When it came to the news of Adeluna and it's unfortunate state, one could have assumed that Xunatar would have held a close eye to the madness that shined over the town. Needless to say that he was interested in what plagued the residents to carry on such violent tendencies. It was nothing of his doings, as much as he would have loved to take the credit for it. If anything he looked into this situation himself, disguised as a mortal as he walked among them. After much “research” he understood that whatever it was that drove them to this state had to do with vials of Reaper’s blood. Oh how he secretly loved this twist in the tale; Dalanesca was simply giving them what they deserved and seeing if they were worthy of her help. He could wholly respect her decision and the rest of the realm should have considered themselves lucky for it just being Adeluna receiving this trial. And it wasn’t like she was completely heartless to their judgment, she did after all give them a fighting chance just as he had done with the Vault. It was only fitting that they would have to face off against their deepest sins.

As for Xunatar, he wanted a first row seat to the decadence they would suffer through. So he decided to revisit a land, or more so a realm he hadn’t set foot in so long. It had taken him no time at all to reach the Circle of Ruin, a place that he truly belonged in for his atrocities in this life. The freezing cold served as a reminder to the god of his path to damnation, as it would to any and all that came upon this tundra. He recalled those wicked frost maidens and how he had told them that he would have loved to have spent more time with them, even have a cup of tea too. The demon didn’t have to travel long or far before he could feel their presence coming. “You, the king of the damned, the seeker of chaos and the one that possesses the serpent’s tongue!”, one of them wailed at him. He spotted them circling around his lonesome self and could only muster a smile as he felt the winds blowing against him. “You have no business here! Our mistress desired those that were willing to prove themselves to save Adeluna! You are not the afflicted nor do you have any intention of fighting for them!”

“While, you are quite right, my lovelies. Just as you know what I am this time, you are correct in stating that I have no intention of fighting to save anything. I merely came to observe for myself. I too am keen on seeing just how far the afflicted and those fighting for them get in their quest.” He placed his hand over his heart, “I seldomly promise that is my intention. I do love the nicknames though, I see my reputation precedes me even here.” The maiden that spoke to him didn’t seem impressed by his gestures, “Foolish deity, your self flattery will cause you your demise and send you here soon enough. Then you will know what truly ruin is.”

“Yes, but until then, I am merely a spectator in the show starting your goddess.” Xunatar remained still, the cold unaffecting his body as he watched the maidens drift away from him. Had he truly wanted to reach Dal, he would have done so, but there was no fun in that. Besides he wanted to see where this punishment of hers would lead to as he awaited for more company.          

How long had he been down here?  Hiro Kouen had entered alone, through Purgatory and fought his way through the literal 9 circles of hell.  Did time have an effect on him while he was down here?  This was basically hell, right?  Inferni was the afterlife for those who had done wrong.  He had to fight his way to the Circle of Darkness, and meet with Lady Dalanesca, to convince her to stop the madness.  People were suffering from an addictive substance, driving them insane.  The young Phoenix Knight had to do something to stop their suffering.  Innocent people were suffering.  He had steeled himself to risk his life for those who were suffering, but little did he know he was going to fight through a literal HELL to get to his goal, Lady Dalanesca.

Hiro stomped through the heavy snow and ice that poured down upon him.  Harsh, bitter winds buffeted him, as he crossed the 9th Circle of Inferni.  He heard hell would be frozen over, so to prepare himself, he wore his suit of crystal armor, with resistance to ice, it provided somewhat of a buffer against the freezing cold of the Circle of Ruin.  It was still freezing cold though.  On top of his armor, he wore a hooded cloak of crimson, animal skins that were ripped and torn from his journey, his armor was scratched and chewed up as well.  Ice and frozen blood hung from his face.  He was in rough shape.  But he had made this journey by himself.  He had to succeed, or people would suffer.

He saw figures in the distance, as he approached them, he made out what they were.  They appeared to be demonic-looking women, who seemed accustomed to the extreme cold weather in this circle.  As Hiro approached, they circled around him, there were three of them.

"Foolish mortal!  You wish to reach the final circle of inferi?  First you must pass through us, the frost maidens!  Dare you face us in our own ele–"  Hiro struck without warning, without letting the frost maidens finish.  He charged at one of them in a flash, slamming the pommel of his blade into her face, breaking her nose, and bloodying her face.

