*Poke* I swear this jello isn't edible…oh! ^_^ Hey, here's your chapter while I try and figure out what exactly this is… *Tosses a bit to the dog and watches as she turns blue with another set of arms, and antennas pop out of her head* Oi…0.o;;
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Allen tiredly plodded along the path, occasionally checking the map for directions, but other than that half-jogging with his chin resting on his chest. He didn't take particular notice of his surroundings, his instincts would have warned him had he been in danger so he was slightly startled when the sun was suddenly blocked from view and he could look around without squinting from the light.
"Hm?" Ahead of him was a huge tower of rock, it's sides falling away to a deep gorge on either side that would be impossible to climb down and it's top too high and sides to steep to scale so he could go over. He glanced at the map, seeing such a landmark on the map with a small marking showing where he should go through instead of around the obstacle.
He found such an opening, as he got closer to the base, making out a deep cavern of sorts behind it with no light at all. Taking a torch from his pack, Allen carefully lit it and made sure his sword was loose in its sheath before carefully heading into the passageway at a slow pace to ensure he would not fall or run into anything unfriendly with no way out. The tunnel itself never split from the original tunnel, twisting and turning numerous times but never branching off in the least. Sometimes it was so big he couldn't see the ceiling, and other times so small he strained to make it past the squished in walls. Still, he crept on, making not a sound as hours seemed to pass in the endless twirls and bends of the burrow.
He entered a wider part of the cave, holding his torch high only to have it blown out by a stray gust of wind. "What the…"
*KABOOM*
"AHH!!" Allen shielded his eyes as the room exploded into light, dazzled by the colors and patterns that ran the length of the room. The floor itself was a plain, white and black squares pattern that seemed to shift back and forth at random intervals of time.
Studying the patterns for a moment, he decided it must not be that important and began to make his way across. Somehow managing to stick to the black squares, the pattern shifted on him suddenly and he felt himself shocked through the foot before being automatically transporting to the beginning of the patterned area once more.
"YEEOUCH!!!"
"Sssso, he who was Chossssen has finally made hissss way here," said a silky voice, Allen completely bewildered as he tried to figure out where the voice was coming from. "Welcome, young mortal, welcome to the Hall of Patternsssss."
"Who's there?" he called, carefully setting down his pack and drawing his sword. "Who are you??"
"The firssssssst of your tessssssstorssssssss," came the voice again, Allen blinking his eyes as a giant Snake rose up from the center of the pattern. His skin danced with the same pattern that lay across the floor, blending in it so well that Allen wasn't entirely sure where the Snake ended and the floor began.
"Testors?" he replied uncertainly. "It this one of the Trials, sir?"
"It isssss, mortal, it issssss."
"How am I to get across then?" asked Allen fervently. "The tiles randomly change, there is not apparent pattern to it in the least and I don't have the power to jump or fly across. If the shocks get worse each time, only a fool would attempt such a thing…"
"Enough mortal!" thundered the Snake. "Lissssten to me, and heed my wordssss well. Everything with in thesssssse Realmsssss, both Mortal and Ssssssspirit, rely on a ssssssssset of patternssssss to rule them ssssssso they'd don't sssssssssimply sssssssspiral out of control. Thissss floor emulatessss that pattern. Until you can realize it, and find a way acrossssss where you sssstay only on the black ssssquaressss, you will fail. To passsss, you must let the Pattern of Life become a part of you, until you can ssssee it without looking fore it, recognize it without sssssearching for it."
"That is my task?" asked Allen, his face tight with resignation.
The Snake barely bobbed his head, his tongue flickering in and out in rhythm with his breath. "That isss your tassssk."
"And if I cannot complete it?" asked Allen, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Then, let usss sssay that you will not be going any further." The Snake bared his fangs, which gleamed in the light. "Ever." He hid his fangs once more, taking on a more pleasant look. "Take your firssst attempt, Mortal."
Allen just nodded and studied the patterns gliding before his feet for a few moments, figuring he'd found a fairly safe way across. Starting out, he made it a fourth of the way across before he misstepped and found himself writhing of pain right back at the beginning again. "ARRGHHH!!!"
"You mortalsss do amusssse me at timessss," said the Snake, laughing to himself quietly as Allen stumbled to his feet, trying to shake off the feeling of being struck by lightening.
"Shaddup and tell me what the Pattern is already!!" he growled, stretching the new bruises out so they wouldn't stiffen up suddenly.
