by JD Lovil
Veritasia and Arpad were going to go stay with the Seer for a short visit, before striking off into shadow on their own to one of the many havens that Arpad knew in shadow. The Sorcerer and Tom had spoken about Tom and Karla being shown around shadow by the Sorcerer for a little while, before striking out on their own.
The Sorcerer was talking to Tom and Karla about the particulars of the trip when the Seer strolled up to them. “I noticed that Tom and Karla are developing an ability akin to my cave access powers, except that they don’t need to anchor them to a locality like my cave, but rather they can anchor it to their own bodies.” The Seer said. “That is a very handy skill, and I think that they should come with me for a little while until they master it.”
They talked for a bit longer, and it was finally determined that the Sorcerer, Tom and Karla would go with Veritasia and Arpad to stay in the Seers cave for a little while, while everyone that needed to obtain the training they needed. After that, the Sorcerer would show Tom and Karla a bit of Shadow, before they struck off on their own.
Charlie was looking quite comfortable on the couch in the parlor, reading a book and eating an apple. He was planning on staying with the Sage in the house for a good while longer, basically until the somewhat naive Sage got tired of him sponging off of him, and kicks him out.
The first to leave was Tyr and Heimdall, walking out toward the road, and already working the Shadows. They waved as they started to move in Shadows, so that the last sign the group has of them is a visual of their wave, and then a shimmer in the air, into which they seem to vanish.
The next party that took its leave was the group going to the First City, the odd figure of Cernunnos and his Herald, with Markus and Vera in their company. From what Tom had been told about the First City, they were in for a very strange and interesting time. In that place, Cernunnos was actually one of the more human seeming citizens.
It was not in Cernunnos’s nature to do anything the normal way, including traveling in Shadow. He summoned an odd looking gateway, which consisted of an almost invisible globe shaped vehicle which engulfed the whole group that would travel to the First City. Once they were inside, the globe lifted itself off of the ground and began to rise toward the sky. As it did, it and its passengers began to fade away, so that by the time it had risen to about two hundred feet, it was no longer to be seen at all.
Finally, it was time for Tom’s party to travel to the Seer’s cave. The six of them said their farewells to Charlie and the Sage, and then the Seer raised his staff and caused the crystal at its head to flare in the now familiar way. In front of the group, the air shimmered and then an image appeared of a cave.
They were looking out of the mouth of the cave, as though they stood in the middle of the first antechamber of the cave already. The Seer instructed the others to do as he did, and then he stepped forward into the image. The others stepped forward as well, to find themselves to be in the antechamber of the cave that they had seen.
“I have set the doors in this cave to open to whatever you most desire at the moment you open it.” The Seer said. He walked to a nearby door and flung it open. “For instance, this one now leads to Honolulu beach, on a totally uninhabited Hawaii. Let’s all go there for a few moments.”
With that said, the Seer strode through the door, and into the sunlight of a sparkling Pacific beach location. Everyone else trooped out right behind him, and Tom for one found it an almost irresistible vista to visit. The sound of sea gulls and waves, the smell of clean ocean spray, the feel of wet sand under his feet; This was definitely a welcome addition.
Thirty minutes later, everyone was lounging in lawn chairs at the edge of the ocean surf, sipping the drinks of their choice while talking, except for the two girls, who were industriously swimming in the ocean. The Seer was interested in talking to Tom about his powers and about his destiny.
“Can you show me a little about how your power manifests?” The Seer asked. Tom decided that it would be less trouble to get it over with than it would to stall, so he concentrated for a moment and caused a ‘mirror’ to image the compound that they had just left that morning. Next, he summoned the killing shadow to advance upon and kill a nearby coconut crab. The crab fell out of the tree with a satisfying thump, but the shadow also sapped the life out of the tree that the crab was in.
The Seer gave Tom a few pointers about the manipulation of his powers, which he actually found to be of use, as did Karla, when she emerged from the waves. The afternoon was spent on the shore, practicing their powers, and getting a little more training in the traditional Shadow Walking process as well.
When the sun threatened to set on that pristine beach, the Seer led the party back to the cave to settle in. It took everyone several hours to get used to a form of housing that literally, with the slightest intention, could go on forever, with an infinite number of doors to go through to an infinite number of different places.
Finally, everyone settled into the cave life, and they spent the next several days proportioning their time between long philosophical conversations, learning new factoids about several subjects, and practicing their powers, and having a sort of eternal party. It was all very entertaining, and fun!
There came a day, perhaps three weeks later, when it was finally time to depart. Veritasia and Arpad were off on one of their incessant Shadow Walks. Tom had discussed the possibilities with the Sorcerer of Hait, and they had mutually determined that it would be better for the two of them to create a pocket universe to live in, instead of just finding a suitable worldline.
The reason for this was obvious. Tom still carried the Stone of Reality, and Karla still had the Seed of Creation. No normal worldline would stay in balance with two such powerful artifacts permanently in residence in them. This would not matter if they made a pocket universe, split from the normal worldlines of Man.
