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Chapter VII

Pollenburn

Gale had performed a few _Tor_executions in his reign and he had seen many other Elemental Lords use theirs as well. But being on the _receiving_end of one was something he was not prepared for. The paralysing fear, the feeling of helplessness and the sight of those enormous doors drawing him in... He could only feel selfish as he flew away from the line of fire with Sherry by his side, leaving hundreds to their fate of oblivion.

Amongst the victims had been Rex and Jacob. He could do nothing as they were sucked into the light. Rex had been a colossal ass but he didn't deserve that fate. And Jacob... nothing but a kind hearted, courageous soul and now he was gone.

"Come back here, you asshole!"

Marcus dragged himself from where he lay, bolting towards the Tower doors. Gale quickly realised there were stull hundreds of civilians around them and if Dorothy opened another Tor, there would be many more casualties while only empowering Winston's ambitions all the more. He quickly vanished in a flurry of rose petals, instantly appearing right in front of the beefy kangaroo and pushing him back.

"Don't, Marcus!" he shouted. "It's over!"

"Not it isn't!" screamed Marcus, desperately trying to push past him, arms reaching for where the Boswins and their butler had disappeared to. "It's not over!"

Sherry suddenly appeared beside Gale and she too pressed her weight against the roo's. "Marcus, they went through a Tor... They're gone."

A soft choke left Marcus' lips as tears came down his cheek. "No! No they're not! Jake said... He said he spoke to the people beyond the Tor..." Then his ferocity returned. "I'm not going to lose anyone again! Not again! Not like Eric!"

Gale felt Marcus' pain. The loss of his Order, his brothers and sisters, it stung and it had taken all of his will not to lash out in anger. Giving that order to bomb his home... It was the hardest thing he had ever done. That pain weight down on his shoulders and he lowered his arms to Sherry's surprise. That need for revenge... for the first time, he really understood how Rex felt against Boswin. It was blinding and looking at the devastated faces of the civilians as they had watched their loved ones get torn from their arms crushed his optimistic pacifism.

Marcus fell to his knees in front of them, sobbing softly.

The transport piloted by Max landed beside them and the doors immediately slid open. Snakebite was first out of the transport with a maniacal grin on his features. What that meant, however, was entirely lost on Gale.

Caroline stormed out next, pushing right past Snakebite. "We have to stop my father! We need to go after them!"

It took a monumental effort from Gale not to agree with her. His fists were balled and shaking as he took stock of his situation and seriously considered their next steps. As tempted as he was to call an orbital strike upon the Tower, that would be considered more of a crime than Rex intentionally infecting people for his own gains. "What we need to do is regroup," he responded firmly. "Dorothy is clearly capable of opening a Tor. She's drawn probably a _hundred_people into it. Who knows how powerful she's become?"

Sherry nodded sagely and began to pace. "We need to approach this tactically. I agree, we can't let Winston get away with this but the Tower is a confined space and if Dorothy unleashes her Black Mist upon us, we'll be blinded and easy victims for her Tor."

"So what do you suggest!?" demanded Caroline. "Every second we wait is another second that they get further and further away!"

Alicia coughed softly, bringing all eyes to her. "We could use the Tower's secret passages. I don't think Dorothy would know about them."

Gale's eyebrows lifted. "You know about the passages?"

She nodded meekly. "It's how we navigate the Tower quickly without getting into the crowded elevators or stairwells." She pointed to the south. "I know there's an entrance under the east wall that will take us directly to the VBSims arena. If we take that, there are other passages in there that can take us all over the Tower. The only question is _where_we can cut off your father."

Caroline rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "He knows he can't escape. In the eyes of MODD and Rillotia, he's killed an Elemental Lord and hundreds of people live. Whatever bid for control he may have had is forever gone. If he is captured, he'll be executed. The only thing he can do now is to run." She snapped her fingers. "The hangers on the top floor. There are ships still there. He'll try to take one and hide in the city until MODD lowers the Arc Field."

Alicia nodded in understanding. "There isn't a path straight up to the hangers but there is one that I can think of that will take us close. If we take that, we should still be able to get to him."

"I know that path," Gale responded. "If we leave now -"

Sherry suddenly stepped in front of him, pressing a hand against his chest. "No Gale." She pointed at the scared and panicking civilians who were rushing out of the courtyard gates. "You need to restore order to the city. In the face of what just happened, we're the only authority figures left. We need to be out there keeping people from tearing one another apart."

"But-" Gale pulled himself back, realising that she was right. Revenge would be sweet but if Pollenburn fell because he sought it, he would be just like Rex. Boswins followers were effectively leaderless now and they were now desperately looking for comfort and security. Rex's lies had led to something after all. "You're right."

Max leapt off the transport, hefting _Eden_over his shoulder. "I'll go with them. Make sure they're safe. You two go and keep this city from falling apart."

The presence of an experienced SWORD member comforted him. Maybe with Max's skills they could stop Boswin. "Thank you."

"I'm going too," Marcus announced, rising to his feet, wiping his tears away. "Jake said that he was able to communicate with the people trapped within a Tor and he was able to use that information to convince Caroline to join us. If there are people in there that survived, then I have to believe that they're still alive in there. We have to get them out. Somehow."

No one dared to mention that no one had ever escaped the confines of a Tor_before. Even if they had survived, all hopes of escape were in the realm of the impossible. In the long history of Seals, not a single person had ever emerged from a _Tor.

"Alright," agreed Gale. "Just take care of yourself, Marcus."

******

"Dorothy!"

Rex groaned. He felt terribly cold and had to curl himself into a ball to maintain his body warmth. Even with that, however, he still felt like his body heat was bleeding out of his every pore.

"Dorothy!"

And that voice...

That voice... it belonged to his brother.

Jacob... who had just been sucked into a Tor and into oblivion.

Come to think of it...

Rex's eyes snapped open, greeting only by darkness. Darkness... that was broken by fissures of light erupting from the ground covered in black sand. He immediately sat up, patting himself down, running his paws over his chest, legs and face just... stunned that he was alive.

"Dorothy! Where are you?"

He spun in place and his jaw dropped at the sight of Jacob standing amongst hundreds of others who were just coming to. In his brother's paws were instances of Realmbreaker, crackling and piercing the darkness just like the cracks that gave off that brilliant light.

"Jake..." he murmured, rising to his feet. Then he remembered the others who had been drawn into the Tor with him. "Silas!"

At the sound of his voice, his brother turned, relief in Jake's eyes. He gave his brother a brief nod and cupped his paws over his muzzle. "Silas!"

His shouts were echoed by others crying out for their loved ones. Step by step, he moved towards Jacob, scanning the dozens of others that had been drawn into this dark world. He was still shaking off his disbelief when he spotted the older wolf crouched over Cal, that other SWORD bodyguard. Cal looked like he was hyperventilating and as Rex approached, he heard the younger wolf constantly repeating, 'this can't be happening.'

"Hey," he greeted gently.

Silas glanced upwards and his eyes shone with relief. The bigger lupine leapt off the ground and threw his arms around Rex, holding him tightly. Their lips met without regret or care and Rex felt warmth return to his body. Knowing that they were together even in oblivion was somewhat relieving.

A monstrous roar emanated from the darkness, forcing them to break their tender moment. Only God knew what kind of monsters lay lurking in the shadows of the dark world. Suddenly, a blistering peal of light erupted from Jacob, the wolf throwing both paws into the air and unleashing a single blast of Realmbreaker into the air.

"Jake! What are you doing!?" Rex shouted, bolting towards his brother. "You're going to bring whatever is out there towards us!"

Jacob lowered his paws, shaking them like he had just washed them. As the light faded, he said, "I know. But we're also going to bring Dorothy to us."

"Dorothy?" Silas asked, wrapping an arm around Rex's shoulder. "As in the bitch that just dragged us in here?"

The rest of the crowd began to shuffle towards them, making their way through the darkness towards where the light had been. Amongst the faces were Cal and that Unsealed vixen, Joanna.

"Dietrich," Jacob explained, "doesn't come without a price. In order to increase your synchronisation rate with a Seal, you need to sacrifice something. The more valuable that something is, the greater the increase." He glanced towards the darkness, his eyes scanning the abyss hopefully. "Dorothy had her free will sacrificed but it survived. Somehow, it survived. I think it manifested into another Dorothy within this world, this Seal World beyond the Tor. She's been helping those that her body has been sucking into the Tor by protecting them from the Puritan and feeding them."

Joanna suddenly stepped forward, gripping Jacob's shoulder and turning him towards her. "Wait. Back up. Did you just say a Puritan?"

To answer her, that thunderous roar ripped through the darkness once more, closer this time.

"Hear that?" Jacob asked. "Puritan."

That one word was like uttering a curse. The moment it reached the ears of a civilian nearby, they repeated it and it spread. Fear instantly filled the crowd and they began praying to their respective deities or just starting to panic.

"Everyone shut up!" Joanna shouted. No one responded to her.

Jacob threw another blast of _Realmbreaker_into the air, the brilliant light silencing everyone both because it was a surprise and secondly because it was likely to attract the Puritan towards them. "I can handle the bastard," Jacob said. "Don't ask me how because we haven't gotten to that little part of exposition yet mostly because the author is a goddamn tease. But I can handle it."

He turned back towards the distant lights. "Last time I met Dorothy here, I asked her to look for the Tor. There's got to be one here. I've opened it before from this side. If my theory is right, we can all get out of here if we find it."

Rex shook his head, unable to comprehend what he was hearing. "Jake, this is insane! We've sent probes through _Tors_before. We've seen other worlds different to this but they've never survived long! I mean, we shouldn't even be alive!"

"Just trust me on this one," Jacob insisted. "If Dorothy found the other side..." His eyes suddenly brightened as a figure cut through the crowd. "Dorothy!"

Rex's jaw dropped when he spied the younger of the Boswin sisters make her way through the crowd, a look of relief on her features. It was funny... but just the way she composed herself, the way her facial features moved... she seemed more alive than that husk that they had seen and fought before. The massive sow moved towards Jacob and the two quickly embraced.

"Did you find it?" Jacob asked.

"I did," Dorothy confirmed with a smile. "It's just fifteen minutes or so walk that way." She pointed in the direction she had come. "I already moved the others there and have them behind a barrier. If we go there now..." Her smiling features dropped and she regarded Jacob with a degree of hope in her eyes. "... are you sure you can do this? Will I...? Will I get to see my sister again?"

"You will," he replied, gripping her hands tightly. "I promise."

Another roar cut through the reunion.

"He knows we're here," Dorothy said. "He knows there's fresh prey here." She began heading towards the supposed direction of the Tor. "We need to go. Now."

Jacob nodded towards her. His eyes were filled with so much determination, so much drive. Rex wasn't sure if his brother realised it or not but he looked so incredibly strong. He had watched Jacob for years but ever since their mother died and their father went insane, Jacob's eyes had been dull and glazed as if he was half-dead inside. Even in the heat of battle, his eyes had lost that bright light that he had held in his youth.

Now they were once again intense like deep blue lasers.

Pride filled his chest, pulling his limbs from the paralysis it had felt over his fate. It made him believe that there really was a way out of what was effectively a death sentence in the world. But others who did not know Jake remained at their knees, sobbing quietly and giving themselves to the fate of being consumed in this dark world.

Joanna saw this and exchanged brief glances towards Rex. He realised her intentions but decided to let her make her move first. The earth shuffled beneath her and large, black steps rose up from the ground, lifting her above everyone else.

"We are in the world beyond a Tor," she announced loudly. Her voice carried across the plains to the dozens that had gathered around them. "We know this as a death sentence. There is no escape." She pointed in some vague direction behind her. "And there is a Puritan out there ready to hunt us down!"

Rex silently praised her for her bait and switch oration technique.

"But we are all alive!" she bellowed. "We still have hope! We have Realmbreaker with us! I know each of you have gone through a lot in the past few days. Everything you believe has been shattered beyond repair. You've lost much and you've had your hopes lifted before being crushed under the heel of ambitious men like Winston Boswin. You've all been waiting for heroes to lead you to salvation but today, you are your own heroes! You may not have a Seal, a Brand, a cataclysmic weapon of untold potential or even combat training but what makes a hero is not the strength of their power, not the size of their muscles or the expanse of their intelligence!

"What truly makes a hero is their ability to stand on their own two feet against impossible odds and fight_against fate!" She pointed at the gathered crowd, sweeping her finger across them. "I want you each to imagine how the world will react when you emerge from a _Tor. You'll be doing the impossible. You'll not only have survived entering a Tor but actually escaping from it! You'll be doing something that MODD thought impossible! You'll be returning into the arms of your loved ones not just as a survivor but as a hero!"

She thrust her fist into the air. "So let's all be heroes!"

The vixen was good, very good. Rex felt his heart stir with that speech and he wasn't the only one. Tears stopped flowing and the whimpers of fear died in throats. People got to their feet, pulling others up with them. Just like an infection, her inspiring words spread and filled others with the courage to take that step into the darkness.

"Let's go," Dorothy said with a nod. "We don't have much time."

******

The tunnels were cramped but Marcus managed to squeeze through. He was barely paying attention to where they were going, just bringing up the rear behind Caroline as they were led through the tunnels by Alicia. Snakebite had opted to return to the Brood Mother with Gale and Sherry, that crazy grin on his features utterly beyond comprehension.

Marcus checked his watch and cursed quietly to himself. It had already been something like ten minutes since Boswin had escaped. By now, they must have been at the top of the Tower getting ready to escape.

"Can we hurry it up?" he demanded.

"I'm sorry," Alicia murmured softly. "These tunnels are long..."

"Take it easy on the girl," Max snapped over his shoulder. "If you'd rather be fighting through Boswin's souped up troops, then you can turn around and do it yourself."

Marcus kept his muzzle shut and just muttered under his breath. He could barely see the Caroline's back in the tunnels bathed in orange emergency lighting. Jacob and Eric were smiling at him, so close and yet so far away. Though he believed Jacob was still alive, the memory of Eric brought him back to reality and warned him of his optimism. Hundreds of years did MODD possess the technology to open Tors and yet not once did anything they ever sent in them return.

And Jacob just said that he spoke to the people beyond the Tor.

That didn't mean that there was a way back.

He shut his eyes briefly, squeezing the tears out of his vision.

"You're still hung up on him, aren't you?"

Marcus stopped. He had seen Jacob in his imagination but to actually hear his voice. He opened his eyes and gawked.

