Chapter Forty Five : The End Of Dragonfirre or A New Beginning

So Beauty the Brain is the name and outsmarting my opponents with my charms and my wit is my favorite game. I suppose it is best to summarize for recently I had decided to stop trying to befriend the members of Dragonfirre because it was causing me more grief which would eventually lead to unwanted distractions. Which in turn has caused me to harden my heart against those who I wished to call friends. In the future I had decided to refer to them by their Dragonfirre code names and the roles to which I assigned them which left me with only one problem the obstinate and headstrong Vadania. I had once considered changing my name to the one I have finally chosen for Vadania as it seems more fitting for her than for me and since Symerria had chosen Grace. It seemed that Faith would be an excellent choice of course convincing the always stubborn Vadania was going to be a task truly worthy of my skill as a bender of wills and minds.

It had occurred to me that Vadania a chosen one of the Olympian Pantheon felt very attached to her name and in truth I doubted even realized the ramifications of the quest we of Dragonfirre had undertaken or the importance of our cover names and identities on Emerald. Don’t get me wrong while she had been with us for nine days I had begun to realize that my banished beloved Nialla had not truly brought her up to date on our situation as I had hoped. At the time I had been immersed in grief over the loss of my dearest friend known as the Associate and blaming myself for his death. Of course I could blame his death on his punishment for having rejected me and in the end that was how I saw it. Vadania on the other had needed therefore to be brought up to speed and assume the already prepared identity of Faith.

I had considered how to approach Faith and whether I would go with guile or terror and I also had to consider her volatile nature versus her importance to our mission to eventually restore our Gods on Emerald and even on a reborn Hyboria. Of course I still held dim hope that we might somehow alter time and the events we were dealing with perhaps even the face of Emerald would be reshaped and Hyboria restored. But like I said that hope had been dim and only our Weapon Lucky Ron and my Confessor Slick Rick still believed it even possible. Which meant since she chose to embrace Athena and only gave weak lip service to the other Olympians I knew I would perhaps have to defeat her in battle which was fine by me. Not that I am someone who embraced War far from it actually but let us just say the nature of Ares was more my style and I truly did not believe in a fair fight so it not like Faith really stood a chance in Hades of defeating me.

So by hook or by crook I deduced that Vadania would finally understand the importance of our assumed identities which made it easier for us to fit in with the society on Emerald and even protect our allies. Truly the other options available to me were either ludicrous or shall we say deadly. I mean if she insisted on keeping her name after I explained the entire situation we were dealing with then I could fade into the shadows and let her lead until she got herself killed. Which I figured would be sooner than later since her actions would have already caused her death if it were for me having saving her life on many occasions. The other option was to just no longer acknowledge her presence and to eliminate anyone she gave her name since in my mind their deaths would be on her hands. Either way Faith was our Healer and she needed to get her act together.

Regarding the Weapon Lucky Ron well I hardly cared for his value to me had eroded to about the same level as my modified Desert Eagle Widow Maker the only difference was that he could walk and talk. Was that perhaps a little harsh well let us just say it was better than the alternative. To think I could have ever deluded myself to believe that I could ever be friends was such a callous moralistic opinionated human was truly beyond me. I blame it on the realization that I had perhaps not come to terms with loss of Hyboria and many of my non Fey associates which in turn had caused me to bequeath him with more importance than he deserved. Either way like Widow Maker Lucky Ron was a Weapon who had already proven he lived for the mission perhaps he would die for it as well time would tell.

My dear cousin Grace my Shining Light in the all consuming Darkness. She had endured so much in order to join me on this quest to defeat the Dreaming God. In reality the worst was no doubt still to come but she was no longer alone for she was family and Fey on her Mother’s side. We had been joined on this path together as had been foretold ages ago and together I knew we had what we needed to succeed. I would let her perform the duty of looking after the members of Dragonfirre if she wished and protecting the innocents who might get in our way. For I realized the harsh truth all things were fair in love and war and we were at war with the Dreaming God. I would not allow anything even other members of Dragonfirre to stand in my way of winning that war. Either way Grace was a Shining Light with the power of the Seven Heavens behind her if there was hope to be found for those who opposed us then let it be by her mercy that it be found.

