The eshurianti does not notice the changes in the air, or if it does, it does not deem them important.

As the cube revolves faster and faster below it, the burning wheel starts to climb again, rising towards the danioti and herenethi circling above.  The circling of the other Archons looks random.  The circles they are describing in the air are canted at many different angles, and yet there is something about their movements...

As the cube turns more rapidly, so too do the Archons loop and gyrate more rapidly.

Yet for all their seemingly wild motion, the eshurianti rises into their midst without collision, and without any deviation in the paths of the madly dancing Archons.

And then, as one of the herenethi passes below the eshurianti, it stops spinning, and lightnings discharge from it, striking the ground around the pit.  The Archon falls, the brightness of its form dimming...

 

                             Yes.  Feed.

No sooner had the words reached Banglen-Yp than the mass previously hidden in the rounded pit arose like a gigantic hand of dust, reaching out to encompass the entirety of the spinning cube.

                                                          Energy.  Matter.  Absorb.  Unite.

As the corners brushed against the dust the cloud seemed to thicken, streaks of darkness ran along the undisturbed dust that still rose up, all but completely enveloping the cube.

                                                                                       Delicious.  Bountiful.  Strengthening.

Then, the by then pitch black cloud sealed around the cube and everything seemed to pause for a moment.

                One.

 

Tahirah looks on, impassively.

The dust cloud coils around the madly spinning cube, and flowing patterns of light and dark appear in the cloud.  For an instant, all hangs poised... and then the cloud starts to diminish in size, seeming to become more like a viscous liquid.  Long streamers and rivulets of the stuff are thrown out from the central mass, clinging to the walls of the pit and anchoring what has now become a globe of bubbling, boiling fluid.

The globe shrinks, smaller now than the cube itself had been.  The cube does not, however, jut out of the liquid.

Overhead, The Archons begin to realise that something is wrong.  The whirling patterns of motion start to break up, as they move to prevent whatever is happening.

Two more herenethi die as their energies are suddenly discharged, and a danioti, unfortunate enough to be in the path of the discharges, also falls into the pit.  The blade Archon strikes the semi-liquid sphere, and is slowly absorbed into it.

And Right's troops burst forth from their hiding places to attack the Seraphim...

With the Archons moving to attack, Berd strikes.  Waves of mental force roll out to assault their formation, seeking to confuse and delay, no more, precisely targeting the Seraphim and ignoring his allies.  Pinpoint bursts of energies unknown to science strike at danioti and herenethi.  Water forms in areas where Seraphimic eshurianti congregate.

Here, he seeks to give support to his allies - he cannot strike with full force when they are enmeshed in the battle, but he can apply a tremendous weight to their efforts.

Simultaneously, his clawed foot grasps Cyan's hand.

Tahirah continues to stand where she is.  If she's worried about war beginning just over her head, it doesn't show through her robes.

The Archons join battle, with a ferocity that few have ever witnessed before.  And amid the flame and lightning and the clashing of metal on metal, far stranger energies are released, adding to the chaotic maelstrom.  The barrage of forces rips the air assunder, and Seraphim are torn from the sky, cast down into the now-shrinking, bubbling, fluid mass which is Banglen-Yp.

Spheres of water form briefly, and explode as englobed eshurianti boil them and die in the process, and the water falls as localised rain storms.  The bowl is soon a foot deep in water which swirls around Banglen-Yp.

And still the forces build...

In a flash of rainbow light, Cyan and James appear, the former gripping Berd's claw in one hand, and the latter holding onto the Bard's arm.

... the powers unleashed by the combatants open a hole in the sky, twisting the very fabric of Time and Space and Reality itself.  There is a flicker across the heavens, heralding the brief appearance of a bowl of petunias and a surprised-looking sperm whale, both of which fall several dozen feet before winking out of existence again...

Tahirah watches all of this, seemingly unperturbed by the war overhead, the unleashing of so much raw power, and the bizarre events taking place in the pit. 

Suddenly a sound emerges from the globe of fluid, •• BANG •• and it starts to expand explosively, but stops just short of the surrounding walls and •• len •• shrinks to an eye-searing point of actinic light and •• -Yp! •• when the light fades the pit is filled with... creatures.  Many hundreds of them, every one different in form and size, but all of them with one common feature.  As one, they all open their mouths, or mandibles, or reasonable approximation thereof, and hundreds of voices speak in perfect harmony... •• Banglen-Yp! ••

"Berd!" Cyan gasps, her ruby eyes taking in the madness.

