With a swirling of mists, Envoy's form comes into being, adorned in the amber robes of her station as a mage of the Sphere of Earth.

Envoy quickly gets her bearings, and notices the changes in Sunala's and Blakat's archways. "I wonder if the Srinala is awake now, to cause such an effect?" she mutters as she examines the death goddess' arch. She walks up to Rephath's gate, but doesn't try to enter. Instead, she says, "Thank you for saving Wynona, Rephath."

There is no audible or visible reply, unless Envoy is to suppose that a whirlwind that whips through the gray silty "mist" beyond the gateway might be meant as some sort of response, before it dies away again.

The Aeolun returns to the center of the crossroads, and looks up through the twisted perspective into Morpheus' cell, then spreads her wings to fly up/down into it.

A shift in perspective, and Envoy is once again in Morpheus' Prison. It is as she remembers it, with the giant statue of Morpheus – a giant body, somehow wounded grievously, and yet somehow still alive – lying in the center, surrounded by the ruins of the statues of Barada, Gorphat and Zakaro, while the statues of Inala, Blakat and Sunala still stand. Unlike the figurines in the archways, there is no difference in size of the statues here, though Inala's is unique for holding the heart of Morpheus in her clutch.

Envoy sighs, seeing Blakat still poised to strike, but not holding any souvenirs of Morpheus yet. "There's still a chance to stop her then, I hope." She touches her horn to one of the crystals protruding from the chest of Morpheus' statue, and asks, "Are you all right, Morpheus?"

There is a pause, and then a shifting of Envoy's perception. She finds herself, as before, in an altered version of the same room, this time with a more mundane-sized Morpheus, and life-sized statues … or else perhaps Envoy herself has taken on the size of a giant. Morpheus' breathing, though ragged, is more visible now, and his wound seems all the more wretched for it. "Better," he wheezes, after a moment's pause.

"Wynona beat Zakaro," Envoy reports, smiling to see Morpheus a bit more animate. "I'm unsure how to proceed with Blakat though. She got the better of me last time, and I don't know if she can be beaten now or not. Is there still time to challenge her?"

"There … is no telling … about whether … there is still time," Morpheus wheezes. "My … captors … are moving ahead … in their plans … the culmination … of their ritual. I do not … know … specifics … so my words are only … vague … dire … warnings … of little use."

Envoy's back stiffens! "Moving ahead … but we haven't found them yet! Can they complete it with only two of the goddesses? I don't think Sunala will be useable if she's only available when her Srinala is asleep."

Morpheus shakes his head. "… probably not … what they had in mind … but I think … they're desperate."

"I … might be able to get Blakat to attack Inala," Envoy says, sounding a bit unsure of herself. "Do you think that would help any?"

The cat-bat lets out a weak chuckle. "… Couldn't … hurt." He gives a worried glance to Envoy. "… unless … Blakat finds an excuse … to hurt you."

"Both of them have already hurt me," Envoy says. "I don't think they can do much more, and they have to be stopped."

The shadowy winged feline/bat lets out a resigned sigh as his only response to that.

"I'll be careful!" Envoy promises, and gives Morpheus a peck on the cheek before breaking contact again.

Once again, Envoy is back in the chamber with the larger-than-life statues. A gentle breeze stirs in the chamber, tickling her cheek, and tousling her mane.

Envoy takes a deep breath, and then flies up, back down to the crossroads.

And, once again, Envoy is back to the Crossroads. Nothing has changed – not even the statue of Sunala, whose eyes are still closed.

Marching over to the status of Blakat and taking its hand, Envoy says, "Ho! Queen of Hearts! Ready to take on the Queen of Tarts?"

A wind blusters through the crossroads, carrying with it the sounds of distant, insane laughter.

Envoy grits her teeth, having hoped she wouldn't have to actually go through the arch this time. Still, she makes her way around the statue of Blakat and through the archway.

Abruptly, the archway convulses, and the statue of Blakat turns dark red, and very smooth, save for a pebbled, moist surface … It transforms … into a tongue! The archway itself forms into a mouth, which abruptly snaps shut, swallowing Envoy. "Yum!" the stone visage of Blakat briefly says, licking its chops … while Envoy plummets down a deep pit, into darkness…

"I really hate this part!" Envoy curses as she falls.

