The Twilight of the Gods - a story of Mantra, Chapter 3

 The TWILIGHT OF THE GODS -Chap. 3

A story of Mantra and Black September

 

By Aladdin and Christopher Leeson

 

Posted 5-9-2022

Chapter 3

The Dark Shoppe

A young fig tree its form lifts high
Within a beauteous garden;
And see, a goat is sitting by,
As if he were its warden.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Thanks for clearing that up,” I said sarcastically. “But you still haven't told me what you had to do with that crazy things happened to me today.”

Gabriel sighed and nodded.  "It’s complex.”

“Tell me or get out of my life!”  

“I did what I had to for the best of reasons.”

“I’ve already got the best of reasons to kill you!”

“I’ll try to explain.  Your people don't teach the concept of Zero Time, do they?"  

"What’s that and what does it have to do with anything?’"

"Zero Time is simply the eternal now. It’s a commonplace thing, really. You have lived in Zero Time all your life because Zero time is what moves each of us along through life at a natural progression.  But we can travel through time in other ways. When a person journeys to a previous point in past time, he enters into 'minus time.'  Similarly, a passage into the future places that man in what is called 'plus time.'"

"If you say so,” I said with a scowl.

"By exploring minus time, one discovers causation. Plus time is equally important because it allows us to anticipate probable outcomes. Because a crisis is almost upon us, it is absolutely necessary to scout out future hazards. By recruiting you as a scout and placing your point of view into plus time, I learned a great deal.”

“I didn’t volunteer for anything! Why didn’t you do your own scouting yourself?”

“Because to maintain a consciousness in such an unusual location, it required a great deal of support and maintenance.  That support could only come from the outside. I had to remain behind in natural time and anticipate the dangers you face so I could help you avoid them.”

“You did a lousy job. Every danger I ran into socked me right in the jaw!” I stated.

“No, no. Those were inconveniences you that so much distracted you were minor things you were well able to address on your own. My eyes were on those things happening behind the scenes. Your life – the one you’re living here and now -- was never at any risk. You were only a virtual participant in that other world. I digitized a copy of your conscientiousness and placed into a host bodies in that other time-reality.

“It seemed damned real to me!”

“To bring about that effect, I injected you with nanites at the restaurant, and those nanites were duplicated in the bodies of your other-worldly counterparts. You only believed that you traveled to another place and time because the other Mantras believed that they were you, but in reality they never were. You would remember nothing of that other time-line if I hadn’t taken the sum-data gathered by the third Mantra and brought it back to this world, to overwrite your mind. Their memories became your memories. You can see that, can’t you.”

I balled my fists.  "If I can believe you, you made me into a digital probe, something that you could sacrifice with no grief to anyone!"

His cheeks reddened.  "More or less.”

“Tell me this: After I left, what happened to those other Mantras?”

“Alas, they died only seconds after their downloads into my VIGOPS. The worst danger the probe faced was being caught in any of those universe reboots. The reboot is a disconcerting thing, but it is not a bad thing. It is the Main Branch fighting for its life. The time-lines you saw ceased to exist, though a very similar ones at once came into being. But a reboot can be very damaging and I had to rescue the data stored in your nanites before any of them struck.”

“You monster! Don’t you realize that you made all those versions of me think that their own families were strangers!”

“I realize that, but it was necessary. But considering that they were going to cease to exist so very soon, it did not seem to be an adequate reason not to carry on the surveillance."

"What else did you do?  Did you brainwash me so I’d be your enthusiastic lackey?"

"Not at all, my dear fel – Mantra. I would not wish to tamper with the optimum functioning of such a highly efficient problem-solver and fighting machine. I want you just the way you are – with clarity of thought, lightning reflexes, and battle readiness."

“Are all Timekeepers like you – taking incredible liberties with other people's lives?”

“I'm truly sorry, Golden Sorceress.

“Don’t call me that!”

“Pardon me. But often one must be cruel to achieve a beneficent end. Think of a doctor. His scalpel is a wicked instrument, but it is one that is necessary for the treatment of bodily infirmities.”

“Maybe you’re so alien you can’t understand simple right and wrong. I’d be crazy to get involved with a person like you.”

“But I need your willing assistance very much. What can I do to win your confidence?” he asked.

“After the way you’ve convicted yourself, I don’t think it’s possible anymore.”

“I told you the truth instead of telling you a lie that would put me into better lights because I respect you. Does that not count for something?”

“I don’t think it sweetens the pie very much.”

“But I have way to persuade you of the honorableness and importance of my mission. Would you be willing to take a journey with me.”

“No journeys,” I said. “I've got sleeping kids!  I have to watch over them.”

"What is the difference between stepping out briefly and going away to work, or to a meeting with friends? Do you not employ babysitters for such contingencies? I anticipated your familial needs and so have brought along a highly qualified babysitter. She is waiting outside your door at this moment."

“She’s there now?”

He nodded.

I regarded the man with incredulity.  "I’m pretty sure that whatever lackey you’ve got lined up to scare my kids, she won’t be acceptable to me."

"Oh, she has a frightening side, I grant, but if it is disqualifying quality you will have to decide for yourself.  I’ve already sent her a message to come to your portal. Go and have a look."

I glanced to the door and used my mystic scene to confirm that there really was a lifeform beyond it. "No thanks. You let her in. I don’t want to get myself into a crossfire between a pair of Godwheel scoundrels.”

Gabriel obligingly rose from the easy chair and went to the door.  When it opened, I saw Eden Blake standing there on the welcome mat.

Eden Blake?

The woman stepped past him, her glittering eyes fixed on me.   

"It’s like looking into a mirror,” my doppelganger remarked to Gabriel.  

The little man scurried up and place himself between us.  "Lukasz -- this is, ah, Lukasz.  She’s a temporal clone of yours from one of your possible future timelines."

“She's from the future?” I muttered. My double was dressed in “suburban casual” and didn't appear to be any older than I was.  I shifted toward the Timekeeper.  "So, you've had a copy of me in your hip pocket all this time!"

“Is that a bad thing?” he asked.

“Its a bad thing if you’re planning to deep-six me and put a ringer in my place.”

"I have no such plan. I recruited Mrs. Blake just today -- as your people reckon calendar dates, I mean. She has all your qualities as a child-rearer.  I had to take a few precautions, however, so that her arrival into the Main Bough from a minor timeline would not split us all off into an alternate reality outside the Main Bough."

"If you already have a pet Mantra of your own, why do you need me?"

"Because the coming disaster aimed at the Main Bough can only be effectively dealt with by natural residents of this universe. I’m of this time and universe, and so are you.”

The other Lukasz shook her head, saying, “Look, bro, the little guy is weird, but he’s shown me things to make me a believer. He can do the same for you just as easily. I only wish that I could do the job he wants you to do, since your life hasn’t been already wrecked the way mine has. I’ve got little to lose, but my head is probably too messed up to bring off the kind of delicate operation he’s aiming at."

“What do you mean ‘messed up?’” I asked. “Does it have anything to do with her coming here instead of looking out for her own family?”

"Don’t talk over me as if I'm not here?" my double growled. "My kids -- my own Evie and Gus -- are dead. There! You made me say it. Are you happy?"

That set me back on my heels. "Dead? How?"

She paused long enough to gather strength enough to say the words. "Rune!" Her voice grated with bitterness. "He wanted the Sword of Fangs and took Gus and Evie hostage to coerce me into a trade. I didn't trust he’d play fair, so I gathered a gang of ultras to help me take him on. But he saw us coming and killed the children before giving us one hell of a fight."

I knew about Rune – an alien creature with incredible power and vampiric habits. I’d met him more than once and barely survived the encounters.

"I’m pretty sure you did the right thing,” I told my double, sensible of her pain. “Rune would have killed the kids no matter what you did. He relishes killing."

She looked away. "I know he would have. Or at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself every day since I made the losing move."

I knew how she felt. I’d seen a version of my son Gus dying right before my eyes because of my “losing choice.”

"When does Rune strike?" I asked through a tight throat.

"For me, it was October 17, two years from now,” she said. “It happened because of a stupid mistake I’d made on the Godwheel. I called Eden Blake by her own name in front of some 'friends.' But one of them was Rune. The devil was standing there along with us in disguise. With information enough to track me down once we returned to Earth, he was able to take me surprise.”

A shiver ran through me. I had made that exact same mistake. But in my reality Rune had flown through a gate into another universe – hopefully never to return.

Gabriel touched my sleeve. "It probably won't happen in this world, Mrs. Blake. That dreadful event occurs in only a very few of Mantra’s many possible futures."

I clenched my fists. "Well, I’m going to make sure it won’t occur in this future. One way or another, I'm going to kill that blood-sucking bastard – just as soon as I know that he’s shown up in this universe again!"

"I hope you can do that,” the other Lukasz said. “But if you want to live past tomorrow evening, take very seriously what Gabriel has to say."

This was too absurd! Now I was being told what to do by myself! The strangeness of this conversation was giving me a headache.

I threw a frown Gabriel’s way. “What, exactly, is this journey that you were talking about?” I demanded.

Suddenly, the world spun.

#

Everything went blank, but then quickly rematerialized around me. When it did, I wasn't in Canoga Park anymore.

I was flabbergasted to realize where I was.

