The Omega Timeline

Chapter 60: Cross-Ascension

By RelatingHen8906

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s note: This is my first chapter in the TOT collaboration. It will be a relatively short chapter, and it will of course contain spoilers to JTAC. So I advise reading most of JTAC before reading my chapters. Anyway, enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Journey Through All Creatures Chapter 25…

“72, 71, 70, 69, 68, 67, 66…”

The overseer arena was pulsating brightly with white lights. The obelisks down on The Island pulsated brightly with colors, and the Red Obelisk forming a giant red beam, shooting towards the arena. The ascension was about to begin.

Sodden and his friends sat around the terminal on the north end of the arena. The terminal glowed blue and purple, beginning to flash loudly.

“Well… here we go. Time to go to Scorched Earth.” Serenity said, confident. Nal chuckled.

“Yeah. What’re we gonna do when we get there?” Nal said. Sodden shrugged.

“Not sure. We’ll just have to wait and see.” Sodden said. Dorack nodded.

“Rod, I expect to see-” Dorack said, turning around, then he saw nothing. In Rod’s place was a big cluster of orange and purple smoke.

“Uh… where’s Rod?” Dorack asked, confused. Sodden gasped as he turned to the smoke.

“I… I don’t know. Uh… wait. Serenity, what’s-” Sodden said as he turned around to his back. Serenity wasn’t there. All that was there was a big pile of orange and gold smoke. Then the orange and gold smoke, along with purple-ish mist, enveloped the room slowly. Then closing in on Sodden and Dorack, they backed up, coughing.

“What’s going on?” Sodden yelled, shocked and bamboozled. Dorack turned to his side, and Nal wasn’t there either.

“NAL! Wha- where’s everyone!” Dorack yelled. Sodden was gasping as he backed up to the terminal, and continued coughing as the smoke closed in on everyone. Sodden gasped for air as he turned to see Dorack has vanished too.

“Wha- where’s everyone…” Sodden gasped, and he then collapsed to the ground. His body felt queasy, he felt as if he was being dissolved. He then coughed loudly and the smoke enveloped the entire room, and the arena flashed loudly one last time.

BOOM!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sodden gasped as his eyes shot open. He gasped as he stood up, looking around. He saw what seemed familar. The herbivore island. He was near some neighboring islands. But at the same time, the place felt completely new. He could see strange locations far out in the distance, different colored obelisks, and even the sky seemed strange. Clouds filled the sky, and barely any sunlight was coming through. Sodden gasped and looked into his bag. He still had his levels and his items. He then placed his hands on the bag and took it off his back, then placed it onto the ground. He crouched down and opened it. Then he lifted his head to look around the area. The others were nowhere to be seen. Then he looked up at the main island, and gasped. He could see smoke rising from the back of the island. There was also one person on the beach near where Sodden was, and he was running towards him.

“Hey! I found you.” The person said as he walked across the beach, through the shallow water, and Sodden stood up and walked towards him.

“Hey. Uh… what’s happening? Where’s the others?” Sodden asked. The person shrugged.

“I don’t know… uh, I landed on that big obelisk up there…” The person said as he pointed upwards, where, atop a cliff, was a big platform, with streaks of navy blue going through it. A terminal sat in the middle, with a giant navy blue pillar of light shooting upwards. Metal pillars surrounded it. Sodden gasped as he looked up at it.

“Uh… okay. Well, Dorack, what’s going on?” Sodden asked. Dorack shrugged.

“I don’t really know. These weird areas far away… they seem strange. Let’s just get a raft ready and we’ll get over there and look around for the others.” Sodden said. Dorack nodded.

“Agreed.” Dorack said. They both turned forwards to the beaches of the island, then they walked through the sand, through shallow waters. Then as they turned a bend at the cliff, they saw someone walking towards them. They were waving their hands at them.

“Hey! Where are we?” The person shouted as she ran down towards them.

“Nal. Uh… I have no idea. It seems like we’re on the southeast isles, near herbivore island, but… there’s other areas that are nowhere near recognizable to what we see on the Island.” Dorack said as he looked around the place, clouds stretching across the sky, slightly dark. Then there was another thing they had noticed. There were almost no creatures to be found. Nearly zero. Not a single Parasaur, Stego, nothing. Just bushes and trees across the entire island, along with rocks. Sodden then noticed the big cone of smoke coming from the other end of the island.

“Uh… did you guys place that?” Sodden asked. The others shrugged. Then they heard footsteps. Another person walked from behind, and they had landed on the western end of the island. Sodden turned around to them. Serenity was walking towards them, and she still had her levels and items.

“Hey. Where are we?” Sodden asked. Serenity shrugged.

“No idea. Though I did see two people near a campfire, on a log, chatting or whatever. Rod’s nowhere to be seen.” Serenity said. Sodden gasped softly.

“Wait… if Rod’s missing, then who’re these guys?” Dorack asked, confused.

“Should we go chat with them?” Nal asked. Sodden sighed softly.

