composition again. Hard metal, dull sounding, can conduct electricity, surprisingly lightweight … impossibly lightweight! Almost as though it wasn't affected by grav-

No! It couldn't be!

Enogan!

THAT'S what the material was! He was made of Enogan! Not runite! A quick glance to his original starting point revealed he had previously been lying in a bed of runite leaves. It had been naught but a covering material to keep it all together. And hidden from sight and mind!

And suddenly, with that realization, it all made sense!

This was why he could spell-summon unlike the others in the first place. He had slight control over majiya, and Enogan was directly affected by it. That's why he was so powerful. He held his claw in front and sent a potential spell-summon into it. The metal composition suddenly melted into a large, unrecognizable blob that changed varying on the energy he put forth. He forced a great deal of power into it, and it suddenly exploded into a frenzy of spikes. He braced himself to remove the adrenaline and forced himself to relax, and the mace sunk back down into a blob again. Key points. He felt he could pulse it into key points. Doing so changed its shape; far less dramatically, but for a more desired result.

A limitless, shapeless form. That's why he needed this body.

Or rather, that's why K needed him.

Feeling as though he had just retrieved a power he had known for so long, he poured his energy throughout his body and focused on expanding himself into one key shape. His body rose into the air, and looking at his limbs, he saw the metal shift around itself and change its shape dramatically to his will. Once it was done, he would charge through that door and fight their battle the way it was meant to be fought.

With style.

______________________________________

Alex didn't have a weapon.

He thrust his hand forward, and from the gauntlet extended his own material into a long thin shape. He tensed one of the edges, forming a sharp, hard blade, and relaxed the rest to create the thin, cylindrical base-blade of the sword. He then tensed the entire shaft up with natural energy and the material grew incredibly hard. He swung it at one of the broken pillars. Where it didn't split cleanly in two, the marble shattered.

Alex did have a weapon.

He positioned his greaves one in front of the other, ready to leap forward. His shoulder-blades positioned themselves at the same angle, moving his torso-plate to point sideways while his sword-hand was positioned behind him, ready to impale anything in front with added acceleration. He tightened his potion belt slightly and made sure everything, including the chisel, was secure.

He pulled his visor down with his free hand and smiled. His cyan eyes shone brightly against the dimmed door.

Ready or not, here he comes.

______________________________________

The room hadn't changed much since last he was inside. K, now sword-less, was kneeling on the side, clutching the side of his body while the Unknown violently blasted the force-field away with his sword. A lightning bolt directly from his own sword hitting the momentarily defenceless God got its attention nicely.

K smiled. The Unknown stared.

The Enogan suit of armour stood in the doorframe, single-bladed sword in hand, and squatted in a defensive stance.

"Your fight is with me, demon of the netherworld!" Alex shouted. Even his voice sounded much more strong and fierce. Heck, he would've literally roared the threat had he maintained the body he wasn't quite used to yet.

The Unknown walked away from the room, sword to the side. Alex saw Venos inside, staring with a look of awe. Now she truly had her favourite brother back.

Alex turned to his ally.

"Are you all right, K?" he asked.

"I've been better." K replied with a grin. He removed his hand from the side of his body, revealing a mere slit in his uniform, and regained both his blades from thin air. Both warriors stood together, ready for battle.

And to their surprise, the Unknown began to laugh.

"Once again, I face the same opponents." it laughed, "The spoils are the same, the conditions are the same … heck, I'll bet your techniques are identical as well as our past battle. This is absolutely perfect!"

It immediately sunk into its battle stance.

"See, it was luck you got me last time. Now I know not to make that same mistake again." it threatened, "I am now millions of times more powerful than before, and you haven't changed at all! Everything's easier done a second time."

"Goes for us too, you know." K replied, twirling himself back into his battle-pose. Alex didn't move. He was already in his.

"Shall we begin, then?" the Unknown asked.

"Begin?" asked Allezyamos, bursting with confidence in himself, "It had already begun several thousand years ago. Let us FINISH this!"

Once again, a clash was heard before they even began to move. Only this time, there was a second.

Alex 43 · **Posted:** February 14th, 2011, 12:34 pm

________________________________________

CHAPTER 6 - DEJA VU
________________________________________

Immediately, Alex brought his blade against the Unknown's, and the material held the blow. He didn't even feel anything, despite the blade being part of his body. For a moment, he imagined the infinite number of experiments he wanted to perform on himself, but immediately remembered there were more dire things at hand. He stepped back and brought his arm around, but it had suddenly extended much too far against his will, and seizing the advantage, the Unknown thrust its blade straight into Alex's defenceless torso.

Shoot! Quickest defeat in his life!

Or was it? There wasn't any pain. There wasn't even a sound. For a moment, everything seemed to freeze. Was he dead? No, his limbs still functioned properly and he could see and think properly. K was side-stepping around to a better position.

Looking down, he saw a gaping hole where the Unknown's sword was, large enough to be avoiding touching the blade altogether. It was as though the material itself didn't want to get close to the blade, regardless of whether or not he was controlling it.

Of course. Highly reactive to majiya. Alex tensed his body and the hole shrunk, trapping the sword, and then he stepped back to force the Unknown off-balance. The blade of the sword burned him, but Alex endured it. It tried to yank it out, but then Alex suddenly relaxed, and it expanded. The sword was yanked out of nothing but air, and the Unknown lost balance and fell backwards. With an easy shot, he whacked the Unknown across the head with his sword and, unfortunately, an unwillingly extended arm. It didn't pierce due to lack of strength because of this, but the Unknown staggered well enough for that to be a disorienting blow.

He tensed, and his arm reverted back to its original length. OK. Tense is tight, loose is limp. Gotta remember that, he thought. That, and now he knew the Unknown couldn't hit him even if it tried. The battle had suddenly become much easier.

"Don't get too comfortable." the Unknown threatened, jumping back into a balanced position, "I know your weakness is your symbol, and that cannot shift! Instead, it will shatter along with your pitiful hopes!"

Easier said then done, Alex thought with glee. He hid his symbol inside his armour as he transformed. It was no longer in the torso section. But the Unknown had every intent on dicing him up into thin strips just to get a visual.

Ain't gonna happen.

Keeping a partial focus on his form, Alex whipped his sword downwards and it clashed against the Unknown. Without wasting a moment, it twirled the double-sword around to thwart off K's attack from behind, heaving it back in front to deflect Alex's second swipe. The Unknown jabbed the blade backwards, making K jump to the side, and it leapt with it to avoid a jab by Alex.

With such a nimble, light, and flexible body, Alex felt a significant speed boost. Not only was he keeping up with the Unknown's attacks, but he was even noticing some fairly clumsy moves on the Unknown's part. He whipped his sword at the Unknown in a feint, and then spun it back around once it held its own sword up, and rather than either step back to avoid the attack or pull the blade back by the hilt and catch it with the upper wristguard, the Unknown put in unnecessary force to drive the entire sword lengthwise just to block the attack. Perhaps one of the most inefficient methods. Being a thousand times more powerful really was no excuse for wasting stamina like this.

K spun into his windmill spin, twirling at the Unknown at a swirling angle, and forced it to whip its sword behind it. Again, rather than go with the force and let the blades slide, the Unknown threw in force to stop the spin attack entirely, which resulted in one sword's stop and the other one's overhead swing. Alex also jumped in with a strike, and the Unknown had two swords coming at his head from above simultaneously.

*FLASH!*

The Unknown blinked to behind K. Reacting, Alex twisted his blade and halted it, causing K's blade to bounce off it so that he had extra force to whip it backwards and back in a defensive position. It clashed with the Unknown's sword, and he yanked his other blade around to better centre himself. Jab after jab of the Unknown was deflected by K, who stepped lightly around the sword, missing it by mere inches, but in swordplay, sometimes that was all he needed.

Alex didn't just stand around and watch. He held out his other arm and relaxed it, letting the material stretch out into a long, whip-like strand. He tensed it and it solidified ("woah, this feels weird …"), and after coiling it up, he launched the whip right at the combatants.

K, sensing Alex's intent, leapt into the air with a downward thrust, forcing the Unknown to hold its sword upwards. The whip spun and twisted around the Unknown's torso and shoulders, and with a sudden yank, it ensnared the God and caught both arms next to it.

K followed it up with a dual-bladed slam from the same jump as the Unknown struggled to pull its sword up, but Alex was forcing a lot of energy into the snare. The enogan whip had hardened significantly, boasting the toughness near that of rithlyte. A very impressive material, if not incredibly fatiguing. Just doing this maneuver made Alex feel like he was using majiya to hold up the pillars Macan fought him with at the Oocon city.

This was the apparant drawback to enogan. Keeping it in proper shape and form took up a lot of his energy. Though he was a quick, powerful, and flexible combatant with this body, it could only be short-lived.

The Unknown dropped its sword and kicked it up blade-first at K, who was forced to spin around in mid-air at the last moment, abandoning his slam attack. No matter. Alex fed his arm some chaotic energy, and as quickly as he could, he tensed it as hard as he could. Sharp spikes jutted out all ends of the whip, shooting towards the Unknown, who looked at him sternly and started glowing more intensely.

A twinkle in its eyes.

Aw no! Please don't-

*FLASH*

Just as the spikes jutted out at the Unknown, it was no longer there. It appeared to the left of Alex, who couldn't immediately react due to his arm all messed up. Alex was only able to turn and look just as the Unknown drove its sword right at Alex's head.

His field of vision spread out, and everything seemed to squeeze together. Closing one eye, Alex saw the blade went through the centre of his face, and following the torso's example, his entire head turned into a torus, avoiding the blade altogether.

Suddenly, a flash of black, a blunt chest pain, and he felt himself launched backwards. K jumped in between them and kicked Alex in the torso, launching him backwards and away from the Unknown, preventing it from slicing its sword downwards in attempt to isolate his weak spot. His head reformed, and perspective was restored. He caught himself on the ground, loosened his whip arm, and turned it back to normal.

The Unknown, still in a slashing motion, was intercepted by K, who was still on one leg from the back-kick. He wedged one sword in and behind the Unknown's blade and pulled it towards him. The Unknown attempted to turn the blade to make K accidentally pull his sword into his own head, but K had other plans. With the arm close enough, he grabbed the wrist, pried it back, and swept his raised foot across in a one-legged crouch spin. The Unknown was pulled over, its sword passing over K's head, and swept off its feet. Still hanging onto the sword hand, K followed up by leaping up with his kick leg and jamming it into the Unknown's back, launching it right at the recovered Alex.

Its sword was pulled back behind it. It was open! Alex wasted no time. His body relaxed and immediately reverted to the larger, bulkier, and potentially more powerful dragon he saw himself as not too long ago. Immediately once his legs decided they were the proper enough shape to be used, Alex leapt straight at the Unknown for a full head-on tackle, angling himself straight at the door. One great bound, and he would sail right out. Such incredible speed, too. Time seemed to slow down. It was a perfect attack.

And it worked, too! In a last-second attack, K flipped his blades over and spun-kick the Unknown around so its sword was behind when Alex struck it with full force. The speed in which he flew almost seemed to make the room stretch out in format of him. He felt the Unknown collide with his head, but he willed himself to just keep going. There was the door, and here it came. There was a brilliant blast of light, and he was once again reunited with the courtyard that saved his life.

The Unknown was still on his head. He had to ram it into something! The plinth! He aimed his head low and, with one final bounding leap, hurled himself and his trapped opponent right into the shining metal slab.

*CRUNCH!*

But lo, it was only metal on the outside. In fact, it was so hollow that it crumbled into itself the moment it was touched. Instinctively, Alex braked and the Unknown, still not yet impaled, tumbled towards the edge of the yard where it immediately regained its footing and dashed back at Alex with its blade up. A sudden blast of dark matter from behind pummelled the Unknown away from him, and while Alex recovered from the charge, K jumped at the Unknown and took him on in the air above them, suspended by their glowing light originating from their keys. The Unknown glowed a brighter shade of blue to add to its already alight outline, while K illuminated a brilliantly pale yellow.

Alex then noticed it. Hundreds of thousands of agents, floating around on their daily duties, had just stopped to watch the fight by whatever means they had to observe something. Whether the peculiar creatures had eyes in unexpected places, were entirely composed of eyes, or were eyes altogether, they were all focused towards the intense battle presenting itself amidst them.

A couple of explosive clashes later, the Unknown leapt back … and just kept going. It was retreating!

"Alex. Wings. Now." K said, jumping down and onto Alex's back.

Wings. Right … how was that done again?

K heard his thought. He felt a sudden force on his back, as though K just shoved his palm into Alex's spine, and an instinctive reaction suddenly unflexed two limbs he never knew he had straight out of his back. No, he didn't unflex them; he simply spawned them. He felt the metal on his back-plate mould around, stretch out, and harden into two great wings nearly twice the size of him. They were composed of his own stretched out material unlike his siblings' lightning representations, and they glowed with a cyanic energetic light. The upper sections were aerodynamically thickened almost like armor-plating, which stretched down into several bone-like strings that weaved a thin plate of metal between them and his back much like a wyvern's. For a moment, Alex embraced the joy and realization he now had wings and, therefore, the ability to fly freely, but then K gave him another palming, and he returned to the priority.

Such a difficult battle. He was fighting against perhaps the most powerful being in the universe, and he had a brand new, unfamiliar body to do it with. At least it was powerful.

He jumped off the courtyard step towards the fleeing Unknown and heaved his great wings downwards. Immediately, his acceleration quadrupled, and he picked up speeds faster than he ever imagined he could go. He kept his eyes on their target, but there was a sudden blink of light, and it had vanished.

Alex braked, trying to get a visual.

"He's heading up the tower." K's voice said in his mind.

Alex looked up. There it was, a considerable distance away, shooting upwards and blasting away anything in its path. It really wanted to get away, it seemed. Were they really too tough for it?

"It's not that," K explained, "It doesn't want any witnesses to our battle. It's just like before."

No kidding, he thought. If I was fighting for my leadership of the universe, I wouldn't want hundreds of thousands of those against me watching and egging my opponent on. Just returning with our heads would be enough for it to prove its victory, so there really is no upside for it. Alex flapped downwards and was launched upwards towards the tower.

This scene. It felt like deja vu. He knew it from somewhere.

"This is exactly the same as what happened last time." K told him, "The Unknown was attacked by us in the open, and to escape prying eyes, it attempted to retreat to its throne atop the tower."

"The tower has a top?" Alex asked.

"Yes, but you, or anybody else for that matter, will never be able to get there without the help of a Guardian." K replied.

He looked at his magenta-outlined claw. It started glowing white and felt comfortably warm. Same with the rest of his body. It felt similar to his recovery during the time he fought the Unknown with Venos and Gia. With incredible energy, he forced his wings downwards and propelled himself at speeds so close to the speed of light that everything around him streamlined into undistinguishable shapes. Ahead, his eyes were towards the Unknown, who was getting closer to them at a steady rate. They were catching up.

It suddenly flashed a strange, multicoloured light, which expanded towards them at an alarming rate. Without even a split-second to think, Alex maneuvered to the side and the blast of light missed him by an inch. It fired again, and he twirled around in mid-air to offset himself enough for the next one to miss completely. Blast after blast, he maneuvered as though he had the ability to do so his entire life. Once again, this was him, and who he had been his whole life.

A blast of light suddenly got too close, but it was eradicated from a bright flash from behind him before it could make contact.

"Don't think, just do." K advised him, "Your body will remember what your mind forgot."

"Thanks for that." Alex replied, trying not to sarcastically put the word "master" in the sentence. It was odd enough that the idea came up in the first place.

________________________________________

Now that he thought of it, it was sort of a silly idea. Gather a large crowd to observe the battle just to make the Unknown flee to the top of the tower. By what K had told him, this was supposed to have been Alex's job. Mainly for two reasons, he surmised.

One, because in his former body, he was a trouble-maker. Although it gave him a somewhat negative impression on the populace, that also meant that the general populace knew him well. If it was a complete stranger trying to gather a crowd, they would have their suspicions against that character; potentially as being allied with the Unknown to help weed out traitors and kill two birds with one stone. However, they knew Allezyamos well, and despite his poorly influenced past, they knew that he wouldn't do such a thing and would be more inclined to believe him.

And two, because Alex was native to the realm. He, however, being mortal and all wasn't. And when something is not normal within an area of expectation, that something usually gets undesired attention.

And lots of it.

Agents were, basically, juiced up variations of the creatures usually native to the planets the Gods supervised. After all, the creatures were the Gods' creations to begin with. Some were spiritual, bearing only resemblance to the creatures they were supposed to represent without any real, physical body and internal organs. The rest, well, were as muscular, developed, and educated as possible. They all glowed in their own shade of color, saturation, and brightness; some not at all, to which Dex assumed was due to their color being outside his visible spectrum.

Gathering a crowd was not a problem. Leading them over to Sartranomin's hovel was a breeze. However, it was getting away from the crowd and keeping them at Sartranomin's that was difficult.

Since the Gods themselves could not enter the realm, they had chosen or created semi-powered agents to represent them and run errands. Usually this involved limiting their knowledge well enough that they wouldn't spark up any rebellious deeds in the realm, for fear of creating an uproar and having the Unknown destroy the lot of them. That being said, they became near-mindless drones; unresponsive and non-interactive with one another. Reason being mainly because of no interest. They knew that other agents were alike in all ways, and therefore had nothing interesting to talk about. As a result, they remained useless to their masters benefits, and therefore would focus solely on their task at hand.

Then one day, in comes Dex. He's a mortal in the God realm. This is interesting. They had been told that mortals do not enter the God realm, and instead stay on the planets. Their harmony of logic has been flawed.

Therefore, an explanation is absolutely necessary.

Thanks to the Guardian's blessing … or rather, no thanks, Dex was able to understand the questions and remarks of every single creature that gathered around him. They were invading personal space; tugging, inspecting, inquiring, and even in some cases, leeching. He pushed out a barrier, but there were so many of them forming up, that he was about to portal himself away when suddenly the doors burst open, and Allezyamos and the Unknown came crashing through.

An agent fighting the Unknown. Also interesting, as the intent is that no agent ever harm the Unknown. Yet here they see an agent harming the Unknown. Another flaw in the logic.

Priority shifted, and the crowd dispersed. They formed a large dome around the battle; eager to witness this strange sight, but nevertheless cautious as to not get attacked by a stray blast of power.

Before Dex knew it, he was no longer the centre of attention. He shook himself off and regained his focus, trying to gather back his majiya. K also jumped out of the door and joined Alex in the fight, and he would rejoin the battle after a quick break.

But it was short-lived. The Unknown took off, and so did Allezyamos and K, and before he knew it, the crowd no longer had anything interesting to see in the Unknown.

Priority shifted again, and to his horror, he was once again caught in an endless sea of curiosity. He threw open a portal, but before he could enter, he found himself being drained by another lecher. The portal destabilized, and he faltered; losing energy fast.

"No! Get away!" he shouted, "I must …"

They didn't listen. Go figure. Bloody agents are more annoying than humans. At least humans had the concept of personal space. And they didn't drain energy.

He focused. He focused hard. If he stopped even for a moment, he'd die. Plain and simple.

If he stopped …

Darn …

Alex and K …

Kick his hide into the next dimension.

________________________________________

"Welcome to the top of the Tower of Solen." K announced.

Looked more like a throne room than anything. The top of the tower was flat, save for a raised platform with a large throne-like chair standing tall in the centre. The floor itself was covered in lines and curves, with several symbols engraved in and covering almost every square inch of floor that glowed a dim, dark bluish-grey colour. Twelve large cylindrical stone pillars, boasting similar if not more stretched-out etchings, stood along the round platform edge. They held up no ceiling, but rather stood isolated and worthless as though their sole purpose was to be toppled over.

Instead of walls, the floor ended off in a steep dip, with nothing but thick, dark blue clouds surrounding the area obscuring away what Alex guessed was simply abyss. Bright, silent lightning crackled through the thick, dry clouds.

"I'd better enjoy my stay then, because whatever happens, I won't be coming back." Alex remarked.

The Unknown was already sitting on its throne. It looked relaxed and waiting, but Alex knew it was only for show. It had just gotten there, and if it boasted a pair of lungs, it no doubt would've been trying to force slow, deep breaths in to maintain its cool, relaxed poise.

Alex landed on the edge and K jumped off, standing beside him. He reverted himself to the more nimble, flexible humanoid form and recreated his sword. The two of them approached the throne, walking slowly but cautiously.

"Consider this my act of generosity for keeping me so well entertained over the years." the Unknown said, his voice echoing against the clouds with incredible bass, "Nobody has ever passed away up here except for former universal kings. You'll get a seat at their table, and they'll listen and laugh with you to your stories of false hope while you rot in the abyss of the Unknown!"

"What's wrong?" Alex called, "Don't like an audience?"

"Oh, you would rather we fight with hundreds of thousands of spectators around us, ready and willing to take stray shots and uncoordinated attacks for us?" the Unknown asked back.

Good point. He was no different than the Guardian when it came to reasoning.

"Besides, what sort of a king would I be to waste away innocent lives while condemning the guilty?" it asked, almost sarcastically.

"You've already answered your own question with your existence." K retorted. The two of them stood in front of the throne, their swords out and at the ready. It was its move. Two Speedies on the gameboard, and they had the Master cornered. It was its turn.

"You are about to die." the Unknown said, "It can be either slow or quick. I'll let you be the decider of that."

