Disclaimer: See ch.1 (is this getting a bit redundant?)

A/N: Check out the OMAKES written by vcharlie for chapters 1&4. They're really funny.

Of Rifts and EVAs

Book 1 of the Heaven's Storm trilogy

Chapter 5: Q&A

Dimension: Rifts Earth

Location: Somewhere in the Magic Zone, former U.S.A

Date: July, 2 109 PA

"Why do they always cry for mercy from their gods when I am the only god who hears them?"

"My lady, you are not a god yet."

The village had been burning steadily since nightfall. Foolish beings, all they had to do to survive was agree to worship her as their goddess, but no, they had clung to their other gods and had forsaken her offer. For that insult they had died. Every man, woman, and child, gone in less than an hours worth of slaughter.

Overlooking the burning village was a hill, and on that hill stood one who would be a god. Her name was Lady Deathscale, and she was a Great Horned dragon. Standing next to her was the Gromek (1) known as Verruk. He was her second – in – command and one true friend, and therefore the only being who could commit such blasphemy and not be slain a moment later.

They both watched as her troops left the burning village, their horrific work done.

"A pity they all had to die, I have never seen a race such as theirs. They might have made fine slaves." Verruk mentioned, thinking of the seven foot tall, muscular humanoids that had once occupied the village.

"They refused me, no one refuses me." Lady Deathscale simply said.

As the two continued watching the village burn, a human soldier ran up the hill and kneeled behind them, waiting to be noticed.

"Yes soldier, what do you want?" Verruk asked, knowing that his lady would not involve herself in the matter.

"Sir, we found a man in the woods today. We thought him mad, but he has been screaming to see the Lady. He keeps saying that the gods have sent her gifts for her crusade."

"If he worships me, he should not worry about other gods. However, I am curious, what did he say these gifts were?" Lady Deathscale asked

"He said something about two great robots being sent from the heavens to aid you. He keeps repeating it over and over." The soldier replied, keeping his head bowed and looking at the ground.

"Verruk, go and see about the claims of this man. I have important business to attend to."

Lady Deathscale spread her wings and leapt from the hill, quickly gaining altitude and eventually disappearing into the evening gloom.

"Bring this man to me; I shall try to verify his story." Verruk ordered.

The soldier nodded and walked down the hill quickly, a chill entering even his dark heart as he pondered how commander Verruk would verify the story.

0000000

Location: Meeting room, Auberge research facility

Date: July, 3 109 PA

In the well lit meeting room, two figures sat opposite ends of the table and studied each other.

Damon Auberge sat in his chair and studied the woman across from him. By the look of her she was a fellow scientist. She was obviously in charge, as the others seemed to look to her for answers. She also seemed to be able to keep her cool, even in as confusing a situation as this. Yes, this Dr. Akagi intrigued him.

"You still have not answered my question." Dr. Akagi said, breaking the silence of the room.

"All in good time doctor, I am simply awaiting the arrival of someone, and then we will get down to business." Damon said in a placating tone.

For a few more minutes they sat in silence, each studying the other. Finally the door slid open and Scott Fenix entered the room. The young Techno-Wizard sat down and pulled out a set of data chips which he put on the table.

"Now, Dr. Akagi I believe you had some questions." Damon said.

"Why have we not been allowed to talk with the U.S government?"

Damon sighed; he had guessed that this would be the case.

"It's quite simple Doctor, there is no U.S government, in fact there is no United States."

"How is that possible?" She asked, surprise and disbelief coloring her voice.

"They were wiped out about three hundred years ago." Damon stated.

"My associate here has compiled a report which I believe will answer some of your questions." Damon nodded at Scott, who then sat up and inserted the first of the data chips into the reader built into the table.

The view screen in the room lit up, it was displaying a CGI globe. It rotated around for a few seconds before zooming in on South America.

"We don't know much; only fragments of information survived the Great Cataclysm. Here is what we know. In the year 2098, mankind was living in a golden age. Technology was growing by leaps and bounds. However, it would seem that things were not as golden as most people believed."