"I've gone through a LOT of sh*t today.  I've fought through eight circles of hell.  EIGHT.  Literal.  Circles.  Of Hell.  Before you talk about elements, have a taste of mine!"  Hiro turned his head toward a frost maiden who approached from behind him, he extended his palm at her, unleashing what normally would've been a blazing inferno of magic.  However, the fire instantly started freezing, sending a freezing wall of ice flying at the Frost Maiden, trapping her within a block of fire-shaped ice.  Hiro's hand, was now covered painfully in a layer of ice, as the result of his fire spell freezing.  He gave a cry of pain, as the third Ice Maiden, the one who had stayed back, saw her chance to attack, unleashing a concentrated, narrow cone of freezing ice in his direction from her lips.  Thinking quickly, he dove out of the way, seeing the ice moving forward in a spreading cone, he leaped just out of the angle of the cone of frost breath.  The frost caught his foot, however, causing him to give another cry of pain.  He swung his blade in a two handed blow, catching her in the stomach with the blade, knocking her away, as if one would bat a ball with a stick.

With the three frost maidens defeated, Hiro, in terrible pain, looked in all directions, he saw another figure approaching in the distance.  A tall, masculine figure, he looked different from the maidens he'd just defeated.

"Who are you?  Are you another trial for me to defeat?  Or are you another adventurer seeking to help the others?"  He started limping toward him, leaning on his sword.  His foot was frozen partially, he needed to get out of this layer and to somewhere warmer soon, or he'd be in trouble.

The lord looked at his former tormentors with glee for he remembered the last time he was here. Given how he had been a mortal and had handled these ladies, he was certain that they wouldn’t have a chance against him now. Still, his purpose here wasn’t to attack or defend; instead he wanted to watch. He wanted to watch these would be heroes that attempted to thwart the fate that the townspeople had dealt to themselves. In his eyes, they should have been the ones to come and risk their own lives, not the others. Those that weren’t afflicted with the blood had no purpose here other than to satisfy their own selfishness in saving those too weak or to be proclaimed as heroes and saints.  If anything, they were far worse than the accursed in his eyes.

He remained in his spot but took notice in the maidens as they departed for someone else in the area. Amused, Xunatar decided to watch and leaned his body into a position as if to take a seat. Using some wind magic, he sat upon the air and looked on towards the young man. From the looks of it, he was a knight and clearly from his ruthless take down of one of the Dark Lady’s servants, he was angry. He made his thoughts rather clear and took the fight to them. The lord leaned back some more and held a questionable look when the fire, or more so a frozen fire appeared from his palm. Apparently no fire could burn in this hell forsaken tundra, and it was a good thing that he was an unknowing guinea pig in that regard. The fight, though brief, went back and forth before the man triumphed over his foes and Xunatar found his way back onto his feet. The boy was clever, he’d give him that and soon his arrival was sound off by his clapping.

“Marvelous, simply marvelous, my boy.” He smiled broadly while inspecting his worn and somewhat frozen form. “You have entertained me for a bit. As for your questions, I am not a friend or foe. The plight of the world right now is no concern for me nor should it be yours. The people of Adeluna deserve their punishment for being so blind and weak to give into temptation.” There was not a drop of sympathy in his voice as he drew nearer. One couldn’t help but to ponder if the lad would make it out of here before the rest of him would freeze. “I’m merely observing the situation and what is to come from it. The Dark Lady did quite the job with this one, and here I’m going to think that she’s trying to outdo my recent actions against Canelux.” The smile never ceased from his face as those ugly little words came pouring out. Indeed, he felt as though the Vault may have been too lenient on them all. Perhaps he would learn to place them through even more but for now, he didn’t bother to voice such concerns to the knight. “What will you do now? Do you wish to beg for the Goddess to lift her verdict? “

The man approached Hiro with applause.  Immediately, he noticed the mysterious stranger was not affected by the cold.  At all.  This was a very curious thing, He didn't look like some kind of ice elemental creature, at least by appearance.  The man carried himself high, and explained himself as neither friend nor foe.  He simply did not care about what happened to this world.  Hiro looked curiously at the stranger, willing to talk at least for a little bit, despite the fact he was freezing his ass off.  He did feel a tinge of anger at his words, something about him did not sit straight with him.

