Abby - By Fire or Ice TG - Part 3

By Fire or Ice (An Abby Longbloom tale) *continued*



Ten year old Abby’s eyes jerked open. Something was different.

It took her a moment to realize the silence in the room. The light still beamed from “Chipper” to the side, though it was dimmer. Abby glanced at Marcus in his chair. His book was closed and he was stretching his neck.

Slowly, Abby scooted up and asked, “What happened next?” She said it softly with a dry throat and a cough to follow her words.

Marcus straightened with a blink and a soft smile. “Oh. There you are, my dear. I thought I put you sleep with that long last part.”

Earnestly, Abby shook her head. “No. I’m awake. I was just caught up by the story…entranced.”

With a wider smile, Marcus leaned on the tome in his lap and repeated, “Entranced. I’ve heard I’m a great entrancer deep into lectures.” Abby frowned and dipped her head.

Marcus touched the edge of her bed and assured her, “It’s quite alright. We’ve hit about the middle of this story and that should be a good place to stop for the evening before it becomes early morning. You need your sleep, even if it’s not a school day tomorrow.”

Clutching her hands, Abby urged, “Just a little bit more. I’m sorry. I was just thinking of…the books over there. The other stories…it was really nice to think about them again.” Abby looked again at their frayed edges with a lift of her head.

He didn’t have to look to know what she meant. Marcus settled his shoulders and told her, “I know. Those are your stories, Abby. They’re beautiful. They’re joyous. Full of danger but punctuated by happy endings.”

Abby gazed at the old books, which she once regarded as ancient and mythic, and muttered, “But that’s not how things are…”

Leaning forward, Marcus asked with raised eyebrows, “Says who? I say…well you heard what I said about confusing the heck out of fear and sadness and all that. Now, it may have been silly but I meant it. Your stories are special Abby and stories aren’t just for bedtime. Stories live and grow and feed from our dreams and burst forth and meld with others. They can even become reality.”

Abby settled and listened as Marcus continued, “The wonders of Alashir, the wonders of the Earth, the wonders of space itself only yet dimly discovered. We’ve told stories about the future and its infinite possibilities. They were the kindling of what came about. It started with dreams but it continued with the determination to see those stories come to life. No story is small because it is a light in the darkness. A story is hope of what the world could be like. Never let a story die out.”

Though she still wasn’t sure, Abby couldn’t resist a smile as she said, “I really like your words. They make me feel better.”

Marcus’ grin widened. “Oh. My words? Not like any thought goes into them. They just come flying out and I do my best to catch them. It’s your words, your dreams, and what you do with them that matters most. No matter what has happened, no matter what will happen, believe that things can change. Believe that things can be better than they are. Believe you can do more to change the world and then do it. That’s the promise of stories.”

The sliver of melancholy lifted from Abby but she had a lingering feeling which she had to say, “What about endings?” She gave another little cough. Hopping up, Marcus hustled out of the room and quickly returned with a glass of water for Abby. She drank a little bit and then set it aside on her table and waited for Marcus’s answer.

Settling back into his chair, Marcus sighed and repeated, “Endings. Well, I told you about all those happy ones. Always aim for a happy ending.”

Abby pulled her legs up through the blanket and laid her arms on them. “I know but…what about death? It’s in stories and it’s in real life. Like with Dr. Cordek.”

Dr. Cordek was a good friend of Marcus and Demetrius. He taught philosophy for many decades. He had no children. He lived alone and frugally, but he’d started a scholarship open to all with whatever extra money he had. Abby listened to her dad and Marcus give beautiful eulogies for Dr. Cordek.

Marcus quickly pointed out all the wonderful things his friend had done and the amazing lectures he gave. All the people who came to his memorial. Still, Abby persisted, “Even though he had a long and beautiful story of his life, why did his story have to end?”

With a deep breath, Marcus told her, “Because all stories end. But all stories still live on so long as people remember them and pass them on to others. And his story leads on to other stories. The stories of those he helped and those he taught.”

Abby gripped the covers and thought of the half-finished stories in those old little books as she said, “But some stories I don’t want to see end, no matter what comes of them. I just want them forever and ever.”

Marcus leaned forward and nodded. “I know. So do I. So does everyone. That’s why we make new stories for as long as we can. We miss the old stories and we do whatever we can to make sure they’re never lost…to always hope, even for the impossible. But sometimes all we can do is treasure our memories and use them for beautiful things.”

Sniffling a little, Abby said softly, “But I want to do more. I want everyone to be happy. I want everything to be good. I want everything to be fixed that’s broken. I want every story to have a happy continuing on. I want that so much…”

Bending out of his chair, he urged Abby, “Always hold onto that. Always hold on to your joy. Always believe there’s a way. It doesn’t matter what trials you face or who can’t be with you when they want to. Believe that you can fix things. Believe in happy potential. And do your best to make all of that real.”

Abby’s frown deepened. “But what if I can’t?”

Marcus shook his head and urged her, “No. First thought…what if I can? What if I can make all my dreams into reality? What if I can spread happy endings? Don’t hold yourself back, don’t erase the possibilities. Push the limits.”

After picking up her water to take another drink, Abby said, “But there are limits. No matter how much anyone pushes them…they’re still there. Dr. Cordek died. His story ended. Anyone’s story can end and we never know when. That’s worse than in stories where you can kinda know endings.”

