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--- City of Dalko, Great Plains Region ---

Date: August 26th, 2026

Flying through a pair of strange creep infested trees, Rory impacted on the ground hard and slid a great distance. What stopped her was impacting a creep bolder, which exploded, and a dark green gas emerged.

While Mabel was a strong foe, Rory was a more experienced fighter. She was able to capitalize against her opponent and almost defeated her in battle, however Taylin changed that. It almost seemed like that was their plan to isolate her from the other Apostles and gang up.

Seeing her two opponents quickly advancing, she got back onto her feet and leaped away as Mabel's sword struck where she last was. However, Taylin was ready and quickly attacked her new location.

The two Apostles' weapons clashed as they ran across the valley. Rory realized that her speed was the key, otherwise, she would get pinned on two fronts.

Seeing that Mabel was on her way and was about to be flanked, Rory was forced to stop and turn to block Taylin's half-axe. She spun around so she could block Mabel's sword, deflecting it.

Rory looked around as she tried to form a plan. She heard over the radio that Lelei and Sharpe and the rest of the Rangers were busy fighting Galrik and Kagash and were unable to come and help.

Seeing Taylin standing there as Mabel moved to the left, Rory struggled with what to do. A feeling of anger and frustration started clouding her mind - remembering what Michael was saying while in Israel. What was the point of all the Archangel's questions and influence if this was how it was going to play out? Why bring up the long history between the two Apostles?

Deciding to fake a direct assault, Rory moved left after she got close to Taylin and attacked her old friend. Her halberd spun around, blocking her opponent's sword, and striking the leg. Knocking Mabel over. She then turned to face Taylin and blocked his ax. However, he was able to capitalize on her defensive nature, striking across her body. This gave Mabel the opening she needed. As she was busy dealing with Taylin, Mabel flanked, knocking her hard onto the ground.

Taylin quickly sliced off Rory’s right hand that held her halberd and grabbed her.

The Apostle's body can quickly regenerate their physical form and stamina. However, there are still limits and Rory was starting to feel those limits. Fighting against two Apostles alone and without her weapon, she felt demoralized.

Feeling Taylin's firm grip, Rory was lifted by the neck and forced to her knees. Her remaining hand struggled to break Taylin's grip, preventing her from escaping. Noticing her weapon just below, however, with her dismembered right hand, there was no hope of reaching it from that side.

Mabel approached with a smirk of victory. Sword in hand, eager to thrust it inside Rory’s heart to brainwash her.

"Mabel," Rory said with much reverence. "You have to stop this. I know you are under Zufmuut's control, but can you not see that this is wrong?"

"The agents of our time have come to end the corruption of our formal masters, Rory," Mabel said. "You of all should know how the gods failed our world as you seek the aid of outsiders as my god did. We are one of the same."

"Failed?" Rory struggled to say. "Your God is the cause of all this! The destruction of the world is not for the benefit of anyone. Look at what has happened."

"You have always seen the small picture, Rory," Mabel said. "Look around you, is this what the Kingdom of Heaven was supposed to be? Daily slaughters by tribal groups - based solely on the fact that people look different. The few takes power over the many with the threat of the blade. Asked Taylin here about how your Empire unfolded. Is this what the almighty sanctuary world is supposed to be? Taylin saw the light, am I corrct?”

“I have dedicated my life to Idos with the intent to protect tranquility,” Taylin said. “I will do whatever I have to do to protect the people of this world.”

Carefully listening to her ex-boyfriend thick-headedness, usually rhetoric that he has become so accustomed to saying, something did not feel right to Rory. Even brainwashed under Mabel’s control he still stated the same rhetoric as all the other times they had fought. For a moment she thought he might have changed thanks to the last time they fought in Sadera. However, it seemed she was misled or given false hope by Michael as she only saw the jewel red color within his eyes.

"Then… why are you doing this?” Rory said. “Yes, nothing we have done over the millennia was perfect but replacing the gods with satanic ones will not bring the people blessing. Zufmuut and all the gods that follow him have been manipulated by the devil to undo God’s creations just because he and them cannot let go of their role in guiding mortals."

Noticing no response from either of them. She wondered if Mabel decided that debating was pointless as her intention was to just brainwash the Apostle of War and Love anyway. Staring into Taylin's eyes she saw how bright red they were now. The same color as Mabel’s Blood Sword.

As Mabel prepared her weapon to brainwash Rory, for a moment Rory thought she noticed something in Taylin's eyes. Unlike the other Apostles under Mabel's control who had pure red eyes, he still had that mystic glow. The stars of the cosmos. Hiding behind the red eyes slowly breaking out.

