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Chapter 6: Whiteout.

The nausea and vertigo of having his entire body dematerialized and kicked God knows how far away was a bit of a shock to Brian. The sensation of being thrown into a freezer didn't help things, either. The Marine was used to the blistering hot desert climate of Iraq... and while the temperatures dropped at night they weren't as bad as what he was going through now.

The good thing was that his fatigues and body armor provided a good dose of insulation... for that he was pretty damn thankful. As he looked around, the terrain looked pretty similar to the rugged Rocky Mountains he grew up in... although with a severe lack of trees. He was in a pretty sheltered area; surrounded by rock walls which broke the occasional gust of wind that blew snow around.

The light from whatever moon the planet had shone on the packed snow, casting the entire place in an ethereal glow. Ahead, he could see a massive stone door with some sort of small spacecraft parked next to it... or at least he assumed it was a spacecraft. Maybe if he had been an Chair Force jet pilot he would have hijacked the damn thing, but Marine NCO training didn't exactly focus on how to fly a stolen flying saucer. With a chuckle he unslung his M16... a very solid choice in an open tactical arena. This would be a cakewalk; grab the dinosaur's son and get him to safety.

Brian moved out from the shelter of the rock wall, his eyes focused on the door ahead of him. He was about to walk towards it before a muffled boom reached his ears. The Marine knew incoming artillery fire when he heard it, and that meant he had to take cover. He dove back behind the rock wall as the incoming round slammed into the snow where he had stood. The explosion lifted his body and threw it against unyielding stone... knocking the breath out of him even through the armor.

Brian remained there for several minutes, trying to regain his senses. Whoever decided to drop a mortar round on his ass was now on his hit list... he didn't appreciate being blown up. "Okay... this isn't cute anymore!" He grumbled and collected his rifle. Using a more stealthy approach, he stuck the rifle out just past the wall, moving slowly and revealing as little of himself as possible. His eye peered through the rifle's sights, getting a better look at the area.

He was in a very shallow valley between two folds of mountains... a narrow corridor leading toward the cave doors being covered by whatever had decided to lob a shell at him. The trick was to find what had fired said shell, and catch whoever was operating it in his sights... without being seen.

His search paid off as he turned the rifle to his left. A cannon was perched behind another rock wall, and two of those Sharpclaw were intently watching where he had been before... apparently looking to lob another shell up his ass if he decided to run out. They were unaware of the M16 slowly tracking the one nearest the firing mechanism. Brian set the sights on its head and allowed his finger to slowly tighten on its trigger.

The M16 barked its report into the cold mountain air and a flash of crimson spray erupted from the Sharpclaw. With speed developed from training and experience, Brian bracketed the other one. The rifle spoke once more and the gun's crew was silenced... permanently. "Not so smug now, are you?" Shaking his head, he glanced toward the doors... he was free to go.

The Marine crossed the distance to the doors unmolested, gripping his rifle in his glove-clad hands... ready for any other opposition. He passed the spacecraft, seeing no obvious entrance into it. It would be tactically dangerous not to check it, but damn if he knew how to open it up. Taking a deep breath he approached the door; balancing the M16 in his right hand just in case he had to use it immediately.

As he opened the door, he found out he did. A Sharpclaw armed with an axe charged him... much too close for comfort. Brian took action, not even having enough time to shoot. He jabbed the barrel into its gut, doubling it over and giving him a split second more time... all he needed. Taking the rifle back into both hands and pivoting it, he slammed its stock into the back of its head. The crack of the hit attracted the other occupants of the cave.

Two more Sharpclaw were crowded around a small Earthwalker... Tricky, he assumed. The two reptiles looked ready to pummel him senseless... something the Marine was going to prevent. "Sorry to interrupt, but I've got a bone to pick with you." He raised the rifle, but as the Sharpclaw turned to face the new threat Tricky bolted. Smart, but that would make things a hell of a lot more difficult.

"Hey, stay here! I'm getting you out of this mess!" He called out to the retreating Earthwalker, although in doing so the Sharpclaw gained the upper hand. One of them rushed forward, knocking the M16 out of his hands with a swipe of his club. As the Marine struggled to snatch his M1911 out of its holster it slammed its weapon on his chest, knocking him to the round. Armor or no, it hurt.

