"Restricted Airspace" by Richard F. Yates

In my art (and writing and life in general) I try to represent the randomness and absurdity of existence. (I usually fail at this, but trying is still fun.) Sometimes my attempts are humorous, often they are ugly, and sometimes—out of sheer chance—something NEAT happens. Absurdly NEAT-O!

I’m in my mid-40s now. I’ve lost some people. I’ve seen great human beings, funny and imaginative and warm (and sometimes a bit evil, but I don’t judge) who have lived lives, deeply affected those they were close to, but made no impact on society AT LARGE in any recognizable way—-and then they are GONE. Not superstars, never rich, not great philanthropists, not famous artists or writers or poets, just PEOPLE who came and went. They struggled and laughed. Some died way too early, some lived long enough to see most of their friends go before them. And I’d love to believe that they didn’t just DISAPPEAR. That SOMEHOW those great personalities are still out there in the universe, somewhere…

But I don’t see much evidence that the PERSON, the thoughts and desires and scars and smart-ass remarks and weird quirks that make up the INDIVIDUAL—I don’t see any convincing evidence that THESE THINGS survive the death of the body and brain. (I’m sorry, all you true believers, but the evidence is not compelling…)

However, the fact that life is finite doesn’t mean it can’t be LIVED while we are here and have a chance to live it.

Have you ever wondered whether or not someone LIVED A GOOD LIFE? Have you ever wondered if you are WASTING your time? Now ask yourself this: HOW DOES A CAT KNOW IF IT’S LIVED A GOOD LIFE? Is the life of one deer BETTER than the life of any other deer? What is a fulfilling OCTOPUS existence? Have the blades of grass in the front yard prepared for the REAPER as well as the grasses in the back yard have?

One could argue (pretty easily) that HUMANS have the intellectual capacity to CONSIDER these concepts (WHICH HUMANS MADE UP), whereas other creatures, like octopi and deer and cats and blades of grass, do not have the BRAIN CAPACITY. Whales and dolphins have some big brains, do THEY wonder if they’re wasting their potential?

My mom was killed in a car wreck when I was 14 years old.

She took my brother, one of his friends, and one of our aunts to go strawberry picking on the last day of school my freshman year of high school, and she never came home. Apparently, on the drive to the strawberry field, a man, coming off a double shift and traveling the opposite direction from my mom’s car, fell asleep at the wheel of his vehicle, drifted across the center line of the road, and collided with my mom, head on. She died instantly. My brother and aunt where hospitalized for several months and suffered through numerous surgeries to put them back together, but they survived. (The friend was, somehow, basically uninjured in the crash.) The driver of the other car, who hadn’t been drinking, wasn’t playing on a cell phone, who was just working hard to get enough money for his family to live a good life, broke his wrist in the collision. I don’t blame this guy AT ALL for what happened. It was a million to one shot that he happened to float over the center line just as my mom’s car was passing.

Random. If mom had left five minutes earlier, or later—two minutes even—she wouldn’t have been anywhere near where this hard-working man’s trajectory intersected with her line of travel. My life would have gone in a completely different direction. Her life would have KEPT GOING, for a while anyway.

I’m not trying to be maudlin, this was just one of the moments in my life that sent me in search of some HARD MEANING. Why? How? What’s the point of this? What MADE this happen? Nothing. Physics. Two fast moving, relatively heavy bodies ran into each other, and the soft parts in the middle got broken. No plan. Couldn’t have predicted this would happen. It just DID.

Now, I’ve learned to keep moving. (“Just keep swimming,” the little fish sings.) Bad things happen (often to good people, but also to bad people.) You live with it, or you don’t. I found ways to overcome that tragedy. I found ways to overcome many OTHER tragedies. I read a lot. I WRITE a lot, which helps me THINK THINGS THROUGH. I tried to remember how quickly things can change while I was raising my OWN kids. And I tried to have fun—with my wife, with my kids, with my family and friends—and to live a life that all the other blade of grass, and deer, and octopi (though probably not the cats) would be able to look back on and have a laugh.

HAVE FUN—even when it’s not appropriate.

Some folks have shown us the way: the Dadaists, the Situationists, the punks (early “punk” before it become a specific sound or fashion), Fluxus, the Absurdist playwrights and poets, and the many artists who just GO FOR IT (like Ray Johnson, Basquiat, Joan Miro, Roger Corman, Lloyd Kaufman, Ian Dury, Richard Brautigan…), these are the types of folks who really inspire me. They made shit. Not everyone liked what they made (even I don’t like EVERYTHING), but the point isn’t the individual artifact. Not everyone has the skill, drive, passion, temperament, education, or physical ability to be Michelangelo. FEW PEOPLE ARE PERFECT…

But CHOOSING to create anything in the face of a random, nonsensical, absurd universe, THAT is enough. Money, fame, a place in history—probably all worthwhile pursuits, if those are the goals you have—but if what you want is just to LIVE and have a good time, make some connections, forge a few lasting memories, THEN CREATIVE WORKS ARE A GREAT METHOD for achieving THESE goals. The MAKING part is fun, the satisfaction of FINISHING something (even something short or small or silly or awful—so bad it’s good, maybe?) is also pleasant, and the memories that can come from sharing the created work with others, maybe seeing them laugh or smile, maybe seeing them want to make something of their own… That’s WHERE IT’S AT…

The STRAIGHT CROWD will tell you that there are fighter jets overhead. To keep your balloon on a tether or you’ll drift into RESTRICTED AIRSPACE! And I say, fuck it… Wherever the wind blows…

—Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Grand Hoohaa of The P.E.W.)

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“About the P.E.W. – Heading into 2018”

As of December 25th, The Primitive Entertainment Workshop went PREMIUM! That means, for the first time since I started this thing back in December of 2012, we are PAYING to be online. It costs about $100.00 for a year of FANCINESS, but it was an essential move, because we ran out of room for NEW STUFF.

primitiveentertainment.com

We are now, OFFICIALLY, a DOT COM! Holy Glagnar!!! I don’t even know what fancy thing to do first!!!

If you are a regular reader of the site (and even the artwork has a literary dimension to it---if you don’t believe it let me know, and I’ll write you a PROOF that my doodles are actually thrilling works of fiction in visual form---even the abstracts!)… If you are a regular reader of the site, then you know we post A LOT. We have several regular contributors, and a few “once in a whilers,” and besides that, I’m a compulsive doodler and word compiler. And with the exciting digital technology that my wife keeps acquiring for me, it’s become extremely easy for me to scribble on a napkin or a receipt or a hunk of cardboard, then snap a high rez photo and color the heck out of it with those magical electro-devices and share them with all the humans and A.I. in the digital world! I draw all the time, and I write just about every day (mostly on scraps of paper or old bits of junk---and then I tape everything into my notebooks.) And, of course, a lot of what I create ends up on the P.E.W.!

But after 5 years of compiling stories and poems and photos and drawings and book reviews and all that jazz, we ran out of room. 5,700+ posts in five years. IMPOSSIBLE, now, to read everything we have posted. We needed to EXPAND---to GO PRO, if you will. So we did.

Now for most people, a hundred bucks is probably not that big of a deal. For ME, it’s a serious chunk of cash. Now that I’m PAYING to make this site, I’ve got to focus on trying to make that investment BACK before December of 2018 so that I can re-up for the next year. It’s only going to take me a few weeks to go over the “free” allotted space on this site, so I won’t be able to go BACK to the old plan without causing weird and potentially catastrophic things to happen.

And that’s where you folks come in. I’m going to be working pretty hard over the next year to try and make $101.00 to pay for the next years’ bill. (It only costs $96.00 for the plan, but I figure making an extra five bucks will help pay for the TIME I’ve invested.) If you believe in free expression, in helping the underdogs, in pushing punk creativity and Dada spirit and underground attitude in the MAKING OF THINGS (Richard Brautigan style---unpublished/self-published type stuff), then consider patronizing our PURCHASABLE sections: Books You Can Buy, the Primitive Image Emporium, Postcards from Paradise, and so on. We could sure use your help! It will keep the creativity rolling along, and we’ll be able to keep doing all the wacky things we do: posting new stories and art and poems, self-publishing our books, promoting creative expression in “outsider types” (like most of us at the Workshop), and KEEPING THOSE CONNECTIONS ALIVE! 

I’ve had tons of contributors who have helped sweeten the pot here at the Workshop over the years, and I’m extremely grateful to all of them for their efforts. One of these days, I should force myself to look through all the POSTS (a Herculean effort at this point) and write up a contributors’ list, just to make sure everyone gets credit! (But I think that’s a project for a different day.)

One of the BEST things about creating artwork and writing is the SHARING! The collaborations, the art parties, the bouncing off of each other’s ideas… These are the things that I love about this life. OBVIOUSLY, I’m not making any money at this, but I’ve made friends, some I’ve met in person, some that I’ve only ever talked with online. I’ve been influenced by the stories and artwork I’ve seen others make, and I’ve heard people say that I inspired them. (Comments like, “If he can sell THAT shit, anybody can do it!” are pretty common. Good to know I’m helping people understand that ANYONE can do this!) Sitting in the front yard with a bunch of drawings and paints scattered around, during the summer, and selling a $10 drawing to someone is wonderful, and getting to talk to them about how we (as a family) came up with the ideas for doing all this stuff, is even better! There’s also the thrill of seeing someone SMILE when they get one of my visual puns or when they work out the weird little joke I’ve got hidden in some three sentence story---these are great moments. These are worth it.

THE CONNECTIONS! However brief, however seemingly insubstantial, the connections that I make are the reason I keep doing this. It’s also the reason that EVERYONE should be MAKING THINGS THEMSELVES. You don’t have to be a trained artist to love to draw or paint. You don’t have to be a college graduate to write a story or a poem. You just have to be a human. And then to SHARE that work with others, that’s WHY we are alive. It’s not about making money (although now I HAVE to make money to keep the game rolling…), it’s about CONNECTING. Keep making, keep doing, keep connecting, and I’ll keep going, too, until I CAN’T anymore…

---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Grand Hoohaa of The P.E.W.)

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"Bigfoot (Part 8)" by Randy Long

[If you haven’t read any of Randy Long’s epic fantasy-adventure story, yet, you can start from the beginning HERE. Meanwhile, strap yourselves in. We’re heading back to Randy Land!!! ---RFY]
_______________________

The water from To-Wonga Falls seemed magical. It seemed to give all in our party new energy. I’m thinking the water has something to do with the anti-aging of that world, and To-Wonga Falls was the headway. That’s why the water glows there.

That planet has the Fountain of Youth. Only it doesn’t keep you a child, but it does keep you from growing old.

After drinking the water at To-Wonga Falls, we all emptied our water containers and filled them up again at the falls. We all felt better than we had in years. It had only been a day, but I already had more of a spring in my step.

So we were off to Oasis Village, the high desert village. We hadn’t seen any Bigfoot people in two days. The average days were 80 to 85 degrees, and sunrise was at 5:00 A.M., Twin Phoenix time. Sunset was about 10:00 P.M. The closer we got to the high mountain desert, the longer the days seemed to be.

What I wouldn’t have given for some kind of transportation other than walking, but as long as we had To-Wonga River water, we all had more energy.

We eventually ran across some humans heading west, and they said we were two days away from Oasis Village. One man pulled me aside and said, “Why are you with that Bigfoot lover?” And I asked him what he meant. He told me Tracy was a spy for the Bigfoot people and to watch out. She had gotten someone he knew into trouble.

She had told a Bigfoot about his friend, and from then on, that friend had to live in Bigfoot City and was watched constantly. I thanked him and told him I wouldn’t mention his name. And then I told Ed that Tracy couldn’t be trusted.

He got mad but understood, and he said, “I knew she had a secret. I just didn’t know what.”

I told him that we needed to talk to her. “Tracy, come here,” I said, “We need to talk. I was told that you’re a traitor to your own kind.”

She said, “Now that I know the real truth about what we discovered at To-Wonga Falls, and the Bigfoot people said they were the Ancients… Now I know that’s not true. I know I’ll have to earn your respect and trust in me. I will try by best.”

“Why did you tell on your own kind?” I asked.

“I was told that those humans were eating animals and trying to kill the Bigfoot.”

I told her I understood, and I asked if she was told to spy on us. She said, “Yes, but after getting to know you all, I wouldn’t. I consider you family and know you wouldn’t harm anyone.”

