Apocalypse

by Silas112

An innocent adventure? Or a plot to control the world? Join Joe as he travels through multiple realms with familiar faces of the Fire Emblem series. A plot bigger than anything they could imagine unfolds in this five part installment. Please review.

5. Apocalypse V: Gateway of Fate

Apocalypse V:

Gateway of Fate

Erk stared in awe as the golden door slammed shut and melded into the stone wall behind it.

"He's…gone" Kristine said breathless. Suddenly, the earth began to shake beneath them, rattling their brains in their heads.

"That's definitely not good…" Anna said sarcastically. The tremors became more violent, and they ran outside the chamber quickly before it came down around them.

Outside it was total chaos.

The normally black night sky was pulsing red, swirling with jet black clouds, pouring torrents of rain onto the earth, which sizzled the snow as it hit the ground.

A yellow sphere began glowing faintly above them, pulsing brighter and brighter until it was almost too painful to watch. A shadow of a figure began to form in the center of the sphere; a human figure. Then a voice boomed out from the light, one they all recognized.

"You insolent little humans thought you'd won when you got the last pendant, but all you did was doom yourselves! It's funny how cruel irony can be sometimes" Jacob's voice announced from the light.

"Come down here and fight us then, funny man!" Erk yelled, preparing a fireball in his palm.

"It would appear as if I can't as of yet; my power is not great enough yet to break the seal holding me here in the Lair. But the lair is closer to home than you may think, for me anyway. But my minions have no problem fighting with you if it's what you really want. Attack!" he yelled, and the sphere disappeared.

Suddenly, red spheres of light began to appear around them, and when they dissipated, knights of pure shadow stood in their place, swords drawn, eyes glowing red, ready to fight.

"Get 'em!" Erk yelled, throwing his ready-made fireball at the nearest one.

The fire made a hole in the warrior's chest, but it kept moving forward towards them. Anna moved forward fast and separated the head of the injured knight. The shadow head fell to the ground silently and dissipated, along with the knight. Kristine shot an arrow through what she thought to be the helmet of the knight, making it dissipate instantly.

Following suit, Erk made a javelin of ice and threw it into the face of the knight, killing it. Now the only sounds were the billowing winds and the falling rain.

"Now what do we do? Vance isn't here to teleport us home" Kristine asked. As if to answer her question, three jets flew overhead, screaming through the air with the force of twenty semi trucks.

"I guess we see where they came from firstly" Erk said.

They began traveling in the direction that the crafts flew from. After a few minutes of running, shadow creatures began crawling out of holes in the ground. None of them were the knights that they had defeated before; these were pure beasts out for the taste of blood. Erk's eyes began glowing red, and he stopped in his tracks. He held his hands up to the sky and black clouds began to gather above him.

"Keep fighting, you won't get hurt" he announced. Anna drew her sword and Kristine readied her bow and notched an arrow. About 20 of the creatures then charged at them maniacally, claws bore.

Suddenly, lightning bolts began firing out of the cloud Erk had gathered, striking down one demon after the other. In a matter of minutes, they had obliterated every creature that charged at them, leaving nothing left of them. The cloud dissipated, and Erk's eyes returned to normal once again.

"I didn't know you had that kind of power, Erk" Anna said, sheathing her sword.

"Magick is stronger when you have strong motivation behind it. Also, I never wanted to overexert my power for fear that it may hurt one of our own" Erk explained. Soon they were running again, searching intently for the base that the jets had come from.

When two more jets sailed overhead, they knew they had to be close. Sure enough, a few minutes later they came across a barbed fence guarding a giant stone jet hangar.

"Bingo" Erk said. He held his hands up to the fence, and the metal immediately began glowing orange with heat. Within moments, the metal had melted off the fence and was now a sizzling pool of metallic liquid melted into the snow. They stepped over the puddle and under the fence, continuing at a sprint towards the base. An armed security guard noticed them running and leveled his gun at them.

"Halt or I'll shoot!" he demanded, taking aim. Erk, Anna and Kristine stopped in their tracks.

"We're not here to hurt anyone, we just need a lift!" Erk yelled.

"This isn't a public bus station, kid" the guard said, not moving his gun.

"We know, but there's no other way to get back home, and with all these demons and warriors about, it's kind of dangerous to even think about walking" Erk explained, not breaking his gaze. They locked sights for a moment, and then the guard lowered his weapon.

"Okay, I give. Who do you need to talk to?" he asked.

"Whoever's in charge here, they should be able to help us" Erk said, walking forward slowly. The guard turned on his heel and led them into the base.

They entered through a thick steel door on the side of the hangar, and immediately went up a flight of stairs to the left of the door. They walked up two levels, and came to another heavy steel door. The guard opened it and allowed them through.

"We just can't get away from you even if we try, can we?" Erk asked the man behind the desk. It was General Williams, looking immensely stressed and typing frantically on the computer terminal on his desk in front of him.

"I'm sorry, have we met?" he asked, standing up.

"We haven't met personally, but you fought alongside with the other Apocalyptic Elect; Joe, Lyn, Hector, all of them" Erk explained.

"Ah yes, how could I forget them? Valiant warriors they were, such a shame for them to go. You say you're comrades of theirs?" General Williams asked, walking around the desk and shaking each of their hands.

"Yes, we are. Joe's brother Vance kind of, er…got into a bit of trouble a little bit ago, and he's no longer with us, and we need a lift back home" Erk explained.

"Say no more, you'll be on the next transit jet out of here. God only knows with this new wave of demons flowing in, we need a few more good warriors back home" Williams said, walking back over to the terminal. He typed a few lines into the computer, and then looked back up at them.

"All finished, just head back out the way you came in, and go to the first big hangar door to your left; there'll be a pilot there waiting for you" Williams explained as he shook each of their hands again.

"Thank you so much, you're a great man, General" Anna said gratefully. They made their way out and back down the stairs once more.

The cold whipped at them as they exited the building and took a left out the door. It was a few yards to the first hangar, but even at that close of a distance, they couldn't see the pilot until they were practically on top of him.

"Greetings. Thompson's the name. Enter through the door here and we'll be on our way" the pilot said, greeting them.

"You sure you can fly in this kind of weather?" Kristine asked over the billowing winds.

"This? Oh this is nothing. We've flown in much worse than this" Thompson said, opening a steel door to the left of the giant hangar door. They stepped inside and a light immediately flicked to life somewhere above them.

The jet sitting before them was a massive black hunk of metal that looked dangerous even when inactive. Thompson stepped over to the jet and opened the lower door to the craft. A platform lowered from the belly of the beast allowing them entry. He then quickly ran over to the giant hangar door, and pressed a green button to the right of it, turning it red. The giant metal door immediately started lifting open, letting the billowing winds and snow into the hangar.

He raced back to the jet and ran up the steep steps into the jet, then pressed a button to his left to close the jet once more. When the platform closed, the only light that illuminated the inside then were the buttons, screens and dials that dotted the pilot area of the jet.

"Take a seat in the back and we'll be rolling in a moment" Thompson said, then disappeared into the front of the craft. For a military jet, this one was quite lavishly decorated. Maroon leather seats, a mini-bar in the back, and a few small TV's docked into the walls.

"The military officials definitely like their comfort" Anna said, flopping down on one of the seats.

"Let's not waste any time, guys. We should use this time to figure out what we're going to do once we get back home. Vance said to find Satan and put him back where he belongs, but in order to do that, we'd have to find him first, which is kind of hard without Vance's teleport ability" Erk said, his voice steadily rising as the jet engines boomed to life. They sat down at a small oak table flanked on either side by maroon-leather seats, flopping down to discuss business.

"I can't think of any way we can find him without Vance's visions or teleportation…Do you think there's any chance he might come back?" Kristine asked.

"I don't think so…we might be on our own here guys" Erk said depressed, sitting back a bit in the seat as the jet started moving.

"On second thought, let's use this time to rest, we need it badly, and I think all our minds' need rest now" Anna said, her head lying back on the seat, staring at the ceiling of the cabin. They felt the craft around them accelerate quicker and quicker until finally the cabin surged backwards as the jet left the ground and became airborne.

"I know we'll find him again, we just have to…" Erk thought to himself, the loud humming of the jet engines burning through his thoughts.

It was a good two hours before they touched down in the target airport. Erk told the pilot the coordinates of their home, and the pilot laid it out on his map of the city.

"Well, you're about an hour away from there, so would you like me to arrange for transportation for you? General said to give you any conveniences you may need, and that's an awful long ways to walk" Thompson said to Erk.

"That would be great, thank you" he responded. Thompson opened the stairwell leading out of the jet and stepped outside. They walked towards the building, entering through a door a few hundred yards from the jet. Thompson walked to a phone on the wall a few feet from the door and began dialing.

The airport was fairly fancy, with red and grey checkered carpet and sky blue papered walls. Thompson hung up the phone and joined them by the door once more.

"A cab should be here in about five minutes to take you home. Have a safe trip; I've got to get the jet back to base. I hope you see ya'll again sometime" Thompson said, saluting them.

"Thank you for the lift. It was a pleasure meeting you" Kristine said. Thompson then opened the door and disappeared. They sat on wooden benches on either side of the door as the sound of the jet faded into the distance.

"So…what are we gonna do now? I don't really see a point in fighting without Vance; we wouldn't know what to do" Anna asked, looking absentmindedly out of the window in the door.

"I'm not sure yet, but I'm sure we'll come up with something by the time we get to the house" Erk said, staring at the floor.

"Who are we kidding?" Kristine suddenly blurted.

"What do you mean?" Erk asked, looking up at her.

"We have no hope of survival now! Sure we could fight for a while, survive a few years longer perhaps, but for what? Eventually the world is gonna be covered, and we're all going to die. There's no point anymore…" Kristine ranted maniacally. They all stared at her as she lowered her head to stare at the floor.

"We all have that burden right now, but there's no point in just giving up and letting them win. We're stronger then that, and if I know Vance, he'll find some way to let us know what to do, he and Joe always have" Erk said, trying to comfort her. They heard the soft hum of a car go past the door then halt a little ways past it.

"That's our ride, let's go" Erk said, standing up. They made their way out the door and to the cab. It was the standard yellow with black and white checkers running down the side. They crawled in the backseat and slammed the door. Erk let the driver know where it was they needed to go, and the cab driver sped off.

No one said a word during the journey; they simply looked out the windows at the small black figures flying above the earth, an omen of what was surely soon to come. An hour of silence later, and the cab pulled up in front of their house. It was exactly as they had left it the previous day. Had it really only been a day? It seemed like weeks since Vance had blasted open the chamber that unleashed all of this hell.

