Color: The Return (IC)

-Color-

The Return

http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/79196.page

***

Insanity spoke to the Ariana, "No, no, I don't want you getting killed by Corruption, so I'm afraid that this is the end of the line." He looked away and crossed his arms, "This goes for all of you. Once we get back to my ship, that is, if we ever get back, I'm sending all of you straight home. I don't want to be responsible for anymore deaths."

"Hey I would have helped, but I got knocked out twice in a row! But I will help now for sure..." Camo-namo heard what Insanity was saying and a "frown" (can a reptile even frown?) crossed his face. "wait a second, has Insanity had a change of heart? Or am I still knocked out?"

Ariana held Lethor's hand, with a grave look on her face. She wondered, what would happen, where she would go when she was gone. "I-I can't go home. I don't have one anymore, Mallis has already destroyed Keros and he'll do the exact same thing here if we're not all here to help take him down. I've seen what Mallis can do, and you alone CANNOT take him down! I barely escaped!"

She tried to reassure Insanity. "I mean, we have a Hallow dragon on our side, two Silvings, and an assortment of other creatures I don't know the names of." she said gesturing to Camo-namo and would have done so with Ellie if she could see her.

"And... since this has all happened, we've gained friends. I don't think I could part with everyone now..." she said glancing to Lethor, obviously meaning him, and maybe Phaedra since she'd become family to her if her and Lethor went any further with this.

Insanity kept his arms crossed and refused to look at anyone, "My role in life was to create a perfect universe. Corruption made me think that was possible with his help. I wanted the best for everyone, but now look what I did. I took all of you from your homes." He turned around and looked at the group, "That mouse thing is dead, that human is dead, the gargoyle is dead, just look at all this I have caused. Soon enough all of you will be dead because of me." Insanity began to raise his voice, "The very least I could do is return you to your homes, okay?"

Ariana shook her head. "I'm sorry, but not me..."
Tharan lowered from his flying position he had been in for a few minutes. "I must stay as well, for a time. I am a Hallow and it's my duty to help. However soon I may leave, for I will let this group take out Mallis and Corruption when they are most vulnerable. I already reached my feat, destroying Shadow and conquering his minions. However my destiny still lies out there--and lies here in the Destroyed Realm..."

"I've never felt such adventure in my life" Ariana said. "Although we risk our lives, we love doing so. Let us stay"

"I live in this place, so technically I'm already home." Camo-Namo said.

"I am not leaving!" Lethor said, with surprising vehemence.

"Nor am I," Phaedra added.

"Yeah, how could we leave now, knowing what chaos is going on?" Lethor asked. "We could not live with that hanging over our heads!"

Insanity sighed, "You don't get it... I know you want to help, but in order to assist me there is a lot that you must learn. You must train everyday, and not only with those tiny bows and arrows, or claws, or swords. I have to teach you the methods of how a destroyer uses a combination of strength and agility, a fusion of planning and instinct. I have to teach you how a destroyer uses real weapons." He paused, "If you are willing to let me teach you, I might let you help," he paused again, "And I said might."

Ariana glanced at Lethor and Phaedra, assuming they'd agree with her. "I'm in for it" she said, with a slight grin. Tharan nodded. "More power is never bad"

Phaedra and Lethor nodded avidly.

"We are in," they said at the same time. "What must we do?"

Insanity crossed his arms and spoke, "The first thing we must do is return to my ship." A cold feeling crawled up his leg. "And by the way, does anyone else feel that?"

Small dark vibes that only Insanity could feel seemed to fill the area. If he had hair on the back of his neck it would have been standing straight up.

"Feel what?" Lethor asked uncertainly, staring about.

Phaedra straightened and was on guard. She might not have felt anything, but if anyone was uneasy, it made her so. Her fingers tensed around her bow.

"I feel a dark energy here..." Only Insanity felt a strong sense of doom and evil in this arena, darker than Mallis, darker than Death, maybe even darker than Corruption, though he doubted that any evil being could be more powerful than Corruption. A chant seemed to yell in Insanity's brain, a scream of ruin in his ears. It chanted, "Life shall fall," over and over again. Insanity questioned the group, "No one else feels that?"

"No, but if it is evil, we must leave," Phaedra stated, glaring about the room.

Lethor, following his sister's example, also drew his bow. They faced opposite directions, as they had been taught to do in battle to guard each other's backs.

The feeling grew slightly stronger with every passing second. "Yes, it would be a good idea to get out of here."

***

Death looked through her newly materialized A3 technology, as Agony fiddled with the controls. Death spoke, "So, what is it that you want me to see?"

Agony smiled as she came across the security cameras in Insanity's ship. "Look at this, Master." She scrolled through the rooms quickly, finding the room that Fear resided in. Fear played a destroyer equivalent to patty cake with the advisor.

