-last edited on Jun 10, 2021 19:07:06 GMT by The J
Post by The J on Jun 10, 2021 19:03:16 GMT
The Last Reincarnations
Chapter 16
Leodus blocked a swing from Malgus' scythe with his double-bladed sword, as Fal'qar flew above and tried to strike the mammoth from behind. However, Malgus, while still facing Leodus, curled his asymmetrical wings backwards, and Fal'qar's sword bounced off upon impact without a scratch. The phoenix was blasted into the bushes by the energies lacing the fire and ice wings, as if his presence was automatically repelled by the magic. Tenebrae, holding the chi ghost concoction that'd summoned him, and keeping a good distance away from Malgus in fear of being exorcised, hovered over to where Fal'qar landed. The phoenix stood back up, observing that Leodus was still locking weapons with the enemy. "Listen, you don't need fire chi to melt someone free." The ghost whispered to his ally. "Bring in Lycor. We need all the help we can get." "If you're so opposed to the first Phoenix emperor," Leodus grunted, while holding down Malgus' scythe with ice from the blue half of his sword, "if you know what a complete Illumination entails... then why do you wish to initiate one?? I thought you'd wanted to end this conflict?!" "The fact that I learned the truth is exactly why I stopped caring about my people's revenge on the phoenix." Malgus answered hoarsely. "After all, I'm going to reset the universe anyway." "Are you insane, Malgus?!" Leodus asked. "I am very much sane, Leodus." The mammoth replied. "The nine Harness-bearers retain their memories through the Illumination. I can influence the reset to bring back my family, and all mammoths -no, every Chimian- who lost their lives at the hands of our so-called 'protectors', the Phoenix Tribe. It will simply be at the cost of the lives and identities of others, with their bodies being transformed into the resurrected ones... and those others will, of course, be the Phoenix." "So you are insane." Leodus said. "How so?" Malgus countered. "Is that not the most fair way to go about it? It's the law of equivalent exchange, as our alchemist friend Zarak would've said."
Malgus laughed in satisfaction. "It's only fitting that the Phoenix, who'd been the creators of the Harnesses, as well as the ones responsible for the deaths and transformations of many Ice Hunters, will be the ones sacrificed by their own world-fixing creation." He mused. "But you yourself said that it was one of the Dragons who'd created the Fire Wing Harnesses." Leodus argued. "The Phoenix still followed in his footsteps!" Malgus roared. "They were manipulated, but that doesn't excuse the suffering they had wrought upon my people in the pursuit of 'peace'!" Malgus lunged his head forward, striking his opponent with one of his huge tusks. While it didn't penetrate Leodus' armor, the impact sent the leopard flying into a tree. Leodus coughed as he got up. "Getting tired?" Malgus gloated. "You may look decades younger, but I know you're older than me. Stealing my books on magic during the war and becoming a cheap imitation early in life gave you that extended lifespan, but you have nothing beyond that, Leodus. I am the original wizard!" "I know I'm not as powerful as you." Leodus agreed, looking over the mammoth's shoulder. "But I swear I will stop you even so. I can't let you reset the universe, Malgus!" In two quick motions, the Leopard King pulled two orbs of fire chi out of his bag, plugging one and throwing the other over Malgus' head. Lycor, unfrozen by Fal'qar while Leodus had been distracting the enemy, jumped into view above Malgus, grabbing and plugging the thrown orb in midair, and then coming down with an overhead slash. Malgus only began to dodge to the side as the lion descended, so the Fire Valious took off the skeletal wing made of ice from the Elemental Wizard's Harness. Malgus grunted and spun to face Lycor as his fallen wing disintegrated into the grass, and another ice wing started to materialize in its place. "Darn, just barely missed." Lycor growled, shifting into a fighting stance as Leodus tossed a fire chi orb to Fal'qar, who landed to Lycor's left.