A frenzy of lightning bolts struck the Unknown from many different directions, but all they did was make his outline glow much more intensely. He leapt up off the throne, kicking his sword up into the air, and landed with a hard, powerful slam that shook the entire platform. Then he threw two punches, rapping the air with a loud slapping-sound, spun around with a double-roundhouse kick while catching his sword, and slammed one blade into the ground behind him, holding it like a staff as he stood upright with his fist out in front. A series of cracks jutted out from the blade behind him, and the throne fell into a large crevice, which sealed itself back up automatically, leaving nothing but flat, glowing ground.

It was ready. It wanted them to make the first move.

"I choose quick." Alex said. Even K turned to stare for a moment before he added, "Because it's not going to happen."

With that, he struck first. He tore off part of his own shoulder-blade and threw the metal blob at the Unknown. The Unknown whipped its sword at it, and it suddenly exploded in a fiery blast. Alex had snuck one of his explosive potions inside his shoulder while the Unknown was preaching.

The explosion almost acting as a signal, K darted forward, and the Unknown was barely in time to whip its sword around to defend. K bounded over it, applying another windmill spin to keep its focus on him while Alex dashed at the Unknown as well. But he was only able to slash at it when it yanked its sword around, slammed it against Alex's, and spun it overhead to stab, which Alex leapt back from. The lightning must've given it strength; it was a lot faster now.

K sidestepped to the right to dodge a slam, and Alex mimicked the maneuver. So long they were both fighting the Unknown at the same time, it was a handicapped match in their favour.

________________________________________

CHAPTER 7 - DETERMINATION
________________________________________

*BAM!*

The Unknown slammed its sword into the ground, and a wave of dark energy blew the combatants back. For a moment, Alex thought that it was trying to break the tower, but upon removing the sword, the platform automatically sealed itself back up again. Almost as though the stone platform had healing properties. Nifty trick.

The Unknown leapt high into the air. Alex trotted backwards, ready to intercept, but then it suddenly stopped rising and hung in mid-air, as through on mannequin-strings. Its sword burst to life; its many spikes and thorns flailing about randomly. Another frenzy of lightning engulfed the Unknown for a few seconds, but then it dissipated, and suddenly the sword had burst into a black and purple flame.

"Keep moving!" Alex heard K in his mind.

The Unknown swung at nothing, and a razor-sharp wave of dark energy sliced the air down towards the combatants. Obeying K's warning, Alex jumped back and dashed along the edge, using the pillars as cover. The Unknown swung again and again, blasting away chunks of the ground around them.

"HHRRRAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

It twirled its double-bladed sword over it's head, and a large meteor of condensed, solid energy gathered above him. K whipped his black sword in front and fired a powerful black beam back at it, but it blinked to the side to dodge. Once the meteor became large enough for it to fit inside, it circled to the top of it, let out another high-pitched shriek, and pummelled it with his sword.

The meteor exploded into thousands of white-hot projectiles and rained down upon the battlefield. Upon making contact with the ground, they exploded with an incredible burst of energy, creating a wave of napalm threatening to engulf the entire battlefield. Out of the edge of his eye, Alex could see the Unknown already creating another.

Alex summoned his wings back and took off, darting in and out of the falling projectiles and getting enough distance from the ground to avoid the explosive damage. K, however, was engulfed in the wave, and Alex feared the worst, but then he suddenly leapt through the smoky remains and drove his black sword at the Unknown, who countered with another meteorite. Rather than detonate this one, the Unknown drove it into K's sword to stop his attack, and then detonated it.

K was blasted into the dissipating smoke, hitting the ground hard. Alex circled the Unknown, firing a blast of lightning from his sword to get its attention while K recovered. At least, he hoped K would. His diversion was a success.

The Unknown swung its blade at Alex, creating the slicing wave attack again. Alex maneuvered using every trick he could think of, only having the experience of riding a dragon every once in a blue moon, and even then only 5% of the time it actually had to evade something. The Unknown swung at blinding speeds, creating large, spiralling strips of deadly force coming at him at every conceivable angle, and he maneuvered. He rose, dived, arced, spun, braked, contorted, even compressed himself into a smaller shape sometimes.

And he dodged. Not even wasting a millisecond, once the attack had passed, his mind immediately let him know the area was now open for the next maneuver, and he moved.

The Unknown roared in annoyance and, with a powerful upward fist, another meteorite attack was instantly summoned.

*BAM!*

A white beam of energy erupted from the ground, dissipating the smoke around the centre of the battlefield. K was back up, and thanks to Alex's distraction, scored a direct hit. The Unknown was blasted upwards, spinning uncontrollably, and the meteor was launched away, where it harmlessly exploded into one of the pillars.

K shot up with incredible speed, both swords in tow. Even with the Unknown regaining control immediately and firing its own powerful beam at him, K had already gotten above it and transferred the energy into a forward flip to brake in mid-air. Alex had never seen physics work like that, but when two Gods battled, he had to expect anything.

The Unknown was only barely able to bring its blades over itself from the beam attack to save itself from a double-bladed slam attack, launching it back to the ground, where it slammed on its stomach and tumbled a ways before regaining its footing.

Alex recalled his wings and landed, running right for the Unknown. Suddenly, it thrust a hand forward, and an eerie purple mass of light spawned from it's palm. Alex braked immediately, not wanting to try touching it. Out of the mass came a silvery, spiky, sea-shell shaped projectile, rocketing at him at incredible speeds. He jumped to the side, and the projectile passed by a few feet away, but suddenly, it exploded with devastating force, and Alex was launched into a pillar. On impact, his forced lots of energy out to harden his metal so he wouldn't splatter, as such a result would've left him entirely exposed and helpless.

"Your death will be GLORIOUS!" the Unknown shouted, more to the abyss than Alex. All around it, hundreds of purple masses suddenly burst into existence, and they all rapidly fired the same, silvery projectiles. Alex's brain racked itself. How the heck was he going to dodge all of those?

Suddenly K landed in front of him. His entire body was covered in black fire, and his eyes shone brightly as he turned to look at him.

"Hold on to me!" he instructed Alex, and he thrust both hands towards. The fingers were half-clenched and incredibly tense, and a black flame burst out of the palms. A ripple of light wove in front of them, and a vast darkness suddenly burst into existence directly in front.

Alex felt the pull. It was incredible. He literally wrapped his limbs around K as many times as he could, trying to hang on for dear life. The projectiles were yanked out of the air and pulled into the black hole, where they were crushed against themselves. Around the revolving black vortex, which was sucking in light itself, Alex could also see the Unknown trying to hold its position by driving its sword into the ground and holding on.

K clashed both swords together, and a flash of light burst from the hilts. The black hole immediately vanished, leaving nothing behind, and the Unknown immediately struck. Still wrapped around K, Alex yanked his sword in front, slicing at the Unknown and making it jump to the side to give K the time he needed to leap free from Alex and strike at the Unknown's side. But the Unknown's blade was already charged with a sinister energy. A familiar energy. The same kind Alex saw when Macan had to-

"Watch out!" Alex yelled, but it was too late. The Unknown swung, and the wave of distortion enveloped both warriors.

*RRRRUUUUUUMMMMMMBLE!*

K took most of the attack, standing in front with his blades crossed, but they were both still pummelled and knocked down. Both of K's weapons were launched backwards, embedding themselves into a pillar behind them. Seeing that one of its opponents was weaponless, the Unknown diverted attention to and swung at him, but Alex, still lying on the ground, extended his arm, whipped his hand around behind the Unknown, grabbing its arm, and yanking it backward, thwarting the attack. Roaring, the Unknown's free hand exploded into a chaotic orb of destruction, and with a dash, he thrust it into Alex's visor.

*BYYYYYYYYRRRRZZZ!*

The pain was intense, and his body reacted so violently to the surge or energy that he lost total control of it. He felt it flatten and melt, vibrating into a rippling pool of metal and fall. With Alex's grip released, it yanked it's sword around, aimed it at Alex, and swung without hesitation, but a great black blur shot in front and, with a loud "CLANG", stopped the sword with … knives?

Alex forced his body to realign itself into its solid shape. K was now wielding the two knives he used when he fought Alex atop Venos' back a while ago. While they were smaller, faster, and more flexible than the swords, to use them meant that K lost his range advantage and had to get dangerously close to the Unknown to use them. Heaving himself to his feet, he was just in time to see K lock the Unknown's sword between both knives and deliver a straight kick to its chest, knocking it backwards while he gave chase.

A jolt of pain, and Alex fell to his knees again. He was once again enduring incredible pain, and despite his experience now with it, it was still paralyzingly unpleasant. Through blurring eyes, he saw both warriors fight with all their ability, but the Unknown clearly had the range advantage. K wouldn't be able to fight like this for long. Looking over, he saw a spark of white shining on the nearby pillar. He had to get K's swords back to him.

He forced his body to move. He forced out a spike of adrenaline with will alone. The will to keep fighting, even until the end. It was so hard to do, but dangit, he HAD to do it. He saw his hand, half-melted in format of him, but after forcing it to move somewhat, it morphed back into its solid shape. Confident it would not splatter upon doing so, he slammed it into the ground and forced his body up and upright. He didn't bother respawning his sword. K had the Unknown well-enough distracted with his gutsy close-range fighting.

He sprinted. His legs were sore, but another burst of willpower pushed them beyond their capable limit. He was almost afraid of what his body was going to be like if he survives this battle, and he wakes up the next day to the aftereffects. The pillar seemed like miles away, but he kept running; trying to drive himself to move faster and faster.

All at once, the pillar suddenly zoomed in on him, and he slammed his body into it. One hand gripped the handle of the shining white sword, and he yanked it out and he half-stumbled to the ground. It came out.

With incredible ease.

Holding the sword upright, he marvelled at how light it was. Not even the blade bore any real weight behind it, and he felt he could almost use it with his fingers rather than wrist. No wonder K was able to fight so swiftly and fluidly with these weapons! And the feel of the blade was incredible. Just by holding it, he could swear he felt a warm energy flow into him. However, because it had no weight, Alex wondered how K was supposed to end a fight against a heavily armoured opponent with it.

Alex looked up and saw the black sword, embedded directly above where the white one was. He rose to his feet (strangely easily), leapt up, and gripped the hilt with his free hand.

*TSSSSSSSSSSSHH*

"YOW!" he yelled, and immediately let go. The hilt burnt his hand, which pulsed an unnerving black before dissipating after a moment.

Something in his mind told him to react, and he whipped the white sword up, clashing with the Unknown's blade. He shoved it back, realigned his grip with the white sword, and swung. Just like on the plateau, sparring against K, Alex let his body move and react on its own, clashing against the Unknown's sword and moving along with it. He strafed around in a circle, keeping his eyes locked against the evil king and its attention towards him. He struck with a feint stab, yanking it away as the Unknown swung to parry, and he drove it to the left to force the Unknown's sword to move in the wrong direction. He stepped in and stabbed, but the Unknown unleashed another blast of lightning at his face. Alex staggered, and he could barely see the Unknown swing at him, but his arm almost moved on its own to whip the white sword upward and slide his opponent's sword off-set.

"Ah, Genesis likes you." he heard K's voice in his mind.

Alex turned, "Who?"

"Eyes forward!"

Alex focused. The Unknown was swinging powerfully, and he jumped back. A loud *CRUNCH* was heard behind him, and the Unknown also jumped back to avoid K slamming down onto it. He had regained his black sword from the pillar, slicing it in half to break it free. Alex tossed the white blade to him, and K was just in time to catch it and clash both against the Unknown's retaliating slam attack.

Alex extended his gauntlet again to create a new sword for himself as K tore both swords apart, throwing the Unknown's sword backwards, and clashed them against each other. A blast of sparkling energy blew the Unknown backwards, giving them enough distance for both sides to realign their weapons and prepare another attack.

K took advantage of the move.

"Alex, divert his attention from above and make him raise his guard upward." K instructed. Alex quickly nodded. With his ally right behind him, Alex advanced and struck, not from above, but below. Through experience, he knew that if he immediately went for above, the enemy would figure that he was trying to push its defence there, and wouldn't "cooperate".

The Unknown side-stepped, and Alex heaved his sword backward to block a side-swipe. Still in a low stance, he rolled forward to dodge another slam, spinning to the left and forcing his leg solid as hard as he could. The Unknown swung, and Alex pushed his spinning force into a jump kick, clanging his leg against the Unknown's sword. He forced it back to the ground to regain balance and followed up with his sword, swinging low again. The Unknown jumped the blade, so close that it thrust its leg down and kicked his sword downward as it passed under him. Alex released the sword's energy, turning it limp, and jumped at the Unknown, aiming for height.

Here it was now. This was the attack K was waiting for. The Unknown was still in midair and wouldn't be able to dodge. Alex solidified his limped sword back to normal and gripped it with both hands; flipping around and driving it down in a full-body weight slam. He hoped the Unknown would take the bait. He doubted he would get another chance if it didn't.

It did. It held its sword up with both hands, taking the attack with full force. He collided, and the resulting force back jarred him, keeping him suspended in the air. At the same moment, out of the edge of his eyes, Alex saw K zoom in from underneath him. The Unknown tried to bring its sword down, but it was far too late. All it could do was attempt to leap to the side, but because it had just touched the ground, he had no real force.

*SHRUNK!*

Ah, that was a good sound! Alex forced his head to tilt downward to look. K got one of his blades under the Unknown's. Was it a hit?

NO! So close! The black sword impaled the left side of the Unknown's torso; just a bit too shy to be called an effective hit. It sparked with a black lightning for a moment before it was immediately yanked out. K attempted to drive his other one in as it was stunned from the blow, but a rippling wave of heat energy coming right from the Unknown forced his hand back and threw Alex off and away. Still stunned by the jarring from his slam, he lost his aerial alignment and crashed on his back to the ground.

"HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIII!"

K immediately yanked his sword out of the Unknown's ribcage and jumped back. That did it. The Unknown was furious. It was no longer using strategy. Abandoning the concept behind defensive and offensive, it went all out against K. It swung its sword at impossible speeds, sends waves of resultant energy against him, forcing him to leap back several times. It fired an incredibly powerful beam of energy at K who countered with his own beam of shadow. Both streams of energy blasted against each other, crackling and exploding at the points of contact.

K jumped into the air, letting his beam get engulfed. Screaming like a mighty banshee, the Unknown threw its sword into the air and summoned two meteorites in each hand, which literally exploded into existence. Bad situation, Alex thought, as the meteors it threw each had a wide range of explosions. What's more, K was now in the air, and it would not be easy for him to dodge.

Fortunately, the Unknown had already lost its state of mind. It threw both meteors up at K, who twisted himself around in mid-air to accelerated forward and avoid them. The meteors struck each other, and they both exploded, blasting K away with the force.

The Unknown slammed its hand into the ground, and another frenzy of silver projectiles were spawned, which darted at and homed in at the still-airborne K. Pulling his swords back in a defensive mid-air pose, he forced himself around, twirling at incredible speeds, and slicing each of the projectiles in half with his swords. They still exploded, but the power was cut ten-fold, and none of them succeeded in properly damaging K. With the maneuver, he landed himself on one of the pillars and immediately jumped down back to the ground.

The Unknown dashed at K, slicing away to create more slash waves with the charge. K met the attack head on, crossing both his swords in front and creating an explosion of light and dark energy to blast the attack away. It was losing its patience.

"I will CRUSH YOU INTO DUST and SMASH YOU INTO NOTHINGNESS!" the Unknown yelled. It slashed away, and K parried around, slicing at its arms once, twice, three times before it leapt back and high into the air.

"GONE! GONE! I WANT YOU GONE!" it screamed, raising its sword into the air. The sky lit up with a frenzy of lightning, and the Unknown was engulfed in bright blue flames.

The sky turned purple.

The sky turned silver.

Alex stared in horror. Millions upon millions of those explosive silver missiles, all bearing down upon them. He tried to force himself to stand up. He had to get away. Off the top of the tower. Back to Gielinor. Somewhere else. Anywhere other than this!

"Stay down." K shouted to him, "Conserve your energy."

Alex looked. The warrior stood in the centre, looking up. Millions of explosive projectiles. Forget K, Alex was worried that the tower itself wouldn't be able to take such force.

But K smiled at him, "It'll be all right."

He forced himself to relax. To trust in the cosmic warrior. He had forced and willed himself to trust K enough to take on his K closed his eyes. He lowered both blades to point downward on both sides. Slowly, he began to rise, and a stream of light and darkness spun and wove around him.

"Wherever there is darkness," K preached, his voice echoing throughout the battlefield, "There must also be light. It is the juxtaposition of opposites that allow reality to exist around us. Without one, the other will perish as well, as there will no longer be the ability to distinguish between."

K's swords burst into life. The white sword grew brighter and the black sword grew darker. Moving them left a trail of energy in the air.

"I exist to preserve that balance!" K shouted, and his body was engulfed in a bright white light, "The Universe will have its freedom!"

*BOOM!*

K shot down into a low battle-pose, and his swords transformed into pure energy. The projectiles rocketed at him. Every last one of them aimed at him and threatened to strike at the same time from all possible directions.

But he was ready.

"And by my will and power, the balance will be aligned once again!"

A millisecond before impact, Alex's mind raced with adrenaline, and time suddenly seemed to stop. The projectiles hung in the air, and K remained in the stance. The projectiles hung in the air, but then K suddenly began to move. With ever increasing speed, he whipped his swords around him, driving them through the projectiles, not missing even one. He spun with both blades, each of them leaving behind a trail, showing where they had been throughout the entire maneuver. He sliced the last one just as the first one began to explode. With the last one done, he drove both swords down into the ground and thrust both palms upward.

And not even a millisecond had passed.

*BOOOOM!*

The projectiles exploded around K, but his own, self-generated burst of energy blew them all away. Alex held up an arm to protect his visor, and felt the devastating wave of energy pummel him more and more into the pillar. It slowly dissipated, and Alex lowered an arm to see K grab both blades again, twirl them individually for a second, and then thrust both upwards, shooting a blinding white beam of power at the Unknown. It blinked back to the platform, and in total rage, shot at K with its blade spinning.

K heaved both blades down, and the beam followed. Not expecting it, the Unknown swerved itself in mid-air to prevent itself from getting engulfed, and leapt off a pillar to regain its momentum. The beam dissipated, but K was already on his next attack. The Unknown drove its blade forward to impale K, but at that time, K was already shooting underneath it, pulling both his blades upward to hook onto the Unknown's feet. He whipped them upwards, and the Unknown vertically span out of control in mid-air.

K planted his feet on the pillar the Unknown just jumped off of and leapt off, giving immediate chase. The Unknown curved itself to regain control, but the incredibly swift K was once again one step ahead of him. He slammed his swords downwards onto the Unknown's defence, causing the Unknown to spin in the other direction.

K tapped the hilts of his swords together, and they produced a chain between the ends. He threw the black one down at the Unknown, who tried to dodge at the last moment, but instead got its leg impaled. K yanked on the chain, and the Unknown was thrown into the air again. His palm exploding in sparkling light, and he slammed it onto the blade of his white sword, running a powerful surge through the chain and engulfing the Unknown in a blast of flashing power.

Not yet finished, K quickly twirled the chain around his sword, leapt high into the air with a majestic twirling, and with a quick pull of his sword, the Unknown was spun around and around like a flail, smashing into the tops of all the pillars with enough force to break them in two. K twirled vertically as well, and the Unknown followed, and with a final whipping motion, it was launched in an arc up, and then down with extreme force.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

The entire platform was coated in large cracks, but they healed, as usual. If that didn't do a number against the Unknown, Alex doubted that there was any possible way-

******!*

Suddenly, the chain was jerked, and K was yanked out of the air. He palmed the hilt of his white sword, and the chain vanished, driving the sword down defensively. In the cloud of dust and rubble, the Unknown threw the black sword at K (as an attack to distract him or the sword itself jumped at K, Alex couldn't tell), who smoothly and calmly snatched it out of the air and used the energy to convert his defensive slam into yet another windmill technique. He flew into the cloud, and Alex heard a loud *SHUNK!*, as though both swords were planted into something.

Alex felt relieved; K must've dealt the final blow with that unexpected parry. The dust cleared quickly, and to Alex's horror, he saw that K had just impaled himself one of the Unknown's exploding meteors, held up in front by the deity as a barrier. The biggest one yet, expanded nearly three times the normal size.

And in that same moment of time, they all knew exactly what that meant.

*KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

The explosion was too big and powerful for Alex to have any confidence against. The Unknown had been counting on them as a long-ranged weapon, so it was natural that K didn't expect it to use it as a shield too. With such devastating force, though, and the fact that up until now, the Unknown had been using it long-range, Alex could hope that it was a double-edged sword ability.

*WHAM!*

The Guardian hit the pillar with enough force that he went right through it, tumbling through the rubble and coming to a motionless stop at the edge of the platform. He was unresponsive. There was a sudden blast of energy, and the dust cleared in a hurry, revealing nothing but the Unknown, who was clearly showing the after-effects of getting engulfed in its own explosion. Because it had held it directly above himself, he was driven straight down into the ground, and with some effort, he forced his legs out of the ground.

"This is how it SHOULD'VE ended the time before." the Unknown shouted, brandishing its sword into the air. It coated itself in a thick cloud of light and smoke again and reverted back to the singular blade. It stomped over to the two fallen warriors, clutching his blade-arm.

