//------------------------------// // Chapter 24: Maleficent's Play // Story: Kingdom Hearts: Harmonic Connections // by Mr Curious Writer //------------------------------// (As Always Green Text means "click me" to play theme music to go with what your reading. Red text means to stop the music. Anywords with This coloring to their text means to click on it for a sound effect. If there is music playing, then let it keep playing, the sound effect is brief Completely optional: Your free to ignore this) Outskirts of Canterlot         Atop a hill overlooking the battle taking place within the streets Maleficent observed it all. The ponies were pushing back and the Princesses looked as if they were up to something as she noticed Celestia and her soldiers stopping and hunkering down in a Plaza, a glance over to Luna’s advance and what lay ahead of her, and it would be safe for her to make an educated guess that the Princess of the night was going to do the same thing as her elder sister. Thus the reason she decided to send that stone heartless over there, to buy more time. However… there was something that wasn’t in her sight that should have been.         A dark portal appears behind her as Queen Chrysalis step through. “My subjects have searched all over and no one has seen him anywhere.” This led to the witch to hold a nasty gaze to the battle in front of her. “That insufferable buffoon, I give him one simple task, and he somehow has managed to fail even that… and now THIS” he noticed a rather familiar boy fighting the stone heartless as his keyblade transformed.         Her plan was a simple one, she was banking on Pete, being the blustering imbecile that he is, to blab about who he was and how he got to this world. He was to be an absolute nuisance to Sora and those Royal equines until his inevitable defeat, whilst she and Chrysalis handled their true objective. However all efforts on that have been slowed to a halt so long as Pete is a no show. To add onto that she had not anticipated Sora revealing his true form to the ponies, It didn’t matter to her or Chrysalis whether the ponies learned of Sora’s identity or not, What she wanted was a distraction, and to milk that distraction for as long as it took. Yet all of that seemed like a pipe dream at this point.         “I have to wonder Maleficent, what did you see in that ignorant fool to believe him capable of much.” Chrysalis looked on at the battle below, it would appear that their plan would have to be put on hold for now.         She held her head in frustration as she clutched the book ever tighter. “A mistake on my part, a devout lackey does not necessarily equal a competent one… When we find him again, I’ll make sure he faces the consequences. In the meantime” She stared out at the Castle “It appears we simply have to improvise.”         “And how exactly are we going to accomplish that?” The Queen as she looked at the battle in the city streets.         A sinister smiled formed on her lips. “Do you think you can get a few of your people inside the castle for me?”         “You're in luck, I’ve had a few of my agents assimilated into the guards and maids there”         “Then we may yet be able to salvage this day after all.” Maleficent’s smile only grew “Relay this order to them, once I give the signal, continue as we have planned.” ~~~~~~~~~~ Back at the Plaza         “Yaaaaaah!” Applejack slammed her forehoof as hard as she could into the ground and out in front of her and Twilight hexagon pillars of Earth Shot out of the ground and bunched up close together preparing a wall of Earth Spires to absorb the swing’s momentum and stop it dead in its tracks. That plan worked but a lot of the spires were cut down before the blade was stopped halfway into the wall.         Twilight and Applejack were staring down at their massive foe as Rainbow kept trying to pelt with with attacks and causing less damage then she thought to it. “Any day now, Twi?”         “Huh?” Twilight finally broke her gaze of the bust to look at her friend.         “Ya’ gonna start castin’ or what? No time to be spacin’ out, now” Applejack looked back at her with a stern look before returning her focus on the bust in case it would try something.         “O-Oh uh Right!” Twilight channeled her magic and started off with a barrage of Fira. The bust reacted by swatting away as much of the fireballs as it could. Of course with some of them escaping past his defenses and pelting it every now and then and it was apparent that it was effective seeing how it reacted with cringes and trying its best but failing to avoid them. “It worked!” Although she came up with the theory, to see the results was still a shock to her. It’s kind of like the fight back on that train…         “Alright, keep it up!” Applejack cheered as  Rainbow flew in huffing and panting away. “Yeah, give me a minute here…. Go Twilight… Wooo…” Rainbow was beat from expending so much energy in flying and fighting, so she watched as Twilight fired another spell. The bust making another attempt tried to swing at them with a downward diagonal strike. “Ain’t nothin’ doin!” She faced the oncoming blade and Slammed both her hooves down, repeating her previous tactic, but this time the