Dragonball M, Chapter 5: Clarion’s Call! The Signal! The Fate of the Universes!

[MrSandman]

"..."

Under the chill air upon the veranda, Ochazuke stirred, and the chair slid backward with a low scrape. Perhaps it was the length of time or the acquired habituation of having been seated too long that had granted extended a sort of familiar comfort in the evening air, for it felt like he'd been waiting here, listlessly, for an age. I must have dozed off...

Brushing a finger over his eyes, stiffly he blinked and found his eyelids were slow to move, for they had become quite heavy. Passing his view above, it startled him to see the night sky. ...for how many hours?

There was light from where the other customers gathered where they ate and drank, and yet the light from the stars, they seemed stilled to his vision, so pronounced they seemed to be the loudest things in this place.

When he was called by that quiet voice, without thinking he made his order.

"Green tea, matcha," he replied, "Set the powder aside, I'll whisk it myself-"

And then he lift his gaze to behold the owner of that voice, face forward in spite of his groggy condition so as to not be rude.

"Green tea, matcha." A voice replied. "Set the powder aside, he'll whisk it himself..."

"He'll do it himself? That will not do..." Another voice answered. "He is a customer, his purpose is to be served."

Lifting his gaze, Ochazuke would find him being observed by two young woman clothed as attendants. One with red hair and eyes, the other with blue. They shared the same general look, passing off as twins save for the variance in color. Perhaps it was the general malaise he felt, but something felt...off about the situation before him, something that one couldn't quite put ones finger on at a glance.

"Your tea is getting cold...." The red haired girl pointe to the mans hands, where a hot cup of freshly whisked tea sat. "Welcome to our Cafe."

"You smell of our sister....explain your purpose here." The Blue haired girl asked as Ochazuke found himself whisking his tea.

The two stared, unblinking as the tea matcha and cup were placed before him...and Ochazuke couldn't help but cup his head as a terrible headache engulfed it.

His senses were on fire, everything felt....disjointed. It took his full concentration to maintain even a semblance of cohesion in his surroundings. The echoing sounds of the people around him had died, replaced by stares coming from all directions.

Eyes, unblinking, from everywhere.

"...are you lost?" The red haired asks, and for the first time Ochazuke notices that she isn't breathing.
"Did you wander in here by accident." The blue haired asks, and for the first time Ochazuke notices she isn't blinking.

A circle of patrons stood around them. Their non descript faces almost void of emotion.

"I think he's a wanderer." The chittering red creature made a inhuman sound.
"Do you wished to be served, wanderer." The slobbering blue monster vibrated.

The circle of ****** stepped in closer...illuminated by the dream starlight.

A massive pressure slowly pressed Ochazuke down into his seat...threatening to crush him.

"We have more then tea....can we offer something more favorable to your taste." The red haired maid asked with s stilted smile.
"Whatever you like, we'll serve you....if you wish to make an accord with us." The blue haired maid reached out to touch his cheeks with her ****...



"ENOUGH!" The two maids found themselves seized by the back of their tiny necks and dragged aloof by a tall, imposing and....in Ochazukes eyes, incredibly familiar woman.

"Nctosa, Nctolhu. This wanderer has already been bound to me...find your playthings elsewhere." She gave the two a casual toss, letting them stumble haphazardly forward before skittering to the opposite end of the starlit cafe...staring intently. As the surreal moment passed, Ochazuke would notice the circle had dispersed and resumed their inaudible chatter back when they had come from.

"....Not unexpected....but that you should be here now. Strange...." Cthylla commented as she took a seat straight in front of the Martial Artist, staring at him a moment. "....Forgive them....they are my kin, broodling...they are not used to the attentions of one such as you." the Voidling tilted her human head, her sharp eyes observing his every action. "Do you remember who you are....?

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Inanna stood alone in the crater that once was Hell, and listened.

After a year of nonstop fighting, she fully expected another challenger. Another beast; but as the ash continued to coat her gaunt figure she heard nothing. Sensed nothing. Surely, that wasn't it? She stood like this a long while, searching for any signs of a challenger, or prey; but in the end all that remained was the devastation caused by her own two hands, and the cooling corpse of at her feet. A frown tugged at the corner of her mouth, before she crouched down beside the heartless corpse.

"Looks like you were the best Hell had to offer. Shame."

Squatting, Inanna brought a bloodstained claw to her lips, and licked it clean. Ensuring that nary a drop was left behind, before cleaning the next... Then she consumed his heart, and corrupted his corpse. A charnel ritual to be sure, but one she'd come to enjoy. There was after all power in symbols, and in blood; and this man had stolen hers. It was only proper it be returned in the same way it had been stripped from her. Now all that remained to do was track down the last thief, and do to them what she'd done to the others. Kill... feed. It was perhaps useless to her now- and had been since its inception thanks to Asha'rah, and others- but all the same: it belonged to her. There was, however, the matter of escaping this recently dug grave first. From what she recalled from her previous lives, there were a few hidden pathways out of this place; she merely needed to track them down. So with a sigh, Inanna began her ascent out of the crater.

Unbeknownst to her, it was about this time that an adversary she'd written off finally put his plans to motion. Images, and a voice flooded Inanna's mind, and she stopped moving to bear witness.

“My name is Sakin, and I am your Angel of Rebirth. For many eons you have been lied to, your potentials stagnated. I seek to change things, to make this existence better. To give you what the Gods would deny you, what your so-called protectors and Guardians would hide from you: a path forward into an Eternal Life, Creation at your fingertips and Death forever behind you.”

When it was over, Inanna could only laugh.

