FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 19: Images of a Different Path

Tychon was humming to the music of the elevator, as it rose to the highest floor. His legs still felt tired, but he was feeling how his body was recovering more and more from his latest spell. As the elevator finally reached the top of the building, the fox stepped out carefully into the penthouse.

"Ah, Tychon is it?" Aldric was already standing in the room, as he adjusted is robe and glanced over the vulpine. "Can't really remember how the original looked. But glad to see you are doing alright after going into an Aether Burst."

Slightly confused, the fox took a chair and began to speak, "You are probably referring to me overstretching my abilities to cast magic. I knew it could have killed me."

"Should have killed you, rather," Aldric said as he crossed his arms. "The actual survival rate is close to zero."

Glancing a bit guilty at Aldric, the fox forced a smile. "Well, good to know, I guess. Perhaps I might have been really lucky."

Aldric shook his head. "Almost too lucky. But be sure to remember that you most likely will kill yourself, if you use magic too extensively. Generally, the more powerful a spell is, the more dangerous it becomes for you." He then yawned a little and sat down next to the fox. "Now that this is settled, Fionnbharr and Anna should be on their way."

Tychon nodded to signal that he understood and leaned back into his chair. His eyes were focusing on his hands, and he turned back to Aldric. "You know my story, don't you?"

"By this point, I know more background stories and personal information than I am comfortable with," the badger said and rubbed his forehead. "Let's not talk about the things that are unsuitable for children, shall we? As for you, I understood it basically that you are a what-if turning real. As in, what if Septimus was never adopted and less of an annoying arse. Apparently, he would be you."

"So, originally, I shouldn't even exist," the fox concluded and avoided the shaman's eyes. "I am simply here for a specific reason. What that is, I have no clue about just yet."

Aldric went over the fur on his lower muzzle as he pondered about the vulpine's words, but before he could didact them any further, the elevator reached the top a second time, and Anna along with Fionnbharr, Crawford, Lucille, and Khaba entered the room. "Ah, wonderful. Let us begin our talk, shall we?"

Anna, gave the badger a quick wave of her hand and spoke, "I handed over the device Crawford here made to some of my experts, and they have managed to get a few signals. And I really wish we were not forced to go there."

Lucille shrugged. "We have managed so far. Where do we have to go, Anna?" she asked and looked out of a window, while Khaba was sitting on her shoulders. Her hands were holding the two parts of her chakram, and her eyes were watching all over the city.

"If you say so," Anna now pulled out some papers from under jacket and began reading through them. "Several anomalies have been detected in the northern districts of the city. Most of which correspond to the same general location. Checking older maps show that it is an old laboratory."

"Sounds quite lovely," Crawford stated as he tried to peek at the letters. "So what is the catch?"

Anna frowned and took a glance over to Lucille. "We would have to enter territory belonging to the Central or places fallen into anarchy."

Aldric nodded and then turned to Lucille and then to Fionnbharr. "Good, we should be able to deal with that. And maybe decide on a smaller group, which won't be detected so easily."

"In that case," Lucille now chuckled and turned around, "I guess we are set up just well enough already."

The shaman nodded. "With seven people, we can certainly defend ourselves while minimizing the chance for detection. However," he now turned to Tychon, "are you capable to go with us? You just got back up from a lethal experience."

"I will be fine," the fox told the badger and pointed at his chest. "My heart can take a bit of action, should it come to it." He then looked over to Lucille and Khaba and smiled into himself. "Maybe I even want to have some excitement."

Grinning about the fox's enthusiasm, Anna got up from her chair and patted him on the shoulder. "Excellent. Then we should head out immediately."

"If you allow," Fionnbharr now intercepted as he folded his hands together and closed his eyes. "We probably can save some time, if I open up a pathway somewhere closer to our destination. Without many distinctive landmarks, it is a bit difficult, so it will be somewhere close to the tower in the center."

Tilting her head for a moment, the leonberger sighed and gave the albino badger a thumb up. "Can't say I want to be too close, but we do save time and I would prefer that."

Fionnbharr smiled shortly, before he pulled his hands apart and a portal opened in front of him. A moment later he and the others were jumping through, and landed into the undistinguishable rubble of the cityscape.

Anna glanced over to the skyscraper of the Central, and then pulled out a map to check on their location. "Excellent. Now, if you would follow me, pay attention to our surroundings, and keep your weapons ready, we should head that way," she said and pointed to the northeast.

