Tainted Hearts

(Take note that this story takes place in Book III)

Prologue
The scene unfolds at the Castle of the Secrets, of which floats in space at the center of the universe. The Secrets each tending to their own duties and whatever else they so desire to do. The Secret of Order hovered into the Treasury Room, exspensive and ancient artifacts decorating the walls and being held up by pillars which hold glass to encase enchanted items of great value.

"Hm..." Order contemplates the past as he gazes at some of the archaic artifacts and enchanted weaponry.

"Something bothering you?" Luck asks as he phases through a nearby wall.

"Yes, there's... Something out there.... A potent mass of energy, like none I've ever felt before." Order answers, Luck in turn contemplates as well. Before coming up with his answer, he attempts to 'feel' for this energy that Order spoke of, and then speaks once again.

"I see. There is indeed a powerful energy." Luck answers. "But, I feel like this energy is familiar, like it's connected with us somehow."

Order nods, understanding that this may be a serious threat, he left the room in a hurry to the meeting room where all the Secrets gather for meeting, Luck in tow. The other five Secrets gathered into the room with Order and Luck, them being recognized as Light, Darkness, Chaos, Life, and Death.

"So... What exactly... Is this... About?" Darkness asks with irritability.

Death looks toward Darkness, "About that new energy that has recently appeared from out of nowhere, but you've been asleep to long to bother." He answers rudely.

Chaos, who barely stand still, jumps around excitedly, about to burst from who-knows-what. "COOL!!" He practically screams.

Light stares at Chaos, "You never cease to amaze me." She compliments.

Order sighs, "Seriously guys, we need to at least understand what is going on. What this sudden energy is."

A tiny, light blue orb floats down into the room.

"What is that?" Luck questions in hope for an immediate answer.

He gets his answer as suddenly and explosion occurs from the epicenter of the room, black smoke envelopes the room. The room becomes clearer once agains after a few moments, and each Secret by this moment can make out a purple cloaked figure standing in the middle of the room.

Death stares at the figure before bothering to ask, "Who are you?" And upon this, he is answered by a spike lashing out, impaling his cloak, and seconds later, he is absorbed into the cloaked being.

Life growls in anger, "What the Hell?!" Floating back like the other Secrets, he screeches as he fires a beam of energy at the figure. A pike comes out once again, impaling Life, and just like Death, the same fate came to him.

Order looks at Chaos, "Get out of here, you and Luck, get out of here, we'll need backup!"

Chaos grabs Luck, practically dragging him on the castle's floor as he leaves.

As Order gave out the decree, Light and Darkness were both distracting the cloaked figure, attempting every attack they could, using some of their collaboration assaults; both of which became impaled and immersed within the cloaked figure.

Order sighed, knowing that he wouldn't stand a chance against this cloaked figure, if Death couldn't stand five seconds, he might not last even a moment.

The cloaked figure points at Order, then slowly approaches him, Order, responding to the figure's movement attacks it with a energy orb. The figure stands there as the attack lands a direct hit, but nothing affects the being.

"H-how's that possible?! Arbiter would at least be affected in some way by that!" Order gapes from such a circumstance. "W-what are you?! WHO ARE YOU?!" He demands.

The figure strides over to Order, taking out a pitch-black pike, pointing it at Order, who is so astonished he can't even make the simplest of movements. The figure then proceeds to stab Order, who stares at the figure for a moment.

"It's..you." Order speaks to himself. "The legends were true." Order says as he was being absorbed, "...help us.." Order finishes as he's immersed.

Seconds later, the Castle of the Secrets is suddenly blown to bits.

(Amnesty's and Red's fates at this point are unclear- I'm assuming for now that they died- so I will modify the text in the future if I need to. Also, this is NOT the story where Arbiter dies.)  (So sayeth the Arbiter)  23:37, November 9, 2011 (UTC)

Arbiter stands at the edge of a tall mountain, overlooking Red's Kingdom far off in the distance. He sighs to himself- he had survived battle after battle, emerging a bit worse off in the end, and those he could call his friends, one-by-one, had vanished.

''"Inferno... you were the first... my brother..." ''Arbiter thinks to himself. "...and Amnesty... I never thought one as strong as you would be... gone. And now, even you Red, the one out of us four whose will was truly unbreakable..."

Arbiter turns away, and a dark look passes over his face. "...Is this my fate?" he says aloud, speaking his thoughts angrily. "To watch everyone I have ever loved die?"

