Operation Emerald: Part One ~ Djibouti

November  17th, 2060

Lac Assal, Djibouti  0200 hours, operational area local time

"This is a bad idea, Machine." Creep's voice whispered over my earpiece.  "Those ghouls are coming, and if you're still gone when they get here, we'll be down a man."

Jazz interrupted in a hushed tone, "Agreed.  We've got poor position.  This lake sits in a basin and we're widely exposed even on ground level, not to mention drones by air or mortar fire.  They get serious, we die."

"Got any better ideas?" I whispered into my mic. "If you do, I'm game."

Neither of them spoke up.

"Okay, then.  Creep, keep an eye on my body.  If I die, incinerate my corpse. I don't want those fraggers eating me."  I lay down on the shore, next to the saltiest lake in the world, closed my eyes and slipped from my body.

Lac Assal is the lowest elevation in all of Africa. The area around the lake is beautiful and holds black lava fields, dormant volcanoes, lava tubes, and vast 'beaches' of salt that have been exposed from years of evaporation.  The lake is always warm as it is fed by active hot springs. The water is so salty that you can't drink it without running the risk of poisoning yourself. Under the clear night sky the astral space was alive with mana energy. The elements of nature combine in a unique way here, as fire and earth heat water that touches a parched sky.

The desert surrounding Lac Assal is vast. Before the awakening it was dangerous for the careless wanderer due to the heat, lack of water, and the occasional bandit gang.  With the return of magic the desert came alive with strange creatures not known to exist anywhere else.  Fire elemental spirits sometimes rage along the old lava fields. Wind spirits dance dervishes into existence in the desert.  Water spirits erupt from the lake as if trying to touch the sky itself.  The ground shakes as thermal stresses and the rumblings of earth spirits create earthquakes.  Amid all the spirits and awakened creatures, all around me, nature was alight with raw elemental energy and hummed with power.  Currents of light moved through waters that were devoid of life, spun over parched salt beaches, erupted into the sky and plunged into the quivering Earth.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.

I looked around at the faint auras of the team.  Jazz carried a lot of high-end cyberware that had weakened his aura considerably.  He was calm and resolved.  I saw similar traits in auras of the rest of the team, except for Creep.  His aura was devoid of emotion, and simply radiated magical power.  There were strange flickers in his aura, as if dark thoughts were dancing in his mind and coloring his soul.  Maybe he didn't have emotions at all, some psychopaths are like that.

I turned my attention to the east, where the ghoul forces we had been fighting were likely getting ready to attack our position.  "Girls, come here please."  My thoughts stretched out across the vast distance of space, through the metaplanes and reached the ears of my ally spirits, my eldest daughters.  I felt them respond through the connection I hold to them which touches my very soul.

"We are coming," their thought-voices reached me in an instant.

Lily and Rose appeared at my side moments later.  Two bright angels, wings and all, stood to either side of me.  Rose, my first ally spirit and my eldest daughter, stood at my right hand.  Lily, my second ally spirit daughter, was ready at my left.  "Glad you're here girls." I told them.  I reached out and took their hands in mine.  "There is a large force of ghouls closing on my position. I must ask for your help to fight them."

"I will do violence." Rose's thought voice carried a certitude to it.  She was calm and ready for action.

"I will fight by your side, father." Lily's thought-voice carried a ring of steel.  She had been exposed to horrific enemies in her short time on Earth and I fear it had hardened her.

I squeezed their hands, our astral forms shining across the brilliant landscape.  "Thank you, girls. Here's what we're going to do.."

*****

0230 hours, operational area local time

Astral space was brilliant over the desert.  Below us, two hundred ghouls crept along toward Lac Assal.  They were fanned out in squads of five, each ten meters or more from any other squad, and stretched for five hundred meters across the pristine landscape.  Their aura's were dark red, like old blood, and their souls were weakened from essence hunger.  They must have been ravenous.

The ghouls had been plaguing the area.  Raiding villages and infecting survivors to increase their numbers.  Some carried scavenged weapons, mostly older rifles and AK-97's left over from desert wars.  Those ghouls whose intellect had degraded, the most feral of wretches, were pushed to the forefront where they would sniff at the air and scamper toward the lake.  They were closing in and I didn't like the odds that were leveled against us.  We flew overhead as I looked for signs among their auras.

I found what I was looking for.  The auras of three of the ghouls showed the unmistakable signs of awakened beings, magicians.  These three had spread out and among their fellow monsters, creeping along in the darkness.  Lily and Rose flew off, taking up positions to the north and south of me and waited for my command.  I hardened my resolve, remembering all the horrors I had witnessed, all the victims I had seen who had suffered and died at the hands of the infected.  "Now, girls." I sent the message and turned my focus to the ghoul magician below me.

On the north end of the ghoul force, twenty meters ahead of a squad with a ghoul magician among them, Rose appeared in her full angelic glory.  "Die." was all she said before unleashing a fireball spell that lit up the night, consuming the ghouls in a flash of fire that reduced them to ash.  The ghoul magician didn't even have time to scream.  On the south end of the ghoul force, Lily shattered the night sky with a war cry of  "FIRE AND WRATH!"  Her fireball spell exploded among a squad of ghouls, detonating in the face of the second ghoul magician.  They were blown apart, their bits incinerated in the conflagration.

Gun shots sounded over howls of rage and terror in reply to the girls' first spells.  The bullets ricocheted  off the attacking angels.  Ghouls rushed toward them, fury and feral hunger competing on their faces only to be replaced by confusion when the girls vanished before them.  Below me, the last ghoul magician looked up, his astral sight bridging the space between the physical and spirit worlds, and spotted me immediately.

"Hi." I said to the monster below me.

The ghoul sorcerer lifted his hand in a gesture of power, gathering mana into what would certainly be a nasty spell. Lily and Rose tackled him astral space, dragging him down to the desert floor and tearing his aura to shreds.  It was over in a flash of angelic wings and the screaming of the damned. In those first six seconds of the battle, my girls had killed eleven ghouls and stripped the force of their magical support.

"Now we wait." I took their hands again. "Thank you girls.  Are you okay?"

"I am unharmed." Rose said to me. "Thank you for asking."

"They were unable to injure me." Lily added. "I am also grateful for your concern."

"I would rather you were home, helping Aria and having fun playing, but I am very glad you are here.  As soon as this battle is done, once we have destroyed these monsters, I'll send you back.  We'll get ice cream when I get home."  I looked at my ally spirits, my beautiful and powerful daughters, and felt a tremendous pride.

"We love you, father." Rose said. "I am proud to fight by your side."

"Rose is correct." Lily said. "I will not fail you again."

"You've got nothing to prove Lily." I assured her. "You've done wonderfully, you both have." They both squeezed my hands softly.  There, in the astral space above a kill zone, I found a brief moment of peace.

We were interrupted as Creep's astral form shot up to us like a comet.  He stood there, blazing in his power. "Hey, Simon found their com signal and is intercepting their chatter.  He's cut their long range communication, so its just all us monsters in the desert ready to kill each other.  Zero called in and says he can put down near the lake but it will be close to dawn before he can get back."

"Thanks, Creep.  Tell Jazz, we're on for phase two. Weapons free." I added. "And Creep, stay safe and keep the gun-hands supported.  Nothing happens to Simon.  Keep him covered at all costs."

I could sense the satisfaction that rolled off Creep's soul. "Sure thing!" he chirped, then blasted away back to his own body.

"He is unpleasant," Rose commented to me.

"Can I kill him later?" Lily asked.

"I agree, Rose, and no you many not, Lily.  Not unless he tries to kill me or you or the others. If that happens, then yes, kill him hard." I wondered how it was that Creep made even spirits uncomfortable.

Below me, four ghouls were patting down the corpse of the last dead ghoul sorcerer.  I watched as one's aura vanished.  In the physical world his head exploded as a large caliber rifle round struck him in the back of the head.  Taz had opened fire, right on time.  Ghouls dropped and tried to flatten themselves into the salt strewn waste.

"Okay, girls, lets get started on the next part of the plan."  I focused my will and manifested my astral form into the physical world.  On the north end of the ghoul force, Lily and Rose manifested in all their angelic glory. A tick later fire shattered the night as they began to cast their spells upon those monsters in the night.

The ghouls below me rose and fired on my astral form. Bullets passed harmlessly through me.  I watched as a another ghoul's head exploded. Its aura vanished and as it fell lifelessly to the ground.  To the north, mana flashed and fiery explosions rolled across the landscape.  I could see heavy currents of chaos, confusion, and mind-searing hunger polluting local astral space.  The ghouls to the south were surging forward toward the lake, spreading out as they went.

The two ghouls remaining below me met their end from Taz's rifle.  I streaked across the desert and dove back into my body.  I opened my eyes and took a deep breath.  Rifles were firing all around me.  I rolled onto my stomach and saw a wall of flames erupting in the distance.  Ahead of me, stretching south, were dozens of ghouls.  Some were sprinting forward with mindless abandon, others were advancing with shouldered assault weapons firing short bursts of death.

I picked out group of ghouls who were laying prone in the salty desert and firing methodically on our position. A burst of fire passed half a meter away from me and hit Taz in the forearm.  The bullets blew his arm off just inches below the elbow.  His right hand landed in the salt, his index finger twitching as if trying to fire back.  Taz fell, the shock from the wound knocking him unconscious.

"IGNIS MAGICAE!" I shouted.  A small white orb materialized above the prone ghouls for a fraction of a second, then exploded with the the full force of my magic behind it.  They died in an instant, their ammunition cooking off in a fury of micro-explosions. I scurried over to Taz.

