The End Of The Ludious Wars

The Story So Far...

Ludious has returned to life, against all that those who fought against him on the world known as Raeyan know. They were not aware that he'd used the last dregs of his power to deploy an incredibly powerful orb into the center of the planet. It had taken some time, but the orb had eventually gathered enough strength to detonate and cause the planet to slowly break apart. Ludious couldn't gather the strength to blow the planet to bits in a single massive explosion, not after the battle with Kokukai. In fact, the destruction of Raeyan had cost him even his true Astral form, causing his consciousness to be spread out throughout the Astral Plane, six months passing before he was able to reincorporate himself again, drawing upon the negative emotions felt by every being in the multiverse to regain his power.

Those six months were all but peaceful for those who'd stood against him on Raeyan. Some few with the power to escape had done so, but were unable to save more than a handful of the world's inhabitants. They'd fled, using various portals they'd been able to create to return to their original home of Earth. There were a few, however, that had never originated from Earth, but were soon able to acclimate themselves to their new lives. However, nearly all had lost one loved one or another in the destruction.

Shakaar had lost his wife and two of his children, the twin infants seemingly murdered in their cribs by a bounty hunter named Hawk Cloudwalker. His only remaining child, Daniel, had escaped the planet's destruction with his father, and continued to live with him at Shakaar's castle hidden deep in the mountains near Germany's Rhine River.

Many of the Sunain Clan lost their lives, save for a handful led to Earth by their clan leader, Tracius, his powers paired with another powerful spell-casting "extended member" of the clan, Malachi Darkreign. However, during the confusion of the evacuation, both men had lost their wives, Callia and Winter.

Another that'd lost his lover had been Kokukai, Brandy having been away from their forest home, visiting her family. Kai had not been able to locate her, though he'd searched intensively between their home and the homes of her family members, and was forced to leave her behind when Shakaar knocked Kai out and took him to Earth along with Daniel.

Through several intense battles, it was soon revealed that Ludious was alive and had made his way to Earth, as well as now being beyond even the power of Death. The only way to defeat him once and for all seemed be to utterly annihilate him. It was during those battles that the lives of Tracius and Daniel, as well as several thousand mortals, had been lost. In what was to have been the final battle, Kokukai had managed to cause Ludious to retreat into the Astral Realm and followed him there. However, Ludious had intended to blow up the Earth in a massive explosion at its core, much as he'd done to Raeyan, but with even more power. Shakaar, though, desperate for power to resurrect those who'd lost their lives in this latest chapter in the ongoing war against the Dark One, had made his way to the planet's core and began to absorb the energy from the orb he'd found there. His flesh flayed from his bones, he held himself together through sheer will and his angelic power. Unfortunately, when Ludious' physical body died, sending him back to the Astral Plane, the last vestiges of energy in the orb exploded, a trap set by the Dark One should he be killed in his battle with Kokukai. Weakened though it was, it was enough to cause several disastrous volcanic eruptions scattered around the planet. It is feared that Shakaar did not survive.


Part One: Death and Life From Above - Shakaar

The energy from the orb's explosion rippled through the Earth's core, the molten rock rushing upwards toward whatever release it could find. Unfortunately for the population of a small village unknown to the rest of the world at large, one of these pressure-relieving vents turned out to be an ancient volcano they'd built their village at the foot of that had not erupted since they had begun offering sacrifices to the slumbering god inside that they wished to appease and keep from destroying their homes. When the ground under their feet began to rumble and quake, most of the people ran toward their chieftain, begging him to make their priest do something to quiet the god.

However, it was too late. Just as the priest was raising his sacrificial dagger over the heart of the young virgin, the top of the volcano exploded, sending tons of rock flying into the sky, the shockwave knocking each and every person off of their feet, their homes flattened in an instant. Many were injured, some even killed in those first few seconds. Those that survived counted the ones that did not as lucky, when the poisonous pyroclastic flow began to rush down the side of the mountain and engulfed them in a choking, flesh-boiling cloud of ash and dust. Most did not survive those agonizing moments, the remaining barely-surviving populace soon overcome by the rush of lava that soon swept over what little remained of the village, burning and burying it at the same time.

It was a violent scene repeated at many other volcanoes scattered across the planet, some causing casualties, others luckily not having anyone living near enough to their slopes to be killed.

At one particularly large mount, the resulting build-up of pressure under the crust was not enough to break through the cap of solidified lava that'd collected in and blocked the caldera. The rumbling continued for several minutes, then seemed to calm for a few moments. The people that lived on the island that the volcano had created fell to their knees and gave thanks to their gods for sparing them. It was at that moment that the rumbling began again, more violent than before. Suddenly, though the cap was enough to prevent the volcano itself from erupting, it seemed that something was flung with great force against the underside of the cap. The object hit with enough force that the entire mountain, not to mention the surrounding island, exploded. Just ahead of the rising cloud of smoke and ash shot a flaming black object, a mere black speck that could have been mistaken for a rock or perhaps a swiftly-cooling gob of molten lava when compared with the large cloud beneath it by any distant observer with keen enough vision to discern it against the sky. Soon enough, the flames went out, and one would have expected it to be reclaimed by gravity, but it instead kept rising. In fact, it stretched out from its ball-like form and assumed manlike dimensions and shape. From its back stretched black wings, some few singed and falling toward the burning remnants of the volcano as Shakaar rocketed into the sky.

