Jason is a man
It's a usual Wednesday at Quaking Aspens High School, and he's had it.
'Hadrian, I want to break free. Let's leave this place behind. Run away or something. School's so…uneventful.'
His friend, ever patient, assesses him like a sagely tabby cat, lecturing a child about a grown-up's world.
'Patience, James. You need a good education.'
'Why?'
'So you can go to a good college.'
'What for?'
'So you can get a degree.'
'Then?'
'You can get a satisfying job.'
'And then?'
'You can buy a house, and maybe a car.'
'Why?'
'So you can meet someone nice, settle down, and have some kids.'
'Why?'
'So you can grow old and die peacefully.'
'Why?'
No response. They pass a group of drama kids, eyeing them pitifully.
'It's sad, watching him.'
'Been almost a year and he still hasn't moved on.'
James and Hadrian ignore the stares, continuing their talk.
'Imagine going to a magic school, Hadrian. Learning forbidden arts.'
'You've been reading too many fantasy novels, Jakey. I suggest you go out more often. Touch some grass.'
He feels like Jason crushed under the Argo.
'Why live in the outside world when my inside world is much more inviting?'
'At some point you need to make the two worlds touch. Find equilibrium. It's the only way to truly grow.'
Subjects are as usual. Tired, dry, repetitive. He looks forward to Lit.
'You ever wish for something more?'
'Whatcha mean?'
'Like, something to strive for. A higher goal. Greater good.'
'Sometimes. But this life is enough to worry about.'
The earthquake hits at noon, December twelfth, 2012 CE.
The students flee to their classrooms. It's safer to be under the protection of a table than standing in naked air.
James and Hadrian stay outside. They approach a window, from which they can spot a massive black cloud. A shadowy twirlblast, throbbing like a heart.
'The hell is that?'
'Something wicked,' says Hadrian warily.
The cloud swallows the school, and the ground once more rattles like a giant subterranean catfish thrashing around.
Something breaks in, snaking its way through the halls, like a cancer poisoning veins in a body.
A portal, some gaping doorway of black flame, opens up on a wall nearby, sucking them in.
Indraputra
Richard Cordelian. The jock of the school with a heart of gold. The classroom's full, students huddled under chairs, and he's watching over them like a lion.
'I'm scared, Richie.'
Aliyana holds his hand, her olive eyes wide and unsure. She's the same age as him, but with the mind of a child. He hugs her.
'It'll be alright. I'm with you.'
He decides to tell her a story. It always works with his baby brother. In this case he takes one from Vedic mythology.
'You ever heard of Indra?'
She shakes her head, snuggled up to him like a pup near its mother wolf.
'The god of rain, thunder, and lightning. He was blue like the ocean, his beard and hair made of red gold. His wife was Shachee, the green goddess of the planet Venus.
He rode on a giant white elephant, Airaavana, who had thirty-three heads, each head with seven golden tusks that shone like a thousand suns. When the elephant ran on the clouds, storms would be made. Indra's weapon was the Vajra, a diamond thunderbolt, and he was feared by many monsters, including his greatest enemy.'
'Who?'
He smiles. She's drawn in. He makes his voice deep and dramatic:
'The mighty Vritra, a large seven-headed serpent, each head with a thousand red eyes! The monster was creating droughts and catastrophes across the earth, so Indra decided to slay the beast.'
'Did he?'
'With the help of some friends, he did. Many gods showed up to assist him, each with a different number of heads and arms showing how powerful they were.
Some had ten heads, some twenty, some a hundred, some a thousand, some ten thousand, some a hundred thousand, some ten million, and others a hundred million. Indra only had one. They rode on the clouds, fighting Vritra in the air, and Indra struck the monster with his thunderbolt. The beast fell to the earth like an asteroid, and that's how the dinosaurs went extinct.'
The last part is him taking some artistic license, but the story is effective nonetheless. Aliyana relaxes.
'I hope Indra helps us now.'
He agrees. Outside, something dark and evil is moving. Prowling, like an invisible bear.
