[b] Warning: More gore in this one. In the long flashback and in the main section both.

[center]Chapter 11: Uneternal Sleep[/center][/b]

[i]Two years since the fall of the[/i] Archangel
[i]Bamboo Grove, Land of Dragons[/i]

The bamboo grove. Filled with greenery at the lowest point on the world, bamboo of all lengths, grass, a small pool. Normally, this would be very peaceful.

Normally.

Ships of Omega, of all makes from the Chimeran fleet to Covenant and others, flew through the air, though they mostly concentrated around the Palace, the main point of contention in a battle that still raged. Still, that did not matter to those who were in combat below, the only two human occupants of the grove.

Elori and her opponent stood opposite one another, rolling and jumping back and forth through the bamboo shoots. They rarely came together to lock weapons, their skills primarily in their magical prowess.

Ele, a non-corrupted future version of Elori, stood from another onslaught, at the same five-feet-eight-inches. Her waistlength black hair hung loose, a large, tan hat upon it that she held as a memento, its tip flopped over toward the back and curled at the end and a brown band wrapped around it just above the brim. An open zipper that resembled a mouth was at the middle of the hat, two green "eyes" above this in a diamond-like, oblong shape and pale green star pattern for the left and right respectively. She wore a blue denim jacket over a black undershirt, along with a green skirt and black, knee-high boots. Those brown eyes were filled with tension. In her right hand, she held a staff tipped with one sharp end, marked with equal amounts of red, brown, blue, and white-ish green along its length. This was her primary weapon, the Elemental Striker.

The Faithless Malstrom was forced aside by the Elemental Striker as the good mage tried to get in a nonfatal wound, only for a sphere of extremely dense sand to erupt around the evil one, forcing her back with a very quick protrusion of many spikes from the front. Ele winced in pain as she was stabbed multiple times simultaneously, but staggered back, taking her own route. She waved her arms, a large sphere of water appearing around her target, about the size of two fully grown men in diameter. Torrents lashed at her within, the now-muddy sphere no longer enough to protect her from aquatic damage.

The screams were muted from the drowning woman within, until it let up, mud splashing on the ground around her as she gasped for breath. Quickly, she managed to regain her focus, trying a different spell. Holding back the spear, she thrusted her left hand out, a concentrated ball of sand firing at her target. She was prepared for the hemispheric shield of water that came up from the Elemental Striker, mostly blocking the sand and turning it to mud, but had concentrated it enough for a slight bit to punch through, and heard a satisfied grunt as the water splashed down, some of the psammokinetic blast hitting her right in the abdomen. Now, stunned, she was open to another strike.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Ele's feet turned to quicksand, sticking her in it and slowly pulling her in, keeping her still as she tried to regain focus. Before she could, a massive windstorm picked up, dust and sand becoming very harmful projectiles. She smirked as her future screamed in pain, her empty hand and its arm shredding up to the elbow, skin tearing away from the intensity as well as some of the blood and muscles. As she was gasping, Elori tried for her finishing move, two blocks of sand coming up on either side, spikes protruding as if an iron maiden. Though it would stab her to death, the main purpose was to drag her underground, causing suffocation if she didn't die at first. They came together, ready to kill her...

Rain fell from the sky, a sudden, localized storm that poured down, turning the sand to mud. Again, she was unable to control it, to her chagrin, and the woman managed to escape, her useless left arm limp at her side as she panted.  Not wanting to keep it at that, she used even more of her magic, a sudden torrent of water falling on Elori from the sky as well as rushing in from the sides. Even more pain, as well as holding her in place. She had to kill her, had to...

A wave of sand came forth, aiming straight for Ele. On impact, it would both blind her and cause a lot of earth-elemental damage to her body. Or so it would, if she hadn't used another spell. This one caused a spiral of water to swirl around her, using a magnetic pull to bring all of the sand in and turn it to mud once again. Even Elori could feel the pull, almost being dragged in...but it stopped, leaving her panting for breath as she saw a geyser of purest water splash upward on to Ele. The water seemed to re-knit skin an muscles to her bones, to heal her wounds and revitalize her with more stamina. So much for that.

She had but one more tactic she could think of that she had not yet used. Hands were raised to the sky, and a wind picked up. The spiral twisted and turned, continuing...and became a tornado of sand, one that zipped back and forth around the arena ahead of her, ready to attack and deal a massive amount of damage along with a large amount of knockback damage.

Ele moved around the grove at blinding speeds, something managing to augment her speed somewhat. Wind? A possibility. Sometimes the sandstorm caught up with her, causing her to gasp in pain and scoring her arms, but usually she managed to stay away until it finally dissipated.

The Omega mage swore angrily. She needed to try a new target, a new kind of attack. First, she had to heal her own wounds. Electricity crackled along her fingers as the sandstorm went along, and she pressed them hard on her own chest, spasming briefly and gasping as a pulse of electrical energy aligning her metaphysical aura and drastically speeding up her healing process. That magical defibrillation done, and a blue Ether cube ingested, she was ready to use a new kind of magic.

As Ele came to a stop, her mana not yet depleted, Elori spread her arms out, a wave of electromagnetism pulsing outward. She grinned as her target spasmed from the shock, falling to the ground in paralysis, and readied her next strike. A hand was raised to the sky, ready to intercept her, and a massive bolt of lightning crashed down upon the ground, carving a path and setting fire to all in its wake. Close and closer it came, ready to hit her...