"That you have to realize for yourssself," said the Snake. "Try again!"
"Hmm…" Allen studied it for a few short moments, and then came up with an idea. Dropping his pack, he sprinted out onto the middle in the blink of an eye and had just made it halfway across….when he hit a patch of white he couldn't jump over and ended up right where he started in even more pain than before. The sound of the huge reptile chuckling to himself reached his ears as his muscles twitched from the shock. All his joints stiff and sore, his muscles completely turned to mush…it wasn't a pleasant experience to say the least. "Ahh….nmgg….aah…."
"Foolisssssssh, foolissssssssssh mortal," sighed Snake. "You cannot hope to defeat or trick the Pattern for if it isssss not one with you it isssssss againssssst you and will make ssssssure you don't crossssssssss at all cosssstssssss."
"Shaddup and go to hell," he murmured angrily, the swordsman wishing he'd never accepted the challenge in the first place. "Ugh…I'd forgotten…one could hurt this much…and not die…"
"And it's not over yet, Mortal," said the Snake, flicking him with his tail so he could stand on his feet once more. "Again."
"And if I refuse?" growled Allen, still struggling through his extreme pain. Lights danced before his eyes, making them water.
The snake bared his fangs with glee. "Then I eat you. And I have not had mortal flesh for many a year…"
"Alright!! Alright…" Breathing slowly, he managed to get his body under control as he slid to the edge of the barrier and stared at its ever-changing squares. Leaning forward right at the edge of it, he thought it had it for a moment…
*WHOOSH*
"AHHHHAARRRGGG!!!!" Allen fell headfirst into a patch of white from an unexpected gale from behind. Writhing in agony, he stared sightlessly at the floor as he ended up exactly where he'd started. Twitching with involuntary spasms and convulsions, he slowly regained his eyesight facing the one thing he hated the most, the one thing that had caused him so much pain. He didn't even realize what he was looking at when it hit him, for it was so incredibly complex and yet at the same time so simple and child-like it astounded him that he hadn't seen it at first.
"I…but it…wow." He slowly rose to his feet, his pain vanishing as his mind was consumed with the task of unraveling the patterned floor before him. "That's incredible…"
"You see it now?" asked the Snake, somewhat mockingly. "I am afraid, though, your tries are up. Each mortal is only granted three…"
"I understand now," murmured Allen to himself as he paced the length of the barrier, only pausing long enough to scoop up his pack and sword. "It is not just one Pattern, it is many patterns combined. Each on it own is so simple; yet it cannot stand without the others, can it? For each pattern represent an aspect of the Mortal and Spirit Realms. The Guardians themselves, humans and monsters, the animals that roam the planet and the fish that swim in the sea; each a Pattern unto itself that cannot stand alone. They are distinct, yes, you can tell one from the other easily. So complete and yet so incomplete unless given unto the whole…I get it now…it represents Life and Death as a whole. The Pattern that rules Everything."
The Snake sighed in defeat. "Son of-…crap. Well, now I have to wait another hundred years for another Mortal to come along. Get along, now, you've discovered the truth for yourself, after all."
Allen nodded, giving him a jaunty salute before strolling along the shifting floor at a leisure pace, reaching the side without touching a white square at all. The other side of the cavern was illuminated as the front portion faded into darkness, leaving three doors for Allen to choose from.
"Which do I go through?" he asked, finding the map did not say and they weren't marked as far as which one to take in the least.
"These are your three choices," said the Snake, taking on a solemn tone as he rose to his full height. "All of which you have earned, and you will not be looked down upon if you choose one which some might consider the cowards way out." The door on the far left began to glow. "The first door in a gateway back to your realm, right back to the same point where you were so rudely pulled in. There, friends and family await you and there you would be safe. For the time, anyways."
The middle door began to glow, leaving Allen only a moment to think before the Snake plunged on. "The second door is a gateway to the ones you care about the most, your nephew Kenjou and the Guardian Firesprite. With them, you will be as safe as any can be in the Spirit Realms."
The far right door began to glow, leaving Allen no time to think at all this time as the Snake went on a head. "And the third door is a gateway back to your path and your quest, leading you on to the Second Trial which you may or may not succeed in passing as you have this one. Choose carefully, mortal," cautioned the Snake. "For once you have chosen, you can never return again…"
Allen gulped, knowing the door he'd rather go through, and the one he must go through instead. "I choose…the third door."
