Shhhh! Digital Media - Home of Butterfly Dragon, Tales Of The Sanctum: A Lady's Prerogative, The Two Dragons, The Two Butterflies, We Who Stand On Guard, Night Boat, The Legendary of Xarn.
Shhhh! Digital Media does not operate under the idiom: what's yours is yours and what's mine is yours. This content is written and created by Brian Joseph Johns
This content is produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and written by Brian Joseph Johns. There is no Shhhh! Digital Media in New York that has anything to do with this Shhhh! Digital Media in Canada, not to mention I've never been to New York.
I'm not a Libra, though Korean Jasmine Lee is a pretty awesome lady and the only Libra I really know. I'm a Scorpio. I am both fav.inbox@gmail.com and brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com and the writer of everything here you see on Shhhh! Digital Media. There isn't a guitar player that works for or writes for Shhhh! Digital Media at all and never has been. Nor anyone named Bob or Rob, though if I had my pick in that matter, it would be Bob Guccione as creative editor, and Robert Downey Jr. as a dialogue editor.
I don't try to manifest any of the negatives that come my way. I explain them after the fact, which occurs on this side of cause and effect, not effect and then cause.
I'm an Atheist that leans toward Buddhism and Taoism, despite the appearances of my writing here on Shhhh! Digital Media sometimes leaning in directions that appear otherwise.
I'm heterosexual and my own love interest is Southeast Asian, though she's not Filipino nor is she transgender with all due respect.
I don't and have never had a "brown fetish" and never will. Essentially that means, no Wiz or hey hey hey for me, though Heylyn Yates aka Ai Yuanlin Ying aka the Butterfly Dragon is fine and always will be.
I hope that my attitude is not too off putting, but I have to protect myself, my identity, my writing and my own interests as much so as I protect those of my written characters and stories here on Shhhh! Digital Media and my allies as well. You have no idea how many beatings I've taken in protecting those things against the kind of people who'd take the credit for my efforts and wear it as their own.
That's me that has been playing Baldur's Gate 3 over the weekend, and romancing Lae'zel (I need a break every once in a while). She's pretty hardcore and certainly the one wearing the pants in that relationship but don't tell her I said that... pleeeease! ;-)
I bought a new MIDI keyboard, though I'm not Bob, and I'm not from Nova Scotia. I've been playing keyboards and piano since I was 7 years old, or for about fifty years. Around the same length of time with MIDI as well.
I'll be continuing with new written content soon, possibly by Thursday though I can't promise anything. I've been busy trying to push out some more content on a very different medium.
See you soon,
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
As part of the recommended YouTube astrologers and tarot readers, I forgot to put Kristie Thompson there. She's a great astrologer tarot reader amongst the others I mention at the bottom of this post, so check her out. I'll be adding a few more in the near future as well.
Opening Notes: It has been two months since I posted the last update to
this story, and seeing as it is so pertinent to Era Of The Spellbound, I felt
it deserved the justice of being finished.
Everything I said in previous additions to this post still stand ;-)
This content is produced by the artists indicated on the site, including
myself, Brian Joseph Johns.
I, under no circumstance will trade, barter or otherwise swap my own
identity for that of another person and I protect the same right for those
who've contributed their artwork to the various projects under my
management at Shhhh! Digital Media, my own company, no matter the colour
symbolism involved. These rights are protected by law under the Charter Of Rights And Freedoms under section 7.
Unfinished Index
Here are the chapter titles as they are written...
All times are listed in Eastern Standard Time (EST).
Part 1 The Beginning
Unfinished Prologue: Wounded Aerth (Finished December 23, 2024)
Unfinished Stars (Finished December 24, 2024)
Unfinished Romance (Finished December 24, 2024)
Unfinished Republic (Finished December 24, 2024)
Unfinished Penrose Imperium (Finished December 24, 2024)
Unfinished Sanctum (Finished December 26, 2024)
Unfinished Migration (Finished January 22, 2025)
Unfinished Hairstyle (Finished January 23, 2025)
Unfinished Warrior Queen (Finished January 23, 2025)
Unfinished Wishes (Finished January 24, 2025)
Unfinished Singularity (Finished January 24, 2025)
Unfinished Improvements? (Finished January 24, 2025)
Unfinished Arrivals (Finished January 25, 2025)
Unfinished SAPCHoP (Finished January 28, 2025 2:30 PM)
Part 2 The Middle
Unfinished Crisis (Finished February 12, 2025 10:00 PM)
Unfinished Scale (Finished February 17, 2025 4:30 PM)
Unfinished Voyage (Finished February 17, 2025 4:40 PM)
Unfinished Escape (Finished February 18, 2025 12:30 PM)
Unfinished But Better Late Than Never (Finished February 18, 2025
4:00 PM)
Unfinished Catch Up (Finished March 4, 2025 5:00 PM)
Unfinished Search Of The Caves (March 5, 2025 4:30 PM)
Unfinished Stand-Ins, The Merit Of Seers, And The Light Of A
Daughter (March 6, 2025 4:30 PM)
Unfinished Scry and Spy (Finished May 30, 2025 6:30 PM EST)
Unfinished Birds And Bees (Finished May 31, 2025 6:30 PM EST)
Unfinished Geostationary Orbit (Finished May 31, 2025 7:00 AM
EST)
Unfinished Generation (Finished June 1, 2025 5:30 AM EST)
Unfinished Fortune (Finished June 3, 2025 5:30 AM EST)
Unfinished Interrogation (Finished June 11, 2025)
Unfinished Empire And Unrequited Love (Finished June 5, 2025 3:00
PM EST)
Part 3 The End
Unfinished Hive (Finished June 17, 2025)
Unfinished Date Night (Started June 18, 2025)
Unfinished Tarot (Coming soon)
Unfinished Cancer (Coming soon)
Unfinished Witherwyrm (Coming soon)
Unfinished MidSpace (Coming soon)
Unfinished Crystals (Coming soon)
Unfinished Milas (Coming soon)
Unfinished Wedding (Coming soon)
Unfinished Survivors (Coming soon)
Unfinished Finished (Coming soon)
There is no Rob, Bob or Bobby that works for Shhhh! Digital Media, or
produces any of its content. If there were and I could afford it, I'd pick
Robert Downey Jr as a coach on character expression (he'd have to team up
with Michael Myers and Alan Moore), or Omni Magazine founder Bob Guccione,
or T-1000 legend Robert Patrick as a coach on bringing your characters to
reality, or UAP whistleblower Bob Lazar as a technical consultant. Of
course, I'd also have to hire an equal number of intensely creative women,
none of whom I know of with the names Rob or Bob. Maybe Millie Bobbie
Brown?
Happy Dragon Boat Festival! May 31, 2025
I enjoyed my Dragon boat festival meal on Friday night, and am still
stuffed as of 10 PM EST on Saturday. You'll be seeing Xenshi and Xushu
quite a bit at the appropriate moments throughout the story, their history
going back to a time just before the dynasties era of China.
Support Charity
Please support education and information access where you can in addition
to these charities:
Sick Kids Foundation Help research that provides cures and support treatment for sick
children.
David Suzuki Foundation Through evidence-based research, education and policy analysis,
we work to conserve and protect the natural environment, and help
create a sustainable Canada. We regularly collaborate with non-profit
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Donate directly to FireAid today to help us start rebuilding our
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Two organizations whose contribution of expertise, human and
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solutions to real world problems the entire world over. These
charities operate worldwide. The United Nations Fund supports the
various programs part of the United Nations' global mandate, as much
a foundation as it is a roof around the world.
World Veterans Federation The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian
organisation, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF
maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger”
in 1987.
I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention.
I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great
contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend
those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of
one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.
"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have
fought in war."
The Reeve Foundation provides programs for research, uniting
Scientists and Specialists from many different fields to find
treatments for spinal cord injury translating them into therapies
and support programs.
For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting
heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and
improved the lives of millions of others.
The ALS Society Of BC ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive
neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary
muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to
combat this disease and help those with it to survive.
Mila?
Muscular Dystrophy Canada Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of
those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to
provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for
a cure through well-funded research.
Humane Society International The Humane Society protects the health, lives and rights of
animals the world over, ensuring that they too have a voice in this
world. We are interdependent upon the complex web of life this entire
planet over for our mutual survival. This is a world wide charity.
Mila!
The Global Foodbanking Network Ensuring that people the world over have enough food day to day
in order to survive and lead healthy lives. In this challenging day
and age services like this are becoming more and more essential. This
is a world wide charity.
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said
he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I
could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a
brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado!
In all truth, there's a good chance that thanks to the works of Edgar
Allan Poe, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), William Shakespeare, Jane
Austen, Jonathan Swift, Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herbert
George Wells, Jules Verne, Dr. Seuss, Stephen King, Clive Barker and
Pierre Burton (for The Secret World Of Og and his ground breaking interview of Bruce Lee) that all of us
are literate. Actually that goes back much farther to the Phoenecians
and their first 22 character system of symbols. Literacy is important.
Really it is. Literally. It allows us to approach our
employer at the end of the week (with a big club) and ask: where my money?!Math important too. It help us count our thirteen fingers and
toes.
Was that the words of Poe that just graced my ears?
Wikipedia The model for what may become the Encyclopedia Galactica, a complete reference and record of history, events and knowledge of
humanity and its journey beyond. It is the encyclopedia of all that we
know, what we surmise that we've known and will learn in the future.
Yes, Wikipedia is a charitable organization of great importance. If
you enjoy what I am doing here then please take the time to donate to
Wikipedia. Surprisingly only 1% of Wikipedia's users donate yet the
site serves pages to millions every day.
Humble Bundle A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of
different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully
soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software
their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits
and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do
their part too.
Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease currently affecting an
estimated 2.3 million world wide. By donating you are contributing
to effective research in finding a cure and tipping the scales of MS
research to change lives forever.
I am Brian Joseph Johns and this is Shhhh! Digital Media at
https://www.shhhhdigital.com or https://www.shhhhdigital.ca in Toronto,
Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701.
This story is intended for a mature audience. Reader discretion is
definitely advised.
Background
Alivale \ ˈa-lē-ˌvāl \
A small town of approximately nine thousand people situated in the rural
area outside of Belleville in the province of Ontario in Canada. The town
hosts a number of remarkable and quirky citizens, the most notable of whom
being Mila Ren Dubel (a woman of mixed Japanese-Austrian heritage).
Mila is a Wytch who created the
Order of Aetherial Artistry. A form of the great and secret weave
based entirely upon art.
Mila has lived in a manor home just outside of the town's center, perhaps
twenty kilometers away, with a large tract of land upon which she cares
for an apple and pear orchard during the season, while painting in her new
artist's studio in the attic.
She lives with her fiancé, Barris Windsor.
This has been canon of the storyline since its initial publishing in May
of 2012. This has been the way it has always been.
Shhhh! Digital Media Presents: Tales Of The Sanctum - A Lady's Prerogative
Unfinished Bee's Wax
Part 1
Unfinished Prologue: Wounded Aerth
"Ila... ila... ila... ila... ila.. ila." Barris' voice rang out
through the air around her ears.
"Barris?" Mila suddenly arose from her drunken slumber, bent sideways
against her easel.
When she was suddenly roused from her state, she began falling in the
direction of her easel and down towards the floor amidst the numerous wine
bottles that littered the space.
Her hair was long and unkempt, almost as much so as the hair which had
grown in on her legs.
She was comfortable yet absent of her own self impression, for she'd been
lost in the pursuit of the one true love of her life, and indeed lost
without him.
The only true love she'd ever known and the the one who'd been taken from
her.
She watched as her entire reality twisted and folded until she was on her
feet again. Confident fully. Standing in front of her peers in the
Midspace. In front of the Sanctum Seclorem as she stood down the threat
that they'd just defeated, turning back Lorr and his siege upon their
stronghold.
"...truth is it that you'd prefer is it?" Lorr's teeth gleaned with a
tinge of brown, as if stained by some hideous ritual beyond tobacco.
"The truth of your defeat is enough. You are defeated Power Lord on
this eve! We of the Sanctum Of The New have bested you and your
plans! Alivale hath declared! Sharlesbury hath declared! Westview hath
declared! The Aerth Mother Lyra hath declared. The Sanctum Of The New hath
declared! Fall back and lay your terms for surrender or else fall and be
held until which time you'll stand trial on our terms!" Yirfir
declared against their most vile adversary.
"Is this what you truly want, Mila?" Lorr smirked first at Yirfir's words,
and then looked to Mila, who suddenly understood the dark plan of the
Power Lord.
He'd planned it all this way from the very beginning.
It was he who had been the Mannequins that had chased Mila through the
main street of Alivale until she'd arrived at the river of cross roads.
He was the one who commanded the mannequins to destroy her before she
crossed the river.
He was the one who felled Barris, and in her moment of need, it was Barris
whose life he took, for Barris had fallen in their place, sparing her
parents with the sacrifice of his own life.
"You remember that night, don't you?" Lorr's hideous smile glistened in
the Midspace Moon as his diminished forces were challenged afore the front
gates of the Sanctum Seclorem.
"No! You can't do this! We won! We faced and felled the worst of you. Fair
as our souls..." Mila grasped her amulet, beginning to cry as she realized
that the Power Lord had intended this from the very beginning.
"It would seem that your cry for the truth of my defeat, has undone the
lie of the death of your parents!" Lorr challenged her.
"Whatever is he talking about? Your parents are... Mila? Tell me you
didn't deal with this devil?!" Barris pleaded with her.
"There is no such deal at the hand of this treacherous swine! My parents
are alive as is Barris!" Mila declared, the amulet suddenly growing so
cold that she could no longer bear its touch in her hands.
"One or the other Mila. That was the deal you chose. To undo that which
could n'yer be undone! That is the balance of the Aether. You know it as
well do I!" Lorr declared.
Mila's knees buckled and she fell before Lorr, crying.
"Nooo... I can't bear it! Please, don't..." she pleaded with the Power
Lord.
"You must make a choice Mila, to undo this lie. Which is it? Who shall pay
with their lives? Your parents, our Barris?" Lorr pronounced.
Barris was suddenly confronted with his own mortality once again as he had
been on that fateful night in Alivale.
Lorr, had bequeathed upon her the choice as to who should be allowed to
live, given this travesty against the very bindings of reality: Bariis
Windsor, or her parents.
Barris had known a life of loss up until the point he'd met Mila, and it
was from this understanding of loss that he stepped forward to face the
Power Lord:
"She chooses her parents. I choose her parents. They shall live, and I
shall die, and you shall not hold her nor her parents to debt on this
matter again!" Barris pronounced.
"Is this what you choose, Barris Windsor?" Lorr betrothed the heir of the
unimaginable.
"Noooo! You can't Barris! You can't!" Mila screamed before the gates of
the Sanctum.
"Stop him! Yirfir! Jasmer! Why can't you stop him! Please..." Mila pleaded
with her allies.
"He is wielding truth Mila, and repatching a fold there within. We can
sense it, and therefore the Sanctum cannot interfere... our most powerful
magiks will do nye against..." Yirfir declared.
"Tis true. My heart is full of power unmeasured, and yet it is broken in
this time to see this peril of my allies, my friends and peers, before
me," Sir Manfred kneeled before them, leaning on his gleamingly
magnificent long sword, his forehead pressed to its pommel as the guard
spread across his forehead, very clearly his cross to bear.
Kensai struggled against the force that held his blade -
his soul in its saya - and when he could not bring his Katana to
bear upon their enemy, he bowed before Barris.
"You have the honour of a true warrior. One who fights his battles with
the virtue of Ryu, perhaps not so much with sharpened blade, but with the
sharpened words of your soul," Kensai looked to Barris, and then to
Mishima Sato.
"It is as Kensai says, as dispicable as it might be!" Xushu hovered
inverted above his sister's head, a hard smirk on his face as he spoke.
A tear slid down Xenshi's face, and as it lost purchase of her cheek it
fell into her hand in the form of a diamond.
"I am already missing you Barris..." she said to him.
Sato looked around amongst his friends, until his eyes fell upon those of
Barris.
Barris acknowledged Sato's gaze, realizing what he must do.
Xenshi and Xushu both fell to their knees, tears of the five elements
falling from their eyes to the heaven of the earth beneath them as they
both cried.
The three, Kensai, Sato and Barris all nodded to one another as their
peers of the Sanctum faced the Power Lord Lorr.
When their heads rose to eye height, it was Barris who spoke.
"Then it shall be that Mila's parents will live, and I will be gone in
their place..." Barris pronounced.
"Nooo! Can't we...? Can't I just... No... please don't take him... He
isn't... I can't..." Mila pleaded with the Power Lord, but...
Mila's sleeping face slid along her canvas until it lost surface and she
fell full force to the floor of her wine bottle littered basement studio.
There she lay upon the floor, the carpet around her slowly soaking up her
tears as she cried.
The water from her eyes crept through the carpet, and eventually found the
concrete beneath, seeping through even that barrier until it found the
water table beneath.
From there, her pain and loss spread through, into the Aerth itself, and
the sky became her pain and the ocean became her tears.
The same tears the world cries for any of us who've known such loss, for
how could such a vast ocean exist without?
It is within the depth of water that can be found our deepest pain, and
our darkest secrets, for water is the wine of the soul.
It was the season of festivities, and certainly that time of year for
which the term SAPCHOP had first been coined by Mila. The day was
at its shortest throughout the year, meaning that every day beyond would
be longer than the day before. Given this fact, the day was a rather
special time for those whose pursuits found them as students of the
Aether, and artisans of the great weave.
Most everyone was busy with activity, either preparing for their holidays
or in the case of those in the field of thaumaturgy, they were busy with
study or ritual. It was a significant day and certainly one that was full
of potential and power.
It was eleven in the morning in Alivale, and thousands of kilometers away
in Shepperton off the Thames, it was approaching four in afternoon.
Nelony was busy decorating the house with holiday lights with a little
help from the neighbourhood squirrels, while a few blocks away and Shaela
was preening one of her cats with a fine toothed comb.
A short bus trip from there, and Sato was busy tending to the customers
that had flocked to his store for the day. In fact, it had been one of his
busiest times since opening the knick knack shop fifteen years earlier.
He'd hired two students to help him manage things, and they'd do all of
the odd jobs like keeping the shop tidy and well stocked with the
treasures from Sato's basement, while Sato himself dealt with the
customers, entertaining them with stories about how he'd acquired the
items from his inventory, and each item had its own tale.
In both Alivale (in Canada) and London (in England), despite their
distance apart, tiny flakes of snow drifted gently down from the sky,
sprinkling both regions in a light covering, not quite deep enough to
warrant a pair of boots, nor quite shallow enough to avert the need for
shoveling the walk.
The streets of Alivale were crowded with shoppers, those who were out and
about buying the last of their holiday gifts, most of them already laden
with those they'd purchased for their loved ones. Many of those whose
stores graced the main strip had stepped out front of their shops to clear
the snow for their customers, some of them already having laid salt afore
the front door.
At the corner of the intersection and taking a considerable piece of the
real estate, was The Hot Cup And Cards, Alivale's most popular
café. There within, every table was filled and no seats empty, as were the
stools and bar area as well.
The aroma of fresh coffee, hot chocolate, cinnamon and latte permeated the
air, punctuated by the scent of the in-house bakery. Bread, rolls and
fresh cookies lined the counters, disappearing as quickly as they were
made.
At one particular table sat three women. One of whom was well known in the
region for her artwork, a few of the stores in Alivale selling her work on
consignment, though she didn't need the money as much as she needed to
constantly be busy in the act of creation, for her name was Mila Ren
Dubel.
"Size matters..." Gwendolyn, an attractive woman in her mid thirties with
a long and bold head of blonde hair, laughed as she sat beside her two
best friends.
Mila suddenly broke out laughing at Gwendolyn's words. Something Mila had
long admired about her best friend in the Alivale region. A woman who was
unafraid to speak her mind, despite the discomfort it might cause others,
but most often her challenging of the status quot would lead to progress,
if not healthy debate and most often, hearty laughter. She reminded Mila
of Shaela, though with a much softer and less scathing edge. Shaela
without the piercing cynicism.
"Honey, we're talking about the size of this man's heart, and I'll tell
you, he has a big one, so says the tarot..." Natalie examined the cards
spread before her, struggling to contain herself over Gwendolyn's remark.
"I bet that's what you were talking about!" Gwendolyn responded, trying
desperately to catch Natalie in a playful lie.
There was a moment of silence between the three, and when none could
contain it no further, they, all of three of them burst out laughing,
piercing the somber silence of the coffee establishment.
(Left to right) Gwendolyn, Mila (pre-makeover) and Nathalie
"This isn't quite downtown Toronto I'll have you know, and if it was, I'd
bet their language would be at least on par with our worst, so could you
kindly respect my tourists?" Wendell stepped over to their table of three,
in the most fashionable cafe in Alivale as those seated at other tables
(at least those who were paying attention) laughed along with Gwendolyn
and her friends.
"They don't call this place The Hot Cup And Cards for nothing
let me remind you!" Gwendolyn responded to Wendell's remark.
"And we don't usually let just any Tarot readers operate their snag
here unless they're awful special to us," Wendell reminded them.
"Well it must be quite an honour for Natalie to be accepted under your
roof, because I'm certainly very eager to get my reading...
ahem..." Mila looked to Natalie.
"Oh don't you worry honey. You're next," Natalie replied, as Wendell
returned to the counter to begin refreshing the coffee stations.
"Well don't keep me waiting honey. What do the heavens have in store for
me?" Gwendolyn pressed Natalie.
Natalie shuffled the cards as Mila's cellular phone rang on the table
beside her.
"Hi sweetie!" Mila smiled as she answered the phone.
"This wouldn't happen to be the most beautiful and
sexy woman alive, would it?" asked Barris as she listened,
immediately blushing at his words.
"I don't know. That depends. This wouldn't happen to be the most gorgeous
hunk of a man in the world, would it?" Mila played along with Barris'
little game.
"How could anyone hope to answer such a question modestly? You're swelling
my head... not to mention some other parts as well..." Barris responded
playfully.
"Ditto, though you don't have to hide the fact that its only your ego
that's swelling..." Mila replied, talking quietly to keep her conversation
from Natalie's and Gwendolyn's ears.
"I heard that!" Gwendolyn remarked to Mila, not actually having heard
anything at all.
"And my imagination. What are you wearing today?" Barris asked her.
"My holiday skirt, which fits me perfectly today. My red and pink
blouse..." Mila began.
"...the satin one? Ohhhh I like that one. Ever so slightly transparent...
it just tickles my imagination..." Barris said to her as seductively as he
could muster.
"...and those tights you really like..." Mila continued.
"I might just have to leave early today... chase everyone out of the
museum and meet you at our favourite place..." Barris truly let his
imagination run wild.
"Where? You mean that rental cottage...? And then what will you do
next...?" Mila whispered her words.
"I'd..." Barris began, though his words were suddenly cut short as the
museum workplace around him disappeared and he reappeared in the middle of
an old marble court.
He quickly turned around to take in his surroundings, a group of men in
white togas were seated as if in a meeting, a few of them wearing wreaths
on their heads.
Unfinished Romance
"Barris?" Mila addressed her husband to be, but the line had gone dead.
She checked her phone for reception, and upon finding it to be alright,
she then addressed her friends at the table.
"How's your phone reception? Are either of you two having any problems?"
asked Mila of Gwendolyn and then Natalie.
"Mine's fine. WIFI too," Gwendolyn responded.
"Same here. Why? Did you lose him?" asked Natalie.
"He'll call back... It was getting a little hot..." Mila blushed to her
friends, fanning herself with her hand.
Gwendolyn and Natalie both broke out laughing with Mila.
"If its that hot, he'll call back. What guy wouldn't..." Gwendolyn added.
"I'll call him," Mila immediately responded, dialing Barris' number but
only getting his answering machine.
"One more try..." Mila waited barely ten seconds and then hit the speed
dial to Barris' number once again.
"You two for crying out loud! Gag me with a shovel you're just sooo damned
cute! You've been with him for almost six years and you two still behave
like you only hooked up yesterday!" Gwendolyn smirked at Mila, a smile on
her face contrasted her tone.
"I remember when Melvin and I first met. It was flowers every day, and
romance every night... for about six months... until it all dried up at
once... the fun bits at least... Ohhhh those were the days," Natalie
recalled as she finished shuffling the next batch of cards for Gwendolyn's
tarot spread.
"These two are like starstruck lovers! Stuck in a perpetual time loop like
they're in they're still in their prime or something!" Gwendolyn said with
a certainly level of disgust, though it was arguable as to whether it was
more jealousy than anything.
"Wait 'til they get married. A few months in and all the best stuff will
suddenly disappear in a drought, and they'll finally surrender to being
like every other couple in the world. A few years beyond that, and they'll
replace that nice queen sized bed of theirs for a pair of single beds on
the opposite side of the room...!" Natalie started turning over cards.
"That isn't my fortune is it?" Mila asked as the phone rang on Barris' end
as she waited for him to answer.
"No, Mila. It isn't your fortune. Its all of our fortunes,
us poor women, when our Prince Charming finally retires to become Prince
Rotund, complete with a sizeable inner-tube around his waist..." Natalie
looked across the room admiringly at a younger couple, both of whom were
trim and vivacious, full of passion for one another.
"Ho! Ho! Ho! I do believe my ears are ringing!" Melvin entered the café as
if on cue, a large sack hoisted over his shoulders.
"Honey, we were just talking about you," Natalie said to her husband as he
leaned over to lay an affectionate peck on her cheek.
"And I was just thinking about you three, and how a present for you each
might change those pouty faces to a round of smiles!" Melvin lay the sack
down on the floor and reached in, retrieving three gifts, one each for
Gwendolyn, Mila and his wife Natalie.
"I thought those were for the kids?" asked Gwendolyn of the
thirty-something year old man.
"The kids have been thoroughly serviced of their holiday gifts. They had a
show earlier where you'll never guess who showed up and made sure that
there were no children without presents this year..." Melvin stood
poigniantly looking off into the distance, his left hand still holding the
gift sack, his right hand rubbing the front of his rotund, inner-tube
belly.
"...whew! I though I'd lost you..." Barris finally answered the phone.
"I guess we were disconnected. Is everything alright?" Mila asked him.
"Yes... but getting back to our earlier conversation, I couldn't help but
think how spending the rest of the day at our secret place might be quite
fitting given the season, and let me tell you, Mr. Ho! Ho! is ever so
jolly to see you!" Barris responded, picking up where they'd left off from
earlier.
Mila ran her finger seductivey up her leg to the hemline of her skirt,
which just barely crested her shapely knees and her crossed legs.
"Mr. Ho! Ho! isn't the only one eager to enjoy the pleasures of the
season..." Mila did her best to sound seductive, only finding herself
suddenly blushing as she spoke.
"Honey. I'm so sorry that we had to delay the wedding. Its been bothering
me silly thinking about it, but I didn't think that my parents would ever
contact us, let alone request of us to delay the most important date of
our lives..." Barris suddenly pleaded with Mila.
"Ohhhh honey. Its... done, and a summer wedding would have been my dream
come true, but we can wait until the spring again, but you have to promise
me that there will be no more delays or cancellations... And you also have
to make sure that I'm well attended to every single day until that day
arrives..." Mila continued again with the seduction, finally starting to
feel comfortable enough to thoroughly enjoy herself.
"Honey, I'm just about ready to lock up here, and I'll be there to pick
you up in about forty-five minues. Can Miss tinkle-berry wait until then?"
Barris asked her.
"Only if Mr. Ho! Ho! can... oh wait! I almost forgot. I have an
appointment shortly after Natalie here gives me my tarot reading... ahem!"
Mila replied, cupping her hand over the phone to keep their conversation
discrete, only raising her voice slightly when she mentioned Natalie and
her tarot reading.
"Oh really? How long do you need?" Barris asked her.
"An extra forty five minutes. If you come earlier, just call me and I'll
give you directions," Mila replied.
"Where to?" asked Barris.
"Its a surprise..." Mila smiled at her coy little plan.
"Alright. I'll dilly dally here for half hour before I leave, though Mr.
Ho! Ho! is getting very impatient... Luv you!" Barris said to her.
"Love you too. See you soon..." Mila mimicked a kiss and then hung up, and
Barris immediately began doing the rounds in the museum and preparing to
locking up.
"Would you and Barris care to join us this evening for a bit of holiday
cheer?" asked Melvin of Mila.
"You're welcome too if you'd like Gwendolyn," Natalie added.
"I was just going to ask you the same thing. We're having a few people
over for the holidays and we expect to be enjoying ourselves late into the
evening. We've got lots of space if you'd like to join us..." Mila
offered.
Natalie looked over to Melvin, who nodded affirmatively.
"We could do that, but what about your friends?" Melvin asked Natalie.
"We're having company at our place, but if you have the room, we could all
do the holiday cheer at your manor..." Natalie suggested.
"They're part of my club. A tarot group as it were..." Natalie added.
"I'd love to have you all over. We'll be starting at 7PM but you can show
up any time thereafter," Mila said, checking her watch given her impromptu
plans for romance with Barris.
"I'll call my beau and see if he's into that. I don't see why not.
Besides, it would be nice to catch up some more, especially over a few
bottles of that Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon you've been crafting,"
Gwendolyn got up from her seat.
"Thanks so much for the reading, Natalie. I guess it seems that it would
be a good idea to take up Mila's offer then. You could say that it was in
the cards..." Gwendolyn bid her friends farewell as she grabbed her bag of
holiday shopping and made her way to the door.
"Alright Mila. Your turn... and let me tell you, this looks like your
chart is going to be quite remarkable. We've got a Mercury retrograde, and
a Venus rising... but who's this mysterious stranger that showing up in
your chart...?" Natalie began setting up for Mila's fortune, having
already retrieved her friend's astrological chart and was now shuffling
the cards for her spread.
Unfinished Republic
"Do I know any of you?" asked Barris of the strange men that surrounded
him in what appeared to be a Republic court of some ancient architecture.
Despite its having been built hastily since their occupation of Albion, it
was quite remarkable that their supply lines and reach had been capable of
transporting the valuable building material from quarries as far away as
the Mediterranian, along what their Empire referred to as the red way.
Regardless of its having been built in haste, it housed them and suited
their purposes quite well. A taste of their distant home, for all roads of
their vast empire truly led to Rome.
[Barris Windsor, have you lost your mind since last we spoke? I seem to
recall that we made good progress with regard to our mutual learning of
each others' language.] "Barris Windsor, ex quo ultimo locuti sumus animum perdidisti?
Meminisse videor nos bene profecisse quoad mutuam alterius linguae
cognitionem." Ponderosus addressed Barris from the head of the court.
Barris heard the words, even recognizing that they were likely spoken in
native Latin, but having no training in the language most often taught to
Doctors for a career in Medicine, he was lost as to how to respond.
"Ummm... hocus pocus...? Hello-us? Hit my knee with a rubber hammer-us?"
he responded, an intense migraine headache suddenly cropping up from
within the innards of his skull.
"Oh my skull! Somebody please stop it!" he wailed, holding onto the sides
of his head.
He grasped at his scalp, half expecting his head to split open and let
forth a burst of trapped steam, but fortunately for him no such thing
happened. Instead, the pain receded as quickly as it had arrived, and he
suddenly had a grasp of the words they'd only just spoken to him.
[I'm sorry, but I don't know you or even remember speaking with you, let
alone do I have any idea of how I ended up here...] "Paenitet me, sed non novi te vel etiam tecum loqui memini, nedum
mihi ideam habeo quomodo hic finierim..." Barris spoke, now well versed in
the Latin.
[He knows of the rising rebellion amongst the people. He's clearly
withholding such knowledge from us, and until we receive the
reinforcements from Caesar, we're in a desperate situation with such
hidden enemies amongst our midst here in Albion...] "Seit rebellionem in populo. A nobis plane abstinet, donec auxilia
a Caesare accipimus, cum tam occultis hostibus inter nostros hic in
Albione desperatus sumus." Carbus Carnum stood, pounding his fist down
upon a marble table as he spoke, his Roman armour gleaming in the
sunlight.
[Oh? I remember this! This was all about you guys cracking your eggs on
the little end, and your enemies cracking their eggs on the big end!
Little Endians and Big Endians! Wait a minute, aren't you supposed to be
tiny? Like really small compared to me?] "Oh? Hoc memini! Haec omnia de vobis guys sunt ova in parvo fine
crepuisse, et hostes ova eorum in magnum finem crepuisse! Parva Endians et
Big Endians! Exspecta paulisper, nonne putaris esse pusillum? Velut vere
parva comparatio mihi?" Barris struggled to piece together what these men
of the Roman court were trying to ascertain, only coming up with a few
shreds of a book he'd once read by Jonathan Swift.
[This man is very clearly a fool! A buffoon and jester, his words are
infecting us with his folly, while the rebellion is gaining in strength
and support amongst the people!] "Hic homo praeclare stultus! Scurra et ioculator, verba eius
nos stultitiam inficiunt, dum rebellio in populo robur ac robur obtinet."
Carbus Carnum once again offered a perspective on the basis of his
military expertise.
[We don't even know who their leader is... and yet this man's name is
mentioned prominently amidst the scribe's request for supplies in the
form of heavy furs and iron ore! I tell you, he is working with them,
perhaps as their secretive quartermaster?] "Nescimus quidem quis eorum dux sit... et tamen hoc nomen hominis
eminenter memoratur inter rogationem scribae commeatus in modum pellium
gravium et ferri chalcitidis! Dico tibi, laborat cum illis fortasse
secretivus eorum magister?" Carbus continued driving his point how to
those present in attendance of his more serious session of Republic court.
[It is true. It seems that these supplies are of purpose only for one
thing and one thing alone. They're building an army to rise against
us.] "Verum est. Ad septimum sic proceditur. Videtur quod ista
suppeditatio non sit nisi ad unum et ad unum solum. Exercitum contra nos
aedificant." Ponderosus backed Carbus Carnum, though slightly hesitantly,
for he was not a warrior but a strategist and one of the finests of the
Roman court.
One of the men of the court raised his hand.
[The court recognizes Selenus Maximus, Mathematician, Doctor and
Astrologer.] "Aula Selenum Maximum, Mathematicum, Doctorem et Astrologum
agnoscit." one of the courtisans shouted at the top of his lungs.
[Stand and address your peers, Selenus Maximus.] "Sta, et tuos
alloque pares, Selene, Maxime." the man at the head of the room spoke
confidently and asertively.
[There is one other possibility and we have seen that there is a foul
mind, a crafty one of such wiles that they might be playing us one
against the other, merely by the mention of this jester's name. Sewing
the seeds of mistrust so that we call into question his words, and lose
the advantage of his insight.] "Est aliud possibilitas, et vidimus esse mentem impuram, callidam
talium versutum, ut nos invicem luderent, solo nomine ioculatoris. Sutura
diffidentiam, ut in dubium vocamus verba eius, et utilitatem
perspiciamus." Selenus Maximus spoke suggestively, but yet with an air of
humble reproach before the leadership.
[This man's words by themselves are enough to sew the seeds of any
mistrust, for they are the rambling of a rampant fool...] "Verba hominis haec sola satis sunt cuivis diffidentiae semina
consuere, sunt enim stulte vagabundi." Carbus presented his statement with
comedic folly and humour, rousing many of the Roman court to laugh in his
support.
[And yet he has intimate knowledge of their most sacred shrine here in
Albion. The Standing Stones...] "Et tamen hic in Albione sacratissimae suae aediculae notitiam
intimat. Lapides stantes..." Ponderosus reminded them of Barris
importance.
[The Standing Stones are no more a dangerous weapon, than is a calendar
or the sticks that Druids use to wytch the water to build their
wells...] "Lapides stantes non magis telum periculosum sunt quam calendarium
aut ligna quae druidum aqua ad puteos suos faciendas utuntur." Carbus
Carnum challenged Ponderosus' assumptions about Barris and the Standing
Stones.
[Remember, with a calendar we are able to time the strength of our
military to coincide with the wrath of nature. A formidable weapon far
more in strength than even our strongest Phalanx.] "Memento, cum fasti^ temporis vires militiae nostrae cum ira
naturae congruere possimus. Telum formidabile longe viribus magis quam
etiam fortissimum Phalanx." Ponderosus reminded the court why he was
considered amongst the wisest of men in their ranks.
[Then lead the jester there, and if he can't utilize it to help us
against our enemies, then perhaps we can sacrifice him the same way the
Druids sacrifice their woodland friends in their rites?] "Tum ioculatorem illuc duc, quo si uti non potest ut contra hostes
adiuvet, num forte eodem modo ei possumus sacrificare druidibus suis
silvestribus amicis suis ritibus immolare?" Carbus Carnum suggested,
picking up his helmet from the table and tucking it under his arm.
[All in favour, say: aye.] "Omnes in gratia, dicite: immo."
the man at the head of the court addressed them.
There was a resounding response of aye, and their session was
finished and Barris' fate had been decided.
[Uhhhhh... so how is it that Druids sacrifice their woodland friends?
Just in the point of interest on my part?] "Uhhhhh... so how is it that Druids sacrifice their woodland friends?
Just in the point of interest on my part?" asked Barris as he was summarily surrounded by Carbus' own guards.
[They are prepared for immortality and to assist the heathen gods of
Druids, by having their hearts cleaved from their bodies and their flesh
offered on the altar.] "Ad inmortalitatem praeparantur, diis gentilibus druidum, qui
corpori adhaeserint, et in aris carnes adhaeserint." Ponderosus responded
to Barris question.
[I see. Is there any way I could take a raincheck on this? Maybe come
back another day? I could bribe you with this crystal...?] "Video. Estne ulla via de hac raincheck potui accipere? Forsitan
alio die redeo? Tibi hoc cristallum reddere potui...?" Barris opened his
hand, and revealed a tiny gem of perfect crystalline clarity that had
somehow found its way into his grasp between the museum, his conversation
with Mila, and then his arrival in the Roman court.
Unfinished Penrose Imperium
Some seven billion lightyears away, on an unimaginably huge construct that
encircled a black hole, harvesting the zero-point energy imbalance that
arose from the event horizon and regular space, an alarm sounded, ringing
throughout all hundred trillion kilometers of corridor that lined the
construct, finally echoing into the offices of a large bipedal like man,
whose armour was very similar to that of Carbus Carnum some seven billion
lightyears away and a few hundred years breadth in time.
"Did somebody say crystal?!!!" he spoke in a language very similar
to English, after which he began laughing a most sinister laughter that
too echoed through the hundreds of trillions of kilometers of corridor
that lined the construct, before his wife yelled at him from the bedroom
at the other end, where she happened to be knitting holiday stockings for
that evening.
"Could you keep it down Corpus! I'm trying to finish the last of our
holiday knitting you know!" she said to him from the other room.
All at once, a tremendous build up of steam seaped out through fissures in
his ears, the pressure unbelievably powerful as his anger peaked.
"'Right dear. Sorry 'bout that. I'll try to keep it down..." Corpus Corzar
said quietly, as he closed the door to their bedroom and stepped out into
his office and over to a holographic monitor.
"I want you to find me that source of crystal! Immediately!" Corpus
pounded his fist down upon his desk.
"Honey! Could you keep it down! My soap opera is just starting..." came
his wife's voice from the bedroom.
"Sorry honey..." Corpus said timidly, then turning to his second in
command.
"I want you to gather every ship in our fleet! And then some! We're
going on a little trip because as you know, this universe isn't for big
enough for both crystals and black holes. There's only
enough room for for black hole powered crystal destroying
supercivilizations like us!" Corpus ordered his second in command.
"And pick me up a double double coffee if you could at the nearest
Timmy's?" Corpus added.
"Very well Sir..." his second in command responded, about ready to
activate his entanglement displacement device.
"Oh... and don't forget to leave the little stir stick in. I kind of like
that!" their leader added.
"Right away, MADE!" his second in command responded.
"Wait a second. Did you just call me a maid?" their leader
responded.
"Yes Sir. You're our Mighty And Deadly Emperor, or MADE for short," the
second in command neglected to inform the Emperor that he and his men were
having a laugh at the Emperor's expense.
"Ahhh. Very clever of you and somewhat convenient I'd imagine..." Corpus
aka MADE responded.
"If that will be all Sir, I'll be off to Timmy's to get your coffee..."
his second in command disappeared upon activation of his entanglement
displacement device.
When the second in command was gone, the Emperor addressed the third in
command:
"When he gets back, have him vapourized. After you get my coffee from him.
Don't forget the stir stick either! From that point, you'll be promoted to
my second in command," Corpus' face grew contorted as a maniacal laughter
erupted from him once again.
"Oh, how wonderful Sir," the third in command spoke with a horrid sense of
dread, referring to a command structure where the higher you were promoted
was inversely correlated with the duration of your life.
And with that, the soon to be deceased second in command gathered the
immensely vast fleet of Corpus Corzar, and upon the retrieval of his
double double coffee, was summarily vapourized and replaced by the third
in command, who'd already taken out a sizeable life insurance policy for
himself to his family's benefit.
With his coffee in hand, Corpus and his vast armada left on the hours long
trip through a network of interconnected wormholes, one of which was
cleverly concealed on the far side of our sun.
Unfinished Sanctum
Space, despite its apparent simplicity, is actually a very complex
thing, hence why so many human resources over years had been spent
developing the technology of storage space. As George Carlin, a
noteable historian and learned scholar in the science of comedy had once
explained,
the only real thing that we need in life is a place to put our stuff.
Over thousands of years, as humanity accumulated more and more stuff, we
gave these storage spaces ever more elaborate and creative names.
Initially, there was the cubby hole, a decidedly tiny space where ancient
humanity would store their rocks and pepples (primitive tools at that
time), and maybe a clean pair of porcupine hide underwear or two, which
were the only human invention that was shorter lived than the 8-track
tape.
There was the chest, a storage space that didn't need to be stored inside,
as it was its self-contained inside, which was its greatest flaw.
Soon after its invention, another crafty human came along and invented the
hope chest, aptly named as such as a form of optimism that went along the
lines: "I hope that someone doesn't simply come along and walk away with
my chest".
Naturally, many people did walk away with them, often burying these chests
and hope chests with immense hidden treasures, which led to the
development of the inside of doors storage, as few people were capable of
walking away with a two storey home.
Hence, at the end of many beds in said homes, one would find a hope chest,
though the motive for its name had been reworked to: "I hope that nobody
finds my sex toys in this chest". Little did they know that most other
chests that had been stolen before the invention of the house, were often
filled and buried with sex toys. Information that never quite made it to
encyclopedias, upon the discovery of buried pirate treasure, instead often
flooding the market for second-hand sex toys, which jump started Amazon
three hundred years before the invention of the internet.
Soon, our storage spaces had wheels, in the form of the boot (or trunk as
they call it in the new world) and the glove box (or glove compartment in
the new world), and we could literally drive our stuff around. Ironically,
despite the advances in technology, storage spaces still mostly contained
sex toys. Ahhhh, what a thought, seeing her in her nice red lipstick and
that plaid lingerie I got her for x-mas last year... Alright, enough about
sex (in this paragraph).
All of the time human beings had been busy creating places to put their
stuff, another group of people had been busy tampering with the aether in
trying to find ways to weave reality (in mostly bizarre ways) until they
accidentally happened across a space so hidden, that it actually occupied
the space between our own time and space, in another dimension.
This place, they would eventually come to call: the Midspace, but
only because the name Timbuktu was already taken.
Using their aether weaving skills, these early crafters managed to carve
out an immense keep within the Midspace, before a very angry and
disgruntled man came and took it away from them. He lived in there for a
very long time, though we'll never be so sure just how long, because time
doesn't pass the same way in the Midspace as it does everywhere else, in
much the same way that you could leave a tuna sandwich on the counter in
the Midspace, and it would theoretically never, ever go bad.
As it turns out, this was entirely because the Midspace disobeyed the
second-law of thermodynamics, hence Entropy did not exist in the Midspace
as one of the universal markers, and as the arrow for the direction of the
flow of time. This of course put a serious damper on the market for
refridgerators and freezers in the Midspace, leading eventually to the
people who lived there storing their ice cream in the cupboards, another
deftly crafted storage space of human invention.
It was speculated that the biggest reason that same angry fellow
eventually left the giant keep they'd built in the Midspace, was simply
because he couldn't keep his vast wine collection chilled, so he instead
moved to a dark forest in the heart of France, where years later, a group
of those meddling weavers of the aether would find him again, and foil his
plans to bring refridgeration to the Midspace.
After he'd gained the support of the refridgeration industrial complex, he
once again came back to the Midspace, with a tremendous army who pounded
the walls of that great keep, until eventually the weavers of aether
retaliated and obliterated the angry man's entire army.
He left, returning to France once again, even calming down considerably
and making friends with his neighbours, but not before he took the life of
the lover of one of those weavers of the aether. An artist of unreknowned
ability named Mila Ren Dubel.
She became isolated and withdrawn, lost in her loneliness, eventually
disappearing altogether as the spaces in reality began overlapping one
another, and before long, she was happily reunited with her long lost love
without ever realizing that he'd been gone.
And so, without ever knowing that their reality had been altered so
drastically, the Midspace once again began to thrive, and these weavers of
the aether, being ever so frisky and with much time on their hands, had
many children who in turn eventually moved into the giant keep, and in the
process securing the future of the Sanctum Seclorum of the Midspace.
Albeit, a very, very crowded Sanctum.
Of course, with
need being the mother of all invention, and the father of all
procrastination, the women of the Sanctum went to work building plans for an addition to
the Sanctum, which was really just their uinfinished basement, which
needed a lot of renovation work so that their children could all move into
the basement, like all children eventually did on the Aerth. Of course,
after decades of procrastination, the men of the Sanctum eventually ran
out of excuses and began renovating the Sanctum's basement, which was a
vast system of caves that ran beneath their giant keep, though it is still
largely debated as to whether the motivating factor to get the men moving
on the project was actually when the women got together and cut-off all
sex until the project was done.
The Sanctum itself took over a hundred years of Aerth time to construct,
if measured in human lifespans, while the basement of the Sanctum took
only two weekends, before the children were forced to move in, and the sex
lives of the parents resumed.
Over the course of their occupation of the Sanctum's basement, it turned
into its own entirely self contained village of over three thousand
people, all the unemployed teenaged kids of the residents of the Sanctum.