"Jake...?" He reached out towards the figure standing in front of him but froze. "Why are you dressed like that...?"

The wolf wore a suit of white and gold armour and had a strange cloak draped over his shoulders that had fabric that seemed to pan through the galaxies. From his back sprouted a set of skeletal wings made from chains.

Marcus quickly realised this was not his wolf. "You're not Jacob." He growled and made to draw his Seal Weapons. "Who are you!? Why are you wearing his face!?"

The entity smiled gently at Marcus, benevolently and soothingly. "People call me R3, the Writer of Reality. I have the ability to make myself appear like the person someone wants to see the most at any given time. It helps with the transition."

"Transition...?" Marcus took a step back away from the Writer. "Shit... I'm not...?"

R3 laughed softly. "No. You're not dead. But I appear whenever there is great need or when circumstances just can't be resolved within the normal progress of events or when someone asks me to. Like, for instance, the fact that you're lost."

Marcus glanced left and right and then spun around. Alicia and the rest of the group were gone. "Oh shit..." He had never been in the secret tunnels though he was vaguely aware of them. They were Gale's thing and he had never minded that his charge keeping that secret for him. Perhaps it was part of his complacency of his situation but he suddenly felt like a rotten bodyguard for never having mapped these tunnels.

"Come on," R3 said, waving him over. "I'll lead you back to them."

He gazed back at the entity. "Why?"

"Because someone asked me to," answered the entity with an enigmatic smile. "And don't bother asking. That'd be a spoiler." He began walking down the hallway, his skeletal wings folded behind his back. Marcus followed closely behind, in awe at the creature. Despite his armour, R3 moved completely silently. Marcus wasn't sure if he was dreaming or just hallucinating.

"You didn't answer my question," R3 asked over his shoulder. "You're still hung up on Eric, aren't you?"

"No, I'm over him," Marcus responded reflexively. "I'm with Jake now."

"And your desire to rush headlong into danger to save him against impossible odds is purely for your affection for him. Commendable."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Marcus barked, his tail thumping the metal floors loudly.

"Just what I said. That you have experienced loss of a loved one before and while these events still remind you of how Eric died, Jacob is not just a replacement for the cougar you lost."

Marcus found his heart beating rapidly, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "Well... yeah!" But he knew he was lying to himself. "What do you want me to say!?"

"'I love you.'"

The roo stopped dead in his tracks. "What?"

R3 turned back around to face him but instead of Jacob's face, he found himself staring at the strong, square jaw of the cougar whose soul-crushing note had driven Marcus down his current path. Those same, green eyes shone with the same light that he had missed for so long. Even bathed in the orange emergency lights of the tunnels, they were clear as crystal and shone like beacons in a stormy night.

"You never got to say 'I love you' before Eric died. You know you wanted to. You felt you had all the time in the world to say it. But you didn't. The end to the part of his story that was staged in this world came too soon and you've regretted that, not once, you ever got a chance to tell him that you loved him."

R3 glanced over his shoulder. "Now with recent events, you're feeling that regret all over again as doubt creeps back into you over your latest love interest's departure beyond a Tor. You've spent two magical moments together, more than you've ever spent with Eric, but you still haven't gotten the chance to tell him you love him. That is what is killing you inside."

Marcus gripped his chest tightly. It was like R3 was throwing fiery daggers straight into his heart. "How...?"

"I have a vested interest in seeing that every person in this universe and every other universe out there gets their own happy ending. It doesn't always happen. Sometimes, I have to be a little more drastic and other times, a person will just be a danger to themselves and others and must be eliminated entirely. But I know what will lead you and everyone else to true happiness. I can guide you but it's always up to you to make the choice to take my help or not. Regardless of your choice, I will always be there by your side to help you so long as there's always hope."

A soft smile crossed his features. "So what? You're my personal guardian angel?"

"Yours and everyone else."

"Are you... God?"

R3 laughed softly, using Eric's rough chortle that just broke Marcus' heart. "There are not gods. Just mortals."

"Sounds like something Jake would say." He expected R3's features to change back to Jacob's but there they remained, holding Eric's. "Thank you. For being there."

"My pleasure." R3's features suddenly grew grave. "But there is something you should know. You're going to encounter Langley up ahead. Ask him about Eric."

Puzzled, Marcus asked, "Why would I do that? What does he have to do with Eric?"

R3 turned and began heading back down the hallway, coming to a door. He gripped the door handle and pushed the portal open slightly. "Just ask him. You deserve that much."

The entity suddenly pushed open the door and light spilled forth, blinding Marcus momentarily. The roo stepped forward, blinking away the tears. He was surprised to find himself standing in the atrium where Rex had revealed Boswin's treachery in front of hundreds. True to R3's words, Langley stood about halfway up the grand staircase with one paw behind his back. At the far door opposite the stairs, Max stood with Alicia and Caroline, glaring up at the butler.

Marcus spun around. He was surprised to find that the door he had just passed through was gone. He wondered if there was even a door or passage there at all.

"Ah, so the insecte have finally made it," Langley chuckled darkly, his eyes solely on the trio directly in front of him. He hadn't seen Marcus. "Madame_Caroline, I must say that your father is _very disappointed in you. You had so much potentiel." He lifted his exposed paw, a tongue of flame appearing between his fingers. "A pity I will have to dispose of you."

Marcus remembered just how fast and wily the weasel was and quietly, cautiously began to move further away from his line of sight.

"Out of our way, Jeeves," Max growled, hefting Eden. "We want Winston. You can still walk away from this with minor charges of aiding a criminal."

Langley chuckled darkly. "Oh but you will have to charge me with more than that, monsieur. Murder, for instance."

Max visibly rolled his eyes. "Let me guess. You're going to kill us."

"Oui."

The well dressed butler was suddenly bolting down the steps. He was a blur of movement. The only evidence of his movement was a faint trail of flame. Marcus pulled himself back from crying out a warning, focusing entirely on repositioning himself just beside the staircase. Langley stopped right in front of Max as he always did, his palm raised in front of his muzzle. He blew a blast of flame straight into the dragon's face while Caroline and Alicia flinched.

The weasel was surprised, however, when Max's huge clawed hand seized his throat and lifted him off the ground, the flames dissipating from around Max's face with no effect.

"I'm a dragon, fuckwad," growled Max. "I get a +30 to my fire resistance."

Marcus suddenly saw the bond between Max and Jacob.

WHAM!

Langley was slammed hard into the ground, his eyes wide in shock. Max hefted Eden and levelled it straight at the weasel's face.

"I had forgotten about your races' natural resistances," answered the weasel. "A mistake I shall not make again."

He suddenly clapped both his paws together, sending out a blast of steam straight at Max. The diversionary tactic was enough and the weasel immediately bolted back up the stairs away from the trio. Max, barely affected by the scalding steam, just stepped out of the cloud and lifted his massive gun towards the weasel.

"Last chance, Jeeves," the dragon growled. "Give up now or I start firing."

Langley chuckled mildly. He took his monocle from his eye and absently cleaned it with his thumb before setting it back into position. "My all means, fire away. I have not had a chance to kill in a very long time. It will be nice to feel blood on my paws again."

Max balked for a second. "Again...?"

The weasel chuckled. "Ah... Pardonnez-moi._I had failed to mention." His eyes settled directly on Caroline. "_Madame Caroline, your fiancé's car crash was no accident." He placed a paw against his chest, bowing mockingly towards her. "It was I who sabotaged his brakes. I was the one who also had the driver of that truck rush at high speeds towards that intersection to crash into his car."

Caroline's eyes widened in horror.

"And then before that, I was the one who poisoned your mother." He straightened and pretended to lick his fingers. "Just a little bit of poison into her soup every day was enough to make her sick but keep her alive long enough to agree to give your father his Seal."

"That's..." Caroline shook her head. "My father would never -"

Langley threw his head back and laughed. "Of course he did not. It was my initiative!" He made a claw with his right paw, a tongue of flame flashing between his fingers. "Your father was fat and complacent. He had no ambition! He had everything he could ever want. A wife, two lovely daughters and a thriving business that made him proud! Even when he found that he was not compatible with the Deadwind Seal, he had no drive so long as both you and your sister and his wife remained! That is _not_what the Boswins embody!"

The tongue of flame in Langley's paw suddenly leapt into the air, forming dancing balls over his head. They shot towards the trio, scattering them. Caroline took a few steps away before throwing icy bolts straight back. They collided with the balls of flame, sending a burst of steam on contact. Max pulled the trigger to Eden, large calibre rounds racing towards Langley. The weasel clapped his paws together again, sending a large blast of mist cascading down the stairs and masking his presence. The rounds hit the frame of the stairs but by the weasel's laughter, he was still clearly alive.

"The Boswins are ambitious. They expand and conquer everything that comes their way." A jet of water shot out of the cloud of mist. Caroline barely dodged in time to avoid having her head cleaved off her shoulder. Behind her, the jet struck the wooden frame of the door with enough force to tear a good chunk of it off.

"But your father was the direct opposite to this! So I needed to light a fire beneath him! With your mother's death, he got a taste of power and was driven to fill the hole left in his heart!" The mist expanded further, rolling off the edges of the staircase and filling the entire atrium. "All he wanted was to give you, his daughters, everything. But such sentimentality would only leave him weak. I convinced him that you were liabilities. That while he was free to love you as he wished, Reginald was going to take you away from him and Dorothy's ambitions to join MODD would forever take the Deadwind Seal away from him. Taking over Pollenburn and ousting MODD would fulfil all his ambitions and bring you both closer to him! But then Marcus Willows stopped our Seal procurement!"

There was a sudden flare of flames that erupted from the far corner of the room. The mist rapidly dissipated at the heat caused the cloud of condense and fall as droplets on the floor. Max stood at the epicentre of the flare as it rapidly spread. The butler's slim form shot out from the cloud and shot straight towards the dragon. Despite his bulk, Max was still one of the SWORD elite and used every resource to his advantage. He levelled Eden away in some arbitrary direction and pulled the trigger. The sheer force of the gun going off threw him a foot back, just away Langley's flaming paw. Max fired another round with the weasel right in his crosshairs. Even at point blank range, Langley was able to swerve away from the blow and close the gap between them.

Max ducked beneath Langley's blow, quickly levelling Eden at the ground and firing a quick burst. The blow shattered the floor beneath him but also sent him into the air with the aid of a few flaps of his broad wings. Langley lost his footing as the wooden floorboards shattered. But he quickly shot a blast of flame from his paw, throwing him back into the confines of the mist.

"So you're to blame for Winston's ambitions," Max concluded.

A dark laugh erupted from the mist. "I wish I could take all the credit but a mind far more devious than I agreed with my assessment of the Boswins. It was with our combined efforts that Winston Boswin became the figurehead of this rebellion." Balls of flame suddenly shot towards Max but stopped short of striking him. They only hovered ominously as they surrounded him in a tight circle. "Think about it. Winston has never _once_set foot on the Tower since the ban. How in the world do you think he managed to communicate with Khan Sho?"

The balls suddenly surged towards Max but not before a ring of ice shot upwards from the ground and protected the dragon. Steam erupted from the collision of the two elements. Caroline stepped out of the mist into Max's clear ring, icy bolts hovering over her shoulder. The icy wall began to retreat back into the ground, allowing Max to give her a nod of thanks.

"I always thought my father was to blame for the monstrous acts that he performed," she said softly. "But now I see that he has only been the scapegoat for your machinations. It was whoever gave him Dietrich wasn't it? He planned this all?"

The mist began to part right down the middle, revealing Langley standing once more standing on the staircase, both paws folded behind his back. "Were it that easy," the butler chuckled darkly. "We don't know why Hades gave him that technique but we aren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Dietrich was exactly the lynchpin we needed to secure Khan Sho's allegiance. His resources will allow us to expand beyond just Pollenburn."

A dark smile crossed Caroline's lips. "Khan Sho sent the Cunt Killer to kill me."

"As well he should have," answered Langley haughtily. "I wanted your father to rob you of your free will just like your sister but he insisted that your intelligence served us better. Now you've proven yourself to just be a liability." He pulled both his paws from behind his back, one gripping a ball of flame and the other holding a sphere of roiling water. "He just wanted me to delay you all but your 'tragic death' will cut the remaining ties of sentimentality that is holding him back from his true potential!"

Marcus crouched, getting ready to pounce. His one chance to get the butler was just around the corner.

"It is time for you all to die!"

Langley's paws came crashing towards one another. Marcus launched towards him at full speed, using the power of his Seal to move at incredible speeds. The world came to a grinding hall around him and as he raced up the steps, he absorbed the fact that it had been Langley who had driven a man who loved his family enough and had everything he could ever want into the depths of psychotic ambition. The idealistic family had been ruined because of this one weasel's vision of what the Boswins _should_be.

The lesson rang true to him.

Eric had been driven to suicide because he too succumbed to what people thought he should be based on his upbringing. Marcus himself had put up a firm defence around himself to manipulate how people perceived him just to hide who he truly was.

No more, he silently swore to himself.

He seized Langley's by the throat, stunning the weasel as time resumed at its normal pace. Marcus spun and slammed the weasel hard against the railings of the grand staircase, once, twice and a_third time_. Langley seized his face, flames erupting from the contact. Marcus ignored it for all but one second before he threw Langley away from him into the air. With one eye shut, he brought up his twin Seal Weapons, Windbreaker, and let out a titanic roar. He slashed both blade through the air in a cross patterns, beams of wispy light launching from the blades and slicing right through Langley's body. Two beams punctured the weasel's gut and the spry old male slammed into the second tier balcony with a sickening snap.

The man dropped to the floor, somehow barely alive.

"Marcus!" Max exclaimed with relief. "We thought we had lost you!"

"Just waiting for my chance to be a hero," Marcus responded, breathing heavily.

He stormed down the steps and closed in on Langley. The weasel was barely on his knees when _Windbreaker_crossed against his neck, slicing his flesh lightly. Fear was plastered across the conniving weasel's face, a far flung difference from his cool, patronising composure.

"You're going to tell me honestly," Marcus growled, low and threateningly. "Did you kill Eric?"

"Eric?"

"The Balmweathers!" Marcus roared. "Did you have anything to do with their deaths!?"

Despite the situation, the butler still had the balls to give Marcus a haughty smirk and say, "I cannot say... I have killed so many for Monsieur Boswin..."

"They were a family of five cougars! A mother, a father and three sons! One of them was an ANVIL trainee! They apparently committed 'suicide' because of a debt to the Boswins!"