Sakin, the Coward had finally revealed himself. Not only that, he had played his hand; and what a pitiful thing it was. He sought to turn the Universes against those who might stop him, and in so doing revealed that he had not the strength to do so himself. Much like Auroc, she had more pressing matters to attend to; and saving the sealed Universes was no longer her concern. Leaving this in the capable hands of the M-Fighters seemed the most amusing thing to do. So as soon as Sakin quit speaking, she stopped caring. Though at the *very* least, he had proven himself useful in one aspect:

And hell and heaven pulse, as the barrier between life and death thins, then cracks. Alarms throughout Otherworld ring, Sihn and Sheki’hinah and Zurvan watch as all the things they had held together bend, splinter, and than break as all HFIL runs lose.

She could sense them. Ochazuke. Zaofan. Held. Which meant he'd kept his word.

No longer forced to seek a hidden pathway now that the veil keeping her sequestered from the land of the living had been sufficiently weakened. Inanna grinned, and tilted her head.

"Thanks, Sakin."

-----

???, E̶a̶r̶t̶h̶r̶e̶a̶l̶m̶, U15

There was no warning when Inanna crossed the threshold. Merely a sharp and sudden crack as a fist was rammed through weakening bonds, and shattered the barrier like glass, sending ripples through the Firmament.



A moment later, she was gone. A voice that carried with it more weight than Sakin's drawing her attention; weakening bonds seeing fit to release him upon the Universe much the same as she.

"De...stroyer...

Come..."

She would answer this call.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Koolard and Glacia’s heads simply disintegrate under the dimensional shuttering of Sasheem’s close attack. Adam’s dome falls and the combined attacks launched by Zaofan, Dash, and Praxat cancel and neutralize the half summoned Death Balls.

" Now that we have breathing room, I know someone who might be a great ally, a person I been training under on a planet far in uncharted space. My grandmother's home planet Amperior. Well, it's not uncharted anymore since I charted it," Praxat said.

[grampagen]

"Green tea, matcha." A voice replied. "Set the powder aside, he'll whisk it himself..."

"He'll do it himself? That will not do..." Another voice answered. "He is a customer, his purpose is to be served."

Lifting his gaze, Ochazuke would find him being observed by two young woman clothed as attendants. One with red hair and eyes, the other with blue. They shared the same general look, passing off as twins save for the variance in color. Perhaps it was the general malaise he felt, but something felt...off about the situation before him, something that one couldn't quite put ones finger on at a glance.

"Your tea is getting cold...." The red haired girl pointe to the mans hands, where a hot cup of freshly whisked tea sat. "Welcome to our Cafe."

"You smell of our sister....explain your purpose here." The Blue haired girl asked as Ochazuke found himself whisking his tea.

The two stared, unblinking as the tea matcha and cup were placed before him...and Ochazuke couldn't help but cup his head as a terrible headache engulfed it.

His senses were on fire, everything felt....disjointed. It took his full concentration to maintain even a semblance of cohesion in his surroundings. The echoing sounds of the people around him had died, replaced by stares coming from all directions.

Eyes, unblinking, from everywhere.

With his order taken, a faint feeling of dread seemed to spread through the ambience. Despite its civil trappings, while the fact that the light from the indoors carried with it warmth out to the patio table, Ochazuke felt the fatigue swell, and to the rhythm of his pulse, pain radiated from behind eyes and through his temples. One moment he strained to hear their voices, sharp hushed whispers, until a gap of blackness filled his perception; the next he found his hand clutching the whisk and setting it to the familiar motion, stirring, frothing.

So discordant it was, he hadn't noticed the tea had arrived until he felt the porcelain set in his hands and the steam rise, and he slowly lift his view to the attendants of this place. Mirror images of red and blue, seated between them where they stood he studied their stilled, graven features, and for a moment entertained the notion that it seemed they shared a pair of eyes between two bodies.

More than that, the murmurs of the crowd seemed to warp and fray. From the pleasantries of familiar company arose silence, and the distinct sensation of being watched.

"...are you lost?" The red haired asks, and for the first time Ochazuke notices that she isn't breathing.
"Did you wander in here by accident." The blue haired asks, and for the first time Ochazuke notices she isn't blinking.

A circle of patrons stood around them. Their non descript faces almost void of emotion.

"I think he's a wanderer." The chittering red creature made a inhuman sound.
"Do you wished to be served, wanderer." The slobbering blue monster vibrated.

The circle of ****** stepped in closer...illuminated by the dream starlight.

A massive pressure slowly pressed Ochazuke down into his seat...threatening to crush him.

"We have more then tea....can we offer something more favorable to your taste." The red haired maid asked with s stilted smile.
"Whatever you like, we'll serve you....if you wish to make an accord with us." The blue haired maid reached out to touch his cheeks with her ****...

"I am neither lost, nor wandering," he answered, "I remember something beckoned me here..."

The maids, the dread uncanny pair, moved in a manner...unnatural. Not a breath, not a blink... One of them gestured towards something, and the weight of dread pinned him to his seat, and his heavy hands pressed against the table before him. The other reached forward, and when she touched him it flooded his instincts. He could not place a word or a shape in his mind's eye to describe it, but within the timbre of his heart he knew it was a violation.

"...and accord...? No...it would not be with you. If it were this..."

Railing against this flood of subconscious dread, the indescribable, subtle agony shook within him. Supporting himself against the weight of this unseen force, those rapacious eyes, he pressed his hands into the table, and the unsipped teah bowl tilted over, spilling its boiling contents.

"...I would not have been left waiting...or wanting...until idle dreams had taken me in boredom..."

"ENOUGH!" The two maids found themselves seized by the back of their tiny necks and dragged aloof by a tall, imposing and....in Ochazukes eyes, incredibly familiar woman.

"Nctosa, Nctolhu. This wanderer has already been bound to me...find your playthings elsewhere." She gave the two a casual toss, letting them stumble haphazardly forward before skittering to the opposite end of the starlit cafe...staring intently. As the surreal moment passed, Ochazuke would notice the circle had dispersed and resumed their inaudible chatter back when they had come from.

