Bsb Nsync Chronicles

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- This story is entirely fictional and does not imply anything about anyone featured in the story, whether they be celebrities, friends of mine, fictional characters or Greek gods. Any characters from TV shows, books, comics or movies are copyrighted to their respective companies and/or creators. Also, if you are under 18, you should be FAR FAR FAR away from this story. Comments, questions and feedback can be sent to ensstyenlc@hotmail.com ___________________________________________________________________________ |The BSB NSYNC Chronicles - Chapter Fifteen| Howie sat at the table in the academy cafeteria, playing with his food as usual while Iolaus gobbled everything down hungrily. He sensed something in the air, a sort of calm before the storm. He glanced at Hercules who was also playing with his food. Jason, Chris and Lilith were totally ignoring their bowls of stew and were talking among themselves with Chris flirting with Lilith while Jason teased them both. Howie noticed Hercules frowning.

"What's wrong?" Howie asked Hercules. Hercules shook his head. "Huh? No there's nothing wrong with me."

"You feel like something's gonna happen?" Howie asked Hercules. Hercules nodded grimly. "You can feel that too?"

Howie nodded grimly. There was somehow tension in the air that only Hercules and he could feel. Something was somehow wrong with the world.

As if suddenly feeling their grimness, Lilith, Jason and Chris fell silent, as did the entire cafeteria. Even Iolaus stopped eating.

"Okay, something is definitely wrong," Chris said. "It's like there going to be a blast of lightning..."

A blast of lightning blasted the cafeteria doors open. The cadets backed away from the broken door, wary of what might happen.

"Remind me to shut my mouth," Chris mumbled. A figure of a woman stormed into the academy. Darkness seemed to follow her around. She raised her right hand in front of her and a swarm of zombies and skeletons filed into the room. Several of the cadets shouted. Those with weapons began to defend themselves and their friends from the undead. Their weapons were not very useful, however. The woman stood at the door and laughed a maniacal laugh. Hercules punched a skeleton's chest and gave it two swift kicks to the chest. The skeleton crumbled to the floor. Hercules rushed to the woman and tried to punch her. She was hardly thrown back and she began to fight with Hercules bare-handed.

"So, the favoured son of Zeus presumes he can attack Hecate, does he?" she sneered, kicking Hercules in the stomach, causing him to fly backwards about five or so feet.

"Hecate?" Chris thought for a moment, blocking a zombie's fist. "Howie, isn't Hecate the goddess of Darkness and of the terrors of the night?"

Howie spin-kicked a zombie so hard that the zombie's head fell of, it's body collapsing onto the ground. "Yeah she is," he replied, smashing a pitcher of water on a skeleton's head.

"Hercules!" Chris shouted. "We need help from you family!"

"Who do I call?" Hercules asked, blocking a punch from Hecate.

"Anyone that uses light," Chris replied, headbutting a skeleton, crumbling it to dust. "OW! THAT HURTS MUCH MORE THAN IT LOOKS!"

Iolaus backflipped over a zombie trying to punch him and grabbed a chair. He smashed the chair on the zombie's rotting head. All it did was to cause the flesh to fall off, leaving the zombie's skull exposed. Iolaus backflipped onto a table and gave the zombie's head a hard kick. The zombie's head shot off its body, knocking itself into two skeletons and smashing them.

"APOLLO!" Hercules shouted, wondering if his half-brother would hear him. A bright silver arrow streaked through the room, destroying any undead that it touched. The arrow hit the wall, just under Jason's groin.

"Woah! Watch it!" Jason said, turning off to fight another advancing skeleton.

Apollo shot another arrow through a crowd of zombies and skeletons trying to get to a bunch of cadets who had barricaded themselves behind toppled tables. The skeletons and zombies crumbled to the ground. Apollo threw his bow and quiver to Lilith who was standing near him. "Use those carefully."

Lilith nodded and began to shoot Apollo's silver arrows into the massess of zombies and skeletons. Apollo rushed towards Hecate, bright light streaming from his body. He tackled into her, pinning her to the floor. The two gods wrestled and fought, light against darkness. Hercules, seperated from his attacker, slumped onto the floor, his energy drained by the dark goddess. Apollo finished Hecate off, and she fled, her minions crumbling to the ground. The cadets would have cheered if it had not been for the fact that most of them were mortally injured. Apollo quickly went around the room, healing everyone that needed healing. Finally he came to Hercules. He placed his hands on Hercules' chest and a bright beam of blue light streamed into Hercules, energising him.

"What's going on?" Hercules asked Apollo.

"There's a war among the gods, a war that has somehow spilled over into the mortal world," Apollo explained. "You have to warn the Faeries. Warn everybody, but stay away from the priests and clerics of the gods. They already know which side their gods are on, and they may lie about it, so spread the word quickly. Say Apollo sent you."

"But they'll think it's a hoax!" Chris panted, standing next to Apollo.

"Don't worry," Apollo said. "Nemesis is doing that right now, trying to get people into safe places to hide to escape the coming war. She can back up your story."

"But why don't you help us more directly?" Howie asked.

"We can't, we do not get involved so directly," Apollo said. "At least we keep to the rules."

Before they could ask anymore questions, Apollo disappeared in a flash of light. Hercules looked over at the other cadets. He looked at Jason and told him to take charge.

Jason immediately split the cadets into pairs. "Ok, Eustace and Philip, you go to Corinth and tell them what's happened. Paul and Delvin, you go to the amazons. You two, go to Athens..."

When all the cadets had left in pairs to go to the respective cities, Jason turned to Lilith and Iolaus. "You two go and warn the Amazons."

"But Jason," Lilith began to argue.

"Just go. They'll believe you because you're a girl and you used to live with them," Jason finished firmly. Lilith was not happy about being seperated from her friends, but saw the logic in Jason's statement and turned to go, Iolaus following closely behind her. Jason turned to Chris, Howie and Hercules. "We're going to warn the Faerie."

"Why four of us?" Chris asked.

"Because the Faeries live deep in the forest, and there are many monsters living there as well, so we need to be in greater numbers to chase them away," Jason replied, walking towards the room where their weapons were stored. He grabbed four swords and told Howie to go and grab some food from the nearby inn. Hercules and Chris quickly ran to grab some extra clothes for travelling. The four of them were ready in an hour, and they stood at the edge of the forest, reluctant to enter the domain of monsters.

"Here goes nothing," Chris muttered under his breath. He stepped into the dark forest, followed closely by Hercules and Howie, with Jason bringing up the rear. They began to make their way to Caeranos, following the directions Justin had given Chris and Howie in case they ever wanted to meet up with their other friends who were there.

Estel awoke with a throbbing in his head, which was strange since Faeries did not get sick. There were a few diseases that could affect them, all of them fatal, but the signs were physically visible, or else something obvious like coughing. He glanced around the campsite where he and five of his six siblings, and three humans lay around sleeping. He glanced up at the sky, wondering what had driven all of them to sleep in the middle of the afternoon. The sun was now setting. He woke his companions, telling them of the strange encounters, wondering what any of them thought of the strange feeling in the air. At Estel's observations, Larel drew a large leather-bound tome out of his backpack. He began to flip the pages, looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" Justin asked Larel, who seemed to be frantically flipping the pages, almost tearing them out. Larel ignored him and flipped to a page. He stopped, glanced over the page and read out, "The Chosen One will be followed by the Key. The Key will be used in the war, and can cause the victory or defeat of the Powers of the World. At some times, the Key can be found on the Chosen One, whose arrival will cause the natural powers of the Weave to tear, causing death and destruction all around.

The effect of the Key depends on a man, holy to all, with an elven wife. The man will be the only one able to use the Key for victory."

"Is that it?" Kevin asked. Larel shook his head and continued to read. "During this time, the Silvers will rise, bringing power to the Faeries. The Silvers will each rise to power and be the greatest of their paths. The Silvers will be led by the Star and divided into physical and emotion. The physical are of Water, Light and Life, and the emotions are of Hope, Sorrow and Mirth. Together, they will defeat the Hand."

"Now this is confusing," Joey said, scratching his head. "Is there anything less cryptic?"

Larel closed the book, his finger in between the pages to mark the section he had just read. He pointed to the title on the front of the book, which read 'The Prophecies Explained in Simplicity".

"I guess not," Justin said, frowning. "Do we know anything at all about what this means?"

"I'm the Chosen One, that much I know," Joey said, peering at the reopened book. "I don't know what the Key is."

"Wait," Gil said, pointing to a part in the passage. "It says that the Key can sometimes be found on the Chosen One. Search yourself and pour out anything that you may have that slightly resembles a key."

Joey quickly emptied his pockets, dropping an apple core, a small multicoloured rock ("Mignyl Chort," Estel snorted, kicking the rock into the bushes,) and a bright red Superman facecloth.

"That's all I've got," Joey said. "Nothing else."