"And just for good measure," Aldric now spoke as he raised his staff and chanted several words. Moments later a strange feeling stretched through his and the other's bodies, "we should be essentially invisible.

Shuddering after the experience, Anna stepped forward and readied her shotgun. "Excellent, you would be great as a stealth character in a video game. Which is a pastime activity here, just so you know."

"Got no idea what you are talking about, but I guess this is a compliment," the shaman replied and took a deep breath. "Anyhow, we should move on before we get spotted."

Around two hours passed, and the group eventually approached a massive, and vastly destroyed, complex of buildings, all seemingly connected with each other. Anna was looking around, carefully trying to catch suspicious scents. "Okay, we are very much safe. I hope."

"So, is this the laboratory?" Crawford asked with a barely contained excitement, as he dusted off a logo, which was graved into a piece of a building, which most likely separated a long time ago. "This could be exciting."

Anna shook her head. "The building itself has been destroyed in several areas. It is quite dangerous inside, so do watch where you go."

Crawford frowned a little. "Alright. Spoiling all the fun there, Anna," he said and trailed around the walls.

Lucille and Khaba meanwhile located the door leading inside, and tried to pull it open. "Rusted shut. The rest of the metal in this place seems fine, so why is this corroding?"

"Probably budget cuts," Anna said as she walked towards the door and grabbed the handles. With a grunt, she started pulling, and a few moments later the door opened as the locks shattered under the strength of the leonberger. "Which makes this so much easier."

Stepping inside now, the group found themselves in the ruined hallways of what appeared to be a building covered in several tiles, most of which were covered in a layer of dust, in which they left footprints as they walked around.

Tychon sneezed a little, as he found the atmosphere rather irritating, and covered his eyes and nose. "Not really the loveliest place. Are we sure there is anything here to be found?"

"We did talk about anomalies, in a world where magic exists," Anna said and began to laugh. "If I might be honest, it would surprise, if this abandoned building was just that."

Crawford cleared his throat and then pulled out his scanning device. "Naturally, the anomalies are scattered all over the complex. If we want to search them, we should be going around."

"Together," Anna now added in a sharp tone. "Trust me, splitting up is the worst idea you can do in such places."

With a chuckle Aldric now pointed at a door, and stepped towards it. "This one has some odd feeling coming from it." He then proceeded in opening the room, and was hit immediately by a cloud of dust. "I just bathed a few hours back, and now I can do that again."

"Anyhow," Anna now walked into the room, and pulled out a flashlight to make out it its properties. Multiple screens were placed around the walls, but most of them were already broken down, had shattered displays, or where otherwise no longer usable. In the center of the room however, a small light was glowing. "Now, would you look at that. What's your input, guys?"

Fionnbharr and Aldric now stepped closer to the light, and stared at it carefully. The albino ruffled his cheeks, and then turned to Aldric with his face. "A space-temporal anomaly. Those are a rare phenomenon when things damage the dimensional layers. Though, considering our current whereabouts, the damage might be from the other side."

"Okay, in more mundane words?" Anna was looking at the light and huffing as she was trying to spin her head around. "Ugh, it even sounds more scientific than fantastical. Now I am feeling really dumb."

"It is actually not that complicated," Crawford said and chuckled. "It means that this is basically a cut in our reality, potentially touching another one entirely. Now, if that is the case, Tychon and Fionnbharr could perhaps open or close it."

The fox now perked up his ears. "Wait, so you mean this is like the rift you caused when toying with that one machine?"

"Not quite," the otter remarked and then pulled out the book he once got from Vadden. After searching through some pages, he put his finger on the chapter he seeked. "In your case, the anomaly was limited to a three-dimensional space. This one here could anything from five- to ten-dimensional. Again, in mundane words that means, those lead into different realities and time periods."

Anna was giving a displeased growl. "How comes that you guys even know stuff like that? Your clothing looks straight out of a history book, and you use magic," she said and then her eyes lightened up. "Maybe, that is it? Magic. If you can manipulate reality, you understand its mechanics, or so it seems."

"Only, if you research magic and such," Lucille voiced as she twisted her fingers to form a small flame above her finger tips. "Using it is a rather different matter. I know only basics about it, to be honest."

"As for me, I simply got the means to know," Crawford added for himself as he held up his book with a grin. "I am very intelligent, so in the end having the means to gather the necessary knowledge is all I need."

Fionnbharr sighed and turned around. "Those petty matters can wait. Tychon, would you kindly come over here and channel your magic into this small rift?"

