 
Off The Grid: A War with No End Book 1

**Off The Grid**

By Andy Nadir

Published by Andy Nadir at Amazon

Copyright 2016 Andy Nadir

# Foreword

I'd like to thank my wonderful beta readers, Rena Hawethorn and Nick Frampton. You two were amazing, and I really appreciate all your help.

# Chapter 1

Despair. The feeling of utter hopelessness and failure. It is the knowledge that you have no power to stop your greatest fears from occurring. Yes, I knew that feeling well. One could almost say I was best friends with the dreaded thing, since it kept coming around and I never seemed to be able to escape it.

I was feeling this particular loathsome emotion as I sat in my soft plushy swivel chair. My nonstop spinning had whipped up a powerful gale and sent my beloved card house toppling to the ground scattered it as if hit by a hurricane.

"Blast it! I was almost at three hundred cards tall! Why, God? WHY?" My eyes beheld the horrific sight in disgust, unable to grasp the atrocity. I screamed in rage, causing a nosy attendant to open my door and peek inside.

"Is everything ok in here?" he asked.

"Everything is most definitely NOT alright. My card house was just destroyed in a more heartrending event than when I hit an annoying attendant in the head with my favorite paperweight."

He frowned and pushed his glasses up. "Sir, I do not recall any occasions when you threw a paperweight at one of the attendants. The Pisces Accords also have no record of this. Do you need medical support?"

I mentally added 'Nobody has a sense of humor' to my reasons of why I hated working as a scientist for the Pisces Empire. And don't even get me started on that list. If I wrote it all down, Satan would start handing out lollipops to little kids before you finished it.

I lifted my cute little Grim Reaper paperweight and looked at it sadly. "Farewell, my wonderful friend. I'll never forget your service to me," I whispered reverently.

The attendant tapped his glasses, and I could faintly hear the sound of a phone ringing. "Hello, medical Team? I need immediate aid in room 7A. Its occupant appears to-"

I hurled the Grim Reaper paperweight at him and it bounced off his forehead with a heavy thud. The paperweight smashed into a million tiny pieces on the floor, and I shook my head sadly. "What a waste."

The attendant rubbed his head. "I will be updating the Pisces accords on this matter, Mr. Jinx."

"The horror of it all," I grumbled.

The attendant spun, and strode angrily out of my room. I heard him smack into someone else, probably the medical Team he had called, and then muffled sounds of complaints. The attendant snapped something, and they both left. I smirked, and turned back to my flickering monitor. Just as I was about to start working, the door opened.

I groaned. "Buzz off, I was about to start working."

"Subject has dark blonde scruffy hair and green eyes. Uniform is crumpled and covered in crumbs. There has been no error; I am speaking with Mr. Jinx. And we both know what your idea of working is. You do something mildly useful for about five minutes, and then try to beat your high score in card houses. Your current score is two hundred and fifty cards high and two hundred and fourteen wide. It was a vague replica of a fort from an older planet our empire conquered a few hundred years ago."

The cold metallic voice washed over me like a powerful wave, and a shiver ran down my spine.

"What do you want, Rusty?" I asked.

"Look at me when you speak." The voice growled.

Sighing, I spun my chair around with as much distain as one possibly could and looked at the partially metallic face. The cyborg eyed me darkly with mismatched eyes. "Drake, you continue to refuse to obey the Pisces Empire. We cannot allow you to continue disrupting the peace, you wannabe Hephaestus."

I snarled at him, preparing to dive from my plush chair if he attacked me. Yes, there is a story behind that, and no, I will not be telling it to you today. The cyborg reached a clawed hand out and wrapped his hand around the front of my shirt. He lifted me easily from my chair. "Listen here, little man. You've annoyed the Council one too many times. They've issued a summons for you, and I'm here to make sure you don't squirrel out of this one."

Oh goody. Almost everyone the Council sent for went missing. Everyone who didn't disappear ended up floating face down in a river somewhere.

"Can I pack my things first?" I asked, and tried vainly to wiggle out of his grip.

The cyborg glared at me, "No."

He begun dragging me towards the door, so I reached out and grabbed the first thing I could see- a deadly weapon indeed. My hands wrapped around its hilt just as I was dragged out of the door, and I looked at my weapon. Within my hands rested a half-eaten sausage. I sighed. Why did I ever put the sausage next to where I kept my prototype energy swords?

Rusty lifted me above his head with the metal arm. He shook me around a little for good measure, and threw me on the ground. "Will you walk on your own, or do I have to carry you there like a baby?" he snarled.

In response, I hurled the sausage at him. It smacked into his human eye, and he cried out. I scrambled away from him and sprinted down the hallway. I would have returned to my room to get a weapon or two, but he was standing in the way. I ran down the halls blindly, my eyes half closed and expecting to see the cyborg's claws suddenly grab and crush the life out of me.

I took a sudden right and burst through a pair of large, wooden, double doors. Screeching comically to a stop, I found myself staring into the eyes of twelve Council members. The one directly across from me smiled and gestured for me to sit down. "I know we called you here, but I didn't expect you to be so prompt or eager to meet with us."

I scratched my head, trying vainly to find a way to escape the Council room without getting chopped into little bite sized pieces and getting sold as Drake-Nuggets. Hesitantly, I lowered myself into the offered chair, and looked bleakly at the Council.

Rusty suddenly burst through the doors, rage marring his features. (Namely, the human ones.) "Council, I apologize! I allowed Drake Jinx to..." He trailed off as he noticed me sitting in the middle of the room.

A Council member raised her eyebrow. "To...?"

Rusty shook his head. "My apologies, Council. I have delivered Mr. Jinx as asked of me."

I frowned at him. "That's a pile of crap and we know it. Don't make me pork you in the eye again."

"Pork him in the eye?" an interested Council member inquired.

I grinned. "Y'know. Like poke, but I stuck him in the eye with a pork sausage."

There was a general silence, and I sighed. "You guys have no sense of humor."

"We have things that must be done, Drake. There is no point wasting time with useless jibber-jabber. The reason we have called you here today is because, unfortunately, we need you. You are, surprisingly, one of our smartest scientists, and I believe you are looking into advancing our knowledge of how to use the Leaps in Quantized Time, correct?"

I nodded slowly. Quantized Time was an intriguing subject. Many years ago, a scientist discovered a way to 'step' out of the flow of time. He found that he could travel between worlds and times by using this ability, and even bring things with him. Not too much was known about this particular topic, making it the most interesting thing in the last few hundred years. The theory the scientist finally developed was that time isn't continuous, but in little packets that ran on completely different speeds. However, there was a catch or two. The scientist discovered that he could only travel a certain amount of times; in his case, 10. It is different for anyone who tries to learn the ability, and nobody knows how many times they can travel before losing the ability. Second, only one person can have the ability at any given time. And by any given time, I mean that person's lifespan. Well, that's the story the public of the Pisces Empire believes. The truth is the Pisces Empire has always had that power. Nobody knows how it got there, but we use it anyways. Oh, and one more thing. For some reason, nobody who has had it has ever returned to the Pisces Empire. All that ever remains are the notes and journals they take, which their successor brings back.

The Council member coughed. "Drake! Are you listening to me?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

He glared at me. "I said we are willing to give the power of Leaping to you."

I choked on my saliva, and doubled over gasping for breath. After a few minutes of uncontrollable coughing, I managed to straighten up in my chair. If I had that power, there wouldn't be anything I couldn't do! "And what do I have to do to gain this power?" I asked.

The Council member grimaced. "You see, we need you to do something for us. The Pisces Empire is under attack."

I shrugged. "So? That's no biggie; we've got the strongest military force in the universe! Our army is second to none, and we have conquered hundreds of other worlds using the Leap! What do you need me for? Not that I'm complaining of course, but..."

"It's simple. This foe is different from the others. He is slaughtering us."

I stared at him in surprise. Ever since the Pisces Empire had risen, no foe had ever managed to beat it because of the power of traveling between time packets, also known as Leaping. We had access to technology trillions of years into the future. How could anyone ever dream to threaten the Pisces Empire, much less defeat them?

The Councilor glared at me. "Yes, yes. You can gloat later. We need you to use Leaping and get us an army. An Army so powerful that not even this new foe can stand up against us."

I grinned. "So what you're saying is that I get to become the Commander of what we hope to be the strongest army the universes have ever seen? What's the catch?"

"You're expendable. If you die, or can only get a puny army, nobody could care less. Who knows, we might even be happy. We don't care if you get killed while doing this. You'll probably die no matter what you do. Once you do, we'll just send someone else.".

"And if I refuse...?"

Rusty's claws screeched hungrily. I gulped. "I accept."

The female Council member clapped her hands. "Peeeerfect. This way please." She drawled, and gestured to a door at the back of the chamber.

I walked shakily towards the door, my emotions swirling madly around in my head. I could finally get my hands on the one thing I could have never before, and through it, everything I could ever want. And the best part was that nobody could leash me! I was a free man again. The Pisces Empire had conquered my home world ten or so years ago, and this would be the first time I could ever escape from their rule. The second I got the power, I would Leap somewhere, and they would never see me again.

I wrapped my hands around the handle of the door and twisted. There was a snap, and the handle popped off. I shrugged, too happy to care, and tossed it over my shoulder. There was a metallic ping as it bounced off Rusty's head, and I quickly reached through the hole in the door and pulled it open.

I stepped inside the room behind, and slammed it shut. The first thing I noticed about the new room was that it was pitch-black. I looked around in confusion, but I couldn't see anything. A dull flicker of light far off in the distance drew my attention, and I made my way towards it. I soon stood over it, and stared down at the little flame seemingly floating in the sky. Instinctively, I wrapped my hands around it. There was a searing pain in my right arm, and I was hurled across the room. The darkness faded away and the face of the female Council member slowly swam into view. "Congratulations," she whispered, and I knew nothing more.

# Chapter 2

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that my entire arm was on fire. Not figuratively speaking, but quite literally. Not only did my arm hurt like the backside of Hell, but it was actually burning. Orange flames danced across my arm, jiggling merrily to their own happy tune of pain, sorrow, and death.

I screamed, and wiggled my arm around like a wet noodle. While doing so, I managed to set fire to my bed, clothes, and just about everything else within ten feet of me.

I ran out of my room screaming madly, and bowled into someone. They lunged away from me, and rolled around on the floor madly. Of course, THEIR fire went out. Not mine. I was still on fire. What fun!

Clearly running madly in circles like a beheaded chicken doesn't put the fire out. I'm not sure why, it should work. A blast of white foam washed over me, almost sending me flying with its sheer force. The stream continued for a few more seconds before stopping, and leaving me covered in foam. "Thanks."

The woman holding the fire extinguisher (Yes, that's right. Few hundred years in the future and this is still the best way we have to put out a fire quickly) glared at me, and swung the extinguisher at my head like a bat.

I narrowly dodged it, and the wind blew some of the foam on the top of my head away. "What was that for?" I yelled.

She swiped at me again, and I lunged out of the way. I turned and sprinted away from her as fast as I could. Jeesh, that was the second time that day too. I ran all the way back to the Council chambers, and burst inside. They all stared at me for a moment, and then burst out yelling. Guards charged inside, and leveled their guns at me. I yelped, and threw myself to the ground. Just so you know; the sound of laser beams is not a 'pew pew' noise. It's more of a constipated Giant trying to use the toilet. The loud roar of the light weapons roared above me, and several red beams shot over me, burning through the walls and sizzling to nothing.

"Wait, don't shoot! It's me, Drake Jinx!" I yelled.

The guards ignored me, and prepared to shoot again. The Council member who had talked to me before stood up and held out his hand. "Mr. Jinx, what on earth happened to you?"

I groaned. "Crap. Crap happened to me."

He smirked, and waved for the guards to lower their weapons. "Don't make any threatening moves." One of the guards warned.

I nodded agreeably. I didn't want to turn into a fry roast any more than the next man. I raised my arms above my head, and tried to look unthreatening.

That's when my arm caught fire again. Why me? I dove to the floor once more and barely managed to dodge the red beams. "Hold your fire!"

The guards all propped their guns back up on the floor and froze into motionless human statues. The Council member inspected my flaming appendage carefully. After a moment, he tossed me a little box. I snatched it from the air, or that was what I wanted to do. Instead, I smacked it across the room and it bounced off Rusty, who was just entering the Council room.

"Blast it, Jinx. Get your crap together," he growled.

I reddened and hurried over to him to pick the box up. I opened it to reveal a silver chain necklace with a small golden pendant picturing a flame. Carefully, I picked it up with my flaming hand, and slipped it over my head. Instantaneously, the fire rushed from my arm into the little necklace. It shimmered brightly, and then returned to normal.

"Thank you, Council. Could you explain to me why...that happened? I have never heard or read about it."

One of the Council members nodded. "You are correct. As one of the Council said before, you are expendable. Therefore, you make a wonderful research subject. We tried altering the Leap so it would also give the capacity to control fire. It appears we failed, considering you have no control over that flame and it is restricted to the arm that touched the device that allowed you to gain the power to Leap."

I frowned, but there was nothing I could complain about. Half of the Council wanted me dead, and I don't think they care how. "May I head off now?"

A Councilwoman frowned. "You need to know how to use the power, don't you?"

I shook my head. "No, I've studied the subject thoroughly. I believe I can easily control the Leap."

"Very well. Before you go, wait for your partner. We can't just let you gain an unparalleled power and then allow you to traipse off where you will, can we?"

I sighed. There go my dreams of vacations on warm, sandy beaches with clear blue waters and laser cannons with optical scopes carried by dragons...whoops. Going off track there.

"So, will my new slavedriv...eh, partner be here soon?" I asked.

A Council member opened his mouth to respond, but I felt a slight heat in my right shoulder. I leaped to the floor, and the beam shot over my head, slamming into the ground a few feet away from me. I scrambled away from the blast while turning to see who had shot at me.

The doors opened, and the crazy fire extinguisher wielding woman from before strode in. I yelped, and dove behind a table. "Not her! She's got it out for me, I tell 'ya!" I yelled.

Once I got a better look at her, I had to admit that I was impressed. She had straight black hair and two piercing grey eyes. She was wearing combat boots and practically had an arsenal strapped to her body. She also had more muscles than everyone else in the room combined, if I didn't count Rusty's robotic form.

She stalked over to me and yanked me upright. "I don't like you, but the Council told me to baby-sit you while you waltz around trying to build an army. I'm still sure a rock would make a better commander than you would." She spat.

I shrugged. "Well, since your head is full of them maybe you should take over..."

I leaped over the tabletop to avoid her tackle, and she nearly crashed into a Council member. "Enough! Mr. Jinx, you will go to the Void immediately, and do not return here until you have an army strong enough to defeat this strange army. Lilly will be going with you. Now get out of our sight."

And with that, the entire Council stood up as one and strode out of the room, leaving Lilly and I alone. She glared at me. "Let's get this over already so someone stabs you and I can go back home."

"If I get stabbed, you aren't going home since you won't be able to exit the Void," I grumbled.

I walked up to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. So, that part was over. All I need to do now is manage to use the slight knowledge I learned from reading documentaries from people who could Leap to attempt to do that very thing. Maybe I should have listened to their explanation?

I closed my eyes, and immediately noticed faint green lines in the darkness. I focused more of my attention on them, and they moved around like a pit of snakes, forming into a green cubic Grid. I opened my eyes, and the green cube stayed suspended in my vision. I dragged Lilly through the doors towards the cube, and it slowly got larger as we walked across the hall.

"Where are you taking me?" Lilly growled, and knocked my hand from her shoulder.

"Cork it. You'll see in a moment," I muttered, and grabbed her shoulder again. The green cube was now so large I couldn't see the top. I carefully walked past one of the green lines, and when nothing happened, continued towards the center.

Moments later, I saw it. Just as the books had described, there was a green circle in the middle of the Grid. I walked over onto the circle, and a wave of darkness washed over us. I could hear Lilly screaming something about stabbing thousands of little harmless puppies in front of me if I didn't stop using my foul magic on her. Ignoring her, I looked around in fascination as faint green lines began to etch themselves across the darkness in front of me.

There were so many, I couldn't have counted them all in a hundred lifetimes. The green cube appeared in front of us again, and then shrunk itself down to a size that was about the size of a basketball. "That's amazing!" I whispered.

Lilly was holding a gun towards my head. "What did you do?" she cried.

"I activated the Leap. Now, put your dumb gun away."

"Make me."

I was no longer listening, having long since wandered over to the cube. I carefully reached to it, and made an expanding motion with my hands. The cube floated up higher into the darkness, and expanded exponentially. It became rectangular and thin, much like a cracker, and then multiplied itself so there was an enormous stack of green crackers before me.

I swiped upwards with my hand, and the green plates spun for almost thirty seconds before halting. The one directly in front of me pulled itself from the stack and turned so I could look at it like a computer screen. Hundreds of little white dots appeared on it, making it look like a Grid.

"So this is how I can enter and leave the Void," I whispered to myself.

"What's a void?"

"The Void, not a void. It's the space between the packets of time, where no time flows. Right now, nothing is happening in any time period, or rather, we have just exited the flow of time. In here, you are immortal. I'm not even sure if you can die in here."

Lilly raised an eyebrow. "Want to find out?"

I shook my head hastily. "No, I'll leave that to someone more qualified. Back to matters at hand though, look at these dots. This green plate is a single world, and the farther to the right you go, the later into this planet's time period you enter. They're stacked in columns by the way. I hope you know what a column is..."

Lilly nudged me with the barrel of her laser pistol. "Mhm. The targets are columns. Funny, you look like a column too; It would be a shame If I accidentally shot you."

"Is that a compliment saying I'm not fat?"

She gave me a rude gesture, and I held my hands up in defeat. "Sorry, sorry. Now, let's make our first stop. You're going to have to do the fighting for us, since I set all my weapons on fire. All I have on me is this little dagger I made in my free time," I said, pulling the small weapon from my belt.

"An energy dagger? Why on earth would you make that? Nobody fights with swords or daggers anymore, you nimrod."

I shrugged, and pressed my hand to a random white dot on the plate, about halfway through its visible timeline. The Grid disappeared along with all of our light. "Drake, what did you do?" she asked with a tinge of worry in her voice.

Before I could reply, a violent lurch picked us both up and we were both spat from the darkness like a vegetable from a little kid's mouth.

# Chapter 3

I felt a certain kinship for bouncy balls. Getting bounced off hard surfaces while you're pretty sure that someone bigger and stronger than you is laughing their head off at that very moment is really a bonding experience.

I landed on top of Lilly with an unmanly whimper, and she threw me off. "What the heck did you do?" she hissed.

"Calm down, you wuss. I finished the first part of using the Leap. We're currently on another world. Now we just have to find the ruling body or person, somehow convince them to give us an army, and get the hell out of here."

Easiest thing in the world, right?

"How do we communicate with the inhabitants of this world?" she questioned.

"Hey, you asked something intelligent. This really is a strange world, isn't it? Part of the Leap's power is to allow us to speak the language of anyone we come across. I could have really used this a few years ago when I was trying to learn Erkian."

She rolled her eyes, and we both looked around. "Hey, is it just me, or are we about fifty feet away from the walls of a castle?" I asked, looking up at the massive white structure behind us.

Lilly nodded mutely. This castle resembled the makeup of many other planets during their early times, but it was made from a strange white stone. Guns covered the tops, and I could scarcely identify them as high powered bullet shooting guns. There was some general commotion going on up there; someone had probably spotted us and wondered how we appeared out of nowhere.

"Well, I'm getting the feeling we're going to meet the leader pretty soon." I muttered.

Sure enough, the white walls shuddered, and a small piece dropped into the ground. Ten guards sprinted out from the hole, and surrounded us. They all pointed large guns in our direction. I groaned.

"Here we go again."

"Put your hands in the air and drop all your weapons," one growled in a deep voice.

Lilly quickly pulled her laser pistol from its harness and blew his head off.

"Blast it, you just brought the whole castle down on us, you idiot! How do you expect to get troops from people when you're blowing their heads off?"

In response, she blasted another dude before anyone could do anything. I sighed. I would have liked to say I had a good life, but that would have been a lie. I never got that poodle I was saving up for.

The guards stared at Lilly in surprise for a moment, and then surprisingly, burst into laughter. We were both so confused Lilly stopped shooting them and I stopped thinking about that little poodle in the pet shop.

"Huh?"

The guards were still roaring with laughter. One held a hand up, and they all lowered their weapons. He slapped his knee a few times, and wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh, that was a good one, stranger. I have to tell the Lord King that one." He chuckled a few more times, and then the remaining eight guards surrounded us.

"Come along now, let's go talk to the King."

I shrugged. "Lilly, I'm not sure what you did, but how about we don't shoot any more people?"

She shrugged. "I'm not promising."

We reluctantly followed the guards through the gate, and I looked back one last time to see the two dead guards. Somehow, I could almost feel that they were happy.

The best way to describe the city inside the walls would be a cesspool. The houses were straw and wood from what I could tell, and not a single one was in good shape. We walked along the gravel pathways, and my nose wrinkled at the smell. I leaned in close to Lilly.

"Do I smell blood?" I whispered.

She pushed me away. "Whatever it is, it still smells better than you do."

Maybe I should leave her with the guards? They seem like her type. Stupid, ugly, and mean.

As we wandered through the streets, someone ran in front of us and began shouting.

"Down with the King! He has no right to the throne, and cares for nobody! If we destroy him, we can rebuild and be born anew! Fight back, do not let the bastard win!" he screamed, spittle flying from his mouth.

Another man ran forward, and wrapped his hands around the older one's mouth. "Please do not listen to him; he has no idea what he is saying. He has grown senile with old age," he begged.

A guard next to us stepped up, aimed his gun, and blood painted the walls behind the two men. They both toppled backward, dead. The guard turned back to us, and for the briefest moment, I saw a deep sadness in his eyes. Then he burst into laughter, along with all the other guards.

I felt a strong urge to throw up, but forced myself to laugh with them. Lilly didn't have a problem with it either, causing me to question her sanity. The guards took us through the rest of the slums and into the large castle in the center of the city.

The walls in front of the castle opened, and we entered. The first thing I noticed inside the walls of the castle was the ground. It was blood red. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that's probably exactly what it was-blood. What sicko paints with blood?

The next thing I noticed was the excessive amount of guns pointing down at us and following our every move. These guys aren't too trusting, are they? I carefully followed the guards deeper into the castle, and up to two large doors. They looked at each other.

"Let us introduce these hilarious strangers to the Lord King," the leader said.

The others nodded, and they pushed the doors open. I frowned. All the other doors were part of the walls, but this one looked just like one back at Pisces Empire's Council Hall. We entered to view a massive man sitting on a large throne, looking down at several people, presumably from the slums of the city considering their clothes.

"Please Lord King, we need food! Our sector hasn't received rations for almost two weeks now! You can surely afford such a meager thing, for your wealth is as great as a thousand seas!"

The giant roared with laughter. "Indeed they are. If I willed it, you would be fed like nobles for the rest of your life!"

The peasant looked up at the King with hope across his features.

"Of course, if you want food, you will have to make me laugh."

I paled. By laugh, did he mean...

A gun barked, and the peasant was thrown into the air. There were several more shots, and the man seemed to dance in the sky for a moment, suspended in the last moments before his death. The moment over, the man slammed into the floor. The giant roared with laughter, slamming his huge hands on the throne. "What a great show! Oh yes, that was amazing! Send his sector a crate of food, will you?" he told one of the guards standing behind him.

The woman nodded, and hurried away. The giant, who I had decided must be the King, turned towards us. "Guards, what have we here? I never told you that I would be giving audiences to any random fool that waltzes my way!"

The lead guard nodded. "Indeed, my Lord King. However, these newcomers are quite hilarious! After appearing out of nowhere, our guards went to...greet them. However, before we could do anything, the woman blew the heads clean off two of us!"

The whole room roared with laughter, and I barely restrained myself from sticking a dagger in the guard's back.

The King was crying with mirth, and I stood there awkwardly, the only one not laughing in the whole room. A guard noticed, and narrowed his eyes. He raised his gun, and looked like he was about to shoot me. Desperately, I tried to think of something funny.

"I bet I could make tons of hamburgers out of you, you fat cow," I muttered, and chuckled at the thought. The guard lowered his weapon, and I restrained a sigh of relief.

The King frowned. "What is a hamburger?" he suddenly asked.

Crap, he had good hearing.

"Ah, it's a mighty ruler in my land," I blurted out.

The King nodded sagely. "I am pleased that foreigners such as yourselves know the might of the Lord King. Since I am a kind King, I shall allow you to refer to me as you do to your own monarch. You shall call me Lord King Hamburger. Now, what is it you came here for?"

Lilly pierced me with an angry glare, and I smirked at her.

"Lord Hamburger, we come here seeking troops. Our people are engaged in a war with another land that is mightier than any we have ever seen. We come here seeking aid. We hope that you will be able to temporarily lend us ten thousand troops in preparation for the upcoming battle. We will, of course, return them when the battle is over, and we will be glad to repay you however you deem necessary. We assure you that we can win, so do not fear about losing your soldiers," Lilly said.

I smirked, and whispered 'hamburger man' under my breath. Lilly rolled her eyes at me, and we looked back to the King.

He seemed to be thinking. "I find your request a large one to grant for no immediate repayment. However, I am willing to lend you a meager ten thousand troops in return for killing the rebels that trouble this mighty Kingdom. I would do it myself, but such a task is below me."

Lilly bowed to him. "Of course, we would be happy to do this task for you. Where are these rebels stationed?"

The King waved someone over. A man walked up to us with a map. "We were about to hire some mercenaries to do it, but here you are."

Lilly unrolled the map, and it revealed a little white dot labeled 'Ronsard Castle', and another on a gray path leading from the castle to a small location marked 'Rebel's Hideout'.

"We are to destroy the hideout?" Lilly asked.

"Indeed you are. Now go, and do not return to the Lord King Hamburger's sight until you have completed this task."

We both turned and strode out of the throne room.

"Lilly, I don't think we should be doing this. The people here seemed to be rebelling against that devil of a King! That man is a monster! We can't help him mercilessly kill innocent people!"

Lilly shrugged. "These people are irrelevant. We just need troops for the Pisces Empire, so nothing else matters."

The King's voice suddenly boomed out from behind the doors. "And leave none alive!"

# Chapter 4

One would expect the rebel hideout to be a little more... discrete? I was expecting a tunnel or trapdoor entrance. Maybe a fortress if they wanted to make a point, but I was not expecting a house.

The rebel hideout King Hamburger sent us to was a simple two story house. I could vaguely hear the sounds of two people arguing, but they didn't really sound angry.

"Lilly, are you sure this is the right place?" I asked.

She nodded, and handed me the map. "Check for yourself if you want to. Let's blow this place into the next world."

I shook my head. "No way! These are just normal people! We shouldn't be doing this! Just listen to them speaking. How can you heartlessly kill them for no reason?"

Lilly made eye contact with me, and for the first time, I noticed how cold her brown eyes were. A shiver went down my back, and I instinctively took a step backwards. "Are you intending to betray the Pisces Empire, Jinx?"

I grimaced. "No, but..."

She reached into her vest and pulled out a little gray ball. She rotated it around in her hands, and went to pull something off of it. I realized it was a grenade too late, and she hurled it at the house. The weapon smacked into the door and stuck there. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was a dud.

Lilly shrugged. "That was my only grenade."

"So can we go now? We can tell the King to go screw himself."

Lilly nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

We both turned around and headed away from the house. We were about halfway to the palace when Lilly suddenly stopped. I turned to her, frowning, and she held up a finger for me to wait. She reached into her coat and pulled out a little remote. I stared at it incomprehensively, and she pressed a button on it. A moment later, a mushroom cloud rose into the air behind us, and a wave of sound blasted me off my feet.

She pulled two wax earplugs out, and tossed them on the ground. "There. The job is finished."

My ears were ringing, and my vision was flickering with black. She glanced at me, and rolled her eyes. "You got nailed in the back of the head with a piece of debris. Idiot."

I felt a flame rising in my chest. "You monster! You killed them! You killed them for no reason, and you lied to me!"

She spat on the ground in front of me. "Come back when I care. War isn't for babies, so don't be a coward."

I wrapped my right hand around my pendant, and a warm thrum of power rushed through me. My eyes narrowed. In a swift movement, I lifted the pendant and threw it onto the ground. Flames erupted along my right arm, and I lunged forward. Lilly easily dodged my punch and kicked me in the back.

I tumbled forward and fell face first into the ground. She planted her boot on my back and pressed my face into the ground. "The only reason I haven't killed you yet is because the Pisces Empire needs someone to get an army, and you fit. Got that, worm?"

The flames on my arm leaped upwards, and she yelped. She jumped off of me, and I got to my feet. I charged at her, swinging my flaming arm like a club. She leaned back to dodge it, and I slipped past her guard.

I pulled my energy dagger from my pocket, and the blade shimmered to life. I jumped forward and pressed it to her neck, drawing a thin line of blood.

"The only reason I haven't killed you yet is because I'm not a murderer like you are," I hissed, and shoved her in the back.

She stumbled onto her injured leg and fell to the ground. I turned the dagger off and slipped it into my pocket. Lilly rolled over, and stared at me. "You're an idealistic fool."

"You're a murdering psychopath."

She grimaced, and pulled a bandage out of a pocket in her shirt and wrapped the wound. "The fire sealed the wound, so you don't really need a bandage," I said.

She raised an eyebrow. "How do you know about that? You said you don't like fighting, yet you know about treating battle injuries. Besides, the bandage will help avoid infection."

I shrugged. "I'm fine with helping people, just not the causing them to need help part."

The steady thrum of running alerted me to another's presence as a guard ran up to us. "How goes the termination of the rebels? The Lord King Hamburger saw the explosion and sent me to find out what was going on."

I smirked a little, but it was a bad attempt. "The rebels are dead. Bring us to Hamburger."

The guard nodded. "Can your partner move on her own?"

Lilly nodded. "Just give me a stick."

The guard took his weapon off of his back and emptied it into the sky. He tossed her the used weapon. "Will that work?"

Lilly nodded. "Yeah, this will be fine. Thank you."

My eyes narrowed, and I jumped behind the guard, turning my Energy Dagger on. I pressed it to his throat. "Tell them to come out."

"Wh-what? What are you talking about?" he stuttered.

I kept silent, and he sighed. "Come out."

Several other guards came out of the bushes along the road. "How did you know?" he asked.

"You were kind. The guards that the Hamburger King had were brutal. They would have told Lilly to walk on her own. Or they would have shot her to put her out of her pain. You're rebels, aren't you?"

One of the rebels nodded. "Right you are. I assume you see our problem with ya? You just blew our base to hell and took two of our friends with it."

I turned off the dagger, and pushed the rebel away. "You guys have to leave now. Lilly will attack you the second she can pull her pistol."

Sure enough, Lilly was struggling with the weapon. "Run!" I snapped.

They hesitated for a moment, and one went to pull his own weapon. I chucked a rock at him and it whizzed by his head. It smashed the sights on his gun, and he dropped it in surprise. I glared at them, and they all turned and ran.

"Whew. I got lucky there. I guess those days of throwing paperweights at people helped out after all."

Lilly tossed me my pendant, and I slipped it back on. "You only threw a paperweight at someone one time."

I shrugged. "Let's go get the darn troops from that fat cow and get out of here."

She nodded. "I can agree with you there."

She picked the empty weapon up from where she had dropped it when she had gone to draw her pistol, and leaned on it. Then we stumbled slowly towards the castle looming in the distance.

