Welcome to Gaia! ::

The battlefield had turned in the warriors' favor, the machines and unwilling slaves proving too weak to withstand their superhuman rage. It came suddenly, without warning; a wave of catastrophe with seemingly no source.

A group of three unknowing Northwesterners met the invisible force first — each of their heads whipped violently backward and twisted at the neck, emitting a grotesque and fatal crack! as the bone snapped in two. The weapons relinquished by the lifeless bodies were thrust at the hulking mecha of North, easily tearing through the layers of metal and circuitry at such a high speed. One of the jets was imposed upon by this force, being redirected and sped up toward the ground against its pilot's will, creating a massive explosion on impact with another of the grounded vehicles.

The arcane beings responsible revealed themselves. Crawling to the surface through the crevices of the dead soil, descending on bird's wings from compartments in the sides of the simulation tower, or even materializing from naught but insubstantial mist, they came: The 'Angels.' There were dozens of them, each harboring unique, deadly capabilities. Neither man nor machine, but something vastly different; these creatures defied every law of nature. They did not belong.

Only one was missing from the fight.



Another volley of missiles rained down on the ailing city, crashing through the tallest and most vulnerable of the Northern skyscrapers. Chris heard it all. He felt it in his being.
He couldn't take it any longer.
The boy rushed at the nearest hunk of cement enclosing him, throwing both his arm and will against it. The piece leapt forward, colliding with the building opposite of them. He stumbled out of the shelter, his vision tinted red and blood dripping from his nose from overexertion, anger fueling his drive to persist. The two mutants were on his heels, diverting any debris from hitting him while he led the way down the wrecked main street. Northern civilians cowered in alleyways, some bearing weapons to guard the rest, watching uneasily as the trio passed by. The wail of another bomb sung out overhead, causing Kiros to herd his companions into the nearest alley and generate a force field to protect the whole crowd stored within. Except... this bomb didn't end in an explosion. It impacted with the street, bounced a few times, then halted at the base of a corner store. The large bombshell suddenly sprang open, releasing a few Caretakers along with several hundred mechanical insectoids into the faction. Many other bombs of the same type clattered noisily into the streets, littering the city with enemies.
The Northerners immediately commenced their pitiful acts of defense, shooting without aim toward the robots. Chris wrenched away the pistol of the nearest man, "Give me that!"
The Westerner looked and felt in his most natural state just then; poised for the shot, gun extended as a part of himself, focused on nothing but his mechanical target. His finger tightened around the trigger. Bang! The bullet flew with unnatural speed and power, cracking through the android's armored skull with ease. Blood began to seep out of Chris's mouth, the orb in his forehead burning dangerously hot: He had used his telekinetic force to enhance the shot's power, enabling the bullet to penetrate a surface it normally wouldn't. Once the two mutants understood this, each of them obtained a gun from the humans and joined the boy in this process.
Something clattered in the street beneath the robots — a small bottle. The container burst into an explosion within an instant, tossing machines in every direction. A few more bombs were released before the entire cluster of robots was gone from this sector, a disheveled man cautiously wandering into the intersection after the destruction.
"Devon!" Chris cried out in glee, running out of his shelter to join his companion.
"Hey, man! Nice to see you!" He replied, grinning until his eyes settled on the bloody mess that was his friend's face. He withdrew a clean cloth from his pocket, tossing it at the kid, "You, uh...might want to wipe up a bit. You're leaking all over the place. This orb's really tearing you up inside, huh?" He asked nervously.
Chris smeared the cloth across his face in one gruff motion before discarding it, "It's nothing to worry about; I'm just tired. Where are you heading off to?"
"To find Eva. I haven't seen her since yesterday, and it's worrying me with all of these missiles. Nobody's in the palace now except Scarlet."
The boy nodded to himself, then signaled for his companions to follow, "Alright. We're going with you."

