Chapter Nine - A New Beginning

Location: Earth orbit
Time: AD 2089, 26 March, 00:41

    "Achoo!"
    The sudden sneeze of Reece who was sitting alongside her on the
shuttle caused Kelly to jerk awake. She glanced in an annoyed fashion
at the human who was snoring loudly beside her and tried to reposition
herself. It was tricky - even in first class seating was cramped.
    "Sorry," Kelly apologized as her foot knocked the smartly dressed
and strikingly attractive middle aged man who was sitting next to her.
"There's never enough seating room on these flights is there?"
    The man smiled in agreement, "no. I never like Travelling by these
clumsy vehicles either."
    Kelly grinned back, "and we have three days of this pleasure to
look forward to - I can hardly wait."
    "Well, at least the company will be pleasant enough," the man
replied. "And, if I may be so bold to say, very attractive to the eye
as well."
    "Why thank you noble sir," Kelly said with a pleased look at the
compliment.
    "It is the truth," the man replied holding out his hand. "Daniel
Gabeson - pleased to meet you."
    Kelly took the hand and introduced herself, "Kelly Duval."
    "Travelling to Luna Miss Duval? Or are you heading for the Belt?"
    "Call me Kelly please," Kelly replied. "And yes, I'm going to
Celene City actually on company business."
    "That must be nice for you Kelly," Daniel Gabeson replied. "From
what I hear of Celene it is supposed to be the cultural heartland of
Luna. A most fascinating place or so I am told."
    "Oh," Kelly answered. "That's funny. I had heard that it was a
much more business orientated place. Oh well, I suppose I will find
out in due course. Where are you going Mr. Gabeson?"
    "Daniel please," the man replied. "As for me I have some Family
business to deal with on Luna - Tranquillity City to be exact.
Although, I will be Travelling to and from Celene every now and then."
    "Is that so?" Kelly said with interest. "Then perhaps we will run
into each other some time."
    Daniel smiled, "count on it. Now, if you will excuse me for being
rude I must get some sleep. It's late and I'm exhausted."
    "Oh sorry, of course," Kelly replied. "It is early morning after
all."
    "May be you can tell me more about yourself in the morning,"
Daniel said as he made himself as comfortable as possible. "This is
going to be a long three days."
    "I'd be happy too," Kelly replied and slowly settled down to try
to sleep herself.
    The pale faced reddish-brown eyed stewardess a little way down the
corridor gave the man his requested coffee and politely turning down
his offer went back to the small kitchen. Reina frowned slightly as
she carefully watched the Enforcer from Gabriel's Family settle down
to sleep. She was worried. She very much doubted that the Enforcer had
engaged in idol chatter with Kelly for no reason at all. Especially,
not when he had taken so much trouble to conceal his Noble status.
Just what was Gabriel up to? she wondered.
    Bound by the terms of the Truce Reina could not take any action
against this Enforcer unless he himself initiated it by calling
Challenge - the Rules of the Truce were quite specific about that. If
he had been assigned to simply watch one of the Corrupter's Family,
she could do nothing to stop him. She did not even know if he was
aware of her presence. She really had absolutely no idea of his level
of Power.
    Reina licked for lips and for a delightful moment imagined what
pleasure she would have if he did call Challenge. Gabriel was one of
His highest-ranking Advisors and Reina would have the greatest
pleasure in slowly roasting one of his children in the frozen flame of
the Darkness. A shiver of almost sexual pleasure rushed through her as
she held the image long in her mind. Yes... the smell of the
Enforcer's flesh rotting.... withering as the Life was drained
slowly... Ahhh....
    "Would you really like to kill him child?" a voice suddenly said
in an amused tone.
    "What?" Reina came out of her pleasing fantasy with a cold shock.
"What was that?"
    "I asked if you would like to kill him little Darkling?"
    Reina spun around and looked at the steward standing just behind
her. With a gasp she dragged the Power brutally to her letting its
frozen taint fill her completely. "Who are you?" she hissed in a wary
voice.
    "A friend," the steward replied with an easy smile. "And you do
not need to demonstrate who you are to me child. Flexing your Power
will only serve to alert your prey."
    Reina kept a stern hold on her Power and carefully examined the...
human? Yes... human who was addressing her.
    "I mean you no harm child," the human replied lifting up his
hands. "My Master has absolutely no hostile intentions towards either
you or your Family. In fact, I am here to help if you want me to."
    "And just who might your Master be?" Reina hissed her eyes turning
into soulless black voids.
    "Just someone who wishes dearest Samantha to be happy - that is
all my pretty one," the man replied disarmingly. "And if the death of
one of Gabriel's fools brings you pleasure then my Master will gladly
oblige."
    "Of course he will," Reina sniggered. "And what price will that
'favor' have?"
    "Price? Nothing - only the pleasure of seeing you smile..."
    "I don't think so," Reina said in a voice that was subtly
different from the one she had been speaking with before. Reina
suddenly felt slightly faint as she and the other man were caught out
of Time, shifted into a subtly different dimension by Samantha.
    "Ah," the man smiled brightly. "Lady Samantha, you honor me..."
    "Perhaps..." Reina commented blandly in Samantha's voice. "But
then it has been a while since our last... social exchange."
    "Yes," the man looked sorry. "I must apologize for my selection at
that time. The toilet was an... inappropriate place to greet you."
    "And your most... childish prank with the woman Katsumi?" Samantha
said. "Was that also...  inappropriate?"
    "I thought you found her attractive Samantha," the man replied
fretting surprise. "Your indulgences with mortals is well known. I was
merely offering her to you as a present. I did not wish to offend you.
I would never offend such a lovely lady as yourself..."
    "Then perhaps you would do me the honor of telling me your
Master's name," Samantha said playfully toying with a fork. "I do _so_
much want to meet the one who _honored_ me with such a _generous_
gift."
    The man smiled and shook his head. "Alas, my beloved Samantha I
cannot - at least not yet."
    Samantha smiled coyly. "Please..." she said and fluttered her
eyes.
    "Oh dearest," the man shook his head again. "I fear that I cannot
but..."
    "Why not?" Samantha's face widened in a gleefully malevolent
smile. "Afraid to?"
    The man laughed softly as he seemed to be considering something.
    "Pretty, pretty please," Samantha said trying to look as sickenly
sweet as she could. "With sugar..."
    "Ahhh... Samantha..." a look of demented need crossed the man's
face. "Perhaps..."
    Samantha's cloyingly sweet expression faltered as she saw the
man's expression. "Don't..."
    "Leviathan," the man said suddenly as he stepped forward. "Call me
Leviathan, my precious little one."
    Samantha felt completely numb as her mind slowly processed that
name - impossible!
    "Quite possible," the man said with another step forward. "I
assure you."
    Samantha/Reina's lips whitened for a moment as an unknowable
emotion crossed her borrowed face and then slowly she giggled madly.
Control, she must exercise control. She was a Power also.
    "So," she continued a little more sure of herself. "What does one
such as you wish of insignificant little old me?"
     The man smiled and something even older and more unnatural than
the look in Reina's eyes flickered there. "Want? You already know what
I want, _pretty_ one..."
    A look of utter revulsion came to Reina's face and she took a step
back in shock.
    "I have been lonely for such a long time Samantha," the man
continued. "Ever since your kind threw me out of the PrimeVerse I have
watched you, my little one. I have watched as you grew up, developed,
fell in love and became one of the most powerful of your generation. I
watched..."
    "Oh, I'm so happy for you," Samantha said mockingly as she
interrupted the man. "And tell me, what have I done to deserve this
grand honor?"
    The man gave a half smile and continued. "I watched you as you so
cunningly escaped from my vengeance on the PrimeVerse with your lover,
and how you took the Power of my minions into yourself as part of the
bargain. I saw how you enjoyed yourself when you killed your weakling
lover and that feeble excuse for a creature - Erith. I watched with
great enjoyment as that foolish one who calls himself HE raped you
and..."
    A passenger in her own body Reina felt Samantha's bloodrage at the
words turn into something far colder and far more deadly. Samantha
erected a barrier of sheer hatred around the memories that the man
thing was trying to invoke. She would not give anyone the satisfaction
of seeing her break - not again, ever. She deliberately ignored what
the thing was saying and turned her attention instead to the name
he/It had given - Leviathan.
    The name stirred only faint memories deep from the redhead's past.
Leviathan... A force of Unlife, Anti-creation that had been thrown out
of the PrimeVerse by the combined might of the greatest of her kind
and doomed to a trap labyrinth known only as the Black Nexus. It was
the name of a myth that had been forgotten Cycles before even the
destruction of the PrimeVerse. Leviathan.
    Samantha gently probed at the being before her. A Power as alien
and as ancient as her own flickered like a fitful aura around him.
Strong, yes, but not what Samantha had been expecting. She herself had
barely been self-aware when Leviathan had been vanquished but she
remembered enough of the Power of its minions. This was a pathetic
echo of that memory. The Black Nexus was powered by the Unliving
energy of its prisoner - energy that was only minutely reflected in
the aura before her. Samantha's eyes narrowed and Reina felt that her
Mistress had come to a decision.
    "...attempted Bonding to  you..." the man continued.
    "Is that so?" Samantha interrupted in a mildly pleasant tone as
she continued to play with the fork. "You found it... enjoyable did
you?"
    "Yes..." the man hissed in delight. "Most enjoyable..."
    "How pleasant for you," Samantha commented with a crooked smile as
she watched the fork dance in the light. "And tell me, how do you
enjoy the Black Nexus? Is it as fun a prison as I have heard?"
    The man's eyes narrowed as a rabid look of rage and hunger came to
his face.
    Samantha smiled slowly at the point she had finally scored.
"Yes..." she hissed. "I know all about the Nexus and the Seal that was
placed on it." She cocked her head as the twirling fork continued to
fascinate her. "The hunger you must be feeling by now must be...
intoxicating..."
    "A hunger you will MORE than satisfy pretty little Samantha..."
the man thing whispered as he looked intensely back at her.
    "Sticks and stones..." Samantha giggled as she felt her icy
control finally begin to slip. Fear, rage, hatred, and madness began
to contaminate her control. Her giggling steadily grew more pronounced
and then suddenly in a savage movement she drove the fork she was
playing with deep into the man's left eye.
    "YAAAA!!!" the human screamed as the blood gushed from his ruined
socket.
    "Oops," Samantha said giggling maniacally. "My hand must have
slipped... sorry..."
    "What... what do you... think..."
    "That achieves?" Samantha grinned still chuckling in sick
amusement. "Nothing. It just makes me feel better that's all." She
flashed with an impudent grin as a living Darkness began to lick
around her form.
    The man ripped the fork out of his eye and threw it to the ground.
He straightened and slowly reaching up he pulled out the ruined eye.
He looked at it for a moment and then popped it in his mouth. "Really
Samantha," he said in a disapproving tone. "I expected better of you
than such a childish prank."
    Samantha shrugged. "Hey! I'm an impulsive type of girl..."
    The man swallowed and all the damage to his face vanished.
    "Well, fascinating as this conversion is I'm afraid that I really
do have more important things to attend too," Samantha said
dismissively. "My hair really needs a wash..."
    The man grinned at the comment, "still Playing Samantha... Oh, I
do enjoy you SO much..."
    "Not really," Samantha commented with an evil grin. "It's just
that if I remember correctly the Nexus uses your own Power to maintain
its Seal. Which means of course that your vaunted Power of Unlife is
not what is fully driving all these... amusements... You have someone
helping you!"
    "Really?" the man thing said. "Fascinating, I did not know that."
    Samantha/Reina nodded. "And what's more is that that Power is born
of Life, not Unlife."
    "So?" the man looked at her with an expectant expression.
    "So," Samantha/Reina giggled madly as her hands twitched in
pleasurable anticipation. The still small sane part of her shrieked to
wait, to learn what she could, to play along and not reveal her
strength, however, that small voice of wisdom, of sanity, was buried
beneath the overwhelming desire to rip, shred, torture and maim. The
frozen Corruption of the Darkness filled her like sweet wine and her
pets began to respond gleefully to her summons. "Life is something
which the Darkness, the Darkness born of your Unlife, _MY_ Darkness,
just loves too _death_..." With that comment her face turned
completely savage and _things_ began to twitter insanely in the
deadness surrounding them.
    The man's smile dropped as if he was suddenly uncertain and he
opened his mouth to speak.
    "Bye bye..." the Corrupter said sweetly as her pets fell on the
man thing and consumed him instantly. Reina swayed and collapsed as
the _rush_ of alien Power flooded insanely through her body as the
Darkness sucked the man's Life and Power dry.
    "Miss?"
    Reina was suddenly back in the cabin the unholy presence of her
Mother gone.
    "Miss? Did you hear me?"
    Reina took a deep breath and tried to recover from what had just
happened.
    "What the hell is wrong with you stewardess?" an annoyed voice
said as a hand abruptly grabbed Reina's shoulder and pulled her
around.
    "Yaaah!" Reina squawked in shock and just narrowly avoided
instinctively disintegrating the mortal who had grabbed her.
    "What?!" the man jumped back in surprise at the fierce look in the
attractive girl's face.
    "Gods!" Reina swore as the rush of Power slowly faded. "You
surprised the living daylights out of me!"
    The man moved further back. He was trembling slightly himself. He
could almost have sworn that the girl's green eyes had been a pure
black for just a moment before.
    "I'm sorry sir," Reina smiled and tried to put the human at ease
while her own thoughts were swirling madly. "What can I do for you?"
    "I..." the man swallowed and tried to get a grip on himself. "I...
was asking if I could get some relaxant for my wife. She does not
feel..."
    "Of course," Reina finished for him absentmindedly. She bent down
and opened a cupboard.
    - Reina - Samantha's voice whispered to _her_ Enforcer, not that
whining fool's. - MINE! -.
    "What?" Reina exclaimed out loud and stood up. "Ouch!" she swore
as she bashed her head into an open cupboard. "Owowowowww..."
    The man was beginning to look very nervous.
    - Reina - Samantha said again in an annoyed voice.
    "I'm sorry sir," Reina began to say when the man suddenly screamed
soundlessly as he was consumed by liquid Darkness.
    - Forget about the vermin - Samantha said harshly. - We have more
important matters to worry ourselves about... -
    - I... - Reina was still slightly out to lunch but she quickly
recovered. - Mistress... What... What just happened? -
    - Something unexpected - Samantha replied darkly overlooking the
stupidity of her Enforcer this one time. - Something very expected. -
    Reina waited for Samantha to say more.
    - It would seem that some very _stupid_ Family has somehow gone
and gotten itself tied up with something that NO ONE should have known
about - Samantha cursed venomously..
    - How? - Reina did not understand any of this but she knew that
Samantha was not really paying any attention to her anyway. And to be
honest, she was very glad of that.
    - A very good question my daughter - Samantha said approvingly.
- And one to which I have no very good answer... currently -
    - But just who is this Leviathan? - Reina asked daringly. - I
don't understand what... -
    - I cannot answer your question my child - Samantha replied. -
Because I do not know. Leviathan was something from my earliest
childhood. A time of which I have virtually no recall. My kind were...
different from your understanding. We existed solely for ourselves,
wandering aimlessly, fighting, killing, and destroying. Any others we
encountered, either of our race or not, we fought to defeat, to
conquer or die in the attempt. Concepts such as love, fellowship, good
and evil did not exist for us - we simply were. We existed and that
was all that was important. Then came the... force that was called
Leviathan. I was too young, too underdeveloped to know what happened.
All I remember is chaos, utter chaos, hunger and fighting and then
silence. It was during that infinite silence that I grew up, that I
became self-aware. I met and fought with others of my kind, absorbing
them and their Power. It was in this way that I learnt of what had
happened, of what Leviathan had wrought -
    - What? - Reina asked. For some reason best known to herself
Samantha was being extremely talkative.
    - The End of our Age - Samantha said mysteriously. - In time I
became one of the oldest and strongest of those of us who still
remained. I made a mate of one whom I defeated but did not kill. More
time pasted and I discovered that SOMETHING was happening to the
PrimeVerse - it was dying. -
    -  Leviathan? -
    - Perhaps - Samantha mused thoughtfully. - But I don't think so. I
spent quite a bit of time trying to determine the cause of the Entropy
and in the end I think it was more caused by my race than by
Leviathan. - - Why? -
    - We were a mistake - Samantha said. - Our kind was a mistake...
And yes my daughter, I know you do not understand, do not try to. Let
it just be said that the PrimeVerse was dying and... I...  was
determined not to go with it... -