# Chapter 5

"Good work, my friends. You have destroyed the rebels, yes?" he asked.

Lilly nodded. "Didn't you see that huge explosion?"

"Yes, yes. I was just making sure and all. But, I've got a problem now. See, I needed you to get rid of the rebels. Now that they're gone, I have no reason to deal with you any longer. Guards, kill them."

I stared at the King in shock. "You lying scum! Don't shoot us! Why do you even listen to him?"

The guards all paused. "What does he do to help the success of your Kingdom? Why would you ever side with that lump of lard?"

A guard in the back of the room raised his hand slightly. He clenched his fist and then opened his hand up completely.

One guard lowered his gun slightly. "What are you doing? These people are intruders, and you would listen to them over me? I am your rightful King from a long line of great monarchs! How dare you doubt my power!" the King stammered.

"You're a worthless dictator! You just make people do what you want for your own amusement! You're starving the people outside for fun!" I cried.

The guards looked at each other. The guard in the back pulled one of his fingers into his fist, leaving four up.

"I know some of you have family out there! Why would you allow them to starve to please this stupid fool? How has he even been controlling you in the first place? What reason do you have to listen to him?" I cried.

The fat King snarled and pulled out a small box with a red button.

"Take one step closer and I'll send us all into the next world!"

There was a loud buzz as Lilly's laser weapon fired into the box, burning a small hole right through the middle of it.

The guard's hand now only held one finger up. A second later, that one fell into the fist as well. The moment his fist had been completely clenched, a guard nodded at him and spoke up. "What reason do we have to listen to you? You've brought us no fortune or good years!"

Another guard snarled. "The foreigners are correct. You murdered my best friend in front of me, and made me watch. We don't need you. Now that you don't have anything to hold over our heads, your time here is finished."

Another slowly turned, and aimed his gun at the King. "You killed my mother."

"You killed my whole family!"

One by one, each guard turned against their King, and the King sputtered in rage.

"How dare you aim at me! I order you all to kill yourselves! This is scandalous!"

I turned around. "By the way, you should know that hamburgers are a type of greasy meat."

As one, the cries and pain of all the people the Hamburger King had wronged and murdered roared. The King swayed, and toppled from his throne. He hit the ground hard, and moved no more. Unseen to Drake, the guard at the back quietly slipped out of the room during the bloody slaughter.

He pulled his sleeve up to reveal a small wrist bound computer. He pressed a button on it, and disappeared into a glowing red and black portal without a trace. Several other guards broke out from the crowd and sprinted after the first guard. Seconds later, the portal vanished with a silent pop.

Back at the throne room, a guard drew a long knife and cut the King's head off. He ran out of the door, and threw it off of the castle battlements into the slums. "The Tyrant is dead!" he screamed.

An old woman wandered out of her house, and stared at the head of the dead King. She stood frozen for a moment, before cheering like a little kid. "The King is dead! That fat King is dead and gone!"

People ran out from the slums, cheering and laughing. We all walked up to where the guard was. Lilly sighed. "Now how are we going to get our army?"

The guards opened the walls of the castle, and the people poured in.

"The food is all in the center of the palace! Take as much as you need!" A guard called.

As the people poured into the palace, I turned to one of the guards. "So, what will you do now?"

He grunted. "Our army will come with you. As promised, ten thousand men will return with you to fight this enemy. We need no new King. How soon will we be able to return? We cannot allow the Kingdom to be unprotected for long."

I sighed in relief. "Thank God. I thank you for honoring our agreement. You will be back instantly, though those of you who died in the battle will not return. It is a special technology of my people that would take too much time to explain in the time we have."

The guard nodded. "Very well. We shall meet you at the walls of Ronsard City in a few hours, after I call the requested men to formation." He strode away to help with the masses, and I raised an eyebrow at Lilly.

"See? It all worked out."

"Only because they felt sorry for you."

I shrugged, and we headed out of the castle.

As we waited outside the walls of the city where we had first appeared, there was a large explosion behind us within the City. We both spun towards the city in time to watch one of the spires of the massive castle teeter and topple to the ground with a mighty crash.

I watched silently, and the walls to the city lowered. Behind them, thousands of guards stood waiting. Lilly grinned. "Now let's get the heck out of here."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." I replied, and waved for the ten thousand soldiers to come around us.

"Ok, I need you guys to pack in tight and stand still for a moment. Then we can get back to home base."

I closed my eyes, and focused on the green lines. The green cube formed, and I opened my eyes. I was standing a few feet away from the circle, so I shuffled a little to the right. Darkness washed over us, and I was back in the Void.

There was a brief moment of panic as all the soldiers found themselves immersed in complete darkness. Then the Grid flickered back to life, lighting up the bleak land.

"Where are we, Commander?" a soldier asked.

Commander. I like the sound of that. "Welcome to the Void. This is where home base will be. I recommend you guys start by building some basic shelter. You don't need food or water here, but it's nice to have a place to live for a little."

"How do we build anything? We're in the middle of nowhere with nothing but darkness around us."

"I'm surprised you're taking this so calmly. I would have thought you would have been running in circles screaming your lungs out right about now. And you can do pretty much whatever you want in the void. The stuff you're looking at right now is literally nothing. It doesn't exist. Therefore, a chair cannot exist here either. However, this nothing is in fact here, since we are standing on something. Using that logic, a chair can be right here since I am sitting on something."

I sat down, and a wooden chair appeared behind me as I sat down. The soldiers nearest to me gasped, and I could hear surprised whispering. I was just surprised by the fact that my messed up logic had worked, even if I had read about it in a documentary.

"Don't forget that anything you make here stays here. If you try to take it out with you whenever you leave the Void, it will revert to what it is- nothing. And don't make food either, because it's still nothing here. It won't have any taste and will disappear after you bite down on it. Did you get that?"

"Not really. But essentially, don't make food and make houses. I'll pass it along," a soldier replied.

I nodded. "Thank you. I figure this is confusing for all of you. Just try to make room, because a lot more people will join you guys."

The soldier nodded, and I turned back to Lilly. "Let's get some rest before we head out tomorrow. It's not like it will make much of a difference to the Pisces Empire. We have all the time we need here."

She nodded, and I went to lie down. A soft plushy bed appeared before me, and I flopped into it. "Ah, this is amazing!" I sighed in contentment.

Lilly did the same, and she flopped onto a long, flat rock. "What type of person imagines a rock to sleep on when they can have anything they want?" I asked.

She ignored me, and closed her eyes. Shrugging, I sank into my bed. I kept sinking, and then dropped into a room with a large monitor screen. I grinned, and picked up a game remote from thin air. I activated the monitor, and Zombie Slayer 9000 appeared on the screen.

I started the game, and began shooting zombies. A moment later, Lilly dropped down beside me. "Jinx, what the heck are you doing?"

"I'm shooting zombies, can't you see?" I blew a zombie's head all over the screen, and got double points for a headshot.

"What happened to getting some sleep here before we got new troops?" she crabbed.

"Who sleeps when they can shoot a virtual gun at virtual creatures that don't exist?"

She hit me over the head, and the monitor disappeared, replaced with a rock plate.

"Go to sleep."

"Only you could sleep on a rock. Hey, how is it like sleeping on what makes up your brain?"

She ran her finger over the handle of her pistol lovingly, and I gulped. I imagined a rope dropping from my bed entrance, and climbed up it quickly. When I reached the top, I laid down and allowed sleep to overtake me. Of course, I only did this after dropping several hundred stuffed pink poodles into the room and sealing it.

# Chapter 6

I awoke to Lilly prodding me with her gun. "Wake up already! We've slept enough!"

"But there isn't any time here! You have to get that into your head, Lilly. I could sleep for as long as I wanted and nothing would change!"

"I don't care. I'm getting bored, so let's go."

I sighed. If I waited any longer, she would probably end up shooting me. I wearily got out of bed, and a pink poodle plushy bounced off my head. "Move faster!"

I told a Ronsard soldier that we would be leaving for a little while, and Lilly and I walked over to the Grid.

I shuffled through the plates again, and looked to Lilly. "You choose this time."

She shrugged, and pointed at a dot near the right of the plate. I tapped it, and everything disappeared.

I found myself staring into a large silver wall. I looked around, and found that we were in a room. "Huh, that's strange. It looks like we got dropped off in somebody's room."

Lilly was already half way through pulling her gun out when a door appeared in the wall and opened. A tall humanoid probably somewhere around nine feet, walked into the room. The lighting in the room dimly reflected off of his pale grey skin, giving it a glossy appearance. The man held a hand out to us.

"Hello, Mr. Jinx, Ms. Swift. We've been expecting you."

I chuckled, and shook the offered hand. "Did you pull that out of a cheesy Si-fi movie?"

"No response."

"So, care to tell me how you know our names?" I asked.

The humanoid nodded. "Please follow me."

I followed him out of the room, and Lilly carefully followed, her hand resting on her weapon the entire time. The hallway he led us through had glass walls, allowing us to look outside. The city outside was simply astounding.

The houses were all hovering in the air, suspended by some unknown technology. Connecting them were hallways much like the one I was currently walking through, and as I watched, the floating pathways would often move between houses to allow the humanoid creatures to move about freely.

"How is everything floating?" Lilly asked.

"Oh, that's one of our older inventions. It's simple when you look back on it. You see, we have a machine that allows us to set a point of increased gravity for a single object. All we have to do is attach four to a house, and set the points in a square where each vertex is equidistant from the center of the house. Since each point is set to the same power, it keeps the house suspended in the middle."

I whistled slowly. "That's amazing! I don't care if you guys give us an army, but I need to get my hands on one of those! Oh, you never told me your name. It would be a common courtesy, considering you already know ours somehow."

"My apologies, Mr. Jinx. I doubt a human could pronounce my name correctly, so you may refer to me as John."

"Where are you taking us?" Lilly growled.

John raised a waxy eyebrow. "You have a strong temper on you, Ms. Swift. Please calm yourself, my kind and I mean you no harm."

"I don't care about that! If you tried to attack me, I'd kill the lot of you! But since we aren't in the Void anymore, doesn't that mean that time is moving again in the Pisces Empire?"

John grimaced when Lilly mentioned the Pisces Empire. "Indeed, but the speed time passes in that packet of time relative to you two will not be normal. For all we know, it could be moving so slowly that a second here on Iropolice could be equivalent to a year there."

"But that means that a second there could also be equivalent to a year here, right?"

John grimaced. "Yes. Therefore, we should try to conclude your business here as quickly as possible. I am taking you to our leader now, and many of our people come to help with the process. We already know what you want."

We reached the end of the pathway, and John pressed his hand to the wall. A doorway appeared, and we walked into the building. He led us through several other pathways and small buildings until we reached a large dome.

"This is where the process will be held. Please enter and wait for a moment while our people gather. This is as far as I will be able to go, so good luck."

I thanked him, walking into the large glass dome. There was a small circle in the middle with half a fence around one side, so I figured that was where I was supposed to go. I walked over to it, and leaned against the railing. Above me, thousands of humanoids were gathering in the stands. The stands hovered above the flat ground in a full circle, much like a football game.

Lilly walked over to me, and glared at the people in the stands. "Where's their leader? We don't have time for this!"

I shushed her. "Just enjoy the view! Do you think you'll ever see something like this again in your life? This is just awesome."

"But the Pisces Empire is in trouble!"

I rolled my eyes. Frankly, I couldn't care less. The Pisces Empire was just a powerful nation that conquered many others and forced them to bend to its rule. It was just a huge bully. A bully that managed to take over a playground consisting of many different worlds.

"Silence please! Everyone, the Leader will now address the problem brought to us by Mr. Jinx and Ms. Swift!"

Everyone immediately stopped talking and we looked towards a small hovering platform, where a woman stood. She waved at her people, and looked down at us. The platform we were standing on shuddered, and rose slowly into the air until it hovered before hers.

"You come to the Iropolice seeking aid for your war, correct?" she called.

"Yes! We need you to give us troops to help fight off a strange aggressor who has attacked the Pisces Empire for no reason! We will gladly repay you and return the remaining troops you lend us when the war is over!" Lilly yelled back.

I winced. When you put it that way, it doesn't help your cause much. Heck, it sounded like she was TELLING them to give us their troops.

"We have known you would be coming for some time now, Ms. Smith. Normally, we try to help all those who visit us, but there is a problem this time. You see, the inhabitants of Iropolice are a peaceful people. We have not fought in a war in almost a thousand years, and see no reason to do so now. Can you give us a good reason to support you in this battle?"

Lilly glared at them, and went to pull her gun. I grabbed her hand.

"We want them to help us, and shooting at them isn't going to make them happy!"

Lilly glared at me. "We need troops from every single place we stop at! We can't waste a single Leap, or we won't have enough troops to fight this enemy who is attacking the Pisces Empire now!"

I cleared my throat. "Please, our people need help! Our people are in danger from a strange enemy who is easily defeating us as we speak! If he manages to beat the Pisces Empire, he could come after you next! None of us know what his goals are, so you guys could just as easily be targets."

The Leader nodded slowly. "Very well. The people will now vote on your request. Please submit your votes immediately, people of Iropolice!"

Everyone in the stands dispersed, and the Leader turned back to us. "We will have the results of your request sometime this week."

Lilly's jaw hit the floor, and surprise covered my own face.

"A week? Can't you do this any faster?"

"We do not have a dictatorship here, Mr. Jinx. That is not the way of our people. I only speak for our people. I do not make the decisions, for those are done by the entire population. I cannot ask them to change how we have worked for many years just to appease two foreigners."

"I swear, I'll kill you if don't give us what we need! Hand it over, you overgrown hag!" Lilly screeched.

The Leader laughed, and her platform turned and left the dome. Ours slowly lowered, and returned to its original position.

"It's only a week, Lilly. We can look around while we wait!" I suggested.

Lilly glared at me. "We don't have time to waste! I bet if I hold their leader hostage, they'll act quicker!"

"Lilly! You have to stop this. You can't just resort to violence every time something doesn't work out for you! You can't just kill and trick people to help yourself, you know. You've got to think about how they feel too!"

Lilly spat on the ground. "How they feel doesn't matter. Don't you understand that once we leave this planet, we'll never see them again? It'll be like they never existed."

"But they do exist! Just because we can't see what we did to them anymore, it doesn't mean that it never happened! They have the same right to living that we do, and nobody gave you the authority to be able to take that away from them!"

Lilly patted her pistol. "This baby here did. This is all the authority I need. If you don't toughen up, you're going to die early. Don't try to bring me down with you."

She spun around and strode out of the dome, leaving me watching after her sadly.

# Chapter 7

One thing you couldn't say about the Iropolice was that they weren't kind. John met me at the edge of the dome, and gave a knowing nod at the disappointed look on my face.

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Jinx. The Leader says that it will last a week, but it will probably be more like two or three days. You should have your answer soon. Until then, would you like a tour of the city?"

That snapped me out of my funk quick. What self-respecting scientist turns down the offer to check out cool new technology?

He led me into a glass tube and down through several other buildings before we stopped at one with a large blue sign hovering above the door.

"Spluckraprkt?" I tried.

John chuckled. "Not even close. Why don't you just refer to it as a Suspender shop for now?"

"Suspender?"

"That's what we call the gravity machines."

I charged into the shop without waiting for anything more, and looked around eagerly. There were little boxes lined across all the shelves, with more illegible labels under them. John followed in after me, laughing. "Take a look at any one you want. I'll pay for one of your choice. It's the least I can offer, after you've done so much for our kind already."

I didn't stop to think what he meant, and picked up the nearest little box. I rotated it around in my hands slowly, and found a little switch at the back. I flicked it, and a red dot pointed out of the top.

"Activation in 1 second."

I opened my mouth to ask John what it meant, but I was suddenly yanked towards the wall by an incredible force.

I slammed into it with a crunch, and bounced back onto the floor.

"Ouch."

I looked around, and found the innocent looking box lying next to me on the floor. I glared at it.

"Jerk."

John chuckled and pulled me to my feet. "You shouldn't have flipped the switch all the way up inside a building. That box sets a point of gravity in the direction of where the laser points. You can use it to fly around the city pretty quickly. They can be quite convenient, if you manage to avoid crashing into a wall for more than half a second."

I glared at him, and picked my box off the floor. The switch had returned to the off position, so I slightly nudged it upwards.

"Activation in one second."

I pointed it at the wall, and felt myself slowly begin to slide towards the wall. I moved the box so that the laser was pointing at the ceiling, and rose slightly into the air. I whistled.

"This is really amazing! You're going to have to show me how to build one of these someday."

John shrugged, and placed a silver coin on the countertop of the store, where a metal hand appeared and snatched it up.

"Follow me. There is more to see in this city other than our Suspenders."

He took me back into the see through tubes, and led me to a smaller shop near the edge of the city. He looked slightly troubled when the door appeared.

"What shop is this?" I asked him.

John sighed. "This is an armory."

"Didn't you say that you were peaceful and stuff? I'm pretty sure peaceful people don't keep armories."

John shrugged. "Don't tell me your people don't hunt as a sport? I'll get you one thing from here as well; just try not to blow anything up in here. Oh, you're going to owe me a few favors, got that?"

I nodded eagerly. I'd get him a bottle of cheap beer some time. Everybody likes cheap beer. The inside of the shop was much like the Suspender shop, but there were guns and swords lining the shelves instead.

I looked around the room carefully, taking in everything I could. The weapons ranged from pistols to snipers, and there was a bazooka or two mixed in.

"What do these shoot?"

"It depends. Most of them are solar powered, but a few run off of body heat. That's great for the Iropolice people since our average body temperature is about two Celsius. It's great for shooting small game. The sun is weak here as well, so the solar weapons don't do too much damage. However, a heat weapon with a human..." John shuddered slightly.

That just made me grin even more. Drake plus a Big Gun equals a Big Boom. Drake likes big booms. However, I didn't want to offend my host TOO much, so I decided to go with one of the smaller guns. I looked around, and my eyes landed on a small tube near a corner. I wandered over to it, and picked it up.

There didn't seem to be any holes on it, and there was no trigger. I turned it over in my hand, and squinted at it. John saw me inspecting the tube, and smiled.

"Oh, that looks like a newer model. You have to squeeze it to turn it on."

I squeezed the tube slightly, and the ends lit up with a faint red light. It expanded around my hand, and shifted into the form of a small pistol with a U-shaped piece of silver metal instead of a barrel.

"Not the best choice, human. The weapon you're holding now isn't one of my make. It just came in this week, and I have no idea how reliable it is. I haven't had a chance to test it yet. I was going to try it out at a shooting range in a few hours, so it should have been in its box until then. My idiot apprentice must have put it on the shelves by accident. I'm sure you can find a nicer weapon than that one. For example, this one here-"

"Are you this shop's owner?" I interrupted.

The Iropolician man frowned at me, but nodded.

"Can I take this to that shooting range you were talking about and try it out?"

He frowned. "I suppose it saves me the trouble of doing so myself. John, would you tell me how it goes?"

John nodded, and passed the man a few silver coins.

"Come this way, Mr. Jinx. The shooting range is close to us."

The so called shooting range was a huge grass field with roughly a hundred animals milling about. Strangely, they all seemed evenly spaced from each other and stopped at the same time.

"Robots?" I guessed.

John nodded. "If my memory serves, doesn't the Pisces Empire have working automations as well?"

I grunted. "They have a few lumps of metal on wheels, but that's about it as long as we don't count the moving death machines. Definitely nothing like this."

"I've been meaning to ask you this, Mr. Jinx. Although you are part of the Pisces Empire, you don't seem to like them very much. In fact, your tone when talking about them is often filled with contempt. Why is this?"

I glanced up into the dark sky. The stars were much more numerous than those in the Pisces Empire.

"It's because I wasn't always part of the Pisces Empire. They took over my world about ten years ago. It wasn't a peaceful shift of power either, and pretty much all of my friends were killed in the fight. I don't think the Pisces Empire even lost one soldier. I'm only running errands for them to save my own hide."

John nodded slowly. "With your power, you could easily escape them. Why do you stay?"

I sighed. These questions were getting pretty deep. That particular topic was one that I had thought over thoroughly many times.

"I don't run away from them because I feel like that would be a betrayal to all the people that the Pisces Empire has ever wronged or killed. I know it seems pretty stupid, but I can't just run away and leave everyone to rot under the rule of the Pisces Empire! But mostly because Lilly would shoot me."

John smiled. "You have the heart of a true leader. Many would have fled the moment they could have, but you stayed for the sake of other people who couldn't escape on their own."

I shrugged, and pointed the gun at one of the animal robots.

"Do I just shoot the thing?"

John nodded, and I pulled the trigger. A ball of dark energy spun into existence in the center of the U-shape, and a bolt of dark lightning launched out of the weapon. It slammed into the robotic cow I was aiming at, and a wave of darkness spread out across the robot. A plume of smoke rose from the robot's head, and it collapsed onto its side.

"Ok, that is the coolest laser gun I have ever seen! Ah, how do I turn this thing off?" I asked.

I tried pressing the trigger again, and the ball began spinning. I let go of the trigger, and it stopped. I held the trigger, and the ball started spinning again.

"What's this do?" I asked John.

I handed the gun to him, and heard a heavy thud. I looked back to the cow, and saw it hovering in the air, suspended by the beam of dark energy. The second John took hold of the weapon, the beam dulled to a dark gray and shortened, pulling the cow towards us.

John whistled. "I haven't seen one of these babies in a while. This looks like a custom energy gun. I'm not sure where it came from, these are usually quite expensive. It is a few thousand years ahead of the standard technology the Pisces Empire controls."

He pressed on the lower part of the trigger, and the beam disappeared. He handed it back to me and glanced up at the sky.

"It's getting late; we should find Ms. Swift and get some sleep for the rest of the night."

I sighed. "Lilly doesn't want to be found right now. We should just let her brood. Besides, if we try to go get her when she's angry, I'm sure we'll find ourselves leaking some vital red fluid."

John shrugged. "I suppose so. Either way, we should try to sleep a little. My house is a ways away, so we had best start moving now. We can take an express transport since you don't know how to use your Suspender yet. C'mon."

As we walked, something occurred to me.

"John, how did you know that I would be coming?"

"I know what you're asking, and the answer is no. The people of Iropolice have no way to predict the future. Someone told us that you would be coming. That person helped us greatly, and told us to repay all the kindness he had given us to you."

"And here I was thinking you were all selfless."

John's eyes narrowed. "Remember, Mr. Jinx. There's no such thing as a free lunch. We do help everyone that passes through here, but don't think that just anyone can quickly get an audience with The Leader. Oh look, there's an express transport over there. Come quickly so we don't miss it!"

# Chapter 8

The following morning, John shook me awake. He held a finger to his lips, and gestured for me to follow him. We crept out of the bedroom and he tapped on several parts of the wall. A door appeared in the floor, and he jumped into it.

I followed him down, and he shut the door above us. The room was small and circular, with several pathways leading out of it.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We're under attack. Somehow, the automations guarding Iropolice were all shut down, and many of them have been destroyed. The city is in flames as we speak, and our attackers are smashing through all our backup defense systems. We have to meet up with the rest of my people and escape while we still can."

I felt around in my belt and pulled out my new pistol.

"What are you talking about? I mean, I agree with you guys that violence isn't great and all, but if someone is attacking you, you should fight back! You guys could easily smash any opposition."

John shook his head, and started towards one of the tunnels. I followed him, and grabbed his arm.

"Speak as we run, Mr. Jinx. I told you before that our people do not like war. War is for people like Ms. Swift. She has already lost her soul, and has no love but war itself. We still have ours, and wish to keep it that way. If we were to start fighting, we will step onto a downhill slope that we cannot escape."

We burst into a large room filled with Iropolician people. The Leader was standing in the middle, giving some speech. John and I edged closer so we could hear her.

"...therefore, we must decide on our course of action! I ask you now to vote on whether to flee from this fight or try to save our homeland!"

I choked. "You've got to be screwing with me. She wants a vote now? That's impossible. From what I understand, the city is up in flames as we speak! There isn't any time, we just have to act!"

John shook his head sadly. "This is how our culture is, my friend. This place can hold out long enough for us to finish casting the votes."

"What if you chose to save the city? What will you save, a pile of ashes? Screw the voting, you have to choose now! Either you run, or you fight! If you just stand here stuck in an endless loop of voting, you'll never survive!"

Many people turned to stare at me as I ranted. The leader shook her head.

"No, this is the most effective way of rule. The people must decide on everything they want to do!" she cried.

I scowled, and opened my mouth to argue with her. A loud banging echoed throughout the room, followed by an explosion.

"Impossible, there is no way they could have found us already! The exits were hidden!"

I cursed. I looked vainly around the room, looking for a way of escape. However, the huge stadium filled with people was just like their shooting range. They were just little targets moving around vainly, unable to save themselves from their fate.

"Hey, we can still make it! We just have to get some of your weapons and the opposing side won't stand a chance! I'm sure you have some hidden away!" I yelled.

The Leader glared at me.

"You will not be allowed to interrupt us! We will vote now, and then decide on our path of escape!"

"All of you who want to live instead of trading your lives away to a stupid notion that long, calculated decision is always better than acting on the moment follow me! We will find weapons and fight back against this menace, and we will live to see tomorrow!" I yelled.

"Those of you, who wish to keep our sacred tradition safe and not fall into the foolish notions of outsiders, follow me! We have no reason to lose our souls in a worthless fight! What use is it to live on when you have nothing but killing left to live for?" the Leader shouted back.

The people in the room milled about madly, and soon separated roughly into halves. Half of them crowded around me, and the rest crowded around The Leader.

"You are fools to follow an outsider who wishes to corrupt you!" the leader screeched.

Oh boy, now it fell to me to somehow fend off an attack from some unknown enemy with only half of the Iropolice people.

"Where can we get some weapons?" I asked.

A woman from the crowd rushed over to a wall and pressed on it. It opened, and dull light seeped in, along with the stench of ashes and blood.

"Follow me!" I hissed, and started up the passage.

I reached the exit, and peeked out. When nobody came into sight, I waved for them to follow me. Strangely, the platform I was on wasn't floating.

"Why aren't we floating?" I asked.

"When we were attacked, the Suspenders must have stopped working. I figure the handheld ones still work though," John said from behind me.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I was worried that John wouldn't follow me, and I would be left with a crowd of utter strangers.

"I see. Take us to the nearest weapon cache or wherever we can get armed!"

John nodded, and waved for us to follow him. We crept down the now still streets of Iropolice, looking around for any sign of attackers. The buildings around us all burned and smoldered, and it was almost physically painful to watch the once mighty city burn to the ground.

"Whoever is attacking will find us pretty soon. There are too many of us to go unnoticed. Forget caution and just sprint! John, get them all the weapons they need, and don't trust anybody not from our group. We'll meet up at that dome, ok?"

"Aren't you coming with us, Commander?"

"I have to find Lilly. My gut says that she's got something to do with this." I replied

John looked sad, but somehow it seemed like he had expected something along those lines.

"I will do as you say."

I pulled my suspender out from its resting place on my belt, and activated it. I shot off towards a burning building, and looked around vainly for any signs of Lilly. I noticed several black cloaked forms shooting across the burning city, and directed my Suspender towards them. I crashed down in front of them painfully, and flipped the switch off.

I grimaced. It was a good thing I had managed to land on an earthy area. If it had been any harder, I would have broken my legs. I pulled my gun and aimed at one of the cloaked figures.

The figure lifted his arm, and a shimmering shield appeared on it.

"Pull back!" he barked, and they sprinted off.

I frowned, and put my pistol back into its hiding spot. I shot back into the air, and spun around, looking for signs of Lilly. I heard the sound of a laser bark off to my right, and wobbled around trying to position myself.

I bounced and weaved towards it, finally coming into range and dropping painfully to the floor. There was another laser shot, and a black cloaked figure toppled to the ground. Lilly stood above him, breathing heavily.

"Lilly! Are you ok?" I called.

She spun towards me, prepared to shoot, and I threw my hands into the air.

She sighed when she saw it was me.

"I'm fine, but these cloaked fighters here were well trained. They nearly killed me, but a building fell on one and the other tried to save him, giving me an opening. I think these are the Unknown Enemy's soldiers! What if that means he's already beaten Pisces Empire? We have to get those blasted troops and get out of here!" she yelled.

I nodded.

"Hold on to me. I'll fly you back to the troops I got for us. They should be pretty easy to find."

Without asking what I meant, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I pulled the Suspender out, and we shot into the sky. Sure enough, the mob of Iropolician people were milling about near the weapon shop John had taken me to the day before. I flew down next to them, bowling into several people. I yelled a hasty sorry, and ran to find John.

He was handing out weapons to the people, and grinned when he saw me.

"There are easily enough weapons here for everybody. This place was made to equip an entire military if necessary. Just a precaution that I never thought would be useful, but I guess I was wrong. Everyone has a communication device, at least one weapon, a grenade or two, and there are some armored vehicles in the basement. There are also some scanners being handed out to the people, and I saved one for you."

He tossed me a little mirror shaped device. I tucked it into my belt, and looked around.

"Any signs of the enemy yet?"

He shook his head.

"Not yet. We're watching though. Oh, there are about twelve thousand people here. I guess you got you military force after all, eh?"

I sighed. I got it all right, but definitely not the way I had wanted to.

"Get those armored vehicles, and let's get out of here! If we can get to the Void, we'll all be safe. Grab all the extra things as well, ok?"

John gave me a funny look, but said he would. I paused to catch my thoughts for a moment, and then pulled my scanner out.

"Meet me at the place I came here in with everything I told you to get as soon as you can. I'll be waiting there," I said and flew off without waiting for his answer.

I easily found the building, considering it was a shining beacon to the world with its silvery coating. After a quick sweep to scout the area, I landed heavily in a grassy area next to the building.

I closed my eyes, and activated the Grid. It flickered to life, and I located the center circle. I walked over next to it, and then sat down to wait.

# Chapter 9

Six hours, seven minutes and twenty-three seconds. That's how long it took John to finish outfitting my new army and have them march over to where the Grid could be activated. How did he outfit twelve thousand people in less than half a day? Not that it mattered, as long as they had everything we needed.

The mob of Iropolician people swarmed around me, making a rough circle, and John emerged from within their ranks.

"We looted the place, and we've got everything. We probably have four times more equipment than we can use. So, how will we take back Iropolice?"

"I'm not sure about not being able to use the equipment, but we'll talk about that later. Are you sure about taking Iropolice back though? I mean, look around. Your city is burning to the ground, and will probably be completely gone within hours. It's a miracle that the weapon place didn't burn down. Tell me, what is it you want to save here?"

John frowned. Many of the others were looking around nervously at each other. A woman walked up to us and handed John a mirror shaped device- a scanner. It pinged, and we peered at it.

A red wave washed across the screen of the scanner, and a 3D model of Iropolice appeared on the screen. It pinged again, and more than seventy percent of the buildings on the screen collapsed to the ground burning. The remaining buildings were all scorched and smoking. Several red dots moved quickly through the city, setting fire to anything still standing. John tapped on one of the red dots, and the scanner pinged.

It zoomed in on the dots, and several shapes clad in black simmered into appearance. They were flying down the street. They reached a surviving building, and one threw a grenade into it. A moment later, fire roared out of the windows, and the building collapsed on itself.

The figures suddenly shot up into the air, and we all looked up from the scanner to scan the sky.

Instantly, my eyes picked up on a green Grid covering the sky. The three figures reached the center circle, and instantly disappeared, along with the Grid.

