A/N: Sorry for the pathetic shortness of this chapter. There was no other logical way to break it up... I'll do better next time.
"And now the Keltra have their Gegma and the world as we know it will soon end."
"Well..." Kade said, "Considering everything that's happened, I guess we shouldn't be surprised that the whole thing ends with the apocolypse."
"Not the apocolypse exactly," Magis said matter-of-factly. "More likely, the planet will be overrun with Keltra and we'll all suffer as their lowest slaves."
"Oh." Paris looked at him hard. "Well, are you going to sit there and tell us the gory details or we going to do something about it?"
"Like what?" The wizard returned. "Zip off to the Keltra's planet and whisk Sage right out of their clutches?"
Paris and Kade looked at each other, then back at Magis.
"No." He said in disbelief.
"Why not? I'd rather go off and risk my life than sit here and twiddle my thumbs until the world ends."
"If we go, there's at least a possibility that we can stop them." Paris pointed out. "If we stay here, we have no hope."
"We have no hope anyway." Magis replied.
"Why are you being a defeatist?"
"A realist! It's impossible!" Magis glared. "Do you realize what you're talking about! The two of you, wandering into some stronghold swarming with Keltra, without a weapon, without a clue, just hoping you can grab their most valuable prisoner while their backs are turned! You know what they'll do when they capture you? They'll torture you. You'll wish you'd stayed here with me."
"I'm sure it won't be pleasant when the Keltra come to Earth, either." said Paris. "It's only biting the bullet a little sooner than we would otherwise."
"Not necessarily." Magis looked at his shoes.
"Not necessarily?" Kade exclaimed. "What does that mean, Spell Boy? You gonna join forces with them? Get your own little cloak?"
"No," Magis said, unable to meet their eyes. "I'll make sure I'm not alive when they come."
"Suicide." Kade spluttered. "The coward's way out, Magis?" The boy flinched at Kade's use of his given name, a first. "That's pathetic. You're probably the only one on the planet that could do something... maybe slow them down a little... and you're just gonna kick the bucket. Take a nice, painless death while everyone else suffers." He shook his head in disgust. "Real admirable."
"So kill yourself. I don't care." Paris's face was stone. "Just send us over there first. We won't interfere with your plans at all."
Magis looked up in surprise. "I... I just really think you'll regret this." He said lamely.
"We'll take our chances." Kade replied coldly.
"Fine. Fine, I'll send you. And..." Magis continued haltingly, toying with the Orb in his hand. "I'll look around. Maybe there is something that will slow them down." He glanced at Paris. She didn't meet his eye.
"Do what you want," she said shortly.
Magis took a deep breath and gripped the Orb. Paris and Kade waited to be yet again flung through space, only this time farther, much farther than ever before.
"I'm getting a little tired of this..." Paris admitted, after her feet had hit solid ground and before her stomach had caught up.
"Yeah, well... This should be the last time we have to. Go in, grab Sage, get out... maybe we can even get back in time to catch the end of the game."
Paris shot her friend a Look. "Magis had a point, you know. It won't be that easy. Not by a long shot."
"You think I don't know? Paris... I'm only keeping my sanity by telling myself I'm not on another planet risking my life for a girl I have no respect for. I'm trying to convince myself I'm on my couch with my XBox and a bag of Doritos. So far it's working."
Paris nodded her understanding. "Original flavor?"
"Nah. Cooler Ranch."
"Ah. Right there with you."
The banter exhausted for the moment, the rather out-of-place teenagers took a moment to survey their surroundings. No hooded figures had yet graced them with their prescence. Magis must've thought to aim for a less populated area. The sky overhead was smoky gray and looked like it had been rent in various places with a knife. The ground was yet a darker shade of gray and rolled away in all directions in a grotesque imitation of sand dunes. Not a trace of greenery could be seen. Paris could only compare the landscape to scenes from a midnight showing of The Lord of the Rings. She half expected to see a gleaming red eye seeking them out through the darkness.
Instead, the monotony was broken only by a small complex of buildings, actually quite unremarkable. The wall facing them was a dull off-white color and completely unadorned.
"So... how do we get in?" Kade wondered out loud.
"Look for a door?" Paris said helplessly.
"Right." Kade strode over to the blank wall, pressed himself against it, and peered around a corner. "I don't see a door there, either." He slammed a hand against the surface in frustration. "We need to get in!"
Kade found himself in a hallway. Everything here, walls, ceiling, floor, was the same shiny, metallic color. Paris, usually quick on the uptake, materialized beside him moments later.
"Y'know, I can't help thinking all this telporting makes things way too easy." Kade growled.
Paris shrugged. "I guess because the Keltra aren't so much physical?"
"Must make vacationing easy. WHOOSH! Jamaica! WHOOSH! Italy! WHOO--"
"Ssh!" Paris clamped a hand over Kade's mouth. She was surprised they'd managed this much without running into one of the planet's inhabitants, but here came a Keltra down the corridor, its robes all but blending with the dark-colored metal.
