Priya Echo's Adventure - Part 3

CHAPTER 17 - TELENON’S ARRIVAL

Not far from the engineering hall in Remington-Welsh Park the lecturer sat on a bench and checked her watch. Eric finally waved from a distance and strode over, carrying a tote bag. “What’s going on in there?” Priya asked, seeing him stretch his hand inside. “I thought you’d like this. Now … I’ve thought it over really well. You can take him on the weekends, and I can do the weekdays” he promised, pulling out a cuddly, orange and white hamster. “So, we’ll be like … parents?” Priya asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow, “Then I guess my experiment the other day was a success”. Eric sat down and offered the fluffball for her to pet, “Don’t get ahead of yourself, I just thought this guy was a rock-star”, then winked back at her. Priya leant in to kiss him, but as it happened the hamster squirmed out of his hands and jumped down onto the bench, then again to the ground, scurrying away into the bushes. “Flip! Where do you think he could have gone?” Eric wondered as he parted a bush. Priya leant back on the bench, watching the spectacle with considerable girlfriend glee.

Nearby, others were bantering pleasantly when from out of the azure, cloud speckled sky a building descended and landed on the green of Remington-Welsh Park. It stood there silently as a massive crowd from all across the university and the surrounding area converged on its landing site. A furor of flawless wonder jolted them. Pushing through, Priya and Eric came to the front, directly facing the gateway. Eventually Felicia, Nadine and Dominique chiseled their way as well through the crowd. Etched across the top, above white pillars was written its name, “Temple of the Voices of Reason”. The front line of the crowd stepped back in fright as the gates creaked open ominously. Frenzied whispers circulated amongst the crowd until from within came a voice. Priya could hear her name being called. “Time flies,” she lamented, breaking from the crowd and pacing towards the gateway. Even the white noise had escalated, answering to the aesthetic of the unknown. Eric raced quickly to her and grabbed an arm, “Don’t go in there, it’s too weird!” he cajoled in alarm. Looking straight ahead, she yanked the white sleeve of her lab coat away from his grip, “It’s my job”, and continued past the threshold until the gates closed behind her. Delving through the rooms, Priya came to a long hallway embellished with tall pillars on either side. The carpet underneath was lush and seemed to crackle with static electricity. As she continued down the hallway the pillars transfigured gradually into tall kangaroos of marble. Drawing closer, she could hear a thumping like that of a war drum grow loud. A mahogany double doorway opened welcoming her into a wide circular chamber. Around its length at intervals, where there would be pillars … stood instead kangaroos at butter-churns, hard at work, making the drumming sound. Directly ahead, Telenon sat at his throne and lifted a hand for them to cease their activity. “Dear, what is with the manspreading?” Priya exclaimed, thinking out loud, shielding her sight with a hand. Telenon corrected his posture and coughed, signaling for her to lower it. Priya could see him scratching his five o’clock shadow, and he wore a bowling uniform and the ring finger on his right hand was missing. “Ah … a nerd. Excuse me if this comes out the wrong way, but what the fuck do you think you're doing with magic in my city?” Telenon inquired, leaning forward in his chair. “I didn’t have a choice. I had to help a friend, '' Priya justified. “Oh … and you think I wouldn’t notice that? They will witness magic when I show it to them. Just who do you think you are crashing my party?” he blustered like a spoiled teenager. “They deserve to have some of the power also, don’t you think? Life’s a little dry without it” she answered modestly. At that he jumped down onto the floor and waltzed towards her, taking the nerd in with a good, long look, “So this is who Dramatic sent to run his errand … pathetic. Aren’t you a lab scientist in real life?”. “You can give honor to the Maelstrom Allegiance but they will not succumb to it, eventually they will fight back” she shot defiantly. At that he raised his hands, and the kangaroos began to thump their churns, making a racket, and in the midst of it he leant his head back and laughed maniacally. A few moments later the noise stopped, and he snapped back towards her, “Why are you trying to make this universe boring and take away all the fun?”. “I’m just trying to understand it, '' she explained. “By taming the sea of imagination? That’s a dumb idea” he spurned, stamping a foot. “It’s more hospitable to life, not everyone can live on the extremes like us” Priya replied. The bowler drew closer to her and lowered his voice, “Priya, allow me to let you in on a little secret. A child doesn’t really care why the sky is blue. He only says that when he is astounded by what’s all around. Maybe you were once a child as well that cared why the sky is blue, but you have grown up now, and should have realized that it doesn’t matter”. “Dramatic was wise enough to see the truth. He wasn’t as blind as you are” she countered. “Really, and where is he now? That old fool won’t be back for a thousand cycles. He just decided to fill your head with his personal justice before bowing out” he expressed rhetorically. The fact of the matter struck a nerve. “Alright then. I’m willing to negotiate if you can be sensible” Priya sighed. Telenon sat back on his throne for a moment and summoned a fax machine which printed off a memo containing the history of the realm, and he read it quickly before tossing it aside, “Okay … okay. Here’s what we’ll do. You will become one of my Voices of Reason and swear fealty to me and the Maelstrom Allegiance”. “I’m listening …”, Priya relented, “but only if you would agree to let them use magic in everyday life. Don’t deprive them”. “Not going to happen, nerd” he repudiated, “but I will let you reign over your realm”. “They’re not an experiment. My people are real and I will bring them sooner or later regardless of what you do” she promised stubbornly. At this he hopped off of his chair once again and strode over to her, “Then forget about all of them. What do you think of me?”