The First Lotus ~Seaside Village~

I shake my head and release her arms, "Your umbra is different. Zaakilo's is parasitic, growing on him like a fungus and fungi have been known to control their hosts. Yours is more symbiotic, like a plant." I glance back at Galen's corpse. There's something we're missing.

"I'm going to try something. Both of you please be as still as possible. "

I walk to the head of the stone slab and stare resolutely down at the empty vessel of Reality's Conciousness. I sink my hands down into his dark hair, close my eyes, and brace myself.

I breathe in. I breathe out. Creation breathes with me. Attuning to me. My command. My eyes snap back open, glowing golden, the light spilling from them like sunbeams.

"Where is Galen Kard?"I ask in the voice of Creation. My word is command and all of creation rushes to heed it. To find what I seek.

Creation becomes anxious. I can feel it in the heaviness of the air. In the slight tremble of the ground. It wants to please me and answer this question by its Mistress, but it's confused. Because Galen is reality and reality is everywhere, intact. I have to be more specific. I direct it to what fills the shell in front of me.

I can't give it parameters of Galen. That information is lost to me because of the blackout. I can't access it from the Current. So I specify by memories. The ones he created with the Current Lotus.

These moments burn like solar flares flashing bright. No barrier could block them from my mind.

Hands holding, mouths tasting, bodies pressed together. Words only he could say. Hearts beating for each other. A meadow just for her. Sunsets. Daybreaks. His infinite eyes. Her wings. An eternity of waiting. An eternity of memories. An overwhelming weight of one feeling.

I fight to swallow down a whimper, as the heat of their passion courses through me. It's a blazing supernova. It's absolutely ridiculous that it should effect me so; but creation sighs around me because it understands. Love. It understands the language of their love. The all consuming lightning love of Lexianna and Galen Kard.

I break the connection, falling to my knees on the floor. "If he's within the Universe's Reach he will be found." I choke out. I keep my eyes downcast needing a moment to myself.

Frenzied Flame ~ ThroneWorld~

I snarl as I kick in her grasp. I do not panic. Panic kills. I recall the sword. Mistletoe. It zings into my hand and I feel my body right itself. I'm healed, perhaps too much. I'll need to draw blood again. Hers will do.

"For the glory of the ancestors and Haust!" I scream at her. I cleave through the arm holding me and drop to the floor with it. I lick my lips which are coated in her blood. I want to gorge on it. Instead I sheath the sword to my back, and slash into my arm with my elongated claws, freeing the blood there. As it runs freely, it builds a swirling barricade around my body. I boil the blood in the air, and start throwing boiling balls of blood.

Blaze ~ Shadowhold battlegrounds~

As much as I hate to admit it, Gaul is right. My sister is a Highblood, the Elite soldier of the Honorbloods. She had to prove herself to earn it. But I'm consumed with the need to rescue her, save her from this. I'm not a praying type but I pray now, On the ancestors, please bring my sister back to me. I don't know what's happening and I can't just sit back when my sister is fighting for her life.

I dig around in my messenger bag until I find my tablet. I switch on the tracking, and twist the screen this way and that trying to lock onto her signal. " Stupid otherworldly interference. " It'll work and I'll be able to watch her fight if I can boost the signal.

"Gaul I need your arm." I take his arm and raise it out to his side. "Keep it like that. You-" I start snapping at Raven, "-take 3 steps to the left and 1 step back. Shadow, bend your knees. "

I position myself next to Gaul and my sister's image pops on screen. I'm thankful to be pretty and smart. " Nobody move. "

Seaside Village Blackout
Maya leans against the dias.
"Awfully intimate for someone who isn't your man." Maya muses.

The echo that comes back to Lotus is subtle. Quiet even. It is a location that doesn't make sense. The garden in Castle Sanctus. Specifically an old tree from before the castles founding. Dangerous territory with Zaak brooding about.

Omega scolds Maya who gives him a apathetic side eye.
"Did you get anything Lotus?" Omega asks. Maya has produced a set of tools used to prepare and care for the dead. She sets up to perform a ritual.

Valkyrie Throne World
Kara grunts as her arm is severed but smiles as a devious idea takes hold. A new arm grows instantly, replacing the one she lost. Her severed arm clenches into a fist and begins to replicate at a staggering rate. Many of which collide with Flames blood attacks nullifying them mid flight.

