Neo Obelisk.
The world around it was dark, but its lights were a beacon to the servants of Apocalypse. Sephiroth, on the back of a blood dragon, gazed down at the mechanical monstrosity. Still in the mid stages of completion Neo Obelisk looked like the skeleton of some machine monster. The massive gears within its two mile circular base were exposed to the elements. Small shapes could be seen scurrying across the gears, struggling to interlock them.
Steam constantly drifted up from all around the central black spire that rose high enough to touch the clouds. Sephiroth knew that below the gears crews labored intensely to blend magical and steam powered engines together. In fact, that same steam drifted up from the entire city that had been created to build the reincarnation of Lord Rasha's former base. The city itself had become something of a gigantic factory, which was now turning out more mechanical creations of the Master's design.
Twenty years ago, the Glaive struck the Genesis Rune of Time while the Master and Roas Atrades were battling for possession of it. It was then that the Rune had been split in half. While Atrades had been sent to the future of another world, Lord Rasha claimed he had been sent to the future of the Universe where machines flew through space and technology, not magic, ruled.
And now it was his vision to merge the two into one powerful force.
But there was another reason the Master had chosen this sight for the construction of Neo Obelisk.
Sephiroth descended on his dragon to the base of the central spire. Waiting for him was Delita. "I see you failed," the Horseman of Pestilence said in greeting.
"The Heroes unexpectedly appeared in Waterdeep," Sephiroth said as he dismounted. "There are only so many of them I can fight at once. And where were you? If you had come to the city as ordered the results would have been different."
The two Horsemen stepped onto an elevator. "The Master required my service," Delita replied. He pulled a lever, and they began to descend into the bowels of Neo Obelisk.
Sephiroth huffed. "Waterdeep is unimportant, anyways. A foothold in Ao's domain would have been nice, but since there are no Focal Points it is of little importance." He began chuckling. "It will fall, like the rest of the Universe, when the time comes."
"Spoken like a true maniac," Delita muttered.
Sephiroth made no response, electing to only sneer at his compatriot. Instead he watched quietly as the gears and engines passed them. Upon reaching the earth below all the construction, they were met my Zeal and Melfice.
"Welcome home, boys," the Horseman of Death said with a thin smile.
"What are you doing here, Melfice?" Sephiroth asked almost angrily. "I thought you were in the field?"
The Horseman of War shouldered his axe, Daemonus. "I was recalled for the ceremony. The situation is well at hand. Boreal is all but under our control. Only a few cities and the capital itself remain unconquered. It will not be much longer before the Focal Point is secured for the Master."
"And what about you?" Sephiroth asked Zeal next.
"I am overseeing another project here," she answered. "It requires my...personal touch."
The Four Horsemen walked away from the elevator towards the very center of the ground level. Soon the ground beneath their feet transformed into intricate runic patterns. Sephiroth noted that their whole, grotesque little family was present. Kale, Arlinax, and the coweled Scurge were all standing around the Master, who stood at the center of the interconnected runes.
Rasha had his arms folded across his massive chest with his eyes closed. He opened his red orbs as the Horsemen neared. "Take your places," he ordered.
One by one each of the Harbinger's servants created a circle around him.
"It begins," Rasha said almost solemnly. "Witness, now, the first step in cleansing this Universe of itself."
An aura surrounded his right arm to match the fierce, red glow of the Genesis Rune of Strength. Soon red energy began writhing up and down his arm coming to a concentrated swirl about his clenched fist.
"Let the foundation of the Universe tremble!"
And tremble it did as the Harbinger drove his fist into the ground. The earth all around them cracked briefly before suddenly becoming whole once more.
Rasha's fist was smoking as he straightened. "The Apocalypse has begun."
Each of his servants fell into place behind him as he walked towards the elevator. "Melfice. Return to Boreal and continue your efforts."
Melfice bowed his head. "Gladly."
"Delita. Vathos Ironfist has come into the open. I want the Rune of Death he carries on his left arm. Arlinax go with him."
Both Horseman and demon bowed their heads.
"I have a task you will enjoy, greatly, Scurge," Rasha said with a grin. "Find Valius Atrades, kill him, and bring me the Rune of Soul."
"Kale. Go to the Abyss and make sure the Tanar'ri behave themselves until I arrive. Malvathus will keep his demons in check per our agreement, but the Tanar'ri Lords will only be kept in check by fear." Rasha actually grimaced. "The last thing I want are those fools killing each other in the Blood War when I need them killing our enemies."
