Kit sat on the cold stone below the cool shade of the trees, casting sharp
edged shadows across the dirt. He kicked a stone that cried out in pain,
and without apologizing, stood up to leave. He knew where he was; he just
didn't know why he was there. A voice in distress made him stop dead in his
tracks.
"Kit! Kit! Please do something! Anything!" Nita's wails met up with his ears. His heart began to pound, and he looked around for her.
"Where are you Nita?" Kit called into the dark trees that surrounded him.
"I don't know.a- a cave I guess! I think it's His lair!" She called back, her voice weak from screaming.
"Whose lair?" Kit called back to the earsplitting silence. "Neets? NITA!" Then he was falling back into the dirt, farther back still, under the ground, beneath the earth's crust, and he could not stop from the oncoming darkness.
"My lair," A cold, bone-chilling voice rang out into the darkness, and Kit knew immediately who it was. His stomach bottomed out and color drained from his face. Finally, he hit rock bottom on a cold, stone floor. He thought it was the cave, and searched the inky blackness for Nita. She was nowhere in sight.
"She's not here right now," The Lone Power told Kit. He stepped out of the shadows and Kit saw his glowing face, black, flowing robes and sinister glare.
"You need to show me what you've been doing. I know you know what I'm talking about Kit. the Universes that you've made? I need you to tell me how to make them. Then I will have my universe back, a perfect universe full of all the horrors mortals and wizards alike dread. If you do not, then your friend Nita will die. You have to make a decision. You have five days. Well, four, by now. Hurry up and set your priorities straight Kit, or it might be too late for you and your friend here." The Lone One's silky voice split the rocky walls of the cave, and Kit was drowning in terror.
"Kit! Kit!" Nita's voice broke the ringing silence. Kit looked around again, and listened to her voice.
"Kit! If you let him make a new universe like that, He'll have more power! Don't tell him Kit! I'll be fine!" Nita tried to convince herself, without success. She knew it was the right thing to do, but tears still welled up in her eyes as she uttered the words she had not wanted to say. "You've got to do what it right Kit!" Kit longed to see her, to know everything was all right.
"You have four days Kit. I'll be counting, and Nita will be as well."
And Kit was falling again. Soaring through the black abyss until he thought he could no longer continue. He hit something solid below him, jarring his arm and quickly waking with a start.
Kit looked around. He'd fallen onto the hard wood floor. Holding his stinging arm, he stood and sat down on his bed. He had a tough decision to make.
'I'll bet this is how Nita felt when she had to chose whether to give up her wizardry to save her mom or not,' he though bitterly. He, as Nita had, knew what was the right thing to do, but he couldn't press himself to admit it.
'But I don't even know how to do it! Only Ponch does!' Kit argued with himself. He decided to go to Ponch for help.
"Ponch, can you take me back to that place?" Kit asked his playful dog.
(Sure, if you want. Do you want to see the squirrels? Can we go to the squirrels?) Ponch asked, hopping up and down, his fur blowing in the wind.
"No," Kit answered. "I'd rather not. Let's go somewhere else." Ponch gave Kit the impression of a shrug, and suddenly, they were both standing somewhere entirely different from their backyard. They were on a beach, with the wind softly rustling the leaves on the palm trees, and the ocean gently lapping at the sandy beach. Kit looked around.
"How did we get here?" Kit asked, still confused as to how it worked.
(I thought about a beach, and it came.) Ponch answered simply. Kit let out an aggravated sigh.
"But, how do I get here alone?" Kit asked him, frustrated.
(You can't. You need me. I don't know how it all works, but humans can't do it alone.) Ponch replied, lying lazily on a towel that magically appeared on the beach. (Can I have the squirrels now?) H asked in anticipation. Kit sighed, sat down on the wet sand near the blue water, and shrugged.
"Go ahead," he mumbled, still debated on what to do. Ponch leaped up, and instantly a bunch of squirrels came running out from behind a palm tree. Kit lay back, let the cool breeze brush his face, and let himself dissolve into his thoughts.
Nita was aching from having to lie on the hard rock of the cave, and starving from lack of food for two days. Her eyes, now adjusted to the dark, fell upon the hourglass, the white sand dripping down in a stream. Just a little less than half of the sand was piling in the bottom. 'Come on.' Nita thought desperately. 'Come on Kit, do something! Anything!' She hoped for a reply, but only the deadly silence followed and sliced her ears from the world.
Kit racked his brain for an answer. Anything to buy him time or show him the way. He pounded his head on the tree behind him as a squirrel and Ponch ran past him in a blur of fur. 'That's it!' he thought, leaping up. 'I'll just tell him that he needs my dog. That's all I know anyway. Then, he won't be able to do anything.' It was hardly a plan, but it was the best Kit could do for now. He'd just have to close his eyes and wait for more sleep to come.