Seeing past the mind-controlled eyes Rory wondered what it could mean, if anything, or if she was gasping for any clue about the boy she once knew.

However, she wondered what the point of her conversation with Michael was. The Archangel spoke with the two and if he knew that this was going to be an end. She thought carefully about what Taylin said as how he spoke was bothering her.

None of it made sense to Rory. The Archangel drilled her with questions. Forcing her to look deep inside her heart and address the demons of her past. Then she assumed that there had to be a reason for their meeting and why then and now.

"I know she has been a great source of pain for you," Mabel said as she prepared her sword. "I will grant you the blessing by holding her in place."

As Mabel raised her blade, Rory noticed what was said and took it to heart.

Besides resisting, Rory loosened her grip on Taylin's arm and started to cry. "I am sorry."

"Excuse me?" Mabel stopped from confusion.

Rory ignored Mabel and stared directly toward Taylin. "I recently had a conversation with Michael the Archangel, and he told me you also have. I want to say-.”

“Enough of this,” Mabel quickly silenced Rory and aimed her Blood sword at Rory’s heart. To her shock, Taylin let go of Rory’s neck and grabbed the sword, stopping the Apostle from stabbing it through Rory.

The sudden change in the situation shocked Rory and based on Mabel's reaction she was also shocked. It seemed that Mabel did not even know about Taylin meeting the Archangel Michael and seemed worried.

“Everything that has transpired over the centuries has been all my fault,” Rory continued, “When we were building the Empire I ran away once things got challenging. I hid… excluded myself from the world. I abandoned everything we set out to do and allowed everything we dreamed about to crumble before us, creating the situation we have now.

Then I allowed the two men that I loved to fight against one and another. All because I refused to take responsibility for my past deeds. For that, I am sorry. We never should have been enemies. For that, I am deeply sorry. I wish I could have been less of a coward.”

“The blame is not entirely yours,” Taylin quickly responded. “I told Michael that if your new friends intended to bring tranquility to this world then I will lend my ax. I should have trusted you like I once did. I put my pride above all besides following the duty of my god and the people.”

“What are you doing, Taylin?” Mabel asked, shocked by his defiance. “I command you to hold her down.”

Seeing the confusion in Taylin’s eyes, Rory asked him a question. “Is what you are doing right now bringing tranquility? Helping you accomplish everything you dedicated your life for? If so, then do as she commanded and continue.”

Taylin stood there; hand gripped as he struggled to take a break. The cosmic color of his eyes mixing with the jewel red ones as the two fought for dominance. Blood flowed from his nose as his head was struggling as he mentally debated the question. "... no...."

Then, Rory felt his grip around her neck loosen as the stars of the universe brighten beneath his red eyes. She never imagined that sticking to his stubborn principles would provide Taylin with enough willpower to defeat or at least question Mabel's direct control.

"No," Mabel said, realizing her control over him was breaking. Before Taylin could react, she sliced her blade through him, cutting his entire right arm and bifurcating him horizontally.

As Taylin fell to the ground, a strong rage overcame all other senses of reason. Unable to reach her weapon because of her missing right hand she took a page out of Sharpe's book and tackled Mabel while she was distracted and began fist fighting.

As Mabel landed on the ground, Rory got on top of her and began whaling on her old friend with as much force as she could. Blood spilled from her right arm from where her hand used to be.

“I do not care if you are mind controlled, I am tired of this!” Rory yelled.

Using all her willpower and might, Mabel was able to throw Rory off herself.

After rolling a little bit, Rory quickly recovered and stood on her feet. Hearing Taylin, she looked over and saw that he crawled toward where she was held, a prisoner. He picked up her right hand and tossed it toward her, which she caught and reattached.

Without warning, Mabel lunged forward, her sword flashing in the sunlight. Rory dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade. Mabel swung again, but Rory ducked under the sword and landed a quick liver punch to her opponent's stomach with much force.

Mabel grunted in pain but recovered quickly, swinging her sword in a wide arc. Rory saw the opportunity and darted forward, striking Mabel's wrist with a swift kick. The sword flew out of Mabel's hand and landed several feet away.

Seeing Rory's unusual fighting style, Mabel hesitated for a moment, staring at her empty hand in disbelief. It was all the time Rory needed. She leaped forward, delivering a powerful blow to Mabel's chest. Mabel stumbled backward, gasping for air.