"Freedom? You would sacrifice order for freedom?" the Unknown shouted, staggering for a moment before catching itself upright again, "Freedom breeds nothing but chaos! A dream the first minute, and a nightmare from then on!"

Alex tried to rise up, but the Unknown jammed its foot into his visor and slammed his face back down to the ground.

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have had to KILL Gods!" he bellowed, "If it wasn't for you, TRILLIONS of mortal lives would never have been sacrificed!"

The Unknown grabbed Alex by the throat and, with a lightning-fast dash, rammed him into one of the pillars.

"TRILLIONS! GONE! For NOTHING!"

He drove Alex's limp, numb body farther into the pillar with a sword hilt to the chest. But before Alex could fall, he clutched his throat with its gauntlet and brought him forward to look directly into his menacing, rage-fuelled eyes.

"It … was … glorious." it said with a loud hiss. Alex cringed, and the Unknown pummelled him with the hilt again.

"Tell me. How do you feel?"

It grabbed Alex by the top of the head and thrust it down onto its knee. His helmet splattered a bit before it bounced off and hit the ground. He tried to get up, but the Unknown jabbed its sword in front of his shoulder threateningly.

"Do you feel proud, heroes? Do you feel like you've done some good? Do you feel that you have given the Universe freedom?"

Alex summoned every last bit of confidence he had left in himself, and K. He lifted his head, and made eye contact with the Unknown.

"DO YOU CALL THIS FREEDOM?!?"

The Unknown shot a kick at the back of Alex's head again, but he shot one of his wings out from behind, blocking the attack.

"A world without their God to lead it to the afterlife …" Alex found himself saying, "Is an empty one. A lost one."

The Unknown stared. Alex's wing morphed back into his back, and he made eye contact with the Unknown.

"Every day, they live in fear of dying the next. It causes corruption. It causes conflict! Conflict that forced them to kill each other. Just to appease YOU!"

The Unknown chuckled.

"Sure, we may have been the cause for a loss of a trillion lives, but YOU have consumed a trillion times more!" he argued, "If it wasn't for you being so greedy for power, none of this would've happened! There wouldn't be mass civil war all throughout the Universe, creating the revenant payments to fulfill your intake requirements!"

The Unknown laughed.

"There wouldn't have been any NEED for sacrifice!"

Alex was struggling just to keep raising his voice. For the first time in his life, he felt truly angry at something.

"THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN UNIVERSAL PEACE!"

*WHACK!*

The Unknown kicked Alex's face so hard his body flipped up and over, landing on his back.

"What do YOU know about universal peace?" it roared, "What do YOU know about the UNIVERSE? NOTHING! You were breast-fed by the lowest of deities and raised on a lie, and you think you know EVERYTHING now? You think you have ANY idea what I've been going through all this time? WHAT I'VE DONE FOR ALL OF YOU?!?"

The floor rumbled around him. It felt like the tower was swaying back and forth, almost about to uproot its foundation.

Something in the Unknown's eyes flickered, and suddenly, his personality changed entirely.

"But … perhaps you are right. Alas, though, it is too late to correct my mistake." it said, stepping onto Alex's chest, "What's done is done, after all, but time shall carry on. Mortals shall give birth, and worlds will be replenished with new life. So instead, I will do you both the favour. I will finish the two of you off, and this time, I will ensure that this does not ever happen again!"

The Unknown stuck its foot under Alex's chin and forced his head up to look straight into its fury-engulfed eyes. Its outline burst into a blue flame. Unable to control it, he felt the enogan of his body force back into his dragon form, resulting in his symbol being forced out of its hiding place and exposing itself directly on his forehead.

"Starting with YOU this time!" the Unknown bellowed, raising its sword. K wasn't moving. It was all over for him. The sword came in, exploding at its mightiest power yet. He could not evade it. Alex squeezed his eyes shut, hoping it wouldn't hurt much.

...

It didn't.

There was a pause, and he opened them. The Unknown's sword was there in between his eyes; the tip just mere millimetres from his forehead. The chaotic energies were shooting towards him, but they were not touching him. Now what was going on? Why didn't the Unknown stab? He looked over and saw K still lying there, unmoved. No, this was the Unknown's doing. But why would it hesitate like this?

It started pushing the sword in. It's sword began vibrating. It grasped it with both hands, trying to get it to stop. He swung it towards Alex, but it stopped again, and instead lurched the other way. He was trying to tug it towards itself, but then it suddenly jerked forward, almost throwing him off his feet. If he didn't know any better, the Unknown's sword was out of its control. Why didn't it want to kill him?

It vibrated more, and started violently jerking its master around. The Unknown was yelling at it. Suddenly, it yanked him down and seemed to embed itself to the ground, trapping both its hands under the hilt.

"NOW! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?"

He almost jumped out of his enogan plating. Turning, he saw Dex standing on the edge in a low stance, with both hands outstretched and glowing a harsh purple light, and his face exhibiting a teeth-crunching blast of effort. Whatever he was doing to the Unknown, it appeared to be incredibly straining for him. Sweat glistened in his fur and his entire body was so tense that it was vibrating uncontrollable. He was using way more effort than against Saradomin.

Finally realizing that it was Dex that was holding their enemy down, Alex immediately did what was expected of him. He forced energy back into his legs and made for one last, desperate leap at the King of the Universe.

He didn't miss. It couldn't block, or punch, or pull its sword up and forward and pierce the symbol as it rocketed at it. It wanted the symbol out, so here it was!

The Unknown was caught between his horns and thrown down to the ground, where he immediately jumped on top and pinned its legs down with his summoned weight. His front claw yanked his chisel from his potion belt (one size fits all!) and raised itself instinctively as he glared into the Unknown's eyes. One jab, and it would be all over for it.

It was weaponless. Defenceless. Helpless. This was it! A final blitz! After all they had been through; after all it had done to them, this was their moment of victory!

And then he hesitated.

Something in the Unknown's eyes. He saw this in one of his environments before. Some strange look of innocence. Almost of pleading. As though it was saying, "Please, Alex, don't do this!" Why was he feeling this now? After all the Unknown did to him and those of the realm, it could still look him in the eyes like this?

"Do it!" Dex shouted. He didn't hear K say anything. He was waiting for the result. Would he release the Unknown a second time?

Would he give him a third chance?

...

… no.

"Only second chances. Never thirds." Alex said, sticking his free claw into its face to hide the view. Then his other claw, clenched into a great, spiky, energized fist as it gripped his chisel, came down straight upon the Unknown's chest with every last bit of energy he could force out of himself.

*BOOOOOOOOOM*

And that was it. He hit ground. The Unknown was still there. The ground underneath it cracked from the incredible force. It didn't move. Its face was locked into an expression of pain. Eyes wide open, arms and legs tensed, and its glowing outside immediately dimmed. For a long time, he just sat there with his fist and chisel right through the God's chest. There was no energy gathering, no cold dark force against him, no attempt to get him off. It was as though it had accepted the punishment and, more importantly, defeat.

Two Gods in one day. So much for his losing streak. He wasn't having that bad a week after all.

K found his way back onto his feet and lightly walked over. One hand clenched the wound the Unknown's sword, lying to the side, inflicted not too long ago, and the other one was propping his black sword on the ground like a cane. Despite the arm positioning making him appear like an old man, he still moved with the fluid grace of an incredibly young, active creature.

Dex also approached them. He had vanished before the fight even began, and now here he was out of nowhere, just in time to save the day without even breaking a sweat.

"Where … WERE you?" Alex nearly bellowed. He felt frustrated. The both of them were in pain and suffering, and here he was unscathed and floating over to them as though he brought victory to them single-handedly.

"It was part of the plan." K explained, saving Dex a retort, "Seeing the doors were damaged and not destroyed, we instantly knew the Unknown was inside, but because you didn't know the schematics of the realm, you had carelessly charged in before we finalized our plan. It was to be that Dex and I draw the Unknown out while you waited just outside to finish him when its guard was down, mainly to dissuade the Unknown that Sartranomin himself was not responsible should we fail. However, since the exact opposite happened, I swapped your roles and sent Dex to inform as many agents as possible of what was happening to the Unknown. This was to get it, out of paranoia, to retreat to the top of the tower like he did last time. On my signal, which was after we forced him out, he was to meet us up there and strike when its guard was down.

He rubbed his back tenderly.

"… one way or another."

Alex's eyes widened.

"You hit the meteor on purpose?"

"It was a last-ditch parry." K said, "It hurt a great deal, but since it was in such a rage, feigning defeat was perhaps my only chance to get it to lower its guard."

"But, how did you get up here?" Alex asked Dex, "I thought only the Unknown and K, being similar beings, share a unique quality that allowed that. And since K didn't dare come here before our attack, he couldn't have brought you."

"You're right. By all means, I shouldn't have had the time nor the ability." Dex said, "Since, to activate a majiya portal to have gotten up here, I would have already been here once."

He floated over to look at the Unknown with pity. Alex stared.

"I'm sure K must have told you how I had a "brush-off" with the Unknown." Dex explained, "For me, such an event is not something mentioned lightly. What really happened was that I revealed myself intentionally. The Unknown, taking interest of a powerful mortal within the God's realm, immediately kidnapped me and brought me here itself for questioning. He hates mortals, after all, and upon learning about a mortal with a lost God's power, it would be in its best interest to get info out of me rather than just slay me on the spot. All I needed to do was provide false information to distract it while I memorized my surroundings for a majiya portal, which I don't think I need to explain the schematics for a forty-third time, and then I escaped after it lost its patience with me and my lies."

He chuckled.

"Ironic, isn't it? He hates lying, and yet he couldn't distinguish mine because he had nothing to compare my words to."

Alex watched him kneel down to look at their fallen opponent more carefully.

"Though it was a crucial step to allow us to reunite here while splitting up, I fear that it caused the paranoia that led to the slaying of Gods."

Alex frowned. Dex wasn't the kind to regret anything. He would just do and accept with a shrug.

Dex got in his own kick to what would be the Unknown's ribcage had he been human.

"Took me several portals to get it to lose my trail. I never acted so fast in my life." he said, smirking.

K spun a set of knives out from his belt and stuck four of them into the Unknown's shoulder-blades and leg joints, pinning it to the ground.

"But he is immobilized now." Alex said, "No more bloodshed. We have won."

"Yes." K nodded, "This battle is over."

Thankful he could get away from this sorry sight now, Alex tore his chisel out of the Unknown's chest.

Then he smashed his fist across it's face. A promise kept.

"That was for Zamcatristak." he said.

The Unknown didn't react. Alex looked at his fist.

It felt … good.

Alex slammed his other fist on the other side in a neck-breaking deck.

"And that was for Macan!" he bellowed. That first punch made something inside him snap, and suddenly, he couldn't stop himself anymore.

He smashed. He decked. He wanted his defeated opponent in ground-up pieces.

"AND THIS! IS FOR EVERY! LAST! SOUL! BURNING! IN YOUR ETERNAL PRISON!"

"Alex, STOP!"

He would've resisted K, but the fact alone that it was instead Dex who was stopping him by grabbing his arm shocked him back to reality.

"I'm sorry, Dex." he apologized, "I just felt-"

"You keep that up, there won't be anything left for me!" Dex said, "Now stand aside while I bound and gag him with his own severed limbs."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw K bow his head, shrugging. Smiling, he stood up and walked off. He did not want to look at the monster anymore. Not even to see what Dex was about to do to it.

And he didn't doubt that, as gruesome as it sounded, it was going to have been very entertaining.

Alex 43 · **Posted:** February 14th, 2011, 12:34 pm

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CHAPTER 8 - AVATAR
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Majiya. This was a term he made up himself, because there was no record of any term used to describe the art he practiced. Since he was but an infant, he was intrigued by the freedoms of telekinesis, and using whatever resource he could, he sought out any and all possibly feasible records detailing the practice. Much of it involved words that he had to look up to understand, but he never gave up. Only when he was 8 did his long, hard research finally pay off with results, and after seizing the technique, he scarified health and education to further develop his technique.

That was his childhood. Non-stop practice of an ability nobody else could've conceived as possible, kept secret from even his parents. Heck, if he wasn't lucky enough to have cracked the secret, his life would've been entirely for naught. Instead, far the opposite. He had created an incredible name for himself, made several friends, and even gained the reputation as being the first mortal to ever set foot within the realm. … well, perhaps there were others, but he was going to assume until proven otherwise. Just to have something interesting to tell his friends back home once he returned.

Yeah. He punched a God in the face. Beats a bear any day.

He was lucky that he was able to tear the key away from Psychosis in the last moment of Third Eye's unveil. Of course, at the time he thought it was its heart, which resulted in Psychosis losing the key, but not dying. It had created a decoy from it, and he had fallen for it. But perhaps it was destiny, as Psychosis had fallen regardless before it had the chance to retrieve the key. Instead, he had retrieved the key thanks to Alex's help (of all people), and with it and K's help, he became an ally of the Guardians.

He smiled when K suggested supervision the first time, which could've revealed himself. But he told him not to risk it, and he entered it without his protection regardless. It did feel very odd at first, and he found himself having to immediately retreat due to the fact there was no breathable air in the realm. It was a simple fix, however: use majiya to compress enough oxygen within his lungs to last him hours. Provided that he not get knocked out, he should be fine. Otherwise, a portal away and a breath of fresh air, and he'd be back within a heartbeat. With that, he found himself spending more and more time within the realm, gazing at the incredible marvel around him before forcing himself to remember his assignment.

He thought he was going to die in that crowd of agents. They had sucked away most of his majiya, and if he didn't keep the air in his lungs under control, he would've either died to suffocation, or exploded with incredible force. The second option, he figured it would be the better way to go. Quick, painless, and messy. One final vengeance.

Of course, he wasn't just limited to the option of dying. He did want to see the explosion blow the agents all away. That would've been humorous.

So, he figured, why not?

Despite devoting 99% of his efforts on practicing majiya, he did build himself at least enough of an education to know the general order of physics. That when air is exposed to a vacuum, it would disperse into it as quickly as possible; especially under great pressure. Taking a deep breath, he slowly pressed the air out of his lungs, still compressed in the last bit of majiya he could summon up. It flowed through his throat and out of his mouth, still condensed and held together.

He smiled and braced himself, careful to keep his eyes open so he could witness the explosion.

*PSSSSSSH!*

Of course, air has no mass, so it wouldn't have been an all-direction launching attack as he would've liked. Nevertheless, with the combination of the air blast alongside the paranoia of the agents, there was a diverse scattering, and Dex felt an immediate difference in stamina. Wasting no time, a portal was open, and he was through. To Alex's world, somewhere in the Kharazi jungle. The air smelled nice there, and he would chew on a vanilla pod for a moment before rejoining the battle. He felt he deserved it.

Interesting thing about majiya was that everything had it. It was the bare essence of existence, after all. He could literally close his eyes, stretch out with it, and literally just feel everything around him. He didn't have to see, hear, or touch to know exactly where he was, and what obstacles stood. If something moved, it immediately had his attention.

Therefore, it came as no surprise that, as he was about to turn the Unknown into a boy scout's A+ knot, he was the first and only one to suddenly notice an object slowly and silently float up into the air. It twisted around slightly. Even now, the Unknown wanted Dex off him? Then bring it on, he thought with a smile.

It passed him; pointed directly at Alex instead. It began to spark with intense energy. Dex slugged the Unknown, and the sword didn't even falter. Instead, it created a large, silent ball of destructive energies at its tip, and the spikes on all sides began to split apart.

His smile vanished. So that's how it is. It was apparent.

They weren't done yet.

___________________________________________

"ALEX, LOOK OUT!" yelled Dex.

He turned just in time to see a multicoloured blur shoot from behind him and explode into a blast of energy. A solid, black object was launched from the explosion, where it tumbled across the throne and nearly off the ledge.

"K!" Alex shouted, but a blinding, head-splitting light blasted at him from the midst of the dissipating explosion. In the blurred field of vision he had left, he saw a beam of condensed purple light erupt from the right and launch their attacker a considerable distance away. To the side, Dex was thrusting his hands at it, and they glowed a harsh purple, but another blast shot at him, and he abandoned the technique for the sake of not getting vaporized.

Alex reverted himself back into his suit of armour and transformed both hands into longswords. He quickly glanced over and saw that the Unknown still lay there, immobilized. What, then, was attacking them now?

Another blast was deflected by K, and Alex got a visual. The Unknown's sword, reverted back into the singular blade, was floating by itself and zooming around the platform, firing shots at them. But something was happening to it. Rather than smoothly floating, it was actually jerking around erratically. It was also vibrating with an intense force and moving around almost in a blurry motion, even when momentarily stationary. Thick, dark blue smoke was pouring out of the hilt and engulfing the ground around it, and the glowing crevices were pouring a dense heat energy into the cloud.

*RIIIIIIIIP!*

Without warning, the blade suddenly jutted out what looked like a clawed, purple arm, covered in spikes sweeping out away from the blade on every inch of it. Though it lacked a solid frame, it was real enough to smash holes in the platform in its uncontrollable spasm. The arm flailed wildly, winging large orbs of explosive energy at them frantically and slamming into the ground. Alex jumped back, trying to stay out of its throwing range or at least get one of the large pillars between him and the weapon.

*RIIIIIIIIP!*

Another arm, this one made out of slick blue tentacles. They flailed around, summoning orbs and hurling them in all directions. Then they ceased their crazy flailing for a moment to grip the end of the blade and start prying outwards, almost as though it wanted to tear the Unknown's sword in half.

To release itself.

Alex started forward, but K held his sword out, gesturing him to halt.

Something came out.

A head.

The three warriors watched in horror as a large, spiky figure tore itself from out of the blade, up to the waist. It grabbed the hilt and yanked downward, tugging with all its might.

"HRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

It let out a loud, tower-shaking roar of effort, expanding its mouth to nearly twice it's head height. Its eyes opened, shining a bright, blinding white. It heaved the sword downward as hard as possible, but it was apparently half-stuck in the sword. A series of what looked like carapace shells covered the majority of its body, each of which leaked a revolting-looking liquid. Finally, it abandoned the escape attempt for a moment, summoned up a great ball of energy, and threw it at the three. K crossed both blades in front, creating a distortion in the air, and the energy was sucked inside.

Another roar and attempt, and Alex met its gaze. It was that of a forever-haunting nightmare. Its head was only similar to the Unknown's - nothing more. The bottom of its head was half-melted, seeping away into a gas. Out of the top and sides of its head jutted rough, randomly protruding spikes alongside three distinguishable, yet random-lengthed horns on top. But even that would've been tolerable if it wasn't for the eyes. Soulless, rage-filled, flames of fury, swirling around their sockets as though made of liquid, with a small orb dead centre that overlapped itself between light and dark colors.

He was staring into the face of persuasion.

"Daemreyuant." the Guardian said, staring. His eyes were wider than Alex would've thought his personality was capable of.

Dex floated over. More of security than anything.

"What?" he asked as though K had spat at him, "Who the heck is that? Where did he come from? I thought we beat the Unknown!"

"That is the former Guardian of the Unknown you are looking at." K replied, "One of the Great Ninety-Six. It was the one who proposed the idea of the Guardian's curse in the first place."

Alex dropped his sword. It splashed into a puddle of enogan, which was automatically absorbed into his feet.

"WHAT?!? I thought you told me they were dead!" Dex exclaimed.

K made sure that Daemreyuant was too busy trying to pull itself out of the Unknown's sword before talking.

"We don't exactly die the same way you do." the Guardian explained, "You mortals have an interpretation of it that is influenced by the Cosmos and the Unknown's collaboration. We have our own way of dying regarding our own, individual means. Daemreyuant must have chose to put himself in some kind of stasis and even transferred his physical self into the Unknown's sword, giving his power as well as his influence rather than simply lending to the next Guardian of the Unknown."

Alex stared. This was one of the founding deities of the Universe. It let out a loud bellowing sound that made the ground under his feet blast away. If the tower floor didn't "heal" itself, Alex didn't doubt they'd be at least three stories down by now.

"By the looks of things, it had been the one receiving the Unknown's payments, and not the Unknown itself." he remarked, "That would explain why we had a comparatively easier time with him despite his warning about being many times more powerful."

"You mean- the Unknown was being controlled?" Alex exclaimed.

"Controlled: perhaps not, but influenced: yes." K replied.

"Yo, K." Dex half-interrupted, still annoyed that K never mentioned this to him, "No offence or anything, but are all of your ancestors that ugly?"

K didn't even shoot Dex a look.

"It just forced itself a physical body from nothing but the Unknown's sword." he replied, "I'd very much like to see you do better."

"What do we do?" Alex asked.

"It's a kill or be killed situation." K replied, bowing his head, "If we are to save ourselves, as well as the Universe, we must destroy it. Or die trying."

"Are you crazy?" Dex shouted, "He's got the power of over a thousand Gods! How the-?"

"Heads up!"

Alex pointed out a great wave of energy. The monstrous deity decided it was satisfied enough with being half out of the sword, its half-squeezed torso still mostly stuck inside, and begun its attack. The Guardian suddenly flashed a bright white color and threw both blades in the air. With his now-freed hands, he clapped them both together and immediately thrust them forward, and a great heavy mass of air condensed around them in a large hexagonal shape. The wave blasted itself against the barrier, shrouding them in a painful, prickling energy, but that was it.

"Collaboration." the Guardian replied, "And possibly sacrifice. He's still half-trapped in the Unknown's sword, so we still have a chance. Dex! Third Eye!"