"Well, I care about the people of this world, and the fate of the world in general.  I have to live in this world, after all.  People deserve to live, even if they slip up or succumb to temptation.  They could learn a valuable lesson from this, if they're cured.  You talk like you're above the rest of the world.  if you don't care if the world burns to the ground around you, that means you could survive anything.  Or almost anything."  Then the last thing he had said, about HIS recent actions in Canelux.  "Wait, that ice dragon's winter curse?  That was you?  All those people suffered because of you?"  Hiro remembered he still had his sword in his hand, the blade trembled as he gripped it tightly.  Not with fear, but with anger.  He took a deep breath of freezing air, closing his eyes briefly, before sheathing his weapon suddenly.  Now wasn't the time for an angry outburst, or to waste his energy flailing against a God who was immortal.  He did not like him, but he would tolerate his presence.  Maybe he would come in handy somehow, if he was the weaver of chaos, maybe he'd decide to look favorably upon him, despite his "promise" to be here as a spectator.

"That makes you . . . Lord Chaos, I presume?  You were the one who tested us.  I went through the vault myself, faced those monsters.  I'll be honest, that makes me angry, but there's literally nothing I can do about it.  You are a God, you can do as you please, though if it were my father here, instead of myself, I'd bet you'd be in for a fight.  My name is Hiro Kouen, son of Sabishii Kouen.  Do you mind if we walk while we talk?  If I linger here any longer, I'll likely to freeze to death."  He started walking off, figuring the curious God would follow, since he was so interested in watching to see what would happen.  If not, nothing lost from not hanging around with the presumed God of Chaos.  "Considering everything, it'd be insane for me to take any action against a God, especially since I'm not here for you.  I'm here to stop the Dark Lady, as you called her.  If you really do intend to not stand in my way, to stay neutral in this and observe, I don't see any reason not to let you tag along, if that is what you desire.  I'll be the one to stop her.  I've gotten this far, haven't I?  I'll be the one to put an end to this madness.  My will is absolute.  I see to do good for the sake of doing good.  My father named me 'Hiro' for a reason, he wished for me to take after him and do great things."  He continued to walk along the icy path, looking into the distance, he could now start to see a door to the final layer ahead in the distance.  "Ah, finally, the door!  Hopefully the next layer is a tad warmer than this one, eh?  I'd be happy if it was an inferno, but considering I already faced one, that's very unlikely."  He chuckled, figuring the final layer would be harder than anything else he'd have gone against, but at least it wouldn't be cold.

The devil looked and smiled pleasant despite the less than warm reception from the young one. “No no, I do not see myself better than the rest of the world. Nothing is completely free of sin, and certainly I am not. In the end, we will all end up paying for our sins- from the most vile men to the most righteous. It is a fate that is unavoidable and unstoppable.” The boy was right about one thing though, he wanted to see the world burn, but not for the reasons that most would think of. He was also right about them learning a valuable lesson, but if they couldn’t put it into practice in the future, then it was all for naught. “Despite my neutrality, I do wish to see what you, what you all are capable of.” Xunatar rested his chin on the back of his hand and his eyes narrowed deeply. The boy seemed interesting, even with parts of his body frozen by the wicked tundra, he still had some bravery left in him. Oh he would give him his proper dues for that. “Yes, the vault was my doing, but one can’t be certain of the effects of using so much magic. Even I had misjudged what would happen. Still, it served to be a most interesting trial for you mortals proved yourselves to be worth your strength.” He acted as though their suffering didn’t bother him, but that was because it was true. He was disconcerted about their well-being- let the other divine worry for them. His eyes shifted towards the lad’s swordhand and took little effort to see that he was upset. It was to be expected- he wasn’t the most favorable deity of the conclave but that too wasn’t his concern.

Xunatar’s interest grew as the weapon was put away for the time being yet he looked on stoically. “Your assumption is correct, young one. I am Lord Xunatar.” So he had visited the Vault prior and was continuing to fight for the wretched people. Pity that someone of his talents was squandering them away for such a cause that was lost. “I do not do as I wish, not fully like you all would like to believe. Truth be told, I only do as my master commands. My actions are its will.” Both a truth and lie to some degree. He was restricted by that of the one that granted him his godhood, yet at the same time he had his own agenda and given that he wasn’t punished by it, he assumed that it understood. What made him smile even more was when he brought up his father. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I am no fighter, Hiro. I prefer to deal with things in other ways.” That was the truth- Xunatar wasn’t the sort that wielded blades or slung magic around often. He was more so one that worked in the shadows and orchestrated from there. “I know nothing of your father, but if he’s like you, then I will keep an eye out for him.”

