"Who's making that noise?" growls a spiky headed demon, leering out through a small metal grilled hatch in the Castle of Chaos' collossal front door.
Victor points up at the thirty foot high Sinsifel banging on the door and gives his most innocent shoulder shrug.
"It's a fucking huge girl!" one of the gate guards shouts. "Open it up!"
As the gigantic living doors swing open, a powerful and overpowering odour rushes out to greet them. The doors look alive and peel back like folds of rippling flesh - with flexing muscle, sinew and accompanying squelches.

As Sin and her family walk into the Castle's immense and distorted entrance hall, Victor catches a glimpse of a giant creature up in the rafters with huge bats roosting around it. He spots a single eye looking down at them for a moment before blinking shut and retreating into the darkness.

Something about the Castle confounds and plays tricks with the senses. Though Victor and the others cannot quite place it, the dimensions around them don't quite fit; there is an uneasiness about the details, from the patterns in the flagstones beneath their feet to the accoutrements hanging on the walls. It is the angles, the irregular and seemingly random sizes of paintings and tapestries; their width, height and thickness. Everything defies conformity, but in an ever so slight way, so that when you merely glance at it, it "seems" normal, but sends twinges of doubt spinning around the edge of your eyeballs.

Then of course, aside from the strange dimensions and the essence of Chaos that cannot quite be seen, there are the obvious oddities; doors on the walls, both upside down and sideways on with scurrying lizards moving over the walls and ceiling licking it clean with long flicking tongues.

Beyond the entrance hall, they see a corridor and a long way off down this corridor, they see an immense stick legged figure; it must be at least fifty feet high and it is striding along the ceiling. As Victor stands beside Valris, quite taken by his surroundings, spray from Sin's booming voice hits him in the face, giving him an unexpected shower. Valris hands him a hanky. "Wow!" says Sin.

Sin heads over and stands centre of room. looking down at something. "Hey, have you seen this? It's a teeny bell."
Sure enough, a tiny minute silver bell sits exactly in the centre of the gargantuan entrance hall. Victor examines it before picking it up - It has writing on the side that he interprets as "Ring bell for attention."

As Victor rings the bell, the entire hall shudders. The tiny bell lets out a deafening toll that forces even Victor and Valris to briefly cover their ears. Tall man. 6'5" Lean, bony. Caucasian appearance. Mid 30's. Brown beard. Ginger hair, frizzy. Afro. Sparkly clothing. Retro disco. John Travolta style. This is the Herald of Discord - Sark'Emore' Thelps - A being of a thousand faces and voices. The Herald speaks in an energetic but condescending voice - "You certainly appear to be one of Kutal's brood. However, those two (gestures at Tolen and Tanni) must leave. They cannot pass beyond this point."
"No, that's unacceptable. They're protected by me", says Sin.
Tolen volunteers to stay. "We don't appear to be in any immediate danger here."
"Those who gain an audience with a Lord are forever changed by the experience..." says Thelps, smiling wickedly.
"I'M NOT LEAVING TANNI!" booms Sin.
Thelps is dismissed. He disappears back through a pustule in the wall.
"It's like playing poker..." says Sin. "Never except the first offer."
"There's probably little beings living on the walls over there. The saying Walls have ears is probably true in this place," says Victor, when Sin speaks a bit too loudly.
Tanni crouches down and starts apologizing to the floor, just in case she's been treading on things.
Thelps returns, but this time wearing a decidedly demonic face. "Who are you and what do you want?" the demon Thelps crackles.
Sin groans with boredom and frustration moving towards Thelps and brushing her hand back through her hair.
The one eyed creature in the rafters moves, causing the whole chamber to shudder. "If we stay here, we're going to get eaten," warns Valris. The titanic sized creature above them doesn't seem to be liking the noise.
Sin grabs Thelps by the head with her thumb and forefinger. "I took Chaos studies remember," says Sin, as if that explains her actions to her parents. "Listen up little demon man, we're here to see Kutal, so point the way and then scuttle off!"
"Do you know who I am?" says Thelps, wide eyed at being man-handled by such a youth. Thelps has served the Lords of Chaos for thousands and thousands of years. He isn't used to being threatened, poked, prodded, groped or ignored. As a Minor Lord in his own right, he earned the position of Gate Master.
"I don't care who you are. We want to see Kutal." She flicks him away and he hurries off.
A few moments later, Thelps returns again wearing the face of a little girl with pigtails "You're no fun to play with...." Thelps then blows a raspberry and runs away.
"Oh well," says Sin. "I guess we go it alone then. I say we take the corridor; it's the obvious choice and these warts on the walls don't look too kind on the clothes."

Tanni accidentally slips down Sin's top, landing on a nice pair of cushions, causing Victor to squirm.
Victor swings tarzan style on Sin's hair, across to the other shoulder to join Valris.
"Don't worry my love," Victor reassures. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Valris gives her husband a long and level stare... considering his track record, Valris could speculate for days.

Merry go Round... 8 Horses on it, of various sizes and colours. Strongman, hammer and bell contest, Throw coconuts at Knight's helmets to knock them off... Bumper cars type ride consisting of wooden vehicles on ice.
House the Terror. Candy, food. Fire eater. Darts games.
"Step right up, step right up - knock 3 helmets off and you win a special prize!" says one of the fairground folk.

Everywhere Victor and the others look, people are wandering around winning prizes. It almost seems impossible to lose anything - other than time and energy. Perhaps that is the nature of T'Tasin's fairground... perpetual entertainment.

Baron T'tasin's fairground of wonder. Sin finds it easy to relax and enjoy her surroundings, but the others are far from comfortable. Victor expects a demon to leap out any second and start attacking them.
Sin tries a mega hot mustard and chilli hot dog from a vendor. Her mouth literally catches fire. Then the litter bin goes up in an explosion after Sin throws the hot dog away. "Ouch, that was hot hot hot!" she gasps, fanning her mouth with both hands.

"You have been tainted by Chaos..." says Victor to Tanni, in a deep and malevolent voice.
Tanni laughs nervously and looks away, thinking to herself - "Yep, I sure have. I'm turning into my what my family hates."

The group approach a large ferris wheel (shaped like a Wheel of Chaos of course).  Victor rides alone. Then after he comes back, Tanni and Sin go up together.

In the distance he sees a large bouncy castle and a giant demon head with mine carts going into it. It's all the fun of the fair, with a spritz of Chaos for good measure.

