| So then, we then find.....
Then the battle is joined! Frederigo D'Honaire and his Packmates
arrive, and start to make things difficult for Seeker. No, it isn't like
they can actually HARM Seeker, but he was seriously hampered by their presence
(and their weapons were really causing a lot of cosmetic damage to his
Avatar Oracle). This, coupled with the fact that Inquirer (who was hanging
back and fiddling with a blue gem for some reason) and the recently teleported
Probe (there to lend a hand in battle) was making this WAY too public.
Yet, the rogue AI was torn. On one hand, retreat would be easy by just
cutting his connection to the Avatar, just leaving an anonymous Avatar
(could be anyone, human or machine intelligence, piloting it...with allegience
to nearly anyone..). On the other hand, getting back to the surface and
again trying to carry out his plans could be more difficult (the Military
might start to monitor their Avatar systems more closely after this episode)...
Just as Seeker decides to cut his losses and bug out, Inquirer leaps
forward with her bespelled gem that will entrap whoever is controlling
the Avatar, so she and the others can interrogate the entity at a later
date (and nicely neutralizing the Avatar in the meantime). The race is
one, and the winner is..the hand of Seeker's treacherous Avatar!)
See, what I didn't tell you is that Inquirer had teleported, via Crystallic,
yet another bespelled jewel into the hand of the false Oracle. All Avatars,
at the time of creation, have verbal overrides that are there for safety
reason, in the Company's opinion. The Military hates them with a passion,
the Overrides, for if somebody shouts out that word, the operator finds
himself fighting the Avatar over what to do (disastrous in a battle, makes
them a sitting duck). The Overrides are gleefully gutted and scrapped before
the Avatars are allowed into battle. Inquirer was hoping that whoever was
in control of the thing HAD not gotten around to doing that yet..A telepathic
command by Inquirer, and the Avatar slaps bespelled gem on forehead before
Seeker can disconnect and before Inquirer can slap her gem onto Seeker's
Avatar. Seeker yells in terror, mentally, as he feels himself falling into
the gem. Seeker looks very satisfied as she looks down at the madly sparkling
gem in her hands, for she knows she's succeeded.
The battle stops as the Avatar falls over, out of commission. Then,
to avoid further mayhem, the Manimals surrender to the town guard, led
by this world's very agitated Tarin (who's the Constable of Walants). Then,
Duke Dredrick appears upon the scene (having received word via magic mirror
about the danger to Astra 2 by word from Ethiopia) and gets the Manimals
and the other adventurers inside, making it clear to town guard and Amazon
contingent that further questions will be answered LATER, if ever.
Later, back in the residence of the dukes, Tarin and Master Rifts look
sandbagged as the truth of the events that have been happening on Terra
are told (withholding parts that neither lawyer or dwarf have any business
knowing about...like personal relations and such...) because they've seen
much, and to have any further cooperation from them...the truth was revealed.
They finally are able to get their minds around it, and discussions then
drift to why humans have such large families (larger resource basin caused
by more children who reach adulthood to support oldsters when they can
no longer work..a retirement strategy), and why even bother with marriage
(dwarves do their duty by order of their Clan Leader, and the Clan raises
the children..where humans do it to affirm their relationship to their
gods and to settle inheritance issues) and such between Rifts and Tarin
while Para-Astra proposes marriage to a stunned (but willing and happy)
Fred 2.
Then we see just why Tarin was banished from his clan (same as the one
from Fred 5's world: Second Sight). He goes off, screaming about visions
of this and that. He mistakes the sudden arrival and appearance of Fred
4's group (foxes and demifoxes) as those who had killed his "brother" in
another Vision. He Sees the whole of Castle D'Honaire (with residents and
a party of Duke Zelar and men) land in the newly restored lands of what
had been Aqualaria (the land outside looks alien..and familiar..lots of
trees.no sign of civilization). Tarin saw a few other things, but the only
thing that brought him out of it was his friends, Rift, slapping him.
Might have something to do with the heavy use of the five Crystallics.
Anyway, just after having brought the understandably confused people
of Fred 4's group up to speed and THEN giving them hope that their demifox
condition is curable with the exponential powers of FIVE Crystallics..the
Amazons carry in the unconscious forms of Fred 5 and Astra 5!