They paid the driver with interest, not knowing how much longer he would live anyway. They approached the front door and Erk unlocked it with a key he pulled out of his back pocket. Kristine fell down on the couch as soon as she walked in the door and laid her head down on the arm of the couch. Within minutes she was fast asleep. Erk and Anna sat on the other couch across the room talking.

"What are we going to do? We don't have anything to occupy ourselves with except waiting here to be killed" Anna asked frantically.

"I'm not sure…the only thing I can think to do would be to wait. I'm positive Vance will find some way to contact us. Only then will we know what to do" Erk replied. Anna nodded, almost absent-mindedly, staring at the floor.

The sun was beginning to set now, the red streaks of light moving slowly up the wall, glowing around the rest of the room. Anna let out a long, silent yawn, and then arose from her spot on the couch.

"I'm gonna turn in early today, a lot has happened. I'll talk to you in the morning" she said, and started for the stairs.

"Wait" Erk said, also standing up. She froze and turned to face him.

"We will get through this. You just watch. Our signal will come soon. We just have to be patient" Erk said. He then hugged her, more for his own sake than hers, and followed her up the stairs and into his own room.

The next morning they slept in later than they normally would, seeing as how they had nowhere important to be anyway. Erk arose from his bed at nine, bare-chested, scratching at his chin where stubble had grown once more.

"All this magick and I can't even keep a clean-shaven face for more than a day…" Erk jested to himself. He looked at himself on the full-body mirror hanging on the wall opposite his bed. His stomach was covered in healed scars and old burn marks.

"That's the sacrifice you make when you live a life of adventure…" he said to himself, opening a drawer in his dresser and searching for a shirt and a clean pair of pants.

Vance's face flashed through his mind; the terrified look on his face as he flew through the air into the stone door. Erk would never forget that face, nor would he rest until he found his comrade once again. He pulled out a tight black t-shirt and pulled it over his head and put on a fresh pair of beige khakis. By the sounds of bumping and the television downstairs, he could tell that Kristine and Anna were awake once again. He made his way out the bedroom door and down the stairs.

Kristine was curled up on the couch on her side with her head on the arm, watching the television. It looked as if she hadn't bothered to get up since she had awoken. Anna was busy in the kitchen, cooking up bacon and eggs for breakfast. Erk took a seat on the other couch and laid his head back on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

"Sleep well?" he called into the kitchen, not raising his head.

"You could say that, how about you?" Anna called back.

"Pretty well considering the circumstances" he replied. Kristine remained silent, gaze locked on the television.

"You okay, Kristine?" Erk asked, raising his head to look at her. She simply nodded and kept watching the television. Erk figured she was still in a bit of shock from the previous day and left it at that.

"Come on and eat guys" Anna said from the kitchen. Erk rose from the couch but Kristine remained where she was. He sat down in the kitchen with a plate of food and began eating. Anna sat down opposite of him at the table. Once they had finished, they both went back into the living room and sat down on the couches; Anna on the small couch and Erk next to where Kristine lay.

Erk could feel that she was trembling as she laid there without even having to be in contact with her; the entire couch was slightly vibrating.

"Kristine, are you okay?" he asked. She turned to him, moving for the first time since he had come downstairs. She looked at him with glassy eyes, obviously still quite shaken, and slowly shook her head. She sat up quickly and buried her face in Erk's shoulder, tears now streaming.

"Why did it have to be him? He was our only hope! We can't even do anything now! You said we'll get a signal, but when? When damn it?! I can't just sit here like this and do nothing!" she said emotionally, her voice slightly muffled by Erk's shoulder. He held her and gently pet the back of her head for comfort.

"I know. I know how you feel, but we have to keep strong for everyone out there. Fate will attack soon, I can feel it, and now with how few we are, we need to be ready. If we fail, earth fails. We'll get our signal soon…" he said in a soft voice. She sobbed softly into his shoulder, slowly calming with every passing minute. Soon she had stopped crying, but her eyes were still pink and puffy.

"We'll all get through this, don't you worry about that" Erk said comfortingly. No sooner had the words left his mouth, the TV began emitting an extremely loud, high-pitched whine that made them all cringe and cover their ears.

"What the hell is that?" Anna yelled. Erk could barely hear her; the sound was unbearable. The TV then began shaking violently and the screen began flashing brilliantly bright white. It bounced backwards until it was up against the wall.

"I've got a bad feeling about this!" Erk yelled over the noise. He ran over to the door and threw Anna her sword and Kristine her bow, preparing them for the worst.

The TV then suddenly absorbed into the wall behind it, forming a big black, swirling hole in the wall. The noise died a little but a high frequency whine continued to screech through the air at a tolerable level. Something stirred from within the black spiral, and suddenly three shadow knights emerged from it, swords raised and eyes glowing menacingly white.

"Not good!" Erk screamed, throwing a fireball at one that approached him. It seared through the stomach of the fiend and soared right through it, colliding with the wall behind it. Erk then threw another one at its head. A sizzling noise struck through the air as the enemy's head dissipated. The knight's body dissipated slowly into nothing, leaving behind no trace.

"Aim for the heads, guys! Otherwise they won't die!" Erk yelled, jumping forward to help Kristine. She fired an arrow at the opposing knight, piercing it through its glowing, white eye. The shadowy fiend trembled for a moment, and then dissipated.

Anna made quick work of her foe, feigning low and then striking it through the neck with her blade. Then all was relatively silent.

They could hear muffled screams coming from all around outside.

"It wasn't just us, but at least we survived these ones" Kristine said.

"You wretched fools, you simply stepped on the rejected ants of the hill. You've done nothing of worth" Fate's voice boomed around them.

"Stop toying with us and show yourself you coward!" Erk screamed at the air.

"Don't you listen you imbecile? I can't yet. But I will, you'll just have to wait a bit longer. In the meantime, I'm sure I can keep you, entertained…" and Fate's voice faded away in a torrent of maniacal cackling. They suddenly heard deep thuds coming from outside, like a gigantic stone basketball bouncing down the street. They raced to the door and ran out to see.

Down the street, three massive shadow knights made their way up past the houses, swinging their massive shadow-flamberges; giant swords with blades that spiked and curved like the tongues of a fire.

"Elect! We decree thee to join our ranks, or suffer death by our hands" the leading Knight bellowed. Each one had a different colored gemstone embedded in their foreheads.

The leader's was glowing emerald, the one to the right had a dazzling topaz, and the left one had a crimson ruby. Other than that, they look identical; about seven feet tall, glowing white eyes, and almost indistinguishable attire due to the shadow-coloration of their bodies.

"You want us? Come and get us" Erk yelled, raising both hands. His right was engulfed in flame up to his elbow, while the left was raging with bolts of electricity, circling and flickering all the way up to his shoulder. Anna raised her blade, which began glowing red, and Kristine nocked an arrow on her bow.

"So be it. Your fates are sealed" the emerald Knight bellowed, raising his flame blade. They began advancing once more, quite slowly for how fast Erk suspected they could move. The small tremors made it seem like the cement could barely contain their weight, or maybe power. Erk hoped it was the first option.

They stopped in the street in front of the house, civilians still being slain left and right by the lesser-knights ravaging the city. It seemed like everyone's televisions and computers created portals for these enemies to come through.

"It's like Electro-geddon…" Anna joked. Erk frown at the bad taste of her wordplay.

"I tried" she jested. Erk jumped off the porch, did a flip in the air, and released the pent-up fire and electrical energy at two of the massive Knights. The fire struck the Ruby Knight, and the electricity struck the Emerald Knight. The elements simply absorbed into their shadowy depths and had no effect.

"My turn" Emerald stated. The gem in its forehead began glowing brightly green, growing brighter with each passing second. Erk felt as if his soul was being ripped from his body. He heard Anna gasp behind him, as if she were out of breath, and knew that she felt the same thing. His feet lifted off the ground, and Kristine shrieked from behind him; she hated heights.

He accelerated faster and faster upward until he could see nothing but the blinding green light around him. Suddenly, the light faded all at once, leaving him partially blinded while his eyes adjusted. Everything had a bright purple tint to it from the light, but when his eyes had recovered enough to see, he gasped.

Overhead he could see only grey and black clouds with gusts of billowing winds blowing all around. He was standing on a small wooden platform, almost too small for him to stand on, which was held up by a moderately sized wooden pillar, which stuck out of a raging sea beneath him. In all directions for as far as his eyes could see, all he could find from horizon to horizon was raging torrents of sea. His breathing got heavier with each passing second.

'Water…I hate the open water…fear of drowning…' he thought to himself. His mind began reeling with ideas of how he was going to get out of this predicament. He didn't want to give in to the sense of helplessness; he couldn't.

Anna was flying faster and faster up into the air, her breath getting shorter and shorter with each passing moment. Suddenly, her feet found solid ground, the light dissipated instantly, and her breathing became normal once again.

She was back in her hometown, surrounded by tall buildings and streetlights. A small demon ran out from behind a building and charged slowly at her.

'Easy prey' she thought to herself, reaching to unsheathe her sword; there was nothing there. The demon came closer, and now she could see in the distance, thousands of demons of multiple sizes coming towards her, all frenzied with bloodlust.

She stared in awe, unable to move a limb from shock. The impending doom moved faster.

The swirling bright, blinding lights gave Kristine a headache, even through her closed eyelids. She was relieved when she felt solid ground beneath her feet and the light faded away. She opened her eyes, only to shriek in terror.

She was at the top of an enormous skyscraper, tens of stories in the air. She leaned back on the giant radio antenna on the building, strong winds whipping her hair up and all around in different directions, threatening to throw her off to her death.

'It just had to be heights…' she thought to herself, terrified.

Erk looked in all directions for a solution to his plight, but could think of nothing. He was standing on a wooden platform, no bigger than 2 foot on each side, supported by a single wooden column, in the middle of some ocean, with a storm raging on the horizon.

He was just about to give up thinking when a strong blast of wind hit him full-on in his front, throwing him off balance, and plunging him into the dark depths beneath him. The water was frigid and knocked the wind out of him as soon as he broke the surface of the glassy darkness. His limbs tried to keep him breached above the surface, but the cold slowed them so much that they were almost already practically numb. The weight of his armor only added to his burden, pulling him down faster and wearing him tired.

'So this is the end…they won' he thought, treading for his life.

The oncoming army was now a tremor of footfalls and crazed demonic shouts. She ran for her life, racing up the street as fast as she could, away from the nightmare. She was up against an army, by herself, and unarmed. Never had she been so frightened in all her life.

Never had she felt so helpless.

She ducked behind a nearby building, blocking them from view, although she could still hear their monstrous advance in her direction; destruction incarnate. She double-checked to make sure that her sword wasn't on her; nothing, she was completely unarmed. She didn't even know any magick to back her up.

