With the city destroyed the children have nothing more to do than end the feud with Xanadu. How will they defeat him, how will they survive the darkness, will everyone survive? The only way to find out is to read on...

Yumi:

We were in a barrier that was keeping shadow creatures at bay; there were thousands of them trying to get to us. Now some really big ones had come and begun attacking the barrier. They seemed to be having much more of an effect than the others had, and they were managing to get that effect through the barrier.

Dark mist flew through the inside of the barrier as the shadow creatures continued to bang against it. The mist wasn't doing us any harm... yet. I knew, though, that it would soon enough. If enough of the mist, or fog, or smoke for that matter, entered the barrier it could suffocate us. So, before that happened we had to do something.

I believe that now would be a good time for you children to start fighting back. The traveler said.

"Oh, and what about you?" Ulrich snapped back.

Not yet... I am saving my energy for the real monster... he replied.

"And that would be?"

The one who is with Xanadu, the one which I have still been unable to destroy. Antavok, my opposite. He replied.

"Are you telling me that this is a grudge match?" Ulrich shrieked.

HA! If only it was that simple. He said. No, Ulrich, this fight is far beyond your understanding. It is literally a fight of good against evil. Antavok is literally my opposite; where I seek to help people, he seeks to make trouble and harm them. He is everything evil about me, and I am everything good about him... We are stuck in a thick balance of yin and yang, a balance which cannot be broken so easily or I will die with him.

"Damn that's arrogant!" Ulrich yelled. "You expect me to believe that bullshit?"

I don't care if you believe me. Whether or not you do doesn't change the fact that it is true. I started this mess so many years ago when I created him... if only I had known.

I thought about that for a moment. If what the traveler was saying was indeed true and this Antavok was in fact his yang in a Zen balance, then if either of them were destroyed that would leave a hole to be filled by another. Assuming that this was true, and that the traveler had acquired all the power that he appeared to, and if Antavok truly was equal to him, then destroying Antavok would create an unbalance which would have to be filled. If that happened then one of two things would take effect; either the traveler would be destroyed as well, or the evil from Antavok would take over within his body. It made sense, on a Zen belief...

"Wait," I said. "I seem to recall hearing about a battle that you two had already fought. If this is true, and you won, than how is he still alive?"

I didn't kill Antavok. The traveler said. I merely stripped him of his power, and thus created Gwydevis. Gwydevis is another form of Antavok, but one that originated from me. He is the negative power to my positive... Yumi, I see you understand what I am talking about.

"Well, I try to learn and understand Japanese culture..." I said humbly. "But I thought that most of that was just myth."

He laughed, and laughed hard. Child, look around you. These are the things that would put you into a mental hospital. Everything that is considered fictional is true, at the very least somewhere. I have seen far more than you could ever imagine, terrible things, wonderful things... Nothing is impossible, not with a nearly endless existence such as this... How else would you explain all of this?

He was right; if everything that I had seen and was still seeing was actually there then there was really no reason to assume that anything else was false. But, if it was all there then we still had the matter of getting past it, and the easiest way of doing that was to get rid of it. The shadow creatures weren't going to leave us alone any time soon, so the only way to get rid of them was to destroy them.

I opened up a discus and threw it into the crowd of shadow creatures. It slashed through continuous shadow until the energy in it ran out. I had barely made a dent in the number of shadows that were surrounding us. I needed help, and that's where the others started...

"Attack!" Ulrich yelled and everyone began throwing everything they could at the enemy.

I saw flash after flash as arrows, balls, and other forms of energy weapons were shot into the darkness. We began creating a hole, a gap where no shadow was able to exist. From within the hole I was able to see ground. I could see what remained of this part of the city, and realized that we were following a street... I looked around us and then realized just how thick our opponent had us cornered...

We began running forward desperate to fill the gap with ourselves before the shadows got to it. We continued our attack as we ran trying to clear more space to get to. After ten minutes of continuous fire we began to wear out and slowed to a stop. Dropping to the ground, panting, we rested... No one had enough energy to really move, no one except the traveler and he materialized drinks and food for us.

You have done well, but the hardest part is yet to come. The creatures that you have destroyed have been absorbed by those that you didn't. They are forming larger, more powerful creatures... the good news is that we are nearly there. Our journey has nearly come to an end, but the true fight has only just begun.

I was feeling better, nearly revived, as he spoke. The food and drink had helped quite a bit, but it was also the words, that we were nearly to the end... I looked around and saw that the morale had risen. We all seemed ready to fight, that was until we realized what the traveler had meant by bigger and stronger. I heard a deafening screaming roar from near by. I quickly covered my ears and closed my eyes. Sensing around me I suddenly saw something horrifying. There was a shadow creature that was larger than a two story building, and it wasn't simply shadow any more. It had taken on a physical form... I could see an extended mouth, long arms and legs, a very long tail, and a body like a buss. Its hands were as big as my body, and its mouth was almost as big as its hands...

