#while oleander tries and tries and tries and gets nothing for his efforts

[basic-braining]

I've always wondered, how do you think Oleander sees Ford, as in what you do think he thinks of Ford as a person and why?

That’s an interesting one! Ford is an elder, a veteran, typically someone who is to be respected in Oleander’s eyes. But he’s also the one who had the final say in having him work at the summer camp, a place that, in Oleander’s mind, is the place useless Psychonauts go to work because they can’t do anything else right.

Sure, Oleander made himself the top dog there, yelling and taking his anger out on mere children, but because of the decision to put him there, any respect he had for Ford had diminished long ago.

Ford put him there not as an insult, or a taunt, but because his temper was so much, and he tried so hard on missions, he wound up hurting everything in the process. He put Oleander there in hopes that it would help calm him down. Oleander gets to lead and call the shots! And all of his peers are shorter than him, and therefor, much less agitative! It should have been a good choice. But Oleander never saw it that way. To him, it was the last place you go before you’re tossed out with the trash, so he had to try, and he had to try hard to whip these soldiers into shape, and of course, took all his pent-up anger and frustrations out on them in the process.

So imagine how satisfying it was for him to see Ford himself stepping out of the plane or bus to start working there. The big guy in the Psychonauts, the prodigy, the one who stuck Oleander in the camp and broke his trust, thrown into the same trash bin as him. Catharsis.

He walks up to Ford, now a bit older and frailer than he was when they last met, and he smiles all big and smug and starts chatting away. “Well! Look what we have here! The leader of the Psychonauts himself here at good ol’ Whispering Rock to rake the leaves and clean the latrines! How’s it feel, Ford?”

And Ford turns and looks at him, his brow quirked in a way that spelled confusion.

“Hah! Didn’t expect you’d wind up here with me, did ya? You couldn’t deal with me so you put me here, and it looks the same thing has happened to you!”

A few more minutes of this taunting passes, until Ford breaks his own silence. “Do I know you?”

And it’s like a steak knife had been driven straight into Oleanders heart. Was he really so small and insignificant in Ford’s life that he would completely forget him? As with all things at this point in his life, he reacts with anger.

But Ford just waves him away, tells him to go play with the other kids and leave him to do his work.

Oleander has no idea about Ford’s mental state, about the battle that shattered his mind and his memories, and maybe he still doesn’t by the time the events of Psychonauts 1 take place. All he knows is that Ford doesn’t remember anything about him- all his training, all his missions, all his angry outbursts- and that he just insulted him by calling him a child. And as much as Oleander could dish them out, he really doesn't take insults well at all.

#psychonauts #ford cruller #morceau oleander #coach oleander #bb headcanons #there's also something something about ford being Super Mega Tallented #getting gold trophies leftand right #and having his life served to him on a silver platter #while oleander tries and tries and tries and gets nothing for his efforts #salt in the wound #what oleander doesnt see is the years and years of experience the man has and all the work he puts into learning #kunmushroomkingdom

[0poole]

Psychonauts is a funny thing

So, I got recommended the game on Steam after playing A Hat in Time because the games are uncannily similar (and Hat in Time definitely, 100% took some things from the game, I’m absolutely sure of it) and I just sort of passively cared about it for a while. I watched one of those compilations of the boss battles in the game, and it did look pretty cool to me. Then, the trailer for the sequel came out, and I watched it, had no idea what was going on, and reasoned I could probably play the original between then and the time it came out. The sequel looked pretty visually interesting, and if a sequel looks interesting surely the original has to be too. And, after a few months of sporadic playing, I finally finished it a few seconds ago. Basically, I’d recommend playing it.

But, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten this mad at a game before. It’s an odd feeling, being mad.

First of all, I bought the game on a Steam sale where it was literally only 99 cents. It was soon after the sequel trailer released, so surely it was there to draw people like me in. But, the issue was that the game wouldn’t even start when I first downloaded it. It played the intro, but it instantly minimized itself whenever I tried to pull it up. So, I put that off for a few weeks, and sure enough with no rhyme or reason it started working as intended again. Great. Surely this wouldn’t be representative of the future, right?

Well, sort of. There were a ton of glitches in the game. Most of them involving sketchy platforming, where I should’ve landed or grabbed onto a ledge but didn’t somehow, but only one legitimately stopped me from progressing. Not exactly spoilery, but I confused the first knife thrower you meat (no joke that was unintentional, but I’m keeping it) in the last (second to last?) level, and that made him completely stop doing anything, so I had to reset there. Not very fun. 

But, before that, there was a glitch that actually was relatively cool. During the Den Mother boss fight, I used clairvoyance as intended, but after the first time it glitched (but I didn’t realize it) and the platform when completely invisible, but I could still see Raz’s body, so I just reasoned that it was just a progression of the difficulty of the fight. I could still piece together where I had to go to hit the boss, it was just going to be harder. Then, I died, and it started working as intended. It was a little lame, to be honest. Nothing changed from that point. I was obviously having trouble, though, so I wasn’t going to complain.

Then, an issue on my side of things was that I very often was stuck on what to do, and basically just ran around confused for 30+ minutes. I’m a pussy when it comes to video games, to be honest. I genuinely appreciate direction when I play, even if too much of it is obviously a bad thing. It’s usually because of how many Nintendo games I play. They usually give pretty clear hints where to go. I swear, if I couldn’t call on Cruller to help me, I would’ve never made it. 

The funny thing is that, most of the time my confusion was a result of me just forgetting about the floating power. I would jump, fall, try again, and stare at the ledge until something magically appeared. Once I looked up the answer to my first problem online (where the old meat’s stench was the thing you had to float up on) I realized it, but still got stuck on later instances where you had to use it. I don’t know why that one mechanic constantly slipped my mind. I play video games. I should know updraft = you can float on it. That, and wood = burnable.

I do wish they forced you to get an item/power that you needed to get before you progressed BEFORE you actually got to the point where you needed it. Mainly when it came to the cobweb duster, at least. That thing was hella expensive, but I avoided it because I thought it was just one of those things for collectathon-ers who wanted to 100% the game. But, turns out, there’s only like one or two points where cobwebs are actually blocking your path, so I had to stop all progress and farm arrowheads to get that. Even worse, I bought other stuff with the arrowheads I got up until that point, so I had to farm a lot more. 

But, apart from more specific stuff, that’s basically all the negative things I have to say about the game. Even though I did actually, legitimately get mad at multiple points, looking back on it all with a sound mind, it’s actually a really good, interesting game.

Honestly, the overall concept of the game is the best part. It has such insane potential, probably more so than any other concept I’ve heard of. The idea that you can go inside a person’s mind and interact with it in the form of a physical world/level is so cool. Really, there’s no better form of characterization. The serious contrast between the minds of someone like Milla, who’s clearly a partier, and Sasha, who’s clearly straight out of the Matrix, is such fun to experience. Obviously anyone would have a metaphorical, sprawling land as their mind, but how Sasha can control all of that and pull it out at will is really cool. On the other hand, Fred barely has a world to explore. He cares so much about the game that he only exists in a room, and the game is represented in the larger land, with all the different types of people. Then, Boyd the conspiracy theorist is trying to connect everything with winding pathways that flip over and cross with each other. Apart from the obvious ““normal”” neighborhood that’s constantly spying on him.

That level has to be my favorite in the entire game, even though it’s one of the ones that I got stuck on. A lot of that definitely came down to how the G-Men clearly inspired the C.A.W. Agents in A Hat in Time, who were really well done in both games. I noticed it instantly, and that made it so much more fun. Plus, that level introduced Clairvoyance, which might be the must useless yet the most interesting power in the game. They put so much effort into how you appear in the eyes of other characters (even the NPCs and enemies) that it’s kind of shocking. You really only use it for a part or two of that level and the boss fight (which made really good use of it), and then it just becomes a device for Easter eggs. Considering each of the other campers were mostly seemed like occasional throwaway jokes or funny images, they really thought about who they were and what they wanted. 

Obviously, I’d be remiss to not talk about the character designs. This is essentially The Nightmare Before Christmas on steroids when it comes to character models. Some were obvious references to other things, like Sasha looking like Neo, or Cruller looking like Einstein, but even then they felt like their own characters. Overall, they’re a little too crazy to be at the top of my tastes, but they’re perfect for the atmosphere. I especially loved the Butcher’s design for some reason, even though it’s pretty standard for an over-exaggerated butcher character. He just looked really cool. The only design I was kinda iffy about was the Censors, who were awesome in concept, but looked a little too mortal-looking for something present in pretty much everyone’s mind. Maybe people just associate censoring with Cog-esque business people, and that’s why they always look like that. I do like the idea of them progressing into the giant Judges you see in the sequel trailer, though. 

Then, the unsung hero of them all: The little bubble bug you always see in everyone’s psyches. I don’t think I ever actually used him, but he was adorable. Apparently his name is Oatmeal too? That’s adorable. I love him. 

Back to the Butcher, though, with spoilers if you care: I liked the idea that both Oleander and Raz were embellishing their parents’ impressions of them and who they themselves actually were. It made sense, because children are so much more impressionable. They’d think that their dads are monsters, and carry that into adulthood (or, just later childhood in Raz’s case). Although, I do understand why Oly would be scarred by his father, but I don’t think we really got confirmation as to why Raz thought his father was so against his Psychic powers. Maybe that’ll be explained in the sequel? Maybe there’s some backstory I forgot about/didn’t know about? Probably. I doubt the writers just forgot about it. 

Worth the 99 cents? Fuck yeah man. It sold me on the sequel, so they’re gonna get my money one way or another.

#psychonauts #opinions #review #rant #rambling #poole #2

[officerjennie]

Chapters: 10/? Fandom: Naruto Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara Characters: Senju Tobirama, Uchiha Madara, Senju Butsuma, Senju Hashirama, Senju Itama Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Supernatural Elements, Warring States Period (Naruto), Child Neglect, Child Abandonment, Tobirama doesn't die in this one, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I have other stories I should be working on, Why Did I Write This? Series: Part 3 of Tobirama in Mythology

Click link to read or continue below the line!

Itama crouched low on the soft earth, shifting his weight as the moss pressed down at his feet. The plant he examined was small, much smaller than expected, but had the right shape and color to its leaves. He pulled out a kunai, cutting off a swatch and pushing himself back up. It may or may not be what he’s looking for, but it’s been the closest so far.

Sunlight filtered in through the towering oaks and pines, making it easy enough to find his way. The root networks this far west stayed mostly underground as well, unlike the trees that grew nearest the compound - Hashirama had mentioned once that it was on purpose, meant to make ground travel more difficult. Itama was just glad to not stub his toe so much out here.

Sensei hadn’t moved from his spot, too busy gathering his own herbs to follow his student, filling the leather satchel hanging at his side with various roots and snipped stems.

“What did you find?” He picked up a stem, dull eyes unfocused as he brought it close to his nose, pinching the leaves to release its scent. Yasuo-sensei didn’t glance at him once, only shoved the stem into his satchel before moving on, expecting him to follow.

“Rue, sensei.” Having yet to have a decent growth spurt, Itama had to trot to keep up. Working quick was always safer when outside the compound. Even teaching had to be done with haste when at war. Besides, Itama was used to people brushing him off, not giving him much time to learn or speak. Most days, it didn’t even bother him anymore.

Sensei snapped his fingers at him while they walked, his footfalls quiet next to Itama’s own rustling feet. He fiddled with his own small pouch, handing the swatch over as he ducked away from a reaching bush.

“And what do we use rue for?”