It was a medieval-style alehouse, built from study timber and stone. Tart smoke filled the air, along with the bouquet of fermented beverages and repulsive odors that had part and parcel of the Middle Ages. When my daze wore off, I noticed that the people filling the chairs roundabout the plank tables were wearing costumes that hadn't been fashionable since the Tenth Century.

Incredible! I knew that this wasn't just any alehouse; it was the Dark Shoppe. Centuries ago, it had served as a clearing house for arcane information. In those days, it had been run by a prophetess.

And quite an effective prophetess.  

What had been her name? Diana.  

Just then, a raucous male voice sounded off:

"'God's Blood, wench! From whence hast thou appeared in the wink of an eye? Were I elsewhere than in Ye Dark Shoppe, I would be damning myself for a drunken sot. But this e’er hath been place of miracles. Tell me, lass, hail ye from Faery or art thou of mortal kind?"

I turned to behold a large knight seated at a table and clutching a tankard in his oversized fist. I thought it was a face that I should know. Beside him sat a younger blade wearing an embroiled tabard over a mail shirt. This one, too, looked familiar.

"Your name, sir knight?" I asked cautiously, addressing him in the same dialect of Old French that he’d used.

"Sir Lukasz at thy service," he said cheerily. Then, nudging the youth, he added, "And this callow good-for-nothing be my squire, Thanasi."

I was staggered. But, yet, why should it surprise me to be confronting Lukasz and Thanasi centuries in the past? Hadn't I just come from interviewing Eden Blake about a babysitting job?

"Cry mercy! What costume be’eth that, milady?" my mail-clad doppelganger inquired. "Art thou pursued by villains and compelled to travel in male attire? Faith, madam. Not e’en the most cracked-brained varlet could e’re mistaketh thee for any sort of boy."

When I failed to reply, he persisted: "Fair one, tarriest a while. Thy beauty hath the vintage bouquet of Helen of Troy and I would fain know thee better."

I’s been taken off balance by being accosted by myself, but I wondered whether I shouldn’t in fact pause and speak to him. By pretending to be a prophet friend of Diana, I might alert my counterpart to bad things coming down the chute. I could even warn him about Thanasi. But should I? Wasn't it dangerous to meddle with history? By trying to help him, I might get him killed before his time, like I had not long before intervened to help Lauren Sherwood’s doppleganger with fatal results. If I simply let him go his own way, I could count on him surviving for another thousand years.

As I vacillated, Gabriel took me by the arm. "Come," he whispered.

"Lady!" the knight called after us -- but I didn’t look back. The Lukasz of this era would be immersed in his contemporary concerns. Those concerns meant little in perspective of the Twenty-first century.

"Gabriel," I said to the little man at my side, "this is nuts. What’s it all for? I’m impressed, but it’s more likely an illusion than anything real. Take home – now."

"Not yet. You need to learn more. The person whom I most wish you to meet in the Dark Shoppe is not Sir Lukasz. You remember Diana the Mystic, I presume?"

"Of course. Is she here?"  

I glanced from side to side, scanning for the woman. Through the lamp smoky lamplight, I saw her standing by a plank table, watching us attentively.

As we drew nearer, the Mystic addressed me."So, you are the Eden whom I've been hearing about." If she already knew my name, it had to mean that Gabriel had briefed her in advance.

"I suppose I am," I answered guardedly. "Tell me something I don't know."

The raven-haired beauty looked me over with what I took for mild amusement. That caused me to wonder if she knew that I was a future version of Lukasz – an embarrassing thought, one can imagine. But she sent her next words to Gabriel. "The bull-in-the-china-shop way you've come barging into my timeline tells me that I've just been cloned again," she said.

The little man smiled as one would to a friend. "It's all in a good cause. The creation of a new copy of yourself will in part make up for the two excellent clones of yours who died recently in Zero Time."

Our hostess reacted with only a flutter of her eyelids. "I hope they didn't suffer," she sighed, "at least not like some of the others have."

I looked askance. That was a very low-keyed reaction to the deaths of persons who were, essentially, her identical sisters.

The Timekeeper beside me clicked his tongue commiseratively. "Their attacker was a possessed demigoddess. Such power! Their suffering must have lasted less than a second. On the other hand, your original is still well and thriving."

Diana shook her head. “Wonderful! A few minutes ago, I was the original. I sometimes wonder what possessed me to agree to live this kind of life!” Then, with a grim smile, she asked, “Can I offer you two a platter with a tankard?"

I demurred. "I don't think my Twentieth Century body could survive the microbes of the Tenth Century. Anyway, I just ate at the mall."

She smiled slightly. "You'd probably be safe. I've trained my cook staff to prepare food according to Twentieth Century standards.”

For the first time, I had cause to wonder whether Diana had originally been a Twentieth or Twenty-first Century human. Of course! Her accent, which I had always found so unplaceable, had been Norman French spoken with the cadence of American English.

Suddenly, I saw the Mystic freeze in place with her glance fixed and staring right through me. I looked bemusedly toward Gabriel.

“She's fine,” said the man. “She's merely receiving her latest VIGOPS update, one I that set up for her just before bringing us here. All Timekeeper agents need to be kept well informed.”

"All this is as strange as hell,” I told him, “but it hasn’t made me believe in real gods and doomsdays."

The scientist shook his head. “It is strange that you should mention real gods. Our most dangerous foe will be a being whom even the Timekeepers would not hesitate to call a true god.”

Gabriel had conveyed that bit of information with uncharacteristic solemnity and gravity. A god? What in hell was he asking me to get involved in?

“If there’s a god in the woodpile,” I replied, “why not bring in another hundred ultras and give me a fighting chance against him?”

“I assure you, in a test of strength against strength, a hundred ultras, even if all had the power of Loki and Thor, could not prevail against such an adversary.”

I threw up my hands. "If that’s so, what in hell do you expect me to accomplish? Loki by himself was strong enough to eat me for supper. And I don’t think Thor would have been any less formidable.”

The Timekeeper grimaced. "There is much you do not know, and the story is neither short nor simple."

"Then be less stingy with the information you’re giving out!” I told him.

"That’s the Timekeepers for you," put in Diana. "Their control of Time’s flow tends to rob them of any sense of urgency.”

I looked at her and smiled. "I’m glad to see you again, Diana. Gabriel thought you’d be able to tell me something that would make me believe the wacky story he’s been feeding me. Is he right?”

Her expression became thoughtful and then seated herself. Her movements had always been notable for their grace. I now had caused to wonder if she hadn’t been a fashion model back in the States. If I hadn’t been haunted by the memory of my late wife, Marinna back in those days, I would have made a better effort to get to know her.

"Well, one thing I’ve been told,” Diana said, “is that you are, in spirit at least, the same person as that knight who is sitting across the room."

"You don’t seem surprised."

She gave a resigned smile. “I’ve been living with time paradoxes for so long that I don’t find very much that can still surprise me. But I understand that you’ve become an ultra and have a family. That's good."

"It’s not so great being an ultra."

"I mean having a family. I have never had time for one. After I was recruited by the Timekeepers, I realized that I couldn’t give a husband and children – well, time enough. The work I do is important, but all along I’ve been wondering whether it wouldn’t be even more fulfilling if it could directly benefit people that I love."

“I suppose it might, but love hurts, too.”

She nodded. "So I’ve heard. Many details about your current activities were in my latest download.”

I frowned. “Do you ever worry that these Timekeepers might be feeding you a pack of lies?”

"You really sound like someone from the early Twenty-first Century.”

“Where you come from?”

“Exactly.”

“Here’s something I always wondered about. You’ve always seemed to be the same age every time I’ve met you. How does that work?”

“Advanced science. I do age very slowly, but when I start slowing down a different technology is able to rejuvenate me, cell by cell. You'll have the option to gain similar longevity if you become a time agent for the long-term."

"My old master Archimage never aged as long as I knew him, and he told me that my magic was going to keep me young, too.”

"That may be, but to answer your main question is a tall order. It's hard to decide where to begin.”

“A person seldom goes wrong if he starts at the beginning,” I advised her.

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 4

The Twilight of the Gods - a story of Mantra, Chapter 2

 

The TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

A story of Mantra and Black September

 

By Aladdin and Christopher Leeson

Chapter 2
 

The Tree of Eternity
 

Be void of feeling!

A heart that soon is stirr'd

Is a possession sad

Upon this changing earth.

By Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe


"Why do you say that?" I asked. "My old master saw the future and said I’d be living and active for centuries to come."

"Unfortunately," Gabriel said, "that prediction is not true anymore."

I blinked.

"I do not doubt Archimage’s talent for precognition, but what is so shocking with the menace upon us is that it changes established fate. What we are facing is Creation going mad and being weaponized with the aim of infinite destruction."

"Okay, I'll bite. How long do we have left?"

"If you and I are taken out of the equation, the thing will happen on September 15 at 7:11 p.m. That's Pacific Time, of course."

That was tomorrow! In the altered reality I'd just visited, the whole world had immediately gone made following a cosmic energy discharge that came upon the Earth a little after 7:00. The little man was definitely earning my undivided attention.

But he still had not won my trust.

"Why do you think that?" I asked.

“Anti-Creation is the enemy we face. My people call it the Nemesis Effect. I have gone up to the microsecond before it breaks free, when all the playing pieces are in place. I naturally had to flee that future before I was made a part of the anomalous event."