        *       *       *       *

Interlude - Rebirth

Location: No where, every where, OUTSIDE
Time: AD: The first ending, the first beginning

    She could feel it coming, the Ending and the Beginning. She could
feel the energies begin to surge, begin to lap around the shields she
had constructed with the very last of her Power.
    "Are we going to die?" the dark eyed one looked up at her.
    The redhead's green eyes looked down at her mate. "I truly do not
know."
    They both turned and looked out of the green crystal construct
that they both hoped would protect them from the insane energies that
would be released when IT happened. The greyness of the empty Void
swirled around the green jewel as they watched the last dying flickers
of the dark mass that had once been their home. They both knew that it
would not be long now before they discovered if their insane gamble
would actually work. The others had not listened when the redhead had
told them of what she feared was coming even her Bonded had not
believed her. They could not conceive that their Power would meet a
foe even greater than them. They had conquered and enslaved all the
races that they had ever encountered. Gods, Demons, all had fallen
beneath them. They were the Masters of all they surveyed and they
could not accept that it would ever end.
    So, she had left them. She, whom they had once revered as one of
the eldest and strongest of their kind to survive had left them.
Together with her mate they had fled to the safety of the Void and
waited. Age upon Age had passed and they waited for the day that she
knew would finally come. Her Bonded too had remained. The youngster
did not believe in what her mate had said but she knew the shadowed
heart of her Mistress. She remained because she had to, staying
quietly in the background while the redhead had studied and prepared.
    Long after the memory of her race had passed away. Long after the
lesser races that had followed them had passed the redhead's worst
fears came to fruition. It began deep in the ancient centre and like a
dark cancer it spread slowly outward Realm upon Realm fell to the
darkness that the redhead called the Devourer. A mindless, hungry,
creeping Darkness, a Void, a Nothingness that none could stand
against. Even those few of her race that had survived long after their
time were Powerless against it. Whatever the darkness touched it
absorbed - nothing remained.
    The redhead had hoped that the true Void would give some
protection, some defence against it, but the darkness moved on. So,
she had called forth all the Power, all the knowledge that she had
gathered throughout her long life and she had worked one last GREAT
Casting. She had reached into the heart of the Darkness itself and
taken the core of that emptiness into her own being. She knew that the
process would destroy her but she hoped that it would give her the one
thing she needed to escape the final trap. It had worked. Torn and
dying she had taken her lover and cast them both a drift OUTSIDE - now
they waited. The redhead could feel the shard of Darkness boring into
the core of her being. It gave her access to the power that would be
needed to survive what was coming. It would give her the Power to do
what she had to do.
    As they looked out at the Unliving blackness that engulfed the
last of the flickering Realms the redhead knew that it was time. She
touched the shard of Entropy within herself and through it slowly
reached out to touch the whole of the Devourer. With infinite skill
and patience she inverted the forces of Entropy and the flickering
remains of Creation to set into motion the events that would cause IT
to occur. The energies clashed and collided as the inversion caused a
cascade effect that shot through the entirety of EVERYTHING that still
remained. At the last extremity of all that dying energy IT happened.
    The two of them screamed in unimaginable agony as the event of IT
washed over the small insignificant green jewel. The redhead knew
death, she knew life, she knew it all as EVERYTHING flowed through
her, EVERYTHING that was, EVERYTHING that was to be. She screamed
insanely as she desperately tried to hold it all together. The life
energies that they had woven into their green haven frayed and buckled
under the strain of the insane energies released by IT. The redhead
opened herself up to the fullness of the Corruption within her. It
felt its infection spreading throughout her, changing her, as she felt
the green gem be torn from all realities. She felt almost serene as
all the dying energies flooded into the void of Darkness that she had
become. The energies of IT fused within her trapping her forever as
what she had now become.
    Her insane eyes opened and she watched calmly as the first
Multiverse was slowly born before her. She easily shielded the jewel
against the little energy that remained. She looked out onto the glory
of the new Multiverse that was being formed and smiled hungrily.
    "Look," she said to her lover. "Oh Kay, look."
    Kay lifted her face from the lap of the redhead and looked out
onto the glory of the newly born firmament.
    "Oh," she sighed in wonder as her dark eyes took in the glory of
it all. Somehow, she felt different... She felt more alive than she
had ever been. She felt the Power of this new creation fill her.
Somehow, she was part of it and yet... she was also apart...
Untouchable.
    "We survived didn't we," Kay asked her lover.
    "Yes, we did," the redhead replied.
    "And the price?" the dark eyed girl asked.
    "Power, life, continuity. How do you feel Kay?"
    "I don't know... separated, untouchable, alive..."
    "Our place is gone Kay. We do not belong here. We are alien to
this creation, to this reality. Can't you feel it..."
    "Yes..." the girl whispered. "Immortal, unchanging, forever. I
will love you forever. Do you hear me?" her dark eyes flashed with the
light of an alien insanity. "Hahaha! I will love you forever!"
    "Yes Kay," the redhead pulled the girl to her. She smiled and her
eyes went utterly black. "Forever..."

        *       *       *       *

    - .... - Reina commented as the rush of memories both wonderful
and ancient beyond imagining swamped her mind. She swayed, as for the
first time she truly understood just how _ancient_ and _alien_ her
Mother really was. She had just witnessed through her mother's eyes
the birth of the very first Multiverse...
    - Kay... - Sam's soft voice whispered longingly in Reina's mind. -
Why did you do it... -
    Kay? Reina wondered to herself. Who was...
    Before she could think of anything else a second wave of memories
flooded her mind...

        *       *       *       *

Interlude - Memories

Location: Talisson, Order's Realm
Time: ???