Others still begin to attach to her spear. Slowly they fuse to it creating a macabre and horrifying instrument of twisted metal, bone, muscle, tendons, and flesh. The blades warp into many toothed tentacles that whip and writhe eager for violence. Kara laughs. Thousands of her arms fill the air. They skitter in all directions across the cold hard marble like ground casting eerie shadows from the source-less light of this world.

The swarms of limbs begin to chase Flame down. Being moved at the speed of thought they cascade into Flames barrier like railgun rounds and scatter gore in all directions from the force of impact.

At the same time clutches of yet more limbs begin to align themselves into a grand formation. As though they were assembling themselves into a terrifying machine ring hovering in the air.

Shadowhold battlefield
Karnariel approaches Gaul. He levels his gaze at the large man.
"Let me fight Kara. I have to be one to end this." Karnariel says plainly.

The fighting has died down significantly. With Kara present to allow her forces to skip the time constraint of the resurrection the battle has screeched to a crawl. A few holdout have gathered in the wreckage of fallen ships and attempt to repel the battered alliance forces. Most of Kara's forces are willing to fight until the last.

Shadow speaks up.
"You should stay here." He says to Kar, who wheels around to face him already furious.

"I don't take orders from you." Kar bites.

"Not an order. Just a suggestion." Shadow sets himself down on a rock. "The Viking should go. He's not of this land. But he still represents a part of herself she has abandoned. A defeat at his hands would do considerable damage to her mental state."

"I want-no, I have to be there when she dies." Kar's hands tramble. "It has to be me."

"And it will." Shadow says. He sets his gaze on Kara's body resting against a toppled wall. "She has a vessel in this world to return to. And you'll be here. Waiting. To decide her fate."

Razz

Looking from Nevermore back to the commander, I readjust my posture. " First off I'd like assurance of my party's safety, it's my top priority, beyond that possibly a map of the realm, in exchange I can tell you why im in your world in the first place,along with any other questions youed ask of me.

The First Lotus ~Seaside Village~

I deign to ignore Maya. She like most humans, makes snap judgements before having the necessary information. Desperate to be right, to make their point that they ignore the details altogether. They are so tiring.

Annoyance helps me clear my head. Breathing calm, legs steady, emotions back in check, I walk over to Omega. " It'll be easier to show you." I reach my hand up, but hesitate, "May I?" Once he nods his assent, I lay my hand against his cheek; then push the images into his mind. As soon as I'm done, I cross my arms.

"What do you make of this? He couldn't have hidden or regrown his conciousness right there under Zaakilo's nose. We could go talk to the tree." I lift one shoulder in a shrug, "If Zaakilo wanders over I can just say he's been neglecting the garden, give him a scolding and I'm sure he'll flee the area before I'm finished."

Frenzied Flame ~ ThroneWorld~

I hack away at the endless horde of hands. Blood squelches each time. I'm soaked in gore and it has a dizzying affect. I gather it as I contemplate the progressing problem. What are those hands building? I don't want to find out. Each hand I chop, adds blood to my arsenal.

I construct a massive blood trident and launch it at the center of the pattern. I boil the blood and it explodes on impact. I don't stop moving. I command blood spikes from the floor to clear a wall of hands. This refills my arsenal and I construct a barrier once again.

Blaze ~ Shadowhold battlegrounds~

I shuffle from foot to foot nervously as the fight unfolds before me on the monitor. I don't like this. I don't like it one bit. Whatever that woman is going to do next is going to be bad and I think Flame is going to be backed into a corner, which means a Spirit will emerge. My ears lay flat and I force myself to loosen my grip so I don't break the monitor. I'm also doing my best not to scream at Karnariel to stop moving the hell around. He's making the image fuzzy. Instead I focus on the battle playing out in my hands.

Karna Throne Room
The Commander takes a moment to appreciate the straight forward request.
"Safety I can assure so long as you remain in within the palace walls. With the armies garrisoned outside the city guard has enforced a strict curfew and been ordered to detain any suspicious persons. As for a detailed map," Commander waves a hand and a servant nods and scurries away. "I'll have the royal cartographer copy you our most recent maps of the land."

The Commander finishes their glass and their second glass, lets their helmet fall back into place, and pours more. Though their lower face has been observed it does not stay in the memory. Reaching for the recollection of their features only muddies them even further. What does their voice sound like? Are they a man or woman? Are they even Human? Nothng but the knowledge of their actions remains in the mind.

"Is that all that you want? Nothing else to ask for? Just safety and a map?" Commander laughs. "I wish all my problems could be solved so easily."