They pass a "Helter-skelter" tower. Sin climbs up and slides down, getting quite dizzy.
Larking around, Sin puts a candy floss beard on Tanni and a moustache on herself. She tries to put some on her mother too but Valris is just too agile. "Keep those sticky mitts away from me young lady," Valris warns - unwilling to have Chaotic stickyness plastered over her face.

Madame Zuga, a fortune teller, causes Valris and Victor some consternation. Sin is eager to go in and give the woman a try. But as soon as she enters, she seems to disappear from existence. Valris and Victor's hearing and other senses fail to pick her up or correctly penetrate the tent. When Tanni calls to her though, a distant voice calls back... "I'll be out in a minute..."
Sin and Vic get given small toy windmills from a frightened little gentleman that Valris snarls at and bares her teeth.
Sin then manages to get free gazoos for everyone and tries leading the group in an impromptu orchestral piece. Victor blows on his gazoo so strongly that it flies out like a missile and embeds itself in a wooden post.

Next up on their tour of the fun fair is the Hall of Mirrors. Inside, as one might expect from a Chaos fun fair, weirdness abounds. Once again, Sin leads the way, taking hold of Tanni's hand and dragging the girl in behind her. Valris and Victor decide to give this one a miss and stay outside with Tolen. "This isn't what I expected of the Castle of Chaos," admits Valris.
"Well, that's Chaos for you," says Tolen. "It can be anything... and it frequently is."
"Who is this T'Tasin everyone is going on about?" asks Valris.
"The Chaos Lord of Childhoods, Toys and Playfulness. A mischievous Lord if my memory serves me."
Victor recalls his Celesteen Chaos studies; Yes, T'Tasin was described as a noxious spoilt child who always got his way and liked to throw tantrums. "Great..." he mutters.

Inside, strange things appear in the mirrors; Sin sees herself larger, smaller, fatter, thinner, with a big head, big chest, as a man, as a lizard woman, a cat, a dog, a strange centaur like woman and then as a mass of quivering jelly with her face on top. As each image appears, Sin laughs and calls across to Tanni - "Take a look at me in this one. I've got spikes on the top of my head. That is so cool!"
Tanni has been seeing herself too; as a male warrior, a female, another female, a male again... "Sin... why am I not changing like yours?"
"Beats me," says Sin. "Look, I've got 6 arms in this one. Come over here and take a gander."
Tanni joins her and takes a look. Sin does indeed have 6 arms. But Tanni is reflected in the mirror too and this time Tanni sees herself as someone completely different and strange. "Why do you look sort of the same, but I look like someone else?"
"No idea," Sin laughs, waving her multiple arms around and then enveloping Tanni's reflection in them like a giant giggling octopus. "Maybe it's because you're happy being you."
"And you're not?" Tanni peels Sin off and looks at her seriously.
"I love being me," says Sin, grinning. "Come on, let's go because mum and dad start eating people."

After munching on some proper pop corn... that literally goes "pop" when you eat it in your mouth, the group start winning prizes. As there doesn't seem to be a proper way out, everyone agrees that they should play the games for a bit and see what they win. Maybe freedom is a prize.

3 cards flipped. Victor ends up as the King of the Fair.
Valris misses one of the targets at the arrow shoot.
Huge Teddy bear for Tolen. The Chaos Teddy as Victor nicknames it. Victor misses one shot too.
Tolen has now won, a rag doll that Sin calls Mercy. Valris has won a woolly hat of rainbow colours. She looks quite hippy-like in it. Tanni has won as big long multicoloured scarf (Tom Baker style, hanging down to her feet).
Sin - wins a fish in a bag... Special prize for Victor - Bird Totem. Second prize, Mysterious box...  or chit.
Trophy, Engraved set of porcelain plates. Tanni then wins at dunking for apples.
Much closer 2nd game... Valris wins again.... Jewellery box. Gold necklace with a tiny ferris wheel piece of gold at the end....

Of course Tanni refuses to wear it.
Special prize for dodging logs and crossing bridge. "You have choice of two special prizes... You can have this very patriotic flag that changes colours, all you have to do is get it wet and screw it up, it changes, 2nd prize is this beautiful ivory flute. It is said, that if the right person plays it, it can charm the very socks off of any child." Takes the flute as he loves playing musical instruments. Plus its small and easily carried.

Eventually they come across a tent at the edge of the fairground. It has a sign outside saying... yes, wait for it... "Exit." Inside another sign reads "Feel free to trade in any special gifts you have for the single gift that resides in this box. Just leave your gifts on the table and carry the unopened box with you. We hope your stay in the Celestial Fairground has been enjoyable. The Staff."

On the otherside of the tent is a piece of lawn, hemmed in by high bushes on either side. The law goes up towards some stone steps and the back of a large big white washed house.

Sin exchanges her chit for the black box and walks out the other side, her family in tow.

There is a bouncy castle, tables and tables full of ice-cream, candy, floss, sweets, fruit made out of liquorice. Eight of the children nearby are in a circle chanting a strange nursery rhyme ; "Leap a leap a Red reaper, gonna get ya pull its with its creeper, stuff of mares and ugly stares, Leap a leapa, pull out ya peepers."

This is T'Tasin's birthday party and he doesn't allow adults to enter. When Victor, Valris, Tanni, Sin and Tolen walk in, T'Tasin throws a six year old wobbly and scrunches up his face in concentration. "No adults!" he screams, curling his hands into fists and planting them firmly on his hips. 

Unable to prevent what happens next as they are completely within T'Tasin's sphere of power, everyone except Sin finds themselves instantly transformed.
Victor is turned into a puppy. Valris is turned into a duck... Tolen a little piglet plus a cute bow tie and Tanni into a small kitten.

Chaos... pure chaos.

Mad kids party.
Sin has given T'Tasin a ball that changes colour every time it bounces.

"What an audition.... !" declares Victor.

On the merry go round.

"Whee !" goes Victor. Victor gets a plastic sword and buckler. And a big plastic knife.
Panpipes for Tolen.

"Why did the hedgehog cross he road. To see hit flat mate," says Victor, trying to entertain T'Tasin's young guests. Instead of laughter though, he gets a few wimpers and tears. Kids just don't like imagining flat hedgehogs.

T'Tasin thinks that Valris is braver than Victor and more suited to being the warrior, so he decides to switch their roles. Valris suddenly has the plastic breast plate and plastic sword while Victor, in a flash, finds himself stuck in a fluffed out pink dress with pink ribbons in his hair. Victor pouts and grinds his foot into the ground in irritation, but Valris cannot help herself and begins to laugh.

