CHAPTER 37 – FINAL BATTLE – PRIYA VS TELENON

Current Time

"Even if bad things happen to me, I'll always try to do the right thing" Priya confessed, seeing him. Below lay the city of the Voices of Reason, and sensing their resolve promptly folded itself like a game-board until it was completely negligible. "Are you blind? There is so much more going on inside the maelstrom of your mind. Interesting things …" he rambled. "Fuck your inner monologue!" Priya shouted, finally gaining his attention. "Alright, I know we can't agree on everything, so unfortunate" he began, then summoned a portal. Telenon reached in, pulling out an instrument. "Priya, I'm going to stab you in that righteous heart with this sword" he mocked, grinning like a jackal. Focusing with her eyes closed, the researcher could feel the paper that she had written between her hands, then opened them, tossing papers that fluttered all about her person. As if it had been dead for a hundred years an inscription illuminated. Telenon guarded his face with an arm as the intensity peaked. Subsiding, he could see on each side of the scientist the fragments that were the individual walls of the chamber. Reaching out to them with her hands, they drew in close, and formed around her person as a suit of medieval Anechoic Armor, covering her for the most part except for a V-line, "You cannot defeat me now, I am the chamber". As the inscription dissolved, Telenon hardened his face and narrowed his eyes. In them she could see the unwavering resolve of the king that had ruled the Matryoshka Realms of the Bacteraie Elementum for ages beyond her number, "We'll see about that, I always get what I want". Bringing forth dual mirror swords from the shards of a mirror, she charged, and they met in combat. Withdrawing after the first engagement, the swordsman lifted his sleeve, and removed a wrist-watch. Growing in size, it unhooked its metallic band and wrapped around Priya's neck like a prisoner's neck-collar. Temporal energy drained from her until angered she smashed the glass with her fist, and it drifted away. Extending out his right hand he dispelled a maelstrom-ray that met the metal of her armor and pushed her back. Telenon frowned, seeing the knight still alive, brushing off the flames. "Whatever" Priya replied, and pulled a length of DNA double helix from her hand. She held onto one of the ends of that rope as the rest began to unravel, the base pairs broke off and becoming homing missiles that jettisoned towards the Voice with their rocket thrusters. "Did you really want my mind? Come and get it!" she cried. Telenon defended against them with a barrier. They continued for a time. Priya came close enough to force-teleport through him, that teleportation through an object that causes it to explode as soon as she reappears on the other side. When her powers had been at their zenith during the alliance war she could do so through entire buildings or ships. Yet simultaneously he did the same, and they appeared again, reversing positions. As both materialized the individual detonation from the force-teleport engulfed both of them. "Did you think you were the only one that could do that?" he taunted. Summoning a gumball machine, he smashed its glass bowl, causing the balls to scatter. Forming a first with his hand, the gumballs became like idea-stars that drifted over to the scientist, exploding as supernovae. Waiting, the Voice was disappointed to see the woman unscathed, protected by the anechoic armor that had resumed its original shape as the chamber and its occupant within. Promptly it melted back into the medieval armor, and she charged him again. The sharpness of her blade raised incredibly by channeling it with mirror lighting, allowing her to tear through his weapon. Thrown back, he could see her come at him from the high ground. Pointing to the space below him she summoned a wall of anechoic chamber and fashioned a reflection vertex in her fist, striking him, propelling him into the barrier. As his body met with it, he disintegrated into sound. Telenon returned to form and brushed himself off, then defended against "HELLO" word missiles that sought him out. Realizing the enemy was distracted she tried to touch him with bolts of mirror lightning, but he evaded. After he finished the missiles, he directed another maelstrom ray at Echo, who was faster and teleported away from the attack. To refresh, Priya summoned a window from a house and twisted it, letting the liquid pour onto her face as a boxer does with a towel. Casting another spell, the Voice made a host of eyes open up in the air. They spun and turned into frisbees that flew after the scientist. Like him she had to erect an energy barrier against them. Crushing through the shield with a blow of his fist, he tried to strike, but she was faster. "Huh … what are those cracks" Echo thought as textural wounds radiated across his arm from the spot where he hit. Quickly it became obvious the Telenon was a replacement, as its face became clay, and it turned back into a Matryoshka Doll. Witnessing the folly, the scientist tried to escape, but from above and below two pieces of an enormous Matryoshka Doll came together. Darkness ensued as they met, sealing the prey within. Outside, more and more segments met, creating more layers. Isolated in nothingness. Telenon laughed at his easy trap. A minute later, the head of the antique burst open in a storm of mirror lighting. Priya hovered above, gasping and joyous with her escape. "There is no realm you can lock me in that I won't get out of, sir. This is your last chance, release the RODI and I will let you live" she called out. Telenon dissented saying, "Everything is going my way, Echo. My room is messy, and I'm never going to clean it up". Near his shoulder a bowling ball showed its three holes from which three fingers stuck out. The scientist watched as the three holes slid along the surface of the ball until they had combined, causing the fingers to merge as well into one finger that retreated back into the hole. Then from it came out a new weapon, a two-headed spear. They fought for a time after that, her dual blades against his. Entering into the elemental essence of her mirror lighting, she rammed against him, disregarding flame, and sent him back. "Now you know what it's like! There are no contradictions, only marvels!" he cried, then held the double-sided spear horizontally so that it shortened