Disclaimer: As you know, nothing you recognize from outside my story is mine. That includes the similarity to a piece of paper and an event in one of the Harry Potter books, so don't sue me. Also, the name Lenny was stolen from Of Mice and Men, though the character it belongs to is not mentally disabled in any way. Just a note – there is a reference to God in the story. It is not meant to offend anyone or their beliefs. It is close to mine, and what I think the Krynnish gods' take would be.
Preparing for Battle
About half an hour after school ended, a group of people arrived at Maeg's house. With a slight bow, she led them up to her bright turquoise room, which had been turned into a conference room. Her desk had been cleared of everything except the computer and moved to the center of the room. There were chairs crowded around it on each side, except where the bed could be used as a seat. The DragonLance books were taken off of their place of honor on the bookshelf so they could be used as references. There was a stack of paper and pens on the desk, next to which was a pile of assorted flavors of gum. Raistlin and Dalamar were already seated, and Raistlin had a steaming mug of his odd-smelling tea in front of him.
When everyone sat down, the mages were pleased to see that everyone who'd been at the lunch table had joined them. However, one chair was empty. Dalamar looked at Maeg questioningly. She smiled mysteriously, and then the doorbell rang once more.
Maeg and Jess ran downstairs to the door to see who was there, and the other earthlings looked around, a bit disconcerted by the presence of two men from another world. When Maeg and Jess came back, they had a very tall boy in tow. It was quite comical seeing them – the boy neared six foot, while Maeg was just shy of five foot, and Jess was only a couple inches taller. "Everyone, this is Everett. We called him last night. He's read the books, and is very interested in helping."
Everett shook hands around the table, and looked amazed to meet the mages from Krynn. He took his seat as well. Raistlin was about to reiterate what he'd said at lunch in a bit more detail when the doorbell rang again.
This time, even Maeg and Jess looked puzzled, and only Maeg went down. A minute later, the new 'army' heard a very irate Maeg yelling. "Who told you? No one was supposed to know!"
Another voice carried up the stairs. "Aww, c'mon Maeg. I want to help."
Though only Dalamar could actually hear it, everyone could sense that Maeg sighed. "Fine Lenny. Come on up to my room. Bring that chair with you." When they reached the room, it was evident why Maeg didn't take the chair herself. The newcomer, Lenny was as tall as Tim, and built pretty much like an out of shape Caramon. Much better for hauling furniture around than the petite Maeg.
Maeg looked around as a few people moved to make room for Lenny. "Guys, this is Lenny. May I ask who told him? It's not that I'm not glad he's here, but I know that this will be dangerous, and I don't want anyone to get hurt if his or her heart isn't dedicated to this cause. That's really why everyone had to come today. I want to be sure that everyone knows what he or she is committing to."
Looks were thrown around the table. Finally, Maria blushed. "I did. I knew he'd want to help! Anyway," She looked around at the table, taking in all of the fairly small girls, the thin-boned elf, and the even thinner Raistlin. "Without knowing about Everett, I figured if we're building an army, we'll need brawn to go with the brains." She blushed an even shade of red.
At this, Lenny smiled good-naturedly. "Yeah, and we all know I'm never going to be the brains of the group. Sure, I get good grades, but I always am wrong when She's around." He gestured to Sam, who blushed, laughing.
"It's not my fault you never listen!" Obviously, this was a long-standing joke between the two.
"See, wrong again!" With a jovial shake of the head, Lenny took his seat. At this point, Raistlin took over.
"Now, first, I need to know, who has read the books they call 'DragonLance'?" Of the people around the table, Maria, Joan, and Lenny had not. Jess, Maeg, Rebecca, and Everett had. Raistlin, who, with Dalamar, had dropped his Glamour so as not to waste strength, nodded. There was no way to tell how he felt about that.
"Fine. Then, I should introduce myself. I am Raistlin Majere, Archmagus, Master of the Past and Present. This is my apprentice, Dalamar Nightson, formerly of the forest of Silvanesti. Yes, he is a true elf, and we can really do magic. We come from the planet of Krynn." He sounded slightly bored.
"Now, we are here because following an experiment having to do with magical portals, my apprentice was followed into your world by the Goddess of Evil. I was then forced to come as well, to help fight her. It is very likely that she will try to take over the world, and though no one is sure what the outcome will be, there have been speculations, and none of them are very nice.
