Dark Age Legends

[Xorlak]

"Ready? No, you are obviously not ready..."

Duilin quickly found himself alone on top of the walls, the raging battle that was going on around him just a moment ago nothing but a dull clatter, far in the distance...

The sky suddenly churned with a vile read and black, and a tangible fog filled the air...

"You are not ready at all, my son..."

The towering figure of Abodahon was then upon him, towering over the half-demon, massive gauntlets on either side ready to crush him like an insect...

"... for you have failed in every way conceivable...  You are a disgrace and a weakling..."

"Look out, Duilin!!"

A fist slammed into the massive demon's face, sending him tumbling over the wall.  Shaking his hand once from delivering the punch, Zeros' turned to Duilin, looking down upon him with half lidded eyes.

"You're too weak, Duilin.  I'll handle him.  Stay here."

With that, his wings unfurled, and two more sets grew underneath those, yielding a massive wingspan, far larger than Duilin's.  A sickly green aura engulfed him as he drew his blade, which in turn magnified in size.  Without warning, Abohodon, jumped back over the wall in a single bound, and Zeros' flew skywards to meet him...

----

Mavas stuck his head out from a bush.  From the overhanging cliff, he could get a fair glimpse of the battle raging on below.  He watched as those scaly green creatures scampered over the walls of Kenar.  Most were being thrown back, but some were getting through.  More and more with each passing moment.  Soon they would be overrun.  He remembered when he fought for Tjed, very long ago... and could not help but feel a tinge of anger at the lizards invading his home of years back.  But no!  It was his no longer, and he did not care!  His body resembled the Lizard Men more now, anyway.  Pah!

He tunned around and snaked through the trees to tell that vile sorceress what he'd seen.

----

Iduran blinked at the question.

"Well, I uh... I'm not sure..."

He paused and stroked his chin.  The dragon-like Mavas appeared out of the forest and waded through the thick beach sand, looking like a predator.  He bowed mockingly to Indher.

"There is indeed a huge battle going on just up the beach, my lady.  Lizard Men are storming Kesnar.  Hitting them pretty bad.  I saw it from the cliffs just back there.  The whole town will be overrun in a few hours, maybe less."

Iduran snapped his fingers.

"That's it!"

The dragon-man looked at him with a scowl.

"Those cliffs back there.  Long ago I lead an assault on Kesnar, but the Tjedians repelled it with a rock slide from those cliffs.  Maybe we could do the same against the lizards?  Surely it would help gain their favor!"

[D. Ein]

//all Alex's actions were discussed in real-time with Dark Spartan while I was writing the post.\

Alex drew his weapon.

-"What are we waiting for, then?"

De Sade cackled menacingly.

-"You really think you will impress me with a weapon?" He folded his arms on his chest. "Heretic."

Alex scoffed and pointed the rifle at de Sade's head. The latter had not moved a muscle, once again reminiscient of a grim statue. Alex, aiming directly at the unshielded face of the Lilithian, fired the rifle.

The blast split into two separate ones, making a circle around de Sade, and burning down a tree behind him. He looked lazily at the pile of smoking ash, then back at Alex.

-"You ungrateful whelp ought to learn to respect your elders. I told you that I won't be impressed by a mere hunk of conductive metal."

However, Alex was not yet done. Just prior to de Sade turning his head, he unsheathed his scimitar. De Sade turned around to find the blade in his face, though not even scraping his skin. The scimitar made a strange noise, and Alex was blasted away from the Lilithian into a nearby tree, falling limply on the ground.

-"The mewling child dares swing at the father?" A previously hidden energy wrapping around de Sade made itself visible, and, with a weak flash, vanished. "Hmmph. Hmmmmph. This must be what you call "humour".

The sorcerer was now looking at Midna.

-"Midna, you know better than to send... " He paused for a second. "...insects like that my way. Do me a favour, and help the kitten find its claws. I give you six hours to prepare, and after that, there will be no more mercy."

With a quiet "poof", both de Sade and Carmine vanished into thin air.

[Zeros']

Meanwhile, the real Zeros', with Rink in tow, was flying towards where Tjed was, as he had sensed the strange energies coming from that direction. He felt the need to investigate them.

---

Allen frowned. He didn't honestly know what to do. It looked like someone was using a form of magic on his commrades, making them completely vunerable. He glanced over at the man who had gone crazy and looked around at the others, trying to disconcern if any of them would also go crazy.