Alex flinched. That was the blade that both of them summoned that, for a moment of great destruction, the life of the user was sacrificed. At first, he didn't want Dex to have to do that again. But, since he was here now after they used it once, and breathing well enough to be healthy and alive, the Guardian could obviously do something that prevented this rather inconvenient side-effect.

"Let's do it." Alex said, changing his shape back to the smaller, more maneuverable suit of armor.

The Guardian fired a blast of energy at the Deity and leapt to the side, trying to avert its attention, while Alex and Dex pooled their respective majiyas together. They had done this once before, so the second time was easy enough to replicate. Especially since he had a little practice and a greater control now. A rippling distortion of energy enveloped Dex's outstretched hand, and it suddenly exploded into a large, twin-prong shaped blade of solidified majiya. It was a solid mix between black and white, but nobody could call it any shade of grey.

Daemreyuant spread its arms upwards and tore open a rift out of the open air above it. A dark swirling mass exploded into existence above the platform and covered the entire battleground in a dark blue light in a moment, and blasts of dark lightning rippled throughout the ground. K suddenly expressed a look of shock and sent a glowing palm into the floor, making the glowing crevices flash white and grow a strong yellow.

"He's trying to suck out the interior of the tower!" K mentally projected, "Everything you know as reality will cease to exist if he succeeds!"

Then now was the time to strike. Alex and Dex shot forward to attack, but the rift was much more powerful in the centre, and Alex found himself gripping the ground to prevent himself from getting pulled in. Dex, unaffected by the rift, drove Third Eye forward at Daem's chest, but the Great One slashed with a clawed fist and smashed Dex aside. Dex threw a portal open as he flew and reverted his dictional force right back at Daem, who immediately reacted and teleported itself aside.

Daem's tentacle arm exploded into a long, but strangely crude-looking blade and swung it with incredible force at Dex. Dex opened a large portal right above him at the last second and the blade was cleaved into thirds as the middle section passed through the portal and back at him like a cannon. But upon striking Daem, it simply passed through him and vanished inside. Dex frowned with disappointment, but shot through the same portal himself to avoid a blast of explosive energy.

Hanging onto the cracks of the ground, Alex charged and fired his own refined stream of lightning, striking Daemreyuant in what appeared well enough to be its face, but it hardly took notice of Alex. He tried an over-powered burst, but still the deity didn't even turn. He tried pushing with majiya, but that too didn't effect. Even an explosive potion right in the back wasn't enough to make it flinch. He was throwing everything he had in his ***** at the Great One, but no matter what he tried, it wasn't even getting its attention.

The ground flashed again into a cool green color, and K jumped into the fray from behind. Daem created another sword and clashed it against the Guardian's, and the both of them exchanged explosive strikes and feints; creating huge blasts of destructive power with each touch of the blade. Daem created a second blade, and clash it against Dex, driving both of them off simultaneously. The two of them surrounded the deity from both sides, leapt back, and struck simultaneously, but Daem suddenly blinked out of existence, and the two of them accidentally clashed blades against each other.

Daem reappeared off to the side of the tower and fired a great beam of energy at the stunned combatants. Alex knew he couldn't do anything to Daem, but that didn't mean he was totally helpless. With as much force as he could, he forced Dex and K to the side with his majiya ability and the beam passed in front, but seeing the both of them shoot upwards told Alex he succeeded in saving the two.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

Daem finally took some interest in Alex and fired a wave of napalm-like energy, erupting the ground around him and threatening to engulf him. He leapt up and back, stretched his arm forward to grab one of the pillars, and yanked himself away from the attack. All these destructive attacks thrown at them at a whim, disregarding tactics altogether, this creature truly was incredibly powerful. Of course, it had absorbed countless payments from the Unknown's body all this time, so there was no pondering where all this energy came from.

Daem's attack at Alex had distracted it enough to let Dex and K strike again with a slightly delayed resistance. Dex clashed his blade, but K managed to get close enough to slice his black sword down the side of what would be its jaw before using his white one to block the second blade. Both of its swords exploded, and the warriors were both launched backwards. The Great One followed up by shooting two equally deadly beams from both hands at the two of them, but they were both able to counter. Dex vanished and reappeared beside Alex, and K threw up his hexagonal barrier and let the beam splatter off in multiple directions.

"Hey, when are you gonna, you know, DO something to help?" Dex asked, gasping for breath.

"I'm trying!" Alex half-shouted, "In fact, I just saved your hides! But nothing I do even gets his attention! I tried everything!"

"Then try something else!" Dex shouted back, and before Alex could retort, he vanished again and rejoined the battle.

Alex watched the two of them struggle. They were definitely outmatched with this one. Despite being incredibly big and strong, Daem also had the speed and agility to match, plus the flawless capability to switch between short and long-range. And the large, plate-like protrusions on its head, arms, and chest prevented even K to land a precise hit anywhere besides the lower face.

There had to be something he could do. Pry off the armor, perhaps? No, that isn't even possible. It wasn't armor, but its actual, solidified form. Attack the sword? That would just make it worse, as breaking it would probably free the rest of its body. If anything, the sword was serving as a definite handicap if it was trying so hard to tear it away regardless.

If only there was a way to get inside and deal massive damage that way ...

His mind snapped back to reality. Daemreyuant fired another blast at Alex, and he shot sideways to avoid getting instantly vaporized like the pillar. But once the danger had passed, he found himself once again thinking hard.

There had to be something that could help him.

Anything!

Alex felt his belt. The chisel sat there, strung up and ready for use. Since he could create a sword more versatile, it wasn't going to help this battle at all. He felt around, naming off the potions one by one, waiting for his mind to click on a useful one like "energy potion" or something similar. Smoke. Explosive. Explosive… darn it, he used all his energy potions fighting the Unknown … smoke. Smoke. Three more. Explosive. Two more. Smoke. One more.

… one more.

…

His hand brushed over the neck of the vial. Time and space suddenly and immediately stopped around him, as though transfixed within a flux bubble. Everything around him suddenly began glowing in incredibly fine detail, and all over the place, he could make out the tiniest of lines. The feeblest of cracks. K's swords both boasted such elegant, beautiful waves of swirling lines along the smooth blades, and the light that trailed them almost flickered like a cosmic flame. He saw every line of fur on Dex as he forced his hands forward, and the wavy mists of majiya flowing around him glowed like a bright purple haze.

His last potion. The one he almost used on Lord Sartranomin. The one that held the suspicious ingredient lethal enough to permanently silence an adult black dragon by itself. The one that could have costed them all their lives had he not the simplest methods of common sense. Sartranomin told him directly that had he drunk the potion, it would've lead instantly to his death. A potion so potent, it could even slay a God, whom required not the consumption of medicine and nutrients to sustain itself naturally.

Sitting in his belt, with its stopper being lightly stroked by his thumb, sat perhaps their one and perhaps only chance at saving the realm, and everything that existed within. A small vial filled with a substance more deadly and destructive than the decay of infinite time, created by accident from the intent to cure and save. And to think, such a combination of ingredients were so readily available on his planet, that with enough curiosity and time to develop it, it could have given the mortal race the means to rebel against their Gods.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM!*

The natural flow of time returned. Another great beam of energy ruptured through the air and blasted away at K's shield, which still held strong, but he was being driven back. Alex didn't even flinch. He aimed carefully and fired a quick blast of lightning not at Daemreyuant, but at Dex, missing the front of his face by inches.

As intended.

Following his short-tempered personality, Dex immediately reacted. He teleported himself over and made contact with Alex, by means of gripping by the neck.

"That had BETTER have been a misfire." he hissed in Alex's mind.

"I need your attention for a bit. I have a potion that might be able to destroy him." Alex quickly retaliated.

Dex turned towards him and tilted his head.

"A potion? Seriously?"

"It's the potion I was originally going to give Sartranomin to- look, there's no time now. My point is, if we want to stand a chance against this creature, this is the only way I can contribute. I've got to get it down that thing's neck! But I only have one potion, and therefore one chance, so I need the cooperation from the two of you."

Daem fired a pulse of energy along with the beam and launched K backwards, but Dex used majiya to flip Daem around and spin him quickly to disorient it and save K from getting engulfed.

"And you waited until now to mention this?"

"It was intended as a healing potion! I did not think to use it as a weapon until now!"

Daem and K both smashed the ground with open palms. Daem was trying to open the tower, and K was trying to keep it sealed. Another huge burst of effort by Dex driving Third Eye into its back, and Daem was thrown off, letting K redo his seal protection routine. However, in response, Daem attacked Dex, who launched himself through several portals at incredible speeds all throughout the battlefield to avoid it. It still payed Alex no regards. They were having this conversation privately from the deity, and it still did not know he had this potion. Either that, or it figured that a mere potion wasn't going to be as effective as they thought.

"K, didja hear that?" Alex heard Dex's voice.

"I did. Smart thinking, Alex." K complimented, "If we're giving it a shot, we'd better make it count."

Alex turned to Dex. He already had a plan.

"Dex, you think you can portal the vial's contents into that thing?" Alex asked.

Dex gave him a horrified look.

"You kidding me?" he blurted out, "That thing's majiya content is so unstable that I can't get a proper anchor inside it. The only other way is if I knew what its insides looked like, and I am NOT getting that close-"

"Watch it!"

Daem suddenly roared and nearly a hundred long, thin tentacles burst out of his back and right arm and raced around the battlefield, impaling pillars and debris with powerful spikes at the tips. Alex broke cover and ran, but there were too many covering too big an area. Suddenly, a set of 7 surrounded him in every direction and darted forward. Trying to escape, he lost his footing and plummeted into … a majiya portal.

Realizing his priority was now Alex, Dex turned his focus on his ally's well-being. Alex found himself on top of one of the pillars suddenly, crouching on all fours. Several tentacles crawled up the pillar and threatened to impale him, but Alex was ready this time. He jumped up and extended his non-sword hand into a series of long spines, stabbing down and striking the tendrils before the spikes, as he feared they might have poison or an impenetrable material.

A large ball of tendrils were trying to break into itself near the centre of the platform, and Alex assumed that was Dex holding his ground. As for K, he was darting all over the battlefield, slicing away at the tentacles and dicing them into small, harmless pieces while keeping mobile to prevent getting trapped.

"Dex, strike its left. I got the sword hand." K's voice resonated, "Alex, stay low and time it. I believe you'll choose the right moment."

The ball of tentacles imploded, but Dex was already above them. He dove down with Third Eye, drilling into the condensed mass before leaping off and darting over to Daem, who began to cover the battlefield with a great frenzy of blue lightning. Lightning, he could handle.

Alex fired a powerful spell-summon into his hand, and detached it, turning it into a condensed ball of metal. He quickly stuck it into the end of his chisel and held it up over his head like a lightning rod. Attracted to the energy, the lightning covered the ball, avoiding him entirely. Then it suddenly exploded in his hand, blasting his armor into a temporary liquid state before he was able to send out a burst of energy and regain control in midair as he fell off the pillar.

That's right. He was fighting the Deity of the Unknown. Nothing was handleable anymore.

Once he landed, still sparking from the attack, he forced his legs to push himself in a dash, diving from another lightning attack and countering a third with his own strike. Daem's attack, however, was so powerful that Alex was only able to divert its course to barely miss him. The Great One raised its hand and charged an incredibly powerful ball of energy in nearly a split-second, and threw it right at him. He braced for the attack, but out of nowhere, K suddenly appeared in a spiralling black and white frenzy, blasting away the attack at incredible speeds and landing in front of him, standing ready for action.

Daem swooped over; his mighty figure towering over the two combatants. With its gigantic sword in hand, it swung down with enough power to completely engulf them both. Alex dropped down, but K, however, crossed both his swords in the air, and both warriors clashed. Spirals and waves of light and energy exploded in random directions, and Daem's sword bounced back upwards. K leapt high into the air, twisted himself in mid-air while drawing forth several black and white ribbons from his swords, and then he aligned them in front, pointing both blades at Daem. A powerful beam of cosmic power fired at Daem's head, blasting it backwards before it would swing its sword again.

From behind came Dex. He flew into the air and propelled Third Eye into the back of Daem's head. Third Eye exploded into a vast array of shards, creating almost a prismatic display of overwhelming light. But it was short-lived, as Daem suddenly rippled with its own energy and fired a huge wave in all directions. Dex vanished in a majiya portal, Third Eye having been used up, and Alex held on tight to the ground. A wave of hot, prickly air washed over him, but that was even with K standing in front with his hexagonal barrier up. He swung his sword down, and the barrier vanished, revealing Daem, who was applying some kind of rejuvenation ability to the back of its head.

Alex stared. Third Eye, the sword that nearly defeated the monster known as Psychosis, only succeeded in distracting this thing. Giving it an itch. Would this potion really make a difference?

"Dex! Front and centre!" Alex heard K's voice, and a second later, Dex too reappeared in front of them.

Suddenly, K tossed his white sword at Alex, who nearly missed catching it.

"You take Genesis." he said.

Then, to Alex's horror, he tossed the black sword to Dex, who caught it. Alex was about to warn Dex not to touch it, but he caught it so smoothly and naturally that it was almost as though the blade was weightless. Much like the white one was. Now that he thought of it, K had mentioned that the white sword "liked him". Maybe the black sword "preferred" mortals or something.

"And you get Twilyte." he added, spinning out a pair of knives for himself, "Change of strategy."

Alex nodded. K and Dex alone were not enough. If they were going to get Alex close, he was going to have to join into the distraction.

"Will you be OK without these?" Dex asked.

The Guardian smiled, "No. I won't be."

Daemreyuant roared, and the whole tower rumbled. The majority of the remaining pillars crumbled. K's seal had almost run out, and he thrust his palm into the ground the third time.

"So, got any ideas?" Dex asked. Alex knew that, by mortal standards, Dex was pretty much untouchable. Such wasn't the case here. He was in very poor condition; burn marks, patches of bare skin, and open-cut wounds covered nearly his entire body. He didn't look in any shape to fight, but considering that Third Eye was supposed to have killed him, him standing with a sword in hand and asking what to do was a miracle in itself.

Alex's mind raced for a moment, and then he had one.

"Yeah. Go for the Unknown's sword." Alex said.

Dex blinked.

"Wait, K said that the reason we're not dead yet is because Daem is still half-trapped inside."

"Exactly." Alex nodded, throwing a couple of hand-gestures to K, who acknowledged and darted to the left.

Dex frowned, but he knew that he had to trust Alex. Seeing as he was the most vulnerable of the bunch, he had no more reason for treachery than he did.

"Follow my lead." he said. His free hand yanked a couple of vials off his belt. He crashed one onto the floor and winged the other at Daem's face. Daem swatted the vial, which exploded, creating an intense cloud of smoke, and Alex too was covered in one. The only one visible was Dex, who vanished within a portal.

Suddenly, Daemreyuant started laughing!

"Fools! My eyes pierce the never-ending darkness of the realm!" it shouted.

*BOOOOOOM!*

Egotistic failure. Alex took advantage of Daem's glee, and right as it started laughing, he winged an explosive potion as hard as he could into its face. But as expected, it did nothing, and Daemreyuant laughed even harder.

"Is THAT all you have left?" it shouted, and with its entire body, it slammed down into the ground to crush Alex, who was running underneath it.

But before impact, it suddenly flipped forward and slammed face-first into the ground. Having just yanked it back from under it, Dex leapt over the Unknown's sword and drove K's black blade into Daem's spine. Alex followed it up by driving Genesis into Daem's neck, and K, already in position, created a large, cylindrical veil of yellow light, enclosing the momentarily-downed deity.

"DO IT NOW!" Dex shouted.

Alex didn't need Dex to tell him. He dashed forward, but even with Dex holding it down and K ensnaring it, he didn't even have the time. The Great One engulfed itself in a great flash of light, and a wave of force blew all three of them back. Tearing itself upward, another napalm-like series of explosions covered Daem for a moment before they were directed outward at Alex, who immediately spun on the spot and dashed away to avoid. Dex had to teleport several times, and K rocketed around the platform, bringing up some distance again.

"#%&$!" yelled Dex in his mind, "How do we stop this thing?!?"

Alex's eyes squinted to get a better focus on the Great One. Trapping it, as he just saw, was an impossibility with K's and Dex's efforts combined. If that wasn't going to work, then perhaps he had no choice now. He was ready and willing to die even against the Unknown. This was no different.

"We can't." he said, shaking his head. Immobilization was impossible. This creature was just too powerful to be restrained by their efforts.

So another solution was necessary.

"But perhaps we don't need to." he added.

K forced his palm into the ground again, renewing the seal once again. Finally annoyed at this, Daem shot high into the air and immediately fired a powerful beam at the platform. It was made of a solid white mass, and every inch of it sizzled the space around it, creating a very wavy effect around it. K dashed underneath, throwing up an incredible large hexagonal shield to protect them all. There was contact, and the energy was blown away to the sides, but Daem didn't stop. Struggling to keep the barrier up, K was slowly sinking down, trying to force both hands upwards.

"What do you mean?" Dex asked.

"You know I'm made of enogan, right?" he asked.

Dex floated over, confused. K sank to one knee.

"What the heck are you talking about?" the master of majiya asked, "Yes, I know you're made of enogan. It's highly reactive to-"

"If Daem were to consume me, he'd eat the potion as well." Alex flat-out said, and Dex's eyes grew wide.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" he nearly shouted aloud, "You're going to sacrifice yourself?!?"

"I have to, Dex!" Alex replied, "There's no other way."

Alex grabbed his hand and held it close. Thankfully, Dex didn't punish this grab either.

"You've been a good friend." he said, "Take care of things for me, will you?"

Dex's eyes were frozen in a look of shock. He was really going to do it. K was now on both knees, and Daem wasn't stopping for a moment. No time for final farewells.

"It's up to you, then." he nodded, "Godspeed, Alex."

"Likewise." Alex smiled.

K forced the shield upwards and collapsed, and Daem wasted no time in slamming its spiked arm into him, drilling him into the ground as hard as it could. A massive explosion rocked the ground, blasting thousands of cracks throughout the floor. This time, though, they did not heal, and K did not emerge.

Alex forced himself to not even think of K. It would just distract him. The white sword in his hand flashed a brilliant light and began sparking as he started his dash, and Daem looked up in disbelief. Alex was attacking it head-on?

Seriously?

Time slowed to a crawl. Daem slowly turned to intercept. One foot planted on the ground after the other, pushing him forward.

This was it. His final moment. No more tactics. No more strategy. Just fight. Plain and simple. K was down. They lost their otherworldly handicap. Either he wins here and now, or he dies trying and dooms the universe to destruction.

Daem swung its tentacle-filled sword hand downward at him, expanding it to the size of a tree. Alex saw it coming, and spun himself into a twirl, quickly yanking himself to the side. It slammed the ground, but Alex was already in the air before the resulting massive shockwave rippled the ground below him. Daem raised its spiky arm in defence and the spikes extended out towards him, threatening to pin-cushion him. Instinctively, Alex forced his free hand into a crossbow, firing a weighted enogan bolt with a thin string to Daem's tentacle arm, and yanked himself away from the spikes as hard as he could. The tentacles shot toward him, and Alex twirled himself in mid-air holding Genesis in front in a similar missile-like maneuver he saw K do several times.

*SLICE SLICE SLICE!*

Suddenly, he liked this sword too. Almost as though it knew the danger, the sword's blade almost felt like it homed into the incoming tentacles, pulling him slightly through the air enough to either avoid them or slice them away. Upon landing on the arm, Alex immediately drove Genesis down onto it.

Daem wasn't laughing with this attack. This one genuinely hurt. Energy gathered around its body, and Alex slammed an explosive potion into its face again. Sure, it didn't do any damage, but he noticed his last attempt made Daem stagger back a bit. It worked, and he found himself with a free two extra seconds. Yanking Genesis out of the light-filled hole in its arm, he dashed up the arm, cleaving the white sword down its arm in the process. He threw another potion and leapt up, avoiding Daemreyuant's spiked club-like arm

Regardless of the stall, Daem unleashed full havoc, and Alex flipped himself over in mid-air and lengthened his body into a straight pole pointed straight at it, letting the wave pass through him without the outward force having any effect. Daem suddenly yanked itself back, but Alex was faster. Stretching his arm out, he grabbed one of Daem's spikes on its right arm and yanked his body over as he flew, using the added momentum to drive Genesis right into its torso and latch on again. Daem let out a loud roar of pain, and its body vibrated so hard that Alex could barely hang on. He was thrown upwards, but with one hand still on the hilt of the sword, he yanked himself over and planted both feet on the duller side of the blade.

Then he threw his hand downward, extending it into a long, shafted weapon. Its head bore two sets of spikes, pointed away from the diamond-shaped sides before extending into barbed points. The main tip also jutted outward from the top of the head, which glowed a bright cyanic color. Had the circumstance required it, he would've created another sword, but now was the time where he needed a spear more than anything.

His new weapon in hand, he crouched slightly, maintaining his balance, and thrust the long weapon up into Daem's chin so far that the tip emerged out the top of its head. A frenzy of tentacles burst out of Daem's right arm and zoomed at Alex, but once again his speed was unmatched. Leaving Genesis, he poured his material in and through the spear, forcing himself through Daem's head and out the top, where he quickly reformed himself with a new sword in each hand. The array of tentacles wrapped around and aimed up at him, and he drove both swords down into Daem's head, yanking backwards. Daem's head lurched back with yet another roar, and its mouth was pulled wide open.