"It's most unfortunate that you won't allow yourselves to stay frozen," Malgus said darkly, "because this means I have no choice but to take all of your lives. I can't allow the truth about the Great Illumination to be spread; I need the other eight Harness-bearers to be fully willing to participate when the time comes, so none of you, including you, Tenebrae, will be leaving this forest..." "That won't happen, Malgus." Fal'qar said. "These two men have shown me that the truth we know will not fall on deaf ears. I will ensure that this information is spread, at all costs." "Honestly, you should be thanking me." Malgus said, shaking his head. "Not only will my Illumination restore the Elemental Balance, it'll also free the Phoenix from their eternal reincarnation. Ultimately, everyone wins." "Resetting the universe is a cop-out that will invalidate all the sacrifices made across history!" Lycor roared. "I regret not putting an end to your delusions when we were in the Wastelands!" Before the battle could resume, a bright light suddenly appeared behind Malgus. He turned around, only to be blasted far away from the Forever Rock, along with Lycor, Leodus, Fal'qar, and even Tenebrae's ghost. The energy wasn't red like the Phoenix' powers, nor blue like the Ice Hunters', and it wasn't the yellow lightning the wizards used. Rather, it was a pure white, colorless yet glowing, forceful yet painless, as it pushed the combatants father into the Great Forest.
"It's most unfortunate that you won't allow yourselves to stay frozen," Malgus said darkly, "because this means I have no choice but to take all of your lives. I can't allow the truth about the Great Illumination to be spread; I need the other eight Harness-bearers to be fully willing to participate when the time comes, so none of you, including you, Tenebrae, will be leaving this forest..." "That won't happen, Malgus." Fal'qar said. "These two men have shown me that the truth we know will not fall on deaf ears. I will ensure that this information is spread, at all costs." "Honestly, you should be thanking me." Malgus said, shaking his head. "Not only will my Illumination restore the Elemental Balance, it'll also free the Phoenix from their eternal reincarnation. Ultimately, everyone wins." "Resetting the universe is a cop-out that will invalidate all the sacrifices made across history!" Lycor roared. "I regret not putting an end to your delusions when we were in the Wastelands!" Before the battle could resume, a bright light suddenly appeared behind Malgus. He turned around, only to be blasted far away from the Forever Rock, along with Lycor, Leodus, Fal'qar, and even Tenebrae's ghost. The energy wasn't red like the Phoenix' powers, nor blue like the Ice Hunters', and it wasn't the yellow lightning the wizards used. Rather, it was a pure white, colorless yet glowing, forceful yet painless, as it pushed the combatants father into the Great Forest.
"So, the Guardian of the Forever Rock has reawakened..." Malgus observed as he stood back up. "Hmph. I knew I couldn't keep her sealed for long. Whatever, I've already dealt with Zarak, and if she only just now returned from dormancy, she won't have heard the conversations here, so I need not worry about her. I still wonder where she got that power, though..." Malgus eyed where Fal'qar had landed, and dashed over, grabbing and breaking his enemy's right wing so he couldn't fly out of the forest and alert others to his presence. The phoenix screeched and jabbed at Malgus' chin with the hilt of his sword, slipping out of the mammoth's clutches as he stumbled back. Fal'qar lunged forward and slashed at Malgus' feet to topple the behemoth, wounding one foot even as the wizard brought down his scythe. The tip barely didn't pierce Fal'qar's armor, but the massive weapon still smashed the phoenix into the ground. Malgus stumbled back again, but regained himself. "I've endured far greater." The mammoth grunted. "You are nothing." As Malgus finished his sentence, Lycor and Leodus jumped above him, each one of them aiming to take off an arm with an overhead slash. Malgus sensed their presence, but too late to avoid both strikes. In a split second, he brought up both of his wings, to shield his shoulders. Unlike the "unnatural" Fal'qar, whose body had been automatically repelled by the magic lacing the wings, the two felines' swords came down on each wing. Before they could go through the wings and reach his shoulders, Malgus ducked down in the next second, leaving Lycor and Leodus to tumble over him and onto the ground, on either side of the downed Fal'qar. "These wings are partially immaterial, and remote-controlled." Malgus said, looking down on his opponents as the clipped wings regenerated. "They're not a part of my body, since I have the benefit of not being an avian. No matter how many times you destroy them, they'll return, and I'll feel no pain." "So, don't aim for the wings." Lycor growled, quickly getting up. "Thanks for the tip!"