pillars were much taller to compensate for the high angle the attack was coming from. Cutting through the foremost pillars, the blade was soon stopped midway into the barricade. This left the bust’s guard down as Twilight fired another wave of Fira at it. The bust could not react in time and took on the full brunt of the attack, staggering it. “Ya’ got it, Twilight!” Said unicorn triumphantly pumped her hoof with a “YES!” for a job well done. “Ok Girls! While it’s down!” “Right!” Both Applejack and Rainbow said in unison. Rainbow now gaining her second wind when she saw victory in sight. They both rushed in as Twilight this time started striking thunder at it hoping the electricity would help paralyze it from the volts. It worked as both Rainbow and Applejack leapt off the ground. Rainbow grabbing onto Applejack and pumping as much speed as she could with her wings. Applejack pulled both her forehooves back and tucked under her like a spring loaded trap ready to release. Once they were in striking distance, she shot them out like a rocket and slamming them into the bust both the speed and the abnormal strength the gauntlets gave the farmer, They busted right through the… well the bust and it crumbled away behind them. The two of them started to cheer at their victory, as well as Twilight who was cheering them way in the back when something clicked for Rainbow. “Wait… wasn’t there another one behind it…” They looked back and sure enough the shield bust was nowhere to be seen, neither was the crossbow bust… that’s when they looked over to the hammer bust and dropped their jaws at what they finally saw. ~~~ Earlier “Transform!” Sora called out to the keyblade and it complied with its wielder.The first thing to happen was the the chain part of the keychain immediately reeled into the golden representation of Rarity’s element necklace and soon joined the representation of the element of generosity. Sora was still holding onto the grip as it turned at a 90 degree angle within the hand guard. Sora now had to face his knuckles up in order for the blade to face skyward. However that wouldn’t last long as the shaft and teeth receded into the handguard. The teeth also turned 90 degrees upwards before the gem looking parts of them suddenly moved closer to each other and joined the large blue gem on the front of the handguard. The golden representation of the necklace suddenly started glowing and getting thinner until it looked like a long thin wire of golden string, with the ruby heart keychain remaining at the center of it. The representation of the element somehow detached itself from the gold string and was somehow floating toward Sora’s eyes. It stopped in front of his right eye and expanded until Sora could see through its center before thinning out until it was like a lens. A gold frame magically appeared and traced around it before straps materialized out diagonally from two opposite sides of it. The straps whipped around his head until they connected with each other. Now it looked like Sora was wearing a jewel as an eye patch. Back to the keyblade, at this point the hand guard had moved significantly closer to the grip to the point that Sora’s knuckles were practically touching it. The smaller gems at the front of the hand guard suddenly snapped toward the largest gem, making the rest of the purple portion of it look like it snapped open, leaving the tips that were connected to the golden thread move in opposite directions from each other, the golden thread seemed to either stretch or grow more of itself to compensate. Now the hand guard looked like it was making an angular crescent shape before it suddenly grew significantly to the size of his torso. This whole process happened in the span of a second and a half, but what was once a keyblade, now became Sora’s new Archer’s bow. “Whoa!” He looked at it with amazement and wonder. Hm… seems fitting now that I think about it Although Rarity didn’t sound like it in his head he could sense her surprise at the process as well. Sora was now looking between his weapon and the shield bust ahead of them. Once he did look at his foe he noticed that gem lens over his right eye seemed to be glowing, highlighting certain spots on the enemy for him. “What are those?” Rarity was unclear on what they were as well but looking back at the bow, they seemed to come up with a guess… Only one way to find out. He switched the bow over to his left hand and used his right hand to grab onto the ruby heart that was in the center of the golden string. He lifted and pointed the bow at the shield bust before drawing the ruby heart back. That was when an arrow made of pure light materialised in front of it and rested on the nock. Well, I guess I don’t have to worry about running low on ammo...   