Trying to regain is breath for the second time in the past few minutes, he saw the two jump on some sort of hovering motorcycle contraptions... hoverbikes would be a better word. One of them was still sitting there; obviously the Sharpclaw he had beaned with the rifle wouldn't be needing it. "Christ... I did not have this in mind when I re-upped!" Brian sprinted for the bike, scooping up and slinging the M16. Hopping on it, he fervently hoped he would be able to drive the damn thing.

The handgrips were similar to a motorcycle's, but there were also foot pedals. Pressing one of them inched the bike forward, so he decided to use the lead foot treatment. The bike rocketed forward, easily the equal to a high-powered crotch rocket. He laid on it, the bike taking a short trip through a tunnel to emerge back out into the open... a sloping ski run that had long since been eroded into the side of the mountain.

Brian could see the Sharpclaw ahead of him, pushing their bikes at a similar pace. He had no idea how Tricky could have outrun them at that speed, but he had to catch up. Dodging several uprooted trees and boulders, he kept at an almost insane pace.. forcing the thought of what would happen if he crashed out of his mind.

The snow flew by as he gained on the Sharpclaw. Two hundred yards closed to half that distance in less than fifteen seconds. Even with his combat gear he was lighter and, well, he had always taken risks like this. However, one of his opponents looked behind, spotting the solitary human racing towards them. It pulled out something from the side of the vehicle and tossed it at him, all the while sporting what looked to be an evil grin.

Brian grit his teeth as he realized that the damn thing had lobbed a grenade at him. Banking the hoverbike to the left, he barely skirted around it as it went off. The controls tried to wrest free of his grasp, but he kept it on course... feeling the heat of the bomb going off as well as the patter of debris on his clothing. "Okay, asshole!" he shouted. "Want to play it rough?"His right hand made itself busy by pulling out the .45.

The Sharpclaw reached for another bomb, although the Marine was more than ready. He leveled the pistol at the bike and pulled the trigger, the Colt's roar drowned out by the bikes and the wind. Still, he hit the Sharpclaw and watched it fall to the ground with the bike.. in a furry of snow, limbs, and groaning metal. Brian passed the fallen bike and rider as if it were standing still.

The bike passed through a short tunnel, letting Brian see the bright blue exhaust of his other opponent. Gritting his teeth in determination, he pushed the pedal as far as it would go; the bike responded by rushing up to meet the second Sharpclaw.

Firing on a moving target while on another moving target was difficult. The first one he shot had been a very lucky hit; the second was to prove more difficult. The Colt blasted a few more times, the heavy .45 slugs punching into either the ground or the surrounding trees. "Fuck!" he hissed. There were nine rounds in the gun, owing to the fact he used eight-round extended magazines. Reloading on a bike at this speed would be suicide. If he ran dry, he ran dry. His next shot had to strike home.

The Sharpclaw growled at his human pursuer, reaching into a storage compartment on the bike and lobbing another bomb at him. Brian junked the bike to the right, managing to avoid the explosive device before it blew. Steering with a gun in one hand was difficult, and the bike dangerously swerved to the left and to the right.

The Sharpclaw grabbed at another bomb, and Brian saw his opening. Mashing down on the accelerator, his bike surged forward at the distracted Sharpclaw... he was assuming the lizard-man would be focused on keeping the bike straight. The human pointed the pistol at his opponent and started pulling the trigger, the M1911 thundering its report into the freezing wind. The Sharpclaw pitched from the bike as it rolled to the side, and Brian dodged it.

However, the Marine did not take into account the sheer dropoff he was hurtling towards... before he even had a chance to slam on the brakes the hoverbike had taken off into the wild blue yonder. Brian hated heights, and he hated falling. The feeling made him freak out, and he simply shut down as he plummeted.

The shock of hot water hit him in the face... it was like being dunked into a bathtub. The possibility of getting wet out in the frozen wastes never crossed his mind, but that was even worse than falling. Being wrapped in freezing clothing wasn't going to be fun, so the Marine pushed himself to shore.

It would be cold as hell, but the layer of Under Armour he wore underneath his fatigues was water resistant and would dry much more quickly than the soaked cotton battle dress. Brian pulled the sodden battle dress off, bunching it up as best he could and tying them down to his utility belt. The chill instantly made itself known through the thin, somewhat wet fabric, and he looked like a cut-rate superhero. "Christ. Going to freeze my ass off here." he muttered.

Brian had been so intent on pulling the soaking wet fatigues off that he didn't notice the young Earthwalker standing just a couple of yards away. Apparently he had noticed the Marine's use of Lylatian, so he responded in kind. "You better be glad that was a hot spring... if it wasn't you'd be an icicle by now!"

