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20/2/02

".. Updated the Empire today, felt like it was time for a change. It'll take a while getting used to the purple and green, but summers not far off. Nice to be back into spring almost, the winter is always so long. Nice to have some free time again too, I've been so busy lately.."

TheAardvark collapsed into bed and picked up a pencil. It had been so long since she had kept a diary of any sort, and most of the ones she had hadn't lasted. But she had felt the urge to write lately, so she did. It was like there was something pulling her pen across the paper. She assumed it was just because of the springtime, but little did she know, or anyone else for that matter, know what was coming in the near future.

21/2/02

".. I've started taking notes on a new world for C2, its a lot like the ark, but different. More buildings and shrines between the trees. I just wish I could draw as good as the CL artists, it would be so cool if I could make it real.."

Even though TheAardvark was already taking notes on paper, she decided to type them up as well. She felt compelled to put in every detail, so much so that she felt she had seen the place before. Images of rooms and large landscapes full of Norn habitat flashed through her mind. Finally she forced herself away from the document to check the forums. Sure enough there were a few people online. She leapt into the conversation mainstream just the same as any other day, but couldn't help admitting her obsession over insanely minute detail lately. Everyone agreed and said that they too were designing worlds and Norn breed in their spare time, even when they had no artistic ability whatsoever, or were in no way familiar with the way those things were done.

"Whoa, that's weird," TheAardvark said, "Hey, what kind of stuff have you been thinking of anyway? I've got an idea for this place with a stream, and lots of ferns and oak tree and these old ruins of a Shee temple.

"You're kidding, I was thinking along the same lines! I want it to have a really big field as well, and a lot of sky. ." Said Bulbaboy. The two discussed the fine points for a while, when GrendleGirl88 came in.

"Hi everybody! Wow, these are some really cool ideas. Funny, I had a brilliant idea for a room almost the same as that!

"That is very weird!" said TheAardvark, but no one thought anything of the coincidence. There was such an incredibly large flow of ideas on the forums that no one knew where it began and where it ended. It was the beginning of something big..

12/3/02

".. I've been so busy lately, our schoolwork is increasing and when I'm not doing homework I'm sketching out ideas for the world everyone is talking about. I can't stop putting in little details. I really have to try hard to concentrate on other things. Its weird, but its probably just cause everyone's gotten so into it that I car about it so much.."

That night, for the first time in a long time, the forums were dead. No one was online in DS, and CL was taking care of the sudden mass orders from the mall. Scanners were being pushed to the max as the world became real. Pencil was taken to paper, CAOS flowed like water, and beta testers' bug reports filled the phone lines. The Internet barn raising flew at incredible speed, as everyone glided through the tutorials to create things they never thought possible of anyone except the shee themselves. There was a feeling of an unspoken deadline; like the project has to be done bi the end of the month or something horrible would happen. Finally, it was released, although there weren't many people who didn't have it already. The final product was beautiful, more complex than anyone could imagine.

TheAardvark had just got on the computer and logged onto the forums when she found herself opening up DS. She shook off the feeling that she hadn't wanted to play DS, and convinced herself it was just subconscious. But there was still a lurking feeling in the back of her head that there was more to the world than meets the eye.

She was talking to Bulbaboy and Grendelgirl when she found herself glowing blue. Bewildered, she kept on typing, hoping it was just a trick of the light. But Bulbaboy brought up that it was happening to him, and Grendelgirl as well, so he told them she was, as well, glowing. She was about to comment when she felt herself being ripped from her computer seat and spinning very quickly through not only space but time. She tried to stay conscious, but she failed and all went black

* * *

"She's coming to!"

"Shhh, quiet@ This isn't the meso." TheAardvark opened her eyes with great difficulty, and as everything swam into view she saw she was on the floor of a small white room in a sleeping bag, with four adult norns hovering over her. She tried to sit up, but a female Bengal stopped her.

"You need rest, you took a nasty bump to your head on the way here," she sad. There were two other people in the room as well, each in a sleeping bag, but they looked.. One was fuzzy, and the other scaly.

"Who.. Who are they?" She asked.

Your friends of course," another female Bengal replied. TheAardvarks hand shot up to her face to check for fuzz, but her hands weren't hers. They had shrunk drastically, and were covered in a deep blood red fur. She gasped, and started to ask what was happening to her, but she stopped when a male astro Norn dumped what seemed to be pantrea potion down her throat. Then the fuzzy person woke up.

"Where am I? What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know. Who are you? Are you.."

" Bulbaboy," he finished. " I'm assuming you're TheAardvark?" She nodded.

Then I guess the scaly person is Grendelgirl.." she said, nodding towards the last person.

" I guess so. Did they tell you what happened yet?"

" No, they won't talk. Who would have thought norns worked so well at medical stuff." A female zebra giggled and handed Bulbaboy some potion.

" You two seem fine, we'll meet you in the main field when this one wakes up. Her transition state will be a little rougher as she's been marked as a grendel," said one of the bengals. The two friends started to protest, but she shoved them outside. "Don't worry, you'll find it easy enough."