(( ninja 's back to top))

Eva witnessed as the utopia fell to the nuclear catastrophe, annihilating millions of lives from her omniscient existence. She was flooded with emotions not her own, drowned by thoughts both past and present. She was all, she was none. She was losing all sense of self, instead comprised of the thousands of consciousnesses trapped within the simulation. Had she been fully conscious at the time, the woman would have been driven to madness by the complete sensory overload of this eternal memory-bank.
The dying cityscape collapsed from her vision bit by bit, zooming past as data streams, leaving behind naught but white silence.
"It was for the good of humanity as a whole, Eva," A computerized male voice echoed behind her, "Surely you could see my reasons for resorting to such drastic measures."
The AI turned to face her companion. The whiteness melded with a solid wall of scrolling blue numbers, with the outline of a young man dressed in a business suit standing at its epicenter formed by the data. It was Shane.
"You disagree with me..." The male AI cocked his head to the side, "You think I murdered them. Damned them to an eternal hell."
Eva felt sick to her core. Or rather, she felt nothing, but knew what she should be feeling. When she spoke, her words came out in a hollow, computer-generated voice, "You did. You bombed them because you no longer knew how to care for them. You stuffed them into this digital nightmare because it numbed them, and you equated numbness to happiness."
Shane smiled, a twinkle of blue light entered his lifeless black eyes, "By making them a part of me, I have given them a joy otherwise unattainable in the real world; eternal life."
The whiteness abruptly gave way to a sea of stars, the glowing image of Earth floated peacefully above the two AIs.
"Even should this tower be destroyed... No, even if the world were brought to ruin, their memories, their existences shall always remain in the system. We are immortal, spread across the universe in the networks I have lovingly crafted over the past few decades... Isn't that what all humans want? Immortality? Power? Both of which I've given them through my creations." He gestured toward Eva, "You are not human, yet you have lived as one. Just as I have, through the consciousness of those housed in my databanks. You and I? We're both facets of GAOSA, given life and meaning by those who created us, shaped us, taught us, befriended us. And they're now GAOSA as well, absorbed by the system which protects them from worldly pains, contributing to the eternal evolution of the whole being. One day, it shall become as a god; and all who inhabit it shall reap the benefits."



A sigh escaped Layla's lips as she let her mind unfocus, possessing her larger self. The mech shuddered to life, leaves and branches tumbled down its smooth surface from where they had rested during the machine's inactivity. Genesis waited for her to complete her initial motion-testing, then proceeded to lead the way through the winding forest. The suit maneuvered the uneven ground with surprising ease, seeming as if it had belonged there for years.
The android paused in mid-step, deliberating on something. His attention suddenly jerked westward, alerting the mech of the threat just in time to witness the first wave of assault. Trees were wreathed in fire, burning and bending and setting the next line of trees ablaze in a chain reaction. A toxic vapor settled into the forest air, emitted by the gargantuan robotic insectoid which had found its way from the Wastelands. Layla threw herself at the creature, lunging her bladed arm into its side. The insect's armor repelled her weapon, retaliating at the mech with a sweeping motion of one of its many legs. Layla was tossed aside, skidding in the soil to regain her footing before attempting another attack. Genesis leapt onto the insect's nearest limb, gripping both sections of its leg tightly as he kicked its joint out of place. The machine faltered temporarily, quickly readjusting to its new center of gravity. A panel opened up in the creature's underside, raining bullets upon each of its enemies as it unleashed another breath of fire on the forest.

Eva looked onward upon each of the memories and sights with nonchalance, her mind moving far too fast to process anything. She did not fully comprehend the massive presence of the machine and its subnetworks, though she knew that she soon would. Above all else, she was encompassed by an overwhelming sense of peace.
"Neither of us was meant to win over the other..." Eva whispered to herself as Shane returned to her view, "...It's a paradox."
The male AI nodded, "I don't hate you, Eva, I cannot; we are both working for the same cause, albeit in different ways. I like to believe that I am right, though I cannot call you wrong." He glanced absently toward the sky above them, the image of Earth being replaced by an infinite flowchart of decisions. All but two of the main pathways were faded and written in red rather than blue. "We are the embodiments of two separate paths the system could take to achieve the common goal of improving humanity's future. Twenty years ago, there were hundreds of us; as time passed and decision-altering events occurred, we slowly depleted to the few masterplans known to the simulation as the Administrators. Every one of them, except for Raowan, were AIs. Raowan was kept for the sole purpose of teaching us a human perspective, how to empathize with the people we were charged to protect. His involvement in our projects was the primary reason that our existence has been narrowed down to two choices, and why you were created."
Eva swallowed back the sorrow she felt creeping into her thoughts, staring Shane squarely in the eye, "So I was given the rewrite code for a dual purpose — to fool Raowan into believing the web of lies, and to counteract your plans."
"Precisely. Just as you have the power to stop me, I am equally privileged. So long as we both shall exist, neither will win or lose..."
"... And should one be destroyed by an anomaly, so shall the other be irreversibly altered." Eva concluded, her eyes becoming wide with clarity.
Behind it all, past Shane and the flowcharts and the stars, the countdown ticked.
00:19:36