The human was in no mood for humor. "Listen, kid. Over the past twenty-four hours I have been shot at, actually shot, had an orbital weapon used against me, shot again, almost had my head chopped off, got an arty strike called in on me... and now I fell off a damn cliff." He turned to the Earthwalker and fixed him with a glare. "I'm here to save your ass, but if you push me over the brink, I swear to God I'll..."

The young dinosaur fixed him with a stubborn glare of his own. "My dad's the King Earthwalker, pal... if you hurt me he'll pound you flat!" He was pretty small; maybe about the same size as an average dog... but Brian admitted he had some guts.

He shook off his armor as best he could and put it on, hoping it wouldn't freeze to him. His M16 survived in fairly good shape, at least... but where was his M1911? It wasn't in its holster, and he glanced around. Finally, he found it laying next to the hot spring; he must have thrown it while he was on the bike. "Listen." he growled as he reloaded and placed the handgun back in its holster. "I'm just trying to get your butt back home. Your 'ol lady asked us to do it, and I'm just the one who drew the shortest straw."

The Earthwalker moved closer, just a little. "You're going to take me back to my mom? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, yeah.... she is." Brian stood up, feeling the chill instantly penetrate the thin layer he had on. This, frankly, was going to suck. At least Krystal was going to have an easier time of it, he hoped... nothing quite like freezing your ass off when you've been used to hundred-plus degree temps for the past year. "Let's just get a move on before my toes start falling off." Without any further preamble the Marine took off down the only path out of the semi-cavern they were in; a sloping, snow-packed path that led to his right.

The rapid-fire crunching of snow behind him indicated the Earthwalker was following behind him. Surprisingly, the dinosaur tried to keep an active conversation going. "So... what are you? Who are you? How come you don't got scales or fur?" He kept close pace with Brian, who was trudging through the snow with his arms crossed over his body.

"Brian Lancing... Sergeant, United States Marine Corps. I'm a human, and the reason I don't have fur or scales is that I don't, okay?" He was still pretty annoyed, but the fact that he was walking through a freezing wasteland wearing the equivalent of long underwear wasn't helping things. "Just... hush up, alright? I'm taking your butt back to your mom, and then my friend and I are going to try to get this damn planet back together." He paused for a minute, then chuckled to himself. "Really saving a planet. I'd love to bring that up to Al Gore at a cocktail party."

The reference to politics went way over Tricky's head, but pressing his luck was something he did often. He was pretty bold and probably a little spoiled, but he should keep his mysterious rescuer talking. "I'm Trujadowoki, Prince of the Earthwalkers. Everyone calls me Tricky. You're... going to save our world? Cool! How are you gonna do it?"

Brian sighed... he wasn't going to be able to shut the kid up; might as well get used to it. "My friend, Krystal... she would know more about it than I would. I'm not exactly fluent in the native language." It was strange that he was referring to her as a friend already, but... what else could she be? Comrade? Fellow soldier? It didn't fit. She really wanted to gain his trust, and nothing about her seemed to tell him she was going to drive a knife into his back. There was a huge difference in trusting your life to someone because you had to, and displaying that level of trust because they were willing to do the same.

"Then, where's your friend? They're not out here." Tricky dashed forward a little bit, obviously bored at the slower pace Brian was trudging. "Leave you alone to get me or something?"

"She's at some... castle or something. Krakatoa palace or something like that? She said something about having to rescue some sort of ghost there... way too paranormal for my blood." For some reason it was getting warmer... a little strange for the fact they were walking through a frozen mountain pass, surrounded on all sides by tall, jagged rock walls.

"You mean... Krazoa Palace? That's a very dangerous place, especially if General Scales plans on being there." Tricky slowed down a bit, thinking a little. "there are many guardian beasts there... they don't bother us Earthwalkers, but if anyone else comes walking in... smack! Nasty things, too. It's not easy for us Saurians to get there, too... the Warpstone can't transport us. I hope your friend makes it out of there okay... it's very dangerous."

Brian absorbed the information from the rambling young Earthwalker. It was a little disconcerting, but Krystal looked like the type that could handle herself. Plus, she was armed with an M4... he hadn't seen anything here that laughed at a 5.56mm round. He stopped short as they rounded a bend... and found their path blocked off. The obstruction was a river of lava boiling beneath them. That was why it was almost tolerable here. "Uhm... that's going to be a problem." the Marine surmised. The gap they had to cross was nearly twenty feet in length; the flowing lava raged nearly ten feet below the end of the path.

