The Mistodon stomped its way through the forest, heading for the destination it had been commanded to go to, it didn't understand why it was being told to do these things only that it had to do them.
It stopped, sniffing the air around it. Something was wrong, it couldn't tell what though.
Looking behind it, it saw a human standing in the path it had created for itself. The human didn't appear to move or be scared.
The Mistodon roared at the human, this didn't affect it in any way. This confused the Mistodon, usually a roar was sufficient to get humans running on their way but this one stubbornly refused to move, so it fully turned around and charged at the human.
Thunderchild saw the Mistodon charging towards him and summoned a large fireball which he threw at the beast. This slowed the Mistodon down considerably and made it warily back away from him slightly. Thunderchild smiled and knelt down, placing his hands on the ground, then he lifted his hands up slowly with his fingers pointing at the Mistodon. Suddenly several large tree roots shot out of the ground around the Mistodon and fastened themselves to its feet, trapping it in one place.
Thunderchilds smile increased as he walked over to the beast which roared at him in defiance.
Behind him Domino walked out of the trees.
What the hell did you do?
Thunderchild shrugged
Nothing much, just a few spells I know he thought, ever the modest.
How did you learn them?
Well, you didn't think I was moping around all day when I left you at Conde Petite?
Well actually…no, never mind. So that's when you met Reiganna?
Yep thought Thunderchild as he looked into the Mistodons eyes.
So, what are we going to do with this thing? he asked Domino
Is there a way of sending it back to Gaia? she asked
Do you want it sent back to Gaia!
Well, not really.
I can kill it… thought Thunderchild
No…don't. It's not its fault, its just following orders. I can sympathise with that. Maybe Reiganna will know what to do, she said she'd be along in a minute didn't she?
Thunderchild nodded and just as he did they heard the sound of a horse approaching. He grabbed Domino and jumped into a nearby bush as he feared that the Mistodons commanders were turning up to see why it had stopped.
Instead Reiganna rode around the corner on a magnificent beast. It wasn't a horse but it was a Uni-Peg. Thunderchild had never seen one before but it had the best of both worlds, the wings of a Pegasus and the horn of a Unicorn.
"Bout time you showed up!" said Thunderchild, still seething at Reigannas intrusion into his private life.
"I am sorry I am late, I had to find Gallion. He's been frightened lately by the intruders in the forest."
"Well, if this plan works he doesn't need to worry much longer…" said Thunderchild, looking around him into the trees.
"What are you going to do with the Mistodon?" asked Reiganna as she dismounted her graceful beast.
"We're not sure, is there anyway you can tame it?" asked Domino
Reiganna walked over to the Mistodon and looked long and hard at it, even placing her hands on the creatures body in several places.
"This creatures soul is badly wounded…but not broken. It will take some time but I believe I can return it to its normal state."
Thunderchild nodded, this was what he had been hoping to hear, he hadn't wanted to have to kill the Mistodon, not since it was just following orders…like that lad in Arn-hemn….
"So…Thunderchild. Are you going to try contact?"
Thunderchild nodded and walked off into the forest.
"I sure hope he knows what he's doing." Said Domino
Reiganna smiled and pushed back a stray strand of her hair
"Thunderchild is wiser than he gives himself credit for….he is a strange and mysterious person, you haven't seen the last of his secrets." And with that cryptic clue Reiganna and the Mistodon disappeared in a flash of bright light.
Domino was unsure of what she was to do, alone in this forest with only Gallion for company…so she walked over to the Unipeg and made a fuss of him while waiting for Thunderchild to return to her.
Thunderchild walked through the trees, he didn't really have a clue what he was doing but some part of him knew what had to be done and he was just following a deep instinct which guided him into a cave inside the forest. The cave dropped sharply underground and became twisty, it would have been pitch black if the crystal walls hadn't been glowing with a comforting blue light.
After a while of walking he entered a huge cavern…he couldn't see the other side of it, and in this cavern was billions of crystals, each one a different hue to the other. No crystal was alike in any way. There was a path cleared through the crystals to a small circular platform towards the middle of the cavern so Thunderchild followed it through. It took him almost five minutes to cover the distance to the platform, such was the enormity of the cavern, when he got to the platform he stopped and turned around, looking at the crystals around him. They seemed to be waiting for something.
"I am Yissan Gojenta, I seek your assistance in a war against the evil striking your forest."
YOU HAVE BEEN RECOGNISED BY THE FOREST…PLEASE SPEAK enchanted a dull voice, similar to the voice of the trees he had heard earlier, only this voice contained more than just the trees…it was everything…it was THE forest and not just part of it.
