The Empress of Cyclonia does not like surprises. This is understandable; she is a cold, sociopathic intellect of the highest sort weighed down by all the aggression, passion and hormonal misery that comes with being a teenager. A most tumultuous combination indeed, which makes for a fragile psyche and easily rattled state of mind.

The Empress of Cyclonia loves being in control. She detests that which she cannot bind to her will, and it drives her mad when something in her path refuses to bend or break. She will not stop until that which defies her has been shown who is in charge, who holds the power.

This is why she adores her crystals so. Crystals are nonliving, therefore they are predictable. They are little more than shiny rocks that can, when placed in the right hands, unleash great power. Power that is, from the blinding speed of the Velocity Crystal to the explosive might of the Eruption Stone, perfectly calculated. Master Cyclonis loves her crystals more than anything else in this world. They could very well be the only thing she loves.

Every facet, every face, every single aspect of every single crystal she holds in her hands can be examined, explained, and understood. A Boomer will not suddenly spew forth ice or lightning, nor will a Phoenix Crystal summon a Blood Hyde Tracker Beast. Only through carefully calculated changes in the crystal's inner structure, that the Master can perform with her own hands and through her own power, will such things occur. Otherwise, a Boomer will go "Boom" as it explodes, and a Phoenix Crystal will summon a phoenix.

Everything involving crystals can be planned, and every plan will go accordingly.

She loves her crystals. They do not surprise her. There has only been one incident where a crystal has surprised her, and she has despised this crystal (and the memory that accompanies it) ever since.

Master Cyclonis has never liked people. People are living creatures, and therefore they are unpredictable. People will surprise you. You can plan everything out, analyze every possible outcome and fight to prevent disaster, but people can and will manage to screw everything up. Everything you've worked for, everything you wanted to do, they can destroy it all with a decision you could not fathom.

Crystals and people are, as far as the Master is concerned, complete and total opposites. She loves one and despises the other; she is a creature of extremes and she does not believe in the middle ground. One cannot "almost" love something, nor can they "almost" hate it. Love (as far as she can understand) and hatred (which she understands very well) are extreme emotions and one can only be fully consumed by them, not partially.

A person can however be fully consumed… by both.

You see, in a roundabout way I have been preparing you for the recanting of one of Master Cyclonis' worst memories. The memory previously referred to, involving the one instance a crystal ever surprised her. The memory involves both a crystal she had always been deeply fascinated by, and the one object in all of the Atmos that the Master loves with all her fragile heart and despises with every fiber of her being.

In order they are: the Oblivion Crystal and Piper of the Storm Hawks.

When the Empress of Cyclonia first became interested in the Oblivion crystal she was 14; a time in her life that was particularly dark and highlighted by cruel, deranged thoughts of revenge and a fascination with death brought on by the passing of her grandmother. She had been reading through her grandmother's old books, and came upon a bare-bones description of the effects of the inky black gem. The text simply read, 'This stone will send the target's entire being, body and soul, into a realm of oblivion from which there is no returning.'

What did that mean? Where was this realm of oblivion? Was nothing left of the person it was used on? Nothing? Not a name, a history, no last words? Were they truly gone, wiped from existence, forever?

All of these were questions the young empress had asked herself. None of them were ever answered.

You see, Master Cyclonis had wanted to save what had become her favorite crystal (for it was the closest thing to a mystery she had ever fully enjoyed) for a special occasion. When she first began studying Piper, somewhere in the back of her mind she was preparing herself for the possibility of failure.

Piper was a person with emotions and idiotic emotional ties to her idiotic emotional friends; even though the Master could see no reason why Piper should not join her (which may have been influenced by her own pride and her desperate, subconscious need for companionship) she needed to prepare herself for the worst. This is where she had the idea to use her favorite crystal to destroy the thing that had consumed her thoughts, should said thing refuse to stay by her side (where the Master thought she belonged).

Maybe she thought that would make the ache less painful, for she would have finally solved the mystery of the Oblivion Crystal.

But even this plan backfired on her… and left her angry, confused, hurt, and nearly stark raving mad.

