Chapter 14

Time Will Win

The figure of Venger stepped forward once again. He was still crippled, and maybe even in pain, but that didn't stop Diana shrinking back. His face was drained of emotion, like a ghost, and that made his seem all the more threatening.

She shivered, afraid in his presence in a way she had never been before. This creature was not the same as the Venger from the Realm she had known. In that broken reality, Venger had been powerful, dangerous, even deadly, but this man had a new aspect that she hadn't seen before: Hatred. Genuine hatred so pure and refined, was rare. She had seen in very occasionally back home, when there had been some bigot who hated her for the colour of her skin. But even that hatred paled when compared to the emotion in Venger. Few people have the capacity for such hatred, and fewer have the desire to act upon it.

And now she was faced by a man who had both, and the power to exact whatever revenge he wanted. That was the first time she had ever doubted their ability to win.

She shivered once more as he looked round at the group, his eyes finally fixing on Diana herself. Beside her, Sheila and Ray let Hank slid to the ground, and Presto released his grip on Eric, forcing Diana to do the same as he was too heavy to support unaided.

Venger took another stumbling step forward, and red light glowed at hiss fingertips.

'You will not take my sons from me!' he said. 'You will not…'

Venger stopped abruptly.

'You!' he hissed. 'You!'

Diana wasn't quite sure who he was talking about, then Varla stepped forward from behind Presto, her chin lifted up, her eyes full of an unexpected malice. Varla?

'Varla?' said Presto, his face showing his shock.

'Varla!' said Venger. 'I should have known you would return, treacherous serpent!'

'Varla?' whispered Presto.

Diana instinctively reached out and took his hand, trying to keep him steady. He was shaking.

'How could you, child?' asked Lord Venger his voice rasping with anger. 'How could you turn against your own? How could you turn against your family!'

Diana felt Presto start at the word, though her own surprise was no less. Family?

'Family!' spat Varla. 'You hated me as you loved your sons! You hated my mother too, and my real father!'

Venger's face suddenly contorted in fury, wiping away the indifference in a moment and sending a spike of terror through Diana's heart. But Varla continued as if she hadn't noticed.

'You never cared for either of us! That's why she ran when she had the chance! She took the chance to get away from you!'

There was a profound silence. Diana could felt herself shaking, but she was unable to stop. At last, the emptiness was filled by soft groan. Eric pushed himself up slowly from where he was lying and he looked around the room in confusion.

Then his gaze fell on Varla.

'Varla…?'

Varla's smile grew softer as she looked down at Eric, but a totally unexpected thrill of jealousy passed through Diana, momentarily smothering her fear.

Then the Illusionist looked back to Venger, her head high and her shoulders set firm.

'I came to kill them, both of them, so you would understand,' she said. 'But these others were going to take them through the Crystal to another time.'

The only surprising thing about that statement was how completely unsurprised Venger was. He merely nodded.

'I have waited many years,' Venger said. 'He warned me one day that this would happen, and I have prepared.'

Presto had turned away from Varla, sickened at her sudden betrayal; Joseph had looked away as well. Bobby and Sheila were close together, holding each other tightly, with Ray standing protectively in front. Only Diana looked at Venger as he spoke.

And he looked back, no longer hollow and empty of emotion, but filled with a dreadful power that seemed to suck the soul out of everything nearby. The surrounding darkness seemed blacker and more threatening than she had ever seen before.

'So you are from the Other Realm?' Venger asked her.

She nodded, unable to find the courage to speak.

'You are finally here.' Venger gave a long sigh. 'At last.'

Diana kept watching, the fear slowly changing into curiosity. How had this happened? How did he know about them? And what had happened to Eric and Hank? It all seemed important, somehow.

'How?' she managed to say.

'Their arrival came with a warning that others would follow, one day,' Venger replied, his eyes fixed on hers. 'Other Young Ones, the Acrobat, the Magician, the Thief and the Barbarian. And I have waited many, many years for that combination.' An icy smile spread across his face. 'But you cannot return them to the Other Realm.'

'Y-you can't stop us!' said Diana. At that moment, she didn't even believe it herself, but she couldn't just give in.

'I do not need to stop you, foolish child,' he replied. 'If you go through that crystal, you will not change them. You cannot. You do not have the power to do that.'

'A-are you so sure?' she said in a high-pitching, shaking voice.