Oasis Village was just over the next rise. It was an all human village in the high desert. As we walked into the village, we noticed that is was huge and had a lake in the center of town with an inlet and outlet streams. The water in the lake glowed just like To-Wonga.

But we were still on a mission, and we talked to the elders, and that night we had a fish fry. The elders told me there were caves to the west, and they had heard there might be someone living there, but they weren’t sure if it was who we were seeking or not.

The next morning, I told everyone to stay there and stock up on supplies. I was going to the caves and would be back in 3 or 4 days. It was most of a good day’s walk to the caves, and I proceeded to look through the caves, but didn’t find any sign of anyone living there.

Well, two days had gone by, and I decided that, on the third day, I would head back to Oasis Town. I went to sleep that night, and about an hour before daylight, I was awakened by a sound. Someone was standing over me and screaming, “What are you doing in my cave! GET OUT! Don’t come back!”

I was half asleep, and I said, “Bill Johnson sent me.”

The man stopped screaming and said, “Do you know Bill?”

I said, “Yes, I do. Bill told me to find you.” I asked his name. Bill told me his name was Kermit the Hermit, and if he didn’t say Kermit, if he answered with anything else, he wasn’t who I was looking for.

He said, “George.”

“My friend Bill says, if you say anything but this specific name, you’re not who I’m looking for,” I said and turned to leave.

And he said, “Wait a minute. Bill taught you well. I’m Kermit the Hermit.”

“Wow! I’ve been looking for you for at least 6 months. I’m looking for the Golden Compass.”

In reply, Kermit said, “Show me the Golden Key.” From a cord around my neck, I pull the Golden Key out of my shirt. Kermit said, “I didn’t know it actually existed. Now the Golden Compass… Well, it’s like this. I couldn’t keep it on me, from fear of the Bigfoot, so I hid it in a dark place deep in the caves.”

I said, “Do you know about the Ancients at To-Wonga Falls?”

Kermit said, “Yes, we all do around here. Oasis Town and the surrounding area. Some of the people near Bigfoot City even know there, but they can’t talk about it. They’re afraid of the Bigfoot people.

I said that wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

“Well, let’s go in the cave and get the compass,” I said. We started walking.

After a while, Kermit said, “I have to warn you, I have a friend in the caves.”

I thought, “How bad could that be?” and as I turned a corner in the cave it opened up into a great big, giant room, and in the corner of the room was a Bigfoot sitting in a dimly lit area. I looked at Kermit and said, “What the…?”

And Kermit said, “Relax, it’s not what you think. This is…well, I call him Ralph, but his real name is Rafe-Gun, but you can call him Ralph. He’s actually the King of all Bigfoot, or he’s supposed to be, but there are too many Bigfoot that wanted to rule everyone instead of the way it’s supposed to be. If Ralph could become King again, like he’s suppose to, the Bigfoot people would be the protectors, not the rulers.”

“Hey Kermit,” I said, “about the---ya know…”

“It’s okay. Ralph knows, too,” Kermit says to Ralph, “He’s come for the Golden Compass.”

Ralph had it camouflaged, but he handed it to me. Ralph looked at me and said in my head, “I need help to get control of my people again.”

I looked at Kermit and asked, “Is he serious?”

And Kermit said, “Yes, and I trust him completely.”

“Okay,” I said, “with the Golden Key and the compass, we can make you King again. We need to go back to Oasis Town, so I can get back to the ones I came with and talk to the elders about Ralph.”
_______________________

[So now it’s getting serious! Revolution!?!? Tune in NEXT WEEK for the FINAL PART of Randy Long’s “Bigfoot” adventure!!!! And if you made it this far into the story but haven’t read the beginning, you should go HERE and read the whole thing! ---RFY]

---Randy Long

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"Bigfoot (Part 7)" by Randy Long

There were so many animals in that world that they needed to be regulated. Some of the animals were domesticated, and most all the animals were pretty tame ‘cuz there was no threat, from or against. Most humans lived by water there and were farmers. The primary food there was grown, and a few people threw nets in the water for fish.

Highland Town, I believed, was just on the other side of the next mountain. We came around the corner, and at the top of the mountain, there it was! We came into town and were met by the Elders of the town, and we asked if they’d seen Ed. They said yes! And they said he was on the other side of town. They proceeded to show us around.

They were very friendly people. I could see why Ed stayed there. It was a pretty big town for a human residence in that world. One of the elders said, “Let me see if they’re here.” He knocked on the door, and sure enough Ed came out and greeted us.

I guess I never seen anyone so happy to see anyone before. “Hey, good to see you two!” The elders left, and sure enough, Ed had a girlfriend. Her name was Tracy. Seemed real nice. I asked if Linda and Tracy would make something to eat.

Really, I just wanted to talk to Ed alone. Told him sorry he couldn’t go home, but we need to talk. I told him, the Bigfoot people say we can’t leave. “Well, between you and me, I’ve got a plan!” I told him I met a man named Bill, and he told me a story and we might be able to go home, but it won’t be easy.

I started telling Ed about the doorways, and asked if he remembered about the Golden Key I have around my neck. He remembered. I told him it came from the Bigfoot world. Bill told me this world has a bunch of keys, but it’s said there are only two Golden Keys. One was around my neck, and Bill gave me the other one. No one knows I have both, but it’s said that the Golden Keys will unlock any doorway, and might even allow us to go home, because there’s one thing that most people and the Bigfoot don’t know—there’s a magic doorway!

The magic doorway only appears in certain spots on this planet and at certain times, but needs a Golden Key to open it, and then the magic doorway will take you where you want to go.

But, of course, there’s a catch! There’s an old man who lives in a cave on the other side of the desert where a mountain starts and the desert ends. There’s a hidden cave in the side of the mountain. The old man knows when and where the door will appear. Bill said not to let the Bigfoot people find out. He said we would need one other thing, a compass. The compass will show us where the door will be. Bill said the old man in the cave can tell us where and how to find the compass. But above all, never let the Bigfoot people know anything!

We stayed a couple days, and we were all going to leave and look for the compass and the old man. Ed and his new-found friend, Tracy, were pretty chummy, and we asked her if she wanted to come with us. She said she did. She said she’d been there all her life.

Ed and I decided not to tell her our plans right away, just that we wanted to explore the planet more and that she would make the perfect guide. So we headed out of the village: myself, Linda, Ed and Tracy. (By the way, my name is Randy.) I told Tracy we would like to go to the high desert mountains to the human village of Oasis. I was told by Bill that the old man in the cave lived near there, or so Bill had heard. Tracy said it was a long journey away. She said she’d never been there but that she thought she knew how to get there.

So we were off to Oasis village in the high desert. Tracy said it was at least 3 or 4 weeks away.

Tracy and Ed were pretty close, but Ed said there was something about her. Maybe it was just that she was born there, or maybe something different. She was a bit secretive, like maybe she was hiding something.

Well, we were off. Tracy said we should first head to the Great Falls of To-Wonga. The Great Falls are the only place that an ancient statue still stands from the ancient people who lived there before the Bigfoot. This is the only remnant of the ancients left on this world that shows what they looked like, and Tracy said that at the Falls the water glows even at night!

I was real curious to see the statue of the ancient beings and to see what they looked like. We headed southeast through the Forest of Weer. They say the Forest of Weer’s trees are the oldest on that planet. The trees are blue, they say. When the planet was young there was less oxygen in the atmosphere and the trees grew blue, and some of the trees were thousands of years old. They say the largest one is 980 feet tall and over 30 feet around.

The Forest of Weer is the biggest forest. It’s said it’s a hundred million acres. We were only going through one edge of the forest, about 20 miles across. Amazing! Blue trees! Looking up and seeing as far as you can see, to the tops of the trees! There was thick brush and a small trail heading through the forest. It took three days to pass through the edge of the Forest of Weer.

While going through deep in the forest, we seen the blue jackalopes, the only place the jackalopes are blue, from eating plant life in the Forest of Weer. I was told by Tracy that it’s good luck to see blue jackalopes because they’re rare. After leaving the Forest of Weer, the trees became less dense and were back to green and normal foliage.

I noticed that the further southeast we went, the dryer the air became. There were also less trees, and the foliage was changing, becoming more desert like. There were also less Bigfoot people. It was odd not seeing Bigfoot people after seeing them all the time.

It had been a week since we’d run across any water. It was a good thing we had plenty of water with us.

A week and a half since we left the Forest of Weer, and we had three or four days more before we reached the Falls of To-Wonga. One more day passed, and we reached the River of To-Wonga. It seemed a flock of gryphons lived near the rocks next to the To-Wonga River. Tracy said it was two more days until we reached the falls.

Now that we were at the river, we stocked up on water and fish. I was amazed that the gryphons were friendly. They are legendary creatures with the head, talons, and wings of an eagle, and the body of a lion.

One more day passed uneventfully. We got up bright and early the next morning, so we could get to the falls. Finally, around noon, we showed up at To-Wonga Falls. To my astonishment, the ancients were humans. People who looked just like us were the first that ruled this planet!

The writings on the stone statue explained all: the humans left that planet and went through the doorways long ago. They left the planet so the animals would prosper and left the Bigfoot people in charge to protect them. It’s kind of funny—it went full circle. The true secret of that world is that the ancients knew. Humans would kill all the animals, and to preserve the planet, they all left.

Then we forgot that world.

They left the marker at To-Wonga Falls so anyone looking could find out, but it would take a long journey to find out. On one hand, I felt ashamed, and on the other I wondered how we lost our intelligence—and how many other planets did we go to through all the different doorways?

Knowing all of this changed how we looked at the world. We were all a bit more humble, but we still had a mission, and the next day we would be leaving To-Wonga Falls to go to Oasis village in the high desert.

—Randy Long

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“Serialized Novella: ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapters 34 to 37)”

[Well, here it is, folks. The final few chapters in my novella. Thanks to everybody who stuck with the long serialization process! Let me know what you think of the tale! I’ll have a link at the end of the post to the ENTIRE STORY in one handy place, if you missed a chapter or two! In addition, if I get around to it, I’ll compile the story into book form and for digital download. I’ll try to keep you all informed as that project progresses! Thanks again! On to the final devastation!!! ---RFY]

ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapter 34)

Shea rushed through the now door-less opening to the roof, followed by Rose and Allen, as Stacey crumpled forward. Wei and Biggs, forced to uphold the barrier without their third, a barrier which was still under attack by dozens of beetles and Shadow creatures, screamed in shock and pain then both collapsed.

Allen felt the hairs on his body twitch as the shimmering barrier dissolved. He heard a high, cackling laugh that filled his chest with ice, and saw Krystal float down to the roof next to Angie. Krystal raised her arm and waved, and Angie mimicked her movements, exactly. Krystal moved her other arm, stretching it out to her side, and Angie swung her arm, which still held the knife in it, out as well. Krystal smiled a wild, wicked grin.

"No..." Rose said, quietly, her hands springing up to cover her cheeks.

The smiles on both Krystal and Angie's faces grew sickeningly huge, then Krystal jerked her outstretched arm quickly to her heart, and Angie, in return, drove the knife in her hand into her chest. She fell, face down, onto the rooftop.

Both Rose and Allen screamed in anguish. Shea drew her pistol and fired into the witch, the bullets tearing at her ragged, black dress but seeming to pass straight through Krystal's body.

Krystal floated up, off the rooftop, her black knife appearing suddenly in her hand, when she suddenly froze in mid-air. A dry whisper of a voice said, softly, "Stop."

Krystal's face looked pained. Her grin evaporated, and a look of fear took its place. The air on the roof grew colder, and a dark mist formed between Krystal and the others. The mist swirled like black ink in the air, and a single Shadow appeared, with red light pouring from its eyes. It swam forward a step, a liquid shadow, then solidified into an ancient looking man, standing on the rooftop, completely bald, in a shining black suit.

"Come down," he said, his voice dry and soft, barely a whisper. Krystal landed on the roof then froze like a statue.

"You are Allen Tombes," the man said, not asking, just stating a fact. His eyes were red, with black irises that stared directly at Allen. Allen shivered. He looked at Rose, who seemed to be as immobile as Krystal, then at Shea, who was also frozen.

"Who are you?" Allen said, looking back at the man. Though Allen tried to sound brave, even defiant, his voice shook.