In th meantime, the mages were still raining concentrated blasts of ice down upon the lizardmen, but the ice was slowly growing weaker, as the mages reserves slowly ran out.

[Dark Spartan]

Half-buried in the snow, Alex opened his eyes, to find Midna hovering over him.

“Alex, are you okay?” the imp seemed concerned.

Alex pulled his metal frame up from the powder, feeling various parts of his skeleton crack along the way. Wincing in pain, he nodded.

“I’m sorry, Alex,” Midna replied sorrowfully. “I didn’t expect de Sade to show up so soon…I figured we’d have more time to get you ready.”

“Well, you heard his ultimatum,” he moaned. “Six hours. That’s how long I have to strengthen myself…I’m dead.”

“If we could find that third page,” Midna replied, “surely we could take on de Sade in the way he’s used to.”

“The Parasite is truly a powerful spell if it leeches an enemy’s life force,” Alex noted, “but maybe de Sade has no life to leech?”

“We’ll find out soon enough,” Midna said, helping him up. “Now, into the mines.”

Under the majestic Glacia mountains existed the endless cavernous catacombs of the Glacia Mines. Searching for one page would be like trying to find a needle in a mountain-sized haystack.

The clock was ticking. Six hours would flash by in an instant, a blink of an eye in de Sade’s lifetime. He had no problem in waiting a quarter day for his quarry to return once more for another fight. Hopefully next time he would pose more of a challenge…

[Jenia]

Fernis sighed.

"And how, sir knight, if I may ask..."
Her tone was almost sarcastic this time
"...will we couse a rockslide? We'd have to damage a pretty large part of the cliff to do anything serious, and the best weapon we have is my thunder-throwing armlet."

She turned to look at Mavas, examining him from feet to head.
"Unless Mavas made himself somehow so overpowered he can couse a rockslide by slamming the cliff, I doubt it can be done."

Elphos interrupted.
"But, can't we usem the runes of distortion on the earth to...?"

"NO!" Fernis quickly silenced him "If we do that, we risk destroying Kensar's construction as well!

Elphos nodded but did not step away, signaling Fernis he still had something to say. She raised an eyebrow, as if wondering if he would ever suggest something useful.
"Erm...Why don't we just create a selective thunderstorm?"

Fernis actualy pondered to consider that one. Attacking Tjed's enemy with thunder that only hits lizardmen would seem like a natural phenomenon, lessening the chances of their detection. However, to create such a large scale spell, time is required...

"I believe it's possible, but it would take me at least half an hour to create the rune set, and even then I can probably keep it active for no longer than an hour. Compared to that, I believe Iduran's rockslide idea is easier to pull off and better."

Both of them turned to the knight, obviously waiting to hear his opinion as the final desicion on the matter.

[Dude Man]

//Now this is way better then what I was thinking of.\

Duilin looked Abodahon in the eyes. "Father...How did you...I thought you were..."

What's going on? Is this truly his father...it feels like it's him. Dear lord, it is. How did he gain the ability to do this? Why is he helping the Dark Empire? He hated the Dark Empire!

"A weakling!?"

Then he saw Zeros' sweep in and start fighting him. "I'm too weak!? Screw you Zeros'! This is my fight! I thought you had more honour then that, bastard!"

Duilin's mind was moving too fast for him to keep up, his thoughts were moving quickly and very clumsily. What is going on? His father has returned and his mentor is stealing the battle from him, it's a nightmare come true.

"I won't let you take this fight from me!!" Duilin clenched his fists and flexed his muscles, causing a golden aura of flame and lightning to surround him. He jumped in the air and flew upwards. "THIS IS MY FIGHT YOU GLORY HOG!!"

What's happening to me? I need to calm down...No...I won't I refuse. It's time to prove myself!

Duilin's right hand was surrounded in lightning began to glow yellow, to green and then to blue. As soon as he caught up to Zeros' he grabbed him by the shoulder, and pushed the stunning electric energy into him, and then threw him back. "I can handle this! I am NOT weak!"

"My son, yes you are." Abodahon stated as if delivering a blunt fact. Duilin glared at his father, just before being punched right in the face by the massive gauntlet fist, and shot down to the ground like a bullet...