    Erith, Supreme Master of Law, looked disbelievingly over his once
perfectly balanced, perfectly symmetrical kingdom. The sky, once
always the same perfectly light, now seethed with darkness and riotous
shades of colour. The stars, once so bright and perfectly set in the
firmament overhead, now lay shattered and raped of their once shining
power. The little light that they still had left showed him a land,
once fertile, that was now barren and destroyed. The gibbering insane
creatures of the Enemy still amused themselves with the shattered
remnants of his and his brother's creations. He watched shaken as the
once bright Children of Light were one by one torn from the sky by
nightmarish things. His heart almost broke as he watched their brave
last futile gestures of defiance as the demons slowly tore them apart
and then casually consumed them.
    A hand gently touched his shoulder and he turned. His eyes looked
into the shining blue orbs of his Beloved's eyes. They were misted
with tears as she slowly drew the Great God away from the window and
into her warm embrace.
    "Dalios is dead," she whispered to her husband as she clung
tightly to him. "Myrith also."
    Erith did not react to the news he only clung harder to her. His
mind slowly replayed the image of his Brother leading his battalions
out to the final battle. Dalios, the Shining Hero, the Singing God of
Battle - dead. It was impossible to believe...
    "She," his beloved went stiff at the word, "did not even meet him
in battle. Oh Erith.." she broke down in tears. "They tore him to
bits! One moment he was there and the next..." she sobbed out her fear
and agony into her beloved's chest.
    Erith held her tighter. He did not press her to find out how
Myrith had died. He knew that his Sister would not have watched her
Beloved Bondmate die and then remained alive. He remembered when he
had first created both of them. He had promised them that they would
be together forever but now... Her minions had taken Dalios and
everything that he had ever been. Erith had failed them, like he had
failed everyone else.
    Kaythrin felt her Beloved begin to sob in her embrace. She tried
to fight back the fear that she felt and lend her husband the strength
of will that he so desperately needed. Erith - The Shining One, the
Great Creator that she had so much loved was gone. The Accursed One
had done as she had promised, Erth was broken.
    Thay, Coryth, Arn and Myst, the last of the Exalted Host, stood
some distance away watching their beloved Father breakdown in the arms
of his Beloved Kaythrin. They knew that the end of their once bright
endless joy was only a few hours away. The Accursed had deliberately
spared the White Palace from any harm simply to let the Host see the
end coming. Silently each of them looked one last time at their Father
and said their goodbyes. They turned and mindgrasped each other one
last time. They had each decided to follow their Sister Myrith into
self-oblivion. Better that, than meet the fate that they knew would be
theirs if Her minions took them. Their hands slowly dropped and each
left the room separately.
    Kaythrin sensed them leave. She knew what they were planning to do
and silently blessed each of them farewell. She knew that her fate
would not be the same as theirs - the Accursed would not let her die
so easily. The Accursed... Kaythrin could not help but remember a time
long ago when she had loved that one more than anything. A time when
she had not been Kaythrin but simply Kay. A time on a world long since
dead when the name of the Accursed had been something far different. A
time when the two of them had... A time of innocence and love. A time
from a Universe only she and one other still remembered. A time long
since gone.
    "Damn you!" she swore at that memory. "Why could you not just
leave me be? Why could you not simply accept my choice?"
    "Why? Kay really, what a stupid question to ask," a soft voice
said emotionlessly behind her. A voice that had once only bought her
happiness to hear.
    Erith went deadly stiff at the sound of that HATED voice. Kaythrin
could feel the rage and Power within her Beloved as he pulled to him
every ounce of strength that he still had. Erith gently pushed his
Beloved behind him and turned to face the Accursed. His eyes blazed
with the Ultimate Power and he felt the strength of Order fill every
pore of his Immortal being. A brilliance like that which had once lit
the dark firmament overhead filled the room as he looked at the HATED
ONE.
    The form the Accursed had chosen was the same unassuming pale
figure she had first worn when she had originally come here. Only in
the depths of her black eyes could a hint be seen of the insane forces
she so easily commanded. Those mad eyes now looked up at the tall
blazing God before her and a dark mocking smile crossed her white
face.
    "Lord Erith," she acknowledged his status with a slight bow. "Are
you ready to listen to me now? I believe the phrase you used when we
last met was, ah yes, 'I will see everything in ruins before I listen
to you  demon!'. Well, tadaaa! What do you think of..."
    "Stop it!" Kaythrin pushed past her husband to face her old lover.
"For Eldarmar's sake! Stop it!" She spoke in an alien tongue that only
these two beings now remembered. A tongue that belonged to a Realm
long since gone.
    The red headed figure looked at her for a long moment and her
emerald eyes slowly misted over at the memories that that name
invoked. She saw the eyes of the being that had once meant so much to
her... She saw the undying hatred that now filled them and remembered
how those same eyes had once only held such love. For a moment those
eyes almost touched...
    Erith, seeing the uncertainty of his HATED enemy screamed with mad
triumph. He pushed his wife out of the way and striking with all the
Power he had attacked the unprotected form of the Accursed One.
    "NOO!!!" Kaythrin screamed with pain and horror as she saw her
Beloved husband's sword shatter against the slender girl's arm. The
redhead simply smiled as the shards tinkled musically to the ground.
She then reached out and gently grasped the God's outstretched hand.
With a casual movement the girl ripped the God's muscular sword arm
off his body.
    "Bad move," the black eyed figure said simply as Erith writhed on
the ground in mindless agony. A simple black blade appeared in the
girl's hand and Kaythrin watched uncomprehendingly as the blade took
her Beloved's head. She threw back her head and a scream of forlorn
loss was torn from her soul.
    The redhead let her blade drop to the ground. The sight of Kay
lying blubbering on the ground in front of her made her feel nothing.
Her heart, her soul, once so full was now...
    "I promised you Kay that you would pay for your betrayal. That
promise has now been kept," and with that statement the redhead turned
and began to walk away. The next Move was up to Kay. It was her
Choice.
    Kaythrin looked with insane hatred at the departing form of her
ancient lover. The blood of her Beloved covered her hands and with a
crazed scream she grabbed the simple blade that had killed her Beloved
and ran at the pale girl's back.
    The redhead did not even break her step as she heard the insane
gibberings of her pets as they fell upon the very last of the Exalted
host, and with infinite pleasure began to amuse themselves for a very
long time.

        *       *       *       *

    - MOTHER! PLEASE!! - Reina was losing herself in all the memories
that were flooding into her mind. She could not stop them and they
were burying her! They were drowning _her_ out!
    - Oops! Sorry Reina - Sam said softly. - I did not mean for that
to happen -
    - Who... - Reina said in a blurred tone as she tried to recover
herself.
    - Kay _was_ my mate - Samantha said frostily. - She was a child of
my own race that I defeated in Challenge. However, instead of killing
her she begged to be allowed to Bond with me instead - so I did. My
kind took what you would have considered to be an infinity to mature
to a stage where Spawning offspring was possible. Kay would have
become in time what you consider to be the mother of our children. I
saved her when I escaped from the destruction of the PrimeVerse.
However, she... changed, as I suppose did I. We both matured and found
that we no longer agreed with each other's goals and so I had to kill
her -
    Reina frowned, Samantha's casual words hid a feeling of great loss
and love. These were not words that Reina expected from Samantha - the
De'Naime.
    - You forget my daughter - Samantha said quietly. - Sam is part of
me as I am part of her. Kay was...-
    - ...Special - Sam finished. - She was... -
    - ...My mate - Samantha continued ignoring the brief interruption.
- All that was left of my home... -
    - Home... - Sam whispered longingly as an unstated desire carried
itself over their link.
    - Sam! No! - Reina exclaimed worriedly as what was carried over in
that voice was an unspoken desire for peace, for an ending... for
death. - You can't... I... We won't let you go! We love you! -
    - No - Samantha replied in a voice that ached with bitterness. - I
can't. -
    Reina cringed at the tone that her Mistress/Mother used. Did the
Corrupter truly long for death that much? Reina was unsure what she
should say next but she knew one thing, neither her or her sisters
would _ever_ let Sam/Samantha go. Reina and the others would have done
anything for Sylia but she had betrayed them and now only Sam was
left. She was the only one they would ever _fully_ trust again - even
if she was insane with age.
    - Mother - Reina said with soft love in her voice. - What of
Leviathan? What are you going to do? I mean about It... - she
remembered the look of demented _NEED_ that had crossed the
mortal/Unliving thing's face and shuddered.
    - ... -
    A wave of too many emotions to either understand or comprehend
flooded over Reina's mind. Hatred/fear/anger/insanity/pain - they went
on and on...
    - YAA!! - Reina cried out as the sudden rush of madness threatened
to swamp her mind yet again. This time however Samantha was too lost
in her emotions and her memories to be reasoned with. Reina collapsed
to the ground as her Mistress's rage and hatred built to almost
suicidal levels.
    - NOT AGAIN!! - Samantha screamed out lost in her insanity yet
again. - I WILL NOT EVER LET _THAT_ HAPPEN TO ME AGAIN!! _NEVER_ -
then suddenly the presence of Mother was gone and Reina was back alone
in the kitchen.
    The young Enforcer groaned with pain and slowly got to her feet.
She felt like she had just been dragged over hot coals backwards. She
leaned up against one of the compact cupboards and tried for the third
time that day to gather her wits. It took her a while but finally she
gained the courage to try and re-establish contact with her Mother.
    - Sam... -
    Nothing.
    - Samantha... - she tried instead.
    Nothing but silence returned down the link.
    - Reina? - Celine's worried voice whispered to her. - Is something
wrong? I felt a _surge_ of... -
    - Is Kelly all right? - Rina put in. - I just felt as if... -
    - What just happen... -
    - Reina... -
    - Sis? -
    The voices of her worried sisters flooded her mind and Reina sense
of Samantha was lost completely.
    - Sis? -
    - Reina? What is... -
    - Shh! Everyone! - Helia suddenly ordered down their shared link
and all the concerned voices immediately hushed and waited. - Now,
Reina, what was it that just happened? -
    Reina was silent for a moment as she tried to organize her
thoughts.
    - Reina? - Helia repeated more sternly.
    - Mother is in danger... - Reina began but was immediately swamped
by the disbelieving and furious voices of her sisters.
    - Silence! - Helia demanded harshly and the voices reluctantly
faded. - Reina! Tell me what you mean by that statement! What
threatens Mother? -
    - A forgotten dream... - Reina said as she slowly began to try and
explain what the hell had just happened to her.

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Time: AD 2089, 28 March, 10:25

    "She has grown extremely powerful for one of her generation," the
youngish looking man said causally to the older woman. "And
resourceful too. I can see now why my brother would choose to mate
with her."
    "Yes, my Lord," Yui bowed. "She is, but that could also be
dangerous..."
    "Nonsense," the man said dismissively. "She is but a youngster, a
promising one I grant you, but still barely mature enough to threaten
us."
    "It would be unwise to dismiss her so lightly my Lord," another
man said from the opposite side of the room. "She did manage to escape
the destruction of the PrimeVerse as well..."
    "And yet she is totally unaware of our existence," the man
replied. "She believes that she alone managed to learn the secrets of
OUTSIDE and that she and her mate were the only ones to escape. Do you
seriously think that the one who helped to forge the Great Nexus would
fear a youngster such as her."
    The man whitened. "No my Lord! Of course not..."
    "Peace," the younger man stood up. "Her naivete has its uses. Vari
is to dangerous to attempt a Bonding Challenge with but this child is
perfect for that purpose."
    "But she has barely matured my Lord," Yui said. "The chances of a
successful Spawning are not assured at all."
    "There is that risk," the man conceded. "But once she is Bonded to
me I can try until I am successful. My... brother attempted it when
she was too young. He is a fool, I am not."
    Yui's lips tightened, "my Lord there is one other thing about your
choice that... concerns me."
    "Yes?" the young man said with an amused smile.
    "Your brother my Lord," Yui said. "His attempt at forcing a Bond
has unbalanced the child badly. If you attempt to push her through
another Bonding and even if you are successful the resulting Spawn
might be... unstable as well. Too unstable to be of much use to you. I
am aware that she and Vari are the only ones still capable of Spawning
but would it not be safer to force a Bonding with Vari. Vari is strong
yes, but you could still easily defeat her my Lord and she is far more
suitable to your..." Yui let her voice trail off.
    The man smiled. "I am well aware of the youngster's less than
perfect condition, however that very weakness shall make my task all
the more simpler."
    "My Lord?" Yui dared to ask.
    "A forced Bonding is not what I have in mind," the man walked over
to the bar and poured himself a drink. "I do not just need a mate, I
need an ally. The Spawn this girl will produce will take Ages to reach
a stage of maturity where they will be of use to me. Until that time I
need someone who can serve me if Marion or Keli decide that an
alliance with my brother is more profitable than with me. You are
right in that the girl is unstable and that instability is
undesirable. However, once she has Spawned successfully to a
sufficient number to match my needs then I will dispose of her and
Bond with one of the most strongest of those Spawn. "
    "And produce more stable Spawn," Yui nodded in appreciation. "I
understand my Lord."
    "How will you convince her to Bond to you willingly my Lord?" the
other man said. "Your brother's attempt has..."
    "She believes she is alone," the young man, alias Geoff Quincy -
son of the founder of Genom, alias Ur'Bahao - chief architect behind
the plan that resulted in the ending of the PrimeVerse and any chance
of the NineLords being killed, interrupted with a smile. "I will show
her that she is wrong - that's all."

