Finally, I bet you were all wondering who and what this guy was... Well, you now get to find out. It may be a little confusing. He is my character, and has a history (Which is protected by copyright...) If you get confused tell me so and I will update this chapter as much as needed... I use my pen-name as an e-mail address and I use both hotmail and yahoo.
The stranger:
"My name is Gwydion Laubach, but I am known as the traveler. I was once the greatest scientist on earth, a different earth in a different part of this realm of existence. I invented many things, many of which were said to be impossible. But two of my inventions were my greatest ones.
"I also believed in magic, and because of this some people believed me to be a 'mad' scientist. I ignored them and continued both practices. I made an attempt to combine what I learned from magic with what I had created with science, and one day I succeeded.
"My first invention was a species that I called Aricitics. They were an ingenious creation, perfectly adaptive, with the ability to manipulate their bodies with just a single sample of what ever they became. Not only were they able to become anything but they could use any ability or knowledge that what ever they had absorbed had. And if the thing that they absorbed a particle from was bitten, and alive, it would become one of them.
"I made one fatal mistake with my first great invention. Because of the way Aricitics were created they were very territorial of their own kind. If anything ever harmed one of their children or of their species, madness would over come that one and it would seek eternal revenge against what ever had made the mistake. They were sentient you see, and sentience is the most dangerous weapon of life.
"The first two Aricitics had children, and only a week after they were born their children were somehow stolen from them. The female disappeared but the male sought revenge against me. At first it seemed that I would be dead but for some reason the Aricitic took to torturing me, and changing the human race into Aricitics…
"In the end I was able to get out alive, and save the human race by changing all of them back. I was also able to send all the remaining Aricitics into another universe and another time. At the time I didn't know if I would ever see them again.
"My second greatest invention was a machine that would allow me to travel into other universes. When I finally had it operational a team of scientists and other people, including myself, went through it. I had everyone else go through first because I had a suspicion. When I went through the machine malfunctioned and sent me through something sometimes called the over-verse.
"I suddenly found myself among the Aricitics again. And I found that I had sent part of myself with them. The part of myself that I had send had, over time, become one himself. But he had also managed to become emperor of half of the species. I decided to have Aricitic capabilities as well, and through the 'Aricitic bite' I managed to gain a copy of their DNA.
"With a hidden ability that I slowly began to use I was able to traverse through multiple universes and gain abilities from other people. I sometimes learned, and sometimes earned the abilities I gained. But I always tried to help people with them, and for the most part I was able to.
"I at one point met up with the first Aricitic again and we fought a seemingly endless battle. In the end I won by taking from him what I had given to him in the first place, a copy of myself, all the evil in my soul at the time. It did not kill him but it disabled him from doing any more harm, or so I thought…
"At any rate as I continued to traverse all of existence I evolved and found that Aricitics had about five evolutions. I also found out that humanity had used my machine to wage war against other universes. They had pillaged the other universes with my machine and taken everything they had. I was angered by their stupidity.
"I punished them and stated that I would never allow a race to use a machine to traverse to other universes. I said that I would destroy any machine that I found. Besides the machines interfered with my ability and usually had a negative effect. My doing this ended eventually, but not until those races that gained the ability learned to use it properly.
"Also, as I traversed, and helped people, I sometimes requested payment for my help. I did not ask for money, usually, but something else equal to the worth of what I did for them. I never charged anything that was unfair, but made sure that I always charged something they could afford.
"I am the Aricitic traveler. I help people, when they need it. Which means that I usually grant, or help them grant their greatest desire."
As I finished I could see that the children were half asleep. My explanation was long, longer than what you have seen. But I knew that what was important had gotten through to them. I knew that they would not wonder who I was or what I was doing in their universe any more.
Again, if you need to know something more tell me, and I will update. I use my pen-name and use hotmail or yahoo.