State of Transition

©Michael Liebhart

It is not the End

It is not the Beginning

It is the End of the Beginning

Millennium: the movie

 …at the wave’s current speed it will pass this planet in thirteen days, four hours and five seconds…  The voice was from a small holographic projection.  The individual that spoke was in gray body armor covered with a green tabard, emblazoned with the royal seal of Latveria; Victor Von Doom.

Ian had watched the message a number of times.  He conferred with Celia and with the data that had been acquired from the Kandorians, it was confirmed. The inhabitants of this world called it a wave or a probability breach.  To him, it was a Shadow Storm.

His people, both Amberite and Chaosite, could travel between separate probabilities or within the various layers of a probability, or as they had called them Shadows.  By wielding primal forces of Law, Pattern, or Primal Chaos, Logrus, the very nature of a dimension could be altered.  This had to be done with some care or it could upset the foundations of a shadow causing it to become unstable.  This instability was known as a Shadow Storm.  Mostly they were minor things causing small natural disasters, but if something major happened, like an entire shadow was destroyed, it created a storm, which tore through surrounding shadows/dimensions.  Mostly it was just raw destruction that passed through, but the more insidious ones changed things.  They took pieces of shadow and mixed them up.  This was the kind that Doom had warned him about.

Ian turned off the message.  Though he had memorized it the first time, the amberite had hoped something new would strike him by watching it again.  It hadn’t.

When Ian had wielded Pattern, he might have been able to stop the approach of the storm or at least shunted it.  Now with only the White Flame, there was nothing he could do.  This was going to have to be all Kieran.  He closed his eyes, listened… and located his cousin.  Quickly he broke contact.  The couple was...indisposed. 

Ian sat back and sighed.  He remembered the bliss of marriage and finding one’s true love.  Let them catch a few moments of time together, soon they would need to draw strength from each other to make it through the upcoming tempest.

***

Kieran stood and let Anne finish dressing him.  The forest about them was quiet except for the birdsong.  He had managed to coax that out of them and convince the nymphs to not intrude into their intimate moments.  In spite of himself he wore a lopsided grin.

“What’s that for?” She asked.

He paused a moment.  “I was thinking about how I used to have servants that dressed me…” Kieran never finished the statement as Anne punched him in the stomach.

“Kieran Chaunakut, if you dare begin to think of me as a servant, I will make you sorry, and I don’t care how powerful a Sorcerer you are!”  Anne growled.  “Don’t pout either, I have seen you take worse damage than that and get up just fine.”

The shapechanger laughed and held up his hands.  “I give. I give.”  He then lowered his hands, wrapped them about Anne’s waist and said.  “Let me show you my sincerity.”  He lowered his face to Anne’s as he said this.

She did not move, her body still stiff and unyielding.  “I’ve already seen it.”  She said in dry voice and continued to meet his ardent gaze with an irritated one of her own.  “Besides, it’s not like the world is going to end any time soon.”  Anne jumped as Ian cleared his throat; she whirled around and spotted him as he leaned against a tree.  She was going to tell him about privacy and being rude when he stopped her with one sentence.

“Actually Anne my dear, it is.”

***

The five of them had come into the library and talked.  This was the largest room in the tower.  It appeared to be three stories tall with shelves everywhere.  Besides books there were several computer terminals located throughout here.  She was not sure how long it went on for.  Ian was always evasive in explaining exactly how large it was.  He and Kieran had worked on some dimensional project here in the tower creating…Ways.  It made no sense to her, but it seemed to please the both of them when it was completed.  They had explained it by stating that the inside of the tower was much larger than the outside.  Once again they had been kind of vague on exactly how much larger.  She suspected that the two didn’t rightly know themselves.

Gerald stood, though he had contributed nothing to the conversation, he listened intently.  Celia’s holographic body sat perched on the back of Ian’s high back leather chair.  Kieran and Anne had pulled together a couple of leather chairs to be next to each other.  Except for Gerald and Celia, the rest all had a drink to help calm nerves.

 “So you’re saying this shadow storm thingy is supposed to hit our world and change the nature of everything?”  Anne took another sip.   “Are you sure that this information is correct?  From what I’ve heard Dr. Doom is not the most sterling of individuals.”

Slowly the amberite nodded. “While he is one of the craftiest individuals on this planet, he is honorable.  This information has been checked and double-checked; it is correct.”  Ian rolled the goblet of mead between his hands.  “Beyond that I can sense something approaching though the White Flame.  The ebb and flow of essence is being disrupted by something.  It is far off but it is already sending ripples ahead of itself.” 

“I also think I have felt something too.”  Kieran set down his brandy and leaned forward.  The Logrus is more…active of late, as if some great change has transpired.  Do you have any idea what has caused this?”

Ian contemplated his cousin.  “It could be a number of things.  As much as I can figure, this shadow was created as a byproduct of a shadowstorm from a collection of Kara’s shadows.  It swept up pieces of other probabilities and placed them here.  Then a piece of a powerful artifact emitting raw power fell here causing additional instability.  This combined with tendrils of other shadows continuing to touch and move in and out of Otherverse may have created a catalyst of events that eventually generated this shadow storm.”

The conjurer leaned back and steepled his finger together and paused in a moment of contemplation.  “It also may have roots in Amber and Chaos.”

Kieran shook his head.  “That’s not possible.  Corwin, Fionna and even my father Puck have all worked to keep both Amber and Chaos out of here under the pretence of exile.  Surely no one has found a way in to start causing trouble.  Surely they can’t have crossed the barrier.”

Ian shook his head.  “They wouldn’t have to.  All they have to do is cause problems in the shadows bordering the barrier.  If the correct resonance were to be generated in the proper corresponding places, then it could instigate just the shadowstorm that is hurtling towards us.  Since the barrier hold out all of our people, even our parents, such an incident could be used to lash out at both them and us.” 

Kieran let out a breath in a low whistle.  Anne sat back and took another swig of brandy.  Kieran turned to her and said.  “Now you know why I desperately wanted to get away from the ‘Family Politics.”

“That’s hideous.  Such a thing might kill unthinkable numbers of people.  How can someone orchestrate slaughter on such a scale?” Anne asked.

Kieran was about to speak when Ian sighed and spoke.  “You have to understand their thinking.  What is just one dimension in an infinite sea of them?  You can strike out at your enemies with little risk to yourself.  There are other worlds out there perhaps another almost exactly like the one destroyed.  Officially it is prohibited, but not always enforced.”

The woman shook her head trying to get her bearings in this conversation. “So if your people can start these ‘storms’ then the two of you can stop this, right?”

Both sorcerer and wizard looked uncomfortable.  Ian spoke up first.  “Theoretically, yes we can.  Practically, well that’s another matter.”

 “If Ian still wielded Pattern then it probably wouldn’t be such an issue.  He had learned some advanced applications to the power that I had not.  I was always more interested in Magic than Power.”  Kieran said.

“Well why don’t you work up a spell and stop this storm.  I don’t see what the problem is.”  Anne said.

The sorcerer shook his head.  “I would if it were only that easy.  This is something that is changing the very fabric of this probability.  It is rewriting it as it goes.  Any spell that I would cast would be rewritten as it touched the storm.  The only weapon that we have against this is The Logrus if we dare use it.”

“What do you mean dare use it?  Kieran, you’ve used Logrus a bunch of times and its never been an issue.  Why is it dangerous now?”  Anne asked.

The room was silent for a moment.  Gerald refilled everyone’s glass and returned to his spot.  Celia, who had been quiet during all of this, finally spoke.

“Unfortunately, like they have been saying, this is more complicated than it appears.  Hmm, how can I explain this?  Ok, I’ve got it, have you ever read J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.” 

Anne nodded.  “Yes I have.”  She glanced at the ring she now wore on her left hand and back to Celia.  “What does that have to do with using the Logrus?”

“Ok, in the book, The Silmarillion, there was The Creator, God if you will.  He went and created the Valar; lesser gods.  They created other servants of which Galdalf, Saurman & Sauron were some, they were the Maiar; angels if you please.  In the course of the story one of the valor goes bad, goes into Middle Earth and the other valar have to stop him.  Their mere presence during this wreaks havoc on Middle Earth.  They decide that they cannot come back again.  When Sauron, one of the Maiar goes into Middle Earth and causes problems, the Valar send the other Maiar to help the races of Middle Earth rally against him, but with one stipulation.  They are not allowed to use the full extent of their powers.  This is to keep more devastation from happening to the world.” Celia explained.

