Crenel, the Prison Planet

Verax looked at her. "Don't worry, they can't hurt you know. I am here, and I will keep my promise. To the very end. And what kind of man would I be, rescuing you just to throw you into battle? If you want to fight them, I will not stop you, but if you only put out the suggestion because.... well.... I don't know. But I don't want to fight unless we have to. Time is of the essence, and this is a confrontation that cannot be avoided. If we escape now, it'll only happen again somewhere else." His gaze softened, he understood what he had to do, but he didn't like it, not one bit. What? Since when did he care about right or wrong? No... no time for this, he had to do this, otherwise, nothing would ever work out.

"But I won't force you, if you want to come with me, to end this, please do. I might need help, if it turns out anything like before. I need to ask someone something, and it's a good time for you to meet her as well. Lurinia, what do you think?" And out of his wrist came the hologram of Lurinia, having been transferred out of The Voyager after leaving a copy of herself on-board to manage the fight. After watching all this play out with Aurora, she had a slightly jealous glint in her eyes.

"I'm Lurinia, nice to meet you Lady Somnis. Verax, while it's true that bringing her with you will make her stronger, it will also make Archelaus stronger, and unless you plan to fight like you did when he became Archon, you would diminish your chances of winning."

"Wrong, Lurinia, you're forgetting the living element here. That's all, thank you." Lurinia huffed and vanished. "So.... Aurora, would you like to come with me, or would you like to wait somewhere close by? Undoubtedly, the Fleshers the Alteriians brought to destroy the Voyager will do what they were brought to do, but if I can avoid that, I will, if not, well, I think The Voyager M.II is almost complete in construction. My point was, sorry, I distract myself easily, that staying on my ship might not be the safest course of action right now, and your safety is my top priority." He shook his head, smiling.

"There I go again, going off on about a million tangents. Okay! My question is do you want to come with me or not? I want you to make your own choices, if you don't, then you're only someones puppet. The choice, is yours." He did care for her, but he hoped she'd come with him. He needed her, for this to work. If how he predicted they would act was true, then all he needed was Eris-Tam to come with him, and this fight would end.

Tam looked into Verax's eyes for a moment, and then nodded. "I'll come, yeah." She nodded with another one of her child-like smiles, seeing that her answer made him happy. "I don't want you to get hurt, I'll make sure nothing bad happens." And now she had a purpose.

That was all she needed. The fierce spark that the real Eris-Tam always had lit suddenly sputtered back to life, and Tam felt the need to protect Verax. After everything the others had done to him... she wanted to protect him too. She didn't want them to be able to hurt him anymore, like they already had hurt both of them.

"Yes, I'm coming with you." Finally, her resolve returned. Even if the part of her that said that she was making a mistake was still suppressed, some parts of her were resurfacing, triggered by the events around her.

"Right! Then let's hurry, like I said, time is a key factor here. After this, things will only head in the right direction!" And he began sprinting, knowing his almost comically heavy armor would make all the noise he needed to alert the entire facility of his location. This was the beginning, of the end.

Forgive me, Aurora, for what I am about to do. I will keep my promise, but I'm also sure you won't see that until everything is said and done. But know this, you will see what I did was for you and to keep that promise, and I hope you will find it in your heart to understand.

Forgive me, Arch, for making this so hard for you. But know this, soon, very soon, you and your beloved will have your happy ending.

Forgive me, Robless, for causing you so much needless loss and pain. But know this, if this is the end of my story, you will be given the strength in arms to fight the greater enemy, for you already possess the strength in will to conquer the universe.

Forgive me, Caz, for threatening and using you so, but know this, after this is over, you will find peace, do not reject your fate, your Neiede, but challenge them! Each and every being can change their fate!

Forgive me, Zyria, for causing you so much distress and pain. But know this, after this battle, Zero will tell you why I sent him to you, and you will see Zeif so much stronger than before!

Forgive me, Dreston, for ruining your life, and taking the life of your father figure. I hope you and Krakot can become friends, as fellow synthetics.

"Onward! To the very end!"