'Your name means Deer, Aliyana. Deer are strong, fast, and smart. You'll be ok, I'll be ok, we'll all be ok.'
He's not so sure about that promise, but it's all he has. Whatever transpires, he will not let anything bad happen to her. He softly sings some lines from a folk song his grandmother taught him, rocking Aliyana like a baby in his arms:
'Where rivers carve the hills in twain
I'll see you with the wolves again,
Upon the prairies bathed in mud,
Where there is no more thirst for blood,
And children run free in the rain.'
He sings it till she drifts away, her head on his bosom. He rests too, hoping a hero will come.
Spaceship
James is in a white vapid void, with no sound or sensation.
'Hadey?'
He sees his friend, standing a few yards away. Hadrian's eyes are hollow, skin pallid and lifeless. A tentacle of shadow wraps itself around them, yanking them into a cloud of black smoke.
A dark voice, grating and maimed, whispers in James' ear:
'El Lago del Oscuro Olvido. Estare alli.'
He recoils.
'Don't you dare! That's a private language between me and...'
The voice laughs, a corpselike chuckle:
'Move past Medeia, James. What's done is done.'
'What are you?'
'El Senhor del Reino Subterraneo. Meet me at the Black Lake.'
With that, the dark presence leaves with Hadrian in tow.
'I'll find you, Hadrian.'
He sees something large and shadowy on the horizon. A black body of water, an onyx eye in this boundless white face. He sets out, the void endless, like his determination.
Tomb
Here is the account of the mighty Parker Sunstone and his friend, Joseph son of Bob.
'What is this place?'
Like James, they too have wandered into a weird vortex that opened in their school. This land is an orange desert, seven blue suns dotting the sky.
'I think we're in a dream. Or an acid trip.'
'But the same dream? That's unlikely.'
The ground feels like dried bone, and nothing can be seen for miles and miles.
'I think we should…ahhh!'
A large swarthy beast grabs them, lifting them by the shoulders.
'What be ye?'
It sniffs them like a bloodhound. The creature has a human face, the body of a Barbary lion, and wings of a Steller's sea-eagle, with a voice like a drunk fishmonger. Its rubbery tail ends with a hissing anaconda's head.
'Humans! We're humans!'
'Hmmm…ye hoomans smell good.'
'Trust me, we taste horrible. Like, I just ate a toast sandwich a few minutes ago. Know what that is? Two slices of bread, with a slice of toast as the filling. The blandest sh...'
'I will take ye back to my cave and make a nice black pudding.'
'You really don't need to do that. I packed lunch.'
Parker taps his pocket. Two peanut butter and banana sandwiches fall out, wrapped in resealable plastic bags.
The beast sniffs the offerings.
'Not appealing. Ye smell much better.'
At this point Joseph loses it, his inner German grandma coming out:
'Leck mich am Arsch, fotze!'
He struggles to get away, but the thing's grip is unflinching. Parker starts panicking.
A bullet splits the monster's skull, the source a sixteen-inch Colt Buntline revolver. The thing drops the boys and collapses, gooey yellow ichor pooling on the ground.
They look up to their hero. He wears simple black tactical gear, a helmet hiding his face. Imagine a cowboy mixed with a soldier, biker, and pirate.
'Captain Richard Fayyingtworn Junglenoodle, at your service.'
Taking off his headgear, they recognize his voluptuous chin.
'James?'
Turns out they're in an alternate world. They follow this adult James, unsure of their destination.
'You're from a realm parallel to my own. The James Dunkle of your world is me but younger and, I assume, less handsome.'
'And what exactly is your world?'
'There are five Worlds, stacked on top of each other like dinner plates, each World having five Dimensions, each Dimension its many universes. The Worlds are branches, the Dimensions flowers.
Each Dimension has its version of you, me, everyone. I call these doppelgangers, these copies, Reflectants. From top to bottom: the Front World, which includes your Earth, the Aos Si, great Rades, an abstract place ruled by the Six Gods of the Elements, strange Anesidora, the World of rogue dimensions, and finally the Vale of the Red Men, where none can go.'