Of course my Confessor Slick Rick had made his position known that he stood for the past, present and future of the natural order and Hyboria. If he had his way once the Dreaming God had been defeated he would find a way by his will alone if necessary to return to the past and rewrite the history of Emerald . Which of course would restore Hyboria and allow Emerald to progress as it would have without the Dreaming Gods influence. Not that he cared about Emerald and I am sure if it were not for the fact that we had learned of colonies of descendents of Emerald he would be content to let the world burn and suffer a fate similar to the one that had felled our world Hyboria. Slick Rick stood as vengeful force capable of unleashing all of the horrors of nature upon our enemies. Either way Slick Rick the Confessor stood poised to stand at my side and hear the final cries of the Dreaming God as it was woken and put to rest to become forever known as the Dead God.

Where did that leave me perhaps as Beauty the Brain engaged in a battle of wits against a far more wise and I am sure smarter opponent. After all the Dreaming God known as Cthulhu had been planning the game in which I now played ages before I had even been born. I had allies of course in the form of Dragonfirre as well as an entire Host of allies who were agents of weakened Gods or their descendants. Even I myself was one such agent set up since birth to make a final stand against Cthulhu. Tales told of our mission failing many times in the past and how we had used the very powers of time itself to give us more pieces to place on the game board to aid our success. It was a game that Cthulhu had started ages ago in the past of our world Hyboria setting us up to fail before many even realized we were at war. By the time enough believed and realized the danger Hyboria had been so badly infiltrated and subverted that our world barely stood a chance. Dragonfirre and I were the last hope of Hyborian as well as the last hope for the Gods who had migrated to that dimension. We had been given a battle plan which we had been able to decipher and expand upon but of course the minions of the Dreaming God had already infiltrated the world of Emerald without the majority of them even realizing they were being used and that they were like Hyborian of the past at War. So it fell upon me to rally allies from Emerald to set them against the minions both foreign and domestic of Cthulhu until we had acquired all of the items we needed to bring about his demise. Either way I had taken the name Beauty the Brain Bender of Minds and Wills and it was going to be one hell ride.

Obviously the words I had written I realized before I spoke with Vadania were words that I believed in that the time but to witness both Lucky Ron and to a lesser extent my dear cousin Grace defending her nearly pushed me over the brink. I had warned Vadania that by adhering to her name she put any allies we might find in danger and lives lost would fall upon her head. I had considered even following through since she seemed even unwilling to remain silent. Lucky Ron chose defend Vadania and we had to agree to disagree which of course led to me no longer caring for the mundane natives of Emerald. Or shall I say in reality those who I had once foolishly tried to call friends.

I had changed into my new Beauty the Brain dark wear which consisted of a black duster, a tight black vest with silver buttons, tight leather slacks secured by a black belt with a dragon head buckle, black leather boots, and topped it off with a black wide brimmed hat. Of course I sported visibly Widow Maker and my Rail Gun so it would be apparent to all that I was prepared for war. I had decided that if the Dragonfirre had decided to allow Vadania to question my deductions then I would let whatever fate befell them do so. I had never worried about my own survival and if I had it had only been due to risking my life to save someone else. Well those days were over and it was time for Dragonfirre to see what happens when they decided to doubt my brain. Now did that mean I planned to let any of them die well not if I could help it but I can assure you the days of overextending myself in order to cover for the inadequacies of Dragonfirre were over. If they wanted to be cocky and believe that they could do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted then it was time they found out if they were correct.

Beauty the Brain after this point threw down her pen in disgust and looked to me and said you told me there would be days like this and I picked up her pen and finished this difficult chapter for her.

Now you might be asking who I might be well I have been spoken of often and unlike my emotional friend who at the time was going by the guise of Beauty the Brain my focus has never wavered. Let the record therefore state that I always attempt to be honest unless I have been following orders to the contrary of course you may call me Marketh Abolay. Now of course Beauty has often referred to me by my childhood name Jared Black but I much prefer my Emerald name so moving forward I shall refer to myself as Marcus the Quick.

Remember at this time this was not yet my story so I shall leave my own perspective away from the following narrative. I shall pick up the narrative for I realized that Beauty was having shall we say one of her egotistical fits of intellect. Don’t get me wrong for what it’s worth I understand her reasons but I have noticed she can be an absolute pain to deal with when she does not get her way. It had been her mistake after all to treat the members of Dragonfirre as friends instead of tools to be used to achieve her mission and thankfully she was starting to turn around.