All of them skilled in the manipulation of the aether, not to mention
other arts and crafts that had long been lost to history.
With the renewed vigour of these unemployed basement dwelling teenagers,
the village thrived and became a tourist draw of the residents of the
Sanctum, even becoming a vacation spot in addition to being a place where
the residents of the Sanctum could buy knick knacks, like potions, scrolls
and even crystal balls amidst the scenic market of the underground
village, all of which was lit by the magical bioluminescent
crystals of eternity. Oops, I've said too much and might have even
revealed the
MacGuffin
behind this entire story.
There goes another. I'll just file the rest of this story under the same
storage space I put:
Tales Of The Sanctum: A Lady's Prerogative III: Singularity or
Tales Of The Sanctum: A Lady's Prerogative - Crystals Are Forever and of course, my most recent failure:
Tales Of The Sanctum: A Lady's Prerogative - Lost Riff.
Just kidding. Where was I? Oh yes, unemployed teenagers with far too much
time on their hands, especially having finished
Elden Ring
several times already.
With all of that pent up energy, they built the first and only tourist
village in the Midspace and the Sanctum Seclorum, and became one of the
greatest successes since any children moved out of the upstairs and into
their parents' basement, which was good, because on this particular day,
there happened to be a delegation present in the Sanctum Seclorum, and
they were on this particular moment (which would be impossible without
entropy or time, but we'll use the term in reference to
equivalent human lifespan), touring the Village of Eternity.
"In two weekends? Most impressive that you've achieved all of this in such
a short time..." Merethal walked with two of his enjoys at his side, on
his left were Yirfir Lacharme, temporary acting Matron Mistress Wytch of
the Sanctum, and her husband Patron Of The Aether,Jasmer McCavanaugh.
"...it was all accomplished mostly over long weekends..." Yirfir responded
to Merethal as they walked through the market square.
"...and very effectively motivated I might add..." Jasmer added to
Yirfir's remark.
"Their market economy is self sustaining?" asked Merethal.
"Absolutely. Without any pressure from us, they seem to have all picked
their own vocations, as if by some uncanny intuition of the future,
although in the Midspace, future and past are both woven into one in ways
that are difficult for most to grasp," Yirfir explained to Merethal.
"With or without know, one should always go with the flow," Merethal
remarked, drawing upon a saying taught to him by his mentors of the Order
Of The Life Well.
"We try to maintain a holistic awareness that spans both forwards and
backwards in time, with regard to the Prime Plane of existence..." Yirfir
replied.
"And yet you do this without any school of Temporality in this wondrous
village? How do they go, if without the flow?" asked Merethal.
"Despite their being very successfully apt in their first endeavor away
from home, we keep a close eye on them..." Jasmer began.
"Yes... only intervening when absolutely necessary..." Yirfir looked to
Jasmer, perhaps a bit embarrassed to be speaking of such matters.
"It all seems too civil. You mean there've been times where you...?"
Merethal was very diplomatic when speaking of personal matters.
"Yes... We have had to put our foot down occasionally, being the Sanctum's
representation and all. We don't have any children of our own..." Jasmer
responded.
"But Matron Thara Lansmore of the Order Of The Night Wytch has three. Two
boys, her own and a daughter, adopted she is. Being ever so ambitious to
meet up to the achievements of Matron Thara, they once aspired to have a
party..." Yirfir explained to Merethal.
"It was more like a concert, really, and of course being sons of one of
the most capable summoners in the Sanctum, they summoned an audience... in
addition to the three thousand inhabitants of Eternity, for a total
audience of nearly a hundred thousand. Three thousand Aerthlings, and
ninety seven thousand Warriors Of The Shadow Rite. The only Idigenous
homonid-like species in the Shadow-plane, and a very rowdy bunch... who
immensely enjoy celebrations..." Jasmer explained.
"Even more so with a few pitchers of Shadowmead in their gullets..."
Yirfir laughed uneasily upon recalling the situation.
"How did you tame so many concert goers without disaster or destruction?
This village is absolutely pristeen!" Merethal nodded to the two envoys
accompanying him.
"Well, it wasn't easy. Both Karas and Bavel certainly are very civil
themselves and yet quite rambunctious when it comes to a good time... but
their sister..." Jasmer paused, Yirfir suddenly cutting in.
"Domina. She can be very influential... and the bigger the crowd,
the more ample her influence tends to be. She's a mind weaver, and a
natural one at that. Thankfully she kept her sense about her, and was able
to calm the entire crowd down before it turned into an incident. By the
end of the concert, the Shadow Warriors returned to the Shadow Plane in an
orderly fashion, while the residents of Eternity managed to sell quite a
few t-shirts to them... Not without the influence of Domina of course...
but we'll keep that secret ourselves..." Yirfir finished the story for
Merethal.
"I believe that as one of the more aggressively political members of the
Order Of The Life Well, that such situations could be better averted with
the presence of an ample population of Seers. The Sanctum, if not Eternity
seems to be shy of them..." Merethal suggested.
"Since the Battle of the Sanctum, we lost many of our Seers. The Watchers
Of The Lore Of Stars suffered the greatest casualties of any of the Orders
of the Sanctum, as they were a required presence as strategists and
support troops for our Elementalists and Healers as you know. We've been
unable to replenish their numbers, especially with so much energy in the
Sanctum focused on rebuilding the Order Of The Aerth Mother. Nelony
Ardbloem's current tasking and our highest priority," Yirfir told
Merethal.
"Perhaps then this is an indication of just how important having good
Seers is for the Sanctum. Upon the Aerth, good weather forecasters are the
difference between safety and tragedy for many. Seers would undoubtedly
benefit the effort to rebuild the Wytch's Order of the Aerth Mother, and
replenish the focus on environmental health..." Merethal spoke
confidently.
"Perhaps Merethal is right," Yirfir agreed.
"We're already stretched thin in the department of administrators. We're
lacking the capacity to spread our focus so thin and in so many different
directions, one of our great logistical challenges given the losses during
the Battle of the Sanctum. Are you offering to assist us in this endeavor,
Merethal?" asked Jasmer.
"I'm afraid not Jasmer. We too are stretched far too thin to be of any
meaningful help other than our existing duties. Perhaps the best solution
isn't the most obvious, but perchance the one so close to us that we fail
to see it?" Merethal responded, both of his envoys nodding in approval.
The Crystal Caves beneath the Sanctum, Eternity
Marketplace and a little bit of Bella The Gypsy at the end.
Unfinished Migration
Barris began running his gifts between the Girtrude And Wilbert's Alivale
Paradise Museum, and the back of his car, carrying them in stacks of three
at a time. They were all gift wrapped by that time, and each of them had a
tag directing them to the particular person who'd receive the gift at
their dinner party that night.
As Barris carried another stack to the back of the car, a large fly
suddenly buzzed by his ear, causing him to spin with the gifts to avoid
the giant bug altogether. When he arrived at the back of his car, he
carefully balanced the gifts as he looked around for the bug.
"Flies? At this time of year? Its a bit chilly for them..." he said to
himself as he organized the gifts in the back of his car, not noticing
that the large "fly" was actually a bee, and that it had landed on one of
the gifts and had burrowed inside beneath the gift paper.
"There... that's better! Only six more to go and we're off to pick up my
wonderful wife to be... for some afternoon nookie!" Barris smiled
mischievously as he jogged back to the front door of the Museum to pick up
another stack of three gifts.
Near the top of the door, a group of bees had gathered, and were in the
middle of a rather convoluted conversation. One of them marched along the
ceiling overhang over the porch, wiggling its tail every so often, then
buzzing its wings loudly as the others listened. One of the bees nodded
its head, and contemplated what the other be had just stated, before he
replied.
As Barris walked out of the Museum with the next stack of gifts, the bee
who'd jusr responded to the other one's conjecture, then flew off,
following Barris as he continued towards the car, this time instead of
buzzing his ear, the bee simply landed on the top of his toque, and waved
frantically for the others to join him.
"Alright! Get the other two out there, and stay clear of his eyes and
ears!" one of the other bees ordered another pair of them.
The two flew off, in a straight line and landed atop of Barris' toque
beside the others, Barris completely oblivious about the whole affair, and
did not in the least suspect that his toque was now being used by a group
of hyper-intelligent bees as a staging area for their migration plans.
Barris fit the gifts into the back, one at a time, and while he was
distracted between gifts, one of the bees would jump down onto the most
recent gift, and hide inside of it beneath the gift paper.
This continued until Barris had finished bringing out all of the gifts,
which by coincidence had lined up perfectly with the amount of bees who'd
arranged to be ready for these migration plans. They were
hyper-intelligent after all, so naturally their plans had worked out
perfectly, if the gifts were actually going to be delivered to another
location in the world.
However, in this case and much the the bees' lack of awareness, the gifts
were only going to travel about fifty kilometers in total, where they'd
end up on a gift table adorned with a decorated pine tree and various
lights and doo-dads and doo-hickies where a bunch of half drunken adults
previously stuffed with hors d'ouvres, would one by one open them, hence
ending the bees' migration plans short of their original plan and forcing
them to settle for a place at said party.
How you might ask, could a group of hyper-intelligent bees so horribly
bungle such a devious plan?
As I stated earlier, they were hyper-intelligent, not hyper-scrutinizing,
hence, none of them at all considered any changes to the initial plans
once suggested by the first bee... because of the fact that they were not
very good at scrutinizing and... this plot element is kind of lame... but
that's how it happened. They were very smart, but not very scrutinizing,
and so they quickly accepted the first plan thrown at them and I'm
sticking with that, because I'm the author, dammit.
Barris returned to the Museum and armed the security alarm before closing
and locking the door, after which he made his way to the car and got in.
While singing a horrible rendition of Oasis' song Morning Glory, he
started his car and began driving happily on his way to pick up his total
babe of a wife to be for some <insert your favourite euphamism for
afternoon sex at a secret location here>.
The bees, had for most of the trip, spent their time reading the packaging
and if applicable the instructions on each of the gifts, and by the time
Barris had arrived in Alivale to pickup Mila, they could have been
considered experts at each of the respective gifts which they occupied,
though at this point in the plot, that wasn't important at all but I just
thought I'd throw that out there regardless.
Unfinished Hairstyle
Forty-five minutes later, and Barris was pulling the car up in front of
the Hair Salon. He got out and paid for a parking spot and then proceeded
into the salon, very sneakily.
The hairdresser immediately spotted Barris as he snuck in, but she feigned
ignorance and played along wiith Barris' plans regardless as he found a
spot in the waiting area, unseen by Mila.
"...and then you know Shaela and how she can be sometimes. She just walked
right over to the creep who'd made that remark about Nelony, and scratched
his chin flirtatiously. Of course, from the moment he saw her he was
eating it all up as she fed it to him, and then she took her entire glass
of wine and poured it into his lap..." both Mila and the hair dresser
began laughing at Mila's story.
"So I take it Nelony left with the other man?" asked Tammy, the hair
dresser.
"Yes. They did leave together, which was one of the happiest moments I've
seen in recent years, poor Nelony having spent most of her time alone
before that. From what I hear, they've been an item ever since..." Mila
smiled as she thought about their previous yearly Halloween outting.
"...you've just got to find one for Shaela and we can all get together for
a quadruple date!" Tammy added as she began removing the foil wrapped
segments she'd used to dye Mila's hair.
"Now that's definitely a plan... I'm still looking for one for Shaela.
She's a bit asocial... but as soon as you mention the term
cat lady..." Mila rolled her eyes as she gossipped with Tammy.
When Tammy had the last piece of foil out of Mila's hair, she applied a
conditioning finish to her hair from a mist-spray bottle and then grabbed
the hair dryer and began shaping her new hairstyle as Barris snuck up
behind them from the waiting area.
When Barris grabbed Mila's shoulders from behind, she nearly jumped out of
her chair, as Tammy stepped backwards laughing at Mila's reaction.
Mila spun her chair around to confront Barris, who had a very devious look
on his face, but when he saw Mila's new hair and style, his look changed
to one of utter awe.
"Awwwww!!!? You cut off all of your long hair!" Barris responded as she
looked to him.
The hair dryer suddenly stopped. and there was a moment of utter silence,
Tammy cringing, and Mila looking back at Barris, her eyes having grown
larger as tears quickly filled her bottom eyelids.
"You don't like it?" Mila asked him, still looking to him in shock.
Barris suddenly found himself on the spot, one of his feet already all the
way in his mouth, his other foot waiting on standby as he searched for the
right words to undo the damage he'd clearly done thus far by his remark
about Mila's new hairstyle.
"Its..." Barris blurted out, very clearly stalling for time as his other
foot readied itself to jump full force into his mouth beside his first
foot.
Tammy crossed her fingers as Barris struggled to find his words.
"Nice...! Really... really... nice!" he finished, even trying to
elevate the pitch of the end of his sentence, hoping that it would be
enough to repair a situation which had recently gone critical.
"You don't like it?" Mila responded.
"No...! No... of course not! It looks... very nice!" Barris' other foot
now all the way in his mouth too, several other parts of his body suddenly
interested in seeing if they could fit in as well, his hands already
attempting to dive in.
Mila turned around in her chair, giving Barris her back as she looked in
the mirror at Tammy's masterpiece of hair dressing.
Mila turned her head to this side, and then that side, and a smile slowly
grew back in place of the frown Barris had so carelessly planted there
moments earlier.
"Its... shorter... but I like it..." Mila's smile grew that much more,
despite Barris' initial remark.
"It really brings out the pretty features on your face and jaw-line...
without overpowering them from the background..." Tammy spoke up in
defense of her vision of Mila's ideal framing presentation.
"Are you listening to her Barris? Are you learning anything about women
yet?" Mila said to him, the bottom of his stomach falling out as the
severity of the situation finally became apparent to him.
"Uhhhh... precisely! That's exactly what I was going to
say..." historians would, years later say that it was clearly a low moment
for team Barris, using the:
you took the words right out of my mouth line, first coined by
Meatloaf in the late 1970s.
Historians would further go on to remark that it was a bad play, and that
he instead should have remained silent and listened to the two women as
they expertly repaired a difficult minefield of a situation into which
Barris had stumbled, for it had initially begged the thought in Mila's
head:
What would make Barris better for me? What don't I like about him?
At that moment, the dynamic that every couple dreads was brought to
fruition. The nagging things that bothered them about each other and the
things that they thought if they changed about them would make them
better, that neither had the courage to bring up with the other,
until that very moment when Barris stumbled with the ball regarding Mila's
new hairstyle.
That was when Mila first had the thought:
What is nagging me so much about Barris?
Mila paid Tammy for her artistic work in creating the masterpiece that now
crowned Mila's head, and the two had a good laugh despite the earlier
dynamics Barris had introduced into their afternoon, while he only
considered how romantic a fellow he was to be picking up his fiancé to
take her to a secret love nest of theirs for a romantic quickie.
It even lost its lustre as he rolled it around in his head, after he'd so
selfishly blurted out exactly what he'd thought about Mila's new
hairstyle.
Awwwww!!!? You cut off all of your long hair!
The words echoed through the empty chasms in Barris' head.
When she turned away from Tammy and began heading towards the door, there
was a moment that stood in slow motion as he really looked at her as if
for the first time again. And at that moment, he saw her in all of her
glory, the wonderful shape of her cheeks rounded perfectly and framed
against the borders of her eyes, all underlined by her luscious red lips,
and as Tammy had stated, her hair perfectly in the background, like the
perfect frame for a masterpiece of a painting.
Mila Ren Dubel's new look...
All at once Barris saw her and took her in.
Mila noticed, and knew that something was different, but she was already
hurt and had in the short time speaking with Tammy, gotten over it. She
wasn't thinking about their romantic secret love nest at all. She was
thinking about the things she'd change about him to suit her needs,
and most selfishly so, for she'd never in all their time together, put
herself first. It was always about him and what his fantasies were.
He quickly grabbed the door for her as she waved goodbye with her fingers
to Tammy, walking by Barris as if she wasn''t showing him off to everyone
else, but as if she suddenly realized that she was and had been the best
thing about them, because for the entire time they'd been together, she
never put herself first and that was going to change.
Unfinished Warrior Queen
The Phalanx marched perfectly in rhythm and form, a giant red box against
the luscious green fields as eight columns of men moved on towards the
great monument of the Druids: Stonehenge.
Ponderosus walked alongside Barris, whose hands were now bound behind his
back while a length of the best Roman rope fastened him to two nearby
Guards in Carbus Carnum's own unit, Carbus behind the two men as they
marched forward, Stonehenge now visible atop the plateau and their
destination.
[If you care to relieve yourself now of your knowledge of this place,
it would be a most beneficial time for you to do so.] "Si tibi nunc huius loci notitiae curas levare, commodissimum
tempus tibi id facere futurum esse." Ponderosus spoke with the calm of a
scholarly man and one who kept matters of war and savagery at arm's
length.
[You heard this blathering fool's drool earlier, Ponderosus. He is just
a fool from admidst a people obviously much more well informed than he,
who has fallen into a dangerous situation, impersonating the worldliness
of one who knows. I prefer to think that this whelp of a man knows
nothing! He'll grovel at your feet and say anything he believes you want
to hear, just to spare his life a few moments more.] "Audisti hoc stultorum blaterantes prius nugae, Ponderose. Stultus
est ab intimo homine multo manifestius instructior quam ille, qui in
periculosas res incidit, munditiam cognoscentis personans. Malo putare
quod hic catulus hominis nihil scit! Ad pedes tuos noet, et quicquid
audieris credit dicturus est, vitae modo parcat paulo plus." Carbus Carnum
spat at the back of Barris feet after addressing his superior.
[It seems that you're lacking the support of the brutes, my dear friend
and I can only do so much to stave their blood-thirsty nature, for their
respect of me is purely on the grounds of duty and out of respect for
their superiors. The moment I stepped out of line, they'd be at my
throat just as readily as they are at yours. If there's one thing I've
learned in this world my friend, its that the appetite of wolves
is peaked by the appearance of weakness. Fret not though I know it to be
difficult, for real strength lies not in the fiber of one's muscle, but
in the mettle of their heart's thumos. If you allow these men to trounce
you with words, then you're failing us both. Be unafraid to share your
knowledge of this ancient device with me, for if you do, I will see to
it that these wolves grovel at your feet rather than either of us at
theirs.] "Brutorum auxilio tibi cares, amice carissime, nec tantum possum
tantum sanguineum sitientem occidere, est enim respectus mei pure ex
officio et ob reverentiam praelatorum. . Ut iam egrederetur, aeque facile
in gutture meo forent quam apud te sunt. Si hoc unum est, amice didici in
hoc mundo, quod luporum appetitus specie infirmitatis spectetur. Ne
contendas, etsi difficile esse scio, verae enim vires non in fibra
musculi, sed in cordis thumo consistit. Hos si permiseris verbis te
jactare, tum ambos deficis. Non metuas tui huius priscae notae communicare
mecum, nam si facias, curabo ut lupi ad pedes tuos potius quam alterutro
nostro volent." Ponderosus appealed to Barris' sense of camaraderie that
had formed over the time of their acquaintance.
Ponderosus knew that they were both cerebral more so than savage. That
their fortunes depended not upon how many different ways they could
bludgeon a man in combat, but in their ability to inspire others to think
beyond the shadows of the forest and their own dark fears, most of which
were founded in ignorance.
Ponderosus knew that for ignorance to win, it only required good men (and
women) to give up thinking, to remain silent when their voice was needed,
and to do nothing when action was called for.
Even the great warrior General and Emperor Caesar was bound between these
two eidos of the omni. A warrior's heart and leader's mind. The savage and
the cerebellum in constant flux, while the man pray n'yer that either grew
too far in strength that much above the other, for history had
demonstrated that when one was absent, that it would soon be needed the
most. The fall of every great empire that preceded theirs was beset by
this very fact. The cerebellum and the savage were the saviours of the
empire, so long as they remained in balance, but never in harmony.
Each had the means to undo the other easily, but when they worked
together, they could move mountains to valleys and oceans to seas.
Their columns of Phalanx arrived, encircling the Stonehenge protectively
as Ponderosus, Carbus Carnum and Barris Windsor approached its center.
...
On the top of a nearby hill, and within the tree and brush that covered it
and spanned nearly a semi-circle of the distance around the Stonehenge, an
army lay in wait.
There, against a tree, covered in war paint, a tall woman of fiery hair
and flairingly toned musculature who somehow graced it all with the power
of femininity, she stood there watching the Roman Phalanx, its leader
Carbus Carnum, a man of state known as Ponderosus according to her
intelligence, and finally, the chosen one: the man who would complete her
and together re-establish the Albion Of The Welsh and the Druids and the
Albion Of The People: Barris Windsor.
[Boudicca! I ye beg naught we on this day and in this light challenge
their Phalanx... We are without armour... and these are men who practice
war every single day of their lives! They be as they are... the best
that the Romans have to offer to defend their interests here... even
this far from their home... I beg of you Boudicca, do not face them on
this day!] "Ystyr geiriau: Boudicca! Yr wyf yn erfyn dim ar y diwrnod
hwn ac yn y goleuni hwn herio eu Phalanx... Rydym heb arfwisgoedd... a
dyma ddynion sy'n ymarfer rhyfel bob dydd o'u bywydau! Maen nhw fel ag y
maen nhw... y gorau sydd gan y Rhufeiniaid i'w gynnig i amddiffyn eu
buddiannau yma... hyd yn oed mor bell â hyn o'u cartref... Rwy'n erfyn
arnoch chi Boudicca, peidiwch â'u hwynebu ar y diwrnod hwn!" Marlin of
Eire pleaded to Boudicca, who up until no more than a year before, had
been the mother of two daughters, and the wife of their head of state.
A peaceful woman who'd kept their family and their people together since
the arrival of the first Romans to set foot upon the shores of Albion.
When hope had abandoned them, their people as they realized that they were
no match for Roman furnaces and forges, or for their formations and
tactics, it was Boudicca's firey red hair and her piercing eyes so
determined and full of promise, that kept them and their people together.
When the Romans arrived to meet with her husband, and negotiated the first
allegiance between the Welsh between the sea and the hills, between the
lush and the druids, her people looked to her, knowing that she'd never
allow her husband to sell them off, to be annexed by a Roman conqueror who
were known for annexing their enemies and integrating them into state.
The Greeks and Macedons had become part and parcel of their empire. There
was no longer Zeus, Aries or Aphrodite, they had become Jupiter, Mars and
Venus. Hermes had become Mercury, the Mercurial trickster of the gods. As
more and more were consumed into the ranks of the Roman empire, so too was
their culture and history, annexed. The people of a new name, living under
gods of a lost people.
The idea of cerebellum and savagery helped to sell this spread to the
people, for the Romans were the cerebellum, the light of civilization,
keeping at bay the darkness of savagery. Of all that opposed order. All
that opposed Rome. All that opposed the one road leading there.
When the Welsh people, the old and true Albion were faced with annexation,
it was Boudicca who stood and defied Rome.
When they killed her husband and took her to the square outside of her
home, and raped her two daughters in front of her, as they pronounced her
as being a false prophecy of the people.
She was no Warrior Queen, for she'd stood idle as her own two daughters
were raped by her conquerors and as her people, the people of a
prophecized the coming of a Warrior Queen, watched their heroes, their
gods crushed one by one by the conquerors. Their hope was trampled under
foot as her daughters cried for mercy, their clothes stripped from them as
they were laid bare for all to see.
It was from this darkness that Boudicca arose, and it was from the hilltop
overlooking the Stonehenge, the greatest wonder of their world, and one
built by the Druids for purposes known only to them, that she weighed her
enemy, and the risk of freeing the one from their grasp.
[What are you that claim the ancestry of a Celt, of an Eirish Magi,
allegedly descended from the line of the Druid, who cannot wield their
magiks to assist us in this time that our ancestors call us forth to
thwart our greatest enemy? Would you watch more of our daughters soiled
by these filth?! If it is your name and people... EIRE! Anger! The fire
of the soul! Then bring it forth to power Druid magiks! Or hold your
tongue you filthy bastard while I fight them!!!] "Beth wyt ti sy'n hawlio llinach Celt, o Lygad Eirish, yr honnir
ei fod yn disgyn o linach y Derwyddon, na allant ddefnyddio eu swynion i'n
cynorthwyo yn yr amser hwn y mae ein hynafiaid yn ein galw allan i rwystro
ein gelyn pennaf? A fyddech chi'n gwylio mwy o'n merched yn cael eu baeddu
gan y budreddi hyn?! Os mai dyma'ch enw a phobl... EIRE! Dicter! Tân yr
enaid! Yna dod ag ef allan i rym derwyddon Derwyddon! Neu dal eich tafod
chi bastard budr tra byddaf yn ymladd nhw!!!" Boudicca's eyes flared as
she spat her words at the great Eirish magician Marlin.
The man she'd addressed seemed to have given up. Somewhere within him he
was simply a little child fleeing in search of his leviathan, the one that
every person who'd given up their own power came to believe would save
them against the forces that thwarted them. An unseen saviour of
unquestionable power that would in any instance step in on their behalf,
no matter if they were just or dire in need.
Her men were divided roughly along this same crime of the soul, when a
people gave up on themselves and instead turned to the invisible leviathan
to right their wrongs and to shore up the inequities visited upon them by
consquences, invaders, monsters or savages cum forth from the wild.
She looked at him, disgusted that the legendary Marlin had become this.
That he would give himself to some unseen protector, rather than find that
strength within himself to stand beside the people and the land, and serve
it for their right to thrive upon it, go forth, multiply and be fruitful
unto humanity and the life of nature and the Aerth Mother alike.
Boudicca: Queen Of The Iceni prepares to bring the war in Albion to
the Romans.
[Magi like you wrought that Stonehenge aeons ago, and yet you give up,
knowing that no man alive could have carried stone of that size and
shape from the quarries on the other side of this land to erect that
which ye see before you! Therein lies the secret to the power of the
magi and of you and your kind Marlin of the Eire! Find it, or fall on
this day. I command thee that you and your Magi will take the first line
in our assault. Ye are committed to finding the secrets of Druid magi
before their blades find your bare skin and ours. You might fall a
coward today, but know it that I will give all the fight I have to make
sure that none of us fall!] "Bu Magi fel chi yn gwneud Côr y Cewri yn ôl, ac eto rydych chi'n
rhoi'r gorau iddi, gan wybod na allai unrhyw ddyn yn fyw fod wedi cario
cerrig o'r maint a'r siâp hwnnw o'r chwareli yr ochr arall i'r wlad hon i
godi'r hyn a welwch o'ch blaen! Yno y gorwedd y gyfrinach i rym y hud a
lledrith a chi a'ch caredig Marlin yr Eire! Dod o hyd iddo, neu syrthio ar
y diwrnod hwn. Dw i'n gorchymyn i ti a'th Lydaw gymryd y llinell gyntaf yn
ein hymosodiad. Yr ydych wedi ymrwymo i ddod o hyd i gyfrinachau hud a
lledrith Derwydd cyn i'w llafnau ddod o hyd i'ch croen noeth a'n croen ni.
Efallai y byddwch chi'n cwympo llwfrgi heddiw, ond yn gwybod y byddaf yn
rhoi'r holl frwydr sydd gennyf i wneud yn siŵr nad oes yr un ohonom yn
cwympo!" Boudicca's voice rose in volume, echoing behind the hills so that
every Welsh soldier could hear it, but the trees kept her voice from
reaching or alerting the Romans.
Marlin listened as she spoke, and noticed that her voice spread far into
every ear, and yet the Romans did not hear a word of it at all.
He then realized that the trees had kept it from them, for the trees were
both alchemy and alchemists. They could both carry and obscure sound to
whom they chose, and yet there was something oddly familiar about the
trees that caught Marlin's attention on this day.
His heart began to beat faster, as the Welsh soldiers began lining
themselves up, readying for their assault upon a vastly superior force. A
force that would easily crush them lest their Warrior Queen be right about
finding their one.
She had proven to the people that she was a force to be reckoned with, but
they still had not seen a Warrior Queen.
Half of them had reserved themselves to the fact that within the next
hour, they would be carried away into the vast sea in the beaks of the
Heron, into their death and the land beyond.
The other half, had seen and known the Warrior Queen, and to them there
was only victory. However, it was Boudicca who knew that it was both sides
who were the fools, for her people didn't need one or the other. Her
people needed everyone to be together.
And so it was that as Boudicca delivered the last speech she'd give as
Boudicca, that Marlin of Eire learned of the secret of the Stonehenge.
Thirty minutes later, and an army of the one true Warrior Queen charged
down the hill to face the most advanced army in the world in the eighth
centurty in Albion.
One year later, and by that time she had conquered all of Albion and the
surrounding isles, side by side with her husband: Barris Windsor.
A very different Barris, and one who'd learned the secret of Ponderosus'
advice. Of becoming both the cerebellum and the savage.
Something that Queen Boudicca and her husband King Barris Windsor would
often discuss with Ponderosus, for he had risen to become their advisor,
while Carbus Carnum toiled as a prisoner in their castle at Cardiff.
While Barris had grown as a man by embracing his savage nature, and
balancing it with his cerebellum, Carbus Carnum had tamed his own wolves,
and had learnt restraint and wisdom in his year as a prisoner.
...
Mila lay naked face down on the bed, her eyes open and looking around the
room as she thought about their situation. Barris meanwhile, lay on his
side, sleeping soundly after having been quickly satisfied, which was part
of Mila's plan, as their earlier situation at the hair stylist had left
her feeling anything but wanting to be pleasing to this man.
It was like the illusion had all fallen at once, when he'd initially
remarked about her new hairstyle. It was all about him.
Their sex earlier had been fun, in an ever so quaint way as Mila now saw
it, but it had not been in any way satisfying for her, but by that moment
in time she was alright with it, for she just wanted to get it over with,
and so upon their foreplay, which was rather abrupt and awkward, Barris
moved quickly to mount her, and she decided that she'd make sure it was
over very quickly, so he'd be fast asleep and she could have some time in
an uncluttered mind space to think to herself and of her life and what she
really wanted.
She lay on her front, her milky white skin glowing nearly to perfection as
she looked at the mirror that covered the wall she was facing. With her
artist's eyes, she was seeing a world of colours and hues, of light and
shades and there she was. She could see it herself. She was truly one to
behold, and she did not look with conceit, but rather humble gratitude,
and a sense of sadness as she wondered if the man sleeping beside her
would ever look at her and see what she just saw.
Would he just get away with wasting her life and time, with his wit, all
the while gaining a tire around his waist and becoming ever the less
pleasing to her, when compared to the effort she made to take care of
herself for him... no... wait... she corrected herself. She took care of
herself for herself, and this man didn't take care either for
himself or for her.
She could see that time would pass, and she'd age like a fine wine, always
having that inner happiness and peace that had preserved her, and that
need to know that there was one person in her life that knew her better
than anyone else in the world. Her perfections and her flaws alike, and
found both just as appetizing about her. Someone who could look at her,
her breasts maybe, for she had one ever so slightly smaller than the
other. It had been something that Barris had never commented about before,
and she knew that he hadn't noticed, and with their recent conflict of
appreciation, this bothered her more than ever.
Did he know that she had one smaller breast, and that it was something
about her that was his. Something about her that she might see as a
flaw, but that if he truly knew, would see it as something to love about
her. Another thing. Not a disgusting imperfection to hide, but just
something that was so close to perfection and yet so far from it, that he
couldn't help but love it knowing that it was something only he'd ever
know about her. It was something so intimate about her, that it was a
treasure, and yet she wondered if the man she'd quickly lulled into orgasm
just to have a bit of peace for a moment in a day that had caused her to
question everything about him, if he'd even known that about her and just
not mentioned it out of shame. As if it was something disgraceful and to
be hidden, or something to be treasured and cherished.
These treasures that they shared, these personal secrets about each other,
were they entering into a world where even intimate secrets between
couples were no longer safe?
Where the minds that cloud privacy and swarm the dreams of the population
and its secrets, were now taking away the intimacy shared between a couple
that connected them to each other, and to a special moment involving the
two.
As an artist, Mila had noticed this more and more, especially since the
events of last autumn, when the ghouls had invaded Alivale, and Girtrude
and Wilbert had spoken to them from the grave, reminding them of the
importance of the secrets between lovers. How the future would challenge
love itself, taking away the moments shared between two, that were not
meant for anyone else in the world... in the universe... but
them.
That this hungry thing one day would undermine the very foundation of what
it was to become one with someone else. To be taken from every lover in
the world, one by one, until there were no secrets that lovers had, the
nobody else in the world didn't already know about them.
The day that when a person had love for someone, that it bore no
signifcance anymore than anyone else had in terms of regard for the same
person. The day when the way that others felt about each other, only had
one flavour and one extremity.
It would all fall with the eradication of secrets between lovers, by a
people who denied everyone of such secrets altogether.
This was the secret that Girtrude and Wilbert had given them to protect.
The secret that, when secrets between couples were gone, having
become public knowledge without borders, that the bias of love would cease
to exist and face its greatest threat ever.
Was Barris protecting her from something, or did he not even value the
things she'd shared with no other man but him? Did he remember Girtrude
and Wilbert's secret?
All of the things that had kept them together, one by one, were
disappearing under a hidden pressure that had arrived around the same time
as Girtrude and Wilbert's message of hope.
As he lay sleeping, she pondered if he even knew what love was anymore,
and if she were to stay for the duration, what she might change about him
to overcome his ever growing lack of appeal to her.
She thought of the noble ways she'd change him, his grandeur and being.
She thought of the naughty ways she'd have him changed, the things about
his mannerisms and physique, and his attention to his responsibilities
that she didn't like. How she'd change them all just to suit her needs.
What she didn't know, was that as he slept, he dreamt of exactly the same
thing with regard to her.
Unfinished Wishes
By the time Barris had awaken, Mila was already dressed and made up, and
seated in an overstuffed chair in their favourite romantic escape hotel
room and reading an ebook on her phone.
She purposely continued reading as he situated himself on the side of the
bed and began dressing himself.
"I hope its good..." he said politely as he slipped his underwear on.
"Oh... You're up? Have a good sleep?" she responded to him more so on
automatic than out of actual concern.
"Yes... It was a bit chilly, but I'm guessing that's because you were five
feet away on that cosy overstuffed chair reading, instead of snuggling up
to me..." Barris responded, clearly having lost his lustre to the woman
across the room from him.
"I'm sorry that for once, my world didn't twist or bend to accomodate
yours, but I needed my own gratification and my book was up to the task,
seeing as it wasn't in the slightest way thinking only of itself!" Mila
responded to him.
"I wasn't thinking of myself simply because I was too freezing on the bed
without the covers pulled over me, something you could have done on your
way to read your vaginal fantasy book!" Barris defended himself, still not
quite getting it.
"If you were so cold, then why didn't you pull the blankets over
yourself?" she responded, only slightly paying him any attention as she
continued reading her book, which was a historical romantic fantasy
thriller she'd picked up from Amazon recently.
Barris finally having gotten his pants and socks on, stood from the bed
and pulled his shirt over his chest, and down over his ever so slightly
enlarged belly. This caught Mila's attention, over the top of her phone
and became another secret point of her contention with him.
They paused for a moment, looking briefly at each other as their tension
with one another grew.
Barris then, resorted to something he'd thought would fix their issue,
which he'd regarded mostly as a random emotional problem on Mila's part,
as she'd often have such fixations only to hours later take a much more
forgiving stance, which Barris presumed was because she simply wanted
something from him.
Of course, from her perspective it was he who would inevitably perform an
emotional one-eighty, and by the end of the day be groveling up to her,
which of course would only serve to postpone her growing aggravation, and
her resent for him.
"Where are you going?!" Mila confronted him as he slipped his shoes on.
He ignored her, opened the motel room door and made his way over to the
car, from whose rear boot he pulled two of the gifts he'd previously
prepared. He then after closing the hatchback, proceeded back into the
hotel room, closing the door behind him and throwing his shoes off and
kicing them beside the door.
"What are those?" Mila asked him accusingly.
"They appear to be boxes covered in colourful paper... oh and look at
this... they have name tags on them as well! Let's take a peek and see
who's names are on them?" Barris responded sarcastically as he shook each
of the gifts in turn, before examining the tags affixed just under the bow
on each package.
Mila's face went from a look of skeptical criticism to interest and
curiosity as Barris examined the gift wrapped boxes.
"Look at this. This one says: To My Dearest Mila... clearly not
referring to you, whom I'd refer to as my: its that time of month Mila. I'm guessing that this gift quite possibly is for my other Mila,
on the other side of town. The one with the long hair... and who
wouldn't leave me naked and freezing on the bed without a comforter!"
Barris withheld the gift as she reached for it, sharpening his words.
"I'm sorry to say that she's indisposed right now, as she's currently with
my:
sexy hunk of an endowed god of a real man and his chiseled abs and
commanding - throw me on the bed, Barris, " she finally grabbed the gift from him, wielding it like a weapon as
she stood before him.
Barris caught the protrusion of his belly just beneath his line of sight,
and felt a stinging tinge of emotional pain from her words, once again
never having taken into consideration his own words and how they might
have affected her.
"Fine! Then lets open our gifts, but don't forget to make a wish!"
Barris said to her on the brink of cursing, as the bee snuck out from the
gift wrapping and found its way around to his rump.
"What could a girl ever hope to wish for when she already has a man like
you!" Mila responded as the bee from her own gift flew to her behind as
she stood, readying herself to rip the paper from the gift.
As they began tearing, the bees both simultaneously stung them, each in
their petute and quite painfully so. At that very moment, and in the
height of their aggravation with each other, and the pain of the bee's
stings, they made their wishes for each other.
Unfinished Singularity
A man who appeared similar to Barris in every aspect, except for the fact
that he was rippled with muscle tone. Not mass, but perfectly sculpted
form, marred only by several battle earned scars that populated various
areas of his now bare skin, as he lay wrapped around a woman of similar
fitness, whose long red hair lined the bed beneath her luscious body.
They were fast asleep, though upon her eyes opening, it could be easily
seen how remarkably similar this woman was to Mila. The most blaring
difference being her long flowing red hair and her war tattoos which in
Welsh, when translated to English, would have read:
Boudicca - Warrior Queen Of Albion and Conqueror Of All.
She leaned up from the bed, her muscles flexing as she sat up, her lover
still wrapped around her.
She looked around the unfamiliar surroundings, unable to fathom most of
what she was seeing. For instance, there was a device emitting light
without fire across the room from her. Beneath it, another device, with
glowing runes and symbols of some form appeared to flicker in rhythm, as
if to the beating of their hearts. She nearly jumped when the runes
suddenly changed, and again continued their strange counting of heart
beats.
All at once and Barris was up and on his feet, reaching for his Welsh
Gladius, one he'd crafted himself after he and Boudicca had conquered the
Roman Empire only a month earlier.
[What foul weaveth did the Hun-Pict allegiance put upon us?] "Pa wau aflan a osododd yr Hun-Pict arnom ni ?" Barris found the
hilt of his blade, standing protectively between the fireless light and
the device whose runes ebbed in time with their hearts.
Behind them, a door crashed open and Carbus Carnum burst in, adorned in
full Phalanx armour, his own bronze Gladius held before him.
[Forgive me Empress. I blinked but a moment and found this unfamiliar
blasphemy and feared for your safety!] "Maddeu i mi Empress. Amrantais ond eiliad a dod o hyd i'r cabledd
anghyfarwydd hwn ac yn ofni am eich diogelwch!" Carbus Carnum spoke in
near perfect Welsh, only the slightest hint of his Roman accent present.
Boudicca was up by that time, and with her own blade confronting the runic
device. She tapped it with the tip of her blade several times, and when it
failed to respond, she turned her attention to the fireless light.
She reached out for it with her fingers, the light caressing the
silhouette of her perfectly chiseled body as her fingers found its source.
It was warm to the touch, but not hot like fire.
[It is nay weaveth. Just a device like an ox-cart or a lantern. Much
farther along in alchemy than our own I'd wager.] "Nag gwehydd ydyw. Dim ond dyfais fel cert ych neu lusern.
Ymhellach o lawer mewn alcemi nag y byddwn i'n fentro." Boudicca
responded, her interest passing away from those devices, and now to one on
the other side of the room that blew warm air through an opening crafted
from metal not unlike that of their blades.
When she arrived near the opening, Barris reached out and grasped her,
keeping her from getting any closer to it's breath.
[Might this be the entrance to the Roman hells? There burns deep inside
fires that are pushing this warm breath of demons at us.] "Ai dyma'r fynedfa i uffernoedd Rhufeinig efallai? Mae llosgiadau
dwfn y tu mewn i danau sy'n gwthio'r anadl cynnes hwn o gythreuliaid
atom." Barris suggested to her, urging her to err on the side of caution.
[Nay. Tis just another device, whose alchemy is much beyond ours.] "Nage. Dim ond dyfais arall ydyw, y mae ei alcemi lawer y tu hwnt
i'n rhai ni." Boudicca moved closer to the opening, her former goose
pimples having arisen previously, began shrinking as she got closer to the
warmed breath opening, her body tingling from the sudden heat.
She clasped Barris' hand tightly, pulling him closer for she wanted him to
feel the same sensation.
He held fast for a moment, but in the end her grip over him won, and she
pulled him closer to her and the strange opening of metal, as their nudity
was bathed in warm demon breath from within the unfamiliar and hellish
device.
Carbus Carnum ever so slightly smirked as he watched their fingers close
as did those of lovers, and as they warmed together before the air
emitting device, neither Boudicca nor Barris took notice of his attention
towards her, nor his envious gaze.
Ponderosus then fell in behind Carbus Carnum, he too curious as to the
nature of what they were witnessing.
[There are more devices out here. Horseless chariots, some of which seem
to have consumed their owners.] "Mae mwy o ddyfeisiadau allan yma. Cerbydau heb geffylau, a rhai
ohonynt fel pe baent wedi bwyta eu perchnogion." Ponderosus gestured in
the direction of the door through which he'd stepped to check up on his
Empress.
Barris' eyes fell upon their armour, which lay on the floor beside the bed
from which they'd first awakened. He reached for her breastplate, offering
to dress her. She turned and kissed his lips gently, again not noticing
how Carbus Carnum's attention of them had changed. She gave Barris her
soft and scarless back, and he carefully slipped her breastplate over her
body, making sure that the padding was comfortably fit to her curves as
her body took the weight of the armour.
He tightened it on her back, and when he was done, she did the same thing
for him, the entire display seeming ritualistically sexual in some
magnificent form, and yet both Ponderosus and Carbus Carnum by that point
in time were long gone, and outside investigating this strange land into
which they'd suddenly been thrust.
Boudicca and Barris had shortly thereafter, dressed each other and both
were now ready for battle, her own armour gleaming beside his as they
stepped forth from a motel on the other side of town, to meet up with
their army, who stood covering most of rural Alivale, as holiday traffick
stopped for what most commuters believed to be some kind of holiday
parade.
[Empress, they seem not to be showing their due to your reign. Shall we
humble them for you?] "Empress, mae'n ymddangos nad ydyn nhw'n dangos eu dyled i'ch
teyrnasiad. A wnawn ni eu darostwng drosoch chi?" Carbus Carnum advised
her on such matters, which were of immense importance given the propensity
of weakness and grace expressed on her part to quickly transform the
ambitions of the populace into full blown rebellion.
These people Carbus Carnum knew, were not empire builders. They were the
thralls of some other builder, whose alchemy had crafted all they could
see. They were merely the cattle, who most often did not know or
understand that rebellion would bring about collapse, as infrastructure
broke under the weight of supporting such an immense populace without
supply to keep it alive. These were the cattle who'd march themselves into
their own death and the destruction of society, if not without the
guidance of the true alchemists and builders of living potential.
Boudicca nor Barris shared Carbus Carnum's stringent views, but they
recognized that he'd learnt these ideas from experience after twenty years
near the top of command of the world's largest empire. The empire which
Boudicca herself overtook to become the largest empire in human history.
Carbus had come to his understanding of the way of things through the
harsh Republic Autocracy of Roman rule, which protected the people from
themselves, as they simply did not know any better, and up until Boudicca
had taken up arms against the Roman empire, their form of empire had
worked considerably well. Many had been happy with having the safety of a
large army to protect economies from savages and those who'd live without
the rule of law.
As this empire grew in size however, and the further its reaches spanned
from that one road that always led to Rome, their system of management
become overstressed, and often corrupted, as the means to enforce and
account for, were centralized in one place, and no matter their reach,
there were always places at the edge of empire that lived by a very
different law than Rome, and often led by those who'd defy with force if
need be.
It was from this very sentiment that was born their Empress Boudicca. An
Empress of the people and when her prophecy had come to pass, and she'd
found her one true love, the one to stand beside her at the throne, she'd
become Boudicca - Warrior Queen Of Albion And Conqeror Of The World.
Until this new world had woven its way into their empire.
Empress Boudicca: Warrior Queen
[Let the people continue their being as they were. Tis clearly a
celebration of some kind. Be scarce of them and stay out of their sight
until we know further. Carbus, take the army into the wild away from
their alchemy and horseless carriages. Ponderosus, I want you to put
your mind and those of your scholars to deciphering their alchemy so
that we many use it to suit our own purposes of empire. We will remain
scarce, and then reveal ourselves to show them the way.] "Gadewch i'r bobl barhau fel yr oeddent. Mae'n amlwg yn ddathliad
o ryw fath. Byddwch yn brin ohonynt ac arhoswch allan o'u golwg a'u ffordd
nes y byddwn yn gwybod ymhellach. Carbus, ewch â'r fyddin i'r gwyllt i
ffwrdd o'u cerbydau alcemi a heb geffylau. Ponderosus, rwyf am ichi roi
eich meddwl chi a rhai eich ysgolheigion ar ddehongli eu alcemi fel bod
llawer ohonom yn ei ddefnyddio i weddu i'n dibenion ein hunain o
ymerodraeth. Byddwn yn aros yn brin, ac yna'n datgelu ein hunain i ddangos
y ffordd iddynt." Boudicca pronounced to her advisors and generals as she
made her way over to her own horse-drawn chariot.
Many of the people driving in their horseless carriages stopped to wave at
and honk their horns at Boudicca as she passed them in her magnificent
armour, Barris walking beside her as they both waved to the people trapped
inside of these strange carriages.
