Crossing of the Paths

Book 1: Desert Wind - Chunk 14

The Crossing of the Paths
Second Edition
By MMM/AJ
Part I: Desert Wind

A/N: Well ladies and gents, here it is! This is the ending of the Desert Wind Arc! Everything truly comes to a head here! I've done my absolute best to tie up every last possible plot thread, at least minus the ones that lead to the next big arc.

There's an uncountable ocean of blood, sweat, and tears that went into this finale. The rough draft was hella fun to write but when I first wrote it I accidentally introduced literally dozens of plot holes into the story as I went. I had to spend months finding them all, figuring out how to patch them, and actually implementing all those fixes. As far as I can tell, it's fully polished up and plot hole free, or at least as close to plot hole free as my smooth hooman brain can get it. As a reminder, I wanted to say again that I do welcome constructive critiques on this work, but I will not accept anyone trying to use concrit as a sneaky vessel to slide in insults and abuse. Please be cordial and kind if you choose to critique me here at the end. And of course, even tiny short comments or just emojis are welcome! I value all comments as long as they're not insulting!

That being said, there's still more content here that I feel the need to add a Content Warning for! It's not as intense as the really dark stuff in the last chunk, but it's enough that I feel it still necessitates a CW. As always, the CW is in the ending Author's Notes at the bottom, please scroll down to check it if you're sensitive to violent content!

And hey, here's a seriously BIG thank you to everyone who has stuck with me and read everything so far! And there's good news for those of you who've been following along regularly: I just finished the first Chunk of the next Arc in the story, so that will be coming next weekend! So we get at least ONE more week of weekly posts before we catch up to where I left off. Hope you are all looking forward to it!

Interlude 4

Indiru knew they had finally arrived at their destination when she heard soft gasps of shock and dread echo through the Helmasaur from the pilot's seat. The voices that came over the radio were hushed and filled with a subdued fear.

"By the Goddesses!"

It had only been minutes since they left the ancient woods that had protected the sacred meadow where the blessed sword had been hidden. The speed of their Helmasaurs and the assistance of the Deku Tree had carried them through the final stretch toward the capital at impressive speed. Now the treeline had parted and revealed the full panorama to the entire caravan, causing them all to come to a halt and take in the scene. Indiru had only seen a vague outline of the capital during her vision of the path that she'd conjured for Mewtwo and Kalana but she remembered it being dark and ominous. She didn't exactly feel eager to see the real thing in full detail now, but a sort of terrified curiosity drove her to stand up from her seat and peer through the cabin at the driver's screen.

The red doomsday orb above the tower was the worst part. Indiru's visions had already warned her repeatedly about an imminent apocalypse threatening to swallow the entire world, but seeing that miniature blood red sun hovering above the top of the tower was a far more stark, direct warning than vague visions and gut feelings. It was like staring directly into the face of death itself while knowing that it could break free at any moment and come for you. The fact that the city around the tower was lying in ruins already and emitting hundreds of smaller plumes of smoke only added to the sense of desolation and looming doom even further. Everyone was rendered speechless for several long, creeping moments as their minds all struggled to process what they were seeing. Hadara was the first one to eventually break the silence.

"So Mewtwo really was right..."

Indiru slowly climbed up to stand between Hadara and Madiri's seats so she could speak with them.