A second later and Victor is trapped at the top of a tree, his pink shoes flailing helplessly. Valris finds herself playing along with the young Chaos Lord. She calls up "Don't worry princess, I'll save you!"
T'Tasin snatches a stuffed cuddly snake from one of the children next to him, hisses at it and hurls it up into the tree. As it hits, it coils itself around a branch and seems to come to life (in a stuffed cuddly snake kind of way).
Victor delivers his best melodramatic mock scream and edges away from it. "Save me save me!" he cries as Valris struggles to clamber up in her new plastic armour. She eventually makes it level with the snake and gives it a mighty whack with her bendy sword, the applause of everyone below.

As for poor Tolen, he finds himself cocooned and hung from a tree with his pants around his ankles and shirt around his head. Other children gather around him and smack his bottom with sticks. One child calls up - "We don't like you. You're one of THEM."
"What do you mean, one of them?" Tolen whines like a little boy, unable to keep back tears.
"One of the boring people who send us to bed and make up rules."
"I'm not! I'm not Lawful!"
"Are too,"
"AM NOT!"

Meanwhile, Sin has been approached by a young girl calling herself Meagara. "You can call me Mea," the girl smiles, offering Sin on of her raindow coloured wheel of chaos lollipops. "So, who invited you? When did you move into the area?" Mea asks.
"We just heard all the laughter and sort of joined in. We haven't moved in just yet, but are considering it. Can you suggest somewhere nice... I'd like to live somewhere red," says Sin, giving the lolly a lick. For some strange reason, she feels energy sizzling on her tongue. It tickles.
"I can give you a tour of the neighborhood if you like. We'd have to leave the party before it ended though." Mea gives Sin a wink. "Oh I love your shoes by the way."
"Thanks," Sin beams. "We would love a tour."
"We? Oh you mean your friends..." Mea looks away, trying to hide her annoyance.
"Yeah. I'll go get them. We can all go together. That's ok isn't it?"
"I suppose," Mea shrugs. "They'll make a nice picture."

Meagara has whole worlds in her bedroom as pieces of furniture; a pot plant by her bed is in fact a tropical rain forest complete with over a thousand varieties of life. Among a wide collection of books (all containing living specimans, pressed flat upon the pages) is an artist's easel with charcoals and paints.

Meagara is an artist of the extraordinary; it's her hobby, her passion and she travels the Multiverse looking for unique subjects and scenes to capture. (She would get on well with Yainar and Marion in this regard, but probably end up sticking them in an ant farm-like tank and on display.)

"First of all Megaera, I'm going to change..." says Victor, finding himself suddenly very uncomfortable and exposed in his pretty pink princess dress; the damn thing has expanded from child size to man size along with him but still seems a bit too clingy.

"Hold on..." the Lady of Chaos says sternly - and Victor tenses, realizing suddenly that their benefactor has an agenda of her own. Things were just too good to be true.

"All is not as it appears to be...." says Megaera. "I helped you escape T'Tasin because I wanted you for myself. I want to capture you in ink."

Sin laughs, nervously. "That's good, we were worried you wanted to kill us."

"Why would you think that. Look around you my dear, do you see dead things?" Meagara gestures at her paintings.

Sin takes a good long look around, at the paintings on the walls. As she stares, she notices the paintings moving, as if the people and creatures in them are alive but animated in slow motion. The windows of the bedroom open to a painted landscape. The dome overhead in the centre of the ceiling shows a crayon drawn sky.
"This isn't what I expected the Castle of Chaos to be," says Tanni, echoing Valris' earlier comment.

Victor tries pulling the dress off over his head, but it remains stuck. Valris smiles and says he still looks cute. In response, Victor pulls a pout. But Valris' smirk disappears when she realizes she is still stuck in her armoured prince outfit too. "Oh crap."

Meagara moves across to her paints and brushes. Suddenly, with a wave of her hand, Victor, Valris, Tolen, Tanni and Sin find themselves somewhere else. The bedroom has vanished but instead they're standing actually inside a painting. The windows of the room seem to open back to reality. What is even more odd is that each of them appears sketched in charcoal, apart from Sin who is painted in lots of colour.

"What the hell," mutters Tolen, reaching up and checking his lines. "We look like drawings!"
Despite feeling the same, Victor knows he isn't. "We're in one of her drawings aren't we. We're trapped."
Valris reaches out to a chair and picks it up. "It feels real enough. But..."

It isn't long before Victor and Valris try calling Kutal - Kutal being their equivalent of 999 or 911 but nine times out of ten, he puts you on hold. Victor sheds some blood (as if a few drops of that are going to call the Lord of Blood), but surprize surprize, Kutal doesn't come.

Sin, appearing radiant and fantastically drawn, admires herself. "I love my look," she grins. "These colours really suit me. I could be hung in a museum or an art gallery."
"Typical of you to see the fun side in a dire predicament," groans Tanni.

With seemingly no way out, Sin sighs and agrees to try the Eye of Chaos; "We can always hope, can't we?" she beams.

"We thought we'd give you a pressie and have drawn us all for you..."

Sinsifel activates the Eye again and it goes against her. This time everything around Sin starts getting erased.

Sinsifel - "I nearly erased myself out of existence..."

4th activation of the Eye of Chaos.  Sin uses the Eye to travel to Kutal and succeeds. Everyone in the portal travels with her, leaving a fuming Megaera back in her room.

The group arrive outside of Kutal's gates (or what they hope to be - if the Eye of Chaos has been kind). The gates say "Zoo". Shortly after yanking on the bell rope, a man appears. This is Quan - Long black hair. Tall, 6'4" lean and thin faced with quite noble well cut features.

"Good day to you," says Quan eloquently. "How may I help?"
"We're looking for Kutal," says Victor.
Quan nods, solemnly, his eyes lingering for a moment on Sin. "Please come in, I will take you to the Master. You have come to the right place, though the one you seek is not entirely in residence."

With that cryptic message, Quan leads the way, giving Victor and Valris time to reflect on recent events.
"We've got all these powers and there is nothing we can do..." says Valris to Victor. "I feel utterly useless. I mean, I'm a first rate spell caster, aren't I? But what good is all that when you're in the playground of Gods?"

Approaching a huge manor house, the group enter through a solid blood red wooden door into a great entrance hall. A huge Grandfather's clock stands in the hall to the side of a sweeping grand staircase. Victor's eyes are immediately drawn to a slightly curved, single blade of a hand a half length, but with a two handed hilt. This is the Blood Sword Callisto, hanging on display at the top of the mansion stairs.