. Reviewing his slovenly appearance, his short hair and casual attempt at a beard Priya couldn’t help but think to herself, “He’s kind of hot in a gross kind of way”, but then suppressed it immediately. “Oh … is this your strategy now? Sorry, I have a reputation to uphold” Priya said, declining his offer. “Here is an even better offer and try to follow me this time” he began and swooned onto the floor. Around him grew a coffin of glass, and he lay inside, stiff and pallid emulating the deceased. Then the coffin altered its shape until it was that of a butter dish. Priya blinked and the body had become a stick of butter. As if an invisible hand stretched above, the lid of the dish was removed, and the stick of butter lifted itself, becoming vertical, reforming into a sculptural resemblance of its occupant. Telenon restored himself, “Resurrection is a simple recipe. All we would have to do is go back to where he is. Let’s go together and dig him up. Then, with your assent I would lay my hand on your stomach, and the realm inside you would progress into its final form … that of Honfot-Gid, a star-skinned organ … more than glamorous to behold and seductive with anatomical beauty. For you I will implant it into him, and he will come back as before, all it would take is that one concession”. “That is … I don’t know what to say” Priya dithered, feeling the gravity of his words. “If you want, I can melt you into mirror light and you and he can be reborn together, and all this confusion can be over. There doesn’t need to be sadness or disconnection. These were things of the past'' he petitioned. Waiting in suspense, they both parted until strength returned to her and she lifted her head from bottomless thoughts, “First of all, you should know not to play with a girl’s emotions. Secondly, I may have daddy issues … but no''. Telenon turned away from her, and let his voice grow deeper, “I don’t understand it, you're proficient enough to make reality whatever you want it to be, and you still let it dictate you. People like us are different. Eventually you will do the same as me. It’s unavoidable to do so … since often the truth is unpleasant”. “What are you trying to say?” she questioned. Telenon spun around to face her once again, “Priya, your father was a traitor, and you are the daughter of a traitor. He was so until I captured him and made him fight for us for the remainder. You should desire nothing more than to use your skill for its genuine purpose”. “The man did what he did for his family, and there can be no shame in that … but come on, Telenon. Did you really think we needed to be separated? They were only visitors” she asked in an interrogatory tone. “How do you think you were able to dream like you did? Tell me how many years you spent in introspection carrying the burden of the past” he solicited. “So, anything that stands in the path of imagination is a threat? I don’t accept that argument. Just look out there and spy on any person on a regular day, and you will see it as an aspect of a greater whole” Priya prescribed. The kangaroos began their drumming once again until he raised a hand. “Priya, let me ask you a question. Do you get what imagination really is?” he dared coyly. She swerved physically from the generous offer to be precise in words and deed, “Imagination is a type of thinking that lets you explore. It helps paint new things and solve problems. Most importantly, it’s for fun”. “Almost … after all this time you should know. That’s only the beginning, the part where you try to understand it. Let it be a place in and of itself … picture yourself walking in the park out there. Let it move you a great distance. Do you feel farther away? Are you lost? I would beg to differ. Keep going, and you’ll find the heart of the Maelstrom, where all the zest the universe is amassed. All the stars forged of fiction and dreams. For years we have only gotten traces of it. Priya, imagination is the focal element … which means … everything is fun!” he conveyed, freeing himself from the morality of life. The scientist went by instinct, razing the lies, “No, it doesn’t work that way. Everyone can’t hide from the truth. It has to be controlled, or it is useless. You’ve turned it to randomness … incoherence”. “The truth is butter!” he ended. “You are crazy!” she cried. Telenon smirked with vile delight, “I’ve got a much better idea. How’s about I increase the turbulence of the focal element by a factor of ten … and when you are driven completely mad, I will come to your rescue”. “Dream on, douchebag” she spat. “I can and I will,” he called back. Priya crossed her arms and cocked her head so he knew what a jerk he was being, “Oh yeah … that sounds reasonable. After all, we’re standing right here, in the Temple of Reason, and why are you sitting alone in a room full of kangaroos? Do you not have any friends?”. The debate quickly grew more personal as they bantered back and forth. “I don’t need friends. I am the coolest guy there is” he declared, casting off her insult. Tired from all the illusion, the scientist stamped her foot down, “You just want to corner all the magic to yourself, and not share it, which is probably why you don’t have any friends”. He threw his arms wide, “I guess that makes two of us”, and waited for the coldness of his acknowledgement to sink in. Frustrated and embittered, mostly by being called a nerd at the outset, the scientist tried to make a correction, “Wrong again. Don’t assume you know me, we just met”. “Really?” Telenon replied and raised an eyebrow sarcastically. From his pocket he took out a tape recorder and pushed a button. “He’s kind of hot in a gross kind of way”, it rang, seconding her personal thoughts. Not wanting to endure any more of the awkwardness, Priya turned around towards the entrance and walked out. As she reached the door and walked past the threshold, kangaroos held them open in courtesy. “A man has a right to spread in his own house!” he shouted, and the mahogany doors closed behind her.