At the last second, the heroine rolled aside, out of the way, knowing that Elori could only fire in one direction at a time. In one motion, the woman with a hat waved her arm, five razor-sharp discs of water manifesting and launching themselves at their target, followed closely by water "bullets" of compressed liquid. The bullets hit their target, much faster, but the razors did not. Water magic was something that Elori, though inexperienced in its use firsthand, could use to her advantage through conductivity. She raised one hand, and three bolts of lightning were fired at each of them. The three were actually strengthening the strike, causing Ele to scream as she fell back in pain, only getting up slowly.

A rumbling could be heard, likely some spell of Ele's, growing steadily stronger as she stood up again. Paying no real mind, the newly appointed court mage raised both hands, calling down a rain of lightning. Down and own the bolts fell, Ele's enhanced speed only missing a part of them as they continued, on and on, for a complete half of a minute. By the time they were over, she was singed greatly, but still standing, still ready to fight.

The evil mage would not stand for this. She spread her arms wide, electricity pulsing at her core, quickly expanding as Ele finally drank an Ether, her spell becoming louder, the rumbling increasing in intensity. It grew, grew...

"Stop!" Finally she spoke. But Elori would not stop, would not let her escape. With a shout, she released the pent up energy, an explosion of lightning out in all directions. Shoots and trees fell and burst into flames, the ground was crisped...but that was all. She wasn't even hit, having managed to dodge yet again.

"Just [i]get hit![/i]" she screamed back....and finally saw what the fuss was about, gaped as she stared upward.

It was a tidal wave. A massive one, in the vague shape of a serpentine dragon with wings. It could crush her, kill her while Ele could likely escape with her own powers. Rushing toward her, almost to her and able to reach within about thirty seconds.

She had to get out, had to escape. A platform of sandy earth formed under her feet, and she flew off upon it, racing away. She knew that Ele would be following her, her aerokinesis likely giving flight capabilities, but she would get out first, had to. She was willing to sacrifice to win? Well, two could play at that game.

-----

[i]Checkpoint[/i]

The pair soared over the checkpoint, with its small source of running water, grass, and a small store of fireworks at its center. Where were they going? It was hard to tell. Perhaps to a ship?

Soon it was no matter, as Ele, kept aloft by a current of air that allowed her to fly, slashed horizontally with her pointed staff. A sharp wave of air panned out, slicing through the sandy platform...but only served to strengthen it, allowing it to condense further. She frowned, trying another path. A length of water formed in her hand, a kind of whip. Another came from the tip of the staff, and both were lashed out at the same time, connecting on either side of the platform.

The floating woman scowled, her method of flight soggy and unable to be used, and fell, electricity on her hands. Quickly, she let out a pulse of electricity in two directions, one up at Ele (dodged as she dispersed the lashes), the other at the ground to slow her fall. She rolled as she landed, watching as her future slowly landed as well, floating to the ground.

Before Elori could react, she was lifted into the air on a current of air, struggling to regain focus and control. She had to be able to do that. Had to! If she didn't, Ele would capture her, would try to seal her magic and bring her to those wretched "heroes..."

The throw slammed her into a rock wall, then picked her up again. She needed to heal up once more, to fix herself up.

Suddenly, she had an idea. Ice began to concentrate, forming into a kind of gauntlet on each of her hands. The fingers extended into claws, sharp as daggers. She slashed at her invisible binds, her cryomancy enhanced by the cold aeromancy around her, and fell to one knee before charging at her opponent. A sharp blade of wind sliced at her, but she could see the disturbance in the air, slashing through it to enhance the strength of her own weapons. Again, more, trying to get by her. One slashed her leg, but the rest were further enhanced, as she reached back with one hand...and raked across Ele's face, drawing blood and causing her to scream. She didn't stop, continuing her attack. There was a horizontal spin on the first slice, followed by an aerial somersault of cuts. She followed up with two more quick swipes, one to either side of the body, then one up and one down. Ducking down, she let loose a circular sweep as Ele tried to fight back, cutting at her knees and forcing her to stagger painfully. Elori, however, was not done, charging forward with an upward swipe to the chest, followed by another circular spin with the claws out. A slash upward to one spinning downward, and finally tackling her, stabbing into the shoulders and forcing her knees into the woman's chest. Again and again she raked at her future's face, trying to completely obliterate the head. She was quite mad, laughing at her sure victory over her other self...

...until she was finally sent flying by a manifested sphere of air, sent even further back by a concentrated blast of pure wind to the chest that sent her sprawling, her claws shattering on the impact with the ground. The woman winced, putting one hand to her chest again. A soothing cold came over her, dulling her pain and speeding her healing again.

Now she was ready for a new kind of attack. She had to make sure Ele couldn't fire straight. A fog-esque cloud of ice crystals manifested between them, a technique she called "Diamond Dust." All magic that Ele fired would now be altered in its path, never right on target.

...Except not. A series of explosions occurred within the cloud, dissipating it with pyrotechnics. Elori mentally swore as her opponent caused a powerful flame to flare up in her hands, going from yellowish red to a deep blue that covered them and quickly the Elemental Striker as well. Then she charged, ready to attack.

Elori panicked, creating a miniature ice storm between them, followed close behind by a pillar and boulders of ice that fell from the sky. The blue flames consumed them all, a fine mist coming up behind the charging woman before she slashed straight through the pillar, ready to attack. Swiftly, a spear of ice was manifested in Elori's free hand, then thrown, only for a wall of blue fire to cause it to cease to exist, melting into water that was fired back...and turned into small icy knives, thrown right back. These, on the other hand, turned to naught but mist.

Up she raised the Faithless Maelstrom, ready to strike back...only for it to be grabbed with one burning hand. Time seemed to freeze as they both stared at it....and it burst into blue flames, causing Elori to scream as she fell back in pain, dropping it temporarily until it could cool down.

