Chapter 25. The Daius Seed.

Filia stared at the structure ahead of them. Though no pillar of light now stood there, it still filled her with the same sense of fear it had when they'd first arrived there. War of the Gods and Monsters… Darkstar's summoning… and now Rasmus and the Daius Seed. There was just something… unstable about the place. It seemed to attract terrible conflict.

"Xellos," she said quietly against the onrushing wind as a horrible thought struck her, "you don't think he's already there, do you?"

Xellos cupped his chin in his hand and appeared to give the matter some thought. "Well," he finally said, "there's one way to check…"

Filia waited, but all Xellos did was fly on.

"…And?" she prompted after a minute's silence.

"Oh, sorry," Xellos said. "I just started wondering about something and got distracted."

"What could you possibly be thinking about that's more important than making sure Rasmus isn't at the Daius Seed?" Filia asked incredulously.

"I was just wondering whether you had table-sex with all the other diplomats or if it was just me," he said mildly.

A column of charged energy shot out of Filia's mouth at him. It wasn't even a thought thing. If it had been a rational decision then she would've realized that he'd dodge and not even bothered. It was more of a 'you slimy, miserable creep! Do you really think you're going to get away with that?' decision.

When the burst of laser breath had disappeared beyond the clouds and the red haze faded from Filia's vision, Xellos cheerfully floated back up to her side.

"I think it's safe to say that effect still follows cause," he said.

Filia got it just barely before she lashed out at him again with her tail. "You MONSTER! You didn't need to do that to check! You just did it to be obnoxious!" she shouted, gripping her taloned fist and glaring at him.

"Now, now. There's really no need to get upset," Xellos said, shaking a finger at her. "After all, I think we both know that the truth is that you're not exactly practiced when it comes to table-sex."

"Stop saying 'table-sex'!" she screamed, with a hint of desperation in her voice. It wasn't something she wanted to hear in Xellos's voice even once. "And anyway," she added, calming down from her hysteria slightly and remembering his shot about her not being 'practiced', "I hope to never be."

Xellos turned his head slightly as if she'd said something puzzling. "Why?" he asked.

"Because I'm not a gigantic slut!" she exploded. She almost added 'like you', but that was out of being on edge and disagreeable and probably not really true. Although, to be fair, Xellos was at least more of a slut than her. But again, to be fair, before the whole… (sigh) 'table-sex' incident, most everyone was more of a slut than her.

"…But you already did it," Xellos pointed out.

"That's because you talked me into it!" Filia shot back defensively.

"I don't recall doing that much talking," Xellos said pensively.

"You know what I mean," Filia said, blushing slightly.

They flew on in their own silences for a minute. Filia's was embarrassed, Xellos's was thoughtful.

"So…" he began, withdrawing from his cerebration. "No more table-sex then?"

"I told you not to say that ever again!" Filia practically shrieked.

"I'll take that as a 'no'," Xellos said.

Good, Filia thought in her now embarrassed and fuming silence. So you can take a hint.

"What's your position on beds?" Xellos asked.

Filia really hated herself for understanding that pun. She opened her mouth to say something, she wasn't sure what it would be, but damn it! It'd be something. But she never got a chance to say it. At that moment from behind her a blinding flash scythed through the sky and directly at her. The light immediately turned to searing pain on contact with her wing and she lost control.

She screamed as she tried to flap her crippled wing to regain stability, but it was no use. She plummeted through the clouds, her right wing curling and uncurling in agony. It felt like a hole had been punched straight through it and she knew she was bleeding badly. As she looked up through the blur of her own tears, sudden in her eyes, she saw a golden streak shoot past Xellos and toward the place where the Daius Seed was.

She tried to focus on Xellos. He had his sharp little eyes targeted on the retreating shape of Rasmus, then they slid from Rasmus to her. Even from Filia's quick decent she could make out what they were saying. One shot and he's dead, they said. The dragon cannot be allowed to activate the Daius Seed, they said. Priorities, they said.

No way to teleport. They were too close to the area of destabilization. The sea lay somewhere below her, but from the height she would be falling from, there wouldn't be that much difference between sea and ground. She closed her eyes.

There was a tug, and pressure on her claw, and she felt herself stop falling. She opened her eyes and looked up.