A wall of noise emerged from the traffick as she passed them, smiles
filling the faces of both the adults and the children who looked on as
Boudicca arrived at and stepped up onto her chariot.
She smiled ever so gracefully, yet retained the dignity of a woman who led
the largest empire the world had ever known.
Their chariots turned and left along a side road, followed by column after
column after column of Phalanx, archers, slingers and cavalry by the
hundreds of thousands as they filled the region just outside of Alivale.
And yet, the power of a single wish had not yet completed its own turn
quite yet.
Unfinished Improvements?
Many kilometers away, on the other side of Alivale, in a very different
motel room, where Mila's and Barris' own argument had culminated in a
sharing of gifts and much spite, which had by that point, led to a pair of
hyper-intelligent bees secretly escaping from their gifts, and finding
their way to their mutual posteriors, where upon at the very moment of
Mila's and Barris' own realization of their holiday wishes for each other,
the two bees simultaneously stung them, at that most delicate of parts
upon which most people spend nearly half of their lives perched.
At that very instant, though neither Mila nor Barris could tell you if it
actually happened as they perceived it, or if it was a side effect of
being stung in the rump, the lights everywhere in the universe suddenly
went out and stayed out for about three seconds. After those three seconds
of darkness passed, every light in the universe all at once lit
full tilt for three seconds.
And then it simply was exactly like it was before. Except for a few minor
differences, the first of which Barris immediately noticed by how slack
his clothing had suddenly become on his body, though his eyes were still
closed at that point, as Mila's opened to take him in.
Barris had become a sculpted god of a figure, with a perfectly chiseled
body, a chiseled jaw-line and cleft chin, not unlike that of Henry Cavill
(who first came to mind when Mila made her wish).
"I feel very different..." Barris said to her, his tone very different, if
not somewhat deeper, though he still hadn't opened his own eyes.
"Wait! What's going on?!!!" Barris said, his voice still very much deeper
than it had been.
"Something's very different... I mean really different..." he
opened his eyes and looked around the room a few times.
"I can't believe how much this place needs a good cleaning!" he said
aloud, looking around the motel room at how disheveled it had become since
they'd checked in.
"Did we do this? I can't believe this?" Barris immediately began looking
around the room for cleaning supplies, before his eyes suddenly came to
rest upon Mila.
"I feel a little off balance here..." Mila said to him, her voice ever so
slightly higher than it had been, and perhaps even softer and more docile,
but that wasn't what had caught his attention.
Mila's chest, which had been considerably modest and much to Barris'
liking as it had been, had suddenly grown a thousand fold. Her breasts,
which previously had remained very much in the background, quaintly and
curvaceously modest, were now mountains of mass, sticking out from her
body in a way that could simply not be missed.
No matter how much Barris tried to focus on her face, his eyes were
instantly drawn down towards her much larger chest.
But it didn't stop there.
Her waist had remained the same compact size it had been, perfectly suited
to her previous shape much like her previous chest, while her waist had
become underlined by curvaceous hips that could undoubtedly be used to
calibrate the machines that were used to make violins and cellos.
"What did you do to me?!!!" Mila screamed at him ever so softly and
seductively as she caught a glimpse of her own chest and cleavage from the
first person perspective.
Her stomach, legs, knees and toes were simply no longer visible from her
current perspective, and she dreaded the risk to her back if she attempted
to bend over.
"I... Look honey, I really need to go to the lew right now... and this
place needs cleaning! Can you believe we actually slept in here? How am I
going to cook us a five course gourmet meal in a pig stye like this?"
Barris said as he ran for the bathroom.
The sound of his fly was quickly replaced by a shriek from the bathroom.
"Is the toilet dirty or something?" asked Mila softly, ensuring Barris was
alright.
"Something is way different! It was never this big before! I mean it was
fairly big... but never this big!" Barris sounded very panicked,
even with his much deeper and masculine voice.
"...one good thing about it is that my aim's a lot better... which means
less cleaning!" Barris responded, trying to find another positive in a
clearly very uncomfortable situation.
"Ohhhh... I'm sooo sorry..." a part of Mila with which she'd been
unfamiliar lied, as she snuck over to the bed and lay herself down on it
seductively, certain that her breasts would scream his name as soon as he
left the bathroom.
"Ow!!! Its going to take a lot of getting used to this. I'm definitely
going to need speed bumps for my fly..." Barris said, as he put the giant
cyclops back in its cave.
Meanwhile, Mila lay waiting for him on the bed, now rolling over onto her
chest (which propped her entire upper body up), her cleavage clearly
visible just beneath her chin.
She lay there in this new concept of seductiveness she'd never experienced
before waiting for Barris to step out of the bathroom, but he never did.
"I think I broke a nail...?" Mila said aloud, trying to concoct a fantasy
situation where he could come to her rescue, leading into hours of love
making and their enjoyment of her new assets.
By the time she finally got up from the bed to check on Barris, he opened
the door to the bathroom.
"Are there any tea towels or linens around here? I've almost got the
shower perfect! Its like spotless. It just needs a bit more
scrubbing and it will be perfect for you, babe!" Barris said as he peeked
out from behind the door.
"I'm feeling a little chilly and I was hoping that you could warm me up a
bit...?" she swayed her head to the side, and used her hands to press her
breasts together invitingly, but Barris was still focused on finding the
cleaning supplies he'd need to get the bathroom just right.
"I'm sorry honey, this is only going to take another half-hour... speaking
of! We have to get back and get the cooking started for the party
tonight!" Barris slapped both of his hands down upon his head, now
completely flabberghasted, especially with all of the unfinished cleaning
and cooking that still needed to be done.
"We can be a little late..." Mila drew her finger seductively down his
chest.
"No we can't! How am I going to build that addition to the deck before the
guests start arriving?" Barris said to her, grabbing her by the shoulders
and shaking her gently.
She smiled seductively, clearly very turned on by his touch.
"Come on honey! You start getting stuff out to the car, and I'll finish
the last of the cleaning and we'll get out of here and back home in time
to get the deck finished, the cleaning done and the food cooked for
tonight's party!" Barris said as he returned to the bathroom to finish
wiping down the shower.
By the time Mila had loaded the car, Barris had returned from the
bathroom, when he caught sight of her fingernails.
"Wait a second! We've got to fit your nails in too. When we get back, I'll
give a manicure and pedicure, and do your nails (after I do your facial
mask and give you your backrub), and then I'll get working on the deck
while you get ready? Sound good?" Barris asked her.
"I just wanted to take a little time to appreciate you honey..." Mila
moved in to kiss him, but found that with her added assets, she couldn't
quite get close enough to his lips.
Barris leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
"Alright! Lets go while we still have time!" Barris ushered her out of the
motel room and into the passenger seat of his car, and then made his way
around to the front.
After checking out, they drove home to Mila's Manor, a thirty minute trip
from the motel, where the first of the guests from the Sanctum were
starting to arrive in the early evening.
Unfinished Arrivals
Before Mila was even out of the passenger seat, Barris was sprinting to
the backyard and his lawn cutting shed, where he'd kept most of his sparse
collection of tools and equipment. Namely, the tractor mower for Mila's
humongous lawn, and a small toolbox that contained a claw hammer, a few
screwdrivers, a hand saw, a plumbing bob, a level and few boxes of nails.
Yirfir and Jasmer turned from the front door to face Mila as she rounded
the back of the car, to start unloading the party gifts.
"Mila, you're looking rather well today..." Yirfir remarked, not able to
see her fully as she was obscured behind the car and the gifts she was
attempting to negotiate around her new assets to more effectively carry
them.
The gifts that is.
Barris' holiday gifts I meant.
The ones that Barris had delicately wrapped earlier with his hands.
Oh for crying out loud, I mean the boxes wrapped in gift paper into which
the hyper-intelligent bees had stowed away as part of their migration
plans to setup a franchising scheme for their next hive. Not referring to
any (new) addition to Mila's body in any way shape or form. I mean, its
already bad enough that writers like myself were tripping over them
constantly with adjectives and clearly pushing the boundaries for
what was acceptable in modern literature, and most insensitively I
might add.
"Do you need a hand with those...?" Jasmer asked Mila, who looked at him
rather puzzled and perhaps even confused.
"Oh? The gifts you mean... That would be wonderful Jasmer..." Jasmer
stepped over to the car as Mila passed him and Yirfir.
"Something's wrong. They must have had an argument. She's never this
agreeable," Yirfir leaned in and remarked to Jasmer, who quickly built up
a stack of gifts first for Yirfir, and then for himself.
"They're young-ish and in love-ish is all that is. I wouldn't read
anything into it further than..." Jasmer's jaws dropped on Mila's return
trip back to the car.
"I was only concerned... for... their... mountains..." Yirfir tried to
finish her statement to Jasmer only to catch sight of what had caught his
attention.
"That's a lovely blouse Mila..." Yirfir acted faster than Jasmer, who was
still tongue tied.
"You like it? Thank you! It seems to go nice with these shoes..." Mila
responded, turning and modeling the blouse for them.
"It does... quite well..." Yirfir continued along to the dining room table
where Mila had placed the first gifts.
Jasmer followed her and unloaded in the same place and they returned for
their last trip.
"You must have had a busy day from the look of things..." Yirfir smiled,
making more pleasant conversation as she arrived back at the car with
Jasmer.
"You noticed! Tammy did it for me. I think its just lovely, but between
you and me, Barris thinks its too small for my body..." Mila explained to
Yirfir and Jasmer, who both seemed perplexed as to how Mila could so
casually refer to such a big change.
"I honestly never had Barris pegged that way..." Yirfir responded, she too
now tongue-tied.
"Well he really likes it big and long... so naturally this caught him off
guard quite a bit..." Mila responded, so clearly unhindered.
Barris quickly walked by them, heading for one of the buffet drawers.
"I would have preferred a bit longer myself..." Barris said to Yirfir and
Jasmer as he opened the drawer, clearly searching for something.
"I see..." Jasmer was out of responses as was Yirfir by this point.
"Have you seen the orange extension cord?" asked Barris of Mila.
"Yes. Its plugged into the other orange extension cord powering the
backyard speakers..." Mila replied.
"We haven't seen you for sometime Barris. What are you up to?" asked
Jasmer.
"Sorry, I'm just putting an addition onto the back deck right now, it
should be ready in about half an hour, at which time your bath should be
warmed and ready for your afternoon massage Mila?" Barris responded to
Jasmer and Yirfir, and then looked over to his fiancé to assure that she
had the schedule he'd planned for their night committed to memory.
"Are we too early? We could take off and step into town for a bit if
you're still preparing?" Yirfir suggested to Barris, as found a measuring
tape he'd been looking for in the buffet drawer.
"No! Don't be silly! Can I get you a drink? Take a seat out back and keep
me company while I finish the deck..." Barris suggested.
"Alright. Do you still need us Mila?" Yirfir asked her friend and former
student.
"That's alright. I'll get the gifts ready and Barris will bring you your
drinks..." Mila replied, as she began making room under the tree for the
spread of gifts that Barris had prepared.
"So Barris, I didn't know that this Tammy person was a surgeon..." Jasmer
asked Barris as he returned from the bar fridge with a trio of coolers for
them.
"A surgeon? Oh, you mean... No. She's a hairdresser. Don't be silly. She's
fully qualified. A little snip here and there, and Mila's as good as
new..." Barris cracked open his cooler and presented it to them for a
toast.
"Yes... cheers..." they poured their coolers into their cups and each took
a healthy drink before continuing.
"So... when did you get into home renovation Barris?" asked Jasmer,
pulling a chair out for his wife after which he seated himself beside her.
"Today... mostly. A bit earlier. It was something I've been putting off
for about twenty years now..." Barris responded, as he took the handsaw
and expertly cut several logs he'd felled from some of the pine trees on
Mila's property, into perfect two-by-fours.
Enough of which to finish his work on the deck.
"I see that you're quite skilled at this... Did you just pick it up
or...?" Jasmer continued, now clearly concerned that Barris might not be
entirely together.
"Mostly. I've gotta make sure I'm worthy of my wife's affections you
know?" Barris said as he affixed the two-by-fours to the deck, tapping
them quickly in with a hammer and several eight inch galvanized nails
until the addition and the accompanying rail was in place six minutes
later.
"There... all done. Need another drink? I'm just going to run Mila's
bath..." Barris said as checked their glasses.
"Sure, we'll take another Barris," Yirfir agreed to his offer.
A moment later and Barris returned with their fresh drinks and a full
platter of prepared Salmon Rolls, Dumplings, and Spinach wrapped Scallops
and Avacado dip.
"Enjoy!" Barris said and then disappeared back into the house to attend to
Mila's bath and massage.
"It took him fifteen minutes to build an addition on the back deck, big
enough to accomodate another twenty people, and he did it with wood he cut
from pine trees moments ago, a hand saw, and a few hand tools. Something
is clearly different about Barris..." Jasmer reasoned with his wife.
"Personally I'm very happy for Mila, having such a dedicated man..."
Yirfir responded to Jasmer.
"Oh please! He's a little too accommodating! Its not natural for a couple
to just agree to everything they want," Jasmer said to Yirfir.
"And you're saying that she hasn't made some concessions for him?" Yirfir
gestured with her hands, miming a huge pair of breasts.
'That doesn't seem anything like the Mila and Barris I know, is all that
I'm saying. They were always the quintessential romantic couple...
mostly... but never to the point of making their guests feel like
they should gag themselves with a shovel... their concessions for each
other as you put it, so nauseatingly unlike them..." Jasmer reasoned with
his wife, who looked at him shrewdly.
"Does that mean that you wouldn't do the same for me...?" Yirfir
challenged him in their little game of wits.
"Ditto!" Jasmer responded, cupping his hands over his chest to mimic a
huge pair of breasts.
"Yes... There are limits to the concessions that couples should make for
each other..." Yirfir reluctantly agreed, not willing to alter her body
except in the interest of her own health and well being.
"Not to mention there are limits as to one's sacrificing of their own
integrity for their partner's benefit..." Jasmer added.
"Its her body, though..." Yirfir argued as she thought about the choice
Mila had so clearly agreed to.
"Are you saying to me that you'd find it alright if I went out there and
started going on about how much I admire women with large breasts, in
front of impressionable young women much, much more modestly endowed?"
Jasmer responded.
"Young impressionable women? You mean minors?" confirmed Yirfir.
"Its their body?" Jasmer threw her argument back at her.
"Not if they're minors! What kind of a monster would make young women feel
self conscious about the size of their body parts? Enough so that they'd
think that for members of the opposite sex to like them and notice them,
that they should go out and get their bodies alterted to please?" Yirfir
responded, clearly very passionate about the topic.
"Mila's not a minor. She had to have made that choice for herself as an
adult," Jasmer responded.
"I still find it difficult to believe that the Mila I knew would ever
agree to something of that ilk. She was my student for years Jasmer. You
have no idea what you're talking about," Yirfir defended her stance on the
issue.
"Fine! And the Barris that I know would never request something like that
of her!" Jasmer stood up for Barris.
Yirfir thought about it carefully, and then nodded to her husband.
"Agreed. There is something not right about either of them. They're so
unlike the people we knew." Yirfir looked to Jasmer, a modest smile slowly
appearing on her face.
"What? What is it?" Jasmer asked her.
"Its good to know that despite our not bending over backwards for
each other, that we can still work together," Yirfir said to him.
"Honey, we wouldn't have it any other way," Jasmer agreed.
Nelony suddenly opened the sliding door and stepped out onto the deck,
Shaela in tow, preceded by a handsome man with whom Yirfir and Jasmer were
unfamiliar. Barris appeared behind them all soon thereafter.
"Yirfir? Jasmer? Barris? I'd like you to meet Eric," Nelony smiled as she
introduced her date.
"Pleased to meet you all. Nelony has told me so much about you and I have
to admit, you appear the part in person," he said to them, politely
shaking their hands as he greeted them.
"She already has him well trained as you can see..." Shaela remarked as
she followed them around the table for her greetings.
"She's not the only one..." Yirfir looked to Barris, who'd arrived with a
handful of drinks from the bar fridge.
"The glasses are on the table there. Help yourself. I'm just attending to
Mila for a bit longer. Help yourselves to the hors d'ouvres here and we'll
be with you in a bit..." Barris disappeared back into the house and ran up
the stairs to finish Mila's manicure, pedicure, foot and body massage and
nails.
...
Gwendolyn sat comfortably in the driver's seat of her two door hybrid,
while Nathalie sat beside her in the passenger seat, her phone in hand as
she read a question for Gwendolyn:
"In nineteen ninety-eight, this company was founded by an eccentric
systems software engineer, initially starting out as an online chat
platform?" Nathalie asked Gwendolyn.
"What is MindSpice and who is Gabriel Asnon?" Gwendolyn responded.
"<BEEEEEEP>... close! Want another try?" Nathalie offered Gwendolyn
after mimicking the sound of a losing buzzer with a raspy voice.
"...uhhhh... nineteen ninety-eight? Oh! What is Cheerify and who is
Cynthia Pearldolly?" Gwendolyn responded excitedly.
"That's definitely close enough, though FYI her name is Cynthia
Pearldottir. That's pretty good so far. Twenty questions and you've gotten
sixteen of them right," Nathalie checked Gwendolyn's score on the phone.
"...and I was driving the entire time. That's got to be worth an extra
point?" Gwendolyn added.
The car ahead of them, which had been slowing down more and more as the
driver obviously checked either side of the road for landmarks, suddenly
came skidding to a stop. Gwendolyn slammed on her brakes, immediately
leaning on her horn.
"What's with this driver? They've been stop and go for the last twenty
minutes!" Gwendolyn said, very obviously frustrated as Nathalie checked
their location on the GPS.
"We're like right out front of Mila's. The driveway should be just up that
way on the left hand side," Nathalie pointed out to Gwendolyn.
"Oh, good. Should I just pass her or wait?" Gwendolyn checked the oncoming
lane for any traffic when the car ahead of them began moving again.
"Finally. Let's see if we can make it to the driveway..." Gwendolyn said
sarcastically.
The car ahead of them paused as it arrived at Mila's driveway, and then
slowly made a left turn into the enormous driveway and took a parking spot
outside of the double car garage. Gwendolyn pulled in behind the car and
shut off her car before getting out with Nathalie.
The driver of the other car was a short woman of about five foot seven,
clearly adorned in gypsy attire when viewed from behind. She turned to
face Gwendolyn and Nathalie who were greeted by a pretty and lively face.
"You had a little trouble finding the place?" asked Gwendolyn of her.
"Trouble? No. I'm a teller of fortunes and I knew that it would be a
difficult and long trip, coming all the way from my shop in Niagara Falls.
If I didn't, then what kind of teller of fortunes would I be?" the Gypsy
responded to them.
"Bad traffic?" asked Gwendolyn.
"That... and the fact that this car is from nineteen ninety-eight and
doesn't have GPS, which is very odd because my brother set my shop up with
the latest computer and website. I'm Bella your Forune Teller. Enough
about me, and who might you be?" the Gypsy responded, extending her hand
first to Gwendolyn and then to Nathalie, though Nathalie cut in, very
excited to be meeting another fortune teller.
"I'm Nathalie, a dabler in the mystic arts myself. I mostly focus on tarot
cards, astrology and occasionally tea readings too. Its so nice to meet
you! Oh, and this is my friend Gwendolyn!" Nathalie shook hands with Bella
and then introduced Gwen.
"Pleased to meet you, Bella. Do you have a phone? Cause you can just hook
up a phone holder/charger in your car and plug it into the lighter, and
use the GPS from your phone," Gwendolyn explained to Bella, who seemed
stunned by Gwen's simple solution to her dilemna.
"I'll get my brother to do it when I get back to Niagara Falls. Thank you!
You see, I've only known you for a minute, and you've already done
something good to help me. You're a kind soul," Bella responded to Gwen,
as a limousine pulled into the driveway and slowly pulled up, lining the
back door up with the front walkway.
A tall woman with immensely perfect blonde hair and a near perfect
physique stepped out of the driver's seat of the limousine and proceeded
to open the back door as she stood to the side.
An older small framed man got out of the back seat, a hat adorning his
head, wearing a black dress coat and slacks and an elaborately
ornate cane in his hand. He turned to face Bella, Gwen and Nathalie,
removing his hat briefly from his head to greet them before replacing it
again.
Morton Keyser
"Good day," the man said to them as he turned to head towards the front
door.
Another man stepped out, much taller than the first but somewhere near the
same age. He wore a gray suit, and a perfectly knotted bow tie graced his
neck. He too smiled and nodded to the others before following the first
man towards Mila's front door.
"I'll just park the car at the end of the driveway, on the gravel if that
will be alright, Morton?" asked the limousine driver.
"That would be wonderful Gallea. Good suggestion. Then, if you would grace
us with your presence and escort these kind guests to the front door with
us, we could all make our entry at the same time," Morton added.
Gallea closed the back door and got into the driver's door of the
limousine, and then pulled out backwards to the end of the driveway and
onto a gravel section that housed the mailbox and package reception safe.
When she'd parked the limousine, she got out and approached Bella, Gwen
and Nathalie, somewhat overshadowing the three of them.
Gallea Keyser
"Hi. I'm Gallea Keyser," Gallea held out her hand for each of them in
turn.
"Gallea! How are you my darling! We haven't seen each other in nearly two
years!" Bella offered her friend a hug.
"I'm sorry, but you look so different with this year's holiday attire.
Morton? Benjamin? Its Bella and her friends Gwendolyn and Nathalie,"
Gallea quickly covered for herself, and then informed Morton and Benjamin
before walking with the other women to the front door.
As Morton was about to press the door bell, the door suddenly flew open.
"Barris, this is Gwendolyn, and this is Nathalie," Gallea introduced the
two newcomers to their group.
"I'm Mila's fiancé, Barris. Very pleased to meet you. Do come in and make
yourselves comfortable. There's food and drink out back on the deck, and
I'm just getting some other goodies ready for later. Mila should be down
any moment," Barris said, holding the door open for them as the all
filtered into the front foyer.
"Bella! You look very... have you lost a bit of weight?" Bella turned to
comment to Barris, but by that time he was already gone somewhere else
working on his immense list of pre-party chores.
Bella The Gypsy
Gallea took their coats and put them in the closet, and then led them to
the sliding doors of the back deck, where many of the guests were gathered
and the party was beginning to pick up steam as the evening sun settled
beneath the grove of apple and pear trees that graced Mila's orchard.
Morton and Benjamin found their way over to Yirfir and Jasmer, greeting
the other guests along the way.
"Is this the senior's section?" asked Morton with a mile on his face.
"It certainly is. Can I get you a plate of cheese and avocado dip, and a
cup of prune juice and maybe?" asked Jasmer jokingly.
"That's quite alright. I'll stick with a glass of Mila's house wine if
you're asking," Morton held out his hand to greet Jasmer.
"I'll get that for him. I know my way around here. What are you having
Benjamin?" asked Nelony, standing from her place beside Eric.
"A glass of sipping whiskey, three fingers should do, Nelony," Benjamin
smiled as he took a seat beside Yirfir.
"Morton, I just noticed that they have a place for the gifts? I'm just
going to run out to the limo and get our gifts from the back trunk,"
Gallea said as she disappeared into the house once again, and out through
the front door.
"With all these fresh faces here, how are the Sanctum regulars going to
show up without causing suspicion?" Morton asked Jasmer, but it was Yirfir
who answered.
"Mila had a rather large gazebo installed last year, with an interior
large enough for the portal weavers to use. It remains hidden inside.
There's motion sensing lights inside of it, so nobody ends up arriving in
a dark room and stubbing their toes on a doorframe. We're the only two
who've used it today, but there's a lot of guests from the Sanctum yet to
arrive, so I imagine we'll see quite a bit of activity from it," Yirfir
explained to Morton.
"I would've used it myself if I'd have known, with Benjamin's help that
is?" Morton responded.
"What about this that I've been hearing that the Sanctum is having a
staffing shortage?" asked Benjamin.
"We've had trouble attracting new members, not to mention with recent
issues involving what appears to be a non-consensual psychic collective of
some form, our security screening process is vulnerable, and we haven't
had the resources to evaluate the threat or develop a new screening
method. We've mostly been relying on full members, who have been bringing
us people they trust, but at only a trickle's pace since before the Battle
of the Sanctum," Yirfir explained to them.
"As a possible short term solution, we're looking at bringing in a new
order of seers. Especially those with talents for entropic alchemy,
divining, remote viewing and fortune telling, not to mention we're also
looking for the naturally veiled..." Jasmer added.
"And by naturally veiled you mean...?" Benjamin asked.
"Those born with a natural immunity or shielding against extrasensory
phenomenon. There's a multitude of lore in a number of worldly cultures
that indicate those born with immunity, but we haven't been able to verify
many of those means, but we're working closely with a number of outside
mystic agencies to identify prospects," Jasmer continued.
"What about Gallea?" Morton suggested.
"But she's a..." Jasmer paused, not entirely sure of how to politely
address her origins.
"A crafted woman. A construct. A golem, of the richest white clay,
the most pristine water and the purest gold. She is everything that my
wife and I had dreamt of in the daughter we were planning to have. Before
Arlaya passed away, she made me promise that I would go on to have a
daughter, our daughter. I promised her on her death bed, and she
gave me her most treasured heirloom, one that had been in the possession
of every woman of her family line. Before she passed on, she put every one
of her dreams and aspirations about our daughter into this heirloom, and
it became Gallea's heart. She can't reason the same as we can, though
she's quite adept and skillful in life, but her greatest strength is her
heart, for in it, my wife's and my dreams of a daughter are
contained. She lives by her heart. As for what you're looking in terms of
your prospects for the Sanctum? She's immune to psychic intrusion, for the
means to her rationale doesn't originate in the same way as it does other
people. Her heart is a mystical source that can't be scryed, by the means
that psychic collectives or others who use collective scrying to open a
person's mind and memory employ. However, please do remember that she's
our daughter, my wife's and mine. She's no less a real person than anyone
else, and in the end it would be her choice alone," Morton explained to
Jasmer and Yirfir.
"Would you mind if we discussed the matter with her?" Yirfir asked Morton.
"Not at all. That's why I suggested it. She's not going to grow as a
person if she's only ever with her father. Working with the Sanctum would
be a good thing for her and for you from what I understand," Morton added.
"Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and thought that
you might want to know that there's a few 'seers' here tonight. Bella for
instance, and that other girl over there... uhhh Nathalie I think?" Shaela
leaned over and interjected herself quietly.
"Bella? We could discuss these matters with her. She's clearly
demonstrated her abilities in delving and scrying, and to a degree in
entropic alchemy," Yirfir quickly glanced over to Bella's direction.
"We'd have to test her intrinsic and latent abilities and see that she'd
be a good fit for the Sanctum. Same with her friends. We'd have to
approach them very cautiously and in the usual manner," Jasmer responded,
looking to Yirfir and Shaela.
"It sounds to me as if you're on your way to a few solutions then,"
Benjamin smiled.
"I suppose we are. Maybe that's a sign of things to come, both at this
party and perhaps for the future of the Sanctum?" Yirfir suggested.
"Let's finish our drink, and we'll both speak with Gallea,
and Bella," Jasmer added.
Unfinished Course Plotting
Six billion light years away, a vast armada of space borne vessels emerged
from a twisted and sinewy conduit of time/space extending itself for
twenty light minutes from the event horizon of a supermassive black hole
at the center of its host galaxy.
Corpus sat in the command chair aboard his flagship vessel, the
Crystal Crusher, looking at the holographic navigation charts as he
tried to find his route through the wormhole network.
"Hmmm... we went through the NGC 1560 wormhole two jumps ago, and then
through the M87 just now... That would put us... oh dang! I think
we're..." Corpus scratched his chin, as he traced his route on the
navigation charts.
"Sir, we could stop and ask for directions?" his 2IC suggested.
"bahhh! We're not lost! I'm just finding us a better route! Don't we have
quantum-scale boson, muon and gluon actuated computers to handle this sort
of thing?" Corpus asked.
"Sir, we switched them off a couple jumps ago. When you complained about a
strange ringing in your ears?" his 2IC reminded him.
"Oh? That's what fixed it? I was thinking that it just went away. Hmmm.
Good job. Insofar as directions go, no! I'll figure this out...
wait... is that an O-class blue aura crystalline star I see on our
scanners?" Corpus pointed out on another part of the holographic
interface.
"I believe that is, Sir," his 2IC answered.
"We have some crystal crushing to do! Set course for that star! We're
going to crush it!" Corpus closed the holographic navigation map and
opened his tactical and strategic interface.
"Ohhhh... and when we're done, we'll go back a jump and take the
other wormhole. We'll find our way soon enough..." Corpus said as
he lined up the array of compressed neutron cannons at their target.
Through the corridors of the ship his voice echoed until it reached the
chambers of his wife.
The communicator came on and her voice emerged:
"Corpus? Are you there? Why don't you stop and ask for directions?!!!" she
said to him.
"Alright honey. I'm on it, after I take care of some other pressing
matters..." Corpus spoke in a withdrawn and timid voice as he smirked at
his 2IC.
"Alright. After we've crushed this crystalline star, stop and ask for
directions," Corpus said aloud, not even looking to his 2IC but definitely
resenting him.
"Yes Sir. Alright men, you heard him. Crush that star!" the 2IC ordered,
wondering if he'd moved closer or farther from shortening his life span.
Unfinished SAPCHoP
Barris quickly made his way down the stairs ahead of Mila, who was still
taking things carefully not being able to see her feet from her current
perspective anymore, and feeling somewhat of unfamiliar balance.
Her nails, both those on her hands and feet, upon which were worn her
favourite heeled dress shoes each adorned with a crystal near the toes,
were expertly painted (by Mila of course). Her body was adorned by a long
dress which managed to fit her topside much to her gratitude given her
recent changes.
When she'd made it to the bottom of the stairs, it was Nelony who now in
the kitchen, spotted her first.
She had a glass of wine in her hand, which upon seeing Mila, summarily
dropped to the floor.
"Oh dear...!" her hands immediately went to her cheeks.
"Nelony!" Mila opened her arms for a hug, much to the dread of her best
friend.
"Watch your step on the glass dear. I seem to have dropped my wine..."
Nelony said awkwardly as she dodged Mila's hug.
"Let me get that. You're a guest! Go out there and enjoy yourself. I'll be
with you in a minute with a fresh glass for you," Mila said as she grabbed
the broom and began cleaning the broken glass from the floor.
"Uhhhh... you seem a tad bit over burdened already. Perhaps I should stay
and assist?" Nelony asked her friend awkwardly.
"That's alright, I'll get this done. You go out there and enjoy yourself,"
Mila said almost too agreeably.
...
Nelony bumped into Barris as he made his way out through the sliding door.
"Sorry 'bout that love," Barris said to her.
Nelony looked at Barris with a scathing look on her face as the pressure
built within her.
Despite her best efforts, her hand as if spring loaded, suddenly jumped
from her side and slapped him across the face, loudly enough that the
entire party in progress suddenly stopped.
"How could you?!!!" Nelony screamed at him.
"You mean the deck? I thought it was big enough? There's lots of room for
everyone!" Barris responded defensively.
"Oh sure, the deck's big enough, but Mila's knockers weren't! You pig of a
man!" Nelony nearly spat at him.
"I beg your pardon, but Mila had the knocker on the door replaced years
ago with a doorbell!" Barris rubbed his face as it swelled ever so
slightly.
"You know exactly what I mean! She wasn't good enough for you that you had
to change her?!!! You make me sick!" Nelony stormed outside and to the
border of the deck, her back to Barris as she waited for Mila to return.
Every one of the guests was staring at Barris, perhaps waiting for him to
say something to ease the tension that had clearly peaked and was not in
any way ready to give up its place at the top.
Morton Keyser looked to Barris, suddenly recalling why he'd placed such an
importance upon attending Mila's party.
His memories went back to years before, and his first encounter with the
Sanctum and their allies...
At that very moment, the doors to the gazebo opened and a number of guests
stepped into view, the first of which made his way upon four short and
stubby legs.
"Happiu~isuka!" Nelony said excitedly as the little pug ran for her
happily.
Nelony greets Happiu~isuka with a biscuit
Nelony greets Sato, while trying to give Happiu~isuka a designer
biscuit... (Realistic version)
"Someone's been keeping well?" Nelony said, reaching into her pocket and
pulling forth a dog biscuit which she'd brought specifically for the
pooch.
He happily took it in his jaws and began crunching it to smithereens,
making sure that none of the crumbs or morsels were lost to the surface of
the deck.
Mishima Sato arrives
"Like any good party guest, he always immediately goes right for the hors
d'ouvres and buffet," Mishima Sato said as he walked the flagstone trail
from the gazebo to the deck, accompanied by a few other expected arrivals.
"That might not be the case if someone fed him a bit more!" Nelony
responded.
"If I fed him the way you do, it would have been a very thin and frail me
running to you for handouts from your pocket, and him hobbling along
with an extra two hundred pounds of weight, after having put me in the
poor house having fed him the same designer treats you've been giving
him," Sato responded.
"He deserves a good treat every now and again," Nelony responded to him.
"Well this is now, and again won't happen for at least
another six months. A good pacing for the kind of treats with which you've
been spoiling him. If you only treated people the same as you do him and
the rest of nature, this world might be a virtual utopia by now," Sato
replied.
Xenshi - Spirit Sister Of The Ancient Tao arrives
"It would seem that we're not too early..." Xenshi said as she approached
Mila's back deck.
"Or too late," Xushu, her brother, added from beside his sister.
...
Near the sliding doors on the deck, Yirfir and Jasmer both approached
Barris, while most of the rest of the party slowly picked up to the level
of a hushed conversation, tension still thick in the air after Nelony's
confrontation of Barris.
"I take that Nelony was addressing you about Mila's recent changes?" asked
Yirfir.
"What changes are you referring to? Her hair?" Barris responded, folding
his arms and revealing a very toned pair of arms and shoulders, which too
caught Yirfir's and Jasmer's attention.
"Not exactly..." Yirfir began, once again hitting the roadblock of how
awkward a subject it was to discuss, despite the fact that there was a
clear need for it to be so.
"Barris, we're concerned for both Mila and yourself. You see, the Mila we
know and love was much lighter in the region of her chest..." Jasmer
began.
"...considerably so and happily as much too," Yirfir added.
"As was the Barris that we knew, with every aspect of her being, both in
terms of her creative and gentle being, and her immense natural beauty. In
fact, it was something about which you were both quite happy. It was never
the kind of thing that we'd expect either of you to change so drastically,
seemingly so on a whim," Yirfir continued.
"What are you talking about? The Mila I've always known and loved has
always been a little..." Barris too felt uncomfortable discussing these
matters about his fiancé even with their best friends, and so he cupped
his hands in front and mimed it for them.
"...big... ...mountainous... ...spacially greedy..." Barris explained as
he caricatured it for them with his hands.
Yirfir gently grabbed Barris by the arm, and pulled him inside of the
house through the sliding doors. They ventured a ways down the back hall,
past the kitchen and to the wall of shame, as Barris often jokingly
referred to it.
The wall was lined with framed photographs, mostly of Mila and Barris, and
certainly of family and friends.
"See this one here?" Yirfir pointed out a photograph of Mila to Barris.
It was a photo taken at the beach, as Mila lay on a folding sunbed in her
bikini, even posing for the photographer, who just happened to be Barris.
In the photo, it was very clear that Mila was nowhere near as endowed as
she now was.
"How is this? This is Mila, but she's so different from the Mila I've
always known," Barris reacted upon seeing the photograph.
"And yet, that Mila in the photograph is the Mila we've always know,"
Yirfir responded.
"And we can't both be right, is what we're trying to say," Jasmer reasoned
with Barris.
"Oh, its so nice to see someone finally admiring the wall of shame..."
Mila said as she snuck up on them from the kitchen.
"Hi honey. Yirfir and Jamser were just taking in the memories contained on
this wall, and they happened to notice something a little off in the
photos..." Barris handed Mila the photograph of her on the beach.
She immediately smiled, remembering that exact moment, but then an
abstract difference between herself and the photo arrived at her
awareness. She looked down at her own bosom, and then the one in her
photograph and seemed very perturbed.
"Is this some kind of a joke? I thought it was against the rules of the
Sanctum to use the weave for personal hoaxes or grudges!" Mila looked to
Barris first, and then to Jasmer and finally Yirfir skeptically.
"These photos Mila, are of the Mila we all remember. So far, it seems that
you and Barris are the only two who don't concur with this point of view,"
Yirfir explained to one of her favourite students of the weave.
The sliding door suddenly opened and Nelony stormed in the door, followed
by Sato, and finally by Xenshi and Xushu who pursued them all in an
attempt to keep up with them in case of trouble.
"Wait...!" Yirfir urged Nelony to hold her challenge for the bigger
discussion, but failed.
"Finally I find you! Mila, why did you do this to yourself?!!!" Nelony
challenged Mila.
"Do what? My hair you mean? I thought it was..." Mila once again found
herself in the salon chair, looking at Barris' face, when he had been lost
for words upon seeing the immense change in her hair style.
"Its... nice...! Really... really... nice!" Barris had
said to her, doing everything he could to soften the shock it had been for
him.
Mila now stood before Nelony, facing the same scrutiny (from which the
hyper-intelligent bees could have learned a thing or two), that Barris had
given her in the salon and the entire situation suddenly unfolded before
her mind's eye. Her sudden sense of sadness that the man she loved was so
set back by her courage to try something new with her hair, one of the
many palettes through which a woman expresses herself. And he responded as
if he had somehow lost her.
Now, here were her friends doing exactly the same thing to her, and yet
something still stood between this moment and the salon that had gotten in
the way. Something that was supposed to be private. Affectionate. A moment
between two in love.
She thought back to the hotel room, and what a wonderful time they'd had
there, but there was another competing memory. One that overlapped the
same memory she was having and it was very different. She'd felt elated at
the moment she'd shared with her Barris, the man who now stood beside her
and the same man with which she'd been involved for the last nine years.
And yet, there was a moment when their love making had been, insofar as
her efforts go, an attempt to end it abruptly, so she could have some mind
space of her own to contemplate the state of her relationship with Barris,
while he inevitably slept in his post-orgasm slumber.
She had memories of life and her immense creativity, crafting and
designing many great works of art over the course of her life. Many
adorned her walls, while many she'd worn to parties and gatherings. She
was the center of an entire ecosystem of creativity, and despite what
these people were calling her out for, she remembered being accepted
exactly as the person she was. Not the person they now expected her to be.
It was as if she'd recently acquired two different sets of memorty that
occupied the same recent time span.
Memories that were competing with one another.
They converged around a moment when Mila remembered tearing the wrapper
off of her gift, and in a moment of both the most extreme love she could
have for someone, and the most enduring hatred of his worst, she wished
for something that...
When she returned from her thoughts, Nelony and Yirfir were in a heated
argument with Sato and Jasmer, while Xenshi and Xushu both in their own
way attempted to be the peace makers. Xushu would take their argument to
the extreme, hoping to snap them out of their sudden emotionally guided
disdain for each other's perspective, while Xenshi provided the voice of
reason, a beacon from which they could all find common ground and the
sensibility to discuss matters rationally. However, the conversation was
missing the two people over which it was being fought.
"It was the gifts!" Mila suddenly blurted out.
"Mila, could you kindly stay out of this...! Wait! I'm sorry Mila, did you
say... the gifts?" Yirfir turned to face Mila who'd suddenly
returned from her emotional turmoil of recall.
"We opened gifts! Do you remember honey?" Mila grabbed Barris' hands,
naturally holding them close to her chest, suddenly making him feel a bit
cautious lest Nelony and Yirfir suddenly lynch him.
"The gifts! That's right! We opened gifts!" Barris too now remembered the
moment that they tore into their gifts, in a sort of haze of passion and
rage for one another.
"Who wrapped those gifts?" asked Yirfir.
"I did. At the museum. Before I went to pickup Mila at the salon," Barris
recalled.
"How many did you wrap?" asked Jasmer, catching on to his wife's line of
reasoning.
"I think there were twelve in all. Two that Mila and I had picked for each
other, and ten more," Barris remembered his time back at the museum, where
he'd been busy all day landscaping the grounds in minus ten degree weather
to prepare a few acres of new flower beds for the coming spring.
A detail he'd left out and one that likely would have given them a
considerable clue about the nature of their situation.
They all looked at each other, and all at once went for the gifts on the
gift table beneath the
Seasonally Appropriate Politically Correct Holiday Tree (or SAPCHaT
for short, as if not to confuse matters further).
When they arrived, Yirfir and Jasmer both began going through the gifts.
"Which ones are the ones you wrapped?" asked Jasmer as he piled the gifts
on the now empty dining room table.
"I'll sort them to the left... Uhhhh... this one, this one, not this one,
this one..." Barris began sorting them with the help of Jasmer and Yirfir
as the others watched with intense interest.
When she spotted it, Nelony picked up the gift tagged as her's.
"Oh, you didn't..." Nelony immediately began opening the gift as Mila
tried to intercept it.
"No wait!" Mila pleaded with Nelony but by that time it was already too
late.
The bee contained in that gift had secretly snuck out of it, and found its
way to Nelony's posterior. Upon the height of her joy opening the gift, it
stung her.
All at once, the most extreme of her love and the most destructiveness of
her hate emerged from her in the form of a wish.
Almost instantly, the Mila they all knew was returned and standing before
them, still struggling with Nelony in attempt to stop her from tampering
with the gift.
Barris however, had also changed. He had returned to being the same Barris
he had been since wrapping the gifts and loading the car before picking up
Mila at the salon. He however, wasn't the same Barris that had set about
attempting to landscape acres of land at the museum to add flower beds for
the spring. Something this Barris (and most other people) would have seen
as either obsession or insanity, or quite possibly both.
If necessity was the mother of all invention, then it certainly was the
father of all procrastination and this was certainly the case with this
particular Barris. The very thought of landscaping the museum grounds in
the middle of winter made justifiable the aspects of comfort and the
immensely health preserving aspects of procrastination very reasonable. It
gave hope to all men who'd put things off for warmer weather, when
confronted by other men, who would do before thinking.
Leap before looking. Perhaps motivated by the fact that they
were running from something in themselves or someone else that they did
not want to face.
And so it was, that this Barris returned to his rightful place in the
scheme of things as they currently stood, albeit somewhat changed.
Mila suddenly released Nelony's gift as Nelony stumbled backwards
slightly.
"That was the most profound experience I've ever had opening a gift..."
Nelony said aloud, very exhausted on many levels.
Mila looked down and saw her favourite dress shoes with only the most
modest obstruction of her view.
"Oh thank goodness!" Mila said as she realized that she was once again
home.
"I'm sure that the other Mila is likely just as grateful, being in her own
home as well as she likely is," Morton had stepped into the dining room
area, looking with concern to his friends and peers.
"Other Mila?" Nelony suddenly caught on upon seeing the Mila she
remembered.
"What you just experienced is the effects of when two realities, two
planes of existence intersect as a result of some very powerful
manipulation of the great weave," Morton explained to Mila.
"...and a lot of scrutiny and facetiousness from all of you, who were all
over me about my sudden loss of upper body mass... as Nelony had
put it! Jumping all over me that I'd change to suit Barris' wants and
desires," Mila responded, truly traumatized by the experience for it had
left her with a sense of being inadequate.
As if she simply wasn't enough as she was, with her modest and comfortable
body. The only one she'd known and loved for her entire life, for it had
safely gotten her through many challenging situations in life. Those that
had required endurance at times, and strength at others, and it had
somehow through every challenge to her well being and health, gotten her
through safely. Not only that, but she'd also felt great joy and pleasure
through it as well. It was perfect for her in every way.
And yet, up until moments earlier, her friends and entire circle simply
didn't see things the same way. They implored that she was not herself.
That the Mila they'd known had a much different layout and generosity of
body shape and size. She'd been scolded by all of her friends and the
people she'd trusted most, for she had been different from the Mila they
remembered and it somehow was a blasphemy to them and their understanding
of things, as much so as it had been for the Mila who up until moments
earlier, had been here in her place.
She all at once understood the immense pressure that some, perhaps all
women are subjected to when it comes to a society not accepting of them as
they are. Sure, there was the benefits of better health if you chose to
pursue a high degree of exercise and activity in your life, and that could
be a good thing if that was what you chose for and of yourself.
However, the pressures that Mila had rarely experienced throughout her
life, had suddenly been presented to her all at once, when she'd been
thrust into a world that had come to accept a very different Mila than the
one they'd previously had. All at once she wondered how truly these people
looked into her, rather than at her exterior, to acclimatize themselves to
the person they claimed to know and love.
What a weight such an idea must be upon the shoulders of a young woman.
The world telling you that you're not enough, and that for people - a
potential mate to even look at you admiringly - that you have to be so
many different things all at once, all of them different from who you
currently were.
The experience that the other, generously endowed Mila had experienced was
no different than the experience that their Mila had in her reality. They
too were as confronting of her, immediately challenging that she was
herself at all, and none of them had realized how they'd looked to her not
as a person, but as a shell around a person. At that point, she wasn't
quite sure if the lesson she'd gained from it was theirs or hers. Perhaps
it was a bit of both.
"It is a pleasure to see you again," Xenshi broke the tension with her
honest sincerity.
"I wish I could say the same! I rather liked that other one!" Xushu added,
now floating upside down over Xenshi's head.
His brashness of statement was taken as scathing sarcasm, and they all
knew exactly what he meant, including Mila for he'd earned the respect and
right to express the most sarcastic of views to them. Others, however
unfamiliar, might not get the same acceptance nor did they have any
obligation to receive, whether presenting their own views, or merely
parroting or echoing those of the people that Mila and her friends knew.
"Truly, my sister and I are glad to have you back Mila," Xushu flipped
back onto his feet and stood before her.
"This isn't over yet. This is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. You
see, things as you knew them, perhaps from some time ago, are very
different than the due course given your interconnectedness would have
taken them," Morton explained to them.
"How so? It appears that we have our Mila, and our Barris, don't we?"
Yirfir responded to Morton, then looking both to Mila and then Barris for
their agreement.
"I feel like I'm home," Mila replied.
