Ambrosia Software Web Board: Terminated (TS) - Ambrosia Software Web Board

Four soldiers gathered around the tree by which Shanadar had exited the city.

One of them was bent over the ground, holding a torch close to it.

"He definitely went this way," the guard said, nodding with satisfaction. "We'll catch him easily, considering the shape he must be in after having taken that topple."

"Are you sure this is wise?" one of the others asked dubiously. "He's tied in with some of those mages by most accounts...rumors are he's crazy."

"So what?" the first replied disdainfully. "He's injured, he's alone...who cares about his sanity? We'll get him first and get the reward."

"Unlikely."

The new voice came out of the darkness behind the guards. The two who had been talking whirled...only to find their two compatriots lying on the ground, out cold.

Something flashed in the darkness, and the torch that the lead guard had been carrying went out. A shadowy figure rushed forward out of the darkness.

There were a couple of crashes, a moan, and then silence.

The attacker glanced at the fallen guards once. This would only delay the pursuit of Shanadar slightly, but any little bit helped. It would at least give him time to take up the pursuit himself.

Stepping forward, he briefly moved into the moonlight. The man was short and stocky. He had long blond hair, wore the clothes of a fighter, and had one sword strapped to his side.

Having guessed the Enforcer's destination, he moved forward silently, doing his best to follow Shanadar's trail as best he could in the moonlight.


As the group moved forward, Rapierian hung back slightly. He had a suspicion about something and wished to see if he was correct. He waited a few moments and then crossed the time travel cavern, emerging into the narrow tunnel opposite the one the group had just used.

As he suspected, the creature promptly appeared on the other side of the tunnel. It had been far closer to them than they had thought.

Raperian smiled.

"Hi, how are you? Feeling well or are you still utterly boring? You appear to have someone floating in you. Oh wait, I have to kill you, right? Hmm, sounds boring..." the necromancer's voice trailed off, and the creature advanced.

"Oh wait! I have it!" He stopped and continued in a serious voice. "I'm taking up a new hobby. It involves causing disastrous cave-ins just for the fun of it.

The necromancer began to laugh and threw a lightning bolt at the cave ceiling. The tunnel began to rumble and rocks began to fall from the ceiling.

"Isn't burying people alive just one of the funnest things?" Rapierian asked, still howling with laughter.

Plowing through the falling rocks, the creature said nothing in reply.

"Oh, I suppose it is less fun to be on the receiving end? Oh well, it builds your character...or not...oh well."

The necromancer threw another bolt at the ceiling, causing it to collapse utterly.

Then, he turned and walked away whistling.

The cave-in would, he suspected, only slow the creature down slightly.

Moving quickly, he soon caught up with the others.

"What was all that racket?" Wizard demanded angrily. "Are you trying to give our position away?"

"Oh, I was just having an inventive talk with one of the most boring things...oh, and you might want to pick up the pace...unless you want to see Chrysothemis messily slaughtered," Rapierian replied with a laugh.

Wizard's eyes widened as he realized what Rapierian meant.

"Run!" the old man yelled and the party took off down the tunnels.

Silverfish kicked back hard as the ceiling crumbled above them, barely saving Cyrus & himself from being utterly crushed beneath the rockfall. Moments latter they were dry as the Assassin hurried away toward its prime target. But that was a luxury they didn't have long to avoid as Silver noticed a trickle of liquid where his body was crushed beneath the rocks, & a small puddle of blood oozed out around them.

~shortly before~
Yomu had not yet gained the company of the others when he realized that the Assassin was too close for him to help them form a plan before it arrived. Pausing a second, he switched hats, & squeezed quickly into a crack in the wall. He quickly readied a bomb, but when the Assassin rushed past moments later, he noticed two of his companions engulfed in its raging body & decided that, for the time being, it was better not to risk their lives with an explosion. He quickly followed.

As Yomu entered the bright cavernous room, he felt the crown in his pack respond to it. But as he moved to examine it, he noticed Silver & Cyrus lying under the rockfall...

Throughout the night, Shanadar ran wildly across the plains, towards the southern end of the Titan's Spine. Despite his injuries, he made relatively good time, and maintained a pace that would have astounded the Tyrants' men had they still been pursuing him. After all, he'd suffered worse injuries in the past and kept mobile; this situation was little different.

