Battle for Croft Part II

With Blackflame dead, Darkstar suffers a huge blow. Jason has slipped into a depression as Junon works with the inquisition architects, engineers, and workers to expand The Fortress and accommodate the new refugees. Lazarus has an idea on how to recover Amana and Trill, but he doesn't like it. Everybody in Darkstar and the Inquisition continue to prepare for the war against Calliope's new army. Despite moving forward, Sam's death has shook everyone to the core.

Lazarus' Plan

Kyrael invites Darkstar to the planning table, where she introduces everyone to her team who serve as her advisors and comrades. Commander Conlan Randor, of the Inquisition Knights, Alex Swallowtail, a bureaucrat who handles the diplomatic things of the inquisition, and Yuko Shinigami, leader of the stealth corps. Conlan shakes Lazarus' hand and tells him that he is sorry for the loss of Samuel Mason, understanding full well what it is like to lose comrades.

The mood is somber, as the remaining members of Darkstar quietly watch Lazarus create green holograms with his ethereal magic. Lazarus tells Kyrael that during his time as a hero in Millennium City, he encountered a realm that was home to a powerful celestial being, known as The Pact, a seven headed cosmic entity. The Pact was known for being the very fabric of existence, and was capable of warping reality. The Pact ruled over his universe. When Lazarus arrived in his realm, The Pact trapped him in some kind of five dimensional space, asking him why he came to his realm. Lazarus explained that he needed to return to his realm and was sent to this realm by accident. The Pact and Lazarus struck a deal; where he would extinguish the seven deadly sins that were corrupting his realm. The Pact tells Wright that he had foreseen his arrival, and tasks him to serve as his messenger. Lazarus considered him why, but decided against it as he learned never to question a cosmic beings motives.

After he had completed the tasks, he expected The Pact to betray him, but surprisingly, The Pact let him go, telling him that cosmic entities like him are all bound to one precept. His precept was to always be bound by contracts. One day, Lazarus will return. Lazarus never understood why, but now he did.

Kyrael asks Lazarus what he is suggesting, and Lazarus tells Kyrael that The Pact is all powerful, and if that is so, he might be able to save Amana and Trill. Kyrael asks Lazarus if going to such an extent is necessary, and asks if there is any other mage capable of undoing it. Lazarus tells the elf that he's studied magic for years, and is able to tell if a certain condition is reversible or not. Magic tends to go with the flow, and right now, the flow for those two is to turn them into their infernal and avatar states permanently. No amount of magic to undo the tide, not even negation magic. The only way to reverse it is to break the rules. The only being he knows capable of doing that is The Pact. However, knowing The Pact, Lazarus will be asked to do something for him, as a deal. Kyrael tells Lazarus that this idea of his is extremely risky. Conlan shakes his head and tells Lazarus that is idea is insane, but admirable, worthy of a knight.

Kyrael turns to her advisors and asks for an update. Conlan reports that his soldiers have made it back safe and sound, no injuries or casualties. He has deployed several forces to guard the perimeter as the engineers and workers continue expanding The Fortress to house the refugees, and have commanded his mage department to reinforce the Fortress with stronger cloaking magic to avoid detection. Yuko tells Kyrael that his scouts report none of Calliope's forces. Alex reports that she has contracted more soldiers and outside help to assist in the war effort, however she is unable to get in contact with Merrow Rivenlight. Reya thanks Kyrael and her advisors for putting so much effort for their cause, and Kyrael tells her that it is the best she can do. Sam's loss shook her hard too, as Decen was a long time friend of hers, and to hear that a reincarnation of his was killed like that. He will be remembered. Darkstar stares at the ground. Kyrael adjourns the meeting.