[Xorlak]

There was a massive explosion as Abodahon struck the ground, plumes of brown smoke billowing into the air.  Duilin was no longer upon the walls of Kesnar, but now in the midst of a barren wasteland.  The earth was dry and cracked, and small brown plants that had lost the fight for life occasionally reached for the crimson and black skies.

The image of Zeros' expanded his wings fully, casting a shadow over the half demon.

"You shouldn't have done that, Duilin," he said calmly with narrowed eyes, "your place is in the back row.  You must always be weak, because you cannot handle strength.  I will have to destroy you before you turn on us again."

With that, the demonic blade shifted again, growing even larger, a wicked sword over fifteen feet in length.  With a mighty heave, he split the very air, aiming to cleave Duilin through the middle...

----

Iduran through for a moment.

"If we can get a few rocks large rocks moving, it may be enough to start a chain reaction...  Indher, can you cast the thunder spell by yourself?  The rocks will only hit the southern end of the beach at best.  If you can hit the troops attacking the northern end at the same time we cause a rock slide, then surely we can cause some damage!"

He seemed excited, like a kid.  Clenching both fists, he shouted to the dragon-man and Elphos.   "Mavas! Elphos!  Come quickly!  I will need your strength!"

He ran off in the direction of the forest, which began a steep incline to the cliff's edge.  

Mavas grumbled, but found the stupid dead knight better company that the necromancer cat woman, so he followed.

[Jenia]

Elphos was at a loss. He was counting on doing what he is best at - helping Fernis.
He then noticed her waving at him.
"Go." She told him "I'll handle by myself. By the time I hear your rocks tumbling, I'll be ready."

Elphos nodded and ran in Iduran's direction, leaving Fernis alone to do a lot in little time.
"Alright. I can do this." she told herself as she bent down and began scribbling on the beach sand.

The circle she was working on, if to strike a large area with heavenly lightning, had to be quite large itself. Not as large as the one used to summon Iduran from beyond, as this one was simpler and required less power.
She hastly scribbled runes, which, if an attempt to translate them into normal language was made, would sound along the lines of "Strike by chain lightning from clouds to scales on base level around the army-containing area trice (per activation) in far apart locations".
Of course, all the non-exact phrases such as "army-containing area" or "far apart" were actualy long chains of runic numbers.
As Fernis scribbled this, she realized she wishes the runes themselves to be sentient and cooporative...

[Dude Man]

Duilin rolled to his left, barely avoiding the blade. "You can't be the real Zeros', he's not like this!" Duilin got up, quickly recovering. "Mavas!"

"No, Duilin it is me." Zeros' said, arching back his sword. "Ever since you lost that fight with Draven, you went too far to your demonic side, but you still lost. You'll turn on us again."

"Go to hell Zeros'! I guess Abodahon was right about you!" Duilin shouted.

"Be that as it may. You will die, weakling!" Zeros' swung his sword, at Duilin, yet the half demon blocked it with his sword, yet Zeros' demonic blade sliced right through the blade and the the hilt shattered into dust, in Duilin's hand.

"Weak. Weak, weak, weak, WEAK!" Zeros' hissed, swinging his sword again.

Duilin parried backwards avoiding the swing. "I am not week!!" Duilin shouted, clenching his fists. "If I have to kill you in order to prove that, goddamnit, I will!" Duilin hovered in the air and roared. His eyes began to get more yellow and darker and his aura expanded. "DIE!!" He pushed forward his hands and shot forth a stream of demonic orange lightning towards the fake Zeros'...

--- ---

"Zeros'." Rink said to the real one. "We have to hurry. I sense Duilin is in a lot of mental harm." He looked forward towards where they were going. "I think I'm picking up the begining of a bloodrage..."

[Xorlak]

The blast of lightning snaked through the air before boring into the image of Zeros' chest.  His massive wings curled up around him as the blast threw him backwards, faster and faster.  His eyes bulged and he writhed in pain before the explosion overtook him.  With a reverbing scream, he burst into a million tiny specks of light, which thrust outward amongst a circular shockwave...

For a brief second, the barren wasteland amongst which Duilin stood flickered, the solid ground waving as if water.  But the effect was over quickly, and the abysmal solitude was restored.

"Good, good..."

Another shadow now loomed over Duilin, this one much larger than the one cast by the wings of Zeros'.