A few moments later, Kutal enters from a side room; at least, it looks like Kutal... but Victor's vampiric senses detect no trace of magic, Chaos or unnatural power. For all intents and purposes, this "Kutal" is human.

"Welcome, welcome," the Kutal says, smiling like a glass of warm cookies and milk. "What an unexpected and yet wholly expected surprize! I am Kudos; welcome to my Zoo."

"Where are all the animals?" Tanni mutters under her breath, forever sceptical of strangers - especially normal appearing ones.

Kudos smiles even more warmly at her. "Alas, they all escaped a long time ago, but I never give up hope that one day, a few of them may return. Now, come through to the living room. I have a nice fire going and some comfortable chairs. I'm anxious to hear about you and why you have travelled here."

After settling down among some embroidered cushions, Sin introduces herself and the others. "...So, I guess we're related then. But even though you look like him, you don't smell like my Grandfather."

"Indeed I do not, for I am not. He is a facet of me if you will, but apart from our looks, we are very different. The one thing that we share is a common belief; that there's nothing more important in this Multiverse than Blood and Family," says Kudos. "I've always believed that and I always will."

Victor enquires about the man, Quan, who led them to the manor but then mysteriously vanished without a sound.

"Quan is a gentle soul - he's been with me a very long time... He tends to the gardens and the maintenance of this building. He also protects me from those who would seek to do harm. Now, tell me more about yourselves. It's not often that I receive guests who are in some way related to me."

Sin excitedly describes recent events, Celesteen, Tharizden and Eternium. Occasionally Valris and Victor pipe in, fleshing out a few areas.
"Dad's got Dusk," blabs Sin. "It's a powerful weapon that will probably kill Tharizden!"
Victor grudgingly describes Dusk. Kudos sounds impressed at the power of the weapon. "It sounds like you have just what you need right there. Something to strike Tharizden on his own turf."
"But that isn't likely to be enough..." says Valris. "We're going to need more than just one sword to stop this threat. If it were that easy, others would have managed it long ago."
"Indeed, they would have wouldn't they..." says Kudos thoughtfully.

Dinner with Kudos. Beautiful clothes. Red wine for Kudos, Victor and Valris. "It's from my own wine cellar. An excellent vintage. One I seldom have occasion to uncork. I remember those who contributed to its flavour quite vividly..." Kudos' eyes sparkle at the memory.

A few hours later, Sin and Tanni decide they're tired and stand up to go to bed. "You may not be the loon that my Uncle is, but you're a pretty nice guy," says Sin, kissing Kudos on the cheek. Tolen excuses himself too to go and play his lyre for a bit outside.

On the way to the gardens, Tolen is startled by Quan, who emerges silently from the shadows. "Do not wander far my friend. he darkness holds many dangers and though I patrol, there are those who always seek to test my dilligence."
"Ur, yeah, cheers," says Tolen, swiftly exiting and pulling his cloak tightly about his shoulders.

"Sinsifel is your daughter yes, how is that possible?" Kudos asks them, while sipping some more wine.
Valris explains, the parts that she understands.
"Interesting," says Kudos. "Very interesting. It would appear as if my nefarious counterpart has once again been meddling with cosmic forces."

The Chaotic Kutal says, among other things, "If you want to see something interesting, go to the bell tower." And as the clock strikes its twelth chime, he vanishes as silently as he first appeared.

Valris suddenly hears a young girls song and gets up from sofa. The sound seems to take possession of her, leading her away from Victor and out across the "zoo". Victor follows her, trying to find out where she is going.

On the way, Quan appears in front of them. He bars them from approaching the bell tower up ahead. Valris ignores Quan and carries on. A fight ensues with Valris pulling out all the stops to get to the top of the tower.

"Fucking hell Valris" snarls Victor, unable to understand her strange behaviour and aggression. A vine covered staircase heads upwards to a small room, split into two parts by a very strong looking wall of metal bars.

When Victor eventually catches up with Valris, he finds a young 16 year old girl, identical to Sin, standing over Valris' blood soaked body. The young girl has just ripped Valris' throat out with her hand and teeth; to Victor's horror, the wound does not appear to be healing!

The young girl is Saya, the mentally unstable daughter of Kutal. She has been locked up behind bars in the top of this tower for decades, watched over by Quan, her loyal man servant.

Quan restrains (or attempts to restrain Saya) as Victor rushes to his wife's aid. The only thing he can think of to stop her from dying then and there is to "freeze" her within the Portal Plane. He calls the door, opens it, places Valris inside, quickly exits and seals her there. He knows that Valris can survive without air but that at least in the artificial plane, her wound will not cause her to worsen. This buys him some time.

"You should leave," says Quan grimly, the strange girl Saya standing in the corner of the room, grasping a small tattered rag doll in her hands and humming to herself.
Victor doesn't stand around to argue; getting to the bottom of this duplicate Sinsifel can wait. Victor's first priority is getting Valris back to Kudos in the hope that he can save her life.

*Naveh has 8 special "dream" Assassins that he calls the Sif. These beings are capable of travelling into anyone's dream and murdering them - they are the most powerful of Naveh's servants and do not need a "link" with reality to be empowered or to manifest. The Sif were once normal living beings who were slain by Naveh's own hand. Naveh can, at a stretch, actually send his Sif into the waking World to kill people, but only for short periods of time.*

Victor rushes back to the Manor. As soon as he enters the entrance hall, Kudos appears at the top of the stairs. "What has happened?" he asks, full of concern.
Victor rapidly tries to explain. "Valris, she's injured. A girl looking like Sin did it. I've got Valris in our portal plane, but she's in a bad way."

As Kudos rushes down to help and Sin appears from her bedroom too, Victor's danger sense suddenly goes crazy. He crouches and looks around, just in time to see eight black robed and hooded beings come crashing through the front door and front windows. Each figure appears young, almost child-like, aged between 10 and 18 but wields a large and powerful looking weapon; one is swinging a two handed mace, another is thrusting a gleaming crescent moon shaped halberd. Each figure moves with incredible, almost Vampiric haste and as the first attacks hit, Victor realizes that these assassins have supernatural strength too.

Luckily, Tanni wades in with Blackbone giving Kudos a moment to grab the sword from its display at the top of the stairs; a few moments into the fight, Quan rushes in as well, blurring through the open front door to block a sword with his bare hands.

What's going on... 8 Sif Assassins of Naveh.... One is a young boy 14 years of age... Crescent moon shaped spear. 18 years of age, shaven head, big thick jaw and protruding forehead...

