Anyway, a lot of things are revieled in this chapter... that makes it long. In Microsoft Word it is about 7,380 words, but for some reason it is counted at 7,436 by what ever program they are using... must have added a few words... So, enjoy.
I stepped further onto the field and Aelita began to turn around. When she saw me she jumped to her feet. The effect was stunning, she was wearing gold lined white robes and they shifted in the wind. She was dazzling, but then my eyes began to take in the entire area around us and I realized that, in the right light, everything here was... no less than perfect. But, then I realized that it was dark because of what was happening behind Aelita and I quickly ran to get between her and what ever it was.
"Jeremie!" Aelita said jumping on me and squeezing me in a hug. "I have missed you so much. You wouldn't believe..."
"Jeremie! Jeremie!" yelled two twins together. "He has come for Aelita at last."
I didn't bother to look at the twins, they weren't important right now. What was important was the threat that may come from the symbol on the ground. It was darkening the sky and everything around it, so it could only be something very bad. No matter what it was, though, I would protect Aelita. I would not loose her again.
"What's going on," Aelita asked.
"I would like to know the same thing." I said.
"He has come for Aelita as well." Said one of the twins. "He will take her away, as promised..."
"No! I won't let him!" I said.
"It does not matter, you can not do anything to stop him." Said the first twin again. "You are no match for his power." Finished the second.
"But-! But..." I stammered. "But I can't loose her again."
"Jeremie..." Aelita said, her voice dropping in anguish. "Who, who is coming to take me away, and what was the promise?"
"The traveler, the traveler! He is here." The twins said together.
I looked back at the dark symbol on the ground and suddenly recognized it. I had seen it many different times when I had been around him. Why I hadn't realized this until now, and why, if he was so good the symbol was dark and tarnished, was beyond me. Suddenly the air in the center of the circle began to change. A pillar of darkness constructed itself from the ground up and suddenly I could just barely make out the outline of a man through it. Then the darkness faded and was replaced by light once again and the traveler walked out onto the grass.
"That always takes a lot out of me." he said putting a hand up to his head. "Oh, anyway, I need to do what I came here to do." he said and looked up. When he saw me he jumped and said, "Jeremie, did you get yourself killed again?"
"What?" I asked stunned by his question. "No. I didn't. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, simply because this is euphoria," he said. "Also known as heaven."
"What?" Aelita and I asked at the same time.
"Well, technically it is a heaven that all universes share so then it is technically a reality init of itself." The traveler continued, apparently talking to himself. "It is similar to the dream world in that way, I guess... Oh, right. I nearly forgot. After searching for your spirit for a long time I have finally found you, Aelita, and as promised I have to return you to your world."
"Thanks, but I can do that myself." I said. "All we have to do is walk back out that door..." I turned and pointed into empty space.
"Oh, right... the door into heaven trick." The traveler said, returning his hand to his head. "Did Ginda send you here?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, she keeps trying to find a specific one. Long story and it isn't yours so it won't be explained here, but to put it short in another universe, another reality, there was a boy who lost a friend that way, and Ginda has been trying to find out where it leads to..."
"So... why not just walk through it and find out?"
"Oh, that's too risky... it is guarded by an entire ministry of wizards and witches. Besides, we have a pact that says we can't go messing in their business... at least not after what happened that one time... but like I said that isn't any of your business." he told me. "I came here for Aelita."
"How am I supposed to get back?" I asked angrily.
"Oh, that's simple. Just teleport back." He replied walking towards us. "Hello Maru. Hello Moro, how are you both?"
"Good, good!" They said together. "It is great to see you again, can you stay and play?"
"No, sorry, but I have to get this young girl back to her universe." The traveler said. "I will come back when I have some free time."
The traveler turned back to us and I said, "You do realize that I don't know how to teleport back to my universe."
"No, I thought Ginda taught you how to do that." He said.
"No, she simply taught me how to get out of the universe that I created!" I said, my voice raising.
