Chapter 14

It Begins

(Magic Dimension; Omega Dimension)

Valtor roamed the icy terrain taking extra care to avoid the giant ice snakes that guarded the prison. To make his mission easier he left behind his two favoured deformities.

Valtor came across a mountain like glacier. Thankfully it had a spiralling walkway leading to the top conveniently enough. He began his climb to the hoping to reach his destination quickly. What was his destination? Simple, the Omega Portal. Why? Now that one I don't really need to answer that, now do I?

He placed a foot on the estranged walkway gingerly testing its strength. It did nothing. He placed another. Still didn't crack. Valtor walked up slowly as if any sudden movement might cause it to collapse beneath him. Within moments he began to make distance on the slippery slope slowly making his way upwards. He stared down at the terrifying place below him

From what he could tell he was in the deepest level of Omega. Cracks and fissures in the solid stone like ice filled his view. They were made from the Ice Snakes, a constant reminder that the prison could go on forever. It was not a pleasant thought. His soft toned ginger hair ruffled slightly in the chilled wind. Valtor didn't feel it therefore he paid it no heed. Being frozen in a block of ice does things to you especially if you thought of how you got there in the first place. It made you cold, relentless, heartless, a strategist, vindictive and impervious to the cold. Below him were the frozen blocks that held the evil. Valtor gave a small smirk. He was no longer in that position.

Suddenly a Guardian flew up through one of the fissures. It slithered around the blocks sniffing to make sure the prisoners it guarded were still there. It paused abruptly and smelled the air. Valtor pressed his back against the wall with bated breath, praying it had forgotten his scent in his long absence. The giant reptile stopped and resumed it slithering. It slithered on to another part of the vast chamber to continue its patrol. Valtor gave a sigh of relief and continued his trek. He silently gave a thought to be much more careful and wondered if his scent had grown stale or if he had gotten a new scent. But Valtor knew for sure he was grateful to whatever it was.

Unluckily for Valtor, he was so lost in his thoughts he never heard the rumbling coming from the circular wall beside him nor did he feel the shake. The wall exploded knocking the surprised wizard off his feet and to the depths below. A Guardian's head shot out like a bullet making hissing sounds of ferocity. The angry ice blue eyes stared down at Valtor before swiftly going after him. The creature's long slender body slid out quickly after him knocking Valtor to the ground. Valtor landed with a hard thud and a groan. The snake landed in front of him and opened its mouth to reveal a row of jagged teeth and vampire like fangs.

It lunged for Valtor who quickly dodged out of the way. The creature came again and Valtor shot a blast of pyro magic down its open craw making the snake howl and recoil in pain. While the Guardian was distracted in its pain, Valtor took advantage and quickly flew to the next level. This tactic did not last long. The ice snake, despite the size, was quick and was swiftly covering the distance between itself and Valtor, slowly gaining on the unlucky. Valtor growled under his breath as they entered the next level. His pursuer gave a sound that sounded like the cross between a hiss and roar. Within seconds two more Guardians shot like cannons from the cracks.

'Shit!' Valtor thought. 'Like one wasn't enough.'

Valtor turned and threw numerous orange rays their ways. The three creatures each dodged and came at him with renewed vigour. They eventually got so close they started to snap their jaws. The jaws were like vicious traps with the sickening snap. Valtor decided to try and avoid the snake on foot rather than flight. He landed on the ground and threw a few random shots behind him. Valtor ducked behind a glacier to catch his breath. He had to formulate a plan.

"I can't keep running like this." Valtor told himself. "I need to lose them. I didn't remember them being this powerful."

Valtor contemplated the situation. After some difficult and quick thinking he only came up with one solution. He needed more power but how? Once again he only came up with the one solution that nagged at the back of his head. He didn't like it but these were desperate times and he truly couldn't think of anything else. He needed his most powerful mode he needed to become the beast.

First his skin turned maroon and he grew in size. He grew so large he broke the ice behind him. His fingers became sausage like claws; his fists grew to the size of hams. His head grew rounder and horns sprouted out from his skull. His eye sockets became triangular and his eyes became cobalt blue. He was now a monster.