"....Not unexpected....but that you should be here now. Strange...." Cthylla commented as she took a seat straight in front of the Martial Artist, staring at him a moment. "....Forgive them....they are my kin, broodling...they are not used to the attentions of one such as you." the Voidling tilted her human head, her sharp eyes observing his every action. "Do you remember who you are....?

When the new voice cut through the tension, the moment the twins desisted, Ochazuke found the atmosphere had once again shifted. His eyes snapped open and he found the strength to part the veil of sleep. The weight of the air had dispelled, and it was like pulling himself from the deep on brink of drowning.

But when he saw her face, he stood from his seat in an instant, and cast his eyes to the stars above. Suddenly the chatter of the patrons seemed the greatest of madness. Do they not see the tens of thousands of glassy eyes, peering in the darkness?!

"Where am I, Cthylla?" For all his disorientation and fear, in equal measure Ochazuke's choler seemed to have returned. "I remember, the Grey Thorn spreading through the thinning realm, a parasite under the call towards the end. We departed to meet him, Agravain was his name, and-"

Suddenly, the violent images of the Gotengo bridge flooded his mind. The screams echoed through the spreading darkness that spilled from the unreality of the void, consuming the white snows and ashes of Cask with all the swiftness of ink bleeding through water.

"My friends- the Earth! Do not trifle with me, Observer, what happened? Answer me!"

[MrSandman]

When the new voice cut through the tension, the moment the twins desisted, Ochazuke found the atmosphere had once again shifted. His eyes snapped open and he found the strength to part the veil of sleep. The weight of the air had dispelled, and it was like pulling himself from the deep on brink of drowning.

But when he saw her face, he stood from his seat in an instant, and cast his eyes to the stars above. Suddenly the chatter of the patrons seemed the greatest of madness. Do they not see the tens of thousands of glassy eyes, peering in the darkness?!

"Where am I, Cthylla?" For all his disorientation and fear, in equal measure Ochazuke's choler seemed to have returned. "I remember, the Grey Thorn spreading through the thinning realm, a parasite under the call towards the end. We departed to meet him, Agravain was his name, and-"

Suddenly, the violent images of the Gotengo bridge flooded his mind. The screams echoed through the spreading darkness that spilled from the unreality of the void, consuming the white snows and ashes of Cask with all the swiftness of ink bleeding through water.

"My friends- the Earth! Do not trifle with me, Observer, what happened? Answer me!"

"Your agitation will draw attention you do not wish to receive.....calm yourself and sit." Cthylla motioned him back into his seat, then took one directly across from him. "You are in place you should be...not yet....and yet here you are."

"I told you once before, that we of the void share a dream with each other....that dream extends beyond the boundaries of the physical universe, it is how we make contact with those inside and communicate. It seems you met a dreadful fate...one seeped in void, and as a result you have tapped farther into it then would normally be possible for one at your stage of union." Cthylla motions her hand to the scene around them. "Your soul has entered our dream, leaving your body...had we not shared a minor accord your presence may not have even fell under my notice. Look around....what do you see...."

The Cafe, its patrons all chittering among each other....there was a certain uncanniness to to all. Like a stage prop. Signs had writing on them, but the writing was not coherent...or written in languages Ochazuke did not know.

"They are all my kind....ones of the void." Cthylla finally stated. "Their form here is entirely subjective to how your dreaming mind perceives them. But this place is our own...it is modeled after such places in your world. What we cannot have, we make within our dream based upon our observations of it. Some crave far more then mere observation...."

Cthylla gaze floated downwards to the shattered tea cup on the floor, then as her face rose....Ochazuke heart would seize in terror.

The Voidling was smiling. No forced mimic, no streching of some artificial face...it was a bit ackward, like someone doing something not entirely sure of themselves, but nonetheless it appeared to be a genuine expression. It a way ti was so off the norm for Cthylla that the expression alone was cause for concern.

"Let me order you a new cup....Nctosa? Nctolhu?"

From the other side of the *cafe*, the two lesser voidlings who had been locked in an overly obsessed staring contest with the side of Ochazuke head quickly switched back into a more formal posture...and to Ochazuke it seemed the two didn't cross the room as much as show up at their side with no time in between.

"Green Tea Matcha for the virgin." Nctosa pushed the cup into Ochazukes hands while locking eyes with him. "What are you intentions with our broodsister."
"Cola with Frozen Water for Broodsister." Nctolhu politely dumped the contents out on Cthyllas lap. "Please leave a tip wheUUGU"

With a single motion, Cthylla hand clamped onto Nctolhu forehead and smashed it into the floor with enough force to smash it like a grapefruit. Fluid splashed against ochazukes clothes and he was fairly certain some got in his tea. Nctosa reaction to all this was a overdramatic hand over her mouth and a deadpan stare.

The now semi headless corpse floundered on the floor a moment, before getting up...crossing its arms in annoyance and exiting with her brood sister, who gave Ochazuke one last motion of "Consider yourself watched" as they left.

"Siblings are so bothersome." Cthylla remarked. "Suffice to say...you are sharing our dream for the moment. There are things that you need to see and understand, the fate of your universe and we outside are more connected then you realize." The Voiding looks at his *blood* stained cup. "....feel free to partake....the taste is entirely up to your interpretation of course."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

???, E̶a̶r̶t̶h̶r̶e̶a̶l̶m̶, U15

There was no warning when Inanna crossed the threshold. Merely a sharp and sudden crack as a fist was rammed through weakening bonds, and shattered the barrier like glass, sending ripples through the Firmament.

*snip*

A moment later, she was gone. A voice that carried with it more weight than Sakin's drawing her attention; weakening bonds seeing fit to release him upon the Universe much the same as she.

She would answer this call.