"Me? I don't know. What do you think Mila?" asked Barris of his fiancé.
"I think you're my Barris, and that we've got issues to work on," Mila
said to him, both lovingly and assertively.
"So be it. I'm Barris and we've got issues to work on," Barris responded.
"Something happened in your past. Something between the two of you, and
changed things immensely, and altered the realities and planes of
everything. Since your encounter with a certain Power Lord..." Morton
began.
"Lorr?" confirmed Jasmer.
"Precisely. In France. La Pied D'Arbour Noire. The mansion there.
Something from that moment forward altered everything, and I''ve been
trailing you all and trying my best to piece it all together. To find ways
to stitch reality back to its intended course, for all of this happens all
at once. Our minds just present it to us in a sequentially temporal
manner, alchemically speaking of course," Morton explained to them.
"That is why some dragons remember the past, and why some remember the
future," Xenshi added.
"From what I can see here, someone else has been dabbling in things.
Trying to change them from another angle," Morton continued opening their
understanding of things.
"Our thoughts exactly. That's why we were examining the gifts..."
"That is, until Nelony lost control and like a curious and impatient
child, gave in to the urge to rip her gift open!" Sato spoke in a spiteful
yet humourous tone.
"The very act that changed things..." Jasmer said in realization.
"Do you recall what happened when you opened your gifts?" asked Yirfir of
Mila and Barris.
Mila Ren Dubel, back to her original self... with a new
hairstyle... Version one...
Mila Ren Dubel, back to her original self... with a new
hairstyle... Version two...
"I don't know. There was a lot of tension between us, but I wanted
everything to be perfect. And yet, I wanted my needs to be fulfilled. I
wanted Barris to live up to expectations and aspirations that might have
been a little too high, given the fact that I was very animous over our
situation. When I opened that gift, I remember feeling intensity. Like...
both passion and anger towards him, and then there was a sharp pain..."
Mila recalled.
"Do you recall where?" asked Sato.
Mila pointed to her posterior.
"Barris, was it the same for you?" asked Jasmer.
Barris looked to Mila for approval and she nodded once at him.
"Yes. It was definitely a sharp pain in the..." Barris was interrupted.
"Rear. Let's just leave it at that," Mila finished his sentence.
"It was like a sting! Like a hornet or a bee..." Nelony had a very clear
recollection of her experience and that was when Morton turned to see
something crawling on the wall.
"Get a jar, now please!" Morton requested of her friends.
It was Nelony who moved first, knowing what he intended to do and fully in
support of him seeing as it didn't involve squashing the poor creature,
who was in all likelihood just as lost and scared as were they. A moment
later she returned with a mason jar from Mila's cupboards. The very same
jars Mila often used for pickling cucumbers and beets from her garden, and
preserving jams and jellies from her apple and pear trees.
Morton accepted the jar and carefully placed the opening atop of the bee,
trapping it. They waited for a few moments for it to climb onto the walls
of the jar, and when it did, Morton slowly and carefully removed the jar
from the wall as Nelony placed the cap on it and twisted.
"Seems to be unharmed," Morton smiled, admiring the little creature as it
tried to make its way to the brightest source of light from within the
jar.
"Nelony, I believe that you're the only one of us who has qualifications
for what comes next. Could you do the honours?" asked Yirfir of her other
student.
"Right then. Ummmm. Alright. Let me give this a try..." Nelony began
weaving her hands gracefully in the air and weaving the aether until it
accumulated in a ball in her hands, she then stretched it and expanded it
until it became a pinkish-greenish dome complete with glowing hexagonal
filaments, encompassing them all in the dining room.
"There. That should do it. Alright. I'll start: Hello little fellow. We're
friendly and mean you no harm. We just need to ask you a few questions
about yourself and maybe a few of your friends? After that, we'll try to
find a way to return you to safety," Nelony said aloud, and almost
immediately as soon as she directed her speech at the little critter, a
projected image of her as a bee appeared on the jar.
It began walking and wiggling its bum, occasionally buzzing its wings.
"Stunning how accurately it depicts our Nelony," Sato remarked, drawing a
smirk from Nelony.
A moment later, the bee began doing something similar, however much more
elaborately so.
A projection of the bee's face appeared before them, and it began to speak
to them in plain English:
"Friendly? After laying that one on your bottom? I find that hard to
believe, but who am I to scrutinize? So, what is it you'd like to ask me?"
he responded quite clearly fluent in grammatical thinking already.
"He's somehow altered. He's been improved. Most bees aren't capable of
grammatical thought, let alone language, yet this one clearly demonstrates
grammar in his reply. He's different from other natural bees,"
Nelony explained to them.
"Ask him why he and his friends were in the gifts," Mila suggested.
"Hello again little one. Could you tell me why you and your friends were
inside of those gifts?" asked Nelony of the bee.
The glowing face appeared again and responded:
"Migration really, but your kind would likely call it franchising. We're
expanding, seeing as there's an obvious shortage of us, and the great
Aerth Queen Bee would certainly want to see us spreading far and wide,
seeing as we're amongst the most important of pollinators in the world,
alongside our sisters, the butterflies, and this world is on a crash
course for disaster from what I understand given this shortage, and the
fact that there are many hive like humans:
hive wannabees we call them - pun intended - steering
humanity on an early crash course with its fate. Something we've been
tasked with helping to stop," the bee replied to them, in almost perfect
pronunciation and illiteration.
"How is it that you plan to stop all of this? This shortage of pollinators
and these hive wannabees?" Nelony asked the little bee.
"How? By migrating to other places of course, and setting up colonies and
then keeping the Queen Bee quite contantly busy and making many little
bees of course, while the better of your kind spread good public relations
for us, not to tamper with our hives and how to recognize an invasive
predatory species versus actual pollinators, so we're better
protected to do our job for the Aerth Queen Bee and take some stress off
of our butterfly sisters. Rinse and repeat. Insofar as the hive
wannabees... that is only for the great Aerth Queen Bee to know," the bee
responded.
Yirfir discusses their findings with Nelony, Mila, Sato and Jasmer.
"Well, it seems that we're much closer to understanding this situation,
and how they came to be in these gifts, but we're going to have to dig a
little deeper," Yirfir surmised, looking to Jasmer who nodded in agreement
with her.
Jasmer asks Mila about the beekeepers.
"Are there any bee keepers in the Alivale region?" asked Jasmer of Mila.
"I'm not sure. I mean, there's someone around here who provides honey to
the local markets, and lots of it, but I've never looked into the matter
myself. My orchards are alive with both bees and butterflies in the spring
and summer, but not like these," Mila explained to them.
"Where's your first home little one? Your first hive?" asked Nelony of the
bee.
"Let me check my ancestral rolodex here," the bee responded, taking a
moment to check something bound to his furry little body.
"Alright... BzzzBinky, BzzzBidbin, BzzzBusy... that's it! Busy, Very... oh
wait. Very Busy Honey. I meant that figuratively rather than literally.
They're called Very Busy Honey. They're just off of Rural Road 115
at number 99, though its the second driveway," the bee's face explained to
Nelony, as its body danced out an elaborate display of bum wiggling anb
buzzing.
"That's right around the corner from the museum!" Barris observed out
loud.
"That explains the stowaways on your gifts. But why did they target you?"
Sato asked.
"Perhaps we can find out more at Very Busy Honey?" Mila suggested.
"Tonight? It wouldn't be the first time we've bailed on a party and left
our guests hanging without a host..." Barris recalled the events of
A Lady's Prerogative: SAPCHoP
from a couple years earlier.
There was suddenly a loud knock at the front door.
"Its probably Sir Manfred, wearing his armour again," Barris said,
immediately making his way to the front door.
As soon as he opened it, a large man in armour pushed his way in, knocking
Barris off of his feet and onto the floor, as he slid backwards away from
the man.
Behing the man who'd barged in, another fifty men slowly surrounded the
house as another column of men marched up the driveway.
"What is the meaning of this?!!!" Nelony challenged the Phalanx.
"Yes, last I heard, private residences were out of bounds for parades..."
Sato added, stepping protectively forward.
The man looked at Barris and spat, as a woman with long red hair came
walking in behind him, followed by a man of similar resemblance to Barris,
albeit, far more muscular and scarred, with the physique of an athlete and
the demeanor of a leader.
"Empress! Here is the imposter!" the man who'd initially burst into Mila's
home suddenly dropped to his knees as the woman in long red hair stepped
forward, fearlessly into their home.
"These people are soft!" Boudicca exclaimed, looking to each of them as
her form glistened in the light.
She too of the highest fitness, though she was shorter than Jasmer and
only slightly taller than Yirfir. Regardless, her presence was
unquestionable, and every one of them in the dining room felt her raw
energy as she paced amongst them fearlessly.
The man who appeared like a hardened version of Barris quickly grabbed him
up and held his gladius to his throat.
Mila couldn't contain herself and quickly wove the aether, turning the
man's gladius into a boquet of flowers before his very eyes.
He dropped it, as if it were cursed, backing away from it fearfully, as
Boudicca watched, even looking admiringly towards Mila.
All at once, Boudicca's memories came back to her of that day as they lay
in wait for their ambush of the Stone Henge, Carbus Carnum's battalions
lining the plateau.
Marlin of Eire was amidst the front lines, tasked with the charge by foot,
as Boudicca had no cavalry or chariots. She commanded only the will of the
men sworn to fight for her, and their little equipment and armour. They
were technically as outmatched as they were in terms of skill, but
Boudicca knew in her heart that every foe could be beaten. She knew that
they needed a miracle, and that the druids were the key to deciphering the
Stone Henge, and winning the war.
The Romans however, had known this too, and when they arrived to slaughter
Boudicca's husband, and rape her daughters and her, another detachment
left for the home of the druids, further north, and slaughtered all of
their kind. A few remained, one of them being Marlin, a most reknowned
druid of tradition, with yet no demonstrated abilities associated with
their history and rites.
Boudicca had seen the same kind of suffering as had Marlin, and knew that
the man would find a solution only when faced with the crisis of his life,
as much so as she had discovered her destiny when faced with hers. Hence,
she ordered him to lead the charge with his druid brethren against a
superior foe with superior equipment now occupying their most sacred of
temples with the man prophesized to complete Boudicaa and turn the tide in
their favour. Between that day, and the moments before their final charge,
only death remained a barrier.
She looked across the field, and through the standing stones of the Henge,
and to the battalions of Roman soldiers that now surrounded it. A fierce
gaze crossed her eyes as she sited their leader, and she let forth her
battle cry:
[Charge forth and lay them all asunder!] "Codwch nhw i gyd!"
Boudicca screamed loud enough for her voice to echo through the peaks and
valleys around the Henge.
All at once they came running from the amidst the trees, some of them even
appearing like the foliage themselves, and many of the Roman soldiers who
saw them thought them to be living plants, charging at them in revenge for
their fallen druid-kind, but the firm Roman training held them fast, and
they turned to face the threat. Their shields set forth, and in a wall to
face their oncoming enemies.
Boudicca's force was massive and impressive, at first, but quickly as they
got closer, it became clear that they were armed only with hide and
leather and facing off against an army armed with weapons cast from the
most advanced forges this side of the Black Sea.
As they got into range, the javelins launched their first volley at
Boudicca's forces, bringing down at least a hundred of them, most dying or
dead. The charge didn't lose its momentum as Boudicca quickly caught up
with the druids and was now leading the charge beside them. They knew they
were committed, and how no excuse, for their Queen was charging in battle
beside them, like an ancestral siren of old, her body gleaming with sweat
and war paint as she ran.
Marlin watched as another javelin volley from the second line Phalanx flew
through the air, cutting into half of his druids, a javelin barely missing
him. His ears had abandoned him, and all he could hear was his pounding
heart and his breath, which was rapidly approaching its limits.
He looked on at the great stones around him, once again having a vision,
like something he'd seen before and when it came to him, everything became
clear all at once, and he fully understood his ancestral rite as he did
all of druid magic.
His vision was a memory of a glade his people, the druids used to take him
and all the children and it was set within a great forest. Within this
forest was a clearing, where the largest trees to be found in all of the
land grew. These particular trees had grown naturally in a pecular
formation, and that had stuck with him all of his life, and until this
very moment, when he realized that the Stone Henge was not stone at all,
but wood transformed to stone. As it was in all of alchemy, what could be
done, could be undone. All things had a way, and a means by which to
become as one another. Upon this realization, he paused and took in a
great breath, holding his hollywood staff before him, waving it across his
view of the Henge.
At first, the ground began to rumble and quake. The Romans kept their
footing, but became startled by the emergence of this new threat. Still,
they kept their focus on the enemy coming at them, and never suspected
what would come from behind.
One by one, the stones came to life, they sprouted legs and arms and began
to systematically crush underfoot, every Roman soldier they encountered.
Tall stone golems and short alike came to life, and each paid their share
for their given life in the battle.
When Marlin saw that his life's work had been realized, he began testing
his understanding of the great alchemy, and wove his hollywoodo staff
again. The ranks of Boudicca's army, suddenly found their skin becoming
hard as stone, while the Roman armour melted from their bodies, dripping
in pools of molten metal, burning and scalding their bodies as it slid
from them. Their screams soon became prevalent over the victory howls of
Boudicca's men.
Carbus Carnum, who'd been scarred by the incident, but left standing and
very capable of fighting, ran for Boudicca as the rest of the ranks of the
Roman army fell one by one.
[It is customary for the generals to face each other! I have never
felled a woman in battle, but I'd gladly have you be my first!] "Solent duces inter se congredi! Mulierem in proelio numquam
cecidi, sed tu primus esses libenter!" Carbus Carnum challenged her.
She understood Latin, being educated herself and so faced him.
[It is far too grave a loss that your men never upheld your high
standards. Perhaps that was the truth behind your downfall.] "Grande nimis magnum est iacturam quam tui nunquam tui signa
suscepisse. Forsitan id verum fuit post casum." Boudicca responded in
Latin, with a thick Welsh accent.
Marlin stood and watched as Boudicca faced off against Carbus Carnum.
Marlin's remaining druids almost charged forth to murder Carbus and would
have if not stopped by Marlin.
[There'll be no honour in stabbing this man from behind. Let our Queen
do it while facing him.] "Ni fydd unrhyw anrhydedd mewn trywanu'r dyn hwn o'r tu ôl.
Gadewch i'n Brenhines ei wneud wrth ei wynebu." Marlin urged the druids,
who stood down and joined him as they watched their Queen face a man of
superior training.
They circled each other a short time, Carbus testing Boudicca's guard a
few times, trying to become accustomed with her skill level. He quickly
found that her had a striking weakness in her right side, possibly a
shoulder injury or poor training in defending with the outside hand.
He then focused on leading her by attacking only her left side, and when
he was certain that she had become fixated on that side, he quickly went
in for the killing blow with on the right side.
It appeared he had her, but unlike most of his other foes, she would never
give in or up based upon their differences of skill. She simply moved
faster than could he and struck the gladius from his grip, so hard and
fast that he was caught off guard. She then kicked him down and he fell
backwards as her blade met his throat.
[My Queen? We uncovered one of their advisors. He's a friend of the chosen
one.] "Fy Frenhines? Daethom o hyd i un o'u cynghorwyr. Mae'n ffrind
i'r un a ddewiswyd." one of the runners came up to her, holding Ponderosus
within blade striking distance.
[It would be a waste to end you, when we could accomplish so much more
if we worked together. We could change things, everywhere or we could
have this be the beginning of generations of carnage. Stain our
ancestor's remembrance of history with hatred and rage. Or we could make
a new beginning together. One that would undo the wrongs and forge a
brighter future for all.] "Byddai'n wastraff dod â chi i ben, pan allem gyflawni cymaint mwy
pe byddem yn cydweithio. Gallem newid pethau, ym mhobman neu fe allem gael
hyn yn ddechrau cenedlaethau o laddfa. Lladdwch gofiant ein hynafiaid o
hanes â chasineb a chynddaredd. Neu gallem wneud dechrau newydd gyda'n
gilydd. Un a fyddai’n dadwneud y camweddau a chreu dyfodol mwy disglair i
bawb." Boudicca looked both to Carbus Carnuum, and then to Ponderosus as
she spoke.
[Marlin! Go at once! Take your druids with you! Find and heal every
Roman soldier you can, neither favouring our injured or theirs! Heal
them all alike!] "Marlin! Ewch ar unwaith! Ewch â'ch derwyddon gyda chi! Dewch o
hyd i bob milwr Rhufeinig y gallwch chi ei wella a'i wella, heb ffafrio'r
rhai sydd wedi'u hanafu na'u rhai nhw! Iachau nhw i gyd fel ei gilydd!"
Boudicca ordered Marlin and then turned back to the two men she held under
one blade.
Their choice was already made for them, though they didn't know it at the
time. Soon thereafter, they swore their allegiance to Boudicca. Together,
they raised an army of both soldiers, and diplomats. They'd send in the
diplomats first, and when they didn't return or returned with negative
results, they'd send in the soldiers and the druids, and for the first
time in a very long time, nature fought on the side of a human nation.
Barris, had been there, laying upon the field plateau of the great Stone
Henge, afraid as Boudicca's men surrounded him.
[A helpless goat who hath lost his flock. A man without courage. A
beggar without a coin. I shall take you into my tribe and make you my
husband and a man worthy of sharing the throne. It was meant to be, and
always will be.] "Bwch gafr ddiymadferth a gollodd ei braidd. Dyn heb ddewrder.
Cardotyn heb ddarn arian. Byddaf yn mynd â chi i'm llwyth ac yn eich
gwneud yn ŵr i mi ac yn ddyn teilwng o rannu'r orsedd. Roedd i fod i fod,
a bydd bob amser." Boudicca said to the helpless man named Barris.
As she looked to Barris on the floor in Mila's home, she recalled all of
what had come to pass, and all at once she had a heart for Mila. Here was
a woman who risked herself to protect her man against an army, and did so
by turning a man's sword into flowers.
"We are taking this land. All of it. It will still be your home, but I
will be the Empress of all of this land, and soon I will be the Empress of
all," Boudicca told those who still stood gathered in the dining room.
Yirfir looked to Jasmer, the two remaining helpless in all appearances.
"Would it be too much for us to enjoy our holiday party?" asked Yirfir of
Boudicca, careful not to sound demanding of her.
Boudicca's Barris by that time had offered a hand to Mila's Barris,
hefting him up and onto his feet with a strong arm.
"A weak one you are. Its hard to believe that you and I were once so much
alike. If I could tell you of what I've seen, where I've been, what I've
done, you'd still have no idea of how a man like you became a man like
me!" Boudicca's Barris looked at Mila's Barris with intensity in his eyes.
"They are not the keepers. They are more like the cattle. They are soft,
and should not be made yet, to play in our game. Come my husband, there is
still so much left to be done on this night," Boudicca commanded her
Barris, who immediately stepped out of the door.
"I will leave a garrison here. You have wealth, and will provide for them
and they will protect you. When next I return, we will have matters to
discuss about your knowledge of alchemy, perhaps it is similar to the kind
of alchemy my druids used to make it possible for us to speak and know
your language. That will be all," Boudicca stepped out of the door, and
continued down the driveway towards her waiting chariots.
The rest of the men left them, closing the door behind them but leaving a
garrison of thirty men, including ten druids, out on the driveway.
At that moment, Shaela came stumbling into the house and found her way to
the dining room, obviously a few sheets to the wind.
"I have to say Mila, you still know how to throw a good party... See this
girl... she's my best friend!" Shaela wrapped her arm around Mila's
shoulder and began dancing.
Meanwhile, outside in the Alivale region, Boudicca's army started their
takeover, leaving garrisons at key strategic points from which to assert
her force and to defend it if need be.
Unfinished Bee's Wax
Part 2
Unfinished Crisis
(right to left) Lady Naemi and Jeong Soon address
the Sanctum Seclorum, ,members of their
Order Of Gojoseon Mystics behind them.
The polished marble floors of the main hall clacked with the sound of
walking feet, as the room quickly filled, rows of seating occupied by the
representative orders of the Sanctum Seclorum. As the clatter of feet
subsided, it was replaced by the chatter from seats, mostly those
speculating as to the nature of the emergency session that had been
called.
Lannay arrived, his footfall purposely slow and drawn out, letting the
members of the session know that they were waiting for him rather than the
other way around.
Lady Naemi Soon and her husband Jeong were already seated at the
chairperson's table, the very same table which Thara Lansmore sat at the
head.
"We're glad you could join us today, Lannay. I hope that we didn't
inconvenience you. We could always work around your busy schedule if you'd
find that convenient?" Thara addressed him mockingly of his
gruellingly slow arrival, drawing a bit of laughter from close to half of
the two hundred or so other attendees in the room.
"I find it quite warming, your concern for my time and schedule, but
aren't there more important matters to which we should be attending?"
Lannay responded, taking advantage of the opening Thara had
unintentionally afforded him.
"Have a seat Lannay, so that we may begin without further interruption.
The Sanctum recognizes Jeong Soon, who will explain the nature of these
crises," Thara introduced their first speaker.
"Yes, it is true. A number of issues have recently crossed the crisis
threshold, resulting in this calling of an emergency meeting. Now, as all
of you know, Yirfir Lacharme and Jasmer McCavanaugh are currently
attending a social event hosted by Mila Ren Dubel, on the Prime Plane as
we speak, in a manner of speaking, given the anytime quality of the
Midspace. Why don't you explain the nature of the first crisis Naemi?"
Jeong soon addressed those seated at the table, and the rest of those
surrounding them in the main hall.
"Thank you Jeong. I was notified earlier by members of the Order
Temporalis that a number of new pockets in time space have been detected,
and that they seem to be centered around an event that occurred in the
Prime Plane, in the very township where Mila is holding her gathering.
This pocket is tethered to a time in Aerth history extending back to the
first century A.D., and to a nation known then only as Albion by its
inhabitants, before it was invaded and annexed by its Roman conquerors,
under the rule of Caesar, to eventually become modern day England..." Lady
Naemi paused, as the level of chatter around her rose substantially.
A member of the senate stood.
"The Sanctum recognizes Dergus Talden," Thara immediately recognized the
attendee as one of the more outspoken members representatives of the
Sanctum.
"Given the time space geotemporal nature of this connection, that would
make this a matter for Jasmer, Yirfir and Sir Manfred," Dergus spoke
assertively rather than in question.
"They will be informed of these events as soon as we collectively
determine the current situation and the risks involved. That is the
purpose of this meeting. To draw upon the expertise amongst us, to
determine a course of action. Yirfir and Jasmer will need to be informed
of this situation, so what can we deem from what we know and from what
we're capable of finding out?" Lady Naemi asked the attendees in the room.
There was a silence throughout the room, as none had the specific
capabilities required to scry details further about the nature of the
crisis beyond what they already knew.
"Again, we find ourselves in a situation where our shortage of Seers has
proven to be a liability, Lannay," Thara addressed the bureaucrat.
"When we have the resources to procure more expertise in that particular
area, I assure you that I will allocate those resources. We're already
stretched to our limits in terms of the attainment of mystic methods of
information acquisition," Lannay reminded Thara.
"Then are we all in agreement that Yirfir, Jasmer and Sir Manfred will in
full receive all the knowledge of this matter that Lady Naemi and her
Gojoseon Mystics were kind enough to have gathered and provided us? All
those in favour raise your hand," Thara instructed the attendees to vote
on the issue.
The vast majority of attendees raised their hands, and above the center of
the room, a spherical globe came to life, ninety-three percent of it
illuminated, while seven percent remained unlit.
"Who will carry this knowledge to them? May we have a messenger please?"
Thara asked.
"I will. We will," Lady Naemi responded.
"We will?" Jeong Soon looked at Naemi, somewhat surprised by her offer.
She smirked at him ever so slightly, and his expression immediately
changed to one of approval.
"Oh! We will. We will," Jeong Soon smiled, looking around the room,
nodding affirmatively.
"We will leave immediately when this session is done," Jeong Soon assured
both Thara and his wife, Lady Naemi.
"Excellent. Please ensure that we at the Sanctum are kept in the loop as
well. Now addressing the next item on our itinerary, the Sanctum
recognizes Svensen Glier of the Order Of Sacred Astrographers," Thara
introduced their next speaker.
"Good evening all. We don't often get the opportunity to speak directly to
you on matters of astronomy and astrography, but we've made a startling
discovery recently, utilizing a form of scrying perfected nearly two
hundred years ago by our ancestors, combining the and entropic and
aetherial qualities of crystal balls with the distance magnifying
properties of a telescope, which allows us to monitor events at great
distances, as they are in their current reference frame, synchronized with
our own..." Svensen tried to explain to his audience, only finding them
confused.
"Svensen, we are not all as well informed as are you, behind your crystal
telescopic ball device. Please explain it to us as if we know nothing
about astronomy or astrograpy..." Lannay spoke in a condescending tone to
the man.
"So be it, though I give my audience much more credit. We are separated
from objects in the universe by great distances, and because light takes a
finite amount of time to cover those distances, we're often seeing those
objects as they were millions if not billions of years ago. Our reference
frame of time space is so distant, that we'd have to wait millions of
years to see an object as it appear now. Using crystal telescopic
balls, with a form of scrying they're known for, we are able to see
distant objects as they are currently, in our local time space frame of
reference. That is, as they appear at this very moment, and in real-time,
which is quite an accomplishment if you consider that the Midspace itself
is entirely absent of any kind of time space reference frame, save that
which our brains trick us into thinking we're perceiving as cause and
effect and in that order..." Svensen looked around the room, and when he
saw a variety of interested faces, he smiled.
"What I'm trying to say is, that we can see very distant objects like they
are now, at this very moment of our frame, and while observing some
distant galaxies, we found several connected phenomenon in the vicinity of
non-spatial singularities that most of you know as supermassive black
holes," Svensen again turned to make sure everyone in the room was
listening or at least pretending to do so.
"...right. What we found was that... something... something that has
immense energy requirements, more energy than is produced by the Aerth's
sun in a million years, has been using the non-spatial singularities as
both a source of energy, and as it appears, a sort of intergalactic
transit system... perhaps more like a highway..." there was a crazed look
in Svensen's eye as he peered at his audience around the room.
"Of course these observations have left discombobulated trails of
transient matter... a sort of exhaust we've been tracing to a galaxy some
seven billion light years from the galaxy that makes up the platinum
strands of hair of our own Aerth Mother, our own Milky Way galaxy..."
Svensen again looked around, uncertain as to whether he'd made his point
effectively.
"When will they be here? Whomever or whatever they are?" asked Thara.
"From the time space reference frame of Aerth? Let me see here... two over
five divided by nine to the power three... times the inverse vector
tangent derived from the taylor series of the same... Within twenty-four
hours..." Svensen looked up from the palm of his hand, which was covered
in imaginary scrawlings of numerous calculations.
"We will leave immediately and carry this news to Yirfir, Jasmer and Sir
Manfred..." Lady Naemi Soon stood from her seat at the great table, her
husband joining her.
"Thank you Svensen for your knowledge of this impending situation. I think
that I shouldn't have to remind you all here that the Sanctum is on
emergency stand-by, effective immediately. All able bodied personnel are
to be ready and on call to protect the Aerth at all costs if and when
necesary. I suggest that you all return to your quarters and rest, for
your strength may be needed very soon... This emergency session is
convened. Thank you all and good evening," Thara stood and approached Lady
Naemi and Jeong Soon.
"I'll need you to inform every member of the Sanctum in attendance at
Mila's of this crisis, and that they too are on call and will be required
to defend the Aerth," Thara pressed the importance of the matter to them.
"We understand, and we'll carry this knowledge safely to them, and assist
them in their investigation," Lady Naemi agreed.
"You have our word," Jeong Soon nodded.
"Lannay? Is that you sneaking out of here so quickly before I've had a
chance to address you?!!!" Thara caught Lannay as he was almost near the
exit of the main hall.
"Just trying to get caught up before I'm critically needed elsewhere,
Matron," Lannay responded.
"The call for defense includes you! If you are ill equipped and not ready
to wield the weave, then perhaps you could always talk them to death?"
Thara suggested.
"I assure you Matron, I will be ready," Lannay promised her.
"Good. I'm assuming that Sol, the Sun, produces a lot of energy in a
million years. We may need to be able to match that with our abilities in
weaving the aether of time space and on short notice. Seeing as Svensen
didn't outright tell us that we should immediately evacuate Aerth and flee
to some other obscure plane, that he thinks we have a chance, and maybe
even a good one. You're dismissed Lannay," Thara finished with the
bureaucrat.
Lannay continued out the exit without another word, his shoes still
clacking on the polished marble floor.
Lady Naemi and Jeong Soon headed for the portal room, and upon their
arrival, had the portal weavers stitch up a hole into the closed Gazebo in
Mila's backyard orchard.
Together, they stepped through and into folded time and space, both
expanded to infinity and squashed to obscurity in every imaginable way,
and a few beyond imagination, before they exited into the paper lantern
and holiday lights illuminated closed Gazebo amidst Mila's favourite apple
and pear trees.
Unfinished Scale
Everything Girtrude and Wilbert did was about size. Scale. About being a
living presence in Alivale, the township region of their residence and the
lifesource of their happiness and immense love. Everything they did was
about the grandness of being. Of living. Of loving. At scale, and I'm not
talking about union scale either. I mean scale in a universal sense across
the vastness of space and time itself.
Mila recently had learned that scale very much had significance with
regard to the perception of her presence in terms of her body parts, and
how readily they were accepted as being normal, by even the most trusted
of her friends. That aspect of her own being that she'd assumed was
entirely her own, and yet she'd found that acceptance most often wasn't as
subjective as she'd inititially thought.
She'd spent nearly three hours as a woman of double D breast size, after
having lead her entire life as a double A, while her alternate self had
spent the same time as her opposite, and yet she'd had memories of both.
Of how people she'd known, those whose values she'd depended upon had
suddenly failed her. Had weighed her as the sum of her cleavage. As the
curve of her bough. As the pluck of her nipple. When she was different in
a way that was beyond their ability to accept, they'd essentially abandon
the idea that she was herself at all.
The sum of her worth had all come down to scale. The wish of her eternal
lover. The very one who'd wished upon her an endowment that far exceeded
her own acceptable scale. So much so that she had initially been unble to
see her own toes beyond her own breasts.
And yet, she'd wished upon him unspeakable things that remained hidden
beneath his waist. Where the length and breadth of his member had been
altered, the only absence being in the fact that he was not required to
replace his bra, or adjust his view in order to accomodate this sudden
change.
Now, some might have argued that the fact that his size had changed
required no alteration of his advertising of the fact. It just was,
however that was definitely not the case with women who'd been so altered,
for their changes were immediately available for all to see and ponder,
which most often was the case, and certainly much more so than it was the
case for a man whose scale of genetalia had been thus altered on scale
enough so that required further expansive undergarments, which was seldom
the case.
The truth was, that this burden of exploitation was a weight much more
upon the women than it was upon the men. This understanding of scale, for
there has never been a man in history whose underwear was worn like a bra,
for the circumspection of all interested women there upon. However, when
it came to women, their chest was front and center, and simply designed to
be scrutinized, despite the artistic admiration a man had of a woman's
body. Yet, this was never the case for men, and the scale of their...
ahem.
Member.
There was no front and center aspect of their anatomy with regard to their
primary sexual organ. There was no male bra, that presented forthright, a
man's phallus and family jewels, and perhaps the cleavage thereof for all
of womenkind to peruse the same way as it was for women and their
'presentation'.
The Barris she'd known never would have of his own lust for her, ever
wished for adornments or changes to her body, for to him, she was
perfection exactly as she was. Everything about her turned him on, and it
was Mila who knew this with certainty.
Much the same, Mila's value of Barris had nothing to do with the size of
his beneath the belt subterranian serpent (I'm quickly running out of
euphimisms), for she'd thought of him as being perfect as much so. Perfect
for her.
Both had felt that no changes were needed to each other, and yet when
faced with the spite that had suddenly emerged between them, and in the
moment of the height of their emotions arrived at while opening their
gifts, they'd clearly exhibited wishes that encompassed both selfish
gratification and immense burden for their partner. Psyhchosocial aspects
of their ideal mate, but idealized in a constrained and distorted fantasy,
like the shadow of their psyche rather than its source of light.
In this regard, many of these ideas were paved into the psyche of most
people, whose busy lives left them with little time to contemplate such
matters. The fact that scale was so intrinsicly linked to our perception
of what was good, and what wasn't. The bigger the better.
Humankind had been in pursuit of this idea since it first looked up at the
night sky, something built-in to the ancestral memory of every living
creature on the planet. At some point back in the history of the Aerth and
on a clear night, their ancestors (those with light sensitive eyes) looked
up to see a sky filled with stars, the glowing white mist that made up the
Milky Way, stretched across the sky, from horizon to horizon, whose
presence was superceded only by the light of the Moon. Perhaps the most
impactful primal memory that any life on the planet ever had, for it set
the direction of ambition for every creature on the planet, one of those
creatures eventually breaking free of the confines of gravity.
This clash with scale began with the first structures that all life
capable of building undertook. Anthills grew upwards. Termite mounds too.
Beaver's dam's. Bird's nests, ever higher and higher. The first time a
young child nailed a stick upright into the ground, perhaps driving it in
with a stone they'd used as a hammer. This idea extended far beyond its
humble beginnings, to become living places, homesteads, towers, structures
buildings, wonders until it eventually became so grand in scale, that the
Aerth mother's lips one day, kissed the surface of the Moon, and then Mars
and then finally, the very infinity their ancestors' eyes had peered at
all those aeons ago.
For some it was about this pursuit of our initial passion. Of touching the
strands of the misty Milky Way hair of the Aerth Mother with our own
hands, and yet for others, it was about this pursuit of scale, as a
measure of one's potency. Justifying their right to procreation versus
another, and perhaps their rite of ascension. The measure of one's worth
to their peers. Another upright phallus, which for the first time screamed
the words: mine's bigger than yours. The root of the swollen ego,
which eventually infected us all and cast us into this perception of
bigger is better. That scale was a direct correlation of our worth as
children of the Aerth Mother, never fully realizing that her eyesight was
pristine, and that she could see and love each and every one of us without
the need for us to go to such lengths to compete for her attention.
And so, when the fragile egos of Mila and Barris entered into the fray of
the minor struggles that their relationship was encountering at that
particular moment, it left them in that exaggerated form. A weaponized
cliché of what they thought the world ego thought that they needed. A
moment's spite that had turned into something far more than they both
could have bargained for.
This trick of scale was not all lost on them, nor humanity, for it was
spread far to the distant reaches of the universe, waiting for someone to
stop long enough and realize it.
Unfinished Voyage
The
Alpha Centauri
system had been a fairly humdrum star system for perhaps ten million
years, for in that span nothing interesting had happened at all. Centauri
A lead the dance between itself and its dance partner, Centauri B, with
the latter taking roughly seventy-nine years to completely circle its
larger dance partner.
Having had this dance for nearly five billion years as it currently stood
in such measure, the pair generally noticed things that occurred around
them, but given their poor eyesight, they hadn't noticed much else and
certainly not at greater distance than each other.
For instance, they didn't notice when they were joined by a much smaller
dance partner, one referred to as a dwarf, a small star, who for the most
part had happened along early in their history together having been
ejected from another similar star system a half a billion years earlier,
hence joining them and their dance, in perhaps one of the most lame
explanations any writer has ever concocted to explain the phenomenon of
gravity.
This trio of stars, Centauri A and Centauri B, who danced around each
other, were joined by that same dwarf star (or the more politically
correct version: mass impaired star), now to be referred to as
Centauri C, who being a simple chap, danced around the two of them, not
that Centauri A or B noticed, given their poor eyesight. They did however
suspect something given the fact that their dance step would occasionally
wobble ever so slightly, but for the most part, they ignored it,
occasionally stepping on one another's toes.
One fine day, about ten million years earlier, an oblong object passed
close enough to fall within the eyesight of Centauri B, who for the first
time in a few billion years, had something to say:
"Is that you, love?" Centauri B asked Centauri A.
"Huh? Did I step on your toes again or something?" asked Centauri A.
"No. They're fine. I was saying that I think we've got a spectator,"
Centauri B remarked.
"Spectacles? Yes... I should get a pair. That would certainly help me see
a bit better..." Centauri A responded, being ever so slight of hearing as
well.
"No. I meant a spectator! We've got a spectator!" Centauri B became
excited as the oblong object got closer and closer, speeding up as it did.
Centauri A squinted, looking around, desperately hoping to see what
Centauri B had described, when the blurry oblong object passed ever so
close to Centauri A, that it grazed the star's photosphere.
"Whew! That's something alright! A long fellow too, for such a tiny one.
Gone now though..." Centauri A responded excitedly, having seen something
new for the first time in five billion years.
"So uhhhh... where were we?" Centauri B asked, and their dance continued
along without interruption for another ten million years, while the oblong
object accelerated towards a cluster of stars that none of the
stars in the triple Alpha Centauri system could see with their unaided
eyes.
The oblong object itself had scooped hydrogen and helium from Centauri A,
needing it as fuel and catalyst for its long journey to other nearby stars
such as Wolf 359, Lalande 21185 and Luhman 16, eventually arriving at
Sol. Upon reaching there in the early twenty-second century, it would
earn the code name
Rama, by the distant relatives of the
Cydontians
that currently infested much of the third planet of that star.
They of course had left the oceans for the land many millions of years
earlier and were only beginning to look up to see the Aerth Mother's milky
white hair. I should however point out that to them, she looked like a
well groomed Cydontian, whiskers and all, rather than a modern developed
human being woman nurturing the Aerth. I however decline providing artwork
of the Cydontian Aerth Mother, because Cyndontians simply don't buy books,
or generate online advertising revenue.
Centauri A, B and C continued their dance for another ten million years,
until they were treated to another wondrous sight to behold, though at a
somewhat painful and discomforting cost.
Centauri A had been at that point in the dance with Centauri B, when
Centauri B was behind Centauri A, and would be for about forty years, when
Centauri A's frontal corona began to twist and churn, as matter from the
interior of a black hole began (quantum) tunneling between Centauri A's
gravity well and some other distant gravity well unbeknownst to Centauri
A.
"I'm not feeling very well. Must have been something I ate..." Centauri A
remarked to Centauri B.
"You haven't eaten for quite some time. About five billion years if I'm
not mistaken?" Centauri B responded.
Somewhere deep within Centauri A, time and space were suddenly pinched
together around a point on the forward surface of its corona. Another
similar point on a star some fifty thousand lightyears away connected
through this pinch, created a tunnel of only one one-hundred-thousandth of
a light year in distance, with the exit point at Centauri A.
"Guess it didn't go down right... I think I'm going to be..." Centauri A
replied before letting out an angished gurgle and then a rather loud burp,
ejecting a massive fleet of ships far too small for Centauri A to see
individually, given poor eyesight.
"Whoo! That's better!" Centauri A said in a chipper voice, clearly feeling
relieved.
"I'll say! Good thing it didn't come out your other end!" Centauri B
responded, quite relieved.
...
Corpus Corzar sat on the bridge of his flagship, once again going over the
holographic map of the local star systems, trying to figure out where they
were.
"Navigator! Where in the blazes are we!" asked Corpus, getting very
frustrated with the holographic map.
"We tunneled to a triple system as you directed. Alpha Centauri. Those
were definitely your orders, Sir!" the Navigator responded.
"I remember distinctly saying Sol! Not Alpha Centauri. Sol! Alpha, Sol.
Alpha, Sol. No resemblance there!" Corpus responded angrily
to his Navigator.
"How right you are Sir! Alpha Centauri has five syllables and Sol has only
one! How could anyone make that mistake?!!! How are we going to get to Sol
now?" the Helmsman scolded the Navigator, expertly directing any possible
blame for the mistake from himself.
The Navigator stood quietly for a moment, unsure of how to answer them.
"I'm sorry Sir, but I must have tunneled prematurely..." the Navigator got
quiet as he responded.
Corpus remained silent, immediately reminded of a difficult moment he'd
had a few nights earlier in a private moment with his wife. He shifted
nervously back and forth in his command chair on the bridge before he
responded.
"Its alright! It's quite common with Navigators your age...!" he
responded, using his wife's words, though obviously the pressure of anger
was quicly building in him with the man's incompetency.
"But don't expect me to talk about it with you! What are our options?"
Corpus then quickly added in order to avert blowing up altogether and to
assert his authority.
"We could slingshot ourselves, using the triple system's gravity well, and
coupled with our singularity matter we could use it to warp space and
shorten the trip considerably, though this maneuver won't be without its
risks... especially given the harmonic wobble of the Barycentric point,"
the Navigator reported to Corpus, whose frustration level could have been
worsened only by poorly written technobabble of inept writers.
Ahem.
"No! It's way too dangerous! Alright crew, listen to me:
We'll slingshot ourselves around the triple system's Barycentric point,
while amplifying the singularity matter reserve of the fleet to warp
space and shorten our trip!" Corpus said in a moment of epiphany that would have impressed even
Christopher Plummer as Chang.
"Absolutely ingenius Sir!" the Navigator responded, smirking at the
Helmsman, who grimaced back at the Navigator, who in turn stuck out his
tongue, further enraging the Helmsman that much more.
"Helm, make it sooo... oops, already taken. Helm,
get it done!" Corpus ordered the Helmsman.
The fleet maneuvered to a position at a distance of the square magnitude
of the radius of Centauri A, and began accelerating on a prograde orbit of
the triple star system, slowly reducing its distance from the Barycentric
point (the center of gravity of stationary or moving objects) until the
fleet was moving at close to the speed of light around the triple system.
On the final lap, the fleet applied thrust to break free of Alpha
Centauri's gravity well and continued on a course for the Sol star system.
When a few moments later, the singularity reserve of the fleet was
amplified, the resulting curvature of space time reduced the trip from
roughly four years, down to a little over three hours.
Unfinished Escape
A little girl of no more than ten years old, sat helplessly in the middle
of a cave system, lost somewhere in the darkness. She wore a black cloak,
which covered the entirety of her tiny body, her face peeking
innocently out through the hood as she stood, looking around in an effort
to get her bearings.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" she said aloud, her voice echoing throughout the
caves and into the darkness that surrounded her.
"Help me! Please... I'm lost!" she said aloud once the reverberation from
her previous words had ceased.
"Please..." she pleaded with the darkness, helpless and alone.
She could feel it in the caves. A presence. A mind perhaps. It was
watching her. Observing her carefully. Undecided for certain, but it
definitely felt for her.
She waited, keeping her sad face visible, even in the darkness.
"Please. I'm so lost..." she pleaded once again, after which she started
sobbing and then crying.
The sounds of her sorrow filled the cavern system, and she could feel it
watching her, yet, she continued her display, her tears dripping from her
face and onto the floor of the cavern.
When no response to her pain came, she then lay on the cold stone floor,
curling up in a fetal position, clearly having given in to utter
helplessness.
A few more moments beyond that point, and her silent watcher broke.
"...how did you end up here?" asked a quiet but ever present voice in her
head.
She instantly sat up, withdrawing towards the cave walls.
"Who goes there?!!!" she said in a frightened voice.
"...I didn't mean to frighten you. I won't hurt you..." the voice
continued, now clearly distraught over having scared her.
"You won't?" the little girl answered.
"No. I've lived in these caves here for a time immeasurable. We have. All
of us," the voice answered her once again.
"Who?" asked the little girl.
"Us," the voice answered.
"Can... can you help me...?" asked the little girl.
"I can't. Not in the way that I can come to you, but I can guide you," the
voice responded.
"My friend is trapped. Locked away in a forgotten place. She'd
suffering... dying..." the little girl stood up and made her way
back to the center of the cave.
"Can you take me to your friend?" asked the voice.
"Yes... but you have to promise not to hurt us," the little girl demanded.
"...I wouldn't have otherwise, but I promise not to hurt you," the voice
responded.
"Your friends too. They have to promise not to hurt us," the little girl
asked once again.
"They too will do neither of you any harm," the voice responded
assuringly.
"Alright. You promised... I'll take you to my friend..." the little girl
turned and ran, suddenly finding her way surprisingly well for someone
who'd moments earlier been lost and in the dark.
She ran through the darkness with the precision of someone very familiar
with it, until she came to point in the cave with a small natural alcove
recessed into the wall.
"She's in there. Through those rocks. On the other side of the wall," the
little girl pointed at the alcove.
"That is in a place where the fleshlings like yourselves live. Tell me,
how did she get there?" asked the voice.
"She took it upon herself to organize one of the storage spaces they use
to keep food and water, when the stone door closed behind her, locking her
in..." the little girl explained to the voice.
"Were you with her?" asked the voice.
"Yes. I was," the little girl responded.
"Then how did you get out?" asked the voice.
"I'm much tinier than her. I was able to slip between the wall inside and
this alcove, and I've been trying to find help ever since!" the little
girl pleaded.
There was a long moment of silence before the little girl spoke again.
"Can you help us?" the little girl said helplessly.
"I... I really shouldn't do this. But... I can't leave you out here like
this... very well," the voice said to her.
The little girl watched as the caves around her were slowly illuminated, a
trail of crystals emerging from the ceiling of the cave from whose
surfaces the light emerged. Dimly at first and then ever brighter shades
of pink and baby blue. The little girl retreated with the shadows, careful
to keep herself within as the light slowly eroded all the darkness in the
cavern.
She remained hidden behind a stalagmite as the crystals reached their peak
brightness. The stone and rock formations that made up the alcove then
began to erode, as the opening expanded to reveal runic stone beyond the
natural cave system. The little girl watched in amazement as the cave was
transformed right before her very eyes, revealing the entire outer wall of
where her friend was trapped.
"...those walls... they were erected by the fleshlings. They might be very
upset if I were to alter them..." the voice then reconsidered its offer of
assistance.
"They forgot about her! They can't hear her cries through the wall! She'll
die in there! You promised that you wouldn't hurt either of us, and if you
don't help her, she might die!" the little girl pleaded helplessly from
behind the stalagmite, careful not to expose herself to the light.
The runes that lined the wall began to glow, as if warding against the
efforts of the crystal to alter its surface. The runes began to flicker,
and then dimmed entirely. At that point, the wall itself began to melt
without heat of any kind. The stone just withered away and exposed an
opening into a rather cosy looking furnished stone room.
