The Four Temples of Dothaven are a tribute to the elemnts. Air, earth, fire, and firstly, water. Despite their tranquil names, their innards are gauntlets of traps and trick passages. A network of tunnels runs throughout the, massive, mazelike passages designed especially for the Malufel.

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Dothaven
Dothaven Living Quarters
The Seven Suns Inn
Four Temples

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"Skye," Mi'ehna says softly, looking over the guarded door to the air temple, "this door is locked. And huge."

He nods mutely and presses his free hand to it, feeling the gentle swirl of the air on his fingertips.

Mi'ehna stares in wonder as the door lights up in gentle green and grinds open before them.

"You are full of surprises," she observes, and tugs on him. "Quickly now. Where did you find Aliema before?" She starts walking, leading him through the door.

"She was dancing in the meadow," Skye recalls. And drunk on pollen...

Mi'ehna sniffs as the reach the hill, nodding. "Meadow. I know that scent." She lets loose of his hand, and pulls her shirt up over her nose, indicating that he do the same. Aliema is still there, still dancing, and singing, and laughing. "Come on," she says, her voice muffled, "let us see what she knows."

He too, covers his nose, walking through the meadow to where Aliema is. He wonders if she's in any position to form understandable sentences.

Aliema seems somewhat lucid, though she's still naked save for the mist.

"Excuse me," Mi'ehna asks, "Can you tell us where to find more weapons that can damage the Malufel, besides the ship?"

Aliema grins, looking at them dumbly. "Sure. Inside the ship!" She chuckles, but Mi'ehna lifts her hand and slaps the wind elemental's cheek in response. Obviously, she's in no mood for games. "Where?"

Aliema just laughs harder at the slap. "Dirty dirty dirty. I already gave him one. Look at his hand."

Skye looks down at his hand, the soft green wind magic dancing over his palm. "You gave me this to open the door with, Aliema," he says.

"Well, yes, but try holding your sword with it." Aliema smiles, and while Mi'ehna isn't looking, slaps her face too. "Ha! Sucks doesn't it!?" 

Mi'ehna just glares at the elemental, a bit of violet shining in her light, but puts it aside.

Skye shifts Silence to that hand, and immediately feels the vibration again, but stronger, and the wind seems to wrap around it like it's the sword's own light. "I think I ought to rename you," he murmurs.

"No, silly," Aliema grins, "try your sword. That weapon already has Ansendul's magic... if you hold a weapon that you love, the effect will be... FWOOOOOOSH!"

"Fairfight?" Skye says, doing as she suggests. For a moment, nothing really special happens, but then he fuses the wind with his light around the blade, and it does, indeed, Fwoooooosh.

"The Malufel is weak against time distortion spells. The rapier, and now your sword, carries such spells. Now go away so I can dance!" Aliema huffs, and takes off, whilrling and spinning.

Mi blinks. "Skye. May I borrow Silence? We could fight the Malufel together that way!"

"Are you sure you want to do this, Mi?" he asks seriously. "We don't have to."

She looks at him then, the most serious expression she's ever worn in front of him gracing her face. "I want to help you get home. Now we just have to worry about this hall of trials..."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry so much about that."

Mi stiffens. Her eyes take on the same terrified glow they had back in the hut, when Radivishe Moorn had been threatening Misao. 

"What if the Malufel's territory changed? What if... say... your village has become the new hall of trials? I bet the beast is tearing things up quite nicely as we speak."

"Mi... we need to help them," Skye says, holding Silence out to her.

The telepath reaches out, accepting the sword from him, though it's plain that her heart is frozen solid. "Y-you are right, Skye... we have to go back. Go on ahead, I... I will catch up to you." 

He knows she's scared. And he is, too. With a sigh, he leans forward and places a light kiss on her cheek, then turns to walk down the hill.

Her cheeks pink a bit, but her expression really doesn't change. She stands quietly for a long, agonizing moment before following him, wondering how it is that she could finally find someone for herself only to have to face death again and again immediately afterwards.

Skye, meanwhile, is silently praying that no one is hurt and they can get there in time. The wind magic woven with his light around Fairfight's blade is comforting, though. He looks around for the gate that brought him into the Air Temple earlier, and hopes the dragon is asleep.