Scorponok floated in a void, thinking. He knew that Zarak's soul had been forced out, and he was now free to retake control of the body. But why would he? It wasn't his body; it was Zarak's. His own consciousness, his own soul, was an accidental byproduct. As Zarak had explained, "Scorponok" only existed because the phoenix had reincarnated as a primitive creature, mindless and driven by instincts that Zarak couldn't override, until his (also accidental) evolution from chi, when instincts gave way to sentience. "Having those dreams and visions of the Phoenix Isles before they arose," Scorponok said to himself, within his mind, "being able to use fire chi without first passing the trials, being able to draw on the energy of the last Illumination during that battle with the Vultures... Zarak said it himself; that was all him. I was just a puppet of the Phoenix Triumvirate all along. How stupid I was, to think that I had some sort of 'destiny', when in reality it was all utterly meaningless." Scorponok looked down, seeing no hands, no body. In this state, he was just a disembodied voice, only audible to himself. "How do I know I even have a soul?" Scorponok went on. "Or rather, how do we know anyone has a soul, other than the phoenix? Different regions of our brains control different emotions and bodily functions, the scientists back home used to tell me. How then, could our consciousness persist without a physical brain? Is that why us mortals don't reincarnate like the phoenix do? Because we don't have 'souls'? Are our consciousnesses just collections of memories? Are the 'chi ghosts' simply our memories put into a form resembling our dead bodies, to give us the illusion of eternal life, so that we'll continue to serve the Dragons!? Even the destiny Tenebrae mentioned Lycor having was a purpose put in place for him by the Gods, was it not? Are we all just puppets of the Dragons?! Is our existence otherwise meaningless!?" Scorponok stopped himself, doing the mental equivalent of a deep breath as he thought longer, and recovered from his breakdown.
"No... That's a paradox," the scorpion realized, "a self-cancelling paradox. If there's no true reason we exist, then why are we here? If life is meaningless, then why does life exist? Every inanimate material that exists was created for a reason; every drop of water, every orb of chi... So why would nature go to the trouble of creating those things to sustain life, if life didn't have a reason to exist in the first place? If the Dragons created us just to serve them, why would they have given us free will... the freedom to think for ourselves, and to choose what we want to..." Scorponok stopped. "Yes... I see now!" He exclaimed. "I REJECT the concept of meaninglessness!" He opened his eyes, and though he still couldn't see due to the injury Lycor had inflicted, he could feel his body again. Both his arms, all six of his legs, his stinger, all under his control again. Scorponok raised his claws and shouted skyward. "Do you hear me, Dragons, my creators?" He roared triumphantly. "I've figured it out! Us mortals have lives without purpose, so that we may make our own purpose! I am free, and not just because of Zarak leaving my body!" Scorponok lowered his head and walked slowly around the Forever Rock area, feeling around for the dropped bag of chi ghost concoctions. "But," he said thoughtfully, "there are still matters I feel I need closure on, before I can move forward..."
-last edited on Aug 12, 2021 21:19:22 GMT by The J
Post by The J on Aug 12, 2021 21:14:22 GMT
The Last Reincarnations
Chapter 20
Lycor dodged another scythe swing from Malgus, as he had been doing for some time now. While the enormous mammoth moved surprisingly fast for his size, the smaller combatants still had a speed advantage. Lycor, Leodus, and Fal'qar surrounded Malgus, and the Elemental Wizard couldn't block all of their attacks for long, eventually having his scythe knocked out of his hand. "ENOUGH!" Malgus roared, as two new weapons sprouted from his wrists and above his hands, though he wasn't wearing gauntlets. Made of ice, one of them glowing red and the other blue, they were long, thick blades that ended with sharp hooks. Malgus spun around, lashing out with his ice picks, and forcing his three adversaries to jump backward. The mammoth lunged toward Fal'qar and continued to spin, cutting down trees left and right as the phoenix ducked and dodged, and the felines chased after him, deeper into the Great Forest. Malgus stopped his spin and turned to block a swing toward his legs from Leodus, then used his right arm ice pick to block an overhead slash from Lycor at the same time. With another savage roar, Malgus threw them both off of him. "I'm going to end this!" He declared, jumping swiftly forward and continuing to duel Lycor and Leodus. Fal'qar crept over to Tenebrae while keeping his eye on Malgus. "Sorry I can't be of much use in this state--" "What matters is that you get out of here." Fal'qar cut in hastily. "You're now the only one of us who can fly. Leave, and spread the word about all of this." "But Fal'qar--" Tenebrae began. "Oh no, you don't!" Malgus snarled, turning around and dashing toward them before Lycor and Leodus had time to react. Fal'qar jumped in front of Tenebrae with sword in hand, only for the oncoming mammoth to strike him down with an ice pick swing. Tenebrae flew upward, but was followed immediately by the winged Malgus. While this happened, Leodus got an idea, and took out his radio. "We--need--backup." He said hoarsely to Lycor between exhausted breaths.
