Legends: Diversion

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is related, remotely related, or is in the game, Illusion of Gaia. It is owned by Enix and all related companies. All Original Characters, Stories, and anything else that is not in, related to, or remotely related to the game, was solely created for creative and entertainment purposes. Thank you for your time.

Chapter Eleven - Stalling

The battleline between good and evil runs through the heart of every man. - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

It wasn't uncommon for things in the Underworld to take longer then expected, as the flow of time moved differently in the winding corridors of the cavern system that made up the confines of the Underworld itself. Even with the creatures of the Underworld often moving in and out at various fissures, the tell-tale passing of time often slid right through their fingers. Despite the lack of official timekeeping, many factions of the Underworld seemed to move their plans into focus with or without any known way of keeping track of what the mortals above them called 'time'. However not all delays could be blamed for the lack of knowing the day or month it was out in the mortal world, sometimes other reasons slithered their way into allowing plans to fall by the wayside.

Out of those reasons, Crystal found that having to sidestep the higher ranked factions of the Underworld was something she had hoped would not have been a concern for her or her own planning. Ever since her initial plan of reclaiming the Ring of Two Souls had to recalculated, the stronger creatures of the dark had always been a thought at the back of her head; one that sometimes crept up on her when she least expected it to. She knew that those factions wouldn't have been much of an issue as time went on and her plans changed and molded to suit her needs better, as those factions didn't bother her the slightest while she planned and schemed her way towards her goal. In spite of her best efforts to keep these thoughts away, Crystal had started to become concerned that there was some force that was keeping her from fully realizing her final goal and finishing what had been started over two years prior. Those forces were, at worst, some of the higher ranked factions that had finally stepped out from the shadows and began to meddle into the plans that were already underway, well before anyone else in the Underworld knew what was going on.

Even with the knowledge that there were these other forces that were beginning to look more at what was going on in the darkest corners of the Underworld, Crystal ignored it and continued on with her planning as though nothing else was wrong. She had to, there was too much at stake for her to not continue on; she had risked so much just to find where the Ring had vanished to. It had taken her more then a few weeks to figure out where the Ring had washed up and it hadn't come to her attention until some time after the last set of plans had fallen through. By then she had begun to believe that by the time the Ring was found, it would've been destroyed and all of the planning, moving about in secret, and recruiting other factions would have been in vain; now she knew where it was. Once Crystal had that piece of information every other problem that had come up, every little misstep, had vanished just as quickly as the Ring had and now she was on the verge of reclaiming what she believed was hers. The rest of the Underworld could stand in her way and she still would not deviate from her current plans, not now. Not after so much careful planning.

Not even knowing that should all of this fail on her end, Crystal would not live to see her mistakes be a lesson to the rest of the Underworld nor would she deter from her current course. This was a risk she had to take, even though she knew that there was a slim chance that she would survive this.

Another failure was not on her mind as she stepped out of a fissure close to the small town that was close to the port in which would take her back to the island chain that Kara's Keep was located, her eyes scanning the area she had appeared in. The sun moved slowly towards the west as Crystal walked the quarter mile towards the outskirts of this town, her dark eyes staring forwards at the paved road that was not too far from that fissure. This was as close to the port as she could get without alerting the Spirits that she was nearly at their backs, with the port itself being nearly five miles to the south of the town that she appeared at. It would be here that she would solidify her final plans over the course of the next forty-eight to sixty hours before she, and the rest of the rogue factions, made their first moves towards the main island of the chain. That would be the first place she would attack, to get the attention of Gaia and the Spirits; from there it would only be a matter of time before she would release her puppet into the wilds of Kara's Keep to lure her prey out in the open for her to kill.

Crystal smiled as she turned south and began to walk along the paved road, stepping carefully onto the cement walkways that went along the road, allowing her to steer clear from the passing cars. She had wanted to appear right on the main island of the chain, that had been her plan right from the start, however once she knew where the Ring had shown up, that part of the plan had to be scrapped. Now here she was, walking along the sidewalk too many miles away from where she had originally wanted to be. Yet she still smiled, a growing confidence building up as she walked, a confidence that most likely would kill her in the end. Even with thoughts of failure at the back of her head, that smile did not wavier, did not vanish, as she slithered into the small town and casually walked past small shops, cars, and people that gave her odd looks as she ignored them. The mortals in this world meant nothing to her, they were just in the way.