As Scott spoke the globe on the view screen began to change, highlighting the events which he was talking about. Currently, two South American nations were highlighted and flashing.

"Tensions that had been simmering between two South American nations erupted into open conflict. On December 22nd 2098, a limited nuclear exchange occurred between the two countries."

The highlighted countries ceased flashing. Now little dots appeared in the countries, each representing a city. Suddenly CGI missile trails streaked from the two countries. There were very few of the missiles, but each one that connected with a dot generated a CGI mushroom cloud, indicating that the city had died.

"Millions died, but it was just a prelude to the destruction that was to come. At the same moment as the nuclear exchange, a rare planetary alignment took place, which reactivated long dormant ley lines that encircled the globe."

The view of South America disappeared as the camera zoomed out into space. It continued to zoom out until the view encompassed the entire solar system. The planets rotated along their axis until they were all aligned. At that point the camera zoomed back to Earth, which now had faint lines of blues appearing all over it.

"Now it is believed that, had there been no nuclear exchange, then the planetary alignment would have passed, and the ley lines would have gone back into dormancy. That was not to be. At the moment of death, most beings give off a burst of energy. When those millions of people died, there was a great burst of energy which the ley lines absorbed, causing them to flare to unimaginable levels."

The faint blue lines encompassing the globe suddenly flared into a bright, solid blue.

"The flaring of these ley lines caused all kinds of catastrophe, which in turn caused more deaths thus feeding the burgeoning ley lines. The additional power fed to the ley lines only increased the cataclysm."

Little graphics began popping up all over the screen. Each one represented some kind of disaster. Land mass disappeared as flooding caused by the rise of Atlantis (2) increased sea levels all over the world.

"Billions died in what we call the Great Cataclysm, but as I said this was only a prelude to the slaughter to come. What came next was even worse. The flaring of the ley lines brought magic levels to unimaginable heights, weakening the Earth's dimensional fabric and causing the eruption of rifts in time and space, turning our Earth into a dimensional nexus of sorts."

The view screen switched to a recording of a rift opening over some unnamed nexus point. For a moment space seemed to fold in on itself, and then a massive flare of energy raced into the air. The rift sat over the nexus, a giant tear in the universe.

"From these rifts poured demons and monsters of all kinds. By this time the governments had collapsed, and so most people were unable to fight back against these monsters. Billions more died in what was termed the Coming of the Rifts. All in all, over 80 of the earth's population died."

The view of Earth disappeared as graph after graph appeared, each of which bore rough casualty figures. The margin for error was large, but the results were still quite horrifying.

"What followed was a dark age as humans and D-Bees - our term for dimensional beings - tried to eke out a place to survive on this new earth. Today we live in the year 109 Post Apocalypse, which would be about 2404 AD by the old calendar." Scott finished his explanation and sat back down, turning off the view screen as he did.

Damon looked over at Dr. Akagi. Her face showed visible shock and horror at what she had just seen and heard.

"So th...the earth is inhabited by monsters now?" Dr. Akagi asked quite hesitantly.

"No, not all D-bees are monsters, quite the contrary in fact. Many of them were torn out of their own dimensions by the rifts and were deposited here. They might look different, but they are just trying to survive, the same as we are." Damon explained.

"Now here comes the weird part, we believe the earth you are from is not this earth." Scott stated.

"How is that possible?" Dr. Akagi seemed to be collecting herself quite quickly.

'Impressive, she has been hit with some very shocking revelations and within minutes she is able to rebound. This is a woman who is used to such shocks.' Damon thought to himself.

"Considering some of the things I have learned of the Megaverse and dimensional travel, I would forward a guess that you come from a parallel earth. I have studied your 'EVAs' and while I have been unable to get very far with them, I have done some checking with a contact in New Lazlo (3). He has been doing some historical research on robots; of course his records are incomplete, but nowhere has he been able to find any references to these EVAs of yours." Scott took a sip from a glass of water and continued.

