Eternity

Part 4

By Mieren

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Cye's wait ended in minutes, as he had predicted. A gateway originating from the outlands opened barely spitting distance from him, Lanfear stepping out immediately, smugly. Fifteen wiry and deadly forms followed her, five emitting a grace and power that the others could not hope to manage. Three of the forms below him were incredibly faster than he was, making him seriously wonder if he should reconsider his tactics. His attempt to confuse his opponents hadn't succeeded in the slightest. They had gotten much better in the few days they had been training, their skills obviously having improved much more extensively than even he had managed in his twelve centuries of wandering through time. He bleakly wondered if he would have to try again if he survived long enough to escape.

He hesitated, keeping his presence hidden, a trick he had developed only a century ago. Though he could not be seen, he could not do anything either, his collapsed aura negating his strength to virtual nonexistence. His one distinct disadvantage was that he was completely vulnerable, helpless for several seconds if he was seen. Only his conviction to gain his vengeance for what had been done to him prevented him from turning away for fear of his life. The desire to protect his friends and what little remained of his family returned to his long devastated mind, rooting him to his position until the time came.

The gateway closed, sixteen forms hovering effortlessly in the air. Cye sucked in a sharp breath when one of the sinuous figures looked vaguely in his direction. Cehir's distinctive silvery mane identified him readily, nearly sending Cye into a seizure. The once softened gaze he had seen on the man had disappeared, possibly forever. Only a murderer's eyes shone up in his direction, the eyes of a madman. Cye tried not to pull back, prayed that he wouldn't be seen just yet, not by Cehir. He was easily one of the more dangerous of the Eternity Bound, possessing both the impossible strength and speed that Cye could not match in any sense of the word. Worse, he knew Cye's fighting styles and abilities to the very last trick.

A pastel emerald gaze swept across him, Cehir looking away a moment later, a slow smile appearing on his face. He looked almost amused. The very thought caused the hair on the back of Cye's neck to stand on end. Cehir knew he was there and Cye had no idea what he intended to do about it. Not giving him a chance to do anything, Cye leapt forward into his nerve-wracking plan.

Free falling and plainly in view, he allowed his aura to snap back into existence, using the sudden burst of power to push himself into a form that he would not have been able to manage otherwise. It served Deterik right for taking him to eternity with the others. Twin sets of long, thin wings sprouted from his back, a matching whip-like tail swirling behind him a moment later. He had barely managed to form the appropriate muzzle and corded muscles before sixteen heads snapped upright in his direction. Painfully aware that he was now being watched and countermeasures already being put into effect, he completed the shift into the outlander form, banishing his heels and readjusting the jointing of his legs. Wicked talons appeared on his hands and feet only an instant before he plunged through the scattering group, his frantic slashes missing every one of his targets miserably. It was pitiful enough that they had received training where he had not, but to make matters worse, he was short one of the crucial bloodlines for the transformation, just as Cehir should have been. He attributed the difference to Cehir's involvement in the ceremony.

Angling his overlapping wings harshly, he made another pass, growing concerned when no one made a move to counter him. If he couldn't convince at least one of the group to follow him, his effort would be wasted as surely as his life. Lanfear watched in morbid amusement as the fifteen matching forms around him swerved as though echoing one another's thoughts, closing in on him from all directions. Gasping, he pulled one of his fiercest tricks.

A crack of lightning flashed through his still rising form, blinding his attackers for the vital moment it took him to split himself in four directions, each form melting into a different elemental shape. Light, air, illusion and darkness versions of himself melted instantly through the massing forces, several whips of elemental power crashing in every direction before they could counter, though only one target was held in his mind.

Shrieking, Picen dropped several feet from the air before he managed to regain his composure and balance. By that time, Cye had rejoined his split forms into one and had bolted to the northeast at a backbreaking pace, praying that his lucky strike would enrage the other water master to follow him out of sheer vengeance. He desperately needed to eliminate anyone who could counter his primary elemental ability. He glanced over his shoulder several times, not having to fake the worried expression on his face as he pretended to flee from pursuit. Predictably, several forms followed him.

"Shit," Cye spat softly, increasing his pace further. He had only anticipated Picen!