Eventually, it became apparent to the Enforcer that he was, indeed, being followed. While he was not particularly surprised at this, having been expecting trackers, the behavior was definitely not that of a typical city guard. For one thing, the pursuer was much too fast for a soldier in heavy armor, and another, he seemed to quickly recognize when the Enforcer tried to double back. Eventually, he stopped trying, and simply ran along the shortest path he could take towards his destination.

When he reached the foot of the mountains, he dared a glance behind. In the pale moonlight, his would-be pursuer was but a vague shadow in the distance, but he was unmistakably closing in fast. By the Enforcer's estimate, he would be overtaken within the next half hour.

Fortunately, that was more than sufficient time to find an entrance to the network of inactive lava tubes that honeycombed the mountain range. Alaric willing, he would be able to meet up the group half-way, and together they could deal with the Elemental Assassin (and perhaps this new "friend" which Shanadar had picked up on his way back from Cademia). It was a bit of a gamble, seeing as how the caves were a twisted, interconnected maze, but the distant echoes of voices told the Enforcer he was close.

He set into the tunnels, still wounded, but determined. There was no time to waste.

"Yomu..?" Silver said softly, "Silver! I'll get you out just hold on!" Yomu began clearing the rocks covering Silver away as fast he could, but then Silver grabbed his leg, "Cyrus, he's in deeper; I can feel him touch my foot. As for my other leg..." Silver grunted, "Hurry you must get him out. I, have to close my eyes for a minute."
What could he do? He kept tossing aside as many rocks as he could but they grew heavier until Yomu could not lift one even will all his strength. He had to think, quickly, or his companions would die. "Dynamite!" he though, reaching into his bag he pulled out a few sticks. "This would definitely clear the rocks, but the damage to the others would be far too great." He took a deep breath walked to the center of the dim chamber and sat, "I have so much power, surely there must be a way to use it." He took his pouch off and peered inside, looking into the vast depth of his travels, when a bright light caught his eyes. "What's this? The crown is reacting! What does it mean? Maybe.." Yomu placed the crown on his head, but to no avail, he trusted the crown forward, "Crown of kings, I call upon your power!" only silence answered his pleas. He placed the shining crown atop a rock, and gazed at it, "How did the old riddle go? 'He who posses this crown, will gain the power of kings past and kings yet to be-" and with his last word the cavern quickly filled with a blinding light. "W-what's this?!" Yomu rubbed his eyes, to his amazement the rock on which the crown had laid, was gone.
A thunderous roar shook the room, with it one of the main metallic beams supporting the giant crystal above shattered and fell to the ground. "Truly the fates weave to my favor!" Yomu rejoiced as he equipped himself with a large metal stock. "Silver! Cyrus! Do not leave me to quickly, I shall have you out soon!" Yomu exclaimed as he began forcing the rocks off his trapped companions.

----

Shanadar stumbled as the tunnels he traversed through began to shake wildly, "Haha, I must be close." he said as continued along.

This post has been edited by Two Jacks: 04 November 2008 - 08:59 PM

The man following Shanadar paused a moment before entering the tunnels.

He was impressed that the Enforcer had spotted him following. He considered the possibility that the man might be lying in ambush for him.

On his guard, he carefully entered the caverns...


The group with Chrysothemis ran through the tunnels.

The caves were a twisting labyrinth through which it was impossible to find a straight way.

Wizard did his best to lead them south, but it was quite difficulty to be sure of the proper path.

Rapierian continued reading from his book as they went along, hardly seeming to notice the circumstances.

Suddenly, Wizard stopped.

Ahead of them, there were several tunnels which branched off into another maze.

"Ah, here's where we need a map, unless ol' Wiz goat here has some ability to find the proper path through caves," Rapierian said.

"Yes, and unless you happen to have a map, would you be quiet so that I can think?" Wizard replied, glaring at the necromancer.

"'Think?' Rather strong terms for your so-called cognitive abilities, don't you think?" Not waiting for Wizard's retort, he continued, "We should take the one on the right, by the way."

"And how would you know?" Wizard asked in annoyance.