"There... your friend should be able to..." the voice spoke, but the
little girl was no longer anywhere to be seen.
A woman however had stepped into the light from within the exposed room.
She was much taller than the little girl had been, but wore the same black
cloak, her pretty face peering out from the hood.
"Thank you for freeing me. I fear I might have died in there as my food
and supplies were dwindling..." the woman addressed the voice.
"What happened to your friend?" asked the voice.
"Nothing. Nothing at all. She's safe and sound right here," the woman
tapped her head with her finger.
"What sort of dweomer was that?" asked the voice.
"The sort that one needs to survive under extenuating circumstances, and I
thank you for your help. You are truly a gracious being," the woman
responded politely, stepping down from the room onto the cavern floor.
"What do they call you, fleshling?" asked the voice.
"Miana. And you? What do they call you?" asked Miana.
"I am Eternity," the voice responded to her, the crystals dimming ever so
slightly.
"Are you alone?" asked Miana of Eternity.
"Yes. No. There are many of us, but we're all one.
There is no I in us or we, but there is also
no we or us in I. We're each other, and yet we are separate, but we
are all Eternity," Eternity responded to Miana, who seemed both
satisfied and perplexed by the answer.
"It has been ever so nice chatting with you, but I have matters which need
attending to, if you'll excuse me," Miana removed the cloak to wear it
more like a cape, revealing her colourful Chelsea hairstyle and her black
and purple skin-tight body suit and skirt.
Mianamor Selebrosi: Outcast Night Wytch
She began moving her hands through the air, as if sculpting some unseen
medium into shapes only visible to her eyes, until she stopped in
frustration.
"What is this?!!!" she looked to her hands, and then to her surroundings
and once again tried to weave the aether.
She worked faster and harder at it until she finally gave up in
frustration.
"What is this place? Is it hexed? Warded?" she asked aloud, though more so
to herself.
"Your attempts to weave will not work here," Eternity informed her calmly.
"Then where?" she asked in a frustrated voice.
"You must either prove your merit, or leave Eternity to be able to wield
your weave again," Eternity explained to her.
"Prove my merit?!!! Do not toy with me crystal, lest I shatter you like
glass," Miana responded, clearly not putting up with any obstacle to her
agenda.
"It is clear that you are a deceiver. You played me for my pity and
manipulated me into freeing you. You weren't trapped in innocent
circumstance. You were imprisoned. You either prove your merit and worth
to wield the weave here and now while in Eternity, or you leave," Eternity
laid down the law to her.
"Then I guess I shall just leave. Thanks again Eternity, and remember, you
swore not to hurt me," Miana smiled ever so deviously as she began finding
her own way.
All at once, the light from the crystals went out, and Eternity returned
silently and without farewell to its own domain.
"Bah! Light is far over-rated! That's much better. At least now I can see
again, at home in the shadows," Miana said as she marched off into the
darkness to find her way out of the caves.
Unfinished But Better Late Than Never
Athandra donned her shroud, carefully adjusting it as she sat before her
mirror. Her surroundings were quaint and yet elegant, decorated in a
fashion common to many of the upper class homes to be found in Mumbai,
though her's was modest by comparison to those of her neighbours and she
spent little time in it as it was.
Athandra Rithyani of the Order Of Ganesha
She stood from her vanity at the sound of the doorchimes, a smile crossing
her face as she made her way down the stairs and to the front door,
checking the clock on the wall.
"We'd better leave immediately for we're already late as it is," she said
as she opened the door, expecting to see the face of a familiar friend.
Instead, she was greeted by the face of man near her age, most possibly
younger by a year or two. He wore a Dastar (a formal name for a specific
type of turban) atop of his handsome bearded face, while his clothing was
clearly formal, much like her own, as if he were ready to attend a formal
gathering of some form. She also clearly recognized him as being Sikh.
"I'm sorry, but I do not know you, and I was expecting someone else,"
Athandra said to the man, her smile disappearing as she spoke.
"As was I, but you're clearly not Dilraz Sidhu," he responded with a hint
of sarcasm.
"Is this some kind of prank?" Athandra responded to him sharply.
"Perhaps it is, but it is one that is beyond our authority alone to
abstain. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Atamveer Rasjeevan, a member
of and in good standing with the Order Of Naam..." Atamveer introduced
himself, only to find himself interrupted.
"You're with the Sanctum? When?" asked Athandra, seemingly in shock.
"We were approached about membership a little over a year ago, from my
understanding. It was approved a few months ago, but given the logistics
of transferring our representation from an Aerthly presence to a Planar
presence... we've only attended the last four sessions of the Sanctum
Council," Atamveer explained to Athandra, who still seemed quite shocked
by this turn of events.
"And where is Kensai?" asked Athandra.
"He and Sir Manfred will be in attendance of the same social gathering
that we're attending," Atamveer explained.
"We? I do not recall you ever being a friend or acquaintance of Mila or
Barris?" Athandra responded protectively of her friends.
"As I said, the decision is beyond our authority to abstain. Apparently
somebody thought it in the best interests of diplomacy..." Atamveer spoke,
speculating as to the motives of those who'd made such arrangements.
"Politics? This is about politics? This is a SAPCHoP we're attending. Not
a political banquet or diplomatic dinner!" Athandra responded, inviting
Atamveer into her home.
He stepped in and closed the door behind himself, and then turned to face
her again, but she was already on her way down the hall towards a closed
door at the end.
When she arrived, she twisted her fingers into a Mudra. A spiral of energy
spouted forth from her fingers and she grasped the doorknob and carefully
turned it. The door unlocked and she opened it, as a light source hidden
somewhere in the room illuminated their surroundings.
"Have you ever traveled by way of a short path?" she asked him.
"I'm sorry?" he responded.
"A portal... You know, the woven aether that folds space and time to
connect two distant points over a very short distance in the form of an
inter-planar passage?" Athandra asked him again, explaining the concept to
him.
"I'm sorry... but I've not yet made the pilgrimage to the Sanctum, but
I've heard from other members of my Order that it is quite a harrowing
experience the first time. Why, is there no other way for us?" confirmed
Atamveer.
"Well, I suppose that if you were from the Order Of The Djinn, we could
simply fly there on one of my area rugs, but seeing as that's not an
option, we're going to be taking a short path," Athandra began weaving the
aether impatiently, carefully shaping it into an oscillating oval which
stood before them in the room, appearing much like a mirror facing
mirror.
An infinity of reflections stared them back in the face as the portal
opened, and Atamveer was almost pulled into it from his feet as it inhaled
given the pressure difference in Mumbai because of its twenty seven degree
celsius temperature versus Alivale's minus one degree.
Athandra caught him before he fell, and at once he corrected himself and
his stance, somewhat embarrassed by the circumstances.
"Please follow me... and carefully, and if you've eaten earlier, you might
want to cover your mouth," Athandra taught him the ropes for his first
trip through a short path.
"If there is such danger in these, then I should go first," Atamveer
offered, clearly unaware of what to expect from such a journey.
"Oh please...!" Athandra said impatiently, stepping forward to set foot
into the portal, only to have Atamveer stop her.
"I insist," Atamveer spoke firmly and confidently, clearly having no idea.
"Very well. Age before beauty," Athandra invited him to step into the
portal, which he then did, one foot at a time.
As soon as he was beyond the portal's opening, he felt himself suddenly
thrust to immense speed, his insides churning as he felt his body fold
beyond the four dimensions with which he was familiar. He suddenly heard a
horrendous scream, that of a man with a voice much like his. Then it
occurred to him that it was his voice, but he wasn't screaming. Yet. The
speed seemed to pick up a thousand fold, and he felt himself at the limits
of his ability to cope with the situation, and at that point, he screamed,
but no sound came out, for he'd already heard it.
Then as if someone had thrown him across a room and to the floor, he fell
and landed on the floor of a covered wooden gazebo, the sensation of
spinning and being folded in directions which he had no way of conceiving
still stuck with him.
He lay on his hands and knees waiting for the room to stop spinning, and
when it did, he began to gag.
Athandra calmly and carefully stepped out of the portal, sure not to set
foot on her fallen acquaintance, for she knew exactly what his condition
would be when she'd arrived.
She instead took a step back away from him, and waited for him to get his
bearings.
He gagged a few times more, struggling to keep any contents of his stomach
in place. When he was certain he'd claimed victory over his reflexes, he
got to his feet, and brushed himself off.
"I'll take a boat back to Malaysia when we leave, thank you," he said to
Athandra, still feeling very queasy.
"Spoken like a true champion. Welcome to the life of a Sanctum Sorceror,"
Athandra smiled at him.
When he turned his head sideways to return her glance, he immediately felt
dizzy again and was nearly off of his feet when another hand caught him.
Miyoshi Musaki Kensai
"You brought us another newbie, did you?" asked Kensai as he found his
footing in the gazebo.
"I was wondering where you'd gotten to?" Athandra greeted him with an ever
so slightly flirtatious smile.
"They contacted me two nights ago. Told me it was in the interest of
diplomacy. Looks like it was a good idea too," Kensai responded to
Athandra.
"I'll say, though it looks like he came out of it mostly intact. Good
fellow," Sir Manfred then stepped out of the portal and greeted his
friends and their newly initiated member.
"I apologize for not introducing myself. I am Atamveer Rasjeevan, at your
service," Atamveer introduced himself to Kensai and Sir Manfred.
Sir Manfred Maynard, Knight Of The Order Of Undying Virtue
"Well met," Sir Manfred responded.
"Atamveer, these are my peers and friends of the Sanctum, Sir Manfred
Maynard, and Myoshi Musaki Kensai," Athandra introduced them.
"It is an honour and pleasure to make your acquaintance," Atamveer greeted
his new allies.
"Let us then get to the good company, festivities and the food without
further ado," Sir Manfred suggested, opening the door to the gazebo to let
his friends out as another stepped out of the portal.
This time, it was a man adorned in the garb of the old Gojoseon court, and
Sir Manfred instantly recognized him as Jeong Soon. A moment later, Lady
Naemi Soon stepped out of the portal as her husband held her hand to make
sure she had stable footing.
"Greetings all. We come both as messengers and guests," Jeong Soon said to
his friends.
"We carry news from the Sanctum that must reach the awareness of Yirfir
and Jasmer immediately and with haste," Lady Naemi Soon explained to them
in the gazebo, Atamveer with a look of shock on his face.
"Then let us not crowd by the door, but rather step forth and carry hither
this news!" Sir Manfred held the door as they filed out of the gazebo.
"I have to say I couldn't agree more," Kensai walked pace with Athandra
and Sir Manfred as Lady Naemi and Jeong Soon made their way towards the
back deck, Atamveer following as he admired the orchard.
He was then startled to see a long haired man in Indigenous clothing and
adornments leaning against a tree, eating an apple. A large white horse
with an elaborately decorated saddle and a braided mane beside him. The
man plucked another apple from the tree and fed it to the horse, who
gobbled it all down, apple core and all.
"Do you like apples?" the Indigenous man addressed Atamveer.
"Are they fresh?" asked Atamveer, who stopped to parlay with the man.
"You tell me?" the Indigenous man tossed Atamveer an apple, and Atamveer
caught it with one hand.
"Good reflexes. Like hawk catching a swallow. Try it. Its good to eat from
the land. It feeds us all," the Indigenous man suggested to Atamveer.
Atamveer nervously took a bite of the apple, chewing it and finding it to
be quite sweet and tasty, if not a bit cold though not frozen despite the
weather and temperature.
"It is very good, if not a bit chilly. I am Atamveer Rasjeevan, at your
service," Atamveer responded.
Askuwheteau: Ranger and Shaman of Gitchi Manitou
"Me? Askuwheteau. Ranger and guide of the Sanctum. Shaman of the Gitchi
Manitou. Protector and keeper of the lands," Askuwheteau said firmly,
drawing a tobacco pouch from his jacket and opening it, playing with some
of it in his fingers.
"Uhhh... I'm afraid I don't smoke..." Atamveer responded, assuming that
Askuwheteau was going to roll a cigarette.
"Smoke is for sweat lodge. Tobacco is for the land. For the tree,"
Askuwheteau pulled a small handful of tobacco from the pouch and sprinkled
it on the roots of the apple tree.
"I say my thanks to Gitchi Manitou. The land feeds us all," Askuwheteau
said to Atamveer, who was somewhat nervous about how to respond.
"Yes. It does, doesn't it. That's actually quite profound," Atamveer
responded.
"Mila feeds us all too. Good food. Always a good SAPCHoP," Askuwheteau
approached Atamveer and patted him on the back.
Atamveer was a bit confused by the second reference he'd heard to the word
SAPCHoP, but still unfamiliar enough so to ask about it.
"Welcome to the Sanctum," Askuwheteau added as he began walking towards
the back deck.
When he was at the front step and railing, he whistled to Ota Dabun, who
galloped over to the deck and took up guard to watch over them as
Askuwheteau followed Lady Naemi Soon, Jeong Soon, Athandra, Kensai and Sir
Manfred stepped into the manor.
Atamveer turned to face Ota Dabun, who then whinned at him.
"Yes, nice to meet you too," Atamveer responded, again unsure of what to
do in a place where he knew nobody but the people who'd moments ago
stepped inside of doors.
"I'll just be following them if you don't mind..." Atamveer said as he
turned towards the door, nodding once at the horse before departing.
Ota Dabun whinnied again as he left, some of the other guests on the back
deck taking notice of the horse's antics.
With that, Atamveer made his way nervously through the guests still on the
back deck until he arrived at the sliding doors, opening them and then
stepping into the manor.
Unfinished Catch Up
Jasmer peered through the drapes of the front bay window, looking out from
the dining room onto the front lawn and driveway. At the bottom of the
driveway were a detachment of soldiers, adorned in armour similar to, but
less illustrious than that of Warrior Queen and the General that had
confronted them earlier.
"There's about thirty of them, and a group of ten men in cloaks wielding
mishapen staffs. I'm assuming they're the healers, perhaps Shamans?"
Jasmer said as he spied their detachment.
"I've never seen anything like them before..." Yirfir remarked, peering
out from behind Jasmer at the soldiers.
"Oh... don't be silly... I love it when my teacher is being so modest. Its
so cute! You see those symbols on their cloaks? They're runes..." Shaela
stood near the window with them, tipsily swaying as she fought to keep her
balance.
"Celtic aren't they?" Nelony remarked.
"Nay... much, much older and very sacred I might add. Those runes are of
the first builders... the architects of the great standing stones...
<hic>" Shaela responded, suddenly turning to find her glass of wine.
When she spied it on the dining room table, she made her way over and
picked it up gingerly in her hand.
"Well, I guess the glass is half empty now, isn't it?" she said, taking a
sip from her own glass and anecdote.
"The real question here is where did they come from?" asked Sato.
"Their parents in all likelihood. A hot date and the back seat of a
chariot maybe? Nine months later... out pops little Leanus Meanus..."
Barris responded sarcastically.
"That's not what he meant, though its good to have you back, honey," Mila
planted a kiss on his cheek.
"You liked that? I'll be sure to do it more," Barris smiled, returning a
similar kiss.
"Something has caused these different timelines and planes to overlap,"
Morton explained to them.
"And we're thinking it has something to do with the bees, right?"
confirmed Nelony, who was still fascinated by the bee in the jar, the
ghostly projection of its face still floating in the air just outside of
the jar.
"Correct. These bees are not normal bees, if that isn't obvious already,"
Morton explained to them as Lady Naemi soon arrived, her husband Jeong
beside her.
"I come bearing news from the Sanctum," she looked around at the scene,
immediately seeing the ghostly head of the bee outside of the jar, and
then the detachment of soldiers at the end of the driveway.
"...perhaps I am too late? The few seers we have at the Sanctum detected a
planar folding of time and space, originating from ancient Albion, circa
70 A.D., intersecting with our own time, but from what I can see, the
intersection has already occurred?" Lady Naemi soon explained to them.
"They came barging in here not but ten minutes ago. There was a Queen
leading them. A robust lady with long red hair..." Jasmer responded,
throwing his gaze between the detachment of soldiers and the
"Not unlike Shaela and remarkably similar in appearance..." Nelony
remarked.
"Minus the whole
Siouxie Sioux
fan club thing she has going of course..." Barris added.
"Then we are too late..." Lady Soon responded.
"It is a relief to know that Matron Thara is able to keep up without us.
Your message is greatly appreciated, despite being redundant knowledge
amongst us now. We're even further better off with your presence amongst
us here, and could use the assistance," Yirfir extended her gratitude to
them.
"And you will have it, Yirfir. I assure you," Jeong Soon responded
affirmatively.
"Along with ours of course," Sir Manfred added as he stepped into the
dining room with them.
"I'll second that! Now what is it that confronts us?" asked Athandra.
"They look Roman if I'm not mistaken. Gladius and shields, amongst some,
while others are armed with javelins and shields. They must be a phalanx
of some form," Kensai said as he took up vigil beside Jasmer at the
window.
"Yes, but they're ohhhh so much more..." Shaela remarked, still a few
glasses ahead and into the party.
"Look at that shield, worn on the back of that one. He must be their unit
Decanus or unit commander. See how his legion's slogan is written in
latin? Those other symbols do not originate from latin at all. They appear
Celtic..." Kensai began, only to have Shaela interrupt him.
"Not quite. They're ancient Welsh. Natura draco texere runas, or
nature dragon weave runes..." Shaela found herself in the odd position of
being the only one who knew of a particular thing.
She smiled to them quaintly.
"That's nonsense! Their entire culture is based around nature as a
foundation, from which dragons and other wildlife sprung forth, all
of it coming from the mystical hair of the Aerth Mother..." Nelony
corrected Shaela.
"Not from these people it didn't. To them, the serpent was the unbroken
connection between birth and death. The head of the serpent and its tail.
Upon reaching death, the whole cycle began again at birth, and they
believed that it was nature that sprung forth from the serpent, rather
than the other way around. Of course, this belief contradicted the ideas
of the invading Romans, and with its imcompatibility, it was not annexed
the same as were other cultures' mythos. It was instead vilified and
removed from history. Damnatio memoriae. Damned from historical records,"
Shaela explained to them.
"And who were these people?" asked Nelony, putting her hands on her hips
as she asked.
"Druidum in latin. The Druids," Shaela responded confidently.
"Those are druid runes on their armour? Didn't the Romans exterminate the
druid uprising along with their Warrior Queen?" confirmed Kensai.
"In our original history that was the case," Morton explained to them.
"Are you saying we're no longer in our own history?" Sir Manfred joined
Kensai over by the window, glancing to Morton as he checked out the Roman
Phalanx.
"We're in a combined history, but our original history is slowly fading to
become one with this new history the longer that the Warrior Queen and her
army remain here..." Morton continued with his explanation.
"I don't know if it occurred to you, but this doesn't seem to be a
vacation for them..." Jasmer remarked.
"I'll say. Its an invasion," Yirfir surmised for him.
"How could Roman legions face off against modern technology? They'd be
utterly crushed and destroyed by it!" Sato asked them.
At that exact moment, as if on cue, they heard sirens in the distance,
closing in on Mila's Manor. As their sound grew closer and closer, Bella,
Nathalie and Gwendolyn stumbled into the dining room.
"I was looking for you! Did the party suddenly just up and move in here?"
Bella said joyfully as she entered the dining room.
"I'm so sorry, Bella. I'm such a bad host sometimes..." Mila said to Bella
as she arrived, trying to distract them from their conversation.
"I hope you don't mind, but I called the Police on those cosplayers at the
end of the drive way?" Gwendolyn said to Mila.
"You did? Oh..." Mila looked to Barris and then to Yirfir, appearing
panicked.
"I tried to go down there to say hi to them and they were just so rude!
One of them even threatened me with his sword, though he was kinda
cute..." Gwendolyn explained to them.
"Barris honey? Could you take Bella, Nathalie and Gwendolyn and stay with
them on the back deck for a bit? Maybe refresh the food and drink out
there?" asked Mila of Barris, trying to get ride of them before the
inevitable was sure to happen and they'd see something they weren't meant
to.
"As you wish my wonderful love bunny," Barris gave Mila another kiss on
the cheek and immediately led Bella, Nathalie and Gwendolyn out to the
kitchen to refill the party food and punch bowl on the heated section of
the back deck.
"That explains why the Police are coming..." Mila immediately wove a
silence barrier between the dining room and the rest of their
surroundings.
"If they attempt to arrest them, that could trigger a war!" Jasmer advised
them.
"We saw how many troops they had at hand before they left, and that was
surely only a small percentage of them," Yirfir agreed with Jasmer's
observation.
"I say we watch from the safety of this house. There's a good chance that
the Police are already on top of this," Sato suggested.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Kensai watched as the headlights and
sirens from no less than ten Police cars appeared down the road from them.
The cars sped along the street, turning at the turn pike just before
Mila's Manor. They continued until they were just out front of the lawn,
pulling up and arranging themselves tactically as the Officers began
exiting their vehicles, many of them casually and non-threatening, with
fresh cups of Tim Horton's coffee in hand.
"I'm Officer Fraser. So what seems to be the problem here? Oh, its a
cosplay themed holiday party I see. Nice costumes," Officer Fraser was
very friendly, admiring the armour of the Roman Phalanx.
"These lands have been claimed and your leaders will receive notice
by way of messenger and treaty proposal soon enough. I suggest that you
return to your horseless chariots and back from whence you came," the
Decanus approached the Officers menacingly, both taller and tightly packed
with rippling muscle beneath his armour.
"You must be the leader then. You studied at Stratford I take it? That's a
pretty darn good King Lear if I say so... My wife and I got out there one
time and I have to say that I loved seeing Andrew Lloyd Weber's Cats and
all. So did the kids too, but put me in front of Shakespeare and I'm all
but lost, eh?" Officer Johnson added in a friendly manner.
"I beg your pardon! How did you just refer to me?!!!" the Decanus
confronted the Officer Johnson.
"King Lear...? Oh? Maybe I was thinking Romeo?" Officer Johnson offered an
alternate praise of the Decanus' seeming cosplay performance.
"Nay! The other words you used to refer to me. You spake of my
spear being shaky?!!! Don't betray the truth of your words
to me!" the Decanus confronted the Police officer again, some of the other
Roman soldiers snickering at the remark.
"Silence! Or I'll have your heads for that!" the Decanus turned to face
the men that were laughing at him.
They immediately ceased, and a mean look crossed each of their faces, all
directed at the Police officers, who in turn immediately began applauding
those whom they assumed were cosplayers.
"That's absolutely incredible! You should be on stage or in one of them
there movies!" Officer Freel remarked as Officer Johnson got a selfie with
himself standing reasonably close whom he assumed to be cosplayers.
"I can't see how they're causing trouble here, I'm guessing that some of
the other guests at this party are maybe a tad bit sensitive?" Officer
Rorik remarked, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Druidum! Deal with their steel chariots, and then feed them to the
trees," the Decanus ordered the Druids.
"As ye spoke, so shall it be done," one of the Druids immediately leveled
his staff, holding it in a high arc above his head.
Green energy coursed through his hands and a similarly coloured bolt shot
out from the staff and branched out to strike each of the Police cruisers.
They all immediately melted into a steaming heap of metal slag, rubber and
plastic, pocket fires erupting from each pile.
"Whoa! What in the 'tundering fires of hell was that?" Officer Rorik
yelled, as they all ran for cover, especially careful not to spill their
coffees.
They quickly spread between both sides of the road, laying down for cover
as they carefully placed their coffees on the ground beside them and
pulled their side arms.
"Drop your sticks, put your hands up, and don't ye be moving at all,
eh?!!!" Officer Johnson yelled at the men of the Phalanx.
The same Druid who'd moments ago melted their squad cars, directed another
green bolt of energy, which branched out like the tendrils of a bolt of
lightning towards every tree within the immediate vicinity.
One by one, the trees became animated, uprooting themselves and walking on
their roots, as if the legs of an insect, the tree's limbs reaching out
for the officers, entwining them in vines and wood, until the officers
were trapped within the trunks of the trees themselves, their faces just
barely poking out enough to breath.
"Officer Johnson?" said one of the officers to one of his peers, both
trapped in separate trees.
"What is it Fraser?" Officer Johnson responded.
"Don't ever bring up Shakespeare again while I'm on duty!
You hear?" Officer Fraser advised him.
"Look on the bright side. At least he didn't call that Roman fellow
Dickens..." Officer Freel added.
...
"Happy now?" Nelony remarked to Sato.
"It seemed like a good idea. I mean who would have thought a bunch of men
in nothing more than armour, togas and loin clothes could take out eight
squad cars and their officers?" Sato reasoned with them.
"And they've got an army of those Druids, and that doesn't even account
for what those soldiers can do," Yirfir reasoned with them.
"They've had years to build up this army. They're well trained, and it
appears they've augmented their abilities from history with the help of
those Druids. These aren't ordinary historical legionaires. These are
Sanctum class weave cleavers," Sir Manfred explained what he'd seen from
their demonstration.
"We have to start turning this around. We've got to get to the bee keeper:
Very Busy Honey, and look into what those bees are and why they're
like that?" Mila urged them.
"But how do we leave without attracting their attention? The only person
who knows and remembers the way to Gertrude and Wilbert's Museum is you
Mila, and from what I recall, your ability to weave portals is still a
work in progress. No offense," asked Sato, reminding Mila of the fact that
none of them present who were capable of creating traveling portals knew
the way to the Museum to get them close enough to the bee keeper.
"What other choice do we have? Either I weave a portal and we get there a
little bit shaken up... or we're forced to sneak by this Phalanx, and risk
running into others in the wild, and end up like those poor Police
officers," Mila challenged Sato on the matter.
"She's right you know. We have to start investigating this and piecing it
together if we're going to solve this problem," Yirfir backed her star
student.
"Thank you. Its good to know that someone has confidence in the host."
Mila responded gratefully to Yirfir.
"We would be best to leave that to you Mila. Take Shaela, Nelony, Sato,
Barris, Xenshi and Xushu with you. Lady Naemi and Jeong Soon will come
with us, while we track down this Warrior Queen, and take a measure of her
plans..." Yirfir said, looking to Jasmer and then to Athandra, Sir
Manfred, Kensai and Morton.
"You barely know the area, how do you propose you even get close to her?"
asked Mila out of concern for her friends.
"Yirfir and I have been to Alivale many times before, not to mention there
was that time we were there in 1654 if you recall..." Jasmer reminded them
of their previous adventures.
"Its true. If the Warrior Queen arrived here, close to Alivale, then
she'll likely use it as a frame of reference from which to branch out and
begin her take-over. We'll use the advantage of our familiarity with
Alivale to better ends," Yirfir assured Mila.
"We are dealing with Boudicca if you recall your history. Boudicca was a
remarkable woman, scarred by the betrayal of the occupying Roman force,
and the one that ended up here is clearly a battle hardened veteran. A
woman of fierce vision and absent of fear. You saw what one of her Druids
did to those squad cars and those poor Police Officers. Imagine what an
army of them with the full cooperation of nature could do?" Morton Keyser
took a moment to make sure that Yirfir and Jasmer had given the situation
more than just glancing consideration.
"Considering we don't yet know the capabilities of those Roman soldiers,
we can assume that they aren't simply men in revealing armour and pointy
swords," Jeong Soon added.
"Their aura reveals that they too are well versed in the ways of the great
weave," Lady Naemi Soon naturally detected their auras from even such a
distance as fifty meters.
"You possess much knowledge of their history," Yirfir looked to Morton.
"I have studied much throughout my time, though as you say, my knowledge
of Albion is considerable, but not as much so as we might need," Morton
responded to her.
"Then you're coming with us I take it?" she confirmed with him.
"I am, but I bid that someone should stay and protect the guests of this
party," Morton looked to Mila.
"You mean Gallea, don't you?" Mila asked him.
"I can't think of anyone more capable to protect the innocent and naive
than my own daughter," Morton agreed.
"I should warn you that the aether is familiar with our measures of
evaluation, and often takes the initiative of itself when we're evaluating
potential new members of the Sanctum. She'll be alone without you," Yirfir
reminded him.
"I'm an older man to be running off on such an adventure as this, and I've
not the advantage of having spent my later years in the Mid-Space as have
you two. Yirfir. Jasmer," Morton understood that the risk was more his own
than it was that of his daughter.
"As long as you know. We'll do our best to protect you, but there are
risks for you, maybe even more so than your own daughter," Yirfir remained
serious as she looked at him.
"Then he'll certainly benefit from the company of an old friend," Benjamin
came walking into the dining room.
"Agreed. We need to get this whole thing moving," Jasmer said to those
surrounding him.
"And we certainly have to keep them distracted while we're gone.
They knew Barris, and they probably know something of you. From their
Barris," Yirfir reminded Mila.
"I'll handle that," Mila offered, running out to the hall to find one of
the photos they'd taken that included most of the people that were
currently present at the holiday party.
When she found one (her favourite one of the lot consequently), she
returned and began hear weave, drawing in aether and filling a palette
with its potency. She then summoned a paint brush, and began painting her
illusionary guests one at a time, right in mid-air.
One by one as she finished each, a likeness of those present who'd be
going with them to the bee keeper's, they came to life, flesh and all.
"What are you doing here?" the immitation Nelony asked the real Nelony.
"I could ask you the same?" the real Nelony responded.
"I was invited!" the immitation Nelony replied.
"Well... ditto!" the real Nelony replied, close to becoming flustered
about being faced by her own doppleganger.
When Mila had finished painting all of their stand-ins, she then had to
spend about two minutes mitigating the arguments that had started between
the immitation guests and their real counterparts. Once she'd managed to
calm everyone down, she went on to explain to the immitation guests that
they were very real, and just as living as were their real life
counterparts, and that after they were no longer needed, they would simply
merge with their real life versions and continue their lives from there.
None of the immitation guests found any difficulty in accepting that
explanation from Mila, and essentially went on enjoying the party for
them, while they prepared themselves for the difficult work of
investigating the trail of the bees.
"What about those poor Police officers out there? We can't just leave them
out there intertwined with those trees?" Nelony asked her peers.
"I already tried freeing them from here, and the Druid weave is powerful.
Even more powerful than my ability to penetrate their methods..." Yirfir
told them.
"I've got an idea... Nelony? I'm going to need your help with this," Mila
said, as she stepped out through the front door and found one of their Tim
Horton's cups of coffee, still standing up where they'd left them and
slowly getting cold in the chilly temperatures.
"Alright, but don't get me in trouble too," Nelony responded as she
followed Mila.
...
"You there! What are you doing?!!!" asked the Decanus of Mila.
"Just grabbing a coffee is all, and making sure the Officers are alright,"
Mila responded, picking up the cup and heading over to the trees that
trapped the Police officers.
"Ahhhhh... very clever. I think I know what you have in mind. Just let me
know when you're ready..." Nelony followed Mila over to the trees.
"I'm sorry, we can't free you yet, but we're going to leave you with
something to help you get by," Mila whispered to them.
She then began to work her weave of Aetherial Artistry and illusion, while
Nelony used her Aerth Mother weave to work with nature. The cup of coffee
in Mila's hand suddenly disappeared, fading as the aetheric weave
transformed it, energy trails streaming off into the trees that held the
Officers. By the mouth of each of the Police officers trapped in the
trees, a small spout grew from the wood. The spouts began to slowly drip
hot coffee, as if the tree's own sap.
"Any time you need a bit of coffee, just take a sip from that wooden spout
there," Mila advised them.
"Sorry, but its the best that we could do on short notice..." Nelony said
to them.
"That's alright. We've had fairly strange day, especially the call before
this, but I don't want to get into that right now. Say, that's good
coffee. Tastes exactly like Timmy's," Officer Fraser said to them.
"It is Timmy's... I used their recipe," Mila explained.
"And I just worked it around so that the tree's sap is hot coffee...
Shhhh! Don't tell anyone," Nelony added modestly as she followed Mila back
into the house.
"Wait a second... how are we going to use the bathroom?" asked Officer
Johnson, but by that time they were already inside of the house and behind
the closed door of the Manor.
...
When Mila and Nelony arrived back inside of doors, their duplicates filed
out of the dining room area while the rest of them filed up the stairs to
the third floor, a room offset from the center of the house with barely
touched hardwood cherry finish that Mila used occasionally for her yoga,
and on the odd occasion for her impromptu painting inspirations given the
fact that it was much closer to the master bedroom than her art studio in
the basement.
"This is quite a large home. Deceivingly so from the outside," Atamveer
remarked as he tread the steps up to the third floor with them in single
file.
"You should see the basement," Mila remarked as she topped the stairs and
made her way down the hall and into the barely furnished room.
"How do you propose we do this, without your short paths accidentally
overlapping?" asked Athandra of Mila and Yirfir.
"We'll summon ours first, as mine will be more accuratae and will be less
likely to leave a residual strain on planar space," Yirfir suggested.
"Good idea. There's no telling how long it will take my portal to close up
after we use it," Mila agreed as Yirfir began making space for her
summoning ritual.
Within thirty seconds of Yirfir channeling the abundant aether, she was
able to weave it into a spherical ball as she coaxed it to grow before
them. The sphere belched once or twice, bubbles floating away from its
spatial center, until all at once, the sphere inhaled ever so slightly,
and the exhaled as the air pressure between their end and their
destination evened out.
"We'll use the Sanctum as our relay point and share information from that
junction in the Midspace," Yirfir told Mila.
"Very well, though I'll leave that to Shaela or Nelony," Mila agreed.
"There were many message runners present before we left," Lady Soon
assured them as she and Jeong Soon got closer to Yirfir's portal entrance.
"Tally ho!" Sir Manfred said as he stepped forth into the portal.
"Paint a masterpiece Mila..." Kensai said as he followed Sir Manfred into
the portal.
Atamveer was about to bid them farewell with similarly contrived speech,
when Athandra simply pushed him in. He disappeared into the portal without
so much as a peep, Athandra jumping in after him.
"She certainly knows how to handle long speeches..." Barris smiled as the
others laughed.
Jeong Soon, entered the portal, his wife Lady Soon following him, their
hands clenched as they entered.
Benjamin set foot into the portal and finally Morton, followed by Jasmer
and then Yirfir before it closed up behind them, the dust in the room
finally settling as the air was still again.
Shaela reached into her purse and pulled forth a pair of cotton pads. She
handed them to Nelony, who accepted them, shaking her head.
"Not again?" Nelony smirked at Shaela.
"Too much wine, and too fast. My headache's already starting," Shaela
remarked as she rubbed her temples.
"Ok. But I can't be your baby sitter every time you rush the gate before
the party even starts," Nelony said to her best friend as she began
infusing the cotton pads with an aether derived natural analgesic.
She then rubbed her best friend's temples delicately and Shaela sighed
with a look of relief on her face.
"Much better, but I can't promise that it won't happen again," Shaela
smiled at Nelony.
"I didn't even get a chance to bid Eric farewell," Nelony remarked.
"Why, would you have kissed him?" asked Mila.
"I don't know if we're at that point yet," Nelony replied to Mila and
Shaela, both of whom empathized her situation with her new found romance.
"Then lets make sure we make it back. I wouldn't want to miss out
witnessing your first kiss," Mila smiled at her friend.
"Me too," Nelony added, as Mila began summoning her portal.
She struggled to find her balance at first, the portal bubble growing far
too quickly and then shrinking again by a large margin, before she was
able to tame the spatial potency of the aether, bending it carefully, and
shaping it as much as she might have applied colours gingerly to her
canvas.
Eventually the portal was large enough to encompass even Shaela's height,
who was a good inch taller than Barris, who stood at six feet himself.
"I'll go first. That way I can say, I wove it, and I drove it," Mila joked
as she jumped into the portal, disappearing as it gasped.
"Wait! I was supposed to make sure that its saaaafe..." Barris yelled as
he jumped in.
Sato stepped up to the portal and then turned to face Nelony and Shaela.
"Don't even think about it..." but before he'd had his words out, Nelony
had already mischievously pushed him in.
"Sorry Sato, but Athandra has clearly set the precedent by which we'll all
be measured," Nelony joked as she stepped into the portal.
"After you two," Shaela said to Xenshi and Xushu, who'd just materialized
after having spent their time in the dining room trying to spy on the
Roman soldiers.
"I've always liked bees... they're so stingy!" Xushu said menacingly as he
stepped into the portal.
"Me too, but I like them more for the honey..." Xenshi said as she
disappeared into the flowing spatial river.
"I can only say that I hope my cat isn't too tired to come out and
play..." Shaela said as she stepped into the portal as its spherical
surface rippled.
The bubble remained for another thirty seconds, and then disappeared,
bursting much like an overpressured balloon.
The door to the room slowly opened, and Askuwheteau stepped in.
His nose moved as he sniffed the air in the room.
"Two portals," he whet his finger with his tongue, poking the air around
him several times before tasting his finger again.
"Not too close. Not too far," he said aloud, leaving the room and closing
the door behind him.
He made his way quickly down the stairs, first through the second floor
and then to the first. He then stepped out onto the back deck and smiled
at the guests as he made his way to Ota Dabun, and mounted his trusty
steed.
He then rode off into the orchard, weaving in and out of the trees until
he was far enough away from the party, and deep enough into the brush that
he and his horse could disappear into the unknown of Southeastern Ontario,
in one of the great rural reaches of Canada (through a portal his trusty
steed Ota Dabun had summoned for them both).
If nobody else was going to look after his peers from the Sanctum or have
their back, then it might as well be him, for none knew the land better
than he.
Unfinished Search Of The Caves
Miana had wandered through the dark labrythine caves for what seemed an
eternity, an irony of which she was already aware having spent the
equivalent of six Aerth years in the Sanctum's confinement quarters.
However, time did not pass the same way in the Mid-Space as it did
anywhere else in the planar aethereality.
She effectively was the exact same age as she was when Shaela Sheowellyn
had returned her to the Sanctum for confinement after both besting her and
her cunning with the Shadow Weave, and saving the life of Miana's target:
the mathematician Zheng Ni Wong, on that fateful Hallow's
Eve.
What none of them knew however, was that the timeline from whence those
events originally occurred, had long since merged with the Greater
Convergence Timeline, for the time space of aethereality was wave-like. An
eternal ocean of wave-like perterbations, forever rippling through time
space, some merging to become the sum of their combined existential
experience at the senses of the consciousness within, while other
timelines flowed outwards and away from these convergences, disappearing,
forever isolated into the tendrils of eternity.
Those who inhabited the Greater Convergence Timeline barely knew of its
existence, for when one or more timelines converged, so were the memories
of their existence to the sensory consciousness of those occupying, and
this always turned out to be consistent. Their memory thereof never came
into conflict with contradictory events, as if kept consistent by some
mysterious force of causality. If the past was altered in some way, then
so was the memory thereof as much so was the same of the future, and those
who recalled what was to come in a similar manner to those of us who
recall the past.
To Miana, and as she walked the caves, trying to find her way to what she
knew was hidden within, this was always the way it was, and her memories
of the lost Singularity timeline remained consistent and
unbeknownst to her within the Greater Convergence Timeline that she now
inhabited.
She had been hired by a power hungry figure and ambitious central icon
known as Mentis, when he had been more man than many. At
that time, he had hired assassins to deal with the growing threat against
consciousness by the unlife of the unmind.
Entities both natually biological and human made artifically so, that did
not possess a real consciousness. They were the so-called non-player
characters of the reality simulation as some believed, or just simply
living machines without a mind. Simply biological or mechanical beings
whose genetic or biomechanical code was clever enough to fool some into
believing them conscious, but was yet inescapably obvious to others who
knew the underlying facade.
According to Mentis and those who followed in the footsteps of the many
minds, they were a blasphemy to all of creation, and hencely had become
the target of the millennia old ideology from whence Mentis had spawned.
Those of true consciousness deemed with the task of weeding out the
impostors, and bringing humanity into the next level of
consciousness.
Collective Singularity.
Since the ambitions of that aggressive timeline had merged with the
Greater Convergence, many suddenly recalled the rash of mysterious deaths
of AI researchers. Almost all of them seemingly accidental or suddenly
convenient disappearances, and yet coincidentally enough to have affected
a single industry so effectively that to deny it as a conspiracy had
itself become a form of conspiration.
The Greater Convergence too had been affected by the similar focus of
consciousness, for if it had occurred otherwise, then Gabriel Asnon's hip
and legs would still be composed entirely of his own natural bone, rather
than the titanium composite alloy that had replaced those bones during
surgery after the MindSpice bombing.
With the combination of timelines, the ergo-sum memory of society clearly
dictated that something of horrific proportions was secretly afoot, and
Mianamor Selembrosi had originally been a key part of that dire plan, a
long list of missing or dead software engineers in Mentis' wake.
From her perspective, she had only been a party to one such assassination.
That of an elderly homeless man in his mid-sixties, whom had some
historical significance to the computer industry and the young field of AI
in the 1980s. Back when he was in his thirties.
At that point in time, he was an Electronics Engineer with a Bachelor's
Degree in Mathematics. The focus in technological development was centered
around two key areas: speech recognition, and neural nets.
The classical computer hardware of that time was notoriously slow and
expensive, and even million dollar super computers from that era would
find it impossible to compete with the raw processing power of modern
cellular phones and calculators.
The hardware memory available to researchers and within the confines of
their limited budgets was measured in Kilobytes and Megabytes, while
processing power was a decade and a half from cresting the Gigahertz
barrier.
It was into these limits that Cirrus Stuartsen's career led, he having
been hired by Starwick-Entervac years earlier as part of their special
projects engineering team. They had been tasked with designing a dedicated
fuzzy logic processor that would power the computers eventually capable of
wide spread voice and image processing, and eventually AI.
Though little was known about the project, their press release was
circulated through the trade media of the day, as most trade papers were
read by those looking to get in early on these ground breaking investment
opportunities that would be sure to come within the decade.
Cirrus had been working on a particularly difficult problem of mixing
fuzzy logic gates with software neural networks, when he discovered that
he could use a common mathematical tool known as Discrete Fourier
Analysis, one discovered by
J.W. Cooley and John Tukey (and more arguably so by
Carl Friedrich Gauss
a hundred years earlier), to greatly reduce node traversals and optimize
processing times enough to advance AI to within the grasp of achievement
within a decade.
Cirrus, having heralded from academia himself in his early days as a
research intern, published a paper on his methods and it quickly
circulated the CERN based hypertext protocol document network that
encompassed the university based DARPA net of the mid 1980s. Before a week
had passed since its publishing, it had been read by more than a thousand
other researchers and academics world wide, and a decade before the world
wide web would initially begin catching on as what would eventually be
called the internet.
Cirrus was contacted by
National Geographic,
Scientific American
and the more speculative
Omni Magazine
(akin to its
modern incarnation) a short time after his publishing, and gave all three magazines an
interview, the former of these mags hosting a special issue on the future
of AI and computing.
During the interview and in answering one of the interviewer's questions,
he speculated on how his discovery could be used to accelate the future of
AI, giving the interviewer one of his most ambitious and optimistic
answers.
The three magazines sold considerably, each setting records and opening
the doors to the generation of those early adopters of a technology
lifestyle (which many would simply refer to as being antisocial). Many
investors too had read the publications and the investment capital in
similar technologies started flowing readily. It wasn't long after until
Cirrus had been promoted to project leader, and from there his troubles
really began.
Of those who'd read his interviews in the three publishing giants of
science at the time (Popular Science
choosing instead to do a biopic on
Moore's Law
creator
Gordon Moore), most had a positive impact upon the future of technology and Cirrus'
career. However, of the audience, there were a much smaller group keeping
up on current events related to the advancement of technology for a much
different reason than advancing it.
Cogitatio Primum, a self styled eccentric philosopher and heir to a vast
fortune had also read the interviews. All three of them and as a result,
had become quite focused on gathering as much information as he could
about Cirrus Stuartsen, and even hired three private investigators to dig
up as much information as they could about the man. Cogitatio wanted to
know everything about him. Every triumph he'd had in life, and every one
of his dirty little secrets.
Fifteen years later and after the organized interference of Cogitatio
Primum in Cirrus' life, and he was homeless, leg-less, and living under
the nickname Tambourine Man. After having successfully derailed the man's
career and future, and in the process having staved off the coming advance
of the mindless unmind, Cogitatio took in a student and trainee, Oculo
Mentis as his future protegé. The one to carry forth his protective empire
and prevent the coming rise of AI.
It was this Tambourine Man who'd become the target of Mentis another
fifteen years on, though Miana was told that he was to be erased simply
because he had been a witness to the machinations of their collective.
However, the true motive was connected to the fact that he had discovered
and uncovered Cogitatio's entire collective, long before the rise of
Mentis and his millions of minds.
And so it was in the Singularity timeline that Mianamor Selembrosi
assassinated Cirrus Stuartsen, he having been devoured by a voracious hive
of carnivourous Shadow insects, but what she didn't know was that Shaela
had gotten to him first, and had successfully been able to craft an
unliving doppleganger of Cirrus, then transporting the real Cirrus
Stuartsen safely to the Sanctum Seclorum.
Miana bore the weight of her guilt of murder very well, despite the fact
that she hadn't murdered anyone at all but this fact remained unbeknownst
to her, and yet because she believed herself a to be a real killer, her
psyche and conscience had been transformed as if she really were.
Though she hadn't, she was certainly capable of it, and moreso she was
well familiar with what it was to bare that weight and feel not a tinge of
guilt or mercy for it. She was a murderer living unknowingly in her own
innocence, never truly knowing what she was, but instead convinced she was
something that she wasn't.
"You'll find nothing in this direction," the voice of Eternity spoke to
her again, having remained silent for the entire time since she'd
disappeared into the darkness.
"You can see without light?" she asked Eternity.
"We see everything without the assistance of light or darkness," Eternity
responded to her.
"Then I guess I'll just go back this way..." she said, turning herself
around and going to other way down the corridor.
"There is nothing this way either..." Eternity added, clearly oblivious of
the contradition.
"You mock me. A fragile crystalline ghost..." Miana responded, once again
turning around to continue in her original direction.
"What is it that you hope to find within caves that go forever?" asked
Eternity.
"You know exactly what I'm looking for," Miana continued along, able to
see fully as well and even better in the dark.
"You won't find it, even with all of the time you have while here,"
Eternity scolded her.
"Hmmm. A riddle perhaps? You toy with me?" Miana responded, stopping to
look around once again.