He had only wanted a single pursuer on this run. Though he had wanted Picen to follow him, having taunted him by issuing several cheap blows, he had prayed that Koxanama would not follow. Cognite and Follouya, he could outrun. Deterik, though slower than him by far, could still cause serious problems. His only reprieve was that Cehir had stayed behind, his smirking visage and low spoken words keeping Len and Vera from following as well. The remainder of the group only watched him leave, fanning out to look for the others. Cye suddenly wished that he had left them in hiding as well, knowing that they were doomed if they were found now.

Desperate to escape all but Picen's furious pursuit, he altered his course, knowing that he could not escape the other four before nearing his trap, which would only hold one. Koxanama, however, posed a problem. Cye knew perfectly well that he could not outrun him. He altered his course to the west by veering almost two hundred degrees to the side, watching as Cognite and Follouya abandoned the chase when unable to match his instantaneous turn. Deterik, stubborn beyond any measure that Cye would have credited him for, followed relentlessly even though he had to widen his turn, managing to keep pace with Picen and Koxanama for several minutes before falling to exhaustion and turning away. Cye heaved a breath of relief as the menacing redhead forfeited the chase to Koxanama and Picen. His reprieve lasted for only a moment until he realized that Deterik had no need to be present to witness his downfall, that Koxanama and Picen together would be sufficient to finish him. Though weaker separately, together they could easily kill him.

Desperate, he tried another foul play. Powers of illusion he had no claim to erupted around him, filling the air with innumerable warriors and mirages of deadly spells. His pursuit ended instantly as both of his shadows swerved in vastly different directions to evade traps that did not exist. Ignoring Koxanama, Cye turned to Picen, dissolving the illusions in his path and allowing the man to follow him. More than willing, Picen darted after him, not noticing that Koxanama was still batting uselessly at the illusions Cye had cast. Cye had only moments to remove himself and Picen from Koxanama's view before he unraveled the weak illusions and he knew it.

Struggling to gain distance, it took him several moments to remember what he had seen in the astral plane during his training. His friends had seen him a moment after Sage had unraveled the illusion of the dimension, a winged horse beside one of the beautiful streams in the disguised paradise. Luckily, they had not seen though his illusionary form and had dismissed his retreat as nothing, allowing him the opportunity to follow and observe them further. The sphinxes' riddles still rang sharply in his mind.

"The son born to trickery's might holds the powers I must fight. The true appearance revealed at last holds the key to the master's past."

"Sage," he breathed. Too late, he realized that the sphinx had all but told them that it was willing to fight Koxanama. Cye craned his head immediately, clenching his teeth when he saw Koxanama in pursuit once more, the rudimentary illusions he had cast still unraveling under the vicious blows of the true master of illusion. His mind rang out, crying for help from the only one he believed could help him now.

Sage, help me! Sage! Damn it, I know you can hear me!

Receiving no answer, Cye swerved into a tight loop designed to miss Picen by a wide margin. Koxanama, however, was slower and hence not so lucky, catching the full of Cye's charge in his exposed side. Yelping in shock and pain, he tumbled from the sky for only a few seconds before regaining his balance. But by that time, Cye was gone, Picen with him.

Knowing that the final illusion of invisibility would diminish within seconds, Cye nearly killed himself by changing directions again and swinging towards the northeast at a speed he could not maintain. He had only minutes at his current pace before he collapsed from wounds that had never truly healed. Destroyed lungs and a severely damaged heart that would eventually kill him. The passing seconds seemed like an eternity as he neared the forested lands still miles ahead.

Cye's eyes narrowed suddenly and he pushed himself to greater speeds, clearly hearing Picen's hiss of frustration as he was forced to strain to keep up. The gaping wound in Picen's front left wing was the only thing that had allowed Cye to outdistance him thus far, though he doubted that it would matter much longer. The brunette was getting tired, panting hoarsely and trembling slightly as he neared his goal. Gasping loudly, he went completely limp and plummeted from the air.

Picen let out a shriek of victory as Cye fell unhindered through the air, furling his own wings instantly and diving to follow. It nearly unhinged Cye to see the victorious visage nearing him as he drew ever nearer the ground, but he did not reopen his wings or move to correct his fall. Talons encased in black flames reached out for him, closing tightly around his long thin tail.