“Ok, I remember that, but what does this have to do with our current situation?”

Celia ‘hopped down’ and moved to stand at Ian’s right side.  “The powers of Logrus and Pattern are like the power of the Valar & Maia.  They can be used to wreck havoc and even destroy a strata of a probability  or in the case of The Logrus it can be used to whip up a storm strong enough to destroy all levels of a probability.”

She paused to allow this to sink in.  “The Logrus and Pattern are tools of great magnitude.  Consider them like broadswords or chainsaw and Magic a small hand knife or scalpel.  A knife doesn’t have the cleaving and devastating power of the broadsword.  Then again, it would be difficult to carve wood, cut a steak, or perform delicate surgery with a broadsword.  Conjuration, enchantment and Magic are the small detail tools while Logrus & Pattern are the ones that make broad changes.”

Anne turned to look at Kieran as if for the first time.  He became concerned and took one of her hands.  “Don’t worry, I never gained such a rapport with The Logrus to be able to do such devastating things.  It was just another way to empower my sorcery.”

“Unfortunately it means that he also lacks the direct experience and skill to stave off a shadow storm too, but I believe he has the potential to do it.  The problem is going to be assisting him in making this happen.  We have to accomplish a number of things at once.  First, the forest,  tower and its contents need to be kept together.  Second the forest & tower need to be held in place to this planet.  Third, the planet in place to the solar system, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.”

“Sir.” Gerald spoke for the first time.  “All of this seems a little extreme.  Do we necessarily have to accomplish all of these things at once?  It seems this is going to take a phenomenal amount of power to accomplish.”

Ian quietly smiled at Gerald’s perceptiveness.  “The farther reaches of this probably won’t be affected. What I am concerned is that the fabric of this particular sector of the probability has been stressed by a great many things as of late.  The last thing it needs it to have massive quantities of primal chaos surging though it and coloring its nature.”

“As if it hasn’t seen enough chaos.” The butler replied.

“Exactly.  I’m going to need to find the right tools for Kieran to use to help him juggle all of this.”

“So what are you going to be doing during all of this?”  Anne asked.

“Me?  I’m going to be empowering Kieran and his command of Logrus through the White Flame as well as the tools themselves to handle the strain of what all are going to be put through.”  Ian steepled his fingers and seemed to contemplate.

“Is there anything that I can do to help?”  Anne asked.

“Unfortunately the resonance of Trump and Logrus are not compatible so your newfound skill as a Trump Artist will be of no immediate use.  Though, I do have another mission that will help you develop your other talents as well allow me the luxury of a little extra time to work on getting all of this coordinated before the storm hits.”

Kieran made eye contact with his cousin.  Though no real words were projected, Ian sensed the fierce protectiveness he had for Anne being sent. 

“Fear not.  Nothing dangerous.  If she can make some trumps of some strategic location and arrange transport it would help immensely.  This would also improve her increasing skill with Trump.”

The chaosite gave an imperceptible nod of his head.

If Anne was aware of this exchange then she chose to ignore it.  “That’s fine.  I just hate feeling helpless.”  Then if sensing Kieran’s concern said, “Don’t be a worry wart.  I’m just playing truck driver and traffic cop.  Out of the two of us I’m the one that should be the most concerned.”

“Actually not, I have centuries of active experience with the logrus.”  Kieran said blithely.

Ian coughed at this statement.  The resident trump artist looked blankly at her husband.  “Run that by me again?”

The red haired man blushed deeply and stammered.  “I have a lot of active experience with the logrus.”

“No, that’s not what you said…and I repeat ‘I have centuries of active experience with the logrus’.  Centuries?  Ok, Mr. Mysterio, fess up exactly how old are you.”  Her voice carried an edge to it.

Ian found his voice and said, “Really Anne, this isn’t the time for this.  We have less than two weeks to prepare for the shadow storm.  Let’s deal with this later.”

 “No,” Anne glowered.  “Let’s deal with this now.  The two of you have skillfully dodged this question ever since he got his memory back.  Now, I want know just how much older my husband and cousin in law are than me.”    During this Anne had stood, crossed her arms and eyed both of the mystics.

Kieran looked at Ian who made a “by all means go ahead” gesture.  “Well since we travel shadows that have time differentials from our homes it can be difficult to give and exact age.”

Anne unfolded her arms and smiled sweetly.  In a voice a smooth as silk said.  “Well then, my beloved husband, please, estimate for me.”

The logrus master realized that though her voice was silk it hid sharp steel.  Knowing that she wouldn’t appreciate dissembling he took a deep and said, “Ian is roughly five hundred and thirty and I am three hundred years older than he is.”

The woman took a step back and dropped into the chair she had been sitting in. 

“Anne, this is exactly why we had been avoiding.  We knew it would affect you this way.” Kieran said.

Ian continued.  “I know this is quite a shock, but we need to keep going.  Yes your husband is older than you, but we have an impending crisis…” 

“Men!”  The word was spoken softly but with some force.  Celia ‘leaned’ on Gerald’s shoulder and both looked perturbed.  “You can reorder a universe but sometime have the delicacy of a pregnant hippo.”  She made shooing motions with her hands and walked towards the now confused men.  “Scat, go away and let me talk to her.  Go save the universe while we, the non-godlike beings, deal with mortal things.”

“But…” Kieran began

“Sirs, is the universe as we know it not in peril?  Should you not begin to work toward keeping some small stability here?  Master have you not inferred that time is of the essence?”  Gerald said mildly.

Ian sensed that these two would have much more valuable advice and experiences than either of them could provide.  He took Kieran by the arm and gently but firmly walked the sputtering man to the door.

Outside of the library the sorcerer shook free of his cousin. “What are you doing?  She’s my wife, I need to talk to her.”

Before he could walk back into the library the wizard took Kieran by the arm again and said.  “And she will continue to be your wife, but sometimes a husband is not the person to explain things.  Sometimes you are the worst person to do this and others need to do this for you.” 

His cousin began to protest but he hushed him with a raised hand.  “Trust me.  I’ve made this mistake a number of times.  Celia and Gerald will take care of this.  They can relate to her with being much younger than either of us.  Come on, Gerald is right, we don’t have much time to work on this.

 ***

Kieran sat in the forest, stared out at one of the lakes and skipped rocks across its surface.  Ian had been right about Anne. She had come to grips with his age that evening.  She sat next to him at dinner and said. “I understand why you didn’t tell me how old you are, but I’m still mad at you.”  She stayed “mad” till later that night when they had kissed and made up.  He just wished their current situation would be resolved as easily.

Kieran reached into his pocket and pulled the trump that Anne had done of Ian.  As he concentrated on the image of his cousin in his normal archaic garb, the card grew cold in his hand.

“Yes Kieran.”  The wizard’s image changed as he stared out of the card.  He now was dressed in a light gray lab coat with black jeans and tennis shoes.

Though he lost the power to create trumps, his cousin had not forgotten a number of tricks he had learned to do with them; one, which a friend of theirs had referred to as ‘Caller ID’.

“We need to talk about the shadow storm.  I’m finding some problems with our strategy.  Can you come to me?”   The last line was a formality that had been engrained over the centuries that even now he mouthed.

The image of Ian just put out his hand as Kieran reached into the air in front of him.  Though the enchanter wasn’t fully there, the sorcerer felt his hand and pulled his arm back a little…and the dark haired man appeared.  To those who could see magics and the like, Ian was briefly surrounded in a corona of rainbow-hewed colors, which flared and then vanished.

“May I remind you that we have three day before the storm arrives.  The Kandorian room has just been established, Anne is working to bring as many of the restored creatures into the tower as she can find and Kara is being difficult.  What other problems do we have now?”  The amberite said tersely. 

The sorcerer thought a moment and stood.  “I think it would be easier to show you.   I have studied the resonance of the storm by probing it with the logrus.”  Ian raised his eyes at this.  “Yes I know, not a pleasant thing to do.   Kind of like getting hit by lighting but I wanted to test this process.  I have devised a spell that will simulate the storm energies in a localized area.  I’m going to cast it at the middle of the lake.  Just watch.”