"Okay, that doesn't solve anything," Kevin snorted. He looked at Joey's neck. "Wait, you've got a chain around your neck. What's hanging on it?"

"A cross," Joey replied, taking the chain off with the silver cross that he had bought from the medieval store a long time ago (or is it later?) and passed it to Nirnaeth, who began to hum a soft tune.

"There's no magic on this at all," she said, passing the cross back to Joey, who hung it around his neck again.

"Let's forget about the Key for the moment," Kevin said. "What about the Silvers? What or who are they?"

"That one is really simple," Justin said confidently. "The Silvers are the Narelens."

"The who?" Kevin asked.

"Their family," Justin said, pointing to the elves. "Silvers is centaur slang for seven. And centaurs are usually the ones who translate or reveal prophecies."

"But led by the stars?" Estel questioned. "Wait...our mother always said that when we were born, only the constellation Orion was in the sky. Orion has seven stars, and she named Gil after them."

"That means Gil is our leader, because his name means Star," Alegifu said. "But who is who?"

"That's easy enough," Stile replied, glancing again at the tome to get the names. "The emotions are Estel, Nirnaeth and Lalaith. Their names mean Hope, Tears and Laughter, or Sorrow and Mirth. The physicals are Larel, you and I, because Larel is Brilliance, I am River and you are Rabbit."

"What does a rabbit have to do with life?" Joey asked.

"The rabbit is the symbol of survival and life to our people, especially since they breed quickly and provide food for our people. They are also adaptable and have great survival skills," Gil explained. "But don't ask me what the Hand is."

"Is there anything more on the Hand?" Estel asked Larel. Larel flipped the page and read, "The Hand comprises of Fear, Rout, War, Strife and Discord."

"Oh, that really clears things up now," Justin said sarcastically.

"Yeah, it does," Estel said. "The Hand are Phobos, Deimos, Ares, Strife and Eris, the five Valar of offensive war."

"Oh great, now we have to fight the gods?" Kevin groaned. "Simply great. And none of us knows what the hell the Key is!"

"We'll have to find out," Larel said, closing the book and replacing it in his backpack. "We'll need to do more research back in Caeranos. Can Chaemus help us?"

"Yes he can," Estel replied. "He knows the entire library like the back of his hand. He'll help us speed things up."

"But how do we get to Caeranos?" Justin asked. "We're weeks away from it."

"Actually, we're two miles north of it," Kevin replied. "The giants brought you to a different location and we were teleported to the Academy by Estel, which saved us four days of walking. Now we're two miles north of the northern gate."

"How would you know, you've never been there," Justin said, ticked off at guessing wrongly.

"Gil told me the approximate location and I've gauged from there," Kevin replied. Gil nodded in agreement.

"Ok, we head for Caeranos now," Stile said.

Nick glanced at the woman of tremendous beauty in front of him. He knew how he was supposed to act and he did it to perfection.

"Yes, of course, noble Aphrodite," he said, sneering inwardly. "I would be honoured to join your army as your general."

"Thank you for your assistance," Aphrodite said, fluttering her eyelashes. She got up and kiss Nick on the lips before disappearing in a flash of light.

"Well done," Shareela said, revealing herself from behind a white curtain. "She never suspected a thing."

Nick smiled an evil smile, anticipating the coming battle. He had been trained long and hard for this day, and he was determined to make up for his failure to kill Joey by destroying as many of the foul Faeries as he could. As though she could read his mind, Shareela smiled and patted Nick's shoulder. "Do no worry, my dear. You will kill Joey soon enough. Now you must go and prepare 'Aphrodite's' troops."

Howie cursed as another branch hit his face. Chris was busy clearing a path through the dense undergrowth for the party of four to make their way to the Faerie village of Caeranos. Suddenly Chris stopped. "Do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Howie asked, straining his ears.

"It sounds like people screaming," Hercules said.

The four men walked closer to the source of the sound when they smelled the scent of something burning. The men rushed forward towards the sound and discovered a large valley. The valley was covered with smoke, as if from a large fire. A large sign lay on the ground next to Chris' leg, smouldering. Chris bent down and discovered some words written in a strange language. He looked underneath the words and found (to his relief) some letters written in Latin, the letters similar to English letters. He glanced at the sign and read, "Caeranos."

"Damn!" Jason swore, plunging his sword into the sign, breaking the smouldering wood. He ran down the slope into the valley, his friends trailing him. They carefully walked over a smashed gate carved from many pearls, walking through the trees. They saw many trees with houses made of wood burning, and men with fiery arrows were shooting more houses. The peaceful Faerie were putting out the fires instead of fighting the men. All over the village, men were shooting fiery arrows into the wooden houses of the Faerie. Some had even managed to climb onto the higher platforms and there could have easily been over four million men. Other men that were not shooting fiery arrows were grabbing Faeries of all sorts and placing some strange manacles on them. The party noticed that any Faerie that had been using magic and had been placed in manacles could no longer use their magic. The entire village was in confusion, and here and there a child was crying out for his or her parents.

A hand grabbed Chris from behind, and he was placed in manacles. Before Hercules, Jason or Howie could react, they too were manacled.

"Let me go!" Hercules shouted. "Or my father will come after you."

"Oh, and who's your father?" the man who was dressed in black metal armour who had caught them sneered. "Zeus?"

"Yes, he is," Hercules said, struggling through his manacles.

"Yeah right!" The man laughed. He pointed at Jason. "Right! And he's the prince of Corinth."

"I am the prince of Corinth!" Jason shouted at the man. The man looked uncertain for a moment, then laughed. "Right! Next you're going to tell me that these two are travellers from the future!"

"But we are!" Howie and Chris said at the same time. The man looked at them, rolled his eyes and then said. "You're all crazy!"

Brian and Lalaith stood at the large double doors of the temple of Eru and waited for the fighting to reach it. Since the temple was the highest spot in Caeranos, they waited for about half an hour before the men began to reach near enough to shoot their fiery arrows, if they had any left. Caeranos may have been a small population, but it was one of the more spacious villages, and the men had run out of arrows long ago. As four of them reached to the temple doors, Lalaith and Brian stopped them.

"We will come with you, good sirs," Lalaith spoke in her silvery musical voice, "if you will promise not to desecrate our temple."

"You may enter the temple, but leave your weapons outside," Brian invited, stepping to the side as though letting the men in. One of the men sneered. "Foolish people! What do we care about your stupid temple?"

He spit on the floor, just inside the doors. Immediately Lalaith's demeanor changed. She became menacing and cold.

"You will leave this place," she said coldly and commandingly. "You will desecrate the temple of Eru Iluvatar no more."

Most of the men backed away from the angry priestess, but the man who had spit laughed again. He drew his sword and scratched an 'x' on one of the temple doors.

"What are you going to do about that?" he taunted Lalaith. Lalaith closed her eyes and prayed, "Forgive them, Lord, just as you forgave those who wronged your Son, for they know not what they do."

"Har! You can't do anything to us," one of the other men spoke, gathering courage from Lalaith's failure to do anything. "You're just pathetic, you and your god."

"May Eru help me control myself," Brian said. He closed his eyes and concentrated. When he opened them again, his eyes were filled with fury. "Leave this place now, or you will die!"

"Ha! You are just cowards for not doing anything," another man said. Brian and Lalaith closed their eyes and joined hands. A wind began to blow, slowly and gently at first, but began to build up. It became more and more powerful, causing the men to lose their balance. One of the men, who had not laughed with the others, staggered up to Lalaith and knelt before her.

"Please, priestess," he pleaded. "I have no disrespect towards your God, and I will not desecrate His temple."

Lalaith opened her eyes and smiled at the soldier. She closed them again and the wind grew stronger, but the soldier that had stepped forward was no longer affected by it. The other three men struggled against the gale that was blowing against them, but finally, they lost their balance and fell to the forest floor four hundred feet below. The wind slowly died down and stopped. Brian and Lalaith opened their eyes and smiled at the remaining soldier.

"Please, I don't want to hurt either of you," he began, but Lalaith stopped him. She smiled at him and said, "I see that your heart is pure, and that you are only in this because you need the money for your family."

"How did you know that?" the man asked.

"I was told, Stephen," Lalaith said. Stephen opened his eyes wider with surprise since he never told her his name.

"I would just be happy to desert this murdering party, but if I do, my family and I will be hunted down forever as traitors, and we would not be able to survive," Stephen explained.

"Do not worry," Brian said, holding his hands in front of him to be manacled. "Our place is with the captured Faerie, and we will allow you to capture us, so that you will not need to explain why you have had no prisoners."

Stephen suddenly began to cry. "How can you people be so kind and understanding towards us? I saw my people slaughter yours, men, women and children alike. We captured even more to sell into slavery or to use a sacrifices that our gods demanded, and yet none of your people even lifted a finger to fight us."

"It's because we are a peaceful people," Lalaith said, kneeling down to face the sobbing man. "We are the children of Eru Iluvatar. We know when it's time to fight, and we will wait until then."