“I don’t really know. Wherever we are, we need to figure out what to do.” Sodden said. The others nodded in agreement.

~~~~~~~~~

Black Obelisk…

Around the same time…

The crumbled cave was lit only by a single campfire. Drake had demorphed into his human form to save space. He sat on a rock, near a campfire, and Aragorn, Emerald, and Darkhide all sat near him. It was only the crackling of the fire and sizzling of wood that filled the air. Then a sound broke the silence. The obelisk flashed brightly. And someone had landed near the terminal.

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Sorry it’s short, guys. Couldn’t think of what to write here. But uh… now that I’ve introduced my characters, it should be easy, hopefully…

Anyway, yeah. Hope you enjoyed and I’ll see you later!

-RelatingHen8906

The Omega Timeline

Chapter 61: Chapter That's Written When Another Story Joins The Mix

by Ben

There was nothing but an empty void.

Ben’s eyes fluttered open. His eyes darted around. There were constellations everywhere, looking down on him. Just him and his thoughts. He let out a sigh, twirling around to get comfortable. He rested the back of his head on his palms, kicking his feet up in the air and staring into the nothingness.

“Come out. I know you’re there.”

“Awww.” A current of wind overwhelmed Ben’s clothes. Ben glanced over to see a woman with swirling black voids sitting right next to him. He sneered at its new appearance.

“Why do you look like that?”

KM twirled a strand of hair in her fingers. She squinted her void-like eyes in offense. “What’s wrong with my new look? I thought you’d love it.”

Ben rolled his eyes, leaning back again to gaze at the constellations.

“You wanna explain what happened back there?”

“I thought it’d be obvious. I saved your dumb butt. Again. I should be getting paid for this.”

“Right. Because you are such a saint when it comes to heroics.”

KM brushed her hair back and crossed her legs, holding her palm out. A large iron key manifested into the void. She grabbed it and smacked it against her palm repeatedly.

“You’re unconscious now, by the way. But I don’t feel like controlling your body. Not when that other woman is around. What was the idiot’s name again? June?”

“Yes. June is her name,” Ben scratched his head, “At least she can take care of our body while we’re out cold.”

KM let out a “hmph”, crossing her arms and looking away. “You’re lucky I spared her. I considered killing her again. But I knew you wouldn’t approve anyway.”

“You’re damn right I wouldn’t. And what do you mean again?”

“Forget all of that, Ben,” KM sighed, “Let’s just stargaze for now. It’ll take my mind off your stupidity.”

~

Crackle.

The fire was warm, which helped matters since it was turning night soon. June held her hand out to feel the gentle heat, but she couldn’t feel anything from it. It was just a gentle tickle on her skin. She shivered as a breeze of wind passed by. Her hefty armor wasn’t much help against the cold.

“Come on Ben,” June whispered under her breath, looking at Ben’s unconscious body on the sand. There were even soft bundles of fiber and thatch rested under his head, serving as a pillow.

Ben’s breathing was soft and steady. He didn’t seem at unease at all, despite the relentless battle they had against the beast just prior. June couldn’t fathom what it was. It didn’t look like any sort of prehistoric creature, no less a creature from her world.

June buried her boots in the sand as she waited for Ben to wake. Glancing at his eyes, she felt another skip of her heart. He was a fascinating one, really. And the very few conversations she had with him in the past proved to her just how different he thought from others.

“Maybe… we could have been good friends,” June thought, staring at his eyebags, “Maybe more.”

June’s heart raced, reaching her calloused hands out to touch his face. But before her fingers could trace his cheeks and jaw, his eyes shot open. June retracted her hand as quickly as she could. Ben sat up, dusting the sand off his arms. He gave June a reassuring nod.

“Thanks for holding the fort down,” Ben thanked her. June nearly felt her cheeks blush.

“Um. N— no problem.”

Ben was beginning to get reacclimated to their new surroundings: an island with palm trees for miles out. It resembled their old home quite a bit, except for the navy blue obelisk that hung in the air near the center of the jungle. In fact, if they went up the river now, if they were back home, Ben would end up back at the Book Club Camp.

Ben flicked a stick nearby into the grass. He reminisced of his old home, and his old friends…

“At least back home, we were stuck on that island together,” Ben thought wistfully. “Here, there’s no one else. Nobody except that doppelganger of Paul.”

But it had been so long since he had seen them face to face, both the Book Club members, and even more so the ones back in his old home. His true home. He hugged his legs close together as the sun began to set. There was no point in thinking of bygones.

“I gave up trying to go back a long time ago,” Ben thought hopelessly.

“Are you okay?” June suddenly asked. Ben looked back, confused. He forgot that, most likely, June had feelings for him. But he didn’t anticipate her being so compassionate with him despite her attitude toward Emma before they were sent here. Ben looked away shamefully. He thought he would be annoyed at June asking him, but he wasn’t. He was grateful more than anything else, both at being able to take a breather and over the idea of someone looking out for him in this world.

“If I told you yes, would you believe me?”

“Probably not,” June reassured him. “But I wouldn’t push it after. I would let it be.”

“Really.”

“Really.” June tucked a strand of hair behind her ear shyly. For a second, June did not look like the ruthless warrior Ben had seen just mere moments ago. She just seemed like an ordinary girl with a suit of armor on… and the ability to control the flames. Ben couldn’t put it past him that the girl sitting in front of him looked so familiar. Even her name seemed familiar. But still, Ben couldn’t connect any dots. He pushed those thoughts aside.

“How do you think things are going over back in the city?” Ben inquired, trying his best to simply break the growing awkward silence. June was prodding the sand with a stick, some of her long orange-brown hair falling to her chest, covering her face as she spoke.

“They’re probably done for.” June said. “That creature and that demonic bat will probably ravage the place down to the ground, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.”

Ben looked off in the distance as June predicted the fate of Constellation City. He could barely see the city lights from here, but it didn’t appear the city had either fallen or remained standing. Combined with the strange new sky, it didn’t appear either side had truly won.

“You must have lived there for a long time.” June whispered. “I’m sorry about your home.”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter to me.”

June looked up at him hopefully. “But maybe, maybe we can build a new home here. Just us two. It’ll be relaxing, really. We’ll hunt the animals together every so often, cook up a storm to enjoy… we can escape the chaos together.”

Ben didn’t look so happy at June’s proposition. June quickly changed her sentence.

“Or maybe we can try finding a way out.” she offered. “We’ll return home. We'll do the things we’re supposed to do.”

“June,” Ben suddenly said, “You shouldn’t care about me.”

“Huh? What are you saying, Ben?”

“June. I’m… not too sure if I’m even your Ben—”

Footsteps crunched in the grass just then. Ben looked up, unfazed. June on the other hand, shot up from the ground immediately and sprouted flames from her fists.

“WHO’S THERE?!” June roared, her eyes burning bright.

~

“She’s got an implant attribute!” Serenity whispered in a hushed voice, grabbing Sodden and trying her best to pull him away. Dorack and Nal were prepared to fight at a moment’s notice, shotguns drawn. They were all wearing chipped and worn flak armor. “We have to go!”

WOOOOSH! Flames surrounded the four friends.

“Woah!” Sodden shouted, pulling the trigger of his shotgun instinctively. BAM! He aimed the barrel outside the ring of fire. The pellets struck a nearby palm tree, causing it to fall down and nearly crush him. POW! An armored fist struck Nal in the cheek just then, and she went tumbling to the ground, dropping her shotgun. June stood above her with a triumphant grin. Dorack looked back in fury.

“You’re gonna pay for that!” BAM! Dorack blasted his shotgun at June’s chest, causing her to fly back and hit her back in a nearby tree. The red armor she wore seemed to protect her from the gunfire, but she still groaned in pain. Dorack prepared to fire at June again, rage in his eyes, but before he could, a set of vines shot up from the ground and grabbed him by the wrists, bringing him down to the ground. Sodden and Serenity whipped around in confusion at the attack of the vines.

“What was that?!” Sodden shouted. WHAM! A vine whipped Sodden in the cheek, cutting it slightly with its thorns. Before either of the two could react, June lifted her arm and snapped her fingers. The flames around the four grew brighter. Sweat poured the four adventurers’ foreheads. Nal groaned as her body began to warm. Her hands were dangerously close to the edge.

“NAL!” Dorack shouted, still lashing against his vine prison. Serenity turned to Sodden. “Help Nal!”

“Got it!”

Sodden rushed over to Nal and gently picked her up, while Serenity ran over to free Dorack from the vines with her knife. The vines quickly retracted back into the ground. Dorack picked his shotgun back up.

“Where is that woman? We need to kill her!”

“D— Dorack,” Nal whimpered in Sodden’s arms. Dorack looked back in horror, rushing over with a gasp.

“Nal! Are you okay?”

She pointed at the ground where her shotgun had fallen. Dorack glanced at the spot in confusion.

“What is it?”

“They… took it.”

Nal’s eyes rolled up to the back of her head. The punch and the flames had taken their toll on her. Dorack gritted his teeth as the flames parted. Ben stood with a shotgun in his hands pointed at Sodden’s head. Sodden raised his hands in the air, fear written in his eyes. Dorack pointed his shotgun back at Ben. June looked at the situation tensely, her eyes darting back and forth between Dorack’s shotgun and Ben.

“Okay. Let’s all calm down, yeah?” Ben murmured, “Put that gun down.”

“You put your gun down first!” Dorack demanded. Serenity grabbed Dorack’s shoulder roughly. “Dorack. Calm down. They have attributes, we don’t.”

“Which means they won’t be able to respawn, and we can. What’s stopping me from burying you for hurting Nal?”

Ben nearly chuckled. June clenched her fists, almost stepping in front of Ben.

“Ben…”

He nearly lowered his shotgun in pity. “They don’t know. Heh. They’re new.”

“What?” Sodden seemed more confused than anything. He lowered his hands. “What do you mean by that? Do you know where we are?”

Ben tossed Nal’s shotgun to the side. Dorack lowered his shotgun in response when he realized that they were all in a similar situation after all. Ben shoved his hands back in his graduation robe pockets.

“I don’t know what place you come from that lets you… ‘respawn’,” Ben laughed, “But I doubt that will work here in this world. This isn’t your home ARK.”

The four survivors were stunned. Serenity crossed her arms.

“If this is another ARK we somehow don’t know about, then what’s stopping us from respawning?”

Ben motioned around, “Take a look around. Scorched Earth is nearby, all these new biomes are nearby… you’re in an entirely different universe.”

Sodden, Dorack, and Nal gasped. Serenity didn’t seem as surprised, but she still seemed slightly confused. Regardless, she stepped forward, taking charge.

“Is there a way out?” Serenity asked, “Do you know? Does it have to deal with the bosses of this world? Your attributes will be helpful. We can work together to escape back to our home. I know it.”

Ben didn’t respond at the mention of ‘escape’, but his curiosity was piqued at Serenity’s confidence. Serenity sighed, rubbing her forehead. Ben and June shared a glance. It was clear June did not want to stick around with these people.

“I’m not sure yet. Give me and June a moment to talk it over.”

~

It was already starting to get dark.

None of the survivors had any food on them, so Sodden and Serenity had decided to take the initiative to get food. Nal nudged Dorack on the elbow as the two walked off, talking as if they had known each other for forever.

“Look at them go,” Nal snickered. Dorack laughed.

“Yeah. They make a great duo, don’t they?”

“Just like us!” Nal grinned. Dorack laughed again. “Yeah. Just like us.”

Dorack glanced back over at Ben and June. The two still seemed to be talking about the new survivors. They almost seemed to be having an argument.

“They tried to kill you, Ben! Of course they can’t be trusted!”

“Yeah. True. But they didn’t know what was going on. Didn’t you do the same with the others back in the city?”

“But that’s different, Ben!”

It didn’t look like their discussion was going to resolve any time soon. Dorack continued to trace circles in the sand with a stick, while Nal warmed herself up with the fire June had started. It didn’t look like it was going to go out soon.

“I guess that’s the perks of having an implant attribute,” Nal thought. The duo reminded Nal of Jerboa. She looked back over at Dorack.

“How do you think he’s doing by the way?”

“Are you talking about Jerboa?” Dorack sensed with a laugh. “I think he’s doing just okay wherever he is… he managed to survive that…”

Dorack paused, his laugh fading at the thought of ARKtic. Nal reached her hand out, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly.

“Hey. That’s over. We don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

Dorack clenched his fists, hanging his head low.

“But aren’t we in the same situation now? Stranded from where we were supposed to go, in a land unknown to us, with who knows what out there?”

“Maybe so,” Nal pulled her hand away from Dorack. “But at least we have Serenity and Sodden with us now. And… those other two, if they decide to help us.”

“And—” Nal winked. “At least it isn’t freezing.”

Dorack let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah. Let’s just not go to the snow anytime soon.”

“Deal. Cheer up, Dorack. I don’t want to see my best friend so swallowed with regret. There was nothing any of us could have done that day.”

The two resumed staring at the fire. Soon, Sodden and Serenity would return with a good meal.

~

GROAAANNN!

The carbonemys fell to the sand, bloodied and beat to a pulp. Serenity loaded her shotgun, putting it on her back and drawing her pickaxe. She began hacking at the corpse while Sodden watched, twiddling with his thumbs.

“Earlier, before we made it to the TEK cave,” Sodden reminded her. “You said you knew about the Multiverse. Apparently, Rod knows too, wherever he is…”

Serenity nodded, standing up from the bones, looking away from her implant. “Yeah. That’s right.”

“Is it even possible for something l-ike this to happen?” he inquired. “To be transported to an entirely different universe, rather than the ARK we were supposed to go to?”

Serenity rubbed her eyes. “Look. I don’t know, okay? Rod was an Explorer— so he was able to travel the Multiverse if he wished. But it’s not a very appealing idea. There are so many timelines and universes out there, it’s impossible to tell if they’re ever safe or not.”

The two began making their way back to the fire. Serenity dropped all the leftover meat and hide she couldn’t carry into Sodden’s arms. They had killed at least a few dozen of those oversized turtles.

“You think Rod had something to do with this?”

Serenity squinted her eyes. “I never said that. But it’s a possibility, especially since he’s gone.”

“He has to be somewhere in this world though,” Sodden declared. “I thought I could trust him. But now…”

“We’ll think about and try finding Rod later,” Serenity said, “But we need to follow whatever plan we craft up, with or without those attribute users.”

The fire came into view. Ben and June were already sitting at the fire along with Dorack and Nal. It seemed l-ike they had already made up their mind. They were going to work with the four new survivors.

Dorack and Nal waved at Serenity and Sodden as they got closer to the fire.

“Hey! You two are finally back!”

Serenity and Sodden plopped the meat on the fire. June was sitting next to Ben, looking away from the group and up at the stars. Ben nodded his head at the two as they sat down.

“Now that you’re all here,” Ben said. “I suppose I’d l-ike to apologize earlier. The attack was unwarranted. Right, June?”

Ben nudged June on the elbow. June glared.

“Yeah. I guess I’m sorry too.”

“No. We’re sorry too,” Sodden said sadly, “We must have frightened you two, us four combined. I hope we can work together. And maybe, maybe just be friends?”

“Hmph,” Ben muttered, looking down at the roasting meat.

“Maybe.”

~

“So we never caught your names,” Nal pointed out to the two. Ben glanced over at June. She was busy stargazing. None of them could blame her. The constellations were really pretty in this world especially.

“I’m Ben,” Ben declared. He looked over at June.

“What? Oh. Yeah. I’m June.”

“June. So I’m guessing you were born in June, which is why you’re called June?” Sodden tried to predict, “And Ben… ah, forget it. I can’t figure out how you were named.”

“I’m named June because my parents named me June. That’s literally it.”

The other four survivors only seemed confused at the mention of parents. It became more and more apparent just how different their home worlds were. Ben turned back to the other four with a cold look.

“What about you four?”

“Serenity, Sodden, Dorack, and Nal,” Serenity quickly introduced them. “In our world, we are named after something we do when we first spawn into the world.”

“Cool,” Ben said, slightly disinterested in their culture, “I’m guessing that means you were composed when you first spawned in, Serenity. Dorack and Nal… who knows. Sodden?”

Sodden blushed. “Yeah?”

“How’d you get your name?”

“Um…”

“It’s a long story,” Serenity interjected, smirking at Sodden. Sodden buried his head in his hands in embarrassment. Ben blinked his eyes, feeling a bit fatigued. He laid down on the sand. Serenity still seemed to be in the mood for questions.

“Do you know anybody else that got trapped in this world like us?”

Ben looked back and nodded. “Yeah. They’re not with us right now, but there’s quite a lot. It appears, recently though, that more and more people are getting trapped in this timeline.”

“People like us?” Nal asked.

“All sorts of weirdos. It’d be hard to list them all, but there’s even talking creatures.

“Talking creatures?” Serenity raised an eyebrow. “Tell me more about some of the other people.”

“Well, for starters, there’s that other ragtag group of survivors. I hear they came from some dead Earth, or whatever,” Ben explained. The four survivors shared knowing glances. A group of survivors from Extinction of all places?

“There’s also this colorful cast. A queen, her subordinates, and some kids she lets tag along.”

“A colorful queen you say?” Serenity asked with a raised eyebrow. Ben nodded.

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Serenity muttered.

When the meat was done roasting, the six of them got down to chowing down.

~

“Queen Sylveevee is here,” Serenity whispered to Sodden, Dorack, and Nal, faraway from Ben and June while they were sleeping, “And so is the Ultimus crew. There’s something big going on. And I think we got looped in too as a result.”

“Really? You think that’s actually them?” Dorack questioned.

“Well, whatever it is, we can’t stick around to find out what. We have to find a way out of this world whatever way possible. I propose we either find Rod or test and see if the obelisks can bring us back somehow.”

Serenity looked back at Ben and June.

“They’re from different worlds, for sure. Their implant attributes… I would have heard about them at least. But it makes me wonder,” Serenity whispered,

“How come I have not heard of the story they come from?”

~

“You’ve got quite a team now,” KM murmured, laying down next to Ben. Although, nobody could see her except Ben. June was fast asleep. Ben would probably be labeled a lunatic if caught talking to himself.

“Watch out for that one with brown-black hair and the green tips. Serenity?” KM warned. “She knows more than she lets on.”

“If you’re so concerned about her, why don’t you do something about it?”

“You know that’s not doable. Not now. This world’s watching. Gotta keep it on the down low, you know?”

Ben’s eyes got heavier. KM sat up.

“Go to sleep.”

“You have a big day ahead tomorrow.”

The Omega Timeline

Chapter 59: The Uprising

by Moon (First Half), & Ben (Second Half)

Word Count: 3875

~

The city was in pieces. The battle had destroyed many buildings and monuments, though the sky had been healed from its once dark appearance, and all that could be seen now was the ruins the fight left behind. The ones who refused to follow Drain had only recently been unfrozen.

The ebony-feathered Terror Bird was leaning against the wall of a ravaged building, his wings unfolded slightly and his gaze at the sky. Ember Black was admittedly tired, and not to mention surprised and bewildered at the state of the city. It had gotten even worse than he’d expected, but then again, what exactly did he expect from that foolish bat he’d originally been allies with?

There was a sound of footsteps as Captain Shortstacks walked over to him, stretching his back slightly and making a small groaning sound. He shook his arms out for the third time since being freed from stone.

“Hey,” Shortstacks said.

“Heyy?” Ember said, glancing down at him.

“Who do ya’ think won?”

The King Titan had gone further into the city the moment he was unfrozen, Ember’s guess being to search for Drain or do who knows what. Jerry was close by, but he didn’t seem to be paying attention to anyone near. He was staring up at the sky with a weird look Ember didn’t like while holding something tightly and close to him.

Then there was the ginormous beast of a dragon, Apex. He seemed to be grappling at buildings weakly, still unused to the feeling of being unfrozen. Wings curled up, body shaking slightly, breath raspy, muttering for someone under his breath. He looked like a whelp that just hatched out of his egg, looking for his parent.

Ember coughed and said to Shortstacks, “You think I know? Our adversaries are idiots, but Drain is too. I expected better from him.”

“Well, I’ll give it to the bat and say he managed all of this mess.” Shortstacks said, gesturing to the city. He seemed impressed with the wreckage as he looked out at it. He uttered in a prideful hypnosis, “It almost matches the might of my British Navy.”

He scuffled slightly at the ground with one of his hind legs, before tipping his head to the side as he heard something a ways away. He could hear lots of different sounds, including ones he didn’t recognize. It almost sounded like some deep groaning that reverberated throughout the air.

“What now?” Ember murmured, turning his head and looking back.

“What is it?” Shortstacks asked.

“Those sounds,” Ember replied softly.

“Sounds? I don’t hear nothin’,” Shortstacks said.

Ember looked over at where Jerry was. Jerry had crouched slightly where he once sat, his head and torso twisted slightly to look towards the noise.

~

The sound was getting noticeably louder and louder.