Tam followed Verax like a ghost, moving silently beside the man who had saved her life. But as she looked at him, she felt a strange rush of feelings again which she couldn't explain. She would have simply dismissed it as empathy if the mix of feelings hadn't been so confusing. She wanted to ask him if there was something wrong, really did want to ask him, but somehow she couldn't work up the courage. It was like something was telling her that she didn't want to know the answer, and wouldn't like it if she got it.

So she stayed silent, feeling the well of power grow in her chest as they flew deeper into the facility, dreading what would be waiting for them but knowing all the same that she would protect Verax from it if she could.

And then she stopped. She stopped so suddenly that Verax didn't notice until he was far enough ahead that he had to walk back a few paces. There was a deeply worried look on the Kazesqui's face, and her form swirled anxiously.

"Wait, wait..." She looked into the man's eyes, and then said, "Let's just run. Just run, get away from them. Just run until they can't find us anymore. I... I..." and then she started to break down.

She flung herself into Verax's somewhat stunned arms, sobbing out, "I think.... I think something bad is going to happen. Please... just run with me. We don't have to fight them, we don't have to face them. Please..." she swallowed, "Please, don't leave me... you're the only person I trust, please... let's just run. We can just leave, we don't have to stay... You can't leave me alone again... please..." She clung to him desperately. She had no one else to turn to, no where else to go. "We can... just..." And then she was sobbing so much that she could no longer force words out.

"Aurora Somnis." Verax grinned, perfectly hiding the pain he felt, knowing that this moment was not meant to be his. "I made you a promise, didn't I? I won't let you get hurt, and nothing will happen to me. Yes, something bad might happen, but it's also true that things have to be bad before they can be good! Let me tell you something, I can feel it too, this feeling of dread, but if we don't push on, if we don't end this game here, that's when it gets bad. Never forget, nothing is ever set. You have the power to change your destiny, to choose how you live, and nothing, NOTHING can take that from you." He returned the embrace, an unnoticed blush very briefly flashed across his face.

I will set things right, everything is coming together, please Aurora, please, just trust me! I will bring you your happy ending! I swear it!

"Eris-Tam, we are not slaves to anyone or anything! Not to any man, beast, fate, or force. We as living being have choice! You put your trust in me, and now I ask you to please keep that trust, we have to go on. I promise, after this, right after this is over, everything will get better, and that I'll be right here with you, until the very end." His eyes were pleading, he was so close, so close to fulfilling every promise he had ever made. To everyone. He had swore to set this right. He hoped that she could feel it, feel through him and within him that Verax was so close at making everything better, for everyone, all she needed to do was to go just a little further, and everything would get better.

She sobbed for a few moments longer, crying until she couldn't cry anymore. She sniffed, pressing her amorphous head into his chest for a second before pulling away, stepping back and bowing her head in solemn submission. She looked up, into his eyes, fear and worry still there.

I promise... All the times she'd heard those words now taught her not to trust their utterer, but...

"A-alright... alright... I... okay. L-let's... keep moving."

But now as she moved to his side again she took his hand, honest care and trust being the only motivation for the action. "L-let's go."

"I know those words, 'I promise', 'I swear', are normally met with disappointment. That's why I'm asking you to trust me, to show you I mean what I say. That's one of the things I worked the most to change about myself after my incident with Arch, to only make promises that I can and will keep. But you're right, let's go. But stand tall, stand strong, and be proud! For those lost to the abyss, to rot alone in darkness, if we do not face every trial that we must undergo alone with everything we have, we will undoubtedly be crushed." He turned, already feeling those who 'walk the path of valor', as his kind would say, approaching. Those who sought to end the darkness, and save Eris-Tam. In a flash he was back, just after he entered the Voyager, being asked the same question the Parasite had by a suspicious holographic woman.

"What is it you desire?" She had asked. He thought for a while, and gave his answer.

"I will walk the path of darkness, of chaos, the path that most see as evil, to bear the burden of the evils and sins that must be for there to be balance. I will be the evil the world needs. To save it. I will complete my task. For even though the name Verax brings only despair and oblivion, I will change it. I will be the first! Why else was it that the name 'Verax' only was born of rearranging the letters, adding an 'X' and replacing the 'S' with an 'R'?"

Back in Crenel, he braced himself, for although destiny intended for him to rule the universe with an iron-fist, he would defy everything ever expected of him, and become an Undying Curse. Unending, playing the role that no one else would, to make sure everything went right. He prepared himself, for a final show-down, his trembling legs hidden in the black armor he used to hide the truth with. If this was the end....

