Darken held the blade of the Dive Spear above his head and brought it down. Things seemed to move in slow motion. Darken felt like he wasn't even there, that he was just going through the motions, when something happened.

Actually, two things.

Phoenix was yelling. Darken couldn't hear her, she was miles away. Darken was there, but two years ago, now. . .back when Maryna lay dead beside him.

Maryna, he thought. MARYNA--!

Maryna was there right now, before him. Darken jerked the Spear away, felt his hands relax as he swung it out of the way. Yes, it was her, it was her, she was alive, right were Kirone had been--

Kirone. Darken's left eye began to glow.

Kirone, in her guise as Maryna cracked a think smile, put her hand on Darken's knee and drove her right arm between his legs. Darken doubled over in pain, dropping the Dive Spear.

Darken rolled onto his back, his wings flexing to cradle him. His eye was glowing. No, he thought. It wasn't Maryna. Kirone had tricked him. And now, she stood above him, raising the Dive Spear, poised to strike.

Before she could, Phoenix fired a ball of flame at her. Kirone blocked it with the spear, but the flame flashed against the bright metal of the Spear and blinded her. Darken ignored the pain in his body and stood up, flipping the Spear out of her hands and smashing it against Kirone's chin.

Kirone spun, tangled in her cape. She hissed, ripping the cloak from her shoulders. "Damn you," she said. "Damn you both . . .you won't escape. This Sphere is doomed, Darken. The countdown has started."

Kirone took off down an antechamber. Darken moved to follow her, but felt a strange wave pass through him. For a second, for two seconds he was in contact with everyone. Liandra, Sachiel, Leiliel . . .

Here. On the Sphere. On a Sphere that was about to detonate. He could sense that too. Deep in the core of the Sphere he could hear regulators switching off, control rods retracting. There were a few minutes, but not many. And everyone was here . . .

Just a quickly, it passed. Darken gasped for air, because he had forgotten to breathe. He turned to Phoenix.

"Romanova," he said. "Please . . .go find the others. Get them out of here before the Sphere explodes. I'm not sure how much time we have, but we have to get free."

"Where are you going?" Phoenix asked. "Darken, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm going after her," Darken said. "One way or another, we have to settle this. She has to be stopped."

"Darken . . ."

"Please, Romanova," Darken said. They exchanged a look. Phoenix could feel the sadness in his soul, and see the pain in his eyes. She looked sad, disappointed. Then she smiled.

"Come back to me," she said.

"I will," he said. "I can't be anywhere else. I love you, Romanova. . .for always, and for eternity."

"I'm holding you to that," she said. With that, she walked down the opposing corridor. Darken hefted the Dive Spear and chased after Kirone.

Sachiel swung at the beast with his scythe-swords. For such a grotesque and ungainly creature, it was fast. It skittered up the wall, it's spider-like legs clicking unnervingly on the walls.

Leiliel attempted to hit it with her feather darts. They lodged in the beast's abdomen. To her shock, it's acidic blood dissolved them, dissipating them before she could cause them to burst him.

The beast screeched and whipped its scorpion's tail at her. She backflipped out of the way, throwing more feather darts, trying to divert the beast's attention, trying to give Sachiel an opening.

Liandra appeared just then, firing bolts of light at the Beast. They seemed to have no effect. Liandra took the line with Sachiel and Leiliel.

"I've gotten them to the surface, all except for Alecto," she said, pressing more fire at the beast. "The Ghost Lion is on the way. We will have to go soon. Lion says his instruments have detected an instability."

Leiliel threw the last of her feather darts at the creature's chest. It burned those up just as easily as the first batch.

"Instability?" Leiliel asked.

"It could mean that the Sphere is about to explode," Sachiel said. In any case, You need to get out of her as soon as possible."

"What about you?" Liandra asked.

"I'm going to finish this," Sachiel said.

"Sachiel, it's not worth it!" Lieliel said, seizing one of his swords. "We'll fight together, like we always have!"