Blood was squirting from the shredded stump of Taz's right arm.  It marred the salt bed we were fighting on with a growing dark stain.  Taz was unconscious, his aura was weak, and he was losing a lot of blood.  I grabbed his arm, poured out water from the blood falls on the shattered stump of his arm and began the healing incantation.  Bullets broke the night all around me, explosions of magical energy raged in the distance, and I was sitting on a white patch of salt around a dead lake, healing a man who had been unfortunate enough to get hit.  I tried to shut everything out, but my memory haunted me for a moment.  I remembered a time, not too long ago, when I was kneeling in the snow, healing a Knight Errant security guard.  Blood had surrounded me then, the snow a strange mix of crimson and pink.  Around me the white salts were soaking up the moisture from the blood, leaving a sticky mess of bloodstained salt crystals around me.  Taz's aura was weak, the cyberware in his body made it difficult to get the spell fixed to him.  I held onto his arm forcing mana energy into him, prompting the healing processes.

"FLASHLIGHT!" Jazz yelled out.  I steeled myself and heard the claymore mines discharge a tic later.  Ghouls screamed in pain and howled in rage.

I felt the healing spell finally latch onto Taz's aura. I held it there, sweat beading on my skin, as the battle raged under a dark sky sprinkled with stars.  The blood stopped shooting out from Taz's stump, splintered bones knitted themselves together, and a new layer of skin grew over the exposed wound.

Lily and Rose appeared next to me.

"The first group of ghouls have been destroyed." Lily reported.

"Excellent work, girls!" I nodded to a pair of figures laying limply on the ground. "See if you can't heal our wounded.  If any ghouls get to within fifteen meters of our position, kill them."


0245 hours, operation area local time

The last ghoul presence I could sense vanished with the sound of several assault rifles firing. The desert returned to a desolate silence under an uncaring sky.

"Sit rep."

Jazz's voice came over the comm clearly. "Six wounded.  Worst is Taz, the rest were mostly superficial. We're reloading mags now then we'll mop up any survivors."

"Astral is clear. Most of the local spirits have shied away." Creep added.

"Understood. Simon, where is the target?" I patted a damp cloth on Taz's face.

"Two hundred meters west. It's out on the lake and six meters subsurface." Simon replied.  "You're going to need a mask or goggles.  The water's saline level is through the roof.  You'll blind yourself if you go down without eye protection."

"Good to know.  Thanks, Simon." I replied.


0648 hours, operational area local time

Dawn saw the Osprey land near the water.  We loaded Taz into the belly of the beast.  For him, that job was done.  We unloaded the ZodiacII from the Osprey and cruised out to the coordinates for our target.  The little boat's electric engine was quiet, producing a soft buzzing noise and a thick spray behind us.  We bounced over the crystalline green waters and slowed to stop over a darker patch of green.  We were over one of the deepest points in the lake. I pulled on the dive mask and fitted it tightly over my face.

"Respirator?" Ding, one of our FNG's*, asked.

"No, thank you,I'm fine." I replied. I slipped over the side and into water that felt strange on my skin.  I was buoyed up, and floated easily.  "Okay, anchor please."

Jazz handed me the small ten pound anchor and I sank like a stone.  I felt my boots hit the bottom, about six meters down.  There were no fish, no plants, no sign of life of any kind.  The water was warm, and all around me the area had a green tinge to it.  Above me the ZodiacII provided the only shadow on the bottom other than my own.

I pulled on the anchor cord and waited as Jazz lowered a large bag down to me. It took me ten minutes to level a place on the packed-salt lake bed. I pulled out the device within and worked it into position.  I hit the power button and watched for a moment as it came to life.  I felt a soft impact, something like being hit by a soft pillow, as the ultrasound and sonar fired. I swam up to the surface.  Jazz helped me into the boat, then we turned and headed for shore.

Simon monitored the sonar sensor from the shore.  The data came back gradually as the sensor oriented, mapped the area, then began its deep probe of the lake bed.  "Composition is salt, salt, and hey... more salt." Simon offered.  "I've got a density difference, a significant one actually, about two meters from the probe.  Once we finish this cycle, can you move the sensor over that area for a deep scan?"

"Not a problem." I replied.  Two hours later, Jazz and I went out on the ZodiacII.  Simon signaled that the first scan was done about ten minutes later and I dove under to move the device.  Simon put a directional arrow on the sensor's display panel with a range indicator that dropped as I got closer to the target area.  When I was over the spot he wanted to scan, a 'thumbs up' signal appeared.  I set the sensor and swam back up to the surface.  Below me the sensor bent its technological abilities to locating the anomaly we had been sent to investigate.

May God have mercy on our souls.
______________________________________

*FNG :  acronym for "fraggin' new guy".  A variant of an older term from the late 20th.

*****

Thank you for reading my fan fiction.  I hope you enjoyed the first part of this story line.  The story of Operation Emerald is one derived from game play, but from a different character.  I hope you'll join me next time for Part two!

I write this fan fiction blog because I enjoy doing it and as a writing exercise.  Your feedback, comments, and criticisms are always welcome.

I also design, write and publish role-playing game books as well as comic books (coming soon) and will be releasing children's books (again, coming soon... waiting on art).  You can find my RPG material on Drivethrurpg.com under my company Sinopa Publishing LLC. Presently, I've been releasing open game license content and will be releasing my own, original RPG in 2019.

Some of the things I have coming soon (2018):

The Steel Road ~ Funded on Kickstarter in June of 2018, this book is scheduled to fulfill to backers this month (August, 2018).  It will become available on Drivethrurpg.com after fulfillment is complete and will be available on Amazon once I have my store running.

Whispers of Persephone ~ Coming to KickStarter August 25th, 2018!!!  My little bloody book of necromancy.  A new arcane tradition, mechanics for ritual sacrifice, new spells/rites/rituals, new feats, and several new magic items.  This is a book to bring the 'DARK' back to your dark arts.  Don't miss the KickStarter campaign, as it will be a great opportunity to get this book and to help it be all it can be! Illustrated by the renowned artist, Christian Martinez!  I'll be releasing a few promotional images over the coming weeks before launch.  I hope you'll help spread the word and support the KickStarter campaign.



47 Furious Tails ~ The comic book retelling of the infamous Ako Incident!  The legend comes alive as we explore the events leading up to the Asano's final trip to Edo.  Issue one is coming to KickStarter later this year!  Illustrated by the remarkable Alexia Veldhuisen, this comic is a treat for the eyes.

Cover of issue 1
Art by: Alexia Veldhuisen

Tarot Adventures, Book Three: Death comes to Glenfallow ~  Currently in development, this adventure continues the Tarot Adventures series in grand style.  Packed with fearsome foes, deadly encounters, and a principle villain that will leave your players stunned, this book ups the stakes for your adventurers.  Lives are at risk and the only people who can help are sitting around your game table.  Written to be a deadly level challenge, this adventure will leave Glenfallow changed forever.  Whether that change is for good or ill will be determined by the player characters.  Glenfallow needs its heroes. Can you live up to the expectations, stand against a dire evil, save the people of Glenfallow and survive to the tell the tale?  (Artist: TBD ...)


Coming in 2019:

More Tarot Adventures ~ Adventure continues as the hand of Fate is played out.

More issues of 47 Furious Tails ~ Asano and his entourage arrive at Edo.  Destiny unfolds as Kira clashes with Asano.  Death, honor and revenge in the Edo period.  Don't miss this amazing story.

Sinopa Publishing's first comic book anthology project (this showcases a number of artists/writers who have contributed to our RPG product lines).  Example art from that project is shown below.

And... children's books, an original role-playing game, and so much more!


Wow... yeah I've been working on a lot of projects.  I hope you'll be as excited about these books and comics as I am.  It's amazing to be able to produce them.

Legal Stuff:  All art included in this post is copyrighted by the creating artist or by Sinopa Publishing LLC.  All rights reserved.  Use of these images is not permitted without express written consent of the artist and Sinopa Publishing LLC.  Thank you!

That is not dead which can eternally lie ... (Part One: RV Sally Ride)

"To Federated Boeing, the land and mineral rights to the volcanic island that will erupt 301 kilometers due west of Petrolia on October 3, 2060." Dunkelzahn's Will

____________________________________________________________________________



October 2nd, 2060
2217 hours, operational area local time


The ship before us was dark on the water.  The only sounds were waves slapping against her hull and a bubbling noise raising out of the unusually warm waters of the Pacific. The sea was bubbling as gases escaped the surging seafloor below. I swam along the surface, my eyes on the floating ship before me.

Two years prior I had woven several spells into myself.  I had a spell continuously running (via a self-sustaining mana loop, what some magical scholars call 'quickening') which oxygenated my blood and allowed me to effectively breath underwater; a spell that allowed me to see underwater (though it worked by removing the water from my vision so I saw things as if they were floating in air); spells that enhanced my physical strength, speed, and toughness; as well as spells that detected ghouls, vampires, and other less than friendly creatures.  Ahead of me the ship RV Sally Ride, formerly a commissioned vessel of the old U.S. Navy, floated amid algae and a curious school of jellyfish.  When the Navy had been divided between the UCAS and the CAS, RV Sally Ride was sold off to private interests and eventually ended up in the hands of Federated Boeing.

"Machine, I've got no wireless signal from the float.  Sonar is picking up a rapidly rising sea floor and an increase in biological signals in the area." Simon's voice was soft in my ear.  He was whispering in spite of himself being half a kilometer away in the mini-sub.  "Sea floor has movement all over the place.  Likely its the shifting tectonics moving debris along."

I looked down and saw schools of fish, jellyfish and shifting darkness as the sea floor was below the range of my spell enhanced senses.  The water was deep here, and many people had scoffed at the note in Dunkelzahn's will concerning an island he claimed would appear tomorrow.  The sea floor had been charted at 1400 meters a year prior and was measured by sonar sounding at 800 meters just two days ago.  We were there to snoop, collect information, and basically just see what the hell was happening with this island that was rising from the deep right on time for the Big D's prophesy.