Envoy goes through the digestive tract, into the stomach, where she lands in a pit of goop. There are bones and stones and life preservers and encyclopedias floating in the soupy mess, slowly melting. Envoy finds that she is melting, too, though it doesn't seem the least bit painful.

"Ewww!" she exclaims, and tries to find a way out of the goop. "Blakat, there isn't time to play! If you want to take Paradise, you need to act now!"

At last, Envoy melts away … and she passes along, eventually getting into the intestines. Here, she undergoes quite a journey through several twists and turns, though she's able to fit, since she's not substantial at the moment. At the very end, well … out she goes. After a few moments, she slowly reconstitutes her normal, far more pleasing form, and then, after an amazing transformation, she's back to normal. The ground beneath her feels solid and stony, and her surroundings are dark and quiet.

"Well, now that the biology lesson is over," Envoy says, "are you ready to fight? Or are you going to just watch Inala laugh at you for the rest of eternity? Even ransacking her Temple hasn't changed her expression!"

A blade sticks through the blackness, then works its way around, like half of a pair of scissors, cutting around in a circle. At last, a section of blackness falls loose, and a red-furred, wild-haired head pops through. "What?" she squeaks. "You aren't here to go on the challenge? But I have puzzles all figured up! Do you know how much work that takes?"

Envoy waves her hands in the air, "Oh boy, puzzles! I don't want to play at puzzles now! I want to kill Inala! So c'mon, you know you want to do it too! Punch her face in just like you let me do to Gariazadze."

Blakat frowns. "I already tried." A black ring appears around her left eye, which suddenly turns into an "X", as her face takes on a cartoony appearance. Little stars orbit around her head. "Inala packs a mean sucker punch!" She then shakes her head violently, making sound effects ("Yidiyidiyidiyi!") and she's back to normal … or, at least, as normal as an insane, psychotic bat goddess could ever be. She grins fangily. "I need to get stronger to take her on! So, c'mon, all you have to do is complete my puzzle, then I'll be all set to go deck Inala one for good measure!"

Envoy frowns. "You let her beat you?" She sighs, and says, "So what's this puzzle? And what do I get for solving it, hmm? I like to know these things up front."

Blakat says, "Welllllll … You get further along my path. And then, eventually, you'll get to the final challenge with me, where we'll face off in a contest – probably lethal – and then if you beat me, you get some sort of a boon. Except that I'll twist it around horribly so that no matter what you ask for, you'll get the short end – Oopsie! I mean, you'll be rewarded lavishly!" She bats her eyes "innocently", giving Envoy an earnest shark's grin. "C'mon! It'll be fun! What do you have to lose, but your sanity? And whatever else I take from you?"

Envoy narrows her eyes. "How many steps before the final one?"

Blakat shrugs, which is kind of hard to convey, since she's only got her head sticking through the blackness, but the rest of it kind of bulges where her shoulders should be. "How should I know? I haven't decided yet! I just string it along for as long as seems properly exciting. Really, if I'd felt inclined, you and that poodle friend of yours could have gone right to the finish, after your first challenge. But I thought, boy, that two-headed backwards-forwards bug would be such a thrill! And it was!" Blakat cackles gleefully.

Envoy sighs, and closes her eyes. Gotta know when to quit… "Okay," she says, opening her eyes again. "What's the first challenge?"

"The first challenge?" Blakat repeats, then looks pensive. "Well, the first challenge is this guardian who has a key to a gate you have to open. You have to overpower him and take the key from him to open the keyhole, and then you can continue. No fair flying over. I mean, any Eeee could do that. That's a good reason for having all the obstacles take place inside, I say."

Envoy blinks. "Didn't I already do that one though?"

Blakat nods. "Sure! That was the first challenge."

"And then I stole your grin," Envoy says. "I think. You grabbed me then so I'm not sure. What's the next challenge I have to face?"

"Oh!" Blakat says, "Well, actually, I was referring to the first time you were here with that poodle friend. I mean, you were supposed to overpower the Eeee, but you tricked him by saying that the lock was melted, so he gave up the key without putting up a fight. Oh, I slapped him around a bit for that one! And I just felt, you know, why waste that one? So I threw it at you again when I redecorated. But, oh yes! Where were we? Well, the next challenge is a maze. No monsters, no traps or anything. Except, oh yes, if you fail the test, then off you go to the Sea of Souls! Wheeee!"