"Also I have found that you come the year 2014 and while it is not unheard of for someone to have been brought forward in time by a rift, I believe that this combined with your robots shows that you are from a parallel earth. In fact I believe we can prove it."

"Show me."

000000000

Location: Dimensional studies lab, Auberge research facility

"What is this place?" Dr. Akagi asked, looking around the lab.

"This is our dimensional studies lab. It's here that we study artifacts from other dimensions, dimensional anomalies, and dimensional magic." Damon replied.

As they were talking Kurnus Mal'ec walked into the lab.

"Doctor I believe that you have already met Kurnus, our resident Shifter and head of dimensional studies."

"Yes, I believe it was he that did all those tests on us yesterday." Dr. Akagi said, taking the elf's proffered hand.

After a quick handshake Kurnus walked over to a computer terminal in the room and began to enter some data.

"Well Circe and I put our heads together, and we were able to piece together an analysis. I wish you had been more forthcoming with information Dr. Akagi, your unwillingness to tell us what sort of experiment you were conducting has hampered our investigation efforts."

"I told you what was not classified. We were conducting an experiment with a new type of energy source."

"Well be that as it may, it would have helped a lot if we knew what form of energy, but you won't tell and we won't press for it." Kurnus said.

"As far as we can tell, when this energy source of yours overloaded, it caused a major dimensional anomaly. It seems that you and whatever else was caught in the overload were ripped from your own dimension and deposited here."

"If that is true, than where are the rest of the people who worked in the facility with us, why were we the only ones you found?" Dr. Akagi asked, quite perplexed.

"We really don't know." Kurnus answered.

"Alright then answer me this, what happened to the pilots?"

"Ah that, well Circe has a theory about that. I'll let her tell you." Kurnus sat down at the terminal as the pleasant voice of the computer echoed into the room.

"Thank you Kurnus, and you might want to depart now. My cameras just picked up Val heading this way, with a large stack of papers with your name on them." The computer said with a "you're in trouble now" lilt to her voice.

"Ah yes, well, I must be departing now. You know, important work to do and all. I'll see you later." With that, the elf walked up to the door, looked out both ways, and quickly fled.

"Now, as for the pilots, my theory goes like this. I have received the report from our alchemical team - who analyzed this LCL that you use - and have combined these findings with the limited knowledge Scott and Marc have been able to glean from your EVAs."

"Wait a minute, who said you could study the EVAs without our approval?" Dr. Akagi demanded.

"All research on them has currently ceased, as per Damon's instructions. He believed it appropriate that we wait for your approval before starting research on them again."

Damon watched as Dr. Akagi looked over at him with a suspicious glance. Damon simply smiled at her.

"Now as I was saying, I have combined all the findings we currently have, and have come to a very likely theory. I believe that at some point during the dimensional anomaly that brought you here, a number of events combined to cause some kind of temporal distortion within the entry plugs of the EVAs. I can not say for sure what the exact combination of events was, nor have I been able to pinpoint what inside the EVAs was the catalyst for the distortion, though I believe it has something to do with this LCL." The computer explained.

"Is there anyway to reverse it?"

"No, Dr. Akagi I do not believe there is. We simply do not have enough information at this point." Circe replied.

Dr. Akagi simply nodded and slid into a chair. At the same time, the door opened and Val poked her head in.

"Has anyone seen Kurnus?"

0000000

Dimension: The Warehouse

Location: Warehouse 4

A few weeks after the Auberge facility was built, a strange anomaly was found. It seemed that sometime during the construction a rift had opened, but had not closed. No one knew how this could have been missed, and many feared that this could destroy the fledgling facility. Instead it turned out to be a great boon. The rift was located at the bottom of an elevator shaft, and it was discovered to be connected to a strange dimension. The dimension was a giant storage facility of some sort. It contained nearly 300 hundred massive warehouses, all of which seemed to be empty. Hoping that the original owners didn't return, the facility began to use the dimension as its own private storage space.

