Parallel Summaries (part 4)

After Malachi and Minestus have killed each other and Fred & Astra travel to Walants, Fred's King discovers the destruction of the Southern Caves and comes to believe that Fred is dead. Fred's father, Duke Drederick, thinks otherwise. He goes to the Southern Caves in search of clues to his son's whereabouts and is zapped to Atlantis (Manimal Universe).

Joan's story

This begins with a young knight out on a quest to slay the Dragon of the Southern caverns. Fred finds that his map is less than accurate and finds instead of one entrance to the caverns there are instead two. Fred, being right handed (a difference between the other Fred analogs....being that they are left handed) he takes the tunnel to the right. Soon, he comes upon an old man studying by the light of a magical light source. Fred decides to be a friendly sort and greets the man.....

"Excuse me, kind sir," says Fred. "I am Lord Fred."

"Hello Lord Fred." says the old man. "My name is Belboz, the necromancer."

"Necromancer? Do you do magic?"

"Yes, I do. For a reasonable fee, I can do any magic that I know. Other magic will have to wait until I can finish studying this tome."

"Cool!" says Fred. "How reasonable?"

"Depends on how much effort it takes me to cast a spell." comes Belboz's reply.

Fred thinks for a minute and asks the magician if he can create a spell to kill the dragon from here.

Not an unreasonable, nor stupid request. Fred has every right to ask and expect help, for surely Belboz realizes the significance of his presence within the caves. It had all to do with the outcome of the treaty that ended the bloody and disastrous Human/Dragon War. Part of the treaty legitimized the role of Dragonslayer in the dragon's eyes. Dragonslayers were only called forth to kill a dragon that had gone rogue (killing and terrorizing the humans.....threatening the peace) after the Dragon Council had tried all other means of recourse.

Belboz, apparently, thought that the dragon still had a means of recourse in court after consulting with some friends (who just happened to be lawyers).......

Fred put his hands in his pockets and whistled an innocent tune as he heard the sound of the magician approaching.

"Well..." Belboz said as he suddenly appeared. "I've consulted my lawyers..." "Your what!?" Fred asked, a confused expression on his face. "You said you were consulting freinds!"

Belboz chuckled slightly. "Oh no no, my good man. Im quite sure I said lawyers. Anyways, lawyers/freinds, all the same to me."(At this point Lord Fred thought that this magician must have some nasty freinds.)Belboz paused and looked Fred up and down with an appraising eye. "Well anyways." He continued "They say that I could be facing some serious legal difficulties from the dragon if I do what you ask."

"Legal problems!? I AM LORD FRED!! Do you want gold? I have gold! Power? I'll give you land and..."

"Talk is cheap!" Belboz interupted. "The only thing that would entice me to do your biding is if you did a little dance for me....or something."

Fred gazed at the magician with a blank look on his face and....

Refused to do such an undignified thing!

"You - you want me to dance for you?!?" Sir Fred asked, amazed.

"Just a little, yes," Belboz agreed.

"Listen, necromancer, I am Sir Fred, knight of His Most Royal Majesty! I'm here to find and stop a dragon, not to, to prance and gad about for your amusement! I refuse to submit to this indignity! I'll find and slay the dragon, with or without your help! And the threat of a lawsuit," he sneered, "Will be no deterrent!"

Belboz just looked at him for a moment, then said:

"I believe I asked you to dance, knight! Now dance!"

Fred suddenly found he could not control his movements. The blank look remained on his face as he began to move across the floor.

At first, he moved jerkily and without grace, but soon, he was dancing as though he had been doing it his whole life - which he had. His mother, the daughter of a bard and an accomplished dancer herself, had insisted he learn some rudimentary dancing skills. He'd never thought much about it (except when squiring some lovely lady across the castle dance floor), but now, it seemed to be all he could do.

"Very graceful, Sir Knight," Belboz snickered from off to the side. "No, I'm afraid I can't help you at all. The dragon and his family are quite powerful, you see. If I lend aid to you, I open myself up for all sorts of retribution. Including lawsuits!" he added with a shudder.