Xellos was there. It looked so… bizarre. He was holding her by the talon. He was holding her against gravity by less than her little finger and he was winning. But then again, she had to remind herself that he was so much stronger than he looked.

"I thought dragons were supposed to be hopeful," he quipped. "Do you not espouse that philosophy in freefall?"

Filia transformed back to her human form, her wounded body bathed in golden light. After all, with a damaged wing her dragon form was much more useless now even in mid-air. She could feel the wound still. It was on her shoulder-blade and bleeding into her dress. At least in her scaled down form, it too was scaled down. She looked up at Xellos, now holding her by the hand.

"Why?" she half-sobbed, not knowing if what she was feeling was closer to terror or relief. "You could have stopped him easily! Now he'll activate the Daius Seed. Why? Why didn't you just let me fall?"

Xellos appeared unmoved by Filia's emotional outburst. He just shook his head, said: "Dreadfully cynical," and began flying again toward the structure that held the Daius Seed while towing her.

"Answer me!" Filia shouted, still feeling the disequilibrium of her fall.

"You always have had a melodramatic streak," Xellos commented as he flew. "Why do you assume you need to be a sacrifice?"

"You can't have it both ways this time, Xellos!" Filia retorted, annoyed that he still managed to insult her even when he was the one being irrational and stupid. "It was me or the Daius Seed!"

"'Both' is a perfectly relevant option," he answered calmly. "Mister Rasmus may be ahead of us, but he can still be stopped."

"How?" Filia demanded.

"It'll take both of us," was all he said.

"HOW?" Filia repeated.

"By closing off the universe," Xellos said.

Filia stared up at him.

"The Daius Seed is basically a pocket universe. It expands and overtakes this one. If we can seal it off, then we can stop its expansion," he said simply.

"…How?" Filia said again, but calmer this time.

"The same way we always planned to," Xellos said, "barriers. Though with a bit of a twist which I think will work much better. We just have to encompass Rasmus and the Daius Seed before he activates it."

"But he's got a huge lead on us!" Filia pointed out. It was true that Rasmus hadn't quite reached the platform yet and that Xellos was closing the gap, flying remarkably fast for someone towing a passenger, but still.

"If I'm right, he'll slow down considerably as he gets closer to the destabilization point," Xellos said, narrowing his eyes at the speeding Rasmus.

"You shouldn't have taken the risk," Filia said, still determined to be angry with him. "You know what he's trying to do. It would've been safer just to deal with him then to go through all this."

Part of her didn't know why she fought so hard. Was it that part of her just couldn't accept being his priority?

"He's heading straight for the Daius Seed," Xellos pointed out. "If I'd attacked him and he'd managed to dodge, there's always a chance that the ricochet could have activated the Daius Seed."

And that's why there would always be doubt. Xellos always had multiple reasons for doing anything.

"Why hasn't he thought to do that?" Filia asked. She shivered. One clear shot and Rasmus would win.

Xellos sneered. "He thinks it's a wish granter. He's not about to blow it up."

Filia stared ahead at Rasmus's flight. He had a wish. What kind of person wishes for war? Not even victory over your hated enemies, but the chance to be locked in combat with them. For an old soldier like Rasmus, that was all he could think of. That's all the dragon race had taught him to think of.

"Hey," she said shyly, looking at the cloud bank below and not at Xellos. "Do you think you could carry me?"

She could feel his eyes on her. "Now's really not the time to be getting distracted, Filia."

"It's not that!" Filia said emphatically. "It's just that… well, if you keep dragging me like this then my arm's probably going to stretch to twice its length. It hurts, you know," she said reproachfully.

"And… and," she added, somehow feeling that her argument was not strong enough. "And we've got to catch Rasmus and we can't be going very fast this way. If you carry me then we can be more… aerodynamic."

"Aerodynamic," Xellos repeated.

"Yes," Filia said. "Dragons know a lot about aerodynamics," she added defensively.

"They do indeed," Xellos said. "In that case, I'm sure you know what's best."

He hoisted her up into his arms. She strove to think of this as the best course of action in the situation and not any kind of profoundly awkward experience because, as Xellos himself had said, this wasn't the time to get distracted.

