| Well, the Enemy ship made a hasty retreat from Terra Prime, so the
Military ship came out of hiding and (after deploying a few Inuit ships
to keep tab on things down on Terra Prime and such) goes forth to hunt
and destroy that retreating ship. Due to the damage done to the slipgate
system when one of the Enemy nuclear devices hit a critical junction, things
begin to go awry on Terra Prime and the space around her. In the
course of things, the Enemy and Military ship arrive over another Terra
where the Enemy ship is scuttled by the Military and the still disoriented
Military crew then goes down to the planet below to reconter, and save
the life of a few demifoxes....but that's another story for a bit later.....
Believing and hoping that this business with the Golems and the Enemy was done, Fred decides to go off back to find a cure for the lycanthropy for himself, his wife Alicia (they'd gotten married, finally, in a romantic wedding), and his yet as unborn children. That and a cure for the Phage, if possible. It had appeared trhough various magical means available to Carradene (a mage) and their new found friend, Synizn (still posing as a human mage who'd somehow escaped captivity) found signs that Minestus was dead. Even though that might be the case and perhaps the means of a cure lost, the dragon mage would have left notes....surely. Fred had left Loam in charge of the Pack, but Loam turned the tables by leaving himself only as the temporary Pack Leader....in case Fred came back..... Something was in the air.... Anyway, Fred gathered his party that would accompany him. With him came his new wife, Synizn, and a few others. They left by a nearby slipgate terminal using the same code that Willian had used to get away from Aqualaria....but due to the slipgate system being messed up, arrived instead at the gates of Alicia's old hometown back in Ethiopia. There, they met Malachi, who'd ended up here in her flight to escape the Golems. The country had been scorched by the Enemy and the King and his family counted as those caught in the nuclear scorched zone. Malachi soon found herself finally being able to aid the human beings without fear of reprisal from the Council of Wyrms (defunct ruling body of the Nation of Dragons).....and found out that human beings were able to be a lot more....noble and....well.....human than she'd given them credit for. She soon found herself caring more for them thatn she'd expected....and soon was grieving over the death of one little girl who'd she'd not been able to save from what is called "radiation sickness." In gratitude for what she'd been able to do, the people made her their Regent (much to her chagrin). Not wanting to take the reigns of rulership despite being in line to the throne, Alicia renounced her royalty and the way was cleared for a reluctant Malachi to assume the throne of Ethiopia. Fred soon takes leave of Malachi with his band by boat (heading back home that way since the slipgate system was on the blink), but runs into some more trouble. Turned out that the King wasn't dead, but had horribly burned by the nuclear blast that had killed the rest of his family. Wanting only to die and driven insane by grief, he'd instead been captured by were-jackals and made into one of them. Found some refuge in madness as a were-jackal, but soon saw that Alicia (who'd he'd thought had died a long time ago) was alive.....and not in a better place. Not in a place where she'd never be sad or hurt again. Figuring he'd do his daughter a favor, in his madness he'd attacked in his were-jackal form to send her to the "Here After". He was driven off, but not before Willian got his back broken..... It looked grim, for no known magic could cure that. Perhaps something left by the Lizards (the Terran nickname for the Enemy) or the Golems had left something behind that would help? Well, we soon see that an AI named Probe had gotten involved in things. He'd gained control of one of the numerous abandoned avatar units (one of those remote controlled cyborgs) and had been doing some reconterings when he met and was attacked by Alicia's father, Natthias. He was able to subdue the madman and, seeing that the man was infected by lycanthropy, took him to the nearest group of natives in the hope that the man could be looked after. That group was, of course, the very people Natthias had recently attacked.... Soon, Natthias madness was cured by Synizn (which showed him to be a dragon to Fred and the other Terran natives....since only dragons were known capable of such magic. Now sane, Natthais thus was able gain control of himself despite still being a were-jackal. Alicia and father were reunited. Fine and well, but what to do about Willian? It came to light that the infective nature of the Manimals was gone (because they were now a true species instead of accursed humans). That option was closed to Willian. Probe revealed that while the Military hadn't left anything in the way of medical equipment down here useful for Willian's broken back.....there still was a demifox option. See, demifoxes were actually people who'd Minestus had been experimenting with earlier to perfect his Manimal lycanthropy. The Demifox lycanthropy was a lot better than traditional lycanthropy (no murderous impulses and such)....so Probe contacted one of his fellow Inuit units (Inquirer) who was near a crashed but salvageable shuttlecraft. Inquirer picked them all up and took them up to Walants, and by Willian becoming a demifox....his wounds were healed. Astra, having followed him into marriage, also followed him into demifoxhood as well (out of love). Natthias stayed behind in order to find a priest to confess his sins committed while still insane while the others went out to take care of some business back in Aqualaria. See, Duke Drederigo had set up shot there and was now it's ruler. Fred and friends wanted to fix that.... As it was, they were able to capture the Duke's men at the castle he'd set up shop at....and soon were able to catch up with the retreating Duke near the Aqualarian entrance into Minetsus' lair. Fred soon found that Minestus, impatient for the Duke to come on summons, had increased the....er...urgency of the summons and