Chapter 12: The Problems of Time Travel Faize finished washing the markings off his chest and arms. The warm shower felt good, especially after only being able to take baths the past two years. There was small blast of cold air, and he turned. "Fyral?" "Bath!" the boy said, standing there, butt naked. Faize closed the shower door again, picking Fyral up and washing the boy's hair. "There, all clean." "Weeee!" Fyral was out of the shower and running down the hall almost before Faize had even let him go. Wrapping a towel around himself, Faize gave chase. "Fyral!Get back here!" From his room, Arumat could be heard laughing at the morning antics. Albel looked up from his seat in the lounge, blinking when he saw a small pair of butt cheeks making their way backwards down the stairs. The pale legs that followed he recognize, and he cleared his throat as Faize finally caught the boy. "What am I going to do with you?" Faize asked. He grabbed the loosening towel around his waist and made his way back to the shower room. "Loves me." Fyral replied. Albel smiled slightly, then sighed. Watching Faize in his 'home environment' was interesting, but there was a problem. He just wasn't sure he should, or could, voice it. "Is something wrong, Mister Albel?" He looked up, seeing the huge man with the pointed ears sitting in the chair nearby. "I need to hit something." "There is a training simulator on the upper level of the ship. I can put in battle settings for you if you wish." "Might be an idea. A morning fight will help get the restlessness out." As the two approached the training simulator, Edge and Fayt stepped out, talking. "I've never seen anyone be able to do what your did." Edge said. "Morning, Baccus. Hey, Albel." "Hi." Albel said as he walked into the simulator. Fayt looked at Edge. "I know. I wasn't this strong back on Elcoor 2, or even back home." "And yet you took out three enemy modules in three swings." Edge returned. "One attack each. It's almost like you got stronger coming here, the same way your . . symbology . . ." He turned back to the simulator. "Oh, man." Faize stopped beside them, dressed this time, and his son trying to use his leg as a climber. "Something wrong?" he asked. "Yes and no." said Fayt. "Well, which is it?" Faize asked. He picked Fyral up. "Fayt's attacks got stronger. A lot stronger." Edge replied. "Even without his symbology, he took out three enemies in the simulator, on the hardest setting, in one swing each." There was suddenly cursing from the simulator, and Faize passed Fyral to Edge as he headed in. "Albel?" Albel was standing there, looking very pissed, panting slightly. There was a gash in the wall of the room. He looked over at Faize. "What is happening?" he demanded. Faize held Albel close. "I don't know." Faize replied. "Fayt got stronger, too. And my abilities went back to what they used to be." Albel dropped the Crimson Scourge and clung to Faize, crying. "I hate to admit it, Faize, but I'm frightened." Faize just stood there, holding him. "We should go back." he said. "But then, you'll be the one suffering this." Albel said. "I'll try to control it. I have to." Faize nodded. "Alright, but we have to go back, even for a little. We need to tell the others, in case more come through." `~`~`~`~O_O~`~`~`~` Fyral patted the screen in front of him as Lymle tried to watch TV. "Hmm. Sit down, kay?" Fyral looked back at her. "Lymie." he said. Lymle blinked at him. "What?" she asked. "Lymie." He wrapped his chubby arms around her. "Lymie." Faize smiled. "Lymle, can I ask you a favor?" "What, Faize?" "Can you watch over Fyral for a while. Albel and I need to go back for a moment, to let the others know what happened." Lymle stood. "But, I wanna go, too, kay?" "But why?" "I want to tell Mia and Myurie." Faize looked down at his son for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. We'll bring you and Fyral with us, then." He picked the boy up. "Coming, Baccus?" "Yes, Mister Faize." The small group headed towards the mirror and walked through. "No!" Fyral whined, squirming in Faize's hold. He clung to his 'mother' when Faize went to put him down, so the Eldarian held the child as they walked into the manor. "Your back!" cried Sophia. "Hey, where's Fayt?" "He's trying to help figure a few things out." Faize said. "Can you help get everyone together? We need to talk about something." "Ok." It still took a good three hours to get everyone together in the library, and by then, Fyral was getting sleepy. Faize was getting tired of holing him, by then, but the boy fussed when he was handed to Albel, so Faize had to take him back. "So, where are the others?" Cliff asked. "They stayed behind for now, to help try and figure out the extent of the changes." Faize replied. "I'll start at the beginning. Remember when I came? My symbology was out of control, and extremely powerful." "Yeah." said Maria. "The same thing happened to Fayt and Nel when they crossed into the other time frame, but any of us from that time had our powers return to normal." Faize continued. "So, a symbologist that goes through the mirror to a time that's not their own becomes more powerful?" Sophia asked. "There's no harm in that, is there?" "If it's healing symbology, not really." Faize replied. "But attack symbology, or the kind Fayt uses on his sword, can become dangerous." Myuria could see where this was going. "So, you're returning to our time, then?" she asked. Faize nodded. "There is another issue, as well." "That being?" asked Cliff. "It's not limited to just symbology." Lymle said. "Edgie and Fayt were having a fight in the simulator and Fayt got really strong really fast." Baccus nodded. "A similar occurrence happened with Mister Albel, and he actually damaged part of the ship because of his increased speed and strength in battle." "So, the strength is also increased?" Milly asked. "Then it would probably be best for people from each time frame to stay where they belong." "That being said, we're no going to force anyone to stay or go." Faize said. "If you wish to stay her, whether it's your own time or not, is fine. Likewise, those of us going to the other time won't pressure those who don't." "We should really return to our own time." Myuria said. "It'll be better in the long run for Mia, anyway." "Mya." said Mericle. "I'm going home, too." "I guess that means were all going back." said Faize, looking at the others. Even Crowe wanted to return, taking his family with him. He looked at Albel. "I'm coming with you." Albel said. "I won't let this strangeness control me." "Alright." Faize said. "I'll go get the other two." A.N. - I forgot to mention this when I was back on alternate Earth, but when Mericle gives each crew member a kiss as a thank you, she inadvertantly kisses Edge and Faize on the lips, hence the startled expressions. I'm at the first town/city/village on Roak, and noticed that when they first meet the bunny girl as she hops past them, Reimi already knows then that her limbs are turning to stone. She hobbles a little before walking after the rest of the crew. Later, when you get to the town, She is noticeably limping, even before it catches the attention of Edge. On a note that I think is really positive, this is the first level I've actually had to work at defeating enemies for in a while. The Cardianon Mothership and alternate Earth were hard, but only because the enemies were easy enough that it didn't take long to beat them. I'm glad I have a bit of a challenge again. I'm already at level 32-33, and I know I need to get stronger in order to be able to stand a chance against the phantoms.