2 months ago on Ool

Calen stood in her mother's tower. She recovered from all the damage the Griddas had caused her, and Ool was nearly back to normal. Still she struggled to take control and lead, how would she get her species back on its feet? There was no way she could ever agree to Serpantha's deal… How would she go about convincing the others? She needed to be the ideal leader, she could not test them now. Calen never had the same respect her mother did, nor was anyone greatly afraid of her. She needed all she had lost back, but how could she lead them to rebuild such an empire in such short time?

Her answer came in a surprising form.

Calen turned away from her eye window, and got the shock of her life.

There, in her eye tower, was a Wizard. He wore a red robe, and highly resembled Serpantha, but it was not. Serpantha had a feminine face, much softer. The Wizard had a hard face, one look at him said not to mess with him.

He spoke in more serious, heavy voice, very different to Serpantha's. 'Hello Calen. I am here to help.'

'Get away Wizard!' roared Calen, building her defences.

'No. You want your power restored don't you?'

'Who are you and why should I believe you wish to help?'

'My name is not important, and what other chance have you got? See, I am not like Serpantha, I just want to help.'

'How would you help?' she asked, much more willing to accept his offer.

He just smiled.

Orin Fen, present day

Although they would all feel more comfortable if Venibilles would get dressed, his argument was that it was his house and he should be free to dress how he liked, and he would not leave as he was interested in what would happen. So Owlola had to explain how Calen had gone quite for a few years, and then started with small attacks and antagonising, but they dismiss it as just petty fighting and thought she'd eventually come around.

Until about a week ago, when she suddenly launched an attack towards Earth, and Serpantha had to go stop it – once she drew the Wizards out, she showed her army, threatening to attack Earth. That was the presence Rachel had sensed the presence of spells rather than someone's scent. Rachel made a mental note to ask about how that worked later. If, in fact, there was a later.

Rachel had trouble taking it all in. Not just the business with Calen, but everything – it was like when the magic goes out your childhood, quite literally in this case really, and you see things for what they are. She remembered Heiki once called it 'Depressive reality' or something. Seeing Serpantha that stressed, angry, and even drinking just hurt her more than she felt it should. They were real people with real feelings, and while she was still in awe of them, she saw their flaws, and their pain and joy. It almost made the whole thing harder, because subconsciously Rachel just wanted to run back and have everything be the way it used to. But that would never happen. It could never be like that.

'What does she want then?' Rachel asked, 'and how did she get this army? This all sounds so far-fetched and insane.'

'We thought that too,' Serpantha said, obviously back. 'Honestly when I heard about it from her I thought she had gone insane but somehow she has produced a massive army, and while the battle is concerning enough, I need to go out there and figure out what's going on.'

'This is all too much,' Rachel said, 'I mean this is all going too fast.'

'As I said, if you had come at any other time it would have been better. I'm going back out there now. I advise you go home.'

Heiki stood up. 'I'm coming with you.'

Serpantha looked at her for a long time, and then simply said, 'OK. Go, upstairs, change. Venibilles I trust Heiki to keep you safe so you can go up too, if you wish.'

Venibilles scoffed, 'I don't need her to look after me.'

'Yes, you do, now get your big head upstairs.' Serpantha looked to Rachel, 'I would recommend you come too. If you don't feel able, then that's fine, but I have an idea.'

Rachel nodded, and all three went upstairs.

Owlola looked to Serpantha, 'You are sure this has a good chance of working?'

'Nothing else has worked; I might as well try this. If I can find out where all those Highs are coming from I can shut it down.'

Owlola nodded, 'Although every means she could have done this is very heavy, it makes me sick. I can't stand the idea of losing him, and I know it would crush you.'

Serpantha nodded. 'I think I understand now, though. You are going to have to trust me.'

All three came back down, wearing what was basically a black tracksuit, yet they were protective. Used for training – Heiki was used to wearing one, Rachel was far from trained, but Serpantha seemed to trust her, so she figured she wasn't totally incapable.

'Weird, I expected you to be more out of shape Heiki,' grinned Serpantha.

'Don't think you can make me laugh and this will all be OK. You'll need more than that.' Heiki tried to be serious, but she could not hide her happiness due to how much she had missed Serpantha.

Rachel wasn't sure why that would be funny, it sounded more insulting, but she figured it must be some kind of inside joke.

He was the only one who knew everything about her, and he was her best friend. They understood each other because they had very similar backgrounds, and most of all they made each other laugh. But Heiki refused to let herself forget how her trust in people was broken, even though she battled with herself because she knew it wasn't his fault.

'Heiki you know the procedure, don't you?' He said, interrupting her thoughts.

Heiki nodded, and Serpantha shifted away.

Serpantha appeared next to his brother, who was currently fighting back all spells. 'I have an idea. Long story short Heiki, Rachel and Venibilles are here. I'll explain later. Swap places with them.'