Itama had expected the question, just as he had expected the uninterested tone. One sprawling root caught his sandal, making him trip and catch himself on the rough bark of an oak, scratching his palms. He dashed to catch back up, not so much as a hitch in his sensei’s stride at his delay.

“We make an antidote, for snake bites.” Tobirama wouldn’t have tripped. He also wouldn’t be making so much noise as he walked. Itama scowled at himself, wiping his stinging palms on his hakama. Walking silent - like a real shinobi - shouldn’t be this difficult. Everyone else could do it.

His sensei hummed, sounding more bored than anything else. “You are correct, on both accounts. But tell me, Itama-kun,” he stopped once more, squinting at a winding vine cutting into greyed-out bark. The tree looked smothered, as if the vine was choking all life out of it. “What do we pair rue with to cure the poison?”

The clan had only a handful of texts dealing with medicinal herbs. Most were part of Hashirama’s personal collection, and contained detailed diagrams, sketches, details on how to care for and grow each species, alongside the typical uses of the plants in question. Some were admittedly outdated, but Itama had read them all anyway, going so far as to borrow his mother’s candles to read into the late evening.

He didn’t know the answer. Even after all of that, hours spent scouring the scrolls, begging Hashirama to help him for just a minute or two, taking notes until his fingers cramped from the effort - even after all of that, his mind drew a blank.

“I don’t know, sensei.” The words tasted foul. Fouler still when he thought of his eldest brother, how he had such a knack for all things that grew from the soil. Hashirama would’ve known the answer.

Sensei glanced in his direction for a moment, patting his head. It made him feel small. He hated it. “Oleander. We mix rue with oleander. You’ll know it by its sweet scent.” His sensei continued on, flicking his wrist to get Itama to follow. “Always be sure to pair the two together. On its own, oleander is lethal.”

“Yes, sensei.” They pushed through a patch of saplings, reaching the meet-up location agreed upon before beginning their herb search. Hiro was waiting for them already, inspecting the last trap on her patrol, being sure the wind hadn’t messed with the camouflage.

She was their guard. Itama knew enough to recognize that. His father refused to let him out of the compound without several other shinobi watching over him, as if he knew his son couldn’t protect himself. He also knew his brothers left the compound frequently, on patrols with no guards or bored sensei along with them. No one having to slow their stride so his siblings could keep up.

“We need to head back, sensei.” His glorified babysitter stood back up, dusting the dirt from her hands, flicking a wary gaze westward. The forest’s edge stood a dozen or so meters away, marking the border between Senju territory and no man’s land. A few miles of neutral ground was all that separated them from Uchiha land now; Itama shuddered at the thought, moving closer to his sensei. Somewhere out that direction, the savages that stole little Kawarama from him lived. He didn’t like thinking of them.

Yasuo walked right past the shinobi, inspecting a bit of foliage that Itama couldn’t tell apart from the rest around it. “The herb harvest is almost done, Hiro-san. I don’t need long.” He pulled out a kunai, using it to dig at some roots. Hiro scowled at his back, though Itama wasn’t sure if for his words or the gross misuse of the weapon. Her hand fell to her side as she scanned the area, resting on the handle of her wakizashi - or was that a katana?

Great. Something else he didn’t know. Itama kicked at a patch of wildflowers, wanting nothing more than to act like a child and cry. But he couldn’t be a child anymore; he scrubbed at his eyes, peeking over at his sensei and the shinobi. At least they hadn’t seen him get upset.

“Taicho.” Another shinobi dropped from the trees, startling Itama enough to knock him over. Neither Yasuo or Hiro had so much as blinked at the newcomer, though they both spared a moment to look his way. He flushed, beyond relieved when Hiro looked away to address her subordinate.

“Report, Eiko.”

Eiko took a moment to kneel, straightening up to address her captain. She barely stood up to the shinobi’s shoulder, and couldn’t have been more than a year older than Hashirama. But she held herself like a soldier, and Itama was certain she’d seen battle. Even her armor seemed a bit used, though it wasn’t like the full sets he’d seen his parents wear.

“The northern border is secure. All traps are still set, with no signs of disturbance.”

“And the eastern border?”

The younger shinobi shook her head, high ponytail swaying behind her. “He’s yet to check in. Should I offer assistance, taicho?”

“No need. He’s not been gone long.” Hiro nodded in his direction, a deep frown stretching at the scar running down her cheek. “We’ll see him home first. If he’s not reported back by then, we’ll head-”

Hiro jumped back, blade drawn. Clinking metal echoed off the trees, five kunai deflected before Itama even knew they were under attack. He saw Yasuo move as well, blocking the projectiles and dodging another, a thick gash sliced on his cheek.

Eiko wasn’t so lucky. One shuriken hit her neck, and she fell lifeless.

Seven shinobi fell upon them. Sensei pulled him back, intent on protecting him at all costs, but did not last long. Itama scrambled back, kunai gripped too tight in his hand, blood rushing in his ears.

Sensei was dead. Eiko-san was dead. They died just like Yoai had, right in front of him, falling, bleeding.

His back hit a tree, weapon lost to the brush around him. Bark rough at his fingertips. He had to hide. They would kill him.

One step, and the twang of breaking wire. It cut into his skin, wrapping his arms to his sides. Twigs cut his face as he fell, a rock sharp in his temple, and his vision blurred.

The fighting died down, crashes of metal and tearing flesh still echoing in his ears but not fresh in the air. Footsteps disturbed the grass near him, the shinobi no longer caring if they were heard.

A harsh kick to his side, pain spreading like wildfire from his ribs, and he was on his back. He bit his lip to keep from whimpering, daring to open his eyes and look at the man towering over him.

“Huh, looks like I caught one.” He had no pupils, just dark purple pits for eyes. His hair was blood red, and he grinned down at Itama, crouching next to him.

“Hurry up. We need to go.”

Itama tried to lift his head at the voice, to see how many there were, but he was stopped by metal on his cheek. The blade of a kunai, tip splitting his skin. He couldn’t stop shaking.

“Are you gonna cry, boy? Piss yourself?” The man mocked him, pressing the weapon deeper his skin. Watched the blood well there, trickle warm down his cheek. Laughed when Itama whimpered, eyes lit with a dark interest he didn’t understand.

“Mai.” The name had the man’s head snapping to the side, dark eyes narrowed and a sneer at his lips. “Either finish the boy, or I will.”

Itama could only see the man above him, shadowed by the trees. A breeze ruffled the blood-red hair, for a moment making him seem almost human. But his muscles were tensed, jaw tight, eyes focused and burning with irritation.

He withdrew the kunai in a flash, making sure to cut Itama’s cheek deep as he did, drawing a hiss from him. “Ruining my fun.” His tone was almost playful as he pushed himself up, disappearing from his line of sight.

There was a heavy thud. A body hit the ground, followed by curses and drawn weapons. Itama’s eyes widened, and he squirmed, trying to roll onto his side despite his body’s pained protests.

He hadn’t seen Hiro fall. Hadn’t heard her die. Was she still alive?

Something snarled, the sound feral and wild. Agonized screams followed the sound of flesh being rent from flesh. The smell of blood, the sounds of terrified curses and slick tearing of skin.

Itama stopped moving, and held his breath. The men who attacked him were being slaughtered only a few meters away. He shut his eyes tight, feeling hot tears prickle at the corners.

All he’d wanted to do was make Father proud. To see his brothers happy again. And now he was going to die for sure, eaten alive by whatever monster had just delayed his death.

The stench of copper and blood overwhelmed him, something wet touching the gash on his cheek. A sob tore out of him, uncontrollable and weak. He had tried. Tried so hard to be strong and brave, just like his brothers.

“Itama?” A gentle hand cupped his cheek, and his eyes shot open.

His armor was splattered in blood, exposed cloth soaked through and sticking to his skin. Thick streaks of red across his face, hair beginning to matt, stained pink and scarlet. His eyes were wide, breaths shallow, hands shaking.

“Tobira-” He choked on the name, a storm of relief and fear and confusion overtaking him. The wire fell from him, cut loose, and Tobirama clutched him tight in his arms, his grip near painful in his desperation.

On some level, he knew they had started moving, his brother picking him up and carrying him with ease. By the time Itama had finally calmed himself, they had arrived back at the compound. From what he could see over his brother's shoulder, they were in a bedroom, tucked into the corner furthest from the door. He squirmed a bit, trying to look around to properly see where they were, but Tobirama's grip tightened with each twitch, as if determined to not let him move even an inch away.

That was how Akamu found them, huddled in a corner, covered in blood. Itama heard her gasp, his mother rushing over to see him - he tried to break free of Tobirama's iron grip, knowing it was childish to want his mother so badly, but part of his brain reminded him that he was a child, and he needed his mother, needed to feel her arms around him to feel safe again.

Her attempts to gather him were met with snarls, and Itama stilled, feeling his brother shaking from the noise ripping out of his chest. It sounded feral, sounded like the monster that had slaughtered the enemy shinobi - he refused to connect the two, to let the image of his doting, loving brother be tainted with the blood drying on both their skins, staining their hair and clothes.

It took an hour to calm him, to loosen the hold he had on Itama. By then, Butsuma had come rushing in as well, hearing reports of an attack and falling to his knees in front of them. It was Father that calmed his brother, hushing his fury and fear, gently removing Itama and placing him in his mother's arms, where he buried himself in the crook of her neck.

That night, after the blood was washed from both of them, Itama wanted nothing more than to crawl into his parent's futon. But one look at his brother, at how close he stuck himself to his side, how Tobirama could barely tear his eyes away from him for more than a moment - and he took his nii-san's hand, leading him down the hall and crawling under the covers next to him, drifting off to the steady beat of his heart and brushed fingers through the white half of his hair.

They both woke up only an hour later, to a sobbing Hashirama. But he had always swung between moods easily, and calmed after only a few minutes, laying himself across his two little brothers and keeping them warmer than any blanket ever could (and snoring loudly in their ears the entire night).

#madatobi #fanfiction #senju itama #itama #tobirama #hashirama #butsuma #original senju characters #mywriting #also on ao3 #midfic #took way too long #also i hate writing fight scenes #slow burn fic

[zebraslovescupcakestoo]

Golden eyes Chapter 18

“He's... he's dying. He's only got a few years left to live.” Mickey explained with sadness.

It was quiet in the room. Walt Disney is dying? I never heard of his health condition in bad condition.

“He have lung cancer. The doctors say he's lucky he's still got a few years left compared to others... But I'm worried...” Mickey said.

“Is that why you were needed today?” Oswald asked him.

He nodded. “But that's not the only reason. They also wanted me to become the next successor to the Disney company. But I don't like their idea!”

We were surprised yet confused. “You didn't want to become a cartoonist?” Oswald asked. “No. I do like drawing and wanted to become one, but that's not the problem!” He told him.

“You don't want to be the next successor then?” I asked him. “Not... exactly. I do, but I wanted to earn it with my own efforts. But that not it either!”

He turned his head a few times to look at us until he yelled in frustration. “AHHHHHHHH! Don't you get it?! They're giving me the whole heritage for when our father will pass away!”

“So?” Oswald asked. “You can direct the studio, products, and the amusement par-”

“That's NOT the REAL problem!” He cut off his brother. “I'm saying that there's no mentioning of YOU in it.” He pointed out.

They... never mentioned Oswald? The heck is this?!

“Why would that upset you?” He sounded like he was used to being forgotten.

“Why are you not upset?! You're the first one AND you have impressive talents too! You even knew the studio better than I can! It's not fair for you!” He tried to convince him.

