The sky outside was gray, completely gray and the three spheres which were Gamma-Vile's suns were hidden behind thick black and ugly clouds. Thunder rolled in the distance but no one in the group noticed. She was being forced out on a walk, being told it was good for her health and for the baby's health as well, she walked with her eyes glaring out, her face set in frustrated anger, her temper ready to flare out at any time and at any word spoken. They were walking down a red cobblestone walkway, dark thorny bushes on one side with the wall of a maze on the other, leading the group was Irka, her grandmother, beside her was her father. The man was walking in step with her, his right eye trained on her, his hands ready to reach out and grab her should she need assistance.

"Looks like a storm coming in." she muttered.

"News did say that there was a large batch coming in later on today." Master Vile replied. "Going to storm all night and most of tomorrow."

She looked over in disgust at her father and stumbled, a root growing from under the maze's wall having caught up against her ankle. Before her knees could strike the cobblestone her father's arm wrapped around her and held her up. He gently placed her back on her feet, the one behind her, TazirVile, bent down and lifted her foot up. She grunted and walked on. In the distance she heard thunder, a drop of rain fell on her head then she exited the cobblestone and entered an area of her father's garden, a place that looked as if it had not been kept up for years. Vines and thorny patches of growth grew out from the maze walls, purple grasses sprouted up from the cobblestone walkway, rocks and pebbles littered the area, a slight breeze blew past and a tumbleweed was blown across the yard. Her father gently escorted her by her elbow to a bench that was held up by grinning skulls and had her sit on it, the line behind her was able to move forward out of the thin walkway to the yard.

"I don't need your yanky banky help!" Angel pulled her arm out from her father's hand.

"Testy this afternoon aren't we?" TazirVile walked up. "Bespe was drastically different."

"Like anyone cares about your scank of an ex-wife." Angel looked away.

"Watch you tongue, Girl!" DuruVile walked up to her angrily. "Show some respect."

"Go to Hell Hammerhead." Angel snorted.

DuruVile picked her up roughly and shook her twice, she grabbed his arms and squeezed her hands as tightly as they would let her. DuruVile was slender with some muscle build on him but not as much as his oldest son, he had a very reserved body tone. As she was being shaked she suddenly felt a pop and yelled out, her father grabbed her away from his grandfather and held her close, she was shaking violently and he was having a hard time holding her up, it was when he released her with one of his hands to grab the black silk cloth that was in his robe that he found she was unable to hold herself up. She dropped to the cobblestone, her hands over her stomach.

"Was it born?" Irka asked her still pacing with worry son.

"No, false labor." Master Vile answered. "My grandfather's action near severed the placenta from her uterine wall, that was what caused it."

"Oh no, son don't go claiming..." KurukVile walked up to his son but Master Vile pushed him right back hard.

"The physician said it old man!" Master Vile roared at his father, he began pacing again.

"What else did the physician say?" KurukVile asked. "No, nevermind, I'd like to see her myself. Where is she?"

She had fought being carried the whole way back to the palace, her father had scooped her up and practically had ran, his feet barely touching the cobblestone before being pulled back up. Irka and the girls had gone off to the kitchen, thinking that she was in labor and needed luke warm water and towels, KurukVile had called in his son's personal physician then all of the men, and most of the women, had just sat down in the living room, some pacing, some rocking back and forth on the couches. When the physician, an ugly green lizard-man when purple eyes and slimy skin, had come he had rushed up to the room she and her father slept in and had started his routine, The check-up followed by the testing. He had done the whole battery of tests on her. Everything had checked out well, the baby's heart rate, blood supply and amniotic fluids in the placenta were fine. The placenta looks as if it had gone through some stress but that was all. She was now on bed rest, or so said the physician who said that he highly recommended it. She was up and walking around, not really caring if the baby was expelled early or not. She had just walked past the smoking machine, her eyes had trailed over to it, wondering what would happen if she took a large suck from the machine or if she smoked the whole contents it held inside of it, when the door opened and her grandfather walked in.

"Hello, granddaughter." he said to her gently. "You should be seated or lying down, not a good idea to be walking around like this after so soon a false labor."

"So says you." she glared at him.

"My goodness girl!" KurukVile exclaimed when he walked forward and she turned fully sideways from him. "Are you ever carrying a baby nowadays!"

