Standard disclaimer: I don't own the series.

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AN: Hi. Heh, this chapter marks the start of all the "bad shit" that's about to go down. Actually, I think that was like two or three chapters ago, but who's counting, right? Well, consider this the start of the count down to the end of the story! Yeah, all the crap that I've been building up to, starts in this chapter. It's just a downward spiral of chaos from here on out. ^_~

Yeah, this should go over well, right?

Anyway, here’s the reviews!

Meeerf: Hiya! Heh, glad you likeYui and that you got the joke ^_^

Ah, yes. It is really is interesting to think of Mary as an aspect of Myria. You are right about Myria being misunderstood and stuff. Ah, but if I give anymore away, it would be a spoiler ^_^;;;

Hee, yeah. Hahaha! I’m glad that you liked the part of Remi and Ryu. Heh, yeah, he knows Hawk in passing. Ah, I think I’m gonna develop Hawk’s character more than just what you see in this chapter. Hahah! Would you believe that the take on Navare in this story is a nod to your story, Dark and Light? (that’s a plug people! Go read and review!!)

Lol hehe, yup!

Hn, really? Well, it was suppose to be really shocking and by surprise. Hn, does that mean that I’m fininshed with that plot line? Not by a long shot. Remember how the mechanics in this story is. ^_~ Thanks for the reviews!

Anyway, here's the next chapter.

Gideon was not in a good mood. To think that he was in a good mood would mean that the world was about to end. To the citizens of Dragnier, that was what they thought exactly. The king had not been stable ever since the death of his wife and second son, the crowned prince. With the reported death of his firstborn and the kidnapping of his daughter, the king was on edge.

Part of him knew that something was wrong when he named Legence his heir, instead of his only surviving child, Nunnally. But, he just could not fight the strange pull the young man had on him. He didn’t know what it was, but there was just something strange about Legence. It was only too late when he realized his mistake.

Could the angelic man be working for Myria? He didn’t know the answers, and didn’t know if he wanted them. He just knew that a white and silver dragon had killed the citizens of Shevat in a brutal attack. And that there was a red dragon attacking the silver one. Silver and white were Valerie’s colors.

He had told Aaron that he wanted his wife to live. Aaron said that he could make a cure. Had the mad scientist managed to pull it off? He knew that Legence was helping in the matters. He had preformed miracles before. Had they done so again? If so, then why, WHY was Valerie attacking innocents? Her own people for that matter!

He had to get to the bottom of it.

“What, oh what have you done, Gideon?” Legence asked.

Gideon stopped in his tracks and turned around and noticed the angelic man standing right behind him. Gideon scowled and glared at the youth.

“What have I done?!” Gideon all but roared. “What have YOU done?! Why is there a dragon with Valerie’s color scheme attacking INNOCENTS?!”

Legence laughed. It grated Gideon’s ears to hear such a noise. “It was you that wanted Valerie released from her stone prison. We have done just that. What is the problem?”

Gideon lunged forward and grabbed Legence around the front of his robes. “You have made my wife into a MURDERER!” Gideon’s eyes flashed red. He howled as he felt something snap in the back of his mind.

Gideon weakly released Legence and staggered back. He held his head as memories suddenly came flooding back to him. Dear Ladon, what had he done?!

“What have I done?” Gideon whispered in horror and shock.

Legence smiled slightly. “You, your majesty, are responsible for all the loss of life in Shevat, as well as the murders of thousands of Wyndians, as well as their king. You, your majesty, are a murderer, not me.”

Gideon growled and jumped back. “I… YOU! You have been controlling me all this time!”

Legence clapped. “Ah, so I see that you have finally realized that. I congratulate you for breaking the spell that I put on you,” Legence’s smile faded. “Unfortunately, now that you remember, I cannot allow you to continue.”

Legence raised his hand in the air and formed a ball of dark lightening. Gideon jumped back and prepared an attack of his own, but before he could retaliate, Legence released the dark ball and hurled it at Gideon. The dragon king roared in pain as death started to claim him.