"I would like to know your God...Eru...better," Stephen said softly. "I want Him to know me, too"

"He already knows you," Brian said to Stephen. "He knew you before you were even born."

"How can I get to know Him better?" Stephen asked. "I won't be able to learn from you since you will be taken away."

"One day, you will find someone who will be able to teach you about God," Brian answered. "I believe his name will be Paul. Just stay around Corinth or Thessaly and wait. Pray to God and one day you will find your way to him. Now go ahead and manacle us before anyone think you've gone missing."

Stephen grinned and placed manacles around Lalaith's and Brian's hands.

"Thank you," he whispered. He was about to lead the two clerics down the long way when Lalaith stopped him. She pointed to the edge of the platform and said, "This way is faster."

Stephen had doubts on what she was going to do, but stepped of the platform with the two of them in tow. Instead of crashing towards the ground, all three of them drifted down slowly like feather's. In five minutes, they had reached the bottom and Stephen had handed them over to another man who put them into a caged wagon with some other inhabitants of Caeranos.

Inside the caged wagon, Lalaith reached into a pouch hidden under her robe and drew out two silver necklaces with a strange haert-shaped sapphires about the size of buttons hanging from them. She placed one about her neck and gave the other to Brian.

"What's this?" Brian asked, putting the necklace on.

"It's a Heartspeaker," Lalaith replied. "They are given to people who are engaged."

"What do they do?" Brian asked, holding the necklace up to see it more clearly.

"If the two lovers are seperated, it connects one to the other. Through it, I can sense when you are happy or when you are sad. You can maybe sense that I am well, and have no worries," Lalaith explained. "It allows us to communicate with each other purely by emotions. It never be stolen but it can break. If one breaks, the other breaks as well. They will only break if one of the wearers dies."

"So I know that you are dead if the Heartspeaker breaks?" Brian asked. Lalaith nodded and kissed Brian. The two snuggled up in a corner of the wagon and held each other close.

"We're too late!" Larel said, seeing wifts of smoke coming from the library. "All that knowledge is lost forever."

"Not all," Nirnaeth comforted her brother. "We also have a lot of stories and legends passed down from Bard to Bard by word of mouth."

"But do you have anything about this particular prophecy?" Larel asked. Nirnaeth faked a pout and shook her head. Larel smirked.

"Where's everyone anyway?" Joey asked. "Have they all been captured?"

"Not all," Gil said, studying some tracks. "Some children got away. Either that or they're kender or pixies."

"But why were they taken? And where?" Kevin asked.

"We could follow the wagon trails and find out," Gil suggested.

"But what if they have rearguards to see if they're being followed?" Larel asked.

"Rearguards?" Gil asked.

"Yeah, all armies have rearguards and scouts," Larel explained. "I'm an archer, remember? I know these things."

"I could follow them," Stile said. "I can shapeshift into an eagle of something and follow them."

"Ok, that's a good idea," Alegifu said. "Don't get caught and bring back some information for us or something."

Stile nodded and began to transform. He began to shrink, his mouth becoming harder and feathers growing from his arms, which later became wings. In a few seconds, Stile had become a beautiful red-tailed hawk. He spread his wings and flew towards the direction the wagons had left.

"Come one, Justin," Estel said. "Let's get some things from our house if it's not burnt down by now. We could use some more supplies or clothes and get a bath while we're at it, since we're likely to be on the road for a while more."

"Okay," Justin agreed. "Come with us, Joey."

As Estel, Justin and Joey left to go back to their house, Alegifu sat on the ground, her back to a tree. She listened to the sounds around her. She heard a soft snapping sound, as though someone had stepped on a twig. She immediately got up and turned around, ready to attack anyone who appeared. Six men came out of the forest in front of her.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Alegifu asked, catching the attention of Gil, Kevin, Larel and Nirnaeth. The four of them walked up to Alegifu and stood behind her.

"Oh, all we wanted to do is see how many of your people would come back to this village after everyone else had been captured," one of the men said. "We're here to catch you as well."

The six men lunged forward and the five friends entered their fighting stances. Before they could defend themselves, they felt a heavy net being thrown on them.

"What the..." Kevin said, struggling to untangle himself. Unfortunately, everyone else tried to untangle themselves as well, causing them to become even more trapped. Before they knew it, their hands had been manacled. The manacles were connected together and the chain linking the five manacles was hitched onto the saddle of a horse. One of the men mounted the horse and began to follow the trail left behind by the wagons.

"Damn, this is embarrassing," Alegifu complained. "Best thief ever known, successfully running the nation's top thieves guild and I've been capture twice!"

"Add the best Bard, archer and Ranger in the list and you have a major embarrassment for our family," Gil said gloomily. "This is terrible for our reputation."

Estel leafed through one of the books in his personal library. He flipped a few more pages before closing the book. He looked over at Justin, who was standing at the window, looking towards the floor below him. Estel considered himself fortunate that his house had not been burned down. He grabbed another book of the shelf and began to browse through it as well.

"Your family has been captured as well," Justin announced, moving away from the window.

"We have no time to save them yet," Estel said, closing the book and grabbing a third from the shelf.

"What are you looking for?" Joey asked from behind Estel. Estel looked up from the page he had been reading. He pointed at a passage. "I've been looking for this."

Justin and Joey peered over Estel's shoulder and glanced at the passage.

"Joey, move over a bit," Justin complained. "I can't see."

"I'll read it out," Joey said, ignoring Justin's efforts to pull him aside. "It says 'The Chosen One will also be known by various other names. He will be the Rescuer of those trapped by the evil power of the Medusae. His other names include the Initiator, the Destroyer and the Finisher, and war will not cease until the Key has been used, whether for good or for evil.'"

"How did the other names come about, besides Chosen One," Joey asked Estel, looking up from the book. Estel grabbed another book off the shelf. He opened the book and flipped to another page.

"I've read this countless times, but have never understood it until now," Estel said. "It reads 'The Initiator will start the clock backwards, the Destroyer will cause discord among the Powers, the Rescuer will free those trapped in the prisons of the mind and body, and the Finisher will complete the cycle.' I still don't understand parts of it."

"I do," Justin said. "Joey was the one who cast the spell to bring us back in time, thus the Initiator."

"You come from the future?" Estel asked, surprised. "You never told me. That is a dangerous spell. It affects the Weave, which could be disastrous."

"The Weave?" Justin asked. "What's that?"

"The Weave is what causes the powers of this world to function," Estel explained. "If the Weave goes awry, unnatural thngs occur. Which is why we are careful about casting powerful spells as it may damage the weave. Magic is drawn from the Weave, and we use it's power to affect things around us. The Weave adapts and changes its pattern and creates a new design, but powerful spells may cause it to tear, ending magic as we know it and spelling the death of all the 'magical' races, such as the Faerie, Medusae or Dragons, for example."

"Woah...that sounds dangerous to mess with," Joey said, alarmed. "And maybe that's why all this strange things are happening, like your people getting carried off for slavers to make money, when it's never been done before."

"Possibly," Estel said. "But it was expected, that's why we have a prophecy. So don't worry about it."

"Then what about the Finisher?" Justin asked. "What does that mean?"

"I think no one will understand that until the Key had been used," Estel said. "We need to find the Key before the Medusae or Valar do, so that we can use it before they do."

Justin glanced again at the passage. "Are there any elves that have human spouses?"

"No," Estel replied. "Such a thing has not happened for over six centuries."

"Okay then, we're in trouble," Justin frowned. "It says here that the Key can only be used by the ruler of the Medusae, or by the spouse of an elf."

"This is getting worse and worse," Joey complained. He opened his mouth to add more but was interrupted by the arrival of a magnificent red-tailed hawk. The hawk landed on the floor and began to transform into Stile.

"I saw the place the slavers have brought our people," Stile said. "It is a large citadel, surrounded by a wall about fifty feet wide which encircles the entire citadel. Guards patrol the area, guarding the citadel from intruders. I also saw our siblings and friends being brought by a horse that was travelling like the wind placed into the citadel. Other Faerie from other villages and clusters have been brought in as well."

"Okay, now we need to get to the citadel and rescue the others," Justin said, slamming his fist into his palm.

"But how do we get there?" Joey asked. "The horse was obviously enchanted with speed, and we won't reach there by foot. Also, there is a thirty foot think wall around the citadel."

"Fifty feet isn't very wide," Estel commented. Justin and Joey looked at him with shock.

"Are you kidding me?" Justin said, his eyes bulging with shock. "Fifty feet is really wide."

"Not to us," Estel said, extending his small foot. "Our feet are much smaller than yours."

"That still doesn't solve the problem of us reaching there before all your people are sold into slavery," Joey said. Suddenly, Stile looked up at Estel. "Are the Strutter bays still intact?"

"What the hell are those?" Justin asked.

