Superhero Adventures, UK Style

(Part 3 of the Faerie Realm Odyssey)

As the members of the Balance stood on the smouldering remnants of the Terminus Base, itself floating on a sea of bleached leaves, they could hear the Wylde Hunt getting ever closer. They knew that they needed to decide what to do with their four surviving prisoners and the injured Summer Knight and quickly if they were to get away in time to stop a war.

They found a part of the base that hadn’t burnt down and locked their prisoners inside. At present, the four were all unconscious but who knew what powers they might be able to access once they awoke? Still, it was the best they could do under the circumstances and at least if they did escape their makeshift jail they lacked any craft to follow them or any backup as thankfully their Omegadrone ‘zombies’ all appeared to be damaged beyond the possibility of re-resurrection.

They had two options they could use to use to try to get to the Plain of the Stone Circle; fly there under their own power but burdened down with carrying Thomas Rhymer and the Honourable Thief, Mèirleach or take Thomas up on his offer to teleport them directly to the stone circle using his Key of Power.

The baying of the hunt was getting closer, their escape would be limited by how fast the slowest member of the team could fly and they would be further hindered by trying to carry their ‘passengers’. There was no way they could escape the Wylde Hunt this time unless they took Thomas up on his proposal.

Mace remained suspicious of the offer but accepted that they might not have any other choice if they wanted to get away safely.

Unfortunately, the effort would likely exhaust the wounded man and he might subsequently struggle to convince the Court of Winter that he was fit enough to use his powers against them if they had to go to war.  If so, they would need to try and help disguise his exhaustion and weaknesses from the Winter Court.

In the sky, they could now see approaching at great speed a large flying chariot being driven by a horned figure, Cernunnos they supposed, with several misshapen ‘hunters’ standing behind him. Several monstrous hounds each the size of bulls pulled the Chariot through the sky, accompanied by a horde of horrific-looking, mindless Ban Sidh, screeching terror.

Thomas immediately manifested his diamond blade pendant into his shaking hand, watched as it grew to full size before slicing the blade down through the air creating a split in reality and motioned them to jump through the rent. Beads of sweat ran down his face as he tried to hold the portal open until everyone else had crossed and then he fell forward and through it himself.

As the mist cleared, they found themselves huddled together on a small hill looking down on a dark, desolate plain. In the centre was an undamaged and unaltered Stonehenge, surrounded by the two armies. Unfortunately, they appeared to have arrived behind Winter’s army with its gathering of giant trolls and ogres, hundreds of armed Dark Sidhe and the horrific, blind Fae’nabolg; massive humanoid creatures with faces that appeared to consist of nothing but a long, vicious mouth overfilled with sharp teeth.

They could see that the Army of Summer had gathered on the opposite side of the plain, but Winter’s army stood between them and the negotiations taking place inside the circle.

Looking down at this realm’s version of Stonehenge, Mace quipped, “At least we don’t have to pay to park.”

Inside the circle, sitting and standing around the Altar Stone, could be seen various members of the Courts of Winter and Summer. Thomas gestured towards them then collapsed, his wounds bleeding out once more. “Damn!” He quickly wrapped his trench coat round his body to hide the wounds and muttered, “We need to get down there and quickly. Not sure if we’ve enough time before the negotiations break down to manoeuvre around Winter’s army though. You’ll be safe once you’re in the circle itself.”

Akira tried to open a portal into the stone circle but there was some sort of barrier in effect that prevented teleporting even close to it. The decision was taken that Akira would render both Mace and himself invisible so she could fly them across and above the gathered army as fast as possible. Banshee would use her abilities to render both her and Thomas insubstantial and invisible leaving Sam to try to match his chameleon ability to the darkness of the sky. Unfortunately, his ability did not transfer to his passenger, the Honourable Thief. Still, Sam was willing to risk it and was about to set off when the white-furred creature suddenly vanished into the stunted undergrowth intending to make his own way through the gathered dark beasts and soldiers of Winter. Wishing him luck, the others immediately set off separately heading for the centre of the stone circle.

They almost succeeded in getting there unseen when one of the large and apparently sightless creatures, a savage Fae’nabolg according to Thomas, sensed their passage and let loose a howl in the direction of Mace and Akira. Then some sort of vertigo began to overcome the pair of them as the blind creature attempted to undo what it assumed was a glamour of invisibility surrounding them. It failed but it had attracted the attention of the other creatures gathered and several random elf-shot were unleashed into the sky around them.  Inside the circle, a human female turned and appeared to see them but did nothing other than smirk and point them out to the Winter Queen, the monarch Maub they supposed.