"You have become your true self at last..."

It was the Dark Emperor Retan, his burning crimson eyes the only distinguishable feature amongst that horned black form.

Then suddenly, he reached up and pulled the helmet off of his head, slowly...  His face was not visible at first as he discarded the black metal  upon the ground, but it faded into visibility quickly enough as he grinned a maniacal smirk...

It was Draven.

"Well now, I really must thank you for all you've done," he spoke with a sinister glint in his eyes.  "Especially near the beginning.  Why, if we hadn't agreed to work together that fist time, none of this glorious war would have happened!"

Still dressed in Retan's attire, he held both arms skyward.

The ground burned.  Everywhere.  Villages burned.  People screamed and fled in terror.  But escape was impossible, as they melted in twisted agony...

Duilin now wore armor of a spectacular black, the four winged dragon of the Dark... no Crimson Empire emblazoned prominently upon his chest.

"But now it's all mine...  All thanks to you..."

----

Iduran looked down from the looming rocks upon Kesnar.

"Hmmm, this is bad..."

He watched for a moment as the Lizard Men scaled the walls, like hundreds of tiny ants, overwhelming by sheer numbers.  The Tjedians were starting to loose this desperate fight...

With renewed determination, and additional concern, the old knight leapt backtracked off the cliff's edge and down closer to the base of the rocks.

"This way, hurry!"

He followed the path down the cliff's face a bit, for the mountain edge was not quite a vertical drop off.  It was quite treacherous, though, and he was forced to climb on all fours at some points.  

The draconian Mavas seemed to be having less trouble.  Though he was much larger than the knight, his feet were shaped like massive green scaled talons, and he was able to grab onto the jagged rocks without much difficulty.

Finally Iduran made it to the base of a cluster of rocks overlooking the sandy beach below.  Warriors from the walls of Kesnar would be able to see them as tiny specs upon the mountain if they looked closely, yet with the raging battle going on, no one of either side would have the time to even consider looking.

"There."

He pointed to the largest one, a monolith some fifteen feet high, though slightly less wide.

"If we could dig into the rocks far enough, the ones above will topple over."

Mavas sneered and clenched his right claw into a fist.  With a mighty punch, he slammed his fist deep into the stone, sending chunks spewing outwards in all directions.  One nearly hit the knight.  The dragon smiled a toothy grin.  It seemed the cat woman came through after all.

"No no NO!!"  Iduran interrupted Mavas' first pleasant thoughts after his change.  "More gently!"

"Gently? You want me to gently cause a massive bone-crushing avalanche?"

He rolled his eyes.  Soon.  Oh, soon...

[Jenia]

((That last thing Mavas said should definetly enter his quote record XD Oh, Xorlak? Feel free to control Elphos. He is an NPC, not a character, in case you didn't notice :p))

"Eep!"
Elphos just barely dodged the flying rocks coused by Mavas' punch.
Having barely climbed down, he had to catch his breath after such a tedious task, and here rocks suddenly started flying at him, scaring him almost out of his wits.

This was rediculous. Why'd he have to come? The words of the knight and the fists of the monster are more than enough to complete the task.

--------

With the circle unfinished, Fernis rose her head in suprise as she heared the blast. It almost felt as if the ground below her was shaking.
It's too early, damnit!
She slapped herself as she realized she stopped working and returned to the feverious task.

[Dude Man]

Duilin looked at his clothing, and ran his hand across the insignia; he then lifted his head and looked around. "What?" Duilin stepped forward and walked past Draven. He scanned the burning chaotic area. "I helped you do this?" He helped Draven, the man he truly hate do this.
 
But of course, it made sense actually; when he killed Zeros' he knew that only Draven could help him defeat the Dark Empire, his true enemy, the planet would have to go into darkness. But then and only then would he be left alone with Draven, give him his final battle and then he gain the title of the most powerful being on Gaian.

But no, this isn't what he wanted! He can't allow Draven to take control over Gaian, because then this exact thing would happen. Him and Zeros' are supposed to defeat Retan, with the aid of Tjed and the Dark Empire and Draven would be forced to surrender, because the mighty strength of Zeros' and his group proved that nobility and justice would prevail over evil in the end.