"Thanks for calling me fat." Angel muttered.

KurukVile walked over then dropped to his knees in front of Angel, she would have pulled back had not there been the backless couch behind her. He placed his hands on her stomach, the baby wasn't kicking but he seemed to be checking for it as he was pressing his hands against her stomach firmly. He next spoke Vilian and turned his head, leaning his left long ear against her stomach, she had enough and walked off. He stood up and followed her, when she got within distance of the bed he gently grabbed her arm and led her to it. He forced her to sit down then he sat beside her, she was revolted by his closeness!

"You'll have it early, I bet." her grandfather said to her. "So round and big in the belly, bet its a boy."

"Bet its deformed." Angel snorted in reply.

"Quit talking of your child that way!" KurukVile said to her sternly. "It's not deformed, the doctor says it is perfectly formed in every way."

"Whatever." Angel replied.

"You going to be this way when the child is born?" KurukVile asked her. "You do know the child will depend on you, and your and its father."

"I won't let it nurse." Angel replied coldly.

"Yes you will!" KurukVile stood up and started throwing his arms all about. "You will! Even if you need to be forced to, you will nurse and mother that child."

"You can't make me..." Angel started to say but her emotions took over and her throat closed up.

"Don't you turn and become Agola, Girl." KurukVile said after looking at her crying on the bed. "You are nothing like her, forget part of your heritage. We are where you come from, we are your immediate family. We love and cherish you, we take care of you. Start to show some respect for that." He turned and walked out of the room, the door locked behind him.

The power flickered on and off at around five, it went completely off at seven. The lightning outside crackled, sending red, white, blue and orange flashes on the walls in the palace, thunder made it seem like she was outside in the storm, it was like she was experiencing a Earthquake with each thunder-clap, the palace acted as if it would jump up with each thunder-clap. Rain pelted, sloshed and pounded against the windows. Master Vile spent much of his time going between her, making sure she was safe and okay then heading back to be with the other members his family. He was going to take her with him but he decided against it after she slapped him, she was locked up and she was happy about it because now she could enact her plan of attempting another escape.

She stood with a statue in hand, her stomach hurting her but she was ignoring it. She waited for the thunder, a spark of red twisting lightning had struck two Mississippi seconds before, the thunder-clap was what she was waiting for, it would mask her attempt at escape. She had worked on this plan for a while now, almost as long as she had been in the room. She'd worked every detail out, she hoped it would work and that this attempt would get her were she wanted to go because surely, she did not want to stay here in her father's palace any longer.

Ka-Boom! There is was, the thunder-clap, it was so deafeningly loud it almost made her scream but she mustered her strength and with one loud grunt she tossed the statue at the window. The window shattered, the sound masked by the thunder, the glass fluttered down and collected on the concrete below before being washed away by the rain. Now that the window was open she walked to it and slipped out, the lip was big enough for her to walk on and there was a pipe, a slick black pipe long enough for her to slide down on to the ground below. She pressed her body against the side of the palace and worked her way, taking one tentative step at a time, not looking down. When her hand touched the pipe she swung over, gripped it with both hands and slid down, her hands and bare feet scraped against the pipe, she felt blood flowing from her hands and feet when she slid down a part of the pipe that was uneven. When he feet touched the ground she wasted no time. She tore off, timing herself, making her legs go as fast as they could. She ran to a bush and stopped, looking up then to the sides fast. No one in sight, no one had noticed her escaping from her father's palace. Good, now she could initiate part two of her plan. She stepped out from the side of her father's palace, away from the bush then stopped. Breathing heavily, she wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes tight, she thought hard of the Bahariya Oasis. Of Egypt. Of Earth. She hoped, she wished, she prayed for, she crossed her fingers and toes and said out the words.

"Egypt, please, teleport me to Egypt. Please, near the Crystal Mountains, please, either near the Crystal Mountains in Egypt or the Bahariya Oasis. Earth! I want to be on Earth! Away from here, away from here and on Earth! Please! Please! Please!"