"Are you sure?" asked the Snake, sensing the hesitation in his voice.
"I am sure," said Allen, straightening his back and adjusting the pack on his back. "I will finish my quest and go on to the Second Trial."
The Snake flicked his tongue out lazily. "Very well, Mortal. You have been very amusing for an ancient being such as I. I wish you well…" He faded away into the dark as the door creaked open, leaving Allen to walk through it…
*ZIP*
"Eh?!" Allen looked around in confused as he found himself in the middle of a field, his path stretching out before him. Adjusting his packs again and checking the map and began his trek forward once again. "Ai…they really need to stop it with those portal thingies…"
He checked his bags and his sword, finding them both intact before grabbing a bite of journey bread as he jogged along once again. His long legs, distances beyond comparison gone as he easily loped along, devoured the ground. Night fell, but he didn't stop. He wasn't tired and there was a Realm to save, so why bother? Days, weeks, he didn't know how much time had passed before he came to a small vale. Slowly his pace and taking a sip from his bottle, he realized it was nearly empty and began to look for a place to refill it.
The vale widened, opening into a broad valley that was filled with a gigantic lake that stretched for miles in either direction. He could see the side facing him, it wasn't that far off and he could swim it if he weren't carrying his pack and sword, but going around it was out of the question since it would take days in either direction to make it to the path again.
Filling his water skin with lake water, he looked around for some sort of boat or canoe to take him across or some wood to make one from when he saw something odd stretching across the lake from his side to the other. It resembled something he was sure he'd seen before, but being unable to identify it he merely gathered his things and waded out to it, jumping on the first platform and staring to walk his way across…
*Crrrreeeaaak*
"Eh?!"
*SPLASH*
Allen found himself standing right back where he'd started, thrashing around like he'd landed in the water and soaking wet. Spluttering and gasping for air, he wiped his drenched hair from his eyes and tried to make sense of it when it hit him. It was a set of balances, so complex and intermingled he couldn't tell where one ended and another began.
"Oh, come on…"
"Tee hee!" Allen turned to see a young Undine looking at him from a boulder beside the lake. "I see I have company once more. You got past ol'blinky scales, did you?"
Allen shook his head. "Blinky scales?? Oh, I get it! You mean that really huge Snake…"
"Yep, that ol'meany head." She pouted prettily. "He won't ever play with me or even talk to me while waiting for the next Chosen to come…" Sitting up suddenly, she added, "You are He, are you not?"
"I am," replied Allen, sitting down wearing beside the rock. "Who are you, though?"
"The second of your Testors," she replied, striking a dramatic pose. "And this is your Second Trial!!"
"Ok…" Allen wrung out his hair, tying it back out of his way when it was decently dry. "That makes sense and all. But, please, tell me how it is I am to get across this one?"
"Then you have realized that there is a lesson behind every trial that you must complete?" she asked, turning unusually somber.
"Of course," he replied, rolling his eyes. "For the first, it was the Pattern of Life, how everything was a separate entity unto itself yet without everything else it could not exist and create the great Pattern that rules the Realm and changes as it's inhabitants change."
"Very good," said the Undine, smiling prettily. "I see that ol'pointy fanged brute is good for something, at least." She gracefully rose to her feet, shaking out her cascading blue dress that resembled the water she so loved before hopping down to stand beside him lightly. "Now, as there was a Pattern to everything, there is also a Balance.
"Some of the balances are heavily set in, and are not easily moved. Others are so precisely hanging in the balance that the slightest touch could send one side or another into utter oblivion, thus destroying both and those around it as well who it had been in harmony with. Your task is to realize the Balance, and find your way across to the other side without falling off or touching the water in any fashion." A bridged appeared from the shore to the first of the balances. "Chosen, you may begin."
"And if I don't want to?" asked Allen, feeling very old and weary all of a sudden.
The Undine just smiled. "See those statues over there?" She pointed behind them, to a group of twelve or so, all handsome young men with well-sculpted muscles and strong bodies. Allen just nodded. "They were once Chosen, like you. That's what happens to those who refuse to go or fail to pass the test. Although…" She considered him for a moment, touching his nose with the tip of her finger. "You're a bit older than I usually prefer to take, and old fogies are fed to my pet octopi, and they haven't been fed for quite a while…" Several large, beady eyes appeared in the water, surrounded by myriads of tentacles.