He felt lucky to have survived such an intense blast. Hells, he was surprised that he was able to absorb and contain enough energy from the orb that more destruction hadn't been wrought.

Coming to a hover in the lower stratosphere, he looked out over the world below. From his vantage point, he could see that many of the Earth's volcanoes had erupted, and that many mortals had died from it. Even more lives senselessly lost due to Ludious' ambitions. He whispered a silent prayer, unknowing if he would be heard with the current disruption of the natural order, hoping that Kokukai would be able to set things aright by destroying the Dark One. His own part was waiting to be played.

Opening his consciousness, he was able to sense each and every single person that'd died since this conflict had begun, their souls either still inhabiting their dead bodies, or, in the case of those whose bodies had been destroyed, seeming to "hang around" the place of their death. Tormented by their inability to move on, they cried out for release from their torture, unheard by any living ears, but audible to Shakaar's ears, even so far above them. He knew then what it was he would have to do...

His first order of business was to, in order to prevent the waste of energy in trying to resurrect something that wasn't there, "call" the souls of those whose bodies were beyond repair to his location. This was something he would have been unable to do before absorbing the energy from the orb, lacking the power to disrupt the unnatural hold their souls had over their places of death. It caused the souls some discomfort, but their relief at sensing Shakaar's intent overwhelmed any pain they were caused.

Shakaar held out his right hand, still skeletal in nature, unwilling as he was to expend the precious energy to regenerate the flesh of his body, save that for his face because he was more comfortable with having actual eyes to look over the world. In the palm of his hand formed a bright green orb, which quickly condensed into a gemlike stone. This soul-gem was more powerful than those he normally would use; the sheer number of souls and the needed power to overcome the souls' hold to the living world necessitating a substantial increase. With an effort of will, he commanded the gem to begin to suck into itself the souls that surrounded the angel. A howling wind seemed to whip up from the gem, a vacuum that left Shakaar and the rest of the world untouched, but at the same time absorbed each of the souls and temporarily trapped them in its facets. Many minutes passed before the howling stopped, the gem absorbing fully twenty percent of the world's population's souls into its depths. After this, he closed his fingers over the stone, which disappeared as soon as he did so, transported to the Heavens by his powers.

That bit of business completed, he returned his gaze to the world below him. Focusing his mind inward, he touched the core of power he'd absorbed from the orbs and began to draw it out again, altering it to suit his needs as he released it. Healing energy surrounded the planet, causing many of the wounds on the bodies left behind by the rampage of Ludious and his minions to heal. In one town, a passing monk fell to his knees and praised God when he witnessed this miracle occurring before his very eyes. He'd stopped there when the stench of death had reached his nose as he passed by the town on the road with his donkey loaded with many biblical texts as he traveled to spread the Word. He fully expected to see the dead bodies to simply leap up and return to life right away, but events failed to live up to his expectations.

Shakaar, however, was far more disappointed. Despair reached into and twisted his heart as he realized that, while he could heal their bodies, he could not return the victims to life. Oh, he had enough power to restore Daniel and perhaps a handful of others, but the sheer amount of the dead seemed to conspire with the disruption to the natural order to prevent him from returning to life the innocents below. He just didn't have the power necessary, even after the risks he'd gone through to gather the energy from the orbs.

It occurred to him that he could expend his last bits of stolen energy to restore Daniel and Tracius, perhaps a few others, but he quickly discarded the idea. It would be incredibly selfish for him to bring back his son and friend to life, but leaving the rest in the realm of death, though those still-trapped souls would be allowed to move on to the Heavens once...and if...the natural order were restored. He could not see to his own happiness while leaving perhaps thousands of people to grieve the loss of their families; he knew that the dead had loved ones that survived by virtue of being away from the towns and villages that were destroyed, perhaps living elsewhere, perhaps simply just away. Could his grief, the grief of his ex-wife, Beatrice, be more than theirs? No, he could not do that, regardless of his past feelings toward mankind.

He knew what he had to do. It was more of a risk than it had even been going to the center of the planet and absorbing Ludious' orbs, but it was one he was willing to take.

Shakaar raised his arms over his head, absorbing into himself what energies had not been used up in healing the dead bodies, adding to them his own personal store of power, even his very life essence. It was suicidal, he knew, but he'd gladly lay down his life to try and set things right. A bright white light seemed to emit from his very body, soon washing out all sight of his form. Here and there, a similar light encompassed the corpses scattered around the world; the traveling priest struck blind by the light's intensity, but counting himself blessed for witnessing such a seemingly holy event.

Unseen by Shakaar, due to having closed his eyes to concentrate, his own wings and clothing shimmered and turned from black to white, the clothing seeming to melt and become robes that draped his body.

Below, the monk gasped and was speechless when he heard the intake of a hundred lungs spasmodically inhaling a breath as their souls were restored to their bodies, their life-force restored by Shakaar's efforts. The monk fell to the ground, his heart simply stopping from the shock.