Arriving on the edge of the 1st Dimension, Zeif's eyes widen at the chaos, at the destruction. Even from a distance, the action was evident. "We-We're....nothing. Nothing at all compared to all those soldiers, droids, units. We're maybe 30, 50 ships, tiny, insignificant ships. And those are huge, overflowing-with-soldiers ships. How can we compare?"

The soldier turns to Zeif, terror evident in his eyes. But, his face is set, as he says, "With our smarts. Even a Plutonian army uses its smarts, not brawn. And you, Commander, are the smartest soldier we have, if I'm not out of line saying so. Sir, Plutonians have never been the strongest, or the largest in amount. That's why we make up for it with our super computers, with our droids. We don't have a lot of soldiers, but we have thousands of super smart droids. Our brains compared to our enemy's brawn, they don't stand a chance."

Zeif looks at the soldier, and nods, the hopelessness draining from him. "Then let's use our super weapons. I'll contact Princess Zyria, she should still have something that receives our emergency frequency. You organize whichever of our men that arrive, we need to be in formation when we attack." Zeif begins searching for the small beacon that directed the message to Zyria. After some searching, Zeif found it.

"Ahem, Princess Zyria? Come in, Princess. This is Zeif Plach, the new commander of....the remains of the Plutonian army. We came as soon as we could. Just aim where you want us, and we'll give it all we've got."

~~~

Zyria, hurrying through Crenel with the rest of the group, jumps at the sound of an unfamiliar voice cutting through the air. The static helps her realize that it's from her messenger, and she pulls out the old device, the only thing able to receive the odd frequency.

She slows, listening intently. "My new commander? Oh thank the universe! Zeif Plach? An interesting name. -shakes head- No, this isn't the time. Thank you for coming! It must be hard, a new commander, in this type of situation. Anyway," Zyria hurries to Robless, at the front of the group. "Robless. My soldiers are here. Should I send my men to intercept them?" Obviously, Zyria didn't have to specify who 'them' was. "My men could distract them, without firing a single gun."

"They could give us enough time to catch up."

((Hey. Hey. Can you guys get to us already? xD))

"They...they've stopped. And now they're turning around. Right at the exit, too. Call off your men's interception, but have them positioned near the exit in case things go badly," Robless said to Zyria.

They passed the clean hallway into a maintenance passage that would take them on a shortcut directly to Eris-Tam and Verax. Robless felt the Thel-ghan'che's presence growing stronger with each passing second. The light level was dim as they walked by ventilation grates, broken pipes, and dangling wires, careful not to make too much noise although Verax and Tam had already noticed their position, as Robless documented on his sensors.

"We're getting close," Robless told the group as he motioned them to get down and stay silent, "Whatever you do, don't engage them in combat. Aurora is far too important, and from the looks of it, the Thel-ghan'che has her going with Verax."

The Thel-ghan'che must be more powerful than I thought, to have manipulated her into trusting Verax. The pain of remembering the Thel-ghan'che was almost too much. It must have been terrifying for what Aurora to have endured that.

(Archelaus, whenever you're on just let me know, and then we'll get this party started.)

((Technically... you could assume that he's forcibly taking her with him. Or that the parasite is completely in control. ))

(I'm monitoring you guys on thermal sensors through the Leviathan's sensor array connection on my helmet. )

((Well, I got that part, but it doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't know what state Tam is in. He could be making her, the parasite could still be in control. I'm just saying.))

(I did mean to imply that the parasite was the cause of it, though. Adding that in. My bad. xD)

Zyria raises a hand to her throat in horror. The thought of /her/ going with him, him, it's too....wrong. They're opposites. Even with that damn parasite in control, it just seems far too....off. And now, with whatever state they're in, we're about to face off with them. If Aurora tries to attack us, well, if the parasite tries to attack us, what can we do? Avoid her? How long could we handle that? And with Verax there, it'll be even tougher. Ugh, I need to stop thinking about it. We'll deal with it when we all meet.

Zyria puts the messenger to her mouth, and speaks. "Zeif? This is Princess Zyria. I want you at the edge of Crenel keeping an eye open for us, or Aurora Somnis, or Verax. If Aurora Somnis comes into view, do not engage. Do not fire, not even to incapacitate her. Just be wary, and keep your eyes on her. If it's us, immediately land, so we can help whoever ends up worse off after all this. If it's Verax, well...he'll most certainly make the first move, and it won't be peaceful. Just...try to stay alive if it's Verax."

