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Zion - Light of the New Moon, The Climax The Imperial Palace Part 2

The power running through Zeke was all encompassing. He felt the purple-and-black flame burning on him but, even more than that, he felt it burning inside of him. The Priests at the Temple of Myrh had always talked about the divine power that gave the spark of life to every living creature. He'd heard far too many times that priests could draw upon that energy in others to work their miracles, but never once had any of them spoken about using their own life force to power their own prayers.

It was strange for Zeke to think that it was so easy... that he could do it without any instruction. The men who wished him harm-- the very men who had destroyed and damaged so much of the city, were the recipients of that natural affinity. Zeke felt the cold, icy touch of Tah'aveen's gaze on him, just as he so often had when the priests took life from him, but this time he was the one in control. He was the one channeling his own power. He was the one taking his own life.

Two arrows struck him in the chest, but the fox did not stop; he used the pain as fuel for what he was doing. The blood stopped immediately, pulled back into his body by a hunger within him stronger than gravity that wanted it to leak out. He strode toward the line of soldiers, who remained at the ready, their shields up, blades poised to strike. "Cut him down." directed one of them, "And get to the throne room." Zeke didn't even register the words-- he just kept walking.

The fox kept his arms where they were; his left paw clutched the decayed twine tightly to his chest while his right held his sword and, though its blade remained pointed at the ground, he still planned them harm. The cultists advanced in a line, but Zeke paid them no mind. He stepped forward to meet them and, just as they readied their attacks, he saw to it that they understood how grievous an error they made. Like hungry leeches, tendrils of enervating energy lashed out, crackling with power as they struck each and every man within ten feet of him.

All of the cultists writhed, their bodies convulsing as every last drop of life essence was drained from them. It was over in ten seconds, but, Zeke realized, in that short count each and every one of his foes felt what he had felt over the course of years. "In the end," Zeke spoke quietly, "Death is your only release." he felt tears welling out of his eyes at the injustice of it all, that a being so powerful could imbue into the world a force so eager... hungry... ravenous... and he only fed it more.

"Again!" came a shout from across the room and, again, arrows sailed at the fox, but this time, none of them struck home. A pulse of scintillating purple light late and nothing but dust remained in the air. Zeke leveled his gaze at the men, some of whom dropped their bows to present their holy symbols at him. There were men of faith among them, that much the fox knew... the thought made him angry. He let the crumpled string fall from his left paw, and he held it out, fingers splayed. A blast of energy exploded out of his grasp, but it broke like a wave against the rocks as the cultists' divine protection held.

"Keep at it!" commanded one of the officers within the group, and the archers loosed another volley. Zeke did not bother stopping the arrows, letting one after another strike him, and he pulled from the injuries the life stealing twinge of loss. He held his paw out again, but this time he didn't bother aiming at the soldiers-- he realized that their divine protection would stop the Sickle Moon's entropy... but they weren't thinking to protect the structural column to their right.

The decay that took hold of the stone was more than just fast... it was complete. The column practically disintegrated beneath the divine entropy, and the roof overhead rumbled from the sudden added stress. The remnants of the column fell amidst the archers, forcing them to all dive for cover as the weakened stone shattered on the ground, blocking the exit-- oat that point the archers realized what was going on.

He's brining it down!" shouted one of the bowmen, falling back into his comrades as Zeke turned his attention to a second pillar. The fox knew that all of the cultist reinforcements would be coming through the great hall and he also knew that his allies in the throne room would not be able to stand against the sheer number of foes they would face. There were any number of thoughts that could have compelled Zeke to do what he did, but one and only one rose to the surface.

"If you're going to take me," he growled through the roof to the moonless sky, "then I get to choose when.... I get to choose how."

Zeke Sarnash looked to the last pillar holding up the already crumbling roof, and he made his choice. The floor above the great hall collapsed into it amidst screams of fear and terror... but none of those voices were Zeke's. The fox held his arms high, awaiting his chosen destiny.

* * * * * *

Sebastian ran his tongue around the inside of his beak; no matter what he tried he tasted blood. While the gryphon normally relished the flavor of raw meat he also couldn't help but feel some revulsion knowing that his kills were not animals; he was tearing people apart. He shut the urge to retch out of his mind as he reminded himself that it needed to be done. The sudden, striking pain of an arrow impacting against his flank helped reinforce that need.

"Hey, lady!" the gryphon shouted, facing the bow woman with a hiss, "I'm the one who's supposed to be doing the nailing!" His exclamation obviously caught her by surprise, and she wasn't ready for the thrown vase that struck her in the head. An exclamation of pain later, "You're welcome." he acknowledged, and she fell over, out cold. At the sound of footfall he turned to face a set of swordsman closing in on him.

Backing up to the edge of the balcony to judge his options, Sebastian did a hop-flap up onto the railing. Down below him were the sounds of a loud impact, followed by Yearl's shout, "They're trying to break in through the side door! Haldyn... come with me!" and the two lions went to reinforce the portal.

Across from Sebastian the five swordsmen were slow in approaching, obviously taking their time in appraising their opponent. The gryphon gave them a bland look, "Okay... so here we are like a whore and a bunch of virgins... I'm bored and unsatisfied while you're each too chicken to be the first one to stick it in me."