He was flying fast now, so Filia held on tight. It struck her as horribly ironic as they continued their chase. She was out to stop the man who was supposed to be her protector from destroying causality, while being aided by her most hated enemy; someone who had such a bloody history with her own race that he should by all rights have 'murderer' tattooed all across his body. She knew for a fact that he didn't, though, because—

I can't think that! Filia mentally screamed at herself. Not while he's holding me!

Yes. Best keep her mind on… relevant things. Or at least things that were relevant at the moment.

"Xellos!" she called over the rushing wind.

"Yes?" he asked. One arm was around her shoulders, the other slid beneath her knees. Somehow he was still managing to hold onto his staff.

"There's something very important I need to ask you to do," she said.

Xellos's eyes left Rasmus's retreating figure and looked into her eyes. She took a deep breath.

"Xellos, this time… don't drop me!"

He smiled.

The two of them landed on that strange green platform, with ruinous half-columns sticking out on all sides. It was so bright there! As Xellos put her down she squinted in the blinding glow and saw it. A pin-prick of light so brilliant that it burned black against her eyes. And Rasmus was slowly making his way toward it.

"Xellos!" she shouted.

"I know," Xellos answered. "He's in the destabilization zone. It's where the Daius Seed is transmitting its energy into this universe. The two probabilities are meeting, but they can't mix. His movements should be very restricted, but he'll make it through eventually on willpower, so we'll have to act now."

Rasmus appeared to notice them, even in the bright haze he was surrounded in. He turned his head to them as if moving through treacle. He said something. Watching his disgusted expression contort slowly on every word was not a sight that Filia would be able to forget any time soon.

"Even the sound waves are having trouble moving through it," Xellos commented, as if this was of interest.

Two universe meeting. It was like… like mixing borscht with clam chowder. It was too thick to move through and was not in the least delicious. It just didn't work.

"So, we'll each do a barrier?" Filia asked, as Rasmus turned back, having said whatever his piece was.

"No," Xellos said. "He's a golden dragon. He can break your barrier from the inside. I don't trust a black magic barrier to stand up to the power of the Daius Seed alone. We're doing a fusion barrier."

It made sense. If Rasmus tried to throw energy at it, it would just be absorbed. And… it seemed right to throw a union of black and holy magic at this alien force. If it couldn't take everything this universe could throw at it then the Daius Seed could never be defeated.

What am I saying? she thought wildly. There's nothing 'right' about a union of black and holy magic!

"I need you to give me everything you have," Xellos said, holding out his palm.

She stared at him. Then she gave a fierce nod, laid her hand palm up on top of his hand, and called the magic. Magic from the mind.

In her hand, an orb of golden energy grew. It contained more power than its size suggested. She was giving this everything. And she knew that Xellos was following suit as the orb of energy shuddered and darkened as he poured black magic into it.

"Traitors," a voice echoed into her hearing, seeming to come from far away. "Two traitors," it said, and she realized that this must be Rasmus's parting comments finally reaching them on the outskirts of the distortion zone. "Traitors to race, and traitors to nature."

"Don't stop," Xellos warned, as Filia crumpled slightly. "Don't falter."

"I'm not… faltering," Filia said, through the buzz of energy that crackled through her teeth. Her eyes flashed gold as she dug deep for her last vestiges of energy and watched the ball of energy grow and grow.

She'd opened the floodgates, but was nearly spent. As she let the surge of her remaining energy flow into the orb of power, she couldn't help but look at the fused magic. It jolted madly in her palm. It was black, but in some indescribable way it was a bright black. It was unstable, it was wild, and it was violent. It… it had to be as Rasmus said: against nature. Two such forces can only be brought together against tremendous opposition. It was… pure chaos.

But yet… but yet… though it was wild and violent, that didn't make it unnatural. It was… the ultimate original, older than time. It was chaos, and chaos has the power to both create and destroy. Sometimes it can seem to do both at once. It was meant to be violent. It wasn't meant to be tamed.

…And they were trying to construct a barrier out of this? Could it hold together in its constant state of discord? Would it last or would it tear itself apart?

…Will we last or will we…

"Now!" Xellos called, as Rasmus reached the Daius Seed. He was looking at it and reaching out his hand, as though the Daius Seed was a falling star that he could pick up.