Such a pocket universe still would gain in ‘substantiality’, just as would a normal worldline in such a situation, but the pocket could be defined any way the creator wanted. As time went on, it would simply become more of what the creator wanted it to be, so no harm done.
The day came, and Tom and Karla stood in front of one of the Seer’s open doors, looking into a place of pure change mists. As the Sorcerer watched, they concentrated on the refuge of their dreams, and soon a place of waterfalls and rivers formed, and then they painted in the sky with three moons and pterodactyls gliding through the blue green sky.
Now it was time to paint in their Sanctum with their thoughts. Lofty towers of stone towered above medieval battlements, and vast areas of rooms and courts and gardens and labyrinths abounded. The Sorcerer had told them the secrets to creating and banishing Tulpa forms, so they would supply their minion needs with Tulpas.
At last the world was formed, and stable, and with a final farewell to the Seer, they stepped through the mirror to their new home. The Sorcerer came with them, to spend a few days helping them to settle in.
******
30 Far Away
Somewhere, there are six waterfalls that are fed by a massive river. The water falls a thousand feet into a mutual pool which feeds into the sea. In the distance, the ocean awaits the bounty of waters. Everywhere, there are great Oaks and other hardwood trees, down almost to the shore of the great ocean, for the water is more brackish than salty, and the creatures that swim the ocean are of both salt and fresh water kinds.
Overlooking the waterfalls, and the ocean, and nestled amidst the trees stands a sprawling building, a virtual walled city, with towers and endless halls and longhouses. The gates are open, for there are no enemies on this world, and none that would be so foolish as to raid this place exist in all the worlds.
Upon the streets of the city are many who hurry on urgent missions, but none of these truly live in the traditional sense. They are the manifested thoughts of their Creators, Tulpas of a remarkable quality. These are material, and they have their own names, and some of them think their own strange thoughts.
Great cats and canines, and animals of all sorts walk among the Tulpa people. They are not restrained, for in all of the world, there are but two who live, and the animals were created by them not to cross the desires of the Creators. None exists whom can define the Creators. At one time they were human. Before that time, it would be hard to define them, and now, they have become more.
Karla and Tom had made this world some years ago. They thought of themselves as humans with an unknown past and a great and dangerous power. It took some time to learn what they really were. They had no memories of anything more than twenty years in the past. What they didn’t know at the time was why.
The memories that they could not recall were not too weak to remember. They were far too vast. Memories not of one lifetime, but of millions. Millions of Tom and millions of Karla, stretching back over millennia, those were the memories that they had lost. A thousand mortal minds could not have contained those memories, but they have become more than mortal.
Men can develop strange new powers, they might command the powers of telepathy, or telekinesis, or precognition. They may learn to Shadow Walk, or alter the fabric of Reality around them in other ways. These might be seen by others as more than human, but they are not gods.
To be a god is to wear the face of one of the primal forces. If one wears the face that those who see knows is the face of Life, or of Death, or of Spring, or of Harvest, or perhaps the face of Murder, then one wears one of those faces, what the philosophers call an Aspect. To be a god, one must wear the Aspect of a god.
In the Hindu faith, there was one who had three Aspects, those of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. These are the god faces of the Creator, the Preserver, and the destroyer of the Worlds. Together they were the Hindu Trinity known as Trimurti, but they fell in the Battle of Chaos and Order some years ago.
Shiva was the destroyer, the killing face of Trimurti. There were other gods of death in all of its many forms. Yama was the bringer of death, Kali was the goddess of murder. There are as many gods and goddesses as there are ways to die, or ways to live for that matter. It took Tom and Karla some time to understand who they were, but they finally understood.
In the dire times, when the innocent are threatened with slavery or death, there is a place for the coming of death to the guilty at the hands of the righteous protectors. In time the two of them came to understand that they were that hand, and had always been, down through the centuries and millennia of Man.
In this place of Thought-forms and animals, the errant thoughts of these simple creatures do not disturb the minds of the pair. They have crafted this world to be a place of peace and pleasure for them, but there are other worlds than this, and no distance or barrier can mute the prayers of the desperate to the gods of their need.
Tom stands watching the water spill over into the abyss that is the deeps of the pool below. Karla stands beside him, and both their hands and their minds are entwined. With a fleeting thought, they cause a storm to form in the East. It will be overhead in a few moments.
Karla leans against him as an errant prayer reaches their minds. It is a minor raid of one village in a single Shadow, and at most a hundred souls risked death or rape. They dispatch an Eidolon into that place to act as Judge and to dispense justice upon the guilty. They had to set some limits on using personal attention in these matters. Genocide and extinction are worthy of their personal attention, otherwise, they send their Specters.
One of the pterodactyls lands nearby, and eyes them with interest. Even the ones who have never been hand-fed by them seem to have an innate belief that the couple was the source of all things good, including fine foods. Perhaps they had overdone the hardwiring of their creation’s love response to them. Doubts are not dispelled when the pterodactyl waddles and hops over to Tom and leans on his other side.
