Bridgeworlds: Deep Flux

by Randy Blackwell

  Omar opened the letter and read it. “Myles?” he said softly as he read. He laughed, “Of course you are alive, you dirty old cheat. You would cheat even death his wages wouldn’t you?” Omar shook his head as he read on, and picked up the small device. Then Omar’s mind went into overdrive. This was what he needed, a project that he could pour himself into.

  He rushed to an emergency solar powered intercom that he had built over the years. He pressed the button, “Peeloff, get up here and bring your technical gear.”

  Within 30 minutes Peeloff rolled in from the elevator riding a remote control car that pulled a trailer behind it. He had excelled in learning technology. The remote control car was something Omar had brought from earth, but Peeloff had modified it to fit his purposes.

  Omar handed the bracelet to him. "Figure out how it works and then make it so it still works and fits on my wrist." Peeloff only nodded as he got to work right away. It’s time to go back to Earth. With this I can get whatever kind of project funding I want and restock on materials. Omar really didn’t even need to test it as he had seen Myles teleporting in the battle. But how did he survive that sword wound?

  The Magi had found that the smaller races were great for working on technology because of their little hands. In no time, Peeloff had extended the clasp of the bracelet so that it would fit around Omar’s arm. “A bit of a warning before you…”

  Before Peeloff could continue, Omar snapped it on and two needles shot out from the bracelet, puncturing his arm. At first he tried to rip them off but that was more painful than leaving them in. A moment later Omar fell to the ground and started seizing.

  Peeloff approached him making sure he was ok but did not intervene. Instead, he let him ride it out. When Omar was done seizing, he felt an awareness that he hadn’t had before. He could actually calculate the distance from himself to the wall in exact mathematical measurements. “It must be embedded into the neurological system of the host,” said Omar with a look of fascination.

  Peeloff nodded, “That would explain the seizure.” Omar sighed, “Hopefully I have no brain damage from that, but from what I can tell it only helped me have a better awareness.” He could calculate size, distance, and range as easily as he could add one and one. He looked down at his arm. “Ok, so how does it work?”

  Omar looked out at the balcony and then thought, I want to be there. It was as if some kind of connection had been made between him and the balcony. It all happened very fast but Omar was able to discern that for a moment there was no open space between him and the balcony. All the space was filled with something (it was as if everything was part of one great solid mass making them parts of the same thing) and it connected him to the balcony letting him be in two places at once for a millisecond and then he was only on the balcony. Peeloff yelled in excitement, “Yes!”

  Omar shook his head, “It’s very dizzying, but I imagine you adjust.” He sighed. “I hate using something when I don’t understand how it works." He thought about the portal to Musterion from earth, being injected with the blood of a superior race, and now having this thing linked to his brain. "I guess that is becoming a trend for me.” Science was something to be analyzed and tested. All of these rash decisions were not made in a scientific manner but out of urgent necessity.

  Omar pulled his sleeve over the device effectively hiding it. He looked up with a smile. “Thank you, Peeloff. You never saw this device. “

  He smiled, “What device”

  Omar nodded to him as he left the room and got in the elevator. Grabbing all of the provisions that had been packed for him the night before, Omar went to the room where he had been storing the motorcycle. He mounted, grabbing the handles and then thought, I want to be in the inner garden of the palace in Loefel Meren. For a split second he could see his room overlaid by a transparent garden, then the room faded and the garden became more of a solid reality.

  Long ago Omar had added a light bending invisibility device to the frame of the motorcycle. He activated it rendering it invisible to anyone who did not have his monocle. As he walked out of the garden, several Miyka nobles looked at him in shock. Omar approached the first servant that he could find.

  He bowed politely and said, “Please tell her Grace that Omar is here to see her on urgent business. I will be waiting in the garden.” He had not seen Queen Elizabeth since before the Battle of Epher. He did not wait long before she rushed into the garden. To see a Queen rush in all her regal attire was an oddity, but he knew that she was no ordinary Queen. He had kept the secret that she was a halfbreed for centuries helping to create trust and a great alliance between Loefel Meren and the Magi. He had seen her act “un-queenly” before, but normally only when he brought Queen Ariana with him to visit. Those two were like sisters and, when together, liked to cause a little bit of mischief.