"Oh," he said innocently. "Well, I guess she took her orders to interfere as little as possible a little too strictly."
"NO, she didn't." I said, struggling to control myself.
"Oh, and how is that?" he asked.
"She has been interfering plenty." I said and proceeded with telling him all the things that Ginda had done.
"True, but has any of that, except for the last part, changed anything in your universe?" he asked me calmly.
"No..." I said. "But that's not the-"
"Then she has been following her orders perfectly." He replied cutting me off. "Now then, let us see about getting you back..."
"Great." I said. "So you can send Aelita back with me."
"No." he said putting his right arm out palm to center and focusing on a point a few inches from his hand.
"Why not?" I asked. "You are sending me back."
"You have a body." He said as a light appeared on his hand outlining the symbol that he used.
"So does she." I said.
"No, her body is over there." The traveler said nodding his head behind him and to the right.
I turned to look and saw that, in fact, Aelita's body was where he had indicated. It was lying on the grass; pale, but not quite dead.
"You can return her back to normal."
"Silly boy, what do you think I am trying to do?"
The light on his had illuminated brighter and the full symbol shone clearly off of his glove. The lights, of various colors, began to move off of his hand as another light, brighter than the ones coming from his glove, began to shine about six inches from his hand. The lights, which looked like little flames, wrapped around the brighter light and the brighter one began to take shape. It became a triangular crystal, or rather two long pyramids attached at the base. Then, once it became a little clearer, it began to distort again, growing vertically both up and down. Every foot or so it would break off into another crystal shaped knot. As it extended both up and down it began to take the shape of a walking stave. The bottom tipped off as one of the over grown crystals, which to be honest looked a little like the things that floated above the heads of the Sims. But the top was doing something different; it was shifting and churning, almost as if something alive was trying to rip itself from the wood, or plastic, or what ever it was made of. Then, suddenly, two separate bones erupted out of the material forming what looked like a pair of skeletal wings. I was horrified for a second but the horror was replaced with disgust when the material began to creep up the bones forming what looked almost like flesh. When the pair of wings was finished, it had feathers now, and shone with a white gold like color, a second pair began to form themselves. This pair was more like bat wings, or demon wings for that matter, and they were of a darker material, which still looked like gold. When both were done, and fully stretched out, the space between the two pairs of wings, above where they all met, another crystal appeared. This one lowered itself into existence and looked like it was made of a large version of the same crystal that the stave had been constructed from, and three smaller ones attached to the three bottom surfaces of the first. When it was finished I noticed that there were various other gems of many different colors embedded in the stave itself. The entire thing gave off a glow of healthy, joyful energy, especially the crystal at the top.
"What the heck is that?" I asked, trying as hard as I could to sound unimpressed.
"This, m' boy, is the stave of power. It took me millions of years to perfect, but I have nearly finished it." He said, looking at it proudly. "It contains every form of magic, sorcery, witch craft, voodoo, and any other mystical power that I have come across. Because of its unique design and materials it can utilize any energy source and perform any mystical feet."
"You sound very proud of it." I said, unconcerned. "But how is it supposed to help?"
He pointed the stave at me and waved it slightly, I suddenly felt very comfortable and content. There was no reason for me to talk, everything was ok with the world... I shook my head shaking off the feeling and returning to myself once again.
"What the hell was that?" I asked.
"You need to relax a little more." The traveler said. "I gave you a taste of what this universe is supposed to do to people." he tapped the stave on the ground and chairs appeared out of thin air. "Sit. We will all be here for a long time anyway."
---
I was walking through the halls of the school, Nicolas and Herb were following me, as usual. Usually to get rid of them I would go to my room and tell them to leave me along, but that was before I joined with Ulrich's group. Now I was a little kinder to them, I would tell them that I wanted to be left alone, and every so often I would kiss them on the cheek before they left. Honestly I was beginning to appreciate their friendship a little more, but I had to make them nicer... after all that time of making fun of the others they were as stuck up as I had been, and since I had been purged of all of that I wished for the same of them.