Leiliel turned around, but was unused to the weight of the sword. Before she knew it, she had stepped into the arc of the monster's tail, and the barb at the end had slashed her across the stomach.

"AAAARRRRGH!" Lelilel said, spinning three times before she went sprawling to the metal floor. The sword slipped for her hand and clattered to the floor.

"NO!" Sachiel screamed, slashing the beast's tail off with one of his swords. He rolled to the ground and picked the other sword up.

"I'll take her," Liandra said, hoisting Leiliel over her shoulder. "Come on, get Alecto and let's go!"

"No," Sachiel said. "Not this time."

Sachiel threw both swords toward the beast. They lodged into his thorax, causing him to scream. The acid in his blood caused the blades to soften. Sachiel tried to throw his Regency Flares at him, but he seemed to resist it.

"Can you take them both?" Sachiel asked.

"No," Liandra said.

Sachiel sighed. "Then take Leiliel," he said. "I'll hold it off as long as I can. Maybe you can come back for Alecto."

"You won't have to," called a voice from behind them. Sachiel turned, turned back, then looked again.

"Alecto," he said.

"You do good work," Alecto said, turning to Liandra. "I won't be going. I have a personal stake in this, too."

Alecto looked at Sachiel. He looked confused. Then slowly, he nodded.

"Liandra, take Leiliel and get the hell out," Sachiel said. "Don't wait for us."

"But--"

"GO!"

Liandra left. Alecto gingerly raised her hands and fired her ice lighting, in tandem with Sachiel's Regency Flame. It seemed to stun the beast--the extremes of temperature seemed to stop him.

"Kirone," Darken said. He listened to the soft echo as it bounced from wall to wall. The corridor opened out to a vertical passage, crisscrossed with pipes and supports. She must have gone this way because she knew I couldn't get through with my wings, he thought. He sent his Dive Spear away. He slowly began to clamber up, trying to pick his way through in the spare light of the room.

"I had hoped the illusion would have worked," Kirone's voice came back. Darken tried to pinpoint it, climbing a bit faster. He flattened his wings against his body as best he could, straining his back muscles so much it hurt.

"It didn't work as well as I'd hoped, but it was necessary," she continued. He was close now. He squeezed his way though a narrow passageway. He grimaced when he heard his chest armor scrape against one of the supports. "I needed time. I needed allies. I needed to be in a palce to put my plan into action.

"You know what I'm planning, Darken?"

He dragged himself up through the supports. They had cleared now, he was in an upper passage. He felt his brow. It was wet, his jet-black hair was drenched.

"I'm going to do what you did," Kirone said. Her voice was disquietingly calm. "I'm going to win the favor of the gods. And then . . .Then, I guess I'll just burn anyone who won't recognize my supremacy. But I'll let you live. And you know why?"

Darken opened his mouth, but then he closed it again. She was trying to pinpoint him. He crept over the supports, humming softly, using his voice as a kind of sonar. He could sense her-- she was close.

"I want you to see me triumph," she said. Her laugh filled the chamber. Darken looked down. The passage was illuminating. He could feel heat on his skin. Something was happening.

"That's what this is all about," Kirone said. So close, Darken said. "Who wins. Which prophecy was right. It all depends on who will seize the future, Darken. You won't. I know you--raised to think that everyone should decide his or her own path.

"Not me," she said. "It's mine by right. And I will make of this world, this destiny, this universe, what I will."

Darken made his move. He leapt up to the platform Kirone was on, catching her around the ribs. Kirone's spell-weaving was sundered, and she hit hard against the wall. She exhaled sharply

Before either of them could react, the room began to glow a hot orange. A column of fire roared up through the passageway, melting supports and destroying circuitry as it basted up to the surface. It lasted only a minute, but it seemed to burn all the air out of their lungs.

A heavy door moved from underneath the platform, sealing the bottom of the corridor off from them. Kirone took Darken's shock as opportunity and drove her knee into his chest. She seized him around the chest and flung him head over heels to the heavy floor.