The fox gave him a nod and then stepped aside him. Taking a deep breath, he stretched out his hand and let his magic channel into the anomaly, causing the light to expand slightly.

"Good, this seems to work," the albino quietly stated before he did the exact same thing the fox was doing. Now the anomaly was expanding much more, causing it to show a visible image. And it was one, which confused everyone in the room.

A girl was standing in a large room. Her appearance was odd, as she looked like a menni, but with a shoulder-long and beautiful brown hair, and a graceful aura as she appeared to be singing and dancing by herself.

"This is," Tychon now tried to touch the image, but as soon as he moved his hand it disappeared. "This was one of those creatures I saw. When I was nearly dying, I saw creatures like this. And how they ultimately destroyed themselves."

Aldric scratched his muzzle a bit, before turning to the others. "We are talking about anomalies in time and space. Due to Fionnbharr's ability, we know that existence is not just a singular reality. We cannot know if this shows our past or a different reality, where history took another course. Though, I would assume that if we explore further, we might find out more."

"Oh goodness, I already have this reality to keep track off," Anna complained as she left the room and glanced around the building. "Is there actual value to us, if we go and check them all out?"

"It could certainly be," the shaman replied as he and the others followed the leonberger outside. "After all, maybe those anomalies lead back to the activation of the Gray Star. Or E.P.O.S., as I understood it was actually named."

Anna shook her head. "I need something for the headache after this," he muttered as she lead the group up a tall staircase into the first floor. Much of the ground had already been damaged as it endured the machinery of time.

Crawford checked his scanner again and scratched his ear as he glanced around. "I suppose our next anomaly should be somewhere over, the-eeeree!" In a moment of missing attention, Crawford yelled as he hit a piece of rubble with his foot and jumped up from both the pain and the surprise. "For the love of." "You will survive," Aldric commented as he was checking the radar himself now and glancing at a door. "But you have found the next one, apparently." Now eager to see the next anomaly himself, the badger strode forward, but was feeling the wooden ground beneath him suddenly break from his weight, "Dagda help me," he uttered before yelling as his body fell down a floor. "You okay, Aldric?" Fionnbharr called as he was walking towards the hole in the floor and glancing through.

Aldric grumbled something as he was rubbing his behind and getting off something that appeared to have been a table prior to a large mustelid hitting it. "I need to get up the stairs again, but I should manage," he reassured the albino before walking out of the room and making on his way back up. Khaba meanwhile was flapping his wings around and flew over to the door to quickly open it. With a grin, he looked back at the others and waved one of his wings around. "What would you do without me?"

"Probably having the same issue with the door closed," Crawford replied as he was glancing over the wooden floor. "Tychon and Fionnbharr need to get across, but."

"No buts," Fionnbharr said as he snapped his fingers to open a portal from their side to Khaba. "Why should we make this any more complicated than it has to be?"

Crawford nodded. "Fair point. We probably need this ability a lot however, if the rest of the building is as instable as Aldric just demonstrated."

"I suppose that is correct," the shaman's voice called to the group as he came running up the stairs. "Good thing I am still young, else I would have a really bad time recovering from this."

Anna huffed a little, and took a glance at the portal. "Whatever. Let's hope this anomaly contains information we can actually use."

As if on command, Fionnbharr grabbed Tychon at his tunic, dragging him with into the portal to come out at the second anomaly. "Good, do you feel ready for this?"

"More so than usual," the fox said as he was already channeling his magic to pull upon the rift together with the albino badger.

Fionnbharr took a quick glance at Khaba, and then at the others, before he too focused and put his own magic energies in contact with that of Tychon.

With a bright flash, the anomaly began to widen, and yet another image appeared. And again, it was the human girl from before, standing on top of tower from which a city completely made from metal and glass could be seen. She was accompanied by something appearing like a massive winged beast, formed from a metal, which was pristine and shone in the light of an evening sun. The girl turned to the machine, moving her lips as if she was speaking. The mechanical beast turned to her, revealing its eagle-like face, which had a black display showing virtual eyes, which were looking kindly at her.

"What in the?" Fionnbharr now tried to touch the image, but again it disappeared and left nothing behind. "I have seen blurry images of such things, but nothing like that before."

"It did remind me of a gryphon, but those are quadrupedal," Tychon commented as he was trying to remember the details of the image they saw. "I suppose that it was completely sentient and sapient however."