"The tide's out still," Envoy says. "I take it this isn't any ordinary maze, but one of those weird perspective multi-dimensional ones again, like the one Elise I and went through before finding the two-headed bug-monster?"

"Uhmmmmmmm," says Blakat. "Mayyyyyybe. Sort of. Kind of. I could show you the map, if you'd like, but then I'd have to kill you. Unless, that is, you can figure it out."

Envoy blinks. "What, you'd show me the map, but only kill me if I still couldn't figure out the maze? You said I'd be killed if I didn't figure it out anyway."

Blakat nods. "I guess I did. Oh well! You know, if I were to be logical about this, I figure I should go easy on you, since I want you to win anyway. But it's supposed to be a challenge, so it'd hardly be a challenge if it wasn't, now wouldn't it be?"

Envoy scratches the side of her head. "Half the challenge is just trying to follow what you say. Never mind though. Do I have to find the center of the maze, or the exit?"

"Well, the center and the exit are easily enough found. It's the getting there that's the trick!" Blakat says, trying to sound profound. "Oh, fine, fine, all right. I'll just show it to you, okay? And maybe I won't kill you just yet." She struggles around, and starts stretching the hole she cut in the darkness, ripping and tearing it open, until there is visible behind her a hallway described in patterns of lines that form a repeating moire pattern on the ceiling, walls and floor. No matter which way one looks at the walls (or ceiling or floor), the same moire pattern persists.

"It looks like a fractal tessellation," Envoy says, grinning. "Did you know my brain structure is based on one of those? Well, the plastic part is anyway."

"Oooo!" Blakat says, looking impressed. "I wish I had a plastic brain!" Her wild hair gets even more wild, and soon she's dressed in raggedy clothes, with bits of straw sticking out. "Bet you can guess what I'm going to start singing now, can't you?"

"If I Only Had a … Cadillac?" Envoy guesses.

Blakat laughs maniacally, then grabs Envoy by the arm, and starts dancing with her down a yellow brick road … which comes to an abrupt stop where it gives way to a floor of white stone, inlaid with lines of black slate. The ceiling has another maze on it, while the walls are blank. A Yodhblakat stands to one side of the maze, holding a piece of parchment in hand. On the opposite side, the moire-pattern hallway continues.

Envoy looks up at the ceiling. "Is that the map? It's all one level then, no ramps or drops or passages you have to fly up through?"

Blakat whispers in Envoy's ear, "I'll let her read off her lines. Ta ta!" She suddenly is dressed up like a southern belle, and waves a handkerchief at Envoy, as she traipses off into the middle of the moire pattern, growing smaller as she vanishes into the center of the wall, seeming (if one had no depth perception) as if she were actually walking into the distance.

Incidentally, as Envoy looks at the maze on the ceiling, she observes that it is exactly the same maze that is present on the floor. It isn't even a mirror image.

The Yodhblakat looks at her parchment, clears her throat, and says loudly, "Here are the rules:"

Envoy hmms, and listens.

"a) You may fly if you wish, but you cannot cross a line on either maze – floor or ceiling – while flying," the Yodhblakat says. Indeed, as Envoy looks, it appears that the maze is rather massive in size.

The Yodhblakat leans to the side. "b) While walking, hopping, skipping, jumping, traipsing, jogging, dancing, shuffling, tiptoeing or any other form of locomotion, you may not cross a line of the maze while NOT flying, either."

And then, the Yodhblakat announces, "c) The objective is: How many Dadaists does it take to screw in a light bulb?"

Envoy looks from the maps to the moire miasma ahead. "There are physical walls in there, right?"

The Yodhblakat just looks at Envoy blankly, offering no answer to her question.

By Envoy's own perspective of the maze, it appears that the maze only exists as a pattern on the floor (and ceiling), in tiles of white and black.

"It's okay to walk on the ceiling then?" she also asks.

The priestess looks at her parchment, turns it sideways, then upside down, then right side up again, then looks blankly at Envoy again.

