GODIsis Temple, like many temples, serves a purpose other than what people expect. You see, most humans do not accurately understand the purpose of a temple. They see it as a place to gather for worship, or to help the poor, or things like that. Well, to be fair, such things can be done within such grounds, but that is not their purpose. The actual purpose of a temple is actually to contain things.

    A long time ago, humans believed in idols. They saw statues as their gods. They saw land, people, or objects as sacred. This is backwards. This was humans turning the divine, which is all around us, into a thing. You must understand, there are no holy places, no holy people, and no holy books. This is because all that exists is sacred, yet humans mistakenly believed that to be holy is to be set apart.

    Temples are built on specially selected ground, and often built over other temples. The land mana gathers in the area, specifically because the temple draws and contains energy. It is important to understand this, because this allows you to understand why the Oracles are where they are. The Oracle Alexander, for instance, was contained in the deepest darkness. Remember, in deepest darkness shines the light. Chronos was in a building immune to the decay of time. Likewise, Thanatos, the Oracle of Death, resides in a building that is designed to draw life energy.

    For the record, I cannot be contained. The Jews wanted to keep me close. They liked the idea of building me a home. But their home became a Temple. And then the Temple became an idol. When the New Earth came, the Jews tried to again build a Temple. I told them flatly, “Oh not again!” Then I burned the place down with lightning. If humans need to reach me, I live in a tent now.

    AZRAEL

    Isis Temple is an architectural marvel. White marble brick and four cylindrical towers with conical tops paved the building. The towers each were joined at the base and the tiles of the roof with what appeared to be jade, a material famed for its ability to absorb certain energies and deflect others. The door was also made from solid jade.

    As we pushed the door open, it felt heavy, perhaps from all of the negativity that it was holding back. Inside the building, the onyx not only provided a screen to further absorb and contain this death energy, but it allowed the room to take on a very gloomy feel. Despite being well-lit, despite it being midday outside, I felt like we were visiting a candlelight vigil in the middle of the night. A wall cut the inside of the building in an omega-shaped pattern, atop which two angel warrior statues sat, with a small group of cultists gathered in the indent.

    The cultists, by all appearances, weren''t normal. Of the four standing near Thanatos, only one was unhooded, and the others appeared to either be undead or in various states of magical decay. I talked with the nearest ones first.

    The two nearest ones told me, “Magic comes from life energy. Normally, this energy is channeled from the living things nearby, but it can also be taken from dead things. This force is called sorcery, or in some circles, necromancy.” And also, “Magic that uses life comes from things like love or happiness. Magic that uses death comes from things like sorrow or loneliness. But, of course, both are part of the truth of existence.” As I''ve probably said, magic''s power comes from belief. If this is true, what about faulty belief systems? Logically, this means they feel the effects of their faulty beliefs.

    It''s like this. Necromancy is simply a subset of clerical ability, specifically involving spells that produce darkness or cause death. Necromancy is not sorcery, sorcery involves mainly time/space abilities, although it does have some light/dark applications. And lastly, all magic whether thaumaturgy or sorcery, comes from the spirit not from life or death. Trying to use magic that way did weird things to the body. And it showed, one of these guys had no flesh at all and was a mass of bones. The other was a zombie with insects actively gnawing on its remaining muscle and skin; his skin had a blackish-green hue as a result of putrefaction. It was clear that his limbs had fallen from his body several times, and had been sewn back together. A typical zombie not also preserved by runes had a lifespan of roughly about five to eleven years (at most, less for extremes in moisture) before their body entered advanced rot, and then they''d crumble into lifeless bones (which could be reanimated as a skeleton, but was worthless as a zombie).

