"Xenogers: New Gospel"

Thunder.

Thunder swept across the open plains, sounding its battle cry as the storm
lashed against anything that stood in its path.  Thunder.

He stood there, watching as the rain lashed against him.  The storm howled
around him, trying to consume him with its fury.  Lightning danced around
him, playing a game of life and death.  He loved it, he loved the fire, the
destruction...  from such pain and suffering had he been born, and to such
pain and suffering had he returned.

He smiled, brushing a lock of his long, red hair out of pale face.  He spoke
but one word.  "Brother."

...

"Fei."  Elly whisped quietly.  "I...  you...  but how?"
Fei Fon Wong didn't say anything, simply gathering her into his arms.  He
held her for a moment, rocking her back and forth, savoring the feel of her
in his arms.  "Elly...  I'm sorry I'm so late."  he whispered.

Her embrace nearly crushed the life out of him.  "I missed you...  What
happened to you Fei?  Why did you leave me?"

Fei smiled.  "You wouldn't believe me, even if I told you."

A touching moment...  I almost wish I had a camera.  Fei turned, and saw
Zen standing next to Emeralda, smiling.  These are extrodinary friends you
have, partner.

"Thanks Zen...  I told you that you'd like Elly."  Fei replied, and kissed
her on the top of the head.  "Its been a long time."

"I'm sorry...  am I interupting anything?"  The voice was weak, strained,
and rasping.  Garr had managed to lever himself up from his place on the
ground, and was leaned against a nearby tree.  "Lady Elhaym, who is this?
What happened?"

Elly smiled, and turned towards Fei.  "Officer Garr, I would like to
introduce you to my fiance, Fei Fon Wong.  Fei, this is Garr, the science
officer of the Einhander.  The Einhander was a federation ship that arrived
here several weeks ago."

Fei's eyebrow was raising higher and higher, until Elly thought that it
might just off of his head.  "Ah...  um...  Elly...?  When did I become your
fiancee?"

"You WERE planning to ask me to marry you, wern't you Fei?"  Elly replied in
a teasing voice, putting on her most innocent expression.  "You've finally
returned from your long, perilous journey to the lovely maiden whom you love
more than any other, fully intending to confess your undying love, haven't
you?"

Fei gave an embarrassed little laugh, and rubbed the back of his head.
"Well...  yes...  I mean...  well..."

Elly gave him an utterly horrifed expression.   "You mean that you don't
love me any more???"  she gasped, and it appeared that she was going to
break into tears.

"No, Elly...  its just that I...  well...  this is all just..."  Fei was
managing to fumble for something to say, staring at Elly with an utterly
forlorn expression for a moment.

She couldn't stand it any longer.  "Fei, the expression on your face..."
she giggled.  "Its just too much."

Zen was covering his mouth to conceal his smile, and Emeralda wasn't even
bothering.  Fei, you told me that she was a gentle, loving innocent young
lady.  You didn't bother to mention that she was also a living flame as
well.

"Gentle...  innocent...  young...  lady???"  Elly replied, glancing at Fei.
"I'll have you know that I've been in the military longer than he..."  she
jerked her thumb at Fei, "can remember.  And trust me...  as Emeralda and
Shitan can attest to, I am most certainly NOT the splitting image of a
proper 'Lady'...  Nor am I a holy person, or a govenor, or spiritual sign
post..."

Emeralda fell backwards onto the ground, howling with laughter.  "What are
you laughing at?"  Elly demanded.

"You...  Elly...  ha...  ha..."  Emeralda managed to gasp out.  "If your not
any of those things, what ARE you?  What have you been doing for the past
year?"

Elly raised her hand, and stopped.  She tried to say something again, and
stopped again.  After a moment, she spoke.  "You're...  right.  Thats what I
have been doing."  She shook her head.  It was strange, looking back on the
past year with a clear head for once, seeing everything that had happened.

"If you don't mind, I think we need to get back to Nisan."  Garr added, in a
cold, level voice.  "The fact that the Hellions are already so far out here
is not encourging.  We need to discuss this."

Elly nodded.  "Vierge and Crecens are off to the west."  She pointed off
into the woods.  "Its not that far...  so lets get going."

...

"My Lord, we have a report from Nataku and his team."

"Excellent.  What do they have to report?"

"They encountered signifigant opposition, and he lost most of his squad.
He reports that...  Sir, he believes that both the Alpha and the Omega are
upon this planet."

"The Alpha and the Omega?  Then it is possible that the Counterpart is here
as well?"

