40 Red Twilight Demon of the Flowers chapter 40

Chapter 40 Afterlife

Fourteen days pass, the courthouse is rebuilt, Loki, and Yt are brought aboard the Steel Rose. Cilverant walks through the greenhouse with Yt, the giant places a hand on the back of the halfling walking with her. Yt understands what has happened, Cilverant feels inclined to clarify. "We will organize a mock ceremony for Jloose; I would like to see him honored under your family's traditions."

Yt walks with her head down; she looks up to the giant "I know that Jloose wasn't what I am. But he and I still had a relationship. Where were talking about moving out into the desert and building a home…" she wants to say more, but she seems to be having trouble forming the words.

Cilverant looks up to the five moons. "Do you know what Jloose was?"

Yt thinks "I think once he had talked about a planet called Attalus. He was a dolphin man or something like that. A water born mammal…"

"on one in every millionth world, one and a million children born will have the power of the Plainshifters, one in a million of them will awaken, they will partake of the Dragon Blood and become Worldwalkers. Jloose, he thought that you may be that one-millionth child. You may have immortality and magic just like his."

Yt stops walking to offer her attention to Cilverant in full. "what does that mean?"

Cilverant turns to look down at Yt. "nothing unless you chose to harvest this power. Most of the time people with this power start to manifest it when they have their sexual awakening, but not always. I could try to force the transformation if you would like."

***

Hetatsubachi sits at the summoning stones with Krane and Jessica, Krane now with a new puppet body "what was in that underground chamber?" Tatsu ask Tatsu has been carrying Seeker's heart with him for days

Jessica folds her hands over the birds head on her staff "a shrine to a hero."

Tatsu looks between the girls "Is Cilverant a Shintoist?"

Krane lays on the ground folding her arms under her head basking in the light "Clearly he had some form of reverence for this hero of his."

Jessica thinks "Cilverant may not be a man at all. Krane, what was that book sitting next to the heart?"

Krane thinks "I didn't get a very good look at it, but I think it was the book from the movie 'Tainted Brass.'" Krane turns her eyes looking at Jessica "But don't you have the power of prophecy?"

Jessica shuts her eyes lazily "I do, but I don't choose what I see, not all the time anyway."

Tatsu rolls over onto his back showing off his underside "Prophecy is the strongest form of divination. When Xia reads bones, she has to have a binary question in her mind, when I read cards I can only see what would happen without my intervention. What do you see?"

Jessica opens one eye looking between them, her glasses shimmer, she whispers under her breath as if not wanting to speak her thoughts aloud "pain, I only ever see people in pain. It is then up to me to find out how to stop it."

Krane asks "why?"

Jessica replies "Because I am driven by compassion. The powers that govern the cosmos know that if they show me something unpleasant it will encourage me to fight…" Both of Jessica's eyes open wide as she gasps for air, she is drawn into a hallucination only she can see. A sun fading to blue. a city covered in ice. a fox takes her children in her arms, wind takes the fox away. a siren howls. a lonely blackbird feather falls before Jessica's eyes. A wolf Cries. All is dark. A flash of lighting, all turns red. Teeth fall from the heavens. A whale sings. Jessica jumps to her feet "Krane, Take Seeker's heart to Cilverant. Tatsu fetch Vita and Ami, we must fly."

***

The Kami Sigh has taken Loki to a regeneration chamber, Sigh grafts a new arm to Loki's body. Ami and Vita stand by watching as the holy fox works his white magic. One of Civlerant's armors stands alongside the bed as Sigh works.

Sigh speaks to Cilverant as he is working "I wish you had brought Loki her sooner, this would have gone much faster had I not needed to cut the wound back open."

Cilverant jokes dryly "I was unavailable." Cilverant changes the topic quickly "did things go well with your brother?"

"Hanz has chosen to leave the Kami; he has taken twenty men and eighty women with him. They have moved out into the highlands and began construction of a new temple. He will continue to honor Origen but not under the laws of Sister Nine."