Sarada felt it clear as day. That familiar feeling in her spirit, like another person was lingering over her shoulder. It was unmistakable and initially filled with her with overwhelming joy and relief. "She's alive," she said with a grin so wide and bright that it could have rivaled the sun. But, just like the sun's waning rays at twilight, it didn't last very long. The feelings she felt emanating from her newly returned wife were wrong.

So very wrong.

So much spite and malice and... and hatred. She had never felt those feelings in Inanna to that degree before. Sarada felt the joy she had previously been feeling mere seconds ago evaporate as her face crumpled into confusion and hurt. What happened to you?

For the last year, she could have only assumed she perished during her training with that Lampton character she had heard about. She didn't know how difficult the training was, but she knew that Inanna was strong enough to handle it. Sarada could feel her immense power beating over her like the wings of a massive bird. She was so much stronger than she was when she last saw her, so she had to have completed his training. It was exciting! And confusing.

How had she died? How could someone so powerful be killed? Was she just derping around in Otherworld and got caught unaware? No, that was impossible. Unless the people in Hell were massively stronger than she thought, there was no one there that could have slayed Inanna.

Unless she didn't complete the training. If that was the case, then she must have trained while dead? If that was the case, then what was with all the immense hatred and spite? Had something horrible happened? Inanna had already been teetering on the brink of breaking by the time she left, so it wouldn't have taken much of a catalyst to push her over the edge. But...

Her immolating feelings couldn't have been that immersive, right? Not so much that she would forgo checking on her after a year of being apart? Right? She had to have heard Sakin's words; everyone else in Otherworld did. So, she had to know that she and their family were in serious trouble? She had fought off on GoD and was about to help Neva fight another. They really, really could have used her help, if only to serve as another body to throw at She Who Stalks until they could get Queen Nevin to safety.

What am I saying? She must have gotten attacked! That was it. There was no other explanation... No. That doesn't explain what I'm feeling. There would be traces of annoyance like she always feels when fighting someone. Damn it, Inanna, what's wrong with you?!

She shook her head and refocused on the coming battle and task at hand. Any distractions meant she wasn't going to live long enough to get some answers and preventing Sakin from getting any more hostages was more important. Inanna could take care of herself, so Sarada moved her to the back of her mind. I'll find her later and talk. Maybe there's a reasonable explanation for all this.

[grampagen]

"Your agitation will draw attention you do not wish to receive.....calm yourself and sit." Cthylla motioned him back into his seat, then took one directly across from him. "You are in place you should be...not yet....and yet here you are."

"I told you once before, that we of the void share a dream with each other....that dream extends beyond the boundaries of the physical universe, it is how we make contact with those inside and communicate. It seems you met a dreadful fate...one seeped in void, and as a result you have tapped farther into it then would normally be possible for one at your stage of union." Cthylla motions her hand to the scene around them. "Your soul has entered our dream, leaving your body...had we not shared a minor accord your presence may not have even fell under my notice. Look around....what do you see...."

The Cafe, its patrons all chittering among each other....there was a certain uncanniness to to all. Like a stage prop. Signs had writing on them, but the writing was not coherent...or written in languages Ochazuke did not know.

"They are all my kind....ones of the void." Cthylla finally stated. "Their form here is entirely subjective to how your dreaming mind perceives them. But this place is our own...it is modeled after such places in your world. What we cannot have, we make within our dream based upon our observations of it. Some crave far more then mere observation...."

"Your dream reached into my world, infecting the minds of the Cult of Grey Thorns and drove them mad with half-truths and twisted promises," Ochazuke replied. Darting his view from patron to patio, he remained wary as much of the disorientation within him began to mingle to rising disgist. "This mimickry, this bastardization of life, it suits you poorly."

Standing above her there, he sought some way out, but the lingering affect of his disembodied soul felt as if were a single thing moving against the subtle current in this place. Move too swiftly and the crashing falls will comsume you...

"How ironic. If anything, Agravain, Persephone, and all the Lord of Amdapour in between, they'd rather reshape themselves to look more like your kin."

Cthylla gaze floated downwards to the shattered tea cup on the floor, then as her face rose....Ochazuke heart would seize in terror.

The Voidling was smiling. No forced mimic, no streching of some artificial face...it was a bit ackward, like someone doing something not entirely sure of themselves, but nonetheless it appeared to be a genuine expression. It a way ti was so off the norm for Cthylla that the expression alone was cause for concern.

"Let me order you a new cup....Nctosa? Nctolhu?"

From the other side of the *cafe*, the two lesser voidlings who had been locked in an overly obsessed staring contest with the side of Ochazuke head quickly switched back into a more formal posture...and to Ochazuke it seemed the two didn't cross the room as much as show up at their side with no time in between.

"Green Tea Matcha for the virgin." Nctosa pushed the cup into Ochazukes hands while locking eyes with him. "What are you intentions with our broodsister."
"Cola with Frozen Water for Broodsister." Nctolhu politely dumped the contents out on Cthyllas lap. "Please leave a tip wheUUGU"

With a single motion, Cthylla hand clamped onto Nctolhu forehead and smashed it into the floor with enough force to smash it like a grapefruit. Fluid splashed against ochazukes clothes and he was fairly certain some got in his tea. Nctosa reaction to all this was a overdramatic hand over her mouth and a deadpan stare.

The now semi headless corpse floundered on the floor a moment, before getting up...crossing its arms in annoyance and exiting with her brood sister, who gave Ochazuke one last motion of "Consider yourself watched" as they left.

"Siblings are so bothersome." Cthylla remarked. "Suffice to say...you are sharing our dream for the moment. There are things that you need to see and understand, the fate of your universe and we outside are more connected then you realize." The Voiding looks at his *blood* stained cup. "....feel free to partake....the taste is entirely up to your interpretation of course."