Halfway around the world, the half-elvish leader of the Sunain Clan, Tracius, sat up and stared around himself, wondering how he'd managed to be awakening from death far from where he'd died. The last thing he remembered was causing a cave-in on himself and the giant shadow monster that led the assault on his clan's Keep. Now, he found himself staring at the manor belonging to friends of the clan, the Darkheart family.

Nearly all of the resurrected people wondered what it was that'd happened to them. A nervous chatter came from thousands of throats, but were stilled by Shakaar's power. In that moment, he inserted a memory that overrode what'd really happened to them. Instead of remembering that they were foully murdered, a memory that would undoubtedly drive most, if not all of them, insane, they would have the memory that the Black Plague had struck their villages and towns, conveniently covering for the fact that some had not returned to life since the "survivors" would also have the memory that they had burned the dead to prevent the spread of the disease.

It was only the "normal" people that would have their memories altered. Tracius, and the rest of those that had known of Ludious and fought against him, would remember exactly what had happened. Shakaar felt they deserved to know the truth.

When he opened his eyes and peered through the slowly dissipating white light that surrounded his body, Shakaar smiled to see the people swiftly returning to business as usual, unaware of what'd happened to them, thinking only that they had been severely ill. He then closed his eyes again, and the light flared once more, sending out a final burst of power to Beatrice's home.

Daniel, laying in state upon his mother's bed, sucked in a reflexive gasp as he sat up, his mother's maid and servant both fainting away to see the dead young man return to life.

The villagers, seeing the dead monk in their street, covered their noses and mouths, fearful of the possibility of catching the Plague again from the deceased man, and down the street came another man bearing a small wagon, intent on disposing of the body.

High above, unseen by the mortals below, the white light that Shakaar emitted disappeared, winking out in an instant. Of Shakaar, there was no sign.

Daniel burst out into tears, sensing his father's last sent thought through their shared mental connection, that of ~Farewell, my beloved son. Take care of your mother...~

Part Two: A-Hunting We Will Go...- Kokukai, Elen, and Ludious

Kai and Elen emerged from the portal just seconds after Ludious had vanished amongst a large wood of evergreens. The cold winds of the arctic blew through the trees with a mournful howling, but affected them not; once they'd passed through the portal, they were as insubstantial as ghosts. One could say that there were many layers to the Astral Plane, one of which exists parallel to that of the Material Plane, accounting for many reports of ghosts, usually whenever someone traversing that particular layer happens to be witnessed by any of the more observant of the physical world's inhabitants. It was this layer to which Ludious had fled. Usually, it was here that he prowled in search of new bodies to inhabit.

Because of the Mark that both Kai and Elen bore on their backs, it was easy enough to discern in which direction Ludious had fled. More, Kai found that he could see the unique energy pattern left behind by the Dark One. Though it was fast fading, Kai could probably follow the trail easily enough and would be able to find Ludious even without Elen's help in triangulating his position. Still, he wanted her here with him for another purpose; he felt that she deserved to see this through to the end.

Tossing his head in the direction of the trees, he said to her, "Come, if we hurry, he won't have time to escape us." Elen nodded in agreement with that assessment, and began to run toward the trees with her adopted sibling, drifting far enough apart from him that no matter which direction Ludious tried to escape in, it would be sensed by one or the other.

Ludious, for his part, realized that he was being followed, even though he'd attempted to close the portal before his enemies could come through it behind him. No matter, he wasn't trying to escape from them, not now. He wanted to destroy them both and sweep away any resistance to his domination. These two were the only real threat to his plans, all others were mere mice compared to them. He moved deeper into the woods, heading for their heart. He intended to set up a trap for the two would-be-heroes.

Some time later, he watched through the trees as Kokukai and Elen approached his hiding place. He smirked to himself, unconcerned by the fact that, even amongst the stand of trees, he could be easily found; after all, the trees were physical and he was not, nor were Elen and that cursed Guardian. He considered for a moment utilizing the increased power being in his astral form gave to him and bringing Elenlas back to heel as his disciple again, but he preferred his subjects either willing or cowed by fear, not hypnotized. Followers were more effective if their minds were untouched. Besides, this girl, and the Guardian, had earned his ire through betrayal; death would be dealt out instead of mental trickery.

Thus far, each of his various underlings had failed him, so Ludious decided to take matters into his own bloodstained hands. Half-closing his eyes, he focused his mind on his inner power, already restored by his astral state. From the tips of his fingers, orbs of ki energy sprang into being, then flew through the air to mix in amongst the trees. There, they waited for Kokukai and Elenlas, primed to explode as soon as one of the two came into close enough proximity. Ludious didn't really expect that such relatively low-power blasts would be able to do much damage to Kokukai, but with luck they might either slow the Guardian down by wounding him, or perhaps might even kill Elenlas since she was not nearly as Kokukai was with his dragon-scaled wings. Dragon-scaled! Ludious hit upon an idea that would hopefully grant him final victory. However, it would take some time for him to gather the energy needed; he had not attempted this particular skill of his in some time. In order to gain the time he needed, Ludious sent forth a mental command to the orbs he'd created, causing them to begin to swarm toward the two would-be heros. They would not attack all at once, however. Instead, they would attempt to explode against either Elenlas or Kokukai one by one, causing them to move slower and more cautiously toward his location. If one of the orbs were to destroy Elenlas, so much the better.