Envoy studies the two mazes, planning ahead of time when she'll need to fly from one to the other.

As Envoy plots out the maze – and mentally inverts it to account for the overlapping maze on the ceiling above – she ends up discovering that while it's 17 "squares" across, top and bottom, the number of squares along the left hand side – 22 – don't agree with the number she counts along the right hand side – 23. Leave it to Blakat to come up with a warped maze, eh? Eventually, however, she visually plots her way along a route through the maze … which, incidentally, doesn't have a way to get to the opposite side by conventional means … but she finds a point 17 squares up the left side, and the third from the left, where a winding passage dead-ends. That looks like her "switch point", if this strategy is to work.

Envoy follows the path she's plotted out to her predetermined flying point, and looks up to make sure the maze above her has a white square, then leaps up towards it while flapping her wings.

The Yodhblakat watches Envoy with a bored gaze. When Envoy hops up … gravity inverts for her, just like it does when she goes from the Crossroads to Morpheus' prison. Given that she has practice with such things, she manages to reflexively invert in the air … and lands neatly on her feet on the other side. It looks like she's right where she planned, which is surprisingly self-consistent for the realm of Blakat.

Envoy smiles, and moves one square back towards the entrance, then turns left to face down a long hallway. She follows this, past an left-turning elbow, then onward until she has to turn left. She follows this path, jogging right around one obstacle but keeping in a leftward direction. Another left, followed by a left-right-left-left turn, a few steps up and another right-handed jog bring her to the exit.

And, lo and behold, there is the exit! The Yodhblakat weakly applauds.

Looking out into the moire sea beyond the maze, Envoy waits for Blakat to return.

Out of the moire sea, Blakat comes … upside down. Or, that is, upside down according to Envoy's perspective. Blakat pouts when she sees the Exile there. "That was too easy!" She stands there, pondering. "Hmmmm … for bonus points, there's another way you can beat the maze, following the same rules as before. Except that you don't bother with the maze on the ceiling at all. Can you figure out what it is?" She grins impishly.

Envoy says, "Well, I could just jump over one of the lines where a there's a perpendicular passage on the roof. But that would have been boring."

Blakat crosses her eyes. They spin around in their sockets independently of each other, until they come to focus on Envoy again. "I can't quite visualize that. So it must not be a proper solution!"

Looking back, Envoy points to a little spot near the center of the maze. "Right there."

Blakat says, "But you'd still have to hop up to the ceiling, now wouldn't you?"

Envoy thinks about it, and then nods. "Well, yes, but only for one square."

"You have to cross a line in order to get to the other half of the maze," Envoy says, "but you can't cross any lines if you fly. So I don't see how you could get across by just flying."

"But that's still much the same thing," Blakat says. "I was suggesting that … well, I am a goddess, am I not? Don't answer that." Suddenly, she's in a Himaatian-looking outfit in harem pants, with a veiled headdress and a sequined vest with see-through sleeves. She crosses her arms and nods her head, causing her ponytail to flop up. *POOF* The maze on the ceiling vanishes. Suddenly, so too does Envoy's ability to stand on it, as gravity reverses.

Envoy eeps and tries to right herself before hitting the floor.

That's hardly a problem, so Envoy lands on her feet. Blakat looks disappointed, then says, "Now then. Could you solve it now, without flying at all?"

Envoy thinks. "Well, if I followed the black tiles instead of the white ones, yeah."

Blakat giggles and snorts. "There you go! All right, all right, you win." She sighs. "And here I was so looking forward to getting violent. I guess I'm just too soft."

Envoy blinks and looks alarmed. "What do you mean I win? This wasn't the final challenge was it?"

Blakat's eyebrows raise. "Oooo! Hee hee! What if it was?" She grins impishly at Envoy.

"Oh … uh, just wondering," Envoy says, trying to look casual about it. "I was looking forward to the battle to the death thing, I guess. Wouldn't want to miss that."

"Well, if you really want, I suppose I could kill you, just for kicks," Blakat offers.

"But that's not a challenge," Envoy says, and wags her finger at Blakat.

Blakat frowns. "Well, you could always resist, you know. Be a good sport about it. Put up a good fight, squeal and squirm and all that."