"In fact, I'm afraid I have to tell you that a contract I signed with the dragon a century or so ago means I have to prevent you from fulfilling your quest. In fact, I plan to arrange it so you'll never pose a threat to the dragon again. Nothing personal, you understand - although I've never had much use for knights and so forth. So - away with you!"

Belboz sprinkled an odd dust around the still-dancing Sir Fred, chanted something arcane sounding, then made an elaborate gesture - and with a soundless flash, Sir Fred vanished from the chamber.

Elsewhere, Fred rematerialized, unheralded by either flash or sound, and still dancing away. I feel - different! What's that old crank done to me? he thought.

The answer soon came.

In a nearby shiny surface, Fred caught a glimpse of himself - and if he hadn't been compelled to keep dancing, he would have collapsed in shock! Now he knew what Belboz had meant when he said he'd arrange it so Fred could never threaten the dragon! He had been transformed into:

A buxom, dark-skinned woman, dressed in a series of flowing veils, swaying before a leering group of rich drunkards!

Elsewhere, Fred rematerialized, unheralded by either flash or sound, and still dancing away. I feel - different! What's that old crank done to me? he thought.

The answer soon came.

In a nearby shiny surface, Fred caught a glimpse of himself - and if he hadn't been compelled to keep dancing, he would have collapsed in shock! Now he knew what Belboz had meant when he said he'd arrange it so Fred could never threaten the dragon!

He had been transformed into:

A buxom, dark-skinned woman, dressed in a series of flowing veils, swaying before a leering group of rich drunkards!

The dancing went on for hours on end, and Fred finds that he doesn't tire....in fact the more he dances the more....energizing it becomes for him.

However, this is something of a runners high. Not a euphmism for the acts and desires that her drunken audience keep shouting and groping her for. Fred realizes that he can't stop....and even raise his voice in protest. All he can do is dance......

Then a strangely dressed man walks into the room, drawing shouted oaths and drunken bellows of rage from Fred's audience. All of which goes silent as the man looks at them in the eyes.....and Fred shivers inside as he sees them go slack jawed and start to laugh.....and drool on themselves. Fred shivers again but continues to dance as the oddly dressed man (who's dressed in blue jeans and jeans jacket with a dozen buttons....including a button with a picture of a dead pig and a question about: "How do you want your pork?"). "Well, move over Madonna!" the Walking Man leers, laughing as Fred struts his (er....her) stuff. "Let's just make one adjustment on that Matrix thing....as they call it at this one interesting sight.....and then......."

Fred gasps as he feels her entire being tingle....as if something was altered deep inside.

She then freezes in place as the Walking Man (RF of "The Stand" by Stephen King) puts her in stasis, making her appear as a marble statue. He then sends her off elsewhere to play in a game he's set up.

Flagg then chuckles and changes to his alternate, demoness form, and goes off to see a certain mage about a contract. Gotta keep the boys in the Home Office happy. That is, until thing change for the better for him....

Flagg then goes off to see a mage who's captured a unicorn and testing out the effectiveness of a spell that remade Fred into a young woman named Hannah....and soon dies as his peers and such catch up with him, finally.

Fred the dancer finds himself on Terra Prime, still under the compulsion to dance, and then he runs into a couple of unicorns, some other Freds, some other Astras.....

Urnath the unicorn breaks the curse of dancing upon her, but soon all are captured by Ocs on Terra Prime.

This Fred soon renames herself Joan....

Elven Analogs

This is the tale of the Fred and Astra analogs who later rename themselves Gilmuriel and E'ysha (respectively).

Their tale as told by them:

"How about we start with Astra first, eh?" Seeker smiles in a comforting smile as Astra jumps at mention of her name. "Rank may not have much privileges here, but at least we can let the warrior princess go first, right?"

Astra, elfin ears twitching a little in consternation at the words of this strange elf, just sighs and decides to humor him. Lord knows that the whole situation has gone to luney since she had been freed from the grasp of that horrible....lecherous wyrm/mage. But God help her, if she didn't get a straight answer from these other elves she was ready to kick their butts up to around where their pointy ears were!