"You know," said Allen, quickly jumping to his feet. "As much as I'd love to stick around and be a statue for you, I do have an obligation to make it back to my family alive and well, you know."
"Awww, poo," said the Undine, pouting her lips again. "Oh well, you only have three tries, you know, and if you don't make it I still get to do with you as I like…"
Allen gulped. "Is that the same with any who is Chosen and comes through the Trials? The threats and all, I mean."
The Undine nodded happily. "Pretty much."
He just groaned.
Gathering together his wits and strength, he studied the set of weights and balances before carefully walking along the bridge to the first of the challenges. Slowly jumping from point to point, and making sure every balance he tipped was then pushed the other way, he made it halfway across and was about to make the next jump…when the post gave out underneath him and he fell headfirst into the water.
Appearing, as always, beside the Undine entirely soaked and somewhat discouraged, he shook out his hair and sighed. "They are gonna owe me so much when I get back…"
"Enough grumbling," said the monster lighter, whapping him on the shoulder. "Up you go again!!"
"Alright." He got to his feet and walked up the gangplank, going through the same routine as the time before, landing too hard on one of the platforms…and finding himself soaked again on the original shore beside the Undine.
"Oops, looks like you tripped it up again!!" she teased, her saucy grin making him feel all the more incompetent.
"It can't be done!" he cried, throwing up his hands in disgust as he paced along the shore, his clothes leaving a trail of drips in the sand behind him. "Every time I touch one scale, it sets off the other side, and though I try to correct it, it will never go back to the exact same spot, thus affecting the other scales and since I can't measure that change exactly and prepare for it in advance, then it's impossible for one to…" He trailed off, suddenly noticing something that he hadn't seem before. "No…"
"No what?" asked the Undine, completely absorbed in making her perfect, blue nails even more perfect.
"I am the biggest fool alive," he mused, ignoring her entirely. "How could I have not seen it before…? It is incredibly obvious now, for each balance must have a center piece, or a middle beam, or something for it to balance on…"
"Exactly," said the Undine, slightly disappointed that she couldn't keep him there with her awhile longer. He had been quite amusing at times. "You, as the Guardian of All, would watch and guard these balances; but never touch them yourself unless some outside force tampers with them FIRST. These balances represent life and death, good and evil, light and dark, past and present, freedom and slavery…every single opposite you can think of is represented here. Each one you must protect. None of them are you allowed to touch."
"I see," said Allen, gathering up his things and making sure they were in order. "Now, I understand…" Super-jumping his way across, he landed precisely on each middle beam or center post as he went, never disturbing the balances themselves but finding ways around them to still accomplish his goal.
"Remember, Chosen," said the Undine as he made it across, somehow getting to the other shore without him noticing and waiting for him patiently on a rock. "As with the patterns, each balance is connected to the rest; thus a tip in one will result in some change in the rest." She smiled saucily again. "Then again, I'm sure you already realized this, didn't you?"
"Uh, sure," replied Allen, seeing three passes through the cave all before him. "Oh no, not again…"
"Of course," she replied. "We wouldn't be true testors of your strength if we did not tempt as well as test you, Chosen. Now…" The cave to her right began to glow with an inner light. "That one will take your family, to the same point where you were brought here." The middle door began to glow. "This one, back to your lover and nephew." Allen was about to protest at those words, but was silences as the left one began to glow. "And last, but not least, this one will continue you on your quest."
This time, he did not require any time to think it through. "I will take the one to continue the quest," he replied firmly. He smiled wryly. "Besides, if I dare return without finishing it, neither my family nor Lili will ever accept me again."
"Then you are ready," she asked, giving him on last wistful look.
"Yes," Allen replied, glad to be away from her at last. "Thank you, and good bye." He walked through the cave door portal, the tingle from the energy making his arm hairs stand on end as he came out on the other side. A vast field all around him with only on thing in sight, a giant arena, came into view. His hair whipped out of it's holder with a gust of wind, the silver-blonde stands blowing about his face as he took it all in. His sword on his back and pack over his shoulder, the same dull gray he'd worn since he'd left. In a way, he did not feel worthy of the beauty around him, the peace and the calm. A hand over his chin proved that he had more than a few days stubble on his face, and he hadn't had a good bath since he'd left. Rather scruffy and rolled in dirt, he felt more like a beggar than a Chosen or whatever among all this.