It's eerie, really. The entire temple seems to be empty; no imps, no serpent, no dragon. No traps. It's as if the entire place has picked up and disappeared.

At any other time, Skye might have welcomed this, but just now it's the last thing he wants to see. It only heightens the feeling that's telling him something is very wrong here. He looks to see how Mi'ehna's taking this, wondering if she's as uneasy about it as he is.

Mi'ehna is trailing behind a little bit, trying to calm her heart and get her breath to stop rasping.  What's to stop him from sending her back to that place? Can Skye do it?

Feeling her light is very ditracting, especially since he knows now for sure that he loves her. Cautiously, he reaches out with his light to touch hers, not halting his steps at all. I have to be brave for her, he reminds himself. Even if he really is afraid. "Happiness for your people, Mi. Remember?" he says over his shoulder.

Mi'ehna nods, but her words just aren't coming. A gentle notion of affirmation is sent from her mind to his, though.

At the bastion of the earth temple, it's obvious that no one is there either. No lizards, no earth elemental. Nothing.

Skye looks around. It is much too quiet, and the towering beauty of the ceilings seems haunting now.
"What happened to that rock giant?" he wonders out loud. "I thought he was supposed to be gaurding the place."

Mi'ehna catches up to him, her shivering quieted somewhat. 

"I feel their presence ahead, Skye. All of the caretakers are ahead of us. The dragon of the fire temple, the kraken, the Malufel... all are in the village..." her tone is perfectly hopeless, but she plods along anyway. 

Skye walks with her, trying hard to focus on the light and wind dancing around Faiffight's blade so he won't have to think about how afraid he is of what they might find when they get to the village.

Mi'ehna trots on, through another empty temple leading Skye to the entrance of the village.

"Oh... my..." she blinks, looking out over the smoldering ruin that used to be her village.

For a moment, it is as though Skye is back in his own nightmare. Blood on his hands... he realizes how horrible Mi'ehna must feel. And he himself feels horrible. "Xsa..."

Mi'ehna can't even look. She just hides her eyes against Skye's arm, until she can fight down the horrible feeling in her heart. 

It doesn't take long. Her head snaps up, eyes wide and searching.

The the dragon rises from behind a building. It's mouth glows with flames, bursting outwards to engulf... the Malufel?

The transition is sharp and sudden. The kraken, the earth elemental, the mermaid in human form, the fire dragon, the imps, all of them rise up in a deadly dance, fighting obviously against the timeless beast. It is a huge battle royale, with the elemental beasts on one side, and the Malufel on the other.. along with a young girl, who floats above the ground surrounded with pale periwinkle light. Her hands move in and out, beams of blinding power shooting out against the monsters and against buildings and people, their power held barely back by the mermaid's sorcerous shields.

"Why are they fighting the Malfuel?" Skye wonders aloud. This is all very confusing, and perhaps the strangest thing he's ever seen... well, not the first. But it was strange. And who is that girl?

"He changed the Malufel's territory. The caretakers are defending the village!" Mi'ehna readies silence, closes her eyes. "And that is Momo..."

The girl turns a little, as if one cue, the patch on her eye suddenly very evident.

"Skye, kiss me. Kiss me now... it might be the last chance we get." She looks at him, pleading with him.

He hates the way she says it, but he does as she asks, burying his fingers in her hair and pressing his lips to hers. It's as if he's trying to tell her, with that one kiss, how much he really loves her. He even lets his light fling out, not caring to control it.

Silence clatters to the ground. She can't help herself, she's just lost in the passion of the moment. She kisses him for several long, terrible and yet wonderful seconds before pulling away and regarding him with a very defiant, very prepared expression.

She retrieves the sword. 

"I will go first. Wish me luck." And she does, legs pumping, moving like the absolute wind into the fray.

He watches her go with a sickening pang in his heart, praying. After a moment, he grabs hold of his light and channels it back into Fairfight, waiting.