"Nataku believes that the possibility exsists.  One of his opponents, a
young girl, possess the Infini factor unique to the Unit.  He also believes
that...  Sir, I am not certain what to make of this."

"Continue."

"Sir, he also beleives that the RaKaiser is here.  On this planet, at this
moment."

"RaKaiser...  Being of destruction.  The only being to battle the Part, and
survive.  Thank you.  Please tell Nataku that I am looking into this."

...

"Fei, just where have you been?"  Elly asked, glancing over at him.  Fei was
perched to the side of Vierge's control console, trying to keep from
obstructing Elly's view.

"Its hard to explain..."  Fei replied, looking out the window.  The
landscape was rushing by, a blur that made distinguishing individual
features difficult.  "I had to leave the planet, to draw them away from us."
He glacned at Elly, seeing her questioning expression.  "They are the
Hellions...  beings of darkness, born of a dark nebula.  The Hellions
represent pain, death, and fear.  Their entire society is contructed around
war, and death.  They noticed the destruction of Deus, and came here.  I
escaped in Xenogears to draw them off."

"The reason there was no trace of my disappearance was becaues of the Path
of Sephirot...  It opened, allowing me to escape into the Wave Exsistence.
The bastards followed me in though..."  Fei looked down at his hands.  "By
the time I'd lost most of them, and destroyed the rest, I was so far off
course that I didn't know where I was.  I left the Wave Exsistence, and
arrived in the center of the Federation."

"You've been to the Federation?"  Elly gasped, suprised.  According to
Captain Antonof, it had taken the Federation YEARS to get to this place, so
far out of the way of heavily used space.  And Fei had gone there, and
returned so quickly?  "What is it like?  How did you get back so quickly?"

"Its rather peaceful...  if Garr or his captain have told you about how the
Federation tries to stamp out poverty, and crime, they are telling the
truth.  I don't approve of all of the methods that they use at times, but it
does improve the standard of life."  Fei smiled, remembering.  "It is rather
attractive there...  I might have stayed, if I knew that the most beautiful
lady in all of exsistence was not waiting for me back here."

Elly blushed slightly, and waved her hand at him.  "You have always been
such a flatterer.  So you were always intending to return?"

A nod.  "Yes...  I was going to return earlier, but I was afraid that the
Hellions would track me.  I knew that you were keeping Nisan safe, and that
you were probably running things.  You haven't had any troubles except for
that recent Wels attack since nine months ago..."

Elly stopped.  "What?"  she breathed, not believing what she had heard.
"Did you...  how did you know that Fei?"

Fei shrugged.  "You told me...  I think.  It might have been..."  Suddenly
he stopped as well.  "In a dream."

"They wern't dreams, were they Fei?"  Elly asked, looked directly at the
console.  "I mean, I thought they were, but..."

"I haven't thought about them for a while... I stopped having them half a
year ago...  until recently."  Fei shook his head, looking down at his
hands.  "Elly, this is kind of embarrassing...  I mean..."

"Fei, its not like we haven't done that type of thing before."  Elly
replied, glad that Fei was so busy not looking at her, so that he missed the
fact that she was blushing a brilliant red.  She managed to keep her tone
fairly even, with a slight tone of amusement to it.  "And if we were talking
with each other...  well, we both wanted that, didn't we?"

...

The crater was a fused glass surface, converted by Deus into part of itself.
A weapon, although no one knew its exact purpose.

The being walking across the surface did not know it either, but the
possibilites excited it.  This was obvious the Alpha model of the Deus
planetary attack system...  most likely the one that had been disposed of.
The Federation did not like to 'lose' these things, and the fact that an
expedition had just recently arrived meant that they were not as interested
in recovering it.

The being was cloaked in shadows, a black fabric that seemed to be a piece
of the interstellar void wrapped around its body.  It head was covered,
except for the breathing device that extended slightly beyond the hood.

'Lord Dark', master of the Hellion dreadnaught 'Morning Star', looked down
into the massive crater, at the tunnel that fell seemingly into the center
of the earth.  "Yes, this is the place.  The Deus was here."

The Deus...  that creature had been part of the anti-human propoganda since
the beginning of the war.  Certainly a race of creatures that would create
such a weapon were nothing more than barbarians, who deserved to die.  Who
must be wiped from exsistence, to protect others.  The Deus had started this
war...

Dark smiled.  His people had never recovered an intact Deus unit.  Perhaps
that would change.