"OK, boys, I want to be alone now." I said, turning to face them. "You two should go to your rooms, we have a test tomorrow and you don't want to do poorly do you?"
They shook their heads and left. I smiled and closed my door behind me as I entered my room. It was true, we were going to have a test in one of our classes, but I wasn't worried about it, the help that I was getting from both Nicolas and Jeremie assured me that I would do fine on it. That meant that I would have the rest of the night to do what ever I wanted... and that was naturally to hang out with my other group of friends.
I walked over to my desk and looked out my window. They usually waited in a spot which just happened to be directly in the view of my window. And there they were, or at least some of them, Ulrich and Odd were standing on the ground looking up at something. I looked up to see what they were looking at but what ever it was it must have been to far out of my range to see. Then Ulrich began running towards something, and as I watched Yumi suddenly appeared falling from the sky. I cringed, expecting her to hit hard, but she landed as if she had just jumped.
There was a knocking on my door and I went to answer it. Sam was standing there, breathless and panting. She looked like she had just ran all the way here, which was entirely possible.
"Sissi, Yumi and a new girl, Glenna, are fighting." She said. "But I suspect that Glenna is really..."
"Come on," I said moving past her and closing my door. "I just saw Yumi land on the ground."
"She, what? Is she ok?" Sam asked, shocked.
"She's fine, as far as I could see..." I told her, "Come on we need to hurry."
We ran down the halls and stairs until we were out in the courtyard. Once there I looked up into the sky and, sure enough, there was 'Glenna' floating in the sky. I looked around to see if anyone else was seeing this, but everything was covered in a dark haze and no one seemed to notice a thing, not even me. It was like they were all in a trance.
"So, she's back." I said. "And she has decided to show her powers again."
"It appears so." Sam replied. "It must be getting towards that time."
"So, will the traveler finally be able to come here?" I asked no one in particular.
"It would appear so," Sam replied. "Look."
I looked to where she was pointing and saw a shadow lurking in the bushes behind a group of girls. It turned and I saw its glowing red eyes shine in the dim light. So, the time had come, reality as we knew it was beginning to bend and twist, molding itself into something new. It wasn't as if the planets were aligning or some gate had been opened. It was just time, the time when this universe, like so many before it, was opening to the magics that it had held dormant for so long.
Sam and I had been notified about this by Ginda and Gwydevis some time ago. They believed that Sam and I needed to know what was going to happen. This was because, they said, I had a gift at healing abilities, and something that they couldn't define at the time, and Sam had some kind of special sight and manipulation abilities. Sam had used her abilities to become a thief, until Ginda stepped in and got her into a more productive situation. After they explained to us what was going on they began to teach us; each night, after we went to bed, one of them would enter our dreams and take us to a place where we could practice our true abilities. At first I was skeptical, but when I began to be able to use my abilities in the real world I accepted what was going on.
"I wonder if she is going to tell the others." Sam said.
"I should hope so," I replied. "You and I can't do this alone, and we will need all the help we can get."
---
Yumi had landed safely on the ground, and she appeared to be ok, but I wasn't quite sure. She looked more shocked than anything else. That wasn't really surprising, she had just flown a couple of miles into the air after going through a very, um, exciting battle. But there was something else...
"Ulrich, I'm ok." She told me irritably, then she turned her attention back to Glenna. "What do you mean it's almost 'time'?"
Glenna alighted on the ground a few feet away from us. She then turned and walked closer to our group and said, "If Jeremie were here I would only have to explain this once... oh, the traveler is explaining it to him. Good then," she said, almost to herself. "Anyway, I am not really known by the name Glenna, that is an alias that I sometimes use. My true name is Ginois, but most just call me Ginda."
"Ginois," Odd said. "But that's the name of a girl that just joined our class."