Now was his chance! Yanking his swords out, he ran up the back of its head, crossed both swords in front, and wedged them into the mouth area. Flipping himself over, narrowly avoiding Daem's tentacle attack, he flipped himself upside down and forced himself to plunge down into Daem's mouth. If it eats Alex, it eats the potion as well!

*FLASH!*

NO! Daem teleported! He was now diving head-first onto the hard stone ground. Fortunately, the flash aroused his sense of mind hard enough to make him instinctively flip over in mid-air and land.

Except he didn't He suddenly felt a huge burst of sharp points all over his body, and before he knew it, he was within the grip of the spiked, claw-like left hand of Daemreyuant, who was lifting him up and helplessly sucking away his energy. He heard the clanging of metal as the white Genesis fell harmlessly to the ground, far out of arm's reach.

"ALEX!"

Alex was surprised. Dex had some fight left in him after all. He had suddenly ported himself atop Daem's head and plunged the black sword into its spine. Though it didn't release its grip, there was a big reaction. Daem flailed both arms backwards, almost stumbling backwards.

"When I'm through with you, you're gonna wish you were mortal!" Dex hissed.

Daem responded with a high-pitched roar. It suddenly jutted out an explosion of spikes out of its back, but Dex had already teleported. However, one of Daem's tentacles flew into the portal after him, keeping it open, and Alex saw Dex get yanked back out by the leg and hurled to the ground.

*CRACK!*

That wasn't a comfortable sound! An explosion of cracks appeared where Dex hit the ground. The patterns of the floor was losing their yellow glow again, but K still wasn't emerging from the hole his smoking body lay in. Daem slammed its club-like weapon into the ground, and the entire platform cracked open.

The seal was broken. The platform flashed a hot yellow, which sizzled into an array of flares before vanishing altogether. The platform split apart into hundreds of small triangles, curving into and overlapping each other exploding a large and larger area within the middle. Alex, through his blurring vision, could see a large, bright purple mass of light and energy inside.

So that was it, then. K was out. Dex was out, the tower was opened, and he was now at the mercy of the greatest living threat the universe had ever seen. Alex was yanked up and brought close to Daem's eyes, which were boiling from rage and covered in a hot steam.

"What's wrong?" Daem taunted, "You had no hope to begin with! Why are you surprised?"

A tentacle jutted from its shoulder and aimed its pointed, barbed end at Alex. It must've known his plan, as rather then immediately stab it into his chest to find his symbol, Daem instead sliced off his potion belt. His heart sank as, in slow motion, every one of his remaining potions were launched away into a pillar, and engulfed in a small explosion of smoke and flame. There went his last strategy.

And THEN came the stabbing.

*THOCKATHOCKATHOCKATHOCKA*

It hurt. A lot. The feeling he had in his arm when the Unknown sliced it off, except all throughout his body. Incredibly, he didn't scream this time. Probably because it would've been just too painful to do so.

But despite the rapid-fire punishment, the tendrils did not impale his symbol. Of all places throughout his body, it was the only area untouched. It appeared that Daemreyuant intentionally wanted to get a final word in before he was shattered.

"You thought you could trick me!" Daem laughed, "Oh, but I'll grant your wish. Since you were so eager to get swallowed by the Unknown, I shall savour you until time itself ceases!"

Alex felt his body launched downwards, and the gaping hole of Daem's mouth engulfed his line of vision in a heartbeat. Inside, a vast void of darkness, shrouded in a thick blue haze that emitted from a small, eerie-looking portal to the netherworld covered in spikes, stretching out towards him. Great blasts of dark blue lightning tore around his armor, and white-hot pain jetted throughout his entire body as he struggled to move his body, let alone not to pass out.

Time slowed to a crawl once again.

His mind raced. Frantically.

...

… nope. Just couldn't think of one. About to take down the Great Deity of the Unknown, and he didn't have some cheesy punchline at that moment. Goes to show how serious the situation was.

So instead, he simply smiled as he smoothly and quickly stuck his hand into his gut and clasped it around the glass vial that appeared inside him. The stopper was gone, as it should be, and he felt the deadly liquid spill out all around the inside of his hollowed armor. He was far enough inside now. Tensing up as hard as he could, his body condensed into a small, cannonball-sized orb, and the liquid was sprayed down into the glowing portal, where it was engulfed and dissipated entirely.

The effect was immediate. His hand instinctively morphing into a sword, he jammed the blade into the stomach wall to stop his sudden descent. A loud blast of energy, and he was suddenly launched through, spiralling uncontrollably through the air and into a pillar. The realm around him blacked out for a moment.

A loud buzzing filled his ears. Vision blurred, he opened his eyes and looked up to see the twisting, screeching form of Daemreyuant as it clutched its chest. Blasts of energy burst out every inch of its body, sometimes with enough force to launch it several feet in a random direction. He couldn't move, but neither could his opponent now. It roared, but he couldn't even hear that. He could only see it mouth the words "YOU!!! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!?" as it attempted to drive a huge claw onto him, but its armpit exploded with a burst of force, and it was sent spinning backwards. Alex felt himself slide backwards into the fallen pillar from the force.

He began to white out. No wait, shadows. Daemreyuant was brightening into a blinding white at a rapid speed. Large worms of spiralling energy flowed out of his veins and spun around him in a great, uncontrollable sphere. Where was Dex and K during all this?

Beams of light burst out at the powerful mass of energy condensed. It was about to explode in one final burst. The force … he felt it from here. He was going to get engulfed and vaporized if he couldn't get away. He was- … was …

No- … must stay awake- … must get up- … must …

"MMMPH!"

Who was that? Oh, that was him. He just endured a faceful of fur.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

His eyes shot open. Standing over him, facing the danger head-on, was Dex. His tail has slapped him briefly as he maneuvered to get in front, but it flicked away. He was holding both hands up in a powerful stance, and a dark wave of purple light shielded them both from the napalm. The wave of energy pelted the barrier for an eternity, but Dex continued to wordlessly hold up the barrier.

His legs shock, and he was brought down to his knees. Despite the barrier, he was still being pushed back. His mouth stretched open, but Alex didn't hear any yelling. A powerful outline enveloped him, and his robe was engulfed in a dark purple flame, but he still held on. Forget Alex, the poor creature was barely able to save itself if this kept up.

But luck was on their side. Finally, the burning antimatter dissipated into nothingness, and Alex saw Dex fall forward. He had just strained himself incredibly during Saradomin's fight, and there was no doubt it was nothing compared to what they just endured. His robes were covered in large holes, reduced to tatters.

Alex fought with his melting body for a second before enough energy passed through to revert himself back to normal. With his one movable arm, he pulled himself forward and beside Dex, making sure he was at least still conscious.

He was. His eyes were half-open and he was breathing steadily.

"Dang. Your one little potion was that powerful, huh?" he muttered to Alex, smiling.

"What can I say? I'm a perfectionist." Alex nodded.

"You … gotta teach me … to make one of those." he said, "I could use something like that …. when we get back …"

Alex chuckled.

"I really don't think I should." he politely declined.

*VOOOOOM!*

There was a bright flash of yellow light. Alex looked up to see a brightly illuminated Daemreyuant, torn and stripped of nearly all his power, floating motionlessly in the air above them. K stood in front, brandishing both swords overhead; a great circle of yellow symbols illuminated the floor around him and a ribbon of yellow light was spinning around Daem. A wave of dark, cold air washed over Alex, and suddenly the original God of the Unknown was engulfed and crushed into a small, solid black mass, which K then swiped at with his black sword. The blade sliced through and absorbed the mass, leaving little less than a trail of darkness behind, and it was then driven into the ground. The light poured into the black blade, covering it with an intense yellow light, and with a quick yank, there was a loud *POP* and hiss, and the light instantly went out.

And that was it. All that was left was the Unknown's sword, which no longer showed any sign of energy. It hovered, suspended in the air for a brief moment before falling down and harmlessly clanging onto the platform.

A wave of uncomfortably warm force swept over them, and Alex was barely able to see the pillars and rubble around them get swept back and away into the abyss around them.

Slowly, gradually, everything around him began to come back into focus. The same sort of light and auras around them of when they stood over the Unknown before the real villain was exposed.

But now it was gone.

All gone.

Through the blurred light, Alex could barely see the black figure of K walk over. He was alive! He knelt down onto one knee to better make eye-contact with Alex. Or rather, let Alex make eye-contact with him.

"It's done?" Alex asked, "We did it?"

K nodded, smiling. If his personality wasn't so formal, he would've jumped and hugged Alex on the spot, or at least let out a loud shout of triumph.

Relieved that he now had the freedom to do so, Alex did something he felt he probably should have done so long ago.

He passed right out.

Alex 43 · **Posted:** February 14th, 2011, 12:35 pm

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CHAPTER 9 - REVELATION
________________________________________________

He awoke. The scenery was all too familiar. They were still on the top platform of the Tower of Solen. Because of the final explosion, there were no pillars left, and the ground had reverted to its lifeless stone form. Around them, the clouds had vanished, leaving behind nothing but a black abyss. Not even a star twinkled in the endless darkness. Looking up, he saw a small glowing orb of light illuminating the platform, floating over the centre.

Looking over, he saw K apparently sawing into his wounds with his white sword. He would slice it for a moment, cringe in pain as a puff of blue smoke burst out, and hold for a moment before repeating.

Now that he was only manageably sort and aching, he slowly pulled himself to his feet. Dex was not moving, lying on his stomach unmoved in a mess of burnt robes. Alex imagined that his brain must feel like overcooked porridge now, and decided not to disturb the mortal hero. Instead, he turned his attention to K, who after failing to extract any more smoke, began wrapping his hip with a glowing yellow adhesive.

"Hey." Alex said, nodding.

"Yo." the Guardian nodded back.

"How're you doing?" he asked.

"I'll be fine in due time." K replied, "It takes hundreds of mortal years for our wounds to heal properly. Mortals have shorter lifespans, so it goes without saying that they should be allowed to heal much faster."

Alex didn't know if he'd ever have the patience to wait a hundred years for a wound to heal.

"Never mind me, though, how are you doing?" K asked, "You were nearly swallowed by the beast. If you didn't have my blessing, you would've been drained of all life, soul, and essence in a blink."

"I'll recover." he replied, "And if I lose my memory, I've got some nice, reliable sources to get it back with."

K approached him with his sword, and something told Alex to flinch. Without warning, he slammed the back, duller end of the blade into Alex's chest, and a bright light poured out into him. There was suddenly a loud *POOOM*, and Alex found almost every square inch of him burst out a small cloud of blue gas. He was suddenly relieved of a pain that his body had adapted to. A wonderful feeling.

"Is Dex gonna be OK too?" Alex asked, looking over to the fallen fox-like creature.

K didn't answer. He broke eye contact to look at Dex. Alex did so too. Now that he looked more carefully, Dex was unusually still. Almost too still. When they're not conscious, don't mortals breathe at least?

Alex's body was uncontrollably shaking. His mind din't want to even think of the possibility, but the more he stared, and the longer K did not answer the question, it was only a moment before-

"NOOO!"

He dashed over. He dropped and slid right next to Dex, lifted him up by the shoulders, and shook.

He shook hard. He yelled Dex's name.

He shook harder. He screamed Dex's name.

He wanted a response. A groan. A whimper. A death threat powerful enough to make him doubt life forever. Anything! Headache or not, he would much rather Dex angry at him than …

"Alex, don't do that."

Alex stopped, and his body started uncontrollably shaking again. Dex's head dropped forward. K had approached and was kneeling down beside Alex.

"Unlike you or me, he was incredibly vulnerable out here." K said, "His bravado exceeds more than you think it to."

Alex bowed his head and closed his eyes. If Dex had to die, this probably would've been the way he wanted to go - fighting and defeating one of the founding deities of the universe in a place where mortals have never touched up until now.

With one hand, he propped Dex's head up to face him.

"I swear. I swear on my life I will train your art every day." Alex promised, "I will NOT let your research and practice go to waste."

He waited for a response. Dex didn't respond. Of course. It was silly for him to wait for one. Slowly and carefully, he lay the body down and walked off.

Like him, his eyes were also travelling along the platform. He wanted death out of his mind now. Sure, he was willing and ready to die, and even faced near death several times, but there was no way he could possibly adjust to a friend's death.

*VZAAAP!*

A bright flash of light behind him reflected against the ground and nearly blinded him. He turned, but could not see anything. He was seeing nothing but stars.

"Geez, K, you're never gonna let me die, are ya?"

That voice! It couldn't be! How?

The light faded, and he saw K kneeling over Dex. He had not moved. Save for his eyes, which were half open. And save for his mouth, which was curved up in a smile.

"I promise this'll be the last time. After all you've been through and have done for us, you deserve a natural death." K said.

"DEX!"

Alex was hysterically overjoyed. He dashed over to his awakening friend, who immediately thrust a palm at him and stopped his movement altogether.

"If you had any idea what my head feels like now, you'd spare the emotion or I'll grind you to dust with your own gravestone." Dex threatened.

Alex smiled, "Never had one of your death threats sounded so desired."

"Hey, i shouldn't be the one complimented here." Dex replied, "That was real crafty of you, handing me the potion and tricking whatshisname into swallowing you so I'd have a majiya anchor amidst the mass. Almost as though you thought he knew your plan."

"After informing you I had the potion, I noticed it had suddenly focused its efforts on me a lot more." Alex explained, "Since I was doing all I could without any effect, wasn't it odd that it attacked me despite my inability to aid the ones it should be more focused on? Besides, I didn't want to take any chances with a one-shot weapon. I needed to make sure it didn't know I intended to use it until I was actually inside."

He then turned to K.

"Speaking of one-shots," he casually said, "What's with you and being able to bring mortals back to life?"

K crossed his arms, squinting his eyes slightly for emotional interpretation.

"Let me tell you a little about the Cosmic Realm." he said, "When mortals die, their spirits are recalled into the realm, where they undergo a regeneration. During this, they enter their own little realities, governed and created by themselves based on the experiences they have lived by. If they are innocent, responsible, and hard working, they will naturally undergo a long, prosperous vacation. If they were thieves, enemies to the common good, then there will be shadow, and darkness; always running, and always alone.

Some creatures die without accepting death, though, and are locked in a permanent state of confusion, betrayal, and hopelessness. These particular souls will NEVER regenerate. Like you do, Alex, I too suffer from a bit of morality, and can hardly bear to even think of leaving them."

Alex agreed. By the sounds of things, a permanent state of confusion and hopelessness would be worse than any hell he could think of.

"So, I intervene by making one of two things happen." K continued, "I usually return them back to reality, either as a spirit, or if their body is still capable of supporting life, their vessels. Mortals consider these miracle saves, where when somebody should not have survived something, they instead wake up after a coma or something similar."

"Wait. The light at the end of a tunnel." Dex said, coming to a realization, "You're saying-"

"Yes, their cosmic vessels are the stars. That's the transfer process in action."

Any mortal wouldn't believe K if he simply preached this as an ideal, but considering what they have just been through together, Alex was ready and willing to trust K even to the point of the ultimate betrayal - murder.

"Because so many creatures die for their God, and yet are cast into my realm rather than get received by them, which they've expected all this time, it creates a lot of revenant souls."

Alex's eyes grew wide.

"YOU create revenant souls?"

"The intent is that because they wanted to belong to their God, this gives them the chance to do so. Being primed for Godly consumption, they are only too happy to finally be received by their deity of choice and use this method as their true passing. Their soul energy is given to the Gods, and what's left of them may now properly enter the Cosmic Realm without any further confusion. A win-win for both sides, and it spares me the morality issue."

Even Dex was shocked.

"But you told me the Unknown was getting fuelled by them! You've been feeding the airbag all along!"

"My other option is that, for those who would never find peace even if I did return them, I send them directly to the Realm of the Unknown, where I let the Unknown have his way anyways." he explained, "Either I intervene, or I let them suffer for eternity. What would you do in my case?"

Dex closed his eyes. He couldn't answer any better.

"Dex, the Unknown was forcing the Gods to give up their revenants." Alex said, "K was only trying to help them. But it's OK now. The Unknown and his master have been beaten. It won't steal them away any-"

Alex stopped. Both Dex and K turned to him. His attention had drifted over to the centre of the platform, where he stared.

"… wait."

Neither Dex nor K asked "What is it?". Alex wasn't looking at anything, but instead, had drifted off in his own little world.

"What did we just do?"

"We did what we set out to do." K replied, "We won. We beat the Unknown. Both of them."

Alex simply stared at where Daemreyuant lay last. That was far from the answer he wanted. The mental image of its twisting and struggling as every cell of its body exploded was still numbing his mind.

"We … won?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, we did. Victory is good, right?" Dex asked rhetorically.

"No, that's the thing! I just realized something!" he shouted, "We won against perhaps one of the most powerful beings of the universe!"

Both his allies simply stared as if to say "so?".

"HOW did we win?" he finally bellowed, "How were we just so coincidentally matched with our unique abilities? How did one of my allies just so happen to be the Unknown's prime opposite, giving us a fighting chance? How did I just so happen to have a God-killing pacification potion on me even before the battle began?"

Dex slowly turned his head to look at K. Now that he thought about it, was it really just mere coincidence that they were not only the perfectly matched team, but they actually had a trump card like the Death Potion to go off of. Such a thing isn't coincidently done, after all.

"We won …" K said, approaching Alex and looking him in the eyes with his own blind ones, "… because of you."

Alex shook his head, "Again with that. What did I do that was so important?"

"You remember how I said I needed you?" he asked, but didn't wait for an answer, "It was never your body nor your power we needed, nor your forgotten skills with a sword, nor your enogan armor."

Dex approached. He wanted to absorb every word of this. Why it was Alex he should be thanking for the victory.

"Then what?" he asked.

And K answered.

"It was your cunning."

Every last muscle on Dex's face wanted to burst out the word "WHAT?!?". It was a miracle in itself that he didn't.

"Your tactics. Your ability to think ahead and analyze any given situation. Despite getting trapped by the Unknown in Sartranomin's room, you still relayed a subliminal message to get me to make a surprise attack even while fighting intense pain. And during the final battle, you were the most helpless. You were unable to even get Daem's attention and spent most of the battle hiding, and yet YOU were the one to deliver the killing blow. You tricked Daem into giving you access to its insides where you could apply the potion. We won because you outwitted the Unknown. Both of them."

Dex stared at him. The look on his face alone told Alex what he was thinking: Was this guy really not to be underestimated?

"Everything that had happened … all of it, was done according to a plan that you developed right after the first time we fought the Unknown."

Alex was dumbstruck. A plan?

"Everything happens for a reason, after all." K once again said, as though it was perfectly common sense, "Haven't I been preaching that all this time?"

Alex and Dex both had the same transfixed look on their faces. K almost laughed. Almost.

"Let me explain." K said, "And since you most likely do not remember it, I'll be explaining to you both."

Alex opened up his mind and gave K his full attention. Every last question he had was going to be answered right then and there, and he did not want to miss a single word of it. He was surprised to see that Dex took almost an equal amount of curiosity towards the revelation, and rather than lazily float on his side with his eyes half-closed, he was actually sitting on his knees, listening intently.

"The first time we fought the Unknown, it was just Allezyamos and I. We laid out a trap for the Unknown by attracting him over and releasing Alex's Lord's payment in the midst of the realm. Naturally, he would come shooting over demanding an explanation, and at the same time, a crowd would form. He demanded to know who did that, since such an act was no doubt a rebellious taunt against him. Because this was some random spot in the realm, the Unknown couldn't associate us with Sartranomin. Out of the crowd, we struck, and under millions of eyes, we fought.

The Unknown fled to the top of the Tower, and we followed. We fought, and we nearly lost if Alex didn't catch the Unknown foolishly off guard and pounce on him. We had planned this attack for many years, and promised each other we would pull through even if it meant personal sacrifice. The Unknown was to be destroyed, no matter what.

And there it was. You, Allezyamos, the about-to-be victor against the universe's greatest threat, were in a position where one piercing attack would have stopped him once and for all.

But instead, something miraculous happened.

Allezyamos let him go. After all that effort, planning, and dedication, he just released our prize. The Unknown retreated to lick his wounds, and we secretly returned to Sartranomin's haven. There, we discussed what had just happened.

Alex saw it in his mind, and there too. Something in the Unknown's eyes. Some kind of pleading emotion. Almost as though the Unknown was suffering long before the attack even began, and that killing him wasn't a good idea."

Alex nodded. That was exactly what he saw before he drove the chisel into its chest.

"You are very clever." K complimented, "You didn't think lightly of this emotional blockade, so you immediately got to thinking. Why would I have spared such a heartless, destructive monster when that was perhaps my one chance to free the universe from its control? Why did I see that strange emotion behind its eyes and let my moral guidance stop me?

You then got to hypothesizing. Was the Unknown simply afraid of death? Impossible, since guardians die upon choice and simply piercing it would've only meant its immobilization. Was the Unknown a coward? That was true, but it was also honourable, as you may well have noticed, since it didn't exploit your decision and finish the both of us off. And why didn't it? We were two of the most dangerous rebels at the time, and this was his chance to do away with us for good. He had recovered his sword and everything, and we both were clearly no longer in a state to fight it. Perhaps you were fighting for the wrong cause, and that it was I that should have been your enemy. But you doubted that too, because it was you who wanted to be friends with me in the first place rather than the opposite. Perhaps the Unknown had influenced you? Impossible, since you had trained yourself with me to resist a Guardian's influence."