Meanwhile, Kai and Elen had reached the eaves of the outermost trees of the wood. They didn't in the least expect that Ludious would allow them to continue on their path unhindered; they moved with utmost care and caution. Still, Kai was taken by surprise when a purple-glowing orb of energy shot out from the trees and rocketed toward Elen. He kicked from the ground, dashing toward her, but knew that he'd be too late. "Down!" he shouted.

Unsure as she was as to what was causing Kai so much concern, with the attack coming from behind, Elen still dropped to the ground just before the orb could slam into the back of her head. It continued onward toward the Guardian, only to splash against the wing that Kai brought up in front of himself, barely leaving a singe to mar his scales. Coming to a halt over his adopted sister's prone form, he said to her, "Stay down. We don't know how many more, or even if any more, attacks will come." Nodding her head, Elen stayed where she was, trusting in her brother's defenses.

In a few seconds, Kai's caution was proven wise as nine more orbs appeared from the screening trees, surrounding them and moving like a swarm of bees around a hive. A second orb dived in to attack, only to be batted away by Kai's tail. It smashed into a third orb, both exploding as soon as they made contact. Kai maintained his defensive posture, hoping that the rest would not attack all at once, knowing that he would be hard-pressed to protect Elen from them, if the task didn't prove impossible. There were, after all, seven orbs still to concern himself with.

While Kokukai and Elenlas were thus occupied, Ludious was deep in concentration, focusing his energy upon himself. A few moments passed, then bands of energy began to course across his body. His violet eyes opened wide and a smirk crossed his face again, revealing his elongated teeth, sharpening toward becoming fangs. Whitish scales began to appear on his body, and a guttural growl escaped from his lengthening throat.

Kai felt a large concentration of psychic and ki energies beginning to focus themselves in a single point a few dozen yards further among the trees and muttered, "Damn..." understanding what such a high amount of Ludious' energy meant, even though he'd been witness to it only once before. Reacting quickly, he began to gather a portion of his own ki-energy, knowing that there was very little time to waste.

After a few moments, he released the energy in an unfocused bubble-shape around himself and Elen, the ki interacting with Ludious' orbs and causing them to explode far enough away from them that they did no harm. Helping his adopted sister to her feet, he said to her, "Ludious is attempting a transformation. He knows he can't beat us as things stand, so he's upping the ante."

Brushing herself off, Elen asked, "So, how do we go about stopping the bastard's transformation then? And just what is he transforming into? I've heard rumors, but..."

Just then, a rumbling growl could be heard through the trees. Kai and Elen looked toward the direction it was coming from, then turned back to each other as Kai said, "He's becoming like me."

Kai then began to focus on his ki again, muttering to Elen, "It will take him a few more minutes to change. Unlike me, he has no natural dragon form." To this, Elen raised a questioning brow, but Kai was too wrapped up in his concentration to answer her unspoken question. To shift between the Astral plane and the Physical was an easy task for Kai; however, transferring Elen with him took a bit more power. He had to open an actual portal to accomplish it. Releasing the pent up energy with a wave of his hand, he ripped open the fabric of space and time that separated the two planes, then pulled Elen through with him. Appearing on the other side, in the "true" Astral plane, Kai looked around at their surroundings. The seemingly starlit landscape offered few places to hide, not in a wide-open area such as this. No matter, here he felt confident that he could keep Ludious well-enough away from Elen that she would not be in any danger. "Stand back," he said, "and give me some room."

With that, he began to focus his mind inward, touching upon his inner being. He was a true half-dragon, born of a union between an astral dragon in human guise and an actual human. Since his human mother had been killed when he was barely old enough to walk, he was unaware of his lineage...until he'd spent quite some time on introspection and study amongst an elven enclave, as well as historians found in the Astral plane, as to why he could only attain full power on the Material plane when in a half-draconic form. This also explained why he'd always been able to shift between human and draconic shape with relative ease and little effort in expended power. So it was that his shift to a gigantic black dragon, some one hundred feet tall, with a wingspan of over twice his length, took only the few moments necessitated by his body's growth to such a massive form. Unlike most people's imaginings of a dragon, he lacked the serpentine neck depicted in many fantasy images. Instead, his neck was short and muscular, rather bull-like. Horns sprouted from his head, and bony protrusions, like spikes, were to be found at his elbows, knees, heels, and the knuckles of his feet and hands. Again unlike many imaginings, he stood upright on two legs, human-like. Though his scales were black, the underside of his leathery wings were a deep blood red. A long whip-like tail writhed behind him. The only thing that remained the same between his two forms was the deep cobalt blue of his slit-pupiled eyes and the noble, protective soul that was reflected in them.

"Stay here and wait for the time to strike," he said to Elen, his grating voice booming though he tried to keep it low enough to keep from blowing her eardrums out. With that, he took flight, sweeping his wings down and back away from Elenlas to refrain from knocking her over with the buffeting winds caused by his takeoff. Swiftly, he spiraled upwards, then circled, waiting for Ludious to make his appearance.