Let me quickly bring this narrative up to speed. Beauty had already been awake and had summoned fresh water and even magically enchanted a few local berries and transformed them into nutritious life-sustaining food for her companions. Her Confessor Slick Rick was understandably shall we say intrigued at how she had seemed to have suddenly acquired druidical powers. I shall attempt to compress what had actually happened. One might remember that her Mother in the past the present Queen of the Summer Court Fey had stripped her of many of her powers and abilities. To make a long story short all of the bindings that had been placed upon her by her Mother and by herself had been stripped away to reveal the Fey Princess she was always destined to be. Simply said she was still a Beguiler like the Queen but she now had embraced her true nature which of course as her power had grown so then had her abilities.

Her Confessor I realize was perhaps even more perplexed when he had noticed her studying the trees and asking him questions about the samples he had taken from Hyboria Island. For she had recently gained the ability to transport thru plants. She had informed him if he planted a seed from one of the trees of Hyboria Island and brought it to full bloom then she could use it to return the group to the Island whenever they wished. She had even included that if they wished to transport to any of the local areas of Emerald she was capable of doing the same thing with the available vegetation. I can understand his concern for a mere mortal what she spoke of should have been beyond her abilities unless she was a Druid. Once again to jump to the point Beauty had yet to give her companions the letter she had written which might have given Slick Rick a clue as to how her diverse her abilities truly were.

While sitting near the Healer Vadania she had attempted to make a point with her regarding the necessity of concealing her identity on Emerald. I will admit regardless of her obvious flaws which depending on how you looked at them could just as easily become strengths I know we would get along well. Sadly the same could not be said for Beauty and Vadania who was soon to push Beauty over the edge. Her temper was not eased even when her Shining Light Grace tried to persuade Vadania but failed to order to her to obey. I could of course spout some doctrine about discipline and following the chain of command but it would only waste time. Instead I shall continue for next the Weapon Lucky Ron spoke up and sided with Vadania by stating that it was wrong to blame her for lives that Beauty might take in order to protect them from an even darker fate. As I would have expected with her Confessor Slick Rick failing to have an opinion he wished to voice Beauty decided to write off the civilians of Emerald and consider them collateral damage. I shall just say for the record that Beauty the Brain was also deciding to write off not only the civilians but Dragonfirre as well.

I could continue with the useless banter that soon continued regarding getting rid of the powerful lugnut that had been found in the Bag of Holding to considering where Dragonfirre would choose to go next but I shall instead skip ahead and relate that it was decided instead to travel to Central City and visit the Stolen Eye Wizard who had made an offer to host a meeting. He was I should make note also in the possession of the Great Race Status Cube. So with that decided they all boarded the De’Moulay Duck and made haste to Peninsula of Central City and to the restaurant that catered to the rich and the powerful known as the Diagonal Club.

Professor Moonshower and Colonel Porter were left with the De’Moulay Duck with instructions to drive around and watch for Dragonfirre’s return. It is worth noting that Slick Rick had told them if they saw the foundations of the building starting to give way to make haste in their return. I don’t believe they had taken that news very well. Perhaps the reason being that the building they stood before was a massive mithril building easily standing three times the height of the standard Welcome Centers. In truth only the Central City Civic Center home to Sevoras Ves the current Avatar and Grandson of the original Ves and an Entity known as Queen B who seemed in reality to be an Avatar of Bast, Isis and Hecate had been bigger.

After considerable discussion with a number of residents on the first floor Dragonfirre was soon escorted to an elevator where they were able gain access to the Diagonal Club proper which seemed to be a sort of neutral ground where every kind of pleasure could be found even including meeting the agent of the Adventuring Band known as Garbage. Soon after a short wait where Beauty was truly in a mood to ditch the entire group and abandon them to their quest. One of the staff arrived and informed them that the Stolen Eye Wizard was prepared for their arrival. Just in time I might add for in truth with Dragonfirre having decided to side with Vadania on anything my Beauty had really been put her in a foul mood which I can assure you is never a good thing.

They arrived in the penthouse and entered a vast room with I am told a beautiful indoor swimming pool. Soon they were to find out from the Stolen Eye Wizard which was really no surprise to Beauty the Brain that they were hotter than dynamite. In little time the an accord of neutrality had been reached and the Stolen Eye Wizard confirmed and number of facts of which Beauty the Brain was already of course aware. Really the only new information which was useful had to do with Modern Nero and the Mind Emperor of the cloned Ghouls.

The Mind Emperor who it seemed had mutated into a giant brain like mass it seemed that the ability to locate Dragonfirre either by his Psychic Gifts or as the Starlords had by scanning for the space mead. Of course that raised the Mind Emperor up on the list since it also seemed to be the person that the almost forgotten Bounty Hunter Chance Fortune been in contact with in order to locate them.