“Babe! you’re alive,” Dominique shouted, jumping into her arms, “now are you going to tell us what’s going on in there?”. The crowd was eager to hear her story until the temple itself separated into architectural segments that floated up into the air where it reassembled. Telenon was left standing on the green and walked over to them. They grew jubilant and a couple at the front called out to him saying, “Telenon! We are so grateful for your help during the war. You are always welcome here” and sent their son to hand him a flower that they had picked. The bowler took it and held it high, “A toast! To all of you! Thank you for defending our world with your unwavering strength”. The crowd cheered vociferously as Priya rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Another local stepped forward, “Have you come back to tell us about the other dimension, or is there another danger on the horizon?”. “Yes, there is, and I have come to warn you all about it,” he began, and pointed straight over to Priya, “this woman has betrayed me, and in doing so has worsened things for all of you”. “What do you mean?” the locals asked as a pall swept across the crowd. Telenon continued, “During wartime I granted a loan. Maybe you thought that it was regular power, for a lack of ability to describe it, but in truth it was much more. It was my magic that I offered, and this thief is the one that wants to steal it away. It is by my foresight and wisdom that I have sanctioned its use amongst yourselves”. Priya turned to the crowd and raised her voice, “Ha! He just wants to hog all the magic for himself, but I say … and who is with me … that we should all have the right to use magic!”. At this they went silly in uproarious agreement to her suggestion. Telenon could see the crowd grow feral, and stray from his grasp. Their desire for magic was innate and unrelenting. “Trust my judgment. I am your champion!” he urged, but they would not listen. “Don’t believe him!” Priya exhorted. Random cries of “Let us have the magic!” erupted from the crowd. Dominique was loudest of all. She belted out at the top of her lungs, “You holding out on us!” and the mob jeered. Annoyed, he took the flower, and taking a deep breath sent the pollen scattering into the air. “Since you all are so adamant, I'll let you have some” he grinned. The crowd gasped as the pollen continued to grow in magnitude until giant grains of various colors disseminated, and crashed into the buildings of the city, like wrecking balls. Even the university was not spared. “What is going on?” Felicia gasped, seeing the spheres smash through towers. Panic struck the crowd as a massive grain hurtled towards them, threatening to smush anyone it landed on. “Not so fast!” Priya cried and casted out a bolt of mirror lightning, detonating the ball and pulverizing it into dust. When things had cleared, she could see Telenon was standing at a park vending machine, and put a quarter in. “Hey, he stole that quarter from me!” the little boy that gave him the flower earlier complained, pointing. Telenon opened a bag of potato chips and munched on them one by one as he drew closer. Reaching his hand in, he took out a chip and held it up in front, “Priya, there are so many who honestly deserve revenge on you. They can no longer be heard, as they are drowned in the light of the echo seal. Let this be the beginning of what is to come” and tossed it towards her. Perception heightened. Priya felt time abate and watched in slow motion as the potato chip spun towards her, and when it was near it phased to become immaterial like a ghost and entered her head. Gripping her temples with both hands like a vice, she could feel the agonizing pain as salt multiplied and spread throughout her mind, permeating it all, layering onto the ridges and furrows of the cerebrum. She could feel the sharp edges of the crystals embed themselves. With a seizure from the shock Priya fell to the ground and blacked out. Pleased with himself, Telenon retreated back into the temple that drifted above, and moments later it vanished through the clouds.