Fionnbharr now perked up. "So, basically a machine, which has a consciousness." He scratched his lower muzzle a little and sighed. "Maybe, it is connected to the Gray Star. They said it was a machine, looking like a dragon. If this was a machine based on a mythical beast, then maybe we are getting closer to the clue we need."

"It might be," Khaba said as he was glancing at the two. "I have an image in mind of when I lost control over my magic, and tore apart a man of metal. The concept of sapience in machines, it is something that has been achieved."

The young prince pondered about the bat's words and let out a sigh as he held his head and sat down in a rusty chair. "Goodness. This is all rather exhausting."

"Prince Fionnbharr, by all due respect," Tychon now placed a hand on the albino's shoulder, "We cannot keep this up forever. This sort of magic is extremely straining for the both of us."

Anna now called towards them. "He is right, if you drop dead all of the sudden, we cannot do any more progress. We should take a break." She then glanced at the ground and took careful steps to get to them.

"I suppose, that a break would be nice," Fionnbharr muttered as he got up with a heavy head. He was following Anna back to the others, and taking care not to fall down the floor as Aldric did.

The shaman was greeting Fionnbharr with open arms, and pulling him to an embrace to support his tired body. "Yeah, you do look very tired. I know we are in a ruin, but it should be somewhat possible to rest for a bit here."

Fionnbharr chuckled and swiftly glanced around. "Not upstairs, though. I wouldn't like dashing through the ground."

Frowning at the joke on his expense, Aldric shook his head and returned to the ground floor with the others.

"You know," Khaba now flew back to Lucille's shoulders and leaned his head close to hers. "The thing about all of this, what is causing these anomalies? They appear just now when this thing arrives, so." He took a deep breath. "Do you think, this Aleftav caused them?"

Lucille crossed her arms and inhaled and exhaled briefly. "The theory is plausible, if you think about the nature of this Aleftav. But, they are our only clues right now. Even, if I cannot really decipher what the heck that woman is."

Once downstairs, Anna stretched her limbs and sat down on the ground. She was grinning widely, as she looked at her troop and specifically at Tychon, whom she waved over to herself. "Come her, cutie. You did a fine job thus far."

"Cutie?" the fox was tilting his head and only slowly and carefully got closer to her. It did not change that he was finding himself pulled into a headlock by her. "Hey, what are you doing?"

Anna laughed heartily at Tychon's remark. "Just wanting to know how cuddly foxes are, that's all."

Tychon groaned, and tried to free himself. "I am not cuddly at all! Now, please let me go!"

"Hmm," the leonberger smiled widely and put the fox next to her before lying down on her back. "You are not cuddly at all, not at all. More like, grouchy."

Eyes twitching the fox was about to protest, but then he felt Crawford putting a hand on his shoulder.

The young otter chuckled and sat down next to the fox. "You did do a great job with those anomalies with Fionnbharr. It is good to have you on board with this."

"That is kind of you to say," Tychon replied as he took a deep breath. "After all, I did come for you, Lucille, and Khaba. After Gaius died, I just, I did not want that this would repeat itself. I and he, it felt like we were brothers. Like we were in another life."

Lucille and Khaba looked at each other and then turned their gazes to the fox. Khaba took a deep breath, and spoke, "We all miss him. Few people were as admirable as he was."

"It is them the world takes soonest," Tychon replied and buried his head into his hands. "Did I sell myself, or did I not? This is all just so confusing, because the decisions that caused all of this were never made. This is not logical anymore."

Anna now pulled Tychon close to her into a hug. "I know exactly how you feel, man." She was chuckling softly and then began patting his head. "Like, seriously, who would want to let their minds be assaulted like that?"

"It is actually rather easy, if you draw it out in your head," Crawford stated and crossed his arms. "Though, in all honesty, the mechanisms behind it are not. It shouldn't matter too much anyway, we got only one reality other than ours to observe at this moment."

Khaba now spread his wings, grinning at the male otter. "I must admit, I am really curious about what we might find out. You think there are more of these machines at the next anomaly?"

Crawford nodded. "If we observe the same reality, the chances wouldn't be bad. Oh, how much I wish I could just jump through, all that technology, far ahead of what we have."

"Brother, you better not switch realities, because who knows if you could get back?" Lucille warned him and then glanced over to Fionnbharr and Aldric. "What are your thoughts about all of this?"

Aldric gave her an amused glance. "Personally, due to my work with Fionn it has been an interest of mine for a long while. Now, such anomalies themselves are nothing we could observe thus far, hence I am thrilled."