And closer.

“Do you hear it now?” Ember asked Shortstacks, almost getting irritated by his ignorance. The captain let out a sneer.

“Do you take me for a fool? There is nothing but the roar of that cursed Titan afar!”

Ember almost rolled his eyes while looking at him.

“Right, I have to remember this buffoon is so short it would take a minute longer for him to feel the rain compared to anyone else,” Ember thought, almost snorting.

At this point, Jerry stood up tall and proud. He took a slight whiff of the air, his eyes bloodshot.

“Fresh meat.”

WHOOOOSH!

Something seemed to be floating through the air, something so sharp it made a noise as it flew through the air. Captain Shortstacks looked around, dumbfounded. Ember squinted his eyes, looking up at the mystical skies and saw something gliding toward them. His eyes widened.

“Look out!”

“Huh?”

With outstanding speed, a blur of feathers dived down at Captain Shortstacks. Almost out of instinct, Ember kicked the short man out of the way, causing him to stumble backwards and causing the blur to hit the ground where Shortstacks was once standing.

KABOOM!

Concrete flew up into the air. Jerry’s eyes widened, his head darting over to the commotion. Apex weakly lifted his head, his orange eyes hazy.

Jerry watched intently, his fists clenching, preparing for a battle, waiting to see what exactly had landed in this city of constellations. Captain Shortstacks began to cough heavily, shooting up from the ground and drawing his sword.

SHING!

“You traitorous SCUM! What is your purpose?”

“Idiot, look in front of you!” Ember shouted.

Captain Shortstacks raised his eyebrow and let out an “oh” in realization. As the dust settled, the mass of feathers emerged from it, letting out clicking noises and staring at the stubby body of Shortstacks. It peered down at him, clicking its beak some more in hunger.

Staring at him with beady, empty eyes, you could barely tell it was alive. Ember took a few steps back, carefully studying the specimen. It appeared to have a beak like any other bird, and an abnormal amount of feathers for a dinosaur on an ARK, almost too much. It looked like a smaller Yutyrannus, if Yutyrannus were the size of Utahraptors.

Captain Shortstacks glowered at the beast.

He didn’t seem to realize that it had purple veins running across its body.

“Stay back! You understand me, do you not? So STAND DOWN.”

The creature almost gave a grin at his words, as if whatever controlling it was amused by his defensive nature. Without warning, it lashed its claws at the captain.

The captain barely managed to dodge out of the way, but the creature simply kicked Shortstacks back in response.

The creature began getting closer, and Shortstacks let out a yelp as he fell down to the ground, his sword clattering to the ground nearby. The creature prepared to strike Shortstacks again, but then he slowly felt the blood trickle up his cheeks and into the air.

WOOSH!

Ember looked ahead to see Jerry concentrating on the formation of blood. It condensed into a set of solid arrows and then rushed forward, piercing the beast with no mercy. The creature let out a grunt, seemingly unaffected by the attack, only being pushed a few steps back. It didn’t even seem to be bleeding. All that was exposed was the strange silver-blue glow within.

Jerry lifted his eyebrow, confused.

“I can’t,” Jerry said, “Move your blood.”

Jerry flashed a grin.

“We’re going to have one hell of a time.”

Jerry let out a monstrous roar and charged at the creature. The creature made no noise, but charged at Jerry with equal vigor. Shortstacks began to let out whimpers as he crawled away from the ensuing battle.

Ember immediately looked over to Apex for protection, despite his grogginess. It was just their luck, but it appeared that the source of groaning had just penetrated through the walls of Constellation City. A swarm of medium-sized herbivores and raptor-esque creatures began to plummet through the streets, breaking through windows and destroying walls without pause. They began to attack Apex, biting at his scales and slashing at his body. No cuts were made, but Apex could barely move as he was slowly overwhelmed by his exhaustion and by the mindless animals.

“There’s one place we can go…” Ember glanced up at the floating mansion. He had visited it once, but never again. He nudged Captain Shortstacks.

“We need to get to the mansion,” Ember declared, “We’ll be safe there.”

Captain Shortstacks seemed to be hyperventilating. He nodded, biting his lip and forcing himself to stand up, his legs shaking. He grabbed his sword, and, together, the two fled the carnage.

~

Entropy let out a gasp as the stone folded away from its body, as if he was malting. His eyes pierced the white-black skies, pupils dilating in awe at the view.

His awe was quickly wiped as he felt a fleshy hand grab his throat and shove him up against a building. Entropy let out chokes as he saw the glowing purple eyes of the King Titan peer into his soul.

“Tell me,” the King Titan glared, huffs of steam pouring from his mouth, “Where is that demon?!”

Entropy barred his teeth, letting out a hiss and trying to push the miniature King Titan away.

“Your guess is as good as mine!”

The King Titan let out a huff of annoyance and let go of the dragon, but not before gripping his throat harder. The King Titan’s purple eyes glowed brighter, and he suddenly turned away, beginning to take small steps away from the dragon and through the streets.

“Where are you going?!” Entropy shouted at him, “We still have unfinished business with that sick Drain!”

The King Titan didn’t respond, it was almost as if he was in some sort of trance. He began batting buildings away, making his way to the edge of the city. Entropy let out an exasperated sigh, getting up from the ground and taking in a deep breath. He could feel the fire rage inside his heart.

“I’ll find you Drain… and I’ll kill you for your betrayal.”

Entropy looked around at the rest of Drain’s former allies, or at least, what was left of them. Besides Prince Caldren, who was stuck in one of the walls of the many buildings, Dr. Bubba, Milo, Pat, and Rockwell had disappeared, and so had Michael and Lil’ Jack. Entropy was the only one remaining.

With that, Entropy took to the skies and flew off.

WHOOSH!

Entropy’s wings created a heavy draft of air which hit Prince Caldren. Prince Caldren let out a roar and stomped his feet into the ground, still unaware that the great war between heroes and villains had already ended.

“I… KILL YOU!” Prince Caldren shouted.

There was a shriek in the air as the stampeding zombies began to get closer and closer. Prince Caldren could hear the noise coming closer. In a panic, Prince Caldren tried to push and pull, but to no avail.

“Me… need… help,” Prince Caldren muttered, “ME NEED HELP!”

Even the dumb brute of a Dinopithecus seemed to smell the incoming danger, the rotten teeth, the infected claws and the damaged souls. The roaring got louder, and Prince Caldren let out a small whimper as the ground began to shake behind him.

“Please…”

“SCREEEEECH!”

~

Jerry grinned as the Yi Ling attempted to pounce on him. Jerry dashed to the side and delivered an uppercut to its body.

WHAM!

The Yi Ling let out a grunt as it took a few steps back, letting out heaving coughs. Saliva dripped down its jaws onto the ground, its rolled up eyes getting even hazier. It looked disoriented.

Jerry clenched his fists. More blood began to pool up near his feet, but there was only so much to go around. He was already beginning to run out. Jerry shook his head.

“I have no need for such things,” Jerry said, clutching his gold cross necklace with his left hand, “Esmeralda… are you seeing this right now?!”

The mindless creatures that were attacking Apex seemed to be coming to a halt, freezing in place and becoming as still as the stone statues the villains once were. The Yi Ling looked like it was getting more focused.

Jerry redirected his attention to the Yi Ling, letting go of the cross and clenching his fists tighter. He began to let out a chuckle as a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek.

“BRING IT ON!”

The Yi Ling flashed a smile and charged forward, raising its claws and scratching at Jerry. Jerry tackled the Yi Ling to the ground, and with all the strength he could muster, began pummeling his fists into its ribs.

POW POW POW!

Jerry let out a demented laugh as he punched its flesh, though it was still unfazed by Jerry’s assault.

POW POW POW!

Jerry let out a roar as its skin began to tear and reveal what was underneath. It was like a silver-blue goo, moving and shifting, hiding away from Jerry as he tore at the flesh of the Yi Ling. He could see the organs of the dinosaur inside. The beating heart, the shifting lungs, and even the pumping veins. Eyeing the heart, his eyes dilated, and with a cry he grabbed at it and tore it away from the vessel.

RRIPPPP!

Silver-blue goo seemed to jump off of the heart back in the body of the Yi Ling. Jerry stood up from the creature with a triumphant pose, staring at the beating heart in his hands in awe.

“You…” Jerry said with a whisper to himself, “This is what you gave me.”

Entranced by the organ in his hand, he didn’t seem to realize that the Yi Ling hadn’t fallen yet. It gave a soft glare, and with a quick kick, Jerry went tumbling to the ground.

“Ooof!” Jerry grunted as he was knocked back, dropping its heart in the process. Jerry tried getting up, but the Yi Ling quickly slammed its chicken-like foot onto Jerry’s chest, forcing him down.

PUNT!

Almost in a teasing manner, the silver-blue goo inside the Yi Ling’s cavity reached out in the form of strings and latched onto the heart which Jerry dropped, reeling it in and popping it back in the body of the vessel.

POP!

Jerry laughed at the sight, clenching his fists tightly, his arms outstretched.

“I see it now,” Jerry snarled, “You’re no animal, you’re not even alive.”

Jerry gave a grin.

“You’re just some twisted puppet, aren’t you?!”

The Yi Ling didn’t give a response. It opened its jaws and quickly bit down hard on Jerry’s right arm, ripping it off with quick speed and precision!

RIPPPP!

Jerry let out a howl of pain as blood poured from a stump on his shoulder, creating a pool of blood and soaking his body. The Yi Ling stepped back, its eyes still equally unmoving. It let out a clicking noise, looking up at the skies and letting out a screech.

“SCREEEEECH!”

The Yi Ling began to run away, before eventually clawing up a building and running atop the roofs, making its way to the floating mansion.

~

Meanwhile, the swarm of infected dinosaurs around Apex was beginning to stir again, Apex noticed this, and he knew he had to do something, quickly.

“Apex…” a familiar voice seemed to echo in his mind. Apex looked up slightly.

“Father?”

“What are you doing Apex?! You’re stronger than this!”

It was almost as if he were there in the flesh, speaking into his ear! Apex let out a snarl.

“I am.”

“So don’t just stand there! Kill them all, Apex! Kill them all, my son!”

Apex’s eyes seemed to light up with a fire, and smoke began to pour out of his mouth as fire traveled up his lungs into his mouth.

SHOOOM!

Fire was unleashed from the mouth of Apex, filling the streets and roasting the undead alive. Slowly, the undead began to melt into puddles of flesh and silver-blue goo.

When Apex was finished, he began to breathe heavily, still feeling weak and lethargic. It felt like his head was still spinning in circles round and round. The Dagger that Drain had used on him seemed to, well, drain all his energy.

As Apex leaned his head against a building, catching his breath, he could barely see out of the corner of his eye some of the silver-blue goo move through the streets and retreat somewhere else. Apex let out a sigh, closing his eyes and trying to recover his stamina.

“If you were here, Father,” Apex thought desperately, “You’d know what to do.”

Apex could hear heavy footsteps approaching. He let out another huff.

That wasn’t the last of them.

~

Ember and Shortstacks were desperately clambering up the floating stairs leading to the mansion in the sky. They had just left the streets of Constellation City, to which some were covered in beautiful varieties of flowers. Where they had come from was unknown, but it didn’t matter. The beauty of Constellation City was already long gone the moment war was brought upon it.

“So… tired,” Shortstacks gasped for air as he began to slow down. Ember looked back. They were starting to reach the clouds. Ember remembered the last time he was here he was gasping for air, but the recent more proactive threat of the strange beasts drove him to ignore all the pain gathering up in his thin, weak and old legs and to just keep running and running.

“Do you wanna die?!” Ember gasped, also getting tired.

“No…”

“Then we gotta keep moving, come on we’re almost there!”

They let out moans and groans as they began making their way up to the Mansion’s gates. Ember could barely see the familiar sight up ahead. The Omega symbol, the towering sheerness of it, there was still something inspiring about it. It was like a beacon of light in this dark, dark world.

After a minute of running up stairs, they finally made it to the top. Ember noticed, now that he was closer up, that parts of the Mansion were falling apart and already decrepit. Captain Shortstacks didn’t seem surprised at all; he was partially responsible. Shortstacks turned to Ember, his hands on his knees.

“Are you sure this is a suitable place for shelter?” Shortstacks asked, still catching his breath. Ember nodded slowly.

“It’s either up here or down there with the swarm.”

“There were enemy forces up here last time. What about them?!”

“If you want to go down there with the mindless, feral… things, be my guest!” Ember shouted, pointing his claw down the stairs, “Only a few ever went up to the gates of this Mansion, apparently… there’s plenty of food up here anyway. Haven’t eaten in days.”

Ember used his foot to open the gates to the Mansion. They slowly creaked open. Shortstacks looked back down the stairs, and then at the gates. He cleared his throat, adjusting his Navy uniform.

“Aye. Onwards.”

CREAAAK!

The lights were turned off, probably because all the lines had been downed after the battle. It was incredibly dark inside, despite the white light the sky was emitting down on them. Ember stepped in first, familiar with the twisting, turning halls of the Mansion already.

“Follow me, I know where the kitchen is.”

The two moved past the stone Dodo statue, which was no longer spouting water. Ember began moving through the dark halls, Shortstacks following closely behind, his sword drawn. After a few minutes, Ember approached a wooden door and pushed it open. Inside was a large dining hall. Chunks of the roof were missing and there was rubble everywhere. The chandelier had fallen atop the dining table it seemed.

Captain Shortstacks looked around cautiously, remembering this very room in particular. Ember moved past the destruction into the connected kitchen. There were still plenty of unwashed dishes in the sink. He took a whiff of the air, and then carefully opened up a nearby cupboard, which was actually just a preserving bin. There were stacks and stacks of raw meat inside.

Ember used his beak to take some out, chowing down on the remains. Shortstacks, now a bit less on guard, moved into the kitchen as well to find something to eat.

“Those cursed beasts…” Shortstacks muttered, opening the fridge. There was a bunch of cake inside that was wrapped up. He took it out and tore the plastic wrap off, picking it up with his bare hands and shoving it in his mouth.

“They don’t even talk,” Shortstacks said, almost scoffing at the thought. He turned back to look at Ember, “I’m glad you’re civilized though. We may not know each other well, but I… have to thank you.”

“For what?” Ember asked, looking up from the meat pile in confusion.

“For saving my life,” the captain admitted, looking down at the ground, still looking shaken up by the beasts. The scratches on his face seemed to be healing, “I wish there were beasts such as yourself where I’m from.”

Ember didn’t reply to his comment. Ember thought of his old home, Cryvenall, and the old Kingdom he used to rule. Humans were a rare sight as well. Ember wondered if all humans were as despicable and twisted as his allies.

Before Ember could ponder it any further, there was a loud–

SHOOM!

And a portal opened in the dining room. Four people immediately popped out: a man, two women, and two creatures. The portal closed up, and they all let out groans as they slowly got up from the ground.

Captain Shortstacks unsheathed his sword, pointing it at the heroes.

“Stay back, lest it be your demise you seek!” Shortstacks shouted.

One of the creatures, a Raptor, let out a snarl and barred her teeth at the two, taking a step forward, her red eyes incredibly prominent in the dark.

“Yeah? Make me then.”

The other creature, a fox, glanced at Shortstacks. Her eyes seemed to sparkle in recognition, but they died down. She stayed silent. Ember quickly noted they were outnumbered and turned to Shortstacks, lifting his foot and grabbing his sword, forcing it down.

“Enough of that,” Ember scolded him, looking at them, “I’m sorry about that, we–”

“You,” one of the women glared. Shortstacks noticed her and gulped. It was the warrior who had bested him in combat. Shortstacks dropped his sword, lifting his hands up in the air in surrender. The other woman let out a sigh, rubbing her forehead. She wore black graduation robes. Ember recognized her as one of the people who were first at the mansion.

“We just got out of battle too…”

“Enough of this,” the man said, stepping forward. Ember lifted his eyebrow, recognizing him. He seemed different, considering a few strands of his hair were pure white, but he remembered traveling with him and a few others to the mansion, including the warrior.

“Hey. Andrew, right?” Ember asked. Andrew nodded, noticing his non-aggression.

“Yeah,” Andrew said with a sigh, looking back at the others. They nodded, even though the warrior seemed hesitant to back down, she stepped back. So did the raptor with red eyes. Andrew looked back at the two.

“We’ve got a new problem on our hands.”

Ember’s eyes widened.

“Let me guess,” Ember said, almost shocked, “Mindless, feral creatures?”

“Correct,” the woman in robes sighed.

The fox looked around.

“We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

~

Jerry let out a gasp, his eyes opening as consciousness returned to his body. He looked down at where his right arm was supposed to be. Instead of flesh, all he could see was solid, coagulated blood.

“My arm.”

He sat up from the ground, rubbing his forehead, and then looking down at his blood-borne arm. He clenched the fist of it. It almost looked like solid crystal.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Something was approaching.

Jerry rose from the ground, letting out exasperated breaths as a new threat seemed to approach. Noticing Apex in the distance, he was slightly relieved he wouldn’t have to deal with it alone, but he had to take a deep breath to ease his mind, which felt like it was on fire.

Jerry exhaled, closing his eyes.

“Here we go.”

I regret looking in the yi long story section…

The Omega Timeline

Chapter 57: escape

-Wyvernian

“So what happens now?” Emerald asked. “Drain is no longer a threat, I think we should turn our focus back to the villains still within the city and help the people rebuild.” Andrew said. “We should hold a funeral for Star- err Nova.” Ariana said. They all nodded in a sad way. The group headed outside the walls of the Shadowkeep, it seemed wrong to dig a grave there, even if there was no body. The forest outside was beautiful, most of them hadn’t seen it after it transformed from that black desert into this, the red, purple, and yellow trees were breathtaking and the shimmering black sand looked amazing with colored jewels mixed into the soil, there was even grass now, albeit, dark purple grass. They found a good spot under a yellow willow tree and Emerald, Darkhide, and Buddy began digging the hole. then Aragorn, Andrew, and Sheeri placed some of Star’s feathers inside, they all helped refill the hole while the raptors carved the gravestone. When they were finished they all stood around for a bit, honoring her sacrifice, none of them spoke as they really didn’t get to know her when she could speak.

But eventually something broke the silence,

“Did anyone else hear something?” Nova asked. “What is it?” Emerald asked. “Sounded like a snarl…” Nova said. The sound happened again, this time loud enough for everyone to hear, a piercing shriek, full of rage and hunger. “Run?” Jack asked. “I’m going with.. YES” Dr. Yang said already turning to run. Just then multiple figures charged out of the forest, led by a Yi Ling, they all had scars or missing appendages, but the tissue was replaced with some sort of silvery blue glow. Everyone ran back to the castle, the creatures shortly behind, the Yi Ling launched its feathers at Darkhide, the second they touched his armor the piece that was hit and the feathers faded away like a plume of fire. “What?!” Exclaimed Steve who was riding on his back. “They’re like some sort of zombies!” Sylas Exclaimed. “Who cares what they are, just run before I burst into flames along with my armor!” Darkhide yelled. They made it into the keep, shutting the massive door behind them and lowering the massive wooden bars to hold it shut. “We should be safe in here.” Erica said. Then a volley of feathers burst halfway into the door, “for now..” she finished. “What do we do?” Joe asked. “First we need to seal off the way to the Black obelisk, just to be safe. We don’t know what they could do with an obelisk.” Andrew said. “Good idea, but how?” Emma said. “Let me and the drakes handle that, all of you get to higher ground.” Aragorn said. “I can help too.” Drake said shifting into a rockdrake. “Okay let’s go!” Andrew said turning to the staircase.

Then a volley three rockdrakes climbed into the passageway leading to the obelisk the corridor was carved into the rock so all they had to do was cave it in, the drakes scratched at the ceiling until they made some cracks, then Aragorn used his shadow arms to try and pry the rock down, some boulders fell but it was a big cave and they didn’t fill much in. Just then they heard the cracking of wood on the door. “They’re breaking through! We need to hurry!” Darkhide said. “Come on! It’ll be easier from inside the obelisk room!” Aragorn shouted. “But then we’ll be locked in!” Emerald said. “It’s either locked in there or stuck up there!” Aragorn shouted, they heard an insane roar from up above, the zombies were inside the throne room. “Hurry!” Emerald shouted to the other two, they rushed into the obelisk cave. They crawled up above the archway and began digging at it, the archway cracking and rubble starting to fall below, Aragorn reached his shadow arms up and seeped them into the cracks, budging them wider. They were close, but the door into the corridor bursted open, zombies began to rush down the staircase, tripping over themselves and eachother. “PULLLLL!” Aragorn strained, and then it broke, the Boulder fell, causing a chain reaction with the cracks they made inside, the whole passageway caved in, crushing multiple zombies and blocking the entrance to the obelisk, a large boulder also fell, crashing into the land-bridge and destroying part of it, the rocks tumbling down below into the reddish water under the obelisk. “We did it!” Drake said excitedly. “And now we’re trapped..” Darkhide said grimly.