Checking the map as always, he headed towards the Arena at a slow lope. The building was huge, towering for stories overhead and the gate from which he was to enter looming over him at least two man heights. Slowing to a walk as he entered, he took in the massive, life-size depictions of humans and monsters competing just to stay alive. Man slaughtering Monster, Monster slaughtering Man…he had the feeling it was more to warn what should not happen rather than what should.
His attention was captured by a stand in the middle of the Arena, three objects sitting upon it which shone brilliantly in the sunlight. A shield with a crest he'd never seen before on it, a sword similar to his own, but with a different design on the handle, and a circlet of silver with small crystals set a different intervals upon it.
"You," came a soft voice, drifting across the Arena on the winds.
"Who's there?" called Allen, dropping his pack and looking all around. Three beasts approached from three different directions: a Salamander, with the scales and ferocity of a dragon mixed with the IQ and speed of a zuum; a Poison, which was a Pixie breed with mottled green hair and venomous yellow eyes; and a Blue Thunder, a Centaur with unknown originals and a blue hair and tail braided with silver bolts of lightning.
"You cannot pass until you prove yourself worthy," said the Poison, the dull look in her eyes making Allen shiver ever so slightly. Without waiting for an answer, all three charged forward, intent upon attacking the human.
"What?!" Allen whipped out his sword and ducked under the Salamander's leap, whirling around in time to smack the creature on the back of the head and put him out cold. His eyes narrowed, the battlelust making his blood boil. "Bring it on."
The Poison came in from the side at the same time the Blue Thunder did, she slashing at him with her overgrown nails and he wielding a pike that forced Allen back against the wall of the Arena. Doing a quick spin of the pike's reach, Allen sliced off the Poison's nails and hit her over the head with the hilt of his sword, feeling sorry for the poor creature as he saw a collar around her neck similar to the one he'd noticed around the neck of the Salamander and the Blue Thunder.
Ducking just in time as he was nearly beheaded by the pike, he brought up his sword and sliced off the end. Dancing out of range, he leapt at the monster's head…and forgot about the other end and took a nasty blow to the stomach beside of it. Rolling away from the Blue Thunder's hooves, he came back up and this time circled around, coming up behind up while the monster reached for another pike and jumping on his back. Holding on for dear life as the part Centaur bucked and leapt about, he finally managed to bring up his fist and clout it on the back of the head, his sword having fallen to the ground from trying to stay on awhile ago.
"You," said another voice, this time from a different corner of the Arena. Allen slid off the Blue Thunder's back and grabbed his sword, standing at the ready incase of another attack.
"Who goes there?" he called, casting about for who it might be.
"Just me," said the voice again, a gigantic female Tiger lumbering into view. She put even Zephyr to shame, her shoulder even with his and a sheen to her fur that gave it's dark blue coloring purple tints. "You are the Chosen, are you not?"
"I am," he replied, rather uneasy about the whole thing at this point.
"You must prove yourself worthy to pass," she said, making no move to attack this time as the others had.
"How do I do that?" asked Allen, even more wary that before.
"Then tell me what it is you have learned," she said firmly, sitting down a few yards from him with her ears cocked forward attentively.
He nodded carefully, relaxing ever so slightly and relating his experiences to her with the patterns, realizing there were not just one but also many yet each was connected to the rest and they depended on each other to survive. He then explained about the scales and weights, and how each represented some opposite within the world and while he was to guard them with care, and make sure they stayed where they belonged so one would not upset the balance of the rest, he could not mess with them for a tipping of one was a tipping of them all and their balanced harmony was imperative to the balanced harmony of all.
"Very good," said the Tigress when he'd finished, nodding her head slightly. "Did you learn anything before that, though?"
"Before that…?" Allen wracked his brain for a moment, and then sighed. "You mean the path with the illusions, do you not?"
"I do," she replied, continuing to gaze at him steadily. "What did they mean to you?"
"The illusions?" he replied. "Things I wanted to help, to change, yet I couldn't because I knew they weren't real, they were only distractions to bring me from the path which I'd agreed to take."
"Yet you still strayed from the path."
"And I had to right that mistake," he added quickly, sensing her slight disappointment. "Which I did, yet I may not be so lucky next time, and I must be more careful not to let other things distract me from my path in the future."
"And what is your path?" questioned the Tigress.
