"Do not look so worried Austinian. My balanx will complete his mission. Remember if it were not for Austanis, we would have never known of the birth of Malachive."

Austinian smiled as he turned around to see a man with a white beard dressed in long red robes.

"Brother Kwainin, your balanx may be undetectable to mortals, but do you honestly think that he can walk right into Drakkara's front yard and swipe her child away from her?" Austinian said with rising worry.

"What makes you think she's on the dark moon now, brother?" replied Kwainin.

Austinian raised an eye and looked at Kwainin. With a surprised and almost humorous tone he asked, "What did you do?"

Kwainin smiled.

"Tell me Kwainin, I must know! Did you seduce her?" asked Austinian.

Kwainin laughed. "No brother, I would never dream of such a thing. I had Raije and Cliath stage a massive battle with one another in which they got moon dust all over her. Being so concerned with her appearance, she quickly left to Celestia to make herself perfect again."

Austinian chuckled. "What a perfect plan. But how long do you expect her to stay in Celestia before coming back to where her power is most strong?"

"It matters not, for here comes Austanis now" Kwainin points into space where the blue skinned balanx is flying down.

Austanis glides down into the moons surface holding a child that changed forms almost every second: first a human, then an ogre, next a dragon, a snarling vampire, a demon, and then a human one again. Austanis drops to one knee to Kwainin awaiting permission to stand.

"You have done well Austanis" stated Kwainin.

"Indeed!" proclaims Austinian.

"'Twas not an easy task my lord" replies Austanis. "The child's own power grows with each moment. Twice I was forced to battle its powers and twice I barely lived. If this child is to be destroyed, we must do so now. Shall I take him to Algoron to be terminated?"

"Terminated?" asked Austinian. "Kwainin you never said anything about killing the child."

Kwainin shrugged and spoke. "Why else did you think we stole this child brother? With him alive the balance will be swayed into the side of evil. We have no choice."

Austinian sighed heavily.

Kwainin turned to Austanis. "Quickly take Malachive to Algoron and terminate him. All Gods are mortal on that plane and you should have little problem disposing of him."

Austanis bowed and grabbed Malachive and flew towards Algoron.

Kwainin looked at Austinian's distressed look. "I know you disapprove brother, but you know we haven't a choice."

Austinian glared at Kwainin. "And what if that were my child? Would you dispose of him too to maintain balance?"

"Indeed, brother." Kwainin replied. "I will be off now for I have many matters to return to. Peace be with you brother."

With a flash of gray light, Kwainin disappeared from the planets moon.

"Kantilles, are you here?" Spoke Austinian.

"I am, as usual father" answered a voice.

Standing before Austinian was a good-looking young man. He stood tall and proud and seemed to have a pleasant smile on his face. He wore robes of white that flowed in the light breeze that was the white moons gravitational pull.

"Father, are you thinking what I am? ...that this child can be raised as good on the planets surface where his powers are suppressed?" asked Kantilles.

"I am, my son. Do what you must to save that child. Your sister Kadiya will assist you." ordered Austinian.

Kantilles bowed and disappeared. Austinian stared at Algoron, a ripe blue planet in which he had hand in creating.

Austinian muttered "If only the high God himself could see what a mess we have made ourselves down there. I suspect he would have a good laugh. I cannot let a child die before giving it the chance to grow up good. This shall be my greatest challenge. It may seem easy compared to dealing to Kwainin when he finds out of my interference." Austinian sighed and then smiled. Within an instant, the white moon was empty.

"Are you actually agreeing with him?" Austinian was uncharacteristically livid. "If we let Fatale walk Algoron, you know that the murder will not stop with Malachive. He will set forth upon a killing spree unlike the world has never known! You know that, Kwainin, you KNOW what would happen."

Kwainin looked back at Austinian and made no effort to speak. "Would happen, Kwainin, not could. Would." Austinian added. "We will never get through this day" Kwainin said with a hint of distress in his voice. "We will never all three be in agreement."