Marcus was torn between a wide, marveling gaze and a lingering frown but he spoke with a smile as he told Abby, “And you wonder why I say you’re so clever. You always leave me speechless. You know, there are actually some positions they’re hiring for at the University. I’m sure you can get in…”

Abby gave him a look and said his name with a little pout. Dashing his hand about, Marcus urged, “I’m not teasing you. You should see some of the people in the other departments those rear-faced regents wind up with. You’d be quite an improvement.”

This time, Abby blushed to herself but still couldn’t resist a little smile of her own which slowly faded as she asked, “But what about the limits?”

Shaking his head, Marcus admitted, “Sadly, I have no answers for that either. But, again, that’s me. I talk for a living to the attentive, the bewildered, and the unconscious. Sometimes I get somewhere but most times I don’t. Don’t ever let that stop you. Don’t let how the world has gone up to this point ever stop you. Always do your best with the possibilities.”

The sad feelings were still in Abby but it was harder for her to hold onto them. One sad thing remained though. She scooted over to Marcus to say it, “I know. But…I’m afraid I’ll never see daddy again. And I’ll lose you too and never see you again either. I don’t want to be alone...”

Swiftly, Marcus wrapped Abby up in his arms. He stroked her brilliant hair and whispered by her ear. “Oh, don’t you think that. You could never lose me. I’d have to be stuffed full of helium and float off like a balloon and I’m far too heavy for that…” Despite her feelings, Abby gave a little chuckle at the image of balloon Marcus.

Rubbing her back softly, Marcus continued, “You will never be alone. Think of all your friends at school. Think of all the friends you’ll make in the future. Think of all the people you’ll know and the things you’ll see and be and experience. You are full of boundless possibilities. Always remember that.”

Abby conceded to hope with a quiet nod though the same worries and doubts clung to her. Marcus noticed this, cleared his throat, and remarked, “And, I just wanted to add, I am absolutely thankful that worries about boys are nowhere in your thoughts. Like Naia Sofan from that lovey-dovey tale we unfortunately read last week.”

Abby curled out her tongue automatically and said, “Ewww…”

Marcus smirked and told her, “Exactly my thoughts as well. Maybe when you’re my age we can talk about boys again. But, for now, shall we continue?”

She had almost forgotten about the story and she definitely wanted to forget about the Adventures of Naia Sofan and all that. With a smile and a nod, Abby leaned back and Marcus continued a little bit from where he left off, slipping in little reminders of what he’d read before in case he hadn’t read back far enough from where Abby had nodded off. It didn’t really matter to Abby, she just loved listening.

-----

Vivian listened to the broken mirror. Only silence.

The tears which soaked her face had dried to a sharpened redness around her eyes. She’d taken time to sniffle and sweep up the sparkling shards on the bathroom floor.

She could see her face surrounded by her graying red hair as a warped, impressionistic blur. She’d wrapped the cut on her hands with a natural, reusable sealant. It was hard to bend her pointer finger but, otherwise, the pain was gone.

Sighing with her hands covering her face, Vivian thought about the being who claimed to be Abby’s sibling and all it had told her. He was some sort of time traveler. He wanted to spread chaos and yet he was operating by what seemed to be a set, organized plan to “free” Abby and her and others. And he’d mentioned the Rift. She gazed at her hands. Still normal.

She’d only heard about the Rift before through tapping into Abby’s goggles but she knew enough to keep far away from it. The devoted tried to spread a wave of transformation. Those caught up in it lost who they once were and were completely rewritten into new beings of all varieties.

If she believed the presence in the mirror, then, if Iao’s kind won, billions would die and new versions of Abby’s kind would be born? She grappled with his words. Did her glowing hands mean she would be one of them? Who would she be then? Would she have any memories of who she was before?

She shuddered. There were plenty of things she wanted to forget. Surviving her father. The years of pain which followed. The arguments with Demetrius. The times alone in the darkness when she just wanted it to end once and for all. But she didn’t want to forget Dora or Cora or Zoe. She didn’t want to forget their silken touch or their strong embraces. She didn’t even want to forget the terrible things she’d done.

Clutching her head, she tried to force herself to scream but the energy wasn’t there when it had been spilling out of her before. That sibling creature said she was so important, that it had plans for her. She cursed it out. No one would make plans for her! Not her father! Not Demetrius! Not anyone ever again!

She slammed her fist into the wall. With the thin, eco-friendly construction, a precise imprint of her knuckles was left in the material. Her cut trickled as she pressed the sealant against it again. She splashed her face with reclaimed, treated water and turned to go back into the main room to see her daughters again.

Swiftly, Vivian froze when she saw the two of them standing in the doorway with blank looks on their faces. Staggering, she allowed herself a quick expression of relief. She fumbled for words. “You’re okay…you’re alright…”

Together, Dora with bright yellow hair and blue eyes and Cora with bright blue hair and yellow eyes, they spoke as one, “No. We are not. You killed us.” Unblinking, they stared at her.

Vivian staggered, supporting herself by the bio-degradable ceramic of the sink. She panted and said, unable to meet their gaze, “I didn’t…I gave you life…”

“Benjamin Chambers and Roger Hill. They are dead…”

Clinging to her sleeves, Vivian shook her head. She knew both those names. From the graduate student she’d tracked to find a way into the Covaley University research labs to the badge on the security guard she’d run into. Softly, she told them, “I just…no. I didn’t kill them. My daughters. They’re my daughters now. That’s all.”

