Chapter 22: Fall Festival Finale: Roads of Light and Dark

(Warning: This chapter is extra long at over 10,000 words.)

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The only light I saw in my whole life

The need to break my creed, and succeed soon

I had to learn to break up my bad strife

And with the waning of the darkest moon

I swear to slay the stars, electric knife

You think I will get caught up by her swoon?

I'm free now

Never letting go

I'm flying

Like a bird

I'm slashing

Lightning bolts

Escape the horrors and pain

Subjugation by her reign

Humiliation stains

Annihilate her gain

Don't tell me darkness is beyond my know

I saw the raw black claw raising the moon...

-Lantorn's Theme, "Lightning Bolt"

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The brawl got to a start, but Mynt told Kyofi, "Take Rosod and Baynana away!"

"But I'm the best fighter out of all of you!" Kyofi said, already about to charge in head first, when Arber ran at her. She butted up against Arber, and they linked paws. Earlier, they had at one point engaged in a battle of strength, back a few months ago.

Mynt said, "She's just a kid!" Leaping over Rhed and Blhu, she continued, "Get her to safety, and I'll hold my own, okay!"

But Baynana ran forward, at Lantorn, avoiding a slash by somersaulting, before she popped up and kicked Lantorn in the chest. Lantorn's feet skidded against the ground.

"Baynana!" Mynt said. "Follow my orders now!"

"No, Ahmond was right, we're not kids anymore!"

"Yes you are, now please, just stay away!" Mynt said.

Paynut charged forward, and stomped on Rhed. "This is for my wife!" He bit down on her throat, and she gasped. Before he could do any deadly damage, Blhu the Violat ripped him off, before throwing him down on the ground. That's when Honay turned Blhu around before slapping him across the face.

Kyofi saw the state of the war, before lifted Arber up, and power bombing him into a rock. "We're going now, Rosod."

Rosod nodded, and hopped on her back, and the two ran off.

Kyofi muttered, "You all better come back home."

Whyrl felt the electricity fading. Luckily, Lantorn didn't scar anywhere that hadn't already been scarred before. "Bad news, you can't make my mug any uglier." His frame rose up.

Lantorn glared at Whyrl, and attempted to finish him off with more slashes of her sword. She didn't have to carry it, as it seemed to follow her telepathically, and she had plenty of time to keep her attention on Baynana.

With a ball of light forming in her mouth, Lantorn shot a beam of pain towards Baynana, but Mynt leaped in front and took the blast.

"Mynt!" Baynana said, while Lantorn raised the sword to Mynt.

Paynut and Honay watched as Blhu and Rhed ran around them, but the two double bucked them in their faces. As the two staggered, Honay jumped on Paynut's back, before jumping off onto them.

Honay had no heart anymore, and felt only weakly any emotions, but she still had the will to fight. She had enough emotion. As she flattened Blhu and Rhed with her weight, she stood up, only for Arber to powerslam her to the ground.

The blade came down, and Mynt averted her head to the side.

The land was scarred with scorch marks from the lightning bolt. Mynt shot back to her feet, before bucking Lantorn in the face.

Spit flew as Lantorn took a few steps backwards. "You all better know I don't show mercy even to children!" She backed that threat up by releasing a stream of lightning into Baynana.

Baynana's body shuddered, and she fell to her knees. Mist exited from Lantorn's sword.

As their visions were blinded, Lantorn knew she had a perfect time to strike. She saw all of their forms, not being hindered by her own spells.

Cutting wind resistance by removing wind from the area, Lantorn slashed.

Whyrl bit down on the sword, and kept it held in his maw. She stopped. How could he have blocked a legendary sword with a bite alone?

Hyena jaws were powerful, but still, that technique had required precision. Precision which countered her quick swinging.

Electricity exuded from the sword, and channeled into Whyrl's body, however this was the point he lifted her up by the blade, and threw her several feet away.

Lantorn skidded across the ground as Whyrl was downed again, but that wasn't all. Two wolves landed on Lantorn with somersaults, Paynut and Honay.

"Baynana, please, go!" Paynut said. "We don't need her taking your Quality too!"

"She'll keep hunting me anyway," Baynana said, "she'll never stop! So how about we just take her out now!?"

Baynana unleashed a stream of lines, but Lantorn accessed her new powers, and used her own lines into Paynut and Honay. However, Honay didn't fall.

Lantorn felt the Worthlessness invade her as she dropped down. "How?"

Honay said, "I'm already heartless." She'd literally not feel the emotions strong enough to stop her. Honay bit down on Lantorn's leg.

Hearing the screaming Lantorn, Arber ran over, and threw Honay off. Baynana jumped onto Arber's back, and scrambled up, covering his eyes with her paws. He swung around blindly, catching Mynt by the jaw and knocking her around.

Paynut shuddered as everyone morphed into some dark beast before his eyes. He kept his tail tucked, and his neck curling inward, as he stalked the battlegrounds. Everything was changing.

He knew that they were all evil, all of them were threats, all of them were something he should be afraid of. No rationalization left. There was no way to convince him there were still common friends in all of this, especially in this fog. He had to get to safety.

Rhed put her paws on Lantorn, and filtered the power of Willpower into her, reviving her.

"Thanks," Lantorn said.

"Don't mention it," Rhed told her, and decided to stay nearby. "We can all win if we stick together."

Blhu linked arms with her and nodded.

"You two are good friends," Lantorn said. She had never seen friendship like theirs before. It honestly made her a little emotional.

But it'd probably not make Honay emotional, as she stood up. Lantorn slashed at her side, and cut off some fur, but also paralyzed her. "One slash."

Rhed said, "Stay alongside us."

Arber walked over, and stood with the group. The three kept their backs to Lantorn, giving her the option to attack headfirst.

"We need to break their coalition," Mynt told Baynana.

"But how?" Baynana asked.

Mynt saw the fog was clearing up. "This might be risky." The clouds faded. "Go."

Baynana nodded and ran straight up to the group of four, and Lantorn went for the slash. Mynt zipped by, and bit down on Baynana's scruff. She extricated the wolf before the slash landed before throwing her into the air.