"Yes, it is, and she will be joining us shortly." Ginda said. "In any case, you three need to know something. There comes a time in the existence of every universe when the magics that are contained within it are released. Usually, depending on the universe, these magics are stored and kept concealed, hidden from the humans which live within the universe. Though there are many universes where magic is readily accessible and this 'problem' doesn't happen. But in universes like this one the magics are strained and kept locked away until they finally escape and are released into the world known to humanity. When that happens a number of things can occur, usually there is some kind of explosion if the magics are focused on one area, but always, always, magical creatures appear.
"These creatures are sometimes known as demons; since magic is always released, just in smaller quantities, these demons are sometimes found during times when magic is hidden. But when the magic is released after being kept stored and concealed these demons, and the other magical creatures, become more powerful and more dangerous. Anything can happen, and usually does. In my home universe, for instance, when the magics were released all at once there was a massive storm that nearly covered the world. Many human structures were destroyed, many humans disappeared. Some animals began to be able to speak English and other human languages and they began to think like humans...
"But the point is when the magics are released all at once, the main storm, very bad things happen. This happens in every universe at random times. Sometimes the magics are stored again, sometimes they aren't. In my home universe... they had been..." she fell silent for a second.
"So what does this have to do with us?" I asked.
"Silly child," she said. "Do you not understand? It is beginning to happen here, the magics are leaking into the world of humanity and you are the side effect. Have you not noticed your abilities? Have you not seen Yumi's. How do you think the school was made, full of children who have various abilities, at various levels? It is happening here, and the full release will be coming soon..."
"So... are we doomed then?" Odd asked.
"Odd! You believe her?" I asked, shocked.
"Ulrich, doesn't it make sense?" Yumi said. "Look at all that has happened, all that we have seen. Lyoko, my abilities, Odd's abilities, your abilities. What else can you attribute that to; we know that it wasn't like this a few years ago..."
"She's right Ulrich, and if you still don't believe me, I'll just have to show you something to make you believe." Ginda said.
She put out her hand and pointed it at a tree that was a short distance behind us. Then, after making a few gestures with her hand we heard a scream, but it didn't sound human, or like any animal that I had ever heard. We turned around and watched as a creature that could only have come out of a science fiction horror movie came flying through the air. It was covered in dark red matted fur with bald spots all around it. It had a long tail that came to three spikes at the end, and there were more horn like spikes around its body. Its mouth was a horrible mess of teeth and flesh. I heard Yumi gasp next to me, and, to be honest, I was feeling week in the knees myself.
"And this is only one of the things that managed to cross through the barrier." Ginda said. "Just be glad that you can see it. In my home world, when this happened, most people couldn't, and those who could... well, there were many, thousands of people who were never found afterward..."
"What the hell is that?" I asked.
"I don't think this one has a name, but it is something that came out of the nightmares of humanity. Magic can take on a number of forms, though magic itself is neither good nor evil, it can become full of darkness, or pure with innocence. But this creature is one that lives in the hatred, malice, and malicious energies that humanity creates."
"Are there more of these things?" I asked, the thought horrified me.
"Yes," Sissi said from behind me. "Many more."
I turned around and saw Sissi and Sam walking up to us. They looked sorrowful, and a little shaken. I couldn't imagine what, or how they knew, but I was sure that I would find out soon enough.
"So, Ginda, is it time?" Sam asked.
"Luckily we still have time." Ginda said. "And remember, it won't necessarily be a bad thing, but bad things will come of it..."
"Alright, what do you want us to do?" I asked, giving into what I knew was coming.
"I am glad you asked." Ginda said.
She held out her right hand, since her left was being used to hold the creature in the air. A light appeared from it, creating a circle, and some kind of symbol, but she was to far away for me to see what it was. Then, from her hand another light was created, and this light moved a few inches away. The new light began to stretch and mold itself and before I realized what was happening there was a sheathed sword floating a few inches from her hand. She tossed the sword to me and I caught it. I pulled it out of the sheath and saw that it was very similar to the sword that I used in Lyoko.