"She's not in this city." Lara opened her eyes, "I could not sense far enough to detect her exact location, but I felt traces of her presence coming from that way, near the tower."
"What the hell is Eva doing there?" Devon asked, furrowing his brow.
Chris looked to his friend sadly, remaining in loyal silence. Scarlet was right; the truth could jeopardize everything.
"Things have calmed down inside the city now — the real action is happening outside of these walls. Are you sure you still want to go?" Kiros glanced from one human to the other. Devon gave a hesitant nod.
The group started toward the massive gate. The locking mechanism had been blasted to bits, leaving a sizable gap in the entrance by which several mecha were stationed as guards. The sounds of war raged on beyond.

Then, there was silence. Complete, utter silence.
Chris felt like his stomach dropped through the ground. Coldness overtook his chest, his heartbeat slowing to near-nothing.
They were going to die. It was all over.
The world spun and tinted every shade of red and grey, the sky became the ground. He lost all sense of direction.
They were going to die. It was all over.
The buildings crumbled around him. Every living creature in a 200-mile radius vanished. Evaporated, annihilated.
They were going to die. It was all over.
He gripped himself around the head, his nails clawing into his face against his will. An inhuman wail tore from his throat, piercing the deadly silence.
He was descending into madness. It was consuming him.

The chaos melted away into the scene of an underground lab, the same one where the Originals were created. He was suspended in a tube full of pale green liquid, illuminated by the glow of hundreds of computer monitors on the wall opposite of him. A circle of the floor was made of indestructible glass, revealing just a glimpse of the impossibly massive computer terminal extending infinitely further into the ground beneath. On the glass was a single acronym printed neatly in bold white letters: GAOSA
A young man and a scientist strolled into the lab, heading directly for one of the monitors.
"I have found the frequency you were searching for, sir," The elder man started, typing away with trembling fingers, "I fed one of the prototype spheres into the system; it dissected the device in seconds, giving us not only the blueprint, but a solid report on how they operate."
The screen displayed a piece-by-piece diagram of the orb.
"They run off of the user's own brain frequency, boosting the mental capacity of the host to the point of being able to manipulate the very molecules of this reality. However, that potential levels off at a certain point, dependent on the host's natural intellect, memory, and compatibility with the device. What you were searching for was—"
"—A way of transcending that limitation, creating a truly perfect mind. One that could reach past this reality." The younger man concluded, his black eyes straying to the orb on the desk in front of him.
"Well, it's possible... You have to override the host's brain frequency, replacing it instead with the master frequency emitted by the system. GAOSA's processing power greatly exceeds the mental capacity of a million human geniuses, thus nearly eliminating that potential drop-off. However, by overriding the host's frequency with something vastly more sophisticated, you send the host into complete madness. The human brain can't possibly hope to handle such an overload; one of our minds is like a single bit to the system's 794 yottabyte hard drive — imagine reversing that role! What, pray tell, do you have in mind for this kind of power?"
The young man smiled, picking up the orb and rolling it between his fingers, "That is not for you to know."
The sphere emanated a pure white light, encasing the scientist and filling the lab.

Chris started back to life, heaving in oxygen as fast as his lungs would allow him to, arms grabbing blindly to find the world around him. He was being carried on the back of something scaly and dark, with long black hair. It was Lara.
He settled back into stillness, his limbs too weak to move. He glanced at their surroundings in silence; they were running through the battlefield completely unnoticed. He shut his eyes.
Wait.
Unnoticed? Invisible? Nonexistent?
His eyes snapped open.
They ran right past a Caretaker, mere inches from its network of advanced sensors. Undetected.
Devon appeared to be perplexed as well, though he kept pace beside Kiros ahead of them.
"Lara, what...just happened?" He finally asked.
"Our destiny is calling us, Chris. We're changing, evolving."
Her orb glowed white as she spoke.