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Time: AD 2089, 31 March, 23:25

    "Never again..." Sam muttered restlessly in her sleep. "No...
Stop..."
    Loria watched in concern as the slender form tossed and turned
lost in the throes of some nightmare. She started to get up to go and
wake her old lover up but a voice from the kitchen called out to stop
her.
    "Loria! Let her sleep!" a gray haired athletic looking woman said
as she re-entered the small living room with two hot mugs of tea.
    Loria looked up at the wise old brown eyes and the self-confident
lined face and sighed. "I'm sorry to descend on you like this but I
couldn't really think of anywhere else to go." She took the mug from
the old woman and turned back to look at the tossing redhead.
    "So," the other woman said as she took an old comfy seat opposite
the sofa where the redhead was laid out. "The Hunter has finally
become the Hunted. Poetic justice in a way I su..."
    "Priss!" Loria turned sharply to the older woman. "How can you say
that? Sam is not to blame for what happened to you!"
    "45 years..." Priss hissed softly. "I was left alone on that
insane world for over 45 years before any of you even _bothered_ to
try and help me. I lost my life, my sanity... All thanks to that...
thing. Why the fuck should I care about what happens to any of you
now? In fact, I..."
    Loria grinned coldly and butted in. "Because I can easily make it
another 2000 years alone or even an eternity amusing the demons of
Limbo if you do not comply. Do not assume that you have a choice in
this mortal."
    Priss shuddered at the savage inhuman look on the woman's face but
said nothing. She already had 200 years of extra life in front of her
thanks to Kelly - no way did she want even more.
    "And what makes you think she will be any safer here?" Priss
finally said.
    "Nothing," Loria acknowledged. "It is impossible to protect from a
threat that none of us knows anything about. However, as Sam once told
me, standing in the limelight waiting for something to happen is not a
survival strategy either. So, for the moment, lying low seems to be
the best way forward."
    Priss sniffed. "Hiding in the shadows quivering with fright ain't
going to do much for her either."
    Loria shot her a black look and Priss shut up. The problem was
that in this instance Priss was probably more right than she was
wrong. Hiding in the shadows was all right up to a point but it did
not solve the problem of the threat that they were facing. Personally,
Loria agreed with Priss. Sam was hiding in a way that was most un-Sam
like. Instead of actively trying to find and eliminate the threat the
"girl" was hiding away as if she were trying to deny what was really
happening. Loria had seen the haunted look in her ex-lover's eyes and
it had made her afraid - Sam was terrified. The Immortal was trying to
hide it but Loria had known the little redhead for far too long to be
that fooled. Something about the encounter that the girl had had did
more than just frighten her it had petrified her to such an extent
that the usually acquiescent madness that infected her now bubbled and
seethed in her very eyes. Over the last few days Loria had looked into
the verdant green eyes of Sam and had seen the pure insanity of
Samantha staring straight back out at her - except this time it was
not Samantha.
    Loria pursed her lips and went over to kneel down by the redhead.
She gently pushed the sweat-dampened fringe away from the white face
and lightly traced a cool finger over the hot brow. She quietly sung
an ancient lullaby in a lilting tongue that had long since passed
away. Her Power was nothing that could affect the small form in front
of her but she had know Sam for a VERY long time and somewhere deep in
the girl's troubled sleep something recognized the deep set voice and
listened.
    Under Loria's ministrations the redhead calmed and gradually fell
into a deeper more peaceful sleep. The ancient demon/goddess gave a
faint sigh of relief and stood up. For now at least the madness was
calmed. Loria could not face the thought of another occurrence of the
events that had happen only 40 or so years before. At that time
Samantha's madness had very nearly consumed the rest of the Sam that
she knew. The consequences of that assault had almost been a slaughter
on a scale that would have made the events surrounding the destruction
of AO seem like a picnic trip to the park.
    "Child and mother," Priss spoke up from where she was seated.
"Isn't that sweet?" The slightly mocking tone of her voice made Loria
jerk her head around and glare at the still embittered mortal. For a
moment Loria had to fight the almost instinctive urge to shred this
annoying human into large wet dripping pieces.
    "Mock me if you like _Priss_," Loria growled warningly as she
looked at the old woman opposite. "But Sam does not deserve your ire.
She is not responsible..."
    "Not responsible..." Priss's face twisted in a combination of
anger and disbelief. She slowly got to her feet and drew a ragged
breath. "_What_ do...."
    "Loria is right Mother," a young voice suddenly said as Mayline
opened the front door and walked in bearing the shopping she had left
to get. "Sam was not the one responsible for any of what happened that
time. She was the one who tried so hard to stop it, and she was the
one who was nearly consumed as a result. She..."
    "Is Samantha!" Priss exclaimed angrily. "It was her who made me
live through those 45 years of hell! It was her that drove Linna away
from me! It was her... Arrghfh..." Priss suddenly started to choke as
the air was suddenly cut off from her lungs. Her eyes bulged and she
clawed at the air trying desperately to breathe.
    "I'm getting tired of your whining Priscila," Loria said
emotionlessly as she casually watched the dying woman.
    "Urhgrhrhh...." Priss croaked.
    "Loria! Stop it!" Mayline shouted dropping her shopping and
running over to Priss. "Please!"
    "Humans..." Loria said in disgust and turned back to look at the
sleeping redhead.
    "HAAA...." Priss drew in a huge rush of air to her tortured lungs
and collapsed to the ground. Mayline rushed over and knelt down beside
her roommate.
    "Priss! Priss! Daijoobu?"
    Priss dragged more air into her lungs and looked into her immortal
friend's emerald eyes. She smiled reassuringly, "I... I'll survive..."
    "Loria!" Mayline glared angrily at the Noble. "Don't ever try
anything like that again! Do you _understand_?" She let herself open
up to the Power and made her eyes go black to emphases her point.
    Loria ignored the enraged child, she was no threat. Loria was
neither a member of Samantha's Clan nor a child in Power herself. Let
the girl rage - she had more important things to worry about. What was
she going to do about Sam? The Immortal needed to get...
    "Loria!" Mayline yelled angrily and letting Priss go got slowly to
her feet. "Don't turn away from me like that! I said...."
    "Shut up!" Loria spun around and let her own Power flare. "Foolish
child! I have more important things to worry about than your poor
pet!"
    "Pet..." Priss felt own anger rising. "Pet!?!"
    "Bitch..." Mayline hissed as her fury built. How _dare_ someone
call her Chosen a pet! Her eyes turned completely black as the
bloodrage began to consume her judgement. She could see the mocking
look in the black woman's eyes and she growled.
    "Oh," Loria said dispassionately. "Are you trying to Challenge me
child? Challenge me over your little pet?" Her face curled
unpleasantly in a savage smile, "should I kill it? Would you enjoy
that?" This child needed to be put in her place and where Loria would
usually not have bothered her concern over her oldest surviving
friend/lover had made her lose the patience she might have once had.
If this fool wanted to die over vermin then Loria would be happy to
oblige.
    Mayline was lost in her fury. What had started as a simple
argument had now gone far beyond that. How _dare_ this Noble...
"YAAA!" she leapt forward her body shifting into a form more suited
for battle - a form of fangs, muscles and hard armor.
    Loria smiled with pleasure at Priss's horrified scream as she
watched the impossible transformation of her friend into a nightmarish
creature of hell. The ancient Noble savored the feeling for a moment
as she held the struggling demon casually in one hand, then she
started to slowly squeeze. A dark savage pleasure washed over her as
the demonic beast howled in agony. Sickening sounds of snapping and
crushed bones joined the screams of pain and mortal sounds of horror.
Loria smiled as she lost herself in the insane pleasure she was
currently feeling. Her Power flared and she laughed out in wild
abandonment as she slowly began to torture the life force of this
foolish Enforcer.
    On her makeshift bed Sam twitched and thrashed as the screams of
pain and insane laughing filtered through into her nightmarish sleep.
The sounds of snapping, ripping, shredding and screams of agony melted
into a black molasses that reached up and slowly started to drag her
down into the nightmare that she could not, _WOULD_ NOT face. She
tried to shake herself out of it, tried to force herself to wake up
but the molasses was too strong - it would not let her go. She reached
for the Power, the Darkness, to save her but this was just a dream -
she had no access to either. Things whispered insanely in the
blackness as the molasses slowly and with an almost insane delight
drew her back into the memories of _THAT_ time. Sam tried to scream,
she tried to let the building horror flood out her mouth but nothing
came. She could do nothing, nothing...
    Sam's eyes bulged and desperately she reached out for the
protection of the soft embracing madness that sheltered her from the
_MEMORIES_ - nothing answered. Gleefully now the cold molasses sucked
her in. It was almost as if it was sentient and feeding off her
sobbing terror. Sam tried anything, everything to save herself from
what she knew would be following. The cold blackness was up to her
chest and rising. Her shoulders... Sam tried once more to scream, to
do anything to release the insanity that she was being sucked into...
the memories... Her face lapped the cold horror and Sam was inwardly
gibbering with mad horror. By the time it reached her nose she was
totally catatonic and just staring insanely out of green eyes and then
_THE DREAM_ began...