Justin and Joey looked around the cave's interior at all the large animals that they saw. They were all robots made in the shape of different animals.

"Cool!" Justin and Joey said in unison. "This is so Mechwarrior!"

"Or maybe Cyberstorm," Joey added.

"No, Star Wars," Justin argued.

"Transformers," Joey added, looking at a huge Strutter shaped like a scorpion.

"I don't know if what you are saying are compliments or insults," Estel said, walking over to a Strutter shaped like an ostrich. "But this is hardly the best we can offer. All our Flutters are needed in Wildspace right now."

"Flutters?" Joey asked.

"Wildspace?" Justin asked at the same time.

"Wildspace is outside the atmosphere of the Earth, and Flutters are our flying Clockworks," Stile said, climbing up a ladder protruding through the belly of the ostrich Strutter.

"How do these work?" Justin asked, climbing up the ladder after Stile. "How are they powered?"

"Sunstones," Stile said, producing a pouch seemingly out of thin air. "They can provide power for a few days before they wear out, but they can be recharged."

Stile held his hand out to help Justin climb up the ladder. Joey came in next followed by Estel. As soon as all four of them stepped in, Estel placed his hand on a pad next to the trapdoor. The pad glowed blue and the ladder began to withdraw into the Strutter. The trapdoor closed, sealing the four inside the Strutter. Justin looked around the room, which contained cupboards for food and even one with various Faerie games.

"How do you drive this thing?" he asked, not noticing anything that looked like a cockpit.

"Oh, this is a family Strutter, and it's made for families on holiday," Stile said. "There are no weapons at all on this Strutter, but it's one of the fastest. The driver sits at the head."

He pointed to another ladder, this one leading up a tube that could only be the neck. Estel and Stile began to climb up the ladder. Stile motioned to Joey and Justin to follow, which they did. At the top, there were four seats, two for each eye of the ostrich. Estel took one eye and Stile took the other. They both plugged in large yellow sunstones into two brackets. Joey sat next to Stile and Justin sat next to Estel. Estel pressed a few buttons and pulled a lever. The Strutter jolted and began to walk forwards.

"What's the purpose of having two main seats of only one person drives?" Justin asked.

"I'm supposed to monitor the speed and power level," Stile said. "If this wasn't a luxury Strutter, I'd be controlling the weapons."

The Strutter strutted out of the cave with large steps. They did not jolt one bit, and the Strutter walked smoothly. Estel reached out and pressed a few more buttons and pushed another lever, causing the Strutter to break into a run. Justin estimated the Strutter to be running at a speed of seventy miles an hour, and it kept accelerating. Justin looked over at Estel. His face was etched with anger and her kept on making the strutter accelerate.

"Woah, slow down there, guy," Joey said, gripping to the armrests of his seat in fear. Suddenly, Estel stopped the Strutter with a jolt. He pressed a few buttons and a clinking sound could be heard from the sitting room of the Strutter.

"Get out," Estel said to Joey.

"Sorry if I offended you or anything," Joey quickly apologised, wondering what he had done.

"You didn't offend me," Estel said. "You and Stile get off here. You have to go to the Medusae Castle to free the other Faeries trapped there. We need them later. Justin and I will rescue the others. Stile can drive the Skimmer."

"Oh," Joey said. He and Stile got off their seats and began to climb down.

"Good hunting, you both," Estel said as Stile and Joey disappeared down the shaft. A minute or so later, Stile and Joey sat in the Skimmer and floated in front of the Strutter and waved good luck to Justin and Estel. The trapdoor closed and Estel began to drive again. Justin moved over to Stile's former seat. The Strutter broke into a run, its long powerful legs stretching them over far distances at fast speeds. Justin looked out the eye of the Strutter with interest.

"Look out for the tree!" he shouted to Estel as they began to head for a large tree.

"What tree?" Estel shouted back to Justin. The tree jumped away from the Strutter's path and shook one of its branches at the Strutter before moving back to its original spot. Justin sighed with relief when he noticed something else.

"Look out for that rock!" he shouted, spotting a large rock about the size of a bus blocking their path.

"What rock?" Estel asked, the rock suddenly crumbling to dust. Justin shook his head and moaned. He spotted the citadel in the distance. Before he could say anything, he spotted some guards in their path.

"Watch the guards!" he shouted.

"What guards?" Estel replied as the confused guards flew thirty feet either to the left or right of the strutter. He sped the Strutter to even greater speeds. Justin slumped into his seat and began to feel sick.

"Look out for the wall," he said weakly.

"What wall?" Estel said. Justin looked out at the wall of the citadel. To his surprise, the wall was nothing more than a large pile of rose petals. He smiled weakly at Estel, wondering how powerful his teacher actually was. Suddenly, a loud beeping noise that sounded like an alarm began to beep loudly. Justin glanced at a meter gauge and groaned.

"We've got to get out!" he shouted, leaping for the shaft. "The thing's overheating."

Estel quickly got up and grabbed both sunstones from their brackets and followed Justin down the shaft. Justing placed his hand on the pad near the hatch to open it. They quickly climbed down the ladder and ran away from the Strutter. The Strutter began to flod its legs under it and lay on the ground looking like a large sleeping metal ostrich. A small explosion ensued from the overworked Strutter, ensuring that it would not run again without repairs but not big enough to cause damage to anything else.

Estel and Justin began to walk towards the citadel, wondering how to get in. They spotted a large set of double doors and were so busy wondering how to get them open that they did not notice a large group of guards walking behind them. Estel suddenly felt a hand tap his shoulder. He turned around to find himself facing a large, barrel-chested man with a long curly black mustache wearing black armour. Behind him stood another six more men wearing identical armour suit, except that they wore helmets.

"Eh, what have we here, boys?" the leader laughed. "We have a couragous elf trying to save his people. And a human traitor helping him."

"Aw, kill 'em and get it over with," one of the soldiers said. "We got no shackles left."

"Aye," the other soldiers agreed. The leader looked at Estel and Justin with an large, evil grin on his face.

"Naw," he said, his grinning becoming even wider. "I want a go on these two first. Humiliate them before I kill them."

He walked forward and began to remove his chainamil armoured shirt when he was stopped by a loud howl of pain. A side door that neither of the Bladesingers noticed opened suddenly and a man with nothing but a loincloth waddled out, clutching his crotch.

"Damn bitch!" he cursed, wincing. "Stupid elf won't stay still."

"What happened?" the leader of the guards asked. "Who did that?"

"This elf was recently brought in," the soldier explained. "Beautiful raven-haired lass with a spitfire temper and breasts the size of small melons."

Estel blanced and turned red with anger. One of the guards noticed him and taunted, "What's the matter, Longears? Not interested in women?"

"No, it's just that we are polite and refined enough to say nothing of the sort," Estel said. "Unlike you barbarians."

"Barbarians, eh?" the guard clutching his crotch said through gritted teeth. "Do you want to know the name of the slut that kicked me? Then her reputation will be spoilt."

Estel said nothing but glared angrily at the now-recovering man. The man looked at Estel and said, "Her name is Rabbit."

It was like as though an explosion had taken place in Estel's head. "YOU ATTEMPTED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MY OWN SISTER?!?! DAMN YOU, HUMAN SCUM!"

"Y-your s-ister," the guard replied while the rest of the men sniggered at his sudden agitation. "I-I didn't know."

Estel closed his eyes and began to hum a loud tune. He began to shiver as he drew more and more strength from himself. The other guards began to look worried and began to step slowly backwards. Estel continued to sing his song when suddenly he gave a loud shout. A bright flash of light emitted from the enraged elf, engulfing all the soldiers. Justin closed his eyes and covered tehm with his hands but he could still see the light through them. A great roaring sound was heard and Justin clutched his ears with agony. Finally the light and sound ceased and Justin opened his eyes. All that was left of the guards were seven lumps of partially melted armour and a smouldering pile of dust from where the soldier had been standing. Estel stood there, hardly looking drained, the anger gone from his face. He walked over to the pile of dust and spit on it.

"Fear not the Faerie for they are slow to anger," Estel quoted. "But beware their wrath should you be at the wrong end of it."

Then he turned away without another word.

Joey blinked his eyes to clear the spots from his vision. The bright light in the far distance was so bright that he and Stile had seen it when they turned around.

"What could produce that much power," Joey asked Stile, who was concentrating on controlling the cockroach-shaped skimmer.

"I saw something like that once before," Stile said. "The first time was when Estel had heard that my father had been killed by Hera. He was so furious that when Hera appeared before us to gloat at our mother, he blasted off with such anger and power that Hera was injured badly, and was almost killed. She fled from him in fear and rage. Up until now, none of us dare to make Estel that angry. If he could almost kill a very powerful Valar when he was four hundred and twenty, imagine what he could do at four hundred and fifty."

"You're all four hundred and fifty?" Joey was shocked. "But you hardly look older than me! How old could Graelynia or Crewellan be?"