"What happened? Did those guys just disappear?" John asked.

I paled, and stared mutely up at the offending spot where the three had disappeared. The Unknown Enemy could use the Grid.

"We're in big trouble. The enemy that was attacking the Pisces Empire is now attacking you. And, they have the same power that I do. We no longer have the upper hand. He can easily send in a massive force to demolish us before we can think about fighting back. So far, we haven't even seen ten of his people, yet he managed to smash Iropolice with what looks like little to no effort. We should withdraw."

John shrugged. "Your call, Commander. We're part of your army now, so you call the shots."

Oh, great. That's just a politically correct way of saying that if I screw up, it's my fault.

"Ok, I need everyone to be still for a moment, and don't panic. Closing your eyes might help."

I stepped forward, and entered the circle, and the Void swallowed us whole.

There was a lot of confusion when we first re-entered the Void. The Ronsard soldiers weren't too happy about a mob of unknown soldiers suddenly waltzing into their tea party. The Iropolician people were milling around, wondering what the heck had just happened, and I was hungry. Just between you and me, I think we all know what the most troubling part was.

I held up a hand for silence, and both mobs looked at me.

"Listen! As you know, I am building an army to fight back against the Unknown Enemy who is attacking the Pisces Empire. You are both vital parts to this fight! Iropolician people, please listen to me! Hand out those weapons you brought with you to the Ronsard soldiers. And John, where are those armored vehicles you were talking about?"

He held up a briefcase. "Right here, Commander. They're transportable. I'll help get the weapons and gear handed out, you focus on whatever it is that needs doing."

The Ronsard soldiers were suddenly much more friendly to the Iropolice ones when they were given new, shiny guns. I don't think they gave a rat's posterior about the other gear though.

I collapsed backwards into a bed, and closed my eyes. There were many things that needed doing, but they could all wait. It's not like I had a time limit when I was in the Void anyways.

Just as I was about to doze off, Lilly's face appeared in my vision. I sighed.

"What now?"

"There is stuff that needs doing! We don't have time for sleep!"

"Yes we do. We have all the time we need. Now buzz off, I'm tired. You need to loosen up a little, Lilly."

She yanked me out of my bed, and it disappeared.

"I know we have all the time we need! But sleeping while the Pisces Empire is in danger is just wrong. We need to get this war over with as soon as possible. We should head to our next stop immediately."

I sighed. Even if I kept arguing, I doubted that I would ever get more than thirty seconds of sleep in the Void. Oh well, I guess I might as well get this over with.

I shook Lilly's hands off my shoulders, and went to find a Ronsard Soldier.

"You there! About how long were we gone?" I asked.

The soldier frowned. "Well Commander, I can't really tell 'ya for sure, but It feels like you were gone for maybe two or three weeks. Something like that, I think."

I thanked him, and asked several other soldiers. One told me that it felt as if I had left a few minutes ago, and another told me that it felt like it had been a year.

According to the documentaries I had read, that was all wrong. Since the Void was outside of time, we should have returned the instant we left. Instead, soldiers felt that time had actually passed in the Void, which should be impossible. That could only mean one thing: time was moving in the Void, although not well. If Lilly figured that out, she would flip. I shuddered at the thought.

"Lilly and I will be going to continue expanding the army. We will be returning as soon as possible!" I yelled.

The soldiers around me from both worlds said they would pass the message on, and Lilly and I headed over to the Grid and swept through the green planes. I chose one at random and tapped one of the dots. A moment later, the darkness was gone.

# Chapter 10

What appeared in front of me was not quite was hoping for. Give me a nice military base, or maybe a race of warlike aliens. That's all cool, (Until they start attacking you), but honestly, I don't get the feeling that a village is going to be able to supply us with troops. Lilly seemed to have the same concern.

"How are we going to get troops from an overgrown ranch? I doubt that these guys could give us more than a herd of cattle!" Lilly complained.

I chuckled. "I don't know, I bet we could stampede them towards the enemy. I don't know about you, but I definitely don't want to face ten thousand angry cows."

Lilly rolled her eyes.

"They probably have more like one hundred cows, but that's not the point! We need each location we stop at to be able to give us soldiers, otherwise we'll be overrun by the Unknown Enemy!"

I sighed. I didn't like it, but that was the sad truth. If this place didn't have any way to give us troops, we were in trouble. With some luck, they had a hidden military force somewhere. With some more, they wouldn't use it to attack the two strangers who go to them asking for it.

We headed towards the village, and entered through two large wooden pillars with a sign above them labeled 'Leron'. As soon as we entered, a woman rushed out to meet us. She had rosy cheeks and sported a flour covered apron.

"Oh, visitors! Welcome to Leron! What brings you here, travelers? Oh, I have forgotten my manners again! My name is Cathy, and I'm Leron's baker! Follow me, and I will get some food in you two."

Before either of us could argue, she grabbed our hands and hauled us over to a nearby building. She sat us down at a table inside, and looked around hastily, brushing the flour off her apron.

"I'll get you two some bread and soup, so just sit here, ok?" She rushed off into the kitchen, leaving Lilly and I stunned at the table.

"Well, they're certainly friendly," I muttered.

Lilly glared at me. "We need warriors, not pansies! These people would be baking bread for the enemy before they fight them!"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure what's wrong with that. It's nice to be able to avoid conflict every once and a while. We should be fine if we miss one stop of soldiers, shouldn't we?"

"Of course we won't! We now know the Unknown Enemy has the ability to use Leaping just like you do! That means we have to get as many soldiers as possible, because knowing you, you have half the Leaps the Unknown Enemy does! If he uses them all, his army will be so big that we will need every single soldier we can get!"

"Why can't we just leave some people in peace? It's not like this is their fight. I mean, look at Cathy! She isn't cut out for war. This place seems nice and peaceful; why do we have to always shove our problems onto others?" I asked.

"Don't you care about the survival of the Pisces Empire?"

"Don't you care about anything other than the Pisces Empire? Aren't you even curious why the Unknown Enemy is even attacking the Pisces Empire? Haven't you wondered if maybe they killed his family while he watched, or forced him to fight in a war he wanted no part of? Maybe he was forced to make other people go through the same thing he did!" I yelled.

Lilly's eyes grew cold. "Are you siding with the enemy?"

Cathy burst from the kitchen, and set two bowls of soup before us along with a large piece of white bread. Lilly gave me a look saying that our conversation would continue later, and began greedily devouring her meal.

I followed her example, and we both finished the food in record time. I hadn't realized how hungry I was. I made a mental note to bring some food to the Void, and stood up.

"Cathy, do you have a village leader here?" I asked.

She beamed.

"Oh, yes! He is the most wonderful person I have ever met! When his father retired, he took over the village and made it what it is today! He never stops working either. I think he's in the laundry house right now. Follow me; I'll bring you to him."

The laundry house was a nicely built cabin. A waft of smoke wafted out from the chimney, making me feel right at home. Cathy opened the door and peered inside.

"Adam? Some people are here to see you. Why don't you a take a break from that and talk with them?" she called.

"I suppose I can. It shouldn't take me too long to finish the rest, so I can do it after I talk to my visitors. Please, send them in!" a rough voice called back.

I found myself already beginning to take a liking to the man. Lilly and I walked into the cabin, and were confronted with the amusing sight of an enormous man carefully folding up a small shirt and placing it gingerly on a tray near the fire.

"Hello, what brings you here to Leron?" he asked with a grin on his face.

Lilly stepped forward. "Our land is under attack, and we need help. We were hoping you could donate some soldiers to us for the duration of the conflict. We will gladly return any remaining soldiers after the decisive battle is over."

Adam looked appalled.

"You're asking me to send my people into a war? Over my dead body! I would be glad to shelter your people, as long as they can help out around the town."

Lilly growled. "We don't need a place to stay, we need an army strong enough to beat our enemy. Don't tell me you have no fighting force?"

"Of course we don't! We are a peaceful people. Besides, why should we ever make war when we could simply feed those who wish to fight with us? There is no reason to fight. After all, I love helping people. The look on their faces when they get a fresh meal after a long day's work is priceless!"

I found myself agreeing with the man. He did have a point, after all. Why did we fight, anyways? If we could just all be like he was, everything would be so much nicer. Lilly however, didn't agree with him at all.

"You're a fool then! You waste resources feeding and helping those who would attack and kill you? Why not just destroy them, and live without having to help your enemies?"

Adam shook his head.

"Never! I don't want to hurt other people. Peace is always the best course of action. I apologize for being unable to help you further, but I will gladly house your people, if they are willing to be peaceful. Until then, feel free to stay here and rest. You are always welcome!"

Lilly stormed out of the laundry room, dragging me with her. Frankly, I was totally on the man's side, but with Lilly around, I didn't have much of a choice.

Lilly stormed out of the village, ignoring calls from Cathy and a few other people.

"You were right. This place will never give us a fighting force. I bet these idiots can't even tell one end of a gun from the other. I have half a mind to go in there myself and blast them all to pieces."

I narrowed my eyes, and she waved her hand dismissively.

"Don't worry, I won't do it. It would be a waste of energy. I suppose we could try looking around for some smarter people..."

I shrugged.

"We could try, but I doubt that we would find anyone. It would probably take us somewhere around a day to get to the nearest village, and we don't have any food. Besides, all the towns in this area probably agree with Adam, so I doubt any of them would volunteer for a war."

Lilly shook her head in disgust, and poked me in the chest.

"Let's get out of this stupid place. We have no time to waste here."

I nodded, and activated the Grid. We were walking towards the circle when I heard something roar from the direction of the town. I turned around, and saw a mob of armored warriors descending on the village like a plague. I cursed and started running towards it.

Lilly followed close behind, but she had different reasons for doing so.

"I bet those guys wouldn't mind joining up with us! This is perfect!" she yelled as we ran.

I ignored her, and focused on getting to the town in time. I stumbled into town just in time to see a sword appear in Cathy's chest. I stared in horror as her mouth opened vainly, and she toppled to the ground.

I pulled the pistol grip from my belt, and squeezed it. It was time to see if this thing worked as well on humans as it did on robots. A black beam lanced out of the weapon and pierced the raider behind Cathy.

A ripple of darkness blasted from his mouth in a wordless scream, and he slumped over the beam, dead. I levitated him into the air with the beam, and hurled him from the village with all my might.

Lilly raised her eyebrows. "Nice weapon. These guys are primitive, we don't need them. We can go now."

I picked up one of her bad habits, and spat on the ground. "Like hell we will. We're going to go kill these raiders."

"Huh, that's strange. Weren't you prattling on about how you didn't like fighting? What happened to peace is always better, huh? Make up your mind."

"I'll do what is necessary. Now move your butt, or are you too scared to fight them?"

Lilly bared her teeth.

"As if. They're the ones that should be scared!"

I smirked. Lilly was easier to play than a little kid. The smile fell off my face when a scream echoed through the village, and I rushed towards it.

About a hundred or so raiders stood in a ring around Adam and the remaining villagers. I sprinted towards them, pointing my weapon at the nearest raider, but I was too late.

"Kill them all!" one barked.

"Wait! Please, we can talk! There is no reason to fight. We can just sit down with some food and..."

A gunshot ripped through the air, and Adam swayed, crimson beginning to spread across his chest like a flower. He stood straight one last time, and for a moment, his eyes locked with mine. An unseen pledge passed between us, and he fell face first into the ground, dead.

The other raiders all let out loud whoops, and gunshots filled the air again. The little crowd of villagers all collapsed against each other. I roared in anger, and ripped my necklace off my neck.

My right arm erupted in raging flames, and the gun shuddered with power.

"This runs on body heat, right? Let's see what this does then," I rasped.

I pulled the trigger, and a massive beam launched from the weapon. All the raiders caught in its path screamed in agony as the dark energy pierced through everything in its way.

I flung the raiders I had caught in my deadly grasp into the air, and blasted them again.

"I'd tell you I was going to send you to Hell, but nothing will be left of you when I'm done here!" I screamed, tears streaming down my cheeks. I knew it was irrational to be so angry at the loss of people I barely even knew, but this little town reminded me of life back before my planet had been conquered by the Pisces Empire. And I hated that. I wanted to do nothing more than forget about my past life and skip the

The remaining raiders started running as fast as they could, screaming something about a god of war and not making enough sacrifices.

I blasted them too, and hurled them into the sky. I don't remember how long I stood there, ripping the raiders to pieces with dark energy, but I do remember one thing. One of those raiders escaped. Out of the hundred or so, one managed to evade my vengeful rage. The one who had shot Adam. I learned something important on that day. To hesitate in war means death. If Adam hadn't tried to reason with his foe, he might have lived. If I had acted faster, maybe I could have avenged him. But neither of us did, and we paid the price.

When Lilly found me, I was standing in a field peppered with smoking holes the size of boulders. Of the raiders, nothing remained but a single warped pistol, glowing white and smoking with heat.

# Chapter 11

When Lilly and I returned to the Void, soldiers gathered around us looking for the new addition to the army. I shook my head sadly, and they slowly dispersed. I took the time to look around the camp. The soldiers...no, my soldiers had built a large living quarters for themselves and appeared to be occupying their time by having two giant warriors fighting against each other in a large arena. As I watched, one gladiator ran the other through with his sword, bringing back memories of Cathy.

I grimaced, and looked away. Lilly smacked the back of my head.

"You can't keep moping about what happened in Leron! It's been a while since we got back, you should be over it by now. Don't forget that the lives of everyone here rests on your shoulders, while the lives of those in Leron didn't," Lilly said.

I frowned. "A while? Lilly, don't forget that time shouldn't...ahem, doesn't pass here."

She frowned. "But I could have sworn at least a week has passed."

"How can you tell?"

"Because I can. Anyways, get out of your mopey mood so we can go to our next stop and pick up some more soldiers. We don't have all the time in the world. We have to help the Pisces Empire as soon as possible. For all I know, they might be on the brink of destruction right now!"

And what a disaster that would be. I shrugged and stretched my arms out. We walked over to the Grid, and I looked through the green plates. I tapped a dot near the center, and we were gone once again.

When this new world came into view, the first thing I noticed was the fact that we were in a field covered with shoulder high grass. The second thing I noticed was a large pillar of black smoke rising into the air in the distance. I grabbed Lilly's shoulder, and pointed at it. She shrugged.

"Someone's village is on fire. So what?"

"We should go help them! Maybe they could tell us where we can find the nearest ruling force."

Lilly shrugged. "It's your call. But if you screw up, I'll shoot you."

I couldn't have wished for a better partner.

I pulled the scanner out of my belt, and a wave of red flashed across the screen. There was a ping, and several villages appeared around us. For a moment, I thought a red dot flashed across the screen, but it was gone so quickly I disregarded it as a glitch.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that all the villages around us were on fire. I cursed, and located the nearest one.

"Quick! Let's head to this one since it's the nearest. We should help them put the fire out." I said.

I pulled the Suspender from my belt, and Lilly pulled out her own.

"I got it from one of the people from Iropolice while you were moping around," she explained.

When had she had time to? She hadn't left my side since we got back from Leron. Oh well, I would deal with it later. We both floated into the air, and shot off towards the flaming village.

We landed outside it, and hurried inside. I ran towards the nearest building, and began hurling pieces of wood off it using my pistol.

I could faintly hear someone yelling something inside of it, but the roar of the flames was so loud that I couldn't hear them. After about a minute of throwing burning wood away from the house, I located a stick waving around frantically from under a large log. I carefully blasted the edge of it, and hurled it away from the house.

A young boy climbed out from behind where the log had been, dripping wet. I gaped at him.

"How on earth are you wet?"

"Because I am a wizard. I summoned water to protect me from the flames."

"Really?" I asked, surprised. I wasn't aware that people could do magic. They could certainly be a great addition to my army!

"No. You're not very smart, Mister. I was in the bath house when it caught fire. Can you bring me to my father? I am sure he will reward you."

Oh great, I just got shot down by a little kid. My cool levels just dropped below negative ten.

"I like this kid," Lilly said, and started laughing.

How could she laugh as the village burned down? You can't blame me for buying it, I was worried!

"Whatever. Kid, I don't know who or where your daddy is. Your whole village is up in flames, it wasn't just your bath house."

He paled. "If that is the case, please help save the rest of the village! Most of us should have been collecting food from the fields today, but the chief and a few other people are still in the village!"

"Right! On this map, show me where your friends are."

I handed him the scanner, and he pointed at three houses, all near the center of the village. One looked to be the largest, so I figured it was the chief's house.

"I'll go! Lilly, you watch this kid, ok?"

I didn't wait for confirmation, and shot off with my Suspender. I came down in front of the Chief's house, and began hurling wood out of the way. However, it was taking too long. I would never be able to save the people in all three houses at this rate. I pulled the necklace off, and my gun arm erupted in flames. I blasted the whole house with the beam, and hurled it into the sky. By the time it hit the ground again, it was just a few specks of dust in the wind.

I looked around where the house had been, but spotted nobody there. Just when I was about to decide that I had accidentally shot the poor sap in the house, the ground near the middle of the house rattled, and an old man climbed out of it. He was covered in soot, but seemed otherwise fine.

I sighed in relief, and turned to the next house. This one wasn't even on fire yet, so I turned to the last one. It had already burned to the ground, but I could hear panicked sounds coming from inside it. I ran over to it, and threw a few beams out of the way. I then noticed that several beams I had not thrown were flying out of the way. I threw a floorboard into the sky, and a door hurled into the sky with it. I barely managed to dodge the door when it crashed back to the ground, and was less successful at dodging the enormous, gray, furry mass that slammed into me and slobbered all over my face.

I managed to shove my unseen assailant off of me, and get a good look at it. A huge dog stood before me, its thick pointed tongue hanging loosely. It howled at the raging sun, and licked my face.

The boy I had saved earlier ran over to it, and threw his arms around the beast's neck.

"Dog, I'm so happy you're all right!"

I sighed. "You named your dog Dog?"

The boy twirled his finger around his head and pointed at me. Lilly smirked and nodded. Even my partner took the other guy's side.

"No, Dog is the name of my Devil Hound. He isn't a dog."

I just stared at him, and mimicked the motion of twirling my finger around my head and pointed at him.

He shook his head in exasperation. "We don't have time to explain right now. Did you save everyone?"

I shrugged. "I think I saved the chief, and I saved your mutt. The other house you showed me is fine, it wasn't on fire."

The kid immediately ran off towards it, the dog loping after him happily. Lilly glanced at me.

"Are you happy now? We saved them."

I nodded. "Yeah, but there are other villages that caught fire too. We should help them out as well."

Lilly groaned. "You realize we have a time limit when we're outside of the Void? We can't go save every single village here! We just don't have enough time. Not to mention that I don't want to waste that much energy."

"But they could need our help! We can't just abandon them because you're too lazy to move your butt unless it serves the overgrown tyrant called the Pisces Empire!"

"Maybe you're right! But it's better than serving an idealistic fool like you!" She spun around and strode into the smoldering ruins of the village.

"Not again!" I groaned.

The boy emerged from the house closely followed by a plump old woman wearing a stained apron. A vision of Cathy suddenly flashed through my head, and I shook the vision from my mind. I would never let someone be killed because I failed to react quickly enough again.

The old lady waddled over to me, and tilted her head in my direction.

"Young man, thank you so much for helping our humble village. My grandson and the chief owe you their lives. I'm not sure if we can ever repay you. Kip, run along and gather the rest of the village, would you?"

The boy nodded, and leaped onto his dog Dog. I smirked at the thought, but my features became grim once more when I looked back at the burning village. This was like a broken record that had started in Iropolice. Everywhere I had been was burned to the ground and the people in it slaughtered like sheep.

"We should start by getting some water over the village. Do you have a large water source anywhere nearby?"

She nodded, and pointed in the direction of the chief's house. "There is a large lake in that direction, not too far from here. I'm not sure how you can transport all the water though. It might be better for us if we just relocate."

I grinned. "Don't bother, I got this under control. Ah...Do you have a way for me to secure some wood together well enough to hold water?"

"I'm not sure, but the blacksmith might have something you can use in it. I'm not sure you could do anything with it. No offense meant, but you don't look very strong."

"Oh, you're totally right. I'm as weak as a dandelion. However, my partner could probably pound steel into a pulp with her bare hands."

The old woman chuckled. "I feel sorry for you then, young man. The blacksmith is easy to find, it's the only building in town that is made from stone."

I thanked her, and activated my scanner. It pinged to life, and a little red dot appeared moving slowly through the town. A square building stood right in the dot's path, and I grinned. Lilly acted tough, but she was a softie on the inside. Like, way inside. Somewhere near the bottom of her heart, hidden away in a little locked box and guarded by a thousand warriors.

I slipped the scanner back into my belt and pulled my Suspender out. I launched myself into the air, leaving the old woman gaping at me from the ground, and zipped towards the building. After an ungraceful landing in the scorched dirt in front of the blacksmith, I stood up and looked around for Lilly.

I spotted her staring at me in shock from a house a few feet over. I raised my hand in a mock salute, and she rolled her eyes. "What do you want, Jinx?"

"I need you to help me build a bucket."

"Oh, that's easy. I'll chop that hollow block you call a head off from your shoulders, and turn it upside-down!"

"First, you shouldn't be talking, rocks-for-brains. Second, I need someone with more brute force than brainpower. This bucket is going to be really big. Like, the size of your ego big."

Lilly whistled. "That big, huh?"

I nodded solemnly. "I was hoping you could help me make a bucket to put out the fires. There are still a few buildings left standing, and I wouldn't mind keeping them that way. As a little incentive, this might convince them to throw their lots in with us and help us out."

"Fine. I'll help you build your bucket, but I'm not going to collect the wood. I figure you can use a roof for the bottom piece. Those are already nailed together, and it should be fine if we lose a little water on the way. Hell, use only roofs. Nobody said the bucket had to be round. It'll be quicker that way. Now hurry, or this whole village will burn to the ground while we sit here arguing!"

I rushed off and began ripping the few houses left standing in the village. After I had ripped five roofs from their rightful places in life, I levitated them over to Lilly and set them down next to her.

"Try to put the holes near the top, would you? The only way I can levitate stuff is by blowing holes in it with my trusty death ray here."

"That's the worst name for a weapon I have ever heard."

"Don't make me blast you with my death ray."

She snorted, and raised a pot of large nails above her head. She tossed a large hammer with her other hand. "First, I need you to split these roofs down the seam so we have flat pieces instead of triangle shapes."

I aimed at the first roof, and blasted it several times down its center. Lilly stepped on one side, and ripped the other one off easily. I gulped, suddenly glad that she was (probably) on my side.

We did the same to the rest of the roofs, and then I lifted one of them into the air above the edge of another. "A little lower."

I lowered it a little, and she grabbed it and shoved it to the side and pulled it downwards. She knelt down next to it, and motioned for me to hold the opposite edge of what would be the floor of the bucket. I braced myself against it, and she begun hammering one of the nails into the wood.

It splintered and cracked, but it held. Of course when I say held, I mean it stayed connected by the grace of God alone. She hammered a few more nails into it, and then we rotated so that she could work on the next side.

When we finished, there were probably only two or three houses left standing in the whole village. I wasted no time in shooting the makeshift bucket with my gun (Near the top, obliviously), and shooting off towards the lake.

I accidentally crashed into a seagull on the way, causing it to spin to the ground like a damaged plane. My eyes followed it down to see the bird blast into the ground with a puff of feathers. Next to it, a small lake shimmered innocently. Lake, I know you're laughing. Don't try to hold it in. We all know that nobody likes seagulls.

I lowered myself over the lake, and filled the bucket with water. It immediately began to leak, so I zipped back to town and threw the water over the nearest burning buildings.

I repeated this cycle for who knew how long, until I finally managed to put out all the fires. I dropped the bucket on the ground, causing it to shatter into a million pieces, and collapsed to my knees gasping for breath.

"I'm not sure why, since my Suspender and death ray did pretty much everything for me, but I'm so tired," I muttered to myself.

Someone put their hand on my shoulder and shook me. I groaned, and flopped onto my back to see who was jiggling me like a bowl of Jell-O.

Kip was staring with wide eyes. "Mr. Angel, are you alright?"

I burst into laughter. He was calling me an angel? Ironic for an angel to travel with a demon, isn't it?

"Where's Doc?" Kip called.

I vaguely heard some muttering, and a man with a funny hat came into view. He poked me in the side a few times, and smacked me with a little club. When I started cursing him out, he shrugged.

"This man is physically fine, he just needs some rest. Why don't we let him use one of the remaining beds since he was the one who saved them?"

There was some vague agreement, and I stopped listening after that. After all, I had much more important things to do. Like dream about throwing cream puffs at the Council of the Pisces Empire. Cream puffs that were filled with nitroglycerin. And dynamite.

# Chapter 12

When I woke up from my wonderful dreams, a circle of unfamiliar faces greeted me. Then Dog jumped on me, causing me to double over in pain. At least there was someone I knew. Vaguely.

"Where am I?" I groaned.

"You're in one of the few houses that you managed to save. We are forever in your debt, my friend. I am the doctor of this village, and I can't remember my name, so just call me Doc."

This nutcase was the one who was treating me? It was a wonder I wasn't already six feet under. I sat up, and looked around. The room was actually rather nice, with a few book cases and beautiful drawings hanging all around.

"This place is pretty, I'm glad it didn't burn down," I said.

Doc nodded. "Indeed. This was one of the two buildings remaining that has suitable sleeping quarters in it. The other is the barn, where your friend is currently residing."

I grimaced. "How many animals has she shot?"

"Two cows and four pigs. She also set a chicken on fire."

"How the hell did she do that?"

"She rubbed it on a wall so quickly it sparked and caught fire. My son was watching when she did it. She then ate it for her dinner after letting it burn for a few minutes."

I shook my head with a mixture of wonder and horror. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Oh, not too long. You saved us yesterday, and its lunchtime right now." Kip bounded into the room, and Dog poked him with his nose.

I slipped my legs out from the sheets, and stood up. When I felt assured that I could stand, I looked around at the other faces in the room.

"Is this everyone in the village?"

"Oh, not even close. We were just on watch when you happened to wake up. Now that you're awake, would you mind telling us how you saved us?"

"Magic."

Doc's eyes widened. "You're a wizard?"

Hook, line, and sinker. "Nope. Just getting some revenge on Kip through his friends."

Kip burst into laughter, and everyone else joined. "In reality, I just come from a place that has advanced technology. On the topic of saving you, do you know why your village was on fire?"

A man who hadn't yet identified himself shrugged. "This isn't the first time we have been attacked. It's probably because we breed the finest Shadows in all of Trinton. They all want to get their hands on one."

"Actually, I've got a pretty nice Shadow myself," I said.

Doc grinned. "That's quite cool! Is that how you were able to save our village? Our pride and joy is Dog over there with Kip."

I looked over to Kip, where his enormous dog was happily licking him to death. I was pretty sure that Kip's Shadow looked like him, not like a huge gray shaggy dog.

"Ah, I'm pretty sure shadows are supposed to resemble their owners?"

Doc looked confused for a moment, and then burst into laughter. "You're thinking of a human's shadow, not a Shadow."

Now I was even more confused. "Here, we can just show you when you feel better, ok?" a man offered.

"I'm feeling pretty nice right now."

Doc frowned, but shrugged. "If you say so, Mr..."

"Jinx. My name is Drake Jinx."

The Doc nodded, and I followed him from the building. He looked back at me. "Are you sure you can do this? It's almost a mile walk."

I smirked. "No, I think I'll be alright. Just point me in the right direction."

He shrugged, and pointed at a beaten down path of dirt. It was scorched slightly, but it had managed to retain its purpose. I grabbed Doc, and activated my Suspender, causing us to shoot down the pass a foot in the air. When a large wooden house came into view, I slowed us down so we only destroyed one fence post when we landed.

"Ouch," I groaned.

Doc was staring at me with wide eyes, just like Kip had. "I heard the story from Kip, but I thought it was a tall tale... That was amazing!"

I grunted an affirmative, and looked up at the house. It looked a lot like a barn, but I noticed a few holes in it. Doc noticed me staring, and went over to the door. He knocked, and it suddenly flung itself open. Doc waved me over, and peered inside.

"This is where we breed the Shadows. Be warned, the breeder is a little...weird. I'll wait out here while you talk to him."

I shrugged, and walked into the barn. Immediately, the doors slammed shut behind me and a dull yellow light lit up the room. An old man waddled out of the darkness, leaning heavily on his cane.

"Have you come here to get a Shadow?"

Last I checked, I still had mine with me. "Well, I would like to look at one."

He waved his cane around in front of my face. "Your smooth words shall not work on me. You wish to have a Shadow, am I right?"

I decided that it would be pointless trying to argue with this crazy old geezer. I just decided to go along with it. "Yeah, sure."

He grinned triumphantly. "Very well. Behold!"

He tossed me a little white object, and I dove to catch it. I looked down at the Shadow in my hand, and found myself holding an egg. I stared at it in disbelief.

"This is an egg."

"No, that is the Shadow you wanted so dearly."

"Egg."

He glared at me. "That is a Shadow in its first form. It hasn't hatched yet."

"This is an egg; one from a chicken."

"Your skills of identification are a thing of legend, Bob."

I shook my head in exasperation and handed the egg back to him. "You're off your rocker. You can have your egg back. I like omelets as much as the next man, but I didn't come all the way here for one. And my name is Drake Jinx, not Bob. Although Bob is still a cool name."

The old man jumped forward and grabbed my sleeve. "Very well, you had the integrity to return the Shadow egg to me, so I will allow you to gain one of your own."

I'm sure that was a chicken's egg, but whatever. The old man grinned at me, and sprinted at the wall. He leaped through it, leaving an old man shaped hole behind. I hurried after him, and looked around in awe.

I was surrounded by huge eggs the size of basketballs. The old man was standing in the middle of the room, petting one of the eggs and whispering to it. I made a wide circle around the room, looking at the different patterns on each of the eggs.

Suddenly, the old man's head jerked up and he looked me in the eyes. "Do you hear that? An egg calls to you."

I strained my ears, but heard nothing but the wind going through the holes all around the barn.

"Nope, I don't hear anything."

"Then you are deaf. But, it is ok, since you cannot be perfect. Walk ahead seven steps and turn to your right."

I did as he said, and noticed one of the eggs shaking slightly. I lifted it, and noticed the one behind it shaking as well. Frowning, I put the egg down, and lifted the next one. The one behind this one was shaking as well.

"What the heck?"

I started moving them out of the way, and every time I lifted one, it stopped shaking. I dug through the pile of eggs until I reached one the size of two fists put together. I picked it up, and it didn't stop shaking.

The old man hobbled over next to me, and frowned. "That one is strange. It is much smaller than it should be. However, if it reacted to you, it has completed its first stage."

I looked at the little shaking egg, wondering if I could use it for a back massage. The old man suddenly lunged forward and snatched the egg from my hands. He hurled it onto the ground, and cracks covered the egg.

"Hey! What the heck was that for?" I yelled.

I picked up the broken egg, and a piece of it fell out. I peered through the hole, and a beady black eye stared back into mine. "Whoa! What is this?"

A long leg burst through the egg, and I inspected it closely. It was hinged in several places, and had little gray hairs sticking out like fur. The foot was curved to a point, but I couldn't tell if it was sharp or not.

The old man stared at the leg. "What Shadow will you get? I am curious to see myself, Drake Jinx."

I started to nod, but froze. I spun, and stared at a dark cloaked figure that had replaced the tottering old dude from before. Someone from the Unknown Man's army. I lunged at him, but he disappeared in a puff of darkness, reappearing several feet away from me. He bowed, and scattered into a patch of smoke. Several more pieces of the egg shattered, and I returned my attention to it briefly.