And then they could meet the humans on their own ground.

...

The party raised their glasses.

"To peace!"  Elly intoned.

"To love!"  Emeralda chimed in.

"To...  um...  ah, give me a sec..."  Fei replied sheepishly.

To companionship.  Zen added, raising his own glass.

"To bravery."  Garr added.  He sniffed his drink.  "Are you sure its alright
to drink this stuff?"

Fei smiled at Garr.  "I don't think it will kill you."  Garr shook his head
at that and Fei raised his drink.

"To heros!  The whole lot of you.  Cheers!"  Glasses were emptied all
around.  Garr coughed, pounding his hand on the table.  Zen and Emeralda
slapped him on the back, trying to restore his breathing.  Elly giggled
softly, and glanced at Fei.

"Didn't you say it would be safe for him to drink that?"  Elly asked in her
most sweet, innocent voice.  Fei grumbled, and started eating his food.

The tavern was small, but it projected a very comforting atmosphere.
Patrons had not been arriving as much since the troubles began several years
ago, and the innkeeper was more than happy to put them up for the night.
Thus, everyone had settled in for a meal, drink, and to share their stories.

"So, Mister...  Zen?"  Garr asked, point his fork at the young man.  "I have
a few questions for you."

Well, I have some answers.  Shall we compare, and see if they match?  the
dark haired young man asked.

Garr shook his head.  "The big question is...  how did you come to possess
these types of powers?  Etherion's, my people, resulted from a reaction of
the Prime Reactor on Ethon Prime.  But true psychics are exceedingly rare in
the Federation...  ones that have your level of power are even rarer still."

Zen twirled a few noodles on his fork, and ate them with several quick ,
sharp bites.  I suppose that I've always had my powers...  ever since I was
first created.  But it hasn't been until lately, when I first met Fei, that
they began to mature.  I have never been able to speak...  apparently my
powers have ursurped the speech center of my brain, making it impossible for
me to use my voice.  Thus, I have always talked telepathicly.  But my
kinetic abilities did not mature until I met Fei.

As if to demonstrate, Zen lifted his hand.  The cup in front of Garr drifted
into the air, turned several times, and lowered back to the table.  I
haven't had the time to adjust to them that I would like...  Ever since Fei
appeared in my life, I've been involved in constant combat.

Garr nodded.  "Just where did you meet Fei?"

Fei answered that question.  "On Earth.  Zen was living on the streets,
working as a priest, when I found him."  Elly glanced at him, wondering why
he had stopped.  Was something wrong?

Fei tightened his grip on his glass, his hand trembling.  "I had been
fleeing from the Hellion's for over a month at that point...  I didn't know
where I was, or what was going on.  It was possible that their covert agents
might have caught me if not for Zen."

Elly smiled at Zen, inclining her head slightly.  "Well, it seems that I owe
you Fei's life as well as my own."

Do not mention it, Lady Elhaym.  I would never consider abandoning a
friend.  Fei was lost, confused, and lonely.  I simply offered him the help
he needed.  The raven haired man smiled.  After that, I found life as a
wanderer to be much more enjoyable than my previous one.

"And so we eventually ended up here."  Fei leaned back, sipping his refilled
drink.  "We had a few brushes with the Hellions here and there, but nothing
too major.  Just that one incident..."  he trailed off, thinking.

"Fei, whats wrong?"  Elly asked, concerned.

"Fei's Kim, what is the matter?"  Emeralda asked, placing her hand on his
arm.  Fei shook his head.

"Just...  bad memories.  Thats all."  He shuddered slightly.  "Things I
would rather not remember."

Fei, Atavus IV was a long time ago...  you need to put it behind you.  Zen
nodded, gesturing to Elly, Emeralda, and Garr.  You are among friends, and
we both killed that 'thing'.

Fei laughed, not quite hiding the fact that he was forcing it.  "I suppose
your right...  its nothing worse than what I've faced here."  He turned to
Emeralda and Elly, his smile no longer forced.  "Besides, I don't have to
worry about these things with my family here."

"Kim has always been very wise."  Emeralda replied, smiling slightly.  "Kim
told Emeralda once that 'man should not dwell on his past, lest it drag him
down'.  Kim also said that those who are lost in their own pasts are doomed
to repeat those mistakes."

Fei smiled, amused.  "Kim was a very wise man...  much wiser than I am."