He closed his left eye to focus his sight through the lens, then aimed for the glowing mark on the top right corner of the shield, since the bust was now trying to protect itself from any more attacks. “Let’s see how this goes” he released the ruby heart from his fingers and it shot forward along with the golden string with a “pinging” sound, trying to regain its idle position as fast as possible. This in turn shot the light arrow forward at phenomenal speeds toward its target. Once it made contact with that glowing spot in Sora’s gem lens, he was surprised to see the whole half of the shield practically shatter and crumble away leaving the bust with only one half of a shield in its other hand, while the now shieldless hand was only holding onto a handle. This of course leading the shield bust to look at it’s now free hand. The bust’s face couldn’t show any emotion, but Sora could’ve sworn it was staring at it’s hand in disbelief. “Now that’s some arrow…” Not quite, darling… I believe that arrow, although powerful, wouldn’t have done such damage without guidance to the right point. Sora then felt a wave of accomplishment and acceptance coming from her. As I expected, you can take down any foe without such brutish methods as bucking each other in the face. Sora felt his body getting ready to line up another shot. With precision and grace... Sora’s body pulled that ruby heart back once again, making another arrow of light appear in the same spot as the last one before it. Then his left eye closed as Rarity saw through his eyes to aim at the glowing spot on the other shield remaining. You dominate the battle. The heart slipped through Sora’s fingers once again firing another light arrow right into the targeted spot, striking it dead on. The shield bust could only watch as its last bit of defense shattered and crumbled away. It was now deemed completely useless and helpless as Sora pulled back another arrow. “I think I see your point rarity!” The Arrow then started blinking a few times before suddenly changing to a red color. “Now let’s see what this ability does” He took aim at the glowing spot on his arm, but also took a moment to glance at a spot on its other arm. He released the arrow and after it reached a meter in front of him the Arrow instantly burst into two arrows that each burst into many smaller arrows leaving two groups of mini red light arrows. The arrows then pelted into the targeted areas on both arms and immobilized the busts arms completely as the arrows not only pierced into the joint under the elbow, but they remained there and morphed into what looked like spiky looking stars. “Oh, uh… ow…” Sora cringed a bit at the sight rubbing his arm in the same area, If the heartless felt pain, that would’ve definitely been agonizing. Rarity gave off a sense of disbelief for a moment, My word… this bow certainly has a few tricks up its sleeve. “Was that an arm joke?” Sora deadpanned I assure you it was unintentional, now if you would please. “Right right, on it.” Sora decided to fire a barrage of arrows at the busts head until it looked like a light pin cushion, when it could finally take no more it simply slumped over “I am liking this bow!” As do I, every Arrow strikes with perfection… Oh let’s try this. Sora Then felt himself suddenly crouch onto one knee, aim his bow at the bust’s arrow ridden head, then pull his bow waaay back. SO far back the bow itself had to bend back with it. This time there was a much much larger arrow that appeared in place, but it’s arrowhead was a swirling cone shaped mass of energy. Oh My… This looks... A bit dangerous        Sounds perfect then Sora replied as he was putting a lot of focus on where it was heading before finally letting it go. This one shot off with a loud whistle and managed to push Sora back a bit as it flew straight into the Bust’s slumped over head. Once it was in the air the arrowhead rapidly started speeding up with its swirling and spinning to the point where it looked like a drill. That would probably be the most accurate thing to call it after what happened next. Once the tip of the arrow made contact with the cranium, it immediately started drilling straight into it. Dark mist spewing out of the growing hole as it went through the head, the neck the chest, then stops once the majority of the arrow was inside it. Inside the Arrow started blinking, then the blinking got faster and faster with every half second until. BOOM!  Sora had shielded his eyes from the flash before taking a look at the damages, he blinked a few times to make sure he was seeing what really happened. “Yeah, uh, ok…” in front of him the Shield bust was no more. Its upper half was completely gone, all that remained was the bottom half, which was already crumbling away into nothingness. Pieces of it falling off and evaporating in the air before it could even touch the ground. Sora got back to his feet taking in the damage he just caused… after a moment he gave a nod “Alright… Take the knowledge and absorb it” He broke out into a run. “We got work to do” Quite the philosophy. Rarity chimed in, but she gave off the sense of determination like he did. Worked for me so far since I got here. Sora held his bow up in front of him horizontally and pulled back as he continued running. His next target, the crossbow bust. The bust lost its weapon so all it could do was swing at the air trying to hit the guards that were smart enough to keep their distance and throw their spears at it. It was a good plan, but there wasn’t enough focused on it since the majority of the guards were keeping the smaller heartless away from them, the girls and Sora. They may not know what Sora was, but if he was