"Similar, yet very different." She said, as though reading my mind. "This sword is enhanced with most forms of magic, and will amplify your own natural abilities, though I must admit it was designed off of the one in Lyoko." She smiled. "When ever you need it just hold your hands as though you were drawing it and it will appear at your side."
I tried it and, sure enough, it disappeared from the place on the ground where I had left it and appeared belted to my waist. I had to admit that I was impressed, though I made sure not to do it out loud.
She turned to Odd and smiled. "I also have something for you." she told him and did the same thing she had done when she produced my sword. This time a pair of gloves appeared and she tossed them to Odd. "Those will produce your laser arrows except that these won't run out like the arrows did. They use your body energy as a fuel and you can control their movement and what kind of arrow they are."
Then she looked at Yumi. "You don't really need a weapon, do you?" she asked, smiling. "But I will give you one anyway." And yet another Lyoko relic was produced. This time it was Yumi's fan. "It will work similarly to the one you had in Lyoko but, just like the other two items, it is enhanced to work well with your abilities here on earth."
"What about Jeremie, Sam and Sissi?" I asked.
"We have something that we can use." Sissi said. "I have my healing abilities, and Sam, well Sam can use anything."
Sam grabbed a twig off of the ground and squeezed it. The twig grew and changed shape slightly until it was something resembling a sward. Then she dropped the twig and it simply turned into a twig again.
"Well, now that you are all set." Ginda said. "I can let this thing go..." and she opened her left hand.
The creature dropped to the ground and looked around for a second. After looking at each of us it turned around and started running towards one of the other students. That made me mad and I began running after it, sword drawn and ready...
---
"So, what happened in your home universe?" I asked the traveler.
"Oh, it was nothing much." He told me. "Just the sky when darker than night, clouds puffed into existence and blew up a storm like none other, floods, earthquakes, tornados, and other natural phenomenon going out of scale all across the earth. Everyone who had previously worked with magic of any kind knew that something was wrong, something big; something on a universal scale, but none of us really knew what it was at the time. It was lucky that I was with my friends at the time; I believe it was what helped me survive the event.
"There was pain, loss, destruction, as all the magical energies that had been forced out of our world by humans suddenly came ripping back into existence all in one long explosion. All over the planet things that had been associated with ghosts, phantoms, witches and the like were happening on a regular bases. Everyone prayed to their gods, as though it would help... mean while my friends and I tried to figure out what was happening."
"And you found out that all the magic had somehow come into existence? How on earth did you realize that?" I asked.
"Um, there is something that I don't understand." Aelita said. "What was holding the magical energies?"
"That's a good question." The traveler said turning his head to Aelita and leaning further back in his chair. "Magical energies usually flow freely, or rather they always do, and any living creature-plant, animal, or otherwise-can tap into those energies. Humans, because of their sentience, are especially able to tap into these energies and bend them to their will, but they rarely realize what they are doing. But of course other animals, whether they realize it or not, can tap into them as well.
"It is this that keeps the energies in check; without anything using them they just 'sit still', and build up. When humans use the energies they are transferred from them to what ever they are using the energies on, and from there the energies either move to their next target or they slowly leek out of what ever object they are in. It is similar, and yet different, with animals, because they keep the energies within themselves for long periods of time, but it, again, slowly leeks out into the rest of nature around them. In that way they keep balance.
"But since humans are the ones who are able to have the most control over the energies they have the biggest impact. In areas that are heavily populated with humans, and few animals the energies congeal around the humans and within their artificial structures. It is then the overall populace that affects the energies, so if all the humans believe one thing to be true, through fear, hatred, or any other emotions, it becomes true. And yet since in most universes where humans have well developed technologies they don't believe in these naturally occurring phenomenon..."
"Yeah, that's because there is absolutely no proof." I said, contempt rising in my voice.