    The other hooded one told us, “Everything in existence has a dark side to it. Remember that...” He was presumably referring to his own experiences with using mystic power. From the looks of it, he understood how to properly wield thaumaturgy, but looked like he had become greedy and tried to do something ill-advised. If I had to say, I''d guess that he probably tried to use a ritual to absorb magic. Magic could be expended through use all the way to one''s limit, and after that the toll would be taken on the body. Of course, many corrupt wonder-workers tried to do the reverse to gain power by theft. What few of them know is that God punishes such theft, short of borrowing. Such gain cannot really be supported long term by the body. The circulatory system has a minor runestream through which mystic power flows, and it gradually grows as the person gains in mystic power, similar to a muscle. This is sometimes called the dantian, or internal ley system. However, the body is not designed to hold excess mystic power that is not its own. As a result, such energy starts to solidify into runes, and these runes gather until they set off an explosive reaction. He was what is known as “blasted”, his veins were all blistered and ruined, and he was no longer capable of harnessing mystic power. Instead, he seemed to be constantly leaking mystic power in a vain attempt to get his body back to normal. The mystic power seeped out at a constant rate but his body could not detect the stolen energy, and so it was generating more energy to compensate for a perceived loss. He was suffering for his theft, and probably would continue to do so until he admitted what he had done to himself, and gave the excess back. I tried not to look too much at him, he was a bit scary, especially his eyes.

    The last one was what appeared anyway to be a young teenager. Judging from her serious look and her place among the others, I''d have to guess she was much, much older than she appeared. We talked to her, to find out how she did it. She said, “The source of magic isn''t as big an issue as how it is used. I have learned that necromancy can be used to restore the lives of the dying. Whereas my comrades here have begun to show signs of rot from the use of their powers, I alone have retained my humanity. Still, best to be careful...” It showed. We asked her later how old she was, and it turned out that she was about as old as most half-elves currently in existence.

    ELIAS

    Having spoken with most of the others, and gotten a good sense of this group, we decided to face Thanatos. He was terrifying. His body was nearly as wide as the walls surrounding him and he was 25 ft tall. Perhaps you readers do not understand the implications of this, so I''ll explain. A super model such as Lindsey Lohan, with a D-cup standing at 25 ft would have one breast weigh 200 lb, her entire body weigh about 3 tons, and would be able to crush cars just by leaning on them wrong (by the way, since the New Earth, the square-cube law no longer appeared to exist, dinosaurs the size of Godzilla were fully a possibility, they just kept to themselves, eating their massive amounts of fish). His skin was mottled gray flesh and his body left the person viewing it to recall the expression of “skin and bones.” He had no hair, muscle, fat, or eyes, what he had instead of eyes were black flames. His body itself was covered with an aura of black, and I could tell any battle we had with him was likely to be challenging. Maybe we could talk peacefully?

    AMBROSIA

    Life is made up of choices. I know, it''s tempting when poor or suffering to say, “Welp, I guess it''s my fate.” What a load of crap. Yes, there are some times when a person feels powerless, but it''s hardly fate. Sometimes, it''s not about your choices, though, it''s about their choices. Like the guy deciding to donate 10 Copper a day to help those starving children in a foreign land, only to be thwarted by the guy who runs the country taxing the poor and suffering out of even that amount. Or like today.

    We didn''t even get a chance to speak. Thanatos said, “All who face death, must risk their life. So, I shall kill you all.” So saying, the darkened one raised his hand. Like the man blasted from absorbing too much mana, he begin to suck stuff out of those nearby cultists, all except the girl. It didn''t seem to be their magic he was sucking away, and unlike the other guy, he wasn''t storing it, but weaving it straight into magic. I say it wasn''t magic, because as whatever it was started getting drawn away, those three began to disappear. In their place, Thanatos formed a circle of darkness around me. I made a decision as well, I decided to touch the darkness. When I did, everything changed. A shadow of some sort formed in the corner of the room behind Thanatos. But let''s talk about that later.