"That is why you must decide" Austinian responded. "Decide for us all. Pick one of us from each pantheon and let it begin."

Kwainin chuckled. "You know as well as I do that he will never agree to that. He has control issues to say the least."

"Well he's not in control! The last I checked, we were all three equals although I admit that it is regrettable on most occasions. We must come to some sort of agreement, but I will not allow Fatale to be chosen to freely walk Algoron!" Austinian argued.

"Gods have walked on Algoron without permission for as long as I can remember" Kwainin added.

Austinian interrupted "Yes, and they mess something up each and every time. Fatale in particular is forbidden to go in person. There is no reason any of us can not do our duties the way we always have, through the use of avatars or images or even possession. Why do we have churches and Angels, Demons and the Balanx if we have to go deliver our messages in person?"

"You are rambling, brother." Kwainin interrupted in return. "No Angel, Demon or an entire kingdom can kill Malachive any more. It must be one of us, and who better than Fatale? He may even kill all of the Abhorrants while he is there and you know that is an issue we need to look to as well."

"He will kill an entire continent as well and he'll give it only a mere passing thought and what is to stop him there? Oh yes, now I remember, me or one of my sons and daughters. By sending Fatale, we risk a full scale God war! I will not allow it. I will not agree!" Austinian said loud enough for Necrucifer to hear him from the next room.

"There is only one solution then" Kwainin said. "You will choose the god of his pantheon to go and he will choose yours."

Austinian looked at Kwainin and paused. "And what of yours? We agreed one from each of us."

"I'm the God of Balance!" Kwainin said with a smile. "I don't need either of you to remain objective."

Austinian sighed. "I hate this. I want nothing to do with it, but yet I do concede that my own actions has caused this to transpire. I should be the one to fix this, yet we've been through the reasons why none of us three should go a million times."

Austinian paused and sighed again. "Fine. I will agree to your solution with one condition. He may not choose my wife and I will not choose his.

Taliena will be spared from doing what it would crush her to do and Drakkara will not be asked to kill her own child."

Kwainin smiled. "Well then, it is agreed. Let us get see if he agrees and get this over with."

The two Gods entered the white marble courtyard where they were meeting. Not another soul was in sight and no sounds interrupted them.

A dark scowled expression adorned Necrucifer’s face, but that was not unusual. His mood was always bad and he was always looking for a reason to fight.

"I agree" he said simply just as Kwainin began to speak.

Kwainin turned and looked at Austinian with a surprised expression.

"I guess there's not hiding any conversation from you, is there?" Kwainin said. "Very well, you will choose each others child to carry forth this mission and then I will choose last. Necrucifer, I think you should choose first."

Necrucifer grinned. "My answer would not change first nor second. I choose Kadiya."

Austinian's eye brows raised and his mouth opened in fury. "What? Why? She is the LEAST capable of this mission!! Choose someone who will not carry any baggage from this mission Necrucifer, do not choose her!"

Necrucifer smiled as if he enjoyed Austinian's reaction. "She is the Goddess of peace is she not? She knows more than anyone the cost of failure. It won't hurt her to get her hands a little dirty."

Austinian walked towards Necrucifer swiftly but Kwainin caught him by his robes. "Brother, calm yourself, we all agreed to these rules. You knew the risk."

"I didn't think he would carry his vendetta against me this far! He should have chosen Nadrik and he knows that!"

Necrucifer suddenly look bored. "You complain a lot. You ever notice that?"

Austinian stared at Necrucifer as if he could burn Necrucifer from the inside out.

"Let's get our choices over with so I can back to being evil" Necrucifer said almost with a chuckle. Austinian pushed Kwainin's hands off of him and straightened out his robe. 'Have it your way. After all, its your son’s murder we are planning."

His words did not affect Necrucifer at all. He merely shrugged.

"I choose Devion." Austinian said plainly.

Kwainin looked at Austinian with surprise. "And you complained about his choice? What a team of Assassins that is, Kadiya and Devion!" He said sarcastically. "One will try to reason with Malachive while the other ties his boot straps together in hoping that he'll trip and fall his way to death!