Gasping, Cye tried to sever his own tail, straining to remove the dead weight from himself before he reached the first set of trees. He knew he had only an instant to readjust his height and speed to make it safely through the narrow passageway he had left open for himself through the deathtrap. Too late, he curled in on himself to slice through his snared appendage, thin wires nicking his elbows and the back of his neck. He struggled to pull free, his eyes locking desperately on the wires wrapping around the trees ahead, the opening several feet too high for his diminished speed and height. A shriek was ripped forcibly from his throat as he crashed through the following tendrils of enchanted metal. The delicate runes on the small pendants at the ends of the wires forbade their breaking, but Cye's momentum ripped them free from the trees, slicing cleanly through the thick trunks. Fierce whips of burning pain erupted along his spine as he hit the third such mass of strings traveling backwards at an unbearable pace. Blood flooded across his face as he careened through the next set of wire trappings, Picen's scream intermingling with his own.

Time seemed to slow down as the bloody forms tangled in wire continued through the traps Cye had set. After what seemed like an eternity, the twin shredded forms skidded to a halt on the stony ground, the soil beneath them quickly turning to mud from the sheer volumes of blood seeping from their mutilated hides.

"You bastard," Picen spat out, blood trickling from his mouth and lacerated neck alike. He struggled to rise, the wires wrapped around him cutting deeper into his flesh.

Cye groaned and shifted into a water elemental for a mere moment, seeping carefully between the wires and into the earth beneath him. He would have shifted before hitting the wires if he had thought he could have survived the enchanted steel slicing his elemental form into multiple pieces. More likely than not, the effort of allowing a rune tipped wire pass through him would have killed him. A properly crafted rune could destroy even an immortal. He had hoped that Picen would have attempted that very act to protect himself, but he had apparently followed Cye's lead and held his form. Cye had to credit him for owning at least a few brain cells.

Reaching a fair distance from an ensnared, and furious, Picen, Cye reformed slowly, his numerous injuries reappearing as he reclaimed a physical form. He glanced at the sets of wire ahead, thankful that he hadn't been thrown though those tangles as well. He hadn't the strength to fight as it was.

"It's too bad," Picen announced suddenly, beginning the laborious process of freeing himself from the tangled steel. He frowned slightly, shrugging the last of the entwining wire to the ground.

"Too bad?" Cye repeated carefully, tensing. He had to fight with his own nerves not to look around for Mouri, praying that his ancestor would reach them soon. Without the elfin sorcerer and the rifle he carried, Cye knew that he wouldn't survive long.

"Too bad that your little ruse didn't work," Picen shrugged, a crafty expression appearing on his face. "You must have realized by now that your efforts will save neither you nor your friends. I almost feel sorry for them. By now, they must be screaming in agony at the hands of Menderren or Deterik." Cye snarled and advanced a step, careful to keep his shredded wings out of his way in case he had to move quickly. Picen smirked widely and cocked his head, listening to something beyond Cye's senses. "Detowin as well," he sneered, eyes flashing maliciously. "He just finished off that stunning vixen. Pity. I'd have liked a turn with her before she died."

Cye's eyes widened and he stepped back, fighting to keep his emotions and expression in check. The sudden realization of Picen's attitude struck him as a supreme victory if he could use it. Picen was wounded far worse that he was letting on, his taunts and superior attitude stalling for time and keeping Cye off guard. Despite himself, a smile played at the edges of his lips.

"Pity indeed," Cye murmured, moving forward. He kept his advance slow, desperate to keep his injuries and dragging limp hidden. "Especially since there were no women in the group."

With the final word, Cye leapt. His momentum carried him directly through Picen and nearly into the tree beyond him. Shocked, he turned slowly to face an indistinct image of his opponent, the misty form growing further translucent by the moment. Shaking his head in denial, Cye turned his attention to the sky and found an answer to the impossible.