The weasel's eyes widened and he threw his head back, mocking him with laughter. "Oh. I cannot tell. I have always been tasked with eliminating the people who cannot pay off their debts. It is easier to kill the residents and then sell off the land to another sap than to keep them on contract. It is one of Monsieur Boswin's many strategies."

Marcus lifted one blade, ready to plunge it right between Langley's eyes. "You bastard -"

"But I do recall a family of cougars."

He stopped, eyes wide at Langley's sardonic smile.

"Yes. I do remember them. I only saw two of the sons. One was a teenager and the other was just a cub, right? Barely a toddler?"

Marcus couldn't reply. That was them.

"It was so entertaining to stage killing them one by one with their own guns. Even more satisfying when everyone believed the lie." His dark grin grew broader, eyes wide in madness. "And I would've killed that meddling ANVIL trainee too. I honestly thought I had. Do you want me to show you how?"

Marcus' eyes widened. Eric had caught Langley in the act. He knew it wasn't a suicide. And yet he still...

Suddenly he felt Langley's paw against his neck and two fingers against the middle of his spine, the weasel somehow moving behind him. Max and Caroline screamed his name.

"Just one blast of flame right here," whispered the weasel in his ear, "can instantly make you a quadriplegic." He moved his fingers down lower to Marcus' spine. "But I wanted him to suffer. I wanted that nosy little shit to know that he was helpless and I wanted him to crawl_to his family as they bled out in front of him. So I shot him _right here." He pressed his fingers right above Marcus' tail. "He could no longer use his legs and I laughed as I watched him crawl on the bloodied floor at me."

Marcus just played the graphic scene in his mind. Eric coming home to hear the gunshots of Langley killing his family only to find the butler there, standing smugly over the scene that he had orchestrated. There was little of a fight as Langley used his superior speed to quickly disable Eric. The weasel standing over the crippled cougar, Eric's eyes filled with tears as the family he had dedicated every breath of his life to now lay dead in an apparent suicide.

"I suppose I should've killed him there and then," growled the weasel. "Because had I known he'd give himself to be your Seal and how much of a pain_you would be, I would have just ended him after watching him cry like the snivelling baby that he was!" Langley pressed his lips against Marcus' ear. "But you... I want _you to suffer. Au revoir."

WHACK!

Marcus flinched, expecting pain but instead, he felt Langley's head jerk to the right and the weasel stumble away from him. He glanced over in time to see Alicia seized Langley's head and spin it towards her. Her fist slammed into his long nose with a sickening crack, blood bursting from his nostrils.

"Nose!"

She then used her sharp claws to draw ragged gashes right across his chest, causing him to cry out and back away.

"Nipples!"

Her leg came crashing upwards, slamming right into his groin in a move that made even Marcus cringe.

"Nuts!"

She followed up her blow with her other leg.

"And nuts again!"

Langley bent over in agony, clutching his balls.

Alicia stared down at him with fury in her eyes. "And this is for taking me hostage!"

WHAM!

She slammed her knee right into his chin, sending him crashing backwards into the ground. Though she hobbled backwards, rubbing her knee, she looked pleased with her work. Caroline let out a laugh of surprise and even Max let out a low whistle of acknowledgement. Marcus just had to shake his head in amazement.

A maid kicked the ass of an evil butler.

He was sure Jacob would've said something bizarre at that point but right then, Marcus was just relieved.

"Alicia," he murmured softly. "You saved me."

She gave him a nervous smile. "I did my best."

Marcus took a step towards her -

Then a brown blur suddenly swept her up, taking her halfway up the stairs. Marcus shouted her name but he froze. Langley held her with one arm across her neck and the other gripping her head. Alicia's brown eyes were wide in horror. She knew what was coming and it was clear she wasn't prepared for it but she was too scared to defend herself. The moment of triumph had been so quick and so fleeting that she and everyone else was still reeling from how quickly it had passed.

"No!" Max shouted, lifting his gun. "Let her go, you bastard!"

Langley sneered at them, blood staining his teeth.

"C'est la fin."

SNAP!

******

"Hello Ms. Brightfellow."

Alicia flinched and spun. She hadn't been expecting any guests and last she checked, the kitchen had been empty save for herself. As she turned, the watering can spilled some nutrient rich water on the flowery tiles. She loved the way the bright pink of the flowers contrasted against the white tiles. It gave much needed colour in her rustic kitchen. But the true source of colour came from her guest...

A stranger seated at the kitchen counter... A being with mysterious sapphire blue eyes with irises shaped like eight pointed stars. All his other features were hidden beneath a broad helm that matched his white and gold armour. A pair of skeletal wings jutted from his back made entirely out of chains. How they remained up was a mystery to her.

Despite the stranger's mysterious appearance, she wasn't afraid.

"Oh," she exclaimed softly. "I didn't see you there... Mr...?"

"R3. Just call me R3."

She inclined her head slightly to the side, a pleasant smile on her lips. "That's a strange name." Then she pressed a paw against her lips. "Oh, I'm sorry. That's so rude of me." She began moving towards the wooden cupboards. "Would you like some tea?"

"Some Calledesian Rose Tea would be nice."

That was a brand she had never heard of. "I'm afraid I don't have any of that..."

"Top cupboard. Second shelf. It's the third box from the right."

Frowning, she opened the named cupboard and sure enough, on the second shelf she found a small box with the words 'Calledesian Rose Tea' on it. When she plucked it from where it rested and opened it, it let out a pleasant, sweet aroma that reminded her of fields of roses decked with the faintest touch of honey.

"I guess I did have it in stock after all," she chuckled softly. "Won't be a moment. Would you like some sugar?"

"No thank you. Rose Tea is sweet enough as is. Do you know where they come from?"

She laughed softly as she turned the kettle on and began to fetch two cups and saucers for herself and her guest. "I admit, I do not. Where?"

"In a far off reality, on a planet known as Sorones, there is a small town known as Calledes. It is a place in perpetual spring. Great meteomancers, weather wizards, ensure that the temperature and climate in Calledes is always in a state of spring. Outside of the great Weather Towers, the world continues to turn and experience all the two extreme seasons from the fiery summers to the blisteringly cold winters but within Calledes, it is always spring."

Alicia frowned at the story. It was clearly made up but she wasn't going to arguing with her odd looking stranger. As the kettle boiled, she spooned some of the rose tea into the cups. The dried leaves had a pleasant reddish colour to them. "That sounds like a fantastic place to live."

"It is built entirely out of necessity," answered R3. "That is how the world was built. But the people there have adapted. They figured that there must be a happy medium between summer and winter. They discovered spring as a result."

The kettle finished boiling and she poured some of the water into the cubs before her. The aroma of the rose tea was so calming and sweet. She took the cups towards the kitchen counter, setting one in front of herself and her guest. "You have been to this world?"

"Many times. I go where I am needed. The owner of that reality asked me to help her people as they were greatly suffering and she wasn't too sure how to help them. I helped by inspiring a few people on the concept of spring." R3 took a sip from the tea despite being scalding hot. "Ah, that hits the spot." He set the cup back down. "In that world, people were just stuck with the concept of summer and winter that they had no idea there was a happy medium in between. We as mortals get so used to how things are that at times, we find it hard to think outside of the box. Every now and then, we need that helping hand, that outside perspective to push us in the right direction."

R3 fixed her with a piercing stare. "Tell me, Alicia Brightfellow, what are your dreams and aspirations?"

Alicia shrugged absently and glanced around at her home, smiling at the warmth of the sun spraying through her lace curtains. "I have everything I could want here. A beautiful home, my garden outside and never wanting for anything. Why?" She laughed softly. "Are you accusing me of being complacent?"

"No," he answered. Despite being unable to see his features, she had the inkling he was smiling at her. "Now at least I know you have something to aspire to."

She frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

He leaned in towards her. "What was the last thing you remember? Think long and hard. Before this moment. What do you remember?"

She shook her head. "Well, I was watering the plants on my windowsill and before that..." Her voice drifted off... as she recalled a flash of pride... ruined by the bloody visage of a weasel she had just delivered the Four Ns to. She remembered looking at the horrified faces of Marcus Willows, Caroline Boswin and Maximillian Lionhart. The cold grip of that weasel around her neck and head. The fear. The brief burst of pain before...

SNAP!

She found R3's warm hands, even though they were encased in heavy gauntlets, around her paws.

"Oh my god..." she breathed. "I'm... I'm..."

Her cottage on a quiet hill was suddenly gone. She was back in the atrium of the MODD Tower. Her body lay at the base of the steps, eyes closed and neatly set on her back with her paws folded across her chest. A MODD coat, likely Max's was draped over her body. No one else was there... except her and R3.

She peeled away from R3 and hurried to her body. Every step grew heavy as she came to the horrifying realisation that she looking at her own dead body. She fell to her knees, tears running down her face. As much as she wanted to touch the body, all she would manage was hovering her paws over her still features before covering her eyes, unable to look at the insurmountable truth before her.

R3's hand gently settled on her shoulder.

"Why couldn't you have just left me there?" she wept softly. "I was happy..."

"No you weren't," R3 answered, sounding strangely mirthful.

"Are you laughing at me!?" she barked. She could tell he was smiling at her again.

"Little bit. Centuries from now, when you invite me to another tea party, you'll look back at this moment and laugh at yourself."

She threw him a fierce look. "What are you talking about?"

"Just because you've passed on from this world, it doesn't mean your story has come to its end," he answered warmly. "In this life, what did you want to be? What were your dreams and aspirations?"

Alicia regarded her body forlornly. "I wanted to be a botanist... I moved to Pollenburn because of its rich history with flowers and the way that the architects weaved foliage into their buildings. I loved how the place looked and how it was one with nature... I thought it was the best place to study."

"But...?"

She rested her paws against her knees. "But schooling was expensive and the only job I could find to support myself was a maid for the Tower. I had to give up my education because my responsibilities became a full time commitment..."

"You never got to fulfil your dreams in this world but what if I told you that there is a chance for you to make your dreams come true in another?"

She turned to him, mouth slightly agape questioningly.

"For some people," R3 explained, "one lifetime isn't enough to get everything they want. It would be infinitely easy for me to give everyone the rights to their own stories after they died but as you've heard, having everything you could ever want won't necessarily make you happy." He offered his hand towards her. "I want to make sure that you're happy. Being gifted with the ability to see all possibilities in existence means that I know exactly which path will lead you down that path. I will always be here to help you but I need to make a few... executive decisions as well."

As she took his hand, a door sprang up behind him. It was a beautiful, white door with dozens of roses growing across its frame.

"There are only some things you can truly experience as a character in another person's story. Being the author of your own tale just won't give you that same experience. The hardships of life, the heartbreaking tragedy, the triumph from hard work and the joy of life just won't feel the same if you knew that you could've skipped to the end all along."

Alicia regarded the door, blinking away tears. "So... what are you saying?"

"Beyond this door rests another world. Another life. There are different laws that govern this reality. Different deities to worship, different people to meet and different events to take place. I can only help you so much but I can at least point you in the right direction. Your choices will still be your own and you won't remember this life. But even the vastness of time and space or the boundaries of realities can do little to shake the solidarity of the soul. Stay true to your desires, hold onto your dreams and never doubt your path and if you get to the end of this chapter in your story with the right choices, I guarantee that by the end of it, you'll have the experience to write your own story."

She turned back towards her body and then up the stairs. "But what about the others...? Marcus, Max... Caroline...?"

"There are always other choices. If you wanted, you could stay in this world. The laws of this reality prevent you from being reincarnated but you could perhaps haunt it. I could take you to the deities that govern the reality and maybe they'll find a place for you. Resurrection is out of the question though. I could twist their arm towards reincarnation. But by then, things will be very different."

R3 gazed off into the distance. "I can tell you now that should you choose to stay, I can give you a little leg up to create a travelling flower shop." She felt that he was smiling again. "You know, it would make for a neat story. You'll run this ethereal flower shop that'll appear whenever people needs cheering up. I predict that your flowers can help people through the hardest times in their life. You'll help a man get over his wife dying for an incurable disease. A young girl accepting her brother's death and finally visiting his grave with flower in paw. You'll teach an important lesson to a young boy who will give flowers to his depressed mother each day, making him realise that it isn't the flower that made her strong but his love."

He gazed back at her, his sapphire blue eyes shining.

"The choice is up to you, Alicia. Whatever you choose, I'll be here to help make you happy. Very few paths in your story end in utter misery. One into complete annihilation. But if I told you everything, then that would be a spoiler. I can guarantee that at the end of many of those, you will get your own book."

Alicia wrung her paws together.

"It's so hard to choose..."

"The curse and gift of being mortal." R3 rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Choice."

******

Pollenburn was in complete and utter bedlam. Winston's demonstration had been broadcasted live to the city. With the revelation that he had been infected, any of his men instantly fell under instant suspicion. Anyone wearing orange overalls was instantly assaulted. It didn't matter that they had Seals. The sheer number of people overwhelmed the would-be revolutionists. It did not help that the remaining five heads of the six families were scattered all over the city, tending to their own empires.

Gale soaked in the map for the tenth time in the past five minutes. The Brood Mother over the city, dispatching troops where they could go and sending drones to hurriedly try and bring order back to the city. His troops that had remained hidden emerged from the woodwork, flying back to the ship to re-equip themselves before flying out with the drones. But even with all that, there was so much space to cover.

And then the reports started coming in.

"Sir!" shouted a corporal. "We've got reports from the Lockwood building! The rioters there are suddenly being attacked by those who have barricaded themselves inside! They're reporting bites and scratches!"

"We've got the Merrimonts at their warehouse trapped by large, strange vines and flowers."

"Strange plant monsters are coming out of the main Naramura hospital!"

"There's a huge pile up of cars in front of one of the L'shantes' dealerships!"

"The Calgary Cathedral is being overrun by those vines!"

The remaining five families had become infected. The locations of these outbreaks appeared on the holographic map in front of him. He sat back in his seat, shaking his head in helpless, mute horror. A projection showed that the virus would spread all over the city within two days.

"Enact quarantine measures now!" Sherry barked. "I want the Seal Generators secured and I want everyone moved straight to the Bloomcrest Memorial Graveyard."

Gale regarded his lieutenant in surprise. "Why there?"