'Red Men?'
'Let's not discuss them. They give me the heebie-jeebies. You're currently in the second Dimension of the Fourth World, or Dimension Seventeen.'
'This is all very confusing.'
'Well, you're thirteen. I can understand your initial shock.'
'So there are twenty-five versions of James in existence?'
'Yes. I'm probably the smartest of them.'
'Where are the versions of us?'
He sighs.
'You don't wanna know.'
Incessant Was The Fighting
Richie's weighing his options. He could hop out the window and get help. But that would mean leaving Aliyana alone. The gardener's left his woodchipper on, and it's right outside under their classroom, making a noise that's ruining his thinking process.
The rest of his peers are terrified. All except Ariel Neferrenca.
The school's brooding and mysterious loner, a shunner of friendships of any kind, with a love for the dark and cold.
Richard feels off about him. Leaving Aliyana sleeping on his bag, he approaches Ariel cautiously. He styles himself as a 'filosofo.'
'You know anything about this, Ari?'
He smirks.
'Salvador del mundos.'
'Saviour of the worlds?'
He grins menacingly. Outside a storm is brewing.
Richie moves over to the smartest kid in their class. She could shed some light on this.
'Whatcha think, Nory?'
Her hair is tipped with rosy pink, her eyes with a sharp mind.
'This weather, it can't be manmade. And it's too…coordinated…to be natural.'
'What else could cause this?'
He lowers his voice.
'And what the hell is that thing out there?'
She shares his concern.
'I don't know. It's not an animal. And all I can guess is it's not looking for friends.'
To the Dark Water
James is tired, but he won't let Hadrian down.
It's been a tough year for him. Medeia leaving took a toll on his mental health, and he hasn't recovered from the separation.
'Everyone thinks I'm crazy. Maybe this time I can prove 'em wrong.'
His family were abolitionists, freedom-fighters, brave madmen and madwomen of every stripe. He comes from a proud line. Why should this Thing prove him wrong?
'Whatever you are, monster, demon, demigod…I will kill you. Save my friend. And tell them…'
No. He can't. Shame swallows him.
Martes Foina
'How do you know so much about us? About other worlds?'
'I'm the most intrepid James Dunkle there is. My research extends beyond my Dimension, and I've studied the other realities out there religiously.'
'How'd you know we would come here? What was that thing? And where are we going?'
'The Weasel told me to expect you two. That thing was a sphinx, a common pest in this realm. And we're going to meet Him.'
'The Weasel?'
'The Dweller at the Strait. A cosmic being of unimaginable power and wisdom, with the ability to traverse the borders of the Worlds.'
This road is marked on either side with images of local deities, all of which James explains. Dionysemera, goddess of dawn, marked with a red hibiscus. Varoci, god of silence, shown in an ear of corn. Falon, god of protection, a two-headed archangel made of blue diamond. Kayin, the cat-faced god of wind and fire, and Hevel, the bear-faced god of earth and water, presented in piles of precious stones. Aproprapropropatos, goddess of desire, symbolized with a simple inscription on a tablet: 'Omnia Vincit Amor, Et Nos Cedamus Amori.'
Parker assumes 'Weasel' is the guy's nickname. Joseph's still shaken up by their previous encounter, so he's on guard. When your surname is Danger, life is rarely mundane.
They make it to a sandy mountainous area. Or, at least, what once was a mountain range.
'Welcome to the Himalayas.'
'Um, we're in the desert.'
'Nuclear fallout tends to melt snow. Don't worry, we're not climbing anything.'
He finds a spot on the ground, kneels, and utters a spell:
'Mikel, mekil, milek, melik, kimel, kemil, kilem, kelim, limek, lemik, likem, lekim!'
Slamming his fist on the ground, they're transported into the heart of Mount Everest.
A large cavern, dark but lit with lamps held in the jaws of sleeping bats.
A whale-sized emerald-green couch floats above them like some celestial throne.