friend the evil man's mind in the process. Not much was left, but enough was to let the others get past traps they'd otherwise run into as the lackbrained Duke finally answered Minestus' summons. Now, you probably wonder why Minestus was wanting the Duke so badly? Well, the dragon had almost gotten caught in the blast radius of one of those Enemy nuclear salvoes, and used a magical Atlantian item called the Crystallic to transport himself away barely in time. In the process, the Crystallic got destroyed. Now, the Cyrstallic was a powerful magical item that could teleport a person or thing anywhere. It could increase the power of a spell. It could increase the ease of spell casting. Also, it could do something that no mage left on Terra Prime could do. It could alter the very foundation of a person or thing's shape, the Matrix, and bring about permanent changes there. It was the thing that had been used to change Fred and others, and it was a means for a cure for the lycanthropy....and perhaps the Phage as well. Wanting and needing a new one, the dragon mage decided that instead of trying to fix it (hopeless task), he'd summon forth one with a blood ritual. The idea was to call forth an analogous double of one of the now defunct Crystallic's most recent victim (that would be Fred)....who had in his possession a Crystallic. Being that Fred wasn't a mage, the dragon could kill this Fred and take the Crystallic easily. It would be easier than trying to take the Crystallic from another analogous Minestus, surely. It would be ideal to sacrifice Fred in this ritual, but Drederigo was close enough in blood to do. Hrmph. Anyway, the adventurers are able to magically follow the dragon and Drederigo to the sunken city of Atlantis (still intact due to a magical city covering shield and optimal place for this ritual to work). The Duke was sacrificed, but the ritual was disrupted before completion. Instead of one analogous Fred being brought forth to Terra Prime...several were brought forth. Three Fred to be exact, as well as: 3 Astras (two pregnant with children), 1 Sigin, two Synizn, and one non-evil Duke Drederick. We now had three Crystallics here instead of one..... That said, Probe and the others had decided that the best course of action in attacking Minestus would be to strike at the evil dragon's very source of life, his Hoard. An atomic hand grenade was used and destroyed it....and thus pretty much killing the dragon as well. But before dying, the dragon mage was able to cast one magical spell in revenge and shatter the city's dome overhead, causing the thing to crack. The heroes had to evacuate before being flooded out, but were able to temporarily firm up the city's dome later so Atlantis wouldn't be destroyed. They'd still need it if they wanted to get their twins back home, right? Now, several of the Freds and Astras had suffered a similar fate as the Terra Prime Fred in that they'd become demifoxes. That condition was cured after bringing the unborn children to term (couldn't cure the Astras safely without doing that). And then? Well, after curing those who wanted to be cured got cured (the demifox Synizn wished to remain a demifox and the Manimals, including Fred, found that they wished to remain Manimals.....their Matrixes had crystalized and all that. That and the fact that Allaria had been destroyed by the Enemy pretty much killed Fred's last reason to return to being human). An alliance was struck between the newly formed Manimal Nation, Aqualaria, and Ethiopia and the Military where a cure would be found for the Phage. See, the Military was able to build a dome to keep the water out of Atlantis (the stopgap measures the mages had used wouldn't last long enough for them to find a way home). There was also the fact that if the Enemy couldn't have Terra Prime, then they'd blow it up! They hadn't succeeded last time, but would try again and succeed if the Military wasn't there to defend Terra Prime. Now, some might think that the Military was out to give those of Terra Prime a raw deal. One would be wrong! Being in the military doesn't mean one is without mercy....or honor. Met a few people who think that one is exclusive of the other.... And so it was with the Military.... A cure was found for the Phage with the aid of a Dr. Vincent (a mage/scientist) who'd gotten sucked in to Terra Prime along with a bunch of other places and people while the slipgate system malfunctioned. The slipgate system was finally shut down and Terra Prime saved from destruction. The Military was able to use the very concept dreamed up by the Enemy to create their own fleet of deathships and destroy utterly the Enemy. This almost didn't come about due to an incident with a certain Federation spaceship....but that's a different story not for now. Lost relatives were found and the Houses of D'Honaire, Thessamers, and John grew as more and more relatives from other realities kept showing up. See, it has all to do with the doppleganger legend here, except if one doesn't instantly want to kill their double.....due to something they see in the other that's intolerable.....then the opposite occurs. They fall in love with each other as close kin (i.e. brothers and sisters). There is no choice in the matter. Parents can resist this, but in order to help the displaced folk adjust....no resistence was offered and the newcomers gained new parents. All in all a confusing but lovely time here. Fred the Manfox settled into the role of Pack Leader. The Astra of Terra Prime and Willian became the Queen and King of Aqualaria. Malachi continued on as Regent of Ethiopia, but gained Sigin as a Consort due to Eye Meets Eye (love at first sight for dragons). Lot of personal stories here.... More than what we need right now to go into. Things were going well for Terra Prime, if not for the Alliance (civil war looked to be looming between the Military, who weren't amused with the Company about the way things back Home had gotten so bad, and the Company who wished to keep power). A rogue AI named Seeker in the employee of the Company went as far, earlier, as to try to stop the cure of the Phage in order to prevent this conflict from coming about....but..... Ah well.... |