Enough time for Ele. First came a slash to the right side, then a downward diagonal one. She then thrust upward, forcing Elori to her feet before spinning quickly, a slash sending her sprawling. Unfortunately, the Faithless Maelstrom was picked up in this maneuver, thrown at the Omega mage as well and sticking into the ground at her feet, cooled down as Ele's hands did the same along with her weapon.

Finally, she was able to react as an explosion of yellowish red flames occurred before her, backflipping away before she could have damage dealt, though staggering due to just barely making her way out of the area effect and into the water. She wouldn't kill her, not now, not here. No, she would capture her, make her kneel before Omega if this spell worked. If not, killing was also a good option.

The woman shouted, and slammed her hands down on the water, hard. Instantly, a wave of ice radiated outward, the grass freezing solid, the water flash freezing. The air was so cold that any birds in her way would be frozen solid, anything close to her completely encased in ice in an instant.

Ele saw no other choice. She had to stop this spell before it reached her, to force it back. She, too, slammed her hands down on the ground, and the ground around her [i]erupted.[/i] Grass and earth was thrown into the sky, a miniature volcano forming around her. Fire quickly burned up the grass that remained, fiery rocks falling toward her target incidentally. The fire melted some of the ice, bringing it to a small ring around the frozen water. The effects would likely remain for some time, as a cloud formed high in the sky, smoke to add to the mist that seemed to make a solid wall between two opposing forces. Matter an antimatter. If they collided, this world could end.

Too much fire, too much! It was burning up everything in its path, uncontrollable. Ele and Elori both took out their last Ethers in the chaos, drinking them, and were off again, using their aeromancy or psammokinesis to continue onward.

-----

[i]Mountain Summit[/i]

Up and up toward the snowy peak they went, never taking even a moment to slow down. There was that ship in the distance. One that Elori might have as her base of operations, or perhaps the ship of Elena. The make seemed similar.

In any case, she had one chance to make her stop, short of breaking her stone again. She would have expected that. Instead, Ele concentrated a massive amount of Earth magic in her eyes, letting them begin to glow yellow...and stared straight at her foe.

In an instant, Elori became stone, the petrification causing her to begin to fall out of the sky. The sandy rock collapsed and disintegrated as she plummeted downward, and Ele rocketed downward to catch her. She wouldn't let her break, let anything bad happen to her body.

There was a gray flash...and she was human again through her own inversion of the Gorgon's Stare, but still tumbled through the air, using another crackle of electricity to slow herself as she landed in the snow, crouching and scowling up at her other version. Still, a sizable amount flew into the air as she landed. "You say you don't want me dead! You lie!"

Not even bothering to respond, Ele landed as well. She was ready to attack, but smelled a faint aura of rust and decay...followed by extreme pain. She could barely breathe, trying to find some oxygen for her lungs. It seemed that was some of Elori's anti-metal magic. Whatever that name was. Again, no ability to respond, another spell of the same type. This one began to slowly degrade her health, to sap her figurative "HP" out of her.

Her Elemental Striker was torn from her grasp ferrokinetically, brought to Elori before being launched straight at her, forcing her to dive aside to narrowly avoid impalement. As she ran over to get it, she heard the Faithless Maelstrom being magically sharpened by some other Metal spell, and saw her spear fly back to the assailant, out of her reach.

Quickly, she brought up a small patch of thick thorns, one that burst through the snow between them. Elori cut at it again and again, able to easily cut through with time. Enough for Ele to fight back. She jumped up, and slammed her feet on the ground, causing it to vibrate violently, snow and rock shaking dangerously, and for her opposite number to stagger. Before any recovery could be made, she jammed her hands into the snow, two thorn-covered vine whips coming out of the ground. She did not move as this was active, lashing at Elori's hand on the other side of the patch and causing her to cry out in pain as she cut at her wrist, dropping the Elemental Striker. The lash caught it, tossing it back to Ele, who caught it and stood.

Just then, Elori cut through the last of the thorns, another gray aura coming up around her. As Ele charged, her staff passed the court mage's, slashing at her side...and did next to nothing. A defense spell? Something to make her skin tougher?

"Steel," Elori spat with a grin, squeezing the staff between her side and her arm as her hands became a silvery white. Not waiting an instant, she reached out, touching Ele on the face, on her bloody wounds from the icy gauntlet.

There was a bloodcurdling scream as the hand burned her skin, a revolting steam rising up from the point of contact as she tried to pull away, and, finally she did, steam rising from a disgusting handprint on the side of her head. She looked to Elori again through a single eye, the other completely blind. Did she even have it? She couldn't be sure. It was then that she saw, through her remaining vision, what had become of Elori.

The Faithless Maelstrom was gone. Her other version stood, in a primal stand. Her fingers were silver blades, her forearms even larger ones of similar slicing power. Her shoes and lower legs were two more blades. The woman grinned, cracking her neck, and charged.

Due to issues with monocular depth perception, she was unable to accurately perceive the speed at which Elori was approaching. Rather than risk anything, she held up her staff in defense...and it disappeared. She had nothing but some of her magic left, enough for just a few spells.

And with that, the beating began. The strikes began with a sideways slash using the right hand, raking across her abdomen and causing her to stagger around before the other hand slashed down her body in the other direction, diagonally down across the body. Then came a stab with all five digits, followed by a stabbing kick to force her back. Then came three scissor-esque attacks, the forearms and claws crossing in front of her before slashing across in an X pattern again and again, causing six slashes that cut deeper and deeper.Finally, she held her arms in a V-shape above her head, chopping down on her shoulders before finishing with a spinning split kick with both legs. The woman was coughing in agony at her many bloody wounds, her body turning white snow crimson. She tried to crawl away, to get some distance to heal herself, but a hard kick to her jaw made a hole in her cheek, another to the chest sending her sprawling, only barely able to get up.

