| "It was a glimpse into what MIGHT have been," croaks Sigin, disoriented
mightily by the sense of being here and THERE at the same time! He and
the others had experienced what the others had seen and felt..... "That....is
what it is, isn't it, Synizn?"
"Ye....Yes," whispers Synizn, still boggled at having viewed life through
FOUR seperate lives....yet the same life. The demi-fox fought down an urge
to recyle his last meal as the waves of vertigo slowly ebb away.
"Those were what we in the magic business call Otherworlds," the demi-fox
finally manages to explain to his still shell shocked comrades. "They are
like our world, but their history took a different path. I never thought....that
the Atlantians had access to them, but I appear to have been in error!"
"But what happened to the Crystallic?!" Fred sputters, finally realizing
that Synizn's figurine was missing after having thrown it at....whatever
that last thing was.
"It was about to suck us into an Otherworld," sighs Sigin, recalling
the dreaded Atlantian script that had been written in the smokey picture.
"And not only would that be inconvenient, since we'd have no real means
to find our ways back to our 'real' world, it could prove to be fatal."
The humans just look at Sigin in askance, then at Synizn.
"I know that you probably can't read ancient Atlantian," explains Synizn.
"I and my friend learned it from a REALLY old wyrm--Sharpwing--who's now
dead and dust. He didn't really talk about how HE learned it, but he did
teach us the language. The last symbol, that crimson one, was a sign of
impending collapse of the slipgate system of the Otherworld that was about
to drag us and the Cyrstallic to. I....can't recall now what exactly happened
there, because like the rest of you those memories of the Others lives
are fading to nothing but bad feelings and fleeting glimpses. But know
this, unless those analogs do something to shut down their slipgate system,
the system is going to teleport objects and people into each other.....eventually
causing a more and more powerful explosions from the sudden paradox of
two objects occupying the same space at the same time! Eventualy, that
world would be reduced to rubble!"
This is greeted by stunned silence.
"And the hell of it is that they can't shut down the system in the same
manner we'd use," Sigin sighs. "What we would have done in destroying the
Crystallic is also shut down OUR slipgate system." Synizn looks up at Sigin
in surprise at that news.
"I was able to make headway on that one tome you left behind," explains
Sigin to the demi-fox. "I uncovered that passage while you and Fred were....away."
"Ah," nods Synizn. "Anyway, I had to toss the Crystallic into that image
so it alone would be teleported, instead of us."
"Okaaay," Astra says, suddenly thinking of something. "I guess we don't
have to worry about that item anymore, now."
The group jumps as something pops back into existence, smoking but whole.
It's glowing red hot, but it's obvious what it is: the Crystallic!
"Even if we did get rid of it," whispers Fred, suddenly making a connection.
"We'd still have to worry about the that....Circle going out and plucking
it from some other Otherworld?"
"I'm....afraid you're right, Fred." sighs Synizn, picking up the Cystallic
with magic and dunking it in a water jug. "There's only one thing left
that I can think of to safegaurd it. And that involves....digesting it!"
|