    With his next trick, Thanatos spoke the ancient words, “Rise from your grave!” Up from the ground came zombies and skeletons, and even ghosts appeared from somewhere in the room. Now most people think of undead as a sort of cannon fodder just there to be extra attackers, but it''s not like that. Each of them have special abilities. Ghosts can possess people, zombies are freakishly strong and their bite causes wounds to fester with maggots (no, they don''t spread their zombie traits, that''s vampires), and skeletons can throw their bones and reassemble themselves again and again.

    Caught off guard, Nevras and Aqorm were not in formation. So, Aqorm was fighting zombies, and her knives were not long enough to keep from being bitten and taking all of the effort of Elias to heal her condition over and over. Meanwhile, Nevras had his hands full keeping the skeletons back. He could cut their bones using his sharp sword, but other than that, they seemed to keep patching themselves up. He swung his sword in a broad arc and bashed a couple with his shield, but because it wasn''t an elven sword, they kept getting back up. I realized that if I didn''t help, Elias would probably run out of mystic power, and everyone would die. At the same time, Azrael was constantly trying to free

    I made my decision, and decided to buy time for Elias. I used the powers of Chronos to stop the zombies. The stance I used was called Parting The Wild Horse''s Mane, and it had a vaguely hourglass shape to the movement of my hands. A burst of grey flooded the area, buying just enough time for Elias to use his alchemy. Working carefully he made the circle, then he used the Ice Canister formula (with the help of the Philosopher Stone) to freeze the skeletons. This bought Nevras enough time to switch places with Aqorm. I retracted the time effect, and watched the zombies suddenly return to normal speed, looking slightly confused as a new person sat in front of them. The Ice Canister only made a frost dusting on the skeletons, not a solid block of ice (although it was often deadly to living creatures), so as time went on, the skeletons began to wiggle their bones again. Aqorm''s elven blades quickly reacted with the skeletons, causing them to disintegrate into a pile of bone dust. Nevras quickly slashed the zombies to tiny chunks.

    Azrael, however was still having trouble with these ghosts. One just possessed Zoe while we watched. As much as Zoe was clearly into Azrael before, the ghost was downright horny, touching and kissing her for quite some time.

    AZRAEL

    I have three major options against the dead. Exorcism, Banishment, and Purification. Unfortunately, I''m lousy at Banishment, I can only drive the dead a few feet away, I can''t move them miles away or to another dimension. But it was enough to free Zoe temporarily of the ghosts'' control. Freshly formed ghosts, like one might get from simply summoning them, are fairly easy to destroy, just with holy magic. But those who legitimately died and have regrets have to be purified.

    Someone like Ambrosia may ask, “Why doesn''t she use Exorcism to wipe out all of the dead, including the ones possessing Zoe?” Well, it''s not that simple. Normally, living things are immune to divine energies for the simple reason they have a living body. Think of a body as a house. When a person is possessed, it is as if the door to their soul has been forced open, exposing the inside. If I try to use Exorcism, I risk hurting both the ghost and the host. So it was that I had to slowly defeat these ghosts.

    I''ll admit, I did allow Zoe to kiss me for longer than necessary. I could feel the passion in the kiss. Even when possessed, the feelings of the original remain, it''s one of the ways people not skilled in getting rid of ghosts cast them out, get the ghost to do something the host fears or hates. It was a good excuse for her to do what she was afraid to in public. Finally, seeing that they were starting to stare anyway, I got rid of the effect. Zoe objected to me apparently having my way with her, even though she was the one on top of me.

    Anyway, seeing as how she was no longer possessed, Elias tried to use his version of Exorcism. He intoned, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. Blessed is His name, whose glorious kingdom is forever and ever.” It wasn''t very effective. This is not like a “my religion is better than yours” thing, he just had no talent with Exorcism. It swept away the wreckage of the previously defeated undead, and probably prevented more from being summoned, but it wasn''t enough to dispense with these upper-level ghosts, much less fully-bodied skeletons and zombies. It was, however, enough to buy me the time I needed to do my own Exorcism. I screamed, “Rin Pyou Tou Sha Kai Chin Retsu Zai Zen!” At once, the ghosts faded into the air thick with the dark aura of Thanatos. I purified what remained.