I frowned. "That's very interesting, but you must be leaving a lot out. Can you cut to the chase?"

"My people, the Ysgorans travel in time, and also in space. The vehicle I have has the capacity to journey to the outer edge of the galaxy and back again in less than a second of time, as you understand time. Even one like myself, who is not really involved with explorer duty, has seen this universe from a point of view billions of years in the future, and also gazed upon its primordial beginnings – up to instant of the Null Effect itself."

"What's that? The Big Bang?"

He shook his head. "The Big Bang never happened. One does not have to be a Ysgoran to see the impossible mental gymnastics required of a person to make him believe in it. The term Null Effect denotes what was before, prior to when Time itself began. Past that point, not even the Ysgorans can time travel.”

"That’s a relief. Up to now you were sounding like your people could do anything."

"We truly do have our limits. The technology of Ysgor was, in fact, not founded upon any miraculous discovery made by us.  We were chosen for our role because we were technically inclined. The secret was passed on to our ancestors by those whom we call the Creators."

"Are you talking about gods of some kind?"

He shook his head. "I refer to the Creators of the Godwheel, not of the Multiverse."

"Were the Vahdalans the Creators?"

"No," he said. "The Creators surpassed the Vahdalans in every way conceivable. It was the Creators who established the Vahdalans at the Godwheel, giving them the humble task of being its caretakers. After many millennia, that stormy race succumbed to civil war and all but destroyed itself. But you already know something about that."

I nodded slowly. If these alleged Creators were much more potent than the Vahdalans – one of whom I’d personally met – they had to be a gang that I wouldn't have liked to meet in a dark alley. Or even in the light of the Godwheel's three suns.

"Are these Creators still around?" I asked. I think I was hoping he’d trip himself up if I let him talk, which would put me in a place to refute his con-game, whatever it was.

Gabriel’s eyebrows arched thoughtfully. "Whether the Creators have gone beyond recall or remain with us undetected, no one may say."

Well, then, are the Ysgoans something like the Vahdalans?"

"You would not find my people so impressive as the stormy and exciting race of the Vahdalans. We served under them, taking a role analogous to that of a royal watchmaker. Just as an earthly ruling family needed people of special expertise to operate their large estates, the Vahdalans depended on the Ysorgans to care for temporal matters, especially those which concerned the Tree of Eternity."

"What's that?"

"It is the living diagram that rationalizes the operation of time over the entirety of the Multiverse."

"It’s only a diagram?" I asked.

"It is very hard to use English words to convey precise meaning. Though I call it a diagram, the Tree of Eternity is in fact greater than the whole of the reality that it supports. A change in the diagram changes the existing reality."

"The concept is totally over my head, I'm afraid."

"Basically, the Tree of Eternity is self-operating, but when snarls in its weave appear, we monitor these anomalies and send agents to deal with them. For that role we have become known as the Timekeepers. I am a Timekeeper, in fact, even if only a minor one."

I frowned. No system like the one he was describing could be operated – or even maintained -- by mortal beings. So, was Gabriel a liar, or was he something other than a mortal being? His appearance, if it wasn’t an illusion, surely made him look like any short, redheaded man who had eaten too many donuts.

"We are like gardeners," my visitor hurried on, "pulling the weeds and making sure that Time's course is cultivated and pruned. Typically, when a chaotic event confounds us, we reduplicate it under laboratory conditions and study its longer-term effects. If the effects are good, or at least harmless, we might allow it in Real Time. If they are destructive, we seek to intervene and prevent it from happening in Real Time.”

“What kind of ‘laboratory conditions’ are you talking about?” I asked.

“A timeline can be created to examine the anomaly. Before you ask what a timeline is, you should know that the concept is foundational to our mission. One reason I have come to you in preference to contacting any other ultra is that you are one of the few who knows firsthand about the existence of alternate timelines."

Yeah, that was for sure! In August, I'd fallen into an alternate timeline where I had never become Mantra. But what I had become was even worse! And my problems with alternate worlds didn’t stop there. There was also that horrible experience I'd just had.

"Each Main Bough of the Tree," Gabriel continued, "has many timelines."

Another incomprehensible term. "Main Bough?"

"It's easiest if you think of a natural tree. It has limbs, branches, and twigs that are directly or indirectly anchored by the tree trunk. Some Earth humans, by temporal accidents or employing means of crude technology, have visited other time-lines. In the Twenty-first Century, your science has finally been forced to accept their theoretical existence. But the human race understands very little about them and uses flawed terms like 'parallel universes' or 'alternate dimensions.'"

"But you haven’t said what a ‘main bough' is."

"Think of that tree I mentioned. Imagine that its trunk supports a few great limbs. The trunk is called the Bole, but the limbs issuing directly from the Bole, are referred to as the Main Boughs. Each Main Bough exists as a universe of its own. Each has its own limbs, branches, and twigs, but all Main Boughs depend on the Bole for support. As in a forest, if the trunk is cut, the limbs all fall down and die."

"Okaaaay," I said, "I'm not anywhere close to understanding where you're going. If it's necessary that I do understand, we're in a lot of trouble!”

"At the moment, I'm only seeking to help you understand the bigger picture. Think of each Main Branch as a separate house of many chambers; the chambers are the different time-lines. To enter another universe – a true universe -- one has to perform the difficult feat of crossing over into an entirely different Main Branch. Passage between local time-lines is actually easy, as you know."

"Is that a nice way of saying that I blundered into an alternate world?" I said, trying not to sound sarcastic.

“Think of Argus, the enemy you battled. He threw open a gate by which the god Thor entered our Main Bough from his own universe. By the way, the universe that spawned Thor was an inferior one – small in comparison to most Main Boughs. It was not a Bough, but more of a Burl. This Burl was thrown up quickly to serve a temporary purpose but, for illustrative purposes, Thor’s journey was rather analogous to traveling from one Main Bough to another. It took the power of a god who knew what he was doing to open a passage between separate universes.”

“Out of this whole universe, why did you choose to drop in on this particular planet to fix it?”

"Because the Nemesis Effect will soon be released in its skies. And I should also tell you that this Main Bough is different and more important than any other Main Bough. Without going into the physics of it, it serves as the keystone that supports everything above it. If the Bole loses its keystone, it cannot survive. The fact that this Main Bough is the keystone for the Multiverse, explains why the Creators paid so much attention to it.

"Yeah, that really explains a lot!” Okay, I was being out and out sarcastic just then.

“The Nemesis Effect didn’t arise out of this Main Bough, but the destructive elements were instead brought here unwittingly through the portal that Argus made. If they had remained in Thor’s world and were activated there, only that unimportant Burl universe would have been destroyed. The Multiverse would hardly have notices its passing. But if it happens here, in what is the keystone Main Bough, the whole of the Multiverse is doomed -- and doomed without recourse.

"So the worse possible thing is happening, huh?

"Indeed! If any of the other Main Boughs were loped off the Tree, the results would be vast and tragic, but the Tree as a whole would live and grow. Contrariwise, if the keystone is destroyed, the Bole is destabilized and everything collapses. All Creation from the beginning of Time into the infinite future comes tumbling down. It would, in effect, be the undoing of Creation."

"If what you’re telling me is something too big that I can't put my mind around, doesn't it diminish me as the best agent for your purposes?" I was hoping that he’d say "yes."

"That shouldn’t be a serious obstacle. Your role will be specifically crafted to enhance mine. The tasks you will carry out are only the basic physical and interpersonal ones. I will use my advanced knowledge to direct your activities toward our focused ends." Here he paused thoughtfully. "Mantra, if we're going to become colleagues, I cannot emphasize how much I will be depending on you in the near future and how much you will have to depend on me."

"I don't know yet if I want to be your colleague. I have a life to live here, and I'm pretty sure that getting involved in this cosmic thing comes packed with about a million ways to get me killed."

He wagged his finger at me. "But you will not be made safer by remaining at home. So very soon all that you know will pass away. In a microsecond, a sudden rewriting of past, present, and future will occur. That will be the literal end of this universe. Instantly a new universe will be created, but it will be a flawed structure, one that is like scar tissue, something to patch a wound. The Tree will not be able to maintain its wounded part in any normal way. The system will begin breaking down. Unfortunately, that particular system contains all that is, was, or ever will be."

"So you say! My problem is that so far nothing I’ve heard or seen tells me that I can trust a single word that comes out of your mouth."

"That is true. But haven't you just come back from an alternate reality where the Nemesis Effect has had its initial effect? This Effect places a false Main Bough where the natural one used to be. I mean, the old universe will be gone and a flawed copy will have taken its place. Then, as your people say, ‘It will be all downhill from there.'"

"Well, that place was pretty lousy, I'll give you that," I said with a shrug. “But it certainly wasn’t a null void.”

"That is because the self-preservation system of the Tree of Eternity can perform emergency repairs. Think of a damaged automobile. One may do roadside repairs and continue on, but the auto is carrying with it problems in every system. A little farther along the road, it will stop again. Then is is repaired again, but that will allow for only a short trip ahead. This process cannot continue indefinitely. The time will come when no additional repair is possible. When that point is reached, the keystone Main Bough will collapse, and with it, the Bole, too. If the Bole collapses, it collapses all the rest of the Multiverse."

"Oh, come on! You sound like one of those 'the sky is falling' guys," I said.