It began moving our way. The ground erupted like an earthquake as it walked. I began wondering, hoping, that the barrier would hold it at bay. I preyed, but I knew that it wouldn't. The shadow demon moved up to the barrier and raised one of its claws. With one swing it crashed through as though the barrier wasn't even there. The claw pounded into the ground where I had been, but I wasn't there any more. Ulrich had run into me, pushing me aside. He had saved my life, yet I was still too stunned, too frightened to do anything.

So much for the aura holding them back... the traveler said. Guess I really will have to use a barrier.

"What, you mean that wasn't a barrier?" Sissi scratched narrowly missing a claw.

If it had been a barrier it would have taken longer to move... he said. Besides, I need to save my energy...

"Damn it, so what the hell are we supposed to do?" Ulrich yelled.

"The only thing that is left," I said. "Fight."

I began lifting up some rubble that was lying on the ground. If this creature was fully physical then I should be able to hurt it normally. I threw the shards of buildings at it and they stuck in its body. Roaring in response it focused its attack again on me taking a swing of one of its humungous fists. This time I was prepared though, and I had created two discuses in both hands. As its claw came towards me, about to grab my body, I threw the discuses at it slicing it four ways.

But this didn't have the effect I had expected, as the demon continued to reach for me. It picked me up and squeezed me in its hand. I felt my body being crushed by the force and the wind was knocked out of me. Everything began going black as I stopped breathing.

"Yumi, NO!" Ulrich yelled seeing her being picked up by the shadow demon.

He used triplicate and formed three of himself, then quickly ran at the demon. Jumping one of him landed on its arm and ran towards Yumi, another one stuck its sword in the back and slashed using his weight to make the cut; the third ran to the other arm and began cutting as he went. The beast reacted by throwing the third off of its arm, and grabbing the second off of its back. The two Ulrichs were knocked onto the ground and they faded into lights that went back to the first.

The first, and original Ulrich ran to Yumi and cut into its hand. A bright white cut appeared on the beasts hand as Ulrich's blade slashed through it. The demon roared and its other arm made its way for Ulrich, but Ulrich was ready with his sword and slashed it through the other hand making it drop to the ground. Believing he had won he returned his focus to Yumi and continued hacking at the demon's hand. Behind him the demon was opening its mouth and sucking in the shadow creatures; as it did so its hand grew back. Suddenly, in one quick move, the demon ripped Ulrich off its arm with its teeth and spat him out into the circle where the others stood. The demon returned its focus to Yumi and suddenly shadow creatures flew up around her. They began entering her body through her nose, mouth and eyes.

"Oh, god, Xanadu is trying to take control of her!" Sissi yelled.

Maybe it is Xanadu, but I doubt it. It is more likely that Antavok is seeking the ultimate powers in this universe. Once he has them he will move on trying to regain what I took from him... the traveler said.

"Do something, goddamn it!" Ulrich yelled sputtering up blood; Sissi had already begun healing him.

No, just wait. I sense Yumi's true power is about to awaken.

"What the hell are you talking about, he is killing her!"

Exactly... When a creature's life is threatened it will always fight back with all it has... For Yumi that will be by awakening her true power. Once that happens she will be unstoppable, even by my standards...

"God, what the hell are you rambling about?" Ulrich screamed, "What power? Don't we already have all the power that is ours?"

No, none of you have your true power, just what I was able to give to you that quickly. I would have had to work with you for years to awaken that... or you would have to nearly die... the traveler told them calmly. I know this because when I was still mostly human it happened three times. On the third I was able to finally control my power absolutely.

"Your last battle with..." Sissi said.

"But then, is this your full power?" Sam asked in awe.

I do not mean to seem arrogant but no. My true power is far greater than what you see now. You wouldn't be able to see me as my true self. He said. But Yumi will, during her first initial awakening she will...

"So, when the hell is this awakening supposed to happen?" Ulrich screamed.

Slowly Yumi exhaled her last breath and stopped struggling all together. She didn't move at all as the shadows fully began taking her over... the children's hopes fell as they saw their friend die. Ulrich had to be held down from attacking both the traveler and the demon at the same time.

But it was not over. Suddenly Yumi's body jerked and the shadows stopped. Her heart started up again and her eyes opened. Her eyes were glowing a light golden blue as though they were on fire with it. She slowly turned to the shadow demon and he body pulsated again. Blue-gold flames burst all around her as a ball of light consumed the area just around her body. The arm holding her up began to burn off as the light engulfed the shadow and suddenly with a burst of energy directed at the demon itself it was completely incinerated with the light.

Yumi dropped to the ground and golden-blue flames erupted from around her feet. She stood up fully and stretched her limbs cracking her bones back into place. Slowly she turned to face the traveler and disappeared. The traveler disappeared at the same moment and all the other children could hear was the rush of air and all they could see was the effects of gold-blue explosions.

Enraged by the traveler's arrogance, and with her new found power, Yumi attacks. The traveler tries to passively calm her down, but fails... fatally. With the traveler gone and Yumi out cold how will the others fend off the shadows? Find out in the next chapter "The Mistake".