    He looked a bit pissed. Aqorm and Nevras slashed at him with weapons and techniques, but as I say, he was about 3 tons of mass, and a being with more in common with the undead than the living. Even her elven blades had virtually no effect. Zoe burned at his body with Fire spells, and Elias and I began to blast him with holy magic. He was tough though, it definitely caused him pain, but not enough to bring him down. And then he began to attack.

    AMBROSIA

    Thanatos was a fierce customer. He tried to disembody his hands so as to pop them up from underground or from midair, and try to grab us to squeeze the life out. We had to be on guard at all times. He blasted balls of darkness on random parts of the room. He sent waves of a sort of black fire to keep us pinned and off guard. Every now and then, he got in a lucky hit, and Elias with his best healing spell, only just managed to rescue us from the brink of death. Sёarch* The n??el Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Aqorm, seeing that the temple didn''t match Thanatos much, decided to call upon her geomancy for the day. The immense energy of the temple provide enough holy energy to flood the room with white light. It burned at his skin, until he decided to put a stop to it. “Death,” he said, pointing his long bony finger her direction.

    AZRAEL

    I have learned many symbols and spells over the years. I know how to bind hands and feet without any rope, I know how to create fires or put them out, I know how to do weird tricks. So it may come as a surprise that one of the most difficult spells I have ever learned was this very spell. It isn''t because it takes too much mystic power, no, that isn''t the problem. It''s that the spell has no form. I''ll put it like this. When practicing a spell, the spell flashes or dims, bursts into flame, does something noticeable. With death, there''s nothing. If I point at a table, there''s no sign anything happened. The only way, in fact, to test whether this spell was effective enough to work was to try it out on living things. I could only take it as far as bunnies. The beasties in the cage would be making hopping and squeaking sounds one minute, and the next, it was like cutting the strings of a puppet.

    Aqorm crumpled in a heap. Elias had come a long way since he started, and was able to do a full-blown resurrection without significant trouble, thanks to his extensive reading in all those libraries. But...

    AQORM

    Elves and dwarves believe in Norse legends about what happens after death. I would obviously go to Alfheim after I died. But I didn''t get to see it. God apparently don''t like people coming back remembering near-death or resurrection experiences, so although people know there is an Afterlife, they can''t impose their version on others. I awoke feeling refreshed, but I quickly told Elias to withdraw from the battle with me. Not like either of us could do much any more, he was almost out of magic, and I had spent it all.

    We watched from a distance far enough to dodge most spells he sent our way (spells are like a pistol shot, the closer the range, the less likely normal people can dodge them), but I was able to see and hear normally with my elf senses. I watched him make all sorts of bad status spells and dark magic, but Azrael raised everyone''s resistance against dark energy and death to the point where what happened to me wouldn''t happen to anyone else. Not as easily anyway. He still had tons of other ways to kill us.

    For instance, he used magic to blind Nevras, and then grabbed him. Before he could squeeze though, Azrael cried out, “Aura Bolt!” Unlike many of her offensive spells, this one was non-elemental. She didn''t use it much, because it was offensively far weaker than his elemental spells and only able to hit one target, but it was also exactly what she needed, one pinpoint attack in a specific spot. She struck the hand sticking from underground right directly below the wrist portion of its thumb. The hand, thin and bony as it was, still had some reflexes, and opened just enough so that Nevras could move for half a second. That was enough. Nevras pivoted, and used Speed Slash on a back-swing Thanatos''s disembodied hand went limb, and Thanatos himself writhed in agony. He glared at Azrael, obviously having enough of her. Then he said the words in the ancient language, “Btvf iv smhi nmhw!” I felt like I was hearing something that not only was a cipher, but also backwards. I had no hope of understanding what he was saying. He opened his mouth wide and ate something, and Azrael collapsed in a heap.