He crumpled to the ground in defeat and despair. So many years… so many things that he had done wrong. He could only hope that Nunnally would forgive him and that his sons find peace.

Legence laughed. For some reason, death would not claim the fallen monarch. Legence knelt down next to Gideon and smiled. Gideon could feel his mind slipping again, just like the first time Legence took control of him.

“Now, your highness,” Legence said. “You are going to order that dragon of yours to attack, and attack it will. I want the world leaders to fall, and you will orchestrate the grand symphony of death and destruction…”

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Nina flinched when she heard the name Karn Danc. If her history books were anything to go by, that was the name of the thief that accompanied the first Destined Child on his quest to rid the world of Tyr, the child form of Myria.

But, if that was the case, then how was Karn still alive? That was two thousand years ago. Nina looked up into the man’s eyes, trying to figure out if he was lying, or telling the truth. She measured him and found him being honest.

Ryu grinned slightly and inclined his head slightly. Karn nodded in amusement and gestured them off to a side room. The assembled Destined followed after the master thief to one of Karn’s private rooms.

Everyone turned to Ryu, who just grinned. Sometimes it was fun to be the elected leader, unofficial or no.

“Karn, you know what we are here for,” Ryu got right to the point.

Karn merely grinned slightly and turned his full attention on the group. “The Dark Key. That thing has the power to transform day into night… possibly forever. It was a time getting it from Tora’s Avatar…”

Nina nodded. Sari merely crossed her arms and coolly stared at Karn, a calm expression on her face.

“You’re hiding something,” Sari stated.

Troy frowned and walked over besides Sari. He fingered the hilt of his sword, a habit of his, and started at Karn. “What is it that you are not telling us?”

Karn turned his full attention on Troy and frowned slightly. “You know, if that Key was to fall in the wrong hands, they could cast the entire world into darkness. I don’t doubt that the Woren queen’s intentions were good, but she was so easily distracted by personal feelings, that not only were my men able to steal the Key without her knowing, she fell victim to Legence.”

“We know,” Troy said. “When a mortal wields that much power, they cannot afford to let it go to their heads. They must always remember the balances and counterbalances. If not, then they will fall and fall too far.”

Nina raised an eyebrow. “That’s pretty deep for the person that always acts like a goofball.”

Troy grinned. “Ah, but you forget that I am also an Avatar. I have lived 290 years, so I know a thing or two about the darkness and the light,” Troy said with a wink. Manna merely rolled her eyes.

Troy turned his attention back to Karn. “So, are you going to pony up the Key or what?”

Karn grinned. “See, that’s what I was hiding. I don’t have the Key… yet.”

“What?” Jin asked. “Karn? What is going on here? You are not one to just play things by ear. You always have a plan.”

“As do you, Overseer,” Karn said. “The fact of the matter is,” Karn frowned and turned his back to the party. “The party that was sent to get the Key… only one of them lived. And that was only because an older member saved him.”

“Who?” Manna asked.

“Hawkeye is the one with the Dark Key,” Karn said. “And…” Karn turned his attention to Jin. “It was Yui that saved him.”

“Yui?” Jin asked in a surprised voice. “What does this have to do with Yui?”

Karn’s eyes darkened. “Everything.”

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Yui frowned slightly. The guard with the brown hair was acting strange. What was stranger was that none noticed. She figured that Hawk would see, at least notice the strange movements…

“NO!” Yui yelled, causing the others to look at her as if she was crazy.

Transell frowned as Yui’s eyes landed on him. She growled slightly and grabbed up two kunai that she had hidden on her person. She yelled and hurled both of them at Transell. He yelled and jumped out of the way before the kunai made contact.

Hawk glared at Yui. “What the hell?! What has gotten into you?!”