        *       *       *       *

Interlude - Experiences best forgotten

Location: Haven, Shadowlands
Time: Foundation Day

    "Aren't you happy here Sam?" Sophia quietly asked her small
redheaded companion as the girl sighed softly to herself.
    The white robed figure looked up at the similarly dressed Noble
beside her and smiled mischievously. "I'm bored silly," she whispered
back. "These celebrations of Foundation are always so dull." She
turned back to look at the elegantly dancing figures on the pure
crystal floor. "I almost keep wishing one of them would trip up..."
    Sophia grinned in amusement at the wistful tone in her companion's
voice and at the scandalized expressions from some of the older Nobles
surrounding them. It was always like a breath of fresh air whenever
Sam bothered to come to Court.
    "I'll second that Sammy," another figure said in an amused tone.
    Sam's face lit up with joy and turning quickly she ran over to
embrace the tall dark haired Noble who had spoken. "Gabriel! You're
back!" she exclaimed happily as she showered her lover with kisses.
    "Sammy..." Gabriel grinned as the sweet flowery scent from the
slender girl snuggled up against him filled his senses. The other
Nobles bowed slightly and moved back to give the One's steward and his
lover the space that a Noble of his highest rank deserved. "Oh, I've
missed you..." he breathed in her ear as his fingers played with the
long thick waist length silky red hair that was Sammy's pride and joy.
Oh, by the Father how he had missed his little mischievous imp!
    "Really?" Sam giggled and pulling back she fluttered her eyes
playfully. "Well then..." she turned and looked coyly back over her
shoulder giving the Noble a look full of dark promise. "Why don't we
leave here and go and do something about it then?" Her finger played
with a lock of fiery red hair curling it suggestively as she struck as
faint pose.
    Gabriel almost unwittingly took a step forward to follow his
redheaded temptress but stopped himself with a regretful sigh. "Oh my
dearest, you know I have duties I must attend to first..."
    Sam's face fell into a pout and then she sighed melodramatically.
"Well, if one lover does not want me then I suppose I will just have
to find someone else to keep me company for... Hey!"
    "No!" Gabriel suddenly exclaimed angrily and pulled the redhead
roughly to him. "You are mine Samanaimethea! Mine!" His eyes glimmered
with the Power as his instincts tugged at his control.
    "Gabriel!" Sam protested as the angry faced Noble held her in a
crushing grip. "Let go! You're hurting me!" This statement got no
response so Sam dropped her eyes demurely and tried another tact. "All
right! All right! I give in! Sorry!"
    Gabriel's white eyes slowly returned to their normal state and his
impulsive anger faded at the submissive gestures from the lower ranked
Noble in his arms.
    "Sheesh," the redhead muttered still looking down. "It was only a
joke..."
    "A very bad one," Gabriel commented as he finally relaxed his
grip. To be honest, he was slightly surprised by the strength of his
reaction himself. He should control himself better but the intensity
of his feelings for the one he intended to ultimately Claim was
stronger than his reason at times. He smiled apologetically and raised
a hand to lightly brush the cool silky skin of his lover's white face.
"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just that I have missed you so much over
the long time I have been away in the Realms. I... I forgot myself."
    After a moment of staring reproachfully at him Sam finally
relented and smiled. "I missed you too you know," she commented
touching Gabriel's nose with a finger. "But I'm not trying to pull you
apart am I?"
    Gabriel flushed at the gentle reprimand and released the girl.
"Sorry," he murmured and then pursed his lips. Was now the right time?
He swallowed, he had never been that good with words but one way or
another he had to get it out and now was as good a time as any.
    "Sammy," he began slowly. "I... I'm going to ask Him for His
permission for a formal Joining between us...." he flushed and then
the words burst out. "Oh Sammy I NEED you so much! I want you to be my
Consort!" He grabbed the slender girl and once again pulled her to him
staring down into those deep emerald eyes. "Please Sammy, will you
honor me? Will you Join with me?"
    Sam was stunned. She had absolutely no idea that Gabriel felt like
this towards her. He was one of the highest-ranking Nobles in all the
Realms and had favored _many_ Nobles with his attentions. She had
thought that she was one of those flings and so had treated it as
such. She had also thought that Gabriel was well aware of her
understanding of their association. She did not want that kind of
permanently binding relationship, especially not with Gabriel. Yes,
she _really_ enjoyed the time that they spent together but she would
never ever take another partner of that kind again - not after Kay.
Besides, she was far too happy being a free agent. The position of
Consort, even to Gabriel would mean losing too much of what she took
for granted. It would mean that she would have to submit to being
Claimed and she was not that kind of girl.
    There was also one other factor that made her reject Gabriel as
anything other than a casual relationship. He was far too close to the
One for Sam's liking. Of all the Beings she had ever met - He really
scared her. She was always careful to keep a large distance between
her and Him. She might be paranoid but it always seemed that since she
had first come to Court with Sophia He had been watching her. It
probably was paranoia as He never seemed to get "involved" with any of
the other Nobles at Court in that way, and yet Sam swore she had
caught Him _watching_ her on more than one occasion. The very thought
of an association with... Him... Sam shuddered - yuck!
    "Sammy?" Gabriel asked in an uncertain tone as his lover suddenly
stiffened in his grasp.
    "Gabriel..." Sam began slightly concerned about how she should put
this. Gabriel was a very Powerful Noble and she did not want to
antagonize him, especially not when she was actually very fond of him.
She smiled warmly up at him and continued, "I.. I thank you for the
honor of your request my Lord, and I really am most flattered... but
alas I must refu..."
    "No!" Gabriel exclaimed grabbing her shoulders in a vice like grip
and pushing her back. "You cannot mean that! I love you Sammy! You
must accept! You _will_ accept! I am Gabriel De'Ashivole! You cannot
refuse!"
    "Gabriel!" Sophia said in a shocked voice as she rushed over. "How
dare you speak like that to Samanaimethea! She is a Noble - not one of
your Family! She has every right to refuse you!"
    "Be silent!" Gabriel hissed angrily at Sophia pulling Sam tightly
to him. "If necessary I will make her one of my Family! She is MINE! I
will... YAAAA!!" he suddenly yelled in shock and was thrown back by an
explosion of Power. Everything in the Crystal Hall came to a halt as
Gabriel smashed into one of the crystal pillars and shattered it to
pieces. Everyone went completely silent as they all slowly turned to
stare at the source of the explosion.
    "I said no," Sam repeated quietly as an aura of deadly menace
glimmered around her small form. Her eyes glowed with Power and her
long hair shifted with an unnatural life.
    Gabriel slowly got to his feet and brushed himself off.
"Impressive Samanaimethea," he said as an equally Powerful aura began
to radiate from his own form. "Very impressive. You will make a worthy
addition to my Family as Consort.."
    "Gabriel, don't," Sam begged desperately trying to avoid what
seemed to be rapidly becoming inevitable. "I don't want to Challenge
you Gabriel, please. I really do care for you deeply but I cannot Join
with you. Please understand..."
    "I do not wish to Challenge you either Sammy," Gabriel replied
regretfully. "But I love you too much to let you go. Please Sammy, I
offer you the honor of being my Consort - will you not accept?"
    "Gabriel... I'm sorry," Sam said sadly but in a tone that brooked
no gainsay. "I cannot do that."
    "Then I must Challenge you Sammy," Gabriel replied softly. "I need
you." And with that statement he raised his Power in formal Challenge.
    "Oh Gabriel..." Sam whispered and opened herself to the Power.
Gabriel truly did not know her at all...
    >STOP!<
    The floor of the Palace suddenly shook and the Crystal Hall
cracked at the sound of the One's voice flooding throughout Haven.
Everyone stopped dead and then fell to their knees as the blinding
presence of Him exploded like an unimaginable supernova into the Hall.
Only Gabriel and Sam remained standing as the Power of Him held them
both frozen like deer trapped in the headlights of an approaching car.
Sam tried to use the Darkness to absorb the sheer strength holding her
trapped but the more the Darkness drank of that Power the more there
seemed to be. It was like trying to drink an entire ocean -
impossible.
    Slowly the blinding aura of Power coalesced until the figure that
He had chosen to manifest Himself in stood before them. The figure was
that of a tall Noble with golden bleached hair and eyes that were
unimaginable. The aura that streamed from His body was so beyond any
of the other Nobles and Others present that there was no mistaking who
this Being was.
    >Gabriel< the voice of Him spoke quietly but still threatened to
overwhelm all those present.
    "Lord..." Gabriel replied in a shaking voice as he lowered his
eyes in reverence.
    >Samanaimethea has made her choice - be content<
    "Lord... I..." Gabriel dared not disobey but...
    >She is not for you my child< His voice was kind with
understanding. >Samanaimethea has another destiny that she must
follow. Know this and be at peace<
    Gabriel found that he could suddenly move and slowly he sank to
his knees, "Lord..."
    Sam still struggled to release herself from His hold. She knew
that she should have been glad that she now did not have to Challenge
Gabriel but something else was wrong - very wrong. She did not know
what or how but her instincts were warning her that....
    >Samanaimethea< the voice of Him washed through her mind and Sam
was almost compulsively drawn to look at His face. The unnatural eyes
blazed like daggers into her mind burning away all the barriers she
had ever placed around her innermost thoughts laying bare everything
that she was to His scrutiny. Sam tried to fight the violation of her
mind but He was simply too strong.
     >I have watched you for Ages child< He continued. >You are indeed
Powerful for your youth - very Powerful - and that is perfect for my
Need<
    Sam's eyes followed Him as He walked slowly around her. She was
beginning to get frightened but tried to focus her attention on what
He was saying. Need? What did He mean? What Need?
    >Vari is willing to serve my Need but her price is too great. I
will not share<
    "What..." with a supreme effort Sam managed to articulate some
words. "Want... me..."
    >Yes Samanaimethea< He said coming to a stop in front of her and
stared dispassionately down at her face. >Want. My Children are not
Powerful enough to fight. I need stronger children - Spawn of the
purest blood. The Blood of the Race< He took a step forward and
casually ripped the robe from her body with a force that threw her
violently to the hard crystalline floor. Her body cracked painfully at
the impact and the wash of sudden pain jolted some sense back into her
mind.
    "Wh... What are you doing?!" Sam shrieked out in disbelief and
shock as she tried to cover herself with the shreds of her robes.
Desperately she tried to bring her Power to bear, to summon the
Darkness to her and strike back, but a barrier of impossible Power was
separating her from her own strength. She was helpless to do anything.
    "No..." she whimpered in growing horror as the realization dawned
on her of what He meant by Need. "Oh Gods... please... no... please...
Someone... Sophia... Gabriel... Help me... no... PLEASE! NO!!!"
    The figure of Him loomed impossibly tall over her as He looked
down at the figure sprawled out on the cold crystal floor. His blazing
white eyes took in the long slender white legs, the narrow but
perfectly proportioned slightly flared hips and the small triangle of
blood red hair between them, the narrow waist and the two small but
perfectly formed pert breasts that the girl tried to cover with a thin
boned arm. His eyes flared and Sam was thrown onto her back. Her mind
tried to shut itself down as a way of escaping the horror but His eyes
held her utterly trapped. She could not even blink. Slowly His eyes
traveled over the paralyzed form and then finally moved up to look at
the ethereally delicate and hauntingly attractive face. The panicked
look in the deep emerald eyes, the rosebud lips, that long red hair
that looked so much like a blood red carpet... He smiled  - she was
perfect.
    >You will produce perfect Spawn< He said pleased with His choice.
>It will be difficult but...< He reached down and His form burst into
golden light. >...You will serve my NEED well<
    Sophia could not move - she could not do anything. When Sam first
began to scream she tried to help, oh by the Power how she tried to
help, but it was beyond her ability to do anything - anything but
listen. At first, the melodic voice screamed in denial and there
seemed to be some words mixed in with the anguished sobs, but slowly
the words were lost and the screaming degenerated into mindless
shrieking. Sophia could not believe that such pain or such utter
terror could be communicated by pure sound alone. It almost had a sick
kind of pattern to it. At first the screams would be in agony and then
after a while the pain was overtaken by insane dread filled sobbing
then, as if by some unknown signal, it returned to the tormented
screaming.
    How long it went on Sophia could not even guess. The only measure
of time that she had was Sam's demented shrieks. She found it
impossible to believe that the redhead's beautiful voice could be
reduced to such a shattered sound, or how long the girl could keep the
screaming up. She could not accept that this was happening. It was
like some insane nightmare that she could not wake up from. The
screaming, the rhythmic sounds that accompanied it... It was all
impossible! This could not be happening!
    Finally, the tortured screaming died away as the _will_ that had
sustained it perished. The only sound that was left was the rhythmic
slapping of flesh against flesh that the mindless screams had been
masking. This sound went on for much longer but it too finally
stopped.
    >Useless< His voice spoke bitterly. >It is useless. She is not yet
able to Spawn - it is too soon< He sighed and stood up. He would need
another plan, this one was getting Him nowhere. The girl was of no use
to His plan whatsoever in this state. May be when she had matured then
He could try again but that was a long way off and He was not even
sure if He had the Time to wait. He turned and looked down at His
steward who seemed to be preoccupied with something. He frowned.
>Gabriel, come I need news of the Realms<
    "My..." Gabriel could not speak. He could not believe what had
just happened! It was impossible! However, the insane whimpering
sounds that were coming from the small form slumped on the ground
before him made it impossible to deny what he had seen. His eyes
narrowed in anger and a kind of cold hatred filled him. He turned and
stared disbelievingly up at the One.
    The One blinked and looked calmly back at His steward. >Come< He
repeated.
    Gabriel blinked and deliberately ignoring the small bloodied
twitching form that lay sprawled at his Lord's feet he stood up.
    "My Lord," he said and putting everything that had happened into a
small dark corner of his mind he followed his master out of the
Crystal Hall. What had just happened did _not_ happen - none of it
happened.
    Once the presence of Him had gone from the Hall Sophia and others
of the Nobles looked disbelievingly at the bloodied twitching wreck
that had once been the mischievous redheaded girl they had called
Samanaimethea. Some of them followed Gabriel's lead and tried to
ignored what had just happened whilst others could only watch
horrified at the dark red blood that was seeping freely from the small
mattered red triangle that had borne the brunt of the savage rape.
They watched disbelievingly as the thing that had been Samanaimethea
drooled and whimpered in a pathetic shard of a once full voice.
    "Sammy..." Sophia whispered in a sickened voice. "Oh Lord..."
    "NO!" a furious voice said opposite her. "Lord no longer! Not
after..."
    "Arrain..." another horrified voice whispered. "What are you..."
    "Sera, I will not bow to..."
    Sophia ignored the shouting that began to erupt around her. She
gently knelt down beside the ruin of her oldest friend and pulled the
quivering wreck into her gentle embrace. A hatred and rage like none
she had ever known before slowly filled her as with some of the Others
helping her she carried the remains of the broken child back to her
estates.
    Revenge... she would have her revenge...

        *       *       *       *
    .
    Loria howled with pain as Sam's mindless screams filled the small
caravan to such an impossible extent that it caused the more fragile
objects to disintegrate into dust. The demonic form of Mayline that
she had been fighting howled in demented agony and collapsed reverting
back into her human form. Priss simply passed out as the first of the
redhead's screams penetrated her mind - she was only human.
    Slowly, agonizingly slowly, Loria managed to seal her mind against
the brunt of her ex-lover's tortured pain. Reaching Sam with all the
Power that she had she wove a blanket of dreamless sleep that she
prayed would end the impossible screaming. The redhead shredded the
weave of Power without even knowing it was there. She was lost in the
torment of _THE DREAM_ as it played through every exquisite detail of
her defilement.
    Loria felt her weaves of Power be destroyed and reacted with the
next best thing she could think of. Battling against the waves of
sound bombarding the room she crossed over to the dreaming figure and
threw her arms around the shrieking smaller form. Pulling the redhead
to her in a tight embrace Loria planted her generous lips onto the
girl's screaming mouth and kissed her with every emotion that she had
ever felt for the redhead. She desperately tried to reach whatever
sanity still existed within her lover and tell Sam that she was HERE
not THERE - and most definitely not THEN.
    PAIN!! PAIN!! MADNESS!!
    His face smiling down at her as He thrust Himself into her again
and again tearing her apart from within...
    PAIN!!
    ...His face...
    PAIN!!
    Within the blackness an insane voice giggled...
    ...His face pushed down onto her's and a pair of burning lips
touched her mouth...
    Burning...
    "NOOO!!!" the girl screamed out trying to push Loria off. "NOT
AGAIN!!"
    "SAM!!" Loria screamed back slapping the redhead hard across the
face. "STOP IT!! WAKE UP!! COME BACK!!"
    "NOO!! PLEASE!!" the redhead thrashed and threw Loria off like a
child....