Alex dug through his newfound memories and found himself casually floating around the realm, taking interest in K sitting on a platform, and simply introducing himself. His goal at that time was to make a new acquaintance for a reason he simply couldn't remember.

"There had to have been only one reason. The Unknown was an avatar. A puppet. It was hiding a much more powerful force within it. Destroying him would have released this force and doomed the rest of the Universe. The Unknown had always wanted to cleanse it after all, not destroy it. It was the eyes of somebody already being tormented, pleading that you everybody a favour and spare everybody from something even worse.

You told me this hypothesis, as absurd as it sounded at the time, and I too got to thinking. For example, was it mere coincidence that the Unknown was able to seal up the Great 96 on his own? It couldn't even beat us in a fight. They are the creators of the Universe, after all, and despite spreading their powers throughout the realm of reality, they still maintained a higher capability than anything else in possible existence. The only way for the Unknown to have possibly stood a chance against them was if it had help, or the full extent of power from at least one of the 96.

I did some research on my own, and discovered the personalities behind them. It was no secret that Daemreyuant wanted power, but he was never really in a state to oppose his 95 other brethren. However, with a physical body like the Unknown's to control, he could overwhelm them by sealing them up in their own burial chambers and use the body to escape by itself. With the seal in place and his brethren unable to interfere, it was free to do as it chose.

Again, it was simply a ridiculous hypothesis, but it made plausible sense to me at the time. We had to go on that assumption, since it was obviously the worst case plausible scenario, and if we were to fight the Unknown again, we would have to be ready to fight Daemrayuant as well in case that really was the case."

Alex was impressed. So all this time, they already knew that they were going to be up against Daemreyuant, and that sparing the Unknown the first time was actually a good thing.

"Now, how to kill one of the 96?" K continued, "Impossible to kill, but possible to pacify. With that, I can use my own unlocked power to break the seal on the remaining 95 after Daemreyuant loses his power over it, and free them so they may deal with their treacherous brother appropriately. But how do we pacify him?"

Alex's eyes grew wide, "The Death Potion!"

"Exactly.

The Death Potion, or in our language, the "Bracuiluy Rouykoamta" is the elixir we use when we decide we want to die. The 96 never used it, but offered it to us should we decide we have lived long enough. After all, wouldn't eternal unending life get boring after a while, regardless if we had mortal curiosity to intrigue us? We needed the option just in case that moment happened and we could no longer stand it, to prevent ourselves from losing our minds to psychosis.

Applying that directly to his physical consciousness would sap him of power and allow me to retain him. With some in our *****, we would be able to release Daemreyuant from the Unknown's body by impaling it, and then apply it once he appeared."

"But I made it with ingredients on my own planet." Allezyamos said, "Was that mere coincidence too?"

"Of course not!" K exclaimed, "The potion was something that came from my own home. Otherwise we couldn't have suggested it, after all. Over time, I gathered the ingredients and planted them on your planet in secret, careful to distribute the majority of them in faraway places so that the chances of the humans coming across the combination was rare."

Alex was still confused, "But, two of the ingredients were Oocon blood and White Dragon scales; creatures that apparently had been alive and thriving long before the Unknown even came to power! Not to mention the majority of the other trees and lichen."

"The keyword was "secret"." K said, and then gestured them both to sit down. He was about to give them an informative seminar. They did.

"There was a long conflict between the mortals and immortals millions of years ago." he explained, "The immortals enslaved the mortals, my ancestors, the Great 96, removed the immortal's god-like powers and abandoned them, and the mortals hunted them down to extinction. Derived by our ancestors before departing, they left behind three main laws to limit a God's power once it is regained. They were to be our only remaining means of distributing it.

The first: Law of Distribution: A God may, without ceremony, establish a connection with a lesser or mortal being by transferring a small fraction of their power to them. This fraction cannot exceed half their capacity, or else they will become fully absorbed by the receiver. The receiver thereby becomes their agent, and will continue to derive power off of them unless the deity either dies, to which it is dispelled into the realm, or directly withdraws the power through physical contact. Receiving power from multiple gods will overlap, with the most recent being the most used.

The second law: Law of Continuation: Should an agent give birth or separate, the majority, if not all of the God's power, will transfer to the infant, as it maintains a more capable vessel for such ability. This law coincides with what Dex has told you about the lost art. I'm sure you recall an explanation detailing how 'majiya', as you call it, determines a lifespan by its condition.

The third law: Law of Reposition: A God's power and/or consciousness may be stored within an inanimate object permanently for later retrieval should they have the desire or need to either isolate it or protect it. Should they take on an agent and store their power, the agent may continue to receive their power from this artifact. In your case, your Saradomin Spear and Pureblade are prime examples of this. But again, should the God die, the power is dispelled. This is why Gods sometimes hide artifacts in ancient temples; to store their power in case it's needed some other time or to hide from another. An insurance, if you will.

Why are they considered "laws", you may ask? Back before the ancestors left us, there was an entirely different schema as to how we could use our powers with mortals. Swapping bodies, multiplying and cloning, trading abilities with other Gods, collecting abilities, altering energy signatures, etc. Because of the curse and these restraints, these three laws are now the only ways for Gods to share their power with the mortal realm. Because they can not prevent an attempt, instead the defying of the laws usually results in … oh, let's use the word "incapacitation", because it's the closest I can describe the real thing.

The Death Potion was never really a physical potion with which you add ingredients to. What you cured Sartranomin's illness with coincidently enough was. Or rather, not so coincidentally. I won't go into details, but the real ingredients are similar to the destructive conflicting energies of the Third Eye. I gathered these powers and hid them throughout a series of different species of plants on the planet using the Third Law to distribute and Second Law to maintain their presences. By combining them back into one, the weapon would be complete, but only if they were all combined. All of them minus one part wouldn't do anything, and thus a cure-all potion would have been created provided you had the common sense to not add a seemingly unnecessary ingredient.

We also noted that you would definitely keep your sense of suspicion, so to make absolute sure we didn't kill Sartranomin accidentally, we made sure that you thought you were creating a healing potion, and I threw the last one into an ingredient that I believed you would never trust to be a part of such a thing."

"What about Gia's scales? Surely you couldn't have used those while he was cast away."

"You're right. It was impossible." K admitted, "In fact, I never had the intent in the first place. But there was one thing that neither of you knew. For this potion to work, it would've needed a sample of the target deity's power so they could not naturally resist it. Like an anti-venom you would apply to yourself to protect against poisoning. Back then, one of Gia's ancestors made contact with the imprisoned Daemreyuant, and without the ability to control it, was accidentally transformed into his agent."

"That's what you got from Gia's scales. I was a bit anxious as to how we were going to gather this vital ingredient, but then Saradomin learned that Gia was alive, and that there was only one way he could've survived such a lifeless existence. White Dragon Scale itself would've not done anything to the healing potion itself, as it wouldn't have dissolved in with the other pacified ingredients. Adding the scales in general to the list would not only keep it unsuspicious to the Unknown, but it would also subliminally get you to Gia without directly exposing the plan and that Gia had his power hidden."

Alex was simply speechless. To think they had planned all of this beforehand.

"But, there's something wrong with all this." Alex said, "Venos told me they got the ingredients list from Saradomin to cure Sartranomin, but he gave us the full list. He even admitted to me it was meant to finish our Lord off. Sure, he trusted us at the time, but he watched over me as I advanced my skills in herblore. Surely he would've known I wouldn't have trusted the last ingredient."

A thought hit him.

"… but then, the ingredients to a death potion … if the potion itself was something fabricated and hidden by you, that meant Lord Saradomin would have had to have known it existed to make the list include the last ingredient in the first place. And if he was working for the Unknown, he would've made sure we added the last ingredient personally!"

K approached Alex. He kneeled down on one knee and looked him directly in the visor. Alex had to squint from the light of his glowing eyes. The smile was gone from his face, and he spoke with an air of urgency.

"You may hate yourself after I tell you this, … but Saradomin was really a double-agent for us."

He was right.

"WHAAAAT?!?"

"He also knew about our collaboration. Why else do you think he agreed to raise you as he did? With a new body and fresh mind, you could hide from the Unknown with ease, and with the Unknown trusting Saradomin, there would be no suspicions towards you and him being your mentor.

From there, we were presented with a challenge. The Unknown undoubtedly would want revenge, and without any knowledge of what we were going to do, we'd have to somehow get you back up and ready when we could perform our plan. And, unfortunately for him, one of the things we had to do was get you realigned with Sartranomin again, so as to follow the Second Law.

Saradomin, being the Unknown's agent, was under a tight control. Any attempts to simply release you would have been almost too obvious. Why would one of his agents, out of nowhere and for no reason, just release one of his own? And to whom? With building paranoia, doing this would've immediately pointed the Unknown right at Sartranomin, and he would've been dead before we even stepped through the doors.

As shameful as it sounds, the only way for Saradomin to do this and buy us enough time was to get himself killed. Agents were always getting themselves slain and trapped on their own worlds, so this would've been passed off as something naturally feasible. Especially since you were in such a hurry to collect a payment, it was commonplace for a God's agent to join the war and get wiped out by the mortal opposition as a sacrifice. You being released would be a hidden bonus.

But he didn't just need to die. He had to get YOU to kill him. You were the only one down there not only powerful enough, but capable enough to do the job since you were secondarily an agent to Sartranomin. Not only that, but you had to regain your will to take on the Unknown. Killing the being who raised you would annihilate your newfound morality that your life with mortals gave you, and prevent you from accidentally letting him go a second time should things go wrong. So he told you purposefully that he was, in fact, a double-crossing agent to the Unknown, and fought you. I'm sure you'll remember how you were suddenly brimmed with energy after you finished him off. That was Sartranomin's power regaining priority control on you and re-establishing you as his agent.

The Unknown's not dumb. Far from it. Upon returning from his recovery, his intent at the time was to interrogate Sartranomin, because he had already suspected him of treachery. Since he was on good terms, it also made him the most liable to do such a drastically rebellious deed. To maintain this cover of loyalty, Saradomin almost had to reveal our full potion idea to him in order to spare Sartranomin's life in exchange for time. He would have us punish ourselves by making you accidentally kill Sartranomin with our own weapon, thinking it would cure him from an illness the Unknown itself caused."

"That explains why he spared us in the first place after the fight above the desert." Alex said.

"And gave you a short amount of time to gather a new payment. With Sartranomin dead, you would've lost all power, and he would've had no trouble finishing you off and isolating me out to the point where I was no longer able to make a move. But if you were innocent, you would've taken the time constraint seriously and gathered a new payment barely in time. After that, the Unknown would've cured Sartranomin himself and let him off the hook. It was a surefire way to tell if you were on his side or not."

That pretty much explained it all. Letting this knowledge sink in, Alex couldn't help from smile. He was proud of himself, after all. Not only did he beat the Unknown in a physical test of swordplay, but he also outwitted the Deity of the Unknown in a game of wit and psychology.

Just one question remained. Not a necessary one, but rather a curious one.

"But was this all the Unknown's intent or Daemreyuant's?"

K smiled, and his head bobbed slightly. It was the closest Alex has seen him attempt to laugh.

"I don't know what he thinks." K said, smiling, "Why ask me that? He's right over there. Why not ask him?"

Alex got up (Dex simply ascended without moving) and the three of them approached the defeated Guardian. He lay on the ground, impaled in all four joints and not moving whatsoever. K placed his palm on the Unknown's chest and thrust downwards, and it immediately tensed up. Yeah, it was still alive, all right.

"Impossible …" it was muttering, "You … subdued him?"

"You kept a secret like this the entire time." he said wondrously, squatting beside the Unknown's head and peering down into his tightly shut eyes, "How did you ever manage?"

The Unknown's face relaxed, and its harsh, blue eyes opened slightly.

"You know me more than anyone else." it answered, "I wanted power. The power to purge the universe from the corruption of mortals. The Great One wanted to give me this power in exchange for its wish. That I free it from its brethren. That's all you need to know."

"Oh no, my friend. You know me very well, too." K replied after a moment's pause, "And you know I like stories."

Dex perked up, "I also want to hear your explanation."

Alex just nodded. This was the final piece to everything, and then it all would make perfect sense. … well, to the extent in which sense still existed for him.

The Unknown's eyes squinted slightly and it huffed amusedly, "And you will want me to tell you everything like this?"

K smoothly and calmly jammed his black sword into the ground next to the Unknown's head and sat cross-legged on the hilt, peering downward at the fallen deity.

"If it's not too much trouble." he said politely.

If it wasn't for the plate over its mouth, Alex had no doubt the Unknown was showing the God's equivalent of a "got-no-choice" smile now.

"Heh. Fine, then." it said, "I guess it doesn't matter anymore now that it's out and gone."

___________________________________________

CHAPTER 10 - THE UNKNOWN
___________________________________________

"I completed my command, and went to the temple for initialization just like you did." the Unknown explained, "As you're well aware, you were tested in the most extreme ways, physically and mentally, while at the same time your true nature is forced out and manifested toward what would be the most logical and moral choice to become the next Guardian of. Yours was the realm of the Cosmos. Mine was the realm of the Unknown. Upon this decision, you met and confronted our ancestor. The original Guardian of the cosmos, and one of the 96.

As did I. Your hypothesis was incorrect. I had Daemreyuant long before we sealed up the 96. Upon completing my initiation, that is when Daemreyuant first contacted me. Without even staving a greeting or teaching me the pronunciation of his name, he immediately asked me if I wanted power over the Universe. With full honesty and desire, I expressed my wish to get our revenge against the mortals, and even if I was not seen as worthy to possess this power, I would find my own methods. Naturally, I just wanted to show them who they were dealing with, and lying about anything would just make me hate myself, even if it was key to receiving the power. I highly doubted he would've appreciated my motives and even anticipated that he further the curse over me and make me grant 100 commands until I appreciated mortals entirely.

But the exact opposite happened. To my surprise, Daemreyuant took an immediate liking to me, and said that not only would I become the Guardian of the Unknown, but I would receive it entirely as my own. Not a lent power, but a given one. He told me that his wish was so similar to mine that because we shared a common goal, we would make the perfect team should we agree to collaborate.

But why did you need me, I asked. You are the true deity of the Unknown, so why won't you just cast me away and do this yourself then? And he replied: because he can no longer manifest himself physically upon the world because of an agreement and maneuver the other 95 performed. The best he could do is trap his soul within an inanimate object, but there was no point to that since the temple they resided in was completely isolated from the known universe.

I said that was not true, and both of us thinking the same thing, I willingly held up my sword. Possess my blade and become my tool, and I would become your tool as well, I offered. He was only too happy to agree.

From then on, I had literally stolen him from the 95 without their ability to interfere and started both our desires. I thought that that moment would become the start of my dream and ambition, as I was now more than capable of pulling it off.

No. Once again, the opposite of what I expected happened.

I was betrayed.

I lost control. He possessed my blade, and my blade possessed me. I could barely think on my own without him interrupting. He was influencing me using every mind trick he had.

What's more, he didn't want just the mortals destroyed.

He wanted EVERYTHING destroyed.

He wanted to carve a new universe out of his own intent. He hated his brothers, sisters, and demithins and what they did here. He hated this confinement of the greater ones while the Universe was spoiled and ruined by the infestation of the imperfect. This is why he forced me to collect revenant souls for him. To revive him. To gather enough power so he may once again physically manifest himself upon the universe. And once that happened, he would destroy everything. Save for me, he promised, but I no longer trusted him at that point.

I couldn't let him keep control over me, so without any other options, I betrayed him back. I forced myself from his control, if only for a mere moment, and turned him in to the others of our race. The remaining 95. They abided to my request and helped me seal my weapon in a place that I would never find. In one of the many millions of planets, each supervised by their own respective minor. It was a major sacrifice, but nevertheless, I was freed.

For a while, I felt so relieved to have been released from his control that I simply took it easy. I still had all his power, so I could continue my work in peace. On my own, through the generosity and friendliness of the other Gods of the Realm, I was able to regain and build up my power and become widely known and respected. Not just that, but the feeling of peace agreed with my mind. I figured that, perhaps instead of destroying all the mortals in the Universe, I could simply … oh, what's a good word … "correct" them by befriending all the Gods and convincing them to allow my manipulations. It would indeed save me time, and perhaps I wouldn't be opposed as much if I corrected the mortals rather than try to destroy them.

… but it wasn't long before his voice returned to my mind. His influence drove me to the brink of madness, and no longer able to take the torment, I once again swore myself in to his control provided that some additional conditions were met. They included me having control over my body at least, not wiping out the race of Gods, and sharing some of the revenant power with myself rather than hogging it all up himself. He agreed, and to my incredible surprise, I willingly set out to find him, using my own influential abilities to persuade the many Gods to allow me onto their planets so I could search for my lost weapon. Finally, I found it, hidden within a temple upon Sartranomin's planet.

But again, I was betrayed. He subtly probed my mind once again, making me think that I was still in control as he pulled the strings. Once I found the weapon, he once again seized control, and to ensure I would not betray him once again, I was to be forbidden to do anything at all. I could only watch as he forced me back to the temple, and used my body to seal the other 95 away, preventing any further separation.

I had only one last defence against him. After the seal was complete, rather than absorb his power and revert myself back into his puppet, I stabbed myself with my own blade. I absorbed the power from my own weapon and confined a large part of him into my own body. Strewn out within and unable to exercise his control properly, I could at least control my body, but should I become weakened or incapable of confining him, he would have the ability to take my well-gained power back and become a physical deity. Not just that, but the only way to keep him confined was to keep getting more powerful just to contain him. He absorbed my power, and I had to take in as much "payment" as I could to keep the balance tilted in my favour. Me having my own physical body was the only thing really keeping me on top.

For generations, I had to suffer. I had to force the universe to keep supplying me with payments just so I could prevent Daemreyuant from destroying it all. I also had to fight back against you with all my might and quell any hopes of retaliation just to defend you all from him.

I just wish I had a better choice I could've made."

Alex gazed into the Unknown's large, blue eyes. He had been struggling and suffering all this time, and despite being taken down and having the truth forced out of him, he was beginning to look quite content. Relieved, in fact. This was the first time in a long time he didn't have to conflict against Daem.

"I was delaying the inevitable with the greatest sacrifice I could possibly make." he said, "Sacrificing trillions upon trillions of mortal lives just to keep the universe running one more day. Even though it was the epitome of my desires, I was still getting sick of it."

"So you were being a good guy all along, huh?" Dex sneered. He believed it all to be true, but he still doubted that this was the entire story.

"Do NOT make fun of me, mortal!" the fallen warrior hissed, "If you had any idea what I was going through, you would stay your mouth permanently."

Even K shot Dex a look at the rude remark. He held his snout up and simply backed off without uttering another word. He was no longer interested. So be it.

"You thought I was out, but I was listening at everything that happened. The argument, the battle, and the revelations. I heard every word you said about this plan of yours." he continued, "And I'll admit, you are clever. Foolish, but gutsy. With enough confidence to even push me to tilt the balance and unleash the physical form of Daemreyuant with merely the hope that the plan would work, I have no choice but to commend you for foolish bravado."

"What will you do now?" Alex asked, "Since you're no longer under his influence?"

The Unknown tilted his head towards K.

"I'll let you deal with Daemreyuant." it entrusted, "If I tried to do it, he would probably try to possess me yet again. You've got much more willpower than I do. As for me …"

It relaxed and lay its head back down onto the ground.

"Unless you want to kill me, I'm going to continue my goal." it said, "I still want to purge the Universe of all imperfect mortal life. But I doubt it's ever going to happen in anybody's lifetime now."

Kill him … now was the perfect chance, after all. He was immobilized. Defenceless.

Willing to die.

"Stab me in the head, neck, or chest. I have no power left to survive the blow." the Unknown surrendered, "It's your call."

Alex hesitated. This was probably their only chance of stopping the Unknown once and for all. He even admitted that he was still wanting to be a direct threat to every life-sustaining planet in the Universe. He raised his sword over his head, aiming his eyes toward the Unknown's neck. It simply watched for a moment and closed his eyes. Whatever the decision, it was ready for it.

…

...

It opened them several seconds later. K was pointing his own white sword at Alex's neck, stopping him from swinging his blade down.

"As you've heard me say, there cannot be light without darkness." he said, pressing the blade until Alex morphed his sword back into a hand, "While he remains a danger to the mortal worlds, and is undoubtedly unforgivable and hated universally, he still contributes to the progression of time and event just the same as we all do, and there is nothing wrong with these respectable, though heartless responsibilities."

Suddenly, he kicked the knives out of the Unknown's limbs and snatched them out of the air. The Unknown wasted no time scrambling back to his feet, but was immediately confronted by K.

"By the First Law, you still hold Daemreyuant's power," K added, "And after his brothers are through with him, I doubt you'll have much ability left. Consider yourself warned that you'll have to deal with the balance should you revolt once again."

The Unknown crossed his arms and lightly pushed K aside as he walked towards the edge of the platform.

"You will not see me again in a long time, Cosmic Guardian." it simply said, turning to K, and then to Alex and Dex, "And you two, I hope, will NEVER see me again … so live your lives as carefree as you can."

He prepared to jump into the abyss and vanish forever, but he then had a second thought.

"Before I go, this is for the one called Allezyamos." he said.