Cilverant clarifies "then sub-optimal is what you mean to say."

Sigh talks as he works to sow the new arm on "what I did to my brother was horrendous. This is the best outcome I could have hoped for."

Hetatsubachi approaches the wolf girls as they stand outside the room watching Sigh work. Tatsu barks "It is time for us to leave."

Vita looks confused "Are we returning to Nimh?"

Tatsu nudges his head backward pointing at the door he had just passed through. "Didn't ask. But if Jessica says we are leaving, it must be time."

Ami doesn't bother asking a word; she makes for the door. Once Ami is moving Tatsu leads the way, Vita falls in at the back of the group.

***

Krane, Xia, and Cilverant gather in a room filled with star maps. Krane places Seeker's heart in Cilverant's hand. The room spins slowly as Cilverant looks around. A whisper echo across the cosmos Cilverant speaks to his other bodies scattered across time-space. A single map lights up. Cilverant points "that is the planet Seeker was born on. That is where I will take her."

Xia folds her arms and wags her tail, after the last battle half of her face is horrifically marred. She hides her scars and missing eye under a phantom half-mask "why not just throw her into the Never? Let her drift between realms forever."

Cilverant looks to his rat warrior "that would not be conducive to peace." A magic door opens before Cilverant; his gate is formed of a twirling clock and twisting light. "I will not ask you two to follow me."

Krane backs away, she knows what is on the other side of that door, and she will never willingly go there again. "I will wait here."

Xia turns her nose up with a grunt "I will not allow you to carry on alone."

***

Realm: Esper

Place: H.I.V.E. # 00-E

Chrono Sphere: 20-05

There are no stars in the sky; there is no sun on the horizon. The world is round, the land cut into squares formed out of interlocking triangles. The ground is carpeted in smoothened concrete. A single diamond hangs in the air, cylinders of silver draw rays from every dwelling pointing at the diamond. The world is balanced; the world is perfect. The last of the unclean things have been burned away.

The earth is hollow, every grain of sand has been cleaned and polished into glass. Every stone refined into an oar, ever protein harvested for carbon jelly. The only scar on the world is a hand full of Mechons from antiquity that still hold on to the mask of humanity. They are imperfect, but still, somewhere out there in the emptiness of space there are other imperfect lifeforms, these antique Mechons seem to have some luck in organizing trade with the flowed entities.

H.I.V.E has a hunger for carbon jelly, and it is often more efficient to trade outdated hardware for the treasured jell then to take it by force. Another advantage of the antiques is that they had been manufactured at a time when H.I.V.E had limited reach and so the Antiques when traveling abroad would need to have simplified onboard computers in order to function when in radio black-zones. This sometimes resulted in paces of code being modified for functionality under unexpected conditions. This is where the need for the Seeker modal become beneficial.

The trips to harvest new Jelly are becoming longer, the life-giving fuel has needed to be rationed. Large sections of the planet have been turned onto power saving mode until a fresh stalk of jelly can be found. Today 30% of the world is running on minimum power. Only H.I.V.E is allowed to continue running at 100% efficiency. If in the next 362 days a new shipment of jell hasn't been delivered another 25% will need to go into standby. But so long as 40% of the workers remain functional, there will be no need to reduce fuel consumption by H.I.V.E

Xia and Cilverant pass through the magic door to H.I.V.E, no one takes an interest in the two. Xia takes in her surroundings. "I do not find this place setting."

The diamond in the sky is the first and only thing that seems to notice the approach of the travelers "what is the function of this convoy?" the diamond asks.

Cilverant holds up the heart showing it to H.I.V.E "to build peace."

H.I.V.E flickers white and gray "you have found the lost Seeker." There is a moment of silence "you are a Zion from Paradiso. It is the custom of your people to exchange gifts at times like this. I do not cry for the dead. But I can offer you knowledge gathered from across space. Are you a trained physicist?" Cilverant nods. The diamond in the sky continues its thought "you may have noticed already that stars are missing from the sky, and in no small number. I believe I know where they went are you adept in the art of cosmology?" Cilverant nods again "have you ever been outside the light barrier?"