CHAPTER 18 - THE PANCAKE EMPORIUM

Location: Echo Realm, SOTA

Date: Present Time

Not far from the train station in portion Valco there sits a squat, rectangular building, the District Pancake Emporium where a handful of new arrivals were invited to have lunch. By the end of a long table Yon Aboveyou looked down and saw many of her friends who had decided to let bygones be bygones. Phantomess rummaged through her purse until she found a piece of paper and slid it over to the other end of the table. Teddy sighed unenthusiastically as he accepted the peace treaty. And with that the Ascension War was complete. Cumin-James sat at the other end, and down the line there was Gram, Tipsy, Brine-Buy, Laura, Obsidian, Haven, Mush, Gremlin-Nose and Lilly Llamas. Obsidian had spent that morning choosing a new appearance and putting on makeup so as not to frighten the guests. Along the other side there was Phantomess, Catcher, Meza Buyer, Koransha Inree, Lance Corporal Synchronized Strudel and Petty Officer Parfait Plurality, Fraudulent Platypus, Leon Turpin, Elliot Traces, and Oasis 2. “Are we ever going to eat?” Yon mumbled, elbowing Lilly. As if hearing their plea, a waitress arrived and laid a platter with a tall stack of fluffy pancakes on the end of the table. To celebrate the treaty, the sides decided to pair off and each get the same entrée. Phantomess and Teddy had a coconut nougat flavored pancake with spun ladyfinger sauce. Yon Aboveyou and Fraudulent Platypus had a pancake topped with dill and powdered sugar. Meza Buyer and Lilly Llamas had a caramelized pear flavored pancake on a bed of raisin bread crumbs. Cumin-James and Catcher had a pancake with cranberry muffin and lemon curd filling topped with ginger candy. Tipsy and Oasis 2 had a pancake encased in turmeric glaze. Laura and Leon Turpin had a pancake with its middle cut out and a dollop of beets and cream put in there. Gremlin-Nose and Elliot Traces had a wedding cake made of pancakes with celery cream cheese filling and frosting. A few could not decide on the same entrée and so went unpaired. Lance Corporal Synchronized Strudel and Petty Officer Parfait Plurality, who were an inseparable team, had a grandma-made butternut squash pie crepe split between the two of them. Gram had a buttered scone but the butter was bigger than the scone. Obsidian daintily cut a glazed carrot into circular pieces on her plate. Her real face was visible just for the occasion. Brine-Guy had a waffle with a blueberry in each square in which you have to eat them one at a time and each of them is infused with a different flavor. Haven had a waffle buried in almond and peach gelato. Mush had a big bowl with sticky rice and crushed macaroons. And Koransha Inree had a glass of water. She had an early lunch on the battleship. A chef wheeled over another cart and began dishing out plain pancakes which were rich and even fluffier. Yon reached for the bottle of maple syrup and began pouring it, but the waitress stopped what she was doing and ran over, “Hey! that’s not the right one!” “Huh? what are you talking about?” she wondered, and glanced down, seeing where her pancakes had vanished. “That was the anti-matter maple syrup” the waitress pointed, seeing that it had annihilated her pancakes which were made of normal matter. “Gracious, where did they go?” Yon exclaimed as the others chuckled. “Here, try out the regular syrup. Later on, we can all go downstairs and I can give you a tour of the accelerator” she promised. “Don’t even think about getting full” Lilly bubbled, pointing to the manager as he approached the table. Much to the diner’s considerable muted delight, it looked like he was wearing a rather intricate belt over his apron. Yon couldn’t figure out what it was, but they looked back down the table, where most of their expressions traced gradually from confusion to giggles. “The speciality of the house is ready, so we can take three people at a time to the belt-line, if you want to split into groups” he announced. Yon, Lilly and Fraudulent broke off from the rest and were escorted into another room with a crowd of people. Instead of waiting, they were brought through a different line to the front, where people waited at an airport baggage claim. “It’s your turn” the manager insisted, and they climbed aboard the conveyor belt, crouching down, so they would fit underneath the flaps as they crossed over. “Ahh!” Lily screamed as she fell off the end of the belt. At last they had a soft landing on a comfy platform. Down there were even more pancakes. Coming in from the freezer, one of the snow-men that operated the colder parts of the particle accelerator grabbed a piece of cake, patted the waitress on the shoulder to encourage her, and went back. “This has been a long day” she thought, bringing another plate to the guest. Phantomess was discussing the nearby river, where baby dolphins leapt through the waters that were once someone’s grandmother’s left-over button collection. From the other room came the manager again, brandishing that same sort of belt contraption. Yon noticed him, until she built up the courage to ask what it was. At first, he pulled on his collar. His cheeks flared red like a red maple tree. Yon could see he was a bit self-conscious, so shot a glance back down the table, to where the Lady Phantomess held him in her gaze, with an iron stare. “Oh … there is something that you should keep in mind when you leave the Emporium. Most people try to go straight for downtown. Be sure to take the main road, and never walk through the shortcut after dark. There’s a werewolf that lives in the woods out there, and anyone he finds he pounces on, even at dusk, and places them in a chastity belt. The cultic officers have chased him through the sewers as well, but couldn’t catch him”. “That must be a lot to deal with,” Yon said, quickly putting her hand over her mouth. “Yeah … I’ve got this one. Haven’t been able to get it off for a week. Expert spells don’t work” he sighed. Hearing the conversation, Phantomess stood up and weaved some signs in the air, performing a spell, and snapped her fingers. The sound of metal puzzles unlocking could be heard throughout the restaurant. “Consider that our tip for the night” she said, winking at him. Across the room a loud smack could be heard as someone slammed their first against the table. The waitress, Delk Northway, almost fell down. She was laughing so hard, and thought to herself how this was probably the best day of her life.

