I think I am here.

Max heard someone call his name behind him, and looked back. Althea was running to him. Ghostblood woman. Lady with the red eyes. Bearer of insanities. Oh, wait, that last part was him. She asked if he wanted to drink something. Max had a suspicion, but it was confirmed when she said she wouldn’t tell anyone. Max wanted to deny her. He wanted to say ‘no thanks, I’m sane,’ and walk away. But out of everyone Max had met, she was the only one who knew of his... problem. The Kandra knew too, of course, but he was of the DA and probably saw weirder things daily, such as the remains of Voidus’ ex-anger management councillor. She knew. If Max accepted her offer to talk, he would be able to empty his mind. He’d be able to open up to someone who already knew. “Sure,” He said, after a long pause. Cocking his head to the side, he looked around. “Where?”

“I was just thinking of leaving. I came so I could prevent AlleyCity from being destroyed, and now that the Fiend’s gone, I guess the mission’s over.” Max turned to Hellbent, who was standing in the distance. “I never really fought for him. But if preventing another Seven Day War meant siding with him, I guess that’s what I had to do.” Max took a deep breath, a looked back to Master Sheonar. Max was insane. He denied it, but no sane man heard screams every time he took off the calming Aons. Did Devaan know? Did Max have to tell him? He wanted to. “Master Sheonar, I’m...” Just a few words. I’m insane. But what would Master Sheonar think of him? Would he look at Max the same way? Would he reject him? “Nothing. Nevermind.” A distant look in his eyes, Max left Master Sheonar and left the battlefield, waving goodbye to Althea and walking away, distant screams yelling in his head. That was fun.

The Fiend wasn’t doing anything. It had shot a bomb that Max hoped had done some damage to itself. But it was trapped. And that was important. “Prepare the Aon Daa!” Max shouted to the Elantrians as they begun to work. Suddenly it was gone.

See how it says it uses Investiture to cause an explosion. The physical explosion isn’t actually Investiture. That’s like saying the flame that comes out an Aon Ehe is Investiture. Sure, the Aon is Investiture, but that doesn’t mean the fire is.

Ahem, excuse me Thanks though. To HSuperLee: For getting 53 upvotes in 70 posts. That’s crazy! If I needed to get the same ratio, I would have to suddenly gain 200 upvotes out of the blue, so you’re doing pretty good, if you ask me.

Suddenly lightning struck Franz. Eight times. Franz was electrocuted is eight different places and exploded all over the harbour. A man fell from the sky. A God. Zeus. “WE HAVE SOME UNFINISHED BUSINESS, FRANZ!” Nothing out of the ordinary happened.

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡• *Goes away in the end*

*Everyone I know*

A smile drifted over Max's face as a glowing dome of light trapped the Fiend within its walls. A dozen and a half Elantrian's working together, aided by the large mechanical nicrosil drives surrounding them. Added to the Alleystorm enhancing everything in sight, it was beautiful. "I like the swamp," he said to Althea. "It's a nice touch." As he heard the Ghostblood woman's question, Max's smile slowly dissolved. She knew. Of course she knew, Max had collapsed on the ground screaming in front of her, after all. "I'm quite all right," he said quietly. Taking a deep breath and refocusing himself, he turned to Althea. "Hey, I'm going to go check out the Elantrians." And with that he was off. He found one next to a nicrosil drive. It powered everything in range, including his Aons. "Hey, dude." Max said. The man turned, and waved. Walking next to him, Max made conversation. "Hey, so I've got a favour to ask - great work here, by the way - I was just really really thirsty, and I kinda screwed up the only chance I had to drink water, so I was kinda hoping you'd help me out." The Elantrian looked at Max. "You want me to be your vending machine," he said flatly. "Not exactly, but I'm really thirsty, and that kind woman over there told you to do as I say, and I really don't want to force anybody to do anything here." "That's an old lady." "...Are you sure?" "Yes. Althea's over there." "Oh, yeah. Well, my point still stands." The Elantrian sighed, and then begun sketching an Aon in the air. "AonDor is a delicate art," he mumbled. "That's a champ. Be all delicate about it." "What do you know about delicacy? You're an Allomancer. You all just eat metals and then generate powers. You don't have to study symbols for years on end. You don't have to learn to get exact measurements right for an Aon you'll never use." "Sounds like you have some prejudice here." "Whatever. An Allomancer killed my mother in the Seven Day War." "Oh. Well, who hasn't lost something in that rusting war?" "Yeah...what did you lose?" "Sorry?" "In the war, what did you lose." "My parents." "You know who killed them?" "Nah. I didn't even really know them, to be honest." "I see." The Elantrian finished his Aon. "Open up." Max opened his mouth, and a literal river exploded into his mouth. Max stumbled back, tripping over, sputtering. The Elantrian was reeling in laughter. "Rust and Ruin, what was that?" The Elantrian shrugged, but continued laughing. "It's the Nicrosil Drive, I swear. Enhancing all my Aons. Are you thirsty anymore?" Max glared. "No." "Good. Now stop distracting me. I need to focus on these Aons."