She decides to start from the beginning of her ordeal....in order to at least tell Fred some more about herself. Her heart flutters a little bit faster at the last part about Fred. As strange as it seems, Astra felt that somehow her heart was beginning to be snared by this brave young man....and for the life of her she couldn't understand WHY! He seemed to be a man of deep honor...but like all the mysterious dwellers of Alaria....Astra found Fred to be a mystery.

Astra felt her heart flutter more in excitement at the thought of plumbing those depths.

She sighs, acknowledging that her heart seemed to have decided the matter for her. Hearts were like that, and rarely listened to their more logical....rational partner....the mind.

If this budding relationship did blossom into something serious, then if she ever DID regain her God given form (not that the thought of her being an elf for the rest of her existence really bother her....she thought, surprised at her feelings) then there really would be no real big political scandal. After all, Frederigo D'Honaire was the son of one of the great dukes of the kingdom of Alaria,or he wouldn't be Lord Fred. Certainly he'd certainly be a fine match for her if he could become a companion in arms, and in life, of her! And there seemed to be some real hope for the young man...since he hadn't done anything to hint at the rumored conciets of other Alarian nobles...who seemed to hold all woman as something less that equals.

Astra was succumbing to the nature of her now elfin body. Elven hearts were....wiser....than their human counterparts....and knew a good "catch" when they sense them. This tended to lead to what humans felt was flighty behavior on the elves part, but in all the elves had better romantic realtionship by FAR than the average, mundane human being.

As far as this budding relationship between the elves Astra and Fred, Seven of Nine said it best in regards to them trying to resist this. Resistance is futile.

Just another insight into the minds and hearts of the nonhuman minds and hearts of Terra....

Anyway, her mother, the Queen and ruler of Aqualaria, had done much to bring equality to the males of her land.....perhaps the same was happening hin Alaria....and they were becoming enlightened?

Astra shakes her head to focus...and begins to tell her tale.

"I'm not going to tell the life history of me, but I'll just begin from where I had been captured by the vile dragon Vellus," she begins, noticing that Seeker seems to react slightly as if he recognized the name.

Yep, sounds like a Mirror of Astra, Seeker thought to herself, nodding slightly, causing his mane of coppery hair to shift a bit to where he needed to brush it out of his way. He made a mental note to at least make a headband in order to keep it out of his eyes (his equipment seemed bereft of scissors....if not some of the other equipment that he was used too).

He brushes his hair out of his eyes, and Astra continues.

"For some reason, my mother had gotten the idea in her head that an arranged marriage between me and a Duke by the name of Zular, a man I've never met, to improve the rather strained relations between my country and Alaria," Astra said, with a bit of anger in her voice. "Now, I have nothing against this Zular, but I'd be hung if I was going to be forced into a marriage like that."

"Well, even if it did happen," Fred said. "You wouldn't have an ogre for a husband. I happen to know and like Zular. A real man of honor and courage.....and a real brain inside his head! Fact is, I owe him my life when he came up with an antidote for a slow poison that some enemy to the House D'Honair slipped in my food!"

"But I'm glad that the marriage didn't happen....for else I'd be heartbroken right now," Fred mutters softly to himself, heartfelt. All eyes turn to him and smile, and Fred feels like dying! He'd said it softly enough that human ears wouldn't have heard or understood that....but the others AREN'T human!

Astra, feeling something warm rush through her heart, gave Fred a fond pat on his hand (sending a jolt of pleasure through both) and the returned to her tale.

"So....as a service of equal importance to Aqualaria to substitute for the arranged marriage I went off to slay the Dragon of the North Cavern," Astra finishes up, silently cursing the Greek philosophy duty to state. "The lore books I had read on this vile dragon were erroneous and I was capture....and used as bait for other adventurers."

"And to make you a more....effective bait Vellus stripped you naked," Fred sighed. "And quiet an effective one, frankly. Vellus almost got the drop on me!"

Seeker makes a mental note that, sometime in the future, to find out just how many Earth phrases and concepts seemed to be floating around such a remote Mirror world.

"But you killed it...and that should have been the end," Astra sighs. "Vellus' mentor banished us via magic into the desert... We survived to find a mage tower of the....er...eccentric Mage cum Scientist Dr. Vincent. He magically whisked us inside his tower, only to have disaster befall Lord Fred when the magic creation known as Bobo injured Fred terribly."