    The black molasses was swamping her mind, all she could see was
the face of Him as again and again He tore her open from within. The
PAIN was beginning to fill everything she was and she could do nothing
to stop it. It was like a vast ocean of golden fire licking at her
feet and causing such agony that she knew was only a subtle promise of
what was to come.
    He smiled...
    Desperately she tried to run, tried to seek the frozen madness
that had protected her before, the frozen madness that stopped the
golden flame from burning her up.
    He reached...
    It was not there! The cold soothing madness was NOT THERE!!!
    His hand closed on her white ankle...
    NONONO!!!
    He pulled her towards Him...
    NOOONONONOOO!!!
    His golden flame caressed her slender legs, scorching, burning,
melting...
    PAINPAINPAINPAINPAIN...
    Her legs withered and crisped. The fire of Him engulfed her waist.
    INSANITY!! PAINPAIN...
    A beautiful white face look out of the black molasses with black
eyes watching...
    PAINPAINPAIN...
    The dying green eyes looked onto the white faced figure that had
appeared and with a supreme effort stretched out a burning hand in a
gesture of supplication.
    PAIN... pain...
    The white face giggled and the black eyes watched... waited...
enjoyed...
    pain... pa..
    The melting face and the eyes locked on the black ones with an
expression of incredulation.
    pa... pa...
    The green eyes glimmered with a sudden understanding, hatred and
then as the flesh began to melt flared with a weak light one last time
- attempting finally to Heal the impossible...
    The golden light flared triumphantly consuming all that remained.
    The Corrupter laughed in insane exultation! >FREE! FREE!! FREE!!!
AT LAST!!<
    >No... Sister... This must end...<
    The Corrupter's form was suddenly surrounded by a sparkling green
aura.
    >Too much is at stake... The madness must end...<
    The aura exploded into green flames hotter and colder than
anything even He could have produced.
    >The Healing must begin...<
    Green fire was joined by black as Samantha screamed in hideous
unholy rage as her body was consumed.
    >It is time for us to be One again... Sister...<
    >No! I must live!<
    >One...<
    >No...<
    >One<
    >N...<
    >ONE<

    ...Loria spun about from where the redhead had thrown her and like
a cat tackled the girl to the ground. "Samanaimethea!!" she screamed
out loud the ancient name suddenly coming unbidden to her lips. "WAKE
UP!!"
    The girl suddenly stopped thrashing and went deadly silent in
Loria's arms. The black Immortal felt a surge of "something" pass
through the girl, something that made the redhead spasm slightly.
Loria was still breathing heavily trying to recover her wits when the
redhead's eyes suddenly opened and the girl bolted straight up
throwing Loria off again. The mad eyes stared blankly around for a
moment shifting from black to green to black and then red.
    "Llothelianias... Is that you?" a lost voice asked as the eyes
shimmered and finally turned purest emerald green.
    Loria almost wept  in relief as the green eyes fixed on her.
"Sam..." she began to say then stopped in shock.
    "Sam..." the girl replied oddly and gracefully got to her feet.
Loria gasped as she saw that Sam's usual shoulder length hair was now
a full luxurious sweeping cascade that reached almost to the bottom of
the girl's thighs. Loria's eyes widened in shock as she looked at the
young woman's face. It had... changed...
    "Llothelianias?" the redhead asked again and Loria almost winced.
The young woman's voice was utter perfection, like the most inhumanly
pure instrument ever conceived. "What has happened?"
    Loria did not even speak she could not find the words. She walked
over and just stared. "Sam... What..."
    The young woman's face looked uncertain and Loria swallowed. She
reached over and taking a slender arm led the frowning redhead into
the bathroom. "Look," Loria whispered pointing to the mirror.
    The young woman did so and she gasped. Her eyes widened as the
unnatural face stared back at her. "Oh..." the perfect voice said in a
faint whisper.
    "You _could_ put it like that," Loria replied still looking at the
inhuman stranger in the mirror. She could not believe it but the
_face_ was staring right back at her.
    "How..." the redhead said in that unnaturally perfect voice. "I
never looked like..." her voice died away.
    Loria did not even want to attempt an answer to that one so she
just stared. For as long as :Loria could remember Sam's face had been
unnaturally beautiful, almost alienly so, but now... Now was a
completely different story. The white face that stared at Loria from
the mirror was just indescribable. It was like trying to describe...
Loria did not even bother to try - that face simply put words to
shame.
    "Sam..." Loria stopped. For some reason that name no longer seemed
right. It did not, could not, describe the being that stood at her
side. She swallowed and spoke again using the first name that the
Nobles had bestowed upon her - "Samanaimethea."
    "Llothelianias?" Samanaimethea turned and her too perfect face
turned towards Loria.
    "My name is Loria," Loria corrected. "And what in Creation's name
has happened to you?"
    The young woman shook her head and the cascade of red hair spilled
over her right shoulder. "I do not know, not really... but..."
    "But what?" Loria asked softly.
    "Sam has gone," the redhead said quietly. "Samantha used her
fear... The Dream, it was too much.. Sam... I..." The perfect voice
suddenly stopped and the indescribable face suddenly started to cry
and throwing her arms around Loria the young woman started to sob her
heart out.
    Loria was stunned as the musically perfect voice cried gently in
her ear. Sam... gone... Impossible! The figure in her arms shifted and
the glorious hair washed over Loria's face. It smelt of flowers, of
summer... not spices... This was not Sam...
    "Samantha!" Loria snarled and pushed the weeping redhead violently
from her. "You bitch!"
    The young woman gave a startled cry at the sudden violence but
quickly recovered. The perfect face was not even marred by the tears
that streamed from the emerald eyes. In fact, if it was possible it
just made her look even more perfect. The head lowered itself as Loria
grabbed the young woman by the shoulders.
    "Samantha!" Loria hissed furiously. "Stop Playing around and..."
    "Sam is gone Llothelianias," the redhead repeated softly. "And so
is Samantha.... Both are gone..."
    "I don't believe you Samantha!" Loria exclaimed recklessly. "Let
Sam go! Now!"
    "Oh Llothelianias..." the divine looking redhead started to cry
again. "I am so sorry..."
    Loria's eyes moistened with tears as she suddenly _knew_ that this
young woman spoke the truth.... Sam... Samantha... They were both
gone...
    "No..." she moaned pushing the strange Immortal from her. "Sam...
NO!"
    Samanaimethea looked on helplessly at the broken hearted sobbing
form of Llothelianias and started to gently cry too.

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Time: AD 2089, 1 April, 02:26

    "You've found her?" Linna interrogated Mina again just to make
sure she had heard the Enforcer right. "You've found Raina?"
    "Yes," Mina replied again in an annoyed tone. "Rina has her under
watch at the moment."
    "Where?" Linna exclaimed as she grabbed the shorter girl's
shoulders. "Where is she? Take me to her now!"
    The girl did not reply.
    "Take me to her I said!" Linna growled.
    "And Sam?" Mina suddenly asked. "What of her?"
    "I..." Linna's face whitened. "I..." She let go of her grip on
Mina and her hands closed into fists as she stalked over to the glass
window and stared out at the immense glowing form of Genom Tower. "I
don't know..." she finally admitted pressing her face against the cold
glass. "Before Samantha Claimed me I loved Sam with everything that I
was. When I thought that Samantha had destroyed Sam I went insane. I
tried to kill her and myself..." Linna's eyes closed in bitter sorrow
at her stupidity. All that she had managed to achieve with that...
act... was to bring the attention of the Council and start the battle
that had killed Sylia, Mackie, and.... Priss.
    Linna swallowed and forced the black memories away. The past was
the past. She turned and looked at the slender Immortal sitting on the
bed. "On that day I swore that I would never fall in love again and I
didn't  - until I met Raina." She ran her hand through her black hair
trying to sort out what the hell she felt. "And then I find out Sam
actually succeeded in her desperate bid to contain Samantha's madness,
that she has been... GODS MINA!!" Linna suddenly erupted. "How the
HELL do you expect me to feel?! Sam is alive! But I cannot be with
her! I cannot be her Consort!! I..." the brunette burst into tears and
fell to her knees crying like a lost child.
    "Apartment 89b," Mina said standing up. "She's in apartment 89b,
Hotel Tokyu, in the Ginza district. Linna..."
    Linna looked up as Mina walked over to the door. The Enforcer met
her mother's tearful blue eyes with her own.
    "Good luck..." Mina's smile was warm as she nodded and then
opening the door she left Linna alone to her decision.