"Oh, but there is, Jeremie, there is." The traveler assured me. "If you look around you in your city, in the places where there are living things you will see and feel a brighter, more lively peace. But in the areas where there is only metal and concrete it is dark, dead, and crushing. What you are seeing and feeling are the energies. The energies that are being used and circulated between the living are 'healthy' but the energies that are not being circulated are 'sick' and dead... Forgive me, please, I am so use to talking with people who work with energy that it is difficult for me to explain these things in a way that is simpler for you to understand."
"Well, there is still no proof that any of that is happening." I said.
"True, but that's because it is such a normal process that any technology that you could use would only detect something that happens everywhere. But technology that can detect energy and track it would be able to tell you something more." The traveler told me. "It is not that there is nothing going on, it is simply that there is currently no way for you to detect what is. For example, hundreds of years ago, on your earth, people didn't have microscopes to see the tiny molecular events that were going on, but does that mean that they only started happening when humans created microscopes?"
"No, but..."
"And, just because there is no way to truly see the atomic elements that the universe is made up of, I mean really see them, does that mean that they don't exist?"
"No... But-"
"And those scientists that theorize about quantum physics, even though there is currently no way to prove what they are saying, other than in mathematic simulations, does that mean that quantum physics isn't a science?"
"How can you talk about science like that?" I began yelling. "You aren't-"
"I'm not what? A scientist?" the traveler said and laughed. "But Jeremie, I am a scientist. The first time that I was able to go into another universe was with a machine that I invented. Now, I will admit that at the time I didn't really know exactly how it worked, but I do now.
"In any case, I was explaining how the energies had become captured. To put it simply it was because all of humanity, except for those of us who desperately wanted to use magic, willed it to be so. If all of humanity believes something, then you can damn well believe that it will be." he said shaking his head. "Take the mental state of people for instance. If someone says that they can see something that no one else, or at least no one else around them, can see, then they are considered insane. It doesn't matter whether the thing exists or not..."
This couldn't be, how could he be a scientist? It was impossible, simply impossible. Someone who defied all the laws of science could not be a scientist, could not appreciate the complexities of science. If he worked with magic, something that was completely unscientific, then he wasn't a scientist. That was that, and there was no way that it could be any other way.
"But Jeremie... that makes you a non-scientist as well." The traveler said mid-sentence.
"What are you talking about?" I demanded, nearly screeching. "I am so a scientist."
"Not if what you just thought is true. How can someone who is able to physically travel from one universe to others be a scientist if doing so breaks a law of science?" he asked. "At least according to what you just thought."
"But... but... What?" I asked finally.
"When you travel to another universe you are breaking the scientific law that matter is neither created nor destroyed, and the same goes with energy." The traveler said. "Because when you move yourself from your universe to here you are taking your atoms and the energy that they contain from that universe to here, thus destroying and creating them, because, by nature, if it no longer exists within a universe it has been destroyed."
"Uh... you are making my head hurt." I said wearily.
---
Ulrich was running top speed, and, surprisingly, Yumi was right next to him, but they would never make it on time. The monster, demon, whatever, was going after humans, now that it had been taken out of its hiding place. Now we had to kill it before it hurt anyone, and since the other two wouldn't make it on time it was up to me. I aimed my right hand at the monster, taking careful aim, and shot a small arrowhead arrow at it. The arrow flew past the other two and hit the monster in the back spraying blood behind it...
"Oh, sick. Thanks Odd." Ulrich said as some of the dark red blood hit him.
"Gentlemen, and ladies, the monster isn't dead, Odd only managed to tick it off." Ginda said walking forward a little. "This is bad, it's going to call for backup. I can help, but I am trying to keep this all hidden from your classmates, and I won't be of much use."