Death glared in shock at the screen, "Fear is alive!?" She was somewhat relieved that one of her favorite children was alive.

Mallis gave a glance to Corruption. "Shall I summon my children? When I'm with the Darkness, I'm practically a god you know. Nothing not even Sairei or Tharan will be able to stop me. And the more powerful I become, the more you will, Lord Corruption. Our army will prevail..." the dark creature spoke.

Ariana followed the others silently, hoping that they'd find Mallis and steal the years that would free her from his curse.

Corruption slowly stood up from his throne. His bones creaked as he took a step down from his throne. At his current slouched position Corruption was around onehundred feet. He glared at Mallis and smiled from under his clay helmet. Corruption inhaled slowly then spoke with a loud wheeze, "They must cooperate with my children if you are going to summon them." Corruption gestured to a creature in the background. It was a sleek humanoid being. It had no mouth, and holes where eyes should be. It scurried up to Mallis and paced around him in some sort of psychotic, yet curious method. It emitted a noise that sounded somewhat like wind flowing through a tube, while tilting it's head in various directions. It seemed interested in Mallis. Corruption chuckled as the small slave investigated him. "This is Slave, one of my servants. He seems to be motivated by your presence." He looked at Slave, "What do you think, Slave?" The creature twitched and nodded his head quickly and many times and then looked up at Corruption.

Corruption twisted his head as his neck bones cracked. He starred behind him, looking at Madness. Madness seemed unwell and more pale than normal. Corruption spoke, "Madness, gather the others, we have a new ally." Madness nodded and began to walk out of the giant castle.

***

Xiepher guided the ship through the emptiness of space. He starred through the window seeing the large planet. "This is where the criminals are, Treachery." On the surface of the giant rock was the group consisting of Insanity, Tharan, Phaedra and everyone else. "They assisted with the murder of Lord Hatred."

They were on a mission to capture criminals, and return them to Death.

Treachery observed the planet in cold silence. Her striking green eyes did not blink for several seconds. Thoughts flitted through her head; numerous plots on how she could destroy the planet and force the blame on someone else, and even a plan to steal the guard captain's cookies before he returned to his post.

She shook the distracting thoughts away, causing her long, curly caramel-brown hair to flow in a wavelike pattern.

"...And what do you want me to do about it?" she asked icily.

Xiepher stammered in response to Treachery's cold reply, "Well, Death is willing to reward Destroyers that are able to capture them," he rotated around to see her and smiled, "Since only Destroyers receive pay, I was wondering if I could have a small share of the reward?" He tried to look convincing.

Treachery cast a glance at Xiepher, studying his hilariously hopeful face. She did not blink, and her penetrating stare was sure to make anyone uncomfortable.

"Mmm..." she hummed thoughtfully. "Xiepher, you have always been my favorite..." She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner.
Instead, it just came off as twisted.

She looked away, observing the planet once more.
"I'll... consider it..."

Xiepher felt a little spark of confidence in his chest once he heard Treachery. Hopefully, he would earn some money to add to his savings. Being a messenger all depended on how thoughtful your owner was.

***

Hatred, Lelouch and Zal-Tek had walked at least two miles across fields by the time they reached the front of Corruption's Palace. Most of the palace was made of a concrete of stone, dried mud, and bones. A few chunks of obsidian were scattered throughout the structure. Corruption's lair was enormous, with at least a square mile of open space in the castle. The ceiling was very high up with at least 145 feet between the ground and the roof. As for the floor, it was littered with small rocks, dust, sand, gravel, and plants that looked like the innards of some sort of creature. The "plants" pulsed and a dark red liquid oozed out of them. Small insects crawled across the dirt, burying themselves in the thick fluid that seeped out of the plants.

Lelouch sighed and said, "Well, we're here." She whipped back her hair and chuckled.

Hatred frowned and asked, "Where exactly is 'here?'"

She smirked, "This is Corruption's castle. This is where your fate is gonna be decided. You'll either become a field slave, or an exploiter." Lelouch starred at both of them, "Well? Ya just just gonna stand there?"

Zal-Tek's head snapped up. He narrowed his eyes slightly, but he was hopeful. He gathered his thoughts for a moment, something he had already discovered he needed to do more often now. "What..." he asked cautiously, trying to keep a fairly blank face, "is an... 'exploiter'? Because it sounds like something I could do..."
He was really somewhat pleased with himself, and hoped it didn't show.

Lelouch smiled, "Corruption will explain that to you, now get in." She shoved Hatred into the castle.

Hatred jolted forward from the push was all too confused about what was happening. Was he ever going to see his children again? Was he ever strike vengeance upon his killers? All he could do is wait through all of the madness, and hope to Primus that everything would turn out all right.