“They probably think that you're more suited than I am. After all, you're better with people than I am.” He explained. I knew what he meant, but it makes his little brother even angrier.

“They just don't know you better! Besides, I don't care if I had to share the inheritance, you deserve it too!” He tried to convince him.

“I never said I wanted to BE the next in line! Have you ever thought of that?!” Aw snap! Now Oswald is getting mad!

“But there's still nothing for you if I agreed!” Mickey said back.

“I DON'T CARE! I'M USED TO IT!” Oswald yelled at him.

“IT'S STILL NOT RIGHT FOR YOU!” He yelled back.

I sensed this is gonna turn ugly if I don't do something. Then suddenly I yelled at them to stop, lunged forward, took them down with my elbows and we were on the floor. I don't know why I did that, but hey! At least they stopped fighting for a few seconds.

“Is this how you handle when your nephews started to fight each other?” Oswald asked me when he was calmed down. (and he's himself again.)

“Er... No. I actually separate them, but with our height and... you know.” I realized that I was on top of them... and I immediately got off of them. They both sat up and looked away from each other, feeling a bit guilty. Mickey then confessed. “I'm sorry, Oswald. I should have thought about what you really wanted.”

“I'm sorry too. I know you'd do that for me, but I guess I was... stubborn. I'm used to being in the shadows so much that I started to 'adapt' to my second best.” Oswald said while scratching his back head.

“I just wanted you to have the best too! I hate it when they keep forgetting you when it's CLEARLY obvious you're my big brother.”

“Half-brother.” He pinched his little brothers cheeks and spread them a bit. “REAL brother to me!” Mickey then did the same with him. They struggled a bit and Oswald then lock his head and gave him a noogie. “GAH! NOT THE NOOGIE, OSWALD!” He struggles from his grasp until Oswald lets go and he fell back. His older brother laughs as he puffed his cheeks and fixed his hair.

“You really should work on your character.” Mickey told him.

“When people ‘actually’ started to notice me, I will. Now what else is new in our crew?” He fires back at him.

“Well, since you asked so 'politely,' we haven't heard or see anything unusual. I don't know if Bendy DID received that 'special' order. Maybe we foiled his drug renewal plan?” Mickey's got a point. When we switched those necklaces back at that King Dice Casino, the manager must have noticed they were fakes and thus Bendy wouldn't have that 'special' machine from them.

Yet I still have that gut feeling it's not over yet.

“I doubt Bendy will give up that easily. We both knew him well enough that he can play dirty sometimes.” Oswald just had the same idea as mine.

“But we're talking about the King Dice staff and those two assassin magicians! I doubt Bendy can manage those guys even WITH all of his men and Boris at his side.” Mickey explained the exact same thing from what Sam told me.

“Don't forget. He can also 'hire' some professional thieves with the right price. I knew he has a few at his disposal.” Oswald was then explaining HIS reasons to believed why it's not over.

“So what's the plan now? Is there something I can do?”  I was hoping to be any use in this final step to this webbed case.

“Nah. You've done your part. This is personally between us and Bendy.” Oswald 'shooed' me with his hands.

“Excuse me?!” What does that mean? “I want to stop his drug renewal too! Mickey! You were there with me when he was talking about it at the House of Mouse, remember?”

“I know... But... this is something more personal.” He told me with his eyes looking away.

I can't believed what I'm hearing. I helped them with the necklaces and the animals, but they wouldn't let me do the drug bust, which let me remind you that THIS was my biggest problem right now!

“Why can't I? I don't want Bendy's drugs landed on the streets again too! I don't care for the fame of busting it, I'm doing this for the public safety!”

“It's not the drugs we're concerned about, māo.” He then spatted at me.

“Than what did Bendy do to you?” I got up. “Did he did something that got on your bad side? Did he black mailed you or your friends and family? Was it about that heist that happened many years ago?”

He then got angry, got up, grabbed my collar and glared straight in my eyes. Mickey quickly got up and tried to break us up.

“Why the heck would it matter to you? You did your job and we're very 'thankful' for your help. Now you can leave the rest to us. Now drop it!”

“Oswald! Felix! Enough! This is not the time to be fighting each other!” Mickey pleaded and tried to yank his brother's grip on me.

“I'm not 'dropping' it! Not until 'WE' destroy that new drug trafficking!” I'm not getting off this case without a fight.

“Why are you so fixated on drugs? Did you needed that stuff or something?” He then said those fighting words.

I snapped and I sucker punched him across the face really quick. It surprised both of them as Oswald let go of my shirt and staggered a bit. His nose started to bleed a bit. I then feel horrible of what I just did. I immediately took out a napkin and handed to him. “I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't snapped like that. Do you need medical or something?”

He snatched it and whipped his bloody nose. “I never heard of anyone dying from a minor nose bleed. But I must admit, that was a pretty good punch. You could have done well in our practice.”

“I didn't mean to punch you like that! I just... I don't use drugs.” I told him off.

“Then how can you explained some of the marijuana leaves that was stuck on your jacket from that night you went berserk?”

“I was hidden in that delivery truck that Bendy's men have loaded most of those marijuana and they even took that poisonous flower, the oleander, to their new hiding place somewhere at the docks. I understand that you guys wanted to strike only once because of Bendy's 'secrecy' policy.”  I knew it had to be at one of the docks, but the big question is which one we can raid without setting off an intruder alert to the mafia?

“ Hēi māo, you still haven't explained why are you so fixated on the drugs. What's your angle?” Oswald asked again with his poker expression with a raised eyebrow.

I did attack him out of anger... so I told him why I wanted to stop it. “...Meera Kat.”

“Huh? Meera Kat? Who's she?” Mickey asked.

“She used to be an honorary student and class president of the first years in her high school. Good grades, great athlete and she had a scholarship for a top collage when she graduated... at least she was.” I was serious.

“What happened to her?” Mickey sounded worried.

“Bendy Drew happened. He gave her those 'leaves' as a 'sample.' She then was addicted to it. Her grades, her performance, and her upheld 'image' started to drop. She even depleted all of her college savings for those things. Until one day, she was collapsed at school and rushed to the emergency room. She was unconscious and the doctors reported that she got 'stoned' or something. Whatever that means.” I scratched my head out of thinking what words they meant, but I knew what they were talking about.

Mickey gasped. “How horrible!”

“That's hardly compared after she woke up. She then got expelled, lost her college benefit, and just to make it worse, her own parents disowned her... leaving her homeless.”

“Disowned...” Mickey's face expression says that he remembered that feeling. Oswald put a hand on his shoulder. “She's not going to harm you anymore, remember?” Mickey looked at his brother and was relieved with a small smile. He nodded. “You're right. I'm sorry, Felix. Please continue.” He asked. I wondered who was that person they’ve mentioned, but I think I'll ask him for another time.

“As I was saying, she was ruined. Everyone that knew her have 'left' and she was all alone. She was only fifteen. But luckily, it didn't ended there.” I smiled a bit.

“Sam was able to helped her. He started to help by being one of those people who lend a shoulder to cry on, despite his realistic personalty. It started to pay off after a few days of visits when she finally admits why she did took them. She was under pressure from her prideful parents, teachers and peers for her grades and expectations. She was on her breaking point until 'he' offered those drugs as a 'stress relief' for her at a price.”

“Poor Meera Kat. Being under peer pressure was bad enough... but that fear of disappointments, I can relate to that.” Mickey then frowned again and looked down. “My mom... was always expected highly of my performances... If I made a little mistake, she'd make me practice even longer and harder. I almost hated tap dancing if it wasn't for our escape and our freedom with the Red Dragons.”

His mother was abusive to MICKEY too? “Then what happened to her? Did her parents forgave her?” He questioned.

“Not exactly. They were too 'haughty' to take her back. Sam have managed to contact one of her relatives and her aunt have decided to take her in so she can start a new life. After she was 'cleaned,' and was determined to set on the right track again, she now lives with a happier lifestyle at her aunt's ranch in Texas. Last time we heard from her, she send a thank you letter for giving her a second chance and decided to raise horses after her aunt.” I was glad when she did.

“Not that I don't understand or enjoy happy endings, but what does she have to do with this?” Oswald questioned.

“She was a victim of drug usage. Peer pressure is one thing, but Bendy have took her in her most vulnerable state in his advantage and takes all of her savings just to make a few bucks and in Meera's case, she's was only fifteen. That's only seven years older than my nephews. Can't you imagine if it happens to them? What would that affect to the other kids? They don't only follow the adults examples, you know. I wanted to stop any possible drug trafficking so none of them will have to go through the same horrible experience like she did. I doubt that they'll be as lucky as her... or worse.” No kid should have to go thought like she did...

“So that's your reason for wanting to stop this drug trafficking?” Oswald questioned again.

“Yes, for the safety of my city and for kids like her and mines.” Now please let me join again for one more time on this.

They were quiet for a minute until I got my answer from Oswald. “Only if you follow our orders. Bendy knows your movements just as well as ours. However, we do have 'friends' in low places that can help us track their 'shipments.' Mean while, we should just continue our routine 'day' jobs and make it look like we're busy with something else. His 'employes' will eventually slip if it goes smoothly.”

“In other words, once they've slipped, we can get a chance to find their drug factory hide out!” Mickey simplified.

“But just to make sure it won't fall in their hands, I'll be keeping a close eye on the kids. Mostly teenagers. I may not be perfect in my supervision, but at least I can-”

“I understand why you wanted to do that, but it will only shift the problem if he founds out when you 'know' of his plan.” Mickey explained to me.

“You expected me to just let him sell it? I mean, sure it's one tactic but-” *WHACK!* I was greeted with Oswald's karate chop to the top of my head. REALLY hard! I fell backwards and I held my head in pain. “OW! I needed my head too, ya know?!” I glanced at him with one eye opened.

“That's for forgetting what I've just told you not a minute ago. We have 'friends' in low places here. Did you know that stunt men aren't just for the movie sets?” He said.

“What are they gonna do? Fake a car chase or leap from roof tops?” I know that it's a risky position, but I'm still a bit clueless on what he meant.

“What Oswald's trying to say is that our 'members' will act like any other 'customers' or 'dealers' and buys their stuff before they'll ended up in the streets or in the hands on those kids. So there's no need to worry.” Mickey helped me up as he cleared up on that part.  

“I started to feel like you're two and the others are doing all of the work. Not to mention I feel almost completely useless in this crazy case.”

Mickey was surprised while Oswald 'tsked.'

“What do you mean, 'completely useless.' You did a very good job doing your end. You manage to track down a good hiding spot of their drug factory, even if we still don't have a clue which one it is yet.” Mickey tried to cheer me up.

“Did you forget you've played a big part of finding the real necklaces at the King Dice Casino. You even manage to find the mocking sapphire necklace. Some were from Ortensia's jewelries that I got her from our first date... it really means a lot to her.” Oswald calmly said.

“Nooooot to mention that you did pretty well on your investigations with the murdered Mr. Blancheure, your second trip to Mr. Vermelho's rental estate, and you also handled very well with my brother whenever you crossed path with him.” Mickey added.

... Only two of that was ri- Hey, wait just one, cotton, picking, tail a minute! “Mickey, how did you know I've investigated the second time at the rental estate?”

“Two things.” I turned at Oswald with his 'peace' sign. “One: Those marijuana leaves can only belong to Mr. Vermelho in this city. Two: I can hear you shuffling from the elephant bush and you didn't hide well from 'me.'” He then gently taped twice with his index finger next to his head, smirking. Translating to 'I can see and hear more than you think I can.'

