Paths Of Fate

Book One:

Resurrection

1.

Good and Evil sat across from each other, and glanced at the chessboard between them. Good watched in a helpless state of horror as Visser Three killed Elfangor. Esplin 9466 has always been cruel and merciless, but Good had never wanted Elfangor to die like this.

Looking back at the chessboard, Good had to stop himself from crying out as he saw the fate of the Animorphs and all those around them played out. Many – far too many – died, and all throughout it, Evil just sat back and laughed as his allies, creatures and pawns in the shape of his black pieces overtook Good's white ones.

Blow after blow overtook him, weakened him. Elfangor's grief over Arbron being trapped in Taxxon morph, and Arbron's deeper grief and the pain of knowing that he would never be Andalite again. Elfangor's anger about being taken from Earth, and from his wife and unborn son. The death of Elfangor. Tobias – son of Elfangor and Loren – finding himself trapped forever in the form of a red-tailed hawk, never again to return to human form, and Good wasn't able to help him, as it would break the rules of Good and Evil's game. Aximili's pain over the death of his brother. Jake finding out that his brother, Tom, was a Controller. Marco's pain and anger on finding out that his mother was not dead, but suffering a fate worse than death, as the human host of Visser One. Aximili's anger at Samilin for betraying the Andalite race. Tobias captured and tortured by Sub-Visser fifty-one, and the spirit of his father, Elfangor, saved him from death... 

Elfangor. It all lead back to Elfangor. And to his friend Arbron…

Even when Tobias found his mother, Loren, after so many years, his chances for real happiness were dashed when he found that his mother's memory had been wiped completely after a serious car accident, one that had left her blind and disfigured. From the depths of his soul, he could hear Elfangor's grief and anger over this.

"Not so easy, is it?" Evil sneered at Good from across the table.

Jake's parents were taken, made into Controllers, as his brother's Yeerk ordered, sending Jake into a downward spiral of depression. Cassie's morals and ethics broken as she and the other Animorphs gave the morphing power to seventeen young disabled humans. Her pain over their first casualty, a young boy named Ray. Her arrogance and morality swung into full gear as she let Tom the Controller steal the morphing cube, thus sacrificing their greatest weapon against the Yeerks, and enabling the Yeerks with it.

"You truly thought that you could win?!" Evil crowed.

Visser Three – now Visser One – laughed and crowed in triumph as the powerful Dracon cannon of the Pool ship blew the auxiliary Animorphs and their human allies to their singular atoms. 

And then, the death of Rachel, the Animorphs' happy accident. This emotionally crippled the already deeply wounded Tobias. Momentary victory for him came when the Animorphs finally defeated the Yeerks. But Good knew it was no real victory. Out of it all, really only three of the original six survived the war: Aximili, who became a great hero, like his brother, Elfangor; Marco, who became a star; and Cassie, who became an activist, and later a member of the USA's President's sub-cabinet. The death of Arbron – the long-time leader of the Taxxon Rebellion against the Yeerks, which Arbron was actually glad of. 

But even that was not a victory, for it was about to be shattered.

The One had kidnapped Aximili, and Jake, Tobias, Marco and three others went after him, leaving Cassie behind, but emotionally scarring her for life. Jake, Tobias and Marco were killed, along with their companions, by the Yeerks aboard the escaped Blade Ship.

"Fool!" Evil crowed. "I have won!"

Good looked back down at the chessboard, feeling defeated. "I–" Good started to respond, when suddenly he noticed something. There was a rip in time, and as Good watched, he saw many things float out of the rip. He saw a trillion possibilities join with the ones he could already see. Evil had not yet noticed the rip. But then again, Good thought, maybe I'm the only one who can see it. 

Suddenly, a vision flashed before Good's eyes. A vision of a possibility that could have happened if only he had played his side of the game a little better.

And now, because of this vision, he thought he knew how. He would have to break the rules of the game to do so, but if it saved the galaxy by doing so, Good was prepared to do it.

He got up from his seat, and stood in front of Evil.

Evil looked up, his unsettling gaze settling on Good. "Forfeiting the game so early?" he sneered. "I didn't think that even a coward like you would give up so easily!" he crowed.

Good smiled coldly. "Who says I am?" he replied, and froze time. Evil was frozen stiff, Good was the only thing able to move. Smiling slightly, he twisted the timelines of Arbron and Elfangor slightly, and smiled as he saw everything turn out better because of two little changes – Elfangor and Arbron would live.

Author's Note: what do you think? Do you want me to continue?