"Erm, right. Well, I'm sure you're aware of Jara Gedyens invasion of the Twilight Forest…"
THIS ASSUMPTION IS CORRECT"Right, well, it's got to be stopped, right?"
AS IS THIS ASSUMPTION…PLEASE CONTINUE"Well…you have the power to stop her, right?"
WE HAVE POWER….BUT IT CANNOT BE CHANNEL, THE FOREST IS TOO FRAGMENTED, THERE IS NO UNITY.
"What do you mean….you can't use the power you have?"
THIS IS CORRECT"Well….can't you utilise one thing and direct all your power into that and then that can transmit the power in whatever way needed?"
There was a pause as the forest thought this through
THIS IS ALSO CORRECT….PLEASE STAND BYSeveral minutes passed and then everything went white. Thunderchild was blinded by the light of the crystals as each and every one of them flared white, he collapsed to the floor with his hands over his eyes…his brain felt like it was going to explode, such was the pain he felt within it.
"Halt prisoner, stay where you are!" shouted a voice Thunderchild was unfamiliar with, he opened his eyes to see several genomes pointing large bladed weapons at him.
Bugger, what a brilliant place for the cavern to transport me to thought Thunderchild
He slowly put up his hands as the genomes walked forward and disarmed him, then they prodded him with their blades and with a genome walking in front as a scout they made their way back to Jaras army's main camp.
When they reached the camp Thunderchild was overawed by the sheer size of the forces that Jara had amassed here.
And this is only part of her forces he thought and then wondered how he knew this.
Shaking his head, he dismissed it as fatigue.
He was led through the camp till he was brought before a large tent which dominated over the rest of the tents in the encampment, of which there was not many as only the genomes and mages really needed them.
Thunderchild knew exactly whose tent it was before the tent flap opened and it's occupant walked out.
"Jara." He said
"I'm glad you remembered me…it's been such a long time Yissan, I thought you might have forgotten…I know I haven't." she said, her face playing into a cruel smile.
"So… it really is you." He said, looking at the body of his former girlfriend, the body only because whoever lived inside of Jara now, it was not the Jara he had fallen in love with…she lived on inside of Domino now.
"Yes…and it really is you. I thought you were dead you know, when your squadron led that suicide attack on the Borg Cube…imagine my surprise when I found you on the Discworld."
"You found me on the Disc? How long ago?"
Jara paused and ran her hand through her hair to push strands of the long brown hair back from in front of her face.
"About a year ago now…I met you once…do you remember me?"
Thunderchild studied Jaras face intently, her pose…the way her smile was warm and yet deadly.
Then the memory came back to him.
She had been lost in the streets of Ankh-Morpork, he had found her after she had been attacked by muggers and left for dead, he had taken her back to the Mended Drum and brought her new clothes to set her on her way.
Even then he had sensed something familiar about her, something strangely out of place.
"How the hell did you get to the disc?" he asked
"I found a portal on Gaia," she said "I believe your genome girlfriend is familiar with it."
"The Portal…yes, I remember her mentioning it to me once." He replied
"Well, I came through the portal, trying to find myself a new world to use for the harvest, Gaia wasn't enough…that's where Garland failed. Then I found your Discworld, full of people and rich with magic…and I found you. A double bonus in one simple day. After that it was a simple thing to keep track of you…it's amazing what people will do for money. Then, when the time was right, I summoned you here."
"But it went wrong didn't it? I didn't come to you…but I came to Domino, because deep down she is Jara and you are some impostor."
Jaras hand swept around in a wide arc and would of connected with his face had it not met his opened hand before his face, he grabbed her hand and twisted it behind her back.
"What are you doing!" she asked, her face displaying slight shock.
"Doing what I should have done many years ago…ending this now." He said, drawing his sword with his free hand.
Echoing the sound of his sword drawing came the sound of nearly forty others…looking around Thunderchild suddenly found himself in the centre of a circle of many inward pointing blades…
"If you come any closer I'll kill her." He said
"You can't kill me Yissan…you still love me." She said, pushing herself free of his grasp, breaking from the tight hold as though he was made of paper.
"What the..?" he asked
"You'll see Yissan, with the magic from the Discworld I've become more powerful than your worst nightmare…and when I've absorbed the energy from the forest then I will be truly indestructible."
"You're insane Jara…totally insane." Gasped Thunderchild through the pain created by his wrist which had been bent slightly as Jara escaped.
"In your eyes I may be insane…but soon I will be indestructible and there is nothing you or your tool of a girlfriend can do about it!" Jara turned around and began to walk back into her tent.