Rory didn't let up. She attacked with a flurry of punches and kicks, landing blow after blow on her opponent. Mabel tried to fight back, but she was disoriented and off-balance. Noticing the swing incoming, she ducked and swung around, grabbing her opponent's arm, and flinging her into the ground by Taylin.

Taylin used his one arm to grab Mabel, holding her down. With only half-strength, he was struggling as Mabel struck the boy. However, he held her down, pressing his elbow against her throat.

Seeing the one and probably only opportunity, Rory rushed over. She slid across the creep and grabbed her halberd. She got some distance and placed Mabel Blood Sword onto the ground.

Hearing that Mabel broke free but was temporarily stopped as Taylin grabbed her foot. She quickly kicked the boy in the head and got back up.

Rory took a deep breath and raised her halberd. With a loud roar, she thrust her weapon as hard as she could against the Blood Sword.

The tip of her halberd impacted against the blade, causing a crack.

Hearing Mabel scream from pain, placing her hands onto her head. She continued to march forward to stop Rory. A strange voice replaced her feminine voice, making Rory wonder if it was the voice of Zufmuut or someone else. Either way, it did not matter.

Rory struck the sword again, and again with all her remaining might. The crack got larger which directly caused more pain to Mabel. To the point where she fell to the ground while holding her head. With the fifth thrust, the sword finally broke in half.

A large blast of red energy burst from the now split-in-half sword. The red color of the blade slowly faded away, turning dark gray.

Seeing that she had finally destroyed the sword, Rory took a deep breath. She saw her Halbert with a large crack going down the middle. A feeling of guilt rained over her once she saw the damage. After all these centuries, this weapon took care of her. Almost being another friend when she was alone. She hopes Mortar can fix her precious halberd after this.

Hearing her name, she turned and saw Taylin still split in half and unable to move. She rushed over to check on his well-being. Once over, she saw that his red eyes were completely gone and returned to his colorful ones.

“I… I feel strange,” Taylin said.

“I know,” Rory said. “You were under Zufmuut mind control. It seemed the Archangel was right. Thank you for giving me enough time to destroy the sword. Thank you.”

She then turned to Mabel who was slowly looking around with a confused look. “Rory?”

“I have to go,” Rory said. “Rest for a moment and we will regroup with Jackson.”

Moving away from Taylin, she carefully walked toward Mabel. While her old friend seemed to be back to normal, she wanted to take no chances. Too much is at stake to blindly trust her old friend and deal with unknown magic. “Is that you Mabel? Are you back to normal?”

“Normal?” Mabel confusedly asked. “What do you mean? Where am I?”

“You tell me,” Rory said.

“What? I do not understand-.” Mabel placed her hand on her forehead again. “I… it is coming back to me. A voice… a monster. What!?” Her eyes then got wide.

“So, you remember?” Rory asked.

“I… I do…,” Mabel replied as she started to tear up. “I think I remember… Rory….” She burst from her spot and grabbed Rory by the shoulders. “We have to go, now! Zufmuut. Valker. They are working together with… someone from another world.”

“We know,” Rory said. “We are near Darlko and my people are fighting them right now.”

“Your people? I do not… you mean the Other Worlders? They are here? Maybe it is not too late.”

Hearing a group of people approaching, Rory looked over and saw the other Apostles. Just like Taylin and Mabel, all their eyes were back to normal. The ones who joined her seemed relieved that the battle was over while the ones who were under Zufmuut spell seemed confused and distrustful.

The sheer volume of Apostles in one spot was impressive. In all her life, maybe three or four Apostles have been in the same location together. From what she could tell, from all the Apostles that are on Uros, only three others were missing. Probably too far to reach by Zufmuut’s corrupt influence.

“I assume you destroyed the sword?” Frayen asked.

“Yes, I did,” Rory responded. “Is everyone?”

“Yes,” Karlin said as she was putting her head back on her body. “The moment their eyes turned back to normal they all stopped fighting.”

“What is going on?” Valma asked. “Last thing I remember was being in the Avion Sea.”

Envira twirled her hair in confusion. “Last thing I remember was walking through a forest as I was heading to the Kingdom of Bouraguard. Then… I was attacked and everything went black. Am… am I even on the right continent?”

Rory was shocked by what Envira said. That Kingdom was on the continent south of Falmart, further down on its southeast coast. “The answer is no. We all are at the Great Plains of Falmart.”

Many of the Apostles were in shock once they realized they are on Falmart.

“The last thing I remember was being on the Avion Sea island continent of Isagoi,” Valma said. “When was the Festival of Ogani?”