SCREAMS YOUR INSANE YOUR INSANE YOUR SCREAMS YOU LET MARA DIE As usual, the voices came back. They never seemed intelligent, just repeating the same phrases over and over again. The truth was, if Max didn't have his calming Aons inscribed in his helmet, he would have gone insane just by listening to the voices non-stop. He was determined not to let that happen. Feeling a hand around his arm Max let himself be pulled up. Master Sheonar stood there, but the voices made it hard to hear what he was saying. As Max fell to the ground, he started searching the area for his helmet, his cracked mind splintering further with each second. It was only after a couple minutes did Max realise he was holding the helmet in his hands. Maybe he was insane. Putting the helmet back on, Max noted a slight resistance this time, like the voices didn't want him to shut them out. But they were a figment of Max's insanity, and so he was determined to do by be means necessary do just that. "Do you know who he was in the war?" "How is he still alive?" Master Sheonar's voice flooded Max's ears after such a long period of only hearing the voices. Max figured he was talking about Hellbent, but before Max could respond Master Sheonar was already gliding to the ground, towards Hellbent. Master Sheonar was right, though. Max didn't really know all that much about the current leader of the war on the Ghostblood's side. He knew Hellbent had gotten into a fight with Devaan, and that was all. Suddenly, a small spren flitted into view, telling Max the plans were ready. Great. Up in front, the Alleystorm boomed dangerously. If Max could jump at just the right angle, into the Alleystorm, hopefully he'd be able to supercharge his armour, and the Aons attached. Taking a step back, Max sprinted ahead and jumped, feeling the wind suddenly slap his face as he leaped into the Alleystorm. The power was awesome, it was like when Max supertapped his nicrosilminds, except always. As Max leaped off the Fiend, he activated his durability Aons, Aons sketched around his chest glowing bright green against his turquoise armour. The Aons were incredibly enhanced by the Alleystorm, so when Max crashed into the ground from the absurd height he jumped, he wasn't even dented. He walked to Althea. "Ok, everything's ready?" He looked to the Fiend, lumbering forwards. "Alright, on three, we activate the plan." Max looked to the Fiend again. "One!" "Two! "THREE!" @Sorana @DarthWoodrack

Max listened to the intercom, and barely turned before the bomb fired. His improved forcefield could have probably blocked it, but the Aons were still recharging after that save at the building. The bomb took Max in the chest and propelled him off the side of the Fiend like a wrecking ball, and that was before it exploded. Falling, Max flailed, and one hand reached over and gripped a jutting out part of the Fiend. Max was hanging onto it with one arm. Ouch ouch ouch ouch. Where was Althea and the Kandra? Had they followed the plan? A signal would’ve really helped right now. Something fell off of Max’s head. His helmet. Max’s grip tightened as he forced himself not to let go, the insanity starting to set in again. @Sorana @kenod

Max moved along the top of the Feild, activating the Aons for stability around his thighs. Flaring his strength Aons, Max tried taking the machine apart from the top, smashing his fists into the metal. “Come and fight me!” He yelled to Dusk. “What’s going on here?” Max turned. Master Sheonar lay opposite to him on top of the Feind. How he got there, Max would never know. He should have saved you he should have saved Mara he should have saved you he should have saved Mara, the voices were seeping through his helmet, and they repeated itself in Max’s head as he approached his master, but he dispelled them. Master Sheonar was not to blame for what happened to Mara. But then why did Max feel that whenever he went close? “Hey, Master.” Max said, standing up a little straighter. “I’m just destroying this Fiend here. You don’t happen to be on the same side as me in this war, do? I mean I considered myself neutral too until I realized this rusting chull,” he stomped his foot on the Fiend. “Wants to take over AlleyCity. And you of all people knows what happened last time someone tried to do that.” There was an edge to his voice.