Finally she stood, extremely shaky. Blood leaked from a great many wounds, more in her mouth that she spat out to clear her throat. The useless eye was closed, possibly gone, but the swelling over the eyelids didn't make anything clear. Another corrosive spell was sent out, this one causing extreme agony once more, making it nearly impossible to breathe. Not that it was easy before, with her many internal and external wounds, but this did not help matters. She reached for her mana...and felt almost nothing. Enough for three spells, but not a thing more.

Her magic had been sapped. That much was clear as the fact that she had no remaining Ethers, or that her health was quickly nearing the single digits HP-wise. But she had to make the most of what she had left. She had to fix their surroundings, or at least those closest to her, enough for her to use her magic well in these less-than-stellar circumstances. A pulse of magical energy came out of her body, the magic around her now able to accentuate the power of her remaining abilities. By the looks of things, she would need that added strength, especially for her last spell. She had to let this one out, see if it could stop this invasion, if she could find a way to save them all.

And so she jumped, slamming her feet down on the ground. The earth below her shook with incredible violence, a fissure opening up between her feet as she staggered to one side, cracking straight up the side of the mountain. She wanted to cause much damage, to try to stop her foe...it was best if she also didn't fall herself.

For her last spell, the earth rose up around her legs, holding them in place and snaking up to her waist, stopping there. She had made a solid foundation for herself, but her MP was gone. Now it was time for Elori to fall, for her to die. Regretful, but it would be necessary, it seemed.

...or not. Again, she saw her. But this time, her form was completely different. Her skin, her hair. All of her body had turned into a living silver metal, snow reflecting off of it. Losing consciousness from blood loss, it was difficult for her to tell if she still had those blades.

Again and again the fists of metal slammed into her chest and armor, shattering bones and destroying the foundation on which she stood. She could feel the Elemental Striker clatter to the snow beside her, now available once more. When it was done, she was lying on her side, more bones broken than she cared to count, more bloody wounds and bruises. She needed healing, and fast.

The woman fell, gasping for breath. She needed time, some way to heal herself now. In her current state, she was sure to die. But without supplies, without any way to help herself, what could she do?

The earthquake worsened, the mountain actually shifting as she could see it. And then the snow began to go down, an avalanche headed in exactly the wrong direction.

The heroine was horrified. Now she realized it. The bamboo grove was flooded and wrecked by her hydromancy. The checkpoint burned from her pyromancy. This mountain was being destroyed, along with so much else, by terramancy.

She was trying to save this world, to bring back Elori to her side in the process, to bring Flora back into the fold. She didn't even think of what was going on. The villains were attacking, but one thing was clear.

 She was the very one to destroy this stronghold.

The sight was horrifying, as she could feel the mountain beginning to crumble, snow beginning to slide down as it all split right in half vertically. She had to make an appeal, if nothing else. So much had been lost, truly. So many lives had been lost. She had to get her back, had to help what they had left to rebuild a resistance in order to fight back, to destroy this army and its control and rebuild the worlds. "Flora...please." She coughed on the ground, the white turning red. "Please listen...you don't have to fight anymore... You don't have to do this... Don't have to kill me. Just... just heal me and come back. She isn't here to order you, not here to know."

There was not a hint of remorse in those eyes as her own spear was raised, backhanded. "I'm not doing this because I have to," she announced. If Flora could hear her, she was too far down to help. The ship was coming, presumably to pick up this metallic champion and murderer. "I'm doing this because I [i]want[/i] to."

And the blade came down.

=====

[i]Near the junction between Cell Blocks F and G[/i]

The hall was silver and metallic, more or less sterile. A major disturbance in another cell had forced several of the guards to investigate, though nothing had come up aside from an empty cell, the prisoner gone. Two guards had been posted here, outside of this locked, metal door. It was one of Lord Phantom and Empress Diana's pet projects, and, while not entirely necessary, would be very difficult to duplicate.

They each wore gray uniforms to fit better into their surroundings, a blood red crescent moon on one shoulder of their uniforms, a crimson "#937;" on the other. Their helmets fit closely against their skin, more masks than anything, also gray, with two red eyeholes each. The guard on the left held an assault rifle in his hands, the one on the right wielding a shotgun in hers. They were under strict orders to never leave this door, an archaic, mystic circle of red markings preventing such action as well, reaching out with its radius reaching a bit past the corner to their left.

The sound of metal against metal was clearly audible to the two of them, off around the corner. A metal pipe rolled into view. The closer guard looked to his partner, making a hand motion for him to stay there while he investigated. He held his gun in front of him as he walked slowly around the corner, making sure that he could shoot in an instant. He never got the chance.

As he turned, the assailant straightened out from the wall and struck, quickly and calmly. He only saw her for an instant, her mid-length brown hair and cold green eyes. Then her left hand grabbed his gun, forcing it aside in her grip as her right hand held the side of his head, smashing it against the wall. He never had a chance.

---

Abigail did not care if she had killed the soldier, nor did the organic squelch of his skull colliding with metal bother her. She let the body fall, seeing some blood under the gray mask, and lowered the rifle to the ground, not wanting to alert too many people. Sure, she could easily kill the other guard, but she also needed information, something given more easily when no others were around.

Telekinetically, the Runner picked up the steel pipe again.

---

It took a lot to phase a soldier of Omega these days. Most of them had superpowers. Flood forms roamed the streets for an hour a day, since night never ended here.