"This is the hardest part of my task – finding a person gifted with the simple ability to believe. This special kind of belief does not so much come from the head, but from the heart. A treasure without measure is a person will accept a transcendental truth on faith.”

"You’re also describing a nutcase who’s willing to buy into anything," I said. “You might be trying to deceive me. You might be setting me up to do something I really shouldn't do."

"Then why not give me a chance to prove myself? If I cannot win your trust, you can return to the life that you are comfortable with. But to give you fair warning, that idyllic life is going to end in less than 24 hours. The person you are now will be dead and a copy of you will take your place in the flawed universe that replaces this one. The same will be true of everything in that anomalous universe. You, your family, and all you care about will have passed into a special kind of death – state in  which they had never existed at all."

"If this crisis is real, why did you show up so late in the game? You can travel over billions of years, supposedly, but you’ve come here to tell me this incredible story when there are only hours left."

"Why I have arrived so late is an involved story. I had to come to this place and time because any effective intervention I make must be performed in Real Time. In my life, as in your own, this moment is Real Time.”

“What, exactly, is Real Time?”

“The Real Time is the prime point of Now. From here, everything in the past and everything in the future is alternate Time. We cannot go from Real Time into another point of Real time by time travel. When we go into the past or future, our intrusion creates a new timeline. Whatever we do in that new timeline has no effect on what happens in Real Time.”

“So, why were you so slow to starting your mission?” I asked.

“I was prevented by the leadership of the Timekeepers from doing anything to prevent the catastrophe that is going to occur."

"What reason would other Timekeepers have for allowing the Multiverse to collapse?"

"My people share some traits with yours. The scientific mind is very inflexible. It is not so interested in finding truth as it is about making its own opinion about truth become accepted truth. If the scientific mind finds something that does not fit with its own opinion of what reality should be, it takes one of two courses. It denies that the contradiction of its own reality reality really exists. That is one reason why hundreds of amazing discoveries on Earth are being denied instead of being excitedly explored. 

"Consider the many submerged cities that are being discovered from tens of thousands of years ago. Most scientists have joined with other interested parties to prevent research upon these sites. Or, alternately, when scientists find themselves unable defend their preconceived beliefs, they flee away. They close their ears to what the believers have already proven and seek some safe space where they only have to talk to each other -- such as a university. That is also the mentality that prevails within the leadership of the Timekeepers.”

I sighed. "If super scientists can be so stupid, what, exactly, do you expect me to do for you?"

"Haven’t I already told you? I seek your help in stopping the Annihilation of – well – Creation."

Well, I’ll give the little man a point one thing: he was nothing if not dramatic.

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 3

The Twilight of the Gods - a story of Mantra, Chapter 1

Chapter verse quotes are selected from the poetry of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe


The TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

A story of Mantra and Black September

By Aladdin and Christopher Leeson



Chapter 1

"The Man on the Doorstep"

But suddenly my anger grows,
A mighty spirit fills my nose.
My inward feelings all revolt.
A creature such as thou! A dolt!

By Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe


I stood off with the man on the doorstep of my Canoga Park tract home. The stranger wasn’t formidable or even frightening in appearance. About five feet tall with light red-brown hair, he looked soft-bodied and overweight. His features were mildly West European. His unassuming garb,  a dark tan suit, was topped off with an old fashioned shoestring tie. But I had brushed by this man at the mall only a couple hours earlier, and now he had followed me home. That wasn’t good.

"I saw you at the restaurant," I said through gritted teeth. "What are you doing here?"

He returned an awkward smile. "It is of urgency that we confer. Something happened to you today, Mrs. Blake, something that you do not as yet understand. But it is crucial that you do understand."

His accent sounded foreign, but I couldn't place it. I had gone through hell within the last few hours, and now he was implying that he knew about it. How did he know? Was he part of it? I was ready for a fight, but there was nothing outwardly threatening about him. Also, he seemed to be only asking for a parley.

With my arms crossed, I demanded, "When I ask something, I expect an answer!"

His reply came as a jabber. "Forgive me for being maladroit. I don't normally involve myself in -- operations. I am only here now because a crisis has arisen. I have a very demanding task ahead of me and I cannot deal with a menace of such scope without assistance of the most gifted kind."

"What menace?" I asked with a snarl.

"That is hard to explain. But to meet the challenge, I need to recruit a hero, the most powerful hero I can locate."

“Well, good luck in finding one,” I said.

"Please, Mrs. Blake. I know who you are and I know what you can do."

I sighed. "Listen, fella, you must be mistaking me for somebody else. If by 'hero' you mean you want an ultra, I can assure you that I’m only an office worker."

"Oh, but I'm very well aware that you are one of this world’s most notable ultras, Mrs. Blake."

I hate it when people call me out for being Mantra. They’re mostly blackmailers. "Sir," I said, "would you please go away before this suburbanite shows you her dark side?"

"I of course expected that you would deny the secret life you are living," he said, mildly, "but I know that you are Mantra. I know everything about you, in fact. I even know the events you experienced during your short trip this evening.”

Short trip? To me it had lasted days, and everything about it was a horror story. Did he really know what I’d lived through? “You’re babbling, mister,” I said.

“Please, madam – sir -- we need to speak." He glanced over his shoulder, as if checking for enemies. “I can't emphasize how vital it is that we come to an accord.”

I cringed to be called “sir!" Only a tiny cadre of my friends and enemies knew about my incomprehensible past.

"I'm afraid I'm not expressing myself very well," the little man stated. "Please suggest some means by which I can prove my rectitude and earn your trust. Time is of the essence."

He had pronounced “time” in a funny way, as if -- to him – it was more than just a common noun. I hoped that there wasn’t some new crisis coming. I had just been battered by several crises and wasn’t up for another.

But who was he and what did he represent? I used my mystical senses to scan him for power traces. Some very dangerous foes were able to hide behind pacific disguises.

What I registered in his energy aura didn't reassure me one bit.

It was like the stranger was standing inside a vortex of overlapping power-fields, the likes of which I was beyond my experience. Whoever or whatever this being was, my scan results had put me on notice that I didn’t dare take him lightly.

"Why are you here?” I asked sharply. “To fight with me or kill me?"

"No indeed!" the little man blurted. "It's as I’ve said. I need your help. While I might go seek out assistance of others, the calculated odds offer the best success if you join me willingly."

"I don’t know what your trouble is, but why should you expect me to help out a total stranger?"

He sighed. "I would gladly explain everything, Mantra. May I speak from the heart?"

"If you aren’t speaking from the heart, what else are you doing? Lying?" I demanded.

"Not at all. But I’ve been taking care not to say too much too quickly. My story is a daunting one and thought you should be eased into the scope of the danger gradually. Forgive my caution, but a mistake made in this first contact might later lead to failure at a time when failure is unthinkable."

"How unthinkable?"

"The Multiverse faces extinction and uncountable trillions of inhabitants will blink out of existence.”

“The only multiverse I know of comes out of my son’s comic books.”

“Oh, the Multiverse is real. There are a near-infinity of universes. These, collectively, are called the Multiverse.”

“If there's a multiverse, it has to be pretty big. What is so terrible that it could damage a thing so unbelievably huge?”

“What a god makes, a god can unmake.”

I grimaced. Was he talking about gods now? Was he some sort of religious nut? To be fair, though, I knew that gods were real. I myself had met three of them last Christmas, but none of them had seemed to have the moxie necessary to build even one universe, much less a multiverse. But I also knew something about alternate realities. I’d encountered one such last month and a second one just today.

"May we go inside?" he inquired.

“Why ask? You’ve got power crackling all about you. Can’t you force your way in?”

“That would be impolite.”

“Is showing good manners more important to you than rescuing the...Multiverse?”

“Not at all, but wherever good manners are observed, cooperation is made easier,  don’t you agree?”

"I wouldn’t know. People give me precious little cooperation. Look, let’s take this one step at a time. I think you’re more than you seem to be, so I can't let you out of my sight until I figure out what you are. Where you come from?"

His smile manifested as a brief tightening at his mouth-corners. "I come from a place you already know exists. The Godwheel."

Yikes! I did know something about the Godwheel. One thing I knew was that nothing but trouble ever came out of the thing! I glanced over my shoulder, toward the bedrooms. “It's not a good time for me to be entertaining super beings,” I said. “I've got children at home."

"I know that you do, Mrs.... ah, Sir Lukasz.  But if we speak in soft tones, our conversation should not wake the tykes. Or, should we instead select some alternate locality for our parley?"

I frowned. "Here on Earth decent parents don’t go out and leave children alone in an empty house."

He smiled again. "Then I have a proposal that might satisfy your concerns. May I ask whether the youngsters are secure and well – at just at this instant?"

I answered warily. "As far as I know."

"Excellent. Then we shall remain in this instant for as long as necessary. The little ones will not hear a whisper of our interview."

"Could you be a little more clear about that?"

"It may be hard for a person of Earth to understand. Watch carefully and I shall demonstrate the phenomenon of stopped time."

The man reached into his pocket and this, reflexively, made my force field flare up at its greatest strength. It manifested so strongly that it cast a green glow across his innocuous face.

The stranger didn’t react overmuch and I watched him take a small foil-wrapped item from his coat pocket.  

"What's that?" I asked. I had seen some terrible things come out of small packages.

