Jared nodded, and began to weave his own dark power in with Araniel's bright power.  It was a study of contrasts, and although Jared was not sure *HE* could manage two such different types of energy, he was cautiously optimistic that Araniel could.

"Ready."

  Araniel grinned, and used his control of his own power to 'loop' the braid around the portal.  He said "We have the basic frame, now shape the rest like a siderweb or a yarn ball around it, connecting your strands dark to dark as I do the same with my own, and since the two energies are not competing, but cooperating, it will hold the Chaos Warp shut."  He began to show Jared how, using his own power to throw loops around the warp like spiderweb bands.

In reply to Araniel (msg # 209):

Jared nodded, and began to weave his own energy, anchoring it to the same points as Araniel's, but choosing different paths.  The end result, as it began to take shape under Jared's rather surprised eyes, was a weave both strong, repairing, and redundant.

He murmured, to no one in particular as he worked through the complex knot work, "Knit one, pearl two."

The task took quite some time to complete, and once or twice Jared made an erroneous attachment and had to redo that section, but in the end the Spirograph of energy coalesced, and he stood back, satisfied.

He looked over at Araniel.  "Looks good to me.  What do you think?"

  Araniel examined the weave, and smiled, then said practically "Well woven and effective.  One or the other of us, if not both, will feel it if this nexus opens again."

Jared nodded.  "Interesting.  Time will tell whether that's a good thing.  But for now, it'll do.  Anything else that needs doing?"

  Araniel tilted his head, and said softly "There is something else still here that does not belong.  Are you ready to remove it's taint too?"

In reply to Araniel (msg # 213):

Something about the way Araniel asked the question gave Jared pause, and he said, cautiously, "Probably, but I don't sense anything else amiss.  What's bugging you?"

  Araniel said "I sense . . . taint.  It's not flat out evil, YET, but it's a taint, and it is contagious."  He closed his eyes, and padded slowly toward the darkness where he sensed it.

Jared followed, cautious yet curious, weapon out.  He had sharp senses and a warrior's training, but this was all new to him.  Still, at the end of the day, there were always things that needed to be killed, and he was there to do it.

  Araniel kept moving, and Jared began to feel it too.  Like an awareness of a skunk long before it arrived, this was a nagging, irritating feel like a sharp sawblade was just lightly rubbing back and forth on the edge of his senses.  Jarring, sharp, but not so much that he'd go directly for it.  In the corner of the warehouse, there was a large 'puddle' of something that was faintly luminescent greenish.  It looked like algae in a puddle, but Jared could sense it was much, much more dangerous.

Jared asked, very quietly, not moving any closer, "What... Is... THAT?"

  Araniel said "It's taint.  The stuff will wildly mutate, possibly beyond normal life-sustaining properties, and it is dangerous.  So we need to destroy it."

Jared nodded, and then asked, simply, "How?"

  Araniel said "Well, we either burn it away with my flames, or if you have a way to obliterate it, you can do that too.  It has to go.  IT is not living matter, but it will affect living matter."

Jared considered his own abilities for the moment, and then said, almost regretfully, "I believe the sword I use can damage just about anything living, but I don't generally consider swords the best weapon against slimes.  Fire seems like a better choice.  Go for it."

And he stood back and let Araniel do his thing.

  Araniel nodded, and began with circling the pool of it with his flame, then began to draw it inward, and concentrated, searing the stuff into nothing but ash as he concentrated.  His flame was something more than just fire, and it burned that taint out of existence as it consumed it, making it's presence in their awareness shrink like a fading stench.

Jared watched with interest as Araniel used his "Holy Fire" to destroy the Taint, and then said, "For the record, I have strange powers, but I have no idea where they came from, or what, if anything, they mean.  Some sort of random mutation, a touch of the Divine, or Infernal?  No clue... but they do seem to be fairly death-aspected.  And by that I mean I can a lot of the traditional powers associated with the undead, like vampires, or ghosts.  I don't *feel* evil or creepy, but my powers definitely seem to be a little creepy.  Any insight you can share would be appreciated."

  Araniel nodded, and said "You are not evil, nor are you demon-tainted.  You are blessed with genetics that quirked to give you access to what our dark angel brothers use.  So you could say you've awakened your inner angel."

Jared thought about this for a moment, and then said, "Well, that's certainly odd.  Angelic genetics.  I wonder if I can generate some sort of black fire.  Because that would certainly have a nice cache to it."

  Araniel chuckled, and said "You have always known this, it is in the bible that was given to you through the prophets chosen by God to write his words."

Jared shrugged, and said, cautiously, "The Bible is silent on some importent topics, and it seems to be incomplete, meaning, GOD adds to it from time to time.  One of the areas left unaddressed concerns superheroes."

  Araniel asked gently "What part of it concerns you?  You are still children of God."

Jared shrugged again.  "Some people think powers derive from the Devil ONLY, that GOD does not intervene that directly in the lives of men.  Then, of course, there are beings like Zeus, or Odin.  Or aliens.  The Bible speaks of the lives of men, but doesn't mention other GODS, or aliens, or vampires, or... Well, you get the idea.  The world is a bigger place than the Bible would imply... Which makes me wonder whether God is intending on adding to the work in the near future?"

  Araniel nodded, and said "The world IS a complicated place indeed.  And some of what you speak of is covered.  But other things, men misinterpret.  You realize that He is still very active in lives, he just elects to make it less a screamingly obvious intervention, and steers things so it all seems coincidental, because he promised to let men choose their own fates?"

Jared laughed; he couldn't help himself.  "'Less screamingly obvious?'  At the risk of being sacreligious, he made us... has he MET us?  We don't do 'subtle' very well.  Not only that, but the Bible has been translated and retranslated by folks who substituted their own agenda in place of what the text actually said... 'Thou shalt not kill' versus 'thou shalt not murder'... 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live'...  a lot of Leviticus..."

Then he paused, and said, "Each small word or word change sends the world into tremendous contortions.  It would be nice if he would make a brief appearance and straighten out a few things... Like confirm or deny for the Jews if Jesus was the chosen son of GOD the prophecies spoke of... confirm of deny whether Gabriel spoke to Muhammed, and if so, did he carry GOD's words accurately... confirm or deny his proscription on homosexuality... abortion... divorce... "

Then he shrugged again, and said, "All WAAAAAY above my pay grade.  My job is to fight evil.  I hope, at the end of it, GOD judges I've done more good for the world than not.  As for superheros or people with powers, if we're part of GOD's plan, that's terrific, I'm good with that."