"Of course, my children would gladly work with anyone if it meant more food. I need a power source to summon them. I'm sure you have said source, summon them when you are ready. I shall call them," Mallis grinned.

Corruption thought for a moment. He wheezed heavily and said slowly, "Ah, a power source, why yes I have a power source, the compost furnace." He turned back to his throne and trudged slowly towards it. Corruption lowered his body onto his giant seat. He grunted as he landed on his throne. A black steam has been seeping out of Corruption's helmet for some time now.

He glared out through his helmet at Mallis, then he creaked his head over to the left and lifted his arm. A dark smoke came out of a vent in the ground, followed by a loud hissing screech. Underneath the floor, a few miles underneath the castle was an obsidian furnace that boiled bones and the "plants" into a dark energy. The dark energy forms into smoke and seeps into the air from the vent, keeping Corruption in his healthy state.

He took a deep breath of the smog and wheezed. "This smoke keeps me healthy. It is my power source, and what is mine is yours." He coughed and said, "Summon the darkness, I am ready when you are."

Mallis grinned and took a sort of bow to Corruption. He stepped back far from the throne and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. His magical core seemed to grasp the dark energy and immediately Mallis felt a surge of power course through him. He held out on hand in front of him and the ground in front of him began to crack and steam and suddenly split open with a huge thud. A massive hole formed in the ground, though it would later reseal. In the hole was a sort of surface that was like water, a barrier into Keros that separated the two realms. Shrieks and cries of trillions of monsters cried out from the hole. Black smoke swirled around under the surface and mixed purple flames.

Mallis bent over and stuck his hand in the liquid. The surface of the portal gleamed. He pulled it out and saw that his arm had grown in length and his claws were huge and growing. He grinned a wide evil grin and shot a massive purple bolt at the portal and with a thundering boom a huge pillar of black clouds erupted from it, spilling monsters made of black slime. The Darkness and the minions just kept coming and growing into the realm and somehow Mallis had just grown to forty feet and his tentacles had maximized and slung out to huge proportions. Black souls and spectral smoke began whirling around his body as his claws and fangs lengthened and he grew extra spikes and limbs on his body. He laughed so hard and his voice was darkly warped and mutated. He glanced at Corruption as his minions kept coming.

"Is this A sufficient army, Lord Corruption?"

Corruption did not speak for a long moment, staring dully at the minions. He breathed heavily and finally said, "Yes, this satisfies me. Please be sure to keep them orderly." Corruption was not amused, but rather somewhat content. He treated this moment as any other. Corruption coughed up some smoke and wheezed again, "In the corruption point, my children do not need a healthy diet, they do not need to exercise, and they generally do not receive diseases. My children are kept healthy by sinning. All the sins, they keep my children from dying of insanity." He slowly inhaled a big cloud of smog. Corruption suggested to Mallis, "Why don't you take a breath of the smoke? You will truly be one with the corrupted if you are to do this."

Slave whistled a very low pitched wheeze at one of the minions while inspecting it. He pointed at it with a shaky finger, then looked at corruption, then back at Mallis's minion. Slave breathed in and out in a certain order to Corruption that only he and Slave understood. It meant something along the lines of, "These new slaves of my corrupted god will be no match for Primus! We must enhance their abilities!"

Corruption glared at Slave, "Yes maybe if we were to exploit some more, we may increase the chance of defeating Primus."

Lelouch walked in with Hatred and Zal-Tek, "Did someone say something about exploiters? 'Cause I've got the perfect two for you!"

Corruption cast a deathly look at Zal-Tek. The tall brown skinned destroyer looked very intimidating, even frightening. With a weak cough Corruption questioned Zal-Tek, "Who is this underling? State your name and how you got here." Corruption starred menacingly.

Zal-Tek looked up at the huge... human? No way. Something else. He narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking for a moment, then spoke carefully. "I am Dust," he stated, he wasn't planning on giving anyone his real name, for many reasons, "and I do not know how I got here."
He said the last part with some contempt, though he kept himself somewhat calm. He was being accusing, without outright starting a conflict. Or at least that's what he hoped. He had realized that be relied a lot more on his powers than he thought... But right now he needed to focus. He had the feeling that one of his options at that point was death, and he hoped to avoid that.

Insanity said to Phaedra as they walked, "I see that you take an interest in the bows. If we ever get back to the ship, I could make some custom fitted arrows tipped with layazero energy," he grinned happily, beginning to ramble, "layazero energy was created by myself, of course, it is one of the most powerful energies in the destroyed realm. It consists of an anti-matter spirit, coated in dark energy, keeping the anti-matter from simply exploding from being too unstable." He stopped talking and continued to smile, proud of his work.

