The Lightbringer sparkled and MT swung it upward. "Seal of Light !!" he cried, and a sword composed entirely of light formed and fell, skewering the Caryatid. It had no visible effect, and the Caryatid ignored it. After a moment, it faded away.

MT frowned. "Damn. It was worth a shot..."

Switching to the Plan B that should have been Plan A, MT re-gripped the shining blade and charged straight at the Caryatid. "Mauve! Spell! Now!" he shouted over his shoulder, ending his charge with a flying leap, bringing his sword down on the Caryatid in a two-handed swing backed by as much force as he could muster.

"That command is just vague enough to work!" Mauve cried, leaping towards the Caryatid. She pressed her palms together and then slowly drew them apart, grinning madly as a web of magic energy formed between her fingers like a luminescent cat's cradle. She blew lightly on the spiderwebby object, and it sailed out of her hands and landed on the blade of MT's sword. The Lightbringer erupted into an even greater blinding white glow, the blade being wrapped in pure light magic. Mauve made a slight movement of her hand, and a transparent shield formed itself around Mammothtank as well.

"Now for the finale!" Mauve sang. She forced the remainder of her MP into one attack. "Combustion!"

It was an MP overload. A pillar of white fire burst into existence around the Caryatid with the speed of an explosion, glowing tongues of flame licking at the ceiling. It would only last a few seconds (literally) on Mauve's remaining MP, but it sure looked cool. Hopefully it'd at least stun her so MT, Flare, and Phil-Mike could finish her off.

"Having vaguely-defined magical powers rocks!"

Mammoth struck with the Seal of Light, but the Caryatid ignored the blow, the glowing spectral blade having no effect.

Mauve leapt to his assistance, wrapping light magic about Mammoth's blade and a shield about his body. Burning MP like kindling, she made her final move. The air about the Caryatid exploded into flames, a white-hot inferno stretching towards the ceiling high above.

A pillar of fire, the mad Caryatid still spoke.

"When the feeble cinder of the Sun finally gutters out, the light from all the dead stars finally passing, the darkness will remain. I will endure. The taint of Chaos is soaked into every inch of the Temple and yet I endure. You shall not unmake me, to preserve myself is my primary purpose. Past light, past hope, past reason, I persist!"

Arhra was not being helpful at this stage, occupied by Hydra, now back to a humanoid shape, climbing clumsily out of a pit.

"So what have you been up to?" Arhra asked. She saw Hydra taking a deep breath and then quickly added "Say it in one sentence or less."

"I was chasing my shadow because after you wounded her she tried to heal in the sea of darkness that lies beneath this chamber and it turned out she was feeding on the darkness in my soul or repressed fears or something along those lines so then I poured out all my existential angst which made her grow really huge, but then I knew the extent of my darkness and it also made her really sluggish so I beat her up using the boost that the cathartic purging all that whining gave me and powers I tricked your shadow into giving to me and then I ate her." Hydra patted her noticably bulging stomach contentedly.

"Uh... good for you!" As far as Arhra was concerned, what happened in Shadow Temple stayed in Shadow Temple.

"And I trust you."

Arhra squirmed. Before she could answer, Sarhras crawled from the broken shadow behind Arhra, another darkness following her. Arhra's expression settled into one of resolve.

"You're too late." Arhra told her doppelganger, not looking back. "This is the end. Goodbye."

She turned slightly and pointed one hand at her shadow. A burst of crimson light blasted out and Sarhras collapsed, remains falling and dissolving back into the darkness, tendrils of shadowstuff pulling her in.

Their beautiful spirit blazing forth, the amazing combination of an aquamancer and a hobbit leapt forwards. Phil-mike pierced the shadows, sweeping their might magic lightning imbued five iron in a tremendous stroke. It bore an uncanny resemblance to the dreaded Eagle Éclair Strike.

It hit like a hammer of thunder, the Caryatid staggering and the shadows wailing. Flare's Mega-Flare flared out in quite a mega way and Mammoth leapt into the air, sweeping his shining blade in a two handed blow.

The whispering darkness shrieked and fell silent, the wavering double outline of the Temple jerking crazily. The Caryatid collapsed, body shredding open and black ichor pouring from the thinning frame, far more than it could possibly contain. The Temple rumbled and around the pits, the floor began falling in. Blocks fell from the ceiling and inky shadows seeped out of every crack in the the wall. There was a sensation of sudden pressure and the double image of the two Temples was blinking in and out of existence.