The Eva units had been moved to Warehouse 4, which had been recently renovated and was being converted into a hangar bay. Scaffolding had been quickly erected around the EVAs, and equipment to study the EVAs was sitting around the hangar. However, none of it had been used. Damon had ordered the moratorium on study of the EVAs shortly after they had been moved down here.

At first the hangar seemed empty, but upon reaching head height with the EVAs, Damon saw that Scott and Marc were there. Scott had a scanner of some sort, and was studying unit-01's head. At the sound of Damon's and Dr. Akagi's foot steps, Scott quickly hid the scanner behind him and adopted an innocent expression.

"I believe I told you two no more research was to be done on the EVAs until approval was given by Dr.Akagi, she is the rightful owner after all."

"Aw, come on boss. You know us; we want to know what it is..." Marc stated.

"...What it does..." Scott said.

"...And if we can break stuff with it." They both said in unison.

"As admirable a sentiment as that is, it's still not enough." Damon said sternly, though he found it hard not to laugh out loud at the antics of the two Techno-Wizards.

"Okay get out of here you two, and don't come back without prior approval." Damon ordered.

The Techno-Wizards grabbed their stuff and climbed down the scaffolding, mumbling darkly the whole time.

After they had left, Damon waved his hand at the EVAs and asked, "So, are the facilities to your liking?"

"They are adequate, for now. However, I have one question. Will you be able to get us home?"

Damon thought for a second before responding.

"Yes, we should be able to. Once Mal'ec has positively identified your originating dimension, which should not take too long, you will be free to go."

"How long till he has identified it?"

"He should be meditating on it right now, so no more than 24 to 36 hours." Damon answered.

"How about the pilots, will you be able to reverse the temporal distortion's effects?"

"No, you and I both heard Circe's report. It would take years of hard research to find out the exact combination of effects that caused the distortion, and even if we manage to discover the cause, it is more than likely we would not be able to reverse the effects."

Dr. Akagi simply nodded at this, her eyes growing distant as she grew deep in thought.

"Come doctor, let us head back to my office and see if we can't arrange for some more comfortable quarters for you and your people."

00000000

Ritsuko Akagi had had a long day. First off, she had finally been allowed see the other people who had been pulled into this dimension. It was then that she had seen what had happened to the pilots. After a short reunion, the group had been broken up and taken off for numerous tests. Later, they had been brought back together and had elected Ritsuko to be their spokesperson, she being the only one who had half a clue as to what might have happened to them. After that she had been hustled into the meeting with Damon Auberge, the head of this research station.

After all the revelations of the day, all Ritsuko wanted to do was crawl into bed and go to sleep. As she followed Damon down a hallway, Ritsuko thoughts began to drift to the fate of Tokyo-3 and the people there.

All thoughts of Tokyo-3 left her mind, as she suddenly felt an urgent need to stop. She stopped next to a door way labeled "Storage room b-8". Damon noticed that Ritsuko had stopped, and turned around to see why she had stopped. When he realized what room she was standing in front of, he gave a small chuckle.

Ritsuko didn't notice this as she peered into the room. It was empty and bare. No, not bare, there was writing all over the walls. Ritsuko opened the door, not even waiting to get Damon's permission. She wasn't thinking clearly, she had this need to go into the room.

Now that she could see the room better, she took a closer look at the writing on the walls. The writing was in a language that she had never seen before. Also, it seemed to be chaotic, with lines going up, down, diagonal, left, right, and crossways. There was no rhyme or reason to it. The writing was hypnotic, and she soon felt her eye lids begin to close.

Suddenly she felt some energy flow into her and she started, looking around at her surroundings. She saw that she was no longer in the room, but in the hallway outside.

"Well doctor, it would seem as if you are a lost soul." Damon said with a gentle smile on his face.

"What do you mean?" Ritsuko asked, visibly shaken.

"That room you went into, we call it the Room of Dreams. We don't know why, but it seems to draw lost souls to it. They fall asleep in there and wake up changed, be it for better or worse."

"Why would you build such a room?"