"Such a waste," the man said, nudging the body of one of the guards lying on the rooftop with the toe of a shining black shoe. "All of this senseless death. It's tragic, isn't it?" The man's red eyes swiveled back toward Allen. The man's head shook slowly back and forth, apparently deeply moved by the crumpled bodies at his feet. "But we can stop all of this, of course," the man said, his voice consoling, almost pleading with Allen to understand him.

"What do you mean?" Allen said. The man took another step toward him.

"Your parents didn't have to die. You know that to be true, don't you? Your friends, none of these poor, simple humans," the man waved at the bodies lying around, wisps of black smoke trailing his hand as it moved through the air. He took another step.

"It's you that I want, child," the man said in a calm, almost sweet, voice. Allen shivered again.

"Why? Why me?" Allen said. He moved back a step.

"Because I know what is inside of you. I'm trying to save your world. The creature that's trying to take you over, to possess you, I know what it's capable of doing. It's already tried to murder your brother, one of the only family members you have left." The man stepped closer. "If you allow it to come into your world completely, it will consume every living creature on this planet. Everything will be destroyed," the man said, in a pity-filled, sad voice. The man stopped, only a few paces from Allen, and stared at him, his red eyes unblinking.

Allen's lip trembled.

"You can save your sister---your brother---all of your friends," the man said.

"How?" Allen asked, his voice a whisper that echoed the Shadow Lord's soft voice.

"If you surrender, if you will come with me, now, so that I can sever the connection between you and the fire demon, I will call off the attack on this building. I'll withdraw my forces and leave everyone else unharmed," his voice was so calm, so soft and compelling. Allen glanced again at his sister, her face frozen in a scream of terror.

Allen shook all over. He felt tired, almost relieved that this would all be over, very soon. He looked back into the chalk white face of the man in front of him, who was smiling, reassuringly, and nodding.

"Just so you know, Kiddo," said a voice from behind Allen, "he's lying." Allen turned and saw Chaz walking through the doorway and step out onto the roof. Chaz was carrying something in his hand.

"There's no chance in Hell he's going to call off the attack. He just wants you dead so he can slaughter everyone here more easily. But now, kid, you better duck," Chaz said.

Allen turned back toward the white-faced man in time to see his features contort into a mask of rage, the red eyes blazing, then the face melted into mist, and the creature lunged at Allen, its arms spread wide.

Allen dove toward Rose, who was still frozen, and pulled her out of the way. Chaz threw a magnesium flare into the Shadow Lord's face. It screamed, a high, echoing howl, and flew backwards.

The creature yelled something in a language that Allen couldn't understand, and Krystal snapped back to life.

Chaz, who was bent over Allen's bag, yelled to him, "Hey! You'll want this!" He tossed Allen's sword to him, and Allen, who was still laying on the rooftop next to his sister, caught it with one hand.

"What's going on?" Rose said. She sat up, looking confused.

"You're about to die!" shrieked Krystal, brandishing her huge, black blade.

Allen jumped to his feet and pulled the sheath off his sword, which burned a bright blue-green. He moved, quickly, between Rose and Krystal, and set his feet in a fighting stance like the one he'd seen Chris take in the training room. Allen heard a crackle of energy, and Kitsle, buzzing loudly, flew out of his bag, hovering near Allen's shoulder.

The Shadow Lord growled a few words in his strange language, and Allen recognized enough to know it was some kind of curse. Then the Shadow Lord vanished with a thunder-crack and a swirl of black mist.

The evil smile that had been on Krystal's face fell, replaced by a look of savage anger. She glanced around the rooftop, and the wicked smile returned. She switched her knife from her right hand to her left, then drew the blade across her empty palm. A thick, black blood oozed out of the wound. The knife floated out of her hand and hovered above her head as she dipped a finger into the blood and drew a spell in the air in this sick, black ink.

"This ain't good..." Chaz said, moving closer to Allen and Rose.

Allen was confused, then noticed the bodies on the roof starting to twitch, then move, then stand.

"Kitsle, some of them have guns," Chaz said.

Kitsle's wings flashed and he zipped off toward the nearest group of armed guards. Their eyes were black and faces blank. They moved slowly at first, but picked up speed as the spell worked its way into their joints. Allen saw Kitsle exploded in a shower of sparks, and a few of the guards dropped back to the rooftop.

"Oh no..." moaned Rose, as she spotted Angie, the knife handle still sticking out of her chest, lumbering toward them.

"Come on!" Chaz said, heading back toward the doorway. He kicked at a guard, whose uniform was covered in blood from a horrible neck wound.

Kitsle flashed, again and again, dropping guards then buzzing on the next group, but it was obvious to Allen that there were too many for Kitsle to stop them all. They had to escape. Then he remembered the real threat.

"Where did Krystal go?" Allen yelled. Rose, almost at the doorway, screamed as Krystal flew out of the sky above Allen, slashing him across the chest with her knife. He fell to his knees, touching his fingers to the gash in his chest and looking at the blood on his fingers.

"No!" Rose screamed. She tried to run back to Allen, but Chaz grabbed her by the shoulders. "Let go of me!" she yelled, smacking at his hands.

"You don't want to be out there right now," Chaz said and pointed at Allen, whose hair had gone dark blue and begun to burn.

Allen, moving like a puppet pulled by invisible strings, floated up from the rooftop and into a standing position, hovering inches above the roof's surface. He moved his head, slowly, scanning the reanimated guards rushing toward him. In his right hand he still held his sword, but it was now engulfed in dark blue flame. He raised his empty hand and a swath of fire, moving like a churning wave, flew out at the approaching hordes. Their bodies ignited instantly on contact with the flame, flesh and clothing and bone melting like wax. The guards, liquified by the flame, all fell. Rose, seeing the flames reach the lumbering form of her friend, covered her eyes as Angie's body melted away, the charred metal of the knife clanking on the roof amidst anemic ashes.

Krystal cursed at Allen as she floated high above the roof. Allen raised his empty hand to her and she, again, froze in mid-air. Allen's fingers twisted and Krystal was dragged through the air toward him, screaming in pain the entire way.

"You tried to kill us," Allen said in a dreamlike, hollow tone. He rubbed his fingers across the place on his chest where the gash had been, though it was completely healed now, with only the slashed shirt, swimming in flames, as evidence of what should have been a mortal wound.

"You don't belong here!" Krystal spat, her face twisting in fury.

"And you do?" Allen asked, his flaming, blue-black eyes looking into her dark, dead ones.

"Humans are soft and weak. You'll destroy them all," she growled.

"Maybe," Allen said, softly, a smile suddenly curling his lips, "but first, we're going to destroy you. You've been killed once already. We can smell the stench of death all over you. It's disgusting." Allen closed his eyes and sniffed the air. "And more importantly," he said, opening his eyes and smiling, "we hate you." Allen smiled wickedly, then stabbed his sword into the witch's chest. She screamed. The flames around Allen grew brighter and more intense, and the sword in Krystal's chest boiled with dark blue flame. Her mouth fell open and her head rolled to one side, then she burst into flames and, in seconds, melted into ashes.

Allen looked at the remains of Krystal on the rooftop. He was still smiling.

"Allen?" Rose called, her voice shaking with fear. Allen turned his head toward her and Chaz, still half in the doorway. Allen's smile slid away, leaving his expression blank.

Kitsle buzzed up to Allen at that moment, fluttering and clicking, then flew to the edge of the building. Allen, still hovering just above the surface of the roof, followed Kitsle with his eyes. Kitsle clicked and flashed again, then flew over the side of the building and down toward the street. Allen, looking back at his sister, rose higher into the air, floated toward the edge of the building, and followed Kitsle over the side.

ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapter 35)

On the streets below, Chris was still waging what he was beginning to consider a losing war against the Shadows, now that the shield spell had fallen. When the shield fell, the remaining beetles and dozens of Shadows and crawling eyeballs had entered the building, smashing or chewing through windows or demolishing sections of the building's walls. Haro ordered his clan to remain with Chris and continue the fight against the Devourer, but Haro himself had rushed off to the dorm rooms to make certain that all the children living within were protected.

Meanwhile, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of the steps to the Brashley building's doors, Tazzi had succeeded in casting his freezing spell on the Devourer, which had slowed the great nightmare down, but hadn't stopped it completely. Its tentacles still moved and thrashed, but now at half speed, like a film played in slow motion. Maintaining the spell required all of his focus and mental energy, and he was surrounded by a circle of Eddings's men, who fought back Shadows and scuttling eyeballs. Horace, swinging a gigantic, curved scimitar, which glowed red, tore through Shadows and knocked screeching eyeballs away.

"Shit! There goes the power," Chris said to Horace, as the beetles apparently found and chewed through the main power conduits for the building. As he tore off his now useless headset, the majority of the lights in the building behind him went out. Chris smiled wearily as one of Haro's clan slashed through a swarm of eyeballs, which seemed to exist at a strange energy frequency that made it impossible for most of the human guards to kill them, even the elites. The Simmerons, however, had no trouble destroying the spidery creatures. But Chris also realized that his forces where getting tired, while the enemy onslaught continued to press forward, Shadows were still slipping out of the rift into the streets, and new eyeballs were being let loose whenever a Simmeron tore a thrashing tentacle out of the Devourer. It was still at least an hour before dawn, and Chris was uncertain how much more the guards could take. He also feared for Allen and Rose, who the control room had lost contact with before the shield spell went down.

Chris felt the ache in his arms as he slashed through a Shadow that had appeared near Tazzi's group. He looked at Horace, who was sweating and moving more slowly than before, but still smiling as he punted an eyeball and it screeched in pain.

Chris heard a buzzing sound over the din of the battle, and the street began to glow with a bluish light. He looked up and saw a dark blue fireball falling slowly down the side of the building, tracked by a flashing globe of electrical sparks, which he recognized, after a few seconds, as his brother's lightning bug. As the ball of flame drew nearer, Chris realized that it was Allen. Despite the warm wind that flashed out of his brother's body, Chris felt a cold chill.

As he watched the figure of his brother, consumed by a layer of dark blue flame, land on the street, Chris was suddenly knocked off his feet by a huge, blue beetle, which pinned him to the ground.

The beetle snapped at his face with its giant mandibles, and stabbed him in the side with one of its pointed claws. The claw tore through the body armor and into his flesh, and Chris screamed. He saw the shadow of a figure approaching, then a huge boot kicked the beetle, crunching into its shell and sending it flying down the street. Horace leaped over Chris, following his limping prey. His red scimitar flashed through the air, slicing the beetle in two.

Horace's huge hand pulled Chris back onto his feet, and Chris heard Horace's deep, warm laugh.

"Now we're even for Madrid!" Horace said and smacked Chris on the back.

"You still owe me one for Hong Kong," Chris grunted, holding his hand to his bleeding side.

Horace laughed again and dashed back towards the group of men guarding Tazzi. Chris looked around for Allen and saw him hovering slightly above the pavement staring at the Devourer. A swarm of eyeballs rushed toward Allen, swiping at him with their spidery legs, but as they touched him, they squealed in pain and melted like ice under a blow torch.

Kitsle buzzed over to Chris, flew down near his bleeding side, clicked and chirped a few things that Chris didn't understand, then flew back to Allen, clicking and sparking. Allen turned to look at Chris for a second, his eyes flaring with dark blue flame, then scanned the entire battle scene. In a voice that vibrated with power, Allen said to Chris, "You should take your men back into the building. I don't want you getting in the way of my fun." Not waiting for a reply, Allen faced the Devourer again, and began walking toward it in slow, measured steps, each footfall a few inches off the ground but still scorching the pavement.

Chris's mouth felt too dry to talk, but he tried to swallow, then he yelled out, "Everyone, back to the building. It's about to get serious out here." Horace nodded, slowly, as the flames around Allen intensified. He waved for his men to follow Chris inside.

As Allen approached, the Devourer moaned, a hollow, terrible sound that shook the windows of nearby buildings. The great beast shuddered, and another swarm of eyeballs pulled themselves from its nightmarish body and raced toward Allen. He raised his empty left hand and a tidal-wave of dark blue flame rushed at the approaching swarm, melting them instantly. The tar in the pavement began to bubble under Allen's form, and the heat flashed off his body in licks of dark blue flame. He continued to walk toward the giant creature, casually tossing the sword away.

Chris, who had retreated to the top of the steps, watched Allen move casually toward the Devourer.

Horace turned to glance back at the scene before going through the doors of the building, and said, "Sure am glad he's on our side!"

"Is he?" Chris asked.


ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapter 36)

The Devourer bellowed another low, moaning howl, like the sound of a train wreck or a slow motion explosion. The creature, released from Tazzi's spell, swiped one of its giant tentacles at Allen and grabbed him, pinning his arms to his side. The tentacle pulled Allen toward the huge head, and the body began to tilt backward, ready to consume him.

Chris felt the hairs on his body go stiff, then a huge gust of hot wind pushed into him, stinging his eyes and drying his lips, instantly.

"I think we'd better get inside," Chris said.

"Yeah, I think you're right," Horace said.

The Simmerons, fire creatures themselves, all stopped their hunting and gathered at the bottom of the steps to the Brashley building to watch the clash between Allen and the Devourer. Chris waved the last few humans inside the building and closed the doors. Tazzi cast a protective charm on the doors, then shrugged his shoulders, indicating that it was the best he could do, but under the circumstances, he didn't know if it would be strong enough to hold against Hellfire. Chris and Horace ordered their men to take the stairs and start hunting, floor by floor, for any creatures that had gotten inside the building.

Outside, Allen was held tight in the Devourer's tentacle, but was still smiling. The flame around him grew darker, as if the midnight sky were pouring out of him in thick waves. The Devourer began to shriek, and the tentacle wrapped around Allen began to bubble and boil, then shrivel away, melting as the eyeballs had.

The Devourer shifted its massive body and started to pull itself on its remaining tentacles back toward the rift. Allen, spotting this, grew a sick, devilish grin, and waved his hand toward the glimmering opening. The rift wavered, then collapsed in a crash of sparks and sound. The Devourer, cut off from escape, roared, shattering thousands of windows and rocking Allen backward. It raised dozens of thrashing tentacles, and pushed itself into the air with the four thickest at its base. It pounced on top of Allen, then folded itself around him, sucking him in and constricting itself around his form.

The Great Wolf, woken by sounds of the Devourer's attack, staggered to its feet.

"We are lost," it said solemnly. A few of the Simmerons laughed.

There was a strange, sucking sound, and a wind, which pulled cars, debris, and bodies toward the Devourer, and even staggered a few of Haro's clan, who began to grumble in their language, some laughing loudly.

The Great Wolf strained against the pull of the wind, crouching low to the ground.

The Devourer began to moan again, stretched a tentacle, weakly, toward the Great Wolf, then was lost to sight as dark blue flame began to flare up from inside the monster's body. Dark waves of fire suddenly exploded from the Devourer, melting the streets and vaporizing the debris that had been sucked too near. The blue flame crackled, reaching outward to consume everything around it, then stopped, frozen for an instant, then flooding back into itself, revealing Allen, floating in the center of a crater.

He hovered back to a portion of the street that hadn't been completely destroyed, stepped onto the pavement, and laughed, a sick, inhuman, insane sound. Haro's clan moved in front of Allen and bowed. Allen looked at them and chuckled.

The Great Wolf approached, slowly. "I know you," the wolf said.

"Do you?" Allen asked, his blue flame eyes staring into the wolf's brilliant green.

"You are Agni, the Fire God," the Great Wolf said, bowing his head.

Allen smiled. "And you are a forest spirit, young pup. There, now we've introduced ourselves."

The wolf stared, fearfully, at Allen, whose attention had been captured by Kitsle, buzzing near Allen's head.

"Why have you returned?" the Great Wolf asked, once Allen's gaze had finally returned to him.

"It's been nearly eleven thousand years since I've visited. I was sleeping in a comfortable abyss, when this child," he tapped himself on the chest," called for flame. I heard him. It's been so long since I've had true followers here, I'd nearly forgotten the place."

"Few true gods remain on this world. Humans have lost their taste for them, and sadly, have invented their own gods to take the place of the natural spirits," the wolf said.

"Perhaps they need to be reminded of why they worshiped and feared the gods," Allen said, the devilish smile returning to his face. Kitsle clicked and buzzed in his ear, and the smile faded.

"Allen!" yelled Rose as she, Chris, and Haro came through the doors of the building. Shayla, Cheever, and a number of others followed. The sun, a thin, orange crack in the sky, appeared between the buildings blocking the horizon.

Allen scanned the multitude of faces appearing from inside the building. He looked at Kitsle, the Great Wolf, and the bowing Simmerons, who were quickly joined by Haro. Allen watched as Rose walked toward him, but was stopped by Chris, his hand grabbing her arm. She shook loose of her brother's grip and continued forward, her eyes wide with fear.

"You cannot stay on this planet, Fire God. Surely, you know this," the wolf said.

"No 'thank you' for getting rid of your little pest problem?" Allen said, inclining his head toward the smoldering crater behind him.

"This world, these creatures, they are all far too delicate to worship you. They could not survive your presence. Not for very long," the wolf said.

Allen raised a hand and looked at it. "This boy seems pretty sturdy to me," he said, and Kitsle landed on one of his fingers, clicking and popping wildly.

"The boy is an exception, a throw-back to the time of heroes," the wolf said. "Were it not for his strength of spirit, that body would have been destroyed the moment you entered it."

Kitsle clicked and buzzed, glowing and shooting sparks.

Allen frowned and his shoulders slumped.

"Fine," he said, in a sulking voice. "I can see that I'm not wanted here." His expression brightened, "Maybe I'll go hunting for more of these old beasts to kill. That was fun!" he said, then his face went blank and his body fell to the ground.


ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapter 37)

Three months later----

Chris slashed at Allen with his blue, glowing blade. Allen blocked the swing, his own blade flashing blue-green as he spun and counter attacked with a thrust. The sensor chip on the back of his hand glinted under the lights of the training room's high ceiling, which still bore the scorch marks from Allen's first training session. Most of the remodeling and repairs were already complete, but the room still needed to be repainted.

Cheever and Rose stood behind the computer cart, Cheever nodding and brushing absently at his mustache.

Chris thrust his sword at Allen's chest, and Allen parried the thrust, but the maneuver left him off balance. Chris swept his foot out, tripping Allen, who fell to the floor with a thud.

Rose gasped, then shook her head. Chris bent over Allen and said, "Are you always going to fall for that?" He reached out his hand and pulled Allen to his feet.

"Peaked at 280 that time!" Cheever said, clapping his hands. "Temperature's normal, but his heart rate is pretty high. We'd better call it a day."

"So, how are you feeling?" Rose asked Allen, looking a bit apprehensive.

"You ask me that every time we practice," Allen said. "I'm fine. It's been three months, Sis! I'm not possessed anymore!"

"That's for sure," Chris said, chiding him.

"Don't listen to him, my boy. You're already generating one of the strongest energy fields at Brashley, and you're still only fifteen!" Cheever said, patting Allen on the shoulder.

"Yeah, but his technique sucks," Chris laughed.

"Well, look who my teacher is! What do you expect?" Allen said, laughing.

"Ooooo... Good one," Chris said, punching his brother in the shoulder.

"You boys play nice," Shea said as she stepped into the training room. Allen went red in the face. "Rose, my mom wants to see you. There's a job that needs a witch, and Esmeralda says you can ride along as part of your training, if you're not too busy."

"Hot damn! See you guys later! I've got a job to do," Rose said, grabbing her jacket from a chair and following Shea out of the room.

"When do I get to go on a job?" Allen asked as he helped Cheever push the computer cart back into the storage room.

"I'm sure it won't be long," Cheever said, smiling the huge grin that made his eyes disappear.

"Yeah, we destroyed a huge chunk of the Shadow population, but they'll build back up," Chris said. "I'm sure you didn't put us out of a job, yet."

"Do you think the Shadow Lord is going to keep trying to kill me?" Allen asked, his face suddenly dark.

"I wouldn't worry," Chris said. "Just keep up with your training, and if he does ever come after you, we'll be ready to kick his ass, again." Chris mussed Allen's hair, then turned off the lights and they walked out the door.

End.

[There are thoughts in my head for a second Allen Tombes story, but nothing even in the outlining stages as of yet. If anyone is interested in hearing what happens next, let me know. Meanwhile, I think I’m going to switch back to my unfinished Sharkey and the Jabberwock story! I’ll do some reediting, maybe some reposts of the early chapters, and then finish that sucker, too! Thanks again for hanging with me and the monsters for a bit!]

Here’s a link to the entire Allen Tombes story:

ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER


---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Grand Hoohaa of The P.E.W.)

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“Serialized Novella: ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapters 32 and 33)”

[Allen was just a boy who liked to read horror comics, until his brother mysteriously disappeared. Now, he and his sister orphaned and his missing brother returned but radically changed, Allen finds himself the target of a dark and powerful force that wants him dead. The Shadows have come, the battle is imminent---dare I say it?---LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!! If you’ve been waiting for some SERIOUS monster action, the wait is over… ---RFY]

_____________

ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapter 32)

When Shea returned to the dorm room a few hours later, Angie was sleeping on her bunk, an empty pizza box laying at the end of her bed. Rose and Allen were sitting on Rose's bed watching a DVD on Rose's computer.

"Eddings is going to be here in a few minutes. Mom wants us on the roof to meet him," Shea said.

"The roof?" Allen asked.

"He's flying over in his chopper. It's a beaut!" Shea said, her eye twinkling with techno-lust.

"Should we wake Angie up?" Rose asked.

"Nah, let her rest," Shea said and waved for them to follow.


On the roof, Allen found Cheever, Shayla, Chaz, and Chris, plus about a dozen guards, waiting outside a booth that looked almost exactly like the guard station Allen had seen when they'd pulled into the basement parking garage. Apparently, landing aircraft at Brashley was a common occurrence.

The landing area was brightly lit, red lights flashing in a pattern that looked like a huge bulls-eye on the roof, making the night sky seem almost black. Chaz waved when he spotted Allen, but his usual smile was only half formed, and his eyes looked very tired.

"Just in time," Shayla said, pointing at a pair of flashing lights approaching their building. As the helicopter drew nearer, it grew in size until Allen realized that it was almost as long as a city bus. The twin blades keeping it aloft caused a mini-hurricane as the vehicle maneuvered to land, and Allen covered his ears and turned his face away.

As the machine landed heavily and the blades began to slow, a large panel unfolded out of the side and lowered itself to the rooftop forming a set of stairs, and a parade of men climbed out.

"Eddings! Good of you to come!" Cheever said, smiling and stepping forward to shake the hand of a tall, thin man with immaculately combed black hair. Eddings was wearing a shining, dark green suit, a black button up shirt, and a green tie, with what looked like emerald chips affixed to it. His black eyebrows and mustache were pencil thin, and so straight that Allen wondered if they'd been drawn on with a ruler.

The man extended his hand to Cheever and smiled back, his eyes crinkling, while the thin eyebrows, mysteriously, remained rigid.

"Eddings," Chris said in a polite, but not exactly friendly voice.

"Christopher, good to see you again," Eddings said. They didn't shake hands.

"Well, well, well---my old rival," Chaz said, stepping toward Eddings, whose face immediately went sour.

"Shayla, I can't believe you would associate with scum like this man," Eddings said, bitterly. "Everyone back in the 'copter. We're leaving!" His men stopped, most of them looking shocked. Only one man smiled, a huge African American in heavy body armor and carrying what looked like a cannon.

Eddings stood eying Chaz, coldly, for a few seconds while everyone waited, uncomfortably, then Eddings smiled widely and pulled Chaz into as close to a bear-hug as he could manage with his thin arms. They patted each other on the back, then separated.

"It's been too long, my friend," Eddings said.

"You know, I've meant to drop by," Chaz said, "but, you know. Been a bit busy," he shrugged.

"So, Shayla," Eddings said, shaking her hand, "where is this wonder-kin you've been going on and on about?"

"This is my brother, Allen," Chris said, before Shayla could answer. Eddings looked Allen up and down, as if searching for some visible sign of the power hidden inside his body. His eye lingered on the gargoyle charm around Allen's neck for just a moment, then Eddings smiled and stretched out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Allen. I'm Philip Eddings. I can't wait to see you in action!" He shook Allen's hand, and Allen was surprised at how soft Edding's grip was.

"Eddings, Allen isn't going to be involved in the fighting," Shayla said, firmly. "He's only been here for a few days, and he hasn't had the proper training, yet, for us to expose him to serious danger."

"He's a natural. He held me off like a trained soldier without even breaking a sweat," Chris said, in a gruff tone.

