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.

The Journey

Time passed swiftly for the members of the team. Alsifar and Justor sat and talked a long while near the helm of the ship, or what as far and Jacob knew was the helm of the ship. He sat and watched the two of them talk about random things that he was sure his father would have loved to have taken part in, but not only were the finer points lost on Jacob but the entire conversation was. However, the style of the conversation and the words reminded him of home, of the times when he was young, his mother and father, and then later when Gammon and Athilea, would have conversations on philosophy, technology, physics and what ever else scientists and intellectuals liked to talk about. The conversation calmed him as he read the words of the manual flouting in front of him that told him how to use the watch. According to the watch, he would be able to form weapons and tools using the same energy as the watch used to form Athilia and Gammon and allowed them to take physical form. The watch could be activated by him manually activating it by using the buttons and dials, and eventually as the watch got more and more use to his thoughts and became more attune to the brainwaves that would cause him to activate certain things on the watch, he would eventually be able to operate it by thought alone. well that would be useful in a fight, if I knew how to use them in a fight he thought again in frustration. he could make swords, shields, armor and an assortment of other hand to hand weapons but the watch didn't talk at all about any long range weapons such as a plasma gun or laser rifle like the ones he had used back on his home world. he had of course taken a few classes in self defense but he didn't know anything about using a sword or shield. In fact the longest range weapon he could find was a whip and there was no way he was going to use that if he couldn't even use a sword. He knew better then to try and use a weapon he didn't know how to use.
"so you ready to learn how to use those young master?" said a very familiar voice from behind. gammon as usual flouted a foot or so above the ship floor. Jacob looked up and said "you could teach me gammon? I didn't think that it was in your matrix to teach, that is more of um..... well that's more of Athilias thing isn't it?"
Gammon moved from behind Jacob who was sitting on the floor out side of the helm room, in front of him and nodding his head yes said " it is, mostly. but even she has her limits. Who taught you about electronics and computer programming? " he said pacing in front of Jacob. "athilia" Jacob said. "yes...she did, and who taught you about mathematics and architecture and literature? athilia that is who. however let me pose this last quarry to you young master, who taught you how to wrestle? or how to use an opponents swing against them? other humans, such as young uncle Tiberius before he passed or your teacher Mikel, all were other humans." Gammon stopped pacing and looked down at Jacob. "She is not a fighter like i am, she can fight that is not what i mean but she is not a warrior like I am. This coupled with the fact that your father didn't want you to learn hand to hand combat that could kill, means that I never got to train you. But your father isn't here now, and if you are to survive, you must know how to use everything that you can get your hands on, from an antiquated sword and shield to a suit of power armor. So I ask you again my young master are you ready?" As he said this he offered his hand to Jacob.

Five minutes later, carrying his hover board, Jacob entered a large open room filled with equipment ranging from the laser rifles he was so use to, to what looked like old barbarian war axes, scimitars and hammers. swords of all shapes and sizes as well and shields and armor, from every conceivable and remembered era. there were things like flame throwers next to javelins and bows. The room was Massive as well at least four stories tall possibly more. there were dummies and targets on the far wall, were he saw something he thought so out of place he stared for almost two whole minutes before the shock wore off. It was Elstaba holding a laser rifle shooting at two targets at fifty and then one hundred feet away, with Athilea and she was doing a decent job of it! she shot again and didn't quite get the center of the target at one hundred feet, but she got close enough that it really didn't matter.
"are you going to just sit there gocking or are you going to go over and join her?" said Gammons gruff voice nearly a whisper in Jacobs ear. "you need a refresher course on your Rifle shooting, and once you are done with that you two are going to meet me for hand to hand over there" Jacob saw a bluish glowing incorporeal hand, that he knew was all to real, pointing toward the left corner behind Elstaba. "and we will start hand to hand combat training. Which includes sword, shield, spear, javelin, and other Archaic weaponry."
Jacob turned around and said "what do you expect us to learn while we are on board this ship? we will be at our destination any day now i am sure." Gammon smirked and said "right, well that shows' what you know...." but he didn't elaborate, instead as a response to Jacobs Confused expression he just shoved him toward the two female figures at the far end of the massive room.
As he got to the other side and picked up a rifle and joined elstaba and Athilea Gammon whispered to him self, a habit he remembered from when he was once human, or rather a habit the human he was modeled after had, Gammon didn't really know witch was more true at this point, “and the training begins.....again"

Sorrow Is Seen Twice and Felt Once More

Alsifar’s ship floated smoothly along in orbit around Amorak’s home planet. The gentle, serene patterns it followed hid the devastated feelings of its passengers within.

Alsifar had resued his companions from the inferno, once the ship was free of the mountian Alsifar gathered the bodies of his fallen comrades and laid them on the walkway to the interior of the ship. they then flew to the open ocean, where Alsifar deposited the bodies, saying that they had no time for a proper burial.

Immediately afterward, they entered orbit.

For a long time afterward, the members of the group, who were chosen by fate to save existence, were at a complete loss of what to do. Alsifar sat at the helm, saying nothing and showing no emotion. Amorak and Justor wandered the corridors of the ship together, trying to learn the workings of the ship as well as get their minds away from the gruesome images of death.

Elsteba wandered as well, though she had significantly fewer things with which to occupy her mind. She walked for hours, changing her course only when she reached a dead-end. She just kept walking, because she knew that doing anything would keep her from screaming.

What was I thinking, getting myself into this? she thought, never letting her imagination reach farther than her eyes. What, did I think that it would be just a game? A lovely hike? Lots of work involved, but everyone will be safe?

She bit her tongue, stemming tears that threatened to reveal themselves. She repeated the same thoughts over and over in her head, and they never brought her a single bit of happiness or relief. She figured that she could just walk forever, and the haunting images of dead men’s eyes would never leave the forefront of her memory.

She stood before an automatic door, waiting for it to open itself. When it finally did, she was surprised to see Jacob.

“Jacob,” she cried. “What are you doing here?”

Jacob raised an eyebrow. “I should be asking you that, seeing as you’re in my room.”

Elsteba looked behind her. To her amazement, it was, in fact, the room that Alsifar had designated as Jacob’s.

“Sorry, I was just walking around. I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was going.”

Elsteba walked out of the room and started down the hallway. Before she could get more than a few feet, Jacob caught her arm.

“Do you want to talk?” he asked.

Elsteba tried half-heartedly to shake his hand away.

“Trust me. Talking will help you relieve some of the pressure.”

Elsteba hesitated, and then nodded reluctantly. Jacob led her to a bench at the foot of his cot. When they both sat down, Elsteba felt the tears that she had tried so hard to conceal fight their way to the surface again.

“So, first time seeing a dead person?” Jacob asked.

Elsteba nodded, not trusting herself to speak with her grief so close to spilling over as it was.

“You’ll get used to it. You probably should, too, seeing as that probably won’t be the last time it will happen either.”

Elsteba hiccupped and looked Jacob in the eye, mortified.

“I’m not talking about any of us, don’t worry. We’re all pretty tough in our own right. We have to be. I don’t think Alsifar would have called any of us out to help if we would go down that easy.”

But Alsifar didn’t call me, remember? Elsteba thought to herself. With that thought, her tears spilled over, and she began to cry.

