A Story And Addendum For Memoirs Of The Heroes. (Previously "Memoirs Of An Adventure's Child."))
(All Characters Are Ficticious And bare no resemblence to living people. Any resemblence to fictional characters is only by chance. Special Thanks to Howard Phillips Lovecraft)
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"MAX." It was the only words that came from my mouth as I watched
my son disappear from sight. There had been a flash of light and
both he, and the Ouroboros creature were gone. I heard someone sobbing.
I turned to see JaNa in my wife's arms, crying for all she was worth.
I could tell long before that the two were in love.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Isis
there. "I don't know what to say, but he did it to save Vet."
I nodded in agreement to what she said.
I saw Lena walk over to me and say, "I think that Max would
want us to keep going. To get Vet's Mana Component back."
I nodded with the last statement and said, "You're both
right. We must get to the throne room of the Mana Castle."
I then saw a look of concern on my wife's face. I walked over to
her and JaNa and said, "What is it, my love?"
My wife, Li, looked at me through tear filled eyes, and
said, "Do you think we should try another route to the throne room?
I mean, the Elbiot has probably set up many traps for us." My wife was
right. We had been to the castle before, and if the Elbiot had accessed
that knowledge from Vet's mind, which given the time it mostlikely had,
there would be a slew of traps waiting for us.
"Egad, you're right. I wouldn't be surprised if there
are traps galore waiting for us." I turned to Isis and said, "Is
there any way in to the Castle, other than the front entrance?"
She shook her head and said, "No, but there is secret passages
in the castle. One right inside the door contain's a warp to the
throne room." I was shocked when I heard that.
"Isis, when Li, Vet, and I came on the quest to stop St.
Marius, why weren't we told this." I saw a grim look in her face.
I knew it wasn't going to be good.
She just sighed and said, "The castle was created by the
Evil Ancient's, which was led by one man. He had created this castle,
and he and his fellow Ancients got their excess power from the evil one,
the one we must never name."
My daughter Lena just shuddered. "You mean they made
a deal with Shub." I saw Isis nod. "What happened to the leader?"
Isis closed her eyes when she related the tale, "My father
chased him into the passage from the throne room. They entered a
gateway and entered the realm of Shub. They realized the trouble
they were in and quietly made their way through the passage they entered.
Eventually, they came to the exit, which is in a secret panel right near
this door." She shuddered again and said, "They never found the leader
of the evil Ancients, and feared that he was in league with Shub, or worse,
a minion."
I could have sworn that my heart had stopped. My daughter
then said, "Is the door only openable by Ancient Magic?" Isis nodded
and I realized what that meant. Only Isis could open the door.
Now we had to choose braving countless traps, or trekking through the most
dangerous realm imaginable, and even I couldn't imagine it.
"The real trick will be entering and exiting the passage.
If we take our chances by going the main route, we may get killed by a
trap," I said cautiously.
My wife then said, "Also, by the time we turn around, the
route might be on us." I nodded, because she had a very good point.
I finally said, "Isis, open the door. We have to take
our chances going through that passage. And we might have to take
it going back. I just pray that we don't have to fight anything in
there." There was a concurrent nod as Isis opened that magical door.
Beyond it was a panel of black magic. The door to one of the realms
inhabitted by a very powerful evil, so powerful that we could not defeat
it at all. As I passed through, I could feel the overwheming evil
of the inhabitants, and I shuddered.
When we all had passed through into the tunnel. We
had to tread very quietly, lest we would draw attention to ourselves.
We were venturing through the realm of evil incarnate. As we walked,
Isis grabbed us and pulled us into a small hole. She just said, "Quiet.
Something is coming." I was scared but that changed to being terrified
as the creature walked past. It was hidious with three legs as it
continued down the hall. It had no arms, only long spike like forearms.
As it passed, I heard Lena ask, "What was that?" She
wasn't the only one wondering about the creature. I could tell that
we all wanted to know what the creature was.
Isis looked straight ahead and said, "I don't know, but
it could be one of the beings that was abducted from our world. Even
from another world." She looked out of the crack and motioned that
it was all clear. We slowly followed out of the hole and followed
her.
Finally, after the longest time, JaNa spoke. "I see
water. Could water exist here in this evil world." I saw Isis
go almost rigidly stiff.
My wife looked at her and said, "Isis, what's wrong?"
It was apparent that something scared Isis worse than the three legged
creature. I then heard a sound, which sounded like a swoosh of something
rather large.
Isis just pointed to a rock formation, and said, "Hurry,
behind it. We can't let it see us." This worried me. This truely
spooked Isis. We ran to the formation. As we ran to reach it,
I looked out over the lake and saw two glowing lights in the distance.
I then realized what they were. They were eyes. One thing was
certain, I didn't want to see what those eyes belonged to.
As the being neared, Lena ran for cover. My heart
almost stopped when she fell over. It froze when I saw the 'Eye' roll out
of her backpack. It started to glow, and I was scared. The
other eyes had gotten close, and I could see an outline, of a huge creature,
which was either wearing a giant octopus on it's head, or it was its head.
It stopped and turned around. I could hear that it was moving quickly.
Lena put the 'Eye' away and said, "I thought I was a goner."
I looked at my daughter and said, "We might just be goners.