"Hey Aardvark, you look cool in red," Bulbaboy joked. "What general colour am I?"

"Now there's a question you don't hear every day" grinned TheAardvark. "You know the deep blue on the male astros? Well, that's the colour you are. But there's this really cool lighter blue marking on your back, it looks like some sort of a symbol." She tried to decipher the symbol, and thought for a long time. Suddenly, she laughed out loud.

"What is it?"

"It's a piranha! I cant believe I didn't see t before. Hey, this place looks familiar. Isn't it the little room off the norn home in the new metaroom we all made?" Bulbaboys jaw dropped.

" So it is! Wow, that'd explain why everyone was so into it, the norns had some sort of... Link to our thoughts. I wonder why they brought us here?" TheAardvark stood up off of a rock she had been sitting on.

" I drew that rock.. Hey, and you programmed that bunny! This is so weird. By the way, do I have any markings on my fur, or am I just plain red? I wish I had a mirror.."

Ya, go figure. We turn into norns and we cant even see. Oh, you have these runes or something down your left cheek." Bulbaboy looked around and started walking. "Come on, we'd better get going if we want to find the right spot on time." They started off, and found it in no time, as they were both co creators of the room. They sat down in the ferns beside a stream and had lunch. Finally the four norns could be seen coming over the top of the hill with not one, but what looked like three other people. The two got up and started up the wooden path to greet them.

"I see your transition state is coming along very nicely!" Exclaimed the astro Norn. "I'd give it another hour and you two will be done." He paused. " Oh, please forgive us! My name is Gerome," He motioned towards the zebra. "This is Ophelia. Those two are Athena and Corena, they're twins. Back off Ophelia!" The zebra stood up and off of the rock Bulbaboy was sitting on and walked away reluctantly from a furiously blushing Bulbaboy.

"Hey, I don't know about here, but where I come from we like to have three feet of personal space. Stop laughing Aardvark!" TheAardvark stopped giggling with some effort and brushed her hair out of her face.

"Hey Grendelgirl! Wow, you look cool! Um, might I ask who you guys are, and if anyone else is coming?" A purple ettin stepped forward from behind Athena

"I'm Crazykid, and this is Pagan-Gerbil. I think there's a few more coming. You people know why I'm purple and fuzzy? These norns wont let out a peep.."

"Gather round, have a seat," said Corena. "It's a long story. It all began when we first docked with the Capilatta. The Ark's engineers thought there may be more ships coming, so they created more docking stations for others-"

"But wouldn't CL know if there were going to be more spots?" Asked Pagan-Gerbil.

"CL? Who's that? If you're talking about the ettins, how could they? Anyways, a small ship came through our force field during an ion storm without us noticing. It docked without clearance, and somehow fluctuated the programming in out rejection systems. We don't know exactly what was in the ship, but since it docked it has somehow forced the hand to make the ship bigger. We believe it has some sort of mind control methods. But with the new areas of the Ark, we've been having a very hard time pinpointing its location. That's why we called you in. You were the easiest competent species to pinpoint with our warp technology. With one of our people in your 'forum' you came from we easily found the ruthless warriors we needed to dispose of this invader."

TheAardvark put down the large acorn she had been eating and looked incredibly smug. "One question though, why are we norns? Surely if we weren't better off as humans you could have sent someone already living here to do it?"

" Alas, we tried, but to no avail. There are only a few norns in the ark smart enough to do it and that's us. We have a genetic mutation that bypasses a lot of the things that make your average Norn not so smart. The people have assigned us as doctors, and they panic if we leave our posts, so we couldn't even if we wanted to. We're terribly sorry if we've caused any inconveniences. We've set up your portal specially to send you back to the exact same time it was when you left your world." Corena sat down and plucked a large berry off of a bush. "Any questions? I'm assuming you all know your way around, I've had a few ettins construct some makeshift huts in the norn terrarium, you'll be safe there at night. You all look beat; we'll meet you back here in the morning. Go get some rest." He four norns got u and walked back to the medical ay. Crazykid and Pagan-gerbil sat down. No one said anything.

"So.." Grendelgirl broke the silence. "I'm gold ad scaly. And you guys are fuzzy. How insane is this…"

" Okay, reality check here. I'm red, Bulbaboy's blue, Crazykid's purple, Grendelgirl's gold, Pagan Gerbil's green, we're on the shee ark saving the world, we're living in huts-"

"Ouch!"

"And when I pinch PG it hurts. Well this is just peachy!" TheAardvark eased up off the ground.

"We'd better get going, seems it gets dark on the ark. Hey, that rhymes!" Everyone nodded in agreement and the group started walking.

"Who would have thought I'd turn into a norn.." Pagan Gerbil muttered.

"We have to get a hold of ourselves.." Bulbaboy groaned. Everyone nodded again.

"Yeah. Hey, I wonder why the norns seem scared of this thing, all it did was make their world bigger for them," said Grendelgirl.