Yui threw her arm forward and pointed at Transell. “HE IS A HOLY SWORD!” Yui yelled as she lunged at Transell again. He yelled and jumped back.

Yui had realized only too late that Transell was weaving a mind control spell. When Yui had lunged at him, she had canceled it out. He growled and formed a fireball in his hands. He launched the ball at Yui, but Yui dodged it.

He frowned. This was getting him nowhere. He knew that he had fallen out of sorts with not only Legence, but Gideon as well. He knew that he had to get out of Navare in one piece, with the Dark Key. There was only one thing left to do. It was stupid and incredibly dangerous, but he had no choice.

A fusion was in order. He had learned from Aaron the art of creating a chimera. The bastard had, after all, created a perfect one with the body of his own near dead wife. Transell knew that he had failed one too many times as it was. He figured that he was going to die anyway, so he might as well go out with a bang.

He smirked and made a grab for Hawk and started to chant a spell. Hawk screamed as a light engulfed both Sword and thief. Yui and the remaining guards shielded themselves from the dark blinding light.

When the light died down, in the place of the two men was a massive beast that Yui could only best describe as a behemoth. The large, massive creature howled and pulsed with a dark light. Yui nearly swore as she realized the greatest error. The damned thing had absorbed the Dark Key. She squinted and spotted the Key pulsating in the middle of that thing’s chest. She yelled as the behemoth roared and lunged at the guards.

With three wide swipes by those massive, sharp claws, those guards were dead on the floor. Yui swore under her breath and turned tail and bolted into the heart of Navare. She stood no chance of defeating that thing on her own. She would need help. She was by no means a coward, but even she knew when she was outmatched.

Yui alternated between shooting wind severs at the beast and yelling for people to seek cover immediately. Most of the guild ran like crazy as the beast loomed over them, as others tried to stand and fight. And those that tried to fight were slashed down left and right.

Yui didn’t want to drag Karn into this, but she had no choice. She had to find the master thief. She ran to where she prayed that Karn was and threw the door open. Various faces looked back at her in surprise, most notably her own husband’s.

Yui had never been so happy to see Jin in her entire life. She was about to open her mouth and speak, but the behemoth was still right on her trail. She heard its roar and jerked around. Yui screamed as Jin’s hand snatched forward and grabbed Yui’s wrist and pulled Yui forward.

“Keywords. Now,” Jin said.

“Transell got into the guild, grabbed Hawkeye, and fused,” Yui said. “Oh, and that pulsing thing in its chest? That’s the Dark Key.”

Jin groaned and released Yui. He pushed her behind him and drew his katana. “Suggestions?”

Ryu frowned. “Can we… separate them without hurting Hawk?”

Sari smiled and jumped forward. “OBJECTION!”

The light surrounded Sari, but the Dark Key pulsed and knocked the light off course and sent the thing right back to Sari. Sari screamed as she was hit by her own attack. She staggered and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Manna frowned. She turned her attention to Jin and Troy and gave them a sour look. “Well, this feels like déjà vu.”

Nina knelt down next to Sari and looked up at Ryu. “I’ll take care of Sari, you guys go stop that thing!”

Ryu nodded as he and the others stared that beast down. Karn nodded and stepped forward, but was cut off by Manna.

“Stay with them,” she said as she pointed to Nina and Sari. “You need to survive this intact.”

Karn nodded grimly, catching the full meaning of Manna’s words. He stepped back as the four Destined lunged right at the beast. Yui hung back and walked over to Karn. She gave him a lopsided grin.

“Hi,” Yui smirked. Karn merely rolled his eyes.

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Ryu yelled as he lunged at the beast with his sword. For every swipe that Ryu made, Jin or Troy were able to counter any attacks that were thrown in Ryu’s direction. Ryu considered transforming into a dragon for a split second, but was nearly sliced into ribbons for his moment’s hesitation.