Cilverant turns his eyes up looking into the stone "I have not, nor do I recall ever hearing of anyone else traveling outside the light barrier."

The diamond pulses with light "the Worldwalkers are practiced at traveling in and out of many worlds, but the so many worlds, so many look so alike. So many worlds constructed using the same parts. We should like to postulate a hypothesis. At least three cosmoses are proliferating simultaneously. I should like to call them: the Deep, the Light and the Ferment. You and We, live in Ferment, we travel only within other parts of the Cosmoses living in Ferment. Ferment itself divides Deep from Light, Ferment is made up of equal parts Deep and Light. What is above can not travel below, that which is below can not travel above. But both can live here. The above is sinking into the Deep; we are sinking into the Deep."

***

Realm: Phawks

Place: Rice Lake

Chrono Sphere: 20-05

The wave of butterflies that is Hetatsubachi's teleport compile forming into the group of Vita, Ami, Jessica, and Tatsu. They arrive outside the schoolhouse from where Tatsu initially fled. The snow is even thicker today. The snow has now reached the second story windows of the school. The snow has turned blue, the sky nightshade. The thick icy snow fails to give way underfoot, something has taken the snow and given it the properties of stone. Anything under the surface no doubt suffocated.

Terror runs across Hetatsubachi's face as he looks around confused by the changes to the land. The air is still, the breathing of the party being the only sound for miles. Their footsteps echo like thunder. Hetatsubachi knows where he is, he knows the way home. The wolf turns to run, dashing off into the wilderness, only treetops guiding the way. Fear fills the wolfs heart, he calls on his arcana to quicken his step, flames roll off the wolfs body living a trail of embers for his friends to follow.

Jessica looks up to the sky, she reaches into on pocket and pulls out a silver coin. Jessica throws the coin out in front of her, it hits the ground and sinks leaving behind a pit 20' deep and 20' wide. She whispers to herself "Chaos protect us."

Vita looks at Jessica and the hole in the ground unclear about what has happened "what was that?"

Jessica shakes her head "five grams of silver, nothing more."

Ami walks over to the coin; she lowers her head picking it up in her teeth to return to Jessica "But how?" Ami request.

Jessica points up to the sunless, moonless, sky "this planet is dead, sinking into the cosmic furnace. The water alone is allowing this world to keep its shape as gravity is rapidly rising."

Vita looks at the coin as Ami hands it back "Gravity is changing, how, when?"

Jessica turns to looks in the direction Tatsu has run "days, maybe only hours. But once the sun turned black, it wouldn't matter how much time has passed. No sun, no life. Once the light of the star faded, everything here died all at once."

Ami asks "why are we alive?"

"We are being protected by Soles-Chaos."

Hetatsubachi runs hard; he runs until he can smell his home underfoot. Tatsu shouts "Ashley!" he holds up his ears waiting, he shouts again "Ashley!" he sniffs the air, he knows he is home, he calls out into the night sky "Tia! Sarra! Aaron! Hon!" no one calls back. Desperate crying slowly fades into a sorrowful howl. Tatsu tips his head up howling into the silence, painfully shaking he cries time and time again waiting for any voice to call back.

In time Jessica the Weaver catches up to the sorcerer of Dis. Jessica sits in the snow alongside Tatsu, Tatsu howls again, his voice becoming weak. One of Jessica's hands finds the wolf's back. Hetatsubachi cannot find the power to keep calling out to a dead world; he falls over sideways, his head falling into Jessica's breast. The ancient mother wraps her arms around the demon wolf holding him like one of her own young.

Tatsu mumble struggling to talk, his powerful voice crumbling away into sobbing "how long was I gone? How long? How long?"

Jessica whispers "only a few weeks as we see time."