"I do have to admit that it does exhaust me however," Fionnbharr added as he gave everyone a weak smile. "Not that I want to complain. I had to get away from my brother for a while, as he began to be extensively nervous and overbearing lately."

Both Crawford and Lucille looked at each other, and laughed. Lucille than turned to the albino with her arms supporting her as she leaned back. "Welcome to the union of people, which got annoying, overprotective older siblings. To be fair to Leofwine however, he has realized it and we agreed to treat each other as equals from now on."

"Can't say that is easy for myself," the albino gave back. "I did spend most of my life hiding from others under a robe, as, well you can guess how much attention I attract without stripes. Thus, my brother has always been protective of me, which I did not mind as I was younger. But, I have grown up, gods dammit."

Crawford chuckled. "Trust me, we understand you too well. But, well in all honesty, it does require you to talk with him and stand your ground."

Fionnbharr sighed. "I suppose. He is not really the reasonable type. Very emotional, trusts his gut, even though he is at least cheerful."

With a movement of his body, Aldric now adjusted himself, so Fionnbharr had more space to sit. "Well, he is your brother, and I am sure, if we talk with him, he will understand your point of view."

"Aldric, you have known him for almost seven years now," the prince spoke to his friend. "You should know very well how he is."

"I do, and I think you are giving up too soon with him," Aldric bluntly stated as he crossed his arms. "While he can be annoying, I know he is not fully void of reason. And after we manage to go through this, he will realize you can take care of yourself. Sounds good?"

Tilting his head sideways, Fionnbharr began to mumble something inaudible. "Alright. But if he does not budge, you owe me compensation."

"I invite you to the pub, if you want," the shaman offered and chuckled as he ruffled Fionnbharr's headfur. "They serve good food, and I think you would like to ruin me financially by eating it."

"Hmm, I take that," the albino's expression lightened up a little and he began to laugh and lean at Aldric to get some rest. "Wake me up in an hour. I think that will be enough to recover enough for another anomaly."

Chuckling a bit, Aldric carefully took off his robe and folded it to make a provisory pillow, which he put on the ground for Fionnbharr to rest his head on. A moment later, he held his hand above the albino's forehead, and focused his magic onto it.

With a quiet yawn, the prince soon closed his eyes and laid down on the ground, giving of soft snores in his slumber.

"No offense Aldric, but, I never assumed you could be that, kind," Lucille commented with a chuckle. "I mean, you seem not as warm to me. Not that I complain, you are rational and calm, but you get what I am saying."

The shaman gave her a grin. "Just because I am a little less expressive, most people actually say that to me. And it is kind of true, I generally don't get attached to people, but those few I do, I find are rather dear to me. I have my priorities."

"So, would you say Vidar and Leofwine became your friends over the course of your adventures together?" Crawford now asked curiously. "After all, you had to spend months with them now."

Aldric remained silent for a while, before scratching the back of his head, and twitching with his right eye. "Well, I guess with Leofwine I would say he is a nice guy, and someone I can spend a good game with. With Vidar meanwhile I have to say, the first few weeks caused me to age by a decade. It is, working with him now, even if he is a bit too open sometimes."

Khaba giggled a little, and then flew off Lucille's back and in front of the shaman. "Well, he is quite expressive, isn't he? Now, I am showing you that even your rock face can move."

"Rock face?" Aldric was crossing his arms as he looked at Khaba, and was about to say something as he felt something cold touching his face. As he turned his head, he shrieked up as he saw a shadowy arm sprout from his back and stroking over his shoulder.

Everyone but him, and of course the sleeping Fionnbharr, where laughing at the scene, and Anna clapped Aldric on the shoulder once the shadow disappeared. "Well then, there were have it. He got emotions. Mainly fear from weird, demonic hands. Or, whatever, I am still a bit confused about the whole daemon and demon stuff."

Lucille gave her a nod. "Same here. Though, perhaps the other way around. I guess different cultures have different concepts of myths and such. Even if I would not call something a myth, which I have seen with my own eyes."

"Personally, I give not a single fuck. Right now, I just want to solve the issue with this Aleftav thing, and then maybe the Menni," the leonberger remarked as she leaned back against a piece of rubble. "If there is a God controlling our fates, he is not doing a good job."

"If, that is. I guess you don't believe in fate, either?" Lucille now asked as he began playing around with her chakram blades. "I do believe in gods, but not that they determine our lives. Why would some religions propose punishments, if gods make us commit sins? Doesn't make sense to me."

