Alice, seeing how close Shovoroth was, turned to face him in his approach with Emaria in hot pursuit. So she never even saw the fire coming until Shovoroth told her. [i]"Look out!"[/i] He said in her head. She turned back to face Grixis, but saw how close the fire was. She had no chance of dodging such a wide fire. She attempted to put up her guard, but it was much too late, the fire burnt around her feet for an instance, catching alight the edges of her cloa- [b][i]"Never!"[/i][/b] Something shouted around the Valley in an ancient hive language only Alice could understand. To others, it sounded like [b][i]"Tooval!"[/i][/b]. Something drained around her, shadows swept along the ground, racing the fire. The shadows smothered the flames, leading themselves back along the glass ridden sand, back towards Grixis. The shadows around her feet began to dissipate into the air, and just like before, the tendrils swam through the air towards the cut on Alice's back, seeping in at an even greater speed. Eventually, Alice stood there completely fine. Meanwhile Grixis was getting surrounded by massive a waves of shadows, darting out like snakes and stabbing him wherever they could. Every time he moved, they followed, never giving him a break. Then they all retreated straight back to Alice, seeming to almost caress her as they travel along her to seep into the open wound. There's was too much here for everyone with eyes not too notice. Meanwhile... The creature of shadows stands on the cliff top, watching Grixis. [b][i]"What do you think of that little display, Grixis?"[/i][/b] It whispers, before disappearing into shadows.

Grixis stumbled about, gripping hold of his head with his free hand. The tendrils of shadow had cut off his link with his Solar energy, smothering the fire engulfing him. It was also causing havoc to other things to him as well. He looked up to see Emaria simply drop out of the sky and hit the ground and slide across the sands, leaving a large trench from where she hit to where she was now, unmoving and unresponsive. Whatever that was had strained the link! Whatever it was had spoke to him telepathically. He looked over to where the source came from, only to see dissipating shadows of something that had been there. His blood boiled; his rage growing to dangerous levels. He raised his head to the sky and let out a hate filled scream. At that moment, multiple areas on the ground around him became black and a vortex of darkness rose from each, before simmering, revealing five pitch black versions of himself, each holding a black cleaver and darkness lifting from their bodies like smoke from fire. Similar to the Echos of Oryx, these were the Shadows of Grixis. He looked about them all frantically, each giving him their undivided attention. "[i]Go! Find that interloper now![/i]" He shouted in the Hive language, his voice seething with rage. Their bodies turned into an orb of darkness, before the five of them shot into the sky, seemingly racing each other in the direction of the Valley of Kings. His gaze shifted to the Hunter who was still standing unfazed by the amount of Darkness that had just entered her. So she was tainted! "You," he said in English, voice still dipped in rage but with an amused tone, "You are tainted with Darkness! So much for being the perfect image of Light! I won't even have to make you suffer, that will do it already. And when it consumes you, it will consume him too," he pointed his sword at Shovoroth, "And we will all be back at square one all over again! Face it, Guardian; You. Have. Lost!" Movement to his left caught his attention. He turned in that direction to see Emaria stirring from her slumbering state. When she rose up and opened her eyes, they immediately locked on him. A growl escaped her throat. "You treacherous monster, taking my will, making me fight my mate, you will pay for this, Grixis!" She said, her voice also filled with anger. "Come for me then, [i]beast.[/i] You will be under my thumb once more soon enough," he said with equal rage. With that, her head struck out like a viper, but he teleported backwards a few meters. Her jaw snapped shut from where he once was. Both Guardians, and now both of the Titan Ahamkara versus him. He welcomed those odds. But before either side could make a move, shadows gathered in between them, making the shadow like form of Sarkon, showing only his upper torso and up. "[i]Leave them, Grixis. Other matters require our attention."[/i] "And what might that be?" "[i]The pieces are falling into place. It is time."[/i] With that, the shadows dissipated. With a slight grunt, he placed his sword on his back and a portal appeared behind him an instant later. "Prepare yourselves, Guardians. The end lies in the beginning. Soon, your city will burn, and your Traveler, destroyed." Without a second glance, he turned toward the portal and passed through the threshold, the portal closed behind him, leaving the group to their moment of peace.

