Welp, all the super late updates I do. I guess not late since I don't have a schedule but still... Anyways
Here is te new chapter:
"So explain to me about this fighting Fal'cie." Snow murmured as he sat across from Lightning. She was standing, completely emotionless. She was like a cold goddess in these moments and it made the older-younger man wonder if God had more plans for her then he was readily admitting to. Being the savior of a dying world seemed rather pointless to him.
"There are beings out there of pure chaos. Hope can't seem them, but those of us down here can. The fighting Fal'cie, are coming to find them. Unfortunately, Hope doesn't control them… Bhunivelze himself does and that means they could be dangerous."
"That's you assuming that Bhunivelze doesn't control Hope. Or that he even gives a damn about humanity." Snow grumped as he rolled his eyes.
"Of course he cares." Hope spoke almost immediately through the communicator. "But he isn't like us… So he won't react to stimulus in the same way."
"Thank you for the brainy answer." Snow grumped. "So what? You want me to protect people incase this creature decides to attack humanity as well as chaos beings."
"Actually." Lightning replied quietly. "We want you to protect Yusnaan. Keep those Fal'cie out. We're hoping that with Yusnaan as a protected place that maybe it will draw refugees out of the Wildlands and the Dead Dunes."
"So those are the targets. Innocents who chose to live their lives the way they wanted." Snow snorted bitterly. "God indeed."
"If Bhunivelze had his way he'd unleash them on all of you. I'm trying to…"
"To wait? Save us all so we can die a saintly death the way God wants us to?" Snow snorted.
"I'll keep Yusnaan safe. Worry more about those cultists in Luxerion." He got up and slammed the door behind him.
"He's right you know." Lightning stated quietly. "He's right to be bitter."
"You need to go to Luxerion again. It's time to confront the Shadow Hunter." Hope replied, his own voice remarkably bitter.
Confrontation was not something that Lightning was one to avoid. And yet, she had been avoiding Noel. She hadn't wanted to meet with Utopia again incase she slipped up. From what she could gage of Hope, it seemed like the shade didn't even realize that he had become such. Not realizing that anything was missing, but being more emotionless and even non-responsive to things that would have once prompted lively responses.
It was depressing. Not that she could fully feel as such.
"So I guess it's my turn to hear God's summons?" Noel asked as he leaned against a wall in the slums. It might once have been a house, but during a chaos infusion it might have been destroyed. "You should already know that I'm not interested."
"Then you aren't interested in saving Hope?" She asked bitterly and she could more feel than hear Hope start across the communicator.
"I'll save Hope in my own way." The hunter replied calmly. "He more then anyone knows that I'm doing everything I can to not only be reunited but to achieve our goals."
Lightning cocked her head to the side. It was obvious that that response was not meant for her. She rolled her shoulders. "I was honestly expecting a fight."
"If you try to forcibly convert me there will be." Noel replied with a faint smile. "I know what you are doing and I don't reject it. But there are things I must do before I sacrifice a portion of my power to the Tree."
"How do you?" Lightning started but Hope hushed her.
"Because I want to save Hope. And I know I can't do that without ensuring that I save as many people as possible first. I wouldn't be able to face him otherwise." A bittersweet smile crossed his face as he looked towards the Ark. "When I'm ready to lend you my power… I'll find you."
Lightning looked uncomfortable for a second. And back up in the Ark, all Hope could do was stare at Noel. He couldn't see his eyes, since the taller man wasn't looking at Lightning, but he knew what that look was. He felt something empty within his chest, where his heart should be.
Back down in Luxerion Lightning felt something akin to guilt filling her. She had come to confront him because Hope was insistent but now she felt as if should should have followed her instincts. She swallowed hard.
"I'm sorry." She stated suddenly. "What happened to Hope is… It's my fault. I left him behind, I—"
"None of that is your fault. How was any of us supposed to know that Bhunivelze would target him?"
"But I…" She swallowed, wasn't Lumina supposed to mean that she shouldn't feel this kind of strong emotion? Or was it because she had encountered Lumina so much that she was able to feel it so clearly?