  When she reached Omar, he began to speak but was taken aback by the violent hug that she gave him. He had always tried to ignore his attraction to the Queen because he knew it would go nowhere. They had become very good friends in the past, but physical contact was rare between Queens and commoners; especially such a brazen hug as this. Omar laughed nervously.

  She put her fists on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him. “There were rumors that you were dead. You should have let me know you were okay.”

  He tried to speak but was interrupted again, this time by his own mind. The mention of death brought on flashing images of the blimp plunging and erupting all around him as it made impact with the ground. Then images of the Beast in the Emerald Forest caused fear to wash over him in waves.

  She touched his arm with concern on her face, “You are okay, aren’t you?” Her touch helped him shake it, and he cleared his throat, “None must know I was here. As far as the tower knows, I am there leading them. I had a brush with death and it was… traumatic.”

  She nodded, “I too had a brush with death on the field of Epher. I would love to tell you about it, but it seems you have a pressing matter.”

  Omar nodded, “I am sorry to come in such a hurry and without warning. I need to speak to the King.”

  She gave him a sideways look. “Why? I am sure I can help you.”

  He shook his head, “No, I need his help and his secret library.”

  “How do you know about the library?”

  “It is coveted by Akana world-wide,” said Omar.

  “Of course, but it is supposed to be a secret," she laughed briefly before looking more serious. "Omar, the King has fallen ill.” He nodded respectfully, “Just please tell him I am here and that I have urgent need of his library. Your Grace, I may be able to buy my sister more time. I need to find a way back to Earth, and from what I have heard of the contents of his library, it holds all of the secrets of Soterion. I am hoping one of his books might lead me to the entrance to Musterion from here.”

  “I will go and speak to him”, she said leaving with as much speed as she had come. Omar really hoped he would not have to find the library on his own and break into it.

  A few minutes later Queen Elizabeth returned with a large key in hand. She beckoned for him to follow her. He pushed the invisible bike as he did. She asked no questions about what it was; she just walked quickly down the hall opening the door to an empty room. Leading him to one corner, she pushed on the wall opening it up to another room dimly lit by windows above. Omar followed her in, and she shut the secret passage behind them. On either side of an entrance were two lions each having four wings. They were still and made no movement or sound but they were so realistic that Omar was not sure that they were statues. Omar walked to the door. Queen Elizabeth gave him the key so he unlocked it and entered the room. The shelves of the library reached up to twenty feet high and were made of cherry wood. He walked in with the motorcycle alongside him as he looked around. There were so many books.

  Queen Elizabeth led him to a specific section in the back. “My husband said to lead you to this shelf. It mainly pertains to lost knowledge and unexplai
ned things.” She smiled at him, “Good luck Omar, I am going to leave you to your search.” She hugged him again and then left the room.

  Omar immediately began scanning the titles and it didn’t take long until he came to a leather bound book with a key hole on the front. It was very old but the cover read “Musterion”. When he pulled it off the shelf he almost dropped it for how heavy it was. He looked at it and felt its texture. It should not be this heavy.

  Omar took a knife from his bags and tried to cut the strap but it didn’t work; the knife didn't even leave a scratch. Tracing his finger over the keyhole, he wondered where the key might be and spied a desk at the end of the room. Omar walked his bike over to it and began looking through all of the drawers soon finding a very large key ring with hundreds of keys. The right one stood out because it actually had the glowing moss on it so he took it off the ring. With the book set down on the desk, he unlocked it and gently opened the cover. Surprisingly, it started to grow there on the desk and in its center formed a dark hole sucking at the air like a vacuum. The force of it was incredible. Omar clung to his bike but it started rolling with him until he was sucked into the book with it.