Jacob wasn’t sure what to do. He tried to think of what he could say that would calm Elsteba down, but he couldn’t think of anything. He remembered what it was like for him when he first encountered death, though admittedly he wasn’t in the middle of a stressful and life-altering quest at the time. He was devastated on the inside and out. He tried to remember what he did to overcome the feeling.

Finally, Jacob tried to console Elsteba by hesitantly wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Elsteba reacted by burying her face into the front of Jacob’s jacket and crying even harder, letting out great wails between sobs. Jacob was stunned by her response. At first, he thought of getting away and leaving her to herself, but when he tried to edge away, Elsteba grabbed handfuls of his jacket and drew him closer. Jacob resigned himself to holding Elsteba around her shoulder while she released her pent-up stress of the last few weeks.

Jacob looked down at the top of Elsteba’s head. The sight of her crying uncontrollably on his lap caused him to remember, finally, how he had handled his first experience with a fallen friend. He remembered being exactly where Elsteba was now, and the lap was his mother’s. The revelation startled him, but for one moment, he felt what it was like for his mother, holding Elsteba close, stroking her hair, and telling her…

“Don’t worry,” Jacob found himself saying. “Do not mourn for those who have passed on. Cry softly instead for those who are living, and those who are yet to live, for theirs is truly the saddest fate. And yet, what is life to the living, except an extension of the life to those who no longer live?”

Coming out of his own mouth, rather than his mothers, these words had significantly less polish and shine than he had remembered. Looking down at Elsteba, however, he saw a grateful face looking back up at him. No way, he thought. It actually worked?

“Thanks,” Elsteba said, straightening herself up and wiping the lingering tears from her eyes. “It didn’t really make much sense, but it somehow makes me feel a lot better.”

“Yeah. That doesn’t make much sense either, does it?”

“Not at all. You probably need to see a psychiatrist now.”

“That makes even less sense.”

Before long, Elsteba and Jacob were laughing and joking to each other like childhood friends. They hadn’t forgotten the hardships that they had faced, or the challenges that were yet to come. For the moment, however, let the past be buried and the future forgotten.

Impact Zone

Alsifar Lead the Group as fast as they Could manange, Traveling through a Huge Jungle when all the Shattered Trunks of the Trees were Pointed Directly at you was Extreamaly Difficult, The Terrain was not to Freindly either. they Stopped only as nessisary, to Rest, and to eat. Despite all his efforts Alsifar was unable to lead them to his ship before Nightfall.

Gammon and Athelia had Joined them Before they Set out, though Neither talked much. this Worried Jacob.

"How are you two?" he asked after several hours of Travle. Gammon just Shrugged and Althelia Replied "chastened..."

with answers like that Jacob didn't see the Point in asking any more Questions. they Made a Few other Comments Doing their Best to Guide the Group out of Dangerous areas, or keeping them away from trecherous places. According to them Alsifar had asked them to Scout the way Before they returned to the camp. this explained their long absence. however in all cases They Both Seemed slightly Depressed.

they all talked little, Alsifar had Made it Clear that they Needed to Devote their Attention to Moveing as Swiftly to their Destination as Possible. as Sunset Approached a Darker Feeling Set in. a Feeling of doom. there was no Real explanation for it, it just settled in. even alsifar seemed affected by it. worry showed through his Actions.

Amorak seemed tense as well, he Sayed Close to Elsteba and Asked Jacob to Do the Same. Justor Became the Advance Scout, he would Journey a Little ways ahead and then Return Trying to help Gammon and Althelia Guide the group as Quickly as Possible. in any other Circomstance he would have enjoyed Firgureing out How these Holograms Could be Substantial yet Insubstantial at the same time, but he knew that had to wait.

As the Moon Drifted Higher and Higher, The Jungle Got Quieter and Quieter. Amorak who had Lived in this Place a long time had never heard the Jungle Noises Stop so Suddenly.
"Alsifar, We shouldn't be Here Something isn't right." Amorak Whispered.
Alsifar Relpied "No...something isn't Right...yet we Must Press on..."
Justor Soon Returned, "There are Strange Tracks ahead." Alsifar looked Worried
"how strange?" he asked, "it looks as if A large mass of Serpents Passed by, and something else...something with Large Five Clawed Feet..." Alsifar Sighed, "we Must Move Quickly and Silently, Justor cloak us so that we may Pass Unseen and uheard." Justor nodded, then Muttered Silently. " it is Done, i will return Again soon." he said Before Darting off again.

as the moon came to rest Directly Above their heads, They Found themselves entering the Impact Crater. the Sight infront of them was Something to behold. a huge portion of the Mountial Root had Been blown away and a Roughly Cone shaped impact crater spread from the Epicenter of the impact Zone.

Alsifar's Ship Looked like a Gigantic Crystal teardrop it Reflected the Suble Moonlight to a high degree, they could see the Reflection of the entire crater in it...even their own small forms standing on the edge. it was Almost as Large as the Remainder of the Mountian, although it Stuck out of it at a very Odd angle, it's lower half was Completly Burried in Rock.

Another Suprize Awaited their discovery but they Did not notice it until Alsifar Pointed it out.
"that is where our Freinds wait for us." Alsifar had Pointed to a Small craft that sat on the Inside edge of the Crater. its one door was open and Light was Flooding out.
"Does anyone See them?" After Looking Everyone Shook their heads.
"that's odd, from this direction we should be able to...lets go to them and see what is going on." they Quickly Moved to the Craft, no one in sight. Elsteba Jacob and Amorak Noted the Craft was Packed Full of food and water. exept for one small kubby which seemed Mostly Empty.


"justor Lower your Cloaking." Alsifar Whispered Justor nodded and Alsifar Called as Quietly as he could "Jethro, Logan?! show yourselves we have arived."


there was no answer, No noise, not of anything Living nor of air or water. Alsifar Streightened as his eyes passed over the remains of Jethro and Logan...two slightly pink skeletons.

"Quickly! you all Must Go to my Ship! Justor Cloak us." Just as he Finished a few Soft Claps Broke the Silence.

a Deep Smooth Voice broke slid out of the darkness. "they will Make nice additions to my Collection wouldn't you say Alsifar..." a Figure had appeared Dressed in a Ragged Black Cloak ripped and worn in random Places. the Hood was cast so that no one could see his face.
Alsifar Didn't reply because He knew he wouldn't be heard anyway. Justor had Sucsesfuly Cloaked them in time.

At first Elsteba Wondered why anyone would wear such an outfit, as the Figure neared she noticed that the Cloak had been Made that way on Purpose, Mostly she Guessed to Inspire fear in his enemys, and that was working. She felt very scared, a slight fear showed on Jacob's face and to her suprize Amorak also showed a tinge of fear. this didn't help her own confidence

"ah, hiding i see...i can't See any of you or hear you...however i do smell you, the result of several days in the sun and sand i suppose...Alsifar How can you stand to Live amoung Such Smelly Creatures?" the Figure said after a while slowly moving towards them

Amorak Could tell that this Being was Telling the truth, espesialy by the way it was slowly cautiosly moveing forward and tilting it's covered head slightly to sniff the air. he aslo knew that it's comments were meant to provoke a reaction. to which he had no desire to respond.