Carp fish... I forgot he's got super hearing powers... Not to mention I now know he's got  an eye for details! Yay! Detect my hidden breakfast stains and tell me what I ate while you're at it?

Speaking of lunch. “What time is it? I've lost track of it.”

Mickey looked at his watch. “It's a quarter past twelve. How about we all agreed on the case to just wait for a new lead and settle for that Mexican restaurant I've tried the other day? It's been a while since I had some spicy food.”

“That's because you were crying for water after you had just one bite.” Oswald told him.

“How am I supposed to know it was going to be THAT spicy?! Besides, I heard there's a 'mild' menu for those who couldn't handle it. So how about it?”

I did sort of forgot that today I've decided to eat out for lunch and that Mexican food sounded a good idea to try something new.

---- One time skipping lunch break later -------

Never again I'm going out eating with them.

Here's a 'funny' story that happened. When we arrived at that Mexican restaurant called the Mexicali, it was a very beautiful restaurant from the decor. The food and service was excellent. Our talk over our 'break' was pretty simple and we all agreed on. We just have to wait for Bendy to make a move first and then hit his secret drug factory. This time, they've included me in the search, but only for a look out. I don't blame them since the Alfonso mafia 'KNOWS' me quite well apart from a few tricks up my sleeves.

It was all going well until I got tricked to eat an extremely spicy sauce that Oswald secretly put a little bit on my taco salad while I was distracted by my conversation with his brother. I was lucky nobody was in the restroom at the time cause I bolted through the dinning area like a cheetah on a hunt pursuit!

Mickey made him apologized, but he wasn't feeling guilty. They payed for my meal to make up for it... I can still feel the burning sensation in my taste buds...

I was then dropped off in front of the station, not before they had to put their disguises on due to their... 'status.'

“If there's anything happens, you know where to find me chat noir.” Oswald said. Actually... “Where would that be?” I asked.

“Just go to the bazaar and asked anyone about a police officer. They'll do the rest.”

“Fine.” I got out of the car and they left.

Once I got back to my office, I glance at the calendar and I noticed that today was the day I was supposed to take my nephews to the zoo for a art project at school. They were supposed to draw their favorite animal and they wanted to see them. I gasped a bit.

What kind of an idiot I am for almost forgetting that! I know It's my responsibility to take care of them, but I'm not one of those 'tough' adults that only cared solely for his job. I wanted to be there for them too. When I was at their age, I hardly spend time with him apart when he's exhausted from work despite he's half machine... I was sometimes frustrated when he does, but I knew better than throwing a tantrum over that.

Sure I may not be perfect, but at least I'm doing the best I can to raise them to have a good characters. The only problem I have is my evil twin cousin, Alex Derussée. He's my biggest rival next to Bendy not in a mafia conflict, but trying to steal my girl. He's a thief and a dishonest dirty rat! One time I was at work, he's trying to give me a hard time by teaching the nephews stealing is alright and I had to deal with the aftermath and had to 'reeducate' why it's NOT alright to steal. No wonder my father didn't want them to be with one his relative when.... Never mind.

My head and my right foot was alright since before noon. My taste buds are still burning but I can always bring a water bottle. I wanted to be there for them even if I had to work harder and gave them good childhood memories.

--- Three hours later ----

“Tiger!” “Lion!” Tiger!” “Lion!” They both argued. Inky wanted to draw a tiger and Winky wanted to draw the lion. I guess not ALL twins think alike. “Settle down, both of you. We can do both. We'll go see the Tiger first since it's the closest, and then we can all see the lion after. Sounds good?”

“But Inky's gonna take forever to do the tiger, I know he will.” Winky said and pointed him. “Nuh-uh! I'm drawing fast, you're the one who's slow!” Inky spatted. “Am not!” “Are too!” They argued again. I sighed. “Enough. How about each can have a limit of fifteen minutes to draw. If one of you didn't finish on time, you can finish it at home and we can see the rest of the animals after, sounds good?”

They looked at me and then at each other. Then back at me. “Okay...” They said together. Whew! Hard to get them along sometimes when you need to make some boundaries. We then made it to the tiger pit and Inky was exited. He took his sketch book and the crayons and started right away with his drawings. Winky just watched the tigers while he's doing so. I sat on the bench and watched over. I can't believed they're eight now... it's been what? Four years since dad has been killed and two since the day I finally took custody of them. I remembered they were crying just as much as I did, even if I had to held back my tears a little. They told me at the time I was too young and didn't had enough to support them, so according to my father's will, they were send to our uncle in Scotland who's a detective in his own rights, Purlock Jones. We was supposed to enjoy his retirement until my father's death and he decided to take care of them. But I decided to be the one taking care of them, plus, he's done enough for us and at his age and theirs, it's hard to keep up.

I've went to the police academy right after graduation and I did my best to pass the courses despite they've told me I couldn’t do it because of my size. And now look at me, I've proven them wrong, I got my nephews back once I've earned enough for a living, (of course I've convinced my uncle to let me care for them.) and I'm one of the top detective in this city.

But I did admit it wasn't easy. Apart from life, I used to have problems with my 'sight' that I've covered already to anyone who has followed my past stories... But now that I have my mother's ring, I can now control it and I can focus better on my cases without their interruptions. But I might... 'ask' it if I'm REALLY stuck, or... I remembered that a few night ago that I had that 'dream' of meeting Bastet the second time. It was about my mom and that new 'technique' she taught me that I haven't used yet. She didn't appeared again either... Was is really all a dream or am I supposed to... 'use' the technique before I can 'see' her again?

With so many questions I wanted to ask her, I need to remember I have parental responsi-

I then had my eyes covered from someone from behind and there was a imitation voice. “Guess who?”

Huh? That voice sounded a bit familiar, even of it was a tone down. “... Sheba?”

“Did I made you worry for a second there?” She then lets go and I turned to her.

It really WAS Sheba Beboporeba, my friend in the police academy. She was my second friend and classmate who understood me. She's one of those tomboy girls that has a bit of an attitude but with a heart of gold. She doesn't like dresses and she's really a terrific undercover cop. I felt like it was ages that I last saw her.

“Sheba! I didn't know you were back in town! How was your visit to your grandmother? Is she doing well now?”

“Nah! Don't worry about her, she's doing great. New York was hardly any different from here. I just returned yesterday and I've visited at the station today but you weren't there. Kitty told and fill me in on what's been happening lately. You lucky black cat! Solving a big case of the missing necklaces for the famous Disney's heir, Mickey Walt Disney and his rabbit brother Oswald.” She then head locked me and gave a noogie just to tease.

Winky looked back to see who was giggling, the he was smiling and shouted. “Miss Sheba!” Inky then looked back and he puts down his drawing. “Sheba! You're back!” They ran to greet her with a hug. “Hey you two! Did you both behave while I was gone?”

“We did our best!” They said honesty... I'll let it slide a bit this time. My cousin wasn't around lately, which is a very good news to me.

“What are you all doing here? And what's with that drawing you were doing?” She asked them. Inky quickly got the sketch book and showed her the tiger drawing he's been doing.

“We're making an art project and we're supposed to draw our favorite animals. I did this! Mrarg!” He imitated the tiger and held it in front of his face. “I'm waiting for the lion, so I can draw it much cooler after he's finished.”

“Seems he just did. Wanna go there now?” She asked. I got up until I feel sore and yelped. “Ow!” I rubbed my shoulders. It must have been from that trow down he did...

“Uncle Felix, are you alright?” Inky worried. “Did you hurt yourself again?” Winky followed.

“No no! I just... had a few lessons with a new 'friend' of mine I've met a few days ago. I've been had with his surprise attack.” I explained them with the truth, but not to mention any details because it was Oswald and their favorite actor, Mickey.

“Oh really? I thought you might be getting old.” Sheba laughed and slapped on the other side of my shoulder, RIGHT where the pain was. I hold my screams with all my might and then I fell down on one of my knees after. “Uncle! Are you alright?”

“You don't look too good.” They said. I forced a smile. “Don't worry, I'm just a little tired from this morning. Now let's-” I got up and I staggered a bit. “You need a break, pops. Before you'll need a walking stick wherever you go.” Sheba teased but was serious and got me back to the bench. I'm not 'old,' I'm twenty one!

“I can take them to the lion's den. You take it easy for a few minutes and we'll be right back.” She said. “Alright, but be careful and you two behave for Sheba, she might be tired too from her flight.” I admit defeat and told them.

“Don't cha worry about me for now, relax and enjoy some time alone.” She told me and then takes them to the lion's den far from here.

I was then all alone with nobody else around. I took the opportunity to take off my glove with the Black ring of Bastet to see how it's been doing. It looks good so far, then I put it back on before anyone noticed.

I remembered when I've read about it and that they told me, there was supposed to be two sets of rings. They both had the same purpose, so I think it's probably when there's TWO people with the same 'sight.' or maybe... if I have a kid in the future... he or she might have the same eyes... but only IF I have a kid on my own! That's WAY later in life! I still have time! Just have to keep your focus on what matters most!

I have a goal to bring down the infamous Alfonso Mafia along with his successor, Bendy Drew, which he 'changed' his last name to De Mon since I was told he hated to be called by his real last name.

But I wasn't too stupid to devote ALL of my time just for that! I have friends and family I needed to spend time with. Kitty, Sheba, Inky, Winky, Sam, Woody... Even the new ones I've made during these past few days.

I sighed. Maybe I'm thinking way too hard on this... I think I might need to take a few easy jobs after this so I can just 'relax' a bit.

Then again... While they are at the lion's den, I might try and work on my 'sight' technique. Oswald DID say it grows stronger if I use it often. Of course he was a bit pissed when I said I haven't use it since the casino heist.

It sort of worked on some cats apparently from when I was looking through the Chinese circus the second time with that Mufasa lion. I wondered... I got up carefully and walked to the tiger pit to see the 'mighty' tiger drinking the water fountain.

So how am I supposed to do this again? It did it before on it's own... maybe if I close my eyes and concentrate to think alike or...

I then suddenly felt a jolt and a painful flash passed through me. I held on the bar before I fell aside. “Ow! That hurt!” I whispered.

'That's what you get for using your 'talents' beyond your limit, lost child of Bastet.' A male's voice rang in my head. I looked around and there was nobody there. 'Down here, kid. The same old man you were trying to communicate.' Huh? I looked at the tiger pit again to see who it was. 'He' was the one who was talking to me and was close enough to communicate, eye to eye.

'Took you long enough to 'woke' up that 'talent' of yours, but I guess your blood line was a little different and there was some circumstances from the rumors about your life.' He 'growled.'

Is he... communicating with me?! Did I just do something right on my first try? “H-how? I-Ow!” I felt a sharp pain in my left forehead. 'I told you. This is what you get for going beyond your limits. From where you are now, we had to keep this 'conversation' short as we can. Are you too curious about your 'talent?'

I looked around again in case of someone is near by. I whispered. “I... I barely knew anything about it until recently. I just wanted to know how to use it... I guess there's more to this mystery than it seems.”

'Then take this advice: Don't do anything that's beyond your limit. If you do without Bastet's blessings, you'll get more than just a head ache you just got. Besides, what else did you wanted from an old man like me?' He 'asked.'

“I... wanted to use my 'sight' so that I can use it in my advantage against the people who are responsible of my father's death and to help my family, and my friends too.”

'Oh ho! How heroic, lost child. But tell me, what about your mother? She was murdered too. Are you going to avenge her as well?'  He grinned and it showed his sharp teeth.