Kieran went through a complex series of gestures and sang intricate words of power.  Across the top of the water of the lake, a turbulent haze roiled.  Then he brought up his right arm with Elendae who this day was complimenting the serpent ring of protection by taking the shape of a matching black bracer.  With deliberate care the chaosite brought forth the logrus, a mass of deep jade tendrils that hovered above the bracer on his wrist. 

“Now I’m going to try and hold down the lake with the logrus; pinning it to this point in space.”  The tendrils shot out and began to thread themselves in and of the water.  The turmoil in the area settled and nothing seemed to happen.  After several minutes Ian turned to ask what he should be looking for when there was a wrenching tearing sound from the lake.  He turned to see the water roiling as the fabric of reality there tore and began to fall in upon itself.  After another few moments the logrus winked out and the lake settled, the water level had dropped over a foot.

Everything was silent in the woods, including the two magicians.  They looked at each other for a moment.  Kieran was the first to respond.  “I did enhance the power of the micro storm but I believe that it is going to have the same results.  This probability is still too unstable to be anchored.  If I do this, then we will tear this planet apart.”

Ian sighed.  “Do you have any suggestions?”

“I think so.  Instead of trying to “hold down the fortress” literally, I thought we might try and deflect the storm in the area.  It would be like using logrus to deflect magic.  I know that the storm is a greater magnitude but the process is still the same.  It’s like changing battle tactics from a hard martial arts style to a soft martial arts style.  Instead of blocking force with force we will redirect the energy.”

Ian paced and though about this for a time.  “I think we can rework this.  This will be harder on Celia, but I think I can lend her enough power to do her part.  I’ll have to reconfigure everything, but I do believe we have the tools to do this.”

With that he began to walk in the direction of the tower and disappeared in a wash of white fire.

 Kieran watched his cousin go.  This was not going to be easy but he hoped that it would work.

*** Otherverse ***

Thump!  Kieran jumped as a loud noise manifested itself next to his head.  With as start he sat up.  His head no longer lay on the table and he was no longer asleep.

“Try these on for size,” an obnoxiously cheerful voice said.  A blurry shape began to coalesce before him into his cousin.

“When was the last time you slept?”  Kieran asked groggily. 

“About four days ago.”  Kieran groaned.  “While I may not have the world altering power of logrus or pattern.  Certain aspects of the white flame can be very helpful.”  Ian said and smiled a beneficent grin.

“You know that I hate you with every fiber of my being.” The Chaosite growled.

“And I love you too cousin.”  The wizard had not lost the bright edge to his voice.  He closed his eyes a moment.  A steaming beverage appeared before Kieran in a large bright yellow mug.  An image of a dancing anthropomorphic blue bear with a large red heart on its tummy faced the cranky chaosite.

“I really hope what’s in here is better than your sense of humor.”  Kieran mutter at took a sip.  At his touch the image of the Carebear on the coffee mug morphed and appeared to suffer a most horrific death.

The flavor of this drink was not unlike a chocolate mint espresso, except that it had an even stronger kick than espresso had ever imagined having.  “Holy flaming serpents Ian!  What do you use this for?  Resurrecting the dead?”

“Something like that.  It seems to have had that desired effect on you.”  The ambersite said in a droll tone.

Kieran took another long sip of the drink and looked at the object that had ripped him from sleep.  A metallic looking box sat on the table.  He reached out and opened the lid.  With a gasp he let it drop.

“First you pump my body full of searing chemicals then you assail my spirit with blazing magics.”

“Whatever it takes to get the job done.”  Ian was still cheerful. 

“Has anyone ever mentioned that you can be a right ruthless bastard?”

Ian smiled bittersweetly.  “If only my father could hear you, it would warm the cockles of his heart.”  His tone took on a serious note now.  “Please familiarize yourself with these items.  You have about a day to become proficient with them.  After that the wave will be upon us.”

Kieran shook his head as he watched the wizard leave with a jaunty bounce in his step.  Ian rarely showed a sadistic streak, but the bastard could be a master of the passive aggressive when he wanted to. 

As he removed the first item from the heavily shielded box he remarked on his cousin’s statement. “Whatever it takes to get the job done.”  The chaosite had noted that Ian was becoming more…Amberish as time waxed on.  One of the redeeming qualities that Kieran had enjoyed about Corwin’s son is his sometimes blatant disregard for political maneuverings.  Now that Ian was stuck in one place, he was becoming more like his father every day and didn’t seem to realize it.  Now wasn’t the time to address this, but when things settled down enough he planned on having a little chat with his cousin.

*** Otherverse ***

“Galvosa, I understand that these are not your standard accommodations, but I assure you that everyone else is finding themselves in similar situations.  You and your people are not being singled out, so if you would please go back to your room.  The shadow storm could begin at any moment.”

The dark haired woman looked smaller than she was in front of the centaur, but she didn’t let that intimidate her.  Her husband after all was a master of sorcerery and the logrus.  While she patent with his eccentricities she didn’t let him get away with too much.

The centaur scowled at her, but sensing that she was not going to budge or be intimidated by his presence.  He turned around and with a swish of the tail, clomped back to his room.

Anne sighed and leaned a shoulder against the wall.  She desperately wanted to just go lay down, but knew that would be impossible.  The men were counting on her to keep order until the storm started.  Once it arrived everyone would be too busy to be complaining.  The rooms would all be locked down with no one to hear them fuss.

She shook her head.  In the last several days she had spoken with more creatures than she though truly existed; talking rats, cats, wolves, hawks and even pigeons.

She had coerced centaurs, quicklings, dwarves, nixies, hobs, and other  sundry fae into the tower.  While they were not numerous, she had to talk to most individually and try to explain the situation that she didn’t really understand fully into terms that they could relate to.  The only ones that had outright refused were the wood nymphs.  Andaria would not abandon their children, the trees, and other beasts of the forest.  When informed of this Ian had tries to talk them into the tower, they refused even him.  “You have always said that you do not command us, but only ask our assistance.  We have always complied, but this time we cannot.  We would rather face non-existence than leave behind the wood, for without it what are we?”

In the end even Ian had to give in and allow “the girls” as he referred to them, to look after themselves.  After this they turned to Kieran and said “Besides, we trust the child of Oberon with our protection.  He will watch over us, his kin.”

Though her husband said nothing she distinctly heard.  “Greeeeat, no pressure.”

Anne wished that there were something that she could do.  The only thing left for her was to pray that the upcoming hours would go well.

*** Otherverse ***

A monitor display exploded as the phased body of his wife, Kitty El, passed through it.  Though the monitor did not stop her, the wall stopped her phased fall.

All of the equipment in Lord Ian’s lab was gone as well as most of the tables.  There were a number of “chairs” that had been created. These looked more like the type of seat that were designed to withstand rapid acceleration.  They were not bolted to the floor but seemed to merge into it.  They resembled stalagmites that had been shaped into furniture with safety straps. 

Frostfire, Stonecypher, Anne, Gerald, Kitty and Zal himself had been strapped into these.  Six others sat in silent testimony of his cousin, Kara’s stubbornness. 

Lord Ian and Kieran respectively stood and floated unperturbed by the goings on.  The latter sat lotus fashion hovering about three feet off of the floor, while the former had his hands on the chaosite’s shoulders.  Both shimmered in White Flame.  Kieran held several items of power, which had glowed dimly at first, but now shone with an almost painful brilliant white glow.  Behind him tendrils in a rainbow hue of what Anne had called The Logrus seemed to reach out through the walls of the room and beyond.

The effort to keep things here had at first gone well, but after a time the effort began to show as Ian continued to enhance Kieran’s power in Logrus.

The building…shook and a strange…sound sung outside.  These were not precisely the correct words to use to describe the sensations, but they were the best words to describe the situation.

The intrusions into the tower grew until something actually shot through a wall.  It was a greenish black tendril.  With its appearance the tower felt as if it had suddenly been flung on its side.  Zal and the others shifted in their seats but were held in place.  The two mystics did not change their positions at all.

An alarm ran and Celia’s voice rang out.  “Shit.  Dimensional beech!   I’m attempting to reestablish stability, but I’m going to need your help Kieran.  High probability of outside influence of the shadow storm is present.”

“Ya think?!”  Kieran shouted.  He lifted his eyes from the glowing jade disk in his hands and to the intruding thing, which had shaping itself into a spiked and suckered tentacle.  A tendril of logrus manifested itself; a cable of blazing gold and shot towards the intruding force.