"Fei's Kim.  Thus you are also wise.  Emeralda thinks that you don't
recognize that yet."  Emeralda smiled sweetly, before applying herself to
the meal that the waiter was destributing.  "Emeralda also thinks that Kim
needs to learn to develop Kim's sense of humor...  Kim has been very grouchy
lately."

Fei's smile darkened somewhat...  Elly knew that he did not like the
reminders of his past, or Elly's past.  "Well...  perhaps."

...

"Elly?"

Emeralda's voice was soft, almost inaudiable.  Elly turned, looking at the
little girl.  "What is it, Emeralda?"

The girl stood next to her, looking out the window of their room.  "Elly,
Emeralda wants to thank you for bringing Kim back.  Emeralda...  was not
sure if she could survive the fight with Nataku."

Elly smiled, placing her hand on the emerald haired girls arm.  "You would
have been fine...  I belive in you Emmy."  Elly blinked as Emeralda gave her
an expression of wonder.  The old nickname for the girl had slipped out,
almost without Elly noticing it.

"You've never called me Emmy before, Elly.  Not since that last day."
Emeralda smiled, placing her hand against the window.  "You either called me
Emeralda, or daughter.  I liked Emmy...  Kim called me that.  But I think I
liked it better when you called me your daughter."

Elly sat down on her bed, still looking at the child.  "What was it like,
all those years in the dark?  All alone?"

Emeralda looked down from the window, her hand still resting against it.
"It was dark...  cold, and lonely.  I had to watch you die, Elly.  They
tried to kill Kim, but he escaped.  Then...  I had to sleep, and wait.  I
waited for you to wake me up."

The long ago pain was one of the first memories Elly had ever recovered.
Zeboim was dying, when Kim had created Emeralda...  the young girl, formed
of a large coloney of nanomachines, was to be the worlds hope...  their
'angel'.  The girl who would bring light to the world.

Her 'daughter', created with a combination of both Kim and Elly's DNA...  a
gift for the young woman who had lost any chance she had to bear children
for the man she loved.  A small light of joy, among a sea of darkness.

Elly smiled at Emeralda.  "Daughter...  It just dosen't feel quite right.
Kim and the other Elly were your parents, and they died a long time ago.
But...  I'll try."

Emeralda walked over and hugged Elly tightly.  "Thank you Elly...  Mother."

...

The doors of the great cathedral crashed open.

"Alright, where is he?"  the voice demanded as the man swept into the room
like a typhoon.  People moved as quickly as possible to get out of his way,
stumbling, sliding, and sometimes even crawling.  "Where is that coward??"

Four young women followed the man into the room, glancing around at the
scene of chaos that his entry had caused.  The first one put her hand on her
forehead and sighed.  "I thought he got over this."

The second young woman shook her head. "Apparently not...  I hope nothing
awful comes of this."

"That has about as much chance of happening as I have a chance of not having
to apologize to Elhaym in a few minutes."  the first woman replied, a
scornful expression on her face.

"You mean your going to apologize to Elly?  Oh Dominia, your S~O NI~CE!"
the third girl cried, in her normal, high pitched voice.

The fourth woman growled, not saying anything.

The first woman, Domina, glared at Serphitia with an expression that could
melt ice...  one that the younger girl did not seem to even notice.  The
leader of the Elements shook her head, and stalked off after her commander.

"Hyuga, where are you?"  Ramses bellowed, glancing around the great hall of
the cathedral.  "Damnit, you traitor!  Show me your face."

Remus bounced around the corner, trying to straighten his Ethos uniform as
he did so.  He saw the older man, surrounded by four young women, standing
in the center of the great hall, and blanched.

"Damn it..."  he whispered.  Ramese and the Elements had not been seen for
over two years, even since the heroes had destroyed Deus.  And Ramses
obsession with Fei was well known in Nisan, especially after his aborted
attempt to force him into combat with his attack on the city proper during
the Solaris War.  Only Elly had kept him from destroying half of the city in
an all out rampage.

Remus walked with a slow, stately pace across the carpet towards Ramses.
"Greetings, Commander."  he announced formally, using Ramses formal title of
Commander of Gebler.  There was always some measure of confusion in Gebler
between the ranks of 'Commander' and 'Commander of Gebler', but they managed
to cope...  somehow.

Ramses turned to fix him with an intense stare.  "Who are you?  Where is
Hyuga?"  he demanded.

Remus bowed slightly, crossing his hands in front of him.  "Shitan is
working on several important projects...  I am not certain if he is
available for an audiance."

"He'd better be."  Ramses snarled.  "Those hell beasts have landed in the
southern portion of Ignas, and the only thing keeping them from tearing the
place apart are my forces."