A huge spider scuttled out of the egg, and stared up into my eyes. I'm no bug expert, but I'm reasonably sure that spiders don't come out of oversized chicken eggs with designs on them.

We stared at each other for a moment. The spider's large mandibles twitched, and it skittered up to my shoulder. "Awwww, it likes me!" I purred.

The spider then bit me on my ear, and shot off into one of my pockets. I cursed it out, and rubbed my ear. It was bleeding a little, but it wasn't too bad. I bet Lilly would like one of these furry bastards.

I heard some muttering from behind the wall, and the old man with the cane jumped through it. He stared at me. "What are you doing in here?"

I lowered my fingers to my weapon, and my spider nudged me from inside my shirt. I released the weapon, and looked at the old man. He looked the same as the one from earlier, but that one had turned out to be a soldier from the Unknown Man's army, so I couldn't just straight up and trust this guy.

"I'm the guy who saved your town from burning down."

The old man nodded sagely. "Oh, I've heard about you. I was wondering when you would show up. So...who are you?"

I sighed. "I was just leaving. Where is the exit?"

The old man shrugged, and leaped through the wall. "Right here!"

Shaking my head, I jogged out of the barn. Doc greeted me with a knowing smile. "I see you met the keeper. He isn't normal, is he?"

I shook my head hastily. "Definitely not. But, I got my Shadow...I think."

Doc grinned. "Show me! I'm interested to see what someone as amazing as you would get."

I shrugged, and prodded my pocket. My spider poked its head out, and hissed at Doc. Can spiders even hiss? Doc looked rather surprised as he stared at the little Shadow. "To be honest, I was expecting something more awe inspiring than a spider."

"If we get Lilly one of these things, I bet it would be an elephant or something."

Doc grinned. "That would be great for the Games this season! Quick, let's go get her!"

As it turns out, Lilly doesn't like spiders. It took me a whole minute to convince her not to smack the spider, and another ten to convince her that it wouldn't (Hopefully) assault her in her sleep and stab her friends and family. (I doubt she has any, but if it makes her feel better...)

"You want me to get something like this?" she cried in distain.

My spider was sitting on my shoulder, eyeing her with his (I think it was a he) beady eyes. Every time I looked away from it, I was pretty sure it started dancing a little jig since its feet were constantly drumming on my shoulders.

"It won't be a spider, believe me. You'll probably get an elephant or a dragon."

Lilly frowned. "A dragon would be nice. It could kill my enemies so I wouldn't even have to move while it roasted them alive."

I grimaced at that mental image. "Yay, I love burning people alive. Doc, I do have a question though. I went along with getting a Shadow because I was curious about what they were. You still haven't told me yet."

"Oh, I haven't? How silly of me! Shadows are the way the villages of Trinton compete for the favor of the King. Each year, all the villages gather with their mightiest Shadows and their owners to fight. The winning person gets any one request granted by the King, no matter what it is. They could even ask to become King, and the King would have to step down."

Lilly and I looked at each other and grinned. Any one thing, huh? What about all the Shadow eggs they could spare and an army of ten thousand men? Whoa, I was starting to think like Lilly. It would probably be in my best interests to contact a doctor to check my mental stability.

"Where can I get one of these Shadows?" Lilly asked.

Doc shrugged. "We're usually not in the habit of giving Shadows out to people we don't know. I guess I can let you get one as well, so this story can continue without making the author think much more about this subject."

"Huh?"

"What?" Doc asked.

"What about an author?" Lilly asked.

Doc frowned. "Are you guys ok? I can perform a checkup for you if you want."

Lilly shook her head. "Forget it. Just give me that Shadow you were talking about."

Doc led Lilly away to find the Shadow keeper, and I went off to find the rest of the villagers. They were all standing in a circle where the chief's house had been, talking quietly. One of them saw me, and waved me over.

The second I came into earshot, they all started cheering and thanking me for saving their village from burning down. I had only saved three buildings, but I decided not to mention that part. After all, I was sure they could figure that part out on their own.

They led me up to the chief, and he bowed to me. "Young man, thank you for saving the village. And more personally, thank you for saving my own life. If we can do anything for you, just ask."

I cleared my throat. "Well, there is actually something. A strange army is attacking my homeland, and we came here in search of soldiers to help us fight them off. If you would, we would be eternally grateful to you if some of you could join up and help us in the battle. Also, I was wondering how I would be able to enter the games."

The chief frowned. "Well, I would be glad to ask the people of my village if they would join with you, but I do not command them, I just point them in the right direction. However, unless you have a Shadow, you cannot enter the games."

My spider looked up from my pocket, and clicked his teeth at the chief. He scuttled onto my shoulder and made a point to stare at every single villager for about a second before looking to the next.

The chief cleared his throat. "Ahem, there is a spider on your shoulder."

I nodded. "This is my Shadow."

The chief stared at the huge spider. "Are you sure about that?"

I nodded absently. "C'mon, do something!"

The chief chuckled. "Well, if it is your Shadow, he won't listen to you unless you give him a name."

"Oh. A name, huh? Well, I'm not going to name you 'spider'. Oh, I know! I'll call you Bill! Bill, do something."

Immediately, Bill wove a little silk hat and popped it on his head. He looked at me expectantly, and I repressed a sigh. Kip had a dog the size of a grizzly bear. I had a spider that could make little hats. Oh well, maybe my enemies could laugh so hard they choke.

"That's...nice, Bill."

I could have sworn the spider grinned before offering the silk hat to me. I took it, and placed it on my head. "See? No normal spider could ever do that, and not so quickly."

The chief was too busy staring at my hat with awe in his eyes. I know it looked awesome, but did it call for that expression? "What's wrong, chief?"

"Your hat is on fire."

I lifted the hat from my head, and realized that the mayor was correct. I glared at Bill, who seemed to shrug.

Since the fire wasn't burning me, I shrugged and popped the mini hat back onto my head.

The chief stared for a little more, then shook his head and grinned at me. "Well, it appears you have a Shadow. In that case, it should be no problem for you to engage in the games. You arrived at a good time, my friend. The games should be starting tomorrow, in the courtyard of the current King's palace. You'll be hard pressed on time to get there though."

I smiled. "Time really isn't a problem."

A distant screech alerted me to Lilly's presence, and a massive bald eagle slammed down in the center of the circle of villagers, nearly squashing a few. When I say massive, I mean it. The Shadow must have stood at least a story high, with wings longer than two humans stacked on top of each other.

"'Murica!" Lilly screamed, and jumped down from the huge eagle.

"What's a 'Murica?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I dunno, It just seemed right. My Shadow is way better than yours though. Just for the record and all."

"I wouldn't say that. My spider can make flaming hats." I said, pointing out my little hat.

She looked surprised for a moment before her smirk returned. "That's obliviously fake fire. If it was real, your hair would be burning right now."

She picked it up, and yelped. She dropped it back onto my head and stuck her thumb and forefinger in her mouth.

"Hah! It is a real fire. Don't make me throw my flaming hat of doom at you."

Lilly rolled her eyes, and patted her giant eagle. "Swift is still better. Now, about those games you were talking about. How soon would we have to leave if Swift can fly us there?"

"If you left now, you could make it there on time. You just missed our two Shadow owners by a day or two. They're getting there with a black panther, so you shouldn't have trouble spotting them. Panthers are rare, you know. Kip would have joined them with Dog, but he isn't old enough yet. We're going to send him in next year."

I was still trying to get over the fact that Lilly had named her Shadow after herself.

"Really Lilly? You named it after your last name?"

She raised an eyebrow, and Swift leaned in far past the blow-the-rape-whistle area. It opened its mouth and screeched, sending a gust of air so strong it blew my flaming hat away and darn near took my head with it.

Bill and I both turned and stared sadly after the hat as it sailed away. "That's going to screw up someone's day," I muttered.

Lilly faked a sad face. "Get on Swift, Jinx. We don't want to be late to these...games."

I didn't like that look in her eyes. "I could take that the wrong way"

I took one look at her fierce glare, and decided not to finish that joke. "But I won't. I'm getting on now."

I swiftly climbed onto Lilly Swift's swift Swift, hoping to swiftly get to the games. (Bam. Beat that.) Immediately, Swift took off, sending many of the villagers sprawling below us.

"We'll be back soon!" I yelled, and we were gone before they could respond.

About an hour or two into the flight, I began to feel drowsy. "Hey, I'm going to try to get some sleep! Can you try to keep me from falling off your bird?" I called over the wind.

"If I notice you falling, I'll be sure to attend your funeral! Maybe."

That's probably the best I'm going to get out of her. Bill seemed to read my mind, and began making a silk rope. When he finished, I looked from the rope to the bird. After a moment, I tied the rope to Lilly's foot. Her boots were thick enough that I was sure that she wouldn't feel it. If I fell off, hopefully she would try to save herself. If not, I guess she would end up attending my funeral anyways. She just might not be vertical.

After I secured the rope, I carefully laid stomach down on the bird and tested my bond. When it stayed strong, I closed my eyes and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

# Chapter 13

I awoke to a jerking sensation around my waist where I had tied the rope. Sure enough, I had fallen and Lilly didn't stop me. We were both hanging from Swift's claws, and Lilly didn't look too happy. I shrugged. "Self-preservation instincts told me to do it."

Bill chittered in laughter, and Lilly silenced him with a glare. He scuttled back into my pocket, and I shifted around in Swift's claws until I could see the ground. In the distance, I saw a large gray castle looming in the distance. I pointed it out to Lilly.

"I know it's over there, I was following my scanner before you fell off and nearly took me with you. I dropped my scanner, so you owe me a new one."

I shrugged. "I'll get John to give you a new one."

As we got closer to the castle, I realized we might have a little problem. "Hey Lilly, how are we going to land? Swift has us in his claws so..."

She cursed, and started yelling at her poor bird. I glanced from Bill to my Suspender, and he skittered over to it, snagged it with a web, and brought it back to me before sliding into my pocket so the wind couldn't send him flying.

I turned it on, and shot out of Swift's claws. "Use your Suspender!" I yelled to her.

"I can't reach it!"

Hah! One point for Drake Jinx and his Shadow Bill. I pointed with my free hand at Lilly, and then indicated my Suspender. Bill narrowed his eight eyes at me. It looked like he still hadn't forgiven Lilly for trying to squish him.

"If you don't say sorry for trying to squish Bill, he won't help you!" I yelled.

Lilly cursed us out for almost a minute straight before finally caving in.

"Fine, you stupid spider! I'm sorry for trying to squish you! Although I'm more sorry for failing," she added under her breath.

Bill blinked at me, and I nodded. He shot a web onto Swift's foot, and swung over onto the bird's claw. He shuffled around in Lilly's pockets for a little, and pulled her Suspender out. He nudged it into the range of one of her hands, and swung back over to me.

"You're like Spider Man...but you're a real spider. Spider spider." I whispered.

Lilly gave me a rude gesture, and shot down towards the castle. Swift cawed loudly, and dove after her.

"That bird is a real caw-tastrophe," I said to Bill.

We shared an imaginary high five, and I shot down after Lilly.

My landing was scarcely graceful, but it was much better than before. I only managed to smash into one person, so I was counting myself lucky until he stood up and started giving me a lecture about how a peasant shouldn't anger the royalty.

"...And that is why the common horse is inferior to Pueblo here. Now do you see the difference between me, Richard the Great, and you, filthy peasant!"

"Who names their horse Pueblo? And I don't have a horse, so your dumb theory doesn't apply to me anyways. Bye now!" I strode off towards Lilly, leaving Richard the horse lord staring after me in horror.

She was in a heated argument with some fat bloke guarding the courtyard within the castle walls.

"I have a Shadow right here! Let me through, you giant sack of potatoes!"

"Miss, I don't care if you have a Shadow! It is common courtesy to allow the current King's son entry to the battlefield first. If you would just wait a little, I'm sure he will be here soon! Just look for a man of about your age with the most magnificent Shadow you have ever seen!"

I walked up to them, and Bill skittered onto my shoulder. He began tap dancing, and I bowed to the fat man. "You called?"

The man took one look at Bill and blanched. "I have never seen a spider Shadow before. How do you even intend to fight with that?"

Bill quickly spun a little rapier, and its blade caught fire. He stood up on two legs and pointed the flaming weapon at the fat man. The fat man grinned a little. "A Shadow that can work with fire, how interesting! We have a few elemental Shadows this year, so I'm sure these games shall be entertaining! Will you two be entering the games as a pair or separately?"

"We'll be entering as a pair." I said before Lilly could say otherwise. Her Shadow was huge and could fly. I didn't have any doubts about its combat prowess. Don't get me wrong, Bill was useful, but I'm not sure how much a flaming toothpick will hurt a dragon.

Lilly gave me an annoyed glance, but thankfully neglected to voice a complaint. The ball of blubber wrote something on his paper, and waved us inside the doors. We strode inside, and he hollered after us.

"The Games start tomorrow, so you had best get some sleep! You won't get another chance for the rest of your stay here!"

I nudged Lilly. "See? I'm royalty. You should pay me more respect now. They let us through the gates after I got there."

The first thing I noticed about the area behind the gates was that where most castles have a courtyard or garden, this one had a huge ring standing several feet above the ground. The sides were covered with plated metal, and tall fences formed a dome around the ring.

"That must be where the Shadows fight."

Lilly give it a quick look and shrugged.

"I don't think that's going to keep a large shadow inside if it decides it wants out."

Lilly did have a point; the metal fences hardly seemed strong enough to stop a panther, or even Pueblo the donkey.

"Whatever. It really doesn't matter. I feel like taking that fat bloke's idea and getting some rest. I'm exhausted."

Lilly agreed with me, and we went off to find a place to rest for the night.

After all my time hopping around like a crazed bunny from one pocket of time to another, one would think that I would be expecting some sort of attack. Of course, you should know me pretty well by now, and therefore know that I would obliviously expect such a thing. I did this expecting in my sleep, while my body rested unprotected on the bed.

My state of rest caused me to be unaware of the padded feet slowly entering my room and creeping up to my bed. The interloper lifted a long, glistening dagger, and a green drop formed at the tip. It wobbled slightly, and fell to the floor, hissing as it ate through...the assassin's foot.

He screamed in pain, and I sat bolt upright in bed, accidentally slamming my forehead into his unprotected stomach. He doubled over with a gasp, and fell back onto his butt. He scrambled to get his dagger, and pointed it at me with a quavering hand.

"I-I'm here t-to kill y-you!"

I smirked, and wrapped my hand around the handle of the blade that was pointing towards me. "Did you intend to bludgeon me to death with the handle of your knife?"

I pulled it from his hands, and he looked down in horror at his gloves as the acid began eating them away. He frantically pulled them off, and completely forgot about me as he blew on his hands in an attempt to cool them down.

He suddenly realized where he was, and looked up at me in panic. I heard a groan from Lilly's side of the room, and sighed. Even with all the racket this idiotic assassin had caused, she was still sleeping. Way to set your priorities, lady. Besides, what happened to "Save the Pisces Empire before they die!"

The assassin lunged towards my window, and promptly bounced off the reinforced glass with a cry of pain. By this point, I was barely containing my laughter. The murderer stumbled to his feet and ran out of the open door, holding his head the entire time. I could no longer hold it in, and burst into hysterical laughter.

I knew I should have been a little more worried, but that was the worst assassination attempt I had ever seen in my entire life. (Although the only other ones I had seen were on T.V., so I'm not sure if they count.)

Lilly's eyes snapped open and she looked around the room.

"Why are you laughing? Go back to sleep, I'm tired! And close the door, you idiot. Someone will get inside."

That only caused me to laugh harder, but I immediately shut up when she gave me a glare angry enough to burn a hole through a rock wall.

I quietly got up and closed the door before returning to the bed. I laid back down, but I watched the door carefully for the rest of the night.

The morning came quickly, and with it came Lilly in a strangely good mood. She shook me out of bed, and I groaned. "What do you want?"

"Get up! We don't have time to waste, and I'm hungry! Therefore, move your fat butt so we can get food."

What the people of Trinton considered food was what I considered my mother's cooking: terrible. If I had to guess how they cooked it, I would probably go with tossing a dead fish into a sewer and then pulling it out a day later before burning it for an hour and dropping it on a plate.

I took one bite of the awful fish, and politely pushed the disgusting thing away and tried not to throw up. Meanwhile, Lilly was stuffing the fish inside her mouth like there was no tomorrow. "Ifts lihk mah mofthrs cookn!" she said, spraying food all over the table.

I nodded in agreement, completely aware that we were implying two things on opposite ends of the spectrum.

A strong blast of sound interrupted our conversation, and we both turned to look at the source. A short man stood on top of one end of the table, repeatedly banging a large spoon against a huge plate.

The plate suddenly shattered, and the man glared at the spoon as if it were its fault, and threw it onto the table in disgust. He cleared his throat and looked over his audience haughtily. "The Games will now be starting! Everyone make your way to the arena in the outside courtyard! You will be disqualified if you are late!"

I glanced at Lilly, who was rapidly chewing her fish, and then back to the little man. I looked around to see if anyone was watching me, and then chucked the fish at him. I stood up and started striding towards the door, and heard the fish smack into him after I had taken one step.

The table burst into laughter, and everyone streamed out of the building. I stayed behind them, and walked over to the little man, and lifted him into the air. "I'd let go of that gun if I were you. I could gut you like that fish I threw earlier in a second."

His eyes widened, and his hand slowly released the handle of the pistol hidden in his pocket. "How did you know?"

"The people to your right looked slightly worried while those to your left didn't care. And it's too shiny, the light reflected off of it. Who are you working for?"

Bill skittered out of my pocket and hissed at the man. He tried to wiggle away in vain. "Will you let me go if I tell you?"

I nodded at him.

"I'm working for Richard the Great."

I quickly slammed his head against the table with a resounding crack, and ran out of the room.

Lilly raised her eyebrows at me as I left. "You should have killed him."

I shrugged. "I'm not the battle hardened nutjob you are...yet. All this running around for the Pisces Empire might change that. But he's going to have a concussion. He isn't telling anyone squat for now."

Her hand drifted down to her gun, and she seemed to be deciding on whether to kill the man or not. For some unexplained reason, she turned around and walked away. Swift swooped overhead, back from wherever he had been all night. He continued circling us the whole way to the arena.

Swift crashed down next to us, sending a blast wind that nearly blew me off my feet. Bill hung on to my shirt sleeve for dear life, and I barely managed to stay standing myself. The people around us weren't as lucky. Many of them toppled backwards, and the bat shadow of some poor bloke got caught up in the wind and flew away.

He cried out and chased after it, and I chuckled. "You're getting rid of competitors before the match has even started."

Lilly grunted, and a few people shot us dirty looks. I made kissing motions at them, and they all quickly turned to look back at the arena. A pillar of darkness suddenly erupted from the center of the arena, and a tall man stepped out. A snake was coiled around his head like a turban, and it hissed at us.

"Welcome to the Games! I will be your narrator for this year! My name is Rill, so if you have any questions, ask them while you wait for your fight! If you're fighting first...too bad." His voice was silky and smooth.

I disliked him immediately. Rill had the look of one of those door to door salesmen that try to tell you that their toilet paper is actually better than someone else's, and somehow manage to convince you.

"I have the match bracket here! This year, we have ten major villages competing, along with Richard the Great himself! Now, during this tournament, you will forget your heritage until you win. If you fail to win, then it hardly matters where you came from. From this point forward, you will be numbered Team one through eleven. I know that some of you are working on your own, but frankly, I don't care. You're Teamed with yourself. Teams one through six will be fighting first in Team versus Team matches in three rounds. The winner of round one will face Team seven. The winner of round two will face Team ten, and the winner of round three will face Team eleven. Teams eight and nine will face in round four. Then the winners of rounds four and five will face off for the ultimate prize!"

He looked around quickly to make sure everyone was paying attention, and then cleared his throat. "Okay. Now, Team one will be the unknown foreigners!" I rolled my eyes at Lilly.

"I guess that's us."

He continued listing off Team names, but I stopped listening and looked up into the sky. A bird flew overhead, singing peacefully. It looked like a great omen to me. Peaceful, easy success. Suddenly, a large hawk swept in and grabbed the smaller bird right from the air. It cawed in triumph, and my peace was shattered. This tournament wasn't going to be easy.

# Chapter 14

Lilly and I walked up onto the arena and looked around. Our competitors, Team two, were standing cockily on the other end of the arena. "The battle ends when both of the opposing Teams shadows have been defeated! The controllers of the shadows are not allowed to interfere in the fight between the shadows, but they may fight each other if they wish. Note that if a shadow's controller is knocked out, the shadow may either become more aggressive and dangerous, or more peaceful. It's your risk to take! Now, let the battle begin!"

A dog ran out from behind one of the men on Team two, and a bobcat ran out from behind the other one. Swift screeched and jumped up and down on the arena, causing a small earthquake.

Bill wasted no time in starting to weave something, and the cat began loping towards me.

"Lilly! Could you get that furball off me?" I called to her.

"Are you kidding? It looks so cute! I'm not harming a hair on that beautiful little guy's head!"

"That beast looks like they pulled it out of a dumpster! Lilly, it's frothing at the mouth! Just tell Swift to have a morning snack!" I yelled.

She ignored me, and turned to the dog which was now circling her. She nodded to Swift, and Swift screeched. The bird flew into the air, and swooped down at the dog. It lunged out of the way, and Swift shot by harmlessly.

I turned my attention back to my own fight, and sidestepped the large cat's lunge. Bill suddenly stood up on his two back legs, and revealed a bow. He put a little arrow in it, and pulled the drawstring back.

The controller of the cat burst into laughter. "Oh man, that's a good one! Your shadow is the size of your palm and the best it can do is cosplay? Why did you even bother to bring it here?"

Without looking, I pulled my gun out and activated it. I pulled the trigger, and the beam blasted into his foot. He screamed in pain, and I let go of the beam.

What do you know, I was getting better at aiming! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lilly pick up a small rock and lob it at her opponent. It nailed him in the eye, and he fell down screaming. I take back what I first said. I still suck compared to her. Maybe I could have done better if somebody gave me a paperweight.

Bill released the arrow, and it shot towards the bobcat. It burst into flames midflight, and smacked into the ground behind the cat. Bill rapidly fired the rest of his arrows before the cat could move, and each one missed. When he ran out of arrows, the cat was surrounded in flaming toothpicks. I sighed.

The crowd was now roaring with laughter, and the narrator had long since joined them. I gave them a personal demonstration of a rude gesture and turned to Bill who was drawing another arrow. He shot it, and there was a sudden screech as it hit something invisible.

Flames traveled down the invisible threads that Bill had apparently tied to the strings, surrounding the cat in a cone of flames. Bill hissed, and pulled on the bow. There was a sudden smell of charred flesh, and the cat fell to the floor cut into chunks.

I looked over to the controller, who was staring in horror. I winked at him, and did a little dance. He screamed in horror, and ran to the door of the fence. He flung it open and ran in horror. "Are my dancing skills that bad?" I called after his retreating form.

Meanwhile, Swift had managed to pick up the dog. I looked up just in time to see Swift hurl the dog into its controller, sending them both crashing through the fence.

The announcer stared at me in a mixture of horror and rage, and cleared his throat. "The winner of the first round is Team One! Please leave the arena and wait for your next round to begin in approximately three hours!"

Bill slipped back into my pocket, and my gun returned to its passive state. Lilly and I walked off the stage into a crowd staring at us in horror. "Ahem! The next fight will start momentarily, once the arena has been...cleaned up. Please feel free to wander around unless you are in Teams three through six!"

Lilly looked over at me, and I shrugged. She said something to Swift, and the huge bird took off into the skies. Then we walked out of the courtyard and back to our room. "That was way too easy. Nothing ever goes this well for me."

Lilly raised her eyebrows. "You're telling me this is going well? You've been a hairs width from assassination twice already!"

"How do you know about the first time? I could have sworn you were asleep!"

Lilly snorted. "Did you think I wouldn't notice an amateur assassin like that one enter the room?"

"So why didn't you help me? I could have been killed!" I cried.

"I wanted to see what you would do. Besides, you didn't even need help. That idiotic assassin nearly fought himself for you."

I conceded the argument, and looked out the window. We were lucky enough to have a view of the arena. A fight had just started between Teams three and four. I couldn't tell which Team was which, but one Team only had one person on it. The controller seemed to have a large metallic claw in the place of his right hand, so I dubbed him Claw. There didn't seem to be anything special about the other Team.

Claw reached into his shirt and put a small green ball on the ground. Maybe it was a big lizard or a coiled snake? The other Team's shadows were a bat (I guess he got back in time) and a...dragon? The red beast was as large as two humans, and didn't look happy. I rolled my eyes. Claw didn't have much of a chance of winning this fight. The narrator announced the start of the fight, and then things went haywire.

The green blob next to Claw suddenly began expanding rapidly. Within seconds, a huge tortoise stood next to him. It snapped its jaws together, and stepped forward. The arena seemed to shake, and a web of cracks spread out from where its foot landed. The tortoise's head snapped forward and swallowed the bat in one bite. It turned to the dragon, which spewed a blast of fire at it. The flame bounced off the turtle's thick shell and deflected harmlessly into the sky.

The turtle's head shot forward again, and when it came back, the dragon was missing. My eyes widened as the two controllers ran out of the ring, leaving Claw victorious. The narrator announced Claw's victory. The fight was over in less than a minute.

I gulped, and turned to Lilly. She grimaced. "We might have to get rid of him before we fight. I'm not sure we can beat that beast of his on our own."

As much as I hated the thought, I found myself in agreement with her. I had long since learned that I couldn't save everything, and sometimes a sacrifice is necessary for the greater good.

"I think you might be right. You know, I can't believe that I'm actually agreeing with you that we should assassinate someone. We're no better than Richard the Donkey Lord if we do this."

Lilly smirked at me. "Welcome to the real world, Drake. There's no such thing as peace and happiness. There is only one rule. Kill or die. It's that simple."

"Maybe right now there is. But I'm going to change that. I've never followed the rules anyways."

Her eyes filled with an emotion that I had never seen from her before: Admiration. But just as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished and Lilly's eyes returned to their normal icy glare. I had probably just imagined it. She snorted, and turned around.

"We should head back down, Drake. We don't want to get disqualified for being late for our next match. Since that guy with the metal hand finished his fight so quickly, I'm sure that our fight will be a lot sooner than we expected."

We ran back down to the ring and arrived right as the narrator was finishing some speech. "...Therefore, Teams One and Three will be progressing to the arena in the side courtyard, while Teams Five and Six will be fighting here."

Lilly and I followed the crowd to the next arena over, where another announcer that looked practically identical to the first one stood waiting. "Teams one and seven, come up to the arena immediately!"

We entered through the gate, and the people that had to be Team Seven followed us in. Both figures were wearing dark brown cloaks that covered their features and trailed behind them. They were both strangely small as well.

Lilly and I took a few steps back, and our Shadows prepared to fight. The two cloaked figures raised their hands, and an unearthly roar filled the arena. The very air seemed to drop several degrees, and a shadow passed over me. Suddenly, a massive hole sprung open in the center of the arena, and a clawed hand reached out and crashed into the ground. The shockwave threw both Lilly and I against the walls.

I could only watch with growing horror as a demon from a nightmare crawled out of the ground. Upon its shoulders rested two heads. On the left, the red eyes of a raging lion glared at me, and on the right, a dark brown goat's head sat. As if that wasn't enough, it's tail whipped around to face us, baring it's fangs.

"Look close my friends, for this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Group Seven has a real live Chimera! Why, the odds in this fight sure have been stacked! It's time to open a betting pool! I give a thousand on Team Seven!"

The crowd all started yelling out prices, all for our opposing Team. Lilly nudged me with her elbow. "Drake, try to cut its tail off. I think that it's poisonous."

Sure enough, a drip of purple liquid rolled down the snake's fangs and splattered onto the floor.

The announcer cleared his throat. "Further bets can be made during the fight...assuming that Team One can last long enough for anyone to say anything!"

The crowd chuckled, and the announcer called for the fight to begin. Bill skittered onto my shoulder and began spinning himself a weapon. Swift cawed at the Chimera, and it replied with a massive roar. Swift flapped its wings in fright and hopped backwards.

Both controllers suddenly reached up to their hoods and pulled them back...revealing two young girls! I wouldn't have placed them above twelve. As one, they both grinned eerily. "If you surrender, I promise not to hurt you too badly."

I chuckled and pulled my gun out. "Once upon a time, I would've been horrified about pulling a gun on two little kids. But now, I've killed Kings! You don't scare me. Although you really shouldn't put makeup on. That part is pretty dang scary. I mean, who wears makeup at ten years old? What's wrong with this generation?"

"I'm eleven!" they yelled at the same time, and the Chimera lunged towards me.

I jumped to the side, and Bill leapt off of my shoulder. He aimed a miniature blunderbuss at the Chimera and fired off several shots. I didn't think the monstrous creature even noticed Bill. It was too busy staring at me with hungry eyes, trying to figure out if I would taste better in a sausage or a hamburger.

I stuck my tongue out at it, and fired a shot off at one of the girls. She leaned backwards, and it shot right over her head and disappeared into the sky. "Oh great. Who taught the kiddies acrobatics?" I complained.

Swift suddenly swooped overhead; claws poised to strike. His claws raked across the monster's back, and I almost cheered in joy. Almost. There was a shower of sparks, and Swift's claws bounced off of the monster.

I cursed, and felt my back bump into a wall. The Chimera's lips twitched and I could've sworn it was smirking at me. "Lilly! Kill the controllers, it might go back to whatever hellhole it came from!"

She nodded her head slightly, and pulled her laser pistol out. She fired several shots at the twins, but they easily dodged each one. "How are you avoiding the shots so easily?" Lilly screamed in frustration.

The girls giggled, and the monster took a step closer to me. "Don't get us wrong, you're the best shot we've ever seen. However, that doesn't help you when we know exactly what you're thinking. For example, you're wondering how we could know what you're thinking about right now. The answer would be that our Chimera can read minds and speak with us telepathically. He is a very smart boy."

Lilly growled, and fired several more shots towards them, which they easily dodged. Suddenly, her face lit up, and she grinned at the girls. They both turned slightly pale. "No, don't! You can't aim if you're just..."

They were cut off by Lilly screaming like a maniac and starting to sing some song about the glory of war. She began randomly firing shots in their general direction, each one getting closer to hitting the twins than the last.

One wild shot blasted into one of the twin's arms, and that was the end for her. She screamed in pain, and Lilly stopped singing. She took careful aim and fired, sending a beam of high powered energy straight into the girl's heart. The air around her shimmered, and a middle aged man with a goatee toppled to the floor in her place.

The other twin screamed in rage, and turned into an identical man. "You fool! I cannot control the Chimera without my brother!"

Although I was rather occupied at the moment, I couldn't resist asking him a question. "Do you guys have some weird dress up fetish or something?"

He glared at me just in time to receive a face full of laser from Lilly. He toppled backwards, dead. The Chimera let loose another mighty roar, this one even louder than the last.

A shimmer of darkness washed over its body, and another snake tail grew. "Oh great."

The monster lunged towards me, and I lifted my gun to shoot it. To hell with the rules, I wasn't going to die eaten by an oversized cat or an ugly goat. Before I could fire, it landed on my chest, its paws crushing both of my arms into the ground. I yelled in pain, and the crowd roared with approval.