"It's what the book says—"

Wizard almost yelled but stopped himself to go on in a quieter voice, "You have a map? Why didn't you say anything? No, wait, don't answer that. Let me see it!"

"Sorry, you wouldn't be able to read it...not that that makes it unique...being illiterate must be quite a handicap."

"Why should I trust you or your book?"

Rapierian smiled.

"Why not? In any case, do you have a choice?"

Sighing, Wizard took the suggested passage.

"I'm going to regret this," he muttered.

*bump* Kronos, elemental of Time, looked down at something by his feet. hmm... a stone bearing every indication of being freshly cast from the TIme-Stream. Something interesting might happen. And he kept an eye on the events that are now unfolding.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Working with the metal spar, Yomu was able to make good on his promise to free Cyrus & Silver, and soon had them laid out on the floor away from the cave-in. Cyrus appeared to be unconscious, but Silver could not get comfortable until he had managed to hang himself from the wall by his feet. He waved to Yomu, who was giving him funny looks, & fell asleep.

As the party started to head down the far right tunnel, Radik sub-consciously took off running at his normal pace. His mind wondered, mainly about how this fight would end and snapped back to reality as he noticed that he was ahead of the group. He slid to a stop, turned around and waited a few moments for the party that was moving at Chrysothemis's speed to catch up. He bent down, picked her up, and took off running again, allowing the party to continue at a faster pace.

This post has been edited by Dark Jet: 01 December 2008 - 01:20 AM

As if launching the stone to parts unknown had primed the chamber for some purpose, what had started with a crash subsided into background noise, which redoubled every few seconds until the whole chamber was vibrating with a vast & mysterious energy...

As the group ran along, Wizard was beginning to get more and more tired. He used his powers to keep moving, not wanting to make the others wait on him, but he knew that should they have to fight the elemental again, he would not even be able to challenge it in his current state.

* * *

Shanadar ran through the winding tunnels as fast as he could. As he rounded a sharp corner, he collided into a robed man, much to his surprise. Both let out a cry of surprise as they went crashing into the hard rock floor. If this person wasn't with the group, who else could be wandering around these tunnels if not the elemental assassin? Shanadar scrambled to his feet and readied himself for another fight.

"What's going on here? Who are you?" the robed man shouted out as he also struggled to regain his footing.

Why was that voice so familiar? "Wizard? Is that you?" Shanadar relaxed only a little as he attempted to recognize the other man.

The cloaked figure had successfully gotten on his feet and turned to face Shanadar. He hesitantly took a step forward, "Yes. . . that's what people call me."

Shanadar moved the torch that he had been carrying closer to Wizard's face to examine him more closely. It was undeniably Wizard, although his face looked smoother than Shanadar had remembered. It was very subtle but there was something different about Wizard's appearance. He almost seemed younger. Shanadar was still very pleased to see the old man again, "It is you! Where are the others?"

"Others?" Wizard cocked his head in confusion. "Do I. . . know you?"

"It's me, Shanadar." The Enforcer was by no means slow-witted; he was already beginning to consider possibilities for why his friend was acting so strangely. Remembering that the water assassin could take any form, he prepared himself for anything.

"Look. . . Shanadar, I really don't know who you are. I don't even know what's going on. I don't make a habit of traveling this deeply into the mountain, but I heard lots of rumbling and crashing. So I came back here to explore." Wizard realized that he was once again beginning to ramble as he had a tendency to do. I'll have to break that habit someday, he thought. "Anyways, do you have any idea what's going on back here?"

"You're Wizard?"

"Yes, I already told you that."

"But you don't know who I am?"

"Well, now I know that your name is Shanadar, and you quite possibly enjoy hitting unsuspecting victims over the head with that club in your hand." Wizard gestured to the club that Shanadar was holding.

"No, I only hit people over the head when it's necessary, and I don't know if I can trust you yet."

As a general rule, Wizard did not like grabbing thoughts out of people's heads without permission. He even tried to ignore the thoughts that were so obvious they seemed to come at him without any effort. He could tell that this stranger did recognize him. "You do know me, don't you? But how can that be, if I don't know you?"

There was a period of silence as the two stared at each other. Wizard spoke again, "You are obviously not from around here."

