Company and Calamity

With everything stacked against them the group began to lose hope and they all looked at one another in fear, Desire closed her eye's and Life looked up, almost accepting his fate, Sky and Tide where growing too week to do anything. Kyuubi looked at the portal and looked almost as if he was going to cry. Daybreak fell to his knees and began crying even harder, Shade looked disappointed. Daybreak shook his head slowly and trembled "n-no..." he cried, he sounded like a young child. He started getting louder. The barrier shattered and Sky and Tide collapsed to the floor out of exhaustion. Daybreak turned his head upward, eye's closed, he let out an ear piercing scream that forced everyone to cover their ears, the scream revurberatead around the entire forest and Daybreak rose from the ground, the scream felt like it got louder and all the trees in the surrounding aria where uprooted and blown away. The trees and bushes and anything els within the vesinity, except for the group some how, where launched millions of miles away, including any clouds in the aria, The giants where no acception. Daybreak pulsed energy and his colors changed rapidly between white and black, and black and white, starting From his rings they pulsed outward making him change between Daybreak and Sunset consistently.

The giants were sent flying. The negative energy seemed to have left as well. The group sat in an empty field, devoid of trees, grass, and giants. They had a clear access to the portal.

Daybreak's screaming calmed down and he lowered to the ground again, now that it was safe. The group stood horrified for a moment before Daybreak collapsed to the ground as well. Tide and Sky had recovered during Daybreak's screaming and Desire caught him before he hit the floor. "Lets get in, Quickly!" Kyuubi grabbed him too and helped Daybreak into the portal, the group filed in after one another into the portal. Kyuubi Daybreak, Sky, Life, Desire, Shade, Tide and the Hollow all stepped into Hyrax's world...Daybreak coughed up some of that black substance that was assumed to be his blood as seen when they first encountered Daybreak. Life quickly rushed over to Daybreak and put his hand on Daybreak's chest, his hand shined green and emitted a comforting green and yellowish aura as he helped Daybreak recover, "you alright?" Kyuubi asked, Daybreak looked at him "I-is everyone else safe?" he coughed, "yes...Were all fine" Kyuubi responded, "then...I'm alright too..." he laid back and smiled, Life continued to opperate. Everyone looked around where they where. Among all the pannic they didn't take the time to look around immediately...

The group was deposited at the city they had visited. Nothing was different. It was just business as usual. Rax of all varieties walked about as if the group's arrival was nothing but normal. They were, however, on the edge of the city. Behind them was the path leading through the mountains... Towards Hyrax's fortress.

They stay for a moment, catching their breaths and recovering. Daybreak's breathing stopped sounding shaky and sounded normal again, he looked relaxed. Life's hand was hovering a couple of centimetres away from Daybreak's body and he moved it up and down near his head and down to his stomach aria. "how's he doing?" Desire asked and put her hand on Life's shoulder,
"he's doing fine. He'll be better in a moment." he responded. After a few moments, Life put two of his hands on Daybreak's chest and a small pulse of energy was sent throughout Daybreak and Life let out a sigh and removed his hand from Daybreak's chest. Daybreak sat up slowly, and exhaled and what looked like green energy came out of his mouth and acted like smoke after blowing out a candle and it faded away. The both stood up. "so...that's where were headed?" Syrix gestured to the path towards the fortress, Kyuubi nodded "alrighty then..." Syrix looked mildly satisfied. "everyone ready?" Sky asked and one after the other the group nodded "this should be fun." Tide said and gave a mischievous smile, Daybreak took a deep breath "I've been waiting for this to be over already..." Daybreak looked down "we can do this." Desire put her hand reassuringly on Daybreak's shoulder "I fear for what this 'cycle' will bring" Life closed his eye's and took a deep breath, then he looked at the mountain, "alright...Lets do this already." Shade sighed, despite everything that happened, he seemed laid back and a little bored. the Hollow hesitated and looked a bit worried. "Well...Hyrax..." Kyuubi spoke and he looked at the path through the mountains "here we come." Kyuubi took a breath and took the first step forwards. The group all advanced on the path to the fortress...