"I don't think they're telling us everything…" said TheAardvark. They walked in silence for a while. They were nearly at the Norn terrarium door when Bulbaboy asked if anyone wanted to zip down to the medical bay ion the bridge to pick up some cough syrup.

"I'll go. Catch you guys later." Volunteered TheAardvark. They weren't even at the lift when Bulbaboy held out his arm stopping TheAardvark.

"Ssshhhh! I think I saw something move." he hissed. Sure enough, there was something moving towards them out of the darkness. They both held their breath, as it got closer.

"On the count of three break," whispered TheAardvark. "One… Two… Ophelia! Oh thank god its only-" But she got interrupted.

"What are you doing here?" She looked angry.

"We were just-"

" I don't care, I never want to catch you on the bridge! Got it? Good. Now get going!" Ophelia disappeared back into the darkness. TheAardvark started to slink forward silently, but Bulbaboy stopped her.

" We'll go tomorrow," he whispered in her now incredibly large ear. "I have the feeling we're being watched very closely. Very very closely. Lets go before we get caught again." They made their way back to the Norn terrarium, but they couldn't shake off the feeling that they were being followed by something.

Right outside the two huts they decided not to tell anyone what had happened. They went their separate ways, their furry lips sealed. That night, TheAardvark had a dream the Ark was under attack. They had to ward off the attackers, but the Ark had no weapons, and lost the battle miserably.

The next morning TheAardvark and Grendelgirl got together a breakfast of cheese and apple cookies while everyone else slept in.

"So, how do I look in gold? Those markings down your cheek look cool, I wonder what they mean," said Grendelgirl.

I wish I knew. Listen; do you get any weird feelings about this whole thing? Its all so…"

"I know what you mean," replied Grendelgirl.

"You do?"

"Yeah. I never thought I'd actually turn into a Grendel, or live on the Ark." TheAardvark sighed with relief, thinking she might have been talking in her sleep. She didn't want everyone to know about last night, otherwise they'd all come and they'd be the most conspicuous group of norns, ettins, and grendels in history. Once everyone was awake and had eaten they made their way back to the field they had gathered in the day before. When they had all assembled, Double-A and Bulbaboy couldn't help but notice that Ophelia wasn't there, but a young treehugger was instead.

"Good morning everyone. You may notice that, unfortunately, Ophelia isn't here. She has fallen ill and will be back shortly. Taking her place will be Dreiea. You may know her as 'Linnet2'. She was out information Norn we put on your 'forums'. She is a doctor in training, and can be trusted as much as any of us. Anyway, lets get down to business." Athena started handing around weapons. "We hope you wont have to use them, but you wont be safe without them. Use them wisely as well as your best judgement, we cant afford any ore losses.."

"Athena! Watch what you say!"

"They don't know..." Athena and Gerome immediately stopped arguing when they saw all eyes were on them. Athena cleared her throat.

"That will be all for today, we want you to just walk around the ship to get to know your way around." The four norns left, talking hurriedly under their breath.

The group started making their way around the ship. Luckily, by the time they reached the bridge it was very late and they were too tired to keep going. They went back to the Norn terrarium.

"Anyway, we all know what well find there, it's not a complicated room," said Pagan-Gerbil.

"Its nothing to see really," said Bulbaboy. "Exactly the way it looks in C3 except all the connectible agents are gone."

"Sounds boring. Lets go to bed, I'm exhausted!" Said Crazykid. Everyone hurried into the huts, and fell asleep immediately. Bulbaboy and Double-A crept out silently and met up at the Norn terrarium door. They nodded to each other, and crept into the darkness, weapons drawn. They slipped through the lift opening and dropped silently to the bottom level. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they saw carnage. Dead norns, grendles, and ettins everywhere, strewn carelessly across the floor. In the middle of the room stood a thick stone dish, standing about three feet high. Across the wide rim lay Ophelia, dead. They moved towards the dish and pushed the Norn off the edge onto the floor. They began to study the dish, for it was no ordinary huge stone bowl. Around the edge there was a wide rim, about one foot across, covered in symbols. In the dish was a deep purple-silver liquid. As soon as they touched the surface, it began to bubble furiously. Then it smoothed over, to show the Albia from C1 being torn apart from the volcano. Then, a single shee digging through the ruins. He found something, and hurried off. Then, the liquid rippled and showed the same shee, although considerably older, working in a laboratory full off eggs. He selected one, and put it in the incubator, and it hatched. Then, the young Norn, now adolescent, being taught by the same shee in the same whiter medical bay that they had been in the previous day. It carried on, showing the four norns that had greeted them the other day working in the laboratory. Suddenly, from one of the workstations, Ophelia's workstation, a huge black cloud erupted and swept out of the room. It flew all through the Ark, killing everything it touched. Then, it showed the cloud although now just a silver outline, surrounded by five other symbols, red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Something between the five symbols connected and shot towards the cloud, blowing in into millions of tiny pieces. The liquid rippled again, and went back to purplish silver.