The monster's saliva dripped down from its gaping mouths, splattering the ground next to me. I grimaced in pain and looked around for a way of escape. "Hey, a little help here? I don't want to be on the menu!"

But Bill was nowhere to be seen. The monster leaned closer to me, and its mouth opened wider to tear a chunk of me out. Suddenly, it seemed to freeze, and the crowd went utterly silent. Red liquid budded up around both of its necks, and began pouring onto me. With a grunt, I shoved the monster off of me. I stared in surprise at what I saw before me.

A beautiful woman stood before me. And when I say beautiful, that's an understatement. She had almond shaped blue eyes and shining black hair. Her skin was just lightly dark. She bent over the monster and pulled two large knives from the monster's throats, and flashed a grin at me. "Hi Drake."

I rubbed my head. "Oh great, now I'm hallucinating. Am I dead yet, or is this the stage before I die?"

Her laugh was like the jingling of thousands of bells, except there were no bells. Or jingling. "You aren't hallucinating. I recommend you stand up though. You do look a little pathetic lying there surrounded by blood and drool."

"Not all of the drool is that Chimera's," I said stupidly.

She giggled, and pulled me to my feet. The crowd was staring at us with, once again, a mixture of confusion, horror, and rage. The announcer didn't say anything until I prodded him, and he nodded hastily.

"Ah...the winners for this round are Team One! And make sure to tell your friends to come to Team One's next battle, because it's certainly going to be interesting!...I hope they get killed." He added in a low voice.

Lilly gave him the finger, and Swift screeched in his ear before blasting through the roof of the fence and flying away. I looked around to find Bill, but Lilly grabbed me and started dragging me to our rooms. "Wait, I have to find Bill!" I complained.

Lilly smirked. "Bill is walking on your right." She stressed his name.

I glanced to my right to see the beautiful woman again, and then looked back at Lilly.

"What? Did you get hit in the head or something? Because I'm about ninety percent sure that Bill was a cute and fuzzy arachnid and not a hot lady."

The woman/Bill grinned at me. "Aw, thanks for the compliment, but I can assure you that I am not an arachnid. However, I think it would be prudent to explain more once we reach somewhere safer?

I just shook my head in confusion, and allowed Lilly to lead us back to our room.

# Chapter 15

"So why don't you explain how you transformed from my little buddy into...this?" I asked, gesturing at her.

The corners of her mouth turned slightly downwards. "Did you honestly think that I was nothing more than a little spider?"

Oh crap, was there a good answer to this question? "Ah..."

"That doesn't matter. Why don't you just explain what's going on?" Lilly asked.

I shot her a look of gratitude, but she wasn't watching me anymore. I turned back to the woman, and she shrugged nonchalantly.

"I am still a Shadow, I simply didn't have enough energy to change my form to my normal one until those controllers summoned that Chimera. When they opened the hole to whatever dark world they pulled it from, I leeched a little energy out of it so I could change."

"I'm confused about one thing. I thought Shadows were bred here in Triton, not summoned from who knows where."

She nodded. "I believed the same, but I don't know any more than you do."

"But you're supposed to be the person who knows everything and tells me how to win!" I complained.

"I'm sorry," she said meekly.

I sighed and made a dismissive motion with my hand. "It doesn't matter. I suppose Bill isn't really an adequate name for you, is it?"

"If you want it to be my name, I do not mind."

I grimaced. "I'd rather not call a girl 'Bill'. Don't you have any ideas?"

"You would not be able to pronounce my ideal name," she replied.

"Oh? Try me."

"Jenna."

I raised an eyebrow and easily repeated the name. Jenna sighed. "Oh. I saw someone say that in one of your memories and you seemed to find it entertaining."

I took a step back. "Wait, you can read my mind?"

"No! I can see some of your surface memories. Like things you find amusing and fun, but nothing important."

"Wait, really?"

She giggled. "Nope, I'm just screwing with you."

I narrowed my eyes at her, and Jenna shied away. "Fine. But what should we do about the next fight? This isn't a movie; we can't beat that monstrosity. And there's something strange about its controller too."

Jenna closed her eyes to think for a moment. "Could you describe him for me?"

"Well, he's got a metal hand, and his Shadow is a huge tortoise. It killed a dragon in one move."

She suddenly gasped, and both Lilly and I scooted closer to her. "What is it? Do you know something about him?"

Her eyes snapped back open and she stared at me. "Nope! How could I? I don't know anything more than you do, maybe even less! But I smell food."

I sighed, and fell back on the bed. "Way to get my hopes up. Do you think we should try to take that controller out before we fight him? Assuming he wins his next fight, he'll probably be our next battle."

"You're thinking straight for once!" Lilly agreed.

"Why would you ever do that? Would you really kill someone just so you could easily advance? I understand killing during the battle, but anything else is just cowardly!" Jenna cried.

I winced. My heart was entirely on Jenna's side, but I remembered what had happened to the last person who had decided honor and peace took the prize over the success of himself and his people.

"Look, I promise I can beat this guy! I am a strong Shadow after all. Just please don't kill anyone for no reason!" she begged.

Lilly glared at her. "You're a fool! Drake has finally begun figuring out how to win, and now you show up out of nowhere and try to make him back into the idiot that he was before he met me?"

"Enough! I'm exhausted right now, and I really can't take any more of this. I'm going to try to get some sleep. Wake me up if our next fight is going to start. And Lilly, if you're going to stay awake, could you explain our situation to Jenna?"

"What about the claw armed man?"

"We'll deal with him when we get there," I replied, and Jenna let out a sigh of relief.

Lilly shook her head sadly at me, and turned to Jenna. I tuned them out, and laid down on my bed to rest.

**********

I suddenly awoke from my rest. Something wasn't right. I took care to keep my breathing at the same rate and opened my eyes a little to look around the room. Jenna was curled up next to me on the bed. I continued looking around the room, and noticed a cool breeze. I glanced to the windows to find them completely missing. A quick look around showed me that nobody was in our room except for our own little party.

I carefully slipped out of bed, taking care not to wake Jenna, and wandered over to the window. I was just in time to witness the end of a fight between two people. One was obliviously the assassin from the other night, and the other was...a soldier in the Unknown Man's army. I stared in confusion as the soldier suddenly tumbled backwards and pulled a large gun from under his cloak. It hummed to life, and a tiny beam of light shot from it. The assassin was hurled into a wall, where he laid smoking. The soldier looked up at me from under his cloak, and took a little box out of his pocket before lobbing it at my window.

I reflexively caught it, and when I looked back down at him, he was gone. I inspected the box in my hand closer, and found that it didn't answer a single of the hundreds of questions that had suddenly invaded my mind.

A small note was taped to it, so I pulled it off the box to read it. "Horse lord is not what he seems," read out loud, and frowned.

Whoever this soldier was, he seemed to know me somehow. I was debating whether I should open the box or not when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I spun quickly, my hand going to the energy dagger strapped to my side.

Jenna reflexively jumped backwards, her hand automatically preparing to spear me with one of her daggers. I stepped backwards with my hands raised in the air, and she immediately sheathed her dagger. "Oh, I'm so sorry! It's just sort of automatic for me. I didn't mean to..."

I shushed her and nodded. "It's no problem, you just scared me."

"So what's in that box?"

I decided to trust her, and took her hand. I pointed at the missing window, and she rushed over to it. She looked out of it to see the dead assassin slumped against the wall. She spun back to me. "What happened?"

"Keep your voice down. Lilly can't see this. Did she fill you in on the Unknown Man and his army?"

Jenna nodded. "What does that have to do with that box and the dead guy outside?"

"The man who killed that assassin was from the Unknown Man's army. He tossed me this box and disappeared."

"Lilly said you have a tracking device, can't you use that to find him?"

I slapped my forehead, and pulled the device from my belt. I looked at it, but it was too late and the soldier was already gone. I sighed and shook my head at Jenna. "It's too late, he's already disappeared."

Jenna shrugged. "So what are you going to do with the box? I can already tell that if you give it to Lilly, she'll either burn it or ship it off to the Pisces Empire."

I ignored the fact that the only way Lilly could ship the box anywhere would be if I Leaped back to the void and then she found the plate where the Pisces Empire's time pocket was. "I think that since it looks like that soldier could have easily killed us, it's probably safe to open. Although it is possible that the assassin saw him and attacked, causing him to kill the assassin..."

"Oh...I'm confused, Drake. Wouldn't it have been easier to shoot you instead of disappearing while you were preoccupied with the box?"

Jenna had a point. "Oh, screw it." I whispered, and carefully lifted the cover off the box. Inside were several things. The first was an envelope addressed to me, a black glove, and a small black cube the size of a penny.

I lifted the letter out of the box and opened it first, since that seemed like a good idea to do. I read it quietly so Jenna could hear it.

"Hello, Mr. Jinx, I hope you have been enjoying your time prancing through the Void and wasting time fiddling around with the destinies of who knows how many worlds and pockets of time. I'll have to go out on a limb here and guess that you are, since you still appear to do it. I have certainly enjoyed it as well, but I fear I must get down to business. I am sure that you were smart enough to read the letter before you messed around with the objects. I know this because if you weren't, you would be lying dead on the floor because you would have probably used the items within the box wrong. Now read closely. For this to work, you must follow the instructions in the letter exactly as you read. Now, pick up the glove."

I reached into the box and pulled the black glove out. I inspected the inside for any needles or things that could prove dangerous or a way to administer a poison before returning to the letter.

"Slip the glove on and pick up the black cube WITH THE HAND THAT HAS THE GLOVE ON IT. Then hold it for exactly five seconds, and then throw the cube out the window as hard as you can."

Jenna moved out of the way of the window, and I slipped the glove on. Nothing seemed special about it, so I picked the cube up and held it in my gloved hand for five seconds. I then hurled it out of the window with all my might, and there was a crushing pain in my hand. I screamed, and I could almost hear the bones in my hand cracking. There was a loud bang from outside as the cube burst into a huge firework, showering the ground with large flaming red and blue balls.

Jenna rushed over to me, and grabbed my shoulders. She tried to pull the glove off of my hand, but it was stuck there. Her touch sent a blast of pain through my body, and I felt a shock of electricity blast through my body. I was hurled backwards and into a wall, and smoke started to rise from my belt. Oh great, I fried my stuff. I never should have trusted that bastard...

I started to fade out of consciousness, but a sudden jolt of electricity snapped me back to normal. I shook my head in confusion. All the pain I had been feeling a moment ago was gone, aside from a dull throbbing in my right hand where the glove was.

Jenna rushed over to me. "Drake! Are you ok?"

"Ugh...What the hell just happened? I feel sort of woozy... can you help me to my feet?"

"You shouldn't move! You hit that wall pretty hard, you must have broken something!"

A glance down at my belt agreed with her statement, although probably not in the way she intended. "My stuff is ruined!" I complained.

Jenna rolled her eyes, and carefully grabbed my shoulders. She slowly lifted me to my feet, and I leaned heavily against her. "Drake, are you sure you're fine?"

I chuckled weakly. "Oh, I'm fine. I'm not actually having any problems standing, I just like this position."

She laughed and shoved me off. I hopped backwards easily, feeling strangely refreshed. I looked down at my belt again with disappointment, and carefully peeled it off of my body. It was partially melted, and its contents were still smoking. I took out my gun and tried to activate it, but it just released a large puff of smoke.

"Aw, crap. I liked that gun!"

Jenna rolled her eyes, and then froze. "Why isn't Lilly awake?"

I paled, and rushed over to her bed. She was completely still, and I placed my head above her heart to listen for a heartbeat.

I didn't hear one, but I did hear a sudden, loud snore.

Jenna tapped me on my shoulder. "That's the wrong side of her chest, you idiot."

Whoops.

Jenna shoved Lilly, but Lilly didn't even respond. "Drake, I think she's been drugged."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, whoop de flipping do. One of the best warriors of the Pisces Empire, and taken out by a drug that she should have been resistant to due to her training. That won't look great on her resume."

Jenna scratched her back idly. "I'm confused right now. I'm sure you should be in at least a little pain, but you're standing here without a scratch on your body. Not to mention that Lilly is fast asleep, and all your things just got zapped. I only have a small amount of fire elemental power, so I couldn't have done that."

I flexed my glove hand and felt nothing out of the ordinary aside from a slight weight from the glove. I tugged at it, but it was stuck fast. "Can I borrow one of your daggers really quick?" I asked.

She took one from its harness and flipped it over, handing it hilt first to me. I nodded my head to her, and placed the tip of the dagger at the edge of the glove.

I tried to wedge the dagger under the glove. My hand suddenly dropped a little as the glove suddenly became heavier, and the tip of the dagger suddenly shattered. It spun into the air, and embedded itself deep in the ground.

Jenna stared in a mixture of awe and horror. "That dagger was imbued with some powerful elemental flame. It shouldn't have broken at all, much less so easily."

I scratched my head. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you something. Magic isn't real, so how come you can mess with fire and stuff?"

Jenna giggled. "For someone so interesting, you can be stupid sometimes. Did you honestly think the Pisces Empire was the only pocket of time with a special ability unique to them?"

I had never even considered the possibility, and told Jenna the very same. "But how come I've never heard of this? I never knew anything about this from my planet, and certainly not from planets that the Pisces Empire has conquered."

"Oh please. Did you really think that they would let word of that get out? The Pisces Empire has always taken care to find out the power of the world they attack before they take over it. They've never taken a planet that has a dangerous offensive power."

"So the reason that this pocket of time is still safe from the Pisces Empire is because..."

"Yeah. Shadows would be able to fight back and cause some serious casualties. The Pisces Empire isn't all that it's cracked up to be. But, there is one thing that they have that nobody else does. They can go to any point in our history, and attack whenever they wish. In that regard, we can never win against them. So the reason we are still free is because they just don't feel like taking over us yet."

"How do you know so much about the Pisces Empire anyways? You told me that you can only see a few of my memories that aren't very important."

Jenna nodded. "When a Shadow is still in its egg, it can communicate with other Shadows across great distances. One Shadow was captured by your empire some time ago and studied thoroughly. We saw everything he did."

I nodded and reached for the paper. I figured I might as well see what else the jerk who had gotten this glove stuck on me had to say.

I grabbed it, and prepared to start reading. I stopped at the look on Jenna's face. "What?"

"You...what did you just do?"

"What are you talking about?"

Jenna pointed at the paper in my hands. "That was at the other end of the room. Didn't you see that dot of darkness just suck it up and take it to your hand?"

My laughter filled the room. "Ok Jenna, that's enough. You looked so sincere there I almost believed you for a moment."

Jenna glared at me. "I'm not lying!"

The glove on my hand almost seemed to stare at me innocently. I made a dismissive noise. "So you're telling me a dot of darkness appeared around this letter and magically teleported it to my hands?"

Jenna nodded. "Yes."

"So you're telling me that I can somehow summon stuff?"

Jenna was the one who burst into laughter this time. "Summon? That's a good one! What the heck do you think that thing is, magic? I bet it gave you something like telekinesis or the like."

"So theoretically I could steal stuff from people without them even knowing?"

"You better not use it that way. Besides, I'm just guessing here."

"So how do I work this then? Do I just point it at you and want to take something?"

She covered herself protectively with her hands. "Don't you dare."

There was a sudden flash of darkness, and her shoe appeared in my glove. "What the... I wasn't aiming for a shoe! I wanted your other dagger..."

Jenna glared at me. "Right...you wanted a dagger. Can I have my shoe back?"

I shrugged, and tossed it back to her. The shoe disappeared into a small circle of darkness. I stared in surprise as the circle also disappeared.

Jenna stared in dismay. "My shoe!"

I was more concerned with how I had magically kidnapped her shoe, not the shoe itself. I was shaken out of my thoughts by a thin black line behind Jenna's head.

"Duck!" I yelled.

She obediently dropped to the ground, and the line suddenly expanded, looking disturbingly like a mouth with spiked teeth. It was approximately two feet in length, and maybe half a foot tall.

Jenna's shoe shot from it like a bullet, embedding itself in the wall, and the mouth snapped shut and disappeared.

Jenna stared at the new decoration stuck in the wall.

"Oh wonderful. Now the owners of this room are going to shoe us away..." I complained.

Jenna glared at me. "You're going to be buying me a new pair of shoes."

"Oh, have a sole! Wait, it's in the wall."

"Did you make two shoe puns in a row?"

"If you intend to stick around with me, you better get shoest to it."

Jenna grinned at me slyly. "Oh, you don't know what you're getting into."

I gulped, and finally looked back down at the piece of paper.

"Ah, I must apologize for the sudden shock you must have received there. (Ha-ha, not funny.) As you have probably discovered by now, that glove stuck to your hand isn't going to come off, and I don't recommend trying to get it off either. I have one very much the same as yours, although I have learned to control it much better than you currently can. That glove is part of the heritage that the Pisces Empire stole from you. It is known as a Conduit by the late people of the time pocket you...and I come from. We both happen to have the same power of opening and closing wormholes if we are holding or wearing a Conduit. That was the power of our planet. The reason you never knew this is, as you know well, the Pisces Empire decided to completely wipe our planet from the universe and leave nothing but rubble behind. We are the only survivors...for now. I won't go into that anymore. Just know that you'll never get that Conduit off...so don't even bother trying. I recommend you practice with it a little, since I'm sure it will be useful in the future. Now from here on forth, read this quietly. This is for your ears alone."

Whatever you do, do not ever show the Pisces Empire the power you have. They will kill you for it. They thought that you were one of the few people on a planet who failed to inherit our ability, but only because you fell asleep while you, along with the rest of the planet, were given conduits to allow them to try to escape. The second one activated the Conduit, they were instantly killed. Not to mention that you were only a few months old around then. They just figured that since you were asleep and so young they just wouldn't let you get a Conduit.

However, now that you have both the powers of our planet and that of the Pisces Empire, you are a danger to them. Since only one of their own can have this power at a time, they are at a severe disadvantage if you turn out to be their enemy, so they will attempt to eliminate you.

Oh, I also had my men leave you one last gift. Don't forget that we're still enemies. I just felt it my duty to grant you your true ability. It was quite sickening to watch your progress as that weak geek that spent his time making useless junk in his office and making playing card stacks. And attacking a Cyborg with a sausage? Really? Anyways, I recommend dropping this paper now. Your friend will probably wake up about now, and this paper is going to blow up- much like your career if the Pisces Empire finds about your powers. Have fun trying not to die, and be careful around Donkey Face!

~The Unknown Man (Leader of the Rebel Army)

I dropped the letter just as it exploded into a puff of black smoke which quickly rushed out of the window, and Lilly's eyes popped open. I discreetly kicked the box under my bed.

"Lilly! I was wondering when you would wake up."

"Wow, I feel really drowsy... what time is it and what's going on?"

"Oh y'know. Stuff. Jenna and I were just messing around."

Lilly raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

I nodded sagely. "Yeah. Err, you should probably get up now. I'm not sure when our next fight is since they don't seem to want to tell us. We should head down to the arena and talk to them."

Lilly shrugs. "Ok. Care to tell me what happened to the window?"

I shook my head hastily. "I told you we were messing around."

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Let's go then. We don't have any more time to waste. The Pisces Empire needs us!"

I pretended to agree with her and followed Lilly out of the room, but inside I was a mess. I thought back to what the letter had said. I knew that Pisces Empire had conquered my planet, but I had never thought to ask what had happened to the rest of my people. Also, judging from how well the letter knew what I had been doing, I had to assume that the Unknown Man was someone close to me or someone that was around me often. I ran a quick check through the people I knew to try to lower the amount of suspects. My first thought was good old Rusty the Cyborg, but I quickly dismissed that notion. He loved the Pisces Empire too much to pull something this big.

My next thought was one of the assistants or attendants. That would be a good spot to hide since nobody would bother checking on them, and they could get almost anywhere. I mentally checked that thought and moved on to my next suspect. Could one of the Council be the Unknown Man? It was definitely a possibility if they wanted to get more power. I checked that idea as well.

I was broken from my thoughts as I smacked into Lilly, and as Jenna smacked into me. "Hey, you're causing a traffic accident! Why did you stop?" I asked.

Lilly just pointed upwards, and we looked up to see the Announcer standing on top of the Arena's fence.

"The member of Team Three was assassinated last night! Because he cannot fight, Team One and Team Eleven will fight Team 11 who won his last fight and the right to compete in the finals!"

There were some complaints from the audience, but a glare from Lilly shut them up pretty quickly. We followed the crowd and the narrator to a much larger arena than we had fought in before. Jenna, Lilly, and I climbed in one side, and Richard and Pueblo climbed in the other.

"Begin the Final round!"

Pueblo stood on his hind legs and neighed at the sky. He dropped his hoofs back to the ground. A glistening white horn erupted from the horse's forehead.

"Oh crap."

The unicorn charged at me, and I leapt out of the way. Swift cawed, and swept down overhead, once again tearing down the fencing. The giant bird pecked at the unicorn, which returned the favor by spearing the hawk in the foot. It screeched and leapt backwards.

Lilly pointed her laser pistol at Richard, who pulled a small band out from his belt and put it around his wrist. She shot at him, but it was sucked into the band and launched back at Lilly. She blocked the blast with her pistol, and it exploded into a bunch of little metal bits. She wiped a little blood off of her face and pulled a knife from her boot with a snarl.

Lilly ran towards Richard, and Pueblo turned to face her. The unicorn sprinted at her at an uncanny speed, and rammed into her side. Lilly cried out as she was slammed against the fence. Jenna jumped onto the back of the unicorn and attempted to drive her knife into its back. The unicorn blocked the blade with its horn and bucked Jenna off.

Jenna landed on her back and quickly flipped back to her feet. I ran to Lilly to check if she was ok. However, she had already pushed herself back to her feet using the fence as a support. She saw me coming and waved me off. "I'm fine, the horn missed me. That thing has a nasty tackle though."

I nodded, and turned back to where Jenna and Pueblo were fighting. I turned right in time to see light glisten off of something rapidly rushing wards me. I instinctively raised my hands to cover my face, and a horrible screech resounded as the horn of the unicorn clashed against the strange material that my glove was made from.

The horn screeched off of my glove and slashed my shoulder as the beast galloped past me.

I grabbed my shoulder in pain. "Blast, that thing's horn must be really strong."

"How did your glove deflect Pueblo's horn?" Richard yelled to me.

"I had it blessed by the sausage fairy!" I yelled back to him.

Lilly took advantage of Pueblo's confusion in failing to run me through and hurled her knife at the horse. It sunk into his flank, and the horse whined in pain. It bucked its back legs until the knife flew out, and the wound suddenly healed before our eyes.

Richard grinned cockily at me. "It's time to stop playing around. Pueblo, finish them!"

The unicorn nodded at its master, and two huge white wings sprouted from its back with a sound like a chiming bell.

"Hey, isn't that mixing two different animals? That's a unicorn, not a pegasus!" I yelled.

Richard shrugged. Pueblo flapped his wings, and flew high into the air. Pueblo targeted Lilly as the easiest target, and shot towards her at an alarming speed. Just before the unipegasus thing rammed into her, Swift shot in front of Lilly and took the blast. The bird screeched, and clawed madly at the Pegasus.

Both of the Shadows fell to the ground in a messy heap, clawing and biting at each other, but only one of them got up.

Pueblo rose to his hooves easily, barely sporting a scratch for all the hard work that Swift had put in to try to help. On that matter, Swift lay on the ground, unmoving. I glanced at Lilly, but she was too focused on Richard.

She pulled a dagger from her other boot and threw it at him. The Pegasus shot in front of Richard, and the dagger burrowed into the beast's side. It shot from the beast's body immediately, and the monster quickly healed.

Jenna sprinted at Pueblo, but the huge horse easily knocked her to the floor. Jenna managed to jab a dagger into its underbelly, but the thing wasn't even phased. The horse placed his hoof onto Jenna's throat, and began to slowly push downwards. Jenna repeatedly stabbed the horse, but it was oblivious that she wasn't even hurting it.

Richard wandered over to Jenna and peered down at her. "You look pretty nice. I think I just might keep you after this battle is over. Wouldn't you like that?" he asked, leering at her.

Jenna hissed something at him with the little breath that she had left, and Richard spat on the ground next to her head. "Fine. Your body doesn't have to be alive. I'll just kill you with your friend then!"

Lilly rushed forward and tacked Richard. Without even moving the leg suffocating Jenna, Pueblo smashed Lilly through the fence with the side of his horn.

I felt my vision begin to heat up, and I ran blindly at them. "Get away from her!" I yelled, and threw a heavy punch at the horse.

It didn't even see a reason to block the punch. Until it hit, sending the thing flying through the fence. What was even more surprising was that its injury didn't heal. Richard stared at me in disbelief. "How did you hurt Pueblo? Bah, it doesn't matter. Just because you can hit him doesn't mean you can kill him."

Sure enough, Pueblo flew back into the ring. Still hot with rage, I dimly noticed a slight disfiguration behind Richard and Pueblo. I grinned. "What's so funny?" Richard snapped.

"Famous last words."

The mouth tore open, looming over Richard and Pueblo. This wormhole was much larger than the one I had created in the room. It crashed shut as quickly as it had opened, and there was nothing left of Richard and Pueblo. I ran over to Jenna, and shook her body lightly.

"Jenna! Are you ok?"

She didn't move. I put my head on her chest (The correct side this time.) and listened closely.

"...."

"...."

"...."

"....thud."

I sighed in relief, and Jenna giggled a little. "Why didn't you say anything? I was worried you were dead!" I cried.

"I like this position."

I gave her a mock glare, and hugged her tightly. "Don't pull that crap again. I was worried!"

Lilly wearily climbed back onto the arena. "I'm alive too. Thanks for checking up on me!"

"Bah, you can handle yourself. Besides, that's payback for all of the BS you've put me through!"

"Fair enough."

I looked sadly over at Swift, and Lilly noticed my gaze. "Don't worry, it was just a tool."

I instinctively held Jenna tighter. "What do you mean? That poor bird sacrificed itself for you!"

Lilly shrugged. "Whatever. If it's for the good of the Pisces Empire..."

A wave of disgust washed through me, but I choked it down.

"So, what happened when I got knocked off the stage? Where are Richard and Pueblo?"

Crap. The whole reason I hadn't tried to use my glove earlier was so that Lilly wouldn't see, and now I had to figure out some way to explain it.

"Ah, Richard flew off on Pueblo?" I tried.

Lilly nodded. "Serves him right, coward."

I glance at Jenna, and she mimed wiping sweat from her forehead. Smiling, I pull Jenna to her feet and turn to the large crowd who are starting in, for the first time in all of these battles, complete respect. "Team One has won the Games! As per the rules, you may now have any one wish granted within the King's power, including the replacement of the King himself!"

"I want an army of at least ten thousand men" I said loudly.

Lilly jammed her elbow into my stomach. "Why not ask for a bigger army this time? They have to do whatever we say, so we don't have to play nice."

"What if they get attacked? We have to leave them some way to defend themselves," I countered.

The narrator looked surprised, but nodded. "Your wish will be granted! And rather quickly too, since all of the people of Trinton have gathered here to see who had won, and most of them have their own shadows! We will have your army assembled by tomorrow! Until then, please get some rest!"

I nodded, and for the first time, noticed the ground was spinning under me. I swayed and fell backwards into Jenna's arms. "Drake? Drake, Are you ok? Drake! Hello..."

# Chapter 16

Jenna's face loomed above my vision. I blinked, and sat up quickly, and she barely jerked her head out of the way in time to avoid getting smacked.

"What happened?" I asked.

Lilly popped her head into the room. "It's about time you woke up. We've got our army waiting for us, and we don't have any more time to waste. We need to get back to the Void and head off to our next destination."

I sighed, and accepted Jenna's proffered hand. She pulled me to my feet, and I looked out of the missing window slot. "How long was I asleep?"

"It's been about a day, but they just finished getting the army ready a few hours ago. To be honest, I'm surprised how quickly they assembled."

We headed out of my room and emerged to thousands of people staring at us expectantly. I frowned. How was I going to get this huge mob all the way back to the Grid? First things first. I closed my eyes, and the Grid flickered to existence. Suddenly, it bounced around my sight, rapidly enlarging and stopping somewhere around a mile from the castle.

"What on earth?"

Lilly and Jenna looked at me. "What's wrong?"

"The Grid just moved! It's never done that before. I don't think any of the documentaries I've read ever mentioned something like that happening..."

"Pfffft. Is it any closer?"

Hesitantly, I nodded my head. Lilly shrugged, and turned to the huge army.

"Ok, follow your commander to where we will be heading!"

She turned to me expectantly. "Fly over to where the Grid is!"

Scratching my head sheepishly, I pointed to my now beltless waist. "Ah...I may or may not have fried all my stuff."

Lilly glared at me. "How did that even happen?"

"Long story. Let's suffice to say that we don't have time to waste. Why don't you lead them? If you head directly to the East of here, it's in about a mile. I'm pretty sure it's right next to that large boulder. Jenna and I will meet you there."

Lilly shrugged. She wasn't one to pass up the opportunity to lead a small army. She called for them to follow her, and sped off towards the boulder. After almost ten minutes of scrambling around and general confusion, the rest of the army began marching off after Lilly.

Jenna raised her eyebrows. "So...what now? Are we going to follow them or what?"

"What, you don't want to be alone with me?" I grinned.

"No, that's not it!" she replied quickly.

"Oh, take a joke, Jenna. I'm going to try something. Can you hold on to my arm for a moment?"

She did as I asked, and I focused on my Conduit. A thin line of darkness appeared in front of us, and the mouth opened.

Carefully, I stuck my hand into the mouth to see if anything would happen. When it stayed open, I glanced at Jenna. "Ah... I think we might be able to use the wormholes as a way to get places I can see quickly. I tried opening a hole in the Void itself, but that one didn't open. I tried one in a different planet, but it didn't work either. But I tried one on top of that boulder, and it seemed to work fine."

Jenna cautiously peered into the hole. "Drake, shouldn't we be seeing out of the other end of this wormhole? All I see is darkness..."

I shrugged. "I'm curious. I know it's a stupid idea, but even if we get stuck in it, I can use the Grid to get us out. It's everywhere, so as long as I can move freely, it shouldn't be a problem."

Jenna looked into my eyes. "Fine. I trust you."

Oh great, no pressure at all. "Get me some coal, would you? I could make a few diamonds right now." I muttered under my breath.

Before I could think otherwise, I quickly strode into the wormhole. Jenna continued holding on to me, and she followed me in.

Immediately, the wormhole snapped shut. For a moment, we were trapped in complete darkness. Jenna tugged on my arm nervously. Just as she did so, there was a rush of hot air. A line of light appeared in front of my face, and tore open, revealing the outside world again. We both quickly stepped out of it, and it closed behind us.

I looked down to see we were standing on the boulder, and Lilly was standing under it in the shade. I waved for Jenna to follow me, and we both dropped down behind her. Lilly spun around, her pistol trained on us. She lowered it when she saw it was just Jenna and I, and frowned.

"How did you get here?"

Whoops. I didn't really think we would get this far, and I happened to be lacking something that people call a 'plan'.

"We got his cube thingie to work, but it died right when we got here. We already tossed it."

Lilly shrugged, and turned to wait for the huge army. I shot Jenna look of gratitude.

We sat down to wait, and the first part of the army arrived quickly riding on many different types of flying Shadows.

I glanced at Lilly to see if she was sad because her own Shadow was no longer with her, but she didn't even seem to be paying attention to the army. She turned to me. "Are you ready to leave once the rest of the army gets here?"