  In the hole was total darkness. Fear overcame him again, and his entire body was shaking with shock. Omar fought it the best he could with rational thought. It's merely a portal back to Musterion.

  Omar fell in the pitch black for some time until he finally hit the floor. It was not as hard a landing as it should have been. He got up and immediately looked around, happy to see brick tunnel. Beside him lay his bike which he picked it up and thought, “I want to go to the café in Pneuma Carpos.”

  The tunnel and the café merged for a moment and then he was at the café. A black arrow whizzed past his head and Omar dodged in surprise. The ground rumbled causing him to look around to find Gabryil breathing purple flame on the tower of the Magi. I came back to the moment I left.

  He couldn’t have asked for a better setup. Everyone would remember him and he would be fresh on their minds. Another arrow barely missed him. There was a war-cry that came from the ceiling above. Omar looked up to see his old hiding place in the ceiling and dozens of Kat-ken jumping from it in combative stances. They wore shiny armor and, despite their small size, were a frightful sight. In the midst of them was a Nepsah with short blonde hair, blue eyes, and a dress much longer than her legs trailing behind her as she flew. Her wings were the shape of a butterfly's but they were iridescent like a dragonfly's. Of note were the scepter she held and the crown on her head. It was the crown of Caelsis, but this was not Queen Ariana.

  The Nepsah yelled out orders as the Kat-ken took down the Kalat outside of the city. A female Kat-ken with tabby markings tackled Omar taking him off guard. They toppled with her claws buried into his chest until he landed on his back with her on top of him. “State your allegiances quickly before I cut your throat, Akana,” she said with an ominous look in her green cat eyes.

  Omar blinked in surprise still taken aback by all that was going on, “Not with the Kalat,” he finally managed to say.

  “I don’t want to know who you are not with,” she said digging her claws deeper into his chest.

  “Alora,” called the Nepsah, “he said he is not with the Kalat. Go help your progeny.” She looked up, listened, and obeyed the command joining a Katken with cow print markings in taking down a Kalat. The Kat-ken were quick and seemed to have a fighting style all of their own based on their cat-like agility.

  The Nepsah approached Omar with a mischievous smile, “Hello, I am Queen Elise. I am claiming this realm for myself since I cannot seem to find the way back to my own Kingdom.”

  Omar just stared at her in awe. The Elder had told Omar about the three royal Nepsah sisters: Ariana the first, Elise, and Mary-Kate. They saw over all Nepsah in the first Kingdom, Emerailda, until the Remmys, Kat-ken, and Nepsah left as founders of Caelsis. They named Elise Queen of them all and the Alora tried to overthrow her. Instead Elise tricked her into wearing a cat collar that was designed to control her. To Omar, it was like bumping into George Washington on the streets of Earth.

  Elise giggled, “You look like you have just seen a ghost.”

  Omar nodded, “You are a legend. You were the second most powerful Monarch on Soterion in your time.”

  She smiled, “You will side with me then?” He nodded again. What else was he to do? “But I mean to find my way out of here.”

  She shook her head, “There is no way out. You are silly. Let’s go kill some Kalat!” She darted away toward the combat zone and stopped right in front of a Kalat who laughed at her. She blew him a kiss before pointing her scepter at him. Pure sunlight came from it and one moment he was a Kalat, the next he was a pile of ash. She giggled and moved on to the next enemy. Several arrows came at her but the scepter seemed to act as a shield, too, as the arrows disintegrated before they hit her.

  When the battle was over, which was pretty quickly, she came back to Omar and said, “I have a neat toy, don’t I?” She nodded her head as if in answer to her own question. It was scary how dangerous and yet childlike she was.

  Omar nodded with a smile. “Sure,” he said.

  She waved him away as if dismissing him, “Unconvincing.” Several Kat-ken approached and Musterlings were beginning to gather around them. Omar could hear them whispering his name as well as Queen Elise’s. She waited until there was a large crowd around them.

  Chara and King Thalasa stepped forward and knelt before her. “Your Grace, it is a true honor that you have visited us here in Musterion,” said Chara.