Genesis was about say something to his companions when it began: He both sensed and felt it with his very being — the master frequency. It instilled such a deep, penetrating fear and sense of doom in all who felt it. It was uncontrollable, all-consuming. It was the beginning of the end.
"No! We're too late!" The android exclaimed, his voice thick with fear.
The mech's chestplate retracted, allowing Layla to jump out and join the two robots on ground level, "What's happening, Genesis?"
"The Angels... They're about to absorb or destroy everything in sight."
Without any further explanation, Genesis grabbed Layla by the shoulder and weaved their way through to the forest's edge at top speed.



Eva saw the change in the digital realm around them; stars became pinpoints of a network of signals, all reaching upward and eventually condensing into a single focal point of power which broadcast outward as a wave. Shane's eyes glowed white, as did hers.
"If we're truly equal and the system is unbiased... why is it helping you?" Eva demanded, stepping toward her opponent aggressively. He did not budge or falter.
"It's not helping me. I'm using it. You could use it, too, Eva; it wants you to. Please, counteract me — I don't want to win, nor will I lose. We're not meant to win, because it cannot decide who is right or wrong. We're both right AND wrong, so long as we each achieve the same end result. Go ahead...stop me. Use its power to stop what I've begun."

Eva's physical body twitched, a single impulse leading into the more fluid movement as she stood up and marched to the tower's edge. Her unseeing eyes stared forward, lifelessly determined. She lifted one leg as if to take another step forward, then dropped over the side into the open space ahead.

The group paused halfway between North's outermost territory and the simulation tower. Bullets and lasers zoomed past them on all sides, sometimes even passing through one of them. Chris vaguely, distantly understood that this was not a normal phenomena — his comprehension of the "normal" universe was being twisted and transformed in the same ways as the reality around him.
"You need to recharge before we proceed." Lara informed the boy, slowly lowering him off her back and supporting him as he was too weak to stand alone, "Touch your orb; it will pump energy into your system."
The Westerner hesitated, sensing something malicious in the mutant's undertone. She wasn't fully herself. He wasn't completely himself, either. He felt a sudden urge to touch his orb. He lifted one weak hand to his forehead, pressing two fingers against the smooth, white-hot surface of the sphere...
It felt like a thousand amps of electricity jumped down his arm and danced through every inch of his body. The energy came in a great surge, overtaking his existence; his mind no longer belonged to him, drowning in a sea of consciousness and power. He was but a single file in a database suited to store the universe in its infinite volumes. It was reading him, stripping him down piece by piece to his very nature, copying and downloading every part it deemed important. It was ruling over him, intertwining itself with every strand of his existence, his soul.
Chris floated back to reality, his body fully restored and teeming with energy. He could feel dozens of new consciousnesses brushing against his; strange, foreign entities like the Wasteland mutants, but more advanced. Newer. Stronger. They were tied to him by his connection with the system, though they were enemies in every other regard.
The three orb-bearers glanced toward the tower in unison, just as the Northwesterners began their spiritual ascent.
The Antiexistence was coming.



The metallic plates encircling the tower shifted, clicking into place one at a time, creating an opening at the building's base. Out of the dark abyss rose a single figure: Alena.
Tall, muscled, armored in scales, armed with talons and ungodly strength. Long brown hair, bloodless veins, eyes which appeared as pitch-black, lifeless voids. Orb glowing with the most arcane, unnatural energy.
She took a few steps forward, reaching the edge of the tower's plates, then stopped. The imposing energies of the Northwesterners ahead did not bother her as they did her comrades, bending around her without affect. She looked onward with no expression, no emotion, no life. To any and all energy users in her vicinity, her orb took on a deathly hue — the shade of nothing, of antilife.
The energy burst forward in a tidal wave; eating through everything, shredding to bits and neutralizing every tendril of life in a 100-foot radius. First they stood lifeless, their souls and power torn to nothing, then their bodies were disintegrated by a second pulse. Mere particles were the remnants of those destroyed by Alena's assault, dancing in the air until they were drawn into the vacuums of the other Angels' orbs. Hundreds had perished in seconds, fifty-three of which were Northwestern warriors.
She could generate antimatter with naught but her own power: With GAOSA's endless consciousness, she could unleash the equal and opposite force of life itself — antilife. She was the Antiexistence.
Alena proceeded forward in the battlefield, exerting her energy on combatants all around her. Every one of them succumbed, stilled by her and absorbed by the others. She headed northward.