"Because the Graveyard is big and has its own defence shield," answered Sherry, pointing at the large, square patch of land just a few blocks from the Tower. "I'm not sure if it'll fit everyone in the city but the shield can be activated to keep those things from getting in. We need to tell anyone at the evacuation points to hurry up and get people out of the Arc Field."

Leave it to Sherry to come up with a brilliant plan. He was grateful to have the Scalpel on his side and gave her a thankful smile. But that smile was quick to fade as he remembered that his city had just become the epicentre of an outbreak.

"I need you to organise the evacuation," he said at length. "Make the announcement to all our troops. Get everyone to safety. I need to meditate..." He turned to leave but Sherry seized his arm firmly.

"This is not the time to retreat into your own personal world and think, Gale," she hissed softly so only he could hear her. "This is a time for action. You know all that dirt you have on the six families? Release it now. There are people out there that still believe in them and they'll only risk their lives for nothing. You need to convince them that MODD is the only force that can put an end to this mess."

He pulled his wrist away from her. "You're telling me to slander the six founding families of this city. Boswin dug his own grave but we don't know why the other families joined him. For all you know, he stole their free will just like he took his own daughters'. If... no, _when_they make out of this, they still need to make a livelihood. I'm not going to ruin their lives."

She shook her head in frustration. "Your compassion is holding you back, Gale. You're an Elemental Lord. You're a leader. You need to make tough decisions and you can't just wait for things to get better."

He had heard the mantra from her over and over again. As tempted as he was to bring up the times that he had attacked with full force, he didn't have the energy. With the situation escalating as it was, he feared for what Rillotia or MODD would do. It sapped the strength from his muscles. He reached for the eye patch and lifted it, revealing the perfectly healthy eye beneath just so that he could stare directly at Sherry.

"Sherry..." he began softly.

"Don't," she said with a silencing stare. "Gale, you've let your control over this city slip far too much. You've given too much freedom ambitious assholes like Boswin that when you started enacting perfectly logical steps to keep them safe, they felt it was an invasion of their rights." She gripped his hands tightly. "You are their Elemental Lord. You're a compassionate leader but there needs to be a balance between compassion and... and control."

She lifted her gaze so that their eyes met. "I know it's dirty and I know it goes against all of your moral fibres but these people ruined themselves by making these heinous acts. It is not your job to cover it up because you can understand their ambition or situation. It's your job to bring justice to this city and this nation." She gave him a gentle, encouraging smile. "You are like the winds, Gale Winthrop. You embody freedom of a gentle breeze. It is time you became the cleansing storm that washes away the wicked and spares the just."

Gale laughed softly and gently pulled his hands away from her grip. "You made me sound like some sort of divine avatar of God..."

"You can use that spin against those following Calgary." Sherry, turned back towards the bridge. "I'll have the guys down at the communications hub to start preparing your speeches and the broadcast. You get ready."

He thanked her for her dedication and mentally swore to himself that after this, he would commend her for her own station. Maybe somewhere south where it was nice and calm. No, she would hate that. Up north perhaps near the border of the country? The constant challenge would keep her entertained and she would always be within arm's reach if he needed advice.

Gale turned away from the bridge and quickly headed into the conference room of the Brood Mother, just a short three minutes' walk from the bridge. He checked the time. Marcus and the others must've reached the top of the Tower by now, hopefully in time to stop Boswin from escaping. He would check up on them afterwards but right now...

He sat in the biggest seat in the room and waited as the room darkened.

A holographic image of Balthazar Palmers appeared in front of him. "Gale, what the hell is happening down there? I've got reports of a Tor_opening and panic in the streets."_

Gale composed himself, something he realised he should've done before he initiated the call with the head of ExIT. In the calmest voice he could muster, he said, "Sir, Dorothy Boswin successfully manifested and opened her Tor. As a result, over a hundred people were sucked into its expanse."

"Dear god..."

"Of them... were two SWORD members, my personal bodyguard Marcus Willows..." He paused, gauging the jackal's expression. "And both Jacob and Rex Reaper."

Balthazar looked completely beaten and his shoulders slumped. "Oh fuck... FUCK!" He slammed a fist into his desk. "This is a disaster! Who knows how powerful she's gotten from that!"

"It... gets worse, sir," continued Gale. "Rex..." He quickly reconsidered revealing Rex's recklessness in infecting the other members of the six families. But it did not seem right to condemn a dead man. "Found a cure to the plague."

"And now he's gone..."

"And the plague had spread throughout Pollenburn, sir. We've detected it in five locations and they're rapidly spreading. It seems to have mutated and are generating more than just 'plant zombies'."

Balthazar totally devastated for an entire minute. "Gale... Are you telling me that in the past few days, not only has one of the most notorious criminals been released from imprisonment, a rebellion has successfully upstaged MODD in its heart of operations in Rillotia, we've lost an Elemental Lord and Realmbreaker_but _ this plague has also spread out of control?"

Gale nodded grimly. "Yes, sir."

Balthazar lowered his gaze, looking sadly at the chimp. "You realise that there is only one option left, don't you?"

"Yes... sir..." he murmured softly.

"I want you to get as many people out of the city as possible. I'll delay as long as I can. I'm sure the Rillotian president wouldn't want to send a cluster missile into a fully populated area until it's absolutely necessary but I can't say the same for MODD. The board will push to use the particle cannon. It will eliminate this threat and reaffirm that MODD is still the superior power."

"Please delay them for as long as you can, sir," Gale begged softly. "I'm going to make a broadcast to tell the city to trust in MODD but -"

The door suddenly sprang open, spraying light all over the conference room.

"Gale!" Sherry shouted. "Dorothy is on the roof of the Tower! Something's happening!"

******

Winston had never experienced a longer elevator ride than the one it had taken him to get up to the top most floor offered by the lift service. Having to walk the rest of the way to the hangers was an equal pain and he was constantly having to look over his shoulder to make sure that Gale or any of his lackeys were following. It was with some relief that he managed to reach the atrium where Rex had foiled his plans without much difficulty.

Though leaving Langley behind was like tearing off his own arm.

Langley had served his father for his entire life and even begun when his grandfather's reign was just waning. To have to ask the loyal butler to buy him time was perhaps the greatest request he could make of the man. That Langley accepted the task unflinchingly spoke volumes of his conviction.

Winston had tears in his eyes by the time he emerged to the roof of the Tower. The other Hive Queens were already prepped to leave and he could see Khan Sho boarding the only ship that was not being remotely controlled. The Hive Queens were far from inconspicuous so sending each of them in different directions would spread MODD's efforts to stop them.

He was relieved as he hurried across the launch pads to where Khan Sho was standing. Dorothy was, as always, unwaveringly by his side. He only wished he could confide in her.

"Are we ready to leave?" he asked, approaching the loading ramp.

He froze when several of Khan's goons suddenly blocked his path. The grey-haired equine stood a short distance away, seemingly ignoring him entirely.

"Khan!" he snapped. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Pollenburn... how appropriate," the criminal mastermind said. "This plague spreads via pollen and within a few hours, either Rillotia or MODD will burn the entire city to the ground. I would fancy to see the particle cannon blast this place to ashes. I have never seen it myself but I've seen all the recordings." The aged horse lifted a hand into the air, letting the harsh winds of their elevation course between his fingers. "There is a beauty in watching scintillating beams of light descend from the heavens, bombarding everything around it with frightening precision and utterly disintegrating anything it touches. Then the final blast, that ominous particle ball. Like watching the sun descend silently into the ground at dusk. Beautiful."

Winston's heart was beating hard in his chest. He knew what this was. But he refused to believe and accept it. "I would rather not be anywhere near this city when that happens."

"Then I suggest you find another means of escape," Khan said over his shoulder.

"What!? We were going to leave this city together!"

Only then did Khan turn fully towards him. "That was before you became a liability." The equine tilted his head slightly. "I respected your ambition and was rather impressed by your technique. But when I realised you're nothing more than a puppet and Dietrich was given to you... Well..." Khan clucked his tongue. "I have no further use for a puppet. I have enough of those."

"You're going to leave me here!?" Winston knew he was stating the obvious but he had no idea what else to say.

"Not without resources," Khan answered with a dark smile. "I'm leaving one of the Hive Queens for you. Assuming you still have men loyal to you, you can probably fly it out of here. How far you'll get before MODD shoots you down is up for debate."

So he was going to be just another distraction. A tantalising one at that. All the focus had been on him. Khan Sho had been played down and in all likelihood, to the world outside, he was an afterthought if they knew of him at all. When MODD captured Winston, they would be distracted long enough for Khan to truly slip away.

"I freed you!"

"No." Khan said, with a dark smile on his features. "You did not. The puppeteers pulling your strings did. You were just the one that pulled the switch." He turned his back away from Winston. "If you meet them, tell them that Khan Sho does not like being played. I will see them again."

The equine strode into the ship, hands folded behind his back.

Blinding rage burned through Winston's veins. It made him summon his Seal Weapon, the double barrelled shotgun known as Prosperous Rain. He barely got it lifted before one of the Khan's goons seized his arm and gave it a painful twist. That rage was quickly replaced with fear as he fell to his knees, a silent scream leaping from his throat. Dorothy instantly came to his defence and the henchman let go of him. The two men began backing away into the ship, leaving him and Dorothy alone on the Tower roof.

The other Hive Queens began to lift off. Khan had been arrogant enough to take Gale's flagship, the Winged Kingdom. Only the Catastrophic Storm was left. Winston found the name of the ship he had been given oddly fitting. He grunted as he rose to his feet. If Khan could remotely control four other ships, then it shouldn't be too hard to man one Hive Queen...

"Stop right there, Boswin!"

His heart froze.

That cry came from Marcus Willows.

That meant...

"Langley..." he murmured softly. He squeezed out one tear before the winds from the high elevation blew it away. Slowly, he turned around, still clutching_Prosperous Rain_.

Marcus accompanied by a dragon from SWORD and his eldest daughter came rushing towards them. Seeing Caroline's ferocity and hatred for him made him both feel proud and sad. He only wished that he could've seen that spark in her eyes under better circumstances.

"There's nowhere to run!" Marcus shouted, his twin blades at the ready. "Just give up!"

It was a tempting offer. His plans, his ambitions and even his family were now beyond repair. Khan Sho's accusation that he was just a puppet ground any hope he had into dust beneath a brutal heel. Perhaps the only reason he even contemplated retreat was because he was just so scared of dying. He glanced down at Prosperous Rain, the Seal Weapon given to him by his late wife.

Somehow he couldn't imagine her in anyone else's grip.

"I would sooner die," he answered, lifting his gun towards the group. "Dorothy -"

Then his daughter screamed.

Dorothy staggered backwards, seizing her head with both hands. She yanked the helmet of her Seal Armour off her head, revealing her widened eyes and pained expression. The Seal hovering behind her head was spinning uncontrollably...

Crrrack!

... and a blistering, white crack appeared across its face.

"Dorothy?" Winston repeated.

A column of light suddenly cut through the air right behind her. A dark mass began emerged from the light... The bleak visage of Dorothy's Tor. But just like her Tor, big white cracks appeared across its face. White lightning raced across its surface and before its surface could even fully manifest, it began to open.

"Dorothy! What the hell is happening!?"

******

"Here it is."

Jacob regarded the big, black door sitting in the dust, black landscape of the hellish world. Hopeful eyes watched as he approached the enormous edifice, the Deadwind Seal glowing brightly against its double doors. Dorothy stood beside the door while Rex and the others stood opposite to her, watching his approach anxiously.

"Are you sure this will work?" Dorothy asked softly.

"Nope," he replied, popping his jaw at the last two letters. "I don't think anyone has ever survived in the world of a Tor before let alone opened one from this side." He gave her a hopeful smile. "I don't suppose you've tried opening it?"

"Ever since I found it," she responded grimly. "But it's no use. I'm not even sure what will happen once you open it..."

Jacob, now standing the closest to the enormous door, took a deep breath before letting it out very slowly. "Neither do I to be honest." He closed his eyes and was tempted to reach through the realms of possibilities with Realmbreaker but he pulled back at the last moment, knowing he would have to rely on the weapon greatly just to open the Tor physically.

"Hey, Jo..." he began softly.

Joanna stepped forward. "Yes, Jacob?"

"I... I uh... I need a pep talk," he admitted. "I'm scared shitless. Ever since I got Realmbreaker, I've sort of told myself that I'll do anything to get rid of it and it was that firm belief that everything will go back to normal that kept me going. But..." He looked back towards the Tor. "In all honesty, I've been winging it. I'm glad I've been right every now and then but... I really don't know what's on the other side of this door. And I'm scared that if I open it, I won't just be saving all these people." He glanced over his shoulder at the hundreds of eyes looking, pleading, at him. "I'm scared that if I open this door... I'll never go back to what I consider normal."

Her paw rested on his shoulder, bringing his eyes back to her.

"Jacob, you told me that you were going to smell the roses, do all the side quests and talk to all the NPCs along the way to the end of the story, right?" Joanna asked and he nodded in response. "Well, even if it has no impact to the story in the end, doing all these things will change you. You'll have a greater understanding of the world, know people you would never have thought about and done things that while aren't necessary, will fill you with a sense of fulfilment and great rewards.

"Every step we take puts us somewhere we haven't been before. Even were we to take a step backwards, we'd still be one step older. 'Going back to normal' is just impossible. You grow whether you realise it or not." She turned towards the Tor, prompting him to regard it as well. "You just need to acknowledge you've grown before you can truly make progress."

Jacob took another deep breath, feeling strangely elated from her words. "And here I was hoping that everything wouldn't be an analogy for my problems." He took another step towards the Tor, white lightning cascading down his arms and across his fingers.

He could sense _everyone_holding their breath.

Time seemed to stop for all but him.

No one made a sound.

No winds blew.

He lifted his paws and pressed them against the black surface of the Tor.

Then he began to push.

Realmbreaker instantly reacted with his will. The white lightning from his paws raced all over the Tor, multiplying and arching over every section excitedly. Sparks flew whenever the lightning touched the glowing Seal. The very ground beneath his feet began to shake violently as the sound of the electric bolts crackling overcame the gasps of surprise and breathes of surprise everyone else held.

Behind him, Rex clutched onto Silas tightly, the hunky wolf holding onto him with both arms. Cal pressed his paws together, praying and constantly whispering encouragements for Jacob. Joanna stared wide-eyed at the scene while Dorothy felt tears running down her cheeks.