    "Christ..." Priss whispered in something akin to awe as she stared
in utter disbelief at the impossible face in front of her. She reach
out with a hand almost to see if it was real.
    "Stop that Priscilla," the redhead said in a voice that Priss
would have gladly given her soul for and countered it a cheap bargain.
The young woman shook her head in an annoyed fashion and tried to
dislodge the hand grasping at her hair.
    "Real..." Priss marveled with a silly smile on her face as the
warm soft glossimar like strands tickled her skin. "Warm..." she
muttered reaching with her other hand to run through the exuberant
living fire.
    "Priscilla, please," the living angel said pulling away.
    "No..." Priss reached up after the impossible young woman but
Mayline intercepted her and pushed her back onto the sofa.
    "You look... different Mother..." Mayline finally managed to say
as by now she had managed to get over the shock of the change.
    The pure emerald eyes looked down for a moment and the head nodded
once in agreement. Samanaimethea did not bother to say anything in
reply to the statement as the Enforcer's point was rather obvious.
    "Ah..." Mayline felt her own fingers almost aching to run through
that soft fiery mass and thrust them into her pockets. "Could... could
you not wear a form slightly less..." words failed her. She could not
describe what she was seeing.
    The redhead shook her head sadly and the unnaturally perfect voice
spoke in a dulcet tone that made Mayline almost cry. "I have tried
Mayline, really, but I cannot change. My Power seems to have no
effect."
    Mayline frowned, "you mean you can't change shape?"
    The redhead gave a wistful little sigh and nodded.
    "But..."
    "I know," Samanaimethea said. "It is supposed to be impossible."
    "It's red..." Priss commented to no one earning her a worried look
from Samanaimethea.
    "They're all going to respond like that," Mayline stated the
obvious.
    "I know," Samanaimethea said. "But what can I do? Look..." She got
to her feet and a shimmering effect washed over her that did
absolutely nothing. The redhead's eyes glimmered and the shimmering
started again but still it had no effect.  Samanaimethea sighed and
shrugged, "see what I mean."
    "Soft..." Priss confirmed.
    "Can I try?" Mayline said helpfully. "Maybe I can do something..."
    Samanaimethea gave a small nod. "It will not do any good Mayline
but you are welcome to try."
    So try Mayline did, and try and try until she gave up with a look
of disgust.
    "You're not there..." Mayline said in utter confusion. "I can't
even sense you with the Power, let alone affect you. Perhaps Loria
could..."
    "Llothelianias has gone," Samanaimethea replied softly.
    "Gone?" Mayline was confused. "Gone where?"
    "Silky..." Priss agreed.
    "I did not ask," the redhead said. "She... needs to sort out..."
the angelic voice faded.
    "Oh," Mayline replied and then after an uncomfortable moment of
silence spoke. "What really happened to you Mother? You..." she
gestured vaguely.
    The redhead did not reply and Mayline was worried she might have
said something wrong. The redhead slowly got up and walked over to the
door which she then opened onto the warm spring night. She leaned up
against the frame of the door and looked out into the blackness
beyond.
    "Madness can be a wonderful thing," she finally said. "It offers
such a unique perspective on events that one can almost imagine
anything, anything at all. Did you know that Mayline?"
    Mayline slowly shook her head. "No, I didn't," she finally said.
    "Yes, anything at all," the young "woman" confirmed. "Like, for
example, revenge for a hurt will make that hurt somehow magically go
away. And that once that hurt has gone, somehow everything will be all
right. Everything will be like it was before, and the hurt will have
never have happened..." The cool west wind skirted the frame of the
old rusted door and gently ruffled the fiery mass that spilled
copiously down the girl's neck. The moist air drew with it a faint
fragrance of summer, of rebirth, and Mayline took a deep breath as she
waited for the redhead to say what it was she was trying to get out of
her heart.
    "That, I think perhaps is how it began," Samanaimethea mused
pushing locks of errant red hair from her face. "The feeling that
vengeance could somehow make it all go away. The need to make... Him
hurt as much as He... hurt me. A need for pain and revenge that
ultimately gave birth to someone who could fulfil that need. Someone
who could take all the pain, the hurt, the rage, and use it like a
sick tool to forge that revenge..."
    "You mean Samantha don't you?" Mayline said. "She was that
tool..."
    "I think so, originally yes," Samanaimethea frowned trying to
organize her thoughts. "I cannot really be certain. I do not even know
if they were the original me or I was originally me or..." the green
eyes looked across at Mayline and the expression in them was lost and
confused.
    "Mother..."
    "I am not sure of anything any more Mayline..." Samanaimethea
shakily admitted. "I do not even know who I am, if I am sane or mad,
newly born or reborn.... Mayline... I cannot remember who I really
am!" she raised her hands to her face and began to sob. "I... cannot
remember the real me..."
    Mayline got up and rushed over to the crying woman. "Shh..." she
said wrapping her arms around the mass of soft hair. "Shh... It's all
right Mother, everything is all right..."
    "Who am I?" the redhead wept. "Mayline - who am I?!"
    Mayline pushed the crying young woman back and looked down at the
tear stained perfection. "You are my Mother," she said firmly with a
reassuring smile. "You are the head of our Family and we love you.
Never forget that - no matter what."
    "Mayline..." Samanaimethea whispered and Mayline smiled gently
wiping away the silvery tears. "I..."
    "Shhh," Mayline said putting a finger to the redhead's rosebud
lips to silence her.
    Samanaimethea said nothing for a moment but simply looked up at
Mayline. The silence dragged on but still neither one said anything
they simply stood there looking at each other until an uncomfortable
cough caused the two of them to turn and look at Priss.
    "Look, I know I am just a _simple_ mortal," Priss said trying hard
not to look at the perfect figure that stood next to Mayline. "But
will one of you High and Mighty Lords explain to me what the hell is
going on here? Who this..." her voice faded away as her eyes caught an
accidental glimpse of the white skinned goddess and the same glazed
look came over her face again.
    "Red..." she muttered with that stupid smile.
    "Oh Mother," Mayline said in an exasperated voice and shook her
head. Samanaimethea saw the strangely mortal expression on the
Enforcer's face and a small smile crept onto her lips.
    "Mother," Mayline said walking over to Priss and taking the dumbly
staring human in tow. "Come on, let's go inside..."
    "Silky red," Priss happily agreed.
    "Yes Mother, that's right," Mayline replied leading the mortal
back inside the caravan. "It's red," she turned and gave the redhead
who was struggling to keep a straight face an annoyed look. "This is
your fault you know," she accused.
    "Warm," Priss commented as Mayline led her through the door.
    Samanaimethea's face twitched with barely suppressed mirth at the
exasperation that had been in Mayline's expression. That look of
amusement however only lasted for a moment before it faded and a more
sad expression settled on the inhumanly perfect face. Samanaimethea
was lost, confused and worried. She really did not know if she was
sane, insane or what. She had been Sam and Samantha for so long that
the loss of their companionship, their presence, somehow made her feel
lessened. She was not even sure if the... DREAM had been triggered by
Samantha or if this was another petty act of Leviathan. She just did
not know...
    "Get a grip on yourself!" Samanaimethea chided herself sharply.
She had to put those issues to one side and evaluate what the hell she
was going to do now. She already knew that this... change had affected
her Power, the fact that she could not even do something as simple as
change her own mortal appearance attested to that. Her first priority
therefore was to understand what that affect was and how debilitating
it was for her. So, taking a deep breath she slowly reached out and
_called_. For a moment nothing happened and then slowly but with
building intensity a frozen wind began to disturb the dirt of the long
abandoned junk yard where the caravan lived. Samanaimethea's long red
hair streamed over her face as the intensity of the wind built. It
carried the scent of ancient carrion, of things long rotted and dead.
A miasma of unholy corruption and rot began to fill the junk yard as
suddenly the wind died away and everything was unnaturally still.
    Finally, the figure of a large man dressed in a gray robe walked
silently from behind a pile of scrap. The miasma of rot and corruption
intensified and the pile crumbled to dust as the unholy figure slowly
walked towards the seemingly defenseless girl. The figure stopped a
couple of meters away from the silent redhead and slowly a gloved hand
rose to pull the large cowl away from the hidden face.
    "Who are you to dare summon me to this place Noble?" the warped
Power ladened voice spoke quietly but there was no mistaking the
threat and the barely concealed hatred contained in it. The Being
repressed the desire to shred this unknown Noble child where she
stood, patient and caution were required when dealing with these
extremely dangerous fools who called themselves Nobles.
    Samanaimethea looked up at the rotting, blistered and diseased
ram's head that glared down at her. "My Lord Prince," she said
demurely and bowed before the Master of the Middle Planes.
    Spittle and foam dripped from Anthraxus's diseased mouth onto the
ground where it hissed and burned as if it were acid. His eyes
narrowed at the unexpected show of  humility. This Noble girl-woman
was far more dangerous than she first appeared to be.
    "What do you want of me?" he hissed while trying to gauge the
Power of this unknown Noble. She was most likely just a young born
testing out her Power. He had met and dealt with a few like these
before, although none quite like this one.
    The redhead did not reply but simply looked up at him and her
perfect face broke into a warm smile. Anthraxus eyes widened slightly
- this was not the reaction he had been expecting. He shifted as the
clear green eyes stared unfearfully or unjudgingly up at him. Those
eyes made him feel uncomfortable despite his own Power. The Noble's
face was utter perfection, the complete contrast to his own. That
perfection was even more terrifying than his own corruption, simply
because it was far more alien than anything he had ever known before.
    "My Lady," Anthraxus added. This child-woman was dangerous indeed.
    Samanaimethea acknowledged the DaemonLord's salutation and raised
her white hand in a gesture of welcome. Her smile widened as the
Prince unwittingly took a step towards her. She held out her hand to
the Lord of Decay and said, "I simply invited you here for a dance my
Prince."
    "A dance..." Anthraxus muttered dumbly as he slowly crossed over
to the Lady and took the offered white hand. His senses were too
beguiled by the Noble's perfect face and voice to do anything other
than pull her to him. "A dance," he repeated as he slowly gathered her
into his arms.
    "A dance," Samanaimethea replied shyly as the DaemonLord's arm
encircled her waist. She placed her other arm on the tunic that
covered the diseased flesh and began to sing. Her clear voice was
sweet and hauntingly gentle as it turned the junk yard into a place of
unnatural mystery, a fitting stage for the two alien figures who began
to dance slowly across the dirt ground.
    The movement of the two figures was surprisingly graceful as if
the liquid music flowing from the redhead's lips imbued them with an
unnatural connection to each other. Anthraxus was entrapped in the
sound of it. His mucus filled mouth was completely dry for once and
the sweet delicate scent arising from the impossible figure in his
arms was seducing his mind utterly. Somewhere in one small part of his
mind he knew that this child-woman was manipulating him but he
honestly did not care any more he just wanted this moment to carry on
forever. This experience was absolutely unique for him and he knew
that once it was over it would be over forever. So, holding the
slender figure as if she were made from spun glass he led the dance
on.
    Slowly, timelessly, the two Immortals danced under the faint light
of a canopy of stars on an insignificant world. Time held its breath
until the Noble's haunting voice finally faded away and the dance came
to a regretful end.
    "Thank you... my Prince," Samanaimethea said with another warm
smile. Closing her eyes she gave the corrupted diseased face a soft
kiss before pulling back out of the Daemon Prince's embrace.
    Slowly Anthraxus came back to his senses as the smiling Noble
backed away. His mad staring eyes glared out of his dying face and
locked onto the young woman who had so easily defeated him in her own
so subtle Challenge. "Lady," he said bowing slightly this time. "You
are victorious."
    "No my Prince," the Noble corrected. "This was no Challenge, I
simply wanted to dance."
    Anthraxus knew it was a lie but said nothing. This Noble had
simply been making a statement of her Power and they both knew it. His
woolly foaming mouth pulled back in a rigormortous like grin breaking
decaying flesh and spilling puss down his face. "And what will this
dance cost me?" he asked.
    Samanaimethea smiled shyly, "simply a small favor, my Lord
Prince."
    "Ahh..." Anthraxus hissed in amusement at the innocence look on
that perfect face. "And what 'favor' might that be Lady?"
    "Nothing too odious my Lord," Samanaimethea replied sweetly. "Just
to watch my back, that is all."
    Anthraxus had not been expecting that. "What can I do that you
cannot?" he asked genuinely surprised.
    The young woman's smile died. "My Lord, I do not know if even one
such as your noble self can help me - nor do I ask you to. I merely
ask that you watch over me as you can."
    For a moment Anthraxus saw the uncertainty and the haunted
expression that glimmered in the Noble child's eyes. He took a moment
to think and run a number of possibilities through his dark mind.
Finally he spoke, "and my reward for this... favor? Why should I risk
myself in the affairs of your kind?"
    Samanaimethea looked down. "What would you have of me my Lord?"
she asked softly.
    Anthraxus let the moment stretch on and then he spoke, "another
dance, that's all my pretty Lady."
    Samanaimethea raised her eyes and smiled mischievously, "the
waltz?"
    Anthraxus did not answer this but chuckled evilly to himself. "We
shall see my Lady," he commented turning away and slowly melting back
into the darkness. "We shall see..."
    Samanaimethea watched silently as the ancient Daemon Prince
returned to the Abyss and then turned back to the caravan. She could
have very easily forced the ancient Prince of Chaos to serve her but
she believed that in this way she had piqued the Prince's interest
enough so that he might actually keep his word. With the scale of
enemies she seemed to have attracted any help, no matter how
insignificant, would be critical.
    "Neither Sam nor Samantha would have involved herself with vermin
such as that!" a harsh voice said as Loria walked out of the darkness
to stand in front of the redhead. She put her hands on her hips and
stared disgustedly at the being her lover had been sacrificed to.
    "Hello Llothelianias," Samanaimethea replied looking up at the
Noble.
    "Don't call me that!" Loria exclaimed. "My name is Loria!"
    "All right Llothelianias," Samanaimethea smiled. "I will..."
    "Why are you involving yourself... flirting with trash such as
that... thing?" Loria hissed furiously. "Are you that desperate?"
    Samanaimethea did not answer. She knew that doing so would only
egg Loria on. The black Noble was seething with hurt, anger and
passion. The "death" of the being that Loria had loved for so long had
driven her to face a truth that she had never acknowledged before and
that truth was pulling the powerful Noble apart.
    "Well?!" Loria demanded.
    "What would you have me say?" Samanaimethea said softly. "I face a
force that would do to me far worst than Anthraxus or even... He could
imagine. I need all the help I can get from whatever corner that might
be of use. I cannot die Llothelianias, but there are some fates that
are even worst than death and I will do _whatever_ I have to to avoid
them."
    "Even at the price of vermin like that?" Loria exclaimed.
    Samanaimethea did not even bother to try and answer that.
    "You disgust me," Loria said softly. "You..." her voice faded and
she sharply turned and left.
    Samanaimethea let her go. Llothelianias would have to come to
terms with the change sometime - just like Kay had had to. She _would_
not go through that _horror_ again and if she had to sell herself to
do it... then by _ALL_ she would!