...

"Khar!"

"Hyuga, you traitorous bastard!  How are you doing?"

Ramses sat down in one of the five chairs that had been dragged into
Shitan's office, and sighed deeply.

"Well..."  Shitan replied with a grin, ignoring the splint on his arm...  a
momento from the Hellion assualt force's attack on Nisan.  It hurt almost
constantly now.  The Hellion had crushed most of the bone in his upper arm
and compressed the muscle to almost a tenth of its origional size, and it
was going to take a large amount of time for the damage to heal, and an
equal amount of time in physical rehab to regain full usage of his arm.  Not
to mention that without the painkillers he was on, it hurt like hell.  "I
suppose that I could be doing better."
"We all could be doing better."  Ramses replies, glancing around the office
with a sparkle of amusement in his eyes.  "Those monsters have been pressing
my forces hard, and I've had to sacrifice a few gears against them.  These
things are insane...  I've seen at least three Serphs in their ranks, and
that's just the beginning.  Most of the monsters that are fighting for them
have never been seen before on this planet, let along on the surface."  He
straitened, fixing Shitan with a gaze that was almost knife-like in its
intensity.  "I never saw Krelian working on any of these things...  where
did they come from?"

"It's a bit complicated, old friend."  Shitan sighed, resting his chin on
his hands as he looked across his desk at the commander of the surviving
Gebler forces.  "You've heard of the ship from our home planet arriving
here, haven't you?"

"Some rumors, yes."  Ramses replied, leaned back on the legs of his chair as
he rested his feet on the corner of Shitan's desk.  "But nothing concrete,
I'm afraid.  I've been our on the Frontier too long..."  he added, referring
to the southern sections of Ignas that had been reverting to wilderness as
the people who lived there fled north to the more 'civilized' regions.
"What about it?"

Shitan took a few minuites to explain what had been going on over the last
few weeks...  the arrival of the crew of the Einhander, the attacks by the
Hellions, the destruction of the Einhander, Elly's disappearance...

Ramses sat back and gave Shitan a long, penetrating look.

"If you weren't one of my old Elements, I'd say you were lying through your
teeth Hyuga."  he finally replied, allowing his chair to come to rest on the
floor with a thump.  "The Federation?  The creators of the Deus system, and
our ancestors?  This is a little hard to take in."

"Trust me, it gets worse."  a voice replied from the door.  It was dark and
silky, the very sound of it raising the hair on the back of Ramses neck.
"It gets MUCH worse."

The Gebler Commander spun around, his hand dropping to the sword at his side
as he knocked his chair aside.  The voice chuckled again, and its owner
stepped out of the hallway and into the room.

"You."  Ramses snarled.  "The demon of Elru."

"Ramses, its been a while.  If you want me to tear all of the limbs off of
your gear again, we can go outside and get to it.  But if you've gotten over
that little obsession as Shitan has told me you have, then perhaps we can
get down to business."  Id walked into the room, wearing a black jumppsuit
with red highlights.  It was certainly the most normal thing that Shitan had
ever seen him wear...  Id had almost always worn his blood red armor when he
was fighting.  His hair was more restrained...  intead of the usual wild,
free flowing mass, Id had tied it back into a pony tail similar to Fei's.
The only real difference between them now (besides the obvious hair color
and skin tones) was the fact that Id had two bangs on the front of his face,
while Fei only had one.

Shitan sighed, and walked to stand next to Ramses.  Placing a hand on his
shoulder, Shitan spoke in his most calm, level voice.  "Kahr, it may be hard
to believe, but Id is on our side now.  He was the one who saved me from the
Hellions when they attacked Nisan."

"Pretty trusting of you Shitan.  For all you knew at that point, I was
simply killing it so that I could have the pleasure of finishing you off
myself."  Id replied with a slight smile.  "But yes Ramses, for the time
being I am on your side.  I have no more love of the Hellions that my alter
ego brother has."

Shitan sighed, and walked back behind his desk.  "Id, you claimed that Fei
would be returning to Ignas soon.  When do you think that he will arrive?"

Id thought for a moment, tapping his foot on the floor with a slow, measured
beat.  "He should be returning to Nisan tomorrow."  He clapped his hands
together, and slid a seat next to Ramses, ignoring the dark glare that the
Gebler Commander was giving him.  "Now then, lets get down to the business
of exterminating these roaches who've infested my planet."

...