Victor 3rd action, 5 dodges. delivers 39 points of damage. Victor severs the Sif's head.

Quan - One is struck in the chest with Quan's blood fingers. Right arm severed and drops to floor.

Tanni blocks, dodges, and then attacks a small 5' tall girl with blonde hair.

Sinsifel shriek's as a black dagger (one of several thrown simultaneously) stabs her in the left shoulder. As it hits, it dissolves into her body, pole-axing her to the floor and into immediate unconsciousness. The other daggers are parried aside by Victor, who with enormous speed and dexterity intervenes.

Kutal against his two. He leaps up to where the sword is hanging on the wall and draws his own blood across.
Takes one down in a couple of blows...

Saya saves Sinsifel, blocking both incoming attacks with lightning fast reflexes. The Girl Sif is banished by Victor's huge 248 wr to chest. She vanishes in an anguished blood curdling scream.

Only 4 Sif are now left - and despite Sin and Valris being down for the count, things are not going well for Naveh's elite troops.

Victor attempts to heal her using the Cure all spell in his armour but it doesn't work. The wound that she has received is highly magical and poisonous - based on the negative energy of Tharizden. Of course, it doesn't help that Sin is already infected as well.

Tanni doesn't have long to live as well but before anyone can stop her, Saya grabs hold of Tanni's limp body and fiercely bites down into her neck. An instant later, Saya cuts her own wrist and gives Tanni some of her own blood.

Saya - "She likes this one. Father and Quan keep me sooo hungry... They say my blood is bad, but this girl is good. Good bad, good bad... I sometimes get so confused."

Victor drinks his own daughter's blood and spits from it.
Kudos steps forward. "I need to give her some of mine instead. My blood will have the desired effect." Straight from the vine...

"I did not expect Saya to do that...." says Kudos to Quan... "The girl Tanni will need time to adjust to her new existence."
"Her love for Sin will help her..." says Quan. "And I will give her guidance."
"But Sin's blood will be lethal for her..." says Kudos. "They will have to be extremely careful."

The black vein in Sin's arm seems to have disappeared. But has it?

"What happened?" Sin asks, blinking and struggling to sit up. "I feel strange."

Kudos quickly explains... "Sinsifel has always had the potential to be what she is now, bottled up inside of her. You could say that she has possessed the spiritual half without the physical. Well, now the physical half has emerged. She is like you, but not like you. Why? Because she is the "First" - She is mother to her kind."
Victor doesn't quite understand. "She's not a mother..."
But Kudos puts his hand on Victor's shoulder. "Come with me. Let me tell you a story."

"Many years ago, I had a daughter. Her name was Sinsaya. She was the only daughter I ever had, my only proper offspring. Nothing about your origins are normal Sinsifel because you are her, you and your sister..."
"Sister?!?" asks Sin.
"Yes, your sister. Sinsaya was very special. She was born with two souls that were meant to exist in harmony with one another. One was meant to live its life and then give up its position in charge so that the other could lead its life as well. However, the two souls didn't want to get along. When Sinsaya reached your age, her two souls had become two very distinct warring personalities - that of Sin and that of Saya. I knew that eventually she would end up killing herself or going mad so I devised a way of separating the two souls into two distinct beings and bodies. However, things did not go entirely to plan."

"Your spirits and your bloods are incompatible and lethal to one another. But only in their pure form - the purity of yours and Saya's veins."

Tanni's right hand regenerates back, but it comes back as a savage looking claw.

Sinsifel is in shock... she sobs and sobs. Sin freaks out when looking at her savaged mother for the first time.

Valris drinks from Sin... Valris then bites and drinks blood from Victor...

"Will somebody please tell me what is going on..." asks Valris, desperately.

"I heard a beautiful song, in my mind. I had to go to it. I saw a girl there. She looked like Sin!"
Naveh's elite.
"I had my family, you, Sin and Tanni, all dying around me. I didn't know what it was effecting Sin so I tried cure all on her and it had no effect," says Victor, overcome with emotion.

"How is that possible? Surely it's just an anti-essence dagger?" Valris asks.
"Kudos said that his blood would kick-start her natural vampiric abilities... So I let him change her..." "Have I done the right thing?" Victor asks himself.

Tolen reappears at the entrance to the manor house - "um, I'm sorry. I was miles away. I had no idea."

Valris consoles Sin, by Tanni.
The 8 Daggers of Murr, Victor's hand grows very cold and stiff when he grasps one of them by the hilt.

Birds start chirping outside. Sun starting to rise.

"The Sif were without a doubt, sent by Narveh. Tharizden must have been working with the Sif."

"I think Narveh will be regrouping and gathering his forces..." says Kudos.

Morning passes. Sin watches over Tanni. Victor checks that Tolen is the same.

Valris suddenly doubts their reasons.

Saya returns to her cell in the bell tower.
A few hours later and Valris accompanies Quan and Victor to see Saya.

Saya - Initiative +405 ! Holy moley. 2d8 1-handed - 6d6 two-handed.

Saya is standing in a simple dress, her hair is hanging loose and dirty. She's washed away the blood from her face and skin... Hair down to back. Saya has just ripped a rabbit's head nearly off and is using it as a small toy to play with.

"I hear you saved my daughter - I'm grateful."
"If she is to be killed, it needs to be in a more grander way" says Saya.

"How can you both be enemies when one of you cannot remember why?" asks Valris.
"Because she will remember..." replies Saya.

"She has been there for a very long time..."

"It's not as quick a transformation as with us..." reassures Valris.
"But I can't hear her dreams."
"Are you sure all of your abilities are ok. I mean, you've just been through your own very traumatic change," says Valris.
"Tanni's a Vampire now. Her mind has become stronger..."

"This girl child is mine. She resides on my realm now. If you want her back, deliver the Eye to me and yourself to my Dark allies."

Valris consults Lucifer... Alas he has no useful spells.

"Tanni - babe, It's Sin. Are you ok. Can you hear me?"

Kudos suggests that Tanni may have been compromised before arriving at the Zoo.

Lucifer comes up with an idea - Flaying Tanni alive or inflicting tremendous pain upon her body, to open up the connection between her and the waking world.

"I've had an idea too" says Sin, "One that doesn't involve flaying!"

Mixes up a blood potion and injects it into Tanni's arm.
"My blood is very addictive. If people have too much of it, they cannot exist without it," says Kudos.

Wrack brains for hours.

