Following the damage done to the seal by the crystal, the Church
presence at the seal escalated once more, until hardly a day went by
when there were not half a dozen warriors nervously standing guard
around the weakening stone. They soon learned the dangers of donning the
token, and so resorted to confining it within packs or chests to
withhold it from the Occultists.

A few months later, Flair was startled to hear a strange voice ringing
in his mind - that of the silver-haired priestess who had lately aroused
so much controversy. Speaking tersely, she informed him that the crystal
had weakened the seal as much as it possibly could and advised him to
obtain the token immediately to hear what commands its voice might have
for him. Unsure of the priestess's motivations, Flair nevertheless
sprung into action, assembling a small strike force that consisted of
Reznik, Harmonia, Tekla, Lilin, Terra, Arel, Eloquay, Cauthorn,
Galadryal, Isis, Renee, Santar, and Helcore. Moving swiftly, they seized
the seal from the unprepared Church guard and succeeded in holding it
for the brief period until the token returned.

The voice from the token was adamant. The crystal alone would not be
enough. A source of immense power was needed to fuel the final
destruction of the seal and the release of what lay beneath. Flair
wanted to know if the Living Spire would be able to supply enough power.
The voice, after considering, agreed that it might.

Thus Flair summoned a chariot and, stepping aboard, circled up into the
sky until he reached the very summit of the crackling monument. A storm
of Chaotic energy raged about him as he approached the fiery Eye of
Golgotha rotating at the pinnacle, and surges of destructive power
wracked over his body as he stretched his arm into the heart of the
roiling cloud. Undeterred after several failed attempts, he finally
managed to attach the small green token to the the relic's surface.

A moment later, things got very interesting at the seal. Those present
stepped back in fear as something massive was heard to slam up against
its bottom over and over, while thin hairline cracks appeared on its
surface and quickly spread and deepened. Just as Flair returned through
the maze of tunnels, the seal shattered into a thousand pieces to reveal
a gaping black pit that seemed to press deep into the bowels of the
earth with no visible bottom.

A hush fell over the crowd. At first, nothing happened. Then, from deep
within the pit, a noxious cloud of foul-smelling black smoke poured out
to fill the cavern. It lingered only a moment, but when it cleared, an
elderly-looking man in a tattered black robe was standing next to the
seal.

The priestess was the first to move. "At last!" she crowed, "I was
beginning to fear that these mortals would never set You loose!"
Throwing back her hood, the slight woman suddenly appeared much taller
and more threatening. "Now I will take what is rightfully Mine."

The assembled Occultists and allies looked on in horror as the priestess
began to transform. A multi-coloured aura shimmered into view around her
form, her silver hair erupted into vibrant rainbows, and every
characteristic of her form suddenly assumed the unmistakable aspect of
divinity. Eris, Goddess of Chaos, stood before them, but not for long.
Lunging forward, She slammed into the newly emerged figure, and both
vanished into thin air.

Eris soon reappeared, however, floating in the skies above Sapience with
the bound figure of Babel prostrate at Her feet. With a ringing laugh of
triumph, She plunged one fair hand into His form and began to ruthlessly
drain the divine essence from the helpless deity until He faded into a
lifeless husk and vanished completely.

Imbued with power beyond imagination, Eris immediately plunged into the
sea of time and departed. Travelling through currents and passages
unknown and unknowable, She pressed back over thousands of years,
traversing the entirety of human history in a moment, until She arrived
at Her destination. It was the idyllic first age of Proteus, where a
smiling Aldar maiden named Maya was moving peacefully across green
meadows, unaware of the disaster that would soon befall.

As the world-shattering Chaos of the Unnamable Horror tore a gate
between the Realms and entered Creation, Eris plunged into the waiting
aperture, departing forever from the known world. This, the culmination
of an intricate paradox she had carefully crafted through her years of
experiments with time travel, allowed her to use her great puissance to
pass beyond the bounds of reality and claim a birthright, of which
perhaps even she was not fully aware.

Back in the present time, the silence in the Garden of the Gods is
broken by the sounds of footsteps. It is Sarapis, his grey robes
sweeping across the floor. He nods to the other gods but does not stop
until he stares out over the sweeping panorama of Sapience. With hands
clasped behind his back, an enigmatic smile quirks his lips.

"Farewell, Lady Chaos," the Logos whispers. "It was fun while it
lasted."

Penned by My hand on the 20th of Aeguary, in the year 476 AF.