The Rebel Faction

Regrad had never felt so old, so worn out. His Coalition, something which he knew for a fact was held together by him lest it fracture and divide once more, felt as though it was thousands of years old, when it had been barely any since the failed coupe that had resulted in anarchy and finally the reemergance of the Coalition. In that time, more had happened then in thousands of years of Old Republic history - a fact he detested profoundly, as Old Republic history was mostly boring but peaceful.

The Empire wasn't so much at war with the Coalition as feeling slightly more interested then usual. His grand plans for restoration and transformation still remained mostly incomplete, various delays and factors beyond his controls meant the bulk of the work was still before him. All the while, he had to run a more or less democratic government, which meant dealing with a lot of complaining and trying to keep everyone on the same page using nothing but his natural charm and reminding people every so often that they might not like each other, but they all hated the Empire. In private, he was beginning to joke that he was looking forwards to the inevitible civil war that would follow any Coalition domination of the galaxy.

That wasn't all, though. Aliens he hadn't even heard of attacked at will, and the memory of the fate of Kiyar still made the old warrior weep at night - when he did sleep, as he was beginning to find kinship with Viryn Quell and his habit of insomniatic nights spent bitterly alone. Atrocities caused throughout the galaxy, on a scale he couldn't even have imagined over a decade ago when he first appeared in galactic politics, were still too numerous and too exhausting for him to act on every one, or even most. Every so often, one of his men would do something, like save an entire race from extinction, or rescue a tonne of people from certain doom, or just keeping some stability and order in the Coalition, and Regrad would thank every god he could think of for those people. It was something, like a small mercy.

How did everyone expect him to put up with this? He could only imagine they lived in ignorance - not everyone reads the papers, at least, not the papers he got. He generally saw to that. If everyone knew what he knew, heard the news he heard, then maybe there's be a little more shock, a little more action or sympathy or something. Unlikely, but it made it easier to cope thinking that it was just unfair circumstances that caused him this problem. At least, it would be easier if he hadn't just pointed that out to himself.

Regrad realized his thoughts were getting disorganized, and let his head fall on his desk. Even the day felt old.

Finally, he set up the final orders for the day, in preperation of his grand 'State of the Coalition' Address, something he was looking less and less forward to actually doing. If he went up there and actually gave the state of the Coalition, there wouldn't be a Coalition by the time he was done - at least, not if it's members wanted to avoid a gleeful bombing from a roulette's wheel of enemies of the state.

He realized he was rambling mentally again, and shambled out of his office before thoughts could get him down again. He passed Ferguson in the hall, who tried to get confirmation on an operation involving a spy somewhere on some place with tall buildings, but Regrad had had a long day, and just signed the sheet, trusting his man to handle the job. He needed to sleep.

"Geeze, what's killing the old PM?" said Ferguson to Frakutsk as he left a meeting of Ministers.

"Oh, hey, the Boss-guy be feeling very low-like after all the bad news himsa getting. Mesa think he need good nights 'o sleeping. Then wesa see if he feeling better-like."

Ferguson took a moment to decode what he had said, and said "Yeah... okay then. He'll probably be fine by morning."

Dragging his feet, Regrad thew himself into bed and quickly drifted off - a first in many nights. He'd always been one of shifting character - on some days he was furiously righteous, prepared to battle across the galaxy at a moment's notice. On others, he was bitter, resentful, and inconsolable. Sometimes he was set on appeasement and diplomacy. Sometimes he was cold and calculating. On the rare day he had a feel for comedy and threw in a joke or two to liven things up. He was never sure who controlled these mood-shifts, but recently, it had all been one big blue funk, and he was glad to fall asleep without the long drama of restlessness.


The place where they met was not real, per se. For the purpose of a meeting, however, it was real enough. In this place that didn’t quite exist, six beings that did exist continued to exist somewhere in the ethereal mass of semi-existence. They were immeasurably old, and as such had become rather methodical and slow, but on this night, they acted with purpose.

“So the time has come?” said one voice, which spoke with an inner harmony that made it sound like countless smaller voices.

“I would say it has, and I am fairly sure you can all feel it too. He is near the breaking point, any closer and he may indeed snap - then it would be too late. We have been pushing our luck as it is, despite the importance of this one event that is approaching.” said another, this one sounding more like the space between words, made not from sound but from absences in silence.