"We've discussed this," Shayla said, her voice like steel. "He and his sister will be with us in the control room. If we are unable to hold off the Shadows' attack until dawn, Cheever is to take them both and escape."

"Pity," Eddings said, scanning Allen again. "So how much time do we have?"

Cheever stepped forward," It looks like the rift is going to open within the hour."

"Have the citizens been evacuated yet?" Eddings asked.

"All but a few stragglers," Shayla said. "I have a handful of men out picking up the strays and 'convincing' them to leave the area. Once the last few are out, we're going to have four mages set up at strategic points around the city creating a containment spell. It should keep the citizens out and all but the most powerful creatures in." Eddings nodded slowly.

"And what about this building?" Eddings asked.

"Stacey, Wei, and Biggs will be concentrating on a barrier. They should be able to hold it until dawn, as long as we can keep the Shadows from attacking the shield directly."

"Why do we only need to hold it until dawn?" Rose asked.

"The Shadows die in direct sunlight," Cheever said. "If they can't get to us before dawn, they'll have to flee back to the Shadow Realm."

Cheever received a call on his phone. "Okay, understood!" he said, then tapped his phone off. "Shayla, the energy levels around the rift are spiking. It's getting ready to open."

-------------

ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapter 33)

"Angie's still in the dorm room," Rose said, her face suddenly dark with worry.

"I'll take you to get her," Shea said. "I'm out of the big fight, anyway." She pointed at the bandages on her shoulder.

"I need to get my bag, too. I left it in Rose's dorm room when I got out of the infirmary," Allen said.

Shea nodded. She turned to Cheever and said, "Cheever! I've got to take these two back to the dorms to collect their friend. We'll meet you in the control room!" Cheever waved, and Shea, Allen, and Rose headed back into the building.

Eddings was giving orders to his men, "...So Horace, I want you to take your cues from Christopher, but hang back. Don't go blowing any holes in the street if we don't have to. It's too expensive!"

The large African American man laughed, loudly.

"You three," Eddings continued, pointing at three men in riot gear, "keep Tazzi covered while he's using the summoning stone. Now, Taz," a short, exceedingly thin man, with skin so pale it almost looked blue, nodded, "start the summoning spell the second that the barrier is up. Once the wolf arrives, get back to Horace and keep your head down."

Meanwhile, Chris and Shayla were solidifying their strategies and heading for the doorway back inside the building.

"As soon as you and Haro have the guards outside the protected area, I'll tell Stacey to set the barrier spell," Shayla said.

"And you're certain about Allen?" Chris asked again.

Shayla glanced at Cheever, who was walking directly behind them, then turned back to Chris. "Until we know for certain what he's channeling, we can't risk setting him loose on the city."

Chris shook his head, "Fine," he said coldly. "I'll signal when we're in place," he growled, and ran down the hallway toward the elevators.

When Shea, Rose, and Allen reached the dorm room, they opened the door expecting to see Angie still asleep on her bunk, but the bed was empty.

"She's not here," Rose said. They all stood in silence for a few seconds.

"Maybe she went to get something else to eat," Shea suggested, pointing at the empty pizza box on the floor.

"Maybe," Rose said, skeptically.

Allen noticed that his bag, laying on the floor near the wall, was open. He knelt down by it and dug through. His sword was still there, as was Kitsle's box, and the flares. Then he noticed, "My knife's gone."

"What knife?" Shea asked.

"Chaz gave it to me. It has a poisoned blade. I know it was in here when we were in the training room. I saw it when I took out my sword."

"It could have fallen out when they were rushing to take you to the infirmary," Shea said.

"I wouldn't know," Allen said. "I was out of it."

"Why would Angie take a knife?" Rose asked.

"Maybe she was scared?" Shea suggested.

"I don't think so," Rose said. "I've never seen her touch a knife." Rose shook her head and chewed on her bottom lip.

"You guys probably just dropped it in the training room, but we don't have time to look right now. We've got to get back to Cheever," Shea said. Allen grabbed his bag and they left.


The control room, heart of the security system for the Brashley Building, was on the fourth floor and comprised of a huge wall of screens showing scenes of virtually every inch of the property, inside and out. One gigantic screen showed dozens of guards set up in semi-circles around an area of the road that was shimmering and emitting flashes and sparks.

Half a dozen men and women sat in chairs, chattering into headsets and flicking through various screens, focusing different cameras on a variety of sights. Allen noticed that Cheever, Shayla, and Eddings were all wearing communications headsets as well. Cheever and Shayla paced back and forth, peering at screens and giving orders. Eddings sat in one of the chairs that lined the wall opposite the screens, talking with Chaz. Allen and Rose found seats near Chaz and sat down. Shea joined her mother.


Outside the building, Chris, in full body armor, but no helmet, was setting up the guards in tiers between the area where the rift was about to open and the Brashley Building. Chris heard a rush of wind and suddenly Haro and ten other Simmerons appeared. Several of Eddings's men raised their guns, but both Chris and Horace gestured for them to hold fire.

"I'm glad to see you, my friend," Chris said, smiling. "And you brought helpers!"

"Few in my clan have had the opportunity to prove their strength against a Devourer. Had I allowed it, these streets would now be teeming with my kind, aching to sink their claws into an Old God," Haro said, rumbling his low laugh.

Chris laughed as well and gestured for the lizard men to join the formations setting up in front of the building.

"Okay, Horace," Chris said. "You can tell Eddings that we're ready to summon his beastie."

Horace waved and said something into his headset. Chris gave a final look around at the troops, then pushed a button on his headset, "Shayla, we're ready for the barrier."

"Good," Shayla answered in his ear. "Cheever says the rift is going to open in about three minutes. I'll tell Stacey to start the spell."

Within seconds, Chris felt the hair on the back of his neck rise as the barrier spell fell into place. "The barrier is up!" Chris yelled to Horace. "Your guy can start the summoning."

Horace gave a thumbs-up and growled instructions to a handful of men in Eddings' uniforms. Four men and Tazzi walked quickly to the front tier of Brashley guards. Tazzi knelt on the ground and took a metallic box with a keypad on it out of his pack. He pressed a number sequence with lightning quick fingers. The box hissed, and the top split in half, each section folding away to reveal a dark green stone, slightly larger than a hen's egg.

A screeching sound interrupted Tazzi, as sparks and flashes, followed by a strong, freezing wind, came rushing out of the rift. Guards from both groups, Brashley and Eddings, moved between Tazzi and the rift.

"No! Get back, everyone!" Tazzi yelled.

He placed his hands over the stone and began to chant, his eyes closed. The stone started to glow, and Tazzi chanted louder. The air around him began to shimmer, and a thunderous crack and a blinding flash made everyone in the streets cover their eyes and turn away.

When they turned back toward the rift, a gigantic, dark green wolf, longer than a city bus, with eyes glowing emerald green, was standing in the road.

"Thank you for coming, Great Wolf," Tazzi said, bowing to the creature. "Our world is about to be invaded by Shadow Creatures," he said gesturing toward the rift that was now showering sparks into the street and humming like power-lines in great pain.

The wolf looked at Tazzi then at the rift. "Why do they come?" the wolf said in a growling voice that echoed through the streets.

"They wish to kill a boy. He is in the building, there," Tazzi pointed.

"I sense him," said the wolf, closing its eyes.

"You do?" Tazzi asked in a shaking voice.

The wolf nodded, opening its eyes and looking back at the building, then at the rift. "I will help," said the wolf, "but know this. The boy poses a serious threat to this world." The wolf looked back at the building again, his eyes glowing green. "There is a being within him that could destroy this entire planet in an instant. Even after the Shadows have been driven away, the boy cannot be allowed to remain on this plane."

"Thank you, Great Wolf. We will, of course, heed your advice," Tazzi said, bowing again.

Suddenly, another boom shook the air, staggering many of the guards. The rift flashed and crackled, and then thousands of legs began scuttling through the abyss. Dark blue beetles with red slashes on their backs, the color of wet blood, came pouring through the opening, flooding the streets, some taking to the air with heavy wings that buzzed like helicopter blades.

The Great Wolf dove into the mass of bugs, slashing and biting.

Chris put his hand to his headset, "Cheever! What are they?"

"Chaz says they're Tah-Chen Beetles. They're going to try to attack the barrier," Cheever replied.

"Okay, how do we kill them!?" Chris yelled into his headset. A few of the guards had begun shooting at the beetles, which flooded the streets and sidewalks, most running past the guards, heading straight for the shield barrier.

"They're physical," Cheever said. "Shoot them, chop them, anything should work."

"Open fire!" Chris screamed, and dozens of guns began shooting in earnest.

Many of the beetles had already reached the magical barrier and attached themselves to it. The air shimmered and vibrated as the creatures siphoned off the magical energy, the red slashes on their backs glowing brighter as they sucked. Flying beetles landed against the barrier several stories up as well.

"Don't let them attack the barrier!" Chris shouted, and the soldiers began picking off beetles attached to the shield spell. Meanwhile, Haro and his clan were shredding beetles with their huge claws, and the Great Wolf continued to slash at the swarming creatures with his paws.

There was another loud crackle from the rift and a shower of sparks as two gigantic, blood red centipedes, as tall as Haro and as long the Great Wolf, came writhing through the rift into the street. The wolf roared and pounced on the centipede nearest to it, sinking his teeth into its back. It shrieked and coiled around him, slashing at the wolf with its twitching, needle-sharp legs.

The second centipede slithered up to the first line of guards, who fired desperately at the beast with little effect. It stabbed a Brashley guard through the chest with a spear-like leg, piercing his body armor like it was paper. It lifted him, screaming, off the ground, and tossed him twenty feet across the street. His lifeless body landed in a heap. The other guards continued to fire, but moved backwards toward the second line of defense. The centipede stabbed at one of Eddings's men, catching him in the stomach. It drew him toward its mouth and bit into the man's chest with foot long pincers. The man screamed in pain, then went limp.

"Everyone get back!" Horace yelled, and the men around the centipede lowered their guns and ran. Horace aimed his cannon and smiled. A thud shook the air and a ball of fire and shrapnel flashed toward the centipede, striking it directly in the chest as it reared back on it hindquarters. The centipede shrieked and writhed as the flaming mass made contact. As the smoke drifted away, the lower half of the centipede continued to twitch and writhe for a few seconds, oozing yellow-brown liquid. The upper half was completely vaporized. Horace laughed, loudly.

The rift again crackled and howled, and a dark mist welled up and began streaming through the opening, forming into the pseudo-bodies of the Shadows, which were only visible to about half the guards. Chris, slashing at beetles with his right hand and holding his headset in place with his left, called loudly, "Shadows!" Haro's clan immediately abandoned the beetles and galloped toward the Shadow hordes, as did about a dozen Brashley guards, all wearing the Elite Guard colors. Swords, clubs, hammers, and claws began to burn and glow with various colors of energy, and a wailing sound arose from the Shadows, which continued to flood into the streets through the rift.


In the control room, Allen's necklace, which had been glowing dully for several minutes, began to burn his chest, as he saw the guards on the screens swinging glowing weapons at nothing. The Shadows, it appeared, didn't show up on video.

Shayla paced back and forth looking at various screens. She tapped her headset and said, "Chambers, how is Stacey's group holding up?"

"Not well," a voice answered. "Those bugs are doing a number on them. It's taking too much energy to maintain the shield."

"Right, I'll see what we can do," Shayla said. She tapped her headset again. "Chris, what's the damage?"

"Having a ball down here!" he said, grunting in her ear as he slashed through a Shadow Creature.

"Any chance we can focus on the beetles a bit more? The shield spell is draining Stacey's men dry."

"Well, since we're not doing much down here anyway, I'll have a couple guys look into it. Ooooo... That was gross!" Chris said.

"What!? What happened?" Shayla said, worried.

"The Great Wolf just ripped the centipede that it was fighting in half," Chris answered. "There's giant bug guts everywhere!"

"Shea!" yelled a girl at one of the screens, "I think you should see this."

Shea went quickly to the station where the girl was backing up the images from the video feed. "This camera is up near the roof. I saw something moving just outside the barrier and zoomed in just before it flew out of the camera's range." The girl hit play.

"Oh, shit!" Shea moaned, unconsciously reaching up and grabbing her bandaged shoulder.

"Rewind that, Emmy, please," Shea said to the girl. "Rose, is this who I think it is?"

Rose and Allen ran to Shea and stared at the screen.