"Amen to that, sister," the dog gave back cheerfully and then pulled Aldric into a chokehold. "What's your opinion as an expert in those things?"

Struggling to free himself, Aldric was groaning his answer. "Quite simply, the stoic philosophy is not what I personally believe in, so I think of it as somewhat based on people simply giving in rather than trying to make a difference. But, I am no philosopher."

"True that, you are more of a pragmatist, which is also quite likable," Crawford now threw in as he observed the leonberger and the badger. "As of now, I think we are very close to solve a mystery, which could potentially save us all. And, I think that with all coming together, the anomalies showing machines, the mystery of the Gray Stat, it would appear that we now know what can defeat Aleftav. Question is, of course, how can we activate it?"

Anna sighed. "Gotta check your magic book, Craw. I got no idea what the fuck this machine looks like, and most likely could not operate it." She then released Aldric and scratched her forehead.

Crawford did as he was told, and quickly pulled out the booklet of his. Moments later he was looking rather perplexed, and began shaking his head. "No, this is, just insane. The technology in question is developed by a mathematical system based around the number twenty."

"Meaning?" Anna was looking at the others, who were just as puzzled. "I mean, it is still math, so shouldn't it be the same as decimal math?"

The otter flinched at the remark. "If it was only that, I would only need a month, but the machine itself is using technology even I am getting troubles with. The people creating it must have been geniuses. Mad, sadistic geniuses."

"Anyone, who would make math even more complicated, would be a sadist," Anna jested and then pulled Aldric close to her again. "I suppose he is not an expert with numbers, is he?"

Aldric sighed. "Please stop this pulling already? But to answer your question, I am not going beyond the most basic algebra. I am a shaman, not an architect, mathematician, or whatever."

"You got me for that stuff," Crawford boasted with a grin and then looked back into the handbook. "Well, the good part is, if I understand artificial intelligence correctly, maybe we don't need an understanding of how it works. If the Gray Star is sentient and sapient it could operate on its own."

"That is all that counts, so we can skip the math classes," Anna jested and then released Aldric before getting up and stretching her limbs. "But in all honesty, if it is something that can kill this monster, I won't complain. The innocent lives it erased, were nothing compared to what could still come."

Lucille nodded and now got up as well. "I agree, if it is something we require an ancient machine god for, its destructive potential must be great." She then took a deep breath and glanced over to her brother. "Let's locate the next anomaly, while Tychon and Fionn recover."

"A great us of time, sister-heart," Crawford gave back and took his scanning device back in hands.

Fionnbharr was coughing violently, shaking as a massive amount of pain went through his body. He was blinking, trying to focus around as he saw the world around him as little more than a blur. Once it became clearer however, he was holding back a scream as he saw a being made of crystals, having the shape of an orchid and hovering above several limb bodies. "No. This, this cannot."

"You foolish mortals, slaves to a long dormant creator," Aleftav spoke as it raised it turned towards the albino. "It is only a matter of time for you to perish at our hands. The day will come that this world comes to an end, and your actions will matter nothing."

The white badger was breathing heavily, focusing his magic to create a staff in hands. As he rose it up in air, he could feel how the world around him faded away, and hear how a scream escaped his muzzle.

"Fionn!" Aldric was quickly rushing to him, and put his hands on his shoulder. "Are you alright? Did you have a nightmare?"

Feeling drained of his energy after waking up, the albino nodded. "I saw, I think I saw this Aleftav. I was, feeling pain. Fear. And, I saw, I think I saw," he was almost choking as his body reacted violently with tears coming from his eyes. "I was the only one left. I saw Aleftav killing all of you."

Aldric was blinking in shock, but quickly pulled his friend in a hug, so he could calm down from the experience. "It was only a dream. You usually don't get so frightened by those."

"You can try to reassure me, but I have never seen Aleftav with my own eyes, and I also am a seer," the albino muttered. "It wasn't just a nightmare, it was a vision of what will come to be when Aleftav returns. We will perish, and then everything will, too."

Anna took a deep breath and scratched the back of her head. "We write our own futures, or something like that. Let's take it as a motivation to find the Gray Star and fuck over that vision's foretelling."

"Speaking of which," Crawford, Lucille, and Khaba now came back to the others. "We located one last anomaly in the depths of this building. After we got that one down we can head home and plan ahead."

Fionnbharr smiled wryly as he got up from the ground and stepped closer to the otters. "Would you lead us the way then?"

Crawford swiftly took the albino's arm, pulling him along towards a set of stairs leading further down the building complex.

