He's gone...

The Regent and her sister look over at Sato, who is smiling like one who's found peace. 

I can't shake the feeling that our Teacher is hiding something from us, Malachi D'Honaire shares with her sister mentally. The delegates that had accompanied him looked as if they had expected Sato to make the announcement he had made, and they looked...happy for him. But not in a normal manner, if you catch the bait I'm using in this fishing trip. 

I know what you're "getting at". the Regent sends back, partly to agree with her sister, partly as a hint on what the proper phrase would be for "Terra Prime" in this matter. <Still, I get no indications of anything beyond what he says he plans on accomplishing, in performing the "enhancing" ritual. 

Sometimes she couldn't help herself in correcting her sister. She was dear to her, it just was so.annoying..sometimes to hear either a phrase from her (Malachi D'Honaire's) original world OR a phrase that had been picked up from her close association with Inquirer in the initial days of her arrival on Terra Prime. 

It was annoying, because it was catching! The Regent had caught herself using some of the same phrases."Sharky" being one of the more exotic ones. 

<Sorry. the Regent sent to her sister, apologizing for being.a touch annoying. Malachi D'Honaire nodded, and then frowned. 

I thought you said that your empathy afforded you by joining your Hoard with the currency of Ethiopia couldn't even READ him. Malachi D'Honaire mentally mutters to her sister. 

<He's the one who'd invented the process in the FIRST place, so of course he knows how to block my power, the Regent sighs, feeling a twinge of embarrassment. <He always was a private dragon, and liked his privacy, physical as well as psychic! 

<Ah, that is true, even for "my" Sato, Malachi D'Honaire mentally concedes. Besides which, he said it was a matter of honor. To not help in such an endeavor, would be an unforgivable blot on his "nearly unredeemably stained" honor. I will not stand in the way of anyone in such a matter of honor. Sato is honorable, and he sees what has befallen Terra with his founding of the Council of Wyrms.. 

Malachi smiles, remembering that her sister was such a stickler on that subject. The Regent didn't go out of her way at being dishonorable, but honor wasn't everything. If a slightly underhanded method was called for for the greater good, Malachi Dronocis would smile and use it for the betterment of her subjects in Ethiopia. 

<And when you get right down to it I can think of no other way to do right by our friends, save Terra, AND have enough energy left to possibly defeat Zerm! the Regent points out drolly. Her sister nods in agreement. 

Demifox Synizn, along with his brothers, is over by Sato. 

"I never even dreamed such a spell ritual existed," Synizn says, amazed as he looks over the parameters outlined in Sato's diagram. 

"I can't follow HALF of what it says," Dragon Synizn mutters, again twisting the diagram in a new direction, as if doing do would make the mystical schematics understandable. 

"But sir," Dragon Fred, in human form, ventures as he comes up to the group. "I think that at least part of the reason why the other mages, dragon and otherwise, have never heard of this... I myself am still wet from my birth hatching, since I became a dragon..where it comes to magic, but I sense a strategy here. 

"You didn't want to turn EVERYTHING over to the Council of Wyrms," Fred ventures further. "Even the best of friends don't reveal EVERYTHING to the other. Especially something THIS powerful." It appeared that Sato had some reservations about the Council, even back then. 

"By Tiamat, I believe the newest wyrm's got it." Manbear Synizn nods approvingly. The other mages look like they agree, including Sato! 

"That was a concern," the elder wyrm nods. "Now, with my powers afforded to me by my Hoard that grant me, as well as the long life I've been..blessed with, the other mages can accomplish what needs to be done. 

"I have power enough, through my Hoard, to provide the mystical energy needed to power this all." Sato says, smiling what many Westerners would call an inscrutable smile. "Let us begin!" 

Yes, not even the best of friends, with a few exceptions, ever share EVERYTHING. 

Probe looks on with the other non-mages as the magic using beings chant, make arcane gestures, or reach for yet another magical component needed for this arcane ritual. 

His friend and "sister" in his Family had tried to explain quickly to Probe the bare basics of this ritual of Sato. 

Basically, Inquirer had told him that in order to do EVERYTHING the mages had hoped to accomplish before the final confrontation with Zerm and his cronies all those capable of casting magic were needed. They pooled their skills, empowered by Crystallic to make fine adjustments on Matrixes. This still cost fatigue, but it wasn't THEM who would feel the strain of this operation. 