"Enough about Hope." Noel stated firmly. They had tread this ground before, but he knew some of this meant that Lightning might know of the pain that Hope had endured since the time he'd been missing and he didn't want to hear about that from her. The other shook herself to regain her composure.
"I came here to talk to you about Yeul actually." She took a deep breath and continued. "I've been trying to reconnect with everyone that was originally involved. They would be the most powerful in the world."
"Keeping tabs on us for Bhunivezle?" Noel snorted.
"Actually this is for the sake of myself." She admitted quietly. "I need to know that I can save all of you. If I can do that… Then I know I have the strength to carry out His task."
"Yeul isn't here." Noel replied immediately. Through out his search he hadn't met her. Not since the Academy had fallen. "But if she does still live she is in a place that I can't go. We all do our parts Lightning."
"That means you think you know where she is?" Lighting asked as she took a step forward.
"If Yeul still exists… She wouldn't be my Yeul. She's gone. But, all the Yeuls serve Etro regardless as her eyes. Should she still live she would be there."
"But you are a servant of Etro." Lightning insisted.
"I am the heir to the heart. If I travel somewhere filled with wild chaos like that I run the risk of being taken over… Or becoming a full chaos being. I won't be saved then." Noel shook his head. "But Yeul would be able to control the flow of chaos from the throne somewhat. There's a strange form of chaos flowing from there. I thought it was like what floats around usually. The miasma that contains the souls of the dead. But that chaos is different… I can't tell you how."
"Then I guess that's my next stop." She turned to leave.
"Hey Lightning." She turned back to see the concerned look on his face.
"Yes?"
"You and Hope be careful out there, okay? We are all supporting you in our own ways. So we all get out of this on the other side."
When Lightning moved to the Temple of Etro, she had expected to appear beside the Throne where she always appeared. Instead she found herself in the Crystal Canyon. The hazardous grounds before the Temple that kept others out. Confused, she tried to teleport again only to find herself returning to the same starting point again and again.
"Hope… What do you make of this?" She asked quietly.
"The Chaos there is so thick that I can't see anything about it. It's like blank space to me." He admitted quietly. "There's no way a normal human could survive in there."
"You think it's a barrier to protect Etro? Because of Bhunivelze's awakening?"
"I doubt that." Hope sounded unsure. "This blankness seems malevolent. I don't know how else to explain it." Hope paused for as second. "There is definitely something more to this."
"More to it indeed." Lumina spoke as she stepped out of the chaos. "You my dear are not allowed in this place."
"I am Etro's chosen. Why would I not be?"
"Haven't you betrayed her by siding with that asshole?" Lumina growled about to charge forward but a hand came out of the chaos stopping her. Out of the chaos came a young man with a green cowl and Lightning started as she remembered that this was chaosHope and that she had nearly allowed herself to be controlled by Bhunivelze completely.
"What are you doing here?" She asked quietly.
"You can't enter here yet." He explained quietly. "All of the Yeul's have converged him. Some more bitter, more angry then others. This chaos isn't the same as what you encountered so far. This is Etro's folly."
"What?"
"Unlike other's who possess a finite amount of chaos… Yeul's is infinite. When Etro released us from our crystal prison… She allowed some of Yuel's chaos to leak back into that time. It created well… A violence in the Yeuls… Turning their chaos into a destructive force that has been unleashed from the void." Utopia looked sadly towards where the Throne of Etro should be. "And now the Goddess must face her own judgement for her sins."
"Then I have to go! I can't let allow Yeul to kill Etro!" Lightning moved forward but Utopia grabbed her by her shoulder.
"Some battles… must be fought alone." He looked at her, green eyes glowing faintly with chaos. "You have your own missions to accomplish. Don't forget what it is you are trying to do."
In Luxerion a darkness filled the sky unlike ever seen before. The sky seemed to tear apart as creatures began to descend onto the city. Lead by a it's leader Diablos, the fighting Fal'cie. Those fallen from grace began their descent upon the city.