"She's not my girlfriend…she's my wife." Said Thunderchild.
Jara stopped dead in her tracks, turning slowly she asked with an air of controlled rage.
"What did you say?"
"I said, she is my wife, not my girlfriend."
Thunderchild didn't see the energy blast coming until he found himself lying on his back a few yards away from where he was previously standing with a blackened mess on the front of his armour, despite the pain the wound didn't look fatal.
"How DARE you!" she screamed at him
"I told you Jara, I love Domino…not you."
"How can you love her…How can you even think of marrying her…the things a weapon, made to destroy…for heavens sake I helped make her. I know how she works, what she is capable of….and you say you LOVE her…she's not even capable of displaying love. The only thing she can manage is hate."
"That isn't true…I love him." Said a voice just outside of the circle of genomes.
"Domino?" asked Thunderchild, slowly getting back up
"You love him do you? How can you love him, how can you even say you love him when deep down inside of you, you have to fight the urge to brutally kill him?"
"I don't care what I was made for…or what I am to become. All I know is that here and now I love him and I want to spend the rest of my life with him."
Jaras rage had built to exploding point…but instead of shouting like anyone else would have done, she merely turned her back of Thunderchild and Domino, who had pushed her way through the genome ring and now stood next to Thunderchild and said in a quiet voice.
"Well, then you'll get your chance as you both rot in hell. Genomes, take them to the edge of the camp and kill them."
The genome guards took Thunderchild and Domino by the arms and pushed them forward, Thunderchild turned to try to run back to Jara, to try to force her to listen to reason but the guards grip was too strong and he could not even turn around.
"Don't do this Jara…there has to be another way!" he shouted
"There is no other way…" she returned, as she disappeared into her tent.
Thunderchild sighed and looked at Domino who sighed too, but deep inside of him he felt something stir and awaken, something that hadn't been there before…and then it all fell into place, just why the forest had teleported him into the middle of the genome guards…they had wanted him to be captured.
They chose me! he suddenly thought, causing Domino to stare strangely at him
What do you mean? she asked
Thunderchild felt the strength of the forest grow within him…and not only did the strength grow but so did the rage…the feeling of wrong, that the genomes were intruding on sacred ground. He became alarmingly aware that he had begun to glow.
The guarding genomes had noticed this too and they backed away from him, watching him uncertainly.
What's happening to you! asked a shocked Domino
Thunderchild knew that when the rage broke that it wouldn't matter who was nearby, all of them would die…like Dragon Trance, this rage was almost uncontrollable.
Get…out…of…here Domino! Get away, as far as you can!
Domino just stared at him and made no attempt to flee, Thunderchild nearly lost control there and then in a fit of rage.
GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE NOW DOMINO! NOW! he telepathically yelled at her.
This made her jump and she began to run for it, as she ran a blue energy bolt shot past her and hit a tree to her left, she turned and looked at Thunderchild, the energy seemed to arcing off him like an electrical charge, another bolt set fire to a tree just next to her, at this she decided it really was time to go and teleported out.
Left alone Thunderchild turned around and staggered back into the camp, clutching his head with one hand and limping slightly, destructive bolts of light blue energy from him striking the ground.
The fury built within him, and as the fury built as did the glow of light surrounding him, after a minute it became impossible to look at him because of the power of the light. Two genomes made an attempt to capture him, grabbing him by the arms but with a simple flick of his arms he knocked both genomes flying into the air.
Raising his hand, he pointed at a nearby tent and sent an energy blast searing through the air destroying the tent completely. He turned again and pointing with his hand, destroyed another five tents with the same burst of blue/purple energy.
The feeling of the power within him and the strength, the ability to do nearly anything made Thunderchild feel almost giddy, he whirled around in a circle creating a whirlwind of destructive energy which fanned out to engulf half of the encampment in destruction.
Jara walked out of her tent to see what all the noise was about, it was then she saw Thunderchild.
He was floating about five foot in the air and his hair had increased in length considerably, it now reached down to the lower part of his back and had changed from it's usual brown to a light blue, even more alarming to Jara was the fact that somehow he had grown a light blue tail which looked just like a genome tail! A strong aura of light blue also surrounded his body, he stood up in the air with his arms raised to the heavens a whirlwind of dirt and debris building up around him.
Jara stopped dead in her tracks…this wasn't the Yissan she remembered, what the hell has happened to him! She thought
Thunderchild suddenly became aware of her presence and looked down straight at her, he smiled with a heavy hint of malice and lowered one of his hands until it pointed straight at her. A blue whirlpool of energy built up on the palm of his hand and then a tendril of the same energy shot out towards Jara.