In a gesture of disgust, Ochazuke clutched the last clean side of the tea cup, and with a flick of the wrist violently scattered its boiling contents onto the headless body of Nctolhu. The offering, blood and all, rejected in its entirety in response.

"Wherever I may share your dream," he replied, "is where it returns to my home, no more, no less. It seems that while Sakin was plotting, your emissaries among humanity and the members of his cult had been doing no less, for they'd taken to the Angel's doctrines as well as yours, voyeurs to a sphere they stand apart from...as if that would give them the right to pass sentence upon it!"

Slamming the heavy porcelain down on the table, he mind followed through the steps of his training, and any last vestiges of the strength they had cultivated.

"If you are our ally, Cthylla, then be brief. While we dally here, the Fallen One continues to leverage his power."

[MrSandman]

"Your dream reached into my world, infecting the minds of the Cult of Grey Thorns and drove them mad with half-truths and twisted promises," Ochazuke replied. Darting his view from patron to patio, he remained wary as much of the disorientation within him began to mingle to rising disgist. "This mimickry, this bastardization of life, it suits you poorly."

Standing above her there, he sought some way out, but the lingering affect of his disembodied soul felt as if were a single thing moving against the subtle current in this place. Move too swiftly and the crashing falls will consume you...

"How ironic. If anything, Agravain, Persephone, and all the Lord of Amdapour in between, they'd rather reshape themselves to look more like your kin."

".....Is that not the flaw we all share? Separated by space and time, but connected by dream and mind.....we look into yours and you look into ours and we both see what we lack. Mortals see our wisdom and endless existence, and they crave it because they lack them. It takes not but a look around you to realize that envy can go both ways. In the cast off glow of the universes have we basked, since the first was given shape and it ins shadow our progenitor. Your kind has not always seen us...be we have always been watching yours. That you still consider us the corruption speaks to your still limited view of the grander setting."

Glancing around, Cthylla motions to the cafe. "And even after all we've seen....this is often the best that we can conceive of what its like to be you. If it suits us poorly, we still have more to understand....perhaps you, like may before you, would offer us experience in trade."

In a gesture of disgust, Ochazuke clutched the last clean side of the tea cup, and with a flick of the wrist violently scattered its boiling contents onto the headless body of Nctolhu. The offering, blood and all, rejected in its entirety in response.

"Wherever I may share your dream," he replied, "is where it returns to my home, no more, no less. It seems that while Sakin was plotting, your emissaries among humanity and the members of his cult had been doing no less, for they'd taken to the Angel's doctrines as well as yours, voyeurs to a sphere they stand apart from...as if that would give them the right to pass sentence upon it!"

Slamming the heavy porcelain down on the table, he mind followed through the steps of his training, and any last vestiges of the strength they had cultivated.

"If you are our ally, Cthylla, then be brief. While we dally here, the Fallen One continues to leverage his power."

"This Sakin...he is the one whom cast that old magic....the unsealing magic." Cthylla nodded. Then waved her hand. The world around them blurred, and Ochazuke found himself sitting with Cthylla in a starlit field.

"Cast your eyes above and you will see what his meddling has achieved."

Above him....the earth hung in the sky, what was left of it anyways. The north had been sheered away in a cataclysmic explosion, the atmosphere had been saturated with such dark energy that Ochazuke could barely see the surface through the haze. Ruins of satellites and ships floated. The defenses the world had put so many months, so many years in building sat silent...even the Gotengo floated close to where they sat, a derelict, with only the occasional sign of shadows moving on board. Of what, Ochazuke could not say.

"In the dream...time and space apply no more to you and me then they do to the void itself. You are an observer here, as we all are." Cthylla pointed up to the world. "When you fired your weapon into the being known as Agravain, you channeled a vast amount of magical energy and focused it upon his void projection....but like the physical body that Jinzi created for me, it is a conduit....and Sakins old magic has weakened far more then you can even realize." Her hand waved across the heavens, where Ochazuke could once more see the far...too stary sky. Hundreds and hundreds more stars then normal....all of them a shade of dark purple.

"The old magic broke down all the barriers....the bindings of time and space will weaken as a result. Normally there is no timeline where this event happens, time as a force would not allow it...but it has weakened, and its guardian with it. The endless possibilities are collapsing into one time that should not be. Each star you see in the sky is a fracture in space between the universe and the void.....over time space will weaken because of the old magic, black hole will tear into full void breaches, through which the energy of the void will react with space. Much like what will happen....is happening....or will happen to your world, only......on the scale of galaxies. Your universe will die...drowning in the void, its light flickering and dying...and with it....."

Cthylla dropped her hands, and for a moment even the Voidling expressed something akin to a...somber tone. "....without light...what is a shadow. One cannot exist without the other. We who exist in void will return fully to void...Do you understand now, Ochazuke of Earth."

Cthylla stepped up to the old Martial Artist, eyes aglow...reflecting the hundreds of purple lights hung in the sky. "You've been given eyes to see as we have seen them, I am your ally as you are mine. Our fates are intertwined. More then Defeating Sakin...we must undue the old magic before the possibilities collapse upon this final timeline."

[KingofPie]

The massive Durive spins and slams into the attack. He doesn’t deflect it, however, but instead starts drilling through the attack instead.

The Katchin Squad, surprised at the result, take moment to look at each other and shrug before their control consoles initiate the next series of commands.

"SPIN IT"!

"SPIN IT!"

"SPIN IT!"

With each command, the more revolutions the Giant Durive gained as he became a massive vortex drill that began to dig into the hull of the enemy ship.

[grampagen]

".....Is that not the flaw we all share? Separated by space and time, but connected by dream and mind.....we look into yours and you look into ours and we both see what we lack. Mortals see our wisdom and endless existence, and they crave it because they lack them. It takes not but a look around you to realize that envy can go both ways. In the cast off glow of the universes have we basked, since the first was given shape and it ins shadow our progenitor. Your kind has not always seen us...be we have always been watching yours. That you still consider us the corruption speaks to your still limited view of the grander setting."

