Naero's Mastery

by Mason Elliott

  Master Jo looked very worried. Perhaps longer that we would like. And you don’t see the worst in this. I’m not worried about the raiders and feeders, but if they take over someone’s mind in the Astral Plane, they take over the physical body that is left behind in the real world, wherever that might be. Even you and I would both be vulnerable to that, Naero. They would need to weaken us greatly first, but such a thing would be possible.

  Naero studied the access point and turned to Womi. Which way did the possessed horde go, my friend? Did they slip away into the Prime Material Plane, back to their prison realm to free more of their kind, or further off into the Astral Plane to cause who knows what havoc?

  Womi studied several directions and even sniffed the ether. The Kahn-Dar, whatever else could be said about them, were marvelous trackers, and could literally sniff out traces of many kinds of energy.

  Womi nodded roughly back behind them in the general direction of whence they had come from. They are still in the Astral Plane with us, and they are bloated with power from their feeding frenzy here. Now they’ve vanished, concealing themselves in some way. Perhaps they detected me tracking them.

  Oh, no, Master Jo blurted out. If I’m right, we’re in trouble. Let’s get back to the Dimensional Council right away. They could already be under heavy attack.

  Naero fumed. We’re this close to studying the access point and learning how the enemy is breaking free into the Astral Plane, and then other places from here. Perhaps we can cut them off for good.

  Master Jo commanded her. Naero, we know where it is now. Leave your astral marker if you wish. We can come back in force to deal with it. I order you to return with us. At this time, our friends could need us very badly. We’re going. Now!

  She planted a marker just before they raced back to the Dimensional Council.

  And it was good that they did so, because the council was indeed under heavy attack, by the enemy in the stolen astral forms of various feeders, enhanced with great quantities of stolen power.

  If they were able to take over any of the astral delegates, the G’lothc spirits could easily take over their bodies back in the real universe as well, in whatever galaxies and systems they could go back to.

  Naero and her friends charged in on Womi to join the pitch battle already engaged.

  15

  The delegates of the Dimensional Council were no pushovers, and defended the Chrysalis with powers and skills all their own.

  Yet the G’lothc were makers of war from the ancient times. They delighted in their new astral hosts. They kept up a steady barrage of powerful energy blasts, trying to penetrate the defensive screens and rip the chrysalis open, so that they might pour in and swarm to the kill.

  Womi assumed his immense battle form, almost a kilometer in length.

  He gobbled up energy, ribboning his way through the enemy’s packed numbers and feasted on them as only a Kahn-Dar in his prime could, even as the horde turned at bay and attacked them. Womi gave and took damage.

  The attacking horde was immense. It filled that entire area around the Chrysalis.

  Master Jo blinked into a thousand different places within an instant, like a glowing, golden electron. In his wake, surgical Cosmic energy blasts rocked the enemy and stalled their advance.

  Den placed himself between the Chrysalis and the enemy. As pure energy himself, shifting at will, he absorbed and reflected many attacks right back at the enemy, punching into them, taking out the foremost major threats.

  Naero chose a position high above the battle where she could make out the enemy forces in total. Then she assumed the astral partial form of her Dark beast.

  From that vantage point, she opened her third eye and sprouted four additional arms from her back.

  With each hand she directed Cosmic blasts of incredible shock and magnitude, raining down upon the enemy, bent on overwhelming and incinerating great swaths of the large, enemy-possessed horde in a systematic pattern of total devastation.

  She was using up her own powers rapidly, but it had to be done.

  This battle had to be ended quickly.

  She kept tapping freely from the Cosmic flows all about her, even into the energies of the enemy themselves.

  In a sudden flash of insight, she noted exactly how the enemy had done the same damn thing against her. Energy absorption. What went around came around. Power was power.

  And when enemy forces broke up and tried to assail her vantage point directly, she blasted them and sent them straight to hell in just the same way.

  She also had to constantly monitor her friends and their movements and positions, so that she didn’t zap them as well by accident.

  Her blasts enveloped many kilometers from high up.

  Her friends wisely fled the heat she put out, and either helped shield the Chrysalis, or hunted down enemy stragglers attempting to escape on the outskirts.

  Womi especially seemed to enjoy doing the latter, and he swelled up after a fine feast of energy.

  At last the enemy attack was crushed. If any foes escaped, they were extremely few, and very lucky.

  Naero returned to her accustomed astral form, but the extra limbs had been a huge help. She’d remember them for the future.

  Perhaps now they could take the time to retrace the enemy’s steps back to that astral tunnel leading to the Plane of Annihilation. There was still a great deal they needed to know in order to stem this new tide of terror for good.

  They had managed to intercept and fling back one single attack. Yet nothing would stop the enemy from possessing an entirely new group of pawns, in the Prime Material Plane or elsewhere.

  Or what if they committed multiple such attacks, in a multitude of places? How would the Alliance stop the enemy then?

  Master Jo also cautioned her. Naero, I noted that some of the G’lothc spirits lost themselves within their voracious hosts and were hardly sentient any longer. All they existed for after that was to feed and continue to feed. When their hosts perished, they perished with them.

  I’m glad for that.