"You met Graelynia and Crewellan?" It was Stile's turn to be shocked. "They've been missing for a long time. Graelynia would be about seven hundred and twenty-three now and Crewellan is the same age as me."

"Wow, you guys live for a long time, and you never age," Joey said. "I supposed diseases are more fatal, then, to make up for this near immortality?"

"No," Stile replied. "We cannot get sick, except with Elfbane, which is Fatal and very contagious to elves. Each Faerie race has their own Bane disease."

"Woah," Joey said. "Wow..." His voice trailed off, then he pointed in front of them. "There's the castle. I'll be glad to get off this cockroach's back. The seats are comfortable but I just feel slightly sickened to sit on a cockroach."

Stile laughed and pushed up the speed of the Skimmer. He stopped the skimmer three feet over the snow in the garden where the first statues Joey had seen were. Joey and Stile got of the Skimmer and trudged through the snow. Or rather Joey trudged through the snow. Stile somehow walked on the top of the knee deep snow, without even leaving so much as a footprint. Joey walked over to the statue he had seen of a pointy eared creature with a strange large spear/slingshot in his hands, a silly grin plastered on his face. Joey was about to touch the creature when Stile grabbed his shoulder. Stile pointed at the pegasus and said, "That one first."

"Why not this guy?" Joey said, patting the ridiculous topknot on the three foot statue. Stile looked at the statue and shuddered. "There aren't any more of those here, are there?"

"Not that I know of, no," Joey said. "Why?"

"That's a kender," Stile said. "And don't ask me to explain how they are like because you will get to know it once you free him. Just do him last to give the rest of us time to prepare."

Joey shrugged and walked to the pegasus. He touched the ice statue and concentrated. Nothing happened. Joey concentrated for a while, and he let out a sigh of frustration. "I can't do it."

He began to walk back to Stile when he realised that the elf was staring wide-eyed at the pegasus. He turned around to see that the bird-winged pegasus was glowing a warm pink on the spot where he had sighed on. The pink spread throughout the whole creature and then faded. The pegasus struck the ground hard and snorted. He looked at Joey and smiled.

"Thank you, Rescuer," the pegasus bowed in respect and gratitude. "I prayed that you would come. I am Starwing, at your service."

Joey blushed pinker than the warm light that had surrounded the pegasus earlier. He had no idea what to say so he mumbled a 'You're welcome' and walked towards another statue, this one of a centaur with a bow, also made of ice. Joey breathed on the statue and a pink glow spread throughout the creature, just as with the pegasus. The centaur was suddenly free and he reared as though an enemy was there. He almost crashed down on Joey and apologised profusely, confused as to where his actual target had disappeared. Joey smiled and moved on to a burly irda and breathed on it. He did not wait for it to be freed but instead moved over to a grinning satyr, then to a grim looking red-eye, to a mischievous, tiny pixie. He breathed on the kender last. He instantly regretted it as the curious fellow continually talked and talked and asked questions like a little child. When he was finally escorted away so that Joey could open the doors of the castle, Joey realised that his cross was missing, as was one of his boots. A few seconds later, the kender returned and said that Joey had given him his boot by mistake and that he had a cross given to him by his uncle that looked exactly like Joey's. When Joey told the kender that the cross he had was missing, the kind kender took of his own cross and gave it to Joey and walked away, this time with a ring from Joey's finger and his other boot.

"I told you so," Stile whispered to Joey. The crowd of freed creatures and Faeries stood in front of the door, wondering how to get the giant-sized doors open. Finally, the irda and the centaur pushed as hard as they could until the heard the lock inside crack and the door swung open with a very prominent creaking noise. The troupe of ten or so people walked into the large hall in the castle and began to walk towards the staircase where more statues stood. The kender had disappeared, and returned five minutes later saying that he had seen a horde of Medusae warriors leaving the castle. Joey thanked the kender and checked his pockets to find that some of his apples and trinkets were missing from them. The cross was gone once again. Joey walked through the corridors, followed by increasing numbers of smiling brownies, cheerful centaurs, elves who wre hugging and shaking hands with Stile, including some with black skin and pure white hair, and others with blue or green skin and hair, their hands and feet slightly webbed. Fluttering in the air were the angel-winged fairies, butterfly-winged sprites, dragonfly-winged minimites, moth-winged pixies, bee-winged atomies and the wingless elvins that just levitated at will. Quicklings and kender darted through the crowds, the kender with their quick slight of hand and the quicklings with their fast running. Grinning satyrs trotted next to solemn wemics and wild-eyed felinaurs while driders ran along the walls. The ant-bodied xoroa and cricket-bodied grigs stayed near the back, chattering in their tiny voices. Shy woodlings talked with regal unicorns and majestic pegasi of both the Avian and Faerie species. Here and there a stoic, silent irda stepped quietly on the icy floor, griffons next to them. Many other wonderous creatures like phoenixes, rocs and hippogriffs also added to the myriad of singing and talking creatures. They were joined by handsome and beautiful nymphs, sylphs, dryads and nereids, the spirits of the four elements fire, air, earth and water respectively. Almost a thousand creatures walked behind Joey as he wandered through every corridor and dungeon, room and corner, looking for more creatures to be freed. He reached to the room where he used to train in and was embarrassed by the hugs that Graelynia and Crewellan gave him when he freed them. Finally, he came to the last room, Shareela's private room. There was only one statue made of stone in there. Even though she had left, Shareela's intimidating demeanor still filled the entire room. An uneasy hush fell on the creatures, except for the few mischievious kender who seemed totally fearless. Joey walked up to the statue and breathed on it. The kneeling elven woman's colour was brought back to her as she was turned back into flesh and blood. Her beauty was dazzling, and many of the rescued bowed to her. She looked up with her pale blue eyes and creamy skin, her golden brown locks hanging over the shoulders of her perfectly sculpted body. She seemed to glow with warmth which chased away the dark feeling hanging over everyone's heads. Graelynia uttered a startled gasp.

"Queen Celandra!" Graelynia said. "The High Queen of the Faeries!"

Celandra looked up at the suddenly awed crowd, when a strangled cry emitted from Stile.

"Mother!" he cried, rushing into her arms, hugging her with all his might, tears streaming down his chiseled face. "We thought you were dead! I've missed you so much!"

Several kender, who also seemed to have extreme emotions, began sniffing at the touching scene, followed by a lot of tear wiping from those gathered as mother was reunited with son. Even the stoic irdas shed a tear or two before becoming stoic once again. Starwing stepped forward and bowed to Celandra.

"My Queen," he said politely. "If you would kindly get on my back, I will be honoured to carry you and your son away from this dreadful place."

Celandra smiled and patted Starwing's forehead. "I'd love to."

Estel and Justin sneaked through the hallways, searching for the dungeons. Justin walked in the corner shadows while Estel crawled on the ceiling like Spiderman. At first Justin had thought that it was a spell, but Estel reminded him that every Faerie had some racial power or ability, like fairies could fly, irda had stronger magic and physical strngth, and elves had the ability to climb almost any surface, allowing them to do amazing acrobatics and swinging without blistering their hands or knees. A scream emitted from a nearby dungeon and Justin and Estel quickened their pace until they came to a small grill on the floor at the edge of the corridor. They looked down and saw a young fairy leaning over the bleeding body of a much older fairy. The older fairy was bleeding from his chest and face, cuts and whip marks over his stomach and chest. The youth was sobbing over his father's body, screaming for somebody to help, while the trapped Faeries looked on helplessly, their power blocked by the magical shackles around their wrists. Justin closed his eyes and vomited. The laughing guards in that particular cell heard the sound and quickly left to investigate. Estel looked sadly on as the fairy boy held his father's body close, crying softly, while other Faeries tried to comfort him. Finally, he stopped crying and sang a soft song of mourning. Then he stood up again and walked to the wall to join his people.

"How can he be so calm now?" Justin asked Estel. "His father just died."

"There's a time for mourning and a time to move on," Estel said. "To the Faeries, we move on as quickly as possible because we know that only two things besides death at the hands of others or accidents can kill us. Time and sorrow."

"Time? Not age?" Justin asked. Estel shook his head and said, "Time. We do not age but over time, we will ultimately die. Many reasons come with that one particular word, time."

"So how do we rescue your people?" Justin asked. Estel was about to answer when he stopped short. He put his finger to his mouth to tell Justin to be quiet. Estel creeped down the dark hallway, sticking to one of the walls. He stopped and turned, this time running on the wall in a normal running position except that his body was horizontal.

"Move," he said, running the opposite direction. Justin followed him and the two of them ran, hearing shouts of alarm and many footsteps running their direction. The two Bladesingers raced through the dark, curving corridor, with Estel occasionally switching walls from left to right with magnificent leaps so that he could run on whichever was the inner wall at the time. They ran into deeper and deeper darkness that neither of them noticed a fork in the corridor. Soon, both of them stopped, panting and exhausted. It was then that they realised that they were not together anymore.