"Aye, that purple toaster headed ape did indeed," Fred muttered darkly. "And that mad mage healed me...HAH!.....by turning me into a freak with scissors for hands! Only when I and Astra begged did that idiot try to turn me back."

"And then disaster struck when I sneezed at an important point," Astra said, puzzled. "Funny, there wasn't anything around that should have made me do that. Say what you will of Vincent....that was the cleanest mage laboratory that I've ever seen!"

"Actually my brother Charles' lab was better than than Vincent....but I see your point." Fred put in, wondering if he would ever get to see his sometimes zany....but brilliant brother again!

"Perhaps you were allergic to Bobo?" Torres conjectures. If all that had happened to hadn't happened, then she'd have thought Astra and Fred mad for the tale they were telling.

As it was, it just made her head spin a bit.

"I ended up in the dark caverns of the dragon again and was able to find my way to freedom," Astra says. "I had thought of using the magical ear ring that vincent had given me to call forth Pronklezilch, a friend of Vincent. But I'd had a funny feeling about Vincent, about how stable he was. I didn't want to risk calling forth another mage to somebody who I had grave doubts about."

"Birds of a feather flocking together, huh?" Seeker put in. "You figured that since Vincent was a little mentally unstable that the same might be for his friends?"

"Right," Astra said. "Nice turn of the phrase, by the way. I've never heard it, but it fits!"

"Er....thanks," Seeker said. That phrase was hundreds of years old back Home.....but never had been born apparently back where Astra was born.

"I went through a passageway with demons carved on it and then swam through an underground river and came to the beach of the river. Fred soon found me, and we then made our way out to try to find our way to civilization when we ran into the fell forest of Xythryx. We were entrapped by a giant spider's web and knowing the deadly nature of those monsters, we had to call upon Pronklezilch...else we'd be a spider's dinner!"

"But the damn mage turned out to be not only mad....but...horny," Fred ground out. "He appeared, found us in danger, but wouldn't have lifted a finger to help unless Astra did some sexual favors for him. She tricked him into freeing us....and killing the giant spider that was approaching....and that REALLY got the mage angered. He used the ancient Atlantian Crystal Staff on us....and transformed us into elves! And since....by some strange sense of...alieness to this land around us....we've been teleported to some other world! Meaning, I and Astra are now elves forevermore."

Elves have a connection to the land around them....and can tell things instinctively about it that a human is blind to. Fred's senses are telling him that Terra Prime isn't His Tera!

"Is that so bad?" Astra says softly. "We don't age...and we could be together forevermore.....forever young and in love?"

"I'd....like that very much," Fred said softly....fully surrendering to the demands on his elven heart. They kiss softly and tenderly for a few minutes until a soft cough by Torres breaks the moment.

And as for Fred......

Torres smiles an understanding smile as the two lovebirds blink in surprise and embarrassment. From what she saw led her to believe that .

They were still learning the ins and outs....the demands of their new bodies.

Torres, having been gifted with something of an almost instinctive data base of the new body she'd been reincarnated in, didn't begrudge them the display they just had. It was all very much part and parcel of being an elf.

"Ah....I think I'll....go next," Fred said, flustered and still seeing fireworks from kissing the heavenly lips of lovely Astra.

And so Fred did.

"Like my sweet Astra.....I won't go into my entire life biography....short as it would be," Fred said humbly. "I am the fifth son of Duke D'Honair....second in step to the throne in case something would befall the King and Heir. This means I have the title of Lord, and all the social privileges...and obligations....that come with it. But, being the fifth son means there is little chance of me having anything in the way of inheritance when.....my father dies. Thus, I find that unless I wanted to live off the gratuity of my family....I'd need to somehow make a Name for myself. Do something that would secure a future for myself....and any future offspring I hoped to have with whoever I gave my heart to......"

Fred pauses and smiles coyly at Astra, who smiles back.