  Den was, as it turned out, badly injured. Both Naero and Master Jo regenerated him and Womi, who also took significant damage. The enemy played rough.

  A particularly nasty feeder had latched onto Den and it had been a very close confrontation. The Mystic finally used a combination of biomancy and psyonics to fend off the foe and destroy it. He tried to explain further.

  You both need to understand, the G’lothc spirit tried everything it could to burn out my mind and take over my form. If they keep this up, they’re going to succeed at infiltrating us and our allies at many levels. But I stumbled upon something while I was fighting for my life–a pattern–a weave of flows that protected me and held the thing off.

  He showed them the defensive pattern, mostly involving positive energy and the Lifespark.

  Naero almost shouted. Den, you’re a genius. We need to teach this technique to every Mystic, our allies, and all of the beings on the Dimensional Council capable of using or employing it. Now, at the very least, we can partially shield ourselves and our energies so that our foes cannot feed on them or use them directly against us!

  While they were still able, directly after the enemy defeat, they went back to the astral tunnel leading into the area near the Annihilation Dimension, to gather further information.

  That plane of existence in itself was similar to a Great Attractor of immense size present in some galaxies, but on an even larger scale. It was a vast, astral singularity the size of an entire dimensions, that drew everything in, and from which, nothing escaped. Within that place, things simply ceased to be, and whatever was left, was spewed into the Beyond–the vast Unknown that existed beyond Naero’s universe, and perhaps all universes.

  No gentle drifting off into the light, as the souls of the dead went on into the next journey, into the Beyond. Not in that terrible place.

  This was a hyper-violent ravaging and tearing asunder that made Naero wonder if anythin
g could withstand something so fearful. After all, it was probably called the Annihilation Dimension for very good reasons.

  Even the ether of that placed streamed toward destruction beyond the event horizon. This really was a kind of Great Destroyer.

  It took powerful concentration and energy simply to avoid being pulled in, let alone to attempt the insanity of getting in closer.

  Then Master Jo spotted something as he meditated on the Destroyer’s Cosmic structure. Naero, there are formations like cracks, like fissures around the approach plane leading in to the event horizon. The stress is so great, that all reality begins to collapse and break down. The Destroyer even damages itself.

  Naero strove to focus and note what he was trying to point out for several long minutes.

  I think I see it. You’re right, Master. And look there…there is the pocket dimension of the G’lothc. The entire area is rife with such cracks where reality is crumbling and breaking down.

  Master Jo groaned. Within a hundred million years or so, even the enemy and their temporary domain will be torn apart and drawn in, whether they wish it or no.

  Haisha! Naero cried. We sure as hell don’t have a hundred million years of so to wait for that happy day. By then our entire universe could be dead and lifeless, if the enemy has their way.

  Indeed, Naero. But it is through those very cracks in reality that the enemy is finding a way to break out and spread their influence and evil. At least some of those fissures must lead to the Astral Plane, and through there, they can gather enough strength to attack the minds of others, and then use the hosts to escape into other planes and dimensions.

  How do we stop them, Master?

  That’s the problem, Naero. We can’t. We have only one choice, and that is to send a message into the Beyond for aid. There are other powers in the Beyond that the Dimensional Council is just learning about, so vast that we in our dimension cannot comprehend them, and they seem to have the mastery of all things great and small. We know so little about them that they are almost myth and legend. Yet they guard the Beyond jealously, so that nothing that has ever entered within has ever returned.

  Perhaps if we make it clear to those powerful forces that these rents in the Plane of Annihilation are allowing the G’lothc and possibly other unwanted things to bleed into all of the planes and dimensions, including, possibly, the Beyond. Then they may take some action to seal the breaches on their own. From what I’ve seen, these fractures in reality will only grow larger and more dangerous.

  How is it possible to send such a message, master?

  In the Plane of Light, there are many astral tunnels leading into the beyond. The Dimensional Council must prepare a messenger with the proper information, make contact with the invincible guardians who protect the Beyond at the threshold of the Gates of Light & Dark, and usher the messenger through. Someone must accompany our messenger to help assist the–inevitable transition. It is not without peril.

  Naero kept her jaw from dropping. Haisha, master, let me get this straight.

  Den finished her thought. It’s true, Naero. A sentient being must surrender their life willingly here, in our reality, to take our message into the Beyond. And for them, there is no coming back. Such a thing can only be accomplished through the planes.

  Master Jo quickly added: Yet there are many on the council willing to take such a journey. Some of them are immortal here on this side, unless they are destroyed somehow, by force or such. They are either weary or curious or in some way ready to take the next journey of their own free will. N. I would like you to do us the honor of escorting the council’s messenger, whoever they choose, to Gates of Light and Dark. We have only learned many of these things recently, in our pursuit of knowledge concerning the Cosmic Prophecies, and what must be accomplished to defeat the coming of the next, Great Destroyer.

  I am honored, master. Tell me what it is that I must do.

  Master Jo called to Womi. Mighty Kahn-Dar. Can you take us to the Gates of Light and Dark? For now, we only need Naero to learn where they are. Then she can return to that place with the messenger.