"Before I came through, the gods of magic, Solinari, Lunitari, and Nuitari came to me while I slept. Though I don't usually share dreams, as they are the true window to the soul, this one is pertinent to us all, so I shall describe it to you."...
... Three days after Dalamar had successfully gone through the Portal, Raistlin prepared for bed. He was happy with the intelligence that his apprentice was receiving, and was contemplating joining him soon. He had plans to set in motion that involved taking over the world. He figured that the best place to start gaining followers was in a high school, because it was that generation that would be holding the most power soon. He sighed happily at his plans of world domination and lay down to go to sleep.
Sleep took him almost immediately, and it wasn't long after that that he was in a dream. Raistlin's dream was fairly chaotic, but it seemed to be centered around conquering the new world. After what was likely only a few minutes, but felt like several hours, Raistlin cast a spell similar to the one that had opened the portal, and there was a flash of multicolored light. Raistlin had to close his dream eyes to block out the intensity of the light, fantasy though it was.
When Raistlin opened his eyes, he was back on Krynn in his workroom. He was also faced by the gods of magic. Slowly, they came into focus. Solinari, in robes of purest white, had a stern but handsome face, framed in gold hair. Lunitari appeared as a supernaturally beautiful human woman in robes the color of fresh-spilt blood. Nuitari was a shadow, barely visible in the gloom of the room, save for his pale, pockmarked face.
Lunitari stepped forward, once more the spokeswoman. Feeling detached from his body, and even his dream self, Raistlin idly wondered if it was because of her neutral status, or if Lunitari was the representative because she knew that despite Raistlin's personality was better suited to serving her dark cousin, his soul would remain hers.
Raistlin's reverie was broken when the goddess spoke. "Raistlin Majere, are you listening?" Her voice was strict, but to one who knew her, it was evident she was teasing him.
Though Raistlin knew this, his answer was as reverent as it would have been had he not known. "Of course, my Lords, my Lady." His voice held none of its usual cynicism or bite.
Lunitari smiled. "You must go to Earth, Raistlin Majere. But not to take it over. If you attempt that, there will be serious repercussions." She paused to let him take that in.
"But my Lady!"
The goddess cut him off. "No, Raistlin. We do not ask you to be idle, however. Because of your folly in creating a portal, Takhisis was able to leave her plane of existence to travel to theirs. Unlike our world, their Superior Being chooses not to interfere in the lives of mortals. This means that it is likely that Takhisis could take over their world with little resistance. You know nearly as well as we do what could happen to a world that has no Good and Neutrality to balance the Evil.
"Thus, we have spoken to our immortal kin, and come to a decision. You are to go to Earth, and with the help of your apprentice, and a small army of humans, you will force Takhisis to go back to the Abyssal Plane whence she came. We will give you and all those who help you strength to fight. You never know, this may be good practice for you."
With those cryptic words and a wink, she and her cousins each waved a hand in the air gracefully, and in a flash of light that shrank to a line and then disappeared, they were gone. If Raistlin dreamed more that night, he did not remember about what. When he woke the next morning, he knew what was required, and started to prepare for his own journey through the portal...
..."And so, I am here, to help you keep your world in one piece, not learning new spells, which I must say, is likely a much better use of my time." With that biting remark, he finished speaking, and immediately succumbed to one of his famous coughing attacks.
Raistlin tried to take a sip of his tea, but, not only was there very little left, but his hand was shaking so badly from the intensity of the attack that he could not raise the cup to his lips. Unnoticed in everyone's panic, Maeg nudged Jess and handed her something under the table. Jess looked down at it, and handed it to Raistlin.
"Here. Suck on this. It may help. It's called a cough drop. I've personally never been able to stand the taste, but Maeg swears by them. I don't know what it would do for your cough, though."
Still barely able to breath, but having regained control of his muscles, Raistlin snatched the Ricola, unwrapped it, and put it in his mouth. He didn't even wince at the odd taste, and miraculously, his ragged breathing got easier. "Thank you," he rasped as soon as he was able to speak. "Somehow, this does help."