"Oh, no," Rose gasped. "It's Krystal!" The image paused on the screen was of Krystal, smiling, her black eyes looking dead and hollow.

"Mother, the witch is heading for the roof!" Shea yelled.

"That's where Stacey's group is projecting the barrier from. The barrier is going to be strongest closest to the source. She'd know that. What could she be planning?" Shayla said. She tapped her headset, "Chambers! The witch is headed your way. Watch out for trouble."

"Copy that!" Chambers said.

Shayla tapped her headset again, "Ronson! I want another twenty guards sent up to the roof, right now!"

Allen walked back to where he had been sitting and plopped back in his chair. He wanted to do something to help. He picked his sword up, sliding it halfway out of the sheath. The blade shined brightly, a shimmering blue-green.

Allen scanned the monitor screens until he found one with Chris on it. Chris was leaping and slashing his sword, dodging some invisible blow, then countering with a lightning fast swipe. Chris looked left, then right, then dashed out of the view of that camera.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Cheever said, "but the energy levels around the rift are spiking again---three hundred percent higher than last time."

There was another crashing thunderclap, and this time Allen felt the building shake, like an earthquake had hit it. All the screens pointed near the rift went white, momentarily. When they cleared, Allen saw a massive thing that looked like it was several stories high, with flailing tentacles, covered in dozens of huge eyes the size of car tires. The creature crawled through the rift, dragging itself by four massive tentacles at its base, while an uncountable number of smaller, thrashing tentacles whipped wildly around the central, putrid mass of grey flesh and giant eyes. Allen realized instantly that something beyond foul had been born into his world, something that absolutely should not exist.


Down on the street, Chris, had just ordered a group of guards to move around the building looking for beetles that were attacking the barrier, when the rift burst into life and the gigantic creature began oozing through. As he watched the horror appear before his eyes, Chris heard a scream, and saw a Brashley guard drop to the ground, a shadowy claw dripping blood over his body. The man melted, sliding like smoke out of his body armor, only to rise again as another Shadow creature, ready to attack. Chris sliced through the pair of Shadows with a flash of his blue blade.

"Chris, the Devourer just came out of the rift," Cheever said in his ear. Chris saw the monstrous beast, a sea of eyes and tentacles, but couldn't quite grasp it as a whole.

"I see it," he said into his headset. "But, how do I kill that?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Finally, Cheever said, in an uncharacteristically dark voice, "We don't know yet."

The Great Wolf, as Chris watched, charged the Devourer, which was easily four times his size, grabbing a tentacle and tearing it loose from the central mass. A hollow, terrifying roar filled the streets, and a second tentacle tore through the air striking the wolf in the ribs and sending it flying halfway down the block.

The Devourer swept another huge tentacle at a row of guards who were shooting at it. It grabbed three men, its tentacle coiling around them like a giant snake, and it drug the men toward its central mass. It tilted its horrible, eye covered body backwards as the men screamed, revealing a circular opening lined with thousands of stalactite-like teeth. The men yelled in terror as they were stuffed into the creature's mouth. Blood sloshed onto the street, and the Devourer lowered itself back to the ground and began dragging itself toward more men.

"Horace! Do you have a shot?" Chris screamed, but before Horace could answer, the Great Wolf flung itself back at the nightmarish creature, which moaned and howled in a deep, hollow scream, like twisting metal. The wolf grabbed on to a tentacle with its teeth and tore at the creature's eyes with his slashing claws. Again, another tentacle flew at the wolf, this time grabbing it around the chest and hurling it into the air. The wolf crashed against the building across the street from Brashley, destroying half the structure, then fell to the ground. It lay on the sidewalk, dark green blood drizzling from its mouth.

Horace raised his cannon and fired, catching the Devourer in the center of the mass of eyes and swinging tentacles. The creature bellowed again, so loudly that windows began to shatter, and huge chunks of flesh and eyes fell to the street. Chris watched, in shock, as new eyes seemed to rise up from the wound, like bubbles floating to the surface of a bog, wide eyeballs swiveling wildly as they filled in the missing flesh, until the wound itself seemed to vanish.

And the eye covered the meat that had been blown off of the monster continued to twist and move in the street, eyeballs looking in all directions, as the flesh around them withered. With lurching effort, the eyes began to pull themselves free of the quickly rotting flesh, supporting themselves on dozens of thin, spider-like legs. Once free of their fleshy moorings, they scattered, scuttling towards the nearest guards and attacking, stabbing with their thin legs.

"This is not good," Chris said. Tapping his headset, he yelled, "Are you seeing this!?"

"Unfortunately---yes," Cheever said, all of his usual mirth gone, replaced by a cold, fearful drawl.


Back in the control room, Chaz said, "Force isn't going to work on The Devourer."

Shayla looked at him, carefully, and said, "How do we stop it?"

"I had hoped the Great Wolf would be strong enough," Eddings said, almost apologetically.

"The Devourer is a creature of Old Magic, a cosmic power," Chaz said.

"It's eating my men, Charles. How do we stop it?" Shayla said, sternly.

"You need to fight a cosmic force with another cosmic force," Chaz said, glancing for just an instant at Allen.

Shayla's face went red with rage. "You want me to send a boy who has had no training, a boy who can't even control the forces inside him, against that monster? You're mad. We don't even know what he's channeling, Charles. If we set it loose, it's possible that it could side with the beast, and then we'd have two cosmic forces trying to kill us."

"What other choice do we have?" Chaz said, standing up to face her.

"I'll do it!" Allen yelled, standing up as well. "I want to help. I know I can." His hands were closed tightly around the sheath of his sword, the necklace on his chest glaring a halo of red that seemed to infuse his entire body.

"I know you want to help, and I know you're brave enough to face that creature," Shayla said, her voice softening, "but I can't let you."

Allen shook with anger. "Why? My brother is out there..."

"And your sister is in here," Shayla said. "If we cancel the shield spell, even for a few moments to let you go outside, this building will be flooded with Shadows in seconds. We have almost a hundred students in this building who are counting on me to protect them. Most of them would be easy prey for any of these terrors. We've got to give them the best chance for survival that we can, and that means keeping the shield up for as long as possible."

Allen lowered his head. He understood, but hated feeling helpless.

"Chris is one of the cleverest and most talented fighters I've ever worked with," Shayla continued. "If there's a way to kill that monster, he'll find it."

Allen looked at the monitors, searching for an image of his brother. He found it in time to see Chris slice through three beetles in a single stroke then kick away an eyeball that was trying to stab him with a saber-like leg.

"Okay," Chaz said, "if Allen's out, we'll need some kind of spell to contain the creature, try to hold it off until dawn. Does Tazzi know any containment spells?"

Eddings tapped his finger against his chin. "Could a freezing spell work?"

Chaz thought for a moment, "It probably wouldn't hold it for long, but anything that buys some time will help," he said. "Shayla?"

"Do it," she answered.

Eddings tapped his headset and told Horace to have Tazzi begin the spell. Cheever contacted Chris and told him to help keep Tazzi covered while he worked.

"Shayla, we've got an intruder in the corridor leading to roof access," Chambers's voice said into Shayla's headset, "but it's not the witch."


"Who is it?" came Shayla's reply into Chambers's headset. He looked at the monitor in the guard house, carefully, and said, "It looks like one of the kids that came in with Shea a few days ago."

Chambers heard Shayla asking someone in the control booth where their friend was.

"She's almost at the door," Chambers said into his headset. "Orders?" He raised his hand, signaling for the extra guards to be on the ready. He pointed at the door, and a dozen guns shifted, pointing in that direction.

"Don't shoot her," Shayla said. "She may just be looking for her friends. We'll send someone up to get her and bring her back here."

As Chambers acknowledged the order, the door to the roof blew off its hinges.  Angie stepped onto the roof, her eyes completely black. She raised her left hand, palm up, over her head, and a globe of white light floated up several feet into the air then exploded in a blinding flash. The guards, including Chambers, shielded their eyes.

As soon as the guards were blinded, Angie rushed at the nearest man, stabbing him in the neck above his body armor. She swung past him, slicing the next guard on the wrist, and the next across his cheek. Each man, poisoned by the knife blade, went rigid and fell, the man with the neck wound bleeding profusely.

When Chambers's vision cleared, he realized his console was dead, as was his headset. He looked out the window of the booth and saw more than a dozen guards on the ground, most gushing blood from slashes on their faces or necks, and Angie's thin body moving like lightning towards the next batch of mystified men.

Chambers leaped out of the booth and drew his gun. "Freeze!" he screamed, then noticed a dark specter hovering in the air just outside the shield barrier. Chambers raised his weapon, pointing it at Angie. "I said freeze!" he yelled.

Angie turned toward him and laughed. She flicked her arm, and Chambers fell to the rooftop, dead, the handle of the poisoned knife sticking out of his exploded left eye. Angie grabbed a gun off of one of the guards at her feet, diving out of the way as the three remaining guards, who had finally realized what was happening, opened fire. Angie rolled across the roof, and from a crouching position, fired three shots; a single bullet pierced the forehead of each guard.

Angie stood, waved her fingers, and the knife imbedded in Chambers's eye pulled free with a sick pop, then floated into the air, landing in Angie's hand. As Krystal began to shriek with laughter outside the shield spell, Angie walked toward the trio of mages sitting in a circle on the landing pad. In their trances, singing their song which created the shield spell, they couldn't even sense Angie's approach. She walked up behind Stacey, raised her knife, and drove it into his back.

_____________

[Well, that can’t be good. All Hell has broken loose, and the demons have taken the advantage. Tune in next week (or whenever I get around to it) to see if anyone survives to see the dawn! ---RFY]

Previous Sections:

Part One - Chapter 1
Part Two - Chapter 2
Part Three - Chapters 3 and 4
Part Four - Chapters 5, 6, and 7
Part Five - Chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11
Part Six - Chapters 12 and 13
Part Seven - Chapters 14, 15, and 16
Part Eight - Chapters 17, 18, 19, and 20
Part Nine - Chapters 21, 22, and 23
Part Ten - Chapters 24, 25, and 26
Part Eleven – Chapters 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31



---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Grand Hoohaa of The P.E.W.)

https://primitiveentertainment.wordpress.com
http://readadamnbookwithrfy.blogspot.com
https://ilosttheplotafewmilesback.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/richard.f.yates/

"'It' Jack-o-Lantern" by Mariah R. Yates

---Mariah R. Yates

https://primitiveentertainment.wordpress.com
http://readadamnbookwithrfy.blogspot.com
https://ilosttheplotafewmilesback.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/richard.f.yates/

“Serialized Novella: ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapters 27 - 31)”

[When we last left our band of youngsters, they had been attacked by a phantom, who looked quite a bit like a witch who they thought had been killed! Though a couple of guards had been attacked by the creature, and their friend Shea had been stabbed and was lying unconscious on the steps outside Brashley Corp., Allen was somehow able to conjure a mysterious power and fight the phantom off before anyone else was injured. Let’s get back to the action!!! ---RFY]
-------

ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapter 27)

Chris came rushing down the corridor towards the doors. His eyes were wide and his sword drawn. He slowed down when he saw Allen and Rose standing inside, apparently unharmed. Two guards walked through the doors carrying Shea on a stretcher. She was barely conscious, her face scrunched up in pain, but she was clearly still alive. The next stretcher that came through the doors was completely covered by a green blanket, which was rapidly turning a dirty brown.

"Who?" Chris asked one of the men carrying the stretcher.

"Crosley," the man said, his voice low and choked.

"Are you guys okay?" Chris asked. They all nodded.

Chris's eyes narrowed at Angie. He said, "Your ear is bleeding." Angie raised her hand a wiped her fingers on the little trickle of blood.

"I'm bleeding?" she said, looking at the smear on her fingers, then wiping it off on her black jeans. "I must have scratched myself when I fell." She looked uncertain.

"I better take you to the infirmary," Chris said. "Come on."

"Seriously, it's nothing. It doesn't even hurt," Angie said, laughing.

Chris shook his head and waved for Angie to follow him as the elevator doors at the end of the corridor opened and Shayla strode out, followed closely by Cheever.

"...in broad daylight! And directly in front of our own doors!" She was fuming, and Cheever, who looked strange without his big grin in place, was nodding in agreement at every word Shayla said.

As Shayla walked nearer, the elevator doors opened again and six guards stepped out, two wearing red insignia and helmets with mirrored visors.