I nodded, located the center of the circle several feet to my right. We all stood quietly until the rest of the army arrived, which was about twenty minutes.

The army clustered as close to me as they could, and with one final look at Trinton, I stepped into the circle and activated the Grid. Darkness washed over us, and I was back in the Void.

# Chapter 17

My army had rapidly increased the production of the base, or had we just been in Trinton that long? It didn't really matter. Several soldiers wandered over to us, curious about the new army we had brought back.

I asked the soldiers to disperse among the new addition and explain how the Void worked to our new army. I headed into the new building that seemed to be a command station, and stepped into the elevator along with Jenna and Lilly.

I pressed the top floor button, and the doors closed. I noticed Lilly was giving me a strange look. "What?"

"Jinx, I was just thinking. When you were pinned by that Chimera, why didn't you activate your flaming arm?"

I frowned. I had completely forgotten about my arm's special condition. Out of curiosity, I pulled the necklace off of my neck. My arm heated up slightly, and my glove shimmered. After a moment of staring, I shrugged. "Maybe I ran out of fuel?"

Lilly was giving my glove a strange look, so I instinctively turned so that it was hidden behind my back. I tossed the necklace to Lilly, and she snatched it out of the air and stuffed it into her pocket. The doors dinged, interrupting anything else she could have said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. It could have been really hard for the author to explain how my magical arm suddenly went poof without screwing up the plotline. Wait, what was I just thinking about? Huh, oh well.

We all entered the top floor of the station. It was a large white room, and the walls were all glass. There was a large round table in the center, with several chairs surrounding it. One end of the room branched out into a smaller office with the name "Commander Jinx" on the top of the door.

"Hey, check it out! I get my own office!" I crowed, and entered through the door

Lilly and Jenna stayed in the main room, inspecting the chairs and adding their own touches to the room. (After Lilly told Jenna how to work the Void.)

I looked at the closed door, and smiled. I was rather surprised that Lilly and Jenna were even managing to get along, much less redesign a room without being at each other's throats. They were polar opposites.

I turned back around to face a hooded figure. There was a quick glint from under their hood as the figure grinned and threw something at me. I jumped out of the way, and it sunk a quarter inch into the wall. The figure bowed, and a dark line formed above him. He fell backwards into a gaping black hole with swirls of red and orange dancing through its middle, and the portal snapped shut.

"You have no idea how hard that stunt was to pull," a fading voice muttered, and I was alone again.

I carefully turned to the object embedded in the wall and pulled it out. It was a pointed stick with a little piece of paper tied to it. I sighed. Whoever this Unknown Man was, he could get a better way to deliver his letters.

I glanced down at the piece of paper.

Hello again, Mr. Jinx.

I trust you have found my delivery man amusing? You must admit that the stunt we pulled was...exciting. It would take you a year to learn to do that. Maybe. Anyways, we've got a problem. You screwed up...again. And this time, it isn't anything minor like nailing an office assistant in the head with a paperweight. You've managed to screw up the Void itself. As I'm sure you've noticed by now, time in the Void isn't working. It's passing, although at a slower rate than any other world or plane in existence.

If you don't fix it, I'm going to have to quickly remove you from its presence, and that would take all the fun away. I do love a good game of life or death chess with an inept opponent that I will most certainly defeat. I suppose I should also mention that some heavy stuff is coming your way, so try not to get killed in a boring manner. Hell, if you can stay alive, I'll even tell you why your blowtorch of an arm stopped working.

Before I blow your room up, there's one last thing I have to tell you. Look out your window. See that mob of unorganized soldiers milling about? Yeah, good luck defeating my highly trained army of super soldiers. Heck, the only reason I haven't blown them to the final world they'll ever visit is because you could just Leap back into the time I blew them up and cause a little trouble for my army. Anyways, I really recommend getting some brains to lead that army. You certainly don't have them, and I don't think your friends are...balanced enough for the job. Just a friendly tip. Now, here's that friendly explosion I promised you.

I lunged for the door and threw it open. Too late I realized my mistake. There was a small red button plastered to my door knob, and that particular doorknob was currently speeding for a very flat wall.

"Crap."

The resulting explosion...blew a quarter inch hole in the wall? I sighed. I had to give it to him; The Unknown Man had me there. I quickly fixed the wall, and exited the room without giving it a second look.

The door clicked shut. If I had still been in the room, I would have seen a thin black line form, and a portal swirling with red and orange tear open in my office. A figure with a glove that looked strikingly similar to mine entered the room and picked up the note. He shook his head in disappointment that I would be stupid enough to leave it lying around. The note disappeared into a little black wormhole. With a final glance around, he stepped backwards and tumbled into the portal.

Meanwhile, I was considering the recommendation that I had just been given. It was oblivious that the Unknown Man was telling me to get some generals for my army. For military questions, there was only one person to go to.

"Lilly, what is the planet with the most history in war?" I asked.

She thought for a moment. "A planet called Dirt. I think they haven't even had five hundred years in complete peace. They had a little in the very beginning of their time, but after that, they slowly degraded until they were in a constant state of war. Last I heard, they were all killing each other because some guy in power didn't like another guy in power. It's pretty stupid if you ask me, but why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. I didn't know that you knew so much about other planet's history. When did you get the time to learn that?" I asked.

Lilly growled at me. "War school. The Pisces Empire was thinking about blowing them into the next world before they figured out how to escape their universe."

I raised my eyebrows in interest. "How could they possibly do that? I thought only the Pisces Empire had the power to travel between time pockets."

Lilly sighed. "You're right, they are. However, the people on Dirt are extremely dangerous because of their ingenious solutions to problems. They are extremely headstrong. They plow through problems like nothing, and are extremely persistent. We've been watching them for some time now, and it seems that they are getting rather close to their goal. The other problem they've got is that the people of Dirt are a plague. Once they set foot somewhere, they automatically decide it's theirs and swarm the place. They reproduce so quickly it's damn near impossible to kill them all. So we've just been watching them so we don't give them a reason to try to smash through their universe any faster."

I nodded, and walked over to the elevator. I pressed the bottom floor, and the elevator dinged. After a moment, the doors opened, and I walked in. The doors shut, and the floor shook slightly as I began to descend.

"How the hell will I find when to go to Dirt and get some good generals? And what am I supposed to do about the Void? Ugh, this is such a pain. I wouldn't complain if the answer was to fly out of nowhere and nail me in the face right now..."

A sharp pain appeared in the back of my head, and I turned around. A thick book was lying on the ground with a yellow sticky note on it. I managed to catch a glimpse of a thin black line before it disappeared, and rolled my eyes.

"I'm not sure if this guy is my enemy or not, but he's a dick."

I picked up the book and read the note.

You said you wouldn't mind if this hit you in the head, so Merry Christmas. I really shouldn't be giving you this, but I like this next part. Anyways, I recommend the two generals that I've highlighted. These two are some of the greatest in Dirt's history, and they're a lot smarter than you are. Try to get a picture of that, would you? You think you aren't too shabby, but just look at these geniuses. They easily toppled armies much greater than their own. And they didn't have any fancy gloves like you do. It was all sheer skill.

I peeled the sticky note off the book and stuffed it into my pocket. "The History of Dirt, huh? Interesting."

I flipped the cover open, and scanned the contents. Sure enough, two names were highlighted. On the right side of the names, there were hastily written dates. I noticed that the writing was probably even worse than my own sloppy handwriting, and chuckled. I guess if I really needed a way to defeat the Unknown Man, I could just challenge him to an artistic writing contest.

I closed the book, and the door dinged open. I exited the elevator and headed over to the Grid. I told the nearest soldier that I would be back briefly, and to inform Lilly and my new companion, Jenna.

Then I enlarged the Grid, and continued enlarging until small names and numbers began to appear on the planes. After they were large enough to read, I scratched my head. I knew there was a search that I could somehow access, the only problem that I had was remembering how on earth to open it. Those stupid documentaries would have been a lot more useful if I had them with me right now.

"Keyboard." I tried.

Nothing happened, and I sighed. "Help."

Again, silence.

"You're a useless piece of dirt." I grumbled.

The Grid emitted a light sound, and the planes spun rapidly until they came to rest on a plane labeled "Dirt"

I kept my mouth shut so to avoid screwing it up, and looked at the book on Dirt's history.

"All righty. So where is it..."

I scanned over the book again, and located the name and date I needed. I found the correct dot on the plane and tapped it.

"Ok then. 52 BC, Julius Caesar. Here I come!"

# Chapter 18

The Grid spat me out in the worst possible place I could have been. I hurtled into a dirt ground, and bounced once before taking some poor sop down with me. Moving quickly, I rolled off of whoever I had gotten a bowling strike on and took stock of my surroundings.

I picked up my book on Dirt, and noticed a man clothed in rather old armor staring at me in surprise. He had deep brown eyes that were almost black, and they seemed to pierce into my soul. His mouth was locked into a scowl, which I didn't take to be a good sign.

If you haven't figured it out yet, he certainly didn't look very happy. "How have you gotten here?" he asked, anger creasing his features as he drew a sword.

I held up my hands in the universal gesture of peace. "Sorry for taking this dude out. Ah...can I speak to Julius Caesar?"

He jumped forward, his sword slashing at me. I managed to get my hand in the way, and the sword shattered on my glove. He stared at me with interest. "Have you been sent here by Jupiter?"

I scratched my head. "Who's that? Look, I just need to speak with someone called Julius Caesar... can you take me to him?"

He glared at me. "You don't know who I am, or who Jupiter is? I have to say, you're hardly worthy of my blade. But seeing that you have managed to destroy it, you are rather strange. For what purpose do you need to speak with the great Julius Caesar?"

I rolled my eyes. "I want a salad."

He frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's somewhat personal. Let's just say I need his talents, ok?"

The man seemed to think for a moment, and then walked over to the soldier I had one hit KO'd. He felt his pulse, and when he was satisfied, stood up. "My name is Julius Caesar. Tell me what business you have with me, and then surrender so I do not have to spill the blood of a fool."

I almost choked. This half bald dick was the general that the Unknown Man wanted me to work with? I quickly opened my book and leafed through several pages to find his chapter. Sure enough, a matching portrait of him graced the page. I sighed.

"I need you to be my general."

He stared at me in surprise for a few moments, and then burst into laughter. Several minutes later, he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Who are you to be a commander to Rome's greatest general?"

"Rome? I've never heard of that place. Look bud, I need generals to lead my army. I know this is out of the Neptune and such but I really need your help. Look, what if I gave you something you could really use?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What could the likes of you ever offer me?"

I held up my book. "How about your future?"

His eyes narrowed. "You tell me that the strange box you have is an oracle?"

"Ah...sure? Although it's a book, not an oracle."

He snatched the book from my hand, and stared at the picture of himself. "What is this gibberish? I cannot read this. What language have you written this in?"

I chuckled. "That's a language that can only be learned by speech. After you hear it for a little, you can understand any language, and speak it adequately as well. How else do you think I can speak the same language you do?"

"There are lands Rome has not conquered yet?"

This time it was my time to roar with laughter. "Definitely. If you come with me, I can show you them."

The other smirked. "Right. Can you prove this to me?"

I grinned. "I was waiting for something like that. I'll show you the fall of this Rome of yours. It shouldn't be too hard to find in here...just give me a little time."

I sat down and began scanning through the book. Sure enough, soon after the book introduced Julius Caesar, it went into the downfall of Rome. "Ah, here we go...The Fall of Rome."

I read through the chapter, and began laughing. "Your 'Rome' really got smashed. I can barely list the amount of ways you bozos screwed up on two hands! Let's see... we have inflation, internal conflict, economical depression, angry mobs, religions, and hell, you even got poisoned by the stuff you ate out of!"

Julius Caesar gaped at me. "You lie! How can you prove this to me?"

I shrugged. "I'll take you there, but you cannot interfere with anything that happens. Oh, and if it turns out that I'm right, then you have to come with me and be one of my generals."

Caesar dropped into deep thought. "As you've seen, I have some strange abilities. One of them would allow me to bring you back here from the very moment that you leave, so that you will never even be missed."

He finally nodded. "Very well, I agree to your terms. Show me this so called fall of Rome!"

I activated the Grid, and we were both gone.

We re-appeared in a date that is classified to the general public (Because nobody actually knows it, so be quiet.)

Julius Caesar and I were both tossed onto the top of a large building, and we looked down onto the chaos under us. A mob of scantily clad men and women armed with makeshift axes and spears rushed across the city, hacking anything in their way to pieces.

"Where is my army?" Julius cried, watching the blow scene in horror.

I pointed off into the distance, where small pockets of men attempted vainly to hold off the enormous mob. Many of them turned tail and ran on the battle, but none made it far.

Caesar shook his head sadly. "I'm not even going to try claiming that I'm dreaming or that you're using some false magic to trick me. I'm not a fool, I can tell for myself that this is as real as I am. As per your terms, I will serve as your general for a war of your choosing. Shall we be off now?"

Opening the book, I found the next highlighted name. "Not quite yet. I've got one more visit to make."

I activated the Grid once more, thinking briefly about how mad Lilly would be at me for wasting so many Leaps, and then zoomed in on the dates. I scrolled to 1915, and stepped into the circle, and Caesar and I were gone once again.

When we resurfaced on Dirt, we were standing in a thin hall. Caesar looked around in confusion.

"Where are we? And what are these stick shaped items on the walls?"

I glanced over at the gun display he was talking about. "Those are guns. You're going to get to know one of those pretty soon. We're looking for someone called Patton. George Patton. This looks to be some type of school, so let me see if he's anywhere near here."

I read the biography of George Patton in the handy book that The Unknown Man had given me, and nodded. "Yeah, I think this is the place. I figure this is the West Point that my book talks about. I wonder if there is an East Point...no matter. We should try to find him without running into anyone else, these people probably won't take kindly to some dude dressed up in bed sheets and pieces of trash metal."

"You dare insult my robe?"

"I was joking, but seriously, stay out of sight. The norm for clothing is like one thousand years ahead of you. Well, more like two thousand, but that's not the point. Just let me handle this."

Caesar grunted, which was probably the best I was going to get out of him. We carefully crept down the hall, looking for a door. As we turned a corner, we almost bumped into someone patrolling. The man's face flashed from surprise to fear and then finally to anger, and he prepared to attack us.

"You there! Tell me where George Patton is!" Caesar snapped at him.

The cadet looked taken aback. "Excuse me? State your name and business! And what's with that crazy costume, are you supposed to be Julius Caesar or something?"

Julius beamed. "They still know who I am, even ten thousand years in the future!"

I nudged him. "Actually, it's more like two thousand, remember?"

Caesar turned back to the soldier. "Well? Take me to George Patton, you useless lump of lard!"

The cadet was now completely flustered. Almost feeling sorry for him, I swirled my finger around my head and pointed at Julius.

"It's his grandfather. We sort of got lost in the halls."

The cadet's face lightened. "Oh, that seems to happen a lot. I'm rather surprised you only arrived now though, he graduated this morning. I'll take you to his room. I suppose it's better to be late than to never show up."

The cadet led both of us through the halls until we reached one of the rooms. He politely knocked, and it opened to reveal the face of a young man. He had brownish eyes and light blond hair. "What is it?" he asked.

The cadet waved at Julius and I. "Your grandfather and this guy are here to see you. It sucks that they missed your graduation though."

George Patton frowned. "Excuse me? I've never seen these two in my life."

Moving faster than I could even see, Julius drew his shattered sword and slammed the end of it into the cadet's head before he could shout for help.

The cadet crumpled to a heap at Caesar's feet. I turned to George. "Sorry about that. We just really need to talk."

"Excuse me? And who the hell are you?"

He edged backwards into his room, obliviously going for something to defend himself with. I held my hands up for the second time that day. "Wait, we don't mean you any harm! I've come here because I need your help."

That didn't stop him from slowly backing into his room. "Why don't you two come on in?"

Caesar walked up to me. "You realize that he intends to take us out when we attempt to close the door, right?" he whispered.

I nodded. "Probably."

I entered first, and Caesar followed me. "Would you close the door so we can speak in peace?" George asked, his hands almost obliviously concealed behind his back. From my now long experience in fighting, I could tell that he intended to shoot me somewhere nonfatal so he could interrogate me on how I had gotten in. I shrugged, and turned to close the door, keeping my gloved hand in such a position that it was directly in his line of sight.

As I closed the door, I jumped, leaving only my hand where my legs had been. The bullet blasted into a thousand shards upon impact with my glove, and George stared in awe.

Caesar was staring with equal awe at the small pistol that Patton was holding. "What is that thing?"

I carefully clicked the door shut. "Now look what you did. People will be all over us in seconds, so how am I supposed to explain? Look, I need you to be a general for my army."

George gaped at me. His pistol was hanging limply in his grasp. Caesar walked over to him, and plucked the weapon from his hands. "How does this work?"

I ignored him. "Look, I know this is extremely hard to swallow. However, I think this could convince you. Have you ever thought that some heavy artillery would be far superior to standard foot soldiers?"

His face resumed a poker face. "That would be a possibility."

"Great. Look, what if I told you that I come from a place that has more advanced artillery and armored weaponry that you'll ever see in your life? And that you could be the commander of all of that?"

George rolled his eyes. "Right. And crazed fools like you two are the owners of it? I'm not an idiot. What do you want with me?"

I sighed. "Look, just play along for the sake of these two crazies, ok? If we did happen to have what I just said, and if we were to need you for a huge war, would you help us?"

George shrugged. "I suppose."

I grinned. "Close enough! Let's go!"

There was a loud knock on the door. "Cadet Patton, open this door immediately!"

Patton grinned at us. "End of the line."

"Not quite, Mr. Patton," I laughed, and a thin black line formed under him.

"See you later, sucker!" I cried.

George looked at me like I had a screw loose, which I most likely did, and then the wormhole under him opened and swallowed him whole. I gestured for Caesar to follow me, and jumped into it. He lunged in after me, and it snapped shut above us.

"Where are we? What's going on?" Patton asked. He was surprisingly calm.

I decided not to answer him as the other end of the wormhole opened up and we all ran out. I immediately activated the Grid which I had conveniently placed our entrance above, and we were back in the Void within moments.

# Chapter 19

We appeared in the void with a pop, and Caesar looked around with interest. "Where is this? And is that large box made of metal?"

"We're in the Void. I won't bother explaining it yet, so just suffice to know that time does-well, shouldn't pass here. And I'm not sure what that thing is made from to be honest."

George looked like he was handling the situation surprisingly well. "Is everything you told me true?"

Without answering him, I just pointed to the arena, where the two giant gladiators were just about to begin fighting. "Think those things are flesh and blood?"

Both George and Caesar rushed over to the arena, and I ran after them. They stood at the edge, both yelling and betting on a gladiator. I chuckled.

"So what exactly do you two even have to bet?"

They both turned around, and realization struck them at the same time. They both sighed, and began to walk away from the arena.

Using the Void, I formed a gold coin and hurled it at Caesar. He ducked, and it flew over his head. George managed to grab the thing, and turned to me in wonder.

"How did you get this?"

In response, I formed another ten of the coins. "You ran off before I could explain anything else. This is the Void, and nothing exists here. Because of that, we can make something into more nothing, just a different shape. I won't give you the reasoning because it's a pain, but just make something happen."

Caesar sat down on a wooden chair, and jumped back up in surprise. "Did I do this?"

George looked at the wooden chair, and he was suddenly standing in front of a large box. It looked like it had a little armor on it, and a tube extended from the front. I laughed.

"That's all you're going to settle for?"

I made the tank disappear, and replaced it with what could only be known as a hover tank. It had no treads, and was floating about two feet in the air. There was a door on the side, and a massive turret on the top. According to what I had thought up, that tank shot lasers that were like the gun I used to have before it got blown into pieces by the Unknown Man's cube.

George took one glance at the tank, and climbed into it without another word. I was about to follow him in so he wouldn't shoot any of my men. I wasn't sure if you could actually die in the Void, but I didn't want to find out.

Then I heard an angry female voice scream my name, and I sighed. "What the heck do you think you are doing? Drake, how many Leaps did you waste?" Lilly yelled.

And the mouse has been caught. "Ah, only one or two." I mumbled.

Lilly looked livid, but Jenna stepped in. "Lilly, calm down! You shouldn't resort to violence that easily. And save your anger for your enemies, not your friends!"

Lilly glared at Jenna and smacked her arm out of the way. She looked back to me. "Please tell me you managed to do something useful with the Leaps that you wasted."

I was tempted to tell Lilly that her sentence was a contradiction on itself, but I decided to try to hang on to life for a little longer and let it drop. "I'd like you to meet George Patton and Julius Caesar."

I turned around to see how George and Caesar had reacted to the two newcomers. Where they had once stood was now filled with an empty, unwanted, substance that most humans know as air. A loud crash caused me to turn my head in horror, and behold as General Patton drove his tank straight through the walls of my command center.

I groaned. Lilly pulled out her pistols and began running towards the rogue tank. I ran after her as quickly as I could, hoping to reach her before she murdered my poor general. By the time we both got there, my soldiers had already repaired the building and removed the tank.

They had surrounded George, and were all pointing weapons and sharp, pointy objects at him. I walked over into the crowd and motioned for them to drop their weapons. I glanced at George.

"Maybe you should learn how to drive that, eh?"

He glared at me. "Oh, be quiet. How was I supposed to know how to drive that thing? It's practically impossible!"

I frowned. "It can't be that hard!"

I created another tank, and hopped into it before anyone could say otherwise. The moment my right hand touched the controls, a spark shot out of the machine and it burst into flame. I sighed, and the tank disappeared. George smirked at me. "At least I could move the thing."

I decided not to argue with him. "Whatever. You can just drive a small car or something. I'm not going to let you accidentally run over any of my men."

He shrugged. "I don't care, as long as I'm commanding the heavy artillery."

One of my soldiers stepped up. "Commander Jinx, who is this guy?"

"Oh, he's George Patton. Meet one of your new generals. Mr. Patton is going to be in charge of all the artillery and large metal vehicles that make things blow up."

Lilly stared at him in disgust. "He can't even drive a tank! Why are you putting HIM in charge of one of the most important parts of our force?"

"Because he has a good track record. Or rather, he will have a good track record. I didn't want to get an old man as a general. It wouldn't go too well if he died of old age before the battle started. And speaking of generals, has anyone seen my other one?"

# Chapter 20

I never should have said that. I heard a victorious yell from the sky, and we looked up to see Caesar flying overhead in a massive throne studded with large jewels. The throne crashed into the ground in front of us, and Caesar looked at me and my army smugly.

"I am Julius Caesar! You will also know me as your general!"

Everyone stared at him mutely, and he growled. "Commander...ah, by Jupiter. You never told me your name!"

How did I manage to get this guy to come with me again? I mean, who would go with a complete stranger to fight a war and not even know their name? Yeesh, we were both crazy.

"My name is Drake Jinx," I replied.

His eyes widened. "The Drake Jinx that our prophecies spoke of? Is it really you?"

Oh, I was in a prophecy? Cool! "What kind of prophecy?" I asked.

He gave me a sidelong glance. "The one where you're stupid enough to believe me. Your army is rabble! They wander around in unorganized groups. They would be easier to conquer than Gaul was!"

I grimaced. I didn't know what a gaul was, but he was right about one thing. My army was in complete disrepair. We desperately needed some organization and order in our ranks, but I had better things to do, like sleep.

While I thought, Julius was giving my army a critical look over. He glanced at Lilly and Jenna. "Why are you two just standing around? Go, bring me the rest of my-er, Commander Drake's army!"

Lilly pierced him with an angry glare, which he easily returned. They stayed like that for several minutes. My army watched with interest. Most of them didn't really know Lilly, but everyone knew about her short temper and tendency to shoot first and then shoot again later.

Finally, they both stopped glaring at the same time. Lilly nodded in approval. "Looks like you did something right for once, Jinx."

Caesar nodded in agreement. "Indeed. I take it that this is a strange occurrence?"

I groaned. Even my own generals were turning against me!

"Well, Mr. Jinx chose me, so that's two things right! Is that a new record?" George asked Lilly.

With a roll of my eyes, I started walking over to the Grid. "We don't have any time to waste. We've got to head to the next world and get our next army. We don't know when the Unknown Man will strike!"

Lilly frowned. "I thought you said time didn't pass in the Void?"

Blast it. I couldn't very well tell her that time actually was passing, and the Pisces Empire might already be a pile of smoking ashes.

"Ah...I have reason to believe that the Unknown Man has the same power I do," I lied quickly.

Lilly seemed to buy it. "Really? I thought that only one person could have the power to Leap at a time. How can he do it?"

Uh oh. I didn't think this far ahead. Time to wing it! "Er...maybe he has some sort of power that lets him copy other people's power?" I tried.

Then I remembered that I wasn't supposed to know that other worlds had powers of their own. Luckily, Lilly didn't even seem to notice. She shrugged.

"Does that mean he could reach us in the Void and attack us here?" she asked.

I frowned. "I suppose."

I didn't mention the fact that a battle in the Void was almost pointless since both sides could make and destroy as much as they wanted...unless he brought things from outside the void.

The possibility of The Unknown Man having the same power I did begun to seem more of an option than I had originally thought. I finally shrugged. "Look, we have to go continue building our army. Caesar, could you shape my men up a little?"

There were a few groans from the surrounding men, but Caesar silenced them with a glare. Lilly and Jenna followed me to the Grid. I gestured to Jenna. "Would you like to do the honors?" I asked.

Jenna shrugged. "How?"

"Just swipe on the planes," Lilly grumbled.

Jenna hesitantly swept her fingers upwards, and the planes rotated rapidly. They slowly came to a stop, and I zoomed in on the plane. I chose a point about a quarter of the way down its visible timeline, and with a splash of darkness, we were gone...again.

Lilly, Jenna, and I popped into this new world inside some type of cave. It was dimly lit from cracks in the roof, and the ground was covered in mossy fuzz.

"Where the heck is this?" Lilly crabbed.

"Feel the ground! It's really fuzzy."

I ignored both of them and looked skyward. I could tell that what I had initially thought to be the roof of a cracked cave or ledge was actually composed of giant round circles. Due to the dim light, I could scarcely make out their colors.

I squinted up at the ceiling. My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, and I could faintly make out reds and greens above me.

"What the...Guys, look at the ceiling!" I called.

I tore my eyes away from the strangely colored ceiling and looked around the cave. All around us, large poles rose to the sky, meeting the strangely colored roof. I headed over to the nearest pole, and ran my hands over it. Surprisingly, it was slightly soft.

"Guys? We're not in a cave," I called.

Lilly and Jenna hurried over to where I was standing. "What do you mean?" Jenna asked.

I pressed on the pole again, and it quivered. Lilly frowned and punched it. Her fist promptly bounced off of the rubbery pole and she smacked herself in the face.

I burst into laughter. "Hey, what do you know? I guess violence isn't the answer to everything!"

Lilly sent me a look saying violence would be the answer to getting me to shut up, and spat on the pole. Jenna smirked, but didn't say anything.

"You know, these sort of look like really big mushrooms." I said.

Lilly did a double take, and looked up at the ceiling again. "If you're right, that leaves two options. Either we shrunk by a lot on this planet, or everything on this planet is enormous!"

There was a large roar behind us, and we all slowly turned towards it with dread. A massive leg slammed down a few mushroom stalks from us.

"Is that... the leg of a bug?" Jenna asked hesitantly.

"No, that's a sign. It's really clear to me. It says to start climbing these mushrooms!" I yelled, and leaped onto the mushroom. Lilly and Jenna jumped onto it after me, and we all started scrambling up the huge thing.

Now, I know you're smirking right now as your read this, but let me tell you, you've never climbed a mushroom stalk before. And it's no easy task, believe me. The stalk is soft enough for me to form little handholds, but the stalk constantly wiggled. Every time I let go of the stalk, it was a challenge not to bounce right off of my mushy tower of babel.

I heard Lilly cursing under me, and Jenna telling Lilly to stop complaining and start climbing faster. Suddenly, the mushroom next to us flew into the sky. The enormous mandibles of a spider poked into view, and I shuddered. This monster didn't look the least bit like Bob...er, Jenna had.

Besides, why was a spider wandering around in a mushroom patch? Spiders are supposed to make webs.

I'll tell you why. It's because this spider is a Mushroom-hating-people-eating-spider. I may or may not have made that name up on the spot, but you're going to have to deal with it. However, for purposes our mutual understanding, I shall henceforth refer to the Mushroom-hating-people-eating-spider as Big Ugly.

As we continued scrambling up the stalk of the mushroom, another mushroom hurled into the air. It crashed down next to us, and for a moment, I thought I saw a flash of light reflect off of the mushroom.

However, when I glanced back to it, it was gone. I shrugged as much as I could while ascending a giant mushroom, and refocused my attention on climbing.

After what seemed like hours but was more likely about five minutes, I reached the top of the mushroom. "What now?" Lilly called.

The mushroom directly to our side was ripped away from its earthen home and took to the skies.

"Ah...does anyone have bug repellent?"

Jenna sighed. "How about a coherent plan that actually involves you putting that head of yours to use?"

Our mushroom shook slightly. The spider now stood over our mushroom. I sighed. Of all the ways to die, eaten by a giant spider wasn't the worst, but I could have done better. I mean, imagine seeing that on a gravestone! 'Here lies Drake Jinx, eaten by gigantic spider while climbing a massive mushroom stalk.'

Yeah, that sucks. "Guys, I'm going to try something stupid."

I could almost feel Lilly and Jenna grimace. "What?"

"That's the stupid part! I have no idea!"

Then I leaped off the mushroom. Jenna screamed, and Lilly might have laughed.

I formed a wormhole under me, and another above the spiders head. I toppled straight through both wormholes, and found myself flying at the spider's head at who knows how many miles an hour. Now, all I had to do was land and poke a hole in Big Ugly's head.

I found myself slightly stuck at that first problem. If anyone had tips on landing on a spider's head, I could have really used them in a second.

...

You think I should make a portal into some place filled with pillows and then make another one back onto the spider? That's a great idea! But, you told that to me at one second and one millisecond. That was one millisecond too late. Therefore, I shall choose to ignore you.

I slammed into the spiders head, and all the air rushed out of my body. Several cracks alerted me to something breaking, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't the spider. With a grunt, I opened a wormhole right next to Jenna's head. I hoped she would know what I meant.

After several excruciating seconds of immense pain and agony, something poked through the wormhole. I grinned. Jenna did it! I reached into it, (Don't ask me how I moved my arm; I don't know either.) and plucked out a...shoe?

Blast it Jenna, I wanted a dagger, not a shoe! I sighed. Apparently, I was going to be slaying this spider the old fashioned style. Smacking it with a shoe.

I formed a wormhole inside the spider's head. Normally, it probably wouldn't do anything because it doesn't exactly take space, and it isn't sucking anything in. However, if one was to toss a shoe into your brains...

I dropped the shoe into the other end of the wormhole, and snapped it shut. The spider screamed, and skittered around madly.

Ok, another tip for you guys. If you have a few broken limbs, my best recommendation to let them heal is to sit still and try not to move them. Holding onto the head of a giant spider while it runs around in a panic is NOT what I mean. But c'mon. Nobody listens to me anyways, so why should I bother listening to myself?

I felt as if my arms were going to tear themselves out. If I had been thinking coherently at the time, I would have made a wormhole and jumped off the dying creature.

