[center][h1]When the Sky Fell[/h1][/center] [hr] A sort of sentience had been enchanted into the very marble and alabaster that made up the walls. The visitor's arrival had awakened dormant magic and the white palace seemed to gleam ever brighter in exuberance and anticipation, thinking that it recognized a familiar presence. It took only a moment to pierce the thin veil of that false familiarity. Behind the shroud was something alien and terrifying. Xos suspended itself in the airy space of a portal as it manifested, and then remained there motionless for a few instants thereafter. The Shade's presence hanged in the air with a crushing weight, like the sight of a headsman's axe looming over the neck of the condemned. The Celestial Citadel waited, and trembled. Like a specter, the visitor drifted through the window and descended to the floor with all the grace and eerie silence of a shadow. It advanced down a long corridor, walking without footsteps. At the end of the hallway was a spiral staircase that seemed to know no end. Xos looked up the path to the uppermost spire, and then it turned around to eye a small bird that fluttered in a window. A totally featureless and inexpressive visage stared at the bird with dead eyes, and then it was suddenly gone. Xos reappeared in the chamber at the very top of that spiral staircase. Within the room was a great construct surrounding a small mirror, and into the glass's all-seeing depths there stared an ancient djinni. In a strange paradox, the mirror's reflection was that of itself. The Vizier stared at the image of that room with Xos and himself through the mirror, even as the spectre slowly glided through the air and towards the djinni's turned back. Ventus at last turned around to face the Shade and behold it with his own eyes, no glassy haze or detached view to shelter him from the withering presence of that being. Xos stared, and Ventus met the gaze with a leveled sight that showed neither fear nor confusion. Never before had [i]any[/i] being looked upon him in that way; there had been fear even in Kyre's eyes. Even Zephyrion cowered before him, though of course Xos acted as if he were blind to such things. Nonetheless, it was perturbing now that such a lesser being seemed so impossibly stoic. Perhaps the Vizier had some sort of trick. Or perhaps he was either too foolish or too brave (as if there was a difference!) to succumb to terror's grasp. [color=00FF7F]"Have you nothing to say? Nowhere to flee?"[/color] [color=0072bc]"Here is my home and my place, so here I remain. With the eyes of God I looked ahead, and I know that there was nowhere to flee."[/color] [color=00FF7F]"So you know what comes next?"[/color] A solemn silence followed. [color=0072bc]"Every fork in your path leads to fire."[/color] [color=00FF7F]"There is beauty in a burning world. But I am not here to discuss my fate."[/color] [color=0072bc]"No,"[/color] the Vizier agreed. [color=00FF7F]"I am here to reclaim the Sky's Throne and punish your theft."[/color] [color=0072bc]"Theft?"[/color] The shadow surged forward with unimaginable speed and seized the Vizier in a merciless grasp, holding the writhing djinni lord against the wall. [color=00FF7F]"What other word describes what you have done? You have stolen divine power, and for such a crime the retribution will be horrible,"[/color] Xos began. As Ventus struggled, words could not escape him. [color=00FF7F]"How will you plead for mercy with my hand around your throat?"[/color] A blinding flash of golden light erupted from the Ventus. A godly force slammed into Xos, and though it lacked the force to beat back the shade, it did allow the djinni to writhe free. Ventus dissipated into a mist and coalesced back into a form. It was one of flesh and solid constitution, with all the regality and fortitude befitting of a god. In his thousands of years upon Galbar, not even Zephyrion had ever mastered his inner turmoil and chaotic form enough to take on more than a misty facade of something else. And Xos was immutable, locked into the shape of the one that had first cast the shadow. When Ventus transformed it showed that he was nearly a god--apotheosis was surely close, and in a way he was already superior. It drove Xos into a wild rage. By this time the other djinn about the Celestial Citadel had sensed something amiss, and a hundred whirlwinds billowed through windows and up the stairwells. Without a moment's hesitation the Zephyrean Skywatch moved to strike at the Vizier's assailant, but Xos annihilated them with no more effort than a man puts into batting an eyelash. They were all pulled into the dark maelstrom that was his body, obliterated by a force powerful beyond their comprehension. He advanced towards Ventus, but the djinni raised a hand. Rather than strike at Xos, he struck at the air. A portal was torn open, and out from it flowed an unending tide of primal magic and energy. Ventus directed all of that power at Xos in the hopes of overwhelming the maddened entity, but little did the Vizier know that his foe was born in the very realm behind that portal. That energy that would have drowned other gods was utterly powerless against Xos; nay, it energized him. With an outstretched hand, Xos blocked the beam of chaotic and flashing magic. [color=00FF7F]"Power,"[/color] the shadow spoke, his words cutting through the roar of enough magic to tear a world asunder, [color=00FF7F]"belongs to those that can wield it."[/color] From out his other hand he redirected that beam of magic, the vibrant hue of metamorphosed into an ineffable black. The beam of raw destructio struck Ventus with a force that shook the sky. The stone of the Celestial Citadel heaved and groaned as the structure was blwon apart, the bottom half separating from the upper tower and cascading down to the ground below. Xos willed shut the Vizier's portal to the Mechanism of Change, then searched through the debris for his foe. There was nothing left. With a satisfied breath, he stabilized the sundered tower and willed it to ascend further. From above he looked down on Galbar. The shade cast a long shadow from so high above; the shadow of a shadow was dark and dreadful indeed. [hr] Far below, Ventus fell alongside the monumental pieces of white stone that had been a part of Zephyrion's palace. With one hand he clutched the open void in his body where the shade's magic had struck; it was a grievous wound. A mortal one. ... It was silent and tranquil, so far above the world. Ventus looked down and saw the Mahd and Vetros below, for one last time. He smiled, but then shifted his body to drift another way. [center][i]Away, away from man and god to the wild woods seldom trod, the deepest wilderness, the sweetest oasis Where a soul needn't silence its inner music.[/i][/center] He came to land at the foot of a great tree amidst a dell, at the side of a winding rill. There he had his serenity--almost. Two djinn looked on from afar. [b]"O, thanks be unto the world-- the tyranny of wind is at end, but weep for the Father, his first son is dead."[/b] [i]"Peace. He is not gone, merely roused from his slumber; awoken from the dream that was life."[/i] [hider=Power belongs to those that can wield it] Xos' manifestation in the Celestial Citadel brings an irrepressible air of dread, but Vizier Ventus saw the Shade's in the True Mirror and is unafraid Sensing the presence of an invader, the Zephyrean Skywatch*** come to accost Xos Even together they are hopelessly outmatched by a god, obliterated by a power beyond their comprehension Ventus demonstrates divine power; he is upon the verge of apotheosis. Xos confronts him about his stealing Zephyrion's power The Vizier taps into the Mechanism of Change and tries to unleash a torrent of energy upon Xos A storm of chaotic and primal energy that would have maimed most gods is a breeze too weak to even rustle Xos' robes; he says, [b]"Power belongs to those that can wield it."[/b] He then kills Ventus with the very magic that Ventus attempted to bear against him The Celestial Citadel is sundered by the collateral damage and falls to the ground far below. ***A holy order established by Vizier Ventus some time before; they consist of numerous powerful djinn including Murmur and Basheer, and guarded the Celestial Citadel when they were not needed for other tasks In the fashion of Kho, I shall disclaim that the poetry at the end was inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley. [/hider]