She fell into a despair when she still felt fat raindrops falling on her, the ground underneath her feet still wet. She broke into a fury-filled sob, she dropped to her knees and buried her head in her hands, her belly held her elbows up from the ground. She fell to the side and started rocking back and forth, she felt leaves and dust and dirt cling onto her. A thunder-clap made her stand up, she walked with her arms around herself, her bleeding hands and feet collected the soil and debris on the ground. Her hair became a matted, wet thing, she was still crying great big drops of tears but something deep within herself told her to walk so she did. She had no idea how long she walked, the thunder made her course unknown as she jumped a lot and turned in zigzags, the rain hid her prints. She had hid in a cave near her father's palace once, during her first attempt at escape, when she found it she climbed inside, her belly scraped at the ground but she didn't care. When she reached the inside of the cave she curled into a ball and fell into a trouble sleep. She was cold, wet and miserable and soon, she knew it would be soon, her father would notice her not being in his room, his window broken, and he would rally up a search party to find and bring her back.

She found herself confused a few hours later, she had slept for a long while and had only woke up when something fuzzy had rubbed up against her cheek. She was still in the cave, why hadn't she been found and brought back to her father's palace? Surely she was missed and surely, she was being looked for, her father was never the one to plain let her run around, especially so after getting pregnant. She pushed herself up, the back of her head struck the cave's ceiling and she moaned, she rolled over and crab-walked out of the cave. When she was out she blinked her eyes, not really believing what she was seeing. There was sand, light yellow sand as far as the eye could see and rocks jutting up from the ground in odd places. The sky above was blue, not a cloud in sight, the orange sphere above cast down its warm rays. It was chilly, she would guess it was around 63 or so degrees out. Where was she? She walked around, the baby kicked and she had to stop to get herself together, whenever the baby kicked she felt as if her stomach would explode. Whether that was normal or not, she didn't know, she had never really carried a live baby before.

A shadow crossed the yellow sand, what was that? She looked up, to her extreme shock she saw that it was a Vulture. She walked on, a hand over her stomach. She was starving! She figured she needed to find some food, something to eat. Did the place she was at have anything edible or was it just a bleak landscape? She walked on, wondering this, underfoot the sand changed color from yellow to white, this intrigued her and she dropped to her knees to investigate it. A fine white sand, so fine it flew off in the wind. This made her excited, she wanted to know where she was, as far as she knew there were areas like this on Gamma-Vile, was she in one of these areas?

She stood up and continued walking, her feet started hurting, both were cut and had sand in the cuts but she didn't mind, her feet had been hurting her a lot lately, they were swollen a lot and made for walking to be tricky. Her father had insisted on him rubbing her feet at night, an activity she was revolted at, even though at times he'd tickle the soles on her feet which would break her mood for only a few minutes. There! In front of her was a patch of green, was it grass? She went to it and dropped to her knees. Yes, it was grass! Light green, pretty grass! She crawled on her hands and knees, following the shoots of grass. They started off being sparsely separated then got closer and closer together. She continued crawling until the grass became a fine layer underneath her. Standing up, smiling from ear to ear, she walked on. There! A bush, a fine and beautiful and green bush! She went to it and touched it, marveling in its texture, in its beauty. She walked past it, more bushes, a tree up ahead which looked like a Palm tree. She went to it and hugged it, the bark felt so good! She walked around the tree twice then walked on. She went into the bushes, she let the bushes scrape and pull at her clothing. There was a sound up ahead, what was it? It sounded like water falling.

"This ain't Gamma-Vile." she said to herself, she almost broke out in tears but she controled herself.

She pushed a limb from a bush away from her and gazed out in wonder at the sight before her. A rise in the land made for a river to drain in a small waterfall to a medium-sized lake of crystal blue water. There was berry bushes, Citrus and Apricot trees standing near the waters edge, she walked as fast as she could to the nearest Apricot tree and picked a fruit from the limb that was closest to her. It tasted so good! Oh, she had forgotten how good Apricot's tasted! So sweet and tangy! She finished the Apricot and had another, then she picked a Citrus from the tree nearest her. Oh oh! It tasted so good! She purred as she ate it, she picked five more and ate them, juice from the fruits going down her chin and dripping onto her dress. She tore off the end of her dress and filled it with Apricot, Citrus and when she came to it, Dates then she tied it up and carried it with her. She went to the waters edge and dove her full head in. The water! It tasted so sweet and good! She drank her fill then looked around, what was that silver, shiny thing over by a rock? She walked over carefully, when she leaned over she saw it was a discarded canteen. She snatched it up and cleaned it of the sand inside, she filled it up and tied it to the belt of her dress. She was now sleepy, she yawned big and stretched her arms out, she needed a place to sleep. Looking around, she saw that there was a set of boulders situated near the water. A breeze made her shiver, no it was very unwise to sleep near the water. She walked off, her stored fruit in hand. She went a distance before her legs started wobbling, she couldn't go any farther, she had to stop. Where was a good spot to sleep? There was a bit Date Tree directly in front of her, seeing as there was no other place nearby worthy enough to shield her she went to the tree and collapsed at its base. Her eyelids slid shut just as her bottom touched the ground.

