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.

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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..."