"Simon, are you getting any cell signals from the crew?  Or any sub-surface contact for divers or hydrophone?" I was whispering because I was less than fifty meters from the ship and wanted to make certain I wasn't overheard by a surveillance drone or security sensor.  Nothing appeared to be moving on the deck.

"Diving at night isn't too smart unless you've got something to hide." Jazz offered up.

"Nothing.  No engine noise from the Sally Ride.  Her EM signature is almost zero.  I'd be surprised if a toaster were plugged in over there."  Simon sounded certain and the decker had been solid so far.  I would have felt better if Angel had been the one relaying the news but Simon hadn't earned that level of confidence yet.  He was good, there was no doubt about that, but he wasn't in her league.

"Okay, Zero surface and lets get an uplink to Control for this.  Everyone fall back to the mini."  I dove down to about five meters under the surface and kicked my way toward the sub.  Around me the weapon specialists wore thermal dampening wet suits and scuba rigs.  Creep was in the mini-sub as he couldn't swim.

"Copy that.  Surface in two minutes, uplink one minute after that." Zero replied.

"I've got zero surface contacts, nothing subsurface beyond the biologicals and the seafloor churning." Simon called out.

The weapon specialists called out in sequence. All accounted for and no one saw anything other than sea life.  We made contact with the mini sub as it surfaced, taking hand holds to stay together. I took a hand hold next to Taz and waited.

"Uplink is good, strong signal." Simon reported.

"Control this is Machine." I started. "We are on site and have suspiciously little activity.  Vessel appears to have had some form of system failure, no crew have been observed on deck, no signal from vessel.  Sea floor is rising steadily. No sign of other actors. Please advise."

"Please confirm. You say you have no visual on crew?" Samantha Goode's voice was as controlled as ever.  The hint of a question in her voice gave away nothing.

"Affirmative. No contact.  Simon, report sensor results." I replied.

"Uploading last thirty minutes of sensor logs now." Simon answered.

Samantha's voice came back over the comm a moment. "We're receiving your data.  Signal the Sally Ride, see if they need assistance.  If you don't get a reply, board the ship and determine what's going on."

"Received and understood. Simon, give me a channel they can hear."  In the mini-sub Simon was busying himself with sensors and communications while Zero controlled the small vessel.  Creep would be standing by for astral defense and to counter any awakened wildlife we might run afoul of.  I didn't have to wait long.

"Machine, your on Channel 6 at 156.3 megahertz.  Go for broadcast." Simon whispered.

"Sally Ride, Sally Ride this is Captain Charles Thomas of the submarine 'Peanut' do you require assistance?"  I tried to sound as professional as possible but had no idea how sailors communicated to each other.  Beside me Taz shrugged his shoulders and fiddled with his respirator.

Silence greeted me over the channel.

"Sally Ride, Sally Ride this is Captain Charles Thomas of the submarine 'Peanut' do you require assistance?"  I repeated my call and was again greeted by silence.  I muted the channel and switched back to the uplink with Control. "No response from Sally Ride."

"Board vessel, determine what is happening.  Provide assistance as needed, force is authorized for self-defense only." Samantha's reply was reassuring. We were here to snoop, not bloody people up.

"Confirmed.  Simon feed comm to the uplink. Taz, you're with me.  Everyone else, give us one hundred meters of lead then follow in pairs.  Jazz, you're drag."  Taz and I swam out toward the research vessel.  Two hundred thirty-eight feet of ship loomed darkly before us.  Taz and I came within fifty meters and I called out at the top of my lungs. "SALLY RIDE, CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?"

The only response was the sound of water slapping against her hull.

"I don't think they're home." Taz offered.

"We're going up. Don't freak out." I told him.  The water elemental rose from beneath us, lifting us in a column of sea water.  We were five meters above the surface and could see the deck at the bow of the ship. "Sally Ride, permission to come aboard?"  When no one replied I had the elemental deposit Taz and I onto the ship.

"Control, we're on board.  No contact."  I moved up toward the aft end of the ship in the darkness.  No one challenged us.  "ANYONE HERE?" I called out.   Again I was greeted with silence.

The Sally Ride suddenly pitched to starboard and I was thrown off my feet to crash down to the deck.  I saw sea foam splash as the ship righted and smelled a rotten fishy smell mingled with the stench of rotten eggs.

"Machine, the sea floor just buckled up another five meters.  Water temp is up two degrees locally.  I'm seeing a LOT of motion on the sea floor."  Simon sounded surprise.

"Damnit! This ship is right over the hot spot.  Machine, she needs to move." Taz said urgently.

"Machine, this is Control.  Proceed to the bridge, see if you can get her underway."  Samantha's voice was as calm as always. "Be advised, we've notified the CFS Coast Guard and are awaiting their response."

"Understood. Team is still boarding the vessel, we'll see if we can get her moving." I replied.  It took me almost two minutes to reach the bridge.  The exterior door was locked and the plexiglass encompassing the bridge was a mess of impact fractures and cracks.  "Control, are you seeing this?"

"I see it Machine. Proceed with caution." She replied.

"No drek." I thought to myself.  Over the comm I said, "Taz, I need a hand.  Get this door open." I cast my gaze about in the darkness, my spell enhanced sight showed me a barren deck and my team climbing up on the aft diving deck.

Taz put his shoulder to the door, and the door held. "What the hell?" Taz exclaimed.

"Cut it, we don't have time to wonder."  I told him.

Taz took the monomolecular knife from his belt and forced it into the seem of the door.  He sawed against the frame and I heard something snap.  "It's no good Machine. This door is fixed tight." Taz showed me the broken blade of his knife, a look of consternation on his face.

I opened my astral sight and looked at the door. Magic hummed through the door and the surrounding walls.  I saw astral echoes of long tentacles that wrapped around the bridge and struggled against the bulkhead.  The plexi had cracked and splintered under the force but it hadn't failed completely.  The magic on the door was reinforcing the bridge and door and its lock were strong enough to keep us out.

"Control, I'm seeing signs here.  Astral after images of what looks like an attack by a paracritter.  Magic is reinforcing the bulkhead and door. I'm going to crack it now." I raised my hands and began the counterspell.  "Implicata magicae.  Arese ditri su." I watched as the mana woven along the bulkhead and door unraveled.  The plexiglass windows of the bridge collapsed in small shards exposing the control center of the ship.

Taz moved onto the bridge like a shadow. His feet somehow avoiding the fragments of plexiglass that now littered the floor. "Bodies." Taz announced.

"Eyes up and weapons out." Jazz's voice came over the comm instantly.

I followed Taz inside, my boots crunching loudly on the shattered plexi. Taz turned and gave me a questioning look.  "Sorry." I whispered.

There were three bodies on the floor.  One corpse, a woman wearing a Federated Boeing Maritime security force uniform, was bloated and swollen.  Her skin a strange blue green color.  Small puncture wounds were evident on her leg, arm, and face.  Her uniform bore a triangle in gold on her lapels.  Dried blood was caked over her eyes and down her cheeks like old bloody tears.  The other two bodies were ork men, both of whom showed similar injuries.  They were older and had the look of hard working types.

"Control, I've got three deceased on the bridge.  What's the status on Coast Guard?" I watched the corpses carefully, long experience telling me to be mindful of the dead.  Taz stalked around to a terminal station and hit a pair of keys.

"Machine, no update on Coast Guard.  Proceed with caution and search for survivors." Samantha replied.

"No response from the helm." Taz reported.

"Okay, let's link up with the team and see if we can't find someone to clue us in." I waved Taz out ahead of me, keeping my eyes on the corpses as he ghosted out onto the deck.  "Simon, I need intel on this FBM officer, see what you can dig up."

"On it." Simon called back quickly.

Zero's voice joined the conversation. "Machine, the sea floor is rising steadily. I think around dawn or shortly before we'll see rock breaking the surface."

"Understood.  How do we get this ship out of the area and keep it off the rock?  Taz says controls here are offline." I followed Taz down to the next lower deck, my astral sight catching flashes of terror imprinted on the old research ship.  I heard phantom screams and saw after images of the ship shuddering from impacts on its hull.

"Don't know.  Would have to see what was wrong with it." Zero replied.

"Can we tow it?" I asked.

"Not with this mini-sub. Coast guard ship would be able to though." Zero's answer sounded certain. I trusted his judgement and kept my senses open as I scanned the deck.

Bright imprints of terror, currents of hunger and rage, and the echoes of dying men clung to the ship.  I shuddered in spite of myself.  The Sally Ride lurched again though this time I managed to keep my feet.  Sea foam sprayed and the ship rocked perilously.  I grabbed the railing and fixed myself to the deck.  Over the side I saw fish flitting by and jelly fishing pulsing themselves to get away from the stinking bubbles that were rapidly breaking the surface.  A large dark mass was rising, but I couldn't yet make out details.

The Sally Ride shook in the sea like a horse finding its footing but the old ship stayed afloat. I found Jazz stepping through the astral haze and noticed a spot clear of astral echoes.  I walked toward Jazz who opened his mouth to speak but I raised my hand to silence him.  I fixed my senses on the blank spot in the astral, a place free of the undercurrent of fear and violence.  Something or someone had carefully wiped away an impression in the astral.

"Jazz, we may not be alone." I looked him in the eyes and saw grim determination.  "I'll take Taz and see if we can get the helm to respond so we can move the ship.  Split the men into two teams and search for survivors. Don't take any chances though, if they look sick fall back from them and call me."

Jazz and the rest of the team scoured the ship while Taz and I tried to get the power on.  Simon guided us through a series of steps to bring the ship's generator to life and after ten tense minutes we had power.  I heard pumps engage in the lower portion of the ship and prayed we weren't sinking.

"Machine, CFS Coast Guard says they don't have any assets nearby.  Best estimate is three hours for a helicopter flyby and five hours for rescue vessel." Samantha said suddenly. "What is your situation?"