Glancing around, Cthylla motions to the cafe. "And even after all we've seen....this is often the best that we can conceive of what its like to be you. If it suits us poorly, we still have more to understand....perhaps you, like may before you, would offer us experience in trade."

"These were not the terms you presented when you invaded my dream," Ochazuke replied, "You only brought a warning of your kin slithering through the ether to take this universe. Perhaps those before me saw a vision of power and submit to the madness. Persephone and Agravain called that a covenant, a vision of their magic."

Though she wrought orichalum out of the icy fields of the North and claimed it a kingdom of snowy walls and shelter from Rex, the results of her legacy were written in ashes entombed, roused, and entombed again.

"If those many eyes that stare across the veil and rake across the souls of men are not sufficient for your experience across millennia, perhaps the grander setting has no part for you or your scheming, for what have the children of the Void done besides stand and watch?"

"This Sakin...he is the one whom cast that old magic....the unsealing magic." Cthylla nodded. Then waved her hand. The world around them blurred, and Ochazuke found himself sitting with Cthylla in a starlit field.

"Cast your eyes above and you will see what his meddling has achieved."

Above him....the earth hung in the sky, what was left of it anyways. The north had been sheered away in a cataclysmic explosion, the atmosphere had been saturated with such dark energy that Ochazuke could barely see the surface through the haze. Ruins of satellites and ships floated. The defenses the world had put so many months, so many years in building sat silent...even the Gotengo floated close to where they sat, a derelict, with only the occasional sign of shadows moving on board. Of what, Ochazuke could not say.

"In the dream...time and space apply no more to you and me then they do to the void itself. You are an observer here, as we all are." Cthylla pointed up to the world. "When you fired your weapon into the being known as Agravain, you channeled a vast amount of magical energy and focused it upon his void projection....but like the physical body that Jinzi created for me, it is a conduit....and Sakins old magic has weakened far more then you can even realize." Her hand waved across the heavens, where Ochazuke could once more see the far...too stary sky. Hundreds and hundreds more stars then normal....all of them a shade of dark purple.

"The old magic broke down all the barriers....the bindings of time and space will weaken as a result. Normally there is no timeline where this event happens, time as a force would not allow it...but it has weakened, and its guardian with it. The endless possibilities are collapsing into one time that should not be. Each star you see in the sky is a fracture in space between the universe and the void.....over time space will weaken because of the old magic, black hole will tear into full void breaches, through which the energy of the void will react with space. Much like what will happen....is happening....or will happen to your world, only......on the scale of galaxies. Your universe will die...drowning in the void, its light flickering and dying...and with it....."

Cthylla dropped her hands, and for a moment even the Voidling expressed something akin to a...somber tone. "....without light...what is a shadow. One cannot exist without the other. We who exist in void will return fully to void...Do you understand now, Ochazuke of Earth."

Cthylla stepped up to the old Martial Artist, eyes aglow...reflecting the hundreds of purple lights hung in the sky. "You've been given eyes to see as we have seen them, I am your ally as you are mine. Our fates are intertwined. More then Defeating Sakin...we must undue the old magic before the possibilities collapse upon this final timeline."

Beholding the slow, rotting death of the Earth, shambling under the weakened bonds that shattered where Agravain's broken body fell against it, Ochazuke fell silent, and where Cthylla guided his view as the universe collapsed upon itself, and in the quiet across the Voidling Dream carried the coldness held within.

Now I am becme Death, the destroyer of worlds...

Was this the end result of his desire to defeat Sakin? To end their nightmare would mean to snuff out this dream; what would he do to end the hopelessness wrought in the path of the hellish host the Fallen One had rallied to his side? Beneath the there were perhaps many facets to the nature of Voidlings he could not know. Perhaps greastest of all was the unreality of events unfolding before him, however, and the sheer scale of it from this distance left him only empty.

Yet under the pretense of this revelation, he knew there was more Cthylla was withholding.

"Within the Dream, you may create a facsimile of life and though you may imitate our forms and put on the motions of some sort of shadow-play, it will be for nothing in the end. Suspended in this manner where any whim may be conjured, those of blind ambition you have given eyes may mistake this for a truth. But that's hardly the case is it? There is a price to be paid for the act...one which you have never compromised a thing for, despite your curiosity."

He didn't turn to face Cthylla. Rather, he used what power remained to him to apply his mind to focus, reaching his Battle Meditation across the dreamscape and grasp the shape of what was being conveyed.

"What a dreadful thing for an immortal to realize the approach of the end," he chuckled darkly, "even worse when you have never known any habit but to watch, that I must act for you in rebuilding this moment."

[MrSandman]

Beholding the slow, rotting death of the Earth, shambling under the weakened bonds that shattered where Agravain's broken body fell against it, Ochazuke fell silent, and where Cthylla guided his view as the universe collapsed upon itself, and in the quiet across the Voidling Dream carried the coldness held within.

Now I am becme Death, the destroyer of worlds...

Was this the end result of his desire to defeat Sakin? To end their nightmare would mean to snuff out this dream; what would he do to end the hopelessness wrought in the path of the hellish host the Fallen One had rallied to his side? Beneath the there were perhaps many facets to the nature of Voidlings he could not know. Perhaps greastest of all was the unreality of events unfolding before him, however, and the sheer scale of it from this distance left him only empty.

Yet under the pretense of this revelation, he knew there was more Cthylla was withholding.

"Within the Dream, you may create a facsimile of life and though you may imitate our forms and put on the motions of some sort of shadow-play, it will be for nothing in the end. Suspended in this manner where any whim may be conjured, those of blind ambition you have given eyes may mistake this for a truth. But that's hardly the case is it? There is a price to be paid for the act...one which you have never compromised a thing for, despite your curiosity."