"No, no. . . I'm not." Shanadar was beginning to realize who he was speaking to. He knew Wizard was a very old man, but older than Alaric? He had not expected that. Even so, Wizard's age wasn't his biggest problem. Shanadar was cautious about how much he could safely tell this Wizard from the past. He lowered his club and tried to explain, "Umm. . . I'm not sure how best to say this."

But the younger Wizard said it for him, "You don't know me, but you know me. You're not from this time!" Wizard smiled at his conclusion.

"Yes, exactly! Now. . . uh, I have to go."

"Good! I'll go with you."

"I don't think you should. I don't want to risk messing up the timeline. In fact, you should probably return home and try to forget everything." Shanadar walked past Wizard and continued running down the tunnels. He tried not to look back.

"Well, obviously, if you're my friend in the future, you're a good guy." Wizard was running next to him now. "I'm coming with you to help you and the 'others' with whatever it is you're trying to do. Besides, I would really like to know what's been causing all these earthquakes behind my home."

"You don't understand, it could be dangerous. I don't know what will happen."

"Happen? The worst that could happen is that I'll bump into my future self and will create a temporal anomaly that will unravel the fabric of the universe!" Wizard chuckled at the suggestion, but Shanadar stopped running and stared at him.

The old man stopped laughing, "Oh, that is the problem. I see. . ."

The cave floor rumbled again. Wizard's attention focused to the rumbling, "It's been doing a lot of that. You know there's a whole network of underground rivers deeper in the mountain; those must be overflowing or something. Maybe, however unusual it is, something is causing a large amount of water to move against the rest of the water." Wizard shook his head at the notion, "Control over water. That's Undine sort of stuff. You guys wouldn't be messed up with them."

Shanadar didn't respond, but he knew what the rumbling meant: both the group and the water assassin were nearby. He set off running again.

Wizard started after him, "Wait, you're not are you? Are you!?"

Radik noticed that his left leg was starting to cramp from the constant running, and noticed not only his pace slowing, but the groups as well. This time, it wasn't due to any one person slower than the whole, but of fatigue. The fact that the party had been running for this long without anyone tripping, fainting or just collapsing was a testament to the will of the adventures.

He started glancing at Wizard more and more, as the old fellow was running out of physical strength. While Radik was watching Wizard, his right foot landed on a group of small loose rocks and his right leg slid forward. Quickly, Radik shifted Chyrothemis's weight onto his right arm, and pushed off the wall with his left hand. Using his forward momentum and the wall, he was able to lean forward and bring his right leg back down, and continue in stride.

For some reason, Radik blocked everything out and listened to the rocks bounce down the tunnel ahead. Click.... Click.... Click... Splash... It took Radik a few moments to make the connection of the watery termination to the bouncing rock. Splash... Wait... Water, Oh Crap! Well the wall was warm, and not cold... so we're getting very close to the lava so.. the water that is a head is likely a small pool, nothing more...

With Chrysothemis's weight still mostly on his right arm, Radik winced as his right leg hit the ground again, and he knew he had pulled some muscle in his leg. He guessed he'd be able to keep up with the group's pace for about another 30 seconds before the pain would spread and he'd be forced to limp. Since no one else had either noticed or mentioned anything about the splash, he reached behind him, to his belt where a wooden bottle hung.

He unhooked the bottle, brought it around to his face where he popped the cork out with his teeth, and took a whiff. He shook his head as his nose burned from deeply inhaling the smell of Ale. Wizard noticed what Radik was generally doing and proceeded to ask him...

W: What are you trying to do? Drink at a time like this?

R: There is some water ahead, I don't know how big. I can't keep running after that slip. I can buy you some time to get to the lava, It should be close by, The walls are getting very warm. Wizard confirmed this when his foot touched the ground and some of the heat from the floor transfered through his shoe onto his foot. Keep running, don't stop till you get to the lava, and then throw him in there.

As Wizard begun to protest, Radik turned, tossed Chrysothemis a little bit into the air, and she fell into Rapierian's arms. The two were suprised and before either could complain about the sudden arrangement, Radik stopped and said as the group started to slow down, "Keep running, follow Wizard's lead. We don't have time to argue!"