"i wonder how your current companions will react when they know they are going to die more horrible deaths, they will be live when i taste them.  you know i always liked the Fresh Prey...espesialy the unsuspecting, the First i took was completely Oblivious to my Presence...too ocupied with his own Food. ahh but the other was Much more alert, we had to fix that." the Figure Drew a long Pointed sword, it's red tip Glinted in the Moonlight, "all it took was a little distraction and a quick poke with this and well you can see the results, no struggling from him."

He can't possibly mean that he ate them?!? jacob thought in digust. who was this new enemy? and more importantly what was he? something about this person seemed to fluid too...different, to be human.

Jacob was suddenly aware of how Defenseless he was, Justor could use Magic and held a Cloak around them but if that failed? Amorak probably could Do something, Alsifar as well, But he and Elsteba had no weapons. Jacob had left his weapons on his world. if anything happened he and Elsteba would Be the ones stuck in the Middle of the Defensive Circle. He didn't like the Idea of not being able to defend himself

"Justor, Take the others to my ship, Gammon and Athelia Weapons ready, you will protect them on the way. Elsteba take my staff with you, it will show you the way in...i will deal with this one." Alsifar said gesturing towards the Figure. he Handed his crystal staff to Elsteba and it began to glow a brilliant white
Jacob Felt Power Surge through the watch as gammon's Sword Began to Glow with similar Bright white Light, and Athelia's hands did the same.
with that Justor Lead the way at a run, the others Followed Quickly. the Figure Laughed a Deep resounding laugh, " ooo, a Chase how fun! you know they can't out run me."
"you will have to go through me Demon!" Alsifar Roared. Figure Chukkled, "that is a little Easier said than done, But i Precive you are weaker than when we last Met."
Alsifar Snarled, "i can still take care of you!"
"we Shall see." the Figure Pulled its wepon up so that Alsifar could see, "such a quaint weak wepon...i far better prefer my own Tooth and Claw!" it threw the wepon to the ground.

"i was hoping you would say that." Alsifar said with a slight Smirk. then Almost too fast to see Bolth of them changed shape and Lunged at one another

the others Heard the Titanic Rumble Beguin. A titanic Roar Split the air and then the earth shook. they Saw Lights as Torrents of Liquid elemental Fire caused the Forest behind them explode into Flame and the Rocks to glow Red and melt. Sounds like the Ripping and Twisting of Metal Filled the air, Punctuated by Roars of Pain and Effort which echoed across the landscape.

"Keep Running!" Justor yelled over the noise as they reached the rim of the crater, "we are nearly there!"
The reflection in the giant crystal ship of what was happening behind them was awsome to behold. A wall of fire reached high into the sky and Shapes and shadows Twisted through it. Lightning flashed Out of the Pillar of smoke, and down into the Fire where breif Flashes of Green and Blue and Deep Red emurged. below it all a Bed of white hot rock.
The Sounds were horrible, Highpitched Screeches to Deep Rumbleings. it Seemed Impossible for anyone or anything to Create the Noises that where heard.

as the group reached the Base of the Ship castle, Alsifars Staff emitted a Small Beam of light towards a place on the Surface of the ship not to far away.
"there go!" Justor said pointing to where the light met the surface of the Ship.
upon aproaching the Light expanded and a Door way Appeared. Just as suddenly as they began the Sounds of Battle had Quieted, They all paused, catching their breath just outside the door. they watched the raging flames for the firgure of alsifar to emurge. the wall of flame didn't falter.
"do you think he was Defeated?" Amorak Asked, but no one wanted to answer.

they watched not wanting to belive that it might be true. then, the earth shook and the flames quieted. with a pained screech a large shape was thrown into the air, tossed towards the sea.

with a large burst of wind the remainder of the flames dissapeared with no sign of alsifar.

they watched in a numb daze, with alsifar gone what would they do now? they knew little about how to pilot this ship, or where to go and what to do. they were stranded on a strange world with no way to get anywere.

"ALL OF YOU INSIDE!!" a hoarse voice Rored. "this isn't over yet!" Alsifar came limping around the edge of the ship. his white robes singed and his hair burnt. " if we don't get into orbit soon, we will consign this planet to a fate more horrible than Death."

"how did you?..." Jacob started, "No Time!" alsifar said cutting him off hurrying through the door. the moment his foot touched the crystal the whole ship lit up sending light out into the night. "you coming?" he yelled over his shoulder as he continued through the passageway.

they all hurried after him

Another Course in Another Place

Four hours had passed since Elsteba Alastair had Presumably Been Annihilated...Principal Schellhous had delivered the News Two hours ago and in that Time everything had gone Crazy. The Universal Board of Education had Come Personally To Inspect the Workings of the School, and Besides a whole Plethora of Legal Issues that had suddenly Appeared the Largest one was an investigation on the The Educational Systems Method of Transporting Students. Nothing would Have Worried Mr. Slavinois Except the board had Stumbled Upon the Records of the "Unofficial Testing"...upon further inspection, these records could be the one thing that Could Point a Finger of Blame at him.

a Knock Came to his Door, "enter" he Called. The School Officer Entered the Room, "i am Sorry To inform you that this School is Going to have to Be Shut down until we can Sort out what happened here, however it seems there has Been An Arrest." Mr. Slavonois Looked questionably at him, "Principal Schellhous has been the one Named Responsible for this Disaster." "

what? Why??" the officer Smiled, "his name was the one on the Forms authorizeing the tests on the system." Mr. Slavonois Smiled Back, "well, that's sad to hear."


the Two Men Laughed For a Long Moment, "there is still a day, by then we'll have got him Off all Nice and Clean." Mr. Slavonis Nodded Sitting Back in his Chair, almost Talking to himself he said, "The Course is Set then...He will be Pleased to hear that..."

Snag in the Plans

"Why are we here, again?"

"Alsifar told us to wait here with the ship while he met with the others."

"Oh, yeah...I'm hungry."

"Well, we brought an entire ship full of food, didn't we?"

"Oh yeah...I'll be right back."

A minute later, Jethro returned to his post, his arms laden with various food stuffs.

Logan sighed and resumed his scanning of the surrounding forest, his keen eyes alert for any sign of danger.  He was particularly careful to watch for the enemy Alsifar had told them about before he left; judging by the descriptions he had been told, he had good reason to keep his senses about him.

Beside him, his brother was hungrily wolfing down food with a ravenous fury.  Where he put it all, Logan had no idea, but somehow, Jethro so far has single-handedly eaten half his allotted share of food in the past several hours, and has shown no signs of stopping.

Jethro looked up from his half-eaten loaf of bread and asked, "What are we supposed to be guarding all this stuff from, again?"

Logan looked Jethro in the eye, amazed at his show of utter stupidity.  "From the being Alsifar told us about, remember?  The Umbering."

Jethro looked blankly at Logan for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders.  "What's a Lumberding?  Some kind of wood-eating monster?  Why would one of those eat the food in a metal ship?"

"It's the Umbering, you idiot.  A being of immeasurable size, comprised of pure darkness, and seeks only destruction for the sake of destruction."

"Brother, you are hurting my head.  I can't eat right with a headache."