Banshee and Thomas, being insubstantial, were unaffected by the assault but Mace was forced to take evasive action before flying through one of the arches and slamming into the ground just behind the Summer Court. As they turned visible, one of the Couriers rushed over to them, **What are you doing? You are now in the presence of the Queen of Summer. Show appropriate courtesy or else.**

The Queens and their courtly entourages were gathered on either side of the sacrificial altar at the centre of the Circle, with the two armies gathered facing each other on either side of the plain. Standing to the right of each Queen was a young female Sidhe princess whilst on their left stood an old crone both of whom were trying to advise and quietly influence their Queen.

All were draped in full glamour, appearing almost human though why, given the only mortal present prior to their arrival was the Morgaine, was unknown. Both Queens were regally attired in gowns and crowns as befitted their status.

Banshee immediately turned visible and released Thomas who stepped over, lent against one of the inner stones as nonchalantly as he could as he lit a cigarette. It was however obvious to everyone that he was not well despite the act. Thomas grinned, “Seems your Majesty, the rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated. As you can see I am alive…”

Before he could say anything more, Queen Maub smiled and interjected, **though not well, your experiences have left you weakened I think. Please put my sister’s mind at ease and confirm our Court’s innocence in your misadventure.**

Sam remained hidden in the sky above the stone circle. To everyone’s surprise, Queen Titania arose from her gilded throne and walked across to the other members of the Balance standing behind her. ** I, Queen Titania Uonaidh na’Daoine Sidh, offer these mortals our thanks for rescuing our Summer Knight and in gratitude we offer them a place as this negotiation. Let none foreswear me in this honour.** She looked Thomas up and down, apparently seeing through his attempt to appear healthy and well.

Akira tried to cover for Thomas’s weakness by asking her forgiveness for speaking without prior permission but ‘explained’ that Thomas had just teleported them a great distance to this location and was merely exhausted as a result, claiming he had been quite chipper before that.

The Queen looked at Akira, smiling as she quietly replied, **Unfortunately we may well end up in a war and his ‘exhaustion’ may well not be in our favour if he has to fight against the Morgaine. Where did you find him? Are we facing war against Winter or are we facing a different threat? You will need to testify before both Courts, regardless.**

One of her courtiers gestured them to stand beside her as Thomas almost collapsed to the ground. The Queen made her way back to her throne with the Balance as Thomas tried to recover.

Again, the two Sidhe females took their place on either side of her throne, one a young female, the other also female but elderly. Opposite her, on her own throne sat Queen Maub of Winter who was similarly advised. That’s when Mace asked, “Where are the King’s?”

The Courier psychically whispered that the Kings remained with their troops on opposite sides of the stone circle inspiring them in preparation for battle. Then continued as the advisors on both sides argued about whether war was inevitable, **There is a saying amongst the Faerie, that it is the King’s role to make war and the Queens’ role to try and negotiate a peace.** Mace nodded in acknowledgement.

Akira realised that the Queens and their two Sidhe advisors made up the triple goddess of Celtic mythology, the maiden, mother (or in this case the Queen) and the crone with the King limited to physically protecting each realm. The Morgaine stood off to the side, still grinning. She looked at Banshee and walked over to where she stood. “I’ve seen you before somewhere, haven’t I? In a couple of my visions.” Banshee replied, “And I you, my lady.” The Morgaine tilted her head and replied, “Interesting. Maybe we will have a chance to meet up sometime?”

Meanwhile Thomas was explaining about his kidnapping at the hands of the mortals he referred to as ‘cold cousins’ who were seeking to use his disappearance and apparent murder as a way to divide the realm of Faerie against itself. Mary and Akira joined in, explaining that it was an attempt by outsiders, an alien force, to try to divide Faerie against itself; Faerie against Faerie, Winter against Summer with the only winners the mortal invaders who would then invade and attempt to take over the planet.

Queen Maub and her advisors were obviously unhappy about the direction the negotiations were taking or their presence. In fairness, there was a lot of whispering and hissing going on by the entourage of both Courts.