Whyrl rushed into the side, straight into Rhed's chest, and knocked her into Lantorn, causing Lantorn to topple over Blhu. Arber, who had been watching Lantorn's rear, was now assaulted in the air by Baynana. She landed on his head, breaking whiplash into his body, and he staggered backwards.

Mynt bucked Arber repeatedly until she was sure he was down, before she stood over him and slapped across his face repeatedly, and then just to make extra extra sure, she punched him in the snout.

"That should keep you down."

A wave entered him as he shot up, and picked her up.

"What in the world?" Mynt asked, before he slammed her down, headfirst into a rock. She laid unconscious, as Lantorn went to impale her heart, but waves entered Mynt.

The blade skidded across Mynt's chest, and slid into the ground. The sword stuck. Mynt burst up, and slapped Lantorn across the face.

After spit flew, Lantorn asked, "How are you still standing?"

"I've got the Willpower to counter your dependability," Mynt said.

No one had the cure to Fear yet, so Paynut kept moving away. But Honay went up to him, slowly. Her body still crackled and her hair was still up. "Paynut."

Paynut stared at his wife, barely recognizing her. "Honay?" he asked.

"Please, trust me, we're all going to be okay. You, me, and Baynana. But for now, you need to fight."

Paynut stared at the battlefield. "I can't. It's too dangerous, it's way too... You don't know how bad it is."

"I know how bad it is. I can see it more objectively than you right now," Honay said. The overly emotional one and the heartless one stared into each others' eyes. And somehow, they both felt reassured as they entered the battlefield again.

"I have to keep them down for good," Lantorn thought. Well, she only had to kill someone for their Quality to return to the book. While she was against killing a kid, it was her only option. For the greater good.

She rose her sword, about to slash Baynana, when she stared into Baynana's eyes real quick. Afraid. Baynana was afraid and just a pup.

Lantorn realized why she felt to kill Lhyna not once, but twice. She was too afraid. Still too afraid. Afraid of something. Afraid of her own inner evil. Light was not always good, and no amount of bioluminescence would prevent her from tapping into her inner evilest desires, into the monster in her heart she would never want to let out.

Maybe there really wasn't evil in her then. If she couldn't kill, then she wasn't evil. She wasn't able to do it.

"I can't do this," Lantorn admitted, as she dropped the sword.

Baynana took in a deep breath. She thought about what Mosor would do. "Lantorn, you don't have to do any of this anymore."

"No, that I have to do," Lantorn said.

Arber held down Paynut and Honay, in dual headlocks, while Rhed held Mynt. Finally, Blhu got a lock in on Whyrl.

Lantorn slashed all around, paralyzing everyone. "Sorry kid, but this is how it all must be. This is how things end." Lantorn floated into the air, while she did the ritual.

Lhyna cowered against a rock, when the arm entered her body. "This is for you," Lantorn said. It stole her heart, before another went into Baynana and Baynana screamed.

All mercy escaped from Lantorn as it had to, before she ripped out a dark sphere from Baynana. And that sphere would enter Lantorn, as she became the ruler of both Fear and Worthlessness. "I am no longer your servant, Lhyna, I have become your superior, as it should have been."

Lantorn landed on the ground.

"I guess my work here is done..."

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Mosor's eyes burst open, as she realized she was in a chamber, along with the rest of her family members. It was a cold metal chamber. Purely white, with some kind of arch ahead of her.

"What's going on?" she asked, as she saw Owlis, with Layf.

"You couldn't keep your eyes on the prize, could you, Mosor?" Owlis asked. "I had to send others for tracking down Lantorn. After all, you forced me to deplete my entire mana reserves."

"With Prisom," Mosor muttered as she stared around at Vanos and Ahmond, both of whom were still out and dazed. She remembered the attack with the mushrooms that Owlis launched. Maybe that had to do with why they were sleepy.

Well obviously.

Wait, she was criticizing herself in her own thoughts. Was that weird? Was she always doing that?

Owlis said, "Anyway, it's about time I show you what happens to those who commit treason. After the small scene you made, you threw all out of order. I was simply going to capture Lantorn, and show the entire place they had nothing to worry about. Instead, you have others running in the streets, afraid of some giant beast about to kill them."

Mosor asked herself if she was okay with inciting panic. Still, maybe they should panic because of the incompetent rule going around. "I wasn't going to kill them. You, I'm not so sure about."

Owlis rolled her eyes. "That's exactly where I'm getting at. This kingdom is nowhere near big enough for both of us, so one of us has to leave."

"Agreed."

"Mosor, I'm not the one who's going to be packing my bags, and moving upstate. Not that I'd want to in the first place." Owlis shook her head. "I had thought you'd be a great teacher for N:Era. Teach rookies all about empathy, and kindness, and friendship. Mosor, what happened?"

"Things got out of control," Mosor said, her eyes glazing over in darkness. "I wanted to live a normal, peaceful life with my family. Then I got the adventure of a lifetime. Then I got more adventure than I wanted in all my lifetimes."

Owlis frowned.

"Do you know what it's like?" Mosor asked, as she stared into Owlis' eyes. "What it's like when an entire kingdom depends on you?"

"Yes."

Mosor laughed. And Owlis even cracked a smile. Mosor said, "Well I'm not an empress! And to think after all the things I've done, you don't acknowledge me on that! Instead you ripped away my family from me, the one thing I care about!"

"It was to teach them manners-"

"You used Baynana as a pawn in a game," Mosor said.

Owlis stared down. "I wasn't going to let her die."

"I don't care if your pen dried out before the death warrant."

Owlis stared at the arch, attached to a giant base as part of a machine. She went over to a switch. "Mosor, before we continue, I want to ask you, is there any chance we can reconcile. Any chance at all we can make some amends?"

"Or else you'll kill me?" Mosor asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You'll be getting help," Owlis said.

"The only thing I can think is that you better leave Vanos and Ahmond out of this. They don't deserve whatever I'm getting. I made my choice, they just followed because I'm their leader."

Owlis padded over to her. Mosor was about to bite down, when Layf tackled her to the ground, a paw on her cheek.