Some hours later she made for herself a spear, fastened a sharpened rock to the end and started going out for meat. She found the area lacking in the meat department quick, she went without meat for a whole night but she was fine with the fruit. The day after finding herself on Earth, having found that her magic worked still and seemed to of gotten even stronger, she went out for a long walked. She found a lizard but she couldn't catch it, it was much too fast for her. On her way back she found Camel tracks, seeing as she had nothing to really lose back at the Oasis, whatever Oasis it was, she followed the tracks. She hoped that either the tracks would take her to an encampment of people or a herd of Camels. She needed meat, the fruit was nutritious but she needed meat to sustain her fully. The sun wasn't bad until noon then it hit her hard, she started sweating, she vomited twice, she started seeing images dancing in front of her. Mirages of her father, mirages of her grandmother chiding her for using her magic, for escaping. She'd run past these screaming. When she could run any longer she walked, when she couldn't walk she crawled. It was when the sun was starting to set that she reached a rock. She leaned her back against it, her head lying back, her eyes staring up at the sun. She heard footprints walking towards her and looked to the right, her father was walking towards her, his golden-yellow eyes flaming with anger, his fists clenched so tight the veins showed. She looked back up at the sky when she felt her father wrap his arms around her and pick her up, he held her close, she felt his heartbeat. For some reason, it was beating gently, not quick with his anger but gently, evenly.

"I'm sorry kid." she said to the fetus inside of her. "I'm sorry you could not be born in this beautiful place."

The warmth that spread over her forehead made her eyes open, she moaned and moved her head from side to side, her hands went to her stomach. She figured she was back at her father's palace and that soon, very soon, her father would come trudging in and chiding her for her fourth escape, for putting herself and the baby in danger. She prepared herself for it, she slowly pulled herself up, on her elbows. She blinked her eyes three times, this didn't look right. Her father's bedroom chamber was situated inside his palace, had wood walls and a floor, he had a bed in his chamber. The walls of the place she was at moved, as if wind was blowing them from the outside, when she placed her hand down she felt fabric, not a mattress but fabric. She looked down, she was lying on a rug, she looked behind her, there was a long red pillow with gold embroidery behind her. Where was she? Wash she back at the palace or was she someplace else? She rolled her legs underneath of her and stood up, her legs felt very unstable and she dropped to her knees after one step. There was a sound outside, someone moving around, who was it?

"Hello?" she called out weakly. "Anyone there? Hello?"

The sound happened again, she reached out and felt the walls of the drifting material around her. A tent! She was inside a tent! To the right of her was a long wooden box, to the left was a skin and some bundles. She was stretching her hand to the bundles when the tent flaps ahead of her swung open. A darkly tanned man that had a headful of dark brown hair, a thick black beard and bright brown eyes wearing Camel's hair breeches and a short jacket bearing rips and sweatstains walked into the tent. She pulled back and snarled at the man, he stopped and stared at her, he moved his eyes up and down, eying her up.

"Don't come any nearer!" she raised her hands at the man. "Stay back! I warn you!"

"Ana lasto thaheba azeetak." the man replied in Arabic, he sat in front of her.

"I don't understand Arabic." Angel started shaking. "Where am I? Who are you?"