“Nine years ago,” Frayen answered, shocking everyone from the time gap.

“I was on the continent of Telirif,” Appeato said. “I was helping with improving their farmers.”

Frayen began explaining the current state of Falmart. It did not take long for many of them to realize the large gap of time that was missing in many of their memories. While Valma had the longest memory lapse outside of Mabel, many others still were missing years. Appeato was missing seven while Envira was missing three. The rest had a variety of degrees, but one pattern was clear. Each Apostle was targeted one at a time until they grew in strength.

It was Giselle who whispered to Rory, commenting how long all this was in motion. The thought scared Rory as no one knew about this until very recently - that Zufmuut went rogue and was slowly capturing Apostles for almost a decade. Even Hardy did not know until it was almost too late.

There was a small debate among the once-brainwashed Apostles as they tried to understand what had been happening. Once everyone came to the same conclusion, they all stared directly at Mabel and prepared their weapons.

Mabel took a step back with fear, however Rory got between everyone. “Not right now. Mabel’s god, Zufmuut, brainwashed her and the rest of you so he is the one to blame. I destroyed the Blood Sword Diva which was controlling you all so this should not happen again, however, there is a demonic invasion coming and we need to unite now if we want to stop it.”

“I am sorry, Rory,” Valma said. “I barely understand what is going on. My mind is still struggling to know what year this is.”

“Valma is correct,” Envira said. “We all need time to understand what is going on. I need to consult with my goddess before-.”

“Enough!” Rory yelled. “Look around you. See those explosions over there? I know all of you can hear the screams from the mortals who are fighting for their lives to save our world from the demons for the second time.”

“Rory is correct,” Frayen interjected. “The Terrans and Republicans are here fighting Zufmuut and his host, Valker before they open a Gate to the Demon world.”

“Who are Terrans and Republicans?” Appeato asked. “Why not just summon your filthy Empire to resolve the issue? They are your playthings after all, Rory.”

Feeling the frustration building throughout Rory's veins, it was Giselle who calmed her before an incident happened. She almost forgot what inter politics between Apostles was like.

“The Terrans are from a world called Earth,” Frayen explained. “It is the same world where the Humans came from two thousand years ago.”

“The Empire has fallen and has been replaced with a Republic,” Rory added. “Hardy opened the Gate a year and a half ago and a lot has happened since. Too much to explain right now.”

“Impossible,” Envira said. “The Gate should not open for at least another ten thousand years, maybe fifteen. And two Gates at once? That can never happen.”

Cronan placed his hand on his forehead. “Hold on. Are you telling me, Rory and Taylin created another continental Empire? You just changed the name and now you are asking us to clean up your mess?”

“Not exactly,” Rory said.

“Cronan is correct,” Envira said. “We are not here to clean up your mess. This is why Apostles do not get involved with mortal politics. I am sorry that we fought you but-.”

A large green light emitted from the temple, blinding everyone for a moment. The protective walls around the temple folded into the ground and a pulsing flaming green light emitted from the center. Once the light went away, Rory sensed an intense energy source and realized the end was near.

She understood the hesitation coming from everyone. Most are still recovering from memory loss and are scared. Apostles have a history of never working together. Maybe in the past they would form temporary alliances for a mutual goal, however that would be it. Taylin and her intervention in forming the Empire were considered so extreme it left a dark mark on their reputations. She could tell there was still shame among many of the Apostles for doing so - a black mark.

Taylin took a step forward. "We all need to listen to Rory on this."

"Listen?" Appeato said with a distain tone. "You are one of the worst Apostles here with your track record."

"We all know what you have done," Elvo added.

"I have always done what I thought was right!" Taylin said. "Unlike all of you who just limp around the world with no care."

Noticing many of the Apostles were preparing their swords and the tension that was being built, Rory placed her hand on Taylin shoulder. However, she was thrilled by the sudden support from him.

“I think we all should listen to Rory,” Mabel said. “The longer I am free the longer I remember everything. What Frayen said is true. My god has damned this world to hell and the demons have come back to bring this world to ruin again. I do not know anything about the Terrans, but my god must be stopped.”

“The Demons are coming back,” Rory asked. “Rondel and Sadera have already burned with tens of thousands of casualties.” She saw the horror from the once-brainwashed Apostles with the realization of how much had happened between them when they were captured. “The ones who helped save this world before are back and fighting right now to save it again. But need your help now or everyone will die.”

Rory watched the two Apostles debate and they seemed that they agreed to help. All the Apostles departed from the valley and headed to where the mortals were.

Reference:

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