"Doesn't sound like much fun for me though," Envoy points out. "Anyway, is there another challenge?"

"Oh, me!" Blakat curses. "You solved that one so quickly! And why does a challenge have to be fun, any road? For you, that is? I'm the goddess here. We're doing this just because it amuses me, aren't we? Don't answer that. No, no, I don't think I have another challenge for you right now. I'll have to go think of a really good one. Preferably a more violent one. No more mazes like this. That's just too easy for you, I think."

Envoy crosses her arms. "Well, of course it has to be fun for me, otherwise why would I bother?"

"Inala's challenges were all fun," Envoy points out. "That's why she's the popular one."

Blakat frowns. "Oh … well … uhm … for the benefits? For the chance to entertain your goddess? Oh, wait, I keep forgetting, you don't want to worship me. Well, Inala in a paper bag. Dat's why she'd da pop-yoo-lar wun!" she says, ending in a "nyeh nyeh NYEH" mocking voice as she bobs her head from side to side.

Envoy giggles! "Hey, you look just like the little puppet she has in her shooting gallery when you do that!"

"Inala, Inala, Inala!" Blakat raves, pacing back and forth. "Inala has her own library of secrets! Inala has her own room of combat! Inala has parties and carnivals and parades! Inala is the one everyone likes! Inala is the one they make all the pretty statues of. Inala is the one everyone adores! ARRRRGH!" She pops back into her usual costume, wielding a ridiculously large sword that looks like she could probably surf on it, if she had a mind to.

"Well, people are more afraid of you," Envoy points out. "I mean, mothers don't tell their children to be good or else the Yodhinala will come and steal them away, right?"

Blakat pouts. "But being a Yodhblakat is fun! You get to swipe all sorts of things, and get away with it! Who wouldn't want to get stolen away by me?" She holds up her sword like a mirror, and pulls on a strand of hair, then pulls her mouth open, squinting at her teeth. "Maybe I need a new look?"

"Maybe a bow, or a nice sailor suit?" Envoy suggests. "Nice catch phrases help. Like maybe … 'Have a Blaktastic time!', or maybe saying 'You deserve a break today' before breaking someone's legs."

"OoooO!" Blakat croons, grinning. "That's catchy! I know! Every time I pound or mutilate someone, I could make a pun out of it! Just like one of those shekel-dreadful heroes!"

Envoy pauses, and then says, "You could always take the whole city. Set up your High Priestess as High Princess? I'm sure it helps the Yodhsunalas' images."

Blakat ponders that. "Lovely idea. I'll just have to take it from you." She grabs a candle floating over Envoy's head. "Mine now!" She giggles impishly, then strikes a thoughtful pose. "In any case, I need to come up with a suitable contest to end my challenge. Any suggestions?"

"You could tie yourself to railroad tracks with a really tricky knot that I have to untie before the train runs over you," Envoy suggests.

Blakat ponders this. "Hmm. While several brigands are trying to kill you, right?"

Envoy hmms. "That tends to focus my thinking. Maybe if they were trying to tickle me instead, it would be harder."

"Ooooo!" Blakat shudders. "Tickling is horrible! Mmmm … okay. But what if you don't untie the knot in time?"

Envoy blinks and looks hurt. "Don't you have any faith in me? Well, I suppose you'd get run over by the train then."

"Well, actually," Blakat says, "I don't. But I won't hold it against you! Not unless I stand to gain something by guilt-tripping you, or something like that. Hmm. Yes, I suppose that would be the logical outcome." Blakat ponders this a moment more, then claps her hands together, the candle having mysteriously vanished. "Well! That sounds like a lovely challenge. Anything else to add?"

Envoy scratches her head. "I don't know, maybe it isn't violent enough? Do you know how to play hockey?"

"I shouldn't, I suppose," Blakat says, "but I've been stealing all sorts of interesting things from your head!" A hockey stick appears in her hands. It has large blades on it. "Lovely game! Actually, I think I could make the game more interesting. For instance, instead of a hockey puck … it should be a hockey eep!" A google-eyed, pear-bodied bird with large feet lands with a plop on the ground in front of Blakat.

"I think eeps are more suited to basket-ball," the Aeolun comments. How do I pick something I have a chance of winning, but that I can back out of just before the point I really would win? she thinks.

