Awakening

"it is Time Now my Little Travelers to wake" said a voice that Roused Jacob to his senses. "the three of you have slept for Nearly two days." Jacob opened his eyes to find Amoraks Arm on top of him. he moved it carefully and sat up. he found himself Looking at a strange tall man who sat nearby, holding a strange crystal staff verticaly.





At first impression Jacob Thought he was an old Man but Jacob Realized This mans Face was as young as his own. his hair was white and an air of wisdom and power sourounded him. "who are you?" jacob asked.





" i am Alsifar, Jacob Son of Dr Russle" the Man Replied With a mysterious smile.



"how do you know My Name? and how do you know Who my Father is?" jacob asked astonished that he knew bolth who he was and who his father was. The strange man smiled a strangly comforting smile "do not be alarmed jacob, i mean none of you any harm, i am here to answer all your questions but first the others must wake."



Jacob looked over his shoulder at Amorak and Elsteba who where still unconsious. "we where really out for two days?" he asked unbeliveingly for the first time realizeing that there was a small camp of sorts build around them. "you indeed where. Surviveing a impact by an extraterestial object to your planet will do that." jacob wondered where this man had come from but the look the man gave him at the moment told him to wait to ask the question.



Elsteba Groaned quietly and rolled over, and then reality hit her. with a gasp she shot up from the ground ready to act. when she found that all was tranquil she relaxed with a sigh dropping to her knees, her entire body hurt.



then she noticed Jacob and a strange old man watching her. She was Over joyed to see Jacob but was perplexed by the Unreadable gaze of the old mans silver eyes. " Jacob, What happened? i saw you get blown away." she said decideing to ignore the old man for now, her head hurt to much to belive he was real. Jacob shrugged, "i don't know i blacked out soon after that. "Amorak used much of his Strenght to save bolth of you." the old man said " a strenght he has not used in quite a while." he added as an after thought.



jacob looked at him and almost asked a question but he decided not to ask it, she looked between the old man who didn't quite look so old anymore and Jacob a few times. "Jacob, is he real?" she asked timidly. jacob nodded streaching out his sore arms. " his name is alsifar, he will answer our questions when Amorak wakes up." "which might not be all that soon. he was utterly drained savening you, he came close to death. but he will live." alsifar said with a pleasent nod. "which forces me to refraise what i said. i can answer questions only that relate to you two which for the most part i already have, this will be so untill amorak wakes then he can explain to you what he must explain, and then i will explain what i need to explain and everyone will be much enlightened."


Elsteba looked around at the island and the beach across the waves, there were hardly any trees but alot of stumps, the fallen trees either radiated away from where the comet had hit or floated lazily around the island. she noticed the blast was only a narrow band. up the coast a little either way and there was a normal covering of trees. despite seeing it she hardly belived it. "did the comet actualy happen?" she asked almost to herself.

alsifar shifted uncomfortably, "i feel the need to apologize to the two of you. surviveing a comet impact can be quite a shock,and this comet was no accident. i litteraly fell from the sky onto this world." bolth elsteba and Jacob looked at him with unbeliveing Looks. "the comet was you?" jacob asked skepticaly "in a way, i was in the comet it carried me here."alsifar replied "so you hitched a ride on a comet from where ever you came from and rode it here?" elsteba asked.

alsifar smiled "no, tecnicaly the comet was where i came from. it was my vessle, i guided it here. though it had hardly any power left, i was aiming for the ocean out there." alsifar pointed far out to sea, "but i didn't have the power to change my velocity enough, i had to aim where it would cause the least damage at the velocity i was going, which was over there into a mountian range just over the horizon." Alsifar pointed the other direction. "no matter what you do a large impacting body falling at escape velocity causes much damage."

jacob suddenly curious asked "your ship must be very strong, harder than any substance i have ever heard of." alsifar smiled "either that or more flexible than any ship you ever have seen, who knows it might be a combination of bolth. mabey i will show you some day, but for now it is useless to us all it's power is gone, and cannot take us anywhere. for now we are on our own."

They sat there for a while waiting for amorack to awaken, he didn't. Alsifar cautioned them to let him be untill he moved himself, saying mysteriously "reminants of his strength may still be present." Alsifar entreated them to food and water he had brought from his ship and as the sun went down he already had made beds for them. once asleep alsifar went back to amoraks side. knowing it was best best that he be the first one for amorack to see. they needed to speak.

