Krizak The
Ultimate Lifeform
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Chapter 7: Betrayal
Ayin
watched as night fell over the stadium. Yes... it is
finally time... He walked up to Keir, scepter in hand.
"Do you almost have enough pure energy?" Keir asked as
he watched the tournament continue.
"No, my brother.
You see, I never needed that so called 'pure energy' to open
the portal. I made that up." Ayin smiled as Keir whirled
around and stared at him. "What I need... is you."
Keir's eyes went wide. "W-what!? What are you talking
about, Ayin?" He stumbled backwards as Ayin's shell stepped
forward. "Why would you need me?"
"Simple. I need the
essence of one who was once part of our reality. But taking my
own essence would be counter-productive, seeing as I am the
one who wants to, no, NEEDS to return home." Ayin pressed a
small button on the staff, and a two-foot-long blade composed
purely of red energy energed from the top. "You, on the other
hand, would have us stranded as ghosts of reality, never to
return to where we belong!"
"All I had back home was
you, little brother. All I wanted was for you to have the type
of life I could of had, had I been smarter and more in
control. I told Mom that I'd protect you, Ayin, and I tried my
very hardest." Keir shifted slightly, his hand shifting into
Volnes' robes and clutching a throwing dagger.
Ayin
chuckled. "Some job you did, Keir. It was YOU that put me in
danger. It was YOU that denied me the type of life I deserved.
And now..." He leveled the staff at Keir. "And now, YOU shall
make things right... the hard way." He noticed Keir's subtle
movement. "Oh, and don't think attacking me will help. No
weapon you have could harm me, and you know it... This beauty,
on the other hand, is very capable of destroying you."
Damn, he's right... This is quite the predictament
I'm in... Wait a minute... Keir smirked. "If you're so
confident in your girly weapon, then come on." He stood tall.
"Take your best shot."
"Well, well, decided to embace
the inevitable, have we? Simply means that I'll be returning
home sooner... Goodbye, dear brother!" Ayin raised the staff
high into the air and slashed downwards. The blade passed
straight through Volnes, not damaging him in any physical way.
The shell of Volnes stayed standing, motionless, for a
moment, before collapsing onto the arena floor. His eyes
stared blankly at the hovering ball of water, not seeing the
beautiful construct that lay above him. He was dead.
Ayin smiled, relieved. "I... I wan't sure I could do
that. But now that Keir is out of the way, I can finally
return... return to my beautiful Saryn..." He extended the
staff a few inches, revealing a small control panel. After
punching in a few variables, he pressed a red button labeled
'Execute' and waited.
And waited.
But nothing
happened.
"WHAT!? My calculations were perfect!
Nothing should go wr-ARGH!" Ayin was suddenly thrown forward
as something large ploughed into him from behind. The scepter
flew up into the air, falling towards the waiting hands of
Ronfar.
"Ayin, for someone so smart, you sure do lack
in common sense," Keir said through Ronfar. "What made you
think that I would stay still as you ran me through? You
didn't think of that, did you?"
"Keir? But, I-I..."
Ayin scrambled for words as the possessed cleric stepped
forward. "It-it takes time for us to possess people! The
mind... the mind fights..."
"Believe me, this shell's
mind was in no condition to put up a struggle..." Keir looked
towards his former shell. "Now, Ayin, I could have forgiven
you for trying to kill me; you've done that before, and with
good reason. But Volnes... Volnes was a good and decent man,
and you just destroyed him as if he were nothing! For that, I
cannot let you live..." Activating the staff once more, Keir
stepped towards his brother.
"STOP!!!"
Both
Keir and Ayin looked on in wonder as the air flashed and the
Alpha, Mishnu, appeared. "Do NOT destroy him, Keir. You do not
know what will happen if you do."
"You... you knew
about us? And you still let us do this?" Keir could barely
stutter out the words.
"Yes, we felt we had no
choice... You two are powerful, more powerful than we Eternals
could ever be. When you were forced out of your home, you
became a part of the Multiverse, an intregal part of
Creation."
Keir thought for a moment. "A part of the
Multiverse...? So I shouldn't destroy him because it would
damage it?"
"Precisely. Normally, losing a small part
of existance would not make Creation suffer too greatly. But
lately, with the loss of the Creator, the Multiverse has
weakened significantly. Losing either one of you would be...
disasterous."
"NO!" Ayin had been hushed by the
appearance of the Alpha, but had now gotten to his feet and
looked furious. "NO! This cannot be true! I need him to die!
He is the only way back!"
"I'm sorry, Ayin, but
killing your brother is not the best way to return home. Come
with us. Surely we can find a better solution..."
"NO!
There is no other way!" In an instant, Ayin was over to Keir,
and struggling with him for the scepter. Unfortunately, Keir
suffered a bit from the high alchohol levels in Ronfar's
bloodstream, and lost the staff after a short bout.