'Great Weasel! I seek an audience with thee!'
Something large shifts awake. It makes itself visible.
The boys are confused. Reclining on the couch is a giant white beech marten, with 701,468,392,523,816,070,046,289,411,
368,222,507,496,286,869,371,438,642,749,038,614 heads, a bag of chips in hand. He has long iron sickles in place of claws.
A swarm of blue eyes focuses on the trio. The weasel speaks:
'Why are you here? I was sleeping, dude.'
'Good Master, Sword of the Whirlwind, these boys are from another Dimension. Something wrong has happened in their World, and the Great Threat has presented itself.'
Joseph's confused.
'Wait, what? What threat?
'Dicit deum Demiurgum summum, cujus scire nomen non licet,' the Weasel responds mysteriously.
'I don't speak Latin, my guy.'
Captain James decides to offer some exposition. He takes a seat on the cave's damp floor.
'Each Dimension is different from its neighbours. Some are centuries in the past, some millennia in the future. And most of these differences are caused by powerful para-natural beings interfering with those realms' histories. This realm has been shaped by creatures called the Children of Eris.'
The Weasel interjects:
'There were fourteen of these miscreants. Ponos, Lethe, Limos, Algos, Husmine, Mache, Phonos, Androktasia, Neikos, Pseudologos, Amphillogia, Dusnomia, Ate, and Horkos, each worse than the last. Their worshippers called them the Dauntless All-Vanquishers, though I could destroy the wimps in a millisecond.'
'Why didn't you?'
'Something else did.'
James continues:
'The entity currently invading your Dimension is what gave rise to Eris' Children in this one. It is known by many names, especially in this realm. Triplicis Mundi Summum, Proavus Omnium Deorum, Pater Noster Qui Est In Orco, quem scire nefastum est.'
'What is it?'
'A deva.'
'What?'
'Deva, plural Devaasa. A god, for lack of a better term.'
'So an evil godlike creature has attacked our school?'
'Your World as a whole.'
Parker takes a seat. This is a weird day.
'It moves outside the Worlds like a parasite latching onto a bigger prey animal. Unseen until it strikes.'
'What does it want?'
'We don't know. Not even the Weasel knows.'
'This being has its servants, its Parcae, everywhere. Nafir-Rin-Kur was its nastiest soldier. These mountains were his kingdom till I drove him and his understudies out.'
Joseph approaches the couch.
'Great Weasel, can you take us home?'
'Perhaps. But I can't do it right now.'
'Why not?'
The marten lifts its left leg, wrapped in old bandages.
'Hockey accident. I need time to heal before I can use my full power.'
A great quaking shakes the cave. A voice like thunder cascades through the cavern:
'Kyle!!! Are you playing those damned video games again???'
The Weasel responds:
'I'll do my homework later! Leave me be!'
'Mister Martrine will fail you again if you turn in your assignment late!'
'I won't!!! I'm sixteen, ma! Let me make my own decisions!!!'
Something larger than these mountains moves above them.
When the trembling subsides, Parker speaks up:
'Your name is Kyle?'
'Well, it's actually Kenneth, but nobody remembers that.'
'Didn't know you were part of a species.'
'Where d'you think I came from? Thin air?'
'Considering we're currently speaking to a furry bouquet of snakes, I wouldn't be surprised.'
Joseph questions James:
'How powerful is this monster?'
'To use an analogy: if Kyle is God and his mum is God God, this thing is Satan God God.'
'So how do we get home? If Kyle is injured…'
'Find the sheep,' Kyle interjects.
'The sheep?'
'James works for a police force run by talking sheep. The Federal Law Enforcers Expediting Crime's Extinction.'
'The Fleece?'
'Hey, they're sheep. Let 'em live a little.'
'Have they got stuff to help us return?'
'Yes. We've got a realm-jumping machine at HQ. Kyle could send some power over when he's healed up, and we can send you two back. Maybe with backup.'
Any plan's better than no plan. They take leave, bidding the super-powered mustelid goodbye.
