Side by side we wait the might of the darkest of them all. I hear the horses' thunder down in the valley below, I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow. – The Battle for Evermore – Led Zeppelin

"What did you do to her!" Sirius screamed over Companion's high pitched laughter. "What did you do!"

Kathleen pulled her daggers out of Sirius' arms, and before she could attack a second time Sirius flew to the ground and gently dropped her onto the grass and flew out of her range.

"She's mine now Sirius! All mine!" Companion kept laughing.

Sirius suddenly flew towards her, hatred seared onto his face.

"Ah, Sirius!" she sang. "Look behind you!"

Sirius quickly looked behind him. Kathleen was chasing him, and she was flying. Sirius pulled into a dive but not before Kathleen managed to stab him in the back with her left dagger.

He twisted around, forcing the knife out of his back. Kathleen started toward him again, but he was facing her this time and was able to anticipate her movements. When she suddenly flew forward and tried to stab him again, he was able to dodge the gleaming blade.

"Kathleen!" he called to her. "Kathleen it's me! Sirius!" Her face remained twisted in hatred, and her eyes black and dead. "Kathleen!" he said again, desperation etched onto his face. She brought her knife around and opened up a gash in his chest.

The monster was not fighting back. Maybe it was scared of her. Good. She had been scared of them long enough, now it was their turn. It tried to fly away from her, but she jumped into the air after it and chased it down. It barely registered in her mind that she was flying. All she desired was to kill the monster.

She caught up to it and stabbed it in the back, right under its wing. Still it did not through out a clawed hand to stop her, or bear its terrible rows of teeth at her. It twisted away from her, and dodged her next attack.

Now it was growling at her, looking at her from across the empty space between them. It was growling at her, obviously preparing to attack her. She would not let it. She rushed forward and brought the weapon in her left hand around and caught it across the chest. Thick red blood began to ooze out of the wound. A strange happiness came over her at the sight of that blood. She was hurting the monster. She was finally fighting back.

Sol felt sick. This wasn't right, none of it. Kathleen was trying to kill Sirius and it was making him sick to look at it.

Blood was now flowing out of the wound on Sirius' chest. He covered it with his left hand in some effort to stop the bleeding, but his efforts mattered little. Blood still poured out around his fingers.

But still she would not let up her assault. Again and again she tried to slash or stab him. Sirius was doing his best to avoid her, but sometimes he could not, and his blood would flow again. Sirius wasn't fighting back at all.

Sol couldn't watch this any longer without doing something. He knew this was Sirius' fight, but he didn't care. He wasn't about to lose someone else he cared about. He took to his wings and flew around behind Kathleen. Sol saw Sirius' face before Sirius saw him, and chiseled onto his face was an expression Sol had never seen there before. It was surprise, despair, desperation, hatred and confusion all at once, but in his eyes there was still a love and tenderness as he gazed upon Kathleen.

Suddenly Sirius noticed him. He started shaking his head frantically as he barely avoided yet another attack.

"Sol!" called Sirius. "Sol get away!"

"But Sirius she'll kill you if you don't do something!" Sol cried, expecting Sirius' reaction but not willing to believe it. "Fight back, stop her! I'll help you!"

"No Sol! I won't fight back! I can't hurt her!"

"Sirius she's going to kill you!"

"It's not her fault, it's hers." He threw an arm in the direction of Companion as he danced out of the way of another attack. Sol turned to see Companion motioning to Sirius and laughing.

The feeling hit him like one of the blows from the tunnel monster. That small, pearly white luminary. It was her fault. Everything that had happened was her fault. The events of the whole escapade, from the time the monsters had first appeared to now suddenly came crashing in on him. All the luminaries that had died, all the spheres that had been destroyed. All just sacrifices to feed the insatiable appetite of destruction for this luminary who was made of nothing but pure evil. She would keep destroying, keep killing, anything to get what she wanted.

Well no more.

His heart full of hatred, Sol raced over to the battlements where Companion was, his scythe forming in his hand, his fingers tightly gripping its warm handle. She was close now. He formed a brilliant orange fireball with his left hand and began to bring his scythe around with his right. This was it!

But she had seen him coming long before. She raised that dark black thing she held in her hands and aimed it at Sol.

He was hit by an invisible blow that sent him reeling. The force of it caused him to flip over in the air twice as he wildly tried to regain his balance. His scythe flew out of his hand and landed in a bed of flowers under a tree, as he plummeted toward the ground and found himself sprawled out on the lawn. The last thing he knew was the taste of the dirt made of darkness in his mouth.

"Sol!" cried Sirius and Polaris simultaneously. Sirius began to fly off his direction but was almost immediately stopped by a dagger in his leg. Kathleen pulled it out and flew in front of him, blocking his path.

He hung his head in resignation.

"I am not going to hurt you Kathleen," he said "No matter how much you hate me now. I know you want to kill me. But I will not harm one hair on your head."

Kathleen's face showed no emotion.

Polaris didn't know what to think. She was just an Earth child, why should she matter this much to a luminary like Sirius? Destroy her and be done with it!

He thought at least Sol had some sense in him when he tried to stop Sirius, but it turned out he was just as insane as Sirius for listening to the green luminary when he told him to stop. She was going to kill Sirius, and it was pretty obvious that the logical, intelligent thing to do was to stop her before she did.