"It's a piece of candy – a chocolate kiss, actually," he said. The little man held the milk chocolate between his right thumb and forefinger. Then he took his fingers away.  

And the candy didn't drop.

It had stopped in mid-air, hanging there in levitation.

But my surprise was brief. "What is this game? If I wanted to, I could pull a trick as good as that one myself.”

"What is important is not the manifestation, but the cause of the manifestation. You are seeing a very elementary illustration of the effects of the two of us occupying a field of zero time.”

“Oh, come! You said you were rushed. So why do you talk so much and say so little that makes sense?

“I will try to be more clear. We are in zero time now. In the place where we stand, no significant time is passing.”

“I still don’t get it. But before you explain anything else, tell me how it is that you know so much about my most important secrets."

"My people have very efficient data-gathering technology. I have virtually all your memories downloaded into my VIGOPS and I may draw upon them at will!"

"What's a VIGOPS?"

"It's an English anagram signifying the technology in use. In your speech, a VIGOPS is a -- a memory bank. When I introduced nanotechnology into your bloodstream, it commenced to monitor your brain activity and has converted large parts of your retained memory into a retrievable data stream. This data is recorded by the VIGOPS that is housed within my vehicle and I am able to tap into it remotely wherever -- and whenever -- I am."

I looked at him incredulously. "You’ve put something into my bloodstream? Was that the reason you poked me in the backside at the restaurant? You did it to steal the whole contents of my mind? And now you’re saying that you can read the juiciest parts of my life history anytime you want?"

"Why, yes. But the VIGOPS is useful in so many more ways than mere its basic function.”

I was steamed. "So you shot me full of high-tech crap without asking?"

He nodded contritely. "That was a discourtesy, I grant, but I am under great pressure to actively engage my mission. Be assured that these nanites do not adversely affect the human physiology. Another useful function they have is to allow a controller to maintain contact with his subject across multiple planes of reality and through extreme degrees of temporal displacement."

"Are you appointing yourself my 'controller'? Get this! I don't care for being controlled. You’d better hope that your control is really good, Mac, or else I’m going to do something that’s painful and very long-lasting."

"I sincerely hope not, madam -- sir. Once I have demonstrated to your satisfaction that I'm acting in the interest of the entire Multiverse, I have every confidence that you will judge my course of action to be honorable and necessary."

If this character was actually in control of me, could he make me do anything he wanted? Could he make me drop dead with a single thought? I glanced again at that damned chocolate kiss of his, still hanging in space.

“To reassure you, perhaps I should brief you more fully about zero time,” he suggested.

“Yes, do that,” I told him guardedly.

“Because we have the appropriate nanites in our bodies, we can carry out joint functions. At the moment we occupy a time-dilation field. This field displaces us into a shared temporal sub-dimension, and while we are there, chronological progression around us is so attenuated that a single nanosecond of real time may be perceived by us like a year – or, at a different setting, a thousand years."

Was he claiming to have stopped time? I looked around, trying to pick out some anomaly to contradict a notion so wild. The second-hand on the wall clock wasn't moving, nor were the leaves across the street swaying with the breeze. All our surroundings, in fact, now looked eerily still, like images in a photograph. On the other hand, my face, clothes, and hair all felt perfectly natural to the touch.

"Anything that contacts our bodies will be acclimatized into the field," the stranger explained, as if reading my mind.

Damn it! I didn’t need another mind-reader after spending time with Pinnacle very recently!

My caller concluded, saying, "The effect of the field affords us the illusion that Time is passing normally, but that is by no means the case. Experiment with the phenomenon all you like."

My glance went to the small table beside the doorpost. Upon it rested one of Gus's model autos. I reached out and pushed the latter over the edge. The toy started to fall, but the instant that my finger lost contact with it, it stopped dead in space -- just like the candy.

I rounded on my visitor. "Did you switch the kids off, too?"

"Of course. They are switched off from our own perspective, at least!"

He had said that with gaiety, as if it were a good thing! I was very close to flying off the handle.

"Preserving the cherubs in perfect safety was the whole point of suspending Time, was it not?" the stranger inquired.

"Maybe we should talk inside," I finally admitted.

I stood aside to let the little man enter and guided him into the living room. I sank down on the edge of the couch, next to Mr. Paws, Evie’s teddy bear.  "Please, take a chair," I told the weird strange. Inwardly, I was not feeling the least bit hospitable.

He did as bidden. He sat quietly for a moment, as if at a loss as to how to begin his appeal to me.  

"You're a very peculiar man," I remarked.  "How can you do the things you do?"  

He gave a modest shrug.  "I have had an excellent technological education."

"Education has its value," I agreed, "but you need to stop being so vague.  For starters, is there some reason that you haven't told me your name yet?"

Again he flashed a grin.  "I have been remiss.  On Earth I usually go by the name of Gabriel."

"All right, Gabriel, you have some explaining to do.  Are you really able to play tricks with time?"

"I'm afraid so," he admitted. The man’s apologetic manner didn't exactly reassure me. Some of the most notorious serial killers in history have been innocuous-seeming men. "But a full explanation would hardly be possible to one from a civilization which hasn’t as yet learned even the basics of time law."

"If you're saying that I'm too dumb to understand your explanations, I'd suggest that you recruit a different person."

"Oh, I’m sure you are not...dumb. You have answered many challenges across the span of centuries and doing so takes profound intelligence."

"I don’t see myself as anything special," I told him.  "I've made plenty of mistakes. If you really know everything about me, you’ll know how often my enemies have bested and killed me." In the alternate world that I had just visited, I had made errors that had caused people I loved their lives.

"Oh, you must take great care not to die before our mission is completed. Previously, you were fated to live for centuries, but until the crisis is passed, you cannot count upon that being true.”

“Previously fated?” I echoed.

If my prophesied life span had suddenly been cut off at the knees, I wanted to know the reason why!

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 2
 

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 6, Part 2

 

Posted 02-07-22

 

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 6, Part 2

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

THE VORTEX, Chapter 6, Part 2

“A policeman is a member of what your people would call the Night Watch,” I explained.

“Did he speak true?” inquired the blonde warrior.  “Will I be challenged every time I go abroad wielding a blade? Is there no freedom in this land?”

“Not much.”

“What sort of world have you brought us to?”

“It’s the world of my birth, the only world I can offer you,” I replied.

“I think we should get new clothes, if Marinna thinks it is prudent,” offered the younger Arielle.

“You girls understood the night watchman’s words. How is that?”

The princess shrugged.  “I could tell he wasn’t speaking Ulikan, yet I understood him.”

The knight affirmed that. “I found that I was able to speak the language of this place on my first visit. It must be part of the magic of the Demon Blade.”

“Well, great!” I said. “Knowing the language will make it easier for you two to get along.  As for clothing, I’ll show you how to purchase things at shops. Afterwards, we’ll find you a place to stay. But buy things will take money, so I’m going to go out and get some.”

Because Ulik had inns and coins, the Godwheel visitors readily grasped what I was telling them.

#

Leaving the pair resting at a street bench, I went off alone. Identified a flamboyantly-dressed man as a pimp, I robbed him. Possessed of a few hundred dollars, I rejoined the girls and we were soon shopping at a Goodwill store. The cousins came out looking like sisters, wearing shirts, jackets, and jeans.  But the captain had held on to her armor, now wrapped in a bundle. She looked uncertain about what to do with it.

“Keep it,” I told her. “A fine, hand-made piece suit of plate will be worth a lot of money to a collector.” Glancing toward the princess, I said, “And the same goes for your court dress. Be sure to insist on a good price.”

“But for how long will we need to skulk in hiding?” asked the warrior.  “Will we ever dare to go home? It is said that the Tradesmen never forget.”

“Just like elephants.”  

My quip caused my companions to ask what an elephant was. Fortunately, there was a Republican handbill pinned to a wall board, and so I was able to show them a cartoonish version of what the beast looked like.

“And this strange creature has a good memory?” asked younger Arielle.

“Not really. That’s just a folktale,” I explained.  

From there, we explored a depressed residential area were there were “for rent” signs displayed. Soon we found the Arielles a room for two and paid the rent in advance. 

I advised the Ulikans not to keep their room beyond the point where their rent ran out, but to find some new lodging at some good distance, one that I wouldn’t know about.  I explained that should the Tradesmen capture me, I might be forced to reveal where to find the princess. Then she would either be seized or killed outright in reprisal. I wanted to avoid both eventualities. Also, if I lost my mind again, I worried that I might get the notion to kill the two of them for some mad reason. I was improving their chances of survival by getting away from them as soon as possible.

Food was the next thing on our agenda. We stopped at a small grocery, where I demonstrated how to shop there. After that, we called at a Burger King. Taking our meals outside, we ate at one of the metal, canopied tables abutting the sidewalk. I couldn’t help but smile, watching my stepdaughter wolf down a Whopper sandwich. “Wonderful!” the teen exclaimed. “’Tis is a dish fit for a king!”

“Yes, the savory food served here is why this tavern has been named after a great monarch known for his amazing banquets,” I japed.

The girls similarly enjoyed their French fries and soft drinks, despite my warning about the unwholesomeness of the latter. After we had stuffed our trash into the restaurant bins, I said, “Look, it isn’t going to be easy for the two of you to settle into a world so different from your own, but many things here operate in similar ways. Like, in Ulik people have to earn their way by working for wages. Same here. But there is also a dole dole that they call ‘welfare.’ The government alms to beggars and doesn't make much fuss about it. Anyone living in a neighborhood like this one will be able to tell you how to get it.”