Meanwhile Thomas and Mary between them continued to try to explain about his kidnapping and subsequent rescue at their hands with Mary finishing the explanation with a plea that the only way to win was for the two courts to not fight.

High above, Sam wondered if this would work. Rhymer was trying to bluff that he was ready and able to go to War as Knight of Summer and he was doing his best to convince Queen Maud and the Morgaine that he was uninjured and as powerful as always.  Sam wasn’t sure either of them were fooled.

The Morgaine stood apart from the rest of the Winter Court and smirked at Rhymer. As he finished his tale he walked over to face her and lit up a cigarette, perhaps to prove that he was physically present.

The two Queens themselves sat quietly on their thrones facing each other on either side of the altar and glowered, waiting to see which of them would break the silence.

Queen Maub spoke first, **So your knight lives, will you now offer apology sincere, sister for trying to lay the blame for your Knight’s misadventure at the feet of Winter’s throne? Are we, as courts duo rebalanced now or should we evoke the challenge of war to decide the future of the Sidhe?

I somehow feel that were we to fight fair and even sister that the Court of Winter would win out, but then you have these mortals drawn to your cause and I can see that they have power. Enough perhaps to win the day for Summer?**

Mary elected to try again to explain about their visit with the mythical Fates and the prophesy that they had told them, in particular the last two verses, “To the Dreaming this malevolence comes, its hate arises, it’s unstoppable hunger, our very existence it prizes. Your task, to stop this entropic progress dead, else this fate will, to your realm next head.”

She paused and explained that “we are here to make sure this realm does not fall to the Terminus and as a result, they don’t then move on to attack our own planet.”

Akira backed her up by confirming that “we had to get involved so this prophesy wouldn’t come to pass. The only way to win now is for the two armies not to fight.”

Suddenly Mace remembered something Danni had told her when they were trapped in the future, something that suddenly made sense out of one of the earlier verses in the prophesy.

“On a planet built from stolen existence, surrounding a blazing star, a people, cruel and battle-weary, gather to continue their fight afar.”

She wondered if that verse might not refer to Terminus itself – hadn’t Danni said that Terminus was actually a Dyson Sphere build in their systems’ Goldilocks zone, completely surrounding their star?  They had apparently conquered other dimensions and systems seeking to absorb their landmasses to fill that inner landscape – a space equal to over half a billion times the surface area of any single Earth.

(See https://mm3e.wordpress.com/2018/01/28/episode-26-a-terminus-future/ )

Queen Maub meanwhile replied, **Ah, but here we stand. I will accept what you say if you dear sister will offer a sincere and humble apology for the slander sinister and perhaps we will give serious consideration to allowing the balance between our two realms to stand unchallenged?**

Queen Titania nodded her head in response and knelt down before the Altar whereupon she ‘said’ something in a foreign tongue that sounded like a formal apology. She then stood up again, though admittedly she did not appear apologetic.

Queen Maub nodded and then continued, **There is also the matter of a serious breach of courtly protocol that must be addressed. You allowed these mortals, who are not knights of Season, to become involved in matters that should only be the responsibility of either the Sidhe or your knight. You allowed it even if you did not directly instigate it. Whichever way you look at it sister, they interfered in Sidhe affairs.

Now, the only way to achieve balance is for your mortals to swear under solemn oath to undertake a task at some point for Winter. Do you not agree sister? Their involvement will be limited to one task and one alone, in equality.**

The Queen gestured to them to approach her throne and ‘said’ **This is something you need to decide for yourselves cousins, but if you don’t, then…** She left the rest of the sentence unsaid but then continued, **My sister is right that your presence in this affair was a breach. Our courtly detective brought you into this affair when he could no longer continue himself and therefore whether we like it or not there is an obligation on us to acknowledge your participation in something that should not have been undertaken by mortals. You carried out a task, rescuing my Knight, a task that should have only been carried out by a member of my court.**

Akira muttered, “I’m up for it.” The others agreed but Sam was worried that agreeing would result in them being forced to stay there for the rest of their lives and was extremely relieved when Maub continued.

**Oh, I promise that I will give these mortals their free agency as did you, to choose both whether to accept the task requested of them and to decide what they will do with any answers they might uncover.

They will be allowed their mortal choice throughout, but their oath they must swear, for the sake of balance to ensure that they perform a task for Winter at a time of their choosing or both their and your oath sister will be foresworn and War will be unavoidable.