Narveh - The Dream Thief - The Lord of Nightmares

Sin or Tanni could be possessed. Their mind's have left their bodies.
Lucifer mentions this as a possibility. Just in case, both bodies are chained up.

Without Sin's knowledge, Naveh dispatches one of his most trusted agents into the waking world. With Sin in Naveh's dream world, the Lord of Nightmares knows that her body is vacant and susceptible to possession. As he keeps her occupied, he orders Ausinax the Body Thief to cause his enemies major problems.

Sin wakes up, or appears to. In actuality, it isn't Sin, but Ausinax in Sin's body. But before Valris and anyone else can figure this out, the Body Thief acts on his Lord's information and prepares to use the Ring of Agog to turn into something nasty.

But at that exact moment, Victor is attempting to move his spirit to his daughter, in the hope of entering her body and or somehow joining her dream. "Maybe if I can touch her dreaming spirit with mine, I can wake her up," he thinks.

As Ausinax activates the Ring of Agog, Victor's spirit barges in and confuses the ring. As neither of them are officially wearing it, Chaos rears its ugly head and throws both of them a curve ball. In a flash of light, Ausinix finds himself sat at the end of the bed rather than in it and Victor finds himself suddenly in it, staring at the spitting image of himself.

Valris and Kudos are shocked to suddenly see two Victors in the room. But to them it looks as if Sin just turned into Victor, implying that the Victor in the bed is in fact an imposter. The only problem is, the real Victor has inadvertently swapped minds / spirits with the imposter.

From this point on, things get very confusing.

Mind swaps places.
Val stop!
False Victor looking around...

210 wr on Vic right leg. Finger bitten off by Valris. Face clawed by Valris in initial slash as Vic sat on bed.
Pinned on the floor... Naveh will live forever...

Love sent again.
"Kill him!" says the false Sinsifel.

False sin drained by Victor on Kudos' command.

Valris puts the Ring.

"Is there anything else we can give them to help?" asks Valris.
Victor scans around the room, his eyes coming to rest on Tanni's black sword. "Blackbone...!" he shouts, grabbing it and pressing its cold hilt into Tanni's hands.

Sin is in a Nightmare contest with Narveh, competing for Tanni's mind in an Industrial Light and Magic dreamscape.

Tanni is trapped in a spiked metal cage, suspended above a bubbling lake of lava. Giant flying serpants fly around the cage, battering at it with their wings and squarking as every few seconds, the cage lowers on a mechanical winch and chain, ever closer to meltdown.

Suddenly Blackbone appears in Tanni's hands - her prayers seem to have been answered. She swings the sword and slices the side of the cage apart. With a leap she clambers up the outside of the cage to the chain above it. A giant lizard swoops down and tries to bite her but she hooks her feet into the cage's metal and bends backwards, slashing at it and opening up a deadly steaming wound in its neck. As it plummets below and bursts into flames, Tanni grips the chain and begins climbing it to the crane overhead. Once there, she deftly springs on top of its narrow metal arm and with all the skill of a trained circus acrobat, runs down the crane to the safety of land, as more flying lizards swoop down after her.

As the floodgates open, Valris follows suit, crying into Victor's shoulder that their daughter has survived another encounter without them. "I don't think I can take much more of this..." says Val.
"We'll survive," assures Victor.
"I can't help her..." Valris is devastated. All the power that she and Victor possess and still Sin has to save herself. All Valris wants is to be able to protect her loved ones but everytime something happens, she seems to be the first person to knocked out.
"Be there for her when she needs you... when she needs a shoulder to cry on... remind her that in the morning the sun will rise..." says Victor.
"What's happened to us.... ?" Valris asks, gazing at the two young girls from outside the bedroom.
Victor doesn't answer and leads his wife away downstairs to where Kutal is pouring himself a stiff drink. "There hasn't been excitement like that in this house for a very very long time." He offers them something and they boh except. Surprisingly, whatever year it is he pours, manages to affect their Vampiric blood.

Tanni cries for 2 hours.

Sin now knows Naveh's deepest, darkest, fear. She also possesses the Eye of Chaos and of Agog. Hence, Naveh was forced into surrendering to Sin and promising to let her and her friends go free. "I shall no longer pursue you. I shall no longer assist the servants of Tharizden."

Valris meditates for a few hours. Tanni has cried self asleep. Sin is lying next to her with an arm around her waist.

Tanni's new powers as a Chevalier have regenerated back her lost hand - but her time in Naveh's realm have made this a more interesting development... She now has the Hand of Naveh - as she chopped it off when she got free. *You just don't get away with chopping a Chaos Lord's hand off on his home plane without some backlash.*

Sun comes up. Tanni has put a bandage around her hand but seems withdrawn.

Kutal - "You're welcome to stay here for a few days..."
Valris - "Maybe just a couple."
Tanni returns from her talk and walk with Quan. Tanni seems to be a bit less fragile than before.

"Braid my hair please," says Saya as Val and Vic sit at a bandstand. "When I killed everyone at my birthday party, I let the monsters out. My father's experiments with our blood - a menagerie worthy of any real zoo. Many of them escaped into the wild. He hunted them for a time, but some still remain."
Val and Vic don't really know how to respond to that.
"I want to keep Tanni here with me. She is mine and belongs to me..."
Oh dear - trouble.
"But, Tanni may not want to stay with you," says Valris, trying to remain as calm as she can.
"She will want to stay. There is no reason she would not."
As soon as Saya leaves, Valris grabs Victor's arm. "We've got to get to Tanni before psycho girl does. This could turn out really bad."

Tanni is visited by Saya. At first Tanni is shocked. This is the first time she has seen Saya and is amazed how identical she is to Sin.
"I want you to stay with me," Saya begins, giving Tanni a second shock.
Tanni is quick to compose herself though. "Could I leave and then come back... it's just I have brothers and a father - I miss them and am very sad because I haven't seen them in such a long time."

Saya gives Tanni a blue rose as her parting gift. Vic and Val find Tanni on a small wooden bridge minutes later. "Tanni, are you ok? Have you seen Saya yet?" Valris asks, concerned.
"Yes, she was here a moment ago. She looks so like Sin... but doesn't act like her though."
Valris looks around, scanning the undergrowth with her senses - just in case. "That's because she's a psychopath."
Tanni - "She wanted me to stay. I said I'd think about it."
Valris - "Good girl. You stalled her. That gives us a little bit of time. We need to find Sin and let Kudos know about this. The last thing we need is Saya attacking us and stealing you."