She wished more than anything that Erk was there to help her, even Kristine. Hell, anybody. A small demon suddenly rounded the corner, no larger than a puppy, its glowing red eyes staring up at her hungrily. She kicked out as hard as she could at its face, punting it several feet forward. It fell limp to the ground, blood leaking from its face.

The manhole cover to a nearby sewer entrance was lying uncovered. She quickly ran to it and scrambled in, sliding down the ladder into the dark, and, she hoped, away from the approaching death.

Kristine was so terrified that she was almost sobbing.

The wind still whipped around her, but she held quite firmly to the radio antenna. Hawks and eagles flew around her, soaring in circles almost as if they were threatening to tackle her off, sending her hurdling to her doom. One of them looked her in the eye for a moment, before its eyes started glowing brightly orange. She jumped from shock, but quickly steadied herself again.

She saw no way out of this situation; this was how it was to end.

Erk's head bobbed viciously up and down in the water. The cold had knocked the wind out of him and now he was struggling just to draw adequate air when he surfaced. He could no longer see straight; his eyes strained to see through the icy water that filled his vision.

With each effort at air, he drew in more and more water, burning his lungs. His muscles began to fail him and he slipped further and further into the depths, his limbs still flailing for his life.

'Using my fear of drowning against me…this is a new low even for evil…' he thought to himself as his efforts failed him more and more. His muscles were screaming in agony for rest and the icy waters finally consumed the top of his head. As the dim lights of the sky faded faster and faster, he finally gave up trying, giving himself up to the raging sea.

Just as he felt his last breath leaving him, he felt strong hands grab him under his arms and start lifting him up into the air, out of the darkness of the water. A soft white glow emanated from above him as he was dragged quicker and quicker out of the water. When he finally breached the surface, he took in a giant gasp of air and sputtered out all of the water in his lungs.

The visage of the sea around him dissipated suddenly, and was replaced with that of a major city, under siege by the sounds of screams in the distance. When his breathing returned to normal, he turned to look at his savior, and gasped.

Anna ran through the sewers, the only thought in her head being escape. She came to a four way intersection of pipes and stopped. A tremor of rumbling and footsteps shook above her and she knew she hadn't gotten very far. She took the tunnel to the right and continued running.

Just when she thought her legs would give out, the tunnel in front of her exploded in a reign of flames and stone shrapnel. Demons flooded into the tunnel, swords and axes in hand. She heard growls and voices behind her and knew she had been cornered. She fell to her knees and huddled her face behind her arms, waiting for the worst.

'Helplessness…anything but this…' she thought to herself.

Suddenly she heard screams and growls of pain all around her and knew that something wasn't right. A soft red glow shone around her, and she poked and eye out to look.

There was a translucent man fighting back the demons single handedly, with nothing but a simple silver rapier. She hid her face again until the screams stopped. When she felt a hand on her arm, she lifted her face and gasped at the person before her.

She was looking into the face of a man with bright blue eyes and bright crimson colored hair.

Kristine was sitting towards the edge of the building, her knees drawn up around her chest and her arms wrapped around them.

'There's always a solution…it's just hidden…' she kept telling herself; but she knew she was only fooling herself. She was doomed.

She then heard soft rippling behind her, like cloth in a strong breeze. She turned her head and gasped. A giant red eagle was flying on the opposite side of the building, the size of a large dump truck. Its glowing yellow eyes were fixed only on her, staring ravenously.

She tried to turn away but couldn't break her gaze. Just when she thought it was going to land, it began moving slowly away from her, inching slowly through the air. Suddenly, it reared back slightly and began flapping its wings fiercely at her, billowing gusts of wind at her.

She shrieked suddenly as she tumbled over the edge of the building and grasped onto the ledge, her feet dangling over the void beneath her. She tried to pull herself up just as the creature emerged from the edge of the building, still staring at her. It lowered itself slightly, and gouged at her hands with its claws.

She felt red hot pain sear through the backs of her hands until she suddenly slipped and began falling into the clouds beneath her. The winds whipped her hair up above her as she screamed all the way down, windows on the building streaming past her vision as she flipped and spun in the air.

Suddenly, a pale, glowing, blue-haired figure appeared a ways above her and began soaring down towards her, intent on catching her. She saw the pale glow from above as she was flipping; the only reason she knew it was above was because it was where she was falling from.

She could faintly see the ground beneath her, and her screams turned into agonizing shrieks of terror. She began frantically groping at the sky for her life, knowing full well that she wouldn't find anything to slow her fall.

The spirit flew faster, hoping against hope that he could stop what was about to happen. She was now only a good 1000 feet off of the ground, and still accelerating. She knew she only had a split second left until she struck the ground. People standing around were pointing up at her and gawking as she fell further.

The spirit was now within two arms' lengths of her, and lunged one final time for her arm; and missed. He watched in horror as she fell her final second of life, then a sickening thud. She was gone.

He hesitated for a moment, and then flashed away.

Erk was staring into a face he thought he'd never see again. He hadn't aged a bit, his purple hair as vibrant as ever, and his blue eyes as radiant as they had been in the past. Joe looked like a miracle in a man's body.

"J-Joe? But…but how can it be you? You're dead!" Erk exclaimed, clearly in shock.

"Still am. Come on, try and take a swing at me" Joe replied, holding his arms out at his sides. Erk reached for Joe's abs, but his hand went right through them.

"But, then how did you pull me from the water?" Erk asked his face quite pale.

"It was a spiritual realm you were sent to, so I had some solidity there, so I could pull you out" Joe explained, taking a seat on the ground. Erk sat down in front of him.

"What about the others?" Erk asked anxiously.

"Eli and Hector are taking care of them. We should be getting word any minute now from them. They have to give the same explanation to the other two after they save them" Joe said, looking up to the sky.

"But I thought you guys weren't allowed to alter anything on earth?" Erk asked curiously.

"Well you guys weren't on earth, now were you?" Joe asked, grinning. A glint of understanding lit in Erk's eyes.

"Just love those loopholes, don't you?" he asked, now grinning himself. Joe nodded absentmindedly. There was a sudden bright flash of light, and Eli appeared out of thin air.

"Eli!" Erk yelled joyfully, jumping to his feet. Eli greeted him with a warm grin. His red hair had grown a bit, and now came down to around the tops of his ears, rather than short and spiky.

"Did you succeed?" Joe asked him, also getting to his feet.

"Yes I did, she's safe and sound" Eli replied.

"You didn't bring her here?" Erk asked.

"Can't, we're on earth now. We can't tamper with anything. So we can't even tell you where you are" Eli answered.

"Oh, I get it" Erk said, sounding a bit let down.

"Have you gotten word from Hector?" Joe asked.

"Not yet, but he should be arriving any moment" Eli said. He pulled out his rapier and started wiping the multicolored blood that was splattered all over it. He had apparently done an efficient job somewhere.. There was again a bright flash of light, and Hector appeared a few feet away, no different than when he had died. His eyes looked sullen and his opaque skin was pale.

"Success?" Eli asked. Hector slowly shook his head, looking towards the ground as he reached them.

"…No, she- she fell too fast. I couldn't save her" Hector replied, his voice shaky. Erk stared at him in shock.

"Which her?" he asked, shaken.

"Kristine. She's gone" Hector replied. Erk's world began spinning. Another of their number was gone. Now it was just he and Anna, wherever she was.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault" Hector said, not looking up from the ground.

"Don't worry about it. If you didn't try to save her she would have died anyway" Joe said, his voice also a little bit shaky.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Erk asked, his mind still trying to accept the fact that she was gone.

"Wait it out. There's really nothing you can do without Vance" Eli said.

"How long will I have to wait?" Erk asked.

"You know we can't tell you anything, Erk" Joe said.

"I'll tell him. It's the least I can do" Hector said, looking up at Erk.

"Hector, you know the consequences" Eli said sternly.

"I know, but he deserves to know, especially after what he's been through" Hector snapped. Eli took a step backward and motioned towards Erk.

"Then go right on ahead" he said. Hector took a deep breath.

"Vance will be in Tartarus for the next year and a half. You won't get any contact from him, see him, or sense him for a year and a half. That's how long you have to wait. I can't tell you anything else. You'll have to fend for yourself for now. At least try and find Anna though. Once you guys are united again, you'll stand a better chance of survival" Hector explained. Erk nodded slowly.

"Thank you, guys, for everything. I'm sure we'll meet up again someday" Erk said. He motioned to shake Joe's hand, but then thought better of it, remembering he wouldn't be able to.

Then, with a flash of light, all three of them vanished into the heavens, their objective completed. Erk took one final look around, grateful that he was even still alive. He then trekked out into the foreign city, preparing to start the next part of his quest; survival.

The smell of ash and brimstone pricked his senses as he lay flat on his side on the warm, ashen stone ground. Vance's eyes suddenly popped open and he attempted to stand. He got to his knees when the pain in the side of his head hit him; he was bleeding a little from his temple and bruises were forming on the side of his head. He had apparently taken a nasty fall and smacked his head.

It then dawned on him again what happened. The door, the chamber, the others, Pat, the flames, and then nothing. He turned around to try and find the door but found nothing but a barren stone cliff wall; smooth stone. He then took a look at his surroundings and gasped.

There was a winding trail of stone ground before him, winding up through a pit of smoke, magma, and flame. Overhead was nothing but the open space of a cavern roof. He stood fully up, keeping his balance as he swayed back and forth. He checked that his sword and everything was still with him, then started up the path to the great stone door at the top.

'It was a trap all along. I should have known from the start that this would happen…' Vance scolded himself. He looked over the edge of the path as he walked, looking down a sheer vertical drop down a cliff wall to the magma hundreds of feet below.

'That would definitely ruin your day' Vance thought to himself. He reached the door, studying its features as he approached. The doors were about five of Vance stacked on top of each other, and looked to be a good few feet thick. Pentagrams and ornate demonic hieroglyphs were carved into the face of it, giving it as much of a look of wonderment as much as apprehension. He put his hands on the door on the right as he reached it, and gave as fierce of a push as his worn arms could muster.

The door slowly rumbled open, revealing nothing but darkness on the other side. When the door was open wide enough, Vance slipped in, his vision cutting out as he entered the blackness. The door rumbled closed by itself behind him, closing him in. A pale white light slowly began to light the room and he could make out his surroundings better.

He was in a small stone chamber, a dungeon probably, with a caged door on the right side of the room, and a small barred window on the wall opposite of him. The light was obviously from the clouds shifting away from the moon. He turned around to leave again, thinking he may have overlooked another way to go, but realized that the door had disappeared, trapping him inside the dungeon. He heard faint breathing from around the corner of the room, and he immediately drew his sword and poised to attack.