“Everyone hustle! Faster!” Erica shouted down to the others, they could hear the door below them starting to break, they were almost to the upper floor of the keep, where everyone’s rooms were. “Where do we go?” Sheeri asked. “I could open up some portals!” Jay said. “Good idea!” Andrew said, just then the door crashed down, the screams and roars of the zombies echoing up to them. “Hurry!” Buddy yelled. “Where to?” Jay asked. “The city! Maybe they haven’t taken it over, we could fortify it until we come up with a plan!” Sylas said. Jay looked around, “wait, what about dad and the others?” “I’m sorry but there’s no time! They can handle themselves!” Said Dr. Yang. Jay reluctantly opened the portal, everyone rushed in, his family stood just inside the rift, “come on son!” Ariana said. “I can’t! I’ve used my power too much toda-” he collapsed to the floor, the portal shutting before him. “JAY!!” His family yelled, but he was gone.

He rolled over onto his stomach, trying to catch his breath, but the zombies were close, he got up and ran down the hallway of rooms much like the ones in the mansion, Ember’s room looked the most fortified, as the door was made of sturdy pinewood with an iron lock. He rushed in and locked the door behind him, he ran over to the closet and climbed inside it, that was the only thing he could think to do. A triceratops zombie immediately crashed into the room, it stepped aside and the Yi Ling walked in. Jay watched through the crack between the wooden panels of the closet door, Omi stalked through the room, searching for him, he stepped back a bit and the floorboard beneath him creaked, the Yi Ling immediately turned its head towards him, she lunged for the closet and burst the door off its hinges, Jay quickly opened a portal to the city without thinking it through, but it was to late he was scratched. And now he had led Omi straight to the others.

The Omega Timeline

Chapter 55, Part 2: Totality

- by Ben

“There are no winners in war.”

Andrew released the string of his light bow and the arrow of light instantly shot out and hit Drain in the chest. The dragon-sized beast let out a howl of pain as its scales were finally penetrated. All the while, the light and darkness from both the Heralds were clashing with one another, trying to one up the other. Andrew floated into the air. He noticed that unfreezing Tago and combating the black mist was slowly taking away the light from his body. At the same time, Drain could also be harmed.

This was going to be a difficult battle.

Andrew looked down to see his Knights clashing with Drain’s Nights, but as he watched, Drain swooped forward, slamming into Andrew and sending him flying into a building.

BAM!

Andrew crashed through the walls and into the stairway, which barely dented. He could see the debris falling down onto Emerald, unaware of the fact because she was busy fighting Prince Caldren.

“WATCH OUT EMERALD!”

Emerald looked up, and quickly dashed out of the way, causing the building debris to crash upon Prince Caldren’s head. Prince Caldren let out a roar of rage and tossed the debris to the side, picking up his mace and swinging at Emerald again.

Andrew clung onto hope as much as he could, but the light was already shimmering. Drain let out a devious laugh, taking to the skies.

“The tide’s finally turned, Herald,” Drain echoed. He opened his mouth and let out a guttural roar, spewing out purple flames onto Andrew. Andrew quickly dashed to the side, dodging it instantly.

“I really have to focus on this guy,” Andrew thought, forming another light arrow to his bow, “He’s so aggressive. Sorry, everyone. You’ll be on your own until I figure something out…”

Drain let out a bellow and breathed more purple fire out onto the streets.

As Buddy looked at Drain, he couldn’t help but feel shivers. This must have been the vision he had all that time ago. Just looking at Drain felt as if he was staring at death itself. Buddy could feel his armor crack at his presence. Buddy needed to focus on the others, Andrew would take care of Drain.

Before Buddy could help any of the others, he was suddenly confronted by a familiar looking blue dragon. Buddy paused in his tracks. It was much too large to be the one he encountered back at his home world…

“We meet again,” the dragon bellowed.

He swiped at Buddy. Buddy instinctively dashed to the right. Most of this dragon was covered in tough, black armor, but just laying eyes on Buddy seemed to make his armor grow and his body enlarge. There was no doubt about it. This was the dragon that Rockwell had summoned all that time ago.

“I never knew your name,” Buddy told him. He jumped up and slashed at the dragon’s armor, leaving a dent. The dragon smirked. His armor only continued to harden, while Buddy’s armor continued to crack.

“I may not have had a name then, but I do have one now,” the dragon snarled, “Entropy. For I shall destroy all who have put me upon this world.”

Entropy opened his mouth and unleashed a breath of fire onto Buddy. Buddy closed his eyes, accepting his fate, when something small latched onto him and carried him away. Entropy looked confused, his fire breath halting and his head jolting to the side. His eyes pierced the savior and he snarled.

“Cursed wyvern! I thought Drain had already cast you in a prison of stone?!”

Buddy looked up to see that Tago was carrying him. Buddy looked up at Tago and nodded. Tago lurched back and then flung Buddy at Entropy. Buddy latched onto Entropy’s face and began clawing at his unprotected head, making Entropy yell out in pain and blast fire all over the buildings. Entropy reached his hand out and clawed Buddy off his face, throwing him to the side, but not before Tago swooped in and punted Entropy in the face.

POW!

The impact was so much that Entropy went stumbling into a nearby building, causing it to come crashing down. Buddy let out a vicious cough. Blood shot out onto the concrete, and he groaned to himself. He was barely holding his own, even with the armor that Andrew had given him. Tago swooped down to check up on him.

“Are you okay Buddy?” Tago asked, a look of worry on her face. Buddy shook his head.

“This isn’t working out,” Buddy coughed, “I’m not that strong anyway, I don’t know why Andrew chose me to fight. Joe would have been a better pick.”

“There’s a reason for everything,” Tago said, quickly looking back at Entropy. He was barely recovering from the onslaught of attacks, and was slightly bleeding. His armor thickened.

Tago shot her head back to Buddy.

“Look, the armor’s based on positive emotions and memories,” Tago reminded, “Is there anybody that you care about or love that could give you that?”

Buddy shut his eyes.

“Think,” Buddy thought, “Dawn Pryde? No, we barely met. What about my…”

“Family…”

A memory shot through Buddy’s head, one he couldn’t recall.

~

“So tell me you love me… Even if it’s hard…” a familiar voice began singing. Buddy blinked his eyes and noticed it was a small Purlovia singing.

“Was that the Purlovia that claimed to be my son? What was his name, Jake?”

A soft, female voice joined.

“I’m sitting here wondering… where you are!”

Buddy looked to the right. A beautiful Purlovia was nudging her head to the small juvenile. Buddy blinked his eyes. He recognized her. He couldn’t remember, but now he could.

This was his wife, Janae.

Buddy looked up to the heavens. Life had been so beautiful with her, and their three children, he could finally remember. He could remember! And his name wasn’t Buddy either, it was-

~

KABOOM!

The explosion rang throughout Buddy’s ears. He was sent flying into a window, crashing through and ending up in a living room with a turned off fireplace. He let out a groan, and blinked his eyes, looking out.

“Ughh, what was that?” Buddy thought, blinking his eyes and feeling his vision wane. Buddy’s eyes darted to the armor on his body. It seemed mostly intact. Had that memory really repaired his armor?

It all felt like a distant dream, but as Buddy struggled to get up from the ground, he heard footsteps behind him. Buddy turned around to see two humans cowering, each in the dark black armor. Buddy fully turned around, and he suddenly felt a whip lash out at him.

“S-Stay back!” Lil Jack cried out.

“Yeah, beast! Get outta here!” Michael added on, waving his sword around flimsily. Lil Jack turned to Michael.

“Hey you’re the one with the sword, go get him!”

Michael nodded weakly.

“Yeah yeah just keep whipping at him!”

Lil Jack kept whipping at Buddy, and each lash made Buddy roar out in pain. He was too weak to stand. As Lil Jack continued his assault, Michael rushed forward with a battle cry.

“YARGGHH- OWWWW!” Michael howled as Lil Jack accidentally whipped Michael on the bottom. Michael dropped his sword and clenched his buttocks, sweating profusely.

“You idiot, you hit me!” Michael cried.

“You were in the way!” Lil Jack protested, lowering his whip.

Buddy took his chance to attack. He kicked the sword away with his claws and then bit down onto Michael’s arm. Michael let out a howl of pain, and Buddy quickly tossed Michael to the side, making him crash into the fireplace. The metal grate shut down on him, trapping him in place.

“What the- HEY! GET ME OUTTA HERE THIS INSTANT!” Michael shouted. Lil Jack saw the situation unfold before his eyes and instantly thought of a plan.

Run.

Lil Jack began to scream like a baby as he quickly crashed through the other window and began making a run for it down the streets. Buddy sighed, but as he was about to return to the fight, Entropy swiped at the building’s roof, causing it to go flying off. Entropy peered down at Buddy, his eyes filled with rage.

“Found you,” Entropy snarled.

The armor on Entropy’s body began to click in place, and Entropy grew once more. By now, Entropy was around the same size as Drain, and the armor on his body had jagged spikes and was pulsating fervently. The hate was immeasurable.

Entropy opened his mouth again.

“Time to end this Purlovia’s life, once and for all.”

Before Entropy could unleash hell, Drain’s ears perked up.

His body was filled with arrows of light, but each time one of the enemies was wounded, a spurge of hate would pass through their bodies and heal him. Each time one of his own Nights felt endeavored by their pettiness, he would grow stronger. Drain grinned as he saw Entropy’s armor. While he couldn’t be harmed by Andrew, Andrew couldn’t be harmed by him either. He was just too quick. So if he-

Drain willed the armor around Entropy’s body to disappear, and disappear it did. The armor flew off Entropy’s body and clicked onto Drain’s, infusing into his scales and ridding the light that was once embedded inside. Andrew felt his spirit waver as all the wounds Drain had disappeared. The darkness continued to grow, overtaking more of the light in the sky.

Entropy gasped as he felt himself shrink back to his normal form. He looked up back at Drain. He could feel his rage boil up further. Drain had betrayed him.

“How DARE YOU!” Entropy screamed.

Entropy took off to the skies and suddenly pummeled into Drain. Drain went flying and skidded off through the buildings. Andrew drew another arrow back and shot at Drain’s scales. The arrow was simply flicked off. Andrew swore to himself.

Drain grinned as Entropy blasted fire onto Drain. Drain’s armor only grew thicker and thicker.

“Can’t you see?” Drain laughed, “You were just my pawn.”

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU-”

Drain opened his mouth and blasted purple flames onto Entropy. Entropy let out a howl as they burned his scales, and as he flew off backwards, he suddenly began to turn to stone.

“W-What’s happening to me-” Entropy howled, “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! I HAVE A GOAL TO FULFILL! I MUST DESTROY ALL-”

It was too late. Entropy lay suspended in the air.

Three Nights down, just a few more to go.

Andrew drew another arrow. He thought about Neddy and Ruby’s romantic relationship. The arrow grew in size and continued glowing. Andrew released the string, and it pierced Drain in the wing. Drain let out a cough, as dark purple blood shot out his wing.

“Idiot,” Drain opened his mouth and unleashed a torrent of purple flames. They didn’t reach Andrew, but as Drain continued to concentrate, so did the beam of flames, until it turned into a hot, concentrated purple laser. Drain swung his head, and the laser cut through Andrew’s arm and a multitude of buildings down below, making them crash down.

Andrew let out a cry as he felt the light shimmer away from his body. He concentrated on the way Jack and Jay loved to bicker. His arm grew back.

“This is getting really tough,” Andrew thought with a wince, “Drain seems so invincible-”

“Don’t give up,” a voice whispered to Andrew. Andrew’s eyes widened.

“Who was that?” Andrew asked aloud, “The One Who Knows?”

“Not a Homo Deus. Just know there’s a way to defeat Drain.”

The voice disappeared, and Andrew let out a sigh to steady his breathing. He didn’t know who that was, but it was enough to give him some hope.

Andrew drew another arrow.

~

Aragorn and Drake were facing off against Milo and his group. Two against three, the odds were definitely uneven. Pat transformed into a Reaper King, and Drake transformed into a Giga. Both of their bodies were still covered in that armor. Pat charged at the larger Drake and quickly side stepped, swinging his tail at Drake and making him get sent flying into a building. The buildings came crashing down, and Drake lost his balance, falling down onto his side. Dr. Bubba and Milo both transformed into Reapers, and the three dashed forward to feast upon his body.

Aragorn quickly sends shadows flying out of the buildings to latch onto the Reapers. The three let out shrieks of annoyance as Aragorn forced them to stay still. Drake quickly transformed back into a human, taking his rapier and dashing forward, slashing at their legs. All three transformed back into humans.

“I probably can’t turn into a Giga for this fight,” Drake thought, looking at all three’s legs. They were bleeding, “Too hard to control. If their serum works like mine though, they shouldn’t be able to transform-”

Drake was suddenly fired at by a bolt of searing hot Element. Drake let out a cry as his arm was burnt. He turned around to see Rockwell standing there, built in Enfestius blasters on his arms. His armor glowed.

“Cease your struggles, mortals,” Rockwell grinned.

“Oh brother this guy stinks,” Aragorn rolled his eyes. Aragorn looked down upon his shadow, and nodded. Aragorn’s shadow rose from the ground, also carrying a giant sword. Aragorn’s shadow nodded at Aragorn, and as the shadows unwrapped around Pat, Milo, and Dr. Bubba, Aragorn’s shadow charged at them.

Pat and Milo both unhooked their swords, slashing at Aragorn’s shadow. Aragorn’s shadow sank into the ground, and then rose back up and slashed at the two’s necks. The two barely weaved out of the way. Dr. Bubba took out a brew with red liquid and chugged it down. He stopped bleeding, and with a whim, he transformed into a Raptor. He jumped on top of Aragorn’s shadow, pinning him down. The others gathered around to destroy it, but Drake quickly charged in as a Kaprosuchus and managed to knock Dr. Bubba off.

“UGH! You annoying little brat!” Dr. Bubba snarled, “I regret giving you that serum to this day.”

Milo suddenly swung his sword at Drake, and Drake barely managed to deflect it with his thin rapier. Milo snarled at Drake.

“You’re going to pay for killing Dr. Bubba, filthy guard.”

“You bastard,” Drake barked back.

With overwhelming strength, Drake managed to push Milo back, and Milo stumbled. Aragorn’s shadow suddenly took his sword and shoved it straight into Milo’s stomach.

Milo gasped. But as Aragorn’s shadow retracted, Milo let out a cry and collapsed to his knees, tears collecting in his eyes and his armor hardening.

Pat gasped. His eyes wavered, and then he gritted his teeth.

“YOU’RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!” Pat screamed. He clenched his fists, and suddenly the armor around his body began to harden. Spikes shot out of his armor, and two large swords grew in Pat’s hands. Pat let out a scream and slashed them both at Aragorn’s shadow, destroying it immediately. Pat swung his swords at Drake next.

But before he could, something strange happened. All of the armor pieces surrounding Pat broke, and his swords shattered in a million pieces. Pat gasped, as he looked down upon his body. The armor pieces had disappeared. Flown off somewhere.

Drake took his opportunity. He swung his rapier to the side, but not before Dr. Bubba pushed Drake, causing him to stumble to the ground, and then Dr. Bubba got into a wrestling match with him, trying his best to pin the guard down. Dr. Bubba’s armor had also disappeared, and so had Milo’s. What was going on?

As Milo seethed on the ground, clutching his wound, Pat looked up at the skies to Drain. He blasted a beam of purple flames onto Andrew, who dodged out of the way and unleashed a volley of light arrows back at him. Their battle of attrition was dragging on for too long, and he noticed that parts of Andrew were returning back to normal. The darkness continued to creep up on the light.

“HEY DRAIN!” Milo shouted up to him, “OUR ARMOR’S GONE, HELP US OUT HERE!”

Drain ignored them. Whether or not he could even hear them, they weren’t sure. But Milo was hurt badly, and needed help. Pat cursed to himself and picked Milo up. He ran forward and kicked Drake in the head, who let out a howl and clutched it in pain. Dr. Bubba got up.

“We’ve gotta get out of here. Find a safe place and help Milo!” Pat told him. Dr. Bubba nodded.

“Right. Our time here’s up anyway. No need to fight anymore. Let’s get out of here.”

Pat transformed into a Procoptodon, putting Milo into his pouch. Dr. Bubba hopped on his back, and the three hopped out of the fight zone, until they reached a facility that seemed abandoned. The door was kicked open. They ventured inside and realized it was a lab.

~

Meanwhile, Aragorn was fighting Rockwell. Aragorn swung his sword a few times at Rockwell, but Rockwell merely dashed to the side and shot more blasts of Element in retaliation. Rockwell’s armor allowed him to be quick and nimble, compared to his old age.

Aragorn sighed to himself. This was going to be annoying. He looked around him. Buddy was nowhere to be seen. Emerald, Tago, and Star were focusing all their efforts on Prince Caldren, whose armor made him tank all of their attacks, Drake was hurt, and Erica-

Rockwell let out a howl of pain as a bolt of Element hit him in the back. Rockwell’s back bent over, and he let out a grunt as he rubbed his spine. Hunched over, Rockwell turned around.

“Which dastardly fiend was that?!”

“That would be me,” Erica revealed herself, floating down in her light armor, a light rifle in her hand. Rockwell pointed a finger at Erica.

“I knew a woman like you, thought she could defeat me, but I always win!” Rockwell shouted, “I always come back-”

Rockwell paused, as the armor around his body began to harden. He shook his head.

“I really need to keep my rage in check,” Rockwell thought, as he saw a Procoptodon hopping away with Dr. Bubba on its back. He looked back up at Drain. That foul beast was taking advantage of them like pawns. Once Rockwell’s armor reached its max capabilities, Drain would just take it away for himself. Rockwell couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let it reach the max.

“For now, this will do,” Rockwell thought with a smile, “I need this armor for later, but I can’t be caught. I saw that Milo fellow got wounded badly. I could ‘convince’ them to give me some of their serum.”

Aragorn swung his sword at Rockwell again, and Rockwell dodged, snapping his back back in place. Aragorn was starting to get annoyed by this old man. But there was simply nothing he or Erica could do. He was just too quick.

~

Caldren swung his mace at Emerald. Emerald skittered up the building’s walls before the mace came crashing down onto the building. Emerald jumped off and swooped down at Caldren, biffing him in the face. Caldren let out a howl of pain.

Star, who had been mostly passive in the fight for whatever reason, finally made her move. She dashed forward and slashed at Caldren’s legs with her Terror Bird claws. Caldren let out a roar as the Dodo bird chuckled to herself. Tago swooped in and blasted fire onto his face, scorching his face further.

The three quickly regrouped, side by side and ready to face him again. The armor on Prince Caldren’s body seemed to really accelerate his durability and stamina. Prince Caldren didn’t even look exhausted yet. He let out a roar and pounded his chest with one of his fists.

“YOU ALL DIE NOW!” Caldren shouted angrily.

“I don’t think so,” Emerald snapped back. Tago grimaced as Caldren swung his mace again, and the three moved out of the way.

“Damn it,” Star thought, grinding her beak, “I just need to…”

“Transform.”

Star gasped, as she felt her body transmogrify. A white light flashed, and Caldren shielded his eyes as the white light finally passed, a woman with flowing, black hair remained, the armor around her changed to fit her body. She looked down at her tan hands, and moved around her fingers. She grinned.

“Heh. It really worked,” the woman began to laugh, “IT WORKED! I’M HUMAN AGAIN!”

“What the,” Tago muttered. The woman looked up at the beast.

“Hey there! I’m so glad I can finally talk,” the woman said. Caldren let out a roar, seemingly apathetic toward Star’s transformation, and swung his mace at her again. The woman dodged to the side, then rushed up to Caldren and slammed her fist into him. Caldren stumbled backwards a little bit, and while Tago continued blasting fire onto him, Emerald climbed up a building parallel to him and afterwards dashed down, slamming him into a building.

SMASH!

Caldren’s body went tumbling back, and his head slammed through a window. Caldren let out a roar as he struggled to get up, his head stuck again. Caldren burst through the building and swung his fist at the woman, who weaved to the side.

“Who are you?!” Emerald asked the woman, “What happened to Star?”

“I am Star,” the woman replied, “Long story short, name’s Nova. Yeah I know one of you is already named Nova, sorry about the complication. But I think I can shapeshift-”

“Like Drake?” Tago asked.

“Yeah, like Drake,” Nova replied, “Too bad for me I couldn’t control it. Only way I was able to get out of that stupid dodo form was by laying low and concentrating as hard as I could-”

Caldren picked up his mace and swung at Tago again. Tago flew to the side. This game of cat and mouse was angering Caldren by the second. He let out another ferocious roar, and his mace began to grow in size.

CLICK CLICK!

By now, Prince Caldren was holding up a mace three times his size, and almost as large as a building. Prince Caldren raised his mace, and the three looked up at the mace in horror.

“NOW YOU DIE!” Prince Caldren was about to slam the mace down when the mace suddenly crumbled to pieces. Prince Caldren let out a surprised grunt, and he looked at his body and noticed his armor was flying away and merging with Drain.

“Now’s our chance!” Emerald shouted, “GET HIM!”

Without his armor, Prince Caldren was easily pummeled into a nearby building. Emerald slashed at Prince Caldren’s arm, and blood spewed out onto her armor. Tago slammed into Prince Caldren, and his head was stuck in the walls once more.

Caldren struggled to get up, flailing his arms around and slamming his feet into the ground.