Alice stares hard at where Grixis left through the portal. Then, after a moment passing, she walks over to Emaria. "I think you and Shovoroth have much to talk about. I'd suggest doing that, and splitting the link between him and me, forming one of your own with him instead of me." Alice turns away from her then, walks over to the Clifftop where Shovoroth once rested and, unknowing to anyone there, Lokumi interfered with Grixis's plans. Alice climbs up to the top and looks out across the sands. Then she drops to her knees, bent over with her hands on the ground, supporting her. Inside her helmet, she begins to cry. "Why?" She mutters to herself. After seeing what Grixis became, she fears that she will be the same. "Don't make me fight against what I love. Please, no." Her helmet becomes awash with tears, making it blurry to see through. "Why?" Alice feels what could be a hand, but cold touch her shoulder. She turns quickly to see it, but is met with a peculiar sight. Instead of seeing rocks and sand, it seems she is in some dark room, filled with shadows. [b][i]"I'm sorry it had to come to this."[/i][/b] A voice in ancient Hive dialect says. [b][i]"I meant this to be different. A calm approach."[/i][/b] Alice looks around the room wildly. "Who are you?" She practically screams. "What do you want?" [b][i]"It isn't about me, deary."[/i][/b] It replies calmly. [b][i]"This is about you. It always has been."[/i][/b] "Shut-up." She mutters into her hands. "Shut-up shut-up shut-up." [b][i]"I did not expect Grixis to be so foolish in his schemes, but no matter."[/i][/b]The voice continues. [b][i]"You have done me proud, Alice."[/i][/b] "Shut-up." She spits at the voice. It continues. [b][i]"Not only have you proven yourself, time and time again, but you have also claimed an Ahamkara as a personally prize, a pet you might say."[/i][/b] "Shut-up!" She shouts at the voice. It pushes on. [b][i]"The Darkness has gathered inside you. It is making you stronger, especially with my control and guidance supporting it. You will be my greatest achievement, it is your destiny to be m-"[/i][/b] "SHUT-UP!!!" Alice screams at the voice. At the same instance, the room disappears, leaving Alice looking around her wildly, until she realises it was all in her head, then she goes back to her head in her hands, weeping until someone finally approaches her.

Anaxis-12 marched across the sandy dunes and the steep rock inclines, headed in the direction of the Valley of Kings. When he was at the Tower, going over the events that transpired at the Vault of Glass, his jumpship's enhanced sensors had picked up a ridiculously large energy signature coming from Mars. And when it came to ridiculously large energy spikes, it was always Grixis' Reborn or he himself causing it. But this time it was higher than it usually was, so whatever it was, it was big. So that was why he was here himself. He wasn't going to risk other Guardians being involved. When he arrived at an incline that could be defined as a wall if it was steeper, he started climbing. He hugged the wall and gripped onto dear life as the wind roared its defiance. But he eventually managed to get to the top and hefted himself, allowing him to peak over the ridge. When he gazed out across the Valley, he wasn't prepared for what he saw. First thing was a massive Hive Cruiser laying in the dunes, but it didn't look like it was damaged in any way whatsoever. Curious. But the second thing was the titanic shape of a white and black Ahamkara with its neck wrapped around the neck of a slightly smaller, pitch black Ahamkara. The black one he thought was Shovoroth, but he looked at its body structure and saw that it was more slender looking compared to the white one. It was female? Shovoroth, from video surveillance, was depicted to be male. Then he looked at the white one and compared it to Shovoroth. They had the same size; same body structure. Everything except it's color. Why was he white now? Then he glanced out at the area around them. Some parts of the ground were turned to glass, and there was a large trench from one end to the next in the sand,and a graveyard of Cabal warships further out in the distance. So a battle had taken place here. But what happened here exactly? Then he glanced down and noticed a Guardian, a Hunter to be exact, crouched over. Slinging his auto rifle over his shoulder and into his grasp, he vaulted over the edge and, as quietly as possible, slid down the rock face, loosing small rocks and pebbles from the rock. Thankfully the sand below softened his landing. With rifle in hand, he proceeded over to the Hunter, keeping crouched as he went. He took the occasional glance at the two Ahamkara in the distance, but thankfully they were still focused on each other, completely oblivious to him. A minute later, he walked out on the large cliff where the Hunter was at the end. When he was behind the Hunter, he could faintly hear her sobbing. Just what happened here? He reached out and put a palm on her shoulder. "Hey," he whispered, "You okay?"

Alice clutches at the sand with closed fists. "Yeah." She says, stopping her sobs with a big breathe. "I'm fine." She turns to see a Exo standing in front of her, so she stands up, dusts herself off, and puts on a facade with as much confidence as she can muster. "Better question is, how can I help you?" She asks.