He moved forward slowly until a figure came into view, hunched down upon itself on the floor, apparently in pain. When it looked up at him, he gasped. He was looking into the face of his father, who he had just killed not even hours beforehand.

"How…how are you here?" Vance asked, sheathing his weapon.

"You killed me, remember?" Apocalypse said. It was not his father but the manifestation his father had become. Apparently his father's soul was with his friends now.

"Where is here?" Vance asked curiously. Apocalypse let a few lung-shattering coughs before answering.

"Tartarus. Realm of eternal suffering. Jacob made sure I ended up here" Apocalypse said, his word strained.

"Somehow I envisioned Tartarus being a bit more…I don't know, fiery; doom and gloom and all that good stuff" Vance said sarcastically.

"You're thinking of the Titan's prison. They were imprisoned here millennia ago after the creation of the world. The gods saw them as a threat to the life on earth, so they were imprisoned here for all eternity, to suffer for the pain they caused above on earth" Apocalypse explained.

"So Tartarus has more than one area?" Vance asked.

"Of course. It's an entire world unto itself. Any Hell-dweller fears this place more than they fear their own master, Satan himself" Apocalypse said.

"Satan fears this place too?" Vance asked, curious.

"Well of course. He fears what he cannot control. His realm is Hell and Hell alone. Tartarus makes its own rules. It can change itself at will and destroy what it wishes. But to those who can survive it, it surely holds treasures and secrets beyond all belief" Apocalypse said, a small smirk crossing his face. Vance mulled it over in his head for a moment before speaking again.

"Okay. Well thanks for the info and all the luck in the world to you" he said, turning his back to Apocalypse and heading to the gated door.

"Your powers won't last long in this place. I'd be wary of them if I were you" Apocalypse taunted, then started laughing maniacally to himself. Vance reached the bars and gave them a hearty kick. The metal frame shot from the doorway and smashed into the wall opposite him.

'If you say so, crazy man…' Vance thought to himself, walking out of the cell. He made his way through the dungeon and found a sturdy wooden door to the outside. He opened it and left the dungeon.

One look at his surroundings and he knew that Apocalypse was right about Tartarus; no rules.

The sky was a deep crimson red, acid green clouds swirling around in all directions. He was standing in a desert covered in dark purple sand, bursts of flame shooting from the ground every now and then. Around him some areas rippled with heat as hot spots in the air fried the area and charred the ground around them. Demons roamed the lands, fighting everything in sight, even each other on occasion.

Vance was an obvious target as soon as one laid its eyes on him. They were red, about four times the size of a large dog, with amassed teeth sticking out of their mouths everywhere. Their skin looked more like muscle than anything, and great crimson horns protruded from either side of their heads and curled until they pointed forward. Glowing red eyes pierced through the front of their faces.

Vance drew his sword and prepared to fight. One reached him and he took its head off easily. Two more ambushed him from behind and he took two legs off of one and smashed a horn of the other into its head, killing it. It was then that he realized there was no longer a door or any type of building behind him anymore; it had disappeared completely.

Three slain demons lay at his feet, staining the sand red. Winds billowed in his face as he sheathed his sword.

'Well, where to now, smart guy…' he thought to himself. As if in answer to his question, the world around him started to morph and change, becoming a wrecked city, much like the ones he'd seen on earth. Dead bodies were strewn across the streets and demons ran amok all around him. He unsheathed his sword once more and began fighting them one by one, slaying them where they stood.

When he had the direct area secured, he began walking down the street in search of more enemies, not bothering to sheath his sword.

'What else can I do? I don't see anything that can help me yet'. He had already tried teleporting, but that power of his was dead already, he couldn't use it to go anywhere. He found more demons and laid waste to them as well. He wasn't sure if he was going crazy or not, but it seemed like the buildings were moving closer and closer in on him.

Suddenly, two skyscrapers in front of him slammed together, blocking his path, and by the grinding and crunching from behind him and to the sides, he guessed many of them had done the same thing. He was now trapped in a giant cubicle of buildings and open space, about the size of a small park.

Cracks opened up in the ground and demons began flooding out, rushing him from all sides. He slew the poor few that approached him from the front, parting their heads and relieving them of their limbs.

One caught him in the calf from behind with a small jagged blade, making him stumble slightly. He wheeled around with his blade and hacked the thing's head off. He was so concerned with the enemies in front of him that he failed to notice the small gathering of demons behind him.

The creatures began piling on top of each other and glowing brighter and brighter. Seams between each demon began to seal closed as the giant pile became on giant demon, about two stories high and as wide as a large semi truck. Vance turned only to the sound of the deep growling the giant repulsive beast was making. Before he had time to react, it swung one of its massive arms at him and smacked him through the air and into the side of a building.

Spikes suddenly sprouted out of the ground where he was about to the land, and he kicked off of the building and soared over and past them, landing on his feet a few yards from the giant beast. All the other smaller demons had retreated back into their holes.

Vance lunged forward, slashing at the things massive legs, trying to get some leverage on it. His attacks had all the effectiveness of hitting a grizzly bear with a stick. The thing swung down again, this time grabbing him up, and tossed him harshly into the ground. A small crater formed around where he landed, and he was knocked out. The thing then scooped him up again, and jumped down into a crack in the ground.

The smell of strong ash and brimstone awoke him from his involuntary slumber. When he opened his eyes they were blurred and slightly crossed from the strong head impact. He rubbed them for a minute and shook his head lightly to straighten his vision. He then took in his surroundings.

He was in what looked like a black stone cell with steel bars for a door. It was not unlike the cell he arrived in, except much more cave-like, and he was the only occupant. He no longer had his sword; he obviously knew that would be taken.

'Well this is just peachy. I'm a prisoner in the realm of suffering, my powers are gone, and I'm completely defenseless…' he thought to himself. He heard footsteps approaching from outside and poised himself. A squat, fiery demon appeared before the bars outside his cell and stared at him, its eyes glowing red.

"Where are you from?" it asked demandingly, its voice scratchy and growling.

"None of your damn business, shorty" Vance taunted, ready for anything. The demons eyes immediately flashed brighter at the words and it raised an arm at him. Suddenly, flames filled the cell and seared Vance where he stood. He screamed in agony and dropped to the floor, more out of instinct than thought.

The front of him was protected, but his shirt was burned off his back and the flesh on his back burned and charred. When it was over, blood was pooling on his back and tears were streaming down his face.

"Not so tough without our little weapons and trickery now are we?" the demon growled gleefully. "Next time I ask you a question, you answer it fully, you maggot" the demon finished, and then marched off.

Vance was left on the ground bleeding in agony. Thankfully, his quick healing was a family trait, not an ability, so they couldn't take that away from him. He could already feel what was left of his flesh cooling itself.

He sat up, careful not to scrape against the wall, and stared out of the cell door at the flickering orange lights on the walls.

'How're you gonna get yourself out of this one, Vance…' he thought to himself. Slowly, he drifted into unconsciousness.

His days went on like this for some time; a demon would show up at his cell with some type of torture device, and they would question him. He never told them anything, and they made him pay. They never killed him, they made him think they did though, and many times he wished they'd had. Eventually his skin bore countless blade marks and scorch marks and numerous kinds of scars.

It was one night that his golden opportunity came. He lay on the floor of his cell sleeping, twitching and shaking violently, when suddenly, his mind cleared; he thought of nothing. Then, a voice began to speak to him in his mind, a vaguely familiar voice.

"I've been watching you, Vance. You've endured more than any mortal could ever wish to have endured in three lifetimes. You should be proud" the voice said, praising him.

"They're not going to keep me alive much longer, I know it" Vance replied. The torturing had gotten longer and worse each time in the past days, leaving him even more wounded and dazed afterwards. He knew that eventually, he wouldn't wake up afterwards.

"I know how to get you out of here, and I'm going to help you. Without you your world is doomed" the voice said.

"How will you be able to get me out of here?" Vance asked his full attention now on the voice.

"There is an artifact here in Tartarus that you must find. It will take you home, back to your world, so you may combat this evil head-on" the voice explained.

"What is this artifact?" Vance asked eagerly.

"It is called the Mortaegis, and it is a stone sphere with ancient markings on it that glow the color of bleeding wounds" the voice said, "It alone holds the power to get you out of here and back home. Unfortunately it is heavily guarded near the cells of the titans, so getting it will be no easy task. I can only offer you one thing to help you, and then I must leave, so I'm giving you your psychic abilities back. Hopefully those will give you the edge you need to survive. Remember, Vance, you are strong, yes, but you are also mortal. Never forget that" the voice finished, and then dissipated.

Vance awoke with a start, and could feel the power flowing through his veins. He was still nowhere near as powerful as he had been on Earth, but at least it was something. He held a hand out towards the bars of his cell, and his hand began glowing purple. The bars suddenly jerked sideways, tearing from the stone wall, and shot outwards into the abyss. He ran out of the cell and looked around.

His cell wasn't the only one here; there were thousands of cells. He was standing on a stone ledge that looked over a huge pit before him, fire brimming the edges below. Above and below him on similar ledges, running as far as the eye could see, were more cells. They ran upwards as far as he could see and downwards as far as he could see.

He turned left and began running. People and creatures in the passing cells began yelling at him for help, slowly causing the cavernous prison to get louder and louder. He tried to hush them as he ran, but to no avail. He reached the end of the long ledge, and by now almost every prisoner in the prison was yelling for freedom. Vance held his arms out and they started glowing purple.

'I could use a diversion…' he thought to himself. He jerked his arms to the side and every cell door in the room flew out towards the giant pit. Small figures began to dart all over the place, looking for weapons and a way out. Vance turned towards the small wooden door before him and kicked it open. It gave way to a small hallway with another small wooden door at the end. He reached the door and kicked it open, then stared in awe.

The area before him was made entirely of black stone, underneath a blood red sky with swirling purple clouds. Fire stemmed up from cracks in the ground and walls, and giant pools of lava spanned out here and there all over the place. Off in the distance he could see hills made of the same black rock, rolling into the far distance. Atop one that he could barely see was a black building with torches all over it, and a grand set of stone stairs leading to the doorway.

'That has to be the entrance to the titan's prison' he thought. He then began running towards it full force. He made sure to conserve most of his energy, only attacking the stronger demons that attacked him. His thoughts focused on one thing; Joe.

'That voice could only have been him, who else could have the power to reach to Tartarus and help me escape?' he thought to himself. Small fiery demons ran at him from both sides as he charged forward. Many of them easily dispatched with a single thought. He came to a rope bridge over a river of raging magma.

"Well this definitely looks promising" he joked to himself. Many of the planks of wood that made up the bridge were flaming. He ran across as fast as he could, not thinking about the raging flames beneath him.