Venger nodded slowly.

'The change I wrought is in their very souls. The Old Man could not imagine the power I have poured into them both. You cannot return, and his riddle is rendered meaningless.'

The coldest, most hopeless fear spread through her. After all of this, all that they had done, everything, she couldn't believe that there was no way back.

'We can still take them through,' she said, her voice sounding high-pitched and desperate. 'We can go back…'

'How little you know of Time,' he said pityingly. 'But even if you did return, you may gain your old friends, but you will loose your new ones.'

Venger looked at Ray and Joseph, a small smirk playing on his lips.

'I don't understand,' she said.

'Time must always win, Acrobat. You cannot change what has been, you can't alter the ultimate Fate. If you returned to the failed Realm just after you left, you would be consigning your new friends to nothing.'

'N-nothing?'

Venger leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with pinpricks of red fire.

'They would be ripped out of history, their lives vanishing forever, and there would be no power that could save them from Time itself. They would be gone, forgotten by everything and everyone, even you!'

Diana was stunned into silence for a few moments. Her memories of the Old Realm were fading fast, but she could still remember what it was like when Eric and Hank were her friends. But stronger and more vibrant were the memories that she had of her life without them, with Joseph and Ray as her friends instead. Her heart lurched as she remembered her first date with Joseph, the way she had thought about nothing else for days afterwards. These memories were as precious to her as the time she had spent with Eric and Hank.

'You mean,' she murmured. 'You mean we would have to choose?'

Venger didn't answer. He didn't have to, the answer was written all over his face.

Aghast, Diana looked round at her friends, Sheila and Bobby, Presto, and over to Hank. Finally, she looked at Eric, and an intense yearning filled her heart. Then it was clear to her. She wanted to go home, to have everything put back the way it was, the way it should have been. She would give anything for that… anything to change it back.

'Diana?' It was Joseph, and he was staring at her. 'You wouldn't have? Not really? Not him over me?'

'Joseph…'

'You couldn't!' the crushed, outraged tone made her recoil.

'Did I not warn you, Paladin, of treachery,' said Venger.

Joseph stared at her.

'Joseph…?'

'Enough!' said Venger loudly. 'Those who's loyalty I can rely upon, step forth!'

Immediately, Eric pushed himself to his feet, staring daggers at Diana as he rose. Then he leaned down to help his brother rise and they moved to beside their Father.

Venger then looked at Joseph.

'Do you wish to share in their punishment, Paladin? For if you remain with them, your reward will be oblivion!'

Joseph stared at the ground, and Diana wanted to move over to him, to reach out to him and say she was sorry, but she was rooted to the spot. She had known all along that this wasn't right, it wasn't that way it was supposed to be, no matter how wonderful it had been.

'And you Varla, my child?' asked Venger. 'Do you wish to rejoin your family?'

He held out his hand and the Illusionist stepped towards him. There was no smile or joy on her face, but a look of forlorn hope. For a moment, Diana felt a glimmer of pity for a lost child wandering far from her home.

Varla stepped up to Venger, right up before him, and bowed.

He leaned down and tipped her head up, but there was no smile on his face, and no other emotion.

'Varla,' he said tenderly, holding her face in his hands as if holding a precious treasure. 'You shall never understand how much I lost when I lost you.'

'I'm sorry, Father.'

Venger nodded.

'You have such beauty and such power. And so much more you will never know.'

'Father…?

'But you do know the penalty for disobedience!'

Then Varla screamed and the wretched sound shattered the peace of the room. Her hands flew to her head as light began to pour out of her eyes. For a few moments she seemed to glow incandescent with magic, then she dropped to the floor.

Beside Diana, Presto started.

'Presto, no!' shouted Diana. 'Presto!'

But the Magician didn't listen to her. He rushed towards Venger, his Hat suddenly glowing green.

He had barely gone four steps when Venger gave a careless flick of his hand, and red fire erupted round Presto. He fell.

'Presto!' wailed Sheila. 'Oh, God Presto!'

She took a few steps forward too, but something grabbed her round the waist and pulled her back. The Thief screamed in pain, writhing against something that seemed to be crushing her. The Thief's body began to buckle in the wrong direction, her shoulders hunching and her legs twisting the opposite way, as if she was being wrung out by giant hands.