He slowly stood up with the Hunter. Actually, she seemed familiar to him, but why- Then it hit him. She was one of the Guardians that went into the Vault and defeated the Reborn Atheon. He wondered where she went. But now wasn't the time to go down memory lane. There were other pressing matters. "Well for starters: what happened here, and two," he pointed at the two Ahamkara, "Why is there now [i]two[/i] giant Ahamkara?"

Alice looked back at Shovoroth and Emaria, pointing to each one it turn. "That's Shovoroth." She says in mock amusement. "And that's an old friends of his, Emaria." Alice turns back to look at the Exo. "To answer your first, I'll tell it from the beginning." "Grixis had Shovoroth under his control, flooding him with Darkness so that Shovoroth had free will, but couldn't fight the urges to kill things. He proceeded to destroy Cabal, Vex and anything else that might have breathed. Then me and that Titan over there heard commotion in this Valley, so we came to check it out." "What we found was reborn scattered throughout the valley, tearing apart anything, and Shovoroth resting on this cliff top. Those Cabal war cruisers came to try and kill Shovoroth, so Shovoroth called the aid of Grixis and his three Hive Cruisers. As you saw, the Cabal got wrecked." "We arrived around that point, and Shovoroth noticed. He slid down the cliff, preparing himself to kill us. Then the Titan jumped off to fight the Reborn, leaving me with Shovoroth. But I honestly didn't want to fight, so I said the truth to Shovoroth, I didn't want to fight, that we could work together and such. He argued, I argued back. Grixis then appeared in the sky, saying to Shovoroth to kill us quickly." "Shovoroth declined since I convinced him that we meant no harm to him, Grixis got mad, launched barbed chains at Shovoroth, then turned one of the three Cruisers on us to blow us all up. Me and Garuud, the Titan, both leaped into action, cutting the chains to free him." Alice takes a moment to rest and the Exo to think.

She convinced Shovoroth to betray Grixis? That was. Impressive. "That was a bold move, convincing someone like him that has hated us for centuries. But a move that paid off in the end." He continued to play what the Hunter- Alice, he thought- had told him. But things weren't adding up still. "I guess you're only telling me half of the story, because it doesn't explain why he's white," he pointed at Shovoroth, "Why there are two of them now," pointing at the black Ahamkara 'Emaria,' "Why there's a Hive Cruiser parked in the sand, and why it looks like all hell broke loose down there," waving his hand at the scarred rock where the Ahamkara were.

"You be surprised what happen when you use reasoning." Alice says, but she quickly hops back into story teller mode. "After that, I prepared myself for the fire the Cruiser launched." Alice sees the question in his movement. Alice states what she means. "My sword can absorb large amounts of energy, so I absorb the three beams of energy. But as soon as the beams ran out, I began draining the energy from the Cruiser. That why it crashed." "A side effect of draining such a large amount of energy is that I have to empty it out soon or things get... Hairy." She says while wiggling her fingers. "So seeing Shovoroth injured, I emptied out the energy I had into him, channeling him with light, making him what he is now." "Due to that, him and me now have a link to each-other, one I want to cut and have him link with Emaria." Alice holds up her hand before the Exo starts. "I'm getting to that. Grixis came down from the crashing ship to fight us. He summoned Emaria to fight Shovoroth, Garuud dealt with Grixis' ship, and I fought Grixis himself head to head." Alice immediately skips over the darkened parts. "Eventually, we fought him off after a lot of damage, freeing Emaria of her bonds and forcing him to run." Alice sighs. "That's it. Any questions?"

That. Was quite a bit to take in all at once. So, this Guardian, was now bonded with probably the most powerful Ahamkara to have ever walked the earth, she brought down a Cruiser single-handedly, and she survived going head to head with Grixis? She was definitely one tough cookie if she truly did all that. He didn't quite believe her that Emaria was separated from Grixis' grasp yet, but he would leave that for her to explain if she would. But there was still one more thing that didn't fit in with the picture, something that actually had him frightened. "You said Grixis retreated from battle? Why? The reason I ask is because he has always fought to the death when it comes to dueling Guardians. If he just 'left' then there is a reason. What happened at the end?"

Garuud still in the darkness state is searching for Grixis, hell anything that he can hurt and or destroy. " Hurt... feed..... destroy..." The a loud screech emitted from his mouth as he spotted prey. A Titan talking to a hunter. Garuud began sprinting towards them at top speed Screeching " Feeeeeassssttt! GRaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" Garuud yelled in a high pitched voice. He jumped up to the Titan and Hunter with a massive chilling smile. Smoke running off of his now white armor with red markings. He opened his mouth and smoke escaped. His black irises following Anaxis-12 and Alice.