The man was no help in answering her questions, he spoke only Arabic and she didn't know how to speak that language. She tried speaking in French and German but found he didn't understand them languages so she tried speaking to him in sign. He only half understood, his answers again came in Arabic and she gave up. She crawled over to the front of the tent and looked out. She had been brought to a small encampment, there were four tents pegged down, six Camel's were tethered to a rope that was tied up between two tents. There were three women in the camp, two young children and five men. The women were all seated in front of the tents, bowls in front of them. It looked as if they were preparing food, that made her stomach growl so loud it hurt. She pulled back into the tent.

"Am I anywhere near the Bahariya Oasis?" she asked the man.

"Bahariya Oasis," the man repeated, he looked up sharply.

"Yes, am I..." she pointed to herself then drew in the sand a lake with two trees on the sides. "near it?"

"Na'am!" the man nodded his head.

"Which way?" she asked, she then pointed at her drawing. The man pointed to the left and said something in Arabic, her brain was hurting her, she wished he could speak some English. "Atlas, do you know of a man named Atlas?"

The name of Atlas made the man get right angered, he stood up and grabbed her wrist. He dragged her out of his tent and threw her out of his camp. She looked back at him and shrugged her shoulders, it was dark out and chilly, there were no stars out and the moon was hidden in shadows. She turned around and started walking, the man behind her was throwing rocks at her, some struck her others just fell near her. There was a hooting call, she guessed it was from an Owl. She followed the sound, hoping it would lead her someplace that she wanted to go to. She walked all night, stopping a bunch of times to rest for a few minutes before continuing. She was cold, her body was shivering, she felt icicles forming on her eyelashes. When the sun starting climbing the horizon she had reached a mountain range.

"I should have teleported to a more civilized part of Earth." she said to herself.

The sun climbed, it got hot, much hotter than it should have been for the time of year she figured. Sweat dripped from her as she rounded the mountains, her hand trailing the mountain's side. When she reached the other side she was surprised to see three Nubian Ibex. Her stomach grumbled, she was hungry, she wanted something to eat, pretty bad! The Ibex were a beautiful animal, she was sad that she had to kill one to sustain herself, and the baby she carried. It was three females, standing between two feet tall at the shoulder, each had a light tan coat with a white underbelly. The horns on these three animals were short, only sweeping up on the head about twelve inches long.

"You cannot do magic!" she remembered her grandmother, Irka, telling her once. "It will hurt the baby! Can cause deformities, even a miscarriage!"

"Well, if I go without eating I will lose the thing." she said, she transformed into a Lioness and started stalking the Idex, keeping her tawny brown furred body low to the sand. When she was five feet from the Ibex she leaped forward. The Nubian Ibex, naturally, ran off. The one in the middle, either an older or an injured animal, was slow and she went for her. She leaped up in the air and landed fully on the Ibex's back, the animal fell on her side and started swinging its legs about, trying to kick her away. She dug her claws into the animals side and clamped her teeth down on its neck deep. The Ibex moved twice before dying, she backed off and transformed back to her true, human, self. She looked at the animal, it looked sad to her, she felt guilty for what she had just done. For taking the life of the animal. She was about to get up and leave the animal when her stomach grumbled, the baby inside of her gave her a weak kick, with a sigh she reached her fingers into the animals clawed open sides and tore it apart. She tore out the intestines and threw them to the side, when she saw a rock she grabbed it and used it to sheer away the pelt from the meat. She tore more of her dress off of her and wrapped what meat she had taken from the animal and the liver up. "Now to cook the meat, I'm not eating anything meat-wise raw, yuck!"

She traveled some distance, picking up what little wood she could find, which wasn't much but it was enough to start a fire. She found two black stones and used them to start the fire then she put a slab of meat on and let it cook. Even when the meat started having a good, cooked smell she let it cook a little more, letting any bacteria or parasites be cooked away. After an hour she took the meat off and she ate it, as she was doing so she slapped another piece of meat on the fire. She had just finished the first slab when the next was ready. The liver was the last thing she cooked, she made sure to have that cooked well, it was the most nutritious part she had taken from the Ibex, it was very needed especially for her baby. It took her two hours to cook that fully, it tasted decent, not as tasty as the meat but good nonetheless.

"Well, kid you've been fed for now." she said to the fetus in her. "Enjoy that, not sure when the next meal will be, the pickings are slim out here ya know." as if in answer the baby kicked slightly. "Yeah, like you understood any of that." she snickered.