It took her another ten minutes before she found her way to the small hotel that would serve as a temporary home for her planning for the next several hours to the next several days. It wasn't much to look at on the outside, a run down old building that should have been closed already but stayed open for the weary traveler that needed a room for a few hours rest; it was a place that was just enough out of the way for her to not draw a lot of attention to her cause. The mortals that ran the hotel asked few questions, needed few answers, and generally stayed out of the way, they seemed to have seen so much over the years that nothing bothered them too much and nothing seemed to surprise them any. Crystal had no trouble in getting a room for three for free, having used her powers that she had been given by the Ring decades ago to force the hotel employees into thinking that everything was already paid for and nothing needed to be checked upon. Here she felt safe enough to walk through the parking lot, towards the hotel, and up the stairs towards the rooms where she hid a few secrets of her own and out of the way of prying mortal eyes.

Making a pass around the second floor several times to double and triple check that there weren't any eyes that were watching her more closely than a glance or two, Crystal stopped at room numbered one hundred fifteen and casually knocked at the door. A moment passed before the door opened far enough for the person on the other side to whisper a question that only Crystal and a select few others knew the answer to before it closed and opened all the way once the appropriately given. Looking around one last time before entering the room, she moved inside the small room where her smile vanished and an unreadable look appeared in its place. Inside the room there were two beds, extra pillows and a blanket on the floor, a TV on the wall, a small mini fridge, coffee maker, and a few other small details that few would find as a comfort until they found other lodgings suitable for their needs. The occupants inside the room did not need more than this, one of which were staring quite coldly at her as Crystal kept a close eye on the third occupant that was sitting on one of the beds, staring down at the floor in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" Eirian asked once he made sure that there was no one else coming in after he had let Crystal inside the room. He then turned to her, not expecting Crystal to turn towards him but rather keep a rather close eye on the living puppet on the bed. "We thought you were on the main island already."

Crystal did not answer right away, instead walked in front of Michael Porter and knelt down in front of him, taking his hands into hers and looking over his hands, arms, and shoulders. Ignoring Shiro, who stood leaning against the wall by the bed Michael was sitting at, she looking over Michael several times, to make sure that every part of him was still intact and ready to go out into the wilds that might not be in his favor. Her puppet did not flinch, did not shy away from her like he had done so many times over the course of the last two years; instead he stayed where he was, eyes blank and mind completely destroyed by the woman kneeling in front of him. When Crystal was completely satisfied that her leverage in this battle was fine to her own liking, she stood up and turned towards Eirian to address him in the same cold manner that he had addressed her.

"While it is none of your business, nor Shiro's, as to why I'm here, I am making sure that my dear sweet Michael is being taken care of," she responded in a sickeningly sweet tone. "As soon as I am fully satisfied, I'll leave in the morning; until then, what I do is none of your concern."

"The factions that are behind you have been in place for nearly a week now, perhaps more," Shiro said quietly, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at Crystal. "Why are you stalling? Why haven't we done anything yet?"

"I am not stalling, there have been some complications that have come up." Crystal glared toward both of them. "Complications that required my attention away from the goal at the moment, but now those complications have been put to rest."

"What complications are you talking about?" Eirian asked, keeping his eyes set firmly on Crystal's face. He and Shiro both had noticed the way Crystal was speaking, and the way her facial features moved, that there was more problems then they were being told. Problems that they both knew would come up if they didn't act very, very soon.

"Spirit complications," was all that she said, turning her face away from both of them. Crystal was beginning to lose her composure, she couldn't let either one of them see her face contorting ever so slightly to the snake-like features that was beginning to show more and more the closer they got to completing their tasks.

"I told you months ago to get rid of your puppet, yet you still believe you need him," Shiro snapped, pushing himself away from the wall. "He is going to be the reason why this whole thing fails!"

"It won't fail, I promise you that." Crystal turned her eyes towards him. "Now, are you and Eirian ready or do I need to find someone else to take the leads on the attacks?"

"We've been ready," Shiro said dismissively with a shrug. "Just make sure that when the time comes it is you that is ready."

Walking quickly up to him, Crystal put her hands on Shiro's arms and dug her fingernails into his upper arms. "If I didn't need you for this, you both would've been far more dead than Michael is."

Letting him go, Crystal turned around and stalked towards the door. With a glance behind her to make sure that neither one of them would follow her, she opened the door and slammed it behind her as she walked out. Neither man moved to follow her, neither of them wanted to nor did they care where she went off to; it was none of their business what she did while they kept an eye on her little puppet. Shiro looked down at Michael Porter, unfazed at Crystal's brief grasp of him; the once proud man on the floor was as broken as a used, discarded toy. If Shiro didn't firmly believe that Crystal should be the one to kill her puppet, if he could call what Michael was doing as being 'alive', he would kill him right then and there, just to end the man's suffering. Despite his destructive and uncaring nature, and his way of using others for his own gain, Shiro still had higher standards when it came to using someone and using Michael in this way made his blood boil. He made a silent promise to himself that if the battles ahead of them went further south then their plans were already going, he would kill Michael Porter himself regardless if Crystal wanted him kept 'alive'.

