Emergance of the Path

Elstaba sat and thought on the strange events, and the even stranger people that she had met over the last couple of weeks. She thought of Jacob, and the two glowing figures that had been training both of them over the last three days. She had learned how to use a spear, powder rifle, and even how to brake down and repair a laser rifle and disk shooter, from Gammon. From Athena she had started learning philosophy and physics though she didn’t know how well that information was sticking into her mind. She had always been a quick learner and she had always loved to do sports and athletics, and so the training from Gammon came as almost second nature, while the education that Athena was attempting to give her was just as foreign to her as the professors from her own world had seemed. She thought also about the strange mathematician that had appeared right before they had taken off from world with grass, the thought of which still marveled her. REAL grass, not fake plastic or synthetic carpeting that covered most of her chromed world, but real living and growing grass! The type that ate dirt drank water and created more of its self.

She understood why her people had gotten rid of all wild plant life on her world, they needed the water and minerals in the soil to help provide for such a large population that they had and they needed the space. She also knew that all of the plants in her whole world had been cataloged before they had all been burned, and a few specimens of each still kept in a vault called the library far beneath the master laboratory’s that served as her peoples place of government, but she knew that it was not natural. Her people praised intellect above all else, cold hearted pragmatic science was the order of every day, and the solution to every answer. So to her people it was only logical that the brightest minds and the most intelligent scientists be the leaders of the world. Now that she had some understanding of what religions where, rather then the biased definitions that her professors used describing them as dogmas that people who where ignorant held to, to explain the universe, she rather thought that science was her people’s religion. She now knew that chrome, and plastic and steal where not what men were meant to feel beneath their feet their whole lives, they were meant to feel wood, dirt, rock and grass because it brought about natural feeling of rightness and centered people. it was something that connected them with the world around them. She wanted so badly to take her people back some grass, or bring her family, her mom, sisters and brother to the world that was now nothing but an empty husk, devoured for sure by the demon that had taken everything that alsifer had to hold it off while they fled the planet in his ship. The thought made her sad at the beauty and wonder that was lost.

She heard foot steps coming down the hall, and she looked up. Jacob, flanked by both of the ethereal god like figures that where Athena and gammon, the teacher and the warrior as they called them selves. "Hello there!" came his voice from down the hall, crisp and clear threw the fog of her thoughts that weighed heavily. "Did you get the message two?" he asked as he finally entered the room.

"what message...?" she was interrupted by the loud voice of Amorok as he burst into the room from behind elstaba, his path intersecting with that of Jacobs(elsteba had chosen this spot because it had three hall ways leading to it, and was the most open place besides the training room in the whole ship). "Who does he think he is! Summoning us like we are his royal subjects! What does he think because we are all on his ship that we will come at his beck and call like trained dogs!? HOW DARE HE...!" but she would never know what who ever it was might dare, because just as Amorok was yelling, a loud Crack! came from the other side of the third door to the intersection, the way to all of their personal quarters. There appeared a large crack in the iron door that ran from the top to the bottom, and then the door simply fell into to pieces, one half falling backwards leading to a loud yip from some one in the hall, and the other half falling forward creating such a loud sound and echo in the chamber that elsteba had to cover her ears to the sound. It was Jestor, and from the look he had on his face, and the vile he had in his hand, elstaba guessed that he had had problems opening the keypad door, and simply resorted to using one of his "Magic potions" merely a chemical compound that caused the part of the metal it touched to shrink, leaving the rest of the metal around it to stay the same, causing a brake in the metal due to the force that the small vacuums that held the door in place exerted. Or so elstaba hoped. She needed one of these strange peoples skills to be knowable to her.

with a sheepish smile, and a look of wonder and awe on his face Jestor walked into the room. And with that they were all once again together. Elsteba sighed looking out the window which was actually a force field, into space. She saw the stars, millions even billions of them, all little lights in the sky, trillions of years via light speed away from her that very moment. this was the other reason she had chosen this spot, it provided for a beautiful sight that she had never seen before. A glimpse at the night sky that no one on her world had ever seen due to the large dycen sphere that her people had erected to protect against the suns harmful radiation. it truly awed and moved her in ways that only a musical symphony that would take hundreds of people to produce could.