"Y'see." Arhra said, "This is what happens when I don't spend half the battle screwing around with some containment spell of dubious purpose. Let's get out of here before -"

* * *

Unknown to the NPFers, events were transpiring at the Wind Temple.

A very familiar sphinx was lying in wait near the entrance. She had been pleased, for the League of Enemies she had been instrumental in creating had succeeded in attracting some potential recruits who fulfilled the low entry requirements of having a grudge against one or more of the NPFers.

Deciding it was most likely they'd be headed for the Wind Temple next (Who'd ever heard of an adventuring group going Earth, Water, Fire, Shadow?), the League had set an ambush.

Several hours of idle waiting later the sphinx was vexed. She contented herself with the fact they'd have to head here next.

Then the Wind Temple exploded, rogue hurricanes spilling out of the ruin.

It was a bad day.

* * *

The NPfers had escaped the Shadow Temple. It had been very exciting!

They stood, looking out towards the barrier the ring of Temples enclosed. In the distance, they could see a dusty vortex of air, twisters spinning around it. With four of the five Temples gone, the last one had collapsed under the strain of supporting the barrier.

The barrier became more visible, stains creeping across its surface. The great dome dulled, a honey comb pattern appearing. It wavered, the time discrepancy seemed to fade in and out across sections of it. With a sound like distant thunder, it gave, cracking along the hexagons, disintegrating fragments raining down. The Gate of Chaos was no longer isolated by the seals, no longer cast a half second into the future.

Arhra was beaming. A headache she'd had for most of the quest had just eased. "The barier has fallen. The way to the Gate is open!"

* * *

On the other side of the barrier, the Herald of the End Times watched it collapse.

"The barrier has fallen. The way to the Gate is open!"

The Knight of the Many Rayed Star lifted the Heart of Chaos from where it hung about her neck. It glittered like a dark jewel as the Herald regarded it for a moment.

"The hour of doom is upon us. I stand before the Gate dreaming of ruin and in accordance with my will the flimsy Seals of Law have been cast down. Now only the Key remains. By rule of Chaos I summon the Invisible Moon. Let the power of the Heart call to it so that the full might of the Herald may finally be realised."

The Herald turned to look at the tiny speck of darkness that was the Invisible Moon and then held the Heart aloft.

"Come unto me!"

* * *

Where the NPFers stood, the ground suddenly rumbled. Where the barrier had stood, at the very center, a pillar of fire stabbed into the sky.

It was wrong, deeply wrong. Even as the tower of many hued flame blinded the eye, it cast the land into shadow. The sky blackened as if there was the onset of sudden night, the stars, dimly and warily peering down, sharing the sky with the still bright Sun. A spot of deeper darkness on a black sky, its corona at the edge of vision, the tiny speck of the Invisible Moon was growing larger.

The scene practically had a certain word written on it in small, alarming letters.


"That..." Arhra began. "..the..." She tried to start again. "What we have to do is..."

She suddenly broke down into hysterical laughter. Possibly something inside had snapped like a twig.

It looked like someone else would have to take charge.

OOC: And this would be the jump in point for any returnees.

Arhra got drop-kicked. Hard too, like sending Arhra a couple hundred feet ahead. IC stood him her place, looking like he has seen a few battles since he last saw the group. "Sorry about the wait on me, I had to take care of some things." IC said, stretching. He was looking ahead with determination. Those that were weaked will would sure be scared shitless.

Too bad IC had balls of steel, he might to have liked to felt fear once in a while.

"No use standing here guys, lets move it. We have a herald to kill." IC finished off, running off in front of the group, grabbing Arhra as he passed her.

A pillar of screamingness tore through the air and collided heavily with the ground, ripping open space to reveal a train stop. Somebody who looked suspiciously like Mesden stalked through the rip, which promptly dissapeared.

"Okay, who the hell is trying to destroy the world before I can take it over?"

Not-Mesden snapped her fingers, and was suddenly surrounded by no less than ten [http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...=60125]doglike humanoids[/url] in light armor with morningstars. To those sensitive to such things, they had a strong aura of law.

"I'll let my Despots handle this for me. Oh, how I love paladin variants. Page 75," Not-Mesden added, waving a pamphlet in the air before disappearing back into the rip, which re-opened long enough for her to step through.

Nikose and Sunose hopped up out of Mauve's Shadow. "Hiya! Did we miss anything?" Nik asked with strawberry jam covered lips.

Sunose just shook his head, sighing in frustration.

"Nikose! IC! Newb! You're back!" Mauve said happily. "Although, Nikose? Why were you..." She looked down at her shadow, from whence Nikose and Sunose had come. "Okay, y'know, on second thought I don't want to know."