Valtor shot a blast at one of the imminent snakes. The magnified blast of energy hit one of them snakes and sent it crashing into the ground. Valtor smirked and turned his attention to the other two. The second one lunged for him. The two of them collided and smashed into an ice block holding a prisoner. In the collision they broke out the prisoner. Having discovered his newfound freedom the prisoner began sprinting away. Upon seeing the escaped convict the Guardian's attention was quickly diverted from Valtor in order to go after the escapee. The third Guardian on the other hand took a better approach. It fired a cryo blast at him. Valtor tried his best to deflect it but to no avail. He looked down at his feet to find them encased in ice and numb. The foreign feeling rapidly spread up to the rest of his body.

Valtor growled. He concentrated his on channelling all of his pyro energy into his body temperature. Having weakened the ice Valtor broke the ice coffin around him. The Guardian charged. The furious Valtor used his super human strength and punched the snake on the right side of its head thus killing it on impact. With the battle over Valtor returned to his human form enjoying the sense of victory. Valtor was so preoccupied with the fight he didn't even realize where the battle took him and for his lack of knowledge he fell into a gaping hole.

Valtor cursed vividly using a language native to his original time line. But he smirked when he realized just where he fell. He recognized the khaki, cracked, multi layered hole with great elation. The exit out of Omega. His ticket to vengeance. Valtor scrambled to his feet and concentrated all of his magic into breaking the barrier. In the next few seconds a bright white light shot form his hands to the last layer of the hole, black tendrils started to surround the white beam. The bricks started to splinter and crack under the pressure. The sound of splitting rocks echoed through the cavern.

'This is it.' Valtor thought happily. 'Just a crack.'

The light took over and there was a loud explosion. Valtor's eyes flew shut automatically but lighted burned itself through his closed lids. When the light finally began to die Valtor opened his eyes. He was on a small island surrounded by crystal blue waters. Golden rays of sunlight streamed down blinding him; the sounds of birds chirping and calling flooded his air. Valtor took a deep breath of the salty sea air of Andros.

He also saw a regiment of mer guards surrounded him with their swords and spears pointed at his person. Their eyes stared knowingly anticipating the fight he was sure to put up, the battle that was to come. The war that would be unleashed onto the Magic Dimension. Valtor allowed a smirk to grace his lips. He shot his first blast, signalling the beginning of the new era of evil.

"Let the fun commence." Valtor said with a malevolent smile.

*Line Break*

(Gardenia; Gardenia National Park)

It was late afternoon on Earth with the twilight hour nigh. Andy and Bloom sat on a bench beneath the shade of a tree. Kristy and Kiko were a little off from them playing while Purr was content to take a nap on Bloom's lap. The two friends watched as the last dying rays of the sun highlighted the pink fluffy clouds that floated lazily across the peach pink sky. The brilliant, yellow orb sank behind the horizon allowing the darkness to take over. Andy broke the silence.

"It's getting late. We should get going." Andy remarked.

"It is." Bloom agreed. She slowly rose to her feet giving Purr enough time to fly off. "I need to get home."

Suddenly a pain coursed through Bloom's head, causing her to fall to her knees on the ground. Andy rushed to her with Kristy close behind but Bloom didn't notice. Bloom's eyes closed in hope of ceasing the pain that had befallen her. The pain spread to her chest driving a knife through her heart. Instead of the blackness that comes when eyes are closed, an image flashed across her closed lids. The image showed a man with an evil smirk, steely gray eyes. His ginger hair blew out behind him with discord as he trigger happily shot pyro magic. The image made Bloom shudder.

"Bloom, are you okay?" Kristy asked concerned. "Do we need…?"

Bloom cut her off. "No. We can't do anything."

Silently she thought to herself. 'Valtor's back! But how?'

AN: Okay three sets of business. Firstly, YES! You guys have no idea how long I have been waiting to write this chapter. It was to come up at Christmas but unfortunately I wasn't finished in time. Secondly, my laptop is a little busted, some of my keys won't work so please forgive any mistakes you find, I am aiming to get a new one by Summer Vacation and this story will have to go on hiatus for a while because I two important exams coming up with some other minor exams.

Thirdly, Fluttershyfan1: To answer your question, I was working along the lines of my personal theory that the darkness and evil of Oblivion was masking the essence of Valtor's Dragon flam thereby meaning Bloom would be unable to sense it which lead her to believe he was dead. This theory came from the very first time Valtor was in Omega Bloom never even knew there was another Dragon Flame and she never felt the connection until she passed Valtor on the stairs in Solaria. I hoped this cleared up any confusion.