The two of them heaved the condensed ball of energy at Rasmus and the distortion zone. As it reached the time slow-down it burst and coated the distortion zone in a dome of energy. The fused magic drizzled down the edge of the distortion zone, crackling and juddering as it went in a way that Filia couldn't decide whether it was wretched or perfect.

As the fused energy met itself on the bottom of the sphere it formed a bubble and seemed to crystallize slightly. The green light from within it spiked as a mass of smoky energy fought its way toward the enclosure.

"He's activated it," Xellos said, through gritted teeth. "Now we just have to wait and see if the wall holds."

Filia hoped and prayed that it would. She watched the strange globe of energy with such intensity that she felt that it was holding her up by her eyes. A mixture of dark and holy energy made up the outside, and otherworldly energy surged from within. Brilliant green smoke pressed against the walls in swirling clouds, like the surface of some diminutive gas planet. But the wall was holding. It was holding.

Filia fell to her knees. "It worked," she breathed, clutching her side. "I can't believe it worked."

"I can," Xellos said, still watching the globe of energy, but Filia liked to think that there was some relief in his voice. He'd taken a lot of chances on this one.

Filia looked at the soup bubble of chaos. "You think it'll last?" she asked.

"If it lasted against that first blast, it'll last forever," Xellos said firmly. "Or at least close to forever."

Filia was silent for a moment. "…Do you think he's dead in there?"

"Mister Rasmus?" Xellos asked, looking down at her. "No. The Daius Seed only destroys causality, remember? He should be alive in there." He gave a small snort. "Though I can't say what kind of shape he's in."

"What if…" Filia began, and she hesitated to go on. It was such a tiny what-if, but she had to ask it anyway. "What if he was right and it is a wish granter."

"Then he has an entire pocket universe to wish in," Xellos said with a shrug. "He can have all the wars he wants."

Filia grimaced. War, war, war. Rasmus had gotten so embroiled in it that he forgot what he was fighting for until he was just fighting to fight. Peace was intolerable.

"This isn't a place to hang around in," Xellos said, holding a hand down to her.

Filia stared at it, and looked aside. "I… I can't fly on that wing. And I'm all out of energy anyway."

"Well, obviously," Xellos said. "I assumed I'd be carrying you."

"What?" Filia colored. "You mean all the way back?"

"You're injured and exhausted. I don't think you've eaten much today what with one thing and another," Xellos said. He was the one thing, Rasmus and the Daius Seed had been another. "It's a long way until teleportation is possible, and I don't think you'd make it even with a bridge. So unless you're planning on living here, I think it's pretty clear that this is the best possible option."

Filia narrowed her eyes at him. It shouldn't be possible to be chivalrous and a smart-ass at the same time. But she took his hand, let him pick her up and…

…Let him fly her away.

She woke up in his bed the next morning, which wasn't as bad as it sounds and, anyway, wasn't her fault.

Xellos had been right. She'd been exhausted, completely exhausted after her long flight to the Daius Seed and after giving up every ounce of her energy for that barrier. It wasn't a surprise that she'd fallen asleep on the gentle flight home. There were hours of clouds and then… and then she couldn't remember anything before waking up in a comfortable, but unfamiliar bed. She'd been laid conscientiously on her side as to not open up her wound.

She reached a hand to touch the tender spot on her shoulder-blade. It still hurt, but she could already feel her renewing energy closing the wound.

"Did you have a nice twelve-hour nap?" a familiar voice asked, as Xellos took a seat on the bed where she lay.

She pressed a hand to her forehead. Oh no… she thought.

What am I supposed to be thinking here? Oh, how nice of him to care enough to bring me back to the hotel and rest me on his own bed while I recovered so he could watch over me?

Ha! 'What's my position on beds?' indeed! How transparent could you get?

She sat up and said nothing. She tried to conjure up memories of their sleepy flight back. She gritted her teeth. Cuddling against his chest might have occurred. But it was alleged cuddling and, anyway, she'd been so tired that she couldn't be blamed for it.

"The Daius Seed has been dealt with, as has your would-be assassin," Xellos said, reaching over and touching her face. "Mission accomplished, yes?"

Filia let everything she'd been thinking about the last few days before chasing Rasmus to the Daius Seed had made it all so simple. Could all of that really slide now?

She moved back, away from his hand. "No," she said, almost feeling like she ought to apologize. "There are still things left… that I've got to do."