-- A few minutes earlier... --

Shanadar came running into the Time cavern to discover Silver hanging upside down (like usual), Yomu and Cyrus. Yomu stood up to greet Shanadar and held up the crown in a triumphant 'Look what I found!'. After a very (very) short talk between the four, Shanadar grabbed the crown and ran down a side tunnel as Yomu and Silver helped Cyrus out of sight from Shanadar's pursuer.


-- A few minutes ahead of previous events... --

Shanadar quickly darted from one tunnel branch into another and slowed down before he fell off the end of his tunnel into another one. He quickly turned around, lowered himself and dropped silently and painlessly a few feet into this new tunnel and took off towards the warmer end.

As he was running, he saw a bright burst of light and two figures came into view. One, being the wielder of the object causing the light, and the second was semi-transparent...


--30 seconds before that... --

Radik pulled out his claymore, close his eyes, then poured his ale over his blade. Rapierian, per Radik's instructions from Wizard, tossed a potion towards Radik. Radik caught it and heard a faint comment that the necromancer simply couldn't resist. He smiled as the words, "Greek fire, at least I think it is..." drifted down the tunnel to Radik. We hope it is, Radik corrected..

He turned to face the Undine's assassin, who slowed a little bit. Radik struck his claymore against the wall, and the ale lit instantly. The assassin, being caught off guard by this, attempted to stop running, but Radik stepped forward and swung out, halving the being of water.

The assassin reconnected itself as the blade cut through it, but some water turned to steam as the flame ripped through him. While still not yet fully recovered from the flaming claymore surprise, Radik stepped forward again, bring his sword down, cutting the elemental from it's right 'shoulder' to the left edge of its 'waist'.

The elemental finally recovered from the turn of events, and 'drew' its own weapon and parried Radik's next swing. As the elemental drew its other sword, Radik was forced to turn his swings into defensive ones. Radik smiled, because he now had (hopefully) bought the party enough time to reach the lava before the Assassin would be able to catch up. As he was being pushed backwards more and more with the swings hitting harder, his foot splashed into the puddle of water.

Radik chanced a glance to see how big the water was, and discovered that it was just that, a pool of water. It was roughly have the width of the tunnel and only ran on for a few feet. With the lightning conditions and not being able to look for too long, Radik was unable to see just how deep. The assassin smiled now, and pushed Radik back harder. Radik stumbled, but forced his defensive swing to push the elemental into the water and him out of it.

The Elemental regained its former strength from the aid of the pool, and its next attack sent Radik stumbling backwards, but this time he wasn't able to say on his feet. His claymore lay at his side, and the assassin stabbed Radik in the right leg before he could grab his sword and counter. He let out a brief scream of pain, and looked directly into the elementals eyes, or at least where they were supposed to be.

Radik dropped the claymore, agreeing to this fate. He was exhausted, most of his reserve energy had been used, and now wounded. The elemental withdrew its blade from his leg and lifted its arm back to pierce Radik's chest to end this distraction quickly.

As the weapon moved forward, a bolt went ripping through the elemental's torso. The elemental looked back down the tunnel to see Shanadar come running forward and disconnect its legs with a swipe of his staff. As the Elemental regrouped, Shanadar pulled Radik up, and started to help him limp down the tunnel after the party.

Radik pulled out the potion Rapierian had tossed him, and threw it at the feet of the Elemental. A small explosion spread out, catching the bottom of the elemental on fire, and igniting the previously undisturbed layer of ale that had been on the pond. The elemental screamed in pain as the greek fire proceeded to ignite the ale that it had absorbed as well.

Radik continued to hop after Shanadar, "You just had to make a dramatic entrance, didn't you?" The two enjoyed a quick chuckle as Shanadar helped Radik almost run down the tunnel. The younger version of Wizard, right behind the two. "You wouldn't happen to have any ale, would you?" Shanadar gave him a look of, 'I got better, but at a time like this?' and Radik returned with a look of 'I just got stabbed in the leg, now give me some alcohol'.

He quickly gave Radik a small container, and watched as Radik chugged it, shook a little violent, and had to stop moving as he regained control. When Radik looked up, he saw the enforcer give him a look of, 'Told ya', and to the 44 year olds' and the younger Wizard's surprise, got up and started running down the tunnel. Shanadar caught up to him a few moments later, and as they rounded a curve in the lava tube, they saw light.