Nick sat on the large nightmare, the shimmering black evil horse-like demon trotting at the head of the evil army. Behind Nick and the nightmare called Shades was an army that the world had never seen before. Ogres, orcs, giants, scros, gnolls and countless other species of Dark Faeries marched behind the shimmering, snow white Medusae. Nick sat proudly at the head, being the commander of the entire army. Shareela rode next to him on a nightmare as well. Aphrodite had gloated at the thought that Shareela had no choice but to do her will, though in actual fact it was Aphrodite herself that was playing into Shareela's and Hera's hands. In front of Nick and Shareela were packs or winterwolfs, dire wolves and worgs, some with goblin riders. The evil wolf-like creatures howled with bloodcurdling ability that even the trees trembled at their coming. Nick smiled in sadistic glee as the army he commanded headed towards the empty plains where the final battle was to be held, not too far from the citadel where the Faerie Folk were imprisoned.

JC and Lance huddled near the corner of the dungeon. The cold, damp air caused them to shudder and the amazing Faerie ability to withstand extreme temperatures made it seem even colder to the two humans. JC placed his head on Lance's shoulder.

"Lance?" JC asked his blonde lover.

"Hmm?" Lance replied, resting his head on JC's head.

"I want to break up," JC said softly. Lance jerked away from JC and shoved the dark-haired lad off his shoulder.

"What?" he hissed, managing to keep his voice low. He did not want the guards to come around attracted by the noise.

"I said I want to break up," JC said again. "It's not that I don't love you, it's just that..."

"That...?" Lance prompted, holding back his tears hoping that he would not need them.

"It's just that I love you in a different way now," JC said, holding Lance close to him. "We've been through training of all sorts together and now I feel that you deserve someone who can trust you better."

"Huh?" Lance said, confused at JC's strange words. "What do you mean 'trust you better'?"

"I mean, whenever you and Paxon had private training, I felt jealous of that," JC said. "Which is weird since Paxon doesn't even have the slightest attraction to you and vice versa. But I think I'm beginning to become a little possessive, even if you haven't noticed. I feel like I'm beginning to treat you like a child. I can't love you that way."

Lance let the words sink in for a moment, then hugged JC. "Thanks for telling me that. This is probably the weirdest breakup in history, especially since it doesn't hurt at all. I mean, it's not that I didn't love you, but I understand what you mean and I'm glad that you've been thoughtful enough to make this decision."

"Thanks for being so understanding and supporting," JC whispered back. The two men cuddled until the sound of the portcullis holding them in their cell opened with a scraping sound. A large guard entered, wearing the typical black chainmail armour. He pointed at JC and Lance.

"You two!" he shouted at them. "Get over here, we're changing your cells."

JC and Lance exchanged looks and got up. They followed the guard to another cell about ten minutes away. As the portcullis opened, the guard shoved them into another of the bare cells found throughout the entire basement. The portcullis slammed behind them. JC and Lance looked around the room and smiled s they noticed AJ, Brian and Lalaith in a corner. There were no other prisoners in the cell, making them sure that more would come soon. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Hercules, Jason, Lilith and Chris were herded into the cell as well.

"Chris!" JC, Lance, Brian and AJ shouted at once, drawing the attention of the guard. They hushed their excitement and began to talk to Chris, telling him of their adventures and him telling of his own. Chris introduced Hercules, Jason and Lilith to the others and they talked for a while. Soon, they heard a scuffling noise as someone struggled against the guards. The portcullis opened and a familiar curly-haired youth in leather armour was pushed into the cell.

"Damn you!" Justin shouted, shaking his fist at the laughing guard. "Give me back my Starswords!"

The guard laughed and ignored Justin, keeping the magnificent bejeweled weapons for himself. He placed the no-longer glowing Starswords into his own scabbards, throwing his old swords to the ground. Before Justin could reach it, the guard slammed the portcullis in Justin's face. He picked up the swords, plunged them into the ground and broke their blades. Justin seethed with anger and turned around to face his friends.

"Justin, what are you doing here?" Lalaith asked.

"Estel and I tried to rescue some of you guys," Justin said. "We got seperated and now I'm the one that needs to be rescued. And that guard had better not harm my Starswords or I'll kill him!"

Gil sat in the dreary cell, watching the blank walls. He was unsure of what to do to get them out of their predicament and was not his usual cheerful self. Kevin played with a small mouse that was in the cell while Alegifu stared angrily at the portcullis that seperated her from freedom. Larel sat with his eyes closed, repeating the prophecy of the Chosen One again and again. Nirnaeth managed to somehow fall asleep on the cold, hard floor of the cell. The portcullis opened again and another four elves were escorted roughly in. The elves hardly looked like Gil, Larel, Nirnaeth or Alegifu. Two of them had blue skin and bluish-green hair with webbed hands and feet. The other two were pitch dark with contrasting silver-white hair. Both pairs contained one male and one female.

"Sea-elves?" Gil exclaimed. "And dark-elves too?"

"Yes, brother light-elf," the male sea-elf responded. "The war has spread very far, even under the sea battle rages. Our kin, the merfolk and eelfolk and sea-sprites continually fight with the monstrous merrows and sea-trolls. The calm waters of the Aegean Sea effectively hide the underwater battles, and the only winners are the sharks."

"Deep underground, humans venture to lure us out," commented the female dark-elf sourly. "In search of gold, they said. In search of exotic slaves, more like."

The dark-elf that spoke moved over and sat on the floor next to Kevin, her silver hair shining. Kevin glanced at her and moved a few feet away, carrying the rat with her.

"What's wrong with the human?" the dark-elf asked. "Is he here for some crime?"

"Nothing's wrong with me, witch," Kevin said. "I'd prefer to stay away from creatures of evil."

The female sea-elf raised her eyebrow in slight amusement, but did not comment. The dark-elf shrugged and sat next to Alegifu. Kevin wondered how Alegifu, a light-elf by birth, could stand to sit next to a dark-elf. He remembered some fictional stories he had read about dark-elves being evil and ruthless. Gil walked over to Kevin and sat down.

"Why are you acting so strangely?" Gil asked. "And why did you think the dark-elves were evil?"

"Where I come from, dark-elves are reputed to be the most evil creatures the world has ever seen," Kevin replied, still eyeing the two dark-elves distrustfully. Gil nodded sagely and then asked, "But have you ever seen any dark-elves in your country?"

As Gil expected, Kevin shook his head. Gil smiled and patted Kevin's shoulder. "You know what you should do," he said before leaving to talk to the male sea-elf and dark-elf.

Estel struggled against the manacles holding him, trying to use his magic. Unlike what he had first thought, the manacles did not suppress magic. Instead, they gave an enormous shock to the caster should they try to cast a spell. A large, burly guard dragged Estel through the dark, damp corridors. The guard rolled a pulley and raised the portcullis and pushed Estel in. He followed Estel in and stood, sneering at the helpless elf. Estel glanced around the cell and saw Justin. He realised what a foolish plan they had planned, since they had no idea how to rescue the others. Estel frowned, realising that he had only one card left to play, even though it was a dangerous risk.

"Let me go," Estel said, struggling against the shackles made by Hephaestus. "Why are you doing this? My people have done nothing to yours."

"Really?" the guard sneered. "I don't think so, since the priests of our gods ordered the enslavement or death of your people."

"They're only doing that because they fear us," Estel snapped boldly. "We are just as powerful as them, if not more."

"Prove it, then," the guard said. Estel just glared at him and proudly shook his head. He planned to infuriate the guard into attacking him. The guard, suspecting Estel's plan, grabbed a dagger from his belt and flung it as hard as he could at the nearest person, turning the tables on Estel. The dagger raced through the air and caught Justin in the throat. Justin gurgled and collapsed.

"Justin!" Estel shouted, rushing to his lover's side. He held Justin in his arms, watching helplessly as the youth bled to death. Estel turned to the cackling guard with fury in his eyes. He quickly enacted a spell, and got shocked. Instead of affecting him, however, the shock was absorbed into the spell, increasing its power. As its power increased, the magical manacles shocked Estel again, but the spell just absorbed the power again. This cycle repeated itself until Estel was so charged with magical energy that lightning crackled through his eyes, flames ignited at his fingertips, and his breath caused minor whirlwinds. The guard backed away from the terrifying elf, his face contorted in sheer terror at the powerful being before him. The manacles around Estel exploded with a bright white light, temporarely blinding all those in the cell as well. When the light faded, Estel lay on the floor, exhausted and panting, sweat streaming down his pale face.

"Looks like you wasted all your strength on getting free that you forgot about me," the guard sneered. He drew his sword and swung it towards Estel with all his strength.

