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       "Erimos...." Fyda turned to the resting figure at here side. With a dark grimace, she lightly tapped his side. Royd groaned, then sat up with a jolt. Fyda frowned. Looking northwards, where the ruins still lay smoldering, Royd urmured quietly to himself. Fyda watched patiently, until her temper gave out. "What is wrong?" Royd appeared not to hear her for a moment, then glanced up suddenly. His face, as always, told nothing of his true feelings. "Just thinking about an old friend." He started to rise. "Erimos?" Fyda whispered quietly, as she helped him up. Royd looked away and nodded. Fyda held in a sigh, knowing the warrior would reveal his thoughts only if he wished to. "Actually.." Fyda's head snapped up from her thoughts. He was looking straight at her, his cold stare holding all the passion and emotion of ice. "His....his name was Edmond." Royd turned his gaze away, to the dull blue sky. "It was his fascination with Asmodeus, the virus, which changed it. A matter between friends." Fyda worked silently at he small crack she had found in Royd's sheild. "Erimos. Intresting....." She thought in the depths of he mind, before suddenly taking in what he had said. The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them. "Was?" Royd's gaze was once again locked on the ruins, as his body tensed. "Nights falling," he whispered. And indeed, the sun had fallen below the horizon. "We should start moving." Without waiting for reply, Royd began to move away. Fyda sighed, knowing her mistake. Her own past was far too painful to share with any stranger. She had only told that boy- Ark, she remembered distantly- after he had saved the princess.

       But Royd.....she had known Royd. Once.

       That was what the wind said.

*

       Skiras d' klast Ershaic, Thane of CherryThorn, knew his fate. It was jumping in a hole. He sat back on his haunches, an almost signature move of thought. So this is it...Skiras began murmuring the Fear Marlot. He was halfway through, before he shook his head and dismissed the words. No time for that now. The hand that slain demons felt the material of the rope. It would hold. But, thought Skiras, was it the use of a rope in a bottomless pit? The darkness was overwhelming, and showed that hell itself must be frozen in blackness. It would be suicide to enter. And what have I got to live for? Skiras rose, turning quickly. He was alone. Had he been human, a dark smile would have crossed his face. But he wasn't, and hundreds of years in this world had bred mirth, in any form, out of his race. Taking the rope in his hand, after testing it's strength, Skiras began his descent.

*

       Dantes in turn began his ascension.

       Pausing for a moment, he watched as a bird flew past him. The walls of the tower constantly shifted between realitlys, and he grimaced as the bird brush against one it could not see, and fell to the floor. Another wall suddenly phased in, and the bird burst into flames at the contact. By Dantes thought, the body quickly became burned to ashes, and swept into a churning cloud around him. Laughing but for a single moment, he resumend his course up the stone stairs. Not long until the top. Anyone watching would see nothing but the land below him, until he reached the top. There, he would stand in the sky, for all mortals to see, framed against the demon star, Asmodeus, and absorbing it's power.

       Dantes smiled.

       But he was no longer human.

*

       There was nothingness. And the nothingness was a throne.

       The being sat upon it, perched in waiting. It's two forms ever shifted, the full source and soul of chaos. Nothing held it there, but it stayed there, ever changing. Below, before, above, around it the world churned. And there is sparkled, glowing, shining, for but a single moment. The nothingness formed around that moment.

* Note: Greetings, mortals, Romans, guys named Ed. No, neither the story, or this paticlular chapter are done, but here it is anyway. I submitted it for comment. Yes, you too can comment. It's easy. It's fun. It's fat free. Turbo the Mutant Wonder Dog comments. Do you? In other news, the complete Terranigma guide is coming along quite nicely. Thanks to Snape and Cherubae for all their hard work. One thing: I'm including a 'Challenges' section. My current hardest: Get to level 50, by fighting the Huballs in the first tower, first room, and ONLY reseting the room by leaving the tower and entering again. You CAN NOT go to the second level. Good luck.

Turbo says you should brush and floss daily. Good advice for anyone. Oh yeah, I'm going to get Dante (the real person) to post his Terranigma fanfic ('Guardian'), but he seems to have lost it. Crazy bugger. Ah, well.

Quote of zee marvelous Day
*
Allen: Listen, I have here one hund- no, one, followed by two zeroes-
Impus: Followed by six zeros! One hundred miiillll-yoonnnn dollars! Ssss,ssss!
Allen: Will you SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!!
*
       -From 'The Imp Days' Turbo: Barg traywfdesgarg sug. -Dais