'Vibes to you and the fullest extent of your expression. We are all connected, bros.'
James makes a call.
School
A music number by a scared R. Cordelian.
Richie:
We're in some deep trash,
I hear the clouds crash,
And the storm's still behind the door,
I'm still tryna see
Just where help could be,
But my mind just can't take no more!
Aliyana:
We need a hero,
Yes, we need a hero,
A brave guy or gal in gear,
Cause when all seems lost
They will pay the cost,
Or else lose out to fear!
(Rock guitar kicks in)
Students (Chorus):
We need a hero!
Someone who's brave and strong,
With a sword eight feet long,
A hero!
Cause time's running out,
Oh please hear our shout!
Ariel:
He'll open all our eyes,
Take us through the skies,
Thrones for each boy and girl,
So why be scared?
Be like me, I'm prepared!
Come and feel His power unfurl!
Nory:
I trust things will go right,
There's still time to fight,
Though things look dark and dim,
So we'll stay still,
Cause I know we will
Be saved from this place so grim.
Students:
(Chorus)
Miss Applejack:
I hear the thunder quake,
The earth rattles and my body shakes,
The ground around bends and breaks,
The sky lies in shattered flakes,
The gods hide their vast mistakes,
The ghosts come and take and take…
Richie:
Aliyana, hold my hand!
Aliyana:
Richie, brave we'll stand!
Students:
Cause a hero will save us,
Yes, they will save us,
Our lives won't leave this land!
We need a hero!
Someone who's brave and strong,
With a sword eight feet long,
A hero!
Cause time's running out,
Oh please hear our shout!
Miss Applejack (Coda):
Hero, hear us,
We're all waiting,
But time is life,
So no delaying!
We're scared but hope
That things won't go crass.
So please come quick
And kick some ass!
(Outside, a dark presence is looming. Will salvation come in time?)
Of Gods and Hoomans
'Officers Dorper and Turcana have set the machine up. When we're inside, you will address me as Captain Richard or Mister Junglenoodle. My co-workers don't know my real name.'
'Gotcha.'
The building's drab concrete, decorated with proverbs in Loaghtan, their sheepish language.
Some officers approach them, their comically tiny legs carrying them along.
'Moghrey mie, Richardus!'
'Moghrey mie! Kanys ta shiu?'
'Feer vie, feer vie, gura mie eu. As shiu hene?'
'Feer vie!'
They waddle off, batons in hand. James addresses the kids:
'Just let me do the talking.'
They approach the entrance. A pair of lazy yellowed eyes peek through a slit:
'Cre voish ta shiu?'
He says the password:
'Yave Hu Elohim Pheluzidar, Bonideus et Asura Medhaa.'
They enter.
It's a regular rundown station, with cells filled with recently caught ne'er-do-wells.
They make it down a staircase to the basement.
'I introduce to you the Nus, or Mind.'
'It looks like a phone booth. Or porta potty.'
'Well, we were on a budget when we made it.'
'We?'
Hooded figures emerge from the shadows. Joseph raises his fists, Parker goes over his jujitsu training in his head.
They remove their guises, revealing that they all, in some way, look like Richard.
'Boys, meet the Council of Jameses. A team of my Reflectants, minus seven.'
The eighteen Jameses are of different ages, from different eras, some of different species. They meet up sometimes to chill, discussing the happenings of their realities. The Jameses of the Fifth World have never shown themselves.
The meeting starts. Latter-day Saint James opens the proceedings with a prayer, and Roman James, or Jacobus Helvidius Sergius, dims the lights.
'Why have you summoned us?' asks Barbarian James from the Medieval Period.
'Brethren, the Prince of Darkness and Dead Night has invaded the Second Dimension. The Front World is in trouble.'
'What is it seeking?'
'We don't know. It just appeared and attacked.'
Mermaid James leaves for a drink. They'll be here a while.
'We need to use the Nus to send these boys back, with assistance preferably.'