Lazarus heads to the Inquisition infirmary and sits next to Jason, who is holding Amana's hand. Lazarus tells Jason that he's going to take Amana and Trill to see The Pact, and hopefully he will agree to save them. Jason snaps but suddenly stops himself. Lazarus asks Jason if he wants to stay, and Jason tells Lazarus that he wants to be alone. Lazarus shrouds Amana and Trill with green ethereal magic, and promises to bring them back awake. Jason nods, his eyes still puffy. Lazarus notices Tob, Dennis, and Reya next to Trill, and Ferris preparing a grave for Sam at the heart of The Fortress. Lazarus tells him that Sam's death did not go in vain. They will avenge Jason's protege and put an end to Calliope's tyranny.

Junon meets up with Lazarus and tells him she's going to come too. Lazarus looks at her and asks if she is sure. Junon walks up to Lazarus and tells him that it is the least she can do. Lazarus notices something in her pocket. A piece of black nano weave cloth. Sam's jacket. Lazarus tells her to be careful.

Lazarus opens a portal to the realm of The Pact. Giving Junon and the others a green protective shield, the group enter.

The Pact's Deal

Lazarus and the group appear in a five dimensional space, and a huge towering cosmic entity approaches them. Junon is shaking in fear, but Lazarus floats in front of her. The Pact regards the mage with his seven faces, and welcomes him back. Lazarus tells The Pact his request. Amana and Trill suddenly appear in front of the being. One of the faces regards them. The Pact tells Lazarus that he wants him to bend the rules and restore the two back to what they were before. Lazarus confirms. The Pact declines, to Lazarus' shock. Lazarus asks why.

The Pact tells Lazarus that everything happens for a reason. Perhaps it is Destiny for the two to become their respective beings. To try to bend the path of Destiny would be as hopeless as trying to understand the motives of a cosmic with mere mortal logic. Lazarus asks The Pact what deal he wants to make. The Pact tells Lazarus that he will give his two comrades their consciousness again, but what happens to them, what changes they will experience, will remain. Lazarus agrees and asks The Pact what he wants.

The Pact looks at Lazarus, and tells him that he wants his soul. The Pact wants The Goatman. Junon's eyes go wide. Lazarus looks at Amana and Trill, then thinks back on how hard he at worked to master his powers, despite being hopelessly inept at the soul link. But the price, the price is to see his best friend smile again. Lazarus agrees. However, The Pact tells him he's not done. The Pact guides the group to a section of the 5D space, and shows a massive planetary mass. The planet, dwarfing the sun in size, drifts through space. Junon asks what's so special about the planet, but suddenly, the planet elongates. A huge hole opens up, and a tendril appears, absorbing the space mass and a nearby planet. The planet was eating another planet. Lazarus asks The Pact if he needs to destroy the monster. The Pact tells Lazarus that this creature, the World-Eater, has grown too powerful from absorbing things, and must be eliminated to restore the order. Lazarus asks The Pact how he can destroy the monster, and The Pact tells him that he won't destroy the monster. Amana and Trill will. He will allow them to transform, then he will change their power affinity to celestial, but give them their consciousness. Essentially, they will become celestials. In the presence of The Pact, they will be strong enough to destroy the creature. Lazarus will keep them alive to survive the vacuum of space. After the World-Eater is destroyed, he will terminate his soul-link with The Goatman, and return the team home. Lazarus closes his eyes, and agrees.

Junon has her hands over her mouth, and asks Lazarus if he's really ok with losing his powers. Lazarus jokes that maybe he can spend some time learning engineering with the best of the best. Junon tells Lazarus that she will teach him everything he knows.

The Pact summons Amana and Trill, and their bodies glow red and blue. Suddenly they begin screaming, their bodies changing. The screams die down. The two glow again, becoming too hard to see. The glow dies down, and Lazarus sees Amana and Trill, transformed.

Amana's outfit, completely changed. Her aviator jacket now into bronze armoured plating and white fur lined at the collar, a plated skirt, bronze boots. A series of elegant lines pattern her thighs, arms, and face, her hair, flowing upwards and her eyes, now fully glowing red. Trill's outfit similar, but the lines arcing like veins, silver plating, and a huge wing sprouting from his left shoulder. His bow now split into two weapons, a crossbow in one hand and a huge broadsword in the other. His eyes and veins glowing cyan.

