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5/22/04

Em stormed into the tiny apartment and threw her bag on the shabby couch. "We're here!"

Seconds behind her, Corvus the feien flew inside and looked around. "You've got to be kidding me." He could hardly decide what to complain about first: the peeling walls, the water strains, the cracks, the worn furniture, or the noise of neighbors fighting in the next apartment. "This is a dump."

"It's not so bad." She unhooked a canister from her ultilty belt and placed it on a wobbly table.

Corvus frowned. "It's AWFUL. And what's with that canister that it was so important we collect? Dammit, Emperial, what's going on?"

"Before we go any further, don't call me Emperial. I'm Em from now on. And this, Corvus, is an alter."

Corvus landed lightly on the table next to the heat canister. He could sense something from within it, but it was not anything familiar. "An alter?"

"Myself, Emiko, Emperial, and Empelu are all alters. That, Corvus, is one of yours."

"What?"

She sat down heavily on the worn couch, a spring digging into her a**. "One soul intersects multiple dimensions. Each instance is an alternate expression of that soul, a unique individual who is nevertheless somehow the same. That is, I believe, and alternate expression of yours, though we won't know until it emerges. In the meantime, we have a lot of work to do."

Corvus paced around the cylinder. "Why should I care?"

"You don't have to."

Next door, one of the neighbors let out a partciularly angry scream and something smashed against the wall dividing the apartments. Em raised an eyebrow with amusement. Corvus glared.

"What are we doing here, exactly?" he demanded. "You apear from nowhere on my porch and snatch me away without any explanation whatsoever, to take me HERE?"

"Don't be silly, Corvus. This is simply a hiding place. We're going someplace very different. But I can't risk us being detected, so for the moment we are hiding here."

He was growing quickly exasperated. "Where are we?!?"

"A planet called Nikoths on the dimensional charts. It's an Earth variant, about one hundred and fifty years in the future. It's one of many outcomes of prossibility, and exercise in imagination."

"Why!?"

"Because I'm looking for someone."

Corvus shot her a disgusted look. "I'd like to go back now please."

"You can't."

He stared at her. "Very funny."

"I need your help here. I couldn't risk transporting anyone larger, and you have the most magical power for your size. That will come in handy. I'm hoping your alter will be the same."

It took a long moment for Corvus to manage speech. "You," he growled, "have dragged me away to this dump to look for someone I care nothing about with some sort of alternate version of myself?"

She shrugged. "That's about it, really.

He sank to his knees. "How COULD you? And with this timing!? I finally had everything I ever wanted!"

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her thighs. "I don't expect you to understand yet, but you'll see soon enough. I wouldn't have brought you if it weren't absolutely essential. We're on a mission of utmost interdimensional importance. Trust me."

"But you don't understand! I had the feien gems! My quest for immortality! And Yeande--!!"

Em smiled. "So that's who it was. I had been wondering. I'm sorry, Corvus, but time is of the essence. We'll be back before you know it. But first, I need to set up our new home." She stood and shook out her fingers.

He did not answer to that as the sheer magnitude of this abduction hit him. He scarcely noticed when she reached into her belt and extracted several small stones, placing them in the corners of the room. She wandered through the apartment's three rooms dropping stones. When she returned to the main room, he was still sitting on the table.

"Sorry, Corvus. But you may yet become an immortal. We are about to embark upon one of the greatest quests ever attempted, and there's no telling what we'll find."

It was little comfort.

5/26/04

Em:

5/28/04

Corvus:

5/28/04

If there was anything Saisai had plenty of, it was patience. Having lived for so long on the roof of an apartment building, he had learned that everything in the world passed with time, including the random ramblings of the tiny winged person currently hiding in his pocket.

In his youth, Saisai had been a remarkably impatient person. He pushed and bullied and whined and if he wasn't given what he wanted he went out and took it. Several years of rooftop living changed a man. Perhaps because rooftops were inherently pretty boring, or perhaps because exposure to the elements had driven him slightly insane. Whatever the case, he had learned both patience and calmness.

Examining the city slums, it was easy to note that most of its denizens had neither. Nervous folk in tattered coats hiding all sorts of illegal items watched him pass with shaky eyes. He walked past a small grocery store and two boys ran across his path, arms filled with stolen goods. The shopkeeper followed a moment later, shaking his arms angrily and giving chase. The grocer's unwillingness to wait for law enforcement allowed three nearby adults the opportunity to dart inside his shop and steal several more items. The main difference was that the kids stole candy: the adults stole alcohol and cigarettes.

The sight prompted Saisai to lip his own pack out from his pocket and light up. It was vaguely reassuring to know that while he was in a different universe, they still had cigarettes. From his pocket, a small voice objected.

"What's that? You're burning something? Why?"

Saisai inhaled slowly, then exhaled into Kraz's face, sending the Helion into a coughing fit. "Bad habit, kid. Don't start," he smirked.

"Eugh!" Cough, gasp. "Nah!" Cough, cough, choke. "Yuck!" Kraz sneezed. "I don't understand. Why are we here?"

Smoke filled Saisai's lungs and settled there a moment. He didn't particularly feel like explaining the situation to his charge. He was still figuring it out himself.

First, Em left the main house for this world with Corvus (feien). Second, she picked up a strange orb that turned into a Helion, also Corvus. Then, she ran off again with the original Corvus to places unknown, leaving him to deal with the second Corvus, Kraz. All in the name of an important mission. He had precious few details.

What he did know was that for several years now, he had been living on rooftops serving as a guard from forces unknown, and perhaps spurred by the recent move to Miami and subsequent return to Virginia, those forces were on the move. Out of all this, Emperial had concocted some sort of a plan requiring utmost interdimensional stealth and a team that complied to the interdimensional Law of Threes.

Saisai had never truly understood all that interdimensional crap. Perhaps that was why she had chosen him to accompany her on the journey. He was the easiest member of the defense force to hoodwink and the least likely to be able to send any sort of message back.

That hardly meant he was an ineffective guard. His observational skills were top-notch, his strategies in battle successful both in single and group combat, and his ability to calmly integrate himself into other cultures allowed him to turn invisible and gather information quickly and unobtrusively. He was truly the ideal person for the job, the perfect combination of experience and naiveté.

Done with thinking for the day, he dropped what was left of his cigarette to the ground and smudged it with his shoe. First things first, secure shelter and food.

Cheap hotels were plentiful. He picked a middling one, unlikely to be the target of anything important. It was neither the largest nor the smallest, neither the loudest nor the quietest, neither the cleanest nor the dirtiest.

The clock next to the worn concierge read the local time as nearing evening. He checked in, paid in advance for the night using the chit that counted as currency on this world, asked not to be disturbed and received a lazy, uncaring stare in return. He paused at the vending machines on the first floor, bought a beer and some candy, and headed upstairs.

"Yo, Kraz," he said once the door was closed. He pulled open the flap of his pocket to reveal the sleeping Helion. "Wake up. Hey." He poked Kraz with his index finger.

Kraz stirred and woke up, pushing locks of his unruly black curls from his face.

"We're here now." Gently pinching the Helion's torso and pulling Kraz out. He dropped him on the pillow of the single bed. "Sleep there. You can eat these when you're hungry." he tossed the candy onto the bed.

"Mrif," agreed Kraz, collapsing face-first onto the lumpy pillow. He was soon out like a light.

Pulling his gunblade out from its hidden sheath, Saisai sat in the room's dingy chair and closed his eyes.