helping, then they were gonna make sure he wouldn’t be hindered by small fry. “Let’s go!” He lowered his bow so that the arrow was facing the ground as he focused on picking up his running speed. When he took a look at the bust with his lens and see a glowing spot on its neck, this portion was glowing a lot brighter than the other spots on its body. “A weakness?” he said to himself as he took aim. He let loose the arrow mid stride and it shot right through the Bust’s neck, as if it wasn’t even there at all. This caused the creature to stagger and cringe violently before falling back. “Ok… glow-y spots are weak points… bright glow-y spots are the jackpot. Good to know.” He continued to fire arrows as he was moving, using his natural agility and awareness of his surroundings to hop over some guards or heartless, then jump onto a bench to leap high into the air before firing a powerful shot at the creature’s face, which exploded on impact damaging and blinding it.   He continued running and jumping until he ran up a wall, kicked off a street lamp and back flipped in mid air until he was upside down facing the bust, his bow pulled so far back that if one didn’t know any better, they would’ve thought he snapped it in two. He aimed the bow straight at the bust’s chest as a very large drill arrow manifested into place. “Let’s see how this works!” He yelled out before releasing the heart. The force of launch shooting him back and onto a rooftop as he watched his handiwork. The drill head was now spinning rapidly and enlarged to 3 times its size as it sailed through the air like a bullet. It hit the mark right on the chest, however that was not Sora’s and Rarity’s ultimate goal. The Arrow drilled right through the bust leaving a huge hole behind that made its body structure unstable and begin to form countless trails of cracks starting from the hole and throughout the body. Before long it would join it’s shield toting brethren in the same crumbling fate. Meanwhile The true purpose of the arrow was what really made them happy. During all this the Hammer Bust was certainly being a pain to the guards on its end. They couldn’t even get near it with the hammer’s length due to the pole it was attached to. Fortunately that drill arrow cut through the crossbow bust and from its downward angle, was already drilling through the hammer bust’s back and out its stomach. Because the sheer power and force of the shot, it struck the ground in front of the creature leaving its “explosive” trait useless, but at least when it did detonate, it took out the horde of smaller heartless that were surrounding it. With the path clear and the Bust stunned from surprise attack, the guard wasted no time charging in and attacking the beast. That was when Rainbow and Applejack crashed through the sword Bust, destroying it. However Sora’s concern was elsewhere. “Love their enthusiasm but the big guy is pretty sturdy.”  He fired a few shots into the shoulder blade of the arm holding the hammer, trying to restrict its movement as he jumped off the roof. He and Rarity watched as the guards were wailing on the thing, spears were flying, Pegasi were stabbing, and levitated weapons were slashing away at it. Rainbow and Applejack were off to the side watching the whole event. In their eyes, it looked like a bunch of ants taking down a tarantula, but that didn’t mean that the arachnid had an advantage. It was quite the sight for the two. However the stone heartless lacked any fear or the ability to move so instead of fleeing it would mindlessly attempt to attack once more, once it came to its senses. Fortunately Sora and Rarity weren’t going to allow that as he sprinted around the pedestal, arrow at the ready. The moment he caught sight of it in his lens, he jumped to the side outward from the pedestal as if he was going to dodge roll, but instead rapid fired 3 arrow’s into the beast’s elbow before gravity reminded him to finish the roll and was back up in a kneeling position. Looking at his handiwork. Marvelous darling Rarity congratulated their display of style and finesse. I’m not one to resort to violence, but I must say the two of us make up a divine protector of justice. We should definitely do this more often. “Well to keep us in top form, I’m sure we might have to put in some training time for that in the future” He said as he turned to his side. “Oh! Hey, Twilight!” then went back to facing forward drawing the bow back once more. “Sora?... You’re… different” Twilight stared at him. “Well that’s what happens when I fuse I guess… It’s the hair thing isn’t it?” He fired a weaker drilling arrow at the creature’s head. It only went half way into the cranium before exploding, leaving it headless. Now it was blind, it couldn’t use its arm holding the hammer and already crumbling away. The added attacks from the guard simply sped up the process to its imminent demise. “No I mean… Nevermind… now’s not the time” She turned at their dying foe. “Let’s just wrap things up here. There will be plenty of time later.” she ran ahead and was aiding the guard by firing her magic at it from long range. Meanwhile Sora was swallowed up by light for a brief moment and found himself on all fours once again. “Oh, I guess