Chapter XXIII

The Keeper of the Crossroads

Time Break

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

A\N: The reason for the two chapter titles is simple: I couldn't settle for one this time and considering how I intend to round this out, it felt appropriate to have interchangeable titles.

The Swamp.

Spyro tumbled free of Convexity with the freed dragonet that had once been Cynder, The Terror of the Skies, now cleansed of the Dark Master's corruption in his paws and promptly collapsed, falling the few feet to the ground.

Now without the threat of imminent death, he felt his heart thud painfully for some reason. Some loss…

He could see Sparx passed out in front of him, but he still felt as if he'd just left a friend to die in the Nether-world of Convexity.

Convexity. One Hour Earlier…

Convexity, to Vance's mind fit his preconceptions of the warp unsettlingly well:

No real point of reference, disorienting views that played with the mind, unsettling colours, a warped sense of scale and unnatural creatures cavorting.

The only thing missing were the hordes of daemons and the lost and damned, but Vance decided to count his blessings in that account.

Everything about this place felt wrong and foul and he suddenly wished that he'd continued resisting the dragons' cajoling, or jumped off the fortress tower to his death, rather than agree to this madness.

'We shouldn't be here.' He rasped from Incandiasa's back.
'Maybe not. But we have to keep going if we want to stop Cynder.' Spyro argued.

Vance wanted to argue, but the distorted sense of scale and the omnipresent light was giving him a headache that throbbed noisomely behind his eyes.

They could see the dragon in question in the distance, circling a blasphemous edifice pulsing with unholy light.

To avoid the attentions of the monsters cavorting around them, Spyro and Incandiasa were jumping from piece of floating debris to piece of floating debris, moving as fast as they could, while Vance clung onto Incandiasa's back, keeping his eyes closed as much as he could and chanting the Fede Imperialas under his breath.

+Do you feel me, little Mortal?+

The question was asked by a distorted voice of molten malice that gave Vance a nosebleed and had him tasting ashes in his mouth. Involuntarily, he groaned and buried his face in Incandiasa's shoulder as his headache intensified to migraine proportions.

Vance felt the subtle shift of Incandiasa leaping out into space as she glided after Spyro towards the next set of stepping stones.

Then, after a moment of serenity at odds with his discomfort, something rammed Incandiasa from the side and sent her reeling.

Vance instinctively went for his pistol and looked in the direction the impact had came from and mewled in anguished despair as he saw the transparent outline, like a tracing made solid hovering in place.
The entity came at them again, driving them down through space, until they landed hard on an island far below.

The impact knocked Vance from his seat on Incandiasa's back and sent him sprawling.

He struggled to his feet, fumbling his sword from its sheath, instinctively calling on Rigal for aid.

Skull-rending agony poleaxed him, forcing him to his knees as his sword fell from nerveless fingers.

The stink of ozone filled the air as Incandiasa struggled to her feet.
Vance spat blood as the ambient temperature plummeted and ice began to rime the little island of debris and a hole that pulsed pure evil appeared above the ground between Vance and Incandiasa.
From seemingly far away, a low, rumbling voice of evil Vance could tell was different from the first he'd heard spoke:

+THIS IS NOT THE END MORTAL. YOU CANNOT DESTROY ME, I WILL MERELY GO BACK TO THE WARP. ONE DAY I WILL RETURN.+

The warp rift pulsed anew as another outline appeared within it and began to take on definition.

Whatever wraith had hit Incandiasa squealed in agony as it was destroyed by the newcomer.

Another voice, full of righteous anger answered the first:

+'That day, someone like me will be waiting for you.'+

The manifesting daemon howled in pain, as whatever echo had come with it finished and it manifested fully.

Vance was suddenly grateful he had nothing left in his stomach to bring up as he dry heaved.
He drew his pistol as he pushed himself up and fired.
The beam of light hit the daemon in the arm, but didn't appear to even catch its notice.
He groped for his sword as a vicious, cauterised sword-wound across the daemon's neck began to knit itself closed.

He found it and thumbed the activator as he staggered to his feet and gave a feeble cry of righteous hatred for the daemon as he charged it.
As the daemon's skin knitted closed, he pivoted and swung the sword with all his might-

-Only to be sent sprawling as a shockwave of power exploded from the daemon as it healed.
+Bastard lap dog!+ The daemon cursed, then turned in time to swat Incandiasa aside contemptuously as she tried to charge the daemon from behind. +Now…+ The daemon said, almost leisurely, turning its attention on Vance as he struggled to rise again. +A psyker and a dragon, here in an overlap; my, my, my.+

Its incorporeal form became a flickering, amorphous humanoid that stood chest and shoulders above Incandiasa, which the eye averted from instinctively.

+None may use the Crossroads without my knowledge. I am their Keeper. I am their Master.+

Vance succeeded in his effort to rise and fired with his pistol.

This time the shot dissipated a meter from the daemon's chest and it chuckled mockingly.

+Pathetic.+ It said, waving a hand in dismissal. +Come on, free shot. Cast me back to the Abyss and we're done here.+ The challenge was mocking and made with another hand wave.

Vance didn't doubt for a second it was a trick, but it wasn't as if that hadn't been his plan to start with. Calling on his power, he allowed it to flow into his sword, then charged the daemon again.

As expected, it swung an arm at him, trying to swat him aside again.

Vance ducked under it then brought his psy-charged sword up in an arc that cleaved the daemon from groin to neck in a fountain of unreal ichor.

Another shockwave of percussive force sent him reeling, then searing heat washed over him.

+Really, it's almost as if you want to see what it's like to be mutated.+ The daemon mocked and Vance felt as he flesh began to run like water.

It was peculiar, disturbing and painful. He writhed, tried to hack off whatever was changing, but unsuccessfully.