Hiro made quite the request of wanting to be his company, and the god simply held out his hand to let the young man lead the way while he followed . His fun with the froze maidens had long since died and he wanted to see what he was capable in the presence of not just one god, but two of them. It was sure to be enjoyable in any way it went. “Ah yes, I suppose that I should call Dalanesca by her actual name. That said, I do mean to keep my neutrality throughout all of this. She has her reasons for this situation, even I do not know of them.” All he knew was that they had an alliance of sorts and he wanted to see what fruits came from this ordeal.

“Far from me to try and stop you then”, he replied as he gazed onto the door that could be seen not too far from them. He didn’t recall seeing such a thing before, but Dal’s realm was all but consistent at times. “Another trial for you may lie behind it. Hiro, if you wish to prove yourself to her, then see what lurks ahead then.” He followed as his bare feet trekked through the ice and snow of the region. His curiosity was stroked just like a cat would be when petted on its back.

Hiro's assumption was correct, he was talking to the God of Chaos, Lord Xunatar. He talked about himself, about the assumptions Hiro had made, his world view, and so fortg.

"How does a God pay for his sins if he's immortal. I've heard of . . . legendary weapons that could fell a Deity, a Godslayer, but those lay in legend, my father told me in the world we originated from, such a weapon existed, and wars were fought over it. It ended up destroyed, banished, separated, sealed away, or some such. What I do know, is that Gods can fall. A world tree can fall too, and it's fickle. Like Lord Torn, he fell.  Do you plan to pay for your sins when, or if that happens?" he inquired of the God.  "People aren't perfect, but they deserve to live, and not be wiped out.  The people who succumbed, hopefully they'll learn not to do it again.  Who knows, but I intend to fight for for them."

Hiro's train of thought stopped for a moment. A master? This God has a master?

"Master? What kind of God has master? My first thought is the World Tree, the Voice, or what-have-you, but I have a feeling that's not it, is it? If the World Tree wishes you gone, that's it, you're mortal again, but what being other than that holds themselves above a God?" Lord Xunatar said that he prefers not to fight, for liked to deal with things in his own ways. "Of course. You're a trickster, you weave chaos, you can get others to fight for you, or rather, maybe to give them a reason to fight for a reason you might want. You wished to test humanity in a way, so you gave the spirit of a dragon new life, and he put a curse on the land. Much like this place we're in now, the dragon spirit turned the land into a tundra. Thankfully, we prevailed."

Hiro gave a laugh. "My father, told me he was a God once, in the other world. That bares no meaning here, of course, but he did not fall into obscurity after falling. He waged a war against a certain God that was once here too. A vampiric Deity by the name of Dimitre. He would come up with fanciful curses using his name, 'by Dimitre's shriveled member!' Stuff like that. The point is, he held such power, and such courage, that he did not fear any man or God. There was a water Deity who flooded the land, he traveled to the shrine, and was talking her down, even as the whole of the conclave, armies of the land, all the adventurers and heroes of the land, EVERYONE was making their way to this deity's shrine, and he sought to stop her peacefully, without any more blood being spilled. He may not have same power here, but I carry on his will, I'm his son."

They started to walk, at least he had company, though he would be useless if he needed help during any trials that came ahead, considering he would keep himself neutral and not help him. They approached the door in the distance.

"I met Lady Dalanesca before she was the Goddess of Darkness and Death and whatnot. I feel bad for what she went through, no one deserves to lose a child like that. Unfortunately, our encounter wasn't long, but I did . . . kinda shield her with my body when an ice dragon tried to freeze her to death. She was immortal, but I kinda had that protective instinct kick in, and I used my fire magic to try and protect her, and the dragon's ice breath was stronger and won out." Finally, they reached the door, and Hiro promptly pushed the door open and stepped into the darkness.

It was pure darkness, a glowing path of silver stones, the entrance was marked with a single lantern that cast a pale light upon the area. Hiro moved to the lantern, letting the door close behind him and Lord Xunatar.