Jethro's whining  was beginning to get on Logan's nerves.  "How can you be eating right now?  We are on duty, protecting this ship and its cargo for those who would use it to defeat the single greatest threat to existence and order in this and every universe, and your only concern is what you can stuff in your mouth?"

"You talk funny, brother," Jethro said through a mouth that was full to the brim with nuts and salted meat.

Logan let it drop.  It wasn't the first time he had chided Jethro for his obvious lack of caring for anything other than food, and it definitely wouldn't be the last time, either.  He wondered how they could be related in any way when they were practically polar opposites.  I guess that's how twins work, Logan thought to himself, They're not normal unless they drive each other crazy.

He leaned back, allowing himself a brief respite to stretch his legs.  Even though this world was inhabited by the Umbering, he still couldn't help but notice how beautiful it was, even at night.  The trees weren't overly ancient, but they were old enough to be tall and noble things of beauty.  He looked up into the sky at the moon, in the height of its arc.  It was full tonight, and cast its light on the world below it.  He marveled how the light would land on those same trees, casting  long shadows toward them and -

Logan jumped up, his hands raised in preparation for battle.  The moon wouldn't be casting long shadows at its point in the sky.  Those shadows were also pointing toward them, due south, which was an impossible direction for the shadows to be pointing, since the moon, being directly above them, would cast shadows pointing either west or east, depending on the time of night.

"Heads up, Jethro.  I don't think we are alone."

For the first time Logan could remember in their entire time together, Jethro didn't respond with an unintelligent remark; he didn't respond at all.

"...Jethro?" Logan asked hesitantly, casting a sideways glance at where his brother was sitting.  What he saw was an empty stool, absent of even the many articles of food which Jethro was gorging on earlier.

In an instant, the darkness overwhelmed him.  Logan thrust his palm and sent a ball of light hurtling toward the mass of shadow, but this was soon quenched, and once again Logan found himself alone in a world where he could not see a foot in front of him.  He could not even see the very solid blade positioning itself behind him, at the base of his skull.  It was only when it thrust forward was he aware of his presence, and by then it was too late.

The Journey Onward

As the First Rays Of Sunlight began to peak over the horizon, the Huddled Silhouettes of the Sleeping group Began to move. Amorak watched them with an expression of Pure Boredom. Jacob Was the First to Get up and Stretch.





Slowly the others Began to Drag themselves Up off the Ground to Begin a New day, which From Amoraks Perspective Might well be the same as the day Before, though he had Learned new things met knew people and remembered Various Facts About himself he would rather have left everything the way it was.





What Frustrated Amorak the Most was the Lack Of action, they had Been Presented with a Problem but no one Moved to Try and Fix it. Amorak Seriously Doubted Anyone knew how. He was also Frustrated with this Alsifar Person, something About him still Struck him as uncomforting. Alsifar's Dramatic Arrival Hadn't helped the Situation either, it only made things more confusing, and Promising to make things more clear in a Future that would never arrive.





Amoraks' Train of brooding thought was Disrupted by Jacob who tapped him once on the Shoulder and asked "do you know where Alsifar Went?"


Scanning the Camp He Noticed that Alsifar had indeed disappeared, That Irritated Amorak a little. It was Unsettling how Easily Alsifar could slip away without Being seen, and return in Like manner.


"No" Amorak Said Responding More in a Glare than in words. Jacob Backed away, a little disturbed by the Red tint that flashed in his eyes.


"You could try a Little Optimism now and again. it would Make things a lot easier in the Future for all of us." he said Walking Off toward the water.





Amorak Studied Jacob For a moment, That was An Authoritative Statement he had Just made. it also Hinted that he Had come To accept the Situation.


"ah yes, that is how the Survivalist Mind works doesn't it. Judging every aspect of everything, Determining Threats to personal Well being and Status, Determining Opportunities for Personal Interest and Continuance. all to Make sure i Survive. so that i can go on." Amorak Found himself Agreeing with the voice that had Just Spoken. Amorak admitted it out loud, and that he had to think that way to survive here...



then realizing what had happened he scowled. He had Just been Tricked into Speaking his Mind, which was something he was unaccustomed to and something he Didn't want to do. Amorak didn't even need to turn to see who it was, he knew exactly who it was.



Alsifar smiled, "i understand amorak, but there is one thing you need to understand. You are apart of a Team now, you Need to not only think for yourself but for the others. if is a matter of Trust. Be Assured No one here would Betray you, they have no reason to. They all are trying to find it in them to think for a great many other people besides themselves and Like you everyone is trying to Square with what has been Forced on them."



Amorak glanced at Alsifar, "by you" alsifar nodded, " if it makes you feel better to blame all that has happened and all that will happen on me then do, For what it’s worth I will admit it is all my fault and that there is no possible apology that I could give to anyone here for what I have done. My actions have pulled Four People from their lives to put together a shadow of a hope of Destroying a very Pervasive evil. But it wasn’t me who Took you from your life was it? i may have placed you here as you are, but i was not the one who started this for you. Deep inside however you knew that this time would come. that i would return for you. Amorak a Duty calls it is still to be seen who will answer.”


With that Alsifar stood to his Full height which was indeed very Tall, he faced Elsteba and Justor who were Sitting Silently by the Fire Justor had roused from the Ashes. Jacob Was Returning from the water side. “A Call has Been made!” Alsifars Voice Boomed across the Space between them, causing Jacob and Elsteba to Jump in Surprise, Justor turned his head slightly. Amorak rolled his eyes, talk about a flare for the dramatic,

“A Call has been made to those who Have the Courage, the Fortitude, and the sense of Right and Wrong to do what is needed! A Call to all those who Have the Potential to Change the tread of all time! A Call to those who have the Power to Rekindle the Light that Fought against the dark and to right what has been Greatly Wronged! It is You who Are before me today that meet the Standards needed! A Duty Calls Who will answer? Who will Face their Destiny! I Ask You four around me What is Your Choice? To Fight with me against the Umbering? Or to return whence you came and Leave? What Say you!” Alsifar Pointed at Justor, he stood and Faced Alsifar, “I Say, I will walk with you.” Amorak sighed and Stood as well, “ as do I” Alsifar was right, Amorak knew this had been coming and knew what he had to do.

Alsifar Pointed at Jacob, “what do you say?” Jacob Looked at the Ground, and then at his watch, he stared at it for a long moment. His Father had Done Many things To both Anger and Gladden Him, Forceing him on an Adventure was one of the things that Angered him slightly, but Jacob Knew he had to Help in some way. he Couldn't stand to Know something was wrong and not try helping fix it. “I will walk with you.” he said Meeting Alsifars Eyes.

Alsifars Gaze settled Upon Elsteba, “and what do you say Elsteba” his Voice was Calm and quiet yet it carried all the way to her. She Frowned, she had not been expecting this. Caught between wanting to help and Feeling inadequate, she remained quiet for a long time.
Her thoughts raced, how could she do any of this? what would the others think if she decided to go back? she wasn’t even supposed to be here and yet Alsifar was asking her to join them, did he really belive she could do what he asked?

“i…” she said glancing briefly at the expectant faces, alsifars slight smile sent a Shock of certainty through her mind. “I will go with you…though I don’t know how much help I will be…” Alsifar only smiled wider, “don’t think down on yourself now, that would be the last thing we need. Now as all of you agreed you would walk with me, I Propose we start now. we have a lot of ground to cover before night falls and at this point we don’t want that to happen.”