"Greetings, cousin," Koxanama called warmly from his aerial vantage. Beside him, Picen watched with obvious amusement. "I see that you finally unraveled the mystery of my brother's likeness." Cye stepped back, quivering slightly from exhaustion and loss of blood. He kept his eyes trained on the two forms above him, still praying for salvation. "We were fairly certain that you had prepared a trap for us. That's the only way you would ever have picked a fight you knew you couldn't win. Neither of us was about to follow you until we knew what you were up to, so I created a mirage for you to lead into your own deathtrap."

"He's gotten smarter over the years," Cye muttered darkly to himself. Realizing that the illusion he had faced had reached a complexity he had never imagined possible, he began to wonder if they stood a chance. It appeared as though he was still being taunted despite the lengthy training he had undergone. He had actually believed the deceptive figure to be Picen, had been unable to detect the weave or the energy signatures. He realized absently that the illusionist had even managed to counter his own element, as he had not been able to do so many years ago. Cye glanced quickly over his shoulder and took another step back, deciding on the best path of escape.

"You can't outrun us now," Picen scoffed.

Cye wanted to scream, to collapse to the ground in bitter frustration and helplessness. He had been caught in his own trap and would suffer greatly for it later if he survived this encounter. A slight movement of a nearby branch and an almost indecipherable rustle off to his side alerted him to another presence. He kept his eyes trained forward and expression fixed in a mixture of fury and defeat. If it was another of Lanfear's children, his defenses were worthless anyway, but if it was not, then he didn't want to draw the attention of the two in front of him towards a possible ally.

"I don't see that it matters since you're both dead," Cye scoffed, praying that his company was who he believed it to be. In the furthest regions of his peripheral vision, he saw the distinctive glimmer of the tip of a rifle's barrel. Cye allowed his features to twist into a feral grin. "Bye."

Brows knitting at the returned taunt and the blatant threat, Picen opened his mouth to respond, grunting in shock when a tiny projectile slammed into his ribs at a high velocity. Blinking in disbelief, he pulled the tiny dart from between his ribs, absently flicking a drop of blood away from his pale skin. Koxanama snagged a second projectile just before it hit him as well.

"And what exactly is this supposed to do, you stupid elf?" Picen snapped, throwing the tiny projectile towards its source when he came to the realization of who must have been responsible. Seeming more irritated than anything, he turned to Koxanama. "Why didn't you tell me he was there?"

Koxanama just shook his head in disbelief and stared at the tree more fiercely. "Because I can't see him. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that he wasn't actually here."

"By the runt's own words, she was sent away," Picen muttered, gasping softly for breath. "Only the elf is here." He cleared his throat a little roughly, his breath beginning to come heavily. Without warning, he lost several feet in altitude before he was able to regain his bearings and hold himself upright again. His right hand strayed to his left shoulder and clamped it tightly, eyes widening in realization. "You bastards," he hissed. "What did you do?"

Cye leapt into the air, praying that a short distraction would give Mouri time to escape before the two in front of him realized what had happened. His guess of an immediate attack was well founded, a blast of energy passing him in flight and heading directly towards the tree Mouri had fired the twinned shots from. The resulting explosion created a crater well over fifty feet deep and at least twice that wide. Cye tried to keep his mind focused on what he was doing, nearing his targets with claws leading. Predictably enough, Koxanama slapped him immediately from the air and sent him spiraling into the trees. He barely managed to alter his course enough to evade crashing into the enchanted wires once more. Vindictiveness caused him to snap one wire and ricochet it towards Koxanama, who cursed loudly and vulgarly at the whip mark to his upper arm. Cye bounced once and lay still, barely clinging to consciousness. Blatantly aware that only Picen's worsening condition had kept him from being attacked again, he tried not to draw attention to himself, instead opting to watch the two shadows in the sky above him.

The only reason Picen hadn't plummeted from the air was that Koxanama had a fierce hold on his younger brother. Picen had begun trembling fiercely, blood trickling from between clenched teeth as he fought to breathe against the pain in his chest, his jaws clenched so tightly that his own teeth were cutting into his gums at the roots. Face betraying a look of desperation and pain, he turned pleading eyes to his brother, who nodded slowly and started back in the direction they had come with Picen cradled in his arms. They hadn't been moving for more than a few seconds before Picen shuddered violently once and went limp. Koxanama's face paled for an instant only before deteriorating into a cold fury. Swallowing nervously, Cye took his cue and sank defensively into the ground in the form of a water elemental, praying that he still had enough strength to survive his escape.