However, phasing a soldier wasn't exactly the issue in this case. It was a little hard to expect a metal pipe coming out of nowhere and hitting you in the chest. Having a woman in her mid-twenties run up as said soldier tried to reorient herself wasn't really expected either, her leg kicking her shotgun high into the air and catching it as she used the same leg to kick her up against the wall. By the time she was focused again, her own gun was pointing straight at her face.

"I want answers," the woman told her. "And I want them now." The guard did not tell the person holding her captive one thing or the other. "Give me an answer, you piece of shit."

"I couldn't even if I wanted to," was the response. "The Serpent--"

The assailant just let go of her gun, walking away. That wasn't to say that the gun dropped. No, it hung there in midair, still aiming just as clearly as she grabbed something, pulling it around for her to see. It was her partner, his head bleeding. Maybe she could help him get some aid. "Well?"

"It doesn't make a difference. If I keep working at this, it'll kill me. The Mark of the--"

The telekinetic grabbed the shotgun out of midair before the sentence was even over, and bashed it into her nose, causing her to almost yell. Almost, but not quite. The Mark of the Serpent would not allow her to cry out in pain. A spray of crimson from her nose. "Bith... uggg ooh...."

"Classy," she responded. "Now, you gonna talk? Or do I have to do worse?"

"Ah'll die if Ah--"

The gun was leveled at the unconscious man's head, and fired, to her surprise. Killed in an instant, though the suppressor on the muzzle did dampen the sound so as to avoid additional attention to the project within. "Oh, I'm sorry. My finger slipped. What was that you were saying?"

Looked like this was no hero. Who was, nowadays? Who cared? Best to just say it. "...Fine." She was dead anyway if her COs got to her. Or if that symbol on her forehead kept working and draining her dry.

"Answer these in the order I ask them," the woman in black ordered, shoving the gun directly in her face again. "First, where is my gun? Area 51 tranquilizer, customized. Where is Adán Brown, the man who was captured recently? Are you in contact with any reinforcements? What is behind that door?"

"Storage...a few cells down the way you didn't come from." There was a scream as her mark glowed brightly. "I can't!"

"Do it right now!" She was insane, that was clear.

"C....Cell Block G...same direction. Follow the screams." Her own nearly drowned out the one that was audible in that direction. Well, that explained that. Still, she continued, not needing more prodding. "No, I'm not. Guard comes...soon... I got the bad shift." A third scream, before she gave the last response. "I...I don't know. Wasn't told." That was probably stupid, but she had to get this lunatic off of her back.

"Thanks." And the gun went off.

-----

Abigail Walters again let the body fall, taking the extra ammunition off of the uniform for the time being. It was nice of the guard to unlock the door for her before she killed her. In a short movement, she gripped the gray mask on the guard's head, pulling it off for her own use and putting it in a side pocket to her pants. Overall, the guard seemed like an ordinary woman, albeit a dead woman. The only strange part of her was her forehead. There was a strange tattoo on her forehead, a red, circular mark that curled in on itself into a spiral. She would find out about that later. Now, she needed to keep moving forward.

The young woman flattened her back against the door, and opened it very, very slowly.

=====

[i]The sky was blood red with the sunset, the air lower seeming red with a fine mist she could recognize as otherworldly, even for here. The streets of the small town were silent but for her footsteps. Fitting, really.

The ghost town had nothing, nothing really. Just her, just a way to escape and talk to her more directly, outside of what had occurred out there.

The young woman walked to one of the boarded-up shops, to its one, unbroken window. Strange to see that here, nowadays. She bit her lip in apprehension, seeing the message scrawled out upon the grime.

[b]WHAT I LOVE I DESTROY. WHAT I DESTROY, I LOVE.[/b]

What was the point of this exercise? Nothing could be gained here, especially not like this. "It wasn't me. She did this."

"Oh, did I?" The newcomer had done this too many times for it to surprise her any longer. She had long, brown, nearly black hair, and wore a purple dress reaching halfway down to her knees. This woman's face was charred, her eyes a piercing blue. She leaned against the side of the building, a three-hundred or so long hardcover book in her hands. The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame. The points that she touched decayed slightly, as if corrupted by her touch alone. "You keep telling yourself that, and it will never be any more true."

The first woman looked her way "You were never like this before it happened, before the launch and Doomsday."

"You fought back. This was your mistake, not mine." She turned the page.

"So I defended myself, as I do. Fought back against this evil, these...these..." The calm demeanor cracked, and she turned toward her companion. "These complete [b]b*******![/b] You think you haven't been affected? What happened to you, then? You did the deed, set him aflame and made her watch it. Your dress covered in his blood as he tried to beg you to stop, to fight back as those soldiers kept us apart. You--"

"Death rides on my shoulders, death walks in my footsteps," was the cryptic, resigned answer. "I am death."

"No. You made your choice, chose to kill over living and fighting back. I didn't. I fought against them, fought against it all, fought against..." She looked around to the streets. "[b]This![/b] All of this!"

"Such is the wheel of our life. No mercy. No pity. Just keep turning and turning. Turn that crank, work that nozzle." She took a bookmark out of one page, and slipped it into her spot, tucking the book under her arm and closing it in one motion as she started walking, expecting her companion to follow.

It was not as if she had much choice. She did not have much to work off of. With a grunt, the first of them walked after her. "Were you always such a fatalist?"

Just a shrug. "If you call realism fatalism, maybe I was. Some of these things fade with each passing treatment."

"But all of that pain, those things you did, that you kept me from ever stopping--"

"Sometimes pain is the only thing that lets you know you're alive. The way I see it, I helped." She sighed. "Too bad it didn't last."