Owlis scanned the bodies of Vanos and Ahmond. She clearly had something intended for them.

"Mosor is correct," Owlis said. Layf shrugged and released Mosor. "They are just followers. I don't see why I should punish them."

"Really?" Mosor asked.

"Too harshly," Owlis finished, with a sharper tone now. "However, I won't be doing to them what I'll do to you. And this time, I guess I'll imprison them all together along with the rest of your family."

Mosor said, "Make sure they treat Bittersweet and heal her."

"I will attend to that," Owlis said.

Mosor frowned.

Owlis sensed her trepidation, and waited for Mosor to speak up.

"Owlis, we didn't need for things to follow along like this."

"I agree."

"But I still say you were the one who was wrong. You used my baby cousin as a tool. For that, I will never forgive you."

"This isn't a cheesy comic," Owlis said. "I don't care if you ever forgive me or not. I did what was best by our people."

"By sacrificing other peoples?" Mosor asked.

"Exactly," Owlis said. "My empire and the people within it are worth way more to me, like precious jewels, than some outsiders ever will. Wysdom is the brightest diamond the world will ever know."

Mosor nodded, and pawed the ground. "Okay, so is that going to execute me? Am I getting ripped apart?"

Owlis said, "If I wanted to execute you, I'd do it when you were still Prisom. Actually, we're doing something a bit different."

Mosor perked her ears up.

Owlis said, "I haven't done execution too often, by the way. It's usually when I have to. As you've seen, prison is a fair alternative."

"Lhyna was put in prison because execution wasn't going to work on her."

"No, Lhyna was put in prison because I didn't want her where I couldn't see her," Owlis said. "Meanwhile, I put a lot more trust in you. I know you won't do anything wrong with your exile."

"Exile?" Mosor thought exile meant she'd be taken to the edge of the city and left to walk around aimlessly for the rest of her days. "Exile is done with this?"

"You've never seen someone exiled before, have you?" Owlis asked. "This portal is the reason why."

"How do I know it won't teleport me into some sort of black hole or something?" Mosor asked.

"Someone had to set up the teleporter in the first place by teleporting to that place. Unless I had a suicidal teleporter, you can be rest assured you won't die once you enter here. At least, not normally."

"Not because of the atmosphere, yeah."

"I really do not want to do this," Owlis said. "It's not a fitting end for you. However, it is a fitting new beginning. Maybe there's something you should know."

"I know a lot of things."

"The road of light and dark are more than just metaphors." In old legends of Wysdom, there had been the tales of light and dark. The roads were supposedly physical manifestations of these choices. "These are those roads now."

"So you're saying take the path of light, or take the path of the dark?"

Owlis said, "You are going in this portal, whether you want to or not. The only choice you get is which of the paths you take. I don't know where they'll lead you to necessarily, but I put my full trust that the roads will know where you are headed. I hope you choose the path of light and I will see you again. Regardless, it's not up to me."

Mosor said, "I'm going with the path of darkness, simply to save your brain the thought of me coming back here to help you out. Is that okay with you?"

Owlis nodded. "If that's what you are going to do, then that's what you are going to do."

She flicked a switch, and the portal would split into beams of energy. One light, one dark.

"You may enter," Owlis said.

Mosor told Owlis, "I want to say goodbye to my family."

"This portal won't stay open forever. And they won't be waking up soon, you can count on that, so you best be moving."

Mosor told Owlis, "You're heartless," and bumped her as she brushed past her.

Owlis said, "Only encourages you to come back."

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Lantorn said, "The sands in the hourglass are going." She ran with Arber and Rhed and Blhu.

Deeper and deeper into the forest, until they met the Twayt whose plumage was the same as the sun. A yellow bird, with fiery red feathers intermixed.

Solarh greeted them with a grin. "I suppose we should talk about an arrangement. You all work with me, and I'll work with all of you-"

"I could kill Lhyna, and I can easily kill you," Lantorn said. "And don't think that I won't."

Solarh said, "I put all these events in motion, Lantorn. Do you really think I'd be dumb enough that I wouldn't be able to-" Her eyes glowed black, and the shine was about to hit Lantorn, only for the three light Qualities to fill Lantorn. Lantorn completely blocked Solarh's Despair attack.

"I helped you out," Solarh said. "I planted Despair into Mosor while she was sleeping. She'd never be happy again. They'd have lost."

"You are a failure just like any other Ascended," Lantorn said. "That's why my ultimate goal is to take out every other Ascended. I am the light. I AM LIGHT."

Solarh said, "You're getting quite ahead of yourself. You'll need my expertise. I'm the one who knows how to unlock Obsydyn. And also..."

She unleashed a volley of flames from her wings at the four, washing them in flames. She heard the many shrieks as they burned from her solar hot attack. Soon all that was left was four singed and burned wolves.

Solarh said, "You're all morons. Very well, I suppose now we get to the fun part." She blasted them with Despair, only to see a dark sphere morphing. Her eyes widened. "No... No..."

"I made sure to take in the other two Dark Qualities," Lantorn said before she transformed.

In retrospect, she thought that Obsydyn would look way different from Prisom. Lantorn checked herself out. Not that bad admittedly, but instead of having stars along her body, it looked like her body was made of sand itself. Grainy sort of appearance.

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Instead of the rainbows of Prisom, she was black in color with only one tail. This tail had blades of glass to make a sort of scythe shape. Meanwhile, she was still recognizable as a jackal.

Solarh said, "How have you unlocked Obsydyn? You don't even know how to fully access your powers yet."

Lantorn shrugged. She was now ten feet big like Prisom was. Well, this would be an epic fight. She flashed her sword. "Prepare to die, bird."

Solarh said, "Lhyna's biggest power was gravity, and Owlis' was Fox Fire, but mine is a bit different. You see, my biggest power is-"

Lantorn sent waves of dark magic into Solarh, filling her with all three bad emotions until she turned fully into a rock. Nothing more than a simple rock, fully grayed out, fully defeated.

Lantorn bit down, and swallowed the rock whole to absorb the power. Obsydyn. She was able to activate on her own free will without needing to activate the other three first. She was all three.