The captain frowned. “Does this land have no honor? Is it not better to starve than to beg?” Her cousin frowned in agreement.

“Suit yourselves. I only wish I could introduce you to some guide who could teach you how to live in this world, but I don’t have any friends.”

I refrained from explaining that I had betrayed all my former friend to their deaths.

“But I do have a mortal enemy who knows about the Godwheel and might be willing to lend you aid,” I continued. “She’s a decent person and I think you’d like her.”

“Why is she your enemy?” asked the warrior.

“I murdered her lover. Her name is Mantra. She’s a sorceress, like me, but she's more sane. She lives nearby, but her exact whereabouts is something that I have to keep secret.”

“Why?"”

“Because she fights evil and has so many dangerous enemies that she's forced to live under an assumed name. I don’t want to endanger her life, nor the lives of those whom she protects.”

I had tarried long enough and the actual moment of our parting wasn’t poignant. I had, after all, made it all too clear that they couldn’t trust me. Hell, I couldn’t even trust myself. I knew they would be much, much better off without the constant danger that I presented.

As I rose to leave, the knight nudged something against my arm.  “Here, Marinna,” she said, pressing the Demon Sword upon me. It was wrapped in an old checkered tablecloth purchased at the Goodwill Store. “Keep this. I want nothing more to do with the thing.  Only, I ask that you seek to find a way to free the wretched souls imprisoned within it, if you possibly can.”

“I don’t know,” I said.  “It’s a terrible weapon to hand over to a madm -- madwoman.”

“I know, but what else can I do? What if it came to be found by a person ignorant of its power?” ”

“Are you forgetting that you’ll be giving up your means to return to your home?”

She glanced down. “Do you truly believe that we can ever go home safely? And, in faith, I cannot think that there is very much left there for us to go back to.”

I shrugged and accepted the wrapped object.  It vanished before the knight's eyes.

“Where did it go?” she asked.

“Into my mystic closet. It’s a kind of invisible magic trunk where I keep my armor when I’m not wearing it.”

“Sorcery is a strange thing,” she declared.

“I agree,” I said.

When I next turned away, neither of my companions said a word to delay me. I wouldn't be missed and I was glad of that. Until I had rid myself of the Beast, I dared not to keep company with friends. As soon as I turned a corner, I passed out of their sight – and out of their lives.

It surely wasn’t what I wanted, but for their own sake they had to be cut free.

I was alone again, but didn't have the luxury of feeling sorry for myself. I had to act swiftly to make a new life for myself. It would, of necessity, have to be a life that was very from any life that I had ever lived before.

The first matter at had was getting myself some money. That meant committing another robbery. 

But that was an emergency measure; I didn't want to live as a criminal. I  needed to go underground. I needed a job, something commonplace, something that would allow me blend in with the crowd. The whole idea of common labor was, of course, a stain on a knight's honor, but it had been a long time since I had been living honorably. Even “caitiff” was a term too good for me. 

But what, exactly, could I do to support myself? My craft had always been fighting. Supposedly, I could seek out some wealthy scoundrel who might be amused to have a bodyguard who looked like me. But, contrariwise, I’d been gambling since the fall of the Roman Empire and knew my way around modern casinos. I might possibly work as a dealer. Anyway, Las Vegas would be as good a town as any to dwell in.

But from here on I would be living footloose and friendless. I was reminded of that old TV series, The Fugitive. I had enemies that I needed to avoid. Mantra might duel and kill me, but I’d be even worse off in the hands of the Tradesmen.

I had always been a man-slayer, but Necromantra had made me into a cold-blooded murderer. That was what made me hate her most. I thought I would rather die than have the Tradesmen once more forcing me onto battlefield after battlefield.

I soon got the money I needed and boarded a tourist flight to Las Vegas. Worn to a frazzle, I dropped off to sleep over the California desert.

My dreams were haunted by the Beast. I felt it stalking me. And it remained there, just out of sight, no matter how hard I tried to lose myself amidst the dark and twisted streets stretching out before me.   

The end

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 6, Part 1

 THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 6, Part 1

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

THE VORTEX, Chapter 6, Part 1

The death of so many super beings across the killing field was feeding me all the bio-energy I could absorb. I continued my flight, scanning the battlefield for Captain Arielle.  I saw that few of the human battle groups below were continuing with the fight, now that it was being waged by aliens using weapons beyond the ken of Ulik’s medieval-level warriors.  I was hoping to see the familiar serpentine coat of arms that belonged to Captain Arielle and I soon spotted it, fluttering above the helmeted heads of her iron-shod soldiers.  
 

With a force-field raised for my protection, I landed amongst the men of the unit, causing a minor stir, one that brought Captain Arielle forward almost at once. She was looking drained and uncertain, which didn’t surprise me, given the surrounding confusion.  To her credit, most of her warriors appeared to be no better off.

I stepped toward her. “I've taken your cousin out of harm's way. I'll take you to her,” I said.

She grimaced and called an officer to her side. "Take command while I'm gone," she told him. Then to me she said, “I need to talk to Arielle.”

Agreeably, I put my arms around her and levitated her armored mass until she became less weighty than a sack of goose down.  Seeing us rising aloft brought cries of amazement from her soldiers.

The wind I summoned carried us speedily to the dome of rock where, I hoped, the princess still waited.  Happily, she hurried from behind a boulder as soon as we’d touched down.

The captain received the younger Arielle into her gauntleted arms.  “Will you come with me to my home world," I asked, "or do you have a better refuge in mind?”

“Why must we go to some strange new world?” the princess asked.

“To save your life!” I answered. “I don’t know how they do it, but the Tradesmen seem able to locate anyone they want to. The Godwheel is their own world and their power is greatest here. Remember, they restored you to life on the condition that I remain their slave for the rest of my life. I've had my fill of slavery, but if I abscond, I’m sure they will carry out their threat and kill you.”

“What will happen if we both stay here at Ulik?” the teen asked.

With a sigh I said, “I think that the captain can tell you as well as I.”

The soldier said to her cousin, “You can expect to remain a political pawn, just as you were with Erhan and Armand. Worse, now that the Aerwa are involved, there's the threat of a larger war. No one knows what is going to shake out of this, but the Darkur might strike back with a very large force force. And they might choose to send it through Ulik.”

“But if I stay here, can’t I at least do a little good for the people?” the younger woman asked.

The captain shook her head. “How much good have you been able to do for them so far? It's the size of the army that makes the difference. Many people pity you, but there is no one expounding the idea that you are the leader that these terrible times call for.”

At that, the princess shifted my way.  “Marinna, if I go to you world, will I ever be be able see my home again?”

“Possibly,” I said, “especially since your cousin possesses a magic sword that's able to carry people across the gulfs between worlds.”

The soldier drew the blade as soon as I mentioned it.  “I’m not sure how far we can depend on this demon steel. Sometimes it forces me to do things that I have no liking for.”

I grinned mirthlessly. "At least you have some ideas about what I deal with every day," I said.

Just then, I heard faint cries, like ghosts from a tomb.  The sounds had to be coming from the sword. “My God! Are the souls of the sacrificed men still trapped in that hell blade?” I asked.  “Why do you keep it?  Doesn’t the wailing drive you mad?”

The knight shook her head. “Every enemy the blade slays is swallowed by it.  I would gladly be rid of the thing, but in the hands of the wrong person it could do great evil. Regardless, I'm hoping for the opportunity to free its captives. Unfortunately, I'm not a witch like you and I don't know what to do. Can you do something to help?”

I regarded the gleaming metal.  This was a deadly piece of work, too be sure. It made the Sword of Fangs come off like a Cracker Jacks prize. “Well, girl, I can't know that until I've studied it some.”  

Her eyes flashed and she snarled, “Don’t call me a girl!”

I shrugged.  “I get it. A lot of Earth women don’t like being called girls, either. You’ll fit in just fine if you travel to my world.” Then I pivoted toward her younger double. “Well, what’s your decision, Princess?” I asked. “If I leave this world and you stay behind, the Tradesmen will slay you. If we both stay, it won't be much better. If I ever misbehave, the Tradesmen will slay you. If I stay, the Tradesmen will continue to use me as a weapon. I've killed hundreds for the Darkur, and in time the death toll will be thousands. Necromantra likes to kill, but I don't. Worse, killing makes the demon inside of me grow stronger, and that's the last thing I want.”

The princess shifted in appeal toward the captain. “There’s been enough death, I think, and I can't be responsible for any more of it. I have little choice but to go to that different world she talks about. But please understand, Cousin, that I am neither ordering nor requesting that you to come with me.”

The older woman shook her head. “I have had my fill of this power struggle. And I can’t let you to explore a new world alone, especially not under the guidance of the very madwoman who killed you once already. By your leave, Princess, I will open the way for the three of us to Marinna’s world.”

Young Arielle gave an assenting nod, but it was a gesture of resignation, not hope.