time was up, well, everything looks fine… from…” it was then that he noticed his bow was still in front of him… floating. “Well then.... This is new” Indeed, You’re certainly full of surprises Sora. Rarity’s admiration for him could be felt but that only confused him. Wait I thought you were- FLASH! In that instant the bow changed back into it’s original keyblade form, but that did not last long as he felt the two of them disconnect from each other. And just like that, Sora and Rarity were standing next to each other Keyblade in his mouth, and a little something extra for Rarity. On her head was a hat, a purple fedora. It was stylish and placed on her head slightly slanted forward. It hid her horn under it and rested on her mane gently and seemed guide it so part of it went around her face a little, partially hiding her left eye. On the front of the bill of her hat rested the Element of Generosity. A rather curious place for it to be. However, that wasn’t the only thing she received. Levitating around her were rapiers that seemed to be forged of glittering silver, their length reaching from her barrel to just past her Cutie Mark. There were six of them in all and they seemed to levitate around her. When Rarity finally took notice of her weapons and hat she immediately started looking around, searching for something reflective. Fortunately there was a store nearby with a wide enough window to accommodate that and her eyes seemed to sparkle “Oh… My… I love it!” she then struck a pose “Absolutely Stunning, and it goes so well with my ensemble” the rapiers seemed to follow her mindset as they seemed to shift around and stop in place that would seem to compliment her posing. “It’s so Bold, so Daring, so-” “Uh, as fashionable as that is Rarity, I’m pretty sure it was meant to help you in a fight… and we’re still in a fight soooo” Sora was trying to bring her back down to reality. “Hmm? Ah, yes, ahem, my apologies I suppose I was caught in the moment” she took another glance at her reflection and then a thought appeared in her head. “Hold up a moment, dear… She lifted her hat to show her horn as if to confirm something, then placed it back, perfectly where it was before. “Strange…” “What? What’s wrong?” Sora asked as he smacked away a few small heartless. Fortunately they were becoming scarce now and some of the guards were making their way over to the streets ahead to block them off and cut off the flow of Heartless. “They float… but I’m not using magic…” She focused on one of the rapiers and suddenly it started spinning in circles. “How odd…” “Huh… Kinda reminds me of that one guy” He didn’t explain more from there as he heard Twilight cast a thunder attack. “Uuuh, Let’s talk about this later, It’s not over yet” he dashed ahead past her and onward. Leaving her to her own devices. “Right, I’ll uh, be right there, darling!” Rarity called out then looked back at her levitating rapiers. “Once I… understand what I have here” She made one turn on an axis before suddenly a beam of purple-ish silver light shot out of the tip and blasted a piece of the stone pavement it was aimed at off the ground, leaving a blackened soot area where it used to be lodged. This gave her quite a startle as she reflexively pulled her forehoof away from the point of impact and stared back in slight fear and surprise. “...Well then…” After some time the statue heartless was soundly defeated, and the plaza was soon cleared of the remaining smaller heartless, with the guards placing themselves on the roofs and streets connecting to it to make sure no more could get in. “All clear here Luna!” Sora waved at the diarch as she strode in. she seemed focused and concentrating as her horn was radiating a dark blue light. However, it seemed she was still able to reply. “Thank you all for covering for me. I believe I am ready… CAPTAIN!” “Yes, ma’am” The guard that was barking orders to the others was now in front of her and saluting. “Send the signal, if you please.” She then made her way for the center of the plaza “Yes ma’am!” he suddenly turned to his soldiers. “Sergeant, give me fireworks!” “Yes Sir!” a unicorn guard saluted and stepped forward before firing off a kind of flare spell into the sky. But this flare then started to pulse in the air. After looking at it long enough it seemed to be a timed pulsing. ~~~ Celestia’s Plaza  Celestia looked up at the sky when she noticed the flare spell rise into the air and begin pulsing. This brought a smile to her face as her horn was hidden by its own radiant yellow glow of light. “Thank goodness, I was worried after what I heard was happening over on their side” she then motioned toward the Captain of her side, who then saluted and fired off a flare of their own… As both flares were noticed by both sides, their pulsing slowed until they matched their timing. “Good” she said as they both changed to a Red color “Continue as we have planned, Captain.” ~~~ Back to Luna’s Plaza         Sora looked up at both flares before looking at the Captian “What’s with the light show?”         