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A laughter filled the room, suddenly. A cold, disembodied laugh.

Of a familiar voice.

"You are all fools," the Code said lowly, voice a mere whisper amongst their voices.

But it was heard—in a strange, echoing way. The room seemed to chill, and the dark spots on this piece of the Code bubbled and twisted, like the haze of Chaos was trying to choke out what life was left of it.

"You understand so very little. Do you truly think it will take hand holding and well wishes to purge one thousand years of Chaos?"

There was a strange tone in the way the Code spoke, and while it shared the same voice as the piece on Olympus, on all their wonders, this one sounded darker. This one sounded like it was hurting. But it also sounded vengeful, and twisted.

Angry.

"No."

The Code had no eyes, and yet it seemed like the orb was peering into the souls of each and every Knight there.

It repeated, after a silent moment, "No. And you are too ignorant, too naïve to see what the solution is. You will waste your energy and destroy what is left of mine. And you have all failed me. You sacrificed me to save yourselves."

Celsus Knight of Chronos


He opened his mouth to answer Falias, Celsus turning to look at him - but before the words could make it out of his throat they were cut horribly, shakingly short.

The laughter made his nerves fray further, made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Celsus felt a horrible twisting sensation in the pit of his stomach, stumbling back a little as Paris knocked into him, his good hand rising to automatically clasp his shoulder. Beside him, Emrys' head snapped around, his brother looking frightened, staff clutched in his gloved fingers.

He'd heard the voice, of course. It had spoken to him at his own Wonder, reminded him of just how inadequate he was; and in spite of his constant attempts at remembering that it had been warped by Chaos, it was not so easy to forget the harsh, mocking tone.

You were a mistake.

"It's all right," said Celsus quietly to Paris now. He gave his shoulder a squeeze of reassurance. "It's not you, it's..."

He cast a glance at Chris, feeling a mixture of relief at his presence, as well as concern for his civilian identity and the churning guilt and shame of their last meeting, barring the Negaspace encounter (which hardly counted).

Celsus dragged his eyes away, focused on the frightened page in front of him.

"Hang in there," he murmured, and felt Emrys' presence like a balm to his heart.

A thousand years of Chaos.

"Well," said Celsus, after a moment, trying to keep his head level, though his voice shook, just a little, betraying the same self loathing he'd felt for weeks, months, that he was trying desperately to keep at bay. "We certainly have a mouthy Code."

Slievenamon, Squire of Neptune

At last, their rescued friend spoke, and immediately, Slievenamon felt her hackles stiffen ramrod straight. She clutched at her chest reflexively as if the rhomboidal crystal within was being carefully observed under a microscope. She suddenly felt intruded upon. Was this the power of Chaos? Or just the influence of the Code on the knights present? Either way, it intrigued her.

Still, its words stung. Too ignorant, too naive, failed. All words her father had pigeonholed when she would never follow his demands. Slievenamon swallowed thickly to keep her bearings in check.

Glancing at Hy-Brasil come her inquiry, she then followed after her with her own, "Do you... mean the Academy? When it fell? Or is what you talk of something that goes back years? Before any of us... When the Academy belonged to the knights of the past?"

Babylon Knight of Mercury

Babylon considered the Code for a long moment, as if trying to tease the solution to the riddle out of its swirling form. He recognized it might be a trick, some sort of Chaos-fueled self-destructive bent - but what if the solution really was in front of them, only they refused to see it?

"What if we destroy it?" he suggested, glancing towards Hvergelmir in search of... some kind of reaction. "Before the Chaos can taint the other pieces. Cut off the foot to save the leg, sort of."

"We can at least let Camelot try!" It was the first time he had raised his voice this meeting, and he felt guilty and a bit cathartic at the same time, though he tried to catch himself before adding. "Unless someone knows what actually happened at the Academy, I wouldn't buy what it's selling either. It's Chaotic right now, and that thing squating down there in the dark will tell you whatever it thinks you need to hear to... to prey on your pain and anger.The broken and the angry make the best agents, because it's that much easier to justify yourself."

His fists clenched for a moment, and he forced them to unclench, because it wasn't people standing here, it was himself, that he wanted to lash out at.

"If we can't purify it, then we can risk destroying it, but we don't know what will happen then either!"

What if it wanted them to destroy it? That was how it worked in a way wasn't it? Order was the builder, Chaos was the destroyer, ripping at the far seams of things and fraying them apart, ideally at the same speed at which they were built. Balance...

Babylon Knight of Mercury

Babylon shrugged. He wasn't mad - just putting ideas out there. "I mean, yeah," he said. "By all means. Let's try Camelot's thing. But let's not be overly sentimental here."

He raised his eyebrows at Kairatos. "You went into the rift, same as I. Do you see anywhere in that place rising up out of the ground any time soon? The Academy was lost to us long ago. The best we can hope for is finding a new home for this piece of Code - not restoring it to its former one."

Gevaudan knight of Ganymeade

He rubbed his temple a moment before looking across at the knight.

"That was not the Rift. No one on this side has access to the Rift. The Youma were called out of the Rift to protect the castle and stop us. The only access point to the Rift is a narrow tunnel with safeguards. So please don't call the outside of the castle the Rift." He clarified.

"I'm with Hvergelmir on this. Destroying a part of the knighthood right off the bat says you hold a zero tolerance for Chaos even if at its core it's on your side. I take a personal offense."

"I'd rather we try saving it than writing it off as bad by default because Chaos has been pumped into it for years. Maybe we should treat it as if it was a corrupted agent. It seems... Living and talkative."

"The Negaverse didn't destroy it. That should be some indication that even they see it worth saving and protecting. If it was fighting chaos off for this long, shouldn't we continue with this rescue than just getting it out of there and getting it out of the situation it is in. People did almost die to get it. If we wanted it destroyed w could have just left it. Would have made this entire rescue kind of pointless. We can be skeptical all we want but we don't learn anything if we don't try."

Do we need to vote in this?