After some static on the other end, Zeif replies. "Yes, Princess. We'll stick to Crenel, and see if we can help out. Uhm, a-also, Princess. Verax has wiped out over half of what remained of the military. There's only a fraction of us left. I-I'm sorry, Princess."

For a moment, Zyria is silent. Maybe she's speechless, maybe she's giving a moment of silent for her fallen army. Either way, after that moment, Zyria speaks again. "You're welcome to fire at Verax. But, listen to me, do not get yourself killed out there. I don't need to lose any more men."

"He's taken enough already."

[Yeah, my posts get us nowhere right now, but that's because I'm not the one to make the first move here. I'm a background character that refuses to stay quiet. Oh, and sorry if I'm screwin' anything up, just delete this if I am, because I won't be on much tomorrow. >.< I really shouldn't write so late/early]

Just before Verax and Tam reached the group, Tam let out a sharp cry of pain as she was thrown to the floor. Her hand was ripped from Verax's and she writhed on the ground, wailing and screaming in agony. The sounds that came from her throat were animalistic and raw, and everyone who heard it would have tensed in fear at whatever would make someone scream like that, and simultaneously would have wept for her pain. The black cloud inside her was fighting its way back to control, the Thel-ghan'che was trying to take her body back over.

She looked up at Verax, wide panic and fear in her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her body twitched and spasmed as it fought for her nervous system, and she reached out to Verax for help even though she doubted he could do anything. He could practically hear the parasite's menacing laugh as it whispered to Tam, "Fighting against me will always be futile... you should accept your fate..." But as she still fought, gasping, "Verax, help, p-please!" She screamed again, and the parasite's voice tore through her head, "SUBMIT! SUBMIT TO ME!"

Tam convulsed on the floor as her control slipped further away from her. "V... Verax... help me..." she whimpered.

"LET GO, TAM, SUBMIT TO ME!"

((I'm just trying to come up with shit to do until John gets on... :PP))

"Eris-Tam, you put your trust in me, and know you'll be rewarded for it." He lifted her off the ground as he spoke, "I am not about betray you, but YOU PARASITE!" Instantly Tam's body began resisting his very touch.

He yelled up to the ceiling, "Robless! Zyria! Arch! Get here quickly! I'll buy you some time!" As Aurora struggled out of his grip, he looked straight through her to the monster he faced. "Your time is UP! All we have to do is beat you, and the power I will gain as a result will lock my victory in place!" He hoped his lie was convincing, after all, he did portray himself as a madman bent on conquering everything. Just hold on, Aurora, I will save you! "I wonder who is stronger, you or I? But do you understand? I can't beat my enemy-" And in a flash, he was in Eris-Tam's mind. "-Without striking their home. Now, COME! Let me see the might power that is the Thel'ghan'che! Show it to me, and let me show you how all is nought and useless in resisting me! I AM VERAX! THE DREADLORD! CAPTAIN OF HELL'S DREADNOUGHT!" He reared back his arms and he transformed, the built up rage and remorse within him exploding around him and covering him in yard-thick layers of chaos.

"Now.... show me what it is I've been fighting for! Aurora! I know you can hear me! Please..... lend us your strength! The true Eris-Tam, Neiede of Archelaus, sole member of the Somnis family, and beloved ruler of your people and friend to all, lend us who fight for you the strength to prevail! NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER GIVE IN! FOR WE AS LIVING BEINGS POSSESS THE POWER TO CHANGE OUR FATES!"

(HECK YES! Finally! You see his true colors now! Why do you think he sent Vabin after Robless? That wasn't Vabin, that was Verax disguised by chaos, he needed help training for mental battle. For Vabin is a being of darkness, Verax is not. Verax isn't light or darkness or shadow, but the object which the light hits to spawn a shadow. It was Vabin up until the scene in the Lykios lair, however.)

But it was far too late. The parasite had thrown her back into the state she'd been in before she'd been freed, before she'd tried to kill herself. She was trembling again in the shadows of the old house, but it was decrepid, ragged, falling apart. It was long after both she and Cassus had abandoned it, and she was alone, utterly alone. Whispers threatened to spill into her sanctuary, whispers that her mind actually told her to listen to. But she forced them out. She wouldn't hear them, wouldn't. She didn't have to- they couldn't make her come out. She knew that's what they wanted, but she was scared and nothing could force her from her home- even if it wasn't much of a home anymore.

