Bridgeworlds: Deep Flux (18 page)

Queen Elizabeth led him to a specific section in the back. “My
husband said to lead you to this shelf. It mainly pertains to lost
knowledge and unexplained things.” She smiled at him, “Good luck
Omar, I am going to leave you to your search.” She hugged him again
and then left the room.

Omar immediately began scanning the titles and it didn’t take
long until he came to a leather bound book with a key hole on the front.
It was very old but the cover read “Musterion”. When he pulled it off
the shelf he almost dropped it for how heavy it was. He looked at it and
felt its texture.
It should not be this heavy.

Omar took a knife from his bags and tried to cut the strap but it
didn’t work; the knife didn't even leave a scratch. Tracing his finger
over the keyhole, he wondered where the key might be and spied a
desk at the end of the room. Omar walked his bike over to it and began
looking through all of the drawers soon finding a very large key ring with
hundreds of keys. The right one stood out because it actually had the
glowing moss on it so he took it off the ring. With the book set down on
the desk, he unlocked it and gently opened the cover. Surprisingly, it
started to grow there on the desk and in its center formed a dark hole
sucking at the air like a vacuum. The force of it was incredible. Omar
clung to his bike but it started rolling with him until he was sucked into
the book with it.

In the hole was total darkness. Fear overcame him again, and
his entire body was shaking with shock. Omar fought it the best he
could with rational thought.
It's merely a portal back to Musterion.

Omar fell in the pitch black for some time until he finally hit the
floor. It was not as hard a landing as it should have been. He got up and
immediately looked around, happy to see brick tunnel. Beside him lay
his bike which he picked it up and thought,
“I want to go to the café in
Pneuma Carpos.”

The tunnel and the café merged for a moment and then he was
at the café. A black arrow whizzed past his head and Omar dodged in
surprise. The ground rumbled causing him to look around to find Gabryil
breathing purple flame on the tower of the Magi
. I came back to the
moment I left.

He couldn’t have asked for a better setup. Everyone would
remember him and he would be fresh on their minds. Another arrow
barely missed him. There was a war-cry that came from the ceiling
above. Omar looked up to see his old hiding place in the ceiling and
dozens of Kat-ken jumping from it in combative stances. They wore
shiny armor and, despite their small size, were a frightful sight. In the
midst of them was a Nepsah with short blonde hair, blue eyes, and a
dress much longer than her legs trailing behind her as she flew. Her
wings were the shape of a butterfly's but they were iridescent like a
dragonfly's. Of note were the scepter she held and the crown on her
head. It was the crown of Caelsis, but this was not Queen Ariana.

The Nepsah yelled out orders as the Kat-ken took down the
Kalat outside of the city. A female Kat-ken with tabby markings tackled
Omar taking him off guard. They toppled with her claws buried into his
chest until he landed on his back with her on top of him. “State your
allegiances quickly before I cut your throat, Akana,” she said with an
ominous look in her green cat eyes.

Omar blinked in surprise still taken aback by all that was going
on, “Not with the Kalat,” he finally managed to say.

 

“I don’t want to know who you are
not
with,” she said digging
her claws deeper into his chest.

 

“Alora,” called the Nepsah, “he said he is not with the Kalat. Go
help your progeny.”

She looked up, listened, and obeyed the command joining a Katken with cow print markings in taking down a Kalat. The Kat-ken were
quick and seemed to have a fighting style all of their own based on their
cat-like agility.

The Nepsah approached Omar with a mischievous smile, “Hello,
I am Queen Elise. I am claiming this realm for myself since I cannot seem
to find the way back to my own Kingdom.”

Omar just stared at her in awe. The Elder had told Omar about
the three royal Nepsah sisters: Ariana the first, Elise, and Mary-Kate.
They saw over all Nepsah in the first Kingdom, Emerailda, until the
Remmys, Kat-ken, and Nepsah left as founders of Caelsis. They named
Elise Queen of them all and the Alora tried to overthrow her. Instead
Elise tricked her into wearing a cat collar that was designed to control
her. To Omar, it was like bumping into George Washington on the
streets of Earth.

Elise giggled, “You look like you have just seen a ghost.”

