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Chapter twenty-one: Breaking the seal! The true form of the Arcanum Arcanorum is revealed.

Kurotama stood in the very presence of Avalon's heart. The dimensional nexus was a massive confluence of leylines, all twisting about a single point in space.

It was a piece of the world that had been separated from the whole.

Looking into it was akin to staring into a dark mirror. It reflected everything and nothing. But within its depths, untold power slept; it was merely awaiting the touch of the one who would dare to awaken it.

The founders of Veil had constructed a device in order to house it, a cage to contain the slumbering behemoths awesome power. It was. In short.

A world engine.

More than a dozen Mobius rings drifted in silent tandem. Moving through complex patterns that would drive many to the brink of insanity if they looked upon it to long.

It both existed and could not exist. Its very being in this world was a paradox that defied reality. Realizing this, magic had been used to push it out of phase with the world, it occupied several layers of space, existing simultaneously in multiple points in time.

That was why, when Shiro and his companions arrived, they saw not one Kurotama but several.

"Welcome to the end." Kurotama said from above them. "You must feel honored, privileged even, to be witness to such a momentous occasion." Another took up where the first had left off. "If only we had more time, perhaps I could have showed you some of what this wondrous device is truly capable of."

"Shiro?" Koji whispered into his ear.

"Yeah, I know." Only one of them was the real Kurotama, the problem was. Which one?

Kurotama stood triumphant. It was coming. The moment when all the rings would align. The worlds separated from time would join with this one. He had but to grasp the endless power that lay at his fingertips.

A piercing ray of light struck the heart of the nexus.

Shiro had opted to strike at the only target that really mattered.

Kurotama turned on him in a rage. "You fool! Destroy the engine and Avalon will fall from the sky. It will kill us all!"

Shiro didn't care. "Seven heavenly sisters, become the archers of salvation. Pierce the darkness." He directed his attack to strike where it would do the most damage. "And let arrows of divine light, shine forth from my hand!"

Seven arrows of light struck the seven Kurotama's. Only one found its mark. The others shattered the mobius rings.

The engine groaned like a dying beast as it slipped free from its moorings.

"No!" Kurotama sought to hold it together with the power of his will alone. "I have come this far. I will not be denied!" Reaching out with his power he held it fast.

Only one ring remained intact. But it was enough. The shattered fragments were even now being sucked into the heart of the nexus. Where they would be scattered across the world, across even time itself.

With only one ring to keep it aloft Avalon would begin its descent from the sky. But still it was enough.

The endless power that had lifted an island into the sky filled the room. Grasping that power, he began bending it to his will. Let the fools try and stop him if they dared.

Shiro too reached out to that power. He alone would bear responsibility for the destruction of the mobius rings. An engine could be rebuilt, Avalon Island once more sent aloft. But he would not let innocents die.

Summoning the wind he pushed the island towards the ocean. Where it would settle upon the seas, becoming a true island once more.

Kurotama mocked him as he did so. "You waste your time brother! You could have struck me down. Instead you chose to save a legion of fools. Mark well your error. For you have no idea the power this book holds." Kurotama held the Arcanum Arcanorum open before him. "It is a door. A door that leads to a world that transcends mere existence." He stood before the sealed path with both keys in hand, the power to create and the power to destroy. Destiny could deny him nothing. "Arcanum Arcanorum. Hear the voice of your master and obey!" The book trembled in his hands, it was almost as if it was alive, and sought to resist him with the strength born of desperation.

Kurotama silenced it with a thought, and began intoning the words which would open the door. "Peto occultus silentium, patefacio ianua of scientia, sulum vicissim quod, via vadum videor pro vos."

Shiro echoed Kurotama's words even as he sought to slow Avalon's fall. "Seek the hidden stillness, open the doors of knowledge each in turn, and the way shall appear before you."

Kurotama disappeared into a pillar of light. All traces of him, both spiritual and magical, vanished from the world.

All that remained to mark his passage, was the book.

* * *

Shiro picked it up tentatively. It lay open where it had fallen. But what surprised him more than anything else, wasn't the fact that there were now words etched upon its pages. Oh no. What disturbed him more was that it told a story. But not just any story. _His story.

Shiro picked up the book. And felt surprise as realization dawned upon him. For the Arcanum Arcanorum held not just a record of his life, but all life. It was a measure of the past, beginning from time immemorial. For written upon its very pages was not some dark and frightening power long since sealed away, but merely a glimpse of time as it happened.

He snapped the book closed._

Shiro snapped the book shut. The words had crawled across the page, shifting and forming even as he read them. It was a wholly unnerving experience. To think that someone could pick up a book and be privy to my innermost thoughts, my secret feelings and desires. Worse, that they could do so as a form of entertainment!

Curiosity warred with suspicion and fear. If I open the book again, what would will it tell me? Is it only the past and present that is written upon its pages? Or does it show the future as well?

Shiro flipped ahead a few pages. They were blank. Blessedly, frighteningly blank.

Kurotama was right. None of us could ever begin to comprehend the power of this book. It reveals everything. Who and what we are, no secret . . .

No sooner had he thought about Kurotama than words began to flow across the page.

_Having opened the sealed door Kurotama felt a surge of triumph. The Memenos in Votum had been a flawed creation, a shallow copy. But now, he stood within the Akashic Records themselves.

Here was everything he had ever sought. The power to shape worlds, to create life anew. To rewrite history as he saw fit.

Destiny itself would bow to him as its master._

Shiro closed the book. His course was clear. He turned to his friends and said. "We have to follow him."

"I'm with you." Without needing words Koji placed his hand atop Shiro's.

"Don't think your leaving me behind." Rosalyn added hers.

"Where my mistress goes I go." Leon's hand covered the others.

Shiro felt the gentle touch of the woman he had come to love. "Nelo?"

"I'm coming along too. This time. I'm making sure you're coming back with me."

"Nelo." In that moment Shiro understood, they were all connected by something that was stronger than words. That no matter what happened, they were committed, not one of them would waver in the coming battle. "Thank you."

They spoke as one. "Peto occultus silentium, patefacio ianua of scientia, sulum vicissim quod, via vadum videor pro vos."

And the world vanished into nothing.

* * *

_This may be the last entry I will ever write in this journal. And it has served me in good stead. I do not know what lies beyond this moment. Only that the future has yet to be decided.

If the world should fall into eternal shadows, than whatever words I write here will matter little. For there will be no one left to read them.

So I will say this.

We exist. And with every breath we take, every moment we live, choice is eternal._

It unfolds before us like a flower, its petals the multitudes of possibilities that make up our lives.

We are fighting for that very thing. Not some unseen tomorrow, not for some distant moment. And certainly not for the illusion that happiness can be won with the point of a sword.

We are fighting for the simple right to choose.

It is intangible, unknowable, the very forces that guide our lives change us as much as we change them.

Bur one thing is certain.

We are the masters of our own destinies. And no one can shape them but us.