“HATE YOU I HATE YOU!” Caldren shouted, “I KILL YOU ALL!”

Nova sighed, brushing sweat off her forehead and turning to Emerald and Tago. She giggled.

“That was fun,” Nova said, “Girl power, am I right?”

Emerald and Tago raised their brows at her.

“No, just me, okay. Come on, let’s go help the others defeat that old man over there.”

Nova rushed over to help immediately, while Emerald just shook her head.

“Humans and their weird sayings,” Emerald dashed toward Rockwell, and Tago took to the skies and began to fly toward them.

~

Lil Jack crept back into the building where Michael was trapped, and as he did he saw the Purlovia they had fought was wreathing on the ground, his head in his hands.

“Jack, Janae,” it whimpered softly. Lil Jack clutched onto his whip tightly. Did it just say his name? Before Lil Jack could take action, a high-pitched voice interrupted him.

“HEY! A LITTLE HELP HERE?!” Michael suddenly shouted. Lil Jack jumped from his place. He looked over to the fireplace, where Michael had gotten stuck. Michael began to cough violently.

“This ash is irritating! Why did you run?”

“Sorry Michael,” Lil Jack apologized, “I got scared.”

“Scared? Ridiculous! Some sort of villain you are. Now come, unfree me.”

Lil Jack carefully stepped over to the fireplace. He put his fingers on the metal grate and lifted it up. Michael went tumbling out, coughing voraciously. Both of their armor was still intact, and the fighting outside was already beginning to die down.

“Okay,” Lil Jack said, “Let’s get out of here-”

Michael walked over and picked up the sword.

“Not before I kill this creature thing. It bit me on the arm, it’ll pay.”

Michael lifted his sword up into the air. Lil Jack shivered. The Purlovia opened his mouth again.

“My son, Jake, I’m sorry.”

Lil Jack took a step back, memories overflowing him. His father taking him to the shooting range. His father teaching him the rules of the streets. The first person he jumped with his friends. Mikey, Larry. And then his horrible, horrible death. Lil Jack’s lips quivered, and his armor split open and the fragments fell to the ground. He opened out his mouth and screamed,

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

Lil Jack lunged forward and knocked Michael down. Michael let out a grunt of pain, and then elbowed Lil Jack in the nose. Lil Jack screamed out in pain, and Michael lifted his sword and swiped at Lil Jack. Lil Jack quickly rolled to the side, and the sword nearly took his hand off.

“You… What do you think you’re doing?” Michael scoffed, “First you hit me with that stupid whip, and then you stop me from killing this thing-”

“We can’t, we shouldn’t,” Lil Jack gasped, getting up. He pushed Michael.

“Get a hold of yourself!” Lil Jack wept, “This isn’t right… What are we fighting for? For some demon, the devil himself! Even in Hell we can’t help but fight amongst ourselves…”

Tears fell down Lil Jack’s eyes.

“My whole life, I’ve been taught that violence was the solution to everything. It was the way it had to be,” Lil Jack told Michael. Michael gritted his teeth, gripping his sword tighter.

“It can’t be anymore,” Lil Jack pleaded, “Come on. The creature has a family. What happens if we kill him? What happens then-”

“SHUT UP!” Michael swiped his sword at Lil Jack’s face, cutting his cheek and nose and making his head whip to the side. Blood seeped down his face. Lil Jack felt the blood and looked at it in horror.

“You’re an IDIOT,” Michael shouted, “A weirdo, and a freak! Let me do as I please! I was the mayor of Tortuga, I could do whatever I wanted-”

Lil Jack slammed his fist into Michael’s nose, and he let out a shout as blood poured down his nostrils.

“Oh,” Michael realized, as the blood fell onto his lips, “You’re so dead, YOU’RE SO DEAD!”

Lil Jack quickly slammed another fist into Michael, and then another, and another. Michael let out shouts of pain, as the armor around him began to harden, and his hate continued to amplify. Before he knew it, the armor shattered, and both pieces from Lil Jack and Michael’s armor flew out of the building and onto Drain.

Both of them were breathing for air, their weapons both gone. With one last push, Lil Jack grabbed Michael by the collar and then shoved him back into the fireplace. Michael let out a scream of rage as Lil Jack shut the metal grate down again.

Lil Jack took a seat down at the couch, breathing heavily. He looked back at the Purlovia. He sighed, closing his eyes. He was tired of all of this. Just wanted to live a life without constantly fighting.

Lil Jack got up from the couch, walking out the back door and heading off into the distance. Where would he go? He wasn’t sure. He just wanted to find something, or someone that could help him in this foreign world.

Lil Jack looked back at the mayhem. A part of him wanted to help, but most of his heart told him he just wanted to survive.

Lil Jack didn’t look back.

~

Rockwell looked as Nova, Emerald, and Tago joined the battle. By now all of Andrew’s Knights except Buddy were against him. Rockwell knew this was a battle he wouldn’t be able to win. He’d have to escape. Rockwell looked up at Drain. He didn’t seem to notice Rockwell’s armor was still on. Rockwell smiled. Things were going perfectly.

Rockwell looked on at the Knights. Humans and creatures alike surrounded him from all fronts. Rockwell looked back and forth carefully, waiting for the first move.

“You’re surrounded, give up and surrender,” Emerald told him. Rockwell grinned,

“Of course, of course… hold on, what is that? Is that a Giganotosaurus?”

Rockwell pointed off in the distance. Somehow, all of them looked at where Rockwell was pointing. Rockwell grinned. Now was his chance. Rockwell ran as quickly as he could, and by the time they had noticed, he was already long gone.

Rockwell ran along the streets, using the armor to create longer strides and faster steps. Rockwell looked back. Nobody was following him.

“Perfect. Now all I must do is gather the transformation serum-”

BAM BAM BAM!

Blasts of light suddenly shot at Rockwell. Rockwell cursed to himself and looked up. Erica was following him in the sky, firing down at him with his rifle. Rockwell fired back with his blaster arms. Erica swiftly dodged out of the way, younger and more fit than the feeble Rockwell. Even with Edmundium flowing through his veins, his age was catching up.

Rockwell looked at the buildings around. He fired at the support pillars of those instead, and a building crumbled down upon Erica. Erica let out a scream as the building hit her, sending her to the ground. The debris came tumbling down, trapping her in a desolate grave. Rockwell grinned.

“The fools must learn not to interfere with a god’s plan.”

Rockwell could see a building up ahead that had its door kicked down. He could sense lifeforms inside. That must have been Pat, Milo, and Dr. Bubba. Rockwell grinned as he rushed inside.

He saw Milo writhing on an operating table, a large wound in his stomach, and his face pale and sweaty. Dr. Bubba and Pat were arguing about something.

“WHY CAN’T YOU JUST USE THE HEALING BREWS YOU MADE BEFORE THE BATTLE?!” Pat barked. Dr. Bubba barked back,

“Even if I had any left,” Dr. Bubba argued, “They won’t be able to heal the wound he has-”

“Gentlemen, I believe I can help,” Rockwell interjected, his hands behind his back. Dr. Bubba and Pat turned, and glared at him.

“What do you want?” Pat snapped.

“Your friend is gravely wounded, and on his deathbed,” Rockwell pointed out, “You are incapable of saving him. Allow me to assist.”

“What’s the catch?” Dr. Bubba asked.

“Why, there is no catch. All I request is the transformation serum you’ve taken in return.”

Pat took a step back,

“No way, we’re never giving that to you! That’s ours!”

“Tsk tsk tsk, but your friend’s life is on the line,” Rockwell smiled, “Are you willing to throw it away just for a secret?”

Pat opened his mouth to speak, but Dr. Bubba stopped him.

“No. I’ll give it to you,” Dr. Bubba begged him, “Just… Please don’t go back on your word.”

Rockwell smiled.

“Don’t worry. I am not here to deceive you, like that beast of a bat. Think of it as a business offer.”

Rockwell opened the palm of his hand out to them.

“Now. The transformation serum.”

Pat looked at Dr. Bubba. Dr. Bubba nodded. Dr. Bubba walked over to a lab counter and began to create it. In just a minute or two, Dr. Bubba had a cup with a purple liquid. He handed it to Rockwell. Rockwell gulped it down.

“Try it. It works. Not a trick,” Dr. Bubba told him.

Rockwell transformed into a Terror Bird. He looked at his claws happily, before transforming back into a human.

“Very well then, give me a first-aid kit. I will patch this man up.”

~

As the debris closed in on Erica, she could feel her breathing elevate. It felt so hard to breathe, and everything hurt. Were her bones broken? Erica couldn’t tell. This armor was unable to tell her how and where she was hurt.

“I hope the others are okay,” Erica murmured to herself, “Andrew… I hope you’re okay.”

Erica felt her heart rate elevate as well. She was tired. She didn’t know if she could hold on any longer.

“I’m… sorry, I couldn’t make it-”

The debris was lifted off of her. Erica let out a gasp of air as she felt fresh oxygen flow through her body. She struggled to lift her body up, and looked on to see a black bear looking down at her with his head tilted.

“Hey there human, good or bad guy?”

“Good guy,” Erica groaned, “Aren’t you supposed to be… back at the mansion?”

The bear frowned, looking worried.

“What mansion? You’re hurt. We need to get you help!”

“It’s too late for me,” Erica whispered, “Take my armor and help-”

“NO!” the bear shouted, “I will not let any more good guys die! Now, tell me who can help!”

Erica sighed, a smile passing her lips. The bear was quite silly.

“Andrew.”

Bear stood up on his hind legs and called out to the world.

“ANDREWWWWW! WE NEED YOUR HELP!”

~

Andrew could hear Bear’s call for help ring in his ears. Andrew looked back at Drain, who had tried in vain to shoot fire laser beams at him, and quickly dashed forward and knocked Drain through an array of skyscrapers.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

Andrew quickly dashed over to Bear’s voice and noticed Erica laying on the ground, mortally wounded.

“ERICA!” Andrew shouted, dashing over and kneeling down to Erica.

“It’s over,” Erica muttered.

“No it isn’t, I can help you,” Andrew put his hand on Erica’s body and the light from Andrew’s body began to transfer over to Erica. Erica could feel her bones snap back in place. By the time Andrew was finished, half of his body was light, and half of his body was normal as it had been.

“You won’t win if you help me,” Erica told him. Andrew held onto Erica’s hand.

“But if you die,” Andrew said, “If any of you die, there won’t be a point in winning.”

Erica felt more out of breath.

“Just think of the good memories,” Andrew softly told her, “It’ll be okay.”

Good memories.

Erica closed her eyes. And she reminisced as hard as she could. Memories began flowing through her eyes, but they slowly began to transform. Of Andrew. Freya. Sylas. Paul, and Jonathan. Erica smiled. Things were going to be okay.

Erica felt herself drift off to unconsciousness. Andrew looked up at the sky. The light was running low, and the shadows were starting to grow. They were losing, despite their efforts. Was the world really so filled with hate that darkness would win this battle?

Andrew floated up into the sky and faced Drain again. Drain grinned as he saw Andrew.

“Last chance Andrew,” Drain told him, “You know I’ll win.”

“I…” Andrew paused, and then opened his eyes,

“Refuse.”

Andrew dashed at Drain with light speed and grabbed him by the wings. In less than a second, they were at the Shadowkeep, which was up in flames along with the rest of the forest around it.

“What are you doing?!” Drain snarled.

“I won’t let you hurt my friends,” Andrew declared, “Even if it means I die. So come on, let’s have a fair fight.”

The Omega Timeline

Chapter 58: The Infection

By MGG

Jay tumbled through the portal and onto cold hard gravel. He heard a crash as another body flew through the portal and into a nearby shop wall. Jay stood up, he clutched his arm in pain, the skin around the cut had turned a deep shade of purple. The city around him was nearly demolished, due to Drain’s siege on the city. The Yi Ling stirred in the ruins of the shop, it snapped out of its unconscious state and sprung to its feet, snarling and searching for its prey. It spotted Jay, standing in the middle of the street, alone, and defenseless. The Yi Ling carefully stepped forward, its eyes scanning the area, looking for any other possible threats. But there was no one. Just Jay. The creature began circling Jay. But, at the moment, even if Jay wanted to, he couldn’t defeat the creature, not entirely at least. He was too tired, too weak. The Yi Ling finely decided that he was indeed, defenseless, it lunged at him. Just as its jaws were about to make contact, a large black blur pushed the beast to the ground. Jay, startled by the sudden action, instinctively hopped to the side. He watched as a large black raptor attempted to get its shot at an easy meal. The two battled for about three long seconds, until the Yi Ling pushed the raptor to the ground, and ripped out its throat. To Jay’s surprise, the raptor twitched for a couple of seconds, then slowly, and clumsily, pulled its self up. It was a terrifying sight, two creatures, neither entirely dead, nor alive, cornering him. In Jay’s mind, he only had one choice, Run. Jay turned and sprinted as fast as humanly possible, with the two zombified dinosaurs close behind him.

Couldn’t think of anything else to write srry. Sorry for taking so long to.

MGG

The Omega Timeline Chapter 54: Darkness and Light Part Two

~

Within moments, Erica and the others were in the mansion. It seemed to be back to normal like nothing ever happened. Even the excess weapons were neatly arranged. Sylas set her on the couch where she sat for a time, sore and bruised. She lay there in pain and sighed. She still thought that she had some sort of fracture, no matter what her Tek suit said. Sylas lowered his visor as he stood above her. She saw the Reaper King transform into Drake who stood there with the creatures he aided out of there. Notably, the ones that drained had frozen it’s his breath. Tago and Sheeri, she watched as others brought in the humans or smaller allies that had been frozen too. Sylveevee and Skyocean, Dr. Yang, his strange squirrel Steve, the two raptors Rage and Snake, and Sunny the Fox were all frozen. They all looked either in petrified pain or fear. Erica shook her head in shame. They should’ve got out of there. No one knew what happened to Ben, Neddy, Ruby, and Emma at all. Everyone the

She lifted herself into a sitting position to see who was standing. She could see Aragorn and his wife were still ok, Joe Kong and another Gigantopithecus who she didn’t know. Emerald and Darkhide were ok, the two Shadowmanes Orbit and Moonbeam were there too. She could see Buddy, Star, Drake, Moonhigh and Sunhigh, Sylas, Freya and Nova were all ok. She didn’t see Jack or Jay anywhere, but she assumed they were just in the mansion somewhere since Moonhigh and Sunhigh were ok. Bear was still out there trying to help others get to safety, she was really worried about him. He was incredibly stupid and had an awful memory so who knows what he had gotten into by himself. She just hoped he and the other lost wer-

“Hah!! Told you that we could all help Freya!!” Sylas said lightheartedly, disrupting her thoughts.

“What do you mean ‘We’?” Aragorn said as he looked at the others in Tek armor, Sylas’ eyes widened in fear as she attempted to shoo away the other armored persons.

“Who are they?” Arianna asked, two of the armored persons looked at each other looked at each other before turning off their visors. Jack and Jay.

“Hi, mom and dad!!” Jack said excitedly,

“This armor’s awesome!!” Jay said in awe, Aragorn was also in awe. However, his face’s expression soon grew very angry. Jay and Jack looked at each other in worry as their dad and mom came over to them.

“Go upstairs and take that stuff off. Your mother and I will be up there soon for further discussion.” Aragorn said fuming in anger, but remaining as calm as possible in front of everyone. Jay and Jack went immediately upstairs as he said this. Queen Sylveevee saw Moonhigh and Sunhigh and walked to them and began to talk to them. She talked to them for a moment before they headed upstairs following Jay and Jack. Erica was furious, she got up groaning, and raised the visor of her helmet.

“Sylas, what were you thinking!! You went against my direct orders to not leave the Obelisk room!! ” Erica shouted.

“Look around you Erica, we saved you from dying to a flipping demon the size of a Kaiju!! Your orders would have had you and everyone else killed!! So a thank you would be nice!!” Sylas said. Erica looked at him in irritation and anger.

“If you want a thank you for nearly killing those kids you won’t get it from me.” Erica spat, she then looked at Freya who was getting off of Nova as Nova went to quickly check on her crew.

“Freya, you were in on this too!! What the hell? They’re children!” Erica shouted. Freya shrugged.

“They had heart and determination. If I tried to stop them. They would have just tried without help or behind my whereabouts. So I helped by finding their strengths and weaknesses. I made sure the ones without armor stayed far away from the fight while the ones without armor went in and came out just as fast.” Freya said, Erica's face seethed with anger.

“THEY ARE KIDS FREYA!!! Not soldiers!!”

“That’s right, but they are MY kids. My kids know what they were getting themselves into and that we would never approve of their actions in this, but would try to do something like this. With or without adult support. So I do appreciate your group’s efforts in watching over them.” Aragorn said as he turned to Erica. Erica nodded.

“I’m glad you think this was alright for my group to do, but I still have issues with it.” Erica said staring at Freya and Sylas. A hand grabbed Erica’s shoulder, Erica turned to see Drake standing behind her.

“Erica, I don’t know you, but I can see that you care for people. But it’s okay. The Queen’s children have been caught in battles before. And they are determined to help when they can. So please don’t blame your people for doing that.” Drake said, Erica smiled. However, her smile didn’t seem to be genuine from Sylas’ and Freya’s experience with her. She turned back to the and her face went immediately serious as she looked at Freya and Sylas. Her face basically said it all. This wasn’t over for them yet, but it would have to wait for later. And Erica would make sure it happened.

“Since your strange human tiff is over. What are we going to do about that… thing.” Moonbeam said.

“Right… that thing. Well, I think this place was nice while it lasted. But ah, I say we abandon it.”

“Sylas, shut it. We fight on, we figure out his weaknesses and exploi-” “Face it, Erica, that THING took dragon’s breath, both hot and cold and it did nothing, the only thing that did anything was Nova ramming it at Sub-sonic speeds. And from what it took from humans was numerous tek rifle shots and A FLIPPING RAILGUN to the face and it did NOTHING to it!! The best it did was allow that thing to be pushed over. What are we, squishy humans going to do to that!! Half our allies are down for the count of this fight and some of our strongest with them. Andrew was vaporized in light and his bow was destroyed with it, Ben is nowhere in sight, and goes for the others with him. We just need to take the group that’s down and get out of here.” Sylas stated in a saddened tone, Aragorn raised an eyebrow at this

“Excuse me?” Aragorn said,

“No. We need to fight!” Joe Kong said,

“Sylas, you need to put a sock in it.” Erica spat,

“But he’s right. Leaving is our best hope for survival.” Darkhide said,

“That’s a lie and you know it Darkhide.” Emerald said, the group started fighting about whether they should leave and stay and stand against it. And no one could agree. With Aragorn, Freya, Arianna, and the two Shadowmanes were the only ones not fighting. The female one shook her head as she looked at Aragorn

“This is hopeless, none of these creatures can agree on one thing for more than five minutes.” She said, she looked at the Male and he nodded and then they both started walking away.

“Where are you going?” Aragorn asked, the Male looked over his shoulder at him.

“We need a moment alone to think, it’s too loud over here for anyone to know what’s going on. We’re going to the room where the food is. But we’re on your side of this fight, you seem like you're the only one here who knows what to do.” He said before they both continued to walk off.

“Since it seems like you are the ones with the most common sense. What are we going to do?” Aragorn said, he looked at Freya who seemed quite disappointed with what was happening.

“Couldn’t you just use the Obelisk to destroy them like how they worked in the past?” Arianna asked,

“The Obelisk isn’t working at all. I tried using it, but I couldn’t get it to work. The black fog started coming out of it as I continued trying so I stopped. I was going to say something, but then Erica started going over why having the kids help was against what she wanted.” Freya said, Moonbeam and Orbit shook their heads as they began to walk away.

But Aragorn, Arianna heard a scream coming from upstairs, Freya seemed to hear it too. Arianna looked at Aragorn.

“Go, I’ll stay here and see if I can get everyone to stop fighting.” She said. Immediately, Freya and Aragorn all ran upstairs to find out what was going on while Arianna stayed behind to end the arguing.

~

Jack and Jay went up the stairs to the hallway, they could hear Erica yelling at Sylas and Freya about their decision to let them help.

“I don’t think it’s fair for them to get yelled at. We decided for ourselves.” Jack said as they got into the hall.

“Yeah and look where that got us, in trouble with mom and dad. Hey, look over here!” Jay said as he went into an open door.

“Jay, we can’t go in there. We have to go to our room. Do you want Mom and Dad to get mad at us?” Jack said,

“I know, they won’t even know we were in here. We’ll be in and out just like that.” Jay said and he continued to snoop around the room. Jack looked inward hesitantly before stepping in. The room was odd to them. It was nothing like any of the rooms they had back home, it had a small bed on the fools while another larger bed was on a bed frame. Jack looked at this puzzled. Who’s room was this? It had books scattered everywhere. And a strange thing on one of the dressers in the shape of a large black box.

“What do you suppose that is Jack?”

“I don’t know any more than you do”

“Oh wait I think I’ve heard of this before. It’s like a thing that people in the past used to read books to themselves when they were tired.” Jay said,

“But why though? Didn’t they have parents to read for them?”

“Not as adults, and even when they were kids. The parents could be too tired too. So they sat there kid in front of this thing and it wouldn’t read to them for hours.” Jay explained,

“Wow, they must’ve been really smart people then.” Jack said,

“What are you guys doing in here?” Moonhigh asked as she and Sunhigh entered the room, Jack and Jay both jumped in surprise as they looked at them coming in.

“Uh, nothing. We were just looking around.” Jay said, Moonhigh and Sunhigh looked at Jay with an odd look.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in your room?” Sunhigh said,