“The importance of the Address cannot be understated.” said a third voice, this one whistling and faint “It is his chance to reach out, a moment upon which events may turn. If we acted too soon, then he would lose his zeal before the opportune moment, where if we act too late, it will pass. Now is the time.”

“Then I propose we act now, while the chance is still available to us. We have much to tell, and little time to do it in!” This voice was booming, as if each word exploded in it’s own right.

“There is no need to hurry, to rush might overload him, and it would be even more damaging then missing our opportunity altogether.”

“Indeed” This last voice was deep and gravely “Some truths are best approached slowly.”

“Very well.” said the first voice, it’s harmony once again filling the spaces of the place that did not quite exist “Tonight we shall intervene. The time has come.”

***

Regrad had long ago adapted to a presence in his mind, the whispers of the god Yunos, keeper of the Light on Azguard. Sometimes it had whispered advice or wisdom to him, other times it had provided warning or dire predictions. In recent time, however, the presence in his mind had gone quiet, it’s advice rarer and more cryptic, less and less useful. It had become frustrating, but Regrad had become used to that as well.

There was one thing, though, that he had not been prepared for, and that was the presence’s utter disappearance. It happened suddenly, as he slept, vanishing completely, and in the space it left in his mind, Regrad tumbled through in his dreams into a place. A place that didn’t quite exist, but for this purpose, it was real enough.

Regrad immediately knew that he was dreaming, he could feel it, but this was no normal dream. He picked himself off of... for lack of a better word, the floor, and face the infinite and undefined darkness before him. “...Hello?”

“Regrad” a voice intoned out of the darkness. “The time has come that you know the truth in full. No more shall there be whispers in your mind, no more shall your destiny be at the whim of beings you neither know nor comprehend. Before this, however, there are other truths, smaller ones, ones upon which the foundation of the truth must be lain for it to stand.”

The Azguard turned, looking in all directions, trying to find the source of the voice, but instead he saw six spotlights, each coming from nowhere, but each illuminating six strange and wondrous being arranged in a perfect circle about him.

“Regrad” intoned the voice of the foremost of these beings, an Azguard seemingly made of light whom Regrad recognized as the great lord Yunos. “The time has come that you speak with the Gods, and know about your people, your galaxy, and your very destiny. The time has come that you know the truth.”

Regrad, awed, managed to say "The truth? But... what do you mean? What truth? Why don't I know this truth already?"

"All will be explained to you." said Yunos. "Until then, I ask only that you listen, and listen well."

As Regrad was again left in darkness, he mused upon what Argrak had said. It didn't make too much sense yet - they were created for something? He was created for something? It was the Force's plan? He had been somewhat vague, but trusting in their godly wisdom, he decided to wait for the next vision.

Soon, it came. In this empty place, a sudden wind swept past - but it had no chill, no bite to it. It was soft, smooth, and it seemed to carry Regrad with it. Clouds formed and swirled around him, faint things of white and gray, until the wind and the clouds pulled back to consolidate and form a magnificent bird of white and gold plumage. It's claws were adorned with shiny scales, and it's beak was a thunderbolt of purple amongst the gleaming white of it's body.

"I" [color=White]Spoke the bird [color=Yellow]"Am Herluy, God of the Winds - or, so that is how you know me. The truth is that I am another facet of the Force, I am the spirit of community and cooperation. I am friends, and family. I am fellowship. Do not misunderstand me, for I am not obedience nor do I come from order, I spring solely from those who care with a platonic heart for others, sharing in the responsibilities and the needs of all. I am like the wind, for as it I reach everywhere, pass everyone, wether whistling amongst the mountains or gently rolling across the plains. I am a guide, and I have guided your people as one for many long ages.

"In recent times, however, I have felt the change in the galaxy, and it pains me. Fear and paranoia bond people in this day - they stand not for themselves or for each other, but instead against something else. Even your proud Coalition, which is the torch-bearer for the belief of brotherhood and friendship in a galaxy where Empire demand loyalty to the state above all else, still finds itself threatened by internal instability in that all that holds you together is your common stance against the Empire. These divisions I feel within you as well.