Aldric, who put his cloak back on, took a deep breath however and looked at Anna. "I know it was a vision of his. It could be much direr for us than I feared."

"Figures, but we should not let ourselves be discouraged, you guys said they are only possible, not determined," the leonberger gave back as they and Tychon went downstairs. "We just have to get the means to defeat this oversized glass figure and then we have nothing to worry about."

A few minutes later, the group reached the lowest floor of the building, tightly sealed by a large metal door, which had a large sign reading 'Permission Required' put onto it. It was swiftly burst into pieces as Tychon channeled a fire spell through his palm and unleashed it against the entrance. Behind it, a dark corridor was stretching out, with everything else being obscured.

Khaba was opening his maw to check the area with his sonar, and then glanced towards Anna. "A larger room is further up ahead. We might need some light however."

"Gotcha," the dog now grabbed into her large bag and pulled out a flashlight, which she held into the corridor before entering it herself. "I do wonder what this building was used for. It does appear stable enough at least, but," she paused as she made sure everyone was following her, before eventually reaching the room.

The light of the flashlight was revealing a rather broad spectrum of machines, still in great condition, tubes and cupboards was placed orderly all around the room, as if it was still in use.

"Well, I guess this is," Crawford was scratching his chin as he was looking around for the anomaly. With a sigh, he pulled out the scanner again, and tilted his head. "According to it, there is an anomaly here, but where exactly here?"

"That should be quite clear," Tychon now spoke as he spread his arms and focused his magic around them. "We are inside the anomaly."

Crawford was looking a bit perplexed, before turning his head towards the tunnel and shaking his head. "Is that the only explanation we got? The others were different, but you mean we walked in an overlap of realities?"

"You could put it that way," the fox spoke as he walked towards one of the cupboards and took a photography from it. "After all, this face here looks exactly like the girl from the other two anomalies." He held the picture in front of himself, and sure enough, it showed the girl on the back of the same machine that they saw earlier. "This is somewhere where they do experiments, as it looks like. Maybe, we could find information on their machines here as well."

Anna chuckled softly, and then looked around until she found a light switch to turn on the lights. "Okay then, it seems we are on the right track. Now, let us raid this place for what we need."

"I am already on it," Crawford gave back as he looked into a drawer, just to groan as he held some papers towards Anna. "And there we got a problem. Neither our runes, nor your Athena Device translate this for us, I fear."

"Figures," the leonberger now crossed her arms and took a deep breath. "Should we wait for someone to enter? Or, do you guys have any other ideas?"

Fionnbharr shook his head. "The stability of this place is rather questionable. Staying here for too long can put us into peril." He then looked over to Aldric. "I could of course, try to expand the timeframe we got."

Aldric nodded affirmingly. "We should give it a try. With the current situation, we probably have to take the risk."

"I agree," the albino then went into the middle of the room and began to focus his magic into the surrounding area. "Maybe you should check for a way to contact the outside."

Crawford quickly obeyed, and looked around the room for a device which could be used for such. After a few minutes, he eventually found it and pressed a button.

A voice came from the other end of the line, not at all understandable for them all. It appeared to sound rather confused, and mostly had a feminine pitch to it.

"Uh, good day? Evening?" the otter was nervously glancing around. "I think we need a translator."

The voice chuckled softly, and then a monitor on a wall turned on, with the face of the exact same girl that the photo depicted. She was apparently moving her hands on something, which emitted countless clicking sounds, before she eventually took a deep breath. "Our Athena Device is now connected to your minds. Very sorry about that." She took a deep breath. "Well, good thing you landed in papa's laboratory."

"Uh, no offense, but," Lucille now got closer to the monitor. "What the heck is going on here actually?"

"Apart from you delivering a concrete evidence of parallel dimensions," the girl was giggling softly. "I suppose that I would be a friend of yours, of sorts. The name is Min-Ji, and well, we call ourselves humans."

Tychon nodded. "So, you mean we are in a world, where your kind did not destroy itself? Or are we in the past perhaps?"

"Hard to say," Min-Ji replied with a shrug. "But, I suppose that we are living in relatively peaceful times at least. However, you probably are not realy here to strand in another dimension, so, why did you enter a clearly dangerous anomaly?"

Aldric was clearing his throat. "We have discovered six gems, which all were fragments of a being called Aleftav. Five beings, called the Celestial Sovereigns, have led us here to find a way to destroy it once and for all. And we assume it to be what you refer to as E.P.O.S."