A sound like peeling thunder roared somewhere above them. A crack appeared in the sky above their heads. Brilliant, white nothingness was revealed beyond the fissure. No light like the cracks on the ground. It was like someone had cracked the surface of the painting that was the world to reveal the untouched canvas beneath.

Jacob let out a grunt as the strain of using Realmbreaker began to take its toll on him. His head began to throb and the edges of his vision began to darken. Though the door did not budge, he could feel something changing about it. He seized upon that change, accelerating it by pouring more and more of Realmbreaker into it. The crackling white lightning grew all the more violent, lashing out in various directions. It raced through the air before abruptly stopping. That same peel of thunder erupted from where the bolts stopped, heralding another tear.

A crack appeared across the Deadwind Seal.

And the Tor budged.

It was very slight but it creaked open and the faintest burst of fresh air filled his nostrils.

Suddenly exhilarated with the progress, he pounced on the change, pouring more and more effort into pushing the Tor wide open. Even as he felt the blood pour down from his nostrils, he kept pushing, his shoes scraping the ground beneath his feet.

The bolts of Realmbreaker were starting to take its toll on the Tor. Every touch of the weapon caused the supposedly unbreakable frame to crumble. Flakes of the black material began raining down upon him even as a visible opening appeared in the Tor. Shining sunlight came pouring out of the gap, flooding him with warmth. The touch of warmth pulled him from his focus, however and the door began to swing backwards heavily.

He grunted -

Then felt strong paws seized his arm, holding it in place.

"We got this, Jake!" Rex shouted. "I'm here right by your side!"

Another pair of paws gripped his other arm.

"Keep pushing!" Cal announced. "We're almost home!"

Silas instantly threw his weight beside Rex. Joanna aided Cal. Dorothy's slammed her shoulder against the enormous door. Then, there were dozens of hands and paws pressing up against the big, black door. None of the white lightning harmed their owners either by design or by pure accident. Suddenly, the weight of the door didn't seem so monumental. Jacob wasn't sure if any of the others were actually contributing to keep the door open... but somehow, he felt stronger for it.

With a roar, he threw his entire weight against the Tor.

Enormous cracks appeared all over the Seal, almost completely consuming it. The Tor itself began crumbling, its frame falling away in large chunks that disintegrated into dust long before it touched the ground.

"We're almost there!" Silas shouted, peering through the light. "I can see the Tower!"

"Just keep pushing, old man!" Rex shouted.

"Old man!? Last I remember, I wore _you_out!"

The sexual innuendo beneath those words did not skip Jacob's attention and learning the full story behind it was just further fuelled his drive to push the Tor open.

"Holy shit!" Cal laughed, tears of joy in his eyes. "We're really doing it! We're opening a Tor!"

No way he was going to let Cal die in this desolate world after seeing such a show of emotion.

He coughed, blood splattering against the opening doors. Joanna's paws seized his chest, straightening him.

"Hey Jo..." he choked.

"Yeah?"

He gave her a grin. "You know this means your fiancé might be alive, right?"

Her emerald eyes widened. Then she suddenly turned and slammed her paws against the Tor. The doors had opened enough for them to see the world beyond. The stunned face of Winston Boswin stood on the Tower's rooftop, just a few feet away from them. Beyond Winston stood Max and Caroline.

Between the two was Marcus.

"Caroline..." Dorothy whispered.

That was the last piece of motivation Jacob needed.

"Open sesame," he growled. Then, with one last roar, he slammed both paws against the Tor.

BOOOOM!

The doors flew clear off their hinges. The enormous slabs of alien, black material sailed high over the heads of those standing on the rooftop. They soared a good fifty feet away before starting to dissipate into the rough winds.

Jacob fell to his knees, panting for breath and his vision starting to blur. He couldn't believe what he was seeing but... it was Mortaelis.

"Come on!" Rex shouted, seizing him and pulling him back to his feet. "Everyone out! Go! Go! Go!"

To smell the air of Mortaelis again... it was something he never thought he'd be grateful to smell even through the veil of copper which was his bloodied nose. Rex hurried him past Winston to the line of allies. He found Marcus' strong arms around him, holding him tightly. The big roo was laughing in disbelief and swung him around in joy. As they spun, Jacob caught sight of all the people that Dorothy had thrown into the Tor pour out of dark world, scrambling away from the portal.

Marcus set him down, holding him out at arm's length. "Jake... You... You're... How...?"

He gave the roo a shaky, tired smile. "Come on. We all knew he was building up to something with my frequent trips to that world."

"I don't even care that I have _no_idea what you're talking about!" Marcus laughed. He pressed their lips together. Jacob made sure to shove his tongue nice and deep into the roo's muzzle just to reaffirm that he really was back on Mortaelis.

As the last few people from the world of the Tor stepped back onto their home, Caroline rushed past them and almost collided with her father. She gave Winston a foul stare and her father understandably took a step away. In front of them, Dorothy knelt. Caroline thought she saw a visage of her sister in the dark world beyond but she wasn't sure. There had been too many people fleeing from the world beyond. It looked like the entire place was falling apart. White cracks and fissures were appearing all over the skies and they were rapidly widening.

What that meant was something for later.

She knelt in front of her sister who was sobbing and gripping her head tightly in both hands. "Dorothy... Dorothy... It's me. Caroline."

Slowly, her sister's black eyes lifted and the pained expression on her features faded. Caroline feared she would just see an emotionless mask again... but then shock crossed Dorothy's features... and a tear ran down her cheek.

"Carol...?"

The monumental force of realising she had her sister back hit her with enough force to cause her to sob. A waterfall of tears poured down her eyes and she was rendered utterly speechless. Through bleary, tear-filled eyes, she threw her arms around her sister's neck, holding her tighter than she had ever held her before. When she felt Dorothy's hands around her back, the entire world just faded away.

In that moment, she knew everything would be okay.

Then those hands around her roughly pushed her away, sending her onto her rear.

"No!" Dorothy cries, her eyes filled with panic.

"Dorothy?" Winston asked, stepping forward. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"

Dorothy screamed, clutching her head as she staggered to her feet. "No! It's out! I can't hold it back! There's nothing holding it back anymore!"

Caroline watched in wide-eyed horror as dark wisps of some strange gas began seeping out of the world beyond the Tor_and pouring straight into Dorothy's frame. The _Black Mist began forming around her sister but remaining in an enclosed space.

"Its world is dying!" Dorothy raved. "It's trying to escape! And I can't stop it! Jacob! Jacob!"

Hearing his name, Jacob looked up. His heart plummeted as Dorothy began backing away while the dark energies from the Tor poured into her. "Get everyone away..." he ordered. "Everyone back! Caroline! Winston! Get away from her!"

"What's happening!?" Caroline demanded.

He wished he had an answer but an overwhelming sense of dread just filled him. His eyes met with Dorothy's tear filled ones.

"Promise me!" the younger Boswin sister demanded. "Promise me you'll take care of Caroline!"

His heart broke... That was what heroes who knew they were dying said. She backed away further and Jacob realised what she intended.

"Promise me!"

Jacob pulled himself away from Marcus and staggered forward. "I promise."

Relief crossed her features and in that moment, she seemed to be at peace. All the pain in her features faded as the last few trails of darkness seeped into her body. With them, the torn portal into the other world seemed to be completely consumed in the blank white. Seconds later, the white scar just hovering in space seemed to heal over, like the world of Mortaelis just painted over it.

Dorothy, in the meantime, turned towards Caroline, smiling at her with a look of apology. "Stay strong."

"No..." Caroline begged, reaching for her sister. But that only prompted Dorothy to take another step back, just one step away from the edge of the Tower. "No! Please no!"

Then she towards Winston, still smiling benignly. "I forgive you."

Winston's eyes widened. "Dorothy!"

Dorothy Boswin, youngest of the Boswin sisters, spread her arms wide and tipped herself back. Caroline screamed her name. She took one last look at her sister, forever ingraining the image of her beloved sibling into her soul... before surrendering. Years of fighting that _thing_had culminated into that moment but without her Seal, she no longer had the strength to hold it back.

As she plummeted, dark energies danced all over her body, shrouding it from sight. She became a hurtling black meteor that began building mass the further it descended to the ground. A dark trail of black smoke trailed her descent. Those remaining in the courtyard, mostly Boswin's troops, looked up and began backing away from the dark mass crashing towards them. A few couldn't retreat fast enough but they were the lucky ones.

The dark ball smashed into the ground with a resounding boom. A shockwave sent a blast of debris and dark smoke in all directions, clouding the entire courtyard entirely. Those alive and were close to the blast were instantly deafened, their cries of pain muted by the roar of the impact. The Tower's walls cracked, on the verge of shattering entirely. Even those panicking in the city streets had heard the dull thud of the crash. Evacuees in the farthest of reaches of Pollenburn didn't hear the blast... but they certainly noticed when the sky began to darken... and an overwhelming sense of dread began creeping into their system, freezing their muscles and preventing any sort of movement.

On the Brood Mother, Gale's jaw dropped.

Beside him, Sherry murmured, "Oh no..."

In the Winged Kingdom, Khan Sho looked up from his meditating position. "It can't be..."

On the Tower, Jacob peered over the edge of the Tower, realising what he had just unleashed. "Fuck me..."

Deep within the Snakebite Stronghold, Hades smiled.

A sound like a foghorn erupted from the epicentre of the crash. Seething, dark energies erupted in the form of a beam, slicing right through hundreds if not thousands of people, buildings and kilometres of the city. Nothing was left in its wake, everything in its path completely obliterated at a second's notice.

The beam struck the limits of the Arc Field and for a brief moment, the entire shield flashed a deep blue. It seemed to hold... Then the towers holding up the field abruptly shattered in a burst of flame and electricity.

The Arc Field was down.

And a Puritan walked Mortaelis once more.

******

"You did the best you could."

Dorothy Boswin opened her eyes. Nothing but pure white met her. She thought she had been blinded. But there was no pain searing her retinas. The agony that had wracked her body was gone. What remained was the overwhelming guilt of what she had failed to prevent and the fear of what happened could possibly happen to her sister.

"Where am I?" she asked, turning in place.

Her eyes found a strange creature that she vaguely recalled seeing with Hades when the chimeric creature had granted her father the Dietrich technique. He called himself a Chaos Lord if she remembered correctly. She certainly remembered the big, skeletal wings he possessed made entirely out of chains, somehow held up despite the lack of muscle fibres, bones or nerves.

"You're in my world. I call it Naught."

"Naught?"

"Yes," answered the Chaos Lord.

Dorothy took in the vast white vacuum. "It feels so... empty."

"I like to think of it as a blank canvas. From it, I can create anything should I wish. Others like to call it the 'world between worlds', 'the Great Emptiness' or even 'Realm of the Empty Throne'. But I just like to call it home."

It took Dorothy a moment to realise that this same blankness was the same as the tears she had seen tear her personal hell apart.

"Now you're getting it," the Chaos Lord chuckled softly. "Yes, Naught encompasses all worlds. Mortaelis, the world you were trapped in for years and many, many more. It sits between each realm because it is here that the Ultimate Seal rests."

"The Ultimate Seal?"

"Yes. The Seal of all Existence. It is what binds all realities together." The Chaos Lord shrugged. "Well, those that I haven't freed, that is."

Dorothy gave the creature a puzzled stare and she sensed the being smiling at her despite his features being hidden beneath a helm with only his eyes being visible.

"Let me start from the beginning." He pressed a gauntleted hand against his chest. "My name is R3 the Writer of Reality. It is my job, along with my colleagues, to bring people their happy endings. We do this because of the Ultimate Seal."

He stepped aside and gestured for her to walk beside him. Where they were headed was beyond her but she followed anyway. It was somewhat disorienting how she could not see the floor beneath her, no shadow was cast but she could still walk in a straight line.

"At the beginning of existence, there was nothing but Chaos. Well, almost nothing. But if I were to tell you the whole story, then that would be an enormous spoiler." He chuckled at his own joke. "Suffice to say that there was a colossal battle between the forces of good and evil. Gods fell and renounced their divine status, pooling all their power into an artefact that could grant a single mortal man a single wish. This man's wish created existence as we know it. The artefact reacted by combining pieces of Chaos together, ensuring that they reacted to one another in such a way that they created entire worlds, whole universes and vast realms of reality. And that artefact? Well, it became the Ultimate Seal, a powerful symbol that ensures that the Chaos that was used to make everything as we know it remains as the very fabric of existence and doesn't devolve back into the seething, roiling, unpredictable Chaos."

"Is it anything like my Seal?" she asked.

"The Deadwind Seal? Oh no, far from it. The Seals you utilise are just that, locks." R3 stopped walking and turned to her. "Why do you think the world that you were trapped in was so desolate and barren?"

Dorothy could only shake her head. "I don't know..."

"You know how Seals are made, right?"

To that, she nodded. "Yes. Someone must be sacrificed... or give themselves voluntarily to MODD..."

"Not just MODD, really. Anyone who knows how to make Seals will be able to create one from a person. Someone like Khan Sho, for example."

Dorothy's eyes widened in horror. "Khan Sho knows how to make Seals!? But... but he escaped! And-"

R3 gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Put it out of your mind right now, Dorothy. Let's stay on track. Do you know why someone has to be sacrificed to be sacrificed to make a Seal? If it were just a living thing, why can't someone just make a Seal out of a tree or an insect?"

She tried to calm her panic but the brief moment when she had regained control over her body, her mind became flooded with the experiences of what her body had been forced to do and see. She knew_Khan Sho had betrayed her father and now that he was free, not only possessing _Dietrich but also with the ability to make Seals... She needed to warn her sister somehow. If she humoured R3, maybe he could lead her back home.

"I don't know. Why?"

"You're not trying," he accused though seemingly still smiling benevolently. "Think harder."

Dorothy shook her head. "I really don't know." She plucked the most logical thing she could think of from her knowledge of Seals. "Maybe because of synchronisation rates?"

"Exactly." R3 raised a finger. "I just told you that all things spawned from Chaos and that all creation came from a combination of certain pieces of Chaos. That includes you." He gently pressed that finger against her forehead and she pulled back in surprise. "When it comes down to it, you and all forms of existence are just a collection of this same primal element that was refined and forged in a specific way to become you. But what if it were arranged differently? What if the piece that made up your soul was put backwards or upside down? What would be the result?"

R3 turned his back to her and spread his arms wide. "The combinations are endless but just as Chaos made you, within you rests the ability to create entire worlds."

Dorothy was just about to tell him to get to the point when a realisation dawned on her.