Once again Ginda held out her hand but this time her entire body began to change. She grew, taller and older, until she was somewhere around the age of eighteen. Then, with a slight shake of her right hand, another change began to take place. First something like metal, only living, began to snake its way around her body, forming a thin layer over her entire body, except for her face. Then another layer, but much larger this time, and more defined, began to appear a few feet away from her. Each piece then connected itself to its place as armor on her, until finally the helmet was attached as well. For a second I thought she was done, I mean, she had a nice suit of armor on, and the rest of us had nothing but the weapons that she had given us, but then a kind of fabric began to stitch itself midair around the armor. When the new cloths had been constructed from thin air I thought, for a second, that I had seen them before in a dream, but I dismissed it. Yet she still wasn't done, she reached her arm back behind her and pulled a small crystal out of nothing then returned her arm to the front. After squeezing the crystal, which was floating a few inches from her hand, it began to grow into a stave. The stave had two pairs of wings, one angelic the other demonic, and a large crystal floating in the air between them.
"Shall we?" she asked through the armor.
"Hey, how come you get armor and we just get these weapons?" I asked.
"Odd, don't wine, I am sure these weapons will help us as much as we need them to."
I looked back at the monster, which had been 'nursing' its wound. It glared at me with its glowing eyes and then bent its heat up into the air and howled. It was a hollow piercing howl and even though Ginda had said that she was keeping the thing and us hidden from the other students they still reacted to the howl. There were screams and people ducked to the ground, but a few of them froze. Those people who froze, I will never forget this for as long as I live, the look on their faces began to change. They began to look greedy, hungry... then, suddenly they began to change, becoming new monsters, and when the transformation was complete the former student was pushed from the twisted, mangled body and plopped in a bloody mess on the ground.
I might not have noticed it had I been watching the sky, like the others, but Sissi ran to the fallen student's sides. I could only assume that she was checking to see if they were still alive, but I didn't continue to watch and find out. There was something happening in the sky that took my attention away. Large dark shapes were descending in groups on us. They were nearly as twisted and mangled as the monster that I had just shot, but these were just slightly less so.
All around us it seemed, there were monsters appearing out of nowhere. Dozens of them, hundreds of them... it seemed that we were surely going to loose this match, until I remembered that we had faced an enemy like this before... X.A.N.A.'s monsters. The only difference was that this was in our world and there was no reappearing in the scanners if our life points went to zero.
"So, what do we do now?" Ulrich asked turning to Ginda.
But Ginda was a little busy, she was holding the stave in her left hand and her right hand was parallel with her face, two fingers pointing into the air. The crystals on the stave were beginning to glow and there were lights glowing all around her. As we watched the lights took shape in three ringlets of light moving around her body. Each ringlet of light had symbols on it and each symbol was moving as though it were alive. Suddenly a larger symbol appeared on the ground beneath all of us. Again I though I recognized the symbol, from a dream, the same one, but I let it pass.
"Sam!" Ginda called. "Come here."
San ran over to Ginda and held out her hand. There was the same twig in it, but this time the twig was glowing. Sam threw the twig in front of Ginda and suddenly everything went black...
---
"So, what will happen to our world?" I asked the traveler.
Jeremie was slouched in his chair grumbling about something, but for now I was ignoring him. I knew he was just being difficult, and I wanted to know all that I could from the traveler. Besides, I knew that Jeremie was listening, he had to be, and all of this information would be useful to him when he returned to earth.
"Well, your earth will start to change, but only slightly. At first creatures will start appearing, similar to the ones that your friends are fighting right now, then as it gets closer to time more and more humans will find that they have some kind of ability, no matter how small. Finally, in the final release there will be an explosion of such magnitude that it would be impossible for anyone to not see, hear and feel it, anywhere on the earth. The explosion will not be entirely fatal, it won't destroy the earth, some human structures will be destroyed but other than that... there is one other thing that will happen on that date though."
"What's that?" Jeremie asked with blatant disinterest.
"I will be able to enter your universe, and I shall bring Aelita with me." the traveler said.
"So, why is it that she can only come back then, and not now?" Jeremie asked, irritated.
"I have already told you. She isn't in her body." The traveler said pointing to where my 'body' was.
"But, um, I have a body. I am in it now." I said.