Kale smiled evilly. "It will be my pleasure."
"Sephiroth. I have located the Focal Point of Chaos. Unfortunately it is located within an ancient nation of elves," he said venomously. "Take an army and crush them for me."
At last! "They will fall to your might," he said with a deep bow.
Rasha stepped on to the elevator with Zeal by his side. "Do not fail me," he warned.
Sephiroth's eager smile never faltered. *Oh, I won't.*
_____
"What will you have me do?" Zeal asked.
"You shall remain here, my dear Zeal," he said coolly. "I need your watchful eye to oversee that all the construction efforts continue. Neo Obelisk must be finished on schedule before the Shattering is complete."
Rasha did not hide his smile as a section of gears came together. "My machine army must also be ready. A time will come when the tanar'ri and baatezu will outlive their usefulness."
A series of engines came to life, and the gears began turning as one with a thunderous metal shriek. "And my project?" she asked.
Rasha brushed her violet hair with is fingers. "I'm sure you can oversee its completion at the same time."
Zeal's thin, exotic features peeled back into a wicked smile. "It shall be done. If I may ask, Lord, where are you going to be?"
The elevator reached the base of the central spire, and they stepped off. There was a burst of black fire, and a dark phoenix rose up before them. Rasha levitated up on to the monster's back. "I am going to make a new ally."
_____
The Neo Epoch gracefully flew towards the flying city Belthasar called Kyopis. Aside from being ten miles from end to end and the massive propellers underneath keeping the city aloft, there was nothing really spectacular about it. There were no towers, no signs of industry, no military, and no great works of art visible to the naked eye. All Zero could see were endless collections of nominally sized buildings.
"Long ago," Belthasar explained, "the Kyopisans were under the protection of an advanced race of beings. In order to protect the Kyopisans from the dangers of this world, that race raised a city to the skies and transported all the Kyopisans to it."
"As most advanced races do, this one moved beyond the boundaries of this world," the Guru said with a distant tone. "But they did not leave the Kyopisans hanging, no pun intended."
Zero chuckled anyway.
Belthasar cleared his throat. "Contained within the city is an agricultural pocket dimension created purely for the Kyopisans. Its fertility and abundance of natural resources will last as long as their civilization does."
"Interesting," Vathos muttered. "Tell me. What kind of people are these Kyopisans?"
Belthasar smiled warmly. "They are the picture of a peaceful society. They wish nothing more than to go about their daily lives pursuing art, philosophy, and social evolvement. They are very friendly to those who find their home, but at the same time they are content never to expand to other locals."
Zero rested his head in his hands. "Sounds kinda boring."
Belthasar steered the Neo Epoch into a fly by across the city's sky. "For some it would be."
"How did you find this place?" asked Vathos.
"When Queen Zeal was revived, she sent out her minions to capture myself and the other Gurus." Zero noticed Belthasar's hands tighten on the controls. "She wanted to enslave us and use our abilities to reconstruct her kingdom. While I was on the run I stayed in many cities on many different worlds. And of course, on each city, I built myself a lab."
He pointed at the cityscape below. "Kyopis happens to both be one of my favorite places and contain components necessary to our quest."
The confusion on Vathos's face was clear. "Components?"
"I'll explain once we arrive at the lab," the Guru said simply.
The ship came to a stop over a well kept patch of landscape. Belthasar input a code on a keypad, and the ground separated to reveal a landing pad beneath. Zero noted how passers by never gave the ship a second or even first look. The ground came back together over head, and the chamber was bathed in a pale, white light.
Belthasar opened the cockpit and gingerly climbed out. "Follow me, gentlemen."
Vathos and Zero hopped out after the old man. Metal doors slid open to admit them into the lab itself. Belthasar waved his hand to turn on more lights. The Guru of Reason's lab in fact consisted of a large screen computer console at the far end, various tables covered by tools and half finished creations, and...
"What the hell is that?" Zero cried out, pointing at a squat, roundish, purple creature that seemed to be asleep standing up.
Belthasar walked behind the creature to touch its back. "This is Nu, an android."
Zero realized Vathos was going to have that same look of confusion whenever they encountered technology. "Android?"
"A living machine," said Belthasar.
Nu's large, bulbous eyes opened. It turned its entire body to look at Belthasar. "Hello, Belthasar. It is nice to see you."
The Guru gave the android a pat on the head. "Hello, Nu Thirty Eight. How are you feeling?"
38 blinked. "I have been asleep for quite some time. I believe the correct term would be...rested."