But you guessed it, I wasn't thinking coherently. My thoughts were more along the lines of buying a big can of bug spray. The spider scrambled about for a few more seconds, and suddenly fell dead. I groaned, and rolled onto my back. I stared up at the sky, and the pulsing pain in my arms and legs slowly begun to fade. Darkness begun creeping into my vision, and my glove zapped me.

My moment of peace gone, I cried out in agony. Somebody ran up to me and peered into my vision. Oh, spectacular. I didn't know this somebody. "Hi," I muttered weakly.

The man stared at me. I idly noted that his long black hair looked a lot like a raven would if you stuck it in a blender. "What are you?" he muttered reverently.

I decided not to answer him. The pain was blurring my thoughts too much for me to think coherently. Then I heard Jenna calling my name, and the man looked up in surprise. In one smooth movement, he drew two massive cleavers from his back. He threw me another look of awe, and turned towards where Jenna's voice had come from.

A moment later, Jenna and Lilly climbed up a fallen mushroom stalk that was leaning on the spider. "Drake! Are you ok?" Jenna called.

Lilly glared at the guy. "Who are you? Were you controlling this thing?" She drew her pistol.

Even through my pain, I managed to sigh. Jenna pushed Lilly's gun hand down, and walked right past the guy. She knelt down next to me. "Drake, aren't you not supposed to...y'know?"

I grimaced. "What else could I have done? Make something up. Maybe I had a grappling hook or something."

She nodded. Taking a look at my arms, she shook her head. "You broke pretty much everything you could. The fact that you're alive right now, much less coherent, is making me question your humanity."

I grinned. "You just can't get rid of me. Ah, can you do anything about this?"

Jenna nodded. She put her hands behind my neck gently, and there was a sudden pain. The last thing I saw was her apologetic smile.

# Chapter 21

"He is awake! Quickly, call Elgar!" A gruff voice shattered my peaceful pain induced sleep.

I groaned. My eyes opened to a normal sized room. I breathed a sigh of relief. Without moving my head, my eyes darted around the room. The wall seemed to be made of some type of animal skin, and there was almost no furniture.

A small stool sat next to me. On it was only a wooden stick about five feet long. I hesitantly wiggled my fingers, and to my surprise, found that I could move rather easily. Carefully, I sat up. All my arms and legs seemed to be attached, and nothing appeared to be broken. Just as I was about to stand up, a man rushed into the room.

He was wearing a long, silvery cloak, and a band of gold was wrapped around his forehead.

"Ah, you are awake! You are the one that defeated the Eight Legged Menace, am I correct?"

"Erm, if you mean the spider, then yes."

"Ah! And how did you do this feat?"

"I hit it with a shoe."

He frowned at me, and shook his head slowly. "Ah, I was wrong. You work for the Pisces Empire, am I correct?"

I paled. How did he know? "Wait, how do you know that? Who are you?" I asked.

Suddenly, long black bars shot out from under the bed and clamped down around me. I reached to make a wormhole, but nothing happened. "What are these things?" I asked, struggling against the bonds.

Elgar frowned at me. "Ah, those are the legs of a Moonlight Moth. They repress your abilities."

"Why did you tie me up, and where are my friends?" I snarled.

Elgar grunted. "Ah, you will meet your friends soon enough. And do not play games with me. You and I both know how the Pisces Empire is, am I correct?"

I nodded in agreement. "A pushy bunch of jerks who think they are entitled to the world because they can jump through pockets of time. All in all, a plague on this world. And multiple others, actually. What about them?"

Elgar staggered back in surprise. "Ah, you would speak such blasphemy even as one of their agents? You are, ah, not who you appear to be, am I correct?"

I groaned. "Enough with the ah's and the am I corrects! And untie me already. I'm not your enemy."

Elgar frowned. Carefully, he picked up the stick and poked the black constraints. Immediately, they rushed back under the bed. Edgar helped me to my feet.

"Just because I have released you from your constraints does not mean we are defenseless. If you try to fight us, we will put up a fight."

I raised my hands in the air. "Don't worry; I have no intentions of fighting you."

Elgar nodded, and we walked out of the room. "What's that room made of?" I asked.

"Bearskin."

I gulped, and increased my pace slightly. Giant spiders I can handle. Bears? Keep those away from me.

I glanced down at my feet. It looked like I was standing on normal sized grass. "Hey, what's up with this place? First the giant mushrooms, and then your eight-legged spider. Why is this grass short?"

A look of disgust flashed across Elgar's face. "Ah, what you see is the job of the Pisces Empire. Once, we were one of the Pisces Empire's greatest foes. We fought long and hard for many years, but one day, someone with your power brought their whole Council into our lands. They used some strange ability to mess with our world. The animals that we once called friends turned on us, and our power to control their size failed. They all became big, and we were almost destroyed by our own powers."

I gulped. "Wait, so the Pisces Empire has a way to take your power away from you? And hey, you didn't say 'am I correct' this time!"

Elgar rolled his eyes. "Ah, you are truly not an agent of the Pisces Empire. They would never let someone as naïve and foolish as you work for them. Did you honestly believe that sob story? You are too trusting. Our power is simply controlling the animals on this world. We might be able to do it on other time pockets as well, but we have never tried. The Pisces Empire just stepped into our lands, looked around, proclaimed us too weak to bother with, and burned down our capitals and lands along with much of our natural recourses, sending the creatures here into a frenzy. Then they left someone here to report back to them, and left. Now you see, am I correct?"

"You're doing the 'ah' and 'am I correct thing again'. This story seems a little more believable, but how do I know this one isn't also a lie?"

Elgar grinned. "You're learning. For now, you have no way to see if my story is true or fake. Therefore, you must take it at face value until you can prove it."

I shrugged. "So why are the animals here so big anyways?"

Elgar frowned. "What are you talking about? This is normal."

I thought back to the enormous spider. Right...normal. "So where are my friends?"

"We will see them soon. I must ask you; why have you come here? For if you do not work for the Pisces Empire, why do you have their power?"

"Long story. Let's just say I'm not working for them by choice. To be honest, I'm not even sure why I haven't ditched them. But whatever you do, never mention the Pisces Empire around my companions. And are you done with the 'Ah, Am I corrects?'"

Elgar nodded. "A...erm, I see. I will do as you ask...for now. We're almost there. Now, listen closely. I am taking you to the leader of our camp. If you are not respectful, you and your friends will be executed. Watch your words closely."

The tent flaps in front of us parted, and a shriveled old hand waved me in. Elgar shoved me towards it, and I hesitantly entered the tent.

I poked my head through the flaps of the tent, and promptly got poked in the eye. I yelped, and someone pulled me through the flaps. Holding one hand over the offending eye, I looked at the person in the tent.

The only person in the tent was a boy of about ten years. He was holding a now obliviously fake wrinkled hand, and a large grin was plastered on his face.

"Ah, I think I have the wrong tent," I muttered.

The boy giggled, and pointed at the stool in front of him. "No you don't."

For whatever reason, I suddenly agreed with him. I walked to the chair and sat down. He giggled again. "So, why have you come here?"

Despite the sense of calmness I felt, I still grimaced at his giggling. Did everyone here have some annoying habit? "I'm here for an army."

Wait, why did I say that? Ah, it doesn't matter. There was no way this little bugger would tell anyone anyways.

The boy giggled. "Why do you need an army?"

"Because the place where I come from is being attacked, and I have been sent on a mission to collect warriors for them."

There was a faint alarm in the back of my mind, but I ignored it. It was just another mental fire drill.

The boy laughed once more. My eye twitched slightly, and the soothing, calm, feeling began to fade away slightly. "What makes you think we will give you an army? How do you intend to get one?"

"I would prefer to acquire one with diplomacy, but that doesn't seem to work too well. I will do whatever is necessary."

The boy laughed again, and I snapped. I opened a wormhole into the ground, and another one in front of his face. Instantly, the boy was blasted with several pounds of dirt. I closed the hole immediately, and suddenly, the calm feeling was gone.

Reality rushed into me, and I glared at the boy. He was lying in a dirty heap, but relatively fine. Casually, he brushed the dirt off and stood up.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"It's a long explanation. I opened a wormhole under the ground and...wait. I don't need to tell you that. What are you doing?"

The boy looked surprised. "I've never met anyone who could avoid my power. How did you escape?"

I frowned. "You can answer my question first. How did you make me feel so calm? I was told that the power of your world was controlling animals, not some truth magic."

The boy smirked, and I glared at him. His smile vanished, and he shrugged. "Well, you were informed correctly. The power that the people of this world have is a slight control over animals. However, your mistake was thinking I was from this world. I'm sure Elgar has already told you about the foolishness of listening to everything you here."

I grimaced. He was right about that. "All right, so where are you from and how did you get here?"

He tilted his head. "I think you have a rather good guess already. Why don't you tell me what you think? I'm curious to see how much you can figure out on your own."

"You work for the Pisces Empire. I'm betting that your town or whatever you call it doesn't know this, and think you don't have any powers."

Another laugh from him and another eye twitch from me. "Not bad! You've almost got the whole picture. All you missed is the fact that we're quite alike. Neither of us actually want to work for the Pisces Empire, but we do anyways."

I stared at him. How had he figured that out? Unless Jenna spilled the beans or I talked in my sleep, there was no way he could have known. Elgar hadn't had a chance to talk with him, so he couldn't have told him. "How do you know that?" I asked him carefully.

"Oh, I'll keep that little thing to myself. I have to have some secrets."

I gave him a well-deserved gesture, which he ignored. "I believe it would be in our best interests to work together for now. Don't you agree?"

I shrugged. There was no sense burning any bridges...yet. "What can I do for you?"

Another laugh. "I'm glad you see things the same way I do. We both want something done, and we can help each other. I heard you want an army. I can give you that."

"And what would I have to fork over to get my grubby paws on something like that?"

"An assassination of sorts. I want you to get rid of the Pisces Empire's pawn King, and everyone associated with him."

Oh, thank my lucky stars. For a moment, I was worried that he would ask me to do something that would make me feel bad, or something dangerous. I thought he would even go as far as asking me to clean my room. But another assassination? Pfff. People are too cliché; what idiot even thinks these lame story lines up?

"You got yourself an assassin. You'll have to give me some more detail though. And I have a few questions that need answering."

For the first time, the kid looked surprised. "You took that rather well. I would have expected you to argue a little more..."

I shrugged. "I'm not a hero; I'll do what I need to. The real world (or worlds) isn't kind. Besides, he works for the Pisces Empire. That alone should be enough to justify sticking a shark object in him."

"You work for the Pisces Empire too."

"Your point is?" I smirked.

"Ugh. I see what you mean. So what are your questions?"

"Actually, I just have two. First, what's your name? And second, where are my friends?"

"My name is Billy. And I'll have your friends brought here immediately," he replied.

# Chapter 22

"Ok, then I'll need some transportation to the King. One of my companions is in complete agreement with the Pisces Empire, so she can't know anything about my... abilities. Oh, don't tell her who the King is working for. She'd flip, and probably murder all of us."

"Why don't you dispose of her then?" Billy looked at me like I was a complete idiot.

"I can't do that. Even with my power, I would probably lose in a fight. She's got an uncanny sixth sense. But, it's also because I don't think I can bring myself to do that."

Billy frowned. "You are unable to chop off the rotting arm of a growing tree? That will prove to be fatal."

"I may not be a holy man, but I'm not killing my friends because they might be on the other side of a war."

Billy stared at me curiously. "You are strange. I suppose that could be a good thing, but it would be a shame to lose a pawn...ah, a partner in this game too quickly. How quickly do you think you can get rid of our little problem?"

Oh, I don't know. How long would it take a normal person to kill a King with practically no army and no information?

"Give me a week."

Billy looked at me in disbelief. "You can kill him in one week? I don't doubt your skills, but that's stretching it!"

I shrugged. "You're right, but I don't have time to waste prancing around the pansies. Lilly will catch on."

Billy shrugged. "Whatever. If you die, it's no loss to me. It's not like there aren't other pawns out there. I'll get you a map and transport to the castle. You'll have to take care of the rest."

He poked his head out of the tent. "Bring this man's companions!" he yelled.

As if they were just awaiting the kid's command (which they probably were), Lilly and Jenna were hustled before us.

"They have five seconds to let me go," Lilly growled.

I motioned frantically for them to release Lilly, and her captors turned to Billy. He shrugged, and they quickly slipped the chains off her.

She glared at them, and they backed away quickly. Jenna chuckled and headed over to me.

"What's the scoop?" she asked.

My eyes hopped over to Billy. "We've got an assassination contract. If we do it, we've got our army."

Lilly grinned. "Finally, something interesting. I'm dying to redecorate someone's walls a red color."

Jenna rolled her eyes. "Do you have to be so violent? You don't even know who we're supposed to off here! What if this person is a good guy?"

"He still bleeds, doesn't he? Besides, Drake would never agree to do away with a 'good guy'. Not like I'm worried or anything."

I smirked. "Billy, I'm going to need you to get me my transport now. And some food wouldn't hurt either."

"And give my weapons back!" Lilly snapped.

"The only weapon you need are your eyes; those things could pierce a hole through solid steel," Billy grumbled, then gave one of his trademark make-me-wanna-punt-a-puppy-giggles.

Billy walked off, and Elgar emerged from the crowd. "Ah, if you would follow me, I can take you to your possessions and acquaintance you with some food. You are hungry, am I correct?"

Jenna's eye twitched. "I'm pretty sure that doesn't even come close to a grammatically correct sentence. And if it is, whoever invented this language is a nimrod."

I coughed, simultaneously saying the name of every language teacher I had ever had. Now, we know that they didn't invent the language, but that doesn't mean that we can't blame them for it.

We followed Elgar over to another of the tent things, and we ducked into it. Inside, there were three backpacks lying on a little mat of straw.

"Ah, your items and food are in there. You will also find a few maps and other necessary goods. Is there anything else you need before you go off?"

I glanced at Lilly and Jenna. "I don't think so...?"

"Where's our transport?" Lilly asked.

Elgar nodded quickly. "Ah, you will have it soon. We are rounding it up as we speak. Until it arrives, I will tell you about your mission in a little more detail. The palace is very well guarded, and there is little to none chance that you will not be spotted once you approach. Considering that none of us have ever been able to get into the castle, you're going to be on your own there. I don't care how you get rid of the King, just do it. If that means blowing his brains out along with everyone in the castle, so be it. Am I right?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. I could see that Elgar's annoying habit was starting to grind on her nerves.

"We understand. Do we have any time to rest, or..." Jenna started.

A boy burst into the tent. "Move it! They're here!" he yelled.

We burst into motion, grabbing our backpacks and spinning towards the tent flap. Outside, I could hear the all too familiar sounds of battle. I glanced back at Edgar.

"Are you coming?"

A dark line crossed the man's face, and his features became cloaked in shadows. A glint of light flashed in his eyes. "Oh, I don't think I will. You kids scurry off, I'll try to buy you a little time. Don't fail me, Jim!"

The kid nodded, and grabbed my hand, and dragged me away from the battle. Lilly and Jenna rushed after us. I managed one glance back at Elgar, and my blood froze solid.

The air around him shimmered with heat. His clothes fluttered in an unseen wind, straining towards the heavens vainly. Sparks of light danced around his arms, and a chilling laugh erupted from his mouth.

"Face me, spineless cowards! I'll burn your soul clean out from your corrupted bodies!"

The ground under Elgar shattered. He shot into the air, sending spinning shards of stone hurtling into unseen enemies.

Jim tugged on my arm. "Move it, you fool! He cannot tell the difference between friend and foe in that state!"

I physically tore my gaze away from him, and rushed after Jim. "Where are you taking us?" I panted.

"To our way out of here! I'll explain as much as I can once we're safe."

That seemed fair enough to me, so I just returned my attention to running. Jim suddenly stopped moving, nearly causing a human train wreck. "Why did you stop?" Lilly asked.

Jim ignored her. "Hold on."

"To what?" Jenna asked.

The ground lurched, and jerked itself upwards. Everyone except for Jim fell backwards. I grabbed the nearest object and held on for dear life. After a moment, I realized that the ground was no longer having a seizure. I glanced around to notice Lilly and Jim staring at me strangely. My eyes lowered to the object I had grabbed- Jenna's leg. I quickly released her, and stood up, brushing myself off.

"Ah, I was just having a surprise attack drill. Jenna, you didn't react quickly enough."

Jim nodded sagely. Lilly, of course, didn't buy it. "Drake, you're an idiot."

I chuckled nervously, and glanced behind us. The ground was rapidly disappearing below us. "Ah, not to sound ungrateful, but what the heck is going on?"

Jim motioned for us to sit down. "We're flying on a local bird. The...ah, my people were rounding one up for you to attack the castle when we were attacked."

"Will they be ok?" I asked.

Jim smirked. "Of course. All of them can do at least some amount, if not more, of what Elgar can do."

I gulped. It was a good thing that we didn't make enemies of them. "So, why are you tagging along?" Lilly asked. Her nose was buried inside her backpack, sniffing (pun intended) around for her weapons.

Jim snorted, and we turned slightly to our right. "How else would you guys control this bird? This was supposed to be my coming of age mission. All I had to do was take some numbskulled foreigners over to the castle and then get out. Of course, that isn't the plan anymore. By now, our camp is probably nothing more than a smoldering pile of ash. I suppose I'll stay with you guys until you kill off the Pisce-er, the King."

Lilly cried out in triumph, and pulled her pistol out of her backpack. I glanced into my own backpack, and shuffled around in it. There were several wrapped packages which I assumed to be food, a few layers of cloth that were most likely clothes, and a small box about a foot long.

I slid the box out of the bag, and pulled on the lid. It hissed a little, but didn't budge. Now, you're all looking at that last verb choice strangely. You're probably thinking that boxes don't hiss, snakes do. Well, guess what: You can't tell it how to live its life. This box is free. It can do what it wants.

Just kidding. The box was hissing because there was a bloody snake in it.

I stepped backwards, and instinctively called up a wormhole in front of me. The snake shot forwards, and disappeared inside the portal. I slammed it shut, and glanced around. To my relief, Lilly hadn't noticed. However, Jim was staring at me intently. I held a finger to my mouth, and he shrugged.

Shoot, I'd deal with it later. I looked into the rectangular box, and pulled out a slender dagger. Glyphs covered the thin blade, and the handle was beautifully jeweled. There was a little note stuck to the side of the weapon, so I pulled it off.

Kill the Tyrant with this dagger.

"Could you be a little more specific?" I muttered sarcastically.

I opened a small wormhole in front of my palm and tossed the note into it. I placed the dagger back into the box and sealed it again.

"Jim, who has the map?"

Jim tapped his head. "Worry not, I have it all in here. You might as well try to get some sleep, we're nowhere near the palace."

I glanced up at the darkening sky. "I'm not sure I can trick my body into falling asleep yet. The author has things he should be doing right now, but he doesn't want to do them yet."

Jim turned to me. "What was that? I didn't quite hear you."

What had I said again? Oh, right.

"Ah, I'm not tired."

Jenna shuffled around in her bag and pulled a brown roll out of it. She sniffed it cautiously, and unwrapped it.

"What the heck is this crystalized mystery meat?"

Jim walked over to her and looked at the brown lump in her hand. "Hey, it's a meatball! I love those things!"

I swear I'm telling the truth when I say that it was the smell from the ball of death that Jim was referring to a meatball that knocked out our ride. Yeah, you heard me right. I can personally assure you that Murphy made his law simply to spite me.

With a dying screech, the massive bird suddenly stopped flying and began to hurtle down towards the ground at faster speeds than a toddler running for a candy.

I cursed the monstrous creature out in a long string of words that would probably get bleeped out if they were comprehensible. The way I saw it, there were three options for what would happen next.

1: I could open a wormhole and try to explain to Lilly how I opened gaping holes in the fabric of the universe, or however you want to explain it.

2: I could die.

3: Back to option two.

I mentally shrugged. Considering my options, it wasn't much of a choice. A giant wormhole snapped open below us, and we slammed into the ground at a hundred miles an hour.

# Chapter 23

I'm pretty sure that the bird took the brunt of the landing. I based this hypothesis on the fact that our bird had turned into a bird burger. I had a sudden vision of Jim gnawing on the flattened beast and shuddered.

A few feet to my right, Jenna was looking around in a state of confusion. Apparently falling through wormholes on giant birds wasn't on the top of her bucket list.

Jim was sitting calmly a few feet in front of me, and Lilly was...sleeping. I rolled my eyes, and silently thanked Murphy for taking a break in his daily game of stalking me. I slowly stood up and shook Lilly awake.

I received a fist to my face in reward of my efforts, sending me flying backwards a foot. I cradled my nose. "Ouch! Whut Wsh Taht fur?"

Lilly glared at me. "I was trying to sleep!"

Jenna laughed, and helped me to my feet. I wiped my nose off on my shirt, drawing a glance from Jenna, but nothing more. For the first time, I took stock of my current situation, and once again cursed Murphy out.

Of all the places I could possibly open a wormhole, I had the feeling that onto of the royal barracks was probably not exactly what one would call ideal. Almost comically, a sign on a nearby building wobbled and fell to the floor with a resounding thud.

"Oh for heaven's sake!"

People who had witnessed the event started yelling, but not out of fear. A large mob formed around our pancake, all armed with pointy looking objects.

"Ah, I don't suppose I can explain this?" I asked cautiously.

An arrow shot past my head, burying itself in the dead bird. I sighed, and the unfortunate soul who had shot the arrow found a smoking hole in his forehead. I turned back to glance at her, and she shrugged.

"What?"

Jenna shoved me to the side, and an arrow shot past my face, missing me by inches.

"Stop talking and start fighting!" she yelled.

Jim hurled one of those awful meatballs towards our attackers, and a few of them passed out from the smell. Or maybe they were passing out from the rocks Jim was now lobbing at them. It didn't really matter either way.

I leapt down from the bird, and kicked the nearest villager in a very painful spot. He howled in agony, and I snatched his spear out of his hands. Within seconds, a crowd surrounded me. I swung my spear, and one of them chopped the point off of the weapon with a sword. I took one look at my spear-turned-staff, and promptly broke it over the offender's head.

Jenna appeared behind them, and with two swift slashes, several men were bleeding out on the ground. In their moment of surprise, I opened a tiny wormhole behind one of their heads. I punched my end of the wormhole, and my fist slammed into the other's head.

"Drake, we can't waste all day fighting these clowns! We have to get the King and then get out of here!" Lilly yelled over to me.

A villager jumped at her mid-sentence. Lilly calmly shot him in the chest, and he tumbled to the ground. I looked around at the huge mob around us, and glanced over to Jenna.

"I don't suppose you have any easy way to get out of this?"

She gutted someone, and glanced back at me. "Nope! There are too many of them! They don't have too much skill..."

She slammed a knife into one of them, and kicked him away. "But there are tons of them! If they don't wipe us out with sheer numbers, we'll get slaughtered when the army gets here!"

"How do you know there's an army?" I yelled back.

I picked up a rock and bashed a villager on his head through a wormhole. The enemy numbers were hardly diminishing, and I could see people charging towards us in the distance. Behind them, a mighty grey castle towered against the horizon.

If I could use my powers, I wouldn't even have to worry. But with Lilly around...

A huge line of darkness flashed into existence in front of us, and Jenna spun towards me. I shook my head, and looked back to the line. It shuddered and snapped open. Coils of red flame flickered through it, giving it an eerie red glow.

Everyone paused fighting to stare at the massive thing. In the dull silence, I could hear a static buzz coming from the wormhole.

"Fire on my command."

The voice sounded strangely familiar, but I couldn't place it with anyone. There was a metallic whine, and a gray nozzle came into view. It was five feet in diameter, with smoke curling out of its sides.

"Fire!"

The nozzle rumbled, and a bright red beam launched out of it. It was like a laser gun, but multiplied by a thousand. The beam blasted through the enemy lines, and the entire village. In the distance, it crashed through one of the castle walls, leaving a smoldering hole in its walls.

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the nozzle retracted into the wormhole and it snapped shut.

Lilly glared at the empty space. "The Unknown Enemy just tried to kill us!" She grabbed her gun and started shooting at the space where the portal had appeared.

I dropped to the ground to dodge one of the blasts, and Jenna grabbed Lilly's hand. "Let's go! We don't have any time to waste. Jim, can you get us to the castle before reinforcements arrive?"

Jim frowned. "I could if I had something to carry us there. Unless you see anything...?"

We looked around, but nothing came into our vision. Unlike the village/camp we had just left, the land around us was barren and dead. It was as if it had been sown with salt.

"This place is as dead as Drake's humor is," Lilly grumbled.

"And it looks just like you in the morning."

Jim smirked. "Can we get back on topic of getting to the castle before we get slaughtered?"

Jenna glanced at me, and flicked her eyes down to my glove. I grimaced. If Lilly saw me using a wormhole, she would shoot me.

Our problems were solved when ground lurched under us. I looked down in surprise. Was our pancake bird still alive? There was a sickening pop, and we were all hurtling through the air at what seemed to be Mach five.

I managed to get a glimpse of what had thrown us. Jim was standing there, a dark grin plastered on his face. He was floating several feet in the air, power coiled around him like a serpent.

Was that even possible? How could he have two different abilities? I stopped worrying about that when I realized we were all about to become little smudges on the castle rapidly approaching us.

I mentally sighed, and I opened a wormhole on the side of the castle. I opened the other end inside a water source inside the castle, facing upwards. I decided I would explain how we got there later. A little procrastination never hurt anybody.

We blasted through the wormhole, and sent a huge spray of water into the air, soaking the room. I burst out of the water, gasping for breath. Lilly and Jenna popped up moments later.

"What the heck?" Lilly looked around wildly.

Jenna raised her eyebrows, and I shrugged.

"Nobody move!" someone yelled.

We slowly turned around. There was a heavily armed guard shakily pointing a sword towards us.

"You are violating the property of the King! I'm not sure how you even got into his royal bathing chambers, but you'll be in the dungeon before sunset! Now put your hands in the air, and don't move!"

I smirked, put my hands in the air, and quickly flipped face-first in the water.

"Wha-no! That's not what I mean! Gah, you know what I meant! Ok, you can swim, but don't move otherwise!"

I propped myself back upright, and began doing backstroke around the pool, whistling happily.

"Your anger makes this pool so nice and warm! Keep it up! How much do you charge per hour? I bet you're cheaper than buying a sauna," I called up to him.

"Fifteen an h- Hey! That's it..."

He never finished his sentence as Lilly had blown a hole between his eyes with her gun. I grimaced slightly, but the look she gave me told me to shut up.

We slipped out of the pool, and I took bearing of our situation. The room was covered in murals and certainly fit the description of a King's private bathing chambers. We hurried through the doors, and were promptly surrounded by a huge mob of guards.

"Don't move!" one yelled.

I sighed, and put my hands in the air. I allowed myself to wobble back and forth a little, and rolled my eyes back up into my head.

"What the heck?"

I let myself fall forward, and collided with one of the guards. I slammed my hand into his chest, opening a wormhole directly into his body. He jerked backwards, and I repainted the floor.

I grimaced, and pulled my hand out of his chest. It wasn't like the thought of remotely putting things into an enemy's body to kill them hadn't occurred to me, but it just felt wrong. If I did it too much, I'm sure the author would have some plot holes. Wait, what was I talking about again?

My train of thought crashed as Jenna vaulted over a guard, slamming one of her daggers into his midriff. Lilly opened fire, and I dropped to the ground. The small group of guards didn't last very long, and were soon all lying on the floor.

Lilly raised her eyebrows at me. "What on earth was that? Were you practicing your decapitated chicken impersonation?"

I shrugged. "It worked, didn't it?"

We rushed out of the hall, leaving the group of defeated guards lying behind us. The endless halls rushed by us in a blur, and it wasn't long before we were lost.

"Guys, do we actually have any idea where we're going?"

Lilly glanced back at me. "I think we're heading towards the Target."

"Actually, I think we're heading downwards. I get the feeling that the King would be at the top of the castle..." Jenna trailed off, and I barreled into Lilly.

She didn't even curse me out. We were standing in front of a wall of massive iron bars. Behind it, thousands of eyes stared back at us. I gulped.

"Now back away slowly from the spooky looking gate..." I muttered to myself.

Lilly ignored me and tried to get a good look at the inside of the cage. The eyes suddenly surged forward and slammed against the bars. Now that they were right before me, I could see that they looked vaguely humanoid. Ragged hair hung over their shoulders like an ancient cloak, and their clothes were worn to pieces.

"Help..." One croaked.

"Free us!" Another pleaded.

Lilly backed away from the cage slightly.

"Wh-What is wrong with you guys?"

"That Tyrant clapped me in chains and tossed me here! Let me out! I didn't even do anything wrong."

I shushed the voice, and scanned the hallway behind us to see if anyone had heard. When no guards came barreling forth from the hallway, I turned back to the cage.

"How many of you are in there?"

"We number higher than we can count. We were the original inhabitants of this world, before the Pisce..."

"I see! If I were to free you somehow, would you fight for me?" I cut him off.

There was a chorus of agreement and begging. I held up a hand to silence them.

"As soon as I find a way to free you, I'll be back. I promise." I mentally winced. Somehow I would have to convince them to not mention the Pisces Empire near Lilly.

With that, we turned and ran from the chamber, their voices ringing behind us.

"Well, we just found a nice boost to our army."

I attempted a running shrug and almost went face first into the floor. I decided to avoid all potential face plant inducing actions in the near future, and returned my attention to running.

"How the heck are we supposed to find a King in this maze?" Jenna griped.

I skidded to a stop. A small grin wormed its way onto my face.

I looked at Lilly, and began advancing towards her. She looked from side to side. "What?"

I plucked the laser pistol from her belt and shook it lightly. Something rattled around in it a bit. I grinned, and took my shoes off. I pulled the lace out of one, and wrapped it around the trigger of the gun. "Cover your ears!" I smirked, and pulled the lace tight. I hurled the pistol down a hall, and dove to the floor.

A steady whine roared out of the pistol as it overheated, and Lilly and Jenna dropped to the ground as the weapon's whine grew in pitch.

There was a resounding explosion, and shouts from the floor above as a huge portion of it was blown away.

Jenna grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "What are you doing, Drake?"

I just cackled as guards climbed through the damaged floor and surrounded us. They were all clothed in dull gray armor. One guard had a small golden clasp on his shoulder. The hall was soon filled with guards pointing long pointy objects at us. I lifted my hands in the air, a motion that Jenna and Lilly mimicked.

"Tell the King that we've found the intruders," the man with the clasp said.

A guard ran off, and we were herded away. I called upon my abilities of social interaction and took it on myself to have some friendly chitchat with the guard that had decided that my back was a good target for spear training.

"So, how's your day been going? Do you catch criminals often?" I asked.

"Shut up, prisoner." He prodded me in the back again.

I shut up. They led us to a small prison cell. They shoved me in, and took Lilly and Jenna away. I looked around my new abode, and grinned. Now all I had to do was convince the 'King' to meet with me. Then I could gut him with my dagger.

The one that was still somewhere with Jim, safely tucked inside my backpack. I cursed.

Oh well, I'd stab that angry poodle when I got there. What's with the weird look? Are you telling me that that isn't a saying from where you're from? Bah, you need to get educated.

But first things first. I pressed my face to the bars of the cell and peered to see if any guards were left. When none showed themselves, I stepped backwards and opened a wormhole back to where we were before Jim decided to play a little game of human kickball.

I slipped through it and emerged on top of the pancake-bird. It was starting to smell a lot like the strange meat thing that ended up causing its death in the first place. My eyes caught on a small flash of light, and I hurried over to it and picked it up.