Luck floats down to Arbiter, "Hello Arbiter. Long time."

"Indeed, Secret." Arbiter says, giving Luck a curt nod.

"No, SEE!!" Chaos comes plummeting down to the earth, making a small crater.

Luck sighs, "We have trouble."

Arbiter sighs sadly. "What kind of trouble would a Secret have that he needs to seek me out?" he said.

"I know we haven't had the best times in the past, but Order, Death, Life, Darkness, and Light are all gone." Luck sighs. "Gone, gone."

Chaos dusts himself off.

"...gone? How so?" Arbiter asked.

Chaos starts first, "WelltherewasthisguyandhevisitedusandthenheabsorbedDeathorsomethinglikethat,andIwaslike'what'..."

Lucks sighed once again, "He said that the rest of the Secrets have been defeated, they are gone as in no longer existant. We don't know why, we can't feel them. They're gone."

"...whatever is capable of erasing a Secret, I hardly think I can help you with." Arbiter said, turning away. "...besides, I tire of pointless fighting. I've seen everyone I've ever loved die before my eyes. I can't be of any help to you. I'm sorry."

Luck stares at Arbiter dumbfoundedly. "Assist us, please, we need help. This is not a matter of Life and Death. Our home, our castle was destroyed! Only Chaos and I are left, and whoever this guy was obviously has something planned out, especially if he knew where to find us."

Chaos walks over, "I think you should assist us within our efforts as we try to see if we can- Oh, a butterfly!" Chaos chases it.

"...Why? Why should I help you? Do you not understand what I've been through?!" Arbiter's temper begins to flare up as the energies of Chaos begin to affect his mind. "DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!"

Luck stares at Arbiter, "Order gave you your power, did he not? And this is how you repay him?"

"...Order... Order... DO YOU KNOW THE HELL THAT HIS POWERS HAVE PUT ME THROUGH?! His powers were no gift, but a curse! A CURSE!"

"Think about this then, how would have your life been if he had not gave you those powers? You probably wouldn't have met all of your friends. And even though they may have passed on, doesn't mean you're seperated from them." Luck quietly speaks. "I should know. But I'm begging you, to help, without the others, everyhting will be ruined. Whoever attacked us knows how everything works. He's powerful, he's smart." Luck sighs, "I know you think it as a burden to have these powers, but Order gave them to you for a reason. To undo a mistake he made ages before, to hopefully make up for his many mistakes in the past. We aren't perfect." Luck admits.

Arbiter glares at Luck for another moment with hatred, then his expression softens into one of sadness- the expression of a man who was world-weary and had suffered more than his share of misery. "They were... more than my friends... they were my brother and sisters..." he says, sounding almost as if he is chocking back a small sob.

"I'm sure if you told Order that he'd feel bad. But he can't now, I'm sure Chaos and I will be gone soon too, since we got away." Luck explains, "That's why we need help. We can't deal with something like this on our own. We're not strong enough."

Chaos comes back with a sandwich, "Hey."

Luck stares at Chaos, dumbfounded.

"...but... what do you expect me to be able to do?" Arbiter asks Luck.

"You're a hero, we Secrets believe you can assist us, we just need help." Luck pleads.

Chaos stares at Arbiter, eating his sandwich.

"...a hero? I'm no hero... I'm... I'm a madman... I'm a murderer..."

Chaos stares at Arbiter still, then stops eating his sandwich. "You're right, you're a bastard, a waste of time, uselessness, and I have no idea why Order chose YOU out of everyone he could've chosen. Just another failure." He heartlessly answers.

Luck stares at Chaos, unable to even say words.

"...you shut your mouth, Secret." Arbiter says, rage building up once more.

Chaos eats his sandwich, then responds again. "Quit crying, quit wallowing in your own self-pity. You act like your problems are the worst, that you have it all bad. You don't, so stop it."

Luck, still dumbfounded, mutters a little.

"What would you know about that, Secret? ANSWER ME, DAMMIT! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY PROBLEMS?!"

"Think about Mr. I'mneverathome" Chaos answers, pointing at Luck, "He's had so many friends, and almost all are dead, this guy-"

"Enough, Chaos, we don't need to blabber about my personal life." Luck answers back.

Chaos begins again, "Besides, we know everything about you."

Arbiter frowns and turns away. "...good for you." he says darkly.

A light blue orb floats down from the sky.

Chaos sees it, grabbing Luck, he takes off. "We need to go byebye!"