"I can fix it. I can bend time and space. I can put everything back to where it was." Tatsu cannot seem to hold a clear thought in his mind.

Jessica rubs the back of the wolf's head to quite him, she whispers in his ear "you can." She brings her head down to kiss him "but could you steal from yourself to feed yourself?"

The mighty wolf turns his eyes up to the motherly mouse, his eyes red and swollen from sadness. "explain." He requests

Both hands find the back of the wolf's head as she hushes him, she shakes the wolf and hums calmingly "All realities are equally real, every you that you can imagine is or has been in some corner of spacetime. Somewhere in the Cosmos, there is a you that stayed here; maybe you died alongside your family, maybe you and your family escaped. The shadows of space cast a reflection on time. There is a world that looks just like this, where you are right now with Ashley and your puppies. I can take you there, let you see them. But you dare not touch them. for they will be a shadow to you just as you are a shadow to them, the most dangers thing that a Worldwalker can do is touch himself from another time."

Tatsu chokes on his words as he whispers to Jessica "I need to see."

Jessica turns to wind carrying the wolf away with her as she steps into the timestream she brings Tatsu to a world that is the dream of his home he thought he would be returning to, A cruel trick of the gods.

***

Realm: Phawks

Place: Rice Lake

Chrono Sphere: 01-20-05-00-0E

The snow is starting to melt; the air is damp, the ground is soft. The fight between Hetatsubachi and the duck has lead to some controversy in the town. Ashley had at first planned to go back into the woods first sign of thawing, but with Tatsu being dragged into a political affair, they will need to stay for a short time longer. This may not be the planet that Hetatsubachi was born on, but that doesn't mean that he loves it any less.

Under the guidance of Dean Puzzle, and with Hetatsubachi at her side, the school board has gone on a warpath. For the first time in forever the school isn't reacting to claims by special interest groups but on a full-on offensive.

Ashley has been playing her part by organizing public demotions, Aaron has shown a great interest in computers and has been teaching his mother and father how machines can make their job of talking to people. The top bill on every article it seems is comprehensive health education. People have a right to understand their bodies and how they work, what makes us sick and how to get better, how does illness transfer, how does one get pregnant, how can one prevent this?

For a decade or more it seems every family values group to arise has picked a fight with the school and the school has had to try to clean up the mess post-hawk. As spring sets in Ashly and Tatsu tack it upon themselves to do some door to door action, walk around the city and take a serve, see how many people are on their side of the issues and of the ones that are not why?

Come the fall there will be a town hall meeting held, and the school has put everything on the line. Teachers get to teach, or the city has to bring in a new roost of teachers. Ashely looks down at the map of the town that she has "Hugo Long, sheep, single father, one daughter, 13 years old." Ashley explains as they walk up to the door.

"Hugo Long? Well, that is a manly name" Tatsu jokes.

Ashley knocks on the door. A sheepman of diminutive size opens the door, he has on egg-shaped glasses and a white blouse which is untucked, he has on a tie that has been pulled loose, and he is struggling to tighten his belt as he pulls the door open, overall he looks like a mess. Hetatsubachi sniffs at the sheep and offers a playful smile.

Ashley holds out a hand "Mr. Long, do you have a moment to talk about our school?"

Long nods, finally getting his belt to clip right, he is panting clearly short of breath "yeah. What do you want to talk about?"

Ashley pulls out her phone to look at the script Aaron gave her to read. "First of mister or missis insert name here, I would like to ask you if you are a registered voter and can legally vote in this community?"

Long fails to notice the strange phrasing of the question "I am."

"have you or is anyone you know currently attending school?" Ashley continues.

"Both," Long Explains. "I attended school in this district for my 6th through 15th years of education. Margaret has been enlisted in this district for her whole schooling career."

Ashley nods as she scrolls down on her script "Are you familiar with the health and physical education curriculum in our district and are you confident that this curriculum provides our children with all the information we can reasonably make available in a timely fashion?" Ashley reaches behind herself sweating at her tail, and she whispers "Tatsu calm down."