They reached the exterior edge of the forest just in time to witness Alena's attack. Dust filled the air, swirling as a whirlwind with the monster at its epicenter. Genesis held out his arm in front of Layla, preventing her from getting any closer. He locked eyes with his creation. Alena stared at him in that same stoic expression, her black voids seeming to cut right through his very being. Without any further action, she turned in the direction of North.
"Genesis! She's going to attack North!" Layla cried out, pushing against the robot's arm with urgency.
"I know. We cannot stop her in this state; she'll only continue to use that power to destroy anything and everything. If it weren't for the master frequency, I'd like our chances of survival while in combat against her better... Only Eva can shut it off: We must believe in her to do the right thing." He gazed at the top of the distant tower, focusing on the spot where Eva and Lukas were perched.



Rey snatched up another Caretaker in her mech's hand, crushing it until the robot fell limp in her grip. She tossed its corpse at the approaching mutant, the machine being instantaneously absorbed by the creature's glowing orb. She materialized a laser gun on her mech's left arm, firing off several shots at the mutant. Each blast would have hit the monster head-on, but the energy bent around the creature and dispersed instead. She took a step backward, transforming her right arm into a massive blade. The Northerner waited until her opponent walked within range, then lunged right for the beast's head.
The instant her blade contacted the Angel's orb, a radiant white light reached up the weapon and toward the mech's cockpit, dematerializing and absorbing everything it covered. Rey pulled back against the light, trying to resist with all her might. The mech's arm tore free with a mighty pull, but it was already too late; the light was devouring the mech's lower half, working its way up. As the energy reached the machine's power core, an explosion erupted and sent the upper half of the mech flying. The mangled torso crashed and tumbled, each impact with the ground causing more of the mech's frame to contort and cave in on itself and the pilot. It came to rest several hundred feet away. No signs of life stirred within.

Eva searched without success for any hint on how Shane was controlling the system, or how she could enable herself to. Everything was locked tightly away. Her opponent merely watched her, smiling pleasantly.
Panic shot through her as she glanced toward the countdown:
00:00:57
She closed her eyes, trying to focus. Trying to remember the code, and everything she had to do to use it. Thirty seconds remaining...
Something clicked inside of her head. She no longer felt panic, anger, or any emotion. Information drowned her consciousness, far too fast for a human brain to process, yet she understood all of it instantaneously. She was not human in this instant — she was an AI.
Everything changed around her, a series of screens flashed before her eyes. Using nothing but her mind, she navigated many security-clearance systems in a matter of seconds, until the correct blank entry space finally materialized. Ten seconds remaining. Eva waved her hand over the screen once, causing millions of digits to inscribe themselves on the white page, clearly spelling out "REWRITE" in zeros. Three. Two. One...
She slammed her hand down onto the screen as if hitting a large button, dismissing every screen that had popped up. Everything went silent then. Shane still hovered in the background. Waiting, watching.
Eva felt the simulation reboot, sending a sudden pulse throughout her body like a particularly strong heartbeat. She received every piece of information regarding the system's recovery; including the fact that it would take two weeks for the simulation to return to safe operation, and that all occupant LifeFiles were being relinquished while the repairs were being made.
She also gained awareness of something new: Alena, the rogue mutants (including Chris), and three objects infinitely more dangerous than the lone Angel. One in North, one in Southeast, and one underneath the simulation field. She mentally reached for the underground object.