“alsifar we haven’t even had Breakfast and you want us to go somewhere?” Jacob asked Alsifar sighed, “Can’t anyone not question me just once! I brought us Food for the way but we must leave immediately!”

“why? and where ever would we go?” Justor said gesturing inland, “we are in the middle of nowhere Practically.”

“the Longer we stay here the More likely Servants of the umbering will show up and as to where we would go we need to get something from my ship so that we can leave this world. Now can we get going?!?”

“one More question” Jacob asked, “where did the food come from?”

“I don’t have time to explain everything, but Some Friends Gave it to me, you will meet them when we get to my ship.”

Their Curiosity satisfied for the moment they began the Journey, Alsifar Passed out several Packs filled with water and food. Then they were off through the impact flattened Jungle.

TO BED!

"Jacob." Amorak Called from a Distance, "Justors' Device did not Make it through."


Jacob Looked Up from his quiet Conversation with Elsteba. "what? Why?"


"go ask Him i would not know." Amorak Replied Sitting down by the Fire.


Jacob Stood and Walked Over to Alsifar and Justor who were Still Arguing.



he Tried to Get their attention but they Didn't even notice


"Justor! What do you mean the IDMTM Didn't Make it?" Jacob Yelled Finaly


"When the Matter Transferal Beguins it can't be stopped, Usualy the IDMTM would have Appeared with me but the Glitch happened After i had Blinked out of my Exiance, leaving me Hurtleing through the void between spaces. Basicaly it Blew up and sent me into nothingness! i could have ceased to exist, it was Fortunate that this reality was so close to mine relitivaly speaking because you can't measure something that isn't there..."


Alsifar Stopped Justor with one Look and then said, " It would have been usless for what we would need it for, it can only Jump twice. once away to somewhere else, and then Back."


Justor looked annoyed " i said i was Beta Testing it! of course it wasn't going to be Perfect."


Alsifar waved his hand " justor! Let it go, it's gone. you have more Interesting Machines and Gadgets to Get aquainted with."


"like what!" Alsifar Pointed at Jacobs Wrist, "like that, and no you can't look at it now, we all need rest for what is to come."


Elsteba And Amorak Aproached Tentitively, " what Exactly is to come?" Amorak asked sounding like he really Didn't care.


Alsifar Smiled " an Adventure, the Details Of which You will find out Tommorow. Now All of you GO TO BED! i will take the first watch."


"what about gammon and Athelia? aren't they Still Out there?" Jacob asked " They are Makeing sure the Shadow is gone, as well as Keeping us Safe from other harms, still one of us should be awake just in case. They will return by Morning, do not worry Jacob as long as your safe they will be fine. Do i have to Repeat it again? all of you Go To Sleep!"


Grumbleing everyone Eventualy made it back to the Places that had Served as Beds since they had gotten there. Justor Quickly and Easily Made his own place and over time Everyone was asleep.

After all were sleeping semi soundly, Jacob arose awakened by Alsifars touch, "Jacob it's your turn"

Jacob quickly stood and streatched, "Alsifar?" jacob whispered," yes, jacob." "i've been talking with Elsteba, and she Really doesn't want to be apart of this. she Thinks it's all very interesting, but she doesn't see how she can be of use. Frankly i don't see how a tecno wiz kid, a mysterious Hermit, a normal school girl, a strange old man, a couple of Holograms, and i can save anything."

Alsifars eyes twinked in the darkness, "neither do i, but it's the only hope there is, and unless you have another plan, there is no other way...you don't have another plan do you?? if you do i would really like to hear it."

Jacob chukkled softly, " no i don't have another plan, but are you sure we can all do this?"

alsifar smiled, "Positive, if we stay togeather and find how to Complete our Parts in the Plan, we won't fail. as for elsteba, she can't return to her world yet. the Umbering is Blocking the way...i belive he has a plan for that world, so we will have to return to stop it eventualy. For now however we can't do anything untill you master how to use the watch, if you truly understand how to use the watch even the umbering won't ba able to stop you from getting somewhere. now if you would excuse me i am tired Jacob, i am glad we had this chat, but i can hardly keep my eyes open. when the moon reaches the horizon, wake Amorak, he will take the last watch. see you in the morning jacob" With that Alsifar Laid down where jacob had just risen from and Almost imidiately began snoreing.

Jacob shook his head, he was a weird Person.

Justor and Alsifar

Amorak Walked back over to where Justor and Alsifar where still in Deep Conversation about something Amorak Didn't want to or Care to Understand.

As he neared Justor suddenly looked annoyed and Began to Yell at Alsifar, "I KNEW IT!!! My calibrations were to precise for This kind of Mistake to Happen! i Memorized them all and yet you say i am Wrong! i have Photographic Memory...YOU SABOTAGED MY IDMTM!!!!!!" Alsifar Looked Slightly Embarased

"Sabotaged is to Strong a word, i would Prefer Tweaked." Justor Glared at Alsifar, "You have no idea How Much it Hurt to suddenly Be Ejected through Space and Time Faster than the Speed of Light. you Could have Killed me!"

Alsifar Smirked "You had to end up here and that was not where you were Going, you have a Job to do Little Cousin. Dead you are not, and i know enought about how the universe works to get you here Alive."

Amorak Paused, Did he Just call Justor "cousin??" that was Shocking. Yet He could not know exactly what Alsifar Ment. Amorak Stepped Forward, " Justor, Jacob Wants to see your Device." Justor Glanced Angrily at Alsifar, "sorry...It didn't make it through..."

The Way Forward

Justor took a deep breath. "So, I am going to ask this question again, and I would prefer it if I got a straight answer instead of a deep epithet from Noah here. Where am I?"

"Exactly where I said before, Justor," Alsifar said, "You are - "

"Where I need to be, yeah. Is that the only response I am going to get?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Amorak stepped forward. "You are on my home world. I have lived here all my life. It has never really had a name, because I never thought it needed a name. Although," he added, glaring at Alsifar, "due to recent events, I'm not sure it's still the same world I know."

Alsifar laughed. "Oh good, you are starting to show some sense of humor! I was beginning to lose hope in you."

Amorak merely rolled his eyes and walked back to the fire, where Elsteba and Jacob were talking with each other in muted tones.

"...pretty sure that's why he's here."

"Jacob, are you sure? He said it malfunctioned, glitched and sent him through a rip in space. How can we use something like that?"

"I can tell he's the kind of person who lives and breathes technology. I'm pretty tech-savvy myself. If we work on it together, I know we can fix whatever problem is bugging it."

"And then what do we do?"

"We can - "

Jacob looked up and saw Amorak sitting a few feet away and stopped talking. He merely stared at him with a look that contained feelings which Amorak didn't understand, but made him feel like he had intruded at just the wrong moment.

Elsteba turned around to face Amorak. "So how is the newest member to our team of outcasts?" she asked.

Amorak shrugged. "He enjoys talking my ears off, so I'm sure he will be welcome with the rest of you."

"Hey Amorak?" Jacob said, "Can you go tell him that I want to see this device he said brought him here first thing tomorrow?"