As they left the restaurant, the evening was saturated only with a fine, attenuated sheathe of darkness. It dipped in intensity … lower … to almost nothing. “This just in … it’s really dark everywhere!” Tracy Garland reported on a telepathic channel, hugging a pillow for comfort. “Who is over there?” Meza pointed, and they could make out across the street two unfamiliar forms approached from the darkness holding a lantern. “Mr. Wire … Elder Amos, do you know the cause of this disturbance?” Phantomess asked. “There is not much time, … Yon Aboveyou, must come with us. Come to Coffee Island '' he directed. “Phantomess, who are these bozos?” Yon shuddered, shaking her arm. “There’s disciples of Echo, and I think we should take a detour tonight, if it suits the rest of you” the patron tried to reassure them. “No … there’s no way. I knew it was a bad idea to trust all of you” she shouted, and the other Framers began to dissent. The split continued until a hiccup of light issued from Yon and through her Echo’s voice saying, “Trust them, Yon. I have fainted and I need your help”. After the transmission had ceased, they relented, and Mr. Wire weaved some seals and formed a circular portal, “This is meant for those of the Rite, and it can harm outsiders, so to protect you all, come hide in my fanny-pack”, and he unzipped it. They all became smaller and entered, except for Phantomess, as they crossed over to the island. For a time, they all watched as Mr. Wire and Elder Amos prepared the ritual, and when they were done came to Yon to speak to her, “It is no longer a secret to us of your true identity … you are the Salt-Mind, and as such only you can assist us, for the mind of the dreamer has been overcome with virulent salt which must be dispelled”. “We’re counting on you” Catcher whispered, nodding in agreement. Elder Amos directed her to walk to the center of a seal which they had lain upon the ground, where she brightened and rose above even the hills of the island, becoming a chandelier of crystal as before her lover had drunkenly imagined she was otherwise. “Arrange yourself into a lattice of ions around her” Mr. Wire said to Brine-Guy, and he did so. As the group added their vitality to the ritual, he called out to Obsidian, “We need you, connect the threads between them, as a constellation, and integrate the chandelier’s light”. “More!” Elder Amos roared, ordering them to put all their strength into the task. They gathered around the circular inscription. So much energy was effused that drops of liquid began to fall from the chandelier lattice like sweat, and some made their way to a nearby pond forming white swans. Spent, the chandelier began to float down from the lattice. Weary, it fell headlong towards the ground. Phantomess was the first to nearly faint, as so much had been given that the rest wavered in kind. Closer to the ground it fell, reverting back into the form of Yon Aboveyou, and at the instant it was to shatter on the seal below, one of them caught her. Obsidian looked out and saw a season of light return to the SOTA. Panting, Fraudulent turned to Yon Aboveyou who he held in his arms, “Good thing you didn’t break '', and she smiled and couldn’t stop from staring. Lilly thought of her husband, and whispered to Laura, “He isn’t going to like that …”, then turned to witness the final departure of the darkness as it fled through the corona.

CHAPTER 19 - THE FALL

Priya lay for a while, watching the swaying blemishes move playfully in front of her eyes. A fickle breeze rattled the blades of grass between her fingers one way, and then another, enticing them. Clarity soon collapsed the blur, and she could see the faces of a few people that may have been strange masks in the crowd not so long ago. “Do you remember what happened?” Eric asked, running his hand through threads of raven hair, intermixed with verdant earth. “Eric is that you? How long have I been here?” she asked, seeing in her peripheral vision the three other companions, and the wrinkled, spectacled mug of Hook staring down. “My dear, you’ve been out for almost half an hour” Hook noted, as the other boy moved his hand underneath her neck for support. His hands were warm to the touch. Priya got to her feet and saw that where once there was a crowd there was now an abandoned landscape. Remembering the light of the chandelier, she made her hand immaterial and reached in, removing the potato chip, and placed it in a pocket for safekeeping. Eric was pale with anxiety, and said to her in particular, as if the others were not even there, “You were