---

On a higher level of her consciousness, the parasite surrounded Verax, darkness clinging to chaos and slowing him down, attempting to push him out of Tam's mind. Everywhere it touched him it burned his skin, leaving it blistered and stinging. It tightened around his throat, amorphous and smoke-like, whispering in a voice that seemed to echo into Verax's own mind, "It is not your place to be here... You must leave, Verax, this is not your fight... you are a being of chaos, you should support me! Do not fight darkness! Darkness and chaos are meant to work together! But... if you will not support me, and if you choose to fight me... then I must destroy you."

It tightened around him like a noose, and threatened to push into him, threatened to use his deepest regrets and fears against him. And if that wouldn't work, it would eject him, and force him to fight where it had control of the immense well of power that was Eris-Tam.

She was nothing more than a tool to it, nothing more than a power to be used for its own purposes. She was broken enough by now that she could not and would not fight, and the parasite thanked its lucky stars that they had taken long enough to reach her that no matter what they did to fight the Thel-ghan'che, they could never have her, never restore her to what she was, who she was. It was glad that no matter how much they called on her to fight, she would not. She was lost, and that was the parasite's advantage.

The Eris-Tam they had all known was already dead.

(OFC: Well. Here we go.)
(IC)

Archelaus had been the indomitable manifestation of Alteriian culture for hundreds of years. He reflected the loss, the pain, the hope, and the long years that all Alteriians possessed, in varying amounts. The demands of his leadership had grown so great that he had to separate his own feelings from that of his leader, like water separates from oil. He had to sacrifice himself for all Alteriia, and if he had not, then he would have crumbled long ago. For he had spent too many hours alone and in the darkness. His whole life was darkness, when he was vanguard to himself, when he paid attention to himself. His only company knowledge and sadness, and burning regret. Archelaus lived only to give, only to serve, just as those with power always should be.

And Archelaus was strong, no doubt, but not even Atlas could have held up the sky forever.
For wisdom in itself is useless, and happiness is elusive to those who have power.

But life isn't about happiness.

* * * * *

The High-Druid could feel that Aurora was near... in his hearts, in his mind, deep down in his spirit. He had lived fpr so many years without her, thinking her dead on the lonely plain of their retreat... only to find her and lose her once more.
But this was about more than just her, about more than just the Alteriians, the millions of Alteriian waging a war right outside the very floors they stood upon, the occasional stray shot slamming into the shields with such intensity the whole prison shook.

This was about redemption.

How many Kazesqui had died for Alteriians? Millions. Billions.
It had been long past due for Alteriians to return the favor, even if only for one Kazesqui.
And now it was time for Archelaus to save her.

That was less than half of Arch's motivation.

The Link of the Neiede, or no link, Archelaus loved Aurora with all of his heart. He had been living half alive, for fear that she was dead. There had been so few survivors, and they all had scattered after the battle...
But here she was, like a shining star just ahead of him. Even in torment she was angelical, a seraphim admist the harshness of life.

No one else knew him, understood him, or loved him as she did. No one could forgive as she could. No one else could lift the sky off of his shoulders just by being near him, no one else could learn with him the intricacies of life like she could, no one could make the flight of a moth as magical, no one could ever have sacrificed more for him than she. No one was as pure, no one as righteous as she, no one had her honor, her honesty, her mercy, or her courage.
No one had a heart as beautiful as hers.

.....
...

How dare this parasite stand in his way.

Archelaus, fourteen feet tall and in full battle form sprinted away from the rest of the group, turning the corner of the hallway and sighting Verax and Aurora down at the other end, struggling with the intensity of mental battle.