Turning, the knight took a deep breath and, holding the blade like a spear, hurled it into a boulder near to us. It struck deep, sinking inches into solid rock -- a trick that was worthy of the Sword of Fangs itself.  It released a fountain of energy upon impact, in the form of a dazzling vortex.  When the warrior stepped up to retrieve the sword, the vortex yet remained, as if waiting. The captain was not surprised by this. And why should she be? This would not be her first crossing between worlds.

“Come with me,” the elder Arielle said, wrapping her arms around both her cousin and me. Like a six-legged beast, we guided ourselves into the gullet of the whirling light.

#

The next thing we knew, we were standing in a fetid ally behind what had to be a butcher shop. Black flies bounced off our faces, very much at home amid the pervasive pungency of rotting meat.

The captain looked warily at this ugly corner of the new world that she had briefly visited before. The younger Arielle’s face was alight with amazement. I looked about, trying to figure out what country we were in. From where we stood, the alley ended at the crowded sidewalk of a busy street.

“There is no use standing here,” I said. I led them into the throng of pedestrians. When a pair of college-age girls sashayed by, the captain regarded them with consternation. “Are these maidens harlots?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No, lots of women dress provocatively here.”

“Who forces them to do so?

“Nothing except vanity, I think. The customs we have will be new to you. Wherever men have their way socially, they insist that women comport themselves modestly. But whenever a society liberates women, some will choose to attract attention by wearing very little.”

“You’re joking!”

“Not at all. You'll soon get used to the idea. I’d wager that you ladies will be wearing clothes just like theirs by this time next year.”

“Never!” the knight stated emphatically.

Actually, the knight might very well look fetching wearing a tight mini-dress. “On the subject of clothes," I cautioned, "you have to expect Earth people to judge you on the basis of unimportant things, such as what you wear. Dressed for Ulik, we look suspicious and out of place. Ankle-length gowns, steel plate, and dragon tattoos are going to attract attention that won't be at all helpful.”

As if to affirm my warning, a police officer stepped up to us at that juncture.  “Lady,” he addressed the captain.  “Is that sword real?”

To my surprise, Arielle understood his speech and replied in English, “Of course!”

I spoke up. “She means of course not. The assistant costumer just handed her that sword along with the rest of the costume.  Joan of Arc is being filmed a few blocks from here.”

“From here?” the officer  echoed. He stared suspiciously at the sparing cut my sorceress outfit.  “Is it a porno version?  That’s the only kind of movie they ever make around Van Nuys.  Wandering the streets wearing wacky costumes is going to get you into trouble. This isn't a nice part of town.”

Having warned us, he continued with his patrol.  That was for the good.  If he had he caused us any real trouble, I would have had to be rough with him.

But our brief conversation had told me where we were. I knew that Van Nuys was a suburb on the north side of L.A. Ominously, it was within walking distance of Canoga Park, where another knight of Archimage, Mantra, lived. If she laid eyes on me, her first reaction would be  homicidal. And, more the pity, I couldn’t have blamed her.

“Who was that man?” the princess asked.

“A police officer,” I explained.

There were very many things that two Arielles needed to know to be able to get along safely on the Planet Earth. Unfortunately, for their own good I would have to leave them soon.

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 6, Part 2.

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 5, Part 2

 THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 5, Part 2

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

THE STORM, Chapter 5, Part 2

Arielle’s situation being somewhat improved, I would have wished to push things ahead and rescue her entirely from what was a barrel of snakes. Unfortunately, I was held back due to the uncertainty of Ulik’s fate. I felt I should attempt something positive in order to save lives, it’s troubles being to such a great extent caused by my earlier usurpation.

While Arielle was settling into her place in Armand’s camp, the Darkuran battle troop left its bivouac, arriving at the siege sight like a lowering storm cloud. They proceeded to set up a new camp behind the main army. Though they initially held aloof -- like a pride of lions contemplating a flock of sheep – no human there was reassured. I made rapid inquiries and learned that this redeployment had not been approved in advance by Armand. With tensions running high, word traveled surreptitiously through the ranks that the men should keep their weapons at hand and stay close to their assigned units. Armand, I learned, had called a council of war with his main people, discussing the unwelcome closeness of the alien detachment.  

The next morning, an Darkuran ambassador arrived at Armand’s pavilion followed by a thuggish guard of honor.  Our faction leader had little choice but to received them, though he kept his own guards on hand and allowed only one bodyguard into the tent with the ambassador. I didn't like it. This unexpected initiative by the Darkurans carried the stench of trouble.

While Armand and the ambassador were meeting, all hell broke loose.

From the distance came the sound of horns and clamor; Duke Erhan, from the city, was making a desperate sortie. The incomplete siege lines were overrun at several points, but Armand’s men, already on alert due to the looming presence of the Darkurans, rallied and issue devolved into a sloughing fight. Our side had not been caught flat-footed and so I didn’t see what the city garrison hoped to gain by forcing an open fight.

Continuing to watch from the sidelines, I received no orders and so took no action. I was unwilling to kill Ulikans – of either faction -- for no good reason. Before long, the cry went up that the that the Darkurans were approaching the battlefront.  I guessed they would be able to rout Erhan’s soldiers with ease and then pursue them with gleeful slaughter all the way back to the city gates.

I was totally wrong.

My bad.

I heard the sounds of dismay behind me and whirled to see the Darkuran ambassador’s bodyguard emerging from Armand’s tent holding the viscount's severed head in his gore-drenched fist.

In a flash, I knew what was going on.

Because Princess Arielle had been rescued, Erhan’s position had been rendered hopeless. He had no option except to send to the Darkurans, offering them the sun and the moon and the stars if only they would switch sides. Clever! The Darkurans had probably been peeved at Armand because he had been reluctant to put himself heavily into their debt. That was upsetting their king's plan, and so the new offer from Erhan would have been appealing. No doubt King Q’zon had been contacted by magical means and had signed off on the treachery.

So Ehran had launched his attack against Armand’s besiegers, knowing that the Darkurans would rise to support him. With Armand’s leaderless array caught between two enemy masses, a massacre had begun. I saw no point in joining the battle myself. Really, I had been indifferent to the choice between either Erhan or Armand for high lord. The best move I could make would be to use the chaos to act in the cause of my personal aims and help the people I cared about.

I continued to watch, absorbing the energy released by countless death wounds. I don’t always have to kill personally to vampirize the released bio-energy of the dying. I get a larger percentage if I kill personally, of course, but just being near to violent death replenishes my magic somewhat. Merely by standing there, I was being charged like a battery.

But there were other pressures on me. The victorious side would soon break through into the noncombatant area, so I left my place of vigil and made for the pavilion which had been assigned to Princess Arielle.

“Marinna!” shouted the teen when I came in through the flap.  She looked afraid, not sure of my intentions.  Maybe she thought I was supporting the Darkurans, while, in fact, I was on no one’s side except hers.  The plucky girl stood fending me off with a sword and a buckler, but I came closer, undaunted.  I was hard to kill; I could recover in minutes from deadly wounds when my energy level was high – as it was now. Once I survived being run through by Mantra’s enchanted blade – the Sword of Fangs.

“I want you out of here!” I said, shouting over the general din of fight and confusion.

“No!  Help my people. My life doesn’t matter!” she returned indignantly.

“Stop that, Arielle!  That the attitude that got you killed the first time! There's not much I can do except help you personally,” I admonished. Only later did I realize how much like a parent I must have sounded. But, fine. More than anything else, she needed a parent just then.

Scooping up my stepdaughter, I went phantom and levitated away.  A few arrows and lances passed through our insubstantial forms as we came through the tent wall, but the fighters were paying us little heed. Taking flight, we reached a line of rugged hills about fifteen miles away. Before landing, I checked it for danger, but sensed no life larger than a vlag -- a harmless creature about the size of a rabbit.

“Keep your head low and stay here,” I told Arielle.  “I’m going to go back and find your cousin.  After that, we'll have to concentrate on getting ourselves out of this mess alive.”

“No, Marinna!” she yelled. “You have to do more than that!”

I left her without answering. This hadn’t happened the way I’d wanted it to, but events had changed so quickly.  The most productive thing I could do would be to rescue the princess' cousin, whom I though would be ready and willing to join me in protecting the girl's life.

But I was being too pessimistic. I had been surprised once already today, and now I was surprised again. Looking across the battlefield, I saw something amazing advancing over the horizon.

#

Unknown to me, Captain Arielle had held her men back from recklessly engaging Armand's men, until the treacherous movement of the Dakurans made clear what the situation was. From then on, her only interest was in finding Princess Arielle and taking her to safety.     

Airelle thereupon worked her band around to the flank and in the open ground made for Arman’s noncombatant camp. But there the knight found fleeing fugitives and plenty of dead, since the Darkurans had brushed by, killing many when they did so. The princess was not to be found, however, and the warrior maid only just barely held on to the hope that the girl was not already dead.

As Erhan’s soldiers approached the area, the she-knight directed her men to make it appear they were pursuing fugitives. At some distance from the tents, they caught up with a broken cohort of routed soldiers wearing Armand’s badges. Arielle shouted after them, requesting parley. A junior officer who knew her on sight slowed and let her come up to him.

“What can we expect at Erhan’s hands, lady?” the lieutenant asked feverishly, blood oozing from the elbow joint of his armor.  

“I don’t think Erhan’s in real command anymore,” Arielle replied. “You'd better avoid both his men and the Darkurans for as long as you can. Have you seen any trace of the princess or the witch?”