Momo whirls in the air, her skeletal features alive with a power that is somehow between darkness and light. Her little hand holds out, angular beams of bright periwinkle light issuing forth, blasting scorched holes in the ground. Mi sidesteps three such blasts, but as she reaches Momo a shot strikes her squarely in the chest. Light issues forth from the impact, blocking them both from sight.

Skye doesn't think. He just runs, wondering why Momo's light feels so different, why she's attacking Mi'ehna, and if there really is anything he can do to stop it. The light and wind around Fairfight dance madly.

Between Skye and the burst of light there is a sudden spike of black intent, of malice incarnate, and Radivishe Moorn fades into sight.

"I hope you liked my bait, Skye." The sorcerer's eyes flash in neon green.

The light around Fairfight jumps forward in a huge surge of pale gold light strangely tinted with black.
"You..." he mutters, a low growl issuing from the back of his throat.

"Save the theatrics and fight me," Moorn holds out one hand, black fingernails beckoning. "Earn her." Black energy swirls around his outstretched hand, launching itself at Skye with every intent of obliterating him completely.

For the second time, Skye's light sheild projects itself. But this time, this time, Skye grabs hold of it, even though it hurts, and bends it to his control, throwing it out in front of him to meet the attack.

The result is pretty dramatic. A cascade of black sparks rains down from the sky after the initial burst of light on darkness, setting plumes of acrid smoke whilring about the already ruined earth.  In the village, the Malufel is grappling with the Kraken and... winning...? Dragon's fire pours all around Momo, weakening her shields but not piercing them. Mi'ehna and the mermaid are nowhere to be seen.

Moorn grins. "Your turn. Come at me with everything you have!"

Skye, even though his mind is throbbing, gives a triumphant smirk at having controlled the sheild like that. He'd only done it twice before, and it didn't hurt so much, now. He concentrates a moment, channeling the light into a solid mass around the blade and firing it, straining with the effort to drive it toward Moorn.

The Dumeni sorcerer moves one foot back, hands striking one another with a harsh clap, like thunder rolling across the plains. A shield of all six elements swirls into life before him, hanging against the light bolt issuing from Skye's sword.

The force of the blast is enough to push Moorn back a few inches... actually a helluvan accomplishment for a non-magical.  He is left open for a moment as the shield regenerates, though.

Taking the chance, Skye launches his favorite attack while his light is still strong enough: a beam of light breaking off of Fairfight's blade into several rays of light, specifically for seeking and destroying light in others.

The attack strikes Radivishe Moorn dead on, reducing the light emenating from him into soft dusts of glow that fade into the night. He steps back, clutching his chest.

And laughs. Quietly at first, but growing in volume as a swell of pure, untainted darkness rises from within his body. The black smoke-like force rolls across the field, singing anything that still has moisture inside. 

"Light... me? Ha!"

Skye grins. "I'm disgusted to say it, but even you have some. Everything that lives has it." And really, it was almost unnatural, the stubborn sparks of vivid, violet indigo living in that darkness that was Moorn.

"Hero types always love to talk about light and darkness." Moorn smiles his wicked, fanged smile. He approaches Skye at a brisk pace, worry never even approaching his features. "Let me show you what an unbound soul can do to your precious light." With every step Moorn takes, the force in front of him grows more potent until, at about fifteen feet from Skye, it shatters the earth in a wicked shock wave that tears up the ground en route to him.

Then I guess I'm a hero type. Skye readjusts his footing, holding Fairfight in front of him. The wind wrapped around the blade seems to swirl with impatience. He jumps back another few feet, holding onto the wind a moment longer.

Waves of that blackness roll from within Moorn's spirit, forcing the shockwave on, and on. The earth splits toe either side as if trying to avoid the putrid power of the spell as it careens ever closer, heading now for the entrance of the water temple. 

"Come on! Is this all you are capable of, to have earned that mark?"

His eyes narrow at that, and those skeletal, breathing wings show themselves again, strangely streaked with black near his right shoulder. "Do you think it's something to be proud of?!" He comes forward, full force, firing off another solid shaft of light, this time fused with the wind.

"That's right..." the sorcerer growls amusedly. "Show me fury." He moves, his body casting images in six different directions that neatly skim the edges of Skye's attack. Each image rushes the Trigon, the laughter of six maniacal dopplegangers echoing madly as the gate to the water temple rumbles and falls.