"I'm digging the new look," Rhed said with a grin, and patted on Obsydyn's leg. Obsydyn stared down at her. For some reason, Lantorn felt different as Obsydyn, as if she was inherently better than others.

No, she wasn't, she wasn't better than others. Just better than Ascended. All she had to do was take down the Ascended.

Arber, the boh, said, "Just so you know, Obsydyn, I will always be here for you. Lantorn, you're a hero, whether you think you are or not. I'm glad that we've got to do this journey together."

Obsydyn said, "Fill me with the light Qualities."

"Huh?" Arber asked. "Won't that just turn you into a second Prisom instead? Should we even just call you Prisom?"

Lantorn said, "Three dark beings made the Qualities that made me. Three light beings made Prisom. What happens when the dark and light is mixed together? I feel like we'll get a being even stronger than the previous two."

Arber exchanged looks with Rhed and Blhu. They all shrugged. Arber said, "Can you still fill yourself with your own power?"

Lantorn shrugged, and soon waves filled around her body, proving that yes, yes she could still activate her powers of light despite having dark Qualities. "I guess we're still in business."

They all unleashed a flood of their waves.

Obsydyn's eyes widened as Lantorn felt all the power in the world. She had all six Qualities working for her, and they filled her. The powers of Earth and Heaven, all fused together, as a sphere that was both light and dark at the same time, formed into a new being. Something new to the whole world.

Lantorn realized this was the reason she was brought into this world. Not only to serve someone else, but to also serve the greater good. Just that Lhyna failed to see what that greater good was. The greater good was to depose others.

Solarh's body would start regenerating within Lantorn. Solarh thought, you may have killed me once, Obsydyn. But know I will be reborn again, and I will get the last laugh.

But Lantorn wouldn't care what some dead bird was thinking about right now. This new being would be neither Obsydyn nor named Prisom. She needed to come up with a name, but instead a name naturally came to her. The perfect fusion of these names.

Arber, Rhed, and Blhu gawked at the new monstrosity before she ran out towards the city. Arber said, "She's both beautiful, dangerous, and cunning."

"That's three things," Blhu said.

Rhed said, "Unless her beauty and cunning is dangerous."

"Or," Blhu said, "Her cunning and dangerousness is beautiful."

Arber said, "Nah, her beauty and dangerousness is cunning."

The three watched her run.

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Kyofi stopped running as sweat burst from her forehead, though the rise in her internal temperature sure made it feel like it was steaming. Rosod got off of her back, as they approached the city limits.

"Thank you, Kyofi," she said.

"Rosod, I'm going back for my family. You go on ahead." Kyofi nodded to her. "Wait, aren't you a fugitive now?"

Rosod said, "I'm sure I'll be able to explain the situation." She gave a bow. "Until next time, Kyofi."

Kyofi muttered, "I'm probably a fugitive now too." Her family had just attacked an empress.

Not a queen, a literal empress. Chances are they had to take her out, and who knew what that would do. Would there be martial law if she returned home?

Kyofi figured she'd stroll around. It sounded cowardly to not go in right now, but the others needed her. No, actually, she needed to rest.

She crashed against a rock.

"I really need to improve my cardio," she said between breaths. She was taking deep, heavy breaths.

Had attacking Owlis even been a right choice? Sure seemed that way, in that moment, in the seconds leading up to it. Mosor said to attack Owlis, and so that's what happened.

The Ice Cream Pack should never be split up like this. Still, Rosod was safe and sound. Too bad now her family was in the middle of a war, and now known criminals. Nothing would be easy from now on, unless Owlis gained a fifth chamber in her heart, and it just poured out liquid compassion like blood.

Kyofi asked herself if everyone was doing okay. What if Mosor lost the fight? No, Prisom had to be a very powerful being, a very powerful being indeed.

What if Lantorn won the fight? No, her family and all the others outnumbered her, even with that sword. Then again, Lantorn was able to beat Lhyna where they couldn't. But Lantorn had just gained a sword... Now she knew how to use it.

Kyofi wouldn't accept her entire family had failed, and fallen. No, she'd be useless in a fight right now, so she needed to rest, and recover her breath.

Still, she got to her feet. No sense in sitting around. She could take some breaths and she walked down, and soon she'd be fine. She'd be completely okay and recovered once she got back to the scene of where the war was...

And that's when she saw her family, all downed, with Baynana grayed out and covered in the darkness.

"I'm back," Kyofi said. She realized that the worst had happened. Baynana had lost her Quality, and so was infected with Worthlessness. Meanwhile, Paynut still shivered in Fear. Honay was heartless and grayed out.

"What happened?" Kyofi asked.

"We all lost, that's what happened," Whyrl said. "Anyway, it seems that there's nothing any of us can do. I betrayed Owlis. I made sure to tell the entire story of what happened to me, and I did that against Owlis' back, behind her tail."

Kyofi said, "Great, you can join us as being outlaws. If my baby sister didn't beat up Owlis, we're all in trouble."

"Paynut and Honay aren't," Whyrl said. "The only escapees were you, Baynana, and Rosod."

"I didn't escape jail," Kyofi said. "It's just that my family committed the biggest act of treason that our brave state has ever known, that's all."

Whyrl raised an eyebrow, and shook his head at her. "Anyway, we're all either heartless, or infected by a Dark Quality, or downed for some other reason. Lantorn was able to get away, and we have no idea what her plans are now. It seems the sky is falling."

Kyofi realized that's what it had come to. Their world truly had ended. "There's one last thing we can do. We need to perform a prison break. We need to bust the rest of the family out of jail - assuming they didn't win - and we need to get back out here. If we can go back home, I know a place, we can go back home. I have an Uncle, named Gyn..."

Whyrl said, "You better be on your best graces with Gyn then. My main goal is to get my little girl, and you can all heal them. Her name is Bittersweet. I know where they keep her."

"She's in jail?" Kyofi asked.

Whyrl said, "To make sure she's not a danger to herself because of her Despair. That sort of thing is dangerous. Especially for a kid."

Kyofi shuddered as she thought about the implications. "Anyway, we're going to grab your kid too. We just need to come up with some kind of perfect plan."