She summoned another spell, but Darken rolled out of the way of it. Darken, angered beyond words blew a stream of fire at her. She gestured, and teleported behind him. Darken swatted her aside with one of his wings and kicked her hard in the stomach.

Kirone threw another spell. Lines of razor-sharp force began to close around him, shredding his clothes with every near-miss. Darken tried to dodge them, but one of them caught him in the wing. He seized her and held her against the force cage. Kirone broke the spell, and tried to bite his throat.

Darken shoved his hand into her throat, stabbing at her windpipe, she gagged, and clawed at his face. Darken summoned all his strength and threw her into the air.

Kirone desperately looked for something to cling to while she ascended. She gathered her wits and gestured. It was a simple spell of weaving, but she was able to use her cloak as a makeshift parachute and float back to the ground.

Darken was waiting, and slashed at her with his Dive Spear. Her cloak suffered the brunt of the blow, shredding to fine ribbons. Darken sent a stream of energy at her.

Kirone flipped out of the way, thanking her father silently for giving her some instruction in the warrior arts. Darken tried to strike her with a turning slash, but struck only the metal floor. It sparked as it hit. Darken looked up for a second, saw the light from the skyships above, and saw a way to win.

Sachiel and Alecto had held the beast at bay, had even weakened it a little, but found themselves victims of their own fatigue. Sachiel was on knee, the strain, both physical and mental, of the battle enough to wear him out.

Alecto could barely stand herself. Part of it was the fight with Liandra, the other was the effort of fighting with all that had happened.

As she fired her last stream of energy, a flaming trail of fire shredded the beat. It crisscrossed the narrow corridor and in an instant was gone. The beast fell into a million pieces as Phoenix stepped to the fore.

She extended a hand out, as he Talon returned to her.

"We have to go," she said. "Kirone has set the Sphere to explode, I don't know how much time we have, but Darken wanted me to make sure I got you away from here."

"Where is he?" Sachiel asked.

"He's still fighting Kirone," Phoenix said evenly. She was trying to be strong, trying not to let the fear she had of Darken dying here stop her from what she had to do. She moved past them, made a few mental calculations and blasted a neat hole to the surface with a simple gesture. "Now let's go."

The Ghost Lion set down. Lion had found it quite eerie to fly past all the skyships below him, still paralyzed. They had managed to cripple the Morgana, caused it to retreat to the far side of the Sphere, which was good, because Lion knew his ship wouldn't survive another attack of that magnitude.

He set a skiff down to pick up Liandra and the rest, who were already waiting for them. He saw Darken's woman too, carrying Sachiel and another he hadn't seen before.

He felt the Sphere rumbling, saw geysers of fire erupting in the distance. He pondered for a moment if this was the end. It had been his home so long ago. He had been an Emissary for the Mother Machine, creating gates for travel, and fostering communication between the young races.

For what little good it had done, Lion thought ruefully. Now look at them. Lined up one against the other. Separate when they should be united. On the edge of darkness. I wonder why we ever even tried . . .

Liandra loaded up her cargo, and Sachiel helped Phoenix and Alecto aboard.

"We have to get the skyships away from here," Sachiel said. "The Sphere will destroy itself in a short time."

"Where will we go?" Lion asked.

"Right now we just have to get them all moving," Sachiel said. "We'll have to attack Kirone's ship again, see if damaging it won't free the other ships. Then we'll jump."

"Where's Darken?" Lion asked, the skiff ascending into the bays of the Ghost Lion.

"Below," Phoenix said. "I'm going to help him."

She summoned her firebird aura and flew back down to the surface of the planet. She saw the geysers of fire and thought. Part of her powers involved the manipulation of fire--all kinds. If she could reach out to it, just for a little while, she could delay the Sphere's destruction and give Darken time to escape.

She set down and raised her arms. She stretched out with her soul and seized all the fires on the planet willing them to stop. It felt like trying to hold Kirone's ship back, the effort was tremendous. Sweat began to bead on her brow. She grit her teeth and held on.