Then again, he would still live under the shadow of Zeros'. This must be why he chose this dark path. Duilin turned and faced Draven. "Now that I have helped you get this, I will take it from you." Duilin arched back his hand creating an orange horned skull made of his raw demonic energy. His hair grew a bit longer and started to whiten at the tips his muscles became bigger and his skin became more of a golden colour, visible horns grew on his forehead and a second pair of smaller wings sprouted under his older ones. The insignia on his armour turned to a golden colour and changed to the symbol of the Talonscar. He became the true spawn of his father the new Demon Lord.

He could hear his voice screaming in his head "NO! THIS ISN'T WHAT I WANT! MAKE IT STOP!" but he ignored it.

"And now that I am my true self, I can finally end my biggest problem...you." He tossed the demonic skull which doubled in size and it seeked its way towards the Crimson Emperor...

[Xorlak]

The image of Draven's eyes widened.

"Huh?!"

The massive searing skull slammed into him, and he flew backwards uncontrollably, his arms flailing about wildly.

"What is THIS?!?!  THIS IS'T sup--POSED to HapppENNNN!!!!!"

Then the barren wasteland illusion cracked like a shattered pane of glass.

Melface rode the edge of the demonic skull attack, flying backwards until he hit the stone edging of Kesnar's wall.  A massive explosion ensued, sending large stone boulders flying in all directions, raining down upon the oncoming stream of lizards from the beach.  Both Lizard Men and Tjed Knights alike were thrown into the air like rag dolls as a hole twenty feet wide was punched into Kesnar's wall, replaced by nothing more than a hill of rubble...

The child-like Nightmare Demon was flipped further skyward by this, landing some thirty feet off of the shore, right into the water with a huge splash.

Bubbles ensued from the drink for a moment before he finally surfaced, his silver hair matted over his face and his arms flailing about to stay afloat.

"Gah!  A... a... demon lord?!  Here?  This is not possible...!!"

He went under again, then rose and coughed the water out of his lungs violently.  He then weakly swam to the sandy beach and fell to his knees and hands, breathing and coughing heavily as the water lapped around him.

"Well well, Melface is looking scared.  That's a twist."

A figure fell from the sky, his boots landing in the water next to Melface and splashing him in the face.

"Silence, drow!  Or I shall make you wet the bed at night!  Again."

The newcomer's eyes widened a bit.  But then they resumed their cold gray professionalism.  He ran his right hand trough his bright cerulean hair.

"So... what happened anyway?"

"I tried to eat the soul of a demon lord.  Though he was disguised as a commoner."

"And... that's a bad thing...?"

"YES!" the child screamed.  Suddenly he felt himself lifted out of the water.  "GAH!!"

The hugely rotund Lizard Man studied the flailing child as he dangled above the water, the lizard's grip on the demon's collar.

"Did somebody say EAT?!?!"

"Unhand me!!!  You... fat... thing!!!!"

"Bloat just want to help..."

"You are not helping my situation!!!!"

"I'm sorry..."

Melface was released, and he fell down into the water with a splash.  The fat lizard resumed eating the large piece of meat that he happened to be holding in his other claw.

Rosario folded his arms, the sea breeze blowing his bright cerulean hair.

"Hey, Bloat.  Someone's giving Melface here trouble.  Perhaps we show this guy who's boss?"

"Can... I... EAT HIM?!?!?!"

"I... guess..."

The rotund lizard smiled a toothy yellow smile, and began to waddle after the pointy eared warrior and head for the opening in the wall.

Melface crawled out of the water, then shook himself off like a dog before scampering after the two like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Idiots!  Wait!"


After recovering from the explosion, all the lizards looked upon the hole in the wall with jagged smiles.  Climbing over a few dead bodies, they began charging the critical weak spot...

----

Iduran heard an explosion behind him, turning around to look at the town below, his eyes widened.

"Blast it!  They've knocked down a section of wall!  Hurry!"

Melface tossed an offending boulder away.  With enough cleared, the huge rock above would fall right over, though they still had a long way to go.

"Heavens!  But if we do that, then this might actually work!  Are we sure we want our plan to work?"  He grinned sarcastically, a frightening expression on his draconian muzzle."

"Blast it!  Stop toying with me!"

"Now now, you're not being gentle!"

Elphos sighed.  Surely if this battle didn't kill him, one of these crazies would.  Why hadn't he just stayed with Fernis?  He looked at the huge boulder, and noted the small hole they had dug underneath it.