Together, the two girls continued, “No. You killed us. We will never see our families again. We will never live our lives again. All so you could have a pair of pretty dolls.”

Whimpering, Vivian covered her ears and yelled, “NO! I’m not listening! You’re wrong! You’re not here!”

Her head thundering, Vivian looked over at the doorway again. It was suddenly empty. Taking a quick breath, she hurried back to the bedroom. The girls were in the same spot as they’d been, still in their catatonic state. The covers didn’t look like they’d been disturbed.

Vivian did feel like the LED lights that ringed the room had more of a shine above them, like an extra glow from double vision. She massaged her temple and shut her eyes as she whispered to herself, “It’s okay. It’s alright.”

“You’ve made another mess, Vivian…” A new, but deeply familiar voice chilled her to her core.

Clinging to the bed, Vivian looked across the room to see a humanoid shape standing before her with its arms sternly-folded. It was scorched to the bone, barely more than a skeleton, hardly the robust, imposing figure of her father anymore. Still, no less terrifying than he’d been in life.

Hyperventilating softly, Vivian called out, “You’re dead! You’re gone!”

The skeletal, blackened figure slowly shook its head. “Can’t even do that properly. Did you really think people would believe the arson efforts of a child? You wound up in the same place. Should’ve been a military school. Then you might actually live up to the Harris name.”

Gritting her teeth, Vivian screeched, “My name is Longbloom! Vivian Longbloom!”

Expressing all disappointment, the ashen form noted, “You are not permitted to change your name, Miss Vivian Harris. No matter if you live under my roof or not. My rules, all the time. I know what’s best.”

Flailing, Vivian chucked the clock at the apparition of her father. It passed right through him and landed with a crack against the wall. Vivian stared him down and said, “You aren’t real either.”

Snorting with flaps of his blackened skin tearing, the elder Harris said, “Then it’s a waste of time talking to me. Haven’t you learned yet…at your age…not to indulge in such idiotic childish nonsense as talking to people who aren’t really there?”

Vivian gave a spasmatic little chuckle which quickly changed into a rolling, uncontrollable laugh that echoed through the room. She clutched herself and trembled. When the laughter receded and only the trembling was left, she didn’t see her father before her. She took a deep breath and struggled to her feet. She made sure Cora and Dora were still tucked in well.

When she reached over to check the device which cloned the information from Abby’s goggles, she noticed a red mark flashing on the display. Looking closely, she saw a warning that the link had been severed. She knew only one way that could happen. Moira was gone.

Turning around, she expected to see that black, massive insect appear before her with the next indictment of the blood on her hands. But no one else came. She cradled the device and was about to set it down when it shimmered softly like her hands had not so long ago.

She tried to drop it but it was stuck fast to her grip. She tried to pry it out but her fingers wouldn’t move. A pain like a thousand needle pricks surged through her entire body. Too much pain to scream, too much all at once. She tried to fight but it was spreading all around her.

Was this it? The end of her? She had only enough focus for little thoughts as her vision blurred further to the point she could only make out indistinct shapes. She could feel a glow all over her body. It was stifling and smothering. The room was too hot for her to stay in. She couldn’t pull off her clothes but she could push her way to the blur of the door and into the cooler outdoors with a slight blackening of the sky. Still, it was just too hot. Too warm everywhere. She was burning up.

Just when it felt like she couldn’t stand it for a moment longer, it all erupted out of her like violent fire. A beam of golden light surged into the sky. It spread forth to touch the beyond like an infinite bubble. That was all she knew. But she could feel the energy spreading out to fill a shimmering dome that covered not just the world on which she stood but the whole of this reality. And it didn’t stop there.

On worlds endangered by Iao’s army, the golden light rose as a barrier against oblivion. It held the forces back on countless worlds and it trapped a single Eraser under its burning influence. Vivian could only vaguely sense this and she could faintly hear the prayers of relief from unseen people who were huddled together in fear. None knew her name, none could possibly know the light that protected them came from her.

But, between the painful eruptions and the tears flowing down her cheeks, she knew.

-----

The ride through the pocket felt like a fabric slide bending and flexing as she fell down it. Despite the darkness and slight uncertainty about how she would land, Abby gave a quick, “Weee…” to herself which ended with an abrupt plop onto the bottom of the pocket. It yielded and absorbed the force of her impact but still felt like falling down on one of those old bouncy houses she remembered.

Staggering to her feet, she noticed a small, narrow light pointed at her face. The light tilted up and she heard Arona say, “We’re over here.”

Moving quickly but carefully on the unstable ground, Abby soon found the others near Arona with their faces in stark light with harsh shadow. The space around them was cloaked in blackness. Arona fanned the light around. But it was only enough to see they were standing on cloth. The light was on the end of one of Arona’s rifles.

Squinting against the brightness and the blackness, Abby asked, “Is that all we have?” Quickly, Arona turned her other rifle’s light on.

Muttering to herself, Abby noted, “It’s gotta be around here…somewhere…”

She stepped carefully in the dark, nearly running into Korri. Abby directed Arona to trace the light along the ground. Fortunately, they didn’t need to search far from their landing point before they found what Abby was hoping for. Her scanner.