Tricky glanced down and blinked at the river of lava. "There should be a bridge around here, I think. While glancing around he spotted a path darting through the rock wall, and started for it. "C'mon... I think we can find something here."

Left with no other choice, Brian followed the Earthwalker into a small 'cove' of sorts, still surrounded by rock walls. A cave entrance beckoned to them, yet it was covered up by some sort of portcullis. No levers were around to pull to open it, either. "Ah, crap. What's going to happen now?"

Tricky was sniffing around, poking and prodding at the ground. "I'm smelling something... here!" The Earthwalker started digging around in the snow... after about a minute of frantic work he uncovered a recessed platform. With what counted as a grin he waltzed onto it, his weight pushing the platform deeper into the ground.

The portcullis ground open on rusty tracks, and the Marine offered a grin to Tricky. "Good work, kid. Stay right there... I'm going to poke around here a bit." Unslinging his M16 as a precaution, he went into the small cave.

There was a lever embedded into the rock wall... obviously to do something fairly important. Also, a small collection of things were scattered around; a few softball-sized jewels, and a basketball-sized glowing, buzzing orb. He had no damn idea what to do with them, but if they were locked away like this... they were obviously useful. It took a bit of stuffing, but he managed to secure the jewels into the pockets of his fatigues. The orb was a but more difficult. Picking it up produced an intense sensation of static electricity; all of his hair stood on end. Tying it up in his shirt took care of the issue of transporting it, though.

As an afterthought he reached for the lever, half-expecting the action to pull the portcullis shut again. He jumped at the sound of grinding machinery; leaping out of the cave to find out it wasn't the portcullis making the noises. Tricky blinked at him, chuckling and shaking his head. "Now, you really are jumpy."

"Yeah, yeah, yuk it up." The freezing Marine responded. "Now, let's see what we managed to get done, other than collect a few knick-knacks." Dusk had just about fallen, and he knew that it would just get colder as time drew on... they had to pick up the pace. Exiting the little 'cove,' the two found out exactly what that lever had done. A large chunk of rock had risen from the lava, providing enough solid ground for them to leap across the river of molten rock. Brian would have bet they had that little obstacle set up for anyone trying to come up the pass to rescue Tricky.

"Alright, here's the deal." He glanced long and hard at the platform that had risen. "I'm going to carry you and jump over this crap... I'm not weighed down by a whole lot so I should be just fine." With no further preamble he picked Tricky up... for his size he weighed quite a bit.

The Earthwalker squirmed a bit. "Hey, what are you doing!?" He had no time to react as Brian took a running start and jumped across the gap. Losing no steam, he rushed forward and took another leap... landing onto solid, non-dangerous ground. Tricky was set down almost immediately, grumbling up at the human. "I could have done that!"

"You're a little too high priority to risk falling into that kind of hot water." Brian shrugged and simply pressed on; the burst of warmth from the lava was invigorating. The heat wouldn't last for long, and it was time to get going. "Just get your butt in gear. I'm practically naked here. Can't fire a gun if my fingers fall off."

"A... gun? What's that?" As they walked down another sloping path, Tricky was once again trying to start conversation.

"If we run into any of those Sharpclaw assholes, you'll find out." the Marine responded, patting the plastic stock of the M16. This whole turn of events, well, kind of pissed him off. Deep down inside, he itched for a fight; yearned for taking a few more of those bastards out.

As if some god with a twisted sense of humor was listening to his thoughts, Brian got his wish. As they trudged along, he saw the snow right in front of him shift. Before he could even step back it was on him; some sort of snake-like beast shot out of the ground, jaws snapping towards his chest.

The body armor he wore was the only thing that saved him; a powerful, crushing set of jaws trying to burrow through material that was designed to stop a barrage of automatic weapons fire. Training automatically took over... Brian's hand shot for the M16. While the sling prevented him from properly using the rifle, he managed to thrust the barrel forward into the snake's length. His thumb flicked the selector to burst fire, and he pegged the trigger.

Tricky yelped and jumped back as the human's weapon roared its ear-splitting retort. The unknown enemy seemed to tear up. The weapon roared once more and the snake-thing collapsed onto the snow; red blood and gore soaking into the snow. Brian promptly fell backwards, out of breath and panting.