'I think we should stay out of this, frater. This is not our fight,' advises Goat-Headed James.
'The Weasel warned me. If left uninhibited, this thing could destroy all Dimensions.'
'But he ain't the smartest of his kind,' retorts Cowboy James. He's from Dimension Sixteen.
'Well, Kyle son of Jeff may be a teen. But his kind lives for 313,528,320,000,000 human years. I assume he knows more than we do about this threat.'
They continue their discussions while Parker shares his sandwiches with Joseph.
Finally they reach a consensus. Captain Junglenoodle will accompany the boys with a weapon from the Universe-Belching Unicorns of the Eighth Dimension. They'll go in, he'll kill the entity and hop out.
'Hopefully there won't be any Red Men around.'
'You still haven't explained what they are, so we're not particularly terrified of that possibility.'
'They call themselves World-Rulers. Cunning creatures from the Fifth World that evolved from
Homo rudolfensis, unlike modern humans who came from
Homo heidelbergensis,' explains Octopus James.
'So they're just humans of a different species?'
'They were visited by the Entity millennia ago and given incredible tech that made them the superior creatures of their World. Eventually they became powerful enough to kill devaasa. They are the gods of their Dimensions, and serve only the Threat.'
'What makes them so deadly?'
'They have the powers of their master, but the likeness of children. You'd never know how dangerous they were until they turned your universe into silly string.'
'Their current leader, Henry Jibril, is said to have killed the Children of Eris. We don't tell Kyle 'cause he'd freak out.'
'Okay, so they're bad news. I assume they're the Parcae that serve this evil meshuggener?'
'Yep.'
'Well, we'd better get back soon.'
Fight back
'Nory's starting a revolution.'
She's tired of sitting here and doing nothing. Either they wait here for the thing outside to come in and kill them, or they go out and try escaping.
Standing on a table, arms raised like Alexander the Great:
'Guys, I know we're all scared. But I say we make a run for it. The way this storm is building, the school could collapse any minute. I don't want us to wait here for a hero that'll never come. So let's go out, one by one, and escape this trap.'
Ariel is getting upset.
'No.'
'No?'
'We need to stay. Our eyes will be opened. We will be saved.'
'Ari, I've no time for your unintelligible tangents. Let's g…'
He grabs her by the leg, his grip stone.
'I don't think you understand, Nora. This isn't an option.'
His voice darkens:
'This is an initiation. And you're all wanted.'
A large bloodied arm erupts from his mouth, its nails black and cracked. His eyes roll back.
Nory pulls out her pocket knife, stabbing at the thing's face. Choronzon found the perfect person to possess.
'No cancer can be removed from a body until the cancer is acknowledged. And only then, with the removal, can healing begin. But constant in the process is pain!'
He throws her to the ground, third hand gripping her hair.
'El Principe Sabio del Gran Consejo, Genio de la Tierra. He will free us all!'
Choronzon is very excited. Master will reshape this world, make it pure. But first he wants to have some fun with the humans.
'There's a Reaper named Death, and with His sickle keen, He reaps the grain at breath and flowers grown between,' it sings sadistically.
Nory's a smart cookie. She knows how to take down a target larger than herself.
Kicking the thing's left leg, she spins around and grabs a nearby pencil on the ground. Jamming it in the creature's third hand, she frees herself from its grip.
She wrestles with the beast, dragging him to the window.
'Richie! Now!'
Richard flings it open and Nory tosses the monster out like a burnt pancake.
He falls head first into the woodchipper below. A wet squelching noise fills the air, and then the smell of bacon.
Brief silence. Then cheers. Had he had more time, Choronzon would have turned them all into ribbons. Aliyana was asleep, so Rich is relieved.
'Sad we lost him. But we should get going.'
Leaving the general coherence of the thing to be desired
Flying Spaghetti Monster James starts the machine up. Captain James enters the password: FRIGATEBIRD.
'Who built this thing?'
'The sheep, mostly. With some help from Mag the Water-bear, Anth the Wind-man, Terrarius the Rock-beast, Ishkoodah the Fire-wolf, Talonncal the Thunder-falcon and Murrka the Slug of Darkness.'