Saya goes to visit Sinsifel. Saya grabs her sister and hurls her practically through a brick wall. "I want what you have. It's unfair that you get everything," says Saya.
"You're nuts!" gasps Sin, struggling to her feet and suddenly glad to have regenerative powers.
Saya and Sin punch and slap one another and get into a tousle over Tanni. Sin is then thrown through a wall and injured. Saya stomps on Sin's stomach.

Saya beats Sin up badly... spills a fair bit of her blood and Quan's (who is just trying to get in the way).
"She stomped on me...!" gasps Sin.
Valris consoles her daughter, smoothing her mussed up hair and wiping away some of the dirt. "I think it's time that we made a move," she whispers to Victor.
Victor nods, glancing around in case Saya is nearby. Everyone heads, at speed, back to the manor house.

What draws Victor's attention most of all in the strange chamber is the central crystal column. Arranged around it on the pedestal are dozens of coloured crystal shards of varying sizes and lengths. One crystal dominates all the others and is buried deep inside the central column; It is, without any doubt, a Skarrion Time Stone - The third one Victor has ever seen.

Kudos admits to travelling through time. "This machine belongs to an ancient and long deceased race of beings that walked a Multiverse before this one. I've had it for a very very long time and on occasion, used it to travel backwards and forwards through Time. It has," Kudos smiles, "provided me with an edge, but only so long as its existence remains secret. Thus, I'd appreciate it if you didn't go telling people about it. Some people would just get jealous and bitter."
Kudos returns wearing a smoking jacket.

"What a shite. We can go anywhere in Space and Time but don't have a clue where to go."

1) Victor will try and influence the Time ship to go after the 3rd Skarrion Time Stone.
2) Knowledge / shine a light on the Line of Dawn and the Eternal Champion - SCRAPPED IDEA.
3) Take us to a place in space and time where forces are gathering against Tharizden. SCRAPPED.
4) Tolen's Realm - wherever that it.
5) Tanith Lore - beginning or end of time. SCRAPPED. Castle of Rune - and the Shakra'Delim? Also SCRAPPED?.
6) No Law in group whatsoever. Place in space and time where Law might be able to help.
7) Neutral Ground - Creation of Tharizden? When Lords of Law and Chaos came together...

Tanni's World - No... Kaine would definitely not look kindly on Victor and his Chaos gang. Or on what they have done to his daughter, He would end up exterminating Tanni first.

Christian on Eldahar with sword Law? Could / would he help? Kudos says "The sword of Law would force this man to bow to it. There would be no negotiation. It would not allow or suffer the presence of Chaos."

At the centre of the Universe,
At the Heart of Creation,
There is a place of Dreams,
Home to but a few...
But sought after by all.

It is One Half of the Well of Life,
One half of the Nexus of Ids,

It is the Anima.

The Time Machine lurches and whirrs with strange mechanical noises. Everyone feel light-headed and giddy from its strange motion; like the feeling you get in a lift as it moves, except not just up and down, but sideways and in and out. Amazingly no one falls over.

A discussion ensues on whether one person should step out or not.

Victor is the first to look outside. Footpath. Wooden sign post, staked into the Ground - Hotel Babylon. Enjoy your Stay. Boy oh boy - good air. Smell snow off of the mountains. Butterflies, bumble bees.

Tolen shuts himself inside the Time ship. "I'm not coming out!"
"Is this your place?" asks Victor.
"It might be. You'll know soon enough."

"No there's nothing wrong with the flowers... they're perfect."
Water pump. "Fucking Hell!" Water from pump tastes equal (if such a thing can) to Blood. Victor is shocked by this.

The Babylon 4 eventually get to the Hotel. But Tanni and Sin get soaked in a water fight first.

Balara - dimpled cheeks. Flower on hands and arms. Big cleavage and stocky build. Lilting voice.

2 rooms. "I'm a worshipper of sherbet!" says Sin with conviction!

"We should really get Tolen..."
"Tolen is he another member of your group?"
"This isn't a normal place..." says Valris.
"Well, it depends on your definition of normal doesn't it."
"You can't have too much nice."
"Tanni come here, let's dress up like country bumpkins..."
Valris remains aloof, with only her hearing, sight and touch still remaining; the rest turned off.
Victor finds a leather waistcoat.
5 miles each way - travels spiritually and sees empty villages, boats (abandoned) and then after 5 miles, arrives right back where he started as if the plane bent.
Sin in milk maid type outfit pretending to be a country lass.
"I haven't felt thirsty since I got here," says Sin.
"The whole place feels full of life..."
Sin helps Balara make some bread.
"If you nurture something with your heart and soul, you can really create something quite beautiful."
Chocolate spread. Vic goes outside.
Chit chat while helping Balara water the plants with a watering can.
"Sometimes the things a person really needs, are those things that that person, takes so much for granted, that they've forgotten what they once had in the first place."

The two mares are called Blueberry and Cherry blossom.
Girls go off riding. Victor then fixes some fencing.

Late afternoon. Evening comes. Home-made meal. Balara goes to bed.
Valris - "We should drag Tolen out."
Victor - "No. We should just give it more time."
Sin - "Mum, you need to just chill out."

"The Sinsinettes" - Sinsifel's travelling band...

Sin sings a song about a maiden, who finds a Unicorn, falls in love with it and sadly throws herself off a cliff. And that's the end of the song.

Day passes.

"Are we not happy?"

Relaxing few days in Babylon.
"Without my blood, I've got no link to her whatsoever..." claims Valris, sadly.
Victor takes her for a dance.

"How are you mother...?" asks Tolen to Balara.
"Mother?" Valris raises an eyebrow.
"He didn't tell you?" asks Balara. "Tolen is my son, my dear son," she smiles. "Now, come sit here and have one of your favourite cookies. It seems like forever since you went away, but I always knew you would come back. A mother's cooking can never be replaced."

Harmony arrives. (5'9" Not super stunning. Blonde hair, slightly wavy. Hazel eyes.)
Tanni and Sin blab.. Valris blabs. Everyone cannot help but enjoy Harmony's company. Which isn't surprising, considering the young woman's incredible ability to blend into any situation. Harmony literally creates "harmony"; people find her easy to talk to, immediately trust her and accept her words as their own. She is able to be everyone's "friend" and move fluidly through any situation, without creating the slightest ripple. Luckily, her only power just so happens to be the only one she would ever need.

You have all been through quite a lot recently, Spend time together.
"This is a nexus of life and energy. Anything is possible," says Harmony.
Ithillian
"Bring the Balance part of Victor to the fore."