"NO!" Jason screamed, rushing forwards, trying to block the sword from hitting Estel. The sword stabbed straight into Jason's heart and out the other side. Jason clutched his chest and slid off the sword, blood spilling onto the stone floor of the citadel. He collapsed lifeless on the floor while Lalaith, Brian, Chris, Hercules, Lilith, Estel, JC, Lance, AJ and the guard looked on, stunned.

"You fool!" a voice from the open portcullis scolded. "That is Prince Jason of Corinth, whose blood stains your sword!"

The guard turned around to see a man clad in the better quality armour of a captain of the guards.

"I'm sorry, sir," the guard apologised. "I didn't know."

The captain glared down at the guard. "And how do you propose we tell the people of Corinth that their prince lies dead on the floor of a dungeon?"

The guard looked down at his feet in shame. Before anyone could stop him, he grabbed his sword and impaled himself on it. He fell forwards onto the floor, shame written all over his face.

"Thank Eru that's over," the captain said. He uttered a few words and the light around him shimmered. When it cleared, a familiar looking black-haired man stood before them.

"Paxon!" Lance smiled. "Quick, help us."

"What about Jason and Justin?" Hercules asked, tears streaming down his eyes. Lalaith walked up to him and hugged him while he cried all over her tattered robes. Paxon walked over to Lalaith and took out a set of lockpicks. Picking the lock on her shackles, he walked over to Brian and did the same.

"Go do your thing," Paxon smiled as he rescued the others. Lalaith and Brian walked over to Jason first. They stood on opposite sides of him and reached out their hands towards each other, forming an acrh. They closed their eyes and began to pray. White light engulfed the cold cell, but unlike Estel's power surge, the light was not overbearing and blinding. In fact, it comforted the eyes. The light surged in pulses into Jason's lifeless body, the wound in his chest healing instantly. There was one more pulse of light and then the light faded. Jason groaned and stood up, rubbing a dull ache in his chest.

"Ooh, what happened?" Jason asked, groaning a little. "Last I remembered, the guy stabbed me."

Hercules and Lilith answered his question by giving him monster hugs. Jason looked at Estel and smiled, "I saved your life, you owe me one."

"And my sister saved yours," Estel replied. "We are even."

"Huh?" Jason asked as Lalaith and Brian walked over to repeat the resurrection ritual with Justin again.

"In Faerie tradition, if you save my life, me and my family are indebted to you," Estel said. "By resurrecting you, my sister has paid the due for me, and now we are even."

By this time, Justin had be resurrected for the second time in his life and was hugging Estel, causing Jason's reply to go unheard. The group looked over at Paxon for an escape plan. He grinned at them and tossed them two swirling, blue discs about the size of a quarter each.

"What are these?" Justin asked, looking at his discs.

"Extradimensional portals?!" Estel exclaimed to a grinning Paxon. "Where'd you get these? And there are so many of them!"

"What are extradisectable portholes?" JC asked, staring at his extradimensional portals curiously. "What do they do?"

"Extradimensional portals," Estel said excitedly. "They can carry thousands of items inside them without weighing you down, and you can extract the items by thinking about it, or you can remove everything inside at one shot! These are rare and powerful, and very, very useful."

Paxon grinned. "I managed to get these portals from a shop in Stittle Woad, without the owner's knowledge, no doubt. They each have about thirty thousand swords and bows, with fifty arrows to a bow as well."

"All right!" AJ cheered. "Let's go rescue the others now."

"Wait!" Justin said. "Estel and I need our Starswords. We need to get them back."

"Oh, don't worry," Estel said cheerfully. "We can just summon them back."

"But they won't be able to fly all the way back," Justin said. Estel looked at Justin quizically.

"Were you withing sight range when you first called back your Starswords?" Estel asked. Justin nodded slightly. "Well, then, you should know that when they're no longer withing your sight, you can just summon them and they will materialise instead of come to you."

Estel placed both his hands in front of him and his Starswords appeared in his hands suddenly. Justin copied Estel's gestures and focused on calling his Starswords. He was so startled by their sudden appearance that he dropped them on the floor. He quickly picked them up and placed them in their scabbards. He nodded towards the others, signalling that he was ready. They split up into pairs and began to spread throughout the citadel, handing out swords and bows to the other prisoners after freeing them.

An hour later, battles raged inside the citadel as guards poured in to stop the escaping Faeries, but the Faeries had had enough of being trapped and they fought back with a ferocity unusual to their peaceful natures. The guards had a hard time fighting the increasing numbers of escapees, many of whose families had been butchered or raped by the guards. Finally, the decreasing morale of the citadel guards reached rock bottom, and the remaining guards fled, only to be ruthlessly shot down by the unerring shots of the keen-eyed Faeries and their powerful bows. When the last guard had been slain, the Faeries walked out of the citadel and into the sunshine. Nirnaeth began a song of courage and glory, and the other Faeries joined in, putting the intense music of Les Miserables to shame. The Bards acted as one as they united every Faerie's voice with the voices of the others, drawing magical power from them, not only increasing the morale of the freed Faeries, but also draining power from the citadel. As the Faerie walked away, the citadel crumbled into dust, leaving no trace.

The Faeries began to march home in the typical battle formation, with Bladesingers in the front, followed by staff-holders and archers, battlemages, wizards and clerics, then by mounted cavalry and Unicorn Riders. Behind them marched the swordsmen and swordswomen, and the air stirred with the flapping of giant eagles, pegasi, hippogriffs, griffons, phoenixes, thunderbirds, rocs and dragons of metallic scales. The united army of the Faeries marched towards freedom when they stopped at the cry of an air-mounted archer on the back of a griffon.

"Army ahead!" he cried in a clear voice. "Medusae and Dark Faeries!"

The entire army of Faeries stopped and waited for the dark army to approach them. Slowly in the distance, they could see chromatic dragons flying about, breathing their terrible breaths, with countless other magical creatures of evil. Hydras slithered around, their heads reared and ready to strike. Cockatrices and pyrolisks flew overhead, their deadly gazes avoided by everyone. The dark army stopped at the other end of the battlefield.

"What's going on?" Chris said, trying to crane his neck to see. A lone figure, dressed in all white riding on a dark, black horse moved forward, his blonde hair flashing in the sun.

"Nick?" Brian whispered under his breath as he recognised his friend. Nick rode forward on his nightmare and drew out a skeletal horn. He blew hard on it, its discordant blaring resonating throughout the battlefield. At that signal, the hordes rushed in towards the Faeries. The archers shot volleys of arrows into the dark army that was so packed together that even a poorly aimed arrow hit a target. Flashes of magic lit the sky as the magicians of both sides blasted various spells at each other. Music flooded the air as well, the light, beautiful singing of the Faerie, and the discordant wails and shrieks of the Dark Faerie Howlers. Kender attacked kobolds with hoopaks, urds with bat-like wings slashing at the nimble fairies. Centaurs flailed at manticores while the evil lamias scratched at the panther-bodied felinaurs and lion-bodied wemics. Behirs slithered throughout the battlefield, biting at the Faeries. Flinds shot brown blasts of energy from their eyes and were bombarded with the red beams from the red-eyes. The antlered giant birds perytons swooped at giant eagles and their riders while phoenixes shot flames at the fiery pyrolisks. Everywhere was surrounded by chaotic fighting and the blood of Faeries and Dark Faeries alike flowed freely. Every now and then someone was turned to stone or ice by a Medusae, while the basilisks retaliated for the side of the Faeries, turning orcs and ogres into stone.

Kevin swung his sword at an orc, severing her head from her neck. He recoiled from the sudden blow and almost sliced of his own neck. He used his sword to block more often than hit. As he blocked another blow with his sword, he raised his shield hand and bashed the solid metal buckler onto the offending doragor's head, smashing his skull. He fought with his new found attack style, developing shield-bashing into an art form, to the disdain of his teacher, Gil.

Nirnaeth sang as loud as she could, her music soaring above the noise. She lent her magic to whoever needed it, and those within hearing range of her music found that the swords of their enemies missed them by inches, or that their enemies would suddenly trip for no good reason. Nirnaeth raised her voice to new heights, lending courage and morale to the Faeries. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her chest. She ignored the pain and continued singing even more. Another thud could be felt in her chest, and another, and another. Still Nirnaeth continued singing, her voice never faltering. She gave her all as she sang, her melodic, clear voice ringing out and drowning the sounds of the Howlers. She suddenly let out a loud finishing note, and a thunderclap sounded, stunning the soldiers of the dark army that were withing hearing range. Nirnaeth collapsed to the floor, her voice still ringing over the battle though her body lay dead, fifteen arrows protruding out of her chest.

Justin sliced the head off another gark, a goblin-like creature almost seven feet tall. He looked around for another target when he decided to try something new. He began to sing, "You're all I ever wanted, You're all I ever needed, So tell me what to do now that I want you back."