Information passes to her as the Bridging opens.

Linked to James, Cyan watches the events unfold with impossible speed.  Simultaneously, Berd codexes their enemies and allies, mentally 'tagging' them for her like a holographic map overlaying her mind and vision.  In microseconds, she absorbs the situation completely, a capacity arising as much from the method of Berd's link to her as from her mind's own structure.

Given James' tremendous skill and powerful spirit, it would be something well-within his own capabilities.

Releasing Berd, Cyan wraps fingers around her blade's baroque hilt.  As Banglen-Yp's victory-cry heralds the destruction of the Cube, the deathiron comes free from its prison, edge igniting with the ethereal fire of cloven air, the obsidian blade's weight felt more by Cyan's spirit than her muscles.  But it is only the secondary weapon in this battle.

"~Seraphim!~" she cries through Berd, the shout echoing through the air and the ethers of the mind.  "~You have failed!  Either face Harbonah's wrath, flee into obscurity, or join with the victor - me!~"  Not precisely true, but the Archons require focus, require a strong leader to present itself.  "~Join, and gain experiences as you have never imagined!~"

"~Oppose, and find an end, either here or at Harbonah's hand if you flee!~"

A simple, straightforward choice - the sort to appeal to the Archon mindset.

Using palanquet, or Trumps, still seems very surreal to James.  Somewhere, straight through a rainbow.

Upon arrival, the din of battle puts a sudden stop to James' musings.  His link with Cyan exposes him to the streaming flow of information that Berd is simultaneously compiling, processing and distributing.  The quantity of data is literally mind-boggling but James does his best to take it all in.

The single most striking aspect of the information Berd conveys is Banglen-Yp's interaction with (consumption of) the Cube.  As much as James would love to investigate, the information gets filed in the growing list of "things I can't do anything about just now".  Instead, James focuses on things he can do to help, like shooting Seraphim.

James hurriedly sheathes Fangmir, readies his gun and dons his helmet.  At which point he inadvertently breaks his link with Cyan and Berd.  This time, James can't help but notice the effect. A short series of 'experiments' follow, which end with James cursing and throwing his helmet away.

James starts to move towards the window, for a better firing position, then stops abruptly.  His gun (safety on) follows his helmet across the floor.

"Stupidest thing.  I put the armour on and start thinking like a grunt again."

Chagrined, Cyan pauses, Berd keeping her uncertainty hidden behind the link.

Apologies, James...I only thought to catch you up swiftly, I never...I mean...it was not my intent...

Her topaz eyes glance in Berd's direction as the drake lands on her shoulder.  "Why am I such a fool with those I know?" she mutters.

Berd devotes one mind to answering the question.  Ponders.  Shrugs.  The mind of his child is often a confusing place for the drake.

Tahirah takes a careful step backward, head tilting slightly, looking down at all the Banglen-Yp.

Cyan makes her pronouncement, and nothing happens.  The war in the heavens continues.  At least for a few moments.  And then there is an almost imperceptible shift... several Archons break off and start to flee.  Elsewhere, the balance of the battle appears to be changing.  A number of the Archons which Berd had flagged as enemies start fighting among themselves...

James starts to act very strangely.  He suddenly appears to be unable to make a decision.  His helmet and weapon are dropped, as the man starts pacing rapidly around room... 

Right, hovering close to Cyan, laughs like tearing metal, + VICTORY WILL SOON BE OURS, GENERAL.  THE SERAPHIM ARE COWARDS.  MAY I HAVE PERMISSION TO JOIN THE BATTLE? +

Banglen-Yp, in all her mulitude of various forms appears to be trying to rally some semblance of order.  A number of herselves start shifting form, trying to achieve the blonde female configuration that is so familiar to their companions.  They seem to be having some trouble keeping a grip on their shape...

 

A low rumbling noise began midst the Banglen-Yp's, reaching a near deafening crescendo about the same time it was evident that is was a uniform, super-sized belch.

Then, in one voice, if different pitches due to the fluxing nature of her/their state, she spoke two words, in a manner never before done by her.

• 'scuse me! •

A multitude of giggles and disapproving sounds alike arose briefly before they all looked up at the sky, seeming to ponder something.

Then they seemed to literally merge, growing in height and width as each of her joined with another her.  Soon stood there a gargantuan blonde that apart from the sheer size was looking exactly like the Banglen-Yp first introduced to her fellow travellers.