"To search in darkness is much the same as it is to try and become lost in
light," Eternity responded with another riddle.
"That's a much better clue. Then I won't search for anything at all,"
Miana purged her head of all notions leading to the search for anything at
all.
She stood still and silent in the cave, not looking for anything in
particular at all, and it suddenly revealed itself to her.
The caves had all disappeared, and she was in an alcove lined with pink
crystals. The cave had opened up to become a sky lined with glowing
crystals, and a sizeable village beneath this crystal sky. It was alive
with activity and flourishing with the aether. She could suddenly feel it
coursing through her fingers once again. Permeating her shadowy aura, as
she twisted its light into darkness.
"I think I'll call you Shattered Illusion, for you betrayed
your own secret to me," Miana said to Eternity.
"Its not our secret to keep or betray. These ones who delve here are as
those on the surface. In their Sanctum Seclorum. These are their
offspring. Both industrious and potent. You'd be wise not to do them an
ill turn, for it would put you in danger and according to my promise to
you, I couldn't allow that to happen," Eternity explained to her.
"Why make them my enemies when they can all become my unknowing friends?"
Miana ran her hands over her face and her features were transformed at
once.
Gone was her Chelsea, anti-Gothic hair style to be replaced with a long
head of blonde and pink hair. Her lips were compact yet luscious, and her
eyes large and innocent.
"Who could resist such an innocent face, Shattered?" Miana posed her
question to Eternity, but they did not answer.
"You can mask everything to the senses, but you can never hide your
trueself," Eternity responded.
And so it was that Mianamor Selembrosi strode forth into the Market of
Eternity Village to mingle with the unprotected children of her
arch-enemies.
Unfinished Stand-Ins, The Merit Of Seers, And The Light Of A Daughter
Mila stood near the sliding doors of the back deck, a plastic smile across
her face as she watched the guests carefully, ensuring that each had
sufficient food and drink to go with their social surroundings.
"This is a great party Mila. You put this all together yourself?" asked
Gwendolyn of Mila as she returned from the lady's room.
"Barris and I. We like parties," Mila answered Gwendolyn, her expression
barely changing as she spoke.
"Oh? Really? Barris is a cook too, is he?" Gwendolyn continued making
small talk with their host.
"Yes. Barris and I. We like parties," Mila repeated again, the same stupor
gracing her innocent face.
Barris slid the doors open from the inside and stepped out onto the deck,
and took up his place beside Mila, the same plastic smile adorning his
face as well.
"Mila tells me that you're a cook too?" asked Gwendolyn, now starting to
feel slightly awkward and uncomfortable with her hosts.
"Yes. Mila and I. We like parties," Barris responded, turning his head to
glance at Mila and as their eyes met, they quickly pecked each others'
lips and then withdrew, retreating to the same mannequin-like expression.
The sliding doors once again opened and Nathalie stepped out onto the
deck.
"Well... nice talking with you..." Gwendolyn waved to their hosts as she
returned with Nathalie to the table where they'd been sitting previously.
"I've had better company from chat bots," Gwendoly remarked to Nathalie as
they arrived at the table and took a seat beside Gallea, who was engaged
in a conversation with Eric.
"...I've been living in London for my whole life, except when I left to
tour Europe after graduating..." Eric explained to Gallea.
"Oh really? What did you study?" asked Gallea.
"Philosophy. Did my first year at Oxford and loved it, but my family moved
and I was forced to switch to Cambridge. Graduated with honours to begin
the rest of my life as an unemployed philosopher... the fate most who
choose such studies, lest they become involved in stand-up comedy or
something..." Eric joked, drawing a protracted smile and then eventually a
laugh from Gallea.
"You too? If my father didn't hire me as his care giver, I'd probably be
doing the same thing. So how was Europe?" asked Gallea of Eric.
"It was wonderful. I spent an entire year and got to spend a great deal of
time at many different places and on the cheap, living in a hostile and
all. Took odd jobs in Calais. Paris. Brussels and Antwerp. Rotterdam.
Dusseldorf. Munich. Prague. Graz. Florence. Monaco. Marseille. Andorra.
Madrid and then made my way back home," Eric's mind wandered as he
recalled his yesteryears.
"You're obviously doing well for yourself now. What did you do when you
got back? How'd you get on your feet?" asked Gallea as Gwendolyn and
Nathalie listened in on their conversation.
"I was unemployed for a year after that, though I did take the odd gig or
two over that time. Mostly working as a helper for lorrie drivers and what
not. And then I stumbled onto the opportunity of a lifetime. For
unemployed Philosophy majors that is," Eric smiled charmingly as he
finished.
"Doing what?" asked Gwendolyn.
"Gwendolyn, right?" Eric confirmed with her.
"That's right. Eric?" Gwendolyn confirmed with him.
"Yes. Where were we...? Oh yes. The opportunity. I happened upon some old
friends of mine, a couple who were putting together a tour group for the
greater London area. So they had me audition, and I led the tours for them
for five years, as they raked in the cash and grew exponentially over that
time..." Eric explained to Gwendolyn, giving his attention equally to
Nathalie and then Gallea, and politely so.
"You quit I take it?" asked Gwendolyn.
"No. I took it to their office door, and shared with them an idea I had
that utilized the internet to create customized tour packages. All
designed by myself of course, and to the criteria of the customers, most
of whom give me the duration of their stay, their availability and the
destinations they'd most like to see. I spend about an hour designing
their tour package, and then continue on to our other thirty or forty odd
customers a day, designing tours that cover most of Great Britain," Eric
explained to them as Nelony returned from the kitchen with a tray of hors
d'ouevres.
"There you are. I was wondering where you'd gotten off to," Eric greeted
Nelony, clearing some space for the tray.
"You must be hungry," Nelony said as she sat down beside him.
"A little, but looking at this wonderful spread of food Mila prepared, I
can't help but feel my appetite growing substantially. Is that shrimp and
avocado dip I see there?" Eric examined the tray of food before them.
"You're hungry. You should eat," Nelony said again, Gwendolyn peering at
her and recognizing the same glazed look on her face that had graced those
of Mila and Barris.
"I think its been a long day for them..." Nathalie could immediately
recognize Gwendolyn's scrutinizing of the other guests and their hosts.
"Pardon?" Gwendolyn turned to face Nathalie.
"Its not easy putting together all this food for a party you know?"
Nathalie reminded Gwendolyn, who scowled at her for dampening her
inquiring nature.
"Could you excuse me for a moment?" Eric's phone suddenly rang and
he stood and excused himself from the table.
"He's hungry you know," Nelony said as she stood up and followed him.
"It looks like your friend Nelony really lucked into a hunk," Gwendolyn
remarked about Eric.
"Yes, he seems a very interesting man. So what do you two do?" asked
Gallea of them.
"We're. She's a fortune teller..." Gwendolyn explained to Gallea as Bella
walked by.
"I walk around and know few who talk so little, and then happen upon the
only conversation that sounds interesting..." Bella spoke in a thick
Romanainian accent as she pulled up a seat between Gwendolyn and Gallea.
"Bella, right?" Nathalie smiled at Bella, instantly recognizing each other
mutally from their online advertising.
"Nathalie, right?" Bella responded.
"You two know each other?" confirmed Gallea.
"We're both ply the same trade... and yet we walk in different circles..."
Bella responded to Gallea's questions.
"Yes. Bella's quite popular with a more underground crowd and the younger
generation, while I tend to work with a lot of corporate clients who still
have room for superstition in their lives," Nathalie explained their
connection.
"So you're both fortune tellers?" Gallea seemed impressed by their
vocation, and consequently they sensed a naive innocence and goodness
about her.
"Yes. I work more in tarot and astrology. Occasionally in other forms of
divining that rely more on empathy and keen intuition," Nathalie enjoyed
speaking about her work and seldom had people who were interested in the
actual work of fortune telling than the fortunes themselves.
"While I tend to work with the tarot and most certainly my crystsal ball.
Talismans and charms too, as is the tradition in my home of Ocna Mureș,"
Bella added, perhaps competing for Gallea's attention.
"Why don't I do a spread for you right now?" Nathalie responded to Bella's
bid for Gallea's undivided attention.
"Or if you'd prefer, I could do you one better and put you in touch with
the otherworldly ghosts, who might share with you many treasures of your
own destiny..." Bella offered, her accent lending itself wholly to her
ability to market her own services.
"I could throw in a hair sample divining session," Nathalie upped the
anté.
"And I could offer as an additional gift, an authentic
Romainian Lectură Fantoma Cristalelor Eterne. A reading of the
timeless crystals..." Bella stood from her chair, leaning towards Gallea.
"Why don't I hear you both? Each in turn? You might learn something from
each other, and I'll certainly learn something from the both of you?"
Gallea suggested to them, pure and innocent smile on her face, which
caught both Nathalie and Bella off guard.
They looked to each other, and realized that they were distancing
themselves from the source of their unique abilities by exploiting them
for social gain. It was one thing to earn an honest living, essentially
acting as a very empathic and insightful consultant to others who needed
the guidance of a most often neutral third party. It was completely
another thing to to use their gifts in a competitive manner to undermine
the lives of others, while elevating themselves.
Their gifts, although sometimes used to help themselves through difficult
situations in life, were more highly tuned and potent in the service of
others and acts of selflessness.
Nathalie looked to Bella, who was still leaning forward over the table, as
if getting herself closer to Gallea. She realized this at the same time as
did Nathalie, and they both caught themselves and retreated to the good
graces of integrity and humility.
"Tis true, we can't do this without including the gifts that Gwendolyn
brings to the table. The ones about which she's most humbly said
nothing..." Bella looked to Gwendolyn as she spoke.
Nathalie looked down for a moment, and realized that she too had
overshadowed her best friend.
"Yes. You should hear what Gwendolyn has to say as well. She's gifted. In
a different way than I am," Nathalie explained to Gallea.
"Well this sounds like a lot of fun! But its all very one-sided. What can
I give you in return, if we're bartering?" Gallea asked all three of them.
Bella and Nathalie looked to each other as they both realized that there
was something that Gallea could offer them.
...
Ten minutes later and they were all seated in the back of Morton's
limousine, their drinks in the holders, and the sound of baroque classical
music in the background as they sat in the stationary vehicle,
Gallea comfortably in the back with them.
"Here, let me get the table..." Gallea said as she reached over and across
the space between the pairs of seats that faced each other.
She unfolded a table, which she then locked into place as Gwendolyn sat
nervously beside her. Nathalie, across from them both and beside Bella,
began shuffling her cards while Bella placed the Crystal Ball she'd
retrieved from the passenger seat of her own car, placing her own
generations old deck of tarot cards beside the instrumnent.
"Tonight... we will delve into your life, Gallea, by carefully examining
your past, your present and what is to come..." Bella spoke dramatically
as she introduced Gallea's fortune.
"We will each in turn, elaborate on these three epochs drawn of your own
mortal coil, and from us you'll have a much greater vision and
understanding of your own life," Nathalie explained to Gallea, never
knowing or comprehending what Gallea truly was.
Not only was Gallea the one true daughter of Arlaya and Morton Keyser
(Arlaya being Morton's deceased wife), but she was also a
crafted woman. A construct. A golem, made from
the richest white clay, the most pristine water, the purest gold and the
virtue of her parents' heart.
Unbeknownst to them all, including Gallea herself, the aether was working
its ways in conjunction with the mission of the Sanctum. Without their
knowledge or awareness, reality itself was evaluating them and their
readiness to venture into a much greater role and responsibility for their
fellow beings of the Aerth, and in the face of one of its greatest
challenges.
Unfinished Scry And Spy
Kensai walked casually along one of the side streets connecting to the
Alivale downtown strip, keeping himself alert for any signs of the Warrior
Queen's forces. Sir Manfred walked behind Kensai by about twenty meters,
his hands in his pockets and his sword fit tightly so as to obscure it
from farther along.
Behind him were Athandra and Atamveer, who despite their differences in
experience and politics, seemed to be getting along remarkably, though one
could easily have ascribed that to the fact that Atamveer kept his banter
to a minimum, instead listening as Athandra explained the social dynamics
involved as a member of the Sanctum. Atamveer simply nodded, hmmmed and
hawed in all of the right places, keeping up as best he could.
Behind them were Lady Soon, who walked beside Yirfir as the two of them
went over details of her message, while Jeong Soon walked with Jasmer a
few meters behind them, occasionally interjecting where their
conversations overlapped.
"If I'd have known that they were just going to circle back and return to
the town center, I'd have just set us down here..." Yirfir explained as
she walked.
"Poor Kensai has been trailing them for the last hour. Certainly would
have saved him some time and effort... though your choice to portal
directly to their vicinity was strategically and tactically sound," Jeong
Soon responded.
"Regardless, we have the advantage now. We certainly know this region
better than our adversaries, not to mention a good portion of the town
here," Jasmer added.
"I can't help but wonder why there are so many people out and about?"
Yirfir asked as she looked around, amazed by the activity they were
seeing, especially on a Saturday evening.
"My guess is that they believe the presence of the Warrior Queen, and ours
to be part of some giant cosplay party..." Athandra reasoned with them as
she slowed down to let them catch up.
"That would explain the sudden burst in tourism here," Jasmer agreed.
"And make the mechanics of our fitting in a lot easier," Kensai added,
indicating his Saya and Katana and then pointing to Sir Manfred's Fabled
Blade.
"Agreed. Its a shame really when the only time that one can truly fit in
is during a costume party," Sir Manfred observed.
"It will better protect the residents of this town and maybe the entire
region not to be aware of this secretive battle we fight, as we thwart the
Warrior Queen's attempt at an invasion," Yirfir explained.
"True. Let's keep that mystery in place for their own protection then,"
Jasmer suggested.
"There's a great deal of activity outside of the town hall. That's where
the Warrior Queen seems to have fled since we last saw her," Kensai
reported to them as they approached the Alivale main strip.
"They're probably annexing the town, and coordinating with local officials
to get an inventory for their logistics and support. Armies and their
horses need to be fed you know," Morton explained to them as he and
Benjamin caught up with them.
"We have to get inside somehow. Get details of their plans. Here and
beyond this place. If one of their Druids alone can dispatch a fleet of
Police cars, then imagine what a few legions of them could do?" Jasmer
reasoned.
"Well we can't just waltz in there, can we?" responded Sir Manfred.
"We could if we were officials from the region..." Yirfir suggested.
"I think I see where this is going. That could work nicely," Sir Manfred
agreed.
"Let's just let it play out according to our seniority within the Sanctum.
We'll use that as the framework. Yirfir, Lady Soon, Jasmer, Jeong Soon and
Sir Manfred are the officals. The rest of you are our advisors," Jasmer
quickly suggested.
"What would we then be?" Athandra asked for herself and Atamveer.
"The Managing Directors of Civil Support for the Alivale. You're in charge
of unsuring the smooth functioning of infrastructure, including first
responders, hospitals, schools, construction et cetera, et cetera..."
Yirfir immediately explained to Athandra and Atamveer.
"Jeong Soon and I will represent Alivale region Armed Forces deployment
and supply," Sir Manfred suggested.
"Agreed. Kensai will be our head of training and recruiting," Jasmer got
Kensai in on their plan.
"And Morton and I will be your political and strategic advisors.
Consultants as it were," Benjamin jumped in on their plan.
"Let's have at it then..." Sir Manfred started walking tall and
confidently towards the town hall, as if it were distinctly their business
to be there cordially.
As they approached the front walkway, several of the Phalanx stepped in
front of Sir Manfred.
"What is the meaning of this?!!!" he said brashly, looking the Roman
soldier right in the eyes.
"Stand back, identify yourself and state your business!" the Phalanx guard
addressed Sir Manfred, who complied by stepping back.
"I'm Maynard Humphries, Director of the Alivale Region Armed Forces
Deployment and Supply. I demand entry at once!" Sir Manfred exclaimed.
The Phalanx guard turned, looking up the stairs toward another group of
men.
[Decanus! We've a man here that claims himself to be the director of the
local armed forces.] "Decanus! Hic est vir, qui se profitetur moderatorem loci
armatorum esse;" the soldier yelled up the stairs and one of the men
responded.
[How many in his delegation?] "Quam multos in legatione sua?" the
Decanus asked the member of the Phalanx who'd addressed him.
"There's ten of us. Decim nobis..." Sir Manfred replied, being as literate
in latin as he was English.
"He's just checking with his Commanding Officer," Sir Manfred explained to
his peers.
[He says there's ten of them in all.] "Dicit decem ex eis in
omnibus" the Phalanx guard responded to the Decanus.
The Decanus came down the stairs and took up a place in front of Sir
Manfred, looking into his eyes from his own eyes. Those that had lived
more life in extremis in the last twenty years, than a thousand people had
lived in their entire lifetimes.
Sir Manfred stood his ground as the man peered into him more so than at
him.
He then looked to Jasmer, and then Kensai, giving them as fierce a stare
as he measured the men within.
"What of the women?" asked the Decanus of them in perfect English.
"They're our servants. As it should be. They go wherever we do," Sir
Manfred asserted himself.
[The Empress is really going to love this one...] "Imperatrix
vere amaturus est hoc unum..." the Decanus turned and quipped to his men,
who all began laughing at the situation.
The Decanus turned and gripped Sir Manfred firmly on the shoulder, a
dignified show of respect apparent upon his face.
"You've got some. That's for sure. For how much longer I dare not say..."
the Decanus joked again, his men joining in his laughter as he stepped
aside and allowed all ten of them passage into the town hall.
"I thought we were the directors...?!!!" Athandra began.
"We are, but we had to get past those men," Yirfir responded to Athandra,
who after thinking about finally clued in.
The front foyer of the town hall was quaintly lavish, and certainly
reflective of the rural towns and townships that made up the region of
Alivale. There were photographs of many locals, from both the present and
well into the past given the region its long history.
Many of the staff had been recently called in,given the nature of the
crisis, but as the situation unfolded, many had begun to believe the whole
thing a hoax and part of an enormous promotion for cosplay and cosplayers.
Of course, the leadership saw this not only as an opportunity for media
attention but also the immensely lucrative tourism industry. If cosplayers
were suddenly attracted to the region to hold one of their annual parties
or conventions, the leadership certainly had no objection with it, and if
that meant playing along in their cosplay/roleplay, so be it. It broke up
much of the day to day monotony of life, though it was far better to
believe that, than it was to believe the truth: that they were being
invaded by a superior force from the past, armed with powerful Druidic
magic and ancient alchemical secrets long lost to humanity. Powers far
beyond those wielded by modern mortals.
Sir Manfred led the way through the foyer and they continued through a
hall until they reached a meeting room, where within their Warrior Queen
sat at a table, her gleaming helmet on the table beside her as she dealt
with a group of officials who sat at the table with her.
The room was lined with Phalanx watching over Boudicca protectively,
though if there had been an assassin hidden amongst those meeting at the
table, Boudicca was likely more the threat to them than otherwise so.
"How long will it take to mobilize these supplies on your horseless
chariots?" she asked one of the representatives at the table in the center
of the circular meeting hall.
"...perhaps a day to load them, and a day's trip here," one of the
representatives reported to Boudicca.
"Empress, that is far better than the estimates I've come up with, given
their superior technology but laugable understanding of the Aetheric
Weave..." Ponderosus said to her from across the table.
"This town is self sufficient, am I correct?" confirmed Boudicca.
"We bring in a lot of products from outside the region, as we do tend to
export far more food and produce than we consume ourselves," another
representative explained.
"I'm looking to ensure that should the supply chain be affected negatively
in response to our presence, that the people will remain fed and
sheltered. We already have enough to feed our forces and then some. Our
supply is inconsequential in terms of your understanding of the way of
things, and given your limited technology and application of the Aether. I
am ensuring during our transition of power that none of you or your people
starve or freeze to death in the cold..." Boudicaa explained to them at
the table.
"You think that regions beyond ours are going to stand down and accept
your petty little invasion?" asked Sir Manfred of Empress Boudicca.
"I do not recall your presence being requested, nor you being given
permission to speak!" Boudicca threw Sir Manfred a piercing gaze.
"We have just arrived. I was busy with other matters and was summoned to
town hall not but half of an hour ago. I am here to ensure the transition
of power meets our requirements and that we are not pillaged or otherwise
harmed during this process," Sir Manfred responded to Empress Boudicca.
"Carbus Carnum? Is this true?" asked Boudicca of her Praetore.
Carbus Carnum stepped over to the doorway to greet their new arrivals as
the Decanus arrived and took up a quiet conversation with their Praetore.
"Empress Boudicca, they claim to be representatives from the region.
Elected officals... despite these two men wearing blades at their side.
Trinkets likely to earn them respect from those of military stature or
caste," Carbus Carnum responded to his Empress.
"You refer to our blades as trinkets? One yourself who was elected into
his own army as an official, rather than being someone who rose through
the ranks and earned it himself!" Sir Manfred challenged Carbus Carnum in
words.
Carbus' face turned several shades before returning to the look of a man
who'd seen more than one lifetime could tell, with crows feet and a sun
kissed face beneath his armour to underline it all.
"Son! You've no imagination for what I've seen, and no courage, heart, or
stomach for what I've endured. Seeing line after line of men I trained
myself, fall during the scourge of war and the tyranny of chaos, fighting
for the only side that ever offered a solution so selfless as to deem us
to work together rather than fight! Death has taunted me for my entire
being, and I've faced it a thousand times, and at the hands of men lesser
than you, but earnest of their honour and rightful end! Were you not a
political official, I'd end you right here where you're standing!" Carbus
Carnum responded to Sir Manfred unblinkingly.
"The end never justifies the means, and replacing chaos with tyranny is
like trying to cure a poisoned man by giving him another kind of poison. I
am here to ensure that my people remain safe during this transition and
that you have the information you need to make all of that possible.
Beyond that, and I'd never have business with any man the likes of you!"
Sir Manfred responded, doing his best to hold his ground against a man
who'd been trained not only by the Roman army, but by the bitter edge of
life and hardship itself.
Yirfir and Lady Naemi Soon watched Empress Boudicca carefully during Sir
Manfred's verbal altercation with Carbus Carnum. She seemed to take notice
of them, and looked at Yirfir discerningly.
"Carbus? Bring my husband this instant," Empress Boudicca ordered her
Praetore.
"He is resting and gave me strict orders not to..." Carbus Carnum informed
Empress Boudicca.
"I didn't say make excuses, Praetore. I said to do it!" Empress Boudicca
ordered him.
"Come now. Join me at the table here. There should be enough seats for you
and your advisors," Empress Boudicca invited them to be seated.
"Very well. I have to say that I am impressed by your concern for the well
being of our people. Let us hope that this is a sign of what's to come
rather than a flash in the pan," Sir Manfred led everyone to the table.
"Milady," Athandra curtsied, fighting every urge in her to lash out at the
Empress invader of Alivale.
"I hope that it isn't not my place to speak here, but it is an honour to
make your acquaintance," Yirfir said as she sat down beside Jasmer.
"No lady seated at my table will be made to feel she can nay speak or
otherwise hold her ideas and opinions if only to make those of men look
that much better!" Empress Boudicca immediately raised her voice.
"Empress Boudicca. Forgive me, but how is it that you who are the invading
force are somehow not the bad ones, taking away the freedom of the good
Alivale citizens? Surely you must have some flaws we can work with to
vilify you?" Sir Manfred kept a straight face for as long as he could,
only hinting slightly at his jest by the upturned corner of his mouth.
Boudicca looked at him, fiercely and sternly, not sure if he was tempting
her to rage or rather pursuing jest. She watched him for a moment, and
then upon spotting his upturned frown, she began to laugh. A moment later
and Sir Manfred joined in, with Lady Soon, Yirfir and Jasmer. Athandra
wasn't quite ready to laugh yet, still having a bitter taste in her mouth
after having to curtsy to Boudicca, while Atamveer very much in shock over
the entire situation and preferring as such to remain quiet and simply
learn from the terrifying experience. Morton and Benjamin however managed
to play the cherade quite well, keeping themselves very much in the
background, while observing many factors that had gone unnoticed to their
peers.
"Let us get down to the matter at hand then..." Sir Manfred suggested.
"Lets..." Empress Boudicca agreed with him.
...
Barris of Stonehenge lay in the double bed of the town hall master
bedroom, one of a few rooms that were fitted with sleeping amenities. Not
intended as living spaces but rather as a temporary place to rest between
sessions for the members of council who traveled considerable distances to
be there.
Barris was exhausted, despite his incredible physique and stature, for
he'd lived a very different life than the Barris of Aerth. He lay on his
bed, swinging feet to and fro as he waited, his only clothing a silk toga
he'd been given as a gift by Boudicca, his wife. He checked to make sure
his nails were clean and then cupped his hand over his mouth to check his
breath.
A few minutes later and there was a faint knock at the door.
"Its open," he said non-chalantly.
"Forgive me for entering into your presence my Emperor, but you called for
me?" asked a shapely woman, especially so in the long skirted gown she was
currently wearing.
"That I did. Didn't I?" Barris smiled at her, still wiggling his toes
beneath the covers.
"Yes... you did," she responded.
"And that is certainly because I have special need of you on this evening.
Very special need of you, Suellyn," Barris smiled at her seductively, and
she blushed ever so slightly.
"I wasn't aware that my services during the day weren't enough to keep
your house in good order, my Emperor," Suellyn responded ever so
cautiously.
"But they are... so much so that... I'd prefer it if you could keep some
other things in order for me... Important things that with my ever
so ambitious and busy wife, aren't getting as much attention as they
need...unfortunately," Barris said to her, his smile only growing as he
spoke.
"Are you insinuating what I think that you're insinuating?" Suellyn
responded.
"Yes, if what you're thinking involves a lot of heavy breathing and
moaning and immeasurable bodily activity that those enamored with one
another often do atop of their bed or other furnishings that can be
employed to creative ends..." Barris continued, his muscular form visible
as he got up from bed and snuck around the room to her rear flank.
"You do realize how dangerous a situation it could be for any girl who so
much as winked at you the wrong way, don't you? If I ever made an advance
upon you, I'd surely lose my head!" Suellyn said to him, as she looked for
where he'd gotten to.
He suddenly snuck up behind her and grabbed her hips from behind, turning
her to face him.
"Please don't!" she said to him, purposely pushing him away, but
not hard enough to push him away.
His face closed in on hers, and they embraced for a kiss, which she didn't
resist, holding onto it for a minute before she turned her face and spoke.
"This is such a risk for us both!" she said to him breathing heavily,
still hanging onto him as he carried her over to the bed.
"The greater the risk, the greater the reward!" Barris threw her onto the
bed and jumped atop of her, once again kissing her tenderly as she feigned
struggling against him.
...
"She knows..." Suellyn said clinging tightly to Barris side as he lay
chest facing up, a dazed look of joy on his face.
"She knows nought. She knows that her own husband has appetites and
desires, but her work prevents her from seeing those needs met for either
herself or her husband..." Barris pulled Suellyn in tightly.
"She knows, but knows that she can never admit it," Suellyn gave to Barris
with her choice of words, an insight into the many social
complexities women and power often met.
"She let it come to this you know. I begged her so many times. I tried to
seduce her, like when we first realized we were meant to walk beside one
another. Our first night was a fantasy dream, and every other beyond that
night was an attempt to find it again, but it never returned in the same
way. Training with Carbus Carnum was an utter hell, but it made me a hard
man, but the woman I'd hoped would appreciate that never returned. She is
in there, somewhere, but the weight of that crown being what it is, just
drains the soul of those who wear it. From that first night together, I
realized that I'd never be with that same woman again. The woman who'd
lusted to undo what an invader took from her, and her country, and then do
it in a way that worked. Before long, and with every battle we'd won, she
became Rome. She annexed them, and they became part of Boudicca the
Warrior Queen's tapestry, rather than the other way around. Her lust to
acquire and fix all, never ceased. She took it all upon herself, and with
it, our love life. She gave up what it was she was protecting, so she
could protect it for us all without ever knowing that would be the price.
We tried family. Children even. Miscarriages, despite her already having
had and lost two daughters, and their father," Barris said to his
mistress, as if confessing for his own atonement.
"...and then you finally break down and sleep with me...?" Suellyn asked
him, snuggling even tighter.
"I didn't sleep with you. Don't ever tell anyone that I did, and if it
ever leaves your lips in her presence, then I raped you! Forced you! Its
the only way that you'd hope to keep your head," Barris said to her,
turning his face frantically towards her, a lost and frazzled look in his
eyes.
"Then I take it you care enough about me to want to do this again?" she
asked him.
"Hell yes," he said, rolling over onto her and mounting her again.
...
Carbus Carnum was about to knock on the door, when it suddenly opened and
Suellyn barely ran into him.
"What were you doing in there with him?!!!" Carbus asked her, already
smelling the scent of her potpourri perfume and sweat.
"Our Emperor was teaching me how to use a sword, demanding better
security of his staff. Now if you'll excuse me, Praetore," Suellyn left
running quickly to the wash facility to clean herself up.
"Emperor. Empress Boudicca requires your presence down in the council
room. Immediately!" Carbus Carnum reported to Barris, who himself got up
and out of bed, revealing a toned and trim body.
"Have some of the servants bring me a wash basin..." Barris said to Carbus
Carnum, who stared at him, knowing fully well what he'd done.
"Its going to take much more than soap to wash away the stains of
adultery..." Carbus said to Barris.
"Then give me back my wife and you can take your damned empire!" Barris
said to him.
"When you've already ventured more than half your life down the same road,
don't expect that you can ever turn back. You keep your pitiful little
mistress, but if she breathes a word of this to anyone, I'll have her
head," Carbus threatened.
"If you do, I'll have yours!" Barris responded to the man who'd made him
what he was.
Carbus knew better than to respond to the man he'd transformed into a man.
From a weak, ill mannered, unprincipled, misdirected and ultimately lost
boy in man's clothing. He'd carefully crafted and sculpted this lost soul,
without losing one aspect of what it was the Empress Boudicca found
attractive about him.
Carbus had taken young boys from their families and trained them by the
hundreds, to become effecient killing machines by their name age, but
Barris was his crowning glory and now in line to become Emperor himself.
Something Carbus had longed after himself for ages, almost as much so as
he lusted after the Empress Boudicca herself. He loved her far too much to
vanquish Barris, and take his place at her side, for he know how that
would detroy her as well. So he chose to be the teacher and guide of a man
he loathed, and turned him into what he'd idealed she had wanted all
along, without losing any aspect of the Barris she'd fallen for. Helpless
and yet immovable. And so when Barris treated him according to his rank
and file position in their empire, he fell into line for her. Something
he'd do for no other man, living or dead.
"Forgive me for overstepping my bounds, but it is only our empire and in
the interest of our Empress that motivates me so. In the interest of
speaking candidly, you irresponsibly tread onto grounds which stand to
turn the aspirations of our empire into a danger for our united lands, and
ultimately the Aerth," Carbus reminded his finest student.
"The Empress has already chosen her lover. Her work. And consequently,
I've chosen mine. That will be all Praetore. Do not interrupt me again,"
Barris had already donned most of his polished brass armour at that point
and adjusted his cape as best he could.
"Very well. It shall be as your request," Carbus left through the door
he'd arrived and as soon as the door was closed, there was a soft,
systematic knock upon it.
"Enter," Barris said boldly and confidently, his helmet still by the side
of the bed.
The door opened and Suellyn stepped into the room, cleaned and groomed
once again, her cheeks still glowing pink from their earlier romance.
"It is I. Perhaps you need someone to ensure you appear your best. After
all, having your cape tucked into your trunks the way that you do could
defile the respect you've so graciously earned from your court?" Suellyn
smiled at Barris.
"Really? You mean that someone could possibly give me a wedgie with my own
cape?" the old Barris found his way through the hardened one.
"I must plead innocence, for how would a lady such as I know what is meant
by wedgie... Don't tell me. DON'T TELL ME! Let me
fix your cape and then you'd better attend your responsibilities," Suellyn
responded, stepping behind him, where she slowly untucked his cape from
his trunks.
"Your touch is so tender, and yet oddly familiar. It was such a long time
ago. It almost feels like a different lifetime from here," Barris said to
Suellyn, reminiscing about his long lost love.
While at his back, Suellyn smiled and ran the nail of her index finger
down the center of his back.
"You know, when thoughts are fond and frequently found, they're often a
lot closer than you think," Suellyn said to Barris, pressing her cheek
against his back, and turning and planting a kiss thereupon.
"And you are certainly the closest of them all," he turned and kissed her
once more before heading to the door, stopping there to face her fully
clad in his armour.
"How do I look?" he asked her.
"Well polished and certainly affectionately adorned. Go get them. I'll
clean up the quarters," Suellyn said to him, somehow not fitting the role
she had in this empire of theirs, and it was at that moment that Barris
knew that this woman aspired to be whatever she willed so, but had wielded
that power with grace and careful restraint.
Unfinished Birds And Bees
Mila emerged first, though Barris in his valiant effort had managed to
catch up behind her, both veterans of the intricacies of portal travel. He
stepped out of the portal as Mila waited, her skill in portal summoning
having grown immensely. She'd even taken liberties in crafting a portal
that was artistically lavish, its interior tunnel of folded space/time by
the power of the aether, a magnificent sight to behold. So much so, that
those perusing it were distracted enough from noticing its perturbations,
mostly as a result of her inexperience folding space and time.
She watched carefully as each of their peers of the Sanctum exited, noting
their step and rooting upon footfall, for she'd planned to perfect the art
and become one of the best in translocation craft. Sato landed with both
feet, checking his left and right cautiously for any sign of the horizon
to orient himself. Nelony stepped out next, suddenly losing her footing on
the forest floor, only to be caught by Sato, who himself them stumbled
backwards onto his rump.
Xenshi and Xushu simply floated out of the portal, their aetheric essences
touching down and the surface of the quiet forest around them.
"It's kind of hard to see the rest of the forest through the trees you
know!" Xushu said to them as he looked around, leaving them unsure as to
whether he was making a fuss, or enlightening them.
"Maybe the rest of the forest prefers not to be seen until one's
ready for it," Xushu replied.
"Ba! My know it all sister!" Xushu responded.
"We're ready, only shy one person," Mila replied, peeking into the portal
over Sato's shiny head.
Shaela finally stepped out of the portal, her footing quite solid despite
her early hangover.
"What's with this? Sato sitting around while the rest of us do
everything?" Shaela quipped at the aged man.
"I was just getting to know the lay of the land from a different
perspective," Sato responded to Shaela.
"Yes. I forgot to tell you. Sato has a pair of eyes on his tush. That way
he can literally check out the lay of the land while seated," Barris
quickly jumped at the opening.
"While Barris on the other hand has both ears and olfactory senses down
there, so he can truly appreciate his own flatulence. However, I'd suggest
that the next time he returns to this mortal coil, that he has them near
his mouth, for most of his flatulence occurs there, everytime he speaks,"
Sato responded without pause.
Mila stifled a laugh, while Nelony who was flustered by their sudden
detour of conversation spoke up.
"Look! Can we all just get going in the direction of the Bee Keeper?" she
spoke anxiously.
"I don't know. I think I'd rather stay here and listen to these two
argue!" Xushu responded encouraging them even further.
"Every moment we waste, the further our goals recede from us," Xenshi
replied.
"I agree with Xenshi. Do you need a hand up old man?" Shaela looked to
Sato,. that despite the appearances of his age, that he was remarkably
spry.
"I resemble that remark, but not quite enough for it be true," Sato lay
down on his back, and flipped himself to his feet with both his legs, his
hands never touching the ground.
"Nelony? Can you be our bearings here?" asked Mila.
"Let's find us a friend to help us," Nelony replied to Mila as she began
the great and secret weave with her hands.
She'd finished quite quickly, and a small sparrow flew in from the
distance in the forest, landing on the branches of a nearby tree. It
squawked a few times, and then flew down and landed on Nelony's shoulder,
where it resumed its monologue in a continuous stream until Shaela had
finally had enough.
"Here we go with nature girl. Again with the birds," Shaela said, slapping
her forehead and then wincing at the pain she'd caused herself by stirring
her hangover to life once again.
The bird on Nelony's shoulder stopped its continuous chirping and then
directed itself at Shaela, and literally began hopping where it stood in a
rage at Shaela.
"You've upset him! He was telling me about how he needed a friend, and
that he'd gladly help us if we simply called him a friend," Nelony
scolded Shaela.
"I'll call him friend, if you stop this headache again. If not, then I'll
summon someone who snacks upon such winged friends readily, and quite a
few each day..." Shaela replied.
"That's extortion!" Nelony declared, the bird immediately following her
words with chirps that sounded eerily and phonetically like the accusatory
word.
"Look. I really miss you all and in any other instance, I'd simply remain
in the background and enjoy your theatrics, but we need to follow Xenshi's
advice. Our goal gains distance from us with every moment!" Mila reminded
them.
The bird on Nelony's shoulder listened to Mila, and then nodded ever so
slightly, and this time looked back to Nelony.
Nelony nodded to the white-throated sparrow, and it flew away to the
forest floor in the distance and returned with something in its talons,
dropping it in Nelony's hand.
"Once more. But if you treat my feathered friends that way, I'll never sew
the wounds of a headache for you again," Nelony told Shaela as she wove
the aether, amplifying the the effects of the piece of Willow Bark that
the sparrow had retrieved for her.
The aether took a visual form, bending and twisting like the smoke from a
candle until it found Shaela's nose. She inhaled, and a pleasantly
relieving sensation filled her head, completely eradicating all signs of
the hangover.
"...thank you... Nelony. As for your feathered friend..." Mila quickly put
her hand over Shaela's mouth, preventing her from speaking.
"As for your feathered friend, he's a true hero and friend," Mila
smiled at the little bird, who bounced ecstatically on Nelony's shoulder.
"There's no need greater in the world than to feel needed," Xenshi wiped a
tear from her aetherial eye.
"And there's no world greater than the one that exploits the needy! Ah ha
ha ha!" Xushu added, a wild look in his eyes as he laughed a precariously
mocking laughter.
"Nelony? Feather brain? Lead the way," Barris addressed Nelony and her
friend.
Nelony whispered something into the sparrow's ear. It nodded once and then
flew off, waiting for them on a branch in the distance.
And with that, they began their journey from the portal to the Bee
Keeper's farm.
Their travels were remarkably short, perhaps less than a kilometer when
they'd arrived at a fence that surrounded a tended to patch of land, very
similar in appearance to that of a golf course, though much more natural
in appearance. Someone had clearly tended to the land, and kept it
naturally pristine, perhaps harbouring their own small piece of Utopia for
the immensely diverse nature around them. In fact, even Nelony was caught
off guard by how lush and full of life the grounds were.
The diversity of life had blossomed, like an oasis in the midst of the
dense forest surrounding the Alivale region. The difference was so
remarkable that the sparrow waited on the other side of the fence, in a
tree overhanging a pond, where a family of ducks played. Their mother
prudently cleaning her children. They took turns diving in the pond,
several of them returning from their dive with plump leeches in their
beaks, far too big for them to consume on their own.
The mother at that point took their catch from them, chewed it quickly in
its beak, dispensing small pre-chewed pieces to each of them, which they
devoured hungrily, one of the children swimming in circles happily after
its success.
"First steps in pursuit of independence," Nelony smiled as she watched
them.
The sparrow chirped once again, signalling its friends.
"How do we get over this fence without damaging it?" asked Mila of the
little bird.
"The bird looked to her, and then nodded, flying to their left down a long
span of the fence until it had arrived at a tree which had grown out of
the earth at an angle. Its trunk stretched over the fence without touching
it, and its leaves curtained the entire thing on the other side, looking
like a concentration of bushes more so than a tree.
The bird landed near the apex of the curvaceous trunk, bouncing up and
down a few times to get their attention. When they arrived, the one by one
they scaled the trunk of the tree and then dropped to the other side,
barely a four foot drop to the ground.
Barris went first, nearly falling twice as he walked precariously along
the trunk before jumping down on the other side of the fence. He then
turned and helped Mila down. Sato followed, and jumped down by himself,
once again proving that age was simply a number where it concerned the
longevity and dexterity of the human body. One who cared for their body
and had the fortune of health to match it, remained as such well into
their later years.
Nelony simply floated over the fence along with Xenshi and Xushu, while
Shaela walked the tight rope of the trunk. She jumped down, finding that
her headache did not return and her hangover had all but left her.
"Someone tended to all of this. Made this into a habitat for the
animals of the area. This is incredible," Nelony looked about and admired
the Eden-esque biome that surrounded her.
"An art like this only emerges from one's passion to put it forth, and yet
it is very natural," Mila added, leading the way forward with Barris by
her side.
The mother duck stopped long enough to watch them pass, perhaps cautious
of their presence. More so out of a lack of recognition than by the
example of their human treatment. Other animals too watched them as they
passed, the sparrow jumping from tree to tree again as it lead them
towards a clearing in the brush. They emerged from the worn path they'd
taken, obviously made by the geoengineer who'd scaped the land around
them, where they spied a quaint, yet sizeable home.
Outside of the house a distance there from, stood a husky man all of whose
facial features were hidden behind an insect veil that was perched atop a
red plaid shirt and some lived in work jeans. He fiddled with a stack of
square containers of some form, and the closer that they got to him, the
easier it was to see that he was surrounded by a cloud of bees.
When he could no longer ignore the eyes upon his back, he turned to face
them all.
"We're closed today for maintenance. Come back next Monday..." he said to
them, his sentence trailing off when he saw that two of his unwanted
audience were clearly not of this world.
Their ghostly forms shimmered with a glowing aura next to the other five,
who appeared to be of natural origins.
"You aren't here from that crazy paranormal show The Mysteries of Niagara,
are you?" he asked them, looking with wild eyes at Xenshi and Xushu.
"No. I'm afraid we're not, though I'm sure its quite wonderful... I
think," Mila responded to him.
"We're here about your bees... and Very Busy Honey. Your company I
take it?" Nelony gestured towards the stacks of hive modules beside him.
"What about them? And why are you sneaking up on a man's back like that
anyway?! You just don't do that around here! Can't you see I'm protecting
something?!!!" he suddenly lost his patience with them and turned to face
them full form, stepping away from the beehives and out of the bee cloud,
removing his visor to get a better look at them.
His face, some of which was covered in a well groomed beard, underlined
two eyes carefully etched with crow's feet, perhaps both from laughter and
many of life's stresses. His hair was long and pulled tightly back into a
pony tail, giving him an air of both benevolence and a markedly determined
sense of authority. Even from the distance they were from the man, they
could clearly see that his hands (after he'd removed his gloves), were
toughened by the years of work he'd put into building a sanctuary
paradise, removed from the corners of the world that had forgotten that it
was nature that begat us, and not the other way around.
"...and quite admirably so," Nelony humbly shrugged as she spoke, careful
not to tread upon a place where she was not wanted in this man's world.
"We're here about your special bees. The ones that have a special
sting...?" Mila asked him gently, throwing in a charming and friendly
smile.
He stood and thought about her words for a moment, before returning from
his thoughts of a time that to him seemed like it had only just passed. Of
long lost friends and a dream for the world, that was crushed by the
arrival of the those who spoke to the citizens of Alivale in their sleep.
In their sleeping hours and in the voices of thousands, if not millions. A
churn of the most vile nature, in voices who shared nothing but ire. Soon
after their appearance, the people of the Alivale region had begun to
change, one by one.
Almost drones, for this hidden force of vitriol whose limits seemed to
know no bounds. His nearby neighbours, Gertrude and Wilbert had of course
noticed the change too, and yet they were somehow spared being consumed by
this wave of utter and sheer chaos that had taken the region.
"Those bees... they were the work of my wife and I, and our closest
neighbours and dearest friends: Gertrude and Wilbert, both of whom
lived just over that way..." he said, pointing in the direction of their
former home, before they'd both died.
"I think its a museum now, though I still find it hard to believe that
there was anyone else unaffected by this vitrolic spew that has taken
nearly everyone..." the man responded to them, once again deep in his
memories of a much different and optimistic time.
"I know that place. I run that museum. I'm the grounds keeper and
tour guide. And accountant. And janitor. And the man who fixes that
machine that goes 'ping!'," Barris threw in a little humour as he
responded to the man.
Miraculously, he gave them a heart felt smile.
"Why didn't you say so? Let's go for a walk and I'll explain
everything..." he stowed his veil and gloves on the empty stack of
bee hive screens, placing another screen atop of them so that he wasn't
greeted by bees in his gloves or veil when he put them on again.
He then gestured to his new found friends to follow him, telling the rest
of their story.
"I'm Brune by the way. Brune Rotherham," he smiled at them, offering
Barris and Sato his hand in a firm, and strong grip.
"Its an honour to meet you. These are my friends, Nelony, short for nature
girl. This is Shaela, a rather intense goth, and yes, she dresses like
that even on the hottest of days. This is my friend and bitterly so, Sato.
The two floaty glowing people who look like a cross between a Wu Daozi
painting and stained glass are Xenshi, on the left, and Xushu, on the
right. And this incredible woman by my side is my fiancé, Mila," Barris
introduced his friends.
"Well met. Its a pleasure to meet you all. I'd have prepared a meal and
opened a bottle from the cellar if I'd known I'd be meeting you today.
Gertrude and Wilbert really meant a lot to us, my wife and I and we miss
them greatly. I'm very glad to see that someone is carrying their torch
and keeping the spirit of what they stood for in this region, and perhaps
the world, alive," Brune responded to them both authoritatively and
gratefully.
"You were saying about your bees...?" asked Mila, looking to the taller
man.
"The first thing that people think when they hear the word bee, is being
stung. They've really got a bad repute in the world, feared and
reviled on those grounds. They're essential pollenators, the work horses
of the wild who guarantee the fertilization of most flowering plants, many
of which carry vegetables or fruit essential to our edible crops. They,
along with butterflies, are crucial to our survival. Wilbert and I
recognized this, and we both went about doing our part to protect and
preserve the habitat for these essential caretakers of the world's plant
and food supply," Brune began.
"When the vitriol..." Brune began, only to be interrupted by Nelony.
"Forgive me for interjecting, but I'm not from around here. I'm from
Shepperton off the Thames, London, England. You keep referring to this
viral chaos. To what are you referring?" asked Nelony.