"I feel that Sinsifel is adopted. And though I don't love her any the less for it, I wish that we could make something together.  I want something that is just us... you and me..."

Truth about the rings and just how dangerous they are if someone steals one and puts it on.
"Harmony could allow you to tap their full potential. If that happened, nothing could separate you. Nothing."

Ithillan leaves, waving goodbye and hopping back on his old penny farthing.

Harmony and Sin share a little mischief with one another. Harmony admits that she used to hide Ashar's items, making their auras appear like everyday objects. "It's a very simple but effective trick. It involves turning an objects spirit inside out and then tieing it that way, like the bottom of a balloon. The only problem is, once the object is activated or its abilities are called upon, it's aura pops right back out again. It would infuriate my father though. He'd scratch his head and turn the place upside down trying to find something when in fact, it would be right in front of nose." Harmony giggles.
Sin admits that when she was young and arguing with Valris, she would line up birds along the washing line and get them to poop on Valris' clothes when her mother wasn't looking.

Vic and Valris talk to Harmony about children and how such a thing might be possible.
"Well, as I said yesterday, anything here is possible, if it's truly what your heart desires."
"How long would we have to spend here?"
"Time moves at different rates here. You could say we have some measure of control over it. But it would be more accurate to say that Time is a guest here in the Nexus. It comes and goes but only when invited."

Harmony sits on a bench and prepares to reveal some devastating news to both Victor and Valris; news about their previous selves, about their purpose in the great tapestry of existence and their future together.

First off - Valris was and is Callista, reborn - countless times throughout Time. Harmony reveals who Callista was; that she was one of the first potential followers of Law and for a brief time, the wife of Kuadosa, now known as Kudos. (See the family bloodline chart below).

Victor - previously no affinity to the Balance; but who was Victor at the beginning? How did he come to be connected with Kutal? What are Victor's origins? These are questions and answers that Kudos doesn't cover.

Nathaniel was a platform that allowed Kutal to connect his "son" Victor to the Line of Dawn. Cassandra Dawn should have only had one son, but instead, because of Kutal's manipulations, gave birth to twins. *Was it an accident that Han was stolen away by Ilvir and raised to follow Chaos? Because of Han's childhood with Ilvir, perhaps Han has also been denied his Destiny as a Son of Rune...*

Valris learns that her soul has been manipulated, countless times throughout history - on a hundred different worlds and realities.
"He's stolen my destiny, countless times," she gasps. "Maybe I should have been on the side of Law after all."

Kutal is not necessarily that powerful when compared to other LOC, but it is his ability to track those of his line down when they are born and keep them in the fold - maintaining the integrity and strength of his family while his other self, Kudos, uses a Time Machine to travel undetected and under the radar, moving and manipulating things secretly behind the scenes.

The two greatest lineage's / families in the Multiverse have come together in this particular generation... Harmony stresses how at this one moment, in the whole of History, a million different variables seem to have converged to make certain things possible. It is obvious to Valris that Harmony is implying Destiny or Fate have had a hand in it... but also that a certain someone, possessing a Time Machine, may have manipulated events too.

"I've been denied my Destiny..." whispers Valris again, trying to come to terms with what that means.

"You should have been Nox..." says Victor, holding her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"How could I have been Nox and left you?" No, Valris shakes her head, realising how her current Destiny is for the better. "The Balance may have wanted me to become Nox, but only so that my future as a servant of Tharizden could be avoided. As soon as Minnow saw that Tharizden wasn't going to get me after all, he changed the plan and switched Nox's destiny to Kit. That makes sense. I wouldn't have been happy as Nox. I would have been isolated and alone, just like in my childhood." But I would have made a good Nox wouldn't I? Valris says to herself, seeing the logic in the Balance's original decision. My whole life on Eternium was preparing me for an Eternity, outside of Time, in absolute isolation... companionless; no better than a cold automaton.
"He knows us, better than we know ourselves, because he's seen and guided our lives countless times. He knows our weaknesses, he knows our desires, he knows, probably, beyond a shadow of doubt, what we'll do. Because he knows our souls. Because like it or not, we're family," says Valris, her eyes watering.

Talk about the Anima and Animus.

"Eldahar is not your fight..." says Harmony. "You have to trust that North, Red and the others there will come through. That they will buy you enough time and prevent Chaos and Tharizden from claiming control over the Animus. You have to believe that."

Valris is Kutal's achilles heel. This is an interesting realization. Kuadosa (the original), loved Callista. He loved her so much that when she turned from him to serve Law, he couldn't understand it and felt like he had lost her. Thus, when the opportunity came to reclaim her soul and change its path to be him again, he took it - time and time again. For countless incarnations, Callista / Valris has felt like she had a greater Destiny; has felt like she should be a force of Law. But Kutal has stopped her, with beings like Victor. Kutal has lured her from her destined path so that he can keep her close and in the Family. Tharizden knew that Valris was Kutal's weakness; the one woman he ever truly loved. Thus it was that Tharizden arranged for Junis to discover Anti-Essence and thereby open up a possible future where Valris would become Tharizden's bride. By possessing Valris' eternal soul, Tharizden knew he would have leverage over Kutal - knowing full well that Kutal was his greatest threat. But what Tharizden didn't realize or plan for was Kudos and his Time Machine. Able to move undetected through Space and Time, Kudos got to Valris first and made sure that Victor would meet her, save her and deliver her from Tharizden's clutches.

Balance intercedes to get Valris as Nox. But Kutal and his Time machine gets there first and arranges for Victor to meet Valris and turn her into a Vampire. If Tharizden had had his way, Valris would have become his Bride.

"The love that you feel for one another would be multiplied, exponentially and flow back out into the Multiverse..." says Harmony, smiling.

Key to Time... "Could the Key to Time prevent movement through the various Temporal axis as well as allow it? If it can," says Harmony, "Could it be used as a Temporal Prison?"

Time is Tharizden's weakness. The Time Rift was created to hide what was happening from Tharizden.
The Key to Time will be able to effect him. He is expanding throughout Time and if he conquers the Animus, he will expand nearly instantly to encompass the whole of Time.

Set matters straight, before its too late.
Lords of Law and Chaos are relatively immune to Tharizden. He cannot use them to leap through Time as when they made him, they made it impossible for him to directly harm them. Tharizden seeks to expand through Time to the beginning and the end... once he succeeds, he will be the Multiverse and no longer be effected or restrained by Time - hence Key to Time will no longer work. Hence, time is literally running out...