A booming voice ensued.

• Yes, you had best listen to her or deal with me.  I can still eat a bit, just need to pace myself, ha! •

She swatted a hand at an archon that ventured too near, sending in reeling away before it regain its composure, if perhaps not its dignity.

 

"Go," the General affirms to her Right Hand, releasing him to the battle.  But the lion's share of her attention is upon the brobdinagian figure of Banglen-Yp, standing above the battlefield.  "Not quite Queen Xiombarg," she murmurs, shaking her head in amazement, "but cursed impressive nonetheless."

An understatement, in truth.

The Seraphim have begun to wilt.  Some have turned upon their erstwhile allies, while others flee.  With Cyan's forces gaining more power by the second, the cube destroyed, and now these frightening new allies, it's only a matter of time.  Berd, linked to both Cyan and James, pulses another of his indecipherable messages to her on the wavelength father and daughter share, and she turns to study the Patternlord as he paces.

"Of course," Cyan murmurs.  Two steps bring her closer to James, the heavy, oil-slick blade burning in her hands, her eyes paling as she prepares to defend him from desperate Seraphim.  He's working, after all, and it requires his full attention.

On her shoulder, Berd feels the power of Order's Sigil bear down upon his control over the world like an avalanche of crushing boulders.  He cedes hold over the areas it seeks to dominate, smoothly working around its colossal force to maintain his own levers upon aspects of the reality around them.

And to use them against the Seraphim, whom he continues to assault with mind-numbing, potent psychic waves.

Right laughs, and hurtles skyward, and Archons gather around the brightly coloured Archon.  The whole swarm vanishes, and reappears a moment later in the midst of the remaining enemy, seeming to explode out from a central point.  The Seraphim try to scatter, with little success.  Right's forces pursue them with dogged determination.

Banglen-Yp lashes out, and one of the Archons is batted aside as easily as a cat strikes at a dangling length of wool.  The Archon, a danioti, recovers and drives itself into the side of one of the ruined structures amidst a cloud of dust and rubble.  The building starts to topple towards the giant blonde, even as she closes up the cuts in her hand caused by striking the bladed wheel...

James continues to pace around the ruined chamber, and there is a definite change in the place.  One of the herenethi erupts from the floor beneath the man's feet, a hoop of lightning which flares brightly for a moment, surrounding him, until Cyan simply brings her blade down to cut through one side of the hoop.  She is thrown backwards, but manages to retain her footing, her hair fanning out as electricity sparkles across the tips of it.  The Archon seems to... unravel... scattering orbs of ball lightning in all directions.

Berd refines his own attacks, taking into account James' efforts.  Overhead, small darting forms, like deadly wasps, are suddenly flitting about among the combatants.  Whenever they touch an Archon, they die... but the Archon is injured as a result of the contact...

And in the heart of all the chaos, Tahirah stands, calmly watching the sky...

 

• Ah, you offer to feed me, how nice! •

The tall blonde's voice rolls out like distant thunder as she holds out her arms to embrace the falling building.

As it touches her it does not impact but appear to sink into her, leaving but a fine dust where the two should have met.

• Now, behave.  I could as easily have eaten you, little one.  I recommend not to attack me directly.  Indirectly, well, I can still eat some more! •

A rolling laughter bellows out even as the consumption of the building continues.

 

Having discarded his helmet and gun, James actions become more precise and deliberate, though no less puzzling for those not versed in the use of the Pattern.  He walks around the room in a neat square, turning sharply as he reaches each corner.  Anyone looking closely would notice that his eyes are closed.  He is deliberately excluding visual input to concentrate on the information Berd is sending over the bridging.

He breaks step momentarily as one of the herenethi bursts through the floor but promptly resumes as Cyan dispatches it.  The sight of gurthang cutting a being of energy causes a small shiver, James still remembers just how easily that blade cuts.

From the slight smile that teases the corners of James' mouth it seems he is pleased with the course the battle is taking.

Quietly, Tahirah folds her arms together.

The falling building strikes against the giant woman, with no more apparent impact than a mote of dust.  Banglen-Yp simply absorbs the additional material, and continues to grow as she does so.  A nearby building quivers, and starts to collapse under the impact of the blonde's laughter, which echoes across the sky like thunder.