"Darkness is not chaos!" Verax roared, slowly tromping, fighting. "Chaos, is above the darkness! Chaos..... can be good or evil! Whenever things fall apart, whenever things don't go according to plan, chaos is there! Chaos, things that are not set! Love is chaotic, not knowing how things will turn out, not being able to be controlled, but it is a source of light! Luck, miracles, they belong to chaos, yet they belong to light! Chaos exists above darkness! ABOVE LIGHT! Chaos is the beginning! But it has no end! Chaos is the one force that is everywhere, within everything! It is not good or bad, neither right nor wrong! It cannot be stopped! It cannot be slowed! I CANNOT BE STOPPED!"

He fell to his knees in pain, but stood once again. "You think.... that you know pain? That YOU know how to intimidate? To cause fear?" His eyes shot open. "Fear is waking up every morning, and hearing millions of souls cry out at you, all dead by your own hand. Fear is bearing the burden for all the sins that had to be made, and bearing them because no one else will, and feeling each and every one of them individually. FEAR is being dragged into hell, and being given the choice to leave, but being just out of reach to get it! FEAR, is grasping for that final hope, that final string of sanity, when you're almost out of time, and having it yanked away every single time! DO NOT TALK TO ME ABOUT FEAR, CREATURE! I AM FEAR!" His defiance was the final word, that he could not be convinced to join the other side.

In response, he could feel himself being dragged out of her mind. He focused everything he had into his last call, trying to pierce the darkness and despair, "AURORA, I MADE YOU A PROMISE, AND YOU PROMISED TO FIGHT WITH ME, SO FIGHT! NEVER GIVE UP! THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE!" And he was flung out, and skid across the floor away from Eris-Tam. Without missing a beat, his hands began to glow with that swirling black and gray energy that was nothingness.

"Just like old times, Arch?"

Archelaus saw what was happening with his eyes, but his heart processed the situation first.

"Verax was helping Aurora..." It seemed impossible, but it was true.

The High-Druid had no time for questions, with Aurora laying there on the floor, barely moving, and then he did something he thought he would never do. He extended one hand to Verax in the Alteriian sign of thanks. The moment did not last long, and Archelaus lifted Aurora into his arms to see her beauteous eyes, even as he began to call upon the mighty forces of the ever-swirling Rolxan.

There was a time that the knight donned his armor to beat off the monsters, when he lifted his sword to hew dragon bone and Minotaur's horn, but there was a time when the knight took off his helmet, and his heavy mail gauntlets, a time when the armor was a hindrance to healing those which he gave his life to save.

Armor would not help Aurora now, only heart.

This time the whispered cry broke through into the silence of the house. It did not echo like true sound, and was still quiet, but Tam had heard it. She buried her head in her hands and hid from it desperately- it was calling for her help... it was so hard to deny...

And just as the memory of it started to fade again, she stood. Verax! I've got to find him! I... I've got to... Now she was running through the house, turning corners that she never knew existed in order to reach the door. But no mattter where she turned, no matter how close she got, she could not reach it. Her sanctuary had turned into a trap, a cell, a neverending prison inside her mind. And as much as she wanted to leave it, she could not.

And then she found herself back in front of the nook that she hid inside as a child. She got to her hands and knees and surprisingly, she still fit. She whimpered as she curled up, her arms wrapped around her knees, and started to cry again. But soon... she forgot why she was crying, forgot that call that had sliced through the silence, and forgot that she was trapped in her own sanctuary. It all faded into the background, and she let herself go again.

Archelaus, who had roughly ordered the death of tens of thousands of Verax's soldiers only minutes before, was as gentle as the summer wind.
Slowly, as if Aurora were but a shadow or memory he wanted to hold on to, he lifted her, cradling her soaking head in his arms, her weight held easily by his Alteriian muscles like she was a downy-feather, soft and light. Protectively, as if she might blow away, he held her.

She felt alien to his touch. Her natural warmth was gone, replaced by a pale coolness. Clammy. Her ever-strident heart-beat felt subdued, when previously it had burned with passion, empathy, and honor. She quavered, when before she had stood resolute and proud against all her enemies. The parasite was trying to freeze her out, after failing at burning her out.

But the coals were not yet cold, they still held the sparks of life in them, and Archelaus would fan them back into the roaring bonfire they once were.