Larpskendya shifted away without a word to his nephew and the girls, and did not say anything except, 'Go.'

The three arrived next to Serpantha, and he immediately said, 'Keep this up, shield all attacks, I'm going out. Don't show your faces.'

Serpantha flew out in plain site to the middle of the battlefield to Calen. Serpantha stopped the few attacks at first, but then Calen gave the order to stop, intrigued at Serpantha's actions.

'How are you getting all these Witches?' Serpantha asked bluntly.

'Going straight into it like that, really?' Calen said, disappointed. 'I expected more. However, why would I tell you?'

'I have a rough idea of what this could be, Calen, and it's a lot more serious than you think, and dangerous. Not just for my kind, for the entire universe, and yes, that includes you.'

'You think that would talk me out of chasing what I want?' She seemed genuinely bewildered, 'If you have the guts you can go look for yourself…'

'I will,' Serpantha said, and that's when Heiki instructed Rachel and Venibilles to drop the shield and shift to Serpantha.

Calen was stunned, 'What happened to leaving Earth alone?'

'I lied, just like you, I suppose.' Serpantha began breaking his way through the high Witches, while Venibilles, Rachel and Heiki split up to distract as many Highs as possible. Rachel and Venibilles attacked anywhere and everywhere, but Heiki staye din front of Calen, keeping her busy – so she could not give orders.

Both stood silently looking at each other for a while, until Heiki suddenly drew back and fired and attack. She then began franticly shifting towards Serpantha, while firing attacks at Calen to keep her following her.

This plan better work, Serpantha, she thought, it's a bit thin.

They seemed to come to an end of all the Witches, only Calen was close to them, Heiki made sure of that – in case they needed her to stop whatever was going on.

Larpskendya made the powerful shift to next to his brother, and released a spell of astounding power that stunned the Highs, rendering all but a few of Calen's army useless for a few minutes.

Calen was outnumbered, and unsure what to do.

'Show us what you're doing,' Serpantha said threateningly.

Calen had no choice but to take them, but she made sure they flew to prolong the time it would take to get there. Serpantha dreaded what they could possibly find.

Venibilles was in shock over the whole battle, breathing heavily, he could not really believe what just happened, and Rachel was still very vacant. Then again, so was Larpskendya. He seemed so different, so quiet, and guilty. But a battlefield isn't really the best time to mend friendships. It was odd how her and Larpskendya were both shut off during this, yet Heiki and Serpantha just went into business mode and focused on what they had to do.

What Calen brought them to even Serpantha could not hide his shock. Although, only Serpantha knew what it was.

There was not a perfect way to describe what they saw. It was like a black whole, yet shot out blindingly white light, swirling into a point in the middle.

'Calen!' Serpantha shouted angrily, much in the way a parent would, which was surprising, 'Do you have any idea what this is?'

Calen actually stammered, she couldn't believe herself, 'N-not really, no… I…'

Everyone looked to Serpantha, expecting him to explain what it was.

'It's complicated,' he said, 'however we have to go inside, and then I will explain. Calen that includes you.'

Calen was highly against the idea, but she didn't have much of a choice, and to make sure she didn't try to run the Wizards made her fly in front.

'What's going on?' Rachel asked Heiki, 'I'm scared, Heiks, what have we gotten into?'

'We're safe,' she answered, 'that's all I know. Equally, it's all that matters right now.'

They found themselves speeding up as they drew closer, which is unnerving in the least, especially when you have no idea what it actually is, and all you know is Highs come from there.

However, something felt so wrong about the light that consumed them. Rachel felt every emotion she had ever felt in her life, all at once. Yet everyone else seemed fine. Was it just her, or did they hide it? Moreover, did she want to know?

The next thing she remembered was standing on… nothing. There was nothing. Just white and the six of them. It was more than just nothing, though, there wasn't a sound, they felt nothing, and they were standing on nothing? How were they standing? It felt solid, but it was just white light. They had all turned to face each other, yet no one said anything, which did not help.

'Only way out is forward,' Serpantha announced. 'We need to find the source of this. Try not to look at the walls. Before someone asks why, all of you just try it briefly.'

Rachel turned a looked into the white light behind her, which she figured might be a wall. How was she to know? It all looked the same.

She felt her self thrust into a dark bedroom. Earth. She dared not move. She saw someone sleeping on a bed, and once her vision came into focus, she realised it was Heiki. For a split second, she wanted to run and wake her up, but then remembered what happened.

Serpantha appeared standing at the foot of the bed, and Rachel went to say his name and ask him what was going on – he seemed the only one in the know – but something in her would not let her.

Serpantha used a spell to wake Heiki up, which Rachel thought was unusual, but she did not think too deep – she figured she had to accept what was happening, and ask for explanations later.