"That's good." Belthasar walked over to the computer console. "Could you please fix something for us to eat?"
"Certainly." The android waddled over to and through a door on the left side of the room.
Vathos tried to wipe that confused look from his face with little luck. "So what *are* we doing here, Belthasar?"
The Guru was busy tapping keys on the console. The screen came to life showing a series of fluxuating line patterns. "From what Zero described, our friend Roas still has half the Genesis Rune of Time. That alone makes it difficult to find his life signature. Then add on his genetics, exposure to other Genesis Runes, and skills he may be employing to remain hidden, and we have quite the task of locating him."
Vathos groaned. "That's all well and good, but can you find him or not?"
"Calm yourself, young man," Belthasar said offhand.
His fingers were moving rapidly across the keyboard. Zero was mesmerized at how the lines on the screen keep weaving around each other. Finally, they began to take on a specific pattern.
"It's starting to come together," Belthasar said more to himself than the others. "The computer has been able to compile enough information to determine what has happened to Roas. Using a reading from the Time Flux Wave produced by the Time Rune at the Pyramid of Darkness, I have been able to isolate the Time Flux frequency that surrounds Roas when he teleports using his half of the Time Rune."
He shook his head. "Of course it only lasts briefly, and I can only get a reading after he teleports. After that, there is only a slight residue of Temporal Matter left behind, and then that only shows us he was in a particular place."
"What are you talking about!?" Vathos finally shouted.
Belthasar slowly turned to face the Legendary Warrior. "Simply put, it appears that Roas is randomly using the Time Rune to transport himself to different points of the Universe. I can track where he has been, but not where he is."
Zero picked up a couple of interesting, hooked tools and started fiddling with them. "So...how does this help us?"
Belthasar walked over to relieve the soul stealer of the tools. "First, I need to construct a temporal tracking device that I can connect to the Neo Epoch's systems. After that we simply have to go out there and follow Roas's temporal foot prints. If we are lucky we may reach one of his jump points in time to track his destination."
Vathos, his face finally relaxed, nodded. "Good. Let's get started."
Belthasar was already setting up one of his work tables. "I will work faster if you two are not around to distract me. Why don't you take a look around the city. As I said earlier, the Kyopisans are very friendly."
Zero's eyebrows perked up. "How friendly?"
It was brief, but the soul stealer saw the Guru's devious smile. "Quite the open minded people. Very into expressing themselves."
And that was all he needed.
Zero blew by the returning Nu in search of the nearest exit to the surface.
_____
Only three things truly created a sense of fear in the being known as Rasha, the Harbinger of Apocalypse.
Weakness.
Non existence.
And the entity he now beheld.
The Harbinger found himself deep in the humid swamps of the world Xaxir. Little to no life existed on this world. Xaxir also happened to be one of the Universe's greatest generators of negative energy. Which was one of the reasons It had come here to recover.
A single gesture by the Harbinger had the swampy lagoon's black water evaporate. Without the water to hide It, the purple, black, and blue blob began to pulsate with agitation.
Rasha raised his right hand in peace. The last thing he wanted to do was fight the Chaos Bit. "I am not here to fight, my friend."
The blob quickly surged upwards, transforming into a humanoid shape. A pair of black eyes appeared to glare warily at the Harbinger. "Why have you come to us?" it asked in a tri echoing voice.
Rasha tapped his fingers together. "I come with a proposition. Do you want revenge on those who have caused you pain?"
The Chaos Bit hissed.
Purple energy surrounded Rasha's hand from the Chaos Rune. Rasha raised his hand to fire the energy into the entity. The creature roared with pleasure as its strength increased. "I have accelerated your recovery, my friend, to the point where you can once again create your minions. In exchange for this you shall unleash your horde when and where I tell you."
The power tapered off with the Chaos Bit leering. "Why should we help you, aside from your generous gifts of power?"
Rasha smiled evilly. "Help me, and I shall deliver to you the jailors of your true self."
The Chaos Bit hissed out a long laugh. "We accept your conditions. Once our horde has been reborn, it is yours. In exchange you will give us the Legendary Warriors."
On his mental command, the dark phoenix descended to Rasha's side. "I eagerly await our next encounter." He bowed his head. "Until then." The Harbinger mounted the phoenix to guide it high into the grey sky and through a portal to the Abyss.
Notes:
Yeah, this could have been longer, but I again cut it short to avoid too many pov switches.
And so the hunt for Roas begins.