I really didn't thought about it. It wasn't like a 'revenge' killing thing, I just wanted to bring justice for my father and anyone else who fell victim. But I haven't... thought about my mother.

I suddenly feel weak as I desperately held on to the safety bar. 'Time's almost up, lost child. We can talk about this once Bastet gives you the blessing to communicate. Think about what we just said.' He turned around and then I feel like another jolt rushed through me. I don't hear him 'talking' anymore... Dang! I took too long to answer that I haven't ask how he knows me and my parents... or Bastet even!

He said that I needed her 'blessing' so that I can communicate without whatever that painfully ran through me... I guess I needed to train my 'sight' a little more... starting with that 'Heat eye' ability it's called. I wondered if I'm supposed to use it before I can get her 'blessing' or whatever. Apart from a slight head ache, I suddenly feel a bit better. I think I might need to sit down a few more minutes before they come back.

I then noticed two people that are walking by. I decided to play it cool and just returned to the bench to make it looked like I was just taking a break.

One was a very tall and buffed man with a beard and a twin ponytail tied behind his back. He had a blue jacket and a black shirt that says 'daddy' with a pair of light bluejeans, and black shoes. Is that Boris Wolfenstein?

I was surprised when he was with a girl that looked like she was in her early teens with long blond hair, black eyes, had a bit of an old fashioned pastel colors of blue, pink and white all over, a knee high white socks with blue heeled buckled shoes.

She looked prett- wait a minute... is that Bendy? What the heck is he doing cross dressing like that?! I looked away just to make sure that I haven't noticed them. Dang it! Out of all days we could have crossed paths, it HAD to be today!

“Is it going so great this week? I've finally have what I wanted after much 'hard' work. Look at my purse!” He imitated a highly pitched girlish voice. I was so distracted about his 'accessories' that he actually wore one... it looked like a pink pastel, heart shaped coin purse. It looked stuffed... is it full of cash? Who did he sell to? Where?

“Don't show it off, sweetie. There might be 'bad' people who might try to steel it.” Boris told him while he put his left hand on his side.

“Oh, I'm not worried about the 'bad' guys, daddy. I'm actually more worried about the 'safety' locks. Who knows what could have happened here. Can we go and get some cake now? I want Ring Dings.” He 'childishly' tone it as they left.

He's got that 'special' machine and he's distributing! He even go all the way to dress like THAT to sell some-

Wait... did he also mentioned about the safety locks? As in, the locks for the animals cages? My eyes were widen in horror.

Sheba and my nephews! They're in danger!

TO BE CONTINUED... Chapter 19.

Read Chapter 17 here.

Read the Beginning here: Chapter 1

So apparently, the brother’s father is dying of lung cancer like the real one. I also added a good reason WHY Felix wanted to put an end for those drugs.

I also wanted to show that he’s also a family guy’s type. He cares for his nephews and he wanted to raise them like his father would have, but Alex is NOT helping... AT ALL! #BoycottAlexthecat

I also added Sheba in this chapter after she was introduced a few months ago and I’m STILL trying to be close to the CANON story as possible.

Also a couple of notes here: I’m almost DONE typing the chapters so I’m going to release both on MONDAY and FRIDAY once I’m finished.

the second is that I’m gonna try to make three NEW characters I’ve mentioned aside Sam Toucan. The first two is already mentioned so far and the third will be in MUCH later chapters. They’ll be drawn soon...

And to close off this week’s chapter: What will happened to Felix’s friend and his nephews when he thinks that the locks are loose?

Read in next week to find out!

BBTIM Characters belong to Marini4. Some OC’s belong to me and Disney’s.

#bendy #bendy and the ink machine #felix #Felix The Cat #Mickey Mouse #mickey #oswald the lucky rabbit #oswald #sheba #oc #fanfiction #marini4

[downtowns-universe]

52 stories #29

Writing blog prompt there is no prompt I do what I want

Characters: Zian, Dai, Tharryn

Words: 3184

(part 1)

Dai just stared at him blankly.

“You didn’t think to mention that earlier?”

“I just woke up! And I didn’t want to mention it in front of Oleander. He’s got enough to worry about already.”

“This could have gone wrong in so many ways,” Dai sighed.

“But it didn’t,” Zian reminded him.

“…Let’s just get you to Tharryn before it does.”

They navigated the town’s streets towards the nearest portal without speaking a word. Perhaps it was the smart thing to do, so people on the streets wouldn’t see them arguing.

Zian felt perfectly normal, and even after inspecting himself couldn’t find any hint of the strange powers he’d absorbed, only the remainder of the energy Dai had transferred to him. He felt strong, ready to take on anything, but he knew that using any of his abilities would be risky right now. He needed to make sure not to trigger anything until they knew what they were dealing with.

 They found Tharryn in the library, reading a book in one of his comfy chairs. He was only half watching a news broadcast, seemingly reporting about the incessant darkness in various parts of the country. Aerina was lying on the floor, drawing what appeared to be monsters with crayons.

“You fixed it?” Tharryn asked without looking up. Zian could tell he was trying to act annoyed and to ignore them for leaving him out of this. It wasn’t very convincing.

“Sort of,” Dai answered.

Zian noticed his phone was still buzzing. Dai kept ignoring it.

“They have to rebuild the cycle,” Zian explained. “Might take a couple of weeks. But we did stop it from exploding and spreading some weird anomaly.”

“Anomaly?” Tharryn finally looked up from his book and put it away.

“Someone set off a bomb, which released some kind of creature,” Zian explained.

“Allegedly,” Dai added. “No one’s actually seen it, but Zian said it was there. Guess we’ll find out soon enough, because…”

“We’ll get to that later,” Zian interrupted him. He’d been thinking of how to formulate his explanation to Tharryn on the way here, and he was going to say it before he’d forget again.

“The spells controlling the cycle were kept in a state of continuous destruction, generating large amounts of energy.”

“And you’ve absorbed that energy,” Tharryn observed.

“We did. The energy was going to build up inside of the time bubble until it exploded, so Dai gave some of it to me and I was able to freeze the bubble and disrupt the process. It… still exploded, but with a smaller force than it could have been, and Dai shielded it off as much as possible.”

“There’s nothing left of the cycle?”

Zian shook his head.

“Just the building. And the schematics Oleander secured, of course.”

“Rebuilding it is going to take weeks…” Tharryn mumbled to himself.

“Yeah, probably. I’m going to try to help, though.”

“Not until we fix you up, you don’t,” Dai protested.

“Fix him up? …What did you do now?”

“It’s no big deal!” Zian shrugged it off. “I feel fine.”

“I’ll leave that to Tharryn to decide.”

Dai glanced at his phone.

“I really should go. They expect a reaction to what’s happened.”

“What will you tell them?”

“That the situation is under control. Which it is. We’ll have a few unpredictable weeks, but there’s nothing to worry about, really. We’re not afraid of the dark.”

He disappeared through the portal. As soon as he left, Tharryn slowly turned towards Zian again.

“So, what did you do?”

“I absorbed all the energy that caused the cycle to break down,” he tried to say as casually as possible.

“…Why?”

“I had to put it somewhere! And there wasn’t really anything around that I could use.”

Tharryn sighed.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”

“I do, in fact. But I didn’t really have any other option.”

“Dai mentioned there was a creature?”

“I, uh… yeah. I haven’t seen it, but I felt something there when I froze everything. There was something still trying to wiggle free from my grip.”

“And you absorbed it too,” Tharryn sighed, needing no more explanation to fill in the blanks.

“I did. At least, I assume I did. Can’t feel its presence at all.”

“Alright, come with me.”

Tharryn closed his book and got up.

“Aerina, don’t forget your homework.”

“Fiiiiine,” the little girl sighed, but she kept drawing.

They left the library and walked through one of the Citadel’s hallways, until Tharryn stopped at a closed door. With a hand motion he removed the magical lock and went inside. Zian followed him. There didn’t seem to be much in the room, just spells on the walls and floor. Tharryn procured an energy container from his robes – did he always keep those at hand? – and placed it on the floor.

“Alright, let’s see what we’re dealing with.”

“Do I have to do anything?”

“Not really, just stand there.”

Tharryn placed a hand to his chest. Zian could feel his energy probing around, scanning every inch of him. He studied his face for a reaction, but he was impossible to read, as usual.

“Charge?” he requested after a while.

Zian called upon his powers, keeping them at the ready, but not using them for anything. His charge was stronger than usual, but it didn’t surprise him because of the leftover energy.

“Hm-hmm,” Tharryn said, still impossible to read.

He knelt down and started drawing circles around the containment unit.

“Well?” Zian asked, getting impatient.

“We’re going to have to get this out of you,” Tharryn said without looking up.

“That bad?”

There was no reaction. Zian didn’t think that was a very good sign.

“Did you find the creature?” he tried again.

“Not yet.”

“Yet? So you will?”

“I might. Right now it’s hiding somewhere in that overload of energy. If it’s even there.”

“Makes sense. I can’t feel it at all. Any idea what it could be?”

“Not yet. I have some books that might know more, but first we need to isolate it.”

Zian looked on as Tharryn started to connect the circles with spirally lines and symbols. Then he picked up a ruler – where had he been keeping that? – and drew some straight lines from the middle circle around the container and outwards. One of the lines was longer than the others, and at the end of it Tharryn drew another circle. After adding some symbols to it, he gestured for Zian to go stand inside it, while he procured a white powder and sprinkled it onto the straight line connecting them.

“What do I do?” Zian asked.

“Nothing. Just stand in the circle.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Let’s get started,” Tharryn said, activating some magic behind his back.

The activating spells, stirring the energy inside of him, felt tingly at first. Then it was like a rush, as it started to move faster and faster – looking for a way out, maybe? Zian wasn’t quite sure what was happening, only that his ears were buzzing and he had to put effort into staying upright. The flow of his energy had become a wild river and he wasn’t going to be able to stay afloat for much longer. It was impossible to tell how much time had passed while in this state, and at times Zian had the impression that time was being manipulated, but he couldn’t figure out whether it was him doing it or not. From time to time he could feel something stirring, something that felt familiar but also very alien. Just when he detected it again, it was like someone had pulled a plug: all of the energy suddenly came rushing out, into the lines of the spell and towards the container. He felt the thing slither along with the stream as the world around him turned black.

 When he woke up he was lying on a couch, a rough blanket draped over him. A familiar feeling told him it had been a couple of hours since his arrival – six hours and forty-seven minutes, to be precise. He swung his legs over the edge and sat up, immediately feeling faint. Had Tharryn taken all of his energy? He tried his charge and it was very weak, barely even there. Seemed like he had.

He’d been placed in the library, so he figured Tharryn wouldn’t be far off. A table close by was littered with books, a cup of coffee standing amidst them. Knowing Tharryn, it would probably be cold. Getting up cost some effort but once he was standing he was able to support himself on the bookshelves and shuffle along. A glimpse at the books told him that most of them were about creatures, although there were also some spell books. Just as he’d turned around to go look for him, Tharryn appeared from behind a shelf, carrying more books.

“You shouldn’t be up,” he said as he hurried towards the table to put them down.

“In fact, you shouldn’t even be awake.”

He grabbed Zian’s arm and guided him back towards the couch. Zian sat down and grabbed his head to fight the dizziness.

“What did you do? I’m… not feeling so great.”

“I tried to sequestrate, but it was ineffective, so…”

“You did what?”

Tharryn reconsidered and tried again.

“I tried to isolate the strange energy from your own to be able to capture it, but couldn’t manage to separate the two, so I took everything. I’m still working on separating them inside the container, where it can’t hurt you, but it’s a work in progress.”