The luring effect of the song drew enemies towards him. Giants, medusas, maedars, orcs, trolls and ogres alike were drawn towards Justin, dropping their guards to anything else, which the Faeries made use of by cutting them down before they reached Justin. There was a very large group drawn towards Justin, and the Faeries could not prevent all of them from reaching Justin. As the large crowds drew nearer, Justin screamed, "GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!" The effect was startling as all the male dark army soldiers withing hearing range clutched their crotches, fire engulfing their pants. The stunned females were finished by the Faerie warriors.

The Faerie army followed the tracks of the Medusae army, Stile, Joey and Celandra leading the way. The thousands of Faeries followed the Chosen One willingly into battle. Their happiness allowed them to move faster because of their light and joyous steps. Soon, they could hear the sounds of battle in the distance and they quickened their pace. They rushed down into the back of the dark army, cutting through them like a vice. A cheer went up from the Faeries already fighting and they fought harder with the arrival of the new warriors.

Chris fought back to back with Howie, the two of them learning teamwork fighting in the Academy. The reinforcements arrived just in time for them, and the two of them took a break for a while, keeping an alert lookout in case any enemies managed to slip through the thick wall of fresh warriors. Chris sat on the ground and immediately stood up again, yelping in slight pain. He reached into a pouch at his waist, wondering what could have caused the pain. He drew out the piece of quartz he had bought from the medieval shop. Howie looked at Chris in concern.

"No, I just sat on the quartz," Chris said, placing the quartz into a different pouch. Howie stopped Chris' hand and grabbed the quartz. He reached into a pouch of his own and drew out the piece of quartz he had bought as well.

"What?" Chris asked Howie. Howie placed the two pieces of quartz together.

"Look, they have such funny shapes," Howie observed, furrowing his brow in deep thought. Chris looked at him with an expression that said 'so?'. Howie thought for a moment and placed the quartzs in opposite directions than they previously were. He pushed the stones together and looked at the result.

"This looks like some kind of keyhole," Howie remarked. Chris looked at Howie disdainfully and reached out to touch his piece of quartz. As his hand touched the stone, however, a bright light emitted from both stones and they melded together to from a keyhole. They expanded a little more, becoming about the size of a CD.

"What the..." Chris exclaimed in shock. Suddenly, a medusa attracted by the flash of light headed towards the duo. Chris and Howie picked up their swords and tried to slash at the medusa, but she managed to dodge both their sword attacks. She opened her mouth to breathe on their faces, but then fell forward, her mouth still open. Joey stood behind her, a sword stuck through her back.

"You guys alright?" Joey asked, smiling at his long-lost friends. Then he noticed the keyhole shaped quartzs. He snatched the stones from Howie's hand and stared at it in surprise. He slowly thought through the puzzle of the prophecy.

"For the Key," he said. He quickly walked away, leaving Chris and Howie staring at each other with confused looks.

Joey thought through the prophecy about the key. He mumbled parts of it to himself, when the idea struck him. Nick was the Key! It was so simple, the Chosen One was followed by death which was Nick when he tried to kill Joey. The Key sometimes being found on the Chosen One was refering to the numerous times Nick had pinned Joey to the ground while training in the Medusae castle. That's it, thought Joey. Nick is the key. So who is the controller of the key? He spotted Brian in the distance and decided to ask if Brian knew anything about the prophecy of the Chosen One. As Joey drew nearer, he found that Medusae were constantly trying to reach for the quartzs. Joey rushed towards Brian and found himself asking him if he was engaged or married to an elf. Brian just looked shocked and nodded. Joey pressed the keyhole to Brian and said, "Nick is the Key."

Brian, who had read the prophecy of the Chosen One for the fun of it understood what Joey meant and he brought up the keyhole quartzs to his eye. He began to scan throughout the area for Nick. As soon as he found Nick, he pulled the hole away from his eye so that only Nick could be seen through the hole. Brian suddenly shouted, "Expelliarmus!" the words coming to his mind. A black cloud appeared around Nick, and Nick suddenly felt lightheaded.

"Brian?" Nick asked, finding Brian standing there. "Oh God, what have I done?"

Nick glanced over at Shareela, who was standing nearby. He suddenly felt the bewitching power she held over him break loose. Nick was suddenly filled with rage for what she had done, and he let loose a blast of black energy that drew its power from Shareela's enchantment. As the last drop of enchantment left Nick's body, he flung the hideous mass of evil magic towards Shareela. The blast caught her in the stomach, and she screamed in pain and agony. Then Shareela exploded and was no more. The remnants of her powerful army witnessed her defeat and fled as quickly as they could, but this time, the Faeries did not give chase. The armies of light uttered a cheer of victory as the remnants of the dark army had fled. Their victory was shortlived, however, as five bright flashes of light appeared and formed themselves into the five gods Ares, Eris, Deimos, Phobos and Strife. Estel, Gil, Lalaith, Alegifu, Stile, Larel and Celandra made their way to the Valar. Without a word, they began to fight furiously, swords flashing as they fought each other, neither side leaving an opening for attack. The battle happened at such a high speed that no one could see who was fighting who, as the remaining Silvers and their mother fought the Hand. After a quick battle, Estel had his Starswords pointed at Ares' throat and heart, Gil's sword at Eris' head, Stile's and Alegifu's daggers pointed at Strife's belly and neck, Larel's shortsword at Deimos' heart, Lalaith's staff ready to pound Phobos' head in. Celandra stood panting away from her children.

"We have won you," Estel stated to Ares. Ares looked at him and snarled. "Have you really?"

Bright flashes of light signified the departure of the defeated gods. Ares' voice was heard just after they left saying, "Until the next time."

The boys of Nsync and the Backstreet Boys sat in a circle around a campfire, Lalaith sitting next to Brian and Estel sitting next to Justin. The twelve friends were chatting up on their adventures, or talking about Brian and Lalaith's spectacular wedding, which was held a few days after the memorial services of the Faeries that had been slain in the terrible battle, which was named Nirnaeth Arnodied, which means 'Tears Uncounted' and signified Nirnaeth's absence from the list of survivors, after the heroine who had given her life for her people.

"So what happens now?" Kevin asked when the chatter died down. He had been feeling a little empty inside for a few days, and after checking up with the other guys, they were also feeling the same way.

"I don't know," Justin sighed. "I really don't know what to do. I'm not sure where I want to be, here or the future."

"Well, a time for everything and everything in its time, as the elves say," Joey quoted. As soon as he finished his sentance, he felt a slight tugging behind him. He turned around, expecting to find a small child wanting to talk to the 'Hero' but saw no one. Justin turned around suddenly as well, then looked back, confused.

"What happened, Justin?" JC asked. Justin shrugged and replied, "I don't know...I felt something or someone tug me."

"You too?" everyone replied, except Estel and Lalaith. The boys looked at each other as the tugs came again, this time more violently.

"Joey, you said the spell words to bring us back!" Justin shouted as a great roaring noise was suddenly heard. Brian immediately grabbed onto Lalaith as the tugging and pulling sensation threatened to seperate man from wife. Lalaith grabbed on tightly to Brian as a large swirling vortex opened up and began to suck only the Backstreet Boys and Nsyncers into its gaping swirls. Justin screamed as he was pulled into the vortex, disappearing from view. Soon, all the boys were sucked into the vortex except Brian who was still grasping onto his wife. Finally, the pull was so strong that it yanked Brian out of Lalaith's strong grip. Brian and Lalaith both cried bitterly as they were seperated from each other. Brian disappeared into the portal and the vortex closed, leaving Lalaith and Estel with tears in their eyes as they were seperated from those they loved.

"OUCH!" Joey cried as something heavy fell onto his foot. He opened his eyes and found himself back in the hotel room where they had been before they were brought back in time. The others appeared in the room as well, all of them with mixed feelings about the whole encounter. Justin and Brian were sobbing their hearts out. Joey picked up the spellbook and opened it to its centre. There he found a perfect watercolour picture of the ten of them, and underneath it written in Quenya were the words 'I'kainen kalloi en'Nirnaeth Arnodied';The ten heroes of Tears Uncounted.

Brian sat on his bed in his room, fondling the Heartspeaker sadly. He remembered the happy times he shared with Lalaith and felt himself beginning to cry. Immediately, a wave of comfort washed over him, causing him to wonder why. He remembered Lalaith saying that the Heartspeaker would only break if the other owner was killed. Brian examined his Heartspeaker for any cracks and found none. A flicker of light shone in the sapphire in the centre. Brian clutched the Heartspeaker close to him and whispered, "She's alive."

--------End of Part One (You didn't think I was gonna stop, did you?)-------

Phew, this one is so long that I'm two days behind schedule in writing it...How in the world can people stand to write stories this long? Well, I've finally finished it and any questions, feedback and reviews are welcome at ensstyenlc@hotmail.com I'd put the usual endings and stuff, but I figured that this chapter was long enough already, so you'll have a break from them this time around. Thanks to all who emailed me with their feedback and comments, I appreciate it! Thanks for reading! LHW