"What the hell... was that... thing!?" the Marine gasped, keeping the M16 ready in his hand. He quite well got his wish, but that particular encounter was definitely not what he had in mind. The Marine pushed himself out of the snow, cursing the fact that he was now soaked a bit from the waist down. Even a soft breeze made it damn cold. So much for retaining body heat.

Tricky just looked on in awe as he followed Brian, his eyes rooted on the rifle he was keeping firmly in his hands. "You almost cut 'em in half!" he exclaimed. "Can I have one?"

The mental image of Triceratops walking around with assault rifles mounted on their backs was pretty funny. "As much as I'd like to have a fireteam around here, I don't think you're really... able to shoot one of these." At Tricky's disappointed look, he simply shook his head. "Sorry, kid. Just leave any hostiles to me."

The path widened abruptly, and they soon found themselves on a ledge overlooking a large valley. It was smaller than the Thorntail Hollow place that Tricky called his temporary home, but not by too much. Several large beasts milled about, seemingly herded into a small portion of the valley by several Sharpclaw. "There's a lot of them, Brian." Tricky exclaimed. "What do we do now?"

The human took the time to examine things more closely. The adversaries were about two hundred yards away and mingling with the... woolly mammoths, were they? Most were armed with clubs, spears and axes... but one of them was armed with one of those muskets. "Little too far to be shooting into a mixed crowd. Wish I had another Marine or even Krystal running as backup. If I had someone to run down there and draw their fire, I could play sniper..."

As he ran through several scenarios in his mind, he heard the crunching of snow off to his right. Tricky had heard him, and was dashing down the sharply curving path towards the ground. "Shit! Get back here, dammit!" It was too late; the young Earthwalker was already most of the way down, and a few of the Sharpclaw were pointing at him, waving excitedly to their comrades. His hand was now forced.

Even though he preferred the M14 for long-range shooting, Brian qualified expert with the M16 during boot camp. He was extremely proficient with the weapon, and that familiarity was going to play a critical role for what he was about to do. Snapping the rifle into his shoulder, he chose his targets. The first was the Sharpclaw with the musket-styled firearm. He knew nothing about the weapon's capabilities, but it posed the most threat to him or Tricky. The sights fell on the lizard-man, who was trying to bring the musket to bear on the Earthwalker.

The Sharpclaw never made it. The M16 cracked its report into the valley, and its target fell to the ground. The marine had no time to look over his kill; he simply switched targets and fired. Starting with the most accessible Sharpclaw, Brian continued to fire. 'Single shots. Take your time to aim. Make every hit count...' he kept under control, forcing out the discomfort of the freezing wind and soaked clothing. All that mattered was the sights in front of him and the squeeze of the trigger.

Tricky soon found himself running for his life, almost instantly regretting his decision to distract the Sharpclaw. He could hear the human's 'gun' fire into the valley, but the number of Sharpclaw running after him with brandished weapons did not cease. He dashed between rocks and trees; anything to keep them from coming.

One of them caught up to him, lifting his axe for a fatal strike. However, a loud smack sounded from behind him, followed by the distant crack of the gun. The Sharpclaw fell then; a small round hole in its back. Several other cracks followed, and the Earthwalker found himself surrounded by the bodies of several of them. From the ridge, Brian stood up, stumbling down the path as quickly as he could.

As the Marine reached the bottom, he reloaded the rifle. The magazine was nearly spent; he was using far too much ammo for simple targets like this. That, and he wasn't all that happy with Tricky rushing off to draw their attention. As the young dinosaur reached him, Brian let him have it. "Christ! What were you thinking? Wait, I know! You weren't thinking when you ran out like that! I could have missed one and shot you!"

The Earthwalker whimpered and stepped back a bit. "Sheesh, I was only trying to help!" Even that explanation wasn't enough to stop the human, who was about to give his old drill sergeant a run for his money. "Breaking off from me is not an option, kid! I'm supposed to bring you back home safe and sound.... not in pieces! I already told you to leave the soldiering to me!"

The Marine-style dressing down had drawn the attention of one of the woolly mammoths, who barged up to the two; apparently unafraid of the one who was causing all the noise and dead Sharpclaw. Brian was cut off before delivering another tirade by the booming voice; as the mammoth was speaking in Saurian, he had no idea what it was saying. "Is this... creature bothering you, brave Prince?" it asked, promptly preparing to attack.

Tricky looked up to the mammoth. "No. He's angry, but... I think he's got his reasons. He hasn't had a good day, and he's just trying to get me back to Thorntail Hollow." Maybe that would calm his nerves.