    AZRAEL

    It is a well-known fact that contrary to stories like Faust, a person cannot really trade away their soul by contract. Well, it used to be one, then people got duped by stories like Faust. A soul is a birthright from God. Nobody can steal it. If anyone looking on were to mistakenly believe that I got my soul stolen, I would never forgive myself. It was borrowed, against my permission. That seems like an absurd amount of semantics, but it isn''t. My soul is still mine, it can neither be destroyed nor absorbed into another. But it can be temporarily taken outside my body. But it only is borrowed, because if the person sucking up the soul is defeated, the soul is returned to its proper host. This is why I''m able to write this today.

    While gone from the body, the body is dead, and unable to be revived. However, the person holding the soul can animate it much like a puppet, even using spells. But Thanatos was too noble or too busy to bother with something like that. I could see everything as a result of my soul being in his possession, although my perspective was through his eyes, not my own. My eyes were open, and a film would form over those if I was out of my body for too long. I watched Elias fail to revive me. I watched the others as they attacked Thanatos. And then I watched, as something strange happened to Zoe.

    ZOE

    “I can''t raise her,” said Elias. I had tried too, but his Resurrection was way better than my easy Revive ability. My heart felt empty, I didn''t know how to deal. I snapped and went into a super form. Well, technically it was becoming a Sage, but anyway.

    The Sage form is risky. Normally, this is dangerous, for several different reasons. First, as I am told by the experts of my sect, such abilities probably only activate while in deep meditation. That probably means sitting akimbo for hours, which makes it impossible for the purposes of battle. It also had to be just the right balance, something called the Tomoe (the Yin, Yang, and a third force known as Rang, between the other two). Not only were the Yin and Yang in balance, but the third one had to be in balance with the other two. Too little, and I''d be unable to effectively use or control my power. Too much, and it would go stagnant, probably. Since it was nature energy, I assumed one of the things that could happen to me was that I would turn into stone. Specifically, a stone frog. I dunno why I assumed that.

    I had always assumed that I needed to be in a state of calm. But today, I was trying to be calm, while at the same time overcome by feelings of fear and anger and love. And then, a feeling of balance for all these other feelings arose from inside my heart. I managed to finally feel calm despite everything, and then something just clicked. I felt energy inside and outside of me, as things came into balance. I had finally managed to awaken as a Sage.

    My eyes had opened very wide, and suddenly I could see everything. I could see individual runes inside my body, and floating around in the air. In this room, for instance, I saw the runes for Air in the current of air. I saw the many different symbols of two Exorcism attempts. I saw the Death, Darkness, and Decay runes floating around Thanatos. I saw the follower of Thanatos from before, with her balance of Life and Death runes. Not only runes, but I could see and hear well beyond normal. The fly from across the room, I could tell in detail how its wings looked. I could hear in all directions within the room and tell the exact location of a pin drop. And the smells, oh my, yes I could smell seriously well. Nevras''s feminine odor, despite his having worked up some serious sweat. Aqorm''s odor was almost like a wet forest. Elias smelled of books and ink. Ambrosia didn''t smell like much of anything, actually, except maybe dirt.

    It wasn''t just the ability see stuff, or my other senses, though. My body was way stronger than before, I could tell that much right now. Just as a test, I tried to cut myself, and apparently not only was my skin much firmer than before (hitting myself with my scythe hard enough to cut my arm off before barely made a pinprick), but the wound healed immediately. I had fast healing now!

    I tried to cast magic as before, only to realize that it no longer worked the same way. Thinking quickly, I came up with a rough theory of what was going on with me, based on what I had observed so far. Normally, the human body had its dantian as part of their spirit and this what allowed them to draw mana, along with using techniques. In fact, the difference between martial techniques and magic was that warriors typically had no ability to convert this energy into mystic power, so it instead circulated through the body. Because runes were normally inside my body, runes outside were attracted like a magnet by verbal spells. But now, energy flowed outside my body, forming a protective field that kept me in good health, but this repelled most runes. It meant I could push or pull runes to make spells of a sort, but they wouldn''t be as organized as before. It also meant... well, I decided to test things out rather than thinking too much.

