Feb 23, 2012 19:57
T H I N G S F A L L A P A R T
T H E C E N T R E C A N N O T H O L D
amascut,
rory williams,
applegate,
rue (hunger games),
hellboy,
annabeth chase,
ann darrow,
logan,
buffy summers,
waco kid,
teja,
veronica mars,
sallie reynolds,
katniss everdeen,
olivia dunham,
doc scurlock,
aziraphael,
mary anne bell,
coyote,
burton guster,
artemis,
yrael,
sameth,
will scarlett,
crowley,
skellig,
mal reynolds,
nick sayre,
felix of vale,
val von doom,
river tam,
anthy himemiya,
liz sherman,
annabelle newfield,
atton rand,
leonard 'bones' mccoy,
puss in boots,
illyria,
enzo matrix,
ava wilson,
thalia grace,
raylan givens,
raven,
tyler marlocke,
destruction,
hermione granger,
jack bauer,
the doctor,
splinter,
sariel rager,
michaelangelo,
kate barlow,
dixie cousins,
ben wade,
claudia donovan,
galadan,
john mccabe,
cal chandler,
moiraine,
michael the archangel
Even now, there is light.
The fiery column by the lake reaches up towards the sky from the silvery sphere on the ground, consuming the gloom like the very air feeding the unnatural flames.
It's been growing brighter.
The air is thick, sick, heavy with the smell of Free Magic, harsher and more cruel than even the scent of death that hangs over the field.
And then everything goes:WHITE
- stark and bleached in a blinding flash of light, and the ground judders even more violently than before. And when the light is gone...
The light is gone.
And so is the sphere.
Until it CRASHES back to the earth with another jarring impact, knocking all those nearby off their feet.
And then
everything
goes:WHITE
The shields around the sphere have protected Milliways from the worst of the devastation. Inside, however - within the area contained by those working against ( ... )
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He can feel the weakness in those few shields that are left - and knows Orannis can, too. They won't last much longer.
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For the first time since it had manifested, Orannis's resonant voice is shaded with sharp bitterness.
"Do you intend to stand against me a second time?"
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And it comes to this.
"Of course."
Bitterness, yes. On both sides.
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Weighted flat with absolute certainty.
"Why? This 'life' you mentioned?"
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"And Life here fights like nothing you've known."
Isn't that what he's always sought? Nothing?
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Flames lick over the shining sphere , and lash out at the air around it.
"Why choose something so fleeting?"
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(Fish and fowl, warm sun and shady trees...)
"If I told you why something so fleeting was worth fighting for, you would not understand, and I honestly doubt you would seek to."
(...field mice in the wheat, under the cool light of the moon...)
"You ask why simply so you can seek to reinforce how much you intend to make us lose to you. Not because you seek understanding." A mentality that the ever-curious Mogget cannot himself understand. "But the reasons why one fights for Life cannot be explained - it must be learned."
Lived.
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Black current crackles over the Destroyer's shining surface, and the pressure of Free Magic in the air grows.
"And where are the Seven now? Not here. They Bound you once, and have left you now to stand alone."
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"The Seven did not leave me to stand alone, brother. I left them. I am free, and my existence is my own. At last, I do what I wish, though what I wish now is not what I wished long ago."
"And you? What have you learned, Orannis? I would suspect 'nothing,' for nothingness has ever been your goal. To destroy until the universe lies as a barren husk, with you alone at its center. It sounds... incredibly boring."
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"As your 'freedom' means that you wish to stand with them against me, well... then I shall abide your choice."
The shining sphere of fire flares bright, a thousand tongues of flame striking out at the Eighth Bright Shiner, as Orannis's voice booms,
"And if it means I must exist without you as well, Yrael, then I will do so."
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"I doubt you would have been able to abide me long, once everything else was dust and ashes, brother," he says, a bright stream of light coiling through the air like fiery smoke.
His suspicion had always been that Orannis intended to consume Yrael and make his power his own, even from the long-ago beginning. It was that suspicion that kept him from joining him in his fight.
Of course, he suspected as much of the Seven, as well.
"We will fight, then. I will not mourn the loss of you, and perhaps you will wish you had learned better."
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Power crackles and thrums through the air around them as the sphere rises higher, and an almost-unendurable wave of corrosive, acid Free Magic twists outward, driven by a thousand licking fingers of flame as Orannis gathers itself, reaching to draw in chaotic force from all around them to drive its transformation into its next, yet more destructive form.
"Fare well, once-sibling, if not for long."
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Another way must be found. Though if there is no way of imprisoning him again, nor of destroying him... the only option is to get him out of the bar before he can destroy it for good.
The Front Door? No, there are still the wounded between Orannis and the door.
The Window? Yrael wouldn't risk it.
Then where?
The answer comes to him as suddenly as one of lightning strikes that had illuminated the battle earlier that day - ages ago it feels like.
The Darkgate!
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If he dies here then he dies doing what he's meant to be doing.
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"There may be a way. Shield what you can, Sameth, but do not overreach yourself. Your strength will be needed, too. I will find others to aid us in ridding this place of him."
And with that, he darts away into the fray, searching.
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