They've seen me, Max thought, looking as Althea stared. Oh, God, they think I'm insane, that I'm crazy. I'm not crazy, am I? I don't want them to think I'm crazy. It hit him that Althea was probably used to stares, what with her eyes, and it made Max feel a little bad he was using that to comfort him. "It's AlleyCity," Max said, regaining his composure. "There's bound to be a few alleys here and there. There's also these:" Max held up three of the one-time teleporters Dusk had given them. He'd given them to the trio on the condition that they would stay out of the war, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. Throwing one to the Kandra and one to Althea, he went over the plan in his head again. "I need the Elantrians just south of the city, that's where the Fiend's headed, I think. When you have them all in one place, I'll give the signal of what to do. How long do you think you'll take rounding them up? Kandra, I want you to go with Althea. Hopefully with your Alleyhopping ability you two can round up enough enough Elantrians where we need them to be. When your done, send me a signal. I'll be distracting the Fiend." Closing his eyes and holding the one-time teleporter in his hand, Max pressed the button and visualised this target. The Fiend. He didn't teleport inside of it, it wasn't possible, but he did teleport on top of it. "Hey, Dusk!" He shouted as the wind suddenly roared in his face. "I'm here! Do you want to stay in your machine or are you going to right me?" @DarthWoodrack

Max thought. The Ghostblood woman was prepared to help him if it meant stopping the Fiend, and Max respected that. A similar situation like this happened 16 years ago. And it had killed Max’s parents and left him orphaned. It left Mara orphaned too, a voice reminded him. Yes. It had left Mara orphaned too, though even thinking of her nowadays hurt Max. The Ghostblood woman - Althea, he thought her name was, passed him a waterskin. Nodding appreciatively, Max hesitantly lifted his helmet off of his head and poured the water down his - SCREAMS YOUR INSANE YOUR INSANE SCREAMS YOU LET MARA DIE SCREAMS YOUR INSANE YOUR INSANE SCREAMS YOU LET MARA DIE SCREAMS YOUR INSANE YOUR INSANE SCREAMS YOU LET MARA DIE SCREAMS YOUR INSANE YOUR INSANE SCREAMS YOU LET MA- With a scream Max dropped to the ground, yelling. The waterskin slipped out of his hands as fumbled on the ground, his hands trying to blindly reach for the helmet. SCREAMS YOUR INSANE YOUR INSANE SCREAMS YOU LET MARA DIE SCREAMS YOUR INSANE YOUR INSANE SCREAMS YOU LET MARA DIE Found it. Max quickly slid the helmet over his head and the voices faded away. Gasping for breath, Max realised he was sweating. Or was that tears? The voices. They’d gotten worse. It had started ever since the duel, ever since Mara died. Max didn’t know whether it was his own trauma or just the mental impact he’d left on himself by Rioting Atticus, but either way, the voices never stopped. It was only through the calming Aons on Max’s helmet that he could escape them, and when the voices had grown strong enough to penetrate even that, he’d had Mara’s and his armours fused together. With double the power of calming Aons it seemed Max could live in peace again. But, obviously, the voices had still been growing stronger. Max couldn’t even take off his helmet now, it seemed. Turning, Max saw Althea and the Kandra were looking at him. The waterskin lay on the ground, spilled. “Sorry,” He said through the visor of his helmet. “Can you teleport us to the Fiend, I think I’ve got a plan. How many Elantrian’s do you know?”

I’ve been meaning to ask this for some time now, what colour is your hair?

Max held onto the teleporters Dusk gave him. They were one-time use, and there were only three of them, one for each of the people here. Max turned back to the woman and the Kandra. "So what's our game plan here? Do we escape? Or do we fight that... Fiend thing?" @kenod @Sorana

I will join as another Threnodite character, one of my favourite: Nazh!

Itiah realised he was summoned 3 pages ago, and so sulked back into his cave.

Thanks, Archer!

*What have I become,*

Max looked at the two people next to him, the Kandra and the Ghostblood woman. He gladly accepted the woman’s hand up and considered her questions. “No, thanks,” he said. “I’m not really that hungry. I’m thirsty as rust, though. Anyway, as for where everyone is, I really would have no idea. I sorta just joined this war thing a short while ago.” He turned to the Kandra. “Full disclosure: I’m not really following Hellbent to the tee either. Sure, it’s a war, but I’m not here to be caught up in other people’s fights just because I feel like it. Unnecessary fighting is how I lost Mara, and I’m not too keen on reliving the experience with someone else.” He realized He was Rioting the duo subconsciously, Rioting comfort and relaxation. Of course he was. Rioting was like second nature for Max. Obviously, it wouldn’t have any effect on the Kandra, though. But Kandra has spikes. And Max could control people with spikes. So if Max could just - His thoughts were interrupted when the Ghostblood woman took off her sunglasses and revealed her eyes, crystalline red in colour. Fortunately, Max’s visor blocked anyone else from seeing his face of shock. “That’s... that’s cool, I guess. Red eyes. I knew another guy who had red eyes, ya know? Except they sorta glowed red, and I didn’t really know him more than I sorta chopped his head off when we were fighting. Yeah... he was a Voidbringer.” Realising he wasn’t helping the situation, Max quickly shut up, giving a thumbs up to the woman.