Radik was grinning as they saw the party near the source of it, and felt an immense amount of temperature difference. The party had made it to the lava, Radik's plan worked. A scream of rage and fading pain echoed down the tunnel after the two and Radik forced his very badly injured, but mostly numb leg to run faster...

--

The party, now reunited, minus Yomu, Cyrus, and Silver, and with the addition of a younger Wizard, slowed down as they exited the tunnel and onto a ledge before a vast opening. The ledge spread out, and towered above the lava. Rapierian, Shanadar, Wizard, and Wizard (the younger one), had a quick mental discussion about a plan. The four nodded after Shanadar gestured to the crown in his hand, and then Wizard (older) motioned for the group to follow him. They moved at fast, but not running pace along the wall of the vast opening.

Radik ripped part of his, already, ripped shirt and tied it over the gash in his leg. He limped close to the edge, looking down into the churning pit. He turned around as the elemental came running out of the tunnel. It locked eyes with Radik and drew its weapon, charging the injured-slightly drunk- human. Radik countered the blow, and fought such that the elemental's back was towards the end of the ledge.

Radik was quickly over powered and fell to his knee. The elemental, forgetting its target, wanted revenge for the pain the human had caused him and punched Radik, who then fell backwards and rolled some distance away. The assassin gave a triumphant yell, as Radik got onto his hands and knees and spat out blood.

The elemental took one step, then stopped. It couldn't move. It looked towards the concentrating (young) Wizard and was about to break the spell, but a golden crown came whirling from the Older Wizard's hand towards the assassin. Rapierian tossed up a potion, the crown shattered the container and begun to change before piercing the elemental. The assassin became less transparent and stared in horror as the younger Wizard also sent one of Shanadar's explosives hurling to a few feet in front of him.

Radik stood up and made a rude gesture towards the assassin right before the explosion went off. The edge of the ledge split off from the shock wave and went crumbling down into the churning lava. Radik, and the party shielded their eyes from the debris. The party moved back to the ledge, and Radik collapsed.

The younger Wizard and Rapierian walked to the end of the shattered rock ledge and looked down and watched the edge and the elemental disappear below the surface of the lava. No steam rose, and Wizard smiled. The party regrouped with Yomu, Cyrus, and Silver back in the time cavern and discussed their options on how to return home, while Cyrus remained unconscious and Radik injured, but with their wounds healing with the aid of good old magic.

As the group stood around discussing their options, Chrysothemis wandered over near Radik. He was propped up against a rock, with his leg immobilized sipping a wooden bottle. Chrysothemis clutched at her arms, muttering something about being cold, as she watched the necromancer manage to lit both Wizards' beards on fire, simultaneously. She heard a slight grunt and turned around as Radik finished standing up, took off his jacket, and handed it to her. She nodded in thanks and turned to enjoy the show with Radik as the two 'old' white robed fellows moved frantically about, trying to distinguish their beards.

This post has been edited by Dark Jet: 01 December 2008 - 01:21 AM

Silver plinked a rock off Rapierian's back, "Hey! You shouldn't treat your betters like that you naughty little boy!"

When Rapierain merely laughed & ignored him, Silver produced some thin, strong chain to bind Rapierian with, at least until they should make it home to the Alraeican Tavern...

This post has been edited by Jehezekel: 23 November 2008 - 07:20 PM

Yomu and Shanadar's eyes met, but Shanadar turned away quickly and tried to look inconspicuous. "The crown, do you have it?" Yomu inquired to Shanadar, "Well, uh, you see." Yomu's face grew puzzled. "Er, well the monster grabbed it and it fell into the lava you see." Shandar stopped motioning his hands and stared at Yomu who was now quite still, "F-fell?".


A wave a depression washed over him for some time at the loss of such a great prize, but at least he had something to think about besides how to get back to his own time.

After the cavern had initially begun to vibrate, it continued shaking during the entire fight with the elemental assassin. Only after the crown had sank into the lava had the vibrations become more intense.