“You took all of my energy?!”

“It was necessary. Whatever you were harnessing, it was unstable and dangerous. I couldn’t risk any of it being left there. When I manage to clear your energy, you can have it back – if you haven’t recovered by then, that is. It’s remarkable, I expected you to be out for at least another two hours.”

“Guess I’m stronger than you thought,” Zian grinned.

“This has nothing to do with strength.”

Tharryn walked back to the table.

“I don’t want you off that couch for the next hour.”

“But I’ll be bored!” Zian protested.

Tharryn picked up a book that had been opened on a specific chapter, and brought it to him.

“See if any of this sounds familiar to you,” he said, pointing at a page depicting a fox-like creature. “There’s a couple of entries in there that specifically mention time.”

Zian glanced at the page.

“You do realise I can’t read this, right?”

Tharryn looked at it again.

“Oh, my bad. I also have a version in Issadic.”

Zian wanted to ask if he had any earth languages, but he already knew the answer. Luckily his Issadic was decent, as it was the language most spoken by Dai’s subjects. Tharryn returned with the new book and he leafed through the pages for a while. Except for the fox creature, all of them looked terrifying, with pointy teeth, many eyes or many legs. The descriptions were filled with technical terms he couldn’t quite translate, and the parts he did understand didn’t sound familiar at all. He wasn’t really sure what to look for, since he hadn’t even seen the creature and barely experienced it otherwise. When he’d looked at all of them, and looked at some pictures in the rest of the book, he put it away and closed his eyes for a moment.

He must have fallen asleep, since the next thing he knew Tharryn was shaking him awake.

“Come on, you should see this,” he said.

“Am I allowed off the couch now?” Zian mumbled while rubbing his eyes, before realising it had been over two hours already.

He followed Tharryn down the hallway, down some flights of stairs, more hallways, to finally end up in a part of the Citadel that was clearly not frequented much. Zian could see experimental setups behind some of the doors, scorch marks on others. Tharryn entered one of the rooms and picked up something from the table.

“Here. I managed to clear this of everything that doesn’t belong.”

Zian took it, feeling the familiarity of his own energy. It felt surprisingly strong for such a small container. He wondered how much energy it would be holding.

“You’re doing pretty alright at the moment, so I’d save it for later if I were you,” Tharryn suggested while moving out into the hallway again already.

Zian cast a look at the table and saw more containers sitting there, some hooked up to wires or tubes of some kind. He must be working on further separating the energies he’d extracted. He possibly even kept some of his “clean” energy for later use, without bothering to ask him. Zian followed Tharryn to confront him about this, when the sight of the next room made him fall silent.

A bubble in the middle of the room held a creature, an elongated shape seemingly swimming through the air as if it were water, surrounded by wisps of smoke, tracing the air with every movement. It was slightly see-through, as if not fully there, but didn’t seem to be able to escape its bubble. The creature’s body was smooth and snakelike, reminding Zian of that of an eel, but its head most resembled an insect, with strong pincers for jaws. It had many eyes, looking in all directions until it caught sight of Zian and all eyes shifted towards him. Even though it had been shielded by the bubble, Zian could feel something in the air around him. It was very subtle, like a gear clicking into place, but he noticed his ability to tell time had been thrown off by a few seconds.

He knew without a doubt that this was the creature that had destroyed the cycle. Mostly from its energy signature, but strangely enough he also recognised its shape, even though he was sure he’d never seen anything like it. It felt… familiar.

“That thing was inside of me?!” he yelled, suddenly realising why.

Tharryn nodded.

“But it’s bigger than me!”

“It’s an interdimensional being, size isn’t relevant. If it wanted, it could project itself to fit inside your hand – or to the size of a building.”

“That’s…” he didn’t finish, just looked at it.

“I told you it was a stupid idea. Never put strange things into your body; everyone knows that.”

“So… what does it do? And more importantly: did it do anything to me?”

“You’re just fine, don’t worry. And for what it does; I’m not sure. For as far as I can tell, it exists in multiple places at the same time,” Tharryn said. “I’ve trapped it, but it could just manifest fully in whatever other place it’s currently at to escape. It might be that the only reason it’s still here is because it’s intrigued by us.”

“Multiple places at once, huh? Could those places also be two points in time?”

“Possibly. That would explain how it kept the cycle in that state for so long.”

“But it also controls time in some ways. I just felt it do that.”

“It does,” Tharryn confirmed. “It’s also drawn to temporal magic. I actually managed to draw it out of the container by offering yours.”

“You fed it my energy? What did it do with it?”

“It absorbed it, then started to secrete the smoke. I shielded it out of caution, and it has been doing that strange swimming motion ever since.”

Tharryn looked from Zian to the creature, and back to Zian.

“Until now.”

The creature had stopped its circles and instead hovered in place, its body waving gently. All of its eyes were still fixated on Zian.

“I think you have a connection,” Tharryn said, sounding slightly surprised.

“Or it just sees me as a yummy snack,” Zian shrugged. “Thanks for giving it a taste, by the way.”

“You’re the one who literally put it in your body,” Tharryn pointed out. “But I don’t believe it wants to eat you. It would have done that by now.”

“Maybe it was full. I did have a lot of energy to feed from.”

“I don’t think that’s it. But I could remove the shield if you want to find out?”

“Oh, yes, I’m dying to be eaten.”

Zian rolled his eyes.

The creature still stared at him, and created another small temporal shift, almost as if trying to get his attention. Its powers worked differently from his, he could tell. Just to see what would happen, he sent a small pulse back, freezing time for only a second. The creature wiggled its body, creating another fluke. They exchanged this a couple of times, while Tharryn was watching, fascinated. Then Zian gave him a nod: let the shield down.

The creature, freed from its bubble, went straight for Zian, circling around him. Zian stopped time completely now, seeing what it would do. The creature swam around faster, making sweeping movements close past him. When it had picked up some speed, Zian felt another one of the clicking motions and watched how the creature bent time around itself, temporarily appearing in two places at once, chasing itself. Then, without a warning, both of the dark shapes disappeared, leaving Zian with a splitting headache as time, bent too far out of his control, slipped through his fingers.

“Is it gone?” Tharryn asked.

“How am I supposed to know? I have no idea what it even did!”

“At least you got to see it. For me, everything became blurry when it started to circle you.”

“Right. I forgot to properly exclude you,” Zian realised.

“I felt part of it, though. Seemed pretty similar to interdimensional gateways. I think it used you as a catalyst to create a portal.”

“It just wanted to go somewhere,” Zian pondered. “Maybe that’s all it was doing to the cycle as well. It didn’t have any bad intentions.”

“But whoever put it there did,” Tharryn reminded him. “They set off a bomb to release it; that must have upset it.”

“Anyway, it’s gone now. And it didn’t eat me. I’d say that’s a win.”

“How are you? You look a bit shaky. Do you need some energy?”

Zian realised he was still holding the capsule. He shook his head.

“No, I mostly just have a headache. Whatever that creature’s doing, it’s above my understanding.”

“I think I can help with that,” Tharryn said. “Let’s go back up. I’ll finish the rest of my research later.”

“Sorry I let it get away, in case you wanted to examine it further.”

“It’s alright.”

“Do you think it’ll come back?” Zian asked, looking back at the room for traces of smoke.

“I can’t say. It has gotten a pretty good taste of your magical signature. So maybe, if it ever needs a ride again.”

Tharryn gestured towards the stairs.

“Now, let’s see if we can find Dai on TV. And get you something for that headache.”

Zian turned around and followed him, a small trace of smoke trailing after him.

#story #52stories2018 #still horribly behind :)) #there was a heatwave :)))) #zian #dai #tharryn

[downtowns-universe]

52 stories #27

What if... the sun doesn’t rise one day

Characters: Dai, Zian

Words: 5758

It wasn’t until late in the morning that people had started to panic. The cycle was off sometimes, they were all used to it by now. But normally the light would come in at some point, usually when people were on their way to work, or had already started their day in the dark. But today was different. The world stayed dark, the sky ranging from pitch black to dark grey or deep blue in some places. Especially the humans and younger demons, who had never experienced the way it had been before, were disoriented by the prolonged night. For older demons it was a reason to reminisce about the past, about the time where patches of darkness moved across the land much like clouds would, propelled by the elements, their trajectory only roughly predictable. For school teachers it was a reason to repeat that lesson about how their master conjurors had created an artificial night and day cycle, much like that of earth, which had brought rhythm and order to their lives.

Dai had been in a meeting in LA, and because of that had been informed of the situation pretty late. When he arrived in Trenmer he saw there were already people out on the street, trying to regulate things and addressing people’s concerns. His soldiers saluted as soon as they recognised him. He could see the surprise on some of their faces, as they had not been informed of his arrival. It wasn’t exactly necessary for him to be here: he was sure his people could handle the situation without his supervision. He didn’t even really know what to do since he knew nothing about the powers at play here. He’d planned to take Tharryn, as he suspected he’d be interested, but to his surprise had found him asleep and couldn’t bring himself to wake him, not even for a situation like this. Zian on the other hand had been eager to come along, saying he’d always wanted to see how the construction behind the cycle was set up. Of course he was, if it was time-related.

When they entered the building, people were frantically running around, reminding Dai of a colony of ants. If they knew what they were doing, their actions surely didn’t show it. Amidst the mayhem he spotted their supervisor, Oleander, who was issuing commands but his soft-spoken voice was overruled by the crowd’s panicking. How different was this from his previous visits, when Oleander would have his people strictly in line, often only needing a slight movement of the head to make them understand his wishes. A well-oiled machine. Right now it seemed like something had thrown the machine terribly off-balance.

“Something’s wrong here,” Zian mumbled, while looking at the scene, alongside Dai.

“Really? What makes you think that?” Dai chuckled.

“I mean, it doesn’t feel right. Like someone’s messing with time – not me,” he added unnecessarily.

“It would make sense to be time-related,” Dai considered. “You think you can find out what it is?”

“Maybe… but first this chaos needs to end. And I’m gonna need someone who knows the place.”

“Could be arranged,” Dai said while throwing some magic together and releasing it above their heads, resulting in a loud bang.

The people stopped to look up, some taking cover or defensively putting their arms up, but they were all quiet. Dai started to make his way through the crowd towards Oleander, who had taken the opportunity to issue commands that people could actually hear. Only now that the chaos had slowed to a standstill, it became clear that there was more going on than just blind panic. Lights were flickering on panels everywhere, and structural spells laid out along the walls sparked dangerously, seemingly on the verge of collapse. Some people had already refocused their attention on their tasks to keep them from doing so.

“What’s the status?” Dai asked when they’d reached Oleander.

“There’s been an incident that destabilised one of the spells at about 5am this morning,” the supervisor reported. “We’re not sure yet what happened, but it caused a chain reaction, rapidly destabilising the entire cycle, causing it to be stuck in the same position since that moment. I’ve called in all of the workers and controllers, but we’re making slow progress on getting it back up, seeing as we’re too busy trying to keep everything from falling apart.”

“It seems like you could use some help.”

Oleander nodded, looking at his workers who had already begun to run around again, most of them without a clear purpose.

“I’m not sure what’s gotten into them, they’re completely out of control. That’s why I called in those who were off duty, to get some fresh eyes on the situation. They’re the only ones that seem to be doing anything useful. The rest are just… doing that.”

“Perhaps they’ve been affected by whatever caused this. They were all present while it happened, right?”

“Yes.”

“We need to figure out what happened. Where did the first incident take place?”

“Follow me.”