The pair froze, to all appearances trapped. Maybe they could melt themselves outside again, but would it really do any good?
"Kade! Start hitting things again!" Paris hissed.
"Right! C'mon, you! Open, sesame!" Kade yelped, smacking the wall compulsively.
"Not working! Try over here!" Paris shoved her friend to the other side of the corridor, perhaps with a little too much vigor.
"Oww!" Kade gasped, grabbing his nose.
"OhmiGod! I'm sorry!"
"Screw this!" Kade growled. "We need a weapon!"
Without transition, the boy found himself in a small room full of what looked like highly technological debris. "What the." Kade simply shook his head and waited... surely Paris would be here shortly. At least this spot was Keltra-free, though Kade didn't see how it got them any closer to Sage. Idly, he nudged a nearby piece of trash near his foot. It rolled a couple of inches in protest and let off a feeble glow. Now where had Kade seen something like that before...? Of course. It was probably less than an hour ago. The Keltra had stormed Sage's suburban home, armed with, in Kade's opinion, wimpy-looking glowing batons. Honestly, Kade would think enemies as menacing as the Keltra would have weapons to match their stature... something along the lines of Cloud Strife's sword. But, no. Batons. Only after he'd seen Madison take a hit from one, and blink straight out of existence as a result, had Kade been forced to admit the sticks had some potency.
But this was just a fragment, probably not good for anything. Why else would it be here, in this room that couldn't be anything other than a Keltra-style compost heap? Most of the stuff here was shiny, but useless, unless some artsy type wanted to make a collage out of it. Quite a lot of the pile seemed to be discarded weapons pieces. Probably, thought Kade, slapping the stick into his palm, why the whacked-out transport system had plopped him here. Couldn't have been an armory or anything remotely useful. Well, still... Kade had been somewhat successful in dumpster diving before. (Once he'd found a fully functioning acoustic guitar). And they really could use some weapons, so...
Back in the corridor, Paris watched her best friend vanish (where to, she couldn't imagine) only to be replaced by the wandering Keltra. Kade had always had really good timing like that. Paris braced herself... she knew the Keltra couldn't physically see, but it was bound to sense that she wasn't a local. Her last experience with an angry hooded figure had not been a pleasant one, to say the least.
But wait... while last time, the atmosphere emanating from one of these beings was haunting enough to make even the bravest of souls squirm, this one simply gave off a sense of... confusion? This prompted Paris to find the guts to initiate a conversation.
"Uhm... hello?" she found herself stooping a little, as if trying to peer into the face under the Keltra's hood. Odd that she had to stoop. Was this creature a bit smaller than the first they'd encountered? "Do you happen to know where they're keeping the Gegma?"
Gegma. The word seemed to hang in the air and resonate, as if the Keltra had latched onto it as the only reasonable explanation. The sense of confusion dissipated, and with it, Paris's newfound sense of courage.
Another hooded creature appeared a few lengths down the corridor, as if summoned, because it probably was. The newcomer stopped alongside the first Keltra and the two seemed to have a discussion, a discussion Paris was excluded from by the force of a mental brick wall. She found that she was not able to run, or whisk herself away, but was rooted to the spot with tension. Just like, in a past life it seemed, she could never bring herself to run from a confrontation with Madison.
Abruptly, the conversation came to a close and the hooded faces were directed to her once more. "So... about that Gegma..." Paris attempted, before she found herself encased in some sort of bubble.
Had Paris been able to think rationally through her panic, she would have remembered that Sage had been taken away in just such a bubble not long ago. Not that this thought would have reassured her in the least. The enclosure's rounded sides and five-foot diameter made it problematic to stand uip, and Paris's frame soon slumped down to the bottom. Kicking and punching the sides had no effect but to send shockwaves back through her limbs. Screaming gave her voice a delightfully echoing quality as it richocheted off the bubble's interior, but Paris got the sense that no one outside would hear a thing. And who would come to help if they did? She could only watch in dismay as the bubble, floating a good foot or so off the ground, followed the two Keltra to their distination. Paris wondered what Magis's face would look like if he knew that Kade was now the Earth's only hope.
Kade emerged about twenty earth-minutes later, carrying, alas! only one glowing baton. Just like in Blockbuster's dumpster, there were some functional items that were assigned to the trash heap through human error. Well-- perhaps that wasn't the right phrase. Nevertheless, Kade was now armed and maybe dangerous. He would've preferred two weapons, but finding the first was hard enough and the face that Paris never showed up had begun to worry him.