and there, with all of there party invading her little quite and peaceful moment, they waited for the one that had brought them all together. the one who knew their mission, and for what purpose even she was meant for.

and they waited. eventually all sitting down, Amoroks anger simmered, Athena and Jestor talked about chemical or "hex-liquid" processes where required to produce what he did, Athena all the while trying to patiently explain that the use of such chemicals in a enclosed space could be deadly to all of their health, and all the time jestor completely uncomprehending, simply stared at her.

Elsteba and Roland played a game of “chess” or what Jacob called chess. To him it was a four dimensional game, with not just pawn, rook, knight bishop king and queens champion, but there where other peaces to. Ones that could only move if they where taking another peace called “Thunderbirds” the physical peace of which looked exactly like a human half bird called a harpy from her peoples ancient religions and art work depicting hadies or hell. Another peace was called a “bastion tower” which looked to Elstaba like a giant iron tower rounded at the top to look like a torpedo from old submarine movies that she had studied in her history courses, which could not move, but could take any piece that was with in two squares of it and switch it with that of another peace with in two squares of it in any three dimensional direction.
And this is the way that they waited. And finally, in the waiting, Elsteba no longer felt lonely or afraid, she grew to like Amorok who eventually joined to help her defeat Jacob in this new version of chess. Though she had felt uncomfortable with jestor, thinking him dangerous yet brilliant like many of the nearly mage like scientists that rules and where feared on her own world, she found he was merely an inquisitive spirit who could laugh and cry at the happy and the tragic just like any other human being. Gammon, she already likes tremendously though he was a little stand offish, he was comforting to have around always watchful for danger and always willing to give out personal advice when he could, more likely then not in some home grown philosopher way handing out platatudes when asked like candy sweets and a world fair. She already was good friends with Jacob, him having helped her learn the use of a spear, along with many other both modern and ancient weapons in the last three days. But Athena was a little different, she had learned much of how the universe worked from Athena, but she didn’t know anything about her other then that she knew a lot. Sure Athena had always been there to help if she needed something, but always in that cold calculated way that seemed almost robotic, but then again was that not what she was?

She forced away the troubling thought for the moment, preferring to live in the moment and laugh while in the presence of good company and friends.

And still they waited.

A Presence Unforgotten

Father looked out from his perch on a jutting piece of bent-metal-rebar, surveying the progress which he and his family were making. They had been working for nearly twenty moonrises toward their goal, and finally the end appeared to be in sight. He oversaw the operation and was pleased with how far they had come.

The Brethren picked their way through the expansive field of rubble where once the giant-tower-of-evil stood, eager to be rid of the source of darkness. They turned every slab of break-claw concrete and moved it aside, quickly moving their way deeper into the gaping-always-hungry-belly of the beast.

The Sisters had been completing their share of work as well. With each piece of concrete removed, they zealously swept the stone clean with their beaks while retaining the purity of its form before relocating it to where nature could give it another purpose.

Father turned his head to look across the destruction that lay behind him. All of this land once was green and fertile. As a child, he had come here often to lounge in the branches of the sweet-friend-trees. Shortly after, however, the darkness-with-faces launched an assault that razed all the trees to the ground, leaving just an empty expanse of wasteland. Soon after that came the two-legs-power-hungry who built on top of the land, destroying any possibility of regrowth.

Red-shaking-anger began to surface, and Father had to look back upon his family and their diligence to calm himself down. Soon, he promised himself. The two-leg-heathens would pay for defiling this land, and the green would be present once again.

He jumped down from his perch and landed on the ground, his talons flexing on impact with the hard soil. Careful not to show weakness, he walked forward into the heart of the dig site. Here, he could sense the presence of the many-names-darkness as strong and fresh as ever he could, as if the last great-family-death-war had never ended. They were almost there, only a few more blocks of rubble barred the way to the terror-science-laboratory where the two-leg had worked with the darkness. There, he would find the two-leg and his gadgets, and he would destroy them. Never again would the darkness hurt his world or his family, and he would pay any price to make sure of it.