With one of the rifle lights over her shoulder, Abby manipulated the settings until she had the light on. It wasn’t much better but it allowed Abby to find and flip a switch on the blue cloth wall.

The others looked on as the full scope of the pocket space was revealed. Abby explained, “Fiber-optic filaments embedded in the deep fabric. It draws on stored solar reserves as well as potential energy.”

A glow, strangely similar to the golden sand outside reached across the blue fabric. Abby had only tested it with probes and objects small enough to fit inside the pocket but still explore around. Even “Chipper” gave her a quick tour and helped with planning some of the optics.

Seeing it like this made Abby think of hiding under the covers when she was young with the light by her bed or through her ceiling playing across her blankets. The small ridges and ripples of cloth took on the shape of a vast and twisting cavern. The places where the light couldn’t reach fell in deep darkness where her imagination could conjure up lurking monsters.

Here, the feeling of being tiny before a massive structure wasn’t an illusion. The blue walls tented out into an expansive chasm where even the inlaid lighting system couldn’t push back the edges. The narrow throat they stood on only reached about ten meters high with a span from edge to edge nearly three times that. But the space beyond seemed immeasurable past where the lighting ended. The rest was smothering black.

Abby approached the drop-off but not too close as she explained, “Most of that out there is potential space. It would never be usable unless you wanted to wear a jacket made of neutron star material, which would kill you before you could even try to wear it. And that wouldn’t even be the worst thing that would happen to you.”

Korri gave Abby a lingering look and asked, “We’re safe in here, right?”

As she asked that, the pocket space shifted with a groan that shuddered below them and through the walls. Arona hugged her rifle closer and looked at Alexis, who was more awestruck than terrified. Nana lingered by Abby.  

Shifting her scanner back into normal mode, Abby wore the flutter of a smile as her scanner was much happier with the interior of the pocket than anything outside of it. The smile didn’t last long as Abby admitted, “I don’t know. I never seriously tested something like this. Just the five of us inside is more weight than I’ve put inside the pocket before. Also try not to break anything, or I’ll need a naked singularity, some negative mass, and a whole lot of thread to fix it. And I only have two of those things at home.”

Arona made her way back to the narrow opening they’d slid through to enter the pocket and asked the big question which hadn’t been asked yet, “How do we get out of this place when the storm ends?”

Abby examined the opening. It was possible to see a glimmer of light at the edges of the seal. The sand wasn’t making it through the threshold, nor was the smell of it. But she could tell it was still storming out there.

Tapping her scanner, Abby answered, “That’s a good question. Unfortunately, there’s no good answer. Under normal conditions, we’d need someone to pull us out. But the opening is currently too far away even for that.”

Alexis’s eyes widened as she asked, “Are we stuck in here?”

Aiming her scanner around, Abby sighed and admitted, “For the moment. As I said, it’s the sanctuary of last resort. I’ve never actually put people in here. I’ve only ever thought about it.”

Raising her rifle up, Arona remarked, “We could blast our way out…”

Abby hurried over and pushed Arona’s rifle down to the ground. “The answer to everything isn’t to blow it up. Especially when you’re standing close to the thing you intend to blow up. Imagine taking all this used and potential space and rapidly letting it loose. I wouldn’t want to try it…”

With a grimace and a nod, Arona clung to her satchel. Nana approached Abby and asked, “So what do we do?”

Looking towards the opening in the fabric, Abby started to speak but restrained her words. She kept looking. Slowly, she shook her head and said, “I don’t know. I’m still working that out. But I have a lot in my head right now even with just the one of me…I hope just the one of me.”

Korri lifted her head and asked, “Did you see something out there?”

Rubbing her temple, Abby offered, “You could say that. I had another vision and I saw that guy who claims to be my sibling.”

Arona showed the most confusion as Abby took a breath and offered, “Since we won’t be going anywhere for the moment, we might as well compare notes….”

Abby offered up first, elaborating on the one who saw her as his little sister and their first contact in the forest. Nana scrunched up her gray eyebrows when Abby relayed what further details she could about him. Korri rubbed her cheek and reflected a bit as well.

“He apparently wants me to be free, whatever that means. I’m afraid that….whatever’s happened to Moira is related to him. If she’s gone then what protection she provided to my home is gone too…”

Clutching her rifle, Arona jumped in, “We received a message from Nuhaizi. It said they were under siege, probably like we were in that forest.”

Abby fussed a bit and looked at the cloth-covered ground. “It could be Iao’s army. According to Moira’s memories, they erased an entire world of people, almost everyone like me. Those were definitely creatures like Moira in the Forest and a lot of them. But I thought they were just after me. Why would they go after other worlds too? Too many questions…” Plopping down on the fabric ground with a water bed-like undulation, Abby rubbed a still-sore area above her eyes. Alexis and Nana joined her a little later with ripples of their own.

Arona kept her rifle aimed at the ground but her finger far from the trigger. Korri looked tired as she shook her head and asked Abby, “You mentioned visions?”

Leaning back, Abby sighed and told her, “It continued from what I mentioned before. A young girl with black hair in a desert, probably this desert. All alone then there’s another one of her and then she gets a bright glowiness like I did. From there, she started creating like how I used to do with my little stories in old books. She made all of reality…it was like a flash of images. An immeasurably vast…everything but also each massive part was small before the next thing. That probably doesn’t make any sense but it did when I was experiencing it.”