It took him the better part of a half hour, but he finally reached the grand black temple. There were gargoyle heads on either side of the entrance with flaming torches atop the heads. Wooden doors were set into a black onyx building with red glowing windows.

"Well, here goes nothing" Vance said to himself, approaching the door. The big wooden door opened with a very loud creak, and he stepped inside. He was in a moderately sized room with nothing in it but a staircase at the far end made of the same onyx as the rest of the building. The room glowed brightly red, though no source of lighting could be seen.

He made his way across the room and began his descent down the stairs. Many red-glowing torches lit his way down the stairs. The stone in the walls slowly began changing from black onyx to a normal colored concrete the lower he trekked. The ground lightly rumbled and growled as he walked, as if his progression forward was angering it.

'You never know in this place, the whole world could be pissed off at me and I wouldn't even know it' Vance thought to himself. He finally reached the bottom and took a look around.

He was in a giant room made completely of concrete bricks. The cool air indicated that he must be a good distance underground. Cracks in the ground showed magma flowing beneath the floor and let little bursts of heat up into the room every now and then. Loud growls could be heard in the distance and the ground rumbled every few seconds.

'That sounds promising' he thought to himself. He made his way through the room, looking around curiously at his surroundings.

As he walked, he could have sworn he heard footsteps following behind him. He stopped to listen, but he heard nothing as he stopped. He then continued, but heard the footfalls once again as he walked. He turned quickly as came face-to-face with Pat. He did a double take as he jumped backwards, but when he looked again, he was gone.

'Getting a bit jumpy now, Vance, just calm yourself down...' he thought to himself, taking a deep breath in. He set out through the chamber again, slowly losing himself in thought.

'I can't wait until this hell is over. I want nothing more than to just sit back at home with nothing to worry about except what I have to eat for the day. I've had enough demons and fiery caves to last me a lifetime...' he thought to himself. But something deep in the recesses of his mind knew that there was no going home after this adventure; this was a one way trip.

He came to the end of the chamber; a wall that was at least twenty of himself stacked up, with a giant black onyx door set into it, encrusted with jewels and stones of all types.

'This looks promising...' he thought to himself. The ground gave a small rumble in response as he approached the door. He pushed with all his might and the door ground open slowly against the floor. He found himself in yet another long hall, but this one was more important.

Lined on either side of the hall were rows of prison cells, the bars on the cell doors made simply of beams of lasers running from the top of the cell door to the bottom. Inside the cells were creatures he'd heard of only in myths and stories, the original ones; the Titans.

Each was about fifty feet tall, each with distinct different features, much like humans. Most of them were sleeping, but the others that weren't were pounding against the walls and shouting in anguish, trying to release themselves from their godly prisons. Vance made his way slowly down the hallway, hoping that the waking ones wouldn't see him creeping by.

It was tedious work, seeing as how each Titan cell door was about fifteen feet across, and just as high as the Titans were tall.

'Just walk slowly...take small, deliberate steps...don't fall...' he told himself. He snuck past cell after cell, gazing in at the occupants as he went past. He finally came to the last cell on the left before the next door out of the prison. He knew right away that this occupant was different than the rest, more grand. Though when he looked inside the cell, he saw nothing but a giant stone casket on the floor of the cell. There were 3 different laser grids on the door to this cell, which made him ponder.

'Why put so much more extra security on a casket?' he asked himself. A voice then suddenly sounded in his head that sent icicles through his veins. He immediately knew who the occupant of the cell was now; Kronos, king of the Titans.

"Fear not, small one, for I am no threat to you through this cell and inside this stone prison. But know this, through that door, you must make a decision. You must decide whether to go home, and risk your world, or sacrifice yourself here, and save all those on your planet" Kronos boomed in his head.

"What are you talking about? Whatever's in that room, the Mortaegis or whatever that guy called it, will send me home, so I can help protect my friends" Vance said.

"Sometimes, things are not as they seem small one. Know that" Kronos said, and then was silent. Vance pondered his words for a moment, and then made his way to the final door. It ground open much like the door to the prison did.

He arrived in a simple circular chamber, with round steps leading up in the center of the chamber to a pedestal in the center of the room. Atop the pedestal was a grey circular stone, about half the size of his head, with a strange, almost demonic symbol emblazoned on the front in red.

'The Mortaegis...' he thought to himself. He approached it slowly, almost expecting it to hurl itself off the pedestal at him. Nothing happened though as he reached out and grabbed it off the pedestal.

"Now what?" he asked aloud. Almost instantly, the world around him began to distort and blacken out. He began spinning quickly, rising above everything, leaving Tartarus and the chamber behind him. Then a bright white light flashed all around him, he stopped spinning, and knew no more.

Out in the spinning darkness and star-dotted skies of oblivion, an evil presence watched Vance's progress with great interest. Pat nodded smugly as a shimmering veil showed Vance sprawled on the ground unconscious with a grey circular stone in his hand.

"Master, he has retrieved the artifact, all is as you've planned" Pat said, rushing over to Fate.

"Excellent. Prepare the troops for the final invasion. Now is the time for our final strike" Fate replied, standing up.

"As you wish, lord" Pat replied, and ran off.

Vance's head felt as if he had been hit by a 747 airliner. His vision swirled slightly as he tried to stand up.

"Well, that's what I get for escaping from Tartarus alive" he said to himself jokingly. His clothing reeked of sulfur and smoke. He heard footsteps and immediately had the instinct to fight, but through the fog of his vision he saw a friendly face.

"Vance! Oh my god, Vance! You're alive! I can't believe it! We thought you were a goner!" Erk shouted as he ran up. Vance all but collapsed on his shoulder, making Erk stumble for a second.

"Well, you can't always take things as they seem sometimes" Vance replied, "Where're the others?" he asked, his vision almost back to normal, standing on two feet again. Erk looked down slightly at these words.

"Kristine is dead; Fate killed her with one of his illusions. And I don't know where Anna is, we got separated about a year ago now" Erk answered, his tone grave. Vance's head immediately began to race at Erk's words.

"A year?! I've only been gone for a couple of weeks!" he replied in an outrage. But Vance already knew what had happened before Erk even opened his mouth. Time in Tartarus goes much slower than time here on Earth.

'At least ten times slower, if I'd only been there a couple weeks...' he thought to himself. It was then that Erk finally noticed Vance's physical state.

"Dude, you look like hell" he said.

"No, but close" Vance joked, sitting down on a nearby boulder.

"So how did you escape?" Erk asked, sitting down across from him. Vance finally took a look at his surroundings.

He was in a big city, possibly Chicago or New York. Buildings lay destroyed all around, giant chunks of stone lodged in the ground, much like the ones he and Erk were sitting on. Skeletons and bones littered the ground around the city; casualties of war.

"Did you hear me, Vance? I asked how you escaped. It apparently wasn't easy, you've got scars all over you" he said again. Vance then explained about the prophet that came to him in his sleep, and the torturing and the Mortaegis.

"Sounds like a lot of fun" Erk joked. Vance nodded, staring at the stone in his hands.

"We need to find Anna and put an end to this once and for all" Erk said, standing up.

"I'd agree with you, except that I don't have any of my equipment, they took it from me when I arrived in the prison" Vance said, also standing up. Erk gave him a look as if he thought Vance had lost his mind.

"What are you talking about, dude? Your sword is sheathed on your back" Erk replied, thinking it was a joke. Vance stood motionless for a moment, and then reached back behind his neck. Sure enough, there was a cold, metal hilt in a leather sheathe on his back.

"Huh. This war just surprises me more and more" he said, taking his hand off the hilt of his sword.

"And your armor is scattered on the ground behind that boulder" Erk said, pointing, "I saw it as I ran towards you" he finished. Vance gazed around the boulder and saw his red case of armor lying discarded on the ground.

"Lovely" Vance replied, attaching it to himself again. With all his equipment and powers finally back, he felt almost like himself again. There was this itching lump in the pit of his stomach, as if something were missing. Or something new was there that wasn't before. He couldn't tell if it was good or bad, so he left it alone for now.

"Now, to find Anna" Vance said. Erk circled in close by Vance as Vance closed his eyes to focus. He formed a mental visage of Anna, and put all his power forth. They flashed white, and disappeared.

Anna's face twitched as she lay on her back, fast asleep. Her dreams had been haunting her for weeks now, disturbing her so she awoke in screaming fits and cold sweat. She bolted upright quickly, face dripping with sweat and eyes bulging wide open.

'Get a grip on yourself...' she told herself. Images of Erk being slaughtered by demons had run across her mind non-stop since she'd been rescued by Eli about a year ago now.

When she had been rescued, she had been taken to a small town near where Joe's and Vance's old house was, so she decided to hold up there for a while. But a while ended up turning into a year all too quickly. She got up off the couch and stretched her back.

"So, lassie returns home, eh?" she heard a voice say from behind her. As quick as a breath, she spun in place, and pulled a dagger from her pocket, poised to attack. When she looked into the faces of the intruders, though, the knife dropped from her hand and her mouth hung agape.

"Yeah, we did too" Erk said, smirking. She took a few slow steps forward, towards Vance, and laid a hand on the side of his face, making sure he was real. She then did it to Erk confirming that they were really there. Tears welled up in the pits of her eyes.

"You...you guys made it...finally" she said, a wide grin forming on her face. Her expression then turned to anguish and she broke down on Vance's shoulder.

"Its okay, let it all out. It's all over for now" he said, patting her on the back. He turned to Erk.

"Go get a pack of smokes" he said casually. Erk looked surprised.

"I didn't know you smoked" he replied. Vance's face dropped to and expression of utter seriousness.

"I was in Tartarus for a year. The ONLY thing that happens there is smoking" Vance said. Erk couldn't tell if he was joking or not, so he headed out the door. Anna finally calmed herself down and walked over to the couch to sit. Vance took a look around.

'Not much different than when we'd left' he thought to himself. Anna had kept the house looking somewhat presentable, but other than that it didn't look a day older than when they set out for that accursed chamber.

"I didn't think I'd see either of you guys again" Anna said, breaking Vance's trance. Her voice was still shaky but the tears were gone.

"Neither did I" Vance replied honestly. He took to gazing at the Mortaegis once again, studying the symbol on the front.

"What's that?" Anna asked curiously, noticing the stone for the first time.

"The only reason I'm on earth once again" Vance said, not looking up.

"Do you know what it does?" she asked.

"No clue" he answered, putting it down at his side. Erk walked through the door with a pack and a lighter in his hand and threw them to Vance. Vance took one and lit it, then inhaled deeply, relaxation written all over his face.

"I didn't know you smoked, Vance" Anna said. Vance didn't even look down from the ceiling.

"I don't feel like explaining it again" he replied simply. Erk cut in.

"Alright, so now that we're together again, what are we supposed to do now?" he asked.