The path was rugged and difficult, but no immediate dangers presented themselves. The feeling of being watched was, again, everywhere. Continuing along the path, the group had entered the area where it grew difficult to breath, however, no such reaction occurred. The air was normal, almost fresh. The trip would still take a while, but luckily, Hyrax's fortress could be seen a little ways away.

The group trudged onward. They hardly said anything to one another, the tension in the air was intense which made it a bit difficult to strike up conversation. They spotted the castle in the distance and paused for a moment to look at it. Kyuubi took a deep breath and stepped forwards again and began the march once again. Kyuubi looked serious but in reality he was...conflicted. He kept taking deep breaths and tried reasureing himself. This wasn't the first time he battled with Hyrax, but this battle seemed...different somehow. The way the other Hyrax and Katie where talking about it made him worry a bit about what was about to occur. Kyuubi realized that he had distracted himself and had sowed down, he picked his pace back up and shook away his thoughts. Daybreak looked worried and conflicted as well, he kept looking around and the feeling of being watched didn't make him feel any better.

Soon, the group reached the edge of the abyss that surrounded the castle. The bridge was the only way across, and it stood firm and powerful. Across the bridge was the ever vigilant guard. He held his club tightly and stared blankly into space. Probably not much to see out here, but the guard stood firm anyways.

The group's positions changed, and Desire now stood in the lead, They walked forwards. Desire lead the whole group across the bridge towards where the guard was. Desire stood almost completely vertical, Sky looked at her and apparently felt the need to stand up straight as well. Kyuubi peeked over the edge of the bridge slightly to try and see if he could spot the bottom but retracted away from the edge soon after.

With the brief glimpse Kyuubi had recieved, it was apparent that there was no way a fall to the bottom could leave anyone alive, if there even was a bottom. The guard remained absent minded as the group approached, almost as if they were permitted to pass.

They slow down as they reach the guard and Desire looked at the guard for a moment and then kept walking past, The group did mostly the same as they reached the guard. Daybreak looked behind him to see if anyone was looking, he was uneasy and he took a deep breath in to calm himself down.

The rest of the walk up to the castle is short. A simple staircase and walking through two massive doors was all there was left to do. The castle hadn't changed since the group was last there. The usual bustling of the aspects was continuing on as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Suddenly, a long line of giants walked past, not paying the group a hint of attention. It seems the pursuers were back, but where they were heading was a mystery. After all, there were so many halls and rooms to explore.

Sky made a face at the giants after they passed. The group shifted again and Kyuubi was in the lead again."does anyone really know where were going?" Syrix asked. Daybreak glanced at Syrix "I...I don't remember this place...but...I don't know why but...I feel almost like...maybe I should..." Life looked at Daybreak slightly confused but didn't say anything. The Hollow stepped forwards "I want to be a help." It stood and took a deep breath in, "can try and track Hyrax" it began sniffing the air...

Hyrax's distinct scent could be faintly smelled everywhere, but a strong concentration of it could be traced up the front staircase and to the left, down another hallway.

The Hollow stopped at the fork in the road and looked left and right at the staircase and the left hallway it opened it's eye's "both ways..." the group looked around the two path ways. "Lets split up..." Kyuubi said "either way we'll find Hyrax" the group looked at one another and nodded. Desire conjured a rose and handed it to Kyuubi, Kyuubi took it "we can communicate through this, well...you and I can." she said pointing to Kyuubi and herself "or whoever holds the flower." he nodded and wrapped the flower around his wrist. Kyuubi took the stair case and Desire took the hall way. Daybreak, Shade and the Hollow followed Desire and Sky, Life and Tide followed Kyuubi. Desire and the others made their way down the hall way in their search for Hyrax.