"No, you are mistaken, Aelita." The traveler said. "What you see right now is your 'soul', your 'self'. If I were to bring you back to your world right now you would fade away and be lost forever, either being reborn or just... dead."
"Oh, well, I don't want that to happen, again..."
The traveler stood up and his chair disappeared. At first I expected mine to disappear as well but it didn't. The traveler took a few steps closer to Jeremie, his long golden hair fluttering in the wind behind him. "Jeremie," he said, kneeling in front of him. "I need to take Aelita with me, her body and spirit are damaged from what happened in Lyoko before it was shut down. She needs to be healed, and even with all the power that I hold within myself I cannot do it here and now. Please try to understand, it is for the best, for both her, and for you."
"Why should I believe you?" Jeremie asked. "Ever since we met bad things have been happening. You have never given me a reason to believe you, or to trust you. Everything that you or your 'clones' have ever done has just made me look like a fool." I looked closer and realized that he was actually crying. "Aelita died because of you, and you did nothing to stop it from happening. When she disappeared it felt as though everything I cared about had been ripped from me, and then the factory was torn down... I had almost believed that if I could restart Lyoko that maybe there would have been a way to save her and..." he broke down into sobs.
"I'm sorry Jeremie, but it was necessary for us to take down the factory. Something had been released into Lyoko and we had to get it out, we are still working on doing so. Besides, if you had found a way to revive Aelita after restarting Lyoko you still wouldn't have been able to really revive her, it would have just been a copy, a shadow of who she really is." The traveler told him, his voice kind and comforting. "Even when you revived Aelita by scanning the hair into Lyoko that time you didn't really, fully, revive her. Part of her is still floating around somewhere, and that's why I need to take her with me. As for our mannerisms, please, forgive us, Ginda, and I have lived so long, and through so much that we can't help but play around a little. We try to keep it minimal, but sometimes it still seems like we are 'playing god' and abusing our powers."
"But, why? Why did it have to be us? There are other universes where there is a Lyoko, and all of us, why did you choose ours?" Jeremie asked, whipping away some of his tears.
"We have been to the others, Jeremie. We have met your other selves. The reason we have come to this universe of Lyoko is because it was meant to be. The universe was about to release its magics, that is an event that literally calls me; in a sense it is how I came to be." the traveler said. "In my birth universe, when that event happened it began to destroy the very fabrics that our world was made of. People were suffering, entire places were disappearing, and animals were dying painfully. Very little good came from the even in my birth universe, and it was because absolutely all the energies had been tainted by humanity as they were kept in their rift. All the energies, even the pure energies had become sick because of humanity, and because of that... well, in the end I had somehow become the 'good' aspect and another had taken on the 'evil' aspect. We fought, I won, and I decided that it was too dangerous for the energies to remain as they were. I drained all of it, I mean all of it into myself, and erased all evidence that it had happened. When I was done everything was like it had been before... except that I had a secrete that no one else could know."
"That's... that's so arrogant." Jeremie said and laughed. "You actually did that?"
"Yes, well, I was young and naive at that time." he said. "I had no idea what the repercussions would be until much later."
"Oh, really, and what were they?" Jeremie asked, a grin snaking its way across his mouth.
"I'll tell you later..." the traveler said. "In any case, will you allow me to take Aelita to Aricitopia?"
"Alright. If it's for her own good, I can't really argue."
"Thank you." the traveler replied and walked over to me. "And, Aelita, are you willing to go to Aricitopia?"
"Ok." I said. "I think I understand why, and I guess it really is for the best..."
"Good, now that that is settled." He waved his stave and I found myself floating in the air. I looked over at Jeremie and saw that he was as well. "Jeremie, your friends need you. Aelita and I will see you in about ten days."
"TEN DAYS, that's how soon that event is going to happen?"
There was a little pop and Jeremie was gone.
"So, Aelita, shall we?" the traveler asked placing me gently on the ground and holding out his hand.
"Sure." I said taking his hand.
"Good bye Aelita." The twins yelled...