The Captain was more than eager to reply “For this plan to work, both Princesses need to time their spells just right, You may not know this but although both Princess carry light within them, they are made of two opposite things. It’s something they found out recently I Have been told after discussing with... ‘an old friend’... Or at least that’s what I’ve heard.”         “Opposite things? You mean there is more than one kind of light?” Sora tilted his head confused after hearing this new revelation         “From the sounds of it, yes. I’m afraid you’re barking up the wrong tree for any details though, I didn’t bother asking about it since it wasn’t integral to know more for the plan to work.”         Sora decided to take the soldier’s word for it and make a note to ask the Princesses about it later. “Ok then, so I’m guessing the flares are for the timing part then.         “Correct, the Captain on Celestia’s side and my Sargeant here are actually counting down now as they look at the flares, Once both flares turn red, they countdown a set number of pulses they agreed upon then immediately flash both flares green. The Princesses are waiting for that green color.” The Captain kept his gaze at the flares         “And then what happens?”         “I don’t know” the Captain spoke honestly, but at that moment both Flares changed to green “but we’re about to find out.” they both looked at Luna. Her horn glowed brightly before she finally released all the pent up magical energy in this one spell.         Over on Celestia’s Side the Solar diarch was doing the same thing. Everyone nearby them had to cover their eyes as blinding blue and yellow light shot out of both alicorns respectively and seemed to swallowed them all up. For those hit with the yellow light, it was an energizing and warm feeling, that seemed to fill their bodies with unparalleled vigor and stamina. For those that were hit with the blue, it was calming and gave a cool feeling, it gave their minds a sense of unshakeable focus and clarity. In time both lights converged and mixed into each other altering it into one giant dome of light that covered the entire city, giving those within it the both the effects of the yellow and blue light now. It was definitely needed for those that were in battle and for those that were recovering. But the greatest thing the duo spell had given them, was the utter annihilation of the heartless.         The moment any of the guards, Bearers, or Sora got a look around them. All they would see… was empty streets, alleys, and roof tops. In just a few short moments, the invasion was thwarted in a blinding light. ~~~~~~~~~~ By the castle walls         “Absolutely not!”         Maleficent and the Queen were hiding out of eye and earshot behind castle walls as Maleficent finally discussed her NEW plan. However, after hearing it, Chrysalis was having immediate second thoughts. “Under no circumstances will I order my agents to do that! You have no idea what damages that will cause.”         “Oh, it would appear you know more about this then I would believe.” Maleficent seemed to once again half care for the Queen’s concern as she was once again looking through the book she brought with her, flipping through the pages.         “Who doesn’t know?!” The Queen stomped her hoof causing cracks in the ground. After an sudden glare from the witch, she quieted down “You have no idea damages that will cause, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it even stops us from achieving our goal.” She fired back a glare of her own at Maleficent. “In fact I’m positive that’s exactly what will happen.”         “Well, when you think about it, Your Majesty, this was bound to happen eventually. So why not sooner rather than later when we have the chance to use it to our advantage.”         “You’re not seeing the point here! Your asking my agents to release Discord! Discord would not care whether or not this is to our advantage. Infact once he knows what we’re up to, he’ll more than likely put a wrench in it only for the sake that it would cause chaos for us.” Chrysalis was now showing signs of worry and fear in her anger.         “And that’s exactly what I am counting on” Maleficent gave a sinister grin, this caused the Queen to take a step back.         “You want him to foil everything we’ve worked for and stride to achieve?”         “Of course, not! I will have my castle and you have your conquest. I won’t have some mismatched freak of nature ruin my goals. “Then Why-” Maleficent held up her hand “There are things that even a god would have fear of in this universe.”  She then held out her hand as if she was going to cup something when suddenly a sickeningly green and black ball of fire appeared and from it appeared a bottle of reddish liquid that fell into her hands.  Chrysalis swore she could feel the liquid giving off a faint yet ominous aura that, while not at all oppressive in its intensity, for some reason still caused her to feel unsettled. Chrysalis stared at the bottle warily “What… what is that?” “This,” she held the bottle a bit higher for emphasis “is something I picked up from Hades during a time when he and some other foolish-yet-powerful reprobates were counted among my circle. A souvenir, if you will.” It was at this point she tore her gaze away from the bottle and looked over toward the changeling queen. “Tell me, Your Highness… how do you kill a god?”