"EEEEEEEEEEP!" the bird squawks in its shrill voice. Blakat gives it a good whack with the hockey stick. It goes sailing down the corridor, back past the maze. There's a loud shriek from the Yodhblakat stationed there, and then the bird explodes. Blakat peers down the corridor at the resultant disaster. "Oopsie!"

"I suppose, really, it would be more appropriate for me to take something from someone, right?" Envoy asks. "I never did get to take a trophy from Gariazadze."

Blakat makes a raspberry noise. "Party pooper," she says. "You walked away on purpose. You did!"

Envoy blushes, and says, "She didn't have anything. You know how the Yodhinala barely even wear clothes. She just had that silly hat."

Blakat pouts. "All right, all right." Then, she perks up. "Hmm. You seem to know an awful lot of games and sports. Even if they aren't sufficiently violent. Sayyyy … while you're in Babel, if you're not doing anything more important … perhaps you could teach my Yodhblakat a few of these games. They could … take lessons from you!" Blakat snorts. "And maybe that will give me some ideas on how to set up a properly dramatic final contest for my challenge."

Envoy gulps. "Teach them? Like … volleyball?" She worries about any game involving a ball. She can guess what the Yodhblakat would use.

Blakat ponders this. "No, no, no, in volleyball, you keep giving the ball to the other side, don't you? I'd more like the ones where you have to steal the ball from each other. Hee hee hee! During the daytime, you could teach my Yodhblakat … and at night … we could play against each other! Whee!" Her costume transforms into a weird collage of a football helmet with holes for the ears, a club fashioned to resemble an elongated image of Blakat herself (a baseball bat), hockey gloves, basketball trunks, and an assortment of other mismatched sports gear.

If she's stealing the images from Envoy's head, she's doing it fairly haphazardly, for sure.

"Well," Envoy thinks. "There's rugby, and football, and soccer, and basketball. You all have to steal the ball from the other team in those. No edged weapons are allowed though."

Envoy asks, "Can Yodhblakat actually work in teams? Or would they all just try to take the ball?"

Blakat says, "If they have to work in teams, they will. If they break any rules, I'll break their necks. I'm a very effective motivator when I have to be."

Envoy wonders about teaching a Yodhblakat when to pass off to another team-mate. "Will I get in trouble if they end up killing each other? Although … I mean, these sports are usually really popular. Lots of people would come to watch. And cheer. And wager money."

Blakat says, "Really? Popular?" Her eyes light up greedily. "Ooooo. This is going to be splendid! I'll make Inala so jealous! Well, there's no time to lose! I'll have someone swing by to abduct you, first thing in the morning! Don't worry. I'll let you escape before sundown."

Envoy blinks three times. "Umm, could I bring along some help? I can't work any magic in the real world right now, and the field would need to be set up and all."

"Oh, sure!" Blakat says, waving a hand in a "pshaw" fashion. "Just be sure and get them together so they can be kidnapped all at once. And be presentable!"

"I'll … I'll try my best, Blakat," Envoy says, wondering just how much time she has before the mages try to finish the ritual. "I don't suppose you could disconnect yourself from Morpheus like Rephath has, could you? Otherwise those sneaky dream mages might interrupt things."

"Nee nee nee neeeeee!" Blakat squeals, bouncing around. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but if this goes well, we'll see! Oooo! Popularity! Money! We'll make a killing!" She skips around Envoy.

"Well, I guess that depends on the other teams," Envoy says. "If it works, then the other Temples will try to form teams to compete against yours. But I'm sure in any case that … that … Blakatball will become very popular."

"Although … did any of the Yodhblakat take live prisoners from Inala's temple?" Envoy asks.

"Blakatball! I like the sound of that," the wild-haired bat goddess says. "Oh, sure!" she says in response to Envoy's question. "My Yodhblakat made off with a bunch of pretty-boys. Hee hee hee!"

Envoy nods. "Oh, good … I think. We'll need cheerleaders, after all."

Blakat busts out laughing maniacally … and the dream begins to fade around Envoy. It must be time to wake up.

The College will never let me live this down, Envoy thinks as she begins to wake up. Unless it generates a lot of money.