At its touch, the gold tendril wound like climbing ivy around the green black intruder.  At his cry the golden ‘vine’ tightened, straightened and sliced the thing into a number of pieces.  One of these flopped against Cathryn’s chair.  Before Zal could shout a warning, Kitty become out of phase.  Gravity took over and propelled her across the room through one of the displays showing data on the shadow storm. 

Utilizing great resolve.  Zal had stayed seated as he watched his wife fly across the room.  Magical energies fairly crackled against his skin prompting the restrainment.  With a feeling of frustration he opened up with heat vision at the chunk of tentacle that was wrapped around his wife’s chair and in a moment turned it to ash.

The alarms stopped and the sense of gravity began to restore itself as the tower ‘righted’ itself.  “Integrity restored.”  Celia chimed.  Then in an almost in audible whisper, “Whoever you are bastard.  I will find you.”  Shakily Cathryn Pride-El floated back over to her chair. 

“Cat, you ok?” Zal asked.

“Yea.”  She brushed away the ash in her seat.  “When I saw that thing begin to wrap around me I just reacted and phased out to get away from it.  I just hope that I didn’t mess anything up.”

“No, the damage was only cosmetic.”  The voice came from Celia’s head, which floated about four feet above the ground.  The rest of her holographic body was no where to be seen.  The effort of what she did kept her from manifesting further.

“Dear, do you realize how disconcerting that is?”  Anne piped up.  “It’s kind of reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland.”

The head swiveled to face Anne.  “Actually from my point of vantage it feels a lot like wonderland outside.”  Then the floating head vanished.  It might have been her imagination, but it seemed that Celia’s smile seemed to hang in the air a few moments longer by itself and then disappeared too.

*** Otherverse ***

The storm raged for what seemed like several more hours before ceasing.  After some theories and arguments Zal and Ian left to check what had changed in their previous spheres of influence.  Kieran was sent to bed to sleep.  The forest around the tower had grown significantly; the trees now completely surrounded and dwarfed the three-story tower. 

See Crisis Revisited: Chapter 2

*** Otherverse ***

The forest was quiet once more.  The world has settled back into place.  From the stone bastion of power on the hill they had left.  First has come the champion of sun.  He chastised his female and streaked away in a blink of a humming bird's eye.  The second was a bit more gracious.  This burned with the white fire of all-life.  He stepped into the crucible and vanished from this place only to appear in another portion of the woods.  The women turned and went back into the stone fortress that was much more that a structure of rock

The watcher considered this as he turned back in amongst the trees.  As he stepped he did not leave an impression into the ground so much as the ground cupped about him and held him there.  When he stepped away the earth returned to its previous state. 

The first man-creature was powerful.  It looked like man, but only in form, within it was a deep well of power.  In spit of this it was still mortal and carried the same frailties, but then again as a mortal it burned bright and sought to light the world around it.  Its speed and power could be a danger, but it was blind to him and his kind.

The second creature was something all together different.  It was powerful, but not have the bright burning of the mortal-kind.  This one came from the powers of olde.  It was definitely not mortal and while not as immediately dangerous as the first, it would not be completely blind to him; this one would need to be watched.  It drew magic from a deeper, slower well of power, but it was very potent.  What would need to be seen is if it harbored the same man-frailties as all other men.

It had gathered the forces to bring these woods into existence.  The watcher leaned against a mammoth tree and reached out through it with its senses.

He could feel the presence of the wood nymphs in it.  This gladdened his heart.  These children were joy to see walk this broken world.  They could sense him, but only when he wanted.  For now, they recalled him no longer that water did one's reflection after they had moved on.  He only existed in the now; none could recall him. 

While the flame bearer had crafted the forests, he had also tied a number of creatures to him through the crucible of white fire.  The nymphs, wolves, hawks, the griffons, centaurs and more; these he had yolked with silken bits of flame, but yolked them none the less he had.  He would need to be watched, if necessary, the flame bearer may need to be moved from this world, but only time would tell.  He might be an ally, but only time would tell and the world was still moving on calling him away from this place. 

He stepped back into the shadows and watched the flame bearer one more time.  "You will need to be watched carefully, this world will not bear you weight if you aren't careful.  This I will see to if you become troublesome. If not there are greater challenges awaiting than you realize."  He turned his attention to another part of the world and vanished

Ian stood in the woods unable to shake the sensation that he was being watched.  Through the White Flame he sought to find the source but to no avail.  For a moment he felt a flicker of something but then it was gone.   He had too much to do to worry about possible peeping toms at the moment.  His instincts didn’t give any warning of trouble.  His instincts were wrong.

*** Otherverse ***

Through a forest of trees two men walked.  Their passing seemed to disturb none of the abundant wildlife that they wandered past.  The dark haired one was dressed in his traditional black and gray with a touch of silver.  The other, a red haired fellow, was in greens with a touch of purple thrown in.

The forest grew quiet around them as they approached one of the mammoth trees in the forest.  It was unremarkable from any of the other here in the Argent Woods; unremarkable to those who didn’t have ‘the sight’.

Kieran reached out and laid his hand on the tree.  “I agree. She seems to be doing well.  It is fortunate the Andaria was able to keep her alive until the rest of the nymphs could find an appropriate tree to that would be willing to try and restore her.”

Ian nodded.  One of ‘the girls’ had been patrolling the woods when she caught sight of an intruder.  While people were not forbidden to enter the woods or even hunt therein, they were ‘discouraged’ from hunting indiscriminately or performing acts that damaged the forest.  This fellow had been hunting with an automatic weapon and just leaving the carcasses after he had mutilated the beast

Featherbrook, one of the nymphs, had chosen to ‘enchant’ the man.  The wood nymphs held sway of most men’s emotions and libidos.  Those that were dangerous to the outside world where ensorcelled and became ‘protectors’ of the forest, charmed by the nymphs.  This one appeared to have been engineered to do something when his emotional state radically changed.  When his brains endorphin levels reached a prescribed peak the explosives that had been surgically implanted in his body detonated.

From the traces of materials that were left at the scene, these left little doubt who had actually done this; Lex Luthor.

“This is the third assault that he has made upon me this year.” Ian stated. “First there was the crazy woman with the rocket launcher.  The shield generators in the forest worked marvels against that.  The second was that robotic drone that sprayed toxins everywhere it went.  The Girls were up to the task to cleansing the creatures, plants and land.  Now this.  The situation is beginning become intolerable.”

Kieran lounged against a tree and crossed his arms.  “Perhaps it is time we went and met this bald ball of Nazi charisma.

Ian leaned against another tree, adopting the same pose as his cousin “This wouldn’t be suggested because a certain woman is currently with Kara and company doing trump portraits.”

Anne had been busy with making trumps of everyone in the tower.  She had also done trumps of Zal, Kitty, and Peter.  Ian suggested that it might be a good idea to have a way to contact Kara’s group.  They had needed his assistance in transporting a small horde of green lanterns from her probability; there may be other things that might need his attention.

He had been pleased to see Kara again and was also elated to discover that his ‘boundaries’ that he was restricted to/protected within were actually much larger than he imaged.  It seemed that there were quite a few shadows in the surrounding continuum that he could wander about in.  Ian wasn’t sure the exact reason that his boundaries were larger that he first imagined.  It might be the effect amberites and chaosites had, if they were in a place long enough, they began to cast more reflection of themselves and the probabilities that they inhabited.  Of course his father had never stated exactly how large the boundaries that he would be protected/confined within would be.  Then again this place had many forces at play that could be influencing it.  None-the-less it was wonderful to realize that he had more than one universe that he could traverse.

Anne and the others had gotten off wonderfully.  It seemed that they were staying busy in their new fortress.  Jenny and Lar were off world at the moment, Jenny getting training from that probability’s Green Lantern Corp.  The trump artist promised she would keep in touch and let he and Kieran know when she was coming home.  She had a trump of the front of the tower so could return there when she needed.

Kieran looked abashed.  “Are you insinuating that I would wait for my wife to be out before I would suggest something like that?”

Ian raised an eyebrow.  “Yes.  She is not here to worry about you and you don’t have to worry about her.  She is somewhat beyond most enemies’ grasp.  Besides it give you free reign to be a bit…Unseelie.”

The chaosite feigned a look of innocence.  At the same time his faerie look enhanced and took on a more menacing look.  “Unseelie.”  His voice had taken on a dark tone.  “Why cousin, whatever can you mean?”