"Heh, I''m stepping into pure darkness; as a man, a lone flame in the dark, accompanied by the Devil on my shoulder, out to meet Death herself. The irony is striking." He lingered by the lantern, focusing his mana through his whole body, a warming aura surrounding him, melting the ice, leaving him in somewhat better condition than he started in. He could feel his limbs now, and he could move them too. He walked about, getting a feeling for the warmth, he took one step out of the light of the lantern, and suddenly, his body felt cold again.

Pure, cold terror.

There was a chilling chuckle could be heard, HIro didn't know if Xunatar could hear it or not. But suddenly, he saw his life flashing before his eyes, his earliest memories, his schooling, training with his father, family meals, the old world ending, falling into a portal, adventuring with Sapphire, meeting various Gods, nearly dying a few times, his first time having sex, meeting up with Sapphire again, all the way up to this moment, then being impaled upon a thousand spikes in agony. A pair of crimson eyes stared at him at through the darkness. Hiro immediately took a few steps back, nearly stumbling over the lantern. The laughter faded away, and sense of dread eased. He was in a cold sweat.

"H-holy shit! Yeah, okay, I got this, I have to take this lantern, it's not just for show, I think." He shook his head, and rubbed his face. "I don't suggest you go out there without the lantern. If it was that bad for me, I don't want to know what would make YOU scared. Or maybe it wouldn't affect you. Is Chaos immune to fear?" He figured he would stay a few more minutes to compose himself, before proceeding.

The boy had so much to learn, and had he been a student to the Lord of Lies, Xunatar would have taught him plenty of the world through his own eyes. Alas, their paths were vastly different and he accepted it fully. Hiro had quite the way with words as he spoke to him freely about various things. But the god smirked as he questioned the divine and punishment. A general misconception which was no fault to him, of course. "Immortality is a powerful thing, but mind you, even we can be punished. Not through conventional means, yes, but there are ways…" The Godslayer had played a role here, but he truly heard of it through the other realm and he was quite right- a tool of pure destruction that spelled doom for the blessed. It was now lost in time itself and it would be a fool's quest to try and look for it. The thought of obtaining it though was entertaining at least. "How right you are, my boy. Many that rose here had fell hard, despite having preparations just in case.  Some sort out power to keep their reign going while others kept at bay from others as to not be found out. I myself will pay for my deeds when the time comes. It is only natural that I allow for it to happen." They may have viewed humanity differently, but he did enjoy the brief debate- it far better suited him than clashing steel against one another. 

"The Voice is certainly a master of us…do you recall the war of the goddess Dalanesca and Angela? If you could call it a war…" It was more so like a one sided battle while the latter had tried to reason and defend those in Dal's warpath. He had heard bits and pieces of the tale but elected in learning fully why it occurred. It would serve no further purpose to him. He glanced casually towards him before closing his eyes and chuckled. "That is one way I can deal with situations, yes. But I do have other, more interesting ways of dealing things. Manipulation is but just one art I can wield. As far as Gifre is concerned, I put too much power into his body and the excess found itself plaguing Canelux until you lot dealt with it. You all passed with flying colors, I'll admit." But there were much more trials in the wait for them; it was only a matter of when and where for the next time.

After some thought, he should have realized the identity of his father, or more so why he was so confident in his abilities to put up a fight against a god. It was a curious thing to see a son of the fallen, and even more so to hear that a fallen was still breathing. "Not too many can claim such a fate, Hiro. Your father was certainly favored by fate to still be living. Not many of them survive the fall below. The name Dimitre sounds familiar…was he the White Hunter? " Oh he would have enjoyed laughing at the irony; the god that sought power beyond everything else without considering even the smallest of details was left in ruins now. It had been by his hand alone for being so careless and Xunatar knew that he would not make the same mistakes the fool had done. "Your words have proved to me that you carry his torch, perhaps one day you will be among the blessed and continue to serve the way he did, if not better. "

"She doesn't carry the warmth that most were used to of her. I can not say that I've met her before her time as death and darkness", he replied. "When I had, she was still coming to terms with her switching domains and seeking vengeance against one of our own." They reached the door and as it opened up, he saw naught but darkness until they stepped through it. Hiro freed himself of the ice that lingered and warmed his body up. Xunatar wasn't worried so much about himself as the frost was only a slight annoyance on his own being. He witnessed the boy about to move from the light of the lantern and then something happened. He was unsure what had, but if memory served him right, he had taken the lantern to lite the way the last time he was in the goddess' domain. If anything he looked spooked and the god sighed before walking over to him and the torch. "I remember that I took it when I came to visit her not too long ago. Apparently you had taught me what happened if one tries to proceed without the lantern's glow." He doubted that he would be immune to fear itself if that was what lurked in these parks. "Probably not. Take heed to remember that even gods have fears. Fear of falling, fear of losing their loved ones, fear of something more powerful than them or something or someone they had an immerse fear of before ascending.