The guards and the Amazons were trying to cover up any potential embarrassing
situations with the forms of what looked like THEIR Tarin and their Lord
Fred (either 1 or 2..they weren't sure) found naked and unconscious in
a barn. Makes their leaders look bad. The unconscious black skinned woman
was taken along for the Dukes to decide what to do with her (they were
too low on the totem pole for making such unilateral decisions in such
a situation..they feared what might come back at them if they made a unilateral
decision). Okay, after yet another bout of confusion, the unconscious forms
of the newest analogs are put to bed, and looked after.
The unconscious form of Tarin was taken to "his" residence, where he
was to recover. The insane dwarf awoke, and slaughtered the well meaning
guards with nearby weapons that his "brother" kept by his bed.
Oh, for the next part to make sense a flashback is needed.
Between the ticks of the clock and in the realm between realms (i.e.
the place and time between Fred 5's group's departure via Crystallic and
arrival in Terra Prime). A vacationing Rule (179) from the world nicknamed
Rifts Earth, gets interested in the going ons of some teleportees..and
awakens them from their slumber between realms. He sees the female human
known as Astra awaken, and due to the nature of this Realm, unable to escape
the realization that she couldn't go home! The short of it is that by custom
and law of her Aqualria, she must join..for a time...a branch of the priesthood
in order to be worthy of her high position in life. She chose the Daughters
of the Huntress, worshipers of Diana (Roman goddess of the hunt and of
the Moon...who has a thing about turning peeping toms who see her naked
into stags...). The branch she chose would have been a permanent position,
and the War Council would have decided the question of who would ascend
the throne after her death. She hadn't been accepted yet (the hide of Minestus
would have clinched her acceptance into the Sisterhood), but she had met
the requirements ..until that night as a demifox and being mistaken for
a Kitsune forever barred her from it (no non-virgins allowed..and the Elders
of the Sisterhood had ways of telling). And since she couldn't go into
another branch (she had committed herself by choosing the Sisters of the
Huntress). Astra 5 DIDN'T have a future in Aqualria!
Astra 5 was feeling low, pitiful, and alone and sliding further and
further down into oblivion when eight presence made themselves known to
her. She gasped in shock and surprise as she felt her heart fill with love...love
for her.
Seven of the presences had the feel of those newly minted, of innocence
only found within the just born (or not even born yet..). Astra 5's seven
unborn children, after seeking out and finding their father (who had discovered,
through the nature of this Realm, that he'd fallen in love with Astra 5
somewhere along the lines) and sending waves of love and happiness at him,
then rushed off (with Fred 5) to comfort their saddened mother. So, Astra
5 felt their uncompromising love, and felt her heart melt. She saw the
naked soul of Fred 5, and saw it was wonderful. She saw that it was a noble
soul, and that he loved her.
Astra 5 felt herself fall for her unborn children and Fred 5. After
a tender moment, 179 brings Fred 5 and Astra 5 up to speed on the world
they are headed to and the people (the other Freds and Astras). The children
are left out of the loop, due to the adult nature of the discussion.
Finally, 179 breaks the bad news about the punishment that the Crystallic
got for bending the rules the Rules had set down. See, the mad Tarin had
demanded that "we" be teleported to Terra. The wording was sloppy and put
the Crystallic in danger. See, it wasn't allowed to teleport itself and
it's owner to other parallel worlds. If it tried, it would find itself
in limbo..forever (as well as the owner). Through some fancy interpretations,
it came to pass that the Crystallic was only teleporting itself (Fred 5
and the others who had drank the Crystallic had assimilated part of it..and
thus got dragged along as the Crystallic transported itself). The Rules
allowed it, but made sure that a punishment was put down so the other Crystallics
out there don't get any funny ideas. Five hundred years of the Crystallic's
memory were erased, permanently, as it appears next to it's two "brothers"
in Inquirer's pouch. So, there was no way for Fred 5's group to return
home, period!
After a stern lecture about talking about what's fair (it wasn't the
Rules job to be fair..just keep the order), 179 told them to warn the others
about the corrupt (insane) Tarin.