    I rubbed my hands together, heating them up. Around my palm area, a faint Fire rune lit. I blew on it, urging it into being. Suddenly, a large flame formed in the palm of my hand. Good, my guess was right! I can use magic. Sort of. It was all senju though, so it was a learning curve. I resolved to use the other benefit of my state. Antimagic.

    Since I could push away runes, I could also break them apart. I rushed forward, scythe in hand. Thanatos was visibly worried, despite being freakishly strong. He cast darkness, but I could see the runes even after they had formed together. And I could break them. The flames and balls of darkness, I sundered just by grasping them and pulling them apart. I pulled out my scythe. Thanatos''s concern turned to desperation. He pointed at me and said, “Death.” Normally, a spell of death was invisible. Yet I saw the runes as they formed into a spidersilk-thin line that urged toward me. With the one hand free, I grasped the spell and pulled it to the ground. And then, I charged with my scythe.

    AZRAEL

    I saw everything from my perch inside Thanatos. Zoe had transformed in front of me. I guess in terms of transformation, it wasn''t on par with green skin and huge muscles. All that could be seen to change about her was a few minor details. Somehow or other, the energy she was giving off was changing her green karate outfit into a green dress which fanned out at the bottom. It appeared she was reshaping her nearby reality, but some of it didn''t even seem to be a conscious thing. She needed to move her arms and legs freely, and both appeared strong enough to rip clothing, so her clothing changed. She wanted to be able to see everything, so her eyes became golden like the immortals. She wanted badass hair, so her pigtails were gone, replaced with nearly knee-length silver-white hair.

    I saw her as she effortlessly ripped apart Thanatos''s magic. I saw as he abandoned magic and tried to attack her physically, only to realize that she was roughly equal in power to someone like him. She got bruised by his blows, but quickly recovered. He wasn''t as lucky. She sliced at him with her scythe, forming scars all over his thick skin. And then, she burned at him with what seemed to be her new Fire magic, only I didn''t hear her speak, so she was gathering runes together just by pulling them from the air. “Let her go!” she screamed. My heart raced. She leaped up, pulled open his mouth, and a few moments later, she was in her original form. I awoke in her embrace, again in my own body. Thanatos was furious, and would probably kill us all while Zoe was too exhausted right now to do what she did again. But somehow that didn''t seem to matter. We were prepared to die together.

    AMBROSIA

    Weird. By all appearances, Thanatos had been trying to kill us. And yet, I had been standing still, watching everything, and nothing had happened to me. Aqorm and Elias largely had withdrawn from the battle, and he had left them alone too. Nevras wasn''t really strong enough to hurt him, and probably my boyfriend now (I said it), so after that one grab attempt, he was largely ignored as well. It was like... he was testing us.

    Maybe it was time I tried something. I started to use my Crests, moving seamlessly from one to another. I could use them in rapid succession only because each Crest had a recharge time, rather than the whole thing. Apollo was first, I built and expanded a large golden shield that started by protecting myself, then I moved to Azrael and Zoe nearby and continued until all my friends were inside. The position of my hands changed, and I used Chronos to slow him down. I used the Four Gods to blast him with a storm of heat and cold, fierce winds, and finally an earthquake. He was about to attack, from the looks of it, when I finished. I had enough time to gather together Alexander''s Crest and pelted him with an enormous mass of holy power. It didn''t destroy him. Who was this guy?