He didn't turn to face Cthylla. Rather, he used what power remained to him to apply his mind to focus, reaching his Battle Meditation across the dreamscape and grasp the shape of what was being conveyed.

"What a dreadful thing for an immortal to realize the approach of the end," he chuckled darkly, "even worse when you have never known any habit but to watch, that I must act for you in rebuilding this moment."

".....there is truth in what you say, we are prone to watching and waiting.....my Brood in particular has always been passive observers. In that fact...I am an anomaly." Cthylla answered. "Passive Observation will not yield anymore for us in this situation. If action is required...I will be the hand of my brood, wither they are in union or not."

"....So....I offer this not as an accord, or a deal as you would put it. I offer cooperation without compromise until the goal we share is achieved. The protection and securement of your universe."

As Ochazuke focused his mind into meditation, Cthylla stepped up beside him and gazed off at the dead world before them.

"....This dream, our dream, exists outside the rules of time and space.....events that have happened, are happening, and will happen....are observable if one focuses their unfettered mind. You have the will and the mind, while you are here you too can achieve this....picture the point you wish to explore, the where and the when."

Reality blurs, time expands and contracts. Ochazuke witnesses a thousand moments in the past and future....like a kaleidoscope.

"Your body waits for you in your realm, you need only seize the point of your return and take control...and I will see you safe to your destination."

[grampagen]

".....there is truth in what you say, we are prone to watching and waiting.....my Brood in particular has always been passive observers. In that fact...I am an anomaly." Cthylla answered. "Passive Observation will not yield anymore for us in this situation. If action is required...I will be the hand of my brood, wither they are in union or not."

"....So....I offer this not as an accord, or a deal as you would put it. I offer cooperation without compromise until the goal we share is achieved. The protection and securement of your universe."

As Ochazuke focused his mind into meditation, Cthylla stepped up beside him and gazed off at the dead world before them.

"....This dream, our dream, exists outside the rules of time and space.....events that have happened, are happening, and will happen....are observable if one focuses their unfettered mind. You have the will and the mind, while you are here you too can achieve this....picture the point you wish to explore, the where and the when."

Reality blurs, time expands and contracts. Ochazuke witnesses a thousand moments in the past and future....like a kaleidoscope.

"Your body waits for you in your realm, you need only seize the point of your return and take control...and I will see you safe to your destination."

Seated here upon the crossroads of magic and time, Ochazuke beheld the moment his world died, expanding in an instant to a fractal curve of moments and iterations. Peering forward towards the past, he saw that fixed moment in time expand into innumerable possibilities. Even the eventuality he'd come from was determined from one of countless branching paths that frayed and splintered with every decision. For a moment the possibility of something farther reaching passed through his thoughts.

Why shouldn't I go back to the dawn of time and stop Sakin's ambition then?

Did they dare to dream about this great betrayal and witness Creation break herself against the hand of the Lord of All Things? Had they, then as now, stood by even by the light of the Universe that gave light to their paradoxical, parallel existence?

Whatever power the Void had, for the view into the crawling chaos the had offered, even they as the Grey Thorns' sleeping gods seemed of a kind. The magicians with their schemes to unmake reality and recreate it to their whims, they would make sacrifice everything to befit their impossible vision. Where they came from, who they were, in an instant shed for a future where that was all forgotten, and they would ascend to their own eldritch metamorphosis.

"If it would not be by turning the magician's own weapon against his subtle form, then how would we turn this moment around such that...this, does not happen?"

[MrSandman]

Seated here upon the crossroads of magic and time, Ochazuke beheld the moment his world died, expanding in an instant to a fractal curve of moments and iterations. Peering forward towards the past, he saw that fixed moment in time expand into innumerable possibilities. Even the eventuality he'd come from was determined from one of countless branching paths that frayed and splintered with every decision. For a moment the possibility of something farther reaching passed through his thoughts.

Why shouldn't I go back to the dawn of time and stop Sakin's ambition then?

Did they dare to dream about this great betrayal and witness Creation break herself against the hand of the Lord of All Things? Had they, then as now, stood by even by the light of the Universe that gave light to their paradoxical, parallel existence?

Whatever power the Void had, for the view into the crawling chaos the had offered, even they as the Grey Thorns' sleeping gods seemed of a kind. The magicians with their schemes to unmake reality and recreate it to their whims, they would make sacrifice everything to befit their impossible vision. Where they came from, who they were, in an instant shed for a future where that was all forgotten, and they would ascend to their own eldritch metamorphosis.

"If it would not be by turning the magician's own weapon against his subtle form, then how would we turn this moment around such that...this, does not happen?"

"His is but a paltry manifestation, a bubble of void pushed through a weak membrane and given shape. If you wish not void to be spilt....then think to other ways your kind may treat a wound and use the tools you have at your disposal."

Cthylla gave a knowing glance.

"...There are paths open to you...but not all them will lead to the end you wish. You only have the one vessel...nothing awaits you in any other time save oblivion....though If you were to become as he is...." Cthylla paused. "No...that is not in your nature. Take the path you see and know is best, your will shall see you though to its end."

Slowly, the scene moments before Erosa fired the weapon into Agravain came into focus.

".....I will bring my vessel here as soon as I am able. Now go.....before you become too acclimated to this dream." Cthylla allowed her dream self a smile once more. ".....Your will is your own....but It would please me if one day you'd reconsider your stance of us.....There will be a place for you here, in the dream, waiting for such a day when you tire of the cycle....whatever reincarnation that may be."

[grampagen]

"His is but a paltry manifestation, a bubble of void pushed through a weak membrane and given shape. If you wish not void to be spilt....then think to other ways your kind may treat a wound and use the tools you have at your disposal."

Cthylla gave a knowing glance.