So, will you swear agreement to these conditions ‘cousins’ of the flesh?** She motioned above her and suddenly Sam appeared as his chameleon ability vanished and he found himself being forced to land mere inches from Queen Maub. She smiled and gestured for him to join his teammates. “Oh, hey guys!”

The team immediately gathered around and agreed that the request sounded as fair as they could hope but could they trust Winter? They tried to ignore Akira’s muttered comment that they “could really do with a backstop condition on this.”

They all agreed to swear an oath to undertake a task with Akira adding that he would be “happy to complete such a task as long as it falls within my honour to do so.” Maub replied **That would be for you to decide mortal.** as he undertook the oath. The others followed.

Queen Maub motioned for her court to withdraw. Only the Morgaine seemed unhappy with the result. She reached over and smiling at Thomas asked, “If you’re heading back to the Summer Court, is there any chance of a lift?” Thomas smiled even though the effort of standing for so long had taken its toll on him and nodded his agreement. Seems the Knights can travel safely between the two realms at will. With a signal from both queens as they left the Stone Circle, both armies began to disperse though the King of Winter in particular seemed unhappy with the decision. In fairness so was King Oberon, though he seemed more accepting of the decision. Mace smiled, “girl power wins out. No fighting for the boys.”

The Summer Court headed towards the largest of the sky ships and one of the Court Couriers gestured for them to follow. To their surprise, the Honourable Thief was already on-board having worked his way around Winter’s army unassisted.

As soon as they had all boarded the vessel, Queen Titania set up court on the forecourt and explained that they still had one problem to deal with. As everyone had thought Rhymer was dead, a calling had gone out for a champion to take his office. As a result, by Faerie Law, Rhymer must again prove his worth to remain the Summer Knight – against the four champions of the primary cities of Summer (which included Akira) in a final Duello Arcane.

As soon as the Queen gave her judgement, Thomas limped over to them and sat down, obviously in great pain. It was obvious that some of their earlier medical treatment hadn’t coped with the strains of the day and Sam had to again sew up a couple of the wounds inflicted by Thomas’s torturer. He explained that he was aware he was not fit enough to complete in the contest but by the law of the duel he can choose a champion to represent him in the arena. Would any of them be willing to be his defender? Akira offered immediately as did Mace. Akira said, “If we both stand then we will need to fight each other until only one remains standing, therefore I forgo my right to participate in my own right.” By agreeing to be his champion, Akira would have to stand down as a challenger.

It was agreed by the others that Akira was the logical member of the team to act as Rhymer’s Champion. Sam reminded him that he should be allowed to use his Topaz Blade, assuming he could figure out how it worked. He still hadn’t a clue how to use it or what it could do – other than it was one of the seven Keys of Power according to the Sidhe.

Several hours later, they arrived at the palace on the hill, Midsummalcazar having flown through a school of sky whales and seen several impossible sights on their journey back to the Court of Summer.

They also could see on a nearby island the Altar of the Companion Sun standing at the top of a set of steps. Seemingly, the glowing ring was what powered and maintained the artificial second Sun, a mystical object created and maintained in geosynchronous orbit over the Royal Palace of Midsummalcazar.

There the Elfin Solar Priests ‘fed’ it daily with mystical energy channelled through the Queen and her knight. Despite this, its power had begun to wane, in part due to the missing presence of the Summer Knight who had been unable to add his own mystical energy to the solar pyre for some time.

Sam immediately created some sunglasses out of Faerie matter to protect his eyes from its intense brightness. Thomas laughed, momentarily forgetting his stitches. He winced in pain and explained that they had had a problem maintaining the second sun as many centuries before, the Kingdom had been robbed by a mortal who stole the ritual that created the Sun, ‘extinguished’ the High Priests who enacted the rituals as well as taking the Emerald Key of Power before vanishing, never to be seen again. As a result the Elfin priests were forced to try to maintain the Sun so it was never extinguished but over the years its influence, despite being dimmed every night and being fed daily by the Queen, priests and himself had grown smaller and less powerful. Its life-giving influence had shrunk, reducing the Summer Kingdom to half its original size as the Companion Sun had shrunk in size.