"Right!" Shayla said in a loud voice to the guards as they jogged down the hallway, "I want the steps cleared, a memory spell around the whole block, and then I want these doors sealed with every spell and charm we have access to. Solid, Ashley! Not a microbe gets in or out! Got it?" The taller of the two guards in helmets nodded, and the group rushed out the doors.

"Room for one more before you go into total lock-down?" said a head that had poked through the doors.

"Chaz!" Allen yelled.

"Hey kid," Chaz smiled and stepped inside.

"Charles, yes, you can join us, but we're going to need to talk as soon as we get this place secured," Shayla said. "First, Chris, I need you to take these three up to the training room," she waved at Allen, Rose, and Angie. "Cheever, go with them. We need to assess how well they can protect themselves and see if they will be of any use when the Shadows move." She looked, primarily, at Allen as she said this.

"Why so urgent? They haven't even started their classes yet," Chris asked. He looked Shayla directly in the eyes, although Allen wasn't certain what Chris had picked up on that he himself had missed.

"The seers have noticed a swell of magical energy just outside the building. We've analyzed it with the computers, and it appears to be an ionization field that's going to reach critical mass in the next forty-eight hours," Cheever said. He brushed his mustache and looked from Shayla to Chris.

"You mean..." Chris started to say, then shook his head. "They can't be trying to open a rift. They're planning a..."

"A full scale invasion," Shayla said.

"It looks like you folks are busy," Chaz said. "Maybe I'll come back some other time!" He waved at Allen and turned toward the doors.

Shayla shot him a look and he froze, smiling. "I'm kidding! I just need to get some things out of my van!" He put his hands up, as if expecting Shayla to throw something at him.

Instead, she pulled a phone out of her pocket and hit a few buttons. "Which one is yours?" she said to Chaz.

"Yellow VW Bus. The keys are under the floor mat," Chaz said, looking at Allen and shrugging.

"Ashley! Have Ostrander pull the yellow van into the garage... Yes, on the floor... Okay," she said and disconnected.

"From the size of the field they're generating," Shayla said to Chris, "the rift is going to be huge, several stories, at the least."

"But why? What could they need a door that big for?" Chris asked.

"Cheever thinks they may be trying to bring a Devourer through into our world," Shayla said.

"That's insane," Chris said, his eyes wide and the corner of his mouth twitching.

"There is something about your brother that they really don't like, and apparently they're willing to destroy an entire city to make certain he is taken out," Shayla said, looking Allen in the eyes. Allen couldn't take her gaze, which made him feel guilty for causing so much trouble, so he looked down at the floor.

"We don't know for certain what they're planning," Cheever said, clicking his tongue a few times. "All we know for sure is that they are preparing to open a rift and that something big is coming through."

"And we now have less than 48 hours to prepare for an invasion," Shayla said. "So, Chris, I need you to take these three to the training room with Cheever and see what we can learn. Chaz, I'd like you to come with me while I check on my daughter, then we need to talk." She turned to the elevators and started walking. Chaz followed.

Chris saw the startled looks on his brother's and sister's faces, patted Allen on the shoulder, and tried to smile. "Another day on the job at the good, old Brashley Corporation! Well, let's go get your things and get started," he said, then waved for them to follow him. Their faces were still worried, but they went with him, anyway.
-----

ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapter 28)

The training room was comprised of a massive, open area, high ceilings, with one wall taken up by windows that looked out over the city. By now, Allen assumed the windows were made of bullet-proof glass. Chris had told Allen to change into a sweat-suit when they stopped by his room to collect his sword and the bag that Chaz had given him.

As they walked into the training room, Cheever bopped off through a side door, and Chris had Allen drop the weapons bag by a pair of wooden chairs near the wall opposite the windows. Cheever came back into the room pushing a large cart covered in computer equipment and wires. He snatched a handful of little, circular chips out of a drawer in the cart and, whistling to himself, walked over to Allen.

"We're going to wire you up a bit to test some of your energy levels. Don't worry, it's not going to hurt," he said. He placed the chips, which were very light and flexible, on the backs of Allen's hands, on his temples, and one of the back of his neck. They stuck like glue and didn't fall off when Allen shook his hands to test them.

"These will send a signal to my computer while you're moving and, hopefully, show us what kind of field you're generating. Let me make sure I'm getting a signal," he said, then dashed back to the cart. "Okay, Chris! Ready on this end!"

"And what are we supposed to do?" Rose asked, waving her hand back and forth between herself and Angie. Angie nodded beside her.

"We're going to test everyone," Cheever said, cheerfully. "Shayla wants us to start with Mr. Allen so that we can get a baseline for some of the interesting things he's done in the last few days." Rose and Angie sat in the wooden chairs, Rose none too cheerily.

Chris walked to the center of a large circle painted on the floor and waved for Allen to follow. As Allen walked over, Chris unsheathed his sword and stood in a fighting stance, his legs apart and sword held at chest level. Chris narrowed his eyes at Allen, and as he did, his sword began to glow with a bright blue light.

"What do I do?" Allen asked, suddenly nervous.

"Draw your sword, Mr. Natural, and get ready to fight me," Chris said.

Allen drew his sword and stood in front of Chris, trying to imitate his stance, which felt very awkward. His sword gleamed, but didn't glow.

"Concentrate!" Chris yelled, fiercely. Allen jumped, surprised at the ferocity in his brother's voice.

Allen closed his eyes and tried to connect with the sword in his hands. He remembered what it had felt like in the kitchen---then he remembered his mother, laying lifeless on the floor. The eyes of the locket around his neck began to sparkle, and a dim blue-green light began to radiate from his blade.

"Hmmm, not bad! Not bad!" Cheever said from his computer panel. "It's a class two field, about 16, 17 intensity," he said to Chris.

"That's not a bad power level for a beginner," Chris said, "but I think we can do better." He growled, a low guttural sound, drew his blade back, then lunged at Allen, slashing toward his chest. Allen, shocked at the sudden attack, swung his sword up in a defensive position, blocking his brother's blow, then jumped backward a few feet.

"Whoa! You could have killed me!" Allen said, his voice shaking with fright. Something in his brother's eye bothered him. Allen felt like he was being stalked by a ferocious animal.

"Spiked at 45!" Cheever yelled from the computer cart.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Chris said, smiling wickedly.

Suddenly, everyone heard a buzzing sound, and Kitsle came flitting out of Allen's bag, shooting sparks.

"Oh, my goodness!" Cheever said in a high, surprised voice. "I was hoping we'd get to meet you soon," he said to Kitsle. The bug flew over to Allen and buzzed around his head.

"Hello, Kitsle," Allen said. "Let me introduce you to everyone. This is my brother, Chris. That's my sister, Rose, and her friend, Angie." Angie waved from the wooden chair where she was sitting. "And that's Dr. Cheever!" Allen said. Cheever bowed, low, sweeping his arm out to his side as he folded over. Allen laughed. Cheever's gesture was certainly melodramatic, but Kitsle, clicking his bug laugh, floated over to Cheever and, hovering near the doctor, bowed in a similar fashion. Cheever laughed, himself, and clapped his hands together, his rings clinking their usual tune.

Kitsle floated back to Allen. He fluttered near Allen's sword, his wings kicking out a miniature fireworks display, then tinked one of his claws against the blade a couple of times.

"Chris is training me, trying to show me how to fight. We're about to be attacked by a horde of those Shadow creatures," Allen said.

Kitsle flew around the room, very quickly, for few seconds, then flew back to Allen and hovered near his head. Kitsle fluttered his wings, began to glow brightly, then zapped Allen in the ear, knocking him to the ground.

"Ouch! Why did you do that!?" Allen yelled. Kitsle clicked another bug laugh, then flew toward Cheever, hovering near the computers, apparently looking at the screens.

Chris helped Allen to his feet, then resumed his battle stance.

"You ready?" Chris asked. "I'm going to come at you pretty hard this time. You'll need to pay attention to where I'm swinging." Allen nodded. His sword was blazing blue-green.

Chris yelled a deep and frightening, "Raaaah!" then dove at Allen, slashing from the left, then the right. Allen blocked expertly, the sword almost seeming to move on its own. Chris swung hard, and Allen stepped to the side, slashing down at Chris's sword and knocked it from Chris's hand.

They all stood in silence for a few seconds, then Cheever whistled and brushed his mustache. "Peaked at 370---that's unbelievable."

"Three-seventy!" Chris said, picking up his sword. "That's almost as high as Haro!" He looked at Allen, a hungry look in his eye.


"I think we should try for 400. No human in the last 20 years has broken 390. Hell, Allen could be the first to hit 450!" Chris took his stance again. Allen, however, stood were he was.

"Chris," Rose said, looking worried, "I think you should stop. Allen looks really tired."

"The Shadows aren't going to stop just because Allen gets tired," Chris said, then he rushed at Allen, swinging so fast and viciously that Rose stood up. Allen, without even looking at his brother, raised his sword with one arm to deflect the blow, but the force of the strike staggered him. His face was a complete blank, like he was drifting off into a daydream. His hands gripped the jade handle of his sword, and his legs moved, positioning him in a strange defensive stance, legs far apart, knees bent low.

"Chris! That's enough!" Rose yelled.

Allen's eyes went dark blue.

"Oh, my goodness!" Cheever said, softly, staring at his computer screen. "The boy is at 780 and climbing... 850... 900..."

Chris moved in for another attack, slashing wildly. Though Allen's eyes stared blankly ahead, his arms moved to block each swing and his sword blazed. Chris swung down with his blade, aiming for Allen's head, and Allen's arms moved to block the blow, but Chris used his momentum to push his brother off balance. Chris swung his leg around, catching the back of Allen's left ankle and tripping him.

As Allen hit the ground, everyone felt a wave of energy rush through the room, like a surge of hot wind pushing against them, then the lights above Allen flashed brightly and exploded. The other lights, further away from Allen, began to pop as well, and then Cheever's computer screens crackled, shot sparks, and shattered.

Allen's body, his hair and arms, shimmered then erupted in dark blue flames.

Rose screamed.

Allen's body floated up from the floor and into a standing position, hovering inches off the ground. He waved a hand and the sword that Chris was holding jerked out of his grasp, rocketed across the room, and buried itself in the wall. Allen raised his other hand and a swirling wave of dark blue flame rushed toward Chris.

Kitsle, streaking like lightning, raced between the brothers and flashed brightly. A wall of energy appeared, blocking the flame.

"Allen! Stop!" Rose yelled and ran toward Chris. Kitsle flew closer to Allen, flashing, and dancing in the air, clicking wildly. Allen's eyes, swimming orbs of blue-black, followed Kitsle's movements for a few seconds, then his head tilted backward and his body dropped to the floor with a thud.

Cheever rushed over to the boy on the floor. After a quick look, he said, "He's alive."

Chris and Rose stared at their brother's face. Angie, who had been too shocked to move, finally stood. The room, now that the lights were mostly blown out, was illuminated primarily by Kitsle, who hovered and buzzed near Allen.

"What was that? What happened to him?" Angie asked, still standing by the chairs she and Rose had been sitting in.

"I'm not sure," Cheever said. "I'll have to talk with Shayla and Chaz, and probably Eddings. I think...," Cheever said, brushing his mustache, "…I think he was channeling something, but I can't be certain," he shook his head. "But Chris---before the computers blew, his energy signature changed. He was emitting a class six energy field, and...and the power level was over a hundred and twenty thousand."

Chris opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He shook his head. "It had to have been a mistake---a glitch as the computer was exploding," Chris said. "That's more force than a nuclear
bomb."

Cheever shrugged, putting his fingers on Allen's forehead, which was blazing hot.

"Wait a minute---channeling something?" Rose said. "You mean he was possessed?"

"I really can't say for certain," Cheever said. "The numbers...," he shook his head. "Right now, we have to get this boy to the infirmary. He's burning up."

"I'll carry him," Chris said. He bent over his brother, scooped him up, and they rushed off toward the medical wing.
-----

ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapter 29)

Allen woke in what looked like a room at a hospital. Rose and Angie were sitting on one side of his bed, talking quietly. At the foot of his bed, Shea was looking down at him and smiling. She was wearing a tank top, and Allen could see heavy bandages where Krystal had sunk her gigantic, black blade into her shoulder. Shea looked very tired, but happy.

Allen suddenly realized that he was almost entirely naked, and pulled his blankets tightly up to his chin. He tried to say, "Where are my clothes?" but, his throat was so dry, all that came out was a hoarse whisper.