"Got me, I'm sure ol' Fate-face will have something planned for us soon. No doubt he watched me arrive back from his silly little trap in Tartarus" Vance said, looking down from the ceiling to look Erk in the eyes. No sooner had they made eye contact, there was an explosion from outside so loud that the walls of the house shook, sending drywall and dust floating everywhere.

"What the hell...?" Erk said, standing up. Vance put the pack in his back pocket, picked up Joe's old backpack, put the Mortaegis in it and slung it over his back, his sword now sheathed on his side again. They ran outside only to witness more destruction.

Beings of total shadow were laying waste everywhere, destroying buildings, making craters, throwing trees and people everywhere. Vance and Anna unsheathed their swords.

"Boy does it feel good to be home" Vance joked, taking a drag from his cigarette. He jumped forward and began hacking at every being he could find. Some looked like old demons he had fought before, only composed solely of shadow; no flesh, no blood, nothing. Many others looked like knights with long swords and shields.

Anna picked up pace and began fighting as well. Erk began launching fireballs left and right at the invaders, burning them alive. A knight came up behind Vance as he was hacking away at a shadow demon and took a swipe at his head. Vance sensed it and ducked just in time. He saw a few of his brown hairs flutter to the ground in front of him.

"I'm like the wind" Vance taunted, shoving his sword through what would be the face of the knight. It immediately dissipated. He took a quick drag from his cigarette and heard a big demon lumber up behind him. He exhaled quickly and smashed the hilt of the sword into the thing's face as he whipped around. He then slashed it through the neck and it was gone. In time they defeated all the shadows in the area and huddled together again.

"Ten bucks says that this wasn't his only target" Vance said, flicking away the cigarette butt.

"Of course it wasn't, these things may not have been hard to kill, but they can definitely destroy. Almost the entire city is in ruins now. Imagine what's happening in other cities" Erk explained.

"Oh, but I know what's going on in other cities, I sent them there" a cold voice sounded behind them. The three of them turned to see Pat standing there, the tip of his sword on the pavement so he could lean on the hilt. He locked eyes with Vance immediately, and began walking forward slowly, applauding. His sword stayed where he left it, hilt pointing up.

"Well done, Vance. Not many can say that they escaped from Tartarus. I applaud your efforts" he taunted, not breaking eye contact with Vance.

"Funny, you don't seem like the approving sort, Pat. Not since that freak made you into his key sideshow attraction" Vance said, staring just as intently. Pat snarled and began walking towards his sword again, lifting it up on his shoulder.

Vance then suddenly burst forward, bringing his blade down quickly towards Pat. Pat had just enough time to shift his sword to his front before Vance's blade clanged upon it. Vance bounced off it, and came at him again full-force, swinging furiously. He got a lucky shot at Pat's upper arms and slashed through the flesh. Pat cried out in anguish in his demonic voice, his free hand immediately covering the wound on his arm. Yellow blood began dripping from the wound.

"Just wait, you'll get yours" Pat threatened, then absorbed into the ground into a pool of shadow and disappeared. Vance lit another cigarette and looked around.

"Well, I guess that constitutes a job well done" he said, walking back over to Erk and Anna.

"We have to find where they're hiding, it's our only chance to end this" Anna said.

"Excellent idea, just one problem; we have no idea of where they are" Vance said sarcastically, "Did Fate say anything to you since I've been gone?" he asked.

"The day you left, when we ran out of that chamber, he had let some of his goons loose around the entrance and he was talking to us, I just don't remember what he said" Anna explained, wracking her brain to remember.

"He said 'my power is not great enough yet to break the seal holding me here in the Lair. But the lair is closer to home than you may think, for me anyway'" Erk said, remembering his words exactly. Vance pondered that for a few moments, taking a couple drags on his cigarette as he thought.

'The lair is closer to home than you may think...what the hell does that mean. He was Nate's dad in real life, but Nate could have no idea that his dad was a crazy evil deity bound for world domination' Vance thought to himself. He took a look at his surroundings.

"Let's go for a walk guys. I think better that way" Vance called out. He started down the street, still thinking, canvassing his surroundings as he went. He took a left turn at the end of the street, wandering about as he thought.

'The lair is his home, so why would he call it 'close to home' in the first place? Unless he had a double meaning for it. That would make more sense. He doesn't have a home on earth, he's Fate. Unless...' Vance thought. He stopped dead in his tracks and Erk and Anna almost ran into him.

"Whoa! What was that all about?" Erk asked. Vance stared straight ahead of him, looking down the street at a house that he knew all too well. He flicked the cigarette butt away and began running towards the house.

"Vance! Wait up!" Erk called.

"I figured it out. When he said 'the lair is closer to home than you may think', he wasn't talking about us; he was talking about him, his old home, while he was still human!" Vance called back as he ran.

"But that would mean that..." Erk started, but almost ran into Vance again as he stopped.

"Alright, dude. You gotta stop doing that" Erk said.

"That means that this is the entranceway to the lair" Vance said, staring at the house in front of him.

It was Nate's old house, tattered and slightly destroyed, but still standing. Portions of the walls were missing, no doubt from the demonic invasions. They could see right through the house to the backyard, and the front door was lying out in the lawn.

"Nate was living on the doorway to Fate's lair his whole life and didn't even know it?" Anna asked.

"Apparently. His dad got taken to the same world that Joe and my dad did, but he found a way home somehow, because he had figured out that his own house was the gateway to eternal power for him. That's why he and my father were fighting, because Fate found a way to put himself into total power, and my dad was trying to talk him out of it" Vance explained. He approached the house, walking through the open doorway.

Right to his left was a door that he knew led to the basement. He had come here with Joe many times over the years to visit Nate. He opened the door and it creaked open loudly. A few rats on the landing below scurried away at the noise. They descended down the stairs into the basement and looked around.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, there were a washer and dryer in the corner on the far wall, old clothing scattered around the floor, the furnace and water heater against the wall behind them, and support beams standing around the room. Vance held a hand up and a sphere of light appeared in his palm, illuminating the room better.

They began inspecting the basement, looking for anything that could be a doorway to another dimension. After a half hour they were beginning to get irritated.

"Oh! I know what happened! Jacob jumped into his washer, put it on heavy load, and it transported him to a throne of power!" Vance said angrily. He turned around and kicked the water heater over. Old stagnant water spilled over the floor and began leaking all around the basement. Then Vance saw something very strange.

Everywhere the water ran, the floor darkened and got soaked, but in the center of the room, there was a square of the floor that had avoided getting wet, as if the water evaporated or drained before it reached it. He ran over to it through the puddles and examined the edges.

"Guys, I think I found it" he said. They ran over to him quickly.

"This part of the floor, it has seams around it. It's a trap door" Vance said. He knocked on it hard, and sure enough a hallow echo sounded from the other side.

"No wonder Nate or his mom didn't find it, it blends in perfectly" Erk said. Vance wheeled back and punched the stone as hard as he could. His fist went right through it and the rest of the stone door collapsed inward into the tunnel. An old ladder was propped up against the wall leading down into the tunnel.

They went down the ladder, which was extremely rickety but held it's own, and started through the tunnel. Ancient engravings and runes were embedded into the walls around them, giving the hall an ethereal feel. They finally came to a large chamber that looked much like the one Vance visited in Tartarus with the Mortaegis in it. Except that in the center of the room, there wasn't a pedestal, but two curved metal spikes the rose from the ground and touched at the tips, forming a giant oval.

"Now that could be the gateway to another dimension" Vance said, inspecting it from afar. They had found it, the Gateway of Fate.

"Now, how to activate it" Vance said, stepping forward and looking around the chamber. The others did the same, inspecting the area around the gateway. It was Anna who found it.

"Guys, over here! There's some kind of lever on the wall in this crevice!" she called out. They came over to her to look. Sure enough, there was an ancient looking lever in the wall, no more than a stone cylinder sticking out of a recess in the wall.

"Well, here goes nothing" Vance said, and pulled the lever. The spikes in the center of the room began glowing brightly white, then suddenly flashed.

Before where there had just been empty space between the spikes, there was now a shimmering blue veil.

"Well guys, you ready?" Vance asked, lighting another cigarette. They both nodded to him in agreement.

"Well then, let's do this" he said, shouldering his sword. They then stepped through the glowing veil and disappeared.

There was a glowing blue light as they arrived, and then all was dark. The only things they could see were each other, and the stars dotting the skies around them. They heard footsteps approaching to their right and poised to attack. The figure began applauding as he approached.

"You know, the whole clapping thing is getting really old, really fast" Vance said, irritated. There wasn't enough light to see who it was, but whoever it was kept approaching and clapping.

"Well, it certainly took you long enough to arrive, young one" the figure said. Piercing yellow eyes appeared out of the dim, and they immediately knew who they had found; Fate.

"Would have come even faster if you had offered a little more help, Fate-face" Vance replied, taking a drag.

"Come now, Vance. Why with the insults? You and Nate were such good friends in life, doesn't that count for anything?" Fate taunted, grinning mildly.

"Maybe if you were still human it would, but unfortunately you're not" Vance said, dropping the cigarette butt.

"Oh but I am still human, but only just barely. There's just one more small thing I need to make the process complete" Fate said, "That little trinket in your bag, Vance" he finished, pointing accusingly. It was then that he stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself.

He was exactly the same as when they has last seen him; long straight brown hair down to the base of his neck, pale white skin, a head taller than Vance, black robe with slack red sash over weighted black sweat pants, and barefoot feet.

"Why would you want the Mortaegis? It means nothing to you, it doesn't even really mean anything to me" Vance said, taken aback.

"Oh but it means the world to me, my little puppet" Fate replied, his smirk growing slightly.

"But, but that means that..." Vance started, his vision going out of focus for a moment as the realization hit him.

"That's right; I was the voice you heard on your little field trip to Tartarus, while you slept. How do you think you ended up there in the first place? I had to have the Mortaegis to complete my transformation and the finality of my plan. The soul embedded into the Mortaegis has more power than either of us, and combined with my power now, will give me the ability to break free of my prison and enslave your world that so greatly deserves it" Fate explained, an maniac grin on his face now.

"But then that means you planned it all from the very start. Even years ago when Joe and Nate entered the other realm for the first time" Vance said.

"Exactly. All part of the plan to release Satan and get you involved in it from the start. You may not know this, Vance, but you are so much stronger than your older brother. Joe would never have lasted a day in Tartarus, whereas you lasted a year andescaped it. That's no small feat, young one" Fate explained.

"Liar! Joe is fifty times what I could ever wish to be!" Vance yelled, completely enraged now.

"Calm yourself, Vance. Remember what happened to your friends when your brother got too angry?" Fate taunted.