Both Wizards finally managed to extinguish the flames on their beards. Young Wizard, beard smoking, stormed toward Rapierian and asked the older version of himself, "How will I ever get involved with this scoundrel?"

The older Wizard sighed. Rapierian seemed taken aback, "Me? A scoundrel?"

"Yes!" young Wizard yelled. "I knew what you were the moment I laid eyes on you, you blackguard!"

"It seems that you and I never got along, doesn't it old, excuse me, less old Wiz goat." Rapierian smiled mischievously.

Young Wizard's eyes widened, "Did you say Wiz?" Then both said in unison, "I hate that name!" Rapierian began to laugh loudly, and younger Wizard began to march toward him with a glint in his eyes.

Just then the cavern's shaking became more violent. "It's an earthquake!" Chrysothemis shouted.

Older Wizard glanced around as he thought for a moment. "No. . . it's the time portal. This cavern is fully activated."

"How? We destroyed the crown." Shanadar asked.

"Somehow, when it melted in the lava, it must have released the crown's energy. Apparently, that triggered the 'time machines' activation, if you want to call it that." The older Wizard walked over to the cave wall and began to examine some of the runes carved along the side. Younger Wizard muttered something about Rapierian and turned to help the older version of himself try to decipher the runes. The runes began to glow.

"Hmm, these runes are linked magically to the portal." Older Wizard began, "These ones controls the date--"

"--and these ones control the place. Ha! Not much of a challenge there. Now all we have to do is set it." Younger Wizard finished what he was going to say.

"Yes, that was exactly what I was going to say." Older Wizard nodded and then turned to face himself, "Did you read my mind? You know I don't like to do that."

Young Wizard smiled and shrugged, "I know you don't like that; I don't like it either. But I figured--" He paused for a moment and held his hand to his forehead. Wizard, the young one that is, seemed dizzy for a moment and put a hand on the wall to steady himself.

"Are you all right? What's wrong?" Wizard helped steady himself.

Young Wizard regained his balance and looked up. "Yes, I'm fine. I was just saying. . . I figured it wouldn't hurt to read my own mind."

Chrysothemis let out a cry of surprise and ran from the center of the room when a vortex of some kind began to open in the center of the room. It was purple, shot through with streaks of red, sending out tendrils of raw, powerful energy. It steadily began to grow.

Old Wizard looked at the runes, "You must have started to set the time portal when you placed your hand against the wall." Young Wizard, glancing at the time portal, noted that the entire cavern would soon be filled with it. "We have to finish the rest of those settings quickly!"

"Oh, I can handle that, silly old fellow," Rapierian announced suddenly. "My book tells all about it. Would you like to hear it? Do you have time?"

He burst into laughter at that but stopped when Shanadar grabbed him and shook him.

"You'd better be telling the truth and not try to pull any tricks," the Enforcer threatened. "If you try anything, I will make you regret it."

"Eh, no need for empty threats. This place is boring."

The necromancer turned and went over to one of the runes along the wall.

Carefully, he turned it clockwise, stopping after a moment. He went around the cavern, making similar changes.

As he did so, the portal changed; a pale image began to form in its center.

"That's Cademia and the Tavern," Aster said in relief.

"Oh, is it? My mistake I should try to send us into this cavern in the future...after it's filled with rock."

"Are you done?" Shanadar growled, glancing around the shaking room.

"Why not? Seems fine to me."

"Thanks," Chrysothemis said suddenly. "Thank you all. I owe you a debt I can never repay."

Rapierian casually turned to Chrysothemis.

"Having met you, I'm disappointed. You are boring, easy to see where your kid gets it from. You should lighten up! Have a few laughs! I mean, why so serious?"

Laughing, he turned and entered the portal.

"Don't listen to him, milady. He's just crazy," Shanadar told her. "It was an honor to meet you." Turning to Radik, he added, "Thanks for your aid. It was good to have met you."

Radik himself, limping on the leg that had been stabbed, wandered near the time portal. He began to think about what life would be like in the future and compared it with what he had left in the past.

The Enforcer entered the rift, followed by Aster who nodded shyly to Chrysothemis.

Only Radik, the Wizards, and Chrysothemis remained.

The older Wizard smiled at Chrysothemis and his younger self. "I guess I had best be going."