"To become the Guardian of All," came the quiet reply. "And face he who has become the Destroyer of All."
"Very well." She rose to her feet, lumbering towards him at a slow and steady pace. Nothing gave him any warning other than instinct itself as she launched herself at him suddenly, his muscles coming to life on their own as he jerked to the side and brought up his sword at the same time; the dust settling to show him still standing with the Tigress on her side, his sword at her neck.
"Why have you not killed me?" she asked, her voice as steady and calm as it had been moments before.
"You do not seem evil, or even that deadly to me," replied Allen. "You could've killed me, I'm sure, but you didn't. So why shouldn't I return the favor?"
The Tigress considered this, then nodded to herself. "You will do, I think." Then disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Allen blinked, and looked around, finding the bodies of the monsters gone as well and faced with three beings instead. Each stood beside the sword, shield, and circlet, and each bore on their forehead the symbol, which adorned the shield.
"We are the Deemers of Patterns, Balances and Justice," they said as one, each reaching for an object from the stand before stepping forward with it.
"The Circlet, to know the Patternsss when you ssssee it," said the first fellow, his eyes slitted like that of a snake and his teeth fanged in the front. A checkerboard of black and white covered his amble robe, and he moved with the boneless grace of a snake as he placed the circlet upon Allen's head.
"The Shield, to protect the Balances of the Realms, and make sure no harm comes to them," said the second, a young woman by her voice with blue eyes the same color as the lake he'd passed and long hair with bits of seaweed braided into it. Her robes were that of an ocean blue, ripping like the waves as she put the shield on his arm. A perfect fit, he noted, finding it to be far lighter than it looked.
"The Sword, to defend the lives which are precious," said the third and final being, as sexless as the sword it carried over her. Its long blue/purple hair cascaded down in waves, and he was so busy trying to figure out just exactly what it was Allen didn't even realize his sword had been taken from his hand and replaced with the one she'd once held. It was perfectly balanced, and sat in his hand like it had been made specifically for him.
"Well done, mortal," said the final being, taking her place in the middle of the other three and they all bowed to him as one. His new possessions began to glow, his raggedly clothes changing from the gray wool pants, shirt, and tunic into fine linen pants and new leather boots and tunic, a silk shirt under the tunic and a heavy cloak about his shoulders. His belt and wrist guards became like new as well, all the leather he was wearing tooled with the same design he bore on his shield and flashed with silver and gold inlays.
"I passed?" he asked, inspecting his new outfit and weapon before sheathing it and bowing to them properly. "I thank you, Testors."
"Here is your new pack," said the middle one, obviously the leader of the three, as a new one materialized at his back. "And here are your options." Three portals blazed before him, these ones seemingly out of mid air. "As usual, the first will lead you home to the place where you started." The portal showed his parents and siblings setting up camp around the portal, preparing for something to come. "The second, this time, will lead you not to your nephew and lover, but instead he who you wish to defeat." The portal showed a being wreathed in shadows and a similar outfit to his own, his face hidden in a dark cowl. "The third and final will take you to the Ice King's Mountain, where the Crown is held. You must get it from him if you wish to get its powers, and then go on to your destiny and fight he who opposes you."
"Which would you advise me to take?" asked Allen, turning away from the portals to them instead.
"On what basis?" asked the lead being, tilting its head slightly to the side. "For speed, surely the second one. For power, surely the third one. For safety, for the moment anyways, surely the first. It is up to you, Guardian of All Realms and Beings, which do you wish to choose?"
"I choose…" Allen paused there, then nodded his head as if listening to some voice the others couldn't hear. "My enemy…he has his Crown, does he not? Then I must go and get mine…" He strode towards the portal, going through it without a moment's hesitation and disappearing from sight.
The three Testors began to fade out, each saying something as they left.
"That one will make a good Guardian, if he lives through the Climb and the Final Battle. If he does yet, well, that is within the prophecy, yes?"
"The prophecy has yet to play itself out, for some parts have not yet been fulfilled and without them it will fall."
"The prophecy can yet change, as well. We have seen that in all our countless millennia here."
"Then we must hope, for the prophecy is never far wrong, and I look not to a reign of darkness again…"
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Long chapter, and wrote it on my Birthday too, so you all really better be happy!!
Please review, I much love getting them from you and it's nice to feel appreciated once in awhile!
^_^ ~Crosseyedbutterfly~
