Chapter 52

'Welcome to Crovell vision,' Covo smirked as he realised what it was he was watching. 'I'm your host Macar Covo, bringing you the blow by blow updates from what is set to be the ultimate battle between light and dark, good and evil, the Mistresses and the Reganna. This will be the fight of the millennia and promises to be even more explosive than the Mistresses unfinished all out four months ago. Will the Mistresses suffer from being one down? Will the Pure and the First be able to work out their differences and fight side by side? Will the Face of Friendship overpower Re and turn the tide of battle? Well folks the shows about to begin. So grab your popcorn, settle into a nice comfy chair and get set for the experience of a lifetime. Who will ultimately prevail? Only time will tell.'

Gan almost laughed with shock when she saw four pairs of white glazed eyes staring at her from the Yatnuh. She'd expected Win's presence, but what the hell were they playing at with Duke? Surely they couldn't be expecting him to fight for them somehow. The very notion of it was too ridicules for words, especially with their little Helper and the Axe nowhere in sight.

'What the hell do you bitches think you're playing at,' Re jabbed a finger in Duke's direction, 'just what the hell is he supposed to be?'

'You mean she right,' the Pure's voice was light and mocking, 'and I know our sister doesn't really have any distinguishing features, but I'm insulted you don't recognise the Face of Friendship when you see her Re.'

'That is not the Face of Friendship.'

'No, but she'll do,' a sly smile filled the First's face, 'not jealous, are we Re?'

'As if,' Re's lips curled with disgust. 'So are you cowardly whores going to give us back our Axe? Or are you actually going to make this interesting?'

'Do you see the Axe?'

'No.'

'Then I guess we're preparing to make this interesting for you,' the First met his gaze. 'But first, what do you say to giving us back the child.'

'I'd say get bent,' Re cocked his head, 'the brat is ours.'

'Don't call my son a brat,' the First flicked an energy ball into her hand.

'Fine, then I'll call him what he is. I'll call him Chaos.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Take a look for yourself First,' Gan grinned slyly as she held the child up for her to see.

'A… a… a blue aura,' she took several steps back, 'I thought they were just exaggerating about that.'

'Ler dros ti cam, al chaosa shan reno,' Duke's voice was level and calm. 'When the time comes, all chaos shall return.'

'Shut up,' the First shot him a look, 'I thought I told you to lay off that.'

'Trouble in paradise?' Re cocked an eyebrow. 'Is your little fake not working out for you First?'

'He's working just fine, believe me,' the Pure took up a defensive stance, 'now give us the child so we can get this battle started already.'

'Do I look like an idiot?'

'I don't know, do you?' The Pure smirked. 'We just want to make sure the child doesn't get hurt, so why not give him to us so we can put him somewhere safe?'

'You mean so you can summon the Axe here and use our prized weapons against us, don't you?'

'Last I checked I was the one who created the Axe, so I don't see how it's your prized weapon. As for the kid, he was a group effort...'

'No, he was our doing,' Gan cut her off, 'I will not let you take any credit for him. He's ours. Always was and always will be.'

'We're not getting anywhere like this,' Win rolled his eyes as a white aura started to circle around him. 'So what do you say we save the bickering for a Sunday afternoon garden party and get down to the real action here.'

'And here I thought we didn't speak the same language,' a dark grin spread across Re's face as his aura began circling him.

In Gan's arms, Crovell began to gurgle excitedly. It was obvious he knew what was coming. After all he could probably smell the brewing chaos in the air or feel it in his bones or something. He was connected to the chaos in the same way he was connected to the Axe. When he was ready he would summon the Axe to him and end the fighting once and for all. It was a little secret about the situation only Gan knew and she had no reason not to keep it that way.

'Roll on chaos,' she kept her voice low as she allowed her dark aura to start circling round her, 'for my son shall inherit the darkness that follows.'

From his hiding place SK had a perfect view of the action. From the point in time Win had started allowing his aura to circle him; it had taken less than a minute for all seven combatants to be completely engulfed by their auras. There was something at once thrillingly extraordinary and yet ordinarily familiar about the whole situation which filled SK's whole being with a rigid kind of tension.

Nervously he glanced towards the Elemental Axe, which was safely hidden next to him. If anything were to happen to it he'd be left permanently powerless and Win would never be able to reseparate. That's was one of the two main reasons why it had been left out of the battle. The other reason was the fact they couldn't be sure which side Crovell was working for. If the First's son was the only one who could use the weapon properly, then allowing him access to it too soon was potentially dangerous. Especially after the sheer amount of time he'd spent around the Reganna since they'd first gained possession of him. If he'd been corrupted by them, then all they could do was hope and pray the weapon never fell into his hands.

His tongue skated across his lips as his eyes darted back towards the others. Gan had managed to keep herself and the child on the back line. SK did his best to study Crovell, although at the distance he was it was impossible to tell what the infants blue glazed eyes were focused on. Or at least that's how it felt at first glance. The longer he spent studying the infant, the more certain SK became that he could follow his eye line. To SK's surprise it led him directly to one of the Mistresses.

SK knew it was one of the Mistresses and not Win, because Win's aura was brighter than theirs, although with their auras up it was still pretty hard to tell them all apart. After a few minutes of watching, SK began to notice several strange things about her behaviour. For a start although she was definitely sending attacks in the Reganna's direction, they were few and far between. In between each attack her aura began flickering in an odd manner, subtle enough not to call attention to itself, but too irregular to just be happening by chance.

Crovell had started chirping near the start of the battle; SK had just put it down to his awareness of the situation, but now he began to wonder if it was more than that. His chirping appeared to correlate with the flashing aura of the Mistress he was watching. There was no way it could be coincidence; they had to be communicating with each other. The only questions now was; what the hell where they saying to each other and why the hell hadn't anyone else noticed it yet?

SK flicked his gaze up towards Gan. Her companions might have been distracted by the battle, but she didn't have that excuse. Was it possible she hadn't noticed the flickering aura of the Mistress? Did maybe she think Crovell's chirping meant something else? Or was she controlling it somehow? The problem was, with her aura up Gan was little more than a glowing black shadow. A shadow had no face and no face meant no expression and no way of telling what she might or might not be thinking. SK gave a heavy sigh as his tongue once again skated across his lips.

He now found himself with two very real possibilities. The first being that Gan hadn't noticed the communication going on between Crovell and the unknown Mistress, which would indicate Crovell was on their side. The second was that she did know and was manipulating the situation so the Mistresses would let their guard down. If that were the case then Crovell would be working for the Reganna and his objective was no doubt figuring out where the Axe was hidden.

Almost as soon as he'd completed his train of thoughts the Elemental Axe began to flicker and glow like a disco ball rotating through a series of ten colours. As he continued to watch the colours blurred together forming a dazzlingly beautiful light like nothing he'd ever seen before. The power oozing off the weapon filled every single one of his senses. He could taste it. He could smell it. He could see it. He could hear it. And, with an uncertain feeling of dread, he knew exactly what was about to happen next.