  Of course I can take us there, you little glowing fool. Any place would be better than this. Let’s go!

  In a matter of instants, Womi raced through several nearby dimensions as they flashed by, bringing them to the Gates of Light and Dark. This was a border where the two opposite dimensions joined together, and all could feel that it was a place of great energies and hallowed power. Yet another place where sentients crossed over into the next journey of the Beyond.

  Light & Dark were neither good nor evil in any conception. They existed here in these dimensions in a purity that was all their own. Only the dead or the dying could pass through the gates and into the Beyond, surrendering their mortal shells on this side as they passed on.

  Once Naero marked the place, they returned to the Dimensional Council, where the Chrysalis was still being repaired and strengthened, after the most recent attack. Master Jo explained that there had been others, and that more would probably follow.

  The enemy was well aware of the council and found various ways to try to attack it. The most recent attack had simply been yet another.

  Naero knew that it was time to say farewell to her friend Womi. It wouldn’t be right to ask him to hang around while they went about their business. He’d probably get bored and leave on his own any way.

  He sensed her intent, and shrank down to his tiny size and coiled around her arm like a bright blue sparking bracelet. In that form, Naero could nuzzle him fondly against her cheek, the way she had once done.

  Thank you, Womi, my amazing friend. You have been so helpful to us and our cause once again. There is no way that we can repay you.

  He licked his little chops. Oh, I don’t know. We had some fun. And I did get a tasty meal and an interesting fight. You have grown great in might and wisdom, Change Guardian. Do you still insist to me that you are the counted among the least of your kind?

  They shared laughter together.

  My guess is that you will grow greater still. If you wish to repay me, leave these stiffs behind. Let’s you and I venture out and have some fun. You want to see the planes? Then there’s no one better that a Kahn-Dar to show them to you. While you’re at it, bring along this little pulsar that I hear you are raising–this daughter of yours. She fascinates me.

  Naero laughed again. How do you know about my daughter Shetharra?

  Oh, well, even I hear things regarding the Cosmic Prophecies here and there. And I’ve checked in on you now and again, without you knowing. I just wanted to see if you were all right.

  Thank you, my friend. I promise you, when there is time, I will send for you again, and if I can, I will bring Shetharra along. Then we’ll have our fun and adventure.

  That is all that I can ask, Naero. Until then, keep safe, and safe journey. It was good to see you.

  As always, Womi came and went in a sudden flash.

  Once Naero, Master Jo, and Den were back inside, Naero watched as Master Jo went around petitioning and completing the process to have a messenger sent into the Beyond.

  The astral form of the being who volunteered to become the messenger was a non-humanoid being known as a Tringlen.

  Tringlens were a race of energy beings from a far distant galaxy in their universe. The best way Naero had of describing them or accepting their form was that they looked like the white head of an Old Earth dandelion flower, about to release its seed floaters on the next breath of wind.

  Only Tringlens were about sixty millimeters in diameter and moved around by their own volition in the Astral Plane. They had an eighteen millimeter pulsing core of light and energy that held their essence and their mind, or intellect. Then their stalks, or feelers, or whatever people wanted to call them extended out from the surface of the core in all directions. These tendrils also glowed with a soft white-gold light, and ended in feathery nodes that were very sensitive in sensing and manipulating energy around it.
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  When defending itself, the Tringlens could give off powerful blasts of energy, wave attacks, and Cosmic lightning strikes.

  But in their normal friendly modes, Tringlens merely tingled on contact with other beings, and used telepathic links to converse.

  I Zuon. How you named?

  I am called Naero. Naero Amashin Maeris, of Spacer Clan Maeris.

  Zuon greets you, friend. Your energies beautiful. Bright music. You scary too. Sometimes, it good scary. You help take me to Light-Dark Gates?

  Yes, Zuon. I will bring you safely to the gates. What you are doing is a noble thing to help our universe, Zuon.

  I take message. I glad to go. Much excitement awaits.

  It made Naero happy that Zuon felt that way. The Tringlen’s mental pattern was simple, but she sensed the highly advanced intellect behind the sentient’s disarming, psyonic voice patterns.

  Once all of the preparations and agreements were in order with the council, Naero set off with Zuon for the Gates of Light and Dark.

  They were not attacked along the way, but a few enemy Vespers tried to slip in and taunt her.

  Naero used the new techniques to block them out and avoid such further harassment. The energy shields kept the annoying foes from pinpointing her in the Astral Plane as well.

  If they couldn’t locate her, they couldn’t try to bother her.

  As she and Zuon approached the gates, the Tringlen began to fade, weaken, and droop.

  Naero carried the brave little creature forward in her open hands, and felt it dying, surrendering its life. That could not help but sadden her. The core pulsed slower and slower. The Tringlen’s tendrils drooped and went slack. The entire astral form continued to darken, and lose its ambient light.

  She felt Zuon die with each passing instant.

  Zuon called weakly to her. No sad, mighty Naero. My choice. You live good life. Happy. This thing…I do.

  Naero had not expected to be so overcome with emotion, but she was. Tears slipped down her face as they drew closer and closer to one of the astral tunnels leading into the Beyond.