The enchanter just snorted. “Come on child of Puck.  Let’s make some preparations and make a visit to Washington D.C., the new home of Luthoropolis!”

                        *** Otherverse ***

Trent Lo, owner of The Golden Dragon sat and watched a dismal lunch time crowd.   He had managed to scrape enough money together and weasel his way into being one of the new restaurants in the restored Washington D.C.  In fact members of President Luthor’s staff had graced his establishment. They had stated that this was one of the better oriental restaurants in the area.  Unfortunately a torrential rainstorm was keeping most people inside.

His last customer had left when two individuals appeared in the middle of the room.  Both were smartly dressed.  One had long dark hair, pulled back in a ponytail that went down to his shoulder blades.  He was in a dark suit with charcoal grey shirt and tie.  The other was dressed similarly, but with red hair, a black suit, collarless forest green shirt.  A violet teardrop stone hung from his left ear.

Both men looked at each other and smiled, seemingly very pleased at having arrived.  The red haired man asked.  “Do you think that was vulgar enough to get his attention?”  The other looked around and said, “If not this will.”  He closed his eyes and a white fire began to dance about him.  Suddenly the dining room had a number of white marble oriental statues; Quan-yin had materialized beside Mr. Lo.  Each table now had paper lanterns with lit candles on them.  From the ceiling hung more, these lit with some kind of multi-colored dancing lights.  The red haired man looked around and nodded.  “I’m impressed cousin, I didn’t think you had it in you.”  This last he grinned impishly

The other man rolled his eyes and shook his head.  “I could have filled the room with screaming kappa, but that would have been exceedingly vulgar.  Remember we only want to get their attention.  They need to think this is a paranormal intrusion, not an invasion.”

The other man sighed and seated himself.  He held out a hand and closed his eyes.  After a minute a silver tray with an old bottle of wine and two crystal goblets appeared.  Trent stared at the two metas.  One thing that he had learned from living in metropolis, you don’t disturb metas.  It could make you dead really fast.  Unfortunately he had a feeling that once security showed up to disturb these two; he wasn’t going to own a restaurant but a pile of rubble instead.

*** Otherverse ***

Special Securities officers moved to the location of the disturbance.  They were team delta, dealing with unique situations that happened in the D.C. area.  While their team had no superhuman, they had one sorceress of no small power, Zatanna.  She had helped them through many incidents cleaning out the city.  The Luthor administration counted on them to keep the peace.

The S.S. moved to surround the building.  The back had been sealed by magic so the only way out was through the front.  Lieutenants Zatanna and Morrison boldly walked in the front door.  “Reirrab fo noisluper tcetorp su.”  The sorceress whispered as they stepped inside and magic surrounded them.

The restaurant was deserted except for two men in their late twenties eating a sumptuous dinner.  The owner watched somewhat horrified as the security force armed with Luthorcorp’s latest in military technology strolled into his establishment.

The red haired man looked up from his dinner and said.  “Cousin, dinner guests have arrived.  Perhaps we need to set places for them.”

The dark haired man turned to look at them, raised an eyebrow and snapped his fingers.  On tables all around, silk napkins, fine china and silver place settings covered the tables. 

The two security leaders recognized the man’s face at once.  Lieutenant Morrison, brought up his rifle, Zatanna began to cast a spell.  “Wizard Argent, you are under arrest for the death of citizens of the NUSA, destruction of property and defiance of our laws.”

The wizard snorted and said Furail.  “Listen.  Put down you weapons and sit.”  The power of the command swept through the S.S.  Both Kieran and Ian stared into the eyes of the men, combining their telepathic abilities with power of the spell.  Almost as one the eyes of the men took on a silver sheen which faded. 

Zatanna struggled.  The spell, which she had been casting, had been interrupted, but she fought of the compulsion that assailed her.  “Tel siht cigam ton…”

Kieran waggled a finger at her and held out his hands palm up.  In the left appeared a tiny man. He stood four inches tall, had blue skin and white hair.  He wore a long blue and white stocking cap, jacket, breeches and boots.   In his right stood a woman of the same stature but she had a green glow about her.  She has a pair of transparent insect-like wings.  Her garb was a green gown and her eyes held a strange gaze.

The woman held out a hand and blew into it.  Green glowing motes surrounded the sorceress.  The woman shut her eyes and covered her mouth to keep from breathing the glowing dust. 

The small man in white puckered his lips and blew at Zatanna.  Immediately her uniform was covered in ice crystals and well as all of her exposed skin.  She gasped in shock.  As she did this, she inhaled a portion of the green dust.  A look of horror marked her features but very quickly relaxed into a happy smile and the same silver sheen covered her eyes then vanished as it had the others.

“Thank you for your timely assistance Jack.”  The little man took of his hat and bowed slightly and vanished.  “Lady Absinthe, you were indispensable.”  The woman smiled a distracted and somewhat dark smile and disappeared.

 “It’s nice to have permission to call on Mab’s faeries.  I’m beginning to see your point of view on ‘subcontracting’.”  Kieran said.  Ian just smiled and shook his head. 

 “It is such a waste to let Luthor have access to her power.”  The sorcerer started into the sorceress’ eyes a moment longer.  “She really is a decent individual.  She doesn’t believe that there was another choice for her to make.”

Ian made eye contact with her for a while longer, white fire danced in his eyes.  “There, I’ve placed some suggestions in her mind.  We can deal with this later.  For now we need to deal with security.”

Kieran got a wicked smile on his face and stood.  He spoke words of power.  The food in the room took on a black sheen. The water became a dark red wine almost black.  His voice took on a dark tone.  “Eat.  Drink.”

As one the security men took their plates to the buffet line and began to heap food upon them.

The wizard looked at the red haired man and shook his head.  “You are not watching that Legend movie anymore.  It’s warping your already twisted mind.”

The red haired man just smiled his lunatic’s grin and chuckled.  “It will keep them busy won’t it?”

Ian just shook smiled.  “That it will cousin.  That it will.”

*** Otherverse ***

When the Special Security team did not return, a second was sent.  They went the way of the first.

Kieran leaned back and looked at the buffet tables after they had ensorcerelled the second team.  “Ian, it is a pity they can’t eat like kings the way we used to in Chaos.  Perhaps we should introduce them to a feast like Mandor used to make.”

Ian looked at his sorcerer cousin and shook his head.  “Wouldn’t that be exceptionally cruel and unusual?  You know that Mandor enchanted his  meals in such a way that those who ate at couldn’t stop until all the food was gone.”

“Yeees.  That’s exactly what I mean.” The sorcerer took on a dark mischievous look. “Only those with the Will or sufficient power were able to say no to his dinners.  I think it would be, just desserts for those who have chosen to be elite soldiers of a Hitlerite.”

Ian sat with eyes closed for several minutes.  White fire began to build around him.  Suddenly it burst forth and flickers of flame spread about the tables and buffet bar.  Meats, cheeses, breads, pastries, pastas and desserts appeared.  The room was filled with their sumptuous smells.  Those who had eaten quite their fill groaned as the smell compelled them to fill their plates again.  The second group of soldiers was unaware of the experience that awaited them.

 The amberite looked at the manager of the Golden Dragon and felt sorry for him.  He spoke quiet words and conjured once more.  The tables now had bucket about them on the floor.  A few of the men realized what this meant and groaned in horror as they continued to eat.  It took Trent several minutes to realize the purpose of the buckets and he too looked on in horror.  “Yes.  They will continue to eat until they cannot consume any more, they will expel the contents of their stomachs and continue eating.  It’s a far better solution than starting a fight in your establishment.”  Ian tried to look apologetic at this.

Kieran on the other had looked around the room and with a wicked smile said.  “When in Rome…”  Ian looked at his cousin and wondered at his warped sense of humor.

*** Otherverse ***

An aide entered the new Oval Office of the President.  Lex Luthor sat behind a tidy desk.  The computer console was built into the table and at verbal command would darken and appear to be part of the polished back desk.  Standing to his right was Mercy in her usual business attire.  To his right was a meta in the official Special Forces attire of the reestablished government.

Luthor looked up at the man with cold eyes.  “Yes, what is it?”