The Duel would take place in a day’s time, assuming all of the other cities had chosen their champions. A call had gone out for all of the Challengers to meet by the next solar cycle and in the meantime, they had the freedom of the city and Palace. The only downside was that the Morgaine would also be present to watch the outcome of the final duel for the position of Summer Knight.

They wandered down to the docks with Mèirleach to watch as a bald headed, middle-aged man, present only in astral form disembarked from the dwarf city of Earthrise. This was that settlement’s chosen Champion, Aabharahla Jani, an Indian mystic apparently.

Akira sat watching the disembarking passengers while playing with his sword pendant. After a couple of hours of experimentation, he found he could will it to resume its original size as a sword. When he stopped concentrating, it again became a small jewelled pendant automatically. Unlike Thomas he couldn’t figure out how to hide it within him and was forced to conclude that had to be a separate spell that only Rhymer knew.

It was only when he passed a mirror in the market that he discovered it also had the power to scry; what he could see in the reflection was not himself but wherever he was thinking about. It was limited to show only places he had visited before and using it left him weak. It obviously worked by syphoning off some of his personal mana or energy to create a peephole through mirrors to places he knew.

It currently showed him the BASEment through several mirrors in the place. It was apparently not limited by time as he could see for himself the ghostly figure that Adam had seen recently, using the practice mirror on the wall of the gym. It also seemed to give him a direction like some sort of mystical compass to where he was looking. He could feel the pendant move so the blade pointed in the direction of home. It only showed places where he had visited before he confirmed, as he used it to view Stonehenge on Earth through a female tourist’s compact on the other side.

He tried to look in the White Room to try and see where he assumed his own body lay but as there was no reflective surface he couldn’t. He found himself instead looking through his bedroom mirror at his unconscious body and saw an anxious Annie explaining to someone not in view that she was getting a bit worried as he’d been asleep for over seventeen hours and she was unable to wake him. He smiled, he’d been asleep for a lot longer than that before.

So it had the power of scrying but only to places he knew (or had links to?) and had visited and only through mirrors, or possibly reflective surfaces like mirrors? It also acted like a compass, pointing in the direction of wherever he saw even if they were in different dimensions and could transform from a blade into a pendant. Not bad, Rhymer had confirmed that the blade was his to keep until challenged for its possession though he hinted it might come with an obligation to the City of Skyfall though he refused to explain more. Would it still work in the mortal world though? Akira muttered only half-jokingly, “I’d hoped my sword would be a tactical nuke but it’s only a type of mirror.”

Sam was meanwhile concerned that the Fates prophesy might be somehow connected to the Companion Sun’s demise, but the others weren’t convinced and Mace explained about Terminus being a Dyson Sphere to the others, its’ landmass made up from stolen planets.

Thomas explained that the Sun Altar was also capable of being used as their ultimate weapon but using it in that way drained power from the sun; if only they could add to its power, both as a weapon and as a way to reclaim the lost parts of the Summer Kingdom but that was lost to them now.

It was midday, time for the powering ritual so Sam and Akira virtually carried Thomas up to the top where a group of Sidhe priests were enacting a ceremony to pour their mystical energy into the mystical ring which transferred it directly to the Companion Sun overhead, powering it and strengthening its rays. Again, as Thomas took his turn in the ritual he reminded them that the method whereby the Sun had been created in the first place had been lost to them – they were able to maintain it but if it was ever extinguished completely they would be unable to rekindle it. As they watched the priests pouring their energy into the Sun Akira was suddenly reminded of a rare spell he’d found in the Library archives back on Earth, a spell he’d even used when he was at Claremont and out of control.

He said nothing, realising he needed to do some research to see if it would work and anyway he had the duel the following day and might need all of his mystical energy for that battle.

Meanwhile down on the harbour Mace watched as several ships docked and unloaded their passengers including a lot more cloaked mortals than she would have expected and in the distance she could see a number of craft that resembled beetles until she realised that they were some form of armed grav-carriers. Seems the entropy guys had turned up in force, that couldn’t be good.

The problem was that when she mentioned this to the officials on the dock, they all dismissed it as the arrivals had all given their oath that they were only present to trade and they wouldn’t risk breaking those oaths. It was like hitting a mental brick wall, they couldn’t believe anyone, even fickle mortals, would outright lie.

As she wandered around, she saw a young mortal child she recognised. Seemingly, LaStrange was the chosen champion of the volcano settlement of Emberwyld. His very presence creeped her out. He walked away towards a young woman of Asian appearance arguing with one of the Priests overseeing the challenge.