She knows were here now. I'm surprised that that thing didn't attack
us, what ever it was."
Isis motioned and said, "Hurry, the gate is just over there.
I'd rather be through it before it returns. That happens to be its
most ambitious minion." She ran and I saw the gate before us.
I counted my blessings that we were leaving this realm, and entering our
world again. Then I heard the swooshing sound again. It was
moving faster this time, and back toward us.
The gate was within jumping distance as Isis jumped in first.
My wife and JaNa quickly followed. I turned to see that Lena had
tripped again, and fallen. I quickly ran back and grabbed her.
As I helped her up, I saw the creature that Isis was scared of. It
was green, humanlike, with a squid for a head. I heard a sickening
sound as it saw us. I ran, with Lena in tow, to the gate. As we ran
through the gate, I heard my daughter whisper a word. "Cthulhu."
Was that what that creature was, and how did my daughter know?"
When we reentered our world, Isis grab hold of me and said,
"Did it see you?" She was almost frantic about it. She then
uttered a phrase that chilled my blood, "Did Cthulhu see you? If
it did, we might not be safe going back that way."
I just grimly said, "I don't know. Lena tripped, and
I ran and grabbed her, and it saw us. I didn't know what it was."
Isis just said, "Cthulhu is the most ambitious follower
of Shub. It would stop at nothing to overthrow her, and that means
obtaining a foothold in our realm. No one knows how its mind works,
but it tries to control those who it can. It also can help Shub if
it means helping itself." I wondered if it already had it's foothold,
but I was too scared to say word one.
I decided to change the subject to the real quest at hand.
"Isis, how close are we to the throne room?"
It snapped her mind off the threat of the evil ones as she
turned and said, "We are right behind the throne. We have to be careful.
This Elbiot has all of Vet's magical abilities, even those she hasn't tapped
into yet."
I saw a worried look cross JaNa's face as she said, "You
mean my mother has abilities we don't know about?" When Isis nodded,
she said "I know that my mother has untapped abilities, but how powerful
can they get?"
Isis just said, "It was said long ago when Mutants first
started walking in our existance that they could tap into Mana quite well,
and some feared that they could tap into the highest levels of Mana itself.
The eldest mutant once said that they hadn't reached all the levels, although
they knew the magic was there. One such spell is know to be the Gateway,
which allows one to travel amongst all the dimensions."
My wife said, "Could that mean they could open up gates
to the realm of..." Isis held up her hand to stop my wife's thought.
Isis sighed and said, "I don't know, Li. I shouldn't
have mentioned it. In the past of our world, when all the Humans,
Ancients and Mutants existed, that fear almost lead to the extinction of
the mutants. That hatred infected the celestrial world. It
was like an evil, but when I was born, I ended it. I am part Human,
part Mutant, and part Ancient."
A cold voice said, "And the intelligence of neither of them."
There was a swift movement, and the Elbiot was standing where the throne
had been. "Maybe you should go back the way you came." It fired
a force bolt out. The target was Isis, but Lena jumped in the way.
I was distraught as she flew toward the gate. I had lost one child,
but not another. I grab her in the nick of time.
I turned and faced the Elbiot and said, "This ends now."
I lunged with a rage of anger toward the Elbiot. I most likely would
have stuck the head, not thinking clearing.
My wife grabbed me and said, "Look." I noticed it,
the face of the Elbiot was changing. It was turning into that of Vet's
like it did with all the others.
The component of Vet then said, "Trigger it. It will
blow out the computer unit." I didn't understand what that meant,
but then the face changed back. The Elbiot was back to it's evil
self. "Not likely that will happen. I feel like a roast."
I watched in horror as the Elbiot started to create a fireball.
At that time, I saw a glow eminate from Lena. She
had cast a spell, but what spell was it. Then the Elbiot had started
to glow. It looked shocked as she said, "You said trigger."
Isis said, "Everyone duck." We all ducked as the Elbiot
exploded. All the spells were triggered at once. It was a remarkable
sight, but I turned to see part of the Elbiot knock Lena back through the
gate.
The head of the Elbiot landed next to me, and I heard Vet's
Mana component say, "Thank you, but rescue Lena."
I stood up and said, "JaNa, take care of your mother.
We must hurry. Lena's back in that evil demension. The explosion
knocked her into that world." We had no choice but to re-enter that
cursed path, and I was the first to jump in.
I looked out upon the cave as I entered the evil realm.
I saw Lena lying close to the shoreline, and I listened. No slooshing.
Did that mean it was gone, or waiting? I ran over to my daughter
and said, "Lena, are you ok?"
She got up, shook her head and said, "Is Vet safe?"
I looked back to see everyone else coming through the gate cautiously.
I nodded, and my daughter said, "Then lets run out of here. I don't think
they will be too thrill with two intrutions into their realm. They
might take it as an invite to make a visit to our realm."
We all agreed with that and we ran through the path to the
other gate. Along the way, we heard a roar of anger. I glance
back and saw a Shambler. I saw lightning in its arms. "Faster," I
yelled. In no time, we hit the gate and were back in our own realm.
Isis closed the door to the gate and said, "We must head
to the Water world now." With that she lead us out of the castle, and on
our way to the Water world. I hoped it would be more pleasent that
the world we just left.
The Quest Races On...