“Mr. President, sir.  There has been a disturbance in the city.  It appears that an unauthorized dimensional disruption occurred in one of the business districts.  Two squads of Special Security were sent to deal with the problem but neither has checked in.  The last reports they had was that they had entered the establishment where the disturbance occurred.  Lieutenant Zatanna reported that this was mystical in origin.  The staff sorcerers have confirmed this fact.  No further intrusions have been reported.  Security is worried about this and wanted to see if you wanted to send any of the Governmental Special Forces in?”  The aide asked

Luthor did not respond immediately.  After several minutes he said.  “No, I believe I know who this is.  I have been anticipating this for some time.  This is a situation that requires my personal attendance.  Please gatherer all of the staff sorcerers.  I have given them instructions for such a possibility and they have work to do.”

Lex Luthor stood and walked out of the room.  Mercy followed in his footsteps.  The Special Forces Agent stood his ground.  He had been instructed to protect the contents of this room.  He would continue this duty even if it required the sacrificing of his life. He lived for the new Fatherland; he would die for the new Fatherland.

*** Otherverse ***

The buckets in the room had all been emptied at least once before the company that they had been waiting for arrived.

Men in dark suits and dark glasses entered the room.  Following them was a woman in a conservative suit holding a technical hand held device.  Without apparent concern for her well being she crossed half way between the two mystics and the door and seemed to use it to scan the space around her.  She put the device into a pocket and nodded to the man by the door.  He simply opened the door and into the room stepped Lex Luthor.  He was in a well-tailored white suit that subtly enhanced his physique and added to his presence.  Neither man seemed to notice.

“Mr. Luthor, what a pleasant surprise…” Ian began.

“That’s President Luthor.” Mercy interrupted.

“Won’t you join us for lunch?.” He finished, completely ignoring Mercy all together.

Luthor said nothing but seated himself at the table.  “Gentlemen, what brings you to our fair city?.”

Kieran, who the moment The President walked in through the door had begin to pick his teeth using the reflection of his knife, said distractedly through closed teeth, “having lunch.”

Luthor only gave his a cursory glance.  Ian raised an eyebrow and looked irritated at his cousin.   Mercy moved around to stand behind the sorcerer.

“Mr. … President.  We have come here simply to speak with you.  While it is true we have somewhat abducted your security squad.”  As if on queue one of the men emptied the contents of his stomach into a waiting bucket. “We have done so in a way that has caused no lasting physical harm.”

Lex looked at his men and while he felt that a more fitting punishment would have been better for those who failed him so utterly this would teach these men to be more careful. In spite of that they were his soldiers.  “Yes, while I do appreciate your care of my security, I would request to have them returned to duty.”

Ian looked around the room and snapped his fingers.  At the proper trigger, the spell ended.  Moans and groans filled the room.  Others emptied their stomachs.  All began to slowly file out of the restaurant.

While this went on, Kieran had nearly finished with his teeth, but at the same time, he was passively examining Luthor and Mercy. It the two were wrapped in massive protection spells.  They were complete nulls when he tried to sense them with magic.  Their minds did not register either.  He knew that they were not automatons or Celia would have spotted it so they had been protected from a number of directions.  That was all right.  If they became dangerous he had been working out the parameters of what would need to be done with the logrus to tear a small hole in the fabric of space and drop these two into a neighboring shadow.

“My thanks,” the president said.  “I am here now.  What do you have to say?”

“First and foremost,” the wizard said, “leave the Argent Woods alone.  While we may be at odds and potential enemies, your assaults against my protectorate are irritating and beginning to become bothersome.”

Luthor wore a perplexed look on his face.  “My Lord Wizard, I am not sure what you are talking about.  I have ordered no assaults against your forest of late.  This would exclude the military skirmish outside of your territory with the traitor, General Buddy Raines.”

Celia mentally informed him that she was jamming several scanning devices and feeding them erroneous data about the amberite and chaosite.

As with Kieran, Ian could not read anything mentally or magically off of either Luthor or Mercy.  He could sense them through The White Flame and this would have to be his weapon if needed.

The wizard didn’t need telepathic to know that Luthor was being deceptive.   “It doesn’t matter if you insinuated to someone that The Argent Woods needed to be dealt with or allowed someone to develop a grudge against me and allow them to take the supplies necessary to attack my realm.  Either way you are responsible.  Before you decide to explain your way out of it, the Universe isn’t a lawyer to whom facts are twisted to give the impression of innocence.  The fact that you weren’t directly responsible doesn’t negate that the truth of the matter is that you manipulated circumstances to make it happen.  Karmatic forces don’t work that way and neither do I.”

“Sooo if I don’t try and keep this from happing the supernatural boogie man will come and get me?”  Lex looked sincere but his tone was derisive.

Kieran had finished picking his teeth and had been picking up peas one at a time, sucking out their insides and putting their skins back on his plate.  The absent expression on his face vanished to be replaced by a look of deadly seriousness.  He leaned forward and in Luthor’s eyes, he  seemed to take on weight and size, but never grew any larger.  It was as if was his presence that took on weight.  “The Argent Woods have awakened and will not willingly go back to a dormant sleep.  We are not the only force that have an interest in its well being.  If something should befall it at your behest, you will feel the consequences.  This, by the Eye of The Serpent, I swear!”

Lex sat back slowly as the force of presence grew around this red haired sorcerer.  Luthor knew that he was safe from magic and mental coercion, but he was unsure as to what kind of power was being used here. 

Ian was also surprised by this as well.  He knew that his cousin was sensitive to other forces that he was not, but up to this point he was unaware of any other force that held interest in the Argent Woods.  The conjurer kept his face impassive and only nodded.  A unified front was what was called for now.

After Kieran finished his statement, he leaned backing his chair and began to assail his peas again.  Luthor blinked and shook his head. The contrast of presence from a moment ago to now took him back a moment.

“Beyond that Mr. President, I have other things I can do to cause considerable difficulties in the city.  With very little effort I could flood your economy with obscene amounts of undetectable counterfeit money plummeting you economic base into chaos.  I could cause the rat, cockroaches and other pests in your sewer systems to multiply at astronomical rates and begin invading the city.  Finally the water supplies of this city are woefully susceptible to breakdown as well and a city without clean water will not stand long.  After all of this I might do something really nasty the next day.”

“Are you stating that you would consider causing harm to the citizens of the country?”  Luthor asked.

Ian took his contemplative look, steepled his fingers and rested them against his chin and only met Luthor’s eyes for a minute.  “Lex, do not mistake me for some heroic fool that jumps into the line of fire for every idiot who doesn’t have sense to come in out of the rain.  I have chosen to be here.”  With this he spread his hand wide and the presidential guards twitched at his sudden movement.  “This world is worth saving and I have invested considerable time and effort into its restoration, but I also believe in acceptable losses in that reclamation process.”

“So your answer is yes,” Lex asked.

“My answer is my answer.  I will await you response.”  Ian reached around to get his coat from the back of the chair.

“That’s it?”  You came all this way just to say ‘stay away from my precious trees’ or else?” 

Ian sat back down and was about to say more when Kieran piped up.  “Also to tell you that you are a fool.”

The wizard schooled his expression as Luthor’s bald head began to grow red.  Lex Luthor was not the kind of man that took to being called a fool lightly.  To his credit his voice was calm.  “What was that?”

“You are a blooming bleeding moron.” Kieran spoke clearly and derisively.  “You walk up as pretty and polite up to two of the most powerful mystics on the planet thinking that your little ‘magic shell ice cream” protections would save you.  That along with your shiny new immortality.”

Luthor couldn’t help but smile smugly at his newest state of being.

“Immortal bah.”  The sorcerer said.  “Show to me that you’re divine.  Turn this water into wine.  Prove to me that I’m no fool, walk across my swimming pool.”

The smile on Lex’s face fell as Kieran quoted lines from Jesus Christ Superstar at him.  Ian sat back and watched.  He knew that sometime things had to be driven in delicately, but other times lessons were only learned when pushed with the force of a pneumatic press.  He had hoped to not have to force their hand so quickly.  He really wanted to discuss some further issues, but now it was far too late to go back to polite conversation.

 “Both Ian and I have been working around your ‘protections’ as we have chatted.  Personally I have been debating dropping you into one of Dante’s circle’s of hells or actually somewhere where they are missing one of the crucial elements of life.  Like food, water or air.  You could be made to suffer starvation, asphyxiation or dehydration for eternity.”