its length and a line of holes appeared on its surface. He pressed his mouth onto the flute and played a brief melody, then lifted his head. "Transcendental Cornucopia" the player chanted, bringing forth a realm of the night sky full of dots. As the magic of the flute sank in, the color scheme inverted, causing the night to become pure white and the stars to become pure black. Telenon called to the black dots and they formed a constellation of a man into which he was accepted. Priya gasped, feeling his evolution surge. "Stay right there, Priya, let me come to you" he growled. Preserving energy, the medieval armor had subsided, liberating most of her body. Grunting, she realized the Voice had caught her from behind, wrapping strong arms around in a wrestler's hold. Tightening the lock, he tried to subdue the knight. Between the spaces of their contact he noticed hot steam escaping. "Ah!" Telenon cried, as her brown skin had temporarily turned to boiling hot coffee. With the grip released, she fell back till clear of him. When he launched another maelstrom ray of far greater magnitude, Priya caused one of the mirrors to reflect a blue sky with clouds, and drew out one of them, fashioning it into an umbrella to ward off the chaos of the bombardment. After it was done, she threw it away, torn and flaming. Unimpressed, the Voice easily rallied molecules that appeared from the microscopic. Their atoms broke off, growing into dandelion flower heads that scattered florets like confusing snowfall. Waving his hand, he collected all of them into a single skull. From its mouth it fired atoms that likewise turned to dandelion heads as they approached Echo. Smashing against a barrier she erected, the florets scattered, spreading chaos. Mad thoughts creeped within … until repelling it a flood of raw certainty rushed through her. "Easy to deal with!" she cried, manipulating mirror lighting, twisting it against the enemy's attacks until slicing through the skull, crumbling it back into florets. At the moment she flung arcs of lighting and he was mere inches away, Telenon dispelled a burst from his entire body, throwing his opponent. Wiping blood from the side of her mouth she looked up again and saw him charge. With the energy of the dream reflection she blinked into her hands the energy-construct of a galaxy, then from a pocket in her lab-coat Priya took out a bendy straw, letting the end of it sink into the middle of the vortex. Just as a person blows into the straw of his drink to make bubbles froth, she blew as hard as she could. Galactic bubbles danced on the surface of the spiral. Grabbing individual ones, they hardened into her hands as energy spheres which she lobbed at the Voice as he made his way towards her, slowing him down. Switching back into black constellation form, a bright dot emerged glowing inside his chest. It rose up the chamber of his head. Spitting it out the white star was hurled towards her. Acting fast she revolved the galaxy and hid behind it, cancelling the attack in a spectacular explosion. In human form once again, he closed the distance, focusing maelstrom energy in a fist to deal the final death-blow. That arm revealed the black constellation as the dots glittered with inexhaustible anarchy. Priya felt the weight of it in her cheek. For a moment they both stood apart. His chest heaved in exhaustion, waiting for her to crumble. Turning to see the side that had met the blow, the flesh of it had taken the texture of the anechoic chamber. In awe to meet … after eons … another, he observed the maelstrom energy decompose into sound that drifted away harmlessly, and the skin of her face return to its ordinary texture. "I told you already who I am. Why didn't you listen?" she smiled, spitting out blood. Telenon fell back and thought to himself, "She leaves me no choice". "Do not lie to me. Dramatic may have chosen you and loaned you his power, but you are not a Voice of Reason with true force over the cosmos" he admonished. Like a gameboard the city of unfurled itself below them. Weaving inscriptions of pristine magic he called the iteration of the cosmic tree to flourish until it separated them with a wide, awesome canopy. Before the tree responded to another purpose she let go, and closed her eyes. All the history of the realm flashed before her eyes in memory. Accepting the metamorphosis, she once again became echoes, a current of sound that swam towards the tree, then through it. Wind flowed through the canopy. Beautiful was the rustling of leaves, then rushed towards the Voice of Reason, and through him, a force inter-trans-manifestation. "Hopscotch!" Telenon cried as the explosion ripped through him. Everything cleared, and Priya turned, seeing him fall on his side. Breaking off from its peers a leaf of the cosmic tree levitated over to her. As it came closer it lay onto her chest, accepting it through the barrier of skin. Then above her head the word "RODI" shone with exquisite clarity. Dividing it, she scattered the four letters to the corners of the realm, depleted of essence. Priya Echo lifted her hands to the sky above the tree and shouted "RETURN!". Rusting away her body, all that was left now was the spirit body, and the universe accepted her as the MIND of the IMAGINATION, the focal element. It rushed in … contained. Sensing the change, the Bacteriae Elementum sounded out in delight. Pouring down like rain, the memories of her life fell upon her face, and she recalled without pain the face of her father, "Dad, I love you, and I am ready to let go of my grief now … goodbye". Consciousness resumed. Almost a rumor in the total noise of everything she could hear Telenon, and turned back to see his lips move. "The Aether is Her" he whispered, perishing. Hearing everything, she knew how his heart beat in that last moment, and how in the seconds before sought out another, forgetting the desire to be alone. Quickly her flesh returned, the Rikiral DNA awakening within. Replacing black, the irises of her eyes became purple, and her hair dyed itself the same color. Ribbon-like projections like ornaments grew from her shoulder and head. Priya Echo matured, a Human-Rikiral hybrid. "This clarity is … nice. I'll teach them all of it. And him … there is a finger missing from a bowling ball that bit his hand. It must be somewhere, but I can't sense where it could have gone. No matter, he'll be back … one day. They'll be ready" she thought.