Xahri, Avi, and Kina ran towards the Central Citadel, barely catching their breath. "We have a long way to go." Avi, with knowledge of Avindor, knew that they had a great distance to travel. "It is possible that we might not make it... In time before Nyshenor is erased. Then... we will be stuck here in an eternal night, before everything goes black, and..." Kina suddenly grew into a more somber tone. "It's ok, Kina, I know your scared, but we are going to get through this. Just like we did every time in the past." Xahri comforted Kina as they kept running.
"Is that... the Southern Citadel...? Why is it... so... plain...?" Avi stated as she saw something strange up ahead. The group had arrived at a checkpoint, the Southern Citadel. "Just past here, if we keep going north, we should make it soon enough..." Avi continued. A large white wall could be seen around the Citadel, as well shut gates. There seemed to be no way around the structure. "Guess we gotta go through it, Lets hope everyone is OK." Xahri said, knocking on the front gate.
No response. Xahri knocked again, no response. Kina kicked the door several times. Avi also kicked the door. "Enough... Let me take care of this." Xahri swung her blades into the door, and cut a hole open to enter. The three entered the Citadel. "Yeah, somethings off here... hey, uh... Avi... Kina... why do I feel so... sleepy... we only just entered here." Xahri was starting to fall asleep. "We must... be out of energy... from running so... much... we dont have... infinite stamina..." Avi replied. Kina was sitting on the floor with a smile. All she could see around her was pure white. No light, no dark, just the color white. "Lets take a rest." She said.
Kina fell asleep and sunk into the earth. Avi passed out beside Xahri and fell into a slumber as well. "Well, great, why me? Why am I not inflicted by this, welp, guess I gotta save you two..." Xahri cut open the ground, which was surprisingly thin, and looked down. A large, white abyss could be seen, with no sign of a bottom. "If I die here, Well... I wont think about that.." Xahri jumped into the abyss and began falling. She held on to her blades tightly and she fell.
Xahri eventually landed, and surprisingly, felt no pain. She looked around to see what looked like the central citadel, only more... strange. All the residents were only visible by outlines. The buildings were simplistic, and also outlined. Xahri did not like what she was seeing. "Hey Hey Hey! Welcome to CheerVille!! Where your best dreams come true and peace reigns true!" said a citizen. Xahri put a frustrated look on her face. "Whatever the Omni did to you guys, its not working on me." She said. The citizen grabbed Xahri by her wrist. "Hey Hey Hey! Welcome to CheerVille!! Where your best dreams come true and peace reigns true!" The citizen began pulling Xahri away, she seemed to have no control over her body. She gripped her dagger tightly, until she noticed that it vanished. Xahri passed out.
"Sit down! Have some fun!! Close your eyes and relax the day away! When you wake up... you will be even happier!" Xahri woke up to see the a differently shaped citizen standing around her. Several solid black eyes could be seen around her, all staring directly at her. Xahri tried to move, she was tied to the chair was sitting in. She looked at herself to find that her body, and clothes, had all changed to the color white. Little detail could be seen on her. A purple outline was visible around her. "A-Avi... is t-that you...?" Xahri said. Another different looking shape appeared. It looked like Avi. "Hiya! Why aren't you smiling! Join us in cheering for the Omni! The Goddess has fallen... and ha turned into a blank slate... meaning that I have no sense of personality! Yippee! C'mon Xahri! Join us! Stay here eternally! Even after the Omni erases all of existence... we will still be smiling!"
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"Avi" was in some kind of trance. "Avi... what did they do to you...?" "Nothing!" Kina walked up to Xahri, in a trance as well, and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Happy time, smile smile! It's time to join us! Why so resilient? Just close your eyes, and you'll be with us shortly!" Kina said. The several citizens inched closer to Xahri. She tried to escape. She couldn't budge. She tried to channel her energy from the moon. There was no moon in the sky. Her hairpin was broken, meaning she had no power either way. The entities grew closer and closer.
Xahri, full of fear, eventually realized, that there was no escape. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and prepared to be drained of all personality. "No soul, no personality... I accept my fate..." She said. She waited for the cold embrace of all the entities around her to consume her. For some reason, time seemed to have stopped. Xahri opened her eyes in confusion. The entities dissapeared, and Xahri had control over her body again. She stood up, noticing she wasn't tied to the chair anymore. "Heh... seems like I just had to accept my fate, and I was ok... I'm getting pretty good at this!" She said. Xahri walked down the plain corridor, looking for a way to save her friends.
Xahri reached what seemed like some kind of pasture. She walked through the gateway leading her to it, and was greeted by the Goddess, in a tainted state. "So... The Omni was afraid of you..." Xahri said. Without any thinking, Xahri attacked the tainted Goddess, but before she could land an attack, she was attacked back. "Didn't expect to be fighting YOU today... Let's just hope Avi's OK." Xahri used her daggers to climb up the surrounding walls, and used them to jump on the enemy. She jabbed it several times. The white shell cracked slightly. Golden light could be seen from the inside. "So I just need to take care of this shell, and things should go back to normal... Alright, W-Whoa!" Xahri was knocked off of the enemy.
Standing herself back up, the enemy shot several tainted beams at Xahri. She dodged successfully. The beams ricocheted off the floor and destroyed her way of climbing back up. She caught a further cliff in the corner off her eye. "Follow me!!!" She yelled. Xahri began running towards to cliff, as the Goddess pursued her. Dodging many attacks, Xahri climbed the cliff, jumped on the enemy, and jabbed it. It's shell cracked some more. She kept jabbing as much as she could, hoping to break the shell. She was knocked off again. The shell was almost broken.
The cliff behind Xahri collapsed, and she could not find anymore cliffs to climb. The enemy shot several attacks at her. Xahri tried deflecting them, but upon hitting her blades, the attacks dissapeared. She noticed that one orb that was shot at her was a bright golden shade. "That's the one." Xahri looked for the golden attacks, and knocked them back at the enemy. Every hit, the enemy screeched and fell closer to the ground. Eventually, the enemy was close enough to the ground for Xahri to reach it. She jumped on top of it, and broke the shell.
Xahri was launched backwards, as the Goddess was back to full purity. Her light was extremely bright. Eventually, it dissapeared, and left behind an explosion of light. Xahri could hear the words "Thank you..." In Avi's voice. Xahri covered her eyes passed out. She woke up back in Avindor. Avi and Kina woke up beside her. "What just happened...?" Kina said. "I cant remember a thing... but man... my head really hurts..." Avi stood up. She helped Kina up. The girls were on the other side of the Southern Citadel, which was back to normal. They were facing north. They looked ahead to see Xahri waving to them up north. "No time to waste... lets go!!" She yelled. Avi and Kina pursued Xahri with confused looked on their faces.
They caught up to Xahri. They seemed to be running extremely fast. Xahri noticed that everything around her was blinking by her. "We should be there shortly, I think that "detour gave us a great boost." She said. Avi and Kina had puzzled looks on their faces. "Whatever you say. The three ran north and arrived at the Central Citadel. It was under attack by the Omni's forces. "No time to waste, we need to get underground as fast as possible, and find that "dreambed" Xahri said, with a determined look on her face.