Fury... or maybe something else. He closes his eyes and lets the wind swirl around him, thinking a thousand horrible thoughts. Blood on his hands, drowning, the look Trinity gave him when he asked what the mark was for. His wings fold and fade, and it hurts. Oh, it does. But it's that strange blackness that breaks off Fairfight like rampant shadows, missiles seeking darkness.

The six dopplegangers ebb and flow in a spiraling pattern, closing in on Skye, leading the missiles back to him. One vanishes, but the other five continue their approach.

Having no other option, Skye stands his ground and lets loose as much light as he can spare in one blinding display.

Again, it's a very dramatic display. The five dopplegangers, along with the black missiles, are literally burned up in the overpowering flash, leaving nothing but fading static in the air.

The one image that had disappeared reappears, about six feet behind Skye. Laughter, hatred... all of the most poisonous emotions burn hot inside of him. But perhaps most of all, burning hottest inside the essence of his soul, is covetousness. Jealousy. Skye has Mi'ehna. 

For that, he must die.

Skye flinches at the darkness. Not because it affects him, but because he can't seem to read it at all. The only reason he knows so much is there is because he can't see anything. Even the stubborn spark of what might have been light at one time is overcome by it all.

He's starting to feel weak, but he finds that thinking of Mi'ehna helps. Thinking of Mi'ehna makes his light stronger.Quickly, he throws Fairfight to his other hand, letting three shafts fire off it before he catches it and lets loose another.

Skye stop... you cannot blow off so much power. He is trying to wear you down. Taunt him, enrage him, force him make a mistake. He is sorcery incarnate, you cannot hurt him that way.

It's certainly Mi'ehna's voice. Radivishe Moorn throws out his hand again, sharp cracks of black thunder bursting at the fingertips and dissipating Skye's light attacks... just as she said.

Taunt him? With what? Then he remembers something Vanity had said. He looks up at Moorn, favoring him with that insolent grin of his. "You know, you're the moron. If you had really wanted to punish me, you wouldn't have sent me here. You shouldn't have sent me to where Mi'ehna was." He lifts Fairfight, channeling it with light. "Because she said she could love me even if I was a trigon, and I'd fight you every day, knowing that. Even if I do get my ass handed to me."

"You wretched little insect. What do you know?" He's definitely off his concentration, though no less dangerous. His signature tendrils, pale green whips of pure sorcery, lash out from his hands to whip at Skye, dozens of them entiwining and grasping for him. "I will send you out of this place... I will take you away from her!"

The Malufel freezes. It turns away from the dragon that it had just knocked stupid, facing Moorn. Escape?

Skye throws out his sheild, smaller this time, knocking most of the tendrils out of the way. One manages to snag at his shirt, though, tearing at it to reveal his mark and leaving a shallow cut just beneath it.
"But would that make her love me any less?" he challenges. "Or me love her any less? I don't think so. I'd find her again." He grins again. "You see, I should really thank you. Because of you, I found her... only you choose the worst times to show up for a visit. We were... busy when you snatched her away from me yesterday, and I had to go save her. Of course, she rewarded me for that. So it wasn't so bad."
The light in Fairfight is pulsing strong now, but Skye holds it back, waiting for Moorn to completely lose focus.

"Oh, have no fear that I can make you give her up. I will hunt your family, I will hunt your friends, I will find this Trinity bitch and tear the flesh from her bones. And then, maybe, I will kill her. After I break you and leave this place." The energy within the sorcerer's body is welling up, just beginning to show its true, unholy boundaries. 

The Malufel takes a step towards them, its torso opening a bit. It's sure of it. The sorcerer is definitely trying to escape.

Skye spots the Malfuel and smirks. "Actually, I think you'd better leave now." Muttering a quick prayer, Skye launches out a raindown of lightbeams and mentally weaving them together like a net, following up with a burst of light to blind. For if the flies.