"The people who give themselves to be Seals... That's... That's their Chaos being rearranged to become entire worlds!"

R3 faced her once more. She could tell he was beaming. "Exactly. Those people cease to exist as their entire existence is ripped to shreds, reduced back to the Chaos that made them and then rearranged to become a whole, empty world." He lifted a finger. "But, there is still some fragment of them that remains. The pieces of Chaos do not change and sometimes, despite its complete and total rearrangement, it resonates with people that still live. That's what synchronisation rates are. The world created from the Seal found someone that has a similar or harmonic arrangement of Chaos within them."

"But..." she began softly. "My father dedicated himself to becoming synchronous with the Deadwind Seal. Why didn't he inherit it? Surely his arrangement was better than mine...?"

R3 chuckled. "Chaos is, by its very nature, unpredictable but you aren't a being of Chaos and neither is the world. You were made from Chaos. If we are going to talk generally, Chaos no longer exists save for the pieces that remain within the Seal Worlds. When MODD scans someone for their compatibility with a Seal, they take a look of their arrangement of Chaos and checks if it is compatible with the one fragment that remains within the Seal World. We must remember that this is one fragment, though. One fragment that made up a complex creature. If the _entire_person remained, then yes synchronisation would be far more predictable but it isn't."

Dorothy couldn't believe what she was hearing. An entire person... sacrificed to become a whole world. It was always her belief, in fact what had been advertised amongst Seal Wielders, that the person continued to exist in the Seal somehow...

"Why?" she asked softly.

"The reason is rather complex and only Abaddon can truly answer that," answered R3 mournfully. "But each of the Chaos Lords has a rather narrow minded view of existence in that everything relates to Chaos. One seeks to manipulate everything through it, another believes she can alter the very fabric of space and time using Chaos. There's one that seeks an endless cycle of destruction and revels in the fact that Chaos will ultimately recreate everything if she reduces it back into this primal state."

R3 sighed heavily. "For Abaddon... well, he reviles Chaos and..." He let out a thoughtful sound. "Look at it this way. Each and every person in existence has the capacity to create entire worlds and from that, more people. In effect, this is Chaos infinitely replicating itself. Abaddon realised this and sought a way to stop Chaos from multiplying. So... he created the Seals and the worlds that they contain." He turned to Dorothy. "Remember when I asked you why you thought the worlds of Seals are always barren?"

Dorothy nodded slowly.

"It's because of Abaddon and his mockery of the Ultimate Seal. Where the Ultimate Seal was designed to sustain life and all existence, his Seals are designed to supress it."

R3 waved a hand through the air and she watched as a lifelike planet appeared in front of her, no bigger than a basketball. It seemed alive and so... vibrant, blue oceans, lush green lands and rolling white clouds. It almost looked like Mortaelis. A small star jumped from the planet before violently erupting to great another planet-like orb. This one was jet-black and had dozens of white fissures all across its surface.

She realised it had been her prison.

"When a person is sacrificed to make a reality, that reality has the full capacity to sustain and create life. However, Abaddon's Seals supress that by transferring the energy that would have been used to make that life into your world."

The Deadwind Seal appeared between the two planets. Dark, seething energies funnelled from the dark world into the Seal, running a single beam of light into the planet.

Dorothy's eyes widened in horror. "So the more people use Seals..."

"The less life there is in the world beyond the Tor. It's worse when there are multiple copies of the Seal. When people open their Tors and suck people into it, the world consumed them, effectively destroying Chaos that created them. This empowers the Seal further, perpetuating the cycle of death and destruction."

"This is terrible!" Dorothy exclaimed.

"It is."

For a moment, she was grateful that the Deadwind Seal had been destroyed. But then she remembered what happened to her and the Puritan that came rushing out. "But when Jacob destroyed the Tor..."

"Ah," chuckled R3. "Yes. The _Tor_is a physical manifestation of the Seal. So when it was broken, the Seal itself was broken. But the connection between the Seal World and the Wielder is not broken. As I said, Seals are regulators. It funnels the power from the Seal World and offers control over that power. But without the Seal..."

"All that power just came rushing into me..." She glanced at her hands. "What of the Puritan?"

"Remember that fragment of Chaos I told you was used to determine the compatibility of Seals to its Wielder?"

She snapped her gaze up towards him. "That's what a Puritan is!?"

He nodded gravely. "It is. A fragment of pure, unrestrained Chaos that has made its home in the Seal World. It has no intelligence. Not even primal instinct. It is just Chaos cloaked in the energy of the Seal World. As its world around it collapses, all that energy floods through the portal into your world. You were compatible with it, after all. Your body reacts with it as it forces itself into your being. What's left is... well..."

The emptiness of Naught was suddenly broken but dozens familiar buildings springing up from the nothingness. An asphalt road grew beneath her feet and a darkened sky sprang into existence far above them. Hundreds of screaming people bolted past them, passing right through their ethereal figures as they fled from the dark, imposing figure possessing a single fin-like wing jutting from its back.

"Oh my god..." Dorothy choked. A dark mist flooded out of the Puritan as it rampaged across the city. Those caught within the mist screamed as it consumed them. Flesh it touched instantly blackened, their eyes hollowing out into black orbs. The victims were dragged deep into the darkness, swallowed whole by the Puritan's deadly Aura.

As the Puritan approached, it looked... different from how it appeared within the Seal World she had spent so long in. The creature she had fought for so long was bipedal and possessed only a single set of arms. But this one possessed a second pair of arms jutting from its back wielding massive shovels. It still possessed the same black skin that looked like it was little more than a thin film containing inky, gaseous darkness that it held within. The thick, muscular limbs that had it now towering over five storeys into the air. Its ugly, warped head was still that of a boar with four, enormous tusks and thick, spikey mane. The horns that jutted from its brow now had three other companions that formed a sort of spikey crown.

"Puritans, however, are still technically of another world," R3 explained. "Because of this, this reality still constantly fights against it. As time goes by, it will degrade. In the span of a week, if unopposed, this Puritan will just fade into nothingness. This reality will reabsorb its essence into itself. Though it may have the power of an entire flawed reality behind it, even the greatest Puritan is just a foreign object. It may cause incredible damage but eventually, it will succumb

"That's the same thing that happened with those people you saved, as I'm sure you've seen. They were aliens in a reality that was not their own. You watched them weaken but you fed them, kept them healthy as much as possible. But each time one of them passed away whether it was due to the elements or because the Puritan got them, their essence is absorbed into the Seal World, empowering it.

"The Puritan will attempt to do the same. It will try to keep itself stable by constantly consuming the world around. But it will not be enough with the amount of energy it is burning up in comparison to the amount it can take in. In time, it will fade."

"The Aura..." murmured Dorothy. "Every Puritan has always had an area around it that was deadly and seemed to just degrade anything within it." True to her words, as the Puritan approached them, the asphalt beneath its feed blackened and crumbled into the dust. The strong, concrete structures crawling with foliage withered around it.

"A Puritan," R3 concluded, "a single fragment of Chaos used to anchor a Seal and thus keep Chaos from spreading. Even the best of intentions can have devastating consequences."

"How will doing this stop Chaos from spreading!?" Dorothy demanded. "There are billions of people in the world! Does Abaddon intend to turn them all into Seals?"

R3 shook his head grimly. "Much worse. But that is neither here nor there."

The scene of carnage vanished just as drones from the Brood Mother descended upon the Puritan. Transports were dropping members of SWORD and Gale's elite to stall the Puritan's advance. The sky just began to darken again, the tell-tale sign of a Puritan getting ready to unleash its beam.

Dorothy gave a shout and charged towards the Puritan only for it to vanish back into the nothingness of Naught.

"We have to stop it! It'll kill hundreds!"

"Two hundred forty-eight thousand, seven hundred and forty-six to be exact," R3 responded grimly.

"Don't you care!?" she pleaded. "People will die!" She charged at him, seizing the collar of his cloak. "You said you're here to grant everyone their happy ending but you're just going to let them die!?"

He gently took her hands and gripped them tightly. "You have to understand, Dorothy, that a story does not end with death. Your story is still being written and, if you so wish, I can show you your happy ending."

******

For the fifth time that day, that deafening foghorn-like sound blared. A dark beam erupted from the Puritan rampaging through the city. The blast cut right through the entire districts, cleaving once proud towering skyscrapers in half and sending the debris crashing into the streets below. The screams of the citizens of Pollenburn mixed with the sirens and the alarm that rang throughout the entire city. That alarm, a sound that hadn't been heard for centuries, warned everyone of the presence of a Puritan.

With swarms of drones and fighters zooming out of the Brood Mother, MODD was scrambling everything it could to stop the titanic creature.

Jacob wondered how long before MODD fired its particle cannon.

"A one-winged Puritan..." Rex murmured, his eyes so wide that they almost popped out of his head. He had to cling onto Silas for support. "Holy shit... Even with one wing... Untheril was destroyed in the fourth year of the Great Seal War... The entire island of Netherhall was shattered by another in the second year... Two days after the cataclysm at Hox, a one wing killed millions in Barrowton!"

Jacob spun to face his brother, seizing the smaller wolf's collar and giving him a strong slap across the cheek. The sound of his paw smacking against Rex's flesh seemed to snap not only his brother but everyone around them of their paralytic fear.

"What was that for?" Rex demanded, gently rubbing his cheek.

"Years of neglect. Your encyclopaedic knowledge of one winged Puritans triggering the jock instinct in me to beat you up. You're not helping. Because I wanted to. Take your pick." Jacob let go of his brother and turned back towards the carnage before him. "We have to get out of here. If that Puritan turns around and fires it beam at the Tower, we're all screwed."

"Good idea. Let's take the Hive Queen -"

As if to completely contradict Rex's suggestion, the next blast of the Puritan Beam shot straight into the sky. The Brood Mother barely managed to swerve away, avoiding a fatal hit. The beam still tore right through its hull and took a giant chunk from its flank.

"Or not..."

Jacob quickly did a quick assessment. The Puritan was heading northwest. The Tower was on the southern reaches of the city. With the Arc Field down, it would be easy to find a way out of the city, away from the monster. The problem was that those that he had saved were just average Joes and Janes. Few if any of them would know how to pilot military grade transports. Going on foot would be a death sentence.

He turned towards the others, searching for a solution. His eyes settled on Silas' collar.

"Silas, can you give the Brood Mother a call on that?" he asked, pointing at the communicator. "If she can spare any transports, we can get all these people off this Tower and out of here. Even just some pilots would be great. There are enough vehicles up here to get everyone out of the city."

Marcus's tail thumped the ground. "Good idea. Make sure they send us a heavily armed one too. Maybe we can steer the Puritan away from the city centre."

"Whoa! Wait!" Jacob exclaimed, lifting his paws. "You want us to fight that thing? In case you've forgotten, that's a Puritan down there. As in the nightmarish bogeyman that's haunted Mortaelis ever since the Great Seal War? The thing that if it blows up will take out this entire city? We can't fight that! We have to evacuate!"

Marcus seemed shocked at his words. "Jake, there are millions of people down there." He gestured at the deteriorating city. "We can't just leave them if we can stall that thing for at least a little while."

"And die in the process?" Jacob retorted. "Marcus, I'm all for being heroic when it seems logical but there are times when you have to fight and when you have to run." He jabbed a finger towards the ground. "This is one of those times when you spin right around and fly so far and so fast away that you leave a ghostly image behind!"

His boyfriend stared at him fiercely, crossing his arms. "I'm not leaving. There are people down there that need my help and given the situation, I think we're the only ones with enough power to stop that damn thing."

Jacob huffed loudly. "Oh I see. This is one of those times where your arm crossing symbolises your determination, right? Well..." He lunged at Marcus' thick, meaty forearms, seizing them and tugging at them. Marcus growled at him but kept his arms solidly crossed. Jacob gave up a moment later, taking a step back and growling.

"Jake," Rex said tenderly. "We have to help..."

"Then let's help by getting people out of the city!" Jacob shouted. "We can't all be macho and follow the heroic tropes where we fight the big bad monster because monster slaying is what heroes do!" He tapped his temples rapidly. "You've got to think, here! That Puritan can fire off a beam that can freeze anyone with fear around it. It can explode and take out a whole city block at a moment's notice and walk out unscathed! We can't even get near it without being ripped to shreds by his Aura! Then there's its Wave -"

A high pitched keening noise like nails on a chalkboard interrupted his speech. He pressed his paws against his ears to block off the sound but to little avail. The sound seemed to be coming from within his brain and scratching at his eardrums from inside. Teeth grit together, he spun towards the direction of the Puritan, one eye shut.

Far below, the Puritan had crouched down on all fours, dark energies writhing towards its large wing. It let out one, monstrous roar. A crescent-shaped blade of pure dark energies erupted from its wing, shooting from the curve of the wing and racing high into the sky. The Archangels that had been bombarding it from the sky were unable to move away fast enough as the wave rapidly expanding, reaching well over a kilometre in width though still remaining just a few inches in thickness. The females were sliced in two instantly, their forms descending towards the ground in a bloody rain. Despite the power of the Puritan Wave, it quickly dissipated, not even reaching the top of the highest skyscraper.

"That thing!" Jacob shouted once the screeching ended. "We need to run!"

"I'm with Jake," Cal announced. "We have to get out of here! The Puritan will take ages to rampage through the city, right? We can help people to the evacuation stations and leave the city. When we're clear, the Black Ring can fire its particle cannon and get rid of that thing!"

Joanna stepped forward. "The Unsealed have a cache near here. There should be something there that we can use to aid in the escape. I can call our agents within the city as well to help in the evacuation." She pointed at the distance. "With the Arc Field down, we can get people out of the city. I can make roads so that the highways aren't congested. We can even -"

"Do you even hear yourselves!?" came a fierce bark. Max stormed forward, standing directly in front of Jacob. "I know you're not part of MODD, Jake, and I know you don't have a responsibility to save this city. But you're not just a Worldrider anymore. You can't just take the quickest and safest rout from Point A to Point B. Yes, I agree that evacuating and just waiting for some superweapon to wipe that thing off the face of Mortaelis is the easiest way to deal with this. But turn around."

Jacob shook his head, not understanding Max's demand. "What? I -"

"Just turn around."

Hesitantly, he slowly began to turn, taking in the city in chaos all around him.