He didn't have to wait long. Seemingly out of thin air...or what passed for air in the Astral plane...a white dragon appeared, flying without the aid of wings. Snakelike, Ludious soared through the air in a slithering fashion. Though shaped like a snake, he had four somewhat stunted legs; his appearance was like that of the dragons depicted in Far Eastern mythologies. Many times longer than Kai's own dragon form, a twisted smirk spread across the white dragon's lips, revealing razor sharp fangs, his purple-colored eyes locking on to Kai, who was hovering in midair. "So, we fight as equals again, Guardian," Ludious' voice boomed out. "Except this time, only one of us will survive."

"Your planning is as limited as your imagination," Kai retorted, obviously referring to Ludious' dragon-shape, insinuating that Ludious was only able to change into a form that he'd only heard of in legend rather than something a little more unique. Ludious replied with a blast of fire from his nostrils, Kai easily avoiding the flames, more used to aerial combat than his foe. However, Ludious caught him by surprise when he fired a ki-blast with his front right paw and hit Kai with bruising force in his scaled chest, scorching them a bit.

Kai and Ludious circled each other, each wary of the other's skills. The battle had only begun...

Part Three: Order Restored? - Tracius

Tracius rose to his feet, wonder at his return to life still creasing his features. He'd recognized where it was he had awoken, but was puzzled as to how he'd gotten there. Any surviving members of the clan surely would have used what remained of the Keep to erect a cairn over where he'd fallen, or perhaps would have claimed his body from the deep caverns to lay him to rest in a catacomb. This was indeed puzzling.

Confused as he was, he was still cognizant enough to realize that though the Sunains and the Darkhearts were allies, their relations would become strained should he be discovered lingering about their property. He inspected his cloak and realized that, though stained and dusty, it was fortunately free of any tears. Tracius then raised his hood over his head and then whispered a short command word. This triggered an enchantment that rendered him invisible to all forms of vision, even scrying. The only ways to detect him in this state would be to physically touch him, to hear his movements, or to somehow detect the magic that hid him from view, though doing such would reveal a sort of vague indication that some form of magic was being used. Assassin that he was, he was skilled well enough to prevent the other two ways of finding him.He moved across the field that comprised the Darkheart mansion's front lawn and slipped in amongst the trees. Once hidden there, he used the power of one of his magical rings to open a portal back to the Keep. Stepping through, he observed the carnage left behind during the battle that'd taken place there.

Is it over? he wondered. Has the natural order been restored? Who survived? Those questions and many more ran rampant through his mind; questions that had no answers. At least, not from what he was able to see currently. He dispelled the invisibility his cloak granted him by lowering the hood once more, then settled himself on a nearby block of stone that appeared to have come from one of the outer walls. Once seated, he raised his left hand to the ankh that he wore around his neck, then placed his right hand on the tattoo of a bleeding rose on the upper right side of his abdomen. This triggered a call to all surviving Sunain clan members, from the upper echelons all the way down to the lowest servants, to his current location. Being that it was a call coming from the current leader of the clan, returning home would take all precedence over any other activity. Not that it turned them into mindless automatons, but rather their every effort would be oriented to gaining whatever passage necessary to obey the call.

It was time to find out what had happened to him, the Sunain Keep, to the rest of the world....and to rebuild.

Part Four: Family - Daniel and Beatrice

Metatron looked over the courtyard filled to near capacity with refugees from the destruction of Sunain Keep. Surprisingly, there were vanishingly few wounded, the extent of their injuries being barely more than a few bumps, scrapes, and bruises. A sad expression crossed his face as he contemplated the unfortunate chain of events that led to the current conditions for these people. Though they were all in some way associated with assassins...some were, in fact, assassins...as of right now they were all simply refugees; directionless, homeless...leaderless.

Furthermore, he was concerned about Gabriel. A few moments ago, he'd sensed an enormous buildup of power that had a distinctive "scent" that belonged to his longtime friend. Then, suddenly...nothing. Nothing whatsoever.

Metatron had a suspicion as to what Shakaar...as Gabriel preferred to be called these days...had in mind to accomplish, but he couldn't be sure if Shakaar would be that desperate to return to life those that'd died. But, if what he'd sensed was correct, then Shakaar was indeed willing to go to the extreme of nearly-guaranteed suicide.

Several minutes later, Metatron was surprised to see the Sunain survivors beginning to gather their belongings, as though to leave. Indeed, each and every one of them, once they'd packed, began to file out of the castle's door. Silently and efficiently, they left just as suddenly as they'd come. The last of them to leave turned to close the door and saw Metatron watching. "Tracius calls," is all he said, then he quietly shut the door.

To this, the angel simply smiled. A smile that quickly shifted to a grim, pensive frown. If Tracius was back, then that meant that Shakaar had succeeded in reviving all of those who's lives had been prematurely snuffed out. The problem with that was the sheer number of people who'd died, it would require more power than even Lucifer could command, let alone his son. He turned his face upward and lowered his body to one knee, clasping his hands over the other knee. He had to know what had happened to his charge. He began to pray.