"There's no such thing as a perfect plan," Whyrl said. "All we can do is plan."

Kyofi snorted. "Okay, fine, we won't do a perfect plan, we're just going to do an average plan to save the day. How about you tell me what your plan is?"

Whyrl said, "Well, the way I see it, there's one thing we can do..."

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Mosor saw two roads in the wood, from once converged, and she took the path less traveled by.

As in instead of trees with fluffy green leaves, she went down the path with crows and dead decrepit branches. "Doubt any of this actually matters," Mosor muttered. "What are the chances my choice actually matters. Owlis probably had it picked where I'd go before I got here."

She wasn't too creeped out by the dark, and grim decor. After all, she doubted any of it would kill her.

Maybe it would try to, but Mosor rationalized she had powers way above some of the other things here. She may not have the ability to transform into Prisom anymore, without her family, but she still had empathy.

An ounce of empathy and feeling and emotion trumped the mere scientific thoughts that came from logos. Logos and facts never mattered. It was truly only emotion that could convince someone else, and having the character that mattered most. The pathos and the ethos.

Mosor was pathos. She was the ability to ride on raw emotion alone. She'd befriend all the weird little monsters if she had to.

This all started, if she thought about it, when she used empathy itself. She found Arber, and asked him what was wrong after he stole from her family. That's when Lhyna realized she had the power of Empathy - and maybe Arber was reporting to Lhyna even back then?

Regardless, she chose to accept the quest, when Lantorn could have finished it. Lantorn would go into Prisom mode, and take out Lhyna. Case closed.

In fact, it was a bit weird. What were Lantorn's plans anymore? Kill Lhyna? How far had Lantorn advanced in her goals? Last Mosor remembered, Lantorn just ran out.

This all continued with other adventures, as they learned the truth about Lhyna. Then she stood up for herself, and during the eclipse became Prisom. For the first time ever, she knew what it meant to be alive.

Afterwards, she decided to let her family stay over, and that's when Baynana and Ahmond met before coming up with shenanigans. Maybe if Vanos and Kyofi hadn't been so mean, that wouldn't have led to them running away, and maybe they shouldn't have fought. Mosor should have thought more about the whole fighting thing, was this her fault?

Her last happy memories included singing songs with Mynt, when it came to them defending their choice of music.

Even if it was annoying, she had fun with the whole coffee contest between Kyofi and Vanos. The two coffee krugers may never cease to amuse her or everybody else. She even giggled just thinking about the two of them.

Or maybe about all the other things. But no, she should have paid more attention to Baynana and Ahmond, and them doing dark secrets. Maybe she should have blamed them. Was Owlis really that wrong?

She stared back. Only darkness, no more portals.

Mosor trudged on, her feet sinking deeper and deeper into the mud as she crossed the threshold of good and evil.

The woods seemingly became even darker, before she couldn't see anything more than a foot in front of her, and even then it became pitch black. She used her vines to light up the way, but even that failed to be enough.

"Okay," Mosor said as she thought to herself. She began humming a song. Sometimes, she could have sworn she heard voices, so she picked her paws up more to sneak, as she lowered her body.

Mosor realized she was vulnerable. Her earlier bluster about being able to take on anyone with the power of empathy slowly receded into a fear that anyone could take her out at any second. Maybe she didn't know what existed in this world.

That's when she fell.

Down and down she fell, and she screamed. She only knew she fell just by the rushing of the wind in an otherwise eternal void. Until, a light.

Yes, a light, it was white, and...

She fell in, and felt wet. She tried to spit the moisture out, but it dampened her fur before she fell out of the clouds and into the atmosphere. She saw lots of little pinpricks on the ground.

Admittedly not a bad looking city. It had lots of signs of Crimson architecture going on, with talls buildings, and red tenements rooftops, while the buildings themselves were mainly white. Plenty of granite bridges, and the roads were designed via bricks instead of just dirt.

In fact, all she could tell was it was crimsons as she involuntarily got closer.

It must have been some sort of crimson Kingdom, and there was even a crimson king in his crown as he was watching over some kind of blood sport. In the ring, in the stadium she was falling towards, she saw two wolves. One of those wolves was a giant bulky black wolf, with a red underbelly.

She bit down on the other wolf, before slamming them down. Darkness spilled from the black wolf's maw as she sucked something up from the other, smaller, yellow wolf. A referee interrupted the battle, and raised a flag up in the air for the black wolf.

The yellow wolf was taken away for treatment. They looked a little grayed. Maybe they just had their heart stolen out, or something? Or maybe the same thing happened when something happened to the soul. Indeed, the soul and heart were usually considered as linked as one, so maybe it was how it worked. Lose a heart, lose a soul, get a gray coat.

Mosor did like the color gray.

In a weird way, she came to peace with the fact this fall was going to hurt, and she was about to land in a stadium obviously for gladiators. At least the crowds looked nice. After the black wolf win, they popped off their seats and clapped and cheered. The cheers were loud enough to be able to be heard from thousands of feet in the air. No wait, maybe more like hundreds of feet in the air by now. Yes, just hundreds of feet in the air, and they all came down onto their seats, while the black wolf howled. Obviously she was a major draw.

Mosor put her paws down, her front paws, that way she'd fall in a fox jump sort of manner. Paws were great cushioners, and they'd help with the fact she achieved terminal velocity a while ago, which meant this would be the hardest she could fall unless someone or something had weighed her down. She just caught sight of the king, who was staring with a bemused expression as he asked who she was right before she was going to end her fall and it looked like there was sand, just soft soft sand and

splat.

----------------------------------------

Whyrl explained, "So here's what are plan is going to be, and we're assuming worst case scenario that your family is prisoners. You see, the palace has a basement within, and that's where all the prisoners are kept. Everyone understands that part. What they don't understand is there are secret tunnels everywhere under Wysdom.

"These tunnels are used for the various other punishments. Stuff such as information extraction, or other measures.

"Very few know exactly where these tunnels are, and I'm one of those few. If you go down the tunnels, and act official enough, they usually won't card you. I shouldn't tell you that. It's bad to say how lax the security standards are. However, I don't have a job, and therefore, I'm not forced to care. I'm pretty heartless as is.