Tatsu looks up then back trying to understand what she is asking as he hadn't moved from where he sat when Long opened the door "I am calm." Tatsu narrows his eyes, he looks side to side. A shadow moves nearby, Tatsu's eyes burn as he watches the shadows, Tatsu whispers to himself "hmm." he chooses to keep things to himself. he can see he pulled Ashley's tail, but not him in this world, a him from another.

Long answers the question "actually I feel like we should have far more time dedicated to this topic, and that it should be made available to a larger net of students. When I was in school health, and physical education was available to all sixth-grade students and up. Looking over the class listing, it looks like this year and last, it was only open to 10th-grade students and 13 up."

Ashley gets back on topic "have you been made aware of the number of unexpected pregnancies reported in the school in the last seven years and what are your feelings on this topic?"

Long nods "I am aware of it yes. I think the school should take a much more hands-on approach to making students aware of their bodies, the risk of sexual contact, and the school I feel should provide birth control to its student at no charge as well as a class showing them how to apply their chosen form of protection properly. In fact, I feel like this is such an oversight that I have contracted a privet tutor to come into my home and train my daughter and I in just that."

Tatsu jokes "no one loves their daughter like their father. Right?"

Long nods again "yes. I think you are right."

Ashley gets to the end of her script "Can I trust that you will be with us at the school on the 30th to bring up your concerns with the Parent Teacher Commission?"

Long enthusiastically looks back and forth, "please add me to your mailing list."

After a short talk the two leave, Tatsu smile to Ashley "I like mister Long, he seems like a sincere fellow."

Ashley looks up into the clouds "I think Long was shagging his daughter when we knocked on the door."

Tatsu looks up and down the street "who is next on our list?"

Ashley looks down at her print up of their flight path "Jessica Brisbane, mouse, single mother, widowed, nine kids enrolled in the school today, three graduated. Well, she is an active woman."

Tatsu looks up at Ashley "Brisbane?"

Ashley looks down "an old lover?"

Tatsu rolls his eyes side to side thinking "an old friend. Maybe."

The two quickly find their way to a four-story Victorian estate. Jessica sits in the gazebo in the front yard playing her flute. Jessica lowers her pipe, she squints into the distance looking around. Her ears wiggle, her nose twitches, she can't see anything strange, but she can feel it.

The shadows whisper "she cant see us can she?" Tatsu's shadow whispers to Jessica's shadow.

Jessica's shadow replies "No, we are outside the light spectrum."

"why does it feel like she is looking at us?" Tatsu's shadow asks.

Jessica's shadow replies "I don't need my eyes to see."

"How is she here, aren't you on Nimh right now with Vita?"

"this isn't the past; this is right now. I am with you on Phawks." Jessica's shadow explains to Tatsu's shadow.

"But there is a second me and a second you here?"

Jessica's shadow calls over to Tatsu's "you still don't get it. Every reality is equally real. This timeline required two things to change, one is, you killed Seeker on Gia…"

The other Jessica speaks to the shadow "I can see you, Jessica. I must ask that you not give in to greed. This is my home, these are my children, no matter how much they look like yours, they are mine, and I will not let you take them away."

Jessica's shadow finishes her thought "… and I did not let Odidimus take my children from me."

Tatsu's shadow looks between Ashley and Jessica, he wants to start crying again but forces down his pain "I could have Ashley again."

Jessica looks at the shadow of the wolf "Only if you could kill yourself and take her, your life would be a lie. As far as Ashley knows the wolf she is with now is the only Hetatsubachi there is. You could pretend to be him, Ashley may not ever notice the difference. But you will."

The shadow opens its eyes wide as it remembers something "the ducks." He mumbles to himself "Jessica, the ducks, the women was a teacher, she showed me a chart of evolution, there were brakes in it and…" he starts trailing off mumbling things that only make sense in his mind but then comes back "The Church of Kari is the link between them. This world didn't die; it was murdered. Please send us back."