The two open their eyes. Junon rushes forward and hugs Amana. Amana looks at Lazarus and Junon and asks what happened. Trill turns around and sees The Pact, and screams asking what the hell is going on. Trill suddenly sees his body and screams again. The Pact tells the two that Lazarus has struck a deal, their return to the battle against The Corruption, for the destruction of the World Eater and Lazarus' Powers. Amana stares at Lazarus and asks if he was okay with this. Lazarus tells her that Jason was worried sick, and had slipped into a depression. He fills her in on the Exodus. Trill asks if everybody made it back alive, and Lazarus and Junon's faces become grim. Amana gasps, hands on her mouth.

Junon tells Trill that Tob survived. Dennis survived. Then goes up to Amana. She pulls the piece of Sam's jacket that had ripped off out of her pocket and puts it in Amana's hands. Amana's eyes well up in tears. The jacket was a gift from Amana to Sam when they first met. Lazarus tells Amana that Sam and Tob tried to fend off Calliope, but were defeated. Tob managed to make it out alive, but Sam was killed right in front of their eyes. He did not make it to the portal. Amana puts the cloth in her pocket, and tells The Pact where the World Eater is.

The fight ends as soon as it started. Amana powers up, and manifests her tail which has also evolved. Amana manifests three other tails. She jabs the planet with four huge tails that shatter it through the other side. Junon stares at Amana's new power. For the first time, Amana did not come up with a plan. She rushed in, with pure rage. Trill flies in and powers up his broadsword giving it a huge cyan overmold. Trill fires his crossbow, that freezes the entire planet, and swipes downwards, shattering the planet into many pieces.

The Pact returns to the group, and tells them that half of the bargain has been sealed. Lazarus closes his eyes and The Goatman manifests. Lazarus waves the soul goodbye as it is absorbed into one of the faces of The Pact. The Pact tells Lazarus that his deal is complete. The being tells Amana and Trill that once they return to their realm, they will realize that their powers won't be as powerful as they were in the fight against the World Eater. The team is sent back to Corinth.

The Return

Lazarus and Junon emerges from the portal, alongside the newly restored Amana Cross and Trill Cohen. Jason looks back and sees Amana. Jason picks her up and hugs her, causing Amana to laugh. Tob and the others notice the two's new appearance and asks what happened. Lazarus explains that he has restored the two and made a deal with The Pact. Jason looks at Lazarus and realizes that his eyes are no longer silver, but have reverted to their natural green. Jason is shocked. Lazarus tells the team that the deal was to give up The Goatman and his powers. In a way, Darkstar has lost their healer. Despite this, he will continue to support the effort alongside Junon to retake Croft. Amana and Trill revert back to their original forms, alongside their original outfits. Amana notes that this "celestial form" will be useful in their fight to avenge Sam.

The following evening, Amana and Jason go to Sam's grave. Amana and Jason kneel down and put the piece of fabric on the tombstone. Amana turns around and sees Jason in tears, and rests his head on her shoulder as he cries. Amana also lets the tears loose.

Caliope Ariandal and Samuel Mason

Sam awakens, and realizes he is chained in the Capita. Calliope stands before him, still cladded in the same armour that was damaged during their encounter. Sam considers making a snide remark, but suddenly realizes it's hard to move. In fact, it seemed almost impossible to move anything.

Calliope approaches the boy and tells him that he was very powerful, soul linked with a hybrid hellspawn, and a reincarnation of a Paladin. Calliope tells Sam to make a decision: join the Militia, or suffer a fate worse than death. Sam asks Calliope why he would ever think about joining her. Calliope regards the boy, her silver eyes inquisitive, and holds up her hand, which glows with a gold rune. Suddenly, Sentry begins being pulled out of his body and into the rune. Sam screams from the agony. Sentry leaves his body and enters Calliope's hand. Ariandal tells him that Sentry is connected very deeply to his body, most likely due to his nature as a reincarnation. Sam coughs and glares at the mage. The mage walks closer to Sam and tells him that he has no place in Darkstar anymore. He has lost Sentry, the source of his power. Everybody believes he is dead. No one will come for him. Sam is about to retaliate, but realizes that Calliope is right. Everybody thinks he is dead, and without Sentry, he has no powers.