Dalamar decided to allow his Shalafi's throat to rest, and he took over. "So, now you know why we have come, and why you have been gathered. If anyone wishes to leave, this is the time to do it. This war is not a game, and it is possible that people will lose their lives. To those of you who know of my Shalafi and me, you know that it is very unlikely that we would sacrifice ourselves to save any of you. Nothing you have heard so far is secret, or at least none will stay a secret for very long, no matter what you do. If you stay now, however, we will likely not permit you to back out later." His eyes flashed menacingly.
"If you're staying, please sign the paper we will give you. It will insure that we are not betrayed by anyone in this room." Dalamar stopped talking when he saw Raistlin wished to say something else.
"This is true. My apprentice and I have enchanted it, and if anyone chooses to betray anything secret to anyone outside of this group, you'll find yourself in a painful situation. I have little tolerance for traitors." At this, Dalamar involuntarily put his hand over his chest, where his Shalafi's punishment still burned in his flesh. Raistlin smiled slightly, sinister pleasure written on every feature. "Talk to my apprentice if you have any questions about the penalty for treachery." His voice was slightly wry.
Raistlin surveyed the room. Maeg looked sick at the thought of what had happened to Dalamar. Jess seemed fairly neutral, still in awe that her favorite book character was here, in the flesh, talking to her. Everett looked pensive, and Raistlin could tell that he was debating the pros and cons of the situation. He was reminded strongly of Tanis. Looking at Lenny was like looking at his twin brother – Raistlin could tell that the big teen was processing the information still, analyzing slowly before coming to any conclusions. Rebecca seemed determined, as though she'd already made her decision. Maria and Joan were both a bit puzzled about all of the things they'd never heard of, much less dreamed were real.
Finally, Dalamar looked at Raistlin, who nodded. He took a piece of blank paper from his jeans pocket. "Now, please sign this if you wish to stay. As we've said, you may leave now if you wish." No one left the room. Dalamar passed the paper around, and everyone signed it.
After everyone was finished, Maeg stood up. "Since today was Friday, I was thinking that our next meeting could be tomorrow, at the mall. It's crowded enough to be inconspicuous, and too crowded for anyone to hear what others are talking about." Nods went around the table. "All right then, eleven o'clock, at the mall."
Gcho: Thanks. How come you didn't read past three?
Alien21xx: I don't mind in the least. I'm glad you found the mental picture of Raisty as hilarious as I did. The scene with Catalina (at least in terms of his reactions) did get much of its inspiration from the scene with Crysania. I'm sorry if I seem to be moving quickly, I'll try to slow myself down. Thank you VERY much for your glowing praise, and be assured that it was part of what got me to update this before writing another chapter in something else. Also, never think your comments aren't considered – I'd likely wouldn't have put in the scene with Raistlin and the gods if you hadn't requested it.
ChildlikeEmpress: I'm glad you've found it so easy to identify with my characters. I s'pose I should tell everyone now, because nearly everyone has asked at some point or other about the romance in this story. Yes, it is going to be Dally/Maeg, and Raist/Jess, but their lives are not going to change for it. (sadly) This story, though it takes place in a fictional place in time, is going to be written so that it could have happened in the normal timeline.
Kenderling: Thanks. About the mages' love lives, look at my response to ChildlikeEmpress. About the ages – glad you asked, because I do have an answer. To start off, some background. When this takes place, Raistlin is in his early twenties. Dalamar is somewhere around one hundred, which means he's at an equivalent age to a 25 or so human. All of the Earthlings are between 17 and eighteen. The mages still look fairly young, partly because of lack of facial hair. Their Glamours do erase any lines worn in from care, stress, etc. Glad you asked. About the scene with Catalina – I did think of doing something like that, but I thought that Raistlin would find that petty and childish, so it would be a bit OOC. Something satisfying may happen like that at the end, though. I'm glad you understand my thing with taking character's names, 'cause a lot of my friends just don't get it. I did enjoy writing that scene very much.
Guan: Thanks for the review! Glad you found that funny.
Jade Limill: Yeah, I've made him too much of a burst of sunshine, haven't I? Well, I'll try, but no guarantees. I did attempt to make him in a worse mood this chapter, honest I did!
Again, too all I thank you, and I encourage you to push the little review button at the bottom. Painless for you, great for me. Criticism is welcome, and will be taken into account.