Alsifar's Entrance

Alsifar sat on the new ground he had just raised back from the ocean. He felt that a small island wouldn't accommodate the four of them suitably enough, and it was really his fault the rest of the land had become submerged anyway. He was aiming for the waters several miles off the coast; the water would act as a good enough cushion to absorb most of the impact blow. Unlike on many other planets, the water on this planet was, though similar in structure, thicker and gelatinous. This had the pleasant effect of not creating massive tidal waves whenever something big crashed into it.

Which is why the inhabitants of this world are great star-travelers, but make their home in great domes under the depths of the ocean. They were almost as advanced as his race had been, and were, in fact, much more alike than he had first thought a hundred years ago when he had first discovered them. They had created a self-sustaining communications disruptor which scrambled any signal other than those predetermined by the pilots and governors. It took him a very long time to find that signal, and still longer to decipher their odd language, which consisted of clicks, slurrs, guttoral noises and nasal squeaks, and yet graceful and legato-smooth at the same time - anyone listening would think of an elvish chant from the ancient fairy tales of Earth.

He looked out over the ocean and wondered what they were doing now. His space-time platform was destroyed and would never again be able to reconstruct. He would never again get the opportunity to learn from their past and descover their future. This race had much hope of becoming one of the greatest races of all time - even greater than Alsifar himself, the sole survivor of his race, dedicated to the forever imprisonment of the Umbering. But now, he would have to look over the water and wonder.

A rustle behind him made him jump with fright. He whirled around, his hands already glowing with the solpower he had called to bear.

He relaxed when he discovered the noise had been caused by one of the sleeping figures behind him - the girl, most likely. Now that he was outside his protective platform, he had become increasingly paranoid he would be attacked by the Umbult Cultists at any moment, even though he knew full well they were trapped in the same prison as the Umbering itself.

His power was already activated, and he had no choice but to expend the energy he had called, so he shot the blazing white energy at the fire, making it billow with heat, now burning solfuels rather than wood.

He was satisfied with the result; it made the surrownding area much more comfortable, which enabled the three young figures to sleep a deeper sleep - one they desparately needed. When they wake, he thought, they will have much less opportunity to rest then they would like.

Until then, however, leave them be.

Thoghts of Darkness

The Umbering sat in its own shadow. Watching the man with silver blue eyes, watching him as he prepared to go back to a real world. Why was it so interested in this, the last survivor of a dead race, a race that was sworn by creation to everything that was opposite the Umbering. Maybe it watched because it was curious why he still tied to stop the inevitable, just like his for fathers before him, though the Umbering had to admit that there was only one out come that might be beneficial to the man with blue eyes who now sat watching the Umbering as the Umbering watched him.

The Umbering was well known, but not by its true name, it was known on countless existences as Kohalek the deceiver, Berudock the murderer, Strodel the god hatred, Corahor the consumer of worlds, and perhaps the most accurate of all of the names that was not his true name, yet, was Darkness. Though it was not yet darkness, it was still the Umbering, the growing dark, it was not yet darkness the thing it wished to be, the thing it was born by some unknown force of chaos to become, Darkness that covered not just its world, but all worlds, all existences, and all life would be consumed by it and the light of all suns would dim… eventually.

The man with silver blue eyes broke his gaze, and didn’t look back.
“OUT!!!!!!!!!” screamed a voice that shook his cell almost to the braking point. But it still didn’t brake. It knew it wouldn’t, but it made it feel better to scream out its frustrations and disturb the force that kept it there, to prove that its power was real and not just a figment of its own Imagination. However it still couldn’t become darkness with the last seal in the way, the Cultists had don there job almost completely; they had removed all of the seals but one, the seal of light, another one of its own enemy.

It shook his cage again, and again it almost escaped, but it didn’t. the man with silver blue eyes was gone now, he had become a falling star on the farthest world from him, he was alone again, and his cage shook again with more vigor then it had ever mustered before! … But the last seal held, with a sigh the Umbering went back to influencing things on countless worlds, by countless names.

The Comet

Jacob and Elsteba sat in the shade of the one and only tree that was on the beach. They waited for Amorak to return from the island. After a while Elsteba spoke “do you think we should go find him” “I don’t think he wants us to” Jacob replied. Athelia nodded “that young man has a lot on his mind.” They were quiet for a while longer watching the tide roll out.

“well, I believe that our first priority should be securing an adequate food and water supply, seeing we are in a survival situation.” Gammon said pointing to the lowering water. “our greatest food source is the ocean right in front of us, we must prepare a way to catch some food so that when the tide comes in we can effectively catch enough food for the entire party. That just leaves the freshwater…what do you suppose we do master Jacob?” gammon asked facing Jacob.