Korri leaned her head back to see the shimmering-blue ceiling. “So you saw a…creation story? How did it end?” Nana looked lost in thought and Alexis got up to find one of her books they’d stowed away in the pocket space. She then quickly listened and jotted down notes as Abby spoke. Arona seemed to listen too but mostly went through her supplies, stripping down her weapons and reassembling them in turn.

Rubbing at an ear through her dense, red hair, Abby admitted, “It didn’t really end. I’ve kinda been getting it in serial installments. Hope they’re all in the right order. But she made reality. She made the Creators. She even made worlds not with Creators. Regular worlds we all know. And I got the sense it was just right…”

Quickly Alexis chimed in, “Creation stories rarely stop there.”

Abby added a nod to her words, “Right. I’ll probably get the rest of it eventually. Just need to be rendered unconscious….”

Arona raised the butt of her rifle and her eyebrows. Abby waved a hand and muttered, “Or I can just wait till the next segment comes. I’m no closer to figuring out this Desert though. Oh! Idea…everyone check your transport devices.”

Arona was the first to check. She had the same results as before. Korri’s device actually turned on and so did Alexis’s. But that was as far as they could get.

Grumbling, Arona pointed out, “This shouldn’t be happening. It should be able to track…something…”

Hopping to her feet and then riding the wave of uneven ground, Abby began, “It was worth a shot. But it would be very hard to plot a destination from such a small pocket universe anyway. Alright, let’s see what we know…”

Stepping slowly, Abby gestured towards the vertical shaft they’d all entered the pocket space through. “Out there is a desert we can barely learn anything about. Something about it gives our devices the mother of all migraines. Reasons?”

Quiet filled the strange cloth cavern as the others mulled their answers. In the quiet, they all breathed softly. Then Alexis sniffed loudly before she asked, “What is that smell?”

It didn’t take long before the others picked up on what Alexis smelled. The fragrance was familiar and yet strange. It seemed like a latent but ticklish scent to Abby. For Arona it was like the cigarette butts her commanding officer used to leave out in the rain. For Alexis, it was like stale bread. For Korri, it was like something moist and rotting. For Nana, it seemed like the deepest books on her shelves no matter how much she tried to clean them.

Despite their different perceptions on the aroma, it was clear to Abby it was coming from under a fold of cloth a little ways down the path. Hesitantly, she lifted up an end of it and coughed with her arm over her mouth.

The ripe scent washed over them. After a good look, Abby quickly dropped the fabric to mask as much of what was wafting up as possible. Groaning, Abby noted, “I swear I tossed them all away…Sorry. That’s some of my old lunches. They must’ve slipped into a patch of potential space until now because I would’ve definitely smelled them and felt the weight.”

The rancid mass seemed like there would’ve been enough to notice the weight but there were aspects to pocket space which Abby didn’t completely understand herself. They all gave a respectful distance to the foul and fuzzy food. Unfortunately, the air didn’t circulate so the smell just lingered without anywhere to go.  

Coughing a few times, Abby continued with her previous thought, “So, why can’t we figure out this desert or leave it?”

Alexis covered her nostrils with her fingers and offered, “It’s uhh…protected in some way?”

Abby wiggled a finger. “Not a bad thought. Shame I can’t test it with my equipment.” Abby glanced at the broken goggles a few feet away. She made sure they were stuffed away safe in her normal pants pocket.

Clearing her throat, Abby added, “I would ask then…why are we here? Can you enter but not leave? Why?” Alexis thought about it but had no answer. Arona seemed to listen but paid little attention as she cycled through her different equipment and checked it for problems.

Korri put forth, “You said you wanted to take us somewhere safe and far away from danger. Maybe that’s it. It’s a place so safe that it’s like a panic room you can’t get out of for any reason once you’re inside it.”

Abby noted, “Perhaps. Although if you’re trapped forever, what’s the point of it?” Korri gestured to the blue, illuminated cloth walls. Abby looked at them and grimaced before pointing out, “Right…Still, the desert seems like more than just a locked-off pocket universe. We should be getting something.”

Folding her hands, Nana took a breath and presented, “We should consider the simplest explanation. The reason there is nothing for the devices to connect to is that, according to them, there is nothing.”

Abby felt a sharp chill fall over her deeper than that old, familiar sensation in her arm as she affirmed, “There’s that too. But then....there’s a myriad of possible reasons. Outside of range for finding a destination. Something has happened to the rest of reality. Or something we can’t even imagine. I’m hoping it’s that last one and that it’s not the bad sort.” Clutching her arms, Abby massaged her temple again.

Pondering, Nana asked, “Is there anything else you can remember from your vision?”

Pressing on the sides of her cheeks, Abby shook her head slightly and mentioned, “Just creation story stuff. Infinities. Each infinity small beside an endless array of them and that endless desert with each grain of sand….it…oh…wait wait. No no. Maybe…no. Yes! That could be it. It really could!”

The others looked to Abby as she started pacing with an intent but reflective look on her face. She noticed them watching and explained, “Infinity in something small, like a grain of sand. That’s why my scanner won’t work, why it won’t even turn on when it still was able to take a glimpse at an ever-expanding library. It found something even bigger…in every tiny grain of sand in that desert out there.”