Alex approached. The Unknown was condensing a ball of energy into his hand, shooting blue sparks in a wild frenzy. He whipped his hand into a shield just before there was a great flash, but as he lowered the guard, he saw that the Unknown simply formed a clear, glowing crystalline orb in his hand.

"You did something I couldn't." it said, tossing Alex the crystal, "And I respect you for that. Consider this your reward."

Alex stared at the object. It began glowing a bright, yet familiar shade of grey. Already, he knew exactly what the Unknown had given him, and already, he began to forgive.

"However, I'm afraid I could only bring one back."

Alex's eyes widened.

"One?" he exclaimed, "You mean … Lord Saradomin?"

He felt a hand on his shoulder. K was gazing up at him.

"It's not Saradomin he's talking about." he said. Alex didn't like this tone of voice at all.

The Unknown simply let it out.

"I killed your friend, Gia, several of your days ago."

At first, Alex's mind was blank. Trying to wrap itself around the string of words that just came out of the Unknown's mouth. At first, it was an order of words he was entirely not familiar with. But after a moment of thinking, Alex had to force his body to retain his shape. He grew so rigid that K slowly backed off.

"When I reobtained my sword, I lost a considerable amount of power in the process because a White Dragon made contact with it. After finally realizing this after our fight in the sky, I returned to Earth disguised as a human Zamorakian fanatic to retrieve it. This White Dragon was your friend Gia's ancestor, and through generations of passing it on, he was left with it. This was the reason why he survived the stasis, and why his generation was coincidentally the one that not only bred to last this long, but bore the same last name since the beginning."

"I like to reward those who entertain me with a good fight after I win." it explained, "Usually, it's that I don't use my blade to kill them and send them to the abyss of the Unknown. That's the most unimaginably cruel fate anything can eternally suffer. Sure, I may be the universe's sot feared and hated enemy, but I am not entirely without heart. Instead, I let him die naturally and honourably. He had a chance to make final amends."

"But … K, you brought Dex back. Can't you-"

But K shook his head.

"Dex had not accepted death, Alex." he said, "Gia did. I can no longer interfere with his process, or else you would have nothing less of an empty shell without even the knowledge of how to breathe. I'm sorry."

K then found himself unwillingly eye-level with Alex. He had sunk to his knees, staring at the wavy lines of the abyss that stretched before him. He faced death numerous times. He had to learn that he was not who he thought he was. He had to kill his father and his brothers by his own hand. He was the driving force behind saving the universe.

And yet he felt heavy all over again.

He simply did not know what to think anymore.

His body started unwillingly lifting upward, and his legs were forced down to carry his weight. Dex walked around from behind and looked him straight in the eye. Despite the situation and what Alex had been through, it just wasn't in Dex's character to let him have a moment in silence.

"Alex, this quest took away a lot from you." Dex sympathized, "But at the same time, it has given you a lot. I know it sounds heartless, but it's the honest truth. Take what you have gotten now, and let what you've lost go. Otherwise you're never gonna get anywhere."

Alex's eyes were squeezed shut. His left hand was, almost unwillingly, stretching out into a long, jagged, uneven dagger blade. He spoke with a faltering voice to the Unknown.

"He died fighting you, right?" he asked.

"I was his last battle, yes." the Unknown replied, "In fact, had I been mortal, he would've killed me. With my disguise's limitations in effect, I was nearly taken down by him, and I had even left its body next to him to let him accept victory. He would've died happy. I can promise it."

It held his arm out to stop K's approach, and instead confronted him itself.

"If you want to extract your revenge against me, I don't blame you." it said, sinking down into a sturdy battle pose, even without its sword, "But because your chance was spent, I will defend myself now."

Alex said nothing. He couldn't control himself anymore. He thought he could forgive the monster, which was now all caged up and tied down thanks to their near-suicidal efforts. He thought he would have at least some sympathy, now that he understood the Unknown was suffering. But no more. That was the last of it. He could've forgiven its murdering several hundred Gods of the realm, and his having to kill Saradomin, and the pain and agony he endured having to fight it. He wanted to forgive it, but now this.

NO MORE!

He dashed at the Unknown. He ducked its elbow, sliced down at the legs, caught the dagger behind one, and yanked it right off its feet. It contorted and twirled in mid-air, but Alex followed up by slamming the dagger down with a windmill arm spin. The Unknown caught his arm with both hands, and kicked his elbow upwards in mid-air, slamming into the ground as Alex staggered back. Alex forced his body to spin around and revert his backwards force forward, and the Unknown sprung itself back upright.

They were sloppy. Both of them. Neither really had the energy to put up a good fight. Both sides were spent, but because he was fuelled by rage, Alex was constantly on the attack. Dex was eager to pry them apart and discipline each accordingly, but K held his arm up to stop him. He then shrugged it off, as watching Alex have at the Unknown with a warped dagger was satisfying by itself.

Alex dashed again, swiping at a slight angle and forcing the Unknown backward. He then whipped his free arm forward, extending it into a whip and swinging it too at the Unknown, who ducked the strand of enogan. Again and again he swung, continuously advancing, and the Unknown found itself running out of floor space quickly. Alex launched his whip again, and the Unknown ducked, but then Alex tensed it, and a huge frenzy of spikes jutted out, solidifying the whip and turning it into a large hook. He yanked it backward, and caught the Unknown by the back, launching it towards him. It curved its body around, turning the pull into its own flying kick attack.

Immediately sucking the whip back into his arm just in time to form a fist, Alex slammed the Unknown's kick way from him, spinning it around. He stepped forward alongside it, grabbed it by the back of the neck, and with one arm, heaved it up and around, slamming it facefirst into the platform and pinning it down.

Dex advanced, but K held his white sword in front, nearly clotheslining the master of majiya. Alex gripped the dagger so tight that he would've crushed the handle if it was not already a part of him. The Unknown squeezed its eyes shut. Deserving or not, this was going to hurt.

But then …

"No."

The Unknown opened its eyes in surprise. Alex forced himself to relax. This was no solution. Killing the Unknown wouldn't fix anything. Alex's blade instantly melted, splattering onto the ground before flowing back into his foot.

"I … won't kill you. Why should I want revenge against somebody who granted my good friend eternal peace? He died as a hero. Isn't that what any true warrior would've ever wanted? Isn't that what he would've wanted?"

Alex released its neck and backed away. The Unknown rose to its feet, approached, and almost pressed its forehead against Alex's. He didn't react.

"I don't know what mortals want in death." it said, "Aside from the happiness and satisfaction of having done something with their lives. If he accepted my rival's realm, then he must've been fine with it."

It walked to the ledge, and gazed out into the abyss.

"You'd best hope this is the last you'll see of me." the Unknown said, without turning, "I still am your enemy, and an enemy to all mortal-kind. Perhaps I will return to correcting them, but if I cannot be accepted by the rest of the realm, then I'll have to simply exterminate them all. I WILL make my ambition a reality, no matter what I must do. Consider yourselves warned."

It turned one final time to look at Alex, but decided not to say anything after all. Before any of them could do anything, the Unknown leapt high into the air and fell head-long into the abyss, stretching below them.

A clash of lightning and thunder, and he was gone.

Alex 43 · **Posted:** February 14th, 2011, 12:36 pm

___________________________________________________

"There's one more thing I don't understand," Alex asked, "How exactly did I end up as Alex 43 in the first place? Was my new personality also my idea?"

"Ah, I figured you wouldn't have recalled that part." K replied, walking up to him, "It's time you had this memory back and learned just how incredible your strategy was."

He stood up on his toes (or where they would be) and pressed his palm on Alex's symbol. Immediately, he blacked out, and was once again subconsciously treated to one final bout of voices in his head.

What had happened? Why have you called me for a private meeting.

I'll tell you why. I want my memory wiped, my body changed, and to be reborn on the planet as though anew.

WHAT? WHY?

Because ... it ... it was me. All of it! Me! I was the one who called the Guardian forth to cast away the Unknown and stop him from receiving our payment. I was the one to planned the fight in the first place, and actually got him inspired enough to fight with me. I was the one who battled against the Unknown alongside him. I was the one ... that let him get away. It was all me, acting privately for the most part. Heck, it was even me who egged the Guardian onto going so far as attacking you to get it all done. Nobody else had anything to do with it. Not even Venosyvan. In fact, nobody knew! I acted in total secrecy!

But, why would you want your memory wiped? Surely you feel you have only done as any one of us would have. So many lives were at stake, and to be cast into such a horrid state, it was something any of us would have done had we the bravery. And you just about succeeded!

I know, but he is still out there. I hate him, and he hates me. If anything, this is for his forgiveness. Your forgiveness! If I don't have this done, he'll recover, and then come after you once he realizes that I'm yours. Do it! It is my punishment that I am even still alive after all that. I betrayed my own comrades and stole from you, my lord! And, not to seem selfish, I'd rather you have at me than my siblings.

But he protected you! Do you think the Guardian's efforts should be in vain? No! I shouldn't have to!

Yes, you do! I totally messed up! Everything! All of it! My fault! It's over! It's all over! ... I wanted there to be peaceful correspondence between everybody, between mortals and Gods alike. But now I've caused us all to betray the Unknown. He'll come after everyone with revenge and discipline in mind! First the Guardian, and then us! And that's only if we're lucky!

There was no way you could have known! You acted just fine. The Guardian safeguarded the planet just as you would've done had you his powers.

But he's left now, and no doubt the Unknown will return in the future.

Who has left?

WHAT? What are you doin-

Don't bother making up excuses to achieve your end. Tell your Lord the truth.

But if he knows, the Unknown-

It's all right. I have faith that your Lord will not reveal your plan no matter what kind of punishments await him.

Plans? Punishment? Allezyamos, what is all-

Don't- … no questions. Please. … *sigh* … I don't want to endanger you, my Lord.

We're already dead beings, Allezyamos. If Sartranomin knew the reasoning behind what the Unknown will do next, he would better be able to cope with it and not accidentally give away our plan.

… yes, you're right. Heck, you're always right.

You have my full undivided attention. Take your time and spare no detail.

… all right. This is our plan. Let me start at the beginning.

… … …

… should do it.

… hmm …

There was a long pause.

[]color=#0000FF]… if I may speak freely.[/color]

Sure.

That's … an incredibly risky plan, you know.

What other choice do we have?

Stand with us. Stand with all the Gods of the realm! The Unknown has had control of the Universe for far too long! If the Guardian and you alone were able to chase him off, then all of our combined forces could free the Universe!

That will only lead to mass genocide. If I couldn't even subdue it, it would not hesitate to take anybody else down should they get in range.

But you didn't have to. There was a way to prevent it. I had him at my mercy, ready to finish him off! And I just couldn't do it, I just couldn't finish off the Unknown. I know you smiled upon my action to let him go ... it was for the good of the world ...

Tell me again, exactly what happened on the Tower of Solen?

We chased it to the top. Once there, it was a private battle without anywhere else to escape to. We fought it. I was injured, so the Guardian fought it solo. Then he was wounded, and the Unknown poised to finish him off, but I summoned whatever energy I had left, leapt at it, and had pinned it down in its one moment of defencelessness. The Guardian told me to impale it. But there was something in his eyes. Some form of pleading. Innocence. Almost as though something inside him has been a prisoner all this time. I just … couldn't do it. I let it go, and it vanished.

You are not at fault. It is your personality that drove you to those decisions. And, by what it sounded like, it could've killed the both of you right then and there. But it didn't.

We are an honourable race. No matter how vicious and merciless we turn out, we stop fighting when we know we have lost. And the Unknown still had fight left. There was something else at work here.

That's why we think this act of mercy was brought upon by a different reason. We, nor even the realm of Gods, might never stand a chance against whatever it's hiding.

But, … clear your memory?

Sartranomin, Please! Just do it! It's the only way to keep my existence a secret from him. But I believe that, soon, K will find me once again, help me to restore my memory and power, and when the Unknown begins to settle down, we will have our redemption ... this is a temporary thing, my Lord. I promise you.

What about your body?

I'll … make it unrecognizable. A statue. Tell my siblings that it was a present I had been working on for a while in secret that you found in my room after you- … um … "kill me from insanity". Yes, tell them I went mad and, to spare me the agony, you destroyed me. They would believe that. Well, at least Venosyvan would.

What if you should return?

Tell me nothing. Neither of you. Not until you are ready again, Guardian. Keep my motives, my reason, and everything to do with our whole operation on the project a secret from me, no matter how hard it tugs at my mind. If I learn the truth, I will want to come back as myself. That would have the Unknown all over you before we can make a move. It's absolutely vital I don't learn everything until we are ready and able to fight it a second time.

It will be terribly agonizing for you, Allezyamos. However, if it must absolutely be so, then I will help you. I'll clear your mind, give you a different body, and pass you off as a warrior of mine upon the planet. This will be so he will train you again, keeping you active and limber, while at the same time fighting against Zamcatristak's agent. This way, the balance of the world can be maintained so it may thrive, and should we be charged with making a payment once again, we'll have the lives necessary to do so and your cooperation just the same.

Thank you, my Lord. Good idea. But what about you?

I will keep what you have done a secret from the rest of the mortals, and your siblings, and we will go into hiding from the world. To take my place, I will send an agent named after myself, using my nickname, "Saradomin", so that nobody would be confused by the sudden change. This way, I will stay hidden in here from any means of the Unknown's detection, and therefore will remain safe.

I advise you be careful. The Unknown still is out there, and he will return sooner or later with revenge on his mind.

I'm sorry, my Lord.

I'll say it again. You did what you felt is right, and I appreciate that sort of thinking. Otherwise, I wouldn't be helping you keep this secret.

Just … please don't tell Venos or Macan.

I won't, don't worry. It will only burden them.

Thanks … and you know what to do, K- …?

There was a strange bit of distortion.

… -o not worry about me. I will go into hiding and prepare for a second attempt. So long as we live and stand as one, the Unknown fears us. When will we strike next? He won't know. We will use paranoia as our lingering weapon, and strike when he shows weakness once more.

On behalf of all of us of the Realm, I want to thank you for this. As much as Allezyamos thinks it's harsh, I agree with your beliefs 100%, and promise to support you with my life, and all those of our project.

I'm glad I have your support, Sartranomin. Now, let Allezyamos have his final wish granted by his lord.

Thank you again, Lord Sartranomin. … for everything.

I will miss you.

No, you'll see me again. Don't worry. This isn't good-bye. Not yet.

Yes … you're right. Now, just close your eyes and count to three …

… *sigh* OK. … One-

He awoke. Nothing had changed around him.

"The entire chain of events that led up to this point was your planning. Not mine." the Guardian explained, looking him directly in the eyes, "I cannot imagine or strategize like you can. You're the one who told me that we should go into hiding. You told me that you would eventually reunite with your brethren, and that your natural curiosity would lead you back to me through Sartranomin. Even though it didn't completely go to plan perfectly, it still culminated together nicely. You even analyzed the non-key points and developed backups for just about everything."

He smiled.

"To think you wanted to free the Universe this much. You thought and planned the first attack for months, scoped out locations, interviewed over 200 deities, and even at one point gained the Unknown's trust. And right after the first attack, you did not pass out from exhaustion. You didn't sympathize, or synchronize with your thoughts and the events that occurred. You didn't even stop to take a breather. From the moment the Unknown vanished into the abyss, your mind was racing. You already had a new plan by the time we returned to your Lord Sartranomin."

The Guardian placed both hands on Alex's shoulders promotionally.

"You are incredible. This gives me new inspiration for me to fulfill my goal of universal unity."

"Thank you, Guardian." Alex nodded.

There was a pause before K released him. He walked to the middle of the platform, forced his palm into it, and his yellow light spread out through the cracks, illuminating every notch and crevice that each detail had to offer. A blast of dust erupted as the light spread like a virus, seeping over edges and through murals at rapid speeds, arcing down, and vanishing from view. The roughed areas re-sealed themselves again, and the platform was once again whole and complete.

"Now then, let's return to Sartranomin's." K said, "He'll want to know you're alive and victorious. As will the rest of the realm."

Alex nodded, throwing in a thumbs-up. Dex, however, hesitated.

"Uh, why don't I just meet you back on your planet?" he asked.

K made eye contact with him. There was an apparent exchange of thoughts, and finally Dex succumbed to K.

"Fine, but I'm NOT joining the fray."

K silently agreed, and then he nodded to Alex. Taking the hint, he morphed himself back into dragon form, and immediately gained two riders. He felt his body light up in a warm, comfortable white light, and without any more hesitation, he bounded off the edge of the tower into the storming abyss below.

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CHAPTER 11 - FINALIZATION
___________________________________________________

Alex rose to his feet and brushed the dust off himself. The statue was his greatest work yet; boasting a main base of white marble mixed in with black and grey variants wherever the color called for. The eyes were composed of diamonds so they may shine in the vast sunlight the island was usually bathed in.

The stone representation of his lost friend was almost entirely by reference, since there were no longer any White Dragons in existence to pose for him, and yet it bore the dynamic fluidity of a real-life pose. The other figure was almost all too familiar, and crafting a representation took far less time and effort. The smaller figure rode atop the larger one with a battle pose, while the larger had its sword sunk down within a prayer for peace. Sort of a juxtaposition of interests, but Alex's intent was that through strength and ambition we will find long-lasting peace.

Every scale was hand-carved by the same chisel he got from his own lost brother, and the monument took nearly two weeks to complete, but it was all worthwhile. His friend was that worth it, after all; if not, more.

Transporting the bones all the way to the Mountain of Solen was easier than anticipated, now that he had a new body that boasted a superior strength and ability as the old one (as well as the capability to fly, which goes without saying). He had flown to the Tower of the Star, surprising everybody with his newly revealed power and capability, and then surprised everyone again by immediately asking for his friend's corpse. How he knew he was killed in action despite not being around to witness it, they didn't question, so it was surrendered. They had built a nice little monument in a nice grassy field, yet to be touched by war, and Alex did feel a little guilty to desecrate such a well-thought up site, but this was not a place he would find true peace.

To help satisfy what he believed his wishes of the afterlife, Alex buried the great dragon along with his own old adamantite carcass next to the late Lord Saradomin so all three of the fallen may rest eternally together on a land completely untouched by mortal war-bringing creatures. Thanks to Dex's efforts (what do you MEAN you didn't use guam sauce?!?), under the slab of rock now stood a large cavern with a large sarcophagus for Lord Saradomin, surrounded by the reassembled and hammered-out suits of armor, standing for eternity in three large circles around the centre. Next to the coffin, a second, smaller one stood to hold Gia and his own old body.

"Here lies Gia and Alex 43." the plinth on top said, "Two great warriors; the last of their kinds." Underneath was a hymn to Sartranomin, and perhaps the only printed instance of the word to exist on the planet.

He had buried them all within the soil under the vast shell of rock, and promptly sealed it with a surge of heated lightning after constructing the great statue to signify the site's importance. He did not write anything on the statue. Better they rest in secret should human curiosity bring them to this island in the eventual future.

Saradomin was dead, but Sartranomin was now free to take His rightful place. His nickname would bore effect once again, and his personality would became so similar that nobody would ever suspect the trade-off of Gods on the realm. Since Sartranomin could take care of the planet himself again and was free to travel the realm, the three of them: Alex, Venos, and Macan, were officially dismissed of their watch-over responsibilities. They were now free to live as they desired once again until their next objective came.

______________________________________

Alex did not fight for ceremony. He simply wanted to get the job done and over with. He didn't care if he remained nameless within the realm, with everything returning to normal in the eventual future as though the Unknown had never existed.

K and Dex had jumped onto Alex in his dragon-form and rode him down the tower, catching up to and passing the spread of light.

The population of the realm had suddenly exploded, as deities trapped within their hovels and temples came back out, as though finally being freed from their cells. They would "breathe" in the "fresh air", "stretch" their various "limbs", and even "rocket" around with the "satisfaction" of "freedom" once "again". Alex didn't think he'd ever get used to this realm.

Oh, and there was rejoice.

A lot of it.

And every last one of them knew exactly who to thank for it.

They almost had to fight through the crowd of bowing, thankful creatures to return to Sartranomin, who sat atop one of the fallen pillars, waiting for their successful return. Venos, a look of utter shock on her face, was simply speechless, and after an uncomfortably long pause, they both decided it was best they just break eye-contact without saying anything.

There was a party. And cake.

A lot of it.

But none of the heroes attended. Dex argued that it was just too noisy ("Besides, a mortal at a God party would just be unheard of."), K simply declined, saying his job was not yet done, and Alex … well, if he had a party with all the Gods of the realm, how could he ever enjoy a party thrown by the mortals back on his planet? Sartranomin stayed too, saying that he was still recovering from the illness (and torture) and he would rather not over-exert himself. Venos, on the other hand, couldn't resist, and being the sister of one of the heroes gave her self-proclaimed VIP status and bragging rights, which she exploited to her fullest advantage.

While the realm was covered in sights and sounds of incredible wonder, Alex, K, and Dex (whom Alex introduced) told Sartranomin all that had happened up there. K informed the two of them to get some rest, as they had more than strained themselves, while he debriefs Sartranomin.

Alex had now fully recovered his memory and body, and for the first time in so long, simply did not have any questions for any of them. Just that peace was enjoyable enough for him, and he took full advantage of dozing off in his own room for a much-needed rest, forcing himself to, just once, forget about everything and anything bad that he must return to once he awakens. It was the first good sleep he had in a long time, and he did not envision anything whatsoever.