"We have power now.  We've found the three dead in the bridge but none since.  We're searching the vessel as we speak.  Astral echoes lead me to believe that some sort of tentacled para-animal, maybe a giant squid of sorts, attacked the ship." I looked out over the churning sea around me. "One thing stands out though, I've found places around the ship where the astral signatures have been wiped.  Someone didn't want to leave evidence behind."

There was a pregnant pause.  "Understood, Machine. Complete the search of the ship, we're watching your feed.  Call out if you see anything in the astral."

"Understood."  I replied. I watched as Taz worked under Simon's instructions to get the ship's systems booted up.  The ship had an eerie empty feeling to it and the horrific astral impressions clinging to it only reinforced the sensation.

It took twenty minutes for the team to search the ship. "No more bodies. No survivors." Jazz reported.  "Pumps are running as there is a small break just at the waterline.  The crew sealed that section and left the pumps running."

"Keep everyone on deck. Close the hatches going below and lets be ready to jump ship if this gets any worse."  Jazz was moving before my next sentence left my mouth. "Taz, how are we on getting this old girl moving?"

"It's coming along. Maybe ten more minutes if Simon is right."  Taz sounded tense, focused.

"Copy that. Take your time, we've got you covered." I replied. "Creep, get topside and get over here.  If that critter shows up I want more firepower on deck."

"Ugh, okay Machine. I'm on my way."  The slimy little fragger sounded sick.

I watched as Creep floated out from the mini-sub and began to drift toward the ship.  Below I saw the tips of rock formations rising and fish scattering away.  My ear piece clicked and Simon's voice came through.

"I've got a bit on that FBM officer. Darlene Cortez, formerly lieutenant Darlene Cortez of the Confederated American States Navy special weapons unit.  Full magician, classified training I can't get to without a lot more work and divine intervention, big periods of redacted mission time, action on the Aztlan border.  Special weapons and tactics with the Atlanta police until she got a better offer from Federated Boeing.  Basically, she's a badass combat mage with a lot of time in the field."  Simon's information did not fill me with confidence.  The lieutenant was dead, sealed away on the bridge of an empty ship alongside dead shipmates.

"Thanks, Simon. Control, did you get that." My reply sounded somber, even to me.

"Loud and clear, Machine." Samantha replied.


2315 hours, operational area local time

Creep touched down on the deck as the Sally Ride's engines began to come to life.  He looked sea-sick green and swore with every roll of the deck.  "I hate boats." he complained.

"It's a ship, not a boat." I replied.

"What's the difference?"

"I have no idea." I smiled at him as the ship rocked and heaved beneath us.

"I'm really not liking this, Machine." Creep wagged his finger at me for moment, then bent double and vomited across the deck.

The Sally Ride jerked as her engine caught and she began to move under her own power.  I grabbed the rail and watched as the jagged stone became more clearly visible.  Two hundred meters down, strange shapes moved along the rising sea floor.

********

(Continued in Part two)

______________________________________________________________

A little magic

" ... I hate bugs. I always hated them, even as a kid. I think there's just something hardwired, deep in the human brain, that says bugs are wrong somehow. Just looking at them creeps me out. So, naturally, there I was inside the rusting corpse of a factory complex some thirty-five miles outside of the Federal District of Columbia facing down a guy in charge of some bugs bigger than me. ...."  Excerpt from "Crossroads" by the legendary Stephen Kenson (quote attributed to the remarkable character "Tommy Talon")


_____________________________________________________________________________


August 2060


Work was quiet.  I managed to get a lot of reading done and even spent some time in the gym.  I was home every afternoon and spent my evenings enjoying the family life.  The news, however, was far from quiet. There was a big news story out of Boston.  A serial killer, or a copy cat, had emerged and taken many victims.  The shadow community was buzzing with work.


I spent my weekends giving Crank a new tattoo.


It was the first one I had ever done, and stretched the length of his spine (which was damn awkward at times).  I decided to cheat as I am not a great artist, and created the imagery digitally, then had a stencil printed out.  All said, I had about fifty hours of time spent in inking and coloring that piece.


Crank's tattoo followed a formula I had devised. The inks were unusual, being derived from alchemical compounds and distilled with components from certain awakened creatures.  The tattooing needles used were made of a alchemical metals. I commissioned Mike to produce them and he came through with flying colors.  Each needle was used for a different ink, six in all.  Each weekend Crank would come over and I would work on the tattoo while he lay in my basement inside a ritual circle I create specifically for that creation.


Once I had completed the tattoo, I subjected Crank to an hours long ritual where I infused him with a spell that greatly enhanced his reaction speed and reflexes.  The casting went far better than it had when I had cast the spell on myself, years earlier.  As I held the spell in place I took a feather from a living phoenix (that was really hard to come by) and used it to brush an alchemical solution derived from aloe, ginseng, water from a hot springs in Calgary, and powdered jade.  I braided the mana loop with care, fixing it forever to Crank's body and aura.


I took a deep breath as I released my hold on the spell and watched as it continued to hum with power.


"Crank, omae, I think that does it." I told him.


"Sub-zero.  I don't feel much different.  You seem to be speaking slowly though."  Crank got to his knees as he couldn't stand up in my basement due to the height of the ceiling.  "Can we test this?"


"I have something in mind. Put your shirt on and we'll go out in the back yard a moment." I replied.  He and I made our way upstairs where I grabbed a spray bottle Aria used on the houseplants.  "Honey, Crank and I will be out back.  We'll just be a moment."


"Okay, your daughters destroyed their diapers. I'll be a while in here." Aria called back.


I joined Crank outside.


"This is a nice place, Tommy." Crank turned and looked at me.  "Squirt bottle?"


"Yep. I'm going to shoot you with it if I can. You try to get out of the way.  If it works we'll move up to paint balls and assuming that works we'll test using gel rounds if you're up for it." He nodded and my hand blurred up, squeezing the little pump on the squirt bottle and rapidly as I could. Thin lines of water passed through open air as Crank stepped effortlessly from their path.


"Oh, real wiz Tommy!" Crank exclaimed.  He had a big tusky smile that showed off his perfect dental work.


The paintball test went the same way.  Crank easily stepped out of their path and came away clean.  We went to Redmond for the gel round test. We were a few blocks from the Brick Yard when I pulled my heavy pistol and opened fire on my old friend.


He was fast, terrifically fast.  He couldn't outrun bullets but he could outrun my aim for just a while.  My first four shots missed as he reacted to me.  The fifth round struck him in the gut, splattered against his body armor and knocked the big man on his ass.


"Ouch! Damn that hurt!" Crank complained.  "You fraggin' shot me!"


"Yeah, but I missed you the first four times.  That's the important part.  If you had been shooting back, I'd be dead."  I took a moment to load live ammo.  "I think it worked just fine, Crank.  You'll be like that until I die, or you do."


"This is real wiz. Seriously, you could make a fortune doing this." Crank jabbed the air, his motions smooth and faster than I remembered him ever having been.  "It's going to take some getting used to.  This is a big edge, Tommy.  Thanks."


"Thanks for being the first.  Now I've got a few other jobs like this to do in the coming months.  It's tiring work though." I thought about Little Rickie.  "Hopefully it works for other types of spells as well."


"Why wouldn't it?" he asked.


I shrugged, "Magic is funny that way sometimes.  I'll have to see what I can figure out, but this is great.  Don't get careless out there though. I'd hate for all that work to go to waste. Don't forget, let's keep this between us."


Crank smiled down at me. "Oh, I'll be careful. I haven't lived this long to get geeked after I finally have an edge beyond common sense and good looks."


Crank left on his pink scooter.  I watched him as he rode off down the pot-holed street, the spell's aura blending with his own. He would stand out from the astral perspective and I had warned him of as much, but he was faster than I was after that and on the mean streets of Seattle that was an edge no one should underestimate.  I wrapped an invisibility spell around myself, called out to Lily and the two of us flew home.


__________________________________________________________


Thank you for reading my fan fiction.  The quote at the top of the page is from one of my favorite Shadowrun novels, "Crossroads" by the great Stephen Kenson.  The quote is used and cited to the source in compliance with conventional practice.  I do not own, nor do I claim any rights to that copyrighted work.  You can find "Crossroads" on Amazon at the link below.  (Disclosure:  I do participate in the Amazon affiliate program, see statement below).




I have been a big fan of the work of Mr. Kenson for some time and Crossroads and Burning Time are two of my all time favorite books.

Wedding Bells and Burning Hells (Part three ~ Requiem)

"There must be some way out of here"... All along the Watchtower


_______________________________________________________________________________


Sunday, July 25th, 2060

1425 hours, operational area local time


I was afraid.  I don't mean I was nervous.  I am not saying I felt the cold tingling hands of fear.  I mean I felt the kind of fear that puts an icy cold sensation in your guts.  The kind of fear that makes grown men lose control of their bodily waste functions.

"Machine?" Jazz whispered.

I didn't respond.  I heard him and understood he was wanting to know what I saw, but I didn't know what to say.

"Machine!?" Jazz's voice was insistent. "What the hell?!"

"Jazz. We're in deep." I took a breath and tried to steel myself against the fear I felt. "Let's go." I pushed myself up and stepped into the bloodied room.

"Oh. My. God." I heard Jazz swear behind me. "Machine, what the HELL is that?!?!"

"First guess? I think it's a metaplane and probably one of the hellish variety." I replied.  A wailing sound blew into the room on a gust of hot air tainted with the scent of ozone and brimstone.  "Get the team up here and put gun barrels facing that gateway but save one to watch the steps."

The team filed in and each paused upon seeing the portal alight against the far wall.  Creep joined me at the totem.  "The essence trail goes in there." He said. "Whoever it is, that person is alive."

"Agreed.  Have you ever seen something like this?" I pointed to the totem.

"No. It's pouring out mana energy, fueling the portal." Creep looked at me, his eyes alight with magic and madness. "I've never seen this much power in an object."