"What am I, your - " Amorak started to say, but Jacob shot him a glare that issued a challenge. Amorak thought about it, then decided it wasn't a challenge he bothered to accept. "Sure. Whatever."

Juslnitlaaicnalienaenlfmaifenacnaldortnaicmvaoidtor

Amorak looked over and saw the guy still on the ground, unconscious. He walked over to him and tried shaking him awake. He realized that he was muttering something. When he leaned in closer, he heard him say, "...d/h = ((((T / SK) + (T * -0.390527)) / (((T + -0.421559) * (SK + (SK + ((SK / (SK + (((T * -0.39954) + (SK + (T / SK))) + SK))) + SK)))) / T)) * -0.376824)..."
He looked up. "Um, a little help here guys?" Alsifar waved his hand and the guy jerked. Then he woke up. He looked around for a little bit while sitting up. "Um, where am I?" Alsifar said, "where you need to be." "Uh, ok."

After they had all settled down and introduced themselves to the new guy, he stood up and said, "I guess I should tell you guys who I am. My name is Juslnitlaaicnalienaenlfmaifenacnaldortnaicmvaoidtor; however, you can call me Justor. I come from a world where magic is abundant. I myself am a master of light and sound." When he said that, he raised his arms and the area around them seemed to suddenly bend and twist as if reality itself was being messed with. Then he lowerd his arms and it all suddenly went back to normal. "I think what happened that made me get here was a glitch on an Interdimentional Matter Transportation Matrix, or the IDMTM for short. It was going to be a way to get from place to place without the use of magic. I was beta testing it, and it must have had something wrong and ejected me here."

The Quest

Alsifar Suddenly Appeared The unexpected Coldness of his Silver eyes Held Everyone Where they were. Jacob Strained Against its force trying to Reach Farther Toward Elsteba “DO NOT TOUCH HER!” He Roared, the Invisible Force Pulling his arm Away. “ There had been a Shadow of the Umbering here, And It has already Taken its First Hostage! Elsteba is in the hold of the Umbering now, as long as it has a hold upon her, the Shadow Lives off of her lifeforce. If any of you would have touched her you too would have been feeding its life. Gammon Athelia!”


The Watch on Jacobs wrist Jerked slightly and Athelia Appeared, Gammon looked Shocked and Relived at the same Time “Both of you! You are our greatest Protection against this darkness, I am Disappointed in how you have both Let your Guard Slip so far. if you would have stood together instead of let your individual Day Dreams run away with you this never would have happened! I did not allow Dr. Russle to give you a second life for no reason!” Alsifar Banged the Butt of his crystal Staff on the Ground and with a Flash a bright light illuminated the area.
In the light they all could clearly see a Writhing Black Mist about Elsteba. He held his hand up towards it. “be gone!” he commanded. There was another burst of Light and the mist dissolved. Elsteba let out a Gasp and fell unconscious. “Athelia and Gammon Make a perimeter, and make sure the shadow is gone, don’t let your minds stray from your Duty.” With a Bow they both floated away from camp.


Alsifar let out a sigh “I have much to tell all of you, but first everyone must be awake and well.” he walked over to Amorak and his hands began to shine with a Bright Nimbus of Light. “Awake Amorak “ he said putting a hand over his face. “you are needed here” Amoraks eyes flashed open. He tried to throw the hand away but could not move. Alsifar Moved to Elsteba and said “Awake, and Be well” waving his hand over her. She gasped again and woke but could not move. He finaly moved to the burnt personage that lay on the ground. He pointed his palm toward him and his burns and wounds began to mend.
When he finished, the Oppressive force Lifted and Alsifar let out a deep breath and leaned on his Crystal Staff. The use of his power had obviously taken a toll on him.


“you all are here for a specific reason, me and my Order chose you all because it was you three who had it within you to Either help me Restore Existence back to its previous balance or create a new one. However some of you took longer to get here than others…” he looked meaningfully to the Dazed looking Person who had just recovered from his burns. “introductions are far past time, I must introduce you all to the Mission. It’s quite simple we need to save Everyone and Everything from the Umbering.”


Jacob had heard the word before, he had heard his father use it under his breath several times when he was working, “what is the Umbering?” he asked slightly angry that his own father had kept so many secrets from him. “A good question, but a hard one to answer, The Umbering is a Growing Darkness, its wish is to destroy all light.” This didn’t really Mean any danger to Jacob, so what if the umbering destroyed all light, living in darkness wasn’t really all that hard. “I don’t see the danger, I see inconvenience, but not danger.” Jacob said crossing his arms. “Jacob, your thinking of normal light, I am talking about the light of free life. the Umbering wishes to Control Dominate and Manipulate the Light of Life and thus extinguishing it forever. You will learn more of this later for now that is all you need know of the Umbering”


Elsteba Was Still quite frightened, though since she had been roused from unconsciousness, she had felt peace, a little too much peace for what had just happened, she knew it had somehow been placed inside her. “what was that thing!” she said standing up, remembering how it had approached her in a dream and then touched her with a touch so cold she woke up to find it real. “that was one of the Many creations of the Umbering. Made from Light it has already destroyed. Its one of its pets. It was partially my fault it came here. I am sorry you had to experience what you did.” She was angry at Alsifar for Disrupting her Peaceful Life
“Your not near sorry enough!” she yelled at him, her hands grinding into fists,
“ I want to go home! I didn’t have the most Exiteing Life but at least it was safe! Things like this aren’t supposed to happen!”
“Elsteba calm down…” alsifar tried,
“no! send me home, you can do it I know you can, all I was trying to do was get to class and you Pulled me off my own world into this Nightmare!”


“I didn’t bring you here, now calm down and i will explain…”
“what do you mean!!!? You just said You and your order chose me!” she was now very close to alsifar and almost ready to hit him.
“you Elsteba came here by Accident. You where never meant to be a part of this Adventure.” Dumbfounded she stepped back, “what are you talking about?! Why am I here then!?”


alsifars silver gaze never wavered, it was slightly comforting, “I don’t know why you are here” he said,
“ the others where ment to be here, but how you came here specifically I don’t know, it still puzzles me. You came through when the Umbering tried to Attack your world, it found the place of least resistance and tried to come through, but you stopped it somehow and fell through the hole it made to get to your world. You saved your world and didn’t even know it.” he winked.


“Now, as I was saying before the umbering came for Amorak, would you care to tell us why amorak or should i?”
Amorak grunted, annoyed “ I am a key” Alsifar Nodded, “a key to a very complicated lock, a key that sits in the key hole ready to be turned, either to lock tight or to open forever. Amorak is the key to the Umberings cage.”
“I can speak for myself” amorak said even more annoyed “that vision you saw, on your watch Jacob, that is what happened to me, I don’t remember everything but I do remember at least now that if I were to be used for good I would save existence but if I were used for evil I would release the storm of darkness and destroy everything. If I were also to die anything but a natural death the umbering would be released as well…it’s either I hide until I die of old age or the darkness breaks free. That is why I came here! And all of you had to ruin it!”


alsifar Tuted Amorak. “ for one so old you are quite selfish, Amorak is only one way to defeat the umbering or to release it. But it is his task to Discover how to Control his Power over the Prison of the Umbering. How the Shadow made it here was bolth because of me and because of him, as I departed my station the Umberings gaze followed me and saw amorak through the key hole and before his prision prevented him he sent the shadow through to get amorak and take him to his followers. Luckly this guy showed up.” Alsifar Pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the newcomer who still looked dazed.