really amazing out there, standing up to him, but now we should find a hiding spot where we can all be together and ride it out, like a bunker or something. Priya, you wouldn’t believe what’s been going on since you blacked out”. Rubbing his cheek, she smiled to comfort him, “You know I can’t do that. I have a job to do”. “That’s the Priya I know!” Hook exclaimed. “That’s our newbie!” Nadine added. Noticing more of the landscape as the blurriness seeped away, the park was strewn with acorns, some of them plump, others tiny. Her eyes felt like sponges, soaking up the indistinctness and turning it into clarity. “We’re calling it the acorn fever” Eric began, “if you watch the news channels, it’s spread through most of the world, depopulating major urban areas, morphing people into acorns, and just on the whim of a madman”. Hook dabbed a cheek with a hanky, and explained further, “He was able to summon the word “NUTS” at different cities simultaneously throughout the world, it hovered over them, giving off infectious light that radiated the contagion of the acorn fever”. Droves of squirrels began to sneakily caper across the park, inspecting the fresh trove of oak-fruit. “Is there a way we can fight back?” Felicia pondered, shooing away a squirrel that became too curious. Priya swiped off the dirt still caking her shoulder, “There’s always a way”. She looked intently at the cavities in the structure of the university, the brick that had been excavated so effortlessly. “First let’s get to the stadium, everyone is hunkering down there” Hook sighed, leading them back. As they filed into the basketball court Priya gazed over the stands, where people were passing out bottles of water, and then to the space near the far goal, with sleeping bags set along the floor. “Can we have a minute to talk?” Priya asked the other’s, and they separated, climbing up to the stands to get themselves refreshments. “Things are about to get really weird around here fast … like level ten weird, which is why I need you to do something for me” uttered Priya, her words coming out steadfast and true, then wiped the dust out of his hair so he would focus. “If you feel it’s important, let me know …” Eric answered. “I just really need you to be safe” she interjected, acknowledging the sudden role reversal. He looked around to the stands and to the loitering crowd, some passing out plastic containers of staples and chocolate bars, the big kind, “This place is about as safe as it gets, but what did you have in mind?”. Lifting up her hand to his cheek, she looked at him and drank in the sweet, mild, priceless ignorance in his eyes, “I need you inside of me”. Eric took a few steps back and spun around, looking to see if anyone nearby had heard, “Priya, are you kidding? Right here …. in front of all of these people”. “No, that’s not what I meant” she blushed, “I have a realm inside of me …. I literally have another dimension, and I need you to hide there for now”. “Is that how you were able to scarf down four slices of pizza?” he wondered, fading into a flashback of their first date. Priya squinted hard and immediately crossed her arms, “Don’t push it, fella … just get in there”. “Um … okay. Can I have something to remember you by?” he asked blatantly, drawing in for a kiss. Waving it away, she reached a hand into a pocket, “Survive in there, and you can have one when you get back … but I did have something you can remember me by”, passing a little card into his hand. “What is this for?” he said, turning it over. “It’s what I do sometimes once a week … but I’m not very good at it” she whispered defensively. The card read, “Amethyst Rink” and had a little picture of a snowflake on it. Eric’s eyes lit up at the discovery, “This is for the rink downtown. Priya, you can ice-skate?”. “Just as a stress-reliever, I’m not any good”. Beaming mischievously, he play-punched her shoulder, “That’s nice to know, you’re getting less mysterious every day”. “Don’t count on that” Priya said, putting her hand on his, and curling it up over the card. His tone dropped, realizing the significance of what she had decided to share with him, and the truth of their parting. “Now I know two things about you” he thought. Close again, their faces only divided by fat, obnoxious molecules of air, “I’ll keep this for when I come back” he promised. And so, she took his arm and pulled him through. He felt the rush of phasing the barrier. Eric looked down, howling as galaxies flew past expeditiously. Just like a first-timer. A sky-diver that is. It certainly was a long way down.