"Hey Garuud, just come down. We're all friends here, remember? Grixis is gone, you can calm down now. Please." Alice leans over to the Exo. "Don't run, if he charges, I'll deal with him." She whispers.

Garuud Twitches. Once. Twice. Then begins laughing hysterically. " He is not here anymore. I have his body now. He was not strong enough to keep it safe..... so I took over. Now.... I feeed." With that Garuud rushed Alice slashing at her with his remaining sol Edge and his clawed arm. Which grazed Alice. Each strike after that was going progressively slower. "Stop fighting me you fool! You were weak and lost control to me. Accept your fate!"

Alice reaches up and grips Dark Garuud's wrist, twisting it and forcing him to his knees. He attempted to punch her with his free hand. She caught it. "By the looks of it, you can't keep it safe either." She smiles beneath her helmet. "At least Garuud was good for parties. Now give him his body back."

Garuuds left eye began to clear slowly becoming the yellow receptor that was easily distinguished. "No! It is mine! Graaah!" Garuud reversed the grip on Alice with uncanny speed and strength and broke her grip on him and brought his leg up and kicked her in the stomach... hard. sending her flying back. When Alice landed Garuud was already upon her and about to claw her in the face when it stopped inches from her face trembling. "Stop it you fool. It is mine now, they all will die!" It said. "No! This is my body!" Garuuds clawed hand dashed to his face and he began screaming and clawing about eventually falling on the ground thrashing about making craters wherever his fists impacted. Then finally The other receptor began to gain the yellow color again. The darkness around him exploded inward in one final convulsion and drops onto the ground once more and stops moving.

Well that was great. The Titan has traces of Darkness in him. Just what he needed. At least Alice was clean. "Well that was something." He said, walking over to knocked out Titan. He knelt down and felt at his neck. When he felt metal, he knew he was an Exo. Excellent. "Good thing he's an Exo [i]and[/i] a Titan." He raised a fist in the air, immediately surging with Arc energy. "This always wakes us up." He said before punching the Titan in the stomach.

Garuud Woke up immediately with a start and then realized where he was and stretched and yawned. "So, what happened? Did I fall asleep again? I knew I shouldn't have drank so much bahahaha!" Garuud looked at Alice and Anaxis-12. "So did we win?"

"Yeah, we won." Alice says. "You went kinda evil though, ever thought about removing that section of your hard drive?" She casts her gaze out at Shovoroth and Emaria, no doubt talking telepathically. Alice looks away quickly, stopping the tears from forming again.

"Can't. It's a part of me. Maybe even the original. They can't wipe me... Trust me they've tried. I just heal back and gain those memories and personality as another voice in my nogin. Probably due to the testing they did on me. It sucks be got out though. He... Is not very nice." Garuud chuckled "so how is our scaley friend doing?"

With that, Anaxis stood back up. He couldn't stop thinking about what Alice told him. It wasn't like Grixis to leave a fight unfinished. The one and [i]only[/i] reason he would, is if Sarkon called him. That only served to make him even more uneasy. He never called Grixis, so why now? Something was happening, and it was probably going to happen soon. He needed answers, and he needed them fast. He brought his attention back to the Guardians. "I have no idea how those two are doing." He responded to the Titan's question. Then looked over at Alice. "I'm sorry, but Grixis leaving throws up a really big red flag for me. I suggest you two try getting answers from Emaria while you still can." As for him, he was going to try and get a more direct source of information. His jumpship soared overhead, TRANSMATTING him up, before shooting off toward the downed Hive Cruiser.

Before Anaxis transmitted into his ship, Alice quickly jumps onto his ship. The ship goes across the downed Hive Cruiser, and Alice taps on the roof of the ship. "If your going to investigate that ship," she says into the coms. "then I'm coming too. I want to see my handiwork." But secretly, Alice is glad for an excuse to be away from the others, and postpone the inevitable a little bit longer.

[i]...Alice?... Eyes up Alice. C'mon, I know you're in there.[/i] The gentle purr of the Ward of Dawn, alongside the soft boom of deflected projectiles are what wakes Alice up. Above her, Shovaroth breaths fire around the void wall to no avail, failing to break the barrier that Ginger had created. He stands next to you, anxiously pacing and staring at the looming shadow the last Ahamkara had cast upon the land. He looks over his shoulder to see Alice return to her bearings, and calmly speaks, "You ok princess? You weren't doing too well for a second there."