On a side note the device which had been found in the bag of holding seemed to be a wondrous temporal device capable of altering time in a limited scope in order to restore the nature of anything it came in contact with regardless of it was living or mechanical.

It also seemed that every faction or group on Emerald with the exception of the most powerful being the Blue Moons were all involved with the Hyborian Trade business. It seemed plausible that if Cthulhu was removed and his hold on the Star Lords broken then they would be in a position to assume authority. With them having at their disposal the hospitals, schools, police and fire departments the only thing they lacked was supernatural power and with that removed they would be able to step up as it were.

There were of course some lamenting by the Stolen Eye Wizard about his former apprentice the Thousand Eyed Wizard of the Red Menace which led to him admitting that he was in possession of the Great Race Status Cube. He revealed his knowledge of existing time portals and the need for space mead which made the trips thru time possible and that the Great Race Status Cube could be used to bypass the Space Mead. Oddly with Slick Rick making a decision to allow him to keep it until he felt Dragonfirre was ready Beauty still being angry chose to bow to his wisdom.

After bidding the Stolen Eyed Wizard good day and after he vowed to not mention having seen them and even offering sanctuary in the future Dragonfirre departed. Of course there next stop was to find Ghouls of which the Mind Emperor was said to be attached. They chose against Beauty’s judgment to head back to the Red Menace monitored area of Hilltop in Central City. Of course they arrived without incident but Beauty had a feeling that something was once again not right.

Of course they moved forward but Beauty had made a decision she was finished with risking her life for people who chose to ignore her advice. Let them move forward she believed and learn their lesson the hard way. While she silently prayed for my arrival to help ease her inner pain. I will break away for a moment to explain. Beauty is a complex woman who embraces the path of Chaos but feels influenced by her blood to be good. Sadly she is also perhaps one of the most egotistic women I have ever met which is easy to understand given her intellect. So whenever someone decides to oppose her insight and deductions out of hand instead of treating them as gospel it shall we say rubs her the wrong way. Now if you are her friend and she loves you well she can get over and is more than willing to play games to attempt to gain her desires. On the other had if you are not her friend or someone she loves well then you might find yourself eventually in a dark place with no hope of escape if you catch my drift.

Suffice to say when Dragonfirre entered the building in Hilltop and she sensed a dozen Ghouls moving around in a organized militant pattern she tried once again to warn them but of course it was to no avail. They moved forward and within moments they were under attack. Beauty and Grace had taken precautions to protect themselves but within moments they were in battle with a crack Ghoul unit lead by a mysterious Monk like figure. That figure in moment had struck down Slick Rick, Lucky Ron and was beginning to work on Grace. For once Vadania had healed and moved back which had given both Slick Rick as well as Lucky Ron the chance to recover. Meanwhile Beauty had cast both haste and slow to help increase Dragonfirre’s chances before moving in with Widow Maker. She of course had a plan but it would involve Grace holding off the Dark Monk for a few more seconds which would give Dragonfirre the chance to recover and take out his slowed Ghoul minions. She of course thought about just leaving them to their fate but Slick Rick and Grace were there and she did not intend to leave without her Confessor and her Shining Light lest her path to the darkside become complete.

It was at this point where I will admit many of the dubious details Beauty often likes to add to her narratives that she came to me cooled down after a warm bath and asked for the pen back. So with humble good day evening morning or good night I shall leave you for now. But just remember who knows what even lurks in the hearts of men and women Marcus the Quick and I advise you to always hope that twilight never falls upon you for then night will fall.

Well it’s Beauty the Brain and I have returned and many thanks to Marcus the Quick my Rock as it were someone who I could always count on to unquestionably support me to have my back or my front even at the same time if I desired but let me not digress. Dragonfirre was in a position to soon make a move on the Mind Emperor and Modern Nero but first they had to deal with the Dark Monk who seemed intent to destroy them. Notice of course that I use them for sadly I no longer consider myself one of them. I will stand apart and let them walk their own path as seems to be their choice and aid them when I see fit. I will focus my intellect on the bigger picture and remain in the shadows and bide my time until it is time for me to have my vengeance on Cthulhu and his minions. While it may be true I had grown tired of the task laid before me and had prayed for my Rock Marcus the Quick to come to me and free me to depart to the Feywild at the time all I was able to do was to continue my descent to darkness and sadly I will admit I enjoyed it.