"If you learn nothing else from me, learn that the Azguards must set the example of cooperation and mediation, for that is one of the reasons you were created. Your people have lived in peace and harmony for millenia, and it was not mere luck - look to your history, seek out your men of knowledge and wisdom, and you will find my hand at work. Seek to copy this wisdom and share it with all, learning the methodes of conflict resolution and unity that saw us through dark times. Do not become arrogant with their use, though, or think the Azguards superior, for you were meant not to rule with this gift but to grant it instead."
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Regrad remained silent, looking with rapt attention at Herluy, trying to calm his thoughts and absorb every word - but that was difficult, for a flood of questions consumed him. He managed it, and waited.

[color=Yellow]"No longer may my gentle guidance point your people in the right direction, for the time of the Gods is fast coming to a close. With the end of this stewardship, we will have only the hope that we have imparted enough knowledge to you and given you enough training to handle what is to come. We have taken you this far, but it is now up to you to finish the journey. That is my truth, and before I go, I will grant you another of the Force's whispers, something not completely known yet hinted at as if some lost prophecy: "The Forgotten Men have gathered under the city of pillars, find them and they will be your Steward."

[color=White]Regrad was confused, but did not question. Then, as fast as it had come, the vision ended, and Herluy vanished in a wave of warm air.[/color]
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Regrad had lost all perspective of up and down at this point, he was completely lost in the void. Not that he cared much for his physical positioning at this point, for his mind was alive with thoughts of purpose. As each god spoke, he felt he was recieving a piece of a puzzle, revealing part of a much larger destiny. He'd never been one to submit completely to the idea of an ultimate destiny, but certainly it was possible that whatever they set before him he was meant to do.

As he drifted, he began to see red light erupt from cracks in infinity. A warm, dry heat hit him like a wave as the cracks burst open and a pool of fine, liquid magma shot into the air, coalescing into a mighty, four-legged beast, with a thin frame, whispy fur, and long, intricate claws.

"I" [color=White]It rasped [color=Red]"Am Relokan! Patron of fire, of courage, of spirit! I am love and passion, the driving heat of conviction and the burning will of justice! Like a warm fire, I protect life and preserve it in the cold and unforgiving dark, I grant a drive to the dispirited and a purpose to the forgotten. For many long years, I have kept this fire alive, blazing strongly in the soul of every Azguardian, including you. But that is not the whole reach of my senses.

"The Force has always been divided on passion. When it consumes people, it becomes hungry, like a fire driven out of control. It devoures all in it's path, often forgetting why it began, obsessed with destroying everything it can. However, without passion and conviction, we have nothing to live for, no spirit within us! The Empire, though it no longer has disciples of the Darkside at it's head, is still an unwitting pawn of the battle between emotions in the galaxy, the most powerful pawn of all, and their cold demeanour reflects a much more horrific passion - it is one that devours on a scale of planets and races! No longer does the individual have personal passion or will, it is enslaved to one great and terrible entity! One that feeds and feeds off of everything it touches, for without more fuel it's fires burn out. You know of what I speak, and those who have died at their hands ever to fuel this fire.

"You must preserve as well as contain your passion, Regrad. Without it, you will not have the will or the strength to proceed. Let it control you, however, and you will be destroyed. Sacrifice your personal passion and desire, and dedicate yourself instead to others, so that you might burn all the brighter and shield them with your strength. It is on passion and dedication that the galaxy is driven, and should you keep your fire alive, you will forever be stronger then those who enslave themselves to the will of another.

"There is no need for me to keep your spirit charged any longer, Regrad. You have friends, morals, belief, will - fight for them! Fight hard, fight long! Fight that which would consume you on without and within, and you will be stronger then your foes could ever imagine! With that strength, you will finally be able to serve your passion and see your vision made reality - yes, your vision. With our passing, so too does the destiny of the Azguards and thus the galaxy pass to your care. Yunos shall tell you more, but for now, let me leave you with another riddle of the Force - may it guide you to your passions: The woman who betrayed her father, and her secret legacy, may be found on the world of the disciples of darkness."

[color=White]With that, Relokan dispersed into a cloud of warm cinders, that vanished into infinity and left Regrad to float once more, his thoughts filled with passion and will. He had a purpose, he could feel it, but what it was had not yet been clearly defined. And so he waited.
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Regrad didn't say anything. He didn't do anything. He didn't even think anything. He was adrift in infinity, both physically and mentally, questioning things he hadn't even known were there to question. How long had it been? Minutes, hours? He realized how hard it was to keep track of time without a chrono or something to compare against. It was a relief when he began to feel a strange sensation run up his spine, signalling that the last visitation was about to be upon him.

