The madman and his followers gibber and yell about the sicknesses,
diseases, and curses found in the Land of Glass as the boat sails down
the river. The heroes don't like the idea of trying to take on a dozen
obvious mad were-jackals (the usual method of killing them is with magical
and silver arrows.....from afar.....by desert patrols). The were-jackals
have somehow developed a fear of water (thus their shabby appearance).
They can barely bring themselves to drink the stuff. The mere idea of SWIMMING
in the water brings a chill to their hearts.
Soon, the would-be preacher loses interest in the boat and he and his
disciples proceed to try to convert a grove of rocks.
Latter, Fred and Alicia are cuddling up on the deck of the ship.
"So," Fred whispers. "It's official?"
"Yep," Alicia whispers back. "We have a boy and a girl on it's way."
Fred smiles and looks lovingingly at his wife.
"You know," Alicia murmurs. "I hear Synizn say that some of the earlier
types of lycanthropes....if they managed to live long enough to produce
offspring, produced them in litters like the beasts they mimic....and the
gestation period is like them, also.
"I don't think I could stand that," she shivers. "At least manimals
produce children in a manner like ordinary people."
"That and stay as active as before without endangering the unborn,"
murmurs Fred, his tail wrapping around Alicia's tail. "I feel much better
about this journey because of that. I just wish we were sure we will find
something back in the Kingdom....lairs, cures, and such. I sometimes even
wonder if it's.......I don't know...."
Alicia pauses in her stroking of Fred's pelt, and looks at her husband.
It sounded like Fred wasn't so driven now to become human again. Perhaps
it has to do with the fact that he and the Pack's baser instincts and form
were no longer prisoner to the cycles of the Moon..... Yes, she had been
born human.....but it wasn't like she was distraught that she was still
a were-fox (in fact, she rather liked a lot of things about it). Could
Fred.....?
A cry from Astra breaks that train of thought. The were-folk look and
their jaws drop in shock at what they see. Miles upon miles of......what
looks like sand fused into glass! What is really amazing is that in some
spots.....plants are sprouting despite whatever caused this.
What our heroes don't know is that, back years ago on another mirror
image world, similar happenings had happened. Back in the deserts of a
land called Nevada, people had found plants growing in the blast craters
left behind from the atomic bomb tests....weeks after the detonation. Plants
general tolerance to higher radiation levels....coupled with the fact that
the Enemy used isotopes that had an incredibly short half-life allows this
supposed miracle to happen.
Unaware of these facts, the adventurers stare in shock at the glass...and
at the half melted walls of the city of Gilgil.
-
 Finally, after a few minutes
of horrified gaping.....
Go Back
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