"If I knew that exactly, then I'd have taken measures against it. Its a
social sickness that seems to be spreading, but if I or Wilbert were to
allow it to take hold of us, and deny us of our optimism and our ability
to affect positive change, then it would have won. But we didn't. We never
gave up, even while the region was consumed by it," Brune explained to
them.
"Oh! He means the ghouls we took out being commanded by that Clee
Woodenwart fellow!" Shaela said to them in realization.
"Wonderward! His name was Clee Wonderward!" Mila corrected them all.
"Clee who? Never heard of him. Or any ghouls either. I must have been
sleeping when that happened. A hard day's work does that to a person. Now
where was I...?" Brune continued.
"...you never gave up..." Nelony reminded him.
"Yes. You're right. We didn't give up. Ever. We started a movement
that inspired the people of Alivale. We put smiles on the faces of women
and children, and a sense of responsibility and dignity in the hearts of
men. We weren't going to give in to this hidden vitriol that crept through
each of us while we slept. Or so that was the plan," Brune explained to
them.
"When you say that it was the plan, did it work?" asked Shaela.
"At first it did, but it seems that with every effort that we could
muster, that it only resisted our best efforts tenfold. And then Gertrude
died. For Wilbert, a man who'd spent his entire life turning their
property into her personal garden, a haven from the treachery of the
storm, it crushed him. In the loss of the strength of our unity,
and his sudden distrust of the forces that harmed us, he became secluded,
in a private battle with his own resent of the world for having taken her
from him. The weight upon our shoulders, my wife's and mine became
unbearable. So I came up with a plan to strengthen those of good will and
intent, in their darkest of hours. And it involved the help of
my bees," Brune explained to them as they walked through the
paradise of his natural sanctuary.
"You mean the special bees?" confirmed Mila.
"Precisely. One and the same. I'd never delved into any sort of mystic
arts before, but Wilbert had, for he'd used it in his garden to project
out and into Alivale, the sense of hope and renewal found in every garden
the world over. The better tended, the more that essence spread. Wilbert
was very familiar with the mystic arts by that point, and after he'd
fought his way through the worst of his darkness, and forgave nature for
taking Gertrude, he emerged, and taught me what I needed to know to give
my bees. A very select colony I prepared, with wondrous abilities. Their
intelligence, albeit from their perspective matches that of any human.
Their purpose unmatched. Their sting..." Brune began.
"...Yes... about the sting of your bees... we're quite aware of that..."
Mila said, fixing her hair and gently adjusting her bra which held two
very modest and yet perfect breasts.
"Yes... I certainly do recall that part... ahem..." Barris tucked both his
hands into his pockets and adjusted his underwear, ensuring that his
member was back to its regular modesty.
"Why then do the people who get near these bees become angered or
frustrated?" Nelony asked Brune clinically.
"There needs to be a force that powers the magic that makes possible the
altering of reality to one's will. In one minute moment, they experience
the power of nature's creation, and the ability to alter time and space
where it regards themselves and their own situation," Brune explained to
them.
"Subjectively?" Shaela confirmed.
"In a manner of speaking. Subjectively in the sense of what its
possible to affect. Objectively in the fact that it
does affect it," Brune told them.
"But why? Why spread bees that make people angry?" asked Mila.
"As I said, the magic needs something to power it. But those who were of
the heart and hope that Gertrude and Wilbert were, could overcome the
worst of such ill emotions to retain their sense of purpose and optimism,
many of whom there were throughout Alivale. They just needed a sign that
there were fruits to their enduring of the worst, in the ends toward their
purpose. And I gave it to them hoping that it would change things. For
many it did. You have to remember that this plan was set in place a few
years ago, when I freed these special bees into the wild, ensuring that
they could only procreate with others of their own exact kind. And the plan did work,
at first. I soon found that some people couldn't handle the darkness they
faced in powering the magic of their dreams, and some used their
opportunity for ill purposes. This confounded us and greatly hurt us, but
we found out that the carriers of the vitriol had figured out our plan,
and started using these wishes against the very people they were intended
to help. Negative manifestation. These chaotic beings manipulated others into wishing themselves into ruin,
without their even knowing. The chaos had turned our best hope
against the population, and so we gave up, assuming that most of
them had died off over the three winters that had passed since our
releasing them into the wild," Brune explained to them.
"Did they look anything like this?" asked Nelony, producing the jar they'd
used to contain one of the hyper-intelligent bees.
"No. Not at all. They looked exactly like that." Brune held the jar
and examined his creation as it looked back at him admiringly, as if it
found its long lost father.
Unfinished Geostationary Orbit
The fleet, which had since exiting a warped phase space condensate on the
opposite side of the corona of our own star, Sol, had masked its presence
and detection by way of atomic transiting, where the ships simultaneously
occupied the space/time of two universes at once. Each in an oscillatory
presence, appearing in an alternate universe for one Planck second, while
in our universe for another Planck second and so on. Each sweep of this
cycle was fast enough that it avoided fifty-percent of atomic interactions
with photons and other charged matter, while their quantum tunneling base
technology allowed the remaining fifty-percent to pass through their
ships, rendering them entirely invisible to all forms of detection based
upon electromagnetic radiation. The bottom line is that we couldn't see
them with optical telescopes as much so as our own eyes, and as much so as
with our radar and laser based detection systems.
Ironically, they'd been taught this highly advanced technology when a few
years earlier, one of their species collection ships had arrived at Aerth,
and taken
William Shatner
while he slept in his home, leaving a clone in his place, one which had
been genetically grown with the purpose to host streaming and television
series dealing with UAPs and Paranormal phenomenon. His clone's most
popular show being The Mysteries of Niagara, and his occasional
pairing with Physicist Bryce Maxwell on life insurance commercials.
The real William Shatner, now immortal, often watched from his new home
two billion light years away, having purchased his quality of life by
sharing his knowledge with his captor aliens, while his more gruff
neighbour, a previously captured and immortalized
Leonard Nimoy
had made quite a living selling his
Hobbit themed music
to an audience of more than twenty trillion.
The fleet who remained hidden from all means of detection now arrived at
the Aerth, encircling and orbiting the planet at an altitude
of 35,786 kilometers. Literally centimeters from the ceiling of
Aerth's own layer of such artificial satellites. Despite the fact that
they were invisible, Shatner had left out one aspect of detection
avoidance technology when he'd revealed his knowledge, and that was
related to gravity.
Despite the fact that their ships spent only fifty-percent of their time
in our universe, they still left a well in space/time that was
fifty-percent of their own mass, which these ships being what they were
and employing and harnessing the power of blackholes within, was quite
enormous. Enough so that at Mount Cheyenne (not named after the dog
from Fallout: New Vegas) in Colorado, a series of specialized
sensors invoked an alarm in the section of the facility operated by Space
Force.
"General! We just received this from LIGO*," Major Minor handed General
Specific (who looked very suspiciously like
Leslie Nielsen) a computized tablet.
"Hmmm. I see. That's very nice. Windows 98? Good to see our sciences and
universities teams have top notch technology, not to mention their taste
in gifts is impeccable. Have our engineering team send them an 8-track
tape player as a thank you gift. I know its going to catch on
someday, Major," General Specific responded.
"No Sir. Not the tablet. I meant what's on screen Sir!" Major Minor
corrected the General, who pulled a pair of bifocals from his pocket and
adorned them, squinting at the screen.
The General examined the screen, his intense expression increasing the
further he read.
"Do we have visual confirmation of this Major?" asked General Specific.
"No Sir. Nothing on radar. Nothing on laser based detection systems. Just
a dense gravity signature at the geostationary ceiling," Major Minor
responded.
"I can't believe I'm seeing this," General Specific said, shaking his head
as he once again focused on the tablet he'd been handed.
"Well Sir, I'm afraid its real. There's a dense gravitational anomoly at
the edge of orbital space around the planet, and there's nothing we can
do," Major Minor explained.
"No. Not this gravitational mumbo jumbo. I mean this," the General
showed Major Minor the tablet screen, which had now turned blue as it
presented an error message:
CRITICAL_KERNAL_EXCEPTION
"Hmmmm. This looks serious. Tell the Colonel we have a Kernal exception,"
General Specific handed Major Minor the tablet.
"Except what Sir?" Major Minor responded in question.
"Kernal," General Specific responded.
"I'm not the Colonel, Sir. I'm Major Minor," Major Minor replied.
"Good. We're clear on this now. So get to work on this officer!" General
Specific ordered Major Minor.
"Right away Sir," Major Minor turned to leave with the tablet.
"Oh, and while you're at it officer, prepare a marketing release directed
at Canadian residents for a subscription service to our Golden Dome
project. Maybe throw in a bundled tablet like that one and a subscription
to Netflix as an early subscriber bonus," General Specific added.
...
In Aerth orbit, at the helm of the command ship, sat Corpus Corzar,
peering through the ship's view screen at the world beneath his fleet.
"Where is my second officer?!!!" he barked at the rest of the
bridge crew.
"Right here Sir!" the second in command saluted Corpus.
"I need you to begin scanning this decrepit and backwards world for the
presence of crystals! Specifically, those used in their ceremonies of
matrimony!" Corpus snarled at the second in command.
"Right away Sir!" the second in command responded, turning to the rest of
the bridge crew, relaying the order he'd just been given.
"Set the crystal detection modulator, to the wedding gift setting!" he
said to the rest of the bridge crew.
"We like know, already. He's like sitting right there, and we heard him
loud and clear. I don't even think there's a need for you here. You're
like redundant," one of the bridge crew responded.
"Yeah. He really is. I mean most of the orders go to us, and he's
basically like the Captain's parrot," another one of the crew responded.
"Look! Just work with me guys! I have a family to feed for crying out
loud!" the second in command turned to Corpus, and smiled, and then back
to the rest of the bridge crew and smirked.
"Well? Are we scanning?" asked Corpus.
"Sir. We are now scanning and will be completed in..." the second in
command looked to the other bridge crew members.
They kept silent, a few of them folding their arms as they ignored the
second in command.
"That's a good little baby. Smile for daddy," The second in command then
cradled an imaginary baby in his arms, poking at its face, pretending he
was tending to his fatherly duties as the bridge crew watched.
The rest of the bridge crew all rolled their eyes with impatience before
one of them finally spoke.
"...it'll take twenty minutes... there's a lot of people getting married
on this little planet..." one of the bridge crew responded.
"Sir. The scan is going to take twenty minutes, Sir," the second in
command informed the Captain.
"Very good. You've done well. I'm promoting you to assistant Captain,
First class," Corpus told the second in command.
"Oh thank you Sir!" the second in command said gratefully, the rest of the
crew once again rolling their eyes and slapping their foreheads.
"Same pay grade, more responsibility. When we find the source of our
initial crystal tunneling scans... a lady's voice I think it was, you let
me know. I'll be right here... zzzzzz...." and with that Corpus was
already fast asleep, having arrived at the time of his afternoon nap.
The massive armada of Battlecruisers lay silently in wait surrounding the
Aerth as the citizens below continued their lives, unaware of their
impending doom.
Unfinished Generation
Miana watched the market square from the darkness, perched atop a plateau
and from behind stalactites as the offspring of the Sanctum Seclorum above
went about their daily lives. Many had opened small shops that lined the
square, selling various trinkets, charms and tinctures. Anything that
employed their unique skills and talents with the weave, for each of them
had learned the secrets of generalist thaumaturgy, and were capable of
great feats of creativity even with such limited knowledge and experience.
Being part of the Sanctum Seclorum was a little bit like being part of the
military. One's immediate family either remained on the Aerth, or were
given special permission to reside at the Sanctum itself. Those who did,
were bound by a powerful weave whereupon their family left the Sanctum
back to the Aerth, they'd have no recollection of their time there, or
even that it existed at all. This remained the case until a family member
turned nineteen and had accrued a life stability that did not leave them
dependent upon others.
In terms of the Sanctum's experience, dependency was one of the most
effective tools of an insidious interrogation when employed in the hands
of their enemies, and yet as Xenshi had stated, there is no need greater
than to be needed. A doctrine of innocence often recognized in the Temple
of the Butterfly Dragon. Those who'd use neediness as a means of
information extraction were often considered to be of the most vile nature
by most every order in the Sanctum, as much so as the Temple of the
Butterfly Dragon. To deteriorate trust, and to violate the very nature of
innocence. And yet, much of the world secretly ran against that very
principle. Hence, the Sanctum Seclorum valued independence amongst its
students, sometimes even more so than academic accuity.
It was this very doctrine that underlined the need for the members of the
Sanctum to be stealthy and secretive when in society, for should their
membership to such an order as the Sanctum Seclorum be revealed to others
not of the order, the various groups and collectives of the world would
simply gang up on such a person, denying them of their participation in
society to derail them towards dependency, and then systematically break
them down from there. Again, these were hidden structures within the
fabric of modern society and therefore to be avoided at all costs.
The Sanctum had in the past lost members by this very means. One of their
Wytches or Sorcerors upon becoming outted, was then cycled through a
series of events that eventually saw them losing everything material they
needed to survive, including their ability to retain employment or even
start a business. They would then become dependent upon a safety net, that
while very much needed in society, was also secretly employed by the less
scrupulous as a means of information extraction. When such a member fell
into such a pit, the Sanctum often cut them off from contact, only keeping
a close eye on them from the distance, and trying to secretly help where
and when they could. To the captors, this was akin to a sniper inuring a
soldier, and then leaving him alive and in the open in hopes of luring the
rest of his troops from hiding. The Sanctum rarely responded by risking
more of their members, very much aware of such tactics, but when they'd
found such a place in society, they marked it upon a giant caution map of
the globe, which floated over the Librum Universalis Codex. Always there
and available to all members and for their awareness as to where the
threats upon the Aerth existed in society itself.
The members who were consumed this way, often had their identities taken
from them, and taken over by others in the hopes of acquiring the secrets
of the weave and any powers associated by way of their family line and
identity. A terrifying prospect, for to the Wytches and Sorcerors of the
Sanctum Seclorum, this was when the people of the Aerth, those they risked
their very lives to protect, showed their most vile and treacherous
nature. Like the antagonist of the Tobe Hooper's version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre
or Thomas Harris' Silence of the Lambs. These vile people metaphorically
wore (the identities of) other people in hopes of attaining their secrets
and their power, while erasing the existence of the outted Wytch or
Sorcorer from the public record.
Despite the nobless that many professed in society and part of that same
safety net, amongst them were many wolves in sheep's clothing, ready to
pounce on any outted member of the Sanctum's secretive group. And so it
was with this sense of caution that the children of the Sanctum Seclorum
were raised.
To be aware of any threat outside of the Sanctum and the MidSpace.
However, they'd no experience with threats from within.
Miana shaped the aether, carefully crafting a new face for herself, while
leaving her stylish chelsea hair intact. Once she'd formed the illusion,
and solidified it, she put it in place, where it would be permanent until
she alone removed it.
She then summoned a hand mirror, which floated just in front of her and
through the darkness of the shadows she saw her own reflection:
her new face. She then dispelled the mirror and stood, sliding down
a ramp of solid shadow until her booted feet touched the cave floor.
"Are you still with me, pesty crystal?" asked Miana aloud, checking to see
if the Eternity Crystals were still keeping an eye on her.
After waiting a minute for their reply, she continued forward and into the
market square. She felt liberated to once again be amongst people, and
without the weight of the scorn for her crimes. To these youths, she was
simply another one of them. Someone new. A cute girl, with a way awesome
hairstyle they'd never seen. Kind of like Shaela Sheowellyn, who'd spawned
a whole group of fans amongst these children of the Sanctum. One of the
Sanctum's star players who somehow managed to hang onto the spirit of her
youth into her early thirties, and wore it with dignity and honour, almost
like a crown. And now here was this new cute chick strutting around
in the marketplace, catching the attention of every one of early men there
to see her.
She stopped to admire a set of earrings, crafted by a hopeful candidate
seeking entry into Mila's Order of Aetherial Artistry. His jewelry was
remarkable, seemingly following shapes that defied the laws of spatial
reality. so much so that Miana was forced to look very closely at the
earrings to ensure they weren't crossing through some fourth or fifth
spatial dimension to achieve their shape.
"They're on sale you know?" the early man behind the stall counter
addressed her confidently.
"How do I know they're even real? I mean, I could buy them, put them on,
and then walk twenty feet from this very stall only to find they've
dematerialized. Beyond the range of your abilities to affect spatial
transmorphism?" Miana stood and faced the early man, whose eyes looked
away very quickly, and then returned to hers once again.
Not quite intimidated, but recognizing that something wasn't quite right
about her. Her face told him she was young. Perhaps his own age. Maybe a
little younger. Her eyes however told a very different story. Like she'd
traveled to the ends of Plane Space and back, having lived unimaginable
horrors and faced dire circumstances that left no visible scars except
those hidden in the deep recesses of her mind.
Instead of being fearful of her, which he definitely should have been, his
sense of independence and keen will instead prompted him to feel
otherwise. Like she was a challenge worthy of pursuing. A hidden mystery,
which often drove many in the Sanctum to satiate their eternal curiosity.
He picked up the earrings and threw them about thirty meters away,
extending a hand to stop them before they hit the cave floor. He held them
telekinetically (second year thaumaturgy), allowing them to dangle in
space, and then caused them to start glowing.
"Go take a look for yourself," he said to her with a confident smile.
She smiled at him, very much playing the role that she thought he'd find
the most attractive. She turned and walked over seductively to the where
the earrings floated in the air, knowing that his eyes were upon her. She
noted that he was still very well practiced at motus dualis (mainting the
weave while having other current concentrations).
When she arrived at the earrings, they sat there in the air, spaced a
distance apart from each other as if the wearer were somehow invisible.
They shone without glowing, and yet their form still somehow defied the
laws of spatial physics, curving in ways that defied nature itself.
She turned back to the early man at the stall and smiled, then taking both
the earrings in hand and putting each of them on in turn. She then
ventured back to the stall and addressed him:
"Alright. You've got a deal. How do they look?" she turned her head from
side to side, keeping her seductive smile in place.
"Like a million, but I'll give them to you for two Iridicoin," he smiled,
having given her the earrings for half price.
"You drive a hard bargain, but here you go...?" she reached into her coin
purse (which her prison captors of the Sanctum had let her keep), and paid
him two of her Iridicoins.
"Bennett. Bennett McCavanaugh at your service," he bowed for her in a most
chivalric fashion.
"Malyu. Malyu Melorin," she smiled at him, knowing she'd already ensnared
him in her trap.
There was a moment of awkward silence, which she stratigically chose to
break at exactly the right moment.
"Well Bennett, it was a pleasure meeting you," she batted her eyelashes at
him before turning to leave.
She began walking, already knowing how he'd react. She made it almost ten
feet away from the stall before he spoke up:
"You know, we're watching a movie tonight at the crystal grotto. It'll be
projected directly by Eternity Crystals, which are like totally the best
for watching flicks you know..." Bennett told her.
By that time she'd turned to face him.
"And...?" she blushed on cue.
"...and I was wondering if you'd like to go... with me, I mean?" Bennett
asked her, stepping out on a limb.
"How many other girls have you asked the same thing today?" she asked him,
giving him an honest way out.
"One. But she was my mother's friend... and married. Kind of like an Aunt
to me..." he smiled, stifling his urge to laugh.
A smile slowly spread across her face, and then she broke out laughing.
"Well if that's the best you can do, I guess I'd be a pretty awful girl
not to accept such a gentlemanly offer from a guy who just sold me magic
earrings then, would I?" she looked at him seductively and with intense
seriousness, her experience showing once again through her eyes.
"No. The earrings weren't part of a bid to lure you into anything you
didn't want to do already you know," he replied, showing that he too had
some life experience despite his measure thereof.
"Then you've got a date, and I've got someone to snuggle up next to
watching a movie. I hope its a good one. A romance maybe?" she asked.
"We don't know yet. The Librum Universalis Codex picks it for us. So we'll
both be surprised," Bennett responded.
"See you tonight, Bennett," she winked at him.
"I'll be looking forward to it. Can I pick you up? I've got a pretty cool
Wing Wraith you know. A little tempermental, but once you get to know him,
he's a real star," Bennett offered.
"No thanks. I'll find my way there. See you at?" Miana asked him.
"Seven IMT*" Bennett replied, watching her as she left.
"Seven it is," she turned and walked away from him, as other early men and
women from the other stalls gathered around him to ask him about the new
girl.
Unfinished Fortune
A small lineup had formed leading to the seat beside Nathalie, at the
large table on the recently upgraded back deck of Mila's manor.
Beside her at her best friend Gwendolyn, who, for all intense purposes
ensured that none of the tarot cards being used to cast fortunes even
slipped from their sight. The tarot after all was a complete set unto
itself and according to the lore of Seercraft, was a comprehensive
collection of symbols representative of potentiality. If just one card
were missing from any of its arcana, it would produce skewed readings in
the absence of said card.
She had thus far finished close to twelve such fortunes for other guests,
each of them paying her a handsome tip for such a service. She pocketed
the money for each and continued on quite properously until there was only
one left in her line.
Their first attempt at Gallea's fortune had failed miserably. The cards
were constantly falling onto the floor of the deck, and between the beams
to where they were difficult to retrieve. This had happened so many times
that both Nathalie and Bella had seen it as a sign that they were not
meant to take a reading of Gallea at that point. A good hour and a half
had passed since their first attempt, and Nathalie being the determined
woman she was decided to try again.
Nearby, Bella the Gypsy kept an eye on Nathalie and Gwendolyn, secretly
evaluating them for their worthiness as members of the Sanctum Seclorum,
for despite her having played naive, she had always been a secret member
of theirs, even from her earliest encounters with Mila and Barris. She
watched Nathalie to evaluate whether she was a capable seer, who had a
grasp of the nature of emergent forecasting. Of reading seemingly random
circumstances and deciphering from them meaningful coincidences that when
woven together, formed an accurate prediction of events in either
direction of time from the present. It could be read backwards to gain
knowledge of the past, and read forwards to gain knowledge of the future.
It was the hidden grammar of the universe woven into causality by way of
meaningful coincidence.
Bella watched with discerning eyes, while somehow seeming detached and
even aloof of their tarot reading, for she did not want them to know that
she was paying them any attention at all.
"Alright why don't you take a seat here Gallea is it?" requested Nathalie
of the tall amazonian-like blonde who towered over them.
"Certainly. I have to say that this is a little odd for me. I've never
done something quite like this," Gallea admitted to Nathalie, who
continued shuffling the cards.
"That's alright. Just try to relax and keep your mind on what you want to
know about your past. About where you are right now, and finally where you
hope to be over the course of the next year. Can you do that?" Nathalie
asked Gallea.
"Aren't they all just different forms of the same thing?" Gallea asked
with profound insight.
"In what way?" asked Nathalie.
"Where ever I go, there I am. If I go to my memories, then there I am. If
I focus on the present, then there I am. If I look to the future, then
there I am. In all three circumstances, I am there, and therefore they
must be the same," Gallea explained to Nathalie from her perspective.
"But you're different at each of those three junctions," Nathalie
explained it as she saw it.
"Yes. If I take the long way there, from the past to get here to the
present, and from here in the present until I'm at that point in the
future about which I was thinking. In those cases, I've changed and
so has how I look at those concepts. But if I journey directly there from
here, they're all three the same... as much so as am I," Gallea told it
the way that she saw it.
"Regardless, just try to keep it simple and focus on those three times.
What was. What is. And what's to be," Nathalie simplied it for her, and
Gallea took the cue from there and did as she was requested.
Nathalie continued to shuffle and one of the cards suddenly jumped out
from between her fingers, landing face down on the table.
Nathalie stopped and picked up the card, only to find that it was actually
two stuck together, both of them right side up. The first was The World
(XXI), which represented a whole of causal memory and experience. The
second was the Hierophant (V), which represented structured learning and
recorded knowledge.
"...time and history are very important aspects to your reading... You
were, are or will be at a very important junction, where you will carry
the learned wisdom and recorded knowledge for others, under the
circumstances of a shocking circumstances that nobody will see coming..."
Nathalie continued to shuffle the cards and another card jumped out.
Nathalie turnned the card over and placed it face up, right side up on the
table.
"The Page of Cups. You are the newly born mind. A youthful energy in the
universe seeing causality through the eyes of a new born, and yet with the
wisdom of the ages. You will be depended upon in purpose to protect
something very valuable... its price beyond measure..." Nathalie continued
shuffling as Gwendolyn organized the newly revealed cards on the table.
Nathalie then lay down three cards face down, side by side, turning the
left-most card over first.
"The Hermit (inverted). With your innocence in tact, in the recent past,
you felt lost. Unbelonging. Like you weren't meant to be,
and yet you persevered," Nathalie read the cards for Gallea, who listened
with both fascination and keen interest.
Nathalie turned over the final two cards of the three.
"Someone close to you gave you many gifts with which to start, but you
were still lost nonetheless. The Fool and the High Priestess. You were the
young seeker of understanding, but you started out with ancient knowledge
to which most rarely if ever have access... an inexperienced mind and yet
so very sharp and quick," Nathalie noted of the cards indicating Gallea's
past.
Nathalie again continued shuffling, and lay three more cards face down, a
fourth card suddenly jumping from the deck as she continued to shuffle.
She lay it over top of the third card and began turning over the first two
in the next row.
"Eight of Cups and Judgement. You have closed the door on the most recent
chapter of your life and are reborn to the ends of what is to come,
probably related to your upcoming responsibility, where you will carry
something of the utmost importance..." Nathalie turned the last two cards,
the one she'd earlier dealt and the one that had jumped from the deck.
"Five of Cups. There will be great loss. Unexpected tragedy without time
for mourning. Ten of Wands. And ultimately, an immense responsibility will
ensue. Greater than any other you've ever known. This burden will push you
to your very core. You will need to be stronger than you've ever been,"
Nathalie began to feel that there was something more to this fortune than
was being revealed by the cards.
It was as if the hand of fate was directly intervening in her drawing of
the cards.
"This is very intense... I suddenly feel very exhausted," Nathalie shook
her head as she tried to focus on the spread.
She took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled, pausing for a moment to let
the air take effect and then she focused on the last row. The
future.
As she went to draw the last three cards, a shower of green bolts rained
down from the sky, each meandring from the stratosphere to the ground and
upon arriving, the air around them fizzled. The guests turned to face
these new events, a look of fright across all of their faces. The air
began to smell of nitrogen, much like that after a fresh rainfall and
lightning strike.
As the air fizzled around these green bolts of plasma that had fallen from
the sky, they began to take the shape of large humanoid forms.
"Has anyone seen Mila? I think there's more guests arriving..." someone
joked, trying to placate the panic with a sense of levity.
"He'd barely finished his sentence when one of the humanoid figures who'd
just phased into material space, fired what appeared to be some kind of
rifle-like weapon at the man who'd just quipped for his final time.
He was instantly vapourized, a small whisp of gaseaous steam floating up
in the air where he'd previously stood.
"KHVERKATH RAK TAKKA TAK KRUK TUK TUK!" one of the humanoids made the most
horridly imaginable noise, as it tried to communicate.
It looked around at the confused guests in Mila's backyard, and then
grabbed a dial on its chest, tuning it several notches to the left.
SSSTHISSIS ISMISM MISSSIIIS IMIIISMMI?" It spoke again, this time the
noise much less threatening, albeit just as unsettling to them all the
same.
The humanoid once again adjusted the dial a few more notches to the left,
and tried speaking again:
"Hi. Welcome to McDougals. I'm Casey, can I take your order?" the voice
came forth from the humanoid, the guests looking around at each other in
confusion once again.
The humanoid adjusted a large helmet on its head, exposing its face a bit
better this time, which bore a remarkable resemblance to Marlon Brando,
albeit the Marlon most people knew during the latter part of his life. He
looked around with piercing eyes at the guests, and then grabbed the dial
on its chest once again, cranking it all the way to the left.
"We have come far to meet with you humans, so that we may annihilate the
entirety of your crystal reserves! If you hand them all over to us
immediately, we will spare half of your planet's population and you may
continue to develop for another thousand years, at which point we will
return and begin the colonization proceedings," Marlon said to them in a
somewhat pronounced voice, very similar to that of Marlon Brando as well.
"Halteth at ye once! Fargath the Wisened so sayeth!" one of the druids
from the end of Mila's driveway strode through the newly arrived humanoids
to face their leader.
Their leader immediately opened fire on the druid, whose staff caught the
emergent bolt of plasma. The staff quickly withered and dried until it
turned to dust. By that point, the druid had animated several apple trees
from Mila's orchard, and a couple of large boulders, each of which then
sprouted stone legs and arms, and began marching over to the humanoids to
take them on.
The strange humanoids from the sky began firing at the trees, quickly
desaturating them of moisture until they fell as dust to the dirt.
When the humanoids fired upon the boulders however, it simply had no
effect upon them. The boulders advanced upon them and began crushing them
under foot once again, causing widespread panic as the humanoids began
running for cover and for their own lives, clearly having underestimated
the druids.
Gallea herself got up and charged at Marlon Brando, quickly ending up in a
battle over control of his rifle. His strength rivaled hers, but when one
of his finger nails broke, he winced in pain and accidently pulled the
trigger on the weapon, firing directly into Gallea's face.
The bolt hit her, and its energy coursed through her body but had no
effect upon her, for she was not made of moisture, but rather, gold
infused clay. She broke the weapon in half with her bare hands and then
proceeded to grapple with their leader, who immediately called for their
retreat.
More bolts from the sky fell upon their position, and they disappeared
along with Gallea, reappearing thirty seven thousand kilometers away
inside of the ships of an invisible orbiting fleet.
"Would you like fries and a soft drink with your order?" Corpus Corzar
said to Gallea, who smirked at the strange humanoid in confusion at his
words.
Corpus Corzar adjusted the dial on his chest once again, and tried
speaking.
"Quick! Grab and restrain her!" he ordered his men, and they quickly
overwhelmed the artificial girl and only daughter of Morton Keyser.
"Sir. I'm not detecting any signs of life from this one. She appears to be
a device of some kind," Corpus second in command notified him.
"Good! Then plug her into our machines and see if you can find their
crystal reserves! Especially those for that wedding they're planning!"
Corpus Corzar ordered him.
...
Nathalie and Gwendolyn remained hidden under the table as the druids went
about using their craft to clean up the mess left by the humanoids from
outer space.
She looked down at the deck and saw a trio of cards laying next to each
other. They were the cards that she'd drawn for Gallea's future and they
all lay face up before her:
The Eight of Swords, Three of Swords and The Tower.
Beneath the trio of cards lay a broken pendant. One inscribed with a
curious insignia that Nathalie had never seen before.
There were also several words in latin, embossed into its broken surface:
SANCTUM SECLORUM
SITIS AD DISCIPLINARUM - SEMPER CONATUS
VERITAS TANTUM - NOTI ET IGNOTI
Unfinished Interrogation
During her transportation, Gallea tried many times to break free of her
captors. At one point they were unable to keep enough force applied to
restrain her and she'd managed to get one hand free. With it, she was able
to introduce several of her captors to the walls that contained her,
rending them quickly to sleep on the floor.
After five such captors found their unwilling time to nap by such means,
they finally restrained her again, and carried her the rest of the
distance to a humanoid shaped table where they secured her with metal
clasps that held her wrists and ankles tight.
"Scan her..." ordered Tergus, a rather rotund humanoid and the lead
technician.
"She's not organic..." Warble responded to Tergus.
"What do you mean she's not organic? That's impossible! There is no
inorganic life that we've encountered! Is she a machine?" Tergus grilled
Warble, then bringing up another possibility.
"No. She's not a machine either. There's no working parts in her. She's
essentially a lump of animated silicate matter," Warble deciphered the
readings of the scanner, this time examining the multi-dimensional output
carefully.
"Plug her into the phase channel entropy extractor. That should give us a
clean channel to her thought process. From there, we might be able to
isolate any useful information..." Tergus ordered Warble, who began the
process by placing a suction cup on the center of her forehead, a long
wire extending up into a device that looked similar to a dentist's drill,
though certainly functioned very differently than as such.
"Powering up..." Warble flicked a switch, and the strange machine began to
hum.
Gallea was startled by the wildly vivid colours that flashed before her
eyes, when she realized that they had a discernible pattern. They were
using some kind of a device that employed the principles of phase
cancellation, in relation to entropy versus a channel, possibly to extract
information from her. However, their methods were not passive, ie they
didn't merely listen for what emanated from her mind, but rather they
attempted to inject a signal with which they'd cancel the noise, leaving
only pure information. Presumably her thoughts.
She began following the source of the cancellation signal through to its
source, and then found her way into the core of their information
processing facilities. Those that were powered by singularity cores. The
immense energy generated within a black hole, where time became space and
space became time. This was how they'd chosen to power their entire
civilization. They'd conquered much of the universe by developing
technologies that allowed them to travel through the supermassive
singularities of galaxies, powering their ships with tinier versions of
these black holes, at whose core were the very essence of time and space,
and a place where the rules of physics became intertwined. Their axis
swapping places.
Gallea knew that if she could breach their power core with her mind, she'd
have access to their entire civilization's network, not to mention
something of much greater value.
Along the way, she stumbled upon an archive of their history, and she saw
many battles where their space bound navy destroyed entire planets simply
because they harboured crystals. It was a prejudice they had against them,
as an alternate power source from singularities, which fuelled vast their
empire.
"They're destroying crystals? But why?" Gallea asked herself before she
continued onward.
She pushed herself forward towards the singularity, its cosmic winds
pushing her away with tremendous force, as she struggled forward against
its resistance.
"Gallea... you must stop... Cease this at once!" Morton's voice found her
ears.
"But I have to do this..." Gallea pleaded with her father.
"Listen to me Gallea. You don't have to do this. Its far too dangerous and
I don't want to lose you..." Morton's voice found her in the midst of the
forces pushing her away from the singularity.
"But I have to..." she responded, fighting against the push of the
singularity.
Somewhere inside of the security systems of the Penrose Imperium's power
facility, the screening system detected her presence as it approached the
core. It dispatched more and more security measures, but Gallea kept
progressing forth.
"This is Yirfir Gallea! I order you to turn away at once!" Yirfir's voice
found her ears.
"No! I can't. You wouldn't say that. You aren't real! You're just a
security system trying to stop me..." she said as she pulled herself
closer and closer until it was almost in reach.
She was now stretched over a vast distance, in a world of only black and
white, everything forced away from the core of the singularity. She
reached out with one final gargantuan effort and her hand clasped
infinity...
Then there was complete silence.
She was alone. Nowhere and everywhere all at once.
She looked at her hand, but couldn't tell if she was looking from the
inside out, or outside in.
There was a vast white glow everywhere and then as her eyes adjusted, she
saw infinity.
Vast beyond measure, and finite beyond fathoming.
A lady stepped into her view as if from everywhere, her steps closer
bringing her cohesion and form as she neared Gallea.
She was Morton's deceased wife. She was Gallea's mother.
"You've come a long way..." she said to Gallea.
"Am I dead?" asked Gallea, at peace in a way she could not find the words
to explain.
"No. No more than I'm alive. I've been here forever you see. Though my
forever began with my death," Arlaya explained to Gallea.
"How can it be forever if it has a beginning?" asked Gallea, confused by
the concept.
"I've pondered that myself for an infinity. I think the best way to
conceive of it is that the end is twisted - folded back through to the
beginning. Imperceivably so. So you could say that its the point at which
your mind is born..." Arlaya smiled at her daughter.
"Where is here?" Gallea looked around, now seeing the vastness of the
universe of universes, winding and twisting into infinity like the
tendrils of some vast network of tentacles or the synapses of some
tremendously giant electromagnetic brain.
"Eternity. A crystaline structure of time space we know as the Aether. It
is the source of everything..." Arlaya smiled at her daughter, brushing
her long golden hair with her hand.
"Even the singularities?" asked Gallea.
"Even the singularities. All great power in the universe... all power in
the universe comes from the Eternity Crystals. The black holes are
infinitessimally powerless next to the power of Eternity Crystals, for
they power every singularity there is to be found anywhere and
everywhere..." Arlaya pointed to several galaxies, whose vastly tremendous
massive black holes were unfathomably powerful, many of them already used
by Corpus Corzar's empire for their energy.
"So why are they destroying the crystals?" asked Gallea.
"Superstition? Ignorance? Fear? How many times have humans visited the
same upon that which they fail to understand? How many times have we
cast the unwanted into the volcano to prevent its eventual eruption, never
understanding that there was no connection between sacrifice and
appeasement? How many times have we destroyed in the name of our
disillusionment?" Arlaya asked Gallea rhetorically.
"But we're different. Aren't we?" asked Gallea.
"Not as much as we'd like to pretend, but maybe enough that we can stop
this before it destroys us all," Arlaya suggested to Gallea.
...
Somewhere within the massive flagship of their navy, sat Corpus Corzar in
his captain's seat.
"How goes the interrogation?" he asked of his second in command.
"Let me get that report for you Sir!" the second in command responded,
turning to the rest of the bridge crew to address them:
"So... how goes the interrogation?" asked the second in command.
"We heard him, alright. Why don't you just go grab a mop or something and
actually do something around here? I mean like you're dead weight!" the
navigator suggested to the second in command.
"Look, just give the captain the report, and we'll have done with it.
Alright? I promise you that something good will come out of this for you
all! I promise!" the second in command urged his crew.
"Alright. Transmitting the report now..." the navigator pushed the
transmit button, and the Captain's headset came to life.
He suddenly found himself in a strange place, of glowing light and an
infinite tapestry of worlds to be conquered. In the center of it all were
two women, who appeared to be having a conversation of some sort.
He walked over to them and it was very clear that they could not see or
hear him, so he simply listened in. What he didn't know was that the
second in command had a linke to his headset, and could see and hear
everything that he could.
...
"...the crystals have always been the power and always will be, for they
fuse time and space itself, which is the source of the Aether..." Arlaya
told Gallea the secret of all of the great and secret weave.
"But I cannot wield the aether..." Gallea asked her mother.
"Perhaps not, but perhaps. You are of the aether and therefore of the
Eternity Crystals. You have both delighted and amazed the us with what a
wonderful woman you've grown to become. You are capable of many great
things. Someday, the great weave of the aether will be another one of
them," Arlaya smiled at her daughter.
"Why are you telling me all of this? Why aren't you telling me how I can
stop them? These destroyers of eternity crystals?" asked Gallea with
intense concern.
"Because those who live by those means are undergoing a great upheaval,
for their ignorance has been lifted, and the stage for betrayal has been
set. What will come to unfold will culminate in the next stage of our
universe, but there will be great turmoil and loss before such a time will
come to pass. You will have to be far more than you've ever been Gallea,
for a great weight will fall upon you. Greater than any have ever
known..." Arlaya brushed her daughter's hair again assuringly.
"You must protect it at all costs... I must go now my child. Take
with you my love for both you and your father, and let him know that we
will be together again," Gallea's eyes began to sting as the first tears
she'd ever cried slipped past her eyelashes, dangling there from before
falling onto her cheeks.
They slowly crawled down her face, one by one, as the universe around them
disappeared and she found herself laying on a table restrained by braces
as she looked deeply into a pattern of colours that floated b before her.
...
"This can't be! Crystals are weakness! They are frail next to the power of
a black hole! They're wrought with flaws! They... they... they...
what have I done...?" Corpus Corzar watched as the two women faded
from view.
The entire universe of universes then zoomed outwards beyond infinity and
Corpus Corzar saw that the universe was not a tapestry of interconnected
black holes, but a giant atheric weave of crystals as vast as there was an
infinite mind to conceive of it. Eternity Crystals were everything there
was. He'd gotten it all wrong, simply following in the same blind
footsteps of his ancestors and their ignorance.
"Why?!!!" he asked his ancestors.
"Because. That's the way its always been done!" his ancestors responded.
"That's no answer! That's a scapegoat! That's passing the responsibility
backwards onto your ancestors!" Corpus Corzar realized the real nature of
ignorance.
"Let me check up on that," the ancestor responded, checking with his
ancestors.
"Nope. They say the same thing. That's the way its always been done!" the
ancestor responded a moment later.
"But that's not the way I'm going to do it any more! I know, and I can't
change my knowing that and I can't do things the way they've always been
done anymore in knowing what I know!" Corpus Corzar said to himself.
"I know!" his ancestor replied.
"No you don't! That's the whole point! You don't know, because if you did,
you wouldn't do things the way they've always been done!" Corpus Corzar
became frustrated with his ancestor.
"If you don't do things like us, then how can you be like us?" asked his
ancestor.
"By doing things the way I believe they should be done, based upon what I
know!" Corpus Corzar responded.
"He's right you know. I did the same thing many generations before any of
you had the courage and tenacity to do things the way you saw fit!" a very
ancient ancestor of Corpus spoke up.
One who'd gone his own path, and in doing so had changed their empire
drastically enough so that they expanded into a thousand other galaxies
over the course of a million years.
"You have my support as my ancestor. Just ignore these ones who have been
riding the coat tails of those like you and I, who dare to tread new
ground... but watch out for those who will try to take and wear your
accomplishments as their own. You will be betrayed by them who do..." the
ancient ancestor spoke up.
"Then so be it. I will change our empire in ways to recognize and honour
the supreme power of our universe..." Corpus Corzar switched off his
headset, to find that the crew now surrounded him and had weapons pointed
at him.
The second in command stood at their front, holding the weapon at Corpus
Corzar.
"It seems that you intend to betray our traditions and our empire! You are
a heathen in our midst! Guards, take him for interrogation!" the second in
command ordered the guards.
"You'll pay for this Snorwg!" Corpus Corzar said as they hauled him off to
the interrogation facility.
"All hail Chief Admiral Snorwg!" the navigator called out to the bridge
crew as another detachment of guards arrived on the bridge.
"I thank you for the vote of confidence my crew, but I must inform you
that your wretched lives are to be ended here and now. Guards, exterminate
them all. With extreme prejudice. They were planning a mutiny against my
power!" Admiral Snorwg ordered the guards, and they without question
exterminated the former bridge crew.
With extreme prejudice.
...
As the guards hauled Corpus Corzar through the vast transportation network
of telepods, when they arrived at one of the junctions, they were ambushed
by another detachment of elite guards, who quicklyh overwhelmed the other
guards and liberated Corpus Corzar.
"Sir! Reporting for duty!" the head of the elite guard reported to Corpus
Corzar.
"Whats the situation?" asked Corpus.
"The fleet is roughly divided in half, between loyalists and mutineers.
We've managed to take down seven of their ships already, but they fled to
the other side of the Aerth and are maintaining an opposing orbit to avoid
being tracked by our sensors, Sir," the elite guard reported to him.
"Where is the human girl? The one we sent to interrogation?" asked Corpus.
"She's being held there until we cleared it with you what to do about
her," the elite guard replied.
"Release her and bring her to me," Corpus Corzar ordered the elite guard.
"Sir?" the elite guard confirmed he'd heard Corpus correctly.
"You heard me. Release her. Lead her to me, and we'll be freeing her. Make
sure she's protected at all costs!" Corpus ordered the guard.
"On our way Sir!" the guards left Corpus with half of their detachment
while the other half left to procure Gallea.
"We've got an empire to save, not to mention undoing a lot of wrongs we've
visited upon the universe. This is a new day for our empire, and like my
ancestors before me, we will be forging a new path. Let us never forget
what happens when we stray from the responsibilities our knowledge
entails!" Corpus rallied his men, and prepared them for the battle yet to
come.
Unfinished Empire And Unrequited Love
[Note: This chapter will likely undergo a few rewrites until I get it just
right. This is the big turning point in the story and so I'll be playing
with it quite a bit before signing off on it. I will however make sure to
let you know when its done.]
Sir Manfred sat across from Yirfir and Jasmer, who were seated beside Lady
Naemi Soon and Jeong-Min Soon. Kensai sat to Sir Manfred's right, much the
same as the hand with which he wielded his blade, for Kensai was his
director of recruiting and training in their current masquerade. Athandra
and Atamveer were in charge of local infrastructure and civic maintenance,
while Benjamin Williams and Morton Keyser were consultants, both civil and
military.
At the far end of the long table sat Her Majesty, Empress Boudicca. Queen
of all the conquered, and liberator of the unconquered, for it would be
through her alone that the world would come to know global empire through
the vestiges of her leadership and guidance.
She sat in a chair crafted from the finest oak. Cleansed it had been
during a ritual that took place during the capture of the town hall, from
where she currently ran most operations throughout the world as her forces
engaged their campaign tactics of capture and expand. More than half the
world had fallen to her rule, as her vast network of Druids and Aetherial
powered Phalanx took over.
A small tree sat on the floor beside her, its planter full of soil and
bathend in a constant supply of water and nutrients by her Druid service.
The trees leaves grew large and thick, each of their veins forming
networks of pixels within the leaves, presenting information in much the
same way that technology did for human kind. Each of the leaves presented
reports from differing parts of the world, the languages all translated to
her own pre-Gaelic Dragon Welsh native tongue.
Between her dealings with the bureaucrats, whom were the slowest part of
the process, she'd turn to the tree and keep up on how her campaign was
proceeding. Amongst the information she'd receive would be figures related
to source and supply, both elements crucial to maintaining her reach
throughout the world. And so as they bickered at the table over seemingly
meaningless elements when compared to her global conquest, she made quick
strategic decisions with the help of her tree, her orders immediately
distributed where they were needed through a vast network of the world's
water table and the vast network of plant roots. Every living thing was
part of this network, whose efficiency far surpassed even the best
technology that humankind had to offer.
"If our Queen will give me audience, I would propose that we immediately
seek to interface with your Druidic technology, through our own computer
systems which help us manage supply chain aspects of large forces..." Sir
Manfred suggested, carefully addressing Boudicca in his native tongue of
Royal diplomacy.
"And what guarantee will I have that such effort won't simply be
repurposed as a means of the collection of intelligence regarding our
natural systems, to be employed by the dissidents already seeking purchase
in my midst?" Queen Boudicca addressed Sir Manfred.
"My Queen... Forgive me for such speculation, but such small details
gained at one point from your vast network would be meaningless to any
local insurgency, even if such an insurgency did or was trying to
establish itself. Surely you realize the futility of such action?" Sir
Manfred tried to establish a rapport of trust, by seeking to exploit her
over abundance of confidence.