  King Thalasa merely bent a knee and lay his crown before her. That gesture said more than any words would have. Queen Elise giggled. “Hello child,” she said looking at Chara. “Thank you for such a delightful welcome.” Then she turned to King Thalasa, “And you, one of my most loyal subjects; I am glad to see a familiar face.”

  She turned to the crowd speaking, “This is Alora and her brood: Meu Kou, Monkey, Shadow, Dusty, Puff Ball, and Splat. The others are all her descendants. They are my guard, please treat them well. As long as you pose no threat to me, they will do you no harm. As of this day I step forth as ruler of Musterion. Those who have dared to challenge me have been destroyed. Let that be a lesson to all of those who would get in my path. As for the council of thirteen, I disband it. Let it be known that the Book is the truth; believe otherwise if you wish, you are free to be a fool.” The last part she said with a great big smile.

  Nekar stepped forward and said, “For those who follow the Master, this is His will.” Queen Elise darted behind him and knocked him in the back of the head with her scepter. He grabbed the back of his head in pain and whipped around to find her looking at him with a mischievous grin. “You interrupted. Don’t do it anymore or I will report you to Him.”

  Nekar seemed surprised at the threat but took it seriously. He slipped back into the crowd but Omar wasn’t done with him. He teleported to the other side of the crowd where Nekar had disappeared and caught him by the wrist before he walked any further.

  He turned to face him, “Ah, yes… you. I keep wondering why you pester me so much. I see you made it back to Musterion. How long has it been for you?”

  Omar nodded, “I have been gone for 175 years.”

  Nekar smiled, “And you missed it so much that you decided to return?”

  “No, I’m going back to earth.”

  Nekar laughed, “Just like that? You have decided to go back to earth and that is all there is to it?”

  Omar paused for a moment, “Does that seem a bit egotistical to you?”

  Nekar cocked his head, “Just a bit as none have gotten to earth from Musterion before.”

  Omar felt a bit intimidated with that news, “None?”

  “None.”

  “Well, that is upsetting to say the least. This is very important to me, Nekar. Will you help me?”

  Nekar gave him a level look and when Omar thought he was about to refuse. Nekar said, “Yes.�
�

  He is going to help me. Why? “How do we get to earth?”

  Nekar smiled, “First, you wait for earth to come to you.” “What does that mean?” Omar waited for an answer but all Nekar did was turn and walk away. Wait for earth to come to me? That isn’t even a riddle. It makes no sense.

  8

  Bridge Worlds

  Jack woke to find Tyree standing over him, but that did not surprise him. What did surprise him was that he was surrounded by unfamiliar people. However, they were wearing familiar clothing. There was a humanoid creature with a lion’s head, large black wings, and a scorpion’s tail that wore Bogdan’s cloths. There was another with a crocodile head and tail, the body of a gorilla, and razor sharp claws that wore Ignatio’s clothing. A Native American looking elf with skin bound wings wore Caleb's clothes and a cat walking on its hind legs wore Charli’s clothing. Owen looked to be changed a little less drastically. He was a good two feet shorter and had a long beard. He also had rock formations at his eyebrows, joints, and knuckles. But Sasha… she was stunningly beautiful. She had large skin bound wings, pointed ears, angular features, and dark blue hair which was odd but somehow fitting for her. She also let off a faint glow.

  Jack got up and looked Tyree in the eyes, “You know, I guess I deserved that, but don’t do it again.” He turned to look at what he assumed was his team, “What happened to them?”

  “Musterion is where we are. This place seems to change people at random. There are only three that I know of that haven’t changed upon entering, you and I included,” said Tyree who smiled as Jack inspected his busted lip.

  “And you… you are a future Tyree who came through the portal after we did?” He nodded, “Yes, and had you not gone though, a lot that I have been through would have never happened. Hundreds of years of torture… You can't even begin to imagine so saying that one punch makes us even is laughable.”

  “Hundreds of years?”