Sato would be paying the bill. According to the elder wyrm, he would be able to withstand the strain of the combined energy demands. He'd draw every last erg of mystical strength allowed him through his Hoard, and would survive. 

Probe had an uneasy feeling about the last part, but he also had other worries. 

He was worried about the upcoming battle with a mage that would require such a grand force arrayed against him to be defeated. 

He was worried sick about how his brothers in arms were doing up in space! There was battle to be had against his most hated opponent, and part of him wanted to be away. Part of him wanted to be back within his ship's body, sailing towards the Enemy and killing with abandon! 

Reality was undeniable. He could not do that any more than he could physically move the planet from orbit with his bare hands! 

Duty and honor demanded he also be with the adventurers in this upcoming battle. This kept the AI from fidgeting in impatience while the whole flapping mess continued in front of him. 

Lastly, there was STILL the last part of the Vision prone dwarf's…prophecy? What did the Company have up its sleeve? What was it with those atoms that swung forward and backwards? Probe's subconscious, his ability to multitask, chewed away on that problem as the rest of him watched the magic before him. 

Power flows from the Crystallic, and an amber glow surrounds those targeted with it. 

First, the easiest task is accomplished. One Crystallic could have accomplished this easily enough. With six combined, it is not even a ghost of a breeze! 

Several sleeping incubator dwellers will find that there's less room in there for them than before they went to sleep. That is, until somebody gets around to taking them out to be hugged by a crying mother and father.. 

Several young demifox kits, born from the unfortunate union with several mundane foxes and Fred 4's group, are blissfully asleep. They are not aware of what is happening to them. Their form changes. Some change drastically while others change only a little. Several change from demifox kits into manimal fox kits. Others change into manimal bear cubs or manimal lion cubs. Still asleep, they are magically whisked away to their loving and caring new parents, happily waiting in the Manimal Nation. Their parents laugh and hug their awakening, and confused, children. There are names to be given, religious rights to be performed, and People to be thanked! 

The elder kits of Fred 4's brood blur, shimmer, and morph back into the form that Demifox Synizn and their parents had worked so HARD on giving them! Seven healthy, and fine looking human infants snore away, oblivious at the screaming headache it caused the Crystallics to change them back! 

It grows no easier for them as they punch through the interference some call "metaphysical" (so named since that is the only mortal word near enough to describe it). The Matrix shards had altered Fred and Astra 4's Matrix so much, weakened it and paradoxically STRENGTHENED it through a series of moves that only could be expressed with high grade physics (some of it only found on Terra). In that process, it generated a field of mystical "noise" that was impossible for one mere Crystallic to punch through. Six of them found it possible to break through safely to the Matrix within and alter it back to "normal", but hard! Doing it a grand total of NINE times was torture. 

And their users weren't quite done YET! 

Her Matrix has been twisted, torqued, and nearly shattered by the ham handed minstrations of a greedy man. Only the saving grace that destroying the woman would have destroyed part of itself prevented the Crystallic from killing Black Astra! Unlike regular user, the unorthodox users of a certain Crystallic (now suffering from a permanent 500 year memory loss) had also muddied Astra 5's Matrix beyond belief! Usually, under even the most inept magic user, the Crystallic found the ability to "clean up" after itself while working with its target. 

Muttering imprecations silently to themselves, the angry Crystallics make clear what has been blurred. They straighten what has been warped. They strengthen what has almost been stressed beyond itself. Most importantly, due to the skills of the users, the Crystallics find it possible to do the last task assigned it for this session! 

Black Astra (a nickname she will gleefully carry throughout her life) is no longer ebony skinned. A lovely, slightly tanned face that is framed by a cloud of flame red hair, smites Fred 5's eyes! 

"Astra." Fred 5 sobs in joy as he begins to step towards his wife. Then sheer horror of what he'd almost done roots him to the spot! 

By Odin's eye, what in the name of Asgard am I DOING?! Fred shouts to himself, shaking in reaction. 

There had been Hel to pay when his beloved had sneezed during a critical point in a spell by his Dr. Vincent to cure his freakish "scissors-hands" condition. 

To interrupt such a powerful magical ceremony would be sheer lunacy! Gods know what might have happened if he'd actually walked into the middle of this ceremony! 