They woke, and did that. They also got married by Astra 2 (she can do
that by her station as Duchess..).
There, they find they must wait until the mages recover after a few
days from the repairing of Terra. Many are needed to work in concert to
overcome the metaphysical interference of the lycanthropic Matrix shard
that has warped Fred 4's group into demifoxes (see after 2 weeks, the level
of interference gets too high for a mere one Crystallic to overcome..don't
ask, it's a mage thing).
As for Astra 5's problem .... ...(humans can't give birth to seven children
safely without major medical facilities..which they don't have), the mages
will temporarily transform her back into a demifox (and her children),
and do to her what they did to the other Astras (accelerate the pregnancy,
transform her and kits back to human). Then..they'll do something about
her skin and hair...
AS for the newest kits of Fred 4's group (and the mundane foxes). Nothing
like what happened with Rosepaw happened here (thank God for small favors).
Therefore, after the foxes are released into the wild, they'll eventually
forget about the kits..and move on (it may seem cruel, but it's for the
best..mundane foxes can't care for demifox cubs in the long run). The kits
will then be put up for adoption in the Pack. This is all for the best.
Back in Walants, the guards and Amazons are hunting for the mad Tarin
(who's in a permanent berserker rage..maybe...and extremely dangerous no
matter what). This world's Tarin is in jail, for protective custody (the
news that his twin is probably in that rage did a real good job at convincing
the proud dwarf). Natthias and Probe are there, discussing various things
with the dwarf (metallurgy and why Natthias is here.instead of back in
Ethiopia).
Nat reveals that he's here because basically it's not his home any longer.
It has Malachi as it's protector (and it would be awkward for him and her
to be there together). Ethiopia has too many bad memories (burned lands,
cities, people dying in fire and plague, his family except for Alicia dead...)
Better to be here, straightening things out.so he doesn't have time to
brood over it all.
As for metallurgy, Tarin sees that Probe's folk have more knowledge
and skill, and hopes that they will share it with the dwarves. It would
perhaps get Tarin back into the dwarves good graces, even.
Meanwhile, the mad Tarin has evade patrols of guards and Amazons, and
now all that stands between him and his "brother" are Probe and Natthias.
The new analogs are sent to Ethiopia.
And so the stage is set for a battle.
It is mad Tarin who makes the first move by making his presence known
by lodging a knife in the throat of a young guardman. As the young man
dies screaming, we see that the Tarrin of Terra Prime is prepared to meet
his maker. He knows how formidable he had been when HE had been under the
influence of a berserker rage (something he no longer can achieve having
finally been cured of his insanity). He figures that his time has come,
since the only people who stand between him and his mad brother are Probe
and Natthias.
Turns out that Natthias is the nearest
Since Natthias is the nearest, the insane Tarin attacks him first.
Turns out that Nat isn't easy meat, as the old cliché‚ goes.
Nat is a Paladin, a holy warrior, and he was a terror on the battle
field. Using his God given gifts, he's able to summon arms and armor at
a moments notice. Thus, he met the insane dwarf's flying daggers and flashing
war ax with his strength of arms, armor, and strength of faith.
Funny thing about faith in this world is that it can work miracles.
It doesn't give insurmountable proof of the existence of one particular
Diety-since we see so many faiths on Terra-but it works. Heck, one could
argue that all this stuff (including ghostly afterlife), is just a side
effect of magic (part of the environment). In any case, it allowed Nat
to battle the crazed dwarf for over half an hour (try doing that in real
life and you'll find out just how HARD that is)!
Finally feeling the effects of battle, Nat is still able to cut Tarin's
ax in half (leaving him with nothing useful). He then, out of a sense of
honor and fair play, demands the crazy Tarin's surrender. This demand from
a "lesser creature" drive the exhausted loony into a frenzy and he leaps
for Nat's unguarded throat (Nat had his sword halfway down due to him being
tired...)
Probe, meanwhile, had been doing several things while this fight had
been happening. He'd kept asking if Nat needed help (but was refused each
time since it was Nat's fight.the way Nat wanted it). He also admires how
much Nat's fighting prowess has improved since meeting him last in the
desert (the improvement was due to him being cured of his lycanthropy and
his insanity). Probe was also, at the time of Nat's demand that the corrupt
Tarin's surrender, ready for betrayal.