"I have. It didn't end well." I looked out onto the hellscape beyond the tear in reality that stood at the far side of the room. "We're going to take it with us if we can get that gate closed."

"That's a big IF." Creep replied. "I've known free spirits that could create portals for a brief amount of time, but this has to have been open for a while.  With this thing feeding the portal power, there is no telling if it's even possible to close it."

"Have you ever seen a metaplane like that?" I asked.

"Sure have." Creep replied. "I think you and I wander through different realms, Machine."

"We have a survivor to retrieve. I'm going to need you and your demons to hold the gate."  I felt a terrible dread about what I was about to do. "While I'm gone, get these victims into body bags, we'll take them back with us."

"You're going in there?" Creep's eyebrows went up. "No offense meant Machine, but have you lost your damn mind? Walking into a random metaplane is stupid.  Walking into one that looks like it came straight out of Dante's Inferno is a whole new level of stupid."

"We have a mission, Creep." I was still scared drek-less but talking about what was about to happen helped settle my nerves.  "Hold the gate.  I'll be back with our target if at all possible."

"And you think I'm insane." Creep shook his head.

"Jazz, you're in charge until I get back.  Taz, Ace and Fey are with me.  Don and clear your masks, we're going in."  I got some disbelieving looks but the three weapon specialists pulled on their gas masks nonetheless. I stepped up to the tear in space, and looked out on the blasted landscape beyond.  "Jazz, hold this gate."

"Copy that Machine." Jazz replied. "Bring them back."

I nodded and stepped through the gateway and into the hellish metaplane.  The stench was horrific.  The stench of burning flesh battled with brimstone and ozone as each tried to destroy my sense of smell in the most painful way possible.  The spells I had woven into my very body kept the toxic atmosphere from killing me, but I had to endure the odor.  My stomach threatened to revolt.

"Jazz can you read me?" I asked over the comm.  He didn't respond.  I turned and saw the portal behind me, floating in empty space mere inches over the blasted landscape.  I could see Jazz, his AK-97 propped over the lip of the dais.  "Jazz can you read me?"  Jazz made no indication he heard me.

I switched to the team-wide channel. "Radio check."

"I hear you just fine, Ace replied.  He was standing in front of the gate and had been the last of the three weapon specialists to cross.

"I have you loud and clear," Fey replied. "but I can't raise Puma."

"It's hot as balls here." Taz murmured.

"Stow it, we all feel it." I looked around, opening my sight as I did and located the think wisps of essence.  "We go this way.  Stay calm, conserve ammo, and we'll get out of this just fine." I just hoped my fear wasn't noticeable in my voice.  "Stay close everyone."

I started at a jog, following the wisps of essence that would lead me to our survivor.  Flames jetted up from pits in the landscape.  Screams of pain and terror co-mingled with the wailing of the dead to haunt the abrasive winds.  We skirted suspicious puddles of green liquid, and felt the sweat soak our clothes.  The heat was comparable to a blazing desert at noon.

"How much further?" Ace asked.

"Don't know." I replied. "We'll know when we get there."

We traveled for what seemed like hours.  We crested dunes of small bones, trudged through stinking patches of sulfur, and felt the winds sting us with blown particles.  I saw a lake of burning sulfur where demonic fire spirits, looking much like the ones Creep bound to service, tormented astral forms by holding them down to burn.  The cries of the damned brought harsh laughter from the beautiful demons.  We gave the lake a wide berth, trudging through charred plains of shattered volcanic glass.

I saw an astral form, the soul of some hapless being, picking its way through razor sharp spines of obsidian only to be dragged to the ground, held fast by the jaws of demonic looking dog.  Taz raised his SMG but I motioned for him to lower it.  We hid as the dog dragged the screaming soul away to whatever torment awaited it.

"I had it dead to rights, Machine!" Taz sounded fierce even with his gas mask on.

"We don't want to raise attention.  We're still going to need to get back to the gate once we have our target." I told him.  We took five minutes to catch our breath, then cut back toward the lake of fire and picked up the essence trail once more.  We followed it to a pit that opened on an expanse of salts and plunged into darkness.  Tortured screams and laughter echoed from the rough-hewn rock walls of the pit.

"Down there?" Fey asked.

"Yeah, down there." I replied.  "Everyone remember where we parked.  Let's get this done."

There were no steps, and no easy ways to climb down. I took hands with the others and wove the levitation spell around us.  We floated down into the pit as screams wafted up to meet us.  Minutes stretched out and the pit's opening shrank above us.  The heat was stifling, and the air became tainted with a stench I don't have words to describe.  We landed in heap of rotting corpses, tattered astral bodies, and suffering souls.  I climbed over the heap, following the faint wisps of essence that led me into this hell.  The wisps were growing faint, and I was suddenly fearful that we might lose our way if the survivor died.

The damned grabbed at me, pleading in languages I had never heard before.  Corpses burst in clouds of stench that ignited and charred the filth around us.  The dead hated us, and we found ourselves batting away corpses and throwing down damned souls that sought to bury us under the pile with them.

We scrambled over, then tumbled down the mound of gore, striking a floor of rough black stone.  I gained my feet and felt the heat through my boots. The sound of my footsteps echoed menacingly down the vast corridor in front of me, a ribbon of fading essence lead the way.

Try as I might, I could not silence my footsteps on the stone.  Each step echoed all around me, while the cries of the damned and demonic laughter rang out ahead of us. Strangely, the sounds of souls and demons produced no echoes.

The corridor opened into a chamber that was roughly the size of a basketball court.  The floor was of the same blackened stone of the corridor, the walls were rough stone and adorned with the bones of countless victims.  The rest of the archaeological team was there, crucified to the walls. The fading wisps of essence drifted over the wretched figure of Dr. Louise. She was hanging limply from the wall, her wrists were pierced by shards of bone that held her pinned to the wall.

"They don't look like they're going to make it out there." Taz said.

"We take them anyway.  That's the mission." I replied. "Let's move, sooner we get this done, the sooner we get out of here."

We were halfway across the room when the air shifted in the heat. A figure stepped out, fully four meter's tall.  It had the body of sultry, feminine demon with cloven hooves and a barbed tail.  Its red skin was covered in small scales the size of a baby's fingernails.  The face possessed flawless skin that ended in a bare skull just below eyes of blue-white fire.  A crest of six horns sprouted from the top of the monster's skull and ran to the back of its head.  It was nude and reeked of sex, sulfur, and death.

The monster's voice rang in my skull. "Oh, new toys.  How I so love to play.  Such consideration as I have all but broken these latest."

I hardened my magical defenses, extending them over Taz, Fey, and Ace.

"You like to play little wizard, don't you?"  My defenses held and I heard the demon's voice from it's own mouth.  It was a delightful sound that hurt my ears.

"Open fire." My words were answered by the burping sound of Fey's SMG.  Silver rounds stitched up the monster's abdomen, spilling green blood and eliciting a scream of anguish.  Taz and Ace stood slack-jawed, staring at the demon.

"Get in the fight you two!" Fey yelled.  Taz and Ace ignored her and continued to stare.

I drew out my S&W500(tm) Magnum and leveled the heavy pistol at the monster.  The monster looked me in the eyes and everything changed.

I was standing in my bathroom, steam clouding the mirror.  My form fitting body armor had blood on it.  Aria was standing in front of me, her eyes wide with terror.  The babies were crying down the hall.  My heavy pistol was leveled at her head.

"Tommy! No, baby please. Wake up!" she pleaded with me.

I lowered the gun. "What happened?" I asked her.

"You came home from work and wouldn't talk to me.  You had blood on you and just went to the bathroom. I came in to ask you what was wrong, to see if you were hurt, and you..." Aria teared up in front of me.  "... you pointed your weapon at me."  She cried and took a step toward me.

"I'm sorry Aria." I heard myself say. "I don't know what happened. I don't remember coming home."

"It's okay my love." she said through her tears.  She took another step toward me.  "Don't leave me again.  Please.  I hate it when you leave."

"It is not the truth," I heard a faint whisper in the back of my mind.

"I can't stop yet, honey.  You know that." The trideo was on too loud and I found it hard to think over the sound of gunfire.  "We should turn that down or the girls won't get any sleep."

Aria took another step toward me, her eyes wet with fresh tears and a smile creeping up on her face.  "It'll be okay my love. Rose can sleep through anything."

"A lie..." I heard the whisper again and a cold knot formed in my stomach.

I brought the heavy pistol back up, its barrel touching the Aria's forehead.

Aria's face didn't show surprise or fear. "I love you." she said.

"If I'm wrong I'll find those magic balls," I promised her.

Her face took on a puzzled look. "What?"

I pulled the trigger and my wife's head exploded in a shower of blood, bone and brains.

Everything was dark. "It was a lie." repeated over and over again in the darkness.  I heard a soft, rhythmic thumping sound pulsing somewhere.

"Was I wrong?" I wondered. My voice echoed against the darkness. I remembered the look on Aria's face and prayed I wasn't wrong.

"It was a lie." The voice came louder this time, closer.

I couldn't see, but my hands felt warm and sticky, like they were covered in blood.  "Who's there?" I asked.  Fear was creeping up on me.

"We're coming. We will do violence."  I heard the voice sounding in my head.  It was warm, and familiar.

I opened my eyes, and found my left hand pinned to the wall by piece of splintered bone. My right hand grasped my heavy pistol like it was the only thing keeping me alive.  In the chamber before me, Fey darted about.  Her enhanced reflexes keeping her just ahead of the demon that sought to kill her.  The Colt submachine gun in her hand burping out silver rounds that stitched small wounds over the monster that was trying to kill her.  Taz and Ace had been crucified to the wall on either side of me.  Their eyes were glossy and vacant, their breathing shallow.

My wrist hurt like hell.  I holstered my pistol, grasped the splintered bone and tore it from the wall and out of my arm.  I bled horribly and uttered the incantation of healing as I struggled to open the vial of water and poured it out over my wound.  The waters bubbled and popped as they came into contact with tainted air I was breathing, and foamed as it made contact with the wound.  I didn't have time to waste, so I gritted my teeth and held on to the spell as best as I could.