"Honay and I, being the most self assured, will take the walk down. Afterwards, we'll be able to emerge up into the main basement. Since I'll be recognized on the basement, since the guards are informed about the situation daily, Honay will head up alone.

"The guards in the tunnels only get meetings once a week, and that will be in two days. Unless they scheduled an emergency meeting. Even then, that would still take 24 hours to spread the news around to everyone and everything, thus meaning we're all still okay.

"Traveling in a big pack would be a bad idea. You all should split up and go back to your shop. They might be expecting you there, so hide out somewhere for a few days. My recommendation is you go into the woods near where you live. We're already in those woods. Just walk around, and be right outside. Leave some scent.

"Since the guards will be trying to locate you by said scent as well, what you're going to do is mix your scent with some mint leaves. I'll be able to tell since I'll know what I'm looking for.

"All of this will keep all of you from getting into your houses. The Ice Cream shop may get ransacked, or even robbed. It all depends. Two of you should rush in and retrieve any supplies you need, and any food. You're not getting new food for a long time now. My recommendation for the two is you use Mynt since she's the fastest of you lot, and also that you use Paynut since he seems the most suave.

"After I break out the prisoners, we all meet outside, where I said, near the mint.

"Finally, we heal everyone, and we leave for a new empire. We'll go with what Kyofi is saying about her uncle Gyn.

"Now, in the chance that instead Mosor actually beat up Owlis, then we're dealing with a different ballgame. All we have to do is just talk Mosor down, we grab the supplies, and we run.

After the plan was said and done, Mynt and Paynut ran to their respective ice cream shops before raiding the stores.

Mynt found the biggest bag she could find, and put tubs of ice cream in. Too bad none of the tubs had any strong lids, so some spilled, and left their sticky contents all over. Many signs of a struggle took place in there that day.

Still, maybe they could claim insurance for a robbery? Mynt joked to herself about the idea. Anyway, she managed to fill the bag with as much weight she could reasonably carry.

She paused before she left the ice cream shop for what might be the last time she'd ever leave it.

She came here to assess how Ahmond was doing, and got caught up in Lantorn's evil schemes. She had the power of Willpower. Instead, now she'd been replaced by Blhu and Rhed of Lantorn's little posse. She asked herself what would have happened if she stuck with Lantorn.

Then Lantorn would go full Prisom, and would have stopped the Ice Cream Pack right in its place. And soon she'd take out Lhyna. In a weird way, Mynt was asking if she made a wrong choice somewhere down the line.

Maybe taking the path of light, was taking the path of staying with Lantorn. Maybe if she had only made the one choice, then that would be the choice that mattered the most. Stay with Lantorn.

Mynt took a final breath, before she walked out with a ding.

Paynut stared around the shop. It was his fault now that he thought about it. He'd almost never before mentioned how something more or may not be his fault, but this most definitely was his fault. He should have thought more about things, and about how he couldn't bamboozle his family.

Now his daughter was heartless, and he was still afraid of everything. Why did Whyrl put him up to this? He was trusting a talking shadow now.

In fact, he wasn't sure how much he should trust himself to not trust or to trust others. Everything he did was wrong, right? His wife was down there, in the tunnels. She could keep him calm, but he wasn't sure if what he was afraid of was even something he should be afraid of because he knew he was impacted by the Power of Fear.

But wait, should he Fear the city guards? He couldn't Fear them or what would happen because he was irrationally afraid. No, the talking shadows said to be afraid of them, the friendly talking shadows. Thought everyone seemingly was a talking shadow now. Some sort of beast that failed to take form.

He managed to fill in a lot of bags with ice cream, but had to drag them across the floor. What if someone asked what he was doing? Would he have to run and scamper? Would he have to drop the ice cream, and then would he starve?

No, he had to calm himself down. He was really overthinking it all, wasn't he.

That's when he walked outside and saw the riots in the street. These weren't just any talking shadows, they were talking shadows fighting each other, and throwing fireballs at each other. Glass windows were shattered. But was any of it real?

He found the answer out as a beam of snow hit him.

----------------------------------------

Whyrl and Honay walked down in the forbidden tunnels underneath Wysdom itself. He was able to find a small cave, which would lead them down. "We took advantage of an old mine with this one."

Honay observed how the cave was held up by wooden support arches. "May I say, this is fine craftsmanship. I'm not use to small talk, really. My husband usually does the talking. However, I guess, since he's not here right now, I should say that this mine is well done, and these tunnels with their marble walls, are fascinating."

"It's not all that weird," Whyrl admitted to her. "When I first lost my heart, it was hard for me to understand why I was acting the way I was. Instead of going based on my usual instincts, I started reacting based on logic instead."

"Will I still feel emotion?" Honay asked. "Just to a lesser extent?"

"You need to take your heart back if you'll ever want to feel the same way again," Whyrl told her, under no uncertain terms. "However, you do need to realize, everything you're doing is technically part of an emotion. You do stuff because of emotions. You live because you fear death."

"Or perhaps you love life."

"Exactly."

Their feet clacked against the ground as they walked in further. Some guards spied them, but recognized Whyrl, and just figured that Honay was a new trainee. Sometimes they'd ask directly who she was, and Whyrl kept it simple. "She's just a new guard."

They'd mutter amongst themselves over how they were similarly grayed, and if that meant they were two of a kind.

"I don't know if I should trust how much they're staring," Honay said. "I believe this could be quite perturbing in the future. They may get the hint as to what's going on. I believe it's best we quicken things up."

"Already walking as fast as I can," Whyrl said. "Us hyenas are a bit big. We're not known for running at our top speeds."

"Maybe you need to get an increase on your cardio in that case," Honay said, and Whyrl felt she was being a bit snotty about it.

"I'll improve my cardio after I run off. Which is kinda ironic admittedly." Both felt it was right to laugh, but neither did. Worth too much effort.

"I still love my daughter, you know," Whyrl said.

"I guess I still love mine," Honay said. "It's weird to say I guess. I feel like I should say I do. But it's more I should love my daughter, and very faintly, I do."