They moved towards a different part of the building. Oleander stopped a few times along the way to respond to questions his workers had. He also tried to put more people to work, but most of them just stared at him with big eyes. They did seem to listen, but as soon as they’d acknowledged and turned around they seemed to have forgotten already.

“That strange energy is getting stronger here,” Zian remarked.

“You’re feeling it too?” Oleander asked.

Zian nodded.

“Something’s off, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

He turned to Dai.

“Don’t you feel it?”

Dai could feel energy escaping from the damaged spells everywhere around them, but nothing that indicated that someone had been messing with time.

“No. But time isn’t exactly my specialty,” Dai shrugged. “That’s what I have all of you for.”

It was a good thing he brought Zian. Perhaps he’d be able to help in a way the controllers weren’t capable of. Although both were time-based, the abilities of those who worked on the cycle differed from Zian’s. Controllers were selected from schools all over the country, based on their potential, but the base of their magic was one that every demon above a class of 5 could in theory inhabit, were they trained this way. Zian’s powers were of a more unique kind, and couldn’t be acquired just by the right training; you either had it or you didn’t. Dai was sure there would be more inherent differences as well, but he didn’t know all of the details, just that cycle controllers weren’t able to manipulate time on the kind of scale Zian did.

A construction on the wall close to them creaked alarmingly when they passed by.

“We need to hurry,” Oleander said. “More and more spells are starting to give out and I don’t have any more people to keep them in place. Constructs such as these might start to collapse soon.”

“Can’t you just freeze everything to buy the controllers some time?” Dai asked Zian.

“No?!” Zian responded, sounding perplexed. “Combining multiple temporal elements would probably only make it worse!”

“I wouldn’t know, I didn’t study temporal magic,” Dai shrugged.

“Then shut up,” Zian responded, dead-pan.

Dai noticed how Oleander’s gaze nervously shifted towards him, analysing his response. If this had been anyone else, a comment like this wouldn’t go unpunished, but from Zian he’d more or less expected it. Besides, they had more pressing matters to focus on now.

The hall they entered next looked very much like a bomb had gone off in the middle of it. There were scorch marks all over the floor, spreading outwards, and whatever had been standing there had been blown back against the walls. Whatever spells had been on the walls had been either evaporated, traces of them seared into the plaster, or so heavily damaged that they’d collapsed in on themselves, leaving only a tangled mess that was risky to get close to due to the bolts of energy they regularly released. Workers had started to clear out some of the debris, while controllers attempted to rein in the unmanageable spells. The air in the room was thick with energy, probably that which had been leaking from the spells for hours now. Dai could tell that any effort of charging spells anywhere in the complex were futile as long as things weren’t fixed here.

“I guess it’s safe to say something exploded here,” he said.

He started walking towards the blast site, but Zian held him back.

“Wait.”

He halted for a moment, but continued when his warning wasn’t followed by an explanation. Dai knelt down, touching his fingers to the charred floor. Apart from the black marks, there was nothing noteworthy about the area. No shards, no residual energy from whatever weapon was used: only the constant presence of energy seeping from the walls, pressing down on them like a blanket. He looked back at Zian, who was still keeping his distance.

“I don’t feel so good,” he uttered.

“It’s quite overwhelming,” Oleander agreed. “I already let my people work in shifts to make sure they aren’t overcharged with all of this energy running wild.”

Zian vaguely shook his head.

“No, no, that isn’t it. I can take the energy. Just tingles a bit. There’s something else…”

He looked at the blast site in the middle of the room.

“Something… wrong. Like the fabric of time is being stretched and folded and…”

Zian gestured around him, trying to find the right words, then looked at Oleander for support. Dai observed him and soon came to the conclusion that Oleander had no idea what he was talking about.

“I thought you felt it too?” Zian tried.

“I felt the energy leaking from this room, and I can feel all of the spells that are failing because it’s my energy flowing through them,” Oleander considered. “I can feel everything my controllers are doing to fix it, and the confusion of the others who are just walking around aimlessly. I can feel all of that, and in the meantime there’s this little voice in my head that keeps yelling that it’s not enough and eventually everything will go horribly wrong.”

He took a moment to take a breath.

“Apologies. What I’m trying to say is, I can feel a lot of things being wrong, but they all originate from the spells. From my work. Nothing like what you described. But my connection to the flow of time isn’t as strong. I don’t think I’d be able to sense it amidst this mayhem.”

Zian, in the meantime, had been taking some steps back towards the door. Dai noticed he’d gone very pale.

“Do we need to leave?” Dai asked.

Zian shook his head.

“I just need a moment.”

“We can discuss what to do from the hallway as well,” Dai decided, and dragged Zian along.

When they’d moved away from the source, Zian started to feel better again. He stared at the room for a while, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

“Were you here when it happened?” he eventually asked Oleander.

“I wasn’t. I was at home, which is practically next door, so I was able to get here shortly after.”

“So you weren’t affected by whatever was released here,” he suggested.

“I guess it’s safe to assume that I wasn’t, considering I still know what I’m doing.”

“Fair point.”

Zian stopped a glassy-eyed worker who happened to pass by. There was a glint of surprise in their eyes, then they just stared at him.

“Would be great to have Tharryn here,” Zian mumbled while putting his hands on them, trying to detect anything at all.

Dai couldn’t agree more with this statement, and regretted letting him sleep. He could feel Zian release healing magic, but it didn’t have any effect. The effects that this outburst of magic seemed to have had were more of a mental nature than a physical one – that, or it was a curse, which would make it even more challenging.

“If we find no other option, I could try to persuade them,” Dai offered. “It wouldn’t help them, but we’d at least have a better chance of fixing the cycle. It would be easier to find a way to help them later, when everything isn’t about to explode.”

“Yeah…” Zian absentmindedly mumbled, while trying some more time-based solutions on the worker.

“I don’t have any better plans,” Oleander shrugged.

“We need to take care of whatever’s in there first,” Zian said, pointing at the room. “Right now it will just screw up any attempt of fixing anything.”

Right as he said that, a big amount of sparks was released from one of the spells. The controllers who’d been working on it managed to dive out of the way, but they’d have to start the work they’d been doing all over again.

“You might be right,” Oleander sighed. “I can’t say we’ve made any progress since this all started. If I’m honest: I’m surprised anything is still standing at all. Nothing has changed…”

“…like it’s being kept in place!” Zian finished, veering up.

He looked at the room again with renewed interest, and even – cautiously – stepped through the door. Dai could tell he was working to connect the dots in his head.

“Talk to me,” he said as he followed him inside.

For a moment he thought Zian hadn’t heard him, then he turned around. Dai recognised the look in his eyes as the one he always had when he was monitoring or controlling time.

“This… bomb, or whatever it was, it created a bubble in which time moves differently, much like I can do. It’s just… a lot more complex than anything I’m capable of. It’s as if time is paused and moving at the same time. Like…”

He seemed to look for words, then sighed.

“Tharryn would probably kill me for this description, but… imagine there are two scenarios, one in which time is stopped, and one in which it continues as if nothing happened. Usually, only one of those scenarios will come to pass, right? Now imagine that there is something – for convenience sake, let’s call it a bomb – that’s capable of letting both of these scenarios become reality. For that to happen, one would need two timelines, two dimensions, whatever you want to call it – and combine them into one. Now, I’m not sure how someone would be able to pull this off, or the mechanism behind it, but – and this is the part Tharryn isn’t going to like – we can all agree that it would become a giant mess. These things can’t be happening at the same time, and yet they somehow are. Things would change, while at the same time staying the same. It would probably create some kind of paradox, and become a bigger and bigger mess the longer it’s allowed to continue.”

Zian took a moment to take a breath – and a step back, since being in the room still didn’t seem to be very pleasant for him.

“So, adapted to the situation here,” Oleander contemplated. “When the bomb went off, everyone inside got frozen in time, as it were. But at the same time they weren’t, since they’re still walking around. But they’re not really here.”

“Yes. For them, it is still that moment. That’s why they’re unable to follow commands, or do anything useful, really. They’re either in a constant state of panic, or stuck in some kind of loop that keeps them from retaining information.”

“That’s why it doesn’t affect anyone who came in later. They only exist in one of the scenarios.”

“Technically, I think everyone inside the bubble exists in both, but let’s not get into details,” Zian waved it away. “When the bomb went off, the power surge travelled through all of the spells, causing some kind of short-circuit. Part of them is still acting like this is happening or has just happened, part of them has moved forward in time, collapsing in on itself. Only they aren’t able to actually collapse as they are being held in place by the part that’s frozen.”

“Which would be why there’s such a huge amount of power leaking away, even though the spells should have been drained or collapsed by now,” Dai added.

“Exactly. Basically, they’ve turned this place into a giant generator, creating energy by tricking physics.”

“Tharryn is going to be so mad he missed this,” Dai sighed.

“We’ll bring back a sample for him, if I can manage to safely isolate some. But first I need to find out where exactly it’s coming from.”

“That’d be nice, but I think our first focus should be to stop it,” Dai pointed out.

“I agree. For now this thing is contained to a bubble, I’m guessing about the size of the explosion radius, so everything outside of it will be unaffected and time there will continue as usual. But if it’s allowed to go on, more and more power will start to build up inside of the bubble, which I guess will at some point… pop.”

“Creating an even bigger bomb,” Oleander added.

“Of course!” Dai realised. “This has been the plan all along. I already thought taking out the cycle was an odd move, but I assumed it was just to create chaos. But a giant bomb…”

“Another faction must be behind this,” Zian sighed. “Or rebels, maybe.”

“Would this bomb spread the, uh, weirdness even further?”

“I don’t know. Not planning to find out either.”

“How do we stop it?”

Zian squinted at the centre of the room, again trying to look for some clue.

“Since it’s time-based, I could go in there and try to mess things up.”

“You just said combining temporal magic was a bad idea.”

“It is. But destabilising it could be just what we need.”

“It would destroy the cycle,” Oleander reminded him.

“The way it’s heading now, it’s going to destroy way more,” Dai sighed.

“How long would it take to recreate the cycle from scratch?” Zian asked.

Oleander considered this.

“Weeks,” he said. “Some of these elements are centuries old. We have blueprints, of course, and I’ve studied them closely, but creating them would be time-consuming. Not to mention all of the calibrating that needs to be done once everything is back into place.”

“I could probably arrange some help,” Dai offered. “There’s more time-based facilities out there.”

“That would shorten the wait a little, but even then there’s only so many people who can work on a spell at the same time.”

“I don’t think we have any other option,” Zian said, still staring at the blackened floor. “The spells are already in a terrible state; even if I could find a way to end this without destroying them completely, they’d collapse as soon as they’re no longer suspended. We’d be left with a tangled mess even worse than this. I don’t see how fixing that would be any faster than starting from scratch.”

“You’re right. And if someone were to make just a tiny mistake, the safety of everyone inside would be at risk.”

“Alright, so we’re blowing this thing up,” Dai summarised. “But first we need to get everyone out. The energy that’s been building up so far could already cause a lot of damage.”

He took a moment to assess the air around him, then turned to Oleander.

“Collect everything you need to rebuild the cycle; blueprints, spell books, magical items– everything.”

“Yes, sir. But what about my people? Sounding the alarms won’t work for those that are stuck and won’t listen.”

Dai put a hand on his shoulder, marking him with a trace of magic.

“Leave them to me.”

Oleander nodded and disappeared down the hallway.

“What are you going to do, persuade them one by one?” Zian asked. “There won’t be enough time for that.”