The danioti rethinks its chances, and spins away, only to collide with another of its kind.  Both Archons are damaged by the impact, scattering shards of metal in all directions.  Recovering, the two start fighting, even though Berd had previously marked them both as Seraphim, and thus , in theory at least, on the same side.

High above, more such collisions are taking place, not all of them between opposing forces, further thing the numbers of fighting Archons.  A herenethi strikes at Berd from a distance with blazing a arc of lightning, and in that precise instant, one of the danioti sweeps past, takes the full force of the discharge and is destroyed by one of its own allies.  Twisted fragments of red-hot steel rain down into the pit, generating clouds of steam as the strike the last of the water laying around Banglen-Yp's feet.

Berd grins, and a bubble of force enfolds his would-be attacker, dragging it out of the sky and slamming it into the side of one of the ruins, where its remaining energy is discharged into the metal internal structure.  Girders rip free of the masonry, stretching and coiling around the wounded Archon to form a sort of makeshift Faraday cage.

Moving constantly, James produces subtle changes in the environment...  A nudge to the laws of chance here, and a wall, high up on one of the broken towers collapses at just the right time to dump several tons of rubble onto a pack of danioti who are attempting to rally.  A slight twist of probability there sees a herenethi forced to dodge a collision and flying directly into a jutting steel bar.  An imperceptibly small tug at causality, and two danioti scrape past each other, before swinging around to join battle, their rage driving out all reason.

They slam into a third, which joins the battle, and a fourth is added to the melee moments later.

Across the area, the chaos of battle seems to grow exponentially.  And somehow, its negative effect on the Seraphim is becoming much greater than that on the Nephelim.  Suddenly it seems that every time one of the Seraphim tries to engage in hostile action, then the terrain blocks it, or the environment opposes it, or there are two of the Nephelim in its way...

And as James continues his bizarre waltz with the Laws of Nature, Cyan follows him, careful to watch in all directions, and use Gurthang to protect the man.

Tahira, meanwhile, keeps her own counsel...

Perfect.

It's not hard for someone with Cyan's skill to spot the impossible twists of chance, and how they're affecting the entire Seraphim host.  Berd is not to blame; hence, it must be James.  Receiving confirmation an instant later from her father, the bard shakes her head in amazement, still tracking the man as he walks through the room.

Reality twists about him.

Above them towers the monstrous form of Banglen-Yp, growing bigger by the moment.  There are parallels between her and the Devourer, looming large in Cyan's fragmented memories, but only in size and capacity to consume.  The woman - being? - maintains her control, only proving her superiority.

Between her, James, and the Nephillim, the battle is almost won.

"Berd," Cyan whispers, her eyes all-but diamonds now.  She's close, too close; the stress of protecting James is telling, the fear of failure too great to ignore.  "I need you."

Berd's eyes burn like tiny suns.

Psychic power washes over the battlefield, buttressed by aspected energies of the Underflow, tamed to bolster Berd's mental tidal wave.  It strikes the Seraphim, seeking only to pull their focus away from their personal vendettas long enough to hear Cyan's words, to force them to see how poorly they fare, how close they are to complete and utter loss.

"Seraphim!" she cries, her voice amplified through the air and the aether.  "Look about yourselves!  You have LOST!  Only death remains here for those who fight - surrender and join the winners, flee...or die!" 

James continues walking his circuit.  It seems almost to be a form of walking meditation.  His movements, though inconsequential of themselves, are precise and controlled.

Tahira's head tilts slightly, and the hood of her robe seems to draw back - very slightly - of its own accord.

She reaches out a hand, to the very same spot where, not long ago, she was tracing circles in the air, and reaches out for that same mental connection, as well.

Eyes burning, Berd stares up into the sky above where the battle rages....
This message was last edited by the player at 11:10, Wed 15 June 2011.

Tahirah lowers her arm to her side.

Something watches from beyond, she thinks, projecting the thought forward.  I sense a touch of Cyan within.

As Cyan yells her challenge, amplified by Berd, the majority of the Seraphim give up the fight.  A few cluster together, circling each other, and fights break out between them as they come into close proximity, but they are half-hearted affairs (or half-whatever passes for a heart in an Archon) and unenthusiastic.

Others fade away into the Underflow, racing away from the world at speed.  A command from Right sends a swarm of Nephelim in pursuit...

Only a few Seraphim now remain aggressive.  One of them is the large eshurianti, which starts to rain flame down into the pit from high above Banglen-Yp.

And still James continues his own efforts to disrupt the Seraphim...