Light flowed from what appeared to be a break in nonexistant heavens. Light and warmth and glow, a beautiful mix of colours spiralled and collided, and out of it an image began to piece itself together. An Azguard, was it? No, maybe something more. It was humanoid, it was light. It was life. As it appeared, Regrad knew he was in the presence of life itself, flowing freely in the Force. Had the Force created life, or did life create the Force? Did it matter? Maybe they'd created each other?

He basked in the light, allowing it to bolster his spirit after the shaking experience of meeting Ishon. This, on the other hand, was Yunos. The Azguardian' Pantheon's chief god, their bringer of light and understanding. He was Regrad's personal patron, and he stood stiff as a board awaiting any sign.

"Hey there" [color=White]Said Yunos [color=LemonChiffon]"Good to see you."

[color=White]This isn't the typical greeting when gods are around, and it certainly hadn't been until then. Regrad gave a mildly surprised look and said. "Er... good to see you too. You seem to be a little less formal then my previous visitations."

Yunos waved dismissively [color=LemonChiffon]"I'm life manifest, Regrad. Through the Force, I am connected to every living thing, and I function very simply - when people obey the other five and as a result are happy, peaceful, and so forth, I grow stronger. I am the will of life so thick that I take on physical form, life so thick that I develop my own personality. This personality, however, is drawn from every sentient in the galaxy, so obviously I'm a little less formal then the Ideals.

"There's a big difference between me and the other Gods, Regrad. They're powered by belief, when the Force feels their corresponding facet - Peace, Love, etc - that emotional power echoes in the force, and focuses into them. I'm different, however. I am not any one part of the Force echoing through all space and time, I am a part of the core being of the Force, a splinter that represents life itself. I know everything, I hear everything, and most of all, I feel everything. I feel your confusion and your dread. I feel pain and suffering. I feel regret and despair. Worst of all, though, I can feel, but I cannot act."

Regrad was confused. "Cannot act? In the days of old, when the Gods walked Azguadia, you battled with other gods and armies over prophecy and ideology. Don't tell me you're just afraid of the consequences, or some such thing."

Yunos shook his godly head, and said "No, it is nothing as simple as that. Trust me, if it was within my capacity to cross the interstellar void and set things right with my power and strength? I would do it in heartbeat - and that is because I am life, and through the undercurrents of life, there is a burning desire for this to happen. Everyone wants someone to swoop in and set things right, and part of me is that desire. How to do this, however, is too fractured and confused for any of them to individually know, so even if I was powerful enough to reach out, I would not know what to fight or how to fight or why to fight - I would only know a burning desire to fight, to set things right.

"Even then, I cannot. My powers are etheral, the powers of senses and of gentle manipulation. All of us Gods, we are simply the manifested essence of your feelings and your emotions - we are, in a sense, powerless."

Regrad was flaberghasted. His expression was slackjawed. His whole world felt as thought it was crumbling down around him. It had been on the words of the Prophecy that he had lead his people into space, the Prophecy that said that they would fight the great darkness in the darkest hour of all, one which would grip the galaxy. Though his faith had gone low, in his heart of hearts he still always believed it - he believed his destined purpose, like all Azguards, was to fight the Darkness. Now he was being told that it was all just manifestations and... and belief. All just solid blocks of belief, and nothing more.

Yunos, was gentle, however, and let him recover before continuing. "We are not, however, completely powerless. We know things, we feel things, and we also prepare for things - mainly, by preparing you. We cannot act, we cannot set prophecy into motion, we have not the power to fight wars or right wrongs. The Force doesn't have the power to do this on it's own. It needs someone to take up the fight, someone to wield it, someone to heed it's will. Without someone heeding it, the Force is a useless power, and would fade - and if the Force fades, life goes with it.

"We knew a day would come where there would not be enough people heeding the Force to keep it strong, when life would betray itself - not by some grand vision, but because that is the nature of life! For every good, there is an opposite equal, and it was inevitable that one day their self-destructive vision would be realized, and life would destroy itself. The Azguards - you, your people, everything - were created and isolated to be set aside, saved for such a time, to be released on the Galaxy like an emergency transfusion of blood when it began to die. The Force isn't quite sentient, but we manifestations are, and we derive our purpose from this will.