Jacob watched the waves and then looked back toward the sparse forest of tropical trees behind him. “Gammon, you and Elsteba go find a source of fresh water, me and Athelia will try and make something to catch some fish.” The hologram nodded and then floated over to Elsteba, “follow me miss Elsteba, and keep a good look out for running water, or anything else that might be useful” she stood up and followed the hologram out into the light. His features faded but he still was faintly visible.

Athelia immediately began to offer suggestions about different ways to catch fish, “Athelia, how do we catch fish when all we have readily available are tall grasses and small sticks?” she was quiet for a moment. “Well we could always weave a net if the tall grasses are strong enough.” Jacob nodded. It sounded like a good idea. He needed to test the grass.

Elsteba and gammon patrolled the shores for evidence of any small streams that emptied into the ocean. After a quarter mile trek through the beach sand they found a small stream. As they neared several rocks seemed to raise themselves on eight legs and move toward the ocean very quickly.

“stand back Miss Elsteba!” gammon warned, they soon disappeared and gammon let her come forward. “now we follow it to the source! There it will be freshest.” He said beginning to travel up towards the interior of the mainland. The trees got thicker though Elsteba would hardly call them trees, she had seen a few trees before but they were nothing like these, they were more like Giant ferns. Eventually the stream led them to a pool at the bottom of a rocky outcropping.

“I calculate that this is only 500 lengths from where we started.” Gammon stated “what’s a length?” Elsteba asked, “it is approximately the length of your body. We need to return to Jacob and see how we can transport this water back to the camp.” Elsteba sighed More walking, walking was so slow! She should have asked if they could take Jacobs hover sail.

The net ended up more like a large spherical basket of sticks and grass, half Jacobs height. The grass was not strong enough on its own to hold wriggling fish. Jacob was forced to improvise, every now and then Athelia would offer some advice but for the most part she watched satisfied with his design. “now we need some bait.” He said frowning. “you could try the fruit in those trees, there is also a rotting log that might provide some good bait.” Athelia answered. “we’ll do both, the more there is the more fish we catch right?” Athelia bobbed up and down “ I am unsure what the fish of this planet find attractive, but it’s worth a try.”

Jacob bent down over the rotting log and split it open easily with his hands. Many strange creatures crawling and slideing through the decaying tree matter. He cringed for a second and then picked up an entire section of the log and placed it in the basket. He then picked up several fallen orange oval fruit that where slightly mushy and threw them in as well.

Jacob picked up the basket and carried it out to the beach closely followed by Athelia. He found a place in the rocks where the tide would soon cover , that would keep the basket in place. His idea behind the basket was that fish would swim into the basket to eat and leave when they were done but as soon as he tilted the basket up any fish inside would be unable to escape. Now all there was to do was to wait.

On the way back to the shade of the trees, he saw gammon and Elsteba returning. “we found some water” She reported pointing back towards the way they had come. “about 500 lengths from here.” Jacob nodded. “Master Jacob, how will we transport the water.” Gammon asked. Jacob looked around, “I don’t know, for know we will just have to take trips between here and there to get drinks.” “what about Aquatic Pathogens?” Athelia asked sounding concerned. “Gammon did you scan the water?” Jacob asked quickly “no” he replied “go back and scan the water, we need to make sure the water is drinkable as it is.” Gammon nodded and began his trip back to the pond.

“as for us” Jacob said a little tired. “we need to make a fire and some shelter.”
As Jacob and Elsteba worked on making a fire, gammon returned and reported that the water was safe. The tide began to roll back in and Soon they were all working, Jacob had sent Athelia to go see if they could find Jacob, to see if he wanted anything to eat, He and Elsteba where making shelters, and keeping a small fire going.

A thing Jacob found slightly Strange about Elsteba was that she knew a lot, a lot about fishing and building and other things to do with survival she just never had done any of it. it Prodded him into asking whether or not she had ever been out in the wild. “no” she replied “all the places like this are preserves on my world, hardly any one is let into them.” it boggled Jacob that a place could be so dominated by technology.
His world had very high technology but he had always been able to do things on his own without the aid of Machines. His world may have been a war torn waste but he still had done things mostly on his own.

When the water line on the beach seemed at its highest, Jacob ran out to the basket trap and rolled it until the hole faced the surface. Struggling to lift the slightly wiggling basket he made it back to shore and tripped spewing a large quantity of fish across the beach. He Raced to pick up the fish closest to the water, but was less concerned about the ones farther away.