CHAPTER 20 - TELENON’S MINIONS ATTACK

Reunion hall was the main gateway of the university. Freshmen scurried through the hall, towards sociable classrooms. Backpacks stuffed with lecture notes. It was a place the higher ups were definitely proud of. Trophies lined the display cases. Pictures hung on the wall with photos of alumni from years past. Along one narrow hallway was a rather oversized mirror, polished to perfection. It was a place highschoolers traded their doodles for business degrees. An upstanding place. Priya walked alone as if heading somewhere important. Her fingers stretched out to the wall for balance, instinctively. Hard silence was not enough to cope with the gravity of the moment. She needed a place, a natural place where people went on with their own private affairs. The blank slate at the center of a crowd. Ahead of her the corridor tightened. Through filmy spectacles she could see a rectangle of light. A buzz of humanity. “Are you kidding me? That was freaking awesome!” Felicia yelled, catching up to her. At the girl’s heels were two others of similar standing. They huffed and puffed as the hallway had been a marathon. The look of anticipation was palpable in her manner. “I thought you were a nerd, '' Dominique added furiously, hands on her hips in condemnation. “Girls, I was going to let you know, but it just wasn’t the right time, '' Priya answered, guarding her face with two palms. Nadine rolled her eyes and bit on a piece of granola bar, “I knew everything”. A conversation dawdled until something loud crashed into the other room. Together they ran to see what it was. A giant bowling ball from Telenon sat amid rubble on the ground. From its three hollows came python sized snakes that bit the first student they could sink their teeth into. “Ah, they got him!” Felicia gasped. Green light flared from his eyes as scales overtook his person. Soon he had a pinball club and was headed right towards them. Priya stood for a moment to study the environs. Subtle afternoon air leaked into the room. The place was spacious and fraught with activity. The figure approaching her was certainly menacing. To her left a good polished mirror glistened. A diagonal rectangle flew across its surface. Priya lifted up her arm and outstretched her hand for the request. In reply, the mirror shattered, and its shards leapt to her hand, forming the mirror sword with angular precision. Now the snake faced man bore his fangs and lifted his arm for the decisive blow. “Not quite,” Priya mouthed. The mirror sword met its counterpart, halting its progress. Vibrations phased through the woman’s body as she sensed the weight of it. “Don’t move '' she implored them; her face hidden behind a barrier of jet-black hair. Inescapably the blade proceeded through the figure, bringing the bearer of that armament to the other side. It certainly was just the beginning. Walls caved as more bowling balls intruded, sending their serpents to fetch the innocent pedestrians in razor sharp jaws. A small band emerged, circling around. They hissed chaotically, and some had grown spikes from their pinball clubs. Priya smiled at the compliment Telenon had sent her and began in earnest. Lightning quick motions dispatched them, amputating arms, sending them flying. The soldier’s motion was feather light as she drew a gory chasm into the stomach of an enemy. Nadine looked on in disbelief. They could not touch the ever-shifting form. In pleasure the woman jumped up and kicked one of the giant bowling balls, sending it careening back from whence it came. Another was nearby, but the hydras met their end at the flick of a wrist. Shockingly, more reinforcements charged in from the adjacent halls. A snakehead soldier made its path towards her with his implement ready. Priya felt the time was right, and so altered into echoes and phased through the body to the other side. Dominique’s eyes went red as she witnessed the hapless creature explode, fire spurting from its eyes and throat in one tumultuous burst. Following the agile theory of martial arts, the soldier pierced one of them through the chest, throwing up a shower curtain full of blood into the air. Still another lacked an abyss in their body which she promptly assisted with. Felicia gasped as about five at once thought to sneak attack her from behind. Yet in wonderous counter the lithe, ivory lab coat upon her back transformed into that of a cloud, into which they were engulfed, and quick snaps of lightning sent them back, plummeting onto the ground stiff as boards. The lab coat returned to its original substance. As that occurred another army appeared and was sent to their fate. Priya felt more precocious now, sculpting the flesh of her enemies with the mirror blade. Forming a crimson mist. Making autonomous what was once union. The train fell in empty gestures. Another serpent could not shut its mouth and attacked. But the motion of a glimmering wave was too quick, and its head fell, hammering the floorboards. In a circle of the reptilian filth she stood, a noble visage in all that disgracefulness. Priya’s hair came loose, freeing individual threads from their bounds. Their movements were alluring. A youthful dance that gave clemency to the air. Felicia experienced the magnetism of her friend as that pristine statue lingered. But the day was not yet won. In the remaining spheres the soldier heard rustling. Bends along its outermost layer. Something was inside. Priya gripped her sword again as the shell broke apart like an egg and a behemoth of matching skin strut out. His arms were like thick trunks. Reunion shook as it stomped towards her. Priya looked around for something helpful. It was one of those occasions. Seeing little of worth in the room, she looked skyward, craning her neck. In semicircles of shining metal an ornament was nestled. Its crystals dangling handsomely in air. Priya reached her hand up and forced the chandelier to come careening down. As it was about to land, she took the article and turned it into a shield embedded with crystal just as the behemoth struck his mighty fist against it. From sheer force it pushed the soldier back a yard. The combat resumed, with enough acrobatics until the big lug dropped. Not wanting to retain the article, she tossed it like a coin at an attacking goon. When the next one broke free from its shell, it struck the ground with such strength as to form it into a basin. Priya turned to echoes to evade the attack, materializing a foot away as the wreckage fell like rain. Outraged, the fingers on its right hand became five snakes which Priya had to behead one by one. Nadine watched as her newbie sent out a stream of lightning that latched onto the beast, and pulled onto that chain, swinging him around to the other side of the room and through the barrier of the brick wall. In dry sarcasm she merely leant her back against the wall, considering the proceedings dispassionately. A third behemoth had many holes in its body from which it gathered snakes and forged a bowling ball of pure snakes to send at Priya. It hissed as it careened across the floor. Quick witted, Priya merely jumped onto the adjacent wall as it passed, slicing it vertically with her blade. It would ignite a moment later. Felicia couldn’t believe it as the soldier lifted the behemoth with nothing but punches and kicks, climbing slowly towards the ceiling. She alighted back onto the ground alone, inside a column of sunlight. Both cheeks rotated as she searched the room. A single sphere remained. Its contents burst out into the open. The behemoth was taller and stronger than all the rest. Its eyes saw the nemesis, standing idle in the glow of reflective beauty. For a second Priya’s mirror sword shined like an insubstantial ethereal diamond. The creature made its approach. It would finish everything in one bash. There was nothing to stop him. Knowing what to do, the woman stuck out the blade. Its shard detached, and panels of wood from the wall ripped off to form the border of a mirror. Close enough, the behemoth stood before its own reflection, growling at the sight of such a barrier. It lifted its mighty fist, cocking it back slowly into the air. As it did, the reflection arose, and struck first with a brutal fist, collapsing the great fortified body onto the ground. Excellent. Priya reassembled the blade and returned to them. In euphoria she dispatched the shards back to the polished surface. Dominique was giddy from the novelty of it all, cheering and clapping. Nadine leaned there, bored a little after what had transpired. She knew what would happen after the lightning rope thing. Felicia kind of stood there panting. Thankfully, Dominique was able to save her before she touched the ground.