 

Omar nodded, “You are a legend. You were the second most
powerful Monarch on Soterion in your time.”

 

She smiled, “You will side with me then?”
He nodded again. What else was he to do? “But I mean to find
my way out of here.”

 

She shook her head, “There is no way out. You are silly. Let’s go
kill some Kalat!”

She darted away toward the combat zone and stopped right in
front of a Kalat who laughed at her. She blew him a kiss before pointing
her scepter at him. Pure sunlight came from it and one moment he was
a Kalat, the next he was a pile of ash. She giggled and moved on to the
next enemy. Several arrows came at her but the scepter seemed to act
as a shield, too, as the arrows disintegrated before they hit her.

When the battle was over, which was pretty quickly, she came
back to Omar and said, “I have a neat toy, don’t I?” She nodded her
head as if in answer to her own question. It was scary how dangerous
and yet childlike she was.

Omar nodded with a smile. “Sure,” he said.

 

She waved him away as if dismissing him, “Unconvincing.”

Several Kat-ken approached and Musterlings were beginning to
gather around them. Omar could hear them whispering his name as
well as Queen Elise’s. She waited until there was a large crowd around
them.

Chara and King Thalasa stepped forward and knelt before her.
“Your Grace, it is a true honor that you have visited us here in
Musterion,” said Chara.

King Thalasa merely bent a knee and lay his crown before her.
That gesture said more than any words would have.

Queen Elise giggled. “Hello child,” she said looking at Chara.
“Thank you for such a delightful welcome.” Then she turned to King
Thalasa, “And you, one of my most loyal subjects; I am glad to see a
familiar face.”

She turned to the crowd speaking, “This is Alora and her brood:
Meu Kou, Monkey, Shadow, Dusty, Puff Ball, and Splat. The others are
all her descendants. They are my guard, please treat them well. As long
as you pose no threat to me, they will do you no harm. As of this day I
step forth as ruler of Musterion. Those who have dared to challenge me
have been destroyed. Let that be a lesson to all of those who would get
in my path. As for the council of thirteen, I disband it. Let it be known
that the Book is the truth; believe otherwise if you wish, you are free to
be a fool.” The last part she said with a great big smile.

Nekar stepped forward and said, “For those who follow the
Master, this is His will.”

Queen Elise darted behind him and knocked him in the back of
the head with her scepter. He grabbed the back of his head in pain and
whipped around to find her looking at him with a mischievous grin. “You
interrupted. Don’t do it anymore or I will report you to Him.”

Nekar seemed surprised at the threat but took it seriously. He
slipped back into the crowd but Omar wasn’t done with him. He
teleported to the other side of the crowd where Nekar had disappeared
and caught him by the wrist before he walked any further.

He turned to face him, “Ah, yes… you. I keep wondering why
you pester me so much. I see you made it back to Musterion. How long
has it been for you?”

Omar nodded, “I have been gone for 175 years.”

 

Nekar smiled, “And you missed it so much that you decided to
return?”

 

“No, I’m going back to earth.”

 

Nekar laughed, “Just like that? You have decided to go back to
earth and that is all there is to it?”

 

Omar paused for a moment, “Does that seem a bit egotistical to
you?”

 

Nekar cocked his head, “Just a bit as none have gotten to earth
from Musterion before.”

 

Omar felt a bit intimidated with that news, “None?”

 

“None.”

 

“Well, that is upsetting to say the least. This is very important to
me, Nekar. Will you help me?”

 

Nekar gave him a level look and when Omar thought he was
about to refuse. Nekar said, “Yes.”

 

He is going to help me. Why?
“How do we get to earth?”

 

Nekar smiled, “First, you wait for earth to come to you.”

“What does that mean?” Omar waited for an answer but all
Nekar did was turn and walk away.
Wait for earth to come to me? That
isn’t even a riddle. It makes no sense.