Troy was proving to be a quick study. When the monster slashed, Troy ducked. The beast howled in annoyance when Troy ran and hit it on its flank. Manna and Jin were hacking away at the other side of the behemoth. Ryu groaned and regained his bearings. He realized that it could mean killing both parties involved, but he had to get the Key out. After all, that seemed to be it’s source of power.

Ryu lunged forward and made a mad attempt at grabbing at the Key. Troy saw Ryu and covered him as Manna and Jin kept the thing distracted. Ryu ran up to the beast, Troy right on his heels.

Ryu slammed his sword into the thing’s chest and pried out the Dark Key. Ryu, with the bloodied Key in hand, jerked out of the way just as the beast slammed its claw forward. Troy threw his sword forward and blocked the attack.

Ryu landed on the ground and rolled out of the way as the beast dove down. Troy yelled and jumped out of the way. The beast was staggering wildly. It tried to get back up, but faltered in it’s movements.

Manna frowned and lowered her staff. She pointed her hand out at the beast as her eyes flashed gold.

Manna closed her eyes and started chanting. Ryu blinked and tried to hear what Manna was saying, but all he heard was a whisper. “…take it now, show no mercy…” The spell was only partially clear. The last line he heard was, “…for this power can no longer be.”

With that one little phrase, the beast howled and started to flash wildly. The light exploded, as the two forms were ripped apart. Hawk was sent flying towards the far wall, but Jin managed to catch him before he hit the wall.

Transell landed hard against the other side of the room. He moaned weakly as he looked up and spotted Manna.

“What in the name of… what the hell are you?!” Transell howled through the pain.

Manna frowned and tapped her staff on the ground. “I am the Faerie Queen, and the Overseer of the Grand Design.”

“NO!” Transell yelled. “You are something more… much more! What the hell…?!”

There was a sudden flash of light, and in two quick movements, Iris appeared and stabbed into Transell. Manna readied her staff once more, and Iris went into her battle stance.

“What’s going on here?” Manna growled. Iris only smiled.

“My orders were to dispose of Transell and retrieve the Dark Key,” Iris said as she took a step towards Ryu. Manna’s grip on her staff tightened. “Now, give it to me.”

Ryu was about to raise his sword, when Manna jumped right in front of him and smiled a vicious smile. Manna swung her staff into the air and started chanting again. Iris growled, but did not see Troy come running up nor did she ever except to be, literally, stabbed in the back.

Manna raised an eyebrow as Troy jerked out his sword. She stopped chanting as Iris growled and launched a sphere that engulfed Transell. The body vanished inside the sphere and went back to Iris. With one last look, the woman vanished.

Manna sighed and turned her attention back to Troy. With an amused look on her face she said, “Stabbed through the back? That’s really not like you Troy.”

Troy simply shrugged and grinned. “What? She was distracted. I had to act or she would have attacked.”

Manna sighed. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention over to Jin, who was treating the fallen Hawkeye. Jin glanced up and smiled slightly. Hawk moaned as he started to come around. He sat up with Jin’s help and noticed the assembled ass kickers. He scratched the back of his head, but then he realized that he didn’t have the Key anymore.

Ryu realized that and held the bloody Key up to Hawk’s line of sight. Hawk smiled and nodded.

“Good… I was worried that the Key was lost,” Hawk said.

“No need to worry,” Ryu grinned like a mad man. “It’s in good hands.”

Jin helped Hawk stand up. “What… exactly happened?” He glanced around. “Where’s Yui and the others?”

Manna and Troy merely looked at each other. Jin sighed and sheathed his katana as Ryu sheathed the Dragon’s Blade.

“It’s… a long story…” Jin said. “We’ll fill you in.”

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Iris appeared before Legence in a plume of light. Legence smiled when he saw the orb in her hands. He reached out and took the orb and absorbed it. Iris smiled and walked over to her master.

“Now,” Legence said with a smile. “It begins. The beginning of the end! I will show no mercy! I will… become whole…”

 

To be continued…