He could hear Incandiasa roaring in fury as she tried to kill this daemon, this 'Crossroads Keeper' or whatever it called itself, but to little avail.

At last, the pain stopped.

Vance would've screamed if he'd been able to, instead all that escaped his ravaged mouth was a weak chittering sound.

He couldn't see, but he could feel slime coating his body, claws where once had been hands and he felt as though he weighed ten times what he had.

+Perhaps you'd care to join him, you pretty thing.+ The daemon hissed and Vance was suddenly sent sprawling as something scaly and warm impacted him hard from the side and let out a muffled grunt of pain before he fetched up against an upthrust of rock.

+Hmm…+ The Keeper mused to itself, seeming to regard the air.

Far above, the sounds of battle reached them.

+If only I had the strength to erase you from existence…The fun I could have while I wait in the Warp to return…+ The daemon mused wistfully.

The feeling of searing heat that would blacken bones licked at Vance's senses then eased.

+Instead-+ The daemon never completed its thought.

From out of nowhere a lance of violet energy impaled it, followed shortly by another, and another and another.
Then something hit Vance in the gut and he was flipped onto his back as the Crossroads Keeper shattered and dispersed under the bombardment of whatever the lances of purple energy were.

'Vance…' Incandiasa's voice sounded above him and Vance sadly chattered a reply, unable to articulate the response he wanted.

Time stopped.

+I will not be ended like this!+ The proclamation came at the exact moment that a massive shockwave rocked Vance and lifted him into the air, before he was aware of blood on his fangs, the burn of exertion in wing muscles that were not his own and desire he'd never before felt.

It passed as quickly as it came as something sounded as though as it shattered.

+This line is ended. And you with it.+

At the words, Vance felt his identity and his memories fade to oblivion.

He had no loyalty, now.

'Terra.' 'The Emperor.' 'Imperium of Man.' 'Eternia.' They stirred nothing within him.

Now, there was nothing but blackness.

The Dragon Temple.

Spyro awoke then groaned.

Everything hurt.

Across from him, he saw a black dragon of around his own age sprawled tiredly on the ground.

He smiled weakly. Freeing Cynder, even after everything she'd done had been the right thing to do. She deserved a chance to redeem herself.

'You're awake.' Said Ignitus, coming to sit before Spyro. 'I confess, we didn't expect you up so soon.'
'What happened?' Spyro asked tiredly.
'You freed Cynder and escaped…But it would seem you weren't fast enough to stop Cynder from unlocking the last binding on the Dark Master.' Ignitus said gravely. 'Though, robbing him of his chief servant in the fashion you did should slow him down. You've done well for one so young.'
'I can't help but feel like I should be sad though, like I lost a friend in there.' Spyro replied, as the unexplainable melancholy returned.
'When it comes to Convexity, who knows? The Dark World is unknowable and time doesn't work as it should.' Ignitus said. 'You very well could have met, gotten to know and then lost someone whom you now can't remember due to the influence of that place.' He added. 'Worry not though. Just relax and recover your strength.'

Spyro nodded as much as he could, his eyelids already drifting shut.

Aboard the Aquila Ascendant.

Inquisitor Torias Vanko watched as below him, a world burned.

The loss of Helhiem was regrettable, but the damnable Cult of the Purple Dragon burned with it. An Inquisition twenty years long had drawn to a close.

'They are undone and time is reshaped.'

Vanko glanced at the elegant Farseer standing to his right.

She and her warhost had been instrumental in hamstringing the Cult's activities while the Eternian 50th Infantry withdrew after they began encountering warp rifts and beasts of the warp.

'Oh?' Vanko asked, curiously, arching an eyebrow.
'Something in the warp…it is hard to explain, but it twisted the strands of time, foiled the Cultist's ritual. It's as if some daemon did not want the Cult's plan to come to fruition.' The Farseer explained slowly. 'Though for what purpose, it is probably best we never know.'
'And that is as it should be.' Vanko replied. 'Your assistance will be remembered, Farseer. For now however, I think it might be wisest if we part ways.'
'I will give you coordinates to a neutral port, we will find passage back to our Craftworld from there.' She replied neutrally.

Vanko nodded sagely.

Now, he had paperwork to file and then he could move on to the next batch of malcontents and traitors that thought they could defy the Imperium.

Somewhere…

He had no memory of how he got there.

All he knew was, he ached all over, felt as disoriented and uncoordinated as a newborn and was wet, cold and just about ready to attempt to curl up and die.

The last thing he felt before the darkness claimed him was someone picking him up and draping him over broad, scaly shoulders before they began walking.

After that, he knew no more.

The End?

And that's that.

I've kind of tried to show rather than tell what was going on there, but if I've failed, here's the short version:

The daemon retconned the events that had taken place by disrupting the ritual performed by the Cultists at the start of the story.

The daemon itself, may have been to familiar to some of you as The Crossroads Keeper from Ursakar's The Mission Stays the Same.

The reason being is I borrowed said character,-with Ursakar's permission, so kudos to him for letting me use his character.

Now, I imagine that the ending is probably going to raise a lot of eyebrows.

I left it nebulous on purpose in terms of the fates of Incandiasa and Vance.

As to actually explaining further, all I have to say on the subject is:

It's the Warp and a Warp Entity we're talking about here.

I don't need to explain anything.

For reviewing, I'd like to thank my one Guest reviewer and Skepsis Forever.

This has been a pretty fun ride, but I feel pretty good I've managed to wrap it up and I'm pretty satisfied with how I've done so.

I might come back and edit it later, but that's only if I feel I need to elaborate on half complete thoughts or something.

Thanks for reading and please leave a review and let me know what you thought.

Until next time.