"So now you know the Truth, Regrad. You know it all - or, that is, nearly. The Force, the Prophecy, your destiny, none of it was ordained by the universe and all of it could just as easily not exist or fail. All of it has been conditioning, preparing, an emergency measure saved in a case of last resort to save all life in the galaxy. That you stand before me now shows the desperation of the hour. Do you think the Force is infinite and invincible? Oh, no, it's quite vulnerable I assure you. Anything so intimately connected to life is. Without the Force, there will be no life. That is the task we give you - not the task you were destined or ordained to have, but the task that someone must take, and the task that we have made you most suitable to take up. Save the Galaxy, Regrad."

Regrad's mind was blank. Where once there had been a swirling mass of chaotic thought, now it was all clear, all blank, all gone. Was he insane? Was any of this true? Of course it was! He could feel it in the fibre of his being, and yet... and yet...

And yet he didn't want it to be true. Anything but this. Not this. Not now. Not ever.

Yunos knew his state of mind - for Yunos was connected to every life - and reached down to what was beginning to feel very small in the galaxy. "You are not the first, Regrad. You may be the only one we've ever had to hand-craft for the role, but you are not the first on whos shoulders the galaxy rested. Others, sometimes who were unprepared, sometimes untrained, sometimes even unready, and certainly unchosen by any great power, have found themselves with the galaxy in their hands. People believe that the Force dictates these events, but it does not - life does, people do, the Force is simply their by-product. Each of these people was empowered by the five ideals, and fought just as hard as you must, perhaps harder, for they were not built for the task ahead of them.

"Do you know how many of them failed? How many of them fell? How many died? Even those who succeeded, most died or never truly recovered. The galaxy would fill twice over with their numbers, Regrad, and upon your shoulders their legacy must fall. There is not enough strength, not enough heroes left in the galaxy to win without us tipping the scale. You are the final ace, and if you and your Azguards fall, so too does everyone else. You know this, you've felt it. You are the last line, the last, desperate struggle."

Regrad still seemed lost, confused, not filled with despair, practically not filled with anything any more. Finally, Yunos lifted him up.

"There is one more method I have to strengthen your resolve. You are no stranger to death, not even the horrors of death that the Empire has invented and put on display, but there is something... more... that you must see. You must see those who were forgotten, those who came before. You must see how the galaxy came to such a horrible state, for only then, may you fight for it."

And then, Yunos opened Regrad's eyes. Regrad was - for an infinium, or just a moment, he would never know - connected to all life. Everywhere. All life that had ever been, all that would ever be, that that was. He felt it like a surging tide, like a mighty wave, crashing down and drowning out everything in the universe, unlimited voices and feelings and everything. It was then, that he knew.

He could never hope to hold all that knowledge at once, even with both of his minds, but he did manage glimpses, and slices, and with Yunos as his guide he began to feel every life that had been drawn into this neverending conflict.

He saw Luke Skywalker, whos patron had been Yunos, who had to suffer everything he fought for being destroyed in the name of the man his father helped to bring to power.

He saw Leia, whos patron was Jarvis, who still lingered in a new age that neither needed nor wanted her and her wisdom, a pain that could destroy a person from within.

He saw Trajan and Marlena, whos patron was Relokan, with a tragic tale of love lost and rediscovered filled his mind.

He saw Gash Jiren, whos patron in life had been Ishon, and who had forever suffered from the tragedy of the war that had split his mind in two - which was, in essence, part of that same neverending conflict.

He saw a woman, a doctor Breen, whos patron in life had been Herluy, suffer and die, clinging to her faded patriotism and that tenacious human hope.

He saw Issk, whom Regrad knew espoused Argrak as his patron, and whos tough will had seen him through the slow death of Kiyar to the end.

He saw more, more faces lost to the sands of time, and with each face came in an instant the whole of their life story, lives destroyed by the neverending war between light and dark, a war that could never end. He saw the Jedi killed when Palpetine turned - Plo Koon, Unduli, Aayla Secura, Mace Windu, Barris Offee - people whos names he hadn't heard and whos fate he was only vaguely aware of, suddenly fleshed out in utter detail in a moment of terrible knowledge.

The visions didn't end there. He saw rebels, he saw Biggs - a life cut short in the battle with the Empire, a friend of Luke, a good man. Admiral Ackbar, a soldier trying to fit in a galaxy that fought in terms of ideologies. Lando Calrissian, who had somehow been dragged up into the whole thing and reformed into a freedom-fighter only to see everything he helped create burn. Even modern rebels, like Regrad's own associate Jan Dondana, their lives were laid bare and their histories known. Everywhere, he found pain and strength in equal measure. He found fear, but he found courage. He found anger, but he found peace. He found death, oh so much death, but - and this was important - he did not find life to counter it.