"I'm not Joe, you sick bastard. I have total control of my powers. I'd never hurt any of my friends" Vance said, his tone deathly serious.

"Oh? But what about this young man here?" Fate asked, indicating to his left. Pat then appeared, walking slowly towards them holding his injured arm.

"That, thing isn't my friend anymore. He isn't even human now. You took that away from him too" Vance said angrily. With a wave of Fate's arm towards Pat, the wound on his arm sealed instantly, leaving no trace that the skin had ever been broken.

"You see, Vance. Here in this domain, I have control. I do what I wish without consequence. And you know what the best part is? There's absolutely nothing you can do about it" Fate said, his voice seething. He then swung his arm like a blade, and all three of them, Vance, Erk, and Anna went tumbling backwards.

Vance's bag fell off his arm and bounced away from him. Fate stepped forward and picked it up.

"Oh, Vance, for me? You shouldn't have. People will start to talk" Fate joked, opening the bag. Vance watched in horror as Fate pulled the Mortaegis out of the bag, then incinerated the bag on the spot.

The symbol on the front of the stone began to glow brightly red, so bright that it became difficult to look at. It then suddenly stopped, and the stone exploded in Fate's hands, releasing an ethereal blue visage that floated over Fate's head. Maniacal laughter began to ring around them. Fate's mouth was shut in a wide grin, so Vance was confused as to where the laughter was coming from. It was then clear, as the blue visage began to change, that the laughter was coming from it.

"That...that can't be..." Vance said, taking a step back.

"Oh yes, it is, Vance. Say hello to an old friend" Fate said. The blue, translucent visage of Hakalahs floated in front of them tauntingly, a crazed grin on his face. His eyes glowed deathly red, other than that the rest of his body was a light blue. He was still wearing the trench coat and dark clothing, same as the day that Vance killed him. His long hair was still sticking straight up into the air, almost like a small pit of deadly spikes.

"Hello again, my friend. I hope you didn't miss me too much" Hakalahs taunted, his grin still spread widely across his smug face.

"Like I said, Vance, this realm gives me what I want. And right now, I want the power held within this soul. The power to destroy all!" Fate screamed, laughing maniacally. Hakalahs' soul began spinning, compacting into a glowing blue sphere, then lowered, sinking right into Fate's chest.

Vance immediately saw a change that he didn't like; Fate began growing, a lot. Within seconds he was twenty times his normal size, and his skin began turning red and scaly. His eyes glowed brightly green, like a deadly poison waiting to be unleashed. Blood red spikes grew all the way down from his neck, and his body compacted into a fleshy, scaly red cylinder, about fifty yards long.

His face elongated into a snout with a flat nose and razor sharp teeth the size of sword blades. His arms became smaller and his fingertips elongated into claws the size of Vance's head. His knees bent the opposite direction and his legs became ripped and beefy, strong enough to leave a building flatter than a sheet of paper. His hair grew longer and became razor sharp yellow spines, sticking straight up into the air. Within a span of thirty seconds, where Jacob had been standing, was now a giant red dragon, the size of a large skyscraper and longer than any subway train Vance had ever seen.

"You see what my true form is now, puny one?" Fate's voice boomed all around them. "I told you you were in over your heads. Now this place will become your tomb, and Earth will be mine!" he screamed, and then let out a bellowing roar.

"Why would you want to rule the earth now anyway? You've already destroyed most of it anyway, there's not much left to rule" Anna said.

"You don't pay too much attention, do you, little one. While in this realm, I can do what I wish. I will make the world whole again, and then it shall be mine to dominate. Unfortunately, you little maggots won't be alive long enough to be a part of my reign!" Fate bellowed, smoke billowing from his nostrils. Anna turned to Vance for help, but he was lost in thought, his pupils dilated to the fullest size.

"Now, let's see how you fare in my little 'final test', if you pass, you will be deemed worthy to fight me. Now die!" Fate bellowed. A bright white light consumed them all, and then all was dark. When their vision came back, they were separated once again.

'He's using our fears against us again...' Vance thought to himself. He was back in the demonic Oval Office where he and Hakalahs fought for the first time. He stood at the edge of the room, watching Joe stand in the center of the room with arms extended out at his sides; he had just given up his power of the Bloodline.

Hakalahs moved forward and shoved his blade right through Joe's stomach, lifting him up off of the ground. Blood stained the already dirt-infested ground. Hakalahs ripped his sword out of Joe's stomach, and then dissipated. Vance ran to Joe and caught him just before he hit the ground.

"Joe! Come on, man, I can't lose you again" Vance said desperately. He held a hand over Joe's stomach and tried to seal the wound. It was too late; he was gone again. Vance then broke down, letting Joe's lifeless form slide off of his leg. Tears splashed onto the ground next to Joe's body, absorbing into the dirt and dust littered on the floor. Laughter rang out in the room, and Vance sensed someone appear behind him.

"Amazing, isn't it, the power our fears have over us. And how weak we can be to stop them" Hakalahs sounded behind him. Vance stood up, gripping his sword so tightly in his hand that his knuckles burned with pain. He turned slowly, looking up into the face that he loathed so much.

"If he thinks that I fear you, he's sorely mistaken" Vance said simply, glaring at Hakalahs.

"No, you fear the loss of your brother. Even to this day it haunts your dreams. But you know, it's actually not that bad. You should have seen his face, just before I impaled him with my sword" Hakalahs taunted, drawing out the last words. Vance then pounced forth, sword in hand and swiped at Hakalahs. His blade was repelled with a loud clang and he was sent skittering backwards.

"Not good enough. Try again" Hakalahs said. Vance attacked again, this time quicker and stronger. Hakalahs' weight shifted with this blow, sending him back a few inches as he blocked.

"Very good. Now, my turn" Hakalahs said, rage filling his voice. He sprang forward, his blade a black blur through the air.

Vance landed a block to each swipe, the sound of metallic clangs and slashes filling the air. Vance hesitated once, not moving his blade quick enough, and Hakalahs took the opportunity. He slashed low at Vance and caught him on the side, slashing diagonally from behind his arm down to his waist. Vance cried out in pain and jumped back to examine the wound. Warm blood immediately began trickling down his side.

Vance was so full of rage that he couldn't even form words. It was then that his eyes started glowing white, and his breathing became heavier and more labored. The transformation was the quickest yet, his body adjusting to the differences between his normal form and his Bloodline form. Within ten seconds, he was the black, scaly demon once again, his clawed hand now matching the other one.

"Die, bastard" he growled, and surged forth, his wings opening as he ran. Hakalahs slashed at Vance's legs, only to have his blade bounce off with a loud clang. Vance's clawed toes caught the top of Hakalahs' head, and he kicked as hard as he could.

Hakalahs bowed his head with the blow, so Vance's claws only swiped the top of his head instead of impaling it. He cried out in a demon scream of agonizing pain, clutching the top of his head as black blood oozed down his face. Vance did a turn-around in the air and came back for another attack, this time seizing the blade from Hakalahs' hand and doing another turn-around in air, this time hovering in place.

Vance took aim, and threw the blade like a javelin. It flew with the speed of a lightning bolt, impaling Hakalahs through the forehead. Hakalahs' eyes opened wide until they bulged. His mouth hung agape, and a small trail of blood oozed from the side of his mouth, just before he fell back onto the ground. Vance lowered to the ground just as the world around him began to darken. White dots began to appear all around him in the sky, dotting the blackness like bullet holes.

The giant red visage of Fate appeared in front of him, just as menacing as he had been before, only this time he didn't feel as intimidating, now that Vance had taken his form of the Bloodline. Anna and Erk appeared on either side of him, shaken, but alive.

"You guys survived?" Vance growled.

"Yeah, Joe and Eli helped us again" Erk said. Vance then turned his gaze to Fate, who simply sat there watching them.

"You made a mistake this time, Fate" Vance growled, taking slow steps towards him. He was much further away than Vance thought; his size was greater than he thought.

"Oh? And what would that be, ant?" Fate boomed.

"You admitted that this world will give you anything you want. Well guess what, I want something too. And because you didn't create this realm, there's nothing you can do about it, either" Vance taunted in his growling voice. Fate's dragon face contorted into a sneer of rage.

"And I think you know exactly what I want, Jacob" Vance said.

"You can't wish me dead, puny one. My powers exceed even that of this realm. I am immortal" Fate bellowed, making Vance's elongated ears vibrate.

"Although that would be a comforting concept, that's not what I'm talking about" Vance said, still slowly walking towards him. Spheres of light began to appear all around Vance, one after the other, simple white spheres, glowing brighter with each passing second. Fate's face contorted with understanding just after it was too late to do anything.

The lights began to take shape, forming into human bodies, growing arms, hands, legs, feet, and heads. The lights grew brighter as more of the forms were completed, until the light burned at everyone's eyes if they held them open. When the light died, Fate roared in outrage.

Every member of the Apocalyptic Elect that had been killed now stood before him, very much alive. Pat looked around as if his world was crashing down around his ears. Joe stood next to Vance, staring up at Fate with a smug grin on his face. All the others were there, too; Eli, Marcus, Lyn, Mike, Nate, Flora, Jesse, Alicia, Hector, Kristine, and Sain, along with Erk and Anna, who looked more confident with their numbers now.

"Good to have you back, bro" Vance growled to Joe, looking to the side. Joe's purple hair came down to his shoulders. Vance then began taking his human form again, his energy to hold together the demon form leaving him. His body returned to normal, his clawed hand and all. He looked at his left hand, seeing it anew now.

"Looks like that was your last transformation, buddy" Joe said. They hugged briefly, and then turned their focus on Fate.

"You bumbling cretin! You're ruining everything!" Fate was bellowing, stomping his huge scaly feet in absolute outrage, "Pat! Get them!" he screamed, kicking Pat in the back, sending him forward. Pat unsheathed his blade, looking at them a little bit shaken.

"It's fifteen against one, Pat. Do you really want to fight all of us?" Vance asked, his own sword already drawn, the blue blade glimmering against all the stars. Pat took a quick look around, sweat dripping down his blue skin. He gave a quick wave of his arm and released a bright red wave of light, just as Joe impaled him through the chest with a grand silver longsword he had been holding. Pat's face contorted with pain as he fell to the ground, and then dissipated, leaving his blade behind.

Joe threw his sword away and picked up Pat's sword, it being much longer and sharper than his previous sword.

"Hey! Guys! We got a problem!" Eli sounded from behind them. Vance and Joe turned to see all of their friends trapped inside individual red barriers, holding them in place. Vance ran up to Erk's barrier and knocked on it. His hand was repelled away so fast that his shoulder almost popped out of place.

"We'll just have to wait until it wears off" Vance said, moving his shoulder around in place to make sure it was okay.