"So I became a Dragon Slayer for the Great Kingdom. It was an honorable profession, and VERY needed....frankly. High turnover rate and all that." Fred coughed. "I had always been under the impression that the lot of them were fools who failed to plan properly...and thus had basically planned to fail! Dragons are dangerous, cunning creatures...and not easy meat by a long shot! I'd heard rumors of there being good dragons....even met a few in my travels! However, there seemed to be a glut of evil dragons on the grounds.....must have been fashionable for them or something...and so that's were I came in.....well prepared beforehand!

"I spent inordinate amounts of time and effort combing the Archives of the Dragonslayers on the targeted dragons I was quested to slay. At first, it earned me no little condescending nicknames....let me tell you! However, after I came back from my eighth dragon kill......twice the average successful missions completed with the slayer alive.....those names disappeared. I was making a good name for myself...and by the twentieth one....the one with what turned out to be Dragon Vellus, I had gained enough of a favor by the King to be granted a fief of land with peasants. In other words, I was within reach of gaining a secure future. I could actually think about doing something ELSE with my life....and perhaps begin to look for my other half....except I found her in chains and nothing else while hunting for the dragon. Things turned out much differently thatn expected....but....I have Astra...and she has me.....

"So....we all know now what happened after that. After Astra sneezed, I awoke on the banks of the river that I'd soon find her. I had been restored to my normal self, thankfully. I also found the equipment that had been laid in a corner - perhaps the myth of a warriors equipment knowing it's master is true - and as for the rest......"

Fred smiled.

"We're here," he finishes. "Now, I believe it's your turn?"

Hannah's story

This begins with a young knight out on a quest to slay the Dragon of the Southern caverns. Fred finds that his map is less than accurate and finds instead of one entrance to the caverns there are instead two. Fred, being right handed (a difference between the other Fred analogs....being that they are left handed) he takes the tunnel to the right. Soon, he comes upon an old man studying by the light of a magical light source. Fred decides to be a friendly sort and greets the man.....

"Excuse me, kind sir," says Fred. "I am Lord Fred."

"Hello Lord Fred." says the old man. "My name is Belboz, the necromancer."

"Necromancer? Do you do magic?"

"Yes, I do. For a reasonable fee, I can do any magic that I know. Other magic will have to wait until I can finish studying this tome."

"Cool!" says Fred. "How reasonable?"

"Depends on how much effort it takes me to cast a spell." comes Belboz's reply.

Fred thinks for a minute and asks the magician if he can create a spell to kill the dragon from here.

Not an unreasonable, nor stupid request. Fred has every right to ask and expect help, for surely Belboz realizes the significance of his presence within the caves. It had all to do with the outcome of the treaty that ended the bloody and disastrous Human/Dragon War. Part of the treaty legitimized the role of Dragonslayer in the dragon's eyes. Dragonslayers were only called forth to kill a dragon that had gone rogue (killing and terrorizing the humans.....threatening the peace) after the Dragon Council had tried all other means of recourse.

Belboz, however, is under the sway of an evil magical book called the Necromonicon and thus is slowly being driven insane by the book while also being controlled by the book. The book had been using the mage to unwittingly set the Dragon of the Southern Caverns up for crimes not commited. The book transformed the mage at night as he slept into a male dragon of similar coloration and such and caused the enthralled mage to fly out and commit terrible crimes. The mage awakens without any knowledge and a bunch of humans are out for the Dragon's blood. The mage also has a growing sense of paranoia that makes him see Fred as a threat to his plans (which aren't ever revealed in this thread) so he transforms Fred into a young peasant lass to protect his friend the Dragon (who'd saved his life and formed an odd friendship....which the mage still had despite things.....for the moment anyway) and prevent the knight from foiling his plans. The mage, using his powers garnered from the Necronomicon stripped Fred's old spirit from his body and inserted a new spirit.....that of the sweet and innocent soul of a young woman who was named Hannah.

Belboz then placed the young girl (after enchanting the lass to want to marry him and some such) in the vicinity of a captured male unicorn to see if his spells had worked.

1. If the unicorn shied away from Hannah, then the knight's spirit was still hanging on somewhere inside Hannah and would eventually come back and make trouble. But the unicorn was enthralled apparently, but before the unicorn could place it's head...

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