It was a small piece of metal, maybe aluminum. It flashed in the setting sun, momentarily blinding me. I grimaced and dropped the piece. I could see another one in the distance, and I grinned.

"I think I've found the hypothetical bread crumb trail."

The fact that I was talking to nobody in particular might have bothered me slightly if I wasn't already off my rocker. I broke into a light jog, following my metallic crumbs. It was too bad that they weren't bread. I was getting quite hungry.

A massive cliff loomed before me. There was a large door at its base. The pieces of metal had abruptly stopped a while back, but the cave was so big it was impossible to miss. With some luck, Jim would be hidden away in there somewhere.

I opened a wormhole at the front of the door, and popped through it. I hurried into it, and looked around for any way to locate Jim. There was a loud explosion above me, and dust rained from the ceiling. I ran down the hall and up a set of stairs, emerging into a large room. Jim sat cross legged in the center of the room, his power still surrounding him. The mob from earlier was around him, banging away at him with whatever they could find. This included spears, knives, forks, clubs, angry chickens, and a multitude of other things that don't need mentioning.

Behind them all, a woman stood regally. In her hand she held a gun- probably the spare one Lilly had in her backpack. It was smoking slightly, so she had probably just tried to shoot Jim with it.

He didn't look any worse for the wear, so I decided I would quietly sneak in and nab my knife-in-a-box. Or any pointy object for that matter. You probably want to hear my plan. Normally I wouldn't do this, but I'll indulge you. Frankly, it couldn't be more genius. Since everyone was rather preoccupied with banging away at Jim, I would locate my bag, snatch my knife, pop Jim into a wormhole, and disappear. If opportunity appeared, maybe I would steal a few shoes from them for future shoe-throwing operations against giant spiders.

I scanned the room in search for the box and finally found it under the woman with the gun's feet. She appeared to be using it as some type of stand. A wormhole quickly opened under the box. It fell through, and I slammed the hole shut. The woman stumbled as the box disappeared. She cried out, and the crowd all turned towards her. I opened another wormhole for Jim. Once he fell through, I jumped into one of my own and we disappeared.

Behind us, a wormhole with flickers of red energy in it popped open. A man in a dark cloak swept out of it. He looked around at the crowd and sighed quietly. The man pulled a small sphere out of his belt and tossed it into the center of the crowd. "There can be no loose ends."

The man jumped back into the wormhole, and it slammed shut with a pop. The sphere beeped once, and a blast of white energy erupted from it. A moment later, the sphere was gone, along with the cave and the cliff that it was nested in.

I reappeared with Jim and the box on top of the pancake bird. When he saw me, the aura around him disappeared. He suddenly cried out and a stream of blood poured from his nose. He fell over and began twitching on the ground.

"Jim!"

I rushed over to him. "What's wrong? Are you ok?"

The twitches slowly stopped and he managed a faint grin. "What does it look like? I'll be fine, I just need to sleep a little. I spent too much power." He fell back and his eyes closed.

I almost thought he was dead, but then his chest began to rise and fall.

I nodded slowly. "If you say so."

I hesitantly turned my attention to the box. I opened it and pulled the dagger out.

"Huh. I half expected this to be missing. That was almost too easy." I grumbled.

I looked down at Jim's sleeping body. "I'll be back soon." I promised, and then I jumped into a wormhole. Yeah, I know that leaving him alone was a bad idea, but I couldn't think of a safe place to drop him off. Besides, killing the King wouldn't take too long.

I stepped out into my cell and sat down. I put on my best defeated face and slammed my hands on the bars.

"Oh, woe is me! I have been captured by the tin men and cannot even see their mighty King before I expire in this woefully woe dungeon! Oh, how I long for the sight of a human!" I cried mournfully.

"Shut up!" a guard called down to me.

I started to cry as loudly as I could. After several minutes, a guard finally came down. "Oh, shut up already! Or I'll give you a real reason to be sad!"

I looked up at the guard. "Woe-t is wrong?"

His mouth dropped open at my horrible pun, and I took that moment to open a wormhole under him. The other end led into the cell. I stepped into my end, and he fell through mine.

Our eyes met again, and he looked around my cell. I supposed it belonged to him now.

"Where is the King?" I asked him.

The guard glared at me. "I don't know what witchcraft you used, but I'll never tell you what you want to know."

I raised my eyebrows and picked up a rock from the ground. "I will..."

He cried out in horror. "I'll tell you! I'll tell you! The King is in the top room of the castle, the one that overlooks the huge garden in the courtyard!"

That was officially the easiest interrogation ever. I grabbed my box and headed up the stairs.

# Chapter 24

The King wasn't in his room when I got there. So naturally, I settled down in the softest chair I could find, which happened to be able to swivel. I plucked the knife from the box and tossed the box onto the King's bed. Then I entertained myself by spinning in circles on the chair as fast as I could.

I heard the door start to open. I planted my feet on the ground so that the back of the chair faced the entrance. When the doors closed again, I slowly spun the chair around.

"I've been waiting for you."

The King jumped in fear. He stumbled over his coat and fell face first on the ground. His regal red and white cape fluttered into the air and then flopped down over his head. The King stood up and waved around blindly for a bit before getting out from under his cape.

"Who are you?" he growled.

His face twisted up into a snarl. I decided not to waste any time, so I jumped out of the chair and slammed the knife into the Kings stomach. It shattered into a shower of shards, and I stumbled backwards.

"What the..."

The King burst into laughter. "Ah, an assassination attempt. How novel. Unfortunately for you, I knew you were coming. When your wizard friend was caught, we swapped out your weapon for a different dagger. It's really too bad for you. If you had the original dagger, you might have been able to kill me. But it's mine now!"

He pulled the dagger out from behind his back and burst into maniacal laughter. I shrugged at him, and one wormhole later, the correct dagger was firmly lodged in his midsection. He gaped at me and clawed at his chest.

"Wh-What are you?"

"Drake Jinx, card house builder extraordinaire," I replied.

His eyes widened, but no words ever escaped his mouth. He fell back and landed on the floor. There was a polite knock on the door. I cursed. The door slammed open and a maid with two large knives jumped on me. I cried out and fell backwards. The knives slammed into the floor right next to my head.

"Drake?"

I looked up at the maid. "Oh, hey Jenna. How's life been treating you?"

She sighed and got off of me. Lilly walked through the door and glanced down at me.

"Get up, Jinx. Lazy bastard. Have you killed the King yet?"

I demonstrated an impolite gesture. "Yeah, he just croaked off. Heart attack. Because I stabbed him in the heart."

"Let's get out of here before someone catches us," Jenna said.

I pointed to the window. "Let's go. It's too bad that our giant bird is currently emulating a pancake."

Lilly shrugged and glanced out of the window. "The fall isn't too bad. Just jump."

She leapt out our improvised exit. I made to follow her, but then I paused.

"What about all those poor things in the cage? Shouldn't we let them out?" I asked Jenna.

She looked at me. "They could just try to kill you when they escape. They didn't exactly look human to me."

I frowned. "When I first met you, you were a spider."

She raised her hands in defeat. "I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just saying they look a little strange."

"Yeah, but who wouldn't after being cooped up in a cage for who knows how long? If this goes bad, I'll just use a wormhole and run away."

Jenna sighed. "If you say so."

"Tell Lilly that I'm going after them. We can meet the pancake bird. Jim is there right now," I said.

I created a wormhole behind me and jumped.

The cage was no different than the last time I saw it. The second I appeared, the wails started again.

I held up my hands and they slowly quieted (after a few threats).

"Listen up. If I free you, there are a few things you need to do for me."

"What do you want from us?" one called.

"Free us, then we can speak of such things!" cried another.

That was good. If they had agreed unconditionally, they would have probably ambushed me the moment I let them out.

"I happen to need an army. You interested?"

They chuckled. "How would you ever get us out of this cage alone? You have no way to open it. Begone!"

However, I could tell from the dispirited muttering that they didn't all agree with that sentiment. "Look, if you want to get out, stand at the left side of the cage. I'll get you out and release you when I find a place with enough room to house all of you."

A large amount of the captives broke off and moved to the left side of the cage. I squinted to try to find the back of the cage, but it was far beyond my line of sight. I shrugged and made the largest wormhole I could below the left group. There was a mighty creak, and they were gone.

I opened a smaller wormhole and glanced back at the stunned occupants of the cage. "Later."

I jumped through it and was gone.

Stopping by the dungeon, I picked Jim up. I glanced at the terrified guard, smiled at him, and disappeared again.

When we popped out next to the bird, I collapsed to the ground panting. A trickle of blood seeped out of my glove.

"D-did you kill the King?" Jim coughed.

I winced at the pain in my arm. "Yeah, he's dead. I still need the rest of my army though. Do you happen to know where Billy ran off to? After I collect Lilly and Jenna I need to go find him."

Jim coughed again and sat up. "I should be able to find him. I see Lilly and Jenna headed this way."

I glanced over to where Jim was looking. Sure enough, they were running towards us.

"How did you get here before me?" Lilly grumbled.

"He had another bird."

I shifted my eyes to Jim and glared. He frowned at me, but shrugged.

"Where is it then?" Lilly asked.

"I sent it to check our surroundings. I'll call it back now."

Sure enough, within a few minutes, another large bird crashed down before us. I scrambled up onto its back, closely followed by my companions. Once I was up, Jim tapped me on the shoulder.

"Drake, we need to talk. Lilly doesn't know about your abilities, does she?" he whispered.

I frowned at him. "No, she doesn't. And I have my reasons for keeping her in the dark. I would appreciate it if you kept quiet too."

He shrugged nonchalantly. "You realize she's going to redecorate the floor with your brains when she finds out, right?"

I grimaced. "Yeah, I know. But for the sake of my plans, I really hope she doesn't find out for a long, long time."

Jim clambered up towards the bird's head and patted it a few times. The massive bird shuddered and took off. I took the brief interlude between fighting to seriously think about what I would do once I actually had the army I needed to fight off The Unknown Man. The more I traveled through the worlds that the Pisces Empire had taken over, the more I felt inclined to go against them. They destroyed worlds and nations, and didn't even allow simple men to build wondrous card houses in peace. I was willing to bet that the Pisces Empire had wronged the Unknown Man as well. They probably wrecked his card house too.

I suddenly snapped out of my reverie when someone shook me.

"Drake! We're about to land. Wake up," Jenna said.

I blinked. I hadn't realized that I had zoned out so completely.

"Right, I'm ready. I guess."

The bird turned down sharply, and I dug my fingers into its feathers as the monstrosity nosedived. It suddenly pulled straight up and plowed into the ground with a mighty crash. The moment it stopped moving, I hopped onto the ground. Billy stood in front of me with a wry grin on his face.

"Mr. Jinx. I see you took care of our royal pain in the behind."

"Yeah, yeah. He's dead all right. He had a heart attack."

Billy smirked. "Wonderful. As promised, your army awaits. I took the liberty of drafting your men for you while you were away. They stand ready and united; just tell them when you are ready to go."

I nodded. "Did we get any big birdies or other creepy crawlies in the deal too?"

Billy nodded. "A few hundred. Not many, but their size will make up for that. They weren't part of the deal anyways."

"Thanks Billy. If that's the case, I think we'll be off now. A cruddy empire to save and all."

I closed my eyes, and the Grid appeared before me. Luckily, there was an exit location right beside us.

"Huh, that's nice. The exit is right here."

Billy's grin grew even wider. "I'll be off then, Mr. Jinx. Farewell. I dare say that we will probably meet again."

I looked over to Lilly. "Could you get them rounded up?"

She nodded and turned to the huge mass of teeming soldiers. While she began addressing them, I discretely opened a wormhole and stepped into it.

Before me stood a massive army of uncountable numbers.

"What the heck? How in the worlds beyond did all of you manage to fit within that cage back at the castle?"

One of them stepped forward, marking him as the leader.

"We were war prisoners of the Pisces Empire before you came along and freed us. Our numbers are great, and our anger matches it. As promised, we will help you with your war, but after that, we will serve you no longer."

I grimaced. "Well, that's fine with me, but the war happens to be funded by the Pisces Empire."

I threw up my hands in surrender before they could mob me. "Wait! I may be funded by them, but they hold no loyalty from me. I believe there is a good chance that we may end up fighting against them and crushing them once and for all. But for now, please play along. A loyal agent of the Pisces Empire currently resides with us, and she can report back to them if something goes awry."

The leader nodded slowly. "You play a dangerous game, but we will do what you request of us... for now."

I grinned in relief. "Perfect. Right now, I'm going to release all of you next to another army. There is a Pisces agent on the other end of it. It's important that you stay quiet so that she doesn't notice you. She has only seen one side of it, so she won't know if it gets a ton bigger. She isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, if you catch my drift."

With that, I ripped open the wormhole and ported a second army in right next to Billy's. I glanced around to see if Lilly had noticed, but she was speaking with Billy, her back turned to me. There was some small commotion in the back lines of Billy's army, but they passed it off as another of the Pisces Empire's tricks and calmed down quickly.

Jenna approached me. "We're ready to go. On your mark, Drake."

I nodded to her and waved Lilly over. Once we were all standing with our hands on each other, I closed my eyes. The Grid swam into existence before me, and I stepped into the circle. There was a flash, and the world faded away to the unforgiving onslaught of darkness.

Once within the Grid, we were greeted by the rest of my army. Before me stood a massive unit of soldiers that stretched so far back into the Void that I couldn't see the end of it. They all saluted to us and froze in place.

Caesar and Patton walked up to us.

"So, did you ever learn to ride your tank?" I asked Patton.

He smirked. "I'm better at it than you are, I assure you."

"I see you have brought a new supplement of rabble to further contaminate my newly trained forces. Will you be adding any more after this, or is this not big enough for you yet?" Caesar grumbled.

"Yeah, we'll probably be heading out again after this-"

Lilly cut me off. "No, we're done here. The time to strike is now."

I turned back to her in surprise. She looked slightly white, and her hand was caressing her weapon.

"I received a notification from Pisces just before we left. They're about to lose the war, Jinx. It's time to fight back."

I grimaced. I was hoping to postpone the war for a little longer. Preferably until the empire was defeated.

"Fine. I'm going to my room to work on a plan. I'll be ready soon."

I trudged away from the masses, and Jenna slipped after me. She put her hand on my shoulder.

"Drake, what are you going to do?"

"What do you think? I've got a war to end."

Her grip tightened. "But what side are you going to fight for?"

I looked up at her. "Jenna, I have a question. Don't you think this has been a little... you know, easy?"

A grin slowly crossed her face. "Oh, definitely."

I stopped walking. "Definitely? What aren't you telling me?"

There was a pop, and a wormhole ringed with red ripped open before me. Jenna stepped up and shoved me into it. I toppled through it and landed on my back. My head whipped around and I looked through the wormhole. The last thing I saw before I was surrounded by darkness was her winking at me.

# Chapter 26

The darkness was suddenly vanquished by a brilliant light, and I found myself facing one of the soldiers from the Unknown Man's army.

"Welcome. If you would just follow me, we can get this over with quickly. The Commander wants to speak with you."

I was still reeling from Jenna's betrayal, and I didn't resist as he jerked me to my feet and hustled me through the halls. After what seemed like an eternity, I found myself standing in a small chamber. Before me stood a man in pitch black clothes. A mask depicting a sun on the right and a moon on the left kept me from seeing his face. The mask had a permanently etched grimace and angry eyes.

"Welcome. It's about time we had a talk, don't you think?"

I shook myself out of my reverie. "We just talked. Can I go now?"

He chuckled. "I knew you would say that. However, I'm afraid we aren't done yet. See, there happens to be a small parcel of information that you need to know before you decide which side of this war you're on."

"Oh, what could that be? Do you have a bribe for me?"

The Unknown Man walked towards me and put his hand on my shoulder. He steered me towards the edge of the chamber, where a window overlooked his army. His army dwarfed even my own huge collection, and that wasn't even counting the machines of war.

"Tell me. When you started this quest of yours, what were you like?"

I shrugged. "Bored?"

"No. You were a coward. You didn't have the guts to make the decisions necessary to succeed in getting a single man to join you, much less an army. So how do you think you managed to get an entire army out of every single place you went to? Why would every ruler you went to possibly fork over thousands of men for no real reason? The notion itself is simply ridiculous. Getting the race of Man to listen to you is already an almighty challenge. Getting them to follow you is the cause of wars and genocide. What kind of arrogance do you possess? Are you the most charismatic man to ever walk the realms?"

I stared into the glaring eyes of the mask. For the first time in my life, my mouth flapped uselessly. Before I could say another word, the Unknown Man cut me off.

"I'll answer for you. You aren't. You started as a lazy bum who couldn't be bothered to brush his own hair, and much less get up and do something worthwhile. So, tell me. How did you recruit such an army so easily?"

"Did you... help me?" I queried.

A chuckle erupted from behind the mask. "Help you? Oh yes. I helped you quite a bit. Although I'll give you some credit, I never tried to kill you. So everything that actually tried to kill you- that wasn't me. But everything else? All me."

"But why? What do you have to gain from helping me? Aren't I your enemy?"

He laughed even harder. "Enemies? Only because I beat your card house stacking record. Three hundred and two cards, to be exact."

He reached up and gripped the mask. There was a slight hiss, and it popped off of his face. For the first time, I got a good look at the Unknown Man. And we looked the same.

His mouth was crinkled with mirth. "That's right, Drake Jinx. I, the Unknown Man, am you. Isn't that the interesting development?"

"B-but how? What the hell is going on here?"

I/he shrugged. "Not all that sure myself, really. It turns out that our wormhole power isn't constricted to space. It can travel through time as well."

"Ok, I'll bite then. Assuming you ARE me- and that doesn't mean I believe you, why are we talking? Haven't you caused some space-time rip or some pile of excrement like that?"

Drake Jinx from the future spat on the ground. "I've never had patience for that, and neither have you. I'm here because you're going to choose not to listen to the Pisces Empire and flip them the bird. I know that because that's exactly what I did. The war will start off going great. You'll completely demolish their forces because your own troops can be anywhere, anytime. But right before you strike the finishing blow, you'll be stopped by someone you trust. I think you can guess who."

"...Lilly. It's Lilly, isn't it?"

He waved his hand, and a chair appeared behind him. He flopped into it and put his head in his hands. "It's Lilly. She first tried to kill me during our pre-war feast. I held a giant banquet to get our troops pumped up and ready for battle. She poisoned the wine that I was supposed to drink, but there was a mix-up in the kitchen and Julius Caesar was poisoned instead. The culprit wasn't caught until the second time she tried to kill me. She had an explosive, and attempted to blow herself up along with me to avoid the final destruction of the Pisces Empire. And like the coward we are, our life is more valuable to us than anything else. We stepped into a wormhole, and she killed several of our soldiers, including Jenna and Patton."

I stared at him. "Your use of personal pronouns doesn't seem to be doing so well there. My English teacher would be disappointed in you."

His hands shot forward and grabbed my shoulders. He shook me violently and stared at me with red eyes and puffy cheeks. "Enough! Enough, blast you! For once in your life, stop the stupid foolish jokes and remarks! You have to keep my timeline from happening in yours! Kill Lilly before it is too late!"

I shook my head. "Kill her? But she hasn't done anything to me yet. I couldn't possibly do something like that!"

His fist connected with my face. I tumbled backwards and crashed into the wall. He loomed over me. "You stupid fool! How could I have ever been this idealistic? You will destroy everything you love if you do not stray from this path! It is time you learned that war needs sacrifice! There is no such thing as a perfect world. Look at every single world you traveled to? Did ANY of their governments work well? Did they?"

I rubbed my cheek and thought back. He seemed to take my silence as a confirmation.

"Yes, now you see it. Man, as a species, is corrupt. Don't get me wrong, there are always good people, but for every good man exists ten bad ones. That is why no human government will be able to persist indefinitely. You and I, we are the only ones that have the power to change this. But as for me, I'm done. I cannot go on without Jenna and my friends. Yes, I am done with this war."

He grabbed me and pulled me to my feet. "But you, you are not done. Yes, your war is just beginning. You must become the Unknown Man. You shall be the one to destroy the Pisces Empire, and you will save Jenna too. You know I speak the truth."

He picked his mask up and tossed it to me. "Your soldiers will develop the cloaked uniform that the Unknown Man's soldiers use. This will prove to you that you are who I say you are. Do not allow Lilly to destroy us."

"I will...think on this. But what of you? You can't just abandon your men!" I cried.

He gave me a dark grin. "My men? You mean your men. I told you, I am done with this war. I will go somewhere so far down the timeline that the Pisces Empire is but a speck of dust. And from there, I will live on the rest of my days. I dare not go back into the past. If I did, I risk destroying YOUR timeline, and killing Jenna for the second time."

"Speaking of Jenna, how do you know her in my timeline? She pushed me through this portal, so she must have been communicating with you before."

He nodded. "I have spoken with her several times. She does not know who I am, but agrees with my cause. And I made sure that you would receive the correct Shadow in Trinton. I have some connections that are so far from your current power that you would not believe it. But you will, in time. However, now it is time for you to return to the Void."

I looked at the mask in my hands. I looked back at the older self. "I will do what needs to be done."

He gave me a quiet look of sympathy, and waved his hand. With that, I vanished through a wormhole.

The older Drake Jinx looked quietly at the hovering wormhole where his younger self had fallen through. He sighed. A soldier walked into the room. "Sir, are you sure he will do what is needed?"

He smiled grimly. "I saw his eyes. They have what they lacked before he came here- a glint of cold steel and an ounce of death. He will not fail."

"Is that why you lied to him, Drake?" The soldier asked, pulling their hood off.

He looked sadly at Jenna. "It is. My younger self would never allow you to die, just as I would not. But for an army of men who he didn't truly know, he would have let Lilly destroy them. The Pisces Empire must not go on."

A tear streaked down Jenna's cheek. "But the price you must pay for-"

Drake put his finger on her lips. "It was a price I am more than ready to pay. I tire of this world. We will meet again in the afterlife."

"You are ready to fulfill your part of the bargain, Drake Jinx?"

"Indeed. Take me from this realm. As agreed, for the ability to commune with my younger self, my own life."

"It will be as you say."

Drake looked at Jenna with a small grin. He gave her a sharp salute, and a howling wind blew through the room. There was a sickening chuckle, and when Jenna looked again, all that remained of Drake Jinx was a single black cloak.

I fell back into the Void next to Jenna. She looked apologetic.

"Look, I'm sorry. It was for the best and-"

I held up a hand. "I understand completely. Can you hold onto this for me? Just for a little." I handed her the mask.

She frowned. "Isn't this..."

I held a finger to my lips. "Much will be revealed, but there is much to be done before then. I need you to organize a banquet. For all our men. And get it done soon."

Jenna was baffled. "But Drake, why?"

I waved her away. "Just do it. I'm sorry for acting like this. I just need to be alone for a little."

She gave me a worried glance and left the room.

I collapsed in a chair and stared up at the sky.

# Chapter 27

It took Jenna about a few days to organize the banquet, going by Void time. Lilly was not happy, but she agreed that morale was very important for a battle. I had been monitoring her very closely, and my first hint of trouble came when, on the day of the banquet, she shot me a look that looked like hate and rage combined into one emotion. It was fleeting, but there was no doubt about it. She knew who I was. But for once, she didn't try to shoot first and ask questions later.

I grinned a little in her direction, and changed directions to the kitchen. The wonderful aroma of cooking meat assaulted me, but my somber mood remained the same. The head chef, a plump man in a white uniform, shuffled over to me. "Commander Jinx! What can I do for you?"

"I need something that will put someone out. Nothing fatal, but I don't want them waking up for a long time."

The chef looked surprised, but nodded slowly. "I have what you need. I will not ask you why you need it."

He shuffled around in the back of his cabinet for a while and finally emerged with a small vial of clear liquid. He handed it to me, and immediately turned away and went back to cooking. "Oh, I hear your designers have developed a new uniform that they're handing out now. You might want to check that out, Commander."

A sad grin crossed my face. "Oh, I know all about it. I was just about to head over and get mine."

I exited the kitchen and walked towards the largest crowd of soldiers. I pushed through and walked up to the man giving out the uniforms.

"Hello. I heard you've made me uniforms. I appreciate your work. I hope you've made my specialized one as well?"

He looked baffled. "Well, yes sir. I didn't realize the word got out, but we did have a special one for you. It just has a little more armor, nothing special."

I grinned. "Yes, that will do."

The soldier turned around and ran off. A minute or so later he ran back with a heavier looking cloak in his arms. I plucked it from his hands and threw it over my shoulders. It had a definite weight to it, but nothing unbearable. I nodded to him appreciatively. "This is very good. I will see you all at the banquet."

The hours flew by as I ran some last minute errands, and before I knew it, it was time for the banquet to start. Tables stretched past my sight and each seat had one of my soldiers in it. My two generals, Julius Caesar and George, sat next to me along with Jenna and Lilly. I raised my glass of wine. "A toast- to victory!" I cried.

My eyes locked with Lilly's. Neither of us smiled. I threw back my wine, and everyone else drank theirs. A moment later, a thud broke the silence. Everyone turned to look at Lilly, whose face was in a plate as she snored away.

I heaved a sad sigh and stood up. "Men of my army! Today, someone I trusted attempted to assassinate me. Lilly here, she snuck into the kitchens and replaced my personal wine with a poison. It was tested on a small rat that managed to stow away in our food stocks. The rat died within the hour. To avoid a full out shootout at our party, I put a sleeping agent into her drink."

Cries of alarm and rage rang out all around the tables. I held my hands up. After everyone had quieted, I spoke again. "There is much I must reveal. The first being that I am the Unknown Man. I have no wish to explain the entire thing, so just take my word for it. The Pisces Empire has had its tyranny for long enough. It is time for us to end it."

I pulled the sun and moon mask from my cloak. I pressed it to my face. With a hiss, the mask attached itself firmly to me. "The Pisces Empire will fall!"

The silence was broken by a single cheer, which evolved into a massive cry of war. My masked gaze fell on the snoring Lilly. I grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and dragged her away from the feasting crowd of warriors. I pulled her laser gun from its holster and looked at it sadly. "In the end, Lilly, it looks like you were right. At least partially. Violence may not always be the solution, but there are times..."

I turned the setting to max. I sighted down the barrel. "When it is the only solution."

If one listened closely, they could hear the roar of a laser gun and the death of a friend echo quietly through the void.

The banquet finished several hours later, and nobody asked me where Lilly was. Jenna once came up to me, but I waved her away. "Soon, we go to war. The Pisces Empire falls tomorrow. The previous Unknown Man has done his part in destroying their defenses. All that is left is to rip out their corrupt core."

Jenna hugged me. "It'll all be over tomorrow. Tomorrow." I stifled a sob.

I stood at the Cube, my army in formation behind me. I cleared my throat. "Prepare for battle. Listen to your generals carefully. This all ends today."

I activated the Leap, and we stood before the massive land of the Pisces Empire. Personally, I had never seen the massive walls of the empire from the outside. I had always been within an office. I could tell that the shattered and smoldering walls had once been grand pillars of white metal. Now, rubble littered the ground. Houses and corporate buildings lay scattered and destroyed. Far off in the distance, I could see the mighty spires of the capital rising to the sun, their tops far beyond the ceiling of the clouds.

"Tear it to the ground!" I roared.

There was an eruption of fire that sounded like a symphony of mechanical animals crying out in rage. Red and yellow repainted the landscape of the empire, screams of alarm and death echoing out. Their counter attack came back as fast. Thousands of robotic meteors crashed into the ground before us, each unfolding into a huge mechanical war machine. Lasers roared through the air, each side taking losses.

I nodded to Julius and Patton. "I have my own mission. Crush them completely."

After they both saluted to me, I ran off into a wormhole. I reappeared within the capitol, within the Council room.

"What is the meaning of this?" one Council member cried out.

A dark grin crossed my face. "The time of the Pisces Empire is over. Drake Jinx sends his regards."

Before they could react, I opened a massive wormhole to the center of an active volcano, dropping the entire Council with their bodyguards into it. I stepped back into my wormhole. All that was left was to make sure that nothing remained of this atrocity of an Empire.

My army smashed through theirs quickly with relatively low losses. We avoided as many civilian casualties as we could after the initial barrage, but anyone who opposed us did not stand for long. We carved our way through the land, and eventually reached the gates of the capital. Good old Rusty the Cyborg was manning the gates. His hands gripped his rifle tightly, but he was shivering. I didn't even know robots could do that.

"You'll not take this land until we're all dead!" he called down to us.

I smirked. Removing the mask, I looked at him. "Remember me? I want you to know this before I smash what remains of your disgusting empire. I, Drake Jinx, was what destroyed you. The one man that was always slacking off. The one that you all considered expendable and worthless. Your tyranny ends today. Your Council members are already dead, and your main army has been destroyed. Goodbye, Rusty. I'd say it was good knowing you, but that would be a lie."

The artillery roared again, and the capitol begun to disappear. Years and years of work put into making the mightiest empire in the universe, the one with the most unbeatable army and the most powerful technology. Several hours later, the few survivors of what would come to be known as the massacre of the Pisces Empire stood alone and fearful. Fearful, but not sad. I chuckled quietly to myself.

"This has got to be the biggest blasted card house I've ever destroyed in my life."

# Epilogue

I looked at the seat that I had sat in when I was older and sighed to myself. All this time travel business was far too confusing, and my job wasn't even close to done. Yes, the Pisces Empire had fallen that day. I had razed its army to the ground and toppled its Council. While I had spared the people of the empire, many of them no longer had anything to live for. To make matters worse, I had killed Lilly.

Sometimes, when I was alone, I could hear her voice on the nonexistent breeze within the void. It called out to me, asking me why I betrayed the Empire. For the most part, I could ignore it. Jenna's presence certainly helped me a lot. No matter what anyone else thought of me, I knew she would always stand by my side.

No matter how much I just wanted to give up my role in the universe and retire to somewhere with some nice sandy beaches and drink alcohol from coconut shells, I knew there was still much to be done. I quickly made contact with the people of Iropolice and offered to assist them in their repairs. They accepted my help, but it just made me feel worse since I knew what would have to happen to them in my future, but their past.

But my course was already set. The lives of all the people my actions had eventually saved from the Pisces Empire were worth those lost from my actions in destroying it. They had to be. Because if they weren't, there really wasn't a point to any of this.

I sighed and pushed the philosophical thoughts out of my head. Those were best left to men who had the ability to speak and mindlessly waste time discussing problems while managing to never take a single step forwards in solving them.

It was time for me to get to work. A young engineer from the Pisces Empire was about to be recruited forcibly into going on what seemed to be a suicide mission. Arrangements had to be made at the planets he would visit, and I still had to figure out how I would get him his own Crucible.

But for now, I would wing it. I called a Ronsard soldier over to me.

"What can I do for you, commander? And when will we be returning home?" he asked.

"I need a uniform from you. One of the King's guards. I also need some volunteers- people who would kill your Tyrant a second time. And as for going home, I wish I could say. I don't know why the time in the Void is so skewed, but I fear that I may be the cause of it. However, for right now, I have an idealistic scientist and his psychopathic partner to save."

# Afterword

Thanks so much for reading my book! Without readers, writing a book is pointless. If you could take a few minutes to drop by the retailer you purchased this book from and leave a review for it, I would greatly appreciate it. A review for a small author is worth a hundred purchases. If you want to contact me, I'm always happy to answer any questions at theunleashed.books@gmail.com

Cheers!

Andy Nadir