    I was about to collapse, when instead of attacking, he bowed. He said, “You are indeed strong, but those who are exceptional still fall to death someday. Worse, your strength may one day become your greatest liability. Indeed, maybe today.” I must have looked confused, as I asked, “What do you mean?” He asked me, “Have you not heard of the Chain of Harm? Surely you must know.” He opened his hands and using a spell, he showed us an image. A man was getting in a fight with his wife. The wife, upset, needed to take it out on someone, so she scolds her child for not picking up his toys. Having no one human younger than him, he kicks the family dog. The dog in turn, badly mauls the nearby cat. The cat finds a mouse nearby and kills it. “Did you see?” he asked. “Each time it crossed over a species, this worsened, because of a sense ''they are not like me.'' Many things are lost in the Chain of Harm. For example, if all the rats die, insects overrun the land. With your great power, will you not one day harm the ones you love?”

    I shook my head firmly, “I will never hurt them! Never!” He laughed, a deep cold mocking voice unsettling my confidence, “Oh really? Perhaps it''s time for me to introduce you to your other self. The one you keep locked away. You see, everyone has the capacity to do harm, and the more power you have the greater this shadow within you builds. Allow me to show what your shadow has become after all your struggles.”

    The shadow from before took form. I was surprised. This shadow became a girl. She was about my height, she had eyes like mine, but her hair and eyes were a deep purple. She wore a yellow robe and a tiara of sort, a symbol of royalty. Who was this woman? She spoke, a tone in her voice very similar to the goblins of before, “Look at those cowards back there. Aqorm, you act like a kid, but we all know how old you are. And you, always with the books. Tell her how you feel, you wimp. You lesbians here, it''s not like we don''t know what you''re wanting to do. Stop trying so hard to hide it, you losers. And you...” She pointed to me, and gave me a stern look, “If I was in control, we would have kissed already, we''d be dating, and we''d probably have sex and be married by now. You have no guts. So I''m gonna kill this woman over here,” pointing to the follower of Thanatos that remained, “just to prove I have more nerve than you. What do you think about that?” The woman cried nervously, “No don''t kill me, I''m too old to die!” Without much effort, she went back on her word, “Alright, I won''t kill you. But you know what you did. All that necromancy stuff.”

    Thanatos mocked us, “Do you see the level of darkness that pervades it? Surely, it will do whatever evil deeds required of it. So much for your ''righteous quest.''” I objected strongly, “That can''t be right! I chose to continue this quest, when I was at the Aiken Monastery! I could surely become evil, but I could never imagine being used by other people!” The girl smiled. It was a cruel smile, but it had all the distinctive mannerisms, that I knew were true of me, it was every bit a smile I would have made. This was an Evil Ambrosia. “That''s right, Ambrosia,” Evil Ambrosia spoke, “I''m your shadow, and both of us know that, good or evil, I will always follow only your decisions! Not his!” So saying, she pulled out a knife, identical to mine, and stabbed at this guy a few times. As violent as it was, something told me she was trying harder to act evil than she actually was evil, for these stabs were all nonlethal areas of the body. Well, I guess it was important for her to not lose her reputation, so I told her, “I''ll stop you! Don''t make me have to fight you.”

    The battle began and ended rather quickly. No, not because one of us was stronger than the other. I knew that she wasn''t evil as she let on, and she knew that I had no intention to harm me. We pulled out fishing poles and whacked each other a bit. I got a black eye, she got a banged up shoulder but the battle quickly ended, when Nevras came over from concern. He looked at each other us with concern, and treated our wounds. I couldn''t be jealous of myself, could I? “He is so hot!” Evil Ambrosia said. “I know, really,” I responded. And suddenly, she was gone. I heard some whispers in my head, like, be sure to tell him how much you care, okay? And then, for awhile anyway, silence. My shoulder suddenly hurt.

    Thanatos congratulated us, “You have fought not only me, but your own shadow, and retained yourself. I shall grant my Crest, but remember, your dark side is always present when you fight others. You must feel compassion for those you defeat.” I now had five of the eight Crests. This journey might be over soon, I thought.