"If anyone can hear me I need help!" Fey yelled over the comm.  "Damnit! Ace! Taz! Machine! Snap out of it!"

I drew my heavy pistol again and took aim at the demon. I had a flash of an afterimage, Aria's face at the end of the barrel. "No.  Not this time."  I pulled the trigger, the heavy pistol bucked in my hand and the silver round struck the demon on the chin and blew its lower jaw off.

"Reloading!" Fey screamed.

I aimed between the demon's exposed breasts and fired again, blowing a hole the size of a troll's fist into the creature.  "Two." I said, and pulled the hammer back.

The monster's barbed tail lashed out at me but I stepped aside and leveled the gun at the joint above the right cloven hoof.  The pistol roared and bucked in my hand.  The creature's joint exploded and its hoof came off.  It screamed in rage and pain. "Three." I intoned, levering the hammer back again.

The demon sneered in rage, extended her right hand and spat a word at me that no living being was ever meant to hear.  The spell struck my magical defenses and the mana rang like a church bell.  Energy pulsed around me, arching against the stones and tearing at my will.  I felt the burns appearing on my face and hands and smelled the familiar stench of singed hair and ozone.

I shot the creature in its outstretched hand, the roar of the pistol was strangely reassuring. "Four." I growled through gritted teeth.

The barbed tail lashed out as the monster pushed itself up on its elbow, narrowly missing my head as I thumbed the hammer back again.

"FIRING!" Fey cried out. "DIE YOU FRAGGER! DIE!"  Her SMG hammered out rounds that struck just below the monster's ribs and walked up over the bare breasts.  Bits of flesh were blown off and green blood splattered the crucified corpses behind the demon.  Fey pulled the weapon in tightly to her as she burned through the magazine.

I leveled my gun at the demon's eyes.  "Five." The back of the demon's head exploded.  A sickening rainbow of colors mixed with splinters of bone showered the stone floor.  The demon crashed to the floor.

"Reloading." Fey and I said in unison.

Rose and Lilly appeared in a flash of light.  Two angels, radiating strength and seething with a fury I could feel in my mind. "You are hurt." Their voices reached my mind and I felt grateful and worried for them.

"Girls we have work to do." I said.  Get the living people down off the wall, treat their injuries."  I pulled the hammer back on my pistol, walked over and put five more rounds into the demon.

Fey watched the corridor we had entered from. "So is this one of those 'as yet unidentified awakened threats' you guys were on about?"

"No.  This wasn't as tough as they were." I replied.  I looked over the corpse of the demon and watched as it began to turn to ash.  "Though I suppose it could be almost in the same league."

"You're slottin' with me, right?" Fey asked.  Her eyes were wide enough that I could see them through her mask.  "That thing took you three out of action in a blink."

"Yeah, it got my number and played in my head." I told her.  "This one liked to play mind games."

"Most of these are dead." Rose exclaimed.  "Their spirits have been consumed."

"This place is vile. Why did you come here?" Lilly's voice held a trembling quality to it.

"These people needed my help, Lilly.  I came here to save them" I explained.  I thought about it a moment and added, "and because I had to for my job."

We pulled Ace and Taz off the wall and got them moving again.  I had them police up the shell casings while Rose sterilized all of the blood that was left behind in that cavern of the damned.  We slipped out of the cavern, flying over the pile of the dead, with Taz and Ace carried by an air elemental.  Fey flew on Lilly's back and held onto Dr. Louise, while the two other survivors clung to Rose's back.  I levitated up behind them.

"Girls, follow the link back to the gate. Dr. Louise, we're getting you and your people out of here." I poured out a measure of water from the Blood Falls over Dr. Louise, and applied my best healing spell.  She was weak, and hadn't regained consciousness.

We flew on, covering miles of blasted, hellish landscape and picked up a flock of the winged eels who pursued us.  Taz and Ace shot down dozens of the little monsters.  We flew on, dashing across the sky as more winged shapes rose to give chase.  Demon women rose from lakes of burning sulfur to throw bolts of fire at us.  Maddened souls erupted from geysers of flame, screaming incoherently only to be dragged back down by some unseen force.  We fled for our lives and souls, following the fading wisps of essences bound up to Dr. Louise as they stretched on toward the tear in the fabric of reality.

We came through the astral gateway reeking of brimstone and death.  The survivors never regained consciousness.  We lay them on the floor and Simon opened the medkit and went to work on Dr. Louise.  "I'm not a doctor, but I've had a little training."  He confessed.  The other surviving members of the dig team, shuddered and coughed up bloody globs of sulfur and dirt.

"Machine, we've got company coming." Creep reported. I heard him intone a spell and saw his demon spirits hurl fire at a cloud of winged eels that were fast approaching.

"Jazz, suppression fire.  Keep those things busy until we can close that opening." I heard his AK-97 firing before I finished speaking.  The rest of the team joined him in sending death down range.

Dr. Louise convulsed violently, blood foaming at her mouth.  The bio-monitor hooked to her sounded the alarm as her heart flat-lined.  I watched as her essence finished dissipating.  Her soul vanished peacefully, while my ears still heard the wails of the damned from the portal behind me.  Simon started chest compression.

"Simon, she's gone. See to the others." I told him.  I turned to my ally spirits. "Girls thanks for coming."

"It is my pleasure." Lily replied. "I told you I would not fail you this next time."

Rose's thought voice reached my mind. "We love you and Aria was worried.  She would ask of you and was alarmed when we told her you were in the underworld."

Oh. Drek.

I removed the totem from the dais and watched as the gateway to Hell slowly closed. It went into one of the archaeological sample bags.

Of the archaeology team, only Michael Smith survived.  We placed Dr. Louise and the others in body bags and brought them back to the wall and the gate.  Wolf and Tom hadn't seen any action while we were away.  It was a relief to see them on the wall, healthy and whole.

It took three trips to ferry the bodies out of the ruins and out to the Osprey.

We didn't scour the ruins for relics.  I called out to control and showed her the totem we recovered.  She approved our immediate return and we packed up got out of there before anything else could go wrong.  I watched the body bags for any sign of movement, and was greatly relieved not to see any.

We were over the Gulf of Oman when I sent Lilly and Rose home ahead of me.  My ally spirits hugged me before they vanished into astral space.  Jazz stared at Creep who wisely said nothing.


Monday, July 26th 2060

0345 hours, Seattle Metroplex local time

I opened my front door and found Aria asleep in the rocking recliner we had bought when we discovered she had been pregnant.  She had baby vomit on her shirt and her hair was up in a tail that had stray hairs escaping in a frenzy.  Lily was holding Violet, who was sleeping soundly in her arms, while Rose was holding Jasmine who was patting at her cheek.  I sneaked down to my bathroom and took a long shower, scrubbing at every part of my body to get the stench of brimstone off.  When I came out of the shower I felt like I had lost a layer of skin.  I pulled on my robe, and joined my family in the living room.

I had Rose and Lily put the twins to bed, while I carried Aria back to the bedroom and tucked her into our bed. She woke up as I was pulling the covers up.

"Hi, you." she said sleepily.  "I'm so glad you're home."

"Me too, it was a long day."  I kissed her on the forehead.  "I'm going to get some breakfast, then I'll come to bed."

"Okay, but if the twins wake up it's your turn to take care of them." Aria yawned and rolled over. "I need some sleep."

I managed to get three hours of sleep before Jasmine and Violet began to fuss.  Rose appeared and advised me that "foul odors were coming from the twins".  I pulled on my robe and went forth to do battle with dirty diapers.

My daughters, giggled and squirmed as I cleaned them up.  Their little mouths turned up in grins as I carried them out to the living room.  A little levitation had them floating in the air before me, as I made funny faces and tickled their little feet.

Rose warmed bottles of breast milk for them.  I fed and burped them, and watched as they fell asleep in my arms.  Lilly and Rose helped me put them down to bed.  I asked Lily to watch over them, asked Rose to make breakfast, and I sat down on the couch and fell asleep.

I woke up a few minutes later to bacon, toast, and my grumpy wife asking about coffee.

It was good to be home.
____________________________________________________________________________


Thank you for reading my fan fiction!  I hope you have been enjoying the stories of Tommy's adventures throughout his Shadowrun career.  These stories are derived from game play and from down time activites.

I also develop, write and publish role playing game titles (though not for Shadowrun).  You can find my projects on KickStarter and on Drivethrurpg.  I'll hope you'll share these stories with others.

In August, after completing fulfillment of The Steel Road, I will be launching the KickStarter campaign for a new supplement book for the 5th Edition of Gary's game.  That project is titled Whispers of Persephone and includes art from Christian Martinez!

Art by Christian Martinez
From: Whispers of Persephone
All Rights Reserved

Your comments are most welcome.  I answer as soon as I can.

Shadows of the Past

"There is no shadow without light,"... Unknown


December 2058

I made good on my promise to Aria and took her to the Eye of the Needle again. We had to wait a week for a reservation, but she was agreeable. We had a nice dinner, then took a boat tour of Puget Sound.  It was a fun time.


December 30th, 2058 

I was nineteen years old.

I had spent most of the month of December secluded in my new home. I managed to learn two spells, summon and bind four spirits, and had furniture delivered.  The annual mandatory gift giving holiday came and went.  I bought gifts that year for a few people I knew.  Sue had insisted on sending gifts the prior year, and I thought it would be rude not to follow up.

Suzy B and Edgy Ed spent the month recovering from injuries.  I made a point to see each of them once or twice each week. It was hardest visiting Ed as he had a major mad-on over losing "one of my two oldest friends".  It wasn't funny.  I didn't laugh, not even a little.  Suzy was another matter.  The skull fracture the vampire gave her was causing her all sorts of problems. The doctor she saw had wanted her to stay at the clinic under observation, she refused and was recovering at her apartment.  She complained of headaches, kept the lights off, and wasn't eating much.  (NOTE:  for all of you with cyber eyes, if you have a head injury and light hurts your eyes... that's a bad sign chummer, go to a doctor).

