Ranryu

Wynn didn't move. She didn't appear to be hurt, just deeply asleep. A loud roaring noise came from a strange wormhole that suddenly appeared a few feet away from Wynn. A sleek black duel runner carrying two people skidded to a stop. "Look Lyna, we found her! And a dead guy. What happened here?"

Better life my foot. If this is my best, I'd hate to see my worst. Wynn paled and started sweating, sitting down suddenly. On second thought, maybe the star can wait. My body can't handle all the energy I've been expending recently. I'll just take a little rest... Within seconds, Wynn was asleep.

I absorbed all the energy. Aos Si energy baths can be made two ways, and there's no safe way to harvest aether with out a major detour. There should be a few neutron stars within a five minute ride of the End of Time. My disk can scan for them pretty easily.

Says you, who almost sacrificed yourself so TAAron's soul could be healed. You know any good neutron stars nearby? Underworld portals really drain me, and it seems foolish to take on Malum with anything less than full power.

No! I don't want to face him... don't want to see his face. I failed him. I can't face that. Besides, the portal is closed on this side now.

An accident... perhaps. I didn't just kill him, I told him he would be fine before hand. Thank you for the forgiveness, but the only forgiveness that really matters to me would come from TAAron. Wynn looked at the body. And he's dead. Thanks to me.

Where I come from, murderers are given no quarter. And I'm a murderer now. Death is a fitting punishment.

Fight Malum. Stab him with you. If I die, no big loss. If he dies, everyone wins.

I... I just assumed that you wouldn't want to go through with my plan. The others are in the Underworld for now, which isn't ideal, but it keeps them safe from Malum. I want to go get him now, before they get back. I'm not losing anyone else. Wynn didn't say the other things she was thinking. Maybe she was crazy, but it gave her a spark of hope. All we need to do is make Malum come to us.

Great. And I don't have the skill to do it by hand. So I can't use it as a weapon. Surely it has some kind of use! Wynn looked at TAAron's body. I... I should probably bury him or something. So the space daemons don't eat him. There was too much guilt to keep it contained. Wynn silently started crying.

A piece of... we could totally do something with this. There's no way... How resistant to outside magic is it? Say, if I wanted to shape it into some sort of weapon, would that work?

Christmas. There are toys everywhere. Hooray.

Ugh, you're right. Wynn said, looking at the stats her disk was sending about the crystal. If we got really close, like within less than a mile, I could scan for it's molecular structure, but that's not really helpful. Maybe I can do something with this little chunk... What makes it glow?

It's our best bet for stopping Malum. Wynn took the chunk of crystal and put it in her duel disk. If there's any more crystal out there, I should be able to scan for it.

How destroyed is your world? Like, is it completely vaporized, or just broken into pieces that are floating around somewhere?

Any Stacis, or you specifically?

Wynn shoved her stupid emotions down and picked up the chunk of crystal. Why is Malum weak to you, Tors?

Where could I get some of that static crystal stuff?

Wynn stopped moving, but only for a second. She had tried the human way, getting TAAron back. It hadn't worked. That punk Death, calling her a child. She could remember a time before him. But now, to the main task. Hopefully the Underworld adventure would keep the others occupied and out of real danger. Tors, are you there?

Wynn chuckled. "Well this is convenient." She whispered to the mist. It didn't stop pulling her away, but a little tendril of it snaked back into the castle, returning slightly larger than it had been before. "See ya, Death." Wynn said as she was pulled into the portal, grabbing the tendril of mist at the last second.

Wynn squinted. "Hmmm, have you been promoted since last we met. I'm pretty sure your name is Death, not Afterlife. You have no right to go around destroying spirits. That actually makes me want to get TAAron away from you more, not less. Would you call that mist out there happy?" Wynn gestured. "Hey mist! Do something, anything, to indicate if you're happy or not!" The mist didn't respond. "See. It's no wonder I find necromancy so easy in this region of the multiverse. Your dead are literally dying of boredom."

Wynn sighed. Fighting Death himself was not what she wanted to be doing. "Sad thing is, you thought I wouldn't do whatever it takes to get him back, You think you're so important? There are other underworlds, other caretakers of the dead. From what I've seen, you don't even deserve to be called Lord of the Underworld. Your spirits are out there floating around aimlessly. No reincarnation, no activities, not even any torture pits! Now get out of my way and let me get TAAron back, or else I'll blast your precious Underworld to bits!"

@Ookla the BlowUpperOfStuff, @UnfortunatelyNamed, @That1Cellist, @Ookla the Inverted, here's one for you.

"Annoy him. Ruin his filing system or something. He can't hurt you- that's not his job. If he catches me stealing, he might kick me out of the Underworld for good, but that's the worst he can do. Just distract him for as long as possible then make a run for the portal. I'll try to get out with TAAron before then."

They walked until they were outside the castle gates. "Okay, here's the deal." Wynn said in a low voice. "You guys distract Death while I go find TAAron. Got it?"