Seaside Blackout
Omega furrows his brow.
"I guess that could work. I wish we had something more... discreet." Omega says

"I could teach her the protection prayer." Maya says. "It's easy to modify for use on ones self. Sorry only works for women though."

"That's not a problem." Omega takes a moment to focus. Ever so slightly but undoubtedly his features become feminine. "Will that work?"

Maya is speechless for a moment. She mutters to herself before speaking up. "I guess we'll find out, come over here, the both of you."

Maya makes a small incision in Galen's wrist and collects the blood in a small bowl. "This is supposed to be done with sacred water blessed by the priesthood. So don't mind my repulsion."

Maya dips a finger into the blood and begins to mark her face and arms. As she goes she instructs Lotus and Omega on the prayer and the meaning of the markings. Finally she finishes and clasps her hands.

"Oh divines, hear my voice and be merciful. Grant this land your protection and shelter the souls within." Maya unclasps her hands and claps. As she does the Umbra within her comes to life and seems to clench. It digs deeper into her being and spreads across her arms and face. She groans. The Umbra relents and vanishes from her body once more. The blackout seems to go slack then tighten into an impenetrable dome once again. "Go on you two. Like I showed you. Make sure to change the prayer like I said."

Omega clasps their hands. "Oh divines, hear my voice and be merciful. Grant this body your protection and shelter the souls within." Omega claps and the blood seeps into his skin. In that moment his face is overtaken by revelation. As though he were in comprehension of some great and terrible secret.

The moment passes. The Umbra becomes a second skin weaving together over his existence.

"Well slap my ass and call me The Maiden, it worked." Maya stares at Omega. "Do I call you a women now?"

"Call me what you want." Omega pauses a moment. "Raydel if you insist."

"Alright, she's ready. Your turn girly." Maya gestures to Lotus."

Valkyrie Throne World
The machine despite the momentary setback is completed. Several floating rings hover ominously in the air. Though there is nothing there the horrifying feeling of being watched by it looms ominously. It is a Wyrd Engine. Capable of creating millions of diverging realities in which to entrap it's victims.

The hands converge on Flame from every direction at once. Instead of attacking however they grasp and claw at Flame dragging her towards the hellish creation.

"I'll author an eternity of horrors for you." The Wyrd Engine hums relishing the violence it will inflict.

The First Lotus ~Seaside Village~

I stare blankly at Omega. I'm slightly surprised but glad to see he... or she... is being reasonable about the situation.

I repeat the words Maya has instructed. I feel hesitant about trusting the Umbra, but Omega does have a point. It'd be easier to not have to worry about Zaakilo at all.

I cast one final look at the body of Galen, before turning to Omega again. "Alright then, are we ready to go talk to our tree?"

Frenzied Flame ~ ThroneWorld~

I growl viciously at the machine, at the hands dragging me. My mind muddled. I breathe in the scent of blood. My senses becoming blind to it. Then. Freedom.

Wraith Spirit.

My child. My love. My darling Flame. The Wraith spirit croons. It collects Flame's soul in its claws protectively. Like a snake coiled around prey. Then it strikes.

Called forth by blood the Wraith Spirit rushes Flame's body, filling her. It bends her body, making room for itself. A shockwave erupts from the force of the Spirit's entry, spraying viscera from the hands everywhere.

The Wraith Spirit had tasted the blood of the enemy on Flame's tongue, and now it knows this blood. Commands it. Strikes. The Wraith points its finger at Kara and commands all of her blood to solidify. With a curl of its claws, it guides the blood out in long piercing stakes. A reverse iron maiden. Then with a final fist, it rips all the blood from Kara's body.

Blaze ~ Shadowhold battlegrounds~

My jaw drops and eyes widen to saucers as I witness the Machine. " Scarlet... is that a Wyrd Engine?"

"Calculating." The tablet chirps with my AI assistant's readings. Then pings. " Wyrd Engine confirmed."

"GET HER OUT!" I shout to Gaul and wave the tablet around frantically. "You have to know what the thing is, get my sister out NOW!"

Gaul, barely noticing Blaze’s shouting, finishes his incantation and suddenly he’s swapped places with Flame. Hopefully they can manage to take care of her until I get back he thinks to himself as he strides forward slowly.

“Wyrd Engines? Extra arms?” His lips curl upward menacingly as he feels his power roiling in his veins. “Surely you can do better than that.” He slowly and methodically removes his tunic and furs to reveal the rippling muscle beneath, stretches to his full height, and bellows a war cry that reverberates through the chamber. Both eyes gleam with starlight from deep black pools, the Eyes of Fate fully unleashed.