"...There are paths open to you...but not all them will lead to the end you wish. You only have the one vessel...nothing awaits you in any other time save oblivion....though If you were to become as he is...." Cthylla paused. "No...that is not in your nature. Take the path you see and know is best, your will shall see you though to its end."

Slowly, the scene moments before Erosa fired the weapon into Agravain came into focus.

".....I will bring my vessel here as soon as I am able. Now go.....before you become too acclimated to this dream." Cthylla allowed her dream self a smile once more. ".....Your will is your own....but It would please me if one day you'd reconsider your stance of us.....There will be a place for you here, in the dream, waiting for such a day when you tire of the cycle....whatever reincarnation that may be."

As Ochazuke's astral body was set adrift and began to dissolve from the ether of the Void and settle back into a more physical space, silence gripped him as Cthylla's last words passed between them.

To return to the Dream, what a veiled threat that was. An eternity of placation in droll simulacra, that was the Wizard's path.

Perhaps in that manner is manifest the limitation and the apex of a mortal life. There would always be those that would bow, scrape and prostrate themselves this to the ideal form they believed embodied this, a god of their own making external to the self. But he knew now more than ever that to strive to bring what finite moments may pass toward perfection, to create the path towards tomorrow so others may walk upon it, that was the essence of humanity.

As much as the teachings of the Master Zxu'ro, this realization in the watchful dark was the catalyst for realizing potential when all seemed for naught.

_____

So it was that passing through the dream and time itself that Ochazuke snapped to attention. Back on the bridge of the Gotengo, the vessel seized, lurched, and pulled away from the limbs of the monstrosity and began to climb.

"....People are born with a fear of death, inscribed to their very essence. They spend their entire life coming to terms with the inevitability of it....and then to have Immortality just fall into their hands. They are my kindred....but I pity them, because they'll suffer forever, chasing that flame even as it burns them hollow." Morgan shakes her head. ".....Can you imagine the maddening thoughts.....to be given hope like that, and then be forced to spent the rest of eternity feeding that flame. The best we can do for them is give them peace now....before others suffer for it."

Raising her staff above her head, a blue aura engulfs it as she brings it down against the floor. A loud metallic gong sounds as her magic flows downwards into the ships super structure...a flash of blue expanding outwards from the bridge and through the veins of the vessel. The trapped void minions found themselves under attack as spears of magic emerged from the floors and walls around them, while at the same time barriers formed for the living crew and defenders.

Erosa, meanwhile, was watching as the ship had managed to put a small amount of distance between it and Agravain. They were well within range of those of her weapons.....and the choice between what button to hit was causing her to sweat and hyperventilate.

Affixed between two realms, the old wizard's undying shape now stood as the intersection between two world, and there the Gotengo crew could make their target as the energies collected over the bridge.

"For you that had surrendered your future in the face of mortal fear, see what it means for those that fight for it! Arm the Maser!"

It passed from Aleka the Acorian, Hops of the Time Patrol, the anomoly Chou Basaraa as they loaned their support. Guided by the magical power conjured through Morgan, the Wave Motion Engine of the Starship Gotengo funneled all the collective energies together into a cohesive union, each disparate elements tied together to the rhythm of Heka Flow as the energies swirled about the bow-drill.

Here they were again, with motions familiar - shaping the energies collected together as reflexive as a breath, the weight of Morgan's magic leaden upon the Ring of the Guardian. Uniting the assemblage of collective ki, the Wave Motion Engine stirred, the Agravain-Creature locked in a paradox between thinning realms.

But to attack the Void at this intersection would be to unmake the fabric of reality itself. If there were some passage...

Even now to relive the moment was to become entrapped by its path.

"Arm the Maser!" The words left him just as they had before. The collected energies gathered upon the drill to full charge...

Then Ochazuke summoned the Forger's Hammer in his left hand. Balanced with the Magic he guided through his right, Caladash Banespell's legacy embuing the Heka Flow stoked from his comrades with the Spark of Creation.

Void is the antithesis of Creation, the shadow cast from it. If to attack the Void directly leads to the end-

The Super-Katchin drill spun, the energies twisting to a lance point, and the starship threw itself full-throttle towards the creature and speared it.

-then we must recreate what it destroys and force it back where it came from!

Dragging Agravain's corpsed shell where the Chaff had affixed it, the Gotengo threw itself forward at multimach speeds, picking up the creature where it had been pierced and pulling it away from Cask. The skies seemed to tear, but before whatever lay beyond the veil could peer inside, the canopy of the sky resumed itself in an ethereal blink.

"Follow my vector," Ochazuke said through gritted teeth, the monitor overlay plotting a course, "North-northwest, towards the Mountains."

Dragging the creature upon the Gotengo's nose, they pushed forward, deeper into the darkness.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

It worked, Avoca realized with a silent breath of relief. She remained hidden and took advantage of the opportunity to retreat and regroup. She found Parsley some distance away and started to make her way over to her under the cover of chaos.

Parsley, on the other hand, was realizing that her current state of mind was only hindering her ability to think clear and strategize effectively. She wished Enoki hadn't contacted her. She couldn't get Garnish out of her mind and it was only distracting her. Unless she shaped up and started taking the battle seriously, she and Avoca were going to die. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Garnish, just hold out for a little while longer. Mama will be there shortly.

She opened her eyes and reassessed the situation. She could detect that Avoca had managed to elude the field of Death Beams and was covertly making her way to her. Good; that would give her a moment to determine a few things. With all three Incenios in her line of vision, she focused on all three with Observational Focus to determine what she could about them: weaknesses, any possible links, ki and magical energy flows, and the like. Only with that information in hand could she and Avoca proceed with anything resembling success.

One Incenio is brimming with magic, another more latent psychic power than the rest, and the third seems straight up ki orientated. All have bits of the three, but each seems to have specialized.