“Aren’t you? We’re are, we are just taking a detour and look at this book reader.”

“You mean the television?”

“That’s what this was called? It must’ve been great to use to read books with when tired.” Jack said amazed. Moonhigh laughed,

“That’s not what they did, they had their own entertainments called movies and played something on the screen.” She said as she reached for the machine on the dresser and turned it on. Suddenly a living picture came on the screen as two people talked. Jay and Jack were amazed by it. But Jay’s interest slowly drew away from the screen and to the room again, and he started investigating. He looked at the bed and saw several things on top of it. He grabbed one and it seemed to be a weird glove. He looked at the other items on the bed, one was a broken piece of something futuristic, Jay wasn’t sure what it was from, but there was an odd futuristic cylinder with a clip loop and a big, gray knife and sheath lying on the bed. Jay grabbed it without hesitation and looked at it. It seemed odd out of everything. All of the other items being futuristic while the knife was really old compared to them. It didn’t make sense. Jay looked around the room. He saw the window was open which seemed odd, he stared out at the world outside and saw the strange dark mist beginning to envelop the world around them and slowly coming towards them. But yet the area around the mansion seemed to be getting brighter and the mist retreated away from the mansion. Jay looked up to see a bright light in the sky whirling its way to the mansion. He took a step back from the window and looked at the others.

“Guys, something’s going on.” Jay said, but they were distracted by the screen. Jay looked back out the window. The light got brighter and brighter and almost seemed to get bigger.

“Guy, I really need you to see this.” Jay said, but again they were distracted by the television.

“Guys!!”

“What is it Jay, is it really important? Because this thing is really cool!!” Jack said. Almost directly after saying that, the room burst into light. Soon shrill screams filled the room and Moonhigh jumped a gasp in panic as the room became blinding light. Jack quickly put his visor down as the others tried to cover their eyes with their hands.

“What did you do Sunhigh!!” Moonhigh yelled while looking at her brother.

“I didn’t do anything! I was watching TV with you!!” Sunhigh shouted. Then they all began to see something crazy. A being coming out of the epicenter of the light. The being walked closer to them and then looked around the room for a moment. Jay leaned over to Jack and whispered into his ear.

“Is that God? Do you think we’re dead if that’s God?” Jay whispered,

“I- don’t know, I didn’t feel like I died.” Jack Whispered back.

“But all I can see is white. That means we have to be dead.” Jay whispered,

“Jay, everything is white because you don’t have your visor down. It greatly reduces the light.” Jack whispered back.

“Oh…” Jay whispered as he turned on his visor. Immediately most of the light was drowned out. But still, the being was bright, but now he could see that there was something in the light.

“Jay and Jack right?” The being said, the kids began screaming again as the being said this.

Just as this happened, Aragorn and Freya entered the room. Freya paused outside the room as she looked into the room being blinded by the light.

“A Ljosalfar?” She said lightly as she stood there frozen. Aragorn got in front of the children staring towards the being. His medallion glowed with might and his eyes were black as the night sky. But nothing happened. It was too much light for anything to happen

“Aragorn!!” The being said enthusiastically, something about it sounded familiar to him though.

“Andrew? You’re… alive?” Aragorn said shocked. Freya’s eyes widened as he said this. With hesitation, she stepped into the room. Trying to look at him without being blinded. The being stared at them both. But the kids looked at Aragorn.

“You mean the man that disappeared, the one you thought was vaporized.”

“I am.” Andrew said,

“What happened to you?” Aragorn said,

“We thought you died.” Freya continued

“It’s an unusual story, but we are on the clock. I need to see the rest of the group.” Andrew said,

“They’re all in the main room downstairs.” Freya said,

“Then let's go.” Andrew said,

Andrew and the others left the room quickly, though the others stayed in front of him as they went down the stairs. He could see the others, who seemed like they had been fighting for a bit. He could almost perfectly hear each individual say what they were saying, even hearing two in the kitchen as he walked down the stairs. He began to hear the voices die down as they saw the light coming down the stairway. As he started reaching the bottom of the stairs and the others joined with the others, he began to notice that the crowd gathered around the base of the stairs in awe. Covering their eyes from the light he emitted.

“What is that?” Sylas said,

“A great ball of light?” Emerald said, Aragorn looked at the drake, and gave a smile as he chuckled.

“That is Andrew.” He said, the other’s looked at him in awe.

“That can’t be Andrew though. You said he disappeared.” Erica said,

“That’s right, in a ball of light. I was chosen.” Andrew said,

“Chosen?” Ariana said confused, Buddy came out of the group and looked at Andrew, squinting into the light.

“Chosen by what?” Buddy asked, Andrew looked at him for a moment.

“I am not sure. All I know is a dagger called me and it gave me a test. I chose right and I became the Herald of Light to face the Darkness.” Andrew said,

“The Darkness, you mean that thing? That monster!” Darkhide said,

“The Herald of Darkness, Drain was chosen to become it, I don’t know what it did to him. But if you had known who it was, then I could only imagine his appearance.” Andrew said, everyone was in awe at this.

“Your transformation is… beyond our imagination too Andrew” Freya said, Darkhide chucked at this.

“It is, but what are you going to do against him?! He’s huge and so powerful!!” Darkhide exclaimed, Andrew stood there for a moment in silence. They couldn’t see through the light, but he didn’t know what to do. He lowered his head in shame with his eyes closed, not knowing what he needed to do. He opened his eyes, expecting to see the stair’s floor. Only to see dirt and rubble. He looked up to see he was outside and surrounded by the villains. Though they didn’t move, he looked down at himself and didn’t see his armor, but just light. He couldn’t see his feet or anything. He felt for his face to feel nothing. He was pure light? What was going on? He looked at the villains again who again weren't moving, though they all now were wearing the same type of armor, demonic-looking and black as the abyss. He then noticed a shadow being cast from something above him. He looked in horror and awe. Above him stood a beast or kaiju like none he had ever seen. With the face of a Japanese demon, it was looking on to the others. Andrew stared at it for a moment. Knowing who it was.

“Drain.” He said, suddenly the eyes moved and looked straight at Andrew’s face. A large smile grew on his face and his head moved in super slow motion to look down at Andrew. Andrew gasped as he snapped back to the stairway in the mansion, he could hear everyone’s whispers about him. He looked down at himself Drain had done something to the villains, he gave them power of the Harold in exchange for their allegiance to him. Andrew thought for a moment about what to do. Before it came to him. Fight fire with fire.

He looked up back at everyone, though they didn’t know he ever was gone.

“This.” He raised his hand in the air and six different colored lights began to glow brightly in his hand and strung to life and fluttered around the room.

A light red one sputtered through to its destination, Star. It touched her and immediately as it did. Armor started covering, glowing in a bright red hard light but almost acting as a mek suit made of light, looking like a Terror Bird. A green one landed on Emerald, covering her in a lavishing green armor made of hard light, light but strong and covering every scale of her body. A light of black fluttered and spun around the room before landing on Aragorn. Thick-plated armor started forming around him, shining with a deep ultraviolet hard light with a large Excalibur sword made of the same light. A light of blue fluttered for a moment before landing on Buddy covering him in blue armor, light and covering most of his body and enhancing his claws with this hard light. A ball of yellow light circled the room several times before going to Erica with great force. With a grunt as it hit her, yellow armor resembling Tek started forming around her armor, she felt healed from her bruising, and in her hand formed a Rifle made of light. She looked at the armor and weapon in awe, Andrew could see her mind trying to figure out how this was all possible. He still wondered to himself how it was. He saw another orb of purple light flying through the air and touching Drake. Forming Purple armor of Hard light around him. Also forming a rapier in his hand. Andrew smiled seeing them all in the armor. And for a moment, he thought all of his knights were chosen. Until he saw a small orange light fluttering through the air, looking for someone to call its own. It fluttered around the room before bolting down the hall and into the kitchen. Andrew could hear snarls of shock as the Shadowmanes ran out of the room and down the hallway, being chased by the orb of light.

“What is going on? And what is thi-” Moonbeam said before stopping mid-sentence and seeing Andrew, and the others in the armor of light. She and Orbit stood there in udder confusion looking at this.

“What, happened while we were in there?” Orbit asked, the orb continued to fly around them for a moment before shooting off into the other room. The crowd followed it out of curiosity. They saw that it was going through the frozen. It searched through the many before coming to a wyvern that was frozen with the others, Tago. With a graceful touch, it began to glow brighter as she began to twitch, her eyes moved quickly, and she let out a gasp as she jolted up. Orange armor started forming around her as she looked around her.

“What, what happened? What’s going on?” She said looking at herself in the armor, the others looked at Andrew who was noticeably dimmer with this all happening, but still too bright to truly see him. Jack and Jay both could see him now though wearing their visors. His head and face were only two-thirds visible to them and they could see part of his coming out of his armor, the rest though was light.

“Why did you do this? Aren’t you strong enough to fight Drain on your own?” Emerald asked, the other in a mutter and partly unison agreed. Andrew looked at them with a smile. Though most couldn’t see it.

“I believe I am, but Drain has troops of his own and I am not sure if I can deal with all of them at pounce. I need you, my friends, my acquaintances, my knights to distract and fight his knight of darkness well I deal with the Harald of Darkness.” Andrew said, he held his bow tightly in his hand, the light from it still shined brightly.

“So you need all of our help?” Sylas asked, Andrew shook his head.

“I wish I could have you guys out there, but not this time. I need you all to go down to the White Obelisk room with the injured and frozen while we deal with knights and Drain.” Andrew answered, they all nodded their heads when he said this. “Now please, hurry.” Andrew continued. Erica walked up in front of Andrew as the other began to help the injured and frozen down to the Obelisk room.

“What? How do you know that Andrew?” Erica asked as she covered her eyes from the light of Andrew,

“There isn’t time to explain. We need to get outside now while they get everyone down there now.” Andrew answered,

“Why?” Erica asked, Andrew seemed to point to one of the windows, she looked out and saw the entire outside was dark, she began to feel the mansion rumble and quake as something from above came over and went by and repeated this once more. Almost like something circled the mansion. Then a thunderous boom rocked the house and everyone in it from outside. The children began to whimper and cry as the parents and Drake tried to comfort them as they took them downstairs first with some of the injured. Outside, Erica could see blood-red eyes peer from further in the darkness, and a demonic cruel grin slowly appeared out of the black mist, almost supernatural in how they stood out of the darkness. Erica could feel her heart rapidly beat as she stared out into those eyes. She could feel that they looked back directly at her. Erica thought could the black mist retreat from the window as Andrew walked up next to her. But she didn’t need to squint or even cover her eyes when he came close to this black mist as his light almost counteracted the mist and it just retreated from the window.

“Because, they are here.” Andrew said…

Author’s Note: Typo in the beginning, this is not the Finale!!! This is the SemiFinale!!! 55 will release soon from the ever wonderful Ben!!! I hope you enjoy this Arc of the series so far and our excited for the Finale for it!!!

The Omega Timeline

Chapter 55, Part 3: Totality (Cont.)

- by Ben

Emma gasped. She awoke from her vision, and looked around her to see flames and overgrowth taking the buildings down. Her vision was dire. A warning. A warning that they’d lose the war.

Andrew was going to fight Drain alone, and if he did, he would lose, and everyone would inevitably die.

Emma rushed to the mansion as quickly as she could. As she arrived, she noticed the rest of the Knights gathered around, checking for wounds and counting heads. They turned to see Emma, and Aragorn gasped.

“Emma! What are you doing here?” Aragorn asked, “Get to the White Obelisk now! That bat might be here any moment-”

“There’s no time to explain,” Emma hurried, “All of us need to get to the Shadowkeep, and quickly.”

“Is that where Andrew went?” Buddy asked groggily. He had just woken up from his unconscious state, “If Drain was taken along with him, shouldn’t we let him deal with it? Andrew’s the only one strong enough to take him on.”

“Yes. Going there would only slow Andrew down and have him worry about us,” Emerald added, “Going there would be more harmful than helpful.”

There were fast footsteps. They turned to see Bear galloping toward them, with Erica atop fast asleep.

“Good guys?” Bear asked.

“Yes,” Drake said, rolling his eyes.

“Okay then, here you go.”

The others quickly helped Erica off. Emma grabbed Aragorn by the shoulders.

“Please Dad, we have to go! I saw it!”

“What do you mean she saw it-”

“I,” Tago interrupted them. Everyone turned to her, “Think she’s experiencing something similar to Buddy.”

“Visions,” Buddy interjected.

“It’s from the medallion Dad,” Emma explained, “Now we have to go.”

Aragorn thought, and then nodded.

“So be it. Let’s get to Jay. He’ll create a portal for us to go to.”

~

Andrew began his assault on Drain with his light arrows, but Drain’s body modifications had already grown too strong. Drain merely flicked his wings, deflecting the arrows away. Andrew noticed the shadow had almost completely overtaken the light now, and Andrew could feel himself growing weaker and weaker each time he shot an arrow at him.

“Your light is nearly faded, Herald of Light,” Drain cackled, “The balance will soon shift in evil’s favor, and I shall rule supreme.”

The crashing waves of the Genesis sea nearby seemed to be growing more and more intense as their fight continued. Drain shot another concentrated laser at Andrew, who barely managed to dodge it. Andrew looked down upon his body. By now, only a fourth of his body was composed of light, and he was growing slower and slower by the second.

“Are you prepared to die now?” Drain asked, flapping his wings carelessly and playfully. Andrew felt his head start to hurt. Drain was digging through his memories. Andrew tried pushing him out, but it was futile. A grin grew on Drain’s face.

“It’ll be just like your precious dog Reuben.”

Andrew didn’t know how to feel after what he just said. He felt his fists clench. The light was fizzling out, but Andrew was too blinded by pain to realize. Horrible, traumatic memories flew by his eyes, memories he wished he could let go. He witnessed Reuben being kicked, and then torn apart by a Corrupted Raptor. He witnessed his parents closing the cryostasis chamber shut on him, barely holding back tears. He witnessed the burial of Reuben.

It was all too much. By then, all of the light had faded from Andrew’s body, leaving only his TEK bow and arrows. He let out a cry. A cry of anger. Hatred. Pain, and guilt. Energy arrows shot out at Drain, but each string he let go of, and each arrow that hit Drain, only seemed to make him more powerful. Drain’s body grew, his hide thickened, and the armor hardened. The darkness slowly began to swallow the sky whole, a gluttonous beast of its own. Clouds were torn apart. Thunder boomed. Screams echoed.

Drain chuckled, flying circles above him, like a hawk eyeing its prey.

“It’s too late Andrew,” Drain exclaimed softly, “You’re too filled with rage and hatred to stop me.”

“You’ve failed your friends.”

Andrew could hear Sylas, Erica, and Freya’s words whisper in his ears, shunning him and disgracing him for failing to defeat Drain.

“You’ve failed this world.”

Andrew could feel the dead soil of the Shadowkeep pull him in, as if marking an early grave.

“And you’ve failed your past.”

Andrew could taste the blood of his failures on his tongue.

“さようなら、 Andrew.”

Drain flapped his wings hard. The mist of darkness culminated into familiar beings. Raptors, lashing out and slowly opening their mouths, floating down toward Andrew. More shadowy mists manifested in the shape of Andrew’s friends and allies, reaching down to take his life. Andrew closed his eyes, accepting defeat.

A blue portal manifested in the corner of his eye.

~

“Andrew’s about to die!” Jay cried out as his medallion glowed and the portal continued swirling round and round. Aragorn immediately pushed past Jay and was about to rush out into the portal when Drake held him back.

“Damn it Aragorn, what do you think you’re doing?! You’ll die if you go out there, it should be me!” Drake shouted.

“You’re all the children will have left if their Princess Purple can’t survive!”

Emerald walked up to the front of the portal.

“I have nobody left, allow me-”

“Now don’t try anything rash!” Darkhide shouted, shoving Emerald to the side. Lieutenant Felswand walked up.

“I must atone for my crimes-”

“No one’s atoning for anything!” Erica shouted, “If anything it should be me.”

“I’ll go,” Moonbeam offered, “I’m quick, I can get him-”

“No you won’t!” Orbit roughly barked.

Before anyone could decide, the human Nova stepped through the portal and out to the other side of the Shadowkeep.

“Wait!” Bear shouted.

“Sorry, you all,” Nova waved her hand at them, “Now, Jay.”

Jay shut the portal off.

“Jay! Reopen the portal right this instant!” Aragorn ordered him.

Jay shook his head.

“I have to protect you Dad. You’ve spent your whole life protecting us, it’s time I return your favor,” Jay turned to the rest of them, “That goes for the rest of you.”

“Jay, you have to reopen that portal,” Emma told her brother, “All of us have to go.”

“She expected something LÍKE THIS to happen,” Jay explained, “She told me to wait a minute before reopening it.”

(Author’s Note: I WANTED TO RANT BECAUSE WHY IS IT THAT SAYING THAT AUTOMATICALLY PREVENTS POSTING IT SMH COME ON BRO I SPENT 30 MINUTES TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY I COULDN'T POST THIS PART OF THE CHAPTER).

“But she’ll die! We won’t be able to help her,” Moonhigh protested.

~

“That’s not the point,” human Nova thought as she rushed forward, grabbing Andrew and hauling him onto her back. Nova looked at Andrew’s face. He looked so much like Samuel. She felt her armor crack at the thought of her best friend.

“This isn’t about protecting others.”

“Obtaining ultimate power and control,”

“Or even redeeming yourself.”

“This is just…” Nova whispered, as she whispered into Andrew’s ear, “An act of survival.”

Still, as Nova ran as fast as she could, she couldn’t help but feel it was anything but that.

Nova felt the mist grab onto her. Nova shut her eyes. She needed to remember.

~

The day was sunny. The day was bright. There were no clouds in sight. All that filled the skies was the light that poured in from the sun. It seemed like the perfect day. After all, for dear Nova, it would be her last day at the wondrous and most interesting place of her life. Terran High. The last day she’d spend in this rollercoaster of emotions, drama, and heartache.

Nova was standing amongst a crowd, along with many other waiting graduates, each one wearing a black gown and graduation cap. They were watching the stage with anticipation, eager for the big moment. Nova noticed a figure in the crowd that stood out from the others. Her best friend, Samuel. Nova walked up to him and blurted,

“Are you excited?”

The memory continued on, as it did, Nova realized what was happening to her.

Her life was flashing before her eyes.

Nova sighed as the memory continued. So be it. The Samuel she knew was long gone already. What was the point in living? At the very least, she could sacrifice herself and let the others live.

She knew that Andrew’s abilities were empowered by their hopes and dreams. This was the only way Andrew could be saved, and for all the light to return back to its original state. She’d have to die, relive her greatest memories, and pass it on to Andrew.

The next seven minutes felt peaceful. She and Samuel just enjoying the sunny day of their graduation, and the countdown by Mr. Mo began.

Nova sighed, as her life came to an end. This was it.

“TEN! NINE! EIGHT!”

“SEVEN! SIX! FIVE!”

“FOUR! THREE! TWO!”

“ONE!”

A blast of light hit her in the head, and it was then she felt her life fade from her body.

~

Andrew could feel a beam of light wash over his body, and a wave of memories that weren’t his. As he did, another blue portal manifested in the distance. Drain’s eyes widened as the beam of light seemed to tear a hole in the darkness that overwhelmed the skies.

“WHAT?! HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!” Drain shook his head, “No matter, I’ll just end you here and now!”

As the light cleared away, it revealed Andrew, floating up into the sky once again, his entire body covered in and emitting light beams. Andrew looked down at the dead woman. Nova’s death wouldn’t be in vain. This had to end. Now.

Drain began flapping his wings frantically. The black mist emitted from his wing began to cloud up, but as Andrew continued to float up into the air, something strange was happening.

All sorts of vibrant colors were being reflected off of Andrew’s body, seemingly connected as strands to something. Drain looked at the source, and that was when he noticed all of Andrew’s allies, no, his friends standing in unison, projecting all of their hopes and dreams onto him. Even those who had been unfrozen were there to help him. The power of Andrew’s rejuvenation had been enough to free them from their stone fetters.

“This, this can’t be!” Drain shouted, his power growing weaker. The armor plates began to fall off of his wings, and the scales were being tipped once more, this time, against the darkness, “THIS CAN’T BE! I won’t let you win, no I won’t!”

