Fred's Quest for Vengeance Begins

But one day, a cloaked figure entered the library. At first Fred just stared at him, puzzled. He wasn't an orc and he wasn't Astra. Fred knew that one day Astra would come back. She could never leave him behind, she loved him too much. But this man was too short and scrawny to be Astra, and he shuffled rather than walking tall and proud. So he must be an enemy.

Fred grabbed the enemy by the shoulder and screamed, beating his chest with the other hand. The enemy wasn't even perturbed. "Ah. So you're the new librarian, then?" he said sarcastically. His voice was as dry as dust. Fred just blinked uncomprehendingly, having neither said nor heard a word in months.

"You must be the one I'm looking for," said the puny enemy. With snakelike speed, he pulled a small capsule out of his belt and dropped it on the ground. A noxious gas rushed up from the pellet. Fred rushed in to attack, but as he breathed in the noxious gas, his mind fogged up and he fell to the ground.

Fred awoke on a hard stone slab in a dark room. He felt grief, confusion, and pain, but he didn't know why. The room was lit by the dim light of glowing cave fungus, and seeing it made Fred remember where he was and what his quest was here. The room had an antiseptic spell, like that of the mage laboratories Fred had seen. But it was also filled with the smell of rotting flesh.

A vaguely familiar cloaked man walked up to the table which Fred lay on. "Ah, you're awake and partially sane," he said. "Good, good. Now tell me. How many fingers am I holding up?" He held up a skeletal hand with parchment-like skin stretched over it.

Fred tried to get up off the table, but a wave of dizziness overcame him, so he fell back down. "Who are you?" he said. "Where is Astra?" And then he remembered exactly where Astra was. The memory was fuzzy and vague now, but it hurt as much as ever. He began to sob softly.

"Hmph," said the cloaked man. "Try not to get your tears in any of my potions."

"How can you say that! You monster! I--I loved her..." His words dissolved back into sobs.

"Sorry. I've forgotten a long time ago what love is like, you see. Quite frankly, I think I'm better off without it. I also have forgotten what being mortal is like." He turned around and overdramatically pulled down his hood, revealing a withered face with burningly intense dark eyes. "Now, to answer your first question, I am Belboz the Necromancer. I have dwelled in these caves far longer than that irritating little interloper the DragonMage, and largely managed to escape his notice. I trust you already know the answer to your second question."

"I'll kill her," said Fred.

"Good, good," said Belboz, who seemed to know exactly who he was talking about. "However, that might be a bit of a problem. She's not even in this universe."

"I don't care," said Fred. "I will find some way. And then I'll rip out her entrails! Bring me to her, you vile little wretch, or I'll strangle you!"

"And then what do you intend to do once you've finished with her, hmm?"

"I..." Fred hesistated. "When she dies I will die."

"So you intend to kill yourself? How romantic."

"I will not kill myself, because that is the act of a coward. But our souls are joined together, made one by love and hate. When her soul passes, mine will too And then I will no longer have to bear the burden of living without her." Fred wasn't sure which "her" he was referring to.

"Well, you'll just have to wait. I can bring you to her relatively soon. However, it's a bit... complicated. Now be quiet. You see, the other Astra has returned to her native parallel universe. A parallel universe is..."

"I know what a parallel universe is, little man. All the knowledge that Astra Blue has is mine."

"Well, I suppose it's good to know that you're not quite as utterly ignorant as I thought. As I was saying, she has returned to her own parallel universe, and additionally she can only be killed by another Astra. At any rate, there is only one thing on this particular Earth that can travel between universes, and that is an Atlan Slipgate. Fortunately, there's one right under this cave, which the DragonMage doesn't know about, and I've already used it many times. Given the powerful residual energies her transformation left behind, it shouldn't be too hard to track her down..."

"And what's in it for you, little man? Do you want something from me in return?"

"As a matter of fact, no. However, this does provide the opportunity to solve a problem I already have. On the other hand, if it fails, things would be infinitely worse. Now pay attention. You won't recall it--since I purposely dulled your memory of Astra's death to allow you to be sane and you may have been unconscious anyway--but Blue Astra, when she was still a "faerie"-- how I hate that spelling--mentioned the Walking Man."

"You were there!" said Fred, springing up and then immediately falling back down. "Why-- why didn't you save her..."