She got closer to hear what was being said and apparently, she claimed that she had won the contest in the undersea city of Deeptides but the worm-like creature, Jarth of the Unspoken had subsequently stolen the blade of the challenger after the match from its proper champion. That champion she claimed was her, Temujin Khan and it was now using it to enter the final contest. Mace was familiar with the ‘worm’, both from Akira’s contest and from what Mary had said about her previous encounter with it.

Much to the woman’s anger and annoyance, none of the court advisors seemed to care. The creature had the blade so that meant the creature entered as Deeptide’s champion and if what she said was true then she should either steal it back or accept she should have kept better hold of her Blade of Office. Whoever held the blade would enter the arena the following day regardless of who had won. The woman was obviously frustrated and angry.

Well at least Mace now knew whom Akira would be facing in the arena. She headed back to their rooms in the Palace to tell the others what she had seen.

Akira only half joking suggested, “It would be a good idea if my mates were to nobble the other contestants before he got in the ring the following day. Any chance Banshee could spend the night screaming at them or Mace possibly hypnotise the bald man so he doesn’t attack any other bald headed contestants?” They joked about how they could alter the outcome before falling asleep.

The following morning as they headed to the arena they were met by Thomas who explained that Akira would need to leave his Topaz Blade outside the arena and he would temporarily give him his Diamond Blade to show that he was present as his champion. He could use it as a blade but Akira had no idea what other powers it had.

The rules were the same as before, last one standing in the arena was the winner and they had to remain inside the ring until there were no other contestants standing or they would automatically be ineligible to become the Summer Knight otherwise anything went, even killing.

Temujin stood nearby with the remaining team members as Akira and the other contestants entered the arena and the opening ritual was enacted. She muttered that she wasn’t happy but if anyone had to win she hoped the one acting as Rhymer’s champion won as she wasn’t sure that the others realised the price winning the title would cost them. This was the first time the team realised that winning would have obligations attached. Thomas having been the Knight before, understood and had accepted them, the others only seemed to see it as the chance for personal power and glory not as a responsibility to be fulfilled.

As the contest started, the LaStrange boy moved to one of the edge of the arena and began blasting away at the others using lethal force. He seemed to focus particularly on trying to take out the Indian mystic. Jani, as Akira raised his shields.

Back in the audience, they became aware that two physically present mortals, both armed with cold metal going by the response of those Fae near them, were pushing through the audience heading in the direction of the throne. The male was musclebound, with a ponytail and was dressed in armour with a Romanesque look to it that the team automatically nicknamed him Centurion. Accompanying him was an armoured female they had met before, Madrigal of Terminus and they noticed that more and more black cloaked figures had begun to gather in and around the throne.

Sam immediately began to stalk Madrigal as she pushed through the crowd. Banshee was pretty sure that the dark cloaked figures were all Omegadrones.  She signalled for the other team members to move with her to protect the throne and was glad to see that the Asian woman, Khan seemed to have figured out what was happening and had started to move through the crowd towards the throne with them. The more defenders able to handle cold steel the better.

Within the arena, Akira was unleashing multiple blasts at the other contestants. The first blast hit Jarth knocking him back, staggered. The next was aimed at the possessed boy. Despite his size and crouching down to make himself a smaller target the blast hit, knocking him to the ground and as his astral form began to dissipate Akira was left with the after image of a skull with numerous eldritch markings engraved into it. The blast at Javi missed as he successfully dodged the blast as he unleashed a spell at Jarth.

One of the cloaked figures suddenly unleashed an energy blast in the direction of the Queen in an attempt to attack Queen Titania on her throne and to kill all of the Courts Solar Priesthood. Banshee was close enough that he reached out touched and insubstantiated the Queen and herself as the crowd immediately took up the cry of **Oathbreaker!** and began to attack the cloaked figure. He went down under a sea of angry Fae but the other cloaked figures continued their relentless march and flight towards the throne.

The Centurion rose into the air flying straight towards the throne and the currently insubstantialised Queen sitting on it. Mace unleashed several bolts at him, each hitting him leaving the ‘WWF wantabe’ staggered and bruised. The Asian female unleashed a blast, which destroyed one of the cloaked Omegadrones as Sam tried to grapple and bring down Madrigal.  She pulled free but he was now blocking her progress towards the throne. Her swords flashed towards him but hit one of the Fae standing nearby instead. He responded by unleashing a blast of fiery breath at her which superheated her armour and burnt her skin.