8
Bridge Worlds

Jack woke to find Tyree standing over him, but that did not
surprise him. What
did
surprise him was that he was surrounded by
unfamiliar people. However, they were wearing familiar clothing. There
was a humanoid creature with a lion’s head, large black wings, and a
scorpion’s tail that wore Bogdan’s cloths. There was another with a
crocodile head and tail, the body of a gorilla, and razor sharp claws that
wore Ignatio’s clothing. A Native American looking elf with skin bound
wings wore Caleb's clothes and a cat walking on its hind legs wore
Charli’s clothing. Owen looked to be changed a little less drastically. He
was a good two feet shorter and had a long beard. He also had rock
formations at his eyebrows, joints, and knuckles. But Sasha… she was
stunningly beautiful. She had large skin bound wings, pointed ears,
angular features, and dark blue hair which was odd but somehow fitting
for her. She also let off a faint glow.

Jack got up and looked Tyree in the eyes, “You know, I guess I
deserved that, but don’t do it again.” He turned to look at what he
assumed was his team, “What happened to them?”

“Musterion is where we are. This place seems to change people
at random. There are only three that I know of that haven’t changed
upon entering, you and I included,” said Tyree who smiled as Jack
inspected his busted lip.

“And you… you are a future Tyree who came through the portal
after we did?”

He nodded, “Yes, and had you not gone though, a lot that I have been
through would have never happened. Hundreds of years of torture…
You can't even begin to imagine so saying that one punch makes us
even is laughable.”

“Hundreds of years?”

 

“Yes,” said Tyree. “Musterion prolongs life.”

 

Jack looked around at the moss covered brick tunnel then
turned to his team. “Are you all okay?”

Bogdan stepped forward. Despite the lion head complete with
canine filled maw, he still sounded exactly the same, “I believe so. But
the consensus is that if these changes are permanent, the pay will need
to be a lot higher if we get back to earth.”

Jack nodded, “To be expected. You know I’m good for it.”

 

Sasha had found a mirror and was inspecting her image, “I
don’t… need extra pay.”

 

Jack and Tyree laughed then Tyree said, “It is good to see you
Sasha.”

 

She walked over to Tyree and hugged him, “I am sorry for the
trauma that this ordeal has caused you. Have you found Omar?”

 

Tyree nodded, “Yes, he is on another world. There are many
portals here and I am sure one will lead to him.”

Jack turned to the rest of his crew, “Alright, we are going to
follow Tyree as our guide here as he has been here much longer than
us. Tyree, please lead the way.”

They followed the tunnel and it did not take long before they
came to an intersection going in four different directions. There were
four tunnels but a blinding light was coming from each. A light like that
of the portal they had just entered. Jack looked to Tyree, “Well, where
to?”

Tyree shook his head, “This is different. In my experience it's
always a painting. But this is the only way to go. I suggest we split up;
two people per portal.”

Jack nodded, “Alright,” then he turned around. “I am going with
Tyree. Sasha, you go with Bogdan. Charli and Ignacio together, and
Owen and Caleb team up.”

There was no argument. There never was from Jack’s team. He
had thought one of those new to working with him would have some
form of protest, but even Tyree was good with the plan.

Bogdan approached Jack, “What of the supplies? I see the
benefit in being able to find Dr. Metzger, though I’m sure you are aware
that we can be permanently separated.”

Jack thought for a moment, “You have a point. Everyone should
have a chance to go through the supplies and decide what they want to
take. I will send the rest with you and Sasha. There is a lot of scientific
equipment in there, and I want her to be able to analyze anything she
needs to. You are the team leader as far as the others go so your
survival is paramount.”

Bogdan nodded, “Very well, I will do this.” Then Bogdan walked
over to Tyree and got dangerously close to his face. Jack imagined it
must be intimidating to stare a lion in the face but Tyree didn’t flinch.
He had changed so much. Bogdan said, “You bring him back alive or you
will not live long when you return.”

Tyree went to push Bogdan away from him but Bogdan had
caught his hand before he was able to. “None of the repressed teen
angst for me, just bring him back alive.”

Tyree shook his head, “I was planning on it.”

 

Bogdan smiled a sharp toothed smile, “Good.”

While they had been talking Owen and Caleb had grabbed their
equipment and went to the farthest right portal. Right behind them was
Ignacio and Charlie. Then Bogdan and Sasha went through the tunnel
the furthest to the left with the supply wagon. After everyone else had
gone, Jack and Tyree went through the remaining one, blinding light
surrounding their passage.