Probe grabs Tarin before the dwarf can harm Nat, and throws him into
the bars of his sane brother's jail cell. It's a lucky thing that dwarven
skulls are so dense, else the blow would have killed the loony dwarf. It
did, however, broke several facial bones in the corrupt Tarin's face, knocked
him out, AND dented the bars of the cell. Probe puts an Alliance approved
restraining device (a straight jacket strong enough for use on rogue Avatar
units) on the sleeping dwarf, and tossed him into the jail cell after letting
the sane Tarin out.
As this is happening, Synizn (the one who could have been called Demifox
Synizn 2 easily) has been granted an audience with the Regent of Ethiopia.
Even though, in his mind, Synizn is aware that this isn't his Malachi,
his heart only knows that it's his long time friend..apparently back from
the Beyond! The reunion is a tearful one, and after Synizn composes himself
Malachi says she understands why Synizn broke down.
The little guy's been through a bit of hell. See, between the stress
of failing to being able to protect his friends from Dragoness Moreau and
finding he and his friends not only were stuck as demifoxes, but were also
the sire's or mothers of even more demifox kits! Synizn had a crushing
guilt about his "failing" his friends in underestimating the cunning of
Moreau. Problem is, as Malachi explained, was that Moreau was always something
of a background player while Minestus was the one up front, in the action.
Malachi and the others never really had a good grasp on what she was able
to do, because of that.
They also discuss the adoptation of the new kits by the Pack. Synizn
explains why he doesn't feel like being a father to his kits. It was because
they had been sired while he was under the influence of the fox, and it
was too much like when he was a were-bear. See, while a were-bear Synizn
had also sired many cubs. He'd always hated being under the sway of the
beast (especially when it came to that part). His feeling flowed over to
the kits. He knew it wasn't their fault, but he just..couldn't get past
his feeling over it all. Maybe in the future, when he finds somebody special
that he could have a regular relationship with..
Finally it was revealed that Synizn liked, despite recent events, being
a demifox and had no desire to become a dragon again. Becoming a demifox
had freed him of many of the banes of being a were-bear. He'd come to see
being a demifox as a symbol of his release from those baser drives. Malachi
had gotten a similar story from Demifox Synizn, and understood completely.
In another part of the Palace, we see that Rosepaw has just been surprised
at seeing Inquirer naked. The Golem/AI had been taking a bath in a swimming
pool size and was just exiting the pool when the vixen saw that Inquirer
was as featureless as a 20th century Barbie doll! Inquirer, after being
asked about that, told the fox that this was typical of the "combat/general
counter intel" mode Avatar. She told that the Seduction/Assassination mode
had those features, but she never liked the idea behind those models, anyway.
The discussion then turned to a similar track as the one that Malachi
Dronocis and Synizn had. Rosepaw revealed that she understood totally why
Fred 4 and Astra 4 didn't want to keep the newest kits. Beside the fact
that they had been sired or concieved by others (a sticky situation indeed),
there was the fact that having so many children around would be too much
to handle. Rosepaw could handle it (with the aid of Sigin Vulpine) because
of telekinetics and magic! Fred 4 and Astra 4 had no such blessing. As
for the mundane foxes, she now had a deeper appreciation on just how different
an animal was from an intelligent being (her fellow foxes had recognized
her, but not much else...) Finally, we see that the newest kits could be
changed into the animal type of their adoptive parents, to make transition
easier.
Now, lets go out and see what is happening back in the defunct nation
of Allaria. Seems that a certain Castle D'Honaire has been plucked away
from it's homeworld and plunked down into the newly reforested lands of
Allaria. The inhabitants are puzzled and frightened, but have no idea of
why the land is the same, topographically, but uninhabited. They even find
the ruins of this world's Castle D'Honaire, but the place is a slagged
ruin (i.e. no clues as to what happened that they can see).
The Alliance has seen the appearance of the castle, and finally are
able to get in contact with Probe and tell him the news (Probe had been
busy with the recent events). Probe tells what has been seen, and arrangements
are made to teleport Duke D'honaire, Probe, and Fred 1 to investigate.