Younger Wizard nodded and walked next to Chrysothemis, "Don't worry, I'll stay behind and take Chrysothemis back to where she belongs. She'll be safe now." The portal was growing quite large now, and the entire cavern had begun to shake violently.

"What about your memories? I don't remember any of this ever happening." Old Wizard yelled to himself.

"Hmm. . ." Young Wizard thought for a moment. "You're right, I can't risk letting these memories interfere with my actions in seven hundred years. After I take Chrysothemis home, I will return to my cottage and erase these memories. I won't know any of this happened until seven hundred years from now." A huge rock fell from the ceiling, nearly crushing the younger Wizard. As he dove to the side, his hand caught on the fringe of the time portal and he vanished for a moment. Older Wizard gasped in horror as this was certainly going to mess up the timeline, but a second later, young Wizard went flying back out through the spinning portal and slammed into the wall.

Relieved, the older Wizard grinned, "I guess it behaves differently on the outskirts, then?"

Young Wizard was dazed again, but he stood up and replied, "Yes, I guess it does."

"Now, you, Chrysothemis, and Radik had best get out of here, the whole cavern is going to collapse at this rate." Wizard was right, more rocks had started to fall from the cavern ceiling high overhead and everything was shaking uncontrollably.

"Well, don't worry, I'll erase all of these memories. I'm not supposed to have them yet. Good luck, all of you!" Young Wizard looked into his older version's eyes for a moment, "And you be careful. I sensed a lot of unrest in your mind earlier. . . Just be sure not put too much strain on yourself."

"You too. Now go!"

Young Wizard shouted one last comment over the noise, "I guess the adventure ends here for you, but for me, it's just beginning."

Wizard took a final glance at his younger self and Chrysothemis and then turned his focus to the portal before them. "Well, I suppose that's why I don't remember this cavern. And after this, it's not going to exist anymore." The portal had grown to encompass nearly the entire cavern. The cavern itself was beginning to crumble to pieces as more and more rocks fell from the ceiling.

Wizard stepped through the portal and disappeared into the future.

The younger Wizard and Chrysothemis turned to exit when the ground heaved under them suddenly. The caves around them began to grind and break.

Radik lost his balance and stumbled backward. . .right into the mouth of the time portal.

"Radik!" Chrysothemis cried.

"Oh dear," the young Wizard said. "I hope that was supposed to happen. Nothing we can do now. Come on! Run!"

The two turned and ran as fast as they could.

They had just barely exited the cavern system when it collapsed behind them with a deafening crash.


Some time later, they entered Catamarca, cautiously in the dead of night.

"You're sure no one here will remember what happened?" she asked him.

"No, they won't. Tomorrow, everyone here will wake up and, as far as they will know, you were simply feeling ill for a couple of days and rested at your house."

"You don't plan on remembering either, do you?" she asked sadly.

"No, it's too dangerous for me to have such knowledge at this point. But don't worry. I will leave a reminder in my head to watch over you. I shall do so, even if I don't know why."

"That's a relief," she said, with a slight smile.

Turning, she quietly entered her house.

With a sigh, the younger Wizard watched her go.

He himself turned and strode toward the woods.

He didn't doubt that Bahoudin would show up soon. They would need to speak about Chrysothemis's safety before he wiped his memory of this event. The elementals had almost certainly watched events but had refrained from interfering for fear of attracting unwanted attention.

Speaking of unwanted attention...

Wizard turned and glanced behind him.

The man who had followed Shanadar earlier now walked behind him.

"You can drop the disguise, you know," he said with amusement.

The other's expression did not change.

As they walked in and out of the shadows, they passed briefly under a large tree.

As they emerged out of its shadow, Wizard glanced back and saw that the young man had been replaced by a tall being, pale of face, hooded and cloaked in a robe as dark as the deepest shadows around them.

Selax followed Wizard as he went deeper into the woods.


The present:

The heroes found themselves standing outside Cademia.

Shanadar took a quick glance around and satisfied himself that this was indeed his city and that it was safe.

"Well, that was interesting," Wizard said. "I suppose that one of us will have to report all of this to Sacas."

Shanadar chuckled and together the group headed toward the city.