"Great, so now you two get to have your asses handed to you, and all we can do is watch?" Nate asked angrily.

"Pretty much, just hold tight, it won't be long" Joe said, shouldering the giant black blade. They then turned their attentions on Fate, who stood there, a hint of a smirk on his face.

"Ah, yes, what a lovely family reunion. Now you both get to witness each others' deaths. You'll be joining your imbecile father soon" Fate said, taking position to attack. Vance and Joe poised their swords to attack.

"Ready for the fight of your life, shorty?" Joe taunted, smirking to Vance.

"Hey, watch it, buddy. I brought you back" Vance said, also grinning.

"I know. And thanks. Ready?" Joe said, getting on his mark.

"Ready" Vance replied.

They then charged blades up and ready for whatever happened, victory or death.

Vance bounded off the ground and did a front flip just before impaling his sword into Fate's giant foot. A roar of pain and rage sounded from above him as he removed the sword and jumped away, ready for a counter-attack. Fate's nostrils billowed smoke just as he released a wave of inferno right at Vance. In mid-air, Vance couldn't move away fast enough and was prepared for the heat when he felt a shove from his left and he went flying away from the flames.

He instinctively thought Joe and was prepared to see his charred body when the flames subsided, but gasped in surprise when the heat cleared. Nate was standing where Vance would have landed, completely unharmed.

"But...how did...?" Vance stuttered, completely flabbergasted.

"Are you really surprised? Tell him Joe, how many times have I escaped from things?" Nate said sarcastically, his red blade on his shoulder. Joe was busy though, jumping up Fate's red, scaly body, using the dragon's bulging muscles as footholds to jump on. Vance turned and saw that the others were still trapped.

"Here goes nothing" he said, and charged again, Nate at his side. Joe made it up to the beast's chest and shoved his sword right where his heart should be. The beast bellowed in pain and writhed so much that Joe fell off and left his blade impaled in Fate's chest. It was then that Vance realized the beast wasn't bellowing in pain; he was laughing.

The sword in his chest slowly pushed its way out of the flesh, and clanged to the ground loudly.

"How many times do I have to tell you maggots? I'm immortal, you cannot kill me!" Fate bellowed, giving another hallow fit of maniacal laughs.

'There has to be a weakness we're not seeing...we just need to keep fighting' Vance thought to himself. He ran around the back of Fate, jumping over his tail as it came at him, spikes first. He used the side of the tail as a support, and did a back flip off of it, landing on his feet and kept running. He sensed it coming back behind him and jumped, flipping just in time, as the spikes narrowly grazed his back, slicing his shirt slightly under the armor. The breastplate fell off him as he landed and he kept running.

He jumped onto the beast's back and started climbing, using the spikes to propel himself up. He got to the beast's neck and motioned to impale his sword into the beast's neck. As the blade made contact, a loud clang rang out, and Vance was propelled off, down 3 or 4 stories to the ground, he managed to upright himself and landed on his feet, the only minor pain being in his ankles.

"Haven't you read the stories, Vance? A dragon's back is harder than any steel, impervious to damage" Joe explained. Vance swore under his breath, just as Fate's eyes began to glow brighter.

"Get ready guys!" Joe shouted, getting ready for some fancy acrobatics. Fate then released green beams of lasers from his eyes, at least ten of them, roaming randomly around them.

Joe jumped and rolled between them, narrowly avoiding each one. Vance flipped back and forth, going over and under beams that approached him. His foot slipped on a jump, and he used his blade to deflect a beam that came at his face. Nate used his sword as a bat and hit the beams back at the beast, which then simply deflect off, upward into the nothingness. Finally the beams ended and they had a moment to catch their breath.

Vance was panting heavily, not used to all the acrobatic work after his prison time in Tartarus. His mind lapsed for a moment as he thought of the prison cell, his whole trip being projected across his eyes. A chill ran down his spine as he remembered the voice in the last cell of the Titan prison. Kronos, king of the Titans. Surely if he had been decimated enough to fit into that small casket, he should be dead. But no, he was immortal, he couldn't die. Surely any immortal in any period of time would fear...

It was then that it hit Vance.

"I've got it guys, hold on" Vance yelled. Fate reared back, preparing for another blast of inferno, just as Vance yelled to him.

"Hey! Snout man!" he taunted, trying to get his attention. Fate looked down slowly at him, his eyes deathly angry.

"So you like to play the fear game, eh? Well guess what, there's something else that I want, and your home is gonna graciously grant it to me" Vance said, a small smirk playing across his face.

"I fear nothing, mortal. I cannot be touched" Fate growled.

"Yeah yeah, I know, 'almighty immortal' and whatnot, but guess what, you do fear something" Vance said, his tone serious now.

"And what would that be, human?" Fate asked daringly.

"Mortality" Vance said finality in his tone.

Fate's eyes widened to the point of bulging, the green light glowing a little brighter. The dragon's body became encased in white light, and then shattered like a thousand shards of brightly lit glass, shattering his immortality with it.

"No, you shouldn't be able to do that! I'm...!" Fate bellowed in absolute outrage.

"I know, you're more powerful than this place. But I didn't wish for you to die, I wished for your greatest fear, which just so happens to be your very own mortality" Vance said, poising his sword for attack. He then charged, ramming his sword into Fate's foot once again, this time scalding, green blood spilled out of the wound, steaming as it trickled to the ground.

Fate roared in agonizing pain as never he had before. He unleashed another bout of flame as Nate pushed the other two out of the way, taking the blast for them. He came out unscarred once again, and slashed around at the beast's calf, causing him to tip to the side, losing balance.

Joe ran to the other leg and did the same, making the giant beast fall forward to its knees. Vance fell to one knee, beginning to glow purple, channeling his psychic power into his blade.

"Your scales may be harder than steel, Fate. But they can't repel what they can't touch!" he yelled, his sword now glowing brightly purple. He swung as hard as he could as the beast's neck, detaching his head. Smoke billowed from Fate's nose for a moment longer, and then all was silent as the beast quietly died.

Vance began to glow dimly yellow, and a small glowing sphere left his chest. It hovered in front of him for a moment, and then took the form of the old lady he had seen so long ago.

"Congratulations, Vance. You won." the prophet said. Vance couldn't see her face under the hood, but he knew she was smiling. It was then that they saw the glowing blue light from behind them.

They turned just in time to see the soul of human Jacob come at them with clawed hands bared. The prophet took the sword from Vance's hand and held it forth, chanting in a strange language that Vance couldn't understand at all. As Jacob collided with the blade, he was absorbed into it, not a trace of his translucent being left. The blade vibrated and hummed loudly, glowing red.

The blue slowly began to fade to black as the red light faded. Instead of a soothing sea-blue, the blade of the sword was now jet black, and reflected red in the light of the stars.

"His prison, for now" the prophet said, sticking the point of the sword into the ground.

"What do you mean for now? I thought he was dead?" Vance asked. He heard footsteps behind him and assumed that the others had escaped from their prisons, the barriers fading with Pat and Fate's souls.

"You made his body mortal, Vance, which was very good. But the soul will forever be immortal unfortunately, which is why he must be imprisoned for all eternity, lest he escape and find a mortal shell to control" the prophet explained.

She removed the hood over her face, and gray hair spilled out over her shoulders. The dark green cloak she wore made her pale skin even more pronounced, which also brought out the age wrinkles in her face. Her soothing blue eyes bore into Vance's face, reading him like a book.

"Hi, mom" Vance said calmly. She nodded in return.

"You've grown so much, Vance. Both of you have. Which is why I'm so heartbroken to have to say goodbye" she said.

"Goodbye?" Joe asked.

"Of course I can't stay on the mortal plane now, with my identity revealed" she said. Vance nodded in understanding.

"In addition, this monster will only stay confined with a strong seal, a seal of human life and elements" Vance's mother explained, "Fire, Earth, Water, Air, and Light. All five must be used to keep a being such as this in check. Nate, I bestow upon you, the seal of Fire. Eli, the seal of Water. Hector, the seal of Earth. Joe, my son, the seal of Air. And Vance, most importantly, I bestow upon you, the seal of Light, and the burden of the Black Blade, the Prison" she announced.

Nate, Eli, Hector, Joe, and Vance all began glowing different colors in respect to the elements bestowed upon them. The prophet then touched the point of the Blade to Vance's chest, and it absorbed completely into his body.

"The Light of your soul will keep the Darkness in the Blade in check. But remember, no matter how seductive the power of the Blade is, you must never release it. The soul cannot escape unless all of the other four elements are destroyed. This is why I chose the strongest of you legendary warriors to bear the burden of the seals. You will have prolonged life and greater powers, enhanced with your respective elements. The power of the blade will radiate from you, Vance, and it just may affect humanity as well. The corruption cannot be stopped, but you Warriors can fend off the effects in the world. I'm sure of it" the prophet finished.

"What world? Everything was destroyed" Anna said.

"Not everything is as it seems, little one. Now, I think it's just about time you all went home. This has been a terrible war, but rest easy, knowing that it's all over" she finished, her face relaxing a bit.

The words hit Vance like a truck; it was over, he was going home for good.

The prophet began glowing, and a portal appeared behind her.

"Remember, I'm only a dreamless sleep away. Take care, heroes" she said, finality in her tone. She glowed brightly white, then disappeared, leaving only the portal open before them.

"Come on guys," Vance said, lighting another cigarette, "Let's go home" he said.

They all stepped through the veil and disappeared in a flash of light.

They appeared in front of Joe's old house, but everything looked as it had years and years ago. The sky was a deep, rich blue, birds fluttering all around. People walked down the streets, going amongst their old business. No screams could be heard, no destroyed buildings, no demons; nothing. Everything was back to normal.

"I wonder if any of the people remember what happened" Hector said.

"I would think that there's something in the back of their minds that remembers it, but they suppress it, trying not to remember it. It'll be in the history books for sure, though" Vance said, sheathing his sword for the last time.

Joe took Lyn's hand and they walked into the house together. The others slowly dispersed, leaving Vance, Erk, Sain, Anna, and Kristine standing alone by the tree out front.

"It's over guys, we won" Vance said. A tear trickled down Kristine's cheek, a tear of joy. They all approached the house.

"You guys know you're not all staying here now, right?" Vance joked. They laughed as he opened the door and they filed in. He stood on the porch a moment longer, looking out into the sky.

He could have sworn one of the clouds looked like his mom, smiling down on him. Satan was back in Hell, Jacob was dead, his father's soul was at rest, and all was good in the world again.

'Time to bury the equipment and start my life...' Vance thought to himself. He turned and walked inside, closing the door softly behind him.

Not that he could see, but his eyes were now a shade of green instead of blue, a combination of the two souls now at battle inside him.

The End.