With one arm around Karla, and the other absent-mindedly petting the head of the flying reptile, they stand and enjoy the view for a few more minutes, before deciding to go down into the Commons to find something fun to eat or to play with. They make an odd threesome, as the two make their way down the stairwell, with the reptile following close behind, in its waddle and hop gait.
The rain is coming down so hard that it seems to displace the air. Thunder is rolling continuously, and the lightning is so steady that one can read by it. The clouds have hidden the three moons, which would otherwise be standing guard over the Commons. The rain was so hard that the normally leak proof roof of the vegetable stand that they had sheltered in was drizzling rain to the floor.
Tom reaches over to the side freezer, where the sushi that would be central to the use of some of these vegetables is stored. He takes out a large specimen of fish, and flips it over to the doting pterodactyl. The reptile catches the fish just like a dog would, and manages to convey a sense of gratitude for the gift. Karla telepathically declines a fish of her own, when Tom graciously offers it.
One of the Tulpas in the form of a red headed giant comes by, and picks up the pterodactyl in accordance with the mental order from Tom. The reptile objects for a second, until Tom sends it the thought that Tom wants him to go with the giant. Karla smiles at the bond that the creature exhibits for Tom.
Karla reaches across Shadow to pluck a couple of cigarettes from a nearby pack, and brings them into her presence already lit. She hands one to Tom, and they stand watching the storm and smoking. They both realize at the same second that something is coming, a precognition that they will be involved in an action in the near future. Tom offers Karla her choice of pizza from the box of pizza that he has just materialized.
Perhaps an hour later, they finally got the call. They both hear the call, a prayer from a distant Shadow for their aid. A species called the Ettema are being wiped out by a star faring species called the Ordinin, who outclass the Ettema in technology and in sheer size and ferocity.
The Ettema realize that they are about to become extinct, and so they call upon the gods, the modern Anutu, the personification of divine justice. They call upon the gods that in other places are known as Tom and Karla. Blessed are they to live in a multiverse where the gods respond.
With the prayer Tom has received a telepathic wisp, a sort of thought ribbon that leads straight back to the prayers. Already the couple feels the power uncoil within their minds, and it starts to spiral in its unique circuits. In front of them, the air begins to mirror the place that will be their destination.
Tom and Karla take each other’s hand, and as the image of the world of the Ettema forms, they step forward into it. As they step out of the mirror, the world around them is filled with mists, and the sky overhead is lit by flickering lightning, almost as if they brought the storm with them from their world.
They use the sight which is partly of the eye and partly of the mind to see the slight and delicate Ettema, hunkered down in what would have been called foxholes in World War I. There are men there, and women and children as well, and it looks as if they have no place to escape to. Overhead, dipping in and out of the storm clouds are aircraft that occasionally strikes at the Ettema with what appears to be lasers. These then must be the Ordinin.
The couple slips into the deep mind state that is the core state of their powers. Breathing in, the power surges from the places beyond the worlds, and the power surges from the sky, and the power surges from the earth below. As the power surges about them, they drink the energy in, and they grow in stature twice ten times, in preparation of the justice that they must deal.
With their new formed power, they see the Ordinin in all ways. They are a robust and predatory species, having laid waste to many worlds before this one; they seek to harvest those things they value from the world of the Ettema before they leave it to die in the dark of space. Looking into their deepest mind, the Unutu can find no redeeming qualities in this vicious species.
It is no light thing to sentence a species to death, and so, for a day and a night and another day, Unutu stops the actions of both species whil
e they consider. They look beyond this world, to the other worlds that the Ordinin have visited, and they look deep into the past times and the past actions of the Ordinin. They look forward into the various probable futures of the worlds should the Ordinin perish, and also if they should continue. These investigations time and time again came up with the same answer; the local universe was a better place without the Ordinin in it.
The decision made, all that is left is for Unutu to deliver the Judgment, and to carry out the sentence. They let the two species move once more, but they restrict the Ordinin from further damaging the Ettema.
***The species known as the Ordinin has acted as an agent of Chaos for its long and bloody history. They have destroyed the innocent at every opportunity. The Unutu sentence the Ordinin to extinction in this and every other world***
The judgment delivered, it was now time to carry out the sentence. Some of the Ordinin craft were attempting to conduct strafing runs at the pair as they stood in judgment, and as they approached, the craft would suddenly lose power, and then they would strike some unseen barrier, and what would happen then was similar to what would happen if they were to hit any concrete wall.
Tom and Karla draw up even more power, because they would be striking not only here, but in distant places many light years away. As the power swirls and spirals, they urge it to grow and to come up to the surface. When the power has made its way to the surface, they release it upon the worlds to complete the sentence that they have pronounced. They sweep the storm from existence.
They stand over one hundred foot in stature, and they cast a long shadow upon the ground. The power now joins the shadow at their feet, and it strengthens it, and makes it have a dark substance, it draws the light from around it, and it darkens into the deepest black. The shadows at their feet swirl, and they flow, and they seem in all ways to be a living form of death.