Drain opened his mouth and unleashed a concentrated laser at Andrew. Andrew quickly jolted his head back, his eyes still visible. He seemed to be looking up at the skies, which were finally clearing away with the darkness.

“I’m sorry, Nova, for being unable to save you and Samuel,” Andrew whispered, “I’m sorry, Reuben, for being unable to protect you from those monsters.”

“And I’m sorry, Rue, for never saying goodbye.”

The flames burning the forest down suddenly froze in place, leaving the trees unaffected, while off in the distance the fires ravaging the City tripled in intensity. Petals of flowers floated in the wind, by his face and into the nothing. Birds chirped and sang.

“I’m not even angry over any of you right now.”

Drain tried, desperately, to hit Andrew with any of his attacks, but Andrew just kept dodging, and floating there, one with the wind.

“I bear no grudges against anyone.”

Andrew outstretched his hands.

“This peace, this hope, these dreams,” Andrew sighed in ecstasy, “This world… just feels so, so wonderful right now.”

Millions of memories cascaded within Andrew, both good and bad, both his and not his, yet he couldn’t help but appreciate the balance of it all. Life certainly wouldn’t be as beautiful without the challenges they faced. No matter if the world was against them, the friends they made and the laughs they shared would always overpower any evil.

Andrew pointed his finger at Drain, who could only help but watch. It came to Andrew like it was always a part of him. It was true, after all. He was the most pure out of both humans and creatures alike.

“Good, and evil,” Andrew recited, “Light, and darkness. Order, and anarchy. Life, and death. Creation, and destruction. Yin, and Yang.”

A ginormous ball of hopes and dreams was carefully crafted in Andrew’s hand.

“Totality.”

POW!

The ball of light was sent flying at Drain. It was too quick, and it was then Drain accepted his fate. The ball of light hit Drain, but it didn’t kill him, nor did it hurt him. It didn’t heal him, or revive him.

The ball of light merely wiped away Drain’s armor, and the hate riddled in his bones. For a moment, the two felt true balance. They felt neither hatred nor love toward one another. Just solitude.

Andrew looked upon his own body and realized the light had already rid from his limbs, the only part left of him that suggested he had ever been the Herald of Light being his white hair. He slowly floated back down to the ground, as did Drain. As the two dropped to the ground, both the White Obelisk and Black Obelisk shot beams of light and darkness into the sky, coating the blue and red with a mixture of white and black. Both the Mansion and Shadowkeep rumbled, the Obelisks both hissing. Neither seemed to be pulsating. Neither positive nor negative emotions could be felt. Just overflowing memories.

For a moment, everyone just enjoyed the view. The stars and night were pouring in the darkness the Black Obelisk spewed, while the clouds were manifesting in the light the White Obelisk created. Even Drain seemed at peace with the conclusion, despite his supposed loss.

“It’s beautiful,” Drain whispered to himself, his ugly wyvern beast form still a part of him.

“It is.”

Drain turned to Andrew.

“So what now? Are you going to kill me?” Drain asked, disdain in his voice, “Perhaps lock me away in the dark Obelisk?"

Andrew shook his head.

“No. That’s not true balance. And by killing you, I’d only create the darkness we strive to keep at bay,” Andrew softly explained, “I hope it stays this way for as long as we must stay here.”

Drain thought for a moment, then spoke.

“My whole life, I have sought power. Look where it got me, heh,” Drain almost chuckled. He continued, “Killed, and brought back, only to lose when I’ve finally secured the power I so dearly lusted. Only now I realize there’s something better than power, not love, what a ridiculous concept… but peace. Peace is far better than the hate and greed I’ve felt, both my life back home in Pandora, and here in this world.”

With that, Drain took off to the skies. He nodded his head at Andrew, almost in respect, before flying off.

Drain was true to his word. There were no winners of war. Only widows. Andrew looked to see Nova’s body had already disappeared, decomposed into the dead soil of the Shadowkeep. Flowers began to grow from the dirt. Off in the distance, the Mansion was crumbling, the City in ruins and flames.

Andrew sighed.

He was unsure how long he would have to stay here, but he didn’t mind it at all. Something told him that this world wasn’t done with him yet.

~

Jethezzar and Zeer were flying through the air. After the poor Yi Ling had transformed into that… thing, they were flying as far away as they could. Zeer seemed to be looking back, wondering if that Yi Ling would give chase.

“What was that?” Jethezzar asked.

“No clue,” Zeer sighed.

Suddenly, the sky exploded in an array of white and black. The two looked up at the sight. It was beautiful.

“Woah,” Zeer gasped. Jethezzar didn’t show any expression at the sight, but he certainly admitted it was indeed pretty.

In the stars, Jethezzar could see the shape of a Basilisk in the constellations, beckoning at him. Did Peeri forgive him for what he did? Jethezzar shook his head. He proved them wrong.

He looked at the rune in his hand. It was a dim red. He could have sworn it was a different color, but he decided it must have just been his imagination.

Eventually, they passed over the Shadowkeep. Jethezzar could see a hideous beast down there, along with many humans and creatures. Jethezzar’s former allies must have been obliterated.

Zeer ignored them. But a part of Jethezzar’s mind wanted to swoop down and pick off a few of them. Jethezzar shook his head. What was that thought all about? That felt out of character for him.

Unbeknownst to him, some of Jethezzar’s scales were flickering from bronze, to dark blue. And the rune, from dim red to green. Before Jethezzar could notice, the glitching stopped.

The two wyverns looked out into the wilderness. A familiar land was setting upon them. Albeit not theirs, it was a place they called home.

Fjordur.

~

Drain flapped his wings slowly, and softly.

He too, was returning to a place he could call home.

Pandora.

Eventually, the Desmodus made it to the top of the floating isle. He sat atop the peak, staring down onto the rest of the Omega Timeline. Even though he could not defeat the Herald of Light, and even though he had ‘lost’, looking at the sight was more than enough to please him. For now, at least.

In a way, it was all his to rule anyway.

The King of the Timeline sat there, brooding, a small smile on his face.

In the end, he felt as if this was a victory.

And thus, concluded a tale of this Omega Timeline. A tale that foretold the battle and balance between good and evil, heroes and villains.

~

CREDITS

Throughout the heavens,

The Arks: Over Heaven - by Ben

And the earth down below,

The Riddles of the Phoenixes - by SunnyFox57

A tale of heroes and villains is waiting to be told,

Pandora Chronicles - by Wyvernian

With an ultimate battle, and tears jolting through my eyes,

Ultimus - by PrimalApex

The hopes and dreams echo throughout my body in a jubilant cry,

Hope’s Cry - by MrGhostGamer

She seeks to live in peace, he seeks to rule in chaos,

Queen of Aberration - by Sylveevee

While I’m just trying to find my way home,

The Obelisk / Rune - by Moon

Pandora - by Moon

Clans - by Moon

Journey - by PrimalApex

Let a lesson be told,

The Omega Timeline - by Ben, SunnyFox57, Wyvernian, PrimalApex, MrGhostGamer, Sylveevee, Moon

In light, and in darkness,

Original Final Battle Concept - by Wyvernian

Balance will always find its way to the surface.

Thank you for reading (and/or writing) all the way to the end. What an incredible journey of The Omega Timeline. I cannot expect the graciousness I feel to be here, writing with you. There were ups, and downs, but we finished it.

The first arc of The Omega Timeline.

This isn’t over.

~

“When is Omi going to come back? It’s been ages dude,” a Raptor named Burr asked.

“I dunno. Hopefully soon though. I’m getting hungry,” a Hyaenodon named Axel complained.

“You’re always hungry,” another Hyaenodon named Zora rolled her eyes.

“Can you all shut up? I’m trying to concentrate here,” a human named Mars groaned.

Clay (Direwolf): You are all weird.

“Says the one who’s apparently part of a prophecy,” Mars rolled his eyes, “Prophecies aren’t real.”

Clay: Yeah they are. I know they are. My parents said I’m destined to be-

“I dunno, this place is weird they might as well be,” Axel’s stomach rumbled, “Okay now I’m hungry.”

“Be patient, Omi will probably be…” Zora paused as they looked out the cave entrance. An Yi Ling was just standing there, like some sort of zombie.

“Back.”

“Oh finally, she’s back!” Burr rushed up to her, “Where’ve you been? We’ve been worried.”

Clay: We really weren’t.

“Shut up Clay,” Mars shouted.

“Uhhhh, Omi? Are you okay? You’ve just been standing there- AGHHHHH!”

Burr let out a cry of pain as Omi bit down onto Burr’s neck. Everyone immediately stood up and backed away, letting out gasps. Burr’s bones began to crack, and then its neck snapped back, its head looking at them.

“W-Wait, Burr, it’s us!” Axel pleaded, “Please don’t-”

Their screams rang out into the air as the wind whistled by.

A zombie apocalypse was on the rise.

The Omega Timeline

Chapter 55, Part 1: Yin and Yang

- by Ben

“There is no good and evil. Only shades of gray.”

Heroes. Villains.

What defines one?

Is it by their actions, and their deeds? Or is it their motivations and reasons? Perhaps it is how they perceive themselves, or how others perceive them? Light, and darkness? Is there no such thing as true good and true evil? Just a mixture of both good and the bad?

In this tale, within the Omega Timeline, and as Stories intersect, there can never be a true, definitive answer to this question. Humans and creatures alike will always find it within their roots to act out of basic instinct. The instinct to survive, and the will to evolve in order to do so, no matter their environments. Whether it be in the sprawling metropolitan cities, the ancient cities of the future, or the distant islands that roam the stars, it is within nature to survive.

The answer may never be known.

Samuel enjoyed pondering the future. And how to survive. He did many bad deeds, for sure, but it was merely the will to survive. Could he view himself as a villain?

“For now, yes,” Samuel thought, as he approached the terminal of the Black Obelisk, “If it means escaping and returning to my home world. I’ll let it be so.”

Samuel looked back at the carnage behind him. Smoke billowed out of the city, the cries and screams of the innocents torturing his ears. If he was a “hero”, would he go back and help them? Would he redeem himself, simply to be perceived as good? Or would he be the “villain”, and selfishly escape as everyone suffered?

He would be the villain.

“Story Intersection,” a voice read, “User detected: automatically opening ‘The Arks: Over Heaven’.”

A list of villains from his home world manifested in front of Samuel’s tired eyes. He just needed to confirm his suspicion, no, his hope.

The list was sorted based on power.

So, he scrolled all the way to the bottom, and lo and behold, his name was there on the list, flickering ever so slightly, as if the Obelisk was unsure if Samuel was truly a hero or villain. A slight smile grew on Samuel’s face. This was turning out perfectly for him.

Samuel pressed on his file. A picture of his face showed up. It wasn’t intimidating, or terrifying at the least. It was just him smiling, a graduation cap on his head and energy in his eyes. He looked happy. Samuel was sure happiness was an emotion only befitting of someone who deserved it. Someone heroic.

One button attracted his attention.

“Extract.”

This was it then. With just the press of a button, he’d return home.

Samuel thought about his former allies. Neddy, Ruby, Aurora, and Star. Despite their betrayal, a part of him hoped that they’d be alive after all this. And that, one day, they could meet again.

Before Samuel pressed the button, he went back and observed the list of villains, starting from top to bottom. Most were unfamiliar names. Loki, Jerry, June, General Wyvern. But one stood out to him. The one at the very top of the list.

Dan Walker.

The President of his nation.

“Interesting,” Samuel thought.

Curiosity almost urged him to press on his file. Abstract him, just for the fun of it. That’s what a real villain would do. Wreak havoc, just because.

Samuel suppressed his thoughts. Enough of this. It was time to go. But for now, he’d have the knowledge that this man was dangerous.

Samuel went back to his file, and quickly tapped on the button.

For a moment, nothing happened. Before Samuel could back away and believe it was just a fluke, his body felt emptier. There was a pit growing in his heart, and as he looked down, he realized why. He was fading away, glitching in and out of reality.

He didn’t know why, but he felt afraid. What if this was it? What if he was going to die, right then and there? Those thoughts flooded his mind like a hurricane, and he let out a cry and held his head in his hands.

“STOP IT! MAKE IT STOP!” Samuel shouted.

He thought of his father. His mother. And his sister, who had died because of the world’s ways.

And then, he stopped thinking.

Samuel was gone.

For now.

~

Sig tread the streets carefully, watching every angle around her. The opposition had retreated to their mansion in the clouds, while the villains had either submitted to Drain and became his Nights or had frozen in an effort to oppose him.

Sig grumbled to herself. Things were getting out of claw. What was supposed to be a massacre for her to enjoy soon transformed into a hasty escape. Sig licked her lips, and shook her head. Her appetite would have to wait.

Sig looked ahead to see a bar with its lights still turned on.

“Peculiar,” Sig thought with a sudden smile, “Most of the residents should have evacuated by now, no?”

Sig went to investigate.

~

“Ah. It’s you.”

“You remember me don’t you?” June asked sweetly, “We talked after your tennis match with Aurora.”

“Ben… knows Aurora?” Emma realized with a thought, “But I thought Ben doesn’t know them?”

Neddy and Ruby seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“Yes. I do,” Ben replied blankly, annoyance written across his posture. He tipped his sunglasses and pressed them back against his head, “What do you want?”

“Well, it’s clearly not safe here. You see the carnage in the sky, the blood moon, and the fact that those two boys in the back disappeared without a trace through some witchcraft!” June argued, “We need to get you out of here.”

“Uhh, okay?” Ben replied, barely moving an inch off his seat, “Where would we even go?”

“On the way here to the city,” June answered, “I saw lots of wilderness. Uninhabited, I’m sure. If we make our way there, we can be safe from the dangers here.”

“Hmm, where did she spawn to have to come here to the city?” Ruby thought to herself, “Suspicious. All of us humans from our time spawned at the school, except for that half-naked boy, who was working for the villains.”

“Okay, I guess we could go then. I’m not looking to stick around anyway.”

Neddy stood up.

“What?! Come on bro! You can’t just leave us hanging like that!” Neddy shouted, “We’ve gotta help Aurora! We’ve gotta help Star! And Emma’s family!”

Ben scoffed.

“I’m just trying to survive. And I never said you couldn’t come with us.”

“But it’s not the right thing to do, to just abandon them. They don’t deserve to die.”

“Neither do I,” Ben closed his eyes, “Let’s get out of here.”

June prepared herself to walk out the bar, but Emma quickly grabbed Ben’s arm.

“This man could really help turn the tide of the battle,” Emma thought, “And I want to learn more about him. Why do my visions show he’s from my ‘time’?”

Emma whispered to him,

“I can see you don’t really like her. Are you sure you wanna go through with this? We need all the help we can get. What about that Bear?”

Ben almost smirked for a moment.

“I can deal with a nuisance for a few days,” he replied, “A harbinger of fear and death? No thanks.”

Disheartened, Emma let go of his arm. Ben hid his hands in his pockets, and stepped forward when suddenly the fridge behind the counter came crashing down.

CRASH!

Heads immediately turned, and gasps rang out as a man had fallen out of the fridge. He had a wild, wacky style of clothes, and he slowly began to glitch in and out. He got up from the ground and scurried to Ben and June.

“H-Hold up! Don’t leave me behind! I want to get out of here too-”

June quickly got into a fighting position, and fire sprouted from her hands.

“Stay back!”

The man raised his hands up in surrender.

“I’m sorry to have startled you ma’am,” the man apologized, “Please don’t hurt me!”

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t,” June spat. Ruby looked back and forth at the conversation, her suspicions that June had been summoned using the Black Obelisk growing more and more.

Ben sighed, roughly grabbing June by the arm and shoving it down.

“Relax. He’s just the bartender, Paul,” Ben explained, a slight sharpness and sadness to his tone, “Let him come with us.”

“Okay, whatever you say,” June replied, turning her flame off and lowering her fists. Paul let out a sigh of relief, and bowed to the two of them.

“Thank you very much! Now I’ve heard you wanted to travel out to the Farlands.”

“Farlands? What do you mean?” June raised her eyebrow.

“The areas out there untouched by us civilized folk,” Paul explained, “The areas we came from. Our original homes.”

“Civilized folk?” Emma wondered, “Could that mean there are other humans and creatures out there?”

“Yes. We were planning to go there,” Ben answered.

“Oh! Alright, good to know. I know a shortcut there,” Paul told them, “I didn’t really wanna go there at first, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Constellation City had been running smoothly the past who knows how many centuries until all those juiced up people and creatures just started destroying everything!”

Ben’s eyes sparkled at the name of the city.

“Wait, a shortcut?” June gasped, “Where?”

“The sewers. They lead to all the areas you could imagine. It’s right here in the back of the bar-”

Pounding footsteps suddenly rang out throughout the building. Neddy gulped, and they all looked outside to see a towering black beast of Giga-sized proportions slowly move into view of the glass doors. The beast lowered its head, peering into the building with its pale, ghost white eyes. A Reaper. Sig.

Neddy immediately stumbled backwards. Ruby stood up, unhooking her crossbow. Emma stood her ground, fists clenched and eyes staring back at the beast’s. Paul’s jaw dropped.

“Uhh, Paul, right?” Neddy asked, nervous.

“Yeah?”

“I think now would be a good time to show us where those sewers are.”

“Gladly, let’s go!!!” Paul shouted as he bolted away and through a staff only door. Neddy quickly followed, and Ruby hesitantly did as well. Only Ben, June, and Emma remained.

“You should go,” Ben told Emma, “You don’t have a power that could help, right?”

“No. I don’t,” Emma replied, “But I need to protect my family. And I want to prove you wrong.”

“And what exactly am I wrong about?” Ben asked as vines twirled forth from his sleeves. Flames burst from June’s fists.

“Dying doing the right thing is far better than living and regretting your choices.”

Ben smiled at Emma’s words. He shook his head in disbelief.

“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

Sig let out a deep, guttering growl and then slammed her head into the bar’s walls. The wall immediately burst open, and Sig leaned forward and let out a growl, opening her mouth and exposing her sharp teeth.

Thoughts immediately began running rampant throughout the three’s heads.

“W-What IS that thing!” June ‘thought’, “I’ve got to get out of here. Now!”

June took a step back. So did Emma and Ben. Sig licked her lips, her pale white eyes glowing even deeper than before. Before any of the three humans could run, before Sig could begin her chase for death, a thought intercepted Ben’s brain.

“I wouldn’t listen to that thought if I were you.”

“Huh?” Ben wondered, “I thought that was you, KM.”

“You know I don’t speak in first person,” the thought ran again, “The Reaper is implanting her thoughts in you.”

“What are you?” Sig implanted in Ben’s head, “Who are you?”

“I’d love to tell you, and I’d love to take control of this man right now, but that’d spoil the fun for the Observers watching. My, my Ben. The villains have such powerful allies. I still cannot understand why you chose to side with these heroes.”

“Just shut up, the two of you,” Ben shouted, “These are MY thoughts!”

“Whatever you say. I’ll see you around, Sig.”

The thought disappeared. June turned to Ben in worry.

“Is something wrong?”

“If you’re feeling and thinking certain things,” Ben told them all, “Then don’t listen to those thoughts. It must be the Reaper. Push past the fear, you two.”

Emma and June stood their ground. Sig licked her lips again.

“This just makes things more fun,” Sig implanted in their heads.

Sig rushed forward and chomped at the three, and they all dived out of the way. June quickly retaliated with a few bursts of fire to the eye. Sig let out a shriek and shut her eyes. She slammed her head up into the ceiling, causing the building to collapse in on them.

Emma’s eyes rolled up to the back of her head as the debris fell, and her medallion began to glow. As June quickly ran outside the building, Ben grabbed Emma by the arm and tossed her outside roughly.

“Now’s not the time to get your visions,” Ben thought, rolling his eyes. As a chunk of stone almost hit Ben on the head, a wave of vines shot out the cracks and blocked Ben’s head, causing the stone to pile up around him. The vines quickly hit the debris to the side and carried Ben to safety.

“What do we do now?” June asked Ben, a little annoyed that he had saved Emma.

“We’ll have to hold the Reaper off until Emma recovers from her vision.”

June groaned. Sig burst from the debris, barely scathed, and only more angry than before. Sig looked at them with contempt.

“We’ve only just gotten started,” Sig implanted.

~

Emma looked on, her vision waning and her head aching.

She could see her father and mother together, and the two Shadowmanes Orbit and Moonbeam that had been abstracted by the White Obelisk were also there. Queen Sylveevee too.

And so was Sig.

“Dad… Mom…” Emma muttered to herself.

Emma could see Sylveevee transform into a Quetzal and launch herself onto Sig’s back, trying to push her and prevent her from attacking. Her father used the shadows around them to hold Sig down in place. Sig used her tail to whack Sylveevee away. Sylveevee quickly transformed back into human form.

“Let’s go,” Moonbeam exclaimed toward Emma’s mother. Emma’s mother nodded and clambered atop Moonbeam. Moonbeam ran forward and pounced at Sig. Sig’s eyes were filled with fury as she swiped her claws at them.

“NO!” Orbit cried out.

Orbit jumped forward and pushed the two out of the way, causing them to tumble to the ground.

“Orbit!” Moonbeam yelled, exasperated.

“I’m not losing you!” Orbit roared back.

The vision fast forwarded, and Emma felt her head throb again. She looked up to see Sig being pinned down by all of the Shadowmanes (and Sylveevee, who had also become a Shadowmane) and Aragorn with his shadows. Sylveevee dug her claws into Sig’s muzzle.

“Yield, or else,” Sylveevee snarled.