His rage and determination reached a tipping point as the Brethren prepared to remove the last piece of debris. Father felt shock-sun-power build up inside him, and he prepared to unleash wave after wave of destruction on the source of darkness.

The piece was lifted, and Father got a glimpse of what he was so eager to destroy. It was a small piece of glass.

Malfunction Moderation

Mr. Schellhous Walked around inside the massive structure, admiring the handiwork of the world's most skilled engineers, physicists, and nucleophysicists.  Never in his life did he expect to see so much energy in one place, much less that it would belong to him and him alone.  Effectively, in the basement of his second-class high school, he held the power of the future, and it was his will alone which could dictate what it was to be used for.

It could be used to provide the entire planet with an unlimited supply of clean, renewable energy. Then again, based on his scientists' calculations, the amount of energy being produced at a constant rate was enough to rip to shreds the entire galaxy - or more. it seemed strange however that a school Principal with a side interest in Quantum dynamics would have gained the rights to such an accidental thing. it was only a day ago that Charges were being pressed against him for the Death of Elsteba Alistair. but when no proof of his direct influence in the whole affair they could only be dropped. it was a tragic thing, one that still made Mr, Schellhous feel bad. it was unfortunate that such a horrible accident had happened to an innocent student. accidentally being annihilated by a rip in the universe wasn't a good way to go theoreticaly anyway... because he had felt so bad for the girl he had done everything he could do the make sure that she would be remembered, for it was her terrible accident that had brought humanity all the energy it would ever need.

that was another matter, it felt good that he could benefit so many people just by directing who got this energy. He had gone into the teaching business only because he wanted to make the world a better place, and  as fate would have it, it did, he now could alleviate all the worlds problems in any way he wished. in a round about way he ruled the world...but he preferred not to think of it that way. he was helping people get all the power they wanted with no ill side effects, pollution related to energy production was now a thing of the past.

because the plant was still under construction, it was still very understaffed but he didn't mind running errands for people. it helped him feel like he was doing something. at the moment he was on a mission from his head of Engineering, Mr Slavonois, who he felt could only be the best man for the job. he had been asked to find a Dr. Russel and bring him to the generation room.  because all the rooms have been rearranged that was not as easy as it sounded. "room 1240-G 2nd floor..." he kept repeating to himself.
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Dr Russel sat in the dark room, which was for all intents and purposed his prison cell thinking very hard.

it had been a few days since he had sent his son Jacob off into the universe as one hope of saving everything from the force that now held him captive. it wasn't too long after his boy dissapeared that the forces assailing his home broke through the shield and swept across His "city in a tower" like a wave. Taking his tower like sanctuary level by level. his fate was not however what he had himself expected. It was said that any life that resisted was just destroyed or consumed to fule the endless horde, and boy had Russel resisted. when all hope seemed lost and most of his people accepted the force looming in on them and submitted to it, he began to detonate the tower. but he knew this was not enough to stop the umbering from snatching his world away. he was captured before the tower began to collapse, the shadow took him and stopped the detonation sequence.

Dr. russle awoke sometime later, supprized because he had expected to never wake again. he had been here in this room, since he awoke, decently feed though a slot in the door but never once had he seen his captors.

Postulating escape seemed his only option, he would not be apart of the will of the Umbering. Dr. russle felt the floor. it was vibrating slightly, the whole building seemed to be in motion, though not in a normal way it was if the space inside the whole building was itself pulsating. there was alot of activity, even outside his door. he heard voices yelling instructions to each other. from what he could tell from their conversations he was being held in a power plant... the room was obviously not designed to be a prison. neither was the building.