Rose sniggered and held up a plastic cup with a bent straw poking out of the top of it. "Water," Rose said. Allen nodded and Rose put the straw close to Allen's lips.

Allen drained the cup in a few deep swallows then sighed.

"Why am I naked?" he asked.

"You had a temperature of 198 degrees when they brought you in here yesterday evening. They had to soak you in a tub of ice water for over an hour just to get you back to a normal temp," Shea said. "Cheever and the other doctors can't understand exactly how you survived."

"What do you mean, 'survived?' The last thing I remember was Chris tripping me while we were training. I must have hit my head when I fell," Allen said.

"That's not exactly where that story ends, Allen," Rose said. Angie shook her head, vigorously.

"I'll go tell Cheever that he's awake," Shea said. "Angie, why don't you give his clothes back to him so that he can get dressed, but, Allen, don't leave here until they can check you out again and officially say you're okay." She waved and headed out the door.

Angie grabbed Allen's clothes and threw them onto the bed, then sat back down in her chair, staring at him and smiling.

"Well?" Allen said, motioning toward the door with his head, the covers still pulled up to his chin.

"Fine, if you don't want me to watch!" Angie said and made a pouty face. Rose slapped her on the arm, and they both laughed, then got up and went out into the hall.

After Allen dressed, Rose and Angie came back into the room. Allen asked them to tell him what had happened after he blacked out. He sat, listening, his mouth hanging open, while they recalled the scene, blow by blow.

"I was on fire?" Allen said, looking at his hands and arms.

"Blue fire, " Angie said, emphasizing the blue. Allen could only shake his head.

"Once they'd made sure you weren't going to die," Rose said, shuddering slightly, "Chris and Cheever took me and Angie to a smaller training room..."

"You pretty much destroyed the main one," Angie interrupted.

"...and tested us," Rose said. "They gave me this long, straight sword..."

"A katana," Angie said.

"And I was able to get the meter up to about 80!" Rose chirped, excited. "Cheever said that was really good for a first try."

"But not good enough that they want her out fighting in the streets when that rift thing opens," Angie said. She sounded a little snippy.

"But Chris says that I generated enough force to actually hurt them, and with training, he thinks I'll be good enough to be a hunter, too."

"If we survive," Angie said, folding her arms and blowing her purple bangs away from her nose. Allen looked at Angie, who was staring at the floor, then at Rose. Rose was shaking her head.

"Angie's just a little upset about the whole super powers thing," Rose said, patting her friend on the shoulder.

"They tested me, too," Angie said, huffing, "but I couldn't do it at all." She lowered her head, again.

"Cheever said that most people can't generate a measurable energy field," Rose explained. "Most of the guards here aren't able to hurt, or even see, the Shadows, but the Shadows aren't the only threats that Brashley Corp. has to deal with. Shea says that the Shadows are some of the most dangerous creatures, though, because of their hive mind---when one of them sees something, they all see it. That, and they can turn almost anyone they kill into another Shadow."

"Wait," Allen said, "are you saying that most of the guards here can't kill the Shadows?"

"Nope!" Rose said. "Only the strongest can, the members of the Elite Guard. Chris and Shea are part of that division."

"And those two guys in the weird helmets who showed up after Krystal tried to kill us again," Angie said.

"I'm going to train until I can be on the Elite Guard, too," Rose said, her eyes looking at something beyond the ceiling, probably far off in the future.

"They have witches here, too," Angie said. "Cheever says I can work with them, since I already have some training..."

"Will I get to be on the Elite Guard," Allen asked.

"I'm sure," Rose said. "After seeing how strong your energy field is, and the way you got rid of Krystal, they'll probably ask you to sign up tonight!"

Cheever, at that moment, came through the door, followed by Shea and a tiny, dark skinned woman no taller than Allen, in a doctor's smock, her long, dark hair pulled back into a pony tail. Cheever smiled and waved when he saw Allen sitting up on the bed.

The little doctor came over to Allen and, without saying anything, gave him a serious look over. She checked his pulse, flashed a light into his eyes, listened to his heart and breathing, and took his temperature, which was a little high still but well within normal human range.

"Thanks, Dr. Pande," Shea said, as the doctor typed some notes into a small computer.

Dr. Pande smiled a quick, business-like smile at Allen, then said, "You'll be fine," and left the room.

"Well, you seem to be back in fine shape, " Cheever said, clapping his hands together, his rings clinking.

"Have you figured out what actually happened to him?" Rose asked.

Cheever's smile slid, briefly, off his face, and he brushed at his mustache. "We're still not one hundred percent certain," Cheever said, pulling a chair over to the side of the bed and sitting down. "Shayla, Chaz, and even Eddings, who we had on video chat, are pretty sure Allen was channeling some unknown entity. We were able to salvage the hard-drive from the burnt computer and reconstructed most of the data from the training session. Those boys in I.T. are magicians! The machine looked like it had been cooked over a campfire then thrown off a cliff, but after they extracted what information there was to be had, we were able to identify the exact moment when the energy frequency that Allen was generating shifted and his power levels exploded. Literally!" Cheever chuckled at his own joke, his eyes disappearing for a few moments, until he realized that no one else in the room was laughing. Then he coughed into his hand and sat up straighter in his chair again.

"If it hadn't been for your Lightning Bug," Cheever continued, "I hate to imagine what might have happened, but the bug seems to have either convinced the entity to leave your body or somehow forced it out." He clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"So was it some kind of demon, something like the Shadows?" Rose asked. Her face had
gone very white.

"We don't know. I'm sorry---but we just didn't get enough data off the computer to be sure. However, if we look at the behavior of the entity," Cheever said, raising a finger into the air, like he was making a proclamation, "it doesn't seem to be the actions of what we would typically call a demonic entity. What did it do? It tried to protect its host body from what it believed was a serious threat, a reasonable assumption, considering how energetic Chris's training had become. And, when it realized Allen was no longer in immediate danger, it left his body without much of a fight. Most cases of full demonic possession can take months, even years, to resolve, and the host can even be killed as the invading entity leaves. This creature left without causing any permanent damage to Allen's body."

"But it attacked Chris!" Rose said.

"Who was attacking Allen at the time," Shea added.

They all sat in silence for a few seconds, Allen staring, vaguely, at a spot on the floor near his sister's feet.

"Still and all," Cheever said, "Shayla and I both agree that we should keep you out of the fighting, which is about to commence, until we know more about what's getting inside your skin."

"But I can help!" Allen said, his cheeks flushing red. "You said my power levels were really high, even before I blacked out!"

"That's what your brother said, too," Shea commented.

"As long as Shayla is in charge," Cheever said, "her word is law. And don't you worry, my boy. We've done fine protecting ourselves for a few thousand years. I'm sure we'll make it another day without having to put you and your sister in anymore danger. And besides that, it's better if we know what we're dealing with before we unleash it on the streets."

"But don't think for a second that you're not helping, Allen," Shea said. "Your exploits have peaked Eddings's interest, at the very least. Thanks to you, he's agreed to help us."

"Yes, he's contacted the City Counsel, where he has considerable influence, and they've declared a state of emergency in the city," Cheever said. "Eddings has made the claim that there is a dangerous gas leak and the City is forcing the citizens to evacuate the area around where the rift is going to manifest."

Shea continued, "He's also bringing a squad of his own men over to assist our guards. Between Eddings's group and our own forces, we should be able to handle anything the Shadows can throw at us." Shea smiled at Allen, and he thought he could see excitement in her eyes. He was terrified, be she seemed to be looking forward to the fight.
-----

ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapter 30)

After being released from the infirmary, Allen, Rose, and Angie were led back to their dorm rooms by Shea. They stopped outside Rose and Angie's room. Shea put a hand on Allen's shoulder and said, "I'll come get you guys when Eddings gets here. I know he's going to want to meet you." She patted Allen's shoulder and smiled. "In the meantime, Mom says she wants you guys to stay here. I can send for some food. You must be starving."

"Absolutely!" Angie said, rubbing her stomach.

"So what are we supposed to do while we're waiting for the invasion to start?" Rose said, almost angrily.

"Relax, I guess. Try to rest. It's probably going to be a long night," Shea said.

"Shea, what's going to happen once the fighting starts? Where will we be?" Allen asked.

"I'm not sure," Shea answered. "You'll probably be in the control room with me and my mom."

Allen hated the idea of hiding during the battle when he knew his brother would be out there in the thick of it. He could help; he was sure of it!

Shea, who read the expression on his face, said, "Don't worry, kiddo! With just a little more training, I'm sure you're going to be an ace fighter---maybe even better than your brother, someday. And I never thought I'd live to see the day that Christopher Tombes played second fiddle to anyone." She winked at Allen, and for some reason, it made him feel a little better.

Shea walked a few steps down the hall then yelled over her bandaged shoulder, "I'll have some food sent up right away. Pizza?"

"Make it a large!" Angie yelled back as the three of them went into the girls' dorm room.

Angie flopped down on her bed and started flipping through a magazine. Allen sat in a chair. Rose began to pace back and forth across the room.

"What's wrong, Sis?" Allen asked after her third trip.

"What's wrong? Allen, our parents are gone, we've basically been kidnapped, you're being possessed by some kind of cosmic force, and in the next few hours our planet is going to be invaded by murderous creatures that want, specifically, to kill you!"

Allen's face fell, and Rose, immediately, felt sorry for what she'd said.

"That's all true," Allen shrugged, "but at least we're still alive."

Rose's eyes filled with tears and she walked over to her brother and hugged him.
-----

ALLEN TOMBES – FIRE FROM WATER (Chapter 31)

In a dark domain, a thin creature of swirling shadows sat on a throne made of strange bones. Red light pulsed from its eyes and a glowing mist floated before it, which showed glimpses of the human realm, a boy, a building, bodies dissolving into steam and shadow, then more eyes adding their images to the glowing sphere. The Shadow Lord waved his hand and the misty ball faded away.

There was a flash of white light and the phantom that was once Krystal appeared. Her black eyes flickered with fear, and she knelt in front of the thrown, her head bent toward the floor.

"I failed to kill the boy, Lord," she said without lifting her face.

"I saw, through your eyes, witch. He has become too strong for you to harm him, now. However, you did as you were instructed. You contaminated the friend," the Shadow Lord smiled, and moved a misty finger under Krystal's chin, lifting her face so that it looked into his red, glowing eyes.

"Yes," Krystal said, smiling. She raised her left hand, showing the Shadow Lord the missing nail from her pinky.

"Well done," the creature smiled, his red eyes pulsing in waves.

"I can control her now, even inside their little cocoon of spells," Krystal said and floated into a standing position.

"As my army attacks from without, your puppet will be able to destroy the mages within who will be generating the protective spells that they believe will keep them safe. Once their protective barrier is down, we'll be able find the boy and destroy him before he completely integrates with the fire spirit and destroys their world."

"But why don't we just let the demon consume that miserable planet and all the worthless humans," Krystal asked. "Why are you trying to save them?"

"Your blood-lust is commendable, but you're a fool," he laughed, an icy, sick laugh that would have paralyzed any human who heard it. "The humans are weak, lazy, and simple---the perfect food. If the fire spirit enters their world, it will consume all life on the planet, and we will be forced to look elsewhere for life essences to steal. Humans are too perfect to lose. We cannot let that happen."

The Shadow Lord waved his fingers dismissing Krystal, who vanished in a swirl of mist. He then swirled a finger in the air and the sphere reappeared in front of the throne. The Shadow Lord leaned back in his throne and gazed into the minds of his slaves.
-------

[So….bad news for our heroes. If the Shadow Lord’s plan works, then Allen will be killed. If his plan doesn’t work, then all life on the planet will be destroyed by the fire spirit that Allen has made contact with… Typical. Check back soon to see who lives, who dies, and what kind of monsters make the scene!!! ---RFY]

Previous sections:

Part One - Chapter 1

Part Two - Chapter 2

Part Three - Chapters 3 and 4

Part Four - Chapters 5, 6, and 7

Part Five - Chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11

Part Six - Chapters 12 and 13

Part Seven - Chapters 14, 15, and 16

Part Eight - Chapters 17, 18, 19, and 20

Part Nine - Chapters 21, 22, and 23

Part Ten - Chapters 24, 25, and 26


---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Grand Hoohaa of The P.E.W.)

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