Korri scrunched her forehead and asked, “How is that possible? I mean they’re just grains of sand.”

Abby stretched a finger up and pronounced, “Assumption! What if they aren’t? Not as we know them at least. I mean it’s a different universe. Who says what rules it follows? Maybe you can stuff even more than a neutron star inside each grain of sand and it won’t lead to a horrible death. All supposition because we can’t scan any of it….dang it. One thing we know for sure though is that we are not alone. Before I jumped into the pocket, I saw a figure standing in the storm.”

Arona stopped her weapon check to lean up and ask, “Did they seem dangerous?”

With a quick shrug, Abby admitted, “It was just a quick glimpse. It seemed like a female figure standing inside the storm but that’s just going by size.”

Nana pressed her fingers to her chin and asked, “Perhaps it’s the young girl with black hair you mentioned?”

Carefully, Abby reiterated and noted, “Perhaps. But there were two of them.”

Their discussion petered out from there with each wandering in their own area of the pocket. Arona went back to her weapon work but she looked over at Alexis from time to time. Alexis sifted through her books and tried not to look back at Arona too much. Korri kept far away from the foul, moldy lunches even though no place in the area was free of the lingering odor. Nana slipped into a light meditation with her arms out.

Abby tapped her boot with a small undulation of the terrain. She rubbed her forehead and muttered to herself, “And we still don’t even have a way out of here…”

Arona, between cycles of stripping down her weapons, lifted up her remaining bomb and her eyebrows. At first, Abby shook her head but, after making a cycle of the area, she returned with a tense frown on her face. She looked at Arona’s satchel as she was putting her weapons away and asked, “That has a pocket too, doesn’t it?” The difference in how much she was putting in there and how well it fit was obvious to Abby.

After asking what the compression ratio was, Abby did a little calculation in the air before announcing, “Could be something…” The others gazed on questioningly. Alexis came closer to Arona and didn’t flinch as she moved closer as well. Looking out over the precipice, Abby scanned and rubbed her hands together. With a shake of her head, she announced, “That’ll have to be it.”

Korri was the first to ask, “Be what?”

Abby still seemed distracted as her eyes roamed around until she found just what she wanted. With a smile she announced, “I was wrong. Arona was right. We have to blow this place up. Way up, like a balloon.”

Motioning with her hands, Abby explained, “This place. The best way to think about it is like a balloon, only filled with potential space. You need energy and or mass to utilize the rest of the space. Because it’s used for storage it’s a bad idea to want to expand that space because the mass is connected to the outside world. But we want that because the space will distort and that means we can distort the opening.” She giggled to herself and hurried towards the opening to look through. The storm still seemed to be raging outside with ripples of gray.

Alexis frowned a little and looked to Arona before glancing back at Abby and asking, “Do you really think it could work?”

Abby smiled with a shrug. “I have no idea. I don’t even know if this is the right thing to do. We could easily pop the whole thing and we’d stop existing. Or we could break the opening and be trapped in a pocket universe. But, what I’m hoping will happen is that the opening will be shifted same as with a balloon. If we can inflate it just right then it would be like an interior sphere and we’d be able to walk along its surface the same as any world and fall through the opening again the other way.”

Korri squinted as she tried to figure out what Abby was saying. Alexis seemed to have a dim sense of what Abby was getting at while Arona still looked skeptical. Nana wore a smile to echo Abby’s.

The next obvious question came from Arona, “But...how?”

Abby had a quick answer, “With a big bang which isn’t too big.”

-----

Nakagawa Katsumi tapped on the security window and the female guard inside swiftly buzzed her through to the next area.

The welcoming blue hallways and reflecting silvery glow had been dulled by the swarm of creatures blotting out the sky but this section seemed to kindle its own, independent glow which made it still feel like broad daylight.

She stepped through to a soft, circular play area with cushions and seats in a rainbow of colors and forms. The walls streaked with paint and miniature suns spread in impressionistic blooms.

From another room, a lanky, older woman entered. She wore a lab coat which looked one size too big for her. Her sprouting, vaulting silvery hair formed a bird-like crest over her forehead. Her neon green flip-flops squeaked like a dog’s toy as she gave Katsumi a smile and a sigh.

Quietly, glancing into the opening of the room the older woman had just left, Katsumi asked, “Is she ready?”

Looking back over her shoulder, the older woman noted, “She’s still working on her homework right now. Ten minutes.”

Katsumi widened her eyes and asked, “There are monsters filling the skies and you tell me she needs to finish her homework?…”

With a little wiggle of her finger, the woman in the lab coat remarked, “It’s math. You don’t mess with math, even if the world is ending.”

From the next room, a young, slight girl at the cusp of puberty leaned her head through the doorway and asked softly, “Katsy? Is everything okay?”

Katsumi resisted clutching her forehead and looked over at the girl with the best smile she could manage. “Hi there, sweetie. Uh…I’m afraid things are not as good as they could be.”

A faint glow lingered with the girl, spreading into the play area and heightening the colors on the walls. The girl’s soft brown hair spiked with strands of bright red hair which burst out like flames. She wore a flowing, golden dress which had been doted on and mended with care. Her vast, blue eyes gazed widely at Katsumi as she listened to her words.

Clasping her hands together, the young girl asked, “What can I do to help?”