"We can change this. Fix this. You have those powers, and more each day. You can--"

"I thought I could build." Another sigh. "I was wrong. We are not builders. Not you, not me. Not the other one either. We are destroyers." Looked to her briefly, repeating herself. [b]"Destroyers."[/b] And her eyes went back to the ground.

"She's seriously screwed up in the head. You know that as much as I do. I mean, that sergeant?"

"And you?" A glare directly at the one who had not been reading. "She had more of an excuse than any of us. That company...fourteen years. Me? Seven, with these addenda. You? Just the latter."

"The new one was forty on, right? That's why your book--"

"Yes, that's why. You [b]are[/b] dead eager to obliterate this army, aren't you??

"Yeah, of--"

"Just as soon plain dead. I don't think you understand the magnitude of your own stupidity sometimes."

A roll of hazel eyes. "Great endorsement. Should I put that on your business card, then?"

"We fight as we fight. Make your alliances where you can, no matter what they would do to you. After all, sometimes you have to make an alliance with the lion to fight the serpent until the battle is done." A chuckle. "Pity. The lion's been turned to a house cat, hasn't it?"

A frown at the laughter. "Analogies now? Another addition to the cryptic words?"

"You [b]have[/b] told me to mix it a bit."

"And the laughter?"

"Sorry. The more tragic these things get, the more I feel like laughing."

"I can't accept that. You wouldn't give me that crap any other time. Something's seriously wrong with you."

Ignoring the statement, the darker-haired woman looked around the city, touching some wooden boards. They slowly disintegrated with her moving touch. "I killed a whole world once," she said, looking around, her face calm. "You can, too, if you try hard."

"I'm not like you. I still think there are things worth fighting for. We established that a long time ago."

"Aren't you?" She looked down at the other woman's clothes. "I think I know why you came back this time. You can't escape the traps you spin yourself, to protect your mind from your own sickness."

She hadn't looked down in all of that time. Hadn't since the incident that she had spoken of. Come to think of it, she hadn't even looked to the cryptic woman's dress until then. For all of her decaying appearance and touch, she was still clean. Shakily, the lighter-haired woman looked down at herself.

"Shocking, right?" She could not even hear it said.

The reaction was silence, as she stared down. Then it happened. The blood on her shirt and pants, both fresh and crusted, made her scream.[/i]

=====

[i]Guarded Room[/i]

As it turned out, she did not need to be so cautious.

Inside, there was only one person. A woman, blood on her face, in a hospital gown. She had long, dark brown hair, her eyes closed. She was restrained with leather straps on a strange table, shaped like a T. Two straps held her torso, one across her legs, and one on each of her arms on the protrusions of the T. It looked like she was a medical experiment of some sort. Parts of the straps seemed to have a red, organic growth on them. She was breathing, but did not seem to be moving much.

"Who are you?" asked Williams. There was no response. Maybe she was deaf? The younger woman walked up to the straps, and looked around the room. Syringes were everywhere, from ADAM to other serums. Other medical equipment was also there. There was a symbol on the door, a circular symbol with a concentric circle and archaic markings, an isoceles triangle with more such marking inside of it. A book was on a the table, opened up to a page with another, more complex circular symbol.

Finally, the restrained woman spoke, her voice very soft, too soft to hear well.

"What was that?" Picking up the book, Williams continued her search, putting it down afterwards. She could use a bit of backup in getting to her weapon and to Adán.

The woman turned her head toward her potential savior. Her eyes were cold and dead on the surface, but a war seemed to rage in their depths. This time, she was louder, though her voice was hoarse, weak. "Let me burn." Strange way to greet someone.

The dark haired Runner turned toward the possible experiment very slowly, muttering under her breath. "...O...kay..." This entire situation was beginning to weird her out even more than that woman had disgusted her.

"Lobsel Vith... A man offered a serpent to the sun, and prayed for salvation..." Great. Now she was speaking nonsense.

The Runner stopped listening to the ramblings. Finally, she saw a scalpel. That, she assumed, would work for the time being. She grabbed it, and walked back to the woman. "Hold still."

Her eyes seemed to register some kind of recognition on seeing the symbol, and she mouthed some words, five syllables. Again, she repeated her request, turning to Abigail. "Let me burn."

"I don't know who you [i]are[/i]," On that word, she sliced through the bind on her left arm. "or what drugs you're [i]on[/i]," This time, the other arm. "but you aren't [i]burning[/i]." One of the torso binds. "I'm Headshot. If I know I can trust you, I'll give you my real name. Now tell me your [i]name[/i]." Another few seconds, and she had the other one.

The woman's hazel eyes opened. The right arm reached out for her, and Abigail took the hand. She instantly regretted doing so.

Fire erupted around the room, this woman's body charring black before her very eyes, the sound of crackling flames filling her ears as the burning flesh gripped her. Pain, so much pain. Those eyes were blue now, the hair black and burning away, the gown aflame.

[color=Teal]"Look at me. I'm burning."[/color]

 Horrified, Abigail wrenched her hand from the woman's grasp, aiming her shotgun at her. "Give me your [i]damn[/i] name!"

That face was normal, the room normal once more. "Ale--" The name caught in her throat, and the pained voice panicked for a moment as she sat up. "N-no! I'm not, I haven't been...."

Abigail filed this under a vast multitude of things that she did not need to deal with right now. But whatever was being done, she could still stop it. With some more effort, she cut the last binding, then took several steps back. "Now, your name, and no crazy sh**."

After some effort, this woman spoke, her legs over the side of the bed. "Ch-Cheryl. Cheryl Heather Mason." Cheryl looked to the book again, and spoke, a bit louder. "Halo of the Sun."