"You know, you'll probably look back at some things you're about to say, and going to talk about how awful it is," Whyrl said. "But you are logically compromised to be emotionally compromised."

"Indeed."

Honay picked up her pace to see if Whyrl would try to match, but he wouldn't. "Already told you I'm going as fast as I can."

"How long will it take for us to get there?"

"Perhaps more than twenty four hours," Whyrl said.

And so it was. For over twenty four hours, they traveled as long as it would take to get to the palace. Unfortunately, they couldn't use any of the numerous portals around which allowed for quicker transportation. Reason being that portals required lots and lots of electricity, and they didn't generate enough. Also, they'd get sniff searched, and soon someone would be able to ask who Honay was, and why she was there.

When they got to the basement, Whyrl said, "Check each cell if they're in the prison. Just sniff around. If you get a strong scent, come down, and I'll be able to tell you how we'll release them. If you don't smell anything, that means Prisom won the final battle."

Honay got up into the main room, and walked around the prisons. The tunnels did have many offshoots that led to other prisons all around the country of Wysdom. But this was where Owlis' personal favorite prisoners were kept. Honay sniffed the air, until she came to Vanos and Ahmond's cage.

"Aunt Honay?" Vanos asked as he went to the metal door. He stared out the slot in the door with bars over it. "Aunt Honay, is that you? I can smell your scent."

"Same," Honay said. "I can smell yours. Anyway, it's about time we bust you out of here. I'll be getting Whyrl. Where's Mosor?"

"We don't know," Vanos said.

"I'd think you won't be leaving any time soon." Honay turned, only to see a wolf known as Layf. A blast of wind knocked her back, and that's when Whyrl lurched forward. However, Layf stood with a hyena...

The hyena stood in front of Layf, and she said, "Daddy, please, stop fighting."

Whyrl's eyes widened as she saw she no longer had a grayed out color. Instead, the others must have healed her. That's when he felt the strongest emotion he'd ever felt before, whether he was heartless or not.

He immediately stopped the fighting.

Layf said, "Stop them, and I'll return your daughter to you."

"Don't betray us," Honay warned him.

Whyrl stared at Layf, who would offer him his daughter back, and then he stared at Honay, who would save the rest of the Ice Cream Pack. Was his daughter officially a hostage now, just a piece in Owlis' war against others? Maybe he should do what was right, and not turn on those who trusted him to be strong for them?

But what did he care about doing what he should.

He bared his fangs, and bit down on Honay's leg. Honay shrieked, before he burst the door open, before throwing her in.

"Daddy!" Bittersweet ran over to him, and nuzzled him, and he hugged her back.

"I haven't seen you like this for a long, long time. I'm still badly injured though. Still very badly damaged," Whyrl said.

"As you are," Layf said. "Anyway, it's about time we go and meet up with Owlis. She apparently has a great deal of things to say."

As they walked off, and they heard the sounds of them walking off, Vanos and Ahmond panicked. Vanos said, "He left us. He really left us."

Ahmond said, "I put my full trust into him, and this is how he repays me!? I was his best friend. I listened to him all the time, and I was the one who would... It's just..." She let out a groan of frustration.

Honay said, "He knows where the others are at."

Vanos said, "From what we know, Owlis did something else to Mosor. Did you smell her?"

"No, I didn't smell her," Honay said.

Vanos asked, "Do you think that Owlis did something awful to her? Did Whyrl tell you anything during this little escapade?"

"He wasn't able to inform me as to what possibly happened with Mosor. Only that either she won the battle, or that she got arrested. And if she got arrested, his best guess is that she would be with the rest of you, but apparently that's not what happened, now is it?"

Vanos asked himself how it even got this way. At what point did they end up going to war with the Ascended of the Season of Fall. The Autumn Ascended. Now the Fall Festival wasn't going to happen and it had to be postponed. They were just about to become champions.

Maybe he should have talked down Mosor from her aggression earlier, maybe he shouldn't have forced Baynana and Ahmond to run away. Maybe, just maybe...

Wait, Baynana.

"How's Baynana!?" Vanos asked, in fear for his baby cousin.

"She lost her heart, and also she lost her Quality. Lantorn now has Fear and Worthlessness," Honay said.

"Yeah, she definitely has fear at least," Vanos said.

Ahmond's eyes glazed over after hearing about Baynana losing her heart and her quality. "Is she okay?"

"She's feeling worthless right now, so no, she's not okay," Honay admitted to her. Ahmond folded her ears.

"Oh," she said. "I see."

It seemed like everything had fallen all around them, and the Ice Cream Pack would stay in that prison cell, all while thinking about their life's choices, about when they strayed from a good path.

----------------------------------------

Owlis stared from her throne room at all the despair and destruction. Riots came from after Prisom attacked the area, and now she was watching the entire place erupt. The land was getting burned, razed even.

"In retrospect, maybe using children as a pawn is a bad idea."

"I agree with the idea. Look who I brought!" Layf stepped to the side, and in came the heartless Whyrl.

"Oh, very well, that is good news. He's a great guard, I must admit," Owlis said. "Albeit, not too quick to listen when it comes to state secrets."

"No, indeed, I'm not," Whyrl said. "However, you'll be glad to know I am resigning my position. I am living my life with my daughter from now on."

Owlis said, "You may keep your job if you know where the other members of the Ice Cream Pack are. I already have a tracker of the Forbidden Book, albeit, it seems they've discarded it. My tracker isn't following."

"Should we assume the worst?" Layf asked, knowing that by leaving the book, that meant Lantorn had likely absorbed all the other Dark Qualities. "If so, then we need to ready our armies-"

"I've already declared martial law," Owlis said. "There will be the entire force of the Wysdom army descending upon its own borders soon. We will come, we will contain the people, and we will reset."

"Is that the order?" Whyrl asked. "Operation Reset?"

"Yes. I never thought I'd have to use it honestly. Never in the thousands of years that I've sat on this throne." Owlis stood, before sitting her rump back down. "Anyway, it's about time we start using it. We're containing the people, within their own houses, until the panic happens to die down. Afterwards, I will be leading everyone forward into the charge."