'Kyle rang me. He's ready to help.'
'Awesome.'
The Jameses prepare the booth, flipping switches and pushing coloured buttons. Jacobin James is singing in French:
'Every maid in Paris
Wants to be a god:
Living just for dying,
Fighting 'gainst the odds.
Tossed like glitter on the street:
Hard to find and hard to meet.'
Parker's doing pushups, Joseph is training with Persian Warrior James, or Sarikushta the Lion.
Neanderthal James, or Udros, is helping lay out a plan with Richard. He'll enter the school through the parking lot, make his way to the monster, and exit from the basketball court before anyone sees him.
It's time.
The eighteen Jameses stand in a circle, each wearing a rune on their robe.
Captain Richard and the boys squeeze into the machine. Miles away Kyle readies himself.
'Hamanda, aka, ata, raka, tedha, baf!'
They feel the machine rattling. The Weasel has sent over some energy.
'You've got two hours!'
'Got it!'
If he can't make it back, they've agreed to leave him in the First World.
Parker chuckles.
'What's up?'
'It's been a weird day.'
He hugs him.
'But of those I could've spent it with, I'm glad I spent it with you, Joseph Danger.'
They zap away.
James has made it to the Black Lake.
The water is faced by a large throne, seemingly made of black ice. He sees Hadrian on the other side.
'Adriane!'
They say nothing.
James sighs.
'Te extranhe. Ha sido un anho largo.'
They vanish. He finally admits:
'I was ashamed. But maybe I don't want to be anymore.
From stardust to now, from single cells to human bodies, from trees to cities…I've loved you across time and space. I just wish I'd told you sooner. I wish I'd been brave.'
A figure appears on the throne, large and imposing, like a living sun made of shadow.
'Jamieson Erastus Klaud Yuri Leon Lucius Dunkle. I've been expecting you.'
'Who are you?'
He gestures to a second throne on his left, which materializes from thin air. A stairway forms from the waters beneath, of the same stuff as the supernal seat.
'Sit. We have much to discuss.'
He reaches the chair, cautiously sitting near what he can only describe as Infinity.
'You haven't revealed your name.'
'I've had many. Koshchej Bessmertnyj, Ardhanaaree, Ptah, Yaldabahut, Abrasax.'
'Where do you come from?'
'In terms of genealogy a son of Zeus and Thetis. Not the Zeus you humans know, however. I was rumoured to be stronger than my father.'
'Were you?'
'He's dead and I'm here.'
'What are you doing on my planet?'
'I've been to this mud-ball before. I was Yanapau, Anubis, in the land of Kumat. The Eternal Geometer put me in charge of the Dimensions, so I've always been around.'
'I doubt you've ever been trusted with anything.'
'Looks can be deceiving. Some see me as a lord of death, or chaos. I am simply truth.'
'Truth?'
'I show my devotees ultimate reality. Everything with the curtain removed. For some this brings insanity, for others hypersanity.'
'You just sound like one of those street magicians who use mind-tricks to win followers.'
'One who forbids investigation of their miracles is a crook, one who doesn't investigate a miracle is gullible, and one who believes a miracle without verification is a fool. My power is true, my reign fair.'
'What brought you to my school?'
'I'm planning to reshape the Worlds. Make them better. I already had an acolyte in your town, and he prepared the way for my entry.'
James decides to change topics:
'You got any kids?'
'Nine. Eris, Pan, Klotho, Lachesis, Atropos, Koios, Phanes, Gaia, and Erebos. But Pan is dead.'
For a second he hears something vulnerable. But he's still cautious.
'What's the deal with you and Hadrian, James?'
He feels something strong and alluring. Something irresistible. Beguiling.
'I…we met in third grade. They were brilliant, really brilliant. I'd met my perfect companion, honestly. In seventh grade they told me they were non-binary. They trusted me with a lot of things. In tenth grade they played Medeia in one of our school musicals, and I was Tree Number Five. We grew close.'