Gitti messaged me and said he wasn't going to be available for work until after the holidays.  I didn't ask about Creep, Crank disappeared for the month, and Adam the First went on an initiatory ordeal. As usual, I had no idea what Angel was up to, though I did send her a holiday gift.

{Thank you ~ Angel}
{You get fruit cake this year ~ T}
{So help me, I'll subscribe you to every targeted marketing firm on the planet if you do! ~ Angel}
{Joking ~ T}

It was about this time that I realized that I only socialized with professional criminals or people in those immediate circles.  The words "Known Associates" came to mind.

{What? Most of the shadowrunners you hung out with back there were decent folks.  For shadowrunners, anyway ~ Angel}


December 31st, 2058 2230 hours

I couldn't get in to Dante's Inferno for the New Year's Eve party. Same was to be said of every night spot I had ever been to.  Places were packed with revelers celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of another.  For me, 2058 had been very busy and had held some personal losses. I wanted to celebrate like everyone else, to revel and laugh. Instead, I ended up spending the evening at church.  I sat through mass, listened to the priest, and found that I felt a bit better.

At midnight I was listening to gunfire and fireworks, watching the sky erupt in magical and mundane pyrotechnics.  I was standing at the graves of Pepper and his family.  I talked a lot that night.

"I wish you could see the new place.  Its a quiet neighborhood.  Kids play in front of the houses during the daylight hours."  I said.  "Biz has been tough this year.  I bit off more than I could chew with a vampire.  He beat my ass and killed three of my team.  Poor planning on my part.  I should been smart about it, set fire to the house after dawn and let the daylight kill him.  Two other runners got hurt pretty bad.  Not sure if one is going to be able to work again and the other, well, lets just say he's going to walk funny for a while." I might have chuckled a little.  "I hope you are at peace, all of you."

I thought I was talking to Pepper but I know now, he wasn't there.  I was talking to myself, getting things off my chest.  Catharsis is what the ancient Greeks called it when you purge the negative feelings.  That night, standing in the snow, surrounded by graves, and watching the sky erupt as 2059 was welcomed in, I felt better.

I said "Goodbye" to Pepper and his family.  I didn't intend to come back.

*****

January 7th, 2059

I filed my year ending taxes with the tribal tax bureau and my property and various other miscellaneous taxes with the Seattle Metroplex Department of Revenue.  My money was well and truly laundered, but if you don't pay your taxes official people with access to law enforcement get curious.  So I pay my taxes, which is funny to me as the governments make money from my illegal activities.

My bills were paid, I had real food in the refrigeration unit, and my neighbors had taken down their holiday decorations. My identity didn't have any suspicious activity on it, and was growing stronger with all the "legitimate" use I put on it (like paying taxes... just a hint there chummers). 2059 was off to a good start.

1300 hours:   January was colder than normal.  I stepped out of the car and beheld the towering edifice of the Renraku Arcology.  If you have never seen it up close, its fraggin' huge. There was a lore store there that sold some decent materials and some top notch enchanting tools and alchemical equipment.  I arrived at the end of the lunch rush, made it through security with no problems (I left my gun at home), and headed to the lore store. 

Renraku was not, and still isn't, known for being particularly meta-friendly.  That said, where magicians are concerned companies usually have to set aside their racial prejudice if they need the staff.  Robert Longfellow, was a troll magician and proud employee of Renraku North America.  He ran the lore store on the third floor (fyi, at that time the Arcology only had two lore stores) which catered to alchemists, conjurers, and enchanters.  The shop carried material reagents, a fair selection of minor foci, focus formulae for a variety of different magical tools, and a worthless series of books on the basics of summoning.

"Robert, its good to see you." I thrust my hand at the towering man.  He smiled and shook firmly.

"Mr. Gun.  Its good to see you.  I have your order here, of course, if you'll follow me we'll get your final forms signed."  Robert led me to a secluded client booth, where he waited for me to be seated before seating himself.  "I confess I was impressed to see such a large order.  So many people simply buy a trinket so as to own a small bit of magic.  Wizard's, on the other hand, are a great boon to business."

"Its my pleasure, Robert.  Your merchandise has always been of fine quality, and my needs were rather, specific."  Robert was fishing for information.  I don't think he did it maliciously, I think he was expressing a professional curiosity. "Between you and I, I'm planning a bit of an astral quest. I'll tell you about it sometime. Provided I succeed, or course."  My smile was genuine.  I liked Robert.  He was a nice guy who sold stuff I wanted and needed and he didn't try to upsell me, much.

"I look forward to it!" Robert exclaimed. "If you would review the order information, I'll bring the items out for your inspection." 

I went over the list and found everything I had ordered there.  One thing in particular, "Eldritch secrets of the Babylonians", I had ordered in hard copy.  I wanted to compare the on-demand copy to the one I had. I didn't exactly lie to Robert.  I was planning an astral quest. I also had a large quantity of materials I planned to use for summoning and binding rituals.  Robert brought out several boxes, opening each to allow me to inspect the contents.  Everything was as I ordered.  I signed for receipt of my new property after paying a painful sum.  I hit the app for my car service while Robert arranged for a security team to escort me to my ride.

*****

January 9th, 2059

I was twenty years old. 

My birthday came and went.  Angel surprised me with a card, and a gift.  I still don't know how she found out when my birthday was.  By noon I had finished packing away my local purchases of reagents, alchemicals, and other magical paraphernalia.  At 1303 hours, a pair of critical components arrived from Europe.  I unpackaged the tusk from a golden boar delicately.  Its magical potency was well worth the price paid to (legally) import it. I left it wrapped in the paper it came in and covered it with a large glass bell jar.  A smaller box held a single fire opal.  It was a beautiful stone, the light catching it and throwing off a host of color.  To my astral sight it shone brilliantly, radiating incredible magical potential. 

I cast my eyes around my basement, studying the flow of mana through the room.  A small orb of light held fast near the center point, an eruption of power into the local mana field. I don't know how it was formed, but it was present when I first looked at the house, and was the chief reason I moved in.  I had found that I could harness that extra power in my magical efforts, and for the working I had planned I would certainly need it. 

I went to bed early that night, with a trio of bound spirits watching over me and the house.  I had a bit of magic planned for the following day. I was wary of any astral interference as well as mundane interruptions that may have interrupted the working. 

January 10th, 2059

I was up and working at 0300:  I drew out a circle on the floor of my basement in a yellow chalk from the Painted Desert.  I carefully added the mystic symbols and materials needed, and was done with the physical construction by 0600.  I went upstairs, ate breakfast, and cleaned up.  It was an hour before I went back down to the basement to continue my work.

Astral quests, vision quests, planar excursions, whichever you may know them by (and there are many other names) are dangerous undertakings.  You launch your essence, your very soul, into the astral places hidden far away from most mortal magicians. When you undertake an astral quest you journey into the metaplanes, places apart from "normal" astral space, where you may encounter profound wonders or darkest horrors.  Initiate magicians brave the metaplanes in search of knowledge and power.  Often times, a magician never comes back and the body dies as an empty shell.  I was seeking knowledge I desperately wanted, and I was certainly willing to take the risks of an astral quest to get it.

I took up position in the center of the circle, took a deep cleansing breath and began.  I took up a handful of phoenix ash, "Spirits of fire, light of the east, I beseech you.  Light my way as I journey the hidden paths.  Cast aside the darkness that I may see."  The fire elemental I had bound materialized at the eastern cardinal point.  I cast the phoenix ash at the spirit. "May your power aid me on my journey."

I reached down and retrieved a green, glass stoppered bottle.  I turned to face the western cardinal point, "Spirits of the waters, keepers of the secrets of the deep, I beseech you.  Reveal unto me that which I seek.  Part the deceptions of time, and reveal unto me the truth." The water elemental I had bound materialized at the western cardinal point.  I poured out water from the blood falls onto my head then emptied the remaining precious waters onto the spirit.  "May your power aid me on my journey."

I picked up the geode I had chosen for this working, and turned south, "Spirits of the earth, foundation of the world, I beseech you.  Support my efforts as I travel the darkened paths.  Guide my steps and strengthen my resolve." The earth elemental I had bound materialized at the southern cardinal point, dark obsidian eyes staring into me. I placed the geode between those dark eyes and watched as it seemed to open.  A crystalline third eye radiating magic before me. "May your power aid me on my journey."

I lit a bundle of sage and placed it in the northern quadrant of the circle.  Thin trails of pungent smoke wafted up, combining with incense from Tibet, Wyoming, and Japan. "Spirits of air and sky, breath of the world, I beseech you.  Watch over my working, blow back the dusts of time, and grant me your foresight." The air elemental I had bound materialized at the northern cardinal point.  I lay down in the circle, surrounded by the four elements, "May your power aid me on my journey."

The air was hazed by the incense and sage.  The elemental spirits about me bore witness as I slipped from my body and ascended into the astral plane. The area about me thrummed with harnessed power, while the orb of light directly above my body grew, changing shape as it did so, until I saw a long corridor before me.  A distant echo sounded, "Go back".

"No." I said. Then I walked into the corridor to confront the Dweller on the Threshold.

There are a number of theories as to what the Dweller on the Threshold may actually be.  I don't subscribe to any of them.  What I do believe, however, is that the Dweller makes it difficult for magicians to enter where they wish to go, and in doing so the dweller forces magicians to confront our own limitations.  I also believe, as many others do, that the Dweller on the Threshold is a first rate pain in the ass.  If you can't get past the Dweller then your quest is over before it begins, you hopefully learn a lesson about hubris, and those secrets you wished to possess are out of your grasp (for the time being, at least).  The Dweller can, and does, take many forms.  While you would think you learn to "expect the unexpected", the Dweller will surprise you.