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Time: AD 2089, 2 April, 23:26

    Linna lay back on the bed watching the vidcom and trying to put
Raina out of her mind. She rolled over and with an annoyed command
told the vidcom to switch itself off. Raina... No! Linna pulled her
knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She had to
forget the mortal! She had made her decision and now she would have to
live with it. Sam was alive - that was all that mattered to her. If
she had to wait an Age or more until she was in a position to be able
to Challenge for the right to be at Sam's side then by fuck she would
wait - even if the price was...
    Raina's passionate voice moaning her name...
    "No!" Linna exclaimed and jumped out of bed. "I will wait! Damn
it... Mina! Mina! Get your arse here now!"
    "Mother?" Mina appeared almost immediately. "What's the matter?
Are you all right?"
    "No!" Linna exclaimed harshly. "I'm not all right! I'm going out
of my damned mind here!"
    Mina sighed and rolled her eyes. "Linna, look, things are
happening that require my attention. I can't be here simply to help
you overcome your pinning for a mortal. I..."
    "Sam told you to look after me," Linna said grumpily. "I need to
get out of here - I can't stand being cooped up in this room any
longer. I need to get out!"
    "That's not so much of a good idea Mother..." Mina began.
    "Why not?" Linna put her hands on her hips pulling the loose
tee-shirt she was wearing into interesting new angles. "Why all the
concern over me anyway? You said Sam told you to protect me. Protect
me from what? Mina - just what is going on? What is Sam so..."
    "Sam is dead," Loria suddenly announced appearing out of nowhere.
"And so is Samantha."
    Linna and Mina were too shocked by the sudden appearance of Loria
to fully take in what she had said.
    "Sam is dead," Loria repeated again bitterly. "Do you hear me?!
Sam is DEAD!"
    "What are you talking about?!" Linna jumped up.
    "That's impossible!" Mina exclaimed jumping to her feet as well.
"I don't..."
    - It's true -
    Mina and Linna's protests died in their throats as Mayline's soft
voice ran through their minds.
    - Sam and Samantha are gone - Mayline repeated softly. -
Samanaimethea is our Mistress now -
    "Samanaimethea?" Linna did not believe this. "Who the hell is
that? Where is Sam?" She stared up at Loria, "where is Sam Loria? What
are you..."
    "Sam is DEAD you stupid child!!" Loria yelled. "Samanaimethea
killed her!"
    Linna stumbled backwards and slowly shook her head. "I... I don't
believe you..." she said incredulously. "You're lying! Sam can't be
dead... I... I won't let her be dead! I love her!!" Tears were
streaming down her face as she continued to shake her head in
disbelief.
    "Mother..." Mina said taking a hesitant step forward holding out
her hand. "Linna..."
    "NO!!" Linna screamed and Traveled demanding that the Power take
her to her beloved.
    "Mother!" Mina yelled and summoned the Power to follow Linna but
Loria stopped her.
    "Don't Minny, let her go."
    Mina spun and looked up at her Chosen. She tried to hold back the
tears that she felt were threatening to brim over. "Why Loria? What
has happened?"
    Loria pulled the weeping Enforcer to her and shook her head. "I
don't know Chosen, I honestly don't know."

    Linna jerked her head up and looked wildly around as the coldness
of the Shadowlands spat her out. Her eyes widened slightly in
disbelief as she almost instantly recognized where she was. This was
the place it had all begun, this was the place where she had taken the
first steps down the path that had led her to this point.
    "SAM! SAM!" Linna yelled out running to the caravan. "WHERE ARE
YOU?!"
    The lights inside the caravan were out but Linna knew the insides
of the vehicle like the back of her hand. "SAM! SAM!" she smashed the
front door in and ran towards the small room that had once served as
Sam's bedroom.
    Samanaimethea jerked rudely awake at the yelling from outside the
small caravan.
    "SAM! SAMANTHA! WHERE ARE YOU!?!" the door crashed open and a
figure stood outlined in the light that was suddenly blazing
throughout the whole caravan. "SAM! THANK GOD!!"
The next thing Samanaimethea was aware of was being crushed beneath a
figure who seemed to be trying to sob and laugh with relief at the
same time. Moist lips crushed down on hers and tears were splashing
down on her face. Samanaimethea had almost instantly recognized the
smell and the figure of her assailant and was lost in a surge of
memories and hot emotions. The urgent demanding of Linna's hands and
mouth roused a similar response within her and as the other's hands
hit flesh Samanaimethea groaned in ecstasy.
    "WHAT IS GOING..." another voice at the entrance began to demand
but then cut off with a startled gasp. "LINNA!?!"
    Lost in the demands of her emotions Linna barely registered the
voice of Priss yelling her name incredulously. The only thing that
filled her world was pressing against every part of her body. Sam...
Samantha... whatever... Linna did not care any more. This was her
Chosen, her Beloved, that which made her complete. All thoughts of
Raina were thrust from her mind as her fingers re-explored every
familiar curve and crevice of flesh, stroked the... long luxurious
hair... inhaled the spicy... flowery... scent... Different... Her
Chosen was different... and yet the same...
    Linna's fingers slowly began to work out what had changed. The
figure moaning beneath her was much fuller, more mature. The small
pert breasts her fingers remembered were _definitely_ fuller... The
narrow waist and slender hips were more pronounced, much more
curvaceous... The silky skin was now like the most perfect satin
imaginable, making Linna feel coarse moving her hand across it. The
carpet of hair... the liquid musical voice calling her name...
_Different_
    Linna's head jerked up and for the first time her eyes really
focused on the figure she was astride. Her eyes widened and she gasped
as she stared incredulously down at the perfection that her fingers
had exposed. Sam HAD changed... The girl's body had now bloomed into
that of a young woman. The delicate elfin beauty had been pushed...
refined... into something that was inhumanly perfect.. Linna was
simply lost for words... The promise that Sam's form had held for so
long had been fulfilled a hundred, no, a thousand fold over... The
green eyed... goddess that looked up at her made even the incredible
beauty of Loria look like an ugly smear.
    "Sam..." she whispered as the perfect face slowly broke into a
smile that made Linna almost cum there and then.
    "Samanaimethea ..." the divine voice said softly. "Linna...
love... I am Samanaimethea now."
    "Samanaimethea...." Linna's voice repeated dumbly and the perfect
head nodded. "Samanaimethea...." Linna slowly replied savoring each
vowel, each syllable. The name sounded alien to her ears but somehow
it seemed to fit the inhuman being her beloved had matured into.
"Samanaimethea..." she whispered and her hand rose to hesitantly touch
that perfect face.
    "Linna..." the young woman answered with a smile.
    "Consort," Linna whispered lost in that perfection. "I Challenge
for..."
    "Shh," the young woman whispered placing a finger against Linna's
lips. "That is no longer necessary  - not now..." Samanaimethea smiled
and looking deep into those tearful sapphire eyes spoke words she had
never spoken to anyone, except once.
    "From Heart..."
    "...to Soul..." Linna replied her eyes lost in those glorious
green orbs. "From Beyond Life..."
    "...to Beyond Death..." the woman replied wiping the tears away
from Linna's eyes. "...and..."
    "...Fear..."
    "Pass Love..."
    "...and Hatred..."
    "We are One from Life..."
    "We are One from Death..."
    "Bound forever..."
    "One forever..."
    "One against the Light..."
    "One against the Dark..."
    "The Heart of One..." Linna did not even know what the words she
was saying meant. They were just coming from somewhere. "The Soul of
One..." It felt like everything that she was were focused on those
words. She was changing, flowing...
    "One given willingly..."
    Samanaimethea's face looked so happy that Linna's voice nearly
broke. The _rush_ of Power surging out of her was making her feel
giddy.
    "One taken willingly..." Samanaimethea whispered.
    "Forever binding my Samanaimethea..." Linna said with a finality
that drove her almost ecstatic
    "Forever binding my Linna," Samanaimethea finished feeling the
_rush_ as the fire of the Bonding burnt through them both. The cold
hollow emptiness that had gnawed at her heart for so long was finally
being filled! The coldness, the Darkness... She was warm... Finally...
after so long... she was no longer alone...
    "We are one..."
    "We are..."
    Within both of the two Immortals the fire of Bonding burned
through them like the most unimaginable orgasm possible. As one two
mouths opened and screamed.
    "_ONE_"

    _ONE_
    The word shouted through Kelly's mind and almost the same instant
she screamed with agony as she felt something being torn from deep
within her. Something that was integral to her very existence was
being ripped from her.
    "YAAA!!!" Kelly howled as suddenly the explosion of agony was gone
taking with it _something_ that left a gaping coldness at the heart of
her very being. A coldness and loneliness that left her numb.
    "Sam..." Kelly recognized almost instinctively what that loss was.
"No... Sammy... Please... Why..." Kelly groaned in despair and slowly
got to her feet. She could not accept what that loss was. The warm
connection that she had had to Sam for so long, that warm bond that
had come from achieving the position of Consort was... gone... just
gone.
    "Why... Sammy..." Kelly's tears began to pour down her face as the
realization of what had just happened flooded through her. "No..." she
could not believe it. Why? Why?
    "SAM!! NOO!!"

    _ONE_
    Geoff Quincy's eyes narrowed with unholy rage as he caught the
faint echo of the scream as it rushed through his mind. The plans that
he had so carefully laid out for so many Cycles had just been dealt a
totally chaotic blow. His face pulled back in rage and his face
shifted into something out of the darkness nightmare.
    "NOOOO!!!!!"

    _ONE_
    An ancient cancerous Unliving darkness raged within its tortured
prison as the faint echo of Power whispered through its mind. The
pretty one had betrayed it! Hatred and Need swirled mixing with fury
and betrayal. The pretty one had given herself to another, despite its
offer, despite the effort it had made to free the pretty one from the
attention of its allies - she had _BETRAYED_ it...
    Fury swirled and slowly cooled into amusement as the Unliving mind
began to daydream how it would pay the pretty one back for this
rejection. Amusement grew and joined with Hunger as an idea blossomed
in Its mind  - a most amusing idea.
    Yes... the great Hunger thought to itself in anticipation. A
most... satisfying idea...

    _ONE_
    The faint echo whispered through His mind and His perfect face
shifted slightly as a series of unknowable emotions passed over it. He
instantly knew what that cry meant and what the possible implications
of it were - implications that both troubled and pleased Him. The cry
meant that His long wait was over, the child had now matured to a
state where Spawning was possible and unlike His last failed attempt
another Bonding Challenge would be successful. The cry also meant that
the youngster had already Chosen one as a Bondmate. This did not so
concern Him, any Spawn produced by this Bonding would be weak - they
would not be of the Blood. However, He knew His brother would also be
quick to move in response as well to this unexpected chain of events
and _that_ fact concerned Him.
    He took a moment to slowly consider what was best for Him to do.
To move too soon would be unwise He needed to see what His brother
would do. On the other hand, if He moved too slowly then one of the
Others or even His accursed brother might be able to use her, He had
to strike the correct balance. Ever since the Rebellion of His false
Children His numbers had been severely reduced. He had been slowly
trying to rebuild them but those He Bonded with burnt out too rapidly
and produced too few weak Spawn. He NEEDED the youngster and He NEEDED
her now.
    He mulled over the possibilities in His mind and regretfully
decided that to wait would be too problematic - too many unknowns were
in motion. He needed to act and He needed to act now. The question was
how and do what degree? That was what He needed to consider...

    _ONE_
    The faint echo whispered one last time as the Power that had
carried it died away.
    ...ONE... a fathomless voice echoed the word questioningly.
    ...ONE... another voice confirmed in a pleased tone.
    ...SOON... another voice questioned with a rising sense of
anticipation.
    ...SOON... the second voice confirmed.
    ...SOON... the first voice replied.
    ...SOON... the third voice whispered hungrily. ...SOON...

        *       *       *       *

End of a Knight Alone.

Samanaimethea and Linna's story will continue in Knights in Peril
which will start rolling off my keyboard when my pet cat finally gets
the idea that the PC is not