Diana saw Hank smile, the purest, most evil smile she had ever seen. And it galvanised her into action.

'Scatter!' she screamed.

Though everyone moved, the tactic that had worked so well so many times seemed to fail.

Diana darted to the side, using her natural agility to generate enough speed for a jump. But instead of moving her forward, her Javelin seemed to fold under her weight. A few moments later, Eric grabbed her arm and pulled her round, slamming her against the far wall so hard that it brought tears of pain to her eyes.

'No!' he hissed.

She could see the malice in his expression, and he held her fast.

The others were doing no better.

Bobby was pulling as his sister, and Sheila was still writhing in pain against unseen power. Then Ray jumped forward, bringing his staff cracking down across the side of Hank's head. The magic around Sheila stopped, but she fell to the ground unmoving.

The Ranger staggered, but then he turned, a surge of red light in his hand.

Ray jumped back, closer to the Crystal as fast as he could, but the blast knocked the feet out from under him.

As the Sage tumbled to the floor, Joseph moved forward, swinging his Sword. It seemed to vibrate, as it sent waves of sound through the blasted stones, lifting them up.

Using all her strength, Diana brought her arm round as fast as she could, catching Eric's own arm, and she managed to just break free of Eric's hold for long enough to move. She darted to beside Joseph, lifting her Javelin to protect herself.

Bobby was sobbing beside his sister, and Diana could see the fearsome anger building inside the Barbarian. Any moment, he was going to snap. And when he did, he would be destroyed.

But for the moment, everything was still. Diana looked down at the others as they lay. Ray twitched slightly, but neither Presto nor Sheila moved.

Venger was no longer fighting, he was just watching. Hank was rubbing the side of his head, and Eric was glaring darkly at her.

Joseph was still beside Diana and she smiled hopefully at him.

But he didn't return her smile.

Instead he let the Sword fall from his hands, and it clanged on the stone ground. Then he took a step backwards, away from her, his eyes suddenly a stark, cold blue.

'J-Joseph?' she whispered.

'I don't owe you anything.'

'But our friends. Ray, Sheila…'

Just behind him, the Crystal of Kronos winked and sparkled in the low light. They had been so close to success, they had done everything that they could, and they had still failed. She had failed. She had failed Joseph and Ray, and Bobby, Presto and Sheila. She had fail Hank and Eric too. She had failed Dungeonmaster. They would never go home.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Venger smile, and raise his hand. Eric stepped forward too, like a predator sensing a weakened prey.

There was nothing she could do. There was no way out.

This was the end.

'Please. Please no…!'

And she screamed.

Ray ached with pain, sick at the sight of what lay in front of him.

Everything was gone, Presto was already lying there, lifeless; Diana stood alone against Eric and Hank; Joseph had turned away. Bobby broken by loss and Sheila… His heart lurched when he thought about her.

He had to do something. He had to try. The Paladin's beautiful curved Sword was lying on the ground close by.

Concentrate, he told himself. He clutched the Staff tightly. You're only going to get the one chance!

Venger had told him what to do; the Crystal needed power to control it. Well, his Staff he power, maybe not enough, but he was going to do it anyway. Time always wins… he thought. Well, I will go back, and I will stop Venger.

He took a glance at Sheila's prone body, then Presto, and his resolve grew stronger. He would go back further, back into the past and change it. He would get to Venger or this crystal before the change happened. He would stop Venger from taking Eric and Hank from their rightful homes. He would put it back the way it should be. He would. He would!

Yes.

That's what he would do. He would do it right now.

He rolled to his right, narrowly avoiding the unexpected smash of Hank's fist, grabbing the Sword as he moved, though he didn't know what good it was going to do. Then he pushed himself off the ground, and ran.

He held the Staff up, an command forming in his mind, and the colours of the room shifted from blue to purple to a rich ruby red.

A whirlpool of light formed at the surface of the Crystal, and though he had no idea if it was right, he didn't stop. There was always a change this would achieve nothing, that he would be wiped out of History, just as Venger had said. It was too late, he couldn't back out now. He had nothing left here anyway.

He heard a girl scream, cut short all too soon. He heard a cry of furious anger.

But Ray didn't look back.

Instead, he leaped forwards towards the blinding light of the Crystal.

Wrenching agony filled his head and there was a roar, a blend of echoes from another world.

And then there was nothing at all.