______________________________________

When he awoke, it felt like a fresh new start. New body, new living quarters, and a new beginning. He leapt out of bed (almost landing on Dex, who was passed out half-under his bed for some odd reason), stretched himself out (literally, in a few cases), and skipped over to the main room.

Sartranomin fixed the room up while he was asleep, and appeared to have taken private refuse in his own, as the forcefield was in place. Same with Venos. A trail of some bright purple fluid drips travelled from the half-open main doors up to the force field. He simply shook his head, smiling.

The room was exactly as it was the first time he entered and met Him. The large marble fountains between the doors to all four rooms expelled the purest and clearest of water.

He approached the table casually and almost jumped. K was sitting on his knees with his eyes closed in a meditation. Just looking at him, though, thrust him back into reality.

Gia was dead. Saradomin and the Alex 43 army was dead. Half of Gielinor was dominated by Zamorak's forces, with deaths ranged into the thousands. Upon returning, he would have to accept that the majority of the other heroes might also have died in battle, especially if the Unknown was part of it for a while.

And just like that, he felt heavy once again. He sunk to his knees as he remembered all the different names and personalities that fleeted around him before vanishing into memory.

He felt a hand placed on his shoulder and looked up. K stood over him. His large, glowing eyes shone compassionately.

"With death, life continues." he said, smiling, "You make friends, and you lose them. The only way around it is to let them go and just make new friends. Then, when you leave the realm of reality, you get to reacquaint yourselves with your long lost brothers."

Alex closed his eyes, and his body relaxed.

"I have to go now." K said, "I need to unseal the Great Ones and update them on what had happened during their absence. Not to mention turn over Daemreyuant."

Alex was curious.

"What do you think they'll do to him?"

"I'm not sure." K replied, "I have only ever met the Cosmic Deity, and even so, not up to the point in which we can be called "friends". I assure you, though, they'll prevent this chain of events from ever happening again."

Alex squinted slightly. They had better. He wasn't fighting any more Gods after this.

"With death, life continues." K repeated. He gave Alex one last smile, and stepped through the doors. Alex, suddenly realizing he never got to say farewell, gave chase, and upon touching the doors, he was engulfed in the wave of light, but once he was able to see the realm around him, K was nowhere in sight.

He then retreated to avoid immediate publicity.

______________________________________

Upon returning to the island through the doors, Venos looked around and suddenly announced that she will remain by Sartranomin's side. She decided that despite experiencing a desire to explore the planet around her, that she didn't really want to grow attached to such a fragile thing. Plus, one of the reasons why she was placed on the planet was to help teach the White Dragons the concepts of magic and serve as their guardian to help balance the opposing forces. Now that there no longer existed any white dragons to protect, she was officially freed of this duty.

Alex then asked if this assignment was some kind of punishment for her. After an unnecessary moment of hesitation, she simply said, "Of course not.", and without another word, she vanished through the doors once again without even a farewell. No matter. This wasn't goodbye, after all.

Alex then looked over the horizon at the endless stretch of sea reflecting the morning sun. The series of blinks and flashes from the rippling of soft waves gave the water a hypnotic life to it. He commended fresh-water bodies for boasting with life with jumping fish and insects under the morning sun, but the ocean existed without much soul.

Venos has way too much energy for this place, he thought. She'll be much happier in the realm.

He looked at the oddly shaped orb in his hand. It flickered the familiar grey light, hardly visible from the intense light from the sun.

Time to return the soul to the ocean, he thought.

______________________________________

After returning to the Oocon city, which took several days to find on his own, Alex carved the orb of energy into one of Macan's remaining statues. For a moment, it didn't seem to work, and Alex began to emotionally panic, but then the crystal suddenly jumped to life, and Alex was startled so much he fell from the ceiling along with his newly revived brother. Fortunately, he found out that enogan splatters rather than smashes, and his brother's fall was broken with the consequence that he had to run around and collect the globs of metal spewed around to reassemble himself.

Despite having many inquiries as to how he still existed on the plane and the details of the battle he had helped them to win (not to mention where Alex found his missing body), he was otherwise just fine. In fact, rather than recover from the ordeal for a few days, he instead dived underwater and called for a group meeting with all the Oocon of the city a mere 3 hours after returning to Earth.

There, he conversed in their own language to them all, leaving Alex to interpret his words using nothing but his subliminal head movements. He gazed around the crowd in a slow head rotation, and upon returning to the centre, bowed his head regrettably. He then looked over past the crowd beyond where the murkiness was, made a quick gesture upwards, nodded, and suddenly, the vast crowd of the red squidlike creatures all rocketed excitedly in many different directions until finally dispersing altogether.

He then told Alex everything. He had constrained the Oocon from exploring the ocean through fear and commands, preventing them from exposing themselves from the rest of the world for his own personal reasons. Because of Alex's rebellious influence, he announced that he decided to simply release the Oocon race into the vast ocean. In return for the freedom, he asked if he could use the Oocon's incredible sense of smell to detect a wyvern colony somewhere in the world so Mirral could reunite with her kind. Apparently, they were all too happy to agree. Alex bid farewell and, with Koyl, left the emptied Oocon city for the last time.

Since he set off with them, Alex hasn't seen Macan since. He imagined that his curiosity will send him to the far corners of the planet before even considering the notion that Alex might have started missing him.

______________________________________

Dex had left his realm once again, with the promise to return every so often and check up on his training (thereby pressuring him to actually do it). He seemed a little satisfied with Alex, now that he bore a much stronger presence of majiya and was now composed of his favourite material. As a farewell, for reasons unknown, he took great momentary pleasure to "manipulate" him in gruesome-looking ways without causing Alex any pain whatsoever, to which he mumbled disappointedly a bit about it not being the same without the screams of agony. Alex offered to fake them, but he shot him one of his rare smiles and told him to forget it. His final words were a reminder to Alex to remember the guam sauce next time.

As for K, Alex didn't really know what happened to him. He carried the beaten Daemreyuant off somewhere, and had not seen him since. Even an attempt to freely contact him at his altar, since Venos and Macan had left his side, was in vain. There was no response, even after attempting for almost three hours straight, and he simply decided to give up and let K contact him.

At least he still had Koyl. K's blessing remained, and the two of them shared their mind's experiences for several hours ("yes, Koyl, that was a shark") at the SWC's western coast before another farewell allowed them to go their separate ways for the time being. Both promised to have a great number of stories to tell the next time they met.

Now, as he stood there, staring at the horizon towards the sun, he wondered why he could no longer cry anymore. Before the events that led to his self-discovery, he lived with Gia and Saradomin for several years. Now both of them were dead, and he was left all alone once more. Alone to cook whatever he wanted, sure, but it just wasn't worth it anymore. He wasn't cooking for an audience anymore.

What really tugged at him was that, despite being inseparable partners almost by fate, he died in an entirely different battle unknown to Alex until his killer actually admitted it to him. He never really got to say any sort of farewell to him. Because of that, he felt like he had been pulled apart from him. Separated. Ever since Venos "kidnapped" him, he had left his best friend's side and never really returned to it.

He was alone now. Alone once again, like he was so long ago. He had gotten far too used to having somebody else there with him. Rising up from the statue base, he spread out his wings and rocketed off into the sunset, looking back over and over until the island was no longer in sight. Nothing left but ocean, as far as the eye could see.

_____________________________________

EPILOGUE
_____________________________________

Alex casually gazed towards the shed. Now that Gia was dead, perhaps it wouldn't hurt just to take a peek at what he had been working on all this time. Perhaps even finish the project. Yeah, he would appreciate that. It wasn't like Gia to want to leave something unfinished. He dashed to the far side and tried the knob on the only door the sturdy shed had, but it was locked.

Gia had a key to the shed hidden that prevented his entry, and he could never figure out where it was hidden. Folding his arm into a thin plate and squeezing it under the door to unlock it allowed him to surpass this obstacle with relative ease. Of course, had he just tried the doorknob, he would have found that such an obstacle never existed, and that Gia had actually left the shed unlocked for him. All the more reason to investigate.

The interior had a horrid, burnt rot smell to it, and he threw the door open as far as it could go. Some large rodent darted into the shadows from within, startling him. He wasn't surprised, though. Usually rats and the like made their way onto the island by boat and ship. No doubt their last round of pirates brought their fair share to help populate the landmass-

Alex's attention was averted to the worktable where he saw the scoundrel. On top, illuminated by the sunlight from the window behind it, sat several large pieces of papyrus with a series of scrawled symbols almost so intense that he couldn't tell at first if it was white paper with black ink, or vice versa. He took careful measure to approach it as the ground was littered with what looked like dismantled dwarves projects like crossbows, ballistas, and complicated weaponry. Upon approaching the table, he took one last glance towards the shadows before examining the papers.

The first page had yellowed with age, and despite the amount, the ink had faded considerably. Flattening it out on the table under the sunlight revealed the scratching of the words behind it to reveal a more legible language.

The first word said "Alex." That was his name, all right. Gia was writing him a letter in here. Strange, though, that it had been completed for such a considerably long time and never given to him.

"If you are reading this, then I'm probably either dead or in no capability to stop your curiosity." he read, and then his eyes widened. This was a will! Sitting out in the open like this, it was as though Gia knew he was going to be killed and Alex would inevitably check the place out after. But its informality told him that this was not just a will.

This was Gia's final farewell.

With the sunlight shining through the window to expose the wording, Alex read on.

"If it were my choice, I would choose the first." he read out loud, and Gia's voice floated in his mind, "As, though it would seem like an insult to you at first, I would rather not have to endure such a disability in my life. I would rather make something with my life than endlessly consume the limited resources remaining on the planet for nothing.

It doesn't matter if you mourn my death for an eternity and beyond. Truth be told, I anticipated it. I wrote these lines before we set out to battle the Eastern Project. I know that- no, I "knew" that, one of these days, I was to die by the sword.

Do you remember when I argued with you that I hardly ever trained my swordplay? That was a lie. In the middle of every night, as you slept, I trained with a practice blade for an hour or two. I just couldn't sleep otherwise. I was hoping that by maintaining the image that I was allowing myself to go out of practice, I wouldn't have to fight anymore battle in my life. How wrong I was. Battle reappeared, and I was forced to abide to the saving of lives in my Lord's name.

Heh, I'll bet your eyes are wide open now. Why would I have created such a deceptive mask? Well, now that I probably can't tell you the truth myself any longer, this is my only way to inform you.

I never really felt like I ever once belonged to this world. The creatures, the scenery, the feel … even the ideals were all different. I would imagine you will have figured it out sooner or later, but both our Saradomins were really never one and the same. Whenever I communicated with yours, the feel … it was much more different than any sermon we had hundreds of thousands of years ago. A God's feel doesn't change, no matter the time span.

Without even a familiar God to go by, I was cast into an entirely alien world when, in truth, I really should have been dead. Not my idea of heaven, I thought at first, but then I became friends with you. You showed me the light of a new beginning, and helped me understand the technique of peaceful creation. You taught me the art of crafting and smithing, allowing myself to build a hovel for the both of us and use my comparatively incredible strength for something our Lord [The word "Sartra" was crossed out here] Saradomin would have wanted us to be able to do.

But it wasn't to last. As dark as it sounds, the race of White Dragons, myself included, were bred for war, not peace. Sartranomin needed warriors to fight the darkness. Every time I tried to convince myself otherwise, war would find me. Nightmares plagued my mind every night I slept without having even touched my sword. I could not stop them. We were bred to fight so that others could live in peace, and being extinct now just shows that our services were no longer necessary to the world.

What could I do? You are a unique being like I am. I was hoping you would understand. I wanted to live a life of peace, but if I was to die in war, I would not have any regrets. At least I no longer have to fight anymore. I told you the truth when I said I hate fighting.

The ancient race of White Dragons are now no more. I'm sorry I can no longer live and learn with you, and I apologize for any remorse you may have for me now. All that was mine is yours now, including my sword. Cherish it well, as it will do you the good it had done me."

There were a number of lines blotted out, and underneath, a more recent, easily written line.

"And with that, I also leave you my project."

Something shuffled around the shadows on the left, and Alex suddenly turned. Two large, partially glowing yellow eyes stared back at him from within the darkness in the corner. Alex stared. That wasn't a mere rat looking back at him. The eyes were wide, round, and faceted, and shone with an illuminating curiosity. It wasn't looking at him out of fear, but rather precaution.

He stooped down on his knees and gently held out his gauntlet towards it, shifting the material around it to make it look far less spiky and imposing. It still didn't move from its hiding spot, but Alex knew now to go after it. A little patience was all he needed.

"Hello there." he said in the most gentle voice he had spoken in several years, "Don't be afraid. My name is Alex. What's yours?"

At the word "Alex", the eyes widened slightly, and after several more seconds of easing tension, the creature became to come forth. Soft tapping came from the cautious placement of claws on the rocky ground, and a sudden rustling behind it helped Alex identify its length.

What little light shone on the area finally became enough to reveal a long, scaly snout, to which the eyes resided perfectly behind as they should with any other dragon. Its eyes were comparatively large, which signified its youth along with its size. Its head bore a series of fin-like spines and its short, but held-back horns gave it a somewhat swift and feral look. With every sound Alex made, its spiked, pointed ears twitched slightly. Once its body crept out on all fours and it allowed itself to become exposed, Alex noted that the dragon was hardly any bigger than an adult dog. The entire time, it kept its eyes staring into Alex's, and now that it was out in the open, Alex slowly and smoothly reached over to grasp it.

It didn't object to being lifted, but rather it let itself jump into Alex's arms and snuggle itself into a more comfortable position. Again, it maintained eye contact, hardly blinking the large eyes under its spiked, held-back eyebrows. Unlike Gia, who maintained a series of scales all throughout his body, a strip up the front of its neck all the way down to the tip of its spade-tipped tail was padded with a thick, rough, mini-scaled hide. Its large leathery wings flapped slightly to help it maintain its balance, and with such force and capability, Alex didn't doubt they were fully functional and capable for mid-air suspension.

He gazed into its large, innocent eyes, and saw Gia in them. That look of curiosity, intuition, and trusting. To think he was keeping this a secret all this time. This dragon … this wasn't merely an adopted pet.

This dragon was genuinely Gia's offspring!

He began to ponder how it was even possible when the dragon suddenly snapped at the note from Gia.

"Hey!" Alex shouted, but a tugging force was unnecessary. It quickly let go after twisting it over, revealing more recent print on the other side, and continued to look at him without giving any more attention towards the paper. Alex stared. Was the dragon showing him this intentionally? Flipping the papyrus over, he read the only line.

"His name is Nuli. He is my next generation. Ours."

Alex regained eye contact with the dragon, who no longer seemed to express caution, but rather curiosity. This was the first time either of them met, after all.

"Nulirathra." he said, and once more to his surprise, the dragon nodded in acknowledgement. It understood him perfectly. Gia must've trained him.

The next sheet was much more recent. Probably written only several days ago. Gia must have made it back here before he died some time.

"Do you remember that female blue dragon we hospitalized a couple of years ago? Some internal pains that you had to fix by cutting a small hole in the side in which I immediately left the room? After sneaking in one night and conversing with her, I learned that she was bearing an egg inside her, but had no mate to fertilize it. She knew she was dying, and despite your efforts, there was nothing you could do. I wished to honour her with the only thing left for her. I, for the first time ever, mated. With her. And was entrusted with the egg, for the next morning, she had passed on.

I never told you about the egg. Instead, I decided I would try something. A little immoral in Saradomin's eyes, but something within me seemed to want to obey it. A natural sense of preservation, perhaps. I hatched the egg to a very surprising result, as you are now aware of."

He was pacing around subconsciously, and a flash of light averted his attention to Nuli's body. The sunlight reflected brilliantly off the little dragon, and Alex nearly staggered backwards. The dragon's scales were a perfect, transparent white! Not even a tinge of blue! Exactly like Gia's! With a trembling hand, he held the paper up and continued.

"After the first few months, I discovered a few incredible things about little Nuli. For one, the poor thing has the inability to speak, or even roar. I thought it was a clog of some kind, but after some careful examination, I found out he was missing that organ altogether. Not only that, but after studying the growth rates of the local dragons throughout this frame of time, Nuli was far behind in size expectancy after merely two years had passed. I suppose this might have been a problem caused with having two dragons of an incredible time-difference mate, since I didn't have the many years of evolution she had.

Nuli breathes lightning, just like I can, and though he's a quadruped, has the capability to rear up and use his flexible digits similar to yours. This, he had inherited from me. From his birthmother, he inherited the taste for meat, the bonding to a parent, and his instinct for the hunt. Such was hardly the case for us, and I envied him for a while. Maintaining my desires for vegetarianism, all hunting and meat gathering was done on his own accord by means of fishing. I could not stop him. Restraining this urge would have most likely caused a hatred towards myself.

Lastly, honesty before modesty, the little one is exceptionally clever. If he wants something, he will find a way to let you know, be it through mouth movements, subtle actions, or even sketching it out on a writable surface. Speak to him, and he will understand you. He absorbs education and knowledge like a sponge, usually remembering things the first time you teach them. I know it sounds like he's very subjective to corruption, but he also seems to know about what is right and has a firm sense of what to believe in. I taught him Sartranomin's ways, after all.

I feared that with your energetic mood that Nuli would possibly have taken an ambition to learning how to fight. I do not wish this. I took Nuli as my project in secret so that I may teach it the fundamentals of peace and creativity like you have taught me. No more breeding for war. Let him be Gielinor's first dragon of true peace.

If you have ever respected me, then I beg you. Please teach him the things you have taught me. Teach him to create. To build. And to become. Not to destroy. This is how the race of White Dragons should be.

And Alex, I may have already said this to you, but you've always been my most beloved friend. We'll meet again in the afterlife. I can promise you that.

Until then, keep up the fight."

Gia didn't sign his name, but instead slabbed a crescent moon-shaped outline on the paper. They didn't have any symbols to represent their names, so they identified themselves by the unique shapes of their horns. He ran his finger down the symbol and looked at the small patch of ink that stuck to the metal. Gia always used too much ink when he did that.

Nuli sniffed at it and looked at him pleadingly. It seemed to want to know where the one who did that was. Alex bowed his head, almost breaking eye contact.

"I'm sorry, little one." he whispered, "Your father's not coming home."

It looked down towards the ground; a sadness brewing within its eyes. He was doing the same, as though he was also realizing it for the first time. He hugged it tighter, not knowing who needed it more, and finally, he found the ability to cry once again.

He sunk to his knees. It wasn't fair. Why are goodbyes so sad? What provoked this kind of emotion? Macan almost seemed to have it down to a science. How did he do that? He didn't like this emotion.

… but, then again, what would he do without it? Would Gia's death have had the same meaning if he didn't have the ability to not want to accept it?

A tapping sound aroused him finally. Nuli was prodding the paper with the tip of its tail and ran it along a specific line. Not knowing how else to interpret the odd notion, Alex read the line aloud.

"And with that, I also leave you my project."

Nuli was smiling. It mouth was half-open and the edges were curved upwards slightly. Alex didn't know how much Gia told it about him, but one thing was for sure, it had read that note itself at least once. He didn't doubt that, after seeing him break in, it had fetched the note and placed it on the table to ensure it was really the one Gia was referring to. It had lasted inside for so long without playfully tearing it apart, so it knew it was important, and by what it appeared, it understood its meaning just the same.

Except, it was Alex that was the project in its eyes.

"… yeah. You're right."

Alex found himself smiling. Gia had given Nuli to Alex, and Alex to Nuli. Neither of them were left alone in the dark anymore. The sun peaked over the edge of the table and lay a bright warm rectangle down upon the duo. They were each other's farewell gifts.

He felt renewed now. He wasn't going to ever be alone anymore. He had Nuli. No, not just that. He had Koyl. The heroes of the Star. Venos and Macan. Lord Sartranomin. Dex.

And somewhere out there … K.

He stood up, and held his arms up. Nuli acknowledged the maneuver and, with a serpent-like fluidity, maneuvered onto his shoulder and perched at a slight angle to maintain balance. He felt complete somehow. Nuli's weight kept him from floating up due to enogan's resistance to gravity. Almost as though fate wanted it.

"Allezyamos."

That was his name. He heard the voice in his head, since it didn't seem to come from anywhere. The owner of the voice was easily identified by the pitch, frequency, and emotion behind it.

"Lord Sartranomin." he greeted, and the voice continued. Nuli looked up at him curiously.

"I have news of great importance." Sartranomin explained, "Now that he's no longer confined by the Unknown, Zamorak has decided he wants war on the planet to claim as much as he possibly can. He's importing all sorts of unholy creatures from distant realms to aid with this cause."

Alex began scratching the little dragon under the chin. It appeared to enjoy the feeling.

"You know," he said, "I think the humans have got this one. I think I've won enough wars for everybody for the time being."

There was a pause.

"I see." Sartranomin replied, "You wish to fulfill your friend's wishes."

"Yeah." he replied, looking out the window into the intense sunlight, "The White Dragons will return some day."

THIS IS NOT THE END

Well, there you go. Sorry for the multiple-posts, but the thing had 300 000+ characters, and an attempt to put it in one post resulted in a "too few characters" error (the heck?).

See y'all in the next RR!

Adbot · **Posted:** February 14th, 2011, 12:36 pm

trekkie · **Posted:** February 14th, 2011, 3:20 pm

wow somebody put a lot of effort in to this. i'll read this later tonight when i get home, peace out homie.