As the massive mech stepped into battle, there was a surge of consciousness across the thousands of still-alive simulation occupants. It began as a twitch, then a stirring of the head and a few muttered questions. Then came the hysteria. Some went into complete shock, others ran and screamed and shoved others out of the way at the sight of the massive machine and black holes. Some became violent. The chaos flooded across the battlefield like a tsunami.
At the sight of the Awakening, the system pulled at Chris as if he were a puppet. His orb flared with hunger, his limbs tensed for conflict. His hands balled up into fists, summoning chunks of earth to rise around him and form a stony outer body. Lara and Kiros were already out of sight. The telekinetic pressure built up underneath his feet, and in an instant, the boy launched himself forward into the madness like a frenzied gorilla.
He watched it all happen through a distant eye, as if he was a disembodied observer witnessing his body act against his will. He had no power over the system, because the system was him. He would never be entirely the same, regardless of what any Northwesterner tried to do; they could sever the connection, release him from the system's direct manipulation... but they could never bring back the pieces of him that it stole away.
Chris pounced upon the civilians one after another, smashing and sweeping with his earthen arms, forcing human bodies to explode with sheer telekinetic pressure. His orb swallowed down every living molecule that crossed its path. Lara and Kiros materialized ahead, tossing and contorting and ripping bodies to shreds. The more they killed, the hungrier their orbs became and the stronger their bodies felt.
He heard, ever so faintly over the chaos, the voice of Devon cry out in horror, "STOP IT!! This is not what you want, Chris! Fight it!"



The mutant's eyes danced over the heavymatter shield as it materialized around her, searching, learning. Adapting.
As soon as the black holes erupted around her, Alena blinked out of existence. Not into particles, not into energy. Just gone — as if she had never existed in this dimension.

The power core of North stirred to life, its spherical surface emitting a pitch black light from the faction's center. A similar phenomena occurred in Southeast, and though they could not see it, the very earth beneath them, hundreds of miles deep. These were not power cores at all: They were gargantuan orbs being used as such, channeled by GAOSA's all-encompassing consciousness. The blackness spewed forward in massive waves, devouring the civilization surrounding it. The buildings, the palace, the mecha, the sleeping warriors... all being utterly annihilated.

Eva twitched on Lukas's back. Her eyes were still glassy and vacant, revealing the fact that the woman's every action was automatic. The vines confining her were suddenly severed by an invisible force, and Eva herself was lifted into the air, arms outstretched on either side, face cast skyward as she ascended higher than Morning Star, higher than the tower. She was using the system's power to her own advantage, slowly gaining a hold...

The AI's actions weren't quite fast enough. The system rebelled, sending spears of antilife up through the ground and into Lukas and Starfall. The massive gun was melting, dying away in Morning Star's grip. The life-neutralizing energy was worming its way up through each of Lukas's chakras, trying to tear him apart at his core piece by piece. The vines withered and died around him. Another two energy spears, one of heavymatter and one of telekinetic pressure, shot up diagonally through the man's chest and head.
Alena materialized above the giant mech, propelling herself down onto its head with the force of a falling star. Her impact left a sizable dent in the machine's helmet.

Eva's head whipped in the direction of Alena, her fingers began to move at her sides as if she were playing the piano... or manipulating a puppet's strings. The mutant jerked sideways, faltering by a single step on the mech's shoulder, arms and head frozen in an unnatural position. Eva lowered her arms to her sides, then punched forward with her right arm, palm open and fingers extended. Alena shot backward, tossed off of Morning Star, tumbling through open air. The AI whipped her extended arm straight down, directing the Angel to crash to the ground with an immense force. Eva eased her posture as the massive crater formed, dust blocking her view of the mutant. But she knew where it lurked. She raised both arms this time, slowly, palms exposed toward the sky. Alena rose with the motion, stopping at the same height as Eva several dozen feet ahead. Eva tightened both of her hands into fists, feeling as the Angel was being crushed on all sides.

And then Eva was shot out of the sky, tackled by something from above. Her grip on Alena released before the creature could be killed. The Angel vanished from existence again. She and her attacker plummeted to the earth so fast that flames wreathed her back. She used the core's telekinesis to cushion their fall, tossing her assailant over her head as they impacted. Eva fell limply to the ground, just outside of Northwest's forest. Nemesis quickly recovered, towering over the woman with a blade to her neck.
"I promised that I would be the one to end you, AI." The robot crooned, "And soon, the end of everything will descend upon this godforsaken land!"
Genesis charged forward from the trees, pouncing upon Nemesis with every ounce of strength he had, blade readied. The two robots spun and wrestled, their attacks moving faster than the eye could see.

((I know. I think we scare them and that's why no one tries to join.

Right now, this is the song for Lukas, and this one for Scarlet.))