Seconds ticked on indefinitely as he tried to gain distance, his entire body burning with the effort of holding an elemental form. He could feel Koxanama pulling further away in a futile attempt to help his dying brother, having abandoned the chase to report to the others. Cye sighed mentally, knowing that his trick wouldn't work a second time. Yersenia would surely decipher the deadly riddle of how to counter the potassium chloride before they managed to hit anyone else. Koxanama's possession of the second dart saw to that.

Exhausted from his injuries and the effort of holding an elemental shape for any length of time, Cye surfaced and allowed himself to shift back into human form. He knew that he was momentarily safe from attack and sank to the ground to rest for a moment. Several soft moans and whimpers escaped his clenched jaw as he settled to the blood dampened earth, every breath escaping his lungs growing slower and more labored. He angled his head slightly to glance at himself, to see how much damage he had taken on his desperate attack, but could make out nothing past the deep crimson. Black swirls infiltrated his vision as a wave of dizziness swept across him, pulling him mercifully into oblivion.

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Mouri had sat helplessly as Cye had crashed through set after set of the almost invisible wires they had so carefully entangled among the trees. Great oaks and pines toppled mercifully to the ground or shattered in a rain of splinters at their passing, leaving the elfin sorcerer to watch miserably. Though he had followed immediately without fear of being detected, still disguised from the aid of the small metal rune winding through his ear, he only arrived several moments after Cye had taken the brunt of several fierce taunts at the expense of his sanity.

"You can't outrun us now," Picen scoffed loudly. Cye began to tremble fiercely, his despairing look earning him several cold chuckles. The elfin sorcerer watched intently as he drew nearer with rifle held ready in his hands. They hadn't even had to train him how to use it, being much simpler than a bow. Just look through the scope, put the cross on what you want to hit and pull the little trigger. He must have been noticed because almost immediately, Cye's shoulders eased slightly, the pained trembling leaving his lacerated form.

"I don't see that it matters since you're both dead," Cye taunted back, tensing himself as though preparing for battle. Mouri sincerely hoped that he had more sense than to attempt such an act of desperation. "Bye."

Realizing that he had almost missed his cue, Mouri hefted the barrel of the rifle and squeezed the trigger gently. He had barely heard the resonance of the shot in his ears before his arm snapped forward along the barrel and back with a fierce click, a new round readied in the barrel. His aim had already been readjusted and he squeezed the trigger again, watching as Picen jerked in shock from the stinging pain of the dart buried in his ribs. Koxanama, however, was much faster, snagging the second projectile out of the air and studying it thoughtfully.

"And what exactly is this supposed to do, you stupid elf?" Picen snapped, flipping the empty round back at him. Mouri watched in horror as the small dart missed his skull by less than a finger's width. In his silent, and more than slightly frantic, deliberation of why the darts hadn't worked as Cye had assured him they would, he missed Picen and Koxanama's ensuing conversation. Picen's shout broke him from his thoughts.

"You bastards," he spat venomously. "What did you do?"

A short-lived grin appeared on Mouri's face when he realized that they had succeeded in poisoning at least one of the Eternity Bound. Picen trembled and began hyperventilating, his already pale features taking on an ashen look. Mouri's elation died almost as quickly as it had appeared when he saw Cye take to the air in blatant combat before they could decide what to do. On a sudden burst of fear and paranoia, he abandoned his hiding place and sprinted for cover, a blast of energy slamming into the tree where he had been. Despite the ground he had gained, the explosion threw him forward at least twenty feet. By the time he regained his wits and balance, he could only look up to watch the tail end of the battle, too sore and in an impossible position to intervene. Koxanama casually pocketed the dart in his hand and slapped Cye from the air as though he was only a pesky insect, sending him tumbling from the sky and towards the deadly wires once more.