Tenebrae raced toward the treetops, almost out of the forest... but Malgus was faster in the air. The Elemental Wizard soared above and dived down with an ice pick swing, piercing and ripping apart the chi ghost concoction that'd summoned Tenebrae. "Darn it, see that's why I hadn't tried flying out of here, Fal'qar!" Tenebrae groaned as his ghost dissipated into the air. "Looks like it's up to you who're still in the land of the living." Malgus continued on his flight, passing through the disintegrating ghost as he flew toward Fal'qar. The phoenix got to his feet and looked up in time to dodge Malgus' slashes, in addition to countering with his own. All the while Lycor, using fire chi powered jumps to launch himself from tree to tree, got above Malgus and managed to take the wizard by surprise, slicing off a branch with his valious. As the heavy branch came crashing down on Malgus, Fal'qar leapt overhead to deliver a sword strike to the downed mammoth's chest, only for Malgus to barely curl his wings forward in time, deflecting the reincarnation once again. Blasted back by the magic, Fal'qar dropped his sword and went flying into a tree, smashing into its trunk before falling roughly to the ground. Even as Lycor jumped to a tree behind Malgus, the wizard spun around and sent a magic blast from his right hand. The yellow lightning blasted and fried the branch Lycor had been standing on as he narrowly, and sloppily, jumped off before he could be electrocuted. Lycor vainly threw his valious as he fell into the bushes, and the sword tore straight through Malgus' ice wing before making its mark on the nearest tree. "Even after I explained my reasoning and demonstrated my superior strength, you people still fight me for this hollow cause of yours." Malgus mused as his wing regenerated. "You are truly pitiful..." Malgus turned and flew to where Fal'qar had landed, as the phoenix stumbled to his feet and wiped the dirt from his eyes.
"Wh-- where is Malgus?!" Fal'qar sputtered, looking wildly around. "Looks like your putrid air of confidence and self-importance has worn off, Fal'qar." Malgus scoffed. "MALGUS!" Fal'qar screeched. "WHERE ARE Y--" The phoenix was interrupted as Malgus' right and left ice picks hooked around his upper and lower beak, respectively. "Now, Fal'qar, you who was responsible for the incomplete Illumination that cursed the Ice Hunters," Malgus began, "you will face judgment! Return to the natural cycle, where you belong!" The ensuing flash of orange light nearly blinded Lycor and Leodus, and as it subsided, they saw Fal'qar's body disintegrating into thousands of bright embers, as his ghost floated overhead. "Leodus, Lycor, live on to spread the truth about the Great Illumination!" Fal'qar's spirit quickly urged. The ghost was that of a phoenix, but looked different from Fal'qar's body, since, like with Tenebrae and Zarak, it reflected his original appearance, wearing a pair of spectacles and the ancient patterned robes of phoenix librarians. "Hmph, so you still persist, and for what?" Malgus said, kicking the remaining embers away from him. "I, Tenebrae, and Zarak had grown bitter." Fal'qar continued, ignoring Malgus as his ghost started to dissipate. "We'd lost faith that any in Chima would believe us or side with us, especially after the other member of the Phoenix Triumvirate betrayed us. Now though, I see that we were wrong to think that. Perhaps meeting you two was fate. The reincarnations can't help you prevent a complete Illumination anymore, but we've now passed on the truth..." "What an utterly one-sided viewpoint." Malgus said, shaking his head as the ghost disintegrated. "The concept of resetting the universe may seem frightening, but if done right, it can bring about peace and balance in a way no other method can." He looked at the approaching Lycor and Leodus in turn. "And is that not what you two yearn for? Peace and balance?" "You still can't convince us, Malgus." Leodus replied. "Well... it was worth a shot." The mammoth said, shrugging and shifting into a fighting stance again.