Austinian crossed his arms. "Its not like I have a lot of options. Disease, Murder, Rage. I'd rather send mischief to Algoron than any of those others. Besides, he is least likely to harm Kadiya himself."

"Kadiya is more capable than you give her credit for, although who can blame a protective father?" Kwainin stated. "The last choice is mine and I guess it should be no surprise that I choose the first competent person for this mission."

Necrucifer and Austinian both looked at Kwainin as they awaited his decision. Kwainin enjoyed having their undivided attention for the first time in years.

"I'm sending Raije."

"Scared, Devion?" A woman's voice said lightly.

Devion looked over to see Kadiya looking as beautiful as ever. She wore white robes with a gold and blue trim shaped around her delicate features. Her hair was long and exceptionally curly and few had a face that rivaled hers. Devion had always enjoyed looking at Kadiya for obvious reasons.

"Of course not" Devion said as that familiar smile broadened his face. Devion had a huge smile that Kadiya secretly admired. "After all, Raije is going with us."

Kadiya looked at him and raised her eyebrows as she shrugged.

Devion looked surprised. "Oh come on! It's Raije! The God of War!? You've seen him in action, right? The guy is an absolute MONSTER! I have no intention of doing anything while we are there except to maybe go to a pub and get involved in some of the mortal excitement there."

"That's not our orders." Kadiya said in protest.

Devion rolled his eyes. "Our orders are to assassinate Malachive. Yes, I know. I heard the speech. It bored me. Here is my plan. We all go down, I get ale. Raije goes to war. Raije kills everyone. I finish my ale, maybe I visit a few of my favorite people and make a few new giants, if you know what I am saying", Devion pauses as he winks at Kadiya who in return rolls her eyes, "and then we come home. You should go with me! I know a great place in New Thalos!"

"And leave Raije to do all the dirty work himself?" Kadiya asks.

Devion raises his voice almost to an argumentative tone "You've met Raije! He won't even notice. The guy is salivating at the thought of getting to wipe out a God as it is. Why take away his fun? Besides, you hate war and violence and all that."

"Yes, and I hate it enough to go do this so that our entire world won't have war in every single corner of it", Kadiya responded. "This is not some cheap excuse to go grab some ale and mingle with the mortals; this is about stopping devastation before it occurs. This is no joke, Devion, this is serious." Kadiya began to walk away from Devion as she was already disgusted with his attitude concerning the mission.

"Alright Kadiya, lookwaitjust wait." Devion's expression changed to a serious one. "Look, I was just asked to murder my brother, ok? Can you even imagine if that were asked of you? That's not easy for me. I know I joke around a lot. Hell, I am labeled the famous 'God of Mischief' aren't I? You try living up to that! I have to make appearances, cause some trouble, swap married people out of their beds in the middle of the night..."

Kadiya giggled and said cautiously. "Oh my. Have you really done that?" She stood half smiling, half disgusted.

Devion smiled and paused. "Never let it be said that the Gods of Algoron don't have a sense of humor. After all, wasn't it Kwainin who stationed his Balanx behind that waterfall in Althainia?"

Kadiya laughed. "I highly doubt it" she replied.

Devion smiled. "Well, that was the word on the streets of Althainia, any way. I have no idea how that rumor started, of course."

Kadiya laughed again. "I just bet you don't."

Devion smiled as he looked at Kadiya and then, once again, he became serious. "Please, don't take me for all of the hype. This will not be easy on me, and I'd just like to have some fun before we get started. Give me one day?" Kadiya studied his face and smiled. "I'll never trust you, Devion, God of Mischief. But one day of fun you shall have, but under two conditions."

"Name them" Devion said.

"One, you can't injure any one" Kadiya said only to be interrupted by Devion.

"Done! And two?"

"Two, I get to go with you. Someone needs to keep an eye on you" Kadiya said with a smile.

Devion smiled. "Shall we then? Raije can catch up, I'll send word to him where we shall meet at."

Kadiya nodded and then two vanished from the room.