Previously:
"Oh, how sweet, are you and Taylor adopting now?" Pizoku looks over at the new voice to find himself shocked by the mere height of the girl that stands beside them in the doorway. Extraordinarily tall, blonde, buxom and beautiful, almost a stereotype but with an aural edge of kick-your-ass. And a strange wrinkle on her upper nose.
"Play nice, Jilan, the poor boy has been through enough for a few days," Reese tells the girl.
--
"Suicide bomber." Pizoku turns to see Jilan by the door, the apparent source of the thumping sound. "Big bang. Open this door!" She shouts and kicks the door, shaking it severely. Pizoku realizes she is much stronger than she seems.
Reese frowns at the girl. "Are you really sure you want that to happen?"
"Yes, I want to kick somebody's ass and I need them to open this door in order for me to do that!" Jilan vents and continues to assault the door.
--
The door opens and one of the masked men walks in. The violence is sudden and takes the men completely by surprise. Reese can barely make out the movement before him. He squints in the darkness but the action before him ends as suddenly as it started.
Five masked man lay unconscious on the floor before him. Whether they're alive or dead, Reese cannot tell, or really bring himself to care. He focuses on the tall woman who stands triumphantly in the middle of the carnage.
--
"Right, we need to get out of here," Jilan says, now bent over the prone forms on the floor and rifling about them. "Want a big gun?" She holds up a machine gun to Reese.
--
Six heads lean over and stare. "Books look different than I remember them," Jilan says as everyone's eyes widen.
--
Jilan holds up her hands. "Hello Honey, How was your stasis?" She makes one of her hands talk in a deeper voice, apparently being Thoth. "Oh it was just peachy, even if we were taken from our temple and dumped in the Nile and the Dead Sea." Her left hand responds to the Thoth hand. "Well it is good to moisturize on occasion." Thoth hand replies.
Pizoku muses on this. "Salt water takes moisture out of the skin."
Jilan ignores him and continues her hand conversation. "How long were we asleep?" Thoth hand asks. "Oh, about a few centuries, give or take some decades." Ma'at hand replies. "Oh really?" Thoth hand replies. "Quite" Ma'at hand nods. "How is the world?" "Gone to Shit." "Can we go back to sleep?" "No"
--
"What is that noise?" Naoki asks as a deep rumbling sound vibrates the ceiling.
"That would be the sound of the dune opening," Jilan explains from where she sits by Ashlee and Reese.
Naoki looks at her curiously. "Opening?"
"Yes, so we can fly out of here." Jilan smiles at him. Naoki looks quite thrilled.
--
Marisol tilts her head. "Who is she?" She asks as she peers around Jilan.
Jilan moves to block Ma'at more fully from view. "Not up for trade." Her voice is firm and slightly threatening. The look that Marisol gives her makes Pizoku wonder if that's wise.
--
"Mother, meet Neah, Jilan, and Ma'at." He indicates each girl in turn. "They aren't human."
"Bajoran," Jilan says as she points to herself.
--
He isn't sure if the others anticipate it or not, but when the wall behind them explodes, Pizoku is already on the ground under the arms of Jilan. The dust wafts away on the breeze and across the way they see them approaching.
Jilan looks back over her shoulder as Raul pushes out from under her other arm. "It's the Ancient Ones."
--
Pizoku has little to no time to react. He can only make out the rush of movement in front of him as he feels heat of fire hurtle towards him. He thinks he sees Jilan. He hears his mother screaming. The sound of rocks cracking and exploding with loud booms takes over his senses before the darkness settles in instead.
--
""There was a large fireball and things got smokey from there." Jilan turns to watch Ashlee peer out of the doorway. "Just stay down."
"Down where?" Raul asks as he catches his breath on the side wall. "There's no where to hide in here."
Jilan turns around and aims the small metallic tube she is holding at the ground. A bolt of some kind of energy shoots out. Suddenly there is a crater in the ground and the sand forms a wall formation. "There," Jilan says and turns back to the door way. "Now there is."
--
Pizoku frowns upon this but becomes distracted when Jilan holds up her staff and shoots the ceiling above the doorway. He shields his mother as the dust and rumble tumble down and form a pile in front of the former entrance.
"Well," Raul coughs from inside the crater. "That should make it harder for them to get in."
The dust cloud that wafts out suddenly takes them all by surprise. The air clears instantly in a highly unnatural way. In the doorway, The South and the East float forwards.
Raul swallows. "Or I could be mistaken."
Jilan and Ashlee move between the Ancient Ones and the ones they seek. "Stay down," Jilan says. "We'll take care of this."
--
"Or maybe," Jilan says, "Just possibly, you're alien entities from the future who somehow got sent back in time and once there, took on the identities of the local deities to gain a foothold of power here on Earth." She smiles as she finishes her theory. She ignores the sound of Raul's nervous laugh.