Katsumi crouched a little so she was closer to the girl’s height and said, “It’s what we talked about earlier. It’s the bad bugs I mentioned.”

The young girl’s eyes widened and she asked, “The bugs that want to erase happiness and beautiful things?” Katsumi nodded back at her as the little girl shuddered.

With a deep breath, the little girl continued, “So I need to do my special thing?”

Katsumi nodded back and told her, “Like you’ve been practicing. Can you do that?”

The quick determination in her eyes wavered as the little girl’s head dipped and she mulled, “I think so but I dunno. I did what Gloria told me but I’m not that good at it.”

As a demonstration, the young girl stretched out her hands. The fingertips lit with a brilliant, sharp flame like the pilot light of a heater. But the touches of flame were small and barely rippled along her knuckles. The young girl stared at them with a frown of disappointment. Katsumi resisted a sigh and told her, “Don’t focus on what you can’t do. Focus on the amazing possibilities of what you can do right now. You are a beautiful spirit given human form and I know you will do your best, Alice.”

Alice wore a shy, blushing smile as she looked down at the flames on her fingertips. They were still faint but they appeared brighter than a moment before. With a deep breath, she told Katsumi, “I can do it. Let me do it…”

Leading Alice by the hand, Katsumi brought her over to a side room which Alice only entered when they were doing practice. Unlike the other times, all the lights and systems turned on when they entered. Alice halted a step but Gloria stood beside her and she kept moving.

Carefully, Alice slipped her hands into the small area which looked like a black sink basin without a faucet for water. She focused on kindling the flame as Katsumi adjusted the console above. The screen, which would display all sorts of scary images of monsters she was never supposed to name and shadows she didn’t want to stare at, was washed in a radiant glow which eased Alice’s tension.

Katsumi leaned close to the image and made a quick call. Alice curled her lips in and tried not to bite them like she always did when she was nervous. She gave a few long blinks. It had been a long day with her tutors and then several hours of reading and play. And all the sitting with her homework. The feeling of her bed a few doors down was clear in her thoughts but she focused on the flame, for her friends. To protect them and do what they said she could do better than anyone.

The waiting was the worst part but soon Katsumi finished her call and told her, “It’s okay. You can relax for right now. There’s something holding them back. We’re trying to figure out what it is. But who knows if it will protect us forever.”

Alice kept her hands tensed but removed them from the basin and quietly inquired, “Is it Abby?”

Katsumi shrugged to herself and offered, “Too soon to tell. We’ve lost contact with those I sent with her.”

Looking down at her fingers, Alice nodded and said, “I hope they’re okay and I hope Abby is too. The golden light feels like what you’ve told me of her. I’d like to meet her some day and give her a big hug.”

She demonstrated the kind of hug she had in mind by wrapped her arms around Katsumi. Katsumi brushed Alice’s hair and told her, “I know she’d love to meet you….some day. For now, I need to get back out there. If we’re lucky, I won’t need to call. But be ready…”

Alice lamented quietly that her friend had to go but she waved and smiled at “Katsy” to see her off. At first, Alice stayed around the special room so she could jump into action and protect everyone. But Gloria soon tempted her back into the main room by setting up a game of chess.

----

Iao ripped a stone platform for playing chess out of the ground and hurled it spinning into the grass several feet away to vent his anger. Despite the sharp blue of the small flying machine, he’d completely lost sight of it. Even its glow didn’t meet his gaze.

Flexing his projections all around his head, he glowered at the waves of humans fleeing in all directions.

“Excuse me…are you Iao?…Not sure if it’s eye-oh or ee-ow.”

The voice came from directly behind him. Iao shifted quickly and squinted at the human which stood before him. It had a foul, bright sense about it. Almost as sharp as one of those Creators. It was all around him like a wave of blasted dust. And that dust washed over his senses. He took a stagger step away before leaning forward to loom over the distasteful human.

“My true name would only be disgraced by human tongue. The name I have taken is one meant for a God….as I am one. And what are you?”

It looked like just another human to Iao. One of the older ones, some gray hair, wrinkles, and leaning on a small column of wood. Nothing exceptional but for that backwash of blinding illumination.

“Professor Marcus Ward. I used to lecture on many subjects at the university across the bay. Retired.”

Iao leaned his head. This one was peculiar. It was…having a conversation with him.

Marcus had taken a few minutes to get up the gumption to get close to the rampaging insect and he almost wanted to take back his words as soon as it noticed him. But the deed had been done. He wore his best face for it.

Circling around Marcus slowly, Iao proclaimed, “You smell…”

Leaning back, Marcus raised an eyebrow and answered, “You should sniff some of the students I had.”

Still, Iao couldn’t shake his bafflement. He expected the human to run, especially from a being like him which stood above all. He wondered whether to erase it for its insolence but restrained his projections for the moment. All the while, the park grounds cleared and the adjoining streets were quickly becoming empty. Sirens and the creeping presence of the local police looked to soon fill that void.

Marcus cleared his throat and noted, “I am one…you said. So it’s an acronym. A little odd.”

Iao bent to cast a scowl across Marcus. “Pester me further and I will destroy you.”

Calmly, Marcus put his hands up and bowed his head, offering, “A thousand pardons, oh Great I-to-the-A-to-the-O. I am but a lowly human. I cannot possibly understand the grandiose wisdom of your name but I do seek to understand as well as my feeble mind can comprehend…since you’re going to be the ruler of all and…all that.”