“Best for you to hit me with everything you’ve got, or this will be easier than a Hallingkast*.”

* en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halling_(danc….

Valkyrie
Kara reels from the attack and staggers to one knee. Had the Wyrd Engine not been in effect she very well could have died. A mass of hands had seized a tangle of pure potential energy and tied it to Kara's person. The mass of writhing threads and tangles slithers across her body as she stands. Her new opponent stands before her.

"Another dogged challenger. Come to claim my head. I was looking forward to butchering the fox thing, but I suppose you'll have to do." Kara emboldened by the Wyrd engine leaps towards Ghaul and strikes with a heavy overhead slash. As she and her attack close in the numerous hands sprout blades that snap together to form a terrifying glaive.

Seaside Village Blackout.
Omega Raydel

"Lets get moving." Omega says as she opens a gate to Lexianna's garden. Once there she approaches the tree. "I don't see anything out of the ordinary." Omega walks around the tree expecting to see Lotus but she isn't there. Omega quickly reverses around the tree to see Lotus again.

Throne World

Gaul slowly sidesteps the glaive as it crashes to the floor, then launches himself at Valkyrie, a quick flurry of fists crashing on her head. He lands behind her in a crouch, and draws his hand axe and Mjolnir as he begins to circle his opponent, staying low to the ground.

“Butcher? Can you even hit me, princess?” Gaul asks with a mocking smile.

Helheim, Realm of the Dead

“And so it is done,” Hel breathes shakily as she collapses onto the bed of furs beside Baldur. “Your ex-wife shall be free,” she slowly traces a circle on his chest with a long, spindly finger.

Baldur turns to look at his new bride. This was not the death he had envisioned for himself by any means, yet it was the death he had. “I have but one final favor to ask of you, my wife.” The word almost chokes him.

“Fire away, beloved.” Hel replies, seeming to not have noticed his hesitation.

“I wish to forget about her, and her to forget me. Send her far away, that she may live out her days in blissful ignorance.”

“I happen to know just the place,” she smiles. A perfect little hideaway where she won’t possibly escape. Hel curls her finger under Baldur’s chin and pulls him close.

Blackout

A beautiful young woman with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes slowly comes to beneath the shade of a massive apple tree. She slowly gets to her bare feet and takes a few halting steps. She glances down at her threadbare dress, almost devoid of color, and a seax in a scabbard belted around her waist.

Where am I, and why am I here? she thinks, and gets only a growling stomach in response. Hunger. That much she knows. She instinctively reaches up toward the fruit above her, and the tree seems to bow slightly to her whim. As the apple is plucked, the boughs swing back to their rightful place in the sky.

The mysterious woman begins to walk toward the shape of a building in the distance, ponderously munching upon the apple. Perhaps someone there will know something.

The First Lotus ~Lexianna's Garden~

When I step in to the garden I'm instantly draped in the essence of the Current Lotus. Her distinct feel, her warmth. If I wasn't already emotionally tired, this would've done it. How does she go around feeling this much all the time? What an utterly exhaustive state. And distracting. I imagine Alastair would understand though. For the others I'm sure this is comforting.

I watch Omega march around the tree. I expect to see her come around the opposite side of the tree but when she reappears her face is perplexed.

"I see you've found something strange." I hold up a finger to her, "Hold that thought. I did say talk to the tree. "

I lay my hand against it. Let our natures mingle, let it recognize me. I open my mind to Omega, inviting her to the conversation.Then I speak to the tree, asking my questions without ever moving my lips. What do you have for me? What's happening here?

Blaze ~ Shadowhold battlegrounds~

My sister appears where Gaul was moments before. Her small body is still. So still. I hyper focus on her and my ears pick up the steady beat of her heart.

I yank the heal-y sword off her back and touch her with it. She looks like someone threw her in a pool of wine. I know the dark red slathering her is nothing so innocent. It's impossible to tell how much of it is hers.

I walk around her scanning her with my tablet to check her vitals. While they configure, I peel back one of her eyelids to check her pupils. They're large and completely blood red. I swallow hard. My sister Inferna and I both have our father's red eyes, but Flame has our mother's eyes. Our mother used to say Flame was a true child of Haust. Her hair is a match to the sandy colored hills of Haust in autumn and her eyes the sprawling meadows of green. Flame's eyes are green.