CHAPTER 21 - HOOK TAKES PRIYA AND CREW TO RIKIRAL COMPUTER

Not long afterwards the dry, languid, anything-but-eccentric Mr. Hook returned with a clique of university staff and academics. “Come with us, I have something to show you” he enjoined, and they hastened down a series of corridors into the depths of the main building, until it terminated in a boiler room, the type where only bad things happen to good people. Removing a key-card from his suit-pocket, the geriatric scooted over to a little door encroached upon by thick pipes and swiped it on a dusty pad. “Here is something you’ll see which is our best kept secret” Hook promised, gesturing for them to follow. Nadine, Felicia and Dominique shrugged their shoulders. Apparently, she was not the only one. A few at a time to squeeze through, they came to an elevator big enough to fit a horse. Lurching, the box creaked its way into the hidden underbelly of the earth. “Unbelievable” Priya gasped as they were all released into wider space, ogling like drunken peasants at a laboratory large enough to contain an auditorium. But it was not that which made her devolve into a gigging dunderhead. “Here is where we kept after liberating it in the war. Ladies and gentlemen … what you have before you is a Rikiral computer used to oversee an entire Forward-Marker, the most fearsome class of warship the navy faced. After the ship was dissected, it was left here by the military authority for safekeeping. They had myriad futile attempts at probing its design … and all were met with disappointment” Hook explained, replaying history in their minds. He led her up to one of its segments containing rows of compartments, “Priya, perhaps with your … skills, you can bring it out of dormancy”. She leaned against the bulky thing, itself like a boiler room folded into origami, and looked to the right across a series of glass vessels, some of them containing hovering exclamation marks, others question marks, “Yes, but I may need some additional financing for this project, if you could inform the panel, and have them pardon my recent shortcoming”.

Refurbishing the machine over the next few days, Priya finally restored it by repurposing some energetic components. “This will be your base of operations” she told them, “the system will help you research a cure for the acorn fever, and I have programmed it to provide lessons in basic manipulations, or magic as you put it”. “Where will you be going?” Nadine thundered, breaking out in alarm at the implication. “As far away from here as I possibly can. I have to draw his attention, and that will give you enough time to disseminate my knowledge and begin to organize” she admitted, seeing the color leave her friend’s face. “That’s bullshit, we’re coming with you” she demanded, almost threateningly. After a cold minute the scientist was able to pacify her. “Nadine, leave the bad ideas to me. I have to go alone” she stated, forceful enough to cut through the bastion of outrage. The companion dropped a box of computer chips that she had requested, and the scientist took them over to a table where there was a processor and filled it up and set it to maximum until it was a thick green liquid, and poured it into a chip-press, building a comb patterned chip to integrate into the delta level circuit. That task completed, the two of them had a quick conversation in the corner where no one else could hear, then bid the rest of them adieu.

CHAPTER 22 - PRIYA DRIVES AWAY

Fields of wheat danced to the melody of the wind along the side of the road as a beaten-up truck whizzed by. “Am I the only one here who is going to say it?” Visioness blurted out. “Say what?” Priya replied, turning down the music. The memory of leaving for the parking lot was still fresh in her mind. Sitting on a step she had found Richard, drinking a bottle of scotch, and saw him wearing a hat, but it was not a hat. It was the cap of an acorn, and the beginnings of a slow transformation. “Don’t let any of them damn squirrels get me girl” he had begged, and so they had gathered up some of the ruined brick wall. He sat in a little corner near the steps, and she began to lay them, interring him. For mortar they used paper mache. On the other end he helped as well, until all that was left was a single space, through which they both peered, their eyes meeting. “They won’t get you in there, I promise” she said, before sliding in the final brick, but with the way things were going to change, what was the use of promises anymore? “Roadtrip!” Visioness roared, heady from the fragrance of the country air. Visioness controlled her arm to take the last sip of the bottle of scotch that Richards had given her. “Eww! That’s so gross!” Pelfe protested as Priya wiped her mouth with her sleeve. Both Priya and Visioness couldn’t keep themselves from laughing for a solid minute. At least they had one thing in common. The rustling of the field began to still, transfixed, perhaps by a single lonesome traveler. Noticing the ominous difference, the truck came to a rumbling halt. Priya slammed the door behind her and headed out into the stalks, and those that were in her way bent, crunching easily. Through the columns a poetic face glanced back at her. “Teddy … is that you?” she declared upon seeing the Senator motionless, stalwart, camouflaged by grain. “Not an easy journey at all, dreamer. It was rough, but I’m the first to get across” he answered, gliding over. Kneeling down on one knee, he bowed his head, “consider me your loyal knight”. “You don’t need to be so humble, Teddy, once I re-manifest the realm, I will be just like the rest of you, and everyone will forget where they came from after just a few years” Priya smiled, dismissing the flattery. “Highly doubtful Empress” Teddy countered, despite how with the cremation of the avatar chain, its logic spilled out into the barren wastes of space-time, their ties were now less than definite. “Listen, Teddy. It will take some time until our abilities return. We have to work together to wrest control of this level from the grip of Telenon, its magnate. He’s a madman that will stop at nothing to foment chaos and drain our magic. The phenomenon will not be safe in his grip” she explained. But as she spoke, he looked over her shoulder, and was intent on another subject entirely, “Echo … don’t tell me that hunk of junk is our ride”. With its peeling paint and puckered exterior, it looked like something that could be gambled off at a poker game. Climbing into the passenger’s seat, Teddy put on his seat-belt, and they continued down the road until the welcome sign of a small town swung by, “Panorama Precinct”. He had her stop by a local bakery, where he paid the baker to bring a loaf of bread on a wooden peel out into the parking lot, and set it on the ground. “This will be called the bakery bus,” Teddy noted. With more bio-dimensional yeast, the loaf of bread continued to rise until it had become a city bus, wobbling as a crowd of the patrons and familiar faces disembarked. Seeing the first person, Snow ran up to Priya, suitcase in hand, “Do you know where my mom is!”.