Jacob always had a knife with him and so began the laborious task of gutting all the fish, he kept the entrails hoping to use them as more bait. Elsteba watched With a slightly interested gaze.
“you find this Entertaining?” he called finishing with the last fish. “No, I’ve just never seen it done before.” “You’re going to be seeing a lot of it.” Jacob said grimly. He took the fish carcases to the fire and then hung them over the fire on the newly made rack. They had breakfast, even though it was closer to noon.

Athelia and gammon returned reporting they could not find Amorak. Gammon Began a tale about how They had found his tracks but the trail ran cold Athelia scolded Gammon for thinking like they had been hunting Amorak. “not hunting no, Tracking” Gammon Said defending himself. The whole argument caused Both Elsteba and Jacob some laughs but they both where a little worried.

As they day wore on, the spent more and more time under the shade of their newly build shelters. They were insubstantial and small due the fact they had used up all the materials around to make them but they served their purpose. Jacob dosed off several times into a dreamless sleep. Every time he woke he found the sun had sunk only a few degrees. The day was proving more and more boring. Before the tide pulled out for the last time that day, he made sure the basket trap was up so that the fish inside would be trapped for later but still fresh.

Elsteba Didn’t sleep, she was too worried. Too worried about Amorak, too worried about survieing on this world. As the day grew ever closer to Night she grew more and more restless. Until finally she could stand it no longer she got out of her shelter and stepped over to his. “Jacob!” she said prodding his shoulder lightly. “hmm?” He mumbled rolling over and opening his eyes. “we need to find Amorak.” She said almost pleading. Jacob Sat up, he knew she was right, it would be getting dark soon. “ok, Let’s go.” He said getting to his feet.

He started up his hover Sail and they Flew over to the island. Where they scanned the Beach but found no sign of him. They called his name and Flew over the dense tree tops close to the center pinnacle of the island. No responses to any of their calls. All was silent and empty. The sun began to set and they were forced back to the main land.

They waited till the sun went down, and then they roasted and ate some more fish. Soon the moon rose, Elsteba watched it in wonder. It was a very large moon, Jacob noted this earlier, which explained why the tides came so often. The Moon on his world was much smaller and farther away.

Suddenly Amorak strode into the firelight, without a word and took a fish that was on a stick from the fire and began to eat. Elsteba immediately questioned where he had been, he didn’t answer, he didn’t even look in her direction. As soon as he had his fill he went straight to his shelter. Both Jacob and Elsteba exchanged worried looks but didn’t Question any further.

Before the moon was directly over head, they all were asleep. Except Amorak he stared out at the moon with almost a hateful glare his eyes reflecting a sad tone of color. Suddenly he felt something, he wasn’t quite sure what but he knew something was coming. He noticed a new star light in the sky. Brigher than all the stars around it. after a while it became apparent that the star was moving slightly and growing larger. Amorak watched it for hours weary of what it might be. at first he thought it would pass by and dissipear but then there was a sudden change of direction it was headed straight for them. he knew then who it was that was comeing.

amorak didn’t feel threatened in the least. There was a loud boom that woke the others as it broke through the atmosphere and Brightened dramatically out shining the moon. “It’s a Comet!” Athelia Shouted “it’s going to impact this Planet! We need to find higher ground!” “no!” Amorak shouted over the Wailing of the wind “we are safe now, safer than we ever have been, this is a good thing! not a Bad thing! i will explain later!” Both Jacob and Elsteba gave him Shocked Looks of unbelife. The roar grew to a deafening volume as the comet soared over head. The heat was just barely felt as it went by and flew farther inland.

For a brief Second there was a light Brighter than 10,000 suns blazing far inland and then it dimmed leaving everyone Blinded for a few moments afterward. Now there was only a faint red light. “hold onto something!” Amorak Shouted dropping to the ground, suddenly a huge Torrent of wind ripped past them sucking the air out of their lungs and ripping up trees and blowing sand from beneath their feet. To Elsteba it seemed the world was being torn apart, she could no longer hold to the ground as it was blowing away, the tree Jacob was clinging to just blew away and Amorak was nowhere to be seen. She let out a scream that was never heard.

When the First light of morning broke over the horizon, the beach was gone. Now in its place was water. Few trees remained though they tilted away from the impact crater which was far over the horizon. The only thing remotely familiar was the island. Though stripped of trees it was still enact. Near the shore lay Amorak his arms clinging tightly to Jacob and Elsteba. All three were still unconscious.