Malgus waved some lingering embers out of the air around him as Leodus and Lycor, who'd retrieved his sword, approached. "And then there were two..." The mammoth said. "It's regretful that you came here, since you wouldn't have been involved in this otherwise. Knowing that the Forever Rock would be a perfect isolated location for the Phoenix Triumvirate's private meeting if the Guardian were to be removed, I came here not long ago and temporarily sealed her. Sure enough, Fal'qar scouted this area, as I had foreseen, and I hid as he left to pick up Zarak." "So that's why you got the jump on everyone." Lycor said. "You were already here." "That's right." Malgus confirmed. "I needed Fal'qar to find Zarak for me, since his current incarnation was one piece of information I hadn't obtained by probing Tenebrae's memory. Ultimately, I figured I'd wait a while longer and listen to their conversation, to learn anything I might not have known. As I said, it's most unfortunate that you two became entwined in this. If you'll spread the truth about the Great Illumination instead of joining me, then you know what has to happen..." "Indeed," Leodus said, glancing sidelong at his friend, who was trying to hide his exhaustion from Malgus, "but we will not fall here, Malgus. I regret not doing this earlier, but it's because I didn't want to resort to it. I had thought that all of us, with our combined strength, would've been able to defeat you..." Leodus plugged a fresh orb of fire chi, and concentrated as he did so, opening his eyes to reveal that they now glowed red. A crimson aura swirled around him as the red blade on his double-bladed sword glowed even more. Both Malgus and Lycor instinctively took a few steps back. "Leodus, what... is this?" Lycor asked. "What's happening??" "It's... complicated." Leodus said. "You may want to take a step back, my friend." Leodus swung his sword, cutting down two trees in a flash as Malgus jumped back, narrowly dodging.
-last edited on Sept 21, 2021 19:34:24 GMT by The J
Post by The J on Sept 21, 2021 19:31:23 GMT
"This power..." Malgus said, blocking a strike from Leodus as the leopard lunged at him. "I've heard the rumors. So that's what becomes of those who'd plugged fire chi before the Age of Becoming." "That, and other experiments conducted on me." Leodus explained, now moving fast enough to match the Elemental Wizard's speed. "It's how I'm able to use magic, I must admit." "So, you are an 'artificial' magic user, just like Senix!" Malgus scoffed, swinging at Leodus' legs with his right ice pick. "Such a disrespect. Those who are truly destined like myself are getting rarer and rarer." Leodus spun in the air to get above Malgus' low blow, then came down, standing on the mammoth's huge weapon briefly before launching a kick square in his enemy's jaw, as Lycor looked on, leaning on his sword while he tried to follow the two fighters' movements. "True." The Leopard King admitted, while cutting down a tree in the way. "I'm the epitome of 'unnatural'. An abomination, even. But aren't you too at this point, Malgus?" "Of course not!" Malgus roared, moving as quick as he could to dodge Leodus' now lightning-fast strikes. "I see the parallel you're trying to draw, Leodus, but I was destined to be a wizard. I was destined to be the Elemental Wizard! And I am destined to save Chima! I cannot... allow myself to be defeated by a misguided monster like you before I can fulfill my purpose!" "You, calling me a misguided monster..." Leodus mused, while halting a blast of yellow lightning with his own. "So, it's as she said, and as I thought; it truly is subjective." Leodus jumped back to dodge a swing from Malgus, and with his glowing red eyes, locked on Malgus with a piercing gaze. The mammoth froze, as if time stopped for him. "What... is this?!" Malgus ground out, trying to move as Leodus started running toward him without averting his gaze. "How... dare you?! Curse you and your repulsive powers!" Leodus, forcing himself not to blink as he kept his eyesight locked on Malgus, first shattering his enemy's two arm-mounted ice scythes, before plunging his sword forward. However, Malgus's arms suddenly moved, grabbing and stopping Leodus as the blade tip hovered half an inch from his chest.
"Must... not... fall here!" Malgus roared as he threw Leodus. The leopard smashed through three trees in a row, before finally having his flight stopped by a bolder; even then, massive cracks shot up through the rock upon impact. "Leodus!" Lycor yelled, walking toward his fallen ally as he regained his strength. "That ability of yours doesn't last very long at all," Malgus said, gasping in exhaustion, "does it, Leodus? Not only that, it seems to have made you more tired after that initial burst in speed. No wonder you hardly use it." Malgus, clenching his fists, began conjuring up a magic storm, one of the more powerful spells. The energy swirled around in front of him, before he let it loose, sending almost the full force of his energy at Leodus. The Leopard King, sitting against the rock, managed to hold his large double-bladed sword out in front of him, blocking the center of the energy blast as the rest of it pushed him into the rock while electrifying him. "No!" Lycor said, coughing, as he reached Leodus. The fire chi in the Leopard King's harness fizzled away, along with the red glow that had replace his normal eye color. Leodus' armor was shattered, the remaining pieces barely hanging onto him, much like the small bits of ripped cloth that used to be his cape. "Looks like... I couldn't beat him," Leodus gasped, "even in... that state. Would've broken my back on this rock too, had it not been for my armor." "Leodus..." Lycor said, looking at Leodus' dropped sword, and then back at the weary mammoth who slowly stomped toward them. "Enough... of this." Malgus whispered hoarsely. "Please... you're just... torturing yourselves at this point. Tenebrae and the reincarnations are no more. It's over. I'm sorry... but it's over." "No, it's not!" Lycor growled, putting down his valious and picking up Leodus' double-bladed sword. He pointed the blue blade of the sword at Malgus, shooting out an ice blast that froze the Elemental Wizard's foot. "Why do you persist?!" Malgus asked as he broke through the ice and continued walking toward the felines. "You know you cannot defeat me!"