After a long pause, Iao noted, “You’re mocking me…”

Giving a quick gasp, Marcus noted, “Mocking? I’m but a simple idiot. I wouldn’t have it in my head to mock. I only ask silly questions which seem to go on and on.”

Iao kept a close distance from Marcus as he said, “You glow like fire. Why?”

Turning his hands around, Marcus shrugged and offered, “I glow? Well, that’s interesting. I plod along doing the same things without creativity. I say the same words over and over. I’m just the orderly type.”

Iao perceived himself keen to deception. He’d thwarted Vivian with confidence. He wouldn’t be bested by anyone. Near growling, he said, “Then you wouldn’t mind if I stuck one of my projections in your head to see, would you?” He aimed a single, black projection towards the human.

Marcus could imagine himself running but he knew the creature was too close to afford him the chance to get very far. He couldn’t imagine what Abby might say in such a situation but he tried his best and told Iao, “I can’t imagine being touched by a god. It would be too much for me. But if it is your Will then I can’t possibly resist you.” Bowing his head, Marcus laid his hands out.

Iao had witnessed running and screaming and bargaining. He’d seen some reactions like Marcus’s, those willing to give up to him. Even then, he’d been without mercy. He should’ve just pushed his projection into Marcus but the forces all around him were still working like a slow acid and he wondered if this was part of some plan he hadn’t quite figured out. Something about it felt wrong. He wouldn’t be trapped by a meager human.

Leaning close to Marcus, Iao pronounced, “Tell me what I want and I will spare you…for now. Tell me why you glow like no one else does.”

Marcus cocked his head and said, “I can’t see this glow you refer to but I can think of only one reason. I raised a special little girl for over a decade.”

Turning his whole body to face Marucs, Iao stared into the stark glow and said, “You know Abby…”

With a decisive nod, Marcus answered, “Oh, I know her. From her bedtime fears to her splinters in her toes tears. I know all her favorite foods but never when she’s going to like any of them. I know what makes her smile and I know incredibly well what will make her look at me skeptically. You have a question on Abby and I have an answer along with three questions of my own to follow it.”

Iao aimed several projections and said, “I can dig her location out of your skull.”

He nodded back at Iao and told him, “Theoretically. Or I could just tell you where she is. She went to the Dark Forest of Mirrors to find Demetrius.”

For a moment, Iao’s projections wavered. He’d sent a force to the Forest based on what he’d gleaned from Vivian in particular. He could’ve guessed that Abby would be there and, for all he knew, his forces already had her in their clutches. Tightening his projections again, Iao asked, “Why would you tell me when you claim to be so close to her?”

Marcus smiled lightly as he shook his head. “Because it doesn’t matter. She’s Abby. No matter what you try to do to her. No matter what forces you try to turn on her. No matter what you do to me…it won’t matter. Even a god would be no match against her.”

Iao drew his legs together tightly. “She’s just a lost child. One of the last flames fighting my order. I’ll smother her. Slowly…one muffled scream at a time.”

This time, Marcus took a step towards Iao as he answered, “She was a lost child once. Lost her home. Lost her parents. Even lost the first man who raised her. But it doesn’t matter what you try to take away from her. She’s a spirit you can’t smother and she’s a light you can’t extinguish. Go ahead, look inside my mind if you like. But be warned, if you know what I know you’ll be running so far and so fast away from wherever she might be that whatever dark place you crawled out of won’t be far enough to save you from her.”

Carefully, Iao lowered a single projection. He knew there was nothing to be bothered by. This human’s words were just bluster and manipulation. The same nonsense Vivian and Moira tried to pull on him. And he showed them. He showed an entire world of people like Abby that he was stronger as he erased them from existence. But, a chilling doubt remained. He snarled and announced, “I could erase you where you stand. But you, like the other, are more valuable to me alive….to hurt and destroy her. So…tell me, what does she love more than anything else?”

The projection hovered over Marcus like a slender, black sword. Marcus pressed his face into a scowl. “Certainly not me. But I guess that’s the way with daughters. To be perfectly honest….no…I couldn’t. It would be too painful for her!” In the back of his head, Marcus gave quiet thanks to having been the drama club advisor for some years.

Pressing his fractured head into the most frightening form he could present, Iao threatened, “It will be painful for you…in ways you can’t even imagine if you don’t tell me!”

Marcus released a whimper and muttered out, “The…colonnades…all around town and down certain streets. The beautiful, ornate stonework. The rising columns. She looks upon them more than everything. She’s given them vivid, loudly-proclaimed names. The colonnades…if they were gone….no, there would be too much of an effect on her. I shouldn’t have said! Idiot!”

Iao missed all nuance to Marcus’s statement. He had a sense of what colonnades were. There were a multitude of them around the Creator world, especially where Moira betrayed him and stopped him from finishing his work. Yes, it made sense to him that Abby’s connection to such Creator-like architecture would be strong.

Cackling to himself, Iao proclaimed, “You have betrayed her joy. And I will break it one column at a time. You will watch each I destroy. Then you will see the true power I wield before a feeble lost girl.”

Marcus cowered to hide his relief. At least he’d bought some time for the people of Alashir to be safe and for Abby as well, wherever she might be.