That was when his vision faltered, that was what he was meant to see. All these lives, many only half-lived, constantly buried in simple, easy, sentient ideas like fear and anger, countered by simple, easy sentient ideals like courage and love. Despite this, despite their lives, they had been consumed by a cold and unforgiving war that measured their lives, made them chess pieces. He even saw the life of Anakin Skywalker and - to his horror - the life of Simon Kaine, and found in them the terrible knowledge that that which he beheld as evil had gotten that way not through dark worship, but through disturbingly sympathetic and pitying trends.

It was, as his vision faltered, that he touched on Palpetine, and he thought he had found the root of it. It was him. It was him who started the war that ruined so many good people's lives, had wiped out the Jedi, had crushed so many's spirits into dust. It had made monsters, like Anakin, and even after his death it had kept making monsters, like Simon Kaine. He was the source of it all, all this pain, and if the Galaxy knew to the full extent of which he was responsible, it could end. It was Palpetine's twisted revenge on them all that they were not fighting some new generation of evil, they were fighting the echoes, his echoes, his monsters.

"No" said Yunos's voice, as Regrad began to return to reality "Even Palpetine is not the source. True, he was the instigator, none drove him to it, he came up with it on his own initiative. If he had never been born, this particular fall would never have happened. The war never would have begun, the Republic would be strong, so many lives would be complete and so many that you see as evil would never have been corrupted. If you can tell people all that he did, and they believe you and reject his dark legacy, then you will be telling the truth, but the whole truth is slightly larger. He never would have had the power to do this, were it not for the nature of the galaxy.

"The Galaxy creates it's own villains, it empowers them with the darkside whenever they sink into darkness themselves. Palpetine was symptomatic of the slow slide towards darkness the Republic was beginning to feel, and even if the slide was slow and at that point easily reversible, on the scale of the galaxy even the slightest evil can generate terrible consequences. With a galaxy so awash in darkness as this galaxy is now, you can only imagine the consequences."

Regrad shuddered. All that pain, all that suffering. What he wouldn't give to have just one shot at Palpetine. Just one.

Yolem looked at him with an understanding look "I know that you cannot always see things as I do, and that is fair. Sadly, there is nothing that can be done about the past, except to learn from it. Remember not the causes or the sources of that pain, instead, remember just the pain. The great pain of the young, the good, the noble, who sacrificed themselves or were murdered in cold blood, all in vaine as the Republic failed yet again. Remember the weight of it all when you begin to falter, and you will find that it does not drag you down but lift you up. Fight for them, remember them, call upon them if you need to. Stay true to the life of the galaxy, and you will find all the strength you will need to set things right. That is all that I task you with, Regrad, that is the extent of what we ask of you."

Regrad seemed prepared to answer, but Yunos stopped him. "Do not say anything aloud, make your own judgement and keep it to yourself forever. Follow our scattered prophecies, remember what we have said, look back on everything you have taught, and do not forget you are our only hope. Maybe, just maybe, you can save this galaxy."

With that, Yunos would have faded, but instead, it was Regrad who faded, only to find himself back in bed, the morning light shining through a crack in his curtains.
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In a place that didn't quite exist, but would exist just enough for a little longer to serve it's purpose, two great manifestations of exitance - two focus-points for the thoughts of all conscious life forms - spoke to one another as their little realm faded and their eyes watched the progress of their last champion.

"I thought we were going to tell him everything."[color=White] Said one, in the silences between each word. [color=Black]"It is unlike you to decieve when under duress of the situation."

[color=LemonChiffon]"Even the strongest life can only take so much truth at once, Ishon." [color=White]Spoke the other one, nodding gently. [color=LemonChiffon]"The rest he must discover on his own. To know the whole truth now could well undo him and everything we have worked for."

[color=Black]"I only hope that you are right, for if he cannot find the truth on his own, I fear he shall walk far out of my realm and into the darkness beyond. Then we shall be undone."

[color=LemonChiffon]"We shall see. For now, our part in events is over. It is up to him, to take us this final yard."

[color=White]With that, the two faded out of their secret meeting ground, to lurk in the web that connects all living things, and watch.
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