A small smile cracked on Sig’s face.

“I…”

Emma was hurtled out of the vision.

~

Once Emma’s eyes returned to normal, she looked around her to see she was propped up against the wall of a random building. She looked on to see June hurling fireballs at Sig’s face and Ben using vines to biff her at the sides. Sig let out an exasperated roar, before swinging her tail at the two of them and sending them flying toward her.

“OOF!” the two cried as their backs hit the brick wall. They slid down.

“It was fun playing with you all,” Sig laughed, “Especially you, plant human with the parasite. But it’s time I killed you all.”

Ben grumbled, slowly getting up. June shot up, rage in her eyes.

“Enough of this!” June cried, her eyes fiery. Flames began to trickle along her body.

Sweat was pouring down Ben’s face. The fight had been going on for about ten minutes already, but neither could do enough damage to even make Sig bleed. Ben’s vines were too blunt against Sig’s hardened plated armor, and June’s fire was just a mere flick to the Reaper’s exoskeleton.

“Wait, June,” Emma interjected, getting up from the ground.

“What is it?” June snapped.

“We can’t brute force this,” Emma told the two of them, “I had a vision of this Reaper. My parents and a few others defeated her by holding her down and using sharp weapons like swords and claws.”

“Hmm,” Ben muttered. He shot his hand out, and a pair of vines dove into the destroyed bar, retracting with three knives. A knife dropped in each of their hands. Ben twirled it around.

“I’m tired,” Ben realized solemnly, “I could barely summon that vine.”

“Well, you’ll have to push a little bit more. At the very most, we could hold her down and wound her to the point that we could get out of here and to the mansion where the others are,” Emma urged.

“Hey, don’t tell him what to do!” June shouted at her, “If he’s too tired to keep fighting, then we can run!”

Sig began to step forward. To her, she was the cat, and they were just mice. This would be easy pickings. Ben lifted his hand and tried summoning a vine, but he weakly dropped it.

“Damn,” Ben sighed, “I might have to…”

Ben thought, “Hey… friend? Are you there?”

“No. I’m not going to help you unless you LISTEN TO MY INSTRUCTIONS.”

Ben sighed.

“Guess not,” Ben wiped some sweat off his forehead, “That calls for my last ace. You said she needed to be held down, right?”

Emma nodded.

“Yes.”

Ben closed his eyes. The implant in his wrist began to glow.

“You won’t need to fight her. Just run. You’ll have… eh, I’d say five minutes at the most,” Ben decided, “You’re right though Emma. I don’t mind fighting it a little longer.”

“What!” June shouted, “I thought we were going to go! Far away from the danger!”

“You can do whatever. I’m staying back,” Ben decided firmly, “Once it’s over, I won’t be conscious. I don’t mind being left behind.”

June stepped forward.

“Then I’ll stay with you.”

Emma nodded, and looked ahead. Sig was almost upon them, creeping closer and closer.

“Now would be a good time-”

Ben looked up, holding his index finger up into the air. A singular vine twirled round and round, until finally reaching the fingertip. As it squeezed, Ben let out a groan. Vines suddenly began shooting around the ground and wrapping around Ben’s body, almost creating armor for him. A flower shot out of Ben’s right eye, and Ben opened his mouth and quickly uttered a few words.

“Attribute Amplification!” Ben yelled hoarsely, “BOTANICAL MAYHEM!”

Vines immediately shot out of the ground, tugging at Sig and pulling her down. She let out a screech as she went tumbling down on her side. Ben’s head jolted to look at Emma. Emma felt taken aback by his now hideous appearance. He looked like he could’ve been a villain.

“Thanks for giving me a purpose,” Ben clicked, “In this mundane Timeline.”

Ben’s head jolted back to face Sig. Large vine-like arms sprouted from his back and carried his limp body to Sig like a spider. Sig tried biting at Ben’s body, but the vines swayed him out of the way. June let out a scream, dropped her knife, and began hurling huge bolts of fire at Sig.

“DON’T YOU HURT HIM NOW YOU FOUL BEAST!” she screamed like a banshee. Emma looked at the knife in her hand. She looked back at Sig. Staying back would only endanger her. June could help Ben. But she needed to protect her family. Ben had told Emma to get out of there.

As Emma made a run for it back to the mansion, she looked back, feeling teary-eyed. Fire was beginning to burn the nearby buildings down, spreading quickly and without cause. Vines began to crawl throughout the cities too, covering the buildings and street lamps. Flowers began to blossom all over the streets.

Emma jerked her head away, looking ahead at the mansion in the clouds. It seemed that that horrible monster in the sky was now gone.

For now, at least.

Before Emma could move a step forward, her medallion suddenly glowed, and she felt her eyes roll up to the back of her head as another vision struck her.

~

Paul, Neddy, and Ruby had made landfall in the sewers using a manhole that was in the back of the bar, where the trash was. Surprisingly, it didn’t smell at all. The water was actually very clean, if anything.

“After the City was attacked, well, obviously there’s no time to do your business,” Paul explained, “Should be safe to go in the water.”

There were multiple streams of water leading to who knew where.

“Why are there so many?” Ruby asked, cautious of the sewage.

“Well, each one leads to a different area of the Farlands. But they all eventually end up in the Void, which is a good place to put all that junky feces and urine.”

“And do we get to know where we’re going?” Ruby asked once more, raising an eyebrow.

“Nope! You take your chances. Any place is better than here anyway. Off I go!”

Paul hopped in a random stream, and it immediately began to take him away. Neddy and Ruby watched as Paul screamed in fear from the intense current. They both sighed simultaneously.

“I guess we have to go,” Neddy muttered, disheartened and growing green while looking at the clean water. Ruby smirked.

“Yeah… Alright, you go first.”

“Wait, what-”

Ruby pushed Neddy into the water, and Neddy let out a scream as he began hurtling through the water. Ruby plugged her nose and jumped in after him.

As the three were taken away, Ruby passed by some graffiti. She could barely read what it was, but she was sure it was a message of sorts. Something that said, “Crystal Isles”.

~

Sig glowered at Ben as he skittered up to her, his eye glazed and his skin pale. Sig was really beginning to get annoyed by the supernatural humans that had been native to this world. She gave herself a reminder to gut this one as painfully as possible when the chance arrived.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Ben clicked. A black void began to swirl around Ben’s remaining left eye. Sig squinted her ghostly eyes. Was this the parasite inhabiting this human’s body?

“I will not kill you,” Ben, or whatever was speaking, claimed, “I couldn’t even if I wished.”

Sig smiled, already growing fond of the conversation.

“And why not?”

“This man should be unconscious by now. I took control,” the parasite explained, “Anyway, I’m running low on plausibility. Even though I’m not an Observer, it still treats me like one.”

“And what is this ‘it’?”

“I can’t say. It’ll know.”

Ben lifted one of his arms, almost like a doll being controlled by strings, and scratched his chin. He tilted one of his heads, his bones snapping in place.

“You want to kill, don’t you?” the parasite realized, “I don’t like that.”

“What will you do about it? You cannot kill me.”

“I won’t do anything about it. As much as I hate it, it works in my favor,” the parasite grinned, “A change of plans, if you will. No more trying to escape. It’s futile anyway.”

The parasite pointed at Sig.

“I want you to kill everyone in this Timeline,” the parasite demanded of her, “I will help you. Let me gift you something wonderful to aid you.”

A vine shot from his body and onto Sig’s. As it coiled around her tail, and up her chest, she suddenly felt all of the plant life around her humming. It was as if she could control it. Sig looked down, and willed the vines around her to unwrap her legs. The vines listened. She looked up at the parasite. The vines carrying it dangled the body of the man backwards, away from her reach.

“Things have been growing unfair for the villains,” the parasite sighed, “So this should even the odds-”

“You are quite the sentient parasite,” Sig grinned, “Do you have a name?”

The parasite was silent for just a moment. Then it spoke.

“You may call me KM. That is what my friends call me. And, I see you as a friend,” the parasite answered, “Goodbye for now, Sig. Just remember what I’ve requested of you. Kill as many as you can.”

“Gladly.”

Sig considered eating the other human now, the one with pyromancy, as she was incapable of defeating Sig, but by the time she realized that she had somehow disappeared, the parasite was gone too, along with his agrokinetic host.

Sig shook her head. The city wasn’t a good hunting ground for her. She was sure the others would deal with Drain, in due time. She needed blood though. And quickly. Looking past the city lines and out into the wilderness where the citizens had been evacuated, she knew exactly where they would be lurking.

Sig licked her lips.

This would be so much fun.

~

Drake led Sunhigh and Moonhigh down to where the White Obelisk was located. As the familiar crystals poking out of the cavern walls came into view, he noticed Sylveevee and Skyocean’s frozen bodies nearby, along with many of the others. Drake already felt hopeless looking at them all, but he had to push those feelings to the side. He had to stay strong. For the sake of Sylveevee’s children.

“Drake,” Moonhigh asked. Drake looked down at her.

“Yes?”

“Are Mom and Uncle going to be okay?” Drake could see tears already falling down her cheeks, “What if we can’t help them? What if they stay like this forever?”

Drake knelt down, looking into her eyes. His body felt weird. All the negative feelings in his mind were slowly being suppressed. And as he thought about his boss, his queen, and all the good memories he had with her and the others, he couldn’t help but feel at ease. It was as if the armor Andrew had given him was giving the hopes and dreams he had a chance to survive.

“They are going to be okay,” Drake reassured her, “I know they will. Your mother’s a strong woman. I know a bit of stone won’t hurt her. And so is Skyocean. They’ll be okay.”

Moonhigh smiled. Drake looked at Sunhigh. He seemed to be staring off into the distance, spacing out.

“I wish Cooper were here,” Sunhigh muttered, closing his eyes. Drake thought about his coworker. He was quite a handyman. And a good friend too.

“Me too, kid. Me too,” Drake got up, “Now I have to go. Stay safe and don’t get into any trouble okay?”

Meanwhile, Aragorn comforted his children.

“Dad,” Jack whispered. He looked up. Aragorn could see the fear in his eyes, “I’m scared.”

Aragorn wrapped his arms around Jack and Jay in a hug. He closed his eyes tight. He loved them so much.

“It’s okay to be afraid,” Aragorn whispered, “It’s what you do in the moment of that fear that matters most.”

Aragorn tapped the medallion on Jack’s chest.

“And remember, that this will protect you.”

Aragorn looked at Jay. He didn’t seem as afraid. He could create a portal at any time. They would be okay.

“Jay, if anything happens, create a portal and get out of here, somewhere far away,” Aragorn ordered him, “Take your brother and your mother with you, along with everyone else here.”

“But Dad, what about you-”

“I hate to tell you this but sometimes sacrifices are necessary for the greater good,” Aragorn told them, “No matter how much it hurts.”

Jay’s arms dropped.

“But I could help you! I could teleport you and the others out too-”

“That’s not what I mean by ‘if anything happens’.”

“Dad-”

“You have to do it if it comes down to it. Okay?” Aragorn felt close to tears.

Jay understood, even if he didn’t want to. He nodded slowly, wordlessly.

And then, Aragorn turned to Arianna.

The two lovers stared at each other’s eyes for a moment. It only seemed like yesterday they had first met. That they had first hated each other, and then grown to be a part of each other’s lives. Aragorn stepped forward. He could feel memories flowing in his head, memories of him and her together. The two, along with their long lost friends hurling snowballs at each other, laughing. The two sitting at a piano, with Arianna gently guiding his fingers onto the keys. Aragorn, taking a knee down, and proposing to Arianna. The two sharing a slow dance under the dim lighting of the mayors’ manor.

Aragorn felt a tear roll down his cheek. This may be his last battle.

Arianna wiped the tear away. Another came crashing down in waves. It was the first time Arianna had seen Aragorn cry in a long, long time. Arianna couldn’t help but cry too.

“I love you Arianna.”

Arianna smiled back.

“I love you too, James.”

Aragorn had not used that name in many, many years, for fear of his past coming back to haunt him. But all James could think about was his past, and how much he wanted to return to it. How much he missed his brother. He couldn’t care anymore that his true name was being used at that very moment in a room filled with people he used to distrust. He just wanted to return home.

The two shared a short kiss. Aragorn felt Arianna’s tears merge with his. The taste felt so sweet yet bitter at the same time. There were no remarks from the boys. Just silence, and their heartbeats.

Aragorn pulled away after a few seconds. He closed his eyes and sighed. It had to be done. He had to fight this war, or else his family may never be safe.

Love was blind. And selfless.

Aragorn looked away from his family, wiping away his tears so the others wouldn’t see. He walked up the stairs. Drake walked up the stairs along with him. Drake could tell he had a heavy look on his face. He was a father. He couldn’t afford dying.

“Hey,” Drake suddenly said. Aragorn looked at him, a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

“I know my group has had our fair share of differences with you,” Drake smiled, “But I’m glad to have worked with you.”

Aragorn gave a soft smile. The distrust he once had for him and Sylveevee was already long gone.

“Thank you. It was good working with you too.”

There was a moment of silence as they reached the hallways of the mansion again.

“You don’t have to do this,” Drake told him, “There are plenty of us. You can stay behind. Look after your family.”

Aragorn sighed, “I have to do this. Andrew will need all the help he can get. If anything it should be you staying behind. If those statues don’t return back to normal, you’ll be all those two have left.”

Drake paused, thinking for a moment. It was true. But Drake shook his head. He needed hope now.

“We’ll need to focus on the upcoming battle,” Drake told him, “Let’s cease this conversation.”

Aragorn nodded, respecting his decision. As the two made their way to the entrance, the two saw the others Knights waiting with Andrew in the main entrance, along with Darkhide, Joe Kong, and Andrew’s crewmates. The dodo statue that spouted water out of its beak was dormant, and everything already seemed like it was decaying. The presence of the Herald of Darkness already seemed to be taking its toll on the city.

“Are we ready?” Andrew asked the Knights.

All seven Knights nodded. Andrew could sense some of their nervousness. This was probably something they hadn’t ever experienced before. Andrew could relate, and he felt doubt and fear as well, but he needed to be brave. For the sake of their survival, and for the safety of the poor citizens who lived in this city.

Joe Kong walked up to Buddy. Buddy looked up at him. It felt so odd now. The two had just finished clearing up their own problems back home, and now they were thrown into this mess, forced to fight their old enemies once again.

“Buddy,” Joe Kong blurted. Buddy looked up and noticed tears in his eyes, “Thank you for being my friend. If you don’t make it out alive-”

“Don’t worry Joe. I will.”

“No, no-” Joe Kong sniffled, “You don’t get it. This whole time we were here I- after my parents died you were all I had left and I just rejected your friendship the first time and now you’re going off to fight some demon…”

Joe put his head in his hands and began to sob.

Buddy squinted his eyes sadly. He stood up on his hind legs and wrapped his arms around Joe.

“It’s okay buddy, it’s okay,” Buddy reassured him, “After all this, we can do some friend stuff.”

Joe let out a sniffle. His eyes were turning red.

“Thank you-”

Emerald looked back at Darkhide. Darkhide nodded at her.

“Don’t die, okay?” Darkhide told her, “But knowing you, you won’t.”

“Wow. Thanks, really reassuring,” Emerald chuckled, rolling her eyes. Darkhide returned a light chuckle. His eyes darted back to the dining room. He seemed to be reminiscing.

Andrew and Erica looked at Sylas and Freya. Sylas walked up to the two of them, a smile on his face.

“I know you have this whole new light show shtick now, but,” Sylas commented, looking him up and down.

“Just don’t do anything stupid, okay?” Freya smiled, “You too Erica.”

Sylas added on, “Yeah, leave that to me, like usual.”

Erica’s eyes looked down at the floor, and then back up at the two. Through it all, Erica was glad that they were a team. She looked at Andrew. She was glad he was a part of her team too. Not just a teammate. Someone she could call a friend.

Erica thought about Paul and Jonathan. She sighed. She wished they were okay, amidst all this chaos they had to endure.

Star was quiet. So was Tago, who seemed distracted by something. Star walked up to the doors and kicked at them, causing them to open. The Omega symbol plastered on the door split in half, and they saw smoke and fire brewing down below. Drain was coming, albeit slowly, until he arrived quite a few meters away from the base of the stairway. The wyvern-like Desmodus waited patiently.

Andrew and Erica were the first to walk down. They waved goodbye at their friends. Buddy and Tago followed, along with Aragorn and Drake. Star stepped down the stairs carefully, leaving Emerald last.

Emerald continued stepping down the stairs to catch up with the others. She looked back one last time to see Darkhide still watching, the doors still closed. By the time they had already reached the base, it was only then did he finally shut the door.

~

Drain had already taken off to the skies, slowly flying off to the mansion’s stairway. He was extremely confident in his ability to win. Hours, days, weeks, it didn’t matter how long it took for the heroes to come out of hiding. He had already won the battle the moment his power surpassed that of Apex.

Drain had ordered the rest of the Nights to hide between the building’s alleys and what not as an ambush against them, whenever they came out. For now, Drain left them to fend for themselves.

“H-Hey, Michael, right?” Lil Jack said, walking up to him. Michael turned with a jump.

“What?!”

“I was thinking,” Lil Jack offered, “When this is all over… we can team up and find a way out of here! This place is crazy. I don't wanna stick around any longer.”

Michael thought for a moment, then spoke.

“Sure, I guess…”

Meanwhile, Pat, Milo, and Dr. Bubba stuck together. All three shapeshifters would prove dangerous if used correctly.

Rockwell was still observing the qualities of his armor, fascinated by its magical properties. The more fascinated he felt, and the more of the urge he felt to grow more powerful and god-like, he could feel the armor harden further.

“Oh?” Rockwell realized, “Do my eyes deceive me?”

Rockwell thought about his former domain, the ARK known as Cryvenall. He was the most powerful being on that ARK, but here in this Timeline he was a mere human with some modified Edmundium injected in him.

He thought about how much he wanted to kill Drain.

The armor hardened again. Rockwell’s eyes almost looked like they were popping out. The Alpha glow around his body exploded into a dazzling red aura.

“Ah, this is splendid,” Rockwell grinned, “Perhaps this will work out in my favor.”

Fjordur’s Dragon looked upon the frozen Apex. Then his eyes glanced at the King Titan’s stone statue. Then toward the frozen Jerry. Ember, and Captain Shortstacks. A sudden realization came to him.

Besides Drain, he was the most powerful there.

For so many years of hiding away in the arena, waiting to be inevitably slain, and the countless humiliations he had to suffer in this Timeline, he could finally let his rage unleash upon everything and everyone.

Fjordur’s Dragon looked at his blue hands, and the sharp black armor around his arms and body. He clenched them into fists, and felt the fire in his body boil. He could already feel himself growing larger.

He thought about the absence of his name.

That would change.

He looked up to the smoke-riddled, red skies. He created a pledge to himself. He would create as much destruction and chaos as possible, as vengeance for the role he was born to take.

He would be Entropy.

~

Andrew and the seven Knights of Light reached the base of the stairway, looking off at Drain. The hideous beast tilted his head in awe at the sight of Andrew. There was a moment of serenity. Despite the inevitable battle, there was peace.

“The Dagger of Balance has also chosen you to be a Herald, I assume? To be my opposite? A ‘Herald of Light’?”

“Yes. You are correct on that,” Andrew answered, nodding his head respectfully. Drain let out an interested “hmph”. He took a step forward.

“I’m sure you’re aware of my power,” Drain warned him. There was something off about his voice, “Surrender. I will not harm you.”

“Why now?” Andrew asked, “Of all times? You’ve chosen the violent path for everybody else. What makes me different? Why spare me?”

“Because,” Drain explained, looking at him. There was something in his eyes. A feeling of sadness? Guilt? Or perhaps rage? Andrew could not tell.

Andrew did not know this, but Drain was experiencing good memories. Were they real? Fabricated? Drain did not know. It had been a very long time since he felt any sort of desire besides conquest and power. But he wanted this feeling of bliss forever.

“When I conquer this Timeline,” Drain coughed, “I would like to have a light. Peace of mind. You truly are something special, do you know that? You are perhaps the only merciful human I’ve met.”

Andrew chuckled. He thought about what the bat did to Neddy, Aurora, and Arianna. The lengths he went through just to get power. Andrew clenched his fist. What kind of monster deserved whatever Andrew could have given him?

“I would never surrender to you,” Andrew glared, “You’re just pure evil. You take and take, and give nothing. You have no love, nor compassion, or anything that is good. You are darkness incarnate. And for that, I shall never show mercy to you. I will kill you, here and now.”

Drain looked down, almost in disappointment.

“I suppose you have proven me wrong.”

Drain looked up.

Andrew charged an arrow made of light onto his bow, while Drain flapped up into the skies, showering black mist down onto the crumbling City. Andrew’s light shot out of his body, warping and pushing back onto the darkness. Drain let out a screech, and a Dragon’s head popped from the building lines, along with the rest of Drain’s Nights. Both Drain and Andrew’s Knights charged at each other, battle cries ringing out throughout the air of the Omega Timeline.

Their final battle between good and evil had just begun.