"It... it... it talks!" one of the men stuttered.

"Better than you, apparently." Sebastian responded casually. He pulled his front talon up from the stone guardrail, tearing a hunk off of it as he did so, "You'd better lay down before you pass out." and he flung the chunk of rock right at the swordsman's head. The resounding *clunk* was readily audible, and the man fell over, "Hmm... and just like a virgin, apparently you guys don't last long." The gryphon settled more of his weight solidly onto the center of the stone banister and felt it begin to crack and shift.

"CHARGE!" roared one of the swordsman, and the order gave them visible direction; the four came right at him. Waiting until the last moment, Sebastian launched himself upward and overhead, the added pressure of his kick-off causing the guardrail to give way. With a casual mule-kick, the gryphon impacted the backs of the soldiers and sent them tumbling down to the ground.

"Clear up here." Sebastian called down to the group. He observed the goings-on from above, taking stock of the events. Thera and Tollen were caring for the injured hound priest. Allin, the Tamaskan Blade Slave had taken up a defensive position while Josh continued to try and mend his wounds. A few reinforcements had trickled in behind Haldyn and Narissa and the jackdaw woman had managed to gather them to her. It all looked well until Sebastian's eyes raised across to the opposite wall and the balconies there where several more bowmen were setting up, "More archers!" he cawed a warning.

Tolen immediately looked up from aiding Father Tomal and launched a blast of ice out at the columns of the balcony, raising an entire ice wall and encasing the archers, effectively blocking their aim. "We could use some more back up too." the arctic fox acknowledged.

"Got it." Josh agreed, and he took hold of his charm bracelet, pulling each of the small charms free and throwing them. In a flash, two animals and Anor-Roc appeared. "Archers." the young lion stated, and that was all he needed to say. Anor-Roc began to summon several flaming orbs, sending them unerringly into what few archers weren't hampered by the ice wall while the animals spend toward Monedula's reinforcements, who were already engaged in combat with Harmony, Narissa, Kell, and Palo.

Sebastian's eyes went to the jackdaw, who remained seated on the throne, entire body wreathed in pure white flame. She seemed completely at ease with the situation, not in the least concerned as Harmony and Kell cut through her soldiers. Narissa was throwing knives, unleashing small bolts of magical energy, but she was likewise ignored. No... the gryphon could tell that the bird's attention was wholly on Palo the fox, even though he did nothing but stare back at her. Sebastian would have spent more time trying to figure the two out but, at that moment, the door that Yearl and Haldyn had been trying to reinforce broke inward, and the two were required to fall back.

"Allin!" Tolen shouted, "Help them!" it was a quick command, the arctic fox busy with his own problem, reinforcing the ice wall as the archers continued to chip away at it in the hopes of creating a firing angle. Sebastian saw where he was most needed, and launched off of his empty balcony, and landed beside Anor-Roc.

"If I can get you up there, do you think you could take that balcony down?" the gryphon asked the coy-wolf.

"I could think of something, yea." Anor-Roc confirmed with a nod.

"Then get on." Sebastian insisted, and took off the moment the coy-wolf's weight settled onto his back. The enclosed room didn't make it easy flying while encumbered, but, several small circles later and the gryphon attained balcony height, "All you." he panted, giving Anor-Roc the go-ahead... and the coy-wolf made good use of it.

When the first large sandbag landed, Sebastian had no idea what the summoner had in mind. He thought perhaps that Anor-Roc had missed... but by the tenth or eleventh had landed, and after a few large stones, cracks were starting to appear in the support columns, and then it made sense. "Hold on." the gryphon stated once every clear spot outside the ice wall was taken up with weight, and Sebastian aimed right for the central load-bearing pillar.

Flapping several more times to gain speed, the gryphon pulled his wings in tight and turned at the last moment, kicking at the stone with both of his leonine hind legs. Sebastian had just enough time to launch himself off of the crumbling stone before the balcony started to collapse. He and Anor-Roc cleared the debris, landing on the ground floor as all of the bowmen on the second level fell. The gryphon turned back toward the throne just in time to see the last of Monedula's guardians get dispatched.

"Uncle Palo?" the dragoness named Harmony called, moving up to place a talon on his arm. She recoiled quickly, the sound of a sizzle of heat audible even at the distance between her and the gryphon.

"I'm afraid he cannot hear you, girl." the jackdaw spoke, her eyes still boring into the red fox.

"What have you done to him?" Narissa demanded, brandishing her flute blade.

"Palo is a creature of chaos." Monedula explained, casually crossing one leg over the other, "Because of that chaos he remains in balance... a duality of mortal and... otherwise." she offered an almost sadistic grin, "If that balance were to change it can cause no small amount of agony for him."

"What?" demanded Narissa, "What are you talking about?"

"Uncle Palo is more than flesh and bone." Hamony explained, aside, eyes never leaving the jackdaw, "If you do anything to harm him, I will make your demise even worse than I already have planned."