Eirian walked up to the door and opened it, glancing around to make sure that Crystal had really left or was walking around the balcony of second floor. She had been prone to do that often if she felt paranoid enough over the smallest sound or voices that only she seemed to hear, if she didn't go out to clear her mind. Once he established that Crystal was, in fact, gone and went somewhere that he didn't really care she went to, he closed the door and leaned up against it. Closing his eyes, Eirian took in a deep breath and opened his eyes again, staring straight ahead so he wouldn't look directly at Shiro or Michael. If he had his way he'd leave this whole mess behind and go back to what he had been doing before he had joined up with Crystal's cause, yet he had more then a couple of reasons to stay. More then a few orders had been given to him to keep an eye on the mess that was unfolding in front of him and he was ready for it all to be over and done with.

"How long do you think it'll be before she realizes that all of these so-called 'complications' were the result of some of the more powerful factions keeping her away?" Eirian asked, looking over to Shiro to gauge his reaction to the question. Shiro didn't answer right away, a light smile appearing on his lips; despite the tensions and dislike between them, the two often had similar thoughts and actions. Still did not mean that Shiro liked Eirian any better and vice versa.

"Some part of her mind knows that there were other factors keeping her from moving forwards, even if some of those factors came from herself," Shiro mumbled after a moment of silence, looking Eirian in the eye. "I am not so sure she is as stupid as to think that some of these complications didn't come from them or outside the Underworld."

"I wouldn't doubt it," he agreed. "We're stretching this too closely as it is, I wouldn't be surprised if we barely get this done if we do at all."

"You've been coming and going quite a bit since Crystal first told us that she was going to make her move." Shiro narrowed his eyes. "What have you been doing that's kept you occupied outside of here?"

Eirian gave Shiro a cool glance, hardly surprised that his comings and goings hadn't gone unnoticed; he hadn't expected Shiro to be completely blind. If he were truthful about his whereabouts outside of the hotel room, Shiro wouldn't hesitate to kill him where he stood - regardless if he was needed or not, or if Crystal "needed" him. Shiro wasn't as innocent, either, sometimes going in and out at night when he thought both Michael and Eirian were asleep, or not coming back quickly enough while doing a bit of scouting around the port. Eirian, however, kept his mouth shut and didn't dare ask, it was none of his business what Shiro did outside of the hotel - just like it was not any of Shiro's business what Eirian did, either.

"How kind of you to notice, Shiro," Eirian said sarcastically, forcing himself not to roll his eyes. "I've been keeping myself busy doing other things besides keeping tabs on a relic that, for all we know, has already been destroyed. Things that aren't your concern nor your business at the moment. And I'm not the only one that's been sneaking away at random, either."

"You keep your secrets, I'll keep mine." Shiro glared at the other for a second, then shrugged. He couldn't very well call Eirian out on his business outside when he, himself, had been doing other things as well. As much as it pained him to agree with Eirian, he was right: it was none of his business, nor concern, as to what Eirian did on his own time. "They'll come up as soon as the fighting starts, both of our secrets will."

"I expect them to come up while we're doing battle, until then we'll just have to keep them." Eirian said, then glanced towards the door. "In the meantime, we both need to eat and feed Crystal's little pet. Either one of us can go out alone and get something, or we can take the chance and leave him here while we both go."

"No, I'll go. You went out this morning, it's my turn." Shiro moved towards the door, only glancing to Michael then looked over at Eirian as he stopped next to him. "If anything should go wrong during the days ahead of us, I won't hesitate to kill the puppet. You shouldn't, either."

With those words, Shiro opened the door and walked out, nearly slamming it behind him. Eirian dully stared at the closed door for several minutes, then turned his head towards Michael; the man hadn't moved, flinched, spoke, or done anything since before Crystal had come into the room some time before. If he had a choice between killing him or taking him out of Crystal's grasp, he wouldn't hesitate to pull him away and find the ones that could break the hold on him. Just like he had promised to during one of his many outings away from Crystal and the others, away from all of this mess that he had gotten himself mixed into. All of this was something that he had to do, for the sake of the man that sat there and didn't know any better, and because there needed to be someone close enough to the ones planning this all to give a better idea as to what was going on behind the walls of the Underworld.

All because he was on orders from the Spirits.

Until Next Time