Luck shakily yells, "But we ne--e-d his he-elp!!"

"...grr, FINE!" Arbiter snarls. He summons his greatsword to his hand.

The orb blows up, smoke goes around, it goes away revealing a purple cloaked figure.

"...are you the one who erased the Secrets?!" Arbiter snarled, still in a foul mood.

The figure's dark blue hand outstretches, pointing at Arbiter.

"Answer me, dammit!" Arbiter snarls, swinging his blade at the figure.

The figure stops the blade with it's hand, immediately when contact is made, Arbiter feels Order's power flowing through the figure and himself. With the other hand, the figure points at Arbiter.

Arbiter splits his blade into the respective swords of order and chaos- while the figure holds onto the blade of order, Arbiter swings the sword of chaos at the figure's other side.

The figure allows the attack to hit, but the attack goes straight through it's body, leaving a hole in the cloak.

Snarling, Arbiter swings both of his blades once more at the figure.

Before Arbiter could make contact, the figure knocks his swords out of his hands, and picks him up by the neck.

Arbiter's swords skitter across the ground then fall off the edge of the mountain. Arbiter, growling at the cloaked figure, grasps his wrist and tries to pull his hand off his neck.

The figure finally speaks, "Your name. Arbiter."

"...What is it to you?" Arbiter gasps angrily, straining against the hand clamped around his throat.

"Friends. Few. Most dead." The figure speaks aloud, as if to itself.

"...What is it to you?!" Arbiter repeats, with more frustration.

The figure drops Arbiter. "Where did the two Secrets run off to?"

"...they didn't say..." Arbiter responds, gasping for air.

"You have a good portion of Order's strength. I shall take that from you." The figure's hand reaches out to grab Arbiter.

Arbiter leaps back and fires a beam of green energy at the figure.

The cloaked figure raises it's hand in the way, grabbing the technique. It turns the attack into a little green orb. "Not enough." The figure leans forward, then is suddenly standing in front of Arbiter, and slaps him down with a strong hit.

Arbiter summons power, and unleashes it in one single blow to the ground that cracks the mountaintop in half, the slowly widening crevice separating him and the figure.

"Smart, your mind is powerful." The figure compliments.

Luck appears suddenly, "Arbiter, we need to go." Luck opens a portal and goes into it.

Arbiter steps into the portal, sparing the figure one last glance.

On the Other Side
Arbiter walks into a orange colored world, seemingly devoid of life, save for Luck and Chaos.

"Sorry about that." Luck practically bursts as he enters the area.

Arbiter gives a small grunt in response, resummoning his lost blade to his hand and plunging it into the ground. "I was of absolutely no help. And even if I tapped into the fullest extents of my powers and tore apart that realm, I couldn't have helped you at all."

"Seriously?" Luck asked, bewildered. "No one is THAT powerful. Really, is that even possible?"

"Secret... are you joking? Plenty of beings across the Multiverse have the sheer power and capability of destroying an entire realm." Arbiter responded, looking away.

"I know, but, it's just the air around this figure..And that he took down five of us in less than a minute." Luck answers back.

Arbiter sighs. "...what do you propose to do about it, then?"

Luck stares at Arbiter, seemingly clueless as to what the plan should be.

"...you're kidding me. You ask for my help against this monster and you don't even know what we need to do?" Arbiter asks incredulously.

"I'm...Lost, seriously.." Luck admits.

Arbiter groans in frustration and sits down on the ground. These days he found it harder and harder to meditate, but he tried anyway. Unable to attain a peace of mind, however, he began to yell out in frustration. "Dammit... DAMMIT... DAMN IT ALL!!"

Luck sighs, "There might be a way."

Chaos' eyes bug out, "You don't mean that legend? It can't be true. Death and Darkness both deny there is such a thing."

"...well then? Spit it out." Arbiter said.

Luck looks toward Arbiter, "Even among us Secrets, there's a legend how we came into being." Luck begins. "There was a powerful god, who's strength was so great, that he made universes with a flick of his wrist. In one hand, he'd create objects from his mind, and in the other, he'd give life to these objects."

Chaos excitedly laughs.

Luck continues. "His magic reaching across vast realms, he decided that he leave behind fractions of himself to excel his message that he is the one and only god. Thus, we Secrets we're created." Luck explains. "And afterward, he left everything to it's own device, giving way to our realms these days."

Arbiter raises an eyebrow, but utters no words.