"Who goes there?"  a voice shouted out of the mist.

"A friend with friends!"  Emeralda shouted back.

"Any friend of Nisan's is a friend of ours!  By the grace of God, you may
enter this place!"

Fei gave Elly a curious look, wondering what was going on.  She replied with
a slight shrug.  "I haven't the slightest.  Emeralda was one of the Etones
who searched the planet for any pockets of survivors.  And I know ther were
a few plances who requested that she not report them."

Emeralda smiled, and replied one last time.  "We thank God for your
kindness."

There was a creaking sound from within the darkness, and a pair of powerful
lights illuminated the area.  A pair of steel doors stood open slightly,
enough to allow their gears entry into the facility.  There were a pair of
Falcon Blades standing guard, their swords pointed face down into the
ground.  One of the gears nodded, and gestured for Vierge and Crescens to
enter.

"What is this place?"  Garr asked quietly, glancing around the metal
interior of the facility.  "Its...  huge."

"This is one of the undergroup Ethos bunkers scattered over the area."
Emeralda replied as they moved down a long, dark corridor.  "It is a remnant
of the Zebiom Civiliaztion, an underground transit system that they used to
move troops and supplies between their cities.  The design is similar to the
Mass Driver, but this system moves cargo, rather than weapons.  We use it to
travel between Ignas and the outlying islands of Aquavay."

"Incredable...  given the level of technology that I've seen so far on this
planet, this is a miracle of science."  Garr replied, still looking around
the corridor from Crescens shoulder.  "A mass driver, and an
intercontinental maglev transit system...  only the most advanced systems in
the Federation have anything like this."

Fei shot Elly a quick look.  "How much does he know?"  Fei whispered.

"Nothing about us...  we don't know how much he knows about Deus, or about
the colony ship that crashed here."  Elly replied, her voice barely above a
whisper.  "Be careful in what you say...  Emeralda has been pretty careful
about what she's told her so far."

Fei nodded, and walked up Vierge's arm to stand on one of the gears shoulder
plates.  Garr was only a few meters away, stitting on one of Crescens
shoulders.  "Well, all of this is the remnemets of an ancient civilization
called the Zeboim...  they were a warlike culture, and they eventually
killed themselves off.  Many of our gear designs origionated in that time
period."

"Fascinating..."  Garr whispered.

"Fascinating indeed, RaKaiser."  A voice boomed.

"What?"  Fei shouted, spinning to looked down into the darkness of the
corridor.
At the far end, near the mag train, stood a figure of almost complete
shadow.  Fei shook his head, until he realized that the person standing
there was almost as tall as Vierge and Crescens...  and that he was clearly
not human.

"The tale of this planet is one that your superiors might find interesting,
Garr of Federation.  It is also one that my own masters are interested in."
the figure continued, not moving from where it stood.  "The only being to
battle the Part and survive...  RaKaiser, you are the last person I expect
to see here."

"Do I know you, monster?"  Fei demanded, almost leaping to the floor to
confront the mysterious figure.  He stopped at the last second, deciding
that if his opponent was gear sized, he be better off with Elly and Vierge.

"Probably not.  However, I was there when you and your metal monster battled
the Fleet Lord Shadow, one of our greatest comamnders.  I watched as he
unleashed the Part upon you, and as you escaped from the most powerful
weapon our race had ever designed, slaying Lord Shadow in the process."

Fei's eyes widened slighlty.  "The other fleet lord..."  he whispered to
himself.

"Yes.  You may call me Lord Dark, RaKaiser."  the figure turned, as if to
leave.  It paused for a moment.  "You will be a most satisfying catch...  do
not think that I will make the same mistakes that Lord Shadow did."

Fei swore, a bolt of Chi energy collecting between his hands.  There was a
roar as the shot flew towards the Hellion, illuminating the tunnel as it
flew onwards.  Lord Dark laughed, and faded from view, the bolts passing
through where he had stood a moment earlier and destroying part of the wall
behind him.

"Most worthy prey indeed!  Make your peace with whatever gods you hold
sacred RaKaiser...  I will come for you soon."

...

Authors Note:

Whew!  Done at last.  Sorry its taken so long for this seciton to get out,
but I recently graduated from high school, and college has reduced the
amount of time I have to write.  Thanks for reading!

BTW, my new hompage can be found at
http://www2.crosswinds.net/~starstrike/runes.htm

Thanks!

Rune Grey
Hunter of the Darkness
Korin of Hikari
all of whom are Jonathan Lloyd