Grinding his teeth, Mouri doggedly started towards where Cye would have landed, heaving a sigh of relief when he saw that his descendant had missed the deadly wires, though barely. Cye didn't notice his presence, instead shifting into a water elemental and sinking defensively into the ground. Only at his absence did Mouri realize the danger he was in. Wide turquoise eyes lifted to the heavens in time for him to see a single retaliatory blast leveled in Cye's direction of retreat, issued by a furious looking Koxanama.

The only thought to pass through Mouri's mind was how badly he was about to hurt when that blast hit him. In a reflexive act of desperation, he snapped himself into an elemental form and sank deep into the earth, counting silently and frantically in his mind.

Eight… Nine… Ten… Eleven… Mouri whimpered as he strove for distance. The passing seconds were unequivocally precious and as equally deadly. From past experimentation born of recklessness and curiosity, he had determined that he could hold this impossible form for roughly half a minute before he shifted back forcibly. He had to make sure that he was above ground when that happened, not wanting to be spitting sand and gravel from every orifice for the remainder of his life, assuming that by some miracle he actually survived the reformation. Drawing too near the time limit for his liking, he surfaced suddenly, gasping for breath.

"Where's your illusion, elf?" Koxanama snapped.

Mouri choked, one hand snapping to the side of his head where his earring had fallen out when he had shifted forms. Searching fingers encountered only a bloody ear despite his desperate prayers. His eyes widened when he realized that he had lost his bags of enchanted weapons, leaving him utterly defenseless. Not even his thin leather armor had made the trip with him, leaving him entirely nude as well.

At a loss for words and wits, Mouri simply turned and retreated, sprinting lightly across the plains where he had surfaced. Neither trees nor hills decorated the flatlands, leaving him open to attack without a place to even try to hide. A feeling of maliciousness approached him from behind, alerting him that a blast of energy was being readied to obliterate him as he ran. Even knowing that he couldn't move fast enough to get away, he dove into the ground, extending his manipulative powers of water into the earth and begging passage from the stone below. The earth heaved sluggishly, opening for him only an instant before his head crashed into the dirt. Even as the soil snapped shut behind him, he felt the wrenching pain of a lance of energy ripping through him. The silent earth seemed to roll about him as he writhed for an instant before going limp, breath stilling in his throat.

At least I drew him away from Cye, he thought silently as darkness claimed him.

--- --- --- --- ---

"Shit!" Kento spat, surging to his feet with a maniacal look in his dark eyes.

"Be quiet!" Terru snarled softly. "Do you want us to be found?"

"What happened?" Sage asked. He knew that something bad had to have occurred for Kento to have exploded so suddenly.

"I-it's Mouri," he stammered, slumping against the cave wall. "He was just… Koxanama was angry that he shot Picen and he… I think he was trying to lead them away from Cye."

"Oh God," Sage breathed. He buried his face in his arms and shook his head numbly, afraid to hear anything further, but afraid not to know what was going on. "What about Cye?"

"I don't know," Kento admitted softly, shoulders drooping. "The earth felt his passage a few minutes ago and told me that he was hurt." He stopped, features tightening in pain. "The elementals never notice things like that unless…"

"Shit," Cale breathed, repeating Kento's original statement. "Now what?"

"I think we're screwed," Anubis muttered into his folded arms. Shin glared at him angrily.

"He's not dead yet," he snapped with a conviction that caused Kento to wince.

"We don't know that for sure," Kento murmured, stopping when Shin's heated gaze turned on him.

"The hell we don't," Sage said, suddenly catching onto Shin's thoughts. "You remember what happened the last time Cye died." Kento glanced over at him, understanding dawning on his grave features. They all remembered quite well the explosion of power that had shot across the dimension at Cye's last rebirth.

Shin looked towards the northeast where he knew that both Mouri and Cye laid defenseless. As he had seen Cye do on rare occasions in the past, he called silently for help to no one, to everyone.

Please, save them, he pleaded. Tears ran silently down his cheeks, stinging his eyes and burning his chill flesh. I'm begging you, help them.

Though he had not expected an answer, it stung him deeply when he didn't receive one.

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To Be Continued…

To be honest, I have no idea where this fifth story is going, but I do know how I'm going to end the sixth. Please R&R to inspire me. That and I love it, so R&R!