Calliope regards Jason's protege with sympathy, asking him why he continues to oppose her. Sam glares at her and tells him he has no reason to believe otherwise. She is a tyrant, killed millions and ruined the lives of many more. Calliope laughs and asks if he is going to believe everything Jason tells him. Everything she is doing has a purpose, to fulfill the needs of the New Militia. When she was around his age, her lover abandoned him. Her own father forcefully exposed her to the Corruption, and Jason, her last friend she could count on, held her at gunpoint. Sam manages to summon the strength to look up, in shock. Jason never told him that part of the story. Calliope leans in, and asks if Jason or Lazarus ever told him the other half of the story. How she was sent into a coma because of Jason's actions. Or how when the academy denied her graduation for something that was never her fault, no one stepped up to defend her. Not Jason. Not Lazarus. No one. Sam shakes his head, telling her that she is wrong. Lazarus wasn't able to visit and defend her because he was knocked out by Marcus. Calliope shows Sam a rune, and Sam recognizes the rune as a truth rune from his time with Lazarus. Calliope repeats her story. The rune glows green. Calliope was telling the truth.

Calliope looks at him, and asks him to name one thing that Jason wanted from him that he didn't already have. He already has a lover, and a family with Darkstar. He has Ferris, Junon, Tob, and Kyrael along with her inquisition. He has Merrow for a mentor. The only reason why he has kept Sam around was because he was soul linked with Sentry and was his weapon to defeating the New Militia. Sam yells at her that she is wrong. Sam was family to Jason, and was like his brother. His death shook him hard, and they are probably hatching a plan to spring him any day. Calliope's face becomes sympathetic, and tells him that Darkstar will not come. As they speak, Jason is training Amana to become the next weapon to stop her, as she has now gained celestial power rivalling that of Seraphim. Sam calls BS, but then sees the rune. The rune glows green. Calliope tells him that her forces are comprised of infernals, avatars, and mages. She has an entire army at her disposal, people who can see things, intel, is nothing more than a resource to her.

Sam roars and continues to shake the chains, but he is too weak to do anything. Calliope puts her hand on his face. She asks Sam if he really believed that Jason treated him like family. Would family give up on their relatives, and quickly assume they are dead? Would family replace him with another? Calliope tells Sam that she doesn't need to continue, and the she will prove it. The mage stands and orders a mirror brought in to the room. Sam whispers no, as the mirror slowly reveals his body.

Scorched, damaged beyond saving. What was left of Sam's body was too hard to look at. Sam realizes that when he was shaking at one of the chains, it wasn't just because he was too weak. It was because he didn't have an arm to shake it with. The chain wrapped around his chest. What's worse, was his face. His eye. It was just a socket. Sam screams and yells, rattling the chains.

Calliope leaves the cell, and puts a clock on the ground, complete with date and time. She tells Sam to count the days, for which Darkstar will rescue him.

New Croft

A year has passed, and Sam's wounds have been treated by Militia resources. Darkstar never came for him. Calliope enters the cell, and gives him his meal. Sam's face is expressionless as he stares at the clock. Calliope embraces the boy's chained body in her arms, telling him that despite being right all along, it does break her heart to see a child being abandoned by his family.

It is revealed that every day, since his capture, Sam was shown intel of Amana's training, as she trains her celestial form alongside Jason. The two laugh, and smile, Sam's death nothing more than a memory. Tob, Trill, Reya, Dennis, drinking with the Steel Pack. Lazarus being trained by Jason and Ferris. Sam learned that Lazarus had given up his powers to save Amana and Trill. The truth rune indicates that Jason approved of the idea of saving them first and not him.

