Chapter 53

'Welcome back to Crovell vision. For those of you paying attention, you'll be more than aware of the current state of the battle still raging between the Mistresses and the Reganna,' Covo couldn't help but smirk to himself. 'For you see, in a surprise twist, the Mistresses somehow managed to make a Substitute Mistress out of Duke. For what reason, I hear you ask. Well I'm going to assume it's to even up the numbers a little,' he gave an embarrassed laugh and scratched the back of his head. 'I'm going to go ahead and assume you don't get to count Win. But it doesn't matter; so far things seem to be on a pretty even keel. But, as we know from experience that won't last because… hey, what the…?'

Without warning Crovell's gaze shifted and Covo found himself staring at a multicoloured glow of lights coming from a hidden corner of the cavern like room the others were in. He held his breath for a few moments. So far it appeared like only Crovell was aware of these lights, but Covo knew that wouldn't last. Whatever it was, it was crying out for attention and attention was just what it was going to get.

'This just in,' he swallowed hard, 'a glowing mass has just been spotted by our inside man. Will this… whatever it is, be enough to change the flow of the battle, who knows. But stay tuned, because things are defiantly about to heat up.'

The Elemental Axe appeared without warning in the middle of the battlefield, causing each side to call a temporary truce. All eyes watched the Axe as it hovered and glowed with the full beauty of ten different colours. The power it contained screamed out to every single one of them; filling the Reganna with excitement and the Mistresses with dread. With the Axe now on the field everything which had come before was suddenly irrelevant. This was and always had been the object that would decide the fate of the multiverse. The time had come. The battle was over now. The only question was; whose side would the weapon's owner pick? That of the light or that of the darkness. It all came down to this.

Minutes passed by like hours and the child whose choice would make or break the order of things hadn't moved a muscle from Gan's arms. The Mistresses' hearts sunk.

'We've won,' the words came out of Gan in a single, joyous breath.

But she spoke too soon. Within seconds Crovell vanished from her arms, reappearing on the ground beneath the axe in the centre of the battlefield. For a few moments the infant lay there, staring up at the powerful object he controlled. He then made a few happy squeaks, before giggling excitedly.

'Da da da da da,' he chirped as the axe flew across the chamber into the hands of one of the Mistresses. 'Da da da.'

The child's blue aura fully engulfed him as his body became surrounded by a translucent bubble, which floated gently into the air.

'Da da da da,' he continued to chirp. 'Da da da da da.'

The bubble slowly carried the child towards the Mistress holding the Axe. When he arrived above the Mistress's head, her aura began to take on a blue tint. The still swirling aura dimmed enough to reveal Duke stood inside it. His glazed eyes also contained tints of blue and his face was filled with a strange, but knowing smile.

'Ler dros ti cam, al chaosa shan reno. When the time comes, all chaos shall return. And I am the chaos.'

'What?' The aura around another of the Mistresses broke, this time revealing the First.

'I am chaos,' Duke repeated, 'Father I am Chaosen.'

'Father?'

'Yes,' Duke nodded, as the baby in the bubble began to float towards the First. 'Father, Duke is simple my Daiosen, that is how I am able to use him like this. I have to make you understand, make all of you understand, that I am not only chaos, I am Chaosen'

'You mean Chaosaion?' The First frowned.

'I do, but in all honesty I prefer the corruption of their name. After all you associate the Chaosaion with all that is evil and wrong with their breed, so maybe you can accept the Chaosen as all that was good and right with it.'

'There was nothing good and right with it.'

'No, you're wrong. The Chaosaion were as much born out of the fragments of Win as they were the Fragments of the Reganna,' Duke's voice was calm and level. 'That's why they could be so different when you moved between the realities. Because some had more darkness in them and others more light. But in the end, no matter what reality you were in, the Reganna fragments slowly started clumping together, draining out of the people as a whole and into individuals. This allowed the fragments of Win to create something better; something purer, which the three of you wouldn't hate or fear. That's how the Odraian were born; only you couldn't see that because you were so filled with grief over Win's death. Even then. Even at the start of the Tenth Order you couldn't leave him behind. It was why you relinquished your power over the Earth to the gods. It was why you only saw evil in the Chaosaion. But you must understand; they were never truly evil.'

'Touching story kid,' Re's voice sounded out of one of the aura covered beings, 'but if you don't mind, I believe we were just about to take your father down. So are you with us or against us?'

'Isn't it obvious?' The axe in Duke's hands flashed.

'Fine, suit yourself. I don't care how powerful you are, I'll destroy you.'

'I don't think so,' Win took a step forward. 'See the kid's with us now, making it five against three. I'd say the odds were stacked in our favour, wouldn't you?'

'Think what you like, you'll never defeat us.'

'That's where you're wrong,' the First grinned, as she allowed herself to become engulfed by her aura again. 'You guys ready for this?'

'This is what I'm here for, remember?' Win's voice was filled with excited pride.

'Then I'd say it was about time to show these fools exactly why it's better to be light,' the Pure laughed, 'literally.'

'So what are we waiting for?' The First gathered a ball of pure light before her.

Within seconds of her doing so, the Pure and Win had done the same. Beams of light then shot out of the three balls towards the Reganna.

'What do you think you are doing?' Gan's voice sounded in a mixture of alarm and pain.

'Turning you into Light,' Win chuckled, 'or weren't you listening?'

'You can't.'

'Watch us,' Duke smirked as the three beams of light were joined by a fourth from the Axe. 'Your time in this Realm is coming to an end and there's nothing you can do about it.'

The cavernous chamber became filled with the screams of the Reganna. It was a deafeningly painful noise to listen to and there was no way anyone could block it out.

'Evil may always exist, but darkness will never prevail. We know how to stop you now and we will tell everyone.'

As the Reganna's screams became louder, the whole chamber filled with a blinding light.

'To cleanse was never enough. The only way to destroy the darkness is to cure the darkness. And the only way to cure the darkness is to turn it into light.'