Abigail walked back over to the book. Perhaps it would be of some use. She closed the book to see its cover quickly. [i]Mother's Caress[/i], it said. It would not have surprised her to see that name being a code for something evil. She then opened it again, and took a look at the complex symbol.

[center][img]http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090127133957/silent/images/b/b4/Haloofthesun.jpg[/img][/center]

"This? What, part of the Church?"

A shake of her head. "Order. Death is not the end."

"...that didn't sound encouraging." No response, as Cheryl turned the page once.

The symbol from the guard's forehead was on it, labeled Mark of the Serpent. "The Yellow God... The crank... I gave them..." Her voice died off.

"What were these sick b******* doing to you?" Horror in her eyes. "Forget I asked." Though creepy, Abigail felt sorry for her. Was that fire thing even her fault? She looked to the book, and tore out the two relevant pages, shoving them in her back pocket.

She looked to the door out as she picked up one of the EVE syringes on the table, injected the blue liquid into her bloodstream through her left wrist. "Can you use a shotgun?"

Quickly, she nodded, almost scarily fast. "Y-yes."

With both hand, Abby handed the gun to her, making sure she had a good grasp on it before letting go. "How long have you been here?"

"...I don't know, Lisa." She looked broken, but knew how to hold her gun. Out of respect, Abigail did not correct her on the name, deciding to ask later.

Williams nodded, walking back toward the door. "We've got a few doors down. I've just got to get my gear and a friend, and we'll get you out of here."

"Now is the end of days." Silence for several seconds. "...Sorry, Audrey."

"Look, if you're going to talk li--" The gun went off behind her, a sound of a dropping body directly after. The Runner froze, then turned slowly, seeing the damage. Blood and brains on a nearby wall. The entire front of Mason's head was gone, her body leaning against the table on which she had been restrained. More gore was splattered on the hospital gown. The gun itself was coming to a rest in front of her feet. Dead before she could even help her, find out what she knew, help to repair the apparently damaged psyche.

[size=1]"Sh**..."[/size] Their experiments were like this. Nothing was safe, nothing any sane person would recognize was sacred. She slammed her hands down on a nearby table with every word that then came out of her mouth. "Sh**, sh**, [i]sh**![/i] Why the [i]hell[/i] did you [i]do[/i] that?! What was the [i]point?![/i]"

It took almost a minute to calm down again, as she grabbed the earlier assault rifle. Screw stealth. She wasn't letting this happen again. She would kill anyone in this tower for vengeance against these the cause of this death. First she would get her gear and get the idiot out of there, but then she had a goal.

That b***** of an empress would pay.

=====

[i]F/G Junction[/i]

Abigail kept her assault rifle held in front of her. Between her experience in her preteens as a Runner and her life in the sewers, she had handled a wide variety of firearms, and so had learned how to use a range.

Slowly, she opened the door to the junction. It was a very large area, about the size of a warehouse, with many metal crates scattered about. How this even fit in Sessrumnir was beyond her, but she wasn't up to question it. Perhaps it involved a lot of science or something. She had passed a few plasma barriers, so maybe that was related. The metallic rafters above seemed interesting, but were likely held by sentries. It was in her best interest to remain out of sight.

The woman flattened her back against one of the crates as she heard the sound of footsteps, the rifle up against her chest. She couldn't allow herself to be found out, not now, not here. Her initial mission as much as the vengeance she wished to exert demanded her to remain unseen.

Still, she peeked around the side, wanting to see what was going on. A woman, by the looks of things. One with a staff, simply standing there, looking over a sheet of paper. She just watched it...and it spontaneously combusted, burning ashes instantly blown away by a small gust of wind. For her eyes only? Possibly.

"I saw you coming here."

Those four words made Abigail freeze. She wouldn't say a word, but had to get by her, even if it meant killing her. She hoped the remaining ammunition in this rifle would be enough.

"No need to hide. I gave you your injection, Walters. I know who you are. Another of the lieutenant commander's pet projects." She paced back and forth, watching the crates. She saw her come in? Then why couldn't she see where she was? As she turned again, drawing a spear, Abigail moved, somersaulting from one crate to the next, her gun tucked into her chest. She then flattened herself against it again, and stared at the other box. The reflection of that woman was how she could tell anything.

[i]Calm down, Abby, calm down...[/i] she breathed in and out. Let the Runner Vision return, get ready to move, to take her down. She almost panicked as her former hiding spot was lifted into the air with the villain's mind, and tossed across the area as if it were nothing but a marble. The box collided with another, causing both to skid and hit a wall

"They call me Elori," came the call. "I have quite a few ranks, am quite possibly one of the strongest mages alive at present. If there is anything that a mage can do with the elements, I'll be capable of it. If not now, in a day or two."

Again she tried to move, diving to the next cover, but her old box was picked up, revealing her position prematurely. For that briefest moment, she was exposed, and advantage was taken immediately. A magnetic pull slammed her into the side of a box, in plain view of the witch, as she drew in a sharp gasp in pain.

Holding her spear behind her, Elori stood at an angle with her captive, her right hand down and her left pointing at her. A stream of electricity arced into her left hand from her right, a kind of hook, and went straight for Abigail, yanking the gun from her grasp and pulling it back to the thief.

Slowly, Elori walked up to the Runner, the Faithless Maelstrom loosely held behind her in a small current of air as electricity arced on the gun. "Funny, really. She likes you. She likes a lot of prisoners, really. Maybe I'll give you over as her little present, get some more approval."