“Alsifar Can you send me home? As I am not needed here can I just go home” Elsteba asked suddenly. Alsifar smiled she obviously had been in deep thought “only through the hole you came, and I doubt you want to do that, it would allow the umbering access to your home. There are other ways but those options aren’t open yet…well there is Jacob… and as for you not being needed, I wouldn’t be so sure about that, you could be useful. I since I first saw you I felt the Fire in you” she didn’t seem to pay attention to the last half of his sentence.
“ Jacob? How could Jacob send me home?”
Alsifar smiled “ Jacobs watch is the way we will be traveling from now on. He is the one who is going to take us world to world till we find the other way to defeat the umbering.”


Jacob Looked up quizzically at Alsifar “What?” alsifar smiled wider “that is your role Jacob, you are the one who, if the umbering escapes, will defeat it, and so you needed a way to get to where the umbering is. The watch. You have great power in you Jacob.” Jacob also ignored the statement alluding to his hidden power.


“my father built the watch, how did you know what it would do!”
alsifar sighed “as I said before, I know your father. I gave him the design and some of the materials for the watch. He knew and trained you for the time when you would be called upon to save existence. I also gave him what was left of Gammon and Athelia to serve as your protectors, as your world Was already being Absorbed by the Umbering.”


“wait a minute if the umbering is imprisioned how can he be destroying worlds and sending shadows out?” Jacob asked
“when Amorak was made the Key, A key hole also had to be made, as you can Peek through a Keyhole so can it, it can also push some things through, it is trying to find ways to make the key hole bigger so it can just step through out of its prison, and still have a fortress where nothing can go, but this to we must stop. Your world Jacob was the first he tried to do this with, it attached the keyhole to the core of one of your suns so that he could manipulate it's power and make the Keyhole larger... but it wasn't totaly efficient the Star now runs On some of the power of the Keyhole as well... it has discovered other ways or draining power from its prison. very horrible ways.” Amorak grunted “I have heard enough talk, now that we know the problem what do we do to fix it.”


Alsifar nodded “ first we need to get off this world, I fear that the umbering may have alerted his followers to this location, we must leave this world, and then we must search for the wepon, and the way to close the door.”

the new arrival

An explosion suddenly rocked the whole scene. The demonic... thing reeled back from the sudden attack. Gammon, seeing his chance, stabbed it in its core. It fell back, flailing its many tendrils, into the water. The whole lake started to boil as the thing screamed once-an earpiercing, horrifying scream-and then started to dissolve.

Gammon stood there, panting, expecting to feel elation at killing the beast but feeling none. A groaning noise startled him. He looked towards where the noise was coming from and saw a kid lying there in the ground. He looked a little scorched, and he rolled over and groaned again. He rushed over to Master Jacob, then saw Elsteba lying there, in shock. "Help me!" Jacob cried. "If I don't get her out of this, she might die!"

a battle at the speed of light.....

But as soon as Jacob had gotten the watch looking wrist band, off of his wrist the small fabric like elastic that had engulfed his wrist when it first took to his arm sprung out of it again, searching for something, with in a matter of seconds the stupid thing had re attached its self to his wrist. What is this thing? Jacob thought as he accepted the fact that the he would never get rid of it, he had attempted to remove it the night before a few times only to the same effect, the stupid thing would just reattach its self in a matter of seconds. father what did you give me? He thought as he looked at the watch witch was now glowing a bright blue. A few seconds later a small soft humming sound started coming from the watch, then the Figure of Athilia appeared over head as he sat up in his bed roll that Amarok had showed him how to make before he went back to sleep. Amarok had been doing that the past couple of days, waking up only to give a bit of useful information, only to fall asleep a few seconds later. Alsifar' had told them something like this would happen, before he left to saving what he could from his ships dibree, he had also said He will come out of it when his mind finishes rustling with its self, and comes to a conclusion that will change the face of this universe and the others of this and many other existence’s.
Athilia looked some what startled to find her self where she was, hovering over Jacob. “Jacob… why did you summon me? I was enjoying the stars as all of my people use to do so long ago…” her voice trailed off but her gaze did not, she was annoyed with him and he knew it, what’s more SHE knew he knew she was annoyed with him. “I am sorry Athilia I didn’t mean to summon you, I must of rolled over on the Watch or something… sorry about that. Maybe that is why the watch was freaking out on me a second ago?” he posed it to her as if it where a question that she needed to answer. But instead of doing so she simply floated away after giving him another glare that would have melted Iron. With a shrug Jacob laid back in his bed roll and stated to go back to sleep.


Gammon was panicked; he had just seen something he never thought would have happened, the love of his life, and indeed after life, killed by dark Tendrils from beyond where he could see her blue light never to be known by another, or ever to be seen by him again. He raced mile after mile it seemed over hills and plains over lakes and rivers, to get back to where Master Jacob was, so he would not be alone. Unbeknown to him however he was leading the second greatest darkness, and there for danger the planet had ever known to the group. As he raced he fought off the tendrils of darkness as they attempted to engulf him, as they had done to his love, with his sword of energy, cutting off thick black tentacle after thick black tentacle.
As he approached the sight of the fire, he herd himself scream at the top of his longs, now having a far enough lead on the darkness to scream. “The darkest night is coming!!! To arms brothers and sister! To arms! Help me Friends! Slay the one that has slain my beloved!...” as he approached the camp his yelling grew more frantic and more instance. But no one was moving, he was almost on top of them and they where not doing anything… why don’t they help me? The thought in a panic they said they are my friends, why do they not stir when I call?? The panic that had almost taken him was now replaced with anger, anger and the demon that now assailed him, anger at his so called friends for not aiding him in his fight. He stood over Jacob, his back turned to him as he slumbered protecting his master from the demon, but he did not do so willingly, if it where to his free will Gammon would have turned there and stabbed the dammed traitor in the throat right then for not aiding him when he called, but he could not, for Athilia loved and charged Gammon with the traitors protection. Gammon was a man of his word, and that kept him from hurting Jacob... no matter how much he wished to.
He stabbed and slashed frantically at the beast, his sword moving faster then light, the darkness however somehow matched him in speed, sending tentacle after black oozing tentacle silently after him and his companions, but he fended them off, ever and ever he fought, he fought for what felt to him like an eternity, never tiring, and his friends still never string to help him in his plight.
The two moved in a dance of death faster then has ever happened in the known record of time, sword vs. demonic black tendril, moving faster then light, faster then death… faster then life….

As Jacob sat there in the dark, he felt a flurry of motion at his back. So much that the wind was moving at Gail force speeds! He hurried and jumped out of his bag, yelling to the others to wake up and get moving toward shelter, but the Gail over powered his tenor voice. So he crawled on his hands and knees over to the Elstaba to wake her up, she was frozen stiff with terror and while she was awake she couldn’t move… or even scream…..