Then while in the midst of his plotting, the door opened. no armed escort only one rather portly lost looking man, this was his chance, he ran towards the door only to find a force causing him to stop before he reached it. " REALEASE ME DEAMON!!!!" Russel roared into the face of the man he couldn't reach. a Disturbed look passed across the face of the man in front of him. " i have no idea what you are talking about, this is your office... it is a little sparse isn't it, i didn't know you needed more things... you could have just sent me a memo." the man signed, " well we aught to get going now the My head engineer Mr Slavonois needs you now." Dr. russels mouth dropped open, " are you feeling alright Dr. Russel?" the man asked. "i should have known..." Dr Russel muttered, " you better come along quickly then" the man said with a slightly worried look. Dr. russel knew from the strange accent in which he spoke that he had been whisked away to another world. the force stopping him ceased and nudged him to follow the man. he was more a slave than he thought, and it shouldn't have surprised him that his Arch rival Dr. slavonois would be the one holding the reigns.
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Mr. Shellhous watched the doctor closely, he walked as though in chains, his face showed a sour scowl of defiance, Mr shellhous began to wonder if the man was sane. "so what is your area of expertise Dr russel? i have a slight interest in quantum dynamics myself so don't be to afraid to use any big words." he asked attempting to make the whole mood of the meeting more friendly the man look at him with a sad expression, " i dabble in many things, most of which i would like to keep secret from you." the man defiantly had a foreign accent. he must have come from very far away,."suit yourself, i am only trying to be freindly" the walked in silence the rest of the way to the lift. then the lift descended down towards the where Mr Slavonois waited.
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Dr. russel felt sorry for this man, he had no idea what was happening, and it would only be worse for him if he did reveal it to him. they finaly arived at their destination, the room was more of a glass cage looking over into another room. but there at the controls and watching the dials was his old enemy. "ah, Dr russel so nice of you to join us. thank you very much, President Schellhouse." the man who had escorted him to the room bowed and said, " my pleasure, is he always like this?" Mr. Slavonois smiled and said, " he has always been a bit eccentric."  taking that as his explanation the man left.

"it's been a long time Russell, i am glad to see you are still in once peace." Russel scowled, " what do you want with me." Dr Slavonois regurded Russel for a moment, " i don't want anything from you, my master is the one who has the plans. you see... i have been running into a few problems. that rift down there is stably unstable, and we both know where it leads. energy needs to be efficiently pulled away from the rift or else it will get recycled back in and that doesn't help our master now does it...." "THAT IS NOT MY MASTER!" Russel screamed, " calm youself, weather you want to or not you will help me improve the energy draw efficiency." " i'll never help you or that Abomination! you might as well kill me, i am no use to you or that thing you call master."  mr slavonois smiled a sly smile, " that's the thing, i can't kill you, you are also Bait for the only real threat to my master. once your son finds out where you are, he will come for you and then we will kill him." Dr russels face went pale, " you aren't the only one who has been plotting old freind" mr slavonois continued with a chukkle. " you will serve, everything serves the master." Dr. Russle felt the force press in on him he fell to his knees, " i have you in my power Russel, you will help me or you will suffer" Dr. russel laughed, " i'd prefer to suffer, you can't convince me to serve you no matter what you do." mr slavonois smiled wickedly, " i was hoping you would be difficult, we have ways freind, we have ways."

noise like a million screeching thunderbirds filled Russels mind, his eyes bulged and he screamed but using an inner strenght that supprized even him he pushed it from his mind and sealed it tighter than and stronger than diamond . Mr slavonois looked suprized and breathed heavily almost falling to the ground himself, " ah, you have a strong will." Dr Russel grunted his body shaking, " you're not the only one with tricks." the effort of speach almost knocked him out, Mr slavonois frowned, " but  your will, shall wear down in time. Take him away!" two writhing shadows leapt up from the floor and pulled the barley conscious Dr russel out of the room.
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mr Slavonois sighed as he sat heavily in his chair, that had taken more out of him than he expected it would. Deep in the dark part of his mind a voice began muttering instructions for more subtle ways of reaching his old Nemisises mind to convince him of the truth and glory of their mission.