'Were you ever jealous of them?'
'No. Never. I…they were my sanctuary. I felt I could rely on them.'
'What happened that night?'
He feels an eye in his skull, omnispective and plotting.
'I'd wanted to tell them my feelings for a while. I had it all planned out. A midnight picnic under the stars. Had a blanket and everything. I chose a beautiful lake nearby, iced over. They say you could drive a truck over it, it was that strong.'
He stops. It's all flooding back.
'They followed me out on the ice. But they slipped. The lake started cracking. I…'
A tear, the only warm thing in this place, carves into his face.
'I couldn't save them. I've lived with that for a year now.'
The entity assumes a humanoid shape, a fatherly form. A muscled arm rests on his shoulder.
'Your mind was shattered from that night. You saw them everywhere, felt them nowhere. All alone you carried that grief, until today.'
James faces him.
'I've been looking for a son, James. One to assume the role of Pan, my second child.'
'A replacement?'
'No. I'm looking for an equal. Many of my followers are unreliable. I'm looking for Pan reborn.'
'I'm nobody's child. Not really. I've never found much love from anyone.'
'You will find it with me. Rule the Worlds with me, James. Why not? You leave nothing behind you won't gain sevenfold as a higher being.'
He considers it. And he concludes that any life without Hadrian is a life less meaningful.
'I accept your adoption.'
His flesh is changed into flames, and on his spine thirteen words are carved: '
Et incarnatus est de domino Demogorgone ex Imperatore Jove, et deus factus est.'
He rises, thirty-six pairs of flaming wings sprouting from his back.
'We are the most powerful beings in this cosmos under the Sempiternal. Let's leave, Pan.'
Nory and Richie lead the kids out, feeling the dark cloud leaving. Miss Applejack calls the cops.
'The phones are finally working. Get Aliyana home, Richard.'
'Yes ma'am.'
Outside the school he finds a red mess on the grass. What's left of Ariel. Feeling guilty, Richie recites a song of passage so the kid can rest:
'The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ending,
The stars sleep under their sheets of night,
The branches sway, the roots are breaking,
The flowers bow till the morning light.
So, Traveller, find thy boat for sailing,
For that Great Green River now awaits,
So keep not the Sleep Giver waiting,
Thine end is thy beginning, thy fate.'
He never really liked him, but he didn't really hate him.
Parker, Joseph, and Richard make it to the school's front doors. They're met by a crowd of kids and teachers fleeing the scene as a large cyclone looms above them.
'You stay here, young'uns. I've got this.'
He raises his rainbow-coloured gun, the Gottmoerder 3000.
'It was nice meeting you. If I come back, I hope we can meet again under less stressful circumstances.'
'Same, captain. Stay safe.'
He enters the school. The boys walk away, tired but satisfied.
'You get his number?'
'I got Kyle's number. He can give us James' one.'
'Anyways, I wonder where
our James is.'
'Probably doing twelfth-grader stuff.'
'Wanna grab a bite?'
'Toast sandwiches?'
'Sure.'
The cyclone is vanishing as Richard Junglenoodle makes his way to the roof. He aims and fires at the eye of the storm.
The darkness fades away.
'Huh. I guess I hit it.'
He's surprised by two yellow stars that appear from nowhere, climbing up into the sky. The portals close up and it's like nothing happened.
'Well, I best be getting back.'
Monkey James is cooking tonight.
Pan and his father ascend into the heavens. The sovereigns of the skies, ground, and underground.
'Wait till you've met your siblings!'
'What are we gonna do?'
'Anything you want! The cosmos is our oyster, and we are the pearls.'
His father sounds kinder. Like a wound has been healed and a galaxy has been born from darkness.
Captain James returns to his world, assuming the threat is gone. He's right, to an extent.
Parker and Joseph have a story to tell, but for now they're keeping it to themselves.
It's a usual Wednesday at Quaking Aspens High School, and things feel different.
Perhaps different for the better?
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