"Well, we didn't. Five years ago, two months after this facility was finished, a certain young boy by the name of Scott Fenix wandered out of the forest and onto our front door. He was a mess, nearly catatonic, and had probably been on his own for months. The first night he stayed here, he sleepwalked into this room and began writing all that gibberish on the walls. When he woke up he seemed better somehow, he started talking and seemed willing to interact with the world. He does not know what the writing means, and so far we have not been able to translate it. However, we think the writing is some form of enchantment. It seems to draw those who are troubled to it, and make them confront their problems in their dreams. It has - on occasion - drawn an un-troubled mind to it and given a prophecy to them. That is extremely rare though." Damon explained.

"Why did you drag me out of the room then?"

"Well, it seems that only those who sleepwalk into the room are helped. Those that fall asleep in the room are given some pretty horrible nightmares."

"Oh, well thank you."

"No problem; now lets get you to your quarters." Damon then took Ritsuko's arm and led her away from the Room of Dreams.

0000000

Damon, now alone in his office, looked over the files that had been compiled on all the people who had been brought here by the anomaly. They were labeled as follows: Ritsuko Akagi, Doctor. Misato Katsuragi, Major. Asuka Langley Sohryu, pilot. Shinji Ikari, pilot. Rei Ayanami, pilot. Kensuke Aida, student. Toji Suzuhara, student. Hikari Horaki, student.

'An interesting group.' Damon mused.

'Now the question is: will they help our cause or hurt it?"

0000000

Next chapter...6: Circe's personnel files

Special thanks: Eternally lost Zeppo whose awesome pre-reading has kept this story legible. Vcharlie, who wrote some damn funny OMAKES for chapters 1&4. With his permission I am posting them with their relevant chapters.

A/N: Alright, the next chapter will have those character backgrounds. Also, the reactions of the Eva crew to their new surroundings and the changes some have gone through will be shown. Looks like ch.6 will be as long as ch.5. 'Til next chapter.

(#)- Definitions

Gromek- 8-9 foot tall winged race of lizards. They are a race of conquerors.

Atlantis- The return of magic to Rifts Earth caused Atlantis to return from the dimensional limbo that had taken it from ancient earth. It is claimed by a Splugorth (4) named Lord Splynncryth. He has turned the island into a kingdom of monsters.

New Lazlo- Located near the demon infested ruins of Detroit, Michigan. New Lazlo is a magic community patterned after its parent, Lazlo. New Lazlo is known for its highly optimistic attitude and the amount of historical research done there.

Splugorth- Near god-like alien intelligences (Intelligences are powerful supernatural beings). They resemble a mound of flesh topped with one eye and surrounded by a number of tentacles, each of which ends in a mouth. They are masters of many forms of magic and have incredible psionic powers.

Review responses:

21 reviews so far and not a flame among them, thank you. I'd lake to take this moment to thank all of you who have been leaving such helpful reviews. Through your reviews I am able to see where I can improve the story. Time now for some review responses:

X-over- Thanks for some more great sites. I have many of the Rifts world books, but I'm sure there is something I can find on these sites which could turn out to be very useful to the story.

vcharlie- Thanks for pointing out that description problem. I find when I write that I tend to be overly descriptive (very overly descriptive) and from some of the reviews I have read on this site, people don't tend to like that. Still, I think that you're right; I do need to add some more description with out going overboard with it. To answer your questions:

1. The Magic Zone looks quite similar to what Mid-east USA would have looked like before Europeans came to America. Just add in the pre-rift ruins, the villages and cities (there are very few cities in the Magic Zone) and the odd areas here and there where alien vegetation had taken over.
2. No, the sky over the Magic Zone is not different.
3.The pyramid is made out of stone (hence the reason why it was created by a Stone Master) and looks very similar to the Egyptian pyramids just without the years of wear and tear.
4.There are no similarities to NERV HQ (when the pyramid was introduced, NERV HQ's being a pyramid slipped my mind) other than the fact that they are both pyramids.