A single spit at the captor's face told enough, enraged her. In an instant, two blades formed on her hands. Saw blades, one of ice on her right hand, one of electricity on her left. "I will show you resp--"

Suddenly, the spear was stabbing into her shoulder, causing her to cry out in surprise as she dropped Walters. The woman ran, taking cover behind another crate out of sight as Elori was not watching, and gasped for breath, trying to figure out how to use her next plan of attack. Without an injection of EVE, she could not repeat that telekinetic maneuver.

There was a shout of rage, and Elori rose into the sky, launched up by a pillar of ice and held there by a small whirlwind around her midsection. "I'll destroy you!" She held out one arm, the other holding the spear, and a bolt of electricity came forth. Then another, and another. The blasts became faster, faster, faster, in all directions...until it became akin to a machine gun, never stopping, blast after blast after blast. Within seconds more, the spinning mage was using a form of arc lightning, a steady stream that electrified all boxes in the vicinity. It was not long before Abigail screamed again, electricity coursing through her body from conduction.

The woman grinned sadistically, and fired out a pulse of energy. A wall of sand surrounded the box from which the yell had come, and an electromagnetic pulse was fired forth, launching the box into the air and exposing the heroine. Two small knives of fire manifested themselves in Elori's hands, and she threw each, hit after hit taking the less-magically inclined woman in the shoulders. Before she could react, Elori let the wind fall, her entire body bursting into flames. Two blazing wings panned out, and she zipped down at her foe, slamming into her headlong and causing her to be send sprawling in a small explosion before the flames dissipated.

Abigail was resolute. She stood, though shakily, and stared down her assailant. She would not allow herself to die here. Adrenaline coursed through her body, everything seeming to slow down. The icy stalagmites bursting forth from the ground, a wave of icy death aiming to harm, impale, or capture her. She had to move if she was going to survive this.

And move she did. The woman ran back at a wall, taking three steps up it, and turned one hundred eighty degrees on her foot, kicking off and over the cryo spikes. Abigail rolled as she landed, behind Elori, and sprinted to a new box.

Still, this time she didn't quite make it. A dagger of ice stabbed her directly in the back, causing her to stagger and fall to the ground. There was a wave of cold, a line of ice running along the ground in the hope to freeze her solid, but she again rolled aside after yanking out the bloody blade.

"Jessica can have her prize for all I care! I just want you to bleed until you [i]beg[/i] for mercy!" Eight spheres of energy swirled around her in an octagon, spinning in a circle again and again. A small flame. Ball lightning. A ball of water. A large ice crystal. Green-tinted air. A small stone. A miniature ball of sand. An orb of gray, metallic energy.

"Kiss...my...a**..." she gasped, looking over her shoulder. Was that...?

"First you'll learn humility!" A whip of water lashed her across the face. "Apologize!"

Not a word.

A small shock of lightning. "Now!"

Just a smile back.

"Do i--!" And she collapsed, someone on her back, the elemental spheres disappearing. A Hi-Potion bottle was tossed to Abigail's feet, along with a syringe of EVE.

Though he stood in the outfit of a soldier of Omega, the blade on his arm, extracted from Elori's back, was enough to show his identity as much as the several weapons on his person. Perhaps he had used a variation on the poisoned blade they had made from the Codex parts he remembered.

Abigail took the healing equipment, using both kinds. Her wounds healed, and her Plasmid regained strength. "Not bad," she conceded, not willing to tell him he saved her life.

"It was nothing," he replied flatly, turning over the mage. She was still breathing, something...different about her. It was as if her sadism, devotion, and insanity were gone, replaced by sorrow and kindness.

"What's with her?" Abby asked, looking her over. "Elori tried to--"

There was a bloody cough, and she responded. "My name....my name is Flora...Flora Aqua Flamer--" Another haggard cough. "...Flora Shadowflash. We were....there were heroes once...." She could barely speak.

"...Say what?" Walters had no time for this. She had to get moving, and dissociative identity disorder wasn't really her department.

"Hawk...so....so sorry....." She was starting to cry, though unable to move.

Malik sighed, evidently feeling remorse. Was that fight even this Flora/Elori's fault?

"...Níðhöggr..."

Malik inspected her closely, trying to make sense of what she said. "Please explain." He could feel her fading away, could feel the lifeblood slipping from her.

And then came a sneer. The kindness was gone, the sadism returned. This "Flora" had lost yet again, it seemed. The Assassin could tell, and quickly, wordlessly, stabbed her in the throat with the hidden blade on him, finally causing her to go limp.

The deed done, Abigail picked up the gun. It had some ammunition, but she assumed she would need more soon, before she got her own gun once more.

The two heard a crash of breaking glass, and quickly turned to the source. Abby recognized the make of the opponent, if not her identity. One of those armored women, the one with the boomerang. She didn't know a name, but did know her to be one of that samurai's allies. She and Malik stood as one, ready to face her down.

The Assassin watched as the woman drew her bladed boomerang in her right hand. "Go." He didn't look away, reaching for his own dagger with one arm.

"Like hell!" the Runner shouted back, looking right at the woman. "I'm gonna help you out! If you die, I'll k--"

"You must release Adán," he ordered, a shout. "If he dies, if he loses, [i]you will have won [b]nothing![/b][/i] Now [i]go![/i]"

Abigail...couldn't really react to that. She did need to avenge the dead and to get their swordsman out of here before he died or, worse, said something to endanger them all. And so she ran, she went off into the next cell block, leaving behind the corpse of the mage and the battle to be.

Meanwhile, Malik, calmly drew his dagger, about to enter his own combat. "Then come," he said calmly, entering a fighting stance.

There was a pulse of wind, directly behind her, and she was force forward by a kind of jet propulsion. And so it began.