"An empty threat, girl." Monedula stated flatly, "Palo is far too valuable to me alive to kill... but, once you are out of the way, I won't need to kill him, now will I?" she inquired, eyes blazing as bright balls of blue flame, "At the moment I'm just making certain that he focuses all of his trouble-causing attention on monitoring his own health... besides I--"

A shout from Yearl at that time brought Sebastian's attention back to the door, which had finally sundered open. The two lions and the Tamaskan quickly took up combat stances, just far enough away from the enemy's front line that a small feral alley cat and fox could run into the midst of the enemies.

"Tabitha!" Josh exclaimed, "Todd! What are you two--" but he paused as both immediately launched themselves at the heads of different cultists, immediately rebounding off of helms and into the face of other soldiers, and repeating the harmless but decidedly distracting attack, "Oh..." Josh acknowledged.

"Now!" Yearl sounded the attack; he, Haldyn, and Allin rushed the reinforcements in the confusion. The fight looked like it wasn't going to last long, which was fortunate, because the gryphon's attention span was far too short with so much going on.

A surprised gasp followed by a cackling laugh called Sebastian's focus back to the throne, where Monedula still sat casually. Kell was only a few feet away, holding his wrist; his fingers were smoking. The leopard-wolf's glove was burned completely off his paw and the skin was blistered badly. "My knife..." the assassin grit his teeth, gazing at a pile of molten metal on the floor beside the throne.

"You've already lost." the jackdaw explained, "I may be mortal, but the power within me is indestructible." she cackled anew, "It will grow so strong that I will be consumed in flames, and then She will gain power here..."

"Not if we kill you first, witch!" Harmony roared, grabbing a fallen halberd from one of the guards and darting it at the seated bird. Monedula paid the thrown weapon no mind; it burst into flame and spattered harmlessly on the floor as molten slag before it got close.

"I'm afraid you don't understand, girl." Monedula announced, "You are the offspring of two abominations... the actions taken by the priesthood of Myrh created something that should never have existed. You have no say as to what happens here... none of you have any say." She gazed toward the ceiling and a circle began to burn in the stone over her head, "I will be immolated in a pure pillar of Tah'alia's divine flame... in my death, I will be the great conduit that connects Her to the holy throne of Zion..." and her fiery eyes glowed a fiercer blue, "Or kill me faster, if you can." she cackled, "Either way, She wins."

Sebastian trotted toward his allies by the throne, "Then the answer's simple..." all eyes turned toward him, "Just destroy the throne."

"NO!" several voice shouted at him at once, but Thera's took center stage after the initial exclamation, "We can't destroy the divine throne... it's what connects Tah'aveen's power to Zion and preserves the sanctity of the empire."

"You know..." Kell noted flatly, "considering everything that's happened over the past few hundred years, I find it hard to connect the word 'sanctity' to this land."

"It will be thousands times worse." Thera stated gravely.

"That WOULD be bad." Narissa murmured.

"Then what do YOU suggest... Empress?" Kell demanded, still cradling his blistered paw.

"Get her off." Haldyn stated, walking over with Yearl and Allin.

"Gee... I'd like to," Sebastian's feathers puffed out in humor, "but I think she'd probably end up burning my egg-maker off."

"Not now, Sebastian." Yearl quieted him, then looked to everyone else, "Any ideas?"

"Yearl... Captain Yearl!" Josh called to the gathering, supporting the injured hound priest as they made their way to the group, "Father Tomal has something to say."

The old hound took several breaths before he managed to find a voice and, even then, it was hoarse, "She is... a Paragon..." he wheezed, taking in a lungful of air every few words, "if you.... kill her... it releases... the power..."

"Which is why we have to get her off of the throne." Thera acknowledged, grabbing hold of one of Yearl's paws, "Any ideas?" she asked the lion.

"If one of us charges her we might be able to bull-rush her out of her seat..." Haldyn suggested.

"And die in the process." Tolen added, trying in vain to get a look at Kell's paw; the assassin kept pulling it back.

"I'll do it." Narissa volunteered.

"No." Yearl stated firmly, "Absolutely not."

"It's my life..." the tigress countered, "I'll do with it what I--"

"You'd be throwing it away." the lion interrupted, "She has a lower center of gravity and, despite the fact that she's a bird, you still wouldn't weigh enough to unseat her."

"What about Allin?" suggested Haldyn.

Tolen shook his head, "No. He can't choose to do it himself. I'd have to order him."

"Then order him." the lordling proposed.

"No." the arctic fox countered, "That would be wrong and... and... and... well... evil."

"Uh... guys?" Josh inquired, glancing toward the throne. All eyes followed the cub's gaze to Kell, who was ascending the steps toward the throne again, holding in his good paw a large, golden-colored sword gleaming with an inner light. The assassin charged the seated jackdaw, who only laughed at his approach. Kell let out a battle-cry as he crashed into a wave of heat. The leopard-wolf's clothing was burned from his body in a split second, followed by his fur... then his skin.

Kell continued his charge, not stopping until he was within range of Monedula. Swinging his blade in a powerful, overhanded chop, the assassin screamed as his muscles were burned away, and eventually his shout was silenced as all of his internal organs charred into dust... but that wasn't the end of things... the blade had already started its descent, and, in the next second, everything would change.