A small group like this is perfect since it didn't involve the town guards
(who didn't need to know about just HOW strange things were in the world..yet).
Probe would be very formidable in almost any situation and could radio
for immediate teleportation back by Crystallic. The D'Honaires were going
since it could very well be THEIR castle, it had the family crest of a
black griffin on a black tower.
The guard of the castle are a bit suspicious upon seeing the group approaching
(wouldn't you, under the circumstances?), but allow the group to come in
enough so questions could be asked. If the group was actually just a magical
trick, then the questions would reveal it (the guards asked questions only
the true Duke Dredrick D'Honaire could answer). The Duke answers the questions
(saying his daughter is Fredrina and her birthday was May 11th). This brings
cheers and shouts of joy from the guards and the group was let inside the
castle. This was all very happy for almost all there, except Fred 1. See,
his Fredrina's brithday was May 12th. Fred 2 was Duke Dredrick's real son,
not he.
He finds out later, that this matters not to Duke Dredrick. Dred sees
all the Freds as his sons and loves them just like his real son (it helps
the analogs feel at home in this mirror world).
That's latter.
In the meantime, as the group is brought in by the happy guards and
servants, Duke Zular is looking on. He's giving the appearance that he's
glad to see Fred and Dred back, but in reality he wanted them gone and
burried! He'd come by to pay respects to Duchess D'Honaire on the sudden
death of Lady Fredrina (he'd actually had her poisoned for getting too
close for Zular's comfort in her investigations of him), and had been caught
in the teleportation of the castle. He also doesn't like the look that
Probe gave him...
He and the others go deathly silent as two new figures enter the room.
One is Duchess Champlaine D'Honaire, the other is..Lady Fredrina (apparently
back from the dead)! Zular thinks his goose is cooked, and makes a break
for an escape.
Fredrina, meanwhile, was about to go and tell her findings to her father
and mother about the treason Zular was guilty of and how Zular had adulterated
Fred's map. She dropped her notes in shock when she saw Fred standing before
her..back from the dead, apparently.
Okay, what's happening here is a bit of the magic of the slipgate. See,
the Castle D'Honaire is a patchwork of two Castles. One is from Fred 1's
world and the other is from Fred 2's world. In Fred 1's world, Dredrick
had accepted the "proof" of Fred's death and had thus been around to be
able to block an assassination attempt on Fredrina's life. In Fred 2's
world, Dred had gone out and ended up on Terra Prime. The patchwork castle
had been so neatly "sown" together that nobody was aware of the fact. To
make matters even stranger, certain parts of the castle had time running
(in a temporary basis) slower than other parts. Thus, Fredrina had finally
gotten to the door of the main room (in a matter of six hours Terran standard)...
Then, things started to go to blazes. The slipgates were entering into
the last phase of the "temporary teleport" phase of real estate. At this
point, the magical isolation shields had kicked the bucket, and so..in
an attempt to keep the Phage from spreading uncheck...those real estates
being teleported back home would be turned into atomic dust (thus destroying
it, and any life on that real estate).
People and things started to disappear, and only through Probe radioing
a burst transmission to Inquirer were a few people saved. Those saved were:
Probe, Fredrina, Fred 1, Duke Dredrick, Duchess Chaplaine, two guards,
two female servants, and Duke Zular.
Inquirer is able to calm everyone down before trouble can begin (Zular
and the guards are..antsy about all this).
They all learn about what happened, and even most of the former castle
inhabitants understand it. Probe and Inquirer figure out that somehow Fredrina
had been mixed up with her analog.
Fredrina is shocked by all this, but then is happy to find out that
Fred 1 is actually her brother. Duke Dred accepts Fredrina as his daughter.
Lady Chaplaine and Dred are happy to be reunited. They even teleport Fred
2 in so that he and his real mom can meet again. The event is pretty happy,
but is marred by the fact that...the Fredrina of Fred 2's world is dead.
-
 Fredrina
accuses Zular of treason and altering Fred's map, but Zular is a cool customer.
He argue, successfully, that it was his analog, not he, who did it.
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