"This is the home of millions of people. Lives were built here. Each block of concrete, every pane of glass, every leaf on a tree is part of someone's life. Imagine all of that wiped away." Max rested a hand on Jacob's shoulder, gripping it tightly. He slowly turned Jacob back around... to see the faces of those that he had saved. "People will always rebuild but nothing will ever replace what would be lost if this place goes up in smoke. We need to fight for what we can, save what we can. It doesn't make sense. It's not logical. But some things just aren't." He pressed his hand against Jacob's chest, just over his heart. "You've walked the sidewalks of this city, you've breathed its air, you've -"

"Built one of its apartment buildings..."

Max's eyebrows rose. "Huh?"

Jacob gave his best friend a lopsided smile. "Few days ago. I actually helped build one of its apartment buildings." He covered his eyes with a paw and laughed softly. "Fuck... and here I thought that was just filler..." With a heavy sigh, he dropped his arm and nodded. "Alright, fine. Let's kick that Puritan's ass."

Max beamed and tapped his collar. "Gale, Sherry. I'm here with Jacob and Rex on top of the Tower roof." He glanced over his shoulder. "We've got maybe a hundred, two hundred non-combatants here. We need evac. We'll also need a transport. Quick."

******

Gale was utterly stunned when Max had made his request for evacuation. Not only because he had been focused on his efforts to stall the Puritan but also because the dragon had told him that Jacob was back. He had immediately sent a fleet of transports towards the Tower, ordering the ones carrying the non-combatants to flee the city. An ensign told him that Balthazar was demanding an audience again but he just ignored it and immediately raced towards the Brood Mother's hanger, eagerly waiting what had to be the first good thing to have happened since Boswin's failed coup.

When that transport finally did land, he rushed over alongside Sherry and several medics. Max was the first off the transport but he was closely followed by Rex, Silas, Cal and Jacob Reaper. Joanna, Marcus and Caroline brought up the rear, looking to have recently been patched up from battle.

"I knew he would return, yes," hissed Snakebite, his eyes mad with glee. "I felt it. He was alive. Yes."

"How...?" Gale began, staring at the survivors of the Tor.

"I... sort of blew up Dorothy's Tor..." Jacob answered with a sheepish grin. "And as a result... she became a Puritan."

"Dorothy is that thing?" Sherry demanded.

"I don't think so. I think Dorothy is..." Jacob glanced over to Caroline who gave him a comforting smile and a nod. "I'm sorry." Caroline told him it was fine and that she understood. She seemed strangely more grateful than anything else. Turning back towards Gale, he asked, "What's the plan?"

Gale gestured that they follow while some of the medics rushed over to Jacob and gave him a nutrient drink and a wet towel. The blood dripping from the wolf's nose had long dried and he refused the drink, saying that he had some on the transport. He did take the towel though to clean himself up.

"We're trying to keep the Puritan contained," answered Gale as they hurried through the ship. They had to board a small tram to quickly take them from the bridge back to the bridge. "From what we've learned of Puritan behaviour from the Great Seal War, they're wild and unpredictable but are driven by self-preservation. If we keep hitting it, it'll chase whatever has hit it. But it seems hesitant to go back to places it's already been. We're leading it in a tight circle around the CBD so that we have time to evacuate people elsewhere."

He glanced from face to face. None of them knew about the outbreak. Learning of it would shatter their hopes and it might even cause them to turn on Rex for his hand in starting it. But Sherry was right. There was a time for compassion and a time for control. That fact had to be made known or it would only hurt them in the long run.

"Evacuation is proving to be difficult, however," he said. "Outbreaks of the plague have broken out all over Pollenburn and is spreading rapidly. We're stretched thin especially since most of our Hive Queens have been taken." He nodded towards Sherry. "We're prepping the remaining Hive Queen and smaller frigates and cruisers for deployment and that will help us greatly and I've already sent requests for backup from both the Rillotian military and Sierra down at Angelsea. But I fear by the time they get here, it'll be too late."

"What about orbital reinforcements from the Black Ring?" Max asked. "They can get here faster than anyone else."

Gale's expression remained grim. "We won't get them. We've been given the directive to evacuate as many people as possible. We have six hours to do so. After that, the particle cannon will fire."

"What!?"

Gale had been prepared for the universal cry of shock and lifted his hand for silence. "That's being generous. I've already begged them to give us that much and that's as much as the board is willing to grant. They're still in talks with the Rillotian President but they're sure that in six hours, they'll have convinced him to fire the particle cannon, wiping both the plague and the Puritan from Mortaelis. Anyone left in the city before then will be obliterated."

He gave everyone a moment to soak in his words. They effective had six hours to evacuate a population of approximately five million people with no reinforcements. MODD was unwilling to risk more of its assets in what the board deemed a doomed cause. Sierra was rushing over some of her troops to aid but even she realised it wouldn't arrive in time. The Rillotian government was paralysed with fear and by the time they deployed, too much damage would've already been done.

It seemed hopeless.

"Send me in."

His gaze fell on Jacob. "Pardon?"

"Back in the Seal World, I fought the Puritan. Realmbreaker caused it damage. A lot of damage. More than enough to force it to retreat. I think I'll be able to subdue it... maybe... possibly... 10% chance... okay, maybe 1%..."

"You can kill a Puritan?" Cal demanded. "Why didn't you mention this before?"

"I was for running away, remember? And last I checked, so were you!"

Cal grimaced and turned away from Jacob.

"Jake, it's too risky," Rex chimed in. "I don't want to lose you..."

Jacob's features softened towards his brother for the briefest of moments. Then he snapped a fierce stare back towards Gale. "I know the risks but we have try, right? I've been convinced that it's better to fight for a lost cause than to run away from it so I'm committing to that. But..." He lifted a finger. "I'm not going down there without a plan."

Gale nodded firmly as the tram came to a stop. "I agree. And I think I already have an idea."

******

Four hours until the particle cannon fired.

Jacob stood on the transport, tugging at the new SWORD coat he had been given. It was uncomfortably tight especially around his arms and shoulders. He was tempted to just do without it but since Gale had given it to him, he was hesitant to be rid of it. Gale had given him a new shirt similar to the one he had been given earlier just after he had punched out Rex. One thing he had insisted on was to keep a set of black cargo pants just like his old set.

He glanced out one of the small windows of the transport. The city really was going to hell. Huge growths of vines had been rapidly spreading all over the city with the very same vines sprouting flowers that spewed the infectious pollen into the air. Near the city's centre, the Puritan's dark aura blackened everything from the buildings to the sidewalks.

"God, I hope this works..." he mumbled.

Rex padded over to him and gripped the collar of his coat, flipping it up. "It'll work," he said firmly. "It has to. If not, more than five million people are going to die."

"If not to the Puritan, then the plague," Jacob responded grimly. He ran a paw down his face as Rex fussed over him. "Fuck... If I had known..."

"You couldn't have known," Rex answered. "It's not your fault. You did what you thought was right. Who could've guessed that by freeing us, you unleashed the hellish monster from our nightmares that can level an entire city?"

He let out a derisive snort. "I guess I know how you felt when you accused Boswin in public and effectively prompted him to start his rebellion early." Rex hesitated and Jacob gave his brother a light punch. "Just kidding." He gave Rex a gentle smile. "Gale told me that you did it because you were trying to get back at Boswin from sending Dorothy at me. You know he had no idea I was on that train, right?"

Rex couldn't meet his gaze. "I know. But he still endangered your life..."

With his paw, he began counting off some points. "So you orchestrated a whole gala, spending possibly millions just on an elaborate trap for Boswin, not fully knowing how he'd react on the thin premise that I just happen to be on the same train that Marcus and Realmbreaker was on. That about cover it?"

"Pretty much." Rex wasn't even doing anything to straighten Jacob's coat, he was just tugging at the belt that kept it tightly wrapped around his younger brother's waist.

"You know that's probably the most brotherly thing you've ever done for me since we met up again."

His brother's eyes lifted in surprise. "Huh?"

"Barring the crazy consequences, it's actually... kind of sweet," Jacob admitted with a laugh. "How many brothers can say that their sibling would willingly endanger millions of lives for him?"

"Can I get that in writing?"

"Hell no." He poked Rex's chest. "You've still got years to make up for."

The look of relief on Rex's face made Jacob feel a little strange. He never knew or really registered how much he hated his brother until they had met up again. Having moved on from it, he had pushed it into the recesses of psyche and forgotten about it. But when Rex came back into his life, those repressed emotions came erupting back out violently. To feel something else for his brother apart from emptiness and hatred was odd. He could still feel that rage there and his instinct was to just push it aside but to find a third option...

Rex glanced at Jacob's arms. "Those sleeves look a little tight on you..."

"I feel like I'll pop out of this thing if I flex," he grunted. "Do I really have to wear this thing?"

"Hey, imagine what'll happen if the world sees that you defeated the first Puritan in hundreds of years while wearing MODD attire."

"But I'm not with MODD."

Rex smiled and unbuttoned the cuffs on Jacob's wrists. He then rolled up the sleeves so that it bunched up against his biceps. As he did the same with the other arm, he ran his paw against Jacob's back. The colours of the fabric itself began to twist and change. The distinct white of MODD remained but it was pierced by sharp lines of the black that Worldriders were so fond of. The emblem on Jacob's back also morphed and changed, fading away from the SWORD emblem to the old design of wolf with a planet in its jaws.

"There, how's that?" he asked.

Jacob regarded his new attire and stood up in front of the shiny walls of the transport to catch sight of the emblem. "Not bad."

Rex patted his back gently. "You think we'll win."

"We'll win. Otherwise this'll be a _very_short reboot."

His brother chuckled softly just as Max, the pilot of their transport, announced that they were just seconds away from the Puritan. Jacob and Rex hurried over to the wall mounted seats and strapped themselves in. Opposite to him, Joanna and Cal were similarly strapped in, healed, in fresh clothing and armour and ready for combat. In another transport approaching from the opposite direction, Silas, Marcus, Sherry and Caroline were on approach. Several other transports carrying elite SWORD members were closing in on the Puritan.

He closed his eyes. The temptation was there to peer into the endless possibilities with Realmbreaker. Some assurance that he wasn't just rushing to his death would've steeled his resolve. Not knowing was what caused his knees to weaken. The overwhelming fear of losing someone he cared for brought back memories of when his mother died and the heartbreak that followed.

"You know what scares me the most?" Rex began softly.

"What?" he responded, keeping his eyes closed.

"Losing you. You're the only family I have left, Jake. I don't think I could take it if I lost you too."

"Might just be the kick in the pants you need to patch things up with dad."

He felt Rex's paw on his thigh. "Please don't say that, Jake. I know I haven't been the best brother in the world. But I swear from now on, I'll be there for you. I'll be there to bail you out of the clubs that we're meant to be seen at, put that emergency call so you can ditch the date that's just plain awful and I'll even give you acting lessons. I'll cover for your media presence too if you want."

Jacob slowly opened his eyes, staring at the metal floor. "Rex..."

"Yeah...?"

"Shut it." He offered his brother a soft smile. "But I'm glad you think we'll make it out of this one."

"Hang on ladies!" Max shouted over the speakers. "Operation Cleansing Wind will begin in three..."

Jacob lifted his paws in front of his muzzle, bolts of white lightning crackling between his fingertips.

"... two..."

A blast of light erupted from Rex's paws, heralding the entrance of his Seal Weapon.

"One!"

Gunfire suddenly erupted from all around them. Through the windows, Jacob saw the dozens of other transports unleashing their rockets and bullets. Somewhere beneath them, the Puritan had been lured into one of Pollenburns vast parklands for easy manoeuvrability and lower collateral damage. The explosions that erupted shook even the transport.

The sky began to darken ominously and that crippling fear set in. Jacob immediately shook it off.

"Max!" he shouted.

The transport suddenly jerked to the right.

The Puritan Beam cut through the line ring of transports a good distance away but everyone around Jacob just seemed to snap out of the paralysis brought on by the Puritan's signature attack. As the Beam faded, the doors to the transports swung open. Ropes unfurled out of the sides and SWORD members dropped out.

Jacob unbuckled himself from the seat and rushed to the door. He flung it open, the blustering winds pelting him and causing the coat by his side to billow to his side. Below him, standing on a patch of scorched earth, the Puritan stood. The path it had taken to the middle of the grassy plain was clearly marked by a wide path of darkened earth and blackened grass. Around it, flames flickered out of existence against the choking Black Mist it emitted.

The members of SWORD began closing in around it. Blasts of flame, bolts of lightning, shards of ice and pillars of earth rocketed towards the creature. It showed annoyance and maybe even a sliver of pain as it was bombarded from all directions. The transports continued their bombardment, peppering the creature with a hail of bullets and rockets.

Fed up with the assault, the Puritan reared back, throwing its head into the air, jaws wide. Dark energies collected between its jaws as the sky began to darken. Fear seized the SWORD troops, all their training unable to prepare them for the sheer power of a Puritan. The creature lowered its head, levelling its jaws straight at the line of troops in front of it.

A group of rose petals danced in front of its soulless, black eyes.

Gale coolly swung his Wind Wakizashi_through the air, spinning it once before sliding it back into its sheath. The moment the hilt _clicked against the hard, metal frame, a burst of dark energies erupted from both the creature's knees. It instantly toppled, its beam shooting high into the sky without hitting a thing.

"Wow..." Jacob murmured.

"Power of an Elemental Lord, little bro," Rex said proudly. "Now watch this!" He suddenly leapt out of the transport, even though they were more than fifty feet in the air. The silver haired wolf flung his free paw back, scintillating light gathered in his paws and solidifying to form an immense, stylised lance of light. "Seraphic Lance!"

He flung the lance straight at the Puritan. It punctured the creature's right leg, pinning it straight to the ground. Then, out of nowhere, six other lances descended from the skies, skewering the creature.

A portal of dark energies appeared beneath Rex and its twin sprang up from the ground right next to Gale. As Rex descended into the first, he sprang up from the second. Gravity quickly took over and pulled him back to the ground. The portal closed and he landed deftly on his feet. Cal dropped the rope beside Jacob and began rappelling down to the ground.

Joanna suddenly dove past Jacob, executing an elegant swan dive straight into the ground. She dipped into ground, disappearing beneath the grass with the earth rippling as she passed. Just as the Puritan let out a roar and yanked Rex's lances off, the creature's back suddenly arched. An enormous spire of rock erupted right from its chest, led by Joanna. The Puritan showed no pain and with Joanna right in its sights, it opened its jaws, conjuring the power for another Beam.