The hall Desire started down seemed normal. A few doors here and there lined the hall for a few yards before there was a right turn. Turning right, the small group could see the hall was lined with stained glass windows, each depicting a different, what could be interpreted as, historical moments.

Daybreak stepped forward. He looked at the first window "these remind me of that other one...I saw in my dream..." Daybreak inspected one closely. Desire kept walking, much slower than before and she looked around at the windows, trying to find out what they could mean...

The windows all had tiny brass description plates centered at the bottom of the frames. Daybreak had stopped at one depicting a massive white figure striking down a massive black one. the description read "Origin Colossus strikes down Corruption." Seeing as there was no other picture before it, it could be assumed that nothing is known about these two before Corruption's defeat. It seems each picture was a historical event set in chronological order.

Daybreak read the name plate out loud, "Origin Colossus strikes down Corruption." he looked up at the glass window "...I almost wish that was me..." he said quietly, looking up at the white colossus made out of glass. Desire paused and looked at the one next in the time line "they have plaques on them." and she inspected it. Each member of the halved group stopped by one of the Windows and read the dicription in order.

Desire's depicted the Origin Colossus holding out what appear to be it's hand. On the ground beneath it stood four figures. The plaque read "The New World. The creation of Deltrax, Ragrax, Xandrax, and Archtrax. Origin's passing." It seems the fight had also spelled the end of the Origin Colossus. Shade's was next. His picture was of a massive, wavy energy entering the mind of a small child. His plaque read, "The host has been chosen." Daybreak's new picture depicted the four original sages being approached by Hyrax, appearing out of a portal. The plaque read, "The visitor." The Hollow was next. His picture was of Hyrax giving each of the Sage a symbol. Deltrax was handed an hourglass. Ragrax was given a bolt of lightning. Xandrax was given a small cluster of zeros and ones. Archtrax was given a green swirl. The plaque read, "An unexpected gift."

The group looked at one another, these stained glass windows revealed so many unexplained things. "the host has been chosen..." Shade said quietly, "do You think that child could be...Katie?" Daybreak asked, "it's entirely possible." Desire reaponded. She looked back at the other, picture that was titled "the visitor" and the one next to it, "an unexpected gift" "it looks like Hyrax was very different from the others...more different then we thought..." She stepped closer to the "unexpected gift" window and inspected it more...at the same time that they are looking around the room Kyuubi and his half of the group had advanced up the stair case in the hopes of finding Hyrax...

Kyuubi and his group advance up the staircase and enter a short hallway. This hallway is also lined with windows, but they tell a different story. The first picture depicts Hyrax splitting a massive orb of what appears to be energy into five pieces. The plaque delow it reads, "Separation."

Sky looked at the picture and then read the plaque out loud "separation...what do you suppose that could mean..." he counted the orb's pieces "five...hmm..." Sky contemplated. The others looked at Sky and then the Windows next to the one Sky was looking at, "these must be importaint events from the past. The Hystory of Hyrax..." they walked up to the Windows and began inspecting them.

The next window shows Hyrax separating four of the pieces into four smaller pieces, represented by groups of symbols. One group consists of an hourglass, a green swirl, a few zeroes and ones, and a bolt of lightning. The second group consists of a crystal, a star, a dark blob, and a large eye. The third group is a flame, a snowflake, a moon, and a sun. The last group is a tree, a rock, a drop of water, and a breeze. The plaque reads, "Magic at its finest." The next picture down the line showed what appeared to be Hyrax blasting the final piece of the original orb out of this world. At the same time, a mass seems to have accumulated in the sky, resulting in a purple haze. The plaque reads, "The creation of the Alpha Reality."

"A-alpha reality?" Kyuubi stood starring at the stained glass window "that name...sounds familiar..." he studied the dark haze. Tide kept looking at the one labelled "magic at its finest "interesting...these symbols seem significant." he pointed to the Crystal, he smirked a bit as he looked at the fragment. Kyuubi moved over to the next set of glass Windows and the half of the group advanced with him...