"They'll increase in power if we feed them life essence--a type of energy found in everything that exists. Just bring them some living organisms to feast upon. I assure you though, they are much more powerful than most think. And the more the Darkness grows, the more advanced in magic they become."

A far distance away, Gilius, Skollen, and Arcelis were flying in a giant robot, Arcelis had been talking to Gilius for a time now when he became angry.

"You really didn't try your hardest during our last fight with Tharan" he spoke.
"I'm sorry lord. So when this is over, will our next target be Mallis? He treated me like a slave on Gleeza!"

"You idiot! Haven't you been aware that I am Mallis?" Arcelis spoke. His body began to morph into an image of Mallis similar to a hologram.

"W-what?" Asked the gill man.
"YES!" Mallis snarled. "I am he one who put the Vale under seige! And now you will suffer a similar fate for rebelling against me!"

Mallis's avatar walked over to a console and clicked a few buttons. Then red lights and sirens blared through the ship which was Sabeng. "Enjoy exploding!" Mallis laughed and the image disappeared.

Throughout space a boom was heard.

---random nit-picky-ness... "In space, no one can hear you scream" ---


"New arrows?" Phaedra asked, raising an eyebrow. "What do they do?

Lethor was curious as well, but he doubted any arrows Insanity made could be guided as well as his own.

Insanity grinned evilly, "They are very deadly. Once the dark energy coating is displaced the anti-matter explodes, literally destroying almost everything around it. It's a very dangerous tool indeed, and with your proficiency with bows it shall be quite the weapon." His eye twitched and then he chuckled in a somewhat insane way. Insanity's laugh trailed off as he realized he was a bit too excited about it. "Oh, uh, pardon me... I became a bit too happy about my weapon..."

***

Corruption stared at "Dust." He slowly spoke to Lelouch while looking at Dust. "I never asked for a creature besides a destroyer, Lelouch. I have no need for this being." Corruption did a slow gesture as if he were shooing away Zal-Tek. He scoffed then inhaled a deep breath. As he exhaled he uttered, "Exploit it is then."

Hatred said to Corruption, "May I ask what an exploiter is?" He raised an eyebrow.

Corruption wheezed. He sounded as if he was being strangled while he talked, "An exploiter uses every resource that is available. They do not waste, and are extremely preservative. When they can no longer take in any more energy, they send it to me, which I use to expand my empire."

Hatred continued Corruption's words, "May I add that this is a very crude and unsanitary empire, not just an empire. The Royal Destroyed Clan is able to create a much more healthy environment than this rubbish."

When Lelouch heard this she rapidly lurched her head towards Hatred and screamed in rage, "THIS EMPIRE SHALL BE THE PERFECT EMPIRE, SCUM! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE ARE PLANNING!"

For the first time in a while Corruption yelled in a perfectly healthy voice, "SILENCE YOU FOOL! DON'T MAKE ME MODIFY YOUR FACIAL COMPOSITION LIKE I DID WITH SLAVE!"

Slave mocked Lelouch in the background.

It was all Zal-Tek could do not to flinch, but while he did wince, he never took a step back. Exploiter, eh? Not what he expected, but surely it would be better than actual labor. He never was much for doing things himself, it was much more fun to convince others to do things for him. With any luck, he could start some kind of rebellion within a week, and be gone before anyone knew what was happening.

Of course that all depended on his ability to speak well, which, as he noticed before, appeared to be missing. He very much hoped he could get that back, as it was his main skill, really his only skill.

"Alright," he answered after a moment's thought, "what exactly does that... Mean?"

He knew of many ways to store energy, but with his magic also missing, it would be hard. He was also rapidly discovering that wherever he was, it was very far and very different from home.

Corruption lowered his voice from a yell to a wheeze. He did not answer Zal-Tek's question, he ignored it. He leaned forward toward Lelouch, "What do you suggest we do with this creature?"

Lelouch smiled, "Well, that's an easy one. Make him an exploi-" She was interupted by the giant destroyer.

"No, I view the greed in his eyes. It would be obvious what the other choice would be." Corruption sent a threatening stare at her.

Lelouch responded in an unsure tone, "Make him a field slave...?"

Corruption hissed, "No, we must do the only thing that would benefit us," he paused as the moment became tense, "Harvest him."

A spasm occurred in Slave's neck as he screamed with delight.

A harvest was among them.

***

Xiepher smiled a bit occupied with thinking of how much Treachery would give him, though still functioned properly with the ship. He pushed a few buttons on the control screen of the ship, "What do you think we should do with the murderers?" He had a good idea but wanted to hear his masters plans first.

"hmm..." Treachery said, thinking aloud. "Capture them of course. Or at least one of them. I only require one to make the plan work...."

She smiled cruelly.
Her name was not Treachery for nothing.