"Also known as the Heavy Metal Dragon," the girl jested. "I suppose you got one as well then? Well, I suppose judging by your looks you probably are not so tech-savvy as I am, so to make it simple E.P.O.S. is a system with its own sentience and sapience, capable to determine its own decisions. Hence, if it is still active, it will come to help you automatically."

"But, what if it is dormant, unable to awake?" the shaman now asked more desperately. "I doubt that after ten millennia it is still active. Else, it would have stopped Aleftav already."

Min-Ji nodded. "The system was created to last for essentially a few billion years, but energy is a finite resource, so it is perhaps in standby. If it is constructed the same, there are terminals all over the world to activate it again."

"A terminal you say?" Anna was now scratching her nose. "I remember, there was supposedly something at the Central, a device that they deemed as most important to themselves. At least, if I can trust my intel."

Crawford smiled brightly. "It would be worth a try. If it is the terminal we are looking for, we have done it. Plus, if we can explain it to the menni, we can maybe get there without any interference."

"Explain it to them?" Anna was now snarling at the otter. "I rather get myself shaved furless than make a deal with those devils! I shoot them all in the head and make it quick, that is as far as I am willing to negotiate."

"We cannot afford the risk," Lucille not intervened. "They will be reasonable enough to cooperate. We just need to be diplomatic about it."

"Diplomatic?" the leonberger was now smashing her hand on a table, which immediately gave in and broke in two. "They deserve my shotgun up their asses!"

Min-Ji sighed for a moment. "A lot of bad blood with someone. I could just reprogram the remote we got, so you can use it to access the terminal."

Aldric gave her a relieved expression. "That would be very kind of you. Should we wait for you down here?"

"You better, because it can take an hour actually," she told him and waved into the camera. "See you guys then!" And with that the monitor went black.

"Well, we got a solution then," the badger spoke with a smile. "That way we can probably solve things easiest."

Anna was still frowning. "Better so, I hate those menni more than fleas and about as much as I hate Seraph."

"G-guys?" Fionnbharr was looking rather frightened at the corridor. "I think that, I am not able to hold it open for much longer."

Anna snarled, and then gestured everyone to get out. "Darn it! Let's get out of here before we get stuck."

As everyone was leaving as fast as they could, Aldric was standing still next to Fionnbharr, looking kindly at him. "Okay, let us get out of here then, Fionn."

"Aldric?" the albino was looking exhausted as he turned to his brethren. "I fear, the anomaly is only holding up for as long as I can channel my magic. If I lose focus, we both will be stuck here."

"What?" the shaman was replying with a disheartened lack of energy. "Fionn, are you really sure about that?"

Gasping as a jolt of pain went through his body, Fionnbharr gave him a nod and closed his eyes. "I cannot, hold it open. Leave!"

"No," Aldric was now grabbing the arm of the albino carefully and tried to pull him towards the rift. "I won't leave you behind by yourself in this alien world."

Sighing at the stubbornness of his friend, Fionnbharr now held his right hand on the chest of Aldric and spoke firmly, "Forgive me for this." A moment later, he catapulted the shaman away from himself, pushing him through the rift, before it eventually closed for good.

"Fionn!" as fast as Aldric was pushed across an entire corridor, as fast he got up again and rushed towards the spot where the rift was before. He took a deep breath. Carefully he glanced around, hoping to see a hint of the tear that led them to the other world. "He is, gone."

Anna now came closer to the badger. "I am very sorry about all of this, Aldric. As the leader, I should have intervened much sooner, and not have overestimated his capabilities."

Fiercely, Aldric punched a cupboard next to him, his head sunken low as he starred at his feet. "Nobody is at fault in this. Not even he himself knew how straining it would be. Still," he punched against the cupboard again, causing it to break. "I have failed to protect him."

"Not necessarily," Tychon now intervened as he stepped closer to Aldric and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Their technology developed further than anything in our reality. It could be possible for them to do something about this."

Weakly, Aldric stepped past the fox and leonberger, sighing heavily as he reached the stairs and sat down for a moment. "This is the first real time I experienced loss. And it feels as if my entire body shattered from one moment to the other. However, there is too much at stake for me to give in. We have to head back, and plan on how to awake the Grey Star."

"Toughstripes, don't play the guy, who cannot cry," Anna told him with a smile. "But yes, our time is short. We have to head back to HQ and get things done first."

Aldric chuckled softly for a moment, yet he wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye. "I will be doing all I can. For you and for him."