As a flight of Omegadrones flew over the wall of the arena, they saw the defensive power of the Sun Altar as the Sun magic was redirected earthwards, burning over twenty of the invaders into ash. Now the gathered Fae were also fighting the attackers as best they could and elfshot peppered the air.

Banshee remained beside the Queen keeping her insubstantial as he unleashed the Wail of the Banshee, which took out four more of the Omegadrones and incapacitated the ponytailed Centurion who collapsed to his knees though he appeared to be recovering faster than she could hope.

Akira brandished the diamond pendant in the air as it resumed its full size and used it to aim a mystical blast at the remaining two contestants. “For the honour of the Summer Knight” Akira shouted as Sam muttered over their commlink, “Shouldn’t that be by the power of Greyskull?” and Mace screamed, “Stop acting like John Travolta and hit something! Summer nights indeed.”

The first blast hit Jani knocking him against the wall of the arena leaving him staggered as Akira unleashed a second blast at Jarth, which missed. A nearby Omegadrone fired at him in passing but the explosion bounced off his shield. Another one fired its blaster at Mace but missed. She responded by firing a flurry of bolts, first against the recovering, musclebound male. The bolt hit him in the forehead knocking him unconscious only for several of the animalistic Fae, led by an angry Mèirleach, to start kicking at his fallen body and face.

Mace’s next bolt was aimed straight at the armoured Madrigal leaving her bruised as the bolt bounced off her armour. Sam used the opportunity to slash at her with his claws tearing at the armour while blocking her blades. She fell back staggered but responded with a slashing attack, which missed due to her being off-balance.

The Altar fired again, taking out another wave of incoming flight of Omegadrones.

On the ground the cloaked Omegadrones began firing wild towards the throne and its defenders but didn’t manage to hit them though a couple of trapped Fae were hit. The Morgaine had a big grin on her face as she took out several drones with a black mystically manifested Sycle. Seemed she had chosen to fight with them despite representing the Court of Winter.

As a further wave of Omegadrones flew above the arena, Sam was still blocking Madrigal’s progress towards the throne. The Centurion was lying on the ground unconscious and under continual assault from a dozen angry Fae.

Banshee used the opportunity to unleash a terrorising scream at Madrigal and the circling Omegadrones, causing six of them and her to turn and immediately start to flee in dread.

Sam immediately reached out and grabbed at her helmet pulling it free, following it up with a karate chop to the back of her neck. The blow bruised her but she was still moving forward as a couple of ballistic bolts fired by Mace hit her at the back of the neck knocking her unconscious as Mace shouted, “I want that helmet Sam, as a souvenir.” Sam laughed, “Too late I’ve written my name on it” but held on to it for her. Then he felt several blaster bolts hit as several Omegadrones above them fired at both Akira and himself.  Akira managed to dodge but Sam was left dazed as the blasts hit his natural armour.

In the arena, Akira brandished his sword in what he hoped was a heroic pose as he shouted “Still being heroic guys” as he focused a mystical blast through it at the other two staggered contestants, The first bolt hit Jani knocking him unconscious and he dissipated away back to the mortal realm. The second bolt also hit but Jarth seemed unaffected by it. He motioned in response and a large tentacled creature began to manifest in the arena, its grey tentacles reached out to try to grab Akira but he successfully rolled out of the way and back onto his feet. Jarth responded with an eldritch blast that dissipated against his shield while collapsing it.

The Sun Disk flared and another troop of incoming Omegadrones were turned to ash. Meanwhile the Morgaine was decimating several others on the ground by melting them into shadows.

Akira meanwhile tried to hit Jarth with a mystical blast whilst trying to avoid the horrors tentacle’s advances leaving the centipede-like creature temporarily incapacitated and bruised.

Above, the last remaining Omegadrones fired at Mace and Banshee but thankfully missed. It looked as though the remaining Omegadrones were fleeing in an uncontrolled manner. Mace and the Morgaine took the slowest ones out before they could escape.

Sam held on tightly to Madrigal’s helmet, as the Morgaine walked up “Hope to see you again sometime” and kissed him in the cheek as she walked away whistling, leaving Sam stuttering and blushing.

