It's been too long. I'm terribly sorry. I won't bore you with excuses, just know that this chapter took me entirely too long to write, and I've already started on the next. This story, as a reminder to anyone, is VERY AUTHOR UNIVERSE. I've made up much of everything in here, so if you don't agree with it, I respect that, but let your imagination run wild. ;)

Thank you so much for every comment, vote, and add! I appreciate every second. You're all amazing.

"My child, you seem distracted." Aereon walked in front of her, sliding across the ground with ease, her cloak billowing behind her, the soft air of the artificial outside world lifting it up. The sky was crystal blue, the park just off in the distance, the house sitting off to the side on the far wall; everything buzzed softly, the animal noises being created by speakers humming the tweets of birds and buzzing of bees.

Fiona did not respond, keeping her eyes level with Bryan, who was staggering up from the hit he had just endured. They were sparring again, another session on another day. It kept repeating itself, the only gleam of reality in Fiona's mind was that she was now aware it had been repeating for two years. That knowledge had given her a new power, a new resolution to break this mold.

"And angry," Aereon muttered, drawing the attention back to herself.

"What is the point of this continued training?" Fiona turned her fiery glare to Aereon now, watching the air elemental bristle at the force of it. Her own strength was still a mystery to herself, but as time moved on, she found herself noticing fear not only in the humans around her but the Elementals. "I've obeyed for a long time now, I've listened to every word, every bullshit line. Now stop spinning circles."

Aereon stood still, Bryan finally joining them, his eye swollen from the hit. Fiona would apologize for it on a regular day, but this time she wanted to make a point. Just because he was nice didn't mean he wasn't aware of the secrets. The truth he had granted her yesterday was a rude awakening to how much he was keeping from her.

"As you know, I rarely join you for these sessions. Today I thought it might be nice to see the progress myself. Bryan tells me nothing but good things, reminding me daily that your strength has been restored." Aereon sighed, giving Bryan a small smile before returning her eyes to Fiona. "I suppose I've been hesitant to tell you. As I'm never really going to be sure you'll be ready enough."

"You speak of all of this as though I have a choice." Fiona crossed her arms, not backing down as Aereon showed sorrow in her features. Much so like the musings of a past version of herself; the woman who had sat on her bedside, cooing and coaxing her to eat as she mourned the loss of Riddick. Fiona had learned all too quickly that that woman was a lie, a facade put on by the queen of deception herself. Air moved so quickly, bending itself around people and moving through them without remorse; a fitting image for its master.

"Sometimes showing you what you need isn't the easiest," Aereon argued, the soft click of her bracelets filling in the void as she used her hands to point at Bryan's swollen eye. "You've always been headstrong, restless; don't think I haven't noticed. It's all for reason though, the fates have shown us many things and I'm only –"

"I'm getting really fucking tired of hearing about the fates." Fiona took a step forward, eyes narrowing in on Aereon, arms uncrossing. Bryan was squaring off with her though, almost instantly, putting the elemental behind himself. Fiona was trapped in his desire to protect Aereon. He had spent so much time with Fiona, a mentor, a brother, a close friend; she couldn't hurt him, but she couldn't understand his desire to save the elemental.

"Fiona. There is a world, trapped inside the Underverse." Aereon spoke softly, as though there were others around to hear her secrets. The birds chirped away on their fake tree, the only other noise being the thrum of their hearts. "The Necromongers believed in a different reality entirely, a falsely built construct by the last shadow elemental. He had a desire to rule, to shape the world in any way he saw fit." Aereon moved around, sliding past Bryan to stand in front of Fiona. The shock was written all over the young girl's face, her mind trying to piece together what was just spoken.

"The last lord Marshall was a shadow elemental?"

"Yes. You were born in his demise. As he fell you rose." Aereon pandered to her distraction, placing a reassuring hand on Fiona's shoulder. "That world is trapped inside his mind, a place that he tried desperately to destroy. He burned and killed, tortured and ended everything that lived there; all because it harnessed a light, he could never touch nor understand. His power..." Aereon sighed, removing her hand as she took a step back. "Your power is greater than most. He was led astray by notions of ruling. A feverous desire to be king of the universe. He drove himself mad, and created an entire world to rule while he sank into the depths."

Fiona turned her back, closing her eyes up tight as she tried to find reason in everything she was being told. It didn't feel like a lie, it didn't feel like another fabricated story Aereon was trying to place in her mind to appease her while the world kept moving. She had felt it, so long ago as she woke, as she stared up at Bryan, her mind blank after being converted. She had felt him die, even if he was rooms away, cradled in the arms of death.

"What does this have to do with me?"