Valkyrie Throne World
Ghauls fists ring out dull metal peals against Kara's head. She swipes at him but he's nimble for his size. Kara snarls. She takes a steadying breath. This one is different. Fighting isn't just a job or mission. Fighting signifies a way of life. A true Son of Odin or one of his ilk. Aesir, vanir, any one of those she'd put to the sword. Elves and dwarves, even the Jotuns were just collateral. Just what was necessary to carve a place for herself. Now this one. From far far away. Here to reckon her sins.

She laughs. Relaxes her posture.
"I can't for the life of me remember which one you are supposed to be. I don't know you." She scrapes the hydra head of blades on the floor. " That's Thor's hammer. You smell like Odin and Freya. And I thought it was the Norns who wove fate. Who the fuck are you?"

Cutting off a response she lunges at Ghaul, feints a overhead cut, sweeps his feet, and plants a shoulder into his solar plexus. With a wave of her hand she commands the hovering hands to seize threads of the Wyrd Engine.

The Wyrd Engine is comprised of 4 rings of endlessly threading hands. The threads of fate twist and braid into a single point at the center of all the rings which folds endlessly into itself.

The commanded hands pad through the "eye" of Wyrd Engine seizing raw fate from the knot at the center and tearing free to dive bomb Ghaul.

Castle Garden
The tree doesn't respond. Instead a vision, or rather a memory softly floats to Lotus and Omega.

Galen places a hand to the tree.
"Here should do." The world turns at an impossible speed as the tree grows larger and larger until it has eclipsed the entire world. It's infinite branches reach out in all directions to the very edges of real and its roots splay to the very ends of the minds comprehension.

"Just in case." The memory can't be placed. Somehow it comes from a time before Galen was awake but long after he had created the Oasis. Yet here it is. A back door into The Oasis hidden deep within the oldest tree in Lexianna's Garden. Were it anyone other than Galen playing with time in such a manner would be dangerous. What's more this tree possesses a sentience unlike any flora anywhere else in existence.

The world turns violently and Lotus and Raydel are there in The Oasis. The tree manifests as itself before them. There is a great creaking and groaning as though it were waking. The snaps and pops of the wooden arborous creature mimic bones as it yawns.

"So, what questions do you have for me?" The Tree asks impatiently."

The First Lotus ~The Oasis~

I stare silently at first, confused. This tree is old and new. And sentient beyond what I'm used to from trees. I know this tree... or should. She planted it after all... but I doubt even the Current Lotus knows what's going on with this tree.

I speak to it normally now, seeing how circumstances have changed. "I sent out a call for information on the whereabouts of Galen Kard. It led me here. So, do you have any relevant information relating to our search? Like why Galen has a backdoor into the Oasis, perhaps?"

Blaze ~ Shadowhold battlegrounds~

" Vitals stable." the tablet chirps at me. But she's still unconscious so I scan her again.
"Vitals stable. "

I glare, " If Flame's Vitals are stable then what's going on. "
" Princess Flame not detected. "
"What? " I scan her again. " Run diagnostic for Flame."

"Subject vitals stable. Princess Flame not detected."

Dread settles over me,"What?"

"Princess Flame not detected." The tablet repeats unhelpfully.

Terrible understanding dawns on me. I need to see her back, I go to move her over and she's scalding hot. I pull back with a hiss and nudge her to the side with my boot. The symbol of the Fox Spirit glows on her back. I curse just as her eyes flick open.

Throne World

As he is pushed backwards, Gaul rolls to his feet and levels Mjolnir at the hands diving toward him, “I am the King of Asgard,” the hammer surges with electricity. “Gaul, son of Vili, god of Fate.” The lightning begins to pulsate and the crackling energy carries to his voice, “I am the Living Weave, Wyrd itself, and I. Am not. To be trifled with.”

He hurls Mjolnir at the Wyrd Engine, and it obliterates the hands in its path. Upon contact with the engine, a blinding flash of light and a deafening peal of thunder tear through the rings, heaving them apart. The hammer rockets toward Gaul’s outstretched hand, and as he catches it he spins and tosses it at Valkyrie as tattoos begin to spread across his torso.

The lines that form the bulk of the tattoo weave geometric patterns that seem to constantly shift and swirl under his skin in a kaleidoscopic, amorphous manner. Runes and formulae seem to swirl between the lines, impossible to follow in both movement and complexity.

Blackout

“Well, it’s not just a building. It’s a whole city,” the woman says as she pats the earth, having buried the core of the apple. “Only question is, where am I?” She brushes the soil from her hands and walks into the city.