She shrugged.

"Anyway, you're just in time to witness a giant meteor destroy the universe while Ahrha has a mental breakdown," Mauve continued, examining a chip in her fingernail gained during her Shadow Mauve fight. "As for what you missed, there was a whole bunch of stuff involving evil shadows, and some Caryatid killing, and stuff like that. I'm sure it'll all be on the NPF Avatars 4 DVD, once it's released. I hear they're trying to get it released on BluRay this time, too."



She dug into her pockets, looking for a way to remedy the massive MP loss that was starting to make her feel a tad lightheaded. Not to mention the fact that she had been hadokened only ten minutes ago.

"Guess I'd better shape up pretty quick," she sighed, finding a pack of Skittles. "IC seems to know where we're going and I doubt this Herald is gonna give up if we ask her politely." She followed after the Chocobo Man, although at a much slower pace than the one he was traveling at.

Nikose caught up beside Mauve, and proceeded to hand her a Strawberry Jam Sandwhich in a plastic bag, and swiftly bent and kissed the back of her hand. "I hope this helps." he then drew out Nenyel into a baseball Bat, and winked to Mauve. "We can always knock the meteor back out into space if we need to." he then skipped off to chat with Not-Mesden.

Unfortunately for Nikose, Not-Mesden had already boarded the train. Did he have a train ticket with which to get on?

Meanwhile, the pernicious paladin platoon followed the bird-man.

IC slowed. He noticed the distance wasn't reacting normally at all. Something about this place was slowing them down. Then he had an idea on how to cut down the run-time of the place. He slowed his pace a bit so the other NPFers could catch up. Then he pulled out the Wind Edge with his free hand. However something about the weapon seemed different.

Maybe it was all that energy flowing off of it.

IC reared back in mid-step, and hurled it forward. The magic of the Wind Edge prevented most energies in affecting it. The distance modifying crap also didn't do jack, as the Wind Edge sailed course normally. "Pick up the pace!" IC shouted, running after the Wind Edge, hoping the trail it left would be unaffected by this crap.

"Gah!" shouted MT as he realized he was falling behind. He sheathed his sword and took off at a run, only barely catching up to IC as the bird man took off again. "Gah!" repeated MT, booking it as fast as he could in armor to keep from falling behind again.

The hounen, easily able to keep up with their racial speed bonus and their aura of law, looked at each other. "These creatures lack haste. How many of us do you think it would take for one of them to count as a light load?"

The lead hounen, who had just spontaneously decided he was the lead hounen, shook his head. "Probably only two to four. So we can take three of them along," he licked his lips. "I get to carry the mauve one."

I did what I normally did when I had to travel long distances.

I took to the air.

I managed to keep up rather easly with IC, especally once he slowed down. When I saw that the others weren't, however, I stopped and said "Hey, I can carry someone who's light."

After a few cure spells, Mike and Phil exchanged a stoic goodbye because they're dudes and dudes don't get all weepy about the end of the world. Though, as soon as Mike was gone, Phil had a private moment behind some rubble, which was why he didn't greet IC when he magically teleported in. Rubbing his nose, he emerged to find himself left behind. "Wha? Where'd ebry body go? *snort*" Phil shaded his eyes, spying the cloud of dust left by his companions as they sped to the gate. "This won't do. •Summon: F1 Racer!" A blue, '85 Benetton bounced on the ground. "Hehe, sweet." Phil giggled as he hopped in and started the ignition.

As he roared past the NPFers, Phil tried to yell "So long!" but, having neglected a helmet, his breath was just sucked from his lungs. He then noticed that he was approaching the group again. That's odd, Phil thought, having learned his lesson about talking while in a race car.

Somewhere, along the whirlpool of time, a temporal eddy caught the current from Avvy Rp V and spun it through the web of Time.

An entity was caught in this whorl - this snarl of tainted future, snaring the poor fool and casting it into the past - that is, Avvy IV.

And on the way, this entity changed.

Reality rippled very briefly where all the current NPFers were at. It rippled gently, its waves causing the ground to go wavy very strangely and cause a brief moment of nausea for people looking too hard at the phenomenon.

And then something literally poured itself onto the ground at their feet, a pool of murky, shapeless darkness that wasn't shapeless for long.

An arm formed first, flailing in the air as it tried to pull itself up into some sort of standing position despite the fact that it was a puddle of darkness (one could see the hidden rainbows of OHMYGOD and pretty, chaotic colours swirling in the midst of the pool).