Kieran verbally barreled forward not giving his audience a chance to interrupt.  “Immortality is not invulnerability.  It guarantees that you will survive whatever is done to you.  Imagine what I said before about being forced onto a probability without air.  You would forever suffocate but never be able to die from it.  Or a better illustration, imagine being thrown into a volcano to eternally burn away but never escape the pain as dark magic keeps you alive.”

“Yes I did define the magic upon you as dark magic.  Like the old expression “one man’s blessing is another man’s curse”, I believe that the primordial spell you initiated was not supposed to be a blessing, it was a punishment only reserved for the most despicable.  Once it was initiated, the condemned was buried in a pit, chained and thrown into the ocean or some other horrendous punishment to endure for eternity.”

Lex finally gained his composure in the face of the verbal assault from this mercurial magician.  “You are just jealous that I will outlive you and one day dance over your bones.”

The sorcerer rolled his eyes.  “Please!” he said derisively.  “I am over eight hundred years old.  Unlike you, I was born with the mentality to face eons of life.”  Then in a quiet voice he said.  “You were not born to walk the ages.  I’m sorry, but your mind will not bear their weight.”

The president of the Northern United States stood and through clenched teeth said to Kieran.  “I do not need your pity.”  He turned to Ian and with eyes that blazed.  “I do not need your warnings either.  If either of you come into Washington D.C., I will consider it a hostile invasion.  Take that as my answer and I will watch for your response, very closely.”

Ian stood and put on his coat and smiled.  “Thank you for you time Mr. President.  As always, it’s been a pleasure.”  With this he vanished in a wash of white fire.

Kieran stood a moment and watched Luthor for long enough to make him begin to feel uncomfortable in spite of his rage.  In a frank and matter of fact tone of voice said.  “Lex, I didn’t tell you out of pity, I told you out of warning, because there is the slimmest possibility of redemption for you even now, if you will only look”.  Then he rippled like a pool of water and was gone too.

The anger that Lex had been holding in erupted once the two mystics were gone.  The table was overturned and chairs were hurled around the room.  Trent Lo had quietly slipped into the back and was running down the street desperately hoping that he would get to live another day.  He would send someone to swing by later and see if the building was still intact.

Finally the tantrum stopped and The President was in control again.  Without a word he turned, left the restaurant and got into the limo.  The skies had darkened as a heavy storm blew in.  Once inside he simply started ahead until they got back to the restored White House.  He said only one phrase.  “Just watch as I prove you wrong.”  Lightning struck somewhere in the city and alarms went up, but as always, life continued.

*** Otherverse ***

Ian sat in his normal chair in the library seeming to stare into space.  His eyes betrayed him as they glanced to the door to see Kieran walk in.  “That was a bit harsh don’t you think?” 

The sorcerer just shook his head. “Not really.  Though he had made himself immune to magic, I was able to touch him with a logrus tendril and gain some access to his thoughts.” Kieran shook his head and sat in one of the overstuffed chairs.  “You can’t imagine the fantasies that he lives in his mind.  I knew that gentle words weren’t going to get through to him. He uses them far too much and only wants to fence with them and not hear them.  I thing I managed to get the message through about the downfalls of immortality.  The rest of it I don’t know.  I know you wanted to discuss other issues, but they too would have fallen on dead ears.”

“So what was this about us not being the only parties interested in the Argent Woods?”  The wizard asked.

“Oh that.” He paused a moment before continuing.  “I’ve been kind of communicating with something that wanders in and out of the woods.  He is pleased with your progress.”  The red haired man quipped.

Ian tiled his head slightly and raised an eyebrow.  “Kieran.  What do you mean, ‘kind of communicating’ and it ‘wandering in and out of the woods’?”

“I’m not fully sure myself, but it is a powerful force, it shadow walks and has the power to mask itself, even from us.  For some reason it can hide easier from you than me. Perhaps it was growing up in the realm of Faerie. I seem to wield their knacks as easily here as I did when growing up in Avalon.”  With this the chaosite’s ears became pointed and his eyes took on a slight tilt and almond shape.

Ian sat for some time.  He really didn’t like something wandering in his forest unannounced and unwatched.  Finally he said.  “You are sure that it is not harmful in any way.”

“No, I’m not sure.  Whatever he is, he wields a great deal of power but has chosen not to intrude, only observe.”

“This does not comfort me cousin, but I can do nothing about it.”  With this the wizard of the argent woods stood and walked towards the door.  He opened the door and turned to look at his cousin.  “At least for now anyway.”

*** Otherverse ***

“No Ian I don’t know if it was the guardian of the pattern in Amber or just a guardian.  We cast and create too many reflections and shadows of ourselves when we stay too long in a shadow or probability.  Even if it isn’t, The Guardian is very powerful.”

Kieran stood and paced around the table.  About it were Ian, Anne, Gerald and Celia.  Marcus Cole and Douglas Stonecypher, also know to the denizens of this world as Frostfire and Stonecypher, sat as well.

“Listen, he knew my name.  Not just my everyday speaking name, but my true name given to me at birth.  Only Fionna, my mother, knows that and she would never tell that to anyone.  Hell even my father, Puck, doesn’t know it.  Whoever he is, The Guardian is very powerful and has a vast store of knowledge.  I think that we should consider his advice!”  

Ian stood and smacked the table’s surface with the palms of his hands.  “I will not leave!  There is too much already invested here just to decide to traipse off on the suggestion of this creature.”

Kieran took a long breath and let it out slowly.   Normally Ian was the more rational of the two of them, but like any intelligent life form, he got really protective of some things.  “Let me reiterate I am not suggesting that we immediately pack up everything and go, but at least we should investigate this situation further; the both of us.”

“You haven’t been the one trying to fix the tears in the fabric of this world, I have.”  Ian scowled at this.  The logrus master held out a hand.  “No criticism, my powers are better suited for it.  What I am trying to say is that I have been seeing first hand what is going on.  The Guardian said that there is a deeper cause to these dimensional intrusions than just having sites being unattended for a time.  It is like we are trying to deal with internal damage from the outside of a patient. We have to go inside to deal with the problem.  From what I have seen, I agree with the advice that was given.  We need to see if we can move deeper into the continuum and try dealing with the disease not the symptoms!”

The amberite stared at his cousin.  He was very intelligent and was not used to being shown he was wrong.  Lately he seemed to resent when others showed him this.  Let’s say we ‘travel’ to this place, there is nothing to prove that the magic surge that centered itself in metropolis came from the same origin.”   Before Kieran could interject.  “I don’t care if this, Guardian, said it came from there.  I am not taking his information at face value.”

“Then what are we waiting for?  Let’s go.”  The chaos sorcerer narrowed his eyes and the writhing mass of tendrils known as the logrus appeared before him, pale violet.  One of them streaked out towards the wall becoming more transparent until it seemed to vanish before it touched the stone.

The conjurer concentrated a moment.  A large duffel bag appeared on the table surrounded in a blaze of white fire.  Without a word he slung the bag over his shoulder and walked to Kieran.  He took the other’s hand, rippled and vanished.

Everyone let out a collected sigh of relief.  Anne turned to Celia.  “Do they fight like this often?”

Celia smiled and shook her head.   “Not often.  Ian can be, well, pigheaded.  Kieran is normally more compliant, but when he gets assertive and Ian gets stubborn, then sparks fly. I think the worst that ever happened was a fistfight, but that was centuries ago.  I believe your husband is correct.  I have caught glimmers of this presence and it is very strong.  If it intended harm I believe it would have done so.  All we can do is watch and wait.

*** Otherverse ***

The logrus journey vanished as both men appeared on a blasted barren landscape.  Kieran spat out a spell and a ball of air surrounded the two, allowing them to breathe.   The feel of power rippled through the air.  Something had just happened a short while ago.  It was not magic that moved but a combination of magic and raw primal power.  The sensation came from a black tower in the distance.

The argument and I-told-you-so’s were washed away in the realization that they had just found something very old and very dangerous

*** Otherverse ***

Two days later the men returned.  Everyone wanted to know what had happened but when they got a look at them, that changed.  Ian and Kieran both appeared as if they had fought some titanic battle.

Celia appeared but the wizard of the tower didn’t speak to her, instead in exhaustion, he telepathically sent instructions. She just nodded her holographic head and vanished.  He sat back in a chair and almost immediately fell into an exhausted sleep.