He was beginning to fly up with Sol and help him subdue the Earth girl before it was too late, but suddenly Sol had started for Companion at Sirius' urging. He had seen Companion raise that black thing, but it was too late to warn Sol. Now Sol was lying facedown in the dirt and Polaris had no idea whether he was dead or alive.

"Sol!" he called, but there was no response from the figure on the ground. Polaris had already taken to his wings toward him, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Sirius do the same.

But Sirius was soon stopped by the Earth daughter. Polaris turned away from the one-sided battle and continued his way toward Sol.

But he soon encountered a problem himself. The monsters that had had their gaze riveted upon Companion had started to blink their eyes, and move and growl. They were waking up.

Suddenly Polaris felt himself pitch sideways with a pain in his wing. A monster had fastened its jaws onto Polaris and was determined to bring him down out of the sky. Polaris swung his axe around and severed its head from its body. But they all were awake now. A few more jumped toward him. He flew higher in the air, twisting around and shaking some of them off, and then he swung his axe at the ones clinging to him, so that they fell back to the lawn roaring in anger.

Polaris turned back, but all he saw now was a pile of screaming monsters where Sol had been.

The pearly luminary smiled, with hatred dancing in her eyes. The orange one was done for. He wasn't really worth much to her anyway.

Still, with him gone, Sirius' hope was now less than nothing. Polaris was utterly useless, and now it was only a simple matter of time before Kathleen killed Sirius.

Smiling, she conjured up her blood red throne and sat down upon it. She would watch the destruction of her enemy in comfort, as befitted her. For so long she had dreamed of this day. With Sirius and his friends out of the way, and the power of two of the strongest Zois in the Universe at her fingertips, she could finally achieve her ultimate dream.

She would break the order of the Universe over her knee, and leave in groveling in the dust at her feet.

She had him now. He was on the run from her, and he was growing slower and weaker as he lost blood. She had only let her guard down once. The monster had tried to hold her arms, to take the daggers away from her and thus stop her only means of attacking him.

But with strength she didn't know that she possessed, she forced her way out of his hold and flew some distance away from him. He had almost gotten her, almost consumed her with those rows and rows of long vicious teeth.

She had flown away from it to collect herself for a moment, but now she was ready to go on the offensive again. She set her face and was about to sprint forward, to bury the knife where a heart should be, and end this battle for good.

But then something strange happened. The monster turned its head toward her, and let out a howl. It was different. It sounded like it had some sort of feeling behind it, though she couldn't name it even if she tried. But because of this emotion, she restrained her plan of attack

"No," she thought. "It is only a trick to make me stop. I must not believe in its tricks, because if I do it will be the end of me. My heart must be as strong as steel." She nodded to herself with her conviction, but somewhere in her heart she was not sure if this was the path she should take.

Nevertheless, she was ready now.

Kathleen had finally stopped. Had she realized? Did she recognize him?

Sirius' heart briefly filled with hope. Ever since he had cried her name in a desperate effort to bring her back to herself, she had dropped out of her fighting stance, and a look that was almost thoughtful came over the face that had previously only expressed hatred.

But his hopes were soon crushed just as quickly as they had come. The expression disappeared, to only be replaced by one of more hatred than before, made all the more terrible by Kathleen's vacant eyes.

He saw her start forward, but he was ready for her this time, and knew what she was going to do. Sirius hoped the plan of his own would work. All he had to do was get her weapons away from her. Then he could leave her alone long enough to force Companion to change her back.

"But what if she can't?" Sirius suddenly thought, and pushed away the thought almost as quickly as it had come. He would not think of that possibility. Not ever.

Then Kathleen made her move. He saw her begin the attack; saw her start forward with her arms extended, ready to plunge her daggers into his heart. He stood still as she advanced, still as a statue. One inch closer...

Kathleen crossed that one inch as full speed. Suddenly Sirius grabbed each of her wrists in his hands and, using her own momentum, threw her over him, still holding onto her wrists.

As she was unbalanced and out of control, Sirius loosened his hold until it was at her fingers. He tried to wrench the daggers out of her hands, hoping she would be too preoccupied with gaining her balance again to be able to prevent it in time.

But his hope was wrong. Not only did Kathleen keep her weapons, she grabbed him and tried to pull him along with her. They were both sent tumbling to the ground together, Sirius twisting his body around as to absorb most of the shock from the fall.

Sirius hit the ground hard, and green blood flew out of his mouth and onto his neck and face. He felt a great pressure on his stomach, but did not know what to attribute it to. Weakly he moved his fingers and toes, to ensure himself that he still could. The fall had bestowed upon him more pain than any of the wounds Kathleen had given him had. All of a sudden he felt pain erupt in his shoulders and chest again, and he opened the eyes that he had instinctively shut against the fall.

The weight on his stomach was Kathleen, and she, with her weapons glistening, was opening up gash after gash on Sirius' body.

There was no way the monster could escape from her. She did not thinkabout how the monster had protected her from the fall. It was all just a trick anyway. No more tricks.This was going to end here and now.

In blind fury she attacked it with her daggers, cutting up its arms and chest and shoulders. Then the monster's eyes opened. This was it.

Kathleen positioned the knives at his throat.