He grabbed the lantern and rose it to his face, "I do not wish to behold my terrors now and trust me, you'd wouldn't want for that either. Now come, its a long walk to reach her from here."

"If there's a will, there's a way.  If fate wants a God or a person, however mighty knocked down a peg, it can happen."  Hiro managed a chuckle.  "You continue to spread chaos, even though you know you'll pay for it.  Is that madness, or just your way?  At least you know you can't stop it.  You might end up in one of these layers of Infernis one day."  They weren't pleasant at all."  He was asked if he remembered the conflict between Dalanesca and Angela.

"Do I remember?  How could I forget?  I am . . . close to Angela's family.  I was there when she died.  I did not fight against Dalanesca, personally, I was a protector . . . to one of Angela's daughters."  Should he even be speaking like this to the God of Chaos?  Would this guy later do something to hurt him, Sapphire, or Angela?  "It . . . it was no war, it was all one sided, all Angela could do was hold Dalanesca back for a time.  But she didn't want to fight.  She didn't want a slug fest with a friend and fellow conclave member.  That's what I was told."  He sighed, he knew Angela was fine now, but it hurt so much to see Sapphire in tears after that.

"I would say words are stronger, sometimes, than swords.  The pen is mightier than the sword, as they say.  I'm glad we succeeded in saving the land from the ice curse anyway."  The God asked about Dimitre.  "Yes, I believe that was a title he held.  Dimitre Knight, in the old world he laid claim to the Darkness and the Light, and father hated him, especially for that.  For a vampire of darkness to befoul the powers of Light, it was unthinkable.  Father, he came out stronger after the fall, I think, than he was before.  He grew in power, obtaining elemental magics he could not use before.  I personally think he took a little bit of power for himself from the position, but I don't know.  He stopped aging like humans did.  He was a fire aspected human, or so I'm told, but he doesn't look as old as he should be.  So something changed in him.  Mother doesn't age either.  The person who held Fire after him, was Aunt Caitlin, she was trained by father when he was the Fire Deity.  So he did SOMETHING right, I would think.  I'm happy he's my father."  He blushed a bit, though it might have been the cold.  "You flatter me, Lord Xunatar.  I'm not at father's level yet, but I'm still younger than him when he was at his height of power.  But I'll do him proud."

While Hiro took some time to recover, Lord Xunatar brought the lantern to him telling him that he had just reminded the God of what happens when you step out of the lantern's light.

"Indeed, I-I heard a voice laughing, saw my life flash before my eyes, then I was dead, pierced by a thousand spikes."  He took the lantern in hand, and he started to walk forward, cautiously at first, then a little faster, with more confidence, now he was sure that the lantern was working.  He didn't want to face that Absolute Terror again.  He followed the pale light of the silvery bricks that lit the way.  He assumed that was there to guide the way.

As he walked, he could hear voices trying to talk to him.  There was a familiar voice.

"Hiro, my son, please, help me!  I came down here to help, but I'm hurt!"  He could see his father off the path, he was injured, bleeding badly, kneeling down with spears piercing his body.  He stopped for a moment.

"What?  Father?  You're hurt!  Wait, no.  This is a trick."  Hiro continued to move onward.

"This is no trick, son!  I'm going to die unless you help me!  PLEASE!  Help me, son!  Help me, Hiro!  I beg of you!"

"No, you're not my father.  My father doesn't beg.  He did not come down here, and he wouldn't get trapped in a place like this.  He's not so weak to be stopped by something like this."  He ignored the vision, and continued onward past him, despite how much the vision of his father begged and pleaded for him to come back.  "If I leave this path, I think I'll be lost.  Forever.  It's a trick."  He could see a lit spot ahead where the bricks where guiding them.  They were almost there.