"Ayin, no, you heard the lady! If you destroy me, you
destroy Saryn!" Keir tryed to reason with his brother, but it
was no use. Mian's eyes had been filled with the madness of
her possessor.
"Well, then, I'll have go with plan B,
won't I!? And I doubt you'll like it very much either!"
Raising his scepter to the sky, Ayin shoued a command.
"Secondary Portal Creation Program... Initiate!"
A red
beam of light shot out of the scepter towards the darkened orb
that hung over the stadium. When the beam hit, the orb flared
with light, not blue, but an evil red.
"Well, it's
been nice knowing you, Keir. Enjoy the last few moments of
your life!" Mian cackled madly, and then fell over,
unconscious. Keir looked upwards as he followed a sight only
he could see: Ayin flying towards the glowing orb.
"DAMN!" Mishnu swore, which was quite unlike her.
"He's interfered with the Orb of Creation!"
"Orb of
Creation?" Keir asked, still looking at the red orb.
"You see, while most Eternals see this as the Plane of
Torment, those of us in higher castes know the truth. This is
the Plane of Creation. The Creator sat here as she wove the
Multiverse out of nothingness."
"So you mean that orb
is...?"
"The centre of all Creation, yes."
"Oh, that sounds bad."
"Well, let's put this
way, Keir. If one of you died, there would have been a slim
chance of the Multiverse surviving. Merely a sliver, but
there. If Ayin is doing what I think he's doing... there is no
chance at all..."
Keir stood silent for a moment,
watching as the Orb grew bigger. The forces unleashed began to
make the island tremble, and the magical construct which held
the water in place began to buckle, causing leaks everywhere.
He said in a low voice. "I'll stop him."
"Are
you sure, Keir? He's quite powerful, and besides..."
"You said there was a slim chance. Well, any chance is
better than none." He heard a noise behind him, and turned to
find the three standing contestants. "So, you wish to help as
well? Fine. The more, the merrier." He turned again to Mishnu.
"Take the rest, and clear out of here. Do whatever you can to
stabilize the Multiverse. And... pray."
"Pray to what?
You know that the Creator is gone."
"Then, just hope.
Hope is all we have left."
He then disappeared, along
with the three volunteers. Mishnu looked towards the sky.
"Hope..."
---
As Mishnu went around
teleporting the contestants away, she paused and considered
them for a moment...
Vincent - Dark warrior of
light, you are a contradiction in many ways. May you continue
to hold onto the goodness in your heart. Go now...
Randi - Child of destiny, it is your fate to embark on
many more adventures. May you find peace with the guilt that
plagues your conscience. Go now...
Cloud - Troubled
mercenary, you were forced to relive a past that should have
been buried. May you rest easy upon returning to the one you
love. Go now...
Leon - Young prodigy, you shall make
many great discoveries in your new home. May you learn to
control your great ego, for it is in others that you will find
the greatest discovery. Go now...
Sydney -
Tatsuya -
(OOC: I am REALLY, REALLY sorry
about those last two. Someone please, tell me what those
characters are like so that I can finish this.)
Before
long, nobody remained in the stadium except for the Alpha.
Casting a final look at the Orb in the sky, Mishnu thought,
"Good luck to you, Ghaleon, Valkyrie, Marle... and Keir. You
are our last hope." She left to warn the other Eternals of the
crisis, not knowing that a few of the contestants remained
behind...
---
Yes, I'm really late, but look
at that post and you'll know why! I might not be able to start
the round tonight; my writing skills are spent!
Congratulations to Crystal Sword, Terra_Break, and
Mintaka! You have made it to the final round! And a round of
applause for everyone else who has participated in this
tournament; we couldn't of done it without you.
And a
sarcastic thank-you to Daigohji! It's thanks to your character's excessive drunkeness
that Ayin is now on the verge of destroying all of Creation!
You might be wondering about why there are
three finalists. They were all tied at the end of the
semi-final rounds, and I couldn't find it in my heart to go
back and check previous votes. (Or I was too lazy. ) So, since a tie hadn't ever actually arisen in the
tourney, I decided that I would just let all three advance. No
harm done, right?
Now, soon this thread shall be
closed by the Trickster (thanks, Maiji! ), and a new one shall appear at 11:00 AM MDT, when
my writing skills return once more. All of you are welcome to
join us, especially Magus and Sylphid; I didn't write that
last sentence like that for nothing, you know!
Oh, yeah, and perhaps the three finalists
had better show up as well.
---
"Are you a butterfly dreaming
you're a man, or a bowling ball dreaming you're a plate of sashimi?"
Wizards and mercenaries. Gears and Geohounds. See them
all in the 5th
Survivor Tournament!
Last edited by Krizak on 08-12-2001 at
09:45 AM |