"The charge against Solarh?" Whyrl asked.

"Solarh is likely dead for now," Owlis admitted. "The main goal is take out Lantorn, and take the Dark Qualities for ourselves. I will be sending you to retrieve the Forbidden Book."

"Am I getting all the Dark Qualities?" Layf asked.

"For the purposes of these power games, and to limit further ones, no. I will be killing and executing Lantorn myself. Afterwards, I will be the one with all the Dark Qualities."

Whyrl said, "Anyway, you still need me to fulfill that one order you had, yes? That order about telling you where the Ice Cream Pack exists?"

Owlis said, "That will be needed."

Whyrl said, "I think I'd rather drop the job."

Owlis glared at him, and said, "Fine. You and your daughter can be put in jail then."

"You said it was only the job that I was putting in jeopardy," Whyrl reminded her, as he wanted her to maintain her word.

"No, I said you could keep the job, I never said anything about your freedom," Owlis said. "So either you give me their names and locations, or not."

Whyrl said, "...My daughter has spent way too long locked up. Bittersweet will never be even grounded again. Very well. In that case, they are in the woods by their own homes. You should know they grabbed their supplies. They are expecting me to come, by the way, and they think I will lead them off to a different kingdom. I hope this information was valuable enough for me to retain my job and our freedom."

Owlis grinned. "Very good. We will be making the arrangements to capture the rest of them, and we'll proceed with our further plans for the major Reset."

However, that's when they heard stomping. The riots got louder, and the flames grew hotter. Owlis stopped staring out the window, and actually went out. She walked down the various winding staircases, before going towards the front golden gate of the palace. That's when she saw the titan she never thought she'd see, standing before her.

"What are you?" Owlis asked.

The jackal laughed and roared simultaneously in a weird tone of voice only described as alien. It had a grainy sort of look, along with black diamonds and white stars running across its gray body, while three tails, one perfectly medium gray, one white, and one black, extending for her backside. With that, tassles came from her head, in the colors of the rainbows.

"Greetings," Lantorn said. "No longer am I simply a Prisom, or even an Obsydyn! Indeed, I have become one with all the Qualities, no matter what they are. But I am the source of all this Panic. So how about we drop the airs, and that's what we just call me? Panic?"

Owlis said, "I wouldn't recommend that name. I think that's ultimately what you bring. The ultimate fusion of Fear, Despair, and Worthlessness. That's when somebody panics. But when you fuse Empathy, Willpower, and Dependability, that's when you get something else. What that fusion is, I've never seen before. But I've met you plenty of times, Obsydyn."

Lantorn said, "If I must choose a new name, then my final name will be..." She thought of the most clever pun she could think of. Something to make it into the books for good. "My new name will be none other than a fusion of heaven and earth itself. Where skies meet the ground. I am nothing, I am between everything. Between alpha, and between omega. I am between dark, and I am between light. I am between shadows, and twilight. Therefore, let's keep the name something in between it all."

"Would between be a good name for you?" Owlis asked, slightly amused by Lantorn's fancy talk.

Lantorn said, "Do not diminish me, Owlis, and from now on, I shall be referred to as..."

"Don't think too hard."

"Hyperdiamond." Lantorn grinned. "Yes, Hyperdiamond."

Hyperdiamond howled into the air, and that howl sent fear into others, as it made their bones freeze. Meanwhile, others heard the howls, and stopped aiming for a fight. And then others just collapsed upon the ground.

Hyperdiamond said, "My powers will make all fall before me."

She sent a howl in Owlis' way, and Owlis wasted all of her mana prior, however, a barrier surrounded Owlis.

Hyperdiamond's eyes widened, and that's when she saw a bunch of wolves who made the psychic barrier.

"Meet the full force of the Wysdom army," Owlis said as they confronted Hyperdiamond. Hyperdiamond could only stare on.

"So I guess this is our final fight," Hyperdiamond said.

Owlis crackled with electricity. "With my last remains of power, I'll be fighting you. With the entire Wysdom army, I will be fighting you."

Hyperdiamond licked her teeth, and said, "Then let this be a battle to the death. I will be slaying you to start with my conquest over the gods."

Owlis casually glanced back to her guards. "Go forward. Conquer."

----------------------------------------

"Panic"

Can you see your breath

A mist fine in the cold air?

Leaking further from your mouth

You breath not in or out

And anger pulses

The panic ensues

How do we justify

What we say in anger

Just by saying

We didn't mean it at all

Can you see the horror?

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself

Despair in the air

From the worthless masses who feel they don't have the power to take back power to take back their lives

And this fusion is called none other than panic

How do we justify

What we do in sadness

In our depression

Our only saving grace is we didn't do anything bad, just nothing at all

Breathe in

Breathe in

Panic

Heartache

Bloodshed

No relief

Panic

How do we justify

Our actions

If by mere panic

Then are those reasons or really just excuses?"

----------------------------------------

From death, Solarh rose up, burning back to life before she crept over to her sister Lhyna. Lhyna was still shivered, not yet killed by her previous protege Lantorn. A discarded book laid in front of Lhyna.

Solarh said, "Seems like Lantorn did her best to take us both out. And take us both out she did. You trained her quite well. However, it's time we talk to something equal to the tree of life. Where I got my own powers, and where I found the three dark beings."

Lhyna could only stare up at her sister, without really replying. Her sister was no more than a dark shadow of a person.

"You are no longer a true source of strength for me," Solarh said.

Lhyna twitched around.

"Perhaps if I killed you, that would reset you from this. Reset is such a nice word, I wonder if someone else is as infatuated with it as I am... Anyway..."

Solarh unleashed a barrage of flames, a volley of fire to try and incinierate Lhyna until she was cooked to a crisp. That way Lhyna would revive Fearless.

Solarh stopped the burning, and said, "Smoked wolf smells real good." She took into the air, and stared at the moon. "The moon is strengthened by the sun. The moon only gets its light from the sun." And also the nearby stars, but like Solarh would talk about that.

"Now, I need to take back my powers from that ingrate named Lantorn. There's only one way I know how to do that." She flew off. There was an opposite to the tree of life.

The rock of grim.