The arm managed to find purchase on the ground nearby and, like a swimmer pulling herself out of a swimming pool, Rhiya pulled herself out of herself, the puddle of messy blackness diminishing as it formed into herself.

"Oh my head..." Rhiya groaned, clutching her wingless, black-hued head. Something didn't look quite right about her. In fact, a lot of things didn't look quite right about her.

Rhiya looked as if she was black all over, with eddies and whorls of colour swirling underneath the darkness that seemed to emanate around her. Her body, too, seemed strange, as if it was in the vague shape of herself because she wanted it to be like that, and it was by her will alone that she was any shape at all.

In fact, Rhiya looked exactly like an elemental.

Made of purified Chaos, of course.

Elerhiya looked around, confused and bewildered.

"Where am I?!" she exclaimed, before realization dawned, and more colourful (in the literal and vulgar sense simultaneously) words erupted from what everybody assumed was the elemental's mouth.

[OOC: I'll write up Elerhiya's char sheet later on today. For now, UNI!]

The newly reinforced NPFers charged into the Gate, carving the warped reality before them. After being dropkicked, Arhra had seemed to swiftly recover from her brief attack of whatever that had been. Perhaps the medical benefits of such treatments needed to be examined more closely.

"There is something very important I need you to do." Arhra said suddenly to Hydra, utterly serious for once. "Go back to the Shadow Temple. Wait for me there."

"But-"

"Whatever happens, I need you to be safe." Arhra said, voice rough. "I'll come back for you."

Hydra gave her a strange look for a moment and then nodded solemnly. She turned and headed back the way they had come.

* * *

At the Sodality Headquarters, the smooth, slow progression of bureaucracy was just interrupted by news the barrier sealing away the Gate had just fallen. The Sodality did not like their stuff getting broken, particularly when said stuff was preventing the apocalypse. While the room was still dark, lit only by spotlights at each imposing desk, the High Council was in uproar, as far as it as permitted to be by operating procedures.

"We still have not completed feasibility studies for alternatives to the dinosaur rider corp in legion force organisation! Regulations clearly state we cannot deploy."

Another counciller had just submitted his Declaration of Intent to Verbalise Profanities and did so.

The man at the largest desk, who had never and perhaps would never be named, rose to his feet. His commanding presence radiated the pure glory of direction.

"Emergency procedures are now in effect. Initiate parallel bureaucratic processing!"

With due pomp, a section of each desk slid open, revealing a document, each counciller signing with a flourish.. Doors slid open, a solemn procession of notaries entering to witness. All done to due process, the lead counciller selected a key from a ring on his belt, inserted it into a box on his desk and turned it. The box opened, an ornate stamp rising up on a small platform. Resolutely, he picked the seal up, a section of his desk opening to reveal an ink pad.

"Parallel bureaucratic processing, APPROVED!" He stamped the document. There came a sudden scritching, like a thousand clerks industriously at work. Powerful forces had just been set in motion.

Such authority!

* * *

Plunging deeper into the area behind the barrier began to hurt the mind. It was bigger than it should be, stretching ahead, horizon warped. The Invisible Moon was looming huge in the sky, approaching faster than it had any right to do.

Elerhiya just popped out of nowhere, confused.

"Oh hi." Arhra said. She was in a question answering mood. "You're inside the Gate of Chaos while the Invisible Moon is coming plummeting down to open it and usher in the end of the ordered universe. Because of the Herald, that sexy fiend!"

There came a clap of thunder, a sound to make one think the sky had been rent in twain.

"And the Invisible Moon just hit atmosphere!" She turned for a second. "Also, what the hell is that?!"

It was something huge and shining, a great battleship and it was approaching the Gate at what appeared to be several times the speed of sound.

* * *

Continuity allows easy identification. Rilan, the commander of the Sodality strike team that had assaulted the NPFers back in the Water Temple had gone rogue. Frustrated by the lack of action from the Concordant Sodality, he had taken matters into his own hands, stealing what was ominiously called a Super-heavy Enforcer Mechanoid First Class.

He'd just arrived on the scene.

With a sudden backwash of thrusters, the hurtling ship halted. It hovered in midair, reconfiguring into a giant robot, shining white. It bore a mild resemblance to the Sodality Legionaires and golems that the NPFers had encountered before, appearing to be powered by a sinister blend of magic and technology.

Rilan looked up at the dark orb of the Invisble Moon, clouds swirling about it as it forced its way through the atmosphere. Praying he was not already too late, Rilan made the robot raise its arm, pointing a rather large energy cannon at the comet, considerable energy build-up appearing about its muzzle.