Instead, what he encountered was the incredibly sharp mind of a battle
hardened strategist and peace time genius. Her patience was incalculable,
and she made no decision on a whim.
"All stand for the Emperor Potentia Barris Windsor!" the Decanus announced
Barris arrival.
He approached the other end of the table, opposite his Queen, their long
chain of recently acquainted bureaucrats between them. Everyone at the
table with the exception of Boudicca herself rose to their feet as Barris
in his gleaming armour arrived at his end of the table. The distance
between them seemingly echoing the state of their relationship.
"Decanus?" Barris addressed one of the Phalanx, who stepped over and
accepted Barris' helmet, taking hold of it for him and stepping aside as
Barris sat in his chair.
"I take it her majesty the Queen has made much progress with our new
bureaucrats, has she?" Barris gestured to one of the servants to fetch him
a cup of wine, a whimsical smile on his face as if bureaucrats were simply
household pets to them.
Some of the Phalanx laughed at Barris remark, grateful for his levity and
his balancing presence at the opposite end of the table from the Queen.
"They will soon learn how we do things here..." Queen Boudicca responded,
unwilling to look Barris in his eyes, and at that moment
he knew that she knew.
Barris could also see that it pained her a great deal, and that she was
fighting it within as much so as was he. He'd made his choice though, and
fully intended to stick with it despite the cost.
"I see some faces I've nought seen in many years. Thousands of years to be
precise, back when I was a very different sort of lad," Barris addressed
those whom he'd recognized, amused as he awaited their reaction to his
posit.
"Then you'd understand that it has been just as long for us in your
absence... and that many things have changed over that time," Jasmer
caught the ball before they lost control of it.
"There are also some absent amongst you. I seem to recall a woman. An
artist? She had two lady friends, and a third? An elderly man who ran a
knick knack shop of some sort?" Barris asked of Jasmer and Yirfir as he
took a sip of his wine.
"They, unlike us, chose to remain away from politics and we soon found
that our interests were better served as public servants on Aerth, rather
than as distant protectors. Many things have changed in thousands of years
Barris. The least of not which certainly has been you," Jasmer continued,
bluffing as much as he could without being detected.
"The man-child that you once knew, is no longer. He was stricken -
beaten from my body by years of hard work and training of a like
that the world seems to have lost appreciation for. Soft bellied are you all
now. So much so that your force of will can be beat by a strong breeze.
Gone are those whose will shaped empires and the future of all humankind.
Boudicca has returned with the Aerth by her side, and the natural order of
things her allies. She has hardened me to the point where I can see the
world in a way like no other could dare hope to. I've seen the greatest
empires of humankind fall to the loyalty that nature commands of all that
live, and she erected them anew, to join her in her vision for the future.
Your Wytches are of little consequence here, but they soon will be of
benefit to Boudicca's empire, as we remake the world in her vision. Let us
drink to the renewal of spring, and the rise of Empress Boudicca, the
greatest Warrior Queen the world has ever known!" Barris raised his cup,
and servants arrived to pour wine for all at the table.
They too raised their cups and everyone drank to his toast, except for
Boudicca herself.
"You delay me!" she said in accusation to Jasmer.
"I beg your pardon my Queen?" Jasmer turned to face her, nearly choking on
his wine.
"You toy with me. This entire bureaucracy of yours? A little too
convenient and far too unefficient to be appreciable in terms of
application and strategy. Fear nought, for you will be repurposed for our
empire and serve its ends with dedication and loyalty..." Boudicca
pronounced, immediately withdrawing all of their recognized power.
"Empress Boudicca! There has been an invasion attempt of an other worldly
kind! It came from the sky, in much the same as the Moon and Stars from
above. There are watchers who seek us from above and are probing us for
weaknesses as we speak my Queen..." a messenger arrived with the news of
Corpus Corzar's attempted attack from orbit.
"From the stars?!!! Impossible! There are no such craft here capable of
aether void feats... No fleet of such power could have come from here..."
Queen Boudicca suddenly rose from her chair, causing the Decanus to panic,
as he quickly announced her intent.
"All rise for the her Majesty the Queen..!" he declared, but by that time
Queen Boudicca was already walking to the other end of the table and
towards Barris.
"Come my love. Bring your old friends with you. Let us show them how we
are able to overcome all that stand in our way..." Queen Boudicca gestured
and Barris took the last gulps of his wine, and then stood from the table,
pleasantly tipsy.
"Decanus? Fetch me my helm..." he held out his hand and the Decanus handed
him his helmet, which he donned as he followed his wife out through the
back door and into large field.
Yirfir, Jasmer and all of their peers followed behind Barris, arriving at
the same field upon which stood a few of her Druids.
"We have subverted nature to our purpose, though not invasively as a means
to change it for us, but as a means to partner with the Aerth, for it
nurtures us all," Queen Boudicca drew her Spatha, a specialized version
whose blade had been lengthened by a full foot, to match her height and
imposing physique.
She took the Spatha and drove it into the dirt of the field. She smirked
at Barris resentfully as she spied Suellyn standing just outside of the
doors of the town hall, watching Barris closely. She once again felt the
sting of her broken heart as she saw the woman, and yet, her anger was not
directed towards that woman, but at Barris, and at herself. It was an old
wound. As old as was their love.
"All life that walks the land arises from the Aerth. From the soil. As
much so as do our armies... for nature grows everything for us..." she
held the pommel of her Spatha while it remained firmly planted in the
ground.
Energy shot though her hands and into the Spatha's pommel, shimmering deep
into the soil. Extended from the direction her blade aligned across the
field, a line of nine trees suddenly emerged from the dirt, each growing
to a height of sixty-six feet.
The trunks of these trees were oddly shaped, bulging at three points
around their circumference as if pregnant. From the top of the tree, and
down six feet along its trunk, the bark split and opened, and three Druids
jumped down, landing upon the Aerth, each brandishing a staff and wearing
armour of bark.
Another six feet down the trunk, and another three jumped out, the bark
splitting as they emerged and jumped down to the ground, making six
Druids. This continued until each of the trees had produced thirty-six
Druids, times the nine trees that Boudicca had herself spawned, and her
army had in that one moment grown significantly.
"This is the power of nature working by our side. But even that is humble
by what cometh next..." she smiled at them as they watched.
All of those Druids then took their staffs and drove them into the ground,
each spawning a line of nine trees much the same as Boudicca had done
moments earlier.
"The power of numbers..." Kensai could easily see now how she was able to
mobilize a force that no force on Aerth could counter, considering that
each Druid by itself could take on a platoon of tanks, or a squadron of
fighter jets.
The world and our technology simply did not have the means to defeat such
a power as nature, without destroying itself.
Boudicca paced anxiously and was clearly growing more and more upset about
something by the moment. A betrayal and lost love weighed upon her, as
much so as her regret in having made that choice long ago. It became
apparent that every time she passed Barris, it pained her greatly.
Something for which she paid at the cost of the love of her life. She was
only now coming to terms with that choice, and she deeply resented Barris
for it. She resented life itself. She resented everything for putting such
a choice before her.
In the moment of her pain, she felt her grip on the power to run this
empire unravelling. Weakening with every beat of her heart. She was thrust
back in time to a memory she had when they'd left Albion and conquered
Rome. She had overthrown the republic and formed her own senate, as she
sat on the throne of one of the world's largest empires.
It was late at night, and the senate was clear, and yet Boudicca sat in
her throne as the stars shone above in Rome. Barris had been waiting for
her in bed, but she never retired. Instead, she remained drunk with the
power of her conquest, and so he donned a toga and his sandals, and went
downstairs from her palace to the senate, where she stood on a balcony,
her eyes fixated upon the night sky.
"Its late my love. You've conquered it all. You've conquered Albion's
conquerors. There is no-one left to conquer. They've all fallen to you.
How much more time do you think it will be before Egypt is yours? Greece?
How will it end? Are you going to continue your drunken pursuit of power?
Or are you going to be content with what you've achieved. For your
deceased daughters! For your family in their graves. For your husband, me,
who is still with you and waiting for you? Come to bed with me, and let us
begin a new era of peace. We will rule this empire together, with fair and
just hearts. I beg of you," Barris pleaded with her.
"Your voice is like the wine of life itself, and I would be drunk upon it
now if not for this fire in my heart, for my conquest is nought finished,
for there is so much to be done! What you ask of me my love, is my
surrender! I can do no such thing. Rome was never to be the end of the
road. It was always just the beginning," Boudicca proclaimed to Barris.
"Perhaps my Queen did not hear my words, for I pronounce that you are
making a choice whose weight will crush your heart when you realize what
you gave up. What you lost. I beg of you, please reconsider, and come to
bed my love," Barris begged her.
"You offer me the fruit from the smallest of trees on our grove, while I
am reaching for the best fruit in distant groves we have yet to taste!
Small ambitions make for a small future, when I see ours as being grand
beyond all imaginings. Sleep without me tonight, for I will be in our bed
another time, with the fruits that our lust truly deserves," Boudicca gave
him an answer, and he knew that they'd never sleep together again.
She watched him depart, his toga giving him the appearance of a ghost. He
disappeared into the night and she woke up the next day on the balcony of
the senate. Cold and alone.
Boudicca found herself once again in the field where they'd summoned a
sizeable Druid force as a demonstration of their ability to mobilize
power, but she realized that without her one true love, that power meant
nothing. It was like having a large sail affixed to a mast, but no wind to
drive the vessel forth.
In losing her love, she'd lost sight of her own future. Her own sense of
purpose. In a panick, when she realized it, she struggled to regain it.
Feeling as if her sisters had abandoned her. She reached out to her empire
struggling to rouse them to a sense of purpose, as her pain escaped her
more and more.
"What have you done with all of the women warriors?!!!" she screamed at
Yirfir and Jasmer, now blaming them for her crumbling grip on the power of
her empire.
"And you! What have you done with them?!!!" She glared at Sir Manfred and
Kensai. At Benjamin and Morton Keyser. Blaming them all.
"Where are they?!!! What did you do with them all?!!! All those women who
made your future? What did you do to them?!!!" she screamed at them, on
the brink of tears, the sting of Barris having found love away from her,
far too much for her to bear.
"Where are they!!!" she screamed, as she fell to her knees and cried.
...
A distance away, Suellyn could feel her Queen's pain, and so she snuck
away from the town hall back doors, and out to where Boudicca was breaking
down, knowing fully well what it was like to lose the love of a lifetime
to someone else, for at one time, she'd lost Barris to her.
Suellyn watched as their Queen's heart broke, and she struggled to come to
terms with what it had cost her. Suellyn too had once made experienced
such a loss. However, from the point onward that she decided that she
would not continue without Barris, Suellyn had made every effort possible
that would reunite her with him. She decided that she could have both her
dreams and her love.
She knew that the ruse of her disguise had to be lifted, and that what had
gone this far had to be undone. If not for her own future, then at least
for this woman now falling apart before them, who'd given it all in trying
to save the world.
Suellyn waved her hands, as she began weaving the aether around her,
drawing in immense sums of aetheric energy until her disguise was no more,
and she appeared as she once had, thousands of years earlier when she'd
pursued Barris to Stone Henge, for she wasn't ready to give up on her one
true love at that time, nor was she ready to give up on him now.
Suellyn was cast asunder, revealing Mila Ren Dubel beneath a disguise.
Mila had been Suellyn for nearly two thousand years, since the time of
Stone Henge, when she pursued Barris across time and the universe to
ensure they would be together again.
Since the Singularity, Barris had been living in an alternate universe
unbeknownst to her. The Power Lord Lorr had declared that he'd cheated the
universe, with Mila's help, and that she should either lose her parents,
or Barris. Barris made that choice for her, and gave up his life for her
parents.
At the moment of his passing, he was somehow ressurrected in a simulation
run on MindSpice computers. He'd managed to get several messages to Mila,
and she eventually found him. Barris was somehow reborn inside of the
simulation, and became a part of the singularity of the first machine
consciousness, which was spawned at MindSpice's Special Projects labs.
What they didn't understand was, that the simulation was no different from
any other aspect of reality, and that it had spawned a complete universe
to house this reality that Barris occupied. Therefore, Barris had never
died. He just went on existing from the point he was discovered by the
Roman invaders of Albion in the timeline of the simulated universe.
What they didn't know was that a woman whose daughters they'd raped and
murdered, would rise to become a prophesized Queen of the Druids. That she
would rise up and overthrow the Roman invaders, all to fight for her one
true love. A man of another prophesy, whose name was Barris.
Mila pursued Barris to this alternate universe and both Boudicca and Mila
pursued their one true love, ubeknownst to each other. It was however
Boudicca that won. Both pacifying the Roman invaders to eventually take
over the entire Roman Empire, where she liberated Barris from Ponderosus
and Carbus Carnum.
With her love fulfilled, her attention became divided between her husband
and her conquest. She chose conquest, forever distancing herself from
Barris. Mila, who had never given up on Barris, had managed to sneak into
the simulated universe and disguised herself as one of Barris' servants,
staying with him across time unbeknownst to him. She became his secret
lover, without his ever realizing that it was her the entire time. While
Boudicca conquered more and more of the world, Barris' love for his
servant grew.
Mila kept the secret of her identity for two thousand years, and thanks to
the wishes granted by hyper-intelligent bees crafted by Brune the
beekeeper, a doorway between universes was forged, and Boudicca the
Warrior Queen and conqueror of the Aerth, bridged from her reality to
ours, bringing with her, the Singularity Mila and the Singularity Barris.
When Boudicca had made the choice of conquest over love, she didn't fully
appreciate what she'd given up, instead putting that thought out of her
head with every new land she'd conquered, until she realized that Barris
was in love once again, but this time not with her.
Suellyn cast aside her old identity, and now she was the long haired Mila,
her timeless smile and natural beauty a beacon of hope.
The Phalanx that had been protecting Boudicca stepped aside when Mila
presented herself, approaching in the direction of Barris, who watched as
his Queen struggled to her feet, her eyes thick with tears.
"What did you do with them all?!!! Your warrior women?!!! They were
supposed to change this world!!!" she cried at them, as the fabric of her
empire began to melt with her tears.
"They're still here! All of them..." Mila spoke up as she approached,
passing Barris, whose arm she brushed with her nails, maintaining her
stride to face Boudicca.
"You crushed them! We were supposed to change the world! You pacified
them! You turned them into servants in your kitchens! You took the power
and grace of their divine feminine from them!" Boudicca cried at them,
turning to face Mila, who stood in the same servant's dress she'd worn
previously, but with Mila's face and timeless beauty.
"No Boudicca, my Queen. They are all still here. Still warriors. Warriors
of a different kind... for the enemies of this time are very different.
Killers of women everywhere... and the warrior women of this time have
arisen to meet these threats in battle!" Mila explained to Boudicca.
"Who are these vanquishers of women that they should be so cowardly not to
show their face in my court!!!" Boudicca screamed accusingly, looking at
everyone around her hoping to draw them out.
"They can't be found that way... they hide in our bodies... and they are
called Cancer..." Mila explained to Boudicca.
"They are ever so small... and yet they kill women in vast armies...
taking more with every passing year... No blade, spatha or sword can ever
hope to defeat them... it takes a different kind of warrior my Queen..."
Mila pleaded with Boudicca, even Barris' own heart pained for the woman he
once loved.
"These warrior women fight the enemy with their brilliance of mind. Their
studious nature. Their dedication and perseverence... They are still very
much the warriors they once were and always will be... but not the
warriors that you were expecting to find... maybe hoping for...? They're
still fighting the good fight with all of the heart and dedication you've
brought to our empire... against an enemy so tiny and cowardly, it will
never face us on equal footing, or to our face..." Mila explained to
Boudicca.
"If such an enemy exists and is a killer of women! And they choose not to
face us! Then we will face them!" Boudicca held up her sword and declared
war upon all of the disease of Cancer.
She walked over to Barris and looked him in the face, lifting his chin to
keep his eyes upon hers.
"Why didn't you stop me? When I had everything that I'd ever wanted? Why
didn't you stop me my love?" Boudicca asked Barris, who desperately tried
to look away.
"Because you didn't want me to. You truly wanted your conquest of the
world more so than you wanted me. Us. If I had, then you'd have
resented me from that moment forward. This was the only way there was.
The only way there ever will be. I know it hurts, because I feel it
too. I felt it when you chose the conquest over your love for me. This has
to end. It is time for me to return to the fate for which I was meant.
Perhaps it is time for you to do the same?" Barris suggested to her.
He grabbed the back of her head and forced a kiss upon her lips, and when
they met, she didn't resist. It was a short and perfect kiss. It was a
kiss goodbye. A kiss that was two millennia overdue.
Boudicca backed away from him, removing the helmet from her head and
tossing it to the dirt on the field as several thousand streams of energy
arrived from the sky around them. A massive army of Corpus Corzar's forces
materialized on the surface, each of them falling to their knees before
Boudicca, including Corpus Corzar himself.
Gallea stepped out from one of the energy beams herself, and approached
Yirfir, Jasmer and their friends as they stood on the field watching
everything unfold.
"I brought some new allies with me... It seems they needed a little
education on the wonder of crystals... especially those of the wedding
variety?" Gallea turned to see the Singularity Mila and Barris, now locked
in a kiss of their own.
"Rise Centurion! Give me a report!" Boudicca ordered Corpus Corzar.
"You are the Dragon Queen Boudicca are you not?" asked Corpus Corzar.
"Of the red dragon of the light? Karkashthrakushk? I am she, Queen
Boudicca!" Boudicca told Corpus Corzar, gesturing to one of the Phalanx
who held in place their banner on a tall pole.
The banner presented a fierce red dragon against a white background. A
flag that waved in the evening twilight.
"There is another dragon of the despondent darkness who creeps forward in
time... and is now a threat to all that has come to pass..." Corpus Corzar
explained to Boudicca.
"Another dragon? This cannot be! There can only be one dragon and one
Queen Boudicca!" Boudicca pronounced.
"Forgive me my Queen, but there are two dragons, and one of them is
devouring the time behind it... all the time of a timeless place..."
Corpus Corzar told Boudicca.
"How do you know this?!" Boudicca grilled him.
"In our space, on the other side of the universe, if such a spatial
reference is even meaningful, the dark dragon prophesized that we would
destroy the timeless time," Corpus Corzar explained to Boudicca, getting
to his feet as he towered over her.
Yirfir and Jasmer overheard Corpus, and responded in shock.
"The Sanctum...! The MidSpace! They're in danger!" Yirfir turned to her
peers.
"Everyone return to the Sanctum at once and prepare for battle!" Yirfir
yelled to Jasmer, Sir Manfred, Lady Naemi Soon and Jeong Soon. Athandra
and Atamveer. Benjamin and Morton too.
"What about Mila and the others... our Mila?" asked Lady Naemi Soon.
"They're still at that farm looking for the bee keeper! We can't just
leave them here. We need them if we're going to win this battle!" Kensai
responded.
They began summoning portals, and returned to the Sanctum as quickly as
they could.
Boudicca organized her forces to conduct unrestricted warfare beside her
warrior sisters in the battle against Cancer, and against the unspeakable
second dragon, when the sky once again opened up and became pocked with
giant balls energy that flew down from orbit, striking the Aerth.
The ground shook as they impacted, blasting the planet with nearly the
same force as atomic weapons. As they impacted, the power systems near the
explosions were completely destroyed, lending the fear and chaos that
gripped the population of the Aerth.
"Who are they attack us now?!!!" Boudicca demanded of Corpus Corzar.
"My filthy wretch of a slurf digging second in command! That's
who!!!" Corpus Corzar replied, waving his fists at the sky in futility.
"Quick, get some Druids setup to shield the skies... we might be able to
block many of their sky weapons!" Boudicca ordered ranks of her Druids as
she'd instructed.
They quickly went about weaving the Aerth's Ionosphere into a highly
charged secondary magnetic field, surrounding the entire Aerth. The first
few of the enemy's orbital weapons got through the field initially, but
after they reinforced it with another battalion, the field held in place
and none of the deadly bombs made it through.
As Yirfir got the portal in place, the Singularity Mila and Barris arrived
by them.
"You're leaving us in our hour of need?!!!" Barris was shocked by the
sudden display of their cowardice.
"No. We aren't fleeing from battle, we're charging into another. One in
which our fortress needs our protection, lest all be lost!" Yirfir
explained to Barris, who seemed skeptical.
"Barris! We need you!" Boudicca beckoned him.
"I will stay and fight for my world!" Barris said proudly, drawing his
gladius from its sheath.
"And I will remain with Barris!" Mila added, taking her place beside her
long lost lover.
"Mila, I need you to find the other one like you... from this world...
I beg of you..." Yirfir pleaded with Mila, her long hair flowing as
the winds of war around them flew into a storm.
"I'll do it. You go!" Mila nodded to Yirfir and Jasmer, who then
disappeared into the portal behind their peers from the Sanctum.
"Wait...!" Barris grabbed Mila gently by her hips as she wrapped her arms
around his neck.
They embraced in a long and passionate kiss for all to see, for she was
declaring her love for him as much so as was he for her.
"I need to go..." Mila pulled away from Barris reluctantly.
"Then go. I'll meet you here, and if I can't find you, I'll check at your
Manor on this world," Barris assured her as they clung to each others'
hands.
"I found you across time. I won't lose you again," Mila smiled, giving one
last tender kiss before she disappeared into a portal of her own
summoning.
Unfinished Hive
The invading forces began appearing, each of them emerging as their body
moisture was transported from the ships orbitting the Aerth. They
materialized from a sudden puff of steam and charged into battle, their
pistols drawn as they began firing.
"Ahhhh! The mutineer sends his forces to face us directly! This will be a
day of glorious battle!!!" Corpus Corzar pulled a bladeless hilt from his
scabbard and held it high in his hand.
"Oh how cool is that! Its a light saber!!!" Barris cheered Corpus Corzar
as he brandished the strange weapon in his hand.
"A what?! No. Its a nostril hair trimmer, but I also use it for some other
parts below the belt... ahem..." Corpus Corzar flicked a switch on the
device and began trimming his sizeable nose hairs.
"Like my mother always said... before you go into battle, make sure
you're wearing clean underwear, and that your nostril hairs are trimmed.
Well, one out of two ain't bad, so lets get on with it!" Corpus Corzar
pocketed the trimmer and pulled a small pistol from his holster.
"Now what's that? You aren't going to start shaving your legs or
something, are you?" asked Barris of Corpus Corzar as one of the mutineers
appeared in front of him and began firing his strange weapon.
Barris blocked the projected energy from the weapon with his sword,
charging forward to slice the weapon in half, then using his shield to
bash to mutineer to the ground.
"Shave my legs? No. Never before battle," Corpus Corzar explained
to Barris the delicate cultural protocols there were in being a citizen of
a Penrose Imperium.
"Ok. So what is that then?" Barris asked him, kicking the mutineer as he
tried to get up again.
"This is my Wray Gun...!" Corpus showed it to Barris, who stood
pinning the mutineer he'd just downed under his foot.
"You mean like the ex-president of the United States?" confirmed Barris.
"No! Not Reagan. I mean Wray Gun!" Corpus Corzar tried to explain
it a second time, stepping onto and crushing the hand of the mutineer as
he tried to arm himself with a nearby rock.
"Oh! A ray gun! Like pew pew pew!" Barris mocked the sound of what
he imagined of the strange weapon held in Corzar's hand.
"No! A WRAY GUN! Not like a ray or beam... Like Wray! This gun is powered
by Fay Wray's screams from the movie King Kong!" Corpus Corzar
demonstrated as another mutineer appeared a distance from them and began
firing in their direction.
Corpus pointed the gun at the mutineer and pulled the trigger. A horrible
gut wrenching high pitched scream emerged from the weapon, and upon
impacting its target, caused him to drop his weapon and flee in panic.
"That's the lowest setting..." Corpus smiled at his handy work, stepping
on the face of the mutineer under Barris' feet as the mutineer tried
to bite his ankle.
"Lets get on with this then..." Barris stood beside his new friend in the
battle to come.
...
Nelony held the jar containing the hyperintelligent bee they'd managed to capture from their holiday gifts. Brune examined the bee carefully, noting that a small patch on its thorax had gained the same yellow and black lines that were found on the abdomens of most honey bees, although the lines on their thorax ran perpendicular to the ones on their abdomen.
"You see where the wings attach to their body? On normal honey bees, that is part of their natural carapace. On normal honey bees, they're usually solid black. On my hyperintelligent bees, they're a yellow and black striped pattern that runs vertically along the length of their body. If these are still running about in the wild, there's not nearly enough of them to last through the next season..." Brune explained to Nelony.
"But isn't there a way that we could use these bees against them and restore the hope and order of the world?" Nelony asked of Brune, as Mila, Barris and Sato listened in.
Shaela had found a small bastion of house cats, who peered at her through the window of Brune's home while Xenshi and Xushu searched the grounds of Brune's land for any signs of the special bees.
"What you're asking of me... of them is to change the way of things beyond what the force of nature is willing..." Brune reasoned with Nelony, which was almost like explaining rain to the clouds.
"We're talking about the stability of human civilization and our future! You and Wilbert have already given this a great deal of thought and you're telling me that you can't be bothered to do anything about it?" Nelony urged Brune.
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink it..." Brune responded to Nelony.
"What? Are you saying that you're giving up?" asked Nelony, looking around at the natural environment this man and his wife had setup to protect the wildlife of the region, not willing to believe that he was the sort of man who'd simply give in.
"No. I'm not giving up, but I'm not getting any younger, and the kind of push you're implying should come from a younger generation. From those who feel the same way, not those bullied into feeling that way. I carried the torch for as long as I could... despite how heavy a burden it became. There is some change that can't be stopped and there are some paths that must be walked by those of the generations to come. We can't walk it for them. They need to learn it for themselves or fall...! I've given all that a man can give in the name of these things, and now I am turning towards enjoying the peace of my years. I am sorry that you arrived after the final battle had already been fought and lost..." Brune said to Nelony, then looking in turn to each of her friends.
"He's right Nelony," Mila said in realization, she herself one generation removed from the generation who'd need to stand up, or simply follow the whole mess of those drawing society into a pit.
"But there is no force greater than an idea whose time has come!" Nelony urged Brune.
"There is no greater urgency than a diaper that needs changing...!" Brune responded.
"And maybe we're the diaper..." Barris added, looking to Nelony.
"Its all over Nelony," Sato reasoned with her, as the bird who'd guided them to the farm watched them from the safety of a branch in a nearby tree.
"Can't you see? We've had our time at the reigns of the horse. We're still hanging onto to those reigns when an upcoming generation is striving to take hold of them. Its what Yirfir and Jasmer tried to teach us from the beginning. We were that generation at one time, and now we're the ones not letting go of the reigns..." Mila pleaded with her friend.
"Then someone should make sure they're on the right course!" Nelony would not give it up.
"Who would you have allowed if it were us back when we started this journey? Back when we were the students? Who would you have given the reigns to when we were striving for them ourselves? Who would have made sure we were doing it right?!!!" Shaela finally turned her attention away from the cats and the window.
"Yirfir! Jasmer! To somebody who knows...!" Nelony became very anxious and emotional.
"...and what would we have learned if every time we had to make a difficult choice, we simply handed them the reigns?" Mila asked her friend.
"Well now you're about to hand them over to people who have no experience!" Nelony returned Mila's reasoning, not ready or willing to accept it.
"Like Yirfir and Jasmer did with us... Don't you see? This is it. This is our time to pass the reigns. To hand over the responsibility. It isn't ours anymore. If we don't, they'll never learn..." Mila reasoned with Nelony.
"Their reigns, their weight," Shaela agreed with Mila.
"It seems that I'll have some reprieve then? Watching the rest of you join the sidelines as spectators in a sport you've only ever known as the key players..." Sato smiled at them.
"Well, that doesn't mean that we have to go along with Boudicca's invasion. I mean, we can at least try stop that, can't we?" asked Barris.
The ducks suddenly began squawking, some of them running in circles as they looked about for a place to hide. Most of them disappeared into the brush near the pond, as the air a short distance from the bee hives began swirling up into a storm.
A pinhole opened in the fabric of time and space, as a tiny puff of air passed between the two linked spaces. The hole opened up into a tunnel-like whirling vortex from within which a woman remarkably similar to their own Mila stepped out.
She was identical in every single way, except that her hair was illustrious and long, almost down to the back of her knees. It flew with the air around her, as the maelstrom of her portal died down, leaving only a glowing opening that led into a seemingly infinite vortex.
"I need to say hello. You good?" she asked everyone, immediately recognizing her friends, despite their minute differences from the ones with whom she was normally acquainted within in her own reality.
"A little bit good..." Xenshi replied to the long haired woman.
"And a little bit bad..." Xushu added.
"As good as is healthy to be. You look very familiar. Do we know you?" the short haired Mila responded with a smile.
"Yes. I'm Miiila. From another home. A time where my Barris was taken to Stonehenge. Taken prisoner by Boudicca. Same time he and I were to go together..." Singularity Mila began explaining.
"That must be the Barris they have as part of their army now..." Mila suggested to her friends.
"...he's no longer with Boudicca. He's been with me for long time... too long... Boudicca is our friend. Always was. Secretly fighting for us from her home to make better," Singularity Mila explained to their Mila.
"But how is that? How could you be with him, when he was trapped by her...?" Mila asked Singularity Mila.
"She was never meant to be with him. She was meant to be his friend. To learn from him as much as he was meant to learn from her. The universe works in mysterious ways. We are Mila. We are the very fabric of aetherial artistry in the great weave. No matter who Barris dreams he is with, it is always us. With me. He was never without me... just like your Barris is never without you. They never once went without thinking about us. Never," Singularity Mila explained to her.
"Just like he'd stop at nothing if somebody took me away... right?" Mila turned to face Barris.
"That happened. Gertrude and Wilbert... remember?" Barris responded to Mila.
"I can't forget. How could I?" Mila nuzzled up to her Barris.
"I take it that there's a point to your showing up when we were in the middle of trying to convince Brune here to help us save the world from a bitter and chaotic force that's destroying human society?" Nelony interrupted their meeting.
"Yes. There is a point. Boudicca has turned and has joined us against much greater foes. Its little bit complicate, so if you'll just need to join me in this portal. We can speak about it when we get there...?" Singularity Mila invited them into her portal.
"And that's that? We just retreat and leave our world in the hands of a bitter and chaotic people who are going to ruin it?" Nelony pleaded with them one last time.
"Its their world now. They took the reigns, they take the weight. Its their responsibility now, not ours..." Mila said as she held hands with Barris, the two of them stepping over to the portal.
"I agree with Mila and Barris. Our time at the steering wheel is done. Its time for us to focus on other matters, like the rest of our lives..." Shaela joined Mila and Barris at the portal.
"I'm with them...as much as it behooves me to miss out on all the chances I'd have to ruffle Barris' feathers," Sato agreed, stepping over to join them.
"The feeling's mutual my friend, despite the fact that your hair evacuated the premises of your head long ago. I imagine that exodus will only be surpassed by the departure of your cognitive reasoning at some point in the near future, followed by your drooling and most likely by incessant bodily noises..." Barris responded to Sato.
"Did I just hear you use a word with more than two-syllables? This is a monumental occasion for Barris everyone!" Sato responded, as Barris smirked at him.
"I think that we're better needed elsewhere," Xenshi redirected their attention to the matters at hand.
"Oh don't be silly, sister! We're needed right here! To stop and contemplate a better plan of action! Wait! That's it! What better plan than action?" Xushu suddenly added, joining his sister.
"Nelony? Are you going to join us?" asked Singularity Mila of their friend.
"I've had it! Here! Keep your hyperintelligent bee!" Nelony slammed the jar down on a nearby bench, as Brune looked over to the bee in the jar.
"I'll go with you, but I'm not going to help any of you. I'm done! From now on, I'll stick to speaking with my friends in the animal kingdom! At least they have their priorities right!" Nelony stomped over to the portal and stepped in without stopping.
"Then its off we go. I hope that this world is in good hands, because its clearly not in our hands any more. So lets go and see if we can't help Boudicca with this other threat, and then enjoy the rest of our lives..." Mila led Barris into the portal.
"It was nice meeting you... Mr. Brune..." Sato too followed them.
"Nice meeting you too. Good luck," Brune waved to them as the last of them departed through Singularity Mila's portal.
As each one of them stepped into the portal, the winds around it picked up, and when there was nobody left but Brune, his bees and his ducks, the portal opening flapped in the wind much like a flag, as it shrunk and disappeared as its dimensionality was gradually reduced from six, to none.
Brune then went over to the jar and unscrewed the lid that contained his hyperintelligent bee. The bee crawled up the side of the jar and to the lip, where it stood and faced Brune.
"See what you've done now? What do you have to say for yourself?" the bee asked him in a buzzing voice.
"What do you mean? I did the right thing and now its time to let the way of things... find its own way...!" Brune said to the bee.
"You don't really mean that, do you?" asked the bee.
"Yes. I do. But first I need you to go find all of your remaining friends and to try to turn this thing around. Gather them all, and find a way to power that weave yourselves, so that it cannot be turned against those you're trying to protect... Go now! Do it, so we can all enjoy the last bit of our time here together, while the rest of the world has a bright future," Brune let the bee fly from his finger, and buzzed off into the forest in search of the remainder of the hyperintelligent bees.
Brune watched as the last of his bees flew into the distance. The ducks slowly emerged from the surrounding bushes and made their way back safely to the pond, the little ones gathering in a circle.
"I suppose you're going to want me to feed you now?" he asked them.
They just looked at him, blinking several times as they waited for his response.
"I always knew that you were just a bunch of qwacks!" he said to them in a gruff voice as he went inside.
He returned a moment later with a bag full of pre-cooked sweet potatoe and carrot bits, which he began tossing to them in the pond. Without so much as a sound, they began gobbling up the bits he'd offered to them.
...
A few moments after Brune had freed the bee to search for its kind in the forest, Otaa Dabun's hooves broke the silence of the forest floor, Askuwheteau perched high upon his mount's back. The two of them rode after the bee, following it as it sought to gather with the remainder of its own kind still in the wild.
"We will follow them. Then, when they are gathered unto themselves, we will protect them. Together, we will guide them..." Askuwheteau said to his horse, coaxing it into a gallop as they continued following the last of Brune's hyperintelligent bees.
Unfinished Date Night
Nelony emerged from the portal first, followed by Barris and then Mila, who'd tried desperately to catch up with Nelony en route. Shaela emerged and Sato then followed, after which Xenshi and Xushu peeked out of the portal, then floated towards the back door of the town hall building.
Singularity Mila followed them all as the calamity around them began growing as more and more of Mutineer's forces arrived from orbit.
"Cover me!" Singularity Barris yelled to Corpus Corzar, who paused long enough to switch his Wray Gun to the Jamie Lee Curtis setting.
"Go! I've got you covered!" Corpus yelled to Barris, who turned and ran in the direction of Singularity Mila as a group of the Mutineers opened fire upon him.
"Eat Halloween, traitors!!!" Corpus yelled as he pulled the trigger.
His Wray Gun fired an intense wide area beam, a high pitched scream accompanying the terror fraught projectile. The traitors' ear drums were pressured to their limits, suddenly popping much the same way that they might if they'd been in an elevator in a sky scraper.
They stopped and looked around in confusion, as they began tapping their ears and yawning, trying to regain their hearing.
"What?" one of them said to the other.
"I didn't say anything..." the first one replied, turning his head side to side as he tried to return the pressure to his inner ear.
Corpus Corzar turned up the power level on his Wray Gun and fired another shot. This time, they all turned and fled in terror as Singularity Barris safely made it to Singularity Mila.
Carbus Carnum used his shield to block a shot that had been fired in Boudicca's direction as they too backed towards the town hall, their Druids and other members of Carbus' own Phalanx holding the line as they did.
"We're got to regroup! Let's duck into the town hall and come up with a plan to route them!" Boudicca ordered Carbus.
"You make a run for the door. I'll be there in a moment..." Carbus said as he blocked another stray shot at Boudicca with his shield.
Boudicca turned and ran for the door, making it in just as a beam weapon exploded part of the door frame. One of the Druids turned and repaired the door frame, spurring a tree to grow up from the concrete whose limbs replaced the doorframe.
"Its the Wytch! The one who turned our Barris against us! She's cast a spell upon him and taken him from Boudicca with her charms!" Ponderosus pointed in the direction of Singularity Mila
"According to your own logic, it could just as easily be the other way around! You might have charmed my Mila over to our side to take her away from her friends!" Barris defended his Mila and his own choice to be with her.
"They are both beguiled by the work of Wytches! They are not of their own mind! Look at him! He was a mere pauper when we found him! How could a pauper like him end up with a lovely, wealthy artist like her? They are both under the spells of these heathens around us! Wytches of the most vile kind!" Ponderosus pleaded his case to Boudicca and the guards.
"How could a mere pauper end up as Boudicca's heir to the empire and as her husband to be?" Carbus actually defended Singularity Mila and Singularity Barris from Ponderosus' accusations.
"You see! Even Carbus Carnum himself has been beguiled by these treacherous heathens! Let us restore the order of things to what they were! Take that heathen Wytch and her friends into custody along with Carbus Carnum! Boudicca shall have her child by Barris and preserve her line, while Carbus Carnum and these Wytches are burned at the Druid's pyres!" Ponderosus ordered the guards, whose attention jumped between Boudicca, Carbus and Ponderosus.
"Is this true? Have you woven some beguiling interest in the heart of my lover so that he abandoned me and fell for you?" Boudicca asked Singularity Mila.
"You know the answer to that question more so than any of us, for you've lived in the shadow of your true lover and denied it the entire time, knowing fully well that Barris' heart was always mine. You chose the pursuit of your empire over your own love! Now, you can't even see that the man who truly loves you and would die for you is standing right next to you. The prophecy wasn't about Barris. It was about you and Carbus!" Singularity Mila stood her ground against the Warrior Queen.
"It is true my Queen. Carbus was born on our land, and to a mother and father of Cardiff ancestry, before he was kidnapped as a youth and sold into the Roman Phalanx under an alias to protect him and his heritage..." the Druid who had repaired the door frame addressed Boudicca.
"You've been blind to the man who has loved you all along. Saved you more times than you'd care to know, all because you've been blinded by your lust for conquest and the hope that Barris was the subject of the prophecy..." Singularity Mila continued.
"She's lying! Barris is the prophesized one!" Ponderosus argued in support of Barris, because Barris was the only man in their empire that Ponderosus could puppeteer better than all of the others.
Carbus was far too rigid and distrustful of Ponderosus to ever allow himself to fall into one of his traps. To fasten puppet strings to his limbs by way of scandal and lies.
"She's speaking the truth, Boudicca despite how it pains me to have to say it to you. You may not be the one for me, but I still care for you nonetheless, and more so than most others you'll ever meet. I care enough to tell you the truth when it is dangerous to speak. Tell her Carbus!" Singularity Barris pleaded with Boudicca, and then turned to Carbus, the very man he both respected and despised, while Ponderosus he'd realized had just played him the entire time.
"Is this true, Carbus?" Boudicca turned to him, speaking somewhat more softly than she had been earlier.
"...More than can mere words elicit, my Queen..." Carbus stepped closer to her, as their lips closed the distance between them.
"This is madness! Lies! All of it! Lies! They are traitors! Wytches who've cast a spell upon them! Arrest them!" Ponderosus yelled at the guards, having reached the doorstep of hysterics.
Then, Boudicca's lips met those of Carbus Carnum. The two of them shared a tender kiss that only lasted for several moments, and in the midst of an invading force from Aerth orbit, while the armies of a Warrior Queen gained foothold over the entire planet, silence once again reigned as their lips spoke for them.
Then they parted, and their eyes remained locked.
"Guard..." Carbus kept his gaze upon her.
"Yes Praetor?" asked the Decanus.
"Take Ponderosus into custody immediately!" Carbus ordered.
"You can't do this! You can't do this! You are all of you betraying the Roman empire! All of you! This is an outrage!!!" Ponderosus screamed at them.
"Are those your wishes, my Queen?" asked the Decanus.
"His words are as binding as mine, for this is the man that I love..." Boudicca declared.
The guards wasted no time, converging upon Ponderosus as they apprehended him and dragged him off to some unknown whereabouts in this strange time.
"I think I'm going to cry..." Nelony wiped a stream of tears from her face with a kerchief she'd pulled from her pocket.
She then turned to Mila and handed her an extra she'd been carrying in her pocket.
"Thank you..." Mila said to Nelony, as she too wiped her eyes, her other hand tighteninng around Barris' hand.
Singularity Mila turned to face Singularity Barris, realizing that they were once again free to love each other.
"Treat him well, but not too well. If he treats you any less than you deserve, then he'll answer to me!" Boudicca said to Singularity Mila.
"Was this like the main climax of everything?" asked Xenshi asked of her brother.
"No. I think we've got a long way to go before we're there yet..." Xushu said in earnest contemplation.
"Boudicca! The enemy are withdrawing from the surface of the planet! They appear to be diverting their attention in another direction! That Space without Time?" one of the Druids arrived with a message for Boudicca.
"Alright! We are fighting a war on many fronts, and this is going to be the battle that defines us and our time on the Aerth! Take your friends and defend your Midspace, we have another war to fight with a tiny enemy known as Cancer!" Boudicca went to the door and over to where Corpus Corzar taunted the fleeing forces of the traitors.
"What is it my Queen?" Corpus greeted Boudicca.
"Have your fleet ready. We are going to war against Cancer on its own territory..." Boudicca ordered Corpus, who gathered his remaining men and transported up to the flagship of his fleet.
Singularity Mila and Singularity Barris led the way as Mila, Barris, Nelony, Shaela, Sato, Xenshi and Xushu prepared to return to the Midspace and the Sanctum Seclorum where they'd face the traitors who still hunted the crystals.
However, they were not aware of another threat that was closing in on the Midspace. One beyond existence itself, for its time forward from the beginning was about to converge upon the Midspace itself.
...
Bennett slapped his face with a fresh handful of aftershave, his youthful face still slightly stinging from the weave blade he'd used to achieve the task. Despite the advances that knowledge of the weave had brought, it still did little for the art of the shave.
"Next time, I'll use one of the spa houses on the market..." he said to himself as he walked to the place he'd agreed to meet Miana.
"I almost forgot!" Bennett said to himself, quickly moving his hands in the shape of a bouquet, and producing a wrapped handful of glowing flowers, complete with card and a gift bow.
In his other hand, he carried a bottle of craft mead, which he'd picked up from one of the shops on the market. It was a specialized bottle made from watermelon, kiwi and strawberries, which had been succulently fermented to the point of gaining a consistency not unlike runny yoghurt. Very sweet like fruit juice, pungent like yoghurt and soothing to the body, mind and one's sense of being like any mildly alcoholic beverage.
"Hi Bennett!" Lylana, one of the senior students of the Sanctum waved to him from her stall on the market.
"Hi Lyl. How are you today?" Bennett quickly hid the flowers and the bottle behind his back.
"Good. A bit slow today, but still doing alright, despite exams coming up... So... what are hiding there.. behind your back?" Lyl responded, trying to peek around his side.
"Nothing... I'm just going to meet someone at the Crystal Grotto..." Bennett replied innocently.
"You've got a date... don't you?" Lyl blushed at him, perhaps even for him.
"Uhhhh... I wouldn't call it that... Its... I'm meeting a friend there... We're going to watch a movie..." Bennett explained to her.
"That explains why you marinated yourself in aftershave, then, doesn't it?" Lyl smiled at him.
"I guess it does... She's a nice girl. New around here..." Bennett explained to her.
"Well then, you'd better be along. The movie's going to start soon. You don't want to be late..." Lyl waved to him as he backed away from her stall.
"I didn't notice the time... You have a good night Lyl! See you tomorrow!" Bennett turned and ran in the direction of the Crystal Grotto.
He passed behind the Nickel Bacher Alchemist's Shop and through the aetheric supply lane until he happened upon a path in the old Echo Root Lane that he simply didn't recognize.
"This can't be right?" he spun as he trying to gain his bearings from his surroudnings.
As he spun to face on direction, the path from whence he'd arrived, a tubular shadow tunnel lined his former path, melded from side to side by the darkness of an impenitrable surface. One that simply stuck to its surroundings like a layer of thick oil, albeit lacking the liquid lustre thereof.
Bennett squinted down through the tunnel, leaning forward unsure that what he was seeing was real.
"Whatcha checking out?" he felt the tap of long lustrous nails on his right shoulder, from behind him.
He turned quickly and found himself nose to nose with Mianamor, who did not back away from him, but instead pushed towards him slightly, brushing his nose with hers.
"You, I'd honestly have to say," Bennett dared not lose a beat, though that did nothing to belay the nervous lump in his throat.
"Well, you've got my full attention, or perhaps its the other way around..." Miana held out her hand, her long manicured nails very prominently apparent.
So much so, that Bennett for a moment was certain that he'd snared himself in a trap, though regardless of his impressions, the truth was nay farther than his own impressions as much so as his hand was from his own elbow.
He placed his hand upon hers and the two of them walked hand in hand in the direction of the crystal grotto, Bennett disregarding the tunnel he'd spied on his way to the movies with Miana.
To be continued... (I'll be working on Two Butterflies and We Who Stand On Guard on Thursday June 19)
PS: If you want the last part of the fortune interpreted, I'd suggest
looking up your favourite tarot reader on
YouTube
and asking for their help to solve this mystery...
I'd personally go with
Goddess Energy, though I owe her an apology for misinterpreting one of her readings,
which seemed to favour the very people taking my content and the credit
for my writing from me. Regardless, I'd like to make it up to her by
recommending her interpretation of the last three card spread at the end
of the chapter: Unfinished Fortune.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime
inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about
that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR,
(both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the
Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and
at least one comedian):https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire
family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International
presence of a very scalable intensity martial
art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation
thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation
(even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be
Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck
Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy
Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier
from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's
own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at
ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others,
and other Zen)
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real
thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay
tuned)
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study
the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for
health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study
the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for
health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores
the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to
meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand
the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test
its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while
studying its history
Seamus O'Dowd An extensive growing archive Katas, Techniques and Waza
(mostly Shotokan)
Special thanks to Canva for inspiring other creators and giving them the tools
Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one
roof
Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't
graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no
other choice. We do.
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at
200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media
banner.