I entered the corridor as ready as I could be to confront the Dweller.  As usual, I was horribly surprised.

The corridor before me was littered with bodies.  As I strode into the corridor the shade of Nicholas Poliwatski, looking frail and sickly, accused me. "Murderer." he gasped. "I was dying, I had no choice. You invaded my home and took my life. You may not pass."

"You were a diseased murdering psychopath who preyed on those who sought your help.  You infected others with your soul destroying disease and I would kill you again, without hesitation, if I could."  I spat my words at the shade and I meant every one of them.

Others rose up to take Nick's place, the vampires of his brood confronted me and I shouted down their accusations.  They were replaced by those victims they had condemned on that night when I lead the attack against Nick and the vampires.  A young prostitute looked up from a blood soaked piece of carpet.  "Please. Help me!" She cried.

"I did what I could. You would have become a monster. The disease would have poisoned your soul and you would have murdered others. I'm sorry for what happened to you, but it had to done." I felt sympathy for the shades of the victims of the vampires.  They were soon replaced by scores of disfigured ghouls.

"We didn't choose this, but you chose. You chose to murder us!"  They pointed talon-tipped fingers stained in blood at me.  There were so many.

"You preyed upon the people who were once your neighbors.  You slaughtered families, spread your disease, and condemned others to your own fate.  You had to be stopped, and I chose to stop you."  I confronted the shades of the ghouls and I felt no pity for them.

A multitude of shades rose up to confront me.  Shades of creatures, monsters, and people whose lives I had cut short.  They rose up and condemned me.  I answered their accusations, recalling why each had to die.  The gang of faux-hawk wearing wannabes faded from my view.  Then two forms rose up, their eyes wide, hands scorched from the first spells I sent down their weapon foci.  "Why did we have to die, Tommy? Why did you kill us?"  The shades of two physical adepts, the two who ran, who tried to get away.  Two security officers who were doing their job.  Two men I had murdered.

"I shouldn't have killed you. I was scared, desperate, and I made a terrible decision."  The truth is remarkably easy to tell. "I chased you down, and used your own weapons against you.  You could have lived.  There wasn't a reason to kill you, but I did.  I murdered you both, and I'm very sorry."  I felt a deep sense of shame, a burden I had carried for a few years now.  The shades faded away, but my guilt didn't.  I hung my head, the weight of my sins heavily upon my mind.

"What about me chummer?"

I froze. I knew that voice very well.  I didn't want to believe what I was hearing, so I looked up.

Pepper stood before me, a bullet wound in his eye and another in his throat.  His voice became distorted, gurgling from the blood bubbling out of his wounds.  "What about me, chummer? Why did I have to die?"

"I didn't kill you Pepper. It was those gangers.  I didn't kill you chummer." I could feel tears welling up.  "I didn't kill you Pepper.  You were my friend.  I didn't do it."

"Then why am I dead?"  Pepper demanded.

Damn the Dweller for doing this to me.  I stood dumbfounded for a moment, then I cried.  "I'm sorry Pepper.  It wasn't my fault.  I wanted to lash out at them for what they did and I didn't think. I could have just sent elementals and we could have picked them off as they fled, or I could have made us invisible so they couldn't see us to shoot back.  I just didn't think."  My voice broke and I sobbed, "I'm sorry Pepper!  God in heaven, I am SO SORRY!  I didn't think.  You didn't have to die.  I could have done it, I could have put you to sleep and sent the spirits.  I could have had Ratchet float the drones on them and mow them down.  I didn't think! Now you're dead, and its not my fault but I could have stopped it!  I could have been smarter!  You didn't have to die."  I was crying freely.  My astral form glinting from tears that flowed from me.  I pleaded and sobbed and I apologized to my friend's shade for my failings.  It wasn't my fault, but it always felt like it was.  Pepper was joined by Jim, Joe, and John.  Each looked as they did when they died.  They cast their gazes upon me and I felt my own guilt.  I sobbed, and poured out my guilt and grief as I looked at them all.

"I'm sorry.  I made mistakes and it cost you your lives. If I had been wiser, if I had thought things through, you would all be alive." I straightened, and steeled my resolve. "But its not my fault.  I didn't kill any of you. I am sorry, but I have things I have to do, I have someone I have to save, and I can't let you stand in my way."  I stepped through the shades, their hands patting my shoulders, and felt Pepper's hand firmly on my back.

Sue's shade appeared before me.  She didn't accuse me, she didn't challenge me, she only kissed me on the cheek. "Goodbye, Tommy" she said, then faded away.

"Honorable, and professional.  Live long and well Tommy, until we meet again." and then Pepper was gone.

I passed through the corridor, passed the Dweller, who had stepped aside from the glowing portal at the end, and walked into the metaplane beyond.

*****

The metaplanes are as varied as they are infinite.  I heard that on the trid once. It also happens to be true, as far as I know anyway.  I stepped into a small, square room, maybe three meters on each side.  There was a door in the center of each of the three walls I saw before me, and when I turned around I saw a door behind me.  Everything was grey and dark, like old ashes.  I turned to the left, and opened the door.

I stepped through into a scene that drew me up short.  There was a little boy, covered in dust and laying on a dilapidated bed.  The room, the toys, all looked very familiar to me.  As I moved closer I saw the boy's face and realized that I was looking at myself.  I was in my childhood bedroom, from before my parents were murdered.  It appeared that I could simply be sleeping.

I looked around the room, "Isabellix?" I called.  There wasn't an answer.

I went over to the bed and looked down at my own young face.  Even covered in dust I looked pained and scared.  I reached out to brush the dust off my face and watched as the boy, the bed and bedding all crumbled to ash.  The room began to crumble around me as I watched.  I jumped through the doorway toward the small room, only to land elsewhere.

I was in the living room of my childhood.  I saw the small figure of an infant laying in a playpen.  The child was holding a rattle and, like in the bedroom, was covered in ash.  I looked about and everything was gray and ashen.  I felt certain that the child was the key, but as I stepped toward the playpen the floor began to crumble.  I watched as the room began disintegrating about me.  I had never heard of something like this and I didn't know what to make of it, but I was certain I didn't want to be in the room when everything was gone.  I jumped back, trying once more for the door to the small room and landed in a classroom.

There were small children sitting about the room, bright and alive and full of color.  I turned and watched as a very small, very young 'me' walked down the steps and took a seat.  I was very much alive and vibrant', bright with magical potential, but sad and uncertain.  I walked over to the empty seat next to the smaller 'me', and heard a voice from behind "No pets allowed!"

I turned, confused, and saw a dead woman before the class.  Her fingers were red with blood, and there was a haze over her aura where she was hiding her true self from others.  She was alive only in the strictest of senses.  She was heartless, ruthless, and would do anything for power. She looked upon the young talents before her, and her hunger for power longed to consume them all.

As I watched, she raised her hand and pointed to the younger me.  A putrid cloud of tainted mana came flowing toward the child.  I raised my hands in a gesture of warding and soared into the path of the spell.  It cracked and flowed around me, breaking on my defenses and still trying to crawl its way to the small boy it was sent for.  I batted at the spell with all my might, then soared into the sorceress who was trying to poison the mind of small boy. "Tommy! Run!" I cried out.


I saw myself, eyes wide, turn and start running up the steps.  The sorceress beneath me battered my essence, striking at me with the skill and strength of a top notch magician. She was easily my match, and probably more powerful, but I fought as best I could holding her back from the fleeing boy-version of me.  I struggled and fought, all the while wondering wear Isabellix was.  As the younger me reached the door and ran out, the color vanished from the room.  The scene crumbled around me, and I was suddenly surrounded by a cloud of ash as reality collapsed all around me.

I'm not certain how much time passed. I wandered in the ashen cloud for an indeterminate amount of time.  It may have been minutes or days, but eventually my hand found a wall of smooth stone.  I followed the wall until I reached an opening, then stepped through.

I emerged into a small chamber of gray stone. There was a shape on the cracked floor, colorless and still.  Around me reality seemed to be crumbling away, falling into nothingness.  I had reached what is commonly called "the citadel", the place where knowledge is to be found.  All I saw was an ash covered shape.  I knelt down, and looked into a face that may have once been Isabellix. I looked up and saw a shade of that same sorceress who once tried to cast a spell on me, who had once used blood magic to torture Sue, walk to the shape I was inspecting and shatter it with sickly magical energy.  The mana coalesced into dusty ash.

I looked down at a cloud of ashes and understood.  Isabellix had been destroyed here.  The sorceress had hunted Isabellix down in her native metaplane and destroyed my childhood friend.

I fell to my knees then lay down next to the pile of ash that had once been the delight of my childhood.  I lay there for a long time, then began to drift off, as if to sleep.

*****

I regained awareness in my basement.  The elemental spirits had departed, the incense had burned down, and I felt a chill from laying on the basement floor.  I was stiff, and it took a few minutes for me to rise and find my pocket secretary.

I had been on my astral quest for almost two days (42 hours to be precise). I was dehydrated and weak. I wandered about the house for a while, drinking lemonade, and contemplating what I had learned.  I had dared to journey to the metaplanes to rescue Isabellix but my childhood friend was dead and beyond my help.

My face felt gritty from dried tears, so I washed up. I thought about what I had seen, the bottled up feelings that had tried to overwhelm me and, yes, I thought about Pepper.  "Honorable, and professional.  Live long and well Tommy, until we meet again." he had said to me.

Until we meet again chummer.
______________________________________________________________________


From the author:

Thank you for reading my fan fiction.  If you enjoyed this, please comment below, and please do share this with others.

I also write and publish role-playing game material (for other game systems) under open game licenses.  You can find me on KickStarter as W.S. Quinton, and on Drivethrurpg.com under my company Sinopa Publishing LLC.