"If only... we had some sort of... wedge..."

Iduran brought his hand to his chin.

'Hmmm, yes... we could stick it underneath the rock and pry it up, using a smaller stone as leverage...  And since we'd be off to the side, we'd be in less danger.  But blast it, we don't have time time to cut down and strip a tree..."

Mavas nearly pushed the old knight off the cliff walking past.

"Move it."

As the other two watched, he backtracked up the path they came, stopping at the base of a tree that was growing diagaonally out the mountain side, overhanging the sandy beach below.  Wrapping his claws around the trunk, he ripped the thing right out of the ground...

[Dude Man]

Duilin's grabbed his head as a large jolt of pain flowed through him. His Demon Lord form had become, true. Fortunately for him his Talonscar/Crimson Empire uniform was gone, however his grey custom combat suit changed, his orange belt was now red, and the suit was now black, it was reacting to his demonic energy.

"Duilin. Don't won't." Said a calming voice in his head.

"What's...what's happening?" Duilin groaned, his voice was much deeper then before.

"You've been attacked by a nightmare demon, he was feasting on your soul and making you believe your worst nightmares became true. As a result, you have experienced a full blood rage. Tell me, do you remember anything that happened between when you were sucked into the vortex and when you arrived in the Vandrin County?"

"Nothing." Duilin replied. "I have a craving to kill...to feed..."

"Don't be afraid Duilin. During the time you were away, you and your friends went to different dimensions; you went to Asgard, my home, the final resting place of the noble and the dwelling of the angels. I was chosen by the gods to be your guardian and help you be the first demon to go through redemption."

"Aegidius? How can I be redeemed?" Duilin shouted. He jumped forward onto the beach, where several lizard men were. The Demon Lord smashed the ground with his fist causing a shockwave or golden energy to break through the ground and push away the lizards, the energy splashed onto them and their skin burnt away. He continued to smash through the lizards showing no mercy, killing any of them who stood in his way.

"It is true much of your father's evil blood runs through you, so you will have to kill a lot of people in order to regain control, but I can help you."

"How!?" Duilin roared as he continued slaughtering lizards.

"Let's just say, I can make you kill the right people. Although I am against killing all together and against the concept of hate, but it's the only way to protect the innocent. Duilin, channel all of your anger and hate towards this attacking force, keep in mind who is friend and who is foe. When most half demons go through their bloodrage they loose total control and kill everyone in sight. It is a shame that you have to go through this now, but if focus yourself solely on your enemies. Everything will be okay."

"I...I am having trouble keeping myself controlled!!" Duilin yelled. He then raised his hands rapidly creating a giant fireball almost twenty feet in diameter. He then tossed it towards a group of Tjed warriors causing a large explosion burning away the poor fighters. "Zeros' will be angry."

"Duilin do not worry yourself. If you do, it will only cause you to loose more control. Listen to me Duilin, you are lucky. During your visit to Asgard your human blood too gained strength."

"What do you mean!?"

"You are correct of what you said about Humans. Those who are truly noble, have a light inside of them. With your blessed human half, you can regain balance after your blood rage."

"Will I go back to normal?" Duilin asked, looking at his enlarged and golden arms and hands.

"Yes, Duilin. You won't have to worry about your demonic appearance too much. Now Duilin, remember how the Dark Empire destroyed Romme, remember how they enslaved you. They are the ones who must be punished. Tjed, may have been an enemy of Romme, but they are a noble nation and perhaps Gaians only chance to free themselves from the Dark Empire."

"Yes...the Dark Empire must be stopped! I will bring them judgment!" Duilin roared again and raised high into the air. The Demon Lord then spotted a fat lizard man, a drow and a strange child. "That child! That is him!" He then flew towards the group. "Come get a piece, boys!!"

--- ---

"Zeros'..." Rink said sounding somewhat worried. "I sense a bloodrage. Yet something is different about it. Something has happened to Duilin."

[Jenia]

CRACK!

A loud noise of a small tree being uprooted reached Fernis, cousing her to turn her head from the runes befroe her and look in the directions the others have gone.

What the... What are they doing down there?!

She began wondering why they haven't toppled the cliff yet.

Maybe I should have given my armlet to one of them... Elphos could've been of more use that way...

Fernis then realized she let herself get distracted, and returned to work.
She was now close to finishing...