A few hours later, and he was winging his way to the manor that Beatrice and Daniel resided in, knowing that, by now, the boy had regained consciousness and surely knew his father's apparent fate. Metatron had communed with God and had learned the full story of Shakaar's struggle and had news for the nephilim.

Soon, he was hovering outside of Daniel's window and watching as mother and son huddled together on the edge of a four poster bed, grief and relief both the cause of their tearstained faces. Neither could see him, so wrapped up in their emotions as they were. Both jumped when the both sides of the window swung open with a bang and Metatron landed on the balcony outside, his seven wings folding against his back. "Forgive my intrusion," he said, bowing slightly. "But I have news that could not be entrusted to a simple messenger. Daniel, your father willingly gave his life to return you, and all innocent mortals, to their own lives. This has proven that redemption of the darkest of beings is indeed possible, if given sufficient motivation. It is unfortunate, however, that the lesson has had to be learned in this fashion."

Turning to face the window, he continued, "You have cause to expect that your father's power would pass on to you at the moment of his death. But, by now, you should have realized that this has not occurred. The reason for this is simple." He turned to face Daniel and Bea fully, adding, "He has been given yet another chance. The last time, he was given human form as punishment. Now, he is being given a chance to prove that the lesson has indeed been learned. But, do not seek him out, he will not know you. In fact, he will know nothing of these past fifteen years. To his frame of reference, he never had regained even the demonic form he assumed during his servitude of Lucifer. However, his memories of even that time will be altered. He will not even know of his parentage. The worst of his deeds have been stricken from his mind so that he will not revert to form. To explain further would be too complicated for even myself to speak of."

To this, Daniel could only reply, relief coloring his words, "It is enough to know that he's still alive, and that there's hope. But, regardless of what you say, I will seek him out one day. He is my father, and I love him, he will remember if I have to make him remember. I don't care about lessons or anything like that. I just want him home."

"So be it," Metatron said. "You are half-human, after all, and you have free will. I do recommend, however, that you wait for a few days to give his mind time to recover its stability. As for myself, I have other business to tend to; it is likely you won't be seeing me again for some time, if at all."

"Why can you not stay?" asked Beatrice. "Daniel and I would appreciate knowing more about our dearest Shakaar."

"I cannot," Metatron explained. "I have other duties that demand my time, duties I've not been able to attend since the destruction of Raeyan. I cannot say more than that not all that were suspected to have been killed had been so."

Daniel arched a brow, suspecting that he knew what the angel was enigmatically referring to. His father had told him of Metatron's duties while disguised as the human Dimitri, serving his stepmother as mentor and friend. Telepathically, he said to the angel, ~You let my father believe that they were dead, knowing all this time that they were not? How could you profess to be his friend, yet put him through such pain and misery?~

Metatron replied in like kind, telling the boy, ~There are things at work in Heaven that you do not understand, nor likely would you ever. Besides, it was at the request of...those that I now go to be with that he not be told. With Shakaar gone, two of the three are especially in need of my help.~

With a last bow of his head, he turned and exited through the window and took flight again. He circled around the manor a few times, gaining altitude with each pass. Soon, he ceased circling and flew at a sharp angle upwards. Then, suddenly, a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning erupted from the black speck against the sky that had marked his location as he sped off at top acceleration to his destination.

Inside, Daniel and Beatrice finally smiled at each other, allowing themselves to at last feel the relief in their hearts. Daniel was alive........and so was his father.

Part Four: A Pitched Battle - Kokukai, Elenlas, and Ludious

Kai rolled over onto his back and dropped, a blast of intensely cold air skimming along his scaled belly. Growling, he righted himself and swept his wings downward, gaining altitude again. His and Ludious' skills and powers seemed to be equal thus far, with the exception that he was somewhat faster than the more-massive dragon behind him. As he rose, he glanced down at the scales on his chest and belly, wincing a bit to see the frost built up around their edges. That was too close, he thought. Instinct kicked in, causing him to roll to the right and upward at a sharp angle. In the place he once occupied, flames shot forth, hot enough that it melted the ice crusting Kai's scales.

Growling again, he flipped over backward and nosed down, his trajectory carrying him toward and to Ludious' side. As he passed, he flipped sideways again, reaching out with a claw that tore a long wound down Ludious' neck. No blood, though scales were ripped away, fluttering toward the ground below. Righting himself, he flared out his wings, coming to a hover, turning his horned head up to observe Ludious.

"Well done, Guardian," mocked the white-scaled dragon, twisting and turning about itself in mid-air, though keeping its head oriented toward Kokukai's own black-scaled form. "So, tell me something...are you going to nip and scratch me to death, or are you going to fight?"

Kai curled his lips back in a snarl, then calmed himself. He saw through the trick Ludious was trying to play: to get Kai so angry that his fighting skills would be off-balance, not to mention allowing Ludious to feed off of that emotional energy. The snarl turned into a smirk as Kai backwinged a few yards, ki-energy beginning to course down the lengths of his arms and collecting in his hands. One clawed hand, glowing blue, motioned for Ludious to "come get him" as he laughed.

Ludious, himself chuckling at the thought that Kai would honestly think that he'd fall for that, instead began to focus his mind on his own powers. Suddenly, his head snapped forth and from his mouth a bolt of lightning shot out at Kai.