The South looks disturbed. "Why would you say this?"
"Well it's not completely out of the realm of possibility," Jilan replies with a shrug. "I did it, why not you?"
Ashlee scoffs. "You were an accident."
"Funny, my mother said the same thing once." Jilan smirks at Ashlee who shares her smile.
--
"Enough of this!" The booming anger of the East shakes the room. Izanami clings onto Pizoku's arm. "We come for that which is rightfully ours." Pizoku hears Ma'at and Raul make noises when the East seems to indicate towards the Takenouchis.
"Nothing here is yours." Jilan steps forward and seems to press a button on her staff. Suddenly, a large silver axe flares outward from the top end. "Go back to the shadows and tell your Great One, no deal!"
Episode One Hundred
"Nothing Beside Remains"
The swirling bolt of green crackling energy shoots out from the East's non-corporeal hand towards the cowering Izanami. A flash of metal glints in the green light. Pizoku jumps in front of his mother. He is expecting to feel a possible surge of electric pain through his body leading to the nothingness of death.
Instead, Pizoku is quite surprised to hear a roar behind him almost instantaneously followed by a blasting sound. Pizoku looks surprised at his mother, who is staring in shock and terror over his shoulder. He glances over his shoulder to see that Jilan's axe is now between him and the large hole that was blasted in the wall and roof when the East's attack was reflected back upon him.
The South lets out a piercing shriek of outrage. Jilan looks back at the glowing being with complete and utter defiance.
"Insolent Bitch!" The South cries as she looks at the mass of rubble which may or may not contain the East.
"You bet your glowing non-corporeal ass," Jilan shoots back and holds her axe at the ready.
Another cry of anguish and anger rips out of the South. She makes a slash motion in the air with her arm and a streak of red illuminates and blinds them all for a moment.
"Jilan!" Pizoku blinks when his sight comes back and sees Ashlee running towards the fallen figure of the blond girl. All sense of feeling seems to drain from him as he looks down at her unblinking blue eyes. Ma'at is trying to climb out of the crater but Raul holds her back. Pizoku is dimly aware of his mother's hands pulling him to her.
"You incur the wrath, you face the consequences!" Pizoku looks back up at the advancing form of the angry Representative of the South. Ashlee glares up at her as the South makes to strike her down. Then there is silence. And stillness.
Ashlee seems to understand as she gives the South a hard look. "Try to keep that in mind."
It is all so sudden. Pizoku falls backwards and he and Izanami topple over onto the ground as the South seems to be yanked bodily upwards towards the ceiling, then through the ceiling as it explodes all around her and outwards into the sky.
They all watch as she flies upwards into the air, high into the sky where storm clouds have gathered. They can just see her glowing figure; they can hear her shrieking. Then the lightning comes, from all directions, converging on her in an intense electric fury that makes them all cower. Pizoku finds that as much he wants to he cannot look away.
Then there is an explosion, an impossible force sends a shockwave outwards. Ashlee flings herself over the body of Jilan. Pizoku covers his mother as the massive force sweeps past them and they feel the sand dust over their bodies with stinging fury. Then it's over.
Pizoku looks up, and sees nothing.
Heliopolis is gone. All the walls, all the ruins. All that is left is dust and sand. He stands up and looks all around and sees nothing but dust floating in the air. Only it isn't. He walks forward just a bit and sees that the dust isn't moving. It is suspended in air. He can hear the others behind him standing and moving as well but it doesn't register over the still enveloping shock that has taken him.
Then he sees it. A light through the dust. Coming closer and closer. He would be normally feeling fear at this point but Pizoku finds he cannot feel much at all. So when the source of the light arrives, he only watches as Neah and Kha'lei walk passed him.
He turns and watches as they walk over to where Ashlee still kneels beside Jilan. Kha'lei bends down and lifts the Bajoran girl up in his arms and stands. He turns and walks back the way he came, not once glancing at the others around him. Pizoku watches as Ashlee follows him closely, her head held high. She carries the axe with its blade facing forwards and she moves quickly to walk in front of Kha'lei, slicing a path through the dust.
He feels a hand slide into his own. He looks to his left to see Neah looking at him. She squeezes his hand and then walks after the others. He feels he understands what she wants.
Pizoku turns to his Mother and takes her arm as Raul and Ma'at walk ahead of them. For a moment in the universe, time stands still as they walk on and away through the dust of the past. Pizoku still feels numb. But he knows soon enough, the numbness will fade.
He thinks back to their first meeting, just a few days ago in New York. She had been teasing but kind, playful. She had been inquisitive. She had been protective. Pizoku begins to feel something, unfortunately it leans towards Less Safe.
Even this shall pass away. Through the dust of Heliopolis they walk until into the dust they disappear. Silence and Stillness again take hold of the area. Nothing beside remains.
To Be Continued...