That's all the encouragement the beast needs. It roars its horrid gurgle and begins to lope forward as Moorn claps his hands together, dispelling the light spell with a terribly powerful antimatter field of his own. He looks up just in time to see the monster leaping over Skye's head, its might legs carrying it with unreal speed towards the sorcerer. Moorn dodges left, but the speed of a determined Malufel is all but absolute. In the span of a moment he is pinned beneath the monster. The energy he has gathered bursts outward, but the beasts skin simply deflects it in all directions. 

"Run, Skye, run! You will be consumed!"

He doesn't hesitate a second, even though it would be worth it to watch what's bound to happen. His shoulder is bleeding and burning, but otherwise he is unharmed.

The blast is without equal. Hellfire blazes outwards, searing everything to dust within its unholy path. The Malufel roars in pain, and the beasts and caretakers flee as best they can. Momo, still banded with soft periwinkle light, flies up and over the horizontal blast, watching the destruction calmly and coldly.  When it is over, The Malufel sits on its knees, gasping through its mouth hole, but alive. Radivishe Moorn is nowhere to be seen.

The force throws Skye off his feet and he tumbles, landing rather painfully and gripping his bleeding shoulder. After a moment he rolls over and looks up, feeling dizzy from light and bloodloss both. His eyelids flutter a bit, and he doesn't trust himself to sit up yet. But he's alive. I'm still alive... Lord of Light...

Momo looks upon him with her one eye, shakes her head, and vanishes, bound for heaven only knows where.

"Hey everyone, it's over!" A very familiar voice calls from up the hill towards Eleris's house, and Vanity emerges from the structure. In her arms is a gun that is twice her size and glowing with pure energy... an antimatter cannon. She's smiling as the villagers begin to file out of the house, one by one, until every last one is accounted for.

Misao is the first to break from the group, and she begins the tedious process of tending the wounded. Eleris and some of the other men begin sorting out the dead, among them the earth elemental and the mermaid. 

While all this is going on, Mi'ehna finds her way to Skye and leans over him, worry etched upon her face. A long gash has been cut over her left eye, and she has a face full of blood, but still she smiles at him. 

"Skye, you did well. The Malufel absorbed him... he will not bother us again." She lays a hand upon his cheek, pets it gently. "Misao will be here soon. Just relax."

He groans softly. It's not a very deep cut, but the lightloss gives him a headache, and that arm happens to be a weak spot. "Mi...?"

"Yes, I am here, Skye." She reaches down, takes his other hand. "Momo is alive, Skye. We made it, and everything is going to be okay."

Misao arrives about halfway through that last sentence, and, guided by Mi'ehna, she sets her healing spell to work upon the both of them.

After a moment, Skye feels his light coming back in full, and he slowly, slowly sits up. "Momo's alive?"

Mi'ehna nods, pulling her shirt up enough to wipe the blood from her face. "Yes. She... was different somehow. More adult, but dark, Skye. So dark..." she shakes her head. "But alive."

The Malufel stiffens when Misao touches it with her healing spell, searching her curiously with its heat sensors. It groans, and Mi'ehna abruptly doubles over, hands pressed to her temples.

"Ah... Skye! It... the Malufel... speaking to me... it hurts..." she lowers her head, trembling on the blackened earth.

Speaking to her? Skye pulls her into his arms, trying to calm her. "What is it saying, Mi?"

She doesn't resist. Her entire body struggles to contain the beast's voice, but the strain is unbelievable.

"I... have lost... against you... I... oh god, Skye... I... will send... you... all... home... just... wish..."

Skye struggles to block out Mi's light. Strangely, the traces attached to the Malfuel seem stronger for a breif moment. "Home?" He feels his own light surge and takes a hold of it. "Mi'ehna. Come with me. Please."

Mi'ehna looks up to him, her eyes weary, truly showing her thousands of years. "Take me wherever you go..." she whispers, so quietly that the thought is louder than the voice.

Blue light surrounds all of the other people inside the village. Some are looking around, many are weeping. They begin to vanish, one after another, as they speak the names of wherever they are from.

"I wish... I wish we were in Oceania del Mar..." Skye says, not taking his eyes off of her.

Blue light surrounds them, softly pouring in and out of their bodies. Mi'ehna lets her head down, nestles it against his chest as they vanish, bound at last for Oceania del Mar.