Back in the arena the ground around Akira’s feet began warping and a wave of earth crossed towards him forcing Akira to use his will to settle the ground reality back to normal. He unleashed another mystical attack on the downed Jarth who collapsed unconscious as the tentacled horror vanished into dust. To the sound of cheering from the gathered crowd, Akira as the Knight’s champion was the last one still standing.

The Queen subsequently announced Akira the winner on behalf of the Summer Knight and confirmed that the whole of Faerie regardless of Court or affiliation would be up in arms, regardless of Realm, against the attacking oath breakers and they and any of their surviving kin would be driven out of Faerie forever.  King Oberon was already preparing the royal guard to ride on and destroy their camp in the Autumnlands, they did have the two prisoners from this attack and hopefully would retrieve the four captured earlier by the Balance. The only thing going for the invaders was their ability to use cold iron and that wouldn’t be enough to save them from their righteous wraith.

Thomas approached them to thank them and Akira immediately handled back the Diamond Blade. They couldn’t help notice that the Morgaine was flirting with him as they both headed back towards the throne.

The Queen summoned the team over, thanked them and stated she was willing to grant them a boon but asked if it could wait until she had contacted her Winter sister, Queen Maub and raised both realms against the Terminus invaders.

Sam asked if they could approach the Sun Altar again and asked for someone to advise them on faerie oaths. A short time later, the High Priest joined them in front of the solar disk.

Sam was curious as to why the Companion Sun was so dim after the battle and the priests explained that they had lost about a third more of the realm to the dark as a result of the fight.

Akira took a second or three to explain that he had come across a spell back in the mortal realm called the Illumination of Abbridon, which he hoped might help recharge the Companion Sun. To the surprise and confusion of the priests, Akira began to chant an intricate incantation which seconds later resulted in the creation of another, admittedly very small Sun. Then, to everyone’s amazement including Akira’s, it rose into the sky and after a few minutes of flight merged with the Companion Sun. As the second fireball expanded into the Companion Star, it doubled the original mystical Sun in size and output and began to rise higher and higher in the sky. Its life-giving rays now began to shine into the Autumnlands and even to the very edge of the Stone Circle itself for the first time in Millennia. Its rays reached half the planet and restored the long lost balance between Winter and Summer.

Akira almost collapsed under the strain of manifesting the life-giving Sun but was immediately surrounded by all the priests begging him to show them how the spell worked. He took the rest of the day to scribe the spell he’d found in a forgotten tome in the Library but realised he better not explain where he’d found it in case it created animosity between the Faerie and the Library.

As they made their way back down afterwards the astral forms of Aabharahla Jani and Temujin Khan came over to congratulate them all, especially Thomas Rhymer, as did Madame O’Tando and Kalam ibn al-Hawari who’d both arrived just as the attack had been resolved.

Temujin Khan wanted to warn the team that she was aware that the character they knew as Og had temporarily stolen the Obsidian Blade from the Morgaine. He had used it to cut through the walls of reality (though he couldn’t take it with him) and had escaped the Faerie realm by entering into the Convergence via the Rainbow Bridge and the Mists of Infinity.

There was nothing they could do but it probably meant that they would meet that creature again someday. Meanwhile they headed to the throne room and an audience with the Queen.

After many thanks for saving her Knight, championing his cause, preventing war and then returning the ritual of the eternal flame to her people, Queen Titania named them mortal champions of the Summer Realm and gave them a promise of the assistance of Summer should they ever need it. She then asked her Summer Knight to open a portal to let them return to their own realm.

Thomas came over and shook all of their hands in turn and Mèirleach was present to wish them a final farewell as they left the Faerie Realm. Thomas explained that Akira would be allowed to retain the Topaz Blade with its powers to show locations he was familiar with through mirrors and to create with the blade a mirror path but only one at any given time. He again thanked them but for some reason looked sad as he cut down with the diamond blade through the surface of a large mirror and they stepped through the split in reality. As they entered a whirling mist descended on them and…

They found themselves in a dark alley surrounded on all sides by tall new buildings and dozens of flying craft in the sky. The constant rain burned their throats and the air was grey with pollutants and dirt. There weren’t any lights at street level, making it dark and dingy and there was apparently no-one else around as far as they could tell. That is when they realised that Akira was no longer present.

Where were they?

To be continued.