Finally, after a long wait, Kit found himself in a dark cave. He looked around, and called out as soon as his feet hit the hard cave bottom,
"Nita! Where are you? I need to talk!" Ringing silence followed Kit's ears, until he heard a small, weak voice call back that faltered.
"Kit? I'm here! What is it? What are you going to do?" she asked, her voice getting weaker and fainter with every word. Kit searched for a good answer, and finally called back,
"I- I'm going to tell him something, but not the entire thing!" There was a long pause before Nita's voice came back, cracking.
"You- you're going to tell him? Does that mean I'll get out? You only have three days, do it quick!" Kit listened to the sound of this, and winced. He knew he couldn't make a good decision about this in three days. Finally, he answered.
"I can't tell him the truth though! He'll get whatever he wants! That could be a really bad thing! So I'll- I'll lie, and maybe you'll get out." His voice died out, listening to his own words. 'Maybe.' Nita had thought the same thing.
"Maybe? You mean I might. But you have to get me out! You have to!" she sounded desperate. Kit closed his eyes.
"But I can't tell him everything! There's a chance-"
"A chance? There can't be a chance? Kit, if you don't hurry, I'm going to starve to death!"
"Neets, it's not that simple! I CAN'T TELL HIM!"
"Ok fine, don't tell him, leave me here to die." her voice told him with slight sarcasm. Kit sighed. He knew the conversation was over, and he fell back into the blackness.
"So Kit, do you have an answer for me?" The Lone One's slick voice echoed in the distance. Kit struggled for words.
"Yes. yes I do. You can't do it alone you see. You have to have my dog, Ponch, with you, or-" The Lone Power cut him off.
"I'll need more information later, but for now, you've done your part." The Lone One told him.
"So will you let Nita-?" Kit was cut off.
"Not yet," was his only answer before Kit was spiraling back through space and time to the real world where he could not communicate with the doomed Nita.
Kit awoke with a start and saw he was in the black universe he'd been in before where he'd found the glede. He looked around, his eyes adjusting slowly to the inky darkness.
"Ponch? Ponch, where are you?" he called out, waiting to see a fluffy dog bound out at him with a squirrel in his mouth. No dog came though.
"Ponch? Ponch?" Kit called a few more times. Silent. Still. Nothing. "PONCH! NO GAMES! GET OVER HERE!" Silent. Still. Nothing. Kit's heart pounded in his chest as he realized what he'd done- he'd sold his own dog over to the Lone Power! Panic growing inside him, he rushed through the darkness to find a way home.
"Kit! Kit! Please do something! Anything!" Nita's wails met up with his ears. His heart began to pound, and he looked around for her.
"Where are you Nita?" Kit called into the dark trees that surrounded him.
"I don't know.a- a cave I guess! I think it's His lair!" She called back, her voice weak from screaming.
"Whose lair?" Kit called back to the earsplitting silence. "Neets? NITA!" Then he was falling back into the dirt, farther back still, under the ground, beneath the earth's crust, and he could not stop from the oncoming darkness.
"My lair," A cold, bone-chilling voice rang out into the darkness, and Kit knew immediately who it was. His stomach bottomed out and color drained from his face. Finally, he hit rock bottom on a cold, stone floor. He thought it was the cave, and searched the inky blackness for Nita. She was nowhere in sight.
"She's not here right now," The Lone Power told Kit. He stepped out of the shadows and Kit saw his glowing face, black, flowing robes and sinister glare.
"You need to show me what you've been doing. I know you know what I'm talking about Kit. the Universes that you've made? I need you to tell me how to make them. Then I will have my universe back, a perfect universe full of all the horrors mortals and wizards alike dread. If you do not, then your friend Nita will die. You have to make a decision. You have five days. Well, four, by now. Hurry up and set your priorities straight Kit, or it might be too late for you and your friend here." The Lone One's silky voice split the rocky walls of the cave, and Kit was drowning in terror.
"Kit! Kit!" Nita's voice broke the ringing silence. Kit looked around again, and listened to her voice.
"Kit! If you let him make a new universe like that, He'll have more power! Don't tell him Kit! I'll be fine!" Nita tried to convince herself, without success. She knew it was the right thing to do, but tears still welled up in her eyes as she uttered the words she had not wanted to say. "You've got to do what it right Kit!" Kit longed to see her, to know everything was all right.
"You have four days Kit. I'll be counting, and Nita will be as well."
And Kit was falling again. Soaring through the black abyss until he thought he could no longer continue. He hit something solid below him, jarring his arm and quickly waking with a start.
Kit looked around. He'd fallen onto the hard wood floor. Holding his stinging arm, he stood and sat down on his bed. He had a tough decision to make.