“I wouldn’t advise you to trust the witch,” the lieutenant replied in bitterness.

Instead of disputing, she asked that the lieutenant’s group should doff their Armand badges and join with her band. As the now-enlarged group moved out, newcomers gravitated to it for protection, encouraged by the sight of the maiden knight’s pendant. Some of them had an interesting story to tell. Arielle listened to their excited jabber.
   
“More trouble?” asked the lieutenant.

“No! It’s good news," the she-knight replied. “But now it's more important than ever that we find the princess.” She was inwardly pessimistic, but by giving the band some definite task to perform, they would be imbued with an aim and a sense of purpose.

#

Remaining aloft, I had seen the Aerwa warriors sailing over the horizon like a dense flock of geese. I safeguarded myself with a force field and waited in place, unsure how these alien beings would react at the sight of me. I had had scarcely any personal contact with the Aerwa previously, except that many of them knew me as a powerful living weapon serving Q’zon. Fortunately, they ignored my person and preferred to go after the Darkurans, whose grotesque forms they could see on the ground.

The brutes below began to shapeshift, making themselves even more formidable. But Q’zon’s troopers numbered only scores – their numbers having been kept deliberately small so as not to alarm the Aerwa. But the Aerwa had been alarmed regardless. To capitalize on this probability, I had urged the noblewoman to send to the nearest Aerwa outpost with an appeal for aid against the Darkuran threat. Her emissaries' appearance had apparently encouraged an modest interventionist response and hundreds of flying warriors had been dispatched toward Roch.  

The elf-like Aerwa’s main weapon was a staff born by most of the warriors, capable of raining energy discharges on the enemy. Most of the Darkurans met the aerial onslaught by taking to sky in the shape of dragon-bats. By my assessment, Q’zon’s small troop was so outnumbered that it could not last long, but I was left to wonder how this mad affair was going to be sorted out later. Armand was dead. Would the Aerwa offer protection to Erhan, though he had been ostensibly the ally of the Darkurans? 

But did any of it matter?

While the wild fight raged on, I resumed my search for the blonde soldier girl.

TO BE CONTINUED in Chapter 6, Part 1

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 5, Part 1

 THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 5, Part 1

A story of Necromantra

By Aladdin

Edited by Christopher Leeson

Choices

“If my people may die by the thousands, how can I avoid aligning my life beside theirs?” declared Arielle the younger.  

Her cousin shook her head. “I understand what you’re saying, but make sure in advance that your life will be dearly sold. For the moment, I don’t believe that Erhan can survive politically if he doesn’t have a royal marriage to legitimize his claim. If he cannot gain that marriage, he is on very weak ground. If you go instead to Armand, the viscount will be greatly strengthened. Erhand and his supporters may begin to see the hopelessness of their cause.”

“But if Erhan gives up, what will the Darkur do?” the younger cousin asked. “Will they just go home?”

“It might not go smoothly," I said. "King Q’zon sent them there to leverage power over Armand. They won’t head out easily,  I told her. “Besides, their race is always spoiling for a fight. But the real danger is that Q’zon might reinforce the battalion for a war against the whole of Ulik. That would be bad, but at least that should bring both factions together.”

The knight turned on me, exasperated. “Any victory against the Darkurans will be bought very dearly! Against a full army, defeat by by those demons will be almost unavoidable!”

She was right.

Then the soldier asked, “Do you suppose that an attack on Ulik by the Darkurans would draw in the Aerwa?”

I shook my head. “While I don’t think that the Aerwa would approve of a Darkuran war of conquest in the Wold, who knows if they would start a major war over it? Even if one eventually came, it would probably be too late for Ulik.”

“What are my choices then?” the younger cousin asked.

“What do you most hope for?” I asked.

“I want peace for Ulik, no matter who becomes high lord. What is the worst case?” she asked grimly.

“In the worst case could be genocide. The Darkurans consider humans too weak even to make useful slaves. If it comes to such a war, your best aim would be to flee and save yourself.”

“Flee to where?” the girl demanded. “If such a war started, the invaders would surely seek to take the whole Wold, not just Ulik.”

“As I see it, you have three choices. Support Erhan and face the coming war. It shouldn't amount to much more than the fall of Roch. It won't even take long, if Armand is supported by the Darkur. After that, who knows how much the 'allies' will demand of Armand for the aid given him?

“Or, leave Roch and go over to Armand. Even without a clash of arms, Erhan’s cause would probably collapse over a few days or weeks. Hopefully, if they are asked to do very little, the Darkurans might not demand the suns, the moons, and the stars for their compensation. But one can’t expect their kind to be sane and sensible.”

“This is ghastly!” the girl said.

“It may prove out that you have the wherewithal to improve the situation. Your best choice might be to depart to places unknown. I’d help you with that.”

“What places unknown?”

“Your cousin has the means to take us all back to my home world, the same world that she visited when she was seeking to find and slay Lord Pumpkin.”

“My wish is to save the greatest number of lives,” the princess said. Then she looked at me accusatively. “If my father had not been murdered by a madwoman, none of this would be happening!”

“That’s true,” I admitted.

Saying nothing, Tavon's daughter drew her cousin close. “What should I do, Arielle?”

The latter grimaced. “I see no good choices. When you decide what course is least terrible for you, I will be with you as long as you wish me to be.” Then, glancing my way, the war-maiden said, “Leave us. This is very much a family matter.”

“Of course,” I said.  “Only do not talk for too long.  Those spies I stunned will not sleep forever.”

“Thank you for not killing them,” the princess said.

With a sigh I and walked away. She was too good a person to guide a rowdy kingdom and I feared for her.

#

With no clear decision being made by either of the Arielles, the game became increasingly perilous, the odds for tragedy greater. It might still be fairly simple to save the teen’s life if we didn’t wait too long, but I saw no clear course for helping the sorry land of Ulik.

I had brought all this about, and I despised myself for it.

Days passing, I couldn’t bring myself to wait any longer and so I acted on my own, not even consulting with Arielle Senior. Because I didn’t want to drag her down with me, I waited until the knight was attending an assembly of Erhan’s subordinates before I acted.  As furtive as a specter, I entered the princess’ apartment through the floor of the empty rooms located above her suite.

Briefly startled at seeing me filter down through the stucco, she clenched her fists and declared, “I don’t want to talk to you.”
    
“Princess,” I said, “it's time you made a decision for your own welfare. Doing nothing is too risky. It leaves your fate in the hands of others. What could be worse than being a pawn for exploiters or an opportunists?”

“You make choosing sound so easy,” she said, pivoting away.

“If you don’t know what to do, at least tell me what you don't want to do. Narrowing things down will make deciding easier.”

She was quiet for a moment, but finally said, “I can’t marry Erhan. It would be all the excuse Armand needs to attack the city. If he decides to do that, he’ll have little choice but to call for Darkuran help. And you know what that can lead to.”

“Haven't you considered that you can’t save the kingdom? Maybe you should be focused on saving yourself.”

“If I did that,” she said, “it will surely be war. If I abandon my people, I am not worthy of them. I’ll be an exile wherever I go, and that is all that I would deserve to be.”

“If you don’t want to help Erhan, you don’t want to flee personally, is there anything left to do except going with Armand’s offer?”

She sighed. “Even though he is not any husband I would care to have, you’re right that I need to choose my own fate. I think I may best serve my people by joining with the stronger faction to stave off a civil war. Then we would only have to worry about how the Darkurans react.”

I nodded. “Good enough. Let’s get on with it then.”

The windows were hung with dark drapes. I tore down a couple of these to use as cloaks. They would help us blend into the darkness outside. Then I took the girl into my arms and flew with her through an exterior wall.  

The night was misty and had no trouble getting beyond the range of the sentries’ crossbows. Once over open ground, I made for Armand’s encampment.

I placed the youngster the care of my maids in my own tent. They were definitely spies for Armand, but I had no reason to keep the arrival of Arielle secret from him. Then I flew back to Roch carried out a secret reentry.

I had done the latter for the good of the elder Airelle. The simultaneous disappearance of the both the princess and her maid would have looked bad for her. I thereafter stayed in my small room until the absence of the princess became generally known. Thereupon, I joined in with the excited crowd in the halls outside and made sure that I was recognized. Later, when the maiden knight joined me, I explained what had happened. She didn't care for the fact that I had acted alone, but admitted that with the deed being done, it was for the best.

I wouldn’t have liked to be Erhan that night. His options had suddenly become very narrow. He looked very much like an usurper with very little general support. In the morning, the fortress was sent word that the princess was in Armand's camp requesting protection. The announcement also said that "the traitor" Erhan's life would be spared if he struck his flag and accepted exile. Because the latter remained stubborn, Armand ordered the deployment of fortified siege lines in preparation for the forcible seizure of the town and castle.  

Amid the bustle of the next couple days, Erhan dispatched representatives to the enemy under a truce flag. They were asking for the transfer of non-essential personnel into Armand’s power. The request was dressed up as a humanitarian gesture, but such things were commonly done in war to save food in the face of a siege. In my maid guise, I said adieu to the elder Arielle and duly evacuated the castle. She would herself continue to feign support for Erhan, while looking for chances to undermine him. The intrigue as a whole seemed to be going smoothly for Armand, but I was a player, too, and I had a few tweaks in mind that he was not going to like.

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 5, Part 2