-last edited on Sept 21, 2021 20:46:08 GMT by The J
Post by The J on Sept 21, 2021 20:42:46 GMT
Lycor ignored him and roared as he charged toward Malgus, pointing the red blade of Leodus' sword forward. Malgus zapped Lycor with a small burst of lightning, but, despite it being a direct hit, the lion ran through it. "What--?!" Malgus started as Lycor reached him. While having his body racked with electricity, Lycor nevertheless plunged the sword forward, and Malgus just barely managed to shift his position in time for the blade to avoid a vital part. "I have still... endured worse!" Malgus grunted, as the cold, glowing red fingers of his completely skeletal right hand wrapped around Lycor. "ENOUGH!" Malgus threw both Lycor and the sword, and they landed in the dirt next to Leodus. "That... Imperial Knight armor my people designed is durable, isn't it?" Leodus said wryly as he looked sidelong at Lycor. "I suppose I should switch to wearing it." "Leodus, what--?" Lycor groaned in response. "If we survive this, that is." Leodus said thoughtfully, as Malgus readied a charge of lightning from his left hand. Before he could unleash it, however, the loud sound of a Mammoth-Copter started overhead. Malgus looked up at it. "Father!" Malgus II called out, opening the cockpit windshield to reveal himself. "Leodus told me over the radio what you were trying to do. Please, stop this!" "Son... no." Malgus whispered, staring at the arrival. As Malgus' concentration diminished, Leodus grunted and conjured a small blast of lightning in a split second, shooting it at the distracted mammoth. The magic zapped Malgus' head even as he looked back down, and he stumbled back as he was electrocuted. The fire and ice wings on his back suddenly disintegrated, crumbling away as the huge mammoth fell unconscious. Crashing down finally on the forest floor, the Elemental Wizard lay defeated.
Around ten minutes after the battle's end, as the exhausted felines rested, Malgus II finished securing the unconscious Malgus to the underside of the Mammoth-Copter. Lycor finally stood up and turned to Leodus. "I'm heading back over to the Forever Rock." He announced. "I need to confirm something." "Very well." Leodus replied. "I wonder how you'll resolve... that situation." "I'm still wondering myself." Lycor agreed. "Well, here goes." Soon after Lycor walked into the trees with his Valious on his back, Leodus stood up and strode to the landed Mammoth-Copter. He looked down at the former Elemental Wizard. Malgus was now reverted to his previous Ice Hunter form, with his glowing red bones now glowing blue once again, since Leodus had stripped him of the Fire Wing Harness after the fight. The harness, too, had automatically been reverted to its original smaller form. "You still owe me more of an explanation, King Leodus." Malgus II said quietly. "I understand that my father had gone off the deep end, as I dreaded he would ever since he donned the harness, but what exactly is so bad about a complete Great Illumination, to make you side with Tenebrae, of all people?" "Right, I do have a lot to explain still." Leodus agreed. "I'd been giving myself time to process the information, you see. Then, I will tell you the full truth, about everything we learned here today..."
***
Lycor stepped onto the small peninsula overlooking the pond, where the Forever Rock stood as tall as ever. A white fox now sat at the foot of the rock, eyes closed, as she appeared to be meditating. Lycor almost shuddered to think of how powerful the Guardian must be, since Malgus had only been able to temporarily seal her even in his Elemental Wizard state. Thank the... Dragons, I suppose, that she's neutral. Lycor thought. Perhaps the only truly neutral person in this world... Lycor turned, and saw what he'd been looking for. Scorponok, now confirmed to be alive, as he stood upright and talked. What was surprising was who he was talking to. Scorponok turned when he heard Lycor approach. "Ah, Lycor." Scorpix said, turning as well. "We were just talking about you."