"No, I wasn't there. I have devices which record everything that goes on in these caves. Now, perhaps I'd better explain. The Walking Man is a demon, or something along those lines, who was once one of the most cunning, cruel, powerful, and deadly demons in the universe. He lived in the First Age of the Multiverse and fought the Eternal Champions, who have now long passed beyond this multiverse. He's mostly forgotten now, but a few legends of him have survived, in particular Stephen King wrote a few rather sensationalized novels which involve him, I believe... Oh right, Stephen King doesn't exist in this universe. And for that matter, this universe doesn't have novels as such. Sorry, traveling in all those different universes gets a little confusing..."

"Get to the thrice-damned point!" spat Fred.

"Trust me, I will. Be patient. Now, every text that mentions the Walking Man says he died unimaginably long ago. But a few centuries ago, somehow, he returned. And the spell that transformed Astra Blue stinks of his magic. Additonally, the information I recorded from his mind says that she thought of the man she made a deal with as Myr'din, which is a name the Walking Man has used a number of times. If you try to confront her, you will inevitably confront him as well. And there's no way a mere warrior can stop him. Even most forms of magic are useless against him. Additionally, he has a hold on you, because the spell he cast on Astra Blue has partially affected you as well, due to the linking of your minds and souls. You may have noticed that your strength has increased somewhat. That's why. But there is one form of magic which potentially can drive him off, or even kill him. The Blue. And when your soul was joined with Blue Astra's, you gained a link to it as well. Unfortunately, unlike her, you don't have an innate knowledge of how to use it. Fortunately, there is one human mage who does know how to use the Blue, and she can train you in using it as well. Unfortunately, she lived in Atlantis before its fall, even before the building of the Slipgates, and is long dead now. Fortunately, I can send you back in time to when she lived."

"But that's nonsense," said Fred. "Once the past is gone, it is gone. There is no way to recover it."

"Why not accept that after everything else you've seen?" said Belboz. "If you can travel sideways in time to a parallel universe, you can travel backwards in time to the past."

Fred's eyes lit up. He didn't dare hope... "You can send me to the past! Does that mean... does that mean it's possible to change the past? Does that mean you can undo Blue Astra's death?"

"Certainly not," said Belboz. "The consequences of changing history are... far from pleasant. Even the Walking Man wouldn't dare change the past, not with the power level he has now. Surely you understand the concept of fate? That captures the reality of what we're dealing with, in a primitive sort of way. Blue Astra was fated to die."

"Wouldn't I change fate just by being in the past?"

"No. If you don't do anything too important, you can prevent history, or fate, from noticing you. Now come with me." He muttered a magic word, and Fred found that he could stand up. He slowly stood up and then followed Belboz across the laboratory. In spite of Belboz's advanced age, he moved with impossible speed, scuttling like a spider.

They reached a chest of drawers which seemed to be made out of the bones of a monster. Belboz pulled open a drawer and rummaged around inside. He took out a ring made of an iridescent purple metal with arcane markings on the side. "This is a Time Ring. I was able to learn how to build it by examining the ancient Atlan magic that makes up the Slipgate. It can not only send you back or forward in time, but alert you to when you are in danger of altering history. You can also use it to send objects back and forward in time at will. I will come with you for the first few months of your training, since you're about as prepared for ancient Atlantis as a baboon would be for a church."

"I'm tired of being insulted!" said Fred.

"Do you want to get revenge on Astra Blue?" said Belboz.

"More than anything else in the world," said Fred.

"Then do as I say. Now put on the Time Ring."

Fred took the Time Ring from Belboz's outstretched hand. It was bitterly cold, and made Fred shiver. "So just what do you intend to gain from helping me?" said Fred. "I doubt you are doing it from the goodness of your heart."

"You're quite correct," said Belboz. "You see, when I was young--well, relatively young--and foolish, I made a... deal... with the Walking Man. When he gets around to collecting his end of the bargain... well, you can imagine what would happen. So if you somehow managed to kill him, that would make things very much easier for me."

"You don't care about anything other than yourself, do you?"

"Of course I do. I care about knowledge. But I can hardly advance the progress of magic when I'm dead, can I? Now put the ring on your finger." In spite of its bitter coldness, Fred did so. "Clear your mind so I can transmit an image of the place you are to go," said Belboz. Fred closed his eyes and cleared his mind. The moment he did so, he found himself thinking, however blurry his memory was, of Blue Astra's death. But he knew what was at stake, so he shoved the thought out of his mind. An image began to creep into Fred's mind, an image of a towering city overgrown with silver towers, with giant arrows made of metal flying around in the sky...

1. And after feeling a great wind rush over him, he is there.
2. But in spite of himself, he can't stop thinking of Astra's death.

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