Part Fourteen

Chanoro dearly wanted to turn around and head back, to be with the others, to stay safe, but he had his mission, he squashed asll resistance within him and stepped on the accelerator, the supercar leapt forwards and raced onwards, Chanoro, though still unaware that he was being followed, was taking no chances.


Six eyes opened wearily, three hearts began rhythmically pumping, three brains began working as one.
The one they called Leader spoke to them, "the time has come," it said, in a voice like crackling parchment, you both know what we must do. The other two stared at each other, then back at it, then, together, they stood. Joining hands they stood in a triangle, power pulsing through their ancient veins. Three mouths opened, and a new, ancient voice spoke through all three mouths, "the time has come, the mighty one must be released into the world, he shall be reborn!" Their voices mingled in an undulating, pulsing scream of joy.


Darkeye reached through the apparition's chest and tore the soul right out of its body, the thing collapsed in a heap of dust, he turned and grabbed a zombie by its torn shirt and spun it around, hurling it through the broken window with a giant crash. He staggered, no, it couldn't be, he twirled and kicked another zombie in the face, sending its head rolling from its shoulders, his vision blurred.
"NO!" he screamed, "its half a century too early," he leapt into the air, landing in a crouch, then sprung at the ceiling, punching through and soaring out into the night, a trail of sparks following in his wake.


In the heart of a dying star, a great wave of dark matter burst into existence, becoming physical for one billionth of a second before winking back out of existence, the resulting energy wave tore the star from its orbit, even as it collapsed in on itself, forming what appeared to be a black hole, a gaping portal to who-knows-where. But the rent in space and time suddenly widened, a giant form, compromised of dark matter and light burst forth from the rift, entering our reality and solidifying into a form that was semi-classifiable within our laws of physics, the black hole meanwhile, swallowed itself, imploding with incredible force, sending the newly-awakened lifeform spinning off on a direct course for a certain blue and white planet, orbiting a young star.


Many have wondered how the almost limiless power of Archangel Hex to see all of time appears to him, as the demon's red eyes became cloudy, he smiled at man's potential for good, at their ingenuity and will to live, he saw infinite futures, and one past. He frowned, he could see possibilities coming together, joining and binding until the streams of destiny became five, two were clouded and hidden from him, two were a simple continuation of current events, for a period of roughly thirty years, and the last, the last was infinite bleakness, a desolate universe, devoid of life or purpose, but after fifty years, all continued as normal, other than the bleak stream. He awoke from the trance, he glanced at his hand, the ring on the middle finger was glowing, pulsing, a violent, dominating yellow, he knew what it meant, he looked up at the night sky, a tiny pinprick of yellow light winked at him from the depths of space.
"So soon," he muttered, "so be it," and he sighed a deep sigh, he snapped his fingers and dissappeared in a cloud of red smoke, which dissipated in the sudden winds that whipped the shorefront, sending jets of foam washing against the beach hut.


Octaboona Ambrosius sat at the head of the table, hands resting his lap, lost in thought as Pyro tapped nervously on the tabletop, Kallista rocked back and forth in her chair and Red perched on the edge of the table, meditating. Red opened her eyes and Octaboona looked up as Gideon Solace and Quinnera Elviana entered the great hall. Quinn popped another lolipop in her mouth and thought deeply, Gideon spoke almost immedietely, "So," he said with an air of command, "what do we know so far?"
They stared at him until Red spoke up, at which point all eyes turned towards her, "I had a dream," she said, "a dream about Chan, he's in danger, and I think I know where he's going." Octaboona stood up, "and where exactly is he going?" he asked. "I don't know the place, but I can take you there," Red said, with and air of sorrow, Pyro-Dawn squeezed her hand. "Then I believe," said Octaboona, "that we should be going, lead the way, if you please," he said, gesturing towards Red.
As one they stood, and walked out of the great hall and towards the sunlight streaming through the great doors that stood wide open. The search had begun.

Part 13

Chanoro woke with a start, the dream had startled him awake with its vividness, he knew what he had to do now, he knew... Chanoro groaned as the hangover hit him, he vaguely remembered having stolen Pyro's champaigne-and Kallista's.....and Ven's. He was aware of a throbbing pain in his left ankle, to add to the lightning bolts of pain in both his temples, he really should have drunk less, he remembered the need to remember something, he couldn't quite recall what. His dream! He remembered now, he threw off his covers, clambered groggily out of bed, and opened the door of his room. He tiptoed silently down the hallway, trying to remember what room Pyro was in, he opened what he hoped was the right door, he tiptoed in and closed the door with barely a whisper. Red lay asleep, curled up on her side like a cat, a warm smile on her face, Pyro sat cross-legged on his bed, watching her breathe. He looked up at Chanoro in surprise, and Chanoro placed a finger to his lips, signalling that he should remain silent. He gestured for Pyro to follow him and then walked to the door, he slipped out into the corridor, Pyro followed him, closing the door behind him. Chanoro walked a short way and then turned to face the expectant teenager, "I'm leaving," he said suddenly. Pyro was quiet for a second, "you're leaving without telling the others?" he asked quietly, "yes," said Chanoro, "I had a...... Premonition, a vision, whatever you want to call it," Pyro stared at him, uncomprehending, "I know what I have to do," he said, sighing, "but I must go alone, it would put the others in danger to come with me." "But why are you telling me?" asked Pyro, confused, "Because," said Chanoro, smiling thinly at him, "you have a great part to play in this adventure, too, and you play it here." He placed a hand on Pyro's shoulder, "you have a great destiny before you, Pyro-dawn Tyromant," "a great destiny indeed!" and with that he turned and strode off towards the front of Elysium Asylum.

Confused and puzzled, Pyro-Dawn walked slowly towards Octaboona's room, which he was sharing with kallista, deep in thought, he did not notice a shadowy form detatch itself from the wall and race off after Chanoro, its feet making no sound as it padded through the dark hallway.

Kallista and Octaboona were holding a whispered discussion, sitting up in bed, Kallista was giggling as she hurled a pillow at Octa, he deflected it easily and then sent it zooming back at her head, she ducked and the pillow flew straight at Pyro's face, Octaboona stopped it two centimetres from his nose. Seeing the look on Pyro's face, Kallista stopped laughing and sat up, "what's the matter Pyro?" she asked, "Chan's gone," Pyro said simply, and left the room. Kallista looked worriedly at Octa and then hurried out of bed, grabbing a dressing gown and following Pyro, Octa quickly changed into some robes he found in a wardrobe in the corner of the room and followed her.

Quinnera Elviana sat bolt upright in bed, she had seen what Chanoro had seen, only she had seen what he had missed, she quivered with anxiety as she planned how to make things right, grabbing a strawberry-flavoured lollipod from her dresser, she jumped out of bed and left her room, slamming the door behind her. Evverisse Eterna, who was sharing the room with Quinn, woke with a start, she looked around quickly, then shoved her pillow over her head, and went back to sleep.

As Chanoro left Elysium Asylum, he took a small device from the pocket of his jeans and pressed a button, he broke into a run, as he reached the road, a gleaming silver Jaguar C-X75 drew up beside him, doors open, and he vaulted inside. As the sports car streaked away, a black Lamborghini Cnossus materialised just long enough for a shadowy figure to leap into it before it became invisible again, and roared off in pursuit of the Jaguar.