The Crystallics, finally done, now almost gleefully turn to the next task at hand. By the Rules, the user of a Crystallic must give up a bit of his vital strength, paid up in fatigue. 

The bill for this session wasn't quite as big as that from the session to cleanse and heal Terra of her wounds inflicted by Enemy atomic devices. Not quite, but it was close. VERY close! 

The Crystallics flash a dark blue in surprise as the mystical tendrils that would revitalize the Atlantian artifacts (and drain the users) is redirected by a previously unknown spell..into the awaiting form of one small..old and harmless looking man of Oriental origin. 

Hundreds of miles away, deep within the bowels of Terra, a vast Hoard begins to glow a cherry red and brightens to an eye shearing light just before exploding! Treasures of mineralogical, artistic, and magical nature most of which has never graced the eyes of humanity (nor the eyes of the descendants of the nonhuman people who they were acquired from) are instantly destroyed. Not even atomic dust is left behind, for the atomic shells and subatomic particles cease to exist! 

An inhuman cry of agony causes all eyes to turn to the bloody mass that had been Sato. Several of the viewers, battle hardened and jaded from the injuries seen from countless battle, feel intensely ill at the sight of the pile of quivering flesh before them. 

Inanely enough, at the moment of the dire event, Probe had witnessed the event and was reminded of a late 20th century movie. It had been called: Scanners . 

Gruesomely enough, Sato is still alive, barely. 

"Malic chick" whispers Sato weakly, calling Malachi by his pet name for her, eons ago when he took her aside for less than Council approved philosophy lessons. He again calls her, no longer quite sure just WHERE he's at, or when. His mind was wandering through the centuries of his long life.
 
 

He doesn't even remember that there are TWO beings who had that same nickname. Nor does it matter that two of the same looking women rush over (already feeling sickly at the realization that there was nothing that they could do for Sato-san the nearest thing that they had ever had to a loving father). His life force, what was left of it, was leaking out of him to their mage sight even as they approached him. 

Sato couldn't even SEE them, for his face was a bloody mask, and his eye sockets empty of their orbs. Sato had no eyes to see with. 

Not even the Crystallics could stem the flow of life bleeding from Sato. The mystical link between dragon and Hoard was gone and mangled beyond magical repair! 

Only a matter of time. 

"Little one, don't cry please?" Sato weakly begged in a small, whispery voice. "The other hatchlings making fun of your magnificent name? Did I ever tell you that it's the same name of a funny little man who's in the religious calling? That he's a prophet of some type? I think he's even writing them down, his prophecies, for some special religion that the humans seem so excited about.. 

"It's a Sign that you have a special destiny," Sato whispers, barely being able to be heard. "You're special, little one, born to do some great deed. Affect somebody's or several people's...life in a special way. " 

" 

"I remember, Sato-san" the Regent of Ethiopia says softly, clasping Sato's mangled hand gently. "Oh God…I remember." She was weeping as she said this. 

"Good God in the Sky.." Malachi Dronocis whispers , unaware she spoke aloud, gently and lovingly stroking what was left of her mentor's cheek (in a effort to convey the feelings of care of love that she wanted Sato-san to feel to warm him as he faded). "Something in the ceremony went wrong.." 

"Wrong?" Sato asks in a tiny, almost child-like voice. His mind was suddenly clear, and he knew who he was talking with, again. "No, I never had intended to survive beyond this. The ceremony worked as designed. It was...a measure of last...resort. One dragon would die, to revitalize dozens of weary dragons who'd spent themselves in magical battle so they could arise again for mage war...and." 

Sato lapses into silence for a second, only his hitching, ragged breathing hinting that he was still alive. 

"I find I must make amends for...wrongs committed by me directly...or by sins on me by staying silent when I could have protested," Sato whispers. "Protested and stopped the Council's madness...by.. 

"Malachi...please...forgive me...for this," Sato gasps out. "I do what I knew needed to be done, and...it will finally end the torment of my memories of the past. Please...finish off the threat that began all this madness…and learn...where I failed. 

"Please." Sato finishes, with his last breath. 

Thus, Sato was...he was gone. Nothing was left but ash, for even his bloody shell finally went quickly back to the earth it had come from. 

He'd disintegrated with the last of his breath, leaving only dust.. 

1. The adventurers are silent and all try to comfort the Malachis as...they cry… 

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