Kieran took the Marcus and Douglas into another room for nearly a half hour and the three left.  None looked too happy.  Marcus left for his room in the tower.  Douglas came with the sorcerer when he met the others.  “Since Ian is out for the moment, I need to let you all know that we are going to need to make preparations for something monumental.  We are leaving.  Marcus is going to stay behind and continue to help Alpha Flight and be eyes and ears for us.  We will need Douglas’ help with where we are going.  Anne I am going to need for you to make some trump images of select locations and people here before we can go.”

Everyone sat shocked.  Anne was the first to speak.  “Where are we going?”

The sorcerer sat back and played with his black serpent ring.  “We are leaving Otherverse because we are needed Elsewhere.”

*** Otherverse ***

Luthor had retired for the evening and was working out in the gym when Mercy politely knocked on the door jam.  “Mr. President, since your encounter with the Wizard Argent earlier this year we have been watching his forest as you have instructed.  Something has happened and I think you would be very interested in seeing it.”

Lex stood and went to one of the monitoring stations.  Mercy followed.  On the screen was a satellite photo enhancement of the argent woods.   This was the hill on which that wretched tower had stood for nearly three years, but now it was empty.  There was no trace that it has ever existed on the hilltop except for the undefended forest.

Further scans of the forest revealed no sign of the genetically altered wolves or any of the so-called mystical creatures that the wizard had restored.  The forest was wholly undefended.

A dark gleam danced in Lex Luthor’s eyes.  “Mercy…I want you to dispatch the K-Alpha unit with a contingent of female marines.  Its time to prune back a forest.”

*** Otherverse ***

The president sat in a room in the basement of his new home and watched a bank of monitors.  Attending him were a number of technicians and select members of his cabinet.

Before the northern border of what had been Buesher and Bastrop parks in central Texas stood a squad of soldiers in menacing black power armor.  The light did not reflect off of them so much as appear to fall into them.  No obvious weapons appeared on them, which seemed to add strangely to their sinister presence.

The commander of this group, Joyce Reynolds, looked at the forest and loathed it.  Even when she ran in the gangs in what had been New York City she had always hated Central Park.  Green growing things made her sneeze and break out.  Give her concrete and glass and this made her happy.  This assignment had excited her in ways she couldn’t describe.  If Mother Nature was going to be a bitch to her, it was her turn to give paybacks.

“Alpha team leader in position.  Awaiting orders Mr. President.”  She barked.

Lex Luthor relished the feeling of power as he was readying to deal a blow to this place if not a deathblow. Perhaps he could put a good spin on this and even sell the wood from the forest to further his cause.  “Commander Reynolds, I grant you the privilege of removing the first tree and then have your team cut a swath to find the heart of this forest and kill it.”

The commander clenched her right fist and spoke the command “razor.”  From the right forearm spouted a four-foot blade that hummed to life.  It was an enchanted vibroblade.  It had been designed to spill kryptonian blood, but this job had been deemed an acceptable alternative. 

She approached the first tree that had to be three feet in diameter.  With the enhanced strength in these units she could have easily ripped the thing out of the ground, but cutting it down was also satisfactory.  No sooner had she begin to cut into the tree when a frantic command came across her personal channel telling her to abort.  Though confused she stopped, retracted the blade and backed away from the trees, looking around for some sort of menace.

Moments earlier, In the command center Lex Luthor had gloated.  Whatever supernatural ‘consequence’ Lords Ian or Kieran might have left was useless.  In the room on a stand sat a large blue crystal in the shape of a tear.  It easily fit in the palm of the hand but was a very powerful artifact.  It was called the Tear of Ptah. The twin Sorcerers had redeemed themselves by recovering this item.  When the proper chant was done, it caused a field of energy to go out and stabilize an area roughly ninety-foot radius.  For the next several hours, nothing changed in its presence.  No magic not dimensional folding or meta changes.  It was a field of normalcy where nothing strange could penetrate.  It was the ultimate protection from wizards and all super-normals.

The feeling of power only lasted until the commander of his Kryptonian Alpha Death Squad cut into the first tree.  Pain erupted in his left forearm.  “STOP!!!” He screamed.  The technicians quickly relayed the order.  “Lights!”

Everyone in the room could plainly see the spreading red stain on his right forearm in his white suit.  He quickly threw off the jacket and tore back his sleeve to reveal a cut in his forearm that went nearly to the bone.  It had appeared at the same moment the commander had cut into the tree.  The flow of blood that came out of the wound slowed, threaded to a trickle and then stopped. The skin grew less angry and finally a scar appeared but did not fade, as it should have.

The president was about to rage that this damned artifact was not working when one of the monitors on the wall glowed with a brilliant light.  He turned to look and saw through the camera unit that the commander wore.   She still watched the forest when he caught a glimpse of something brilliant white. “Commander, turn back to the left.  In front of the tree you just cut.  What is there?”

“Nothing Mr. President. I don’t see anything.”  Joyce replied. 

Standing in front of the tree was a creature of immense beauty.  Lex Luthor seemed to forget himself as he looked at it.  Its beauty had a terrifying quality to it as if he had caught a glimpse of God. 

It face filled the monitor screen. He realized that it wasn’t looking at the commander, it was looking at him.  Somehow from Texas it could see him through the commander.  His arm would always bear this scar and it would cause pain until the tree that had been harmed was whole again. He couldn’t say why he knew this; he just…knew it.

 Then the eyes that had seen him, bore into his flesh.  In an instant his body was cast away and all that stood there was his essence.  Those eyes continued to bore into him and weighed his very soul.  An eternity passed in this state until it turned its head and began to walk into the forest.  He had been judged and been found wanting.

“Mr. President.  What are your orders?” The commander asked.

“Recall the unit.” He whispered. 

The technician has moved to take his position back from the supreme commander and blanched at the look on his face.  It was empty, like some vital spark had winked out.  Everyone in the room had watched as the president had stared blankly at the monitor where the commander had been ordered to look.  In a hand full of seconds he had gone from his normal stature to this pale shadow of himself.

“From now on, we will never to venture into the Argent Wood or do anything to endanger it.”  Luthor whispered.

The mystic who was in command of Ptah’s Eye spoke, “Sir I may not have understand the full power of the artifact.  Do not let this parlor trick disturb you.  I will…”  His words died as Luthor turned around.  The sorcerer, listened to some inner intuition, took the crystal, bowed and backed out of the room.  It was all he could do to not run.  Through the president’s eyes he felt he had stared into the abyss and it had stared back.

Lex ignored the buzzing noises that the flesh-bags made.  They were things that rushed to a putrefying death.  He could almost smell them rotting as they stood.  He walked in an empty void back to his room.  One of them stopped in from of him and tried to impede his progress.  He vaguely recalled grabbing its arm and breaking it.  After this they left him to the crumbling cavern of his thoughts. 

The parting words of the creature continued to echo through his mind. “You are immortal now and no longer subject to the same rules as mortals therefore I foretell your fate.   Alexander Joseph Luthor, you are damned for all time and eternity in this world.  Your will never escape this.  You have set your path and will not be able to move from it.” 

The foundations of Lex Luthor’s sanity, which held a number of cracks to begin with, began to feel the weight of this Truth and understand the endless road of eternity that stretched out before him.  The fractures began to slowly grow and widen.  In his mind he recalled The Guardian’s last image. Shining white coat, mane and tail; the spiral horn that grew from his head was the last image that the man had seen of the bearer of his doom.  It was an image that would be with him for all eternity, burned into in his slowly fracturing sanity.

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2002 by Michael Liebhart

-- and may not be reprinted without permission. 

-- Otherverse and Dark Earth, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,

-- are original creations of Dylan Clearbrook.

-- Alterverse and The Inheritors, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,

-- are original creations of Eldric.

-- The Realm and Shadowverse, as depicted in the Continuum Worlds,

-- are original creations of John P. and Jason G respectively.

-- Some characters in Continuum Worlds stories are original

-- creations of Dylan Clearbrook, Michael Liebhart, John P.,

-- Jake H., Jason Froikin, Eldric, Jason G, or Andrew Shields and may not

-- be used without express permission of the respective author.

-- Supergirl, Lar Gand and other DC characters are property of D.C. Comics.

-- Rogue, Jennifer Walters and other Marvel characters are

-- property of Marvel Comics.  All are used here without permission but not for

-- profit.  All stories are written and posted for entertainment purposes only.