'I'll bet this is how Nita felt when she had to chose whether to give up her wizardry to save her mom or not,' he though bitterly. He, as Nita had, knew what was the right thing to do, but he couldn't press himself to admit it.
'But I don't even know how to do it! Only Ponch does!' Kit argued with himself. He decided to go to Ponch for help.
"Ponch, can you take me back to that place?" Kit asked his playful dog.
(Sure, if you want. Do you want to see the squirrels? Can we go to the squirrels?) Ponch asked, hopping up and down, his fur blowing in the wind.
"No," Kit answered. "I'd rather not. Let's go somewhere else." Ponch gave Kit the impression of a shrug, and suddenly, they were both standing somewhere entirely different from their backyard. They were on a beach, with the wind softly rustling the leaves on the palm trees, and the ocean gently lapping at the sandy beach. Kit looked around.
"How did we get here?" Kit asked, still confused as to how it worked.
(I thought about a beach, and it came.) Ponch answered simply. Kit let out an aggravated sigh.
"But, how do I get here alone?" Kit asked him, frustrated.
(You can't. You need me. I don't know how it all works, but humans can't do it alone.) Ponch replied, lying lazily on a towel that magically appeared on the beach. (Can I have the squirrels now?) H asked in anticipation. Kit sighed, sat down on the wet sand near the blue water, and shrugged.
"Go ahead," he mumbled, still debated on what to do. Ponch leaped up, and instantly a bunch of squirrels came running out from behind a palm tree. Kit lay back, let the cool breeze brush his face, and let himself dissolve into his thoughts.
Nita was aching from having to lie on the hard rock of the cave, and starving from lack of food for two days. Her eyes, now adjusted to the dark, fell upon the hourglass, the white sand dripping down in a stream. Just a little less than half of the sand was piling in the bottom. 'Come on.' Nita thought desperately. 'Come on Kit, do something! Anything!' She hoped for a reply, but only the deadly silence followed and sliced her ears from the world.
Kit racked his brain for an answer. Anything to buy him time or show him the way. He pounded his head on the tree behind him as a squirrel and Ponch ran past him in a blur of fur. 'That's it!' he thought, leaping up. 'I'll just tell him that he needs my dog. That's all I know anyway. Then, he won't be able to do anything.' It was hardly a plan, but it was the best Kit could do for now. He'd just have to close his eyes and wait for more sleep to come.
Finally, after a long wait, Kit found himself in a dark cave. He looked around, and called out as soon as his feet hit the hard cave bottom,
"Nita! Where are you? I need to talk!" Ringing silence followed Kit's ears, until he heard a small, weak voice call back that faltered.
"Kit? I'm here! What is it? What are you going to do?" she asked, her voice getting weaker and fainter with every word. Kit searched for a good answer, and finally called back,
"I- I'm going to tell him something, but not the entire thing!" There was a long pause before Nita's voice came back, cracking.
"You- you're going to tell him? Does that mean I'll get out? You only have three days, do it quick!" Kit listened to the sound of this, and winced. He knew he couldn't make a good decision about this in three days. Finally, he answered.
"I can't tell him the truth though! He'll get whatever he wants! That could be a really bad thing! So I'll- I'll lie, and maybe you'll get out." His voice died out, listening to his own words. 'Maybe.' Nita had thought the same thing.
"Maybe? You mean I might. But you have to get me out! You have to!" she sounded desperate. Kit closed his eyes.
"But I can't tell him everything! There's a chance-"
"A chance? There can't be a chance? Kit, if you don't hurry, I'm going to starve to death!"
"Neets, it's not that simple! I CAN'T TELL HIM!"
"Ok fine, don't tell him, leave me here to die." her voice told him with slight sarcasm. Kit sighed. He knew the conversation was over, and he fell back into the blackness.
"So Kit, do you have an answer for me?" The Lone One's slick voice echoed in the distance. Kit struggled for words.
"Yes. yes I do. You can't do it alone you see. You have to have my dog, Ponch, with you, or-" The Lone Power cut him off.
"I'll need more information later, but for now, you've done your part." The Lone One told him.
"So will you let Nita-?" Kit was cut off.
"Not yet," was his only answer before Kit was spiraling back through space and time to the real world where he could not communicate with the doomed Nita.
Kit awoke with a start and saw he was in the black universe he'd been in before where he'd found the glede. He looked around, his eyes adjusting slowly to the inky darkness.
"Ponch? Ponch, where are you?" he called out, waiting to see a fluffy dog bound out at him with a squirrel in his mouth. No dog came though.
"Ponch? Ponch?" Kit called a few more times. Silent. Still. Nothing. "PONCH! NO GAMES! GET OVER HERE!" Silent. Still. Nothing. Kit's heart pounded in his chest as he realized what he'd done- he'd sold his own dog over to the Lone Power! Panic growing inside him, he rushed through the darkness to find a way home.