Seconds before the energy smashed into her, Jara uttered the words of a teleportation spell and faded from view smiling slyly as she vanished.
Thunderchild howled with fury, he had missed the opportunity to destroy this threat once again, how could he let her slip through his fingers twice? The rage inside of him built to uncontrollable levels and he fell down onto the ground clutching his head.
The wind that had built up ceased and everything was still, a couple of the curious genomes walked over to Thunderchild and one of them pushed over his body with its foot.
Then everything happened at once.
Many miles away Domino ran through the forest, trying to put as much distance between her and Thunderchild as possible, it went against everything she felt, to run away from her husband in his hour of greatest need. She had felt the panic within him as he began to lose control of his abilities, felt the fear of him hurting her, that was why he had ordered her to get away from him. She didn't know what was happening back at the genomes camp but many strange sounds and flashes of blue light had begun coming from that direction ever since she left.
She almost ran into Reiganna who was waiting outside an entrance to a cave.
"Domino! Quick, get inside, there's not much time left. He'll go critical any moment now!"
Domino didn't move but she grabbed Reiganna.
"Go critical! What do you mean! That's my husband back there! What do you mean 'Go critical'!"
"The forest has channelled its power into him, he's a walking bomb!"
"A bomb! We've got to save him!" shouted Domino over the loud explosions which had begun to her south, where she had just come from.
"It's too late, the only safe place to be now is underground!" Reiganna shouted back.
Suddenly everything went very, very quiet.
Both genomes looked at each other and then looked south.
"Maybe he's not going to explode?" asked Reiganna
There was a loud 'thump' and the whole southern sky went white.
"Or maybe he is." Concluded Reiganna
An invisible shockwave passed overhead making the trees shake, to the south a massive mushroom shaped cloud of bubbling fire was heading skywards and another huge wall of fire was spreading out at a rapid speed…straight for them.
"Domino…we really have got to go!" warned Reiganna as the wall of fire bore down on them, the ground began to shake underfoot and a fierce wind whistled ahead of the flames making the trees sigh almost as though they too were scared.
"Thunderchild!" shouted Domino, her beautiful face marred by falling tears.
The wall of flames towered higher and higher as it rushed forward, Domino could see the trees being ripped up in front of the flames and bursting into fire as the incredible temperatures burnt them to ashes, somewhere in the middle of all of that was her husband…possibly now as burnt as the trees….why did this have to happen?
Reiganna gave up trying to get through to Domino and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her into the cave just as the fire ripped through the clearing in which the cave lay.
A blast of heat singed Reigannas back as she shielded Domino from the heat. Further inside the cave, the creatures of the Twilight forest, Unicorns, Unipegs, Gryphons, and many other mythical creatures sat or lay, protected from the destruction by the thick granite walls. They all stared out at the devastation with not fear but wonder in their eyes, it made Reiganna ponder what the hell was really going on in the forest…using its power to destroy itself as well as the invaders…a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face to use a mortal term thought Reiganna.
After a minute the flames had subsided and Reiganna was able to walk back out of the cave and take a look around at the forest…well, it wasn't the forest anymore. She could see for miles in either direction, burnt and blackened tree stumps were everywhere…it looked like Armageddon had taken place, but on the bonus side she couldn't see any of Jaras forces.
"What have you done forest?" she asked out loud.
A shriek made her look up, overhead an eagle drifted on the gentle breeze, its feathers ruffled as it slowly made its way past.
Maybe there is hope thought Reiganna
Around her, there was a rustling of leaves and roots. Looking around in surprise Reiganna saw green shoots appear from the charred remains of the trees, moving in fast speed they quickly grew up into miniature trees and then carried on growing, as far as she could see the same thing was happening all over the land.
The forest can never die she thought It truly is eternal.
Domino and the three Unipegs Gallion, Rupee and Sovereign emerged from the cave, Sovereign uttering a small whinny at the sight of the regrowing vegetation.
"Isn't it amazing sister?" asked Reiganna "It's growing again."
A butterfly landed on Dominos open hand and then fluttered off again, the trees were very tall now and they threw the cave and it's surroundings into a dark green shadow.
"Amazing…" said Domino but then a thought struck her "We've got to find Thunderchild, he's still alive; I can feel it deep within me."
"Ok," said Reiganna "We'll go look…but after that explosion…"
She didn't need to continue, Domino was dreading to think what they might find at the epicentre of that destruction.