When Piper had rejected her, it was only her almost unnatural control over her already crippled emotions that hid the anguish she felt as she called in her Talons to deal with the other Storm Hawks while she dealt with her "Best Friend Forever".

They'd fought, and she would gladly admit that making Piper suffer gave her some satisfaction… but not nearly as much as she would have liked. Her smirk lacked any actual cruelty or foul intent; it was as hollow as her taunts. She was almost thankful when Piper fought back, but she did not expect to be so swiftly defeated. That was her own fault; she was distracted and reluctant to hurt the curious creature that had so completely consumed her thoughts for the past few weeks.

With her Talons defeated and her staff rendered less than useless… the Master had accepted the Oblivion Crystal as her only option. Any pain she felt over Piper's refusal to join her was quashed by her ever-present desire to see the Oblivion Crystal in action; to witness the absolute destruction of someone had been one of her childhood dreams.

As a cruel smile lit up her features, she had aimed and fired. She hadn't taken note of Piper's rival smirk, nor had she stopped to think of what could go wrong or how this could backfire.

God how she wished she had.

Her world came crashing down around her when the sinister amethyst gleam dissipated , and Piper stood tall and proud, completely unharmed and not trapped in a world of absolute nothingness like she was supposed to be.

"Oblivion Crystals won't work on friends."

The tiny little note scribbled into the margin of her grandmother's books that Cyclonis had acknowledged all those years ago but never truly understood jumped to the forefront of her mind as she stood in complete shock.

The shock quickly gave way to a rage unlike any she had ever experienced.

A rage matched equally in anguish.

The plan she had made so perfectly had fallen apart. She had been left dumbfounded. Shocked. Surprised.

Master Cyclonis hated surprises.

And yet, this was Piper… and her beloved Oblivion Crystal. Both had failed her. How? Throughout all the frustrating teenage years her curiosity with the realm of Oblivion had distracted her from the frequent failure of her soldiers; thoughts of destruction and darkness kept her relaxed and sane. And Piper… well Piper had completely taken over her mind, as had fantasies of the two of them working side by side, sharing the Atmos together.

The idea of having lost both forever devastated her in a way she had never thought possible.

The rage of being defeated and the pain of losing both her childhood fascination and her current fascination caused her to flee the scene in an angry cloud of purple energy that spit sparks of lightning hot enough to match the turmoil in the Master's mind.

From that day onward, Master Cyclonis lost all interest in the Oblivion Crystal. Quite the contrary, she could barely stand to look at it anymore. She kept it locked away in a secret room, along with the Cloaking Crystal that had allowed her to get close to the object of her desire. Both had lost favor with her, and none would ever see the light of day again.

But Piper… Piper continued to befuddle her. To anger and inspire her. To wake her in the night with dreams of unbearable heat and ease her aching head with fantasies that could one day come to fruition.

Oddly enough, the one thing that had given her comfort all those years before had been replaced by the one thing that intrigued her today. Was that love? She wasn't sure. But she was aware of the change inside her, and she hated it.

All of these feelings she associated with that one day when her beloved Oblivion Crystal had failed her. Somewhere in her poor, twisted head she reasoned that, had the Oblivion Crystal worked as it was supposed to, Piper would be gone and the Master would have remained as she'd always been. She would not have gotten soft, and she would not have lost the love she had for her crystals. The facets of power that had never failed her… before that day.

The Empress of Cyclonia hated surprises. This was the reason why.

Before that day, she had loved only her crystals. She never thought that she could love another human being, a creature unpredictable that went against everything she thought she believed in. Today, she has accepted that she loves the fiery, stubborn crystal mage that is her polar opposite and only kindred spirit in all of Atmos.

The thing that she had always hated has given her the one thing she always secretly craved: love.

And in all honesty, she doesn't regret it. Even if she still does claim to hate surprises, and Piper. Even if she still claims that her crystals are her only love.

The Empress of Cyclonia may hate surprises, but they've given her the greatest joy she's ever known.

And for that, she is thankful.

(That's why she keeps the key to the chest where her Oblivion Crystal is locked under her pillow.)