Calliope asks Sam if he is going to finally hear her out. A faint yes confirms it. Calliope sets Sam free, and calls some medical mages to restore his body to the best of ability. Despite being healed, his arm and eye are now gone for good, along with his powers. Calliope walks Sam out of the prison, where many of the people bombard Calliope with insults to her and the New Militia. The two exit the prison, and Calliope introduces Sam to New Croft.

Sam is taken aback by the beauty of New Croft. Innovative new buildings, mixing magic with technology. Civilization, and.... families. Calliope asks Sam if he is surprised. Sam tells her he doesn't understand, as he thought everybody was converted into an Avatar. Calliope asks Sam what is so bad about being an Avatar. She points at several children, playing in the field, and tells him that those children are all Avatars, mages mixed with the Corruption and Infernal. Calliope continues, asking if being subject to the Corruption was at all bad. Most of the people who are against the Corruption are those who have never felt it before. The Corruption doesn't take away someone's life, but gives it a new one. A happier one. Is it a sin to take away an opportunity to begin life anew?

Sam shakes his head, and asks of the people who were in the prison. What of the people who were thrown into the slums just because they weren't fit for the Militia. Calliope cuts him off. The people who were "thrown" into the slums were the people who denied the Corruption and attacked the people who she sent to offer it to the people. The prisoners, are those who repeatedly tried to attack her people. It was their decision to deny their chance at a new life, but they began to deny the chance for others as well. This was something she could not tolerate, and she had no mercy on those who try to ruin the lives of her people. This includes Darkstar. Sam asks about the officers who come to the slums and harass the people. Calliope tells him that some of the prisoners are those officers. People who showed their true, vile, nature, even after being able to start life anew. Calliope asks Sam if he ever wondered why she never did anything whenever Darkstar defeated those cretin. It was because New Croft didn't want them either. If it was up to her, she would have had those people slaughtered, but she must obey the demands of her leader.

Sam regards Calliope and tells her that even though she is giving these people a life, the way she has treated the people of the slums was still wrong. He will not be a part of a utopia built on the deaths of many. Calliope tells Sam that she admits that she is vile. Her motives for a better life for the people are carried out through the blood of others, but she asks if Darkstar is any better. In a way, Darkstar is raiding this place, the Capita, and New Croft. They plan to destroy everything she has helped build up. In a way, every soul beast, infernal, and Avatar that had devoted their life to the New Militia, even for the wrong reasons like some of the prisoners here, were slain or brutalized. Their lives ruined. Imagine if Darkstar succeeds and wipes out New Croft. What will these children think?

The crude reality is that sometimes, greatness must be achieved by sacrifice. The sacrifice of oneself, for the salvation of millions. The only difference between serving the New Militia, and serving Darkstar, is that the sacrifice of oneself, will lead to the preservation or the destruction of the lives of all the people he sees right now.

Calliope gives Sam a mark on the palm of his hand. She tells Sam that if he ever reconsiders her offer to join the New Militia in preserving New Croft, cut the mark with a blade. The blood entering the mark will signify allegiance, and will transfer all of the powers of Sentry into his body, in a way, returning his powers. He will not become as strong as he was before, but even stronger. 100% of Sentry's power at his fingertips, combined with 100% of Decen's essence. Sam asks Calliope why she is doing this, and Calliope tells him that she recognizes him as someone pure, someone who wishes to do the right thing and strives for greatness. Unlike Jason, even if he has no powers, he will still have a place in New Croft. Sensing that Sam is still suspicious, Calliope tells Sam that she has told all of her forces to let him go free to Corinth. He will be free to return to Darkstar and see for himself. No one will stop him. She will always be here, waiting. Calliope calls in one of her subordinates, an Avatar with spatial magic, who creates a portal to a forest in Corinth. Sam looks at New Croft one last time, and enters the portal.