Though he saw his opponent begin to use yet another breath weapon, Kai barely had time to cross his forearms before his chest as the bolt slammed into them. The energy already coursing through his arms sucked the bolt of lightning dry of its own energy, absorbing it into their bands, increasing their strength. Kai smirked over his crossed arms, then swept his wings back, thrusting himself forward. He flew toward Ludious, claws extended as though to rip them into the Dark One's flesh. Ludious, for his part, began to inhale sharply, preparing to unleash another blast of breath. Just as he snapped his head forward, Kai pulled his wings in close, dropping like a stone below the line that the jet of flame drew in the air. Then, he rolled over, snapping his wings out to steady his altitude, passing within arm's reach below Ludious' belly. From there, he punched out, the ki energy in his hands exploding with the impact, blasting away a section of scale, burning and bruising the flesh beneath.

Ludious, his flaming breath cut short by the impact, wheeled up and away from Kokukai, putting a bit of distance between them. If the Guardian could put forth this kind of effort into the fight, then he'd have to readjust his approach. He came about and drove straight in at Kai, jaws agape as though to bite and rend.

Kai, for his part, waited until the other dragon came within a few yards of his position, totally committed to the course, before he pulled his wings in tight, dropping below the angle of attack. Too late, he realized his error when Ludious' sinuous body began to wrap itself round and round his own, trapping his wings and arms against himself. He only had time for one inhalation of breath to prevent his ribs from being instantly crushed before he found himself trapped like an anaconda's next meal.

The comparison was apt, as Ludious brought his head in close to be face to face with the Guardian, a triumphant look on his face. His own levitation abilities were up to the task of keeping their combined weight in the air, so he wasn't worried about crashing into what amounted to the ground here in the Astral plane. Far below them, he could hear Elenlas' ineffectual shouting and impotent threats. "Hear that, Guardian?" he said with mocking laughter. "Your dear sister thinks she might yet save you from your own folly. Pity that she "thinks". I think I'll end that little fantasy by eating her once I've finished with you."

With that, his looped body began to squeeze mercilessly against Kokukai's body, rapture on his face as he heard the first few bones begin to creak and crack from the strain.

Kai thought desperately, trying to find some way out of this pretty little trap Ludious had him in. The agony of having his body slowly crushed, however, prevented him from attaining a clear enough mind to focus on his ki, let alone any of his other energies. Otherwise, he'd simply shadow walk and escape Ludious' coils. Stubbornly, however, he kept his breath held in, though he knew that it would be soon that even that would be useless.

Ludious leaned in even closer, a bare handful of inches between their snouts, as he said, "Give it up, Guardian. I've won. Why don't you just simply save yourself the pain and lie down and di-iiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Ludious' voice was cut short in a scream as a jet stream of acid shot out from Kai's open mouth, spat when Kai loosed his breath weapon, the pain having become so great that he simply reverted to his instincts as a dragon when Ludious' face came close enough to guarantee a hit. Even as the coils loosened from around him, he continued to spit the corrosive fluid until all the air was gone from his massive lungs. Ludious, his face horribly burned, tried to wheel away, but was blinded and unable to find which way was away from his opponent. Confused, he turned to his right and made a blind dive toward the ground, gravity becoming his guide.

Kai, his mind fully in control again, opened his wings, beating them to hover for a moment, and began to focus on his ki once more, summoning it into his right hand and forming a sword made up of pure ki energy, his psiblade, though now much larger than the one he wielded in his human form, though still as deadly. Sweeping his wings back, he dove and propelled himself through the air in pursuit of Ludious, determined to finish the job. In seconds, he caught up to Ludious and hacked at his flanks, carving deep into the flesh, muscle, and bone, severing Ludious' left rear leg.

Ludious, in far more agony than any he'd ever felt before, tried to turn and fry Kokukai with his lightning breath, but was facing the wrong direction as Kai flipped horizontally over Ludious' back, turning his attack onto the white dragon's right side now. There, he plunged the psiblade as deep as he could into Ludious' side, punching through the scales and puncturing both lungs. Ludious, unable to focus enough to keep his levitation in place, fell like a stone, finally slamming into the ground with a sickening crack that left no doubt that his vertebrae had been broken.

"Elen!" said Kai, "Finish him! Strike while he's weakened!" Kai knew that the injuries, while severe enough to kill any other living creature...even as painful as they were to even the Dark One...Ludious would eventually recover if not killed.

Elen looked at her sword, then at Ludious, and then made her way toward the quivering dragon, stepping over and around the cracks in the ground left by his impact with it. She stood over him, anger twisting her features into a snarl. Kai steeled himself to go on the attack again, because if Elenlas struck out of anger, it would be entirely counterproductive to what he hoped to accomplish, that it would instead allow Ludious to recover enough to possibly kill her. He relaxed, however, when he saw Elen's face soften toward something almost resembling pity. "Ludious," she said softly. "I once called you Lord. I once called you Master. No more. All that you've done to me, all you've done to others, it will not be repeated. I cannot forgive, nor can I ever forget, all the torment and suffering you've caused, but I can end it. It's such a pity that one with such power as yours cannot be redeemed, but...."