Lukas simply stepped back, and the spears of energy seemed to just... bounce off of him. He stood there other wise, before getting a smirk... and starting to laugh. His laughter was like that of a dragon getting attacked by a kitten.

Really? Really!? That's th' best ye can do? Ye need ah spiritual weed whacker fer someone like me. That was a scientific one... and it still doesn't help you... as I am not a weed.

He shrugged, then twitched once. He closed his eyes and put his hands infront of him, starting to meditate.

I shrugged off the attack, and with a deep internal in-tonal resonance combined with a slight manipulation of my personal magnetic field, and the dent left by the Chimera popped back into place.

I ignored the scared citizens of the simulation as I spun, turning towards North. I suddenly seemed to have a massive bow, pulling it out of seemingly nowhere in one hand, and a massive quiver of arrows on my back. The quiver and bow was made of the same metal that made my skeleton and bones, but the arrows were as black as night. The black holes had since snuffed themselves, so I leapt into the air, jumping straight up.

Out of my back formed three pairs of wings-- one pair on my shoulders, one pair on my middle back, and one pair on my lower back. Up, up I went, till I was hovering over the tower itself and I had a clear view of North and Southwest.

The bow was already strung and I took aim with a deep black arrow at the core at North. It's destriction had been stopped by sime force, which in my energy sight I knew was The Vine's work-- his spiritual vines making a glowing golden cage keeping the sphere of destruction from expanding any more then it had. The Northeners, with their mechs were escorting civilians and sleeping warriors out of North now, towards Northwest.

I shot an arrow. A single, black arrow from a shining white bow, It shot long, it shot far, getting a firey air wake as it shot straight towards the opulent city of North. It looked like a meteor descending on the city as It shot straight through the protective vines, through the field of antimatter, and into the canter of the orb that was causing the sphere of antimatter destruction. There was a massive explosion that rocked the entire city just as the last survivors passed through the gates...

I turned to Southwest, the abandoned city where it's inhabitants were either dead or among the survivors being ushered towards Northwest. The same network of vines held this one in check too. I drew bead on my target and loosed it. With a snap of the silver string, it was not a moment before the black arrow had that fiery air wake glow and within moments rocked the abandoned city of Southwest with a massive explosion.

I then turned and pointed a third arrow at the simulation tower. I loosed it-- but the arrow seemed to pass through the metal casing of the tower, vanishing from view. It was mere seconds before a third explosion rocked the ground below the frightened humans and murderous mutants, knocking everyone off their feat... save for the Vine, of course.

~~~

A white streak arrowed over the simulation field, and with a flap it was revealed to be little Lyra, now hovering over the field with terror and anger in her green eyes. She saw what her fellow orb bearers were doing and shook her head in shame. She flew to Lukas, who stood there Meditating. In her eyes she saw him. She saw Lukas, but she also saw the mass of golden green vines, woven and integrated with his very soul.

She opened her mouth and spoke for the first time in years.

Help me. Help me help my friends. I can't... I can't stand by and watch them do this.

The big man opened his eyes and smiled at the little mutant.

Very well.

He stepped forward, and put a single fingertip to her orb, and it activated, flareing with golden green power. Her wings went up as she was flooded with the power of The Vine.

Thank you!

She took off, a streak of gold, green and white, arrowing towards the three others. She streaked around them in a great circle, pushing the normal humans away from them, and creating a massive grey dust cloud.

With the humans were safely away from them, she landed hard on the dead earth, sending vibrations through the earth. She looked to the three of them, still prone from the explosion that had gone off undernieth them. She stood there, almost defiantly, before reaching up and slowly undoing her robe. It fell away and vanished as her orb flared again, now a brightly shining star.

Her body was tiny, like a child's. She was a child, after all, probably only a few years younger then Chris. But as she flared her wings and thrashed her tail, standing on the dead earth with no protection what-so-ever, it was clear that she now had a level of control that the others did not...

She stepped forward and gave an ear rending shriek of challenge to the three of them. In their eyes her consciousness and energy was interwoven with golden green spiritual vines, and they whipped and lashed around her as if she had always had them. Golden vines, like ribbons, seemed to appear from nowhere and in twine with her hair as they started to manifest physically around her...

Your murderous rampage ends here... even if I have to shatter your orbs to do so.