“I’ll just have to tell them all at once,” Dai grinned.

“…How? You’d need a giant reach for that. Not even you have that much power.”

“You seem to be forgetting one little thing,” Dai continued while gesturing around them. “I can just take it out of the air.”

Zian seemed taken aback for a moment. He obviously hadn’t thought about that.

“Right. Yes. Great!”

He seemed to be considering new possibilities.

“Take in as much as you can. The more you absorb, the smaller the chance it’ll explode.”

“What if I channel it to you?”

“I… I’m not sure I’d know what to do with that much power, but we could try. But you’ll have to stop as soon as I say so. If you don’t, I’ll be the one exploding.”

Dai chuckled.

“That’d be interesting.”

“It really won’t.”

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. But first, let me get those people out of here.”

Dai started gathering energy from his environment, a technique he’d developed with Tharryn’s help. He didn’t really have to put any effort into it, as the energy had built up quite some pressure inside of the time bubble, and seemed to be glad to find a way to escape into. Soon, he’d gathered enough to be able to pull it off, but he kept going, just to see how far exactly he could go. This was the perfect setting to test such a thing, where the energy he took wouldn’t be creating a vacuum and endanger everything around it. Because of this risk, he didn’t use this skill very often. He also didn’t really need to, as his capacity to contain energy was already substantial just in itself.

“Dai,” he heard, rather pressing.

“Yes, yes, I know.”

To exclude him from the command he was about to give, he touched Zian’s shoulder, who flinched at the amount of energy crackling through him. And then he hadn’t even released it yet. He decided to hold back with supplying Zian once they’d get started, or else he’d probably fry him on the spot.

At this point, he didn’t even need to give a verbal command – which was good since he couldn’t shout that loudly – and just pushed get out into the heads of everyone within reach except for Zian and Oleander, who he’d excluded earlier. The workers still present in the room immediately reacted, dropping everything they were working on and heading for the door.

“I guess that worked,” Zian said, watching them as they passed by.

“I’ll give a heads-up if they’re all outside,” Dai said. “I think you have about five minutes to prepare.”

“You know,” Zian said over his shoulder while he approached the blast site. “I have no idea how long we’ve been in here. This thing has completely thrown off my powers. How do you people do this?”

“Do what?”

“Not knowing what time it is.”

“We use these things called clocks,” Dai grinned, leaning against the doorframe while taking in new energy.

“Yes, but… you know what, never mind.”

Zian continued to circle the blast site. It was obvious that he was still being affected by whatever was going on by the way he moved; sluggishly, like every move cost him effort. Dai in the meantime worked on placing shields in various places throughout the building, after they’d been cleared of all workers. Hopefully they would help to minimise the damage just a tiny bit. He made sure to create the most powerful shields he could manage – he had some energy to burn through.

Once everyone had gone outside, including Oleander, Dai placed a shield along the walls of their room as a finishing touch. He noticed some resistance in trying to keep all of them up, probably caused by the two timelines both pushing and pulling on them.

“Ready?” he asked Zian, who’d backed off to lean against the wall, still staring at the middle of the room intensely.

“Guess I have to be,” he sighed while pushing himself off the wall.

“I’ll shield us in case something goes wrong.”

“Thanks for the confidence,” Zian grinned, but didn’t seem very certain himself either.

He moved towards the blast site, stopping just at the edge of the blackened floor.

“Alright,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Alright.”

Dai stood right behind him, lightly touching his shoulder to be able to channel the excess of energy towards him. Or at least a fraction of it. Dai still hadn’t stopped taking in energy, which kind of surprised him, but of course the shields also demanded a lot. By now he wasn’t able to tell if the energy levels inside the building had gone down, as the portion of it that was crackling through his body distracted him too much from getting any accurate readings.

“Here goes nothing,” Zian said as he started to flood the room with his energy, then held it tightly in his grip.

Immediately, there was a reaction, as a deep rumble could be heard from some unidentifiable source. He could feel how Zian increased power, and the rumbling became louder. It was like everything in the room started to vibrate, the spells dangerously warping out of place, sparks flying from them. Some of them flickered, as if they jumped in and out of existence. This must mean it is working, Dai thought. The two timelines were separating again.

Then, without a warning, Zian released his grip, and everything blinked back to the way it was before.

“Are you alright?” Dai worriedly asked.

“I’m fine,” Zian panted. “But it’s not enough. This room isn’t enough. I need to target the entire bubble, or it will all just slip away out of my grasp.”

“It? What’s it?”

Zian vaguely gestured.

“Whatever is causing this. I thought it was just energy, but it feels more like something… alive.”

“Alive?” Dai considered this. “The bomb released a creature?”

“I don’t know. All I can tell is that it keeps slipping through my fingers like smoke.”

“Alright, then we’ll target the entire building. …Can you do that?”

“I can, but not for long. So you’d better up the dosage.”

“By how much?”

“Surprise me.”

Without wasting any time Zian got back to it, spreading his powers further this time, until he had the entire bubble in his grip. Dai felt his energy levels quickly depleting, and continued transferring his. The rumbling started again, more intense this time as the entire building was shaking. He could tell Zian used different techniques, even though he didn’t know what for, but he assumed it was to counteract whatever the clash of two timelines had created. The spells started blinking in and out of existence again; first really fast, almost unnoticeable, then slower and slower until they’d reached a steady pace.

“More,” Zian said. There followed no explanation; he’d been struggling enough to speak the one word while keeping his concentration.

Dai had been supplying him with a steady flow of energy, putting in about the same amount as was going out, but apparently that wasn’t enough. Scared to overdo it, he slowly upped the dose. When it had gotten to a point where many a human would simply give out, he stopped again.

“More!” it sounded again.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

Figuring Zian was no average human, and would know his own limits, Dai obliged. For a moment it seemed like he’d overdone it as Zian needed to steady himself and his grip on the room appeared to weaken. Then he straightened up and sent out a pulse of concentrated energy, the sensation of which was almost surreal. Dai felt its strength, and the force with which it was sent out, but could see none of those things reflected in anything around them it came into contact with. The rumbling stopped. The vibrating stopped. The spells had stopped popping in and out of existence and instead remained hidden. There was just a deafening silence enveloping them, without any hint of movement.

Zian had finally gotten the entire bubble into his grip, Dai realised. As usual, he was still able to move, but for the first time he wasn’t sure whether this had resulted from Zian being unable to stop him. He suspected that in this case he’d simply excluded him, so he’d be able to continue supplying him with energy. They stood like that for a couple of minutes; nothing happening, nothing moving. The only thing still going on was the steady flow of energy Dai still transferred to Zian.

“Did you get it?” he carefully asked.

Zian, still deeply concentrating, didn’t respond.

Another minute passed. Dai felt the energy levels from his surroundings dropping quickly now that time was suspended. Just when he was about to point this out, Zian turned around.

“Get ready,” he said, looking up at him, eyes lit up from the power still coursing through him.

“For what?” Dai asked, right as Zian released his grip.

For the first couple of seconds, all Dai registered was something hitting his shields in the far corners of the building. That feeling rapidly came closer, and just as he’d pulled Zian close – he’d gone strangely limp – and formed a shield to protect them, the world around them lit up in a series of bangs and hisses, accompanied by blasts of brightly coloured energy. It was as if every spell that had been on the walls had simultaneously exploded – which was probably exactly what had happened.

The chaos didn’t take long, and when the smoke had cleared Dai looked around them. Now not only the floor, but also the walls had been blackened. There wasn’t a single spell left standing, and not many other things either, save for some unidentifiable burning remains. Zian had gone unconscious, but Dai could feel a large amount of the energy transferred to him still inside of his body. He’d probably be fine soon. Not wanting to wait for that moment, he lifted him up and carried him outside.

Oleander spotted him immediately as he set foot outside, and came running. The many workers surrounding him seemed disoriented, but otherwise fine.

“Is he alright?”

“Probably. I wouldn’t touch him quite yet, though. Or me.”

A crackle of energy ran down his arm as soon as he said that.

“Follow me,” Oleander said. “We can bring him to my house.”

Zian needed about half an hour to come to. Dai was sitting by his bedside, scrolling through his phone to see what he’d missed, when his friend suddenly gasped and jolted upright.

“Welcome back,” Dai grinned.

After one look in his bewildered eyes he could tell Zian still had a huge excess of energy.

“Did we do it?” was the first thing he asked.

“You did it.”

“Oh, good.”

He dropped backwards onto the pillow again.

“That sure was something.”

“Sure was,” Dai agreed.

“Is everyone alright?” he asked, eyes closed, hands folded behind his head.

“They’re fine. All back to normal. But those affected are being brought to a hospital just to be sure.”

There was a soft knock on the door, which was already open but Oleander didn’t want to intrude, even though this was his house. This man was so damn polite.

“You’re awake,” he said, relieved.

“It appears so.”

Zian sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

“You know what, I’m not tired at all.”

“Not surprising, with all of that leftover energy,” Dai pointed out.

He looked up from his phone.

“I’ve made some calls. You’ll have some people available to help from tomorrow until as long as needed.”

Oleander nodded gratefully.

“Thank you both for your help. It is much appreciated.”

“It’s not every day we get to destroy hundreds of years’ worth of spells and we’re thanked for it,” Zian laughed.

“There was no other way,” Oleander sighed. “We’ll begin reconstruction first thing in the morning. Some of my workers are already clearing out debris. I told them to get some rest, but they insisted.”

“Contact me if you need any help,” Zian offered.

“I will.”

They shook hands – Dai had to put effort into not accidentally shocking him – and went outside, where the sky surprisingly had become lighter.

“Seems like it was just a small patch of darkness,” Zian pointed.

“There will be more,” Dai knew from experience. “It’s going to be a chaotic couple of weeks.”

“Especially for people who’ve never experienced it.”

“Yep, there’s going to be a lot of confusion. Perhaps a bit of panic. There’s always going to be people taking advantage of the dark.”

“It’ll only be for a short while. I think the new cycle is in very capable hands.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

Dai glanced at his phone. Surprisingly, there weren’t any urgent messages. But it undoubtedly wouldn’t be long until he’d have to make some kind of public appearance to state his reaction to all that was going on. There was still some time.

“So,” he grinned. “How about we get rid of that energy by doing some target practice? On something big.”

“Sounds great,” Zian grinned back. “But maybe we should visit Tharryn first.”

“To tell him what he’s missed, before he has to hear it from the news? – he’s going to be so mad if he has to hear it from the news…” Dai mumbled to himself.

“That too. But I said I’d bring him a sample of whatever caused this.”

“Oh, right. Did you manage to get any of the energy?”

“I did… and not just the energy; the creature too.”

“Really? Oh, he’s going to love that.”

Zian stopped, hesitating just a bit too long before answering.

“Ehh,” he just said, shrugging.

Dai observed him from head to toe. Zian averted his gaze, suddenly finding the gravel under his shoes very interesting.

“So where’d you put it?” he asked. “I suppose you didn’t happen to have a containment unit on you.”

“I didn’t,” Zian sighed.

Great. This was just what they needed. Knowing Zian, he’d probably have used whatever was in his pockets at the time. Unsafely contained energy could be just as dangerous as any bomb. Especially if there was something sentient involved.

“Then where is it? It’s going to be highly unstable, I’m going to have to shield it right away. Give it to me.”

“I can’t,” Zian said, still staring at his shoes.

Dai crossed his arms, waiting for an explanation. After a while, Zian seemed to have gathered enough courage and looked up.

“I’m the sample.”

#whoops i got carried away #story #52stories2018 #dai #zian