A blur of brown fur suddenly collided with Joanna and then she was gone. The Puritan unleashed its Beam at nothing. The blur stopped right beside Rex. Marcus unwound his arms from around Joanna, bringing Windbreaker around in time to see the earth that skewered the Puritan rot into blackness. The creature rose to its feet, the hole in its chest quickly sealing up.

Before it could fully rise, something big slammed into the back of its head. Two, large, metallic serpents rose up from Snakebite's back, their jaws opening to reveal their chain guns. The massive Clan leader let out a monstrous roar and his twin snakes unleashed their payload on the Puritan beneath him. At point blank range, the bullets tore right through the Puritan's flesh. But without the ability to truly feel pain, the Puritan reached up with one massive hand and swiped at Snakebite. The Clan leader leapt easily off the creature, landing deftly on his metallic legs while the Puritan was still reeling.

None of those on the ground gave it any mercy. Gale whipped out his Wakizashi, swinging it through the air. Compressed air coalesced from the path of each of his slashes, forming thin, whipping winds that would've torn right through flesh. Infused with his Seal, the Wind Blades sliced into the flesh of the Puritan. Rex shouted 'Cosmic Cutter' and spinning blades of energy sprang up around him, flying at the beast like shuriken. Marcus spun in place, swinging his massive swords around him. His spin summoned a circular blade of bright light that launched itself at the Puritan like a bladed disc. Beside him, Joanna slammed her feet into the ground, large blocks of rock leaping into the air in front of her. She made punching motions and each shard shot straight at the Puritan. Combined with the bombardment from the rest of SWORD and the Puritan under constant fire.

It roared more out of annoyance as it was forced backwards. Driven by the need for self-preservation, the Puritan's wing began to glow. A noise like a thousand angry bees buzzing began to fill Jacob's ears.

"It's going to Blast..." he murmured. "It's going to Blast!"

Max instantly began to veer the transport away. Down below, Sherry began barking orders. Select SWORD troops suddenly began racing past the line of attackers, amongst them Cal and Silas. Ice suddenly jutted from the ground all around the Puritan, rising high and closing in around the Puritan rapidly as a solid, icy-blue dome. The SWORD troops pressed their hands and paws against the wall. An ethereal blue light touched ice. The light formed the distinct shape of one of the Forbidden Seals, the Seal of Finality.

Deep within the dome, the Puritan erupted. The explosion was dulled by the thick dome of ice reinforced by what was known as the Seal of Invulnerability. The SWORD members constantly used the ice that Caroline generated from her Seal to maintain the power of the Forbidden Seal, creating a perpetually invulnerable prison for the creature.

Jacob held some hope that it would be enough but his optimism was greeted when the Puritan Blast abated and the sky began to darken. The fear brought on by the Puritan Beam froze the SWORD members and the Seal of Finality began to thin the wall of ice.

"Max!" Jacob shouted. "Set her down! I'm going down there!"

"Fuck... How the hell are you not freezing because of that thing!?" Max answered.

Jacob wished he knew the answer but for every Beam that he experienced, he could feel its grip on his heart lessening. "Just get me down there, Max!"

The Beam fired off into the air, cutting through an entire transport entirely. He winced at the lives lost within that ship. Then the Puritan began dragging its beam across the icy wall, cleaving through another three transports with ease. With a deafening roar, it shattered the icy wall around it, sending the SWORD troops scattering.

Jacob's eyes widened in horror when one body fly through the air and land a short distance away from the Puritan. A moment later, a huge block of ice slammed into the lower half of the wolf's body, pinning him to the ground.

"Cal!" he screamed, leaping out of the transport.

The young wolf met his gaze before quickly turning back towards the emerging Puritan. The _Black Mist_poured out of the shattering icy dome, quickly advancing on the poor, pinned soldier. Cal met Jacob's eyes one more time... filled with fear.

Jacob balled his fists. "No..." he growled.

He thrust his paw straight towards the Puritan.

A bolt of white lightning raced from his outstretched paw. It struck one of the Puritan's arms, one not clutching a shovel. The electric form raced all over the limb, freezing it in place. Surprise seemed to have crossed the Puritan's features as its entire arm suddenly erupted; simply exploding into a shower of black dust.

Suddenly filled with more drive and determination than he had ever felt in his life, Jacob stalked forward. He swung both his paws to his sides, bolts of Realmbreaker springing from his palms. He quickly crossed the line of gawking SWORD members. Gale and the rest moved aside to give him way as a whole array of Realmbreaker bolts sprang from his back, almost taking the shape of a pair of glimmering, white wings.

He quickly crossed the distance to Cal and the other injured soldier. The Black Mist visibly avoided him, leaving a ring of clear air around him. He stepped in front of Cal, standing over the downed wolf defensively.

A short distance away, the Puritan eyed him warily. No pain registered on its features. It didn't even seem to realise that it had lost its arm. Inky blackness began seeping out of the stump, slowly reforming the lost limb. The titanic creature reached across the icy wall, the barricade rapidly melting and turning into a sickly, black slush. It suddenly roared and charged.

Jacob rushed forward. The Puritan's shovel came swiping at him from the left and he deftly dove forward, slipping right between the creature's legs. He sprang to his feet behind the surprised creature, flinging his paws in the direction of the beast. The bolts in his paws rocketed up towards the jet-black back. The creature's flesh reacted immediately. It ruptured just like its arm, disintegrating into dust in large, circular chunks where the bolts hit.

Unlike the Puritan's arm, that flesh began to close but at a much slower rate than any of the other wounds it has sustained. The Puritan suddenly spun faster than Jacob expected. Its shovel came sweeping around and slammed into him with the force of a speeding truck. Blood and air rushed right out of Jacob's muzzle and pain exploded from his back when he slammed hard against the remainder of the icy wall.

Every part of his instinct told him to leave, to run and save himself.

But then he recalled Max's words.

He wasn't just a Worldrider anymore.

With a grunt, he propped himself up on his knee, fangs gnashed together and bloody as the Puritan approached him. He stared into its black eyes.

Fire suddenly erupted from its flanks followed by bolts of ice. An enormous slab of rock the size of a house slammed into its head, sending it staggering to the ground. Jacob took the moment to rise to his feet fully. He coughed and every breath hurt immensely. A gently touch to his chest and he winced. A rib felt broken and he wasn't sure if the blood he was coughing up was because of Realmbreaker or a far more serious injury.

The high pitched keening of a Puritan Wave caught his attention, bringing his attention back towards the downed creature. The monster got back up on all fours, letting out a thunderous roar as dark energies gathered in its wing. It was angled away from him in the direction of the attacks.

Jacob growled and flung his paws forwards. All the Realmbreaker bolts hanging over his shoulders flung forward in a dizzying shower of light. The Puritan's eyes went wide for the briefest of moments before they were both punctured by the bolts. It roared as its body was suddenly ripped to shreds by the bolts and a flurry of black dust sprung from its form. Its Wave died in its agony and it clutched its eyes with its injured hands.

It was hurt and disoriented.

Jacob flung his paw forward, a bolt of lightning arcing from his fingertips. He had hoped to strike the creatures' head and completely eliminate its ability to use a Puritan Beam. But with its hands over its features, he struck the limb instead. As the limb burst into a flurry of dust, Jacob felt the weakness from overusing _Realmbreaker_hit him hard and he fell to his paws and knees, blood dripping from his nostrils and pouring out between his lips.

"Shit... not now..."

He tried to push himself back up but his limbs would just not respond. It was taking everything he had just to keep from collapsing entirely to the ground. All light around him suddenly began to fade. The chilling fear of a Puritan Beam began creeping into him. Somehow, he managed the strength to look up and see the Puritan's jaws wide open, levelled straight at him.

"Move..." he told himself. But his body would not respond. "Goddamnit! Move!"

All he could do was crouch there, watching as his death rapidly approached.

Suddenly, a big, burly figure bearing a large shield appeared in front of him.

Silas crouched, his shield up and shutting his eyes tightly. The beam of utter darkness descended upon them just as the Seal of Finality activated. Jacob gawked in the shadow of the burly wolf, somehow holding the full might of a Puritan Beam back by himself. He saw the pouch of ball bearings Silas had on his side had been depleted. He wondered where Silas was getting the material to power the Seal.

Then he noticed that the wolf's fur was shining.

"No..." he croaked.

Silas gave him a shaky grin, fighting through the pain of his entire body being use to fuel his Seal. The edges of his fur began to dissolve in a shower of tiny, light blue stars. "You're on the top of Rex's priority list, kiddo. Take care of him for me, will you?"

He had seen the way Rex clung onto Silas but had dismissed it. Maybe it was just a reflective reaction to the situation. After all, they had just been thrown past a Tor. But now... with Silas' words, he realised that there was more to the act than just fear.

"No!" he shouted, immediately seizing Silas' free paw. Lightning raced from his paw and then all throughout Silas'. The bluish glow encasing Silas suddenly became a scintillating white and all the pain on Silas' features faded, replaced by a look of utter surprise. The Puritan Beam was suddenly being pushed back instead of just being kept at bay. The older wolf gawked as he found the strength to rise to his feet, pulling Jacob up with him. Even though they were no longer hidden behind completely by his shield, the Seal somehow had extended its influence, pushing the Beam back a good ten feet away.

The Puritan pulled back, shutting its jaw.

Around the two wolves, the ground had been cleaved into by the sheer might of the Puritan Beam. They practically stood on a sole island, a pillar of rock in the middle of a pit. Silas seemed just as shocked as the Puritan at their survival.

"I'm ending this," Jacob growled, lifting his right paw into the air. Streaks of light began pouring out of his paw, collecting above his head and spinning rapidly in a tight ball. As more and more streaks joined the ball, it grew, brilliant light emanating from the sphere until not even a single gap remained within its mass.

The Puritan reared its head back, the sky darkening again.

Jacob shrugged off the fear of the Puritan Beam, focusing on the race between him and the beast to charge their respective attacks. He was ahead but the Puritan was quickly catching up. His vision began to blur and he felt blood well up in the back of his throat and drip down his nose. He coughed, his knees toppling beneath him. Silas seized his chest, keeping him standing. He gave the older wolf a nod before turning his gaze back towards the Puritan.

"Hey bitch," he growled.

The Puritan closed its jaws around the dark ball of energy, ready to unleash it straight at Jacob. All it had to do was angle its head towards the two. Its black, partially formed eyes met Jacob's fierce, laser-like, sapphire-blue orbs.

"Other paw."

Jacob suddenly thrust his left forward, a blast of white lightning instant closing the distance between them. It struck the creature's head dead on. The lightning encased its entire skull before its features suddenly burst into a cloud of black dust. Despite losing its head entirely the creature just staggered back.

But its Beam had been stalled.

And that was his opening.

With a roar, Jacob threw his right paw directly at the creature.

"Ultima Thule!"

Beams of light suddenly began streaking out of the enormous sphere of light above Jacob. It struck the Puritan, shooting right through its body and ripping anything it touched into the same, black dust. Another struck it half a millisecond later followed by another and another and another. The monster's limbs began flinging wildly side to side as hundreds upon hundreds of needle-like beams perforated its body. Its entire left arm was consumed by the beams. Big as it was, its chest got the brunt of the attacks but all forms of regeneration just seemed to give up and all remaining fragments began to dissolve it a beam didn't strike it first. A haunting roar gurgled from the Puritan's throat... before its last pieces vanished into a cloud of black dust. Even that faded into nothingness as the reality of Mortaelis consumed the foreign substance.

Silas couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Even though it was a one winged Puritan, defeating one such creature was the mark of a legend. Better yet, he hadn't expected to live past defending Rex's brother. He wasn't sure what compelled him to move even though the Puritan's Beam would've otherwise frozen him in place. But when he saw Jacob kneeling there, helpless... and recalled how damaged Rex was after the loss of his mother... He couldn't just stand there.

He willingly threw his life away for Jacob and Rex... and yet he found himself alive thanks to the very wolf he was defending.

"Oh my god..." he breathed, taking in the two miracles. "Jacob... you..."

He felt the weight of the big wolf fall entirely on him. Jacob had fallen unconscious, blood dripping from his nose and lips.

"Jacob!" he cried, quickly setting the wolf down on the ground. His pulse was worryingly shallow.

"I need a medic!" he shouted. "Rex! Gale! Anyone!"

******

"You planned this, didn't you?"

"How could you accuse me of that?" R3 asked mockingly. "I told you not to unleash the plague until after the Puritan has been unleashed. You let it out a full thirty minutes before."

Hades couldn't help but keep the smile on his lips. Even from his distance, he could see the events that had transpired in Pollenburn. A new hope had sprung up for him... and it resided within the Wielder of Realmbreaker. "I do wonder if it will have made a difference. But this has_made me realise the importance of _Realmbreaker. I had dismissed it as a fleeting inconvenience, something Tiamat or Abaddon would be interested in that would only hamper my own endeavours but now..."

He grinned off into the distance. "I do believe I could have use of it. The only thing that remains is capturing its Wielder..."

"Well you won't have to worry about it coming within reach just yet. They'll be coming here."

Hades spun towards R3, eyeing the mysterious Sixth Chaos Lord. "You're joking."

"Nope. Because you unleashed the plague so soon, forcing MODD to divide its efforts on the Puritan and the plague, your Valkyrie's Kiss has now spread farther than MODD can possibly stop without a particle cannon strike. Gale Winthrop has already deduced that there is a central consciousness controlling the _Kiss_and I told Rex about how it maintains its stability and presence on this reality."

The Writer inclined his head to the side. "Just like a Puritan."

Hades' eyes widened and his grin only grew broader. "And it's already been proven that Realmbreaker is the most effective force against such a force. It won't take much more for the mortal fools to deduce that the force controlling the plague is seated right here."

"And Realmbreaker will be within your reach."

The Chaos Lord of Manipulation threw his head back and laughed. "There are days I question your motivations but this is not one of those days." His smile faded slightly. "Tell me what would have happened had I waited."

The Writer turned the page of the book he was holding. "Had you waited to unleash the plague, MODD will have exhausted but focused forces destroying the plague within Pollenburn. They would have then called a particle cannon strike on this stronghold, burying the Valkyrie's Kiss and rendering it inert until fifty-nine years from now when an archaeological team uncovers it and finds it fossilised and then starting a new plague as it spreads through the unwary science team."

Hades snorted, his smile turning to one of confidence. "A good thing I didn't following your orders then."

"Yes. I know. All according to plan."