Elen was interrupted when a flash of black swept in, Kai's arm shoving her aside, depositing her less-than-gently, but without injury, several yards away. As he shoved her, Kai's body slid between hers and Ludious'. A shudder went through him as Ludious' gaping maw latched onto his upper torso, green rivulets mixing in with the red blood that poured out from where Ludious' fangs had punctured his scales. Kai had sensed the buildup of power within Ludious, the last dregs of dark energy that healed him enough to be able to lash out toward the sound of Elen's voice. Though he could not see her, he had heard her well enough to strike a final blow.

As the two dragons crashed to the ground, Kai rolling weakly away and then rising to his knees to motion Elen to finish the job, Elen got up and strode back in, determination and righteousness filling her features as she plunged her sword into Ludious' forehead, spearing his brain on its tip, the blade sinking to the hilt between his eyes. She was flung free of the sword's handle by a surge of power that signified the ending of Ludious' life. As she rolled across the ground and came up short against Kai's side, she looked back toward the white dragon as it shuddered through its death throes, then began to contract and return to its human shape. Before much more than a vague shadow of Ludious' former appearance could be discerned, the body crumbled to dust. Here, in the Astral Plane, in Ludious' natural form, was he finally destroyed.

As Elenlas lay there, smiling at their victory, recovering both her breath and the feeling in her arm, her smile was stolen by her shock to hear from the very air Ludious' voice saying, "You may think you have won, but I will always return. The multiverse is full of evil thoughts, evil minds, evil hearts. So long as those exist, so too will I. I cannot be destroyed, but I will sleep for a time. One day, when you and your children's children are nothing more than dust and forgotten memories, I will return. Hear me, Guardian! Though you too shall die, I will return!"

Elen turned toward Kai to question him what Ludious meant by those last words, her jaw dropped when she noticed that his breathing was becoming shallow and he struggled to draw in enough air to say, "Worry not, dear sister...I'm not quite ready to lay down my responsibilities just yet." With that, his body shook as he began to return to his own human form, though the bite wounds remained, the green fluid seeping out along with his blood.

Kai smiled wanly at her, his voice returning to a more or less normal tone, the strange harmonics that signified his advanced state of power missing from it, as he said, "And do not grieve. One day, you will join me here again. Without Shakaar, my soul is more or less free to choose where it shall spend eternity." A wordless cry escaped from Elenlas' lips as she realized that Kai was speaking of his own imminent death, but was broken off when he raised a finger to her lips to hush her. "No. I know the truth of what Ludious said, I knew it from the beginning. Once enough negative emotional energy has built up again, he shall be reborn and return to threaten the multiverse again. Once again, I will be needed to put him down. Until then, I must rest, here, and prepare for him. Only, my mortal body cannot last enough to wait that long. I could have avoided his venomous bite meant for you, but I choose this, dear Elen." A horrendous coughing wracked his body, dropping him to the ground, where Elen knelt by him, cradling his head in her lap, her tears dropping to stain his cheeks.

Kai smiled up at her, at peace with his own decision, but troubled slightly by her pain. He glanced away from her and summoned up the last of his power, causing a portal back to the physical world to open. "Go," he whispered. "Return to your life there. Know that when the time is right, you will join me here again."

Dashing away her tears with the back of her hand, she leaned in and kissed his forehead, then lowered his head back to the ground and backed toward the portal, determined to watch Kai for as long as possible. She didn't want to leave him, refused to believe that he was dying, but her heart, treacherously, denied her refusal. She knew he was right. Just before she entered the portal, Kai's physical body faded from sight, becoming as insubstantial as smoke, then...nothing. Just as with Ludious, she heard Kai's voice whisper from the air, "And know that I love you, my sister. Go...the Earth still needs protection."

And, weeping, she complied with his last wishes.

Part Five: Summation

Kai, though having died a physical death, would be reborn on the Astral Plane as a denizen of that realm, reincarnating with his former abilities (though locked away until he would be able to train himself in their use, as well as accessing his memories), though without the ability to access the entire multiverse's range of energies. Eventually, he would arrange for his adopted sister, Elenlas, to also be reincarnated on the Astral Plane, though she would be unable to discipline her mind enough to be able to recall her memories of her physical life. However, she would once again take up her former profession as an espionage agent, forcing him, as Guardian, to sometimes take up sides against her, though working in the shadows. Years would pass before he would become soul-bonded to a young child by the name of Rick Holmes, though it would be a full decade before Rick could become aware of Kai's presence. The need for such a bonding, though not revealed to Kai by the Elders that performed the procedure, would become quite evident as Rick grew into adulthood...

Tracius and the rest of the Sunain clan would eventually pass into obscurity as the need for their services grew less and less. However, they would continue to operate, though in such a clandestine manner that none of the general populace would ever know of their activities; whenever a high-profile assassination with absolutely no evidence linking them, or their employer, to the death was needed, extremely circuitous routes of contacts would be put into play in order to call them in.

Beatrice and Daniel never gave up on their search for Shakaar's new mortal form. Then, one day, ten years later...ah, but that's a tale yet to come.