A Perplexing Dilemma

Athelia looked up from her thoughts. She had been wondering of the state of the world; more specifically, her world. When they had left that dimension so suddenly, it had seemed as if the very fabric of time had been thrown into chaos. All their work, hers and Dr. Russel's, had been for nothing. And when we were so close...

She looked out across the landscape, her gaze settling on the group of her new acquaintances. They were circled around a campfire, wrapped in large leaves they were able to find in the forest, and were currently sleeping the night away. Athelia used to revel in her inability to grow weary - it meant she had more time and effort available to channel toward research, toward Dr. Russel's experiments when he finally had collapsed from exhaustion. Tonight, however, she longed for nothing more than being able to close her eyes and forget the issues of the universe, as her companions were doing.

She averted her gaze and instead looked to the sky, marveling at the millions of twinkling lights that blanketed the heavens. Each one had its own story, its own bit of life to share, swirling with energy. If she could only reach out and grab that energy, she felt as if her existance would finally make sense-

"Gazing at the stars again, are we mistress?"

Athelia turned to face Gammon. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough."

"You just got here, didn't you?"

"Possibly."

Athelia couldn't hide a grin. Gammon had the habit of being mysterious, although he usually failed at his attempts, and looking rather silly after doing so.

"I want to see those stars, Gammon," she said, "I want to be up there with them."

Gammon eyed her surprisedly. "Athelia, are you going back to your Caelvitanian beliefs? You all but abandoned those decades ago."

"I'm not sure. I guess it's just the strain these past few days of alternating between frantically surviving and not doing anything has just got me a little on edge. But it's true. I want the stars in my hands again. I feel dark without them here with me." She did indeed seem dimmer than usual.

"Athelia, we've been having this discussion ever since I met you. The stars aren't alive. They are big masses of energy and light hovering over a bend in the fabric of space. It's impossible for something so structurally simple to sustain life, let alone contain it."

"What are we, Gammon? We aren't even as great as the stars - we don't have the energy or the gas or near the size of a star, and yet we exist. We live. We create. Is it really so difficult to imagine something greater than us also has these gifts?"

Gammon sighed. Athelia's irroneous beliefs that stars were the paradisical beings that watched over the cosmis were foolish, but eons of bickering hadn't changed her mind any other way. Caelvitanians, he thought. Who'd have thought such foolish people once held the greatest technology in the history of the universe before the natural selection process of life decided their collapse?

Gammon started. He had realized something. Athelia was getting dimmer. He glanced at himself to see that he was as well. What is going on?

"Athelia! We need to get back to the others now!"

She looked into his eyes, still filled with wonder and longing. "You go ahead. I will say my goodnights to Master Jacob in a moment. For now, I need to reaquaint myself with the stars. Who knows? If this is indeed a separate dimension, there may be new ones to know."

Gammon flew away to get a better view of what was happening. What he saw terrified him.

From the darkness behind Athelia - behind where he was just standing - tendrils of an unnaturally dark energy were reaching out for the both of them. Athelia was still gazing at the stars, half focused, oblivious to what was happening.

"Athelia!" Gammon shouted, but she didn't hear him. The tendrils wrapped their way around her until the head was all that was visible. Her light was so dark now it was difficult to even know she was there.

With a sudden constriction, the tendrils engulfed the area where Athelia was standing. There was a gust of gossamer-thin light whisps, then all evidence that Athelia had previously occupied the space had vanished.

Gammon tried to scream. He tried to call for help. He tried to jump forward at the essence that had just taken Athelia away from him. All he knew was that a moment later he was speeding as fast as he could to the safety of the camp, where the fire still glowed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jacob woke with an excruciating pain in his entire arm. His entire body seemed to be convulsing with the sheer agony. He looked at his arm to distinguish the source of the pain. What he saw startled him.

The wristband that Dr. russel had given him was surging with power at an astonishing rate. Electric arcs were leaping off of it and linking to his skin, hence the pain.

With a yell, he frantically scraped at the latch holding it in place. In his panic, he jumbled with the catch for a few moments before he managed to rip it off of his wrist and thrust it to the ground.

Waking Revelations

Amorak slowly opened his eyes to the faces of all those he had met in the past few days. At first, he got a warm feeling inside, but this was quickly replaced by a wall of indifference that had sheltered him for his entire life. He pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"Back off, people," he said irritably. Obediently, they took a few paces back. Never once did they take their eyes off of him.

Each of them bore a different expression. Elsteba looked as if she was fighting the wishes of every muscle in her body to run up to him and throw her arms around him. Jacob wore a film of slight impatience, though failing to hide the happiness inside. Both of the holograms, Gammon and Athelia, were hovering over the rest, almost directly between Amorak and the sun. The light made it impossible to see their faces; indeed, it was a wonder he had even known they were there in the first place.

Then he saw a new face, one he hadn't seen at first. This face was older by far - he appeared to be in his mid-fifties. What shook Amorak far more than his appearance, however, was the expression that it contained; interest, concern, and maybe a little ... fear?

"What happened?" Amorak asked hesitantly, directing the question to the whole group but never taking his eyes off the newcomer. Something didn't feel right about him.

Jacob started to respond, but Elsteba cut him short. "It was really incredible! Remember that bright light? It was actually a spaceship owned by Alsifar here." She gestured at the newcomer. "According to him, you saved us. That is so cool, Amorak! How did you do it?"

This revelation was enough to distract Amorak from Alsifar. "...What?"

"Oh, don't be so modest, Master Amorak," Gammon said, "We are all trembling with anticipation. Do tell us how it happened."

"Maybe I can assist our oung friend here," Alsifar said. Amorak's eyes snapped back to Alsifar's, judging his every move, assessing every word he spoke. He couldn't put a name or reason to it, but something about Alsifar made every fiber in Amorak's body scream out ENEMY.

Whether Alsifar noticed or not, he made no mention to it. "The light you saw eirlier was indeed my spacecraft, but Amorak shielded the whole planet from the true intensity of the light. Otherwise, you all would be blind at best, and burned to a crisp at worst.

"From the minute he sensed something was wrong, his body started seeping out a dark mist, nearly invisible, which blanketed the entire planet with several shades of darkness. If my light hadn't ben present, it would have seemed like the darkest night you have ever seen."

The others all looked at Amorak with a mixture of speculation and awe, but Alsifar retained his same level of concern, if not more so. Amorak returned the look in kind.

Athelia seemed to understand at least a bit of the interaction between Alsifar and Amorak, and decided to steer down a different path. "Let us be joyful now," she said, clasping her hands together, "We are all still alive and well. Let us look on toward the future with high hearts and happy spirits. Jacob, be a dear and help me look for something that we may prepare for dinner."

This was taken as a general gesture to disperse. Alsifar turned his back on Amorak, hiding his gaze from the young man.

As soon as Amorak was free of the old man's gaze, he immediately relaxed - maybe too much. His body reminded him through his aches that it was not done resting yet. Obligingly, Amorak, laid back down on the earth, his mind full of thoughts of new possibilities. Dark mist? When was I able to do that? Then he remembered his vision; the darkness of the chamber, the chanting figures, and the single figure on the table...himself. It was too much to take at the time; Amorak was still tired, and his body was commanding him to rest.

The last thing he heard before he fell into a dreamless slumber was Jacob saying, "Oh great, he's going back to sleep..."