He took a look at the hallway he now occupied. It looked just as the first hallway they'd come across had, all dark, bland metal with no distinguishing characteristics. No Keltra and no Paris. Was it the same hallway or a different one? Kade had no idea. His utmost goal at the moment was to find Paris, to help her if she was in some sort of trouble, as the gnawing creature in the pit of his stomach kept suggesting. Forging ahead on his own to rescue Sage didn't even cross his mind. The fate of the witch, even of the world, took a backseat to that of his best friend.
Kade's surroundings changed yet again. He was getting used to this, however, and it only took him a few seconds to adjust this time. He'd been focusing on Paris so much that the Keltra's bizarre transportation system had catapulted him to her location. The location in question happened to be a rather larger room than any he'd yet seen. It was longer than it was wide and lined on one side with what were unmistakably cell blocks. Most were empty; save for one that contained what appeared to be an electric fan, but Kade knew probably was not, and one that contained Paris, who was, of all things, sawing at the bars with a nail file.
"You know," Kade began, sauntering toward that particular cell block. "When they talk about--"
The approach of two Keltra stopped Kade's quip in its tracks. Kade had failed to notice them on his first look-around, partly because of his relief on seeing Paris and partly because they blended so well with the shadowy corners of the room. Kade lost no time. Instinctively, he swung the stick at the first comer, hitting it in the gut, if Keltra can be said to have guts. Instead of doubling over, it simply blinked out of the scene, just as Madison had done. The second one hesitated, and made as if to draw its own weapon from the folds of his robes, but Kade quickly closed the distance between them and dispatched it as well.
A bit breathless, Kade turned back to Paris, who was looking impressed. "As I was saying," he said, sliding his new weapon back into his belt, "When they talk about prisoners escaping with files? That's not what they mean."
In response, Paris playfully chucked said nail file at him. "Thank you, knight in shining armor. Now let's see if we can find Sage."
"One thing at a time." Kade stepped up to the bars and cast his eyes around for the lock mechanism. "Y'know, I always figured it would be you busting me out of jail... There's no door here. How did they get you inside?"
Getting Paris out a doorless cell, however, was a problem Kade wouldn't have to worry about for a long time. The pair now found themselves sans bars, back on a suburban lawn, although not the same one they'd departed from. Magis and his orb awaited them, a book under his arm and the manic glint back in his eye.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Kade exploded. "You didn't mention a time limit! We were on the right track! We could've done something and we weren't ready to cry 'uncle'! What's the matter," and here Kade's hand began to stray dangerously close to the wand at his belt, "you couldn't find the balls to kill youself, you worthless son--"
"Kade!" Paris interupted, inserting herself between her friend and the boy-wizard. "Hang on. Maybe Magis has a good reason." He'd better, her eyes added to the blonde boy.
"He does." Magis assured her. Indicating the tome he now carried, he explained, "I found a better way."
Kade opened his mouth, then shut it, deciding that whatever comeback he had wasn't worth another silencing spell.
"There was another magical object involved in the Gegmas' ritual," Magis said, starting to pace a bit. "They called it the Key. Sage isn't quite enough: The Keltra also need the Key if they want to destroy the seal."
"Where is the Key now?" Paris asked.
"When the Gegma came to Earth, the Key was split into pieces and scattered. A precaution... I guess they wanted to be prepared for something like this."
"So now we're supposed to get the Key...?" Kade hazarded a guess.
"If we can beat the Keltra to some of the Key pieces, they'll be stuck. It won't be easy, but the odds are better than trying to capture Sage."
"Alright." Kade sighed. He'd obviously resigned himself to being some kind of supernatural errand boy. "Where are we going now?"
"It's not so much where..." Magis said slowly. "It's more a question of when."
"What do you mean?" Paris asked.
"These keys were hidden centuries ago. There's no telling what may have become of them now... their hiding place could have caved in on them for all we know. You're better off going straight to the source."
"Wait, 'we'?" Paris broke in. "What about you?"
"It's better for me to stay here and look for more information." Magis returned. He was met with silence. "Well, what if I'd gone with you to the Keltra dimension? We never would've found out about the Key."
"Where are you finding this information, anyway?" Paris wondered, trying to get a better look at the book under his arm.
"When we have more time, I'll show you." Magis promised.
Kade shrugged. "So we're going back in time?"
"About two thousand years."
He nodded.
"You seem to be taking this rather well."
"I'm beyond the point of being surprised." Kade sighed.
"The natives should be able to help you," Magis said by way of encouragement. "...If you can convince them you're on the right side, of course... But listen, try to blend in. I'll help you with that, but don't act like you're from two thousand years in the future. Magic was more commonplace back then, but still, that's a little hard to swallow."
"Fair enough." Paris was now despairing of getting home in time to finish her history homework.
"So you never answered my question." Kade protested. "Where are we going?"
"Well... I'm not sure how many Key pieces there are, or where they all are. That's one of the things I'm going to try to research. But I figured out that one of them is definitely in Egypt."
"Excellent." Kade muttered. "Just call me Brendan Fraser."