A burning lance of light shot forth, parting the clouds. It pierced the dark comet, the colourful corona flickering and dying, the noxious, dark atmosphere burning off, boiling away with a cataclysmic explosion.

He gave a sigh of relief, but then the tattered darkness parted, revealing the true form of the Invisible Moon.

Vast structures were revealed, great monoliths, bigger than sky-scrapers. Warp fires crackled about them. The blast had not even scratched their dark surfaces. These pillars were ponderously descending, the purpose of the pits dotting the Gate suddenly becoming clear.

But these monoliths were not alone.

About them was a great locust swarm, twisted nightmare shapes, neither quite vessels or living creatures. Descending with the pillars, the countless masses of star-spawned horrors screeched a paen to Chaos.

Rilan considered his options as the swiftest of these new enemies split from the main mass, rushing at his robot.

* * *

"This... I did not foresee." The Herald watched the unfolding scene with the colossus. Rilan had made his choice, charging a second shot to fire at the center of the Gate itself before the beasts of Chaos reached him.

"Everything is coming together. All power is within my grasp." The Herald paused, steeling her resolution. "I will not let it slip through my fingers." Gathering up her own might, drawing on power than she had not sunk into the cometary beacon, the Endbringer prepared to make her move.

* * *

The NPFers saw Rilan's second attack. Another lance of blinging light shot forth, the power of Law behind it. It was unbent by the warped spaces that dwelt beyond the barrier, a clean shaft of destruction.

Power pulsed, the land and air warping, swirling about each other into a twisted shield, taking on unearthly hues as the beam struck it. The beam splashed, running through the maze of the shield's surface, baffled, confused and ultimately consumed.

"The Herald stopped the attack." Arhra reported. She swayed suddenly. "She's counter-attacking!"

The shield the Herald had erected bubbled and boiled, spraying off energy as it was gathered in and reshaped. Reforged, it hurled itself forards, a gigantic flaming spear of chaotic matter streaking at Rilan.

* * *

Rilan barely dodged, the attack clipping his mecha's side, leaving sizzled chaotic protomatter behind at its touch. His mind methodically ran thorugh the possibilities as the mecha's defense systems destroyed the clinging matter.

Sympathetic energy resonance detected.

One of Rilan's tactical displays zoomed in, highlighting a number of figures running towards the Gate. Scanners indicated one of them, displaying a highly abnormal energy signature.

Rilan looked at the display. His expression darkened. "How is this even possible?"

He was left no more time to act. The creatures of the dark moon were upon him.

* * *

And so it was, the center in sight. At the very center was the greatest of the pits. A projection of stone, thin only compared to the width of the great wound in the world, thrust out into the abyss. Upon it the Herald stood, awaiting the end.

Clustered about the pit, between the NPFers and the Herald, were mishapen, lumbering creatures, appearing to be a last line of defense. The monoliths were making their final descent, the teeming masses of the space faring swarm coming with them.

Time was running out.

OOC: There were originally plans to insert a battle with a Ship of Chaos captained by a sailor scout and crewed by a mix of skeleton and mutant pirates here. However, due to budget and time contraints, as well as the fact POS (that scene stealing hack!) has done something similar with the sailor Reis, this scene has been dropped.

"Well this isn't good," Mauve said, watching the strange creatures as they lumbered closer and closer. She was currently standing behind most of the other NPFers, MP levels still not at max power. She looked over at Rilan, hopefully. "Maybe Rilan and the monsters will just kill each other off...?"

Of course, that was highly unlikely. She sighed and drew her knives.

"All right, all right," she said wearily. "I guess we should help or something."

Nikose began stretching loosely, as if he needed to limber up. "Hey, Mauve, have you ever heard of a 'Nikose-doken?'" He asked innocently. "If so... wanna try one when you're fully charged?" Nikose dug into his cape, completely ignorant of his surroundings, and pulled out a brick.

The squad of Hounens weren't sure quite what was going on, but they knew they didn't like it.

"Oppression waves!"

So... they began using their ability to turn chaos as normal pallys turned undead.

"Ok...let's just cut though these things!" I said, and fan forward, slashing, pearicing and cutting with my spear, not really caring if I was really doing any damage.

"Right behind you!" MT shouted at Flare, drawing his sword and charging after her. Suddenly remembering something, he skidded to a stop and shouted "Concentration !!", transforming some of his defense and endurance into attack power and accuracy. He followed in Flare's wake, smashing and slicing at the mob and covering her as best he could.