"You are..." Aereon treaded lightly, her voice as soft as the fabric on her skin. "You are the result of a vision. Your loss, your pain, your struggle; it has all led you here. Each moment of despair, each day spent behind bars, in solitude, in darkness. It has all brought you here. Unfortunately not everything that is best for us is... good." The elemental wrapped around her, standing just inches from her as she drew her chin up, asking her to look her in the eyes. Fiona was trembling, unsure of what she was being told. And in her soft blue eyes, their gleam fading in and out as Aereon herself faded in and out, was the truth.

Each moment was planned. Each day spent in prison was watched, each night rotting on that planet in the darkness hoping for a savior was orchestrated. She assumed in that moment that even Riddick was probably decided; he was made to train her, made to die. She could see in Aereon's eyes that her life was not her own, and had not been chance, but a story. The plot already written, a character was all that was needed when she had stumbled in.

It was anger. She knew that much. She had been put to this limit only twice in her life. The flames licked up all around her, her body shook, her skin radiated. Bryan was pushed back, slammed into the wall, Aereon fading in and out in front of her, surfing on the outpour of power and strength; the sorrow tucked into the folds of hot flames that surface all around them. They transitioned from red to black, scorching nothing, the world all around them fake, a computer generation.

She had burnt them all when they had killed Riddick. The Slython who had held her captive, his croons, even one of the Elementals who had showed up to the rescue, all of them had gone down in flames, her sadness governing the hellish fire. She hadn't realized that until much later, when Bryan had whispered Riddick's name during a fight and paid the price.

"You have a right to be angry." Her voice floated into Fiona's mind. She tried to push her away but it had never been simple, and her strength was fading slowly. "Let it go Fiona, I have much more to tell you."

But she couldn't let it go. She could see the faces of all of those that had died. As she thought of them, as she shook and wept, she saw their eyes staring back at her, angry that she had been the cause of their death. Her storyline, her destiny, it had come at a price that she didn't pay. A basic equation to create a powerful warrior.

Fiona trembled before she finally felt the last bit of her strength leave her and she crumbled.

"What's it like?" Riddick stared at the purple haze that seemed to stick to thin air in front of them. A portal of sorts, the large black arch was as smooth as granite. The surface shined in the fire light, the purple inside it emitting its own dark light. As though tendrils were reaching out to pull the world in, a darkness hovered around the edges. He could feel it, not only around him but inside his chest, a heaviness that sank into his ribs.

"It's power," Vakko muttered from his chair, his hands trembling as he stared up at the vast glow. He hadn't been strong enough to walk in here from the other room so Riddick had helped. The chair was placed as though Vakko had known he'd be here and he didn't question him on that. "Everything you've ever wanted in front of you, and finally you can have it. A strength you've never felt, a life you'll never tire of, and pain you can never fathom feeling ever again. All rolled into one."

"And to think an entire race of people worshipped this." Riddick chuckled, turning his back on the void. It was not without cost though, whispers infiltrating his mind almost instantly. He was suddenly reminded of Jack, her eyes staring up at him as she died in his arms. He could see the faces of Iman's kids as they perished, Carolyn's eyes fading in his memory as she sacrificed herself for him. He could hear their voices, their screams.

"You hear them?"

Riddick pulled away, putting distance between himself and the portal, his body shaking as he stood on the other side of the room. Vakko was chuckling, as best a dying man could, his skin growing paler, if possible.

"That's the way to find Furya. You'll have to face not only a new desire to be the greatest but..." Vakko sighed, sinking back in the chair, staring up at Riddick with a darkness in his eyes. He had obvious lost his own battle, death just around the corner as each second past. "You'll have to feel everything that you've done wrong in this world at once. Every ounce of sorrow and pain you can fathom, before you. Begging you to stay."

Riddick had no words, his eyes staring at the inky purple void. He could still hear the faint whispers, her voice surfacing out of them all. Her soft melodic laugh, and there she was, he could see her. Her skin slipping from the purple haze, her eyes staring back at him, but it wasn't right. She wore a necklace of blood, her lips pale, eyes sunk in. She stumbled forward from the portal and dropped to her knees, blood dripping from her lips, her eyes, her nose. He felt his heart quicken and he moved towards the portal, wanting to gather her in his arms.

"NO!" Vakko's scream broke his trance, and he stopped. The broke down image of Fiona in front of him shuttered, and then with a realization that he wasn't approaching, it smiled. Rising up to its feet and chuckling darkly, the image stepped back into the folds. "You can't be tempted by its trickery. You'll need your sacrifice if you want to enter and continue forward."

Also yes, I know, another cliffhanger? I'm evil. I'm horrible. But I love them so much.