Darken, she though. Please . . .save yourself. . .

* * *

Kirone smiled, and gestured a spell of levitation. Slowly, she began to rise, not flying, but ascending. Darken tried to keep up, narrowly missing one of the heavy doors slamming shut, closing the Sphere off as it made its final preparations for shutdown.

Kirone laughed. "I'm leaving now, Darken," she said, the shadow of the Morgana passing of them, as they gained the lip of the chasm. "When we meet again . . .it will be for the last time. I promise you that. I will let you see me, in all my power, and then it will be over for you."

Darken wasn't about to give up. He summoned his soul energy and fired his Soul Cailber, straight down. It gave him the thrust of a rocket--too much as a matter of fact. Darken easily met up with Kirone, and he beat his wings frantically to stay stable, but the wound from before was too much.

Kirone cast another web of razor force against him, slashing his other wing. She was smiling. "Farewell, Darken," she said. "

Darken reached out to her, but tilted backwards, in freefall. His wings were spasming--too frenetically to hold him aloft. He felt himself tumbling back to the Sphere below, Kirone's hollow laughter echoing in the air.

Kirone floated above the deck of the Morgana and gently landed on it. She watched Darken plummeting for a time, smiling a bit.

Then the ship was rocked by fire from the Ghost Lion. Kirone made her was inside, to the bridge. "What's going on?"

"The pirates are firing at us," the Seketha said. "We do not have enough power to jump away, not without relinquishing our hold on the ships."

Kirone sighed. She took a seat in her chair. "Can we return fire?"

"The forward guns have been damaged. The crews are destroyed."

Kirone furrowed her brow. Her mind was like a steel trap, her adrenaline was rushing like a waterfall. "Let them go," she said. "Then jump. The dentonation should take care of them"

The Seketha did so, and in a ripple of space and time, they were gone.

Darken had managed to get control of his wings to the point of being able to glide, very slowly, down to the Sphere. He couldn't right himself, but he could glide.

He saw his life passing before his eyes. Felt the hard weight of failure on his body. He wondered what death would be like. He knew also that he wasn't ready. Something Kirone had said, something about what she had boasted, something . . .

Something that made him very afraid. It had sounded so familiar. Something like Kael would have said. What had that been--?

Before he knew it a fiery talon gripped him. It didn't burn him, of course, but that was because it was Phoenix's aura. She had caught him.

"Romanova," he said, his body aching. She smiled, a weak, strained grimace, but the smile sent a wave of relief crashing over Darken. He took a deep breath, and tried to relax, to compartmentalize the pain

Phoenix flew them back to the Ghost Lion. She immediately took him below deck. Sachiel watched and felt a pang of kinship with her, with a pang of relief that his best friend was not dead after all. After all, Leiliel was there too, suffering for what this painful war of attrition had caused. The remaining skyships winked out of existence, into the between-space of the Spheres.

They had managed to convince most of them with his presence--Sachiel found that most had been following orders out of fear of Sachiel. He was a bit heartened by their loyalty to himself and his father, but he still regretted the waste of it all.

Had it just been a few months ago we were so close to peace? Sachiel pondered.

"That's the last," Lion said. The Sphere was beginning to glow a dull red and various hatches were beginning to blow out. "We've got to go now."

Sachiel nodded. Space rippled around them, and they were gone.

Shafts of white-hot flame roared from the Sphere, causing it to shake violently. Metal was melting, circuits fused, information, and regulation was lost. All over the Spheres, the gates exploded, the ripple of space they kept open imploded silently with a faint, flat report.

It sounded like a hundred doors slamming shut.

The shafts of light seemed to contract in on the Sphere and with an ear-shattering sound, the Sphere destroyed itself. As it did, the space surrounding it was subsumed into the same nether space that had claimed the Sphere of Ladon.

For all intents and purposes, Achromurcra was gone, as though it had never been. Another sphere was lost, another link in a chain that been forged since before the universe had existed was broken.

And in a dark corner of a dark world, a dark voice laughed.