Brian stood stock still, facing the tall creature that had intruded. Knowing full well that might makes right, he decided to back off a few steps. Along with the fully-grown Earthwalkers, he didn't want to mess with those mammoths unless he had the Humvee... and its mounted .50-cal. An M16 would probably only piss it off.

"If you put it that way... thank you for getting rid of those Sharpclaw.... both of you, I guess. If you are looking for the way out of Ice Mountain, simply enter that cave over there." The Snowhorn pointed with his trunk, towards a massive archway cut into one of the rock walls. "That will lead you right back to the Hollow. Tell your mother that we need her help; our Gatekeeper is trapped here."

_ "We will. Don't worry."_ Tricky turned to Brian, shaking his head in exasperation. "If you're done yelling at me, then let's get out of here. Maybe you'll be nicer once you warm up.... I hope." Not even allowing the Marine to respond, he dashed off for the cavern entrance.

With a sigh, the human decided to follow. "I wonder if Congress will make a 'putting up with backtalking alien dinosaurs' medal for me if I ever get back." Grumbling, he entered the cavern, where Tricky was bounding down a winding hallway. As he followed the dinosaur down the twisting, meandering cavern path, he noticed that it was actually getting warmer. Their job in the frozen wastelands was done.

*--------------------*

It took them nearly an hour to traverse through the underground complex. It was designed as a 'highway' of sorts, moving raw materials from the mines in Ice Mountain to the more easily accessed Thorntail Hollow. By the end of the trip, Brian was feeling a bit better; at least he was no longer freezing his ass off.

Once they emerged from the cave leading back to his starting point, it was well into the night. Most of the Thorntail were asleep, even though the stench of burned vegetation still lingered in the air. The Humvee sat where he had parked it, unmolested save for one of the doors still being open.

Tricky looked towards the temple-like building near the other end of the valley. "My ma's going to be worried. I'm getting back to her. I know I might have been a pain, but thanks!" As he had so many times before, the young Earthwalker dashed off... thankfully he was in a safe place, and Brian didn't have to worry about it.

"Good riddance." He breathed a sigh of relief as he made his way over to the Humvee. The fact he was trudging towards the vehicle clad only in a set of glorified long underwear was pretty embarrassing... Krystal was going to have a field day. Yet, as he reached the vehicle... there was no sign of her around. At all. "Looks like I made it early, then." With a huff, he set himself to the task of fixing the cargo area back up.

The Marines who used the Humvee before him had definitely come loaded. The M4 he had given Krystal wasn't the only piece of hardware they were trying to hide. Another M4 lay in the pile; that one equipped with an M203 underbarrel grenade launcher. A Remington 870 pump-action shotgun rounded out the mix, along with several 40mm grenades and two satchels filled with shotgun shells. These were obviously unauthorized weapons, and Colonel Hammond would have been dutybound to court-marshal anyone who had obtained this amount of non-kosher firepower.

After cleaning up and checking the new weaponry, Brian opened his pack. Krystal took the only set of fatigues that were remotely near his size, so he was stuck with a change of 'city clothes' he always brought along. A set of decent civilian threads was a decent barter gift as well as something to change into just in case the shit hit the fan. Within moments he was dressed in a simple pair of bluejeans and a gray T-shirt... looking nothing like the armed and equipped soldier he was mere moments ago.

A flash of light from behind startled him. His hand closed around the nearest weapon he could find, the Remington. Spinning the scattergun around, he came face to face with... whatever the hell it was.

It looked like an alien. Not a Sharpclaw, Earthwalker, or Cerinian; this one looked like it belonged on the cover of Weekly World News. The only reason the robed flying saucer pilot hadn't eaten a load of double-aught was the fact that for some reason, Brian knew it wasn't here to cause any harm. "What in the hell..."

"I am far removed from your concepts of Heaven and Hell, Brian Lancing." The 'alien' was speaking into this mind. That was freaky, but if it had the power to do that, he didn't have any power to do anything about it. "I am a Krazoa Spirit. Your companion, Krystal of Cerinia, released me from my prison. However, in trying to escape from our home... she was gravely injured."

Brian spat.... this day was becoming closer and closer to the sacred state known as FUBAR. The voice still spoke in his mind as if it were a direct line to God. "She needs your help. Please, travel to Krazoa Palace before her time runs out. She is depending on you... for her life."