Heiki sat up and saw him. She used a spell to turn on the lights.

She immediately knew it was a Wizard, but had short messy black hair and deep brown eyes, again looking young as she expected, but he switched between looking young and old, he looked rugged yet had a soft face at the same time. It was strange, she couldn't quite figure him out.

'Who are you?' she asked, still trying to wake up fully.

'Serpantha,' he answered simply.

'Helpful, thanks. Just leave me alone, I want everyone to go away.' Heiki said, cold yet angry.

'No,' Serpantha replied, half-laughing, 'you can't push people away you're whole life. You cannot deal with how you feel this way. For the record, I am Larpskendya's brother.'

'Oh,' Heiki said, sighing, 'come to have a go at me?'

'No, actually, I wanted to say I am impressed by your fighting talent. You have amazing potential, if used the right way. Problem being you did not. This is in no way your fault, I honestly do not blame you whatsoever, but shutting yourself away and hiding is not making things right.'

'Why would anyone forgive me? Just leave me alone.' Heiki looked away from him.

'Go find Rachel. Apologise to her – that is all I ask, all I want from you. I wanted to make you an offer, too, but you have to learn to trust people again to receive it, starting with Rachel.'

'Thanks but I'm kind of done with offers and deals and promises and trust.' Heiki replied.

'Drop the attitude because I'm not here to waste my time,' Serpantha raised his voice, 'I am here through my own free will and I do not need to be. I could leave you to lock yourself in a room all day and sulk, yet when I try to help I get treated like that?'

Heiki wanted to say 'whatever' and make him leave, but something about him intrigued her, and she wanted, almost desperately, to get to know him, yet she still had no trust in people, which stopped her reaching out. Not knowing how to solve this internal battle with herself, she just said, 'What offer?'

'You're a very skilled fighter,' he answered, back to normal, 'and now we have an even bigger enemy, Griddas, and it is almost certain Earth will be attacked. I wish to train your spells and train you physically. So in a case of Earth invasion where no one can be here but your race, you can train others and defend the Earth. It is not an ideal situation, but if you are not interested, I will leave.'

Heiki was silent for a long time. She wanted this; she needed this, but she never thought she would be able to get over how she felt and be able to.

Serpantha sensed this, so added, 'If you took all that negative energy inside of you Heiki, all your frustrations and depression, and channelled it to doing something constructive you will be one of the best fighters.'

Heiki looked into his eyes, and just said, 'OK. I'll go find Rachel in the morning. But if I want to quit at any time, I can.'

'Of course,' Serpantha agreed, 'believe me, I understand how you feel, and as we get to know each other better you will see why. I promise.'

With that, Serpantha left and Rachel was jolted back into nothingness.

As soon as everyone turned back from the walls, Serpantha said, 'You were only gone a few seconds, yet you experience memories, often your worst, when looking at the walls.'

'I didn't see my own,' Rachel spoke up, 'yet everyone else seemed to, I don't understand. Why are we seeing memories anyway?'

'Sometimes you do not see your own, which is another reason looking at the walls is not a good idea,' he explained, very calmly, 'As for why we see them… I doubt any of you will believe me, but this is almost travelling through time. Every event in Calen's lifetime was in this pocket, and she was getting long dead Highs from there, but I'll explain that later. When we entered it now includes every event from our lives.'

Calen objected, 'It is not altering time, I merely took them from before they died. It is hardly dangerous.'

'Hardly dangerous?' Serpantha was almost shocked at her ignorance, 'Calen if I wished to I could bring back anyone I have known who has died, and for me, that is many, many people. Unlike you I realised how wrong that would be. However, one thing interests me other than your ignorance, the fact you did not bring back your mother suggests you did not accomplish this alone. Is there something you are not telling us?'

'I did it alone,' Calen looked offended, 'What makes you think I need her?'

Serpantha rolled his eyes, deciding it was pointless arguing with her.

'How does this all work then?' Venibilles asked, 'I know you can look at memories like that, in your own and others heads, but to be able to make them solid and bring people back…'

'Clever observation, however even I am not sure how this works. I have heard of it working in theory that if memories were made solid in a place like this you could bring people back, yet that is the limit of my knowledge.'

'And Calen's,' finished Heiki, 'so whatever the source of power is it has to be massive, it would take an enormous amount of magic to do this.'

'Exactly, and we need to find that source and stop it. When we do, I am unsure what will happen, thanks to Calen we could all be dead by the end of this.'

Rachel looked directly at Serpantha, 'Where do we go though? It's all white, how are we meant to see where we're going?'

'Forward looks like a decent direction. Just let me lead, Witches and Wizards eyesight is a bit more tuned and we can see more difference in colour and forward is a darker shade of white so that must go somewhere. However I have no idea how long this will take, so you all may sort out your issues with each other on the way.'